Month 1, Smilodons at the lake

During the first months the tribe wandered in a dangerouse zone (cell 1.6), the zone was a wooded area, with a lake in the middle, here is a photo

Deployment area

I used the Adventures in the Lost Lands (THW) PEF system, to give some randomness to the enemy troops. 4 PEFs.

Ulrek and his men advanced from the south, going upriver, to the lake.

Some turns later, they met the creatures hanging around the lake

A pair of Smilodons that were awaiting for the deers, that normally drank there.

Ulrek, tell to their comrades to sneak behind the bushes near the lake, but the Smilodon decided to charge against the humans, probably he was hungry. The humans nervous rally round the leader, but one of them decided to charge against the beast, Ulrek, worried about the poor possibilities of the mad man, run to help him against the beast that run to them.

A heavy stroke kill the beast, but the noise of the battle call the attention of the other smilodon, who approached to the humans.

 The humans more daring advanced to the creature, and charged against him...

 Killing him in a unbalanced combat.

 The tribe has sufficient food another month, and they continue their journey to the Big Blue.

Stats used for PRUSEME:

Caveman Leader: Elan 5 Two Handed Weapons Mighty Hero Move 4.
Caveman Shaman: Elan 4 Spear Blessed Cleric Move 3.
Cavemen Warriors: Elan 3 Spear Move 4.
Cavemen Villagers: Elan 2 Spear Move 4.

Smilodons: Creature Elan 5 Furious Claws Rage.

The Luric Lands, a map

For my Prehistoric Campaign, first I needed a mpa, and I wanted something random, for that I was looking for in Internet, but all the maps generators that I found were pay for download, so I decided to make something cheaper, I took a hex grid page from here: http://hexmaps.appspot.com/

And got a page like that: 

Them, I started to roll two d10 dices, the first for the columns, and the other for the rows, deciding that the result will present a mountain terrain or a forest. Them I roll 17 times to got dangerous zones, represented in the image by a yellow tower. When I saw that there were dangerous zone near a forest or a mountain, I added a mountain or forest terrain, for represent a more inaccessible zone. Them I put a seashore on the tenth column, and two dangerous point in the sea, representing the zone where can arrive the invaders. The sanded zones are clear/hilly terrains where the caveman will move without problems.

I use GIMP and some free brushes from devianart.

And I get this map of Luric

The Cavemen will start in some point of the West side, and must arrive to the coast in less than 10 months, I mean, 10 campaign turns. On hex will represent a month of travel.

Let's start the Campaign!

Genetics and wargaming

I am in the first stages of my project of painting some Prehistoric miniatures, and I was thinking about how to paint the bear skins and the skin of the miniatures.

I have two sets of Bear Clan human miniatures from Splintered Light Miniatures, armed with stone axes and spears. All of them wear bear skinned cloaks and trousers, no other trinkets. So if I have 4 models with the same pose, How could I paint them to give the armies some variety?

At the first moment I thought that a go idea could be to paint their skin with a high variety of colors, some black, some, white, and some tanned, and the same with their bear skins I could get some variety of miniatures, grey, brown and black could be the colors for have a lot of miniatures, but after looking for some info throw internet, I had to withdraw this idea, let's take a look about this.

 Supposedly, these men and women lived in some point of Europe, during the late states Würm III period, after the great migrations from Africa.

Blue areas = Iced Areas

 With human settlements, in some place of Europe, arounding Mediterranean sea. They were in the Magadalenian period, with stone weapons, and some settlements, they were mainly hunters and gatherers.

 But the low population density was low, so the genetical exchanges were very low, so the mixture of races is very low, with regular cases of endogamic relations, for that the skin of the miniatures must be painted in a more similar way.

 With the bear skin we are in a similar case, the bast majority of them must be brown, with some of them black or white, but the hunter of this period hunted in determined areas, where the bears will have a similar skins color.

 For that I think that the solution to establish differences will be in using green modeling putty, adding some elements, like more fur, and to paint tattoos to the troops, with a different color for each warband.

 So, the Prehistoric miniatures must be modeled in a high variety of troops, because this period doesn't let to the miniatures painters a wide variety of color schemes for their armies, because of the low skin color varieties, and the natural origin of the clothes (mainly wool and furs) with no usual dye products to manufacture them, normally brown and stained white. To add a touch of color the painter must use tattoos ans decoration on the stands, this period allows imagine a wide variety of colored plants that can grow near the foots of our miniatures


 Let's continue painting my monochrome troops... here is a great sample by  Carmen's Fun Painty Time, of what the terrain can do.

[USEME] Labor of Gods, USEME in the Mythical Greece

What about if we play battles between heroical greeks and minotaurs, reviving the mythical Odyssey, and the Iliad?
 For that there is a very very interesting wargame called "Labor of Gods", based on SuperSystem. I made a review of it a few months ago.
 But now, I want to explain you how we can play mythical battles with USEME, and I am goin to based on the Labor of Gods wargame.


The characters, can be made as with USEME Fantasy, and to convert them inHeroes, we can give them the Hero rule, and a high ELAN rate.


