Mirror Skirmish - Open Combat AAR

Following up from the last post, Carl and I switched warbands and tried the same scenario with a different deployment. 

While the Danes were closely gathered around their dwellings, the Vikings had them surrounded.

The two main groups of combatants approached each other, readying their weapons.

A small clash began, with one Viking spearman hurrying to catch up, while the Danish slinger and Viking archers looked to opportunities to fire into the melee.

Meanwhile, a sneaky berserker tried getting around to the defenseless slingers, but was stopped by a pair of spearmen. What could have been an epic melee ended abruptly when the berserker was pushed off the table, resulting in a casualty.

Meanwhile, the shoving match out front of the dwellings continued, with the last Viking spearman finally getting into combat. He was replacing another spearman who was knocked silly and then killed by a full volley of sling bullets.

The melee continued, each side trying to gain the upper-hand.

A rather nasty round of combat left the Vikings down a few men, as the Danes resolutely advanced.

The Viking leader finally decided to get into the action, and the Vikings recovered, sending a couple enemies to Valhalla.

Unfortunately, the Viking leader wasn't as brave as he seemed to be, and after a couple of hits, the warband reached the breaking point and retreated.

Again, another quick game, and interesting thanks to the combat mechanics. There was plenty of shoving and positioning to make placement important when attacking. We're hoping to get this game back out soon, using different scenarios.

Skirmish Raid - Open Combat AAR

Last year I reviewed Open Combat and said that I would get an AAR up on the blog 'soon.' Well, nearly a year later, I've finally managed to get a couple of games in. 

Carl agreed to try the game with me, and I used a recently acquired mat from Gorgon Studios to create a small farm, somewhere in Dark Ages England.

The two warbands I created were somewhat similar, from 150 points of Renown:

Vikings
Leader | SPD:4 | ATK:6 | DEF:5 | FOR:5 | MND:3 | Weapons: Hand Weapon, Shield | Abilities: Shield Bash
Spearman x3 | SPD:4 | ATK:3 | DEF:4 | FOR:4 | MND:2 | Weapons: Spear, Shield
Archer x2 | SPD:5 | ATK:2 | DEF:2 | FOR:2 | MND:1 | Weapons: Bow
Berserker x2 | SPD:5 | ATK:5 | DEF:2 | FOR:4 | MND:2 | Weapons: Hand Weapon x2, Double-handed Weapon (One each) | Abilities: Furious Assault

Anglo-Dances
Leader | SPD:4 | ATK:5 | DEF:5 | FOR:5 | MND:3 | Weapons: Hand Weapon, Shield | Abilities: Shield Bash
Spearman x3 | SPD:4 | ATK:3 | DEF:4 | FOR:4 | MND:2 | Weapons: Spear, Shield
Slinger x2  | SPD:5 | ATK:2 | DEF:2 | FOR:2 | MND:1 | Weapons: Sling
Axeman x2 | SPD:4 | ATK:4 | DEF:4 | FOR:5 | MND:2 | Weapons: Double-handed weapon | Abilities: Focussed Blow

Our warbands deployed on opposite sides of the field of battle. I was controlling the Anglo-Danes, while Carl led the Vikings.

Having won the roll for initiative, Carl had his warband wrap around to the front of the building with his archers on the flanks.

The Danes advanced in disparate groups, weathering a few hits from the archers.

The two warbands continued to close, with sling bullets and arrows flitting back and forth.

At last, the Danes closed into combat!

Having weathered some eerily accuate shooting, the Danes were going in at a bit of a disadvantage, demonstrated when an axeman went down after a resounding crack on the nose by Viking archer's fist. The Vikings pushed back the Danes' charge, shoving them back and charging forward.

The Danes managed to take out a Viking spearman, but the Vikings returned the favor. By this point, the Danes were already close to reaching their breaking point.

And after losing their leader and another spearman, the Danes were forced to retreat.

To give an idea of how quickly this game played, it was our first time with the rules, and we still managed to get a standard game of 150 Renown done in 45 minutes! Of course, that did come with some realizations - mostly that we had both completely forgotten about the uses of shield in ranged and close combat! So we decided to set up for a second game, which I'll cover later this week.

Warpfire Vagabonds vs. Baltimork Corviks, League Game - Blood Bowl AAR

We're in week 2 of the Stomping Grounds Blood Bowl League. Kevyn missed his first week - he can catch up at the end of the league during the bye week - so we decided to get together for this week optional match. In the league, teams have one scheduled game and one extra optional games per week that count towards SPP and Casualties. 

