Following the motivating posts about Warlord from Endakil, I decided to take a look on it.
I have get it from Atlantica Juegos today, and after reading it I am happy with the first impressions, it looks like a Warhammer idea but well designed and with a relaxed intention. Let me explain.
As we know Warhammer Fantasy is a bastard son of Dungeons and Dragons world, with the time this ruleset decided that the battles were much more beneficial for the company than the skirmish battles, so the owners "improve" or invented some additions to convert the Warhammer Fantasy game into Warhammer Fantasy Battles, trying to maintain the rate 1:1 to make to the players to buy as much miniatures as possibles. That way of work has converted them in a powerful company, with very high quality miniatures, and a vast quantity of followers that let the wargamers arrive to a lot of places in the world.
But, if we pay attention to the rules, they were designed to play skirmish or small battles, not great battles, for that came out Warmaster. I think that Warlord ruleset is in the initial state than Warhammer Fantasy, is a big skirmish wargame.
The book has a Old School flavour, with B&W images and photos, it has his own setting, placed in the Taltos world. The armies, or warbands are formed using more than 400 data cards that are in the rulebook (so I don't have to buy anything more). The armies has pre-generated troops, but you can change the name of them and get another ones, in your very own style.
The combat system, follows the RAGE system, it is very easy, roll 1D10 and add to the score your combat stat, if it is more than the defender Defensive stat, he will receive a wound. The troops normally has one or two wounds, for example the Orcs Sperarmen have two wounds, a goblin or warhound only one, but a Ettin for, and a normal human general five wounds, these is normal, the remarkable thing is when your troops suffer wounds they will be reduced their combat and movement stats. As you will fight with around 20 or 30 miniatures per side, you can control their stats easily.
If you want to know more about this ruleset you can take a look on Endakil blog, it is plenty of info and very well painted miniatures.
And here goes my very own addendum, How to use Warlord with the THW Reaction Tables?
I have been thinking about it, but not playtested. In Warlord we have a Displine stat that we can use to stablish the Reputation of the troops. That score goes from 4 to 9, so we can roll two dices each time that we have to test the Reputation, if we get a score under the troops discipline, we have passed it. So a Templar knight with DIS 6 will pass the checks when gets 6 or less in the rolled dices.
For which reaction tables to use, it is a few complex, because if we pay attention to the wide variety of troops, it will take us a lot of work so we can do two things, or use the tables depending of the configuration of our troops in this special battle, or apply general reaction tables, I mean, only use the Soldier for Infantry troops, Missile for Missile armed troops and Noble for cavalry troops. For more irregular troops (like Mob Special rule) we can use the Warrior reaction table.
That's all by now....
THW is not an exclusivist wargame
Motivated by the comments of Fantalonia, I have been thinking about what uses can have THW Reaction system with other wargames.
THW Reaction system is very useful for solo or same side wargaming. In that system you check your Reputation (the miniature quality, motivation, experience...) with two dices, if you get a score under or equal to your REP stat you have get one success. If you get one success you get a partial success, and if you get two success you get a total success.
I am not completely comfortable with the REP system for the combats, and there are another wargames that work very good for "typical wargaming", but not for solitary wargamers; so I have been browsing with the THW reaction systems and other wargames. Let's take a look about the alternative uses that the Reaction System can have for solo gaming.
THW + USEME, the ELAN system of USEME, is very similar to the REPutation stat from THW, so you can check with two dices against your ELAN and get the success of your checks reactions. In this case the troops will continue having two actions, but they will be able to use only one to move, because they can check for "Fast moving" and move more than the basic movement rate.
THW + SBH (Ganesha Games), the Quality can be used in the same way but in the other way around. I mean, with REP system, the higher REP is better, and with the Quality the lower stat is better. So to check the reaction you will have to roll your dic trying to get the best result. For example, an Elf with Quality 4+ wants to charge against the orcs, you have to roll two dices, and get with them 4+, in a very similar way than the activations checks from Ganesha Games. If you use THW for the activations, you will not check for the actions that you can do each turn, you will follow the normal activation rules for THW.
THW + Disponsable Heroes (Iron Ivan Games) here the troops stats are very similar, except the Guts score, and they are checked with 1D10, so, we must continue checking the reactions but using ten side dices. As the better Gut stat is the higher one, we will follow the THW rules for checking.
