Swatters Playtest 3

I got a quick mid-week game in with COM last Wednesday, so we played the “Surrounded” mission.  The Marines/Eldar set up in the middle of a 4×4′ table with a larger force of bugs equally divided on the four table edges.

The Marines/Eldar also got an emplaced weapon as part of the scenario set up but  I forgot to put it on the table before the above photo was taken.  It features in the later snaps (for all the good that it did).

The emplacement is still missing and the Alien queen really should have her base painted: it looks awful.

The scenario specified the 4×4′ battlefield.  Therefore the bugs were able to close quite rapidly.  Some decent reaction fire from the marines whittled their numbers down a bit, but a run of poor activation rolls meant that the marines became bug chow pretty fast.

The Alien queen (with the embarrassingly unfinished base) flinches a little from incoming fire while the mauled xenomorphs prepare to slice up the eldar guardians.

The marine units got to fire a couple of times, but recurring activation problems meant that a lot of bug units had an easy time getting in close.

“Tough” units (such as the “Colossal” trygon above) are particularly hard to dent in this system.  The marine power armour troops (represented by wraithguard) are very hard to shift when using rank and file bugs.  As such they tend to be a must-have unit in games, even though they are pricey.  In this game the Power Armour troopers again showed their worth by hanging around for longer than any other marine unit.

I set up the marines in a silly fashion.  I should have concentrated them a bit more on one side or the other in the hope that they could take advantage of numbers to squish the bugs piecemeal.  Memories of a previous game where the marines set up so close that they got over run in quick succession meant that I spread my troops out in an ineffectual fashion.  They paid for my poor generalship with their tiny metal and plastic lives.

This game wasnt a drag or anything and it played out very quickly, but it ended up being a bit of a dice fest rather than a narrative generating battle like the Save the Miners game last week.

In Swatters the bugs can move very fast and forcing the marines to set up less than two feet away makes some of the engagement a forgone conclusion, which is a bit unsatisfying.  The activation system can always throw a spanner into plans of course (a good thing as it encourages maneuvering and gives more chance for narrative and the like) but I think that I would like to try this scenario out another time with the bugs coming in from either end of a 6′ table instead: I think that it could be more fun that way.

Swatters Playtest 2

MT and COM came around last week to help me do some more Swatters playtesting, continuing our progression through all of the scenarios in the rulebook.

It was also an opportunity to use the thirty CDs that I had textured since the last session.  I wouldnt say that I was excited about using the CDs, but I was pleased to have got them finished and ready to go this time, as they look a lot better than the shiny CD surfaces visible last time.  Nerdcore.

MT has a medium sized Tyranid force from years ago that we figured would be fun to get on the table again alongside the blueish-white tyranids that COM currently has custody of.  My modest bug collection also featured.  Between the three forces we were easily able to represent any unit from the bug force list.

None of us have a suitable painted force of Colonial Marine or Mobile Infantry or even Imperial Guard so a mix of Eldar from both MTs collection and mine performed that role.  Space elves have to fumigate their real estate from time to time too I suppose.

The first game played (shown in the photos above) was a simple, non-scenario affair to refresh MT on the core Ganesha rules, plus show him how the new elements in Swatters work.

The next scenario was “Save the Miners” and its started off looking like as it does above.  Note the mineshaft in the middle of the table and the three units of miners (Necromunda Goliaths plus two EM4 miniatures painted by Mattias, the male and female models bookending the group in this shot) in contact with the buildings.  The Marine forces are set up across one long table edge and the bugs come in hell bent on doing some property damage and eating some miners (who look a bit chewy to me) from either/both short edges,.

The bugs (played by MT) surged across the table in a series of very good activation rolls.  The first unit of miners barely knew that they were under attack before they were devoured.

Tough bug reinforcements came in from the opposite side of the battlefield while the Eldar slowly advanced into the mining town, which was beginning to blaze with biochemical fires.

The bugs break through the marine lines and mug another group of miners against the backdrop of the blazing town.  Its looking dodgy for the good guys.

The big, tough bug reinforcements (the raveners on the right) are held at bay by a heavy weapon blast from marines that would have pulped any other bug unit.  Unfortunately for the marines, while the bugs are halted just before they could destroy the red roofed building, the offenders are suppressed rather than swatted.

