Painting Update - All Quiet on the Martian Front

Today's update is a quick look at the last units for my All Quiet miniatures. 

These units are the last for the humans, and get them up to 700 points (to match the 700 points of Martians that come in the starter set).

The Rough Riders are a pretty awesome unit, reminiscent of the snowspeeders from the Battle of Hoth. They speed around the battlefield, firing grappling hooks and wires at tripods, either slowing them down or tripping them for massive damage. This is the second unit in the human force, added to the first that came in the starter set.

The other two units are commanders. The infantry command squad allows units to rally if infantry units fail a morale check. The command tank is another tank, but can act as a field commander, allowing the player to spend command points during the game.

Unfortunately, as AQotMF is currently dead, this project is probably going right into the "To Sell" pile, and I'll hope its general rarity will increase the price that buyers are willing to pay.

Next, I'm moving onto the Loch Rysk Warhawks, the human Blood Bowl team that'll be the counterpart to the Baltimork Reavers.

Like a Fist to the Throat - Warmaster AAR

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Dave was kind enough to put on a demo game of Warmaster. I've been looking around for an alternative to Kings of War, and the Warmaster rules are one set that has been paraded time and time again for their design and overall quality. Kevyn, having arrived at the store to play some KoW, but not having an opponent, was roped into playing as well. 

Dave had brought two armies - Chaos and High Elves - of 1500 points, with relatively simple lists as to not overtax our first games. We used some changes to the rules that Dave's group uses, but I'm not sure which of those I'll want to keep using, or if I want to instead try some errata recommend by the Warmaster Podcast crew.

The table was covered in scattered woods and hills, which constricted the placement of our units - neither one of us wanted to take the command penalty for pushing our troops through the trees.

I took command of the Chaos force, which consisted of:

• General
• 2 Heroes
• 3 Chaos Warriors
• 2 Chaos Marauders
• 2 Chaos Knights
• 1 Marauder Horsemen
• 2 Chaos Hounds
• 1 Chaos Chariot

I deployed my troops in four large brigades, with the infantry in the center and the cavalry on the flanks. For purposes of the demo, we rounded down when calculating the army's break point, so my army would break when I lost five units. 

Kevyn's High Elves had quite a few more units than I did:

• General
• 2 Heroes
• 4 Spearmen
• 5 Archers
• 2 Silver Helms
• 1 Reavers
• 1 Chariot
• 2 Bolt Throwers

Two large groups of spearmen anchored Kevyn's right, and archers on his left. Inversely, his cavalry deployed opposite my Chaos Warriors. The High Elves had a break point of seven (eight normally, but dropped down by one for the demo's sake). 

Kevyn won the initiative roll, and opted to go second - obviously hoping that my units would come forward into bow range during the first turn. I obliged, with all my units advancing. Kevyn's ranged fired was somewhat desultory, only pushing back the Marauder Horsemen back a half-inch.

I began turn two by charging the Chaos Hounds into the Archers on the right. Unfortunately, a string of bad command rolls left my Marauders far behind the Warriors, and left my Warriors and Knights out in the open for retaliatory strikes from the High Elves. The Hounds killed one of the Archer units, but took heavy wounds in return.

Kevyn then charged his cavalry brigade right into the Warriors, and used his bolt throwers to force a units of Chaos Knights to break off from their brigade and retreat. The elven cavalry, however, broke against the Warriors, losing one stand from the Reavers and Chariots each, while causing no wounds against the heavily armored infantry.

Now, with plenty of my units within initiative distance, I no longer needed to worry about making command rolls to get my units into combat. The Hound and Horsemen units went into the archers again, while the Warriors charged into the remaining elven cavalry units. My hero on the left sent the Knights and Chariots into the Spearmen at the base of the hill, and also brought up the Knight unit that had retreated earlier. The General brought up the Marauders, but failed the second command roll when trying to send them up further.

While the Hounds and Horsemen were rebuffed, the Warriors slammed into the prancing horses, killing off the Chariots and Reavers, and getting rid of one of the Silver Helm stands. The combined cavalry charge on the left reduced the two spearmen units down to a single stand, but the supporting archers managed to keep the Chaos cavalry from winning the combat.

