Training Match - Arena Rex AAR

Earlier this week I brought out Arena Rex to demo with Bill.

I let Bill chose two Cohorts of three fighters from my Ludus Magnus collection, and then let him pick which group he'd like to play in the game. 

Bill ended up with Otho Mentulus, Marcus Furius, and Viatrix, while I had Hermes, Tribune, and Urbicus. 

The game was a simple fight to the death - whoever had the last fighters standing would claim victory.

I set up four marble columns as hazards, and two pits as lethal hazards.

Both Cohorts advanced across the sands as the crowd cheered and roared in anticipation.

First blood went to Bill, and Otho managed to quickly cut down Tribune with a few savage strokes of his sword. The other members of our cohorts fought dangerously close to the edge of a pit.

Urbicus cut down Marcus Furious, but was quickly confronted by Otho.

Unfortunately, Otho's engagement meant that both my gladiators were unable to use their Favor, and so Hermes was eventually whittle down and removed from the fight.

However, Urbicus managed to get a decent enough attack in so that he could shove Otho into the pit. Suddenly it was just down to the two remaining fighters, and Urbicus was exhausted.

Viatrix delivered a brutal final blow to the opposing gladiator, leaving her alone on the blood soaked sand. 

It was good to bring Arena Rex out again. It's a light yet complex set of rules, and even a small game with three gladiators aside has a lot of moving parts. I'm hoping to get it to the table more often. 

2017 6x6 Challenge - Retrospective

Earlier this year I announced that I would be taking part in the 6x6 Challenge proposed by Alan over on The Stronghold Rebuilt.

I was a fan of the idea, and submitted a list of six games that I hoped to play at least six times over the course of the year.

Those games were:

1. Arena Rex - 1
2. Blood Bowl - Completed
3. Blucher - 0
4. Fistful of Lead - Completed
5. Saga - Completed
6. Strange Aeons - 5

So, how did I do?

Well, not too bad, but not great, either. I completed three of the six games, and came very close to completing a fourth entry on the list. Some of that was due to a move in early November for a new job, displacing me from my regular gaming group.

Let's take a look at each of the games.

Arena Rex

I had expected to see more Arena Rex this year, but my games played fell flat. I'm still looking forward to getting this out on the table in 2018, especially since I have the entirety of the Ludus Magnus faction painted and ready. 

Blood Bowl

The first of my completed games for the 6x6 challenge! I owe some thanks to Games Workshop, as their re-release of Blood Bowl generated enough interest for me to participate in not one, but two leagues. The Baltimork Reavers came close to taking the championship in the first league, and the Zharr-Angkor Immortals are performing fairly well at the moment.

Blucher

Ah, Blucher. Another game I had such high hopes for. Unfortunately, the rapid pace of changing games with my old group meant that I could never find the time to get this game on the table, especially since I would need to be the one explaining the rules and providing the terrain and units. 

I may attempt to play this in 2018, especially with the New Jersey Wargamers Association. 

Fistful of Lead

Another success! I owe it to Carl and his collection of Wild West terrain and miniatures, along with Gary, Russ, Kevyn, and everyone else who decided to play games of cowboys and banditos. Fistful of Lead is a fantastic ruleset, and I'd like to play more games of it during 2018.

Saga

The last successful entry in my 2017 6x6 Challenge was the entirety of the Age of the Wolf campaign played between Kevyn's Vikings and my Norse. Although the Vikings had a rough start, Kevyn rallied brilliantly and ultimately crushed the Norman warlord by the end of the campaign.

Strange Aeons

Ah, so close! Strange Aeons was another game that was being fueled by a campaign between Kevyn and me. Unfortunately, due to scheduling problems, we never managed to get our last game in, leaving this entry incomplete. 

So, that's 2017's challenge! It seems that Alan's not planning to run the challenge in 2018. That's a shame, but I appreciate the effort Alan put in to tally and link the games from various sources.

