The Infamy Early Imperial Romans

The Caesarean Romans over in Cyprus are some of my nicest figures.  For the Table E Infamy games back in the UK, whenever such a thing is again allowed, I volunteered to be one of the Early Imperial Romans and supply the Legio II Minima.  This was one of the first orders I made on going into isolation after our marathon trip back to the UK.

The Romans arrived from Warlord this morning, coming in at five groups of Legionaries, (possibly six, since I bought pair of spare sprues) a group of Auxiliary Archers and up to three groups of Auxiliary foot once I buy that extra box.  

My thinking is that the additional Auxiliary boys will allow me to field a civil war type game or use them as revolting Batavians. 

Longer term I do plan to add a box of Warlord Germans and a pack of Germans in captured Roman equipment.

The Warlord Legionaries are smaller, certainly much shorter than the (frankly excellent) Caesarean range, but not so much so that it's immediately noticeable. The metal figures are really good too, and I went for mounted Officers, a Primus Centurion and a company mule.  Rumours about the Primus relationship with Vesta the ironically named pack mule abound throughout the Legion, and everyone ignores the fact that he seems to call this vicious animal "mother."

The Primus, whom I have named Titus, is a fabulously posed figure.

His best friend in the Legion, Vesta the pack mule, is only undercoated so far, but has a nasty look in her eyes.

The Auxiliaries will be lead by the incompetent Dubious Figulus, my Roman Avatar.  The 2nd Tungrians are of the firm belief that their worst enemies are in all circumstances are the Batavians cohorts, and that they are just as good as the Batavians.  I`m hoping they are right. 

My detachment of the II Mimima are lead by the mounted (and foot figues model) tribune (narrow stripe, let's not get excited) Quilpius Brevis Domum. A scion of the Noble Quilpius family the youthful, ode writing, lisping Quilpius is popular in "Wome."  Just how he will deal with the hard bitten much swearing Veteran Titus Mono Ocular and the incompetent Figulous remains to be seen.

For solo gaming I have no opposing forces for the new Romans.  Over in Cyprus I am collecting a powerful Celtic force, and my intention longer term is to add a box of German tribesmen for my Infamy games.  A moment of epiphany struck during an online painting session.  I can use my Biblical Canaanites and tribesmen as Jewish revolters (Chariots left in the box with the Bronze armoured guys.)  I'm sure these are doable under Infamy, certainly for a set of three games. 

I'm thinking of the 67AD campaign by Cestius Gallus and the Syrian IIX Legion. More specifically one of its additional legionary detachments from III Gallicus holding a coastal city during the revolt.

"Cwucify him Centwurion..."

For terrain I have my Bronze age Perry building, and a second scratch built one that fits inside for storeage.  Both of these are useful for crusading and biblical games.

With a new double sided terrain mat on order it looks like I'm in a painting Phase for a few days.  No garden painting though.  The weather in Durham doesn't really compare to Cyprus, although no Coptic winds or sand storms is a bonus.

Wemember me to your fwiends in Wome.

Dubious Figulus, 2nd Tungrians

The Bone of St Lancelot

My medieval setting of the Cestria borderlands is based on the premise that Bishop Athelwine of Durham resisted a little more and lived a little longer in captivity following his part in the rebellion of the North and killing of the appointed Norman Earl.  William the Conquerer appointed his old teacher as the replacement Bishop.  After the revolt of the Northern Earl's the new Bishop was also appointed Earl of Northumbria, something never done before or after.  History glosses over the fact that the Bishop bought his new Earldom and proceeded to snap up any vacant Saxon lands in the name of the Church.

Durham, and the far north had been spared the destruction of the harrying of the north, being Church lands.  Indeed if Durham had been more damaged during the fighting, the new Bishop may well have moved his seat to Cestria.   St Cuthbert's body had been sent north to safety as the Normans burnt the North in retaliation for insurrection, but as the only Saint's body in England it was always a major pilgrim lure and control of the Saint's remains were important.

In my version of history the Earldom passes to the family of the new Earl,  and the tradition of an Earl Bishop is established.  Meanwhile a new Bishop is eventually sent to Durham, as Prince Bishop, and a rivalry springs up between the two Sees.  At this time the Scots King held Britain north of the Tyne, making Cestria the effective Borderlands of the Kingdom.  Even after the defeat of the Scots at the battle of the Standard in 1138 they still retained control of England beyond the Tyne and Cumbria.  

