The Men Who Would be Kings at Campus Game Fest 2024

 Other than my usual home RPG group and my wargaming group, I have been off and on with a public gaming group at a community centre these past few years. The group plays mainly RPGs and boardgames, and some Battletech Alpha Strike; I run the occasional one-shot RPG there, and play the occasional boardgame.

This year, the group was invited to take part in a games convention at a school, and I was invited to put up a historical wargame there.

This was when I realised that, while I do have many paired armies, most of them are sci-fi or fantasy, and the historical armies that I do own both sides of are not painted by me, but cobbled together from various ebay purchases. The only armies which look presentable are my Indian Mutiny forces, which were mostly painted by a single painting service.

Now while I do enjoy The Relief of Luckpore, I thought that a grid-based wargame would not be a good representation of most historical miniature wargame, so I went through to my library and decided on Dan Mersey's The Men Who Would be Kings, which I helped playtest with these same figures in 2015.

I modified the command rules a little to allow for five players - two on the British side and three on the Mutineer side - with three units each. I picked out a scenario from Colonial Conflicts: The Indian Mutiny, adjusted the set-up to fit, and with the help of a few friends tested the scenario, made some adjustments, and we were ready.

The set-up

Civilians in the village

The British train

We were scheduled for 4pm to 9pm, and I imagined that gave enough time to run two or maybe three games, each with five players on each side and FG and I umpiring. As it turned out the crowd were mostly there for the e-games and card games, and we didn't draw much attention apart from the other miniature wargamers who were there. One of them played the mutineers against me, and beat me resoundingly with incredible dice rolls.

We then had a student of the school walk by and he decided to take a swing at playing the British. He had better luck than me, and almost made it to the mutineer lines before his luck ran out.

The situation at the end of the second game

Over all the amount of gaming we did out of the session was probably not worth the effort of preparing the charts and cards and traveling down, but I did make friends with some historical wargamers and we might be getting some gaming in in the future, so that made the whole evening worthwhile.

Conquerors and Kings

We played another game of Peter Pig's Conqueror and Kings. Despite revising the rules briefly before the session, I still managed to get the multiple combat wrong by confusing the rules with those of an ACW set I am working on (also a grid-based game) 

View from the Ayyubid line

We fielded my generic Saracen army (mostly painted figures bought off ebay) against my anachronistic Late Byzantine army, using the Ayyubid list and the Crusader list.

Adrian, playing the Ayyubid, saw that his advantage was in cavalry, and that he would be at a disadvantage if the battle became an arrow duel, and so launched an all-out charge on turn one, using the 'Advance' Battle Tactic. wahj, playing the Byzantines, managed to survive the initial onslaught, and even managed to launch a counter-attack on the Ayyubid cavalry that were now outflanked. But dice luck determined the eventual outcome, and the Byzantine units that were pushed off the table failed to rally and return in time to shore up the line, and we called it an Ayyubid victory.

Byzantine counter-attack that ultimately failed

The game was quick because we did not do the whole pre-game sequence and the 'Piggy Chase', and while the strategic choices seem limited once the army list is made and terrain placed, there are still tactical choices to be made like whether to push forward on a sector where the attack is more successful, or pull back and reorganise the line to prevent outflanking.

This game was a little lopsided due to the list-making - my fault - which in turn was limited by the figures I have at hand. Perhaps in the future I should field a list with Close Order bowmen, using my Norman figures.

The next game of C&K is scheduled for November, when we hope to pit Late Romans against Sassanids. Stay tuned.

Lone Wolf - Adventures in Magnamund

I have sworn off Kickstarter after a few bad experiences, but I have made an exception for this new project.

I own at least three iterations of Lone Wolf RPGs, and have played two long campaigns in the Lone Wolf setting, and they are both memorable ones. There is something about the dualistic cosmology and the heroic narrative of the characters that instantly lend gravitas to the campaigns. Lone Wolf RPG characters can't help but to be heroic because the stakes are so high - all they need are a campaign premise to allow them to shine.

This current iteration is for the Dragonbane rules, which I do not own nor plan to buy; I am backing it chiefly for the fluff, the art, and most importantly the modules. The delivery date for the project is Nov 2025, although with the number of stretch goals being hit I will not be surprised if it will be late. It is too far ahead to plan, but hopefully I will have a stable of players ready to take on the Darklords when it arrives.