Bull$%^&! - Arena Rex AAR

With a mind to keep moving on my 6x6 challenge, I offered to run some games of Arena Rex for the group. While I didn't get a chance to record one game (as I was too busy teaching the rules), Gary had played once before. 

The arena was fairly simple in it's layout - four pillars, with Nero in the center as a living hazard. On a side note, I need to make/print some pits to help hem in some of the combat that tends to drift off to the side if there's a living hazard in the center of the table.

Gary's cohort consisted of Hermes, Septimus, Infelix, and Otho. Opposing them were Lupa, Urbicus, Otho, and Marcus. Gary started with initiative.

While Gary's cohort split into two groups, mine went straight into the center of the arena. Both side allowed fatigue to accumulate early to enter a clear turn and make use of the Ludus Magnus Rouse tactic. In my clear turn, I then use the Favor to Incite Nero, forcing the bull closer to Gary. But Gary did the same, pushing the living hazard back to near its starting position.

Both sides continued to shuffle around. Micon, however, headed straight for Hermes, looking to through the smaller man towards the enraged bull.

But after multiple attempts, Micon seemed unable to find purchase on Hermes, who was taking advantage of the poor dice to cut chunks out of the giant's flesh.

I forced my Cohort into another clear turn, and once again used the Rouse/Incite combination to move Nero closer to Micon and Hermes. Meanwhile, Urbicus and Lupa engaged with Otho.

Finally, Micon got his hands on Hermes, pushing the gladiator back far enough to catch the bull's attention! Hermes was gravelly injured by Nero's goring.

In a sudden reversal, Septimus strolled up and speared Micon. A single push was all Nero needed to launch a second attack, which removed Micon from the table. Worryingly, Otho was managing to hold off the rest of my cohort by himself, as Hermes retreated behind one of the pillars.

Looking to add to his tally, Septimus moved over and attacked Marcus, who had already been injured by Otho. A single strike was enough to remove a second fight from my cohort of the table. With no ready fighters, I was forced into a clear turn, though I spent a point of Favor to Incite Nero closer to the action.

Seeing a chance, I had Lupa break off from Otho and bash Infelix aside, and again used Incite to move Nero right next to the wounded Hermes.

Of course, I managed to forget that I had to spend Favor to attack Hermes - and I had spent my last point to move the bull! So while Hermes sat nice a safe, Otho and Septimus finished off Urbicus.

Lupa, the lone surviving member of my cohort, managed to finally hit and remove Hermes from the fight. Infelix strolled over, taking advantage of Lupa's fatigued state to get a strike in.

In a risky move, I tried using a power attack to deal a fatal blow to Infelix. But even with the re-roll, the dice failed me. Finally, Septimus came over and, with his own power attack against the exhausted Lupa, struck her down. The roar of the crowd announced victory for Gary's cohort.

Had I sacrificed a chicken before the match, I may have realized that luck was not on my side! But while the battle on the sand was lost, the war may go in my favor, as Gary's expressed interest in buying of the miniatures.

Painting Update - Arena Rex, FIW

Let's see what's on the painting table this week!

I finally finished with all of the Ludus Magnus figures for Arena Rex. Viatrix, on the left, is the other leading lady for the faction. She's a counterpart to Lupa's bare ferocity, taunting opponents to keep their attention on her. This can be useful if pared up with other faction models like Otho or Iason.

On the right is Septimus, another decent Favor generator with good damage and push results. And in the middle is Nero, Ludus Magnus' mount, Titan, and beast all rolled into one very angry package. With two stages, the massive bull is going to stick around for a while, and can both put out high damage and rearrange enemy placement in the arena. He can be ridden by Septimus, turning the pair into a very dangerous duo.

I also finished the British Wilderness Force for Muskets & Tomahawks. Half of the force is made up of Rangers, the green-coated light infantry force made famous by Major Robert Rogers.

The other half of the force consists of British-allied Indians and Colonial Militia. 

While this is a small force in Mustkets & Tomahawks (a little over 200 points, or half a regular game) these miniatures can also be used with the Song of Drums and Tomahawks rules, and provide plenty of options. 

