tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76157389349941643682024-03-01T00:40:06.308-05:00The Lead CotillionDainty Wars With Dainty MenKen Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-61033234165237123622013-03-18T21:44:00.002-04:002013-03-18T21:44:41.601-04:00more more infinityJust a quick one this time: Britt and I played another refresher game of Infinity. For some reason about halfway through the game we started handling orders and reactive orders incorrectly, but otherwise we had fun. His sniper basically destroyed me though, as I wasn't air-dropping in my Tiger I had no real way to pry him off his perch once I misplayed my Shang Ji, who should have taken him on. Dumb move on my part!<br />
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This is basically a proof-of-concept shot of some cheap woodcraft Asian-themed buildings for my Yu Jing themed-terrain. For $6 shipped, I ain't complaining.<br />
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My Tiger Soldier, walking in the long way around since we agreed to leave out special deployment stuff and focus on basic rules (Britt hadn't had a chance to play in over 2 months).<br />
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A basic overview. I am not sure about using the 40k ruins; they lead to a bunch of Line of Fire/ARO/cover rules headaches. Still, it was a nice dense table.<br />
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I should have taken more pics, or at least some more dramatic ones. Ah well. Later this week a batrep of our massive 4-person Flames of War game. For the impatient you can go see where my friend Rory wrote it up on <a href="http://militaryofultramar.blogspot.com/2013/03/total-war-flames-of-war.html">his blog</a>.Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-52222941933530864972013-03-11T20:21:00.001-04:002013-03-12T15:49:33.854-04:00More InfinityI don't even remember if I have posted anything about playing Infinity here yet or not, but I've played about six games now, two of them with my own figures. Nothing painted up yet, and frankly I'm a bit terrified because the minis are small (non-heroic 28mm) and fantastically detailed. Still, the system is a blast - the closest thing to a tabletop version of a first person shooter, as Britt and I both independently said after our first demo games - and I dig nearly all of the fluff/aesthetic choices they've made. So here are some pics of a demo game I tried to run for Rory last Thursday. Like I said, that was my 6th or so game, and his second, so there were some definite pauses when we had to look up some incredibly basic rule or the other. Still, it's a hell of a lot of fun. Rory and I set up the table with all the terrain we could reasonably apply (Infinity demands way, WAY more terrain than your average minis game) and about half-way through our vague scenario idea had mutated from a simple firefight in a city to a Yu Jing Imperial Service strike force (commanded by Rory) attacking a PanOceanian (me) consulate.<br />
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Below is a view from the top of the Consular Security building, where I'd parked my Nisses (Niss? I don't know what's the plural and what's the singular) with HMG. I felt a bit guilty about this; before rolling for sides we'd agreed that the 'parkland' in the center of the Consular enclave was a Low-Visibility Zone, which my Nisses (Nisse? is is named for the Scandinavian nature spirit? I will have to ask) could see right through with her MultiSpectral Visor; in addition, she had camouflage and cover so Rory's return fire was going to be at -6 before applying any range penalties. I figured she'd be good overwatch for this layout. For this picture I actually asked Rory to move his Wu Ming with HMG back into the center of the alley, between two concrete bastions, which is where I'd just successfully shot and wounded him (he is the black figure in the center rear ground, in other words).</div>
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Rory continues to push part of his force around that back corner. At the time I felt like I was going to basically pick him apart with the Nisses and a bit of help from the rest of my army. I was wrong.</div>
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By now I had decided to push my heavy trooper, an ORC with a Multi-rifle, forward to start pushing him into Rory's lines. I had been plinking his Kuang Shi link team (think brainwashed convicts with remote-control suicide vests) as they pushed into the center. My Croc Man and a mine he'd laid were camo'd just on my side of the treeline (the two markers you might be able to see there) and I figured I had stuff on lockdown. You can also just barely see on the other side of the right-hand building where I'd run one of my Fusiliers (basic line troops) forward to speedbump Rory's advance. I'd already got a lucky reaction-shot kill on his HMG-armed Wu Ming with this Fusilier, taking his second wound and getting the kill. I figured that Rory's Celestial Guard that had been following him might get stopped by the Fusilier, and if not that ORC could just turn back around and get her. Again, I was wrong.</div>
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Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence of it, but basically Rory drove that plain vanilla Celestial Guard around the corner, shot through a window and forced my Fusilier to go prone, finished him off, ran to the corner and shot my ORC in the back and killed him with a single burst from her combi-rifle. That she-devil then ran the rest of the way down to my baseline, killed another Fusilier, then killed a THIRD fusilier (my Lieutenant) before finally running out of orders at my back left corner, below and behind my Nisses' sniper perch. Bear in mind that Infinity, unlike many other games, allows a fair amount of reaction by the 'passive' player during the active player's turn; each of these kills was in the face of defensive fire or dodging or something. That damn Celestial Guard was just a machine.</div>
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In any event, it was finally my turn again. With just two orders left since I was in loss of lieutenant, I walked my Nisses over to the other ledge of the roofline and lit the Celestial Guard up with HMG fire. I also think at that point I started to move my fourth (and final) Fusilier and my Croc Man into what was meant to be more defensible terrain. Of course, at this point we also realized we'd probably hit if not exceeded the turn limit so we counted up points and while I'd killed a few more of Rory's models, the majority of them were 5-point Kuang Shi, meant to die in the Emperor's service anyway, and he'd beaten my on points by a little less than ten, I think?</div>
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We agreed to just finish the game by trying to wipe each other out instead of trying to play a 2nd game that night, and I'm a bit fuzzy on how it happened but at some point in the next turn or two my 4th Fusilier and my precious Nisses both died, which was what it took (more than 60% of my army by point value dead) to put me in retreat. My sole survivor, the Croc Man, ran for the hills but was taken down by the other Wu Ming, who was wounded but still able to shoot through the low viz zone and take out my poor Space Maori guy.</div>
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We leave you with a picture of Rory's heroic Celestial Guard, a true paragon of the State-Empire. Her family will probably get a totally boss letter from the Emperor and maybe tax immunity for the next year or so. Anyone know how to say <i>dulce et decorum est pro patria mori</i> in Mandarin?</div>
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EDIT: vorthain on the <a href="http://infinitythegame.com/forum/">official Infinity forums</a> reminded me that it would be a nice thing to post the army lists, so here they are, written up with the great free <a href="http://anyplace.it/ia/">Aleph Toolbox</a> program:<br />
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Yu Jing - Imperial Service | 9 models - http://goo.gl/fCMP0<br />
Celestial Guard Lieutenant (13|0)<br />
Celestial Guard Combi (13|0)<br />
Celestial Guard Smoke LGL (13|0.5)<br />
Kuang Shi Chain (5|0)<br />
Kuang Shi Chain (5|0)<br />
Kuang Shi Chain (5|0)<br />
Kuang Shi Chain (5|0)<br />
Wu Ming HMG (43|2)<br />
Wu Ming MULTI (47|0)<br />
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Panoceania | 7 models - http://goo.gl/LkUzG<br />
Fusilier Lt (10|0)<br />
Fusilier Combi (10|0)<br />
Fusilier Combi (10|0)<br />
Fusilier Combi (10|0)<br />
Croc Man Minelayer (34|0.5)<br />
Orc MULTI (40|0)<br />
Nisse HMG (36|1.5)<br />
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<br />Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-56597858747975561682013-02-25T16:16:00.000-05:002013-02-25T16:16:04.092-05:00Flames of War engulf DusseldorfSo we (me, Rory, Josh and Britt) had a Flames of War 'Total War' megagame last Saturday, kindly hosted by Britt at his house with every table at his disposal and a bucketload of terrain. Massive unstructured picdump follows:<br />
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Beginning of the game, the Hungarian (me, a few thousand miles out of my historical place) sector of the bombed-out ruin of Dusseldorf faced off against British artillery (Josh) in some fields</div>
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US Tank Destroyers (Britt) appear from ambush to threaten my StuG Gs. Inexplicably I pass all my armor saves!</div>
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Blurry men having blurry fun</div>
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A view from the British sector of the battle, and the Anglo-American artillery park</div>
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The Heer commander (Rory) is vehemently gesticulating about... something</div>
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Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the intermediate stages of this, but Britt's four M10s, while only scoring two kills, held up my entire armored push for about three turns, which was more than enough to let the British infantry dig in on their objective</div>
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By this time we are running out of clock, so I push forward and find out just how much harder it is to assault in v.3 of these rules compared to v.2; my Hetzers pay the price</div>
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The German sector of the assault has also bogged down short of their objective; perhaps divisional command should have released their Tigers sooner?</div>
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The Allies, despite being infantry companies, were able to secure their third objective before the Axis with their armor; by keeping the Axis off their third as well as securing their own, they wind up winning 9 to 6. Casualties were fairly light, although things might have gotten worse if we had more time (which can be blamed on my unwise consumption of gas station hamburgers for dinner the night before). Still, a good time was had by all!</div>
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Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-74969764672810233422013-02-17T12:48:00.001-05:002013-02-17T12:48:27.247-05:0040k Doubles Tournament yesterdaySo while my home internet has been Having Problems (which has negatively impacted my blogging), I've been slowly getting ready to play in a 2x1000pt Warhammer 40k doubles tournament yesterday. I stayed up late Friday night getting my 1000 points of Deathwing ready, and awoke to a steady snowfall. Still, assuming they wouldn't cancel due to snow, my doubles teammate Rory and I headed up there. It was a long day - we got up there at 10, probably got started around 10:45 or so, and left at about 7 that night. A long slog for three games, but we had a pretty good time. I'd love to post some detailed game breakdowns, but that will have to wait for later in the week. For now, pretty pictures:<br />
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GAME ONE: our opponents: Chaos Space Marines/Traitor Guard</div>
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Result: we got tabled around turn 4 or so?</div>
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Game Two: double Chaos Space Marines (Alpha Legion, "For the Emperor!") with Daemon allies</div>
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NB: thanks for being awful, new version of Photobucket. I can rotate the picture there but it shows up here unrotated. New Photobucket is awful.<br />
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Results: We held 4 points of objectives to our opponents' 3; plus we killed a lot of their stuff</div>