1184 and the destruction of Glastonbury Abbey

The Pilgrim trail of the North leads through Dyrham to Cestria, and the relocated remains of St Cuthbert.  When King William appointed the Earl Bishop of the North he did not anticipate that he was in effect creating a new Bishopric at Cestria,  not that a great rivalry would grow between this and the Bishopric in Dyrham.  Both incumbents seek to maximise their profits from pilgrims, or tourists as they commonly call visitors to the County.

In 1184 AD the rivalry between the two Bishops was becoming serious.  Richard, Bishop of Dyrham had learned that a great Relic was on its way north to Cestria, escorted by Earl Bishop Gilbert and only a handful of his knights.  This Relic was rumoured to be the bone of St Lancelot, taken from Glastonbury Abbey before (or during) the huge fire that had just destroyed almost all of its buildings.

Bishop Richard sent out his own men, posing as torn flags, to take the Relic by force.  With St Cuthbert having been kidnapped to Cestria, Dyrham was much in need of relics to impress the pilgrims.  If the Bishop of Cestria were to be injured or killed so much the better.

At the Bishop's Cross, West of the city the party from Cestria are accosted by "brigands" from Dyrham.  Will justice be done for the theft of St Lancelot bone and probable arson at Glastonbury to cover their tracks, or will the Earl Bishop and his men defeat the thieves from the Prince Bishop?

The Game

The Bishop and his two knights activate, as does the Sergeant commanding the spears.  The archers however move in the slow movement phase.

Long shot of the table.  Six possible appearance points for the enemy.

The enemy archers appear in the (as yet unpainted) village.

The Bishop goes for the archers.

He kills one whips his horse around and lashes down on a second.  Turns out the Bish is hard as...

The enemy roll 6 and don't appear this turn.  The Bishops knights cover the likely appearance points within charge reach.

In among the archers the Bishop is a real killer.

The enemy turn up and face the charge of the knights.

A back and forth but the Bishops men have the best of it.

Phallus de Farthingale knocked from his horse and stunned.

But the enemy are broken, with all but one of their archers killed, and the knights breaking the Spearmen.

When the enemy horsemen turn up it's all over, they break off.  The Bishop gets to keep the relic.

A Writ has been issued for the arrest of one "Master Gimpe the Archer." Last survivor of the enemy.

First test in period of 28mm.  It looks great.  Still working on the rules but getting there.

The Lion Rampant Byzantines

The Crusader States rules for Lion Rampant offers some interesting troop choices for the Byzantines.  My army fits into this pretty well, and with a mix of Crusader Miniatures, Fireforge and Conquest they are pretty snazzy.  

I depart from the set army list in several ways.  The Byzantine army was huge and at the level reflected by Lion Rampant it is difficult to generalise down to specific units.  Except that I would point out that the Byzantines used units, not ad hoc formations.

Byzantine cavalry could be very heavily armoured, more so than even their frankish counterparts, Alexius himself survived a charge by Norman Cavalry because of the strength of his armour.  Kataphractoi could be found in guard units as well as in the Tagmata.  Several Byzantine rulers drew the best armed Cavalry into Cataphract units, although these proved unable to face the Normans frontally.  An option to field Kataphractoi should be there, but only one unit.  The lack of aggression would however would lower their activation roll, something Frankish cavalry suffer as their weakness under the rules.

At 24 points I will be fielding only one Byzantine Cavalry unit, and will probably, generally, choose a Medium, reflecting the Empire's reliance on Mercenaries, with instead of Kataphractoi a group of Norman cavalry as the punch.

For Infantry I am going for a group of the Varangian Guard.  Drawn from English, Scandinavian and Russian mercenaries the Guard seem to have been used aggressively, and even over aggressively.   Added to these I will deploy a possible two groups of Byzantine Spearmen, with a group of Archers to back them up. 

Its a strong force, with more than sufficient punch between the Varangians and the Normans, as well as a stable line of good foot.  The Byzantines however are a tricky set of customers to deal with.  Enemies they face on table must come to terms with the fact that they may well have bribed your Officers and leaders to betray you.

