Return of Fast Play Football

Getting hyped up for the return of football (American style).

This has prompted me to bring back my Fast Play Football League (formerly War Without Miniatures Football League).

Pre-Season Moves

Each team is rated for offense, defense, and kicking. I thought it would be uninteresting if the teams had the same stats as last year. But I wanted some consistency with the prior season. Therefore, I decided to roll to see if one of the stats changed.

I rolled a D6 per team, -1 for each superior trait and +1 for each inferior one. A roll of 1 indicates that a trait gets reduced while a 6 indicates an increase. If there is a change, I chose the lowest to increase or highest to decrease. If there were multiple options, I rolled for it.

Overall, the league did well in improving its skill levels. Five of 8 teams increased while only one decreased.

• Denver and LA improved their offense to average.
• Chicago improved its defense to average.
• Dallas improved its kicking game to average.
• Alas, Washington's offense dropped to average.
• New York and Miami had no changes.

Week One

I also completed the first week of games.

• In a tough defensive battle, NY slips by Washington 19-13.
• Miami surprises with a convincing 23-7 victory over Chicago.
• Dallas and Seattle are tied 16 all. Seattle scores a TD then hold Dallas for the win!
• Another surprise! LA (1-9 last season) wins 31-24. The score is a little misleading. LA was up 31-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Denver scored a FG early in the 4th then a TD in garbage time. An attempted onside kick fails.

Oops

I keep track of results in an Excel spreadsheet. Unfortunately, I accidentally overwrote the Season 1 spreadsheet (stupid autosave). At least I have the season summaries on this blog.

Carolingian Battles

I've been on a Carolingian kick ever since I decided to make some leather armor inspired by Charlemagne's Franks.

By the way, here is an AI conception of my armor.

Battle 1 - Franks vs. Umayyads

I was too lazy to take pictures. Here is a quick synopsis instead.

• After some desultory skirmishing, the Frankish knights on both flanks charged the Umayyad javelins. It is a bloodbath - all units are wiped out.
• This leaves open to a flank attack. The Umayyad cavalry hits the archers.
• The rest of the Frankish army retreats.

Because I don't have pictures, I asked AI to create an image of a wargame between the two armies.

Battle 2 - Franks vs. Saxons

• Both sides lose their archers. The Franks also wipe out 2 Saxon warbands.
• The Saxons throw back a unit of knights, but the Frankish general rallies them. Meanwhile, another warband falls.
• The knights are defeated again. This time, they flee.
• But the remaining knights wipe out another warband.

With a single warband left, the Saxons flee.

Some more AI.

GAME NOTES

• So far, Charlie is 1-1, with more or less historical results.
• Coming up, Franks vs. Lombards and Avars.
• I've grown weary of photographing and posting pictures for the blog. I still like to blog because it serves as a wargames diary. I like to go back and read old posts. But, I am questioning whether photos are necessary. I may just give brief synopses, augmented with some AI illustrations.

Bellicosus Beats the Brits

The Twelve Foes of Rome Campaign

The next chapter of the campaign.

Emperor Bellicosus invades Britannia. The Britons mass their barbarian hordes and attack the invaders.

Note: My phone was charging so I just played the game on a virtual board.

1. Roman cavalry charges but is driven off by Briton slingers. Meanwhile, a Roman legion holds off the chariots.
2. The same legion defeats the Briton cavalry,
3. And then a warband! Meanwhile, the Briton leader rallies another warband.
4. The light infantry for both sides disperse.
5. The second legion crushes a warband.

There is one warband left. They decide to retire from the field.

'

Bellicosus adds Britannia to the Empire!

And the Bellicosus family is now 7-2.

"Twelve" Foes Update

My Twelve Foes of Rome campaign is rolling along.

Here are the results so far:

1. Samnites - this turned into 2 foes - Etruscans and Samnites. Both wins
2. Pyrrhus - win
3. Carthage - win
4. Macedon - lose
5. Pontus - lose
6. Gauls - win
7. Parthia - win
8. Germans - win

Current record is 6-2. With all this success, I assume that the Bellicosus family has taken the emperorship of Rome!

Here are my plans for the rest of the year:

9. Britons - added to replace the Carthage duplicate

10. Dacians

11. Sassanids

12. Huns

Looking at this list, I think I should add Goths. Perhaps I'll do a double feature in December.

Bosworth Field

With the Halloween stuff in stores, my wife has caught the horror bug. We plan to do Frightful Friday movies.

Her first selection was not really a horror film, but it stars Vincent Price.

Basically, it's Richard III.

Anyway, that got me interested in doing a Bosworth game. I could not find a scenario specific for Dominion of the Spear, so I modified a DBA scenario that I found at Heretical Gaming.

The Battle

King Richard III (white) is camped on the hill with Henry Tudor (red) below. Lord Stanley awaits on the wings.

Richard's center charges. Melee ensues. Meanwhile, his bowmen on the left lose the archery duel. Stanley (far left) awaits developments.

Richard's center collapsed. He is unable to stem the rout. His forces have more success on the left. Stanley still waits.

Disaster for Richard. His left and center rout.

And then the archers on the right flee the battlefield.

Richard tries a last ditch charge but is killed. Henry Tudor has seized the throne. And Stanley still awaits developments.

Game Notes

• I added that last part about Richard's charge just for narrative's sake. The battle was already lost.
• Richard had a numerical superiority over Henry, but Henry had a chance to bring Stanley on as reinforcements. His units would go into Henry's reserve.
• On turn 1, Stanley would join Henry on a roll of 6
• It dropped to a roll of 4-6 on turn 2
• Then 2-6 on turn 3
• As it turns out, I rolled really poorly for Stanley and he did nothing all game.
• Henry was still able to win despite being outnumbered and despite Stanley's delay.

Dominion of the Orc Counters

Last month, I posted about the new Stephen Parker title, Dominion of the Orc. I even posted some ideas for a couple of armies. Since then, I've done nothing with DotO, primarily because I did not have counters for the new unit types. 

Today, I started work on rectifying the situation. I made some new counters.

They are (from top to bottom and left to right) scouts, flyers, mage, and assassin.

I decided to make them in generic colors rather than army specific. I did that with rare ancient troop types (chariots and elephants) and it works fine while reducing the number of counters I need. I went for a dark gray for all the units except the scouts, which are naturally green.

Now I just need to print them and stick them on the bases.

Bellicosus in the Teutoberg

The Twelve Foes of Rome Campaign

The next chapter of the campaign.

After his victories over the Gauls and Parthians, Bellicosus outmaneuvers some guy named Julius and makes himself Emperor of Rome.

Now the Germans are giving trouble. The aging Bellicosus I sends his son and heir into Germania to sort things out. The younger Bellicosus is ambushed in the Teutoberg Forest.

The Battle

The German warbands (brown) charge the Roman line, wiping out the cavalry and auxiliary archers. But the cavalry manage to decimate their enemy.

Note: The German army is 100% spears but I don't have enough brown heavy infantry. Instead, I used light infantry counters for the regular spears and heavy for ferocious spears.

The legions hold the line. On the right, a legion wipes out a Germanic warband.

The auxiliary spears are about the run, but Bellicosus steadies the line.

Another warband driven off. The German leader, Arminius, cannot stem the tide.

The legion then flanks the German center, putting them to the rout.

Another victory for Rome, and the Bellicosus family!

NOTES

• Only had time for one quick game. Dominion of really fits the bill.
• The Bellicosus family is now 6-2 in the campaign.