Tuesday 26th July was 'Giant Killing' night at Warhammer World, where the idea was to bring down some gangs that had got ahead of the pack by pitting two smaller gangs against them and duffing them up a bit, plus the smaller gangs would get double experience points to ratchet them up the ratings faster. This saw my Last Action Heroes (already depleted in numbers from last week's adventures) teaming up with James's gang Bouche's Babes (also Delaques) to take on campaign leader (I think) Andy and his Van Saar gang Crucible's Ghosts. Added together, our 'gang ratings' were actually higher than his and we outnumbered him by one model.
It didn't show.
It started relatively promisingly as Andy's shooting was below par, even with his higher Ballistic Skills and various superior weaponry. However, our ability to take his fighters down was low due to most of them being tougher than usual and needing more than one wounding hit to drop them. I was doing fairly well keeping him pinned down on my side of the board for the first couple of turns (and Sly kept up his good work by scoring a wounding hit that actually did put someone down), but then Andy began to find his range. Even a couple of people down wasn't disastrous and we could have rallied the fight, but at the start of a turn where I was planning to charge Harrison into close combat with one of his fighters (a fight I was confident he'd win), and run up and flame a couple more into oblivion, all of which might have turned the tide in our favour... my gang failed its leadership test and we ran away. James bravely fought on for one turn alone, but hadn't factored in that with my gang now off the board, every gun that Andy could bring to bear was going to be turned on him. The next turn was spectacularly messy as Andy proceeded to obliterate everything in sight under a withering hail of fire, and James didn't even check to see whether his gang stuck around next turn, instead choosing to run away.
The post-fight was particularly painful. Two out of three of my fighters who needed to roll for injuries ended up dead, which is awful luck for a one-in-six chance of death. I said goodbye to Jackie (gunned down by Billy 3-Flamers) which lost my gang our Marksman, and also to Shia (murdered by Yanni) who had just become a ganger and was looking half-useful with his Hipshooting skill and a hand flamer. James came off rather worse, as out of (I believe) six fighters who took injury rolls, two died (including a fighter named Rutterkin, renowned throughout the campaign as about the hardest bastard around) and two more were capture (including Bouche himself, the gang leader).
With a remaining gang of only four models (compared to an average of about ten, and Andy's collection of seventeen), James took the only reasonable step in the circumstances: a last-ditch Rescue attempt to try and free his captured fighters to make his gang actually viable again. The Rescue luckily went off without a hitch; Andy rolled a '1' which mean he only left one sentry guarding the hostages, and all four of Bouche's Babes turned up and liberated their gangmates without once setting off the alarm that would allow the sentry to start shooting or the rest of the gang to show up. As a result he got a massive boost to his income and experience for 'beating' a much larger gang, and left the night thinking that things might not be quite as bad as he'd first thought. I, meanwhile, was only able to replace the able Jackie and the not-great-but-useful-in-some-ways Shia with a new juve Jason (Statham), who gets an autopistol and the instruction to stand in front of the rest of the gang and let the enemy shoot him.
Rather annoyingly, the 'Giant Killing' night turned out to be anything but. Out of the three games, in two the 'giant' gang won, and even in the other the giants still inflicted several casualties. The gap between the best and the rest is wider than ever, and The Last Action Heroes are limping onwards but to no obvious purpose...
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
Third Time Unlucky
July 19th saw me back at Games Workshop headquarters for another crack at that whole Necromunda campaign thing. My first game saw me as an underdog gang as I took on The Emperor's Cleansing Flame, run by Ste. How would me gradually-returning Necromunda skills face against an opponent that wasn't Magic Tom?
We rolled up a standard Gang Fight scenario, where I got to set up first but Ste got first turn. He couldn't see anybody to shoot at though, and so off I went. Unfortunately the setup of the board meant that lines of sight weren't great, so I couldn't really shoot at anyone very easily. This wasn't good, as my gang are very much looking to shoot people while Ste's Cawdor gang are very much about getting close and using flamers on people or killifying them in hand-to-hand combat. He also was able to use his 'Tunnels' territory to position three fighters anywhere on the board at ground level at the end of his turn, which he used to place a heavy, a ganger with a shotgun and a juve right near the table edge I'd set up from.
The game followed a very predictable pattern, in general: I shot at things and missed, while Ste got ever closer to me. Notable exceptions were my heavy Arnold, who managed to hose down Ste's Tunnel fighting crew... well, two of them. Then the third one shot him and took him straight out of action. Meanwhile Shia the juve ran ahead and used his Hipshooting skill to shoot even though he'd run and took one of Ste's gangers straight out, which ended up in that ganger dying. However, my poor choice of positioning and movement, coupled with some bad shooting from me and some very good shooting from Ste resulted in me finishing a turn with most of my gang down or out, so I voluntarily ran away before any more damage could be inflicted.
