Chariot Race

With the women's World Cup football coming to a climax, and Australia still riding high, our house is currently sports crazy at the moment, which is a rarity. Anyway, it made me feel I needed to play something sporty, so I got out my Celtic racing-chariots and set up a game of Faustus Furious.

I went for the full set of six competitors.

The course was roughly triangular - two laps up past the white horse, along the back and around the sacred grove, between the rocks and the hill and around to the horse again. The finish line was midway along the horse.

Turn one saw all of the chariots make a strong start. Blue got enough actions to begin its turn, whilst Yellow chose to use their spare action to attack Green's chariot, causing its spooked horses to pull it even further ahead.

Turn Two - Yellow attacked White causing it to spin out and end up stationary, then shot into the lead. Blue and Green followed closely behind, whilst Grey and Red were a little slow lining up for the turn.

Turn Three - Yellow maintained their lead, and everyone else pretty much followed suit. White got moving again.

Turn Four - The chariots were all passing the sacred grove now heading for the final straight and turn of the first lap. Yellow extended their lead, whilst Green took the turn too wide and lost ground. Red and White came up strongly from the back. Grey was still struggling.

Turn Five - Yellow prepared to turn into their second lap, whilst Blue took second place. Green, White and Red vied for third position, and Grey brought up the rear.

Turn Six - Yellow completed their first lap and went into the harder second lap (you lose one fresh action die, replaced with an exhaustion die). Blue and Red were looking strong in second and third place, whilst Green and White were lagging behind a little. Grey was still struggling.

Turn Seven - Excitement as White misjudged its run and collided with Red. Red's chariot flipped over, whilst White veered wildly off course.

End of Turn Seven - White was badly out of position, whilst Red got their chariot back into the race, albeit having lost some ground. Yellow was still ahead, naturally.

Turn Eight - Having to be more cautious about its actions, Yellow lost some ground to Blue, who was now challenging the lead. Green started the second lap, whilst Grey had caught up with Red

Turn Eight - More action saw Blue collide with Green, causing Green's chariot to flip over and Blue's to run off the course. A mob of outraged spectators entered the field (the brown counter). White was struggling to get back into the race.

Turn Nine - Yellow's lead extended as Red, Green and the newly returned Blue crashed into each other after the first turn. Grey managed to get through the mess unscathed.

Turn Ten - Another mob entered the field, Red, Green and Blue all failed to get their chariots back into the running and Grey was now well-established in second place.

Turn Eleven - Yellow lapped the struggling White chariot. Grey continued to run in second place, and Red, Green and Blue all got back into the running.

Turn Twelve - Grey came up fast and attacked Yellow!

Yellow spun to a halt, bouncing off White which veered wildly off course.

(I missed taking a photo of Turn Thirteen, which saw Yellow start moving again, but Grey move up to the run for the finish).

Turn Fourteen - Unopposed Grey made an easy run to the finish, for the win!

Yellow followed on behind, a close second.

Blue, Green and Red were all vying for third place.

Blue attempted to cut in front of Green ...

... but Green executed a perfect sharp turn to speed over the line in third place.

Blue and Red finished close behind. White was nowhere to be seen.

So an epic win for the Grey chariot, who came from the back thanks to them avoiding the pile-up on the second lap and a willingness to attack the leader just before the finish. Yellow was unlucky to finish second, having pretty much led the pack for most of the race.

I might rummage out some spare 6mm Celts to make a few mobs - they'll look nicer than the brown counters.

Blood, Sweat & Cheers

Last night I had my first face to face game with someone outside of the family since October when Victor came down from Sydney for the evening. We played Blood, Sweat & Cheers, since he had only had a go at the playtest version, ages ago.

We used the arena I made last year. Obviously.

We started with a classic bout - thracian vs murmillo. The first game ended very quickly with the thracian scoring a killing blow with a wicked slash.

We set it up and played it again, and this was a much more even fight. I think the murmillo won this time.

Next up we tried a lighter gladiator, so Victor took a velite against my secutor.

I can't remember who won that one. It was an interesting and mobile fight though, since both gladiators have movement-based abilities, and the velite a decent speed.

Finally Victor took a barbarian (run as a murmillo with more speed and less armour) against a hoplomachus.

I got in an early hit with a thrown spear, but Victor came back and injured me in return. We this game ran for a long while with neither gladiator able to finish off the other, despite both being wounded. Just as we were looking to end it and call it a draw, the barbarian struck a finishing blow.

We both picked up a couple of wins, as I recall, which was good, and also discussed some possible alternative abilities for the barbarian gladiators, which I will ponder and explore at a later date.

52 Games - Game 16

Hippodrome

I ran another Faustus Furius race, but thus time used a more formal course. This game was done on a  bit of a whim, which is why I marked out the course with random bits of card and river sections that were on my table. It was done according to the minimum size for a circuit given in the rules - 30cm wide by 60cm long. 

I used six chariots again, but ran a mix of types. Red and Yellow were fast, Green and Blue were Agile, Grey was Scythed and White was Standard.

Blue and Yellow got off to a terrible start when Grey, the scythed chariot, attacked one of them, went out of control and spun around, wrecking them both. They would have to right themselves and make a slow start.

In fact, with their fast trait, Yellow more than made up the lost ground, and got into second place behind Red, the other Fast chariot. But fast chariots aren't so good on the corners.

Red and White made the corner. I'm not sure what happened to Yellow at this stage. The Agile chariots, Green and Blue, got into a mess with Grey, in which Grey was wrecked and Green spun to a halt.

