Friday 30 January 2015

Another Sarabara Done

Good afternoon,

Well, school is nigh, so here is the culmination of 6 week's painting - my third (of four) Early Achaemenid Persian Sarabara Bow element.



And here they are all together.


So that's...

  • 3 Sarabara elements @ 12 figs each = 36
  • 2 Persian Psiloi @ 2 ea, = 4
  • 3 "Fast" Parthian Auxilia @ 3 figs each = 9
  • 1 "Solid" Parthian Auxilia @ 4 figs = 4
  • 1 Parthian Light Horse element @ 2 = 2 + horses
  • 1 Hoplite spear element @ 4 figs = 4
= 59 figures painted. Plus 2 horses. (Plus 11 games of X Wing, 8 games of DBA, 1 of Kings of War and 1 of Great War Spear Head.)

The EAPs still need this last Sarabara element painted...




...plus two more horde (one's almost done), two cav, one LH and a General's chariot.

Which should lead nicely to starting the mounted for the Parthians, as they're kinda using the same colours. As indeed do the Later Achaemenid Persians. Which will finally bring on the Macedonians. Then the Mithridatic elements to morph them. Then the second Marian Roman army. Then perhaps the Classical Indians, or the Polybian Romans/Later Carts...then the early medievals...now if I could only find some reasonable looking Later Pre Islamic Arab figures to sit atop my camels...my Italeri Saracens are too medieval...

So many toys, so little time!

ETA on the completion of the Early Achaemenid Persian DBA army? End of the Term 1 holidays, perhaps? I really want to practice playing my guitar more regularly...

Nick

Thursday 29 January 2015

And Now For Something...

...completely similar.

Good afternoon,

On Tuesday, being the last real day of my school hols (meetings and planning and such taking priority for the rest of the week - back on deck come Monday next week) Young Stan popped round for an early lunch and a quick game with his 15mm toys.

He is lending me a II/32a Later Carthaginian army for the DBA competition at War Clouds, so we thought to try a Book 1/Book 2 clash with his Amalakites. He had Camels for Africa. Or Palestine, as the case may be.

I broke out, and dusted off, my very own 15mm DBA board (I did have a 15mm EIR army ages back, but I sold it), Stan set down some dunes, which I then chose to deploy in (why?!), and away we went.


Stan moved first and had a plethora of PIPSs with which to move up his boys. Me, I just had two, so I try to push out my light horse.


And then I had a lowly 1!


So, seeing as I was a little stalled, Stan storms into contact, recoiling my Spear and Elephant, leaving my Cav General a touch isolated.


Did I say touch?



I meant mightily isolated! Down he does to a lowly Auxilia, and that was the end of that!

He was a bit pushed for time, so he took his leave, leaving me with a lesson I fail to learn time and time again - don't push forward your General too eagerly!

Nick

Tuesday 27 January 2015

150 Point Game of X Wing

Good afternoon,

Last night I was invited round to Tim's place to try out my final escalation list of 150 points in preparation for the X Wing event the weekend after next.


Tim rocked out a quick, but quite synergetic list...


...and...away we went!

Don't those Imperials look grand! And spread out. Hmmm...


We close...


...the Dauntless strips the Falcon's shields...



...and in return, those dirty rebels strip four shields and seven hull off the Devastator!

Arghh!

Some fancy flying later...


(will you look at those margins!)



Boom!

Bother.

The big boys break off, leaving the little dudes to buzz around.




But not before Read Admiral Chiranaeu deals to Jan Orrs.

Huzzah!



And not before time!

Bother.

The Dauntless lasted, what, three turns? Stink!

Tim flies the Falcon south, so the Ties concentrate on the B.


'Cept, Soontir, who hasn't even shot yet (arghh!). He targets Tarn...Morrison. And his dratted R7 'droid. Who forces Soontir to re-roll all of his hits. To blanks. Arghh!


And then, to add insult to injury...



Arghh!

However...



...Huzzah!

The Falcon flies back into the fray...


(landing on a rock - huzzah!)


...and out again...




...leaving destruction in it's wake.

Bother.

Again, a Tie singles out Tarn.



And again, that dratted 'droid forces me to re-roll my hits!

Arghh!

However...




Ha ha ha ha ha! Serves him jolly well right!

Dratted 'droid!

However...



...urghhh!

At this point Soontir thought that discretion was the better part of valour and flew off.

Leaving the Falcon with one shield (dratted R2), and, perhaps, one hull point chipped off.

I should have bunched up for the first joust...

