LOOR UV DA LOOT

Kroogrz Log
Sturdayt For n Wun
Da Grotz iz gon an lawnchd da rok inna-owda-spayz. We go from Zonk. We go to New Werld.
It iz cowld. Sleep beknz. 

Uruk Kreuger took his Unvlaids and headed for new horizons. Launched on an Ork Rok, they lurched though the depts of space for centuries, until, finally coming into the path of Necromunda. The Ork ROk was blown apart by orbital defence systems, but a few chunks fell in the Ash Wastes, and from there The Unvalids decided to care out their own domain....

Finnegan got pretty excited about 40K again - so I thought I best strike which the iron was hot and get a game of Kill Team going on!



He wanted to play his Average Joes Genestealer Cult... and wanted to still play on Necromunda... So... The Unvalids are on the move!



We thought it would be best to play a simple, quick scenario - just to remind ourselves how to play - and we picked the Lure of the Loot scenario out of the Kill Team Annual 2019. Both forces are trying to nab some loot in the centre of the Kill Zone. WE decided the loot was parts both sides required for some sort of special project - or at least the Average Joes needed if for some special project... the Unvalids just thought it looked shiny and the baldies wanted it so it must be something good!



WE both picked the same Scouting Phase option - the one where you get to move 20% of the team before the first turn -  and had to roll off to see who got to do it. It was the Genesstealers.... and then, basically, the WHOLE FREAKING KILL TEAM got to do that AGAIN as part of their faction's special rule! So they all surged forward towards the loot!



The Orks had the initiative on the first turn, which was unfortunate, because they weren't within charging range of anyone yet - and that they ONE THING they're kind of good at... but moving up meant THEY'd be in range of the Genestealer Cultist's charges! But they went for it anyway - even if the Genestealer Cultists DID charge them, the Orks were likely to survive - and still hit back pretty HARD!



There were more than a few Genestelaer Cultists that just elected to sit back and shoot, however!



Others did charge it, where they could have the advantage of numbers.

 

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

It didn't hit nuffin.... but it sure wuz fun ta shoot!

(no, really, like... ALL GAME... There is ZERO reason to take anything but orks with Sluggas and Choppas - it's really ALL they are good at... Charge and fuck shit up!!)

 

Sneaky Genestelaer Cultist tried to make off with some of the Loot! But, good ol' Uruk Kreuger was a Blood Bowl Star BLITZER and he weren't going to let some puny little three-armed freak run of with the ball... er... LOOT! He snipped him good with the Kippurs of DOOM!



More Orks joining in the brawl!



Urrrr! Oi gots yooz!



BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

It didn't hit nuffin.... but it sure wuz fun ta shoot!



The field of battle, getting thinned out a bit...



AT the end of Round Two Rub Furd was Shaken!

Ah... morale in this game is the WORST.

 

Heavy's blasting away at each other. Boomchakka Gurnard makes a grab for one of the crates of loot.



Unfortunately the Genestealer Cultists actually KNOW HOW TO SHOOT their heavy weapons... and that was the end of the Loota...



And then at the end of Round Three, Rub Furd rallied... but EVERYONE ELSE was shaken...

There is a real problem with the morale system that kind of gives a huge advantage to smaller, high-point-cost Kill Teams over cheap-like-durt, more numerous teams... I'd kind of forgotten about that....



At a certain point you just end up with half - or MORE - of everyone's team just standing there staring at each other not DOING anything... and the one or two lucky ones that rolled a one, plugging away at those standing still for the turn, point-blank-like.

Actually, I'd forgotten about quite a bit! I don't know how many times we found ourselves saying... "No, wait, that's not how it works... that's Necromunda we're thinking of... " And then it became clear why we haven't played this in AGES! Compared to Necromunda... it kind of blows...

