Quick and Nasty - Empire of the Dead AAR

The 7th Dimension gaming group met again for our Empire of the Dead campaign a couple weekends ago. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take any pictures, so this'll be a quick report on the two games that I played using the Darkshire Pack.

Both games were played on a table set up by Gary, who had made a great looking manor grounds.

The first game was against Gary's Nosferatu, and used the Lost Artefact scenario. Gary and I both placed two artifact markers on the table and deployed our gangs in opposite corners - Gary's gang started in some ruins, and my gang was forced into starting in a forest, potentially slowing them down.

I believe this was the fastest game I have every played, taking up all of five minutes from the actual start. When a model reaches an artifact marker, a d10 is rolled, and the artifact is revealed on a roll of 9 or 10. My Beastlord reached one of the markers first, and I rolled a 10 - someone had carelessly discarded a Lightning Field Generator!

Gary decided to concede the game as he realized that even with his 12" moving Bat Swarms, he'd never be able to catch the Beastlord before he moved off the table. It did deprive me of five extra shillings, but I made up for it by selling the Generator - it wasn't as though any of the other members of the gang could use it.

I used to winnings to give my Packmaster a stat boost (but in Arcane, so not exactly useful...) and picked up another Wolf, bringing my gang up to eight models.

My second game was against Bob and his gun-toting Gentleman's Club. We rolled up Fracas, with corner deployments.

I split my force into two, with the humans moving through the manor courtyard and the werewolves and wolves moving around the right side, through the hedgerows. Bob's gunslingers moved up in a line, blazing away as soon as the pack moved into view (we were playing at night, so the range for line of sight is decreased to 18"). One of my Wolfskins went down three times, managing to get up twice before finally collapsing and being removed from the table. One of my wolves suffered the same fate, with bullets putting it down.

Much like the other games against the Gentlemen's Club, however, the Club's firepower couldn't stop the Lycaon from getting into close combat, and from then on the game swings decidedly in the werewolves' favor - although another wolf did go down thanks to a well placed sword strike. Between the axe wielding Wolfskins and the teeth and claws of their more lupine companions, many of the gunmen went down before Bob's gang was forced to retreat, with another victory for the Darkshire Pack.

While this victory put my gang at a massive standing of 308 shillings - more than twice the starting amount - my lucky streak when it came to after game results finally ended. One of the wolves was enlisted (don't ask me how) while the other was injured and had its Fortitude lowered by one. Josiah, the Wolfskin who went down multiple times, suffered a leg injury, reducing his movement by one. Luckily my winnings from the two games will allow me to get a doctor for the two after the next game, but I don't expect a fragile wolf and a slow close combat gang member to pull their weight in the next game. Hopefully the next scenario the Pack faces will be another objective based game, instead of a bloody free-for-all.

Shootout in Jaynestown - Wild West Exodus AAR

One of the games I've recently delved into is Wild West Exodus. It is, in a way, a kind of replacement for both Warhammer 40k and Warmachine/Hordes. While the models may be expensive enough to turn some wargamers away, the game doesn't require many models for a good sized game, especially if one invests heavily into the Underbosses and Sidekicks (i.e., the "characters"). And the rules are not nearly as cut-throat as Warmachine/Hordes, nor do they need constant practice to maintain a level of competent play. 

Recently, one of the local gaming stores had a WWX day, in which members of the community who already played or were interested in the game could come out and play a few games. We had enough players to fill up two games with four players in each, with each Posse looking to be the last one standing when the dust settled. 

I was one of the two Warrior Nation players, and somehow we both ended up on the same table. 

And on the same side! Tommy, Jr. had his Warrior Nation as well, lead by the ever-terrifying Geronimo in all his werebear glory. 

Tom, Sr. was fielding a Union force that was very heavy on the characters, lead by the axe-wielding Lincoln. 

And opposite me was Rob, with his Outlaws and the infamous Jesse James. 

Tommy and I advanced across the table, content with dealing with Rob and Tom instead of each other. My horde of Braves advanced, hollering and whooping, into the center of town. 

Rob scored an early and important blow against me, however, when he used his Iron Horse (basically a grav-bike) and its rocket launchers to destroy Walks Looking, a Warrior Nation character who is absolutely deadly in combat.

As Rob fought off the Indians, he also skirmished with Tom's force. 

Tom had bigger concerns, however, as Tommy was out to put his Pa down! 

The powerful guns of the Outlaws took a toll on my Braves, eventually wiping most of them out. Even Sitting Bull was incapable of taking down Jesse James before being turned into swiss cheese. But the Energy Beast was able to do some damage. However, Stone Fist (the horse with the two cannons on it) couldn't seem to find his range. It seems like I'm incapable of judging what 24 inches looks like. 

The Union was forced to retreat, hoping to stall the time before Geronimo was able to get into close combat with them. Unfortunately, this put Abe & Co. in the range of the Outlaws' guns, and Rob was able to score some hits into the opposing Posse. 

The tide soon began to turn against Tommy, who had spent most of the game being ignored as Rob, Tom and I fought. Realizing that most of his Posse was still pristine, I began to fire bolts of spirit energy into Geronimo. 

