Spaceship Games

 Recently one of my local gaming groups posted on Facebook to see if anyone would be interested in Battle Fleet Gothic when we can get back into the club with our toys. There was a surprisingly enthusiastic response. Now I don't recall ever playing BFG, but I do have some space ship mini's for other games. I even have some Games Workshop spaceships! Mine are pre BFG and mostly pre- Warhammer. They are still nice little models and I remain fond of them.

QT Models - Atlantic Class Star liners masquerading as Guild Mercenary Cruisers.

QT Models / GW Re-issue - Shark Class Cruiser - The Empire's finest

GW/Citadel SCL6 Star Cruiser - Novan Head Hunters

Back in the early eighties, I was a student at Sheffield Polytechnic. I was more into gaming and modelling than my coursework so my stay in Sheffield only lasted one year. There were other issues, but I didn't identify them until much later. While in Sheffield, I joined Sheffield War Gaming Society. They met above the Robin Hood Hotel on the Wicker. One of the popular games at the time was Encounter One. This was a spaceships game with fleets of model spaceships battling across the table top. 

Encounter One was written by Phil Brough and Malcolm Booth as Starfleet Studies. Both were members of Sheffield Wargame Society. They were published by Tabletop Games with some ships produced by QT Miniatures. I have copies of the second and third editions of the rules, so they were popular enough and went through some evolution. I am not aware of any later editions of the rules.

Encounter One 3rd Edition cover.

I saw a few big games of Encounter One played and they left quite an impression on me. I got a set of the rules, acquired a few model spaceships of my own and started designing my own ships. I never got to play Encounter One at Sheffield, but I brought the rules and my ships back to Hull where we played a few good games at Humberside Wargames Society. 

One of the best things for me was seeing how ship and fleet designs evolved over several games. Players tried out different weapons and tactics and came up with counters to their opponents fleets. 

The ship design system in E1 is relatively simple. You select weapons, defences, drives and other systems up to an agreed points total. The more equipment your ship has the bigger it is and the more Drives you need to move or turn it. The seven (and a half) different 'Races' in Encounter One, each have various advantages and special systems. It is a challenge to make the most of your fleet and minimise its disadvantages. 

Turn Sequence and movement are straight forward. There are no written orders required, ships align their shields, then move in sequence alternating between players moving one ship or squadron at a time. When all ships have moved attacks are carried out, once again alternating between players. 

The combat system may look complex at first but it is easy to pick up. Beams always hit, but the damage they do is reduced by range, target mass, tactical factors and the target's shields. Missiles have a chance of hitting (or missing) and may be stopped by point defence. If they hit they do one or two points of damage. Each point of damage takes out a Hull box or ship system. Hit location is random, it is possible to disable a ship with one hit if a vital system such as the Reactor, Bridge or Drive is struck.

There are rules for Morale, Fighters, Tractor Beams, Boarding Actions by Space Marines and the effects of Gravity.

I may be a bit nostalgic, but I still like this game and going through the rules again just reinforce that opinion. I would like to play it again and see others playing it. To that end and with Malcolm Booth's permission I have produced an updated set of Encounter One rules that you can download and try for yourself. The new version of Encounter One 2021 edition can be downloaded from my Encounter One page.

Encounter One 2021

If you do try it out, please let me know how you get on or if you have any questions.

Play nice and have fun,

Chris 

A year of Hordes - Further notes

Since I posted our results table, I have come across a few more diary entries:

20 November 2017

Honest Orcs

Dwarves

Dwarves win

So far the Dwarves remain unbeaten, but the Honest Orcs acquitted themselves well and the latest game was a darn close run thing!

15th January 2018

Ratmen

Savage Orcs

Savage Orcs win

Once again the Savage Orc Hordes outperformed all expectation, their Ballista unleashed Hell and their Trolls stomped across the battlefield causing mayhem.
The plucky Rats got mangled due to a series of lousy dice rolls. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

19th February 2018

Eastern Empire

Savage Orcs

Two games, one win each

We played two games of Hordes of the Things last night at Stronghold. Kev's Savage Orcs won the first battle when my Empire general rashly tried to tackle the trolls on his own. As that game finished rather quicker than expected we had a rematch.
The Empire re-organised and put their strong cavalry front and centre with the infantry (bows supported by spears) on either flank.
The Empire infantry managed to hold off the Orc's Trolls and Bats while the Empire cavalry rolled over the Orc Shooters in their centre.

