Battle of North Point, War of 1812

General John Stricker commands the Americans (top of photo) against the British forces of General Robert Ross (bottom of photo) on September 12, 1814. The tabletop battle is using Frank's Paper armies with more playtesting of Rick's Really Simple rules for Black Powder on a hex board. 

 British left flank

 The Center of battlefield

 British Right Flank

 British Command retreats under heavy artillery and musket fire.

An American Victory despite heavy losses

Both sides took massive casualties. The American artillery performed well. Communication became an issue as the British failed to get orders to their troops for extended periods of the battle in the unfamiliar Maryland countryside. 

What a long strange adventure it has been...

                                  filled with a lot of dice rolls, fun times and great friends !

Revisiting Lion Rampant

Frank decided to use his BattleLore board with a modified version of the Lion Rampant rules.  

 The forces of Eldoria (top, North) await the arrival of the Peoples Republic of Sarcasm

 The PRoS Spears seize the woods on their left flank with eyes on the hill to the North 

 Despite hesitation to enter battle the Spears finally seize the heights. 

Eldorian mounted and foot hold their own in the center, but take loses from bows on the flank 

With their flank turned and heavy losses to their main column, the army of Eldoria retreats from battle.

                                                         Prince Codyarf  vows revenge.

I love any chance to play using the BattleLore board and terrain. Nice size hexes and simple terrain for a miniatures battle. Looking to experiment with a rules set using cards and a zone activation in the future.   

The Lost Expedition

At the September meeting of "the Exclusive Adventurers Society" presentations were given of rival members efforts to discover the Lost City of Albright.

 Unfortunately, Rick's party could not overcome a lack of food and perished. While losing a member of his party, Frank pushed through the jungle to arrive at the City of Albright. 

  A change of pace with the Lost Expedition.

Return to 4AD

The party returns to finish exploring the abandoned temple dungeon.

                                           
Using Todd C. Adams "Random events on the way to the dungeon", which can be found in the BoardgameGeek files, the party dispatched 10 vampire bats without damage to the party.

     The party avoided any wandering monsters and returned to the room where they had killed an Ogre. Filch picks a level 2 lock. In the first new room (A) they encounter another Ooze. After an extended battle during which the Ooze regenerated once, it was killed yielding 11 gold pieces. In the next corridor, they are surprised by a Manticore that damages Filch with darts from its tail and inflicts several hits on Borz (with a Z). The Manticore had only 8 gold pieces. In the next room (B), the party found a ring of teleportation by a religious statue. Continuing on, the next room (C) contained nothing even after a thorough search.
     The room (D) at the end of an empty corridor contained 7 kobolds with a Kaptain. The Kobolds were killed, but Filch, Croix and Winks took damage.  The party decided to do some healing as Filch was in bad shape. Croix provides heals and Winks uses his bandage found previously in the temple dungeon store room.
    The party enters an altar room to find a Death Cult Priest. A battle with the Boss monster ensues. Filch fails to save against Magic and takes damage. But, Winks and his 2 handed sword cleave the Priest in half. A search of the room revealed a chest with a 40 and a 15 gold piece gem. Winks the dwarf does levels up. Making its way back out of the temple dungeon, the party scared off several solitary kobolds along the way.

This completed my first dungeon crawl using the Four Against Darkness rules. I am still fine tuning how to organize the rules in order to make play easier.  The basic rules work extremely well and I enjoyed the Stronghold's expansions that definitely provided a D and D feel. This original school  Dungeon Master still has to get used to a game mechanic where the Monsters don't get dice rolls.

4AD After Action Report

After several walks on a beautiful day I decided to play the solo dungeon game Four Against Darkness with some modifications from the Stronghold website here and here.

