ATZ - Ground Zero

Ok, so I've spent the last two months making terrain and painting figures for Zombie gaming, so what reason do I have for turning down MacSver's suggestion of trying "All Things Zombie"? No good reason at all (ignoring the fact I hadn't managed to fully digest the latest version (ATZ - Final Fade Out). Queue the familiar learning Two Hour Wargames ruleset learning process of frantic page flicking!

For the table I decided to put most the terrain I have on, just to see how it would look and set up. It was decided that the scenario would be in the first 10 weeks of the outbreak during daylight hours. Our two characters had been in touch with each other and the aim of the game was to meet up and get off table, with each character entering the table at opposite corners.

Into The Dungeon

The party step into the Dungeon. This is the start of the Never-ending Dungeon.

2HDC - Test Setup

As I am running through this myself, thought I'd be as well to echo my test party generation process here as well for any curious gamers. These steps are in the "Stop" sections of the rule book as you work through it, but sometimes it's handy to have an example the process all together to get the idea. No matter how many THW rules I pick up the random game generation of a new game always seems hard work at the start.

Solo Fantasy Games

MacSver has been away on business for the last couple of weeks, and although I've been busy with my Panzer painting I've been feeling the lack of games. Naturally thoughts turn to solo games and using those pieces that haven't seen the light of day they deserve.

Solo for me means Two Hour Wargames and as I've been neglecting my Pendraken 10mm Dungeon I've finally found a good excuse to buy their (relatively) new Two Hour Dungeon Crawl Rules.

I've been fancying running an "endless dungeon" campaign for a long time now (I know I'm not alone there) but have found settling on a good solo\co-op ruleset difficult. I have big expectations for this one. Time to roll up some adventurers...

HHNF - First Full Contact

First game of Hell Hath No Fury using the full rules with attributes and Stars. We went with 2 platoons each British (5 Shermans and 4 Shermans + 1 Firefly) and Germans (3 Stug IIIs and 3 Panser IVs). The objectives were 3 supply dumps. Winner was the one in control of most dumps at the end of the night.

Basic Hell Than No Fury Battle.

The "Hell Hath No Fury" learning curve continues. When MacSver last came down to the hobby shed we had another game. We decided to try and consolidate the core mechanics so didn't use the "Star" or attribute rules. The objective was a supply dump in the village.

The First Taste of Fury

 This week saw MacSver and I start a new ruleset: "Hell hath No Fury" from Two Hour Wargames.

Chain Reaction Scavenger Hunt

Arabiansquire and myself headed up to our local club this weekend looking for a game of 40k and Warmachine respectively. Attendance numbers were low on this morning, so with neither of us picking up our first choice I broke out the copy of Two Hour Wargames "Chain Reaction".

I've started packing these rules "just in case" as they are flexible, small (only running to a few pages), fun, fast (which is also crucial as they are a reserve game quite often, so a later start time) and I can play them solo in case I'm on my own.

We pulled out figures for 2 basic 5 man squads. One Star Sergeant (Rep 5), 3 Grunts and one heavy weapon (all Rep 4). Also in the mix was a rules run battle droid armed with a Hammer and a Rocket Launcher. Hits were allocated a random position (right and left arm, right and left leg, head and body) with two hits needed to disable the segment. Only 2 hits on the body would disable the robot.

The table was set up as above. The scenario was that the robot had to be destroyed and a vital chip be scavenged and removed from the battle area for the win.

First turn, and after both squads moved the robot moved towards the Space Marines, discovering some of them. After reactions it fired a rocket at a rear Marine taking him Out-Of-Fight (effectively dead for this game).

The Marines scattered to try and gain an advantage, but that Rocket Launcher was caught in the open and destroyed.

The Sergeant climbed to a rooftop and caused some damage though, causing the robot to back off into the street.

Meanwhile my troopers had managed to move up the street into position. A hail of fire added damage to the robot, and between the two forces it was reduced to a pile of scrap.

The Troopers took out another Marine, just leaving the separated Marine and his Sergeant. A Trooper took advantage of the cover and rushed out to retrieve the vital piece of tech.

But he was caught cold as the Marine Sergeant popped round the corner and took him down.

With the 2 marines covering the robot, something had to be done. So the Trooper and his Sergeant rushed round a corner and managed to take out the covering marine.

All alone, and being flanked on 3 sides it was desperate times for the Marine Sergeant. he sprinted from cover, picked up the microchip from the dead troopers hand and tried to make cover to escape. But a lone trooper, who had failed to fire on the initial run, recovered to shoot the Space Marine before he could make it,  leaving the troopers to take the spoils.

