Death of a Thousand Scouts

by on November 28, 2013 at 7:54 am
Posted In: Boardgaming

Had another get together, and game of Space Empires 4X this last Saturday. Mark paid for pizza to be delivered so lunch would be short, and we got through twelve economic turns this time.

There was a little debate on rules this time. I was wanting to start including the advanced rules, starting with the merchant pipelines, but that got voted down. We did use the fleet markers from the expansion, jump gates, and the ‘heavy terrain’ optional rule.

Jason got off to the best start, with three worlds to colonize right next to his own. Everyone but Mark quickly lost a scout to the black hole in their respective home areas. Mark eventually lost more scouts to black holes than anyone else (I was the only one to get a good roll and escape the discovery of a black hole during the game), but never found the one that was part of his home exploration chits. Instead, the last hex in his home area (obviously the black hole) stayed unexplored all game.

Initial conflicts were sparked by the appearance of pairs of ’10 mineral’ markers stretching across the deep space areas of adjacent powers. Mark went after the pair between us, and pressed on into my territory when I seemed to be moving up to them myself. Not actually having a navy yet, I lost what little I had, and did no damage in return. In the meantime, Jason attacked Dave with a much bigger navy than anyone expected (two CAs plus DDs), and wiped out three colony worlds. This broke off the war between me and Mark, aided by the discovery of a jump gate between us that led to the border of Jason’s area.

There wasn’t really any effective fighting for the rest of the day. Everyone but Jason tended to have poor die-luck most of the time, and Jason’s navy seemed to be usually one step ahead. Mark was trying to go the direct route towards Jason, and having trouble actually exploring the area. My economy was large, thanks to settling four planets in the zone between me and Dave (who was way too busy to contest it), but it took a long time to get my technology where I wanted, though I finally had a good BC-heavy navy at the end of the day.

Overall, things went a bit different than before. Mark had bought Tactics 2, and Jason and I had Tactics 1, while that technology has been ignored in the past. Jason and I had Move 2, which is a bit slower development there than we’ve seen before. Jason still had the numerically largest navy, with a mix of 5xBCs and 4xDDs, with a 2xCAs (probably older) and a current income of 55. I had slightly better shipyard capacity (by two), and 10xBC (all +2/+2), and an income of 80. Mark’s income was 55, with 2xBC, 3xCA, and Dave was at 65 with 9xCA, 1xBC.

I knew I had developed my economy better, but I seemed to have a lot of problems leveraging it, since until the very end, both my navy and technology seemed to be well behind. (Of course, I ended up with far less mineral income since everyone else tended to get the ’10 mineral’ markers that came up. Some of this might have been losses in scouts. We had wondered what purpose the exploration cruiser rule had, since by the time you could build one, there would be nothing left to do. With heavy terrain in effect, it suddenly makes much more sense. With ‘danger’ and ‘lost in space’ markers getting replaced, deep space exploration suddenly got a lot tougher (aided by lots of blown rolls when finding a black hole), with some hexes claiming four scouts before being explored. At the end of the day, there was still ~6 hexes untouched, and exploration technology would have probably paid for itself in terms of not losing scouts.

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Not a System

by on November 27, 2013 at 9:34 am
Posted In: D&D

A year after putting out Waterdeep and the North, TSR published one of the most unusual boxed sets in RPG history. Usually a boxed set is a variety of material, including a couple of books, and maybe a couple large maps; but in this case, it contained one thin booklet and twelve poster-size mapsheets. Technically, the booklet could help out with running a game in any city, but this was less than entirely accurate, and the real reason for the box were the twelve mapsheets, and all of these were about one city in particular; Waterdeep.

The booklet itself is 32 pages long, and has some notes about the what the rest of the contents of the box were all about, and then reiterates the basics of the city of Waterdeep from FR1, including the history and laws of the city, though this includes a timeline not present in the original. There is a reiteration of the building key as well (needed, since the included maps mark the same buildings), as well as a ‘guide to services’, which lists them by type and map/grid location, so that this time there is an easy way to answer sudden questions such as ‘where are the nearest stables?’, from the party.

