Civil War Ironclads? We're Playing Ironclads??

    A river naval action during the American Civil War with Keith's big scale ships

The American Civil War is not one of our Sunday night group's major gaming periods. I just did a scan of the more than 10 years I've been updating this blog and there are no ACW entries. Well, I guess there's a first time for everything! My friend Keith -- He Who Collects Everything -- had some really cool ACW naval ships in a really large scale. I didn't ask which, but you can tell from the pictures they're pretty big.

    Our gaming group gathers on another Sunday evening for something different -- ACW ironclads!

Keith offered to run a naval engagement for us this past Sunday evening. No one had anything they were all-fired up to do, so we accepted. Each of us would control one ship, with the ostensible idea that the Confederates were trying to break through a Union blockade on a deep section of river. Mike S, Allen, and I were the Confederates, while Joel, Mike twoW, and Keith each captained a Union ship. Keith had assembled a variety of vessels -- probably more to see how they all performed rather than to follow any actual historical engagement. None of us had any problem with that, though I would see that the ships were definitely not balanced in firepower or effectiveness.

    Allen's ship, the CSS Arkansas, that would fire the fatal shot that turned the tide

Of course, Keith couldn't be blamed -- it was his first time running the rules. He was trying out a set that was a mix between simple (my type) and "crunchy" (our friend Andy's preferance, who alas, could not make it). He was using Beer and Pretzels Ironclads, written by John R. "Buck" Surdu and Michael Miller back in 2000. As the name suggests, these are intended to be a easy set to play with the emphasis on a fun, quick game rather than detailed simulation. Keith had printed out the Quick Reference Sheets and turning arc templates. It took us a few minutes of looking at the chart to get the gist of how everything worked. Once we had the basics, Keith had us deploy our ships and set sail...er, steam!

    Capt. Mike W adroitly maneuvers his ship to bring his loaded broadsides to bear using the template

Of course, Keith decided to bolt on the Wiley Games card rules for determining which ships moved in which order. Joel did him one better and dealt two cards out per player, rather than one per ship. He said this would give us some tactical choice or decisions to make, and I applauded his improvisation. I was in charge of a cotton bale ram -- or something like that! Civil War has never been my interest, and ACW naval probably even less so. It turned out to be far and away the weakest ship of the six. It had "Light" armor (everyone else had Heavy or Very Heavy for the ironclads) and had only a single, forward firing gun. The Union's Essex, by contrast, had two guns firing forward, two astern, and four guns on each port and starboard. I was outgunned by 10-to-1 by that ship alone!

    Our Confederate ironclad, which we renamed the CSS Molasses (instead of Manassas)

My ship's chief weapon was supposed to be my ram. In fact, it turned out to be my only weapon as the first long-range shot by Keith's ship took out my only gun. The problem was that I had to close the distance sailing a max of 9" of turn when guns had a range of 30" or more. I urged my fellow captains to stay relatively abreast of each other so that no one got too far ahead and pounded individually before the others arrived. We advanced at the speed of our slowest ship, at first. However, once I lost my gun, I went full steam ahead so that I could hopefully strike home before I was pounded to matchsticks, cotton balls, and dog-paddling Billy-Ray Bobs!

    My own CSS Cottonball paddling furiously to get into ramming range before being sunk

Keith's ship and Mike W's Essex were doing a masterful job of reducing me to floating puffs of cotton, dealing out solid damage with every shot. Mike proved himself a commendable captain, adeptly turning to present his loaded broadsides while the other was reloading. As I crunchily marked off my hull boxes (and somewhere Andy was doubtless smiling), I began to doubt that I would make it there to ram. Finally, I steamed to within one move of Keith's ship which was showing me its broadside (the only viable target for my ram). Now, all I need would be to move before him on the card pulls. Nope! Keith's card was one higher, squeaked out of my range, and I would have to endure another turn of pounding before trying again. Fortunately, both Mike's monitor and Allen's ironclad were closing in, as well, and drawing some fire. 