More Reaction System Demos

It's been an age since the Hobby Shed has hosted a game, so it great to finally be in there with dice rolling and sounds of joy (and anguish). It was a "getting to know the Reaction System" evening, but due to a variety of health issues we were whittled down to 2 players - myself and my regular Wednesday night SoBH MacSver. Unfazed we bashed on...

I'd had a lot of fun the previous evening raking out and arranging a table that would maximise movement despite the ranged nature of the game, with the hope that this would induce regular instances of the key THW mechanic, the Insight Test. Also I put out some "scoring zones" to recreate the Unreal Tournament Domination game played out a good while ago under CR2 conditions

As you can see a busy table. Lots of levels, a few good vantage points and a variety of routes round the table. I also tried to put "scoring zones" in relatively open spots to avoid any side camping down on them. MacSver started on the right of the table, which had an advantage of being slightly quicker to a couple of scoring zones, and I started in on the opposite end which had the possible plus of a nearby tower dominating the corner of the table.

 MacSver's forces move out towards the first scoring zone (red\black square)

 My forces split. The leader takes 2 grunts through the cover of the pipe system to push down one side of the table. The other duo headed for the corner tower (and a scoring zone)

Splitting his force, MacSver soon had control of 3 of the 4 scoring zones.

 But pressure from the corner vantage point started to tell. Casualties were dealt out from the corner vantage point, and with MacSver's forces down or ducking back into cover the Grey clad Troops started to push in on their objectives.

A speedy flanking move caught the enemy Heavy Machine gun out and he was blasted down. In the end the casualties told for MacSver and his leader was closed down bravely fighting over a his last scoring point.

A very enjoyable game, with lots of movement and a good amount of action. Even with it being MacSver's first game with these rules the game moved smoothly was played in less than 2 hours (like it says on the tin!).

Next game we play we'll start to add attributes to bring some individuality to the troops. Thinking caps (and shopping bags) are at the ready to figure out what type\theme of force we want to put together...

Turf War - Chain Reaction style

Managed to get along to Livingston Battleground on Saturday morning, so ArabianSquire and I had a quick game of Chain Reaction. We used our now standard gang setup from our Domination games (Leader, Heavy, Juve and 2 Gangers to use Necromunda speak) and just had a straight turf war. Arabian Squire was using those long coated (and newly dipped) Necromunda Delaques and I'd picked out some suitable 40k Catachan Jungle Fighters.

Arabian Squire activated first, and took advantage of his Heavy's range to establish a line of fire that kept my entire gang in the starting corner of the table if they didn't want to break cover! He then started to move the rest of his gang in table to populate the buildings.

It was quite obvious that my gang were just waiting to be slaughtered if they kept hidden, so a dash across the enemy firing line had to be made. I made sure that they ran in a line with the poor just closest to the bullet source and my heavy next. The hope was that if the Juve went down (shielding the rest of the gang) I may get a reaction shot off with my heavy. As it was my plan half worked - the juve was cut down, but the completely heavy failed his reaction and ducked back to his starting position, with he rest of the gang, out-gunned, ducked back as well, but forward to the nearest cover, so a least into the rest of the table.

The 'squire Heavy still had a field of fire across the table through the middle, so my marines had to skirt round the edge of the board to stay out of sight and range.

The Delaques had in the meantime occupied a couple of the buildings in the centre, waiting for my forces.

My Leader managed to get round and into the building out of sight to get to the window and take a shot at the Delaque ganger, killing him. The resultant reaction test had the Delaque Leader duck back away from the fire through the door into the street, right into view of my Heavy  who had managed to get an arc of fire, who passed his reaction and gunned down the Leader, much to the wee lads dismay.

The other marines took up covering positions in the captured building. But from cover Arabian Squire took out a door covering marine.

This caused some in effectual reaction fire from the other occupants, giving away their position to the Delaque heavy, and the resultant cross fire hail of bullets had them ducking back from the windows to safety.

Arabian Squire then decided to flush out my heavy with a flanking move, but at the crucial time his activation dice let him down with a 6, and was sneaked up on himself.

Poor firing let him duck back out of cover, but with the marine leader closing in from the other side he was caught and taken out.

This let the marine heavy free to assault the last Delaque holdout. As they were still distracted from a fire fight across to the other side of the street, they didn't see the danger coming round the ruined wall.

