The Silver Bayonet: Part Two

My brain – as is its common wont – has refused to let up on The Silver Bayonet, and has insisted on creating a roster of soldier types for games set in colonial Australia. This draws on rules from the various supplements, with a few tweaks.

When putting together an Australian unit you may select from the following types:

  • Convict* – See Below
  • Discovery Serviceman
  • Doctor
  • Cleverman – See Below
  • Bushranger* – See Below
  • Infantryman
  • Irregular*
  • Junior Officer
  • Marine
  • Missionary* – See Below
  • Native Scout*
  • Trooper* – A renamed Provincial Soldier.
  • Sailor
  • Supernatural Investigator
  • Veteran Hunter
  • Explorer – See Below
  • Woodsman*

The heavier troop types found in European settings aren’t available in Australia – they’re in too much demand to be sent out to distant colonies.

During recruitment you may pay an extra 3 points to give any figure marked with an asterisk the attribute “Experience in the desert”.

BUSHRANGER
Escaped convicts eking out a living in the wilderness are known as Bushrangers. While some simply seek to be left alone, others take up a life of theft and banditry, and it is the survival and combat skills of these than can be of use to a military unit.
Speed: 6
Melee: +1
Shoot: +1
Defense: 13
Courage: 0
Health: 10
Recruit: 19
Attributes: Combat Rider, Improvised Armour, Master of Cover
Equipment: 2 Pistols

CONVICT
There is no shortage of convicts in the penal colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land and a military expedition can easily conscript some to haul equipment and make up numbers. No one would be mad enough to trust them with firearms though, and many will take the first opportunity to escape into the bush.
Speed: 6
Melee: +0
Shoot: +0
Defense: 13
Courage: -1
Health: 10
Recruit: 5
Attributes: Quick to Run
Equipment: Hand Weapon

CLEVERMAN
The indigenous inhabitants of the Australian continent have their own traditions of magic, with Clevermen and Women able to use their connection to the land to strike against transgressors. The state of war between the natives and colonists means Clevermen more often find themselves fighting against the British, but occasionally one may join forces with the invaders to defeat a greater evil.
Speed: 6
Melee: +0
Shoot: +0
Defense: 13
Courage: +3
Health: 10
Recruit: 20
Attributes: Linked to Country, Experience in the Desert
Equipment: Hand Weapon

MISSIONARY
The Protestant faith arrived in Australia with the first colonists in 1788 and as the British presence grew clergy of various faiths arrived to minister to the settlers and convicts. It wasn’t long before some of the most determined of these set out to bring their truth to the indigenous inhabitants of the land. While their success has been mixed at best, their faith and experience are a valuable resource for those heading out to fight the darkness.
Speed: 6
Melee: +0
Shoot: +0
Defense: 13
Courage: +1
Health: 10
Recruit: 14
Attributes: Inspiring
Equipment: Blunderbuss or Hand Weapon.

EXPLORER
Some of the boldest settlers, soldiers, and administrators of the colonies set out to explore the territory beyond the settled districts in search of fame, riches or knowledge. Many fail, but those who survive have valuable experience of the bush and its dangers.
Speed: 6
Melee: +1
Shoot: +1
Defense: 14
Courage: +1
Health: 10
Recruit: 20
Attributes: Strong, Experience in the Desert
Equipment: Hand Weapon, Rifle, Cartridge Box

Linked to Country: This ability works the same as Spells from the base rules with the figure being able to cast the following Spells:

  • Curse: As per the base rules.
  • Fog: Applies the Fog effect from the Unexpected Events Table.
  • Confuse: Applies the Mysterious Movement effect from the Unexpected Events Table.
  • Influence: Add one Monster Die to the Fate Pool if there are currently none.

Improvised Armour: The figure may be equipped with a suit of metal armour forged from plough blades. This provides Armour (2), but decreases speed by 2. A figure wearing improvised armour receives no benefits from Indefatigable, Nimble or Experience in the Desert.

