75th Anniversary of the Bulge - Peiper at the Gates!

Updated version of the original published in 2009.

PEIPER AT THE GATES is a mini-campaign of branching linked scenarios set during the advance of Kampfgruppe Peiper and the 1st SS Panzer Division towards the Meuse River.

Smash through all opposition as the Germans, capturing the bridges at Trios Ponts and driving into the American far-rear.

Hold the Panzer advance at Stavelot, stopping them cold with a small rag-tag band of American fighting men.

Fight the climatic battle of a lone King Tiger against massed Sherman tanks as Task Force McGeorge attacks the La Gleize Cauldron from the north.

Play solo or with friends. Play the Germans. Play the Americans. But just play.

The fate of the Western Front is in your hands.

Battle Board Caravanserai Bat Rep

In Caravanserai there is a chance that you can explore a dungeon. Here's Haldor resolving one PEF in the dungeon and there are more to go. Battle took about 10 minutes. Click the pictures to easily read them.

To the Battle Board - Step by Step Battle Board to Tabletop - Part 2

Now that the minis have come into contact on the tabletop it's time to fight. Leaving the minis on the table, I go to the Bandits List to generate their Rep.  

2 x Rep 5

3 x Rep 4

2 x Rep 3

I go to the Action Table to see what happens next. I roll 1d6 and score a 4 - the Bandits have the Advantage. Haldor and the Bandit Leader roll 2d6 versus their Rep and both pass 2d6. The side with the Advantage can act - the Hill Bandits charge.

The two Rep 5s jump Haldor, two Rep 4s attack the Healer and the rest go one on one versus my Caster, Thief and Shooter.

I spend about five minutes in combat shooting and in melee. The result?

One Bandit runs away, two are Obviously Dead and four Out of the Fight. Haldor's Healer goes Obviously Dead. Haldor checks the two Bandits he beat and recovers 2 Increasing Rep d6. Plus the 2 for the Bandits he defeated and 1 for achieving the Encounter Objective - 5 total. I roll them all and score a 1, 2, 2, 4 and 5 so Haldor's Rep stays the same.

The Thief, Caster and Shooter gain 1 or 2 Increasing Rep d6 as some find some loot - Increasing Rep d6. The Thief and Caster both go up to Rep 5, the Shooter remains at Rep 4.

The whole game took about 20 minutes from set up to finish. Only having to resolve one PEF made it a quick game.

Watch for Caravanserai to be released in the next few days.

Step by Step Battle Board to Tabletop

This Bat Rep will go step-by-step how to take our Battle Board games like Talomir Tales and 5150 Star Marine to the tabletop for play with minis and terrain. Most of our rules have the tabletop option but here's a free 4 page explanation and how to.

This is a Bat Rep for the upcoming Caravanserai - a Talomir Tales adventure book that contains the Core Rules as well as a section explaining how to play with Battle Boards and on the tabletop. Click the pictures to make it easier to read. 

Part 2  

Convert and Play our Battle Board Games to Tabletop Mini Games for Free!

Most of our games have instructions on how to play on the tabletop and with the battle Board. What if your game doesn't have tabletop listed? No worries. Check it out! 

Here's a free 4 page download that lets you play any of our Battle Board games on a tabletop with minis and terrain. Set up the terrain and table, move the minis and when they get in sight use the Battle Board rules to shoot, melee, and test morale!

Star Army Players - Come get Some Ikwen.

Already in Star Army so check it out!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/485545784/loud-ninja-games-the-ikwen-uprising-redux

Caravanserai - The Dangers of an Escort Scenario

Haldor, a Mirholme Warrior from Talomir Tales Distant Shores went Carousing and landed a Job Offer - Escort. Sounded easy enough to me,  escort 3 NPC Civilians to another area of the map. Haldor hired a couple of other Warriors  and a Caster to help out. Resolving the first PEF showed me why Escort could be the most dangerous Encounter in Talomir Tales.

First concern is that Civilians aren't very good in combat as they can only melee. These NPCs are unarmed so when it's melee time they would count as non-lethal versus lethal armed enemies. Usually their Rep is low; 3 and sometimes Rep 4.

Now the real problem happens when you roll to see how may NPC s you run into, something I had never realized before! The Civilians count as part of the Band and that increases the number of enemy you might meet. In this fight I had 7 in Haldor's Band, but 3 are weak Civilians. They ran into 7 Orcs.

After placing the enemies on the table I rolled for Action and realized that if the enemy acted first they would charge all of Haldor's Band one on one; this meant the 3 Civilians would be facing Orcs in melee and and probably would go Out of the Fight or worse. All had AC 2, were unarmed to start with and fighting AC 4 Orcs with higher Rep could spell doom.

Luckily Haldor Activated first. I figured if the 4 non-Civilians in the Band could engage and defeat 4 Orcs, the remaining ones would have to attack Haldor and the Warriors as they would be between the Orcs and the Civilians. 

Enough talk! On to the fight.

***********

I use triangles from Litko that lets me track the Reps of the figures. Not needed but good to use. 

After the fight Haldor had 1 dead Warrior and 1 Out of the Fight who remains Out of the Fight until the Encounter is over!  Should have hired a Healer as he can possibly fix the Out of the Fight Character. Lucky for me there was only one PEF to resolve.

Watch for more Caravanserai Bat Reps in the next week or two,