We had to go over the rules a bit as there are some considerable differences between Shadow War: Armageddon and 40K 8th - SW:A is a bit more "old school" - and that doesn't necessarily make it "better"...
FORCES
Gornagg's Goons - Goffs Ork Kill Team
Gornagg - Boss Nobb (Leader) - Power Klaw, Slugga + reload
Werz - Spannerboy (Specialist) - Big Shoota, Choppa
Ruzz - Boy (Trooper) - Slugga, Buzzchoppa
Gringitz - Boy (Trooper) - Shoota
Vurg - Boy (Trooper) - Shoota
Carlg - Boy (Trooper) - Slugga, Choppa
Tulg - Yoof (Recruit) - Slugga, Choppa
Murkunt - Yoof (Recruit) - Slugga, Choppa, Stick Bomb
Pulg - Yoof (Recruit) -Slugga, Choppa
The Rainbow Warrior Contemporary Dance Company - Harlequin Kill Team
Fawkes - Troupe Master (Leader) - Power Sword, Shuriken Pistol, Harlequin Mask, Flip Belt, Holosuit
Stab Pants - Players (Trooper) - Harlequin Blade, Shuriken Pistol, Harlequin Mask, Flip Belt, Holosuit
Jade Lightning - Players (Trooper) - Harlequin Kiss, Shuriken Pistol, Harlequin Mask, Flip Belt, Holosuit
Bubblegum - Players (Trooper) - Harlequin Blade, Shuriken Pistol, Harlequin Mask, Flip Belt, Holosuit
SCENARIO
The scenario they rolled was "Scavengers". A number of "loot" tokens were placed on the table and the player that won got a chance at gaining more caches at the end of the game.
Also there were mutant creatures wandering about that could potentially attack any troops that strayed to far off from their team...
Ork Subplot: Fear and Confusion - +1 to ALL Leadership tests - for both sides! (Which we pretty much completely forgot about...)
Harlequin Subplot: Lightning Strike - may choose to take (and fail) a bottle test at the beginning of every turn after a single enemy has been taken out of action.
THE GAME
Last minute checking over the roster.
Ready and Waiting to go.
Deployment - rather than choosing a "side" there were 3 cavern entrances they could choose from - the both chose one on the same side of the table.
With the next batch of cavern squares there will be a lot more squares with 3-4 entry sides which should make it possible to have 3 entry spots per side - thus making choosing SIDES possible and also not create such bottlenecks.
The Harlequins dance into the caverns.
Ork Mob thunder into their cavern entrance.
Deployment from above.
TURN ONE - Harlequins
The harlequins all ran down their cavern tunnel - the Troupe Master made it to the first loot token, but left it for one of the players following to pick up.
TURN ONE - Orks
The Orks likewise ran through the caverns at top speed and burst into a larger chamber containing a single loot token.
Continuing at a dead run, the Harlequins burst into the central chamber, spotting more loot tokens - but noticing the unmistakable stench of ORK!
"Spread out Players - We've got Company"
When running the Harlequins Prismatic Blurr special rule makes them -2 to hit... As most Orks were BS 2 it would mean they'd need 7 to hit them... So it was to their advantage to just keep running.
TURN TWO - Orks
The Orks then burst into the central chamber - also at a run!
TURN THREE - Harlequins
To start things off the Troupe Master charged the Boss Nob who was leading his mob! (Totally forgot to do the Fear Test... let along remembering to add +1 to the roll...)
The Players spread out, trying to get to as many loot tokens as possible. If a player can get within 8" of their entry point with a majority of the tokens the game ends and they automatically win - the harlequins could move fast enough that this COULD have been a possibility. Going toe-to-toe with the Orks didn't seem a great plan as the Orks were tough and definitely had the numbers!
The Troupe Leader rolled very poorly in the Melee (1, 2, 3) - the Boss Nob (rolling 6, 6, 1!) won by two (we also forgot that the power sword allowed a Parry - the player with the parry can ask the opponent to re-roll their highest die - both the highest were 6 - but additional sixes give a +1 bonus to the overall roll - re-rolling one may have brought that down by one...) - Two hits, two wounds - one saved! - and one damage taken... so lucky - the Power Klaw did D3 damage - that could have been it for the Troupe Master right then and there...
