The Great Bacon Battle, Saxons vs. Vikings

    Vikings steal the Saxon village's pigs after driving off the local Saxon force in the center of the village

So, Steve V was requesting a Dark Ages skirmish on what could be his last gaming evening in awhile, so I threw together a quickie scenario. He wanted to try the format I'd used for my French & Indian War game at Advance the Colors last year. In this head-to-head format, I divide the table into one-on-one matchups using terrain. Players can move troops back and forth if they wish, and they make a collective decision on how to allocate their troops to the different scenarios. This version was much simpler, but still the same format.

    Mounted on a stolen horse, the Viking commander chases down a Saxon

In the middle board, I faced off against Steve V. I was the local Saxon eorl trying to keep the Vikings from bringing home our bacon (pig pen). The board consisted of numerous buildings -- most from Acheson Creations -- and the centerpiece, a scratch-built pig pen with three stands of meat on the hoof. To my left, Keith was trying to prevent the Viking warband commanded by Mike S from stealing horses to raid faster inland. On my right, Allen was racing to prevent the Vikings from looting the local monastery.

    Monks retreat to the chapter house and barricade the doors as the Viking raiders arrive. I think this is the first game my monastery made an appearance in...!

Each player commanded anywhere from 8 - 12 troops, including a leader. I modified the Song of Blades and Heroes rules to take out group moves. I figure that "units" don't exist when you're talking about so few men. It is a straight up, man-to-man skirmish at this level. I also eliminate the "Gruesome Kill" morale check rule. Honestly, this is the Dark Ages. ALL the kills are gruesome! And finally, I have warbands test morale each time they take an additional casualty once they fall below half. It doesn't make sense to me that units that troops might break when their casualties fall to half, but then ignore when they go to 1/3, 1/4, etc.

    Help arrives in time for the monks as the local Saxon leader interrupts the Viking looting and a fierce battle erupts

The games went VERY quickly. Keith and Mike had an incredibly bloody battle and the Saxon lord chased the Vikings off from his corral. I had my usual failures with activation rolls when I play the "Song of Blades" system, and Steve V took it to my Saxons quickly. We fought back, though, and reached the stage where the next player to lose a man would have to test morale (and have their troops scattered, likely). Unfortunately, I was the one to be that next player, and the Vikings were able to bring home the bacon in the center.

    Both commanders poured troops into the fray until the monastery was crowded with men fighting and dying

The battle over the monastery turned into quite the slugfest up amongst the monk's beehive huts and the stone chapter building. The Vikings go there first, but the Saxons arrived shortly after, preventing any looting. The battle degenerated into quite a wall-to-wall scrum, which the Saxon lord was able to win by entering the fray himself. Joel and Allen's game lasted longer than the others, but seemed like it was quite the battle royale.

The game got us pumped up for the Dark Age Britain campaign I'm planning on running for them once I get a few loose ends tied up here. The players suggested I modify what I've written to do games in this format, so I'll have to look into that. I think it is very doable, but I'll definitely need to change a few rules I've written.

As always, Song of Blades provides a fast, bloody game that is a good time.

Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures, Chapter 3: Coming to a Boil

    An overview of the most elaborate table I've ever set up: the river encircles an island in the center of the table. White steam marks where the cannibal cookpot has Brother Virigi on "simmer". The cliffs and pathways represent the various entry points for the five archeological factions.

The drum beats and howling from the pygmy cannibal village unnerved the archeologists as they crept towards it. Through the trees, they could see the glow of flames. Would they be too late? Would the Portuguese monk, Brother Virigi, already be the village dinner by the time they arrived? Caution and haste were called for at both times.

    The players study their initial fortune cards and try to map out a strategy to be the first to rescue Brother Virigi

On the river, Harris McLeod poled his hastily-built raft to shore, motioning his companions to follow him. The monk knew the location to the hidden city, and God alone knew the riches he could find there for the British Museum! Not far away, Pierre Fournereau hissed instructions to his men, "Zee monk must be rescued at all costs! Only with him, will we find zee ruins we seek..." Far above them, Von Jaeger and his Germans surveyed the scene from a rocky cliff. Giant stone idols loomed out of the jungle -- doubtless showered with riches by the savages of the jungle. Hurrying down the path leading to the cannibal village, a step ahead of the Germans, Dakota Smith and his friends also were eyeing the same giant stone heads, and the riches that may lay hidden near them. Another group of fortune hunters, Lady Shannon's Irish, looked down from a rocky hill at the two paths ahead of them. Should they cross the perilous looking rope bridge -- the quickest way to the village -- or detour to the temple below them and search it? Meanwhile, hidden in the jungle, three agents of the Order of the Fire Coral watched the approach of the westerners -- vowing the foreign devils would not succeed.

