Beaver Wars in Ohio playtest: Turn 5

 

    Inside the friendly confines of Jenny's house, the living room hosts two games (from left, Keith, Dave, Jenny, Mike)

The local pizzeria where we'd been doing our Saturday morning playtests was booked with birthday parties all month, so we had to look elsewhere. Jenny (Miami tribe player) offered up her place, and threw in a nice spread of chili, veggies, and more, to boot! What's more, we added a ninth player last turn -- Bruce, who would play the Honniasont tribe. This would be the first meeting he could actually show up and get in a game. That meant my Erie tribe was the fifth wheel. We had four battles, and as GM I'd volunteered to be the odd man out on days that everyone could show up. The good news is it meant I had more time to wander from table to table and photograph games. So, I hope you enjoy the pictures in this update -- there are a lot more than usual!

    While the dining room hosts (from left) Steve, Andy, Bruce, and Joe (not pictured)

Once again, my players were very accommodating and send in their strategic card play by email. We ended up with the following order (taking my Erie out of the chain):
Susquehannock > Kickapoo > Seneca > Shawnee > Honniasont > Miami > Mohawk > Neutrals

    Close up of some of my 28mm Indians

Humorously, the Susquehannock decided to attack the Kickapoo, who'd thought by playing a higher War card they'd get to be the Attacker for a change. The two had fought last turn and Andy's Kickapoo had "kicked the poo" out of Steve's Susquehannock. Steve wanted revenge, and the scenario they rolled up was "Hold Them at the Gates." The battlefield centers on the winding, palisaded passageway that was the entry to a Kickapoo town. It turned sharply against the Susquehannock early when their leader was shot down and a momentary panic scattered their forces. Steve's warriors bravely regrouped and tried to force their way into Andy's town, but the Kickapoo's blood was up and they slew their enemy mercilessly. The Kickapoo scored a Major Victory, racking up 14 Scenario Victory Points (SVP) vs. Steve's 2.

    Neutral trading party escorts pack horses through a narrow defile, ready for an ambush

Our next battle saw my two co-authors on Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules slugging it out. Mike's Seneca tribe had yet to lose a battle, and attacked the campaign leader, Keith's Neutral tribe. The only battle Keith had lost so far was in the opening turn, which was actually a tie, but I called it based on the scenario outcome in his opponent's favor. They rolled up "Ambush the Traders," and Keith brought over a couple special terrain pieces to recreate a defile for his Neutral trading party to be marching through with a column of packhorses. It looked great, and added a lot of atmosphere to what was easily our most brutal, blood-soaked game of the day.

    Another closeup of native Americans painted for war

Mike's Seneca crept up on their Iroquois cousins and began sniping at them, picking off a few of Keith's warriors. He made his mistake when he decided to charge in and take the fight to the hand-to-hand stage. Keith had purchased many of his warriors on his roster with the "Strong" trait, which gives them a bonus in melee. This turned the tide in Keith's favor, but not before many warriors fell on both sides. For a more blow-by-blow account of the game, check out Keith's blog here: OrcaFinn's Basement

    The wily Shawnee hold the confined space between two bark-covered longhouses

Our third battle only proved the wiliness of our second-place Shawnee. He chose to attack the new guy, Bruce's Honniasont, knowing not only would he be less familiar with the rules, but his forces would be less built up from accumulating SVPs and Beaver Pelts. In the campaign, players receive a higher proportion of troops armed with firearms the more Beaver Pelts they accumulate. They also receive more upgrade points for traits depending on how many SVPs they've accumulated in the campaign. Bruce decided to throw Joe a curveball, though. He took his entire force (minus his leader) as Youths. This meant the Honniasont outnumbered the Shawnee 17-10 in figures. Bruce confessed to me that his plan was to swarm the enemy. Either way, he would certainly be throwing Joe off his game. None of us had faced an opponent who used this tactic, yet.

