Living History

I created this camp because Kansas City has a lot of great military history. The camp features a trip to an American Civil War (ACW) and the WWI memorial museums, with wargaming sandwiched in between.

This year, I focused on the Battle of Westport (Brush Creek) from the ACW and we always end our week with WWI aerial combat. If you haven't been to the Battle of Westport museum, it's a nice visit. The Docents really know their stuff and they'll tailor their presentation to your needs.

For those not familiar with the Battle of Westport, it was the largest ACW battle west of the Mississippi and spelled the formal end of Confederate presence in Missouri.

The campers enjoyed the museum visit and were excited to wargame the battle. I used Junior General rules, but created the scenario myself. Ironically, history did not repeat itself, as Union infantry forces were eliminated by the Confederates. However, Union artillery chose not to retreat and used grapeshot to devastating effect. At the end of the day, it was acknowledged that the artillery would have withdrawn and the Rebs would have won the day.

The forces around Brush Creek

The Rebs thwart the Yanks from crossing the creek

The following day, we journeyed to the WWI memorial and museum. Always a great time. Always informative. Always shocking how similar conditions were then when compared to now.

The final day was WWI dogfighting. I made my own planes and map, as I'm too cheap to spring for the "real" toys. Again, I used Junior General rules, but added a lot of pilot information to the pilot cards. 

The opening pass, guns blazing!

The Flying Circus in the house!

A great camp! Next year, I want to try to head to the Battle of Lone Jack museum and fight that fight.

Strategic Gaming

I ran this camp twice this summer. Every time I run it, it's different. I give the kids free choice as to what we play. This year, Pirate Dice and Stratego were the big winners. 

Having said that, I made a point of exposing the kids to an upcoming game, Dice Legions. This little gem of a game will be released by Modiphius Games later this year. Until then, a special edition was released to earn money for "frontline aid efforts" in Ukraine. I can get behind that.

For those not familiar with the game, here's the official blurb:

Dice Legions is a fantasy style tabletop top battle game, where vast armies of every day gaming dice, are transformed by its lightning fast rule set, into vast legions of fantasy battle units. Dice Legions is designed by Australian writer and game designer Adam L Dobbyns and published by UK based Modiphius Entertainment. The game is part of the “dice as models” genre of hobby play whereby brightly coloured everyday dice from 4 sided, right up to 20 sided dice, are used to represent various combative game Units, in both solo and oppositional play.

I can't wait for the full game's release! I've included pics of the four maps I made for the game. Most are 1v1, but the largest (A Bridge Too Far) accommodates 2v2. The actual game features terrain cards that you can put on literally any flat surface, so your games fit your needs.

A Bridge Too Far

The Crossroads

Swamp of Death

You Shall Not Pass!

The Hook

Our crew of Rangers and companions followed the trail of large spiders deeper into the woods. After about an hour, they ran across the foul creatures' nests. The goal? To eradicate this blight from the woods, thereby denying the Shadow Deep even this small foothold.

The Set-Up

Small table for this scenario. Dryer sheets over the affected trees, web cocoon tokens, and Bob's your uncle.

The infected woods

On a side note, I had the chance to paint Gypsy, the companion Bloodhound of Aksel Klein (Tim's Ranger).

  

The Game

Our intrepid adventurers entered the woods directly by a cocooned person and a spider. 

The fight ensued! Stanley Barret and his faithful war hound, Blue Dog, dispatched the vile creature with impunity.

Stanley checking a cocoon

Aksel brought up the left flank, while Gregarin and Yelena anchored the right. Aksel immediately got into a scuffle with a spider...then a zombie...then another spider. He did not actually move very far the entire evening, sustaining wounds and losing his faithful Gypsy in the fray. Eventually, even the Ranger's stamina was bested and Aksel fell.

Aksel and Gypsy tag-teaming a spider

J'herry, aiding Stanley in the center, was webbed early in the contest. He easily managed to fight his way out of the sticky stuff, only to be confronted by an entire wave of arachnids. Indeed, things did not look great for Ranger Re'eed.

Webbed (NOT on fire)!

Uh, guys? Some help?

On the right, Gregarin and Yelena had their own spider troubles. Checking a cocoon, they discovered a zombified villager. The zombie dispatched Yelena after a lengthy brawl. Gregarin managed to eliminate the enemy and proceed to shoot (poorly) at both arachnids and undead for the rest of the evening.

Eventually, the woods were cleared of most of the infested trees. a random one was discovered too late in the game to deal with it, although the spider was dispatched. 

The final spider...or was it?!

