Spanish Silver Fleet AAR - "And a Bottle of Rum!"

This battles happened after Captain Billy left Port Royal.

The battle is part of an ongoing campaign and played solo. All Spanish decisions and movement are determined by rolling on the Non-Player Movement and other Reaction Tests.

Muskets & Shakos 101 - Basic Infantry Mechanics

In this AAR we go over basic infantry mechanics including:

Changing Formation

Fast Move Test

Disordered and Reforming Test

Received Fire Reaction Test

Musket Fire

Charge into Melee

The examples have 20 figures units but you can choose to use less. You will see that the leaders in each unit are used to signify the status of their unit eliminating the need for unsightly markers.

Muskets and Shakos is now available.

$14 for the instant PDF download.

$15 plus postage for the printed and PDF versions.

Napoleonics AAR - Muskets and Shakos

"They came on in the same old way …and we defeated them in the same old way."

Spain 1809

This is an AAR of Muskets and Shakos, the unit based Napoleonic Wars game. In  this AAR I decided to play an Attack Encounter with my forces, the French, attacking a Non-Player British force. Each side had 3 infantry battalions and 1 artillery battery of 8 guns. Yes, I know the British had smaller batteries of 6 guns but I wanted this to be as even as possible. The only difference was that the French Legere battalion was Rep 5, all the rest were Rep 4.

The British took up position straddling a road with one battalion on the hills on either side. Both were supported by two section of guns. The third battalion  was held in  reserve to the rear.

The French approached in three columns with skirmishers to the front. Their battery remained intact. The plan was to hold off the battalion to the French left then attack the other battalion with two columns. The battle opened up with both sides firing artillery as the French marched forward. Here's a picture of the deployment and plan. 

Disaster in the Peninsula - Muskets & Shakos

This is a very brief AAR of the new Muskets and Shakos Napoleonics rules coming out soon from THW. It wasn't meant to be brief but it was.

Set Up

It's Spain 1809, a British versus French fight.

The Encounter was a Scout mission. I led one brigade of French (1 light and 2 line battalions) with the objective to scout all the sections (9) of the table and report back what I had found.

First mistake - I didn't bring any artillery, which I could have as directed by the Encounter.

The terrain was set up, a road down the center, a few hills ahead, and a small cluster of buildings. Muskets and Shakos is infantry battalion and cavalry regiment scale.

The rules are set for 20 man infantry units but can be played with any size units. I was using 10 man units and 6 man cavalry units. Anyway, it doesn't matter and is a matter of taste and tracking hits when needed. 

The Battle

I entered the table with my three battalions in column and headed towards the buildings. 

The  PEF markers (Possible Enemy Forces) were placed. Two were to my right, behind the hills and out of sight. One was to my left in clear terrain so would me immediately resolved. 

One Regiment of Rep 5 British Cavalry.

Okay, this should have triggered an alarm but I hadn't played Napoleonics in a long time and was still learning the rules. That's my story at least.

The PEF is replaced with the figures and I go to the Non-Player Tables. Rolling a few dice I see that the Brits are taking a Defend Stance but as they are Cavalry they will charge if given the chance.They charge!

 It was bad luck that they were resolved in charge reach but it wasn't a big deal. Right up to when I rolled for the Charge. They passed 4d6 while my line passed 1d6 - Very bad rolling indeed.

I succeeded in taking two of the British squadrons out of the battle by cleverly leading them off the table.

Okay  so actually they routed my line unit off and pursued them off the table, same result.

There's a section of the rules that goes into detail on how to deploy Non-Player figures in an historical manner. The result for the cavalry was two squadrons in line to the front and the last in reserve. 

This squadron rolled for it's movement and that was to circle our flank.

I responded by moving my units into line. In fact the light unit (legere) got off a pretty good volley, scoring three hits.

This was another mistake.The most effective fire from an infantry battalion in Naps is the first fire. I had effectively wasted it and would have been better served to have kept it for when I was charged.. Even worse, I didn't go into square when I should have, the classic defense versus cavalry. Squares take time to form and there are many examples of infantry not being able to form a proper square in time. Squares take time to form and infantry went into square when they saw cavalry. 

 What happened next was terrible and in retrospect, not surprising. The heavy cavalry charged and caught the unit out of square and it could not fire effectively, having wasted its fire the previous turn. If the cavalry had not charged musketry would be effective on the next turn. Text book on how NOT to face cavalry. The infantry retired, was halted b y the Brigadier then promptly run down by the pursuing cavalry. Fittingly the Brigadier was a casualty.

