It's in the cards

Just a little shameless promotion of self and others. First, I enjoyed reading that captain arjun over at cor blog me used the Age of Blood Fate Cards I made for his latest game of Strandhogg here.

Cards seem an elegant way to introduce random elements into a game. For instance Kobayachimaru of Chroniques du Fort Bastiani did something like this with his PEF's (Possible Enemy Forces) in this game here. He took the concept of using a marker and just put the force composition underneath. You could roll and consult a table, or you could just have it on the counter/ card.

And lastly I thought that this resource link from That's what you get for living in a cul de sac's post here was pretty interesting. I may start following ResourceFULL

Age Of Blood Fate Cards V.2

Just an update on the fate cards. Following Dan's suggestion, and my own leanings, I added the background to the face of all cards. I then also separated and emboldened the effects of the card from the introductory text.

I decided to leave the full, verbatim, text on all the cards for now. Let me know if it is too hard to read. The only editing I did was to fix my mistyping of some of the game conventions (ie Hand-to-Hand instead of hand to hand) and the spelling Valkaries to Valkyries. Otherwise I have left the non US spellings as is.

You can find the file here.

Still working on a cheat sheet and actually playing the game.

Test fate cards for Age of Blood

Hi all,

I wanted to have something else to post but I finished this first. After what seemed like an eternity I created a google site to host this PDF file.

My website is Hohum on the Web and you can get it on the Files page or try the direct download link here.

The two main questions I have are, should the face of the card have the parchment graphic? Should I use the full verbatim text to describe the card, put the effects in bold or just list the effects by themselves?

Of course any general comments and criticism would be appreciated as well as letting me know if you would prefer A4 over letter. Right now there are eight 3.5" x 2.5" cards per 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper.

I also just quickly printed these out on card stock and, except for some how feeding the sheet crooked when the backs were printed, I think they look okay.

Typing it all in took the most time.

A Viking we shall go

I'm getting closer to some actual gaming. This weekend I downloaded some paper figs and terrain from RPG Now in a hope to jump start the gaming process. I'll give a review of the products when I have more time. Weekend Flag Football and landscaping (it's finally below 100F in Phoenix) took up all of my time this weekend, so I'll just have to push to get in a game this week. I may go with unpainted plastics and paper terrain, just to get the ball rolling.

Paul of the mancave has inspired me to make an Age of Blood cheat sheet and deck of fate cards. So Paul I may require a thumbs up or down on the design. Hopefully you will be able to use them for your games.

Welcome to Col Shofer of Colonel Schofer's Mild OCD Model Blog. Mild is putting it mildly. But all kidding aside it is a useful if not overwhelming repository of gaming goodness. I particularly liked the recent viking post here.

And lastly, although it has nothing to do with vikings I thought that Dale's post here required a plug. An interesting adaptation of Command and Colors (or colours) to miniature gaming.

The Hamlet of Eadagbrycg

As I flail about, trying to play my first raid, I made this map. As usual I am trying to learn several things at once and not fully accomplishing any.

Eorund had decided that in order to test the mettle of his band he would perform a raid along the coast of England.

So the trip is successful on a roll of 3+ and I rolled 3 (+1for Norse sailing, +1 for Gautar's Navigating skill. The trip thus costs 25, 1 for each man and so the band has 44 left in it's coffers.

They will attack the sleepy Saxon hamlet of Eadagbrycg (to me sounds like Eat a Brick).

The idea is to be representing a 3' x 3' table (bounded by cobblestones). The rough patch at top right is a hill and the river is fordable at the road. I used THW (Two Hour Wargames) terrain table to roll it up and then added the two buildings. Each square in the grid represents an inch of table top.

Generic Age of Blood Campaign Map

As requested by Paul from the mancave, here is a generic version of my Age of Blood Campaign map. Feel free to use it for your own campaigns. It is still a little rough but not too bad if you don't look too carefully.

Skal!

Must have!!!!

Seeing Paul from the Mancave's post about GB resin ships got me thinking I should do a search. This came up and I must have it.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=1/72+ship+models&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=np&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=10441054807715254359&sa=X&ei=FooMTuiCIaTs0gGQ6ZS5Dg&ved=0CIABEPICMAY

Eorund's map

Here is a map I whipped up (actually a couple of hours) to give a rough lay of the land for my campaign.

