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Curing Zombies at Crystal Shores

August 2nd, 2022

Day #2-36 (Airday, 16th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): Herschel Gobinmyer awoke before dawn and starting “brewing” the magical potion that it was hoped would cure the zombie curse that was afflicting villagers in Crystal Shores. He filled the golden chalice with pure water, then lit two beeswax candles in the two gold candlesticks, one on either side of the chalice. Then, just as the sun was rising, he placed the Pendant of Winstone into the chalice. It was then a matter of waiting until sundown to see what transpired.

After different folks had been fed in different ways, depending upon their lodgings, two villagers went door to door, performing a “head count” of how many non-zombie people there were in the village. They then reported that information to Herschel at his home. Herschel was happy to see that no more zombies had been generated during the night. When party members Douag, Falafela, and Vandin had arrived at Herschel’s, he sent for Flenda and Gwenette, and for their father Vilan Deathmar. When all had arrived at Herschel’s, he put the question to them. “As you all should know by now, the instructions for using the Pendant of Winstone to effect a cure has limited uses. We do not know how many it will cure before it exhausts its magical cures. Therefore, we must decide upon a priority as to who gets cured first, and create a list for who else gets cured, in what order. This is not the easiest task in the world, but it must be done.”

Naturally, Flenda and Gwenette both wanted their mother to be at the top of the list. And naturally, everyone concurred, seeing as how the sisters had both risked their lives in order to find the cure! However, after much discussion, it was decided that Vox should take the first drink of the potion, as if he was cured they could then use his muscle to help corral other zombies. Also, it was the fact that Vox had also risked his life, and indeed, been gravely wounded, that put him at the top of the list. Herschel wrote out the list: Vox the Just; Vilanious Deathmar (mother of Flenda and Gwenette); Wider Veldar (village cleric); Melchar, Vinar, and Loftus Furrowbrow (the village tinker and his wife and young son); Sathe, Beefa, and Lido Lidorn (proprietor of the Inn of the Blushing Trout and his wife and daughter); Simius Soderman (the wife of the carpenter); Moosecavalli Wirth (proprietor of the Tavern of the Cracked Mug); two fishermen in the Cracked Mug; Cardon Dragone (the boat master); and finally six other villagers who were local farmers.

Herschel said, “I hope we don’t run out of cures before we run out of people to cure.” Everyone present at the meeting added an “Amen!” to that simple but profound statement.

Finally, sunset came, and Herschel noticed that the water in the chalice had changed to a dark burgundy color, much like wine. The potion was poured off into the small bottles that had been assembled, and it was found there were exactly 10 doses of potion available. “OK,” said Herschel. “Let’s go and visit Vox and see how it goes!” Then Herschel, followed by Falafela, Douag, and Vandin, headed over to Mylene Ackmard’s barn, where Vox was staying. Vox looked a little apprehensive just before he drank, but he said, “I’ll probably never get better without this, so I guess I’ll drink it!” Then he took the small bottle of the burgundy potion and gulped it down. “That actually tasted pretty good! it was a lot like wine, except it was saltier with a little metallic aftertaste,” said Vox. The party watched Vox intently, but after about five minutes, Vox expressed the notion that he was suddenly very sleepy. Then he lay down and was promptly asleep. “OK,” said Mylene. Let’s arrange the boxes to keep him safe and secure for the night.” Herschel said, “The directions said imbibers should be cured within one hour. Maybe we should wait before we administer any more doses?” But Flenda and Gwenette weren’t having any of the waiting game. They both wanted to cure their mother, and cure her now!

So the party then proceeded down the hill towards the Deathmar residence, where Vilanious Deathmar had been confined after she became a zombie. The party also had three of the forked sticks with the rope loops on them. Flenda and Gwenette both argued over who would get the privilege of serving the potion to their mother. Finally, their father said, “Girls, please! I will make it a fair game of chance.” With that, he picked up a few pebbles from the ground. He turned his back to his daughters, and then when he turned back around to face them, his right hand was clenched into a fist. Whichever of you can guess if the number of pebbles in my hand is odd or even can have the honor of serving the potion to your mother. Gwenette, you are younger, so you guess.” Gwenette guessed even, then Vilan opened his hand to reveal he had two pebbles, so Gwenette won the honor to serve her mother the potion.

Although the door to her house had several boards nailed over the doorway, Gwenette and Flenda pried them off with some of their father’s pry-bar type tools that were in the front yard. Their zombie mother had been attracted to the noise at the door, so when the door was pushed open, their mother walked outside, only to be immediately snared by loops from her husband Vilan, her daughter Flenda, and also by Jorgio. Gwenette then grabbed her mother’s head by the hair, then pulled her mother’s head back which forced her mother’s mouth skyward. Gwenette whispered to her mother, “Sorry, mom, I don’t want to hurt you, but this must be done!” Then, by the light of the torches held by Douag, Vandin, and Falafela, Gwenette poured the already opened bottle of the potion down her mother’s throat.

Gwenette held her mother’s head in the same position until it was clear that her mother had swallowed the potion. The loops were kept on Vilanious, and then after five minutes Vilanious’ formerly scowling face looked to be at peace, and then she closed her eyes, and her head drooped as if she were alseep. Everyone waited a couple of more minutes, and then Gwenette said, “OK, dad, help me carry her inside.” So Gwenette and Vilan carried Vilanious inside and laid her gently on her bed. Flenda followed them inside. Vilan motioned for the girls to follow him out, but Flenda said, “Sorry, but we’re staying here all night if we have to, just to watch over mom!” Then Gwenette got up and lit a couple of candles, and the sisters began their vigil over their mother.

The next stop was across the road, at the Church of Koassek where the cleric Wider Veldar had been confined. In a similar manner to the scene that had just played out at the Deathmar’s, the nailed boards were pried off the front of the church, Wider was lassoed with the rope loops on the forked sticks, and then he was forced to drink. After he passed out, he was placed in his bed, and the party re-nailed the boards on his door, just in case he wasn’t cured.

Then the party walked over to the home of the Furrowbrows. This would be a bit trickier, since there were three zombies inside the home. All six of the forked sticks were put to use, as by now more healthy villagers had joined in the procession. Two rope loops were put on to each zombie, and then they were made to drink the liquid. Since Melchar and his family were all gnomes, it was not too much of a problem to make them drink the potion. Someone in the crowd mentioned, “What do we do if not all of them are cured? What if one of them remains a zombie and attacks the others?” “Herschel answered, “That is a good question. I believe we should tie them up individually. Restrain their hands and feet, and tie them to different pieces of furniture. That should keep them from being able to attack each other. After all, none of the zombies has shown themselves to be smart enough to defeat even simple restraints. If and when they awake, cured, I’m sure they will call out for assistance!” So then the other villagers tied up the Furrowbrows as Herschel had recommended. Before heading to the next destination, Herschel asked Rivatha Kafar, the goat shepherd who lived next door, to keep an eye on the Furrowbrows. “I’ll do it!” said Rivatha, “just as soon as I can go home and bring back a lantern.”

Next, the party proceeded to the east, to the Inn of the Blushing Trout. Once again, there were three zombies to deal with, although these three were humans. Seeing as it was an inn, it was easy to lock up the three family members in three separate rooms after the cure had been applied to each of them. Finally, with one dose remaining, the party and other villagers proceeded to the lakeside cottage of the carpenter, Baduk Soderman. The Sodermans lived just north of Herschel’s cottage. Simius Soderman’s husband, Baduk, was given the honor of getting his wife to drink the potion. Then, after she was asleep, Baduk said he would watch over her for the night. That was agreeable to others, so then everyone retired from the Soderman’s house.

When the remaining members of the group gathered in the road in front of Herschel’s place, Herschel charged two villagers, Aslan Valkyie and his eldest son, with organizing a patrol, and to make the rounds of the village, just to keep an eye on things during the balance of the night. Herschel then said, “Let’s hope this really works, and that everyone is OK in the morning! As for me, I must retire as I must awake before sunrise tomorrow morning that I may start another batch of the potion!” Everyone said their good-nights, then went their separate ways. Falafela, Douag, Vandin, and Jorgio went back to their sleeping quarters in Mylene’s barn, where they took turns watching Vox during the night.

Day #2-37 (Waterday, 17th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): Early in the morning of 17th Dewsnap, Hershel Gobinmyer awoke and made his preparations to produce another batch of potion using the Pendant of Winstone and the golden chalice that had been brought back from the Tomb of Koban Hairfoot. Just after he lit the two beeswax candles and placed the pendant into the chalice that was filled with pure water, one of Aslan Valkyie’s sons, Zoan, reported the good news that all of the zombies that had been treated the previous day had been cured! Herschel was ecstatic. “My! That is wonderful news!” he exclaimed.

Although the cure was supposed to take only one hour per person, it seemed to take longer than that. Or, perhaps it had cured each of them after only one hour, but everyone who drank the potion must have slept for at least eight or ten hours afterwards. In the morning, Vox woke up and found he could stand with no difficulty at all. He was even able to release himself from the boxed-in area of Mylene’s barn in which he had been placed for safe-keeping. And in a rarity for Vox, he even offered to help Mylene with making breakfast for the folks staying at her barn. Vox peeled and diced some potatoes and sliced some bacon. Douag was watching all of this and said “Don’t overdo it, now! We don’t want you to have a relapse.”

Flenda and Gwenette were also overwhelmed with joy when their mother finally opened her eyes and spoke to them! Vilanious’s first words were, “What happened? I feel like I’ve been in a bad dream. it was like I was wandering in a thick fog, and couldn’t find my way home.” Her daughters then related the fact that Vilanious had become a zombie, and had been in that state for the last nine days. The mother then thought for a couple of minutes, and then said, “Then I guess you did find a cure, after all!?” Vilanious especially emphasized the word “did” when she spoke. Then the daughters both hugged and kissed their mother profusely. Then Flenda stayed with her mother while Gwenette went out to spread the good news.

All around the village there were cries of joy, as families were cured and reunited. Herschel made the rounds, saying, “Don’t get your hopes up too much, we have more people yet to cure!” When Wider Veldar, the cleric, awoke and found himself confined inside his church, he shouted for passers-by to let him out! Then after being released, he ran over to Hershel’s place and thanked the druid profusely. Herschel said, “You’re welcome, but you should save your real thanks for the brave adventurers who ventured forth and retrieved the Pendant of Winstone which then brewed a curative potion.” Wider said, “I will thank them, just as soon as I see them!” Then Wider went off to look for the party so he could thank them.

Tags: Aslan Valkyrie, Badak Soderman, Beefa Lidorn, Cardon Dragone, Church of Coassek, Crystal Shores, Douag, Falafela, Flenda, Gwenette, Herschel Gobinmyer, Inn of the Blushing Trout, Lido Lidorn, Loftus Furrowbrow, Melchar Furrowbrow, Moosecavelli Wirth, Mylene Ackmard, Pendant of Winstone, Rivatha Kafar, Sathe Lidorn, Simius Soderman, Tomb of Koban Hairfoot, Vandin, Vilan Deathmar, Vilanious Deathmar, Vinar Furrowbrow, Vox the Just, Wider Veldar, Zoan Valkyrie, zombies
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Back at Crystal Shores

August 2nd, 2022

This is more of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventures that were played in 2015-2016. Now the adventuring party is back in Crystal Shores, although Lightstep and Opalent have left the group under mysterious circumstances.

Day #2-35 (Spiritday, 15th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): The party awoke by 6:30 am after an uneventful night, ate their customary cold breakfast of hardtack and jerky, then made their preparations to depart for the last leg of their journey to Crystal Shores. The sisters, Flenda and Gwenette, were particularly excited to start because they were headed back to their home. The sisters once again saddled Vox’s horse, then helped him up into the saddle. The party made sure their fire was out before leaving camp, which was easy since the river was close at hand. Also, the day started out cool and clear, like the storm had flushed away the heat and humidity of the two previous days.

It took about two hours to journey the last five miles to Crystal Shores, and when the village came into sight, Flenda and Gwenette surged ahead of everyone else. Flenda almost forgot about her new fiancé, Jorgio, but then turned and motioned for him to catch up. Coming into town from the east, they passed by the home of the carpenter, Baduk Soderman. They noted, quite ominously, that the front door to the house had a couple of boards nailed over the doorway. But then they saw the elder druid, Herschel Gobinmyer, standing in front of his dwelling.

Flenda and Gwenette wanted to just say hello to Herschel and then continue on to their home, but Herschel made a hand gesture and asked them to stop for a moment. Said Herschel, “Girls, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Your mother has become a zombie. She turned on the morning of the day after you set off for Karnack’s castle, so she has been in that state for nine days now. Fortunately, though, your father is all right.” By then, the rest of the party had caught up and gathered around Herschel.

Herschel noted, “I see you have three fewer members in your party. Are they just lagging behind, or did some harm fall upon them?” Falafela said, “We didn’t have anyone killed, although some had severe injuries. Do you remember our dwarf friend Tureg? He was nearly killed in the tomb we went to, although he did survive. He told us at Karnack’s that he was giving up adventuring for a living. He plans to return to his home in Garzan. Also, on our way back here from Karnack’s, Opalent and Lightstep just seemed to wander off in the middle of the night. But, we did have success! Karnack told us about an artifact named the ‘Pendant of Winstone’ that was reputed to have been buried along with Koban Hairfoot in a tomb that was in the Anshar Forest. We did find that pendant, as well as a scroll that described its use. Although, we had to mark time for a day until Karnack could decipher the scroll for us. Here is what Karnack wrote down from the scroll.” At that, Falafela fished into her backpack and retrieved Karnack’s written instructions, then handed them to Herschel.

Herschel perused the instructions for the Pendant of Winstone for a moment, then said, “Do you have the Pendant? And the chalice?” At that, Flenda and Gwenette went and helped Vox down from his horse, then they rummaged through his backpack, producing the pendant and chalice. “What’s wrong with him? Can’t he walk?” asked Herschel. Vox said, “I was struck by a foul creature in the tomb. Karnack thinks it was a wight. I have lost my energy, and can barely stand without assistance, much less walk. I am really hoping that the pendant can cure me, as well as the zombies!” Herschel mused, “Hmmmmmm….”

Herschel continued, “I should let you know the situation around the village. As of this morning, we have 19 villagers who are currently zombies. I already told Flenda and Gwenette that their mother was among the zombified. The others are Simius Soderman, the carpenter’s wife. On your way into town just now, no doubt you saw that their abode was boarded up? We have basically tried to confine the zombies in whatever building they were in. Some others that were wandering around have been confined to my garden. No doubt you can see that I had to make the briars grow tall around the garden to serve as a wall?” The party noted that, indeed, the briars and brambles were about 10 feet tall all the way around the garden, although a second gate had been put at the side of Herschel’s cottage to provide an entry into the garden, as usually the garden had totally surrounded his cottage, with the gate by the road being the entry to his property.

Herschel then continued, “Alas, poor Wider Velder, our cleric, has also been stricken by the curse. Boatmaster Cardon Dragone has turned, and you of course remember your hosts from the Inn of the Blushing Trout, Sathe, Beefa, and Lido Lidorn, were all zombies before you left. Over at the Tavern of the Cracked Mug, the proprietor, Moosecavelli Wirth is a zombie, as are two fishermen. We discovered that the tinker, Melchar Furrowbrow, and his wife and son, Vinar and Loftus, are also zombies. There are six others who also are zombies. The last ones to turn did so two days ago. I am hoping we won’t have any more turn, as nobody else seems to have a sore throat or is coughing. I have also been having everyone drink from some barrels in which I conjure up some pure water. I am hoping this rainstorm that just passed through will have helped to flush away any residue from the tainted water coming from Mont du Plat.”

Flenda and Gwenette then spoke up. “We would like to go and see our parents, now.” Herschel then cautioned, “OK, go and see them, but do not approach her, and even though she may be your mother, she will attack you on sight! By the way, we have been having everyone who is not a zombie either sleep alone in a building, or else sleep in Mylene’s barn. Mylene has devised an interesting solution of using boxes, barrels, and crates to create individual sleeping compartments to ensure nobody would get attacked by any zombies while they slept.”

At that, the sisters, with Jorgio in tow, went off to find their father. Herschel invited the other four adventurers, Falafela, Douag, Vandin, and Vox, into his cottage for some spiced pumpkin ale. When all were seated within the cottage, Herschel mentioned how Mylene had fashioned some long forked sticks that could be used to herd the zombies. He also mentioned how the town blacksmith, Aslan Valkyie, fashioned some iron rings that he attached to the ends of the forks to hold a rope in a loop until it was dropped over the head of a zombie and then the rope could be pulled tight to further confine said zombie. Herschel said, “We use two or three of those forked sticks to control a zombie, then we moved them around until we could put them up in a safe place. I also had to use a couple of entangle spells to confine some roaming zombies, causing various plants to grow and twist themselves around zombie legs, until we could get the forked sticks on them.” The party then noted how they had seen one of the forked sticks leaning against the front of Herschel’s cottage, and they had all guessed that’s what its purpose was.

Since the party had arrived in town after sunrise, it was too late to start brewing a healing portion using the pendant and chalice, so the four guests chatted some more with Herschel. Falafela said, “After we brew a potion, I think it would too risky to try to pour it down the throats of the zombies without risking getting bitten. Does anyone in the village have any small bottles we could pour the potion into from the chalice?” Herschel said, that’s a very good question. I do believe the goatherd, Rivatha Kafar, has small bottles as you suggest. He sometimes sells some goat’s milk in small bottles, and of course, he always wants the bottles returned so he can use them again and again. We shall go over and ask him.”

