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...
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