I decided to start a Crusader-themed campaign for Dominion of.
Saladin sallies across the border into the Crusader States. His army (blue) consists of 2 units of Mameluks (elite horse archers), a unit of Turkoman horse archers, foot archers, and spears.
The Crusaders defend with crossbows (in the town), 2 units of knights, and 3 spears.
In the initial attack (not pictured because for some reason blogger is not uploading it), the Crusaders lose some knights and spears. Knights and spears fill in the gaps.
The reserve knights charge the Turkoman horse archers. A rain of arrows wipes them out.
Some of the Mameluks recklessly charge the town. The crossbowmen shoot them down. But Saladin's archers take out the spears on the right.
This opens up the Crusader flank. The archers hit the center spears.
The Crusader crossbowmen are bottled up in the town. Game over, Saladin has won. But for the sake of narrartive.
With time on my hands over the extended weekend, I found my thoughts turning to gaming. But not in any systematic way - just a bunch of random thoughts.
This random thought came courtesy of Bob Cordery, Arthur Harman, and Mark Cordone. Recently, Mr. Cordery and Mr. Harman edited and released the latest compendium for the Portable Wargame.
In it, Mr, Cordone provides an ancient naval variant of the Dominion of series. I decided to give it another run (this variant was initially posted on the Portable Wargame Facebook page. I previously posted about it).
I played a game of it, liked it, but did not like my current counters.
He is a picture from my August battle.
I don't know why I don't like the squares. They just seem bulkier.
Anyway, I decided to rectify the situation. I created two new types of counters: line abreast and line ahead.
I plan to use the line abreast for ancient warfare and line ahead for age of sail to modern. I have two fleets of each (red and green).
As you'll notice, I have 3 types of counters. Dominion of the Oar and Spear has 4 types of naval squadrons, plus a bonus for large ships. I may need some additional markers to indicate the types. I will likely designate the small ships as ambushers. I need to think about the rest of the markers.
I'm typing this on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I have nothing to do and nowhere to go (no Black Friday sales for me). I should be playing a game, but I feel like I'm getting tripped up.
Image created by ChatGPT
After months away from it, I suddenly have an urge to dungeon crawl. Yet I am reluctant to pull out my dungeon crawl rules.
What's wrong?
The Basic Concept?
No, I think my basic concept is sound. With my Micro Dungeon rules, the chance to hit is based on the relative combat skill, not what armor the target wears.
Think about this scenario. A level 1 fighter in plate armor vs an unarmored level 10 fighter. According to the BECMI attack tables, the level 1 fighter as a 55% chance of hitting the level 10, and the level 10 has the same odds of hitting the level 1.
At a glance, this is counterintuitive. The level 10 should be more capable of hitting the level 1. I am reminded of this scene.
I know there are other factors at work - getting through the armor and the level 10's higher hp. Still ...
In Micro Dungeon, I switched things around. The chance to hit depends on relative skill. The level 10 is far more likely to hit. I changed armor so it reduces damage rather than affecting the chance to hit. In general, I think it works.
But
So what went wrong? I'm not sure, it's been so long since I played Micro Dungeon. I think I may have had an issue that plagues D&D - power creep. My characters, now at 6th level, have enough hp that it takes a while to whittle them down, and that also applies to their enemies. Perhaps hp should not increase.
What Else?
I'd like Micro Dungeon to be easier to pick up and play. To do that, though, I need a complete list of monsters. I'd like to create an easy conversion from D&D to MD but I never got around to it.
So What Now?
Well, instead of playing games, I am revisiting my Micro Dungeon rules and pondering changes to make the game easier. Stay tuned for my thoughts.
Well, I never got around to printing the counters for my silly Thanksgiving project. I decided to play the game anyway using generic counters and a little imagination.
Background
The native Wampanoag peoples warn the Pilgrims that there are dark things in the forest. Inhuman things. Dangerous things.
The Pilgrims (bottom) send out an expedition. It consists of 2 cavalry, skirmishers, and line infantry.
Suddenly, out of the forest, a frightening army emerges. It consists of potato people infantry, corn shooters, dire turkeys (represented by a cavalry counter), and pumpkin chuckers (green counter).
The chuckers lob their pumpkins at the right flank cavalry, spooking it (downgraded to unreliable status).
The dire turkeys (center) charge. The skirmishers unleash a ragged volley then flee. The left flank cavalry charges the corn shooters, who shoot them down.
The potato infantry attacks the Pilgrim's spooked cavalry. The cavalry flees. Meanwhile, the Pilgrim reserve infantry advances. In the center, the Pilgrims slay the dire turkeys. But they take grievous casualties and can no longer fight.
This leaves one unit of Pilgrim infantry. They wisely retreat from the battlefield.
NOTES
I probably should have used the Pike & Shot rules, but I used my generic horse & musket rules instead. Still a fun game.
On this day, we pause to give thanks to the Lord for his blessings.
I am especially thankful for the miracle he performed for our cat Fuzz. Earlier this year, she was desperately ill in Intensive Care. The vet did not think she would make it.