After that, there is finally something that could be used with any city; ‘street scenes’. These are large random tables (d100) of things and people going by on city streets that can be used to help set the stage (flavor, witnesses, etc.) at any point in an adventure in Waterdeep. These tables are keyed to the different wards of Waterdeep, but it wouldn’t be too hard to adapt to another city. There is then a short discussion of using recurrent encounters to help drive a sense of continuity in city life, with a page of suggestions, and the book finishes up with four pages of random tables for the potential results of picking a random NPC’s pockets.

Ten of the twelve mapsheets in the box go together to form a huge 67″x108″ map of Waterdeep (arranged in a 5×2 pattern; Waterdeep is quite rectangular). It’s quite impressive—if you have the space for it. (I don’t currently.) This isn’t the best that it could be, as the buildings are color-coded by what ward they’re in (handy, but a bit heavy-handed), and each keyed building is cut out of the image, leaving a white area with the number.

Waterdeep isn’t actually as wide as two mapsheets put together, and that’s where some of the more useful parts of the product come in. Along the outer edge of each sheet are a number of floor plans of potentially important buildings. These aren’t anything truly inspired, but they are potentially handy, and probably the most useful part of the entire product with about thirty different floorplans (most with multiple levels) in a 5 feet to the square scale.

The eleventh sheet is an isometric map of Castle Waterdeep. This includes a plan view and a close-up of the castle itself, showing the long switchback ramp up to the main gate. It’s not entirely bad, but the design is a very poor looking collection of narrow round towers with no thickness to the walls (probably not enough to support the structure, much less keep out rude neighbors), lines of windows along the top galleries, and not an arrow slit, machicolation, or other sensible defensive siege feature to be seen. TSR’s chronic lack of understanding of siege engineering is on full display here.

The final sheet isn’t really a map. It’s an illustration. A view of the city as seen from the top of the fortifications of the harbor. Since the southern part of the plateau the city is on slopes down to the sea, you get a very good view of the southern parts of the city, the ridge/mountain that Castle Waterdeep is on, the castle itself, and part of the city walls, though the actual South Gate runs off the right side of the view.

Assuming that TSR was able to just blow up their existing map of Waterdeep without much re-work, this box set was probably fairly easy to produce. However, value is lower than even that fairly simple job. If you want to run a game centered (or entirely) in Waterdeep, this can give good value, as the extra color will help, and the easier to read, blown up map will help. However, it is in no way essential to that, and if you aren’t heavily involved in Waterdeep, there’s extremely little of interest. Map junkies will still enjoy it however.

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OA25 Side By Side

by on November 21, 2013 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: ASL

One of the scenarios in Out of the Attic 2 gave me an immediate ‘I’ve got to see this‘ reaction. OA25 features a defense with a combined French-British-American force in 1942 Tunisia. Patch and I initially slotted it for a FtF day, since it looked somewhat short, but then realized we didn’t have all the boards for it.

So, it became our next PBeM game, with Patch taking the defenders with seven French squads and support weapons including a 37mm infantry gun, three and a half British squads, and two American crews manning a .50-cal and a British 25-pounder. They need to protect a bridge for six and a half turns against fifteen elite German squads with the usual toys, a couple 81mm MTR and two flights of Stukas (one of which shows up on turn two, and the other variably, and the both go away after a single turn).

Patch mostly set up in the central board-12 village, with lighter forces holding both flanks. I set up the bulk of my troops to hit the north side, with some cover towards the center, and then a platoon on the south side to make sure he couldn’t afford to pull out of that flank. The terrain is a bit open, but the MTRs are good smoke generators (especially good ones, the Germans are defined as Elite, which gives s9). Sadly, while I didn’t deplete, I didn’t get any ROF, and only one smoke counter went down between the pair.

Movement went fairly well for me, with minimal fire, and while his French 60mm MTR never exhausted ROF, I passed all the morale checks it caused. Patch’s MMG malfunctioned, but his Brits got a 1KIA result which Yahtzeed to kill a squad and 8-0 and destroy a DC.

