Favstvs Fvrivs... Chariot Racing in the age of steam...

I recently got hold of the Faustus Furius Chariot racing rules, written by Nicholas Wright and published by Ganesha Games. These are a simple set of racing rules, that include all the things one would expect of chariot racing, such as mobs on the track, attacking other chariots, crashes and more.

Using a spin on the tried and tested dice mechanism, well known from Song of Blades and Heroes, the game is relatively fast and certainly furious. On their turn a player will roll between 1 and 3 dice (player choice), with each success gaining them an Action, and multiple failures causing potentially negative effects. A player might choose to play it safe, and roll only 1 die, or may push their luck and roll 2 or all 3. One of the neat spins in this version of that dice system is the idea of Normal dice and Fatigue dice. Normal dice succeed on a roll of 3+, while Fatigue dice succeed on a 4+, as the race wears on Normal dice are replaced by Fatigue dice, and the risk of having some sort of negative consequence from rolling multiple failures becomes more significant.

Spending the Actions a player gets from their dice allows them to do things, such as move further, turn, attack fellow Charioteers, and more, with complex actions like Sharp Turns and Inciting the Crowd, costing more Actions to perform. All of this is important, as a player will always have to move their Chariot a compulsory forward move before they take any actions - this move is always straight ahead, and it can be easy to move too far, or leave a turn too late, which could result in a collision on the following turn when you make your compulsory move.

While relatively simple, Faustus Furius is an engaging and fun game. While the dice system is straight forward, the negative consequences for rolling multiple dice vary depending on the number of failures and the number of dice rolled can lead to a little chart referencing during the game - but this will fade as players become more familiar with the system.

I bought a bunch of 15mm Chariots from Magister Millitum to use, but the game works equally well with Pod-Racers, Hot Wheels cars or whatever you happen to have, or whatever tickles your fancy.

All in all Faustus Furius is a great little racing game, and certainly worth the cheap price point. Like all of their games, you can get it from the Ganesha Games website as a PDF.

I managed to get in a learning game the other evening with my lad. We used two 'chariots' each, and rather than chariots (which I haven't assembled all of yet), we used small tanks from Spartan Games line of Dystopian Wars models. I was rather tickled by the idea of these gargantuan machines of war turned into racers. For the sake of the game we made all of them 'archer chariots', and my son seemed just as content spending his actions shooting at my guys as focusing on little things like turning... It was a lot of fun.

Everybody... start your sturginium-infused-coal-powered engines!

After getting shot Alphonse veers into the stadium wall. A mob of walking robots invades the track...

Another lucky shot flips Snake Boy...

The race for the finish line is on!

Snake Boy, eyeing off the finish line...

Alphonse, spun about by a collision, may well be out of the race...

Our racers (Initiative is via card draw)... the green line indicates the model marked by a green micro-dice.

Song of Blades and Heroes with the Lad...

Song of Blades and Heroes, by Ganesha Games is a relatively simple skirmish game. With slightly more than half a dozen figures per side, and only a couple of game stats to worry about, it plays quickly, but manages despite its simplicity to remain an engaging and tactical game.

Tonight my lad wanted to turn his hand to playing a miniatures game, bless him, and Song of Blades and Heroes was my immediate thought. I didn't expect him to immediately grasp the subtleties of how to push your actions or combine the use of your figures, but I did hope he would have a fun time pushing miniatures around, and he certainly did.

In Song of Blades and Heroes each figure can be activated with one, two or three dice. For every result above the Quality stat of the figure, you get one action. But if you roll two fails (below the Quality stat), play turns over to your opponent. This core activation mechanism contains a neat element of 'push-your-luck', with the desire to get more actions balanced against the risk of prematurely ending your turn. Combine this with various tactical bonuses and penalties, and an array or little special abilities, and you have an engaging but straight-forward game experience.

It's a great little game, much valued for the low miniature count, the fast game-play and the ease of rules. It also throws in some fun twists via the special abilities, such as the Leader ability, which allows for group activations, moves and firing. In short: it is fun.