The THW free version is "Chain Reaction 3", with a light version of THW ruleset that have some reaction tables that we can use for test the system.
Kurt has send us a interesting idea, that I quote here:
"The PEF mechanic can be used with any rule set. This gives you an instant encounter that will play differently every time.
If you want a more peaceful mechanic and a little more RPG feel, you can play the Chillin encounter found in I Zombie or New Beginnings.
If you want NPC/AI movement in Song of Blades Heroes you can use the tables on NPC movement from WHAA."
Try them, and tell me
THW Reaction system is very useful for solo or same side wargaming. In that system you check your Reputation (the miniature quality, motivation, experience...) with two dices, if you get a score under or equal to your REP stat you have get one success. If you get one success you get a partial success, and if you get two success you get a total success.
I am not completely comfortable with the REP system for the combats, and there are another wargames that work very good for "typical wargaming", but not for solitary wargamers; so I have been browsing with the THW reaction systems and other wargames. Let's take a look about the alternative uses that the Reaction System can have for solo gaming.
THW + USEME, the ELAN system of USEME, is very similar to the REPutation stat from THW, so you can check with two dices against your ELAN and get the success of your checks reactions. In this case the troops will continue having two actions, but they will be able to use only one to move, because they can check for "Fast moving" and move more than the basic movement rate.
THW + SBH (Ganesha Games), the Quality can be used in the same way but in the other way around. I mean, with REP system, the higher REP is better, and with the Quality the lower stat is better. So to check the reaction you will have to roll your dic trying to get the best result. For example, an Elf with Quality 4+ wants to charge against the orcs, you have to roll two dices, and get with them 4+, in a very similar way than the activations checks from Ganesha Games. If you use THW for the activations, you will not check for the actions that you can do each turn, you will follow the normal activation rules for THW.
THW + Disponsable Heroes (Iron Ivan Games) here the troops stats are very similar, except the Guts score, and they are checked with 1D10, so, we must continue checking the reactions but using ten side dices. As the better Gut stat is the higher one, we will follow the THW rules for checking.
The THW free version is "Chain Reaction 3", with a light version of THW ruleset that have some reaction tables that we can use for test the system.
Kurt has send us a interesting idea, that I quote here:
"The PEF mechanic can be used with any rule set. This gives you an instant encounter that will play differently every time.
If you want a more peaceful mechanic and a little more RPG feel, you can play the Chillin encounter found in I Zombie or New Beginnings.
If you want NPC/AI movement in Song of Blades Heroes you can use the tables on NPC movement from WHAA."
Try them, and tell me
Increasing the Vehicle Pool
After a few time of searching, I have got the miniatures to play the next Heaven scenarios, here are some photos.
The cars are from MatchBox, Siku and Welly, they are 1/87 scale, the HO train scale, a little under scale from 15mm miniatures, but they work really good.
The webpages:
http://www.wellydiecast.com/product_list.php?id=1&scale=1:87%20Scales
http://www.matchbox.com/
http://www.siku.de/
The cars are from MatchBox, Siku and Welly, they are 1/87 scale, the HO train scale, a little under scale from 15mm miniatures, but they work really good.
The webpages:
http://www.wellydiecast.com/product_list.php?id=1&scale=1:87%20Scales
http://www.matchbox.com/
http://www.siku.de/
Month 2, Leaving the forests
During the second month, the tribe decided to go out from the forest, and advance crossing the savanna looking for less dangerous terrains. They arrived a clear zone, where there was a little hill in the middle, cell 2.5
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 out from the deep forest, when they come out they saw in the horizon a herd of animals, the looked like calm so they advance sneaking, they were a herd of megaloceros, that didn't pay attention to the hunters...
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 out from the deep forest, when they come out they saw in the horizon a herd of animals, the looked like calm so they advance sneaking, they were a herd of megaloceros, that didn't pay attention to the hunters...
On the left appeared a pair of humans, they looked like a child and a old person, the old one started to run away from the hunters, while the child petrified stand watching how them hunt the horned creatures. It was a fast combat, three men attack to the first Megalocero, killing it, what caused that the other run away from the attackers.
The elder human while was running watched a pair of dire wolves chasing a Glyptodon, so they decided to carry off with the Megalocero body and go to hide in the forests another time.
They didn't know what happened with the other humans, but this is a savage world where the own survival is the main.
Another month with food to survive....
