Playtest - By This Axe I Rule

By This Axe I Rule!

Playtest 15/01/11

Forces: 



Donaar's Alliance
Wood Elves 1
Wood Elves 2
Elrose the Axe, Wood Elf SuperHero
Halfling Riflemen
Dwarves
Friar Duquesne, Priest-Hero
Donaar K'baab, Dragonman Champion




Forces of Orcus
Madskyllz, Troll
Ho-pe-teh, Giant Toad
Dark Elves 1
Dark Elves 2
Daphid Powy, Dark Elf Champion
Ghouls
Dark Karolina, Vampire Hero

Table set-up: 3ft by 3ft table. Chris placed the terrain, and Jonathan chose which table edge to set-up on. Chris set-up on opposite side. Decided that forces could set up in an area 6” from each table edge on their side. Rolled dice to see who would set up first, and then alternated placing units. If a character was separate to a unit, they counted as a unit for placement.

Time of day: As the dark elves had the darkvision quality, we used a day/night determination method from the game Fantasy Warriors. This came up with the first segment of daytime, so no night-fighting advantage for the drow.

Backstory: In an alternate future of our D&D campaign, only one member of the Heroes of Winterhaven survives, Donaar K’baab, dragonborn paladin of Bahamut. His companions have fallen or in the case of Karolina the bard, been subverted to the cause of the Heroes’ enemy, Orcus, Demon Lord of Undeath. With a ragtag band of followers, and some cross-planar aid from some halflings armed with curious flame rods, Donaar goes to battle Karolina and her warband.

Turn 1
No missile fire (out of range). Moving forward in most cases. Wood Elves stayed in woods but changed facing. Turn phases were met with approval, especially the simultaneous nature of missile fire.

Turn 2
Dark Elves and Wood Elves fire upon one another. Dark Elves eliminate the Dwarves, but Donaar is unscathed (too bad I only had 3 dwarf minis...). Ghouls take casualties. to missile fire. Hobbits move to cut off the Toad and Troll, who are hidden behind the tower. Friar Duquesne hangs at the back, forgetting to use his save power. (Doh)

Turn 3
Hobbits gun down Madskylz, as he emerges from behind the ruined tower. Ho-pe-teh also emerges. Wood Elf Unit 1 loses 3 members and their morale holds. Wood Elf Unit 2 loses 3 members, and fails morale test. Starts to flee. Elrose engages the ghoul unit and destroys them with his mighty axe, before he too is killed.

Turn 4

The hobbits shoot at Ho-pe-teh, but the toad survives, slowly plodding towards the small riflemen. Donaar K’baab, Daphid Powy, Karolina, and Friar Duquesne enter into melee. Daphid and Donaar trade blow for blow (we both kept guessing one another’s moves very accurately), but finally Donaar is felled. Friar Duquesne smashes Karolina round the head and she too is slain. The fleeing Wood Elves are unable to be rallied, as Friar Duquesne is too far away, and thus flee off the table. A victory for the forces of Orcus.

Riders of the Black Temple - Warband Rosters

Here are the rosters for the two forces in the Riders of the Black Temple skirmish. Admittedly, if one doesn't know Song of Blade and Heroes, it won't mean much. I'm going to try to make some notes on the setup and scenario. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to play it in the near future!

The Heroes

Ran Tan Kani (Korobokuru Barbarian)
Points 30	Quality 3+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Forester, Short Move

Shinko (Shugenja) - Personality
Points 80	Quality 3+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Cleric, Leader

Uchai (Wu Jen) - Personality
Points 46	Quality 3+	Combat 1
Special Rules	Fearless, Magic-User

Mamoru (Ninja) - Personality
Points 64	Quality 3+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Assassin, Shooter: Medium, Stealth

Daidoji Yorinaga (Samurai) - Personality
Points 106	Quality 3+	Combat 4
Special Rules	Fearless, Hero, Leader

Jiro (Monk)
Points 42	Quality 3+	Combat 3
Special Rules	Free Disengage, Steadfast

Tenko (Shinko's Dog)
Points 11	Quality 4+	Combat 2
Special Rules	Animal

Riders of the Black Temple

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Points 52 Quality 3+ Combat 2 Special Rules Long Move, Mounted

Sohei Leader - Personality Points 92 Quality 3+ Combat 3 Special Rules Leader, Long Move, Mounted

Back to life, back to reality

What a week. Entire heating and hot water system replaced; going back and forth to Mother in law's house to see wife and son (the amour of dust in our building site of a house is not a good idea for baby), sleep problems, accountancy class continues to make me feel a bit dim. But I am enjoying working on the RPG stuff and having a goal in blogging everyday. Coming up:

Kensei (with the correct spelling ;) although that now makes me think I should correct shukenja to shugenja, but anyway...)
Ninja
Sohei
1st Level Spells
Air School
Nature School
Riders of the Black Temple skirmish war-game
Thoughts on how much I like True20
US distributers of UK minis
Playtesting Labyrinth Lord conversions
Etc etc

Wu Who?

For a lark, I asked Rev Rosey (of Drama, Dice and Damsons) to roll up (3d6 in order, of course) a PC for Lords of the South by way of a playtest of qualifying for the races and classes. I hadn't really noticed before that entrance to nearly every class is like trying to be a paladin. The result was that the only thing she was really qualified to be was a human wu jen, as her PC's Str score is... 7.

So, looking over my copy of OA 1E, we can see that a wu jen has a magic-user's spell progression, a faster experience rate (until hitting Level 11), a larger weapon selection, 1d4+1 hp per level, and the following powers: +1 to hit with 1 weapon, +3 to init once per day, enhanced effects of elemental spells (if the wu jen knows all the spells of an element), meditation (doesn't need to sleep, doesn't take surprise penalties for being asleep), and at 4th Level, they can (once per day again) make a spell 3 levels below their level take maximum effect. Even if I gave the wu jen an increased xp cost per level, that's still a heck of a lot. Why play a magic-user? Apart from the magic-user just needs Int 9 and the wu jen Int 13.

Yeah... Here's my quandary: My goal is to make the old OA classes a seamless fit into LL. They all need their powers trimmed if that's to happen. Otherwise, I keep all the powers, and it becomes its own thing, a separate game if you will; one that uses the LL rules, but is not easily mixed with LL. The other option is to use the classes as inspiration, and just use the basic ideas behind them. Then it becomes less of a conversion, and more of a re-imagining.

Rambling now. Keep your blade sharp!