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Game Three: Necrons/Guard</div>
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Result: Rory and I got whittled to death by giant piles of dice and incomprehensible Necron special rules.</div>
<br />Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-42403840666563766452013-01-09T18:18:00.001-05:002013-01-09T18:18:31.388-05:00Steady as a weathervaneAnd now that I have about 75% of my 1850 points worth of White Scars assembled and ready to prime, what better time to radically rethink my Combat Patrol selection, and switch to Orks?<br />
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400 - Da Firestartas<br />
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HQ: Big Mek w/ Kustom Force Field - 85<br />
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Troops: Boyz Mob x 20 - 120<br />
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Elites: Burna Boyz x5 - 75<br />
-???x Meks w/ Kustom Mega Blasta, or Slugga/Choppa, or Big Shoota: free<br />
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Heavy: Killa Kans x3 - 105<br />
-each w/ Skorchas - 15<br />
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Basically all I have to do is assemble the Killa Kans (two extra Skorchas are e'en now winging their way here thanks to eBay) and find my Big Mek with KFF who is in the garage, somewhere. The Boyz and Burna Boyz are already assembled from the handful of games Britt and I played back in 5th edition; the biggest thing is trying to decide if I want to run more than the one Mek I have in there right now. I hate losing the burna for a KMB on somebody with BS 2, but having a spare Mek around to fix the Kans might be useful? Or maybe not, I dunno.<br />
Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-17641024881813302662012-12-27T21:05:00.000-05:002012-12-27T21:05:49.132-05:00Consistently InconsistentSo after a productive afternoon of cutting Space Marine bikers, speeders and attack bikes off the sprues (thanks again Rory!) I have decided to run White Scars in the Combat Patrol league as well! Ignore the previous post!Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-14871326600511835952012-12-20T16:25:00.001-05:002012-12-20T16:25:48.172-05:00We learn by failingSo a while ago (two years now? how time flies) I tried to inaugurate a Warhammer 40,000 "Combat Patrol" league at my local game store. This format, for those of you unfamilar with it, is basically supposed to represent a few squads of troopers running into each other unexpectedly, rather than the pitched battles of full-sized 40k. I think we had a decent turnout for 'opening day' - eight players, if memory serves, which isn't bad for a store with virtually no minis scene anymore. Unfortunately it fell apart nearly immediately, for a few reasons which I will address frankly here:<br />
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<ol>
<li>no one was sufficiently familiar with the rules</li>
<li>some people outright cheated</li>
<li>other people brought 'netlists' specifically designed to abuse the Combat Patrol format</li>
<li>#2 and #3 above got me so pissed off I basically abdicated my responsibility as league coordinator</li>
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So it died a flaming and well-deserved death, and I'm only sad about it in the abstract. However! Another local game store (well, 45 mins away, but still) is starting up a Combat Patrol (now called 'Force Patrol') league to begin in the new year, and I am interested again. There's a new version of 40k out there, several new codicies, and from what I understand the player base up there is not horrible. So I'm playing with list ideas again!<br />
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400 point Lamenters (Blood Angels)</div>
Troops: Assault Squad #1 - 135<br />
-Sergeant w/ Infernus Pistol, Power Axe<br />
-4x Marines: 1 w/ Flamer<br />
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Troops: Assault Squad #2 - 265<br />
-Sergeant w/ Thunder Hammer, Storm Shield<br />
-9x Marines: 1 w/ Plasma Pistol, 1 w/ Meltagun<br />
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These guys are actually built and primed from the failed league - they were the list I built to punish the guy who bragged about his net-built abusive list, and they worked for that. I would kind of like to play them for fun instead of for punitive reasons, but I am assuming the typical Space Marine-heavy metagame so maybe....<br />
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400 Point Recusant 113th (Traitor Imperial Guard)</div>
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HQ: Primaris Psyker 70</div>
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Troops: Veteran Squad 80</div>
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-Sarge </div>
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-9 Veterans, 2 w/ Flamers</div>
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-Chimera w/ Dozer Blade 65</div>
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Troops: Veteran Squad 80</div>
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-Sarge</div>
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-9 Veterans, 2 w/ Grenade Launchers</div>
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-Chimera w/ Dozer Blade 65</div>
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Fast Attack: Scout Sentinel 40</div>
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w/ Smoke Launcher</div>
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Again, this one is mostly built from my earlier Traitor Guard project, that fell apart due to the sheer distance I was having to drive back then. I think all I need to do here is hammer together another Chimera (ugh). The Dozer Blades are frankly a points sink, but the backstory is they're a PDF from an Agri-world that falls to Nurgle so all the armor has Dozer Blades as they primarily used them for civilian work before they turned to Chaos.</div>
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396 point Kabal of the Annihilating Embrace (Slaaneshi Dark Eldar)</div>
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Troops: Kabalite Warriors x 10 - 105</div>
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-1 w/ Shredder, 1 w/ Splinter Cannon</div>
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-Raider w/ Splinter Racks 70</div>
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Troops: Wyches x 9 - 140</div>
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-1 w/ Razorflails</div>
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-Hekatrix w/ Phantasm Launcher, Agonizer</div>
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Fast Attack: Reavers x3 81</div>
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-1 w/ Blaster</div>
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I have no idea how these guys will work but they are the ones I actually think I want to play the most. The only thing I wonder is if I would be better off leaving the Warriors on foot (which gives up access to the Splinter Racks on the Raider) as a stationary firebase and loading the Wyches on the Raider for delivery of boot to head (in which case I'd probably shave points from somewhere else to buy them another body and special H2H weapon.</div>
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400 point Necrons</div>
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Troops: Immortals x 9 - 153</div>
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Troops: Warriors x 9 - 117</div>
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Fast Attack: Canoptek Wraiths x 3 - 130</div>
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-2 w/ Whip Coils, 1/ Particle Caster</div>
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I have boss red plastic rods to replace the green ones on the gauss weapons, so I am kinda stoked to play these guys as well. The warriors are color primed and ready to go with just a few details and some metallic drybrushing; the Warriors are clipped and ready to go. But I'd have to buy a box of Wraiths for this list, which is not the biggest problem in the world as I really like the Wraith models. Plus I think they'd be a very good mobility element for this level; I'd love to run a unit of Praetorians instead but that'd be half my points for 5 guys....</div>
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So what I have here are four lists, one which is actually ready to paint, two that are a model or ten away from being ready to prime, and one that's half ready for paint and then 1/4 unassembled and 1/4 still unbought. Expect my usual dithering and screwing around before deciding. Updates to follow, etc. </div>
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PS obviously if any of you reading this have any Combat Patrol experience I'd love to hear feedback/critiques/suggestions/etc!</div>
Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-41832820072938046602012-12-15T20:44:00.002-05:002012-12-15T20:44:40.195-05:00Even More Battlefleet GothicSo Rory and I are on game four of our campaign, and since I finally got some merchant freighter minis (literally the day of the game) Rory assembled them while I finished my campaign paperwork and then we played the (honestly randomly rolled!) Convoy Escort scenario. As the attacker, my forces were randomly determined, at which point I realized that none of my existing Chaos cruisers were cheap enough to fit under the 200 point allowance per cruiser I had a chance to roll up. While I did have two new Chaos cruisers, still on the sprue, I just proxied in an existing ship for my shiny new Murder-class cruiser, the <em>Blood of the Ram.</em> I also got two escort squadrons and a few ordanance markers. Rory fielded two light cruisers and a small squadron of Sword-class escorts.<br />
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We actually played the first several turns of the scenario totally wrong*, so we reset it and started again. Good thing we did, because what was otherwise going to be a perfunctory trip across the long axis of the board for Rory's merchant ships turned into what we both agreed was the most fun game of BFG we've played thus far!<br />
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*: my forces were deployed as 'blip' markers on the board, that would activate whenever one of Rory's ships came within 30cm. What we didn't realize in our first attempt was that once per turn, I was allowed to voluntarily deploy one marker.<br />
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Rory moves his convoy onto the board, close under the guns of his Imperial Navy detachment</div>
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The convoy ducks behind an asteroid field; meanwhile my deadfall torpedoes and the 'Scopophiliacs' try to draw Rory's escorts into a fight</div>
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Blurry, but you can maybe see that I have driven one of the 'Scopophiliacs' right in among the freighters, while the other surviving member of the squadon comes in from the rear. It was at this point I began to realize the freighters were not as fragile as I had thought they would be; at least not to escorts on 'Brace for Impact.'</div>
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In fact, if memory serves this was around the time I started to realize that the massed fire of six freighters was actually sufficient to be a legitimate threat to other escort-class ships.</div>
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Meanwhile, I chose to activate the (proxied) Murder-class <i>Blood of the Ram</i> before I ran out of time and real estate to use her.</div>
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Nearly immediately I crippled one of Rory's light cruisers, and soon after that set the other one on fire, but I'll spoil the surprise by letting you know that I didn't actually manage to destroy either one. You can also see that by now I activated the 'Objectifiers' squadron and drove them into the convoy.</div>
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I had a clever idea about flying them through the freighters, guns blazing, and then turn hard to port to take on Rory's Sword-class escorts. The turn part worked, but I failed to get the giant stack of kills I'd planned on racking up.</div>
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Somehow I did finally manage to score a kill on a freighter. Meanwhile the Swords, and the freighters themselves, started hammering my escort-class ships. I know the freighters got at least one kill; hopefully if Rory reads this he can refresh my memory as to whether they got more than that or not. They certainly weren't as toothless as I'd expected!</div>