Jean-Claude and new ganger Steven (Seagal) both ended up captured by Ste. He agreed to give me Steven back for free and I let him keep Jean-Claude to sell into slavery and keep his equipment, as Jean-Claude had rolled two results of Multiple Injuries on the Injury Table and now had a collection of bangs even worse than Bruce, my other walking cripple. Since he had an Old Battle Wound which meant he might not turn up to the fight at all, and even if he did he would be either Frenzied or Stupid, I considered that this wasn't a great loss. As for my gangers, there were no particularly notable advances other than for Jet, who had gained enough experience to become a ganger.
The other main issue that came from the game was that Ste had taken so many more models out than I had that he got one of my territories - it turned out to be my Gambling Den, although because we'd forgotten this rule it didn't happen until after I'd lost 100 credits from it! Very annoying.
Licking my wounds, and one ganger down, I took on Chris's Escher gang, Hair We Go Again. I got to pick the scenario and, in the interest of not dying, chose to Ambush him. This meant that he had to set his gang up in the middle of the board while I surrounded him (although he did get to place an Infiltrating fighter after I had set up, and also two models through the Vents territory he had at the end of his first turn).
My luck returned for this game, as even though Arnold didn't even show up to fight as I rolled a 1 for his newly-acquired Old Battle Wound, after a poor first turn my shooting picked up in a major way. Jet, newly gangerified, used his Gunfighter skill to take no fewer than three people out of action, my one remaining juve Shia took someone out (although the dum-dum bullets in his stubgun exploded and took him down) and Jackie continued his marksmanship abilities. In the end I took seven out of nine of his gangers out of action (by charging into close combat with people already on the ground and groaning)... but then I ran away because he'd taken two out, and Shia was down from his own exploding weapon. The only person of his left upright was the leader, and I ran away.
That's some serious cowardice right there.
Even worse, Vin turned out to be dead (which is what happens when you get taken out in close combat by Astrid and her power sword) and Bruce was captured! Another captive! Even though Bruce has a movement reduction and Toughness 1, I decided I wanted to ransom him back because he now has a Ballistic Skill increase and had just picked up the Crack Shot skill, meaning he can re-roll injury rolls. Also, Chris was nice enough to ransom him back for just 10 creds (possibly influenced by a couple of gangers with the Dive skill meaning they can run and hide, my plethora of hand flamers, and my Gunfighter now having another Ballistic Skill increase and a Silencer for one of his autopistols, meaning that I'd fancy my chances in a Rescue mission). However, since I'd taken so many more people out of action I did manage to nick his Settlement territory, which while not having the same earning power as a Gambling Den does at least mean that I won't lose money from it, and I might get a free juve if I'm lucky. The best thing to come out of this (apart from Jet double his experience points from 32 to 64) was Harrison my leader picking up the Armourer skill, allowing me to improve my ammo rolls. Hoorah!
Still, The Last Action Heroes are definitely feeling the effects of their fighting. With two deaths (effectively) in two games and one walking wounded ganger, plus no juves to soak up incoming enemy fire and no money to replace them (I just had enough money to kit newly-gangerised Shia out with a laspistol to back up his dodgy stubgun with dum-dums), we might be moving into hard times...
We rolled up a standard Gang Fight scenario, where I got to set up first but Ste got first turn. He couldn't see anybody to shoot at though, and so off I went. Unfortunately the setup of the board meant that lines of sight weren't great, so I couldn't really shoot at anyone very easily. This wasn't good, as my gang are very much looking to shoot people while Ste's Cawdor gang are very much about getting close and using flamers on people or killifying them in hand-to-hand combat. He also was able to use his 'Tunnels' territory to position three fighters anywhere on the board at ground level at the end of his turn, which he used to place a heavy, a ganger with a shotgun and a juve right near the table edge I'd set up from.
The game followed a very predictable pattern, in general: I shot at things and missed, while Ste got ever closer to me. Notable exceptions were my heavy Arnold, who managed to hose down Ste's Tunnel fighting crew... well, two of them. Then the third one shot him and took him straight out of action. Meanwhile Shia the juve ran ahead and used his Hipshooting skill to shoot even though he'd run and took one of Ste's gangers straight out, which ended up in that ganger dying. However, my poor choice of positioning and movement, coupled with some bad shooting from me and some very good shooting from Ste resulted in me finishing a turn with most of my gang down or out, so I voluntarily ran away before any more damage could be inflicted.