I won the toss, and decided to kick.

The ball landed in the center of the Vagabonds' half. A Linerat tried to block a Black Orc Blocker and was knocked down. The Corviks followed up by pushing over the line of scrimmage, sending a Vagabond to the KO box and one out of the game with a casualty.

A Skaven Thrower grabbed the ball and tossed it to a Gutter Runner, who tried getting through the Orc line. The dodge failed, and the Gutter Runner went down. The Orc Thrower tried picking the ball up, but failed.

The Vagabonds failed to pick up the ball, and couldn't manage to make an effect on the Orcs. The Orc Thrower finally nabbed the ball and scooted to the side of the field as the rest of his team beat down the ratmen, sending another two off, one each to the KO and casualty boxes.

The Vagabonds were stuck as the Corviks began to grind up the pitch. One Linerat is crowd-surfed back into the Vagabonds' reserve box.

As another two ratmen were knocked out, the Orc Thrower decided to make a break for the endzone.

Half the Vagabonds ended up in the KO box as the Orc Thrower approaches the endzone.

And the Corviks scored!

The teams set up with the Corviks kicking to the Vagabonds. Only half the KOs made is out of the box, leaving the Vagabonds at a deep player disadvantage.

With only a turn left until the end of the first half, the Vagabonds move back. The Orcs decide to hold back for a turn.

The teams set up for the second half, with the Vagabonds kicking to the Corviks. The Corviks manage to get a Quick Snap result, shifting around and towards the ball.

The Corviks pushed into the Vagabonds half as the Blitzers and Thrower set up a cage.

The ratmen looked for an opening as the Orc cage moved forward.

A Gutter Runner was sent to the casualty box as the Orcs pressed their numerical advantage.

The cage managed to shove its way deep into the Skaven half, as the Vagabonds were knocked to the floor.

And the Orc Thrower went in for second touchdown.

The teams set up again, with the Vagabonds setting up heavily to one side. The ball scattered to almost ending up on the Corviks' half.

The Vagabonds set up for a long pass in an attempt to get a point on the board.

The setup, however, left the ball-carrying Thrower wide open to a blitz from the Corviks. Suddenly the ball was down. Another Skaven was sent to the casualty box.

An Orc Blitzer scooped up the ball and started sprinting towards the endzone.

With the rest of the Vagabonds tied up dealing with the Orcs, the Blitzer scores, ending the game at 3-0 to the Corviks.

It was a tough game for Kevyn, but he managed to make it through relatively unscathed, with only one Gutter Runner missing the next game. My Corviks managed to accrue enough gold to buy another Blitzer to replace the one that died in a previous game.

Painting Update - Wrath of Kings, Guild Ball

Let's take a look at the models that have passed through the painting queue in the new year.

I've finished another set of the Shael Han infantry for Wrath of Kings - the Dragon Legion. Like the Children before, this includes the two leaders and the Character leader.

I also completed Veteran Harmony for the Masons in Guild Ball.

A Year in Gaming - 2016

In what I'm hoping will be an annual post, let's take a look back at some of the games I played in 2016.

Unlike 2015, I did keep track of most of most of the games I played this year:

• Arena Rex - 7
• Battletech - 1
• Blood Bowl - 4
• Empire of the Dead - 5
• Fistful of Lead - 6
• Frostgrave - 4
• Guild Ball - 36
• Heroes of the Aturi Cluster - 5
• Horizon Wars - 3
• Kings of War - 16
• Miscellaneous - 4
• Ronin - 1
• Song of Drums and Tomahawks - 3
• Strange Aeons - 2
• Wargods - 1
• Warmaster - 1
• Wrath of Kings - 7

109 games in total, and that's not counting the various board games and role-playing games I managed to play this year. I'd call that a pretty good tally. 

So here's a quick view through these games:

Arena Rex

Blood Bowl

Blucher

Battle of Clontarf

Battle of Cowpens

Empire of the Dead

A Fistful of Lead

Frostgrave

Guild Ball

Heroes of the Aturi Cluster

Kings of War

Horizon Wars

Ancient Naval Warfare

Ronin

Song of Drums and Tomahawks

Strange Aeons

Wargods of Aegyptus

Warmaster

Here's to another year of gaming in 2017!