Corline's Calamity (Part 1)

The System

This is the AAR for a test run of the lowest level game of my main campaign. It's a dungeon dive using Two Hour Wargames Two Hour Dungeon Crawl. I'll be using this to start the characters who
will eventually, it is hoped, be the commanders and officers of the armies in the later larger games.

So first, a few words on THW's system. The player has a character defined by a reputation, higher is better. That character, a star, leads a band of adventurers called grunts. The star has abilities specific to him. All characters have weapons, armor, a profession and may have several attributes. 

The system provides a way to generate random dungeon paths and rooms. The rooms may also be populated with minions of the Big Bad who will be the hardest things in the dungeon. It also allows for wandering monsters that close in on the character's band. Once those PEFs (possible enemy Force) come into contact with the band, they are resolves and maybe anything from the Big Bad to nothing but a case of nerves in the band, Searching the dungeon can be done on graph paper, or with tiles that are place on the table. Combat is done on separate arrays for rooms or corridors. 

The Set Up

The photo shows my gear to play THW's Two Hour Dungeon Crawl. It includes assorted pencils, graph paper, index cards, dice, home-made tokens, and a home-made battle board. The index cards are a place for me to record the basis of the dungeon and the makeup of any PEFs. After the game they will be saved and over time will build up a deck of possibilities. That will allow a faster arrangement for later games by using the decks rather than rolling up the needed information.

The Crew Gathers

As Randolph walked into the Meadow Rose, he spotted the rest of his crew waiting at a table. Bardley, the healer, and the three brothers Graybreath; Percy, Lucious, and Archibald were dependable soldiers. Reliable in a fight if not as random as Randolph himself.

After a few drinks, the talk got around to business. The daughter of a local merchant, Corline, had somehow gotten herself captured by a group of beastmen who live in some caves a valley away. She needed to be rescued and returned to daddy, All in one piece of course, or no payment. As he told his crew, easy peasy, what could go wrong?.

Cheap modular terrain

Looking on line for cheap modular terrain systems, I came across this collection of Youtube videos. The DMG. He has adapted the work of The DMs Craft, by DM Scotty, into a method of making D&D terrain that is cheap, modular, and attractive.

So I think I have found my next project. (Remember me explaining that I can switch projects at a moments notice?) I'm going to try to use their combined techniques to build 5" square tiles for my Two Hour Dungeon Crawl campaign. The technique uses cardboard, hot glue, and two paint colors to create very nice corridors, rooms and the like.

My starting goal will be to create about 40 tiles. 10 rooms, 15 straights, 5 turns, 5 "T" intersections, and 5 "4 way" intersections. I'm hoping that will be a decent start and cover most dungeons.

I also plan to experiment while building those. I'm thinking it can be used to create modular city terrain also. One foot square tiles, with walkways and streets that will also allow for drop ins of buildings  I'm thinking trying to build 3 or 4 test pieces will be sufficient to see if the template is workable.

Wish me luck, and feel free to add suggestions.

Now what shall we play?

Rather than over think or overload myself, I intend to let a campaign grow organically as I play. Practically all of my gaming is solo. I can then indulge my whims for what style to play. It will also allow me to follow a small group of individuals as they strive to become great leaders.

I enjoy medieval fantasy slightly more other styles. Along with science fiction,  a close second in preference,  I feel they allow more freedom of opposing forces and scales from skirmish through large battles. 

I'm going to go with the 2HW rules to allow me to grow the size of the games as table space and figures grow. I'll start with "Two Hour Dungeon Crawl" to use with minimal figures and space. Once I've had some characters succeed there, I'll "promote" them through the other fantasy titles up to "Rally Round the King" Assuming it is fun,which is my test of success in wargaming, I"ll try it also with 2HW's 5150 science fiction series of games.

I'll be writing AARs as I play and will be posting them here to share with others. I'll be playing other games and writing AARs for those intermixed with the campaign games. 

Please feel free to check back to see how it goes and to toss out any ideas or critiques you may have.

Further musings on the ideal wargaming table.

The now defunct "Drunken Dwarves" website, hence no link, had the plans for a great gaming table. I unfortunately didn't save the plans, but I certainly remember the overall design.  I intend to recreate that table as well as I can, with a couple of added features I want.

The top is the main part of the design I want to replicate. It is basically a 4 sided box, the inner measurements matching the final desired play area.  An inner lip and bracing provides support for drop in terrain  boards. Those boards can range from fully detailed pieces to flat bases for additional pieces. I plan to use a number of different sized boards, painted several colors, green, brown, black, and blue as basic ground cover for more traditional wargame terrain. I'm toying with the idea of a couple of chalkboard tops, green and black, for variety.

The base of the "Drunken Dwarves" design is of no interest to me. I'll be building the top, with the intent of finding or building a storage system to act as the base.That project is for a later date, however.

The main add-on is to the outer frame. I plan to incorporate a French cleat. That will allow small add-on pieces to hook on. Dice towers or trays, cup holders, small clipboards, all off table yet still conveniently at hand. All of those and more can be designed and built later.

My intent is to build it as a 4x4 skirmish game table, mainly as a proof of concept. Then I'll follow it up with a 4x8 full gaming table.

Now it's time to do the design work for the tabletop. That and photos of the build as it progresses should clarify the design.