Jean-Claude and new ganger Steven (Seagal) both ended up captured by Ste. He agreed to give me Steven back for free and I let him keep Jean-Claude to sell into slavery and keep his equipment, as Jean-Claude had rolled two results of Multiple Injuries on the Injury Table and now had a collection of bangs even worse than Bruce, my other walking cripple. Since he had an Old Battle Wound which meant he might not turn up to the fight at all, and even if he did he would be either Frenzied or Stupid, I considered that this wasn't a great loss. As for my gangers, there were no particularly notable advances other than for Jet, who had gained enough experience to become a ganger.
The other main issue that came from the game was that Ste had taken so many more models out than I had that he got one of my territories - it turned out to be my Gambling Den, although because we'd forgotten this rule it didn't happen until after I'd lost 100 credits from it! Very annoying.
Licking my wounds, and one ganger down, I took on Chris's Escher gang, Hair We Go Again. I got to pick the scenario and, in the interest of not dying, chose to Ambush him. This meant that he had to set his gang up in the middle of the board while I surrounded him (although he did get to place an Infiltrating fighter after I had set up, and also two models through the Vents territory he had at the end of his first turn).
My luck returned for this game, as even though Arnold didn't even show up to fight as I rolled a 1 for his newly-acquired Old Battle Wound, after a poor first turn my shooting picked up in a major way. Jet, newly gangerified, used his Gunfighter skill to take no fewer than three people out of action, my one remaining juve Shia took someone out (although the dum-dum bullets in his stubgun exploded and took him down) and Jackie continued his marksmanship abilities. In the end I took seven out of nine of his gangers out of action (by charging into close combat with people already on the ground and groaning)... but then I ran away because he'd taken two out, and Shia was down from his own exploding weapon. The only person of his left upright was the leader, and I ran away.
That's some serious cowardice right there.
Even worse, Vin turned out to be dead (which is what happens when you get taken out in close combat by Astrid and her power sword) and Bruce was captured! Another captive! Even though Bruce has a movement reduction and Toughness 1, I decided I wanted to ransom him back because he now has a Ballistic Skill increase and had just picked up the Crack Shot skill, meaning he can re-roll injury rolls. Also, Chris was nice enough to ransom him back for just 10 creds (possibly influenced by a couple of gangers with the Dive skill meaning they can run and hide, my plethora of hand flamers, and my Gunfighter now having another Ballistic Skill increase and a Silencer for one of his autopistols, meaning that I'd fancy my chances in a Rescue mission). However, since I'd taken so many more people out of action I did manage to nick his Settlement territory, which while not having the same earning power as a Gambling Den does at least mean that I won't lose money from it, and I might get a free juve if I'm lucky. The best thing to come out of this (apart from Jet double his experience points from 32 to 64) was Harrison my leader picking up the Armourer skill, allowing me to improve my ammo rolls. Hoorah!
Still, The Last Action Heroes are definitely feeling the effects of their fighting. With two deaths (effectively) in two games and one walking wounded ganger, plus no juves to soak up incoming enemy fire and no money to replace them (I just had enough money to kit newly-gangerised Shia out with a laspistol to back up his dodgy stubgun with dum-dums), we might be moving into hard times...
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Last Action Apocalypse II: Because One Apocalypse Is Not Enough
My third and last instalment of my first week in the Necromunda campaign will also be the shortest, but in the interests of completeness it is worth... completing.
I won the roll of the dice to pick table edge, but had to set up my entire gang first. I spread them across the tabletop to ensure that Magic wouldn't be able to surround me, with my best shooters up high to have a wide field of fire (and some distance between them and the people that Magic would be sending to cut them up), and my pistol and shotgun fighters (with their closer range weapons) on the ground. However, Magic made a bold deployment move by setting up virtually all of his gang on one far side of the table, with only two on the other, to my left. Tricksy hobbit.
I'd won the roll to go first, so everybody sprinted forward into the best shooting positions they could find. Magic then advanced, being careful to keep as much cover between himself and my shooters as he could... not not careful enough. It transpired that although Arnold couldn't really see over the walls to get a bead on Magic's fighters (especially since his weapon is so large that he can either move or fire, but not both in the same turn), Jackie and his Marksman skill could. Utilising his ability to fire further than normal, and his ability to pick a target of his choice instead of the closest fighter, Jackie ignored the human juve shield Magic had placed in front of his heavy and shot her unerringly. This was a pattern that repeated itself for a couple more turns as his heavy got up and then got shot back down again, until she finally stayed down and, instead of standing up, was able to crawl slowly away.
