Star Wars Armada

DK ask if anybody was up for a game, and I answered the call. Due it being Star Wars day on Saturday, I suggested that we play a Star Wars themed game … so after a bit of whinging DK decided to set up a game of Armada. I was to play the Imperials, the forces of order and stability, while DK chose the Rebels, thru forces of chaos. 

My forces were 6 squadrons of tie fighter (one being Howlrunner?), Boba Fett in Slave 1 and a Victory Class (small) Star Destroyer (3 command dials). 

DK had 2 ships - one being the corvette that Leia was on board in episode IV (1 command dial) and a bigger one - a frigate I think (2 command dials), 5 squadrons on X-wings - one being Wedge Antilles and the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo. 

The game works in 3/4 phases per turn - 

1 - Ship Phase - reveal the command dial for your ships in initiative order - then either do the command or save for later. We always used it. There are 4 commands to choose from:  manoeuvre (change speed, direction etc.); concentrate fire (extra dice when shooting); engineering (fix damaged stuff); command squadrons (move and fire with a number (depending on ship) of  squadrons within medium range.

The big ships can fire and have to move in this phase - ending up on another ship or obstacle causes damage. 

The command dials are picked in advance, so planning is vital for the big ships because you have to pick what you are going to do 3 turns in advance … what will you need after contact with the enemy. I mainly did manoeuvres as I didn’t want to crash the big old Star Destroyer. The corvette with only one dial could adapt each turn.

2 - Squadron Phase - move or fire with any squadrons not already activated in the ship phase. Obviously you can move and fire by activating in the ship phase. 

3 - Tidy up and set command dials. 

The game is played over 6 turns and in the scenario we try there were 5 objective markers - the player with the most objectives would get 75 points at the end of the game. Only on ship on each side could pick up objectives - the Star Destroyer for me and DK’s frigate.

I set up with my forces on the right of the battle space - which turn out to be a good place. DK was more evenly spread across the board. (Top above picture) We made the moves forward (Bottom above picture) and unfortunately for the corvette the swarming tie fighters and star destroyer were too much - however DK had picked up 2 objectives to 1, but he was down one capital ship. (Top picture below) 

With the destruction of the corvette the squadron ships (including the Falcon and Slave1) came into their own - well they started shooting at each other. Unfortunately for me the tie fighters with only 3 hits did struggle against the x-wings with 5! The Falcon was also pretty lethal against them too - but Boba is also a tough nut. The final turns were the little ships blowing each other up … great work by the eventually wipe out ties was the destruction of the Falcon …. Ha ha ha and then in the final dice roll Wedge Antilles was vaporised …. More ha ha ha. 

The final positions of the ships are in the bottom picture. So how did my placement help me - well DK was able to collect two tokens on my left basically unopposed, but I picked up one early on, and once the corvette was out of action I was able by the 5/6 turn to collect my second. However the 5th token was out on my right, so unavailable to either of us - but it meant no one got the 75 bonus points. 

So how did the game end - well 56 points to the Rebels (for destroying all the tie fighters and super squadron Howlrunner), 115 points to the Empire (the corvette, the Falcon (including Solo), 4 squadrons of  x-wings (including Antilles). So a good day for the Empire in dealing with the Rebel scum!

Once we sorted out an error in turn one we got to grips with the rules pretty well and the game flowed well - picking your commands 3 moves in advance is a pick of a pain to be honest, but makes sense for the big ships - I reckon DK should have attacked the Star Destroyer with the X-wings or take out the Ties earlier. I would have found in tough with out them - all gone at the end of turn 6, but it didn’t matter then. One thing I did find annoying was that DK had made some nice 3D asteroids and wrecked ships (and come to think of it the squadrons had this issue), but when using the movement tool they or it got in the way … so things got moved so this could have some impact on ranges. 

The extra cards that improved a squadron (Howlrunner, Boba, Han and Wedge), were nice additions to the theme. And reminded me of Attack Wing. 

Enjoyed it and would play again - teams with a capital ship each would be interesting. 

Morts 

A trip to Exmoor

 Last Sunday I had a little wander around Exmoor with some chums - some of which I haven’t seen since before COVID.