OA25 1G
Full map, German Turn 1. North is to the left.
↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Two Rounds of Thyreatis

by on November 19, 2013 at 9:57 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

Patch and I had our regular between ASL games bout of Commands & Colors: Ancients tonight. This time was the battle of Thyreatis in 545 BC. It’s a very unusual battle from Expansion 6. First of all, both sides are almost entirely made up of Medium Hoplites, with most of the Spartan side being the special 5-block version. Second of all, the battle kicks off with the ‘battle of champions’. There are eight extra MH blocks from each side, and both players roll two dice to try and cause casualties. This is repeated until one side is down to one or two blocks, and then the survivors are attached to regular units (generating 5-block Argive MH and 6-block Spartan MH). The winner of that battle then goes first in the main one.

I had the Argives the first time around, and eventually won the battle of champions after thirteen rounds. (Patch had a 8-5 lead to start, and I was wondering if it was going to be a complete blowout before his dice went cold for a final 3-2 result.) I had mostly left and right cards, so I boosted both flanks, while Patch piled on his right. Both of us started by cycling cards, and I advanced my flanks into a crescent formation, before detaching my Aux into archery range. With a bit of luck I managed to reduce his right-flank unit from 6 blocks to 4 before the lines made contact.

Patch Double Timed to catch my right Aux and kill it. I Ordered Mounted to bring my right side up and pick on his weaker left flank (where the normal 4-block Spartan allied hoplites are), and Patch countered with a Mounted Charge to nearly kill three of my units (one block left each) and chase off the remaining Aux (three banners!) at a cost of eight blocks. With four units in contact (three of them the one-block survivors), I played Clash of Shields to kill off three units at a cost of one (to a First Strike) and another weakened to one block. Patch Ordered Center and finished off my right flank (and leader), and got the fifth banner in the main line. 3-5

Thyreatis 1

The second round went faster, with the Spartans losing the battle of champions 2-3 in seven rounds. I had a couple center cards this time, so I put the extra blocks in the middle of the line, while Patch spread them out. I started by cycling cards, getting an Order Med (my second) after playing Order Heavy, and a Order Three Center (second of those, too) after playing Order Two Center. Combined with a Leadership Any Section, I was confident in my ability to maneuver my army as I saw fit.

The problem is, there’s not a lot to be done with fancy maneuvers in this battle. The units generally can only go one hex per turn, and both sides have lots of leadership. I cycled a Move-Fire-Move to dress my line, and drew Clash of Shields. If I could live long enough to use all these cards, I could do whatever I wanted. Patch dressed his line too, but had one unit back in reserve. I used Line Command to bring all of my line in contact with most of his (the Argives have two more units than the Spartans), and the demolition derby began. Picking my targets, I got two of his units, and forced his Aux back with one block, while only one of my units was depleted, and one more forced out of line with a pair of banners.

Patch countered with Mounted Charge, and knocked out two units, having reduced two others to two blocks, and a third to one. However, the entire center and left of his line was down to one block apiece, and an Order Mediums took care of that. 5-1

Thyreatis 2

It’s an interesting battle, but there’s a lack of subtlety thanks to the fact that everything is so slow and nearly as effective. It seems like it should be fairly even, though the Spartans do have a one-card advantage, so I’m not sure what to make of the pair of Spartan wins.

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More Waterdeep, Less North

by on November 11, 2013 at 9:08 pm
Posted In: D&D

There have been three main centers of activity in Ed Greenwood’s own Forgotten Realms campaigns. Two of them, Shadowdale and Cormyr, are in the central area well covered by the original boxed set. The third, the great city of Waterdeep, is a bit north of the focus area, and was the primary subject of the first setting supplement from TSR, FR1. It has appeared many times in the years since then, in adventures, such as part of the Avatar trilogy, later supplements (such as City of Splendors: Waterdeep) several novels, and even one of the Catacombs adventure books (Knight of the Living Dead).

It contains the usual 64-page sadle-stiched book, with a three panel separate cover, with a small map of Waterdeep on the third panel, and is backprinted with a schematic map of the wards of the city, the main sewer system, and some typical building interiors; this only takes up the two main panels, and the third is blank. Also included is a keyed poster-sized map of the city.

