Zocchi roars back from the edge of the abyss -- A Lost Worlds Session

Lou Zocchi is one of the most legendary figures in the wargame hobby, one of its founding members, in fact. He was active enough in the earliest days of Avalon Hill gaming to have a river named after him the the game Blitzkrieg. He established one of the first independent wargame companies and over the years became famous for his quality dice, particularly of the mutli-side sort. Indeed, without Zocchi's ground breaking dice (which included a 100-sided die!) , Dungeons & Dragons probably would have developed quite differently.


Meanwhile, I had eyed the Lost Worlds combat books for a long time, being a fan of the Ace of Aces series, but never taking the plunge -- until I spotted a Lost Worlds book starring Zocchi at the WBCa couple of years ago! That broke my resistance and I took the plunge into the game system with Zocchi: Magician With Dice Bag and Azlana Darque: Sorceress With Broadsword as his his first opponent.


I knew that Zocchi was an accomplished showman, which was clear from his famous videos about dice, but it wasn't until I got this book that I realized that he's also evidently an accomplished magician was well. The Zocchi Lost Worlds book might have started as a little vanity press project, but it resulted in an interesting and amusing Lost Worlds character.

So here our favorite magician (played by your truly) encounters Kharis the Royal Mummy (played by Young General):




Zocchi the Magnificent considered the probabilities. He could take his chances with this accursed cursed mummy or cut his losses with a time consuming retreat. Bah! He plucked an exploding die from his bag and wound up to toss it at his foe.









In a flash the Mummy was on him and Zocchi the Great saw stars, heard whistles and chirps and felt himself on the knife's edge of consciousness as the mummy landed an extremely powerful body blow on the legendary prestidigitator. (-11 hit! Just 1 Body point left!).


Zocchi the Stupendous perceived through the fog of pain that he'd be unable to perform the intricate movements required to cast spells -- it would all come down to the dice! Zocchi was, however, a luckmaster, of course, and the mummy's blow was luckily so hard that the mummy lost his grip on his magical mace and was disarmed!



The nearly dead magician and the undead corpse dodged and weaved around as the mummy kept trying to retrieve his mace and Zocchi tossed exploding dice in his direction. None of the dice landed true, but the mummy never got his mace back into his grasp. With a roar the frustrated mummy tried to head-butt Zocchi the Fantastic, but the white-haired wonder had anticipated the move and whapped the mummy with his magic dice bag. A terrifying screech signalled success. (-8 hit).



Expecting the mummy to retreat for a moment, Zocchi the Wondrous hopped back as well and took a swig from his Healing Herb potion (+5 body restored). He wasn't fully fit, but he was at least healthier than the undead guy! (Zocchi had 6 left, Kharis had 4).


Abandoning his attempts to recover the mace, the mummy charged headfirst at Zocchi the Splendorous, right into a strong swipe by the deadly dice bag. (-8 hit, leaving Kharis at -4 and KO'd).


Zocchi the Chastened staggered away, satisfied that his dice luck had held once again, but vowing to be a little less complacent next time.

Encounter on the low road -- a Lost Worlds session

Arcanthus regretted taking the coast road. Not only had its twisty path not saved him any time over the King Pass route, but now he was being accosted by a ruffian - some pirate from the looks of him.

The sage prepared casting a spell to clear the thug away, but his incantations were interrupted by a large bang, a cloud of smoke, and the whistle of a pistol ball past his ear!



Arcanthus brushed aside his brief glimpse of mortality and focused. No time for that now. No doubt the robber would want to reload, obviously being the sort of coward who feared close combat, so now was the time to close and strike.

Sure enough, the blade of Arcanthus caught the pirate squarely as he attempted to stuff wad and ball down the barrel. (-5 hit).

As the pirate staggered back, Arcanthus had time to finish casting his interrupted spell. He kicked his foot out and a rainbow colored blast of light erupted from Khalyde's Kick to strike the pirate hard. (-3 hit).

The battered pirate dodged another swing from Arcanthus, and managed to reload his pistol finally, but a follow-on swing from the sage clipped the ruffian's side. (-2 hit).

Time to finish this affair. Arcanthus judged that the pirate would again pause to attempt to get off a shot, so a strong swinging blow would probably catch him. And so it came to pass (-3, KO).

The man's wounds did not appear necessarily fatal. Arcanthus never took a life without need, no matter how worthless it seemed. And so he gathered his discarded bags and continued his journey, leaving the would-be robber's fate in the hands of whoever should next pass down the road.

