So. I had captured Alphonse of Bouche's Babes but James wasn't interested in ransoming him back, instead deciding that he wanted to rescue him. I'd brought in a tidy amount of income from my previous game as I'd rolled well for my territories that gave me variable amounts of cash, but instead of splashing out between fights I was saving up with the notion of getting another heavy and a suitably impressive weapon to give him. As a result my gang lined up for this fight with exactly the same equipment and personnel as last time.
The Rescue mission is something of a complicated one, but basically involves the defender (me) having as many fighters as I can roll on one die (which turned out to be 5) against as many fighters as the attacker (James) could roll on two dice (which turned out to be 11... or actually 7, as that was all of his gang). James's aim was to get one of his models into base-to-base contact with his captured Alphonse model (which I unsportingly put at the top of a building) to free him. In the meantime, my sentries would wander around randomly until the alarm was sounded, which at a very basic level was more likely to happen the more powerful the weapon was that James fired.
James clearly stated that he wasn't going to sneak around: he intended to take out all of my sentries as fast as possible, on the basis that although I could bring on the rest of my gang as reinforcements once the alarm was sounded there were only three more of them (Bruce, my slow, limping fighter, Arnold the heavy, and Jason the new juve) and if the rest of my gang were already down he could probably deal with them in short order. So with a blaze of shots and a yell of warcries Bouche's Babes gunned down and charged into close combat with (and then cut down) four out of five of my sentries, leaving Steven face down on the ground and crawling away, and only Sly upright and healthy. The writing appeared to be on the wall for the Last Action Heroes; was this a sequel too far?
As it turned out: no. I was able to bring on my reinforcements, who did very little - Bruce got shot at long rang by James's heavy, Arnold with his new ballistic skill of 5 rolled a 1 to hit and Jason also failed, meaning the intended target charged into close combat with Arnold, cut him down and then moved on to Jason. Sly, however, was the saviour - he put down on of James's fighters in one turn, then fired two more shots out at Bouche himself and his companion in the next, wounding Bouche and putting the other one down. These casualties meant that James had to take a Bottle test at the start of his go... and despite the heavy losses inflicted on their opponents, they decided Alphonse wasn't worth that much and turned to run.
This was an all-around good result for me. While I picked up a couple of injuries (most annoyingly to Jet, a leg wound meaning that my gunfighter with his close-ranged weaponry will now be limping into position, although his ability to run and hide with his Dive skill counteracts that slightly), I also got additional skills. All of my gang with long-ranged weapons can now hit on a roll of 2+ if their enemy is standing in the open, and Harrison picked up another advance meaning he has a Ballistic Skill of 6 so can hit on a 2+ even if his enemy is behind partial cover. The other good thing was that as James's gang rating was higher than mine I got a 'giant killer' bonus of money. Finally, James and I came to an agreement - I would give him Alphonse back for 30 creds and his weapons, which was a better deal than I'd get by ransoming the fighter into slavery. This gave me a tidy sum of money plus a spare shotgun and sword.
In the interests of developing my gang I picked up a new heavy, named Dolph. I initially equipped him with this newly-acquired shotgun ("Warning shot! ...a little low") with a view to buying him a heavy stubber as well (which I should be able to do after my next game), but I have now reconsidered. Arnold's head wound makes him unpredictable, and to avoid the effects he needs to roll below his Leadership (7) on two dice at the start of each go. If he hangs around with Harrison he can use Harrison's leadership characteristic of 9 for this test, but if he moves then he can't shoot his heavy stubber. Also, his Old Battle Wound means that he misses each fight on a roll of 1 beforehand, and I don't like the idea of my heavy support being missing or potentially un-useful. As a result I have decided to give Arnold's heavy stubber to Dolph, who's only an average shot but will at least turn up and not walk into walls, and will buy a plasma gun for Arnold. This means he can move and fire it in the same turn, and keep close to Harrison to use his leadership to try and prevent himself from acting Stupid or Frenzied.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Three-Way Dance. Well, fight.
After last week's disaster, I *had* planned to play a quick shoot-out scenario against Ste and his Cawdor this week to get some quick experience and income with only a few models actually being at risk of death, but Nick (who's running the campaign) decreed that all fights this week would be Scavengers missions (like my very first game). Since there was an odd number of players, I lined up against Ste and James (my ally from last week - presumably we both blamed each other for our disastrous loss) in a three-way fight over the available loot.
I had very clear objectives for this game. With most of the loot counters placed in the centre of the board I was at risk of being caught between James, who had set up opposite me, and Ste, who was positioned on the board edge to my left (Ste had rolled lowest and so got the worst setup zone). As a result I intended to grab what I could quickly and run away as soon as reasonably possible, or hang back and let the other two kill each other before mopping up.
My fortunes were again somewhat mixed. James's first turn didn't affect me as he couldn't see to shoot. New juve Jason grabbed a loot counter on the first turn, but Sly, sent up to support him, missed the Ste's fighters with both of his shots despite needing only a 4+ to hit. Heavy Arnold hit another of Ste's gangers at very long range but failed to wound his target. Harrison, on the other hand, showed how it should be done by hitting one of James's fighters with his boltgun and taking the unfortunate straight out of action. Ste managed to take juve Jason down and also brought his fighters who were turning up late through his Tunnels territory on near me, so in my next turn Sly beat a hasty retreat and then managed to wound the fighter that Arnold had failed to hurt last turn. Dwayne also managed to grab a loot counter and Harrison continued his awesomeness by hitting another of James's fighters and taking this one straight out of action as well!