We'd had a whole campaign planned out for Kill Team, but now I'm not sure I'd even want to play it out. We are thinking we may just use a mash up of Necromunda and Kill Team - basically using Necromundas rules - with all the kill team stats... there are a FEW differences and shifts we may have to make... but I think it will work SO MUCH BETTER for what we had in mind...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I got an End of June Games round-up I'm working on... and the Game Plan 2020 - Q3 plans (along with a look back at how the Q2 plans worked out...)

Things most likely to roll off the workbench next... Fabius Bile, the Archivist (the Zoat from Blackstone Fortress), Blackstone Fortress Cultists...? Maybe some Ork Dakka Jets...?

The Bronze Gates Redux

Just a quick note to point out I have created a PAGE for the Bronze Gates Campaign. It is listed under PAGES over on the left of the screen there. Or you can follow this link:

The Bronze Gates Campaign

The page has some background for the campaign and a listing of all the territories in the Bronze Gates and who currently controls them. It also has pictures of the gangs and Dramatis Personae as well as links to all the game reports of skirmishes that took place in the Bronze Gates.

The Bronze Gates Campaign started out as a Necomunda Dominion campaign I was running for my family to try out the system. As interest in it petered out, I decided to keep using it as a setting for a narrative campaign. My own little slice of the Hive Primus Underhive.

I am no longer keeping track of credits - to hire gangers and buy equipment. The campaign "system" is run more like a Kill Team campaign - gangers are added to the roster, as required, and with whatever equipment seems reasonable. The credit value of each ganger is tracked - so the value of a crew used for a scenario can be determined and additional tactics cards can be issued to the lesser gang if the difference is greater than 100 credits.

The only other things I am still keeping track of are Experience Points (Because it IS fun to watch gangers get better as they gain experience), Reputation, and who controls which Territories (some of which still confer some advantages - just not the credit incomes). Standing within the campaign is based on Reputation and the number of Territories controlled.


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

More gang posts...

Battle for the Bronze Gates

Even though the Necromunda Game Weekend hadn't gone exactly as planned, on Sunday afternoon I did challenge Finnegan's Average Joes Genestealer Cult for control of the Bronze Gates - the toll crossing that gives it's name to the entire region. I let Finnegan pick the scenario and he chose Zone Mortalis Scenario 2: The Trap. I'm not sure who was trapping whom...



Gang selection was Custom(10), meaning you could use up two ten members of your gang... unfortunately my gang was down to SIX active members (two were still in the gang, but recovering from injuries...).

Before getting started, I DID petition the house for aid, and got a House Trainer - which gave a number of gangers some extra experience. Finnegan also petitioned the cult for aid and got another cultist... Normally it would be a Juve, but the Genestealer cult doesn't have "juves" so when they get a free dude it's a Neophyte Cultist - the equivalent of a ganger!

Finnegan had eight he could use for this game.



The battleground was set up a sort of a crossroads, and all of the Genestealer Cultists were set up in the middle of it. (There was a chance some could have been set up elsewhere after I'd set up mine... but they weren't... they were all in the middle.

Usually when attacking an enemy in a prepared position, you want to go in with MORE than what they have... but that's not how the One-Eyed Red Snakes roll!



Oraculum and Neo86753 set up approaching the crossroads from the north - crossing a precipitous walkway...



Artifex led Rutabulum and Rotis on an assault from the southwest.



Mus was sneaking up from the southeast all on his own.



Uh-oh... Genestealer Cultists went first opened the door to the north, catching Oraculum and Neo86753 exposed on the walkway!



Luckily both were only pinned - even more luckily, neither fell off the walkway into the dark abyss below!



The fluff for the scenario read like the attacker (me) was springing a trap on the defenders... it was quickly starting to feel like it was maybe the other way around...



Oraculum sprang up and ran for cover before any of the other cultists could fire on them, leaving  Neo86753 alone on the walkway.



Meanwhile, at the other end of the crossroads, things were not going well for Artifex and the rest of the gang...



The Aberrant then charged in and smashed Artifex with his Power Hammer - taking him out of action.



Rotis was pinned by fire from other cultists, so the Aberrant moved on at attacked Rutabulum and took him down with one mighty swing of his hammer...