However, my other shooting was not so good. My leader Harrison, using his boltgun (the best weapon in my gang, behind Arnold's Heavy Stubber) tried to shoot at Bonny Rotten, one of Magic's gangers, rolled a 1 on his 'to hit' die, and since Jean-Claude was standing within half an inch of the shot's flight path, managed to shoot his own ganger in the back. Not intelligent, really.
The rest of the game continued in much the same vein for me. Apart from Jackie's sterling work shooting at Magic's heavy, most of the rest of my shooting was fairly poor (apart from my last turn, where Magic's lone two fighters on my left approached within range of my fighters whom I'd stationed over there, and received a double dose of hand flamer for their troubles). Magic didn't face magnificently better, but by the time the hall was closing he had one model out of action and one down, while I had two out of action (albeit one by my own hand, er, bullet), so I declared him to be the winner.
Afterwards we repaired to Magic's abode and did our rolls. No-one died this time, on either side: Jean Claude managed a full recovery from being shot in the back by Harrison (despite Magic's delight at the potential for him ending up hating his own leader, hatred being an actual rule that causes models to act differently), but Bruce, gunned down by Bonny Rotten, was not so lucky. He suffered a multiple injuries result, meaning he had to roll several times on the injury table. He came away with a leg wound that reduced his movement, two chest wounds to reduce his Toughness characteristic to 1, shell shock that reduced his Initiative by one point, and Hatred for Bonny. However, he also got a result of 'Survives Against The Odds' which meant he got extra experience points for somehow finding his way back to his friends after the fight despite these new handicaps. The results from this meant that he got +1 Toughness (very useful, since Toughness 2 isn't great but much better than Toughness 1), and an extra wound. Methinks Bruce might now be spending his time hanging back and shooting instead of getting stuck in with his shotgun.
I did end up with a captive: Vicki Vane was apparently grabbed by the Last Action Heroes as they departed the scene of battle. Magic offered me the paltry sum of 15 credits as a ransom, but given he had just bought a silencer for his leader's autopistol and was equipped with things called 'stummers', he was fairly sure that he could rescue her by using the 'Rescue' scenario, designed for just such an eventuality. Partly because I knew how well suited Magic would be for this, and partly because I wanted my third game to be against someone else, I handed over said ganger for the 15 credits and avoided further conflict. Who said I can't be diplomatic?
Well, pretty much everyone who's met me, but that's another story.
I won the roll of the dice to pick table edge, but had to set up my entire gang first. I spread them across the tabletop to ensure that Magic wouldn't be able to surround me, with my best shooters up high to have a wide field of fire (and some distance between them and the people that Magic would be sending to cut them up), and my pistol and shotgun fighters (with their closer range weapons) on the ground. However, Magic made a bold deployment move by setting up virtually all of his gang on one far side of the table, with only two on the other, to my left. Tricksy hobbit.
I'd won the roll to go first, so everybody sprinted forward into the best shooting positions they could find. Magic then advanced, being careful to keep as much cover between himself and my shooters as he could... not not careful enough. It transpired that although Arnold couldn't really see over the walls to get a bead on Magic's fighters (especially since his weapon is so large that he can either move or fire, but not both in the same turn), Jackie and his Marksman skill could. Utilising his ability to fire further than normal, and his ability to pick a target of his choice instead of the closest fighter, Jackie ignored the human juve shield Magic had placed in front of his heavy and shot her unerringly. This was a pattern that repeated itself for a couple more turns as his heavy got up and then got shot back down again, until she finally stayed down and, instead of standing up, was able to crawl slowly away.
However, my other shooting was not so good. My leader Harrison, using his boltgun (the best weapon in my gang, behind Arnold's Heavy Stubber) tried to shoot at Bonny Rotten, one of Magic's gangers, rolled a 1 on his 'to hit' die, and since Jean-Claude was standing within half an inch of the shot's flight path, managed to shoot his own ganger in the back. Not intelligent, really.
The rest of the game continued in much the same vein for me. Apart from Jackie's sterling work shooting at Magic's heavy, most of the rest of my shooting was fairly poor (apart from my last turn, where Magic's lone two fighters on my left approached within range of my fighters whom I'd stationed over there, and received a double dose of hand flamer for their troubles). Magic didn't face magnificently better, but by the time the hall was closing he had one model out of action and one down, while I had two out of action (albeit one by my own hand, er, bullet), so I declared him to be the winner.
