BrikWars: Brikingham, March 2002

This was my first attempt at running a BrikWars game, and I found it very hectic trying to make the game run smoothly with nine inexperienced, albeit enthuiastic new players. Our playing field was the small English city of Brikingham. For more details on the city and a little bit of its relevant history, see here.

I had constructed eleven small armies for the players to choose from. For more info and better photos of those armies, see here. Once we were all gathered, the nine players grouped into five teams.

The game was played as a Capture the Flag challenge. Each team had a flag in its base, plus there was a central flag atop the city's clock tower. Also, each team was assigned a secret mission at the start of the game. At game's end, a winner would be declared based on points awarded as follows:

  • 20 points for capturing an opponent's flag (a successful capture means having your own flag plus a second flag mounted at your base at the end of a round)
  • 25 points for capturing the center flag
  • 25 points for completing a secret mission
  • 50 points for recovering the hidden treasure (a ridiculously difficult goal involving finding a hidden treasure map, digging up the hidden treasure chest, and dragging it back to your base)

Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied answering the continual barrage of rules questions and clarifications over the course of the seven hour game that I was unable to document the game with photos on a round-by-round basis. So presented here are some of the better photos of the game's carnage and a synopsis of the game's events.

But first let's meet our teams and learn their assigned secret missions:

Mark and Kathy took control of The Chuxxx.

Their secret mission:

RECOVER GENETIC SAMPLE OF PROF. CLOCKWORTHY
Even if you cannot recover the plans to Prof. Clockworthy's perpetual motion machine, your army's back-up plan is to use their advnaced teknology to clone Clockworthy and make him rebuild his invention as your slave. To complete this goal, have the full skeletal remains of Prof. Clockworthy back to your base at the end of a round. (If the pieces scatter, you must collect them all.)

Jason and Matthew commanded The Mutant Horde.

Their secret mission:

STORE SEVENTEEN HEADS
Your team eats brains. They taste good and provide the nutrition needed for a day full of debauchery and eating people's brains. But the winter is coming, so you must stockpile. To complete this goal, have seventeen severed heads in your base at the end of a round.

Lila and April blasted onto the scene with team Globbis.

Their secret mission:

THREE CUPS OF COFFEE
Your team's heroic captain needs his three cups of coffee each morning in order to fight at full-capacity. Make sure he doesn't get too diabolically grouchy today (and turn on his own men) by retrieving three cups of coffee from anywhere on the map, and have them all back at your base by the end of a round. Even if your hero is dead, do this to honor his memory.

Satyam and Bryan controlled the Robonauts of Vikon VII.

Their secret mission:

RETRIEVE THE HELMET AND SHIELD OF SIR REGINALD BRIKINGHAM
Most cityfolk are aware that Sir Reginald Brikingham was shot clean through the head in battle, but what they do not realized is that he survived the battle unscathed, dying two years later from heptitas. Seeking knowledge of how to contruct better armor, your team must retrieve both Sir Reginald's helmet (from the hat store) and shield (on the statue in the park) and have them back inside their base at the end of a round.

Rachel somhow managed to match her shirt with the Enemies of Fashion.

Her secret mission:

CAPTURE THE BANANA
One of the monkeys in the zoo has a banana. A reliable oracle has informed you of this banana's supreme strategic importance in a future battle. To complete this goal, have the banana safely back in your base at the end of a round.

Let's move on to the carnage...