The weapons will  be the same, except the Crossbow, Firelock and Trebuchet.
The armoured special rule will be only considered for troops that wear the Hoplon shield.


The groups of troops can have a Musician, that will work giving them a +1 ELAN, with a range of 6". Working like the Commissar from USEME WWII.


The special rules like Night Vision, Sniper, Insurgent, Rage, savage, Iron Willed, Eagle Eyes and Fleet Footed, can be converted into "Blessing of the Gods", in that way.


Night Vision: Blessing of Hecate
Sniper: Blessing of Zeus
Insurgent: Blessing of Athena
Rage: Blessing of Ares
Savage: Blessing of Hera
Iron Willed: Blessing of Poseidon
Eagle Eye: Blessing of Zeus
Fleet Footed: Blessing of Hermes
Cleric: Blessing of Apollo
Light Troops: (Consider forest and brushes as normal terrain) Blessing of Artemis.

All the Heroes must have a Blessing. As in all Greek tragedies, the heroes were envied by other gods and by the simple mortals, and normally dead in a tragic situation; for that, one time per battle, the Opponent player can choose to oblige an enemy Hero to reroll a roll, having to accept the new score. But after the battle the Heroes have a +1 on their After game roll.


But the normal troops can have special rules following the USEME normal system, they don't get the Bleesing, and don't get the favour of the gods for the After game roll, and neither the Greek Tragedy special rule.


Let's take a look on some samples:


Normal Troops
Cretan Archers: Infatry Elan 3 Move 6" Short Bow
Skeletons: Infantry Elan 2 Move 6" Sword
Amazon Warriors: Infantry  Elan 3 Move 6" Spear Shield
Greek Warriors: Infatry Elan 4 Move 4" Armoured Spear


Mythical Creatures
Gorgon: Creature Elan 4 Move 4" Long Bow. Change State Spell.
Medusa, the Gorgon: Creature Elan 5 Move 4" Long Bow Hero.
Cyclops: Monster Elan 3 Move 6" Monster Melee Weapon.
Minotaur: Monster Elan 4 Move 6" Monster Fist Rage.


More to come....

[USEME] Enquiry table for USEME

While I was looking the path to play the Weird Euskadi campaign, I discovered yesterday this entry in shichitenhakki blog.

 It looks like a jumble of colours and numbers, but if you pay attention you are in front of the table that is going to convert your USEME wargame in a solo RPG game, or give it a deeper aspect, if you want it obviously! Because USEME will convert in a more complex wargame system

 Enquiry Table + USEME as USEMERPG
 Let's take a look, we have a group of orcs with ELAN 3, that wear swords, and are patrolling by a forest. A group of elves (ELAN 4, Long Bows) have decided to ambush them. In normal conditions this scenario could be very simple (even for Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements), but with this table we can control if the orcs hear the elves, and how will they react to the attacks.

 To play with that table we have to give some more stats to the troops, for example the Orcs can have Notice 3, Stealth 3 and Guts 4. The elves can have Notice 4, Stealth 4 and Climbing 4.

The elves are hiden, and the orcs want to find them, they roll for notice, two dice, first get 5 (blue column) and the other gets 2 (white column), we are in the second line, of the 5 group, line two; the orcs are have Notice 3 and the elves Stealth 4, so the orcs have -1, so is more difficult to notice the elves, so although the orcs are Notice 3, they will notice elves as 2. We  follow the line 2, till it cross with column 2 (Poor), and we get a result Yellow, that means Not buts....

 With this rsult, the orcs can NOT find the elves, BUT the elves can't move freely, on their turn, they can only use one action for moving, or they will be discovered.

 The orcs move, and the elves want to attack them with their bows, another roll in the table now comparing elves stealth vs orcs notice, no the elves have +1, because Stealth 4 - Orcs Notice 3 = 1. The rolls say Blue column 1, the white column 5, so green result, the table says NO.

 The elves can NOT shoot without being discovered, so the orcs know where are hidden the elves, the terrain element. The elves shoot, and wound orc, the orcs advance against the terrain element.

 The orcs arrive to the terrain element, so the elves are discovered, and the battle continue.

 We can use here a Moral system, using the Guts skill, for both groups 4. It can be checked when the troops arrive to 50% loses. In our example, the elves has been crushed by the orcs, the elves must check for moral, if they continue fighting or they flee. Roll two dices, 5 (blue column), 3 (white column), result blue: Yes, but... That means: YES they continue fighting, but with the next casuality, they will flee.

Enquiry Table + USEME as CEMe (Complex Engine for Miniatures Engagements)

 Mainly for battles, we can use this table for battles. If we follow the USEME rules, the troops move on the battlefield following all the leader orders perfectly, but this is no real, let's give some chaos to the system.

 The Leaders are a very important part of the battle and we must have them into account. We will buy them as normal troops, but instead of giving them a weapon, we must give them a Command stat, that can be:
Terrible, cost 2
Poor, cost 4
Fair, cost 6
Good, cost 8
Very Good, cost 10
Great, cost cost 12

 So a leader for the orcs, called Obluck, will not enter into combat, but will lead their troops, he can have this stats: Elan 3, Move 6 inch, Command Rate Fair. For the elves, we can have to Gaspar, a endogamic leader Elan 5, move 6 inch, Command Rate Poor.

