u/GreenWizard2

Hey people, some of you may recall that a while back I posted a series of asymmetric sci-fi skirmish scenarios that were compatible with Space Weirdos.

In an attempt to make these scenarios easier to play I've compiled them all into a 20 page A5 zine that you can print and play at home!

• The zine has six asymmetric sci-fi skirmish scenarios that are game agnostic, easily working with Space Weirdos, One Page Rules, Planet28, etc...
• They can be played independently or collectively via a mini campaign mode.
• Optional sci-fi planet environmental rules have been included for when some additional chaos is desired.

I've posted it to WargameVault for $5 USD, but the peeps of this subreddit can get it for free over the next 5 days by using the discount code link below.

If you have any feedback let me know! I had a lot of fun putting this together and have ideas for additional scenario pack zines like this to make in the future. Enjoy!

https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?discountId=98b661b094

Hey skirmish peeps! u/rancorman7 and I have started collaborating on his free indie naval skirmish game Sails Ahoy!

I recently put together an alpha version campaign supplement for the game ( 8 pages in A5 zine style ), and wanted to share it here for some thoughts and feedback. Does it have the core elements of what you would expect for a small easy to run campaign? Would you expect to see this in the core rules or as an additional module?

I know we have a number of folks on here that make their own indie content, along with peeps that have good eyes and brains for tabletop game design and rules. Appreciate any time you spend taking a look!

• Campaign Supplement
• Core Rules
• Discord Community

I occasionally play Mantic's Armada with some friends that are more used to board games than wargames, so I made this shot calculator to help speed up that part of the game for us.

It is a PWA (Progressive Web App) so you can use it like a website or install it directly to your Android/iOS device via Chrome/Safari. I made it so after the first install it will work 100% offline in-case you want to use it somewhere that has limited Internet.

Code is open source on GitHub here and you can try it out yourself at https://chaoticdicestudios.com/resources/armada-shot-calc/

If you have any feedback or suggestions let me know!

A session report of my playtest of v0.6.1 of Sails Ahoy! by u/rancorman7

I only have a handful of age of sail miniatures actually painted up, so I've been creating my own papercraft ships to better playtest different fleet combinations.

I played the King of the Fort scenario with two rival Dutch Merchant Fleets facing off against one another. A pirate fortress full of stolen goods has been discovered, and a race to "reclaim" this treasure has ensued. The goal is to destroy the fort and then race to claim one of the ports along the island first. Captain Dirk leads his merchant fleet in his medium ship "The Bear" alongside Captain Gerrit and Captain Willem in their light ships, "The Hunter" and "The Hawk" respectively.

On the other side we have Captain Decken in his heavy ship "The Neptune" supported by Captain Cornelis in his medium ship "The Lion".

Narrative Battle Report

Acting first, The Neptune sails into firing range and opens up with a light barrage into the pirate fortress at distance causing minimal damage. The Lion opts to hang back and observe the battle, out of range of any enemy cannons.

The pirate fortress responds with a lucky volley of its own, severely damaging one of The Neptune's three masts, and taking out a few of her cannons.

Captain Dirk and his small fleet sail into range of the fortress and start offering a light cannon barrage of their own into the fortress with good effect. The pirate fortress retaliates with a crushing cannon volley, pounding Dirk's entire fleet. The fortress is fairing much better than originally anticipated.

Seeing an opportunity, The Hunter and the Hawk use their superior speed and agility to split off from The Bear and set a course to go harass The Neptune as it slowly sails into range.

A number of cannon volleys continue to be exchanged between the fortress and the various ships within range, while The Lion continues to hang back, observe the battle, and wait for the right opportunity. The fortress is nearly destroyed, however all ships besides The Lion have taken significant damage in the raiding action thus far.

The Hunter, seeing an opportunity to finish things quickly, changes course away from it's engagement with The Neptune and delivers a final cannon volley onto the pirate fortress finishing it off for good.