The tide turned at this point and the power armoured troops (the wraithguard) mopped up the various non-tough bug units, but it was touch and go for quite a while, which made it a fun game overall.  Probably the most entertaining Swatters game to date.

I think that I prefer Swatters games on a 6×4′ to those on a 4×4′ as it allows the Marines to get a round or two of shooting in before the bugs get too close and gives an opportunity to watch a seething horde of monsters run the gauntlet, Starship Troopers style.

The next game involved Eldar/Marines (MT) searching through crashed spaceship wreckage while under the threat of secretly concealed bugs (me).

Less like the do-or-die battle from the end of a movie, unfotunately this game played out like the bit at the start of the film before the credits, ending in wet slicing noises and screaming.  The bugs leapt out of the nearest piece of wreckage, accelerated towards the marines and killed them.  Game over man.

Doubtless a big contributor to the bugs success in this game was the fact that they were lead by the well known Joan Rivers impersonator, “Alexis the Emasculator“, a human/bug hybrid with vague similarities to Sarah Kerrigan/Queen of Blades from Starcraft.  A ridiculous conversion that I thoroughly enjoy getting on the wargame table

Alexis, bug/human hybrid queen

As that scenario had played very quickly we decided to try it again, with the marines set up in a way that would allow them to provide mutual support when ambushed, rather than just get in each others way.  We also forced the bugs to spawn in smaller numbers from around the battlefield rather than allowing them to all show up in a single spot.  I also dropped Alexis from the team and fielded a pair of Colossus (COMs blue/white carnifexes, or “carnifaeces” as someone christened them last weekend), just because the models are cool and in order to get a grasp on how their rules worked.

The marines won this time, but data regarding the scenario balance was inconclusive.  We had a chat about how to make it work more to our liking, but didnt come up with an easy fix.  That said, even at the playtest stage we are getting some fun games out of the ruleset, which is great

The next Swatters playtest was with COM yesterday evening.  I will do a quick write up on that as soon as I can manage it.

Swatters Playtest 1

Inspired by what Mikko at dawnofthelead has been doing with his “Utopia” campaign, last week I contacted Ganesha Games to find out when their dedicated bug-hunt rule set “Swatters” was due to be released.  Ganesha told me that the rules were close to finished but required some further playtesting.  I volunteered to get involved in the process as it sounded like fun and had a playtest copy of the rules within a day or so.

COM and TM were available to get involved in a couple of games last Saturday, so my bugs were unearthed and reinforced by some xenos from COMs hive.  My Iacon Eldar did their best Colonial Marine impersonations and we got a couple of games played.

The first game that we played (shown in the photos above and below) was the standard Meeting Engagement scenario using forces of about 1100pts each on a 6×4′ table.  Swatters is a squad based battle game rather than the skirmish sized games that Ganesha is known for.  Being a Ganesha game Swatters is a lot more streamlined than many similar games, which appeals to me a lot.

One aspect of the rules is that five man/bug squads, objectives, spawn points etc are all arranged on individual CDs for numerous reasons, both in terms of game mechanics and for simplicity when it comes to moving large numbers of figures around.  As I only had a little lead up time to this game I didnt get around to texturing the CDs to match the table before the game, so the photos are a bit uglier than usual.

The next playtest session (planned for next weekend with MT (not to be confused with TM)) will take place using properly textured CD bases with a bit of luck.

I played Meeting Engagement with TM.  I set up the terrain according to the rules in the scenario, but couldnt help but add a few more bits of terrain, as it seemed a little too open.  As it happened the bugs got wiped out before they even made contact with the Eldar, although not all of that was due to the open terrain.

It was TMs first Ganesha game and he picked up the basics fast so the game only took about an hour or so.

In “Space Demon Omelettes” ten units of bugs line up opposite three units of Eldar (marines). The other CDs scattered around the table are either Spawn points or Egg markers. Despite the fact that I used painted models for the spawn and egg markers the reflective surfaces on the CDs look awful. They will be covered up by the next game.

