The Devil's Playground and free Terminators

My new Pike and Shotte supplement arrived with lovely free figure and a bonus Terminator sprue from Warlord Games. The supplement is gorgeous, full of pictures and seems well organised. I am looking forward to reading it. What really got me excited was the free Terminators. 2 standing and one crawling. They are nicely modelled and look simple to put together.

2015-04-26 Conwy Wargames Club Force on Force game

This month Dave put on another 20mm Force on Force game set in 2010 in the fictional African country of Tangerine. Dave umpired, Tony commanded the US Marines and Pete was Mr Big.

The Scenario

A force of US Marines have been sent to capture or kill the King of Hearts. Sorry wrong pack of cards. They have been sent to capture  or kill Mr Big. The major source of what is wrong with Tangerine in US eyes. He's a drug lord, sponsor of terrorism, people trafficker, exporter of oranges with pips and the Defence Minister to boot.

The CIA intel states Mr Big is visiting his home village of Pipsville to review his charity operation 'Oranges are not the only fruit' which is a cover for his private militia.

(I may have embellished Dave's brief)

The Forces

The Oranges are not the only fruit (OANTOF)

US Marines

The Board

The Game

Mr Big in his favourite red pick up truck

US Marines spotted and Mr Big vanishes

US Marines get the first move

2 LVPT-7s full throttle in to the village taking fire from the hidden charity workers

1 LVPT-7 is suppressed (Dave still hasn't got markers!) and a squad of Marines jump out

The 2nd LVPT-7 also disembarks its' squad

The Toyota opens up

Avoiding the road the other LVPT-7's move in supported by dismounted Marines

After 3 hours of game play the US take a casualty and the squad takes cover behind the now knocked out LVPT-7. Perhaps the volume of fire indicates they've found Mr Big

Mr Big finally decides which of his 200 baseball caps he's going to wear and pops out of the house to congratulate his men on their first US casualty

The Charity workers swarm out to engage the US Marines

The Marines close in 

A flash in the sky may be a storm is coming

or not

US Marines exchange fire as they advance on Pipsville

An RPG gunners view

US casualties mount up. Coincidentally Tony had to leave early and turned command over to Dave. 

A LVPT-7 moves in on the centre of the village

The numbers of charity workers are thinning

The cross roads are contested

Hidden OANTOF take on the Marines in the open. 

Crucial measuring as night draws in

Aerial shot

US Marines ready to pull back. Mr Big has escaped

Workers continue firing from an Orange grove.

The end

Since neither side did a victory dance I'm not sure who won, but from the point of view that Mr Big was neither captured or killed it was definitely a failed US mission.

2015-04-26 Conwy Wargames Club SAGA game

Pete put on a SAGA game with his 28mm Gripping Beast figures. I had the Anglo Danes and Chris had the Scots. Since neither of us had played before Pete Murray umpired.

I selected a stream and a building and Chris picked a wood and a hill for the terrain.

The forces we selected:

Anglo Danes

Harold Godwinson and his brothers Gyrth and Leofwine
2 x 8 man Huscarls
1 x 8 man Ceorls with a banner
1 x 12 man Geburs (I think they were called)

Scots

Macbeth
1 x  8 mounted household troops (sorry I don't remember the SAGA terms), with a banner
4 x 8 warrior

The Game

Macbeth and his household take cover in the wood, as do some warriors. The right flank covered by another group of warriors.

The Scottish unit with banner

The Scottish left flank warriors

Anglo Dane left Ceorls with banner

The Huscarls nearest has opted for axes.

Harold and his brothers are classed as a unit and are flanked by both Huscarl units

A Bishop oversees the fight 

No much clearer

The Anglo Danes from the front

The Anglo Danes from the front. Passing peasants in the background

Harold with flash

The passing peasants

Blurry Harold

Harold and his brothers 

The action begins with the Scots advancing their warriors. My archers kill 2

The Scots javelin men return the favour and kill 2.

I don't do well in the melee and am pushed back and we all get a fatigue token.

The archers are not like Medieval longbow men and the Scots are still standing

The archers are also not very good in melee and are routed by the Scottish charge. Both Chris and I were surprised we couldn't have multiple unit melees.

I charge my Huscarls into the Scots and push them back - the are the 2 chaps at the back.

The positions before I turn my Huscarls and charge the Scottish warriors on the right

After destroying the Scottish unit the Scots charge their unit in with the banner...

... we scrap it out...

....

... until I am defeated

Now Macbeth leads his household out of the woods

Macbeth looking kingly on the right 

My surviving left flank warriors charge the weakest Scots 

While on the right flank I decide to gang up on the isolated Scots warriors on their left

The 2 small units heroically hang on slashing at each other 

Macbeth clears the woods

The Scots discover a new tactic of launching javelins and falling back. Harold realizes his plan now may not work.

The small units keep fighting

I discover I can move twice and use the battle board to add extra fatigue on the Scottish left flank warriors. Unfortunately my Huscarls are destroyed bar 1 man by skilled use of the Scottish battle board. By now we are both getting the hang of the game. So much so we realize that in our eagerness e.g. not waiting for Pete who is busy looking up answers to our many questions, we've been calculating the defence rolls incorrectly. We'd been throwing too many dice and then interpreting the results wrong. Oops.

Battle Royale

Harold called on the Bishop for spiritual support - nothing to do with game play.

This melee we did correctly. Harold split his attacks focusing on Macbeth. He didn't stand a chance once Macbeth defended successfully and was cut down by the cavalry.

Inside the 4Ground hall

Review

I enjoyed the game and would definitely play it again. It is a game where playing the same faction repeatedly to understand their strengths and weaknesses is a must. The battle board is crucial in getting the most out of your force. I would play this game very differently now. The Anglo Danes seem very good at defence which I didn't capitalise and have the ability to add extra fatigue tokens to the enemy. The Scots are a very good melee force with the battle board options they have so a more defencive game against them perhaps would have been better.