Battles of the Week, 10 July 2016

Another week, another batrep roundup.

But first, you should check out my latest fantasy skirmish game in the Campaign for the Darkened Wood, played with the Savage Worlds Showdown rules, where the king's men take his tax collecting cousin for a stroll in the woods, only to be ambushed by Robb and his rebel archers.

And here's what everyone else was up to this week:

Speaking of fantasy battles, Bob has some Dragon Rampant posted.

Big FoF has a violent what-if Brexit scenario, with Muslim and Christian militias tangling with each other and the army.

Sound Officer's Call plays some Napoleonics with Blucher, and Joy and Forgetfulness has a Napoleonic game set in Spain.

Campaigns in Miniature re-fights the Battle of Dettingen,

Wargaming with Barks gives a write up of the Bloodbowl event the Eucalyptus Bowl this week, and posts another of his wonderful comic book-formatted Star Wars games.

Kaptain Kobold gives us some superhero action with Clobberin' Time, where Captain UK and Captain America take on some villains.  Sadly, my main man falls prey to those villains' villainous ways.  The good Kaptain also gives us some Chain of Command.

Baron Von J has his own superhero game up, with the Liberty Legion squaring off against evil Axis villains.

Sparkers Wargames provides some magnificent, grand scale Gettysburg Day 2 that's just a feast for the eyes.

Big Lee posted a Carthaginian cavalry clash, played with the next generation of wargamer.

Here's a Chain of Command game, the Korsun Pocket, from three different write-ups... Sediment's, Counterpane's, and Renegade of the Atomic Age's.

Into the Maelstrom has some WH40k posted, played on a pretty spiffy game board.  And a really neat Rorke's Drift-style LoTR game.

Battles of the Week, 11 June 2016

Another week, another round of battles.

First off, the boys and I played another chapter in the Modern Warfare:  Alien Invasion campaign, this time with a game set in the Middle East, where US Mechanized forces on a training mission in Kuwait are suddenly pushed into a fight for Kuwait City.

We do not come in peace.

I also played a game of Force on Force with the boys, which I'll have posted sometime this week.  And we've been busy with painting a number of things.  One of them being Hotwheels/Matchbox cars for Car Wars, inspired by this outstanding event.  Stay tuned.

Speaking of Force on Force, Platoon Forward has an AAR up with FoF rules mixed with Combat Patrol.  He ditches the FoF activation/reaction rules, which I think are actually quite good.  To each their own.

And before I go any further, Nerdly Darkness wins the internet with this outstanding Force on Force game with a wild twist.  Go read it, seriously.

Kaptain Kobold posts a strong second-place showing (won last week) for this Batrep of the X-Men versus the Fantastic Four.  And he's got an epic 17th Century game posted as well.

Baron Von J has some Black Powder ACW and a review of Star Wars Armada.

Sound Officer's Call has Quatre Bras in 10mm...check in to see if it follows history.

Speaking of Napoleonics, here's the battle of Marengo.

And, here's Preacher by Day's 100th Post, with a link to his handy urban tile tutorial that I hope to follow up on soon.

If you need some pulp adventure, go check out Allan Quartermain at the Earth's Core.

Wargaming with Barks has a Star Wars batrep up in comic book format... pretty cool.  I wonder how much extra work it is to use that format.

Fawcett Avenue Conscripts has some Epic 30k up - a pretty one-sided affair.

Craig has some more Bolt Action posted, with Free French versus Germans.

And, as is becoming tradition, I close with Frostgrave.  This week, it's from Wee Blokes.

Batrep Roundup, 4 June 2016

Well, it's been a bit more than a week since my last Battles of the Week report, so this will just be a Batrep Roundup.  Lots of tabs to clear.

First things first - you should check out my Memorial Day game of Force on Force with the boys.  Set in modern Syria, with US special operators and Kurds making a lightning raid on a pesky GPS jammer that's holding up the bombing campaign against ISIS.

US operators departing the objective.

This AAR has also been added to my Force on Force:  Iraq (maybe it should be Iraq/Syria?) page and Force on Force:  Special Operations page.  Check them all out.