The next scenario that was played was “Space Demon Omelettes”, with TM playing the bugs again and COM playing his first Ganesha game as the Eldar/Humans.  The scenario involves a raid on a 4×4′ bug nest to smash up some eggs.  The bugs have access to a lot of cheap drones that are absolutely terrible in combat, but numerous.

Bugs on the baseline. This photo would look significantly cooler if the CDs were camouflaged a bit.

Each side has a dice pool in Swatters that can be used to either buff shooting (for the marine side) or close combat (for the bugs).  The bugs can also use dice to generate reinforcements that spawn either on their table edge or at areas specified by the scenario.  From what I have seen so far the reinforcements for a standard game will amount to roughly one base of pretty decent troops per game.  In this game however the reinforcements were limited to the very poor Drone troop type, although TM did generate quite a number of them right in the marines faces, as seen below.

Eight bases of drones (the blueish Termagants) emerge from the spawn points in the first turn of the game.

Given the option to use the dice to buff attacks or to generate more figures TM went with the more figures option, as he had done in the first game too.  I find it hard to imagine a game where I wouldnt go for the reinforcements in preference to be honest, although in this scenario the drones generate more easily than regular reinforcements do, so its definitely the way to go for Space Demon Omelettes I reckon.  A few more games will have to be played to see if I think that the bug close combat buffs are worth it or not.

At this point we figured that the marines (the three units on the dark CDs in the photo above) were in trouble.  Despite one of the units being comprised of nasty “Power Armour” troops (the Dire Avengers with the retro paint jobs in the middle) we figured that they might not have been able to bring their strengths to bear.

We neednt have worried.  A quick look at the rules for drones showed us that they are absolutely woeful and COM spent the next few turns killing forty of them for the loss of one marine.  The only problem with it being open season on drones was that the significantly more dangerous Queen and her entourage were closing in.

In the end the drones did their job by dying in droves while engaged with the marines while the more dangerous bugs came up behind them.  The Marines gave decent account of themselves but once the properly scary bugs hit them they fell apart.

It was a fun game, marred visually by the big ugly CDs.  I enjoyed played a game with a higher figure count for a change and bug hunts have a lot of appeal to any Aliens fan of my vintage.

A couple of the game mechanics regarding the basing of the figures worked quite well.  I am looking forward to trying out some different units and putting the rules through their paces further next weekend with MT.

The CDs will be less ugly next time too.

Camping with Bugs

Two items today: Necromunda Milliasaurs and some dog tents from Renedra.

I picked up the set of dog tents from the Renedra stand at Salute along with another item.

Although I already have three feral, teepee type tents painted up I wanted to have models that represented tents that might feasibly be moved around easily, either on a models back or on the saddle (animal or vehicle).  Although the models dont take up a lot of space, they are cute little gaming props that help to create atmosphere.

The Mutie faction in Gorkamorka doesnt use forts, being more nomadic in their behaviour.  The original (stupidly named) “Digganob” supplement for (the equally stupidly named) Gorkamorka came with a set of small cardboard tents to represent the Mutie encampment, but they were lost or squished in some house move or another over the years.  These cute little plastics will be a durable and very serviceable replacement.

Painting the tents was fast.  I didnt want to spend much time on them so I painted the pegs metallic (that suits the Gorkamorka setting better than wooden pegs and stopped the models from being 100% shades of brown) and then washed the entirety of the models with GW Gryphonne Sepia, twice.  I then washed them again with GW Devlan Mud and finally painted some black ink into the door flap edges.  Very quick but perfectly ok for what the models are.

The Milliasaurs are creepy crawlies from the GW Necromunda setting.  Like my Ripper Jacks and Giant Rats, they were originally supplied as servants of Necromunda Wyrd Beastmasters, who could use them to do their amoral bidding.

I gave the Milliasaurs a quick drybrush followed by a coat of Tamiya Clear Red on the chitin areas.  It gave a nice cockroach sort of look I think.  I did a tiny bit of detailing on the teeth and spines too.

They are creepy looking figures.  The guy rearing up would stand at about 150cm in real life, which would be a pretty appalling thing to find at the door of anyones tent I reckon.