    "Almost there, Captain...!" The CSS Cottonball, holed and battered, nearing its target

I survived all they threw at me that turn and got another chance of getting to hit Keith broadside. This time, my card was one higher than his, and the CSS Cottonball struck home. I had a 50-50 chance of hitting him and rolled an 11 (I needed an 11-20 on 1d20). Yee-haw!! I rolled 4d6 and did 13 damage -- a tad under average, but Keith seemed impressed as it was his turn to crunchily mark off hull boxes. My ship was down to less than 10% of its hull boxes -- not much more than a slowly moving bales of cotton being pushed by a shattered paddle wheel. The next good hit would sink her.

    Boom! The Cottonball's ram strikes home and does 13 hull damage to the Union ironclad

Meanwhile, Mike W's Essex was enjoying the flurry of broadsides he unleashed upon us hapless Confederates. Allen finally got a decent shot at him, though, and rolled his dice, getting one hit. He rolled the d20 for damage and rolled a 20 -- critical hit! That pounded the Essex for 5 hull boxes, a gun, and crew (I think) and, most importantly, a roll on the critical hit chart. Allen rolled a "17." We scanned down the unfamiliar chart and laughed. "Magazine hit - ship explodes and sinks immediately"!!! The game turned in that moment. The Union's toughest ship had been erased with one roll of the dice. The Essex's captain seemed quite crestfallen. He had been pounding away and winning the game for his side with each turn.

    The USS Essex explodes due to a magazine hit as Allen's run of luck continues in our games

We gamed out another turn (which saw the CSS Cottonball sinking, too), but decided to spitball the rest of the game. Keith felt that Mike S's monitor would doubtless sink his own once-rammed and battered ship. He contended that Joel would sink Allen's damaged ship, though I wasn't so sure. Most of the damage Allen had suffered was at the hands of the Essex -- not Joel's monitor. And there was that "Don't kill your brother" admonishment from Allen's wife before they departed for gaming to contend with, as well. Still, Keith called it a draw and he was GM. What do I really know about ironclad warfare, anyway? 

    Keith checks the rules to see if it is worth it for the Cottonball's crew to board his ship...NOPE!

Well, I DO know one thing. Next time we do it, if we do, I am NOT going to command a cotton bale ram! Thanks to Keith for setting up the game and letting us play with his very cool, big ships. And thank you, Allen, for saving us with another of your fantastic die rolls -- yee-haw!! The South will rise again, but alas, I think the Cottonball is a goner!

    Joel's Union monitor which alternated every turn firing one of its two guns, but did little damage

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 57

Chopper Down...Salvage!! Post-Apoc Scenario

    One of the many 'bad guys' that showed up to attack the players -- a Machine Patrol bot

I'd been waiting for an available Sunday evening to run the sixth scenario of our post-apocalyptic campaign. After the cooperative game of "Where the Dark Things Gather," this would be a competitive one. In the beginning, players were avoiding shooting each other. Eventually, though, they got into the spirit of it and began blazing away at each other around the smouldering, downed helicopter. The back story was that their survivor gang had seen a military chopper go down but with no resulting explosion. They surmised the pilot must have auto-rotated a soft enough landing, which meant one thing: available salvage!

    The players map out their routes towards the downed chopper in the middle of the board

Only four of my players were available, so I sat out and GM'd the affair. Each started in their respective corner back edge and began moving towards the center of the board where my recently-constructed downed chopper terrain piece was placed. I had six potential salvage spots, two on the helicopter's base and four flung out 10" in each of the the cardinal directions. The center spot was an intersection in a heavily damaged section of a city. Wrecked vehicles blocked sight lines along the roads leading to the chopper. The rest of the board was filled with my ruined buildings and urban scatter that I have been working steadily on now for a couple years.

    The view from my end of the table with the Bass Reeves on the left and the Bucknuts the right

The players were unaware that I had increased the chance of arrival of wandering "bad guys." Normally, after each 10% casualties on the board, something appears -- usually a Machines Scout Bot. As each
subsequent 10% level is reached, they go up to a Patrol Bot, then Military Bot, and (maybe one day) Destroyer Bot. I gave a 50/50 chance that the Scout Bot would be an aerial drone instead. Same stats, but flying. I also gave a 50/50 chance it would be a ground creature drawn by the noise of the gunfire. I had my giant rats (ROUS's - Rodents Of Unusual Size) and feral dogs out, but only the rats arrived other than machines. At one point, I had four bad guys on the board, but it was usually just one or two at a time. In addition, before the 10% casualty level was reached, I gave a 20% chance a bad guy would show up.