One Delaque went down, but the Juve (who was in hero mode from rolling snake eyes in a previous encounter) reacted well and gunned down the sneaky Marine. This however gave an opening for a mrine to rush across the street and snipe the Juve from a window. After a brief exchange the final Delaque went down.

A fun game that took just about 90 minutes to play. The range to the Heavy (SAW) machine gun was a pain here, especially with the fine positioning of the Delaque Heavy by the wee lad really limiting my movement options. The game had a good back and forth feel to it with both side taking casualties, but in the end a couple of bad activation rolls in a row (2 sixes - ouch!) undid Arabian Squire's good work and let me in.

Preparing for a new arena

"As mentioned to my previous report a new era of Gladitorial combat is upon us. Caesar is keen to increase his popularity and the tried and tested ways of doing this are either lavish orgies in palaces or orgies of violence across the Empire. The later is cheaper for the Empirial coffers, so the Promoter Barrius Hearnius has been brought in to revamp the setup. After examination of his new guidelines, I have decided to sell up my current gladiators and start from scratch again. All my gladiators had healed within a month, so after selling all the School stock my purse sits at an improved 5800 aurei. Heading in the right direction at least."

[Note: Gladiator and equipment costs in the new version of Red Sand, Blue Sky are calculated completely differently from before]

 With my purse discretely hidden about my person, I headed down to the slave market to re-stock my school. The following was available for purchase:

Description	Savvy	Strength	Speed	Attribute Total	Base Cost	Real Cost
Dimachaerus (Germania)	3	4	3	10	36	38
Murmillo (Germania)	3	3	3	9	27	32
Retiarius (Galatia)	4	3	3	10	36	41
Secutor (Hispania)	3	3	3	9	27	29
Slave (Gallia)	2	2	2	6	8	9
Slave (Cyrenaica)	2	3	2	7	12	17
Slave (Thrace)	2	2	2	6	8	10
Slave (Dacia)	2	4	2	8	16	20

Beware of ordinary looking Gauls.

I thought that 4 gladiators would be a good start to the new school. The new regulations allow for new combatants to be purchased at the end of each month if desired. 2 trained gladiators and 2 untrained slaves would seem to make an interesting starting roster. The profits from the quickly improving (assuming they stay alive) untrained slaves would be worth investigating, where as you need to have some trained for success. In the gladiator pool I have picked the Secutor, who is of average ability but cheapest, and every Ludus needs a Retiarius, so he was bought. As for the slaves, a Dacien one stood out as a big strong lad, so I paid the extra for him. A run of the mill slave was also on the list. The cheapest, though, was a Gaul. I've already run foul of having Gauls in my school, especially ordinary looking ones, so I avoided him and paid the extra aurei for the Thracien (and peace of mind!).

Onto Equipment. Obviously I needed Secutor and Retiarus gear. The slave from Thraca would hopefully have some instinct for the Thraex style of combat, maybe even basically taught before being plucked from his homeland, and you can't go wrong with having a Murmillo in the Stable. In all cases, especially with my winnings from the first 3 months, I bought the heavier armour to help protect my investments. Signatures (individual quirks) were also rolled for here, but the results all came up with "no signature".

So costs come to:

• Acacius (Galatia) - Retiarius : 56
• Balbus (Hispania) - Secutor  : 44
• Caecus (Thrace) - ex-Slave Thraex : 28
• Dagwalus (Dacia) - ex-Slave Murmillo : 36
• Total Investment : 164 aurei

[ You can maybe see why I sold up and started again. In the old system the gladiator and armour pricing was much more expensive. even taking into account the smaller number of Gladiators and the cheap ex-slaves the costs are 164 against 2540 aurei. Gladiators will also increase in value as their attributes go up, as opposed to when their entire Rep went up in the old system (ignoring the 100pt Fame bonus) so the chance to make more money more quickly will hopefully see me make my way towards Rome.]

Gladiator School - Month 3

Abercius's leg wound didn't heal in time for this months fight.

Balbillus (Rep 4 Retiarus) vs Rep 4 Secutor

Turn 1: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Secutor(20), Init Secutor

•  Both advance towards each other (10" Gap)

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Secutor(20), Init Secutor

• Secutor Advances 3"
• Retiarus Advances 2" to the edge of his Net range and attacks. At this range the Secutor sees it coming and grabs the end of the net. This results in a brief tug of war which the Retiarus wins, and he retrieves his net.

