2019-08-17: God of Battles, Undead vs Blood Gorged Lizardmen

This may be the last time I have played God of Battles. With each game I play, it becomes more and more obvious to me that the combat system (and probably the whole points system) is heavily flawed, and if I cannot convince my gaming buddies to adapt some changes, the game is dead for me. Period.

The biggest problem is the Defence Dice procedure that means that it is the unit size, and not the number of hits suffered, that determines the number of 'saves' rolled, which means that a small unit with Defence 4 is prone to loose more models than a large unit with Defence 4 if they suffer the same amount of hits. This has to change if I am to even consider playing this game again.

There is a lot of things I love about the game, especially the very simple movement rules (although the rules for Formed Units lead to some very awkward situations now and then, and have to be tweaked a bit), but I am tired of seeing my bread-and-butter troops get cut to pieces by large Loose Units and/or single models with a psychotic amount of Defence Dice (T'lekkan Behemoth, for instance) without having the slightest chance of even inflicting a single wound on them.

Well, I have written down some suggestions for rules changes, and submitted them to one of my gaming buddies - we shall have to see how they are received.

On to the AAR:

The above picture shows the  battlefield with roughly half my army on the table while the next two show both armies fully deployed.

Turn 1 I had my Chariots and Knights speed forward on the left, while my infantry tried to get in position in the gaps between the jungle patches and ruins - in a kind of Refused Flank strategy.

The Lizardmen generally surged forward.

Turn 2 started well for me with an abhorrent dice roll (I forgot to add the 2 extra dice for Charge!), when a Chariot with a Blacksoul crashed into the enemy. Blue hit on 3, Red on 4....

When the other Blacksoul in Chariot attacked, I remembered the Charge! bonus - not that it mattered much...

The Chariot saves at 4+, which statistically should mean that half the defence dice should work, but never tell me the odds, as the universe does not work that way.

One of my Chariots was subsequently charged by some Temple Guards, and when it got to strike back, at least the Chariot (blue dice)  performed as could be expected, while the Blacksoul just barely managed to scratch an opponent.

I do not remember what this roll was for - looks like a Chariot save - but try counting the sixes rolled in all the pics so far...

This was the lay of the land after Turn 2. As far as I remember, both my Chariots were gone (40 pts C&S), and I had annihilated one unit of Temple Guard Watchers (12 pts, I think).

I am not sure of the sequence here, as this looks conspicuously like another Blacksoul/Chariot attack roll gone bad. It has been a couple of days since we played, and, frankly, I did my best not to think about the game until I sat down yesterday to process the photos.

In Turn 3, my knights managed to dispatch the remaining Temple Guard Watchers without sustaining a single casualty (!) themselves, but at the same time the Saurus Ravagers reached my infantry line, and the carnage began...

We opened Turn 4 with my Knights attacking and slaughtering half a Skink Archer unit, and the Ravagers almost wiped out my Skeleton Horde. Emil agreed that any dispense was gone from the game, as the Ravagers would wither down my Skeletons faster (and longer) than my Knights could hope to kill reptiles, and we called it a day.

This session completely killed my desire for playing wargames - God of Battles in its current form in particular - and just as important for painting minis, as I have absolutely no other reason for painting minis than using them for gaming.

Bad day for my hobby mojo.

Jungle Bases Completed!

As planned, I finished off the second batch of jungle bases this morning. I think I have just about enough for a 3x3 table, shall have to try it out soon!

Jungle Bases, Second Batch WIP

After almost two months of hiatus, due to garden projects and other real life entanglements, the last couple of days I have been making some progress on my second batch of jungle bases for multiple purposes. As soon as the paint has dried, I shall drybrush the bases, and they will be ready for the table (and I shall then clean up the dining table and get some gaming going - I am suffering severe withdrawal symptoms at the moment).

It's a Jungle Out There!

We pretty much got all the firewood stacked this afternoon, so I felt that I could justify spending time on getting a jump start on the next batch of jungle bases.

Tomorrow, I am going to make some more of the 'fillers' for the DVD holes, as I have used all those I previously covered, and I still have a bunch of palm trees to use, before I get some other types of plastic trees to add to my expanding jungle...

Completed: 8 Jungle Terrain Bases

I finished the last couple of the jungle bases just the other day, but did not get around to snap a few photos until this evening.

I think they will do great for various games set in a tropical jungle environment - from sub-saharan Africa over India and Indo-China/'nam to the Amazonas, and many worlds in a galaxy far, far away, as well as terraformed Venus, and Catachan and other Death Worlds, and Deadzones.

Below you can see the recently printed giant tree trunk placed among the jungle bases, and although in real life, rain forests probably do not have that many palm trees, I think the illusion is going to be great!

Couple more of the tree trunks printed, based, and painted, and I shall have to make some more jungle bases - which is fine, as I want to end up being able to cover at least 50% of a 6'x3' table with vegetation.

Well... that is the plan, for now, but as always, I may get sidetracked by the next shiny object crossing my path...

Rumble in the Jungle

Having a 3D-printer working in the background, printing stuff for gaming, has inspired me to start making some jungle bases on mini CDs - those will be used both for Star Wars Legion, Congo, various Pulp games, Victorian Adventures, and my Paleo Diet in Africa project, as well as anything else, I can place in a tropical environment.

