Friday, March 2, 2012

Campaign Week 3: All's Quiet on the Front

Because the campaign structure I'm using (once again, found on Saxe-Bearstein) grants both sides to return all units to their full strength at this point, I decided that the next battle shouldn't occur this game week, but the next. In that way, from a narrative perspective, the reinforcements have time to arrive, while the exhausted troops can heal, rest, resupply, etc.

Still, something must happen even if it's just to note the weather. Dutifully, I rolled for weather and supply: another stormy week on Helvetica. Further justification to withhold campaigning and to keep the troops stationary for the most part.

It also seemed logical to me that the commander in charge of all of Sauvignon-Blanc's forces on Helvetica would be displeased with Baudrillard's performance (the commander needs a name. Let's call him Colonel Duchamp). I decided to find out.

Ordinarily, I'd pose this to Mythic,use the RPG Lab's Solo Story System, or IN-RADIC (although it's meant to test the success or failure of an action, it works just fine for yes/no questions) and roll some dice for my answer. But, for the first time in weeks, I failed to bring any dice with me to work today.

rolz.org to the rescue. I brought up IN-RADIC on the screen and had at it:

Me:  "Is the commander displeased with Baudrillard?"
I figure this is A Dead Certainty and "roll". 
An 11!
IN-RADIC: Fail


I take fail to mean "No" which was not at all what I was expecting. The twists and turns of solo gaming!

Ok then. How am I going to explain this?

Maybe the old man has a soft spot for Baudrillard. Maybe Baudrillard is his son in law, wed to Duchamp's youngest, and if he had to admit it, favorite, daughter. That sounds plausible enough to me - of course, it doesn't really matter, but it makes the game that much more amusing.

Unrelated to this, I decided that I'll play out a scouting mission this game week- the results of which will determine how and where the next battle occurs. I'll be using a simple scouting game from a back issue of Lone Warrior - modified for my setting and the stormy weather.

The game will feature Pvt. Vendredi and his lizard folk companion, whose name, loosely translated from the lizard tongue is He-Who-Eats-the-Eyes-of-His-Enemy as they attempt to get back to Baudrillard with news of the movements of Rieslings force.

If there is combat (it's not a guarantee), then I'll modify the encounter by rolling 1d10:
Opponent(s) are:
1 -2 - Mantis-men
3 - 7 Hostile Lizard folk
8 - Really angry carnivorous dinosaur
9-10 - Mixed Riesling infantry/lizard folk

My intention is to use Two Hour Wargame's Chain Reaction 3.0: Final Version and make both characters stars. This may necessitate establishing a turn limit to get back to Baudrillard in time to be truly effective. In any case, it means I need to create my game mat for tracking everything.

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