Broken Arrow! A Battletech After Action Report.

This is Sector Zulu 3 Command to available units. Large seismic signature corresponding to last known coordinates of robe dropper on "rough final approach". Dispatch scout units to round up survivors/stragglers. Over"


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Ghost 301 from Reaper Actual. Standby for orders......

Ghost 301 deploy Ghost lance & Gunship 505 support to folowing coordinates. Locate all WoB forces from downed WoB dropship. Relay force composition of WoB assests & capture or eliminate all WoB units if possible.

Reaper Actual out.


Zulu Sector Command to Reaper Actual, assigned unit proceed to Z 145,176 with caution. Satellite and remote sensing confirm one downed robe aerodyne dropper scattered over 2 km vector 095, main debris field located 145, 182. Active contacts confirmed but not identified. Possible broken arrow, destroy launchers with extreme prejudice and neutralize any threats if possible, report priority one if unverified arrow proves true and on the bow...Wolf In Exile star moving from 080 to identical way point moving to support your operation."


WP: Objectives


+300: Identify unit in dropship (Active probe range or point blank inspection of destroyed unit).


+300: Scan for possible nukes (scan length/width of board) within 8 turns.


WP Bonus:


+50 Launcher unit destroyed (Arrow IV or Long Tube Artillery)
+20 Other unit destroyed/captured


+100 Confirm destruction/secure nuclear weapon.


-1000 robes use a nuke.


Ghost 301 Ninja-To NJT-2 65 Lt. Greta Khol
Ghost 302 Raptor RTX1-0 Prime 25 Iziaslava Musselwhite
Ghost 303 Strider SR1-0C 40 Rene Koens
Ghost 304 Beowulf BEO-12 45 Atisvarya Atnagulov

Gunship 505 Yellow Jacket Gunship Standard


205 WP cost for deployment.


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Ghost lance advanced with a single Yellow Jacket helo in support.  WoB resistance reported as heavy by  Ghost 301.  WoB had deployed a Titan, Atlas, & Blue Flame mechs with heavy vehicle & battle armor support.  





Ghost lance advanced and exchanged fire.  Ghost 304 located and secured one crate of Thumper Artillery Nuclear rounds.  Ghost 301 advanced and with support prevented 2 crates of Arrow  IV Nuclear rounds from being removed by the WoB militia.  Those rounds were flattened and the launcher was destroyed.  Ghost 301 sustained non-survivable damage and sacrificed herself to take out the remaining launcher.  One crate of nuclear ordnance was left behind as the combined WoB mech forces were to great to overcome.   Ghost lance radioed for support and fell back with the secured nuclear ordance.


"Those who cling to life die, and those who defy death live."


Chu-i Greta Khol's body was recovered by Clan Wolf forces after the battle.  She was laid to rest on the hill above the site of the battle.  Sho-sa Gray awarded Khol the Glory of the Fallen Samurai and all the officers raised sake in a final toast over her resting place.  Her name has been placed on the roll of honor on the battle standard of the Cavaliers and her family has been presented with the battle standard of the Fallen Samurai.  


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* The game was fun and challenging.  Had I not have been so tired I might have figured out a way to do better.  I decided I like LRM's on light fast mechs.  The Cavaliers will rise stronger and will have their vengeance for the cowardly WoB forces!  

2 Steps forward, 1 Step back.

I resolved to get more gaming stuff done and run narrative games as opposed to competitive slug it out ones this year.  Changing my mindset and expectations has been harder than I realized though!  I am getting there, just slowly.

I have been on the hunt for a do it all miniatures rules system that I like enough to use in most of my games.  My brain is older now and I can't sit down and absorb a new rules set every week and retain how they all work.  So I elected to try out Forge of War.  It has a number of pluses;  it's free, it has a unique activation as opposed to I go/you go, and it is adaptable to any miniatures.  Using their site I got the latest play test version off the boards and set to stating out a small Ork and Tau force to face off and see how it goes.  My friend Chad was kind enough to lend me a hand with that.  Battle report:

Battle at Vaporator 318

Tau hunter patrol Vrak Taa had been stalking the Ork raiders for 3 cycles.  Now they had them.  The bulky Ork war machines tripped a remote drone and now the Tau warriors were in position to strike.  Deployment:



The battlefield was provided by Chad.  I helped by giving him no support or directions for terrain or layout.  I also set up a straight up fight with what I thought was a balanced force that would result in a somewhat even slug fest.  Deployment was line up on opposite edges of the board and go at it.  What I had set up was in fact an Ork advance, Tau kill, meat grinder.



