Historical scenarios: your feedback appreciated!

[James Holloway]

A long time ago, I posted about creating a series of linked historical scenarios. The first scenario would be set in the early middle ages (the Viking period, basically), the second in the 17th century and the third in the "modern" setting of Strange Aeons, with each scenario influencing how the next one was set up. Roughly, I imagine:

• In the first game, some Vikings raid a village, which turns out to have a dark secret.
• In the second game, witch-hunters are chasing a sorceress, who raises the Viking dead from their burial mound to defend herself.
• In the third game, Threshold are trying to deal with the ongoing supernatural happenings in the village

Now, the second scenario is clearly a historical version of a normal Threshold op, just with swords and torches and muskets rather than tommy-guns. You have your actual Witchfinder (the character), his or her henchlings (the agents) and an angry mob (the civilians). No problem there. But the first scenario is a little unusual, in that the Vikings don't really start knowing what their objective is -- that is, they think they're there to plunder the village and take its loot, but they don't realise that the real goal is to get the hell out of there before they get sacrificed to what lurks below.

I'm thinking of having the Viking player have an objective they start the game with, and an objective that gets opened on Turn X, where X is late enough in the game for them to have penetrated deep into the village and for the trap to have been sprung so that they have to fight their way back to the ship. I'm just not sure how practical this would be.

Also, anyone got any tips for adjusting BP for games where guns aren't really present? I imagine many monsters become tougher when they can't be safely taken out with rifle fire.

[James Holloway]

(I am working on painting up models for the scenario, so I will have pretty pictures to go in this thread shortly. Well, pretty by my standards, anyway.)

[Yetis Yell]

I really love this idea, reminds me of the beginning of the X Files movie with the alien and the caveman... looking forward to seeing this!

[Comsquare]

Really love your idea 

And you're right, it will be very tough for the vikings because of the lack of shooting weapons.
The only one available would be bows and javelins/slings/throwing axe.

There was a comic, called "Homecoming" if I remember right, about vikings being confrontated with the mythos, was allways tempted to play some games my self.

Looking forward how you will handle it

Also,did you thought about how to handle shields?

[James Holloway]

There are two options for shields:

1) they're armour. I'm not super-excited about this idea, but it is probably the simplest way to handle it.

2) they give you a parry. This means that vikings with swords and shields are probably pretty good close-up.

I might also say that models with shields get some kind of cover against ranged attacks?

As far as balance goes, it's something I will probably want to test out in play, but I may just adjust the objectives to compensate -- sure, the Vikings are going to get butchered once the big beasties come out to play, but then it is a trap.

Also, not sure how to handle muskets for the 17th c. scenario. I was going to give them Ready to reflect their low rate of fire compared to modern weapons, but then it turns out rifles already have that.

[Etranger]

......
I'm thinking of having the Viking player have an objective they start the game with, and an objective that gets opened on Turn X, where X is late enough in the game for them to have penetrated deep into the village and for the trap to have been sprung so that they have to fight their way back to the ship. I'm just not sure how practical this would be.....

The 'treasure' turns out to be a hastily scrawled scroll/parchment on which is written something like "Flee, while you still can. They are coming....."

Great idea for a series of games!

[James Holloway]

Ah, that solves the timing problem -- have the objective switch happen based on an in-game event! So once the Vikings have collected X of the loot counters, the objective changes. Excellent.

The 'treasure' turns out to be a hastily scrawled scroll/parchment on which is written something like "Flee, while you still can. They are coming....."

Great idea for a series of games!

[James Holloway]

OK, I have put the lists, weapons and setup on the blog (player briefings tomorrow). I would really appreciate hearing what you guys think about it.

http://gonzohistorygaming.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/strange-aeons-dark-ages-part-one-intro.html

Here's the text, since maybe it's easier to just have it in this post:

The keel of the Bison hissed and crunched on the soft shore as the men splashed into the shallows. Gudbrand touched the hilt of his sword, checking it for the tenth time that day to see that it would slide freely from the scabbard.

"Now remember, lads, we're not staying. Grab things you can carry, things that'll fetch a good price, and then let's get out of here before reinforcements turn up." Around him his crew formed up into a loose pack, jogging steadily toward the trickles of smoke that showed the village waking up. Snorri chuckled cruelly to himself as he hefted his axe.

Osfrid squinted down the length of the beach, licking his lips reflexively and smiling at the taste of the salt spray. Yes, the Northmen were definitely advancing down the beach. He smiled, revealing unusually sharp teeth.

"All right. They're coming. Send the signal. We must make sure they don't get away."