In quick order I dashed off a couple of army lists, got out some miniatures and, with the help of the lad, set up the board. We rolled the Magic Item scenario - which would see our warbands searching for a special item from several possibilities on the board.

In all the game was a lot of fun. My son chose to continually push his luck by rolling three dice every activation, but that is to be expected. As we play more, his choices will grow more tactical. He did manage to knock off a couple of my warband though, so I can't be too critical!

In what I hoped would be a decisive move, my Mole with a Quality of 2+ managed to throw this turn, he fell to bow fire shortly after this photo was taken...

The miniatures are by Splintered Light, from their Woodland Warriors range, and paint up very nicely. The buildings are from 4Ground's 15mm Dark Age range, and look great.

I really do enjoy Song of Blades and Heroes, it's a thoroughly enjoyable and easy to get into miniatures game, with rules that are simple in play, but provide a solid depth of choices. Well worth checking out!

Attracted to Infinity...

Infinity is a skirmish level science fiction table top miniatures game published by Corvus Belli. It is thick on the action, and for me the two standouts in the game are the dynamic and tension building activation mechanism, combined with the threat imposed by a reaction mechanism. In other words, you have a set number of actions you can take, and you may spend them how you please (including activating the same model multiple times). You must also be very careful about dominating lines of fire on the table, as models may react by firing at enemy models at any and every opportunity, even out of turn.

It is a gloriously fun and dynamic game, filled with tense choices, tactical play and a mix of forward planning and flying by the seat of your pants.

A good Infinity table has plenty of terrain, allowing for extensive use of cover, planning, careful movement, and covering fire.

The setting for Infinity is a sprawling space opera style universe, with a multitude of varying powers vying for their own slice. It is a highly enjoyable and well developed setting, explored thoroughly in the N3 Core Book, and expanded upon in the updated release of Human Sphere. The setting is well supported by a very consistent aesthetic and wonderful art (carried through into the miniatures).

I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to write for the Infinity Role Playing Game, published by Modiphius Entertainment, and have loved getting stuck into the setting. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the books in print later this year!

For Infinity I collect the Yu Jing, a conglomeration of various Asian powers melded into one. The miniatures produced by Corvus Belli are stunning, if sometimes a little agonizing for a lazy man such as myself to assemble. 

With a variety of miniature games in my collection, as well as hundreds of board and card games, storage is a very real issue. I just don't have anywhere to put all my miniatures!

Pinching the idea from a friend (thanks Quinton), I recently got hold of a metal tool box, and started magnetizing the bases of my figures to go inside it. I know this is not a new idea, but it is the first time I've tried it, and I must say that it's worked an absolute treat.

A couple of neodymium magnets under the base of a model, and it sticks to the interior of the metal toolbox with no worries. My only concern in fact, is that I may have attached too many magnets to the base of some of the figures, and may well pull them apart or off the base as I try to get them out (note to self: neodymium magnets are strong).

Happily, I found a reasonably well sized tool box, and will be adding a bunch of my other miniatures to it as well. At the moment it is home to my Infinity models and my Splintered Light models (for Song of Blades and Heroes). I plan to add my Planetfall miniatures in there as well, as soon as the postman delivers the packet of magnets I need to the door.

If you are struggling for storage, or are looking for a storage solution that is also handy for transport, a metal toolbox and some magnets is a very solid choice.

I used two magnets per stack - as this reached the same height as the interior of the base. For my Infinity models I added two such stacks (4 magnets per base) - probably excessive. 

The remotes (the large bases at the bottom), I used 4 stacks (8 magnets), definitely excessive.

Splintered Light miniatures for Song of Blades and Heroes

I used a lighter touch with these, only one stack per base - which was well and truly enough.

Strong magnets... a plenty of room left in the toolbox for more miniatures...

