Thursday Space Battle

The Carrier "Lasalle"

Last night the Neo-Soviets invaded Euro-Fed space, in a Full Thrust space battle. Both forces contained mostly ships-of-the-line with a capital ship split up between three groups.

The Neo-Soviets charged in fast, catching the Euro-Fed fleet unable to maneuver amid an astroid field. But, the Battleship October Revolution, came in a little too hot. His engines were damaged and she was unable to turn very quickly or slow down properly. As a result, she flew right out of the battlefield. 

A huge fighter skirmish erupted. Several of the smaller ships were swarmed and destroyed.

The battle swayed back and force for several turns, but in one turn the Neo-Soviets lost 4-5 ships and it was over. I'm sure they'll lick their wounds and be back...

Super Thursday

Last night was another Super System game, this time with a lot of kid players, and you know what that means? Chaos. They rarely do what you think they're gonna do, or should do.  Which equals FUN.

The kids (and one adult) were on one side running the Heroes. They moved very cautiously through the city, hugging buildings. Not very heroic.

The villains, on the other hand, were more aggressive, taking to the sky and rooftops.

The heroes had a few early victories, stunning villains with mental attacks and hyper-moves.

But, in the end, the bad guys began to grind down the heroes. Captain Cryo froze several, Mechagor slammed the Cowl through a building, and Flea was gunned down by Killshot.

Doc Titan faces Emperor Ape

As, usual SS provides a great game. The mechanics make it easy to grasp, and the powers make it fun.

Blood Bowl Thursday

Elvis

Meat was back on the menu last night. The Nevereverlanders took the #1 spot in the standings (Only because the Maulers sat out this time). They beat the out-classed One-Eyed Jacks in a game that saw lots of Dirty Tricks. The Jacks almost had a TD overturned because of it!

Four games at once

Uller's Uglies just could not keep up with the fleet feet of the Skavens. The Fury Rodents lost their Rat Ogre early in the game again, due to Dirty Tricks.

The No-Name Nasties and Kleavers fought a brutal battle on the pitch, with Karlsborg pullling off a stunning TD in the last minutes, but not enough to win.

There may be a new team taking the pitch late in the season. The Amazons take the field, perhaps filling the spot taken by the "No Show" Orcs.

Battlefield Evolution playtest

Maybe it was the offer of free booze, or maybe everyone wanted some WW2 again. We've tried different rule sets over the years, but never clicked with any of them. Like all the Basement Generals games, we want something simple, can be played in about 3 hours, but gives a feel for the period. So, we gave Battlefield Evolution: World at War a whirl.

Rules? Check. Dice? Check. Beer? Check. Cigar? Check.

We kept it simple. No tanks, no artillery, no crazy objectives. 6 1/2 players (the Boy would run a MG team and the panzerschrect), each controlling a squad with the option of splitting those into fire teams. The rules themselves are basic. One side goes, then the other, with each unit getting two actions. You can move/shoot, move/move, shoot move, etc. No big revelation here, except when you take in the Reactions. If an enemy unit comes within 10" or fires on you, the target may fire or move in reaction. The shooting mechanics are simple enough charts weren't really needed after awhile.

Germans emerge from the trees

The objective was the walled farmhouse. Take and Secure. Both sides closed from each end of a 6 x 8 table, playing length-wise. As in real life, plans went smoothly til the bullets started flying. Players found how deadly gunfire is. A well placed MG can wipe a squad out quickly. Now, for a word about Morale. There isn't any, really. When a unit is reduced to half, be it a fire team or squad, they are mostly combat ineffective. They can take no offensive actions, merely react. No rolls for morale. Some players took awhile to adjust to this, but I thought it had a lot of subtlety to it.

The Americans attempt a crossing

Splitting you squad into smaller units gave them more flexibility, but made them more vulnerable when casualties started. Bigger squads could take more hits, but were had less tactical options.