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Retiarus(15), Secutor(17) Init Retiarus (5" Gap)

• Retiarus Net attack, but the Secutor is ready again and grabs the net. Again the Retiarus manages to win the pulling contest and retrieve his net.
• The Sectutor then closes in 3"

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Retiarus(11), Secutor(13) (2" Gap) Init Retiarus

• The Retiarus backs away from the Secutor 2" then springs a thrird net attack. This one catches his opponent out and he is pulled face down into the dust, ensnared in the net.
• The Retiarus rushes forward to take advantage, making sure that he uses the superior reach of his trident to stay out of harms way. But in his haste the strike only catches the Secutors large helmet and the fallen Gladiator turns over to face his enemy, still on the ground.
• The Retiarus still manages to get another attack in whilst the Secutor is on the ground, but it is fended off.
• The Secutor manages to make it to his feet, retreat away from the Retiarus and removes the net, which is thrown, useless onto the ground. The Retiarus will have to battle the unwounded, but tired Secutor with only his trident. 

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Retiarus(4), Secutor(2), Init Retiarus

• The Retiarus moves forward to a 1" range and attacks, but his tired efforts are parried away.
• Knowing he cannot get away from his opponent to catch his breath the Secutor makes one final attack, but the thrust of his weapon is avoided and he finaly surrenders exhausted.

Balbillus is declared victorious and received 4 AP and 4 Fame.

Caecilianus (Rep 3 dwarf Hoplomachus) vs Rep 3 Murmillo

 Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15)

• Both Gladiators advance towards each other (finishing turn 2 6" apart)

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

• Murmillo moves forward 3"
• Hoplomachus moves forward to 1" gap and attacks. The Murmillo blocks the effort and stabs forward, but the extra reach og the spear has kept the Hoplomachus out of harms reach. 

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(13), Murmillo(12), Init Hoplomachus

• Again the Hoplomachus attacks from outside his opponents reach, but loses out, thankful again for the reach advantage.
• The Murmillo advances to striking range and makes an attack, trying to press home his size advantage. He hits the little Gladiator in the belly, but not well enough to wound and the little man staggers back 1".

 Turn 5: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(7), Murmillo(6), Init Murmillo

• Trying to get the upper hand on his retreating opponent the Murmillo advances and attacks again, only to pushed back 1" with an aching belly himself this time. Luckily with no wound.
• The Hoplomachus then makes his attack, but it comes to nothing.

Turn 6: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(2), Murmillo(1), Init Hoplomachus

• Both Gladiators are exhausted, so that when the Hoplomachus makes a half hearted attack, his opponent can only just match him before surrendering exhausted.

Caecilianus is declared victorious and received 3 AP and 3 Fame.

Dacien (Rep 4 Thracian) vs Rep 4 Retiarus

Turn 1: Dice Pool: Thracian(20), Retiarus(20)

• Both Gladiators advance towards each other (to a 9" Gap)

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Thracian(20), Retiarus(20), Init Thracian

• Thracian advances half an inch, wary of his opponents effective attack range.
• The Retiarus moves up to his maximum net attack range.

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Thracian(20), Retiarus(20) Init Thracian

• Dacien moves forward towards his opponent, hoping to fend off the inevitable net attack and get to striking distance.
• The net attack is launched but fended off. The gladiators are 2" apart now. Within movement and melee attack range of the Thracian next round.

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Thracian(17), Retiarus(18), Init Retiarus

• Crucially the Retiarus gets his attack in before the Thracian get to melee range and he manages to this time esnare his opponent and pull him face down to the ground.
• He quickly makes a follow up attack, wounding the prone entangles man in the upper back.
• Dacien rolls over in time to see a second attack come in to his chest, but manages to roll his shield in the way, saving himself from a second, fatal upper body wound.
• Again the Retiarus thrusts forward. Again his attack is blocked, but the efforts of being ensnared and on the ground are too much for Dacien, and he is forced to surrender. 

Eborius (Rep 4 Provocator) vs Rep 4 Provocator

As both combatants are of the Provocator style, the report will mention Eborius by name and his opponent as Provocator.

Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Eborius(20), Provocator(20)

• Both gladiators move towards each other to close to a 6" Gap

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Eborius(20), Provocator(20), Init Eborius

• Eborius moves 2"
• The Provocator moves a full 3" to leave a 1" gap

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Eborius(20), Provocator(20), Init Provocator

• The Provocator moves in and attacks, but his efforts are matched.
• Eborius attempts to flank his opponent, but his opponent turns to face his manouvering opponent before any attack comes in.
• Eborius still presses home his attack though, and the Provocator staggeres back half an inch with a bleeding wound in is belly.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Eborius(14), Provocator(11), Init Provocator

• The Provocator replies with an attack, but his fresh wound slows him and it is easily countered.
• Eborius is over confident in his next attack and the result of a full strength counter leaves Eborius staggering back 1" clutching his badly bleeding belly in disbelief.

