1:25 PM
A Crowd Favorite Returns
I ran a scenario I called "Hell Comes to Frogtown" (name borrowed from the excellent Rowdy Roddy Piper cheese flick from the 80s) last year at camp. It was an amusing swirl of Sharpshooters, the Undead, Prussians, Killer Robots, Cattle Stampedes and what have you. At this year's camp, I had planned on running a Tavern Brawl game (54mm, using the All for One cinematic swashbuckling rules) instead, but there were many requests to run this game again from the lads who were at camp last year. I had no problem recreating the scenario as many of the figures were still secure in their boxes from last year.
The Dramatis Personae had not changed from last time, and aside from some terrain pieces being added to avoid easy long distance shots, the layout was similar to last year's game, if somewhat more spread out.
The Rules are THE RULES WITH NO NAME, a simple (free) skirmish rule set set in the Wild West, and one that I have had some association with since 1997. This scenario would be scaled just a little bit up from man to man skirmishing, and likely would have been better run in GASLIGHT, but the lads like the "Big Bucket of Six Siders" approach to Game Design, and I have so much stuff for TRWNN it was easy to run and warmly received.
Since Hell Comes to Frogtown, Texas was really a small unit skirmish game, I created factions and had the leader be a shootist and the rest of the faction were "schnooks" or gunmen. Movement of the squad keyed off the leader and it went very smoothly. For more details on how to adapt TRWNN to squad level, see the AAR Post I put up last year, which explains group movment and a few VSF concepts, like programming HERMAN THE GERMAN ROBOT.
The scenario is essentially a hodgepodge of straight TRWNN, with a dash of SCARY MONSTERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST thrown in, and a dash of GASLIGHT. Like the long ago HELL COMES TO COW TOWN, the scenario pits factions with different victory goals against each other and assigns the winner to the faction that achieves their goals best.
SETTING: The town of Frogtown, Texas.. a major transhipment point for Coal Gas.
SCENARIO PLAYERS:
Prussian Squads A, B, and C: 1 Shootist and 6-7 Gunmen. Shootists=Leaders. A Detachment of Prussian Soldiers sent to secure the town from the Texans and capture the transhipment point for Coal Gas.
Doktor D'eth and Herman the German Robot: Mad Inventor and Clockwork Programmable robot.
Ah Pook the Destroyer (three gangs of zombies-- western style). Zombies are essentially brainless gunmen who blaze away until they unload, then close in for melee and munching.
Texas Rangers: Here to defend the bank (1 Shootist, 6 Gunmen)
U.S. Cavalry Scout Squadron: (1 Shootist, 6 Gunmen)..here to "observe" a gang of Mexican bandits they have been chasing. Note in this world, Texas is a Republic, the US is still fighting the Civil War, and the U.S. Cavalry has no jurisdiction in this town. Not that it matters.
United States Sharpshooters (all shootist, 1 leader). An elite gang of spies/saboteurs/agents of the United States Government. Crack shots that can snipe from afar. They are here to observe and foil the efforts of the Prussian Detachments sent to secure the town, whether the government of Texas objects or not.
Cappy's Mercenary Rocketboys (1 Shootist, the rest gunmen). A group of rocket assisted infantry who had been serving as mercenaries for the Texas Government until the great collapse. They haven't been paid. They are upset, and looking for work.
Local Cowboys Out For Trouble (1 Shootist, rest gunmen).
Thomas (my energetic TA) loves this game and since he is now an old hand at TRWNN, I kind of eased back on the tiller once the game got started and let him run things. He kept a rather detailed list of what transpired, which is given below. I so rarely have an AAR of such clarity, I thought it would be fun to post this.
Hell comes to Frog Town. Courtesy of Thomas (and thank you).
Turn 1-
Zombies shamble towards bandits, use gunmans’ action to engage Banditos and kill one.
Banditos promptly flee in terror towards the barn where the Cowboys are hiding.
The Flyboys blast off towards Dr. D’eth and hash out an a deal of mutual protection..
The Texas Rangers shoot at the Flyboys but do nothing.
The US cavalry scout mission sits in its’ barn.
Same for Cowboys.