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So eventually my escorts, wasting their time being stuck on 'Brace for Impact' weren't doing any damage, and Rory broke for the edge of the board. My last hope was to pull the <i>Blood of the Ram </i>across something like half the length of the table. But since I had a deadfall torpedo blip waiting directly in the path of the freighters I thought I still had a chance. Meanwhile, the single Sword-class that kept dogging the tail of my Murder-class cruiser managed to take my prow weapons offline long enough to prevent me from taking 60cm shots at the fleeing escorts. It was coming down to the last turn...</div>
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At which point my 5-strength torpedo volley passed right through two of the freighters without scoring a single hit. I ran the <i>Blood of the Ram </i>up as fast as I could, but could only take out one frieghter with my freshly-repaired lances. The convoy diverted all power to their puny engines....</div>
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And right after the above picture, Rory successfully put them on 'All Ahead Full' orders and rolled something that nearly doubled his puny 15cm speed. All four survivors made it off the other edge of the table; the Imperial filth got their precious supplies after all. </div>
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We had a blast playing this scenario. It's a crying shame that GW doesn't sell their freighter minis any more; these are the Forge World ones that ostensibly represent armed merchant freighters, but I consider myself lucky to have found them on eBay from a US seller so as to avoid overseas shipping. Still, I'm on the look-out for the un-armed freighter minis as well! If any of my intrepid readers are sitting on any that they're not using, please drop me a message...</div>
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Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-9310576533884632232012-12-08T19:49:00.003-05:002012-12-15T20:44:54.718-05:00Somehow people keep looking at this blogEven when I abandon it for months at a time. I've been gaming some, but not doing much painting, so I've neglected the blog. I do have some new Battlefleet Gothic stuff to share though; my friend Rory and I are playing a small campaign, my Slanneshi Chaos fleet against his Imperials. We got a quick game in today, where my mission was to deploy my 750pt fleet against Rory's randomly-deployed 1500pt defenders. In the best Slanneshi tradition I ran like hell; stopping only long enough to conduct a hit-and-run raid on Rory's light cruiser to retrieve a spy that I apparently had stationed on his ship (thanks to the typically-random sub-plot generation table). Pics here; the write-up is basically "I ran away and Rory tried to get in position to shoot me" so it's a good way for me to ease back into writing these posts:<br />
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Setup</div>
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Setup, from my corner</div>
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Setup, from Rory's side </div>
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Rory, measuring for a Nova Cannon shot after crippling my Hecate-class cruiser <em>New Flesh </em>in an earlier turn. Forunately the Slaughter-class <em>Strength Through Joy </em>is masked by an asteroid field</div>
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One ship down, the 'Objectifiers' try to hide behind a gas cloud</div>
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The <em>Aurora </em>(where my spy had been embedded) in hot pursuit</div>
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Having been crippled by a Nova Cannon hit earlier, the Daemonship<em> New Flesh</em> translates back to the Warp</div>
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Objectifier Three, having been abandoned by Obj Two (and with Obj One and Four blasted to atoms), turns to lash out at a squadron of Imperial Sword-class frigates (it doesn't end well)</div>
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So back on the horse. I have a few more Chaos ships on the way to round out my fleet; I also want to get some more paint on my Orks and Eldar who have been languishing in the graving docks (with just a coat of primer) since late summer/early fall.</div>
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Also, to those of you still checking this blog, thanks for your patience. One of my many New Year's resolutions is to be more consistent both in my painting and my posting. Whoever you readers are, I appreciate it!</div>
Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-32073523274842681042012-07-03T12:17:00.001-04:002012-07-05T23:13:10.882-04:00First (mostly successful) Heavy Gear Demo!So I am having trouble getting motivated to work on the blog, which is a real shame as we had a very good demo HG session at Hypermind in Burlington back on June 7th. Four people showed up to play, and I did my best to run them through a very basic matchup, two games of one GP squad per side. The only thing I did wrong was a big one, though - forgetting until the end of the night to point out that moving at Top Speed eats up an action. Grr. What a dumb, obvious mistake. Ah well. Here's pics:<br />
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Since I've kind of lamed out on this, I'd love it if any (or all!) of the four players would add comments about what they recall about the demo.<br />
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Also the next demo will be this Thursday at Hypermind, starting at 6:30, which I have not been good about promoting. Maybe I need signage for the front of the store, next to the Heavy Gear poster...<br />
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EDIT TO ADD: my friend Shawn wrote the demo up on his own blog, with way better pictures! Here's the link:<br />
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http://meetthemeeples.com/wargaming-with-miniatures-heavy-gear/Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-32704193301049596662012-05-22T01:49:00.001-04:002012-05-22T02:06:08.866-04:00Tiny break, my apologiesGonna do another quick catch-up post.<br />
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A rare Tuesday night game, with Britt running a modified version of my SRA "Sleepwalkers" while I debuted my primed-but-still-unpainted CEF oppressors. CEF was fun but I really need to figure out how to play them. Also as much as I love Frames - and I really, <i>really </i>do, all I thought when I airdropped them in was that I wished they'd been a light hovertank squad, or even a second heavy hovertank. Due to a variety of reasons that all boil down to 'I forgot to take more pictures,' this is the only picture of the game. We had to call it early, but I think Britt was in a slightly better place to complete his objectives than I was. Airdropping my frames didn't work as well as I'd hoped; I think they'd have worked better just charging across the board. Similarly I need to make someone other than my speedy little hover scout car the Army Commander; I was too worried about losing him to really get the most out of the mobility the damn things have. We also confirmed what I'd discovered running the SRA against Brandon's CEF - FLAILS do not like field guns. Nope. Not one bit.<br />
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The following were pics from a really interesting game I played with the trusty Sleepwalkers against Justin's new-ish Airborne Dragoons list two weeks ago. Since I've waited so long my memory is a bit foggy, so I hope Justin will help fill in some of the gaps in the narrative here. Comments are below the pic they refer to.<br />
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We set up on the long table edges; our victory conditions were slightly overlapping. I needed to get my GP squad into Justin's deployment zone (Breakthrough), hold my own (Blockade) and kill his infantry command squad (Assassinate). If I remember correctly, Justin needed to kill my GP squad (Wipe Them Out) and Breakthrough into my deployment zone, and something else I can't remember.<br />
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This isn't really illustrative of anything as it's part of my initial setup; I just liked the pic.<br />
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Here some of my own WFPA infantry volunteer to help out Justin's Norlights. This was also the first time I faced his Mammoth, which I was scared enough of that I bought an Airstrike with my support points with the express intention of blowing it up.<br />
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At this point, my two Hun squads begin to push forward on either side of the power plant. God, I love those Huns.<br />
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This is why I love those Huns. Justin tried to dash his Bandit Hunter Klemm (a light tank) past them, but opportunity fire with the Light Laser Cannons made pretty short work of that. At top right you can see that my airstrike didn't kill the Mammoth, but it has seriously damaged it (hence the orange damage token). Meanwhile, his infantry have been showering my GP squad with light mortar fire, doing some real damage to the Command Jager.<br />
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If I remember right, there was an exchange of fire here where Justin rolled three sixes for his mortar team - the equivalent of an attack of eight! - which unfortunately had to get called back due to too many actions taken by the infantry that turn, or something. I'll take this moment to say that it's always a pleasure to play Justin, and he is relentlessly honest about stuff like that; I didn't even realize it until he did and pointed it out. While you read a lot of stuff online about cutthroat 'win-at-all-costs' types in the minis hobby, I find they are few and far between. Many, many more of them are great folks like Justin.<br />
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This is now turn three, and Justin's Airborne Dragoons dropped in right in the faces of my GP squad. I'm trying to run them full-speed into the backfield because if they stop or change course too much they simply won't have the range to make it into his DZ for my Breakthrough mission. Justin's Dingos and other gears proceed to wreck face.<br />
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See those two puffs of grey smoke? That's the aftereffect of thoroughly wrecked faces. I did manage to make a 'dying declaration' bazooka shot that knocked one of his para-gears down to Light damage, but it didn't matter.<br />
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At this point it was getting a bit late, and we were finishing turn three, when Justin announced that he was pretty sure I'd won on points. By using his Airborne troops to crush my GP squad, he'd placed them so far back on the battlefield that he could not get them, or any of his other troops, into my DZ for his breakthrough goal. My successful Assassination and Blockade meant I'd won, something like 3 to 2?<br />
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It was a really great game. I felt a bit cheap about using the Airstrike to wound his Mammoth, but that thing was scary. My Huns did better than in their past few games, but my field guns in the back corner of the board were hugely ineffective. And my poor GP squad was basically dead once I'd rolled them into their Breakthrough role. Still, it was a ton of fun.<br />
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There was also another game of Battlefleet Gothic with Rory in there someplace, but I can't find the photos. Separate post for that if I do, I reckon.Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-31128851944913549142012-04-27T16:26:00.000-04:002012-04-27T18:49:53.983-04:00Heavy Gear: three games!So while I didn't get to play last night, it was totally worth it to be there for three simultaneous games of HG. I did a tiny bit of modeling, a tiny bit of officiating, and a tiny bit of new player outreach. All while defending the honor of my SRA loaner list, which everyone (myself included) agrees will work a lot better at 1000TV than it does right now.<br />
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Anyway, I don't have an HG AAR to offer (I do have a Battlefleet Gothic AAR, two actually, which will hit the blog later this weekend) but I did snap a few pics. I'm hoping some of the folks that played last night will chip in with AARs, recollections, or 'yay/damnit' moments from their games!<br />
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Britt using my loaner SRA vs Brandon's CEF (or were they PAK?)</div>
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Justin's Norlights vs Paul's MILICIA (or are they SRA?)</div>
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Rory's freshly-painted SRA vs Tyler's MILICIA</div>