Thanks for the game Tim, it was a lot of fun. And cause for some food for thought...hmmm...drop the Dauntless title, swap out...probably Winged Gundark for Dark Curse, possibly give Soontir targeting computer...hmmm...

Nick

Sunday 25 January 2015

The Three Big Toys Come Out To Play

Good afternoon,

Last night I popped round to Bruce's place for an X Wing bash. Sans X Wings.

Since I'd been fiddling around with a 60 point list I'm thinking of taking to the War Clouds Over Woolston X Wing Miniatures Game Escalation event, I thought that we could play a pseudo-scenario. An Outer Rim Smuggler teams up with a Bounty Hunter (that's 60 points right there!) to rescue a compatriate who's being whisked away by Admiral Chiraneau in the Dauntless...


(I don't have the Experimental Interface card, so I was using Push the Limit instead - a very similar effect, same point cost.)

The idea that I pulled out of my ar#$ on the way over was that, just before the Dauntless blows, the captive would "hit the silk" - bail out in an escape pod. The same applied to the Fringe - if one blows up, they can jump into an escape pod to be picked up by the other. Or by the Dauntless.

To rescue the pod the rescuing ship has to fly within Range 1 and then forfeit their attack. A bit like the escape from Bespin.

(Subsequently...see the end of this post...)

Anyway, Bruce, James (his old Massey mate from back in the day) and I squared off (if you can square off with three...), I taking the Dauntless, James the YT and Bruce the Firespray (my first outing for my Firespray - I had just picked it up that morning)...and away we went.


Some early concentrated firepower on the Outer Rim Smuggler...


...saw it's shields stripped and chunks taken off the hull.

Not wanting to bash-the-newbie (James having not played before), I then start picking on Bruce, while James flew away north to set up for another run.


Ohh, that's some fine maneuvering!

(All the fingers in these shots are James'!)

Bruce K Turns behind the Dauntless...but I shoot first!


And again. These card combinations are awesome!



(Having said that, I estimate that the Vindicator can only last about four or five turns in any given game, taking, as it does, anywhere from, say, three to five hits per turn from an average two ship list. I was lucky in this game - the YT was out of range for a couple of turns, and, above, Bruce got a crit - Blinded Pilot. He couldn't shoot for this turn.)

In the meantime, the smuggler tries to get back into the action.



I line up the shot...



...Bazinga! Four hits plus a crit thanks to Expose, Experimental Interface and Target Lock re-rolls!

James tries to fly over the Dauntless...but can't...


...Bruce tries to get up close and personal...



...and I just fly away!

At this point the YT has only one hull left, and, again, not wanting to be that guy who picks on the newbie, I target Bruce instead.


Again, the boys try to catch up...



...and again, I just sail away!

Taking out the YT as I pass.


Prompting some debris (I'd only put out five asteroids for this very reason - six asteroids + debris gets quite crowded on a three foot mat), and...an escape pod! Which can move straight or gentle ones, and has an agility of one.

Bruce tries to veer away...


...but...


...Boom!

And that was the end of that!

Thinking further about the scenario...

The Fringe player can launch the escape pod from the Dauntless (with the Fringer captive in it) at the start of any turn after the Devastator looses it's shields - a bit like a bomb...


...but place the escape pod instead of the ordinance. The the "mother ship" then moves on, as dialed.

However, the captive can only try to escape in the escape pod once. Once launched, the Dauntless can then, of course, try to pick it up again, in which case the Fringer is in custody for the duration.

The escape pod moves using straight of gentle [1]s, and has an agility of one.

The Escape Pod is picked up by flying one of the big ships into Range One of it, and choosing to pick up the pod instead of launching an attack.

Further more, the Fringe player can choose to abandon one of their ships any time before it is destroyed, hoping for the other Fringer ship (and hoping not for the Imperial ship) to pick it up.

The Fringe player wins the scenario if it picks up the escape pod with the ex-Imperial captive inside and then escape by flying off the Fringe side of the map/mat. (It is possible for the captive to escape the Dauntless, be rescued by one Fringer ship, who then abandons ship for the other Fringer to rescue all and sundry and then fly off the map...)

The Imperial player wins by destroying the two Fringe ships.

Make sense?

Now I've codified it, I need to play it again. Properly, this time!

Anyhow, after the game, Bruce rocked out King of Manhattan...


...and then King of Tokyo, which he convincingly won four times on the trot!

Well done Bruce, and thanks for the games James, they were a lot of fun.

Nick