Here's what everyone else has been up to:

Winners of the Internet:  This title is temporarily held jointly by Kaptain Kobold for his superhero batrep focusing on Excalibur (extra points for semi-obscure comic title - I've got issue #1 in my closet) and Natholeon with the adventures of Delta Wave.

Sound Officer's Call has been busy.  Here's the second half of the Napoleonics report I highlighted in my last post.  Here's a 2-part World War II game with Germans and Soviets squaring off:  Part 1 and Part 2.  And a surprisingly good experience with Axis & Allies Miniatures.

Baron Von J has a neat battle report focusing on the French Foreign Legion in Mexico, where they have another opportunity to give their lives in a miserable place for the glory of France.

More outstanding LoTR from Into the Maelstrom.  And another battle in that game by Little Wars VA with some cool terrain pieces and about a hundred models on the field.

ForkusPrimordius has an Infinity batrep up, with some great modular terrain on display.

The Man Cave's gladiator campaign kicked off.  Not a genre I've ever played, but it seems one could have a good setup on the cheap.

Some gorgeous Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes over at Stalker 7's place.

Title of the Week:  The Conclusion of the Bloody Battle of Hacking and Slashig with some Roaring and Rolling of dice on the Kitchen Table.  Ha!  Site added to the blogroll.

Rabbits in My Basement has a modern Afghanistan AAR up.  And BIG Force on Force has a what-if violent Brexit game posted - here's the mission briefing and the gameplay.

Craig's got a game of Bolt Action up, with Free French versus Zee Germans.

The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts have several Necromunda games posted.  Very cool.

Here's some American War of Independence played with the Guns of Liberty rules.  I understand that the rules are due to be released by a commercial publishing house, looking forward to picking them up.

Preacher by Day has a couple more Pulp Alley games up - a VIP Escort and follow-on Investigation scenarios.

And finally, a Frostgrave roundup:  Two from Fencing Frog - Lair of the Ice Spider and The Hanghaied Princess; The Dark Templar suffers losses in a game that got nasty (discussing the probability curves of the Frostgrave rules and coming up wanting) and chronicles his warband's recovery; and one battle shown from three different perspectives - Illusionist, Necromancer, and Druid.

That's all for now.  I played another game with my boys last weekend that I've yet to write up, so check back in soon for the AAR.

Battles of the Week, 1 May 2016

Great week for gaming for a lot of folks.  I've been in the garage crafting terrain, so another game will get played shortly with some snazzier woods.  Here's the weekly roundup of batreps/AARs:

Battles of the Week:  Pulp Alley campaign from two perspectives.  Here's one battle from the Egyptian cultists' perspective (great looking website, by the way), and as viewed by the Vatican's hit squad.  Here's a second battle, as viewed by the Egyptians, and again from the Vatican's pew. Apparently, priests make great snacks for giant spiders and sea monsters.  Both sites added to the blogroll.

Shakowkings has two good battles up - a pulpy game of 7TV2 and a game simulating a viking raid using the Blood Eagle rules.  What's brilliant is that the vikings are the characters from the History Channel show, Vikings, and Blood Eagle is an episode named after a particularly nasty method of execution.

Golden Age Supers at the Baron's place.  Gets extra points for superhero gaming.  I need to get back to my planned Avengers campaign.

AWI over at Steve's place.  Very cool.

To The Strongest at Big Lee's place, as he's indoctrinating a member of the next generation of wargamers.

LoTR at Little Wars VA.  Good game.  I'm very pleased with the minis associated with this game, though I've never played it, and my ability to buy them on eBay, painted, for $2 or less a piece.  GW's marketing decisions continue to suck in tons of new wargamers who leave the hobby a year or two later and flood the market with their now unwanted painted minis.  I'm not complaining.

Battlesworn old west shootout at The Stronghold Rebuilt.  Great mashup of game and genre.  If you missed it, here's his pulp Battlesworn batrep, Fu Manchu's Halls of Horror.  And here's some ACW for you, a DBA post with some fantastic pics, and another battle in his One Hour Wargames project.  Dude is just killin' it.

Starship Troopers at Skill Level 0.  Visually impressive battle report.  Good looking stuff; adding to the blogroll.

