First RCW skirmish

We have played our first Back of Beyond skirmish. It was a very small battle with some tsarist infantry trying to dislodge a red force half its size from a small village it had fortified.
The battle did show us the advantage of being in defense in the period of machine guns and bolt rifles.

The whites had their chance still. Having more than twice the number of figures, they almost overwhelmed the bolshevik defenses, their high point being when a lucky grenade destroyed a machinegun nest and its crew, leaving a part of the perimeter defenseless for a time.
But that was not enough, and white squads were broken one after another when trying to cross the empty space riddled with bullets.

Showdown rules worked well and everyone was satisfied with the game. The rules were understandable enough and there was no problem using them. Though the concept of Shaken was not immediately clear.
A showdown battle seems to be finished in a few turns. That means that even if movement rates are quite high, I should have let the battle begin with the ennemies in closer proximity.

We did use the first BoB figures I did make for the game. I hurried too much for the game and I am not too happy about the result. The figures were usable but had not much flavour to them (the basmachi I did earlier for the campaign was much better). I hope to do better when I'll have to draw more interesting or exotic personnalities.

Swashbuckler tokens

We have finished our first Flashing Blades adventure yesterday. It was very fun and really satisfying. The characters, though caught between two opposing factions, were able to steal the documents they had been sent to find.
The main action scene was to enter a monastery (full of fanatical ultamontains monks) and burglarise it. I had imagined something like a careful and silent job, but they did raise a real pandemonium with the help of the nearby villagers and took advantage of the chaos to take the documents.
The adventure had chases, swordfights, assasination attempts and even seduction scenes.
One character died (Furcifer, a rogue of low extraction who gave his life to prevent a spadassin to warn the characters ennemies..) and some other were wounded, giving an atmosphere of real danger to the game.

If you use a virtual tabletop application for you games, you can find the tokens I used here.
And if you play Savage Worlds, they could be useful for Solomon Kane or Pirates of the Spanish Main campaigns.

Tokens are easy and fun.

As we are continuing our Flashing Blades campaign, I found myself in need of tokens to use with Maptool.

Devin's tokens covers a lot of types, but they are mostly fantasy and except a few pirates or some bandits from his last pack, they are not exactly what I needed. And, anyway, I wanted to make some of my own.



My first movement was to draw some detailed ones, with matching portraits to show the character they represent. The result was quite good, but it was going to take me some times to make all the needed tokens.

... and of course, I never have enough time. So, I just began to doodle smaller drawings whilst preparing the scenario.



The result is not very artistic, but that's the kind of doodling you can do with half a mind on it and in a few minutes.
And after a short manipulation in Photoshop (levels, cleaning, selection, color and shadow...), they make usable tokens. Not on the level of Devin's ones, but acceptables.

(you can see the result here; the doodle in my moleskine has become a spadassin token in Maptool, with mounted and foot versions, attacking some PCs on the Tavern in the Woods map from SkeletonKey games)
Here is the spadassin full size; he is scaled to fit 128px squares in Maptool, because it is the scale I use (I generally display the map at 50% resolution, but it gives me the possibility to zoom in when needed without losing image quality).

And what is more, it's that, being a natural scribbler, I love to make those doodles whilst reading for the game, relaxing at a coffee-house, taking a break at work,... wherever .

Maybe I'll also doodles portraits for some of them, but for now, I am quite happy using illustrations gathered on the net for the NPCs (the PCs having their own illustrations).

Savage Moleskine

Inspiration can be quite tricky. A good idea can strike you anywhere and if you don't record it, it can be lost forever.
I always have my RPG moleskine notebook in my pocket to write down ideas, and I have found it unvaluable to be able to work for my next game anywhere and anywhen, when I have a few minutes.

I use it not only to record my ideas, but I have begun to use it to prepare my RPG sessions (which means I am going to need it for Showdown and Savage Worlds) and to refer to it during my gaming sessions.

A moleskine notepad doesn't take much space on the table and it can contain all my references for the scenario I am mastering, regroup all the stuff I want to be able to look quickly (an index of what I want to find for the game, sketch maps of places not developped in the scenario, stats and descriptions...).

I have encountered two problems when using a moleskine for this kind of things:

-First, what you write down in the notebook is not necessary grouped logically, so you need a way to reference it.

-Secondly, it can be quite tedious to write again and again empty NPCs character stats blocks to fill them.

The first problem is easily solved by numbering each right page. Then, when you want to refer to somewhere in your moleskine, you just have to note that number and the quadrant where it is located. For exemple, in the moleskine here, refering to the map drawn on it would be 22C.
For recurring stats blocks, I just took the solution from Moleskine itself. On their site, they have made available empty pages that can be glued in a notebook.
So you can add squared pages in a lined moleskine or you can add a storyboard page in a squared notebook,... or any combination.

I just made moleskine stats blocks pages (one for NPCs and one for vehicles), they can be glued in your notebook. I prefer to print them on A4 sticker paper. I cut them and, when I need one, I stick it in the notebook. I write the game stats on that page and any notes I need on the next one.

As moleskine have a pocket inside the back cover, I can carry a few blank stats pages with me.

You can download the Moleskine SW pages (NPCs and Vehicles) in english here and in french, here.

Content is self-explaining, but I added a small silhouette on the right bottom of the page. It is intended to record armor values if needed or sketch anything that can be useful for the GM (the place where a knife is hidden, the parts covered by the armor,... wathever).

Don't forget to print them at 100% by unchecking the "fit to page" button in your printer setting, or it won't be the right size.

Buildings from the desert fringe.

For our next wargame session, I have to finish the figures needed to play the scenario (to be short, the adventurers group from the bolchevik player are going to try to murder the commanding general of the basmachi player), the drawing part progress quite well and I hope to be able to go to the color and print process soon.

But I also have to build some eastern looking buildings, because the game is going to happen in the suburbs of an old silk road city.

Some years ago, I did buy the "Desert Village" and "Desert Fortress" available on RPGnow (they are still available), and whilst I never used them, they are still on my hard drive. So, after a few prints, I am now assembling eastern houses of every shapes and sizes. I think a dozen would be enough for the first game. Maybe, I'll add a few "western" buildings (the more generic ones: cabins, horses sheds,...) for the westernised part of town. I'll see...

My only problem, for now, is that I use a green gaming mat, which is the most"universal looking" I could imagine and which worked well for a lot of settings, but it looks more irish hills than desert border.
I don't intend to buy a desert one, but I think I'll have to adapt it, maybe with sandy patches or something like that.

I'll try to post a few pictures with the first buildings and figures when I'll have the time for a photo session.