TURN THREE - Orks
A couple more orks charged into melees - one more against the Troupe Master and another against Jade Lightning - we almost forgot about the Fear Tests to do so (actually we DID forget at the time they charged, but remembered before actually doing the Melee...)
A couple of the Boyz and Werz, the Spannerboy, opened up with some Sustained Fire on Stab Pants... Blowing him to smithereens... or, so it would seem - he was taken out of action.
I can imagine the panicked shouts of the Harlequins:
"STAB PANTS DOWN! STAB PANTS DOWN!"
In the melee Jade Lightning cut down the Ork Boy facing her - instantly causing Break Tests for the two Orks in Melee with the Troupe Master. Gornagg, the Boss Nobb, failed utterly. Even without the +1 from "Fear and Confusion" he would have failed - 12 on 2d6 does that...
...and so he ran away...
Finnegan turned all his orks around to watch their Boss Nob fleeing!
TURN FOUR - Harlequins
Bottle Test - rolled 12. Fail. Harlequins bottled, Orks won...?
POST GAME
I guess Stab Pants needed an immediate Webway Casevac. As it turns out their hasty retreat probably saved him from bleeding out - he rolled a 4 on the serious injury table which means he made a Full Recovery and will be back at it next game!
Rolling for the single casualty the Orks took, Carlg ended up with a serious Head Injury - he gained the "Frenzy" ability, but misses the next game.
Rolling for Advances, Jade Lighting got a skill - Counterattack - +1 attack die when charged. Were the Spannerboy got Armourer, which means his side ignores the first failed ammo roll if he is deployed for the mission.
The Harlequins gained 1 archaeotech cache for losing, the Orks gained two for the win. The Harlequins traded theirs in during the recruit and rearm step, so they'd be able to actually recruit a new mime (named "Polkastripe" armed with a Harlequin's Kiss and a Shrunken Pistol). Finnegan couldn't decide what to do with his recruit just yet, but I'm sure he'll figure something out before the next game.
Seems like an okay game. Need to do something about the caverns, as mentioned - more passageways, less bottlenecks... Need to remember all the special rules...
I'm hoping I can coax Amanda into trying it out tomorrow evening while the kids are out at activities...?
Coming Soon To Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:
Hopefully another battle report - and then some more cavern terrain squares.
Posts
Oh, what an excellent looking game!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michał!
DeleteYou now have me intrigued to try this game.
ReplyDeleteThat looks great! I bet no one was expecting that bottle roll...
ReplyDeleteThanks Barks!
DeleteWell, it's a dice game... weird things happen...
To tell you the truth, I think she was thinking of voluntarily bottling anyway. It was late, she was tired, things weren't really going her way (largely because we'd forgotten a bunch of stuff that would have helped her - or at least made things harder for the Orks - the fear tests, the +1 to leadership rolls, etc). So I think The Girl was relived when she rolled the 12 and didn't have to "just quit"...
I've enjoyed this game except playing against Harlequins. If you play it as written - 'quins should almost never lose unless you are really unlucky. Maybe it gets better if your team is experienced and powered up, but all the mods and special rules make them impossible to hit and kill while at the same time they dice, slice and dance their way across the board.
ReplyDeletePerhaps except when underground?!
Thanks Dave!
DeletePerhaps it's because they were played by a timid 11-year-old? I don't know?
It was pretty shocking when the very first combat outcome was the Ork warboss crushing the Harlequin Troupe Master to death with his Power Klaw... She was certain she'd totally picked the wrong team to play and that Harlequins sucked... Then we remembered the 4+ (50-50) invulnerable save... and then she didn't die... so... yeah...
It definitely would have been interesting to see how this all played out if they'd continued!
As you say - perhaps the bottle-necking of the underground caverns could provide a bit of a levelling out...?
Really enjoy the system of Shadow Wars, I played a campaign last year. Really fun, Harlequins I played at the beginning of the campaign and they rolled me.(I was Tyranid who are quite beefy at the beginning) Not sure how they are in late game.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they seem like they SHOULD be pretty bad ass - we just had to remember all their stuff - like their masks cause FEAR!! I realized we also forgot that an enemy that's wounded in combat and rolls "down" is automatically out-of-action if there are no other friendly models in the combat!
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