New Series: D&D tactics: 5E Style.

14 years of hobby/gaming blogging and scant mention of Dungeons and Dragons. Its interesting to note since D&D is literally what introduced me wargaming in the late 1970’s.  Other than brief mention of some OSR rules I used for an early version of my Blackbarrow Chronicles series I don’t think I have mentioned the worlds oldest roleplaying game at all, it doesnt even have a label and there is well over 100  labels in the sidebar.

 Let start with some backstory: As far gaming and this hobby goes I’ve been around a long time,  I go so far back that I played the original Dungeons and Dragons getting the “Holmes” Blue box when its was a "new thing"  back in the fall of 1977. That Summer two of my favorite movies of my adolescences came out , Star Wars and Ralph Bashki’s Lord of Rings,  I had local game store in my town that I used to go to easily a couple times a week and where my previous fix had been Airfix plastic soldiers. As all these new games started showing up and I was drawn to both D&D and its Sci Fi counterpart Traveller .  I remember taking the money I got for my birthday and getting that blue box and bunch of Heritage miniatures and rushing home with a gleam in my eye.

The box that started it all..

 My brother and I and some neighborhood kids , played D&D , and other RPG’s  close to weekly right thru about 1983…we had a heck of good time as kids but then inevitable other interests took over my late teens, then I was off to college and didn’t really do much gaming other than occasional  video games for a long time , so long In fact- I was like Gandalf disappearing for 17 years to search the archives of Minas Tirith.. ” as it was exactly 17 years before D&D and I crossed paths again.  Somewhere in 2000 rumblings of 3^rd Edition caught my attention, I had missed the entire second edition of the game  with no interest in gaming at all other than some of the early gold box computer games.

 Out at a bookstore one day (we still did that back then ) I picked up some 3^rd Ed books and soon enough thru the wonders of technology I got into some early online D&D gaming this was before things like Fantasy Grounds where you were just had a chat window and die roller and you could post images, we may have some type of trackable grid with chits , eventually I moved up into the early editions of Fantasy Grounds..I ran two online campaigns 3.0 and 3.5  with the latter burning out over the game becoming ridiculously overpowered and way over complicated with high level creatures with massive 2 page stat blocks and players showing up with some silly new book almost weekly giving them more and more super powered abilities it was to the point of crushing my old school sensibilities and I was done. 

 I was already doing plenty of PC gaming and getting into wargames at that point so D&D again disappeared into a box in the closet for another long sabbatical.  Not too long after that my incessant interest with vintage miniatures leads me to check out some Warhammer Fantasy and you can check out the last 14 years on this blog to see where it goes after that

Which leads me to the current date of 2020…43 years after getting that Holmes blue box,  My now 13 year old daughter after binging  “Stranger Things”  earlier this summer  comes home from a trip to Barnes and Noble with a bunch of manga books and  the 5^th Ed D&D starter set.  Apparently All the wargames, miniatures and terrain and years of games in the basement rubbed off, “I thought you could run this for me and some friends since we have all the stuff, I heard its pretty fun” Done, and Done I said..

40+ years later........

 This was awhile back earlier in July , I off course had to do some research as I had no idea what was going on with the rules , I completely missed the 4^th edition of the game (apparently no great loss) and D&D is now so mainstream, its crazy, with all the streamed gameplay and things on You Tube.  

 I was most surprised by the 5^th ed rules out for like what ? 6 years now? I wasnt close to aware how "old school" these rules seem to me. Of course there is going to be some stuff I raise a 1^st ed eyebrow to. But hey its 40+ years later and given the shit-show that was 3^rd  edition? , I’m pleasantly surprised. ,I’ve watched a bunch of videos on running the game but that leads me to this series, what about the combats?

 Obviously- that’s my interests and I’m not going to hammer a bunch of teens with my uber nerd tactical combats that I spend much of my late nights running in the basement. For them its about the social aspects and story of the game

But as Im prepping for this , I am of course going to build some cool stuff, paint some miniatures and roll some dice because that’s what I like to do..

As I prep to run this great adventure “The lost mines of Phandelver” I am going to demo these combats so I can a run them properly during an actual D&D session and figure out how I can make this fun for them by getting my kicks now

If your familiar with this adventure this should be instantly recognizable, more on how I made it in a future post.