Well, it became apparent that the Encounter was a failure and I moved the last battalion off the table. True, there were some unfortunate dice rolling but the failure was mine for the following reasons:

1 - I wasn't familiar enough with the rules.

2 - I wasn't playing with correct Napoleonic tactics, which I am very familiar with.

If I had used proper tactics things would have went differently as the rules reward using them. As I didn't the rules punished me for it. Overall an enjoyable experience and I'm ready to give them another go. More to follow!

When you don't pay your bets... New Encounter for New Beginnings.

Confrontation

In this Encounter the player and the bet taker have met each other and not on the best of terms.  The character wanting to collect the bet has cornered the welching character.  You can use this for any confrontational Encounter between characters, not just welching on a bet. Some examples would be jealous ex-boyfriend, disagreement at a bar, road rage, the list goes on.

Set Up

Ashlynn Cooper  made a very large bet on Xarzen and is trying to delay paying it off until she can get some money. For more on Ashlynn see the following.

Ashlynn has hired Billy Pink to provide protection for a week or so and they are confronted in an alley by a known Stims Dealer who had taken her bet. This was determined by the game mechanics in the NHC boxing game still in play test. As I needed to play test the Encounter I figured I'd catch up on Ashlynn.

The set up is the two groups are 3" apart, neither have weapons drawn. It starts with a Talk the Talk Challenge, specific to the Encounter. It quickly gets out of hand with Ashlynn and the dealer exchanging harsh words (scored same number of successes). This caused an immediate re-take with the welcher (Ashlynn) counting a -1d6 penalty. This time the dealer scored more successes. He wants his money, she really can't pay - she has a few vices that eat up her savings - so he draws a gun. That's where we begin.

When the Talk the Talk is resolved as a Walk the Walk the two characters involved roll off to see who acts. The dealer won. He has the choice of drawing a weapon or going into unarmed melee. He draws a gun.  This completes the Walk the Walk phase and now all characters take the In Sight, as per New Beginnings, with no side counting as active. 

All of the gangers scored three successes, Ashlynn only one and Billy five. That was good luck. The bad luck is he could shoot first but only one of the gangers had drawn a weapon. He decided to shoot anyway and his luck got worse. Both of the gangers ended up obviously dead but according to the law one ganger was unarmed. And this is in New Hope City.

 The third ganger snap fired on his turn and hit Billy in the leg. Star Power changed that to  a Carry On. Ashlynn activated and being unarmed just stood there. Didn't duck back, but just stood there.

 The ganger passed all his Reaction Tests and when activation was rolled scored a "6" so couldn't go. Billy fired and hit him twice. The first ganger to roll recovery died, that was bad luck. This ganger rolled recovery and died, that was good luck. Why? Because now with all three dead there were no witnesses. Even though a good attorney could argue self-defense, well, you never know with the New Hope City legal system.
The cops arrived right after Billy and Ashlynn left so that was fortunate.

 I had forgotten how playing New Beginnings has a whole different set of challenges from most of the other games. It's a big city, there's laws, police, no guarantee of a fair trial and a good chance of going to prison if you break the law.
Overall it was fun, played very quick, and is now another diversion for me. Wonder what will happen next?

The Fight - Xarzen versus the Razor

So how did Xarzen find himself in the ring with a Razor? Well, not by design! First, let’s go over your role in the game.

You start out in New Hope City, located in the 5150 Universe; where they like to say everyone deserves a second chance. In FNF you can play solely as a fighter, as a fighter who also has out of the ring Encounters, or even as a manager with a stable off fighters. In this AAR I focused solely on being a fighter.

You can bring your existing characters from New Beginnings into the game. The Attributes, Professions, Enhancements and more have been ported over into the fight game. I started by rolling Xarzen from one of the three pre-generated Fighter Lists. I had him start life as a Laborer in NHC which gave him the Brawler Attribute. I then rolled for another and got Quick Reflexes. Adding all his Stats and the Attributes gave him a Boxing Skill Level of 63.

I now rolled for the venue he would be fighting and it was in the Space Port district of NHC. It would take place in a private fight club inside a bar or similar business. Rolling doubles meant it was an alien opponent. It was the only fight available this month so Xarzen took it sight unseen. Rolling on the Alien Opponent Table he scored a Razor.

