FEAR OF THE DARK skirmish wargame

 "This is it... 

If you are reading this is because everything has gone to hell...

Do you remember what I used to tell you about the stars? 

Well... 

The time has come... 

The stars are right... 

And we are on our own...

I´m sorry to say this, but I´m afraid I have to warn you... we are all doomed...

Remember all those creatures that lived under your bed when you where a child?

They were real...

And they are no longer hiding..."

What is Fear of the Dark?

This journey has just started, take my hand and follow me deep into the world of Fear of the Dark.

Fear of the Dark is a solo horror skirmish wargame set in the worlds of madness created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Solo as this game is designed to be played alone, just you trying to make your warband survive another day. Although it could be played with two or even three players in cooperative mode, that is, fighting together against the forces of darkness.

This is not an usual wargame (competitive mode / player vs player) with some solo rules designed ad hoc, this is a solo game.

Horror as the supernatural and the mystery will be the common thread of our scenarios.

Our characters will have to face haunted houses, gangsters, supernatural beings drawn from the worst nightmares, groups of cultists who want to awake forgotten gods, mysterious murders, ancient curses, and dusty books that predict the end of the world as we know it.

Skirmish since the games will be played with just a few miniatures on a table with some scenery, although this game is not attached to any specific brand of miniatures and you can use any that you like. Forget about huge armies and lots and lots of miniatures on the table.

Another strong point of this game relies in its narrative aspect. The focus is on the story since the plot in each scenario will have a great narrative weight, not just fighting without any reason or random encounters of wandering monsters. The scenarios will have a story that conects everything, all the events that happen will have a reason, and even may never be known by the player until the scenario is over.

The background of this wargame is set in the worlds of madness created by H,P, Lovecraft, where a strange universe of gods and monsters underlies our reality, twisting our world upside down and throwing ourselves into a bottomless pit of madness.

In this game you will play a group of characters during 1920-40 fighting supernatural beings and their acolytes who unconsciously try to wake up the long dormant evil, exploring ancient ruins, hiding from shadows that could devour you, and struggling to live another day.

This is not going to be easy, but it´s going to be fun... that's for sure.

Fear of the Dark skirmish wargame is a game designed to be played solo, so that you play your side and the enemy's side acts on its own. There is an Artificial Intelligence system (AI in advance) that will decide on its own how the enemy's miniatures will act and what will they do. 

The AI will decide which enemy miniature will activate and which actions will it make, so, you don't play both sides, you just play your side against this AI, but I have to warn you... That damned AI is good at it... This is not going to be easy... 

There is a character creation system that allows you to create your warband as you like it, formed by 3 to 7 characters, and detail their characteristics and skills to fit your requirements. 

The rules are easy, because as this game is thought to be played solo, so, the rules are there to help you, not to become a problem. 

The scenarios in this game are designed to be played solo, and have a high narrative component, as the idea is to make a rpg lite skirmish wargame.

The scenarios will have a structure similar to those of "choose your own adventure" books, but sometimes the decisions you take will make you face scenes that you will have to play in a game table with miniatures and terrain. 

At the beggining of each scenario is detailed what miniatures and terrain may appear in that scenario, and of course, if you don't have those miniatures you can use another similar ones. 

In this blog I will post new scenarios, support material (characters, maps, rules...), battle reports of played scenarios, general articles on miniatures and wargames... and anything related with Fear of the Dark. So if you are interested in any update on this game stay close.

Apart from this blog, there is a facebook group available to anybody that likes this game, so that you can share experiences, ideas, pictures... but the idea of this group is to gather together because remember our motto "you may play solo... but you are not alone..."

(Click here to go to the Facebook group Fear of the Dark skirmish wargame)

This game is available on WargameVault on digital pdf format sent straight to your email, the price is 10€, and you will get a 130 pages rulebook, including 4 scenarios, cards, tokens and everything necessary to play (except for the miniatures and terrain, of course). 

Fear of the Dark skirmish wargame is available in English and in Spanish.

BUY FEAR OF THE DARK IN ENGLISH

COMPRAR FEAR OF THE DARK EN ESPAÑOL

I really hope you like it, and remember to have fear of the dark...

It will keep you alive...

You want to know more about the game?

VISIT FEAR OF THE DARK BLOG

Why so silent?

No, I haven't forgotten about the blog, although I haven't written anything on it for almost two months. 

This 2021 I have decided to carry out a project that I had in mind for a long time: 

make a ruleset of miniature skirmish to play solo and with a high narrative component. 

So right now I am 100% focused on this ruleset and on getting it out as soon as possible, so I have parked the painting, the blog and the games. 