Alien Queen Basing

Uncharacteristically good weather plus an even more uncharacteristic busy social life has meant that my hobby time has been curtailed of late.  As a result todays post is a bit half-assed.  It does show that at least I am making some progress with my Aliens re-theme of Space Hulk.

Alien Queen Basing

Mikko at Dawn of the Lead has been making a lot more progress on his identical project here.  His latest addition of a very nice looking Alien Queen that came from a gashapon toy is in need of a base.  As I recently made a basic but functional base for getting my large Horrorclix Queen on the Space Hulk board, I decided to put up a quick photo.

Grid Markings

After removing the model from its clix base I stuck some styrene with a treadplate pattern on it to a 60mm plywood base.  I then added some styrene strips in a sort of tic-tac-toe pattern that matches the size of the squares in a game of Space Hulk.

While obviously using such a large figure will make some parts of the game feel a little cramped, the grid marked on the base should make it apparent where the Queen is standing in rules terms.  Adjacent figures will have to stand on small parts of the queens base but I dont foresee that being a big problem.

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 2

Sgt Downey climbs over the pile of genestealer corpses that he has cut down. Fourteen 'stealers are killed in close combat alone in "Return to Kalidus: Honour Bound".

Day two of our second Space Hulk weekend started with a set of missions from White Dwarf February 1993: the Return to Kalidus campaign.

Return to Kalidus came out at the same time as the original Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box, waaay back in early 1993 or so.  The Space Wolf: Wolf Guard Terminator box consisted of five terminator figures with some slightly unorthodox weapon fits.  The box, which was what the entire Return to Kalidus campaign was based on had the following configuration:

1. Sergeant with Storm Bolter and Power Sword
2. Marine with Heavy Flamer and Chainfist
3. Marine with Assault Cannon and Power Fist
4. Marine with Storm Bolter and Chainfist
5. Marine with Storm Bolter and Power Fist

Like almost every Space Hulk player on the planet, I dont have a painted terminator model with a Heavy Flamer and a Chainfist.  The difference between a Chainfist and a Power Fist is entirely cosmetic in the scenarios that we played so it didnt make any difference.

For the purposes of this SH campaign, the marines are from the Space Wolf chapter.  In game terms that means that every member of the squad gets an additional +1 in close combat.  Not too shabby, particularly for the Sergeant, doubly so if he is on 3rd ed Guard orders.

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Return to Kalidus Mission I : A Quest for Power

A Quest for Power Set Up

In this scenario the marines are trying to get to a console on the opposite side of the map and spend some APs to find the location of the items to be procured in scenarios 2 and 3.

MTs crusade marines are joined by an Iron Man.

Despite a very promising set of opening turns, the Crusaders lose their Sergeant and Assault Cannon suddenly.

Soon the 'stealers have the run of almost the entire map.

Finally the only Marine representative still alive has a flamer with enough ammo for one shot. He bought the farm shortly afterwards.

The game ended in a win for the Genestealers (me).  Amusingly, the boy MTs performance is so hilariously dismal that it means that the rest of the campaign is supposedly defunct, as the remaining two missions simply cannot be completed without a marine victory in A Quest for Power. 

We decide to play the next one anyway, despite the campaign abruptly ending on a technicality.

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Return to Kalidus Mission II : Honour Bound

Honour Bound Set Up

Honour Bound involves an identical squad to the one that appeared in A Quest for Power trying to get through the map to find a chapter relic in one of four rooms.  The ‘stealer player gets two blips per turn plus an unprecedented six starting blips.  This does not bode well for the marines.

The Marines inch forward, covering each others flanks against the vast number of 'stealers.

The flamer uses the last of its fuel to clear a room for the slow advance. The flamer marine dies almost immediately afterwards.

Sgt Downey slowly hacks his way through the corridors, a battle brother guarding his back.

The slaughter continues and the Sgt racks up his tally of bugs at this point. His battle brother is about to be overwhelmed however...

Sgt Downey is finally overcome, failing in his mission.

The game ends in a Genestealer victory for MT.

