WWM College Football Playoff Round 2

Continuing with my version of the playoffs.

Notre Dame vs. Ohio State

In the first round, Notre Dame beat Texas A&M. ND advances to face Ohio State.

Ohio State beat ND in the CFP final last season. Can ND flip the result?

First Quarter

• OS tackles the ND QB for a safety. OS 2-0
• Then OS gets a field goal on the ensuing drive. OS 5-0
• ND intercepts a pass then drives for a touchdown run. ND 7-5

Second Quarter

• OS and ND trade long drives ending in TD runs. ND 14-12
• OS and ND trade field goals. ND 17-15
• OS intercepts deep in ND territory. It's returned for a TD. OS 22-17

Third Quarter

• ND takes the opening drive for a TD. ND 24-22
• OS gets a field goal. OS 25-24
• OS and ND trade TDs. ND's 2-point conversion attempt fails. OS 32-30
• OS is driving but fumbles near the goal line. OS 32-30

Fourth Quarter

• After a great punt return, OS gets a TD pass. OS 39-30
• ND drives but only gets a field goal. OS 39-33
• ND tries an onside kick. OS recovers and runs out the clock.

Final score: Ohio State 39, Notre Dame 33. 😢

GAME NOTE: This actually was my second try for ND. I accidentally erased the result from my first playthrough. The score was very close to this one.

Other Games

Other 2nd round action:

• James Madison upsets Texas Tech 38-35.
• Indiana squeaks by Oklahoma in overtime, 36-30.
• Ole Miss beats SEC rival Georgia 34-27

WWM CFP Round 1

Continuing with my version of the college football playoff using Fast Drive Football.

Previously, I ran a play-in game for ND and Miami. Now we move on to the first round.

Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M

After defeating Miami in a play-in game, Notre Dame takes on Texas A&M. 

They met earlier this year, with A&M squeaking by with a 1 point victory.

First Quarter

• A&M returns a punt for a TD. 7-0.
• ND responds with a TD pass. 7-7.

Second Quarter

• ND starts the quarter with a TD pass. 14-7 ND.
• ND intercepts a pass, then drives for another TD (pass). 21-7 ND.
• ND fumbles. A&M recovers and gets a TD (pass) 21-14 ND.

Third Quarter

• A&M gets a field goal. 21-17 ND.
• ND responds with a TD pass. 28-17 ND.

Fourth Quarter

• The teams trade field goals. 31-20 ND.
• ND fumbles. A&M drives for the score. They add a 2-point conversion. 31-28 ND.
• ND strikes quickly with another TD pass. 38-28 ND.
• A&M gets a 4th down conversion to keep its drive alive, but runs out of time.

Final score: ND 38 - Texas A&M 28

Other Games

Because I wanted to get to ND's next challenge, I did not use the full-blown FDF for the remaining games. Instead, I used the Quick Results table in the Commissioner's Expansion (on the FDF downloads page)

• James Madison shocks Oregon 47-17.
• Oklahoma squeezes by Alabama 21-16.
• Ole Miss defeats Tulane 30-17.

The WWM College Football Playoff

Disappointed that my team, Notre Dame, did not make the College Football Playoff, I decided to hold my own playoff. I will be using Fast Drive Football.

I spent some time last week calculating the 2025 college football ratings. I'm ready to go.

Play-In Game 1

Miami (Fla) got a bid over Notre Dame. These two teams played in week 1, with Miami securing a 3-point victory. That got them the playoff nod.

But are these teams the same as week 1? Let's find out. I'm giving ND a chance to play their way into the playoff. Because Miami is ranked above ND, I'll let them have home-field advantage.

Quarter 1

• MIA takes the opening drive all the way for a TD. 7-0.
• Three straight turnovers. Still 7-0.
• MIA starts in great field position but only manages a field goal. 10-0.
• ND takes the next possession for a TD. 10-7 MIA

Quarter 2

• MIA scores but ND runs back the ensuing kickoff. 17-14.
• MIA scores but ND runs back the ensuing kickoff. No, that's not an accidental duplication. 24-21.
• MIA scores but ND responds with a field goal. 31-24.
• Finally some defense. ND forces MIA to punt. ND gets a great return, setting themselves up in excellent field position.
• ND scores to end the half. 31-31.

Quarter 3

• ND and MIA trade TDs. 38-38.
• Then two punts. 
• ND has the ball and is moving.

Quarter 4

• ND scores, holds MIA, and scores again! 52-38.
• MIA and ND trade punts.
• MIA punches it in for a TD. 52-45.
• MIA forces a punt and gets an exciting return. They start in great field position.
• As they drive for the tying touchdown, they FUMBLE. ND recovers and wins the game!

Notre Dame takes Miami's spot in the playoff! Next up is Texas A&M.

Play-In Game 2

The last spot in the playoff came down to two conference winners - James Madison and Duke. JM was ranked higher and got the spot. Could Duke (my brother's team) pull off an upset and make my playoff? Let's find out.

Quarter 1

• JM gets 2 field goals. 6-0.
• Duke takes the lead on a TD run. 7-6.
• JM gets another field goal. 9-7 JM. Still, it's close.

Quarter 2

• JM scores 3 touchdowns. 30-7 JM. Ouch.

Second Half

• It's all JM with 3 more TDs.

Final score: JM 51 - Duke 7. No upset in this game.

Relief of Rashur

After the last battle, Saladin has trapped some Crusaders in the town of Rashur. King Guy rides to the rescue.

