Necromunda - On the Way to the Fighting Pits

 The Station Chief of Omega Precinct had a lot of money riding on tonight's Pit Fight. Jace Rorgan was facing "Mad" Barney Hotrap. "Mad" Barney was a maniac and Rorgan didn't have a chance, so the odds were pretty long. The Chief had a tip, though. A Rogue Doc that was one of the precinct's informants told the Chief that Hoptrap had a flare up of the old Space Flux and was feeling a bit under-the-weather, as it were. So, the Chief went all-in on Jace Rorgan. Unfortunately, just hours before the match, the Space Flux finally got the better of poor old "Mad" Barney Hoptrap and he passed from this world (and into the Corpse Starch vats)... In his place, Grornq the Butcher stepped in to fight Jace Rorgan - which even increased the odds. If Rorgan came out on top, The Chief would be rich enough to retire!? But there was ZERO chance of Rorgan besting The Butcher. So the Chief tasked his Captain with shifting the odds in his favour a bit...

In this scenario I was playing Grornq the Butcher - Ogryn Pit Fighter, his manager, Flansz Ronne, and a hive-scum hired gun, Two-Gun Connor. Basically a moving objective marker that activated in the End Phase. 

Orion was playing the enforcers. They got one VP for each wound and Flesh Wound dealt to the Ogryn - the weaker he is going into the match, the better. But KILLING the Ogryn would do no good either, so if the Ogryn was taken out of action, they would automatically lose. A tough one, for sure... 

The local Escher gang also had a lot riding on tonight's fight, but they were betting on Grornq the Butcher... They were played by Orion's boyfriend Nic, who came by to try out the game. They were there to make sure the Ogryn got to his fight on time and in one piece. They were also sore at the enforcers for trying to wreck their Synth Still from a couple weeks back. the Escher Gang scored on VP for each Enforcer taken out of action. 

Flansz Ronne, Pit Fight Manager, Grornq the Botcher, and Two-Gun Connor - on their way to the Fighting Pits. 

Escher Ganger and a couple of Juves... just hanging out, minding their own business, smoking some lho-sticks. 

More Escher Gangers, keeping an eye on things. 

O-344 "Rose" and 0-207 

As the Cops moved out, the Escher Gangers did their best to keep them pinned down... but pinning was about all they could do against the hard armoured enforcers. 

End of Round one - Grornq and his entourage move up. Noting to be concerned about here - just a little tussle between the Enforcers and some Gangers... 

Escher ganger sneaking around the flank, keeping the Enforcers pinned from all angles. 

Eventually, O-344 "Rose" got into position and started cranking concussion rounds into the Escher gangs positions and suppressed the fire that was pinning her fellow enforcers. 

Two-Gun Connor ran ahead of his patron and announced their presence "DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE JUST ON OUR WAY TO THE FIGHTING POTS!" Thinking that ought to do it, the trio carried on... 

The first sign something was amiss was when the first concussion round hit the Ogryn square in the face, violently knocking it, Two-Gun Connor and the pair of Escher Juves to the ground! 

Kat H. - the Escher Gang champion - charged in to clear the way. 

Connor and the Ogryn up and moving again. 

And the Ogryn is down again. Darn those concussion rounds!? 

At this point it became clear that the Enforcers were out to get them, and Two-Gun started blasting away at the Enforcers... Unfortunately, still a little dazed from the concussion rounds, he instead blasted Kat with his bolt rounds! 

Charging into combat with the Captain, hoping to create a distraction for the Ogryn to get through. 

Niner took down Two-Gun Connor, and went a couple rounds with the Ogryn... 

One of Rose's Concussion rounds took out the Ogryn's Manager, though! 

After the loss of Kat and Syn Dee, the Escher Gang bottled out and slowly started melting away from the battle. The Juves were the first to scram (none could blame them - BOTH had sustained serious injuries and recovered with Flesh Wounds - one had done so TWICE and was reduced to one toughness!). A Ganger left the following turn, ealving only one of the Escher gangers in the fight. 

And they managed to keep the Enforcers busy... 

While the Ogryn got away. 

In the end the Ogryn sustained two wounds... and the Enforcers lost two of their own in the battle... so... a draw. 

Back to the Underhive

I got in a game of Necromunda last Wednesday - my friend Orion came over and brought his Enforcers. This was the first miniature game with someone who didn't live here if almost a year. 

All set up and ready to go in the Game Room.

The Crimson Wave Escher Gang set up a Chem-Synth lab to manufacture all sorts of less-than-legal narcotics and the Enforcers of the 69th Precinct decided they should get a cut for "protection". Teh Gang said, "no thanks". So the fine officers of the precinct decided they needed to remind the gangers why they need protection. 