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Personally, I'm willing to call three simultaneous games (and we could have done four if I'd brought another army, honestly) a great turnout. Many thanks again to Dale who got this whole thing rolling with a lot of perseverance for a few years before things really started to click. We miss you Dale! Hope you can make it back out sometime soon!</div>Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-490761288250765632012-04-20T01:29:00.000-04:002012-04-20T02:06:01.511-04:00Betrayal and Conspiracy, Sacrilege and HeresyI feel alright - I feel alright tonight<br />
-Steve Earle, "Feel Alright"<br />
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And that's them, from left to right - the Word Bearer cruisers <i>Betrayal, Conspiracy, Sacrilege </i>and<i> Heresy</i> (named for four of the Virtues of Chaos, and also from the Steve Earle song I've been riffing on in my titles for these BFG posts). Escort squadrons are the "Conjurers" and "Concubines"; the "Conquerors" were not on the table tonight. Battlefleet Gothic, <i>GO!</i><br />
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For our starter game, I fielded the <i>Sacrilege </i>and<i> Heresy</i> with the two "Conquerors" as escort ships. As a Chaos fleet, I had to spend 50 of my 500 points on a Warmaster with Leadership 8 and one re-roll, not a great bargain at this small a price, and doubly annoying when I actually rolled a Ld 9 for my flagship which the Warmaster (frothing at the mouth about the Will of Chaos, no doubt) actually <i>reduced</i> by one. Not an auspicious start.<br />
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For our first game (for both me and Rory) we figured we'd fight on an empty board, just to get the hang of moving, shooting, etc. Oddly enough when we placed astronomical features in our second game they wound up having no real effect, but I'll cover that when we get there. In any event, we both basically went straight in on each other from turn one, which was probably a better idea for Rory's Imperial Navy fleet than for my longer-ranged Chaos list.<br />
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We got caught up in both the fun of the game and the need to keep looking things up in the rules, so basically I didn't get many more pictures of our first game. Just as well, as Rory beat me pretty badly. In the picture below you can see that he's managed to split my two cruisers with one of his. The triangle 'blip' counter is what we were using to indicate that my flagship was already crippled (lost half of its hits).<br />
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From above you can see that Rory actually winds up only being able to broadside my less-damaged cruiser.<br />
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After delivering a real pounding with that broadside, Rory moved his Sword-class escorts in for the kill. The best thing that happened for me in this game was that when the <i>Heresy </i>exploded, it vaporized one of the Swords as well.<br />
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At this point I took a few minutes and found the rules for disengaging, which the<i> Sacrilege </i>appropriately did. A total beatdown, but we basically felt like we had a handle on the rules. So we went to dinner, came back and figured out how many points everything Rory had was worth, then I slapped together an equivalent amount of points. Basically this meant adding the <i>Betrayal</i> to the fleet and swapping the "Conjurors" for two of the "Concubines." <i>Conspiracy</i> had the night off, I guess.<br />
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I do think we need to go to the 'one person places, other person picks deployment' method of setting up the battlefield, because basically we got a whole bunch of nothing as far as I was concerned. Then again, maybe with larger fleets we'd have had the time or inclination to try and use the asteroid fields and planets a bit more. As it was they just wound up being a neat box that we fought inside.<br />
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Anyway, the furball you see in the next picture was probably as close to doing well as I got all night. The two blast markers on Rory's cruiser indicate that his shields are down; unfortunately if memory serves all I got for this effort was a single hit. Meanwhile you may notice that I'm already down one Concubine. Hard times for an honest Chaos Warmaster.<br />
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The purple die set to six pips is what we were using to indicate crippled ships. That should tell you how things are working out for me.<br />
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Unfortunately by now we were running late and trying to finish so Ron (our friendly store owner, of <a href="http://www.thegameconnection.com/" target="">The Game Connection</a>) could lock up, so no more pics. Which means that the amazing final turn - where Rory took my healthiest ship (the <i>Betrayal)</i> from barely hurt to dead with a massive barrage of fire and a lucky boxcars on the Critical Damage table - or the final Ordnance phase, where the <i>Betrayal's </i>now-orphaned bomber flights did the exact same thing to one of Rory's cruisers!<br />
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All in all we had a blast, and have basically both agreed that a campaign (using the rules right there in the basic BFG rulebook) is the next order of business. Battlefleet Gothic is a really wonderful game; it's a shame that GW has sidelined it like all the other 'Specialist Games.' Both of us and Ron felt like a re-release of the old BFG box set - four each Imperial and Chaos plastic cruisers, rulebook and cardboard gubbins - would have sold far better than the beautiful but intimidating Dreadfleet did. Again, without trying to fish for compliments or pity - I'm a pretty bad, or at least inexperienced, painter. But these minis just pop to life with the simplest of treatment - three layers of drybrush and a tiny bit of detail, and you're ready to fire up the Geller Fields and brave the perils of the Warp. What a great way to get people into a minis game; what a shame they don't sell the box anymore.<br />
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EDIT TO ADD: halfway through this writeup I started getting my Chaotic Virtues, and my ship names, scrambled up. I really need to make nameplates for them.Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-89157088504493323462012-04-19T00:50:00.000-04:002012-04-20T01:29:46.917-04:00I'll bring you precious contrabandAnd ancient tales from distant lands.<br />
-Steve Earle, "Feel Alright"<br />
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Two 500-point 'learner' fleets for Battlefleet Gothic. These guys are Chaos, painted up to be part of a Word Bearers fleet.<br />
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The paint scheme is painfully simple, since I'm a painfully bad painter. Basically a three-layer drybrush (Mechrite Red/Red Gore/Blood Red) over black primer, details in silver, engine glow and ports in Iyanden Darksun (GW's now-obsolete yellow foundation paint). After these pics I went back and put some dots in white, red, yellow and blue on the bases to give them a 'starfield' look and hopefully make them a bit less drab. The real problem will be getting the names on these guys; instead of trying to freehand them on the bases I may make nametags for the ships and tack them to the base with a dab of PVA glue.<br />
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CHAOS 1: 495<br />
Devastation-Class Cruiser "Betrayal": 190<br />
-Warmaster (Ld 8, one re-roll): 50<br />
Slaughter-Class Cruiser "Conspiracy": 165<br />
Iconoclast Destroyers x3 "Conjurors": 90 (30 each)<br />
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CHAOS 2: 500<br />
Carnage-Class Cruiser "Sacrilege": 180<br />
-Warmaster (Ld 8, one re-roll): 50<br />
Murder-Class Cruiser "Heresy": 170<br />
Idolator Raiders x2 "Concubines": 90 (45 each)Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-48983197877680681072012-04-13T01:17:00.002-04:002012-04-13T01:17:21.598-04:00Fresh Meat, -5 Threat ValueWhich is a totally unfair title, as our new player Zach (pictured below, Doing Stuff) took to the rules like a duck to water. I did what I could to help demo the game, but our eager player base (several of who know the rules a bit better than I do) made my job a bit redundant. Still, I think it was going well - unfortunately I had to leave before he and Justin finished their game (and I had to leave the WFPA "Skyfallers" I'd lent Zach; thankfully Justin has promised them good temporary quarters in his bag).<br />
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As mentioned, Zach took my WFPA list and faced off against Justin's NAF Blue Meanies.</div>
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While there were criticisms leveled against my list (grr, Tyler) I was pleased to see that Zach used its minimal ECM capabilities much better than I tend to. He used the two Strike Cheetahs to disrupt several (but not all) of Justin's attempts to forward observe for his Grizzlies.</div>
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When Justin rolled these triple sixes for his Hunter (the white gear) to grenade Zach's Strike Cheetah and Jaguar, the consensus was that Zach was screwed. That was before Zach rolled trip sixes of his own....</div>
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As I said, we kind of threw Zach into the deep end for his 'learner' game, but he picked it up very quickly and was doing well when I left. Hopefully he, Justin, or one of our other regulars can post the outcome here? Meanwhile, Zach is wanting to get Heavy Gear on the table at <a href="http://www.scifigenre.com/">Sci-Fi Genre</a> in Durham; hopefully sometime in the near future we'll work out a day for some (less ambitious) demo games there!Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-39015627633356823032012-04-08T21:51:00.001-04:002012-04-08T21:51:56.097-04:00I've been stuffed in your pocket/For the last hundred days (with apologies to Monster Magnet)And I guess actually it's been more like fifty-five days. Anyway, I slipped again on the blogging; too much gaming, and a recurring leg injury, have meant that when I was in the mood to do game stuff I was gaming, not writing, and when I wasn't in the mood to do game stuff I wasn't in the mood to do much of anything else either.<br />
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So here's another lightning recap of all the minis gaming I've done since my last post:<br />
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I literally have no memory of this game, but I see my SRA 35th Combined Arms Regiment, "Les Somnambules" (The Sleepwalkers) on the top side of the table, squaring off against Britt's protean Northern list. There's a decent chance Rory borrowed the Sleepwalkers for this game; gents, do you remember if this is the case? Any reminiscences of this matchup?<br />
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This was a match between me, running my WFPA 44th CAR ("The Skyfallers") against Justin's Northern Lights Confederation army (at least I think it was - I seem to remember some Chaplain re-rolls, which indicate a Norlight list). We rolled up a 'Surrounded' mission, and I took the center. One of my objectives was to get my Aller tank safely off the board, which I did - although I might have done so too early, as its firepower would have been helpful in the last round.<br />
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Just off-screen to the left and right are Justin's intermixed Recon and Fire Support squads. My Dragoon gears are scattering to try and grab some kills, and my infantry are basically screwed due to the lack of buildings or good cover. Notice my Aller tank casually getting the hell out of Dodge at center left.</div>
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The three smoking wrecks you see here are 60% of my Dragoon squad. To the upper right you can see my Aller engaging some of Justin's Gears, having knocked one down to its last armor box. If memory serves I may have actually even killed it, although it didn't make a difference in the long run.</div>
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Again, if I remember correctly, my infantry did some damage to Justin's Gears as they closed in, but it was too little, too late...</div>
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...as this picture neatly illustrates (cool billboard signage courtesy of my friend Keith, who I <i>will</i> convince to play a game of Heavy Gear someday).</div>
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Another matchup between the Skyfallers and Justin's Norlights. Playing beside us on the same table are Brandon's CEF and Tyler's something-or-other - his new MILICIA list, I think?</div>
