Ninja Revenge AAR

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

I Bathed in Blood.

Yes, that is right. Bax, Al, Ed and I all bathed in Samurai blood and I can't say I regret it one bit. This was the first test of a system I've been cooking up for a while now. I mainly intend it for modern asymmetric warfare and in this case it was simply an ancient version of SpecWarfare (Special Operations Warfare). The scenario was simple - Samurai came into the village and drove off the peasants, killing not just a few in the process. These peasants were loyal to the local Ninja Ryu which took upon itself to avenge them. 4 highly trained Ninja came with just one mission - kill the leader and hurt the minions as much as possible. Let's take a look at the board.

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

Here we see the village. The Samurai have built a camp here that consists of some outward facing simple revetment made of earth and small logs. Mainly it is useful to slow down formed units and to give cover from archery. To a single Ninja, however, it poses no difficulty. Dotted all over the place are Litko Skull Tokens. Their use was to indicate possible locations for enemy troops. The idea is to eventually have a system that doesn't rely upon a GM. A carefully laid out table with smartly laid out encounter tokens will produce enough interesting engagements, in theory, to have a fulfilling game. Enough conditions and events will produce a good story.

Here is how it worked. The players each had a single Ninja. They moved onto the table from any point on the edge. When they got within both line of sight of a token AND within 18" (it is night after all) they made a stealth check and then a perception check. If the perception check failed than another perception check was made in reverse using standard modifiers for range, darkness and the results of the stealth roll. If the player's perception check was successful a card was drawn to see if there was anything there. This card draw not only told us if something was there but also it's attitude (backs to us, facing us or neutral stance). There was a modifier to the target's perception check based on that stance. If the player failed their perception check and the token succeeded in it's then the card was drawn to see what the unit was - that unit was then placed facing the player's Ninja and already aware. The player was then considered flatfooted. If either made their perception check the token was removed. If both failed then it remained in place. One token survived 6 repeated checks this way!

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

"You're goin' down!"

Here we see the Ninja Master giving the severely beaten and bleeding Samurai "a fresh one." This was our first encounter. It took several turns to defeat these guys. It was a smallish group of Katana wielding Samurai that we did not take by surprise. The Sumo Wrestler (day job) Ninja was hiding behind some barrels and peeked over the top. He saw them and they saw him! They charged, katanas akimbo, and he got up on the barrel for the flying tackle maneuver. The Ninja Master has such amazing stealth that he managed to run into the battle totally unseen or heard and landed a surprise flying kick into one of the Samurai. One of the best moments was when he surprised another, turned him around, poked him in both eyes Three Stooges style and turned him back around temporarily blinded. Well it would have been temporary but pretty soon the Speed Ninja showed up with his razor claws and pretty much finished off everyone.

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

Ok here are some Samurai who were spotted heading into the compound. They have Naganata which are great against slow, heavily armored opponents. However when out of the darkness of the night comes a screaming foot they are less useful. Here we see our leader again kicking ass, literally, and making a mockery out of the Samurai.

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

"Knock Knock... Whose There?" Gurgle.

Meanwhile Sumo (Day Job) Ninja decides to take a peak inside the compound which is lit by a couple of campfires (+2 PERception, 12" radius).

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

Ok... these guys have arrows and will fill his fat a$$ with them if he decides to bust a move. Now is the time for the Supreme Ninja Aura to come out and for him to think very small thoughts as he crosses the plaza to the tea house for a closer look! Meanwhile Baxter is also trying to think small thoughts as he has been making his way around the compound looking for patrols!

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

Through a lot of luck we converge on the archer squad. Considering we are in the radius of illumination the two fires give this is a blessing from the Dice Gods. While we have shuriken throwing stars (well Bax and Ed do) those are pretty pitiful compared to the long bows of the Samurai. Cautious advance is the only way to take these guys out. In fact most of our attacks are magnified while they are unaware. If the surprise is blown then so is a good 50% of our advantage.

From 2009-06-13 Ninja Revenge

Severed body parts? Check

Ringing ears from Ninja flashbang 'nades? Check

No one left standing? Uh wait. Baxter!

So Baxter left one standing. The dude made his armor save. Which all things considered went poorly for him as that meant he now had the attention of 4 Ninja.

We called it at that point. The major successes here were the use of the encounter system with conditions that made it less and less likely that the Samurai would be surprised (luck really was with us this last round) as was much of the non-combat aspects of Hero I used. The Hero System combat mechanics while great were a bit much for people new to it to grasp so I went from player to player and without looking at their sheet asked what did they really want to do - not what game mechanic was best. Then I discussed mechanical options. That really was fun. I think if you had 4-8 Herophiles it would have been a bit faster and I would not have had to nerf the Samurai as much. I'll rework the system so that just the essential elements that we used will be shown to non-role players. Overall the combat was fun though and while it is helpful when players know what they are doing it isn't necessary if the GM knows what he is doing!