 So the Elves will receive the orders before, but, probably they will understand them worse.

Lets play a round

Elves leader ELAN 5, Orcs ELAN 3, so the elves move before.

  Gaspar wants to order the Silver helmets to move near the forest, he roll on the Enquiry tale, an gets: 5 blue column, 3 white column, result "Not, But". So the troops didn't receive the order, but they can move with their own ELAN, with the troops that didn't received orders turn. Them Gaspar order to the archers to fire against the wild boars, rolls in the table and gets: 2 (blue column), 6 (white column). The archers can't shoot this Round. Turn for the Orcs, the wild boars receive the order to charge, 5 (Blue), 5 (White), result Yes But, the troops charge, but will fight with -1 to their ELAN. The fight takes place normally. And Obluck order to the back orcs unit to charge against the silver helmets, rolls 1 Blue, 2 White, very bad result!, "Not, and..." The orcs not charge and they start to fight against themselves, they will not act during this turn, and on next, the leader will have a -1 on their Command Rating to control this troops.

End of the command turn.

Starts the outcommand fase, the troops, that didn't receive orders, or that fail following the order can move, if they get a result of "Not, But" or if the enemy is in their ranged weapons, or charge zone. They can act normally. All the other troops can't do anything.

The results of the table can be summarized:
No, and...: The troops can't act this turn and the leader will have a -1 if he wants to control them in the next turn.
No: The troops can't act following the command order, but, can act in the outcommand fase, if they have enemies on their ranged weapon, charge zone, or want to adjust their formation, or move back from the enemy.
No, but...: The troops can't act following the command order, but, can act in the outcommand fase, normally.
Yes: The troops act following the command order.
Yes, and...: The troops act following the command order and get a +1 ELAN during this turn.

It is recommended that the leader will be rated between Very Good and Fair, because in other case, the troops will move uncommanded.

Just in case that you can't download the table from the original blog, here it is.

The use of this table expand the possibilities of USEME, making it a more complex

Moth Campaign Prydia Bleeds for USEME

 The guys from Alternative Armies have released the Ion Age Handbook, on their website, for only 2$

 There we can find, as they say:
 The Handbook is a great resource for the Ion Age but it is also more than that. In this purpose made e-publication you will find several sections all of which will aid you in planning and playing any Ion Age game system such as MOTH or Firefight 2.0.

These sections are as follows:

High Resolution Image Catalogue
Images both Front and Back of more than one hundred and twenty 28mm white metal miniatures

Uniforms and Schemes
A short section on painting your troops inc. the Prydian Army, League of Canlaster and the League of Yordan with color photos and artwork.

Template Troops
Pre-Made Profiles for MOTH for your roster inc. Planetary Militia, Muster, Retained, Desteria and Nobles allowing you to get into the action faster!

Prydia Bleeds – MOTH Campaign Arc
The start of a brand new full MOTH campaign spinning out of the Prydia Burns background in the main rulebook. Including Introduction, Platoon Creation, Between Games, Unique Characters and the first two scenarios, Dolly Mixture and Duck Hunt. The rest of the Prydia Bleeds Campaign will be released for free here on Barking Irons!

 But why it is interesting for USEME players too?

 Mainly because in this handbook we can find Uniforms and Schemes for the Ion Age setting, that is very interesting, and if we want, we can play the Prydia Bleeds Campaign.

I have been thinking about what changes can be done, and I think that they are very simple, if we use the USEME SciFi in that way:

 The ELAN is halved
MOTH         USEME
ELAN           ELAN
1                       1
2                       2
3                       2
4                       3
5                       3
6                       4
7                       4
8                       5
9                       5
10                     6

 The Movement rates aren't changed.

 The Armors can be changed in that way:
Bare Flesh: No troops with this option. Or only Civilians.
Weave Vest: No special considerations, or the Elan can be downgraded by 1.
MkIII Aketon: No special considerations.
MkIV Aketon: The troop is considered "Armored"
MkV Alwite: The troop is considered "Armored" with "Energy Shield"
MkVIII Alwite: The troop is considered "Armored" with "Energy Shield"
MkII Noblesse: The troop is considered "Light Vehicle" with "Energy Shield"

 The Weapons can be changed in that way, using the Modern Warfare USEME:
Moth Type 6- Stardar Rifle
Angis 12.5 AP- Standard Rifle
Tumbler MkIII MPI- Side Arm with the special rule "Imported Insurgent"
Tumbler MkIII SMG- Sub Machinegun
Moth Type 8- Side Arm
Angis 12.5mm- Side Arm
Minstrel PP2- Side Arm
Hermit 44- Standard Rifle with "Antitank" special rule.
Charlatan IV- Superior Rifle
All other weapons are considered Heavy Weapons.

 The Special Rules work like in USEME, and all that are new must by bought at the same cost.

