Saturday, January 7, 2012

First Solo Game of 2012

I wanted to try out Stephen Gilbert's Solo Semi-Skirmish & Role Playing Wargames System without zombies being involved and to try my hand at adapting one of the scenarios from Elves Under Hoof to something other than the North Pole. Since I was off for the New Year's Holiday, Monday seemed like as good a day as any and coincidentally, it'd be a nice jump on my goal for 2012 to play one solo game a month

This is a pulp-y small scale skirmish type game, so if it seems absurd to you that 5 guys can hold a small village from an endless onslaught of the enemy, just roll with it.

Setup
 

Objective
You and your brave band of soldiers are to hold a small village until reinforcement's can arrive.

Forces
The soloist's side
Four figures to start and a chance for more using a system I first encountered on RPG Laboratory's site.

To check for additional squad members, roll 1d6 and compare to the following table I created to answer my question of "Can I recruit any other figures for my squad?"


1  YES and it's a medium machine gun crew 2 hit points (HP) for loader and gunner

2-3 YES but armed with a rifle and only 1 HP
4-5 NO but +1 HP to any one of my existing figures, my choice
6 - NO and -1 HP to 1 figure in my squad, determined by a die roll

I imagine that a Mythic-like chart, with its possibility for extreme Yes and extreme No would work just as well but I'm fond of the common d6 and not so much the d10.


The Enemy

The opposition starts with 10 figures on the board, placed by die roll. All of their possible entry points (I set up 3) are in cover. To minimize book keeping and in keeping close to the rules as written, all opposition has 1 HP except the officer who has 2 HP.

Before the start of the 2nd turn and before the start of each turn thereafter, roll 1d6 for reinforcements:

1-2 One figure
3-4 Two figures
5-6 Three figures

If there are no figures left for the enemy to place on the table then no reinforcements that turn.


Victory Conditions

Soloist's Side: Hold village for 12 turns (this was my initial guess at a reasonable time frame - that would change once the game got underway and I realized that was way too few Yes, 12 turns was too few.)

Before each turn thereafter, roll 1d6. If 6, reinforcements arrive and the enemy flees the field.

As long as the solo player still has troops on the table in the village and controls a majority at the end of 12 turns, they're considered to be holding it.


The Enemy:
 Capture  majority of village by turn 12. The village in my case is represented by 3 buildings, so 2/3. In lieu of that, killing all of the soloist's forces will do.


Additional Notes

I chose to play the enemy to win rather than develop any kind of AI To keep myself honest, all enemy forces must advance utilizing cover and will fire at any of my figures in sight before choosing to try and enter the village.

Line of sight is limited in the village to 4" or less to reflect that the men would be in buildings, ducking around corners, using walls for cover, etc.


Within 1" of edge of terrain feature can fire out and be fired at by those outside of the terrain feature. >1" can only shoot at enemy within feature.


Everything else would be as written in the rules.



Here's my table and the sleepy village of Cadillac-on-the-Green:
An aerial view of the village of Cadillac-on-the-Green. In the valley far below, there appears to be a cat, oblivious to what was about to take place above. (the grey area beneath the buildings represents the area considered the village)


Coming soon: some thoughts on the battle and a refight

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