You are not logged in. Please login or register.
Play nice. (This means you.)
Logins from the previous forum have been carried over; if you have difficulty logging in, please try resetting your password before contacting us. Attachments did not survive the migration--many apologies, but we're lucky we kept what we could!
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by yesman
Pages 1
I was thinking of new weapon modifiers to allow for a slightly closer modelling of the Roman Pilum that some of my heroscape figures have. How do these look?
Shieldbreaker (2)
If attacking a figure with a shield, the weapon causes a figure to lose the use of its shield for the rest of the game.
Single Shot (.25)
This weapon may only be used once per game.
Hi guys,
Our last game was a whopper, with something like 1250 pts a side. A couple of questions came up.
If a figure with a pole weapon is charging a figure with First Strike, do the polearm bonuses apply to the charge after the First Strike, and do the polearm penalties apply to the First Strike? The same question more or less applies to a figure with Ferocious charging a figure with First Strike.
Does a figure with First Strike and Multiple Weapons receive an attack with each weapon as part of the First Strike?
Also, is there any development on ARES planned?
We did this again last night with 400pt armies on a 3x3' grid. Romans vs Troglodytes vs Skeletons for 7 turns. Had a blast. A short picto-log of the game is up here: http://smarmybastard.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=45 .
That did happen, yes. We had a unit of 9 spearmen start in the same square as a unit of 6 skeletal archers. The archers placed after the spearmen, and chose a position several inches away along a tree-line. I can see how a minimum 6" distance, or square-edge might be useful to keep units from starting base-to-base for example.
I'm not sure if it made a difference to the enjoyment, but we typically have 3 players. I'm not sure the appeal would be the same for a 1 on 1 game... probably would, I imagine.
Last week the group I play with tried an experiment with our game set up.
We divided the table into a 2x3 grid of 1' squares. Then we took turns placing a piece of terrain in each square (1 large building, 1 small building, 1 small hill, 3 stands of trees). Finally we dealt a hand of cards the same as we would for initiative, to determine the order of unit placement. As each unit was deployed we rolled a d6 for the square that it was allowed to be deployed into. following that we rolled our customary 1d4+3 for number of turns (4 in this case), and dealt a new hand of cards for initiative.
It was a lot of fun, and a definitely different feeling than our usual games. We were forced to use troops in unexpected ways, and even re-evaluate some warband configurations. Archers, wizards, and "support" individuals were much riskier to play (or had to be combined into one unit - at the expense of initiative cards), as were units that relied on open terrain or special terrain types. I highly recommend it as an occasional deviation.
We think we have just enough room for a 4x3 grid for our next game, and using a d12 for placement. That might be a little friendlier to ranged figures, at the cost of possibly delaying the fight an extra turn or two for movement.
I see, yes, factoring in movement would up the cost quite a bit. Was the decision to include movement made after publication? At first blush, the example troops with ranged weapons seem a bit low-cost for movement being calculated into the Ranged Weapon Factor (I could be wrong though, I haven't calculated them).
Could you point me in the right direction for the ARES FAQ ? Or any Errata that exists?
tim
ugh.. .got: 71.45366, with the magic bow this time. (66.15323 was using the wrong armor die modifiers - looked at the wrong column).
armor 3, morale 2, armor factor 3.5, weapon factor 194.5, specials 1.25 = sqrt of 5105.625 = 71.45366 (71)?
The weapons were (5*5*7.5(6+1.5) + ((4*3.5)/2) = 194.5; which I think is correct, right?
Hmm.. I recalculated the longbowmen by hand and came up with a point cost of 66.15323. I think the difference between my new total and the cost figured by the generator is in how Magic weapons are handled. The generator is adding 1.5 to the total cost of the weapon, whereas I think it's meant to be added to the Die Modifiers Chart on p. 66.
That *would* explain how a supposed 300 points of longbowmen took on a combined 600 points of undead and goblins with no casualties. I suppose I should double-check the math by hand; I designed everything with the .xls generator.
Tim.
The Troops
-----------------------------------------------
Human Force (300 pts.):
5 Expert Longbowmen.
Expert Longbowman
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Leather, 1d6.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Longsword, 1d8.
Ranged Combat Die: 1d10
Ranged Weapon: Longbow, range 5, 1d10 *magical.
Special
Keen Senses
Cost: 60 pts.