    Honniasont Youths advance towards towards the more experienced Shawnee raiders

They'd rolled up the "Slaughter Among the Lodges" scenario, which has the battle take place entirely within the palisade of the Honniasont town. Seeing the teeming hordes, Joe took a page from Thermopylae and placed his smaller number of warriors in the gap between two bark-covered longhouses. He decided to snipe away at the enemy at long range. His plan looked like it was working, as one or two of Bruce's warriors fell. But there was a flaw in Joe's plan. The Shawnee are no Greek hoplites. Each time a Shawnee gunned down an enemy, he would have to make a scalp check. Failure meant he would move uncontrolled towards the spot of his downed foe and attempt to scalp him. This was a facet of Eastern Woodlands warfare. Indian braves would commit acts that Europeans thought foolhardy. Honor and prestige was incredibly important in Native American society.

So, guess who failed the first Shawnee scalp check? Joe's leader! The Shawnee tried their best to follow up their leader so that he would not be swarmed under by a pack of Honniasont Youths, but that is exactly what happened. The game could have been lost for Joe right there, but he rolled very well on his Morale checks. He was able to re-engage the Honniasont and began to whittle away at their numbers. The Honniasont gave it a good try, but the more experienced Shawnee warriors came out on top with a 18-5 Major Victory.

    A moment of drama as the Shawnee leader in the green shirt charges into the midst of the Honniasont Youths

The final game I got to see very little of (I confess, I was enthralled by Bruce and Joe's game, and wanted to be there to help the newbie with advice if he asked). Our host Jenny and her Miami were still unable to notch a victory. Her forces have been frustrated in the first five turns, and she fell in the "Who's a Thief?" scenario to the Mohawk, 16-3. Everyone was appreciative of Jenny's pot of chili, though, if not earning a win, she received ample praise for feeding 9 hungry gamers!

    Kickapoo race to block off the entrance from the Susquehannock raiders

I plan for this playtest to go 10 turns, so we are at the halfway point, now. Here's our Leaderboard, which shows the Neutrals continuing to dominate the contest for the Ohio Valley in the late 17th century. A surprise rise in the ranks to third came from the Kickapoo, who'd racked up two Major Victories in two turns.

Tribe	Place	Victory Points
Neutrals	1st	26 points
Shawnee	2nd	24 points
Kickapoo	3rd	19 points
Mohawk	Tied 4th	18 points
Seneca	Tied 4th	18 points
Susqehannock	6th	11 points
Miami	7th	10 points
Erie	8th	8 points
Honniasont	9th	3 points

 

    Another shot of Keith's cool-looking defile as mayhem gets ready to unfold

These points come from three categories: Prestige Points, which come from Major and Minor Victories or Minor Defeats; Beaver Pelts; and Scenario Victory Points (SVPs). Here are the leaderboards in each of these, in case anybody is interested.

Tribe	Prestige Points (PPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	13 (4 MajV, 1 MinD)
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	12 (2 MajV, 3 MinV)
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	9 (1 MajV, 3 MinV)
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	7 (2 MajV, 1 MinD)
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	7 (2 MajV, 1 MinD)
Erie (Mike Demana)	5 (1 MajV, 2 MinD)
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	4 (1 MajV, 1 MinD)
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	3 (1 MinV, 1 MinD)
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	—

Tribe	Scenario Victory Points (SVPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	82
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	72
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	54
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	47
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	42
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	41
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	36
Erie (Mike Demana)	32
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	5

Tribe	Beaver Pelts
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	34
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	30
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	24
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	24
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	21
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	18
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	18
Erie (Mike Demana)	15
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	14

Our next game should be April 23rd, so stay tuned for that!

Beaver Wars in Ohio playtest: Turn 4

We're getting into a groove cranking out the turns for the Beaver Wars. I send out an email with the order for players to declare which strategic card they will play this turn. My players have been quick to respond with their choice. Once the turn order is established, it takes even less time for the tribes on the most aggressive footing (War cards) to declare their targets for the turn. This turn, my Erie tribe ended up being attacked by the Shawnee. Joe had won every game, so I knew I would be in for a challenge. His force would have more upgrade points than mine would. Nevertheless, I had to make a plan to maximize my chances in the battle. That is one side benefit of this campaign that I've noticed the player seem to be really enjoying. They like the chance to try out different combinations of Traits. My Shawnee opponents even fielded their leader with the "Running Blow" trait -- one I've never seen utilized in a Song of Drums and Tomahawks game before. He was never able to use it, though, because of the clustered nature of our melee.