Turn 6: Dice Pool: Eborius(5), Provocator(7), Init Provocator

• Seeing his opponent is in trouble, the Provocator makes a bash attack on Eborius, sending him painfully back an inch.
• Eborius is very fatigued now, and realises that he needs to knock his opponent to the ground if he has any chance of victory. Hope springs to him as a return bash attack knocks the Provocator to the ground, but the weary follow-up attack is pushed away and Eborius is forced to surrender exhausted and wounded.

Caius says: "worst month of the new school so far. With so many laurel wreaths won last month I was hoping to get one or two more an increase the value of my gladiators with their extra fame levels, but instead I've ended up with a net result of 3 wounded gladiators and no additional cash. There are also rumours that the rules of combat are changing, just to make things complicated. I'll have to check with my accountant to see what the implications are, but if those wounds don't heal my purse will be lighter, which is bad news."

The new version of Red Sand, Blue Sky has just been released by Two Hour Wargames. The gladiator make-up is completely different to the previous set, so the implications are that poor Caius may have to sell his current stock and buy a new batch of slave to train up. We'll have to see...

Unreal CR3 Tournament



Sometimes it's better to
not pop round the corner

Halo*Star came visiting for a game. The brief was simple. The game had to be 3 player (Halo*star, Arabiansquire and myself) and the request was "something Necromunda-esque".

Now I have the latest Necromunda rulebook and it's all fine and good, but this was to be a one off game, so the gang advances which make the game so interesting were not an issue here. We'd all played a couple of Chain Reaction games and enjoyed the system, so I thought we could beef up abit to a 5150 game. But the inexperience of us all meant that I decided to keep the gangs generic and simple so everyone was running off the same rules, rolls and weapon lists. Armour was alse left out, meaning the higher impact energy weapons should be left out for balance. By this time I realised that I'd ended up back with CR3! Not a problem.

Arabiansquire's Heavy
takes one step too far.

Three identical 5 member squads were made up:

• Rep 5 Leader armed with BA pistol and high impact melee weapon
• Rep 4 "Heavy" armed with a chain gun or similar
• Rep 4 ganger armed with a shotgun,
• Rep 4 ganger armed with BA pistol
• Rep 3 "juve" armed with a pistol

 

As an objective I decided to run  a varient from the Domination mode in Unreal Tournament. 4 hotspots were located at various parts of the board. All are neutral at the start of the game. When a gang member stands on the hotspot it changes to their squad colour and their squad is awarded 1 point. If a member of another gang moves over the hotspot it changes to their squad colour and that squad gets a point (the previous team still retaining their earlier point). At the end of the alocated game time each squad is awarded 3 points for each hotspot in their colour. Any killed figures were not re-spawned, although in a larger game with more player controled squads this might be an idea. All other rules as per CR3. Simple. 

I threw down a load of scenery to keep the table busy and try and avoid the dullness of long range heavy weapons dominating the table (something that seems to happen too oftern in the Necromuda games I play!). Looking at the table I could really do with at least one more (preferably two) levels higher in terrain - ah well another project rears it's head!

And the boy becomes a man.

I'm not going to go into a full report but give a couple of key actions. Poor Halo*Star , (starting mid table) got off to a poor start and had to wait a couple of rounds to activate. Unfortunately his first "actions" were for losing his Heavy and making reaction rolls. ArabianSquire (starting at the top of the table) moved most his squad down the eastern side of the terrain, with a side squad  looking to pick off some of Halo*Star's figures and maybe get a point from a hotspot. Unfortunately he lost his Heavy to In Sight reaction fire as he tried to get a bead on some of them. my forces split as well. The majority looping round to the east picked up a hotspot and killed H*S's Heavy early doors before moving inland under the cover of the last remaining Heavy of the board. A splinter group also move up the western edge to counter A.S.'s main force. They managed to take down ArabianSquires leader as he ran round a corner, but eventually both fell victim to a plucky juve who recovered from a duck back, toughed out a received fire test and then "lucky shot" his way to clearing the opposition. Good Work!

Despite the carnage some points were scored and the game finished in 3 close scores (with me winning). We all agreed to was good fun, and the rules were beginning to sink in. We also all agreed that we needed to start picking up some gun based game tactics as tactics were generally in short supply!

