Gaming in Oct 2022

• 16 Oct - The Beast of Errinsford (OSE) - face-to-face
• 21 Oct - Trafalgar Day game - Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls - solo wargaming

The Beast of Errinsford

The group at our LFGS that I DM for are currently playing The Beast of Errinsford, loosely based on the module The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford by Chance Dudinack. 

• 16 Oct

A depleted party carried on with their side-mission of looting collecting magical weapons from the tomb of Sir Errin and his companions.  They had a brief encounter in the marshes with Bullywugs Gullygugs, but managed to pay a toll with a mirror and a toy clay pig.

They got to the barrow, met the sole survivor of another group of looters explorers who (surprisingly, seeing that he was a Goatman, they didn't kill and defile on the spot).  There then followed a surprisingly careful and efficient sweep of the barrow, in which they defeated miscellaneous pests (fricassee of rat) and mollified the undead souls of the ancient heroes.  One of the party - Gimli the Elf - was killed by a giant spider.  There only being two surviving PCs, an unfeasible amount of XP was awarded for the masses of treasure they recovered.

Blood, Bilge and Iron Balls

• 21 Oct - Trafalgar Day

Write-up here

As it was Trafalgar Day, I had of course to have a go at the battle itself.  I used Collingwood's leeward column as the set-up for a solo game using the BBIB rules.

Inevitably, the British fleet suffered heavily on the approach to the Combined line.  It didn't break the line, as the Combined Fleet decided to break and move into melee sooner rather than later (not having to worry about the bigger picture of the battle).  It soon became rather messy and, when I called it after almost four hours of play, It was a British defeat.  

I still have a lot to learn about age of sail tactics and placing ships where they can be most effective.

BBIB has served well for what I wanted it for - an intro to naval wargaming.  It lacks nuance though, and I'm wondering whether to move on to something with a bit more granularity - possibly the Two Fat Lardies Kiss Me Hardy.