I did think about including a variation on a Malamuke as an Afghan, but they didn’t arrive in Australia until the 1860s, which is too late for the Napoleonic setting. I couldn’t resist including armour for bushrangers (in the name of fun), even though Ned Kelly wasn’t born until 1854.

As per my previous post these rules are in no way guaranteed to work, be fair, or be fun. But hey, someone may get some use out of them!

The Silver Bayonet

Inspired by Peachy’s regular mentions of it on the Juggz podcast I shelled out some of my hard earned cash this week to acquire a copy of The Silver Bayonet – the self described “Wargame of Napoleonic Gothic Horror”.

It is – in my quickly formed opinion – excellent! A nice, streamlined system that still manages to have enough complexity to be fun, and with a fascinating setting. You choose your nation from the major powers of the Napoleonic wars, recruit soldiers of various nationality-determined specialties, then send the resulting unit into combat against similar units from rival nations – combat which will inevitably be interrupted by various supernatural horrors that need to be put down before they kill everyone.

I’m already planning to pick up the supplements that extend the game with new regions, specialties and monsters – I’m particularly tickled by the inclusion of a serpopard in the Egyptian expansion.

Anyway, as is so often the case after reading through it I have a whole bunch of ideas for customisations, many of which probably won’t work. But who knows, maybe someone might find some use for them? So here we go…

First up, an addition to the Special Armoury…

HOLY WATER
A small jar of water blessed by a religious figure. It takes up 1 equipment slot and may be used to make a single Melee or Shooting Attack. No Soldier or Officer may take more than 1 Holy Water.

Holy water only inflicts damage on figures with an Allergy to Blessed or Salt. It has no effect on figures without these Allergies.

When used for a Shooting Attack, Holy Water has the profile:

Range: Equal to the attacking figure’s Speed
Damage: Skill Die
Special: If the attack inflicts damage and a double (apart from double 1s) has been rolled, all Blessed/Salt vulnerable figures within 2 inches of the target suffer damage equal to half the inflicted damage rolled down.

When used for a Melee Attack Holy Water has the profile:

Damage: Skill Die
Special: Ignores 1 point of Damage Reduction/Armour

Once Holy Water has been used for an attack – even an unsuccessful one – it is expended and cannot be used again this game. In a Campaign it refreshes before the next game – assuming the soldier has survived to fight again!

Any soldier type that starts with a Holy Symbol may exchange it for a Holy Water during recruitment.

… and secondly some monsters to use that Holy Water on! (just kidding, none of them are affected by it)

BOG BODY
An ancient body, mummified in peat, reanimated by the Harvestmen. Its hardened skin and tanned innards make it particularly resistant to damage.

Speed: 3
Melee: +1
Accuracy: +0
Defence: 10
Courage: +5
Health: 12
Experience Points: 2
Attributes: Damage Reduction (2), Master of Cover, Nimble, Immune to Fire

DESERTER
A Revenant raised from a soldier executed for crimes by their own forces. Deserters harbour a hatred for officers that persists beyond the grave.

Speed: 4
Melee: +1
Accuracy: +0
Defence: 12
Courage: +5
Health: 10
Experience Points: 1
Attributes: Indefatigable, Damage Reduction (4) against projectile weapons only, Mutinous

Mutinous: The monster has a Melee of +2 when attacking Officers or Junior Officers. The monster will always move towards and attack the nearest Officer/Junior Officer in its line of sight – if it cannot see an Officer/Junior Officer it moves and behaves as a normal monster.

HANGED MAN
The reanimated corpse of an executed murderer, walking abroad to seek vengeance on the living.

Speed: 4
Melee: +1
Accuracy: +0
Defence: 12
Courage: +5
Health: 10
Experience Points: 2
Attributes: Indefatigable, Damage Reduction (4) against projectile weapons only, Chilling Touch

AUTOMATONS
Inventors in numerous nations have experimented with cunning clockwork devices that mimic living creatures. Some of the most advanced are capable of acting as guards, remaining dormant until triggered by an unwary trespasser.

SMALL AUTOMATON
A small, fairly harmless yet highly distracting clockwork construct.

