(Gnome Wars) Tanga Campaign #5: Counter-Attack!

It's been awhile, so a refresher on the campaign special rules can here.

November 3, 1914, 1730 hours - The northern-central slope of Mt. Longido
Lt. Colonel Dykstra's Swiss forces had been on the mountain all day in the hot sun facing stiff resistance from the Germans. Luckily, they had fought off a number of harrassing engagements from German units trying to break up the supply lines, or all would have been lost. As the end of the day neared, the commander was pondering pulling his troops back to a safer location to rearm, resupply, and rest before trying it again tomorrow. Unfortunately, Major Kraut and the Germans had other plans, crashing down the mountain to break the Swiss forces' nerve.

This was a bit of an impromptu solo game. The one guy who was available had to bail, so I drafted the services of my own personal gnomes to aid me.

Amelia (left) and Maja look at the Swiss gnomes hiding in the brushline.

My daughters helped out. Amelia would point when I asked her where to move/shoot. Maja was responsible for all die rolls through turn 3.

German Order of Battle
Objective: Exit at least 50% of their figures off the Swiss edge of the board.
3 Infantry Units
1 unit of Teddy Bear Askari Infantry
1 Light Machine Gun Team

German Variable Attachments (1 roll d20)
1-3 2x skirmishers deploy in the brush in the middle of the table.
4-9 1x Teddy Bear Askari Unit
10-17 1x German Infantry Unit
18-19 1x Light Machine Gun
20 1x Teddy Bear Askari and Roll 1 More Time.

Swiss Order of Battle:
Obejctive: Prevent German victory conditions
3 Infantry (hereby called, Tan, Red, and Orange Hats)

Swiss Variable Attachments (1 roll, d20)
1-10 1x Infantry Unit
11-13 2x skirmishers (2 figures from any one unit can set up in the brush in the middle of the battlefield)
14-18 1x Sikh Unit
19-20 1x Light Mortar (not great, but pinpoint accuracy is a good thing in this scenario)

Besides the elevation rules, two more rules came into play. Areas of vegetation are considered heavy brush, halving movement and completely blocking line of sight, unless the figure is on the edge of the area, where he would receive hard/heavy cover (-2 to hit). Figures firing out of the brush must be on the edge to do so.

Teddy Bear Askari stats: Move 12, Rifles follow standard rifle ranges, but max out at 24". Charging Askari get an additional +2 in the first round of combat. We're playing two round combats each turn so if any opposing figures remain and the combat regroups, they only have standard bonuses/penalties.

The Swiss deployed just within the heavy brush line. Dykstra achieved a coup, not only gathering up a rag-tag unit of Sikhs to support the center of the defenses, but by discovering Bruce Carmezind, famed actor/adventurer/author/zombie hunter in the middle of a safari. Carmezind was always an attention whore, so leading men into battle sounded like good publicity. What he did with them in battle would be another story.

Bruce Carmezind leads his untrusty Sikhs.

Sorry boys, Bruce is a Mike Lung custom Znombie Hunter fig that he gave me as a gift. Not bad for one of his first attempts at sculpting.

The Swiss line up awaiting the Huns

The Grey Germans took a pounding while charging the flank

Turn 1: The Germans arrived on the far side of the board, as their card was drawn for initiative. They arrived haphazardly and cluttered in sections of the board to avoid fire. The two Teddy Bear Askari units (Brown and Silver) dashed for the heavy brush in the center. The Green Germans took up a spot to take a clear shot at the Sikhs. Unfortunately, the Sikhs had better shots at the wide-open Germans and they withered quickly. The Purple Germans used the brush to swing around the right flank, and the Grey Germans blew there bugle horn and charged at full speed (plus six inches) completely exposed on the left.

The worst deployment was the machine gun team. They were the last to enter the board and had deal with cramped quarters and a hail of bullets.

Turn 2: The Sikhs tore into the remaining Green Germans, the rifles completely destroyed the the peasants, grenadiers, and support joining the others diving into the rough. The Grey Germans continued to get picked apart by the Swiss rifles in the brush, the medic rolls were phenomenal, and with another blast of the bugle, they surged forth.

