Making up even more

As I said a couple of posts back in addition to writing a few sets of table top miniatures game rules, I have also got a fairly decent list of one off after dinner or participation games to go along with them. In fact, at one time, they seemed to be the only sort of games I could design, which was really frustrating as what I wanted to design were rules for table top figures games. Any how, this is the list, I think:

Otranto - 1982
A committee/war council game set in renaissance Italy, just after the Turks have occupied Otranto. Everyone played a different Italian State leader, and they had to agree what their collected response was. It was printed in Arquebusier, back in the day, when it was in the large A4 format.

Harrying of the North - c1986
A figure game of Normans attacking a peaceful Saxon village. It was designed as an "atrocity game", following a discussion about "black" wargames, and whether the passage of tie makes a difference to how we perceive evil deeds done in the past. I ran this at Triples, and got a commended participation award, I think. One of a series of games I designed about what soldiers do when they aren't fighting battles.

"Old Charlie" - c1986
The Napoleonic fox hunting game. Lots of British officers let off steam in the Peninsula, by chasing after a pack of fox hounds. The aim was to be closest to the pack of hounds when the kill is made, without heading off the commander in chief. Had a mechanism that simulated jumping hedges. Published in Miniature Wargames No 12.

Looting the Baggage Lawn Game - c1986
A short outside entertainment designed to be played on the Croquet Lawn at COW. Players had to roll on an events table, then rush to a bucket full of loot, and then return whilst the other players were still rolling.

Siege of Delhi - 1988
An Indian Mutiny game, played on squares, where the British have to fight their way into the centre of Delhi to relieve the garrison, through what was essentially a self generating maze.Used figures and model terrain, but was basically a board game. Put it on a Triples, and again, got noticed, I think.

Looting the Baggage - 1992
The figure game version, with model landsknechts and loads of tents and wagons. It had a card driven system, and players had head bands that showed how drunk they were, which they couldn't see. Went to Triples, and was well received.. Pipped to top participation game by Pete Berry's "Breakfast in the Bastion" (for which I designed the firing system).

Hack - 1993
The game of news reporting in war-torn Yugoslavia. Using a NATO briefing map, and modified space marines as reporters and camera men, the players had to visit places where news stories were breaking, and then decide whether to report the truth or make it up. The former was physically more dangerous than the latter. At the end of each round one player had to put on the flak jacket and grab the microphone and do a 30 second piece "to camera", signing off with name, location and channel, having been played in with the theme music. Derek helped me run this at several shows, and we won awards at a couple, I think.

Warriors on Ice - 1996
70mm plastic musketeers, recreating that famous scene from one of the Dick Lester Musketeer movies, when they have a duel on the ice.  Has a conservation of momentum type system, and a novel combat system involving rolling dice in a box lid with a picture of the target.

Dr Who and the Arena of Death - 2001
Pre-reboot Dr Who, of course.Players are various creatures, UNIT, the Doctor and an assistant. Each has their own victory conditions and the scenery tiles represent what ever the players need them to be. So a corridor can be between two rooms in a castle or on a space ship, as long as the previous occupant has left it. All very confusing and chaotic. Never got played to a conclusion, but loads of fun.

Military Memoirs - 2007
The old Parlour Game of Consequences, but adapted to create faux memoirs. Intended to be played after dinner, with a glass of port to hand.

The Elephant in the Room - 2010
A game of Roman Velites and an Elephant in 54mm. Used dominoes as a combat system. It was the SoA display game for a year, before being published as the re-subscription game.

Northampton 1460 - 2017
Ah yes. You should all be familiar with this. If you don't already own on, there's still time to order before Christmas. We're down to the last 70 or so copies, and there won't be a re-print, so don't put off your order longer than necessary.

There's some designs in there that I'm quite proud of, and were ground breaking at the time. The 1980s seem to have been a very fertile time, - how I did all of that whilst having a full time job, studying for professional qualifications and bringing up two small children is a mystery. Where did I find the eneregy and time?


Comments

  1. An interesting list- as much as you can remember given its vintage how was the 'Harrying of the North' recieved?

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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    1. It went very well. The people who played it at Triples loved it, - I don't think anyone ever realised it was a "black" game. Famously a "right on" social worked of my acquaintance at the time played it, and thoroughly enjoyed skewering an old woman and child to a wall with a lance, before asking we didn't tell their colleagues at work what they'd been doing.

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    2. I definately think that the distance of time makes people far ore comfortable with those sorts of topics, as your game evidently proved. There would be uproar if you tried to put on the same sort of scenario in modern times at a wargames show today....

      Cheers,

      Pete.

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    3. Well, it was more of a hidden scenario for a more recent atrocity. Revealing that at COW caused an interesting discussion. I didn't try it at Triples.

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    4. Can imagine it did. What was the original scenario. I was only a child of 8 in '86 so I can't make a decent guess as to what it could of been.

      Cheers,

      Pete.

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    5. It was based on some Nazi ethnic cleansing.

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    6. Ah got you- sorry I thought you meant recent to 1986 (ie up to 10 years or so before).

      Cheers,

      Pete.

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    7. No worries. I got more involved in recent problems with "Hack!"

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  2. I recall old Charlie, I hadn't realised it was your work though.

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  3. I certianly remember "Old Charlie" from readin it in MW. Doesn't seem that long ago...O.o

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    Replies
    1. Um. Yes. From a period when my go to manufacturer for 25mm Napoleonics was Minifigs. Glad to hear that someone else remembers them.

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