Human Losses:
None
------------------------------------------------
Skeletal Force (300 pts.):
1 Skeletal Catapult
3 Carrion
8 Ghouls
Skeletal Catapult
Wounds: 6
Movement: 3
Morale: 3
Armor: Leather and/or being a skeleton / machine, 1d8
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d4
Weapon: Club, 1d4
Special:
Cause Fear
Slow
Spells
Screaming Skull: 1d10 Strike-Frighten-Dishearten, Range 4, Area 2, Difficult
Cost: 101 pts
Carrion
Wounds: 4
Movement: 2
Morale: 3
Armor: Leathery hide, 1d6
Magic Die: 1d4
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Large claws, 1d8
Special
Cause Fear
Slow
Flyer
Flock (Group Attack)
Scale + 1
Cost: 29 pts.
Ghoul
Wounds: 2
Movement: 3
Morale: 2
Armor: Leathery hide, 1d6
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Claws n Teeth, 1d6 (Weak)
Special:
Cause Fear
Fanatic
Craven (Glass Jaw)
Mob (Group Attack)
Quick
Cost: 14 pts
Skeletal Losses:
1 Skeletal Catapult
3 Carrion
8 Ghouls
-----------------------------------------------
Swamp Goblin Force (286 pts.):
1 Swamp Goblin Drone Rider
4 Swamp Goblin Spearmen
Swamp Goblin Spearman
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Chitin armor and shield, 1d8+
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Chitin spear, 1d6 * polearm
Special
Group Attack
Terrain Specialist: Marsh
Scale -1
Cost: 25 pts.
** no Drone Rider stats to post yet.
Swamp Goblin Losses:
1 Swamp Goblin Drone Rider
4 Swamp Goblin Spearmen
Game 2.
Number of Turns: 6, Total Time: ~1 hour.
Forces: Human vs. Swamp Goblin vs. Skeleton.
Results: Human win. Scores: Humans 586, Swamp Goblin 0, Skeleton 0.
----------------------------------------------------
It did not take long for news of maddened ducal soldiers to reach Sir Skarl Uberjager – master of the royal hunting lodge in the Northern wood. After ruminating on the tales of necromancy and demons, and consulting the druid Catstevens Moonshadow, Skarl summoned his men to the lodge's great hall. He called for volunteers to go north and seek out the remnants of that lost patrol. The next morning Skarl dispatched 5 of his bravest and most skilled huntsman, armed with his own magic arrows (and terrific hangovers) into those haunted woods.
The hunters travelled deep into dangerous swampland and forests thick with wild and vicious beasts. The first two days of their trek, however, passed without incident. On the eve of the third day they spotted giant carrion birds circling overhead to the northeast. Overzealous and overconfident in their magical shafts, some of the huntsmen fired at the diseased poultry while out of range – alerting them. The carrion birds were not all that was alerted either.. the moans of the dead chorused from the surrounding wood.
Wisely the men retreated back to a small hillock, mostly clear of trees, and readied their bows for the approach of the undead from the northeast. You can only imagine their surprise as instead, a goblin riding a horse-sized, giant wasp broke out of the woodline to the west! Before they could wheel around and face the new threat, the diminutive rider spat poisonous darts at them, catching Jaccob Redshirt in the throat. Jaccob must be commended, though frothing and weakened by the poison, he did not succumb fully to it, and fought on that day! The huntsmen returned fire, and though it took nearly a dozen arrows, they felled both rider and beast.
Then they turned their attention back to the carrion birds, now flying toward them at great speed. Another volley of arrows, and they were driven off. But the hunters had no time to celebrate their victories… that very moment, several swamp goblins erupted from the brush and trees surrounding the base of the hill. They turned to face the small goblin horde, but could not fire swiftly enough to prevent their ascending the hillside and joining them in melee. Bjarl Cjarlson, the westernmost hunter on the hill valiantly stood off three of them with his longsword. Despite receiving several wounds, Bjarl held the goblins off until his comrades could come to his aide.
Bjarl's shouts of combat barely rose above the wailing dead as they emerged into a clearing to the northeast. There were many of them, gibbering ghouls for the most part… but amongst them, some sort of infernal machine drug by skeletal warriors…it flung screaming skulls at them. The horror. The hunters ignored the ghouls (and goblins) and grouped their arrows into that horrible abomination. Fortunately, it did not last long. Just in time, they were able give Bjarl relief. Reeling from his wounds he hurled himself backward from the advancing goblin rush, the other hunters took that opportunity to present those goblins with such a volley of fire as no goblin has ever seen, or likely ever will. No goblins survived it.
The hunters then turned their attentions to the scrabbling, cackling ghouls. As the ghouls approached the hunters fired several volleys into them, finally killing the last as it reached the hilltop.
------------------------------------------
Rolled 1d4+3 for Turns. Terrain was settled by clearing the board, then each player rolled 1d6 for number of Terrain “points”. For one point you could add a piece of terrain, for 2 points you could move a piece of terrain, for 3 you could remove a piece. Once the terrain was placed, we rolled randomly to determine order of troop placement. On the one hand early placement was good, because you got to choose your starting area; on the other bad because the others got to see your placement before setting their own troops up... this worked out very well for balance.
