Chariots At MOAB (Again)

Last year I headed up to MOAB to help Victor playtest a chariot-racing game he is working on. THis year I did it again.

You can read about the game in that link above or, at least, the version of it that we were playing last year. Victor has made a few changes since then, the biggest of which is that a lot of tests are now made on two dice, with adjustments upgrading or downgrading what type of dice you roll.

After sorting out our teams, what skills they'd have and what types of horses, we diced for initial positions off the start line. I'm Red. The ones at the back.

Frank with the Blue team got a good start, but the game does depend on your colour coming out of the initiative bag on the straight sections, and Blue just didn't appear for the first couple of laps.

I got some early moves and used my better chariot to come up and cause trouble. Alistair, with Green, had slipped his fast controllable horse teams into the inside lane and was planning on racing from there.  I rammed him, causing some damage which I hoped would cause him issues later.

I also brought on my Hortator to guide mt chariots through the dust, but he didn't really need to do much. Beside him you can see my Spartator as well. His job was to throw water onto the chariots or teams to cool them down. He risked being run down by other chariots. Mine was.

You can see two Spartators in action here and, in the background, the grid showing what dice have been drawn so far.

Craig brought one of his White team chariots to the fore. My second Red chariot was starting to drop back. I would have to spend some actions to keep it properly in the race.

A view from the rear. You can see Green doggedly holding the inside lane. No chariots had been lost, so it was hard for the rear-markers to find spaces to try and break into.

The grid, showing that we'd completed four of the seven laps.

Green made their run for the front. The middle lane is the best lane when it comes to adjudicating finishes, so getting to the front of it is a good place to be.

With one and a bit laps to go I got a couple of opportunities and used them to bring my second chariot - the one that had been running a safe race in the rear - down the inside track, and to then cut across in front of Blue.

I was then able to cut back to the inside lane, but couldn't get the actions to use that position to push in front of Green. However I was in a  decent finishing position, with a horse team that was fast on the finish.

Craig pulled into the outside lane as we finished the final straight. All three lead positions were occupied, so it would be a photo-finish. This involved a dice-off, with the modifiers to types of dice rolled being based on teh traits of teh horse teams, how blown they were and which lane the chariot was in. Alistair was strong in teh centre rolling 2D12s, I was rolling D10s on teh inside and Craig D6s on teh outside.

And yet it was Craig's 8 that beat my 6 and Alistair's 7 to give the White team and unexpected win. I had to be content with third place. 

There was plenty of discussion afterwards of things that could be changed. We felt that chariots didn't really seem that vulnerable; we expected a a couple of crashes but in fact every chariot finished. We considered some changes to increase the damage chariots took for certain things. The multiple dice types worked OK, but possibly slowed the game down, firstly because we didn't have enough of them so we were passing them around to each other but also because you couldn't roll the dice and then see if you needed to work out the modifiers afterwards (sometimes you know you've passed or failed without having to do the calculations). With varying dice types you need to do the calculations in order to determine what you're actually rolling. We also considered rules for bringing back the Spartator if he got killed on the assumption that a team would probably have a few of them on hand.

Anyway, it was a fun game with an spectacularly close finish.

As ever I hit what was left of the Bring & Buy (Monday at MOAB is pretty quiet) and picked up yet another boardgame.

'On The Origin Of Species' is from the same publisher that does 'First in Flight' - they seem to specialise in games with a science education theme - and is, oddly enough, not about evolution, despite the name. It is, however, about the groundwork of Darwin's magnum opus, with the players taking the part of naturalists discovering and documenting species in the Galapagos Islands. The art-work is lovely, but I haven't had chance to play it through yet. I'm hoping to fit in a game one evening this week.

MOAB - The Saturday

It's the October Long Weekend, and that means MOAB!

Although my usual contact with MOAB is the HOTT competition on the Monday - which I will be doing again this year - last year a couple of us put on some gladiatorial games and chariot-racing, and we did it again this year.

We ran several games of Munera Sine Missione. Despite attracting newcomers to the game we actually used a few advanced and optional rules, but no-one seemed troubled, and everyone seemed to have a good time

Victor ran a game of Jugula, which was enjoyed by a couple of player - one of them enjoyed it so much he ran another game for other people later in the day. I have to say that I was less impressed with it, but it's really a card-management game masquerading as a gladiatorial combat game.

We finished the day off with a chariot race, using my Celtic chariots rather than the more traditional Roman ones. Same rules, just different playing pieces. Good fun was had by all. In these pictures I'm in the lead. I actually finished fifth.

Thanks to Victor for doing the real organisation; I just turned up with figures and played games all day.

Epona's Great Big Grassy Mound

Sometimes you hang onto random things you buy at wargames shows just because you know that one day you'll use them ...

