Portal fun

This week's game was the penultimate one featuring the Demon Drech'nok vs Abbess Severina. In this instalment both are seeking recover various power crystals around the battlefield to power the Demon Portal. The scenario was Fools Gold - both players place objective markers worth 0,1, or 2 VPs in the enemy half, face down, They are revealed at the half-way point, so lots of options to try and dupe the enemy.   

The Abyss went with a line spread across the table with a fast left (Abyssal Horsemen) and a tough but slower right (Moloch demons). The centre was Abyssal Guards and lots of shooting. It subsequently transpired they had spread their objectives fairly evenly across the table.   

Molochs - big old demon dudes

The Basileans went for a punchy army with Ogre Palace guards, Boomers (Ogres with 9pdr cannons) and some Paladins in the centre. The right was Knights and flying with Ogres in support, with the left left vacant except for a sole unit of Scouts. All the scoring tokens were on the right opposite the Knights. 

Scouts guarding the flank

On the Basilean right I attacked swiftly to try and exploit the advantage I had there. some average rolls and dreaded double-1 for the Nerve test meant the enemy Horsemen died but lasted a turn longer than expected.  In KOW on a double-1 am unit holds no matter how badly damaged. 

Centrally things were pretty even with the Basileans eking-out an advantage until the unopposed Molochs arrived from the Abyssal left. The Molochs got stuck-in but managed to roll three double-1s  on Nerve tests against outnumbered opponents. This probably cost them about 2 turns

Having cleared their right the Basilean cavalry were able to turn the flank and move to support the units in the centre, claiming 3 points worth of objectives.

With the Abyssals held-up on their onw right by stubborn Basilean resistance the game ended a 4-3 win for the men in blue. The Boomers first outing was a fairly short and bloody affair - they pushed-up and even with 18 shots did very little damage, they then got double charged by Succubi and deleted ;-( 

Big Robots

Although not as Scifi player myself we recently hosted game of 40K - this one featured some very large mechs and a cluster of marines. Most of the terrain was an early lockdown project - march seeming like a very long time ago now.

28mm Ottomans

I've been able to complete a further batch of Ottomans this week, helped by having some already painted that just needed some rebasing.

Ottoman naming conventions are pretty fluid but I'm adopting the most common ones here. First up are Tufecki - professional troops raised at the regional level and of good discipline. These figures are a bit of a mix. There are some Dixon Miniatures I painted many years ago supplemented with Wargames Atlantic Afghans sporting Gripping Beast Turkoman heads. 

Tufecki

Tufecki 

Secondly some more Janissaries, as with the last batch these are Warlord Games.

Janissaries

Janissaries

Finally some skirmishers. Classifications for the levy units are subject to debate some I'm going to call these Azabs - garrison units. They could though by the lower quality Seymen (add your own jokes).     

Azabs

 

I'm in control

Last week we fought part 4 of the Drech'nok at Bay mini-campaign. In parts 1 and 2 both armies scavenged supplies and got them back to camp. In part 3 we arrived at the demonic portal and finding it incomplete both sides search for the missing stones. In part 4 we were trying to control territory around the portal so it could be excavated for the crystals needed to power it.

The Control scenario sees the table split into 6 zones, with a zone controlled by the player with the highest Unit Strength in at a the end of the game. Its 1 point per zone, except you get 2 points for the enemies central zone.

We each went with three distinct battle groups as we tried to contest every sector. The Basilean left was the Ogre Palace Guards, preceded by Sisterhood Scouts to act as a screen. The Basilean centre was Paladin Foot Guards with healing support from Samacris, the mother of phoenix's. Finally the Basilean right with fast - Knights, Gur Panthers, Elohi flying infantry, and the Abbess on a panther.

The Abyssals had a fast right - Horsemen supported by Hellhounds, Flamebearers and Drech. The centre was solid with Succubi in the woods and Abyssal Guards in the open with Efreet fire-deamon support. The left was Moloch large infantry supported more Flamebearers   

So both sides had a speed advantage on their right.

