Urban War Demo

MacSver came down to run through a game of Urban War with me. It was a fun and useful session, as we found I'd had a couple of rules wrong. MacSver chose to play Viridian, as their more "shooty" focus seemed easier to follow for a first match.

As this was a first game we opted for a straight fight, both sides starting at either end. MacSver was quick to ascertain that his Sniper could fire the length of the table and mentally mapped the table length firing lines through the various scenery. Quite how effective in practical terms I'm not sure, but as a psychological exercise very good as it had me wary of his shooting from the word go!

 The Marines started moving down the right flank with covering fire from the Sergeant and Sniper and using the old supply pipework as a sheltered route.

The VASA, with their shorter effective firing range (and Close Combat only troops) moved up the opposite side, hoping to get a chance to charge in from a side. A Sniper and Suppressor were left behind to cover the Marine flanking advance.

The covering VASA were short lived. The Sniper was taken out by the Viridian Sergeant from the ruins across the table (despite feeling safe tucked behind a window) and the Suppressor missed his shot and was taken out by the Marine Sniper.

The VASA continued their advance up the left, using the tall ruin and a base for cover. A Viridian Marine tried to draw some of the covering fire from the other side, but unfortunately for him drew it too well and was gunned down

The Viridian Sergeant decided to to nip the VASA advance in the bud, and used both his extra CAL actions to dash round into the ruins and charge a baton wielding Suppressor. The resulting close combat was a stalemate, and his opposing number took up a covering position, not wanting to fire into the melee.

The Viridian Sergeant successfully broke off though, and made to escape. The VASA Sergeant gave chase but could only shock him with 2 volleys of fire. The Viridian managed to escape out of LOS round the corner, but the Suppressor caught up and with his baton on combat mode beat the enemy to the ground.

The other CC Suppressor dashed round the corner of the building to threaten the lurking Viridian Sniper, expecting a hail of lead. But luckily it was almost the first time in the game that the sharpshooter hadn't been on Overwatch, and the charged assault proved most successful, leaving the last couple of Viridian to break and retreat.

A Change in Personnel

This motley crew make up my November Painting Oath. They also represent a slight change in my next Song of Blades and Heroes Campaign personnel.

I had already lined up some modern GW Wood Elf Waywatchers to use a slick archers, but I could never drum up any enthusiasm to get them started. I did try a test model a month ago, but got fed up with the fiddly, meaningless detail on them. I already have some re-painted Marauder Era Wood Elfs, and their old school style wasn't matching the modern look anyway, so I've been off to Ebay and procured some more 80's Wood Elf goodness (and a compatible Female Elf whom I can't recall the manufacturer of) and a Dryad. To keep the look of the warband I've also ditched the plans to incorporate a couple of my GW LoTR figures as well.

Never really painted Elves before though, wish me luck!

October Oath Done

...ish

Finished my work on my October  Painting Oath 3 days late. This was just a "see if I can quickly rattle them off" Oath, very much following on from my Quick Paint Ork\Marauder all the way from last October (how time flies!). Totally rough but better than unpainted (with scope to add on later if I want). Not so much painted for arms length, more just-stepped-in-the-door length.

November's Oath will be much more considered (and better!)

Final (Kessel) Run Through

A night before game of X-Wing for McSver who had a casual Tourney the next day.

The Forces move into contact range.

100 points, with MacSver fielding the Falcon (naturally) and his favourite small ships, the A-Wings.
Slave and a trio of Tie Fighters made up my force. As an aside MacSver had a nice printed sheet from the X-wing Fleet builder at http://x-wing.voidstate.com/build .

No real Battle Rep (as I had to leave early and hand over the control to someone else) but a few more thoughts.

A well placed proton bomb damages the 'Falcon
and an A-Wing.

• The 'Falcon is a beast with a base "health" of 13 but you really need to hammer it as it's only has a single agility (defend) die. This may stop the pilot from having the luxury to drop target locks all the time to increase it's offensive efficiency (something I didn't do by the way!).
  
• The extra points tied up in the pilot abilities are well worth it, but keep them in mind when making your tactical deployment (again more of my own advice I should try and carry for the next game!)

With so many maneuverable fighters,
stress tokens were in high demand

• Don't always choose the coolest looking ships. If I played the rebels I'd be pushed to look past the X-Wings every time, but those little, unassuming A-Wings are great. Trouble is X-Wings are cool!
• Get your target locks on and missiles fired early game. Later on, when your shields are failing you'll be using those evade actions instead of target locks and the missiles will go unfired (again, next game...)

I Wonder if I'll remember any of that next time...