Archibald, Certainly Not! - Playtest One of Observation Mission Rules

 Hi All,

I hope your gaming time and your holidays were full of fun and good cheer. Mine were, on both counts. Yesterday, I submitted the first draft of the observation rules I've been working on for 4 P Press' 'Archibald, Certainly Not!'. So I thought I'd give them a run through to see how they worked. So, here is how it went.

It was late in 1914, the maneuver war was over. HQ wanted to know what Fritz was up to, so they called on Mack Manfull to fly a reconnaissance mission over the lines in his Sopwith Tabloid.

The writing in the notes gives the location of the target to be scouted. This is measured from the right corner on the German side of the table. So, the target is 4" in along the short side of the table and 22" down the long side of the table. This location is not marked on the table until the recon mission is completed. The player must estimate this location and fly his plane over the target.

This is the battlefield, looking from the British side. The target location is measured from the corner in the upper left of the above picture.

Here are some game aids I put together for this game. On the left are Weather Condition cards. The four laid out will tell me the cloud cover over the 4 quadrants of the table. This will influence the success of the mission. The pile of counters on the right are used to mark possible anti aircraft units. There are four types of counters; Heavy AA, Light Machine Gun AA, Small Arms AA, and Dummy counters. In the pile are 1 Heavy AA, 5 each of Lt. MG and Small Arms AA, and 11 Dummy counters. These were placed face down on the table, so I do not know what the counters represent.

Mack starts out maneuvering over 'No Man's Land', lining up his first pass over the target.

On turn 1, I make a 2 and a half point turn left, using a newly designed turning circle. Each point costs the Tabloid 2 movement points, due to its engine rating of zero. The next three moves are straight. At the end of the third straight move, Mack has come into range of the first two Archie markers.

 

These are turned over and reveal a Small Arms and a Lt. MG AA unit. The Small Arms unit can do nothing as Mack is flying too high, but the light MG can shoot, which it does, but misses. I also turned over the first weather card and found this sector has clear skies.

Mack, ignoring the fire directed at him, turns on to his course and begins his recce run.

The plane turns parallel to the long table edge where I think 4" in is, then flies straight for 3 more turns. These moves reveal another Small Arms and a Lt. MG AA unit. The two Lt. MG units are both in range, but score no hits. At 3" into the last straight move, I place my first location marker for my recce run.

After another straight move, I place the second location marker, completing the first leg of the recon. The weather in this sector is light clouds, which applies a modifier to the mission success, making success less likely. More Archibald is also revealed.

As Mack slowly turns to line up his next pass, The Tabloid shutters as bullets rip through fabric and wood.

Discovering even more Ack-Ack, (where are all those dummy markers), Mack's plane takes a hit. I've modified the Archie rules here, counting Lt. MG hits as only 1 hit instead of 1D6 hits.

As Mack continues his lazy turn, another round of Archibald slams into his ship, still nothing critical though. He is about in line for his next pass.

The next 3 turns are spent trying to get in line for his next pass over the target area. A die roll determined that a crossing pattern was needed for this mission, which meant the plane would be in enemy territory much longer than a single pass would require.

As Mack was coming out of the turn, two more rounds ripped into his machine, this time with catastrophic effect. The Tabloid erupted into a brilliant fireball, as it plummeted into the lake.

Archie scored two more hits, this time both critical hit dice came up sixes. Both rolls on the critical hit table also came up sixes, and that sealed Mack Manfull's fate.

Though the mission ended in failure, I was curious as to how close I was to hitting the target for this observation mission. So I plotted the target location. My first pass went right over the target at the end of the run, while the second pass was about 2 and a half inches off.

All in all, it worked well (not so much for Mack), but I think I had too much Archibald on the table. Next time, I will cut it in half. As written, there are 2D6 Lt MG and 2D6 small arms worth of markers available. While the small arms did not play a role, the light machine guns got to fire many shots (the plane was under fire from at least two guns every turn that it was in enemy territory. I should have used the out of ammo rules for Archie as well. I think counting hits as single hits instead of 1D6 hits was the right call.

There are rules for interceptor aircraft showing up, but my die roll for that was stubbornly stuck on low numbers instead of the 6 that was required.

I hope you have enjoyed this account of my game development. I wish you all well, and happy gaming!

What I've Been Working On - Part Three

 I managed to get a few things finished up this weekend, so I took a few pictures that I will present to you.

This is a series of Victorian ladies I sculpted a while back. You'll notice that there are a few head swaps in the group. Their attire would be suitable for games set in the 1870's through the 1880's and perhaps a little later.

This pair are Annie-Elizabeth and Auguste Chamot, proprietors of the Hotel de Pekin. Both of them took an active role in the defense of the European legations during the Boxer Rebellion.

The gentlemen pictured above are civilian volunteers in the defense of the European legations at Peking. The ladies are dressed in 1890's to 1910's fashion and will act as the female contingent of besieged Europeans for my 55 Days At Peking game.

Here are nurses and a servant that will also populate the table in my 55 Days At Peking game.

The last of the 15mm figures is Ella Hattan, La Jaguarina, Queen of the Sword. While she was not at Peking, she was an amazing woman. She defeated over 65 male adversaries, many fencing masters and retired because she ran out of opponents. Her specialty was mounted saber, but she was equally proficient on foot with any sword.  

This is a Chinese Fei-Hsieh, or 'Fast Crab". These were used as river police boats from the 1860's onward. This model is in15mm scale and was printed on an Ender 3 FDM printer.

Here is a baggage transport elephant. This is the same elephant I use to haul the 40 pdr Armstrong cannon with, it just has a 3D printed resin baggage load added.

Next, from the 'What were the Austrians Thinking' files is the 4P Press Models version of the Lloyd 40.05 fighter. Like their bomber, the 40.05 was summarily rejected by the Austrian government. But, unlike the Lloyd bomber, it has been verified that the Lloyd 40.05 could actually fly. And yes, it is another Austrian plane in which the pilot cannot see in forward from the pilot's seat.

And so you won't think we only make goofy Austrian planes, here are some lovely Italian models. These are the Ansaldo SVA 10 (above) and SVA 5 (below). The SVA 10 is an SVA 5 with a lengthened cockpit to allow for an observer, bombardier, tail gunner.

Finally, in honor of the NFL playoffs, we have the Paris Musketeers of the ELF, the European League of (American) Football. The Musketeers finished second in the West Division this year.

Thank you for visiting and happy gaming!