 

    My Erie warband fans out as they notice "Tracks in the Mud" around our canoes

I decided to go with one of my favorites tactics -- arming my Leader with a matchlock and giving him Marksman. I gave one of my other matchlock-armed Warriors Marksman, as well (which gives a +1 to shooting). I spent the rest of my upgrades on Primitive Weapons for Warriors. They would form the front line, with my firearms behind them firing through the gaps. Interestingly, after the game, Joe and I reflected that those Marksman purchases were all wasted points this time. That was because every single one of my shots missed! Despite that, the Erie warriors gave a good account of themselves. We were actually winning until we had a run of fatal luck.

    Another full house at Taranto's Pizzeria, as eight players fight out battles in Turn 4 of our campaign

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Our scenario, "Tracks in the Mud," was one of three that were being playtested for a second time, that week. This time, though, I remembered to bring my canoe models! The idea is that my Erie hunting party was returning to their canoes when they noticed strange moccasin tracks around them, which they'd hidden in the woods not far from the creek. We immediately fan out, almost immediately catching sight of the Shawnee advancing stealthily through the trees towards us. Our game was one of four being played at the pizza shop on a chilly Saturday morning. It is my goal to eventually playtest all 18 of the scenarios that will be included in the Beaver Wars rulebook multiple times.

    A Kickapoo village was the scene of a fierce counterattack by fresh defending forces against the scattered, Susquehannock raiders in "Save Our Brothers!"

On the other boards, the Kickapoo were counterattacking a Susquehanock raiding party that was looting the center of their town, in "Save Our Brothers!" The Neutral tribe -- who went into the week in the lead -- attacked the Miami in "Trapper's End." And finally, the Mohawk had attacked the Seneca in "Drive Them Like Game." We'd actually picked up a ninth player between this turn and the previous one, bu the had a prior commitment for this weekend and would join us next time, he said.

    Miami warriors bravely advance towards a Neutral warparty to rescue their blood brother in "Trapper's End"

Back in our game, the Shawnee advance rapidly, with one of their warriors being a bit out in front of the rest of their warparty. On our turn, I had one of my warriors armed with Primitive Weapon dash out and attack him. The Shawnee outnumbered us, haven taken an extra pair of Youths. Since most of his warriors armed with Matchlock were also bought as Marksmen, I did not think exchanging shots was the way to go. Each time I felt one of his braves was overextended or could be pounced upon by more than one of mine, I charged. My strategy was winning slightly, despite the fact that my Erie couldn't seem to hit the broad side of a barn. I guess we're too new to this whole firearms craze!

    A close up view of the Neutrals warparty -- the tribe that so far is dominating the struggle for the Ohio Valley in this playtest of the Beaver Wars

The Shawnee were one casualty away from a morale check when I decided to take a risk. I had one warrior already in contact with one of his. My Leader charged in, so with the extra man he was up on the score 3-to-1, before we rolled. Of course, my luck deserted me at that moment. Joe not only rolled three higher than me on the six-sided die, but he also rolled an even number which meant my Leader was knocked down. The next turn his Leader rushed in and brained my chieftain with his warclub. Losing your leader in Song of Drums and Tomahawks means all of your surviving figures must take an immediate morale check. Enough of my guys fled off the board to drop me below 50%, which necessitates another morale check. This meant my entire force pretty much fled the field. One brave warrior was a bit slower, and suffered the indignity of being chased down by a Shawnee Youth and killed. Otherwise, the rest of my force got away. This was actually good, because it minimized the Shawnee victory points. I'd killed and scalped enough of his Shawnee that it counted as only a Minor Defeat for me. The mechanics stipulate that players whose opponents earn are doubled or more Scenario Victory Points suffer a Major Defeat.