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Here's what happens when an Aller stops a couple of Anti-Tank Missiles the hard way.</div>
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"He's the one with one arm, but I'm the one who's dead? Bogus."</div>
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At this point Britt and I started what was supposed to be an epic Flames of War campaign, using their older 'Axis of Attack' ruleset and (loosely) re-creating part of the Axis thrust in the Ukraine in 1943. Unfortunately it turned into a three-up, three-down rout for my Hungarians, no doubt due to their lack of paint and not due to my inept generalship or REALLY inept Battlefront Hungarian dice (which are legitimately evil, I think).<br />
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Mission One: Looks promising, doesn't it? It all goes downhill from here, though.</div>
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Actually at this point it's still going sort of ok. My Pioneer infantry have jumped into the buildings on their side of the street, preparing to attack the Soviet hordes on the other side. Similarly my tanks have moved up with no losses from Britt's guns thus far.</div>
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Haha, ok, never mind. Things are already terrible and his reserves have just flooded the backfield. The bottle of generic Aleve by the roadbed is for my leg, not for the giant pain in the ass that is Soviet artillery. Dumb ol' Red God of War.</div>
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Mission Two: since Britt's Soviets won, instead of the Axis pushing forward deeper into Mother Russia, we fought in the same village again. This one we fought at <a href="http://www.thegameconnection.com/">Ron's store (The Game Connection)</a>, with Josh and Rory along to watch us play and pick up the rules; later that night they'd fight it out with different forces in the same town.<br />
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Here we go again. I deploy a bit more aggressively; however I've also not put my objective anywhere near close enough to the front because I still don't remember that they're not actually scenery and can in fact go in the damn river. Basically the same thing happens as did in our first game, which is fortunate since I don't have any other pictures from this match.</div>
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I do have some from Rory and Josh's matchup, however. In the interest of something approximating impartiality, I made up Josh's Soviet list and am offering him some advice, while Britt is advising Rory's Germans. I think this was a good idea on Britt's part, as it made us a bit detached since we were advising our enemy; this helps cut down on the 'backseat driver' factor.<br />
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Rory, seated at the top edge, has something like six tanks in his list. Josh is starting out with only brave Soviet infantry and a single T-34 tank as his army HQ. However, in reserve he has a heavy mortar company, some anti-tank guns, and ten more T-34s. He just needs to hold on long enough to get them on the table.</div>
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Which he does. Josh winds up holding the objectives for the win.</div>
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In the middle of the FoW campaign I got in another Heavy Gear game with Rory - he borrowed the Sleepwalkers, I ran the Skyfallers (I really need to get a new army or three painted up; I have four and a half HG armies primered and ready to go, I'm just a terrible procrastinator which certainly has nothing to do with the just-short-of-two-month hiatus this blog just suffered).<br />
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Setup. We played on a large (for 800TV worth of HG, anyway) board of 4'x6'.</div>
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That silver thing that's on fire at middle left only looks like an unpainted German Panzer 38(t), it's actually a Northern Jaxon missile tank. Or it was until Rory's Huns smoked it, anyway.</div>
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My army commander, being a simple farmboy from the great prairies of the WFP, isn't sure he's buying all this United Mercantile Federation propaganda; he's never even seen the UMFA in the field!</div>
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Here's what one motivated Jaguar toting a Snub Cannon (with the <a href="http://flintlocklaser.blogspot.com/2011/10/wfpa-training-exercise-100km-west-of.html">Block 40 upgrades of the Dedicated Tankhunter Initiative</a>) can do to two Southern Huns. A better combat photographer would have actually gotten a picture of said Jaguar, but you take what you can get. Despite all this carnage, Rory still won, as I brilliantly forgot to give myself enough time to complete my Scout mission (who knew it took two turns to do that?)</div>
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And then Britt and I played our final game of the FoW campaign. Great ruined city terrain courtesy of Britt; great paintjob on most of my armor by Rory. Hamfisted strategy was mine and mine alone, however.</div>
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This is what it looked like from Britt's side of the table. This actually wound up being a fairly good game until a turn of bad results (and the cumulative effects of about a million failed "Bog" checks due to an early thaw) broke the back of my final offensive.</div>
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The little green triangles you see next to four of my tanks are "Bog" markers, indicating that my tanks have gotten stuck in the horrible Ukrainian mud and are going to be useless for the current round. I had thirteen armor units in my list, and four of them bogged down was probably the average result each turn. You do the math.</div>
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One of my Toldi I recon tanks has brewed up, blocking the relatively good terrain of the railroad for my Nimrod AA tanks (which are being pressed into service as infantry hunters, since the weather has canceled air support for both sides).</div>
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My company 2iC, riding in a Panzer 38(t) looks through the walls of a ruined Soviet tractor factory as his tankers come under fire from Soviet 45mm AT guns.</div>
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"The clock on the wall says three o'clock.</div>
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Last call." </div>
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I throw my Pioneers and all my tanks forward in a desperate push. My artillery has been only partially effective all game, and things are getting bad. As this is turn 3 Britt will start rolling for his reserves, which means they will only get worse. </div>
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See?</div>
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Britt's batallion commander looks on as his brave <i>frontoviks</i> rush forward, victorious. I don't think the commissars even had to shoot anyone. That's a good day in Uncle Joe's army!</div>
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Whew! All caught up. Let's not let that happen again.Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-91580379751835259682012-02-13T00:20:00.001-05:002012-02-13T00:20:50.704-05:00Heavy Gear: 35 Spring 1949 - Chaos in the WFP<i>34 Spring 1949<br />
The WFP parliament officially dissolves and is placed under control of the CNCS until the new governmental elections are held. UMF Treasurer Stamens officially welcomes the move to more open elections, citing the move as an inspiration for his own nation. Plans are to have the election and ratification of a new constitution by the Autumn.</i><br />
<i>- Heavy Gear Blitz! Black Talon: Return to Cat's Eye, p. 96</i><br />
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Against this backdrop of political destabilization, a chance border encounter led to the unfortunate incident later referred to as the Battle of Lookout Hill. While on a wide patrol during the political crisis shaking the Western Frontier Protectorate, and with contradictory and irregular orders coming down from high command, a unit of the 44th WFPA Combined Arms Regiment ("The Skyfallers") made contact with a detachment of "Les Somnambules," the SRA 35th CAR. The Skyfallers were already at a fever pitch, as the rumor mill and patchy communications with WFPA command had led them to expect an attack by whatever 'outside saboteurs' were ostensibly responsible for the current governmental crisis. In a tragic coincidence, the SRA 35th CAR was on a hair trigger as well, in the immediate aftermath of Lord Protector Molay's failed coup in the Southern Republic - which the "Sleepwalkers" were a part of. Having only been officially reinstated into the SRA after their surrender a few weeks before, the Sleepwalkers were still waiting for the axe of 'unofficial sanction' to fall - turning the simple accident of their encounter with the Skyfallers into a meaningless bloodbath, and a tragedy for the small Badlands settlement of Lookout Hill.<br />
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WFPA objectives - identify the outside agitators (Recon, 2OP), hold the comms building until able to report to command (Seize, 2OP)<br />
SRA - cause enough casualties to disrupt pursuit (Wipe them Out - Infantry, 2OP), get the hell out of Dodge (Breakthrough, 2OP)<br />
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Unfortunately, I only snapped a handful of pix, and several of them are basically unusable, but here's the bullet-point version. I lent my SRA army to Rory for his first full game of HG, I ran my WFPA. My plan was to try and slow/stop his tanks with my Jaguars, while using my Strike Cheetahs for the Recon objective. All surviving gears were supposed to rush my Seize objective, a bunker nearly in his deployment zone, while bunkering my infantry in available buildings to both try and keep them alive (deny his Wipe them Out) and at least partly contest his move into my deployment zone (deny his Breakthrough).<br />
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This did not happen.<br />
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To be fair, my Cheetahs did their job, and managed to earn full marks for my Recon objective before finally getting taken down in a storm of coordinated fire from Rory's GP cadre. But with only one real chance to ding Rory's Hun light tanks (my lone Snub Cannon-armed Jaguar) and one longshot (the Frag Cannon Jag, who totes Heavy Hand Grenades) I'd have been better off dodging them all game rather than trying to engage them. Meanwhile, Rory pushed the Huns forward, using their Iguana escort to spot for his Field Gun battery, and slowly battered my Infantry to death. By the time I was ready to push past the Huns and disengage from his GP cadre, my Dragoon squad had taken so much fire that they were all but dead already. <br />
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<i>My Strike Cheetahs, sprinting into the heart of Rory's GP Cadre</i></div>
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<i>Both Strike Cheetahs are already Heavily damaged, but are getting Recon locks. The infantry 'inside' the bunker are starting to do noticeable damage to the SRA with their Light Mortar</i>.</div>
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<i>More of the same. Notice to the left, the Huns and their spotter are moving through the town.</i></div>
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<i>Having silenced the FGC Jaguar, this Hun's turret is already searching for a fresh target</i></div>
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<i>At this point, my only chance is for the two pictured infantry units to weather one more turn of fire...</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>...which did not happen.</i></div>
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Still, a great game. I did a ton of damage to Rory's GP cadre but never managed to kill one. The Huns were basically untouchable all game, and it would probably have been smarter for me to treat them as such. Interestingly, Rory misunderstood which bunker I was trying to Seize, and the fact that he'd split his Huns around it before pushing them forward was a happy coincidence rather than the intentional blockade I thought it was. Regardless, the win was Rory's, 4 to 2. Presumably the Sleepwalkers made it back to SRA territory; Skyfaller casualties were near total, with only the Snubby Jaguar left alive to bear the tale to WFPA command. If he makes it back to friendly lines, the Skyfaller unit history will record a shameful defeat, and a score to be settled once the Earther invasion is repulsed....</div>Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-6256718316626648422012-02-04T22:55:00.001-05:002012-02-04T22:57:01.886-05:00Heavy Flames of War Gear (with apologies to Norwood for biting his style)Got in a game of Flames of War this past Wednesday, and semi-demoed a game of Heavy Gear on Thursday for Rory, with the cooperation of Justin, who's already started playing.<br />