So what did I do wrong?  I took 40K ideas and tried to balance them in another rules set I was not yet familiar with.  40K Orks shoot all day and hit the broad side of the barn one third of the time.  They allso attalck in the same ratio, 3 or more to one.  I messed that up and as a result...



Anyway I lost the whole force of Orks and Chad lost one fire warrior.  Whoops!

To add to that, I am still running battles like I am playing 40K!  I set up 2 equal forces and divided the table in half.  That was it.  No narration, no story, no goal.  Granted it was a play test but still.  I need to change my focus more.

What went right?  Well for one the activation system.  It makes you think, and we did.   Chad is better at it than me but even my random actions made him adjust and plan ahead.  It also kept both of us engaged.  You can't check out or walk away from the table because at any minute you may be acting again.  It also requires that you think about who is doing what more.  I know 40K has that to some extent too but I like FoW's take more.

The cards I made with unit pictures worked well.  All my games will use this idea, unit stats with a unit picture on one side and a rules summary on the other.  Easy & lets you focus on the game.

Final thoughts.  Forge of War is alright and can be balanced if that is what you want.  Activation is neat & easy yet tactical, you can use any miniature, & it's free.  Unfortunately it is not striking a cord with me, at least not yet. So, next up is a test of their one page rules set FUBAR.  It uses the same activation with all the rules on one page.  Also, I have dug back out Savage Worlds.  I plan to try both with a Rogue Trader style scenario game that is narrative.  Working on the figs now and a battle report will follow both.

...

Portal Under the Stars...

Portal Under the Stars.

12 Of them in all decide to go. Old man Roberts had died lamenting not taking a chance at adventure in the ancient crypt. Life on the plantation was no adventure, only monotony and here was a chance at something better, or so they thought.


At the top of the old hill the stones were old and piled high. They do not speak often of that night. Only 5 returned alive. Done with field work and flush with loot they struck out together for better fortune. They are know as:

1. Adric "Grinch" Wymarc
2. Tessel VanDeeker
3. "Lucky" Jack Nealton
4. Arnulf "Nulf" Ambrosius
5. Clive Doubletree

*My DCC RPG Beta campaign began last month and has gone quite well so far.  The free DCC RPG Beta is nice with neat new concepts and an "old school" look and feel that is most welcome.  The Beta has it's issues but none that are not overcome with some work.  All in all very worthwhile.  

Character generation involves something called the funnel.  Players create 3-4 0-level characters a piece with random occupations and backgrounds.  We found this most entertaining though I did allow each player to pick 1 of their character's occupations so they were not all random.  

Die rolls are what you see is what you get, 3d6 per attribute.  Again I went with the 4d6, throw out the low die.  My group still ended up with some characters with some poor attributes but that is life!  They have compensated well so far.

The 1st adventure was from the starter, "Portal Under the Stars."  It was entertaining.  In all the players lost 7 of their 12 PC's.  One lost them all and has received another players extra character.  This is the point however.  The players maneuver their guys through a mess and unless they learn fast and improvise they all end up dead!  Loot gets consolodatedand in the end if you play smart you get a character or two out.  Boy does the GM have fun too!

So on the funnel concept I give the guys at Goodman Games 2 thumbs up, it works, at least for my group.  We are plowing on into the rest of the rules in a realm the players created using Dawn of Worlds.  More on that soon.

What is on My Workbench Today.

So to prove things are actually moving across my work bench...



These are from Khurasan Miniatures:



Seth's Battletech minis getting assembled with antenna.



And some odds and ends I am finishing up...



I also recently cleaned and organized the paint and bench top!  Plan to make this a regular post to help with motivation so you don't see the same pile.  :D

A New Year of Gaming!

So what has been going on cause I have not posted in a while.  Well lots, just little of it has ended up on the blog.  So need to change that and a new year is a good start.  Projects for the new year:

1) Weekly Posts on the blog.

2) Finish the prep and run 1st edition Space Hulk.

3) Paint lots of fantasy miniatures and grow my collection.

4) Get some Battletech in, just some...

5) Get my Macross City game finished.

6) Run scenario games with FUBAR or an equivalent/better rules set.

7) Improve as a GM.


Thank should be plenty for now.  Game summary on the new campaign next post, till then: