First and last post of 2019

For years and years, I used Yahoo! Groups to support my games, Slammer and The Fantasy Trip online RPG's.

When Yahoo! announced that they were not going to host user created content on their sites, it never occurred to me that they were going to delete all the years and years of existing emails.

I thought they just wanted to take off the files and photos not the whole message archive!

I tried their Groups Download Manager expecting a set of documents and photos from the Groups I own or administer. Instead I eventually got four huge zip files, (the first one took nearly an hour to download 1.97GB). They appear to have archived everything from every Y! group I was a member of.

I now have complete archives for Groups I had forgotten I was a member of!

But so far I have not been able to open any of the email messages so they don’t seem all that useful.

I have no idea how Yahoo! expect to benefit from this ?

Y! groups are now pretty much reduced to a mailing contact list with no record of emails sent or received.

Oh God, I miss G+ so much.

:(

On top of everything else (Dad, Mum, Brexit, BoJo/Corbyn, Fires and Floods, etc) 2019 has been pretty rough.

Let's hope 2020 is better.

Happy New Year to you all.

Chris Nicole

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 - ongoing games at The Stronghold

Since November 2017 Kev Stillyards and I have been playing semi regular games of Hordes of the Things at The Stronghold Gaming Club, Hessle Road, Hull.

We meet most Monday evenings between 7pm and 9pm and usually manage to get a game in. I had diaried some of our games and thought it worth recording.


6th November 2017
Dwarves vs Lizardmen 
Our first match, Kev took the Dwarves and wiped the floor with the Lizardmen. The Dwarves are always a tough army but the Lizardmen fared particularly badly.

5th December 2017
Steppe Goblins vs Ratmen

11th December 2017
Savage Orcs vs Eastern Empire
Kev's first outing with his Savage Orcs. The Empire's Knight General overextended himself (as usual) and got killed off fairly quickly. Win for the Orcs.

Orc Warhorde:
Orc General (Orc King in Chariot) @ 4AP (1);
Flyers (Bat Swarm) @ 2AP (x2) ;
Artillery (Bolt Thrower) @ 3AP (1) ;
Beasts (Wolves) @ 2AP (1) ;
Shooters (Orc Archers) @ 2AP (x2) ;
Hordes (Orc Warriors) @ 1AP (x5) ;
Behemoth (Troop of Trolls) @ 4AP (1);

This is pretty much the by-the-book army list from HotT 2.0.
It has a three heavy units (Hero, Behemoth and Artillery) plus Aerials and Beasts supported by massed Hordes and a couple of Shooters.
The Orcs were defending so got a Stronghold too.

Opposing them I brought out my Eastern Empire for a re-match.
They had fared very badly on their last outing.

Eastern Empire:
Knight General @ 2AP (1);
Iron Dragons Cataphracts (Knights) @ 2AP (x2);
Red Griffons Heavy Cavalry (Riders) @ 2AP (x3);
Varangian Dwarves (Spears) @ 2AP (x2);
Empire Levy (Shooters) @ 2AP (x4);

These are my Fantasy Byzantines with an impressive mass of Knights and Heavy Cavalry backed up by some useful infantry.

For the last couple of games we have been dicing for terrain placement. The defender chooses a piece of terrain then we dice to see which quarter or players choice for where it goes. For this game we got a large wood on the attackers left flank and a small wood on the defenders left flank.

The Orc defenders lined up across the board. Their Hordes lined up on the left around their artillery. Their Shooters, Wolves, Bats, Trolls and General line up on their right.

The Empire formed up in a single phalanx of four ranks; Cavalry, Knights, Shooters then Spears bringing up the rear.

Early in the game. The Orcs have lost both their Bats to an overconfident sortie against the Empire shooters. The Empire has lost a unit of Heavy cavalry to the Orcs fearsome Artillery. The Orcs are holding the line while the Empire advances.

29 January 2018

Savage Orcs vs Dwarves
Win for the Dwarves. My first win since we started playing.

5 February 2018
Black Orcs vs Savage Orcs
I can't recall this game at all, no idea who won.


19 February 2018
Savage Orcs vs Eastern Empire
We played two games. 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 reorganised 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.

Aftermath of the second battle. Once the Empire cavalry hit the Orc's center it was all over. The Knights are still in reserve here keeping their General safe!

12 March 2018
Savage Orcs vs Ratmen
Win for the Rats.


9 April 2018
Lizardmen Army of the Basilisk vs Dwarves

I tried remodelling my Lizardmen army. The Basilisk is a magic using monster with lots of fast moving little legs and a petrifying magic gaze. If you have the Pip’s to spare this gives it a range attack. I never got enough Pips so the Basilisk did not really contribute to the battle. The Dinosaur Riders got away from their support and cut down by the Dwarven Blades. With their best units gone or out of reach there was not a lot the main body could do once they contacted the Dwarves.

Army of the Basilisk
Lizard King - Blades General 2AP
The Basilisk - Magician 4AP
Dinosaur Riders - Behemoth x2 8AP
Brontosaur riders - Knights x2 4AP
Lizardmen - Hordes x6 6AP

Win for the Dwarves.

23rd April 2018
Ratmen vs Dwarves
My Ratmen vs Kev's Dwarves. The Dwarves remain undefeated, the Ratties had a very bad night of it, their Magician general Joolius Cheezer distinguished himself by rolling two ones in succession and inadvertently turned himself into a frog. Good game!

30th April 2018

New Reformed Dwarves vs Savage Orcs.
My New Reformed Dwarves vs Kev's Savage Orcs produced a fun game. The Dwarves remain undefeated, but they did not win! We had to stop the game as the shutters were coming down and the store was closing.

The Dwarves had pushed through the Orcs centre but then faced a second line of revived Hordes pouring out of the Orcs stronghold. Also the Orcs had mobile units of Beasts and Bats behind the Dwarves flanks.

Both sides had an artillery piece so we checked the rules and found we had been playing them wrong all this time. Artillery only shoots in its own bound and not if it has moved. This made a significant difference but better balanced as a unit.
Also we tried a unit of Sneakers for the first time. These acted as fast Blades and should have provided useful support to the Shooters except they ran away!

Amalgamated Union of Dwarven Ironworkers (AUDI)
t'Gaffer, the Iron Master - Blades General x1 = 2AP;
Forge Brethren - Blades x4 = 8AP;
Dwarf Stokers - Spears x2 = 4AP;
Dwarf Riveters - Shooters x2 = 4AP;
Engineers & Boiler Makers - Artillery x1 = 3AP;
Flying Pickets - Sneakers x1 = 3AP;
Alternative
Red Sven, Shop Steward - Cleric x1 = 3AP

The Crunch! Orcs and Dwarves clash in the centre.

Trolls and Orcs battle Dwarven shooters on the flank.

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.