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. 

Other Projects: Darkest Africa, Back of Beyond and VSF

All my developments and research on alternative fantasy and science fiction settings have generated some other projects which I'm looking at just now. 

First up is a look at Darkest Africa which presents an alternative African setting based loosely on Central and East Africa of the late 19^th Century. This fantastic adaptation is populated by exotic tribes, mythical races and features lost civilisations. The inclusion of special rules for leaders and personalities provides an individual heroic and adventuring perspective. Forces involve British and German Imperial regulars ranged against Native Tribes, Intelligent Reptile Men, an Anubian Egytian Undead army based on the Mummy Returns, a Lost Legion of Rome and Zanzibari Arabs.

The second setting is inspired by some games I've seen on the Edinburgh Wargamers' Web Page looking at a Back of Beyond Campaigns in Central Asia 1919-25. The Back of Beyond period adaptation allows the recreation of events which played out in Central Asia during the 1920's set against the backdrop of the Russian Civil War. It allows both historical and what if games with a range of troop types, factions and weaponry. There is scope for aircraft, tanks, armoured cars, trucks and gunboats and the inclusion of special rules for leaders and personalities. The various factions represented are:

Red Army (Bolsheviks). Based on the forces on the Turkestan and Eastern Fronts and including Cheka, Siberian Rifles and Red Guard.

White Russians. Supporters of the late Tsar, these anti-Bolshevik troops include elite Officer Corps and Cossack Partisans.

British in India. A possible intervention force and something of a regional super-power.

Turkish Army. Although they didn't intervene in Central Asia outside Georgia they could have intervened under the leadership of Enver Pasha.

Afghans. The Afghan Regular Army, a little outdated, but a useful foil to British interests in the region.

Chinese Warlords. Forces of local Chinese governors supported by Western advisors. They include ferocious sword-wielding "Dare to Die" troops.

Mongolian Tribes. Equestrian armies of tribesmen who either swamp their opponents or, more usually, get mown down.

Last up are ongoing developmentS of my VSF and solar system based science-fiction adaptations. These are still WIP but reaching a point of completion now so I will be posting details soon.

Middle Earth: Third Age Eriador

I've completed my rules adaptation for this specific setting in Tolkien's Third Age dealing with the Northern Kingdom of Arnor and the emergent successor states which waged a number of wars against the Witch-King of Angmar. It is now posted in the Files Section of the Yahoo Group webpage.

I've posted it as a standalone version comparable to my C&S Archaeron adaptation of the AMW Rules. I'm quite pleased with how these turned out and hope to fight some battles over the coming months to see how they play out. I've been able to reflect my thoughts on a Dark Age / Early Medieval cultural overlay onto the various forces and factions. There is a bit of artistic license in my interpretation but I was generally motivated by a desire to keep the fantasy low key, albeit with the infusion of non-human races and some limited magical powers.

Fantasy Rules: Some More Setting Variants

There has recently been some discussion on the AMW Yahoo Group concerning the Fantasy variant I posted some time ago in the Files section. This got me contemplating additional settings that I could develop new army lists for, formulate some special rules and ultimately play a few games.

My current fantasy setting is the Archaeron World based on the C&S First Edition campaign developed by Ed Simbalist. On reflection there were a few other Fantasy settings that I'd actively gamed back in the 1980s. So the candidates so far for development are:

1. The Young Kingdoms of Moorcock's Elric novels. I ran a Stormbringer campaign.

2. Dragon Pass / Praxian armies of the Runequest Glorantha setting. I played in a RQ first edition setting in the early 80s.

3. AD&D massed battles setting. This would allow combats between factions and races in a wilderness / frontier region, various subterranean locations and optional extensions of the skirmish rules to allow some dungeon style games. These would be based on my earliest adventures and RPG settings and bring in some of my favourite characters as leaders and personalities.

4. Regarding a Tolkein setting, I'd used MERP to game a Northern wilderness campaign.  From this interest I was contemplating looking at a specific section of history in the Third Age which focused on the struggle in the North between Arnor and Angmar. This could cover the Civil Wars and the Wars v the Witch King and include some interesting armies. It also has much less in the form of pre-canned third party design and views as to the setting's look and feel than the Lord of the Rings period. My original imagination when I read the books was of a late Dark Age world with a good dose of monsters and subtle magic. If I enjoy this I might be tempted to extend this forward to the War of the Ring or maybe into other conflicts in Middle Earth's History.

More Rules Updates

The labyrinthitis continues giving me ample opportunity to pursue my trawl of the period gaps I have in each ruleset. My ambition is to have completed period variants and supporting special rules and Army Lists for all the periods I could be conceivably interested in gaming at a future date. As my interests are pretty wide ranging this looks like a lot of work but it's proving to be great fun researching and exploring each in more detail.

I've also put the finishing touches to most of my Sci-Fi variants of the Future War Wargaming Rules I'd developed as an evolution of the WWII Rules in the Introduction Book. I'm quite proud of these now and have even inserted some relevant illustrations to give them a better look.

These now cover:

1. Space Marines: Marc Ratner FGU Game - later Space Opera Universe

2. Classic Traveller: Spinward Marches, Fifth Frontier War

3. Star Soldier: based on Star Force Alpha Centauri

4. Terran Trade Authority Universe. Based on the future history presented in Stewart Cowley’s Books.

5. Solar Union Universe. An alternative future history influenced by Space 1999.

I've still have a couple of pet projects remaining for the Sci-Fi genre. I'm investigating a Victorian Steampunk setting which appeals to me - not really happy with any of the current options offered commercially, and also a setting where the expanding Terran colonies are restricted to our own Solar System and slower than light space transportation. This has ideas about how our technologies would adapt to a more restricted frontier - human adaptations, terraforming etc.

That being said, my work has primarily been centred on historical settings and here I've updated for periods as diverse as Dark Age Greek to Spanish-American War to the Soviet-Afghan War. I'll have to provide a list sometime soon! I've still not found anything I can't combine the core rules with to produce a simulation which satisfies my own personal tastes and requirements.

Rules Updates: Modern Period

I'm suffering from an inner ear infection and hence have a lot of free time on my hands. To keep myself occupied I'm trawling through all my various ruleset variants to review for gaps that I need to fill in terms of army lists or special rules.

I've now completed some updates to my Modern Period variant where I've added sections for the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and a contemporary section : 2013 for UK and Russian Federation forces. Still to do a Chinese and US list. I've also tidied up my Cold War sections and crunched them into one time period of 1970 to 1985 adding some lists for West German, French and Warsaw Pact Allies.

It's proving to be a great deal of fun researching all the modern kit and considering the unit design.