    As the Followers of the Dark Prophet were sneaking forward, a Scout Drone appeared in their rear

A new innovation this time (that I will likely continue using), was that I had the players "roll off" to see whose sector the bad guy showed up in. Low roller got the creature or machine. Everyone except Joel had a bad guy show up in their sector. Some of them did no damage to the players -- the Bass Reeves killed the ROUS with a shotgun blast after its first move couldn't contact one of their survivors. Others suffered heavily. The lethal Bucknuts lost two of their four men to a rabid ROUS. Allen's Followers of the Dark Prophet had two guys wounded and downed, but each time luckily drew an Ace or Queen of Hearts next turn to recover.

    Brutus & Jackie of the Bucknuts use the available cover of vehicle wrecks to close in on the chopper

On the section of the board closest to me, the Bucknuts and Bass Reeves deployed opposite each other. They did not advance forward, but both began to shift laterally towards the center. The Bucknuts were the first to dash someone forward to snag salvage that had been flung from the wreck. The Bass Reeves sent Dreadz climbing up the tall, corner ruin to obtain a great sniper spot. He held off on shooting any of the rival survivors until the Bass Reeves were attacked first. Dreadz was also lucky to move early in the turn, when he began his climb. Shortly after he scrambled up a couple levels, a ROUS appeared well within range of where he'd been standing. Frustrated by the disappearance of the human it had (apparently) been stalking, it charged across to the gang's leader, Big Bass. Hearing it skittering towards him, but coming up short, Big Bass stepped around the corner of a building and blasted it with his shotgun. It gave a squeal and went down for good, relegated from a threat to rat burgers with one shot!

    The Bass Reeves stalk laterally through the ruins, using the walls of buildings as cover

Across from the Bass Reeves, firing broke out as the Followers of the Dark Prophet reacted to the sudden appearance of a Scout Drone Bot from behind them. It whirred forward and blasted away, wounding one of the dark-robed survivors. The remaining three members whirled round and blasted away at the drone, Eventually, Dafyd hit a vital spot on the machine and it dropped to the ground. More salvage! Across from Allen's troops, his brother Joels' F Troop was taking advantage of the distraction provided by the drone to advance closer to the smouldering wreck. No signs could be seen of any survivors. Had they escaped on foot, or had the rats gotten to them? No one was sure, but their looked to be all kinds of things to loot from the helicopter -- ammunition boxes, rations, medical kits, and electronic components.

    The Scout Drone is no match for the firepower of the Followers of the Dark Prophet!

At this point, the lure of avarice took over. The survivor gangs ended their unspoken truce and began firing at each other. Ironically, it was Joel's F Troop who fired the first shot -- at his brother! We joke how Allen's wife admonishes Joel every Sunday evening when he picks up her hubby to "not kill your brother!" So, it is a running gag that sometimes they follow her directives and other times all bets are off. F Troop had moved Pvt. Picnic up near the chopper while the other three remained behind vehicles and walls to cover him. Not to be beaten to the punch, Allen moved Dafyd (who'd knocked down the drone) up to contest the salvage. Shots were fired, but both men remained standing.

    A standoff between Bucknut's Jackie and Amram of the Followers, each wanting the salvage

Allen took that as cue to sprint Amram towards the metal box that could be seen on the ground, just feet away from the helicopter. Amram was astonished when Jackie ran up, as well. Both looked from the metal box to the other, sizing each other up. Shots rang out all around them as men and women from all four factions began firing at each other. The "Bad Guys" added to the cacophony as a Patrol Bot clomped onto the board's far edge. Its machine gun had plenty of range, though, and it blasted away and another of the Followers of the Dark Prophet fell to the ground wounded. 