I have no idea who makes this small resin hill with a white horse carved into it, but it's now part of my course- and lap-tracking tool for Celtic chariot racing. The small object on the bottom left is a 6mm horseman (whose base needs doing) which will act to indicate where on the track the chariots are. On the right-hand side you can see dots I can use to record the lap (One, Two and Three). The hill was mounted on a balsa base textured with sand, and then painted in various shades of green after having the corners rounded off. I scraped the markings into the sand and then painted them, and the horse, in my best white paint. Easy.

The Rites Of Spring

So what better way to celebrate Spring than a chariot race? Charioteers from six British tribes have travelled to to Salisbury Plain to honour the new season. Here they are, lined up and ready to go.

This was my first six chariot race using 'Charioteer!' from Two Hour Wargames. I took a white chariot, and went for a Savvy of 3, Speed of 4 and Strength of 2. My plan, such as it was, was to sit at the back for the first lap, perhaps moving up to a strong fifth or fourth if I could, then shift up a couple of positions in the second lap, aiming to be third by the start of the final lap. With a good speed I could run well on the straights, and just hoped to survive the corners. By the end of the second lap I hoped that the field would have thinned out a little as well; by then at least one chariot would have been forced out of the race.

The other chariots were mostly on a par with mine, aside from the Blue and Yellow ones, who both rolled well, and were both skilled and fast.

The race began, and we entered the first straight. Green took the lead, followed by Yellow, Blue, Red, Grey and with me bringing up the rear.

Immediately Yellow challenged for the lead, but Green jostled him away

Red slipped up into third place, past Blue ...

... and I decided that fifth place was where I wanted to be, and overtook Grey. This was the position at the end of the first section.

Along the first straight we went. I chose not to challenge this time, sit behind the chariot in front and build up bonus dice. Once again Yellow attempted to pass Green, but Green blocked him. However he got greedy, and attempted to whip Yellow back into place. The exchange startled Green's horse-team, and Green slipped back into second place.

Blue overtook Red, whilst Grey tried to overtake me on the inside, but failed.

The position at the end of the second section of track. All of the chariots bar mine seemed to be burning bonus dice. I felt confident that as long as I could hold position I could win this.

We sped into the first curve, and Grey tried to pass me again, using his whip. A bad move - I rolled well, and took it from him, forcing his chariot back and causing him to lose speed.

Blue passed Green on the corner, leaving this as the position as we entered the second straight of the lap.

There were a lot of passing attempts down the straight, but the positions didn't change. And all of the chariots were still racing.

We hit the second lap, and still the positions didn't change. This was now when I needed to start moving up the field a little. In the first straight section of the second lap I tried to overtake Red and move into fourth place.

Red kept fighting me off, doing it in both straight sections. My plan was not going well. The other chariots stayed in the same positions.

Into the second corner of the second lap, and I was still in fifth place. Grey sped up on the inside, and suddenly I was last again.

Meanwhile Blue took the lead, when Yellow's horses were startled and he lost ground.

Into the second straight of the second lap, and I managed to get past Grey to move into fifth position again. I had a lot of work to do, though.

The third and final lap! On the curve I decided to gamble and swung out to overtake Red ...

... successfully! Fourth place!

Along the first straight and I tried to pass Green, but couldn't. Yellow took the lead again, but now the three chariots in front were low on bonus dice, and I wasn't.

Further along the straight, and Green tried to pass Blue, but was bashed back.

This was enough for me. As Green fell back I surged forward, overtaking him to move into third place.

This was the position as we rounded the final corner and headed into the home straight. Blue and Yellow were both strong chariots, but in fact the special events were starting to take their toll on their horse teams, who were tiring.

I wasn't strong on the corners, though, and Green took advantage of this to retake third place.

Grey tried to overtake Red, but was badly repulsed in a whipping attack, and left at only 1 Speed.

The home straight, and I needed to be bold. I had two sections in which to move up three positions if I wanted to win. I resolved to take second place by the end of the first one.

Green was easily passed. Blue would be trickier though, as it was my second challenge of the turn, and I was passing wide.

I did it! And still had a bonus dice to spare. One section of track remained, and I was in second place. Victory was in sight.

There was more bashing and whipping at the back, but still no chariots had been lost.

The run for the finish ...

... and most of the chariots decided to sit tight behind the one in front.

Blue was sat behind me. Close behind. Too close. As I prepared to make my move, we collided ...

... and I was out, my chariot flipping right down the track to finish in front of Grey. Grey avoided the wreckage.

My charioteer was killed instantly.

Yellow sped across the line unopposed, followed by Blue.

I could have won! I could have been a contender! If only that pesky Blue chariot had been more careful.

It was interesting playing a game with that many chariots, although the die rolls gave a fairly unaggressive game with a low casualty rate. I was rather hoping that at least one opposing chariot would have been wiped out before the last lap, making my job easier. I didn't expect the only casualty to be me.

The spectators are from Irregular Miniatures, by the way - camp and market scenes.