Thursday, July 25, 2013

Worst Case Scenario #6 - Chariot Race to Escape the Red Sea

'So it is written, so shall it be done... or is that the other way around? Whatever, surf's up boys - get stuck in!'
We had friends visiting from out of town last week so I was trying to come up with a game which could accommodate around seven to eight players, be fast moving while easy to pickup. After looking through my stuff and doing a little bit of thinking I decided to resurrect an old scenario that I had run about ten years ago, a biblical chariot race where the charioteers had to escape the floor of the Red Sea in the wake (literally) of Moses' miracle.


It's around 1440 BC. The setting is somewhere along the Gulf of Suez. Moses has parted the Red Sea (or 'Reed Sea' as some believe) and his Israelites have passed through to take refuge on the opposite shore. Not easily deterred, the Egyptian Pharaoh, Rameses I, has sent in his army in hot pursuit of Moses and the hebrew slaves. 

This army is led by a menagerie of inbred Egyptian princes, each mounted on a chariot, and each keen as mustard to gain fame and glory in the coming subjugation of the Israelites. Well, as we all know, the jig was up when Moses 'turned the taps back on' and the Egyptian army, which was fully arrayed on the sea floor, is subsequently destroyed by the closing avalanche of water. 

BUT, what of the Egyptian princes? 

Styrofoam 'water-walls' and craft paper sea floor - the hobby at its most rudimentary form.
The game begins with the princes, all realizing that they are in mortal danger, turning their chariots about in an attempt to madly dash back up the collapsing chasm of water to safety. Each player leads a chariot team whose only goal is to survive this watery doom by keeping ahead of the onrushing water and ahead of the pack, no matter what the cost.

'Waddya mean these things don't come equipped with a flotation device?'
The bright side to all this is that the survivor(s) will have a much easier time at the Egyptian court, what with the royal bloodline being so watered down... (ba-dum-pish! rimshot!).


So the players girded their loins, tightened their reins, and cracked the whip, knowing only a few (if any) would survive the closing of the Red Sea!

The water wall (to the left) moved forward during the game, slurping up charioteers in its path.
For rules I used the excellent 'Charioteer' by Two Hour Wargames which I shamelessly fiddled with in order to create some over-the-top Cecil B. DeMille action. Accordingly we had giant crabs spooking horse teams, seaweed 'road hazzards' and enormous sea serpent tentacles whipping from the water-wall to bash nearby chariots. Yep, completely silly but fun. 

'Charioteer' does a very nice job of abstracting the pell mell of racing by simulating the dynamic of the pack of chariots as they try to pass, whip and bash one another in order to gain the lead position. As you can see you don't need much room for the playing surface and it's dead easy to set up. I would think that in 15mm or 10mm it would be very transportable for club games. There are even campaign rules for running your own teams of chariots over a season of racing, with tracking of victories, defeats, betting and dirty tricks. Very cool.

All of the chariots are from the Wargames Foundry biblical range and painted by members of the Fawcett Ave Conscripts.
As I was trying my best to keep the rules straight in my thick skull most of the game's details became a bit of a blur to me. I do know that Sylvain took the lead and, except for a few challenges, never relinquished it for the entire race. Nonetheless, behind our hurtling Frenchman it was a mad scrum of charioteers, each vying for positions at the lead, all the while the onrushing wall of water inexorably nipped at their heels. 

Hey, can we turn back? I think I dropped my iKopesh back there...
I do remember poor Jeremy attempting to bash Chad's team with his chariot but having everything go horribly, horribly wrong. He ended up as a spectacular out-of-control wreck, who finally came to rest three lanes (and a few places back) from his original position. All-in-all, three of the charioteers made it back to safety, meeting Rameses at the temple of Set to give him the bad news about his pursuit.

The mad dash to safety.

Hey Boss, about that Moses guy...
It was good fun, with the guys very much playing to the spirit of the scenario and the rules holding up admirably well under my half-arsed modifications. I look forward to trying them again in a race set in a proper 'circus maximus'.

What?!  Do I have to do EVERYTHING myself?