Leaving Vox behind to rest in Herschel’s cottage, the others walked over to Rivatha’s home. Rivatha lived immediately behind the home of the Deathmars, and Vilan Deathmar, who had been standing in front of his home talking with his daughters and with Jorgio, came over to talk to the others as they were about to pass on by. “Thanks to all of you for finding a cure! I sure hope it works! Life has had lots of surprises lately, what with many villagers becoming zombies, even my dear wife (Vilan had to supress tears when he mentioned his wife), and then I find my eldest daughter wants to take a husband. I have given my approval for the union, although I want Vilanious to also give permission.” Herschel raised an eyebrow and a slight smile came upon his lips. “Ah, so Flenda is getting married. May I guess it is to this young man standing by her side?” Herschel indicated Jorgio as he spoke. “I thought something was up, what with the way those two were casting sly glances at each other!” Then, after a few more pleasantries, the party moved on.

When they came to Rivatha’s home, they knocked on the door and were pleased that a normal, unaffected human answered the door. It was Rivatha’s wife, Niccius. She invited the party in, but asked them all to please wipe their feet on the door mat, as most of the village was still muddy from yesterday’s strong rain. Inside the home, Herschel detailed the plan to create a healing potion, and that they would need to use some small bottles to make it easier to give individual doses to the zombies. Niccius said she would be glad to contribute in any way she could, and would get to washing and boiling the bottles straightaways.

After that, plans were made for Herschel to start the potion at sunrise of the next day. The bottles were all taken to Herschel’s by Rivatha later in the day. The other party members of Vandin, Douag, and Falafela, returned with Herschel to his house. They fetched Vox, helped him to mount Horse, then led Vox and Horse to Mylene Ackmard’s barn. Mylene’s face really lit up when she saw the horse that Vox was riding, but then she said, “Oh, darn! Why is it that when we finally get a horse in town that it’s not a draught horse?” After an exchange of greetings, Mylene was glad to stable Vox’s horse, and gave him a good feed of some oats after unsaddling him and giving him a rubdown and a thorough brushing. It was arranged for the party to stay in a corner of the stable, on the ground floor, instead of their old sleeping spot upstairs, as Vox was in no condition to climb ladders.

Once everything was planned out for the morrow, the party ate a good meal that Mylene prepared for them. While Jorgio had eaten a hearty dinner at Flenda’s home, with Flenda doing most of the cooking (although she had Jorgio peel some potatoes and carrots), Jorgio joined his companions at Mylene’s when it came time to go to sleep.

Tags: Anshar Forest, Aslan Valkyrie, Baduk Soderman, Beefa Lidorn, Blushing Trout, Cardon Dragone, Crystal Shores, Douag, Falafela, Flenda, Garzan, Gwenette, Herschel Gobinmyer, Jorgio, Karnack, Koban Hairfoot, Lido Lidorn, Lightstep, Loftus Furrowbrow, Melchar Furrowbrow, Mont du Plat, Moosecavelli Wirth, Mylene Ackmard, Niccius Kafar, Opalent, Pendant of Winstone, Rivatha Kafar, Sathe Lidorn, Simius Soderman, Tavern of the Cracked Mug, Tureg, Vandin, Vilan Deathmar, Vilanious Deathmar, Vinar Furrowbrow, Vox, Wider Velder, zombies
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Return Journey to Crystal Shores

August 2nd, 2022

(This is more of the adventures of Douag, Falafela, Lightstep, Opalent, Vandin, and Vox using the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition rules.)

Day #2-32 (Waterday, 12th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): The party of Douag, Falafela, Flenda and Gwenette Deathmar, Jorgio, Lightstep, Opalent, Vandin Lakesplitter, and Vox the Just awoke shortly after sunrise, which was around 5:20 am. They ate a solemn breakfast of cold cereal and milk, and then they all went to see Karnack after they had eaten their fill, as word was passed to them during breakfast that Karnack had translated the scroll from Koban Hairfoot’s tomb. While Tureg joined the others for breakfast, he told them at that time that he was going to leave the adventuring life, and would somehow return to his home village of Garzan, which was next to the Burntface Volcano. Tureg then repaired to his own quarters and did not join the others when they went to see Karnack.

“Good morning!” said Karnack when the party had arrived. Standing next to Karnack was the ranger, Clayton. “Excellent news! We have determined what the scroll has to say. You all remember this, no doubt?” As he said that, Karnack passed the original scroll to the party members, or at least Clayton took the scroll from Karnack and showed it to the party members. Here is what that scroll looked like:

The scroll that was recovered from the Tomb of Koban Hairfoot

After every party member had refreshed their memory of the scroll, Karnack read them the translation:

“Behold the wondrous power of the Pendant of Winstone. It holds the cure to many diseases if only it is used properly.

To fully effect a cure you must use the Pendant with a pure gold chalice of a high value. It must not be adulturated with any base metals although it may be adorned with jewels of high value.

To use the Pendant fill the chalice with pure water. Then dip the Pendant into the chalice and leave it there from sunrise to sundown all the while keeping pure beeswax candles burning on either side of the chalice.

After sundown, the elixer is ready for consumption. Allow each of the afflicted to take one mouthful only of the elixer from the chalice and to swallow the elixir. The imbiber will be cured within one hour. They should not be active during the curing period but should rest easy.

Beware that the Pendant of Winstone cannot perform unlimited cures. When it reaches its limit of cures its stone will turn from glossy jet black to a dull gray.”

Karnack then looked up. “That appears to be all there is to it. Lightstep, you retrieved two candles from the tomb. Do you know if they are beeswax candles?” Falafela answered, “Actually, I carried the candlesticks and candles. I do not know if they are beeswax or not.” Karnack then continued, “OK, we will have to ensure you take a goodly supply of beeswax candles with you.”

The party then thanked Karnack profusely. The sisters Flenda and Gwenette, in particular, went up to Karnack and hugged and kissed him, which embarrassed Karnack just a bit. Then, the party said their goodbyes to Karnack and Clayton. Clayton said, “Have a safe trip. Make sure to keep the Braztook Hills on your left. Head due south until you reach the east-west road between Fenshaft and Ganzir-Galad, then veer to the southwest and make for the Alder Thicket. Good luck!” The party then also thanked Clayton again for his assistance in retrieving the Pendant of Winstone from the Tomb of Koban Hairfoot.

Most of the party’s backpacks were already packed for traveling, although they of necessity went to the mess hall and topped off their supply of iron rations (hard biscuits and jerky) for traveling. The party did pay for this food, although they had been fed for free during their stay at the castle. The party also purchased some more torches, even though they might not need them in the near future. The party then went to say their good-byes to Tureg, and then they assisted Vox to mount his horse, which one of the stable boys had obediantly saddled and fetched from the stable. The stable boy also gave a quick lesson in how to saddle the horse, and how to arrange the bit and bridle, then by 9 o’clock, they were on their way out of the castle.

Fortunately, the light riding horse that was purchased for Vox was quite tame, and it easily followed along with the other travellers who were all afoot. The party met the north-south road than ran south from Bridgefields after a few miles, then followed that road for about another five miles before turning towards the southwest. After about 15 miles of total travel for the day, the party camped near the road that ran to the west towards Ganzir-Galad. It had been a pleasant day of travel, with temperatures in the low 70s and with low humidity.

The party figured they weren’t in much danger, so they only posted one guard at a time. The watch order was set as: Falafela, Vandin, Douag, Lightstep, Opalent, Flenda, Jorgio, Gwenette, and Vox. Vox tied his horse to a nearby tree. Other folks gathered up some tall grass and brought it over for the horse to eat. Gwenette asked, “Hey, Vox! What’s this horse’s name?” Vox answered, “I didn’t think to ask. I guess I’ll just call him “Horse.” Since the horse was a gelding, that seemed good enough. Finally, when it got dark after 6:30 pm, most of the party slept except for the guard on duty.

Day #2-33 (Earthday, 13th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): Sometime after midnight, Flenda awoke. She thought to herself, “It seems like someone should have woke me before now to stand my guard shift.” She quietly got up and tried to look around, but the moon had already set, and the scattered clouds were obscuring some of the starlight. After Flenda accustomed her eyes to the dark for a minute or two, she quietly walked around the campsite, looking for Opalent, who was to have stood the watch before Flenda and who should have waken Flenda to stand the next watch. Flenda then walked around the camp, loudly whispering, “Opalent! Where are you!?” After circling the camp three times without receiving a response, Flenda then woke everyone else in camp. A quick head count revealed that not only was Opalent missing, but so was Lightstep! Douag quickly and gruffly said, “I woke Lightstep to serve the next watch, then I fell asleep! I don’t know what happened!” Flenda suddenly realized that Lightstep was carrying the Pendant of Winstone and the golden chalice, both of which were needed to effect the cure for the zombie curse that was afflicting her home village of Crystal Shores! Flenda blurted out, “We have to find them! They’ve taken the pendant and the chalice! We need those to help my friends in my village!” Gwenette said, “Light some torches, let’s see what we can find.”

The party did light two torches, and the first thing they noticed was that both the Pendant of Winstone and the golden chalice had been left right in the middle of their camp, and had not been taken away. The Necklace of Harbinge was not there, though, so presumably it was still around Lightstep’s neck. Flenda and Gwenette and Falafela circled the camp, looking for footprints in the dewy grass. They found the party’s footsteps coming from the northeast, but the only other footprints they found that led away from camp went straight to the road between Ganzir-Galad and Fenshaft. Jorgio said, “I’ll bet they didn’t go toward Fenshaft. Don’t you remember Tureg saying it was populated by goblins!?” The party agreed that Lightstep and Opalent must have headed off towards Ganzir-Galad, at least for a while, but they didn’t feel they had any time to track them down. As there was no evidence of any other tracks, the party concluded that the missing duo were not missing due to any foul play, but had just left of their own free will.

Since it was still a couple of hours before dawn, the party settled back down and tried to get as much more rest as they could, but hardly anyone could really get to sleep, as they all were wondering just what the heck had happened to Lightstep and Opalent.

Finally, the sun arose around quarter after five (of course, these times are all estimates, as nobody back then was wearing a watch!), and the party awoke and hastily ate some hardtack and jerky. Jorgio said, “I’ll be glad to get back to civilization where I can eat some real food!” There were several grunts of approval from the others. After the quick meal, Flenda and Gwenette helped Vox get his horse saddled, then they helped him mount his horse, then the party resumed their travel towards Crystal Shores.

The party crossed the road that ran between Ganzir-Galad and Fenshaft, then continued on towards the southwest, keeping the Braztook Hills near to their left. As the party crossed the road, Flenda and Gwenette scouted the road for about a quarter-mile in each direction. Flenda went towards the west, towards Ganzir-Galad, and Gwenette scouted towards Fenshaft, towards the east. After they were done scouting, they hurried to rejoin the party. Gwenette said, “Opalent and Lightstep did not head towards Fenshaft, or at least if they did, they did not follow the road.” Flenda then spoke,saying, “I found both of their tracks heading down the road towards Ganzir-Galad. A couple of times their tracks veered off the road but then came back on to the road a few yards farther down. I guess they had their reasons for leaving us, but it would have been nice of them to have said good-bye!”

As the party trudged on towards the southwest, the temperature kept getting warmer, and the humidity increased sharply. All were dripping in sweat, and of neccessity took more breaks than usual. Fortunately for them, too, was the fact that it was still spring, and so all of the little streams and rivulets that they encountered were full of fresh water. Finally, they left the Braztook Hills behind and headed straight for the Alder Thicket. Although it was only about four o’clock in the afternoon when they reached the edge of the thicket, they decided to camp on the edge of that jungle, rather than try to cover any more distance that day. Flenda and Gwenette made a bit of protest, as they still wanted to press on while there was daylight remaining, as they wanted to get home as soon as possible. They even begged for the others to give them the Pendant of Winstone and the golden chalice to carry so they could hurry ahead, but the others talked them out of that idea, saying it was important to stay together right now because they couldn’t be sure what would be encountered not only in Crystal Shores, but also in Mont du Plat when they passed through that latter village.

The party settled into camp, Flenda and Gwenette helped Vox to dismount his horse, then the sisters unsaddled “Horse,” as that was the horse’s name. Then they pulled up some long grass and gave Horse a thorough rubdown. Horse enjoyed that immensely. Vox was a little alarmed when the girls took the tether off Horse and let him wander a bit, so he could graze. Horse also rolled around in the grass after eating, then he came back to the party and was re-tethered to a tree. The party set the night’s watch order as: Falafela, Vandin, Douag, Flenda, Jorgio, Gwenette, and Vox. The rest of the night passed uneventfully.

Day #2-34 (Fireday, 14th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): Soon after the party awoke the next morning, while everyone was eating their customary hardtack and jerky, Jorgio stood to make an announcement. He made a gesture for Flenda to join him, and so she rose and stood by his side. Jorgio looked very solemn, “Ladies and gentlemen, I just wanted you all to know that Flenda has consented to be my bride! We plan to marry as soon as we can get her parents’ permission.” Flenda, who didn’t embarrass easily, felt her cheeks flush at the announcment. Everyone else, except Vox, who still coudn’t stand on his own, got up and congratulated the couple. Flenda then added, “He asked me when we were watching over the cyclops, while we were waiting for you all to make a reappearance. At first I told him I’d have to think about it, just to leave him hanging for a while. But I couldn’t wait more than 10 minutes before I said yes!” Gwenette then went out of camp and picked some wildflowers for Flenda’s hair, fashioning the flower stems to make a sort of tiara. Gwenette then helped weave the stems into Flenda’s hair.

For a moment, the sisters Flenda and Gwenette forgot about their hurry to return home, as they shared some sisterly hugs. Then Douag spoke, “Ladies! Don’t forget we still have a ways to travel. We should be on our way. I think it is going to storm today.” Indeed, the morning was humid and still, and what sky could be seen to the west was filled with dark, towering clouds. So Flenda and Gwenette saddled Vox’s horse, and while Flenda and Vandin were helping Vox mount Horse, Gwenette fed Horse the roots of some lacy plants she had pulled up at the same time she was gathering flowers.

The party pushed on into the jungle of Alder Thicket. They had made about 10 miles by around 3 p.m, when the clouds loosed a terrific thunderstorm upon them. About 10 minutes before the rain fell, the wind had picked up considerably, waving even large trees in its breeze. The party had just passed through Mont du Plat about the time the wind starting blowing, and they had crossed over to the south side of the south branch of the River Bushkill. They had not seen anything moving in the humid heat of Mont du Plat as they passed through, and they hadn’t been in any mood to investigate matters in that ville. When the rain came, a couple of party members wanted to return to Mont du Plat to seek shelter, but the others, particularly Flenda and Gwenette, ruled that out. Flenda said, “We have to get home first! Besides, who knows how many zombies may be hiding inside some of the buildings in Mont du Plat!?”

So the party continued marching alongside the river, but after another 10 minutes the rain came down so hard that nobody could see for more than a few feet in front of them. Vandin held his shield over his head for shelter until his arms were going numb from holding the shield in that unnatural position. Vandin yelled over the fury of the storm, “We need to stop for a while and wait this out!” So the party sheltered under some large trees that held off some of the hardest rain. Flenda and Gwenette helped Vox to dismount, then the girls were both trying to calm Horse, as he was getting spooked by the lightning flashes and the boom of the following thunder.

Finally, after an hour or so, the storm subsided as quickly as it had come on. As the storm left, so did the high humidity, for which everyone was thankful. The river was rushing much faster than before, heading towards Crystal Shores. Falafela said, “You know, if we had a boat, we would probably be in Crystal Shores in 15 minutes, the way the water is rushing so fast!” Douag countered, “Or else we’d all be drowned when the boat flipped when it hit a submerged rock!” The party then tried to shake off as much water as they could before continuing on, but after they had marched only another couple of miles, they were all feeling chilled.

Vandin and Falafela both chimed in about the same time. “The next clearing we come across, we should make camp and try to get a fire going.” “Yeah, we also should camp because it will be dark by the time we get to Crystal Shores, and since we’re not sure what to expect, I wouldn’t want to walk into a situation where the entire village was full of wandering zombies in the dark, and we’d all be exhausted and maybe too tired to fight them off!” So, despite the pleas and tears of Flenda and Gwenette, the party made camp another mile along the trail. Although the ground was thoroughly soaked, some party members, directed by Falafela, gathered up some moss and small logs to make places to sit that were off the ground. Then everyone except Vox gathered some logs for a fire. Then the battle axe of Douag was employed as a woodsman’s axe, splittling logs for a fire. Although it took some doing, with Falafela directing others as to how to find dry logs that had been under various forms of cover, eventually a fair amount of firewood was cut and stacked. Then Falafela, using her former forester skills (before she turned to thieving), kindled a fire. She did admit to cheating by first lighting one of their pitch-impregnated wooden torches, but that torch did a wonderful job of getting some kindling going, then larger and larger sticks, and then logs, until at last a quite warm and satisfying fire was built.

