Battletech/ Tunnels and Trolls from Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog

 So I tried out Jeffro's Battletech/Tunnels and Trolls mash-up today, I was quite pleased.  I was serendipitously intrigued when I had both read the article that chronicled the early games and design ( https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2023/09/09/mecha-in-tunnels-trolls/ ), and picked up a copy of Battletech 4th ed for real real cheap at the Brimfield Antiques Show all in the same week.  a thorough reading of the article and referencing the mech stats from the back of the rulebook was enough to make converting things over to T&T, which is another system I have no prior knowledge of.  I got a pdf of that (1st ed) for $2, and that was very easy to digest, in all my years of gaming I always just assumed T&T was just too simplistic and really just for choose your own adventure type solo games.  the combat and saves mechanics are really all you're using so I found 1st ed to be a fine version to use though it seems 4th ed is the preferred version.  It took me about an hour of understanding the ranges and combat numbers, the movements bands and activations.  I very much like it for quick solo games or over discord resolutions. I could definitely see this going well over a discord chat and using a die roller in the chat.  it also could be used for quick combat resolution in a larger more rpg type game.  there's a lot of options I could see people using it for.  I really like its simplicity, and ease of making adjustments.  I allowed my teams to have 4 points they could distribute amongst themselves to give bonuses to either movement or shooting rolls.  I also ruled that Banshee's PPC would reroll 1's on damage to represent it's power.  

I ran an Atlas and a Cicada vs a Banshee and an Assassin.  The Atlas and Assassin both had long range missiles, and fired them at each other while holding still (I allowed a +1 to shooting if the mech did not move that round)  The Atlas hit and did 39 of 40hp damage to the Assassin.  I ruled it would be fully stunned 1 round then -1 to move the next round.  It simultaneously fired its LRM back but missed!  the Cicada lept forward 1 range band.  I just broke up the map into 4 slices, 2 on each side of the fold to represent 4 range bands.  each time a unit moved closer i moved them 4 hexes forward.  I ignored terrain for the first game, but would like to add some at least for line of sight blockers affecting combat a little.  After that the Banshee was able to get 20 damage off on the Atlas, but it wasn't enough to affect his rolls the next turn, and the cicada got in close range with its med laser and the Atlas hammered away with its AC20.  I could have got the Assassin back in the game on a suicide run, but it was kind of over at that point and I definitely got the gist of how this game plays.  It's quite slick.  I would highly recommend, Battletech 4th ed pdfs were free online, I was fortunate enough to score those cardboard cutouts from the box, they had all the standees and even the little unit decals, but you could use Tau models from 40k, legos, or I bet there's sci-fi chits easily found online.  Give this mashup a try, click the link to see the original article/concept.  

The Crucible Campaign, A Patron runs a Mass Combat on Week 1

 I have been setting up and starting out as a patron in Hjeuphos’ The Crucible Campaign.  He is a really excellent patron in my game, and I figured I would offer my time as a patron in his game.  I’m playing High Mage Lith Wizard 12, and her companions Moon-Ra wizard 8, and Nofrino Fighter 8.  They are transplants via planar travel from the defunct Blackbird Campaign.  Lith and crew arrived and began assembling troops and followers and took over the empty tower and leadership of the town of Tustvold in the jungles to the west.  Nesly set up, Lith is in her tower assembling her divining coven, the Circle of Sight.  Nofrino is taking his elite H cav and 35 med cav and 40 lt cav on a large patrol around the tower and town, seeing what all is out there in the near wilderness.  The first week of patrolling, they are set upon by a massive brigand horde, over 230 strong!  They descend from the north as Nofrino scrambles to react and warn Lith.

Hjeuphos has a great system of patron and their domains, how they acquire random encounters that affect your settlement.  Without giving all the details, you roll several encounters over a month, then choose 1 that is kind of the most challenging or problematic, and you must use your resources and deal with it either in solo adjudicated combat or some other suitable way of solving the problem.  I figured rolling double 10s on # appearing for the brigands was significant, so I decided to make this my big problem for the month.  I decided to adjudicate it pretty quickly and abstractly using the Portable Wargame rules by Bob Cordery, with a few slight mods.  It went well fun, about an hour.  Plus the batrep.  The writing is a little rough but here it is.  Just a little peek behind the curtain of how patrons operate.  Didn’t think I would be self-adjudicating mass combat in my first 2 weeks of running a patron in the Crucible, but here we are. 