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FoW: long story short, got my CiC killed and pushed below the company morale threshold before turn 7, which was how long I needed to hold my two objectives. I had fun, and my opponent, Mike, was very patient and helpful with me since I hadn't played FoW in about 8 months or something now and had half-forgotten a lot of stuff. Unfortunately this first game in the local Firestorm: Bagration campaign might be my last, as due to space issues all future games will be on Thursday, which already belongs to my current fave minis game...<br />
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HG: Rory was willing to give it a try, although he'd said earlier while watching the end of Brandon and my last game that he wasn't sure it would be his cup of tea (SPOILER ALERT: by the end of the night he was figuring out which faction he wanted to buy). Our local Pod Squad rep, Dale, had mentioned the possibility of me joining the Pod Squad as well, since I live an hour west of him and can conceivably cover demos in places like Greensboro, Southern Pines, etc. In that spirit, and with the arrival of another newer (although not newbie) player Justin, Dale suggested I run the demo as a trial by fire. <br />
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<u><b>MISSION SETUP</b></u></div>
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<u>OBJECTIVES:</u></div>
<ul>
<li>more-or-less successfully teach the basics of Heavy Gear: 2VP</li>
<li>don't make an ass of yourself: 2VP</li>
</ul>
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Here, Rory is not sleeping, as the casual observer might think - he is checking line of sight for an attack! Presumably one of those damnable metabananas is in the way AGAIN. (nb: work on house rules for using 'Junglemower' VHACs to clear sight lines)<br />
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Here, a MILICIA Sidewinder and 'Knifey McGee,' the Jäger whose off-hand I glued a Vibroblade to before realizing he was already carrying a sheathed one, menace a freshly-painted MAC-armed Norlight Hunter.<br />
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Near the end of their second demo game, Justin is pointing at one of his Hunters, presumably because it's about to do something. At the top left of the field you can see two MILICIA gears that were recently killed by the combination of a phenomenally well-thrown hand grenade and (if memory serves) judiciously sprayed LRP fire. Everyone is clustered around the central mesa (the one with the ripe, red metabanana plants, naturally) as for this second game we instituted a simple goal of 'most gears at light or better within 4" of the hill.' Unfortunately for Justin, his Hunter near the bottom edge of the board will wind up being about an inch short of contesting the hill after its move, and the game will be a bloody draw.<br />
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All in all, I think my first attempt to demo the game went fairly well. There were a few things I still need to drum into my head (like how shifting speed bands and movement modes has a few limits more complex than 'one step either direction'), but mostly this simplified version went off OK. This coming Thursday Rory wants to play a full game, so I'm coming up with two 500TV lists, to introduce stuff like Command Points, multi-action models, reaction fire - all the stuff that really makes HG shine. Meanwhile Rory is already thinking up paint schemes for what seems like it might be an Eastern Suns Emirate Guard army....<br />
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PS - I think I got 3VP. Maybe just 2. <br />
<br />Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-61989264562998909762012-01-29T15:57:00.001-05:002012-01-29T15:57:16.624-05:00User feedback solicitedI see that a few (around 10%) of my pageviews are coming from iPhones - anybody out there reading this thing on a mobile device willing to tell me if they like the new mobile template I activated yesterday? It looks good on mine, and is a lot easier to navigate. But feedback is important!<br />
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Similarly, how's the font working for you all? I liked a lot when I originally selected it on my desktop PC, but on my netbook there's a noticeable lag while it upconverts from Courier or whatever the default is, and some of the characters (capital Hs come to mind) don't render that well at this resolution. Any one with font-knowledge out there have any suggestions?Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-51044029383961276602012-01-29T04:43:00.001-05:002012-01-29T05:15:57.478-05:00Desultory catch-up grab-bag extravaganzaSo astute readers might recall a nearly three-and-a-half month lack of batreps between the Battletech game of October 14, 2011, and last week's Heavy Gear game (January 27, 2012). Sorry! Here's a quick recap of stuff I played during that hiatus; I suggest you cue up <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsJK7tlBQOQ&feature=related">"Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor</a> while reading this post for the full montage effect.<br />
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A game of full-rules Classic Battletech, run by Brandon, where Tyler and I fought it out. Vague memories include one of my mechs getting headshot and one of Tyler's falling down and me swarming it with Protomechs.<br />
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Another Heavy Gear matchup between my SRA 35th Combined Arms Regiment ("Les Somnambules") and Britt's WFPA (or Northern Guard?) force. One of my bazooka-toting Jägers has had a bad afternoon. His surviving comrade is holding up a big knife to warn people to leave him alone.<br />
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The four player Battletech Quick-Strike game I ran at <a href="http://www.justusproductions.com/index.php/justus/mace/2/2/9">MACE</a> last year. My first real con, and the first time I tried to host a wargame 'in the wild.' All four players seemed to enjoy themselves, and I'm planning to do it again soon. The scenario was a battle from the Ronin War.<br />
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A similar but much smaller setup of roughly the same scenario at our FLGS, <a href="http://www.hypermindonline.com/">Hypermind</a>. New member Rory, from Mebane, North Carolina (by way of South Africa) uses the trusty Mark One Eyeball to check line of sight.<br />
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A somewhat ill-fated attempt to play 2v2 Heavy Gear - Britt (WFPA) and Tyler (Black Talons) versus Brandon (CEF) and me (SRA). Britt and I basically air-slapped at each other ineffectually while Brandon and Tyler rained hell on each other.<br />
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Another HG matchup between Britt and me, in his gaming room. By now the astute viewer will note that the metabanana plant is endemic to every setting where I push lead around. My apologies. I will endeavor to make sure they aren't at Borodino with Napoleon this fall.<br />
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Keith and I have been playing lots of Space Hulk this winter. Here we see a before and after shot, showing what one motivated Space Marine and his assault cannon can do.<br />
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Britt and I playing Heavy Gear again; here we rolled up an encirclement-type scenario, which I failed miserably at.<br />
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Mutiny! My dark, DARK grey SRA unit, the 'Sleepwalkers,' is fighting Dale's (our Friendly Neighborhood Pod Squad Rep) green SRA unit. Someone probably got caught misappropriating equipment, or was found to be ideologically unsound, or they stole the last toaster strudel in the mess tent. Out of sight in the woods at the top left is Dale's Naga, making life miserable for me (the small brown disk visible on the edge of the woods is its recon drone). Out of sight behind the camera is me making quite rude gestures towards the Naga.<br />
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Back at Britt's, facing off against his new Aller tank with the very scary railgun. The wisp of greasy smoke in the foreground used to be one of my Hun light tanks.<br />
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And that pretty much catches us up. Hopefully another of these penance/make-up work posts will not be necessary in the new year. Sleepwalker Actual, out.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwG3nCuH0Km9eJAZO-6h4KMFBgAUt84_AqNKCtTMCUuuO9U5Bd6-sNrjX6i-uYBaBATo2xugxZpXTGj0n6WNWSgphnEla37CsrOWZ0eBB4MiRV0pUf-wFOhD8r-DBV8-Ke8ukccPv/s1600/Ipod3+317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDwG3nCuH0Km9eJAZO-6h4KMFBgAUt84_AqNKCtTMCUuuO9U5Bd6-sNrjX6i-uYBaBATo2xugxZpXTGj0n6WNWSgphnEla37CsrOWZ0eBB4MiRV0pUf-wFOhD8r-DBV8-Ke8ukccPv/s400/Ipod3+317.jpg" /></a></div>Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-61705469668976703932012-01-27T01:00:00.000-05:002012-01-27T01:00:12.778-05:00The return of Heavy Gear and the departure of Whooping CoughYes, I think I had whooping cough, since I was around my cousin's kids and their school had a <a href="http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/01/12/article/8_whooping_cough_cases_reported_at_alamance_elementary_school">recent outbreak</a> and I certainly felt miserable enough (complete with paroxysmal cough) to think maybe I got it? In any event, finally feeling good enough to make the trip to Knightdale and play some Heavy Gear again! I was getting a bit tired of my omnipresent SRA 'Les Somnambules' (35th SRA Combined Arms Regiment) so I broke out the good ol' WFPA 44th CAR, 'the Skyfallers' and faced off against Brandon's PAK list.<br />
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As always, it's been exactly long enough for me to get sort of rusty on the rules, and based on it being WFPA versus the PAK I haven't figured out exactly where our fight would fit in the fictional future history of Terra Nova, so no cutesy AAR this time, just a few pics:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnV_uNzajKQm6k3UnHHvpuGD58Ju0cvgUgHOc4S5yQmbQvNUasBzxobkH-_gZ2Hcth005GZp7ijgeuPTsQoviefzwQGbwg1zQCK4bSdv67shoODJIqZnKwd1fFzUcn5toDV_RmU_n/s1600/Ipod3+550.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnV_uNzajKQm6k3UnHHvpuGD58Ju0cvgUgHOc4S5yQmbQvNUasBzxobkH-_gZ2Hcth005GZp7ijgeuPTsQoviefzwQGbwg1zQCK4bSdv67shoODJIqZnKwd1fFzUcn5toDV_RmU_n/s320/Ipod3+550.jpg" /></a></div>This is what two Anti-Tank Missiles can do to a totally unscathed Hardy Aller (meanwhile, the Aller's low-tech unguided VHFG round utterly missed its target the turn before - 280 TV well spent!)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzluXM3OxGD_sRWVp4JvgrofX6D9XAJLtwZaEvzlTQv_2mZbQH5Pafg55lCeCQZRVyALAxcyBxVXfiY-A-wMuY8nRwNkHg_exRloxljCMLn49r1Dsag09bLCNo_9Wo6zGkE-mOk6b/s1600/Ipod3+551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizzluXM3OxGD_sRWVp4JvgrofX6D9XAJLtwZaEvzlTQv_2mZbQH5Pafg55lCeCQZRVyALAxcyBxVXfiY-A-wMuY8nRwNkHg_exRloxljCMLn49r1Dsag09bLCNo_9Wo6zGkE-mOk6b/s320/Ipod3+551.jpg" /></a></div>This terrible blurry shot shows that Strike Cheetah from before, finally out of luck. Of course by now he'd recce'd both PAK hovertanks, so he died a hero of the WFPA!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLVW4HtMQOhlPVfi0NDYJBWiKWSybHQZWu7HTYy81g9tu_xNCr8JiTQBlufPTLN5a7u8yrQ9aGsFF4HhOROYroD0iCTu-9ccJVcNaBzIoDP_8Q54vfScPAh47K8XHIoYniLyIAsoKC/s1600/Ipod3+552.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLVW4HtMQOhlPVfi0NDYJBWiKWSybHQZWu7HTYy81g9tu_xNCr8JiTQBlufPTLN5a7u8yrQ9aGsFF4HhOROYroD0iCTu-9ccJVcNaBzIoDP_8Q54vfScPAh47K8XHIoYniLyIAsoKC/s320/Ipod3+552.jpg" /></a></div>This was near the end of the game, and one of the GRELs (a sort of vat-grown hypnotrained combat bioroid - think Roy Batty, but purple) in Brandon's light hovertanks failed their instability roll, and was compelled to show off by moving at utter top speed for the turn. Brandon tried to make the best of it by ramming one of my few surviving gears (the Army Commander shown here) but the dice came through for me and he missed me.<br />