Once you have determined what you will fight you need to determine their skill level. Rolling on the Word on the Street Table came up Bad News. There are three types of fights you can get. Easy Money; where the fighter has a lower Skill Level than yours. Fair Fight; where the fighters are pretty even. The there’s Bad News. This means the fighter has a higher Skill Level. There’s an easy formula to figure it out. After a few dice rolls you get an opponent, tweak his Skill Level to fit then go from there.

In this case the Razor was significantly better so Xarzen had to add something to his current abilities to make it closer. One was Charismatic, allowing him 2 points at the start of each round for scoring the fight, the other was Stims. He had access to Spike, which gives him the Vicious Attribute for the length of the fight. Which is where we left off in our last post.

Now let’s see the fighters.

Xarzen	Fighter	Razor
5	Boxing	6
4	Aggression	5
4	Quickness	5
2	Power	2
4	Stamina	4
16	Bonus Dice	20
Charismatic	Attributes	Bullet Move
Brawler	Attributes	Rage
Quick Reflexes	Attributes	X
Spike	Stims	X
X	Stims	X
X	Loops	X
X	Loops	X
X	Loops	X
X	Enhancements	X
X	Enhancements	X
X	Enhancements	X
71	Skill Level	81

The easiest thing to compare is the Skill Level. With a 10 point advantage, the odds are set with the Razor as the Even Money favorite and Xarzen comes in at 10 to 1.  Good odds but is it a good bet? Let’s see.

New Hope City Boxing Game

So how did Xarzen find himself in the ring with a Razor? Well, not by design! First, let’s go over your role in the game.

You start out in New Hope City, located in the 5150 Universe; where they like to say everyone deserves a second chance. In FNF you can play solely as a fighter, as a fighter who also has out of the ring Encounters, or even as a manager with a stable off fighters. In this AAR I focused solely on being a fighter.

You can bring your existing characters from New Beginnings into the game. The Attributes, Professions, Enhancements and more have been ported over into the fight game. I started by rolling Xarzen from one of the three pre-generated Fighter Lists. I had him start life as a Laborer in NHC which gave him the Brawler Attribute. I then rolled for another and got Quick Reflexes. Adding all his Stats and the Attributes gave him a Boxing Skill Level of 63.

I now rolled for the venue he would be fighting and it was in the Space Port district of NHC. It would take place in a private fight club inside a bar or similar business. Rolling doubles meant it was an alien opponent. It was the only fight available this month so Xarzen took it sight unseen. Rolling on the Alien Opponent Table he scored a Razor.

Once you have determined what you will fight you need to determine their skill level. Rolling on the Word on the Street Table came up Bad News. There are three types of fights you can get. Easy Money; where the fighter has a lower Skill Level than yours. Fair Fight; where the fighters are pretty even. The there’s Bad News. This means the fighter has a higher Skill Level. There’s an easy formula to figure it out. After a few dice rolls you get an opponent, tweak his Skill Level to fit then go from there.

In this case the Razor was significantly better so Xarzen had to add something to his current abilities to make it closer. One was Charismatic, allowing him 2 points at the start of each round for scoring the fight, the other was Stims. He had access to Spike, which gives him the Vicious Attribute for the length of the fight. Which is where we left off in our last post.

 Part Three - The Fight

5150 New Beginnings meets Friday Night Fights

The inhabitants of New Hope City want to be entertained. That entertainment takes many forms and one of the most popular, legal, forms is boxing. Based on the boxing found on 20th century Earth, opponents face off in a small square ring and fight. Not unique in itself, the twist is all blows can only be delivered above the waist and to the front of the opponent. No kicks, flips, or throws, this sport levels the playing field, so to speak.  As there are no discriminating weight or gender restrictions,  boxing attracts a wide variety of participants, even Aliens.

A good source of revenue for the city (taxes) and its employees (managers, fighters, etc.) the local government encourages and regulates these matches...as best as they can. Betting is legal at the site of the fight and numerous government online betting parlors do a thriving business. It's a lucrative business that provides entertainment for the hard working citizens of NHC. Here's the story of one such match.

****************************************************

“Are you sure?” Raz asked as he finished taping up Xarzen’s hands. Looking at the clock he continued. “Ten minutes.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Xarzen replied. Fighting Basics was one thing but Aliens? That was totally different. They  had an unfair advantage with their genetic makeup. “It’s in my jacket pocket.”