AAR Lith’s battle vs the Brigands (230)

The third week of July Nofrino is out on his first patrol around Lith’s new domain with his elite cav, ranger henchman and 100 cav.  They discover over 200 brigands descending on their jungle terrain from the north and scramble to interdict and call for reinforcements from the keep.

Deployment-  the Brigands are coming from the North, with their lt foot and archers on the right side of the battlefield, and the leadership/ elite cav and the med cav on the left side.  Nofrino’s troops are off the road west of the tower.

Turn 1-  Nofrino wins init and forms a line with his cav and await reinforcements while the ranger goes to the keep with word.  The brigand med cav charges the lt cav and is pushed back, the leader and elite cav charge the med cav and push it back.  The lt foot charges Nofrino’s elites, losing and taking a wound, and also the brigand mage casts lightning bolt as they charge, killing 6 brigands and 6 of Nofrino’s cav. The archers move into the swamp and the other lt foot moves into the jungle.

Turn 2-  Nofrino wins init again and Lith is told of the battle by the ranger.  The Lt cav flanks the brigands med cav and the med cav charges it also, wounding it twice.  The H. foot charge out of the tower and into the leader elite cav, and the brigands are pushed back.  Then the brigands pike and mage countercharge and the mage casts confusion, Nofrino makes his save but 11 cav fail.  The pike try to wound but are unable to wound the H foot.  Lith casts fly, and Moon-Ra casts a forked lightning bolt at the lt foot destroying them.  The archers move into the jungle.

Turn 3-  Brigands win init and the leaders elite cav goes into the flank of the med cav, wounding, while the lt cav continues to combat the brigand med cav, wounds them and routs them.  Nofrinos med cav take a wound and stay.  The brigand pike and mage go into the H Foot, but are pushed back.  The archers shoot at Lith flying in the air, and hit for 15hp.  Nofrino’s cav takes a wound from the Lt Foot, but Moon Ra casts stinking cloud on them and they are nauseated and taken out.  Lith casts Stone Trap on the retreating mage and he fails the save and is turned to stone.  

• With that the brigands are combat ineffective and their mage has been captured. the brigand leadership/elite cav, the pikes, and the archers are alllowed to retreat from the battlefield, less than 100 strong.

ok got lucky with treasure, even with half shares, i got 500gp off the bodies, 2000gp, 1000pp, 4 gems 500gp each, and a rod of cancellation.

after the battle, Nofrino's losses are 6 dead elite cav, and 10 dead med cav.

Here’s the Campaign Map, Lith’s domain is the purple border, the battle happened right by the tower and town.

Historical Minis Wargame Rules I'm Reading/Reviewing

For the last few weeks I have been researching some possible choices for rules sets to use in my fantastic historical wargames campaigns I am planning.  I have definitely decided to use The Solo Wargaming Guide to plan and manage the campaign, but I need to find a rules set or sets to use to work out the actual battles of the campaign.  So far I have acquired the following rules, pictured below clockwise from top left-  Quick Kill (6mm WW2), Oh What a Lovely Wargame (WW1), The Portable Wargame, One Hour Wargames, Hell By Daylight, Hell in Microcosm, FUBAR Vietnam, and Battle for 2mm Earth (2mm WW1).  These choices are specifically for my planned upcoming WW1 and Vietnam campaigns, and I have several others that I have found but haven't printed out yet.  The goal is to choose a rules set that is not overly complicated that can be adjudicated in a solo setting, and the games move along and don't cause mental fatigue, but still being fairly representative of the period.  So far I have yet to really hook into a particular set, definitely need to deep dive several of these systems and decide if I'm going to try one system for both WW1 and Vietnam, or separate systems.  So far I have played One Hour Wargames a few times, and I find that system to be a tad too simplistic, but pretty close to how simplistic a system I want for solo play.  I'd love to find a system one or two clicks more complicated than that.  I think for solo play I will more enjoy the campaign planning and map movements more than the in game tactics, and I think completing games and getting on with things is a better approach than overly complex, long games where its difficult to remember everything.  I would appreciate any feedback from anyone that may know about any of these systems.  

