End of the Russo-Turkish War

The finale of my fictional Russo-Turkish War of 1866.

Background

Th Russians invaded Ottoman possessions in Europe but were repelled. They made a stand in Romania and beat back the Turks. The Russians resume their advance.

Battle of Colina Hill

The Turks take up position holding a little hill called Colina.

The Russians send in their elite line infantry. They take out the Turkish infantry but are too badly shot up to continue. The Russian general tries to rally them to no avail.

The Russians send in their heavy cavalry, which overruns some Turkish infantry. At Colina Hill, the Turkish skirmishers drive off Russian infantry.

Disaster for the Russians. The Turkish reserve infantry destroys the Russian cavalry while the Turkish skirmishers on the hill take out more Russians.

The Russians are totally defeated and must retreat.

In light of the disaster, the Czar calls off the offensive.

What Next?

With the Russians out of the picture in southeastern Europe, will the Austrians get embroiled in this powder keg?

More Nocan

Played a couple more seasons with Nocan.

Recall that season 1 was a mild success but season 2 was a disaster.

Season 3

Nocan remains level 2 as he enters his third season.

• Prelim 1 - a 3-1 loss to a hyenid novice.
• Prelim 2 - started well; He used his superior training to avoid a powerful blow on his way to defeating a novice orc 4-2. But then he lost to an experienced dwarf.
• In the first round, Nocan got knocked down. But I used a reroll to change the result to a 1-point hit.
• Prelim 3 - a 3-2 loss to a novice Aridian
• Prelim 4 - have the tides turned? He defeats a novice Kafiran 3-2 but then a novice orc defeats him 3-1.
• Boy, Nocan just could not succeed with his rerolls!

Season 4

Doubts have crept in. Maybe the elders were right. Maybe Nocan is not warrior material. He is still only level 2.

Preliminaries

• Prelim 1
• Starts off well - a 5-2 defeat of a novice goblin.
• Then a 3-1 victory over a novice hyenid. On to the semi-finals!
• An exciting bout against a veteran Kafiran.
• In the first round, Nocan thinks he scores a knockdown blow, but the Kafiran dodges. Score is 1-1. The Kafiran uses his reroll to reduce the effect of Nocan's hit.
• But then Nocan gets a clean headshot with no response. He leads 3-1.
• The Kafiran hits Nocan in the head but Nocan manages a successful strike. Final score 4-3 for Nocan!
• The finals against an experienced orc.
• Nocan gets a knockdown. 3-0 lead!
• The orc gets a clean headshot. 3-2 score.
• Here is the final pass. The orc misses and Nocan gets a knockdown!

Nocan wins the tournament! He earns a spot in the Regionals.

Here is Nocan (bottom) with his defeated opponents.

Nocan continues in the other preliminaries to earn experience (increase his odds of leveling up)

• Prelim 2 - Nocan faces a novice wizard who bespells him. Nocan loses 3-1.
• Prelim 3 - This time Nocan faces a novice knight. With the score tied 2-3 going into the final pass, Nocan misses while the knight scores a head hit. A 4-2 defeat for Nocan!
• Prelim 4 - Nocan defeats a novice dwarf noble 5-1 but then loses 5-3 to a veteran orc archer.

Regional

Not as much success in the later preliminaries, but Nocan still heads to the Regional tournament!

• Bout 1 - Nocan faces an experienced orc. Nocan gets 2 head hits and cruises to a 5-2 victory.
• Bout 2 - Nocan faces that d**** novice wizard again! 
• They both score head hits in pass 1. Score = 2-2.
• Nocan manages a hit while the wizard misses. 3-2 Nocan.
• The wizard nearly hits but Nocan manages a late dodge (Reroll success!). Nocan wins 3-2!
• Semifinals - Against a veteran elf archer.
• Nocan nearly gets a head hit, but the veteran elf's dodge lessens the blow. The elf also scores a hit. Score = 1-1.
• This time, both score head hits. 3-3,
• Before Nocan can do anything, the elf gets off a shot that knocks Nocan down. 3 points and a 6-3 victory for the elf.

The Regionals are over for Nocan, but they are not a total loss. By making the semis, Nocan gets invited to the Championship tournament!

The Championship

He finally made it. The Championship tournament for the junior circuit, held in the Imperial capital city!

• Bout 1 - Nocan faces a novice from his own tribe. 
• Nocan's first attack misses. He tries to dodge the counterattack, but ends up getting clocked in the head. Nocan is behind 2-0.
• Nocan must be wobbly from the headshot. This time he goes down. It's now 5-0.
• The barbarian scores another hit. Nocan loses 6-0.

A disappointing end to the season, and to a lower level opponent!

On the bright side, this was Nocan's best season so far. And he levels up. He is now a veteran (level 3).

Stay tuned for Season 5.

The 1866 Russo-Turkish War Continues

Part 2 of my fictional Russo-Turkish War set in 1866.

Last time, the Russians attack but the Turks drive them back. Now, the Turks pursue into Romania. The Russians, with Romanian allies, make a stand at the (fictional) city of Aparare.

