All the Cats Join In

Excellent little cartoon, complete with Benny Goodman's orchestra. I think this is from a Disney movie.

(HT: Cartoon Brew)

Planning a Star Wars d20 Campaign

So, I've decided to get off my toochus and run a tabletop game. I've been playing in LARPS almost exclusively for several years now, but have never lost the taste for sitting around a table with friends and rolling dice. I've been invited to a couple of games, but none of them have grabbed my fancy, because at heart, I'm a sci-fi geek, and most of these games have been fantasy.

My initial thought was to run a game set in the Warhammer 40K universe. This is mainly because I'm very familiar with the universe, have tons of figures, and quite frankly, it has a fast, bloody combat system. Unfortunately, to run a game in such a setting puts a lot of limits on the player characters, and not everyone is as familiar with the universe as I am. Add to that the fact that there is no rule-set for such an RPG, meaning I'd have to home-brew a set of rules. I thought of incorporating Games Workshop's Inquisitor but it turns out to simply be a more complex set of combat rules, with very little emphasis on the non-combat sorts of things that an RPG requires. I still like the universe, however, and I hear Black Industries is licensed to come out with a WH40KRPG next year, which decreased my ardor to home-brew my own rules.

After talking to my buddy Tad, I have decided to run a SWd20 campaign. I'm pretty sure this is a winner, for a variety of reasons. I like the d20 system. Everyone knows at least something about Star Wars and how that universe operates. The first adventure is already written, but I'm a little unsure about how the difficulty for encounters works out. According to the rules, a party of four 1st level heroes should have a pretty easy time with one 1st level Thug, which makes sense, but when I try to construct a meaningful battle with enough baddies to make it worthwhile, it quickly escalates to the "Extreme" category, which worries me. I think I have things balanced, however, and am all ready to go. I have an idea for how the initial stages of the first module in the campaign will go, but I'll hold off on designing the encounters until I have a better feel for what the characters can handle.

So, without further ado, here's the opening to Star Wars - The Rim Rebellion

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

It is a time of fear in the galaxy. The Old Republic has been subsumed into the galaxy-spanning Empire, and the Separatist movement has been silenced. The Jedi, once great protectors of peace and freedom in the galaxy, have been hunted into near-extinction, and the Emperor's power grows with each passing hour. Vast armies, comprised of the Empire's elite Stormtroopers, move throughout the galaxy, quashing any hint of rebellion, and establishing control over key centers of trade and production. Holonet has gone off-line, making inter-stellar travel difficult, if not impossible. And yet, rumors of a forming rebellion perist, providing hope to uncounted millions of oppressed sentients.

Meanwhile, on planet of Bimmisari, a trading world out on the Middle Rim, a new Imperial Governor has been installed. The people go largely about their business unhampered, but steadily increasing Imperial restrictions are beginning to take their toll. The Pirates of the Asteroid Belt, long a nuisance to shipping in the region, are gaining a newfound strength, and a dark conspiracy is about to unfold...

Now, the only question is whether or not to let my stepson Cody play. The kid's a bit much to handle and has no social skills. Can we keep him in line? The alternative is to not let him play, and quite frankly, I don't think further isolation is going to help matters. Perhaps if he's in the company of others, where I can monitor his behavior and correct it on the spot, he might learn something. But, is this fair to my friends?

Sunday Funnies

10 Things I Hate About Commandments

(HT: Cadet Happy)

Live Blogging the Beach Cities Republican Club

5/18/06 - My first taste of live-blogging...

1913- the place is packed, lots of new members
1915- Wow, an Invocation. They've never done that before
1935- you didn't miss much. I was eating but all they did was Opening
announcements.

Mike Spence is now talking about Prop 81.

Prop 81 purports to fund libraries. Provides no funds for future
support and maintenance. So, we'll get nice, new facilities which are
closed most of the time. If the legislature wanted this, they could
fund it with the savings from interest payments we'll be paying if this
dog passes. Gist of the message: Don't fall for this. The Sik1's
standard policy is to vote No on all bonds. This is a good example why.

1948- Next speaker is Lee Tarasco. He wrote Farenhype 911. Former
speechwriter for Reagan. Involved in a new political website for kids.
It's a great idea, and it will be up in time for the next school year.
Check out: Ourcountry.com (It's not up yet, tho'. I'll link to it when
it comes up.)

Next speaker: Rod Guidon - Running for City Council

A couple of other candidates give short pitches.

1957: Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank.
This should be good.

Opens with PJ O'Rourke quote. I like her already. Prop 82: Free
preschool as a constitutional right. Sheesh.

1.What is economic case?
You've seen the tear-jerking commercial about 4-year old Amy. Rand
Corp. Says we get a 4:1 return on investment. They base this on a
Chicago study, but it's a bait-and-switch. The results from the Chicago
study came about from 6 years of intervention, not just preschool.

This is a scam. It's even more insane than most.

Check out results of Quebec's Universal Preschool plan. It sounds like
a failure.

Man, she knows her stuff.

This will throw the current preschool teachers out of work. Requires a
BA and a special credential to teach preschool.