Gladiator School - Month 2 (Part 2)

Caecilianus (Small Rep 3 Hoplomachus) vs Rep 3 Murmillo
Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Murmillo

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Hoplomachus

• Hoplomachus retires 1". 
• Murmillo advances full distance (gap now 4")

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(15), Murmillo(15), Init Hoplomachus

• The Hoplomachus advances 3" and attacks, trying to take advantage of his superior weapon reach, but the attack come to nothing.
•  The Murmillo steps up toe to toe and engages his opponent, but the two fighters are still evenly matched.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(10), Murmillo(12), Init Hoplomachus

• The Hoplomachus makes a thrusting attack, but his lack of size is causing him problems and he gets hit in the lower left leg. Fortunately no wound is made but he staggers backwards 1"
• The Murmillo follows the Hoplomachus and attacks, but the attack fails to have any impact on either side.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Hoplomachus(4), Murmillo(6), Init Hoplomachus

• Starting to get tired, the Hoplomachus makes an attempt to flank his adversary to the left, but his slow tired effort is easily spotted and the Murmillo steps across to block the maneuver.
• The Hoplomachus still has his attack though and scores a hit on the Murmillo's belly, not wounding but crucially knocking his fatigued combatant to the ground.
• The small Hoplomachus follows up the knocked down with a second attack. Both fighters are near exhaustion, and the felled Murmillo hasn't the strength to prevent himself being wounded in the chest. He surrenders, spent and bloodied. Caecilianus just manages to stay on his feet to be declared winner (+3 AP, +3 Fame)

Dacien (Rep 4 Thraex) vs Rep 3 Murmillo
Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15)

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Thraex(20), Murmillo(15), Init Thraex

• The Thraex advances and attacks.
• The ferocity of the attack catches the Murmillo by suprise and takes a fatal wound to the chest.
• With his opponent lying dead at his feet Dacien is declared winner and also receives a laurel wreath for his clinical victory (+3AP, +53 Fame)

Eborius (Rep 4 Provocator) vs Rep 3 Hoplomachus
Turns 1&2: Dice Pool: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15)

• Both advance towards each other to finish 6" after turn 2

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15), Init Provocator

• The Provocator retreats 1", wary of the Hoplomachus' spear and looking for a chance to get in range.
• The Hoplomachus advances 3". (4" gap)

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Provocator(20), Hoplomachus(15), Init Hoplomachus

• The Hoplomachus sees his chance, advances and attacks his cautious opponent, using the superior reach of his spear to his advantage. A hit is made, but it is only to the heavily armored head of Eborius, not wounding and only knocking him back 1".
• The Provocator rushes forward with a bash attack, trying to knock the Hoplomachus to the ground, but the man with the spear stands his ground.

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Provocator(12), Hoplomachus(10), Init Hoplomachus

•  The Hoplomachus gets the next attack in but is clumsy with his longer spear and is knocked to the ground, a nasty wound bleeding on his chest.
• The Provocator presses home the advantage on his felled opponent, striking and wounding again, this time to the exposed belly.
• The second wound to the torso is too much, and the Hoplomachus slumps back dead.
• Eborius is declared winner with a laurel wreath (+3AP, +53 Fame)

Caius says: "It was always going to be difficult to follow up the success of the first month. Sometimes the Gods smile on you sometimes they have other plans. Poor Abercius didn't get a roll of the dice his whole match. He's probably lucky to only escape with a wounded leg. Hopefully it'll heal for the matches next month. But with three laurel wreaths and an exciting close call fight I can be happy. THe retiarus' net showed it's worth this round. With a fighter ability hindered (-2 Rep) when ensnared the man with the trident can really press on, especially at this low level where any disadvantage is huge. That is why my smallest warrior, Caecilianus, still amazes me with his wins."

(Total cash : 3260 aurei) 

Gladiator Stats:

• Abercius: Rep 4, AP 3, Fame 3, wounded (leg)
• Balbillus: Rep 4, AP 7, Fame 57
• Caecilianus: Rep 3, AP 7, Fame 7
• Dacien: Rep 4, AP 6, Fame 56
• Eborius: Rep 4, AP 6, Fame 56

Gladiator School - Month 2 (Part 1)

Abercius (Rep 4 Secutor) vs NPC Rep 3 Retiarus

Turn 1: Dice Pool: Secutor(20), Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Secutor(20), Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus advances full distance 
• Secutor advances full distance hoping to get initiative and attack next turn.