This project started about 3 weeks ago at Nashcon. I picked up 10 ninja figures (or 9 plus the sumo wrestler who was too cool to not use as a brick ninja!) I painted them in two weeks (yes, I am slow/don't paint every night) and then worked on the rules. For this game I opted to do a mix of my encounter system (which this was the first public playtest) and the Hero System RPG. For source material I used the following:

Gold Rush Games
"Senjoku" RPG and Source Book
"Shinobi, Shadows of Nihon" Source Book

History Books
"Ninja, The True Story of Japans Secret Warrior Cult" by Stephen Turnbull

Hero Games
"Hero System", 5th Edition Revised, RPG
"Ninja Hero" Source book
"The Ultimate Martial Artist" Source book
"The Hero System Combat Handbook" (all the combat rules and options in one place!)
"The Ultimate Mentalist"
"The Ultimate Speedster"
"The Ultimate Skill"
"The Ultimate Brick"

All of these books were very useful and I plan on doing another similar game in the future. With Hero 6th Edition coming out this summer it will be interesting to see how things cleanup or change.

I do plan on creating a new variant of this for Historicon this year. I am really excited that this first game went as well as it did. It needs simplification such that players don't need to know a lot of nuances. However it was a lot of fun. It really did feel like a Ninja SpecOp with suspense and drama. I'd like to thank Bax, Al and Ed for playing and playing well and to Wargames, LLC for giving us the place to play!

By the way, Wargames is moving. Not far away either, just down the street into a MUCH NICER PLACE! Thank you Miss Nancy for your hard work finding the new space! It really is great looking. We got a tour of the facility and I'll be posting pictures of it on a later date. If you are looking for a great place to game then you'll have to check out Wargames.

From Ninja Revenge

Simple ideas for trackable head display for gaming consoles

This guy just got hired for Project Natal for the Xbox. Absolutely great stuff. I was greatly impressed with the appearence of 3D and the fact that he was able to mimick the effect using a camcorder. The fact that he was able to do this on such a small budget and with pretty simplistic tools is what really amazes me here. The concept with the wii is to track where the controller is, as a point in space. By "reversing the triangle" this system is able to track two other points which is needed for the steroscopic view. Great stuff.

If you have not heard of Project Natal (pronounced new-tal for some reason) it is a 3 dimensional sensor, plus biometric sensor. It can tell if it recognizes you by how you look or your voice. It is a key component for future sensor work by Microsoft for game control. No longer will games be just simply about sitting on the couch. Now the machine will be able to order you to scrape and bow to its all mighty presence before allowing you to play and it will know if you did it or not! Seriously though, it should make for much more immersive games. I'm looking forward to it actually.

Battle Chronicler

How did I get so far behind as to miss Battle Chronicler? This cool piece of software is used to make battle reports with high quality maps. It look quite a bit easier to use than Campaign Cartographer (which is wonderful in its rich set of commands, templates and options - but quite difficult to use in my opinion.)

I saw it first at the Chicago Terrain Factory but it appears to have been mentioned is various podcasts and the like. Anyway, if you are like me and missed out on it take the time now to check it out. It looks quite good. I may use it to write up my after action report for the Ninja Revenge game this coming Saturday.

Historical Miniatures Gaming Society East Announces Legion of Honor, Scruby Award Winners

I just got the following email from the Historicon staff. Looks like some very worthy people will receive their highest accolades this year. Congratulations!

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Bel Air, MD (May 11, 2009) -- The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society East (www.HMGS.org) will present the Society’s lifetime achievement award -- the Jack Scruby Award - to Todd Fisher of Chicago, IL at the 25th annual HISTORICON ™ 2009 conference to be held July 16 – 19, 2009 at the Lancaster Host Resort and Conference Center in Lancaster, PA. The Jack Scruby Award is presented bi-annually by the Historical Miniatures Gaming Society East (HMGS) for distinguished service to the hobby of historical miniatures gaming. HMGS is a non-profit educational organization that promotes the study of military history through historical miniatures gaming, seminars, grants, and conventions.

The Scruby Award is named after the late Jack Scruby, one of the first to make a critical contribution to the growth and promotion of the hobby and industry of historical miniatures gaming in the U.S. The award recognizes individuals who exhibit the same selfless service and incomparable contributions to the hobby as exemplified by Jack Scruby.

