Triple S - SciFi, Scots and Spies

 A fairly busy week of gaming as we approach the end of June. 

I'm still painting for a new addition to the "5 Parsecs From Home" solo Sci-Fi skirmish  family - "Planet Fall". In this variant of 5FPH you are the commander of an expedition seeking to colonise an alien world. I've been painting both the xenomorphs and the crew.

Crabman xeno

Expedition soldiers

Expedition scientists

I've also been to Fishponds for another game of "Test of Honour". The scenario involved the Samurai trying to smuggle a spy off the table as the Warrior Monks look to block their progress.    

Warrior Monks

Samurai

The spy did nt escape before we completed the game be we called it for the attacking Samurai.    

Action in the centre

Finally we're starting our new campaign looking at the Montrose rebellion in ECW Scotland. We're using "Never Mind the Matchlocks", a new set for us so plenty of learning to do.     

Highlanders

Covenanters

Our learning this week is that the cavalry rules are more complex than the infantry ones. We'll look to reduce the cavalry numbers to speed up the game.     

Dark Ages - the finale

For the final game of the Dark Ages interlude we did an battle royale style battle. All the factions have assembled to elect a high-king but all plan to use the opportunity to eliminate a deadly rival. All the leaders start in the centre, having each randomly selected another player as their rival. The warbands start on the table edge and no attacks are allowed for the first two rooms.

The battle field

The Merrymen

The first Viking band

The Picts

The Anglo-Saxons

The Irish

The meeting

Most of the leaders immediately rushed back towards their warbands with lots of jockeying for position as everyone tried to move towards their target whilst working out who might be gunning for them.     

Second Viking band 

The early action saw one of the Viking warbands attacking the Anglo-Saxons whilst the Irish rushed towards the Pictish troops who formed a defensive perimeter.   

Anglo-Saxons ready for the Viking attack

With the Vikings getting stuck into the Anglo-Saxons the Irish launched their war dogs into the Pictish crossbowmen and then attacked their lines.   

The Merrymen and the second Viking band were circling each other when one of the Berserker got confused and attacked his compatriot killing him in.   

Merrymen prepare for a Viking attack 

Berserkers get confused!

With night falling all the warbands were engaged - Irish vs Picts, Vikings vs Merrymen and Vikings vs Anglo-Saxons. No one managed to kill their intended targets but there were injuries and a dead; Viking 1 (Dead), Viking 2 (3 wounds of 4), Anglo-Saxon (0 wounds), Irish (0 wounds), Picts (2 wounds), Merryman (2 wounds).   

Irish and Picts

Vikings and Anglo-Saxons

A fun game and suitably chaotic. Played the Irish and was trying to kill the Picts. The Anglo-Saxons were trying to kill me but got tangled up with the Vikings.  
   

5 Parsecs - into the belt.

To quickly recap; the crew of the Hermes are in pursuit of evil scientists from Blackwell Biometals who are conducting experiments on prisoners to develop adaptive biotech armour (Project Chrysalis). In the previous episodes, clues directed them to a secret facility in the asteroid belt and so they make haste to the spaceport to blast-off for asteroid X754E.

Turn 19 - Q'arr strikes back

Things are never simple for the Hermes crew as this is the moment former "business partner" Q'arr has chosen to launch a major attack on their ship in revenge for a deal gone wrong. He's loaded-for-bear by sending two merc teams and an elite merc to destroy the ship.   

Crew moves towards the space port

Under attack from two sides the team opt not to rush straight for the ship but take- up a position in a building overlooking the entrance to the space port. 

Crew takes up position

The Mercs rushed forward into heavy fire from the crew and were soon pinned down. Lacking much motivation they withdrew once the casualties started to build. Silas was stunned but the crew was otherwise ok.   

Skulker Mercs advance with covering fire from an elite Merc

Turn 20 - X54E, Blackwell facility

Very strong magnetic storms near the facility meant the crew had to land a few clicks away and finish the journey on foot. The storms have attracted "Distorts", strange beings who are partly between this dimension and subspace. They can phase through terrain and have attacks that bypass even the best armour.  

All quiet at Blackwell's facility

Distorts - mindless but deadly on mass

The crew advanced across the frozen surface, looking to find shelter from the intense storms. The Distorts are attracted to electrical activity and so zeroed in on the team as they neared the facility.   

After a desperate struggle the crew staged a fighting withdraw in the face of the relentless horde. Sera and Skor were wounded but using their Luck were able to keep moving and make it to the safely of the facility.   

Fighting wirgdrawal

The gunfire and explosions was not to go unnoticed though. A team of Enforcers were deployed from a nearby Unity base monitoring the sector - they will need dealing with before the base can be properly searched. 

 

 

Dark Ages - St Brice's Day Massacre

For this weeks game we played the St Brice's Day Massacre scenario from Pillage. The attackers must assault a defended village and set fire to the church. To help the attackers there are 3 fire sources on the table that can be used to help with the fire setting. 

On table 1 we had Vikings / Saxons attacking vs Picts / Arabs defending. On table 2 we double Saxons attacking vs  Vikings / Merrymen defending. 

Fire source on table 2

Table 1

Picts defending the church on table 1

Table 1 was a hard fought game with the attacker eventually setting a fire late in the game.  

 

Saxons attacking on table 2

On table 2 the first battle saw the attacking Saxons very quickly overwhelmed the defenders and set fire to the church within 7 moves. So we swapped around and had the Merrymen/Vikings attack. This was a closer battle with the attackers managing to set a fire late in the game. 

 

Tussle around the church on table 2 

Dark Ages - The Raid

A shorter report this week on our latest Dark Ages games. This weeks scenario was a a race between two raiding forces ro grab loot from the middle of the table and search some buildings. Game 1 was Robin Hood + Vikings vs Picts + Vikings. Gamer 2 was Welsh + Anglo-Saxons vs Irish + Arabs.

Hoodies on the road

Picts advance

Game 1 was a win for the Hoodies / Vikings with a 5-2 victory for them. 

Irish moving around the flanks

Irish and Welsh clash

Anglo-Saxons claim some loot

Game 2 was a win for the Arabs / Irish with them claiming a 10-1 victory

Release the hounds