The leader of the secret martial arts society, Opay, saw the Irish head towards the temple and acted first. He found a way into the temple and discovered the skeleton on the floor. The satchel of the long-dead foreigner carried maps, he saw, maps that must not fall into the hands of the foreign devils! Before he could escape the temple, though, the rugged Irish mercenary Ryan O'Shea burst through the door and the two struggled over the satchel. Eventually, Opay disengaged and dove out through the window. There, he had to dodge a fusilade of shots fired by Ryan's companions. Unscathed, he scampered off into the jungle. Here was one clue to the Forbidden City's location that the Westerners would never find!

    Both the German and American archeologist leagues close in on one of the stone idols. Dakota Smith's band would spend the game frustrating their rival Germans, snatching treasure after treasure from under their nose.

On the other side of the village, Dakota Smith and his pal Harold found their way to one of the giant stone idols. Together, they pried out the immense ruby eyes, and disappeared into the brush as the sound of German voices drew near. Von Jaeger, cursing that Fraulein Blucher had fallen and knocked herself out climbing down from the cliff, let off a stream of Teutonic obscenities as he saw his rival Dakota disappear into the jungle. The empty eye sockets of the idol seemed to be mocking him. He and Otto hurried out onto the path, where they saw Dakota Smith and Dolly Flanders clambering up a cliff path towards another one of the savage's stone idols. Chuckling evilly, he and Otto Tulmann fired bursts of automatic fire above the Americans, which set loose a rockslide. Dakota reached for Dolly's hand as she slipped, but missed and watched her fall, knocked senseless onto the rocks below. "Zat is for Frau Blucher, mein American..."he growled. Dakota leapt up and blazed away at the Germans with his six-shooter, who ducked, then fired back. Harold Fortwine, who had made it to the bridge leading to the village, hearing the firefight, turned and pulled out his revolver and joined in, as well.

    Dakota blazes away at Von Jaeger and Otto Tulmann below, while Dolly takes a tumble from the rocky cliff path

Harris McLeod and Maj. Speke-Eastman had looted an idol of their own when they were surprised by the Fire Coral agent Jaz Minh leaping onto the path next to them. Inexplicably, all were too stunned to attack each other. Instead, the speedy martial artist raced up the path towards the cannibal village. Dumbfounded, the two Brits looked at each other, "Bloody Hell...?" Harris cocked his head, and asked, "Say, my good major, have you seen Clara?"

    A "Parley" fortune card made for this comic moment as Jaz Minh leaps out from the underbrush at Harris McLeod and Maj. Speke-Eastman, only to have all concerned stare at each other until she darted off.

The major looked back on the path and shook his head. "She was behind us just a moment ago..." In the woods a ways off, Harris' niece lay unconscious. They pygmies looming above her noticed the two Brits, and turned to stalk them next.

    Tex becomes my rope bridge's first (and probably not last) victim as his cowboy boots break through the rotted slats and send him hurtling towards the river below

Meanwhile, Lady Shannon's American mercenary, Tex, swallowed and tread softly out onto the rope bridge. His cowboy boots seemed to sink into the soft, almost rotted wood until there was a crash. He caught himself, though, and slowly dragged himself onto the next wooden slat. Beneath him, the waters of the jungle river writhed with evil dark shapes. Tex watched them for a few seconds, then pulled himself up and raced for the end of the bridge. There was another crash, and the American screamed as he fell towards the river below.