The board ended up mostly trees and rocks on the Swamp Goblin side, some Hills in the middle where the Humans ended up, and Trees and a large clearing on the Undead side.
Much faster game this time, attributed to the smaller scale of the fight, and that we had some experience with the rules now.
Troops involved.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Human Force (980 points):
1 Hero
1 Enchanter
4 Elite Foot
6 Crossbowmen
8 Spearmen
Hero
Wounds: 5
Movement: 5
Morale: 5
Armor: Mail & Shield, 1d8+.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d10
Weapon: Magical Sword, 1d10 *magical.
Special
Individual or Leader
Heroic
Quick
Cost: 202 pts.
Enchanter
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 4
Armor: Lucky Charms, 1d6.
Magic Die: 1d10
Close Combat Die: 1d4.
Weapon: Staff, 1d6.
Special
Individual
Missile Resistant
Slow
Spells
“War-prayer”, 1d10, bless, enchant melee +1, enchant missile +1, range 5, 3” radius area, difficult.
“Inspire”, 1d10, encourage, rally, range 5, 3” radius area.
“Exhort”, 1d10, command, hasten, range 5, 3” radius area.
“Curse”, 1d10, curse, confuse, range 6, 4” radius area.
Cost: 200 pts.
Elite Foot
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 3
Armor: Plate & Shield, 1d10+.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d8
Weapon: Sword, 1d8.
Special
Ferocious
Cost: 35 pts.
Crossbowman
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Leather, and Breastplate 1d8.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Shortsword, 1d6.
Ranged Combat Die: 1d8
Ranged Weapon: Crossbow, range 4, 1d8 *powerful, cumbersome.
Special
none
Cost: 45 pts.
Spearman
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Brigandine, 1d8.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d8
Weapon: Spear, 1d6 *polearm.
Special
none
Cost: 21 pts.
Human Losses (434 points):
1 Hero
3 Elite Foot
8 Spearmen
-----------------------------------------------------------
Skeletal Force (494 points):
1 Necromancer
1 Skeletal Champion
8 Skeletal Phalanx
Necromancer
Wounds: 3
Movement: 3
Morale: 4
Armor: Lucky Charms, 1d6.
Magic Die: 1d10
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Staff, Shortsword or other “light” hand weapon, 1d6.
Special
Cause Fear
Slow
Individual
Spells
"Knit Bones", 1d10, Heal, range 3, area 3” radius.
"Boo", 1d10, Frighten, range 4, 60 degree arc.
"Dread Appeal", 1d10, Command, range 3, area 4” radius.
"Death-Strike-Twenty", 1d10, Strike, range 6.
Cost: 183 pts.
Skeletal Champion
Wounds: 6
Movement: 4
Morale: 5
Armor: Mail and/or being a skeleton, 1d8.
Magic Die: 1d8
Close Combat Die: 1d10
Weapon: Large Axe, Broadsword or any other “great” hand weapon, 1d10, * magical.
Special
Cause Fear
Individual or Leader
Heroic
Cost: 159 pts.
Skeletal Phalanx
Wounds: 3
Movement: 3
Morale: 3
Armor: Leather and/or being a skeleton, 1d6.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d6
Weapon: Longspear, or Pike 1d8, * polearm.
Special
Cause Fear
Slow
Cost: 19 pts.
Skeletal Losses (178 points):
1 Skeletal Champion
1 Skeletal Phalanx
-----------------------------------------------------------
Stygian Forces ( 480 points):
1 Tree Devil
1 Great Warrior
2 Stygian Spearmen
4 Stygian Swordsmen
6 Stygian Starved
Tree Devil
Wounds: 5
Movement: 5
Morale: 4
Armor: Scales and Plates, 1d8.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d10.
Weapon: Large, Jagged, Steely Claws, 1d8.
Special
Individual
Hide
Scale +1
Cost: 101 pts.
Stigian Great Warrior
Wounds: 5
Movement: 5
Morale: 4
Armor: Scales and Plates, 1d8.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d10.
Weapon: Great Spear, 1d10 * polearm.
Special
Individual or Leader
Terrain Specialist: Sand
Leap
Scale +1
Cost: 109 pts.
Stigian Spearmen
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Scales and Plates, 1d8.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d8
Weapon: Longspear, 1d8 * polearm.
Special
Terrain Specialist: Sand
Leap
Cost: 28 pts.
Stigian Swordsman
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Scales and Plates, Shield, 1d8+.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d8
Weapon: Sword 1d8.
Special
Terrain Specialist: Sand
Leap
Cost: 30 pts.
