Flames of War - SAGA AAR

Kevyn and I met up for the third season of our Age of the Wolf campaign. With the Normans defending and the Viking raiding, we rolled the Harry and Burn scenario. Floki and the northmen were on the attack, looking to burn down the buildings and fields on the table. Louis needed to keep the village safe for the sake of his reputation. 

The Normans started with their crossbowmen in the village, while the rest of the mounted units were on the table edge. The Vikings started with their warriors and warlord in the woods, while the hearthguard had gotten as close to the village as possible.

The armored Vikings moved in towards the waiting crossbowmen.

The Normans wasted no time, galloping towards the oncoming Vikings. The crossbowmen fired a volley, managing to down a hearthguard with a well-aimed bolt.

The Vikings retaliated by wiping out half the crossbowmen, and set a field on fire for good measure.

The sound of horses surrounded the village. Louis readied his knights for a charge into the woods, while another group engaged the lone Viking hearthguard in the village center. The crossbowmen launched another volley, felling the single Viking hearthguard.

Another group of Viking hearthguard moved in towards the knights, readying their weapons.

The Normans attacked, but to less-than-desirous results. The fight against the warriors in the woods was indecisive, and the knights in the village failed to put a dent in their Viking opponents. The mounted soldiers on the right were left waiting to see if the Viking warlord would come out of the woods.

Meanwhile, the Vikings managed to set fire to one of the buildings, and routed the knights, leaving the Norman warlord exposed.

Wheeling his mounted around, Louis called back his knights to focus on the Vikings in the village. Another Viking hirdman fell, a crossbow bolt in his back.

The Vikings turned and wiped out the crossbowmen, as the warriors in the woods emerged, hoping to get at the Norman knights from behind.

But mounted men weren't going to be caught off-guard. The knights in the village charged the hirdmen, riding them down. Another unit of knights moved in to attack the lone Viking, while the mounted Warriors moved closer to the Viking warlord.

The remaining Vikings moved out into the open, hoping to reach the Normans before their mounts could be reined in.

Seeing an opportunity, the Norman warriors charged the Viking warlord. A fierce combat followed, with the Viking warlord falling in combat, but taking more than half the mounted warriors with him.

The Vikings launched one last attack against a unit of knights, before both sides retired from the village.

After tallying up the victory points, it turned out that the Vikings had won, thanks to the bonus points from burning the field and building. Far from hampering him, Floki's wounds turned out to be superficial, and the Viking warlord increased his reputation and wealth. Unfortunately, a Levy upgrade went unused with no Levy in the Viking forces. Louis managed to gain a bit of reputation despite his losses.

Norman Ambush! - SAGA AAR

After a short break, Kevyn and I got back together to continue our Age of the Wolf games. For this season, Floki went a-viking, leading a Campaign into the Norman lands. Louis, seeing an opportunity after the Vikings had struck against a settlement, gathered his knights for a raid against the encumbered northmen.

We rolled and got the Forest Road Ambush scenario, where the Normans would be laying in wait as the Vikings used a road (denoted by a inconsequential fence) to quickly get back to their boats. Floki was once again leading his warband, with two units of hearthguard and warriors each. Louis had brought three units of hearthguard and some crossbow-armed warriors.

The vikings were surprised when the sudden and violent sounds of horses and horns echoed through the forest. Unfortunately, Floki's The Penny ability kept the Normans at bay.

The northmen split into three groups - one unit of warriors moving ahead, while the hearthguard surrounded their leader.

Starting to pick up initiative, the Normans slammed into the head and tail of the Viking group, slaying or chasing off a number of the invaders. One hearthguard went down, pierced by a crossbow bolt. But the Vikings weren't going to go down without a fight, dragging a few of the knights from their mounts.

The Vikings, seeing their numbers being whittled down, decided to move towards the board edge and a chance of escape.One group of warriors attempted a delaying action against the Norman Warlord and his retinue, while a hearthguard unit chased off their mounted counterparts.

The Normans decided to wait as a lull in the fight came, calming their steeds. A fresh group of knights began to move through the woods as the crossbowmen advanced back into range.

The wait gave the Vikings an opportunity to rout a unit of knights, moving closer to escape.

Not willing to throw more men into the fight, Louis ordered his crossbowmen to harry the retreating vikings, picking off another hearthguard as Floki made his way to freedom. With his men scattered but his pride intact, victory went to the Vikings.

Floki used a point of Wealth to double the incoming numbers of warriors, and managed to recruit a pair of hearthguard to form a new unit. Louis brought in a young knight to replace a casualty, and returned to his holdings to discover that the tax collection had gone well, increasing his Wealth.

