Club Night - 15 pt. Warmachine refight.

Sean and myself found out that neither Keith nor Dave could make it to the club so we had a change of plan and switched over to Warmachine using exactly the same two forces as in our previous game.

My list - Menoth - 15 pts.

pKreoss
Castigator
2 x Revenger

Sean's list - Cygnar - 15 pts.

Stryker
Ironclad
Lancer
Charger
Black 13th Strike Team

This proved a much quicker game than our previous encounter. We were just that little bit faster with the rules but also managed to get a decisive result in less turns; last time was an attritional grind. I forgot to take photos apart from a couple of shots during turn 2 (3?) and the details are hazy.

Early in the game I moved Kreoss up behind a wall and cast Defender's Ward on him which I think I upkept for most of the game. The Revengers pressed the attack in front of Kreoss while the Castigator moved up the left flank to engage the 13th who ran across to the other flank leaving him stranded. He toasted one but made no other contribution to the game.

All the action was on the other flank. Stryker feated first and did a lot of damage to my Revengers, crippling several systems and leaving one without it's arc node and the other disrupted. This made all the difference when I feated with Kreoss straight after. Both Revengers moved through the huge gaps between the knocked down Cygnar 'jacks to attempt an assasination but neither could charge. If they'd been in any fit state they'd have got the job done but instead they left Stryker on one box!

The mists of time have clouded what happened next. I know a Revenger went down and maybe a Cygnar light  'jack. Stryker really needed to get out of dodge but instead stumbled into Kreoss' line of sight. Focus was duly camped and a boosted Immolation fest saw Stryker incinerated as befits all heretics.

Later I realised I had forgotten the +2 shield bonus for the Revengers for the entire game. This might have made all the difference in Stykrer's feat turn leaving them able to kill him for me in mine.

'Man' of the Match was awarded to the wall that sheltered Kreoss throughout the game.

Warmachine BatRep - 15 pt. Skirmish, Menoth vs. Cygnar

Sean came around for a day of gaming on Tuesday, giving me my first chance to use my new Menoth battlegroup that I had finished painting just the day before. My only previous game was at the club two weeks ago with the Cygnar and Cryx starter boxes. I am very much a newbie... Sean has been competing in a Journeyman League in Stafford and built up quite a collection of Cygnar; he was going to have to be rules guru for the day.

My list - Menoth - 15 pts.

Kreoss

Castigator

2 x Revenger

No min-maxing here, it's all the 'jacks I own and everything I had painted.

Sean's list - Cygnar - 15 pts.

Stryker

Ironclad

Lancer

Charger

Black 13th Strike Team

We played along a 4' x 2' strip at one end of my table though pretty much all the action would play out in a 1' square!. The photo's show the initial deployments.

I knew I couldn't pussyfoot around as Sean had shooty goodness and I had none. I ran everything forward inc. Kreoss so he didn't get left behind. This meant no defensive spells. I figured I'd be out of range for at least one turn. Wrong. My Castigator took a real pasting and I was struggling to see already how this could go my way. Turn 2 Kreoss walked and cast Defensive Ward on the Castigator (below).

Sean's Ironclad knocked Kreoss and both Revengers down but was pushed back and couldn't capitalise on the situation. The charger moved up to block the Castigator.

I then forgot to take photo's for several turns so things get a little sketchy here. Kreoss popped his feat and the Castigator slaughtered the Charger in fine style. The Revengers made little impression on the Ironclad however even with auto hitting but they made a start.

Sean tried to run Stryker and the 13th around the Castigator but they were trapped against the 'edge of the world' and were truly 'castigated' with Combustion. The Castigator had one arm functioning at this point and about 3 boxes left - turning his back on the Charger didn't seem to matter.

Stryker popped his feat but even so two of the 13th died in the conflagration though Stryker took just 3 damage... With no cortex the Castigator couldn't 'focus' on the job and finish Stryker for me. The Revengers pulled a neat maneuver and kept Kreoss covered.

Confident that Stryker could deal with the Castigator, Sean moved both his other 'jacks in for the kill. The Ironclad finished off one Revenger while the Charger started to take potshots at Kreoss.

Stryker fluffed it and so the Castigator used combustion again leaving Stryker on 1 box left! The final 13th chap was incinerated too.

Stryker's flames were extinguished and he finally eliminated the Castigator. The Ironclad advanced across the wreck of the Revenger and Kreoss finally got a pair and smacked him down, opening up a route to Stryker.

The game now devolved into a pair of duels. The first. the Charger attempting to shoot down Kreoss sheltering in the cover of a wreck, gradually chipping off boxes. The second, the Revenger trying to assassinate Stryker.

