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...
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