No Cherry on top -- A Lost Worlds session

The Old Warrior's one-game winning 'streak' comes to an end ...



Flaming Cherry hated the job she had signed up for. A famous "Barbarian Beauty" deserved a more prestigious post than guarding the back door to a dark mage's keep. She liked it even less when she saw the threat obviously foreseen by the mage -- although not shared with her -- materialize a few feet away. The enemy's angelic features were, Cherry had to admit, not bad, but she had to wonder what the point was for being sexy when you were an angel.

That moment's wary contemplation allowed the angel to cast a quick spell, and Cherry saw a magical sphere start to swirl around the angel's shoulders. The angel was, in her turn, a little too complacent about her spell's success as a quick swing of Cherry's sword caught her unaware and knocked her off balance and sent the angel crashing to the ground -- and looking rather stunned. (-1 hit)

The angel recovered quickly, though, and the two beauties started trading blows, but Cherry was becoming frustrated as her blows were hitting twice more often but doing much less damage (-4, -1, - 2, compared to -5 and -6).

Finally Cherry got in a nice solid blow (-7), just as the Angel did the same (-4). Everything went black.

It was many days later when Cherry finally awoke. She was in great pain. The dark mage's healing spells were effective, but he had little use for those that might alleviate pain -- especially when he needed toa sk some pointed questions about intruders. Cherry realized that she was in for another bad day.

Sometimes the only way to win -- cheat! A Lost Worlds session report

Well, maybe not exactly cheat, but definitely not a fair fight. The Old Warrior finally breaks (temporarily as it turns out) his string of defeats at the hands of the Young General by basically bringing a gun to a knife fight. Or in this case a Djinn to a fight with a ninja ...

Othere would have pitied the foolish man dressed in black garb, if pity was an emotion he could feel. It was amazing how the fools always thought they'd get wishes when they rubbed a lamp! Some Djinn played along with the joke and "granted" wishes that always backfired on the lamp-rubbers. But Othere wasn't into jokes -- he was known as being rather dour for a Djinn -- and so he merely laughed at the silly little man in the black pajamas.

Hah! The black-garbed little man pulled out a sword and took a fighting stance. Othere was amused. Let's see how he liked this little trick! Othere began twirling to create his whirlwind. The wind grew and grew and the black-garbed man struggled to keep his footing. Finally Othere unleashed his strength and the wind tossed the little man to the ground. Otehre could hear some bone crack. (-9 hit down to 3)

The black-garbed man struck out with his sword as Othere leered at him, slashing into the Djinn. That was an unpleasant surprise, Othere thought. (-8 hit to the head) The little man had some bite after all. Othere dodged a followup blow and recovered some strength (+1 regeneration).

Time to end this, the Djinn vowed to himself, as he brought his sword slashing down and through the little man -- leaving him obviously and instantly dead.

Being careful what you wish for -- Lost Worlds Session

There's one danger in teaching a young grasshopper the 'martial' arts -- he may kick the teacher's butt ... .

Gildersleve was in a hurry. He wanted to arrive in Occum before dark and he meant to do so even if it meant cutting through the glade rumored to be guarded by a unicorn. Detours were for elves or men. Dwarves took the direct path. Besides he had his sharp blade and blasting horn to see him through, although he wasn't too pleased that the unicorn's magical resistance rendered his own knowledge of the yellow and purple magicks nearly useless.

Ah, so the the stories were more than mere rumours, Gildersleve thought, as he saw a stately and rather large unicorn mare emerge from the woods. Well, a blast of the horn should send the lass on her way.

But he had barely brought the horn to his lips when the beast suddenly charged and caught him square with its horn, tossing him to the ground. (-6 hit, dropping his body points to 10).

Gildersleve fought back, slashing low over and over. Some blows missed as the unicorn slipped aside, but others connected (-1 and -1 hits). Gildersleve was concerned as his foe was merely being nicked. He managed to blow the horn once, which sharpened his blade's bite, and a more solid than usual strike did draw some serious blood (-4 hit). The unicorn recoiled.

Gildersleve took the chance to draw on his magic. His spells couldn't affect the unicorn, but he could cast them on himself, and the "Touch of Glenna" provided a salve to his wounds (+2 body restored).

