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

Nocan in the Arena

Since my last post discussing my arena combat rules, I made some changes. I'm treating it like a joust - the combatants have 3 passes to score points.

I decided to test out the rules combined with my joust campaign structure. For the test, I'm bringing back a character from my old blog. Nocan was a barbarian miniature that was miserable in combat - he couldn't (no can) hit anything! Let's see how his 2-dimensional avatar fares in the arena.

A little Chat GPT imagining

Backstory

Mocked by his clan for his lack of offensive skill, Nocan travels to the Empire to test himself in the arena.

Note: I'm using my LARP's world as the setting.

Results

Here are the results of Nocan's fights.

Versus the Orc

I did not take pictures of all Nocan's bouts. I recreated his fight against the orc so that I could get a few images. This is from round 2 of the 3rd preliminary tournament.

In the first pass, the orc rushes Nocan, knocking him down. As Nocan falls, he manages to get in a body hit. Score 3-1 for the orc.

The orc rushes again. This time, Nocan sidesteps the blow and clocks the orc in the head. Score 3-3.

This time, both score body hits. Score 4-4.

Finally, Nocan gets the initiative, and strikes the orc while avoiding its counter.

A 5-4 victory for Nocan against a veteran fighter!

Other Highlights

• Nocan proved his tribe wrong with his success in the arena. He reached the semi-finals of one tournament and won another tournament!
• He did not do so well in the regionals. Oh well, there is always next season!
• He did well when the pressure was on. He went 4-0 in bouts that went to extra passes.
• He leveled up, and will fight in the next season as an experienced (level 2) fighter.

GAME NOTES

• Limiting the bout to 3 passes really streamlined the game. The rules as they are could also work for jousts.
• For the latest iteration, I added a simple mechanism to account for different levels. The higher level fighter gets a number of re-rolls equal to the difference in levels.
• I plan to have levels up to 6. Between seasons, characters roll to level up.
• I decided to create two tournament circuits - one for levels 1-3 and another for levels 4-6. That way, there are no crazy mismatches.
• I also added "fighting stance." A fighter can choose to be offensive, defensive, or neutral. Stance affects combat rolls in various ways. I added this to give a decision point to the player. Otherwise, it is just an exercise in dice rolling. The rules did not work as intended, and I usually just adopted a neutral stance. I'm going to play around with these a bit.
• The campaign works great, though. It is quick with lots of drama. I think the entire season took about half an hour.

Voidfighter - First Impressions

I pre-ordered Voidfighter and I received it on my Kindle this morning.

Like a kid on Christmas, I immediately opened it up and have perused it for a bit.

Anticipation, But Why?

I have eagerly anticipated this game since I pre-ordered it a couple of months ago. Which is odd considering that this game does not fit into my current gaming preferences.

A couple of features that go against my preferences:

• Big (for me) board - Recommended for a 3' by 4' space. I don't have a space that big.
• Multiple dice types - based on a ship or pilot's rating, players roll 2D4 up to 2D12. I typically hate "groping for dice" mechanisms.

Usually, these characteristics would be enough for me to reject a set of rules.

So why was I so excited about this? A few reasons:

• I read that it had a campaign system. VERY interested
• Miniatures agnostic - can use any ship models
• Simple movement rules but with special maneuvers to add some spice
• Perhaps I could introduce it to my summer gaming group

Does It Measure Up?

I have not read the rules completely. I have merely been scanning it so far. But I like what I see.

• Movement is simple and should be easy to teach if I want to introduce it to my gaming group
• The campaign system (my initial draw) seems very playable
• LOTS of scenarios (12 in fact)
• LOTS of ships stats plus rules to make your own

So that's my very early first impressions, I'll post more as I delve deeper.

Doldrum Report

As mentioned Wednesday, I'm in a bit of a slump, wargame wise. But I have not been idle.

I made a bunch of these satyr horns for my LARP group.

It's basic, but it will work.

Satyrs are one of the creatures we'll encounter this season.

I haven't made any progress on a joust game. However, it dawned on me that I could use my joust campaign rules with arena battles.

I decided to do a quick test run. My character lost to the elf (who is facing backwards, I notice. Must have been an over the shoulder shot).

This test revealed a weakness in my arena rules - they just take too darn long! In this bout, the elf kept winning the maneuver roll but then failed to hit. The fight dragged on and on. I may need different rules.

Joust

I've been in a bit of a doldrum this past week so no battle report. However, I a new mania to discuss. We'll show how long it lasted

It all started when I was looking for something to read on my Kindle and I came across this.

Reading the particulars, I am a little leery of buying it, but it got me interested in some joust games.

Rules

I created some simple rules at one point but now I can't find them. So I went searching.

I'm looking for something incredibly simple, with maybe 1-2 die rolls per pass. It would be nice to have a little decision making. I also want something that will allow a character to develop skill over time. Here are some under consideration.

• Full Tilt - very easy albeit no campaign mode.
• Atteint! - from Alan Saunders aka Kaptain Kobold
• Joust: Heroes of the Lists - a THW title - not a fan of the THW mechanics but they often have good campaigns.
• To Cry a Joust - picked it up years ago. Seems simple. Also includes some paper miniatures.

I've taken cursory looks at the above. Right now, Full Tilt seems simplest. I would just need to create a campaign or import one from some other rules.

Campaign

Speaking of campaigns, I developed a simple one a few years ago. I lost the rules I used for the jousts but I still have the campaign rules.

The campaign follows a young knight trying to make a name on the tournament scene. He can participate in up to 4 preliminary tournaments. Making the semi-finals (requiring 2 wins) gets him an invitation to the regional finals. Making the semis there results in an invitation to the grand championship.