The sisters Flenda and Gwenette then turned their attention to Horse, rubbing him down as best they could. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much available to feed Horse as there was no grass or grain in the area of the camp, seeing as how it was in the middle of a jungle, and he eschewed the leaves that were offered him. Gwenette said, “Well, it probably won’t hurt Horse too much to go hungry for a night.” Vox then asked, “How do you two know so much about horses?” Flenda answered, “Do you remember when we met up with Jenn Jise and some other fellows on our way to Karnack’s? Do you remember us saying that our father used to ride with those rascals? Well, as young girls we got to attend to various horses. Although we don’t own any horses now ourselves, we are quite at home among them!” Gwenette added, “Yeah. Flenda, I think we need to acquire a couple of horses for ourselves, as all of this walking about is for the birds! Why should we walk when we could ride!” She said that last sentence with a wink of her eye, while gesturing towards Horse. “Wait a minute!” said Vox. “I paid for that horse, fair and square. He’s mine! You’ll have to teach me how to care for him, assuming I get cured, of course.” Gwenette quickly put Vox’s mind at ease. “Oh, don’t worry, we’re not going to take your horse. We should get our own horses, though. We also need to get some draft horses for Mylene, so she can start a caravan service to our village.”

Then sunset came, and the party settled in for their last night before they would finally arrive back in Crystal Shores. They decided that since they were about midway between both Crystal Shores and Mont du Plat, they had better have two guards awake at all times. So they set the watch order as: Falafela and Vandin, then Douag and Vox, then Flenda and Jorgio, and finally Gwenette and Falafala (again). They also improvised a barrier of branches and brambles around their camp, just to make it harder for anyone or anything to be able to sneak in unnoticed. Then they all got as much rest as they could.

Tags: Alder Thicket, Braztook Hills, Burntface Volcano, Clayton, Crystal Shores, Douag, Falafela, Fenshaft, Flenda, Flenda and Gwenette Deathmar, Ganzir-Galad, Garzan, Gwenette, Jenn Jise, Jorgio, Jorgio and Flenda engagement announcement, Karnack, Koban Hairfoot's tomb, Lightstep, Mont du Plat, Mylene, Opalent, Pendant of Winstone, River Bushkill, Tureg, Vandin, Vandin Lakesplitter, Vox, Vox the Just
Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, Role-Playing Games | Comments Closed

Back at Karnack’s Castle

August 2nd, 2022

Although the following post was part of an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign way back in 2015-2016, your friendly Dungeon Master somehow stopped posting updates after the “Tomb of Koban Hairfoot – part 4” post. So here is more of that adventure, even if it is posted six years after when these events were played out!

Day #2-30 (Spiritday, 10th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): After making it back to Karnack’s castle after having gone through the harrowing experience in the underground tomb of Koban Hairfoot, after the wounded were tended to and the scroll that possibly described how to use the Pendant of Winstone was forwarded to Karnack, the party all fell into a deep, restful sleep. In fact, while they had arrived back at the castle around noon, they were all asleep by 1:00 pm, and they all slept until well after dark.

Dungeon Master’s interlude:

Experience Points: The party racked up a fair amount of Experience Points (XP) on the adventure to the Tomb of Koban Hairfoot. They retrieved the Necklace of Harbinge, which was worth 350 Gold Pieces (GP), also the Pendant of Winstone, worth 700 GP, a fine golden chalice worth 300 GP, and two gold candlesticks, worth 20 GP each (or 40 GP total. They also found a scroll that yielded an explanation of how to use the Pendant of Winstone, that scroll was worth 100 GP. They also recovered a book that described a workout regimen that was worth 5 GP. So, treasure recovered accounted for 1,495 GP, or 1,495 XP.

As far as defeating monsters, the party was able to fool the cyclops both on their way in to and out of the dungeon. The cyclops had a total XP value of 4,832 XP; however, since they didn’t totally defeat it, the party will be awarded 10% of the value of the cyclops for each time they fooled it, in other words, they earned 483 XP x 2 = 966 XP. There were 5 undead skeletons that were destroyed in the room with Reedus’ coffin; those skeletons were worth a total of 100 XP. There was also the wight (Reedus, himself?) that was finally destroyed by Koban Hairfoot; 640 XP are awarded to the party for that wight. There were also 6 skeletal monks that were encountered but that the party did not need to fight; 30 XP were given for that encounter, especially as the party treated the skeletal monks with reverence and did not attack them (nor did the monks attack the party). There was also the matter of Lightstep praying over the bones of Koban Hairfoot; that was worth 50 XP. So, the total XP awarded for “monsters” was 1,786.

Total XP earned was thus 1,495 + 1,786 = 3,281 XP. There were of course some odd divisions of the XP. Flenda and Jorgio, for example, only shared in the XP from fooling the cyclops both times. They did not encounter anything in the dungeon itself, so did not earn any XP for anything else. Tureg was near-mortally wounded by the skeletons in the room with Reedus’ coffin, so Tureg only earned XP up to that point. Vox had earned some XP (226 XP, actually) up to the point of when he was struck by the wight. When he was struck, he lost those XP and also his previously earned 309 XP. So then Vox went to 0 XP, and could not earn any more XP.

When all of the calculating was done, here is how the XP were awarded (remember that Player Characters (Douag, Falafela, Lightstep, Opalent, Vandin, (Vox)) got full shares, while Non-Player Characters (Clayton, Flenda, Gwenette, Jorgio, Tureg) only received half shares. PC XP: Douag (515 XP, includes a 10% bonus for his 16 Strength); Falafela (469 XP); Lightstep (515 XP, includes a 10% bonus for excellent play of a cleric, what with praying over Koban Hairfoot and over slain foes); Opalent (469 XP); Vandin (469 XP). NPC XP: Clayton (234 XP); Flenda (63 XP); Jorgio (63 XP); Gwenette (234 XP); Tureg (67 XP).

The PC (PCs are bold) & NPC XP now stands at: Clayton 2,485 (Clayton is a Level 2 Ranger); Lightstep 1,120; Vandin 1,045; Falafela 1,035; Opalent 1,035; Douag 515; Tureg 338; Gwenette 295; Flenda 137; Jorgio 124; Pangborn 31; Vox 0.

(We now return you to your regular narrative.)

When the party awoke, the first thing the halfling cleric Lightstep did was to pray for new spells. He in fact prayed for three cure iight wounds spells, and when he had received the spells from his deity, he cast them upon the dwarven fighter Vandin Lakesplitter, then upon the human fighter Vox the Just, then upon the dwarven fighter Douag. The three spells cured all of the wounds of those three vailant fighters, except that Vox was still overcome by extreme fatigue.

Then the above party members, along with their companions Falafela, Flenda, Gwenette, and Jorgio, were escorted to the mess hall for a quick bite to eat that consisted of re-heated lamb stew, with strong brew to cleanse the palates of those who choose to partake of such beverages. Vox, it should be noted, still needed assistance to be able to walk. The near mortally wounded dwarven fighter Tureg was left to continue his rest, as he had not yet regained conciousness. After the quick meal, the party was ushered to Karnack’s chamber in the northeast castle tower.

When the party were all seated before Karnack, he spoke. “Clayton tells me you had success in finding the Pendant of Winstone. Excellent! He also tells me you ran into a very foul creature that struck yon Vox a damaging blow, and that the bones of Koban Hairfoot himself came back to life to slay the creature! What an adventure that must have been! Please, tell me more about what transpired at the tomb of Koban Hairfoot.”

Everyone tried to respond at once, then Karnack held up his hand and calmly stated, “Please! One at a time!” After each person had given a short report of what they had experienced in the dungeon, Karnack asked, “Clayton also told me about the library you found, and that it had an abundance of books and tomes. Would any of you like to stay on and lead an expedition to recover all of those books and bring them to this castle?” While several party members were shaking their heads “no” to Karnack’s request, Gwenette spoke up and said, “While I understand how books are quite important to your work as a sage, you must understand that my first loyalty is to my family and my village. I would like to return to my village as quickly as is possible, as I feel my parents are in grave danger from the zombie curse that has befallen them!” Karnack said, “Very well said. I indeed understand.” He did not bring up the subject of the books again after that.

Karnack then mentioned Vox again. “I understand that Vox is too weak to walk. Could someone please describe that foul creature you encountered that struck Vox? And Vox, how did you feel when it struck you?” Lightfoot answered, “The creature was human sized, mostly just a skeleton covered with the disingrated rags of clothes he must have once worn. It also had some bits of flesh still attached to his bones in places.” Vox described that it felt like “an overpowering tingling sensation that caused a moment’s paralysis” when he was struck by the creature. After pondering the matter for a moment, Karnack said, “Hmmmm, I wonder if it was a wight that struck poor Vox. Vox, if it was a wight, and it struck you twice, you are exceedingly lucky to still be alive! You should count your blessings, my boy!”

Karnack then asked the question, “How do you all plan to transport him back to Crystal Shores?” as he pointed at Vox. Some party members suggested that Vox should obtain a horse. Lightstep asked Karnack if he could spare one of the horses from the castle for Vox, but Karnack replied, “I cannot spare any of the horses from my guards, or even any of the work horses. However, I could send an agent to the nearby village of Bridgefields and purchase a horse for Vox. I believe we could get him a light riding horse, a basic saddle, with appropriate tack, for about 40 gold pieces.” So Vox handed over some of his money to Karnack, to make the horse buy happen on the morrow.

Karnack then mentioned how neither he nor his scribes had as of yet been able to decipher the unknown runes on the scroll, but that they had been working on it all day long. Karnack said, “We first need to deteermine what language it is written in, and then we may be able to translate it. As it is now getting very late, my scribes and I will soon retire for the night, but will make a fresh start in the morning. Although you all have been sleeping most of the day, you should all try to get some more rest for the balance of the night.” After that, Karnack dismissed them back to their quarters.

Day #2-31 (Airday, 11th Dewsnap, 4333 BCCC): It was probably around 3:00 am on 11th Dewsnap before the last party member fell asleep. Tureg, they were told, had still not regained conciousness during their brief meeting with Karnack late in the evening of 10th Dewsnap.

The party all awoke near to 9 o’clock in the morning. They had an exceedingly filling breakfast of hotcakes with bacon, using some honey as a sweetener for the hotcakes. Mostly the party just hung around the castle, although Lightstep and Opalent did go for a short walk outside the castle just after lunch. Falafela also visited the craft room and spoke some more with Makurrh, the tinker at the castle.

Around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Vox’s new horse arrived from Bridgefields. It was a bay horse, mostly dark brown with black lower legs and mane and tail. It also had a short white stripe on its forehead. It came with a small saddle, and with reins and a bridle and bit. It was stabled in the castle, although Vox was taken to meet the horse and to feed it some carrots.

Shortly thereafter, Tureg awoke from his coma. He sat up and looked around. He appeared to be confused. After a moment, he weakly spoke to the nurse who was attending to him, “Where am I? How did I get here?” The nurse answered, “You went adventuring with some friends. You were gravely injured in battle, and your friends brought your here yesterday morning. You are in the castle of Karnack the Sage.” Tureg then stated, flatly, “I am very thirsty, and a little hungry. May I please have something to eat and drink?” He then laid back down, although he kept his eyes open. The nurse briefly left the room and asked someone outside the room to bring Tureg some hot soup from the kitchen. The nurse then told Tureg, “I sent for some soup. Just wait a couple of moments.” Tureg then gave a little sigh, and closed his eyes, although he did not fall asleep. In a few moments, some hot chicken noodle soup arrived, and the nurse helped him eat.

Just after supper time, Karnack summoned the party (sans Tureg) to his chambers. Karnack sounded cheerful. “I have some good news! We have determined the language on the scroll. It is a derivative of a language that was once used by a vanished race who once lived in the Ghinor area. We believe we will now be able to decipher the scroll, although we have not yet completed that task.” The party’s faces all brightened upon hearing that news, especially those of Flenda and Gwenette. Flenda said, “Karnack, do you have any idea of how long it might take to finish translating the scroll?” Karnack answered, “We are hoping to complete it this evening, but it might not be until tomorrow sometime. I don’t believe it will take us any longer than that.”

Karnack then related, “I have some more good news. Your colleague Tureg has regained conciousness. He was able to eat some soup around supper time.” The party then departed, with Lightstep leading the procession towards Tureg’s chamber. When Lightstep arrived at Tureg’s bedside, Lightstep cast a cure light wounds spell, and it healed the 5 damage points that had been afflicting Tureg.

After sunset, the party had a light snack in the mess hall, then retired for the evening.

(to be continued)

Tags: Bridgefields, Clayton, Crystal Shores, cyclops, Douag, Falafela, Flenda, Ghinor, Gwenette, Jorgio, Karnack, Karnack the Sage, Karnack's castle, Koban Hairfoot, Lightstep, Necklace of Harbinge, Opalent, Pangborn, Pendant of Winstone, Reedus, skeletons, Tomb of Koban Hairfoot, Tureg, Vandin, Vandin Lakesplitter, Vox, Vox the Just, wight
Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, Role-Playing Games | Comments Closed

Board Gaming and Covid

October 13th, 2020

Well, it’s only been since August 2019 that I last posted anything at this blog. I guess in late 2019 I sort of got tired of board games for a short while, and also in late 2019 I was trying to get back into playing music as a friend was trying to form a “classic country” band. We had a tough time trying to find musicians in late 2019, and then of course around March 2020 we had the covid-19 crisis, and NOBODY wanted to get together to rehearse. Also in late 2019 I was looking for local (southeast Michigan) venues where a classic country band could play. One of the places I found online was the Kentuckians of Michigan club. It is in Romulus, close to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. But of course the club was closed in early 2020 when all entertainment venues got shut down due to covid.

In late April 2020 I got into playing Advanced Civilization online. This was based on the old Avalon Hill board game, and not to be confused with any computer-style games that use “Civilization” in their name. It was great for a while, and I was playing in five different games of AdvCiv at the same time. But then as the games went along, they bogged down as some players either took as long as they could to respond before their turn timed-out, or else they stopped responding entirely. It then took a number of missed turns by those miscreants before they were finally booted out of the game(s), and then finally some other user could take over their games. I started playing in the online games in mid-April, but by early October I got tired of the non-responsive players, so I quit all of the games I had been playing in. It was too difficult to keep one’s interest up when the games dragged on and on and on. It was around June that I remarked to a friend that the games would probably go until Christmas, but by October I reconsidered, and figured the games would probably still be going by April 2021!

But what has really kept me playing board games online is playing Close Action. Josh from Australia got a scenario (Martinique) of Close Action going online in late March 2020, and I joined in and played in that scenario. There were 18 British Ships versus 18 French ships, and I commanded the French ship Marseillois. The British tried to double the head of the French line, but were unable to do so, as we French managed to keep our formation fairly well intact. The French ended up winning the scenario, having dealt out more damage to the British than the British gave to the French.

After that, I started running Close Action online. I decided to try to run the scenarios in chronological order, partially because I always wanted to try a particular scenario that involved anchored ships (and that would have been sort of boring to play face-to-face because the anchored ships don’t have anything to do for a number of game-turns), but also because I wanted to start with a smaller scenario so I could get the routine down of how to organize records, logs, maps, etc. As of October 13, I am running the Monsoon Seas scenario 2A. I previously ran Monsoon Seas scenarios 1 and 2B.

I also wanted to try to play some bicycle racing games online, particularly the “Leader 1” series of games, but that is now on the back burner. I was also working on trying to create a Championship Formula Racing module for Vassal, but that also has fallen off my radar for now.

Tags: Advanced Civilization, Avalon Hill, Championship Formula Racing, classic country, Close Action, covid, covid-19, Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Kentuckians of Michigan, Leader 1, Marseillois, Martinique, Monsoon Seas, Romulus, Vassal
Posted in Board Games, Music | Comments Closed

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #5: Michigan Grand Prix

August 9th, 2019

The Michigan Grand Prix took place on Saturday, July 13, 2019, at the Guild of Blades game store in Clawson, Michigan. Thirteen drivers participated, and at the end of the race it was found that Bill Worrel had won his third race of the season, edging out Mike Cook at the finish line. Completing the podium, in 3rd place, was Garry Kaluzny. There were three DNFs during the race, one crash and two brake failures.

The track was the downtown Detroit track that was raced by Formula 1 beginning in the early 1980s, and later raced by CART (IndyCars). We of the CFR-Detroit boardgame racing community have decided to annually alternate our races between the downtown Detroit and the Belle Isle tracks, so this year it was the turn to race on the downtown circuit.

Downtown Detroit track, used by F1 from 1983-1988. Used by CFR-Detroit in 2017 and 2019.

As a reminder, drivers bid for starting position by bidding some of their wear and/or skill chits, with each wear counting as 1.0 and each skill counting as 0.5 towards their qualifying bid.

Qualifying

Bill Worrel (1 wear + 24 skill) snatched the pole position with an astronomical bid of 13.0; however, he had to do it the hard way as Mike Cook (1 wear + 24 skill) also bid 13.0. In the resulting dice-off, Worrel prevailed with a roll of ’98’ to Cook’s ’58,’ hence Worrel was on the pole and Cook started 2nd. Jack Beckman (5 wear + 15 skill) bid 12.5; he started 3rd. Garry Kaluzny (4 wear + 10 skill) bid 9.0, earning him 4th spot on the starting grid. Kaluzny said that he thought a bid of 9.0 would have been enough for at least the front row, if not pole position! Mark Moellering (5 wear + 7 skill), after gaining the pole position in the last two races, had to settle for starting 5th at Detroit after bidding 8.5. Richard White (3 wear + 10 skill) bid 8.0 to start 6th. Greg Lim (0 wear + 12 skill) and Gary Sturgeon (0 wear + 12 skill) each bid 6.0. Lim won the dice-off by ’95’ to ’22’ and so Lim started 7th and Sturgeon started 8th.