Hoping his Silver Helms could break the Chaos Warriors, Kevyn used their initiative to charge them in. Meanwhile, his second brigade of two spearmen units charged the Chaos cavalry brigade in the flank, along with the last stand of the other spearmen unit. Although the single stand unit was wiped out, the Chaos cavalry lost the combat, a stand each from the Knight and Chariot units, and was forced back. Kevyn decided not to pursue, not favoring his chances of an archer unit against the Knights.

With only a few units away from his break point, I sent my Warriors in again, along with the last stand of Chaos Hounds. The Knight, Horsemen, and Chariots also went in on the flanks. The Horsemen took out another stand of the archer unit, but was pushed back. The game was decided in the center, however, when the two stand unit of Chaos Warriors and the Chaos Hound stand took out the Silver Helm unit. The Warriors then advanced into the Bolt Throwers and tore them apart, ending the game as the High Elves reached their break point.

Kevyn's deployment seriously impacted his ability to bring the High Elves' superior shooting ability to bear. Concentrated fire from the bolt throwers and archers could have possibly done more damage as my units approached. Relatively untouched, my units were able to slam home into the elven lines, especially the Warriors. As I said to Kevyn, the Chaos Warrior brigade hit the elven cavalry "like a fist to the throat." As the two brigades traded blows, and while the High Elves were ground down over time, the Warriors came away with only the loss of a single stand.

I also noticed, after playing, we had also skipped other rules for expediency's sake. For example, infantry can't pursue after cavalry. I've got a copy of the Warmaster rules being printed at Staples, so that'll make for some reading material. 

This game has me invigorated to play more Warmaster, which may become my mass-battle fantasy game of choice. The fact that I can print out counters and have an army for less than $15 is certainly appealing, although it seems as though that the amount of companies producing 10mm fantasy miniatures is increasing.

Shootout in Stomptown - Fistful of Lead AAR

Last week, I reviewed Fistful of Lead: Reloaded. This week, I got the chance to play a game between two gangs. 

Kevyn took the Bad Guys from Knuckleduster Miniatures, and came up with the "Empty Jugs" gang.

• Jughead (Boss, Pistol, Deft, Deadeye)
• Proper Joe (Pistol, Quick, Lousy Shot, Greenhorn)
• Bottleneck (Pistol)
• Hipster (Pistol)
• Scruffy (Pistol)
• Two Pistol Pete (Pistol)

While I had the Heroes from the same manufacturer, who became the "Aces Wilds" gang.

• Jake Wilds (Boss, Rifle, Gunslinger, Medic)
• Buddy Wilds (Pistol, Deft, Lousy Shot)
• Ezekiel (Pistol)
• Dusty (Pistol)
• Wayne (Pistol)
• Miguel (Pistol) 

The two gangs set up on opposite sides of the small settlement of Stomptown.

The first turn saw both gangs advance, safely outside of pistol range. Even the elder Wilds brother couldn't draw a bead on anyone with his rifle.

Ezekiel was pinned done in the doorway of one of the buildings, but Wayne and Miguel came around in support, along with Jake and his rifle. A hail of fire cut down Proper Joe.

The drunkards weren't going to take that sitting down, however, and Wayne was shot and killed. Hipster and Bottleneck, however, caught a wound and pin marker, respectively.

It seemed that the combat in the center of the town was going in the Aces' favor, as Ezekiel turned the corner and shot Jughead dead besides the outhouse. Buddy was stuck, pinned down by Bottleneck's shots.

Scruffy and Pete were locked in a fight with Dusty. Miguel had survived of fire that saw Scruffy's pistol click on an empty chamber, but took a wound from Two Pistol Pete, who knew a good opportunity to gang up on a good-for-nothing do-gooder when he saw it.

Dusty's next action was to keel over, stone dead. I guess his wound was worse than he thought!

Suddenly, the tables turned against the Aces. Ezekiel was killed by a long range pistol shot from Hipster. Buddy, guessing at how thing things would turn out, turned tail and ran for the hills outside of town. Only Jake and Miguel were left, stuck in the center of town.

Scruffy and Two Pistol Pete came around from the side of the town, and suddenly Jake and Miguel found themselves in close-combat with the enemy. Miguel got away, only pinned, but Jake was killed.

