Monday, March 23, 2009

From the Mountain Pass... Part 1

The sun had rose up from the earth, the morning light giving life to what was once dead casting away the shadow of the night. Mongke steadied his steed taking in the beautiful sight as the sun rose into the sky. His bravest warriors had followed him on an expedition to claim a land that they might call their own. His goblin scouts had told them of a nearby camp of orcs and goblins, their camp fires and raucous behavior giving them away.

Mongke had sent an envoy but it had not returned yet he worried for the safety of his men under his command. His worst fears were confirmed one of his riders came riding in on his wolf bruised and beaten. The goblin tried to speak but was having great difficulty Mongke put his hand upon the goblin's head and said "have no fear brother we march out against these savages.." as he soberly donned his helmet and marched to war.


Well this was my first game of the escalation league starting at 1000pts I was wondering how many games I could get into this bracket seeing as I had no reliable way of getting to the store but I later found out I would have nothing to worry about..

My list:

Mongke (orc big boss) w/ spear, light armor, boar, enchanted shield and boss best 'at
Bartan (orc big boss w/ spear light armor, boar, bsb and mork's spirit totem

Orcs x25 w/ shields and full command
Orcs x25 w/ shields and full command
Goblin Wolf Riders x5 w/ spears and musician
Goblin Wolf Riders x5 w/ spears and musician

Goblin Squig Hoppers x5
Orc "knights/heavy lancers" (boar boys) x5 w/ spears and musician

Enemy List:
Goblin Big Boss w/ ?
Goblin Shaman w/ lvl 2 and ?

Night Goblins x20 w/ full command fanatic
Night Goblins x20 w/ full command fanatic
Night Goblins x20 w/ full command archers fanatic
Night Goblins x20 w/ full command archers
Goblin Spider Riders x10 w/ full command

Black Orcs x10 w/ full command
Troll

To be fair my opponent was limited by funds/time and the skulls pass set though i'm glad to see that the next points jump he had more freedom and money to make a more effective and fun list for himself.

The armies were arrayed against each other and the mountains were crawling with hundreds of robed goblins forming a rather ragged battle line. They were bolstered by some black orcs they must of bribed of coerced to join their army. On the other side of the battlefield stood Mongke's army forming a solid center line with their fast elements on their flanks ready to harry the enemy.

Mongke spoke in a controlled but loud booming voice to his men "Do not worry men! Their numbers seem inexhaustible but they lack discipline and martial prowess! Onwards to victory!". His army responded by marching solemnly forward heedless to the goblin's superior numbers ready to fight and die for their Khan.

The lack of goblin discipline showed early in the battle as their line advanced haphazardly towards Mongke's army. The brave goblin wolf riders and squig hoppers were given the order to draw out any fanatics and give ground to any enemy that opposed them to separate units from their battle line. This worked wonderfully as fanatics flew out of their units far from the main battle line wrapping their chains around their necks and crashing into trees before they could do any discernible damage.

The spider riders decided a head long charge into Mongke's regiment realizing their folly too late as the orcs simply shrugged off their blows. Several died before they called for a rout despite the swiftness of their steeds they were run down by the orcs. Who were then harassed by bow fire from the hilltops above, despite their torrent of fire few orcs fell as they covered their advance with their large shields.

In the center the Bartan and his regiment smashed through the black orc mercenaries running them down as their courage faltered. The shaman was caught off guard and could not stammer the words of power to stop the advance as Bartan ran through his own unit and drove them to the ground.

Elsewhere the orc heavy lancers were beleaguered by the goblin general and his massive cohort. Despite their best efforts cleaving down foe after foe their enemies were too numerous and they retreated. The goblin general laughed for his cronies to see but soon stopped when the field of battle was as silent as the grave. Most of his army had been destroyed their bodies laying all over the field and with that he called retreat.


This was a relatively fast game as far as thinking went for me, I set out to not be mangled by his fanatics using my squig hoppers and wolf riders as bait. After drawing them out I waited a turn for them to either crash into terrain or move out of the way as I reformed my battle line. Almost everything went to plan except my heavy lancers (boar boys) bouncing off the generals unit! I figured between 10 attacks (boars and riders) hitting and killing on 2+'s I would get the 5-6 kills I would need. Instead I believe i only killed about 4? or so and ran from combat for shame.

In this battle despite him having a level 2 magician his unit squabbled 3 turns in a row! He didn't squabble a fourth turn because Bartan and his unit charged them and ran straight through them. I was lucky that he did not get a chance to cast anything, despite me having 5 dispel dice you never know when you aren't going to roll like crap..

