Feudal Technocracy Rules Development

I have now managed to get most of this new setting drafted. I decided to use the Modern rules as the basis for the design, and not the Medieval rules, as I didn't want a massed battles feel to this setting. I was aiming for the level of large skirmishes / small pitched battles. The modern rules, with a considered make-over, does the trick in this respect.

To recap, my Feudal Technocracy variant presents a futuristic setting based on the Dr Who episodes Androids of Tara and shows a feudal society modeled on a technology enabled High Middle Ages culture. The setting is within the "Kingdom" where the forces of Count Grendel of Gracht vie with the legitimate Royalist Faction of the Crown Regent Reynart.

The humans are descended from a lost colony whose culture is emerging from the collapse of civilisation following a long and protracted war with the indigenous race for planetary control. The ruling class is a scientific elite possessed of superior intelligence and genetically augmented physiology. This was obtained from the discoveries of the alien precursors. 

I've developed some army lists. These are the troop types:

- Mounted knights. These represent the elite caste and are equipped with power blades, power armour and force shields making them virtually invulnerable to conventional attack.

- Bolter crossbows. These are the mainstay of the armies. Regular troops issued with light armour and trained to operate bolter crossbows which generate an energy bolt missile.

- Power polearms. These are issued to the supporting melee regulars, the men-at-arms, who perform both a shock role and protect the missile troops from enemy cavalry.

- Iron-knights. These are robotic powered automatons used to supplement human units. 

- Feudal cavalry. Armed with mounted Bolters.

- Militia. Levies armed with un-powered weapons. Cannon fodder.

With the use of the Leaders Rules I've developed for most of the other variants this should give a good small action style game. I might even draft in Tom Baker as a personality figure!

More Developments

While on holiday in Amsterdam I've gone through my notebook where I jot down all my ideas for rules developments, projects, games etc. I've managed to pull a few ideas out which I'm hoping to develop over the next few days while I'm still off on annual leave.

1. Fictional Game set in 1850. I was intrigued by a post I saw a few months ago which pitted an Austro-Hungarian force vs a Russian Army in a 1850 setting. Both armies looked great and I thought this would be a nice confrontation to use using the Nineteenth Century Rules, which are the least of my gamed rule sets from the Thomas Collection. I'm keen to expand the lists to British, French, Turkish and Prussian armies and see what a European War c1850 would look like based on the armies at the time. I'm assuming a Crimean style but in a European context.

2. Conquistador Campaign Simulation. I'm a great fan of the SPI game Conquistador and would love to use it in combination with a Miniatures campaign. I'm going to explore how I can set up some campaign scenarios and link this with the map and counters.

3. Angolan War 1975-91. I'd like to convert this to the Thomas Modern Rules and devise lists for the Cuban, UNITA and South African Forces. Looks like an interesting setting with varied terrain and forces. Another Cold War simulation.

4. Feudal Technocracy. I was considering developing a futuristic setting based on the Dr Who episodes Androids of Tara where a Feudal technocratic society was portrayed equipped with bolter crossbows and power blades. Looked great and I thought I could adapt the Medieval Rules just like the 18th Century rules for my Lace Wars conversion.

Other ideas include:

- Roman technological adaptation. Rome with technology vs the barbarians. I've seen a few literary interpretations of this genre and a blog was carrying pictures of games involving powered chariots and winged flyers which looked exciting.

- Renaissance Warhammer Fantasy adaptation to the Thomas P&S Rules. I played a lot of Dark Omen a computer game set in this world back in the 90s and a conversion to miniatures using the Fantasy and P&S Rules would be fun to do.

- Sharpe Practice. I'm still devoted to the Thomas Skirmish rules which I've used extensively and always thoroughly enjoyed. A conversion of the good points in the Sharpe Practice Rules to these Rules to develop a Napoleonic sub-set looks an interesting project. I'm keen to game some skirmish style encounters but in doing so retain a lot of Napoleonic chrome and period specific features.

Conclusion of American War of Independence Game

I completed my AWI game to a satisfactory conclusion with a convincing American victory over the British attackers. The American General Stokes held a solid defensive line which repelled the British under General Hupton. They were trying to secure control of the North Turnpike at Ridley Junction and push further North to meet up with further British forces landed in a recent maritime deployment.