Prussian squads A & C advance, C towards the mansion where the USSSS is skulking, A to cover the center of town.. Squad B aims, and the combined fire of the squads kills one of the two USSSS members perched on the roof of the governors’ mansion and knocks two others down.
Herman the German Robot Tramples his way around a large square, and ends precariously close to a table edge.
Turn 2
As the Bandits cower in terror, the Cowboys wander towards the USS mansion.
The Cavalry Aim at the encroaching Prussian squad C.
The USSS wounded stand up, move inside, and a member of Prussian Squad A is knocked out and seriously wounded.
Herman Tromps along the board edge as Dr. D’eth runs after, waiting with new instructions for turn 3.
PSC moves towards the USS, determined to drive them off the building.
PSA fires to no effect at the USS.
The Rocket Boys, with their gunman action, blast onto the roof of the Mansion from some 36 inches away. However, they are unable to do anything.
The Cowboys run towards the Mansion to aid the USS. They are followed by the Banditos.
The Zombies shuffle forward along the outskirts of town.
The Rangers, having emptied all their rifles, stand and reload.
Turn 3
PSC continues to march towards the building containing the USS.
PSB once again fired at the USS, knocking one down.
PSA stood and Aimed at the Cavalry.
The Cavalry kill one of PSC.
The Cowboys rush into the lower floor of the Mansion.
The Banditos stand inside the Tavern to blaze away at the flyboys, but nothing happens.
The Zombies continue to shuffle.
The Flyboys jumped down and engaged the cowboys to a stand-still.
The USS kill another of PSC, as well as one of the Flyboys.
Herman marches towards the bank, but breaks down.
Turn 4
Herman the German...Robot spends a turn still as Dr. D’eth repairs him.
The Rangers leap down from the bank and prepare to fire on Dr. Death.
The flyboys jump back to the roof to avoid the zombies.
PSC hides along the building to avoid more fire from the Cavalry. They shoot the USSSS and knock a man down.
The USS kill a member of PSB.
The Zombies use a gunman action to move in for the kill.
The Banditos hold in place.
The Cowboys hold in place.
The Cavalry run out towards PSA.
Turn 5
Unluckily, the Rangers kill Dr. D’eth after he repairs Herman. Herman marches forwards and kills 4 of the 6 rangers and crushes a small hut.
The Rangers flee in terror.
The Flyboys blast ineffectually at the Banditos.
The Zombies charge PSC and devour two of them.
The Cavalry run across the street towards PSA.
PSB reloads, owing to Byrons’ roll of 11 ones out of 36 dice. (The Blazing Away UNLOAD rule happens when you roll more 1s than 6s on your to hit dice).
The USS shoots at a member of PSA and kills him.
The Cowboys hold in place.
Turn 6
The Zombies continue to fight with PSC.
The Cavalry shoot at PSA and kill one.
PSA charges the Cavalry and kill three!
The Flyboys attempt to shoot a cow and start a stampede. Sadly, they kill it before it can tear down a fence.
The USS shoots at the zombies but does nothing.
The Banditos run towards the bank to complete their mission.
Herman tears through the Bank and rips both roofs off.
The Rangers walk towards the melee in the Mansion.
Turn 7
The Zombies finish off PSC and charge the fight between the Cavalry and PSA.
PSA sacrifices their Shootist Action Card in order to flee.
The Cavalry lose a man to the Zombies but also flee.
The Zombies play a gunman action and catch and kill the PSA.
PSB shoots at one of the Zombie Controllers and knocks him out, but he awakens with a roll of a six.
The USS kill a Controller of the Zombies.
The Flyboys shoot at another cow, but kill that one too.
The Cowboys and Flyboys declare a truce and the Cowboys run to the roof of the Mansion.
Herman Tears down the Stables, then marches into a fence and is destroyed by a stampede of horses.
The Banditos shoot and kill a ranger.
The Last Ranger charges the Banditos but fails to kill them.
Turn 8
The Cavalry fight the Zombies. When the smoke clears, a zombie is dead, but only the “.22" McGee survives the carnage.
The Zombies are unable to beat “.22" McGee.
The USS kill the Shootist level character (leader) of Prussian Squad B.