Rob realized the same thing, turning his attention to focus both on Tom and Tommy. I was glad for the relief!

Tom was knocked out first, and the Tommy went down. By this point my Posse was severely mauled, with only Stone Fist left standing. Rob's remaining models quickly sent the Indian and his horse packing. So when the guns finally stopped firing and silenced settled on Jaynestown, it was Jesse James who was left standing tall.

It was a fun game (if a little long), and it's definitely cemented my interest in the rules. Hopefully the community grows as a result of the game day, as there were plenty of other people interested who were asking questions about the fluff and mechanics. 

Painting Update - Blood Bowl

For a long time, I've liked the idea of Blood Bowl. I still regret not spending the $100 I could have back in high school to buy the 3rd Edition Starter Set from a local comic shop years ago. I enjoy playing the (somewhat disfunctional) Cyanide computer game, but I've never gotten to play the tabletop version.

However, I've managed to gain some interest in the game and have the makings of a local league - the Stomping Grounds Blood Bowl League.

To actually play in the League, however, I needed a team. Looking around, I managed to get a really great deal on a couple of the plastic orc starter teams from the 3rd Edition starter - somewhat fulfilling earlier dreams - and put them together to fill out a decent Orc roster. 

Black Orc Blockers are one of the biggest draws of the Orc team. While they don't start with any skills, they have ST 4 and AV 9. They're probably not going to be picking up and carrying the ball all that often with AG 2 and MA 4, but they'll be perfect for hitting other players pretty hard. 

Orc Blitzers start with the Block skill, making them essential to any Orc team. With MA 6, they can quickly cover ground on the pitch and try to either break open an opposing team's formation or trying to take down a ball carrier. 

Orc Linemen (Lineorcs?) don't stand out in any way compared to the other members of the team, but they do have AV 9, making them difficult to seriously injure. 

Finally, Orc Throwers - sort of strange on a team that's more likely to pick up a ball after smashing the guy holding it. But Throwers can handle the ball better than anyone else on the team, since they start with Sure Hands. And if you ever need to clear the ball out of a bad situation, they have the Pass skill. It doesn't mean that the orc receiving the ball will catch it, but at least you can move the ball away if your Thrower gets himself into a bad spot. 

That's the team - 18 players, with a few more Lineorcs in the wings in case they're ever needed. 

I'm now looking at putting together another team, perhaps an Undead team using the Reaper Bones line. The Undead Burg Boneheads might be a pretty cheap team to put together.

And I'll let you guys try to guess what team I've based the colors on!

Painting Update - All Quiet on the Martian Front

I've been working on a few projects lately, which hopefully I'll get a chance to share soon. For right now, I'd like to show my progress with the All Quiet starter set.

The American infantry units have been based and spackled (using DryDex, which is what I use whenever I need to fill in a base with miniatures that have integral bases.) I just need to clean up the edges. 

I'm planning on creating a fictional unit in the All Quiet universe, based on the real life "Jersey Blues" from the American War of Independence. This will give me the chance to do something a little different from the usual brown-and-green miniatures you see for the American forces in All Quiet. The infantry will be painted blue, tan and khaki, and the tanks painted blue. 

Speaking of tanks, I had to do a little cosmetic work on the American tanks before priming them. Since the tanks run on powerful steam engines (made possible by reverse-engineering Martian technology) they have these big rectangular coal hoppers on the back that are empty. I decided to fill them in with beach sand and some watered down white glue. Hopefully, once the painting is finished, these particles will resemble coal. 

NJCON 2015 - The Loot

It wouldn't be a convention without a vendor hall, and NJCON actually had two. The first was a bring-and-buy room, where one could bring some items to sell, pass it along to the convention workers, and then see if anything had been picked up at the end of the day. I wish I had taken advantage of this, but maybe next time.

The actual vendor hall had seven shops set up, covering everything from terrain to bases, miniatures to books. Having saved up a little spending cash, I took a look around to see if there was anything I wanted. 

If you remember my All Quiet AAR, I played at On Military Matters, who ordered an All Quiet starter set for me. Since I haven't had the opportunity to get over to the store, I was able to pick up the box set at the convention. I don't plan on buying any other All Quiet miniatures, since there are other people in the area who have plenty enough for big community games, but I'll be happy to paint up the human and Martians in the starter and add them to the community resources.

From Maplewood Hobby I bought a few interesting items. The first was a steal that I was surprised no one else had bought yet. It's one of the currently out-of-print Corvus Belli DBA army sets - the Ancient British. These are absolutely stunning miniatures, with plenty of details and not a whole lot of cleaning necessary. It doesn't have any bases in the set, but those are cheap to eventually purchase. And the set, while originally produced for DBA 2.2, is still viable and offers plenty of options for the DBA 3.0 army list.

I also picked up the Blücher rulebook and the Hundred Days card set. I've heard plenty of good things about Blücher, and I'm still looking for a good Napoleonic ruleset. More importantly, I can play Blücher much like I did Kings of War - without any miniatures! The cards are fantastic, covering all the units available during the Hundred Days campaign.

I also got an award for winning the first game in the SAGA tournament - an objective marker/bases with some cool looking runes. I'll trying painting this up with some sort of glowing effect.