Solution: Stop stealing and losing the money already allocated to this.
There should be a study out there that I can link to.

So, No on 82.

2014:Kevin Gilhooley, Victory 2006. Short and sweet call for
volunteers.

Andy Ramirez: Friends of the Border Patrol.

Yeesh, more immigration stuff.

2020: Yup, here it comes. "Fire Susan Kennedy". Well, that's not a bad
idea.

Beating the drums about Mexican Army border incursions. God save us
from people who are right. They are gonna hand the country over to the
Democrats during a time of war. And they never consider that the
Democrats will be worse on this issue than Bush.

I'm not sure if he understands international law about the use of troops
in law enforcement activities.

2038: Brian Gibson. Running against Jane Harman. God bless him. I've
always liked folks who tilt at windmills.

2046: Dr. Mary Jo Ford-running for State Assembly. God bless her, too.
This race might be winnable. Ted Lieu has to be broke. He spent all
his money in the last election and he's a million bucks in debt to the
Democratic Party. His big issue is preventing us from buying ultrasound
machines. Ted Lieu is a putz, and we can push Mary Jo over the top.

2055: Jack Simmons, a comedian. "If I want to hear a fifth-graders
opinion, I'll listen to Air America." Good bumper sticker: Your honor
student is not as smart as my President. Funny guy. Also associated
with ourcountry.org. They're trying to put together a conservative
comedy night here in town. Should be good.

2111: Drawing and closing announcements.

After the meeting, I managed to buttonhole Andy to talk about
immigration. My first question: Are you willing to hand this country
over to the Democrats in a time of war? Obviously, his answer is no.
But he's a True Believer and his issue is the border. He has some very
compelling evidence about Mexican Army incursions onto our side of the
border. My take on this is that these are cases of: 1. Mexican army
"freelancers" working to protect the drug and smuggling cartels 2. Drug
and smuggling cartel soldiers who have gotten ahold of military
equipment and uniforms, probably both.

Anyways, he promises that this issue is ready to blow wide open into
congressional hearings, and soon.

Look, the border is key to fighting and winning the GWOT. I get that.
But I don't want to drive the base away at this key point in time. The
sad fact is that the Republican's are not doing a good job here, but the
Democrats will do a worse job. Al Rantel, Doug MacIntyre, O'Reilly and
the rest are not making the base fighting mad, they are making them
stay-at-home mad.

Andy has promised me access to some of his evidence, and I'll be posting
it once it comes through.

And that's all, folks. Remember, I live blog so you don't have to.

The Rumsfeld Strangler

The Rumsfeld Strangler

IMAO has an official spin-off.

BatRep vs. John's Iron Warriors

Here's my batrep from my match against IW last night.

My army:
1875 Pts - Nomad Squadron

Shas'el and Bodyguard (261 Pts)
1 Shas'el - FB; HWMT; PR; TA
2 Shas'vre - FB; HWMT; PR; TA

Stealth Team (245 Pts)
2 Shas'ui - 4xMD
1 Team Leader - BK; ML; HWTL; TA

Crisis Battlesuit Team (138 Pts)
3 Shas'ui - TLMP, BF

Crisis Battlesuit Team (186 Pts)
3 Shas'ui - FB, PR, MT

2x Fire Warrior Team (185 Pts)
8 Shas'la - PR
1 Devilfish BC, GD, MT, DL, 1xSM

Kroot Carnivore Squad (77 Pts)
11 Kroot

Gun Drone Squadron (96 Pts)
8 Gun Drones

Hammerhead Gunship (165 Pts)
RG; 2xBC; TA; MT; DL

Hammerhead Gunship (130 Pts)
IC; 2xBC; TA; MT; DL

Broadside Battlesuit Team (200 Pts)
1 Shas'ui - BK; SMS; 2xSD; ASS
1 Shas'ui - SMS; ASS


My opponents IW army looked something like this:
Tooled up DP with Speed and lotsa other stuff. No Stature, which was good.

2x Assault squads

3x 2-man Oblits

Havoc squad with HB (He was expecting static Tau )

Havocs with 2xLC, 2xML and Tank Hunters

2x6-man LasPlaz squads
2x6-man 2xMelta squads

Bassy with Indirect Fire

Setup:
Very heavy terrain consisting mostly of low walls, hills, steep hills and woods. I screwed up on terrain placement and allowed him a nice hidey-hole for his Bassy, much to my chagrin. I think I should have piled more terrain towards the middle, too, but that would have closed down too many firelanes, so maybe I'm just a well off with things as they were.


Mission: Recon Gamma

Deployment from left to right from my perspective:
Me - DF on left flank behind woods. Stealths in open about 30" from his lines. BAss team in farm complex >6" from edge, HQ behind farm complex (which counted as area terrain. Too close to the BAss team, as we'll see. Deathrains behind hill to right of center of the line. Both HHs, remaining DF and Helios teams behind hills on right flank. Having no suitable place for the Kroot, I infiltrated them behind a hill close to his deployment zone. Drones held in reserve.

Him - more or less spread out across his entire deployment zone. Bassy to extreme left in the afore-mentioned hidey-hole. LazPlaz, Oblits, Melta, 2xAssault squads with HQ, Tank-hunting Havocs, HB Havocs, Oblits, Melta squad, LasPlaz squad, Oblits.