Afterwards we repaired to Magic's abode and did our rolls. No-one died this time, on either side: Jean Claude managed a full recovery from being shot in the back by Harrison (despite Magic's delight at the potential for him ending up hating his own leader, hatred being an actual rule that causes models to act differently), but Bruce, gunned down by Bonny Rotten, was not so lucky. He suffered a multiple injuries result, meaning he had to roll several times on the injury table. He came away with a leg wound that reduced his movement, two chest wounds to reduce his Toughness characteristic to 1, shell shock that reduced his Initiative by one point, and Hatred for Bonny. However, he also got a result of 'Survives Against The Odds' which meant he got extra experience points for somehow finding his way back to his friends after the fight despite these new handicaps. The results from this meant that he got +1 Toughness (very useful, since Toughness 2 isn't great but much better than Toughness 1), and an extra wound. Methinks Bruce might now be spending his time hanging back and shooting instead of getting stuck in with his shotgun.
I did end up with a captive: Vicki Vane was apparently grabbed by the Last Action Heroes as they departed the scene of battle. Magic offered me the paltry sum of 15 credits as a ransom, but given he had just bought a silencer for his leader's autopistol and was equipped with things called 'stummers', he was fairly sure that he could rescue her by using the 'Rescue' scenario, designed for just such an eventuality. Partly because I knew how well suited Magic would be for this, and partly because I wanted my third game to be against someone else, I handed over said ganger for the 15 credits and avoided further conflict. Who said I can't be diplomatic?
Well, pretty much everyone who's met me, but that's another story.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
I'll Take Some Jam With That Last Action Apocalypse
Prologue: I like Tuesday evenings in Bugman's Bar. Stuff is cheaper, yet still delicious.
So, on Tuesday 12th July I loaded up all my old Necromunda models into an ancient Leman Russ Demolisher box and, feeling somewhat like I'd travelled back a decade, ventured into Games Workshop headquarters. I should mention at this point that the GW HQ is far from a generic head office. The buildings look like bunkers, with the giant, stylised two-headed eagle emblem of the Imperium Of Mankind placed prominently on the exterior walls. The inside of Bugman's Bar is kitted out to resemble what a dwarf bar might conceivably look like, and the purpose-built gaming room has ramparts around it. It's impressive.
I needed to repaint some names on my model bases (it's easier to remember who's who - very important for ensuring that you attribute achievements or injuries to the right people) and stick a couple of extra bits on to ensure that every model was carrying the appropriate weapons as listed on my gang sheet. While I did this, Magic played a quick game against his friend Ste, using only a few models each. Once done (Magic won), the Last Action Heroes lined up against the Apocalypse Girls.
We rolled two dice, and as I had the lower gang rating (a combined total of the cost of the gang in 'credits' - everyone has 1000 to start with, and different gang members and weapons cost different amounts - and experience points), it turned out that I got to choose the scenario we were fighting in. I chose a 'Scavengers' fight, where both gangs are competing for valuable loot across the tabletop battlefield. There's also a rule for this scenario where you can force your opponent to roll every turn and on a '1', one of their models might be dragged off and killed by a monster, but Magic and I mutually agreed that we'd be fighting in a monster-free part of the Underhive. So I lined up, outnumbered, outskilled and outgunned, and trying to remember rules about cover, what weapons do what and shoot how far, and what the best way to use them was.
Turns out I needn't have bothered. Sheer blind luck took care of all of that for me.
It's not that Magic's dice rolling was particularly unlucky - he made most of the easy rolls, failed most of the hard ones and got about 50/50 on the 3+ and 4+ rolls - it's just that mine was off the charts, particularly on the shots that counted. Arnold, my heavy, armed with a Heavy Stub Gun (effectively a heavy machine gun, with a lot of shots) kept making his 'only hits on a roll of 6' shooting rolls. Even better, he kept passing his ammo rolls (weapons in the Underhive are unreliable - if you roll a 6 to hit then there's a chance that it's your last shot, and a very small chance that your gun might explode). Even better than that, he was mainly shooting at Magic's heavy, who was armed with her own Heavy Stub Gun. As a result, not only was he doing damage (and thereby getting experience increases), but he was succeeding in preventing Magic's heavy from providing covering fire for the rest of the Apocalypse Girls. All in all, pretty tasty.
The luck didn't end there, as the rest of my gang showed that they had a fair eye for ballistics by taking out Magic's fighters at range. Eschers tend to be close combat fighters and Magic has several armed with hand-to-hand fighting weapons, with which they'd tear my rifle-armed Delaques apart. However, first they'd have to reach me, and with no covering fire they were left to charge into the barrels of my guns largely unsupported. Magic had three of the five loot counters in his possession at one point but several fighters out or badly injured, in contrast to one of my gang having received a flesh wound (which made him less good at shooting or fighting, but otherwise able to continue). Nevertheless he fought bravely on, and as a result in my next turn Jet, one of my juves (kid fighters - crap, with no experience) shot one of his loot-carrying fighters and took her out of the game, meaning that she dropped her precious cargo. Magic wisely chose discretion as the better part of valour after that, leaving me with three loot counters and a flesh wound for my troubles.