Catching Up and 3D printed resin figures

I apologise to my readers for the long absence. Recent changes in my living circumstances, work demands, and a dislocated little finger have all eaten into my leisure time, and while I have continued to spend on the hobby and play, it has left me no time to update this blog.

Our Three Worlds RPG campaign has ended, but I have yet to write the AAR for the final two sessions. We have taken a break from RPG due to the attrition in player base, with most of the players for that campaign now in other countries, but we may be cobbling together a group from our old players and getting some gaming in with a new game master.

Wargaming has therefore come to the forefront, with several purchases being made, figures painted (some by me, but most by a professional painter I engaged), and convention game being put up this coming weekend.

I will try to post the AARs for the sessions we had the previous months in the near future; in the meantime here are a couple of photos of 3D printed resin figures painted by me:

15mm Arab Civilians by Red Copper Miniatures, via Proxy Wargaming Aus

15mm Carthaginian Poeni Cavalry by Cromarty Forge, via The Plastic Soldier Company

Conquerors and Kings and Warmaster

For our August session we played Peter Pig's Conquerors and Kings (2023 edition) for the first time. Wahj brought his Romans and Carthaginians and some hills he build specifically for these rules, and we spend the afternoon working through the rules.

As expected when trying out a new set of rules, we got some stuff wrong, but I think over all we got a sense of how the game plays. I played the Romans, which I did not handle boldly enough, and by game end I had failed to occupy enough grids to win.

I also realised that the Battle Tactics are an important consideration not just during play, but also during army-building (and vice versa I suppose), since some tactics mean you can get more mileage out of cheaper troops.

I like the more abstract way combat and positioning are handled in this game. I hope to get a Roman vs Sassanid game on soon. In the mean time I have ordered some Tribal Germans to be painted (an opponent for yet another Roman army!).

For our second game FG and I played Warmaster. It's an old game which we used to play a lot back in the day (especially the Ancients version) but I am unfamiliar with the Goblins list, which seems to be quite weak. Nevertheless it was a joy playing with the well-painted figures.

I have been very busy with life and am three RPG reports behind. Various factors have caused attrition to our player pool, and I have made the decision to stop my weekly RPG sessions for a while until we have a more stable pool of players. This may mean more wargaming in the coming months. Stay tuned.

Relief of Luckpore and Alpha Strike

Martin was back in town last weekend and six of us managed to get together for a couple of games, beers, pastries, and dinner.

The Luckpore game was a little lopsided, with the British side having too much of an advantage. This is likely due to us playing it as a once-off game instead of in the context of a campaign, where the British become saddled with Fatigue and low ammunition as the campaign progresses. I will need to make some tweaks to the game to make the contest more interesting for both sides. I have ordered a few packs of Essex Mughal musketeers to paint as matchlock men for an Indian prince, so we will visit these rules again once they are done.

For the second game we played a game of Alpha Strike. Now that we are more familiar with the rules, play is faster and more relaxed.

For the game in August I hope to run a game of Peter Pig's Conquerors and Kings, and maybe a game of Deth Wizards.

Three Worlds #14

After nine days, our heroes arrived at the dwarven settlement of Karn Buldhar, a wooden-walled town of some five hundred souls. They were met by Melin, a retainer of the council that ruled Karn Buldhar, and conducted to meet the three councilmen. After the appropriate formalities were performed, they were led to the dining hall, where they were fed a meal of beef dumplings by Baba Clay. Here, they were introduced to a young woman from the Northland named Bliss (see PC profiles here), who had come to seek her fortunes too. Here too Enree found Vaclovas the fur trapper, whom he had met at Obanhold.

After their meal, Melin spoke to our heroes of the events that had led to their invitation of Karn Buldhar. In recent months, a fever has gripped the town as rumours of orc treasure hoards that laid hidden in ruins in the Labyrinth of Shadows, a vast jungle that laid in the next valley from Karn Buldhar. Adventurers have streamed into Karn Buldhar to provision and recruit followers for expeditions into the jungle; few return, and those who do spoke of attacks by savage orcs and monsters, and none return with any treasure. Yet each day more adventurers arrive, and more young dwarves abandon their profession in the town to seek their fortunes. The council feared that the incursions into the jungles would provoke a retaliatory attack from the orcs that lived there.