 With this a Muster private with this stats:
Elan 6, Aketon MKIV Armour, Moth Type 6 Rifle;
will be with USEME
Elan 4, Armored,  Standard Rifle.

 Or a Planetary Militia could be with MOTH:
Elan 3, MKIII Aketon, Tumbler SMG
will be with USEME
Elan 2, Submachine gun.

 In other way, we can use the army lists suggested by the authors for the scenario: Advance on Pelegan Prime.

 Soon, the free scenarios for playing Prydia Bleeds with USEME :)

[USE ME] Space Elves vs Goaulds

While I find the way for continue playing the "Weird Euskadi Campaign", I have taken out my 6mm miniatures to give a try the mechs that I bought during the summer.

 I played a pitched battle between a group of Eldars, and some DRM miniatures. Both armies were quite similar  with heavy vehicles and mechs.  The Goualds had better weaponry and the Space elves were more.

 Here are the stats:

Space Elves

10x Eldar troops: Infantry Elan 3, Standard Rifle Move 4

9x Exarch troops; Infantry Elan 4 Superior Rifles Move 6

4x Jetbikes: Light Vehicle Elan 4 Automatic Weapons Move 12

2x Vypers: Light Vehicle Elan 4 Cannon Move 12 Armoured

1 Mech: Super Heavy Vehicle Elan 4 Move 8 Cannon Weapons Armoured

Goaulds

11x Jaffa troops: Infantry Elan 4 Standar Rifle Move 4

6x Scout Jaffa Troops: Infantry Elan 4 Superior Rifle Snipers Light Troops

4x Light Tanks: Light Vehicle Elan 4 Move 8 Automatic Weapons

1 Heavy Tank: Heavy Vehicle Elan 4 Move 8 Cannon Weapons Armoured

1 Mech: Super Heavy Vehicle Elan 4 Move 8 Cannon Weapons Armoured

And now the photos

The troops star to advance, the bikes take advantage of their high speed 

The Mechs arrive to the battlefield (Random deployment)

The bikes destroy the light vehicles

Another Light Vehicle blowed up

With their left flank uncovered, the Goaulds are in difficults

The Goauld tank resist the mechs attacks bravely, meanwhile,
the Exarchs try to destroy the mech, bad idea!

The Scouts blow up a jetbike, will they defeat the  enemies....?

End of the last turn, the Goaulds have been defeat
the Systems Lords must flee from the Space elves colony

Some comments
Interesting battle, with a high superiority of the Eldars vehicles over the Goaulds. The dices scores were determiner.
The battle was too much slow because I forgot to write down the range of each weapon.... On next time I must use troops cards like Noel.

Marca del Este - Solo RPG - Scene I

After to bought Aventuras de la Marca del Este, a D&D's retroclon, and read it, I decided to play the solo adventure: The Creeper in the Temple. It is a Tunnels and Trolls' RPG solo adventure, but I changed the creatures to play it with my retroclon.

 Here is the history:

Artax arrived at the gates of Yabberesh and see fairies and leprechauns wandering in and out. After paying 1 silver piece towards the maintenance of the city, because he was an human, decided to go to the Sinder's temple.

He entered a small temple dedicated to the fairy goddess, Sinders.

Fairies sit on tiny benches praying to the large fairy statue on the north wall. A fairy priest welcomes you and introduces himself as Laddy. He wonders if ne might be able to help him with something. Last night, just as he was locking the temple door, he heard a thud coming from within. He went back in and saw a hideous creaturer run across the room and dive down the trap door into the basement. It had the head of an ant and the body of saurian.

Artax agree to help Laddy in exchange for a price. He offers him 100gp to kill the creature.
Artax tried to haggle but don't get better. Artax then ventures into the temple and down the trap door.

After descending down a flight of stone stairs, Artax arrive at a t-junction. To the left he can
smell the sweet aroma of wine and to the right he can hear a muffled sound. He decided go to the left.

He enters a small room full of prayer books. In the corner is a large cupboard where a muffled
voice can be heard. Artax carefully opens the cupboard. Inside he finds a bound and gagged fairy who's struggling to speak. He removed her from her bonds and she thanks him. "The creature took my money and threw me in here. Here, take this anti-poison salve. It will help if you".

Them Artax go back to the T-junction and turn right

He entered a large wine cellar. The walls were lined with racks of wine and there are open caskets
of the stuff on the ground. There is also a sack of money on the ground near the wine rack. Suddenly, a creature pops up from behind the barrels, the same one that was described by Laddy, with an ant's head and a saurian's body, except bipedal. It creeps towards him, hissing. The Ankheg start to attack, but loses his hit, Artax hits it, but the creature is too big for him, so he decide to retreat; while he is reatreating, the creature attacks him pushing him against a big crystal demijohn, that broke wounding to Artax.

Artax desperated started to run going to the stairs, and the Ankheg followed him. At the end of the stairs he jumped onto the floor, and closed the cellar after him. A hollow sound sounded against the cellar. Artax stopped to take a breath, the wound of his chest is bleeding. The fairies go around him with surprise expression, Laddy ask Artax what happens, while call some faeries to help him.