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The Return to Kalidus campaign is hard.  Considering that it was written for 1st ed (where Marine shooting is less effective than in 3rd ed overall) it is hard to imagine the Marines winning the second mission very often.  The only reason that the marines got as far as they did in Honour Bound was because of the Sergeant: +2 combat, plus Parry plus Guard orders is not to be sneered at (even if it is a bit uninspiring to play with/against).

Lastly, we decided to leave the third and final Return to Kalidus scenario until next time and to play one more Marine vs Marine game to round off the weekend.

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Retrieval

Retrieval Set Up (we reused the Honour Bound map, seeing as it was already set up).

We made up Retrieval on the spot.  We placed a Maguffin (a C.A.T. this time) equidistant from both sides which both sides had to get back to their deployment room.  We also used the rules from Mission IX: Regroup to stagger the arrival of the ten Power Armour marines that we each had.

MTs Emperors Voice Tactical Squad ready to deploy.

My Sin Eaters Tactical Squad Van Helden ready to go.

The game was a hair-raising, back and forth affair, with Marines diving into overwatch zones hoping to get a shot off before they got killed by return fire.

Sgt Van Helden makes an early break for the C.A.T. (top right).

Van Helden and a battle brother, just before Van Helden is cut down by enemy fire.

The lone Sin Eater sprints down the corridor after the now randomly moving C.A.T., avenging his Sarge with shots from the hip. The Emperors Voice flamer marine puts paid to his antics however, with not one, but two blasts of promethium.

The game ends with a Emperors Voice marine win for MT.

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In conclusion, Space Hulk is great.  The marine vs marine games are a bit weird, but they were fun all the same.  I will try Marine vs  Marine games out again, but I am uncertain that the mechanics are suitable for games where both sides have guns really.

That said, I still havent played any games with my Hybrids so I am sure that there will be another Space Hulk session again soon.

Another Space Hulk Weekend: Pt 1

Sgt Gideon notches up another kill in Mission IX: Regroup.

The last Space Hulk weekend (pt1 and pt2) left us wanting to play more, so MT and I organised another weekend for late October last.  I took some snaps as we played.  They arent National Geographic level shots or anything, but they illustrate the games sufficiently.

Having played through most of the scenarios in the 3rd ed missions book the last time, we were ready to try some different things out this time around, starting with a Power Armour (as opposed to Terminator armour) scenario.

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Denzarks Hammer (White Dwarf # 120)

"By Denzarks Hammer, you shall be avenged!"

First up was Denzarks Hammer, a scenario that was printed in White Dwarf for first edition.  It introduced the rules for Power Armoured marines in SH.

Squad Van Helden (top) and Squad Rico.

Although MT played marines in this one, he had forgotten to bring enough of his “Emperors Voice” marines with him.  As a result he used two Sin Eaters squads of mine instead.  Although they are Chaos Marine figures, we obviously played them as standard.

Standard Imperial "Conga" deployment doctrine in full effect.

The scenario states that the ‘stealer player gets one blip per turn.  The scenario also suggests that this limit should be increased to two blips per turn once the Marine player gets the hang of using the Power Armour troopers. 

While moving twenty figures in under three minutes proved a bit challenging from time to time,  it turned out that one blip per turn is far too few ‘stealers to either present a significant threat or provide some fun for the ‘stealer player.  Two blips per turn is a must for this scenario.

After suffering minimal casualties the Sin Eaters get to the bridge, achieve the objective and hold off the remaining 'stealers easily.

The game ended in an easy win for MT playing the Marines.  Two blips per turn next time for sure.

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Deathmatch

Deathmatch Set Up.

Deathmatch is a custom scenario that we threw together for playing Marine vs Marine games of SH. MT had a symmetrical map planned out in advance.  We placed an objective for each side in the central room furthest from their deployment zone (the Sin Eaters were looking for a teleport homer while the Emperors Voice and Thoraxian Crusade marines were looking for the relic).

Emperors Voice marines (bottom) and Thoraxian Crusade Terminators on the starting blocks.

Sin Eater Squad Romero (top) and Squad Rico during the first turn.

We put a random blip of ‘stealers in each of the four rooms, just for fun.  They moved automatically (roughly using the solo rules from 1st ed Deathwing to determine their behaviour once revealed).  Although the genestealers gave both sides cause for concern, all were eradicated without marine casualties on either side.

