40K an Orky stand up fight

Steve and I got together for some soldiers. WFB seemed too hard, so we settled on the simplicity of two lots of Orks doing what Orks do best.
No scenario, no real thought, just line 'em up and roll some dice.

Steve won.
We decided about half way through the 40K is the wargaming equivalent of Chinese food.
Colourful and briefly stimulating and exciting.
But about half an hour later you fancy something a bit more substantial.

40k Tree Campaign - Blitz!

After their victory in the previous rescue mission the Orks of Waaagh Gruzkup were ready to bring the pain to the Templars by Blitzing them from the face of the planet.
As this was the final game of the short ladder campaign we upped the forces to 1000 points.

The scenario requires the Orks to attack down the length of the table, gaining victory points for units that finish near the enemy end. Casualties give the defender points but have the potential of being recycled and returning to the fray.

 Da view from da Orky end

The GH deployed quite aggressively, and I inevitably pushed as far forward as I was able.

The scenario allows for an initial barrage, and as I had command points to burn (I got extra for winning the previous scenario) I used some to boost the barrages, meaning three of the deadly Primaris Plasma Dudes were killed before the game began. The GH was not happy.

The initial turns went well with a green (with red accents) tide overwhelming the aggressively deployed Templars.

However a crackle in the warp saw some Terminators appear in the rear and launch themselves at Klankenstein.

Broadly though it was going well. The Burnaz, boys and Nobs were all deep in enemy territory.

Unfortunately Devastator Centurions (and the Captain babysitting them in case they rolled any 1s) remained all too alive.

The big mob of boys raced to a corner. 2 VPs in the bag.

The Killa Klowns Kans returned from the dead and raced after the remaining Terminator.

However I'd forgotten how tough the Captain was, and he raced forward and wiped out the smallest squad of boys, while the Centurions rained fiery death on the Nobs.

The game unfortunately then ended. I had only two units left alive in enemy territory and had taken six units worth of casualties. And so victory went to the Emperor's finest.

It's been fun playing a simple campaign using some of the more varied scenarios.

I might have to work out one for a Templar counter-attack.

40k: Orks v Nurgle

Stephen came over to the Soldier Shack and we decided on a game of 40k. For some reason we couldn't muster enthusiasm for WFB and as I've just finished a bunch of Orks and he's been working on Papa Nurgle boys a 1000 point Patrol game seemed to fit the bill.

 Nurgle's boys out on patrol

 More of 'em. Don't like the look of that big thing at the back.

 Big mob o' Boyz

 Burnaz. Ready to cough up points.

 Klankenstein ready for mayhem

 The field of war

 Another big 'un

The Lord (of the Flies) arrived. So I shot him a bit. Then he murdered all the Burna ladz.

The Nurgle centre pushed up and shot all the boys dead.

Then the rest of my army turned up and marines started back pedalling.

 Send in the Klowns Kans

 Uh oh

Terminators arrived to shore up the centre. I was well behind at this point with three units wiped out with no Marines dead.

Then the red and green tide hit home.

 There's a Nurgle fella in there somewhere

The boys did what boys do best, wiping out both units of marines and falling on the terminators and big demon thingy.

Unfortunately the terminators were able to take down the warboss before they and the demon engine both succumbed.

End result was five dead units each. So a hard fought draw.
Maybe I'm getting the hang of 40k.

Sellswords and Spellslingers First Game

I am a fan of the Song of...series of games, particularly the roll up to 3 dice mechanic that lets you gamble on the number of activations you can take. It makes for a tense, variable game and for me feels quite immersive at the skirmish levels the games model. I've enjoyed Song of Blades and Heroes with the gaming heir, ...of Drums and Shakos and ...of Muskets and Tomahawks with Steven and General Ballroom and Of Gods and Mortals with all of them and James too.
So when I heard that Andrea Sfiligoi the man behind the system had developed a solo/cooperative fantasy game I was intrigued and duly picked up a copy of Sellswords and Spellslingers for the princely sum of $8.

The game came as a PDF rulebook with several sets of cards to print out.

Unlike the Song of... games SS&SS uses D20 instead of D6 but the principle is the same - roll up to 3 dice, with 8 being a pass. Any fails mean you turn over an Event card - which can cause the enemy monsters to activate. There's a cool little AI to work the monsters and several scenarios.
Characters are made up from a list of traits and a few negatives if you choose.

So I created a party and they set off on their first adventure.

Imadriel Greenbriar - elf archer
Grumni Throngwang - dwarf fighter
Norbin Wensleydale - halfling thief
Zank Frappa - human hedge wizard

Barring their way (at least initially) would be 3 Orc Brutes and their smelly green troll chum.

All the party has to do is get from one side of the board to another. Simple.

First of all a failure by the halfling saw another Orc brute join the fray.

Then an event meant something shiny was spotted on a nearby rock.

 The party moved slowly forward.

The shiny thing proved to be a valuable necklace. A good start.
However the Orcs were closing in.
And the dwarf pulled out his chopper and got to work.

Eventually the chopped the beast down, but at some cost to his health.

Fortunately the wizard Frappa was nearby to lay healing hands on the wounded fighter.
Unfortunately he tripped over a root and fell over. Giving the nearest Orc an excuse to rush toward them.

However Wensleydale the thief proved deadly with his sling and dropped the brute.

As the wizard and dwarf caught up with the elf another Orc burst from the bushes and struck the wizard to the ground.

Dwarf and elf joined the fight and another Orc got involved. The party won the day but at the cost of being wounded.

The halfling helped the wizard to his feet, he was in bad shape and could only move slowly. The sound of fighting had drawn trolls to the area, things weren't going to plan.
At this point the halfling fell over.

Another Orc leaped from ambush and attacked Greenbriar.

Despite the arrival of the Dwarf the elf was hacked to the ground

The rampaging brute then hacked down the dwarf too.

Wensleydale was ambushed, but bravely fought off the brute and helped Greenbriar back to his feet.

Sadly Throngwang had slipped away to the halls of his ancestors.

At this point the nearest troll decided to get involved and raced over to attack the halfling.

Greenbriar killed the Orc he was fighting but Wensleydale was no match for the brutal troll.
Smashing the halfling to the ground the troll careered into the elf archer and killed him before catching the wizard too.

The inevitable death of the wizard followed and the party's dreams of wealth and adventure were over.

First game ends in Total Party Kill!

Despite the result it was good fun to play.

I think I was the terrible combination of cautious dice rolling mixed with getting distracted from the mission to leave the board. With the result that I bogged down in the middle of the board and eventually the monsters overwhelmed the party.

Never mind. I shall give it another go soon...