The scenario was basically a smash and grab. The Enforcer were to set up in the lift and the game ended when they left the table - whether through escaping back to the lift or being taken out of action. 

The Enforcer objectives were:

• Smash the Still (T4, W5)   4VP
• Barrels/Crates destroyed   1VP
• Barrels/Crates removed.    2VP
• Chemist taken out of action (T3, W1, no save)  1VP
• Chemist Removed   5VP

To "remove" an item, the enforcers had to move into contact with it and spend and action to lift (or handcuff, in the case of the Chemist) and move with it back to the lift. 

The Gang Objectives were:

• Chemist Recovered 3VP
• Barrels/Crates Racovered 1VP
• Enforcers taken out of action 3VP

The Chemist, working at her still. 

She Chemist in not a fighter, unless grabbed and held by an Enforcer,  she would activate to move away from the nearest Enforcer. 

Barrels and crates of highly valuable illicit substances 

Two Juves started on the table, guarding the main entrance to the facility. 

Other Gangers. 

One the first Round it was assumed the Juves would raise the alarm and these gangers could potentially show up on the second round. I said I'd dice for each and on a 4+ they show up. I SHOULD have made it a bit harder... maybe 6 on the 2nd round, 5+ on the 3rd, 4+ on the 4th, etc... OR they arrive on a 4+, but limit the number I could have diced for each turn...? Like, I could dice for a number of gangers equal to the round number...? 

It's been a while since I ran a game and I feel like I'm having ot relearn scenario design all over again. When I set up these scenarios, I like to design it much like I would a role-playing game adventure, that will be definitely challenging - where it might seem a little "touch and go" at times, but will untimately succeed... 

Yeah... 

That super didn't work out for this game... 

Enforcers storm out of the lift firing canister after canister of concussion and gas grenades.  a perfectly exectuted tactical deployment. Lord Halmawr would have been proud. 

Debbie and Tiffany were pretty overwhelmed by the ultra-violent onslaught. Debbie managed to sqeeze off a few shots with her stub gun... 

Round two half the gang showed up. Which, I SHOULD have anticipated, having a 50/50 chance with a 4+ roll... Syn Dee and Kat were able to crack off a few long-range shots at the exposed flank of the Enforcers deployment, but it really only served to get their attention... 

Tina enters the Chem Lab. 

Kat and Syn Dee exchanging shots with Enforcers in the distance. 

The Enforcer Strike Team rushes the Juves guarding the front door

Tiffany blasting away with her stub gun was no match for a fully armoured Enforcer Captain with a giant riot shield!  

Donna, the leader of the gang, along with Tina and Sue rush into the Chem Lab to extricate their Chemist and protect their wares. 

More long range fire exchanged with the Sniper, who couldn't hit anyone!? 

Paula sneaking around the flank. 

Enforcers stack up to enter the Chem Lab

Sniper protecting their flank and the extraction point. 

BAM! down went the door of the Chem Lab. 

But the gangers had already arrived.  The captain tried to grab the Chemist, but Mad Donna Maclean rushed in to snatch her back! 

Pat snuck in a side door and shot the Enforcer CAptain in the back of the head. 

Dude should have worn a helmet! 

While Syn Dee and Kat kept the sniper and one of the other Enforcers busy, more Gangers rushed their flank. 

Things went rapidly downhill from there. 

It was a fun game - but I felt back about the scenario design ultimately favouring the Gangers... I should have limited the number that could be diced for each turn, or maybe they only arrive on 6 on Round Two, 5+ on Round Three, 4+ on Round Four, etc... Ah well... Orion took it all in stride, so all was well... Definitely need to play this more. Maybe it's time I cracked all those House Books I've picked up as they came out over the last year and a half (but never even LOOKED IN!?) and start redesigning the gangs and come up with some new campaign...

The Return of Karloth Valois - Annual Wargaming Birthday Bash

Every year I like to celebrate my birthday with a gathering of friends and a big game. I've been doing this for about the last 15-16 years. Initially it was one big game the evening of my birthday. One year it was a whole afternoon, as my birthday fell on a Saturday. After a couple years it grew into a whole WEEKEND of gaming - on the weekend closest to my birthday. Later still that moved to the Family Day weekend in mid-February... and now we've come full circle - one big game on my actual birthday! (Largely because ToonCon was just a couple weeks later, I decided to forgo a game weekend this year... or perhaps I'll host one later in the year, perhaps in the summer or fall...?)