Speed: 8
Melee: +0
Accuracy: +0
Defence: 12
Courage: 0
Health: 10
Experience Points: 1
Attributes: Clockwork Heart, Inexhaustible, Irritant, Mainspring

MEDIUM AUTOMATON
An automaton resembling a medium sized animal such as a dog, boar or swan.

Speed: 8
Melee: +2
Accuracy: +0
Defence: 14
Courage: 0
Health: 15
Experience Points: 1
Attributes: Clockwork Heart, Inexhaustible, Mainspring

LARGE AUTOMATON
A man-sized automaton capable of posing a genuine threat.

Speed: 8
Melee: +3
Accuracy: +0
Defence: 17
Courage: 0
Health: 20
Experience Points: 2
Attributes: Clockwork Heart, Inexhaustible, Mainspring

ARBALIST AUTOMATON
A man-sized automaton with a powerful, built-in mechanical crossbow (the crossbow never needs to be reloaded).

Speed: 8
Melee: +0
Accuracy: +3
Defence: 17
Courage: 0
Health: 20
Experience Points: 2
Attributes: Clockwork Heart, Inexhaustible, Mainspring

Clockwork Heart: Automatons are unthinking mechanical constructs and automatically pass all non-magical Courage checks. A Courage check caused by magic is rolled against Defence.

Inexhaustible: Automatons are completely immune to Fatigue and never receive fatigue tokens.

Mainspring: Automatons are powered by tightly coiled springs. As their springs run down, they become less effective, eventually running out of power and freezing into immobility. At the end of each Turn, all Automatons lose 1 Speed, 1 Melee (min +0), 1 Accuracy (min +0) 1 Defence and 1 Health.

So there you go. If you end up using any of these ideas in your games let me know how it goes!

Edit: While I’ve based my Automatons on real 18th century creations such as the Digesting Duck, Silver Swan and Mechanical Turk I suddenly remembered that the 2006 Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace features clockwork robots invading the Palace of Versailles. The Exterminate! miniature game has figures for these that would look great in a game of Silver Bayonet, but they’re 1:48 scale, so a bit too big, damnit!

These would be great, except they’re too big. Giant Automatons anyone?

Southward Ho!

Once a year I have a checkup with my sleep apnea specialist, and during said appointment he invariably asks if I’ve informed the Department of Transport about the drugs I’m on, prompting the following exchange…

Me: I don’t have a drivers license

Him: But… what if you want to go to Bunbury?

I suppose I could say that don’t need to go to Bunbury because the prescription he gives me meets all my amphetamine needs, but that would just be crass.

Adventure Awaits

On an off over the years I have found myself daydreaming about a business I would really like to run.

“So why don’t you!?” you gasp.”Do it!” you shout. “The only thing standing between yourself and your dreams is you!” “You’ll never know unless you try!” Similar demands and threats fall like rain from your lips. Well, the simple reason is that it would never work. Certainly not in a city the size of Perth. Probably not in a city the size of Melbourne or Sydney. It might have a chance somewhere like London, New York or LA, but even then I’m not sure it would be a good chance. so It’ll remain in my head, where I can safely imagine all the cool bits without having to worry about budgets, wages, liability insurance and all the other cheerful hurly burly of managing a business in this modern world.

The idea is to set up a location for gaming. A place where you and your friends can rent a room for a few hours to play board games or tabletop RPGs in a suitably themed environment, with snacks and hot food provided on demand.

The way I figure it there’d be 8 rooms for hire. Each would be decently soundproofed and air conditioned, and have a big table in the center with seating for as many as eight people, shelving and countertops around the outside and plenty of room to move around, even when everyone is seated.

The rooms would be set up with four themes (two rooms of each). The “Castle” rooms would be set up to resemble the inside of a medieval keep, with stone walls, hanging tapestries, shields and swords on the walls, heavy wooden furniture, etc. The “Space” rooms would be set up to look like the interior of a sci-fi spaceship. Brushed metal, blinking lights, cables, fancy tech gubbins and the like. The “Urban” rooms would look like a dive bar in the rough part of a modern metropolis. And the “Victorian” rooms would resemble an old-fashioned Gentlemen’s club with polished wood, and brass and leather.