The Hawk, true to its name, takes this chance to swoop in and raid the nearest port, easily taking it over in spite of the heavy damage she has sustained so far.

Captain Decken, furious at being outmaneuvered by his rival, orders The Neptune to load its double shot and sails into point blank range of The Hunter. A devastating broadside is unleashed into The Hunter. Unable to weather such an attack in its weakened state, The Hunter sinks with all hands on board.

The Lion, now seeing that the battle has largely died down, starts making a leisurely approach towards the second port to attempt to capture it while The Neptune begins a frightening pursuit of The Hawk, sister ship of The Hunter.

However Captain Dirk of The Bear, with his expert helmsman, is able to make a wide approach and cleanly sail into the second port to capture it, securing the island and the treasure for his own merchant fleet, winning the day.

Captain Cornelis is likely to get a stern dressing down from Captain Decken about the "overabundance of caution" he exhibited in his command of The Lion during this engagement.

The Game

A fun scenario, the game ran rather quickly since I used 1:700 scale ships within a 2ft x 2ft play area. Normally the game would end after the first port was captured, but that would have concluded the game after only one round, so I decided to extend the game, changing the end requirement to be that both ports needed to be captured, instead of only one.

The fortress capitulated a little faster than I anticipated, but given the number of ships focusing on it at once, that is not too surprising. It also deals out quite a bit of damage since it is able to shoot every ship within range of its cannons each time a player finishes moving their fleet, making it a high priority target.

The papercraft ships I created are based off of sketches by 18th century Dutch artist Gerrit Groenewegen. I only discovered his work recently, and he has a lot of really awesome marine sketches and etchings. I would encourage you to take a look at his work online through the Rijksmuseum at https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection.

To encourage people to try age of sail games like Ships Ahoy! I've posted the papercraft ship miniatures that I used to playtest this game up onto Wargame Vault. People on this subreddit can use the discount link below to get it for free for the next five days https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?discountId=9739c77a31

If you want to try out Sails Ahoy! you can find the free beta rules below as well as a link to the Discord. Happy sailing!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19fzF3jjFkPaQu20ffrTSFUrB-TKHuSFd?usp=drive\_link

https://discord.com/invite/u8ApJrj7Q4

Just built this mini with a jetpack and flight stand, been a while since I have painted up a mini that had one. How do you all usually deal with flight stands? Subassembly? Masking? Paint it? Get rid of it entirely?

A session report of my playtest of v0.6 of Sails Ahoy! by u/rancorman7

I only have a handful of Age of Sail miniatures actually painted up, so I decided to create my own papercraft ships, terrain, & tokens.

I played the Rum Runners scenario with The Crown and Captain Barrington in a Heavy ship versus The Pirates and Captain Blue Beard with his fleet of 3 Small ships. The goal was to run three cargo crates of rum from one island to another, with The Crown attempting to prevent the Pirates from delivering the rum.

Narrative Battle Report
The game started fast, with Captain Harrington (cousin to Captain Barrington, but a pirate!) and his ship The Turquoise Treasure quickly loading up on cargo. After weathering a light broadside from The Crown's ship Foehammer, the pirates were able to get off a lucky crit into their enemy, killing the lead Gunner.

The Foehammer then had to lumber its way back around a sandbar in-order to make a new pass at the pirate fleet, and attempt to prevent the drop off of rum.

The Turquoise Treasure was able to make it to port and drop off the rum largely unharmed, but caused a major backup as the other ships made their way into the narrow pass by the port.

Making a bold move to avoid running aground, Pirate Captain Hardy in the Cerulean Tear turned and made a mad dash for Foehammer, making a bold attempt to raid it. Due to the ruthless nature of these hardened pirates, they were able to successfully raid the much larger ship, killing both the Carpenter and the Helmsman on the enemy ship.