The Flyboys fly down to the fence. They open the gate, and instantly lose four men as bulls trample them.
PSB does nothing.
The Cowboys shoot and wound the sole remaining Zombie Controller.
The Banditos lose one man to the Ranger, but then kill him.
Turn 9
The Zombies kill “.22.” McGee, then blast a Cowboy off the roof with their pistols.
The USS kills the remaining controller, and the Zombies turn on Iggy the Hunchback. Iggy actually kills one in hand-to-hand.
The Bandits run towards the bank.
The Flyboys fight the bulls, fail to wound any, and lose a man to the raging bulls. Only their Shootist level Leader remains.
PSB kills a zombie with rifle fire.
The Cowboys shoot at the Zombies to no effect.
The stampede takes a freak turn, crushes the Zombies and poor Iggy, then kills 4 of the 5 Banditos.
Turn 10
The last Flyboy escapes the Cows.
The last Bandit, Antonio Smyth, runs into the bank ahead of the cows.
PSB, down to three members, retreats away from the Mansion.
The USS congratulate themselves on a job well done!
Victory for the Bandits, as they were the only ones to complete an objective.
Total Body Count- 47 of 63 dead.
Once Again, A Slideshow, this time in context:
 | Cool Slideshows! |
8:40 PM
Warping young minds, that's where...
Once again, I spent the week running a game camp at Saint Stevens and Saint Agnes School in Alexandria, VA. I was flattered to have many of the lads from last year return, and we had a great time running tabletop games. I tried to introduce the fellows to the concept that there is a hobby world outside of Games Workshop, and I think I succeeded. Here's the lineup this week:Monday: Saurian Safari (Dinosaurs and Darkest Africa figures)
Tuesday: Really Big Gladiators (54mm scale-- using Munera rules)
Wednesday: Le Grand Cirque Dinosaur Island! (VSF racing game, my design)
Thursday: Hell Comes to Frogtown (by request) a VSF small unit skirmish game done using Rules with No Name (see slideshow)
Friday: Return to Lilliput (my design) Lilliputians versus Pirates (see followup post)
Thank you, thank you, thank you, to Andy Turlington and Rich Low for lending me Saurian Safari stuff. We loved it.
Thanks, as well, to Tim and Thomas, my trusty Teaching Assistants. It was their dogged work that helped get the Lilliput game from a pie-in-the-sky notion to a real game that worked by Friday.
Here are some shots from the Hell Comes to Frogtown game. The game was a reprise of last year's scenario of the same name, which left a big impression on the lads. They demanded it again, and whom am I to refuse?
Once again, the, er.. historical scenario of Prussians, Cowboys, Zombies, Sharpshooters, and Cavalrymen played itself out. I'm not sure exactly what happened, as I let the TAs play and run the thing, but they assured me it was a game of portent and MANY weird events. Just as it should be. Thomas will be sending me a writeup which I will append here.
| Cool Slideshows! |
I am very grateful to Saint Stevens and Saint Agnes for giving me this opportunity each year, and I very much look forward to next year.
4:22 PM
Suggestions solicited and considered...
I'm running a gaming camp for kids this summer in August. These things are pretty big deals and I love working on them. I was just asked what my "syllabus" for the camp was (like last year) as the director of the camp is putting together promotional material in advance. Here's what I sent him:
FANTASY WARFARE: THE GRAND CAMPAIGN!
Fantasy gaming camp will be an all day affair from (was it 8?) to (3?). Each day will naturally break up into a morning and afternoon session broken up by lunch.
The morning session will feature:
Priming and Figure Preparation
Basic Figure Painting Class: Primary colors, stains, highlights, shading and sealing. Students will be given their own small army to paint up in a color scheme and fantasy theme of their choice. PRIZES will be awarded for best effort, best improvement and ironman painter. Students will be able to take their armies home at the end of the week, naturally.
Terrain Building: Hot Foam Cutting, Flocking and the use of "found objects" as well as paper models for terrain pieces. "It doesn't have to cost a million bucks to look like a million bucks!"