Todd Fisher has contributed to many different fields of historical miniatures gaming. An avid wargamer and dedicated Napoleonic scholar, Todd has organized and assisted in organizing a number of game conventions, the most notable is Little Wars, sponsored by the HMGS Midwest chapter, which Todd was also instrumental in organizing. Perhaps Todd’s most famous achievement was the Emperor’s Headquarters (EHQ) that he started in 1990, a wargaming super-shop that gamers drove hundreds of miles to visit, and which undoubtedly inspired many of the successful historical shops in the country today. Todd also formed the Emperor’s Press, which published not only wargaming rules, but also many serious scholarly works by respected historians, including Christopher Duffy. Todd was editor and publisher of Napoleon Magazine and has served as a retailer, publisher, and manufacturer, producing a number of historical figure lines under license. He has also been involved in the artistic end of the hobby, the art of game design. Todd has been closely associated with the various editions of Empire, and was central to the development of the new Revolution and Empire rules, in addition to designing the popular medieval rule set Revenge.

Todd is the Executive Director of the Napoleonic Historical Society, and in that capacity, he has led tours of the Napoleonic Sights of Europe for over thirty years (he was one of six original inductees in the International Napoleonic Society.) He has authored several books on the Napoleonic period, including The Napoleonic Wars, which is used as the textbook for many graduate courses, written articles that have appeared in international journals, and was the chief historical advisor on the Peabody award-winning “Napoleon” for Public Broadcast System (PBS).

“Todd’s incredible accomplishments in the field of historical miniatures gaming -- from conventions, education and retailing to publishing and game design -- make him an outstanding recipient of the Jack Scruby Award,” said Pete Panzeri, president of HMGS.

HMGS Legion of Honor Awards

Elected to the 2009 HMGS Legion of Honor are Don Perrin and Philip Viverito whom will be inducted during the Scruby Awards Dinner, Friday night at HISTORICON ™ 2009. The Legion of Honor inducts individuals for their significant personal accomplishment in one or more fields of historical miniature gaming.

Don Perrin of Williams Bay, Wisconsin is publisher of Historical Miniature Gamer Magazine and president of True North Miniatures. He was also the publisher and editor for James Manto's Men-at-Arms medieval wargame. Don served with the Canadian Army for 10 years, retiring as a Captain in the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Currently, Don works with the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre of Canada to train Corps Headquarters in NATO, the European Union and the African Union for peacekeeping operations. He has published eight novels and has authored or edited a host of card games, miniatures games and role-playing games, including the Dragonlance d20 Campaign Setting, the Star Trek Original Series Collectible Card Game, Uncle Duke's Napoleonette Rules for 15mm Napoleonics and the Sovereign Stone Role Playing Game. Don has also served as president of the adventure game industry's trade organization GAMA, and has consulted for games and toys with Hasbro, Mattel, Origin Systems and Scenario.

Currently, Don devotes his time to printing other peoples fine miniatures games (such as Test of Battle Games' Command Decision: Test of Battle, LMW's G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T and Holy Hack, Sam Mustafa’s Might & Reason and OGDW's General Quarters), through his company Quality Print-On-Demand. He helped organize many conventions, including HISTORICON, Little Wars, REDCON, and RockCon, is publisher of the award winning Historical Miniature Gamer magazine, North America's only historical miniatures magazine, and continues to promote and play historical miniature games.

Philip Viverito of Tonawanda, New York is a prolific writer, historian, game-rules author, game-master, figure painter, master terrain maker, event organizer, and HMGS supporter. He began creating model buildings and relief maps focusing on various historical periods from Classical times to modern times model in junior high school and was so successful that he was invited to lecture on historical topics to other classes. After graduating Niagara County Community College and then Niagara University with a BA in history, he began building larger, award winning dioramic presentations for gaming conventions. He was contracted to do an architectural display for Amherst Historical Museum, Amherst, New York. Later he designed and created a series of seven miniature buildings depicting the development of The French Castle for The Old Fort Niagara Association, Youngstown, New York. In addition, he assisted in cataloging photographs for the Association's librarian. This led to other photographic assignments for the Fort. He was also responsible for the care and preservation of the Canadian Power Company's photographic archives and collections, eventually creating a photographic history of the company that was donated to the Canadian Government collections. Other commercial endeavors include photographic work for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian and the Niagara Falls Public Library Local History Department. Phil and other authors have their game systems, scenario books and The Classical Hack Newsletter published through LMW Works, which he co-founded.