    Cue climactic orchestra music: With a display of athletic prowess, French leader Pierre Fournereau kicks aside pygmies and rescues Brother Virigi from the cookpot

There was a chorus of shouts and the drumming ceased when Pierre and his Frenchmen came charging across a bamboo bridge into town. Pygmies ran towards them, but Pierre kicked them aside. Dr. Lambert swatted another with his stout leather briefcase, while Jacques Nero blazed away with his shotgun, scattering the crowd of cannibals. Pierre hurled himself across the village and up the wooden plank that led to the boiling and hissing cookpot. He picked up the two pygmies who were poking the flames with their spears and hurled them to the ground. With a display of superhuman strength, the athletic French archeologist snapped the leather bonds holding Brother Virigi and lifted him bodily out of the cookpot. The monk was flushed red and looked slightly scalded, but seemed not unduly hurt. Pierre half-dragged, and half-carried him back down the plank towards his companions.

    Jaz Minh bravely hurls herself on the three Frenchmen to keep Virigi (and his knowledge of the Forbidden City) out of the hands of the foreign devils

There was a shout and the martial artist Jaz Minh raced towards Pierre and began kicking and punching the Frenchman, who fended off her blows. There was an even louder shriek of fury, and the pygmies of the village converged on the intruders. Jaz Minh gasped as a pygmy spear laid open her leg. The Frenchmen knocked away pygmies from all sides, gathered up the monk and moved towards the bridge. Pierre handed the monk off to the doctor, and stood as a valiant rearguard, battering aside any pygmies that tried to follow.

    Another agent of the Order of the Fire Coral, Tatko, bravely holds off the Irish leader and sidekick for several turns -- keeping them out of the action

Not far away, the martial artist Tatko and the Irish fortune hunters Lady Shannon and Ryan were engaged in a fierce brawl themselves. Tatko showed blazing speed in avoiding the attacks of the two Irish. The furious clamor from the village prompted them to break off their melee, and sneak towards the path to investigate. When they saw Dr. Lambert hurrying the monk down the path, they knew the French had been successful. Tatko stepped out onto the path for a clear throw, and zipped two shuriken at the archeologist. Dr. Lambert calmly ducked, then opened his briefcase, pulled out a revolver, and blazed away, wounding Tatko. Lady Shannon and Ryan appeared and both raised their weapons. "The monk comes with us!" they shouted. Lambert trained his revolver on them and fired. The Irish clucked in disbelief, "Och, bad decision, laddie..." They aimed at the doctor and squeezed their triggers..."Click! Click!" Out of ammunition -- both of them! The two let out a stream of curses in Gaelic as the Frenchman scooted past them, laughing.

        Clutching the monk's arm, Dr. Lambert runs the gauntlet of Tatko, Lady Shannon, and Ryan -- aided by not one but two "Out of Ammo" fortune cards

Meanwhile, far away in the jungle, Dakota Smith was definitely not laughing as he fled from the angry orangutan, whose frustrated howls rivaled those of the pygmies. Although he had not rescued the monk, he was somewhat relieved to see the French had done so. Now, all he would have to do would be to follow the French to the hidden city! He'd calmly finished looting the last of the pygmy idols and had been sneaking off into the jungle when he'd surprised the massive ape. His shots back at it did not seem to deter it from its chase, though. Eventually, he blundered onto the path, where he met Harold Fortwine, carrying Dolly Flanders. "What's that sticking out of your tail end, Harold?" Dakota asked.

    A comic end to the tale was a great ape chasing a wounded Dakota Smith out of the jungle

The burly academic grunted, "Cursed pygmy arrow!" Behind them, they heard more howls, though they could not tell if it was pygmies or apes. The two giggled and fled off into the jungle, not sticking around to find out.

Our third game of Pulp Alley was a blast. I had six players -- five archeological leagues, and one martial arts society whose job is to frustrate the objective of the others. Each team except for the martial arts society had a Leader, Sidekick, and Ally. Humorously, four of the five allies ended up being knocked down and out -- and all by the play of Fortune Cards. Both Frau Blucher and Dolly Flanders took tumbles on perilous cliff paths, while Tex was the first character to try to cross my rope bridge (and failed). British Clara was ambushed by pygmies in the woods early on. The only Ally to survive was the French Jacques Nero.

