Demo Games Day

I ran a day of demo games with a group of tabletop gaming fans showcasing their favorite "alternative" games in a store devoted to the top couple of miniature companies.  I set up a basic scenario which could accomodate 2-5 players. 



On the "starboard" side of the table I had a rocky cove set up, flanked by some crumbling ruins and centered around a lighthouse; on the "port" side was deployed a damaged Elven flagship with only a single squadron of destroyers running escort duty.  The objective for the Elven player was simple--get the flagship with the First Sea Lord to any place between the ruined pillars behind the lighthouse where Elven shore batteries could drive off any attackers.  Other players would either play allied squadrons of Elven ships helping to ward off attackers or Dwarven, SM, or BG squadrons attempting to sink or capture the Elven flagship.

I had two very interested players, and although one was interested in playing the Bone Griffons, the other really preferred to play Dwarves, particularly the "magic" Dwarves in the cast iron ships.  They also wanted to play against each other.  So, I quickly modified the scenario, removed most of the other squadrons, and the SM player had the objective of moving the "heavy cruiser" (yes, it's a SM battleship but I had a card printed out with stats for a heavy cruiser) to the safe haven behind the lighthouse while the BG ships attempted to sink or capture it.



I restricted the space on the table, and the Shroud Mages started 12" in from one corner while the Bone Griffons started 12" in from the other corner on the same table edge.  The fleet of Iron Dwarves among the STAR cards deck marked off the 12" out of bounds, so the players were effectively playing on a 3x3 foot area.  All the better to get them to the meat of the action, and by the end of turn 1 we had the heavy cruiser firing at submerged undead whales (to no effect), and a squadron of SM frigates closing on the squadron of BG cruisers.

The center of the board represented shallows, and I explained that only small surface models could move across that area, between the volcano and rocky island.  The BG player, on turn 2, surfaced his orca, deciding not to circle around to intercept the heavy cruiser (especially after the heavy cruiser changed course to follow the frigates and take chances with the oared galleys), and moved across the shallows to head directly toward their objective.

 The sea monsters, by the way, are only obstacles in this game, like terrain.  Turn 3 was quite exciting:  the squadron of orca moved to ram and board the heavy cruiser, but only 2 managed to reach the SM ship; a fast and furious boarding action damaged the target, but the boarding parties from both orca were absolutely destroyed.  The heavy cruiser moved to trade broadsides with the squadron of oared galleys:  all ships took some damage, but no criticals.  During the 4th turn the heavy cruiser moved to a stern raking position on one oared galley, and a double critical hit damaged the propulsion and rudder both, leaving it to drift ahead only 2".

The last remaining orca moves to collide with 2 SM frigates at once; it was a gamble, and it didn't pay out--one frigate was lost to the ramming, but the other managed to resist the boarding action and destroy the last of the undead crew on the whale.

Finally, with only 1 cruiser limping in the water with a single hull point while the heavy cruiser still had more than 50% hull points and was within sight of the harbour, the player of the Bone Griffons conceded the game.  The two new players had completed 5 turns in under an hour with fewer than 300 points worth of ships per side.

Canoes Are Boats Too!

I've done almost no naval gaming these past few months, but I should admit I've still been busy.  During this past summer I bought a copy of Muskets & Tomahawks, convinced by the review I heard on the Meeples & Miniatures podcast epidsode 88.

I liked everything I read; the rules are relatively simple and familiar, but there is definitely an 18th century theme.  I visited a local Hobby Lobby and picked up several inexpensive packs of Indians and Colonial Infantry in 1/72 scale plastic, along with some discounted Christmas trees for cheap terrain.  All together, less than a hundred bucks for the rules, cards, a wide range of figures, and terrain.

New Uncharted Seas Campaign

The goal of this campaign is to develop a fleet and engage in missions to secure gold by transporting cargo to and from the Old World or simply seizing it by raiding villages or securing valuable cargo from shipwrecks.  The first player to accumulate 10,000 Gold Bars is declared the winner of the campaign.