The sides close.

Tit for tat firefights whittle numbers on both sides...

...until the last Emperors Voice marine is gunned down by a Squad Romero storm bolter.

The game ended with a Chaos victory for me.

This was the first Marine vs Marine battle that I had ever played (I think that MT had played one or two before).  These games play very differently from the usual genestealer games  as obviously your marines can get shot. 

The rules work in such a way that the marine that move-and-fires gets his shot off before the Overwatching marine shoots back.  This makes advancing marginally less dangerous than Overwatching (although both are obviously necessary). 

The game swung back and forth with alarming frequency and it was fun, but I am unsure as to how solid a platform for marine versus marine games SH actually is.

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Mission IX: Regroup

Regroup after a couple of turns.

Regroup is one of the few scenarios from the 3rd ed box that we hadnt tried, so we gave it a go.  We decided to use the 1st ed Captain as a direct exchange for the Librarian.  The Captain rules struck us as being approximately as powerful as the Librarian in games terms, and I think that we were right.

The Iron Men spread out thinly, each marine trusting his flanks to his brothers.

Marine casualties mount, despite the sterling efforts of Thunder Hammer armed Sgt Gideon (centre right).

Sgt Gideon with Guard orders is a tough nut to crack from the front.  He butchered upwards of 13 ‘stealers during the game (we lost track).

Sgt Gideon takes advantage of a lull plus the increased CPs that Captain Stark supplies to retreat rapidly up the corridor (top right).

Captain Stark covers the retreat.

Captain Stark gets three Terminators to the regroup point.

This scenario required the Marine player (me) to roll a dice after  the game.  If the score was equal to or under the number of Marines who escaped then the Marine player won.  I rolled a “5″.  MT won.  Ho hum.

The 1st Ed Captain seemed to be about as powerful as the 3rd Ed Librarian.  The Captain can probably be swapped out for the Librarian in scenarios on a one for one basis without a problem from here on in.

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To be continued…

Space Hulk Weekend: Part 2

MT's Harlequins

This Space Hulk report continues from last time which can be found here.

Last thing on Saturday evening we decided to play one more scenario.  Unfortunately this turned out to be a mistake as mission eight appears to be nearly impossible for the Genestealers to win and quite a dull scenario.

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Mission VIII: Escape Route

Escape Route Set Up

 

The game was a washout in favour of the Marines, over in a couple of turns.  After looking at the mission afterwards it appears that the only way for the ‘stealers to have a chance is to pile as many as possible in the single corridor at the end.  While this may give the ‘stealer player a chance it makes for a dull game.  I wont be playing this mission again in a hurry.

The mission ended in a Marine victory for MT.

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First thing on Sunday morning we skipped missions nine and ten.  We knew that we were unlikely to get more than two games played and we wanted to play the scenarios with the Broodlord, now that we had got the hang of the Librarian rules.

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Mission XI: Unknown Lifeforms

Unknown Lifeforms Set Up

This mission looks nigh on impossible for the Marines on paper.  With only five bodies to cover the many junctions it looks like an almost guaranteed ‘stealer win.  Granted, one of the Marines is Librarian Calistarius but even he has limitations (attacking him in the side or rear is a pretty reliable way to take him out of the picture).  The Broodlord is available for the first time in this scenario too. 

In order to balance things out the marines have one Power Field Generator each.  These can be thrown into spaces which then become impassable.  Genestealers can overload the generators by spending 6 APs in one go while adjacent, twice.  The combination of the use of the PFGs, Broodlord and Librarian, combined with some very lucky and very unlucky timing for various events made this game probably my favourite of the weekend.

Marines advance trusting their flanks to the PFGs (top right)

The eponymous unknown lifeform shows up and is rapidly cut down by Librarian Storm Bolter fire.

Pressure builds as Calistarius tries to catch a moment to back into the objective room and take the sample.

Calistarius makes some small progress backing down the corridor as Brother Leon and Sgt Lorenzo try to buy him more time...

The Librarians luck runs out (it takes him 6APs to kill one 'stealer) and he is overrun at the doorstep of victory.

