Five Parsecs From Home: Bug Hunt: Battle

 Right, Lads. Here's the plan. Scout, you and the fire team (that's you four with the combat rifles), head over to objective 2 to secure that location. Bungo, you get up high in the middle so you can take potshots at any bugs you can see. Kid, you and I will take the other side and activate the tactical point amongst the crates, then get you to objective 1 so you can hack it. By then we should be ready to activate the beacon at objective 3.

Chorus of "OK Sarge!"

(for reference, here's the map again)

Hey Sarge?

Yeah Kid?

What do you suppose that grotty pile of junk there is?

Looks like someone is trying to cobble together a tank?

Do you think they will ever succeed?

Time will tell, I suppose.

Sarge and the Kid head towards the tactical marker amongst the crates and activate it. It blocks bugs until a 6 is rolled on D6. Meanwhile, Bungo gets up on top of the grounded spaceship that is farthest north. And Scout and the fireteam head towards objective 2.

Bungo Longshot perched in position atop a grounded spaceship.

Hey Sarge?

Yeah Kid?

Did you hear something?

These blasted scanners don't have much of a range do they?

First contact! It's the kind they call "shatter-forms". It is said that when you kill one it shatters, and any other life forms nearby, including other shatter-forms, could take a hit. There are four of them in this group. Sarge blasts at them with his hand cannon, killing one. That causes two others to take hits and die, leaving only one alive.

Meanwhile, over on the other side, Scout and the fireteam reached objective 2 and only encountered a single bug, which they quickly dispatched.

Leaving the fireteam to hold that objective, Scout headed over to see if Sarge and the Kid needed any assistance.

Another group of 3 bugs had shown up on their detectors near objective 3, moving towards the crates. Luckily, the tactical marker was still operational and blocked them from getting through, so the bugs had to go around. Sarge and Bungo and Scout fired at the last bug from the first group, inflicting 3 stuns.

Sarge and Bungo dealt with the latest 3 bugs. Meanwhile, way off on the westside another blip had appeared.

Hey Sarge?

Yeah Kid?

Why do you think there is a terminal out in the middle of a used vehicle lot?

Who knows.

The Kid was free to hack the terminal at objective marker 1 (which, contrary to the map was south of the crater).

Hey kid?

Yeah Sarge?

Is it done?

Yeah, piece of cake.

All that remained was for Sarge to move over and activate the beacon at objective marker 3.

Hey Sarge?

Yeah Kid?

That's a beacon? Looks kind of like a moisture vaporator, don't it?

Never you mind; the mission briefing says it's a beacon.

Hey Sarge?

Yeah Kid?

What's with all of these tires?

What do you mean?

I mean, none of these vehicles in this lot use tires.

So that's the end of the battle. I did make things as easy as I could and a lot of things went right, probably more than I had a right to. 😄 One turn I rolled enough low rolls all of my side went in the quick action phase! I'll do another post-battle report later (sometime in the next few days I hope).

Hey lads?

Yeah Sarge?

Let's get some lunch!

Sounds good. But Sarge?

Yeah, Kid?

Let's not go to the lobster joint, eh?

Sure Kid.

Solo Gaming by the Book

Not having much time or energy for gaming lately one thing I have managed is playing through the introductory pdfs for The Lost City of the Dwarves. These are "choose your own adventure"/solo dungeon types of books/games. You can read more about them at Lost City of the Dwarves
The introductory pdfs are free, and a good full adventure in their own right. You create a character and play through the 3 pdfs, level up your character (if they survive), gain items that you can use as you go, etc. I love dwarves, and these pdfs/books give a nice background and history, lots of flavor, as well as humor and tense or more dramatic moments as well. Some very good artwork, too. I would definitely recommend trying out the free pdfs, which you can get from DriveThruRPG. I loved it enough that I went ahead and purchased the printed version of the main adventure. That's the first part of a new adventure in the Lost City.

Gnoll Raid Rules

For the gnoll raid on the halfling settlement of Duckweed described in my previous post I used a combination of rules. Probably cobbled together more like Frankenstein than like a good robust hybrid.

For starters I found a set of rules online called Very Simple Generic Miniatures Rules. You can probably find them by using a search engine or you can go to http://www.dominowriting.com/games.html and scroll down to the rules in question. Mostly I used the combat rules from this set. For movement, I borrowed some ideas from The Song of Blades and Heroes series of rules sets. Additionally, I made up some "house rules" for the scenario I devised.

I decided all of the halflings had some sort of missile weapons (whether bows and arrows, slings, slingshots, thrown rocks, guns, thrown flagons or steins, whatever) and treated them all the same. 5 or 6 on 1D6 to hit. The only effect they would have on the gnolls would be to discombobulate them temporarily. For each gnoll thus affected in any given turn another halfling would appear on the halfling's baseline. In addition, if many gnolls were knocked down/back, distracted, etc., I would roll to see if the gnolls called off their attack, thus ending the game. For this I would roll 1D6, if the result was less than or equal to the number of gnolls still active at that point the attack would continue. So, with 9 gnolls in the raiding party the halflings would have to hit at least 4 of them to have any chance of driving them off.

The gnolls were only armed with hand to hand weapons, but they were fiercer in hand-to-hand fighting. For hand-to-hand fighting I rolled 1D6 for the halflings and the dog and donkey, and 2D6 for the gnolls, with an additional D6 for the gnoll chieftan. I then took the highest roll for each participant in each hand-to-hand combat. If a gnoll won they captured their opponent. If a halfling or animal won they only fended off their opponent, same as hitting them with a missile.