On the American left, a well placed German MG cut the squad to pieces, effectively taking them out of the equation. On their right, a stream seemed to slow them down for an inordinate amount of time. Maybe they were just being cautious?  When they finally did get across, a bazooka shot took the corner off the building along with most of a German squad.

Overall, I liked them. I want another try. I find a couple of play tests is what you need for a final decision.

The remnants of squad huddle next to a wall for cover

Battle Lore Thursday

Last night we tried out Battle Lore, a board game with miniatures. But we had to up the game by making the miniatures 15mm, and based up, rather than single minis. We also played on an 6' x 8' rather than the small board provided with the game. Now, Battle Lore is really a simplified, fantasy version of Command and Colors which I've been fascinated with since playing it (with minis) at RECRUITS. I've had BL stashed away for awhile it wasn't till a rainy day months ago that I dug it out and Lead Addict and the Boy played for 3 hours. We were sold after that. Time to dig out all the old Demon World figs.

The real beauty of Battle Lore is the no muss, no fuss-ness about it. Hexes clearly (even though you can barely see them in my photos) define ranges, terrain type and location of unit. No rules, no gamey sneakiness of where you are in relation to someone's flank. The units are color coded and the dice clearly show what happens. Clean, simple but with lots of nuance.

Our battle involved a joint Dwarf-Elvish defense against some Orcs and their Undead friends. The battle evolved slowly with each side being cautious, with a few long range archery losses. Early, the Orcs and skeletons had it rough, suffering the loss of 3 units. Then, suddenly the Undead exploded from the right flank, crushing everything in their path. The whole flank was lost and the elves were forced to retreat further into their woodland home.

You will notice the lack of finished bases. We're working on that and apologize. The Basement Generals do not usually tolerate this kind of untidiness on the battlefield, but this was really a play test. Our version f Battle Lore is slowly evolving into Command and Colors with fantasy. We'll be making cards for each unit that clearly defines its abilities.

Super Hero Wednesday

The Crystal Skull of Ozmodeus has disappeared! The magical artifact holds untold power, and the members of C.R.I.M.E. think it's somewhere in Capital City. They'll tear the city apart looking for it, too!

But fear not citizen, the Guardians are on the way!

The villains include the muscle-bound Behemoth, Razorwing, knife of the skies, the dead-eye Killshot, ninja Shadow Master, mental monarch Queen Cobra and Red Raven. Thy are equipped with a device to track the magical energies given off by the Crystal Skull.

Opposing this foul cadre is the manic Manticore, pro wrestler turned hero Mr. Wonderful, Herakles hero of legend, flying government weapon A.J.A.X., the speedy Flea, and the enigmatic Crimson Cowl.

The battle opens with Flea leaping and bouncing forward to attack Killshot. He deliverers a flurry of blows and retreats. Razorwing takes to the air to track the Skull's energy, but is attacked by A.J.A.X.

Behemoth super-leaps to bash Manticore from his perch atop a building, then jumps the Crimson Cowl. The masked mentalist dodges the blows.

After a combined attack with Manticore, the Crimson Cowl finishes Behemoth with a mental attack against the stupid brute. In fact across the city, things are going well for our heroes. Flea bashed Killshot to the ground. Herakles made short work of Red Raven, but took a little longer with Shadow Master. After a dazzling mental attack by Queen Cobra, Mr. Wonderful knocked her through a building.

Soon only Queen Cobra remained. She decided to live to fight another day and made her escape. Little did anyone know, the Crystal Skull was being used as a paper weight at the local comic book shop.

RECRUITS pics

I forgot my camera, but thanks to fellow Basement General Greg (owner of wargamedownloads.com) for taking some shots.

Here's some shots from the Fistful of Lead game:

The streets of Lesterville

The action unfolds

A different view of the action

The giant hand of Death

Blood in the streets

Here's some shots form the GASLIGHT game

THe BRute class Land Ironclad chugs forward