Review & Commentary Star Grunt II Wargame Rules By John Tuffley from Ground Zero Games & Its Uses With Cepheus Engine rpg

"Stargrunt II is a comprehensive set of generic rules for simulating science-fiction infantry combat in virtually any background. The system covers actions from a few squads up to full company level. Rules are included for infantry, powered armored troops, AFV's, artillery and aerospace support and much much more. The game is designed for use with 25mm or 15mm scale miniatures. The game has a flexible integrated game sequence, minimal record keeping and a brilliant system of distinguishing troop quality. The game encourages the players to think tactically. There are rules for troop confidence, motivation, suppression and much more."

So Ground Zero Games has been rattling through several groups as 'the war game miniatures rules' with Star Grunts II being the rules set to look at. Star Grunts II is scalable for Cepheus Engine & especially for use with the Hostile Rpg setting. Which is a wargame system that has been on our mutual hard drives going back to '96 when it was published written by Jon Tuffley. But now with the second incarnation of the game published the players of our games have stumbled upon a Xenomorph hive aboard the interior of  asteroid. The Star Grunt II is a perfect match with Kurasan miniatures space demons army. 

The Star Grunts II rules work well for technological levels from World War two all of the way through into space marine 40K levels of warfare. E.Mudge review of Star Grunts II  goes into some of the system's highlights; "Stargrunt II is a well-rounded generic 15mm/25mm system that emphasizes hard science fiction.

This game focuses on squads as the basic unit type, places emphasis on tactics; morale; communications and cover and discourages blindly charging into gunfire.

Jon Tuffley includes tables of organization & equipment for each of the major powers in his own world-setting, but uses this more as an example rather than a set-in-stone universe; Jon happily encourages players to use other settings if they wish
Instead of using points costs, Star grunt encourages players to create scenarios and agree on the forces used. The idea is not to pitch a thousand-point army against another thousand-point army, but to create their own armies and play an interesting scenario."

These levels of technology are perfect for the 15mm Stannis Iguana all terrain combat vehicle which looks like it came directly from the film Alien & Aliens. 

Using these for tonight's game is going  to be two player games right side by side. The military aspect of Star Grunts II is right on the money for this campaign. And its well put together from the writing to the rules. Clear, easy to read, concise, & it let's the players build their armies the way they want. Command & control rules are well done. 

Star Grunts II is going to work very well for marrying up with Cepheus Engine Rpg for tonight's game. 

With Alternative Armies HOF51 Grey Alien Landing Party with Flying Saucer  is a perfect insert for a party within the Cepheus Engine rpg setting of These Stars Are Ours. 

The Star Grunts II rules work perfectly as a partner with other rpg systems as well this includes Dark Conspiracy rpg. A where the forces of darkness sometimes need their rears kicked back across the dimensional threshold. And being able to field an army of 15 MM figures works far better then a thousand pictures especially if the players are at the table top level. 

Blood, Thunder, Beer, & The Hundred Years War - Campaign Commentary Set up

So I've been spending some time with a friend today at a local watering hole discussing of all things B/X Dungeons & Dragons & The Hundred Years War.

So between beers & conversation we began to pick apart & overview the Hundred Years War with parallels to B/X Dungeons & Dragons's adventuring conditions. First of all let's do a quick overview of one of the most complex & bloody wars in Europe's history in a quick nut shell via Wiki;
"The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois, rulers of the Kingdom of France, over the succession to the French throne."

This is a complex, three sided & force sided war with far reaching economic, sociological, & even cultural wars.These conflicts bankrupted nations & led directly too the War of The Roses in England & this led to entire generations of families having to eke out a living however they could. Sounds suspiciously like adventurers doesn't it? The one thing that 'Morley the wizard' never told you was that your adventurers were going to have to keep crawling for that gold in those dungeons & the ruins of those classic adventures.




All of this relates to the dawn of Original Dungeons & Dragons when war gaming miniature clubs were all the rage back in the 60's & 70's across the United States & Europe. See Gary Gygax &  David Lance "Dave" Arneson were movers & shakers in the late Sixties war game scene which actually gave rise to original Dungeons & Dragons.

So flash forward to the beers & the tonight's discussion over an old '95 issue of Strategy & Tactics which contained one of the best paper war games of the Hundred Years War described by Board Game Geeks;" The game recreates the wars fought between England and France between 1337 and 1453. Each game turn represents 1 year. Each unit represents leaders or 1-2000 soldiers. The units are either English (red), French (blue) or independent (white). The map is divided into areas not hexes and comes with 280 counters.