After a short summary, Laddy looks like worry, and ask Artax about what to do. Artax offers to hire some help from the tavern, and go back tomorrow. Laddy dislikes the idea of strange warriors in his domain, but the Ankheg is very dangerous.

Artax starts to walk to the main door, but with his third step... he felt down unconscious

Artax loses 5 hp, he must be healed. 

___________________________________________________

I only used the AME ruleset, no Mythic Master Emulator or nothing like that, I wanted a fast and testing game. I don't know if the Ankhesh is a very powerful creature for this first scenario, but really Artax has a lucky strike because he didn't die....

Thanks to Bard for share the T&T link.!

On this week, the next scenario.

[USE ME] In the Stone Age

I have ever think that Stone Age was a History period forgotten by the wargames, and although there are some of them, like:

 - Prehistoric Settlements: A little jewel, with an Age of Empires I style. A group of prehistoric settlers hunt and gather to obtain supplies to build buildings (hunts, warrior camps, food stores, etc...) for finally build the temple or burial mound, what gives the victory to the owner. You can create soldiers and gatherers to attack the enemy or to get supplies faster. It has two additional expansions with more animals and troops, and with rules for rivers rules. The bad side, is that the rules are too much specifics, and the combat system is too much Old School.


 - Tooth and Claw: Is a ruleset for Prehistoric animal hunting. Very specific wargame from the multifaceted Chris Peers, I haven't tried it, but I read good reviews about it. Not too much to add.

 - Tusk: Another little jewel, very weird and very old. The first edition dates from 198x. Very suitable for solo wargaming, with reaction tables for herbivore, and carnivore dinosaurs. In the bad side, the rules are a little simple, like "roll two dices, and if you get a 12, you kill"... It has two expansions for medieval, modern and futurist battles, where the mechanics are maintained, but the troops are adapted. A little weak, but with taste.


 - Sticks and Stones: A license from Savage Worlds, is a wargame for combats between Homo Sapiens, dinosaurs evolved, Neanderthals, and dark creatures like orcs, goblins and undead. The game has RPG elemnts and wargaming elements. You can see a little AAR here. In the bad side, the game can be complex, and is not fast and easy.

 -  Adventures in the Lost Lands: From the THW guys, arrived this wargame, with the typical reactions table (I love them), but with the ugly Reputation tests for everything. They add wounds to the dinosaurs and Melee stats, to make them terrific, but the game is more of the same.... You can play with Neardenthals, Homo Sapiens, and pulp characters.


 I don't know more Prehistoric games, all of them have something interesting, and something uninteresting. All are specific for specifics periods, that forced you to use them only for that games, or if they are usable for other periods, they lost "appeal". 


 Other generic marks look like haven't forgotten this period. For that, and from here, I want to present my Prehistoric USE ME project called : PRUSEME. I have choosen USE ME as basic ruleset because it is very configurable, you can  add a lot of things, and all will work as when you start.


 I will upload two times a months my reviews for the rules that I will be writing basing in all these rulesets, and others. So to the authors, please, if you think that the rule that I use in my setting has a copyright, please contact with me.

 The object is to have something complete for the first week of January


 Let's start the project.

USEME Carlists vs zombies

The villagers talk about strange creatures, called zonbiaks, that have appeared in the last nights, stealing some sheep from the near "caseríos".

 A group of "Faith defenders" must go there and investigate what happens....

 Ruleset used was USE ME (Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements)

Stats
Faith Defenders Stats:
Eider Gurtuku (28 pts)
Infantry Elan 5 Poor Smoothbore Musket Move 4 Mighty Hero
Gudari x4 (12 pts)
Infantry Elan 4 Poor Smoothbore Musket Move 4

Undead troops 
Zombiaks x10 (5 pts)
Infantry Elan 2 Fists Move 2 Armored
Necromant (29 pts)
Elan 3 Move 4 Cleric (Call undead) Sword Armored

New Spell:
Call undead: each turn roll 2D6, each 4+ is a new zonbiak waken up, at 2 inches from the magician. He can't do anything more during that turn. The new zombiaks can move or attack on next turn that they are awaken.

Objectives:
Faith Defenders: Kill the Necromant, and at least 5 zombiaks
Undead Troops: Kill all the Faith Defenders

DEPLOYMENT

Faith Defenders on the North

The good guys deployed on the path and started to walk, looking for the zombiaks. 

The Necromancer started to wake up undead

The goofy warrior continued walking, and the undead hordes surrounded them.
The leader started to inspiring the troops, but, they run to close combat, falling down against the tough undead. Moreover, the Necromancer could wake up a lot of new troops. 


 The humans died under the undead in a few turns....

Two undead warriors Struck

The human side flee

Tactical Advice: Let the zombies stay far away from you, it's better to survive.

Carlistas 10mm

Hace tiempo que tenía el proyecto de pintar algunas miniaturas de 10mm de Carlistas e Isabelinos para representar escaramuzas de las Guerras Carlistas del siglo XIX. Pero al ser este un conflicto minoritario, hacía que tan sólo algunas marcas ofrecieran miniaturas en 15mm, así que el proyecto quedó aparcado durante unos años.

