A yearning for oddly shaped dice

Look at these dice; aren't they lovely? Don't they whisper to you of deeds to be done, evil to be defeated, and glory to be won? Of dragons? Perhaps to be found in dungeons?



Gripped by nostalgia, I popped up into the loft to retrieve my 'red box' basic Dungeons and Dragons set . As well as some of the above dice, it also had an introductory adventure module that I got as a get-well present from my parents (thanks, Mum and Dad) when I had my tonsils out, aged about ten, complete with the pencil marks left by my younger self. I always had to be Dungeon Master because I was the eldest, it was my game, and my siblings and friends of the time "wouldn't have done it properly". I'm still a bit of a control freak today :/

Suddenly, having volubly mocked roleplayers for years as being the sorts who can't separate reality from fantasy, I want to do it all again. I want to roll up a dwarf adventurer, or human cleric and get stuck in, in true 0e style; I've even downloaded two of the apparently best retro-clones. Properly old school, I'd love to play with a DM who runs it smoothly, puts some life into it, and always leaves open the possibility of a total party kill if the players do something stupid.

So, my (online) name is Rab, and I want to roll funny-shaped dice.

SBH - Sir Gaherunt's retinue shows its might

As I mentioned in the last post, I had a very successful evening playing Song of Blades and Heroes last week. [btw, the rules are 25% off at Wargames Vault for the next day only, I think]

I decided to take a knightly retinue warband, so put together a retinue for Sir Gaherunt to take out into the wilderness and bring civilisation at the point of a very sharp sword. Here is the list I decided upon:

Sir Gaherunt     Q3+     C4     Leader, Knight, Chivalry, Heavy Armour     78pts

Sir Bartrum       Q3+     C4     Knight, Chivalry     42pts
Sir Launce         Q3+     C4     Knight, Chivalry     42pts
Sir Agloval        Q3+     C4     Knight, Chivalry      42pts

Robert              Q4+     C2     Shooter:Long           26pts
John                  Q4+     C2     Shooter:Long           26pts

Simon                Q4+     C3     None                        23pts
Paul                   Q4+     C3     None                        23pts

Total: 302pts

I hoped this would give me a good mix between close combat and ranged attacks, as well as giving me an opportunity to use my painted knights (the spearmen and crossbowmen were still WIP, shamefully).

We rolled for the Quest for a Magic Item scenario, which seemed appropriate with knights and set up as follows. The three possible locations for the magic item were marked with unused slotta-bases.

Despite the urging of Sir Gaherunt, the members of his retinue were reluctant to advance with any haste, lacking enthusiasm to close with the shambling abominations ahead; how do you kill what's already dead? The vampiric fallen knight who led the undead showed no such hesitation and dashed forward to claim the magical sword upon the bridge over the river.

Meanwhile, Sir Agloval had left his lily-livered squires behind, forded the river and charged forward to mercilessly dispatch the ghoul who was still feasting upon his last victim.

Rallying his troops with appeals to their honour, Sir Gaherunt led the charge across the bridge.

The vampire clutched his new-found blade and smote the brave knight, exuding a terrifying aura of darkness and cold. Blanching but remaining steadfast, Gaherunt parried the enchanted weapon (which promptly shattered) and pushed back its unholy wielder. Summoning his might, he then struck down the skeleton before him with such power that not only did it crumble into dust, but the other revenants also were returned to what should have been their eternal rest. Cursing in a tongue unspoken by the living, the black-armoured fiend vanished in a swirl of evil smoke leaving Gaherunt and his retinue the undisputed masters of the field.

Poor Barnaby, the curse of the brittle undead warband struck hard! Like I said in my previous post, this has now been addressed within a rules update; apparently the bulk of the initial playtesting had looked at mixed warbands rather than the 'pure' forces that seem to be favoured in Northern Europe and the Americas. Anyway, I picked up a slew of victory points and chose 'Combat Masters' as my advance.

Next up I played against Oscar, giving him an introduction to the game (he was our new recruit). He'd watched a couple of games previously, plays plenty of pc strategy games, and had a pretty vicious and resilient dwarf list drawn up for him by one of the other lads - the one who destroyed my halflings last time round (don't worry, loyal readers, I get him back later mwahaha!).

Our game boiled down to a pretty chaotic melee around the ford (we used the same table layout as before) with a run of about six turns where either the first activation caused a turnover, or a gruesome death caused panic. In the end I nudged it, but from a position of strength (thanks to knowing the rule better) I came this close > < to being broken. I had to use my crossbowmen to slip in and knife his chaps on the floor; there was precious little chivalry shown, sad to say.