Victory is determined by comparing each major powers victory point total with its initial resource value."  This was a fantastic war game & its been trotted out over the years getting lots of air play at our various tables. It does exactly what it says on the tin. So how does the Hundred Years War apply in B/X Dungeons & Dragons? Hmm a lot easier then you might think. The Battle of Castillon marks the end of the Hundred Years War & is a transition & end battle clearly with a victory for the French. 

 

 This was a very weird time in France especially at the borders of the country. There's lots of rumors going around, backwater villages & towns need to be secured. There's also that backwater castle & the trading post that needs to be taken care of but the war has stretched thin the army perhaps your band of adventurers can help. Yes I'm speaking of B2 Keep Of The Borderlands by Gary Gygax.


This walk into the back water part of the French 'victory' could highlight the need for adventurers intervention as the extent of the witchcraft of the location begins to manifest though out the countryside. The horrific elements could be stuff straight out of nightmare & mythology.  There are several elements of The Battle of Castillon that make it an interesting match up. First of all the use of guns, gunpowder, matchlocks, and long bows all had their time on the battle's stage.

 

So talking about the Hundred Years War I can help but bring up Rpg Pundit's Dark Albion & Cults of Chaos. Because the outcome of that real world take on the war has a very different outcome for France. The whole place becomes over run with French demon worshiping frogmen. Something went very wrong during  The Battle of Castillon allowing the Frogmen to consolidate power in the region.


There is a long history of witchcraft, chaos worship, & worse within the hills surrounding this region allowing a DM to situate an entire campaign centered around these events especially if they happen to be using a B/X Dungeons & Dragons game or a retroclone engine of the same type. Dark Albion is unique in that allows the DM to customize it based upon their DMing & player's preferences in D&D edition's gaming engine.


Once again there's actually little that's going to change with the introduction of Keep On The Borderland in a Dark Albion campaign. The Keep & its environs are going to be knee deep in avoiding the Inquistion & keeping ahead of the local people. The Frogmen might not have made that many in roads into this unusual back water location. This could be why they are contacting the PC's. This is so they can free up other on the ground assets. The Hundred Years war makes an excellent prequel to a classic module and the adventure backdrop of Dark Albion.
For now keep em rolling folks!

Retro Review - Reptiliads Their History, Society, & Military System & The 'Battle Cry of the Reptiliads' For Your Old School Campaigns

Way back in the annals of time when War & Pieces existed in West Hartford Ct.back in the early Eighties the store had an in house Empire of the Petal Throne game going. Back then I was knee deep into the M.A.R. Barker's in house universe setting &  one Friday  I was dropped into the back end of a group of nine players. Now I don't want to say that these folks were a nightmare but they knew the good professor's universe back to front and they were supposedly taking a subtrain car to another country. Fortunately I was in a wargaming & gaming shop, so I picked up the latest issue of Dragon and the first page I opened had an add in it for RAFM's Reptiliads army book which contains the history, culture, army structure. There was also a second one called Battlecry of the Reptiliads: A History of the Legion of the Iron Tanth and the Great Orcish War.
So the game was on Saturday and a quick couple of calls around the state of Connecticut nailed me a copy of both books from the Time Machine in Manchester Ct

If you know anything about Empire of the Petal Throne you know that its a metal poor former interstellar empire world that was locked away in an a pocket universe for safe keeping. The high interstellar level of technology quickly disappated and the former alien races on the planet quickly degenerated into savagery and magic. This of course included the human population too. Reptiliads was a perfect little bundle to bring in another race of alien humanoid reptile men into the ruins of that colony world. The whole thing worked like a charm. Because this is from an era when the crossover from wargames & role playing wasn't that far off. We were given far more details such as the society and cultural history of the Reptiliad race and yet there was more then enough room for a DM to fill in what was needed for their own games.

 We were given lots of background such as the back culture, langauges, religion, social structures, the world view, and much more including a complete work up from the ground of the entire world of these reptilian warriors. This made presenting them as a forgotten alien culture especially easy and it worked like a charm.

 This book functions as an all access pass into the military as well as the setting of the Replitiads and gives all of the background necessary for a DM to breath life and details into the world that these creatures can be dropped into including background on weapons, tactics, clans, clutches and battle turtles as well as specialized warriors.