Running these tactical battles and working out all  the rules, I already have the terrain all planned out for all but the last chapter , so I’ll run a couple of these write it up as a bat rep, and then I will run the the RPG session for the kids.

I’ve already built some great new stuff and its some prophetic how useful things like my modular tiles and skirmish dungeon and my Inn, suddenly become.  So this is going to keep me hoping the next couple months,  especially since I’ll want to squeeze a Rangers of Shadow Deep or Fallout Wasteland Warfare game in there as well..  so D&D Tactics, 5e Style coming up,  The first skirmish consists of two battles,  from Chapter 1 : Goblin Arrows.

 

 

Scratch Build "The Eye" complete!

 Well complete as it going to get anyway. Here its is crewed with Aragorn and some Army of the Dead for my "Aragorn at Pelennor" list for the Thursday nights Adepticon event "The March to Mount Doom" which is a 500 point Single Elimination Tourney. This is the Army and the Boat is the display. I have a small sign that goes in front, that is yet to be made.

 
 I had alot of fun with this scratch build and I've some other ideas stewing around, not sure whats next this is my second totally completed ship after "The Griffon", I also have an Old Glory Brig that only needs a couple days work to be complete as well.

Painting was a pretty straight forward affair, in the future paint the masts before stitching the sails on would have saved me some time. The water stained patina on the bow ram and shields and the other weathering effects took the longest.

 As far as Adepticon goes..all my models are done..Painting all those cavalry models took me forever. .I still have my team display to paint/flock and a couple plaques/ signs for the Army lists.to make..nothing I cant get done this weekend.

I used a bunch of my Rohan Team Army for the LPL7 which starts this weekend, in conjunction with the rules I wont post my Rohan shots until probably Wednesday, the day before I head over to Adepticon. but you can get the preview over at the LAF this on Sunday. I'm not going to have much time for coverage this year..I am playing in three Lord of the Rings events, my only free time to socialize is Friday night, (so if you know me look me up then) Saturday I have split right after the event for ill timed but mandatory engagement with the wife..I may break my own rules and show up on Sunday to bum around. 

Scratch Build- "The Eye"

 Just showing off my first ever total scratch build. Other than a few decorative plastic and hirst bits..this is all Pink foam, cereal box, balsa, dowels, bamboo skewers, plastic card, leather stitching and wood glue.

 I call her "The Eye" a Corsair scout ship from the 50 or so ships set out from Umbar to ambush the City of Minas Tirith during the battle of Pelennor Fields in "The Return of the King". Aragorn, and his companions captured this fleet with help of the Dead of Dunharrow and help turn the tied of Battle.

 The ship is my display board for my Thursday night Lord of the Rings events, "March to Mount Doom" which is a single elimination 500 point tournament with a 15 model cap...My army features
Aragorn, (Heir of Isildur profile), The King of the Dead and 12 Men of Dunharrow. I have no idea how its going to perform. The Army of Dead was always a poorly performing force for its cost, I dont think much has changed under the new "Hobbit" Rules.

 The ship was fun to build. I originally had a different plan that didnt feature the full ship just a portion of one side as back drop. however after looking at couple of scratch builds online and watching the scenes from the film, I was inspired at like 2am last sunday morning.  I drew a hasty sketch that night, and in the morning when the wife and kids coincidentally were going to a baby shower, I was free to go to town.  by the time "the Walking Dead" came on Sunday evening she was done minus the back sail which I finished Monday night.

 I approached this just like I would make a plastic or resin model other that I had to design all the parts.. drew all the parts out by hand, per sketch- built my Pink Foam form then resized my parts drawn of the actual material used. and cut out with an xacto or my mini scroll saw. The trickest part was the bow ram...I made about 3 of them before I got it just right...

This is a scout ship meant for boarding I designed it as such.. Bow Ram, Shields, Boarding Spikes, etc, swallow hull, no lower deck...I got some really cool Mithril Corsairs that are going populate her., after Aragorn gets done with her. Other than looking cool on my wall post tournament....I could throw some deck guns on the her and use her in Legend of the High Seas play too..whatever..a third finished ship for my growing Navy, I'll paint her in the coming weeks.

Time and Materials- around 12 hours, costs in materials is under 20.00 USD