41 comments:

  1. Great work and great project , i like this .
    Greetings

    ReplyDelete
  2. "So let it be written, so let it be done". Hmmmm, must dig out that Metallica album (or go on Youtube)

    Sounds like a fun game Curt :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Creeping Death', baby! Awesome song. Thanks for the comment Tamsin!

      Delete
  3. Looks like fun and certainly novel.

    John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it was a bit whacky but good for an evening's distraction.

      Delete
  4. That looks like a lot of fun. Great scenario idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mike. Watching old movies always seems to serve as good inspiration for scenarios.

      Delete
  5. Wow, what an great idea.
    And damn you for mentioning this in 15mm... tempting excuse to to buy me some 15mm chariots...

    Cheers// Jonas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Engel. Ed at Two Hour Wargames has these brilliant 15mm one-piece chariot teams that I just ordered for myself. Carmen did a brilliant job painting them here:

      http://carmensminiaturepainting.blogspot.ca/2013/02/charioteer-lap-2.html

      I'll post up my efforts when I through them.

      Delete
  6. I'm loving this. Great idea, great chariots and I especially love the Temple of Set. Great stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Iannick! Yeah, the temple was built about 15 years ago and I've been schelepping it on house moves ever since, so it was great to get it out for a game. (And the dust of storage actually fit the theme of the model!)

      Delete
  7. Great game, Curt, perfect: small, fast and easy to learn. And fun!
    Very nice chariots too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Juan! Yes, the chariots were one of my Huckleberry Finn projects where I got people to paint stuff for me. The guys all did a great job with their chariots and they are a wonderful momento.

      Delete
  8. Great idea, although now I can't use the "so let it be written, so let it be done" quote for my upcoming batrep. Unless of course everyone forgets before I publish. By the way have you posted a link to this on the THW yahoo group? If you don't I will.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, please use it as it's such a great line!

      Ed has mentioned about posting a pic of the game but feel free - Thanks!

      Delete
  9. Great concept game. Nicely executed.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great post! What happened with Yul? :-D

    Greetings
    Peter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Peter!

      Yul? Why, naturally he became the King of Siam.

      'Etceteras. Etceteras. Etceteras...'

      :)

      Delete
  11. Curt

    It was a great game and a lot of fun. Even if I got tentacled so many times I thought I was in an X-rated Japanese wood cut print for a while.

    Yes the flying Frenchman did get the early jump on us, but we did try to pass him a few time. Then we realized that the goal was to out race the water not Sylvain and we settled in to his slipstream. In a flat out race it would be worth whipping and bumping the leader. However, the penalties of failing to pass increased the likelihood of swimming and the prize for finishing first wasn’t any more than finishing second.

    Thanks for putting it on for us. When do we get to play with the Playmobil? Can we bring our own?

    Cheers
    PD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes the tentacles were a little 'over generous' but who can deny a good 'Snee Snerpent' from time-to-time.

      The Playmobil project is about to start...

      Delete
  12. Curt
    What a cracking idea!!
    I´m gonna recycle my Hittite chariotry (the Egyptians still remain in the lead pile after abandonming the project many moons ago) and do soemthing similar for my son & friends.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Andrew, it was something a little off the beaten path for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks Benito! Please give it a whirl, I'd love to see what you do with it!

    ReplyDelete
  15. That's awesome! I definitely like the idea for this scenario... looks like I have to get my grubby fingers on some bronze age chariots at some time in the future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your kind words, Moiterei, much appreciated!

      Delete
  16. What a fabulous idea Curt, great fun.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michael, it was a good summer's night diversion to be sure.

      Delete
  17. Very creative Curt and those chariots look lovely!

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  18. Such an excellent idea for a game. I really wish I'd thought of it. Totally splendid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your kind words, Clint. It's fun (and rare for me) when a little idea comes together to form a simple but fun game.

      Delete
  19. Hi, very cool game, well thought out indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Fantastic work, Curt! I love the movie (and Yul's depiction of Ramses) - you've really brought back great memories. Best, Dean

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dean! For sure, Yul was The Man. He made Heston look like a cardboard cutout in that film (great beard though).

      Delete
  21. Great to see the old chariots again dude!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I had my camera lens duster working overtime getting them ready to roll again!

      Delete

Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)