But more immediate was the problem at Amethyst Ranch, a cattle ranch that laid a day away from Karn Buldhar, by the Lake Amethyst. The ranch provided the town with beef, but in the past few weeks Taggert the ranch owner reported that he was losing cattle. Soon, he began to lose ranch hands, and after a third disappeared the rest decided to abandon the ranch. Fearing that the orcs of the jungle were involved, the council tasked our heroes to investigate the disappearance.

So Arwin, Baldrik, Bliss, and Enree made the journey to Amethyst Ranch. When they arrived they were met by Taggert and the only two ranch hands who remained behind. From the three they learned that the cattle (and later ranch hands) were lost when the cattle were led to drink by the shore of Lake Amethyst. The next morning, our heroes helped the ranch hands drive the cattle to the shore of the lake, and there they waited.

After a while, Enree heard a sound coming from the water of the lake not far from the shore. It sounded like a drowning man struggling, and when he looked he saw what seemed to be an arm waving and bobbing up and down in the water. Enree was suspicious, but he felt himself compelled to take the boat by the shore and row towards the drowning man. The other heroes saw Enree rowing the boat out, but they could not hear nor see what Enree did.

As Enree rowed out into the lake, it seemed to him that the arm began to drift further and further away. When he finally reached the arm, he looked through the surface of the lake and saw a blue bestial face of a creature the size of a large dog staring back at him. The "arm", in reality a long tail of the creature that ended in what looked like a hand, grabbed the side of his boat and tipped it over, causing Enree to fall into the water.

Enree felt himself being dragged into the depths of the lake. He drew his sword and hacked at the creature; he felt his blow connect, and he was free to swim to the surface.

On the shore the others saw what happened, and Baldrik and Bliss began to swim out to reach Enree. Arwin saw the creature surface, and loosed a crossbow bolt at it, striking it and causing it to bleed dark red blood that left a trail in the water and the creature swam towards an island in the middle of the lake.

Once they had reunited, our heroes decided to follow the creature in their boat. When they arrived at the island, they found a cave on the side of the island that opened into the water. The followed the watery passage deeper into the cave system. The passage wound one way and then the other, and soon the party was in complete darkness. Our heroes lit a lantern, and continued.

After a while they saw a light ahead of them. Heading towards the light, they found themselves at the bottom of a large sinkhole. In the middle of the sinkhole was a small island. Above them they could see the sky; dark clouds were gathering above them.

Our heroes beached their boat and stepped onto the small island, which measured no more than sixty feet across. At first they thought that they saw a strangely geometric pattern on the surface of the island, but they soon realised that the pattern was formed by more than a hundred orc skulls, laid twelve to a side in a square. Rain began to fall.

Examining the skulls, our heroes found that they seemed to have been laid there as severed heads, as each had a short length of spine at its base - some of the vertebrae were cut clean across, as if by some sharp implement. Venturing into the middle of the skull formation, Enree discerned something with a magical aura - an obsidian dagger set in a jade handle laid in the centre of the formation. Curiously, the handle of the dagger depicted not an orc, but a stylised elf. Enree pocketed the strange dagger.

The rain started to fall heavier, and our heroes realised that the water level had begun to rise, causing their boat to drift away from the shore and threatening to seal off the passage by which they came into the sinkhole. When they sought to return to their boat, they found the creature lying in wait for them in the water by the shore. When they waded into the water, the creature would leap to attack them, and then vanish into the water before they could strike back. But Bliss, gifted with foresight by the Fates, were able to sense the creature coming towards her, and struck it a heavy blow with her club; the creature became motionless, and floated up on the water. At the same moment, the rain stopped, and the clouds soon parted.

Our heroes hauled the creature into the boat, and made they way back towards the ranch.

Prepping and Running the Game

This was once again a bit of a filler adventure. We have suffered some attrition in our player pool, but Bliss' player, a longtime member of our group, was able to join us for this session.

The session was based mostly on the module, with the main monster swapped. The creature in the story is an ahuizotl, which I thought was an interesting monster.

Much of the session was actually spent roleplaying as I introduced the main NPCs who will appear in this arc of the campaign, chiefly Melin, and Vaclovas from the previous arc. They players also spend some time roleplaying with the two ranch hands, whom they found amusing.

The discovery of the elven dagger sets up the rest of the campaign. It will probably take another two sessions before we are truly into the plot of this arc, but I wonder if I will have enough players to see this through.