StanleyWheeler

First there's the college football thing.
Last night I watched a 2-4 team (blue) with its 3rd string QB, coming off its 3rd straight loss, beat an undefeated top-20-ranked team (orange). Blue is now at 3-4 and two of those victories have been over top-25 ranked teams. These two teams have played every year for the last several years. Every year I'm positive that blue is going to beat orange. Blue usually disappoints me. This year I was certain that orange would win--sometimes it feels good to be wrong. It's a great rivalry and I like both teams, but I would be less than sincere (so I suppose that means I would have a little bit of wax--see the etymology for "sincere" if you don't get that) if I didn't note a sliver of schadenfreude regarding some of the fans who consistently degrade blue, considering that orange will probably drop from the top 20 and will lose the shot it had at a prestigious bowl game. I think it proves that it's infinitely more fun to knock someone down than merely to kick them after they've fallen--although that can be fun too.

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Regarding this:

Last time I mentioned this book by Will Wright, I was 20% through and pleased with the quality of the writing as well as the promise of the story. I didn't get much farther into it before my ardor waned. The quality of the writing held, but my interest in the story did not. Although I seriously considered dropping the book (figuratively speaking of course as I have it as an ebook), I did finish based on the quality and original promise. My reluctance stemmed from the fact that the story is a derivative of the Cthulhu Mythos. Lovecraft did what he did very well, but he's not my favorite. I read Lovecraft because I consider it mandatory material to understand some aspects of the fantasy genre, but there's very little of it that I enjoy. While I enjoyed the characters in this book, and became intrigued with the Reading and filling with Intent aspects, the Elder gods stuff and the island that was a dead god, and the weird monsters turned me away. I won't be reading the second book in the series. I will, however, try some of this author's other works which I obtained when he made them all free for a day or two.

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I also previously mentioned trying my new skirmish rules with characters from my Tomahawks and Dragon Fire fantasy series set in revolutionary America. I did it sometime last week.

The picture shows the initial set up. It's a scene from one of the books. My woodland Indian figures (on which I've never completed the finishing touches of paint) are standing in for the Indians in the story. Various Lord of the Rings figures are representing the dragon hunters. I didn't think to take any other photos, but the after action report follows. My recollection is that Felgar was played by the warrior of Rohan on the right. On the same side was Aragorn taking the role of Atu. On the left, Hugh was played by the Legolas figure. Akira was played by the elf with the sword over his head. Akram was portrayed by the Haradrim warrior with the spear at the upper left. The warriors have pursued the hunters who have put together an impromptu ambush, using the women (Cat, Coronia, and Velisha) and the unarmed Quintus as bait for the trap. Quintus and the women at the very top of the picture are played by some unpainted figures from the musketeers collection. The weapons available were limited as per the events in the story. The action played out somewhat differently than in the book:

1. The Hunters get initiative.

--Felgar activates and moves into combat with Warrior 2 (W2). He wounds W2 before W1 joins the fight. Akram rushes W4, knocking him down and then putting him hors de combat with a wicked spear thrust. (another warrior with W4's stats will enter next turn). Hugh fails his first activation attempt and W1 takes the opportunity to attack Felgar--but rolled a Tragic Failure, giving the Hunters an Heroic Point to use during the turn--and which Hugh immediately uses to re-roll one of his activation dice on his second activation. He moves against W5, but fails his third attempt resulting in a Turnover. The natives take the initiative.

--W1 attacks Felgar who is double-teamed by W1 and W2 (whom Felgar has wounded). W1 drives a spear into Felgar, seriously wounding the big warrior. Felgar powers his way through the pain to avoid going hors de combat and maintains his morale but is knocked down. W1 attacks again but without result. He fails his third activation attempt, allowing Atu to activate and contact W1 to help out the fallen Felgar. W3 moves toward the women with the intent to take one hostage to force the surrender of the others; he cannot get past the big Irish wolfhound George (played by a warg figure on this occasion). W6 rolls a Turnover.