Pretty cool, huh? But the really neat bit is when you booked a room you could pick a sub-theme, which means that prior to your arrival we’d do a bit of extra set dressing to make the room even more suited to whatever it is you’re playing.

Castle Rooms themes would include “High Fantasy” with crystals and dragons and golden grails, “Low Fantasy” with blood and rust and dirt, “Alchemist’s Lab” with alembics and test tubes, “Wizard’s Lair” with magic books and pentacles and potions, “Iron Throne” with things similar to (but legally distinct from) A Games of Thrones, “Middle Earth” for the same with The Lord of the Rings, “Grim Dark” for the same with Warhammer Fantasy, and so on.

Space Rooms would have “Federation” (Star Trek), “Galactic Empire” (Star Wars), “Warrior Race” (Klingon specific because you know what Klingon fans are like), “Xenomorph” (Aliens), “Space Cowboy” (Firefly), “Grim Darkness” (Warhammer 40,000) and so forth.

Urban Rooms would have “Cyberpunk”, “Zombie Apocalypse”, “Wasteland” (general post-apocalypse), “Retro Wasteland” (Fallout), “Replicant” (Blade Runner), “Magipunk” (Shadowrun), “Vampire” (Vampire the Masquerade), “McAnally’s” (Dresden Files and other urban fantasy) and other such settings.

Victorian Rooms would have “Miskatonic University” (Call of Cthulhu), “Difference Engine” (steampunk), “Explorer’s Club” (maps, artifacts and stuffed/mounted animals – good for Indiana Jones), “Shire” (a cosy hobbit hole), “Oxbridge” (a university library) and similar classy environments.

There would be high speed wifi in every room, an on-site kitchen so you could order food and snacks for delivery (via the wifi), and each room would be wired for sound with a menu of suitable background music and ambient tracks.

(It would be tempting to have the staff deliver the snacks in themed costume and character – a butler for the Victorian Rooms for instance – but I’m not enough of a monster to force my employees to put up with that!)

It would be awesome! And completely uneconomic without a massive population of gamers to support it.

Of course there would be ways to make it less doomed to failure. Locating next to a major public transport hub, and near a major university would definitely help. Starting out with only four rooms would, of course, cut costs, but there would likely be much more demand for more rooms than others, and telling people “sorry, the castle room is booked out for the next five weeks but you can run your Dungeons and Dragons campaign in a Federation Starship!” would not be likely to encourage return patrons.

So, that’s my dream. It would be much appreciated if someone reading could give me 15 million dollars or so to set it up, and then a few million more every few years to keep it open while running at a massive loss.

C’mon! Adventure awaits!

Music Break

Just a few tracks that have caught my attention of late.

The album version of Shiny Toy Guns’ Don’t Cry Out. The male vocalist is nasal, the female vocalist is basically just screeching, and the bells are out of tune, BUT IT ALL WORKS SO WELL!!!

This “Parallel Universe” mix of Kate Bush’s Running Up that Hill/A Deal with God by Matt One. Adding vocals from Placebo’s version works incredibly well and slipping in the guitar solo from Another Brick in The Wall is a masterstroke!

Going really far back for a couple of 80s tracks that totally passed me by at the time. The Great Commandment by Camouflage and the odd but compelling Screaming Jets by Johnny Warman, which I presume is where the 90s rock band got its name from.

And finally perhaps the most ludicrously happy piece of music ever recorded -, the theme song from the 1988 Crystal Light United States National Aerobic Championships. The fact that such a contest existed, that it was televised, that the opening is such unadulterated, unintentional camp, AND that they came up with such a banger of a tune for it is so incredible that I am simply lost for words. And on top of that, the singer – Ty Parr – went on to be a regular bit player on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which is just baffling in a truly wonderful way.

That’s it. Go find your own entertainment!