The Greens annihilated from the center, the German dive to the cover of the heavy brush

Turn 3: With only an obstinant Grey German unit to shoot at, the Swiss sent melee experts out to meet the Germans. The Orange Swiss clashed with the Silver Askaris with equal bloody casualties. The Orange medic kept his men going in the fray. Major Kraut began to worry, as none of his men had even come close to descending the mountain, yet the Green Germans were already testing for morale.

Turn 4: The Silver Askari - Orange Swiss melee continue in epic style. The Askaris had managed to kill both NCOs attached to the squad, yet the troops kept fighting. The Purple Germans, who had kept a low profile, emerged from the brush guns blazing and punished the few Orange Swiss still hiding on the defensive line. They were one turn away from exiting the board, but alas, a few Sikhs turned to shoot and gunned down the NCO. The unit would automatically rout the following turn. On the other flank, the Greys and the machine gun got into a decent position and finally dealt some damage to the Red and Tan Swiss hiding, with few casualties in return.

Turn 5: With a war cry that freezes the strongest of gnomes dead in their tracks, the Brown Teddy Bear Askaris charged down the hill and smacked the Tan Swiss around. The first round was devastating. The Teddy Bear Askaris' First Charge

Any sense of equal sense of success with the Silver Askaris was quickly muted. One lone Orange pickaxe remained from the carnage. The Silver Askari Commander left one Teddy Bear to finish him and dashed forward to try to reach their objective. The pickaxe not only dispatched the marauding bear, but attacked the Askari unit and took out two more bears before he was finally struck dead. To make matters worse, the remaining Greens were put out of their mercy and routed.

Turn 6: Medics from both the Tan and Red Swiss ran into the melee to heal all but one Tan Swiss. With that luck, and no more charge bonus, the Tan managed to rally, not for a crushing success, but a bitter obliteration to the man. With no medic on the flank, the Grey German finally pushed forward into the brush, dealing significant damage to the Reds, but not able to leave the board.

Turn 7: At this point the German objective was out of reach. Fifty-one gnomes and bears had already lost their lives for the Kaiser, and that did not include the figures routed off the board. Despite the loss of all figures with rifles for the Tan and Red, the rout of the Orange, and the wait-and-see attitude of the Sikhs, the Germans could not muster up enough strength to continue the assault. For most games I would have called it turn 6, but this was the last game of the campaign, and with both sides at a virtual tie, the only way the Germans could win is if they piled up a big body count. And boy did they try.

First off, Brown Askari Commander Lucius nDwengi Honeypot, his unit in shambles from the rallied Tan, chose death before dishonor and charged the Sikh line.

The resulting melee was so one sided that historians just say he was gunned down during the charge. It would have been a more pleasant experience, anyway.

The Askari Commander charges to his glorious death.

The German machine gun which had been so ineffective all game finally wheeled through the brush and unloaded on the emerging Sikhs with some success. One lone Tan pickaxe, still drunk with bloodlust, charged through the brush to kill the machine gun team, only to be met and shot by Sergeant Bogart of the Grey Germans.

Sgt Bogart was the true hero for the Germans. When the Grey's officer went down early, Bogart took over and held the unit together despite overwhelming odds, no cover, and the fact that Bogart was hit five times during the engagement and got up each time to continue the assault. He would earn an Iron Cross of both 2nd and 1st class, as well as Golden Military Merit Cross for his actions.

Turn 8: Sgt Bogart realized how bad the rest of the battlefield was and pulled back (failed rout check). That left the machine gun and the Sikhs, more specifically Bruce Carmezind. Carmezind alone came out of the bush, pulled out his trusty revolver and killed both members of the machine gun team (double 6's). His legend grows more each day.

Carmezind adds to his legend....

For the scenario to work better, it needs two out of three things to happen. Either (a) one more German unit should be added, (b) Swiss firing out of the brush should only get light cover , and/or (c) I need to remember that light machine guns roll four dice per crew member and not three. The Swiss units were all near breaking and an extra 2 or 3 casualties early on could have changed things for the resilient Grey Germans.