2. Initiative passes back to the Hunters.

-- Atu uses one of his Heroic Points to bump his activation total to allow him to attack W1. He gains a maneuver and switches places with W1 so that the warrior won't be able to attack Felgar. He fails his second activation; W2 tries but can't react. For his 3rd action, Atu attacks W1 again and succeeds in pushing the warrior away. Akram dashes to W2, bumping his roll with an Heroic Point to attack on his second action. Akram delivers a serious wound to the already wounded warrior. W2 makes the Challenge Roll (miraculously) to avoid going hors de combat, but his courage fails him and Akram slays him as he turns to flee.(Another warrior with his stats will enter next turn). Akram moves into contact with W3 who is also engaged in combat with George. Hugh attacks W5 but neither combatant finds an advantage. Akira throws himself upon W6 but the warrior meets the attack, wounding Akira and knocking him down. Akira passes the morale check. He tries to rise, rolling a Stunning Success - rising and attacking-- to push away the warrior. Felgar regains his feet and moves in against W1, joining Atu.

--The initiative passes to the warriors. The new W4 rolls to activate and re-enter; he does so, racing to Akira who gives him a serious wound, immediately rendering him hors de combat (giving the W4 character true redshirt status). W6 attacks Akira and knocks him down but the hunter reacts to get to his feet. When he fails again, Atu attacks W1 but is pushed back by that warrior who spends his last Heroic Point to reroll one die to keep from being slain--and it pays off with Favorable Impetus and keeps him alive. W5 attacks Hugh with his first action; Hugh pushes the warrior away. Atu reacts back into contact with W1. W1 acts, attacking Felgar who uses his remaining Heroic Point to make it a narrow victory and pushes W1 to the ground. W1 bounces back to his feet. W3 attacks George. The result is a tie, resulting in a withdrawal, but W3 is blocked by Akram, so he elects to attack the hunter at -2 (which does not count as a separate action) rather than to attempt to squeeze past. W3 has to burn his only Heroic Point to have a chance in the combat. The result is a tie; this time Akram and W3 remain in contact. W3 activates and attacks Akram again, pushing him away. W3 uses his remaining action to rejoin combat with George.

3. Initiative passes to the hunters.

--Roll for Alex's entry: Alex and Iago appear. Which immediately gives every warrior a reaction attempt: W1 fails; W3 fails; W6 fails; W5 moves back into contact with Hugh.

Alex continues--and rolls a turnover.

--The new W2 arrives on another path. Atu reacts to attack W1, uses his last Heroic Point, but only succeeds in getting a maneuver, which he declines to use. W1 attacks Felgar, knocking him down. He attacks again. Felgar uses the re-roll ability provided by Alex being on the board. W1 still wins the combat but can only maneuver, and withdraws. Atu reacts and closes with W1. W3 continues the fight with George, taking a wound and being driven back with the dog still on him. The wound panics him and he runs out of reach of the beast. Atu reacts to attack W1 resulting in each breaking away from contact. W5 attacks Hugh; they end by breaking contact. W6 finally succeeds in activating and attacks Akira. Akira benefits from the Alex effect and puts W6 hors de combat.

4. The Initiative passes to the hunters.

--Alex makes a long move and then turns over the initiative.

--W1 moves to attack Akram but cannot make the attack. Alex reacts and attacks W5, giving him a serious wound and putting him out of the combat. (No more warriors will reinforce after Alex enters). W3 contacts Atu and Alex reacts to attack W1, giving him a serious wound and putting him hors de combat. Alex reacts again, attacking W2, also putting him hors de combat. W3 loses his will to fight and flee, to meet a ball from Lee's rifle, putting him out of action. 

Eight warriors were slain or rendered hors de combat. Alex did very little when he had initiative but his reactions resulted in 3 of the warriors being eliminated from combat. It would've been interesting to see what would have happened had Alex not appeared, or had been delayed. None of the hunters were killed or lost the ability to fight because of their wounds, but it was only by tremendous good fortune that Felgar stayed in the fight and his wounds prevented him from being as effective as he should've been.