Turn 1:

He goes first. Most of my stuff is hidden, but he was able to winkle out an obscured shot with a LC on one of the DFs, Shaking the crew. This DF went on to great heroics, being shaken every turn until it died, but still held the flank. Then, the Bassy speaks. Took out my entire HQ squad with one shot. Ouch. The troops on the left flank move full speed towards my lines.

Me: Move BAss up to get LOS. Same with the HHs. Kroot moved suicidally up to draw fire and cover the advance of my Helos team. Shaken DF on left moved right to get 6", but this put it into the open. Oh well, they'd have a lot of targets anyways. Sometimes this will split a player's fire. The other DF moved to stay out of the way. Deathrains did their JSJ thing. Stealths markerlight the Tankhunting Havocs, and combined fire from other units put down about half their number. Plinking and sniping put down some marines. Nothing to write home about..

Turn 2:
His troops continue to press my left flank, shaking the DF again, killing a marker drone and generally pushing me back. He holds the troops on my right back to snipe my tanks, oblits angling for shots. The Bassy and oblits finish off the Helios team with another direct hit, and my hopes fade. The IonHead gets stunned. Heavy Bolters rack the Kroot, but they hang in there with 4 guys left.

In the left center of his line, the Demon Boss is hiding in an assault squad. I send the shaken DF up to try to sacrifice itself for the Greater Good and slow their advance. The MarkerLights light up the Assault squad, and through combined fire and leadership reduction, I drive it off, leaving the HQ exposed. Railhead starts attacking the Oblits with a veangence - they are the only targets it has left.

Key point #1 - Once my Helios suits and HQ were gone, I had only the Railguns which could reliably fight the Oblits. My opponent was worried about the Tau RGs, and deliberately did not bring tanks for them to pop. This freed up my RGs to switch missions, and I made the switch at the right time.

Key point #2 - I am really ready to throw in the towel at this point. I'm not seeing a way to win, and expecting a rout of my forces. I'm forgetting to move units, and am generally not in the game. I realize now that I deployed my Stealths too far to my left, and they are not supporting the tanks. The Bassy is destroying units at will. Everything is going wrong.

At a point like this, one has to step away, take a breath, and regain their center. Fight on, if only to die well. I regain my center and start playing smart from here on.

Turn 3:
His troops on my left press hard. The HQ moves up unprotected and charges the drones (fatal move!). He kills them, and consolidates towards the farm. His troops on the right continue to plink away, but fail to do real damage. He shakes the left DF again, kills the Firewarriors it carried, and is forcing me out of that half of the board.

I begin my push up on the right. With two fully-functioning HHs, Deathrains and mounted FW team in support, I move them up and start targetting Oblits and the TH Havocs with everything they have. Tankhunters are down to two men, and a few lucky shots have reduced the Oblits to just one model with one wound. It will take until turn 5 for that guy to finally go down. The MLs mark the HQ, and the BAsses take him down, as he's closest to my troops. My left DF, still shaken, parks in a gap between terrain pieces and slows down the enemy advance. It will die next turn, but they will have to go around or through it, and it slows them down just enough so they won't score.

Turn 4: He runs pell-mell for my left flank, but there's nothing left to kill there, so they just run. His troops on my right begin a refused flank, and his lone Oblit moves up to try to take down my tanks, but he misses. He kills the left DF, of course, but can't capitalize on it much. There's too much terrain to move through now.

Me: Continuing to press on the right, I arrange the tanks in a wall. The FWs dismount in an FOF to try to shoot down the Oblit, but really to get out of their flying deathtrap in case the Oblit survives and decides to kill it. Fire EVERYTHING on the right flank at the Oblit, and he makes all his saves. Ugh!.

The BAsses and Stealth team make their escape to my right. The Stealths jump into the farm complex to use their Burst Cannons on some marines and fail two Dangerous Terrain tests! One Stealth and two drones remain, and all my shooting there misses. I roll a Yahtzee for 1's.

Some days I just HATE this game.

Turn 5: It's a race now. His forces try to score on my left flank, while I try to score on the right. I think he's got me on points, and he's probably thinking the same thing.

His forces catch the BAsses and kill them while the Stealth completes his escape. My tanks and re-mounted FWs move into his DZ, finish off the Oblit and put some ineffective wounds into the nearest marine squad. The Deathrains move like hell for the DZ.

Turn 6: His right flank melts away, trying to preserve victory points, while his troops on my left make their final moves into my DZ. Will they make it?

My right flank consolidates into his DZ, the Railhead tries for an extreme-range shot on the Bassy along his baseline and misses. We finish off the marine squad and that's about it.

Scoring units: Him - 1 squad of marines. Two more were close, but had stragglers beyond 15". Me - both HHs and the FW team. The Deathrains didn't make it.

Final score: Me- 1516, Him - 1245.

Overall, a brutal game and great fun. I really was ready to toss it in when the early game went bad, so let this be a lesson to me to never give up.

First!

First post of a brand new blog. What wonders will we find here!