Land of Tales and Heroes

I've been playing Song of Blades and Heroes, a small skirmish game published by Ganesha Games, for a few years now on and off. It's a straight forward miniatures game, with simple enough rules to play through quickly, but with enough depth and interesting systems to remain engaging and enjoyable. It's a system that is easy to get into, and as a result, easy to manipulate. You can play games in any setting that inspires you, with any miniatures you have handy.

Like many gamers I seriously lack storage space, but being a fan of the smaller scale of miniatures is a bonus in this regard. My favourite scales for figures tend to be 15mm or smaller. For Song of Blades and Heroes I bought a range of 15mm Orcs and Goblins from Splintered Light (and they are wonderful models). The only thing lacking was a good playing surface.

Being small scale miniatures Song of Blades and Heroes only calls for a small sized board. In the shed I happened to have a 2ft by 2ft piece of MDF that had served me many moons ago as a DBA board. It was time to re-purpose the glaringly green gloss surface to something that looked a little better!

Previously the board had been coated with a horrid dark green gloss spray. The first thing I wanted to do was to add some texture to the surface, so I sprayed it with watered down PVA, and sprinkled sand across the surface. After this was dried I sprayed it with a black undercoat, then painted on successive layers of brown, culminating in several layers of drybrushing, from brown, to a very light skin tone.

To add some colour and interest to the surface I sprayed on some more PVA, and then added static grass to finish it off. Once I had shaken off the excess I sprayed the lot heavily with a matt varnish.

I'm pretty happy with the result, now I'm just waiting to get a game or two happening!

If you're interested in Song of Blades and Heroes - it's well worth checking out. At the moment Ganesha are running a Kickstarter for the Advanced rules and a Dwarf source book. I am very much looking forward to getting my copies!

Treasure in the woods...

Since the man from Harsten had come, the missing cattle had been found, all reckonings had been tallied and paid and the man had disappeared with as much aplomb as he had arrived.  It had been a busy week or so at the Tepid cup.  With purses full and palms freshly greased the ale had flowed as freely as something that costs a very reasonable price per flagon can.

Talk of the successes of the Crump Troubadours and the Order of the Wild Wood were much celebrated; their small victories told and retold.  The poor and feckless Marrow Raiders, their purses filled with more fluff than coin, had to nurse their drinks and swallow the jibes and slings that barbed them for their general uselessness in the cattle raid that had become so much the toast of the bar.

They took it like a quiet wound, a hurt that cut them, but they wouldn't stoop to mumble about.  Well, all of them except for Willy the Fist; it's ironic that the smallest of a bunch is often the most belligerent.  Willy ‘The Fist’ had the quick eyes and restless hands of a troublemaker.  While the Wrecking Machine had hands that could make short work of skulls and likely even coconuts, Willy ‘The Fist’ was not so naturally gifted with strength or size.  He was diminutive, smaller than average, but quick.  He also suffered from Small Person Syndrome, a regularly near terminal case of it.  He liked a challenge, he was the sort of rogue that pick pocketed pick pockets and started fights with people in groups.  In short he was a bastard.

If it hadn't been for the timely recollections of the barman, who was overcome with a sudden desire to lean into the limelight and procure as much attention as the lack of sobriety would allow him to filch, it could have gone very badly at the Tepid Cup.  Luckily, as it was, Ralph was a man who much liked thieve attention.  He was the sort of thief that liked to wait till the flames of whatever blaze had gathered everyones attention had died to nought but glowing embers before stepping in.  That perfectly timed coup, where those besotted with one thing find themselves suddenly overtalked on that subject and are just starting to cast about for something else to discuss - that is when Ralph the barman would strike.

Finding a silent pause loud enough to fill with your own distinct noise is hard enough in a bar, but Ralph was the sort who managed it every time.  After a last telling of the Rustling had died away, and the bar was full of sniffs, shrugs and staring into near empty mugs, as Willy the Fist had begun to cast about for someone big enough to pick a fight with, Ralph leaned in...