Raz walked over to the locker and reached for the small package inside the pocket. Pulling it out he walked over to where Raz sat.

“Look, you’re a grown man and I’m not good at lectures, but I am your manager. Once you go down this road you can’t go back,” Raz said as he opened the packet and drew out the injector.

Xarzen smiled and nodded. “Raz, we go way back. Thanks, but I've decided to do it and I’m good with it,” Xarzen replied. “I appreciate you looking out for me and everything.”

Raz had a quizzical look, half-smile, as he shook his head. “Nah kid, you got me all wrong. What I meant was, once you start using Stims, you better have a reliable source for more. Now give me your arm.”

*********************************************

Xarzen could feel the Stims kicking in. They didn't call it Spike for nothing. The bio-screen glided over his body and the Bio-Tech nodded his acceptance. The New Hope City Boxing Commission required a bio-screen ten minutes before a bout and ten minutes after. The one before was to get all the info on any Stims, Loops and Enhancements, used by a fighter, into the hands of the bettors, so the odds could be adjusted accordingly.  The one after the bout was for verification so the bout could be certified and all bets paid.

As the lights went down over the crowd Xarzen slipped off his robe. The Razor was already waiting in the center of the ring. As the referee went over the customary spiel the Razor just smiled, ground her teeth, and said, “I have 5,000 says you don’t last a round, Basic.”

Xarzen didn't reply. They touched gloves, separated and the bell sounded, signaling the start of the round, the first of a scheduled three.

***********************************************

This was a match fought using a blend of an updated Friday Night Fights and 5150 New Beginnings. Basically the Attributes found in FNF, NB and even Red Sand Black Moon were blended together to fit the FNF fighting system. Aliens were added to the mix as was a way to generate fights and betting, both legal and illegal.  The rules for Stims, Loops, and Enhancements from New Beginnings were tweaked to fit. So if your character in New Beginnings has Enhancements, etc. they convert over into the ring when boxing with the updated Friday Night Fights.

Each fighter has 5 basic stats. Boxing, Quickness, Aggression, Power and Stamina. You build your  fighter with these stats then add Attributes to round him out. If you need an edge you can choose to use Stimulants, run computer Loops that emulate Attributes, or make physical Enhancements to your body. All together there are over 40 modifiers you can add to your fighter to make it truly unique.

All this ties in seamlessly with New Beginnings and the way to generate fights and betting can lead to new Encounters, such as when someone refuses to pay their bets. Right now we're smoothing out the mechanics but look for this, to add to you 5150 New Beginnings games, in a month or two. At the same time we'll release the updated Friday Night Fights, perfect for realistic boxing as well as to add to your Pulp, Colonial and similar games.

Part Two

Games in New Hope City - Qwik Speed Ball

Qwik Speed Ball

There's a new sport coming to New Hope City called Qwik. 

"Hey, ain't that the crazy Post Apocaplyse game played in the Wasteland?"

Yep, 'cept now they've taken it indoors. And some people are playing the latest version, Speed Ball.

"What's that?"

Same rules, smaller playing field! Here's a look.

 "Hey! Ain't that Carolee from Highlander Miniatures?"

Played in the 15mm Gladiator Arena for Red Sand Blue Sky with Highlander 15mm Qwikers.

Yes, play the existing Qwik game on a smaller field! Really ratchets up the excitement!

Muskets and Shakos Cover Art

Sharing game mechanics with Muskets and Mohawks, players command a division of infantry with accompanying cavalry and artillery during the Napoleonic Wars.

Watch for it in August!

Mass Hysteria - End Game AAR

This AAR is a Defend Mission. The military units have to eliminate all zeds, PEFs and make sure than no zombies get off the table behind the defensive line. 

***************************************************

Game over man. Human morale went down but the biggest concern is a lack of units left to fight. For all intents and purposes the campaign is over. Twice I called for gunships and with an Area Investment Level of 5 it was a no brainer. High priority, they'll come. Except they didn't.

Late in the game a military unit showed up to help and got promptly butchered by the zeds. A random event resulted in a gunship (yay!) and it looked like I might be able to get over to the zeds before they got off the table. 

But another PEF was generated, right in the same section my units were in. Right in the flank. That was it, not a lot of units came back to fight.

Well the upside is there's a bonus Mission for times like this. Gang warfare after the military has left.