One of the first chapters in the book grants it it’s ‘and the North’ title, giving a rough guide to trade and important locations in the area. The North is generally defined as the area between the Sword Coast and the great desert of Anauroch from the latitude of Waterdeep on north. The problem is, that the geography talked about is more detailed than is available in the boxed set, and there’s no map in the module to guide you, making the entire chapter very confusing reading. FR5 The Savage Frontier would eventually cover the same ground (and partially quote these entries), with a pair of poster-size maps covering the region in detail.

Dragon #128 includes the article “Welcome to Waterdeep”, which had been cut from the supplement and details the area near the city. The module would have been better off to cut the entire chapter on the North, and include this material instead. It would have better aided the focus of the rest of the text, and the map of the area would have easily gone on the blank interior cover panel. I have a feeling that the decision to cut it was already long made when layout of a map of the North advanced to the point that it was realized that the entire region doesn’t quite fit in one 30 mile/inch poster map. Also, the publication of The Crystal Shard may have caused TSR to decide to do a separate module on the North, that could also include the Icewind Vale area.

The bulk of the supplement focuses squarely on Waterdeep itself, and is very well done, with a few problems. It is obvious that Ed had a bunch of material to present for this, and efforts were made to fit it all in, with the main text being a smaller font than normal (about 9 point), with some parts being an extra-small 7 points. A brief history of the city is given, wrapping up with some current news, before turning to the nature of government. The main government is sixteen lords, whose identities are kept secret behind robes and (anti-magic) masks, except for a high-level paladin who serves as the primary public face of government. This is all too idealized to be really believable, with the lords honestly working for the overall benefit of the city with clarity and foresight, and the protected identities not only protecting them from plots in general, but allowing them to be recruited from all levels of Waterdeep society, keeping the government in touch with the needs of the lower classes. However, there are political maneuverings from the nobles (not detailed) and the guilds (better detailed), so not everything is ideal all the time.

A large section of the book is a key to nearly 300 buildings, giving the name of the establishment, the general type of place, with occasional other details. This accounts for perhaps 5% of all the buildings shown in Waterdeep (probably less), and leaves plenty of latitude for the DM to establish his own residences and businesses (and perhaps borrow a few from the CityBook series…). Along with the standard taverns and inns are guild houses, noble villas and fences.

The main problem with the approach taken is that while a DM can sit down with the book and map, and really study an area, and get to know the neighborhood the party is based in, it is horrible at questions such as ‘where is the nearest inn?’ There’s no easy list of such establishments, so a party randomly asking after something in a random location (which of course they will) has to be met with either a lot of looking up possibilities or just making up a nearby one (which is perfectly fine… but the purpose of a supplement like this one should be not to need to do this).

The biggest problem is the amount of flavor that is buried away, where it can be easy to miss. If you look through the listings, you will note that there’s a bunch of tanneries located in the southeast corner of the Dock Ward. Tanneries generally stank to high heaven, so they were forced to exist in one corner of medieval cities to keep stench away from the rest of the city. But none of this is pointed out in the book, so if you don’t know this bit of trivia (and most people don’t—I certainly didn’t in 1987), nor sit down with the map and key to see the pattern, a bit of the logical flavor of the city will be lost, never to emerge in play. The fact that wooden buildings are restricted to one story by law, and anything taller (as most are now) must be made of stone is buried in the description of the Guild of Stonecutters, Masons, Potters & Tile-Makers.

The best part of Waterdeep is that it physically feels right. The city stops at the city wall, which even with edicts against building against the walls seems unlikely, and the few hints of farms and the like outside the walls seem to include a village with no marked path to the main road. But inside the walls, the streets both run straight and branch off in random directions that feel right for a living, evolving city.

In all, this really is a good springboard for urban adventures, and feels like it’s possible to DM such a large and diverse city without it feeling completely foreign to the original intent. This is a tall challenge, and one not often tackled in fantasy RPG writing. Despite the problems, there’s a lot here, and it fits together well, and I have to think this is one of the better city supplements that has been done.

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