In the after-game rolls, it transpired that two of Magic's four 'out of action' fighters were dead! My leader Harrison had gunned down The Pheasant (I have no idea), while Jet's shot on Roxy Liquor was apparently a headshot, meaning my juve had caused a fatality with his first and only shot in the gang's cause. Clearly one to watch.
For my own rolls, most of my fighters got experience advances, some more than one. Harrison got a Leadership advance, meaning that my gang were less likely to run away without me doing it voluntarily, while Arnold got an increase in his Ballistic Skill, making him even more deadly with his Heavy Stubber. Jackie picked up the Marksman skill, meaning he could now fire beyond the normal maximum range of his weapon and could also pick his targets instead of having to fire at the closest enemy (so I upgraded him from shotgun to lasgun to give him a better range and make him into a sniper). Meanwhile, Jet picked up another Ballistic Skill increase and the Gunfighter skill, meaning he would now hit his enemies on a 4+ even without any bonuses for being in his weapon's short range, and if I equipped him with another pistol he could also fire once from each hand each turn, instead of one shot as is the case with most fighters.
So I gave him another pistol. Duh.
As to where I got the funds for this, my gang had a decent set of five territories that can bring in a reasonable amount of credits (most determined by rolling a dice and then multiplying it by ten), leaving me with the ability to distribute some hand flamers amongst the gang (one-shot flamethrowers - short range, but hellishly useful). I took these on the basis that most gangs will want to get close to my Delaques and chop them up instead of exchanging shots, so they might as well walk through a wall of fire to do it.
Everything done, it was time for another game. However, everyone else involved in the campaign was busy playing a massive multi-player game involving hunting monsters (and then shooting each other in the back), so there were no other opponents available. As a result - and with my gang now having the higher rating thanks to me killing two of Magic's fighters and wiping them from his roster, plus my impressive experience increases due to beating a higher-rated gang - we squared off again, this time in a standard Gang Fight "fight until someone runs away" scenario. Would my luck last? Only TIME~! would tell...
So, on Tuesday 12th July I loaded up all my old Necromunda models into an ancient Leman Russ Demolisher box and, feeling somewhat like I'd travelled back a decade, ventured into Games Workshop headquarters. I should mention at this point that the GW HQ is far from a generic head office. The buildings look like bunkers, with the giant, stylised two-headed eagle emblem of the Imperium Of Mankind placed prominently on the exterior walls. The inside of Bugman's Bar is kitted out to resemble what a dwarf bar might conceivably look like, and the purpose-built gaming room has ramparts around it. It's impressive.
I needed to repaint some names on my model bases (it's easier to remember who's who - very important for ensuring that you attribute achievements or injuries to the right people) and stick a couple of extra bits on to ensure that every model was carrying the appropriate weapons as listed on my gang sheet. While I did this, Magic played a quick game against his friend Ste, using only a few models each. Once done (Magic won), the Last Action Heroes lined up against the Apocalypse Girls.
We rolled two dice, and as I had the lower gang rating (a combined total of the cost of the gang in 'credits' - everyone has 1000 to start with, and different gang members and weapons cost different amounts - and experience points), it turned out that I got to choose the scenario we were fighting in. I chose a 'Scavengers' fight, where both gangs are competing for valuable loot across the tabletop battlefield. There's also a rule for this scenario where you can force your opponent to roll every turn and on a '1', one of their models might be dragged off and killed by a monster, but Magic and I mutually agreed that we'd be fighting in a monster-free part of the Underhive. So I lined up, outnumbered, outskilled and outgunned, and trying to remember rules about cover, what weapons do what and shoot how far, and what the best way to use them was.
Turns out I needn't have bothered. Sheer blind luck took care of all of that for me.
It's not that Magic's dice rolling was particularly unlucky - he made most of the easy rolls, failed most of the hard ones and got about 50/50 on the 3+ and 4+ rolls - it's just that mine was off the charts, particularly on the shots that counted. Arnold, my heavy, armed with a Heavy Stub Gun (effectively a heavy machine gun, with a lot of shots) kept making his 'only hits on a roll of 6' shooting rolls. Even better, he kept passing his ammo rolls (weapons in the Underhive are unreliable - if you roll a 6 to hit then there's a chance that it's your last shot, and a very small chance that your gun might explode). Even better than that, he was mainly shooting at Magic's heavy, who was armed with her own Heavy Stub Gun. As a result, not only was he doing damage (and thereby getting experience increases), but he was succeeding in preventing Magic's heavy from providing covering fire for the rest of the Apocalypse Girls. All in all, pretty tasty.