Jim Robinson (2 wear + 6 skill) and Mike St. Peter (3 wear + 4 skill) each bid 5.0; Robinson won the dice toss ’44’ to ’22’ and so Robinson started 9th and St. Peter started 10th. Aric Parr (0 wear + 6 skill) started 11th after bidding 3.0. Mickey Akins (0 wear + 1 skill) and Jim Landis (0 wear + 1 skill) each bid only 0.5; Akins rolled ’85’ and Landis rolled ’81’ and so Akins started 12th and Landis was 13th on the grid.

Note: Jim Robinson won the pole at the downtown Detroit track in 2017 with a bid of 8.0 (2 wear + 12 skill). There were four other drivers who bid 6.0 that year. Bidding 8.0 in 2019 would have only been good enough to start 6th!

The starting grid for the 2019 Michigan Grand Prix with their car specs:

 # Driver (Car)                    Start/Accel/Decel/Top/Wear/Skill/Tires
 1 Bill Worrel (Ferrari)            100   20    20   140  5x   5x   soft
11 Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)          100   20    20   140  5x   5x   soft
 2 Jack Beckman (Ferrari)           100   20    20   140  5x   5x   soft
 8 Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 4 Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)         60   40    20   140  5x   5x   hard
 7 Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 0 Greg Lim (Williams)               60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
12 Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)       60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 6 Jim Robinson (Williams)           60   40    40   140  5x   4x   hard
 9 Mike St. Peter (McLaren)          60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
10 Aric Parr (McLaren)               20   40    60   140  5x   4x   hard
27 Mickey Akins (Renault)            60   40    60   140  5x   3x   hard
20 Jim Landis (Benetton)             60   60    60   140  5x   2x   hard

Start = Start Speed (in miles/hour); Accel = Acceleration (in mph); Decel = Deceleration (in mph); Top = Top Speed (in mph); Wear = # of Wear markers (per lap); Skill = # of Skill markers (per lap); Tires = hard or soft tires to begin the race.

Starting grid at Detroit: 1st row: Worrel (red) & Cook (yellow); 2nd row: Beckman (red) & Kaluzny (white/orange); 3rd row: Moellering (blue/white) & White (white/orange); 4th row: Lim (white/yellow/blue) & Sturgeon (yellow); 5th row: Robinson (white/yellow/blue) & St. Peter (orange); 6th row: Parr (orange) & Akins (black/yellow); 7th row: Landis (green/yellow). All drivers will ignore the chicane in the middle of the grid until after all drivers have cleared that chicane on the start.

It should be noted that Mickey Akins switched from driving a Fiat Ferrari to driving a Renault for this race. He did keep his same number 27 on his new car.

It should also be noted that the first three starters all had 100 mph start speeds. Since such a high start speed would have been wasted on a track with only a 2-wide starting area if they started behind cars with slower starting speeds, those cars all bid high to ensure starting up front. In fact, both Worrel and Cook had bid all of their skill markers, including all of their -3 chits! The problem then becomes for the other drivers, how to worry those leaders into having to roll some dice. Another item of interest is that the three top qualifiers only had acceleration and deceleration values of 20 mph.

1st Lap

As expected, at the start of the race, the top three qualifiers (with their 100 mph start speeds) shot out of the gate like scared jackrabbits. Worrel & Cook, on the front row and on soft tires, each used a wear to boost their starting speed to 120 mph, moving 6 spaces and with both cars making it into the first corner on the track. In the 2nd row, Beckman also used a wear to go 120 mph, and Kaluzny used a wear to get to 80 mph (Kaluzny only had the “normal” start speed of 60 mph). In the 3rd row, Moellering, the inside car, rolled dice to increase his start speed since he had already spent 5 wear in qualifying. He used a -3 skill chit and rolled an ‘8’ and so was on his merry way at 80 mph. Next to Moellering, White also rolled dice, using two -1 skill chits and rolling an ‘8’ to get to 80 mph. From the 4th row, Lim used a wear to get to 80 mph, and Sturgeon was content to just start at his normal 60 mph. Sturgeon probably figured that there wouldn’t have been any room on the narrow track if cars in front of him wouldn’t have boosted their speed.

But even from the 5th row, St. Peter used a wear to get to 80 mph, so he pulled up next to Sturgeon. Robinson, however, merely went 60 mph. From the 6th row, Akins started off gracefully at 60 mph. Next to Akins, Parr rolled for an increase, but only used a single -1 skill marker; his resultant roll was a partial failure, meaning he mis-shifted and so started at only 40 mph, 20 mph slower than his nominal start speed. Jim Landis, from row 7, was content to roll away from the line at 60 mph.

The three jackrabbits of Worrel, Cook, and Beckman jump away from the pack at the start of the Michigan Grand Prix. The rest of the pack is in the order Kaluzny, Moellering, White, Lim, Sturgeon, St. Peter, Robinson, Akins, Landis, and Parr.

After the first 180-degree left-hander, Moellering dived inside Kaluzny for the 90-degree right-hand turn onto St. Antoine St, thereby taking 4th place. Landis passed Akins in the 180-degree left-hander, and so Landis had moved up to 11th (from 13th on the grid). After the right turn onto East Jefferson Ave., Cook passed Worrel for the lead as they turned left onto East Congress St.

Cook takes the lead from Worrel at the left turn onto East Congress, followed by Beckman, Moellering, Kaluzny, White, Lim, St. Peter, Sturgeon, Robinson, Landis, Parr, and Akins.

The field snaked left onto Beaubien, then right onto Larned (going against the natural direction of traffic on Larned, as Larned is a one-way street that goes west to east, instead of the east to west direction of racing). Then the pack turned left onto Woodward, and then right onto West Jefferson. Cook continued to lead from Worrel. Moellering dived inside Beckman just before the left turn onto Woodward to briefly take over 3rd place. Beckman regained 3rd at the sharp left turn onto Washington Boulevard. And Parr passed his teammate St. Peter for 10th place just before the left turn onto Washington Blvd.

At the left-hand turn onto Atwater and into the Goodyear Tunnel under Hart Plaza, Cook had stretched his lead over Worrel to 3 spaces, with Beckman another 2 spaces back. Then the rest of the pack was all bunched up behind.

Cook leads through the Goodyear Tunnel, followed by Worrel, Beckman, Moellering, Kaluzny, Sturgeon, White, Lim, Robinson, Parr, Landis, St. Peter, and Akins.

Coming out of the Goodyear Tunnel, Cook passed through the sharp right-left combo turn and then the chicane, then pulled into the pits a turn before Worrel could reach the pits. A little farther back, Kaluzny passed Moellering for 4th going through the Goodyear Tunnel, then Kaluzny passed Beckman for 3rd place just before the right-left combo turn. White pulled to the inside of Moellering for 5th place at that same combo turn.

Worrel managed to reach the pits a turn after Cook, but a turn before anyone else could pit. Since Worrel pitted just past the start/finish line, he led the 1st lap.

Worrel, in the pits, leads after one lap.

On the next game-turn, pulling into the pits were the cars of Kaluzny, Beckman, White, and Sturgeon; Moellering stayed on the track, and Cook rejoined the traffic on the track. On the next game-turn, Lim and St. Peter pitted, and Worrel got back on the track. The cars of Parr, Robinson, Akins, and Landis did not pit. All of the cars that eschewed a pit stop were on hard tires. Moellering took the lead on the track while the other cars were in the pits.

The official order at the end of the 1st lap: Worrel (0); Kaluzny (+2); Moellering (+2); Cook (-2); Parr (+6); Lim (+1); Robinson (+2); Akins (+4); Landis (+4); Sturgeon (-2); White (-5); Beckman (-9); and St. Peter (-3). The numbers in parentheses indicate how many positions a driver either gained (+) or lost (-) from their starting position.

2nd Lap

After the pit stops were resolved, the running order on the track early in lap 2 was: Moellering; Cook; Worrel; Robinson; Akins; Parr; Kaluzny; Landis; White; Beckman; Sturgeon; Lim; and St. Peter.

Bird’s eye view of the race: Early in the 2nd lap, Moellering (blue and white car at top-right) still leads. Following cars are: Cook; Worrel; Robinson; Parr; Kaluzny; Akins; Landis; Beckman; White; Sturgeon; Lim; and St. Peter.

Cook, seeing his opportunity, passed Moellering for the lead on East Congress. Parr passed Kaluzny for 5th in the left-hand corner leading onto East Congress. Through the left and right turns onto Beaubien and then Larned Streets, Moellering stuck right behind Cook. Moellering was still 5 spaces ahead of Worrel and Robinson, the 3rd and 4th place cars. Just before the left-hand turn onto Washington Blvd, Moellering ducked to the inside of Cook in a bid for the lead, but as Moellering did not have the benefit of using the cornering arrow, he had to go the long away around the corner, so Cook retained his lead. Kaluzny managed to pass the wear-starved Parr and Robinson on West Jefferson and then into the left-hand turn onto Washington Blvd. That move moved Kaluzny up into 3rd place.

Cook holds his lead at the Kodak Camera Corner, followed by Moellering, Kaluzny, Robinson, Parr, Worrel, Landis, Akins, White, Beckman, Lim, Sturgeon, and St. Peter.

Kaluzny caught and passed Moellering at the right-left combo turn after the Goodyear Tunnel. Cook ducked into the pits for his 2nd pit stop of the race, one game-turn before anyone else. White was moving up through the field. Where he had been in 8th position on West Jefferson before making the turn onto Washington Blvd in front of Cobo Hall, when he emerged from the Goodyear Tunnel under Hart Plaza, White was in 6th.

On the game-turn after Cook pitted, Kaluzny, Moellering, and Robinson also pitted. Kaluzny was making his 2nd pit stop of the race, whilst Moellering and Robinson were making their first, and mandatory, stops. On the following game-turn, Parr made his 1st pit stop, as did Landis and Akins. Just as Cook made it back on the track, Worrel swooped by into the lead, followed closely by White. Both Worrel and White had decided to ride the rapids with their remaining wear instead of pitting.

Worrel takes the lead at the end of Lap 2

With the white flag showing there is only one lap remaining, Worrel takes the lead. White is immediately behind Worrel, and Cook is beside White. The cars of Parr, Kaluzny, Moellering, Robinson, Landis, and Akins all rest in the pits. Still on the track were Lim, Beckman, St. Peter, and Sturgeon.

As they came around, Lim joined the others in the pits, while Beckman, St. Peter, and Sturgeon decided to stay on the track.

The official order at the end of the 2nd lap: Worrel (0); Parr (+9); White (+3); Cook (-2); Lim (+2); Beckman (-3); Kaluzny (-3); Moellering (-3); Robinson (0); St. Peter (0); Landis (+2); Sturgeon (-4); and Akins (-1).

3rd Lap

As they began their 3rd laps, the drivers each had this many wear for the last lap: Worrel (11); Parr (15); White (6); Cook (15); Lim (15); Beckman (9); Kaluzny (15); Moellering (15); Robinson (15); St. Peter (13); Landis (15); Sturgeon (7); and Akins (15). Worrel had managed to spend only 6 wear (saving 9) on the 2nd lap, and he got 2 wear back as his hard tire bonus when he reached the start/finish line to begin the final lap.

Despite having 5 less fewer wear than Worrel, White briefly challenged Worrel for the lead at the start of lap 3. White ducked to the inside at the first corner to briefly take the lead, but Worrel regained the lead at the right-hand turn onto St. Antoine. Moellering, coming up to that same turn onto St. Antoine, attempted a -1 deceleration roll to slow down for the turn. He failed that roll, which meant his deceleration dropped from 20 mph to 0 mph for the rest of the race! That is one of the perils of starting out with 20 mph in deceleration (or acceleration, for that matter), for if you fail a dice roll, you are well and truly hosed, because you will have to always spend wear or roll dice every time you need to slow down (or speed up, if accel is busted).

After the pit stops were completed, the running order on the track early in lap 3 was: Worrel; White; Cook; Beckman; Kaluzny; Moellering; Robinson; Parr; St. Peter; Landis; Sturgeon; Akins; and Lim.

Kaluzny had been having a dice with Moellering, Beckman, and Robinson for 4th place, then after turning left off the Chrysler service drive onto East Congress, Kaluzny was able to get clear of all three of his closest competitors and move into 4th place. Kaluzny then caught his teammate White at Beaubien Street. In the meanwhile, Worrel and Cook were 4 spaces in front of everyone else with about a half of a lap remaining to race.

With half a lap remaining, Worrel (red Ferrari in upper left) leads from Cook, White, Kaluzny, Moellering, Beckman, Robinson, Parr, Landis, Sturgeon, Akins, and Lim.

Kaluzny was now drag-racing White, both coveting 3rd place. They went side-by-side down Larned St at 140 mph, then both cars needed to slow to 80 mph for their next move through the slow left-turn onto Woodward. White attempted and failed an unmodified deceleration roll, which reduced his decel rating to 20 mph for the last half of the last lap (White also had to spend a precious wear to avoid spinning out then and there). Kaluzny was more fortunate; he successfully rolled a -1 deceleration attempt. Shortly after that, at that same series of corners on Woodward that connected Larned and West Jefferson, Parr made a forced pass (using a total of 5 wear to pay for the cornering costs) past Moellering. Moellering attempted to block, but Parr did make the pass and got into 6th place (Parr was 8th when he began that move — he also passed Beckman). But the action wasn’t done at that corner — Landis followed Parr through to also pass Moellering and Beckman, although Landis only paid 3 wear total.

The race is heating up. Worrel still leads Cook, the Marlboro McLarens of Kaluzny (inside) and White (cornering arrow) are right behind Cook, and Robinson is right behind the McLarens. Parr (orange car) and Landis (green/yellow car) have both just forced-passed Moellering (blue/white car) and Beckman (red car). Behind trail Sturgeon, Akins, St. Peter, and Lim.

At that Washington Blvd. left-turn, Worrel had 2 wear remaining; Cook had 3 wear; Kaluzny had 6 wear; White had 3 wear; and Robinson had 5 wear left. It was shaping up to be an exciting finish.

It was then Beckman’s gamble to attempt a forced-pass of Parr at the Washington Boulevard turn. Beckman succeeded in making the pass despite Parr’s blocking attempt, but then Beckman was going fast enough to have to use 2 wear and roll a -2 chance through the actual corner. Unfortunately for the Ferrari flag-waving tifosi in attendance at the race, Beckman rolled an ’11’ and so he crashed, becoming the first DNF of the race.

Beckman (upside down Ferrari at top center) crashes at Washington Blvd. The yellow caution flag waves. Robinson’s Williams has taken 4th place from White’s Mclaren.

Worrel got through the left-hand turn to head through the Goodyear Tunnel for the last time without undue cause for alarm. Cook make a brilliant blocking move by ending his turn in the middle of that corner, thereby preventing any easy passes of him. Kaluzny pulled up short of the corner, trying to preserve his last few wear. Then Robinson took the inside of the corner and briefly 3rd place, although he was off the cornering arrow. (Afterwards, Kaluzny remarked that he might have been able to nip Cook for 2nd if Kaluzny had used all of his wear to go around the outside of that corner. With Cook’s car only having a 20 mph acceleration, Kaluzny may have been able to out-drag Cook to the line.)

Worrel held a 3-space lead over Cook at the right-left turn after the Goodyear Tunnel. Kaluzny had gone through the left-corner into the tunnel faster than Robinson, so Kaluzny was right behind Cook (with Robinson right behind Kaluzny). Then came White, Landis, Moellering, St. Peter (who had almost unnoticed passed his teammate Parr), Parr, Sturgeon, Akins, and Lim.

Finally, through the chicane for the final time, and it was Worrel just holding off Cook to win by 1 space. Kaluzny finished 2 spaces behind Cook. Robinson had to slow just before the chicane, but was out of wear and skill; he threw an unmodifed deceleration roll, failed the roll, and so spun just before the chicane. White tried another -1 deceleration roll before the chicane, failed the roll, and so became the 2nd retirement of the race with brake failure.

Worrel wins at Detroit! It was his 3rd win in five races in 2019. Cook is 2nd, and Kaluzny is 3rd. Robinson (backwards-facing car at the barricades) spun in front of the chicane, and White has parked his brakeless McLaren to the side of the track.

But the carnage was not yet complete. Robinson only moved at 40 mph while recovering from his spin. That left him on the last space of the chicane, sitting right on top of the cornering arrow. (For those folks who don’t know the rules to Championship Formula Racing, the cornering arrows give a car a 20 mph bonus through the corners, so it is beneficial to use the arrows as much as you can.) St. Peter ended his move next to Robinson, and right behind were Landis, Parr, Akins, Sturgeon, and Lim. It was while trying to slow for the chicane that Moellering’s brakes gave out, making him the 3rd DNF of the race. He had failed an unmodified deceleration roll. (As Maxwell Smart would have said, “He came this close to finishing the race!”)