The Swiss obviously won this battle. Point wise, it was Swiss 61, Germans 46, making the final total the Longido Mountain part of the Tanga Campaign Swiss 197, German 181. The Germans will loose considerable manpower for the fighting in and around Tanga, although, given my miscues with the machine guns and cover, I plan on running a scenarion 5.5 at the next con to determine what supplies or manpower can escape from the train station to Tanga. That my friends, is for another post.

Hackmaster: The Journey of Mutumbo #4: Sitooterie Park

After getting mixed up in a crooked magic exchange and solving a cleric's curse, the group finally got around to heading to Anon-Maxis to return the hourglass (if Arbeow picked the right road.) On the road, they noticed a low-flying sky-ship hover over them, and drop a barrel....on top of the Dalmar! Inside was a dwarf, apparently a stowaway, with one helluva hangover. After introductions (and massive healing efforts for Dalmar) Sabu Tablesmasher staggered along with the group.

In Lansluck, the final village before Anon-Maxis (Arbeow: Honest!!!), as Dalmar was sipping his wine in the tavern, Cecelia was being hit on by the captain of the militia. The captain decided to be fresh and pinch Cecelia...Well, Low Threshold of Pain, Temper Tantrum, and a host of personality quirks kicked in, an Angawa Battle Cry was emitted after a yelp, and the captain was soon on his back, thanks to a lucky knockout punch and subsequent pummeling from Cecelia. She then proceeded to force the other patrons to give directions to the captains home, dragged his unconscious body there, crowd in tow, and had a nice conversation with the captain's wife. Rolling pins do how much damage in Hackmaster???

Finally, the group arrives in Anon-Maxis. Dalmar delivered the hourglass to the Red Mage, and took his 80% cut of the reward, while Sabu took Mutumbo to the docks to learn the multiple uses for the word profit....or was that booty? Even though the group was living high off the hog of their reward and the magic items they sold in town, Cecelia found them a job. They were hired by the Town Guard to investigate some gruesome murders in Sitooterie Park. All sorts of horrible acts (decapitations, severed limbs, etc..) had been committed and the even the town guard was leary of going into the park at night.

The group cleared out the remaining visitors in the park well before dusk and set up a sting operation. Well, Dalmar told them to and proceeded to fall asleep underneath the bushes. The remaining members decided to place someone staring at the stars in a prominently placed gazebo. All went well, before the gazebo attacked! With the gnomeling in the gazebo's clutches, the others attacked. With some speed, and only minor scarring the "killer gazebo" was dead. ...then Dalmar woke up.

The reward they received for stopping the (Dalmar: Dopple-something they called it. The idiots obviously don't know a yellow cephlapod when they see it!) was sufficient for resupplying the group and get them horses. Dalmar offered to pay his "mercenaries, Mutumbo included now" to escort him to Hydincal to live the high life! The group celebrates, Arbeow drinks too much, wanders from the group, and pukes/passes out at the feet of some ornery mercenaries. His unconscious body is used for gnome bowling and the group finds him in an alleyway the next morning.

GM Moral: Never drink heavily, and never drink alone.

The group leaves Anon-Maxis for a 10-15 day trek back to the city of Hydincal, capital of the Kingdom of Crosedes. Arbeow's 7-10 splitting headache helps his guiding, as they successfully make it back through Lansluck, Nobquin's Keep, and Nodhaven. However, the group makes a right instead of a left at a fork in the road, and as the music strikes up, they head into Yelden, capital of the Duchy of Alois. *Group stares at Arbeow*: Where are we now?Arbeow: Let's find out...*Group rides into town*

GM Notes: After going through the Hacklopedias, I was delighted to find out that I could pay homage to the classic KODT strips, but with a little more firepower. Just blame those "news" monitors that some McDonald's have on constant repeat. The word of the day (for a week) was "Sitooterie"(sp) which they claimed was French for "Gazebo" For those of you who figured out the creature type, it was toned down (it was only a small gazebo), but it was immune to missle attacks. As the Journey was completed I didn't know what lay ahead for the group, and after making yet another wrong turn, I broke out the store bought modules, both old and new. Still under the chronic lying machinations of Dalmar Sworin, the group continued as an unofficial adventuring group, and the lack of organization will show in the next steps of The Journey of Mutumbo.

