Galactic Heroes: "Bodyguard Work"

 I couldn't have a long weekend without a solo game, and so I got the table cleared off and set up a 3' x 3' battlefield this afternoon. I decided to give the new Galactic Heroes 2nd Edition from Wiley Games a go through, and opted to give the Rebels of Krankor IV another battle.

To recap, in previous games, the Rebels (ex-slave laborers mutated by the toxic working conditions on Krankor IV) failed to kidnap the planetary governor, Baron Hadimir Vlarkonnen, but managed to fight off a team of mercenaries sent by the Baron to capture a set of data crystals detailing the location of other rebel cells. In today's game, the Rebels needed to protect a sympathetic pilot carrying a data recorder from a group of mercenary assassins sent by the Baron. The standoff took place around a ruined factory on Krankor IV. 

THE CREWS

 THE REBELS (Crew Trait: Ranger)

•  Lursa (Leader; Encouraging, Impervious, Deadeye; Mutations: Life Leech), armed with a Blaster Pistol and Chameleon Cloak
• B'etor (Specialist; Killer, Deft; Mutations: Extra Arms), armed with Pistols and light armor
  
•  The Maw (Regular; Bloodthirsty; Mutations: Gaping Maw), armed with an Autorifle and Chainsword 
• Torso Jones (Regular; Thundering Charge; Mutations: Iron Hide), armed with an Autopistol and Buzzsaw-Axe 
• Manta Claws (Regular; Steady; Mutations: Fangs and Claws), armed with a Blaster Rifle and light armor
  

ASSASSINS (Crew Trait: Eagle-Eyed) 

• Steve Austen (Leader; Veteran, Impervious, Encouraging), equipped with light armor, an Autopistol, and Optical Sights, granting him the Deadeye trait as a bonus
• Miller (Specialist; Ranged Fighter, Quick), equipped with light armor, an Autopistol, and a Medi-Pack
• Flynn (Regular; Steady), equipped with light armor and an Autopistol
• Dirk (Regular; Dodge), equipped with light armor and an Autopistol
• Blue Commandos (Grunt Group; Killer), equipped with Autorifles

The Assassins deployed on the landing pad in the left-hand corner of the board; the Rebels deployed in cover, scattered around a ruined factory. 

The assassins quickly began to spread out and take pot-shots at the Rebels - and the first two Shooting attacks of the game, by Flynn and Dirk, both came up "1," sending both assassins Out of Ammo. Torso Jones rushed to engage Dirk in melee combat, and got shot in the back by Steve Austen for his troubles.

Jones kept trying to fight Dirk, but wound up getting curb-stomped by the assassin. Shortly thereafter, the Maw took a bunch of Shock tokens in quick succession and decided he'd had enough and routed off the table.

The assassins worked their way down from the landing platform to the ground, keeping a constant barrage of pistol fire on the rebels, who darted from cover to cover. From there, it became a tense running gun fight, with the rebels retreating deeper into the ruined factory, the assassins advancing, getting shot at, retreating, and the rebels cautiously stalking forward. 

 

The tide really turned when B'etor unleashed a blaze of autofire from her three pistols, killing Flynn and one of the Blue Commandos and wounding Steve Austen. Miller raced to use the Medi-Pack on Austen, and Manta Claws took out Dirk with a shot from his blaster rifle. B'etor was wounded, by pulled a Queen of Hearts card when she activated, allowing her to heal and stand back up - and using Burst Fire again to take out Miller and the last remaining Blue Commando. 

Cornered and stunned, Steve Austen kept fighting to the last, but eventually he was laid low, and the pilot carrying the crucial data recorder was free to escape off Krankor IV. 

***

Great game, I had a ton of fun. This game ran for a staggering nine rounds; usually my solo games run about six. The light armor made a surprising amount of difference; figures wearing it could reduce the severity of a wound by rolling 8+ on a D10, and the assassins rolled a lot of 8+s. It definitely kept them all in the game much longer than they would have stayed otherwise; the grunt group of Blue Commandos was impressively useless, with two dying and one routing off the table to a failed Recovery roll fairly early in the game, and other than putting two Shock markers on the Maw, failed to accomplish much. 

If you're interested, Wiley Games is running a sale through tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend; I ordered some more Wound and Shock tokens (because I would like to get some larger games going). Most of the miniatures on the table today are from Diehard Miniatures, who currently have a Kickstarter going that I've pledged to.

More Squads Painted

 Two more squads of figures done this month; the first, my second set of five GI Joes; Flint, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes (and am I the only one who thinks it's weird that the ninja named "Snake Eyes" *isn't* affiliated with Cobra?), Breaker and Covergirl. 

The second is a group of Brits for Pulp games set in the 1920s and 1930s. I just finished Peter Hopkirk's book "Setting the East Ablaze," about Lenin's efforts to foment a Communist revolution in Asia, and came across a brief reference that British spies often traveled under the guise of a hunting party; I've had these figures - a mix of Copplestone Castings' British Army in Tropical Kit and Pulp Figures' "Sons of Empire" set - in storage for a while now, dug them out and got them painted up.