At the mad scramble to the line, Robinson was able to hold on to 4th place, and St. Peter was 5th. Landis finished 6th, and beside him Parr finished 7th. Sturgeon was able to out-drag Akins down the start/finish straight to finish 8th, relegating Akins to 9th. Lim came home in 10th.

The peloton finishes the race at Detroit.

The official finishing order at the 2019 Michigan Grand Prix: 1st-Bill Worrel (0); 2nd-Mike Cook (0); 3rd-Garry Kaluzny (+1); 4th-Jim Robinson (+5); 5th-Mike St. Peter (+5); 6th-Jim Landis (+7); 7th-Aric Parr (+4); 8th-Gary Sturgeon (0); 9th-Mickey Akins (+3); 10th-Greg Lim (-3). Three DNFs were classified: 11th-Mark Moellering, brakes (-6); 12th-Richard White, brakes (-6); and 13th-Jack Beckman, accident (-10).

Aftermath

Points awarded at the 2019 Michigan Grand Prix: Worrel 15; Cook 12; Kaluzny 10; Robinson 8; St. Peter 6; Landis 4; Parr 2; Sturgeon 1.

Team points awarded at the 2019 Michigan Grand Prix: Ferrari 15; Camel Lotus 13; Marlboro McLaren 10; Williams 8; McLaren 8; Benetton 4.

The points standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 5 of 10 races):

Place Driver (Car)                    Points
  1   Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)           47
  2   Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  46
  3   Bill Worrel (Ferrari)             45
  4   Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  36
  5T  Jim Robinson (Williams)           24
  5T  Aric Parr (McLaren)               24
  7   Mickey Akins (Fiat Ferrari)       15
  8   Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)         14
  9T  Greg Lim (Williams)                8
  9T  Mike St. Peter (McLaren)           8
  9T  Jim Landis (Benetton)              8
  9T  Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)        8
 13   Joel Lauder (Tyrrell)              4
 14   Jack Beckman (Ferrari)             2
 15   Brian Robinson (Benetton)          1

Drivers can only count their 7 best finishes out of the 10 races.

The team championship standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 5 of 10 races):

Place Team              Points
  1   Marlboro McLaren    82
  2   Camel Lotus         55
  3   Ferrari             47
  4T  McLaren             32
  4T  Williams            32
  6   Tyrrell             18
  7   Fiat Ferrari        15
  8   Benetton             5
  9   Renault              0

Teams can only count their 2 best finishing cars from each race.

The 6th race of the 2019 CFR-Detroit racing season is on Saturday, August 1o, at RIW Hobbies & Games in Livonia, Michigan. Qualifying begins promptly at 12:45 pm, so all drivers who wish to compete are asked to arrive no later than 12:15 pm so they may set up their car’s specifications. The race is the Italian Grand Prix, racing on the CFR design of the Monza track.

Tags: Aric Parr, Atwater, Beaubien, Belle Isle, Benetton, Bill Worrel, Camel Lotus, CART, CFR, CFR-Detroit, Chrysler, Clawson, Detroit, East Congress, East Jefferson, Ferrari, Fiat Ferrari, Formula 1, Garry Kaluzny, Gary Sturgeon, Goodyear Tunnel, Greg Lim, Guild of Blades, Hart Plaza, IndyCars, Italian Grand Prix, Jack Beckman, Jim Landis, Jim Robinson, Larned, Livonia, Mark Moellering, Marlboro McLaren, Maxwell Smart, McLaren, Michigan, Michigan Grand Prix, Mickey Akins, Mike Cook, Mike St. Peter, Monza, Renault, Richard White, RIW Hobbies & Games, St. Antoine, Tyrrell, Washington Blvd., Washington Boulevard, West Jefferson, Williams, Woodward
Posted in Board Games, Miniatures Games | 3 Comments »

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #4: British Grand Prix

August 8th, 2019

In a (boardgame) race that was held on Friday, May 10, 2019, Mickey Akins came from 13th place on the starting grid to pass the other 12 drivers to win the British Grand Prix. Mark Moellering and Mike Cook were the other podium finishers, in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. The race was contested at Pandemonium Games & Hobbies in Garden City, Michigan. Eleven of the 13 cars finished the race. This was the 4th (of 10) races of the 2019 CFR-Detroit racing season.

The race was on the Brands Hatch track. Our track was based on the old Avalon Hill Brands Hatch track design, except we modified the 2nd corner on the track to make it more logical than was its Avalon Hill design.

The modified Brands Hatch track.

We had not used the Brands Hatch track since our old Advanced Speed Circuit days in the late 1980s/early 1990s, so it needed a good going over. The lane and space dividing lines were originally painted red, and they had faded over the years to be now almost impossible to see. So those lane and space lines were re-painted in yellow. We added the red-and-yellow stripes to mark which side of the track is the inside at any particular point on the track. We also added the orange stripes alongside the track to denote the pit stop spaces. We also went over the numbers in the corners, and re-drew the red cornering arrows.

As a reminder, drivers bid for starting position by bidding some of their wear and/or skill chits, with each wear counting as 1.0 and each skill counting as 0.5 towards their qualifying bid.

Qualifying

Mark Moellering (4 wear + 18 skill) took his 2nd consecutive pole position with a bid of 13.0. Bill Worrel (6 wear + 12 skill) and Garry Kaluzny (3 wear + 18 skill) each bid 12.0. Kaluzny then rolled ’95’ on the ensuing percentage dice roll to break the tie, but Worrel rolled ’98’ and thus Worrel started 2nd and Kaluzny was relegated to 3rd. Richard White (5 wear + 13 skill) and Mike Cook (6 wear + 11 skill) each bid 11.5, with White rolling ’38’ to start 4th, while Cook rolled ’02’ to start 5th. Jack Beckman (5 wear + 7 skill) bid 8.5 to start 6th. Gary Sturgeon (0 wear + 15 skill) bid 7.5 and so he started in 7th position.

Greg Lim (5 wear + 2 skill) slotted into the 8th spot with a bid of 6.0. There were two bids of 5.0: Joel Lauder (1 wear + 8 skill) and Mike St. Peter (4 wear + 2 skill). Lauder rolled ’78’ to start 9th, and St. Peter rolled ’26’ to start 10th. Jim Robinson (0 wear + 7 skill) bid only 3.5, so he began 11th. Aric Parr (0 wear + 5 skill) started 12th with a bid of 2.5. Mickey Akins (0 wear + 3 skill) bid 1.5, so he began in the 13th and final position on the grid.

The starting grid for the 2019 British Grand Prix with their car specs:

 # Driver (Car)                    Start/Accel/Decel/Top/Wear/Skill/Tires
 4 Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)        100   20    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 1 Bill Worrel (Ferrari)            100   40    40   140  5x   3x   soft
 8 Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    20   140  5x   5x   soft
 7 Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
11 Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)          100   40    40   140  5x   3x   soft
 2 Jack Beckman (Ferrari)            60   60    40   140  5x   3x   soft
12 Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)      100   40    20   140  5x   4x   soft
 0 Greg Lim (Williams)               60   60    40   140  5x   3x   soft
 3 Joel Lauder (Tyrrell)             60   40    40   160  5x   3x   hard
 9 Mike St. Peter (McLaren)          60   40    40   140  5x   4x   hard
 6 Jim Robinson (Williams)           60   40    40   140  5x   4x   hard
10 Aric Parr (McLaren)               60   40    60   140  5x   3x   hard
27 Mickey Akins (Fiat Ferrari)       60   40    40   160  5x   3x   hard

The starting grid at Brands Hatch: 1st row: Mark Moellering (blue Tyrrell) and Bill Worrel (red Ferrari); 2nd row: Garry Kaluzny (inside, #8) and Richard White (outside, #7); 3rd row: Mike Cook (yellow Lotus) and Jack Beckman (red Ferrari); 4th row: Gary Sturgeon (yellow Lotus) and Greg Lim (white/yellow/blue Williams); 5th row: Joel lauder (blue/white Tyrrell) and Mike St. Peter (orange McLaren); 6th row: Jim Robinson (white/yellow/blue Williams) and Aric Parr (orange McLaren); 7th row: Mickey Akins (red/white Fiat Ferrari).

1st Lap

At the start, the front row cars of Moellering and Worrel both zoomed away at 120 mph (they both used a wear to increase their start speeds by 20 mph each as they were both on soft tires.) The 2nd row Marlboro McLarens of Kaluzny and White also each used a wear to increase their start speeds to 80 mph. Mike Cook was then balked — he plotted 100 mph (his car’s normal start speed) but had to slow down to 80 mph due to the McLaren roadblock ahead of him. (Hey — it’s not like the McLarens were going slow — they both increased their start speeds!) Beckman used a wear to increase his Ferrari’s start speed to 80 mph, so he kept pace with Cook’s Lotus. From the outside of row 5, St. Peter made a successful dice roll to increase his starting speed to 80 mph. Lauder, on the inside of row 5, failed his -1 start speed roll, mis-shifting and so he started at only 40 mph, 20 mph below his basic starting speed. That allowed Parr to pass Lauder into 10th place when Parr successfully made his start speed dice roll. Jim Robinson rolled his start speed increase attempt using two -1 skill modifiers, but he rolled an ’11’ which became a ‘9’ and so he too mis-shifted and only started at 40 mph instead of the 80 mph he had hoped for. Akins, from the 7th row, was content to start at his normal start speed of 60 mph; that allowed him to come up on Robinson’s left side.

And away they go! At the start, Worrel and Moellering have opened up a 3-space lead, with Worrel taking the inside as Moellering chose to take the cornering arrow.

The cars roared around Paddock Hill Bend, Druids, and then Graham Hill Bend, with Moellering and Worrel racing wheel-to-wheel, each trying to wrest the lead from the other. When they got to the Surtees corner, Moellering had got in front of Worrel, and then two Marlboro McLarens of Kaluzny and White were right behind the leading duo. Then 3 spaces back came the rest of the pack.

Moellering leads at Surtees from Worrel, Kaluzny, and White; then came Beckman, Cook, St. Peter, Sturgeon, Parr, Lim, Akins, Robinson, and Lauder.

The cars raced down Pilgrim’s Drop, and then through Hawthorn’s. Halfway through the 1st lap, it was still Moellering leading from Worrel, then Kaluzny, White, Beckman, Cook, St. Peter, Sturgeon, Parr, Kim, Robinson, Akins, and Lauder.

Then at the Westfield corner, Worrel had to slow down. He had used all 9 of his -1 skill markers and also his only -3 skill marker in bidding for starting positions, so he had no skill chits remaining. He rolled an unmodifed deceleration roll to get down to 120 mph, and then he rolled an unmodifed chance roll for the corner. He crashed, becoming the first retirement from the race, and classified in 13th place.

Moellering leads at Westfield (blue car in upper-right corner; however, Worrel’s Ferrari crashed at that corner (upside-down car next to Moellering. White and Kaluzny and now 2nd and 3rd, Beckman 4th, Cook 5th, then came St. Peter, Parr, Sturgeon, Robinson, Lim, Akins, and Lauder.

When Parr got to the Dingle Dell corner, he failed a deceleration roll. Parr’s deceleration rating was reduced from 60 to 40 mph. Moellering pulled out a 5-space lead over Kaluzny just before Moellering went into the Clark corner. On his next move, Moellering pulled into the pits, but Kaluzny was able to move at 140 mph and was then able to pit on the same game-turn, although Kaluzny pitted 5 spaces behind Moellering. On the next game-turn, the cars of White, Sturgeon, Parr, Cook, and Beckman also pitted. Then on the next game-turn, the cars of St. Peter and Lim pitted just as Moellering and Kaluzny were leaving the pits. Not pitting were Robinson, Akins, and Lauder.

Pandemonium in the pits (what did you expect at a place named Pandemonium Games?) Robinson has taken the lead on the track due to his not pitting, with Akins and Moellering right behind.

The official order at the end of the 1st lap was: Moellering (0); White (+2); Robinson (+8); Akins (+9); St. Peter (+5); Lauder (+3); Kaluzny (-4); Parr (+4); Sturgeon (-2); Cook (-5); Beckman (-5); and Lim (-4). Worrel (-11) was classified 13th due to his DNF because of the crash. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many positions a driver either gained (+) or lost (-) from their starting position.

When the pit stops were are resolved, the actual running order on the track was: Robinson; Akins; Moellering; Lauder; Kaluzny; White; Parr; Sturgeon; Cook; Beckman; St. Peter, and Lim.

2nd Lap

As the cars rounded the Surtees corner for the 2nd time, Robinson and Akins were sidepod-to-sidepod through Pilgrim’s Drop. Four spaces behind came Moellering, Kaluzny, Lauder, and White. Another 3 spaces back were Sturgeon, Cook, St. Peter, Beckman, and Parr, and Lim was another 2 spaces behind Parr.

At the halfway mark of the race, Akins (red & white car at the upper left) has taken the lead from Robinson (white car on the red arrow over the 80 space). The rest of the pack is strung out behind.

Then at Pilgrim’s Drop, Parr forced an unblocked pass on his teammate St. Peter. Parr and Cook both successfully rolled unmodified to increase their top speed on that same straightaway. But then at Dingle Dell corner, Parr again failed an unmodified deceleration dice roll; his brakes had now failed and he retired from the race in 12th place. Then St. Peter spun at Stirling’s corner just as Akins and Robinson had pulled into the pits.

Akins leads the 2nd lap as he pulls into the pits. Robinson has also pitted, and St. Peter (orange car) has spun (upper left of picture).

The only other cars that pitted at the end of the 2nd lap were those of Lauder and St. Peter; the other cars all stayed on the track.

The official order at the end of the 2nd lap was: Akins (+12); White (+2); Moellering (-2); Sturgeon (+3); Kaluzny (-2); Cook (-1); Beckman (-1); Lim (0); Robinson (+2); St. Peter (0); and Lauder (-2). Parr was classified 12th when his brakes failed.

When the 2nd round of pit stops was over, though, the running order on the track was: White; Moellering; Sturgeon; Kaluzny; Beckman; Cook; Akins; Lim; Robinson; Lauder, and St. Peter.

3rd Lap

As the pack reached Graham Hill Bend early in the 3rd lap, White spun his car. He had been leading at the time, but dropped to 4th after recovering from the spin.

Richard White (backwards facing white & orange McLaren) spins at Graham Hill Bend. Note that Mickey Akins is currently 7th.

Moellering then found himself in the lead, and he pulled out a 3-space lead over the now 2nd-place Kaluzny coming out of the Surtees corner. As the pack passed through Hawthorn’s corner for the last time, there was but a half-lap left to race. Moellering still led by two spaces from the pack of Kaluzny, Sturgeon, Cook, White, Beckman, and Akins, then behind that pack came Robinson, Lim, and Lauder, and then another 13 spaces back came St. Peter.

Going into the Westfield corner, Akins was 7th; coming out of Westfield, he was in 4th place. The rest of the pack had now caught up with Moellering. While most of the leading cars were discovering they had very few remaining wear, Akins still had a comfortable amount of wear. At Dingle Dell, Akins moved into 3rd, alongside the 2nd-place Cook.

Akins moves into 3rd place. The running order is: Moellering, Cook, Akins, Kaluzny, Sturgeon, Beckman, White, Robinson, Lauder, Lim, and St. Peter (not in the picture).

At the next corner, Stirling’s, Akins pulled up next to the race leader Moellering, and then Akins passed Moellering for the lead whilst on Clearways. Coming through the final corner, the Clark Curve, Akins was 2-spaces clear from Moellering.

Akins (red & white Fiat Ferrari) takes the checkered flag to win the British Grand Prix.

At the checkered flag, it was Akins winning by 4 spaces from Moellering and Cook. The two team Marlboro McLarens of White and Kaluzny were drag-racing for 4th and 5th place. Kaluzny damaged his engine by over-revving it, and so White was 4th and Kaluzny had to settle for 5th. Jim Robinson came home in 6th, and Sturgeon was 7th. Greg Lim snagged 8th place, the final points paying position. Beckman was 9th, and Lauder was 10th. Lauder had tried a forced-pass on Robinson at the finish line, but was blocked. Lauder could not slow down, and so he spun right at the finish line. But Lauder kept his 10th place, because 11th place, St. Peter, was 8 spaces behind at that moment.

The official order at the finish of the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch: 1st-Mickey Akins (+12); 2nd-Mark Moellering (-1); 3rd-Mike Cook (+2); 4th-Richard White (0); 5th-Garry Kaluzny (-2); 6th-Jim Robinson (+5); 7th-Gary Sturgeon (0); 8th-Greg Lim (0); 9th-Jack Beckman (-3); 10th-Joel Lauder (-1); 11th-Mike St. Peter (). Two DNFs were classified: Aric Parr (0) was 12th (brakes); and Bill Worrel (-11) was 13th (accident).

Aftermath

Points awarded at the 2019 British Grand Prix: Akins 15; Moellering 12; Cook 10; White 8; Kaluzny 6; Robinson 4; Sturgeon 2, and Lim 1.

Team points awarded at the 2019 British Grand Prix: Fiat Ferrari 15; Marlboro McLaren 14; Tyrrell 12; Camel Lotus 12; Williams 5.