  

After finally putting the last of the dwarfs to flight or to the sword,  Sir Gaherunt leant exhausted upon his sword and cast an eye over his comrades. It was not good; Bartrum and Launce would be in no fit state to don armour or grasp a sword for weeks to come, although it looked likely they would eventually make a full recovery, praise be. Agloval was limping but refusing aid. At least the peasants seemed well and had made a good showing in the skirmish. He decided that he better had take on Simon's cousin to bolster the ranks, at least while his knights recovered from their wounds.

In game terms, Bartrum and Launce would miss next game and then come back with -1 to all Q rolls. Algoval was less badly injured but would be at -1 to Q rolls in the next game. With the victory points gained I recruited another spearman, Adam.

Pizza arrived during the game and then most of the lads went off to play Space Hulk:

Now, I think that the picture above is where the game was paused when we had to pack up because they were locking the school, so there you go lads that should help you set up to resume where you left off.

While that was going on I had a revenge match of SBH against Niall (the dwarf chap who slaughtered my halflings). This time I was ready for him, having actually read the rules before the game. Practically cheating, I know! Once again, it all swung on a scrap by the ford. I actually caused a casualty using my archers (*)! Careful use of minions to run in, their Q boosted by Leader, and then make powerful attacks with my two knights (the others were resting in an infirmary bed somewhere, remember) chopped his rats into kebab-sized chunks. Mmmm, revenge!

Another victory to round off the evening was pleasant indeed. Apart from the undead collapse, the games were close and tense right to the end. The only thing that felt wrong was the ineffectiveness of missile attacks, which is what the (*) was about. I'm sure I read somewhere that someone had trialled having a split C score, one for hand to hand and one for ranged. Any other suggestions welcome.

Right, it's past my bedtime.

Happy geeking,

Rab

Change is coming to the graveyard

A bit of a filler post while I sort photos of tonight's gaming, but one I hope will be useful for undead gamers of SoBaH.

We (me and some gamer-kids I teach) played a bunch of games of Song of Blades and Heroes after school this evening. As well as assimilating a new chap into the joys (and frustrations) of tabletop gaming, there was pizza delivered and a spot of Space Hulk as well. It was great fun as well as giving me a chance to use the bits and bobs of scenery that I've been tinkering with - my first terrain!

Here is one picture from my first game against Barnaby who was running some of my skeletons as a pure undead warband, accompanied by a ghoul and led by a vampire. He suffered the fate of the ungodly when I smote down one of the accursed revenants to take the bridge.

Return to dust, fiend!

 
Despite his truly abysmal dice-rolling at key moments (I think his dice might have had multiple ones on them), the undead problem is quite often discussed on various websites where SBH gamers chat. Fittingly enough, the following was posted by Andrea (author of SBH) over on the Ganesha Games Yahoo! group today, explaining how the next rules update will address this issue of brittleness in pure undead wabands:

Undead is already officially changed, you do not have to wait for the next version of the rules. Here is the text of the rule (it is unedited so the phrasing may change a bit but the essence of the rule will remain the same) I will send the final text to the editor at the end of the week so the revised SBH book is not far.
Andrea

Undead
Undead models are immune to Poison and Terror and do not make Morale rolls for Gruesome Deaths. Shooting attacks against Undead models are at -2, either because they are skeletal, and arrows fly through their bones, or because they don’t have vital organs that missiles can pierce.
Spells used as ranged attacks hit them normally. Magic-users are assumed to recognize Undead as such on first sight, so they will use bolts of “positive energy” or burst of sunlight to attack them.
Undead never flee from a combat. They have +2 on all Morale rolls but crumble to dust if they roll two or three failures on a Morale roll. However, if they have a friendly Standard on the table when they fail a Morale roll, Undead do not crumble to dust – they may make fleeing movements towards the Standard or remain where they are, as the player sees fit. If the Standard is destroyed (not just taken by an opponent -- to destroy it, the opponent must state that he is doing so, and one action must be spent to destroy it by a model adjacent to the Standard), all Undead models must make a Morale roll or be destroyed.
If the Standard bearer moves off the table, the Undead must not make a Morale roll -- just use the normal rules.


We'll be putting these changes into effect immediately... if I can persuade Barnaby not to give up entirely on his shambling hordes!

Happy geeking,
Rab