Tuesday 27 September 2016

27th September - 26th September Bolt Action vs Toby

I got my 2nd Edition Bolt Action rule book in the mail the other day so I hit Toby up for a game which we finally got onto the table yesterday.

It was quite interesting to see how the changes effected the game play. One of the big differences was the fact that in this edition it is actually a viable move to rally your troops. I can't think of a time previously when I had actually used the order before, but in this game we both used it at least three or four times each. The introduction of templates for the HE weapons is also a good move in my opinion though I understand that's always going to be a touchy subject for some. Personally my favourite change was the ability for the HQ units to draw order dice out of the bag and send orders to nearby troops, for me this finally makes them worth their points cost.

We decided on a standard scenario with the sole objective of killing each other. We deployed our troops and suffered the preliminary bombardment on both our troops. Toby got the better end of it with a couple of his units managing to avoid pinning, while I ended up mostly heavily pinned and my 1st Lieutenants accompanying trooper left as a casualty.

A disappointing first order saw my PAK team fail to understand their fire order and the men went down. My regular infantry squad picked up the pace however catching the veteran US ranger squad in the open and pinning them further. Toby returned fire with his M3 half-track killing one of the men crewing my medium machine gun team. My HQ team then barked orders out ordering the nearby machine gun team to fire on the distant regular US infantry squad and when they missed the veteran Grenadier squad to advance into hard cover and fire upon the same unit who still ended up pinned despite going down to avoid taking too much damage early on in the engagement. The US rangers manged to make it into cover despite being heavily pinned and the turn ended with my mortar team also failing to understand their orders and going down.

The German lieutenant again sent orders out to the machine gunners and veteran grenadiers. This time the machine gunners managed to pin M3 while the infantry unit manged to get a couple of kills into the US squad and keep their heads down. The German momentum continued with the regular infantry not only managing to hit the rangers again but killed their NCO leaving the US squad with a serious hit to morale. The rest of the exchanges were mostly ineffective fire, though the Sherman did make it onto the field for the US where as the German Hetzer was delayed.


The Rangers having just successfully rallied were again pinned by the German infantry. The Hetzer finally made it onto the battle field and while it's machine gun helped keep the Rangers contained it's main gun missed the US M8 by a long way and the plucky little armoured car returned the favour with a well placed shot, not managing to damage the tank destroyer but stunning the crew inside. The US sniper team continued harassing the second squad of veteran Grenadiers but the gunman was unable to take out any of the dug in men. The other squad fired their panzerfaust at the M3 but couldn't manage to hit the vehicle leaving the machine gunners to keep the vehicle pinned while the remaining men in the squad harried the US infantry they had contained.

The crew of the Hetzer managed to shake off their ringing ears and sent a well aimed shell at the M8 blowing the little vehicle apart, the US Sherman moved to revenge the armoured car but while it's shell hit the front armour of the German vehicle was simply too thick for such a hastily lined up shot to penetrate. On the far side of the battle field the 2nd US infantry squad made it to a position to put pressure on the veteran German infantry but while their fire was largely ineffective the return fire saw them lose two men to the efforts of the German light machine guns.


Seeing an opening the US M3 driver took a risk to try to assist the distant infantry but was caught out in the open by the grenadiers who made a short effort of assaulting the vehicle leaving it a smoking ruin before regrouping back to cover. The US made a valiant effort to try to regain some ground, but despite some heavy fire and a few casualties they failed to make much of a dint in the dug in German line.

The final effective shot in the game saw the PAK team finally understand what "Fire!!" meant and they're shot took out the US sniper and his assistant. Seeing his line badly compromised the orders went out and the US pulled back leaving the Germans in control of the field and taking victory for the day.

Again I really like the changes to the rule set. It was mostly tweaks in my opinion but those couple of changes really helped the flow of the game out without changing the feel. I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to getting another one on the table soon.

Monday 26 September 2016

26th September - 24th September Frostgrave vs The Wife

My Wife Jenny and I had the house to ourselves so we decided that we should do what all couples do when the kids are away for a few days and set up for a game of Frostgrave :).




I set up a pretty heavily populated Cultist outpost and the game was on.



We both began moving up towards the cultists casting buffing spells on our various soldiers. My apprentice manged to get a glow spell off on a nearby enemy. My nearby archer didn't manage to hit the man sized glowing target but his counterpart on the other left took out the cultist taking cover behind the window. Jen's crossbowmen attempted to take out some bow armed cultist on her side, wounding one but missing the other. The vile men advanced on the wizards' bands while their missile armed companions offered some covering fire, wounding a few of my soldiers and killing on the The Wife's archers.




Christian the Humble Worker of Miracles and Thaumaturge Extraordinaire quickly ran back chanting a Heal spell and bringing his almost unconscious archer back to his feet. My archer shot back at the cultist responsible for wounding him but merely winged the hooded man. One of my thugs took the opportunity to move up to grab one of awaiting piles of treasure. After one of her archers nailed an approaching cultist; Jenny, Crafter of Trinkets finished the man off with a well placed grenade spell. My man at arms engaged with another of the enemy horde while my apprentice used the distraction to blunder his attempt at a blinding light spell and took damage from the magical discharge. Jenny's apprentice also successfully cast a grenade spell but her targets both managed to avoid the blast. Her soldiers then moved in and engaged the men killing one but failing to pierce the amour on the second. Her crossbowmen also managed to kill one of the archers between them. A flurry of hostile action left one more cultist dead, at the cost of two of my warband (a thug and an archer) and both of Jenny's crossbowmen wounded.