The points standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 4 of 10 races):

Place Driver (Car)                    Points
  1T  Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  36
  1T  Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  36
  3   Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)           35
  4   Bill Worrel (Ferrari)             30
  5   Aric Parr (McLaren)               22
  6   Jim Robinson (Williams)           16
  7   Mickey Akins (Fiat Ferrari)       15
  8   Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)         14
  9   Greg Lim (Williams)                8
 10   Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)        7
 11T  Joel Lauder (Tyrrell)              4
 11T  Jim Landis (Benetton)              4
 13T  Mike St. Peter (McLaren)           2
 13T  Jack Beckman (Ferrari)             2
 15   Brian Robinson (Benetton)          1

Drivers can only count their 7 best finishes out of the 10 races.

The team championship standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 4 of 10 races):

Place Team              Points
  1   Marlboro McLaren    72
  2   Camel Lotus         42
  3   Ferrari             32
  4T  McLaren             24
  4T  Williams            24
  6   Tyrrell             18
  7   Fiat Ferrari        15
  8   Benetton             5

Teams can only count their 2 best finishing cars from each race.

Another Thought

It seems at most of our CFR-Detroit races, there is wild bidding to ensure starting up front. Most cars also start on soft tires to then can spend a wear to automatically increase their starting speed without having to roll dice (which could result in a stall!) Then it is a race on the first lap to get into the pits before anyone else, switch to hard tires, and try to eke out two laps on your remaining wear. It was refreshing to see Mickey Akins reverse that strategy. He bid only 3 skill, and started last on hard tires. He carefully nursed his wear through the first two laps, then pitted at the end of the 2nd lap. He emerged on soft tires, and while he had to pick his way through several cars that had got in front on him during his pit stop, has was able to use his extra wear on the final lap to guide his car to victory.

Akins set the CFR-Detroit record for winning from the lowest starting position (13th place). The previous record was winning from 7th place, by Jack Beckman at Abu Dhabi in 2018.

The next (5th) race of the 2019 CFR-Detroit racing season was on Saturday, July 13, at Guild of Blades in Clawson, Michigan. It was the Michigan Grand Prix, raced on the downtown Detroit track.

Tags: Advanced Speed Circuit, Aric Parr, Avalon Hill, Bill Worrel, Brands Hatch, British Grand Prix, Camel Lotus, CFR-Detroit, Clark Curve, Dingle Dell, Druids, Ferrari, Fiat Ferrari, Garden City, Garry Kaluzny, Gary Sturgeon, Graham Hill Bend, Greg Lim, Hawthorn's, Jack Beckman, Jim Robinson, Joel Lauder, Mark Moellering, Marlboro McLaren, McLaren, Michigan, Mickey Akins, Mike Cook, Mike St. Peter, Paddock Hill Bend, Pandemonium Games & Hobbies, Pilgrim's Drop, Richard White, Stirling's, Surtees, Tyrrell, Westfield, Williams
Posted in Board Games, Miniatures Games | Comments Closed

Traveller — the Adventure Begins

August 8th, 2019

This is the first adventure of the metro Detroit Classic Traveller group. The players in this first adventure are (the UPP lists the players main six characteristics in order as: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education, and Social Standing):

• Captain James T. Dunstal (played by Aric Parr), UPP: 777977, Age 22, Army, 1 term. Skills: Auto Pistol-1, Electronics-1, Mechanical-1, Rifle-1, SMG-1. Cr20,000.

• Dr. Adam Millerton (played by Mark Moellering), UPP: 766788, Age 30, Scientist, 3 terms. Skills: Carousing-1, Computer-2, Gravitics-1, Laser Carbine-1. Received a Type L Lab Ship as a mustering out benefit. Cr7,000.

• Gomer Pile (played by Mike St. Peter), UPP: 3572A9, Age 34, Army (Lt. Colonel), 4 terms. Skills: Brawling-1, Dagger-1, Gambling-1, Mechanical-2, Medical-1, Rifle-1, SMG-1, Tactics-1. Received a Middle Passage and a shotgun as mustering out benefits. Cr35,000.

• Dr. Simon Tamm (played by Bill Worrel), UPP: 2758A9, Age 46, Doctor, 7 terms. Skills: Computer-1, Electronics-1, Medical-2, Streetwise-3. Received a Low Passage as a mustering out benefit, and will receive an annual pension of Cr8,000. Mustered out with Cr80,000, total money after receiving pension: Cr88,000.

Before the characters began adventuring, they purchased some extra equipment:

• Capt. James T. Dunstal purchased: Reflec armor (Cr1,500, TL 10, 0kg); Auto Pistol (Cr200, TL 5, 0.75kg empty, 1kg loaded); 5 magazines 9mm SMG ammo for auto pistol (Cr50, TL 5, 1.25kg) (75 rounds); SMG (Cr500, TL 5, 2.5kg empty, 3kg loaded); 5 magazines 9mm SMG ammo for SMG (Cr100, TL 5, 2.5kg) (150 rounds); Holster, magazine carriers, cleaning kits for weapons (Cr20); Short range communicator (Cr100, TL 7, 0.3kg); Inertial locator (Cr1,200, TL 9, 1.5kg); Hand computer (Cr1,000, TL 11, 0.5kg); Light intensifier goggles (Cr500, TL 7, 1kg). Now has Cr14,780.

• Dr. Adam Millerton purchased: Hand computer (Cr1,000, TL 11, 0.5kg). Now has Cr6,000.

• Gomer Pile purchased: 3 magazines shotgun ammo (Cr30, TL 5, 2.25kg) (30 rounds); Dagger (Cr10, TL 1, 0.25kg (0kg when worn)); Binoculars (Cr75, TL 3, 1kg); IR goggles (Cr500, TL 6, 1kg). Now has Cr34,385.

• Dr. Simon Tamm purchased: Reflec armor (Cr1,500, TL 10, 0kg); Auto Pistol (Cr200, TL 5, 0.75kg empty, 1kg loaded); Silencer (Cr200, TL 6, 0.5kg); 10 magazines 9mm SMG ammo (for auto pistol) (Cr100, TL 5, 2.5kg) (150 rounds); Combination filter-respirator (Cr150, TL 5, 1kg); Artificial gill (Cr4,000, TL 8, 4kg); Swimming equipment (Cr200, TL 3, 1kg); Heavy protective suit (Cr1,400, TL 5, 7kg) (as cloth armor); Medium range communicator (Cr200, TL 7, 1.5kg); Inertial locator (Cr1,200, TL 9, 1.5kg); Radiation counter (Cr250, TL 5, 1kg); Hand computer (Cr1,000, TL 11, 0.5kg); IR goggles (Cr500, TL 6, 1kg); Medical kit (Cr1,000, TL 7, 10kg); Electronic tool set (Cr2,000, TL 7, 5kg); Lock pick set (Cr1,000, TL 4, 0.1kg, illegal on Regina!); Disguise set (Cr1,000, TL 7, 5kg); 5 days dehydrated food (Cr125, 1kg). Now has Cr71,975.

Day 002-1105 (Wonday)

The Quilted Giraffe cafe was busy on day 002 of the new year, the year being 1105 as reckoned by the Third Imperium. The cafe itself was on the planet Regina, the capital world of the Regina subsector, in the Spinward Marches, a part of the Third Imperium. Four rough-looking characters had each just mustered out or retired from their particular service or occupation, and had been forced to share a table for supper in the crowded cafe in Startown, just outside of the Downport starport on the planet’s surface. These characters were Simon Tamm, who referred to himself as “doctor,” in spite of the fact that he never finished his medical degree; Dr. Adam Millerton, a research scientist who had especially made a study of gravitics; and two ex-soldiers from the Army, Lt. Colonel Gomer Pile and Capt. James T. Dunstal. They were all recovering from the the day previous, which was New Year’s Day and an all-day party.

Twenty-two year old Finn Diaz was dining at a nearby table, and saw his old high school friend Captain Dunstal across the room. Diaz got up from his table and walked over to Dunstal. “Hey! Long time no see! What are you up to? Who are your friends?”

Dunstal replied, “I just got out of the Army. I don’t really know these gentlemen.” With that, the characters at the table all introduced themselves to each other and to Diaz, also mentioning that they were all out of work. Then Dunstal asked Diaz, “Hey, how’s that gal doing that you were dating?”

Diaz replied, “She ditched me years ago. I just got out of the Imperial Scout Service after four years. I just didn’t like the isolation all of the time. It was cool at first, but it got old really quickly.”

Dunstal commisserated with Diaz. “Too bad about that gal.”

“Nah. It was nothing. She just had a preference for jocks, that’s all.” Diaz then looked at everyone at the table and asked, “So, what are you guys doing for jobs these days?”

It seems none of the respondents had anything lined up. Millerton mentioned that he had inherited an old lab ship from his employer, but he also said he needed to hire a crew and find money to stock provisions and equipment.

Diaz said, “If you guys are looking to make a few credits, at least, I’d like to introduce Mr. Lee to you. I’ll be right back.” Diaz then walked back to his former table in the cafe. After conversing with a gentleman at his former table, Diaz returned with Mr. Lee. “Gentlemen, this is Mr. Barton Lee. He may have a business proposal for you.”

Mr. Lee was slim of build, but moved with the agility of a cat. He didn’t appear to be all that strong, but he looked like he might be good at martial arts. He was very neatly dressed. He remained standing, and bowed to the four men sitting at the table. “Good evening, gentlemen. Mr. Diaz says you gentlemen might be interested in making some money. It just so happens that I have a little business problem right now.” Lee then took a piece of paper out of his inside coat pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the middle of the table. It was a flyer announcing a boxing match for the coming Sixday (no, that’s not a typo! The Imperial days of the week are Wonday, Tuday, Thirday, Forday, Fiday, Sixday, and Sonday).

The boxing flyer that Mr. Lee presented to the group.

There were three undercard bouts, but Mr. Lee pointed to the main bout. “Gentlemen, Rocco Bronkovic is fighting Arum ‘Kid’ King, but something is very strange. Nobody is betting money on Mr. Bronkovic. It is very strange as Mr. Bronkovic is the champion, and the Kid is merely an upstart. I believe that someone has bribed the champion to deliberately lose the fight. I would like for you four to try to find out why.”

“Gentlemen, I am what you would call an odds-maker. I do not take bets, but I provide odds for various events for those who do take bets. My clients are ready to stop taking all bets for the championship fight, as almost all of the money bet is going for the challenger. If the challenger were to win, which ordinarily does not seem possible, it would bankrupt the bookmakers. I must also alert you to the fact that wagering on things such as prize-fights is strictly illegal on this planet, but the authorities do not usually bother ordinary people who make wagers with bookmakers.”

The four characters discussed the situation a couple of minutes while Mr. Lee stood at attention by their table. Mr. Lee then continued, “Gentlemen, I suggest you spend some time tonight checking out my reputation, and I will do some checking on each of you. With that, Mr. Lee pulled a thick wad of cash from his side coat pocket, and peeled off some individual bills. He seemed totally at ease with flashing a great amount of cash in public. “Gentlemen, here are 100 credits for each of you, to perhaps interest you in assisting me in this matter.” Mr. Lee then also gave each of the characters a business card that just said “Barton Lee — Consultant” with his communicator number on the reverse side of the card. “I suggest we meet here again tomorrow at lunch time, if you are truly interested in this proposition.”

With that, Mr. Lee bowed again, then returned to his own table in the cafe. After saying a few more words with Dunstal, Finn Diaz also returned to Mr. Lee’s table. After several more minutes, Lee and Diaz left the cafe together.

Tamm, Millerton, Pile, and Dunstal all started talking at once. Eventually, they all took turns talking. “What should we do?” “Who should we talk to?” Etc, etc, etc. The four agreed to split up, talk to folks on the street to find out what might be up with the fight and the strange betting pattern, and also to check out facts about the mysterious Mr. Lee.

The four first spoke with their waiter at the cafe. The waiter admitted that Mr. Lee was a regular at the cafe, was always very neatly dressed, and was a good tipper. The waiter didn’t know anything of Mr. Lee’s business dealings, though. The matire’d gave the same information.

Out on the street, the four split up. They individually spoke with street people, and that gave a couple of the characters a way to meet up with a couple of bookies. But no matter who they spoke with, nobody knew anything about the fight being fixed even though they were aware of the strange betting pattern. But, everyone they spoke with not only knew of Mr. Lee, but also knew him personally. Everyone had a good word for Mr. Lee. The characters also got a sense that some of the random “street people” were always watching out for Mr. Lee’s welfare, which explained why Lee wasn’t afraid to flash a big wad of cash in the cafe.

Dr. Millerton dropped into a poker parlor, hoping to hear some juicy info about the fixed fight, but he dropped 200 credits before deciding to cut his losses, especially as he hadn’t found out anything of any use.

Eventually, it got late, and the characters all retired for the evening to their own lodging.

Day 003-1105 (Tuday)

Early the next morning, Captain Dunstal met Dr. Tamm, and they both went to the “Big Hits Gym” where Rocco Bronkovic trained for his fight. The information was gleaned from their conversations with the street people the previous evening. Dunstal and Tamm walked in separately.

First, Tamm walked into the gym. A very rough looking man came over to “greet” Tamm. “What d’ya want?”

Tamm asked politely, “I’m looking to get into the fight business as a doctor.”

“What makes you think yer qualified to be a ring doctor?” was the rude question in response.

“I’ve had medical training, and I’ve spent close to 30 years attending to people.”

The rough-looking man from the club (who needed a shave, by the way) said, “Now, that’s just great! I’ll tell ya what, pal, maybe you should come back next week. We’re sort of busy this week making preparations for the fight in a few days. That’s the champ training right over der!” And the man jerked his thumb towards one of the practice rings where the champ was sparring with another boxer.

The champ, hearing what was said, took a short break from his sparring to look at the newcomer in the gym. He had a pure poker face as he sized up Dr. Tamm. Then, when it became evident to Tamm that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with any more questions, he thanked the man for his time, nodded to the champ, then turned and left the gym.

That was Dunstal’s cue to enter the gym. He had a gym bag with some workout clothes with him. The same rough man approached Dunstal. “Whad’d’ya want?”

Dunstal said, “I just got out of the army. I’m looking for a place to work out, and maybe learn to be a boxer. I figure you guys must be the best gym in town, what with you’re being the home to the champion!”

The rough man actually grinned at what Dunstal said. But that still didn’t help Dunstal, as the man said, “Well, maybe you can come back next week. Ya see, we ain’t got no time for any newcomers right now, we’re getting ready for a big championship fight.” Once again the man pointed to the champ.

Dunstal nodded to the champ, and said “good luck, champ!” Then he left the gym.

During that same morning, Pile was out and about, speaking with more folks on the street. He thought it strange that he didn’t find a single person who admitted to betting on the champ. Pile did bet Cr100 on the champ Rocco Broncovic with one bookie, who told Pile that “you’re the first sap, er, customer, who bet on the champ in about a week!”

And meanwhile, Millerton used his hand computer to log into a larger computer system and find out more about the champion and challenger. It seems that Rocco Bronkovic was nicknamed “The Battling Belter” as he grew up in the Bowman planetoid system, and found he had a real talent for brawling. Then he found that if he got into boxing in the ring, he could make enough money where he didn’t have to perform any dangerous mining while wearing a vacuum suit on an asteroid. The computer also mentioned that Bronkovic was a heavyweight, had moved to Regina when he was 21 years old, and was now 30 years old, and was undefeated in his last 45 fights over the past nine years. But there wasn’t much info about Arum ‘Kid’ King. About the only info on the Kid was that he was 26 years old, and had a 6 and 3 record. Millerton thought that was strange, to say the least.

Millerton also found out that the fight would pay Cr250,000 to the winner, and Cr50,000 to the loser. He also found that Bronkovic made Cr625,000 in his last fight. Additionally, he saw that originally the odds to bet on the champ were even money, they were now offered at 9-1, but still nobody wanted any of that action. And bets for the Kid were now at 1-2 in an attempt to get people to stop betting on the Kid.

Lunchtime at the Quilted Giraffe

At noon, local time, Dunstal, Millerton, Pile, and Tamm met at the Quilted Giraffe cafe. They found Barton Lee and Finn Diaz were already there to meet them. They were all seated, then Mr. Lee asked, “Gentlemen, have you checked into my background, and have you found that I am who I say I am?” The other four did agree that they had met many people who had only good things to say about Mr. Lee. Barton Lee then continued, “Excellent, gentlemen. Have you found anything from anyone on the street about why no one will make a bet on Mr. Bronkovic?”

Gomer Pile then spoke up, “I bet 100 credits on the champ!”

Mr. Lee said, “Most excellent. But did you find anyone else who bet on the champ?” Pile answered that he had not found any other bets for the champ.

Dunstal and Tamm then told Lee about their separate visits to the Big Hits Gym, and how they were rebuffed in their attempts to gain any information there.

Mr. Lee continued, “Gentlemen, today is Tuday. If we do not uncover the reason the betting is so skewed by Forday, we will have to have all bookmakers return all bets on the championship fight. I suggest you try to contact Mr. Bronkovic outside of the gym, and mention these three things to him.” Lee then unfolded a small piece of paper and placed it on the table in front of the others. The paper had three items listed: “Giacomo DePeyster,” “Edam Neckties,” and “extradition.” Lee said, “I suggest you use these words with Mr. Bronkovic. Perhaps he will believe you know more than you really do about him, and perhaps he will come clean and tell you if he has been approached to throw the fight.” Lee then produced another piece of paper that had the addresses of: the rooming house where the champ lives; the gym where he trains (but the characters already had discovered that); a diner where the champ likes to eat his meals; and a cabaret that the champ frequents to amuse himself.