Order of Battle

• Russians (green, top) - Russian infantry and artillery in the city with skirmisher protecting the flank (left). Romanian and Russian infantry in reserve.
• Turks - Elite cavalry, elite infantry, and infantry in the front line with cavalry and infantry in reserve.

Battle of Aparare

The Russian artillery bombards the Turkish infantry. The Turks respond by charging the walls. They clamber over and silence the guns. Meanwhile, the Turkish cavalry routs the Russian skirmishers.

The Russians rush reserves into the city and rout the Turks who seized the guns. On the other flank, a the Romanian infantry greets the victorious Turkish cavalry with a wall of lead. The Turks are about to rout, but their general steadies them.

For the moment. Another volley scatters with cavalry. The Russian infantry clears more Turks from the city.

The Romanians rout the Turkish reserve cavalry.

The Turkish general calls off the attack. It is a Russian (and Romanian) victory.

Into the Void

There has been precious little posted about Voidfighter so I thought I'd give it a test run.

Putting The Game Together

First, things first. I didn't have any components for the game, so I slapped stuff together.

• The battle space - I don't have a 36 by 48 inch space mat, let alone space for one. But I have a black dish drying mat that is 44 by 60 centimeters. I'll scale down from inches to centimeters and the game should work fine.
• Note: My cat has claimed this mat as a bed so it is covered in fur and catnip! I guess that will represent space debris.
• Ships - I still have some wooden ovals that I used for some naval experiments last year. Cut them in half and they work perfectly for ship markers.
• I really like how they came out. They look like something from a computer display
• Dice - Voidfighter uses a variable dice type system, so I need D4s, D6s, D8s, D10s, and D12s. I had to scrounge around.

Test Battle

I decided to do a simple battle with two 15-point snubfighters (silver) vs three 10-pointers (red). The two sides are trying to claim a derelict freighter.

Turn 1 - KABOOM. One of the silver fighters blows up.

I played another turn, then stopped. I found recording damage to be too fiddly. It's not a bad system - on a hit, roll 2D6. Then refer to a table to determine the result, which includes hull hits, crew hits, system hits, etc. You can see the damage table on this online QRS. It provides a lot of flavor.

But, it requires a roster, and I hate maintaining a roster when I play solo. I really prefer something much simpler.

I was also getting annoyed with the combat system.

• I don't like using multiple dice types. Too much groping around.
• I don't like rolling two dice per side for opposed rolls. I like to roll both sides together so one die each works better.

I knew going in that Voidfighter went against my preferences, but I thought I'd just roll with it. It just got too annoying for me to continue.

I was thinking of running this during my LARP group's summer game sessions, but I'm having second thoughts. I may take another look at Starfighters!

Using MicroBattle

Since I had the components out, I decided to play the scenario using my MicroBattle air combat rules.

The Federation (silver) sends two fighters to retrieve a derelict freighter. But the Empire got there first. Our heroes get bounced by two Imperial fighters.

Ace (Federation ship 1) takes a shot at an Imperial trying to hack the freighter's computer system. The shot misses but rattles the Imperials pilot. Deuce (Federation 2) manages to send instructions and turns the freighter's nose around.

One of the Imperials is damaged and flees the battle. Missing a picture of the successful attack

The remaining Imperials damage our heroes.

Deuce takes severe damage. He manages to escape and limp back home.

This was a target destroyed result, but I allow PC's to make a survival roll. Deuce succeeded, and lives another day.

Damaged, Ace makes a break for it.

Not a stellar outing.

Wasted in the Wastes

The Hyenid War - Part 2

After defeating the hyenids at Hecate Hill, an Imperial legion pursues the remaining raiders into the desert.

The hyenids turn at bay.

The legion (red, bottom) boasts 2 auxiliary cohorts, 2 archer cohorts, and a legionary cohort (elite and armored). The hyenids have javelins, fierce warriors, and beasts.

The Battle of the Wastes

As the legion deploys for battle, an unwelcome surprise appears. Reinforcements for the hyenids!

Hyenid fierce warriors and spears join the fight.

OK, I did this for narrative purposes. For each army, I started with the survivors from Hecate Hill, then I added some more. I decided to reveal the new hyenid reserves as surprise reinforcements.

The hyenids charge, sweeping away the Imperial center and right.

Reserve archers pepper the hyenid fierce warriors, wiping them out.

Along with the new arrivals. But the auxiliaries on the left rout in the face of the hyenid javelins.

The javelins flank the archers, putting them to the rout.

The legion is defeated.

Ground Attack

The Next Chapter of the Drake's Dragon's Campaign

The Dragons receive orders to destroy an enemy ground convoy. Drake, Hartley, and Palmer go on the mission, flying Goshawks.

The Mission

With Hartley and Palmer flying cover, Drake makes a pass at the convoy. He misses.

No photo of turn 1.

As Drake pulls up from his attack run, an enemy Cobra appears out of the heavy cloud cover and gets on his tail. Palmer also finds himself tailed. Fortunately, the enemy gunnery is bad. Our heroes are unscathed.

But the Cobra stays on Palmer's tail and damages him. Hartley rushes to help Drake. In the cloud cover, neither Hartley or his target can get a good shot.