The French won the scenario, with the heroic charge led by their leader, Pierre Fournereau. They were really the only faction who made a concerted effort to go for the major plot point -- Brother Virigi stewing in the cookpot. All of the others were distracted by the minor plot points of idols and temples. The Germans in particular, spent the game chasing after Dakota Smith and his band after they snatched a plot point from under their noses. The Irish were also frustrated, but by the Order of the Fire Coral. First, Opay stole the plot point out of the temple just ahead of them. Then Tatko was a one-man wrecking and dodging crew, holding off the Irish leader and sidekick single-handedly. The Order of the Fire Coral has three sidekicks instead of the Leader/Sidekick/Ally combination. They played masterfully this time. They did not win, as the French had the major plot point, but they prevented the Irish from being a factor. The British succeeded in looting one idol, and seemed content with that. Dakota Smith surprisingly ignored the quick pathway to the village and left it to the French to rescue Brother Virigi, while he went off idol hunting. The Americans snagged two plot points, and escaped off board.

The players all seemed to have a good time...well, except for the Germans! We are getting better at creating the storyline of what happens in each perilous area, and making up what form each challenge takes. In the extremely perilous river island -- the cannibal village -- the perils were simply pygmies rushing at the players. Easier challenges represented lone pygmies, while difficult ones were swarms of them. The systems forces us to tell the story as we go along, and it often turns out to be a fairly hilarious one, too! Seven friends sitting around the table can be pretty ruthless when it comes to thinking of embarrassing things that happened to your characters when they fail challenges...!

The next chapter will find the archeologists finally exploring the hidden city that Brother Virigi had spotted so long ago. Stay tuned to this channel for more thrilling Oriental Adventures with Dakota Smith...!

Snowed in? Build a temple! (Part 5 - finished!)

    At 10 inches tall, this temple is definitely the centerpiece of a gaming table

So, the big temple is now complete. I have to say that I am very happy with how it turned out. This build has to be up there with my Dark Ages Saxon church as one of my all-time favorites.  Is it my best work? Not sure...but it is certainly not my worst!

    Some of my 28mm Pulp figures gathered around the entrance to the temple

All patting myself on the back aside, when I left off in the last article the temple outside was complete. All that remained was the flocking and the interior. I painted the styrene base with white glue and poured medium ballast over the glue as a first coat. Then, I painted the ballast (when dry) with a mixture of white glue, water, and brown paint. I poured sand over it while still wet. Then I painted straight white glue in large patches, sprinkling this with Woodland Scenics blended green turf. Once it had dried, the areas left brown I painted with 50/50 white glue and water and sprinkled lightly with Woodland Scenics brown turf. I added three different colors of clump foliage here an there, as well as some wire plants, flowers, or bushes.

    Eric Bylan and his native guides investigate the rear of the grand temple

At this point, I had a decision to make: Do I flock the roof to represent plants taking roof up there, as well? I went back and forth on the idea, and finally decided to do it. First, I painted the area with straight white glue and sprinkled on blended green turf. I then followed it up here and there with clump foliage atop the green. I even added a couple flowering plants or bushes on top of that. Once everything was dry, I sprayed it with Testors Dullcoate, and then followed that up with a 50/50 white glue and water. I am glad I decided to flock the roof. I think it adds that extra bit of "lost in the jungle" feel to the temple.

    Looking down at the roof of the temple -- I think the flock added to the roof really makes it appear like it as stumbled upon, hidden deep inside of a jungle

For the interior, I downloaded some images from CG Textures -- a free website with great pictures of stone, brick, cloth -- you name it! I resized then in Photoshop and printed them out. I decided to have the interior of the temple made of reddish blocks of sandstone. The floor is an almost-mosaic like rock floor. Once they were trimmed to fit perfectly, I painted the interior with Ceramcoat Spice Tan (the same color as the base coat for the temple surfaces). That way, any join between the walls or floor that doesn't fit perfectly has a nice, dull background to blend it in. Once dry, I painted it with a thin layer of white glue and affixed the images of the walls and floor. I know the images look less three dimensional than the outsides, but I think they look nice as interiors. I used the same technique for my other temples, as well as the interiors of the jungle huts. Using these images is a quick, easy, and nice looking way to finish the interiors of buildings.

    The interior of the temple, which is simply covered with images printed off in color and glued to the inside walls

I'm not 100% sure my pictures do the temple justice -- it is simply so large of a build. Its final measurements are about 7" wide, by 5" deep, and 10" tall. As I mentioned earlier, the roof comes off, and the second story and stupa atop the roof come off the roof, as well. This makes it easier to store, of course. So, with this build, I think I am done with Southeast Asian temples for awhile. If I do anything else, they will likely be small stupas to place here and there to fill out a larger board.