Since this day was all about me, I started the day off right with the Breakfast of Champions - my regular Mocha smoothie, but with a bonus donut from Darkside Donuts - located just a block away from our house!



In the afternoon I got the game all set up - I knew it was going to take a while to play and this was a Tuesday evening - so a work/school night for most people. My hope was to get it done in under 4 hours.




I chose Necromunda because...well... I LOVE Necromuda and am feeling like I just haven't played enough of it lately - ALSO I'm running a game of it next weekend at ToonCon and thought I'd best get in one more practice/playtest of the scenario before so!

The scenario was The Return of Karloth Valois! I played Karloth and his horde of Plague Zombies - and a few Scavvies working for him. I had five players out (and a couple others stopped by briefly to say "hi" and "happy birthday" and see what was going on). Each played a different gang/faction - they common goal was to stop Valois - if Valois escaped the table THEY ALL LOSE!

I did keep track of Victory Points, however, to determine a "winner" - assuming they stopped Valois! One Victory Point was given for each Zombie, Scavvy or enemy Ganger taken out of action, TWO Victory points given for each enemy gang leader or champion taken out of action or each wound dealt to Valois, and FIVE Victory Points given for taken out Valois. In addition to this, however, each gang had its own "Secret Agenda" - something else their gang could do which would gain them extra victory points... I'm not going to go into those in THIS Game Report as there is a chance one of those players for next week might be reading and... well... they ARE supposed to be SECRET! (I'll let you know what they were in the ToonCon game report!)



Other Tim played a squad of Enforcers.



Jacob played a Crusade of Rademptionists.



Kurtis played a Cawdor gang.



Rick played a Delaque gang.



And Aaron played the Escher Gang.



Right off the hop, Kurtis sent his Cawdor Champion up the middle, with his Heavy Stubber, thinking that would be useful to stop the oncoming horde. The redemptionists didn't think it was so necessary and REdemptress Jezebel reduced him to a pile of ash and puddle of melted metal with her Melta Gun...

Yikes!

Didn't expect the inter-gang fighting to get started off so quickly! At that point I warned them that Valois and the Zombies were NASTY and if they kept that up they had NO HOPE of defeating him.

I should have kept my mouth shut and just let them fight...



Tim (Enforcers), Aaron (Escher), and Kurtis (Cawdor).



Kurtis (Cawdor), Rick (Delaque), and Jacob (Redemptionists)



End of Round One - the Horde moves out.



The Redmptionists were doing pretty good to start off - burning Zombies and Scavvies - then started taking fire from flanking Scavvies.



Scavvy that took three or four blasts from Enforcer Shredder shots to take out... Need to play the Scavvies a bit smarter - and be a bit more concerned about those Enforcers!!



Escher and Cawdor trying to set up a defensive line.



Escher taking the brunt of the Zombie attack.







Doelgr (Scavvy Champion) got into a protracted firefight with the Redemptionists taking turns pinning each other - eventually the Redemptress ran out of ammo on the Melta Gun (and everybody breathed a HUGE sign of relief - after having seen what it could do to a champion in the first round!)



Enforcers sneaking in behind Valois and his horde.



Rick, planning his course of action.



Enforcers unleashing shredder salvoes and not really caring who is caught in them... They made a mess of the Zombies.



massive line of defence that Valois and his horde had to fight its way through - while being blasted to bits from behind by the Enforcers.



Valois' horde looking a little thin on the ground...



And then, as it looked like the Enforcers were going to finish off Valois, the Delaque gang started killing other gangers...



Including their leader!



BLAM! Enforcer took down Valois.

DAMN! Those Enforcer shotguns are NASTY! I'm feeling a little like I should leave the Enforcers at home... I did set the game limit at FOUR for ToonCon... I was planning on brining enough for six to play (if other people showed up and wanted to join in... but now I'm thinking I might just stick with four - though I REALLY liked the Enforcers Secret Agenda!)



Losses weren't terribly high. There were a lot of serious injuries, but I think most gangs only lost one ganger Out of Action- the exception being Cawdor which lost both Leader and Champion. A few of them bottled out, and the entire Redemptionist crew up and fled the field at the beginning of the second last turn.

Good fun was had by all. I think the scenarios going to work out quite well for ToonCon. I think it took us 4.5 hours to play through the game - the exact time I have to run it at ToonCon - and that included explaining the scenario AND explaining all the rules (Aaron and Tim had never played Necromunda and Kurtis had never played a miniature game!).


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

A round-up of all the other games I played in February - not nearly so many as I had planned!!!

After that some pics of a few miniatures that have been trickling off the workbench this last week!