What am I doing? 

It is a skirmish game with few miniatures based on the Cthulhu myths and all the horror background of the novels by H. P. Lovecraft, and of course it will be a game to be played solo or cooperatively.

Through a system that I hope people will like, I have mixed a narrative system quite rpg lite with a serie of small skirmish games played with miniatures. 

Where am I right now? 

Well, the rule system is already done, I have already made several scenarios that will be included in the game... And I need to do a couple more scenarios, take a thousand photos and make the layout. 

Sounds good? 

You will decide that, but I'm making a great effort on this ruleset and in its game system.

Once it's finished, I'll open a facebook group and a blog dedicated to this game. In them I will put photos of scenarios played, new characters and monsters, new scenarios, and whoever likes the game will be able to collaborate by contributing whatever they want. 

I hope to have it ready in a short time and I hope you like it !!

FUCK 2020

Thats it!!!

We made it through 2020!!!

Last day of this nightmare. I do t know how 2021 will be, but...

What are my purposes for this new year? 

Well, I want to develop my own ruleset... Easy, quick and of course, made for Solo skirmish wargaming... Stay tuned... 

Apart from that big project, I'll keep playing, making battle reports and trying to entertaint as much as possible. 

So, I hope we continue together this 2021, and of course... 

Have a Happy new year!!! 

Stay safe!!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This year has been a quite hard, and I want to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year... 

And let 2021 bury this year... 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

(I found this picture on the internet long time ago, so I can't acknowledge the author, but for me is the best way to wish a merry Christmas for my wargamers friends) 

AAR BATTLE REPORT modern war BATTLESPACE MISSION 1

I have had the Battlespace rulebook of modern warfare for a long time, but hadn't been able to test it until now, so I printed out the necessary cards to play and took out my US Marines to fight the Mujahideen of Al Wadi in the harsh Afghan sands.

 The game book has several missions that will be played with four characters / miniatures of marines, with their respective character cards and their equipment selected by the player. 

These will be my men and their gear.

So let's go... 

AFGHANISTAN 2011. Another day in hell... 

Our men go in their humvee in towards the Al Ghani military camp when they receive an emergency call, an American unit has fallen into an ambush just 10 kilometers from their current position, before communications were cut they reported being attacked by several armed men with AKs and RPGs. 

Our men will have to go as quickly as possible, locate them and try to extract any possible survivors. Time runs against them.

When they arrive to the location of the attacked unit, they find the streets cut by burning vehicles, so they must continue the last meters on foot. 

"Sarge, do we expect reinforcements?" asks recruit Stevens descending from the humvee. Sargeant Rogers, ammunitioning his m4, replied "WE are the reinforcements, mate". 

We deploy our men on a mission to get to the damaged humvee on the other side of the table, check if there are any American soldiers there, and exit from the edge of the table opposite to the one we deploy.

Turn 1. 

I advance in two groups, covering one with a parked vehicle. A jihadists come out of a nearby house attacking one of my men. Another advances from the alley firing his Ak47. 

Two of my men are wounded while one of the attackers is killed. At the end of the street shots are heard and a group of jihadists can be seen running towards our men. 

Wait a minute... we're on turn one, right? First turn and I already have two soldiers injured? Ok... this is going to be tough ...

The soldier with the m203 throws a grenade that kills two attackers, while his partner kills another one that was running towards them.

When they see some more enemies at the end of the street, they run to regroup with the other soldiers, although more enemies continue appearing and attacking. 

Faced with several wave of enemies, I decide to place one of my men in an elevated position, and covered by the wall he attacks with grenades, killing several enemies.

Since I see that it is going to be a good idea to have support from the rooftops, I place another soldier in the same elevated position, attacking with the M203, while two other soldiers try to reach the humvee to check for survivors. 

From the roof they repel enemy attacks allowing the other two soldiers to approach the military vehicle.

When everything was looking better for my team, from the top of a roof you see something shinning, that means a rifle scope of an enemy sniper. 

In two turns, the Sniper kills the two soldiers who were going to check the humvee, being eliminated by the soldiers who were on the roof.

Once the Sniper is eliminated, and without having more members in their team, the two marines decide to jump off the roof and check the humvee. 

Running in a hurry they verify that there is no one inside the vehicle, so they decide to run away taking advantage that no more enemies are appearing.

Victory for my men in a quite dynamic and stressing game, I have two casualties on my side and fifteen on the opposite side. 

I want to play more games to get a complete idea about this ruleset, but at the moment I see it as a very dynamic, fast and fun game, perhaps too dependent on luck/random, but as I have already said it is very fun.