With most of her leading crew members dead, Foehammer hoisted the royal colors, allowing them to do a second full broadside against Pirate Captain Blue Beard's ship, rolling FOUR CRITS (natural 1 is a crit) hitting the magazine rack, hull, and mast, creating a massive explosion, sinking Blue Beard's ship, the Azure Mist, and all her crew.

The tight sailing space caused a number of ship collisions, forcing Foehammer to sail off the map and ultimately return home (apparently Captain Barrington felt they had accomplished enough for the day, suffering significant crew casualties, defeating Captain Blue Beard, and ultimately leaving the pirates to their rum).

A difficult victory for The Pirates, I wonder who will take command of the small fleet for their next battle now that Blue Beard is dead?

The Game
A fun scenario, my 1:700 scale ships worked surprisingly well on a 2ft x 2ft play area. The only change I would make is to move the islands toward the center of the board next time to prevent tight 90 degree choke points, which was entirely my own fault during setup. I might print the ships at a smaller scale like 1:1200 and see how that goes next time.

I know age of sail games are not the most popular, but I always have a lot of fun with them. To encourage people to try age of sail games like Ships Ahoy! I've posted the papercraft ship miniatures that I used to playtest this game up onto Wargame Vault.

People on this subreddit can use the discount link below to get it for free for the next five days https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?discountId=938f5883b3

If you want to try out Sails Ahoy! you can find the free beta rules below as well as a link to the Discord. Happy sailing!

• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19fzF3jjFkPaQu20ffrTSFUrB-TKHuSFd?usp=drive_link
• https://discord.com/invite/u8ApJrj7Q4

Used my Mantic Armada models to playtest Sails Ahoy! A skirmish game created by our very own u/rancorman7

I played the scenario 'Grab the Governor '. In this scenario Captain Hrothgar Odinson of the Viking Merchant Fleet faced off against the Orc Pirate Captain Grog the Gluttonous. Each had a faction specific Governor placed on a different island that was to be nabbed and brought back to the home port.

After a brief broadside exchange, Captain Grog was able to easily raid the Viking port and grab the Merchant Governor. Captain Hrothgar on the other hand had a hell of a time attempting to raid the Orc Pirate port. The Orc Pirate Governor managed to fend off FIVE different raid attempts! That will teach those Viking Merchants to underestimate an Orc Governor! (Can you imagine what it takes to actually be the Governor of an Orc Pirate Port Town?) "You'll never take me alive!!!" - The Orc Governor probably

In the meantime, Captain Olaf One Eye, sailing a much faster ship, was able to catch up with Captain Grog after his raid, and successfully harassed him as the Orcs attempted to sail away with their prize. A lucky broadside allowed Captain Olaf to sink Captain Grog's ship The Fire Drake with the Merchant governor still on board! He will have to be fished from the water later...

This ended the game in a close victory for the Viking Merchant fleet! Overall a fun light game that is straightforward and easy to play with friends.

If this sounds like fun and you want to help shape the course this game takes while in beta, feel free join us on the Discord!

https://discord.com/invite/u8ApJrj7Q4

Free Beta Rules

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19fzF3jjFkPaQu20ffrTSFUrB-TKHuSFd?usp=drive\_link

Finished painting these two up this weekend.

This is the sixth and final scenario in the series that I have posted here. Next I'll be bundling all the scenarios together in a booklet and link them together with some light campaign rules.

Things have gone well for the CIS. Their new self learning AI Super Tank just needs one more training session and then it will be complete!

The Republic Commandos learned where the next training session will take place and decided it was now or never. Time to blow that tank to kingdom come!

After a desperate battle, more than half of the CIS forces guarding the tank had been wiped out. However the tank was far more operational than initially reported and the Commandos were also having a rough time of it.

By the end of the battle only two of eight commandos remained, and the AI Super Tank was able to stagger off the battlefield, damaged, but not destroyed. With the tank now fully trained and ready for mass production at a scale not yet seen, this mission was a devastating loss for the Republic, leaving an uncertain future in the wake of the battle.