    The firefight around the chopper is truly underway, with all four factions firing at each other

Someone fired at Ned of the Bass Reeves, and that gang of survivors joined in the shooting, as well. Tosh took advantage of the confusion to sprint forward and snag the closest piece of salvage, a duffel bag that looked as if it had been tossed from the helicopter on impact. The players had been careful in the early turns, and minimized exposing their survivors to enemy fire. However, risks were taken now as the desire to snatch up the loot before their rivals overcame their caution. One of the early successes, Wrich of the Bucknuts, had dashed back to what he thought was the safety of the buildings after snatching up a box of ammunition he'd seen lying in the street. He ducked behind the walls, panting from the exertion, relieved that he was no longer in the open street.

    Brutus felled by an ROUS - the second Bucknut to be knocked out of action by the hulking beast

A high pitched shreik from behind him startled Wrich. He turned, horrified, as a ROUS bore down on him. He spun, leveling his rifle, but too late. The giant rat was upon him and clamped him in his jaws. The beast shook him back and forth battering his head several times against the stone walls. Wrich went limp and lost consciousness. In the ruins of the next building over, Brutus saw the attack and inadvertently shouted, "Jesus H. Christ!" The rat heard him, dropped the unmoving prey from its jaws and began skittering towards Brutus. The large man screamed in terror and tried to slam home the magazine he'd been loading into his weapon. He fumbled and the metal magazine clattered to the ground. The ROUS launched itself at Brutus and seized him him by the shoulder. Brutus was a big man, but the rat's weighed dashed him to the ground, senseless.

    As bullets from rival factions ricochet all around, F Troop hunkers behind a burnt-out pickup truck

All the shouting drew the attention of Coach Coop, the Bucknuts leader. He shifted to get a better angle on the rat and let loose a burst of his assault rifle. The creature turned and bared its bloody jaws at him. Coop cursed and drew a bead on its beady eyes and fired twice. The rat let out its last squeal and fell dead. Coop called to Jackie to fall back, and moved up to see if his friend was still alive. Many of the survivors looked up as another Scout Drone whirred overhead, the machine's guns blazing at their human foes. Bullets kicked up all around F Troop's Pvt. Picnic and he fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder. Meanwhile, the Followers of the Dark Prophet called to each other and began to withdraw from the open streets, moving through the ruins towards the table edge. 

    Bucknut leader Coach Coop grimaces at his losses as Joel surveys the field and does likewise

The casualties and increasing number of machines and feral denizens of the city convinced the factions it was time to pull back. Those that could grab some last salvage or supplies did so, while hugging the cover of the ruined buildings. All of them had taken hits and most had at least one of their four out of action. The Bucknuts and F Troop were each down to half strength. Carrying their wounded, they withdrew from the bloodied intersection. Each hoped that the blood spilled was worth the rewards they had gained.

   F Troop utilizes the cover of the ruins and wrecks to move up early in the game

I felt the scenario had started out a little slow, but it picked up speed and was a blazing hot mess by the end. The players were laughing and having a good time spraying their rivals with gunfire at each opportunity. I really liked giving the players "control" over where the enemies appeared by having them roll off. Allen saved his worst rolls for then, but in general his Followers of the Dark Prophet came on top. They picked up two caches of supplies, knocked out a drone, two rivals (Ned of the Bass Reeves and Pvt. Angel of F Troop), and escaped with all four members off-board. His success may lead to future challenges, though, as I give players who lost a member to enemy fire bonus victory points in subsequent missions for exacting revenge and taking out one of theirs.

    Wrich of the Bucknuts creeps closer to the salvage at his feet, while keeping an eye out for enemy

Joel's F Troop took it on the chin, again. I'm not sure why, but fortune has not favored this former army unit in its post-apocalyptic missions. Joel escaped with no supplies and lost two members (both of whom fortunately ended up being just "winged" and okay for the next scenario). The rat-ravaged Bucknuts discovered a weakness in their formerly lethal, long-range tactics. They lost two members to an ROUS, Wrich being just "winged" while fleshy Brutus will recover with some rest time. They did kill one rat and escape with one cache of supplies, so all was not lost.

    Pvt. Picnic goes down to a Machines Scout Drone as F Troops sour luck in scenarios continues

Mike W's Bass Reeves picked up three caches of supplies (which includes carving off enough rat burgers for a feast). They carried Ned off the battlefield (who fortunately was also just "winged") and killed the ROUS. All in all, the players rolled VERY well in their post-battle recoveries. It could have been much worse for them. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Now that I retire in just over a month, we hopefully will be playing more post-apocalyptic scenarios soon. Then again, don't I say that every time after every game??