Finally, lunch was over, and Mr. Lee, after paying for everyone’s meals, said, “Good luck, gentlemen. I know you will all practice due diligence on this matter. And here are four tickets to Sixday’s fight. I am sorry, they are only in the second row, but they are directly behind the champ’s corner of the ring.” With that, Mr. Lee and Finn Diaz left after saying goodbye.

Dunstal, Millerton, Pile, and Tamm then all moseyed over to the vicinity of the Big Hits Gym, where they loitered in the area after about 2:00 pm. Dunstal briefly poked his head inside the gym, trying to be as inobtrusive as possible. He did verify that the champ was inside training, then came outside and told the others that the champ was present. They decided to keep watch and to approach the champ as he left the gym. Pile went around the back to the alley to keep an eye on the back door of the gym.

Finally, around 4:00 pm, the champ left the gym. Surprisingly, he was alone. He came out of the building and turned right and paced briskly along the sidewalk. The other four signaled to each other, then they started walking after the champ. Pile approached the champ first, about a block north of the gym. Pile jogged past the champ from behind, saying quickly, “Giacomo DePeyster” and “don’t throw the fight!” Bronkovic stopped walking for several seconds and just glared at the retreating Pile. Then when Bronkovic got about a block farther along, Tamm approached from behind. Tamm wanted to say “Don’t throw the fight!” and then keep walking, but before Tamm could utter every word of that phrase, Bronkovic lashed out, quick as a snake, and grabbed Tamm by the collar.

Bronkovic roared “Who the Hell are you!?” at the surprised Tamm. Then Dunstal hastened by and shouted “extradition!” Bronkovic just glared at Dunstal as he did not release his grip on Tamm. Bronkovic said to Tamm, “Are you hungry? I’m going to dinner, and you’re going to be my guest!” Then Bronkovic led Tamm along the sidewalk, with Rocco’s left hand holding a firm grip on Tamm’s right-side collar. Tamm tried to surreptitiously slip his right hand inside his jacket, but Bronkovic, spying the move, said, “I wouldn’t reach for that, pal! Just keep your hands at your sides!” Tamm had no option but to obey for fear of getting punched by the Champ’s massive hands.

After a walk of another couple of blocks, Bronkovic and Tamm arrived at a greasy-spoon diner. Bronkovic led Tamm inside, and was greeted by the staff leading him to a very familiar corner booth. Bronkovic shoved Tamm into the booth first, then sat himself down so that Tamm would have had to slide a long way around to try to exit the booth from the other side. Rocco shouted out to one of the waiters, “Hey! Bring a menu for my friend here!” The waiter answered, “Right away, Champ!”

Just about the time the menu arrived at the table, Tamm’s other three compatriots walked into the diner. Just as Dunstal, Middleton, and Pile were scanning the inside of the diner and saw Tamm seated with Bronkovic in the corner booth, two of the waitstaff came up behind them. One of the waitstaff, looking a bit surly, sarcastically said, “Can we be of any assistance to you fine gentlemen?” Dunstal answered, “No, we were just looking for a friend. We’ll be going now.” But just as the three were turning to leave, Bronkovic motioned to the waiters to bring the three to his booth. So the same waiter said, “Gentlemen, you all look hungry. I think you better join the champ and his friend in that corner booth.” As he said that, he gave them a shove towards that corner booth….

—- to be continued —-

Tags: Aric Parr, Arum Kid King, Barton Lee, Battling Belter, Big Hits Gym, Bill Worrel, Bowman planetoid system, Captain James T. Dunstal, Classic Traveller, Detroit, Downport, Dr. Adam Millerton, Dr. Simon Tamm, Edam Neckties, Fiday, Finn Diaz, Forday, Giacomo DePeyster, Gomer Pile, Imperial Scout Service, Mark Moellering, Mike St. Peter, Quilted Giraffe, Regina, Rocco Bronkovic, Sixday, Sonday, Spinward Marches, Startown, Third Imperium, Thirday, Traveller, Tuday, Wonday
Posted in Miniatures Games, Role-Playing Games, Traveller | Comments Closed

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #3: Hungarian Grand Prix

August 7th, 2019

The 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix was held on Saturday, April 13, 2019, at RIW Hobbies & Games in Livonia, Michigan. Fourteen drivers contested the race, and at the end it was Bill Worrel taking the victory at the checkered flag. It was Worrel’s 2nd victory of the three CFR-Detroit races so far in 2019. Other podium finishers were Garry Kaluzny in 2nd place, and Mike Cook in 3rd place. Twelve of the 14 cars that started the race crossed the finish line.

The race was held on the Hungaroring track of a Garry Kaluzny design from the mid-1980s. The old Detroit Advanced Speed Circuit group used to race on the Formula 1 tracks a year after the tracks were raced in real life, and as Avalon Hill had not yet published the Hungaroring track, it was designed locally.

The Hungaroring track as used by the Detroit Championship Formula Racing players. Note that Bill Worrel also won on this track in 1987. This track was originally designed as only “2-wide,” but a 3rd lance was recently added on the start/finish straight.

As a reminder, drivers bid for starting position by bidding some of their wear and/or skill chits, with each wear counting as 1.0 and each skill counting as 0.5 towards their qualifying bid.

Qualifying

Mark Moellering (7 wear + 8 skill) earned his 1st pole position of the 2019 season, with a high bid of 11.0. Bill Worrel (0 wear + 20 skill) started 2nd with a bid of 10.0. Garry Kaluzny (3 wear + 13 skill) started 3rd with a bid of 9.5. Richard White (4 wear + 10 skill) bid 9.0 to start 4th. Jim Robinson (2 wear + 12 skill) and Mike Cook (2 wear + 12 skill) each bid 8.0. Jim Robinson rolled a percentage dice roll of ‘100’ to Cook’s roll of ’84,’ and so J. Robinson started 5th, and Cook started 6th. Gary Sturgeon (3 wear + 8 skill) started 7th with a bid of 7.0.

Greg Lim (5 wear + 0 skill) bid 5.0 to start 8th. Ninth on the grid was Brian Robinson (0 wear + 5 skill) with a bid of 2.5. Aric Parr (2 wear + 0 skill) and Jack Beckman (0 wear + 4 skill) each bid 2.0, with Parr starting 10th after rolling ’86’ to Beckman’s roll of ’35,’ thus relegating Beckman to 11th on the grid. Jim Landis and Mike St. Peter each bid nothing. Landis started 12th with a roll of ’43,’ and St. Peter started 13th after rolling ’08.’ Mickey Akins arrived just as the bidding for qualifying was finishing, so he was added to the field in 14th position as a provisional starter. This was Akins’ return to boardgame racing competition. Although it was Akins’ first official race using the Championship Formula Racing rules, he is a past champion of the old Detroit area Advanced Speed Circuit races.

The starting grid for the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix with their car specs:

 # Driver (Car)                    Start/Accel/Decel/Top/Wear/Skill/Tires
 3 Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)         60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 1 Bill Worrel (Ferrari)            100   20    20   140  5x   5x   hard
 8 Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 7 Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 6 Jim Robinson (Williams)           60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
11 Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)          100   40    40   140  5x   3x   soft
12 Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)      100   40    40   140  5x   3x   soft
 0 Greg Lim (Williams)               60   60    40   160  5x   2x   soft
 5 Brian Robinson (Benetton)         20   60    60   140  5x   3x   soft
10 Aric Parr (McLaren)               60   60    60   140  5x   2x   hard
 2 Jack Beckman (Ferrari)            60   60    40   140  5x   3x   soft
20 Jim Landis (Benetton)             60   60    60   140  5x   2x   hard
 9 Mike St. Peter (McLaren)          20   40    40   140  5x   5x   hard
27 Mickey Akins (Fiat Ferrari)       60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft

Starting grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix: 1st row: Mark Moellering (left) and Bill Worrel (right); 2nd row: Garry Kaluzny (#8) and Richard White (#7); 3rd row: Jim Robinson and Mike Cook; 4th row: Gary Sturgeon and Greg Lim; 5th row: Brian Robinson and Aric Parr; 6th row: Jack Beckman and Jim Landis; 7th row: Mike St. Peter and Mickey Akins. Note the temporary track section used to extend the straight for the start.

1st Lap

At the start, Worrel wasn’t content to move at his 100 mph start speed; he wanted to try to move faster. But since he was on hard tires, he couldn’t use a wear to increase his start speed; instead, he used two -1 skill modifiers and rolled the dice. He rolled an ’11’ which was modified to a ‘9,’ but that meant he mis-shifted and so he started at 80 mph, 20 mph slower than his normal start speed. Pole-sitter Mark Moellering, on soft tires, used a -3 skill marker and rolled a ‘7’ to increase his start speed to 80 mph. That meant that Moellering moved before Worrel (since both cars plotted the same speed and Moellering was to the inside), and both cars moved 4 spaces down the track. The two Marlboro McLarens of Kaluzny and White each paid a wear to start at 80 mph, keeping pace with the front-row cars with a move of 4 spaces each. Cook moved at his start speed of 100 mph, so he pulled up next to the McLarens of Kaluzny and White. Jim Robinson spent a wear to start at 80 mph, moving directly behind Kaluzny. Then Sturgeon, from the next row back, started at 100 mph to move up next to J. Robinson. Lim used a wear to start at 80 mph, moving behind his teammate J. Robinson.

Brian Robinson used a wear to increase his car’s start speed from 20 to 40 mph, but he was passed by the cars of Parr (started at 80 mph after making a -1 start speed dice roll) and Beckman (used a wear to start at 80 mph). Moving up alongside of B. Robinson were the cars of Landis (started at 60 mph) and Akins (started at 80 mph after making a -1 start speed dice roll). St. Peter was content to start at his car’s 20 mph start speed.

The start at the Hungarian GP: The running order is Moellering, Worrel, Kaluzny, White, Cook, J. Robinson, Sturgeon, Lim, Parr, Beckman, B. Robinson, Landis, Akins, and St. Peter (the orange blur in the background).

The pack charged toward the 1st corner, with the lead 10 cars all bunched up.

The pack bunches up at the first corner; Moellering still leads, and the McLarens of Kaluzny and White have made a Ferrari sandwich with Worrel in the middle.

Moving through the 1st corner, Worrel used 2 wear and rolled a -1 chance. He made the roll, so he took the lead by pulling inside Moellering going into the 2nd corner. Going into the 4th corner, only Worrel and Moellering’s cars were able to accelerate out of that corner, so they were able to open a little lead on the following cars. But Moellering also took the lead back from Worrel, as Worrel’s car only had a 20 mph acceleration rating. At that 4th corner, White made a -3 chance roll, and that allowed him to pass his teammate Kaluzny to take over 3rd place. In that 4th corner, Beckman attempted a forced pass of Cook, but Cook slammed the door. Beckman had to use a wear and took a -2 deceleration roll to slow from 100 to 60 mph.

Half a lap into the race, and Moellering and Worrel lead wheel-to-wheel. Then follow White, Kaluzny, J. Robinson, Cook, Sturgeon, Beckman, Parr, Lim, Akins, Landis, St. Peter, and B. Robinson.

Worrel then moved ahead of Moellering, whose car was very low on wear. Moving in the last half of the 1st lap, Kaluzny managed to re-pass his teammate White, and Sturgeon got around his teammate Cook. By the 2nd to last corner of the 1st lap, Worrel led over Moellering and Kaluzny by 5 spaces. Then when Worrel ducked into the pits he had a lead of 7 spaces.

Worrel pits at the end of Lap 1 with a 7-space lead over Kaluzny, Moellering, Parr, Cook (who had re-passed his teammate), White, Sturgeon, J. Robinson, Beckman, Lim, Landis, Akins, B. Robinson, and St. Peter.

As Kaluzny, Sturgeon, Cook, Moellering, Parr, and White all came into the pits, Worrel was returning to the track with a fresh set of soft tires. Then as Worrel sped away, the cars of J. Robinson and Beckman also pulled into the pits. Akins retired his car just before the 2nd to last corner of the 1st lap, thereby being classified in 14th place with a DNF.

At the end of the 1st lap, the pits are very busy indeed. Worrel speeds away while the cars of Kaluzny, J. Robinson, Beckman, Sturgeon, Cook, Moellering, Parr, and White all renew their rubber.

Lim and B. Robinson did pit as they came through the final corner, but Landis and St. Peter stayed on the track on their hard tires. But B. Robinson retired from the race while his car was in the pits, so he was classified 13th with a DNF.

The official order at the end of the 1st lap was: Worrel (+1) (with a huge lead of 10 spaces); Landis (+10); Kaluzny (0); Sturgeon (+3); Cook (+1); Parr (+4); White (-3); St. Peter (+5); Moellering (-8); Beckman (+1); J. Robinson (-6); and Lim (-4). Brian Robinson (-4) was classified 13th, and Akins (0) was classified 14th. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many positions a driver either gained (+) or lost (-) from their starting position.

2nd Lap

In the early part of the 2nd lap, Kaluzny (on fresh hard tires) was having a battle with Landis (on worn hard tires) for 2nd place. Then Kaluzny moved at 100 mph through turns 3 and 4, using 2 wears at the turn 3, and then using another 2 wears and making a -3 chance at turn 4. That allowed Kaluzny to get ahead of the pack into a clear 2nd place. Moellering made a forced pass of Sturgeon at turn 3, but their cars bumped and each car had to lose a wear. Parr then failed a deceleration roll (rolling a ’12’) and so had to use a wear to avoid spinning out, and his deceleration was now down to 40 mph for the balance of the race. Halfway through the 2nd lap, and Worrel was one full move ahead of Kaluzny, and Kaluzny was one full move ahead of Landis and everyone else.

Halfway through the race, and Mike Cook (baseball cap) and Mike St. Peter (hatless) look on. The running order is: Worrel (red car near the #11 sign); Kaluzny (approaching the corner at the upper left of the picture); Landis; Cook; Moellering; Parr; Sturgeon; White; St. Peter; J. Robinson; Beckman; and Lim.

Jim Landis (cap) and Jim Robinson (no cap) plot their next moves near the end of the 2nd lap.

Between the 2nd & 3rd final corners of the 2nd lap, Beckman made a successful uncontested forced pass of J. Robinson. As at the end of the 1st lap, Worrel pulled into the pits, this time with a lead of 8 spaces over Kaluzny. Kaluzny led Parr and Cook by 6 spaces, then came the bunch of Landis, White, Moellering, Sturgeon, St. Peter, J. Robinson, Beckman, and Lim.

Other cars making pit stops at the end of the 2nd lap were Cook, Parr, Landis, White, Moellering, Beckman, J. Robinson, St. Peter, and Lim. Kaluzny stayed on the track, calculating that was his best chance of hanging on to 2nd place. Sturgeon also did not pit the 2nd time around. When Worrel came back onto the track, he was wheel-to-wheel with Kaluzny, but Worrel had a full complement of 15 wear (a fresh set of soft tires) while Kaluzny had only 5 wear remaining (although he would regain 2 wear when he crossed the start/finish line).

The official order at the end of Lap 2: Kaluzny (+2); Worrel (+1); Beckman (+8); Cook (+2); Sturgeon (+2); Parr (+4); Landis (+5); White (-4); Moellering (-8); Lim (-2); J. Robinson (-6); St. Peter (+1).

3rd Lap

Beginning the 3rd lap, Kaluzny briefly battled Worrel for the lead, but then tried to just conserve his wear to try to stay in 2nd place. Halfway through the last lap, 2nd-place Kaluzny had a 7 space lead over 3rd-place Cook. Then came Sturgeon, Parr, Landis, White, Moellering, Beckman, J. Robinson, Lim, and St. Peter. Coming out of turn 4, J. Robinson unsuccessfully tried to force pass his way past Moellering. Moellering made the block, but had to lose a precious wear in the process. Jim Robinson had to spend 2 wear to slow down from 100 to 60 mph. Then St. Peter spun in turn 4.

St. Peter spins in turn 4; Jim Robinson (white and yellow car) has just been blocked by Moellering (blue car). Worrel leads Kaluzny by 9 spaces, who now leads Cook by only 5 spaces.

At the end of the final lap, Bill Worrel (+1) easily took the checkered flag, winning by a whopping 14 spaces over Kaluzny. At the time Worrel crossed the finish line, Cook had been gaining on Kaluzny in 2nd place, and Cook was only 3 spaces behind Kaluzny.

Worrel wins at Hungary.

Going into the final corner, Kaluzny’s lead over Cook was down to 2 spaces, but Cook didn’t have enough wear left to floor it through that final corner, so Kaluzny (+1) held on to 2nd (by two spaces), and Cook (+3) was 3rd. White (0) took 4th place, 6 spaces behind Cook, and then Parr (+5) was 5th, three spaces behind White. Now came a dogfight for the final points-paying positions. Two spaces behind Parr, Landis (+6) finished in 6th, and he was closely followed in 7th by Beckman (+4) and 8th by Sturgeon (-1). Beckman had stressed his Ferrari’s engine just as he was crossing the finish line. Moellering (-8) was 9th, Lim (-2) was 10th, St. Peter (-2) was 11th, and Jim Robinson (-7) was 12th after spinning in the final corner after rolling an unmodified chance roll of ‘8.’ As noted earlier, Brian Robinson (-4) and Mickey Akins (0) were 13th and 14th, respectively (both DNFs).

