Showing posts with label Homebrew Rules. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Homebrew Rules. Show all posts

Saturday, June 18, 2016

War Game Theory: Wargaming in Westeros?

Game of Thrones is big, millions of people watch the show and the books are best sellers. Now, clearly the lands of Westeros are based upon Europe and Britain. In my crusade to expose more people the hobby, I came up with the idea to wargame in Westeros, to get people's interest.

The downside to that is where to find models to represent the armies of the Seven Kingdoms.. Yeah, Darksword Miniatures makes beautiful models based upon the books, but that isn't really economical for a war game, though I plan to use the models for commanders. With that in mind I've done some research to figure out which real world nations I could base my miniature armies on. I found an article on Huffington post that laid out which real world nations would be parallels to the Seven Kingdoms, link Now, I like some of the suggestions they lay out but some of them just don't make sense.

For the Starks/The North, I've decided upon Feudal Scots/English, mixed with some 100 Years War models (mostly for knights and men-at-arms).
Greyjoys/Iron Islands, will be a mix of 100 Years War and Dark Age Viking models, since they are clearly based on Scandinavian Peoples.
The Lannisters, will be modeled with War of the Roses miniatures, though without the firearms, due to their armies being funded by the "Gold of Casterly Rock"
The Tyrell Forces will be a mix of War of the Roses, and Feudal French models.
House Arryn and Tully will be made up of Feudal German miniatures.
Baratheon Armies will be Feudal English and 100 Years War Models, and the Armies of Dorne will be Feudal Spanish and Moorish Models.
Now of course the major distinction would be the banners, but thats easy to figure out! :P

I'd love to get feedback and opinions on my decisions for model types to use for Westeros Wargaming.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Gærstfeld: An imagi-nation.

Imagi-nation:  A historically themed fictional culture and/or political region.

Galen recently posted two articles covering his nation of Odálagaard, which can be found here and here.  This article covers the nation that I am working on to provide an opposing faction in our games of Hail Caesar by Warlord Games.

Gærstfeld is based on the Anglo-Saxon era of England.  It is a country consisting mostly of open, rolling plains run through with rivers and dotted with forests.  It is an idyllic countryside; ripe for farming and rich with resources such as wood from the forests, minerals from the mountains, and a long coastline with ample fisheries.


About a thousand years ago, Gærstfeld was a sparsely populated frontier with only a few small settlements.  During the great migration, however, many clans from the South and West came to this region in search of an opportunity at a better life.  The lush and fertile countryside, fed by several river systems running from the Westhealf mountains to the coast, provided ample opportunity for the migrating clans to settle and start anew.

The people of Gærstfeld are mostly common workers such as farmers, fishermen, woodsmen, and craftsmen.  The common folk are free, working for the betterment of their local villages, towns, and their families.  Communities generally share the produce of their efforts, and any surplus is traded to nearby settlements.  A certain taxation is in effect to the extent that the lord, or thegn, of each hold receives a portion of said produce and trade income so that he may use these to re-invest into his lands and ensure the stability of his holdings.

Each thegn may be in charge of a small village or rural region, or possibly just a small collection of farms or a mill.  There are thousands of thegns in Gærstfeld, and although these landowners are more wealthy than the common folk, or ceorls, they are by no means above working with their people.  A thegn may assert some level of local authority of law, but for the most part has no say beyond his small hold.

Above the rank of thegn is the bregu, or chief, a title left over from the old days of the nomadic clans.  The bregu may lord over ten or twenty thegns, who owe loyalty to their chief usually more from ties of kinship than any political agreement.  The bregu is in charge of maintaining the safety of the holds under his control and passing judgement over any disagreements or law breakers, and to serve this function may maintain an organized militia.  The bregu usually is also the chief authority in most minor trading towns, and the thegns under his dominion usually oversee smaller settlements that trade with the bregu's town.

The bregu, in turn, owe loyalty to an ealdorman.  Each ealdorman is in charge of what is the lowest official political region, the ealde.  Each ealdorman may maintain a fortified keep and a standing garrison.  Around these usually there has developed larger towns or small cities.  The ealdorman will also be the governing figure in these settlements.  The ealdorman is answerable to his cyning, or king, and is responsible not only for maintaining order in his own ealde, but may be called upon to raise and lead a military force when the cyning summons him.