    The streets are silent as the Machines scour the area looking for human survivors to terminate

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures acquired in 2024: 64
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 57

Battle of Valcour Island, 1776

    Joel and Allen, the British naval commanders on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Valcour Island

My friend Keith had an itch to do some Age of Sail miniatures with his big 15mm scale models the other day. His first thought was to go way back and play using the Limeys & Slimeys rules from about three decades ago. After moving some of his ships around on the table and testing out the mechanics, he was turned off by its fiddly nature. Too much counting up figures and guns, he said. Instead, he decided to go with a much more streamlined system, Galleys & Galleons, from Ganesha Games. These use the Song of Blades and Heroes "activation" system and abstract many of those things that older rules may force you to do with counting and laborious, multiple, math steps and die rolls.

    My brigantine and gunboat bravely sail and row towards the two largest ships in the British fleet

This is actually an ongoing rules debate in our Sunday evening gaming group. I am much more in favor of  modern streamlined systems. Others, like my friend Andy, prefer the "chewy" (his word) nature of counting things up, rolling for numerous hits on charts, and checking off boxes. Our respective viewpoints clashed most recently when we played one of the Star Fleet Battles clones (Federation Commander, perhaps?) recently. To me, the process was borderline painful. When one devastating hit was done to a player's ship (actually, one of their THREE ships), we had to sit there twiddling our thumbs while they rolled for and checked off 30-40 internal hits. This includes marking off such useful things like "science labs" and other systems that had nothing to do with a standard fleet game. Really? This is fun??

    Each player received a gunboat carrying one cannon in its bow, along with their larger ship

Anyway, I think miniature rules writing has evolved away from a codex full of charts which you flip between and ship profiles with dozens or hundreds of boxes to check off. Other players have fun doing this (apparently), as the clear divide between the younger and older gamers in our Star Fleet game showed the other night. Guess who likes to check off boxes? The younger guys! Those of us who lived through 1970s & 1980s rules -- to be fair, Limeys and Slimeys was the '90s -- apparently prefer not to go through that again. Nostalgia might be behind some wanting to resurrect old gaming systems. Like when one of our founding club members, Allen (who I have been gaming with for 40+ years), wanted to play the boardgame "Talisman." He would not be deterred with a simple question: "Why would you want to do that?!" He needed to experience once again the painful process of endlessly waiting your turn while the other players took theirs, then waiting twice that time again when you got a Lose a turn" result. The sheer randomness of, "Oh look! I found a suit of magic armor on my turn!" Meanwhile, you flip over a Demon Lord and lose another life. Sheer awfulness, in my opinion. Not fun to play, and no strategy. Just roll dice and flip cards!

    My brigantine suffering damage (see pink dice) from the heavier broadside of Allen's frigate

Yes, that was quite the digression, I realize. Apparently, I still had some more internal hits to roll off from the experience! Keith chose Galleys & Galleons, which we had played a few years back because he remembered it seemed to flow well and do a better job simulating naval warfare than you might expect from rules that grew out of a fantasy skirmish engine. The key component is that hits suffered replace one of your three potential dice you can roll to activate with a colored "damaged" die. You can choose to roll fewer dice, thus not risking rolling that colored die, until all three of your dice have been replaced. If you ever roll an activation and score a "1" on a colored die, bad things can happen, including striking your colors if you are nearer an enemy than any friends. Similarly, once you exceed three colored dice (three is the max dice you can roll to activate in the "Song of..." engine), bad things can happen then, too. 

    Keith's sloop at top right sails to add its broadside to the weight of our cannon fire on Allen's frigate

The game abstracts much of the damage and critical hits on specific components of your sailing ship. It worked fairly well in our game, we felt. Allen had a 22-gun frigate (I believe), the largest on Lake Champlain. He was able to shrug off much of cannon fire that we peppered him with throughout the game. His brother Joel could not do the same with his 18-gun sloop, though, and ended up striking his colors to Jenny's American sloop and being captured. Keith warned us that he'd made the British better at gunnery and that we would need to close the range to hope to do significant damage. That proved true. All in all, the system worked well. Each player controlled one larger ship and one oared gun boat with a single, bow chaser. The gun boats did little damage to the bigger ships, as you might expect with only one cannon. The marine sharpshooters did even less. 

