Darryl and Phil played C and C N. Phil had a copy since launch but had never played. Darryl was imperiously victorious the first two games. The second was memorable for the massacre of the Portuguese in the narrow gully. But with some advice and luck Phil managed to rescue the situation in the final game. This time Phil was on the attack again but with the French and his Heavy Cavalry just sneaked the final flag before it was too late. Very enjoyable days gaming indeed.
Thursday 24th September: C and C Napoleonics Leave a comment
Saturday 5th September: X Wing Leave a comment
Mike and Phil’s Rebels took on Alex and Bruce’s Tie Fighters. Initially the 8 rebels took out 3 tie fighters and looked ready to take out the required six of eightenemy first. However bruce’s ace pilot soon levelled the score and with three more rebels taken out with just one more tie fighter the Empire claimed victory!
Saturday 22nd August: Forbidden Stars Leave a comment
We got half way through. Orks and Space Marines had 1VP each but Eldar were looking strong. Chaos Marines were a little behind but had a good home defence force in place and Space Marines would need to move back to defend their home from the Orks next turn.
Saturday 15th August: Legends of Drizzt Leave a comment
Amazingly successful victory in the final fight against the Priestess of Lolth. However two players had upgraded to level two working together to deliver 9 dmg in one round. The other two players had just 1HP remaining each. But still it was a fantastic win.
Saturday 8th August: Mike’s Birthday Leave a comment
Mike’s Birthday so lots of games and food. James, Bruce, Alex, Mike, Darryl and Phil played.
Started with two games of Quartermaster. Mike, James, Bruce as Axis vs Darryl, Phil and Alex as Allies. Two Allied wins!
Next Firefly which Alex won just as everyone had their crew ready to start. We used Darryl’s instant crew set up programme. Very good.
James had to leave for another Birthday celebration!
A game of Dark Moon. Our first. Darryl and Alex were infected first time. Uninfected humans won! Second time Phil and Darryl were infected and Infected won. This was after Bruce rolled 3 random hits on the shields allowing Phil to declare as infected and cover the last shield space automatically!
Finally a game of Saboteur which Bruce won.
Saturday 1st August: Eldritch Horror 1 comment
A truly horrible game of Eldritch Horror. We failed to get anywhere early on and were overwhelmed by events just as we were about ready to set out and defeat the evil ones spawn in the Amazon. So we lost 😦
Saturday 25th July: Eldritch Horror Leave a comment
Mike, Phil, Alex and Bruce played a Cthulhu game and actually won! Just the introductory scenario.
Mike won the record for going through three characters in just 1 game!
Saturday 18th July: High Society and Nations Leave a comment
Mike introduced us to Nations and we also played High Society which was fun.
Saturday 11th July: Sword and Spear Leave a comment
Sword and Spear
Mike and Phil played a Helm’s Deep Scenario using Sword and Spear.
We based it on the Mid-Republican Romans and Late Successor lists. Mainly so we could use Trolls (Elephants). We used GW Models and Helm’s Deep terrain piece.
The scenario was set outside Helm’s deep where an invigorated Théoden has linked up with his Nephew Eomer and Gandalf ahead of time. There they deploy for battle outside the Hornburg gates ready to fight off Saruman and his horde from Isengard.
In order to test out the new Phalanx and Elephant rules we had not used before Isengard was allowed to have two units each of these (despite normally being restricted to one unit of Trolls (Elephants) in the list). The Rohan (Romans) on the other hand were allowed a unit of Companion Cavalry (Royal Guard).
Mike chose to do a big scouting effort which allowed him to see where Phil placed his cavalry and then disrupt his plans by putting Elephants in the way!
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- Rohan deployed outside Helm’s Deep Fortress.
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- Isengard deployed with the Trolls to their Left and the Pike blocks in the centre. Behind is the Siege Camp ready with explosives and battering ram.
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- Rohan cavalry on their left flank advance.
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- Pikes advance in the centre. The Rohan infantry hold back not knowing quite what else to do!
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- Pike block. Behind it the Artillery have been disrupted by fire from the Royal Huntsmen.
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- Théoden brings his Guard forward to face the Trolls not realising just how quickly those beasts can move!
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- The Trolls charge catching the Guard without Impetus. Their Spears are thus useless and the Trolls make short work of them. The next unit is caught by the other Trolls in the same way! The Royal Huntsmen having moved closer in a futile attempt to be ready to help later. Théoden is killed! Seeing this the Huntsmen flee.
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- A unit of Rohan cavalry having charged the Trolls and been uterrly destroyed the rest of the cavalry decide to bypass them and head towards the Crossbowmen and the Siege Camp.
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- Gandalf leads the charge driving off the Warg Scouts and Uruk Scouts behind them easily.
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- The Uruk Warriors smash into the Rohan infantry who throw their spears futilely against the advancing wall of steel.
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- Dunlendings with polearms (Spears) advance to face the Rohan cavalry thus negating their threat against the flank of the Phalanx.
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- The Rohan infantry cower infront of the walls of the Fortress!
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- The Trolls are too busy eating Rohan horsemeat to do much else other than threaten the Camp!
