More DotS

Despite my little detour into Cold War gaming, I haven't forgotten Dominion of the Spear (DotS)

An Expansion

The author Steve has already put out an expansion - 36 Ancient Battles for Dominion of the Spear

You can find a detailed description at Wargame Vault.

I already purchased my copy. I look forward to playing all these battles! Stay tuned for battle reports.

My Boxed Set

I'm putting together a boxed set for DotS. I'm creating two new counter armies specifically for the box. I'm going with the classic Red vs. Blue.

If I did my math correctly, each army should have enough counters to make any force listed in the main book.

Here is my completed Red army.

Flanks: Missile (left) and Melee Mounted
Upper middle: Missile (top) and Melee Infantry
Middle: Leader
Lower middle: Chariots (Melee on the flanks, Missile in the middle)
Bottom: Elephants

To save space and money, I made the counters double-sided - melee on one side and missiles on the other. For example, I have 6 infantry stands with melee on one side and missile on the other. Therefore, I can field either (a) 6 melee infantry, (b) 6 missile infantry, or (c) any mix of melee and missile up to a total of 6 units.

The Red army is done. I am still working on the blue army.

Leaders

DotS does not have separate leaders. Instead, leaders are factored into a unit's rating. But I like having leader counters, so I made one.

I'm still not sure how to use them in games. Steve made an excellent comment on this post about a lack of evidence about them switching units. Still, I think the idea is plausible despite a lack of evidence. I'm wrestling about it now.

At least, I can attach a leader permanently to a unit, kind of like DBA.

Campaigns

Once my box set is complete, what do I plan to do with it?

• Great battles - Play through the 36 battles in the DotS expansion.
• Pyrrhus - Two stages
• Replay the Pyrrhus vs Rome campaign I did using MicroBattle.
• Play Pyrrhus vs. Carthage on Sicily. I planned on doing this with MicroBattle. I may play it with both rules sets and compare the results!

Cold War Convoy

In keeping with my Red Dawn craze, I played a quick scenario using my MicroBattle rules.

Somewhere in the US, The year 1984. 

A Soviet (brown) column is heading down a road. American insurgent forces (gray) strike, destroying the infantry at the head of the column.

The Soviets take damage, but they drive a squad of insurgents out of the woods.

They pursue.

But this opens the Soviet tank to short-range fire. Kaboom!

The rest of the column turns around and flees!

Game Notes

• I initially created the counters for sci-fi battles. They may not look exactly like Soviet vehicles of the time period, but they'll do as stand-ins.
• I haven't mounted my green army yet. When I do, Americans will be green.
• I assume that the American infantry have anti-tank weapons. In addition, the heavy infantry (oval around a dot) have mortars.
• I would ultimately like to add helicopters to the mix. Need to make some new counters!

Wolverines!

Ah, GADD (gamer's attention deficit disorder) has struck again!

My New Inspiration

It's all because of this movie.

I finally watched it last weekend. It gave me a hankering for some Cold War action.

If you are unfamiliar with the movie, here is the Wikipedia description.

The Project

How to go about gaming this?

Well, I don't think I will reprise the movie itself. Instead, I'm considering an "inspired-by" approach gaming a Soviet invasion of the U.S. in the 1980s.

I have some generic counters I can press into service.

I'd like to have each counter represent a squad or team of infantry or a single vehicle.

For rules, I'll likely tweak MicroBattle for my needs. I am researching rules, looking for some ideas on handling the different weapon types. For example, how can I include helicopters and RPGs? Also, how do I adjust the rules so that guerrillas have a fighting chance against regular force? I welcome any suggestions!

Rather than battling in the Rockies, like Red Dawn, I may set battles in my home state of Florida. Perhaps a Cuban invasion in support of the main Soviet effort.

RETROSPECTIVE: Dragon of Icespire Peak

Back on my old blog, I ran a feature called Retrospective. Inspired by Grognardia, I used this series to discuss games that impacted my approach to the hobby.

Well, now that I finished Dragon of Icespire Peak, I decided to look back at it and how it changed my solo RPG approach.

The Beginnings

Before I began this campaign, I was big into Four Against Darkness. However, I had some gripes so began looking for something a little different. Not finding what I wanted, I decided to create my own rules set for solo roleplaying. Along with the new rules, I created a new character to use for testing. And thus Killian and his companions were born. 

Long and Winding Road

It took me nearly 3 years to finish the campaign. This is because I would often let the campaign sit for months between sessions. I think I was having trouble coming up with an effective approach to playing solo RPGs.

The Traditional Approach

At first, I tried to run the games using a traditional approach. In a typical RPG, the players will go through a dungeon room by room, with the GM describing each room in turn.

To achieve this solo, I referred to the dungeon map, made a plan about how I would traverse the dungeon, then read the descriptions for each room in turn. It worked, but not well. I have some ideas on why.

• Spoilers! There would be references in the intro and sometimes in room descriptions that gave away encounters.
• Empty Space. A lot of rooms are empty, at least for combat encounters. Reading a description and then going to the next is rather boring. I assume that the empty rooms are designed for the next point.
• Suspense? It seems that many of the adventures in the module were short on combat but high on suspense. Here is where empty rooms can work. The GM can describe the rooms in a way to  keep the adventurers on their toes. This would make the adventure interesting. But it just doesn't work for solo. I can't really keep myself in suspense.
• Needs more swords! As I mentioned above, combat encounters are few. I guess this is because D&D combat is now so complex it takes forever to finish. But I prefer combat and my system can handle a lot of fights in a short time. So again, the traditional approach did not work well.

Random Encounters Approach

Because I was dissatisfied with the way the campaign was progressing, I changed my strategy. I would not do each room. Instead, I created a simplified map of the dungeon, such as this one of Axeholm.

I then randomly generated encounters for each area. This generated that sense of suspense. I knew what I might encounter, but I never knew if I would or when.

Because encounters are so slim in the module, I found that I needed to add more monsters to make this approach viable.

This approach worked OK. But it required some effort to convert the published adventure to one ready for the random approach. I sometimes had trouble doing this. The Woodland Manse was an example. The manse is fairly small so it did not lend itself to this approach.

The MicroDungeon Approach

Back in December, I outlined an approach for abstract, quick-play fantasy adventures. I initially called it Pocket Dungeon but have since changed the name to Micro Dungeon (MD). The main feature of MD is that I dispense with a formal map and instead have abstract encounter areas, leading to the main boss. I'm still playing around with the idea but it seems that it allows me to set up and play an adventure very quickly.

I used the MD approach for the last 4 adventures of the module. If I hadn't switched to MD, I think I still wouldn't be done!

Thoughts on Icespire

Throughout the campaign, I had multiple complaints about the Icespire Peak module itself. In hindsight, what did I think?

• I like the overall concept. A series of adventures leading to a climatic showdown with the big bad.
• For the most part, however, the big bad did not really appear in my campaign. There is a mechanism to determine where the dragon is at any point in time. I did not use that; instead I treated the dragon as a wandering monster. It only appeared once, briefly, in the campaign. Perhaps I should have used the module's mechanism, but I'm unsure if it would have helped. There should have been a planned off-screen encounter where the dragon attacks Phandalin while the party is gone. That would have upped the stakes and made the dragon seem like a more existential threat.
• There is a second major quest line - a fight against agents of the evil god Talos. I did not particularly care for that. It seemed like a distraction from the main quest.
• The individual adventures seemed a bit lackluster. I think this is because I'm used to old school modules where there is a lot more monsters and combat.
• Nevertheless, it delivered a fun narrative and some good games.

The Path Forward

What next for my RPG experience?

• The MicroDungeon approach works well for me. Quick, but fun encounters.
• I would like to continue Killian's adventures. There is a follow up module called the Storm Lord's Wrath. I have already purchased the module.
• I would like to test my MicroDungeon rules using lower level monsters. This has me thinking on starting a new campaign with level 1 characters. I have some options for this.
• Run the Lost Mine of Phandelver. But after Icespire Peak, I'm a little wary of a 5e product. And I'm not sure I want to adventure in Forgotten Realms anymore.
• Get an old-school module, perhaps Keep on the Borderlands. I could set it in my own campaign world.
• Just create random adventures and see where it all goes.

I'm just not sure what I want to do next. Stay tuned and find out!

Storming Icespire Peak

A Ser Killian Micro Dungeon Adventure

Spoiler Alert - This is another adventure loosely based on D&D's Dragon of Icespire Peak. Even so, it may have some spoilers. You may not want to read this if you plan to play that adventure.

The Story So Far

Ser Killian and his retainers, Haiden the squire, Martin the cleric, and Nashad the man-at-arms, have recently recovered the sword of dragon-slaying from the dragon barrow and defeated the orc marauders plaguing the land.

Only one enemy remains - the white dragon of Icespire Peak.

Approaching Icespire Peak

Icespire Peak lies deep in the Sword Mountains. On a clear day, one can see the peak from miles around. Getting to it, however, is supposedly no easy feat.

But our heroes must be blessed by Daeus. They manage to traverse the perilous climbs of the peaks without significant incident. At one point, a band of harpies swoop down on the party but they disperse the creatures without too much difficulty.

And thus they arrive at Icespire Peak.

I think it is supposed to be more difficult getting to the Peak. There were some things to do just to find the way, for example. I just dispensed with all that. I did add some encounters to represent travel. But due to good dice rolling, our heroes managed to bypass most of those encounters.

The Dangers of Icespire Keep

Our heroes come upon an ancient keep built near the summit of the peak.

Taking up residence in outer works is a band of orc brutes. They attack the party. Martin smites one with divine power while Haiden and Nashad make short work of the rest.

In the main keep, our heroes run across another party of adventurers. At first, Killian is pleased to meet them and proposes to join forces.

"Be off with ye," the leader exclaims. "The dragon's treasure is all ours!"

Killian explains that he is not interested in the treasure. He just seeks to destroy the dragon.

"Ye take me for a fool? Ye'd be crazy to challenge the dragon!" the leader replies. Clearly, he does not trust Killian. With that, the leader gives the sign and a barrage of arrows rain down upon Killian and his men.

"Right, that does it!" Killian exclaims. "Charge!"

Martin unleashes a ball of fire but misses the target. Haiden and Nashad draw out bows they brought for use against the dragon. Their return volley strikes down some of the enemy. Then they follow Killian into melee.

The battle ends quickly. Our heroes make short work of the enemy.

The Dragon

The party reaches the roof of the keep. There, they find the white dragon asleep.

Haiden and Nashad are armed with bows. They loose arrows at the beast. Martin flings a fireball. All miss.

The dragon takes flights, swoops at the party, and breathes a cone of ice. Haiden is caught in the cone but the others manage to dodge.

The dragon attacks, striking Haiden and Martin with its claws. They manage to get in strikes as it flies by.

Again and again, the dragon swoops down on the party, wounding them. They manage a few hits in return. Then the dragon breathes ice again. Haiden is hit. He falters, and kneels. He is badly wounded. Martin rushes over to heal him.

The dragon swoops down at Haiden, looking to deliver the coup de grace. But Martin launches another fireball, which catches the dragon's wing. It spins to the ground.

Though wounded, the dragon still has plenty of fight. It recovers and charges Martin and Haiden. But Killian comes running, and interposes himself between the dragon and Killian's friends. As the dragon's maw closes on Killian, he strikes with the sword of dragon slaying. The sword pierces through the roof of the beast's mouth. It howls in rage and pain, and thrashes wildly. The sword, seemingly with a will of its own, buries deeper into the dragon's skull. With a final howl, the dragon crashes to the ground, dead.

Aftermath

Our heroes return, wounded but victorious, to Phandalin. They are showered with gifts from people all through Neverwinter who are grateful that the dragon is gone. Killian uses the money to finish building a church, with his old cleric, Winston, as pastor. Killian displays the sword and one of the dragon's teeth in the church. This draws visitors to the church. Phandalin, and Neverwinter, prosper.

The End

GAME NOTES

Thus ends the adventure of the Dragon of Icespire Keep. What next? Stay tuned to find out.

Some notes about this adventure:

• This post recounts my second battle vs. the dragon. The heroes won in the first, but I forgot that Killian had the sword of dragon slaying. I wanted to include it in the narrative so I replayed the fight.
• Nevertheless, Killian was useless through most of the fight. Haiden and Martin were the real heroes. I hope this account gives them due credit.
• When the dragon was down to 1 hp, I gave Killian the first attempt to hit. He did, and killed the dragon. I embellished the account a little bit.
• Killian's problem was that he was only armed with a sword and the dragon was flying. When the dragon swooped down, I had melee-armed heroes pass a test just to attack. More often than not, Killian failed these tests. I guess his armor weighed him down.

Mercians vs Welsh

I got the idea for a Mercian vs. Welsh battle from a recent post on The Wargames Website. I converted it to Dominion of the Spear (DotS)

Deployment

I used the early Saxons list for the Mercians (top). They are deployed thusly:

• Battleline: Ferocious spears, ferocious spears with leader (Penda), spears
• Reserve: 2 spears

Again, due to a lack of counters, I'm using light infantry for the ferocious spears

There is no list specifically for the Welsh. I decided to use the Britons one but I changed the 2 cavalry to a ferocious foot.

Here is their deployment:

• Battleline: spears, archers, spears
• Reserve: spears, ferocious spears with leader

Note that I added leaders. This is not standard with DotS. They are more window dressing than anything else. I also added a couple of terrain pieces just for looks. They have no impact on the game.

The Battle

On the left, the Welsh spears and Saxon huscarls wipe each other out. Penda and his hearthguard survive the rain of Welsh arrows.

But a second volley destroys the hearthguard. Penda manages to survive. Meanwhile, the Welsh leader and Mercian spears fill in on the flank.

Penda calls up his remaining spears. They take revenge on the archers.

Penda then wipes out the reserve spears.

As Penda positioned his spears for a flank attack, he Mercian spears wipe out the Welsh right.

The remaining Welsh retreat. Victory for Penda!

Notes

I made a couple of changes to the rules to add a little spice.

• I rolled initiative each turn to determine the attacker for the turn.
• The attacker could choose the direction of attacks, left to right or right to left.

As I mentioned, the leaders were mostly window dressing; they did not affect the ratings of the unit to which they attached. At the start, they were already with ferocious foot. I thought an additional bonus would be too much.

However, I did check to see the leader's fate if his unit routed. In this case, Penda survived. I'm not sure what I would do if the leader died. Perhaps roll morale to see if another unit breaks? Well, we'll deal with it when it comes up. I will use leaders more. It seemed especially appropriate for a Dark Ages battle.

The World Breaker Breaks

Sir Roderick is at it again.

I had some free time one morning and decided to play a few encounters of Demonslayer. Roderick defeated a demon lord in his previous outing so I reset the board and his health, and started again.

Here is his path, starting at the red star and ending at the red shield. Black X's mark encounters.

Here is the diary of his encounters.

I only planned to play a few encounters, but I kept going. I wanted to end with a good fight, but Roderick is pretty powerful now so combat was generally one-sided.

Finally, our hero reached an obelisk. With 3 clues, he could summon a demon lord. As it so happened, he got a third clue in an abandoned library in his previous encounter!

Enter Vorgath the World-Breaker!

I was confident going into this - Roderick actually had an advantage over Vorgath. Roderick had more hp, hit for more damage, and defended on an 8 or lower on 2D6. But he needed a 6 or less to hit the demon lord. Also, the demon lord's powerful blows could knock Roderick to his feet.

There was a stalemate early on - Roderick kept missing but so did Vorgath. But slowly Roderick whittled down his enemy. He also took some wounds, but he usually managed to stay on his feet. Thus, the advantage remained with Roderick.

Finally, the combatants traded hits. Roderick remained standing while Vorgath collapsed and disintegrated into nothingness!

Roderick has now eliminated 4 of the 6 demon lords!

And this game remains a great time-filler for when I don't feel like setting up anything more complex.