Took more than half the battle, but Keith's gunboat finally sinks Allen's - mainly due to catching on fire

We did have one boarding action, but it was inconclusive. On the next turn, Keith's larger sloop disabled the grapples which Joel's gunboat had snagged it with. He didn't want to leave to a die roll the ignominy of being boarded and taken by a smaller gunboat! I can't say I blame him. My own gunboat was on the way to rescue him, but we never closed before the two ships parted ways. My own brigantine bravely sailed between Joel's sloop and Allen's frigate, blazing away with furious ineffectiveness nearly the entire game. We score one hit on Joel's sloop, but after that, suffered a series of bad die rolls (as is often my nature in games...see Joel -- I said it!). 

    Pounded by two ships, Joel's sloop strikes its colors as it approaches Jenny's 'Royal Savage'

In Galleys & Galleons, if you beat an enemy with an even roll on your die you replace one of their three activation dice with a colored "damage" die. If you beat them with an odd score, you do nothing (unless you doubled them). Weirdly, the first six-plus shooting rolls that hit in the game were all even. We weren't irked by the rule then. Once, the rolls evened out, it felt a little "wrong" to hit someone and do nothing, over and over. 

    American cannon balls seem to bounce off Allen's frigate, whether from gunboat or brigantine

Still, with Joel's sloop captured and Allen's gunboat sunk (fire on board, then explosion), we called it a victory for the Americans. Historically, the British battered Benedict Arnold's American fleet, which later withdrew under cover of darkness. They were eventually run aground by the American commanders to prevent them from falling into the hands of the British. The naval battle delayed the British advance enough to give solace to the American defeat in the first naval battle of the American Revolution. 

It was fun getting the large 15mm ships out and sailing them around on the tabletop. We picked up the mechanics quickly, and the colored dice mechanic gave some risk vs. reward decision making for the players. Keith, as has been his wont of late, tossed in the Wiley Games card activation system on top of the Galleys & Galleons system. The effect was that there was no danger in "crapping out," or turning over your activation. So, we typically always rolled 3 dice for activation until we had one or more colored, damage dice. The fleets closed relatively quickly, and we were soon blasting away at each other and having a good time on Lake Champlain. I can see us playing with Keith's ships again, and using G&G again for more naval fun.

    It was fun to get the big ships (and little ones) out on the tabletop - first time in years!

Otherwise, you may have noticed the LONG pause between updates. I caught a nasty cold just over two weeks ago. It was the worst I'd felt since having Covid, and I didn't not have the energy to paint or game. I think the two weekends of missing Sunday evening gaming are the most that I have in a long time. I didn't want to get the other guys sick, and besides I was feeling awful. Today is actually the first day that I have woken up and not felt congested or tired and drained. So, hopefully, I'm back in the groove and you will see more updates on here, again!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 26

Song of Drums and the Spirit World?

    It's 'Song of Drums and Tomahawks' with mythological creatures from the "Spirit World" added in!

One of my co-authors of Song of Drums and Tomahawks (my French & Indian War rules) mentioned he was intrigued by incorporating fantasy and horror elements in skirmish warfare on the American frontier. Mike S also knew I had done some preliminary research into creatures from various tribal myths with a look towards doing a similarly themed expansion for our rules. Since family and school have my writing tied up for now, I urged him to pursue it.

    "We come from the land of ice and snow..." -- the Viking invaders of Newfoundland

Last night, we sat down with our Sunday evening gaming group and gave it our first playtest. Mike liberally blended rules and traits from various other games in the "Song of..." series, both Basic rules and Advanced. Interestingly, he had set up three one-on-one scenarios from wildly different times on the American frontier. My game against Allen was set in the Middle Ages with Vikings vs. Skraelings in Newfoundland. Mike faced off against Keith in one set during the Salem witch trials. And finally, Joel and Mike's son Jason played English and French forces set upon by a Wendigo. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the other games -- just my own. 