The combatants returned to the fray and Gildersleve staggered the horned horse with a strong slash (-6 hit) but the unicorn's counterstrike also pierced him again (-5 hit). Gildersleve was so intent on closing in on his opponent he forgot his danger. Horn and blade clashed together and Gildersleve saw the aura of the unicorn's charm spell spread to his own blade and in an instant envelope him. It was so warm -- and pleasant.

And it struck him instantly how absurd this fight was! How could he be trying to injure such a delightful, beautiful creature. Why this creature was his friend -- and he was hers! Yes, he understood perfectly now. Wherever he was going was unimportant. All that was important was that he leave the friendly unicorn in peace and leave the glade -- returning to way he came. It was all so very clear ... .

And so the Old Warrior loses his third straight Lost Worlds duel to the Young General as the unicorn wins the fight by charming the dwarf.

A cold, hard defeat for Wintersword -- a Lost Worlds session

Amara Wintersword wasn't too concerned when she spotted the female gargoyle barring her way through the passage.

Amara figured her usual tactic of hanging back and distracting the foe with thrown daggers followed up with an axe attack would work, so she readied her magic dagger and let loose with it. The magic dagger would find its way back into her hand after being thrown, which made that a very useful tactic indeed.

Unfortunately the gargoyle was too quick and the dagger toss missed.

Next thing she knew, the gargoyle's wings and claws where flailing at her, sharp talons digging into Amara's flesh! (-3 hit) This would not do! Amara countered with a solid swing of her axe that caught the gargoyle square in the side (-8 hit). The two combatants separated, warily.

Again the gargoyle closed, thrusting with her long spear. Amara's usual luck came into play (with a 'Dull Blade' luck card) and the Gargoyle only caught her with the flat side of the spear blade. (no damage).

The gargoyle flew over Amara and try as she might, Amara couldn't seem to get out from under the slashing talons and beating wings. Again and again she was pounced on and slashed. (-3 and -4 hits) One time she manged to knock the gargoyle back (-2 hit) but Amara sensed she wasn't going to prevail this time. The tiny gargoyle was tougher than she appeared.

A final slash that tore into her arm and Amara saw the darkness closing in. (-5 hit KO) So is this what death and defeat felt like, she wondered.

Hours, maybe a day later, Amara awoke, much to her surprise. She was grievously cut and had lost a lot of blood, but she was alive. The gargoyle was gone -- and so were some of Amara's possessions -- her magic tiara, a useful potion and her very useful Defendi Min medallion. Without the Defendi Min she wouldn't have lasted as long as she did against the gargoyle as its magic reduced the sting of each hit. Amara pitied the next foe the gargoyle faced, because they'd find the little creature eve tougher to defeat. That wasn't her problem, though. It was time to drag herself back to town and find a healer.

No bones about it -- a Lost Worlds Session Report

Young General and Old Warrior begin a series of duels ... .

Young general has Sir Percival, the mounted knight, while Old warrior has the basic skeleton with scimitar and shield -- although the skeleton;s sword is the rare beserker sword Karcilabran, which provides a +5 modifier for a Wild wing attack.

"Orts"

Orts didn't remember much about his "living" life. He had a vague sense that he was once a renowned warrior -- but he had been undead so long it was hard to be sure. The mage who had reanimated his bones thought him fit to be armed with a special sword for use at his guard post. "Karcilabran" the mage had called it. "It is a berserker sword, best used with wild abandon, my fleshless friend," he had said.

Sir Percival

Orts wasn't surprised when a knight appeared at the other end of the meadow. Being deceased was such a big surprise that it had driven all the capacity for being surprised from his being -- such as it was. No doubt the mage had expected trouble, although he probably hadn't expected it likely from this direction -- or he would have posted a more formidable guard. Orts remembered enough of his training to realize that he stood little chance against a mounted man-at-arms in the open, but flight was out of the question. After all, what had he to fear? So he charged, with a silent battle cry from his long-lost life echoing in his thoughts. The knight likewise spurred his mount and closed quickly. There was the clang of metal on metal as the knight parried the skeleton's blade -- and then the crack of metal upon bone as the knights sword struck off a few ribs.( - 3 points on Orts, reducing Body to 4)





Orts knew he didn't have long to strike, so he decided this was the time to abandon caution and swing wildly with Karcilabran. The berserk blade clang right through the knight's parrying attempt and dug into his leg -- rewarding Orts with a red blade! (-3 on Sir Percival, reducing body to 11)