After that he chased down Mus and did the same. The Gang pretty much scarpered at that point...

Luckily Artifex was only knockout cold and was actually able to perform a post-game activity - which was really handy because Rutabulum received a critical injury and had to be taken to a Rogue Doc... Mus was just plain dead ("memorable death" - that Aberrant got 5XP just from taking guys out this game - plus another for being there!).

The Rogue Doc wanted 80 credits for her services - every credit the gang had... there was a brief moment where I considered not paying and letting Rutabulum go... but then paid it and, thankfully, he DIDN'T suffer any complications and DIE, but he will be in recovery next game and has a permanent hadn't injury (-1 WS).

I lost MORE Reputation, dropping to -2.. my Settlement did supply a new Juve for the gang (Neo65395) but I had exactly ZERO credits with which to kit him out...

Finnegan's Gang - the Average Joes - brought in 120 credits - got ANOTHER bonus ganger from his settlement (again, because Genestealer Cultists don't have "juves"...) AND they took control of the Bronze Gates!

Things are not going awesome for the One-Eyed Red Snakes.

This is probably why I'm better off Arbitrating these things and running big narrative games for OTHER people that can actually roll dice and play games and stuff...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

ANOTHER necromunda Game Report!

The (Not-So-)Necromunda Game Weekend

Generally speaking, I plan two big "events" a year. One is the Wargaming Weekend in February - which started out as my wargaming birthday bash (a one-evening/afternoon game held for local friends) but then evolved into a wargaming weekend at the end of February (closest to my birthday) and has in recent years moved to the "Family Day" long weekend in mid-february to make it easier for those that travel from Edmonton or Calgary or Winnipeg to participate. The other is a fall convention game. Originally that was Heroe's Gambit here in Saskatoon. For a couple years I went out to Fallcon in Calgary. In recent years it's been at ToonCon here in Saskatoon.

This past February I had originally planned to run a Kill Team campaign of sorts. Previous skirmish campaign weekends had been a huge success - like the Shadow War: Armageddon campaign I'd run the previous year, or the Quest for the Skull Sword Frostgrave weekend or the Ronin Campaign I'd run previously. But as the date drew nearer I was losing interest fast - partly due to problems with Kill Team - but also because I'd FINALLY managed to get my hands on Wrath & Glory and was SUPER EXCITED to try that out... so we did... and that was a bit of a mistake... I had nine players lined up for the weekend which would have been great for a marathon weekend role-playing mini-campaign using a system I'd JUST picked up and read... Everyone said they'd had a good time, but I felt like they were just being polite as I'D been pretty disappointed with how it all played out - not at all how I'd envisioned it...

So, that weekend was a bit of a letdown for me. Just to be clear, it wasn't that the players weren't enthusiastic, or did anything "wrong" - I just felt like I had personally failed to run a seamless epic gaming weekend... I know... probably unrealistic expectations... AND around the same time I learned that there wasn't going to be a Tooncon this fall! They are planning on moving the convention from the fall to the spring - I think because there were often conflicts with other conventions going on in the fall (the Saskatoon Entertainment Expo being the big one)...? So, shortly after my game weekend, I started having conversations with a few people about hosting a second game weekend in the fall.

Initially it wasn't Necromunda - it was just a nebulous idea of a gaming weekend of some kind. We'd tossed around possible dates in September or October and, much to my surprise, the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend seemed the most promising for all. (I'd figured Thanksgiving people usually want to spend with family and stuff...?).

Late spring/early summer I picked up necromunda, and shortly after that decided that's what I'd run! Of the seven or eight people I was talking to, a couple were definitely not going to be able to make it, but the remaining "hard maybes"... or "I'd LIKE to"s....It was four months away... I get that it's hard to commit to something so far in advance when there is so much else going on these days... (though it does make me wonder how anyone plans weddings these days - aren't those are generally planned up to a year in advance and RSVPs are expected many months in advance.... and it's the same time registration for ToonCon would have opened...?).

Nevertheless, I forged ahead!