On the other table, the Neutral tribe continued their recent run of success. Keith had experimented with a force that had a significant number of warriors bought as "Strong" (+1 to melee). He slaughtered the Miami, 14-5. Meanwhile, the Kickapoo picked up their first victory of the campaign in a blood-soaked victory fought in the midst of a Kickapoo town, 18-14. The Mohawk and Seneca ground out a game that was tied in SVPs, but victory went to the Seneca, who held the field. These results meant that we had two clear front-runners: Neutrals were in the lead at 26 points, followed by my opponent of this turn the Shawnee at 21.5.

Here are the scores, followed by the individual breakdowns in each category.

Tribe	Place	Victory Points
Neutrals	1st	26 points
Shawnee	2nd	21.5 points
Susquehannock	3rd	17.5 points
Seneca	4th	16.5 points
Mohawk	5th	15 points
Kickapoo	6th	14 points
Erie	7th	11.5 points
Miami	8th	10 points
Honniasont	9th	3 points

Note the brand new player, the Honniasont, a tribe that dwelled in Western Pennsylvania during this period. They will struggle to make up the deficits on missing four turns of games -- but hey! They just want to play, and who am I to deny them?

Here are the scores for Prestige Points -- which are obtained by Major Victories, Minor Victories, and Minor Defeats.

Tribe	Prestige Points (PPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	10 (3 MajV, 1 MinD)
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	9 (1 MajV, 3 MinV)
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	9 (1 MajV, 3 MinV)
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	5 (1 MajV, 2 MinD)
Erie (Mike Demana)	5 (1 MajV, 2 MinD)
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	4 (1 MajV, 1 MinD)
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	3 (1 MinV, 1 MinD)
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	3 (1 MinV, 1 MinD)
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	—

 Here is the number of Scenario Victory Points each tribe has earned.

Tribe	Scenario Victory Points (SVPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	58
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	54
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	50
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	44
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	33
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	33
Erie (Mike Demana)	32
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	25
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	0

And finally, here is our tally of Beaver Pelts. The amount of these obtained each turn comes from where you are on the continium from most to least aggressive (the higher the value of Hunt card you play, the more beaver pelts you generally obtain).

Tribe	Beaver Pelts
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	25
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	20
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	19
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	18
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	17
Erie (Mike Demana)	15
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	15
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	15
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	9

Expect another update relatively soon. Our pizza place was booked up for March, as were most of the players. We could squeeze one weekend in, though, and it is this coming Saturday! Thanks for reading, and remember, you can purchase the game rules Song of Drums and Tomahawks by following the links on the First Command Wargames website.

Modeling the 3 Sisters -- Native American Corn, Beans, and Squash

    Native Americans "3 Sisters" of corn, beans, and squash

A number of scenarios that I'm planning for Song of Drums and Tomahawks games recreate the area just outside of Native American towns or villages. Many of the Eastern Woodlands tribes were agriculturally based. The women of the tribe would tend fields, typically of corn, beans, and squash. These vegetables were the staple of their diet, and were important to them religiously, too. They grew them together in their fields. The corn stalk would provide a vertical pole, of sorts, for the bean plants to grow up. Meanwhile, the squash would grow around them, their wide leaves preventing weeds from growing around the other plants.

European settlers typically plant their crops separately. So, you'd have a field of corn, a field of squash, and so on. I'd created some corn fields awhile back using the excellent JT Miniatures terrain. These placed three of the corn plants on a base so I could rearrange them in rows for fields outside of settler cabins. Now, I figured it was time to try my hand at modeling the 3 Sisters. I began by doing Google Image searches for drawings or photos of what it may have looked like. There actually weren't as many as I thought there would be. However, I am including a line drawing that I liked.