The Opposing Forces

• Crusader vanguard - Crossbows, 2 spears, 2 knights
• Saladin's pickets - 3 horse archers, bows, spears

Note: I did not have the army lists handy so I just rolled randomly to determine the forces. The Crusaders have a slight advantage (12 points vs 11).

The Battle

King Guy's vanguard approaches the town and runs into Saladin's troops on picket duty. The spears advance. The horse archers on the right unwisely charge and get cut down.

The horse archers in the center are smarter. Their volleys rout the Crusader spears.

But then the knights charge from the reserve and scatter the horse archers.

Horse archers on the left rout the crossbowmen.

The knights do more damage.

Then flank and destroy the bows.

The remaining horse archers fall back on Saladin's camp. Saladin must abandon the siege of Rashur and prepare to meet the Crusader army. Meanwhile, Guy brings up the rest of his force. A climatic battle is in the offing.

GAME NOTES

This was a surprisingly LOOOOOONG game. You may have noticed that there is only 1 defeated unit in each picture. That's because in each turn there was at least one sector where no one hit. And I didn't take pictures of the many turns where no one hit at all! I didn't count but there must have been at least 10 turns in this game. Contrast this with my silly Thanksgiving game, which ended after a mere 2 turns.

Ser Killian On Hiatus

After last week's musings about my dungeon crawl rules, I decided to put Kilian's story on hiatus.

Killian (left) with Haiden his squire, Nashad the man-at-arms, and Martin his priest.
I imagine Haiden as a bit older, but otherwise Chat GPT did a good job.

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Killian's Story

Killian's story ended nicely when I completed the Dragon of Icespire Keep module. He defeated the titular dragon, built a church in Phandelin, and brought peace to the region.

I enjoyed the climax so much I decided to continue with the sequel module, Storm Lord's Wrath (SLW). I played the first adventure then stopped.

A New Strategy

I have some ideas for tweaks to my Micro Dungeon rules. I think it will be best to test them with new characters. But first, I wanted to finish SLW.

Problems Arise

Last weekend, I pulled up SLW and began prepping the remaining adventures. This involves translating D&D encounters into my rules. Sometimes, I need to add encounters because the published adventures are pretty slim and also include social encounters, which I drop.

As I worked through the module, I encountered some problems.

• Multiple main quests - in SLW, you face the minions of TWO evil priests. Couldn't they just focus on one? I considered dropping one main quest and just completing the other. That would give me some closure.
• Stupid side quests - there are some side quests that have no bearing whatsoever on the main story. I want to finish Killian's story quickly, therefore I won't bother with these.
• The Big Bosses aren't here - this is the big issue. The confrontations with the evil priests aren't in this module. There are two more modules! I did not realize this when I bought SLW. I thought it would be like Dragon of Icespire Keep, in which the main quest is completely in the module. But no, they want to string me along. I am not buying another modern D&D module.

Because of these problems, especially the last one, I'm done with SLW.

What Next for Killian?

I'm leaving Killian at the start of a story. I feel like I need closure. Perhaps I will create my own story where he fights one of the evil priests.

BUT, that is a bit of work. I think I will put Killian on hiatus and start new characters.

Protecting Pearl

A few years ago, I did a mini Pearl Harbor campaign using my Micro Battle air combat rules. It's on my old blog so I decided to start fresh, with a slightly different scenario,

The Dogfight

It is the morning of December 7th, 1941. Lt. William Crow and Lt. Rex Raven, based at Hickam Field, get the alarm. Enemy forces inbound! They scramble for their P-40s and take off.

They engage 3 Val dive bombers (gray) escorted by a Zero (red)

The Zero gets on Crowe's (Green 1) tail. He takes damage. Meanwhile, Raven gets behind the Vals (left).

Raven damages a Val. It breaks off its attack. 

Crowe manages to slip the Zero. He and Raven get behind two Vals. Rat-tat-tat. BOOM!

Both Vals go up in flames.

The Zero stays in the fight, targeting Crowe. Evasive maneuvers! The Zero misses.

Raven comes to the rescue and damages the Zero.

There is more circling and missed shots. Finally, the Zero, running out of fuel, abandons the fight.

Crowe and Val have saved Hickam Field!

What's Next?

I have one more scenario - protect the battleships! I haven't played it but will post it when I do.

In future years, I don't want to keep repeating Pearl Harbor scenarios. Maybe I'll designate December 7th as Air War in the Pacific day and do further battles (Coral Sea, Midway, etc.). Crowe and Raven will be the stars; I guess they'll transfer to the Navy.

Saladin Sallies

I decided to start a Crusader-themed campaign for Dominion of.

Saladin sallies across the border into the Crusader States. His army (blue) consists of 2 units of Mameluks (elite horse archers), a unit of Turkoman horse archers, foot archers, and spears.

The Crusaders defend with crossbows (in the town), 2 units of knights, and 3 spears.

In the initial attack (not pictured because for some reason blogger is not uploading it), the Crusaders lose some knights and spears. Knights and spears fill in the gaps.

The reserve knights charge the Turkoman horse archers. A rain of arrows wipes them out.

Some of the Mameluks recklessly charge the town. The crossbowmen shoot them down. But Saladin's archers take out the spears on the right.

This opens up the Crusader flank. The archers hit the center spears.

The Crusader crossbowmen are bottled up in the town. Game over, Saladin has won. But for the sake of narrartive.

Saladin's forces prepare to storm the town.

What happens next? Stay tuned!