 

The games ends with another Genestealer win for MT.

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Mission XII: Pitfall

Pitfall Set Up

 

Pitfall is an unusual scenario that is played using two maps, each representing adjacent floors in the hulk.  Basically, the ‘stealers come into play on the bottom floor and tend to pop out to attack the Marines from underneath.

The survivors of the assault on the Sin of Damnation head for the exit (a disposal chute).

Calistarius sprints for the chute and leaps into it, leaving his battle brothers to their own devices. They all died.

 

Victory conditions for this scenario are funny.  If no Marines get to the chute then the ‘stealers win.  If any Marines make it then that number is used to modify a D6 roll-off between the players to see who wins.  MT rolled a “1″ giving a total of “2″ due to the escaped Librarian.  I rolled a “1″ and so it was determined that the Marines won.  I didnt even manage/need to get the Broodlord in play.  Harrumph.

The game ended with a Marine victory for MT.

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Mission twelve played faster than we had expected and so we decided to have one more game, finally getting around to using MTs Harlequins that hadnt managed to get to the table yet.

The Harlequins rules are first ed rules.  As there is so much in common with first and third ed we decided to play using third ed rules as we had enjoyed them quite a lot for the weekend.  In essence all that this really changed for the Harlequins was to reduce the maximum sustained fire increment to +1 (to get the weapons in line with sustained fire applying in Overwatch).

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Harlequin Mission I: Into the Darkness

The Harlequins advance into the clutches of the Genestealers.Before the Harlequins can even establish a beachhead they take casualties.

Still under pressure, the Harlequins still get a tiny bit of breathing space.

The Troupe Leader (yellow) uses his Harlequins Kiss on his opponent, while his squad die all around him.

The Death Jester is the only Eldar still alive...

...yet he outdoes his entire squad in a massive display of violence... delivered with Harlequin panache.

The Jester is on borrowed time: there are just too many for him, despite his hi-jinks.

The Jesters soul melds with the Laughing God. Death has a name... and its name is "Genestealer".

The game ended in a Genestealer win for me.

The Harlequins made a few big boo-boos early on in this game.  We also decided that the five starting blips which begin one in each room could be looked at and placed by the ‘stealer player.  In retrospect maybe random placement would have been better as it was a bit harsh with 6 ‘stealers in striking range early on.  Then again, if the lead Harlequin had been in either Defensive Stance or Guard the story could have been quite different.  I am looking forward to giving the Harlequins another run out next time.

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After that long session of 3rd ed Space Hulk I am happy to say that I quite enjoy the 3rd ed rules, possibly even more than 1st ed.  The slightly more efficient Terminator fire makes the game feel a little more like the fluff which is cool, although it provides even less of an incentive to play the Genestealers.  On the other hand, I quite enjoyed playing the Genestealers over the weekend.  There are plenty of decisions to make while using them too.

Space Hulk Weekend: Part 1

Space Hulk Weekend

I finally painted up the figures from my 1st and 2nd edition Space Hulk last year.  With the release of the new 3rd edition I wanted to have a full on Space Hulk weekend.  Long term gaming co-conspirator MT agreed to meet up last weekend and we went from there.

Although the new edition comes with lovely miniatures that I must get around to painting some time, we were not going to let that stop us from playing with the painted older Bugs and Iron Men terminators that I already have ready to go.  As we both have a few other “real-life” things going on at the moment we didnt commit to having a whole lot extra finished by the weekend either (normally I use deadlines for gaming meets to help me achieve goals in terms of figures painted, scenery made etc).  With that in mind MT painted up the dead Blood Angel Terminator and I painted the C.A.T. and the relic chalice. Very achievable.

Finally, although it would have been nice to get all of the 12 Space Hulk scenarios printed in the 3rd edition played in one weekend we decided to skip a few to ensure that we could get to play the scenarios with the Broodlord/Librarian/other interesting stuff.   In addition we hoped that we might be able to squeeze in a game using the Eldar Harlequins that MT painted up six months ago with 1st edition Space Hulk in mind.  The scenarios that we skipped were either too similar to other scenarios that we wanted to play or were scenarios that either or both of us has played before too often (Missions 1 and 2 in particular).

