SUPERS!

NORAD reports the crash of an extraterrestrial object deep in the Appalacian mountains. The Guardians are dispatched to report on and recover any possible alien technology. They are not the only ones interested in the crash.

Members of the All Southern Squadron along with Hellion from the Crime Syndicate also converge on the outskirts of the sleepy town of Cooter's Crossing.

Immediately, Flea sprung into action using his bouncing speed to get to what turned out to be a crashed alien craft first. He quickly grabbed an important looking object, and dashed back. Meanwhile A.J.A.X. took to the air for the Guardians, hoping to reign missiles and laser down from above.

The Super Villains made the most of the woods to approach cautiously.

A.J.A.X.'s vantage point in the sky gave him a clear view of the battlefield but also made him a target. Texas Twister unleashed a Tornado Punch, nearly knocking the armored hero from the sky.

Whistlin' Dixie from the All Southern Squadron moved up to loot the ship, but it was immediately apparent her skills were needed for battle. One blast of her sonic whistle nearly destroyed Goldar.

Lucky for him, his robotic body was able to repair itself.

This attack was quickly followed up by Johnny Reb who not only beat Flea within an inch of his life, but moved on to pummel the Cyclops and the Crimson Cowl.

Doc Titan was effectively taken out of the fight. He was surrounded by the evil Mechanoids and Hellion. They couldn't hurt him, but he couldn't seem to harm them either. This standoff took half the teams out of the game.

Flea was conscious enough to get the tech off the battlefield and went back for more (Brave fellow). He was attacked by Texas Twister.

Goldar repaired himself and counter attacked Dixie. She couldn't withstand his Diamond Ray.

As night fell, the Guardians retreated with the alien tech but left the Villains in control of the battlefield and with it the alien ship.

Later, at the Guardian's Citadel, the tech was examined. It was a version of an alien "blackbox". The ship had been sent to warn Earth of it's impending attack by an alien overlord known only as the Despot!

Sails of Glory

The snow kept most of the Basement Generals away last night (babies). They missed a great little game: Sails of Glory. Bill went for the SoG Kickstarter n a big way, and had over a dozen ships. We played with just 4 since it was the first outing, and used the basic rules.

If you've played the WWI fighter game Wings of War, or the most recent X-Wing tabletop game, then you can pick up Sails of Glory's mechanics pretty quick. Most of what you need is on the ship base or the control mat. Moves are plotted secretly using the maneuver cards and revealed simultaneously.

Shooting is just as easy. The ship bases show your arc of fire for fore, broadside, and aft batteries. A measuring stick tells you which type of damage chits are pulled from the bags marked with the damage range. If you are in "A" range, pull from the "A" bag. Similar to the old red/blue damage chits in Blue Max.

This may look complicated, but it's not.

Use said chits to mark off damage to your ship. Performance declines with damage.

The first bout was a battle between to equally matched forces: 2 British Ships of the LIne vs 2 French. The Brits had one ship eliminated thru crew loss, and one badly beaten up, while the French had one ship surrender from battle damage, and one damaged so bad it couldn't fire ant more.

It lasted about 45 minutes.

The second bout we used Frigates. Faster ships but with less damage to take. The results were similar.

All in all a great little game and highly recommended. Can't wait to try with 6-8 people. THe basic game is easy to pick up and the advanced game adds all kinds of fun stuff like sail damage, specialty ordinance, etc.

I've always steered away from naval games of this era because of all fiddly painting and rigging associated with the models. But, these come fully painted with a deck of cards and the appropriate ship tracker for about $20 for the big ships. Word on the street, pirates are next!

Tonight's drink of choice was a no-brainer...