WH40K at Into the Maelstrom.  Part 2 of a campaign.  Check it out.  Napoleonics at Into the Maelstrom.  LoTR at Into the Maelstrom.  Triple duty in three different genres.  Impressive - adding to the blogroll.

Preacher by Day has a sci-fi Pulp Alley game up.  Recommend you go there and read the archives - a whole slew of cool Pulp Alley games using WH40K minis are posted.  Added to my blogroll.

Frostgrave over at Anatoli's Gameroom.  Great looking board.  Added to the blogroll.

Handy tip:  Wee Blokes provides a link to free paper terrain from Osprey for Frostgrave (though it works fine for any game, so long as you need a ruined city for your battlefield).

Wargaming Goals for 2016

As you may have noticed, I've been busy and the blog went dark for the last half or so of 2015.  And I'm off to a late start this year, as evidenced by my New Year's resolution post going up on the 18th of January.  Regardless, here's what I'm hoping to accomplish in my wargaming hobby in 2016:

1.  Play and write up two games a month.
2.  Finish creating factions for Song of Blades and Heroes:
- Orcs
- Dwarves
- Human soldiers/knights
- Undead
- Barbarians
- A mixed race adventuring party
3.  Finish a d10-based skirmish system that works well (in my eyes, at least) for modern combat.  If it accommodates fantasy/medieval combat as well, that would be icing on the cake.
4.  Finish painting my 20mm modern minis.
5.  Run a Power Legion campaign using the Avengers.
5.  Build, patiently and on the cheap, some Warhammer 40k factions.  Whether I will eventually use the 40k rules or go with Tomorrow's War is up for debate.

We will see how work, kids, and real life intrude on my hobby this year.

Avengers Versus The Wrecking Crew

The Avengers:  Wrecking Crew Breakout!

Welcome back, true believers!  This Power Legion battle report comes to you from a sunny day in downtown New York, as Earth's mightiest heroes are about to face off with those perennial miscreants, the Wrecking Crew.  The Wrecker was recently taken into police custody after a recent defeat at the hands of the NYPD's anti-supervillain squad, Code Blue.  The Wrecker was placed into power dampening restraints and put into a police SUV with two officers for transfer to the superpowered confinement section at Ryker's Island.  Due to an administrative error, no additional security was provided, and the rest of the Wrecking Crew intercepts the NYPD vehicle next to a city park, intent on breaking their leader out of custody.

Thunderball steps into traffic and winds up his wrecking ball.  Officer O'Malley wheeled the SUV off the road in an attempt to avoid the ambush, but crashed the vehicle into a tree.  He and Detective Riley stepped out of the vehicle, guns drawn, ready to make a valiant stand to keep The Wrecker in custody.  Just as the Wrecking Crew closes in, three Avengers - Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye - rush to the scene and confront the villains.  The Wrecking Crew need only two actions to free The Wrecker - one to pull open the SUV, another to break his restraints and hand him his enchanted crowbar.

But first, the tale of the tape:
Avengers:  2,687 points

Captain America (956 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d10	d10	d10
Knockout	d10+3	Activation	d12
Shield d12 (Device), Armor d6, Marksman d12 (Throwing Shield), Leadership d10, Tactics d12, Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Thrown Shield), Strong Will d10, Weapon Master d12 (Fighting with Shield), Acrobat

Iron Man V (882 Points)
M	A	S	K
d10	d8	d10	d12
Damage Resistance	d12+4	Activation	d10
Armor d8, Flight d12, Ranged Damage d10, Flare d10, Combat Computer , Immune to Flare , Sealed Armor , Boost , Night Vision

Hawkeye (849 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d8	d6	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d8
Ranged Damage d8 (Device), Sonic Attack d6 (Device), Swinglines d8 (Device), Entangle d10 (Device), Blast d10 (Device), Marksman d12, Acrobat , Fire into Melee , Smokescreen (Limited),

Wrecking Crew:  1,294 points (1,732 if Wrecker is freed)

Thunderball (494 Points)
M	A	S	K
d8	d8	d10	d8
Damage Resistance	d8+3	Activation	d8
Weapon Master d10, Lethal HTH Attack d10, Armor d6

Piledriver (374 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d10	d8
Damage Resistance	d8+3	Activation	d6
Armor d6, Martial Arts d10

Bulldozer (426 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d10	d10
Damage Resistance	d10+3	Activation	d6
Armor d6, Martial Arts d8, Flying Kick

In police custody:

Wrecker (438 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d8	d10	d8
Damage Resistance	d8+3	Activation	d8
Martial Arts d10, Armor d6, Leadership d4

And now, off to battle!

State of the board at the beginning of the game.  Extraneous toy soldiers, tanks, planes, and cars courtesy of my 5-year old.

Turn 1:
Captain America's leadership gave the Avengers the initiative.  Hawkeye used a grappling arrow to mount the nearest building and fired an explosive arrow at Bulldozer.

Hawkeye gains a vantage point over the battlefield.

The Avenger just missed knocking out Bulldozer, but still received a knockdown result.

A bird's eye view of the battlefield from Hawkeye's perch.

Captain America rolled into action, advancing toward the fight and throwing his shield at Thunderball.  High rolls for the First Avenger produced a major damage result and, on account of Thunderball's poor save roll, a knockout!

Captain America leads the way, throwing his shield into Thunderball's back and getting a knockout in the first turn!

Iron Man flew into the developing melee, flaring and landing in between Piledriver and the soon-to-be smashed Detective Riley.

Iron Man flares for landing between Detective Riley and Piledriver.

The Avenger fired two blasts at Piledriver - one missed, the other pushed Piledriver back.

Iron Man saves Detective Riley from certain doom with a well-placed repulsor blast.

The remaining Wrecking Crew members activated.  Bulldozer rolled a full three actions, peeling himself off of the ground and charging to the police SUV and peeling the door off, all the while ignoring the police gunfire from Officer O'Malley and Detective Riley that danced on his skin and steel helmet.  The Wrecking Crew only needed one more action to free their leader.  Piledriver only managed one action, moving back into contact with Iron Man.

The state of the battle at the end of Turn 1.  The Wrecking Crew have almost freed their leader.

Turn 2:
Hawkeye fired at Bulldozer again, this time with entangling arrow heads to keep Bulldozer from freeing the Wrecker.  It was not meant to be.  One hit but failed to entangle, one missed, and on the third try (rolling a 1) Hawkeye ran out of entangling arrowheads and had to dig in a pouch if he wanted to assemble another such device.

Captain America spent his two actions running toward Bulldozer, ending his turn as he vaulted over the hood of the police SUV in an attempt to peel Bulldozer off of the vehicle before the Wrecker could be freed.

Iron Man spent the turn in an unsuccessful melee with Piledriver.

As the Wrecking Crew started its turn, Piledriver finally found some success in melee, managing to knock Iron Man to the ground.  Bulldozer rolled a turnover, handing initiative to the Avengers just as it seemed he was about to free the Wrecker.

The battle at the end of Turn 2.  Piledriver has knocked Iron Man to the ground, and Bulldozer narrowly misses freeing the Wrecker from the inside of the vehicle.

Turn 3:
Iron Man hoped to shoot his way out his predicament, lying on the ground at Piledriver's feet.  Unfortunately, he rolled a 1 and missed with his repulsor blast.  Captain America took his two actions to throw a Power Blow at Bulldozer from the hood of the wrecked SUV, but failed to do any damage.  With these two failures to stop the Wrecking Crew members, either Bulldozer or Piledriver could spend an action to free The Wrecker.  Luckily, Hawkeye entangled both of them with specialized arrowheads.  Bulldozer burned his two actions to get out of Hawkeye's entangling arrow, while Piledriver did the same.  Neither had a chance to do anything else.

Turn 4:
Iron Man peeled himself off of the ground and shot Piledriver with a repulsor blast, which Piledriver shrugged off.  Captain America hit Bulldozer and knocked him back, then followed up and hit Bulldozer again.  Hawkeye fired three entangling arrows at Bulldozer, wrapping the villain up again.

Piledriver delivered a punishing blow to Iron Man, denting the Avenger's armor and knocking him out Piledriver's path to the police SUV.  Bulldozer spent his actions freeing himself from the cords of Hawkeye's entangling arrow.

Turn 5:
Iron Man fired his repulsors again at Piledriver, staggering the villain.  Captain America hit Bulldozer again, but the villain's armored helmet soaked up the force of the Avenger's blow.  Hawkeye lent Iron Man some support by firing another entangling arrow and wrapping up Piledriver.

Bulldozer said, "this game is getting old!" as he launched himself with his trademark charging headbutt.  The blow sent Captain America flying over the hood of the wrecked police SUV, leaving the Avenger limping.  Bulldozer again moved over to the side of the police vehicle, ready to free The Wrecker.  Piledriver freed himself from the steel cords of Hawkeye's latest entangling arrow and moved next to the gaping hole in the side of the police SUV, able to see The Wrecker inside.  With one free action, either of them could free their leader in the next round.  Both Detective Riley and Officer O'Malley drew back from the advancing villains.

Both Bulldozer and Piledriver have knocked their opponents away and advanced to the side of the SUV holding The Wrecker.  Can they free their leader before the Avengers regroup?

Turn 6:
Hawkeye took the lead this turn, firing yet another entangling arrow and wrapping up Piledriver.  As the villain fell to the ground in a heap, Iron Man spent two actions in a Power Blow, using his boot jets to leap temporarily into the air, then using the force of his thrusters to spear down like a dive bomber, planting a crushing blow against Piledriver and knocking the villain out.

Iron Man flares his boot jets for a moment before he delivers a knockout blow to Piledriver.

Seeing that Bulldozer was a moment away from freeing The Wrecker, Captain America launched himself like a missile over the hood of the wrecked police SUV, arms outstretched with his shield in front of him.  He speared Bulldozer in the midsection, doubling the beast over as they tumbled into a ball and skidded across the park's surface, shearing off the grass and digging a shallow trench as they slowed to a halt.

Bulldozer lay there for a second, looked to his left and saw Iron Man striding out of the crater where Piledriver lay unconscious, the weight of Captain America's shield still pressing down on his torso.  It was over - the Avengers had beaten them again.

Iron Man drives Piledriver into the ground as Captain America leaps over the hood of the SUV to spear Bulldozer with his shield.  The Avengers have triumphed again.

"I give up," he croaked.  Seeing The Wrecker's eyes staring balefully at him from inside the SUV, Bulldozer closed his eyes and let his head drop to the earth, waiting for his own journey back to the superpowered confinement wing of Ryker's Island to begin.

Post-Game Thoughts:
1.  Gameplay.
- The scenario started the Wrecking Crew off at a disadvantage in points and they never dug themselves out of that hole.  The activation advantage that the Avengers had proved decisive; the Wrecking Crew had plenty of chances to roll just one more action in a turn and free The Wrecker, but just couldn't pull it off.
- The scenario also drove a static slugfest, as the Wrecking Crew was just trying to reach their leader in the SUV.  Had this been a more open scenario, I would have like to have seen some trees uprooted and cars tossed around with the Wrecking Crew's super-strength.
- Hawkeye gets the nod as the MVP of the game.  His entangling arrows (of which he seemed to have an infinite supply) proved to be just the delaying capability that the Avengers needed to keep the number of villains to a minimum.

2.  Play Aids.
- The one thing this game needs is a minor and major damage table sheet that adds the spice that belongs in a superhero skirmish game.  I've been using one from the Ganesha Games Yahoo! group, but there's just something missing from scoring a Power Blow.
- I reiterate the importance of printing your hero stats and the effect of each of their powers in a game-friendly format.  There are too many special rules not to.

3.  Scenery.
- This game was only possible because of the excellent service I experienced with TrollandToad.com, which I detailed in this post.
- I used Fat Dragon Games' excellent modern city set for the urban terrain.  Possibly the prettiest game I've ever put on.  Will provide a write-up and review later.
- I really need to rebase my HeroClix minis.  The obnoxious and huge bases they come with are just too much.

Until next time, true believers, excelsior!