Aftermath

Points awarded at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix: Worrel 15; Kaluzny 12; Cook 10; White 8; Parr 6; Landis 4; Beckman 2; and Sturgeon 1.

Team points awarded at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix: Marlboro McLaren 20; Ferrari 17; Camel Lotus 11; McLaren 6; Benetton 4.

The points standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 3 of 10 races):

Place Driver (Car)                    Points
  1T  Bill Worrel (Ferrari)             30
  1T  Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  30
  3   Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  28 
  4   Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)           25
  5   Aric Parr (McLaren)               22
  6   Jim Robinson (Williams)           12
  7   Greg Lim (Williams)                7
  8   Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)        5
  9T  Joel Lauder (Tyrrell)              4
  9T  Jim Landis (Benetton)              4
 11T  Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)          2
 11T  Mike St. Peter (McLaren)           2
 11T  Jack Beckman (Ferrari)             2
 14   Brian Robinson (Benetton)          1
 15   Mickey Akins (Fiat Ferrari)        0

Drivers can only count their 7 best finishes out of the 10 races.

The team championship standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 3 of 10 races):

Place Team              Points
  1   Marlboro McLaren    58
  2   Ferrari             32
  3   Camel Lotus         30
  4   McLaren             24
  5   Williams            19
  6   Tyrrell              6
  7   Benetton             5
  8   Fiat Ferrari         0

Teams can only count their 2 best finishing cars from each race.

The 4th race of the 2019 CFR-Detroit racing season was the British Grand Prix, racing on the Brands Hatch track. That race was on Friday, May 10, at Pandemonium Games & Hobbies in Garden City, Michigan.

Tags: Advanced Speed Circuit, Aric Parr, Avalon Hill, Benetton, Bill Worrel, Brands Hatch, Brian Robinson, British Grand Prix, Camel Lotus, CFR, CFR-Detroit, Championship Formula Racing, Ferrari, Fiat Ferrari, Garden City, Garry Kaluzny, Gary Sturgeon, Greg Lim, Hungarian Grand Prix, Hungaroring, Jack Beckman, Jim Landis, Jim Robinson, Livonia, Mark Moellering, Marlboro McLaren, McLaren, Michigan, Mickey Akins, Mike Cook, Mike St. Peter, Pandemonium Games & Hobbies, Richard White, RIW Hobbies & Games, Tyrrell, Williams
Posted in Board Games, Miniatures Games | Comments Closed

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #2 Portuguese Grand Prix

July 13th, 2019

Saturday, March 16, 2019, saw 13 drivers compete in the Portuguese Grand Prix on the Estoril track. The race was held at the Guild of Blades game store in Clawson, Michigan. Mike Cook emerged victorious, with Jim Robinson and Richard White joinging Cook on the podium. The Ferraris of Jack Beckman and Bill Worrel and the Benetton of Jim Landis were DNFs. This was the second race of the 2019 CFR-Detroit racing season.

We raced on the Estoril track that was designed by Garry Kaluzny in the mid-1980s. Here is that track diagram:

Estoril, Portugal track.

As a reminder, drivers bid for starting position by bidding some of their wear and/or skill chits, with each wear counting as 1.0 and each skill counting as 0.5.

Qualifying

Gary Sturgeon (5 wear + 6 skill) took the pole position with a bid of 8.0. Starting next to him on the front row was his teammate Mike Cook (1 wear + 13 skill) in the other Camel Lotus with his bid of 7.5. Starting 3rd was Jim Robinson (4 wear + 6 skill) with his bid of 7.0; Mark Moellering (0 wear + 14 skill) started 4th after also bidding 7.0. J. Robinson rolled ’61’ on percentage dice to Moellering’s roll of ’42’, thus J. Robinson got the inside spot of row 2.

Three drivers bid 6.5: Jack Beckman (6 wear + 1 skill); Richard White (4 wear + 5 skill); and Garry Kaluzny (4 wear + 5 skill). Beckman grabbed the 5th starting spot with a roll of ’78’; White was 6th with a roll of ’24’; and Kaluzny started 7th with a roll of ’02’. Greg Lim (5 wear + 0 skill) qualified 8th with his bid of 5.0. Bill Worrel (2 wear + 5 skill), winner of the previous race, only bid 4.5 and thus started in 9th position. Brian Robinson (0 wear + 5 skill) started 10th with his bid of 2.5.

Aric Parr (0 wear + 4 skill) bid 2.0 and started 11th. Mike St. Peter and Jim Landis each bid nothing; St. Peter started 12th after rolling ’51’ and Landis started 13th after rolling ’36’.

The starting grid for the 2019 Portuguese Grand Prix with their car specs:

 # Driver (Car)                    Start/Accel/Decel/Top/Wear/Skill/Tires
12 Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)      100   40    40   160  5x   2x   soft
11 Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)           60   40    40   140  5x   4x   soft
 6 Jim Robinson (Williams)           60   40    40   160  5x   3x   soft
 4 Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)         60   60    40   160  3x   4x   hard
 2 Jack Beckman (Ferrari)            60   40    40   180  5x   2x   soft
 7 Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   160  5x   3x   soft
 8 Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  60   40    40   160  5x   3x   soft
 0 Greg Lim (Williams)               60   60    40   160  5x   2x   soft
 1 Bill Worrel (Ferrari)             60   40    40   160  5x   3x   soft
 5 Brian Robinson (Benetton)         20   60    60   160  4x   3x   soft
10 Aric Parr (McLaren)               20   40    60   160  5x   3x   hard
 9 Mike St. Peter (McLaren)          20   40    40   140  5x   5x   hard
20 Jim Landis (Benetton)             20   60    60   160  5x   2x   hard

Starting grid at Portugal: 1st row: Gary Sturgeon & Mike Cook; 2nd row: Jim Robinson & Mark Moellering; 3rd row: Jack Beckman & Richard White; 4th row: Garry Kaluzny & Greg Lim; 5th row: Bill Worrel & Brian Robinson; 6th row: Aric Parr & Mike St. Peter; 7th row: Jim Landis.

1st Lap

When the green flag dropped to start the race, Sturgeon used his 100 mph start speed to move 5 spaces. Cook spent one of his -3 skill chits and rolled the dice to boost his start speed to 80mph, pulling right behind his teammate. The 2nd row cars of J. Robinson and Moellering both rolled dice to increase their start speed to 80 mph, Robinson using -1 skill and Moellering using -2 skill; they both made their rolls. The 3rd row cars of Beckman and White both used -2 skill and made their start speed dice rolls to move at 80mph. The 4th row cars of Kaluzny and Lim both used wear to increase to 80 mph, not wanting to risk stalling on the grid. Worrel, on the inside of the 5th row, made an unmodified start speed roll to start at 80 mph. Next to Worrel, B. Robinson used a wear to increase his start speed to 40 mph. Then Aric Parr made a -2 roll, and his teammate St. Peter made a -1 start speed roll, so both started at 40 mph. Landis rolled away at his normal start speed of 20 mph.

The initial move at the 2019 Portuguese Grand Prix: Sturgeon; Cook; J. Robinson; Moellering; Beckman; White; Kaluzny; Lim; Worrel; B. Robinson; Parr; St. Peter; and Landis.

Moving into Curva 1, most cars kept their same running order, although Moellering briefly pulled up alongside Cook before falling back at Curva 2, and the first nine cars had opened a 4-space gap to the last four cars. Jim Robinson then took 2nd from Cook by pulling inside at Curva 3. But then Cook managed to pass both J. Robinson and Sturgeon to take the lead. Jim Landis was the race’s first DNF, crashing his car at Curva 3. He only used a -1 skill chit for the chance roll, and he rolled an ’11’. Aric Parr then had to roll dice to avoid the crashing Landis. Parr was to get an automatic -2 to his dice roll, but he added another -1 skill to make his roll at -3, and he made it through the corner unscathed.

Landis (upside down Benetton) crashes in Curva 3. The running order: Cook; J. Robinson; Sturgeon; White; Moellering; Beckman; Kaluzny; Worrel; Lim; St. Peter; B. Robinson; and Parr.

Cook started to pull away, opening a 4-space gap over J. Robinson by the time Cook reached the Orelha corner. Meanwhile, back in the pack, Parr over-stressed his McLaren’s engine, reducing his acceleration by 20 mph for the rest of the race (his acceleration was now only 20 mph). Cook had a 6-space lead when he was the first car to make a pit stop near the end of the first lap.

Cook pits near the end of lap 1. Running order: Cook; J. Robinson; White; Sturgeon; Worrel; Kaluzny; Beckman; Lim; B. Robinson; Moellering; St. Peter; and Parr.

Cook was quickly joined in the pits by the cars of J. Robinson, White, and Sturgeon. Eventually, Worrel, Kaluzny, Beckman, Lim, and B. Robinson would also pit, while Moellering, St. Peter, and Parr stayed on the track without pitting. The latter trio were all on hard tires, whilst the pittees all changed from soft to hard tires.

At the end of the 1st lap, the official order was: Cook (+1); Moellering (+2); J. Robinson (0); St. Peter (+8); Parr (+6); Sturgeon (-5); White (-1); Worrel (+1); Kaluzny (-2); Beckman (-5); Lim (-3); and B. Robinson (-2). Landis (0) was a DNF, classified in 13th. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many places a driver either gained (+) or lost (-) from their starting position.

2nd Lap

Early in the 2nd lap, Cook enjoyed a 4-space lead over 6 cars. Those 6 cars were in a tight bunch heading into Curva 1.

Cook leads the 2nd lap at Curva 1, following by Moellering, J. Robinson, St. Peter, Parr, Sturgeon, and White; then a gap to Worrel and Kaluzny, then another gap to Beckman and Lim, then B. Robinson.

Coming out of the pits and down the long start/finish straightaway, both Ferraris had engine problems. Worrel rolled an ’11’ on a -1 top speed roll, so his top speed was reduced to 140 mph. Beckman failed an acceleration roll, so his car’s acceleration was now only 20 mph.

Through Curva VIP, J. Robinson had caught up with Cook. Parr forced an unblocked pass on his teammate St. Peter between Curva 1 and Curva 2, and so Parr was right behind J. Robinson at Curva VIP. Then more problems struck the Ferrari team when Beckman flipped his Ferrari at Curva VIP to become the race’s 2nd DNF. Beckman only used a single -1 skill marker to modify the chance dice roll, but even so, he rolled a ’12’. Lim had moved only 60 mph through Curva VIP, ending his move on the cornering arrow. Beckman did not want to slow, and since he was now on hard tires he couldn’t use a 3rd wear for the corner, but had to roll the dice.

Beckman crashes at Curva VIP. The running order: Cook; J. Robinson; Parr; Moellering; Sturgeon; White; St. Peter; Worrel; Kaluzny; Lim; and B. Robinson.

Slightly later in the lap, Worrel’s Ferrari developed brake problems when he failed an unmodified deceleration roll before the Orelha corner, making Worrel’s decel only 20 mph. At the corner after Orelha, Moellering’s Tyrrell failed an unmodified deceleration, so his car was down to 40 mph deceleration. Moellering had no more skill chits, and only 1 wear remaining until he made it to the pits.

Near the end of the 2nd lap, Cook had opened up another 4-space lead over J. Robinson. Most observers thought Cook would stay on the track, but he surprised most everyone by making a 2nd pit stop.

Cook makes a 2nd pit stop near the end of the 2nd lap. The running order: Cook; J. Robinson; Parr; White; Worrel; Sturgeon; St. Peter; Moellering; Kaluzny; Lim; and B. Robinson.

Other cars that pitted at the end of the 2nd lap were those of J. Robinson, Parr, Sturgeon, St. Peter, and Moellering. Those cars all exited the pits on soft tires. Staying on the track (and staying on hard tires) were the cars of White, Worrel, Kaluzny, Lim, and B. Robinson.

The official order at the end of the 2nd lap was: White (+5); Cook (0); Worrel (+6); J. Robinson (-1); Parr (+6); Kaluzny (+1); Lim (+1); Sturgeon (-7); B. Robinson (+1); St. Peter (-2); and Moellering (-7). Beckman (-7) was a DNF due to his crash, and was classified 12th.

3rd Lap

White now led from Cook by 4 spaces through Curva 1, although Cook had much more wear remaining than did White.

White leads from Cook to begin the final lap. Positions 3 through 11: Worrel; J. Robinson; Parr; Kaluzny; Lim; Sturgeon; B. Robinson; St. Peter, and Moellering.

White was driving his utmost to try to stay in the lead, including making an unmodifed acceleration roll coming out of Curva VIP to get up to 140 mph as quickly as possible. White held his 4-space lead over Cook down the middle straight, but coming out of the Parabolica Interior the lead was down to 2 spaces. Then Cook pulled even with White coming out of the Orelha corner. While Cook caught White, Worrel’s Ferrari finally totally lost its brakes heading into the Parabolica Interior, putting driver and car out of the race in 11th place.

Cook catches White just after the Orelha corner, J. Robinson is close behind in 3rd. Then are Kaluzny, Parr, Sturgeon, St. Peter, Lim, and Moellering. Worrel’s Ferrari is just off the track near the flat-bed truck.

Cook then took the lead from White with J. Robinson only 2 spaces behind White. Kaluzny was trying to hold onto 4th place, but Parr and Sturgeon were breathing right down his tailpipe just past Orelha. Lim and St. Peter were dicing for 7th, and Moellering was battling B. Robinson for 9th. Finally, the leaders made it through the final corner and onto the start/finish line. Jim Robinson made an unmodified top speed roll to get to 180 mph, and that allowed him to pass White for 2nd. Aric Parr rolled a -3 chance at the Parabolica and so was able to snatch 4th place from Kaluzny. Lim spun in the Esses, and Moellering managed to fail an unmodified top speed roll to lower his car’s top speed to 140 mph.

At the checkered flag, it was Mike Cook (+1) winning just ahead of Jim Robinson (+1) in 2nd and Richard White (+3) in 3rd. Aric Parr (+7) was 4th, a remarkable drive especially as his car had only a 20 mph acceleration for most of the race. Garry Kaluzny (+2) was 5th. Pole-sitter Gary Sturgeon was 6th (-5). Mike St. Peter (+5) was 7th. Greg Lim (0) was 8th. Brian Robinson (+1) was 9th, and Mark Moellering (-6) was 10th. DNFs were: Bill Worrel (-2) in 11th; Jack Beckman (-7) in 12th; and Jim Landis (0) in 13th.

Cook wins from J. Robinson and White. Lim has spun in the Esses.

Aftermath

Points awarded at the 2019 Portuguese Grand Prix: Cook 15; J. Robinson 12; White 10; Parr 8; Kaluzny 6; Sturgeon 4; St. Peter 2; and Lim 1.

Team Points awarded at the 2019 Portuguese Grand Prix: Camel Lotus 19; Marlboro McLaren 16; Williams 13; McLaren 10.

The points standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 2 of 10 races):

Place Driver (Car)                    Points
  1   Richard White (Marlboro McLaren)  20 
  2   Garry Kaluzny (Marlboro McLaren)  18
  3   Aric Parr (McLaren)               16
  4T  Bill Worrel (Ferrari)             15
  4T  Mike Cook (Camel Lotus)           15
  6   Jim Robinson (Williams)           12
  7   Greg Lim (Williams)                7
  8T  Joel Lauder (Tyrrell)              4
  8T  Gary Sturgeon (Camel Lotus)        4
 10T  Mark Moellering (Tyrrell)          2
 10T  Mike St. Peter (McLaren)           2
 12   Brian Robinson (Benetton)          1
 13T  Jack Beckman (Ferrari)             0
 13T  Jim Landis (Benetton)              0

Drivers can only count their 7 best finishes out of the 10 races.

The team championship standings of the 2019 CFR-Detroit season (after 2 of 10 races):

Place Team              Points
  1   Marlboro McLaren    38
  2T  Camel Lotus         19
  2T  Williams            19
  4   Ferrari             15
  5   McLaren             18
  6   Tyrrell              6
  7   Benetton             1

Teams can only count their 2 best finishing cars from each race.

The 3rd race of the 2019 CFR-Detroit racing season, the Hungarian Grand Prix, was at RIW Hobbies & Games in Livonia, Michigan, on Saturday, April 13.

Tags: Aric Parr, Benetton, Bill Worrel, Brian Robinson, Camel Lotus, CFR-Detroit, Clawson, Curva 1, Curva 2, Curva 3, Curva VIP, Esses, Estoril, Ferrari, Garry Kaluzny, Gary Sturgeon, Greg Lim, Guild of Blades, Hungarian Grand Prix, Jack Beckman, Jim Landis, Jim Robinson, Livonia, Mark Moellering, Marlboro McLaren, McLaren, Michigan, Mike Cook, Mike St. Peter, Orelha, Parabolica, Parabolica Interior, Portuguese Grand Prix, Richard White, RIW Hobbies & Games, Tyrrell, Williams
Posted in Board Games, Miniatures Games | Comments Closed

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CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #5: Michigan Grand Prix

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #4: British Grand Prix

Traveller — the Adventure Begins

Day 002-1105 (Wonday)

Day 003-1105 (Tuday)

Lunchtime at the Quilted Giraffe

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #3: Hungarian Grand Prix

CFR-Detroit 2019 Race #2 Portuguese Grand Prix

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