Temporarily regretting his lack of damaging spells Christian the Humble cast blinding light leaving the man staggering around unable to use his weapon. Jenny wounded yet another cultist with another grenade while his archer hireling missed. The thaumaturge apprentice managed to cast his spell this time leaving the cultist crossbowman glowing, but the nearby archer failed again to hit his brightly lit target. The Wife's apprentice again threw a grenade spell this time wounded her target, and again the infantrymen waded in and took out their foe. My remaining thug picked up one of the cultist stashes and began to head back to camp to secure it. One of Jen's crossbowman was pulled down by her cultist foe and the other decided the odds were most definitely against him and pulled back to camp.




Both the wizards moved into better positions to support their warbands, Jenny, Crafter of Trinkets did it with a bit of a show, with yet another grenade spell and another dead cultist. Her apprentice also took the time to collect one of the other stockpiles. My man at arms finally managed to kill the cultist crossbowman and moved to support the infantryman who was being slowed beaten by his foe. The wife's infantryman had no such trouble and killed yet another man.





With less cultists left moving, the focus became mopping up the remaining few. Jen's archer began to exchange arrows with a distant man wounding him with a well placed shot. Meanwhile my Thug continued to move his haul back to camp. Christian the Humble, Worker of Miracles and Thaumaturge Extraordinaire was unfortunately unable to heal the infantryman engaged in combat. The Wife's apprentice also continued to secure treasure for her camp, while mine grabbed another lot of treasure while his archer moved to cover him and wounded the final cultist heading in his direction. The infantryman Jen had engaged with a cultist finally had his luck run out falling to the enemies blade despite being reinforced by a fellow soldier. My man at arms finished off the cultist that my infantryman was struggling with and moved off to engage the one threatening my apprentice and the wife's remaining infantryman took revenge for his fallen comrade killing his evil steeped opponent.


Jenny, Crafter of Trinkets began her advance into the centre of the contested area. With the infantryman finally standing still Christian the Humble bought his soldier back to full health and sent him off to handle the no longer blinded cultist. The remainder of the warbands began to secure the unguarded loot as two of the three remaining enemies were cut down.




Seeing she was now outnumbered and barely able to resist the blinding light cast on her by her counterpart, Jenny Crafter of Trinkets decided to take what she could and abandon the field.





Once the dust had settled both wizards had to deal with their wounded soldiers. Jenny, Crafter of Trinkets despite heavily injures walked away with no dead men, though one of her crossbowmen wouldn't be able to join the next mission into the ruins while he recovered. Unfortunately despite his best efforts Christian the Humble's thug succumbed to his wounds and passed away.

Painting wise I've made a fair bit of headway on the Abyssal Halfbreeds but I've been tied up at work a bit more this week so I've still got quite a way to go. On the gaming side my youngest wants to get a game in so we're looking at going Kings of War and I should be getting a game of Bolt Action in with Toby now I've got the second edition rulebook here ready to go.

Tuesday 20 September 2016

20th September - 19th September Dropzone vs The Youngest

I had my Dropzone Commander Reconquest Phase Two rulebook turn up early last week and having a read through combined with the imminent arrival of mine and The Wife's Dropfleet pledges I was keen to get a game on. My youngest, Arwen stepped in to the rescue and decided it was time for her to learn the game.

We ended up getting two games, though the first one was more of a rule play through more than a real game. The second one was not a terrible game with Arwen managing to decimate most of my force but despite only have a couple of Marauders and a single Invader make it off the board with a loot counter. Unfortunately for her I'd managed to take out her Bear APCs and their attendant Condor so she was unable to get the single loot counter she'd found off the table giving me the win in the end. Luckily for me she really enjoyed the games so I might have to grab a few more vehicles for the UCM and I'm relatively sure she has now decided to claim the UCM components of our Dropfleet pledges.



I managed to get boots on the ground first thanks to the faster Scourge dropships, though I lost a Marauder and one of the carried Reapers to her AA fire.



Luckily I took out her Condor and one of her Bears before she decimated my vehicles.




Her troops also proceeded to demolish my squad in the largest building. I was waiting for her to move one of them in the remaining Bear to go for the third objective and somehow was lucky enough to blow it up before it could reach the distant goal.




Painting wise I've ended up on the Abyssal Halfbreeds and I've worked out what I want to finish off a two thousand point force. My military order Sergeant blister turned up today as well so I'll have to knock them over soon to finish off that initial Crescent and Crosses force.

Tuesday 13 September 2016

13th September - Finished Saga Milites Christi Warband

It took me a few days longer than I was planning but these things will happen. I've painted them up as Hospitallers mostly due to my liking of the colour scheme than any other reasons. I've had them on the table one already before they were properly finished in a quick game against Toby's Anglo-Saxons (not an overly historic match up I know but thanks to the Saga rules one that was quite playable).

I blundered with them slightly at the start of the game as I have only played with the Vikings before under the rule set but by about turn three I felt like I had at least a basic understanding of the way they function and I'm looking forward to getting them out again. I did find one small hiccup with my warband setup seeing as I'm limited to a number of crossbow men equal to the hearthguard in the force, but I've ordered some more foot warriors and I'm considering a couple more units of mounted hearthguard for flexibility.


Warlord and Banner Bearer

Hearthguard
Heathguard









Warriors

Warriors

Warriors with Crossbow

Current Warband (Six Points)
Not too sure what I'm going get under a brush next. I'm thinking about entering the Clash of Kings next year at Cancon so I'll have to finished off a few more bits and pieces for my Abyssal Dwarves some time soon, but I'm not sure if I wanna to knock over a few random bits and pieces before I get stuck back into them.