Fast Play Football Halftime Report

I am now halfway through the season.

Week 4 Games

Most games were not that competitive.

The closest was Miami-LA. Miami won 31-24. The Makos led 31-14 early in the 4th quarter but the Stars managed 10 points. They then had the ball at the end of the game but could not score a tying TD.

Week 5 Games

Miami is again involved in the best game of the week. Taking on Dallas, they trail by 1 point, 14-13 at half. Both sides get a field goal in the 3rd quarter. Dallas then scores a touchdown to lead 24-19. Miami has the ball at the end of the game, but they turn it over on downs.

Standings

Here are the standings midway through the season.

Last year's champions, the NY Imperials, lead the East with a 4-1 record. Miami and Chicago are close behind at 3-2.

In the West, last year's division champion Dallas is only 2-3. Seattle at 4-1 has a comfortable 2 game lead in the division.

Dacia or Die

The Twelve Foes of Rome Campaign

The next chapter of the campaign.

Another member of the illustrious Bellicosus family leads an invasion of Dacia.

The Dacians (blue) attack. Roman archers cut down the ferocious warriors (left) while the Dacian levy holds off the Roman cavalry (right).

Roman legionaries tangle with the levies. It is mass slaughter.

The Dacian ferocious warriors (center) crush a legion. But the archers (right) take out more levies.

The archers flank the ferocious warriors and cut them down.

Bellicosus is victorious, and his archers are the heroes of the battle (they took out 3 enemy units).

GAME NOTES

• I shook off the lethargy and completed a couple of games in the Bellicosus campaign. This is one. I will report on the other (vs. Sassanids) in November.
• The Bellicosus family is now 8-2 in the campaign. Success (i.e. a winning record) is assured. The question now is how successful will they be?
• I did not use the Dominion of the Spear rules for this battle. Instead, I used Dominion of the Orc. There are some minor nuances; for example, melee infantry vs. melee infantry need a 5+ to succeed in DotS and 4+ in DotO. But it was still fun. Why did I use DotO? I'm testing it for a project I have in mind for next year.

Fast Play Football Update

I have now completed 3 weeks.

Week 2

• Wild game in NY. 10-10 at half. Miami then jumps out to a 26-13 lead. NY scores 2 TDs but misses an extra point - game tied. In overtime, NY gets a TD and holds Miami to a field goal. Final 33-29 NY.
• Chicago and Washington are tied 7-7 at half. Washington scores 2 TDs and then holds on for a 21-17 win.
• Despite missing 3 field goals, LA squeaks by Dallas 13-10.
• Seattle scores 10 points in the 2nd quarter to surge ahead for a 23-13 victory.

Week 3

• Chicago gets 3 TDs in the 3rd quarter for a 37-21 victory.
• Miami cruises over Washington 30-14.
• Dallas is up 21-0 at the half. They end up winning 24-14.
• LA misses 3 more field goals! They lose to Seattle 21-17

Week 3 Standings

East

NY                 2-1

Miami            2-1

Washington    1-2

Chicago         1-2

West

Seattle            3-0

LA                  2-1

Dallas             1-2

Denver            0-3

Doldrums Report

Technically I'm not in the doldrums because I am getting a lot done. Just not gaming.

Start of the Season

My LARP group's summer hiatus is over and we are meeting again. We had our first lore battle of the new season last week. I posted a report on my Legends of the Legion blog.

Armor Crafting

Continuing to work on my leather armor.

I previously shared this AI concept art.

I completed a couple of pieces.

• Tassets

• One greave

Battle of Long Island

I'm a little late with this one. The battle took place on August 27th.

I decided to do a little AI experiment. I used Chat GPT to generate the images. I did not use it for dice rolls or decision making.

Opening of the battle. 

I don't know where the stream came from; I did not ask for one. Oh well.

The British attack on the left. Accurate fire by the American militia drives them off. Meanwhile, the American militia in the fortifications unleashes a firestorm that sweeps away the British center.

Next, the British attack the Continentals on the right. Again, American musketry is too powerful. And another volley from the entrenched American center wipes out more infantry. The Redcoats retreat.

Washington saves New York!

GAME NOTES

• Interesting experiment. Not sure if I will do this regularly, but it looks nicer than my PPT battle board. It seems like a viable option for virtual gaming.
• I forgot to use the British rally. Oh well, again.

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. Four 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, Miami, and Seattle 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.