Weekend Update... with ViscountEric

On Saturday, Mrs ViscountEric had a fun day of shopping down in Philly with her friend, which translates to I've got kids. I shot out a quick email to friends, got one maybe, and said screw it, one way or another, we're playing with gnomes.

The kids are old enought to entertain themselves for short periods of time, so over the course of an hour, I could wrangle all of the terrain from the garage and set it up on the dining room table without any reportable casualties.

When my lone maybe formally called to bail, I again said screw it, the kids will chuck the dice. So they did.

I can formally announce that the final battle in the Longido Mountain portion of Tanga:1914 is complete. My eldest daughter Maja did an awesome job chucking dice, and Amelia, my youngest did a good job pointing from her high chair and telling Daddy which way to move figure, who to fire at, etc. We did so good, that we got everything cleaned up, a light dinner in their bellies, and a quick cat nap before Mommy got home with her treasures. A good day all around.

Other news/follow-ups of note:
*The AAR for Saturday's game will show up on Wednesday. I have an automatic post coming on Tuesday for my old Hackmaster campaign and I want Tanga up as the latest post for awhile. Pics are shot with a camera phone, but they do the trick.
*Still waiting on my ship and marines to paint for the Gnome Wars extravaganza at Cold Wars. Jim has great step by step instructions on his blog: http://gnomewarsstanton.blogspot.com/ . I need to make a quick run to Michael's for some paint. I had a cool alternate uniform for the British Marines, but I realized I would be painting them like formal Army officers. I'll send if I can blend the two uniforms together. Time is of the essence.
*I also have floor space ready for the con for Friday night. I'll play Saturday by ear.
* I will be attending Mepacon Spring 2012 this year. The con runs April20-22, and I'll be running a game Saturday afternoon, with my wife in attendance. It is indeed a strange world! Event description will be posted after the Tanga AAR is posted.

(eBay) My treasures have arrived.

I continued the tradition I started last year of going on eBay in January, buying stuff when funds are low. Last year, I was at the hospital every other night staying up with my little 3 week old daughter Amelia, as she was fighting RSV. As it began to clear, I would spend sometime on the computers in the lounge area. Ultimately, I arrived at eBay, and a nostalgia for Legions of Steel kicked in. A couple of Black Empire chariots and some random figs later, I could throw together a quick game of LOS upon command. Winning that game, well, that's another story.

This year, outside of a nasty stomach bug that the family's sharing, we're healthier and equally without extra. But I present to you my finds:
The LOS Tabletop Preview was the playtest version of Planetstorm, and to be honest, it played better than the actual rules that were presented in the more "professional" format. I'm anticipating one more snowstorm this winter and a nice comparison read between the two books on my to-do list for that day.

Up until I looked through this guys eBay listing, I had completely forgotten about Global's failed foray into historicals. I was disappointed to see how thin the book was, however, I almost needed a magnifying glass to read the tiny print they used! The system is based on LOS and the random scenario table, even more random secondary objectives, and decent campaign rules might force me to forgo some gnome love for some WW2 action. It'll take some time to determine what scale in figs and investment to do and try it out. Worst case, I believe Steve has enough A&A infantry that we can make some nice door-to-door fighting.

Sayonara Blue!

Sad news from a couple of weeks ago. I have to inform the world of the demise one of my old school convention companions.

Blue has gone to the scrapyard in the sky. Well, more like a scrapyard outside of Johnstown, PA.

That would be Blue, my buddy Wooly's Jeep.

In our hierarchy of convention vehicles, there are only four of note.

#4: An honorable mention to our buddy George's brand new Dodge Avenger. Technically it was only our first pilgrimage to Crazy Egor's in Rochester, New York. It was truly the last hurrah for the high school gaming group and it involved me going over 110 mph and a 6'8" black New York statie who was pulling speeding cars over with his bare hands. And no, those two actions weren't associated with one another.