"Course, there's still the silver they managed to got."

The Badger shuddered at the sentence; for grammar was a sore point.

"They been stealing and selling cattle for what, a couple'a month or more.  Talk says there's still bags o' coin buried away up there, awaiting them come back."

And that started it.  A day of excited chatter, hurried preparations and rushed plans.  The Crump Troubadours and Order of the Wild Wood left that afternoon, making their way toward the Blackwood along the roads, quiet and confident.

Willy the Fist had stayed in drinking, and with a bastards eye had watched them go.  He grinned a thugs grin, roused himself from his seat, sniffed, and with the Marrow Raiders in tow, headed by thieves trails into the woods.  They'd be damned if they'd be the laughing stock this time, anyone who was going to laugh at them was going to do so through a mouth filled with missing teeth...

To each their own... the Order of the Wild Wood are in the foreground, while the Crump Troubadours are far left, and the Marrow Raiders far right.

After finding again the base of operations, the three bands set-up and prepare to get in and get what they can.  Some early luck on the part of the Order of the Wild Wood put some of their members far forward, within searching distance of the rumours...

The gems were rumours, while the chests were treasures... the Order of the Wild Wood managed to get first pick of both...

A Ring of Flying?  Were Badgers ever meant to wield such powers?

The Order of the Wild Wood seemed poised to take the day...

Ahh, but the Marrow Raiders wouldn't be so easily dismissed...

Gold!

Some quick arrows loosed... while little damage was caused the poor Hedgehog was knocked down.  It was a warning shot of what might be to come...

Never tangle with a mouse in a fine orange cloak!

While the photos stop there they fail to catalogue the imminent arrival of a flying badger on the left wing. The general failure of all the Crump Troubadours bar their new wolf - which was most effective. And the resurgence of the Marrow Raiders, who after a tussle on the hill managed to steal away with more gold and glory than the either of the other bands.

Every dog has it's day...

--------

The second of the three scenarios I had planned.  We never managed to get their third played - so hopefully that one is still to be fought.

The starting zones were the points of a triangle, while all the treasures were positioned equally between all the forces - so treasures roughly half way along each of the sides of the imagined triangle - as well as some in the middle.  There were four treasures, and a bunch of gems that represented rumours - moving into contact with those meant a roll of the dice - on a 5 or 6 they yielded some treasure, otherwise nothing.  Teams that found nothing took the gem, and would receive a +1 on their next rumour roll.

There was less combat than we expected, again the game was driven by positional play, with all of those figures forward earning treasure, and becoming too valuable to potentially throw away in combat.  Had any of us had a good quality long range archer it could have been very different.

This game was a lot of fun, though the luck of the dice turned this time against the Crump Troubadours, they still managed to end the game with more than they started.

If I set this up again I would have one change to how it worked.  The rumours quickly disappeared - so I would have made the rule that any rumour that was not treasure could be replaced into any empty terrain feature of the players choosing - I think that could have added a fun twist to the game.

In any case - the game was fun!  Here's looking forward to the next engagement!

Cheers,

Giles.

Rustling rustlers...

Rumours at the Tepid Cup, a secluded inn on the road to Harsten, with a reputation for having a reputation, swirled around the bar room like heirs around a dying monarch.  Most of them started with Ralph, the publican.  They started with Ralph because they would usually end with Ralph leaning over the bar telling his whispered hearsay over and again; he was a man who liked the sound of his own dramatic whisper and had a positive penchant for leaning.

The rumours of the past week flowed as free as ale, which is to say that for a fistful of copper coins one could partake their fill of both.  Cattle had been raided from farms outlying Harsten, there were brigands in the Dark Wood; cattle thieves hiding up and away in the forest.  Ralph rather enjoyed repeating his joke; that he had heard rustling in the woods.

That's what they were and what they remained, rumours and idle jokes oft repeated. That is until the tall man from Harsten came offering real coin for any familiar with the Dark Wood who could return the stolen cattle and stop the forest rustling.

