HelHerron

I came across a review of this quirky little game about six months ago. I think the words that drew me in were deep turn-based tactics.

I ended up playing it a few nights over the winter. The user interface is a throwback to the eighties but its fun in a retro way. The game is hard and very random. My party had the habit of running into a group of Orcs who easily chopped us to bits the first few times out.

In hindsight, Helherron feels like a party based version of rogue. Definitely a cheap and interesting turn based strategy game for someone who is looking for some old school Ultima style gaming.

Vassal using a Song of Blades and Heroes

I tested this a few times and it works as a quick way to get a game of SOBH online working. Here is what you need to do:

1. Download Cry Havoc for Vassal
   
2. Download the base module
3. Download the Map Pack1 and Map Pack 2
4. Download Dragon Noir 1 and Dragon Noir 2
5. Setup a map
6. Drag some characters onto the board
7. Label the characters with their stats
8. You're ready to go!

The Cry Havoc module provides a hex based game for skirmish combat. The graphics are colorful and appealing. The nice thing is that if you right-click on a character, you can change their status from healthy to wounded, stunned and dead. This fits in great with SOBH.

The game also provides a d6 for rolling on the screen. SOBH is simple enough that you can easily play it using Cry Havoc gameboard.

In the example above, you can see I labeled the characters with their stats to make it easy at a glance to see what's going on.

Powder: quick impressions.

Over the weekend, I came across a little rogue game called Powder for the NDS.

I've seen numerous references to rogue type games over the years but never got pulled into one. The idea seemed kinda of mind numbing at first. I played Diablo for awhile and thought it was okay.

Anyway, I needed something different and quick to play while I avoid thinking about work, so I downloaded the rom and took it for spin.

Powder is a very fun addictive little game. I'm not sure quite what it is but if you like dungeon crawls, this is the game for you. Once you get past the controls, creating and adventurer and going slaying is a breeze.

The game is tough. I think 7 out of 10 adventurers never made it past the first level. Its very luck-based in your starting magic and skills. If you happen to get the right combination of skills, starting weapons and spells, you got a good shot of getting past level 3 of 25.

The funny part is the interesting stories of how your adventurers died. One lucky gal, Monika, made it to level 5 because I somehow polymorphed her into a Flesh Golem. As a flesh golem, she had no trouble pounding critters to death but when the spell finally wore off, she was toast.

The funniest adventurer was Thorin. Thorin survived because he found an evil ring of teleporting. On many near death battles, he would run away and magically teleport to safety where he could rest. Down on Level 5, he was walking around when suddenly the teleport kicked in.

He found himself trapped in the corner by a two red dragons. He shortly found himself dead.

So if you looking for a quick gaming experience, I highly recommend powder or other games in the rogue genre.

Vassal: Song of Blades and Heroes

The Song of Blades and Heroes caught my attention when it got nominated at Origins for Best Miniature Game.

The rule set fits my needs for being elegant and concise while still giving a variety of tactics. There is a core set of simple rules which are modified by specials to give individual units more characters. The rules are also nicely illustrated and edited. All this for $4.00 ;)

As I noted earlier, the Cry Havoc module is nicely written for simple d6 based man to man combat. You just need to download the main module, a few maps and the Dragon Noir setting to have some fantasy troops for your online fantasy skirmish map.

To playtest my idea, I setup the Cry Havoc module using a Song of Blades and Heroes. To give some element of randomness when solo gaming, I quickly added the reaction charts from Mayhem Warrior Heroes. It actually worked out pretty good but required some quick decisions.

I'll do a separate post with my notes for combining the two.

The SBH system works pretty good.

Vassal: Mayhem Warrior Heroes 2

The Mayhem Warrior Heroes rule set is great for solo gaming. The chain reaction forces the characters to react in unpredictable ways which allow for opportunities for story telling.

Thorin assembled a small party to search for the lost Battlehammer of his famed clan. In an earlier encounter in the Silver Hills, Thorin's party was ambushed by the Red Orc clan. His good friend was brutally slain and the party routed.

A month later, Thorin has assembled a new party to hunt down the Savage orc who killed his good friend. They trailed the savage orc with the help of the hunter Jon and attacked in a small clearing.

The hail of arrows only sparked anger in the huge orc who charged the elven archer. She was the first to fall to his mighty axe. Thorin and Uzun tried to take the orc down but Thorin routed under heavy orcish arrows. As they fled back into the woods, the orcs charged and slowly took them down among the trees.

Mayhem Warrior Heroes review:
* The rules are not very clear about alot of points. It definitely needs to be organized and edited better.
* The whole reputation idea with passes is confusing. However, once you get the hang of it it does flow.
* The chain reaction system is nice and definitely great for solo gaming.
* I'm not too excited by the combat resolution. I had quite a few passes where both combatants made their passes and no result happened.

Vassal: Mayhem Warrior Heroes

I tried out playtesting Mayhem Warrior Heroes ( Two Hour Wargames) using Vassal Module: Cry Havoc.

The Cry Havoc is a great Vassal Module. The game has alot of nice counters that can represent characters in different states.

In the scene above, a party of adventurers has ambushed an Orcish raiding party. Unfortunately for the adventurers, MWH is a brutal set of rules and the small party will soon be overcome by the Savage Orc.

PBEM: Vassal + Special Forces

So far, Vassal has been the big success to get my daily gaming fix. Its relatively easy to setup once you get the hang of it.

I think the Battle Cry module is well written and has a relatively simple interface. It helps that the rules are basically UGO/IGO which makes it easy to adapt for PBEM.

We've finished 2 games in the last 2 weeks and are starting the third game.

I also looked at DVG's special forces vassal module. I like the module clean looks,the design and the setting:modern day squad combat.

The module has good clean graphics. The rules look pretty straightforward with a simple one die resolution system. I'm not sure how well it will play PBEM because there is a reactive element to the play.

My other problem is the price tag at $10.00. It looks like you need two registered ids to play the game which puts it at $20.00 for 2 gamers. Its hard to say if its worth $20.00 for a virtual game with roughly 5 scenarios.

Maybe I'll look at it again later.