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The other neat thing I didn't get pics of was my crappy infantry finally whittling down one of his HC-3 hovercars. I frankly felt like I stole the win by running my two last gears up into the face of his two unscathed large hovertanks. If we'd played one more turn they'd have been slag, but by the rules of the 'Seize' objective Brandon was working on, I'd successfully 'contested' control of the tank blind from him, denying him the VPs for that objective and giving me a very 'gamey' one VP win. Still, we both had fun, and playing against his PAK/CEF makes me want to get to work on mine. Love those hover vehicles!<br />
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<br />Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-42877620374086371802012-01-02T23:28:00.002-05:002012-01-02T23:39:38.949-05:00Whoops I Forgot I Have a Blog (and a magnetized Naga by way of apology)Sorry folks. Will try to do a big bonanza catch-up post later this week. I've done a lot of gaming since my last substantive post, and I'll try to get caught back up, or at least throw some pics up here. Mea culpa.<br />
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Anyway, just got done magnetizing a Naga for my upcoming HAPF army for Heavy Gear. This is the first significant magnetization project I've ever tried, and it went fairly well. You can see the misalignment problems when I convert it to the Long Fang variant (the one with the long-barreled guns), but I'm happy with it for a first try. We'll see if it goes ok when I throw togethere my Fire Dragon mini tomorrow...<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>Command Naga; swaps one ATM/AGM pod for an advanced ECM/ECCM suite and Satellite Uplink</i></div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Long Fang Naga; swaps both missile pods for twin Light Field Guns</i></div><br />
The magnetizing was pretty straightforward, which was a pleasant surprise. I bought 3/32" magnets, and was fortunate enough to have a 3/32" drill bit available for my pin vise. I took the advice of a fellow HG player (hi Dale!) and seated the magnets in their holes before applying the glue, to (mostly) avoid problems with the glue hydraulically locking the magnet outside its desired position. We'll see how the Fire Dragon (and possibly my Hetairoi hovertanks) do, since they're resin.<br />Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-77099922584614251922011-11-07T10:13:00.000-05:002011-11-07T10:13:42.758-05:00Putting the 'Funk' in 'Perfunctory'Got kind of slammed in the run-up to vacation, and the blog suffered for it. Didn't get an intended post done about my last HG game against Britt, or about playing a bit of Space Hulk with Keith and some full-rules Battletech with Brandon and Tyler. I'll get those pics up later this week. In the meantime, here's some photo recon from a "Sleepwalker" (35th SRA Combined Arms Regiment) Command Jager on detached duty:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8M5Bss1aWq-kmytdVOWzhdVJD1xypvprUzjSubWtq1969CryXthhVnjNoGqlUpD_DLI4lu_-Ess3vZApJbqsYiDgH2Cq0Dj2Ipbw3b3d_G6vlGWIjgjoyHjDzHP6BH3bcMhvyKvtp/s1600/Ipod3+362.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8M5Bss1aWq-kmytdVOWzhdVJD1xypvprUzjSubWtq1969CryXthhVnjNoGqlUpD_DLI4lu_-Ess3vZApJbqsYiDgH2Cq0Dj2Ipbw3b3d_G6vlGWIjgjoyHjDzHP6BH3bcMhvyKvtp/s320/Ipod3+362.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBfrMewcEI4tteX2TmOucZV39oRsjomR2Pow390samuwYaPEWxW4WRb-4_ZZ2mLaQdxolMnVbBXAoEUi4JkAR5DNZwNdfyYfrqdhVOYVRZuv5sM2X9WL2XuUxarKiV8b3ZxcmFqd5/s1600/Ipod3+365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBfrMewcEI4tteX2TmOucZV39oRsjomR2Pow390samuwYaPEWxW4WRb-4_ZZ2mLaQdxolMnVbBXAoEUi4JkAR5DNZwNdfyYfrqdhVOYVRZuv5sM2X9WL2XuUxarKiV8b3ZxcmFqd5/s320/Ipod3+365.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>standing in front of some kind of HAPF hypnotraining center</i></div><hr /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr8vwLiJRG0roPdVBcQH7kG2I2VokXrEY5fuVwIPjSJ92TbIQw4eNOF982GT6LzOmqNoZ-VoD0tjjSKj-VJju3GKKFycCpAoHY3rEmCO14to93w5ov408gzsVL1tB7547yCElCelR-/s1600/Ipod3+382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr8vwLiJRG0roPdVBcQH7kG2I2VokXrEY5fuVwIPjSJ92TbIQw4eNOF982GT6LzOmqNoZ-VoD0tjjSKj-VJju3GKKFycCpAoHY3rEmCO14to93w5ov408gzsVL1tB7547yCElCelR-/s320/Ipod3+382.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>nervously awaiting exfiltration from the Western Frontierland Protectorate</i></div><hr /><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVtoMKuHs88g2r85Iu83JQYSDs-wvKdtB1fwqg3rl21x-ZgItw5F1mrNA3ngIF4Q80R84DRR-l20x8_Uhre8TpbZvXFZWZObr39xtXWLvum6V2teJLxxABnVhMIaCs-5Uc7LkLckY/s1600/Ipod3+392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVtoMKuHs88g2r85Iu83JQYSDs-wvKdtB1fwqg3rl21x-ZgItw5F1mrNA3ngIF4Q80R84DRR-l20x8_Uhre8TpbZvXFZWZObr39xtXWLvum6V2teJLxxABnVhMIaCs-5Uc7LkLckY/s320/Ipod3+392.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>this bizarre CEF mock-up of a place called 'Canada' feels strangely like home</i></div>Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-45780927931347731212011-10-14T17:15:00.000-04:002011-10-20T14:27:44.497-04:00Battletech Quick-Strike: the Andurien Secession, Planet Drozan, 3030<i>Drozan is one of the Capellan Confederation's vital agricultural worlds. Its large arable plains produce enough crops to provide 5% of the entire Confederation's needs. The farms are managed by large automated cultivation and processing plants that run continuously. It is this high degree of automation that makes Drozan so bountiful. These farms are supplemented by large aquaculture installations which provide more foodstuffs for the Confederation.<br />
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Given its importance and agricultural output, it's no surprise that the Confederation has established research centers devoted to food synthesis on the world. Prior to the Fourth Succession War the Strategios also stationed a battalion of Warrior House troops on the world, rotating the unit so enemy intelligence agencies couldn't get a good view of the defenders. In addition, Drozan features a large base that houses motorized and jump infantry units.<br />
-Planetary data courtesy Sarna.net </i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBtIeuBW34oGbWsxBYz93DwsRBQY7Dg2-rqIl1RZKM84dGS-aYCML6gqBYoyVusoOD3mBoH_2GmCqtf7bl9q1wyRQvnQl5qYxzn5eH2EfNmDX8R3W_5qhaGwVgVYQc9rxtOoamvZ_/s1600/Ipod3+241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpBtIeuBW34oGbWsxBYz93DwsRBQY7Dg2-rqIl1RZKM84dGS-aYCML6gqBYoyVusoOD3mBoH_2GmCqtf7bl9q1wyRQvnQl5qYxzn5eH2EfNmDX8R3W_5qhaGwVgVYQc9rxtOoamvZ_/s320/Ipod3+241.jpg" /></a></div>Drozan was one of the first worlds the Magistracy of Canopus attempted to seize from the Capellan Confederation during the Andurien Secession, with the task of taking the world falling to the First Canopian Light Horse. Although the initial landing went virtually unopposed, one of the first signs of serious Capellan resistance was when units of Warrior House Dai Da Chi ambushed two lances of the Canopian invaders in the middle of one of the planet's ubiquitous automated grain processing plants.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqrhrPffjrQpA40sRVFmcdQXOoIzvxRSYGSPLOFIZpUEoDR-GZLcyf09FOFyXtIc4zICYphhyphenhyphenrnl3JSJFwl5XfiK45NN_DHIpEN24IBhBrGhIeA_yMtS_E3LB6zCDLRhkH1PeOnZC/s1600/Ipod3+244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqrhrPffjrQpA40sRVFmcdQXOoIzvxRSYGSPLOFIZpUEoDR-GZLcyf09FOFyXtIc4zICYphhyphenhyphenrnl3JSJFwl5XfiK45NN_DHIpEN24IBhBrGhIeA_yMtS_E3LB6zCDLRhkH1PeOnZC/s320/Ipod3+244.jpg" /></a></div>As the one portion of the Light Horse moved past the grain fermenting bunkers, they made contact with the Liao defenders moving out from a large, forested hill. Meanwhile, the other Light Horse elements took cover on a ridgeline and among the power generators and control facilities for the processing plant.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2ggsSRXCd9QjKFbO6GmUeev8UcEyTfyhDlQSI2jdvLj8ue14Mg_nAtDhWmD-Ih1T_zfED2tEbyfBJE0Lu0j4vhFyI8wg4dprLfXggX-99ZaqcT0TdHzPCgZC7SDGuVVIENtGCiBV/s1600/Ipod3+245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2ggsSRXCd9QjKFbO6GmUeev8UcEyTfyhDlQSI2jdvLj8ue14Mg_nAtDhWmD-Ih1T_zfED2tEbyfBJE0Lu0j4vhFyI8wg4dprLfXggX-99ZaqcT0TdHzPCgZC7SDGuVVIENtGCiBV/s320/Ipod3+245.jpg" /></a></div>The two forces quickly came to grips, with unexpectedly bloody results among the lighter scout mechs <i>(NB: this is because until round three we forgot to apply the defense mods for mech speed, durr)</i>, with casualties mounting quickly on both sides of the skirmish.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijzclbn1GcFXYkdwtTQc3Hzq0Qrt7EzwBz44MyFuvyDmei4XDLdl0E4pVj8bGN9XNiV5QyqivPMuxCJAXPSBEYu_0L0TuSzNp-k-P4TA4jPF7ZeyCX3svV-DG2NMsMqYANqOaXv4IP/s1600/Ipod3+249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijzclbn1GcFXYkdwtTQc3Hzq0Qrt7EzwBz44MyFuvyDmei4XDLdl0E4pVj8bGN9XNiV5QyqivPMuxCJAXPSBEYu_0L0TuSzNp-k-P4TA4jPF7ZeyCX3svV-DG2NMsMqYANqOaXv4IP/s320/Ipod3+249.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLmLKTBKAmZBJXaYG_lLf-aXnFSQj_65HqM-R1cYSwBKCwiffu5roZQfp7drhcQlQneqcLejgA6KLk8QknOFw2VsLrOnSz2yVUstwTcKUBcFOyPNpODOUwr3e1-qPNy7qRQmP-tTV/s1600/Ipod3+252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLmLKTBKAmZBJXaYG_lLf-aXnFSQj_65HqM-R1cYSwBKCwiffu5roZQfp7drhcQlQneqcLejgA6KLk8QknOFw2VsLrOnSz2yVUstwTcKUBcFOyPNpODOUwr3e1-qPNy7qRQmP-tTV/s320/Ipod3+252.jpg" /></a></div>Here, a badly damaged <i>Spider</i> of Warrior House Dai Da Chi uses its great speed to escape the growing furball on the eastern flank, planning to ambush one of the invaders as the fight continues.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdIi6qkAKw_q-o1iXwW4WeC7n4n0dSJYNh7Vr_ReJCk_PP6Fjx7HOhYXcdW-wmCQWJK7PM4_w7VtbyOlkWOhBMcnMeiY6_8ID72fsrwLJ5wkwYV9pct1YVHXDeOPMQ5wFpcip9GBt/s1600/Ipod3+255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEdIi6qkAKw_q-o1iXwW4WeC7n4n0dSJYNh7Vr_ReJCk_PP6Fjx7HOhYXcdW-wmCQWJK7PM4_w7VtbyOlkWOhBMcnMeiY6_8ID72fsrwLJ5wkwYV9pct1YVHXDeOPMQ5wFpcip9GBt/s320/Ipod3+255.jpg" /></a></div>Across the plant, and on the very doorstep of the administration complex, a Canopian <i>Cicada</i> and a Liao <i>Jenner</i> take each other down with a short-range fusillade.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcbSopb1-w6PMz7q_l3j0AsriEWdPw6mNeiVxM0jUSJm2I96d6HYVr8c0VBV407MlFjxJ_5pzzLgMv8co7eReSSUvB4kznkuvyg9rEqUAYWSi4YzoMv7hIqoSFj1DTejlmEu2KtU8/s1600/Ipod3+257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcbSopb1-w6PMz7q_l3j0AsriEWdPw6mNeiVxM0jUSJm2I96d6HYVr8c0VBV407MlFjxJ_5pzzLgMv8co7eReSSUvB4kznkuvyg9rEqUAYWSi4YzoMv7hIqoSFj1DTejlmEu2KtU8/s320/Ipod3+257.jpg" /></a></div>Back on the eastern side, the two sides are trading fire. The Canopian <i>Hunchback</i>, despite suffering two Fire Control hits, is still a significant threat, landing several hits. The pair of Liao <i>Vindicators</i> are trading fire with their Canopian counterpart, while one of the three Liao <i>Jenners</i> has found a perfect sniper's nest in the wooded hilltop. The Canopian <i>Trebuchet</i>, dubbed "Trash-bucket" by the Liao commander, is lining up on that <i>Jenner</i> with its back to the meters-thick duracrete of Grain Digester #5.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlxLv0eoLHuwyunRM386a4VBVN42atCN2pY8mVRRDNBBcj1_aAZBoLbvKvjDXQ90jg5ONw4dCqZlZb3LhbmW3ZHCxqpeK3UZnJMkYVxwgeTC5q6MpV-NlGURhtmHkc7-UunQtM8Nr/s1600/Ipod3+257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWlxLv0eoLHuwyunRM386a4VBVN42atCN2pY8mVRRDNBBcj1_aAZBoLbvKvjDXQ90jg5ONw4dCqZlZb3LhbmW3ZHCxqpeK3UZnJMkYVxwgeTC5q6MpV-NlGURhtmHkc7-UunQtM8Nr/s320/Ipod3+257.jpg" /></a></div>Near the admin/power complex, a second Liao <i>Jenner</i> has been lost, reducing the combatants to a basically unhurt Liao <i>Hunchback</i> variant, a Canopian <i>JagerMech</i> in good shape, and a badly battered Canopian <i>Hermes II</i> hiding behind a tokomak reactor. <i>(NB: this particular reactor also holds our turn marker!)</i><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4dfr8usX1EI0twEQJzFzgC8ItB8GjCjqfVl7hleW7juEh6RVS98bAi5hd4quI7FEhnhf3uU7C-OlKjCHEXHPrRgfQfod7UhM23CJC2RuBjjO57hxYQimJvF1olBqP7IE4kQthBmb/s1600/Ipod3+259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4dfr8usX1EI0twEQJzFzgC8ItB8GjCjqfVl7hleW7juEh6RVS98bAi5hd4quI7FEhnhf3uU7C-OlKjCHEXHPrRgfQfod7UhM23CJC2RuBjjO57hxYQimJvF1olBqP7IE4kQthBmb/s320/Ipod3+259.jpg" /></a></div>The Canopian <i>Hermes</i>, unwisely falling back to the fermentation bunkers, is ambushed by the lurking Liao <i>Spider</i>, who in turn gets finished off by a point-blank autocannon salvo from the heavily damaged <i>Hunchback</i>. At the same time, the Canopian <i>Vindicator</i> has flushed the final Liao <i>Jenner</i> out of its blind, where the "Trash-bucket" finishes it off.