#3: Wooly's first car, I believe, was a Chevy Cavalier (or Corsica, they were kinda interchangable). It was the first con-mobile to go up to Buffalo for UBCon. It was the first vehicle to have a giant Elmo stick it's head out the window and terrorize other motorists on the Southern Tier Expressway (Rt 17).

#1: The Duster, as in my '86 Plymouth Duster of legend. Dammit, not only does my car deserve it's own post, there are enough stories to warrant its own blog! When Phil isn't shaking, I may tell them.

So that make Blue #2 on the list. Wooly's Jeep was his second car purchase, and right off the bat it was going to special, especially when the dealer sticker on the back can be altered to read Murray Motors, Hell, PA.

Blue was our main mode of transportation to cons. Not the comfiest ride for 4+ hour road trips, but there was plenty of room.

This is a vehicle we left our friend Scott to a biker gang at a rest stop.

Hell, the guys drove off-road across the campus of the University of Buffalo at night with no lights on, only to emerge out of brush, right along side a New York State Police cruiser, whose occupant must have been either asleep or oblivious. They crept away, with no one being the wiser of their actions.

Heck, this is the vehicle that Wooly and I drove to Toronto to visit the guys at Global Games. At Canadian Customs we were nearly detained because (a) we couldn't decide if the trip was business or pleasure and (b) Wooly had a "Violator" action figure of Spawn fame dangling from the rear view mirror, and the customs official either thought it was alive or it was so cool he wanted more time to look at it.

This is only one of two vehicles I ever slept in, instead of paying for a room at a conn.(Dexcon '96 in Edison). One sweaty night with Wooly was enough for me!

Blue is the only vehicle I know of to be blown up as a result of a LARP. Some of the bombs from my Illuminati University LARP at the Garden State Games Faire somehow ended up inside the front wheel wells of his Jeep and forgotten. When Wooly tried to leave Sunday morning, he turned the wheel to pull out of his parking spot and heard multiple loud pops as the tires crushed the fake bombs. Oddly enough it was the next Games Faire where his front axel, or tie rods, or something snapped in the parking lot. Eerie conicidence, or cosmic fate, you decide.

In the years since, Wooly did what any Jeep enthusiast does: lift the Hell out of it and take it on trail runs, which he and his wife Jenny have been doing on a regular basis. Earlier this year they took the old girl out, ran a few obstacle tests, and one of the Jeep's tires blew. Ultimately Blue flipped backwards and landed on it's roof. With a driveway full of other Jeeps, plus a Willy's project in the garage, they decided the time was right to salvage as many parts and profits from it and scrap her.

Rest well in scrap heaven, old buddy. Thanks for the memories.

(Gnome Wars) Keptin Bilge Rat?

Lon (or one of his twisted minions) at Brigade Games is updating their website, so it's been a little wonky this afternoon, but this little gem appeared out of nowhere:

As if Captain Alvarado wasn't bad enough, now we have a Bilge Rat Captain? I'm seeing a bit more Muppet Treasure Island than I want to admit with this, but can't wait to see the a bag of them in the Gnome Wars bins at Cold Wars. $2.00

The Apathy of New Releases (February 2012)

Ah, here we are, finally emerging from the winter doldrums, at least when it comes to Spring solicitations. Game Trade Magazine #144 is out and here are the items pending release for March 2012 or later.

Want list: The French say le sigh, the Germans, das sigh, the Japanese say something I can't type. To me, it's just sigh. There is nothing this month that I need to put on my list.

The Money's No Option List

Fortress Freakin' America, baby! Yeah, it's ridiculously expensive ($79.99) , but back in the day it was even more ridiculously expensive for someone with paper route and lawn mowing money.

And if I saw it on the shelf and had a twenty burning a hole in my pocket, Osprey's The Browning Automatic Rifle would be mine.