Stigian Starved
Wounds: 3
Movement: 4
Morale: 2
Armor: Scales, 1d6.
Magic Die: 1d6
Close Combat Die: 1d6.
Weapon: Sicle, 1d6.
Special
Terrain Specialist: Sand
Leap
Fanatic
Cost: 18 pts.
Stygian Losses (209 points):
1 Tree Devil
6 Stygian Starved
Game 1.
Number of Turns: 4, Total Time: ~2 hours.
Forces: Human vs. combined Stygian & Skeleton.
Results: Human loss. Scores: Humans 387, Stygian & Skeleton 434.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Last evening, the Ducal patrol sent to drive the vile necromancer from the ruins of Gygax tower was forced back to their camp in defeat.
The patrol of 8 spearmen and 6 crossbowmen was led by the valiant Sir Theoderick Plankchest along with 4 unmounted knights from his personal retinue. They were aided by the mysterious enchanter Heironymus Gottlieb.
Sir Theoderick led the patrol to the ruins from the south, winding their way through the forested hills and broken terrain of the Mount Spillman wastes. Despite the long march and harshness of the land, their spirits were high – due to Gottlieb's powerful enchantments and the righteousness of their quest. However, that resolve did not last long in the face of the necromancer's horrors. Late afternoon on the fourth day of the patrol Sir Theoderick and company encountered the necromancer. That evilest of sorcerers was aided not only the summoned remains of long dead soldiers, but also a number of Stygian serpent-men. Is any more proof of the demonic nature of the Stygians needed?!?!?
By all accounts, the initial moments of the battle went well. The crossbowmen, bolstered by Gottleib, concentrated their first volley on what appeared to be an undead war-chieftain. The horror was no doubt once a great hero like our Sir Theoderick, dug up from his tomb and impelled into service by that unspeakable scion of darkness our men were there to vanquish. Nonetheless, it fell to their quarrels.
Sir Theoderick, eager to battle the necromancer, then led his knights forward. He was separated from them as they were slowed by the unevenness of the ground. Surrounded by both skeletal warriors and war-maddened Stygians; and blasted by foul necromancies, the great hero Sir Theoderick fell. Our troubadours will sing this of the great hero's exploits: before he succumbed to his wounds, he dispatched a great number of skeletons and snake-men back into the pits of hell. Sir Theoderick's retinue, unable to save him, were determined to avenge him. They rushed into the Stygians but managed to inflict only minor wounds upon the scaly beasts. Last reliable witnesses report that all but 1 of the knights had fallen and he was badly outnumbered.
Perhaps a worse fate befell the spearmen. They were separated from the main charge, and forced a hundred or so feet to the east by a thick growth of trees. Proceeding forward in column, they advanced directly into a warband of the undead. Within moments the battle was joined by a hulking snake-demon, which despite its great size appeared from the trees with no sign… as if summoned by darkest magic. Even with the aid of Heironymus' spells, the spearmen quickly fell to the combined onslaught. Only one or two perished in the encounter. The majority, driven mad with fright of the undead, cast off their arms and fled gibbering into the forest.
Half of the crossbowmen tried to relieve Sir Theoderick and his retinue in the main front of the fight. To that end they fired as rapidly as they could into both Stygian and Skeleton. In truth, the number of casualties due to their efforts was greater than that of the knights. The other half, alerted by the screams of the spearmen, turned to the east and prepared to face the skeletons that routed their comrades. Instead of skeletal warriors, they saw the great Stygian serpent-devil sneaking its way through rubble and brush toward them. To their credit and honor (or perhaps to Heironymus') they remained composed and felled the beast with a volley of quarrels.
It is at that point, that loyal camp aide and observer Timmus of Shropshiringtonhamptonville quit the field, making all haste to deliver this honest report.
-------------------------------------------------------------
We set the terrain up ahead of time. A mix of Tree stands, rocks, some ruins, and a couple of hills. The play area was about 2.5-3' x 4' or so. We rolled a d6 for number of turns (4). Victory condition was: kill the enemy.
Overall impression was that the game went very fast, despite it being our first time playing.
A few mistakes were made; it was the first game after all:
Range was miscounted at least once. Die modifiers were applied inconsistently. Fanatics were immune to *all* morale checks, instead of just unit checks. The biggest mistake we made was with morale. We were using morale ratings for individual checks, instead of morale score.
Now we know better.
My question is in regard to the references to Multiple Weapons on page: 50; Secondary Attack on pages: 57 and 68; and Multiple Attacks on page: 66.
These all refer to the same ability right?
(If not, how much does Multiple Weapons cost, and what does Secondary Attack do?)
Thanks,
TIm.
Pages 1
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by yesman
Powered by PunBB, supported by Informer Technologies, Inc.