Next was the problem of what to use for the pieces? The corn stalks were easy. I bought another box of the JT Miniatures corn stalks from Hobby Lobby (I recommend keeping the 40% off coupon web page saved on your smart phone, if you have one). I looked through the plastic plants section of Hobby Lobby and Michaels, but there really wasn't anything with small enough leaves to pass for the beans. However, I had a backup plan. Years ago, I bought plastic plant terrain from a company called Pastimes on the Square. They had a large variety of plants individually based and flocked. One of the packs was very vine-like, and looked like it would pass if I cut them into strips.

    I had bought these from Pastimes on the Square, and thought they'd serve as tiny bean stalks when snipped apart

Now, what to use for the squash? For my prototype pieces, I snipped apart another plastic plant base from Pastimes. I didn't want to cut up a bunch of them, so eventually it was back to Michaels to find something else that worked. I'm not 100% satisfied with the more round leaves of what I ended up using. However, the idea is to give the effect of the 3 Sisters -- not be a museum model of it. I was satisfied with the prototype, so I went into full-on production mode.

    1-inch wooden disks made a perfect base for these terrain pieces

For the bases, I purchased packs of soft birch wood 1" circular disks. I was gambling they would not warp when the paint and glue and water soaked in. I needed them to be soft so that I could easily drill holes in them. I match up my hand drill's bits against the corn stalk and drill a hole in the center of each disk. I mixed up a batch of 5 Minute Epoxy, and put a dab over each hole. Then, I forced one corn stalk into the hole, pressing down on the edges of the disk when I was done to ensure the stalk doesn't protrude from the underside.

    The bean plants attached temporarily to the corn stalks with bluetack until the epoxy dries

While the epoxy is hardening, I cut up the bean stalks and match one up with each corn plant. I also set a tiny ball of bluetack next to each one. I mix up another batch of epoxy and dip the bottom of each bean stalk into it. I then bluetack the bean plant to the corn stalk so that the blob of epoxy on the end touches the disk base. Once the epoxy has dried, I remove the blob of bluetack from the bean and corn stalks. I arrange a corn leaf or two to clasp the bean tightly to the stalk.

    The squash plants are added -- some of them were trimmed up later because I felt they were too tall

Next up are the squash plants. I decide to put two to each base. First, I trim the top part of the plastic plants, leaving about a half inch of stem on each. I ended up going back afterwards and trimming even more off. Squash plants do not rise very high off the ground, and I made them too tall at first. Once I have two for every base, I match the stem against my hand drill's bits, and pick the match. I drill two holes on opposite sides of the corn stalk. Just like with the corn stalk, I put a dab of epoxy over each hole, and then set a plant down in each hole. This went SO much easier than the prototype, when I tried to epoxy the squash plant upright just to the base, without drilling a hole.

    The bases flocked with Woodland Scenics brown ballast to simulate earth

Next, I take my premade glue and brown paint mixture and brush it on the base, avoiding the leaves, but going up to the bottom of the stalks and stems. I dip the base into a tub of medium brown ballast from Woodland Scenics. I shake off the excess, and then make sure the base sits flat without globs of ballast on the underside. I set them on a box I use to spray paint things. It has an irregular, almost pebbled surface, so they don't stick. I leave them to dry overnight. The next day, I mix up a batch of dark brown wash and gently brush it over the ballast. This gives it some depth, and makes it look more like dark earth.

After a few hours and the wash has dried, I dab the base with white glue in several spots. I sprinkle these areas with Woodland Scenics blended green turf so that each base has a mix of grass and earth areas. After the glue dries, I spray them with Dullcoate. Once dry, I brush on a 50/50 mix of white glue and water to seal it all in. One more spray of Dullcoate and the bases are complete!

    Closes up of the completed 3 Sisters bases next to a 28mm Native American woman figure

I was actually surprised how quickly these were created and finished. It did not take long at all to make up 14 of them. There was no warping of the disks that I could notice. The soft wood made it so easy to drill the holes, so I think that was a good choice of base material. I will likely make up more of these, once I find some more plants I can use for the bean stalks. I used up pretty much all of my Pastimes on the Square bases that looked appropriate. So, if anyone knows where I can find more appropriate basing material, feel free to leave a comment!