23rd July 2018

Honest Orcs ?

Savage Orcs

Savage Orcs Win

Richard joined us, he borrowed Kev's Savage Orcs and trounced me and my army.

17th September

Steppe 'N Wolf goblins

Medieval

Draw ?

Kev's first outing with his new Medieval army. Hero General, Cleric, Artillery, Knights and Blades. They look superb.

A year of Hordes at The Stronghold

Kev and I started playing Hordes of the Things together at The Stronghold Games Club in November last year. We have managed to get a couple of games in each month since then. Best as I can recall results so far are as follows:

Date	Chris	Kevin	Comment
6 November 2017	Lizardmen	Dwarves	Dwarves win
4th December 2017	Ratmen	Steppe Goblins	Goblins win, just
11th December 2017	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Orcs win
29th January 2018	Dwarves	Savage Orcs	Dwarves win
5th February 2018	Black Orcs	Savage Orcs	Not recorded
19th February 2018	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Two games, one win each
12th March 2018	Ratmen	Savage Orcs	Ratmen win
14th May 2018	Ratmen	Dwarves	Close win for the Dwarves
9th April 2018	Army of the Basilisk	Dwarves	Dwarves win
23rd April 2018	Ratmen	Dwarves	Dwarves win, JC got frogged!
30th April 2018	New Reformed Dwarves	Savage Orcs	Draw due to time out.
4th June 2018	Ratmen	Savage Orcs	Ratmen win
11th June 2018	Honest Orcs	Savage Orcs	Savage Orcs win
18th June 2018	Steppe Goblins	Savage Orcs	Steppe Goblins win
9th July 2018	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Draw
3rd September 2018	Eastern Empire	Savage Orcs	Savage Orcs win
10th September 2018	Steppe Goblins	Savage Orcs	Two games, Orcs win both. Richard won with the Orcs in the second match.
15th October 2018	Eastern Empire	Medieval	Empire win
22nd October 2018	Lizardmen	Savage Orcs	Lizardmen win

Results overall are fairly even, some of the battles were pretty close. I have not kept track of who was defending or attacking, but this does not usually make much difference to our tactics!
We had one game where Richard played Kev's army and won a good victory with a surprising flank move.

Hordes of the Things - Ratmen vs Dwarves, Round 2

Our latest Monday evening game of Hordes at The Stronghold Gaming Club was a rematch for my Ratmen Vs Kev's Dwarves. It was a darn close run thing as the Ratmen almost took down the Dwarves. At one point both armies were down to 14AP (12 AP and you lose).

Dwarves:
Hero General 4AP x1
Trolls - Behemoth 4AP x1
Ogres - Behemoth 4AP x1
Dwarven X Bows - Shooters 2AP x1
Dwarven Warriors - Blades 2AP x5

The Dwarves got to defend so had a Stronghold.

Ratmen:
Joolius Cheezer - Magician General 4AP x1
Spears 2AP x2
Shooters 2AP x2
Warbands 2AP x6

We dice for randomised terrain. This time we got a couple of patches of woodland and a couple of Hills.

Both armies advance towards each other in good order. Bad going on both flanks narrow the battlefield.

The Dwarves allied Ogres are lured into an ambush by plucky Ratmen snipers and cut to pieces in the woods!

Confusion abounds as the battle lines break up and it's every Rat or Dwarf for them self!

Both armies are disordered and down to half strength.
The Dwarves hero General stepped into the fray and saved the day for his army, organising a critical counter attack that broke the remaining Ratman army.
The Ratman general, Joolius Cheezer was mostly ineffective. His recent spell as an amphibian must have sapped his confidence!