Each cyning inherited his role from ancestral high chiefs who conquered, settled, or otherwise came to control vast swathes of land.  Each of these demarcations is called a folde, and to this day operates mostly independently.  Two foldes may come to blows over a disagreement, but the conflict must be kept brief and the loss of life to a minimum, lest the high king, or cynehláford, become involved.  The foldes of Gærstfeld each used to be its own kingdom, but over two hundred years ago they were united by Bældon The Wise, the first high king.  Since then, each cyning still rules his folde and maintains his own standing army, but owes allegiance to the high king.  

There are seven foldes in Gærstfeld:  Pearroc, Dunland, Eteland, Gelenda, Bocland, Stródland, and Eardland.  Pearroc is sparsely populated and is characterized by harsh winters.  Dunland is a land of rocky foothills near the Westhealf mountains and is the main producer of mineral resources.  Eteland is, like Pearroc, not very heavily populated and consists mostly of coastal farming and fishing settlements.  Gelenda is one of the more prosperous of the foldes, and is known for it's abundantly rich farmlands.  Bocland is the seat of the cynehláford, or high king, and the center of government for the region.  It also boasts bountiful farmland and prosperous stone quarries near the plains of Eardland.  Eardland itself is the least populated and organized of the foldes, still consisting mostly of the old clan structures and not holding to the typical governmental structures as the other foldes.  There are few ealdormen here, mostly in the lands closer to Bocland, and through most of the folde the bregu is the chief authority.  The people of Eardland are known as expert horsemen.  Stródland is a region of thick marshy forests run through with three rivers.  There is not much farmland here, but the hunters and trappers of Stródland are without peer and many expert bowmen reside here.


The military of Gærstfeld is relatively small, as far as standing armies go.  Each king may have only a few hundred professional soldiers, and the ealdorman usually much less, closer to fifty.  The militia of the bregu may be full time or part time soldiers, usually the latter, and may number as few as a dozen men.  Each thegn, however, is required to maintain mail, helm, shield, sword, and spear for himself and to ensure that all able bodied men under his authority are armed with a shield and spear or javelins.  By doing this, the actual military might of Gærstfeld may be measured in the number of adult men who are fit enough to fight.  All men are trained to fight in the shield wall, a formation of interlocking shields which creates a defensive bulwark of humanity bristling with spear points.  Each man may not be a highly skilled warrior, but with hundreds of men side by side behind their shields, they must only stand their ground.

Thus concludes our brief overview of the geography, history, politics, and military of Gærstfeld.  This is just the beginning, however, and I anticipate developing this project further.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The Aetts of Odálegaard

I wrote "Introduction to Odálegaard", a couple of weeks ago discussing my Imagi-Nation of Odálegaard. I briefly mentioned the Nine Aetts of Odálegaard, which serve as providences or states in the greater kingdom. The shields will each be unique to the warrior, but using the same colours of their clan. This post mostly serves as a reference guide, and I will be making a separate page for the kingdoms.

The Theodulfings are the "royal" family or house. The patriarch is King Saemund Sinfjoltison and the matriarch is Queen Jorunn Asgaardottir. Their capital is the town of Skalhalla. The clan colours are red and black.
The Gaedalings make their capital at Jokullgar. The heads of the Gaedalings are, Jarl Enjar Rolloson and his wife Jarlkona Elena. Their colours are blue and light blue.
The Eydisungs are a strange clan, as they are ruled by Jarl Josefin Stelladottir, a shieldmaiden. Their capital is Kalda. Their clan colours are green and black.

The Hallgrimings are ruled by Jarl Vargstor Snake-Eater, and Jarlkona Ashilda Aslaugdottir. Their capital is Helgafjall. Their colours are brown and green.

The Hrafnungs are lead by Jarl Raindolf Eerikson and Jarlkona Freygerd Gætirdottir. Their Capital is Fljotenby, and their colours are gold and blue.

The heads of the Ornulfings are Jarl Kamik Alpison and Jarlkona Asny Svendottir. Their capital is Norholt. Their colours are grey and teal.

The Gundmundungs are lead by Jarl Teodor Halfshield and his wife, Jarlkona Aldis Sigewulfdottir. Their Capital is Reykjadalr. Their colours are black and blue.

The Waltheofungs are lead by Jarl Urho Nardson and Jarlkona Ragnfrid Ottardottir. Their capital is Hafrsdalr. Their colours are white and red.