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dPtpNtyF4O5JF79LUkvlebiVnDXtTOwpGfpWS5o01_tY5pAfASDtC2QDRfZYAD3T95aYk-XV6VpwIYGRWH26OGcYJRmbZJySrblVqOnwkF5KwmaxXV0GQhORxjj0Ufboyn8cz0CI/s1600/Ipod3+262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_dPtpNtyF4O5JF79LUkvlebiVnDXtTOwpGfpWS5o01_tY5pAfASDtC2QDRfZYAD3T95aYk-XV6VpwIYGRWH26OGcYJRmbZJySrblVqOnwkF5KwmaxXV0GQhORxjj0Ufboyn8cz0CI/s320/Ipod3+262.jpg" /></a></div>One of the twin Liao <i>Vindicators</i> is destroyed, and things look bad for the defenders of Drozan, with only two mechs remaining. But the invaders have been badly hammered, and are losing momentum. Despite surrounding the lone <i>Vindicator</i>, the Canopians are unable to bring it to heel:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVfmbjj06ai2ravKzp5yW9ZQ4ooGJ76UqE50EK9-eCo-LnJ70UYKyAWORSt43sKeVwLIOptkfxnfOXifn0on2p2cfhR6pmcL1gysbp2fYdKnFefpRo1kLgyfR5ZsDhRjZOV1JmesG/s1600/Ipod3+266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJVfmbjj06ai2ravKzp5yW9ZQ4ooGJ76UqE50EK9-eCo-LnJ70UYKyAWORSt43sKeVwLIOptkfxnfOXifn0on2p2cfhR6pmcL1gysbp2fYdKnFefpRo1kLgyfR5ZsDhRjZOV1JmesG/s320/Ipod3+266.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfLhOA_NjfHvGbTH2mzvk92OiKCXEwU0r79aCE72AKDy0VCQPJRnbEi12CVMBFLq1gdOmDTTEcqpdacOuhBJjyvpHKQnxGBpZECYJPzwiaLDYh5Ef18DMnPsc2ctodDHsCUbtZMwa/s1600/Ipod3+267.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfLhOA_NjfHvGbTH2mzvk92OiKCXEwU0r79aCE72AKDy0VCQPJRnbEi12CVMBFLq1gdOmDTTEcqpdacOuhBJjyvpHKQnxGBpZECYJPzwiaLDYh5Ef18DMnPsc2ctodDHsCUbtZMwa/s320/Ipod3+267.jpg" /></a></div>and the Liao <i>Vindy</i> manages to finally down the Canopian <i>Hunch</i>. At the same time, the Liao <i>Hunch</i> has won its running battle with the <i>JagerMech</i> and is advancing on the weakened and overheating Light Horse.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5xSVBrxxsO9MF-jX2VYcpt0dN_rwLbmKO7_FsJ2jv5dfdRZ_UUvtd-67-vlMNpg7nJfal0QvlA_pzCU-5s9eMqY1A1vfY7oOuVC51LTneULNR9gjT5K7XVSEQjMarHx8L1MXnVDB/s1600/Ipod3+268.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN5xSVBrxxsO9MF-jX2VYcpt0dN_rwLbmKO7_FsJ2jv5dfdRZ_UUvtd-67-vlMNpg7nJfal0QvlA_pzCU-5s9eMqY1A1vfY7oOuVC51LTneULNR9gjT5K7XVSEQjMarHx8L1MXnVDB/s320/Ipod3+268.jpg" /></a></div>At this point, engine hits and a poor understanding of heat managment have led the Canopian <i>Vindy</i> to decide to cool off before suffering a mandatory shutdown; however, the imminent shutdown would probably have been a better fate than the easy shot his decision gave to the Liao <i>Vindy</i> who gunned down the motionless invader. The sole Canopian survivor, the "Trash-bucket," missed its shot on the Liao <i>Hunch</i> and took severe armor damage from return fire.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4z840V0n9Mu5rZp_wKNBdMl9TJRJjiA7yyIGH5RY9Egg3iMgRxAQ-wrRr0016FXgys7ks5gtvB7ZvT-lhYp3Ffgy4JpKhnOSLID6yBleCUqeTbiF_4XvekBmj4v6pVhWiL0qhL0S/s1600/Ipod3+269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4z840V0n9Mu5rZp_wKNBdMl9TJRJjiA7yyIGH5RY9Egg3iMgRxAQ-wrRr0016FXgys7ks5gtvB7ZvT-lhYp3Ffgy4JpKhnOSLID6yBleCUqeTbiF_4XvekBmj4v6pVhWiL0qhL0S/s320/Ipod3+269.jpg" /></a></div>The "Trash-bucket" tried to fall back towards friendly lines, but it was too late; the two surviving Liao mechs were not going to let one of the invaders retreat unpunished.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAVzpcVOV1W2DxGn3hF4XU6YxWtXl7OaR96j8mHj_xXXrbnoMP-2Yfxw-Q3q3AV8SRpFeW-0wH_lLFDzGUL9hstm9oZNjQu7KilvtNY8SZimJin_97gVuP1DA_bZuEDItuiwp6mJdG/s1600/Ipod3+270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAVzpcVOV1W2DxGn3hF4XU6YxWtXl7OaR96j8mHj_xXXrbnoMP-2Yfxw-Q3q3AV8SRpFeW-0wH_lLFDzGUL9hstm9oZNjQu7KilvtNY8SZimJin_97gVuP1DA_bZuEDItuiwp6mJdG/s400/Ipod3+270.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This portion of Drozan was safe from the invaders, for now.<br />
<hr>So how was it? Quick-strike is faster than the normal Battletech rules, to be sure. But Keith (my opponent) and I both miss the decisions that you get in the regular rules that are abstracted out by Quick-Strike - things like running out of ammo, or the decision to move all out for the defense bonus but losing weapon accuracy by doing so (or the flip side, moving slow to increase your chances of hitting, but being easier to hit yourself). I think the glory of Quick-Strike is in introducing new players, or running a big convention game in a non-ridiculous amount of time. I'm actually biting off more than I can chew and have offered to run a large Quick-Strike game at MACE, the local game convention coming up in November, and I think for something like that it'll be perfect. But Keith and I both discussed it, and for our own gaming, we both would prefer the detail of Classic Battletech.<br />
<hr>EDIT TO ADD: as mentioned in the comments below, here's some better-quality pics from my good friend (for [REDACTED] years now) Chris Norwood, of <a href="gamerchris.com">GamerChris.com</a> fame! WARNING: these are taken with a much better camera than my cellphone, so the brutal details of my crappy paintjob will come through if you view them full-size. You have been warned, etc<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hBlKS_vBnNK0MMQG9O2pK7qSS-O0JsvSyqEeNvypqxqzNKVt9zFr3PzT9ml1JILHOrJ0hVwaEeE1FbZblJp6BuqrkuHfZcje5RMgrmPJOWe_r8GIUAc75c1r_fzSfAjAG6TPDY-M/s1600/Oct1120119297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="218" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1hBlKS_vBnNK0MMQG9O2pK7qSS-O0JsvSyqEeNvypqxqzNKVt9zFr3PzT9ml1JILHOrJ0hVwaEeE1FbZblJp6BuqrkuHfZcje5RMgrmPJOWe_r8GIUAc75c1r_fzSfAjAG6TPDY-M/s320/Oct1120119297.JPG" /></a></div>Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7615738934994164368.post-19100359055241395882011-10-11T03:36:00.003-04:002011-10-12T02:00:04.681-04:00Heavy Gear: Esperance Front, TN 30 Summer 1950<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg62qIyrPNaIBHyRHT9VsloLxXkEWourQmYQseBU-Au6s_Ci_72liRuJUzXmW-0KgothVDxsb9SLwdK3C_CAmF2qOIKLqayH_9At9GV24J5Ue-fVCOxYpFLEmCMKs5e8d-lbp_UjcL1/s1600/Ipod3+205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg62qIyrPNaIBHyRHT9VsloLxXkEWourQmYQseBU-Au6s_Ci_72liRuJUzXmW-0KgothVDxsb9SLwdK3C_CAmF2qOIKLqayH_9At9GV24J5Ue-fVCOxYpFLEmCMKs5e8d-lbp_UjcL1/s320/Ipod3+205.jpg" /></a></div>The early hours of the second CEF invasion of Terra Nova saw a hundred tiny unnamed battles, as forward elements of the invasion forces encountered the scattered defenders, frantically converging towards the CEF drop sites. One such encounter took place as CEF Korps V and VI pushed from their initial drop zones towards Port Oasis, capital of the Southern Republic. The SRA deployed all available forces to meet this thrust while awaiting landfleet reinforcements. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFZck7Wk_nd6uykQhHzZoqyrWxKYfBbQqCTOpFBrZ3NwU39Ha7YqNoPNDMgpG5tirUPhkZvpzurEY4qnj0yfqdtqaHJKO50IToMvuyx-OvTeiVw0fc-ytv553aitEo4nJWscoZ7Wya/s1600/Ipod3+206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFZck7Wk_nd6uykQhHzZoqyrWxKYfBbQqCTOpFBrZ3NwU39Ha7YqNoPNDMgpG5tirUPhkZvpzurEY4qnj0yfqdtqaHJKO50IToMvuyx-OvTeiVw0fc-ytv553aitEo4nJWscoZ7Wya/s320/Ipod3+206.jpg" /></a></div>Typical of the units thrown at this threat was the 35th SRA Combined Arms Regiment, "Les Somnambules" (The Sleepwalkers), a mixed unit of infantry, light gears and tanks. The first CEF forces the Sleepwalkers faced were a scouting element, composed of fast HC-3 hover cars and the mysterious new FLAIL infantry units. SRA command wanted intel on these units, and getting that info back to Port Oasis was a priority - Recon (FLAILs) and Survive (GP Cadre) objectives for me. The CEF, on the other hand, primarily wanted to smash the faster elements of their opponent's force and push forward with their hover vehicles to blaze the trail to Port Oasis - Survive (HC-3s) and Wipe them out (GP Cadre) objectives for Brandon.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKh9uPH93nfjfUB2uG02yqhok61PSax0IfGH0CMHXqWOcoDTFbgBIT-gPGAjf0TkpmUFqvQFBF8HjW3qyBdYEvW7cReNvPoqtPuc6smAcdWe5Ktv2tUj7C0vCZhtlfHNr7QCqGodU/s1600/Ipod3+207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKh9uPH93nfjfUB2uG02yqhok61PSax0IfGH0CMHXqWOcoDTFbgBIT-gPGAjf0TkpmUFqvQFBF8HjW3qyBdYEvW7cReNvPoqtPuc6smAcdWe5Ktv2tUj7C0vCZhtlfHNr7QCqGodU/s320/Ipod3+207.jpg" /></a></div>Despite early reports of the speed of the new CEF hover vehicles, the command tank of the Sleepwalkers was, appropriately enough, caught napping. Concentrating their laser cannon on the tank, the Earthers made short work of the Hun, leaving the SRA without a leader until the Sous-sergent of the GP Cadre stepped into the breach.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXx7LpS3WL95yg4jFJz-qXwU5qOL1uc3xWtZedXjjH0i_V739VnB-q3q38swMjD9YsL6_1kmJoyW3EwZ1acj3CttsU4vEwM2k7NISOU_2ZeThnvEF07Mjs1SmuXzCfXFMHMCZB-g-M/s1600/Ipod3+209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXx7LpS3WL95yg4jFJz-qXwU5qOL1uc3xWtZedXjjH0i_V739VnB-q3q38swMjD9YsL6_1kmJoyW3EwZ1acj3CttsU4vEwM2k7NISOU_2ZeThnvEF07Mjs1SmuXzCfXFMHMCZB-g-M/s320/Ipod3+209.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Meanwhile, as one of the hovercars fell back towards the southern end of the valley (taking a few parting shots from the laser cannon of the surviving Hun), the Sleepwalker gear cadre was tentatively coming to grips with the strange new infantry units. Field gun fire called in by the Iguana gear seconded to the tank cadre was effective against them, fairly quickly wiping out two of the four squads in the field. Unfortunately, this only marked the field gun battery as a priority target for the remaining hovercar...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBkDeXuKVQjBZHlwlHMhyphenhyphenCHE0Py1duwwfN0pqBzWEi1qrn2eSKC-zbvV27s9vaF2NQLIHygX9SeoI7AJ5nvuiWBpATc5peyRSmoOxxGJHW2v_0WWTho6VP8pWTArCilVXgT0Sm3RW/s1600/Ipod3+214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifBkDeXuKVQjBZHlwlHMhyphenhyphenCHE0Py1duwwfN0pqBzWEi1qrn2eSKC-zbvV27s9vaF2NQLIHygX9SeoI7AJ5nvuiWBpATc5peyRSmoOxxGJHW2v_0WWTho6VP8pWTArCilVXgT0Sm3RW/s320/Ipod3+214.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1e7OWbxgXjS30r1KdDqjc44h1cd7ucC81aqnpx0bqfF3OgVhVmErVUgh1hLIEgSSESW9nzqG0nLaLEZ9O7WsGxs7pr_NJRndDcqtuzykVjBkVbcSd86f4OMg3ky-4iOuQzA_C1gBC/s1600/Ipod3+215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1e7OWbxgXjS30r1KdDqjc44h1cd7ucC81aqnpx0bqfF3OgVhVmErVUgh1hLIEgSSESW9nzqG0nLaLEZ9O7WsGxs7pr_NJRndDcqtuzykVjBkVbcSd86f4OMg3ky-4iOuQzA_C1gBC/s320/Ipod3+215.jpg" /></a></div>The two FLAIL squads that were still active moved forward to the large ziggurat in the center of the valley, exchanging fire with the GP cadre. While the SRA's gear pilots were phenomemally lucky in avoiding their fire <i>(NB: there was a period here where I was only rolling sixes on the few occasions where I didn't roll boxcars, which count as a seven in HG)</i>, unfortunately it was virtually impossible for the generalist gears to damage the FLAILs. All the Sleepwalkers could do was to continue getting as much sensor data on these strange new infantry units as possible, scanning each squad at least once.<br />
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Leaderless, the SRA began to flounder, and the 'Sidewinder' heavy trooper gear of the cadre unwisely attempted to engage the FLAILs rather than retreating to buy time. The outcome was inevitable:<br />
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At the end of the engagment, both sides had accomplished part of what they had set out to do - the CEF's hover scouts continued in their push for Port Oasis <i>(Survive, 2VPs for Brandon)</i> but failed to eliminate their chosen targets <i>(Wipe Them Out, 0VPs)</i>. Meanwhile, the 35th had secured some of the first useable data on the new FLAIL walkers <i>(Recon, 2VPs for me)</i> but had sustained unsupportable casualties in doing so <i>(Survive, 0VPs for me).</i> As we were both PL3, this meant a true tie, although I think the clear moral victory has to go to Brandon, for killing my Army Commander on turn 2 as well as hammering half my GP Cadre into slag, only for the cost of a few brain-in-a-jar FLAILs.<br />
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EDIT: today Brandon actually reminded me that it was a 3-3 tie, as he got one point for killing/critically damaging half or more of my GP cadre, and that I got one point for keeping at least one of them alive! A strange quirk that arises when you and your opponent's randomly determined squads for counterpoint goals like Survive and Wipe Them Out align like that!</i><br />
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<hr><br />
I'm continuing to love Heavy Gear. The mission selection matrix is very simple (although we did discuss how nice a pre-game setup worksheet would be, mostly to cut down on page-flipping) and yet gives you some very interesting goals to accomplish, which can interact with the goals of the opponent in neat ways that make for, in my opinion, much more compelling gaming than simply smashing your toy soldiers into your buddy's toy soldiers making 'pew pew' noises. It was a lot of fun getting to see Brandon's list in action, which taught me a new respect both for the tough FLAILs as well as for my own Field Guns!Ken Coblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06104321870877852235noreply@blogger.com3