For the last four months I've been painting like a mad bastard. I tracked down and painted up some more Red Redemptionists, and a Cawdor Gang, and a Delaque Gang, and Kal Jericho and Scabs, and some Adeptus Arbites, and some Spyrers, and helped Finnegan paint up some Genestealer Cultists and a Magos and some MORE cultists, and Karloth Valois, and an assortment of Hive Scum and Bounty Hunters and an Escher Gang, and barriers and doors, and then I scratch-built a PILE of 3-D wall sections for the  Zone Mortalis boards in the basic box...

Then I ran three different games for the kids and a friend at the end of the summer (two of which were effectively play-tests of scenario ideas for this weekend).

And then I set up the Bronze Gates Campaign for the family - partly to have a game we could play together (as I wasn't running a role-playing game like I'd hoped to this fall) and partly to get some experience/practice at playing both Necromunda itself and the Dominion Campaign system - elements of which I was planning to use this weekend.

In the last few weeks I've been still feverishly cranking out stuff for the campaign weekend....



Desperately trying to finish up John's Vermyn (which he planned to use as Chaos Cultists) and some Old Ratskins (adding to the few I already had) for one of the scenarios... Maybe some more Escher Gangers if I could get some done or some gen-u-ine plague zombie figures I had (it'd be nice to not have to use generic zombies)...



and building a new custom cavern terrain tile (to use with the other cavern terrain tiles) for the aforementioned scenario involving the ratskins...



and ANOTHER huge batch of wall sections (because I'd picked up the Badzone Delta-7 tile set to set up some HUGE Zone Mortalis battlefields!) and some custom player order markers... They're just going to be plain - no time to graffiti these all up!

And I wrote out five 4-6 player scenarios (hoping that really only four would show up, but planning for six...) each with a foe to deal with (Karloth Valois and Zomibes, Kat Jericho and Friends, Spyrers, Rastkins, and Red Redemptionists),  and subplots for each potential gang, and...  well... you get the idea...

Can anybody guess where this is all going...?

Around mid-September one friend had to bail due to upcoming surgery... Of all the people I invited, he was the one person I had been fairly sure was actually coming (I mean, the dude had booked a B&B!), and, at that point, wasn't really concerned if anyone else was coming because he's super fun to play with and not only puts up with playing with my kids, he seems to genuinely enjoy it! If it had been just him, Amanda and the kids could have joined in and it would have been just a great weekend... But, as I said, in the end he had to bail.

Then, by the end of September, I was noticing it was pretty quiet on the communication front with the other potential players that had suggested they were interested, considering it was only a few weeks away. I thought I'd check to see if anyone was still available... and, one-by-one they eventually all (well, mostly) got back to me... two more dropped out... another never replied... leaving one player still planning on coming.

I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel at that point... but Amanda stepped in, knowing how distract I was about this, and she and the kids could play - that would make four players. The kids were lukewarm to the idea, but she pointed out they didn't actually have any other plans and that it's be like the other game weekends (like, we'd be eating out most of the weekend - which we rarely ever do otherwise).

Thursday morning the last player bailed...

ugh....

I think the kids, upon hearing this news, were most concerned that if I just cancelled altogether we wouldn't be eating/ordering out...

I had only a few things left to prepare for the weekend - a handful of figures to finish painting, touch-ups on the wall sections, and filling out a few cards for the antagonists... I could have gotten it done and played with the family, they'd have done that for me, even if it wasn't their favourite thing... but I fell into a bit of a malaise and kind of just stopped working on it all...


11 October 2019 - Friday Evening

Come Friday evening Amanda decided to stay late at work... since, y'know, there was now no rush to come home...

The kids and I DID order out, though (from Seasoned Fusion!). Apparently they don't deliver anymore, however, so I had to ride downtown on my bike to pick it all up. It was just above freezing. The food was lukewarm by the time I got home - but it was still delicious!

Afterwards we DID get in a few games... but not Necromunda...



