Coming in September...

I am very excited for this:

Courtesy Catalyst Games

I started playing Battletech back in Junior High with original boxed set and its cardboard counters. I loved it, but even then it was hard to play a game any time quickly and with anything more than a couple of mechs. So, I moved on.
Last year, I heard rumblings about the Quick Strike rules for Battletech. They were a hidden gem, locked away in a very pricey and hefty Strategic Operations Handbook released years before. Now, it looks like Catalyst Games has heard the masses and will be releasing the Quickstrike rules as a stand alone called Alpha Strike. Huzzah! To be 14 again.

UPDATE: Screw it! I'm writing my own.

A lovely night for Maurice

It snowed last night. In May. I mention this because said snow kept most of the Basement Generals home. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've really been wanting to give Maurice another go, especially run the campaign system with our group. Rather than wait the year it will take those involved to paint armies I went with paper troops to give everyone a feel for the rules and field some troops.
So, rather than getting the whole group together to run through the rules we only had 5. Turns out, that was just right.

The serried paper ranks

We did the whole she-bang. Drew cards for terrain, scouted for advantage and who the aggressor was, and drew Notables. The only thing we didn't use this time was National Advantages.
Based on scouting rolls, Purple was the Aggressor. Their Notable was particularly good at Rallying troops.
Blue was Defender and got a hothead Notable who likes to charge.
The terrain was Plains. Seven pieces were rolled for and placed. The result was pretty open, but still caused problems for the Aggressors. They had a town to take.
The game moved along really fast. Cards were earned and burned. A cavalry force charged and was repulsed. (Have to wear those infantry down first).
The infantry in the middle annihilated each other. Here's where the "do I volley?" question was learned. A deck was gone through.

All of the sudden Purple was down to 3 morale points left, and Blue 5. It was late, the weather was getting worse, and we called it.
Love these rules. Can't wait to get some "real" troops on the table. Also has me VERY excited for Longstreet. Until now I have held firm against painting 28mm ACW. But, for how long?
The warring Factions, again based on barnyard animals:

A loooong night at the games.

I don't know why, but I'm constantly trying new gladiator rules. Everyone seems perfectly happy with the very first ones I trotted out many years ago, "Death or Freedom" by Steve Barber. But, I get to reading reviews and start thinking maybe this one is faster, etc. The lament of the Rules Whore.
Thus, we tried "Red Sands, Blue Sky" by Two Hour Wargames. I actually have the original version, too, but this one 2.0.
It uses some innovative ideas like a simplified grid for the arena. You move by zones and fight if another gladiator is in that zone. Each turn consists of dicing to see who goes first, moving or throwing something, Manuevering to see who gets the upper hand, then Attacking. Sounds easy. Is easy, really.
I had read matches could be quick. Could. Ours lasted forever.
My biggest complaint is there was too much "no advantage, roll again". I think this could be easily fixed with the winner getting an extra die.
These are a fine set of rules, and I could see the the lure for those poor souls doomed to solo play. But, just not for us. I heard countless times last night, "I like your other rules". So, back to Death or Freedom. Why did I ever leave you?

Then we tried "Charioteer!" also by Two Hour. MUch leaner, sweeter game. It solves the problem many chariot race games have with one player getting so far ahead, or so far behind, there's really no point of being in the game. Charioteer fixes it by everyone staying in the pack. It's more about passing, fighting for position. Thus, you only use a straight bit of road. Or, as the rules say, no track at all. We only had time for one lap (cause the dumb gladiators took so long), but everyone declared it great fun.

A slight diversion

I've been hankering to play some Maurice again, but nobody has any troops. I threw it out there to the gang, that maybe I just do some more paper stock troops in the mean time, so more people could get involved. Not something I like to game with, but they do in a pinch and are easy for me to make up and customise. Maybe even a Maurice campaign?
With that in mind I came up with the probably insane idea that each player nation should base their Duchy's colors/standard/flag heraldry off a barnyard animal. I chose the cock, of course. Pullusia? Latin for chicken is pullus. Nah.
Then, all sorts of things flooded in. I could base units and their uniforms off the hundred's of chicken breeds. This was born:

The flag is work in progress, but its a start. As each noble can raise troops and clothe them, you get regiments like Lord Baldwin, Count of Rhode Island's regiment. Called the "Reds"
I know. But these things keep me up at night.
UPDATE: flags

Thursday Night GASLIGHT

I'll let the pictures talk.

The calm before the storm...

British Naval Brigade troops back up the Zouaves.

I think its this way, chaps.

French Marines supported by the Spyder.

L'Roue, American Volunteers and French regular move in from the far right flank.

Lady Hussars face them. Their rifles would prove deadly accurate.

The Electro Cannon is a fricken' sniper. It takes down the the Little Spyder first shot and devastates the infantry opposite.

Here comes the Wheel. Uhlans wait in reserve.

FORWARD!

The "brave" marines take a breather in the woods.

German steam. He was a killer last night, too.

Full reverse. Unicycle Uhlans drive L'Roue back.

The Zouave Captain takes on the Steam Tank alone.

The bloodly aftermath

At 10pm we called it. The Anglo-French alliance only really had one funcyioning infantry unit, but 2 contraptions in the fight.

The Germans still held the base, so I called it a minor German victory. Some of the pictures are blurry. Our new war correspondent (the Boy), wasn't used to the camera yet. But at least he was sober.

It's the little things....

After a frenzy of painting in preparation for RECRUITs (new pics from the last RECRUITs), I'm taking a break. Not from wargaming, silly, but painting. I don't want to suffer burnout. Don't worry, I have a small fiendish project I'm rolling out in a couple weeks that will make the Basement Generals happy, and once its faded a bit, I'll run the Pulp Alley RECRUITs game again.
To wit, this weekend was spent watching the Boy at soccer, where he had a few days of his looooong grounding/imprisonment dropped for acting as enforcer for the team. And Sunday I sat on the back porch watching a storm roll in while smoking a cigar, sipping a gin & tonic and reading wargames rules. The screen door was open, so I could hear the Baroness making dinner and children laughing at whatever was on the TV.
The little things, gentlemen. The little things.

Pulp Alley Leagues: Rosters

With a large game and players unfamiliar with the rules and characters, I often create little roster sheets that fit in a standard card protector sleeve. All the info's there, and as the tougher characters take hits, they can easily mark off with a dry erase marker.

Also included is the League Perks. These can be updated the same way as the campaign progresses.

As part of the game I ran at RECRUITs, each player got a dossier with mission objectives:
This helped set the feel for the game.