At the end of the battle he had:
goblin general w/ 20 night goblins full command
night goblin archers x20 w/ full command
night goblins x20 w/ spears

I had:
Mongke w/ Orcs x25 full command
Bartan w/ Orcs x25 full command
I also captured 3 banners and we contested on table quarters

Mongke looked out at the countless bodies of goblins that littered the ground there were few survivors that would retreat into the mountains. It did not have to come to this but their misguided greenskin cousins could never understand. As night drew campsites were set up and fires were lit in preparation for the long journey to new lands... a land they would call their own.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Graveyard Summoning!

A week or two ago Jon and myself played a game of Pulp City, a game where super heros and villains clash in the city streets of the 1980's. We picked up this game last year in Gencon Indy, as always I scouted the game months ahead of time and simply led my two friends (Jon and Hoj) to their table. It took a whole miniature or so before Jon and Hoj were already trying to think up how to split up the starter sets.

Though we have had the game for a fair few months our group tends to be quite diversified and there are always more than a handful of gaming systems being played at any one time. This is an account of my 3rd game(?).

It was a level 5 encounter, in pulp city a supreme (hero/villain) is given a number value based on their abilities. So far there are only level 1's and 2's out but soon level 3's will be released. Level 1 supremes tend to be small blitzer or support type of characters, most of the time they have few abilities that can't take a punch too well. Level 2 supremes tend to be greatly varied in their abilities, some are the traditional bruisers while others tend to be better at range using blasts of energy to win the day.

My "team" consisted of..

Hellsmith, Level: 2 Supreme - think something of a fallen/forgotten greek god with a runic hammer and you aren't that far off.

Nuke, Level: 2 Supreme - is a powerful melee opponent made up of nuclear energy held together by a suit of experimental armor.

Mourn, Level: 1 Supreme - hailing for the necroplane or the realm of nightmares/death i'm not quite sure how to use him to be honest but he is an awesome model.

For their resources/equipment I gave hellsmith his "hell hammer", nuke his "reinforced suit" and mourn "hired guns"

Jon had:

Solar, Level: 2 Supreme - a german superhero who uses the power of the sun.


Ace of Wraiths
, Level: 2 Supreme - an old gunslinger who won a lot more than he bargained for when he bested the devil in a hand of poker.

Red Riding Hoodoo, Level: 1 Supreme - mix little red riding hood and voodoo you can't be that far off!

Jon's Resources were: solar's "tiara", ace of wraiths "deck of cards" and red riding hoodoo's "zombie wolf"


The Scenario:




We both took a good look at the terrain and decided that the game took place in a run down neighborhood by a cemetery. The villians need to gain access to the crypt for some nefarious purpose while the heros would try and hold them off.

We placed the 5 civilians and said they were worth scenario points (1 for each heros would try and keep them alive villians wanted to kill them) holding the cemetery would be worth 3 points also. Whoever won the initiative for the turn was allowed to move d6 civilians and his opponent would move the rest if any.

The Game!

Hellsmith wastes no time charging forward with such bravado! Nuke decides to creep up slowly avoiding any direct fire from Solar or Ace of Wraiths while Hoodoo decides to hide in the cemetery for protection.



Mourn takes his hired guns and hides among the ruins careful to alert the zombie wolf or Ace of Wraiths suspicions...



Hellsmith approaches the car attempting to take some cover knowing full well the deadly energy blasts that both Solar and Ace of Wraiths have at their disposal...



Solar rushes to the car that Hellsmith was hiding behind and lifts it over his head throwing it at the colossal Hellsmith who simply shrugs off the damage and tosses aside the car.



Nuke decides to dash forward between Ace of Wraiths and Solar and claps his hands unleashing a apocalyptic wave of radiation! Which hurts both heros and kills a civilian!



Nuke's victory was short lived as both Solar and Ace of Wraiths combined their powers to send Nuke away for good. His body dissipating in a nimbus of nuclear energy and a bright flash. Hellsmith smashed down his ornate hammer sending tremors through the ground which knocked Solar off his feet! Next he assaulted Ace of Wraiths and knocked him out of action after he was severely wounded by Mourn's hired guns.



Solar then managed to get up and easily handle the two hired guns before Hellsmith's war bellow caught him off guard. Hellsmith seemed all but unstoppable knocking out Solar and Hoodoo's zombie wolf! But even the mightiest villain must fall as Hoodoo used all her power to put an end to Hellsmith's bloody reign!



I had a lot of fun during the game as my villains tried to gain access to the graveyard but the lowliest of hero's took down the bruiser which was Hellsmith! The only thing I would have liked to change was either use twilight or gentlemen as my level 1 supreme as I am still looking how to properly use mourn.. but other than that i'm glad that my favorite figure (Hellsmith) managed to carry the day for the villains till the very end!