Stryker was also benefiting from a wreck and kept disrupting the Revenger. Without focus the Revenger couldn't get the single damage point I needed. Desperate times call for desperate measures; the Revenger moved to the side and Kreoss moved forward to get LoS. Two attempts at Immolation with every spare focus used on boosting and Stryker was gone. Phew! Win: 'caster kill!

The most fun I ever had with just four figures; I think I may be hooked on Warmachine already. I think Sean was going easy on me as it was my first 'proper' game, he could have done a lot more shooting before engaging but I was never going to enjoy THAT game. With less figures and Sean having ranged attacks I felt that Kreoss was very vulnerable and like I had no options. I'm looking forward now to upping the limit to 25 pts.

Club Night 26th April / 3rd May - Man O' War

The 26th was the night of the AGM for Stoke Wargames Group so we knew we weren't going to get much game time in and needed something quick to set up. Off to sea!

Keith agreed to put a game of Man O' War together for us and turned up with his lovely Bretonnian and Empire fleets as well as a gazillion boxes of accessories. Matt and I took the Brets., Tom and Ryan the Empire. The Brets. had a Galleon, 3 Corsairs and 6 Buccaneers and the Empire had a Greatship, 3 Wolfships and 6 Wargalleys. Our MoW was 'heavy timbered' and theirs had a 'crows nest'. We both had a wizard.

We only managed a handful of turns on the first night but it wasn't a good start for us Brets. One of us (I'm not naming names, but it wasn't me (I made all the other mistakes)) turned our Corsairs into the wind and they took a pasting while they struggled to turn back out again. Bizarrely, MoW has no tacking rules...

I hadn't got my camera so a few phone shots will have to show how things were at home time.

In the South things looked OK. A plunging Buccaneer catapult shot sent a Wargalley down to the bottom of the sea and our Galleon was moving up in support.

Things were 'grim up North' however. You can see our paralysed Corsairs and in the distance our mostly dismasted Buccaneers. Oh dear...

Seven days later. Ryan couldn't make it so Tom took sole responsibility for slaughtering the remaining Brets.. In the close quarter fighting the Empire ship's oars and forward firing guns gave them a huge advantage. We took a few with us and had the satisfaction of sinking their Greatship but by the end of play all we had left was our Galleon; crippled, toothless and on fire. (Oh... and one Buccaneer heading for home!)

 

Good game. Thanks, Keith.

Club Night 19th April - Bolt Action: Hold Until Relieved III

Turn 5

The Dingo continued to pile the hurt onto the squad pinned just in front of it (aided by the mortar)while the nearby Pz IVH carried on ignoring it.

The 222 was performing a similar trick against the poor remnants of a British section...

The real drama started on the German right as a long range 'schreck shot lit up a Sherman; the Ronson rule guaranteeing it's distruction.

The Firefly took more pins from the opposing panzer effectively taking it out of the game

Turn 6

Boom! The right flank Sherman was set on fire and went 'all inferno' (Ronson!) thanks to the continuing efforts of the Pz IVH. In the graveyard the pinned Brits failed to make their dash to the objective. Not so the German platoon HQ who sneaked up to claim it, using it as cover.

The central Pz IVH rolled up and the German MMG went into ambush covering the road.

Oblivious to the now ineffectual Firefly the right flank Pz IVH moved to cover the objective as the 'schreck team eyed up the British mortar position.

If the game had ended now the Germans would have won, but no, the dice gods said play on.

Turn 7 (Final Turn)

There was no way the German HQ could be winkled out of their position behind the bunker so the only hope for the Brits was to contest the objective for a draw.

The graveyard section refused to move again, (probably saving their lives) so it was down to the fresh section that had moved in from the left flank. If they took the shortest route they would be Advancing (6") through a hedge and would fall short. However, Matt had correctly eyeballed the distance and was planning on Running (12") around the hedge to reach the objective but alas, the next order die was German... This allowed Keith to display the low, underhand, gamey sort of cunning that makes him ideal to play the 'vile Hun'.

He drove a Pz IVH up to the hedge and parked with his 'bumper' against it. The Brits now had to go around the tank and could no longer reach the objective!

 Game over. German victory!

 

Thus ended our biggest and best game of Bolt Action yet. We all enjoyed it and (at least up to turn 6...) felt like realistic tactics were used and rewarded. A club noobie who joined in liked it so much he invested in a whole 20mm WWII army at Salute the next weekend!