Three intrepid bands set out to claim their share of what they could.  

A run-down farmstead with signs of recent repairs? 

What ho? What be those bovine-like creatures there in that pen?

The three groups came at the farm from different angles, each trying to make off with as many of the cattle as they could, the tall man of Harsten would pay well for each head returned, as long as the body was returned as well, and everything seemed in functioning order.

The first moves are made, with as quick and cautious a foot as could be laid...

Searching the old farm houses found no trace of the rustlers...

A group led by Lord Tuffington, known only as the 'Crump Troubadours', made for the old farm houses in the hope of finding rustlers or loot, or both.  The cattle thieves had left signs of a hasty departure, and a search yielded some stashed coin, enough to make the effort worthwhile.

All very cautious... trying to avoid getting bogged down in fighting while there was loot to be had.

'The Order of the Wild Wood', led by Badger (who else?) made the first  attempts to secure the pen, or at least as many of the cattle as they could safely lead away.

In, grab, run.  Get away with as much loot (well, cows) as plausible and safe...

Sadly, the Crump Troubadours and the Order of the Wild Wood raced into action too quickly for the lumping likes of the 'Wrecking Machine' and 'Willy The Fist' members of the group known as 'The Marrow Raiders' - who managed after some time to nab one misbegotten and emaciated old cow the others had left behind as too shabby.

To the victorious go the spoils... the Crump Troubadours managed to make the most hay whilst the sun shone...

----------

So this was the first of several scenarios I designed to be three player affairs.  Each of us players had a 300 point warband, using the rules from the basic Song of Blades and Heroes Rulesbook - as well as campaign rules from Song of Deeds and Glory (both from the excellent Ganesha Games).

Each warband started in its own little deployment zone on the points of a triangle, with the goal or objective of the game (in this case being the Cattle) smack bang in the center.  The goal of the game was simple - you could move a cow if you had a member of your warband within 'short' of it, and the maximum move you could make while getting the cattle away was also 'short'.  The cattle had a combat of '0' - so theoretically one could try and kill the cattle being led by the opponents in a sort of scorched earth approach to winning the scenario.

Each cow a warband managed to return to their deployment zone was worth D6x5 gold.  

As it played out there was no combat at all, aside, I think, from the odd ranged shot.  This didn't mean the scenario was uninteresting however - we all avoided combat, wanting to get away with as much as we could as quickly as we could.  Our better quality models were quickly moved into position, and this positional play was a tense little dance.  It would have been interesting if one or all of us had a better quality long range archer, but as it stood it was an interesting and fun game.

As a three player scenario it worked well, the poor 'Marrow Raiders' didn't manage to achieve much, and this mainly due to some poor rolling.  From that point of view the scenario seemed relatively balanced.  In retrospect I would have positioned the terrain differently - perhaps have the cattle in a forest clearing with a few paths in.  A slightly different terrain layout may have concentrated the figures and encouraged more combat.  But despite the lack of direct conflict the game was a lot of fun, so maybe I'd leave everything as was!

I should note that the poor luck of the 'Marrow Raiders' continued after the scenario was played out.  I wrote that the warbands received a D6x5 gold, he (my brother Ewen, erstwhile brain behind the Marrow Raiders), of course rolled a '1'. 

In the Song of Deeds and Glory rules warbands go exploring between scenarios and can find interesting things and have interesting encounters.  A fun way to build a little history and sense of campaign.  The Crump Troubadours managed to encounter and recruit a wolf - useful and definitely increases their awesome factor.  I wandered into a 'blessed glade', and found a one use magic charm stone, good for one reroll.  The still wily, less successful and increasingly less optimistic Marrow Raiders rolled one less than I did and managed to stumble into a 'cursed glade' - of course it was cursed.  Hilarity ensued, jibes coming from at least two players.

At the least the Marrow Raiders managed to make good in the following scenario...  but more on that later.

Cheers,

Giles.