Join up, see the wood

Here's a way of managing line of sight and cover in groups of trees, columns and other obstacles.

It's a supplement to the park, garden and farm post, inspired by seeing the Pi Day geomorph again - here on the left. For more ideas on using it there's a list of great sources in the last post.

The problem is how to suggest individual hiding places and lines of sight in a mass of cover, in a situation in which specific number and location are unknown or unimportant, as with area terrain pieces in wargames, or in map-free roleplaying.

It should work for trees in woods, columns in vaults or consoles and so on in engineering compartments, but possibly also for groups in a crowd, at a party or demonstration say. In the last case it could be especially useful in playing out chase scenes or infiltrations.

The solution expands the Into the depths! idea. It involves rolling dice to find position; more faces should suggest a bigger cluster, and more dice a higher density at the core.

'Geddon on it (2) - Hive interior battles

The second in a series set off by a guest post at davetaylorminatures, by Ron of From the Warp.

It covered the Heroes of Armageddon Project, which will see four Warhammer 40,000 armies painted up and raffled off. Check out the site.

I suggested all interested blogs could run tie-in features themed around the Armageddon setting, maybe fiction, stats or new troop types, even modelling and painting, to draw attention to the project, be useful and hopefully inspire.

My first was a homebrew ash waste events table. Here's my second then, and it's big.

Hive interior battles

The spires of the hives of Armageddon do not dream, but rather sleep restlessly beneath the polluted sky from which their nightmares come. Homes and workplaces to billions, they loom above the haunted jungles and desolate ash wastes, but are barely safer than either, whether in peace or war. In the three great conflagrations to strike the world thus far they were battlefields too, and remain so, infested in their dark spaces by all the vices of humanity, the corruption of both the dark gods of Chaos and the alien Tyranid vanguard, and the ineradicable menace of the ever-flourishing Orkosystem.

The deep domes, halls and corridors, the ducts and access tunnels, the machine rooms and sumps, all are potential havens and potential conflict zones, and what the local security forces of the watchmen and adeptus arbites are unable to quell becomes a task for the elites of the planetary defence force and regiments of Imperial guard garrisoned here from across this region of space; and what they are unable to deal with may require in turn a deployment of the mighty adeptus astartes themselves, striking deep into the cankerous hearts of complexes to break the danger at source.

Conflict in-hive is a challenge even for the greatest professionals of war. Vehicles will only carry an invasion force so far, until the width of the passageways, density of gantries and endless intricacies of device choke off access. Defenders flit from shadow to shadow and launch vicious counterstrikes from the unmapped darkness. Chases end in disorientation, blind alleys, sealings off, and the disappearances of whole squads, platoons, companies. Gunfire and screams echo along metal avenues, and over the spoil heaps and dripping accumulations of the lowest wastes.

The horror of war here is less visible, but no less black.

What follows is an unofficial homebrew system for battles in the hives of Armageddon, but is just as relevant to hives throughout the galaxy, as well as built complexes of all kinds, whether administrative structures, industrial facilities or military outposts.

'Geddon on it (1) - Ash waste events

Yesterday davetaylorminatures had a guest post by Ron of From the Warp, on charity work.

It covered the Heroes of Armageddon Project, which will see four Warhammer 40,000 armies painted up and raffled off. Check out the site.

In the discussion I suggested anyone wanting to spread the word could run tie-in features themed around the Armageddon setting, writing fiction, statting up characters or new troop types, or even modelling and painting auxiliaries.

Every post would draw the attention, as well as being a useful resource for players, and maybe even inspire developments in other games.

Here's my first offering.

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Into the depths! (2)

This past Sunday I posted a set of simple rules for simulating heavy terrain in wargaming, but with no actual modelled terrain on the table. They're rules which would probably work well for darkness and fog too. Desert Scribe rightly pointed they'd also do for space fleets hunting each other among star systems. If so, there could many more applications not yet realised.

I recommend reading that post before going any further, but the essence is removing true space and measured distance. The forces cautiously picking their way through the terrain towards each other is represented by rolling a single die per unit, and using this to group units together into engagements.

This post is a collection of simple add-ons to the basic concepts. There are suggestions for incorporating reinforcements, corridors and alleys, wandering monsters and mass destruction, things the measurement-free approach can make quick and easy.

Into the depths! (1)

I'm very interested in how we can better merge game types. Here's a strange idea for blending tabletop wargames more with pen-and-paper roleplaying, for heavy terrain like jungle, medieval cities or post-apocalyptic ruins, especially when there are too few modelled pieces to do a setting justice.

It also stands to reason over a larger combat zone of this kind a commander would more easily lose control of troops as they pass out of sight, not least in situations in which comms are simple or non-existent and global positioning not an option.

So how could we simulate this with no terrain on the table?

How about doing away with true space? Rather than place the miniatures on a modelled landscape and measure distances between the various elements, simply set up the armies anyhow on a bare table. For each unit which a controlling player would like to move, roll a numbered die and leave this die with the result face up beside that unit.

If the game is turn-based, in Player A's first turn this is all that happens. In Player B's first turn any units moving also have the same kind of die rolled for them. If the result for any of Player B's units is equal to the result rolled for any of Player A's, then both that Player A unit and that Player B unit are placed together in a free space on the table.

If more than two units end up with the same number, simply place them all together, leaving each movement die with its unit. We'll call this group of units an 'engagement'.

Getting out of the boat (1)

Apocalypse Now is the kind of film we quote if we feel gung-ho, but by doing so we may well be showing we've temporarily forgotten something we learnt watching it. I've hinted at a quote in the title, hopefully without compromising myself.

Before going on, I recommend reading yesterday's post. The argument is best read as a whole, but the upshot for gaming purposes is the proposal we make wargames more about war and roleplaying more about the role, by changing game form to be more immediate, overwhelming and instructive. The point is enlightenment.

I'm going to start with wargames because this is the idea that feels best founded already. A message to the wargamers then, to do some convincing. Imagine this delivered in a parade ground voice, up close, perhaps by John Cleese.

Are you as hard as nails? Can you take all comers? Have you got the stats and rules down so well you don't need to check? Every probability calculated and combo set up? Yes? Well that's not war, is it? At least not when the boots touch the ground and it gets physical. If your plans survive contact with the enemy - even with the landscape - you're doing it wrong. What we need is more shock, more horror, more blind terror. I'll bet you haven't felt much of that rolling dice. I haven't. It might do us all good.

Meet the new boss?

It's hard to follow current events without thinking about the ordinary, everyday and routine whirling into the extraordinary, and why and how this happens. It's something we all face, albeit on a far lesser scale, when we refuse to accept a thing and set events in motion to change it, whether planned or in the heat of the moment. We might break delicate balances, cause distinct worlds to merge, make ourselves and others highly uncomfortable in the short term.

Looked at like this, gaming seems even more like escapism, with a relatively ordered situation, clear rules, perhaps a top-down view and a cool head while the characters and models are driven on into the crucible on our behalf. Why do we get this luxury? Didn't a wargame ought to show us too more war, or a roleplaying game force us into what could suddenly look a less appealing role? After all, the fun will always come, at the very least, in knowing we can make a nice cup of tea at the end, leave it all behind. In that light, why not put ourselves through a more real grinder, why not live the game more?