Wrap-up

At the scenario's conclusion, the group saw Aksel, Gypsy, and Yelena fall. They all recovered, although Yelena took a rather severe wound to her leg that will bother her the rest of her life. The woods were cleansed, with a great many spiders and zombies killed. No villagers were found alive to rescue. The gang headed back to civilization with the knowledge that they had helped fight off the Shadow Deep for one more day.

Nobody got enough experience to gain second level. We look forward to the next mission!

 

The Beginning

This was the first time my gaming group played Rangers of Shadow Deep, so we were all new to the system. We had a full complement: Ken, Terry, Tim, and me. 

We went about polishing off creating our rangers and selecting companions for the mission. Terry chose a raptor. Ken chose a war hound, while Tim had a blood hound. I had a human recruit. The adventurers were as follows: 

Terry: Ranger J'herry Re'eed and his raven, Commander Reginald

Tim: Ranger Aksel Klein and his bloodhound, Gypsy

Ken: Ranger Stanley Barret and his war hound (wolf), Bluedog

Ted: Ranger Gregarin Testrell and is rather wild Northern recruit, Yelena Umsgärt

Notes: Yes, I know ravens aren't truly raptors. Deal with it. Terry wanted a rather irate goose as his bird companion. Compromises were made. Also, the dogs aren't painted. I didn't anticipate a run on non-human companions. Finally, I don't own any raptor miniatures, other than the dinosaur variety. I made some easy tokens for the birds.

Raptor tokens

The Hook

Rangers of Shadow Deep is a wargame wrapped around RPG-style gameplay. The core book has several missions included. This is the first one. Mission: The Missing. Scenario 1: The Deserted Village.

An unnamed village

In essence, our party goes to find a missing ranger, leading to this village. What happens next is our story.

The Set-Up

I bought a set of 3D printed buildings off Amazon and also made a building from a craft store model. Tree are typical hobby stuff and the rocks are from Pirates of the Caribbean: Life board game. The tokens are flat glass beads with icons Mod-Podged to the bottoms.

The Game

The unnamed village, nestled several hours from anywhere, is deserted. Careful perusal reveals evidence of violence. The group is in the center of town when fell zombies and giant rats start making their way toward our brave adventurers. 

Bow fire kept most of the vermin and undead at bay and out of the way, but one rat got the jump on Yelena and almost dropped her with one bite. She was not diseased, though. Silver lining?

Gregarin ran for the nearest building - locked. He tried a few times to unlock it before he was successful. In the meantime, Yelena found a terrified survivor and helped him along for the rest of the scenario. Much to Gregarin's surprise, there was a wayward zombie in the building! He cast Magic Bolt at the undead creature, blasting it into true eternal rest. He found tracks in the dust and rightly deduced that giant spiders are afoot.

Gregarin on overwatch while Yelena protects the villager

J'herry and Reginald killed several baddies and uncovered multiple clues, including finding the missing ranger as well as treasure. In the process, Commander Reginald was knocked out of action by a particularly nasty rat and was diseased in the process. J'herry almost succumbed to the same rodent before dispatching it. 

J'herry and Gypsy fight a rat after discovering a body

Stanley and Bluedog, like everyone else, dispatched several enemies and uncovered clues as to what happened in the village. Bluedog was seriously injured (1 remaining Health point) and stayed close to Stanley for most of the game. 

Stanley and Bluedog checking out a building while Aksel provides cover

Aksel and Gypsy were the unsung heroes of the tale. They cleared up dangerous fights by jumping in and finishing off foes as well as uncovering clues of their own. 

Those who remain...

Wrap-Up

The gang discovered the dead ranger, his magic sword, treasure, a potion, and most importantly, that it appears that giant spiders are to blame for the undead infestation. Following the tracks, the party headed deeper into the woods to clean the forest of the abominable arachnids - or die trying.

All the rangers leveled up to level 1. Commander Reginald is out for the second scenario, which we didn't have time to start.

All in all, we liked the game and look forward to continuing the adventure!

It was a typical day on the fringes of Man's territory. A roving band of Orcs, hoping to pillage a nearby Human settlement, closes in. Word had spread of this, causing alarm among the Wood Elves. Their lands were being used by the foul Orcs and this would not stand. The Orc marauders met the forward elements of an Elven scouting party next to a crossroad.

Game 1:
Players: Ken (Orcs) vs Terry (Elves)

The Orc force: A leader, brutes, beast rider, Hobgoblin archers, and warriors.

Elven host: Archers, stud archer, spearmen, leader, and Satyr.

The Hobgoblin gets into range...

...and dies.

Add caption

The Orc war leader goes toe-to-toe with the Elves.

He's a mean one, he is!

The fight ended with the Orcs losing too many troops and fleeing the table. Evidently longbows, in the hands of skilled archers, are deadly. Who knew?!