The luck didn't end there, as the rest of my gang showed that they had a fair eye for ballistics by taking out Magic's fighters at range. Eschers tend to be close combat fighters and Magic has several armed with hand-to-hand fighting weapons, with which they'd tear my rifle-armed Delaques apart. However, first they'd have to reach me, and with no covering fire they were left to charge into the barrels of my guns largely unsupported. Magic had three of the five loot counters in his possession at one point but several fighters out or badly injured, in contrast to one of my gang having received a flesh wound (which made him less good at shooting or fighting, but otherwise able to continue). Nevertheless he fought bravely on, and as a result in my next turn Jet, one of my juves (kid fighters - crap, with no experience) shot one of his loot-carrying fighters and took her out of the game, meaning that she dropped her precious cargo. Magic wisely chose discretion as the better part of valour after that, leaving me with three loot counters and a flesh wound for my troubles.
In the after-game rolls, it transpired that two of Magic's four 'out of action' fighters were dead! My leader Harrison had gunned down The Pheasant (I have no idea), while Jet's shot on Roxy Liquor was apparently a headshot, meaning my juve had caused a fatality with his first and only shot in the gang's cause. Clearly one to watch.
For my own rolls, most of my fighters got experience advances, some more than one. Harrison got a Leadership advance, meaning that my gang were less likely to run away without me doing it voluntarily, while Arnold got an increase in his Ballistic Skill, making him even more deadly with his Heavy Stubber. Jackie picked up the Marksman skill, meaning he could now fire beyond the normal maximum range of his weapon and could also pick his targets instead of having to fire at the closest enemy (so I upgraded him from shotgun to lasgun to give him a better range and make him into a sniper). Meanwhile, Jet picked up another Ballistic Skill increase and the Gunfighter skill, meaning he would now hit his enemies on a 4+ even without any bonuses for being in his weapon's short range, and if I equipped him with another pistol he could also fire once from each hand each turn, instead of one shot as is the case with most fighters.
So I gave him another pistol. Duh.
As to where I got the funds for this, my gang had a decent set of five territories that can bring in a reasonable amount of credits (most determined by rolling a dice and then multiplying it by ten), leaving me with the ability to distribute some hand flamers amongst the gang (one-shot flamethrowers - short range, but hellishly useful). I took these on the basis that most gangs will want to get close to my Delaques and chop them up instead of exchanging shots, so they might as well walk through a wall of fire to do it.
Everything done, it was time for another game. However, everyone else involved in the campaign was busy playing a massive multi-player game involving hunting monsters (and then shooting each other in the back), so there were no other opponents available. As a result - and with my gang now having the higher rating thanks to me killing two of Magic's fighters and wiping them from his roster, plus my impressive experience increases due to beating a higher-rated gang - we squared off again, this time in a standard Gang Fight "fight until someone runs away" scenario. Would my luck last? Only TIME~! would tell...
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Once More Into The Underhive
So, here's the deal.
As a teenager, I got very into the Games Workshop hobby, where people move small plastic and metal models around on a tabletop and enact battles with them, using dice and a bewildering variety of statistics to determine the outcomes. I'm not sure if this was because I was already a geek, or whether this was partially responsible for turning me into a geek. Since I'd read Lord of the Rings by the time I was nine, I suspect it was the former.
When I came to University in Nottingham, where Games Workshop is based, I stopped playing. I couldn't find anybody to play against. Weird, huh? Well, not really. The games nights that the local stores ran were on Tuesdays, and every Tuesday WITHOUT FAIL I went out to Rock City with my friends. I was not enough of a geek to sacrifice Crash in The Rig and The Basement for the hobby, so when my attempt to gain employment at a store failed, I effectively abandoned the hobby as none of my Nottingham acquaintances played.
Fast forward from 2001 to 2011. I haven't played anything Games Workshop-related for ten years. I'm twenty-nine, married, own my own home, I work in a homeless hostel, I'm in two bands and I've written three novels. My time is very nicely filled... and then I find out that Magic Tom, bassist in one of my bands and someone whom I am glad to say I've got to know much better over the last eight months or so, has joined a Necromunda campaign.