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Secutor(20), Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus makes a net attack and ensnares the Secutor, who manages to stay on his feet. 
• The Retiarus makes his follow up attack but it is ineffectual. 
• The Secutor makes a return attack, but the hinderance of being ensnared lets the Retiarus pick his spot and wounds him on the upper left leg, causing the Secutor to stagger back 1". Having moved away from melee though, if he can get initiative next turn there's a chance he can lose the net and try to salvage the fight. 

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Secutor(4), Retiarus(8), Init Retiarus

• Before the Secutor can remove the net, the Retiarus moves in to attack, but the struggling Secutor manages to parry the attempt. 
• A near exhausted Secutor makes a last gasp effort to flank the Retiarus to his left, but the flank fails and as the Retiarus turns to face his opponent the Abercius surrenders: spent, wounded and tangled. 

Balbillus (Rep 4 Retiarus) vs Rep 4 Murmillo
Turn 1: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(20), Init Murmillo

• Both advance towards each other

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Retiarus(20), Murmillo(20), Init Murmillo

• Murmillo adavnces full distance. 
• Retiarus advances a couple of steps (inches) and makes a net attack, catching the Murmillo and pulling him to the ground, face down. 
• The Retiarus makes a follow up attack but only manages to hit the murmillo's helmet, causing no damage. The Murmillo rolls half an inch to the right and is now face up, so he can use his shield if need be, but is still ensnared.

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Retiarus(13), Murmillo(13), Init Retiarus

• Before the Murmillo can stand and remove the net the Retiarus moves in and attacks, but can only hit his opponents thick helmet again and the murmillo rolls off an inch to the right.
•  Having rolled away from melee, the Murmillo has time to stand, manages to remove the net and turns to face his opponent. 

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Retiarus(10), Murmillo(5), Init Retiarus

• The Retiarus steps up to hoping quickly end the battle and attacks. His trident bites into the Murmillo's chest, wounding him and sapping the last of his strength. Balbillus is declared winner and also gets a laurel wreath for his performance (+ 4 AP, +54 fame).

Gladiators - Month 1 Fight 1: Secutor vs Retiarus

And so the Road back to Rome begins with Abercius the Rep 4 Secutor vs Rep 3 NPC Retiarus

I'll note this fight down in a more cold, mechanics demo fashion to show what is rolled, but in future I'll be more narrative in the fight summary.
Turn 1: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarus(15), Init Retiarus

• All Move towards each other full move

Turn 2: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarius(15), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus move to max net range (6") 
• Secutor closes in to 3"

Turn 3: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarus(15), Init Secutor

• Secutor moves in to engage Retiarus in HtH.
• Dice Allocation (DA): Secutor(4), Retiarus(2)
• Secutor Pass 2, Retiarus 0
• Hit scored on chest with a wound (and burn 3 DA) and Retiarus knocked down (burn 1 DA)
• Secutor immediate follow-up attack for a knockdown.
• DA: Secutor(4), Retiarus(2) (Retiarius on ground so burns double, DA = 4)
• Secutor Pass 1, Retiarus 0
• Hit scored on left arm for a wound (and burn 2 DA) and Retiarus rolls 1" to the left (burn 1 DA)
• Retiarus stands (Cost 2" movemnet) and retreats 3"

Turn 4: Dice Pool: Secutor(12),Retiarus(2), Init Secutor

• Secutor advances 3"
• Retiarus - Catch Breath roll Fail, Net Attack roll Fail, Move away 5"

Turn 5: Dice Pool: Secutor(12),Retiarus(2), Init Secutor

• Secutor advances 3"
• Retiarus Catch Breath

Turn 6: Dice Pool: Secutor(20),Retiarus(3), Init Retiarus

• Retiarius Catch Breath
• Secutor advance and engage
• DA: Secutor(4), Retiarus(2)
• Secutor Pass 0, Retiarus 1
• Hit scored on Belly but no wound and Secutor gives ground by 1"

Turn 7: Dice Pool: Secutor(7),Retiarus(2), Init Retiarus

• Retiarus Net attack
• DA: Secutor(3), Retiarus(2)
• Secutor pass 3, Retiarus 1
• Secutor cuts net rope tether & Retiarus surrenders spent

As this is in the Empire outer reaches the Retiarus has no survival vote to go through and lives to fight another day. Secutor gains 3AP & 3 Fame points. Caius gets the 100 aurei winners purse.

Looking back at the action notes I can see that I may have messed up the NPC movement in turns 3 & 4 as he would have been retreating at double movement allocation or would have left himself facing away from his opponent in turn 6. Also I don't think the NPC should have caught his breath on Turn 6. Don't think it made any difference to the outcome after the brutal Turn 3 combat which wounded the NPC and burned nearly all his Dice.