    The shaman urges the Skinwalkers forward, the Bear having already changed into his animal form

Allen took the Vikings and had a force of a Hero, four spearmen, three archers, a priest of Odin, and three brothers who were berserkers/weres. Similarly, I had three Skinwalkers (Bear, Wolf, Puma), a shaman, tribal chieftain, and a half dozen bow armed Skraeling warriors. We each moved our forces up to rocky outcrops in the light woods, while sending forward a handful of troops to scout out the enemy. The difference was I sent my three Skinwalkers to attack the enemy while Allen had sent ordinary Viking warriors. 

    My plan takes shape -- 3 powerful skinwalkers ready to pounce on two ordinary Viking warriors

My plan was to pounce upon the spearmen with my much-tougher Skinwalkers and hopefully get a "gruesome kill" (which Mike was re-introducing into these games). Allen was also struggling with activation rolls, and it looked like my plan was set to be implemented as the three Skinwalkers faced off against two trembling Vikings. Allen's dice came to life, though, and in a flash, three werewolves howled towards my trio and it was now 4 to 3. Still, he hadn't made contact, so I was able to begin the melee on my next turn. I sent the Bear Skinwalker, the mightiest creature on the table, forward to attack the werewolf on the end with a "powerful blow" (-1 to the enemy). Up +2 on the die roll, the mighty bear knocked the werewolf down. My Wolf Skinwalker surged forward and slew the disadvantaged werewolf. First blood to the Skraelings protecting their homeland!

    But it was not to be -- two werewolves race to the aid of the trembling Viking spearmen!

My plan was to next begin working on his ordinary Viking warriors. The chieftain, noticing that his Skraeling warriors were hanging back (bad activation rolls), raced forward to support his mighty skinwalkers. He launched arrow after arrow at the Vikings, keeping them from helping each other. Meahwhile, the Bear-sark Viking changed into his animal form and hurled himself upon the Bear Skinwalker. He was swatted backwards with a mighty sweep of the skinwalker's paw. Time and again, the bear would hurl himself upon his ursine rival. Each time he was driven back or his attack stopped.

    First blood! The Bear Skinwalkers knocks down the werewolf and my Wolf then leaps in for the kill

As a Viking and member of an honor culture, Allen fought fair, one-one-one matchups. My Skraelings had no such scruples. We ganged up on enemy warriors whenever we could. The plan was to try to get a gruesome kill -- tripling an enemy's total in combat. This would cause a morale check for all within a Long distance and likely shatter his line. This should leave more lone, unsupported Vikings to pick off. Eventually, the Wolf and Bear teamed up against a Viking spearmen whose head soon went flying through the air. The Viking line duly fragmented, but none fled the field completely.

    Lucky long range arrow knocks down a Viking warrior while the Puma Skinwalker wades in, too

The Viking leader saw the situation was dire and stepped in to intervene. He charged the Puma Skinwalker and slew it with a might stroke of his sword -- worthy of the Sagas! However, encouraged by their tribe's success, the Skraeling archers had finally crept within range. Whenever a Viking was knocked down by an arrow, a Skinwalkers or the chieftain would race over and finish him off. A key mechanic in Song of Drums and Tomahawks if a combat can result in a figure being knocked down. If they are beaten a second time before they have a chance to clamber to their feet, they are knocked out of action. My rolls that night were definitely better than Allen's. At key moments, I knocked down his troops and then was able to activate another figure to finish it off.

    With his Skraeling bowmen hanging back, the chieftain in red moves forward to support his attack

Morale checks happen when a force falls below half, and Allen was teetering that direction. Soon, he had lost two both of his werewolves (the mighty bear fought on), all four spearmen, and Odin's priest. One more loss and he his force would test morale. The Skraeling chieftain took aim at the Viking warleader and was able to knock him down. The skinwalkers had already acted that turn, so it fell to a Skraeling brave to attempt to finish him off. He raced forward and used his flint knife to slice Olaf's throat as he tried to pull himself to his feet. A mighty roar went up from the tribe's warriors. Victory!