Choosing forces: One player chooses a force from the Viking list, while the other chooses a force from the Villager list. These lists are specific to the scenario, but allow some choice so that you can fit the selection to the available models. Give each player the briefing text for his or her faction (below).

Set Up: Players place scenery to mutual satisfaction. The terrain represents an Anglo-Saxon village in 9th-century Essex, and can include features such as houses, a church, animal pens, a well or other village impedimenta. In addition, place four Treasure Markers in the village, at least 5" apart. Choose sides as per "Retrieve the Artifacts," (p. 59). The Villager player should deploy half of his or her models within the village. Models can be in groups of up to two, and should be at least 5" apart.

Special Rules: Viking models can move Treasure Markers, but suffer a -2 Movement penalty. If a second model starts the turn in base-to-base contact with the Treasure Marker, there is no Movement penalty that turn.

Once the Viking player has retrieved two Treasure Markers, the Villager player may deploy his or her secondary force (described in the list below). These models appear on either or both of the long edges of the board, no less than 5" from any Viking model or the Viking board edge. Once the Viking player has retrieved three Treasure Markers, he or she should read the second set of scenario objectives (again, reproduced below).

Starting the Game: The Viking player goes first.

Ending the Game: The game continues until all the models from one side have been removed from the table or escaped. The number of Vikings who survived the scenario will influence the setup of the next instalment!

Weapons of the Dark Ages

The following weapons from the Strange Aeons core book are available in this scenario:

Unarmed, club, seax (treat as Bowie knife), sword (treat as civil war sabre), spear

In addition, the following additional weapons from Shocking Tales #1 are available: torch, battle axe, javelins (treat as short bow), long bow

Body armour in the Viking age was relatively rare but lighter than we tend to think. Mail armour works like a Light Armoured Vest, but doesn't impost any Movement penalty. Its characteristics are otherwise the same.

Shields provide a parry in close combat: against ranged combat, they give a 5+ save.

Vikings

Jarl (leader): 5 BP

M 5, Dex 4+, Con 6, A 3, W 2, Res 3+

Skills: Command, 1 free skill
Weapons: sword, javelins, shield

Berserk: 5 BP

M 5, Dex 5+, Con 6, A 3, W 2, Res 5+

Skills: Heroic
Weapons: battle axe

Berserks are subject to the Madman rule (p. 32). Berserks may not buy any additional weapons or armour.

Drengr: 2 BP

M 5, Dex 5+, Con 6, A 2, W 1 Res 4+

Skills: 1 free skill
Weapons: seax, javelins, shield

Bondr: 1 BP

M 5, Dex 5+, Con 5 A 1, W 1, Res 5+

Skills: None
Weapons: seax or javelins

Attack Dog: 1 BP

M 7, Dex 4+, Con 4, A 3, W 1, Res 4+

Skills: Man's Best Friend
Weapons: Teeth and Claws (+1, D+1)


Villagers

The villager player builds not one but two lists: the first list is entirely mundane and represents the cultists who are in the village at the start of the game. The second list consists of the reinforcements that arrive once the second Treasure Marker has been captured by the Vikings. Because the point total for this scenario is variable, it's not possible to give precise point values, but the starting force in the village should be significantly weaker than the Vikings, while the total force including reinforcements is stronger. This should help to offset the fact that the two forces deploy separately.

Village occupants

Village chief: 5 BP

M 5, Dex 4+, Con 6, A 2, W 1, Res 2+, Command

Weapons: Seax, javelins, shield

Villager: 1 BP

M 5, Dex 5+, Con 5, A 1, W 1, Res 5+

Weapons: Seax or club

Reinforcements

Reinforcements can be chosen from any of the following models: Villager, Maniac, Fishman

[James Holloway]

We had our first playtest, with the following amendments:

Instead of treasure markers, we placed five shrines around the board in a sort of rough square with one at the centre. Each of these could be searched for treasure. You rolled 2d6 -- one d6 indicated the level of treasure, and the other was then added to it. If the total was 7 or higher, the shrine was wrecked.

Each turn after the second shrine was wrecked, the villager player rolled to see whether the reinforcements turned up by trying to roll equal to or above the number of searched shrines on a d6.

Whether shrines were wrecked or not, and where exactly the Vikings died, will turn out to be important in the next scenario.

The final scenario is actually going to be two scenarios -- if the witch hunters win the second scenario, then you play one final scenario, and if they lose you play the other.

Here are some photos!



The village awaits the invaders.



Vikings loot a shrine.



And destroy another.



But help is on the way!