DWVA X-Cam

I'm concentrating more of my online activity on the ManBattlestations site, and Ruckdog just posted a blog post describing the series of games we just played of Dystopian Wars for a local X-Campaign here.

More details can be found on the forum side of the website: http://manbattlestations.com

Dystopian Wars Virginia Team Tournament

We had several players cancel at the last minute to prepare for the oncoming storm, but we had 7 players show up--Zach played his first game during round 2 and I teamed up with Kyle in the final round so everyone could play.

This is my favorite situation captured during a game between FSA and French naval fleets; a French Battleship and Carrier loom above a lone surviving frigate--broken, 1 HP remaining, and it has already activated.

Dystopian Wars Tournament

AUTUMN EVENT 2012 TEAM TOURNAMENT

TIME: 

Sunday October 28th, 2012

Registration starts at 10am, Dice at 11am

LOCATION:

The Game Vault

6328 Five Mile Centre Park, Suite 414
Fredericksburg, VA 22407
540-785-GAME (4263)

COST: 

$5 per player; winning team earns total registration to split 50/50 in store credit.

FORMAT: 

We have linked scenarios to create a mini-campaign for the tournament.
Players will form teams of 2 players.  1^st round will involve randomly matched players.  2^nd round will provide choices for teams, according to score rankings from 1^st round.  3^rd round will feature the winning teams on big tables battling for key locations to win the campaign and the overall event.

FORCE COMPOSITIONS:

750 points, Naval and Armored Core Forces.  Teams may have multiple force lists and choose which force to use at the start of each round.

STAR CARDS:

No standard STAR cards will be used.  Special cards will be provided for teams to use during the event which provide special effects.

RULES:  DW 1.1 rules.  Scoring by Campaign Points as described in the Hurricane Season Campaign Book.

SCHEDULE:
10am – 11am: Sign in and set up (Dice roll promptly at 11am)
11am - 12:30pm: Round 1
12:30pm – 1:15: Lunch and Secret Ballot Painting Contest
1:15pm – 2:45pm Round 2
3 pm -5:30pm Round 3
5:45pm – 6 pm Awards and Raffle

PAINTING: 

Models must feature at least 2 different colors.  Prime ships and then dry-brush or ink—it takes only an hour or two to make your fleet look good on the table.

HOW TO REGISTER:
Post your registration on the Game Vault forum or on ManBattlestations.com or send a PM to “maddrb”.

NEED A TEAMMATE?
Check the “looking for teammates” thread on the ManBattlestations.com:

http://manbattlestations.com/forum/index.php?topic=175.0

DW Flag Decals for Registering Players

One more day left to register for the DWVA Autumn Event at the Game Vault on Sunday, October 28th and get one of these DW flag decals.

Players registering with me by Sunday, October 7th can pick up a free 5x8 inch flag decal the morning of the event.

Deadline for registration is October 21st or 16 players, whichever comes first.  Contact me on the Spartan Games forum or at ManBattleStations.com to register, or leave a comment below!

More Weekend Cat Blogging

Inspired by another gaming blog, I'm posting a picture of my first cat, a longtime companion for more than 10 years--this photo was taken shortly before he died a year ago now.

Registering for Next DWVA Event

WHAT:  A special team-based event. Players must register as a 2-player team or individually registered players will be matched with other individually registered players. The rounds will be linked in a mini-campaign with victory declared for the leading team at the end of the event.
WHEN:  Sunday, October 28th, starting at 10:30 am.
WHERE:  The Game Vault, Fredericksburg, VA
FORCES:  750 point force compositions; at least 1 force per team is Naval Core and 1 force per team is Armored Core.  Players may bring multiple force compositions as long as the 2 basic requirements are met.
COST:  $5 per registered player.

(Format details follow)

Firestorm Armada

Last week I took a 90-minute drive to a game store where I'm planning to run a DW tournament soon, mostly to see the store, make sure I could find it, etc.  I also met some of the local players and introduced myself to a guy running demo games of Firestorm Armada.  After asking him how it differed from the other Spartan Games, I decided, while driving home (and taking a route which went past my FLGS), that if the lone 1st edition FA rule book which had been sitting on the shelf for at least a year now was still in the store... (a likely possibility) then I would buy it and complete my Spartan Games collection.