 El sábado pasado, aprovechando el mercadillo que ofreció "Atlántica", me interné en los inmensos cajones de Pendraken y ¡oh sorpresa!, allí estaban unos señores con boina y mosquete de bayoneta calada, muy al estilo carlista.

 Las miniaturas en cuestión eran unos jacobitas de las tierras bajas, pero que como se puede ver en la foto dan el pego:

JS6 - Lowlander, musket

 Con un poquito de pintura acá y allá, al final he conseguido pintar 12 carlistas de los que a continuación cuelgo algunas fotos. (Sí me falta pintar la bandera)

Carlista

Foto de Grupo

Detalle del Mando y el Abanderado

También cojí unos ingleses ligeros napoleónicos que pintaré de isabelinos

Paper Armies I: No money, No Space, No Time

(En español al final)

  After the removal, my space for miniatures have been decreased drastically, but the projects continue growing in my mind; to maintain the marriage relationship and mental health well-balanced, I decided to search alternatives in the wargaming world, that let me develop my projects and don't take up the last space of the house.

  After some wandering, and wondering (;-)) I decided that the best way to have miniatures and play with them painted, are the Paper Armies.

 Wandering in Internet I found One Monk forum, a place where amateur and professional artist and wargamers upload their drawings projects, there you can get free miniatures, or you can get the link to visit paper armies shops.

 There are a wide variety of paper miniatures, even though each author has a personal way to draw and color the miniatures; but the main reasons that attracted me were:

 - First one, the miniatures are easily modifiable. With a photo editing software, you can change heads, hands, colors and body positions.
 - Second one, in a long range project, I will be able to paint and create my very own miniatures. The method is very easy, first, draw the miniature, them, outline the miniature with a black wide line.


 When you have printed, or cut-out the miniatures, you can put them away inside a folder, or a envelope, or.... in a box. The miniatures are flat, so, the take very little place.

 When you print them, you get them colored, so you can start to play with them, at the moment.

 Of course, the lead/plastic miniatures are much better, they have 3 Dimensions,  with them you can develop your brushing skill much more, and are much more spectacular; but, I think that the paper armies and lead/plastic armies are comparable to the 2D and 3D films:
 - In both cases we have a wide variety of products.
 - In both cases there are high and low products, the lead/plastic miniatures aren't a sure choice, and sometimes there are paper real jewels
 - In both cases the 3D products are much more expensive than the 2D

 If you want to know more, you can visit these other places:

 Fantalonia:  A devoted paper miniatures blog
 Over Soul: A webpage with miniatures and ruleset for paper skirmish
 Wargames Vault: A shop webpage, where you can get a huge quantity of miniatures for less than 3€, and some of them free!

 And some samples of my ACW paper miniatures

  Después de la mudanza, el espacio para miniaturas ha disminuido drásticamente, pero los proyectos continúan bullendo en mi cabeza; por eso, para mantener la relación de matrimonio y mi salud mental equilibradas, decidí buscar alternativas en el mundo de los wargames, que me permitieran desarrollar proyectos sin tener que ocupar hasta el último hueco de la casa.


 Después de dar vueltas, y pensar mucho, decidí que el mejor modo de tener miniaturas y jugar con ellas pintadas son los Ejércitos de Papel

 Dando vueltas por Internet encontré el foro One Monk forum, un sitio donde artistas profesionales y amateurs cuelgan sus proyectos de dibujo, allí se pueden conseguir miniaturas gratuitas, o visitar los vínculos a páginas que venden miniaturas de papel.

Existe una amplia variedad de miniaturas, tantas como autores que tienen su propio modo de pintarlas y colorearlas; pero lo que más me atrajo de ellas fue:

 - La primera, que las miniaturas son fácilmente modificables. Con un programa de edición fotográfica puedes cambiar cabezas, manos, colores y posiciones corporales, a tu gusto.

 - La segunda, como proyecto a largo plazo, tendré la posibilidad de pintar y crear mis propias miniaturas. El método es muy sencillo, primero dibujas la miniatura, después la rodeas por el contorno con una línea negra y ancha.

Cuando las has impreso, o recortado, las puedes guardar en una carpeta, o sobre, o incluso una caja. Las miniaturas son planas, por lo que ocupan muy poco espacio.

Cuando las imprimes, ya están coloreadas, por lo que puedes comenzar a jugar con ellas al momento.



Por supuesto que creo que las miniaturas de plomo o plástico son mucho mejores, tiene 3 dimensiones, con ellas puedes desarrollar mucho mejor tus habilidades con el pincel, y quedan mucho más espectaculares; pero yo creo que los ejércitos de papel y los de metal/plástico son comparables a las películas en 2D y 3D:

 - En ambos casos tenemos una amplia variedad de productos
 - En ambos casos existen productos de alta y baja calidad, las miniaturas de plástico/metal no son una apuesta segura, y en algunos casos existen verdaderas joyas en papel.
 - En ambos casos, los productos en 3D son mucho más caros.