Amanda, Finnegan and I played Race for the Galaxy - with the Xeno Invasion expansion. I started with the Anti-Xeno Defence Post, but by the end had a pretty solid Genes/Uplift theme going - honestly, I love having a solid theme better than winning the game... but I did actually win this one! Finnegan started with Old Earth and just started getting a mining engine up and running... when I ended the game. Amanda started with Epsilon Eridani and a mosh-mash of other cards... At least this time she participated in the war a bit, instead of cherry-picking and taking double VP every round (Finnegan learned that lesson from the last game and only had a military power of +1 by the end of the game and a HUGE pile of double victory tokens... which got him second place!)



My tableau at the end of the game. 49VP.



Afterwards we all played a round of Unstable Unicorns...



Amanda beat us pretty soundly with EIGHT unicorns in her stable at the end of the game!!


12 October 2019 - Saturday

As we weren't playing Necromunda, Amanda took the opportunity to head downtown with Keira and pick out some new glasses and do some other shopping. She also picked up tickets for the play at Persephone Theatre (which we had already seen earlier) for the kids to go to in the evening. They got back around four and we had a couple hours before the kids had to head out to the play, so we got in a few games...



First, we played a couple of games of Centruy: Golem Edition.



I was ON FIRE and totally rocked the first round - winning with 90 points!? WOO!



We played a second round, and this time Amanda kicked our butts...



I only gained 50 points...



After that we played a game of Splendor.



It was a super close game - I ended with 14 points.



Amanda had 15 and Keira had 13. Keira was pretty disappointed - she was SO CLOSE - she's never won a game of Splendor and had started to think this might be the first time! not-so-much...


13 October 2019 - Sunday

Okay... Sunday we DID actually play some Necromunda!

I HAD planned to play one game with each family member through out the day - these would all be games for our Bronze Gates Campaign...



First I challenged Finnegan for control of the Bronze Gates - the Toll crossing that gives it's name to the entire Region. I let Finnegan pick the scenario and he chose Zone Mortalis Scenario 2: The Trap. I'm not sure who was trapping whom... It went poorly for the Delaque Gangers...

afterwards I had hoped to play a game with Keira, but Finnegan and I didn't get started early enough and went longer than expected, so we didn't have time before the kids were off to my folks for the night.



while they were out, however, I played a game with Amanda!



We tried one of the scenarios in the Arbitrators section of the main rulebook - Escort Mission! A Guild Agent with close ties to how Cawdor and the Redptionists said if they would escort her out of the Bronze Gates, she would petition House Cawdor to have the One-Eyed Red Snakes maintain control of the Shrine of the Sinners Past (Bone Shrine) as there were no representatives of House Cawdor residing in the Bronze Gates at this time.

I actually WON a game and took control of the Bone Shrine!


14 October 2019 - Monday

On Monday I'd originally planned to run a larger 3-player game (one of the scenarios I'd originally planned for the weekend). But then Amanda was keen to play a Rescue Mission to retrieve the ganger she'd lost to me in the previous evening's game... I Thought maybe we'd get that done quickly and still have time to play a larger game afterwards.



We didn't get started with that until well after noon and by the time we were done it was supper time and no one was interested in playing games after supper - Keira is sick with a cold and Amanda had work to do on a costume she's supposed to bring along to dance class tomorrow evening... so... here I am writing game reports...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I am working on reports for those three games of Necromunda - they should be up soonish...

A Few More Genestealer Cultists

Just a quick post - I cranked out a few more Genestealer Cultists for Finnegan the other evening. His cult has been slightly more successful in our Necromunda Campaign and was in need of new cult members, but just wasn't getting to painting them up.



They're not the prettiest minis I've ever painted... but they were super quick to paint and now they're done and the dude has painted minis on the table... These were painted (almost) entirely with GW Contrast® paints.


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

If I had to guess, I'd say it was probably going to be:

 RAAAAAAATS INNNNN SPAAAAAAAACE!