2017 6x6 Challenge - April

Games Played in April

Opening Moves - SAGA AAR

First Contact - Gruntz AAR

It's been a while since I've managed to play any sci-fi games, so when Gary brought out a fantastic looking Gruntz force, I decided to start looking around for some minis. 

Since the idea I'm putting together hasn't arrived in full (it's going to be an airmobile force with jet prop VTOLS), Gary was kind enough to loan me some of his vehicles while he took his aliens out for a test drive. The pictures don't do Gary's paint job justice - I'll need to get a closer view next time. 

The alien landscape was rather different than the Earth-like desert battlefield that I had seen Gary and Russ playing on.

Our forces were:

Prang Assault Squadron (Gary)
Command Team
Infantry Squad x2
Mortar Team
Heavy Tank
Heavy APC x3
Artillery Biped

Rapid Force Solutions Task Force (Me)
Command Team
Infantry Squad x2
Scout Team
Spider Tank
HUMV x2
ATM HUMV
Wheeled APC
Medium UAV

The humans deployed relatively close together, while the Prang hoped to sneak one APC and infantry squad around the side. The two forces were opposite in stats - the Prang were slow but heavily armored, while the humans were faster but with far less armor.

The Prang started the game by moving their units forward. The Prang Heavy Tank opened up on the Spider Tank, scoring a devastating hit and wrecking the tank's armor and engine. The humans countered by moving up and firing with their Tank, ATM HUMV, and the Wheeled APC, doing some damage in return.

The Prang continued to wear away at the human's vehicles with their plasma weaponry. In return, the Spider Tank destroyed its Prang counterpart while the human infantry dismounted to counter the approaching Prang Heavy APC and infantry squad. Both UAV shots at the Prang artillery missed.

The Spider Tank finally melted after repeated hits from Prang plasma and missiles, and so did the ATM HUMV. However, the humans managed to deal some major damage to the aliens. THe UAV rammed the Prang artillery unit, destroying the plane but doing some damage.

Combined fire from the infantry's AT weaponry and the wheeled APC took out the Prang Heavy APC and the infantry within. The combined fire of the other infantry squad, the scout team, and the remaining HUMVs managed to destroy another Prang Heavy APC on the far right. This pushed the Prang's losses over 50%, causing the aliens to retreat.

It was a fun game that was unfortunately rushed to do outside factors, so I'm hoping to get the infantry painted and back on the table in short order. My fingers are crossed that the VTOLs will arrive soon.

Raise the Black Flag - Blood & Plunder AAR

Carl and I got together this past weekend to try out a game of Blood & Plunder, a set of rules for larger battles in the Golden Age of Piracy. We've seen plenty of rules that cover small scale fights, but Blood and Plunder allows for entire crews of ships to either man their ships or hit the beaches. 

Carl brought his Caribbean-themed terrain. Since this was our first game, we simply placed a bunch of line-of-sight blocking pieces.

Carl was running a Spanish Militia force, which included:

Experienced Commander

Milicianos Indios (5)

Milicianos (5) x3

Merineros (5) x3

While I had put together a Brethren of the Coast force:

Untested Commander

Freebooters (5) x2

Flibustiers (5)

Sea Dogs (5)

Forlorn Hope (5)

We chose the Raid scenario, where our two forces would square off and do as much damage to each other in six turns.

Both sides used their first activations to move across the table.

In turn two, both forces opened with their guns - buccaneer guns from the pirates and arabesques from the Spanish. With such small units, Carl and I tended to fire with all the models in a unit, taking two reload markers instead of firing with half (rounding down) and taking a single reload marker. Both sides took casualties, with the Spanish commander's unit going prone.

In the center, a melee combat broke out after more shots were fired. Carl's natives were routed, but so were my Sea Dogs.

With many of the units on the table having multiple black powder markers (making it impossible to fire without reloading), both sides decided to get stuck in. This revealed a major factor of close combat in Blood & Plunder - only one side fights in combat, meaning that getting the first charge can mean a lot in subsequent turns. It also didn't help that Carl's dice were hot, preventing multiple casualties.

It looked dire for the pirates for a turn, but they rallied. Another aspect of Blood and Plunder is fatigue. If a unit has double the amount of fatigue points than models, it routs and is removed from the table. So if you can get a unit down to one or two models, they may flee instead of fighting back.

The game ended when the Spanish commander led his Merineros into the fray, using his two command points to fight multiple combats in a row. This wiped the pirate leader and his unit from the table, which left only a single Brethren unit on the table after the other combats were worked out. While Carl hadn't scored enough Strike points to win, he inflicted greater casualties on my force than I did on his, securing a Spanish victory.