The Folkmarungs are lead by Velnar Gustavson and Jarlkona Yngvild Finndottir. Their capital is Jotunnmar. Their colours are brown and red.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Introduction to Odálegaard

So creating your own world is a mainstay of Tabletop Roleplaying games since their conception. As someone who has shelves full of RPG books and am working on finishing my first book; I'm very familiar with the concept. The idea never really crossed my mind in another one of my hobbies, Wargaming, until I read an article titled, "Imagi-Nations" in Issue 340 of Wargames Illustrated. The article's author, Charles S. Grant takes us through the story of how he fought conflicts against his father using the nations 'Lorraine", and 'Vereinigte Freie Städe' or 'VFS' for short.

I'm a big fan of World Building so, this article sparked my imagination. I had never even considered coming up with my own Nation to wargame with. Thus I took to the internet to learn more about these "Imagi-Nations".

Much to my disappointment, I found that most "Imagi-Nations" existed in the Horse and Musket/Napoleonic Era. I'm not a huge fan of the period, favoring the WWII Era and the Dark Ages above all else.

Now, recently I've been building up my forces for Warlord Games' "Hail Caesar". Our group is small so far (literally me an one other person), with me pushing Bolt Action (Another Warlord game) heavily opposed to Hail Caesar. I mentioned this article to the other player and suggested that we come up with our own Imagi-Nations for our Dark Age battles. He agreed and thus began the creation of Odálegaard.

*****
Odálegaard draws inspiration from the Viking clans and Kingdoms during the Dark Ages. The name itself is derived from Icelandic 'ódauðlegur', meaning 'immortal', and 'gardur' meaning 'garden'; so "Garden of Immortals. I came up with the name based on a song by Manowar called "Army of the Immortals". Being a big Manowar fan, it seemed appropriate.

I sketched up a map that's based on the coastlines of Norway and Dennmark, which displays major settlements, mountains and Rivers. From there I named my monarchs, King Saemund Sinfjoltison and Queen Jorunn Asgaardottir, and named the town, Skalhalla as the capital.

Now that I had a ruler I needed to come up with states, provinces, or regions of my budding nation. I decided to use the Nordic idea of Aetts or clans. I divided up my lands based on the major major settlements and came up with the Nine Aetts of Odálegaard. With this each aett needs a jarl, so I gave names to these people.

For my actual models I decided to have individual shield designs to distinguish the various clans. So each aett would have their basic colour scheme (the Jarl's family would have the same design), with each warrior having his own design.

That's the extent of my creative efforts so far, but I for certain will be coming up with more information as my army grows.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Homebrew Rules: Close Quarters Combat

Most of the Wargamers I know are notorious for homebrewing* and modifying rulesets. As much as I love the Bolt Action Ruleset, one of the things I dislike about the rules is how Close Quarters/Assaulting works.

After a few games with the local group, we had a few things to say about the rules (not including the lack of grenades). Out of the discussions the biggest topic was how Close Quarters worked. As written they seem out of place considering how the Order Dice Activation System, that makes Bolt Action unique, effects gameplay.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bolt Action's Activation system; Each unit has an Order Dice, all of which are put into a bag or cup and drawn individually. This adds a level of unpredictability to the game which is common in real-life combat. To quote Helmuth von Moltke, "No plan survives contact with the enemy."


Here is how Close Quarters works as written:
1. Declare target
2. Target reacts
3. Measure move distance and move assaulting models
4. Fight first round of close quarters
     a. Attackers roll to damage
     b. Defenders take casualties
     c. Defenders roll to damage
     d. Attackers take casualties
     e. Loser surrenders and is destroyed
5. Resolve draws – further rounds of close quarters
6. Winner regroups

Now the Close Quarters rules don't seem to reflect this. They have one side attack and deal casualties, and then the other side goes. This seems silly to me. In what situation would a soldier just let himself get bayonetted? The answer is, under no situation would that happen.

So we decided that combat should be simultaneous.

Modified Close Quarters Rules:
1. Declare target
2. Target reacts
3. Measure move distance and move assaulting models
4. Fight first round of close quarters
     a. Both sides tally up the dice to be used in the combat
     b. Each player rolls their dice pool at the same time.
     c. Each side inflicts Casualties.
     d. Remove the appropriate dice from the pool
          i. If one or both sides loose more than half of their unit, roll morale check per base rules.
     e. Continue until one side is wiped out.
5. Winner regroups

I find that this allows for the possibility of either squad to come out on top and again adds chaos into the game.


* Homebrew (v.)- refers to a group/players making or 'brewing' his or her unique set of rules. The term 'Homebrew' can describe anything from customizing an existing commercial product (by adding or changing a few minor rules), to creating an entire standalone system.