The military system is dangerous and somewhat violent lending a bit more menace to these lizardmen like warriors then one might expect. I've used them as a race to rival D&D own lizard men in sword and sorcery games.

 Given the amount of details about these beings its easy to drag and drop them into any jungle or lost world setting and surprisingly they work quite well especially in the OD&D Hollow World setting. The clan structure of the reptile warriors works nicely in D&D's background and with a little work easily fit many of the old school AD&D 1st or OD&D rules.

 You get a hierarchy of these ancient lost world warriors and there is enough to use them as a PC race with a little work. I've had both PC and NPC Reptiliads show up in a wide variety of campaigns and there are still friends who recall these noble and savage warriors of the jungles.

 Reptiliads battle turtles and warriors are sights that both Gamma World and Metamorphosis Alpha first edition players came to fear. The Empire of the Petal Throne players actually opened a trade deal with them after losing a particularly troubling adventurer to a clutch of warriors.

 Sadly this book is long out of print but our second title has some great merit as a companion piece to the Reptiliads book. The lone sight of a Reptiliad fortress or temple was a sight that chilled many an adventurer in my games over the years

The 'Battle Cry of the Reptiliads' is a slightly different book with a different slant on the Reptiliads, amazingly the book is still in print and very reasonable.  Selling for four ninety five and packed with lots of information about these reptile warriors.

 What's in the Battlecry of The Reptiliads book; "

Battlecry of the Reptiliads: A History of the Legion of the Iron Tanth and the Great Orcish War. Also included the rules for the Reptiliad Game of Lurpa. Text by Bob Murch, Colin McClelland and Susan Crane. Artwork by Bob Murch. Rules and information on the Game of Lurpa by Lee van Schaik, Claude Burns, Paul Sharpe and James van Schaik. © 1988 Rafm Company Inc. Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. ISBN 0 920727 08 5. Printed in Canada.

36 page paperback booklet (7” x 10”) with two maps on the inside of the covers, a 4 page section of painted miniatures and colour artwork between pages 18 and 19. There are monochrome illustrations throughout."

 We get everything on the society and world of the Reptiliads and everything is broken down from their society to their relations with other standard fantasy races and for an older book its very well done. Even though this is monochrome artwork, there's something very old school about the line work here. Everything works towards fleshing out these reptiles and their world. 

 We get tons of background & the conflicts that shape these reptile warriors view point of the greater world. The fact is that much of this is generic enough to drop into any D&D campaign world is a huge plus.

 Mostly everything here is based around the wargame origins of our collective hobbies & its very old school Eighties material trying desperately trying to escape the specter of Dungeons and Dragons.

 All of the traditional races from Dwarves to Orcs have had dealings with these reptile warriors. The Elves were real jerks towards the Reptiliads and deserved what they got in the coming conflict.

 Here we get lots and lots of lurid details about the fortresses,military set ups, the paint schemes, and much more.

 All of this book highlights the lurid and oh so worth it colour sections of the book. There is a pulpy vibe that runs through out  'Battle Cry of the Reptiliads'

 Everything in this book gives the reptile warriors a sense of proportion and a completeness  in the work up that will help flesh out the world of the Reptiliads for a DM. These are warriors who have a real purpose and goal for expansion.

 Finally we're given maps, a mini game, and much more to bring the world of the Reptiliads to life and even a few potential NPC's to deal inside these reptile men's world. The maps that come with both books are killer, the cartography is nice and everything is woven into the world that these book make come to life. Perfect campaign fodder for an old school game that is looking for that different twist on the usual races.

We're even given a mini game of Lurpa, game revered by the Reptiliads and their ilk. Much of this section centers around the themes of the game and its place within the reptile men's society.

For an army book there's lots of interesting fun details. All of this is geared toward creating a better uniform feeling.All of this is packaged tightly round some powerful factions and double dealing characters.

 About ninety nine percent of this book is perfectly usable as a campaign fodder and the book does a surprisingly good job at presentation and as a potential campaign adventure location.

Believe it or not these old school books have valid campaign use and if you find them to have as much fun to look through and use then that's all that counts. Retro Review - Reptiliads Their History, Society, & Militery System & The 'Battle Cry of the Reptiliads' come from another era but remain perfect campaign fodder if you're into just this sort of products that has survived into our modern world.Amazingly RAFM is still producing and stocking the Reptiliad figures and minis on their website.