I also picked up a deck of STAR cards!

I've been interested in the game and the fleets for some time now, and some of the newer models released have caught my attention, but I've been putting all of my attention into Uncharted Seas and Dystopian Wars.  Well, now I'm starting a Sorylian fleet, and I'm thinking about a second fleet so I can run demo games of this one; although this might be a Spartan Game I only play since there seems to be a good group already playing to the south of where I live.

Historicon Afterthoughts

I attended Historicon the other week and it was the first gaming convention I had ever attended.  In fact, it was the first convention of anything I had ever attended since I accompanied my father to the Cow Palace in San Francisco Bay Area a few decades ago for a gun show.

I can't really put the experience into words.  Except that I distinctly remember many hours spent in my grandfather's basement when I was a young boy and paging through model railroading magazines, picturing in my mind what it might look like with scale equivalent model soldiers marching across the train tracks featured in all those magazine photos.  And at Historicon I saw those faded childhood fantasies brought to life on several score of tables.

Next DWVA Event

Dystopian Legions

Big news today about a new scale of Dystopian Wars.  I didn't even know anything about it until I was paging through some photos taken at Gencon and posted on FB.  At one picture I stopped and looked more closely... those looked like DW tanks!

I checked out the Spartan website, and it looks like they have indeed announced a new line of models and a new system for 28mm scale models (including infantry).

Historicon 2012

I had never attended a gaming convention before this weekend's Historicon 2012.  I almost attended last year, but with the new venue only 30 miles from where I live this year I had no reason not to attend.  I decided to try to experience the full range of the event, from participating in games to hosting a demo event for Dystopian Wars.  With loaned models and help from local DW players we provided a basic run through of the game for 2 sets of 4 players, and plenty of others stopped by Saturday morning just to see what was going on and pick up some flyers.

Later that day I spotted some familiar models incorporated into a scratchbuilt model of an airship for a Victorian Martian scenario.  Great stuff all around.

Perfect Camouflage

I was impressed by the match between the paint scheme on my Uusual Opponent's CoA ships and the Dreadfleet play sheet we like to use as the table surface for our Dystopian Wars naval games.  This was not intentional, but the perfect camouflage was evident when my Opponent, during turn 2, actually lost track of where he had positioned his frigates.

Assault on Green Island Airfield

BATTLE REPORT
Assault on Green Island Airfield
Imperial vs. FSA vs. Covenant
1000 MFV each force, naval, air, and armored

The set-up for this scenario was a bit lopsided: I had 1000 points to set up on the island in the center of the board, including a bunker and airfield; my two opponents each had 1000 points on opposite sides of each other.  The objective was to assault and hold the airfield with AP.  Clearly my force was going to be the nut in the vise.

I put some land units on the island for defense, some medium flyers above the island, and some ships to either side, everything prepared to move in any direction.  My plan was to keep forces close to the island and respond to threats as they advanced, from either side.

Glorious 3rd of June DW

Thirteen players arrived and registered to participate in the Glorious 3rd of June Dystopian Wars Virginia event at the Game Vault in Fredericksburg.  We also had two standby players still new to the game but willing to even the matches so all players could play a game in each of the three rounds.  We started at noon.  I brought sandwiches and fixings set up on a side table for those who had driven as far as 50 miles to be there; these served well since we didn't take a break until the event finished at 6:30 pm.

DW Destroyers

"Ruckdog" has written another entry in his series comparing the ship classes and technologies of Dystopian Wars with the history of late 19th and early 20th century navies.  Read the full article on the Man Battlestations blog: DW vs. Real Life Pt. 3

The Glorious First of June!

Ever since I started calling the new Dystopian Wars event "The Glorious 3rd of June" I have been thinking I should actually post a blog entry commemorating the original (and, indeed, historical) naval battle known as the Glorious 1st of June.

Cauldron of Silence

After a month of regular battle reports from the Cauldron of Silence campaign for Uncharted Seas, the final battle between two massive fleets was reported today on the Spartan Games BLOG.