2017 6x6 Challenge - June

Games Played in June

One on One - SAGA AAR

Pining for the Fords - SAGA AAR

The Final Campaign - SAGA AAR

The Final Campaign - SAGA AAR

Unable to stop the Vikings at the river crossing, Louis was forced to take up a defensive position at a nearby town. The ramshackle wall provided some defense, and its gate was reinforced by the defenders. A single unit of knights was tasked with outflanking the Vikings, hoping to strike at some point during the northmen's assault. 

As the crossbowmen waited in cover, the Vikings approached the wall, eager to get the battle over with and return home before the winter became too unbearable.

The Viking hearthguard advanced. The crossbowmen fired volley after volley, hoping to take down some of the enemy before they could reach the gate. Floki, seeing some of the Norman knights had gone missing, held his warriors back.

The Vikings continued to advance on the gate.

One unit of Viking hearthguard fell, as the other began hacking and beating at the gate.

Louis held his men back, hoping his reinforcements would arrive before the gate fell.

The sound of thundering hooves announced the arrival of the knights, who ran down the surprised and unguarded Floki.

But even as the Viking Warlord was run down, the gate fell. The Vikings' roars of victory quickly turned to cries of surprise as the other Norman knights charged, forcing the northmen back. A unit of Viking warriors was also felled by the Norman reinforcements.

Incensed by the attack, the Viking Hearthguard leaped back into the fray, trading blows before being routed. With only a single unit of Viking warriors remaining, the northerners decided to retreat. Floki was found and dragged away from the burh.

Despite this final win, the Vikings won the campaign with a massive score of 12 victory points to the Norman's 4. Floki would return home to fame and fortune, while Louis was forced to slink back to his lands to deal with the ongoing revolt.

Pining for the Fords - SAGA AAR

With their Warlord injured and winter settling over the lands, the Normans were forced to retreat from the Viking's onslaught. But Floki wasn't about to let his opponent slip away.

The two forces met at an abandoned village, with its fields untended and covered by snow. A river, flowing fast enough to keep from freezing but still deadly cold, meant that both warbands would need to cross by the flat bridges.

Thank's to Floki's Penny ability, the Normans were forced to sit back and watch as the Viking shield wall advanced.

The Vikings set foot on the bridges, axes and swords thumping against their shields.

Mutual destruction followed a clash between Norman and Viking hearthguards on the right.

The Vikings continued to move across the bridges. As Louis led a hearthguard unit forward, another unit of knights charged into a group of Viking warriors. Both sides were bloodied by the combat.

Bodies of men and horses continued to pile up around the bridges. Both sides had lost most of their hearthguard, with only the Warlord and a few warriors remaining.

Louis was left alone on the right side of the village while Floki faced down a unit of crossbowmen with a lone remaining warrior.

As the Viking Warrior ducked behind a house and Floki savaged the crossbowmen, the game ended with the Vikings winning, 4 victory points to 3.

With another loss, the peasants in the area revolted. The resulting loss in men and reputation, along with casualties suffered, dealt a major blow to Louis' power in the region. Floki, on the other hand, continued to bask in his repeated victories.

Endgame - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

For the final week, the various gangs fighting in Armageddon came together for one final battle. 

This seven player game saw Orks, Chaos, Grey Knights, Skitarii, Inquisition, Tau, and a Vindicare Assassin, with alliances and betrayals constantly shifting as player's fortunes rose and fell with the dice. The last remaining kill team on the table (apart from the Vindicare) would be the campaign's overall winner

The early part of the game saw most of the combat focus on John's Chaos, easily the scariest of the factions on the table thanks to its equipment and skill. Meanwhile, the Skitarii and Inquisition warbands skirmished with the Tau. The Chaos kill team was the first to bottle due to casualties.

As the game progressed, the focus shifted to the Orks, who had managed to escape attention up until that point. Once the guns were turned on the greenskins, however, their numbers quickly began to dwindle.

The Tau bottled next, and the remaining Grey Knights were killed off and removed from the table. Once their Nob fell, the Orks also retreated, leaving only the Skitarii with a single model, and the Inquisition with two. The Vindicare ended up taking a shot at the lone Mechanicum soldier, taking him out with a Hellfire round and ending the game with the Inquisition winning the campaign.