  

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Mission III: Rescue

Mission III: Rescue

The mission involves getting the Cyber Altered Task (C.A.T.)-unit from Squad Lorenzo into the hands of Squad Gideon which starts on the other side of the map.

Sgt Lorenzo on C.A.T. detail

Sgt Lorenzo and Brother Zael try to hold back the xeno tide.

Note the C.A.T. on the right.

 

The mission ended in a Marine victory for MT.

I dont remember that much detail about playing this scenario, probably because my opponent won it

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Mission V: Decoy

 

Decoy Set Up

Decoy involves two terminator squads that start in close proximity making their way across the map to an exit point.  In theory at least.

The Iron Men deploy efficiently.

The good guys get butchered.

The mission ended in a Genestealer victory for MT.

Sergeant Gideon (the guy with the thunder hammer and storm shield in the bottom right above) managed to get killed upon first contact with the enemy, despite being on Guard.

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Mission VI: Alarm Call

Alarm Call Set Up

In Alarm Call a squad of Terminators have been incapacitated by a Broodlord psychic attack.  Librarian Calistarius and lightning claw armed Claudio are sent to investigate.

Librarian Calistarius resuscitates a comrade while Sgt Lorenzo blasts 'stealers.

Marines adopt standard overwatch doctrine and mutter a prayer to the Emperor..

The intensity of the alien attack increases and Calistarius is cut down.

The mission ended in a Genestealer victory for me.

This game involved the largest amount of ‘stealers on the board at once.  Whichever side that I am playing I get a kick out of lots of bugs in play.  Obviously however, if I am playing Genestealers and about to win I enjoy it that much more.

It was also the first game using the Librarian, which although potentially good at runing the timer out due to the options that he provides, turns out to be fun to play.  He is very powerful though, potentially too powerful perhaps.  He isnt unstoppable however, he has weaknesses.

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Mission VII: The Artefact

Artefact Set Up

The Artefact concerns a valiant raid deep into the hulk to recover a relic said to have been used by Sanguinius himself.  This is a big deal if you are a Blood Angel Terminator.

After blowing a series of doors off their mountings while on the move down the corridor, Calistarius spots his goal.

With Brother Claudio on rearguard duty the Librarian runs into the relic room...

 

...grabs the relic, runs back and hands off to Brother Claudio...

...who reverentially carries it the length of the board and back to Space Marine controlled areas.

 The mission ended in a Terminator victory for me.

The scenario worked out as a little lacklustre for MT this time around.  The Marines deployed in textbook fashion and managed to hold the line well by and large.  This was my first game with the Librarian and he lived up the hype, Psychic Blasts and Force Walls making him the centre of attention for most of the game.

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Tune in next time for the last few scenarios, plus some Harlequin games.

 

Rat(tle) Rustlers

I played some more Mutants and Death Ray Guns in early August.  One of the basic scenarios in the game involves some post-apocalyptic cattle rustling.  Although I dont have any two headed calf figures lying around I do have a whole heap of giant rats, quite a few of whom are mutated with extra tails, scales etc.  They seemed like worthy livestock for the rather lethal and very bleak environment that the MDRG folks exist in: just the kind of place where people fight over the right to eat mutant rats.  The photos are a bit shoddy, just snaps taken as the game was underway.

Giant Mutant Rats: Post Apocalyptic Cattle

 

Post-Apocalyptic Cattle Rustlers A

Post-Apocalyptic Cattle Rustlers B

The game table was set up with four areas of terrain (some radioactive rock piles and some mutant vegetation) plus the cattle compound in the centre.  Both forces ran full tilt towards the compound in the early part of the game.

The rustlers close in on dinner.

 

Leroy and Seamus grab a rat each under direct orders from Dr Fossey. The topmost corner of the pen in the shot is where Leroy zapped the enemy assassin with a Death Ray Gun. All that remained was the echo of her dying shriek and a barbeque smell.

 

Lizzie and Fossey grab two more rats while under fire from the bounty hunter and mutant human shaman.

The game worked aout as a bit of a walkover for side A.  That said, it involved lots of laughs, helped along by the entertainingly ludicrous scenario and background.