White took the lead, as Red, whilst fast, had had to take the corner a lot wider. 

Ah - here's Yellow, coming up in third place, having taken the corner really wide. White held onto the lead as the chariots entered the second turn.

Again, White's better handling told over Red and Yellow's superior speed, and White continued to maintain its lead as they entered the second lap. Green and Blue were coming up fast as well, and would make light work of the turn too.

White was now well out in front.

Red and Yellow sped down the straight, but Green and Yellow were in the running now as well. Although Green had spun out again.

The benefits of a fast chariot can be seen here. Although White took the corner well, they seemed to slow on the back straight and Yellow, despite its slow cornering, was catching up. Grey was about to be lapped - cautiously, because those scythes are dangerous and Grey has nothing to lose.

Yellow and White went into the final corner together. 

And they both fluffed it. White crashed, and Yellow took it too wide and spun to a halt.

But they had a good lead and were back in the race before the other chariots, led by Red, could overtake them.

Yellow surged ahead, and had to fend off an attack by Grey. Amazingly it survived.

In the approach to the final corner Blue, Red and Green got into a mess and there was a bit of a disaster again.

Meanwhile White had put on a burst of speed, and managed to cross the finish ahead of White.

There was no way Yellow couldn't take second place - the compulsory movement would do it even without them rolling dice.

Red and Blue had lost out on the final corner, but Green deftly avoided the worst of the disaster, and picked up a late third place.

So the fast chariot was beaten by a standard model, but only just - the balance is kind of right with a standard chariot performing better on the turns, but losing ground on the straights. In previous games I've felt that Agile chariots have an overall edge because their cornering is just so good. In this race though they kept getting delayed by poor positioning and the side-effects of attacks. Even so, they made up the lost ground well.

The Solstice Race

I got out Ganesha Games' 'Faustus Furius' because I fancied something light and easy to while away part of the evening. I set up a six chariot race, obviously celebrating the Summer Solstice. It would be run in the open country - Celtic tribesmen have no need for fancy arenas like those Romans do.

The course ran around the sacred grove, around the western rock-outcrop, with the chariots having to do that twice before racing for the finish-line between the two eastern rock-outcrops.

I ran six standard chariots. I didn't feel like trying to keep track of different abilities.

Turn One - And away they went. Blue and White took the lead, whilst Red made a poor start.

Turn Two - Yellow attacked Grey, causing the latter to head off in the wrong direction out of control. Blue and Green had the lead as the chariots rounded the sacred grove for the first time.

Turn Three - Grey ran off the course, so would be delayed for a turn. The other five chariots rounded the grove, although White attacked Green causing his chariot to skid to a halt and lose ground. Blue was edging ahead of the pack now.

Turn Four - Blue took a good line towards the rock outcrop turn, whilst Red and Yellow struggled to keep up.

Turn Five - And Blue was still in front whilst Red was now in second place, having made up for their slow start. Yellow, White and Green were fighting for third place. Grey was so far behind as to not be in the picture.

Turn Six - The chariots round the outcrop, with Yellow now looking strong in second place.

Turn Six saw the first collision, as Grey came out of nowhere, attacked White and caused it to crash into Green. Green was wrecked (although wrecks can be returned to the race in this game) and White spun to a halt.

Turn Seven - I missed taking a picture. A shame as Blue managed to fall foul of enraged spectators (the brown counters), and ended up swerving wildly off course.

Turn Eight - Blue continued off-course, whilst Yellow and Red headed towards the grove for the second and final time. Green had righted their chariot swiftly and got back into the race, whilst White was struggling to turn their team in the right direction. Grey had somehow spun out of control and was also in difficulties.

Turn Nine - Red attacked Yellow, but was beaten back and spun out.

Turn Ten - Yellow looked set to take an easy lead, but fluffed the turn around the grove and crashed. Red was still in difficulty, Blue was taking the long way back into the race, White was back in the running and Grey was nowhere to be seen.

Turn Eleven - Green and Yellow were neck and neck heading around the grove. White was looking strong in third place.

Turn Twelve - Green somehow ended up in trouble again (I can't remember how), leaving Yellow in a commanding lead. Red was now contesting third place with White. Blue was now back in the running as well, with Grey well to the rear.

Turn Thirteen - Into the final turn and Yellow spun to a halt!

Turn Fourteen - Yellow's lead was reducing as White came up strongly. Red was trailing in third place. No other chariot was really in the running as Yellow turned towards the finish line.

Turn Fifteen - Yellow was well out in front, although if White got initiative they could cross the finish line first with enough activations.

Turn Sixteen - It wasn't to be; Yellow cruised across the finish ...

... and White fell just short of finishing in the same turn.

Turn Seventeen - White crossed in second place, with Red hot on their tail. Again, a lucky initiative draw could see Blue jump across the line ahead of Red ...

... whilst Grey and Green were now no longer in the running.

Turn Eighteen - Grey and Green managed to affect the race; closing up on Blue they caused a chain of swerves and skids ...

... leaving Red to take third place.

Turn Nineteen - Blue extricated their chariot from the mess to pick up fourth place, and I ended the race there since Green and Grey were both stationary again and would now simply be disqualified.

The race was all good fun, even if I have some reservations about the mechanisms of the game. It's a fun piece of entertainment, if nothing else, and the more open 'arena' reduced the frustrating collisions with walls that dogged other games I've played.