It was a fun game and campaign, and it has energized the group for the arrival of 8th Edition (which I will not be taking part of, but I wish them the best).

Ride the Tide - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

Last Wednesday, the SWAg group gathered for the last night before the big "end game."

Mike and I showed up first, and we rolled the Ambush scenario, with the Orks surprising a group of Grey Knights in the ruins of a hive.

The sheer weight of fire from the Orks (and some poor rolling on Mike's part) saw all of the Grey Knights fall over the course of the battle, apart from the Terminator Mike had hired. It was only towards the end of the battle that Mike realized the Orks had no guns or close-combat weapons that could hurt the Terminator. The walking tank lumbered out of the ruins, psycannon blasting away at Orks in cover and daemonhammer turning the charging boys into piles of steaming, crimson jelly. It was only a failed bottle test that likely managed to save the Orks from losing the game.

I then played against John and his Chaos warband in a Kill Team Fight.

This was a long, drawn out affair with plenty of casualties as both sides engaged with tons of lead and flashing blades. The game ended when the Orks failed a bottle check while the Chaos warband had only a single Cultist still up.

Feeling Green - Shadow War: Armageddon AAR

With the Harlequins shelved, it was up to Gutchoppa and his mob of boyz to take the fight to the ruins of Armageddon. 

My first game was against John and his Chaos kill team. The mission was Hit and Run, with the Orks attacking. My kill team needed to destroy a Promethium tank that John had placed atop the landing pad. 

The Orks managed to destroy the tank in the first turn thanks to a full-auto blast from a Spanner with a big shoota. The Orks then scrambled to get off the table as more Chaos Marines moved onto the table. Half the kill team was taken out in close combat with the servants of the Dark Gods, but as the greenskins managed to avoid bottling, they technically "won" the mission. And that's the best kind of winning.

I then faced Zach and his Inquisition warband. We rolled up Ambush, with the Orks defending. The Orks failed to counter-ambush, and had to crowd into the middle of the table.

The game went back and forth, with the Inquisition taking the first bottle check. But the Inquisitor kept his retinue in line, engaging the Ork Nob in close combat. Eventually the Orks' nerve failed, and the greenskins broke, leaving the Inquisition victorious.

Next was Chris and his Skitarii. The game was Kill Team Fight.

Both sides engaged with long-range fire. The Orks got lucky and managed to take out the Skitarii sniper in the first turn. The Nob led most of the Kill team around the right side of the table, but the Mechanicum soldiers bottled before the Orks could get stuck in.

The last game was against Bill and his Chaos. We got Kill Team Fight for the scenario.

The game went quickly, with Chaos Bottling after three of their members (two Marines and a Cultist) went down to the Orks' wall of lead.

One on One - SAGA AAR

After a break, Kevyn and I met up to continue our Age of the Wolf campaign. 

We decided to play the Challenge scenario, where a confrontation between Floki and Louis turned violent. We used the terrain rules in the book, which gave us a forest, rough ground, and a gentle slope.

For the first turn, both warbands advanced in support of their warlords. Floki charged the mounted Norman warlord, dealing a couple wounds and forcing Louis back. The Norman crossbowmen took aim at Floki, but the Viking leader nimbly dodged the bolts.

With Floki's ability to reduce the Norman's SAGA dice for the beginning turns of the game, the Normans were slow in getting to grip with the Vikings. Louis charged in against Floki with a unit of mounted Hearthguard, but were forced back.

Grinning and laughing maniacally, Floki again charged Louis, but had a unit of Viking hearthguard with him. The Vikings landed another series of savage blows on Louis, bringing him down to only five wounds remaining.

The Normans countered, their horses trampling the Viking warlord and dealing eight wounds in one turn!

But the Vikings were in a blood frenzy, and Floki had a fresh unit of hearthguard at his back. He was able to deal enough damage to finally take Louis down, winning the game for the Vikings.

Louis ended up with a serious injury, losing an Attack for the rest of the campaign. Both warlord had managed to amass enough power to become Athelings, setting them up for the next two games in the campaign.