I tried it out using some extremely simple rules (1 die roll, no modifiers). Here is a season with Ser Gervaise (using this Knight Name Generator).

• Preliminary One - gets knocked off his horse in his first joust.
• Preliminary Two - makes it to the finals before losing 5-1. Still, he earns a ticket to the regional finals!
• Preliminary Three - he continues to joust to hone his skill. Alas, he loses the first joust.
• Preliminary Four - to the finals and victory!
• Regional - he wins his first joust. In the second, he is tied 3-3 after two passes, In the third and final pass, he misses but his opponent strikes him in the head. Gervaise loses 5-3 and his season ends.

Not a bad start. Two finals, one tournament win, and a trip to the regionals. Let's see how he does next season!

The entire season only took about 10 minutes. A season will likely take a bit longer as I add complexity.

Russo-Turkish War of 1866

I'm still on a late 19th century kick. This time I'm pitting the Russians and Turks in a fictional war. I purchased Dominion of Otto von Bismarck, but for this game I'm using a generic horse & musket variant.

Background

While war engulfs Austria, Prussia, and Italy, revolt breaks out in Bulgaria. The Turkish army begins suppressing the revolt while the Russians, with assistance from Romania, march to assist the rebels.

The Battle of Kurvavo River

The Turkish army takes up a defensive position at the Kurvavo River in Bulgaria. The Russians prepare to cross.

The opposing forces:

• Russian (top) - Cavalry, skirmisher, cavalry. 2 elite infantry in reserve.
• Turkish - Infantry, artillery, infantry. Bashi-bazouks (unreliable skirmishers), infantry, skirmishers

Russian cavalry charge across the river on both flanks. They rout the Turkish infantry.

The Russian cavalry (right) continue their rampage, routing the Turkish skirmisher. Russian skirmishers try but fail to take out the Turkish guns.

The Russian cavalry (left) charges into a wall of lead. They rout.

The Russians then defeat the Turkish left flank. Victory is in their grasp. Only the bashi-bazouks (right) stand in their way. But the bashi-bazouks fight valiantly and drive off the cavalry.

Then they fall on the Russian center and wipe them out.

A bloody Turkish victory!

Winging It

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

The Dragons return to the air. This time, three pilots are on patrol in Goshawk fighters (average quality).

The pilots are veteran Al Hartley, and novices Randy Palmer and Josh Jenkins. Jenkins is brand new to the squadron.

Note: I randomly roll to determine who and how many fly.

Encounter!

While on patrol, they encounter 3 Cobras and an Adder (3 average and 1 obsolete fighters).

Hartley (green 1 - left) gets on the tail of the Adder. His shots rattle the enemy pilot. Meanwhile, 2 Cobras separate Jenkins. Bullets rip into his plane, damaging it. Jenkins flees the fight.

Hartley stays on the Adders tail and shoots it down. Meanwhile, Palmer (green 2) scores a hit.

Palmer finds himself in a bind. Evasive maneuvers! Whew, they missed!

But it gets worse for Palmer while Hartley tracks down another target.

With some nifty flying, Palmer turns the tables. His shots miss. Hartley manages to damage another Cobra.

With 2 planes damaged, the Imperial pilots decide to break off.

Final Tally

• The Dragons damage 2 fighters and destroy another while only having 1 damaged aircraft. They win this scenario.
• The campaign score stands at 1-1.
• Some Dragon milestones:
• Hartley gets his first kill, 
• With his third mission complete, Palmer rises to veteran status.
• Jenkins survives his first mission.

Drake's Dragons

Spurred by the dogfight I posted yesterday, I decided to start an aerial campaign. I resurrected a character and setting from my old blog.

The Lucranian War

The campaign is set in an imaginary world, where a diesel-era evil empire invades the democratic nation of Lucrania.

During this war, Devin Drake leads a squadron of brave aviators fighting against the might of the Empire.

Previously

The Dragons were marginally victorious in their last campaign, but suffered heavy casualties in the last two missions. They pulled out for some rest, but are now back in action.

I actually started a second campaign but it fizzled out. I'm considering that mission a one-off and am now starting a new campaign.

Mission: Intercept!

At the Dragons' airbase, the warning klaxons blare. Incoming air raid!

Only 2 Dragons, the commander Devin Drake and young Dewey Hobbes manage to get in the air.

Drake (green 1) flies a standard Goshawk fighter while Hobbes (green 2) pilots an obsolete Chick fighter. They face 2 Cobra fighters, an old Adder, and 3 Vulture medium bombers.

Using the heavy cloud cover, our heroes get a jump on the bombers. Hobbes damages one.

Then shoots it down. But the enemy fighters converge.

One gets on Drake's tail, damaging him. Hobbes takes damage in a crossfire.

Two fighters gang up on Hobbes and bring him down. Drake escapes into the clouds.

The cloud cover throws off the remaining bombers' aim. They do minimal damage.

They score 1 hit out of 4

The Lucranians are lucky the damage is not worse, but this goes down as a defeat for the Dragons.

Sadly, Hobbes did not survive the crash.

GAME NOTES

• Campaign Score - 0-1
• I determined the sides randomly. I think it was weighted a little heavily against the defenders. I will think about tweaking the randomizer.
• I use fictional planes for my fictional universe. There are 3 classes - obsolete, average, and advanced. I gave names for each class per nation.
• Lucrania - Chick (obsolete), Goshawk, and Peregrine (advanced)
• Empire - Adder, Cobra, and Viper fighters. Condor (light), Vulture (medium), and Buzzard (heavy) bombers.