Zombie Campaign: Scene 1
Scene 1: DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE
Anson and Danel have received a dispatch from the central police, about a male physically threatening a female. They report that there are two small female children, an adult male, and an adult female known to live there. They must investigate and control the situation.
Report:
We received the report at 2136, and arrive at the house at 2144. The lights from the living room where on, and the door open. No sounds from inside. There were obvious signs of a struggle. We advanced to the corridor, and in the kitchen we found a drawer that hold kitchen utensils on the floor. There was blood on the counter and on the floor. Near there was the office, the door was closed, but Morris heard screams coming from the master bedroom. We went there and found an obviously agitated male at the side of the bed and a female near the night table. The female was screaming and swinging a baseball bat. Danel screamed Halt!, and the male, look at us and start to walk, he was plenty of blood, all his shirt was stained, and he raise his arms with an aggressive attitude. I scream him another time Halt!, but he maintain his attitude going closer to me. I shot him to the leg, and he fell down.
The female, her wife, left the bat and stopped to crying. We arrested the male, and call the ambulance to take him to the hospital. The two other children were afflicted and OK, in the other room of the house.
Photos:
After Action Comments:
I have played this scenario two times, the first one, using the USEME Zombie Dawn combats, and the second one with DOW. Both times with the Reaction Tables from THW. The scenario is very simple, the combats are very little, and with USEME ZD the scenario look likes very dull. In the second test, using DOW, I found a problem with the REP checks, because I didn't know how to make them using the DOW stats, after some tests, I have decided that the checks will be: 1d6 passed (THW) = Diff 9 with DOW, 2D6 passed (THW) = Diff 12 with DOW. The normal civilians will have every Attribute at 0, with a +1 to some skill.
All the other was very good. The Star and the Grunt have survived, it was no too much difficult.
Anson and Danel have received a dispatch from the central police, about a male physically threatening a female. They report that there are two small female children, an adult male, and an adult female known to live there. They must investigate and control the situation.
Report:
We received the report at 2136, and arrive at the house at 2144. The lights from the living room where on, and the door open. No sounds from inside. There were obvious signs of a struggle. We advanced to the corridor, and in the kitchen we found a drawer that hold kitchen utensils on the floor. There was blood on the counter and on the floor. Near there was the office, the door was closed, but Morris heard screams coming from the master bedroom. We went there and found an obviously agitated male at the side of the bed and a female near the night table. The female was screaming and swinging a baseball bat. Danel screamed Halt!, and the male, look at us and start to walk, he was plenty of blood, all his shirt was stained, and he raise his arms with an aggressive attitude. I scream him another time Halt!, but he maintain his attitude going closer to me. I shot him to the leg, and he fell down.
The female, her wife, left the bat and stopped to crying. We arrested the male, and call the ambulance to take him to the hospital. The two other children were afflicted and OK, in the other room of the house.
Photos:
 |
| Arrival to the house |
 |
| The main door was open, and the light on |
 |
| The policemen heard screams from the main room |
 |
| Two people were in the bedroom |
 |
| The male approached to the cops |
 |
| The suspect is overpowered |
After Action Comments:
I have played this scenario two times, the first one, using the USEME Zombie Dawn combats, and the second one with DOW. Both times with the Reaction Tables from THW. The scenario is very simple, the combats are very little, and with USEME ZD the scenario look likes very dull. In the second test, using DOW, I found a problem with the REP checks, because I didn't know how to make them using the DOW stats, after some tests, I have decided that the checks will be: 1d6 passed (THW) = Diff 9 with DOW, 2D6 passed (THW) = Diff 12 with DOW. The normal civilians will have every Attribute at 0, with a +1 to some skill.
All the other was very good. The Star and the Grunt have survived, it was no too much difficult.
Preparing the Zombie Campaign
I have been wanting to paly a Zombie campaign since a long time ago, but I didn't find a ruleset that convinced me, but during the last year I have found three rulesets that will let me to start the campaign finally.
Let's take a look on the rulesets:
The framework of the campaign will follow the All Thing Zombie books, from THW. The first scenarios will follow the Haven book, starting with the Domestic Disturbance, them I will continue with the Military/National Guard ones, and finish with the Gangers. Them, if all is ok, I wanna play a more complex campaign, following the Nowhere setting from I, Zombie, but, time to time....