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- The Rohan cavalry led by Erkenbrand and Eomer have completed the encirclement and are just about to destroy the crossbowmen and capture the Siege Camp.
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- The End!
Finally with Théoden dead and the centre collapsed the Uruk Hai assisted by the Trolls would have been able to attack Helm’s Deep itself. Though the Rohan Cavalry had been able to encircle and attack the Siege Camp Isengard had enough Uruk Hai Medium Infantry in reserve to hold them off. Also having destroyed the Skirmishers (Light Warg Archers and Light Infantry Archers) he left himself exposed then to a flank charge when the remaining Warg Riders managed to move twice whilst he was caught stationary.
So Victory was quite rightly awarded to Mike and the Forces of Isengard.
This was a good learning game of the new rules for Commands and Elephants. Each Army had two split colours of activation dice). We did flanks (cavalry) and centre (infantry) as separate colours. Also Phil learnt how important it is not to be outscouted and have to deploy first. Plus he learnt how Spear armed infantry are only good against mounted troops (such as Trolls/ Elephants) if they have Impetus and these units move amazingly fast with the right dice and Mike in charge! Phil struggled to activate his units and in combat had some bad rolls. However this reflected the tactical position and was definitely not just bad luck!
Next time we will restrict Trolls/ Elephants to one unit as outlined in the lists. Untrained troops and their inability to manoeuvre are not ideal. Cavalry with this trait should really be restricted to those closer to mounted infantry when creating future lists.
Saturday 20th June: Song of Blades and Heroes Leave a comment
A Song of Ice and Fire
Thorin’s Company of Trusty Dwarves must brave the Dungeon. They have a map detailing a route through the mountain though it is unclear at points. The map is of a natural volcanic cavern that offers them a beneficial short cut on their quest. By all accounts the caverns lie abandoned but Gandalf suspects this may no longer be the case. Thorin however is determined to proceed.
Thorin and Co.
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| Points: | Personality: 189 (38%) | Warrior: 314 (62%) | Total: 503 |
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| Special Rules: Cleric – SBH pg. 12; Fearless – SBH pg. 13; Free Disengage – SBH pg. 13; Leader – SBH pg. 13, 16; Lethal – SBH pg. 14; Magic-User – SBH pg. 14, 9-10; Sharpshooter – SWW pg. 19; Shooter: Medium – SBH pg. 14; Shooter: Short – SBH pg. 14; Short Move – SBH pg. 14; Steadfast – SBH pg. 15; Stealth – SBH pg. 15; Traps – SGD pg. 10; |
| Rulebooks: User – User Created; SBH – Song of Blades & Heroes; SGD – Song of Gold & Darkness; SWW – Song of Wind & Water; SAM – Song of Arthur & Merlin; SDG – Song of Deeds & Glory;Pictures from the game outlining the main points of action below.Mike and Bruce played as Thorin and Gandalf respectively and Phil played as the Evil overlord. Thorin’s Co had the quiet as a Mouse reward due to their previous success which meant that Bilbo could scout ahead and be a Sneak if only one long stick away.For thlis game I used some rules for SoBH / SGD I found on the net and adapted them as scenario rules. I did prefer the wandering monster rules there as otherwise they can be annoying and occur too frequently plus I always forget to check using the basic system. So we played that these were tested for only when no monsters were available. The players did not actualy know this but their aggressive playstyle taking on each room as quickly as possible and leaving stragglers to fight their own battles did effectively counter wandering monsters. Phil only rolled once and failed. In designing the scenario I went for 1000 points of monsters but in the interests of time only went for four rooms. In retrospect I think I maybe made the earlier rooms too weak and not enough of a challenge and the last room too powerful. Some bad luck on Evil activations for the first 3 rooms made it a disaster for Evil until the last room when luck turned rapidly on poor Dwalin and Thorin. So maybe the balance was fine and just a bad moment for Thorin and Dwalin trying to enter a packed room through a narrow passage. It was a fun scenario though and it was good to get my new dwarven hero figures on the table (see post two below). I used the Treasure rules from the player made guide I found and the heroes garnered 80 gold which was a good haul.
Thorin and Dwalin are hastily gathered by their friends (with Dwalin sporting an especially nasty wound) under the cover of Gandalf’s powerful light spells. Giving them just enough time to snatch them away and Oin is able to stabilise their injuries. The heroes duck into one of the side branches and are quickly lost in the passages below the montain. Next time The Winged Devil will pursue them into the Darkness deep down below to enact revenge as the destruction of his goblinoid minions has set his evil plans back some time and such an insult cannot be allowed to pass. Especially as the Black Numenorean envoys will be passing any suggestion of weakness back to the Dark Lord himself. The heroes will use the 80 gold coins to improve their warband. It seems that Bilbo on searching the Hobgoblin Sorceror’s chest has spotted a useful scroll that can be used against Devils and similar creatures by Oin or Gandalf. One can only imagine the Hobgoblin was keeping such a precious item secretly handy in case his former master turned on him. This will allow one of the two to be Lethal to Devils. When I upgrade the Band for the next scenario. Also I think they can buy Bombur to make the party complete.
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