The adventure didn't start well as my party of Borz (with a Z) the warrior, Croix the Cleric, Filch the Rogue and Winks the Dwarf were immediately met by 3 Trolls, that were dispatched at the expense of Borz (with a Z) losing 1 life point.  Next 7 goblins were encountered and defeated yielding a scroll of lightning.  In the next room, Borz (with a Z) discovered a "clue". Heading North and to the East, the party next fought 7 zombies with Filch losing a life point. An Ogre fled the party after a fight and Borz leveled up. Another "clue" was found in a corridor. Next the party found a piece of jewelry (90 GP). Venturing onward, the party defeated 4 Orcs before meeting a nasty Minotaur, that fled the battle. Croix successfully level up. The party backtracked and manage to avoid any wandering monsters. 5 snakes were defeated.
   Then the party encountered an Ooze. Filch proved his value by lockpicking a level 5 door lock. Six orcs were defeated. Backtracking, the party next encountered 2 Orcs that were quickly dispatched. Another Ooze was found as a Wandering Monster and vanquished. Borz found his third clue (Someone will pay Big money for that) and leveled. The next room contained a Meditation Chamber and Filch healed up. Back to the entry room went without incident.
    The party headed north and discovered a Storage room that yielded 2 bandages. The party continued North and fought  3 Kobolds that were easily defeated.  "Discretion being the better part of valor", the party decided to return to the Inn. The South east corner of the dungeon will be explored later.  

    What a fun couple of hours revisiting a time 45 years ago when Role Playing games were a big part of my professional life and I was working on solo approaches to RPGs. Take a look at the DM's Guide appendices that include solo AD&D.  
    Andrea Sfiligoi has done an excellent job with his design and the gaming community at Board Game Geek and  the Stronghold website have also added some exciting and free game aids. There is also a 4AD group on Facebook where you can get your questions answered by Andrea, himself.
 

Modified Lion Rampant (Osprey)

General LaPorte (top) defends the keep against the invading Germans under the command of General Ichweissnicht.

 French archers protect the keep

 French mounted men at arms defeat their German counterparts

 Battle lines reform as the German archers pick apart the French men at arms

After refusing to duel with the French general, the German commander drives General LaPorte from the field.
                                                Final Glory points: German 7,  French 5

Help a Flying Buffalo

                                                            GoFundMe for Rick Loomis

Rick Loomis has been an important part of the game industry for almost 50 years, and now he is in the fight of his life with cancer. Even though he is a US army veteran and qualifies for medicare, Rick's share of the medical bills are now in the tens of thousands of dollars. Please help his family through this terrible time and help keep the  legacy of Flying Buffalo going strong. 

On August 24th, his birthday, Rick Loomis passed away.  RIP Rick.

Goblins, Orcs, and Kobolds, oh my ....

When Life and the gaming gods conspire to ruin Gaming night (don't ask)… it's time to turn to the Granny Grate armies and Rick's Really Simple Rules. And, once again a fun time was had by all.

The premise: A warband of goblin/orcs and kobolds attacks a small Dwarven mine. 

 Orcs and Goblins prepare to attack, Kobolds in reserve

 Dwarves prepare to defend

 Orcs & Goblins at top of photo

 Early action. Red indicates hits, white are shaken and need to rally

 Close combat between Dwarven Crossbows and Goblin Spears

 Dwarven commander attempts to organize his declining forces

 Orc/Goblins press forward with their attack

An Orc/Goblin victory  

Race to the Potomac

Playtesting Rick's Simple rules with a brigade size scenario based on the insurgents retreat from Gettysburg with the very generous donation of goods from the farmers of central Pennsylvania.

Union deployment

The Confederacy

                                      Dismounted cavalry fire on each other on the flank

Confederate brigade supply train is turned back from their effort to reach the Potomac.

Rules need some fine tuning and the scenario needs additional work. But, a very enjoyable evening !

Will be using playing card activation next time, as all that rain and mud caused a lot of Regimental failure to activate.  

$6.99

"Les sanglots longs
Des violons
De l’automne
Blessent mon cœur
D’une langueur
     Monotone."    Paul Verlaine

In Memory of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops

                                                   23rd Headquarters Special Troops

To those who served and to the power of imagination !!

Bloody April

Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) 30 Years War

                                         Imperialists                                            Swedes

   Our scenario is the Battle of Breitenfeld (1631)  using paper soldiers from  the Junior General website .

                         Imperial initial artillery, 3 hits          Swedish artillery opens with 3 hits also

                                               Imperial cavalry is destroyed on both flanks

                                        Tilly's Imperial Tercios face the advancing Swedes

                        The Imperial Tercio in the center is destroyed. Divide and conquer.

                                             A victory for King Gustavus Adolphus !

And no one was thrown out a window.