GenCon, baby.

I'm leaving Wednesday morning for GenCon, not as a vendor, just a civilian. This is a bit of a bucket list thing, not because I haven't been before, but because I'm going with my son, best friend and his boys, my "nephews".
Not to worry, if you make an order while I'm gone. my wife is manning the webstore. (she always is).

Campaign for the Kingdom: The Center Can't Hold

Last night we played one of our group's favorite games, our Campaign for the Kingdom. WE've been playing the rules for about 20 years, with lead just as old. This is a mapless campaign. The player with the most points, accrued by victories, is the Claimant. The player with the next highest, is the Pretender. First player to agreed upon total wins. In this case 12 points.
In the this battle, the Earl Rutiger was defending his claim to the throne from Ulric, Duke of the Black Isles. I played Rutiger, in absence of the real player.

The first few turns saw a cautious advance on both sides, players trying to hold their lines together. But, of course, there were a few commanders who got jumpy and the lines surged forward.
This game is a delicate dance of controlling your force's Battlelust. For the most part they will follow your orders, but different factors and terrible dice may send them charging forward, or cooling their heels. Too much aggression, they get tired. Too little they start thinking about those crops at home that need harvesting.
Then theirs the almighty Order Deck. The deck consists of Aces (or 1s), twos and threes cards, and a reshuffle card. The better the commander, the more 3s in the deck. The poorer the commander, the more 1s. After commanders have given orders to their troops and rolled to see if they obey them, then the Order card is revealed. This is how many actions your troops can make. The right card at the right time can be a game winner.
When our troops met, it started as a slap fight. No real casualties inflicted for a turn. Then, all hell broke loose.
For two straight turns in the middle, Rutiger and Ulric's troops slaughtered each other. No retreats, just a brutal bloodbath. Of my 6 units on the table, only one remained. That meant a loss of 4 more units would break us.

The flanks held. They managed to give as good as they got, and by the final turn it came down to each side only needing to inflict one more casualty.
A barrage of arrows ended it for us. Ulric claimed victory. Rutiger was beheaded (lost 2 points) and the victorious side received each gained a point along with a bonus point that can awarded to anyone, regardless of side. Ulric claimed it for himself. There was some grumbling among his troops for this move.

The dreaded Battlelust wheel

I'm really thinking of finally publishing these rules. They grew out of an older set of rules that we've long since added to and made or own. This would be a departure from the "Fistful" family, but a much needed diversion, and great set of rules for the right group.

Newest standings

They see me rollin'...

Fun game of Faustus Furius last night. We replaced chariots with motorcycles to decide who would rule the Biker Clans for the next year.

 Gentlemen, start yer engines....

 The Law arrive to crack down

 lots of debris to dodge

 Back off!

 Black screams into a hefty lead...

 ...while Blue runs into some trouble

 Outta my way!

A close finish

Great little distraction while I finish up Wasteland Warriors. Lots of activity coming up.

Fistful of Lead: A Pit Full of Snakes...

...or a Fistful of Joes, or "Never Buy Ammo from Destro"...
I've been painting up 28mm Joes as a surprise game for Jon of Curio Clashes for awhile. I remember the cartoon fondly from my childhood, being in that weird age between the big 12" toys and the smaller 3.5" action figures. But Jon is a big fan of the comics. I stuck to supers only.
The scenario was as follows: Natives from a remote South American rainforest have been driven off their hunting grounds by mysterious strangers. These strangers have been digging holes deep into the jungle floor near the sacred statue of the Snake god. The special unit of the US military has been dispatched to investigate...

The base in spotted...Cobra!

The Mission is led by Stalker

Move in team!

There were 6 players, 3 Joes, 3 Cobra. I got to play the vivacious Baroness. By the end of the game I had perfected her Eastern European accent...

The Joes had air support, but they couldn't use it until they knocked out the Cobra antiaircraft gun (I think forgot about this part). Cobra had back up in the form of a HISS Tank.

Pew, pew, pew!

Opening shots were unleashed by two trigger happy Cobra soldiers at Freedom, the pet and stalwart companion of Spirit the GI Joe tracker. A lot of lead had resulted in little result.

In fact, Trooper 7801and Trooper 2325 spent most of the game trying to kill that buzzard, um, eagle. They took grenades and machine gun fire constantly, but it was that dumb eagle that would ultimately kill them both. Trooper 7801 was wounded three times. Three times a Queen of Hearts brought him back to hold the line.

The Baroness and Destro managed to take out most of the northern attacking force, with the Baroness dropping Snake Eyes before he even got in the fight. It is here we pause for a moment. 

Destro is the arms dealer for Cobra. He owns factories that make weapons and ammo. Throughout the game, the number of 1s rolled was insane. We began to blame chrome dome for shoddy ammunition. In fact, there was almost a friendly fire incident. Destroy even started to roll 1s.

Also, despite having better quality troops, and the Team Trait "Loyal" which prevents your team members from routing, some members of the Joe team spent their time (as usual) hiding in the trees. Years of taunts over this behavior has not altered the player-we-will-not-name's choice of game play. Knowing his game tactics, Cobra was able to ignore him and concentrate fire (that was working) against the northern flank and wipe them out. Poor Jon, the game was for him and he was out in 4 turns.

After two hours it was clear Cobra forces would escape with the Serpent's Eye, a huge ruby that could be used to fund their nefarious plots or say, focus a death ray....

Trooper 7801 was awarded the Serpent's Cross posthumously for holding the line, and finally "killing that bird".

So far for Wiley Wargame Weekend...

So far, games for Wiley Wargames Weekend are shaping up nicely. We have on the docket:

Star Wars: Galactic Heroes

Modern Africa hosted by Other Jay

Breaking Lances Joust Tournament

Bloody Broadsides Age of Sail game

Fistful of Lead Moderns hosted by Tim Spakowski

Wasteland Warriors

French and Indian War hosted by Cluck Amok

Fistful of Lead: Big Battles preview game

and more to come as we lock in people.

We are holding this to 50 people, so get your tickets!

I have a Golden Ticket....

Tickets are now on sale for Wiley Wargame Weekend. Why tickets? Well, this is ensures you'll show up. I think we've all had instances where 100 people checked "going" on the invite but only 30 show. This also helps pay for the event space, food and snacks.
We'll be sending out a games list soon along with hotel suggestions for anyone coming from out of town.
We're offering two options. With and without t-shirt.
Here and Here

This is going to be fun!

Dragon Rampant- A Tale of Two Fords

A little palette after so much Fistful of Lead playtesting. We had a second generation Basement General visiting so I pulled out a game that's fun and easy to pick that isn't mine. We also changed the activation rules so a failed activation didn't end your turn completely.
A Choas-Orc-Goblin force had come down from the mountains to seize two fords on the river in order to launch a bigger invasion.
The Northmen called in a few favors from the Men of the West and the Warriors Four to help hold the line.

 The Northmen with a friendly Giant

 Goblin Hordes

The Warriors Four

Attack!

 

 Beastmen take the bridge

 Borax the Despoiler. Possibly the toughest "unit" on the table. Reduced to hiding in the woods. I don't think he drew blood for the Blood god all night. SHAME!

 Gurd the Sturdy stands alone against the Beastmen

 Hobgobs take the second ford. The Berserkers have already run off. What's conscripted farmer to do? Form Shieldwall!

 Men of the West! Attack!

 Forces close early in the game

 The goblin chariot and his Troll eye the vacant bridge

 Charge! I reality these boys spent most of the game grazing.

 These guys too.

 Two hours later. Forces almost destroyed. Each side held a bridge.
Alot of blood spilled. Alot of fun had.