The dead units pile up on both sides.

The Dwarves remain undefeated but this was a pyrrhic victory.

Hordes of the Things: Rats vs Goblins

We played another game of Hordes of the Things last night at the Stronghold. Kev went with the Steppe Goblins, I tried out the Ratmen. It's an odd matchup as the Goblins are mostly Mounted and the Ratmen are all Foot;

Steppe Goblins:

Wolf Chariot (Knight) General, 2x Chariot/Knights, 6x Wolf Riders, 2x Spears, 1 Warband.

Ratmen:

Magician General, 6x Warband, 2x Spear, 2x Shooters. The Ratmen were defending so get a Stronghold.

We left the terrain fairly open with a couple of easy hills on the centre line.

Ratmen deployed first with their Wizard general in the centre flanked by two spears, then two blocks of 3 Warband and one Shooter. The Goblins put their Chariots in the centre along with their foot and two blocks of 3 Riders on each flank.

First couple of turns saw both armies advancing towards each other. The Goblin's wolf-riders easily beat the Rats to the Hills and started to menace their flanks. The Ratty warbands and shooters advanced on each flank to try and dislodge the enemy Riders. The goblins uphill advantage resulted in an early kill of one Rat Warband but mostly the Riders were pushed back. This activity continued for the rest of the game as Rats and Goblins played King of the castle taking turns to push each other off the hill with occasional losses to either side.

In the centre the Goblin general and his companion chariots advanced into range of the Rat wizard Joolius Cheezer. A fortunate PIP roll gave the wizard enough points to risk casting at the nearest chariot, resulting in the chariot recoiling and a lingering aroma of singed wolf-hair.

The right flank Rat warband realised they were threatened by the remaining Chariots (Knights destroy Warbands) so they got their charge in first and overturned the goblin general's chariot! If the Goblin's had lost more troops than the Rats this would have been an instant defeat. Fortunately for the Goblins they had killed more than they had lost and were still ahead on points, so the battle continued.

Loss of their general meant the Goblins now needed two Pips for each tactical move.
By this stage of the battle most troops on both sides were engaged. It came down to a war of attrition as units on both sides were lost. Warbands are impetuous so they always follow up on a victory. They just kept on chasing after their more mobile opponents.
The Ratmen reached their break point first, giving a hard fought posthumous victory to the Steppe Goblin general.

It was good fun. I have had both armies for years, but it was the first time I have played the Ratmen. They worked pretty well and I suspect could do much better against an infantry army. Their general 'Joolius Cheeser' did well and the Warbands exceeded all expectations, crazy little buggers YOLO'ing across the tabletop! These could be the army to finally take down the Dwarves.
The Goblins won the game despite their General and his Chariots. These are tin Soldier figures and some of my first 15mm Fantasy units. The Chariots look wonderful, but have failed badly in every game I can recall playing them.

Next week Kev is bringing his new armies...

Dragon Fight - Gold Rush - Scenario

Dragon Fight - Gold Rush!

I have been playing a 1990's PC game Drakan - Order of the Flame recently and it got me thinking about Dragon Fight again. But until I get a load of mountain scenery, catapults, Crow Dragons and Wartoks, this will have to do...

Dragon Fight - Gold Rush, or the Treasure of Skegness is a scenario seed for Dragon Fight! 
It borrows a scenario from the Pirates of the Spanish Main CSG game. 

Skegness, the greatest Dragon of the realm has been robbed by mannish adventurers and her golden hoard scattered! As an up-and-coming greatest Dragon, this is your opportunity to grab GOLD, show the other Dragons who's boss and earn some Prowess.