Phil has traveled extensively through out the U.S. and Canada putting on demonstrations and seminars using his models as a backdrop, bringing history to life in miniature. Phil is noted for his speaking engagements as a former Smithsonian Instructor, having participated in The Legacy of Hannibal Program at the Tunisian Embassy in Washington, D.C. His other speaking engagements include the Origins War College, Buffalo School System D’Vouville Campus and The Biblical Archeological Society (Buffalo).

“We congratulate Don and Phil on their accomplishments and welcome them into the Legion of Honor,” said Pete Panzeri, president of HMGS.

HISTORICON is the largest historical miniatures gaming convention in the United States. Each year, thousands of avid gamers descend on what the New York Times has described as the "mother of all war gaming conventions." The event features thousands of attendees (adults and children), hundreds and hundreds of games, the world's biggest war game hobby shop, painting events, and a special awards celebration. Other HMGS events include the annual “Fall In” convention to be held Nov. 6 – 9, 2009 in Gettysburg, PA, “Cold Wars”, to be held March 11 – 14, 2010 in Lancaster, PA, and “Historicon 2010” to be held in Baltimore, MD next July.

Operation Market Garden Video up on YouTube for a shot time

I finally found a copy of the film I made a few years ago. It is a home film of the Operation Market Garden mega game run at Fall In 2003. The video was intended as a home video only so there is a lot of copyrighted music in there. Under fair use I can use it to a certain extent and i am not making money from it but I will eventually have to take it down as fair use is limited. I also have lost all the interview permission slips, etc. So for those reasons I am only going to keep it up for a few weeks before the copyright police at Youtube catch wind of it. I fully support copyright laws by the way. I also believe in the fair use clauses of those laws.

The video takes about an hour (and thus had to be broken up into about 7 segments to fit on YouTube), is unscripted and does the best it can to capture the entire game. The table was 60-70 feet long (20+ meters). There were thousands of miniatures, many dozens of buildings, all 11 bridges, etc. 70 gamers played in the game and were all playing the Germans. The 13 umpires pushed the Americans and British. It was run on Friday and Saturday and was grueling as hell for anyone who was there from first setup to final take down. It was rerun at Historicon 2005. I participated in that as well. The majority of the terrain boards were tossed in the dumpster as Marty didn't have room to store them. We saved the expensive bits as best we could.

This was one of my earliest films. I am an awful camera man and it shows. I didn't have great equipment but it came out reasonably good. Please spread the word about this video to anyone you know who games. The game was incredibly inspirational to my own efforts. So please blog about it, email and spread the word by mouth. Eventually I'll take it down or have it removed for me.

Enjoy!

What to do in case of Zombies

Timeless advice on how to prepare and act in the event of a zombie outbreak.

Update on Gamer Girth

Just a brief note. Back in early March I decided to start eating better and getting more exercise. After weighing I found I was 217lbs. Well Here it is one month later and I am 209, a net loss of 8lbs. My target is 195. While this won't be thin by any strech of the imagination it certainly will be a lot better for me.

Anyway, a bit of encouragement for any other gamers out there looking to shake a few pounds off. I'm not doing anything more extraordinary than counting calorires and going on daily walks.

The War Dogs are Here… how?

Many thanks to East Riding Miniatures... the package with the War Dogs got here faster than a North Korean Missile (er, satellite?)

They look awesome. I'll have them painted up in short order. They look quite "Bitey" and should be a huge nuisance to the Japanese player.

And you thought they smelled bad on the outside…

A clever April 1st Joke has turned into an actual product now! The TaunTaun sleeping bag. If you can't figure out why this is cool I can't spend the time needed to explain it. Will Star Wars ever die? Not if this thing sells like hotcakes!

Yo, Dog! Working Dogs at Iwo Jima

The extrodinary and helpful Tony Barr of East Riding Miniatures has come through to help me with expanding my range of figures for the Iwo project. One of the heroes of Iwo was the working dog (aka War Dog). These animals were trained to deliver messages, sentry duty, mine detection and of course scouting/patrolling. They were very useful in finding people hiding in bush or caves. They were very useful in the battle of Iwo Jima in helping defend against sneak attack, night infiltration and ambush. I've worked up rules for hidden units in the Iwo game but they needed a possible counter and putting these working animals into the game seemed like a perfect fit. But it is hard to find WWII era war dogs in 20mm (or other scales). Tony has them for Vietnam but he has a wide collection of WWII marines so he is going to substitute the Viet Nam era marines for appropriate ones in period. We looked at a bunch of photos and saw what the handler were dressed as and the need for leads and such. I think we should end up with some really good looking stands. I also think the authenticity of the game experience will be greatly enhanced.

You can find out more about East Riding Miniatures here.