Fast Play Football - Three Quarters Report

I am now a little over three quarters of the way through the season.

Let's recap what happened since the last report.

Week 6

It was a competitive week.

• LA holds off Washington 24-20
• Dallas scores 10 unanswered points to win 17-13
• Miami outscores Seattle 17-7 in the 4th quarter. They win 37-31

Week 7

Some more good games. Two highlights:

• Seattle falls in another close one. Chicago scores 14 unanswered points to win 31-29
• Miami scores 15 unanswered points, including a 2-pt conversion to tie the game. Then Denver gets a game-winning field goal in overtime to win 32-29

Week 8

More close games.

• NY edges Washington with a 4th quarter TD. Final 24-20
• Miami has the ball with a chance to tie Chicago but the Steers' defense holds. Final 24-16.
• LA and Denver are tied. Denver kicks a late field goal to win 26-23

And in the least competitive game, Dallas outscores Seattle 21-3 in the second half to win 31-23. Seattle is on a 3-game losing streak.

Standings

New York is in command in the East - a two game lead with two games left. Meanwhile, it is a tight race in the West. Seattle's slide has allowed Dallas to catch up, and LA is just one game behind.

Charlemagne vs the Lombards

Carolingian Battles - Part 2

Resuming my mini-campaign. This time, Charlemagne takes on the Lombards.

Charlemagne (blue) invades with 2 knights (armored), 1 spear, and 1 archer.

The Lombards (red) defend with 1 nobles (elite armored), 2 knights, and 1 archer.

A clash in the center is a stalemate. On the left, the Carolingians throw back the archers but the Lombard general rallies them.

Lombard knights skewer themselves on the Carolingian spears (center). The spears nearly break, but Charlemagne rallies them. Meanwhile, the Lombard knights overrun some archers.

The Carolingians have a chance to rout the Lombard archers and win the battle. They fail. Then the Lombard nobles rout the spears.

Charlemagne tastes the bitter dregs of defeat. He is now 1-2 in the campaign.

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.

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.

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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.

Blow from the Rear

The Batty Numppo Campaign

After his initial victory, Batty gets word that the British are sending a more powerful force. Batty is commanded to stop them at the river.

The British try to force two crossings. They fail at the east (left) crossing drive off some artillery at the west bridge.

Surprise! Some British forces have already crossed the river and flank Batty's position. He sends some cavalry to hold them off, but they fail. The British also make it over the east crossing.

Technically, the battle should have ended here, as the Americans only had 1 unit on the board, However, they were expecting reinforcements, so I let them come on.

I also should have tried to rally one of the units, but forgot.

American reinforcements plug the gaps.

The American right flank caves.

And then the left. Batty has no choice but to retreat.

Alas, the reinforcements make it to the British camp at Savannah.

NOTES

• This was an attempt to translate a One Hour Wargames scenario to Dominion of. I still had 3 zones, with the left being the flank.
• The specific scenario was Blow from the Rear. Both sides have reinforcements that arrive at various points in the game. With Do's speed of resolution, I had to reduce the number of turns before reinforcements arrived. 
• As I mentioned, the Americans should have lost before they received their reinforcements, I was going to hold them until turn 4 but then decided to bring them on on turn 3. Even then, they were technically a bit late as the Americans were down to 1 unit at the end of turn 2. But I rolled initiative, the Americans won, so I decided that the reinforcements arrived in the nick of time. Still did not help.
• Despite the reinforcement issue, I feel the experiment was a success and I will try more OHW scenarios.
• Batty is now 1-1 in the campaign. I'm not sure how many games I will play. Perhaps 7?

Batty Numppo in Action

I finally got my Revolutionary War skirmish project off the ground. Here is the first action.

Background

It is January 1776. The governor of East Florida, Patrick Tonedeaf, has outfitted an expedition to reduce that rebel stronghold of Savannah, Georgia. It is led by Lt. Col. Augustine Preboast.

The names are fictional but some are based on real people.

The British won an engagement at Sodden Slough, allowing them to march on Savannah and besiege the city.

Our hero, Batty Numppo, a renowned leader among the backwoods community, has been given a small command to disrupt British operations.

The Ambush

Numppo sets an ambush for British reinforcements marching north from Brunswick.

Numppo's skirmishers strike from the woods but are driven off. The Americans have more success in the center.

Reinforcements drive off the British light infantry, but with high casualties.

The Americans get the best of the cavalry action on the left.

This gives the American horse the opportunity to flank and scatter the British.

Victory for Numppo!

NOTES

• This is the first action for my skirmish counters. I envision each base being a platoon or troop.
• Both commanders failed the rally attempts. I did not bother mentioning it in the narrative.