Disable Sensor Net - Heroes of the Aturi Cluster AAR

Raider Squadron returns with some new additions. 

Rebel Command: "Raiders, the TIE Defender pilot you brought back has given us some critical intel.

An asteroid field in the Argus system conceal an Imperial refueling station. If we can capture this base, we could gain a well-defended starting area, deep in Imperial space."

However, the base is protected by an early-warning sensor net, which would give the Empire ample time to prepare against any attack we launch. Disable it before we can strike!"

Raider Squadron

Raider Two: X-Wing

Name: Brian

Callsign: Starfish

Raider Three: Y-Wing

Name: Bob

Callsign: Screwball

Raider Five: Y-Wing

Name: Gary

Callsign: Blip

Raider Six: Y-Wing

Name: Cameron

Callsign: L-Jenkins

Raider Two: "Alright, Raiders. Let's try and keep of the Imp's sensor net - we don't want the entire system's worth of TIEs coming down on our heads."

Raider Three: "You jinxed us, Two! We've got Squints inbound."

Raider Five: "Two sensors down!"

Raider Two: "And there goes an Eyeball."

Raider Six: "Damn! We've got another Squint that wants to tangle."

Raider Three: "Scratch another Eyeball."

Raider Six: "Fourth Squint in range. If this keeps going, we're going to be drowning in Imp fighters!"

Raider Six: "Ok, that's another sensor gone... Keep an eye on that new Squint."

Raider Three: "Boom! Glad I brought that bomb."

Raider Five: "Careful Two, you've got a Dupe on your tail!"

Raider Three: "Second bomb away! Take that you imperi-"

Raider Five: "Three's down! But I've got a transponder signal - he's alive!"

Raider Six: "One more sensor destroyed! Let's get those last two!"

Raider Two: "Glad these morons put this net in an asteroid field. They can't seem to avoid them!"

Raider Five: "Ha! I got another sensor. Onto the last one."

Raider Six: "What are you doing, Two?"

Raider Two: "Gonna see if I can't get that Dupe before Five gets the sensor."

Raider Five: "You're on, Two!"

Raider Two: "Damn! Dupe got past me."

Raider Five: "Lucky me - I've got a stationary target. And it's gone!"

Raider Six: "The Imp's are running for it!"

Rebel Command: "Raiders, the sensor network is broken! We'll send a shuttle to retrieve Raider Three. All other ships, regroup with the main strike force and prepare to launch the assault. The refueling station will be ours!"

Cleaver Named Guild Ball Tournament - Guild Ball AAR

While enjoying a nice three day weekend, I took part in another local tournament, run once again by local area pundit Alex, who unfortunately failed several times while trying to name the tournament correctly.

 You can also call him "King Typo."

The tournament saw 14 players assemble, from the Liberty and Capital Guild Ball groups, along with some visitors from New Jersey.

I was running Masons again, with the following line-up:

• Honor
• Marbles
• Brick
• Mallet
• Flint
• Decimate
• Mist

Over the course of fours games, I played against Union (12-10), Brewers (6-12), Masons (12-10), and Morticians (6-12). With two wins and two losses, I placed 7th overall - not too bad for a casual player. 

My games mostly revolved around trying to make the Chissile work - using a supercharged Chisel to run up the field and potentially take out multiple players and score a goal if possible. In the two games I won, it worked. In the two games I lost, it didn't, with my opponents shutting down Chisel through movement debuffs.

Now that the tournament's passed, I can really start to play with Hammer, and maybe pick up Avarisse and Greede, who I saw all over the place at the event. 

Overall, I had a great time, and I'm looking forward to Alex's next event. 

Painting Update - Guild Ball

This week's update covers the last few additions to my Guild Ball teams. 

Hammer is the Season 2 Captain for the Masons, and is at odds with Honor with his playstyle. While Honor could take a turn for herself to do some major damage, she can also pass out extra activations, movement, and Influence. Hammer, however, is a selfish player, constantly pulling Influence from his teammates to fuel his own abilities. The end result is a one man wrecking ball. I need more practice with him, as my tactics so far have left Hammer dangling like an unwound yo-yo in front of the entire opposing team.

I picked up Hemlocke back before the Great Blind Nerf of 2016, back when Blind was considered a crippling, incurable status effect that could be thrown out as a 3" AoE. Her usefulness has dwindled somewhat since Blind was changed, but she can still heal and cure conditions with her Smelling Salts play, and can be a semi-capable scorer when the opportunity presents itself.

