Another Sharpe Mechsuit

Our fifth game in this series took place on an alien world covered with fungal growth. Weyland-Yutani (bio-weapons division) has set up a research station which has come up with some interesting results processing the unique fungal matter. Unfortunaltely the competition have gotten wind of it and are converging on the research station from two sides.

By now the rules work pretty well:

• Patrol phase from Chain of Command;
• Activation and reaction using the Sharpe Practice card system;
• Combat is similar to Chain of Command (with some hard sci-fi tweaks).

My opponent brought his trusty Big Mechs and I brought classic power armored Space Marines and Terminators.

All is quiet around the reseach station.

Both my opponent and I first engage (and destroy) the Weyland-Yutani perimiter defenses.

But soon my marines are taking fire from the advancing Big Mechs.

Then one of my heavy lasers takes out a Big Mech!

I manage to damage another one with a missile, but then I run into trouble.

One marine has to eject from his broken suit and lands right in front of an advancing Big Mech.

He actually gets away, but his buddy (while trying to flank the Big Mech) is ambushed by the Weyland-Yutani garrision and gets killed, taking three Weyland-Yutani troopers with him.

 On the other side of the table, the marines are also taking casualties and try to get out of the line of fire.

Like in Sharpe Practice, three flags in a row trigger a random event. In this case my marines have set a patch of mushroom trees on fire whilst firing on the enemy.

Whooooshh!

Smoke and lingering clouds of anti-missile chaff/flare/nano-disruptors begin to cover the table.

Without enclosed suits these clouds are dangerous. When another one of my marines ejects after having lost a close combat encounter with a Big Mech he lands in such a cloud: from the frying pan into the fire. His buddy has more luck and makes his escape.

When the Big Mechs subsequently advance through the smoke and nasty clouds, they finish off my terminators and it's game over for me.

The game ran smooth. Some adjustments of the weapons firepower are needed and a simpler way of establishing suit damage. Eventually also some kind of points system is needed to balance the game.

And I want some Big Mechs too of course! I've ordered a few Heavy Infantry Strikers from Puppetswar that I intend to customize with lots of bits.

Escape from Aniron Part 2

After our first FfoL Star Wars game I thought it would be great to turn it into a campaign of linked games to play with my son. 

Jedi Master Vhing and company have destroyed the false Jedi beacon deployed by the Empire to lure Jedi that have escaped order 66 into a trap (read all about it here). After making their escape they now return to master Vhing's Aethersprite starfighter, hidden in the wilderniss, in an attempt to get him off planet.

With imperial forces spread thin on Aniron, the Empire issues a communiqué:

“Jedi pirates have come to Aniron to murder innocent civilians and steal their property. Recognizing its responsibility to protect the hardworking citizens of Aniron, the Galactic Empire has stepped in, swiftly neutralized the threat and stopped the pirate incursion. Although the main Jedi pirate force was destroyed, a few pirates cowardly avoided the Imperial forces and escaped arrest. These pirates are armed and dangerous. A bounty is rewarded for each pirate handed over to the imperial forces, alive or dead.

Let’s keep Aniron safe and contact your local friendly Imperial representative when you have any information about the wherabouts of these Jedi pirates.”

A group of bounty hunters led by the infamous Bossk have located Master Vhing's starfighter and are lying in wait.

The bad guys

Master Vhing's party have lost companion Sluur but have been joined by Glo Song with her sniper rifle.

The good guys and gal

My son choose to play the bad guys. He re-positioned them to cover most of the access routes to the starfighter.

The scenario (a modified version of the Ambush scenario from the FfoL Galactic Heroes scenario booklet) allowed me to position one team member near the starship. So I put Tashik in cover to the rear of the bounty hunters.

In the first turn Tashik climbed the rock to take out the bounty hunters from above, but Vom the Dathomirian saw him and opened up with his blaster putting Tashik out of action immediately.

Ptanak and Glo Song entered the board from the other side. Glo Song put the heavy blaster carrying bounty hunter in the cross hairs of her laser rifle and dropped him (one shock + one wound).

Meanwhile Blayne was moving around the right flank while Master Vhing went for the left flank.

Bossk ordered Larx the Rhodian to stop Blayne and sent Vom towards Master Vhing. Larx is careful not to come within reach of the Land Anemone, making the most of the available cover.

dangerous flora

Okoma the Weequay fires his blaster at Glo Song at long range and hits! She goes down with one wound.