The next couple of days I probably shall not have much time to spend on this project (I start my 5-nights work period tonight), but the next phase is slapping some filler  around the plastic plants to hide ugly joints and bases/webbing. I shall focus on getting three of these ready before my next game.

Birthday Presents from the Kids

I got these two IKEA plastic plants for my birthday Monday - they are now destined to get chopped up and used for some jungle terrain. Which I intend to start doing when my current Vikings project is done. Intend.

Terrain Bases Galore!

I decided to spend my Hobby Allowance for January on 100 mini DVDs to use as bases for patches of vegetation - for now primarily jungle terrain, but they should also come in handy for other types.

I ordered them yesterday, and they were delivered on my doorstep this morning at 06:45 😎

As soon as I have finished the two Skeleton Hordes I have WIP for God of Battles, I shall make a couple of jungle bases (I think I shall make this into a lot of small partial projects, so as to not get bored by it).

I have an abundance of plastic palm trees and aquarium decoration plants to use for this, so I should be able to get a good 'pulpy' jungle up and running for a small skirmish type table before spring.

I also have my eyes on some plastic aquarium decoration trees that I only discovered recently, but I shall use some of the stuff I have before purchasing any new supplies!

Horisont VIII, 2016: Congo - My First Game

I played a much anticipated game of Congo at Horisont this year. I took up the bloody spear of the natives to avenge the theft of a sacred mask by the nefarious British expedition.

The explorers had to leave the table by one of the two edges of a pre-determined board edge - I had to prevent them from doing so.

My Jungle Cannibals charged right into the nearest group of Askaris.

And were beaten off.

Another group of Askaris and some Scouts moved to attack the Warriors on my right flank.

Followed by the White Explorers.

The Warriors swiftly charged in and drove back the enemy!

The Askaris decided that it was better to engage the natives from a distance, opening up with their rifles (I guess?).

The British tried to sneak out through some dense jungle.

My other unit of Warriors, led by the mighty Chief, swiftly moved to intercept the white devils...

...and charged thim on the next Activation Card.

The female lone surviving explorer ran off from the carnage, while the soldiers formed up to protect the rear of the expedition Column.

The expedition, hard pressed from 3 sides quickly re-grouped into a makeshift, almost square formation to protect the young woman,

With the Askaris out of the way, the Cannibals decided to ransack the camp.

And both the Maiden Archers and the musket-wielding guys (I forgot what they are called) moved to be able to pepper the British formation with lead and arrows.

Seeing the Cannibals looting the wardrobe of the English Miss, the Maiden Archers also decided to try their luck plundering the camp.

My decimated warriors on the far right withdrew, and the British circled my flank, going for the nearest corner. Again, the Chief's unit moved to intercept.

I was taking some beating, but managed to prevent the expedition from leaving the table with the sacred mask, depriving them of 5 victory points, and on the next to last Activation Card, my musket guys ran to the camp and secured loot worth 2 victory points, carrying the day for the Jungle Tribes!

I can only day: Studio Tomahawk did it again!

As with SAGA, the system is VERY streamlined and elegant, and although I am not a fan of too many counters/markers in the playing area (and I really think the rosters could be used for placing those on, instead), the gameplay is so easy and involving, that this game is a must for anyone interested in Victorian or Pulp games set in the Dark Continent.

It would be too time-consuming to explain the system, but it uses identical decks of Activation Cards for both sides - players choose 3 cards at will for each game turn, then both players reveal the first card they wish to use. The cards have an Initiative Value which determines who goes first on this card. Players the resolve the actions listed on the card, shooting/combats are resolved as soon as they occur, usually with one side retreating half a move. All 3 card are played each turn.

The game also has 'Totem Cards', usually 1 drawn before chosing the Activation Cards. They provide extra actions, dice, or other effects, and can be played at will when appropriate.

Try it, if you like fast-flowing, simple mechanics that till offer lots of depth and tactical choice!

I already ordered some minis form North Star/Copplestone to use along with the Zulu I have WIP, so that I can make my own native 'Column'. and I shall then probably purchase the rules after Chistmas (no need to rush, as I need to paint up quite a bunch of minis before I can play the game as intended).

Attic Attack IV: Day 2, God of Battles

Ulrik and Kevin had a go at God of Battles, Ulrik commanding his LotR Dwarves, Kevin taking control over my slightly re-configured Lizardmen army-

The Reptiles advanced in force on the central rock pass.

The Skink Archer company was annihilated by the Dwarven elites...

...but then the saurus Ravagers got stuck in - and made minced meat of the Dwarves!

It was getting late, and Kevin had to leave soon, and with his main unit (and Priest) gone, Ulrik was not very keen on fighting on, so we left it at that.

The beads were marking Miracles on the units, by the way, in case you wonder.

Currently, I am spending all my spare time in the garden, as the weather suddenly turned almost summer-like thi week, so I do not know if I shall have any gaming related news for a while, but if we get some rainy days, I should be able to continue work on my Company of Heroes for Blood Eagle (LotR Fellowship characters), so stay tuned!