The ruleset for the combat will be obviously USEME "Zombie Dawn", it's simple, fast, clear and detailed. But it is too simple for some situations, that demand more specific resolutions, for that I have choosen Barbarians of Lemuria with its expasion for the Pulp Period "Dicey Tales" & "DOW".
As this will be a solo campaign I will use the Reaction Tables from THW, and the Enquiry Table for the required situations.
Let's take a look on the characters. For the three first issues, the police Star will follow the next stats
USEME Zombie Dawn:
Star: Elan 3, Move 6, Side Arm. Rep 4 for the Reaction Table.
Grunts: Elan 2, Move 6, Side Arm. Rep 4 for the Reaction Table.
Zombies: Elan 1, Move 4, Unarmed. Rep 3 for the Reaction Table.
DOW:
Star
Strength: 1 Brawl 0 Cleaner 2
Agility: 2 Melee 1 Lifleblood: 13
Mind: 1 Ranged 2 Boon: Hard to Kill
Appeal: 0 Defense 1 Machine pistol Single, burst or full auto +1 to conceal. Damage D6-1
Grunt
Strenght:1 Brawl 1 Wheelman 1
Agility:1 Melee 0 Lifeblood: 7
Mind:0 Ranged 1 Machine pistol Single, burst or full auto +1 to conceal. Damage D6-1
Appeal:0 Defense 0
Zombie
Strength: 0 Brawl 3 Zombie 2
Agility: 0 Melee 0 Lifleblood: 3
Mind: - Ranged 0
Fear: 3 Defense 0
Grab & Hold: No damage. If grabbed, a character takes a -1 modifier on physical tests for each Zombie holding them. A character so held can make a Strength test, at -1 for each clinging zombie, to throw off a number of zombies equal to their STR ENGTH .
Overbear: If a character is grabbed by a number of Zombies equal to the character’s STR ENGTH x2, they are dragged to the ground.
Bite: 1D6. +3 To-Hit if they are holding a character Auto-hit if the character has been dragged to the
ground.
The scale will be 15mm mixed with 10mm, still under confirmation
Let's take a look on the rulesets:
The framework of the campaign will follow the All Thing Zombie books, from THW. The first scenarios will follow the Haven book, starting with the Domestic Disturbance, them I will continue with the Military/National Guard ones, and finish with the Gangers. Them, if all is ok, I wanna play a more complex campaign, following the Nowhere setting from I, Zombie, but, time to time....
The ruleset for the combat will be obviously USEME "Zombie Dawn", it's simple, fast, clear and detailed. But it is too simple for some situations, that demand more specific resolutions, for that I have choosen Barbarians of Lemuria with its expasion for the Pulp Period "Dicey Tales" & "DOW".
As this will be a solo campaign I will use the Reaction Tables from THW, and the Enquiry Table for the required situations.
Let's take a look on the characters. For the three first issues, the police Star will follow the next stats
USEME Zombie Dawn:
Star: Elan 3, Move 6, Side Arm. Rep 4 for the Reaction Table.
Grunts: Elan 2, Move 6, Side Arm. Rep 4 for the Reaction Table.
Zombies: Elan 1, Move 4, Unarmed. Rep 3 for the Reaction Table.
DOW:
Star
Strength: 1 Brawl 0 Cleaner 2
Agility: 2 Melee 1 Lifleblood: 13
Mind: 1 Ranged 2 Boon: Hard to Kill
Appeal: 0 Defense 1 Machine pistol Single, burst or full auto +1 to conceal. Damage D6-1
Grunt
Strenght:1 Brawl 1 Wheelman 1
Agility:1 Melee 0 Lifeblood: 7
Mind:0 Ranged 1 Machine pistol Single, burst or full auto +1 to conceal. Damage D6-1
Appeal:0 Defense 0
Zombie
Strength: 0 Brawl 3 Zombie 2
Agility: 0 Melee 0 Lifleblood: 3
Mind: - Ranged 0
Fear: 3 Defense 0
Grab & Hold: No damage. If grabbed, a character takes a -1 modifier on physical tests for each Zombie holding them. A character so held can make a Strength test, at -1 for each clinging zombie, to throw off a number of zombies equal to their STR ENGTH .
Overbear: If a character is grabbed by a number of Zombies equal to the character’s STR ENGTH x2, they are dragged to the ground.
Bite: 1D6. +3 To-Hit if they are holding a character Auto-hit if the character has been dragged to the
ground.
The scale will be 15mm mixed with 10mm, still under confirmation
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)