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...
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