Painting Update - Guild Ball, Arena Rex, Kings of War, Horizon Wars

We're back this week with some single additions and half of a "big" project. 

Gen Con has come and gone, and thanks to some ninja-shopping from Kevyn, I managed to get my hands on some exclusive releases.

Wrecker is the Season 2 mascot for the Masons, and hasn't been released yet. He's an interesting addition (with a somewhat boring model), and I'm curious as to how he works in the team compared to Marbles. The baboon is a damage modifier, while the giant armadillo seems to occupy the footballing space more, with some methods to push models around as he moves.

Lupa is a gladiator for Ludus Magnus, and was originally available only through the Kickstarter. Now she can be bought exclusively at certain conventions. She brings some hitting power to the Magnus ludi, but can be stopped by the opponent by spending Favor dice - which can put the Magnus player at a Favor advantage. She's also a pain to take a picture of thanks to her stance.

Although I lost interest in Kings of War as a fantasy mass-combat ruleset earlier this year, I'm planning on attending a local tournament just to get some games in and support the local scene. The problem is, I no longer have an army for the game, having sold off my League of Rhordia/Kingdoms of Men force not too long ago. Luckily, Kevyn's letting me borrow his Ogres mega-army. As a thank you, I picked up this Reaper Bones giant and will pass it along to Kevyn, after using it in the tournament.

As for the "big" project, I completed half of the forces I'm putting together for Horizon Wars. The above miniatures are all from the Army of the Reach, the military force of Harker's Reach, one of the most powerful manufacturing cities on Kressidia. They're the main opposition to the UMC (United Mercantile Consortium) and their mercenary companies.

This is a big force; an average game of Horizon Wars may range from 15 to 30 points, and what I've painted adds up to 67 points!

The armored elements of the army consist of Mobile Infantry, Light Cavalry, Heavy Cavalry, and Armored Artillery. The vehicles are from Brigade Models, as are the infantry.

There are plenty of foot infantry options; Light Artillery, Recon, Airborne Infantry, Special Forces, Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry. Again, these are all from Brigade Models.

These Heavy Gear mechs have been repurposed as paratrooper variants of medium Gator and light Caiman mechs. I'll be adding more when Dream Pod 9 releases their plastic starter set, which contains 30 mechs!

Now that the Reach forces are done, I'm starting work on the UMC, which is made up of various private military companies. This should break up some of the monotony, as everything in the faction won't need to look alike.

Dead Man Walking - Arena Rex AAR

With freshly painted models, I asked Kevyn if we could get another game of Arena Rex in. We decided to try the Vinculi scenario, where each side has a randomly assigned model that their opponents need to kill. Additionally, this condemned gladiator is chained to another model in the cohort, meaning they cannot move further than 4" away.

Our two cohorts consisted of

Ludus Magnus
Hermes
Otho Mentulus
Micon
Urbicus (condemned)
Iason (chained to Urbicus)

Morituri
Ur-Kek
Zahra
Mago (chained to Noxius)
Noxius (condemned)
Aquila

Both sides spent their first turns cautiously moving in.

Unfortunately, I got a little too close with Otho, and Zahra drew him in with her 3" reach. I tried fighting back, but poor dice rolls meant Otho's attacks were ineffective. Aquila came in and finished the hulking Roman off.

I leapfrogged Urbicus and Iason up, the two chained gladiators moving in and putting down Aquila.

Hermes joined the fight, along with Mago and Noxius. With both condemned gladiators in the middle of the brawl, the game could have ended at any moment.

Micon and Ur-Kuk elected to stand back and watch the chaos unfold. A savage attack from Mago brought Urbicus down to only 4 Vitality left. Iason responded in kind, savagely spearing Noxius.

Unfortunately, Kevyn's earlier attempts to end the game left his cohort exhausted, and he went into the clear turn. That gave Urbicus the chance to launch into a power attack with the last two Favor dice I had. Kevyn had a glut of Favor dice, unfortunately not having had the chance to use them. His attempt to counter-attack failed, and Urbicus' gladius cut down the opposing warrior, ending the game.