Game 2: Terry (Goblins) vs Ted (Elves)

The Goblins were late to the party. They were sent to back-up the Orcs and help with the pillaging. The Elves had been delayed as well. Consisting of duelists, they were ready for a scrum.

I see them, Sir!

Sneaky lil' buggers!

A squad of duelists surround their leader.

The Dryad hid in the woods and didn't do a thing.

The game was over fairly quickly. The Goblins lost their leader, making it hard for them to consistently activate. The Sneak Goblins wound up getting stuck in the woods and were thus ineffective. They eventually all ran to fight another day.

It has been a long while since I last blogged. Real Life has a way of derailing playing time. I've been gaming, just haven't been posting.

I'd bought a Skylanders: Trap Team portal for the kids, but it was a dud.  Since I'd only spent a couple of dollars on it used, I wasn't too upset.



Looking at it, I really liked the icy surface and immediately thought "I can use that". I decided I'd see how much terrain I could build with what would otherwise go in the trash.

I spent the time taking the portal apart (they're well-built!) and wound up with two components: The "icy" plastic surface and three hollow, open-sided rune-etched rocks.

Build #1: Pools

Your party quietly crept down the corridor, ears straining to hear the sounds of enemies or...anything. The passage opened to a vast room. In the center of the room was a pool, its liquid placid, but emitting a glow that illuminated the entire room.

I've long had a thought of creating pools from small picture frames. I didn't know if it would work or not (i.e., I didn't want players saying "Hey, that's a picture frame!").

1. Buy the frames.  I bought two, 2"x3" frames from Dollar Tree.
2. Cut out the surface. I used my rotary tool and cut out two 2"x3" rectangles to replace the glass in the frames. The plastic is thick, so I had to deburr the edges with a sharp blade and my rotary tool.
3. Create, print and cut out liquids. I chose two types of water, ice, lava, and swamp patterns to place inside the frames. These I resized in MS Word and then printed and cut out.
4. Texture/paint the pools' edges. Both pools needed to look like they were made of blocks, so I used either a sharp blade or my rotary tool to cut out the patterns I wanted. The first pool was made to look like gray stone. I used stone texture spray paint and then repainted it. The second pool was painted to look like white marble.

I am happy with the results. I think they are passable as small pools, and with the different liquid options, are very versatile.

Build #2: Way Markers

The path through the Dwarven tunnels was illuminated by large stone way points. The runes etched into the stones glowed with an inner light; illuminating your way through the catacombs.

1. Fill the Sides. Since the sides of these things were open, I cut out egg carton and used a hot glue gun to attach pieces to the markers. I made sure to feather the edges to maintain a cohesive stone look.
2. Buy the lights. Again, Dollar Tree to the rescue! I originally was going to use the larger tea lights that flicker, but didn't like the aesthetic. DT carries a second line of tea lights that are smaller in diameter and are LED. 
3. Alter the lights. I used egg carton to warp the sides of the lights, being careful not to glue the two halves together. The tops were already textured, so I didn't apply carton to them. I then used Sharpies to color the bulb covers orange, purple, or green.
4. Attach the pieces. I used Goop! glue and attached the markers to the bases.
5. Paint. I painted all three to look like gray stone. 

Build #3: Ice Walls

Final Takeaway

This is the recap of my participation in the local gaming convention, Recruits.  A medium-sized convention that sees about 600 or so players throughout the weekend, Recruits has sci-fi, fantasy and historical games for just about anyone's interests.  I enjoy this convention because I get to see familiar faces, play some cool games and buy stuff at great prices.

Friday Night

The Plot

British area

Towed artillery, ready for the German tanks!

British infantry who never saw any action.

Results

Saturday

Morning

Gotham at night.  Note the twin QT Towers in the background.

Near...

Far...

Near...

Far...

Near...

Far...

Results

Afternoon

The open skies are filled with aeronefs!

A slightly closer view

French fleet

Huns at 2 o'clock, Cap'n!

Austro-Hungarians

The scrum is on!

The merchants have an escort!

It's touch and go...

Some beautifully painted ships

Results

Evening

In the end, it came down to a battered, steering-impaired Griswald (seen above.  Yes, the National Lampoon theme was blaring out of the player's phone) versus a relatively fresh heavy truck Chopstick (the red truck with the whirling blades on front).  With The Griswald in such bad shape and without any offensive weapons and Chopstick  healthy and well-armed with missiles and a flamethrower, the game was called.

Congrats to Scott Wilson, winner of this year's vaunted Deadlands demolition derby trophy and earner of smack-talking rights for a year!

The Conclusion