Then things started to go downhill. Ste managed to wound Arnold and take him down, James set up his heavy with heavy stubber on 'Overwatch' ready to shoot Jet the moment he made a move towards a loot counter, and he also managed to take Dwayne down (which caused Steven to lose his nerve and run away). As we were randomising turn sequences every go (instead of the same person always going last) James got two turns between me getting one turn and my next, which meant his incredibly fast fighter (Moushey, I believe) could run up and grab two more loot counters from under my nose and then run away again. With three fighters out of eight down and another cowering in terror, one unable to move without drawing an unwelcome amount of fire and a whole mob of Ste's Cawdor approaching from my left, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and ran away voluntarily, leaving the other two to fight over the remains (Ste eventually won when James's gang ran away despite his wishes).
Jason rolled a 4 and so was not seriously injured after the battle, meaning he kept his loot counter. Arnold rolled a 3 and so went out of action at the end of the game, taking a serious injury (a Head Wound, meaning not only does he have an Old Battle Wound that means he won't turn up for a fight on a roll of 1, but he is now at risk of being either Frenzied or Stupid instead, neither of which is useful for someone whom I want to stand still and shoot at people). Dwayne also went out of action (dropping his loot) and ended up with Impressive Scars (which actually boots his Leadership characteristic, meaning he's less likely to run away like Steven did when Dwayne himself got shot).
With regard to experience, we calculated it by getting the average of our opponent's gang ratings. I was the lowest-rated gang, so I got a nice bonus from facing off against them. My leader Harrison notched up another increase to his Ballistic Skill, meaning he'll hit on a 2+ against an opponent in the open. Arnold followed suit to the same degree, while Jet picked up an extra attack (useful, since he's armed with pistols and therefore likely to get into close combat at some point). Sly gained a point of Initiative (not the most useful advance in the world, but I'll take it), Dwayne gained the Sneak Up skill (really not that useful), Steven picked up another Ballistic Skill advance as well making him just as good a shot as Harrison and Arnold, and Jason the new juve gained a point of Weapon Skill meaning he was less likely to die in hand-to-hand combat.
I got a goodly income from the game (boosted by a decent income from my solitary loot counter)... and also ended up capturing one of James's fighters: Alphonse, taken out of action by a Harrison one-shot-and-out special. I was willing to ransom him back, but James decided that he wanted to play the Rescue scenario instead...
I had very clear objectives for this game. With most of the loot counters placed in the centre of the board I was at risk of being caught between James, who had set up opposite me, and Ste, who was positioned on the board edge to my left (Ste had rolled lowest and so got the worst setup zone). As a result I intended to grab what I could quickly and run away as soon as reasonably possible, or hang back and let the other two kill each other before mopping up.
My fortunes were again somewhat mixed. James's first turn didn't affect me as he couldn't see to shoot. New juve Jason grabbed a loot counter on the first turn, but Sly, sent up to support him, missed the Ste's fighters with both of his shots despite needing only a 4+ to hit. Heavy Arnold hit another of Ste's gangers at very long range but failed to wound his target. Harrison, on the other hand, showed how it should be done by hitting one of James's fighters with his boltgun and taking the unfortunate straight out of action. Ste managed to take juve Jason down and also brought his fighters who were turning up late through his Tunnels territory on near me, so in my next turn Sly beat a hasty retreat and then managed to wound the fighter that Arnold had failed to hurt last turn. Dwayne also managed to grab a loot counter and Harrison continued his awesomeness by hitting another of James's fighters and taking this one straight out of action as well!
Then things started to go downhill. Ste managed to wound Arnold and take him down, James set up his heavy with heavy stubber on 'Overwatch' ready to shoot Jet the moment he made a move towards a loot counter, and he also managed to take Dwayne down (which caused Steven to lose his nerve and run away). As we were randomising turn sequences every go (instead of the same person always going last) James got two turns between me getting one turn and my next, which meant his incredibly fast fighter (Moushey, I believe) could run up and grab two more loot counters from under my nose and then run away again. With three fighters out of eight down and another cowering in terror, one unable to move without drawing an unwelcome amount of fire and a whole mob of Ste's Cawdor approaching from my left, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and ran away voluntarily, leaving the other two to fight over the remains (Ste eventually won when James's gang ran away despite his wishes).
Jason rolled a 4 and so was not seriously injured after the battle, meaning he kept his loot counter. Arnold rolled a 3 and so went out of action at the end of the game, taking a serious injury (a Head Wound, meaning not only does he have an Old Battle Wound that means he won't turn up for a fight on a roll of 1, but he is now at risk of being either Frenzied or Stupid instead, neither of which is useful for someone whom I want to stand still and shoot at people). Dwayne also went out of action (dropping his loot) and ended up with Impressive Scars (which actually boots his Leadership characteristic, meaning he's less likely to run away like Steven did when Dwayne himself got shot).
With regard to experience, we calculated it by getting the average of our opponent's gang ratings. I was the lowest-rated gang, so I got a nice bonus from facing off against them. My leader Harrison notched up another increase to his Ballistic Skill, meaning he'll hit on a 2+ against an opponent in the open. Arnold followed suit to the same degree, while Jet picked up an extra attack (useful, since he's armed with pistols and therefore likely to get into close combat at some point). Sly gained a point of Initiative (not the most useful advance in the world, but I'll take it), Dwayne gained the Sneak Up skill (really not that useful), Steven picked up another Ballistic Skill advance as well making him just as good a shot as Harrison and Arnold, and Jason the new juve gained a point of Weapon Skill meaning he was less likely to die in hand-to-hand combat.
I got a goodly income from the game (boosted by a decent income from my solitary loot counter)... and also ended up capturing one of James's fighters: Alphonse, taken out of action by a Harrison one-shot-and-out special. I was willing to ransom him back, but James decided that he wanted to play the Rescue scenario instead...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)