They may have their own Morale issues but they also have an option to close up with their General until he unleashes the Varangians. 

• 1 Norman Knights, Mercenaries @ 6

• 1 Medium Cavalry, @4

• 1 Varangian Guard Heavy Infantry @ 6
• 1 Medium Infantry @ 4
• 1 Skirmisher Archers @2

Optional

•  A second Medium Infantry unit

•  A Byzantine Kataphractoi unit. Optional Minor sacred Item.

•  A full archer unit

Planning some Blitzfreeze games

I've used the Blitzfreeze rules for Five Men in Normandy to generate a solo campaign.  It's expected to last only a few games, ending when my stragglers from Leningrad reach the Panther line.  Or not.  The five randomly generated characters are rated with Constitution (1d6), Exhaustion -0,  Willpower (1d6), Stress 0.

As the retreat continues constitution and willpower decline.  Getting through a game will cost the characters points in these scores, or add points to Exhaustion and stress.  If the latter two reach 6 the character will  fail to reach safety and freeze to death in the snow.

Leningrad 1944

Skirmish campaign based on the retreat of Army Group North.

The Section
All randomly generated, even the names.

SS Obersharführer Walter Hoffman, 
Constitution 4,  Exhaustion 0  Willpower 6, Stress 0 
A decisive NCO, former Civil Servant and facist fanatic from Hamburg. 
➢2 Ammunition, Provisions

➢Winter Clothing, Hand Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Entrenching Tool 

➢MP5 with two ammo packs, P38 with spare magazine.

Objective, Death to the Bolshevik.  Kill 20 or more Soviets before reaching the safety of the Panther line.

Obergefrieter Bruno Strobe, 

Constitution 2,  Exhaustion 0  Willpower 3, Stress 0 

Panzer commander, now on foot, former Brown shirt (still wanted under another name).  Enterprising.  

➢2 Ammunition, Provisions
➢Winter Clothing, Hand Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Entrenching Tool 

➢Semi-Automatic Rifle

Objective, survive to reach home.

Feld Gendarmes Dieter Leitner.  

Constitution 6,  Exhaustion 0  Willpower 2, Stress 0 

Former Policeman from Berlin central.  Aloof.
➢2 Ammunition, Provisions
➢Winter Clothing, Hand Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Entrenching Tool 
➢Semi-Automatic Rifle, Military Police P38 and spare magazine.

Objective, get his prisoner to justice.

Soldat Heinrich Mann, 

Constitution 4,  Exhaustion 1  Willpower 3, Stress 0 

Criminal, deserter, in custody.  Army cook.  Hard working.  Two ammo boxes.  No weapon.
➢2 Ammunition boxes, MG 49 belts.  Provisions
➢Winter Clothing, Entrenching Tool 
➢Military Police handcuffs, currently worn on his wrists.

Objective, escape and desert again.

Grenadier Adoph Hansen. 

Constitution 4,  Exhaustion 0  Willpower 4, Stress 0 

Foreign volunteer.  Danish student. Perceptive.  Specialist machine gunner.
➢2 Ammunition, Provisions
➢Winter Clothing, Hand Grenade, Molotov Cocktail, Entrenching Tool 
➢Pattern 42 Machine gun on bipod mount, ammo bandolier.  Bayonet.

Objective, do your job and survive.

Each campaign turn begins with a skirmish. 

Dice for the location.

Section of trench.  A section of fortified positions and earth works, likely now not the focus of any fighting. Possibly an abandoned position. Landmark in no man's land A noteworthy landmark in a neutral or contested area. 
Location of previous battle.  Area covered in shell holes, wrecked vehicles and remains of trenches. 
Cross road An important cross roads in the vicinity. Likely near buildings. 
Farm An intact farm with barn or other nearby wooden structures. 
Ruined building.  Buildings, farms or structures that have been reduced to rubble either partially or completely. 
Urban area A small hamlet, the outskirts of a village or the suburbs of a larger city. 
Orchard or field Cultivated land of some sort. Usually fenced or surrounded by hedgerows. 
Hill A notable hill slightly away from the main battle area. 
Lake A lake or area of marsh or wetlands. 
Bridge Bridge over a river, stream or valley.
Intact building One or more intact buildings or structures of little military importance. 
Disputed front line A location between the lines that is still hotly contested. 
Section of the enemy line A landmark of interest at the edge of enemy held ground.