Necromunda was always my favourite game. Based around the Warhammer 40,000 rule system of combat in the far future, it is a small scale game of gang warfare based in the 'Underhive', a derelict and lawless place in the massive lower levels of an enormous self-contained city. It's personalised, and if you fight in a campaign then your gang gets better (or more injured) as you go on, allowing them to really develop a character of their own. The number of models you need is small and the games can be done relatively quickly. This was the hook that dragged me back in. I doubt I'll ever commit to the painting and financial commitment of one of the big games again, but give me a chance to break out my old models and give them some new names...
First, I needed to choose a House. I chose Delaques - pasty-skinned, hate bright light and wear trenchcoats. Basically, they're House Goth (except that they're bald instead of having long, flowing hair). Since all my gang members needed a name I named them after action movie stars and hey presto! The Last Action Heroes were born. Led up by Harrison (Ford) and with Arnie packing the heavy weaponry, the rest of the gang consisted of Bruce (Willis), Jackie (Chan), Jean-Claude (Van Damme), Sly (Stallone), Dwayne ("The Rock" Johnson) and Vin (Diesel) as gangers, and two juves, Shia (LeBouf) and Jet (Li).
It's Tuesday evening. Magic Tom has invited me to Bugman's Bar, the Games Workshop bar-cum-gaming room where the campaign is running. It's been running for a while already, so there are some big gangs about: if I fight one of them I'll likely get badly shot up, but on the upside I'll get massive experience bonuses meaning that my gang members get better much quicker than usual. However, Tom has said that my first fight can be against him, an Escher (all-female House) gang with only two fights under their belt. Although they'll be better than mine, they won't be *much* better. Now, to find out if my ability to roll dice and use tactics has faded over the last ten years...
As a teenager, I got very into the Games Workshop hobby, where people move small plastic and metal models around on a tabletop and enact battles with them, using dice and a bewildering variety of statistics to determine the outcomes. I'm not sure if this was because I was already a geek, or whether this was partially responsible for turning me into a geek. Since I'd read Lord of the Rings by the time I was nine, I suspect it was the former.
When I came to University in Nottingham, where Games Workshop is based, I stopped playing. I couldn't find anybody to play against. Weird, huh? Well, not really. The games nights that the local stores ran were on Tuesdays, and every Tuesday WITHOUT FAIL I went out to Rock City with my friends. I was not enough of a geek to sacrifice Crash in The Rig and The Basement for the hobby, so when my attempt to gain employment at a store failed, I effectively abandoned the hobby as none of my Nottingham acquaintances played.
Fast forward from 2001 to 2011. I haven't played anything Games Workshop-related for ten years. I'm twenty-nine, married, own my own home, I work in a homeless hostel, I'm in two bands and I've written three novels. My time is very nicely filled... and then I find out that Magic Tom, bassist in one of my bands and someone whom I am glad to say I've got to know much better over the last eight months or so, has joined a Necromunda campaign.
Necromunda was always my favourite game. Based around the Warhammer 40,000 rule system of combat in the far future, it is a small scale game of gang warfare based in the 'Underhive', a derelict and lawless place in the massive lower levels of an enormous self-contained city. It's personalised, and if you fight in a campaign then your gang gets better (or more injured) as you go on, allowing them to really develop a character of their own. The number of models you need is small and the games can be done relatively quickly. This was the hook that dragged me back in. I doubt I'll ever commit to the painting and financial commitment of one of the big games again, but give me a chance to break out my old models and give them some new names...
First, I needed to choose a House. I chose Delaques - pasty-skinned, hate bright light and wear trenchcoats. Basically, they're House Goth (except that they're bald instead of having long, flowing hair). Since all my gang members needed a name I named them after action movie stars and hey presto! The Last Action Heroes were born. Led up by Harrison (Ford) and with Arnie packing the heavy weaponry, the rest of the gang consisted of Bruce (Willis), Jackie (Chan), Jean-Claude (Van Damme), Sly (Stallone), Dwayne ("The Rock" Johnson) and Vin (Diesel) as gangers, and two juves, Shia (LeBouf) and Jet (Li).
It's Tuesday evening. Magic Tom has invited me to Bugman's Bar, the Games Workshop bar-cum-gaming room where the campaign is running. It's been running for a while already, so there are some big gangs about: if I fight one of them I'll likely get badly shot up, but on the upside I'll get massive experience bonuses meaning that my gang members get better much quicker than usual. However, Tom has said that my first fight can be against him, an Escher (all-female House) gang with only two fights under their belt. Although they'll be better than mine, they won't be *much* better. Now, to find out if my ability to roll dice and use tactics has faded over the last ten years...
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