Campaign Maps for Upcoming Wargames Campaigns Series and the Beginning of the Solo Wargaming Guide Campaign Creation System.

Here's the maps I put together for a series of upcoming wargames campaigns I am planning.  I hope to document both the planning and development phase, and the actual campaign as it plays out.  As this is my first time doing this, I'll be using William Silvester's Solo Wargaming Guide for guidance.  The first thing necessary is to get a good map of your campaign area.  I found moderate success online looking for good maps for the different historical periods I want to set my campaigns in.  Mind you these are entirely fantastical campaigns, I'm just using historical information as inspiration, at no time am I trying to recreate any historical period or battle.  So the Battles/ Periods I'm using to inspire and base my campaigns on are- 

Napoleonics- Using the Battle of Austerlitz for inspiration.  I have recently put together a 6mm French and Austrian army, and have an order in to Irregular Minis for another mixed Division of Russians, so having 3 armies loosely inspired by French, Austria, and Russia, Battle of Austerlitz seemed a perfect fit.  I found a cool old looking map, plus printing them out on hex paper already makes them pop and much more usable for campaigning.

World War I-  again with a recently painted up WWI 2mm German and French armies, and with a fresh order of more Germans and British coming in the mail very soon, I figured the Battle of the Somme, early war western front would be a good place to set a WW1 campaign.  Again I know very little about WW1 or this particular battle, it's just a jumping off point.  I was able to find some OK maps, but my Google Fu is lacking.

Strange Aeons (Call of Cthulhu-like supernatural skirmish minis game)- Springfield MA circa 1926.  This game I got into a few years ago, it's an indie game sort of a skirmish game/rpg hybrid.  I plan to get back into it and run a 1920's supernatural horror campaign set in 1920's Springfield MA, located near me in western MA.  There are a few cool things I hope to include into the campaign that are native to Springfield from that time-  The Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, Milton Bradley Games, plus I'm doing a little research into paranormal history of Springfield, so That will be the inspiration for this campaign.

Vietnam War-  Not sure what system I'll settle on I'm investigating a few.  I chose the A Shau Valley circa 1968.  I do know a little about the Vietnam War, no expert by any means, but it's something I have read/watched a bit about.  Anyway I found a few maps, and again they just look so much cooler when printed out on hex paper.  Systems I'm considering are FUBAR Vietnam, BOHICA, and Hell in Microcosm.  

I was able to take some time today and yesterday to get into The Solo Wargaming Guide, and it seems the first 40 pages are the most important for my purposes- setting up the campaign.  The book broke down setting up a campaign into several sections.

-  Get the Map-  see above, check.  I do need to make sure each map has an appropriate scale.

-  Rate the cities/towns-  not every map has towns per se, for example the Battle of the Somme maps  are focused on the trenches and their movement, but I can still establish places on the map where resources/troops can be refreshed. Similar situation with the Vietnam maps, I'll have to figure out some way to provide U.S. resources via air support, and NVA/VC support via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  

-  Establish terrain-  Go through the maps and be specific on terrain, spell out light wood, heavy wood, hill, mountain, river etc.

-  Roads/movement-  establish what roads are complete and which are damaged and establish movement rates for different unit types.

-  SCMR (Solo Campaign Mobilization Rules)-  need to establish a system for forming and mobilizing troops.  This is more spelled out in terms of a campaign that starts in peacetime, then a war breaks out and the campaign begins.  However, my campaigns mostly imply a war already in progress, and the campaign is just about some aspect of the bigger war, so it's going to work a little different for campaigns where the war has already begun.  This is where I'll stop, I just began reading this section, but have plenty of work on the first 4 sections before I need to fully get into SCMR.  

So that's my start to the documentation of trying to develop/ write several fantastical historically based wargames campaigns.  It's a big part of why I started this blog to begin with, and I'm interested to see if I can do this, and how it pans out.  Maybe not all of these campaign ideas will come to fruition, but based on my new collection of historical small scale minis from Irregular Minis, I'm game to aim high and try to get a bunch of campaigns off the ground kind of simultaneously.