A stunning day out - TL the view from Brightworthy Barrow of Dunkery Beacon, TR - lots of deer (farmed as we saw them run towards the farmer on a quadbike), BL - a nice look down a combe (not sure which now), BR - Cow Castle - ancient settlement. 

Good to catch up with peeps and a pleasant walk, thanks to Eef and Shaun. Next weekend is the Ten Tors, so I will be out at Okehampton all weekend.

Morts

Some rambling, but little gaming

So my lack of focus continues - well sort of. I have applied for a number of jobs but haven’t been able to get through the door. All this uncertainty isn’t not good for the painting mojo - although I did get some undercoating done. Black for the last of the 15mm Age of Reason Bavarians ( still have a couple of units of Saxons to complete ) and my first aerosol zenithal on the Valkyries and corsairs. Unfortunately things stopped there. I was going to have a game a couple of weeks ago, but went down with a bug, so had to cancel ….

However I did get out to the moor last weekend - probably the best weather we have had this year. Bright and sunny, but a sharp north easterly wind - ideal walking conditions. 

Some of Saturday’s pictures.

TL - view up from Postbridge, TR - Higher White Tor, BL - Looking over to Longerford Tor, BR - looking SSE to Believer Tor (with pony). 

Sunday

TL - Sunrise from Fernworthy, TR/BL - Row Tor area, BR - Winter Tor. 

A cracking couple of days walking. 

Need to sort out my future, so I can get on with important things like games and painting.

Morts 

Back from the land of the Vikings

The good lady and myself traveled over to Denmark for the Easter weekend. An early morning flight and we were in Copenhagen by 1030am. 

Over the course of the next few days we got in some good steps, a boat trip (well on a water taxi) and a quick visit to the remains of a great hall. 

On the boat trip we passed the Danish naval academy - there seemed to be a number of visiting vessels from Europe there too. We could also see the little mermaid (but been there done that). 

We had a wander around the city - pop over to the royal palace - it was rather overcast the whole time we were in Denmark. We took in a visit to the great hall of allegedly Rolf Krage  - although this just was an outline in a field. Rolf is mentioned in the epic Beowulf. A pleasant walk and I would probably would have liked to pop in to the museums in the area. 

We also managed to get into a few of games - Harry Potter munchkin, we my novice wife won - claiming not to have a clue what was happening and not really enjoying it! I of course was robbed. We - well my brother and nephew played a couple of games of Star Wars - The Clone Wars using the pandemic engine. It plays well with some nice miniatures. I must admit I thought is was a little easy on the first game as we defeated the separatists - we didn’t seem to be getting many blockades - an outbreak in pandemic. We also managed to keep the separatist leader off the board, so a number of her powers didn’t affect us. However in the second game order 66 was activated and the sith won. My nephew was well up on the lore for this game, knowing what named clones were famous for and the actions on different planets. A nice game - I think that used the pandemic engine in an interesting way, with fair replay ability. 

So a good weekend away.

Morts 

It’s been a while - things up in the air so to speak

Well I have been distracted recently - we did get a game of Nine Worlds in at Steedo’s about four weeks ago!

A nice game that we don’t play enough. 

It was a win for Steedo, then DK, myself and Snake-eyes at the back … we then played a couple of games of Valhalla, which were a win for DK and myself if I recall correctly.

I was out on the moor 3 weeks ago - managed to dodge the worst of the rain - it has been very wet recently.

A nice view of Buritor reservoir.

The reason for the distraction is I am planning to get out of education after 25 years and trying to find another job … so this has taken up my focus. Hopefully I will find something to pay the bills and I can get back to painting little bits of plastic and metal and playing games …

Morts

Xenos Rampant - Space Marines versus Bugs!

So I finally managed to get Xenos Rampant to the table in a IP mash up as Space Marines checked out an abandoned outpost only to be set up on by Bugs from the Arachnid empire … not Tryranids! 

I had set up the forces as Space Marines - Lieutenant (Elite), Dreadnought (Fighting Vehicle, with Walker), Intercessors and Assault Intercessors in squads of 5 (but with enlarged squad size, so 2 hits to remove a mini). The Bugs were a Tanker bug, 2 units of 5 warrior bugs, 1 unit of hopper bugs and a unit of Firefly bugs - all the units of bugs had swam, so again 2 hits to remove a model. Due to the actual size of the bug models I think that 2 hits seem right) - also they would take up a lot of a space! The game was played on my 150cm by 90cm table, with deployment in opposite corners. 