So, the halflings couldn't ever kill or knock any gnolls completely out of the fight, but the gnolls could take halflings and animals out. The halflings only chance was to discomfort enough gnolls to drive them off.

For movement, and for missile ranges, I used some measuring sticks I had created. I made a few lengths, short (3 inches), medium (5 inches), long (8 inches), and extra long (13 inches). Halflings and animals could move 2 short; gnolls, 1 long. Missile range was 1 extra long. Movement had to be in a straight line and could not pass through any obstacles or features (like trees, walls, hedges, barrels, etc.). That meant the halflings and animals were more maneuverable through areas with lots of obstacles, but gnolls could move quickly across open areas. A halfling could dodge around and evade a gnoll in amongst some trees or other obstacles, but a gnoll could outrun a halfling on open ground. I also made the opening in the hedge at the upper right of the cow pasture too small for a gnoll, but large enough for a halfling. A halfling could duck through there if need be; or defend across it, but gnolls had to go around to the larger opening near the halfling baseline.

I didn't set any victory conditions. This scenario was not so much about winning or losing, but rather about setting things up for another scenario after the raid. More on that later (once I work it out and play more games).

I ruled that the gnolls would always have initiative and the halflings couldn't move or fire missiles until contacted, unless they had been alerted. They would be alerted the first time any halfling got a hit on a gnoll, which would have to be in hand-to-hand combat by the above conditions. Luckily, the woodsman got a hit in the very first combat. That horn came in handy!

I tried to keep things pretty simple for this game. of course, it's always easy to make things more complicated, adding variations, exceptions, etc. For example, I could've rated different missile weapons differently; maybe some should have shorter ranges, for example, or do more permanent damage. But KISS is a good motto, in my opinion.

In the actual game there were some good and unexpected moments. Like when the dog rushed to attacked the gnoll chieftan after the dog's master was captured, and manged to beat the chieftan, rolling one 6 to the chieftain's 3 dice with lower scores.

Quiet? Yeah, Too Quiet

It was a quiet day in the shire. Cattle browsing under the watchful eye of dog and halfling; a woodsman seeking wood for fires; a goatherd drowsing after second breakfast; a farmer and his donkey tending to a field of potatoes and carrots.

Little did they know, a raiding pack of gnolls were coming over the hills to the north, intent on gathering food and captives.

The gnolls swept down to attack the woodsman, but he fought back valiantly, escaping from the gnolls and blowing his horn to alert the other halflings.

The hunter by the pond fired his bow, striking one gnoll. The woodsman and hunter retreat back towards the walls and hedges of the farms around the halfling village, pursued closely by the raiding gnolls. The gnoll chieftan captures the cowherd in spite of having to fight over the hedge. Meanwhile, the goatherd strikes another gnoll.

The gnolls press their attack and capture the woodsman and the hunter. The halflings hit a couple of gnolls, while the herders start herding the cows and goats to safety.
The gnolls surge forward, but don't quite make it into contact with any of the halflings. The dog rushes in to attack the gnoll chieftan, managing to get in a good nip and hold her off for a little while. The halflings fire off various missiles, knocking 5 gnolls off balance. This leaves only 3 gnolls on their feet and ready for action, but the gnolls hold their ground. The goatherd sees his animals off to safety.

The gnoll chieftan captures the dog, while the halfling barmaid knocks one gnoll back with a flagon to the kneecap, but the gnolls capture one of the town guards, the old potato farmer, and the halfling slinger.

More halflings join the defense. In a flurry of assorted missiles the halflings discomfort 4 gnolls, but the gnolls hold their ground again, and in return capture the halfling lad with his slingshot (or catapult) and Littlejack, Robyn Hood's sidekick.

More halflings, four adventurous fellows, join the fray. The gnolls press the attack. The halflings fight off 2 of the gnolls, but the donkey and 5 halflings are taken captive. The remaining halflings fire off another flurry of missiles, tankards, rocks, arrows, etc., and knock down, knock back, distract, etc., 5 more gnolls. The gnolls decide they have had enough (and have enough captives) and retreat back the way they came. 

In the aftermath of the raid the remaining halflings ponder what to do about their captured friends and family.

Thus endeth the gnoll raid on the halfling settlement of Duckweed.

In a further post I will write a bit about how this raid was conducted.

Games and Game-Related Materials

While I am slowly chipping away at my old lead pile, with some fantasy miniatures currently on the painting desk, I have also been playing Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I am thoroughly enjoying this game so far. In the past week or so I have played through 4 of the scenarios, playing solo as a single character. I like the artwork on the cards. The wide variety of cards keeps the game interesting, and I believe will allow for multiple enjoyable plays of the adventures and scenarios. I believe there is also a lot of potential for player-provided content and customization if people want to go outside the box.
The game plays pretty quickly (easily under an hour), doesn't take a huge amount of space or a lot of setup time. The rules book could be better organized, but there is already a lot of information on-line at Paizo and BoardGameGeek, so finding answers to questions isn't hard. After a couple of play-throughs I think I have a good handle on the rules, which hasn't always been the case with other games.
All in all, I find the game quite engaging. It's the sort of game where when I finish one scenario I want to go on right away and play another.
I know the game is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you're looking for a solo fantasy game with rpg-like elements I think this card game is worth checking out.

In other news, I understand the Rory's Story Cubes people are going to start coming out with themed 3 cube sets to mix in with the existing cubes when you want some thematic flavor. I think one of the first ones will be a fairy tale set, and another will be a dinosaurs or prehistoric theme, and a third one whose theme I forget (I was distracted by the dino/prehistoric theme). Apparently the idea is if these sets sell well enough they might do more themed sets like them in the future.