Saturday, May 25, 2013

Work Life Balance - fixing it

Work, Life Balance, or what I've not got much of these days... ...hence a wargame, the first in a while.

"Get To Tha Dropship!"

An Imperial deep space monitor on Deathworld Hudson needed repair.  A team of technicians were escorted in by Marines,  they need escorting out for pick-up.

Objective: Marines must escort more than 50% of technicians to the other side of the board for pick-up by Imperial Navy Dropship.

Problem, this is a man-eating plant and  creepy-crawly infested Death-World.
Marines and technicians must cross the infested valley to get to the dropship

Marines surround their delicate charge, 6 technicians
Why won't the the armoured Imperial Navy Dropship get closer for pick-up?
Deathworld creepy-crawlies (Ambuls) and Creeper vines
A Catachan Devil, a nasty bug, more Ambuls and Creepers
Whoosh, Marines open up on flora
Burnt to a crisp, but the dice are rolled every separate firing event, if its a 6 then the local denizens are attracted to the firing
Cautious advancing
Marines fan out to protect the techs
A Spiker next to a Man-trap is engaged by Marines
Out in front Marines pour fire on a Spiker, to no effect
Other than managing to wake something up...
Ambuls move towards the noise
Power armour deflects spikes
The Spiker's head moves, fires and
Down goes the flamer-equipped Marine
More Uglies aware
The Catachan devil sniffs out Marines
And moves in close
Shooty time, the Devil soaks up hits, it takes a lot to stop one of these
Uh OH...
The Devil closes in
Elsewhere everything else moves closer
A vicious close assault, the Devil is dealt with, at the cost of two Marines
 A tech strays too close to a Creeper and is snagged
The other techs look on in terror as Ambuls surround the Creeper-snagged Tech.  Techs now have FEAR
 Marines circle their charges while Ambuls close in
 Good Shooting!  One down
 Another down
 Squish, the tech captured by the Creeper expires
 Spikers move slowly in
 Ambuls charge into the mob
 A tough melee
 One Down!
 Ouch!
 Two down, Ambuls lose the melee
 Marines regroup to fire
 And completely miss everything on one flank
 Same on the other - worst round of firing EVER
 See this guy, He's got a heavy Bolter that can't hit anything.  Not one hit all game
 Ambul charges back into melee
 This time Marines go down, they lose and retreat, Techs flee in FEAR (Psych effect not crazy caps)
 Ambul follows up
 Marines have no choice, they must fire into the melee
 Oh Great, now they hit and kill what they aim at.  Pity its the techs (random target roll for hits)
 Heavy Bolter finally beads on a target
 And it takes down the Ambul
 Marines take advantage of a lull in Deathworld reinforcements (no 6's rolled on response to firing) to advance, clearing the way as they go
 Still no 6's, Marines near their objective
 Got to the Dropship.  Marines deliver the traumatized survivors to the dropship
Marines board the ship.

The lull in reinforcements enabled the Marines and techs to escape, but the Marines fail in their objective.  Only two Techs got out, if the Marines hadn't gunned them down themselves, 5 techs could have got out.  Its just as well the Techs are too traumatized with Fear to write the AAR.

Conclusion: Deathworld Hudson, aptly named.  Visit only with extreme prejudiced, and a squad of Marines in escort.

A decent tick in the WLB fun category, and another enjoyable 40K Rogue trader game with some twists and turns in the action.  I forgot how much Marines morphed from their beginnings as OK human troops in decent armour into the uber elites they became.  I also forgot how relatively simple this game was.  Sure it has flaws as a competition game, but as a pick-up game it is fun.

Next 40K game, perhaps some Eldar action?

5 comments:

  1. Love it, looks great. Not a big fan of the dark bases on the techs though. I find that dark bases don't reflect much light up to the figs, making the detail on them hard to see.

    What are you planning to use for Eldar? Zidhe Infantry or Retained Knights from 15mm.co.uk?

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  2. Nice AAR- a simple scenario, but that is not a criticism- far from it- simple is usually much better for this type of skirmish IMHO, and usually more credible. Great report, great minis!

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  3. Hi Mark,

    Fair comment on the dark bases. These are figs in the to-base queue. Next time I'll fix them up before gaming.

    The Eldar I picked up painted on Ebay. They are Blue Moon Universalist figs with Robot Legionaires as Wraithguard and Striders as War Walkers.

    Thanks Gunrunner. As a mostly solo gamer these days simple scenarios are appealing.

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    1. Yep, I'm a solo gamer myself, so I know what you mean. Best wishes!

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  4. Universalist Blue Moon figures are a nice choice for Eldar. Looking forward to seeing them, I'm sure you'll do a great job.

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