The Story Begins - The Song of Thalia

Last year, I started exploring the solo world of role-playing games. Amazingly, I came across some fantastic mechanisms that can be translated into the world of wargamer, but that's another blog. Eventually, the role-playing began to take up all my gaming time, so I placed my role-playing on hold. However, I have some great characters that I could try out in the more scenario-orientated games. Therefore, Thalia Songweaver moved from my D&D campaign to the dangerous world of Shadow Deep.

Rangers of the Shadow Deep.

Shadow Deep is a solo and cooperative tabletop miniatures game by Joseph A. McCullough, the creator of Frostgrave. The premise is that an evil shadow slowly expands across the Kingdom of Alladore. Rangers and their small band of followers are hired or volunteer to enter the forest to learn the cause of the evil and destroy its minions. Enter Talia and her hastily assembled companions.

Thalia Songweaver.

Thalia Songweaver is a striking young woman with an air of mystery. It is even rumoured that she has fey blood. She makes her living by singing in the inns and taverns of Tallis, the fortress capital of Alladore. During the day, she explores the old ruins while studying Alladore’s ancient forebears.

Thalia's slender figure moves with grace and silent agility, making her a master of stealth and subterfuge. Her attire is a blend of practicality and style. She dons a dark leather outfit that allows her to blend into the shadows effortlessly. The subtle embroidery and intricate patterns on her clothing hint at her fey heritage, a touch of elegance in her otherwise pragmatism.

The Companions 

At this stage in the adventure, I have yet to develop companions other than giving them names. The plan is to make them more three-dimensional as the story develops and if they survive their first encounters with the Shadow Deep. Here they are,

• Aurlia Hearthstone - Healer
• Ragnor Battleborn - Fighter
• Calistra Nyx - Fighter
• Emhyr var Emreis - Archer
• Galderas - Battle Mage

The Gang Minus 1 as Ragnor, who missed the photoshoot

The First Adventure

I followed the suggested chronological order, so my first games took place in a woodland village, searching for a lost ranger. The story then continued into the invested forest plagued by giant spiders. I will not give a blow-by-blow battle account, but I will give what I tried to achieve in these first encounters and some thoughts on the game.

• My main aim is to determine how this group worked as a team. In the village scenario, the heroes started by the village well in the centre of the clearing. The strategy was to use Emhyr, the archer, and Galderas, my battle mage, as a fire support base as Thalia and the two fighters hunted for the ranger and clues about what had happened to the deserted farmsteads. Aurelia, the last member of the team, would act as support, healing anyone who got into trouble.
• The hero of this first encounter was Calistra Nyx, who seemed to have a panache for destroying zombies with one strike. Calistra found the ranger's body, Aventine, and his magical sword. Ragnor, my other fighter, seemed to take on the personality of a bodyguard or protector, something that developed further in the second scenario.
• Galdreas, the battle mage, had a mixed couple of games. Perhaps his most noticeable characteristic is his clumsiness. In the forest, he spent most of the game fighting in a spider web and only escaped when everything was decided. His main contribution was as a fighter rather than a mage, raising the question of this slot.
• Emhyr, the team’s marksman, started off nondescript. He shot a few zombies and spiders. He did his bit, but nothing special.  
• Aurelia, the healer, was underused by myself. I treated her a bit like a glass vase, so I held her back. When she had to fight, she did hold her own, and her healing ability was used to restore Ragnor. Should she be on the team? The jury is still out.

What about Thalia herself?

I played her cautiously in the deserted village game, not realising the woman's power. Something I discovered only when she slew a few zombies and harpies. I had replaced the giant fly with harpies because I had some excellent figures in my collection. In the second game, in the forest, I went to the other extreme, and she strode off unsupported and ended up with a poisonous wound. Even your best characters are vulnerable when isolated. However, the two scenarios earned enough experience points to upgrade some of her attributes/skills.

Anyway, here are a few photos of the first chapter from the Song of Thalia

Some Thoughts

While Rangers of the Shadow Deep rules are relatively simple, they present some thoughtful strategic choices. At this early stage, I play the characters in pairs where I can give the best support from some muscle, the fighters in the team. The magic-orientated characters are more challenging to play because of the limited availability of spells, so judging the time to let them unleash their powers is difficult. In the first scenario, I never used any magic, just in case something worse was around the corner. 

Also, playing the game, the characters become more 3 dimensional. The standout character of these introductory games was Calistra Nyx, who had a fantastic skill at throwing great dice against zombies. However, strangely, she was less effective against spiders and harpies. There must be a story in this? Something I plan to develop as I think of giving her a backstory. The other characters did not jump off the 'page' so much, but all gained something that made them more discernible; Ragnor was solid and dependable, Galdreas, the mage, was clumsy and slightly comical, and Aurlia a shy and reserved person, but still waters run deep!

Even these brief introductory thoughts show one of the game's hidden gems: You become emotionally invested in how the characters come to life. I love narrative and depth in my gaming, and this is a massive plus to these rules.

 

 

Golden Oldie - Battlefleet Gothic

I was trawling my boxes of unpainted and painted miniatures when I came across a few boxes of spaceships. My collection was a haphazard array of ships, reflecting my numerous attempts to enter this genre. The miniatures included a few fleets from Space Dreadnought 3000, Battlefleet Gothic and some modern additions, like Dropleet Commander.

This discovery coincided with Ross Lockwood's new set of space combat rules, 'Hyperspace Hack'. Therefore, after discovering an old treasure and some new rules, I had an excellent fill-in game as I continued painting for my next project. 

Spaceship Rules

Oh, if things could be that simple.  I immediately dug out some old spaceship combat rules in my collection. The aim was to fight fleet skirmishes and battles rather than worry about controlling an individual starship array of systems. 

Unlike historical games, there is nothing factual against which to judge any rules. The rules must fire your imagination and reflect how you imagine space combat. I started my intergalactic altic quest by reading all the rules I had in my collection. In the end, I returned to a golden oldie, Battlefleet Gothic. Why?

Spaceship Gothic  

The rules, beautifully written by Andy Chambers, have stood the test of time. They contain everything you expect from spaceship battles, giant ships, planet killers, speedy flights, interplanetary defence systems, and an array of space matter. I own the original 1999 rules. The edition comes in landscape rather than my preferred portrait. However, fans have produced a remastered (live) edition in a portrait setting.

Personally, I do not like the 40,000 Universe, but the rules can be adapted to a homemade setting. I came across some settings that appealed to me more in my reading. 

Battlefleet Solo

For me, the lack of solo mechanics is the main area for improvement in the Battlefleet rules. However, other rules have solo mechanisms that could be adapted. Horizon Wars Infinity Dark has a playing card activation system that establishes the activation order, the actions to be taken, and any course corrections. This system was used in conjunction with the Battlefleet Gothic rules.

The Scenario 

A convoy of colony ships had been ambushed in the Carian Sector by pirates who infest these outer world systems. However, the main merchantman, CSS New Beginnings, survived the onslaught but lost all power. As the pirates considered boarding their prize, a portal opened, and the cruiser, Iron Duke and two support frigates (Alpha and Omega) entered the sector. The pirates clocked or hid and waited for their opportunity.

The Objective.

To win the Imperial squadron, the crew had to board the stricken New Begining, pass a successful test to reboot her systems, and then escort the colony ship to safety. Simple rules using the leadership test catered for the docking procedures between the two friendly ships and the system reboot. 

The pirate fleet of smaller reconditioned frigates and raiders had to prevent the colony ship from leaving the sector without destroying it. They would also earn bonuses for killing or capturing any Imperial ship.

Tactics

The Imperial commander's tactics were simple. The two frigates would attempt to dock with the stricken vessel while the Iron Duke stood off in case the pirates returned. The pirate tactics were to wait until a ship tried to start docking with their prize and launch an attack, using their mobility to maximum impact while the ships were entangled.

The Game

The Imperial ships made a quick approach to the stranded colony ship. However, only some things went to plan. The Alpha overshot her docking portal and had to exercise a sharp turn to make another approach. The Omega was more successful and docked successfully, but this left the now static frigate vulnerable to attack. It was at this moment that the pirates launched their raid. 

The Iron Duke made mincemeat of several vessels, but the attacks came from all sides. The captain of Omega ordered 'Brace for Impact', which allowed the frigate to survive the first onslaught. However, the Alpha, exposed during her turning manoeuvre, suddenly exploded as an array blast hit the ship.

The next turn, the Omega engineers managed to re-fire the New Beginnings engines, and she started to lumber forward. The Iron Duke, impervious to the horde of small ships, continued to exact damage.