 Si quieres saber más, visita estos otros sitios:

 Fantalonia:  Un blog devoto devoto de las miniaturas de papel.

 Over Soul: Una página web con miniaturas y reglas para escaramuzas con miniaturas de papel.
 Wargames Vault: Una web de venta de miniaturas donde se pueden conseguir una inmensa cantidad de miniaturas por menos de 3€, y algunas de forma gratuita.

Arriba algunas fotos de mis tropas de la Guerra de Secesión.

Escupiendo Pólvora Blanca II Parte

Este último fin de semana, probamos otro reglamento, el Volley and Bayonet, en su segunda edición, Road to Glory.

 Esta vez sólo tengo un par de fotos de la batalla, pero sí que puedo decir, que ésta fue mucho más equilibrada, y entretenida.

 Ambos ejércitos estaban formados por dos unidades de línea, una de granaderos y una leva, además de dos unidades de coraceros y dos de dragones.


 No me extenderé demasiado en el desarrollo de la batalla, pues volví a perder, y no hay mucho que la difiera del anterior encuentro. Tan sólo que mi caballería sufrió graves bajas en los primeros encuentros, y el flanco izquierdo no consiguió repeler los ataques por lo que al final todo el ejército terminó desmoralizado y retirándose.


 Bueno... las fotos previas al desastre

La infantería preparada para recibir la carga dispara con sus mosquetes

Un grupo de granaderos carga contra la línea enemiga, pero es repelida

  Al turrón, tras probar este otro reglamento, hemos decidido que será nuestro reglamento de cabecera para las batallas del siglo XVIII, tanto para Sucesión como para Siete Años. El sistema de combate es rápido, las reglas de moral están bien explicadas y son realistas, posee unas listas de ejército que ayudan a organizar tus tropas, además de un sistema de puntos muy warhamero.
 Hay alguna cosa que no me convence, como que en el reglamento sobre todo está centrado en la época napoleónica, y que por lo tanto necesita alguna modificación para S.XVIII y Guerra Civil Americana, pero son asequibles.

 Esto es todo, mientras sigo pensando que al AMW (Guerra de sucesión hayq ue darle un tiento...)

Escupiendo Pólvora Blanca

Hace un par de semanas probé con un colega el wargame: Field of Battle, de la casa Piquet, mi colega un gran amante de este tipo de juegos trataba, por enésima vez de convencerme de las virtudes del sistema Piquet.

 La partida emulaba una batalla entre prusianos y estados independientes de los Países bajos, que intentaban independizarse del poderío de Federico. Las tropas prusianas, destacaban por su potencia de combate y su buena instrucción, en contraposición con las tropas irregular independentistas.

 El encuentro se desarrolló de un modo desigual, pues, partiendo de que sus tropas eran mejores (típica queja de perdedor), el sistema en sí no llega a convencerme.

 Paso a narrar rápidamente la batalla y luego explico el por qué de mi falta d motivación para jugar de nuevo a "eso"

 Ambos ejército despliegan en el campo de batalla:

Bando Prusiano

A la izquierda la caballería y en el ala central y derecho las unidades de infantería 

Bando Germano

Ala derecha de caballería, Centro y ala izquierda Infantería

La caballería prusiana avanza al encuentro de la infantería enemiga

 Estupenda tirada de Iniciativa, a favor de Prusia

Tras 11 movimientos prusianos, las tropas quedan trabadas, y comeinzan a caer germanos

Los germanos comienzan a retirarse

 Y la caballería trata de llegar en su auxilio, cruzando el campo de batalla

Pero la mosquetería y artillería de todo el ejército el ejército prusiano la enfila por el flanco

Con el ala izquierdo totalmente desmoralizado, y la caballería muerta, las tropas germanas se retiran del campo de batalla.

¿Por qué no me gusta el sistema?

 - Porque las cartas aunque le dan cierta aleatoriedad, hay muchas que son demasiado específicas, eso sí muchas menos que en el Piquet básico

 - Porque tiradas como la de 12-1, hacen que durante mucho tiempo el jugador que pierde la iniciativa esté a la espectativa, lo que rompe el ritmo de juego.

 - Lo de "Resultado par" tiene tufo a regla rápida y aleatoria. Es decir, cuando al tirar el dado para mover, atacar, etc... sale resultado par el jugador puede perseguir, girar/pivotar sus tropas, etc.. me parece demasiado aleatorio. Me recuerda a las reglas de Savage Worlds cuando salía el joker, que permiten tener bonificadores al jugador que lo obtiene como actuar cuando quiera y tener un plus a la tirada. Pero en ese caso se tiene una probabilidad entre 36, en el caso de Piquet, es un 50% de posibilidades.

 En fin, señores de Piquet, gracias pero no.