    Skinwalkers then began to attack the Viking warriors, hoping to get a gruesome kill and scatter them

Allen and I agreed to call the game at that point. He had just lost more than half his figures AND his leader, so would likely have men running for their lives at this point. The Skraelings had lost only the Puma. I was very careful about sending my Indians into the fray. The archers had stayed back as a firing line in close support of each other. The chieftain used the skinwalkers as a shield and shot his bow from behind their protection. The trio of skinwalkers stayed close to each other and cooperated well.

    Olaf the Fearless wades into the battle, and in a blow worthy of the Sagas, takes down the Puma

Despite the seeming one-sided nature of the battle, Allen and I had a lot of fun. I definitely think Song of Drums and Tomahawks works with mythical creatures thrown into the mix. I asked the others how their battles went, and they both seemed very close. The magical duel between Keith's native shamans and the freed-from-prison Salem witches was apparently a tightly-contest of wills. Everyone seemed to have fun, so not only was the evening a success, the playtest was off to a great start. Mike plans on running these games at Origins Game Fair in Columbus, June 19-23. So, we will doubtless see more evenings of tweaking the rules and crafting a competitive and fun convention game.

    Bear on bear and wolf on werewolf - the battle in the primeval American forest rages!

The miniatures were a mix of mine and Mike's. The mythical creatures were all his except for my Wendigo, which is a very creepy looking 3-D print from Thingiverse. I have picked up various Reaper Bones or other figures that will work for creatures from various tribes' mythologies. Mike seems intent on painting them up, so my contribution will likely remain either the rank and file or human heroes.

    After Olaf is knocked down by a Skinwalker, a brave native warrior rushes forward and finishes him

If everything goes well with the rules, Mike is interested in publishing an expansion book for this period. He wants to chat with Andrea Sfiligoi from Ganesha Games first, though. Ganesha and First Command Wargames cooperate closely on the "Song of Drums and Tomahawks" line of rules, so we want to make sure he's on board first, as well. So, look for more "Spirit World" games in the future...!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 26

New Boardgame: Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East

    Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East by GMT games covers the same period as AH's Civilization

One of my presents to myself (used with Christmas money) was a new, multiplayer boardgame. Many years ago, we enjoyed extremely long-playing games such as Britannia, History of the World, and Civilization. No longer being able to play all night long, we slowly switched to more Euro style games. Some may still take a few hours to complete, but all in all, with streamlined mechanics they tend to play much faster than the old dinosaurs I remember fondly.

I saw Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East by GMT Games at the local game store and was intrigued. I read several reviews online and checked its Boardgamegeek rating (7.6 out of 10). I decided to pick it up and read through the rules. Streamlined yes, but there are a lot of steps and rules. Would it play well? Would it be the 21st century version of Civilization (considering it dealt with the same time period)? I convinced the Sunday evening gang to give it a try. On the day of the game, I re-read the rules, set out the board with initial placements for six civilizations and even dealt them their hand of Fate cards.

    My fellow "Ancient" players gathered around the board game table figuring out how to play

It took about a half hour or so to run through all the rules, and the guys were patient and asked clarification questions. So, we got started actually taking the first turn around 6:30pm. We had very few rules questions, actually, for a first play-through. We quickly found out that the Fate cards are nasty! A civilization can be gutted and lose half of its circular disks representing population on one card. One of the cruelest of the night was when I played the Biblical flood of "40 Days and 40 Nights" on my friend Allen controlling Assyria. I was stunned how badly it affected him. Of course, I got my comeuppance when his brother Joel hit me with a sea version of my river flood and then Keith hit me with a different river flood. 

Everyone enjoyed it, though. We resolved to play it again, but perhaps when we have more time allotted than a standard Sunday evening gaming time (3-4 hours). I like that the game has an irregular mechanism for how many turns an "Epoch" will last. Our first epoch ran long, and I timed it right to have a couple victory point lead at the end of it. We did the transition to Epoch 2, ran through most of our first turn of it, and then decided to call it at 10pm. Definitely an interesting game, and one that will see all player civilizations suffer the slings and arrows of Fate cards. 

    The starting positions for six civilizations all set up and waiting for my players to arrive

I look forward to our next game of it!

Miniature Painting & Purchasing Tally for 2024

• Miniatures purchased in 2024: 15
• Miniatures painted in 2024: 14