I've had some vague ideas about skirmish gaming in the "Back of Beyond" - Central Asia in the 1920s and 1930s, at the intersection of the Russian Civil War and China's Warlord Period. It's been floating in the back of my head for years and I'm finally getting figures painted for it; honestly I think I'd play it like an Indiana Jones movie in terms of pulpiness and supernatural elements.

More Pulpy Painting

 I had some more figures primed and ready to go this week, and some of them promised to paint up quick with fairly restrained color schemes, so I dove in over the weekend and got them knocked out quickly and to a standard I'm happy with.

A pair of Snake Priestesses from Forge of Ice

"General Cappy Boyd and his Expatriate Mercenaries," from Pulp Figures

These will all be showing up sooner or later in pulpy games of Fistful of Lead.

Tales of Horror: An American Werewolf in Drumheller

 I squeezed in an evening game of Fistful of Lead: Tales of Horror this past Wednesday using my recently-painted Canadians and some werewolves I painted last October. 

Table Setup

The Hunters:

• Lefty LaRue, Dashing Outdoorsman (Leader; Veteran, Lucky, Coolheaded, Deadeye; armed with an Automatic Rifle and Silver Bullets)
• Jack Nuniq, Inuit Sniper (Specialist; Eagle-Eyed, Sniper; armed with a Rifle and Silver Bullets)
• Frenchie Sinclair (Regular; Folklore Expert; armed with a Pistol)
• Sgt. McMichaels (Regular; Steady; armed with a Pistol)
• RCMP Patrol (Henchman Group; Loyal; armed with Rifles)

The Werewolf Pack:

• Brutus (Pack Alpha; God-Like, Large, Cold-Blooded, plus Werewolf Traits )
• Cassius (Pack Beta; Predatory, Stealthy, plus Werewolf Traits)
• Casca and Cinna (Werewolves; Ferocious plus Werewolf Traits)
• The Mad Trappers of Rat River (Henchman Group, Killer, armed with Rifles)

 

I mostly ran this as the "Under the Blood Moon" scenario out of the Tales of Horror book; Frenchie, Sgt. McMichaels and the Mounties were holed up in an isolated cabin in the hills outside Drumheller, Alberta, and needed to survive the werewolves A) long enough for Lefty and Jack to arrive with the silver bullets, and then B) survive until the sun rose at the end of Turn 7.

Pardon the unpainted cabin.

The werewolves moved cautiously around the cabin for the first two turns after Brutus got a Shock token on Turn 1. Lefty and Jack arrived at the beginning of Turn 3, right as the werewolves were starting to move in and really attack. Lefty shot at Brutus as the giant werewolf savaged one of the Mounties, but was attacked in turn by Cassius. 

 

Casca and Cinna attacked the cabin, with Cinna smashing in the window to attack the nearest Mountie - only to get knocked flat with a rifle butt. McMasters and Frenchie opened fire on Casca, driving the werewolf backwards but not harming him. 

If you're cold, they're cold. Let them in.

Jack drove off Cassius, and Brutus slunk away, deciding to abandon this pack and form a new one next month. He left the table. Ultimately Lefty spent the rest of the game crawling across the table towards the cabin, his wound never allowing him to stand up. Jack shot both Cassius and Casca with silver bullets, finishing them off. The Mountie that bashed Cinna got shot through the window and killed by one of the Mad Trappers. Frenchie and McMasters finished off the Mad Trappers, though McMasters was killed in the process. 

The game ended with the Hunters with 5 Renown Points and the Werewolf Pack with 2 Renown Points, a solid win for the Hunters. Though Lefty was bitten by a werewolf and survived, so who knows what the next full moon holds for him...

Yukon Toughs

 This bunch actually went surprisingly quickly - first pic is four of the five figures in the "Northland Adventurers" pack, second pick is four of the five "Scarlet Patrol," and the last pic is three of the four "Mad Trappers of Rat River," all from the "Yukon Peril" line over at Pulp Figures. These will all see use in various "Fistful of Lead" games - starting with a "An American Werewolf in Saskatchewan" game of Tales of Horror I've got planned for myself. 

Not Much to Report

 My painting has, unfortunately, slowed down dramatically since January. Depression has been kicking my ass, sad to say, and just all around haven't been able to carve out both the time and energy to make it to the painting desk. I did manage to eke out these vampire women from Reaper's Bones 5 Kickstarter, part of the "Shadows of Ravenholme" expansion.

Yo Joe!

 Continuing on with my 28mm GI Joe project, here are the first five members of the Joes proper: Duke, Scarlett, Rock-n-Roll, Shipwreck and Lifeline. 

All in all, a solid bunch to paint with plenty of variety, and great practice with the light box as well. Looking forward to getting them on the table for Fistful of Lead.