You will need:

• At least three players, more is better;
• A Playing area; a 6x4 table top should be fine.
• One Dragon (or other Flier) for each player; Each Dragon should start with 20GP distributed between Strength, Agility and Combat. Each Dragon can also have up to 12 GP to spend on Prowess, Defence or Breath Weapon/Special Attacks.
• Each Dragon will need their own Lair; Each Lair is a scenic item, such as a cave mouth, ruined tower, mountain top, volcano or deep dark lake. Use your imagination. Lairs are chosen and located in Strength order, roll Strength Dice for each Dragon. Highest gets first choice. Might is Right! Lairs should be located around the perimeter of the Playing area. Roll 1D6 for each Lair, this is the height band each Lair is placed at. note the Height Band next to each Lair.
• In the middle of the playing area is the Lair of Skegness. This should be suitably impressive. (Any one who has actually been to Skegness will know what to look for!)
• Scattered around the Lair of Skegness are the bits of her Hoard. If you don't have piles of gold, items of magic or caskets of precious jewels handy, you can use dice instead. You will need two bits of treasure for each player. Players take it in turn to place Treasure on the Playing Area. (Alt. Scenery and Treasure could all be placed by a referee before hand.)

Each Dragon starts in their Lair. Use the Lair's HB when rolling for Precedence on the first turn.

The object of the game is to steal treasure and return it to your Lair. You can take treasure from the scattered bits of hoard, or try to steal it from another Dragon. You can not take Treasure from another Dragons Lair. They are well guarded and hidden even if the owning Dragon is away.

Dragon's pick up Treasure from the Ground by landing next to the item. They can attempt to take off again on the following round.

Dragons can carry up to their capacity of Treasure items. Note: A Strength D4 Dragon can carry one Item without penalty.

Dragons can steal Treasure from each other by winning a round of combat. The winning Dragon can choose to take an item of Treasure rather than inflicting a wound. The robbed Dragon chooses which item is taken.

I would recommend that you do not play to the death! If a Dragon receives a fatal wound, they must drop half (rounded down) of any treasure they are carrying and flee back to their Lair until the next game.

The game is over when at least three quarters of the Treasure has been returned to a Lair.

Dragons earn one Victory Point for each piece of Treasure they return to their Lair.
Dragons earn one Victory Point for each round of Combat they win.

When the game finishes roll each Treasure dice and add up the total in each Dragon's possession. The Dragon with the highest total gets another Victory Point.

The Dragon with the most Victory Points gets possession of Skegness's Lair next game.

Have fun and play nice.

Slammer - Activation Table explained

As part of the Star Force project I proposed creating an edition of Slammer using the Solar Federation / Ramorian Empire setting. This would include unit and equipment stats for troops and vehicles tied to proposed figure range. To help get my head around it all I printed off a copy of Slammer. Somehow a paper
copy seems much more tangible than the digital copies I have been playing with for years. Skimming through the paper rules I noticed something missing. I have been following the rules design discussion on Delta Vector and I wanted to check how Slammer treats troops reaction and opportunity fire.

I have always played the Activation Table so a higher Activation unit can make an early interrupt and take their turn before a lower Activation unit if necessary. I have always assumed this was written into the rules, but I could not find it.

I had to go back through the Yahoo Group message archive to 1999 before I found it written down in response to a player's query about the turn sequence.

I have attached the relevant passage below and emphasised the key bits.

When we first tried Slammer the turn sequence was reversed so higher activation troops moved first. This really didn't work. The best units became instant opportunity targets for every unit on the board and got cut to pieces before they could achieve anything. Lower activation troops have much more limited options, moving them first gets the 'compulsories' out of the way. If they are going to run or fall back, it's worthwhile giving them a head start then keep them running rather than catching them and having to fight. If your high activation unit is afraid they might get away you have the option to opportunity fire and shoot them as they run. If a low unit is firing they may be limited to return fire or panic fire and this is largely ineffective anyway. It's not a race to see who gets off the first shot!

Also a higher activation unit can choose to move at a lower activation level. Units can choose any of the options at their activation level or less, even an option that is nominally unfavourable, e.g. fall back.

I don't think this is stated clearly enough in the rules but it does happen in games I've run that a high activation unit chooses to make its move as an early interrupt, rather like opportunity fire.

 I think this needs repeating and adding to the rules because it's not clear at all. This can make quite a difference to the way troops react to opponents and gives players a bit more to think about rather than just waiting their turn.

The World turned upside down...