Might Molochs

The Basileans attacked swiftly on their right and were able to throw all their forces into the Molochs stationed there as the Flamebeares were trying to shoot into two zones rather than just covering the front of the Molochs. The dangerous Molochs were killed very quickly leaving the Basileans in control of the flank, but needing to garrisons the zones there as well as look to move into the middle.  They took some heavy shooting but were eventually able to destroy the Flamebears, but at the cost of not having many resources to assist the centre.

The Basileans found themselves outnumbered in the centre and so spent most the game back-peddling to avoid combat for as long as possible. The idea as to deny the Abyssals 2 VP for the central zone and hope that forces arriving from the right might help them win.  This was partially successful in that the Abyssals had to defend their flank evening-up the odds in the middle. 

Over on the Basilean left the skirmisher battle was pretty much a draw. After that we traded pieces with  the Abyssal Horsemen killing some Ogres, before themselves dying to the second unit. Both sides managed to captured the others starting zone, so cancelling out. 

Back in the centre both sides routed a few of the enemy but neither side had the strength to breakthrough for 2 VP.

So the game ended with eastern-end (Basilean left) and centres tied. The Basileans were able to hold one zone on the western-end (Basilean right) for a 3-2 victory.   

     
A close game - the Abyssal shooting meant that they always carried a threat and the Basileans needed to be careful to guard captured zones in sufficient strength not to get routed late game and lose that way. The downside was they had lots of US 1 or US 0 units so found it harder to contest zones. 

28mm Eastern Renaissance

I've managed to make a start on my Ottomans, boosted by having some figures already painted from a skirmish game we did ages ago. So first to completed are a unit of Janissaries and one of Arnauts (rebased only).

Janissaries

Janissaries

Arnauts

Arnauts

Arnauts

Nigel has also dusted-off his Polish army to provide part of the opposition forces. Featured here are some tribal cossack?) light horse, some musketeers and the inevitable winged hussars. 

The missiing pieces

With both armies having secured the required supplies for the campaign they moved to the demonic portal bent on securing it. Arriving they found that the portal was damaged and so a race was on the find the missing pieces. 

We played this as the Raze scenario. In this both sides place 3 objectives in the enemy half with a central tie-breaker. Points are scored for the objectives in the opposition, but you may block the enemy. The twist is that captured objectives are removed, allowing you to move on.

In this game both sides placed 2 on their left and 1 on their right.   

First outing for the portal 

The Abyssals forces spread across the table to contest all the objective. the army was again heavy in shooting with Flamebearers, Efreets and a Fiend. The flanks were strong which left the centre a little more thinly held.    

Gargoyles, Tortured Souls, and the demon lord. 

Molochs on the right

The Basileans focused their infantry in the centre. choosing not to contest the right-most of the Abyssal objectives. All of the cavalry and flying units were on the left facing the two objectives there.    

The Basileans advanced rapidly on their left. Heavy Abyssal shooting waivered the Knights but the flying units were able to flank the demonic forces and capture the objectives there. We traded snake-eyes with a unit of Basilean Knights being thwarted by a lowly Warlock but in turn not being routed when they were Devastated.  

Double waiver - I thought it was all over on my left.

Centrally the infantry lines clashed. The Basileans had the advantage of numbers and were able to cut their way through the Abyssals Guards opposing them.

On the Abyssals left they had focused a significant a large and powerful attacking force. This quickly captured one objected but made slow progress against the Paladins deployed in the woods guarding a second.  

Eventually they were able to break through but this left them insufficient time to claim the central objective or the one on their right.  They also left an objective unguarded, enabling a Basilean flying hero to grab it in turn 5.  

The final result was 4-2 Basilea.

Once again the Abyssal shooting was a big factor in their plan, and even armoured units can easily find themselves waivered with 40 fireballs and 37 firebolts coming down range. Certainly the Knights ended the game taking shelter behind a hill. 

This was my first try with the using a pair of War Wizards, something that features in lots of net-lists. They bring lightening bolt and banechant. I'm still undecided - they destroyed a Troop of Falmebearers and waivered some Gargoyles, so decent damage. They don't though contribute in scenario play as they have no Unit Strength and can nt really block the enemy.