Palmer escapes. With a little tricky flying, Drake ends up on his erstwhile pursuer's tail.

Drake damages his foe. Hartley now has a bogie on his tail.

But he shakes him and makes an unsuccessful pass at the convoy.

Pulling up, Hartley is exposed to a Cobra attack. Bullets rattle his Goshawk but do no significant damage. I fished out some yellow tokens to use a rattle markers. Drake unsuccessfully chases his quarry.

By this time, the convoy gets away. Drake orders a return to base.

Aftermath

• Each side had one damaged aircraft. But, the Dragons failed to do any damage to the convoy. Count this as a defeat.
• This means that the Dragons are 1-2 in the campaign.
• I added some rules for cloud cover.
• Roll a D3 for number of clouds.
• Before firing, an attacker needs to roll to see if clouds obscure the shot. Roll greater than the number of clouds to get a clear shot. Otherwise, there is a -1 penalty to the attack.

Nocan Do

Nocan completed another season in the arena. He did not do so well this time.

Here are his results:

Quite the disappointment - he only won 1 bout in 4 tournaments and he never advanced beyond the second round. No regionals this year. :(

Because of his lack of success, Nocan remains at 2nd level.

Additional Rules Ideas

Just some additional thoughts.

Leveling Up

Initially, I planned to roll randomly to determine if a character levels up. Winning tournaments provided a bonus to the roll. Then Nocan rolled a 6 and would have leveled despite going 1-4 on the season. I just did not think he deserved it. Therefore, I cancelled his advancement and changed the rule.

Now, I think I will only roll if a character makes the regional tournament.

Aging Out

With seasons so quick to play, I envision completing multiple seasons for a character. I don't track wounds or injuries, so the character could go on indefinitely. That does not seem realistic, so I plan to introduce an aging rule.

This is my initial idea. After 10 seasons, the character has to roll a 6 to advance instead of a 4+. A roll of 1-3 results in a loss of a level - the skills erode due to wear and tear. At that point, I may want to retire a character.

Fighting Stances

Still working on these rules.

Right now, a player character can choose a stance.

• Offensive - bonus to initiative and to hit, but the opponent gets a bonus to hit if the character misses.
• Defensive - penalty to initiative and penalty to opponent's to hit. Get a bonus to hit if the opponent misses.
• Neutral - no changes.

For simplicity, I don't bother choosing stances for the opposition.

A Voidfighter Project

Now that I have read Voidfighter (VF), it's time for me to go off on a complete tangent.

I'm Not Playing It (Yet)

I have no plans on playing VF at this time. As I mentioned, the rules don't really fit my gaming style.

• I don't have the space (no pun intended)
• The combat system (opposed 2D rolls with various die types depending on the ship or pilot) doesn't work for me.
• I don't have a bunch of polyhedral dice.
• I find opposed die rolls inconvenient for solo play.

That said, I can envision running the game for my LARP friends during next summer's off-season. But that's a ways away.

No Review

Because I don't plan to play the game, I don't think I should review it.

But Why Did I Title This Post a "Project"?

Although I don't plan to use the VF rules, I've been inspired to play some space dogfighting. I don't really have the setup for it, so I need to do a "project."

Rules

The rules are easy. My air combat rules work fine for my purposes. I should post the full rules one of these days, but in short, movement is relative based on maneuver rolls for each plane. This allows me to play games in a small area - about 5" by 7". Combat uses an adaptation of my MicroBattle rules, with tweaks for varying damage from the pilot being "rattled" to BOOM.

Ships

A while back, I made some spaceship counters.

Single seat fighters.

And multi-crew attack ships.

I'm not content with these. I used the same design for both factions, but I'm toying with having different styles for each faction. Also, the counters are bigger than I like. They are 1" long but I have come to prefer the 3/4" counters I use for my planes.

Also, using VF as inspiration, I could use more types. The above can stand in for snubfighters and gunships. I'd like to make some corvettes.

VF also has rules for other encounters, from mines and turrets to space monsters! I want them all!

So this is phase 1 of my project - start putting together counters.

Making Space

Right now, I don't have a space battle board to use. I plan to pick up some black cardstock soon. I will probably use a paint pen to add white dots, giving it a space feel.

A Campaign

VF has a campaign system, but I don't think I'll use it as is. It involves keeping track of a squadron of 15 pilots. That's more than I want to handle. Instead, I may use my MicroBattle air campaign, but extend my squadron to 6 pilots (I use 4 now). I may steal some ideas from VF, however.

I do plan to use VF's scenarios. There are 12 of them; I'd like to run through all of them for the campaign. I may choose the order randomly instead of running them in the order presented in the book.

So these are my thoughts on a space dogfighting campaign. Stay tuned for more details!

Setting

VF includes an optional setting. This is nice for people getting started but I don't like being locked into someone else's setting. I will likely use my own.

This is a large-scale galactic map I created many years ago when I got into sci fi gaming. I have since renamed the Republic to the Federation.

Anyway, there is a sector of space between the Federation and the (evil of course) Empire, which is a good place to run games