The final moves saw the New Beginning move to the safety of the jump portal as the Iron Duke covered her and the Omega retreat. The cruiser was too powerful for the small pirate vessel, and the Imperial squadron completed its mission.

Some Thoughts

The game was short and brutal, and I had forgotten how entertaining these rules were. However, my adapted solo system did not work as I wanted. The card activations led to some peculiar movements, especially for the pirates. The generated options needed to be more sophisticated, and the pre-programmed orders must be adapted for the ship type. In brief, back to the drawing board. 

Britcon 2024

Last year, I made my first visit to Britcon Gaming Day and enjoyed the weekend, so this August, I returned to Nottingham. Like last year, I attended the Two Fat Lardies workshop, where there were there was a wide variety of participation games, from a pirate raid to 1968 Vietnam.  I choose to play a naval action and a battle from the Trojan War.

Spanish Breakout

My first game was a Napoleonic naval engagement using Charley Walker's new version of Kiss Me Hardy rules. The original game's mechanics have been streamlined by using some ideas from What a Cowboy, but maintain the feeling that you are in command of great sailing ships of the era. My command was the British inshore squadron, which included a 3rd Rate and a frigate, the Gibberish. My partner had the larger ships that had come to reinforce the inshore ships to prevent the Spanish breakout. Whilst the British had the advantage of better crews, the Spanish admirals had size on their side. One ship had 118 guns! As the British would find out, these monsters could absorb a lot of damage.

In the early moves, I thought we had the Spanish, with their advance squadron, trapped between the British larger ships and the shoreline. Whilst my inshore squadron managed to get some close broadside off. Even the Gibberish managed to land a few blows without getting blown out of the water by the larger ships.

However, after the first run, the British ship found it hard to turn in the narrow confines of the bay, especially with the wind against them. Therefore, the Spanish made it to open waters, although they were severely damaged.

Before the Walls of Troy

My afternoon game, run by James Morris, used the Midgard rules, hopefully to be published later this year, in a fight between the Amazons and the Greeks. The game started with a duel between two champions, which the Amazons lost. This immediately led to a full-blown conflict between the Greeks and the Amazon. This time, I was the Amason queen Penthesilla, daughter of Ares, who commanded the right flank.

However, this was a battle when the dice god Hermes was firmly on the side of the Greeks. In the opening move, a rabble of Greek skirmishers managed to kill one of the Amazon champions. The ravens soon picked over her body as she threw successive ones ( a raven on these dice) to save herself from the Greek arrows. When the second Amazon champion fell on the left, things began to look bad. However, the Amazons fought bravely and launched a counterattack that nearly killed Achilles 'of the winged feet', but once again, Hermes came to the Greek's aid, and Achilles managed to escape almost certain death.

On the right, my Amazon was slowly being pushed back by the Greek's superior close combat skills, although Penthesilla managed to kill one of the Greek champions in single combat. Despite the glimpse of success, the day would be with the Greeks.

In both these games, the scenery and the miniatures were beautiful, as you will see from the photos. More importantly, the games were full of banter and laughter. Win or lose, you had a great game and a story to tell.

The Traders and Other Games

Elsewhere in the Hall, numerous trade stands were similar to the ones at last year's show. A floor plan for this area would have helped, although an earlier e-mail gave you the basic outline. Beyond the trade stand were the competition games with ranks of the tables. Those who follow this blog will know that this type of gaming is not my thing. However, numerous games were displayed, and the whole place buzzed.

Wrap Up

The day was rounded off by a few pints and a curry. During this evening session, my discussions involved the push and shove in pre-gun powder warfare, how wargame rules have changed since the 70s and the wonders of French cheeses—an enjoyable evening.

More Projects

I have come back with some great ideas for new projects: dark dwarves and sea witches will invade Romano-Britian. Will Arthur save the day? Playing Charley‘s revised version of Kiss Me Hardy has ‘forced’ me to invest in some 1:700 ships because they look fantastic. James’ bloody Trojan escapade has led me to explore my ‘pile of lead’, and I have found some Greek chariots. It looks like Troy might be coming to East Anglia.

Final Thanks

Overall behind-the-scenes? Thanks to Don Avis, despite commanding a Greek wing, for his spreadsheet wizardry and good humour. Also, the Britcon organisers for their fantastic attention to detail and speedy service.