Mission Types 

1-6 Press Ganged:  Your men are collared by the nearest officer and thrown in the direction of the encroaching enemy. Every character adds +2 ammunition to their profile. 

7-8 Private Agenda:  Through some arm-twisting or unsubtle bribery, your exhausted squadron set out on someone else’s business. Add +1 Provision or +1 Loot to every character if you win the next battle. 

9-10 Chance Encounter:  Your line of retreat is cut in multiple places and roving bands of Soviet infantry and cavalry pounce on the any stragglers. Characters that flee the f ield during the next battle remain lost for an additional 1d10 hours.  

Dice for the Mission.

Encounter, Scout, Patrol, Find, Destroy, Kill, Capture, Deliver, Retrieve, Cross, Escort, Secure, Contact, Defend, Repeat last mission. 

Dice for the Opposition: 

Bolshevik Partisans:  Once all forces have been deployed, all partisan models can move 1d6” in any direction. This does not trigger Guard Fire.  Partisan models flinch if a friendly model within 6” is knocked down or taken out of action.  Use the Partisan table in Irregular Encounters.  

Soviet Regulars:  No additional effects. 

Siberian Veterans:  All Siberian veterans treat all rough terrain as cover.  Additionally, they treat all Bail results as Flinching instead. 

1 Sentries d6.
2  Enemy rifle team, 1d6 +3
3  Enemy troops 2d6
4  Defensive position d6 sentries, d6 on rest
5  Hidden sniper, team of two, hidden.
6  Full Enemy Squad.  

Post-Game Turn 

Once the battle has concluded,  
➢Step 1: Injuries and Morale 
➢Step 2: Campaign Events 
➢Step 3: Barter 
➢Step 4: Recovery 
➢Step 5: Player Actions 
➢Step 6: Advance Time and Distance 

Advancing Distance and Time. 

Roll 3d10 and advance distance by that number of kilometers. Roll 1d6 and advance time by that number of hours. Once your group has travelled 150km, they have finally staggered across the wire and into the fortifications of the Panther line. Resolve the Endgame.

Five Parsecs from Home, fight in the ruins

A solo game system for Sci fi skirmish.  Each game focuses on a single on table fight.  These then construct the narrative.  My collection of 15mm Science fiction figures is underused and this is an attempt to get them on table.

As a game Five Parsecs clearly owes a lot to Traveller and takes only a little setting up, but it has provided an incredibly detailed backstory.  For names and locations I used the Donjon RPG site, which has a random draw, choosing the third name from the list at each roll.  I was inordinately pleased to roll Vincent Parkour as a name!

The Mission I've chosen is to earn 100000 credits, to fix up a ship and move onto the Salvage Crew scenarios.  I amended the rules on credits by inflating them to x1000.  Other rules amendments and a record of dice rolls and tables here.

Game 1

Patron: Corporation Leader

Job: Retrieve something

Enemy

4 x Mercenaries.  "Delta" Squad +4 * 2 5” / +1 / 4 - T Rifles

Enemy Boss Colonel Vincent Parkour +1 CS +1 Tough.

Fight Location.  Run down structure.  The former Governor's palace on New Melbourne.

Narrative

Chief of Security Lydia Canter, of the Blue Sun Corporation has contracted one of her former employees, the hacker Yè Niǎo or Night Bird to retrieve a data chip from a closed loop surveillance system located in the former Governors summer residence.  The residence was destroyed in an attack by the Shāshǒu terrorist organisation.  

Canter has warned the hacker that Blue Sun has left a security droid at the property, but hopes that he can bypass its systems. She does not however expect that to be a problem.  She has however arranged for one of her Black Ops teams, Delta Squad, to shadow the hacker and take the data chip.  The hacker is to be disposed of.

Yè Niǎo claims his real name is Yorke (although he is clearly of Chinese ethnicity).  He is a native of  New Shanghai and a veteran of the third Colony War.  Having been employed by the Blue Sun Corporation for various hacking jobs in the years since, he is well aware of their duplicity.  With this in mind he has called in some of his old war buddies to cover his back.  