Several of us, me included, expressed disatisfaction with the Recce rule. I know I've seen it slated on a few forums. The ability to repeatedly escape from fire encourages unrealistic offensive action. House rules incoming...

Club Night 19th April - Bolt Action: Hold Until Relieved II

Turn 3

The British pushed forward aggressively on their right flank trying to move into the graveyard which would make an excellent jump off point for taking the objective. A Sherman moved into the cover of the wall to trade potshots with the Pz IVH opposite. The Germans were content to hold the hedge line along the road and exchange shots.

The British were also the main players on the other flank. The section that had been cowering behind the house started to move towards the centre and a Sherman along with the PIAT team moved into a forward position. The German Panzerschreck team arrived and moved up their right flank covering the Pz IVH that was sitting there engaging the second Sherman and Firefly.

 

Turn 4

 

The British surged into the graveyard and the Sherman accompanying them continued to unsuccessfully engage the Pz IVH, taking a couple of pins. The cheeky Sdkfz 222 moved up again putting a few rounds into the troops that hadn't made the cover of the walls.

 

Shortly after, a third Pz IVH arrived which took up a position covering the objective, totally ignoring the Dingo that was taking point blank shots at the infantry nearby, (knowing that it could simply 'recce away'.)

The Pz IVH on the German right managed to put a pin on the Firefly and the 'schreck team continued their wide sweep

 

Part III will relate the final three turns. Maybe later tonight, maybe not...

Club Night 12th April - Bolt Action: Hold Until Relieved

After painting up the new vehicles I was itching to get them into a game. Our three previous games of Bolt Action were a larger British regular force against a smaller veteran German group but because I'd mainly painted Germans the British were now seriously 'outpointed'.

So for our fourth game the situation was reversed, British vets. against German regulars (mostly old men and boys. This allowed me to squeeze in all my new toys - our biggest game yet.

Scenario: Hold Until Relieved

Germans (Keith and John) 1703 pts	British (Barry and Matt) 1703 pts
HQ	HQ
Regular	Veteran
Sdkfz 250/1	AFO
Regular	Regular
Squad 1	Squad 1
Regular	Veteran
Squad 2	Squad 2
Regular	Veteran
Squad 3	Squad 3
Regular	Veteran
MMG 1	MMG
Regular	Veteran
MMG 2	Medium Mortar
Regular	Veteran
PzSchreck	Firefly
Regular	Veteran
PzIVH	Sherman 75mm
Regular	Veteran
PzIVH	Sherman 75mm
Regular	Veteran
PzIVH	PIAT
Regular	Veteran
75mm Pak 40	Dingo A/C
Regular	Veteran
Maultier
Regular
Sdkfz 222
Regular

Deployment

The Germans set up one squad in a walled graveyard near to the bunker objective and a MMG in the first floor of a building overlooking the bunker. The British then deployed their infantry on three sides of the Germans, only leaving the route to their baseline open.

Turn 1

The British opened the turn by firing their mortar at the graveyard squad; 6! Half the squad dead...
It was the Germans however making all the moves as their 1st wave came on. Taking advantage of the Brits' temporary dearth of AT capability the Sdkfz 222 cheekily rolled up to point blank range and riddle a squad on the British right, causing a couple of fatalities. The squad weighed up the chances of a successful assault and fled around the corner of a hedge instead. A Pz IV arrived on the German right.

Photos from the end of turn 1. Two whole table shots (6' x 7'); first from British left, second from the right.

 

The British left flank cowering behind a house.

German 1st wave arriving...

 

Turn 2

 

The Pz IV went into ambush and incredibly 10 of the first 11 dice pulled were German allowing a relentless advance across the whole front. They did fail a number of reserve roles however so the 'Schreck and the other Panzers were delayed. The 222 repeated it's point blank attacjk but only managed a pin, even with the help of the first floor MMG. Random chance had turned the game into IGoUGo and it was now the British turn!

 

All the British reserves arrived and one of the Shermans opened fire on the 222 but it retreated and hid (recce.). The Pz IV in ambush fired on a Sherman arriving on the opposite flank which returned fire, both missed. Lots of fire was poured into the graveyard but to no effect. This included a cheeky run by the Dingo trying to emulate the 222 but the hard cover of the walls resisted it's efforts.

 

End of turn 2. The Germans advance...

 

Unless they're hiding...

Whole table. Good luck spotting the differences...

The Sherman that saw off the Sdkfz 222 and infantry attacking the graveyard.

The cheeky Dingo.

Pak 40 moves into position.

 

Setting up took a lot of time and it was now 11 p.m. (we talk a LOT) so we called it a night. We'll finish this Friday. Watch this space.