We have put our house on the market and are looking for a new home.
Preferably somewhere near the main roads west of Hull.
Among all the work getting our house ready to sell and looking for a new home, it means that most of my projects are put on hold.
I may also have to dispose of some of my toys and books. :(

On the plus side, our new home may have room for a garden railway and or a bigger shed/games room.
Also I have been in discussion with a prominent miniatures producer about reintroducing a beloved fondly remembered range of 1980's sci-fi models... :)

Armies from the Attic part 2 - Hordes of the Things

For a quick and easy fantasy wargame, Hordes of the Things is hard to beat. It's remarkably versatile and has been used for scores of different armies and settings. In the basic game each army adds up to 24 AP (Army Points). If you combine it with DBA you get even more unit types such as Light Cavalry, Pikes and Skirmishers.

Here are some of my instant armies made up from my 15mm figures.

Horde Orcs

A mix of figures from various makers including Tabletop Games, Jacobite, Tin Soldier and Warrior.

Warband General x1 @2 = 2AP;
Black Orc Hordes x4 @1 = 4AP;
Black Orc Bows x2 @2 = 4AP;
Hobgoblin Hordes x4 @1 = 4AP;
Rocktroll Behemoth x1 @4 = 4AP;
Wolf  Rider Cavalry x3 @2 = 6AP.

Hobgoblin Hordes, these are Citadel 25mm Snotlings re-based for 15mm.

Black Orcs

Warband General x1 @2 = 2AP;
Black Orc Spears x4 @2 = 8AP;
Black Orc Bows x2 @2 = 4AP;
Rocktroll Behemoth x1 @4 = 4AP;
Wolf  Rider Cavalry x3 @2 = 6AP.

The Rocktroll. This is a resin model that came as part of a set of elementals.

Steppe Goblins

Chariot General (Knight) x1 @2 = 2AP;
Wolf Chariots (Knights) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Wolf Riders Cavalry x6 @2 = 12AP;
Great Goblin Spears x2 @2 = 4AP;
Great Goblin warband x1 @2 = 2AP;

Goblin Wolf Chariots from Tin Soldier.

Wolf Riders. Mixed and matched from various sources.

Ratmen

I bought this little army ready painted and based. I think that they are Pendrakken 10mm figures.

They work mix nicely as 15mm.

Joolius Cheezer Hero (or Magician) General x1 @4 = 4AP;

Ratona Stick (Spears) x2 @2 = 4AP;

Ratus Ratus Warriors (Warband) x6 @2 = 12AP;

Mad Bombers (Shooters) x2 @2 = 4AP; or

Mad Bombers (Artillery) x1 @3 = 3AP; +

Rats Ass-Assassins (Lurkers) x1 @1 = 1AP.

Joolius Cheezer, Ratman Hero (or Magician) with his backing band, spears and mad bombers.

Orthodox Dwarves

This is a traditional Dwarven army of massed hand weapons, hammers, axes. I think that thee are Peter Pig figures, They were bought ready painted and based.

The Low King Hero General x1 @4 = 4AP;
Dwarf Warriors (Blades) x8 @2 = 16AP;
Crossbows (Shooters) x2 @2 = 4AP;

The Low King and bearded loons in chain mail undies.

New Reformed Dwarves

Much the same figures as above but a very different army.

Iron Master (Blades General) x1 @2 = 2AP;
Dwarf Warriors (Blades) x4 @2 = 8AP;
Dwarf Spears x2 @2 = 4AP;
Dwarf Crossbows (Shooters) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Engineer (Cleric) x1 @3 = 3AP;
War Engine (Artillery) x1 @3 = 3AP;

Eastern Empire

These are my Fantasy Byzantines, A heavy Cavalry biased army.

Knight General x1 @2 = 2AP;
Iron Dragons Cataphracts (Knights) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Red Griffons Heavy Cavalry (Riders) x3 @2 = 6AP;
Petcheneg Light Cavalry (Riders) x2 @2 = 4AP;
Empire Levy (Shooters) x4 @2 = 8AP;