The lyrics perfectly expressed what I was feeling. “Oh God, I'm desperate. Down on my knees, Send help from heaven, 'Cause that's what I need.” I sang along, desperately praying to the Lord to save Fuzz.
Season 5 ended in a disappointing fashion - a first round loss in the regional tournament.
Let's see how season 6 goes.
Preliminaries
Preliminary 1
vs. a novice knight. Tied 2-2 after the first round but then Nocan pulls away to win 5-2.
vs. a novice hyenid. Again tied after the first round (1-1) but Nocan pulls away for a 7-3 victory.
vs. a novice goblin archer. Tied 2-2 after 1 (I sense a pattern here) but Nocan wins 6-3.
vs. an experienced orc. Nocan fails to score and loses 5-0.
Preliminary 2
vs. a novice goblin. Nocan knocks the goblin down in the first round then cruises to a 7-1 victory.
vs. an experienced spearman. Nocan gets 2 knockdowns and wins 6-1.
vs. an experienced elf archer. The archer's aim is off - no hits. Nocan scores in two rounds and wins 3-0.
vs. a novice dwarf axeman. I previously gave a preview of this bout. After two rounds, Nocan leads 4-3.
In the final round, Nocan wins the initiative and charges. But the dwarf uses his long axe to his advantage. Swinging it from the end, the dwarf clocks Nocan in the head. Stunned, Nocan misses (and fails his reroll)
The dwarf wins 5-4.
Preliminary 3 - Nocan loses to a veteran hyenid 5-3.
Preliminary 4
vs. a novice goblin. Nocan cruises to a 6-1 victory.
vs. an experienced dwarf. Tied 2-2 after two rounds. The dwarf gets a head shot but Nocan plows through the pain and gets a knockdown. Nocan wins 5-4
vs. an experienced spearman. Nocan is off his game (still smarting from the head shot in the last round?). He loses 5-0.
Nocan advanced to one semi-final and two finals, but no tournament victories. Successful but a little disappointing.
The Regional Championship
Nocan earns an invitation to the regional championship due to his final appearances.
vs. an experienced orc. Nocan gets a knockdown in the final round to win 4-1.
vs. an experienced Kafiran.
Nocan gets a head shot and uses his experience (reroll) to avoid a headshot. he leads 2-1.
The Kafiran gets a head shot. Nocan misses. The Kafiran leads 3-2,
The Kafiran misses and Nocan hits. Tied 3-3. Go to sudden death.
The Kafiran misses again. Nocan gets a head shot! Nocan wins 5-3
vs. a novice dwarf axeman. This is a grudge match. The dwarf beat him for the championship of the second preliminary. This time, it is a rout. Nocan scores two knockdowns and a head shot for an 8-1 victory.
The Final vs. an experienced knight!
Round 1 - Nocan scores a head hit. He leads 2-0.
But the knight retaliates. Score tied 2-2.
Nocan charges. The knight misses but Nocan scores a hit. Nocan wins 3-2.
NOCAN IS THE REGIONAL CHAMPION!
Here is Nocan with his defeated foes.
Championship
On to the grand championship.
vs. an experienced elf archer. Tied 1-1 after two rounds. The elf then gets a hit but Nocan knocks him down. Nocan wins 4-1.
vs. a veteran orc archer. They trade knockdowns in the first two rounds. The orc misses and Nocan hits for a 4-3 victory.
The Semi-final vs a novice goblin archer. A novice? This should be a cake walk.
The goblin gets a head hit but Nocan knocks him down. Nocan leads 3-2.
Where did he go? Nocan misses and the goblin hits. Tied 3-3.
Nocan gets a hit, but the goblin raps him on the head. NOCAN LOSES 5-4!
Well, that was disappointing. At least Nocan comes away with a regional championship. This should elevate him to the senior circuit.
In the US, the Thanksgiving holiday is about a week away.
I have some time off from work so I should be able to fit in some games. The question is "what should I play?"
The answer came in a roundabout way.
I'd like to play some Dominion of.
I should get Pilgrims involved.
Pilgrims vs. Indians? Too obvious. Besides, the holiday celebrates an instance of cooperation between the two cultures. Shouldn't they work together?
WAIT. What if ...? No, that's too crazy.
So I'm going to do it anyway.
Many years ago, my LARP group did a silly Thanksgiving themed scenario - we fought fire-breathing dire turkeys! Let's do the same.
I decided to make some one-off special counters, incorporating a variety of Thanksgiving foods. I grabbed some icons off the web and got creating.
Here's what I have so far - dire turkeys, pumpkin chuckers, and potato heads.
The potato heads are melee infantry, pumpkin chuckers are artillery, and I will likely use the tank stats from Dominion of the Trenches for the dire turkeys. I want some skirmish infantry - thinking cranberry or corn shooters.
Creating the Counters
I'm not sure if I'll keep the counters after the game, so I plan to take a simple approach to making them. Instead of using Litko plastic bases, I will likely just use cardboard. I have a load of Amazon and Chewy boxes lying around to scavenging won't be an issue.
The Opposition
I will use my generic counters, specifically the black faction, for the Pilgrims. I may give them some Indian allies using brown.