    A closeup of the false second story, which is detachable and lifts off of the roof for easier storage

I hope you enjoyed the series of entries detailing its work in progress! Feel free to leave a comment, or ask questions...! Thanks.

Snowed in? Build a temple! (Part 4)

    The build is essentially complete after this stage. Only the flocking and interior need to be added.

For some reason, I was really worried about this stage. I had a feeling that the styrene brick pattern would be difficult to paint and make it look realistic. I planned on painting the mortar a light tan color and then dry brushing the reddish-brown for the bricks. Just about all the dry brushing I'd done before typically featured a lighter color atop a darker one. This would reverse that, and I wasn't sure if my dry brushing would fill cover the mortar. I even read up some on painting patterned styrene brick on the Lead Adventure Forum. The advice I gleaned was to hold the brush at a 45 degree angle and to do successive lighter coats instead of bearing down and try to cover it all in one coat.

    The styrene brick pattern was not nearly the pain to paint up as I worried that it might be!

The advice worked like a charm, I was relieved to discover. I painted the mortar the same shade as the highlight layer on the sandstone -- Ceramcoat Dunes Biege. I figured this might work with the eye to tie the color scheme all together. I let it dry overnight, and then sat down and began my dry brushing experiment. The advice also said to turn the pattern around and dry brush both "up" and "down." I was very pleased with how the color -- Iron Wind Metals Red Brown -- stayed inside the lines of the bricks, for the most part. I tried to do a highlight color atop it but it simply wasn't showing up. So, I decided to see what it looked like with an ink wash. Wow! It transformed it completely, and made it look so much more realistic, I thought. It really brought out the different tones I'd tried to do with fewer or more layers of red brown dry brushing.

    Sand glued to the surface of the bricks represents the original outer surface of the temple which has fallen away in many places

I was so pleased with how it looked I almost abandoned my idea for the next stage -- attaching plaster to the brick walls in fragments as if most of it has fallen away. After staring at it for awhile, I decided to give it a go. I painted the surface of the bricks here and there in an irregular pattern -- covering maybe 25% of the surface, at most. I then poured sand across it, which stuck nicely to the glue. After drying for a few hours, I primed it black and let it dry overnight.

    Another highlight of "Dunes Beige" was given to the columns and the top trim, as well as the Hirst Arts stone pieces

The next day, I replicated the sandstone color scheme with Ceramcoat colors "Raw Sienna," "Spice Tan," and "Dunes Biege." After completing this step, I decided to go ahead and do another highlight on select areas of wood trim and Hirst Arts pieces on the temple. They had gotten a tad darker than I wanted with the ink wash, and felt they needed to be lightened up a bit. I dry brushed "Dunes Biege" over the upper portions of the Hirst Arts stone pieces, the wood trim, columns, and finally, the guardian statues and their pedestals.

Only two stages remain in this build. The next will be the flocking of the ground around the temple. The final step will be to print off textured paper to glue on the inside of the temple to represent its floors and walls. Who knows? Maybe I'll even construct and paint up a Buddhist or Hindu altar to be placed inside. Either way, the actual construction part of this temple is now complete! Stay tuned for the final touches...!

Snowed in? Build a temple! (Part 3)

    Where I left off -- the temple black primed...but will those smooth surfaces look good once painted?

As I sat looking at my black-primed temple, I realized I had been in too much of a hurry. I should have found a way to put brick on the sides of the false "second story" so that it better matched the main level. It looked cool, but once I started painting it, I had a feeling that the paper mache sides of the second story would look less than impressive. The best way to salvage the temple, I felt, was to give those sides some texture. I decided to give it a rough, sandstone look. Many of the temples at Bagan in Myanmar had a stone facing that has fallen off after centuries, revealing the brick core. So, the lower level of my temple would be exposed brick, but the upper level would be standstone.

I took white glue and painted all the exposed pieces of paper mache, as well as the entire roof except for the foam block that the paper mache box fit around. This included the tin bells and acrylic rod decorative railings and the mini-stupas on each roof corner. It did not include the Hirst Arts stone pieces or the statues, though. I then poured sand across the surfaces that had been painted with glue, which stuck on nicely, giving it a rough texture.