It's not in this issue GTM, and it sounds like it should be going through distribution channels soon, but WotC's reprinting of the 1st Edition Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster manual is too good not to list here. Plus every other gamer in the blogosphere has posted about it already (I checked). Different cover art (boo!), but some portion of the proceeds will be donated to erect a statue of Gary Gygax in Lake Geneva. If that doesn't say road trip for future generations, I don't know what does!

Store list: The imaginary store now will have a name. The Pegleg Gnome. Months from now, someone will look at a future Apathy and then google the term for a store. Ah, to sow the seeds of confusion!

The Army Painter is now going through Alliance for an additional distribution channel. Their 18ml bottles are still smaller than the Ral Partha 3/4 oz (21-22ml) bottles of yore, but the price is okay when adjusted for inflation. A couple things I'm interested at: flesh inks and I'm hoping their Greenskin is a nice orc green.

Battlefront: Just a few support weapons and a lot of terrain (barbed wire, trenches, etc) for Flames of War. At $40 a box, I just want to know how much is in each box to determine if it would be a good deal for the customer, and more importantly, a good deal for the store.

Ares: Wings of Glory for World War II

Dream Pod 9: I still comment on Heavy Gear simply because the continued solicitation of vast amounts of product astounds and terrifies me at the same time. I haven't pulled up old issues of GTM yet, but I have a sneaking suspiscion that a number of the items in this months deluge are resolicits, meaning the first wave didn't go over well in the pre-order front, or they couldn't get the items out in time. The Pegleg Gnome would rather support a line that has some customer awareness both old and new school, like Battletech, rather than it's glitzy cousin.

Fantasy Flight Games:
*Arkham Horror Dice Sets $9.95 each.
*Cosmic Encounter: Cosmic Alliance Expansion $24.95
*ROGUE TRADER: THE KORONUS BESTIARY $39.95

Gale Force 9 D&D Invisibility Tokens $12.99 each for sets of 9. And they will sell. P.T. Barnum obviously sold D&D accessories. Litko also has a pile of game tokens being solicited as well, as I believe they make more money off of 4e gamers than wargamers. If 5e emerging from the shadows is still mini-centric, we're in for a world full of tokens.

Yu-Gi-Oh - Another new set. If it sells with a minimum of headaches, why not?

Mongoose: Between A Call to Arms Starfleet and Armadillo Design Bureau releasing a pile of new Star Fleet Battles material, somebody SOMEWHERE is playing it. Here in Pennsylvania I haven't seen anything since '89, although when I worked at Dreamscape Comics in the mid-90's, one dude bought every new SFB item that came out. Never sold another copy, so a handful of restocks sat.
TRAVELLER RPG: DENEB SECTOR
TRAVELLER RPG: FRENCH ARM ADVENTURES

Margaret Weiss: Marvel RPG Ciivil War Fifty States Initiative: If their sales are half as good as their release schedule is ambitious, this version of the game might be around awhile.

Pathfinder:
from Open Design: Midgaard Bestiary and The Whispering Homunculus
Paizo: Advanced Race Guide, Skulls and Shackles part 3, Giants Revisted, City of the Fallen Sky, Blood of Fiends

Pinnacle: Beast and Barbarians and the Horror Companion, each for Savage Worlds

Reaper: some nice zombies and miscellaneous characters, and is that a singular WWI Dough boy I see solicited? Intriguing.

SJG: The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin 2: Beating a Dead Horse, Munchkin The Guild, and Zombie Dice 2

WOTC:
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: FORTUNE CARDS - SPIRAL OF THARIZDUN
I remember these being mentioned during Gamma World's release. A deck of cards built from booster packs that can affect gameplay? It makes scratch off lotery tickets look like a solid investment deal. Yet, as a store, I would probably sell of case of them. It's so crazy, it'll probably work.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HALLS OF UNDERMOUNTAIN BOXED SET: An Undermountain boxed set? 20 years after the original? For map heavy 4th edition? And it's only $30.00? Something is either wrong with that price, or this will be a bigger rip off than the cards.

Wizkids: A good pile of Marvel Hero Clix: Galactic Guardians, Colossal X-Men 2, and the annihilators pack.