My son uses the Queen of Hearts to heal Powakan and sends Okoma towards Master Vhing to assist Vom. Vom fires twice at Master Vhing, but Master Vhing expertly sends the blasts back to Vom with his lightsaber, killing him instantly.

I draw one of the jokers, which means some agressive maw beasts will enter from a random side of the table and attack the nearest model. This turns out to be my side of the table and the beasts are running towards Blayne.

Master Vhing charges Okoma and cuts him down with his lightsaber.

Blayne succeeds in killing the maw beasts, but this has allowed Larx to sneak up on him from behind.

Bossk takes a hit from Ptanak and goes down. Powakan moves around the starfighter, firing at master Vhing.

Master Vhing dodges the blaster fire, somersaults over the starfighter and slices through the heavy blaster with his lightsaber, wounding Powakan in the process.

Although Larx was able to fire the first shot, Blayne got away with only one shock. Leveling his heavy blaster at Larx, he opens fire. Larx goes down with 2 shock and one wound.

The bounty hunters are now completely at the mercy of Master Vhing and (remaining) company. We decided it wouldn't be very Jedi like to finish them off so the good guys captured and tied up the surviving bounty hunters.  

Master Vhing intends to get into the starfighter and take off, but is warned by his astromech OU-812. The bounty hunters have disabled and booby trapped the starfighter. Master Vhing isn't going anywhere in this ship. Glo Song unfortunately expired from her wounds. After burning their comrades Glo Song and Tashik (to avoid their bodies being sold to the Empire), Master Vhing asks OU-812 to plot a route to one of the nearby settlements.

Leaving Bossk, Powakan and Larx for their fellow bounty hunters that will undoubtedly arrive soon, attracted by the smoke, Master Vhing, Ptanak, Blayne and OU-812 set course through the wilderness towards one of the nearby settlements in the hope of finding a ship that can take them off world.

To be continued...

The bear fights back - Verkhniy-Kumkskiy

Winter Storm, scenario 12. The Germans are holding Verkhniy-Kumskiy and are fighting off waves of Soviet reinforcements when a Soviet mechanised brigade manages to move to their rear and attacks.

We rolled a dice and the result meant I was going to play the Soviets. In this scenario, the tanks deploy from jump-off points, the Germans have one tank more than the Soviets, but the Soviet infantry may deploy in the rear (anywhere on the German table edge, as long as they are 18" from any German unit.

The patrol phase ends with my opponent placing one of his jump off point near the table edge. My plan is to seize this jump-off point with the Soviet infantry and then force the end of turn with a full chain of command dice, taking away the jump-off point and lowering German force morale.

The Germans get the first turn, but end up not deploying anything. I seize the opportunity and deploy a Soviet section on the German jump off point and a T34 on the other side of the table. So far so good...

In rapid succession the tanks and panzers are deployed. The German command tank tries to blast the Soviets off the jump off point while the other panzers try to keep the T34's at bay.

The Soviet command tank takes a fatal hit!

The next one to blow up is the Panzer IV.

Meanwhile the Soviet section on the German jump off point is steadily taking hits.  I manage to remove shock with the junior leader but his luck runs out and he is killed.

What is worse: I can't seem to roll any fives. So no full Chain of Command dice to end the turn and take away the German jump off point.

When the last Panzer III arrives I find out I made another mistake.

I deployed a T34 with his side exposed to the Panzers. It is hit several times and takes multiple types of damage.

Both my opponent and I increase our efforts in the fight for the jump off point. He deploys his sdkfz 251 with a German section while I send in another Soviet section with a senior leader.

And an AT rifle team.

Still not enough fives for a full Chain of Command dice!

My badly positioned T34 is finally knocked out.

And while one of the Panzer III's finishes off the Soviet AT rifle team, I succeed in knocking out another Panzer III.

The Soviet Leytenant has been busy running from one section to the other section, frantically removing shock while men are being hit by German machine gun bullets and HE. I'm down to 4 command dice. Still no full Chain of Command dice to end the turn.

And then it's over for the Soviets. The Germans score four hits on the last remaining Soviet section.

All kills.

Remarkably the Leytenant and a junior leader are the only survivors. But the Soviet force morale is down to zero.

The Germans win. My plan failed. But it was exiting to the very last.