Glory to Rome!

Painting Update - Arena Rex, Blood Bowl, Guild Ball, SAGA

This week's update is definitely sports based, from grassy pitches to the blood-stained sands of gladiatorial arenas. 

I finally received the Ludus Magnus starter set for Arena Rex that I had ordered back in March. I quickly painted that up and, after a few games, decided I definitely needed more, as simple 3v3 games weren't going to cut it.

All of the above models are from the Ludus Magnus faction, the state-sponsored gladiatorial school in Arena Rex's alternate history, where the Roman Republic exists alongside the Roman Empire in 420 AD. I plan on completing the faction after playing a few more games, especially since one of the options is the impressive Titan/Beast/Mount, Nero, a massive bull that can be ridden by Septimus, another Ludus Magnus gladiator.

To the left is an old 2nd edition Ogre I added to the Loch Rysk Warhawks, for a little extra punch against bashy teams.

On the right are Greed and Avarisse, two Union team members that the Masons can take in Guild Ball. I was originally not a fan of the fluff or the sculpts of the models, but after having seen their usefulness at the recent Cleaver tournament, I decided to add them to the team. They have also grown on me as I painted them.

Finally, I also finished a mounted Hearthguard unit for my Normans in Saga.

I've got another mounted Warrior unit to work on, and that'll mark the end of the Saga project, which will leave me with at least 6 points for each of the original factions - Vikings, Anglo-Danes, Welsh, and Normans.

Morituri vs. Legio XIII - Arena Rex

During the weekend that Adepticon 2016 took place (March 23-26), Red Republic Games announced a 15% sale on their entire Arena Rex line, at both the booth on the convention floor and their online store. I'd seen some people talk positively about the game, and a glance at the rulebook made it seem somewhat familiar to Guild Ball - lots of position, model interactions, combos - without the sports parts.

I decided to take the plunge, and ordered the Ludus Magnus starter and the rulebook. Unfortunately, the starter was out of stock, and so it may be several weeks yet before it arrives. Luckily, Kevyn took advantage of the same sale to buy two starter sets as well, and so demoed the game for me last week. 

Kevyn took the Morituri starter - the Egyptians - which consisted of Zahra, Ur-Kek, and Mago. I was given the Legio XIII starter - the Romanized Gauls - with Aquila, Gaius Pallidus, and Ban-Luca. The two ludi began two feet away from each other, as the game recommends.

The first turn was rather uneventful, with both sides advancing towards each other. I moved Gaius Pallidus twice (his movement distance was 4", compared to Ban-Luca's 5" and Aquila's 6") which gave him a Fatigue marker.

In the next turn, Kevyn's actions echoed mine - he moved Ur-Kek twice, while Mago moved around the rocky hazard. Ban-Luca and Aquila moved up to screen Gaius, who used the turn to remove the fatigue marker.

And then, thing's got a little crazy. Mago managed to get into a fight with all three of the Legio XIII members, with Aquila demonstrating the ludus' ability to move through and displace their own models. Ban-Luca took plenty of hits, however, and the whole of the Legio ended up fatigued without managing to take out Mago.

Another round saw Mago, Zahra, and Ban-Luca all taken out. Gaius would have gone as well, if not for his Stoic ability, which kept him around for another turn.

Unfortunately, that didn't matter. The Morituri's ability to remove all Fatigue markers during a clear turn, combined with the Last Man Standing rule that made every turn a clear turn in which the last remaining model of a ludus can still act, meant that Ur-Kek could keep swinging. A counter attack from Aquila almost took out the Egyptian gladiator, but couldn't do enough damage. Down went Aquila, and the Morituri claimed victory.

It was a fun, quick game, and I'm definitely interested in getting my Ludus Magnus starter. The rules are simple enough that, like in Guild Ball, it's probably best to jump right into the larger game formats as quickly as possible, as it's in the model interaction that the complexity comes from. I think either Kevyn or I may try to work on an arena soon.