I've only played with the new version of Rage (the Union's combination Veteran Captain) once, and it seems like the Influence efficient killer has taken some management courses. While he can still hand out a beating when necessary - especially against Union players on the opposing team - his Red Fury can allow other Union players to keep attacking, potentially up to four more times! Combine that with his Legendary Play, and Captain Rage can delegate out some really nasty damage.

Hopefully I'll have a report after this weekend, as I'll be attending a local Guild Ball tournament with my Masons. I just need to decide who I want leading the team: Honor or Hammer. After playing a few games with Hammer, I feel as though I may decide to roll back to Honor. Hammer just needs too much Influence to be effective, leaving the rest of the team little to work with. Players who can shut down Hammer shut down the team. Honor, however, can pick and choose whether or not she wants to make herself into a wrecking ball, or turn her fellow players into potential threats.

Painting Update - Blood Bowl

Take my last couple weeks of silence as a lesson against putting all of your post-eggs in one month-basket when it comes to blogging. April saw this blog inundated with posts - more than any other month previously - which quickly dried up as May came about. Scheduling conflicts and other obligations has seriously hampered my hobby time.

That said, I've finally gotten around to putting another project to bed, with the finishing touches finally applied to the Loch Rysk Warhawks, the perennial rivals of the Baltimork Reavers. 

Like the orcs, I created this team so that it would have enough players to be able to fill out all the positional players, with lots of linemen as reserves.

 I haven't had to chance to play with the human team yet, but I'm glad to have them painted to accompany the orc team, for use just in case anyone wants to play a quick game of Blood Bowl. 

The Battle of Clontarf, 1014 - Community Game AAR

Last weekend, Bob Fanelli put on another one of his homebrewed community games, this time focusing on the Battle of Clontarf. 

Fought in 1014, Clontarf saw the clash of the aged High-King of the Irish, Brian Boru, against a Irish-Norse coalition, led by the kings of Dublin and Leinster, Sigtrygg Silkberd and Máel Mórda mac Murchada. The end result of the historical battle saw the Norse-Irish forces broken, and the power of the vikings in Dublin curbed. Brian Boru lost his life in the fighting, however, along with his son and grandson. 

In our fight, six Norse-Irish warbands fought against five Irish warbands. A sixth group of Irish fighters - the Uí Néills - waited on the Irish right flank, hoping to see which way the battle was swinging before heading into the fray.

Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the picture of the initial positions, so we'll have to jump right into the fight. 

On the first turn, many of the clans issued challenges to each other, hoping to generate Wut points, which would later be needed for combat. Luck seemed to favor both sides - while my Dal Cassian champion was cut down on the far left flank of the Irish line, the Irish champions in the middle of the line managed to cut down their Norse-Irish counter parts.

The two shield walls advanced towards each other. Across most of the lines, warbands crashed into each others fronts, but thanks to the non-involvement of the Uí Néills, the group holding down the Irish right flank was charged not only in the front, but in the side as well.

Combat in Bob's rules involved a deck of cards that represented actions that units could perform. These were Kill them All, Take their Standard, Drive Them, Amuse Them, Disengage, and Rest. Depending on what card each side played, results could range from both sides slaughtering each other, to gaining points of fatigue, or backing off. Spending Wut points added to the amount of casualties caused. For each enemy model killed, a unit gained a Wut point back. And after each turn spent in combat, a unit gained two fatigue points. Fatigue put a negative modifier on the amount of casualties spent, meaning more Wut points were needed to cause casualties.

By the end of the second turn, both sides had bloodied each other, tallying up and collecting Wut.

Of course, it was at this point in time when the Uí Néills decided to join the fight - on the side of the Vikings.

And then, the third turn. Notice anything missing? In two combats, both warbands wiped each other out to the last man. One of the Irish warbands pushed their opponent into the bay, killing them and generating a massive amount of Wut.

But the Irish were essentially gone on both flanks, with the Dal Cassians down to three men and the warband on the right slaughtered as the Uí Néills attacked them in the side.

With a bit of maneuvering on the fourth turn, and the Dal Cassian champion killed in a challenge, the the group reached a consensus and decided to end the game there. The end result was the exact opposite of the historical situation - while the Irish lost the battle, Brian and his family survived and escaped.

We found the rules for the game interesting, although there were some concerns regarding Wut generation and potential limits for units. Additionally, it was only at the end of the fight that we realized that using the Drive Them and Amuse Them cards was much more dangerous than simply trying to kill as many of the enemy as possible - it's difficult to cause any casualties when your unit is completely fatigued.