The battle itself was played using the solo rules which again worked very nicely. The game also gave me a great opportunity to try out a series of my special rules I've developed for the period and I've used this experience to make some modifications and improvements which should deliver better results.

Overall, the British forces were of excellent quality but not in enough quantity to make a concentrated assault and with some favorable American die rolls early on, which eliminated two of these crucial units, the British were always faced with an uphill struggle. They did finally retire in good order to the south of Ridley Junction, to await reinforcements from the North.

Great game, my first in ages.   

American War of Independence Game: Battle of Ridley Junction

I'm in the process of playing an encounter battle just now using my solo rules and applying all the special rules I've developed for the period. 

I've already had some interesting results with an ambush of a British line battalion by American Frontiersmen who managed to cause a morale test from their fire using the officer sniping special rule. This combined with the additional morale test for units in column resulting in the loss of two stands!

I'm also looking at completing some of my Fantasy and Sci-Fi adaptations and develop the World War 2 rules for each of the sub-periods and specific theatres of operation.

Status Update: Back to Business as Usual

I haven't posted to my blog for a while, as I've recently returned to work following on from a long term illness which had me rather incapacitated for a few months. I'm rectifying this now and getting back into my wargaming and rules development. 

While off I've also had a think about further projects and things to try out over the rest of the year.

First is to continue with my rules adaptations of the Neil Thomas wargaming rules and contribute to the Yahoo Group. I've still got a lot of completion to perform on some of the Science Fiction and Fantasy adaptations and I'm expanding the historical versions to include more background and scenario information.

I've also been interested in getting into some skirmish wargaming and I'm considering using Bolt Action with my 20mm Airfix collection and Sharpe's Practice with my Napoleonics. Both look like fun games and seem to be feasible as solo games.

I've also tried to acquire some boardgames I used to play back in the 1980s. I've purchased Conquistador and War of the Ring, both by SPI. This added to my collection of favourites such as Squad Leader, Third Reich, War & Peace and StarForce Trilogy, should expand my interests sufficiently so the format of the blog may expand to include posts on these topics.

Finally I'm thinking about establishing a YouTube Vlog to post some recordings of my battles using the Thomas Rules. Just an idea just now and I need to investigate the mechanics etc.

18th Century Imaginations and Lace Punk

I've now completed a Fantasy adaptation of the 18th Century Rules to a Lace Punk and Imagination setting. This Lace Punk variant presents an alternative history based on 18th Century Europe, populated with imaginary nations and possessing scientific and engineering developments in advance of the period. These are grounded on early steam and mechanical technologies which have been improved and miniaturised. These have been combined with efficient power sources and then applied to the period warfare and weaponry. I have rules for steam powered self propelled cannons, War Carriages, metal-men automatons and rocket launcher artillery. The Technology is period orientated and while limited is still a potent application in terms of mid 18th century warfare. It is engineered and constructed using elegant design and strikes a classic appearance.

The inspiration for these imaginary nations, are the works of Grant and Young and the numerous wargaming blogs on the subject. The period chosen as the equivalent is that of c1750, set around the Seven Years War. The region contains several small petty states based on minor Germanic states of the Holy Roman Empire which are caught between the competing Empire (comparable to Austria) and the Electorate (Prussia). This is a sparsely populated frontier area which experiences numerous local wars between these states. The major powers supply mercenaries and military technology to further their interests in the region.

Should have some interesting games with these alternative lineups.

Marine 2002

I diverged a bit from my creation of some more World War II sub-periods and indulged a whim to develop an adaptation of the Future Wars rules to a board game I used to own back in the 1980s called Marine 2002. This was published by Yaquinto and was a tactical level simulation of combat on the moon between the forces of the United States and Soviet Union during the First Lunar War (1998-2002). 

Players take command of platoons of crack troops trained to fight in the hostile lunar environment. Combat takes the form of raids and quick hit-and-run assaults. There are no large battles and scenarios. Weapons are laser beams, neutron guns, charged particle beams etc. The environment itself is potentially lethal due to weightlessness, total vacuum and extremely low temperatures.

I need to playtest the rules but they are almost ready to upload to the Yahoo Group. They were a lot of fun to develop and I'm looking forward to having a game.