Eorund, Hersir from Odolfrlundr

Eorund¹, Hersir from Odolfrlundr²

Now a discussion of the warband I created for my Age of Blood Campaign.

Hersir: Eorund (Sword, Axe, Shield, Chain Hauberk, Helm) Cost: 79 Upkeep: 8

Champion: Gautar (Axe, Spear, Shield, Chain Hauberk, Helm) Cost: 150 Upkeep: 6

Champion: Canute (Broad Axe, Bow, Chain Hauberk, Helm) Cost: 154 Upkeep: 6

Berserk: Ottar (Broad Axe, Axe, Sax) Cost: 69 Upkeep: 8

Berserk: Haddings (Sword, Axe, Shield) Cost:74 Upkeep: 8

5 Huscarls: Jorund Hothbrodsson³, Kyi, Stakard Haraldson, Randver Sigarson, Haakon

(Axe, Bow, L. Jerkin, Shield) Cost: 190 Upkeep: 10

5 Huscarls: Jorund Hognason, Hysing, Haki, Rorek, Khoriv

(Axe, Spear, L. Jerkin, Shield) Cost: 175 Upkeep: 10

5 Carls: Hogni, Stakard Svendson, Askold, Edda, Thrand

(Axe, Shield) Cost: 20 Upkeep: 0

5 Carls: Olof, Kjotve, Magnus, Gautrek, Randver Hvitserkson

(Axe, Shield) Cost: 20 Upkeep: 0

Totals: Men 25 Cost 931 Upkeep 56

Remaining Funds: 69

Vessel: Lt Drakkar.

Since the group is from Norway they have Sailing as their special trait, and Carls cost 20 instead of 25. For Eorund himself I rolled a 5-Renowned, so he started with a Renown of 11 instead of 10.

Notes:

1. Although I did not like the name Eorund, it is apparently a variant of Jorund. I found a link here (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://web.comhem.se/jh_genealogy/p7d24147b.html&ei=e-wJTtK2E6mp0AHf9vFq&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEUQ7gEwCA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DEorund%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26channel%3Dnp%26nfpr%3D1%26biw%3D1920%26bih%3D933%26prmd%3Divnsb)
2. I felt like the characters needed to be from somewhere, besides just Norway, so I generated 10 names of Norse towns on (http://donjon.bin.sh/name/#norse_town) and then rolled a die to select. (1) Beinilundr, (2) Kinnbholm, (3) Olfrvik, (4) Odolfrlundr, (5) Arunlundr, (6) Arnlavklif, (7) Tirrbekkr, (8) Horgudrsetr, (9) Frostitoft, (10) Molfnbyr.
3. Because I was ending up with several repeats I decided to add some Patronymic surnames. For help with form I used (http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONNames.shtml) as a guide.

Eorund's Saga

For my first foray back into gaming I thought a good old Dark Age skirmish campaign would be in order. I was inspired mainly by the posts over at the Man Cave (http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/) and totally sold when The Command Tent (http://thecommandtent.blogspot.com/) talked about making the plunge.

As per the suggestions on the Man Cave I look up the Age of Blood rules. You can find a link to Versions 1 and two at (http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/medieval.html). You need V1 for the fate cards.

Now there are two immediate problems. I don't have any figs painted up, and I am intending to play solo. I purchased the IMEX Vikings and Saxons, Pegasus farm animals and Russian farm houses for starters. I need to get started painting and figure out if my old 28mm terrain will work for 1/72 scale. To get started sooner I thought I might use a Virtual Table Top (VTT) like maptool (http://www.rptools.net/index.php?page=downloads#MapTool). Of course I need to figure out how to set that up as well. For the solo aspect I am thinking of incorporating Warrior Heroes Armies & Adventures (WHAA) from Two Hour Wargames to help with the NPC (Saxon) mechanics. My thought was to stick with the d10 and use what ever stat seems applicable for “passing dice” in lieu of REP.

I have prepared a 25 man raiding party lead by the Hersar Eorund. I'll detail that, and my thoughts on naming people and places in a later post.

Sean