The morning session is very free form and individual students may wish to concentrate on those elements that suit their own needs or desires. For students who "came to play, not to paint", we will ALWAYS have a morning game session ready for guys who just want to move figures and roll dice.
Afternoon Sessions
After lunch, we are devoted totally to the playing of games. One of the observations I made about last year was that some children didn't wish to play games, but wanted to sit and paint. That's not a problem, but to foster a wider participation for everyone, I will be running THE GRAND CAMPAIGN! a small tournament between all the class participants, during the course of the the week. Figures will be 15mm (I have plenty of these), the rules simplified Hordes of the Things (tm) by WRG or possibly Fantasy Rules! (tm) by Chipco. Terrain will be 8 individual 3 foot by 3 foot simple battle setups. Players will be participating ina simple ladder tournament where the winners play each other the next day. Those that are eliminated will be able to run Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, my own Victorian Science Fiction ruleset (Le Grand Cirque), Gladiator fights, Fast action combat chariots, Return to Lilliput, or The Tibetan Corpse Racing Olympiad-- whatever they like that I can supply.
The emphasis is on friendly and gentlemanly competition, not on conflict.
Well, that's the core of it. What do you think?
I will need to buy about three boxes of Warhammer PLASTIC (ahem, not metal!) figures to paint, plus some terrain pieces for the HOTT tournament, and maybe 1-2 more 15mm figure sets for variety. I don't anticipate a huge cash outlay in expense.
Hey out there in blogland, what do you think? What should I add to this? Keep in mind that the average customer is a very bright 12 to 13 year old, that might get easily distracted. Is it too complicated? Just right?
11:16 PM
Where have I been all week??
I've been running a gaming summer camp for Saint Stephens and Saint Agnes school in Alexandria Va. I got the "gig" on former HMGS president Del Stover's recommendation. He ran the program last year, and it was billed as primarily a Lord of the Rings battle gaming camp. I told the folks at SSSA that I didn't really do the "Games Workshop thing" but they seemed eager to have me there anyway.
So my program was a wee bit different. I tried to create a game design course for 12 year olds with the stated 'graduation' of running a game that we designed, with figures we painted, with terrain that we built. I had mixed results.
It was clear that the vast majority of students just wanted to play Warhammer in some format during the week.. nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I brought in a whole bunch of unpainted Warhammer stuff from my basement and they went crazy for it.
They were less enthralled with 54mms, but I loved the ones I bought... they were great and just right for painting novices, who need a lot of room to make mistakes. MY mistake was not accomodating (off the bat) the need for more advanced painters in the crowd.
Painting was the morning class every day, and it lasted until 11. On one day we had a terrain building workshop... on another, we built buildings.
I ran a game EVERY DAY which was exhausting to me. On Monday, it was Gladiator fighting using my friend Steve Gibson's rules and figures. On Tuesday, we did Lord of the Rings. On Wednesday, we did Lord of the Rings again and The Rules with No Name, VSF style. We continued that game on Thursday, as it was immensely popular. I designed a combat chariot game for the class and ran it on Friday, and it, too proved to be wildly popular. Our graduation exercise (designing our own game) did not come off as I thought it would, but we had great fun with the combat chariots game instead. Not to mention the ice cream party afterward.
I loved running this camp. It was the most demanding GMing I've ever had to do, and the most creative I've had to be as a designer. I liked "my guys", who were uniformly clever gaming geeks. I hope to have the opportunity to do it again.
Perhaps the greatest compliment I've had as a GM came from Thomas, one of the sharper knives in the drawer, as he saw me limping out of the administration building at the end of the week. "Mr. O'Hara.. .just wanted to tell you.. that Wild West game, with the Prussians and Giant Steam Robot, and the United States Sharpshooters, and the evil cultists.. that was the best wargame experience I've ever had! Could you come back and throw a whole week of games like THAT next year??? for the older kids??"
Clearly I need to work on the format, but I have an idea of where I want to go next year now, and what pushes the buttons of these guys. Some of them came to just paint miniatures. Some of them came to just play Warhammer brand X. Some of them liked everything. Some of them just liked watching a movie at lunch time. It's hard to motivate everyone all the time. But I think I have an inkling of where to go with it if they ask me back.