ShadowSea, SBH Expansion

Empezamos por Lo Malo:
Sólo está en inglés, no hay traducción al español.
Y ahora Lo Bueno:
Después de leer todo el material de Ganesha creo que es la mejor expansión que ha salido, como si el SBH y el SGD fueran las versiones Beta del reglamento.
La ambientación que trae es muy interesante y multifacética, une elementos de fantasía típica, con Steampunk, piratas, y cosas así.
Tienes reglas para actividades como Trepar, Saltar, Reventar objetos (puertas, cofres, etc...) con sus niveles de dificultad, etc..
Trae diferentes hechizos: Rayo de energía, Bola de Energía, Andanada (Directed Blast), Paralizar, Controlar, Ilusión. Y ahora la magia se puede hacer en grupo.
 Las armas tienen tecnología, por lo que no es lo mismo disparar un arco que un mosquete o un cañón (de un barco), existen las armas de pólvora y de ether, que pueden ser de Plasma, Magnéticas, o eléctricas; con varios artilugios ya creados como la Lanza disparo (a lo Stargate), o el Repulsor que permite aumentar la fuerza de la criatura en 1 para poder mover objetos, discos de Levitación etc... Además de las armas de Biotecnología al estilo Tiranidos: Pistolas espora, etc...
Dentro de las reglas especailes muchas son iguales a las d SBH, pero se han ampliado y mejorado. Existe una armadura Ligera (Caparazón que funciona como la Heavy Armor de SBH), y la Armadura Pesada ahora te permite ignorar cuando te superan por dos puntos. Regla para lanzar a enemigos por los aires, estilo BloodBowl. Los sacerdotes son letales contra no muertos y contra Constructos (los Warjacks). Una regla que me gusta mucho es Squabble (Riña), con la que al activar unas miniaturas en grupo si sacas algún fallo, no pierdes el turno, pero ellas comienzan a discutir y no hacen nada, parecido a Animosidad de los Goblins. La regla de Resistente ha sido revisada, ahora hay que hacer un chequeo contra tu valor de Combate.
Las reglas de campaña me parecen similares pero el Healer bonifica en el chequeo de superviencia.

El Reglamento en cuestión

Tiene reglas ambientales al estilo SWW, pero centradas en la ambientación.
Trae 7 razas propias con su historia y sus propias tropas:
 - Imperio Axibalán: algo así como indios de los conquistadores (mezcla incas con aztecas). Hombre tigre, hombres coyote, etc... junto con humanos y sacedotisas. No usan Warjacks.
 - Marineros Oscuros: Sería algo así como el ejército del Caos, , hecho a partir de los marineros muertos;
mezclado con Elfos Oscuros. Tienes constructos Biomecánicos.
 - Legión Draconida: Hombres lagarto. Y sí tienen un triceratops.
 - Cazadores de Fortuna: Humanos de tres tipos: Piratas, Conquistadores y Templarios. casi todos pueden usar la pólvora.
 - Orden de Yosoth: Cultistas, Hechiceros y Constructos. Vamos Cthulhu en el Renacimiento.
 - Reinos Sin Sol. se supone que son los bichos que viven dentro de las cavernas de ShadowSea. Trogloditas (Lartos humanos, feos con ganas), Clal-Chk (Hombres insecto) usan la biotecnología, Kobbotls  mezcla de goblins y Kobolds, Garks hermanos mayores de los goblins... vamos Orcos. Aparte luego de multitud de criaturas salvajes, en plan engendro de las profundidades: Dinosarurios, Perro rompehuesos, enjambre de avispas gigantes, Ciempiés gigante, Sapo Goliat....
 - Estigios: Son los hombres serpiente, sin piernas. Tienen Ghouls a su servicio, además de gigantes, arañas abisales y Dragones.

 Aparte, viene unos constructos (warjacks) de Asalto (4), Guardianes (3) y de Mantenimiento (3), para que los uses con lo que necesites si tienes un Animista que los controle.

Al final vienen unas estupendas tablas de referencia para encontrarlo todo muy clarito.

 Y creo que existe la posibilidad de construir tus propias armas, al estilo Flying Lead.

 Tiene dos expansiones:
 Campaign Chronicles: En mi opinión me parece una patraña. Viene un puñado de escenarios, en los que te indica el número en puntos con que jugar y un dibujo del escenario, poco más. No recomendable, a no ser que seas un friky. Es muy genérico, y tiene muy poco que ver con SBH, se peude utilizar con cualquier reglamento.
 Stygian Depths: Si SBH tiene el SGD, ShadowSea tiene las Profundidades Estigias. Libro de Campaña "Dunyonera" con más reglas especiales, más magia y hechizos, nuevos terrenos especial para cavernas con sus propios monstruos, Objetos mágicos nuevos, Alquimia, Nuevos tipos de tropas para las anteriores razas, y "tiles" para jugar en las cavernas.
 Tiene una regla muy buena para potenciar el uso de tácticas agresivas, y es que si consigues activarte con tres éxitos y los usas para combatir o hechizar a un enemigo y consigues matarlo, obtienes un Punto de Héroe, que te da un +1 en una acción que quieras en el resto del escenario.

Para más info, en su web.

NOTA: Me ha comentdo el autor que existe una versión impresa disponible a través de WargamesVault

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