Gladiator School Campaign

I've had Two Hour Wargames Red Sand Blue Sky Gladitorial ruleset for a few years now but despite having some figures painted up and even an arena to fight in I never seem to get round to playing any games of it, despite the fact I've enjoyed it couple of trial games I've played. So I've decided to start a solo campaign. Most RSBS campaigns I see on the web follow a single character through their career, so I thought I'd try the alternative campaign and run a school of gladiators. This'll give me several different styles of combatant to use as well as prolong the campaign in the case of some heinous injury. To keep this realistically running as well I'm going to pledge to run at least a month a month, meaning that each real month I'll do at least one round of contests.

I shall play the part of Caius Fatuous . After having rowed Ekonomikrisis's galley round half the Roman Empire I have disembarked to set up a school at the newly constructed arena in Londinium in the outer reaches of the known world - Britannia.

Following the rulebook I start with 5000 aurei. My gladiator stock is limited to Rep 3 & 4 and I've picked a random cross-section of styles to go with a random rep and random rolls for parts of the body where armour can vary. Size was also rolled according to the rulebook. My initial gladiator school thus consists of:

• Abercius: Secutor, Rep 4, Normal Sized, AV 40 - Cost 480   
• Balbillus: Retiarus, Rep 4, Normal Sized, AV 38 - Cost 460   
• Caecilianus: Hoplomachus, Rep 3, Small Sized, AV 46 - Cost 520  
• Dacien: Thraex, Rep 4, Large Sized, AV 47 - Cost 550  
• Eborius: Provoctor, Rep 4, Normal Sized,AV 45 - Cost 530

Total Spend 2540 aurei

As you can see I've only spent half my budget. I need 100 aurei to put into the prize purse per fight and I've left enough to purchase a couple more gladiators should by initial training sessions give unfortunate results. With a bit of luck I'll soon be moving away from these squallid outreaches back towards the glory of Rome.

All Things Zombie - lesson 2

With Halo*Star visiting last weekend I took the opportunity to continue the All Things Zombie learning.



Setup after players first move. Viewing from the south-western corner.

Similar to last session, all 3 players (Arabiansquire was also playing) had a group of 3 figures - a Rep5 star and 2 rep 4 grunts armed with guns .I won't bother with exact details - suffice to say they were all target 3 impact 1 apart from one cop who had a bolt action rifle (target 1, impact 3). Again we set up an urban encounter to maximise zombie encounters and building searching - the only way to learn after all. The progress was pretty slow, as there were quite a few occassions for looking up rules again, although it was faster towards the end.

The civilians head into the office (right)
to escape the zombie crush, whilst zombies
gather to block off the cops.

A tense standoff with another
armed group of civilians.

This session ran with a better mix of action. Halo*star's civilian's entered from the east and managed to evade a group of zombies early on through a building before dashing across the road to a block of flats where they encountered no-one (ground floor) humans who didn't join them (1st floor) and humans who did join them, but only for that session (2nd Floor).

The mafia search a warehouse.

Arabiansquire's mafia types entered from the north and searched through a couple of warehouses before blasting some zombies in the street and then dashing into a garage to hide and search.

The cops bolt out the back door to
hide from the horde out front

My cops came in from the south-west corner and spent most the time trying to blast and run themselves clear of the hordes of zombies generated at the start - coming in at a corner and rolling for 17 zombies tends to group them together!! Everything was running pretty smoothly, with the odd compliction of zombies not going down, but the main talking/fun point was one that definately only happens in a TwoHour Wargame game.

 

 

 

 

The cops quietly hide round the
corner...until the mafia appear at
the other end of the street.

My cops had just managed to clear a corridor and away from the edges of the board before a zombie horde came round the corner. The zombies were travelling to the last guns shots fired, crucially close to but away from the cops, so staying quite was the order of the day. Next Arabiansquires mafia appear out of a building at the other end of the street, causing a grunt cop to open fire with his bolt action rifle after a reaction test. The mafia leader was hit- Out Of Fight whilst the rest ducked back under the received fire reactions.

 

 

 

 

 

The cops get swapped as the
zombie tide turns.

The brief firefight alert the passing zombies to the cops presence and two of them went down with bites in the melee.

 

So much for staying quiet! The irony of this all happening because the cops PASSED his reaction rolls wasn't lost!

 

Next time we'll try a more focused scenario and add in some character attributes.