Had Orts been able to voice an exultation, he would have, but he hoped to follow through with a high thrust into the knight's midsection using the tactic of the "Three Bit Swing" developed by Umar Burtoss -- but the knight's steed turned around and threw a vicious hind-leg kick that scattered Orts bones all over the meadow -- dissipating his thoughts. (-5 on Orts, reducing Body to -1 for a KO)

It's a curious fact about skeleton warriors that it's fairly easy to disable them by scattering their bones -- but hard to scatter them so thoroughly that the skeleton can't eventually reassemble himself using the creating mage's magic. So it was that, some time later, enough of Orts drew together that his thoughts returned. He could see that the knight had relieved him of the sword Karcilabran and had left. Once his leg bones returned he'd go report to the mage that he had an unwanted visitor.

Lost Worlds -- quick thoughts

Lost Worlds has been around for a very, very long time. The first books, designed by Alfred Leonardi, were published by Nova Games Designs back in 1983. So I'm definitely a Johnny-come-lately to this party. And it's funny, because I was an early fan of their other combat book game, Ace of Aces, which came out in 1980. It says more about where my interests were at the time. I was moving into a much more exclusively wargame diet around then, after having dabbled a bit in fantasy RPGs.

So it was only a year or so ago that I decided to buy a couple of Lost Worlds Books, prompted by the appearance of hobby stalwart Lou Zocchi as a character in one of the books!

For those unfamiliar with them, the combat books are a patented game play mechanic hat involves two books, one for each player, that have pictures of the opposing player's character/aircraft/dragon as viewed from the player's perspective. Players select a move and through the interaction of a key and their opponents selection end up on new pages that reflect the results of their mutual move. It's really quite clever.

The Lost Worlds books are the fantasy individual combat game using this system, and dozens of books have been published over the years by various publishers that are fully compatible with each other. There's even a Japanese Anime version.

I finally got to play a few rounds over the last few weeks, as Young General and I took a break from BattleLore. The game is easy enough that a 10-year-old can handle it fine, but there are enough decisions to make that it's satisfying no matter what your age. We're both still getting the hang of it, but our contests have been remarkable even, with nearly a 50-50 split. The game is a nice filler that plays quickly. Few battle last more than 15 minutes or so, although I expect they'll last a little longer as we get more practiced at it. Some of out fights have ended very fast.

My only regret is that it took me so long to get around to the game.

Lost Worlds -- OK, I broke down and bought it

I've toyed with picking up a couple of Lost Worlds books for years, literally.

I was a big fan of Aces of Aces and eventually got the whole set of those, including all the World War I books, the Wingleader World War II set and the Jet Eagles modern set.

I once had the Bounty Hunter book, but somewhere along the line that got misplaced.

Anyway, I've long thought about picking up a couple of Lost Worlds books but never did, until this weekend at the World Boardgame Championships when I stopped by the Flying Buffalo Inc. book. FBI and I go back a long way as well, I was an early player of Rick Loomis' computer moderated Play By Mail games of Nuclear Destruction and Battle Plan and have picked up all the Nuclear War series of games, too,

(Later, while waiting for the Nuclear War tournament to start, Loomis told us at the table about how he had tracked down Nuclear War design Doug Malewicki in 1975 using a Los Angeles phone book in order to buy the rights. To this day Malewicki gets royalty checks from Loomis.)

So when I spotted the Azlana Darque book I was very tempted. There's nothing like a hot babe with a broadsword to catch the eye!

Apparently Ms. Darque is a model with her own Web Site and, judging from a quick look at the site, somewhat of a free-spirited sort, unsurprisingly. Here's her site: http://azlanadarque.com/

Still, you have to have two books in order to play the game and most of the stuff I'd already seen before and had passed up buying many times in the past.

But there was another new (2007) book in the pile and that sealed the deal.

There was Zocchi the Magician!

Now Lou Zocchi was one of the very first "names" I learned in the hobby, back around 1969 or 1970. One of my first non-Avalon Hill "war games" was a Star Trek-based miniatures-style starship combat game he published. It was a good game for the time and the miniatures were very good as well.

Zocchi was also famous for his multi-sided dice, and patented a design for a 100-sided die, too. So it's no surprise that his weapon of choice is a dice bag filled with magic dice.

Well, "The Ancient One" was even harder to pass by than the Babe With Broadsword (actually a two-handed sword, but I prefer alliteration over accuracy in this case), so I finally bought a coy of Lost Worlds more than two decades after I first became aware of it.