Station Data files

Yorke

Fisher Yorke,

Aliases 

Yè Niǎo 

or Night Bird, 

Born New Melbourne 4201 Hacker +1 Tech, 

Enemy. Blue Sun Corp.

Trained by Tec Inc, Computer Specialist during 3rd Colony War.

Former contracted Computer Specialist for Blue Sun. Arrest Warrant from New Shanghai Authorities for Hacking activities.  

Standard.  R1, Sp 4, CS 0, T3, Tech 1.

XP 3  Blast Rifle.

Wiseman

Nick Wiseman  

Born New Melbourne. 4204.  Pilot.  

Owns the "Sally Ride" a recently scrapped Military S Class Scout vessel.  A junk yard "integrated" parts from the "Sam Houston"

 decommissioned at the same time, including the AI from the wreck, but there are still issues with the build that will require 100000 CR to resolve.  Wiseman is loyal to his former Commander, Admiral McFarland, who arranged the ship purchase.  If he can recommission the vessel and get her into space he will be in a position to run clandestine ops for the Admiral.

Standard.  R1, Sp 4, CS 0, T3, Tech .5

XP 1

Palmer

Luther Palmer #3  Primitive Colonist World.  +1 Toughness +1 Low tech Weapon roll, Freedom  +1 XP  Enemy

Former Marine CAP Trooper, served with Wiseman in the war.  Sent to penal Colony for insubordination after Striking Captain Rufus Fielding of the Cruiser I.A.S. Defiant.  Released on orders of Admiral Mcfarlane. 

R1, Sp 4, CS 1, T4, Tech 0

3 XP Auto Blast Rifle

Enemy Captain Fielding

Sui Xiu-Jia and Ma Jia 

Ma Jia #4   Born Outback Space Station, New Melbourne

Veteran of New Melbourne Marines

R1, Sp 4, CS 1, T4, Tech 1

Crack shot Blast Pistol.

Patron Admiral McFarland. 

Sui Xiu-Jia #5  Born Outback Space Station, New Melbourne Veteran of New Melbourne Marines

R1, Sp 5, CS 3, T5, Tech 1

Martial Arts prodigy or Stim pack addict?

holstered Pistol. 

The Enemy: "Delta" Squad and Colonel Vincent Parkour

Colonel Parkour commands "Delta Squad" a Black Ops assassination team for Blue Sun Security.  His Mission here is to aquire the data chip and silence the hacker.  

The Game

The table top.  Dice 1 - 6 around the perimeter indicate the possible entry zones.  White team enter at 6.

The mercenaries escort the hacker towards the ruins

Confronting the droid.  A random dice at this point indicates that the surveillance data chip is in the droid.

The Black Ops team enter at zone 3.

As a tactica enemy they come on in three groups

The hacker goes to work on the droid whilst the mercenaries give cover

The expectd firefight breaks out

One down

The hacker cracks the droid.  The chip is extracted

One of the Black ops team, dressed in flairs, gets close, but is seen off by a burst of Blast rifle fire.  Two down.

And Colonel Parkour rolls a two, and with two casualties on his team already he bugs out,  The hacker has macde another enemy.

End game.  The hacker and his team withdraw with the chip.  The data proves that Blue Sun were involved in the assassination of the Governor. This is valuable data that can be sold back to the Corporation.

Link to the amendments I`m using to five parsecs for these games as well as a record of the dice rolls that built the narrative.  

Game 2 to follow.

After the battle 

*Resolve Enemy status.  -  D6 - 1 New Enemies.  5+ They Quit.
Colonel Parkour rolls 1.  He is a "New Enemy" with a grudge. 
*Get Paid.  -  1D6000 Credits in pay or salvage. If you won the mission, treat any roll of 1 or 2 as a 3
5000 credits payday.
*Determine what Loot we found.  -  The droid's data constitutes the loot.
*Determine injuries and recovery.  -  No injuries.  
*Experience   -  XPs for battle.  1 each.  No advances.
*Do your shopping.  -  Roll on Loot table  A stash of coin... another 4000 CR.
*Roll for Campaign events.  - 
Keeping your ears open has paid off.  Gain two Rumors.
*Roll for Character events.  -  Roll on Character events table.
Time on the range always does one good. + 0.5 Combat Skill for character #3.  

Name generator from Donjon

https://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/swfj/