The Pit

For them which comes from below, it seemed only natural and right that they should try to seize control of the Mine Workings - it does stretch down into their realm and impinge on the personal space of the Patriarch which rules over all of them. The sneaky ones in black were making their move to control the area. They had to be taught a LESSON!

This week Finnegan and his Average Joes Genestealer Cult challenged my One-Eyed Red Snakes Delaque gang for control of The Pit - an abandoned mine shaft, extending from the lower parts of the Bronze Gates to some place much, much darker far below even the lowest reaches of the under hive.

SCENARIO

We played a Sneak Attack Scenario - Finnegan's Genestealer Cultists were attacking into the territory of the Delaque Gangers to deface their relic... I got to set up 5 sentries who did sort of random stuff until the alarm was raised. Finnegan got his whole gang - or at least all the ones that he had figures for (I think her recruited a few new members last game, but didn't get figures painted for them) and the Magos and other champion were out recovering from serious injuries.


THE GAME

Things were going poorly for me since I'd lost two out of action for a game and a third captured in my last game, hadn't gained territory and collected very little income from my sole territory... So before we got started, I petitioned my House for aid... and they came through with a trainer. Four (d3+1) characters gained d6 experience. I gave the experience tp my leader and Rutubulum (both of whom were missing this game, as well as Mus and Rotis. Mus and Rutubulum both gained enough that they were able to roll on the Ganger advancement. Mus got smarter (improved Intelligence score) and Rutubulum increased his toughness! Later I decided Artifex would spend 6 of his XP to increase his Ballistic Skill.



After we set up the battlefield, I could set up my sentries anywhere and had to set up a gang relic somewhere on the board within 6" of the board edge.



So I moved a few wall sections around so the wall section tagged with their gang logo could be the relic the Genestealer Cultists were wanting to deface.



The Genestealers came from two directions. One group had the Hybrid Acolyte and three neophytes with shotguns.



The other, smaller group just had two with autoguns.

For the first round they all just moved up to doors.



I got my remaining ganger - a newly recruited Juve (Neo 86753) - just happened to wander up a hall towards one of the groups of Genestealer Cultists stacked by a door just outside the hall with the gang relic.



They totally gunned him down... but that raised the alarm. Raising the alarm meant my gangers now acted normally... but none of them had ready tokens - so Finnegan got to finish out his turn before my gang could act.



The other group of Cultists charged into the room and shot Oraculum three times - wounding and causing flesh wounds every single time - the third one reduced his toughness to her and took him out of action.

Two out of six down - not looking good. Luckily with the home turf advantage, I passed by bottle check.



Round two was just a brutal, point-blank shoot-up! The One-Eyed Red Snakes took down Joe Schmoe, but then Joe Gazebo entered the battle blazing away with his autogun and took both Glacies and Rotis out of action in a single burst!

Down to two... I voluntarily bottled and fled with the last two...


POST GAME

So the Genestealer Cultists took over the mine and gained 130 credits (from scenario rewards and income) and recruited another Neophyte for free and got a pile of reputation (+3, I think...) - So as long as he gets them PAINTED he should have little problem fielding two more cultists in his next game (he DID assemble the rest of his Genestealer Cultists a week or so ago, and last week they all got primed, so...) - and have his leader and Champion back!

Unfortunately Glacies was captured after the fight. Rotis and Oraculum were both seriously injured enough that they'll now have to miss the next encounter - Rotis actually ended up with a permanent eye injury and has had his Ballistic Skill reduced to 5+!?

From the scenario rewards I gained only 20 credits and my territory only provided 10 credits of income... Luckily I had 15 left over from before so I was able to pick up a Power Axe and some Filter Plugs for Artifex. and now I'm broke again, and down to five fighters...



My entire crew for the next game... yikes! Looks like I'll be petitioning the House for aid again!

Hopefully The Grrrlz will get in a game tomorrow!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Another report for our Bronze Gates Campaign - as the Two Escher gangs face each other!

I have a large group or odd and sundry items that have been making their way off my workbench. Some of them are sort of related to Necromunda... the rest is at least sort of 40k-ish...?