The battle of Compound F162 was about to commence …

I won initiative, but the relative speed of the bugs meant that they were get to the compound first. I did forget to put some rough ground on that table - although I’m not sure that it would have made any difference. 

The advancing bug menace!

The bugs are over the wall and will be Wild Charging next turn - they do suffer some damage from the intercessors and dreadnought.

Bugs - thousands of them (9 or 10 actually but it doesn’t sound as good), trying to overwhelm the dreadnought.

Things looked a bit dodgy for a moment - but the armour 6 on the dreadnought made it a tough cookie for the bugs - but it sustained 1 strength point of damage. The marines lost a man. The lieutenant was wandering why he had send the assault intercessors around impassable woods - especially as the hopper bugs had redirected to flank the marines by the wall.

The bugs have fallen back from their assault - time for a breather… I must admit that at this point I thought the balance wasn’t quite right and the Space Marines would have this game …

But no! The lieutenant blasts at the sand bugs - but the hoppers swoop in on the marines - with devastating consequences!

The lone survivor of the intercessor squad cowers behind the lieutenant … then things got very cinematic!

DK activation roll was snake-eyes (blue), which cost him a lot. As I would be able to shoot next turn with the lieutenant. The double 6 is the rally roll for the single marine - he knew no fear! Then the lieutenant obliterated the 3 warrior bugs in front of him … simples, a ready cool moment in the game.  

DK again swoops in on the marine leader with the hopper bugs, and almost straight out of the most cliched 40k story the power of the Emperor of Mankind channels through the warrior and with the slashing of his power sword the hopper bugs are removed from the sky (and game).  Brutal DK and the bugs had now lost 3 out of 5 squads … the planet would be cleansed!

However the bugs had other ideas and proceeded to spit acid at the lieutenant and surviving intercessor, which tragically overwhelmed these heroes on the Imperium.

But all was not lost as the assault Intercessors finally get into action - destroying the firefly unit of bugs … but hilariously failing their courage test and routing from the field of battle … these marines knew fear!

All that was left on both sides were the Tanker bug and Dreadnought …

They briefly tussled, but it was decided that it was time on the game … and a draw was called. 

Walking away, nothing to see here …

The game played fast and fun - I think we made a couple of errors when counting hits to strength points and with some courage tests,  but overall pretty clean rules wise. I think I called it right but buffing the units with increased squad size/swarm, but not increasing the model count. It would have been too crowded. The elite was tough and I am glad that the standard space marines were classed as heavy infantry - I had read that a number of people were running this in their games - also it does give terminators (if I get any) much room to be the bestest. The armoured vehicle - dreadnought again was a tough nut - as it should be - I didn’t give the tanker the anti-tank trait as it didn’t seem to fit the army theme (I might use the blaster bugs for that …). 

 As it was both DK and I had fun and the game played smoothly on the whole. Now I need to do stats for some of the other 40k models I have. 

We then had go at Valhalla card and dice placement game - a quick run through the rules and we were away. A pretty close game but I ran out 25-19. I really would like to play this with 3+ players, as I am sure it would change the dynamic. 

Morts

Voidscarred Corsairs - building the team

For Christmas I purchased myself the Voidscarred Corsairs Kill Team, but decided to put off the build until I had painted some stuff which had been hanging around the painting queue for a while (3/4 years). 

I decided that was going to have every option available in the team, so I bought 5 guardians off eBay to be converted into Corsairs - these are on the bottom row. Two are just basic head swaps and a green stuff fabric loin cloth as standard warriors. The female guardian is also a standard warrior with power sword and pistol. One is now a heavy gunner and the one on the right has now had the pistol removed and is a Kurnarthi (blade master/assassin) - which I read last night, so thought I needed to sort that out. I need to go around with some more green stuff before priming. Planning grey armour with purple fabrics, so there is a theme with my other Eldar.

Should be interesting to paint, but I am concerned that these will be like the Skitari with lots of annoying details.

Morts