    White glue painted on the smooth surfaces and sand poured over them to add texture

I let it dry overnight. Then I watered down black acrylic craft paint 50/50 and painted it over the sand. I was really surprised how easily and thoroughly the watered down paint covered it, making it all black again. I had expected to have to fight to get the paint in the nooks and crannies of the sand surface, but the watery paint flowed well over the surface and into every bit of it. I'd been dreading this stage, but it was actually a breeze. In addition, this glue, sand, and paint coating has likely cemented the whole build together. I shouldn't have to worry about pieces popping off again.

I pulled up my travel website to look at pictures of Bagan, again, to help me choose the colors. I decided to go with a brown base coat that had just a hint of red tone to it. I took a large, flat brush and wet brushed this over fairly thoroughly, but leaving some of the black undercoat showing through. The next day, I did my first dry brush of a Ceramcoat color called "Raw Sienna." It is an orangish-brown color. I followed that up with another Ceramcoat color called "Spice Tan." This is a lighter, more yellowish color, but in the same tone as the Raw Sienna. Finally, I did highlights with "Dunes Biege." The effect on the Hirst Arts stone pieces and the wood trim and columns was slightly different than on the sand, but they don't look jarringly dissimilar.

    The final dry brush of "Dunes Beige" lightens the temple up considerably

The one thing I mulling over in my head is whether to do an ink wash over this. Looking at the stone pieces, columns and wood trim, I definitely feel a black ink wash would enhance how it looks. I'm worried that putting it over the sandstone parts will hide some of the layering of the four different colors, though. I'm also afraid it will darken it up too much. I will probably wait to make that decision until after I have done the brick surface, which is next.

    A close up of the roof (which comes off of the main temple), and the false second story (which pops off also, held in place by the snug fit of the paper mache box around a piece of foam.

So far, I am very happy with how this temple is turning out. Architecturally, I think it is very sharp looking. I'm hoping once the brick is done it will "tie it all together," looks-wise.

Snowed in? Build a temple! (Part 2)

    A row of tin bells glued along the roof trim made for a nice, final architectural flourish for the temple

Not a whole lot new to report on the build, so far. I finished the "construction" phase of the temple by deciding upon what decoration I wanted on the roof trim. I'd glued a piece of wood with raised rectangular sections that looked perfect to have some decorative bead or architectural flourish on them. So, I headed down to Michaels craft store and perused through the bead aisle. Nothing really jumped out at me, so I kept browsing through the store until I came upon a pack of 30 tiny, tin bells. I measured them and they would fit in the rectangular areas of the roof trim almost perfectly. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the tab with hole at the top -- doubtless meant to tie or hang them with. Then I got the idea to thread a tiny dowel through the lined up holes. It would make a perfect decorative railing. I stopped by Hobbyland for a length of acrylic dowel small enough to fit through the holes.

    Close up shows the length of acrylic rod threaded through the lined up holes in the tab at the top of each bell

Once I got them home, I found out I needed to yank out the ringer to get them to sit flat. This didn't take long, and then I simply used Tacky glue to affix each bell in its row. First, though, I threaded them along their length of dowel and lifted them up as one to the trim piece. The long sides took 7 bells each, the short sides four. It worked like a dream, and I thought I was ready for the next step -- painting. However, I hit upon an unfortunate snag. I discovered, much to my frustration, that Tacky glue does NOT stick to styrene. At all. Whatever is affixed with Tacky glue pops back off at the first jostle. I had nearly every piece that had been glued to the roof pop back off. And the top molding on the lower level popped off on all four sides. Lesson learned. I scored up the styrene to try to give is some grip, and then re-affixed them with 5-Minute Epoxy. Hopefully, this will make them hold long enough that the layers of glue, paint, and texturing cement it into place!

    The temple after being spray primed black, and then gone over with an additional coat of brush-on acrylic black paint

Since it was still relatively cold here in Ohio, I set up a large cardboard box in the garage to spray prime the three temple pieces. The first day that it got warm enough to do so, I sprayed each piece down with flat, black acrylic paint. After it dried, I then brushed on Ceramcoat black acrylic craft paint over the entire surface. And that is where I am, now. The next step will be to add some texture to the non-brick surfaces of the temple.

Stay tuned for more!