Weekend roundup

I've managed a couple of non-campaign games this week, so an additional update. 

Blucher

At Robin's I tried another Sam Mustafa game - Blucher, which looks at grand tactical scale with each unit a brigade. Like LaSalle it has Momentum as a currency you spend, but it only affects the movement phase. We played 6mm Austrians vs French. 

French heavy artillery

The rules focus on commander abilities, use of reserves and grand movements. The French are much better at than the Austrians. 

Carbineers

|Austrian infantry brigades

The rules also combine combat effectiveness, morale and attrition all into a single "strength" score for fast play and an uncluttered table. I'm feeling tempted by Russians sand Baccus have some nice ones.

French infantry brigades

Firefight

The weekend saw me in Fishponds playing some Firefight, my first game since the rules / lists got updated. I played the Space Marines Enforcers vs the Matsudan,  giant sumo space lizards. 

Matsudan infantry

The aim was to dominate three zones in the centre of the table with progressing scoring and the central zone scoring the most. We both had pretty shooty armies so a gun-battle was in prospect.

Enforcers striker with AT gun 

We both attack our left and the centre with only a token force on the right. The Enforcers shooting proved superior, enabling them to win the centre and go onto a solid win. 

Italian Wars - Roccamurata

Finally, I've been working on some units themed after the City State of Roccamurata, my country from the Italian Wars campaign. They are red, white and yellow after the cities flag. All units are WArlord games Landsknecht.

Roccamurata infantry in field square 

Not easy to see from this angle but the figure I'm using to depict my leader bears an uncanny likeness to Barry Gibb.  

The Alchemist of Roccamurata 

  

  

Its not easy being Green

This weekend I managed to squeeze in some Firefight scifi mass skirmish, despite the best efforts of the snow. The scenario involved trying to secure three High Value Individuals (HVIs), with progressive scoring meaning you got more points the longer you held them.

I was playing Space Orks Marauders vs Rats Veer-Myn. The rats are tunnelling theme with lots of mining gear while the Orks have lots of noisy shooty things but love getting stuck in.   

Veer Myn tunnellers

Marauder tank and Walker 

We  both contested only two of the three objectives, leaving the central ones as the main one to fight over. Sadly I basically lost the game by not understanding how the Scouting advanced movement rules and unit deployment worked. So first activation in turn 1 the central HVI was already 12" from the centre and disappearing into the mass of Rats, leaving me with only one I could grab and needing to attack the strongest part of the Rats army.    

I advanced as quickly as possible aiming to cause some damage and try-out the various units  as it was clear I'd be outscored in turn 1 to an extent that I could not catch up. The Tank and the Rainmakers with their Gatling guns caused plenty of damage but could nt really impact on the scenario scoring.   

Ork casualties were pretty light and I did lots of kills but ran out a long way behind on VPs due to the deployment error. 

Rainmakers

      

New Years Day game - Hearts and Minds for Firefight

For New Years Day I was back in Fishponds playing Firefight, with Enforcers vs Forge Fathers. In this scenario there are 6 buildings on the table sheltering civilians who must be wooed to score points each turn. Knowing the Forge Fathers reputation for survivability I came loaded-for-bear with lots of AT weapons and my new Novashock Peacekeepers with their AT option. 

I pushed forward across the line trying to secure the three buildings on my side and make some progress towards the buildings on the enemy side. The Forgefathers kept about half their force back looking to inflict some long-range damage whilst committing some troops to secure the buildings. 

Novashock troopers advance

Enforcer Strider supporting the attack on the right

The FF's secured all three of their buildings in turn 1 but I only secured two of mine. The third refused to be persuaded and it took 12 roles (50/50 chance) across three rounds before it finally came on board.  

 

The Iron Ancestor - big for a dwarf!

Forgefathers Sturnhammer tank

After 2 turns the FF heavy armour was neutralised by the Novashocks, a Strider and some infantry missile launchers chipping-in. 

 

Strider-off

We then got down to some close quarter shooting and fighting around the central set of buildings with the FFs also struggling on a couple of rolls. Somehow this left me 2 points up going into the final round. 

I took some heavy hits and was effectively wiped-out on my right flank, but just had a large enough lead to win by 2 points. A close game and certainly one where you can be unlucky on a few buildings and find yourself behind.     

Novashock trooper holds his ground

Peace through force - the Enforcers

Over the last couple of months I've done some focused painting to field a force of Enforcers for Mantic'sFirefight Scifi game. Its a simplified scifi game looking at similar force sizes to GW's Warhammer 40K. I'll be playing some games vs my brother in Bristol, who plans to do some competitions later in the year. 

The Enforcers have a big of a zealots vibe to them being highly disciplined super-soldiers serving the main human faction in the game. The overall force is enough for a really big game or about two thirds of it can be used in a standard game. The Enforcers focus primarily on superior shooting and survivability through access to medical tech.  

The officers command the forces and provide unique benefits through Command Orders. Here we have a Captain, two Sergeants and the sneaky Pathfinder. Below is the Peacekeeper Captain who has a protective aura boosting others defence.  

Enforcer command

Peacekeeper Captain

The Peacekeepers themselves are the most heavily armoured of the infantry and are very tough to kill. 

Peacekeepers

Peacekeeper Defenders

Various Operative units provide the core of the army. Here we have the basic infantry and a unit of Engineers with drone guns. 

Enforcer Operatives

Enforcer Engineers

The Pathfinders provide lightly armed scouts and snipers.

Enforcer Pathfinders

The closequarters elements are provided by Defenders (shotguns & shields) or the Assault operatives. 

Enforcer Defenders

Assault Enforcer

The heavy support is provides by missile teams and the Striders who are mobile tanks with long range AT weapons. 

Enforcer heavy support team

Enforcer Strider

Finally the speed element comes from Jet bikes armed with a variety of weapons.  

Enforcer Jet Bikes