Heartbreak at Caen 1138

https://boardgamegeek.com/article/22702385#22702385

BATTLE ONE opening scene.

Barron Kenneth with the Orange banner and represented by red die.  His allied tributary Baron Steve with the Orange over Purple banner and often represented by black die.

Fighting Baron Brian of the Blue banner and represented in die rolls by blue dice.

Baron Kenneth seizes the initiative to drive an army into the heart of the Raven held lands whilst he is wounded grievously. Marching on Caen and calling once again upon his tributary Baron Steve, he will meet in battle a traitorous English dog Brian d' Blue. Brian once an allied compatriot has gone continental and sided with the Black banner. He shall be silenced!

The three battles played this rainy spring day in 1138 are as follows.

Battle One. The attacker Sir Kenneth loses 4xSp,Ps, Baron Steve loses naught but fought valiantly by all accounts. Baron Brian loses, KnG, 2xKn and has desertion in the ranks of a Cb, Ps. He wins 2 prestige.

Baron Steve's loyal retinue. Cavalry, Spear and Crossbowmen.

Cry Havoc.  The clash of horse steel and men on the hills outside Caen.

Banner to banner!  As men of steel.

Baron Steve's cavalry ride to the flank.  Heroically done sir!

Baron Kenneth's brave push up the ridgeline into Baron Brian's line of knights.

The beginning of the end when Kenneth's left flank collapses and the battle is lost.

Baron Brian bleeds out knights.

That sneaky cavalry commander of Baron Steve's has cut the line of retreat!

Baron Brian bleeds more knights.

The clash of steel and the cries of horse and men can be heard throughout the country side.

Battle ensues....

A push in the center.  All eyes look to see if either commander is captured for ransom.

Lord Kenneth bleeds Spear and Psiloi....

The capture of Baron Brian!  With no where to run the blue banner is reigned in  but look at the blue right flank.  Completely turning Baron Kenneth's forces the battle is over!!!

Full scene. Roll credits.  This battle is the campaign result.  Thanks for reading and following along.

Eye Candy Ahead.

For you DBA fans, the next two results where fought out but not used in the campaign.

Battle Two. Baron Kenneth wins 2 prestige with the loss of 2xKn. Baron Brian loses KnG, Kn, 2xSp and desertion of a Cb, Ps.

Battle Three. Baron Kenneth loses 2xSp, Ps and Baron Steve loses a Cv to total 4 lost elements on the Orange banner side. Baron Brian wins the battle at the cost of a Camp BUA, Cb and the resultant desertion of 2xPs. He garners 2 prestige points.

What sayest the battle gods:

Die roll as always 1,2 battle one, 3,4 battle two, 5,6 battle 3 for the campaign!Caen 1138 2

Set up! ? !

Wonkiness.  The blue command got a weird random start so I die rolled for which side to deploy them on and it turned them into the BUA which is bad in recoils.  (Kinda glad this one isn't the final because it would be difficult to 'splain...)

Death in the streets of CAEN.

NUMBER Three....

Blue banner crossbowmen garrison the city BUA.

They get taken out.

Best regards if you are still reading along and enjoying the pictures.

Ork Base a Horde Mountain Spinner Dungeon

Horde Mountain is the name I am giving to my minimalistic  dungeon crawl experience.

The name is derived from the way the game is played and some of the mechanics that go along with really simplified dungeon exploration and solving the story line of the event or experience.

Solve: Can you game with nothing more than a pen, paper, and a paperclip?

Horde Mountain lets you as a player create and see a dungeon evolve and come to life right before your eyes and as a gaming experience it is neat to be the dungeon master and the sole player on a mission for gold and glory.  The dungeon map above was randomly generated to produce rooms, halls, monsters and treasures all for the adventurer to explore and conquer.

Starting with nothing but a paperclip, and a pen, we write out a horde mountain chart and spinner circle.  The chart will randomly generate the necessary Halls, Rooms, Doors, Monsters, Treasure and Notes for special events and quest goals.  See what I did there? HRDMTN sounds like Horde Mountain in acronym form.  You as the GM create a system to bring a story that you want to tell to life.  It will arrive in a neat little random way that allows you to also experience the event as a player in a story driven game.

If you are reading this you know about the format of the dungeon crawl.  GM says, "the hall goes along in this direction and you come to a series of doors."  As players we decide on what the action will be and which direction we will explore and follow.  Consult the Horde spinner and randomize each next necessary thing.  Need to know if the door is locked? - it is on the spinner.  Need a room size and composition? - spin for it.  What monster lurks in the depths of next shadow? You guessed it.  It can be quickly and randomly generated from the same ingenious spinner.

Amass a fortune in gold  as rooms contain treasure and magic items. Your character can be a wizard, fighter, thief, ranger, elf or dwarf or hobit....no limits in this dramatically streamlined version of the old dungeon crawl.  I sound like a salesmen.  Well I am seriously thinking of putting this idea into a neat little desktop published item and selling it on Ebay.

Today's post has some dungeon that has not been inked in.  Well, I was in the process of exploring this scenario and thought I need to push this to the blog.  So I randomized the rest of the dungeon.  The pencil portions have not been completely explored.  I just did the rooms and halls randomizer and followed along with doors that create new paths.  This tested the final idea that a 5 level dungeon that gets tougher as you progress is completely possible.  

You have to have a general theme that you want to explore and then the rest just falls into place.  You can create an array of monsters to fulfill your theme.

Not all levels of the dungeon go down.  Some go up levels to heights above the ground level.

When dungeons go down into lower depths, I like to have them go through the map ala, "Key to the Kingdom" style and turn the page to create a new map sheet actually below the previous sheet.

Thanks for looking in.

Look for further adventures in the dungeon crawl experience.

Battle of Avranches Spring 1138

Spring 1138, Baron Ryan attacks Avranches defended by Baron Kenneth. A field battle ensues and Baron Kenneth calls to his aid his tributary Baron Steven of Brittany.

We have battle results:

Battle 3 Baron Ryan loses KnG, 3xKn, and a Cb and PS to desertion. Baron Kenneth loses Kn, Sp, Ps and gains 1 prestige. The town is defended Lord Ryan must retreat. Baron Steven loses no elements but did not arrive at all in this battle.

After the Battle scene. Eliminated elements lower left and top left by the town.  Baron Steve in the lower right can be seen at his encampment but declined to ride forth for battle.

The death of the Black Raven.  Caught in a pinning move with no retreat.

Baron Ryan's retinue retreat to Chinon.  His ransom brings 1 prestige to Baron Kenneth.

Cry Havoc!!Battle of Avranches 1138 6

Spring 1138 Current Stats:
Ryan: , , 4xSp, 2xPs, Battle Prestige:19
Mike: KnG, 3xKn Battle Prestige:2
John: KnG, 3xKn, Cv, Cb, 3xSp, 2xPs, Horde Battle Prestige:10
Ted: KnG, 3xKn, Ps Battle Prestige:4
Steve: KnG, 2xKn, Cv, Cb, Sp Battle Prestige:5
Ken: KnG, 2xKn, 4xSp, 2xPs, Battle Prestige:4
Brian: KnG, 3xKn, 4xSp, 3xPs, Cb Battle Prestige:0

And for your DBA eye candy here are the two other outcomes.  All in all it was a positive day for the Orange banner and Baron Kenneth's forces.

Battle One.

Battle Two.