The remaining members of the Empty Jugs closed in on Miguel, who desperately tried to crawl away as the dirt around him exploded with multiple impacts, as well as blood from rapidly gained wounds. Kevyn had quickly learned that close combat could easily go either way, and was particularly bloody - so he was happy to gun down the last hapless lawman.

Finally, the roar of gunfire stopped, and Miguel's perforated body laid slumped on the ground, his blood watering one of Stomptown's wicked looking trees. The Aces were wiped out, and the Jugs went back to the saloon for another drink.

This was a fun game, and the activation mechanic with the cards worked exceptionally well. I may have to pick up some more miniatures from Knuckledusters to represent gunslingers with rifles and shotguns, however.

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.

Fistful of Lead: Reloaded - Kickstarter Review

April has been pretty good to me so far. Not only have I received my copy of the Open Combat rules, but I also found my reward for the Fistful of Lead: Reloaded Kickstarter in my mailbox a couple days later. 

I've considered dabbling in Western games in the past, and even played Wild West Exodus for a little while. But WWX leaned too heavily in the sci-fi realm - I wanted something more like the old spaghetti westerns, John Wayne's movies, or the newer, grittier western movies we've been seeing in recent years. I looked around and found games like Gutshot or Dead Man's Hand, but the Kickstarter based relaunch of Fistful of Lead got my attention. So I took a gamble and put myself down for a physical copy pledge. 

The author, Jaye Wiley, made an interesting choice and had the rules printed out in the form of a comic book. I'm a little worried about the long term survivability of the rules because of this. But, in the worst-case scenario of the book falling apart, I'm sure I'll be able to scan the book and keep it as a PDF. 

I'll be honest - the rulebook is not pretty. Last week, I talked about Open Combat's rulebook as coffee-table quality. Fistful of Lead's book is not that. It's black and white throughout, and has some problems where some of the italics in the text are choppy. The book is, however, is cheap, economical, and provides players with exactly what it says on the tin. 

The rules take up about a quarter of the pages. Everything is pretty straight forward - there's no real difference in gang members, so everyone shoots the same, moves the same, and fights the same. 

The game has an interesting activation mechanic in the form of a deck of cards. Each player is dealt a number of cards equal to the amount of models they have on the table. One player acts as the "Caller" and calls out the symbols, starting with Kings and ending with Deuces. A player throws down a card if they have it, and can use that card to activate a model, once per turn, and can take two actions. If two or more players have the same card, then they use the suit to determine who goes first; Spades, then Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs last. Some cards have special qualities. A model activated with the Queen of Hearts, for example, can heal one Wound. Any model activated with a Deuce can fire twice per action. And Aces can count as any card - but are beaten in priority by the "real" version of the card, if played at the same time.

The game says it should be scenario-based, and provides some basic scenarios, along with others to be used in the campaign rules. There are plenty of classics covered, from train robberies to cattle rustling. My favorite was the Bar Room Brawl, where players can only use their fists - no guns allowed - and takes place all in once building. Things can get a little crowded in games with more than two players!

Gang Building is also pretty simple. A starting gang gets 15 Build Points. Each gang member costs 1 BP, and can be given a weapon, which costs either 1 or 2 BP. Additionally, two members of a new gang can be given up to two positive and negative Traits (for a total of 4). A positive Trait costs a point, while a negative Trait gives back an additional Build Point for use elsewhere. To keep players from min-maxing negative and positive Traits, they're assigned randomly by drawing a card from the deck.

As I said earlier, the game comes with rules for campaign, so you can take your gang across the wild west, improving or losing members along the way. Eventually you'll stock up enough Renown Points to call for a Showdown scenario - a straight up fight to the death at noon.

Along with the rulebook, I also received some other physical rewards from the Kickstarter. Two quick reference sheets will help cut down on the amount of times that I'll have to check the rulebook, and I'll probably get them laminated pretty quick. The kickstarter also provided a free pair of d10s for backers, as well as a nifty MDF badge. A stretch goal gave each backer some free MDF tokens, and I ordered some more, just in case. And the themed poker deck is pretty cool, especially since the cards that have special affects in the game have the text printed on them as a useful reminder.

I'm excited to try out the game, and have already put in an order with Knuckleduster Miniatures for a couple gangs to paint up and play with.