Deadzone: Asterians

With Deadzone v3 right around the corner I've added the new Shadow model from Mantic's Overdrive into my Strike Team ready for launch. Shadow is so new that it's rules have yet to be released so I will need to wait for my v3 books to arrive to be able to play it.

We do know it will be a Marionette unit so it should fit will with the Marionette heavy lists I've been playing with thus far.

In this final picture you can see how big it is, not as large as the Spectra's that stand over 4 inches in height but also a good deal taller than the standard Marionette.

Nido de Plaga IV: Data Retrieval

From Captain, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake
To Assault Commander, Ground Forces, Nido de Plaga IV

Commander,

Now you have a secure base of operations and have taken the time to rebuild your ground units we have identified a new target for your forces. A nearby data cluster has been detected and is showing as being powered. We believe you may be able to extract important information about Mazon Labs activity on the planet which may point towards valuable artefacts that can be recovered. In order to give your unit it's best chance of success we recommend taking at least one hacking trained soldier in your force. Recent events have made the speedy and successful conclusion of this mission imperative.

Four Sol hours ago an as yet unidentified ship of Asterian design entered the solar system and evaded our attempts at interception and reached the planets surface, we then lost track of it's location. We believe that the Asterians are also seeking to discover what is happening here and you should presume them to be hostile.

You should make your way immediately to the data cluster, our surface scans have shown that the battle to secure the landing zone and base of operations have all but removed the local Zombie threat so you should be able to move freely to the target location.

Captain T.

The Marauders fielded the following for this mission

1 * Bolts - Commander

3 * Marauder Commando

2 * Mawbeast

2 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG - Hackers

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Gruntbot

Whilst the Asterian force consisted of:

1 * Marionette Prime

3 * Marionette's

2 * Kalyshi

1 * Marionette Specialist Sniper

2 * Marionette Specialist Grenade Launcher

2 * Marionette Specialist Light Missile

The table was setup with four data terminals in the centre around a mysterious artefact, each terminal could be hacked once to gain 2 victory points. Hacking would take a unit with the Hacking special rule a short action, otherwise it was a long action.

The first turn saw both sides move up with the Marauders taking advantage of the high ground near their entry point to kill a Marionette who had moved into a building over-looking the central area, other than some ineffective missile shooting from the Asterians it was a turn for manoeuvre. 

The second turn saw the Marauders pile forwards with the Mawbeasts engaging and killing one Missile Launcher Marionette and the second also dying, this time to gun fire. The Asterian Kalyshi charged into combat but didn't manage to kill anything. 

Next turn saw the Marauders push forwards again with Bolts and the Gruntbot. The Marionette Prime did land a surprising effect shot onto Bolts reducing him down to only 1 wound left, only his thick armour saved Bolts from being killed. One of the Marauder Specialists managed to make it to a terminal and hack out some valuable data.

On the last turn the Marauders started by hacking another terminal so the Asterians sacrificed a Marionette Specialist to ensure they'd hacked at least on terminal. It got the hack but was then shot down as was the Sniper. The remaining Grenade Launcher specialist was chewed up by a combination of the Gruntbot and then Bolts.

The Kalyshi did manage to kill a Mawbeast and a Commando but by this time it was too late and the Marauders had gained 16 VP's to end the fight but most importantly gained the information they required to dig deeper into what had happened on Nido de Plaga IV.

I've also been busy at the painting this week and with an eye on an upcoming D & D campaign I've painted up a Mantic Ice Queen model to use as a Sorcerer. I altered the painting technique on this one by going with a back undercoat and then dry brushing cream then white over the top before using contrast paints. It gives a different finish to just contrast over white with the darker areas being more pronounced.

Napoleonic's: French 14th Dragoons

Painting for Shakos & Bayonets has continued with the completion of sixteen French Dragoons on foot. The forces I'm building are based around the battle of Albuera in 1811, a battle famous for the charge of the Vistula Legion lancers, who of course I've not bought models for. The main reason I choose this battle was because it features the 28th North Gloucestershire Foot and a good mix of Portuguese, Spanish and French units, leaving scope for future expansion of the forces.

I started out with eight foot Dragoons gifted from Cirencester and decided to add another eight in order to field a decent amount of them. This allows for the extra activation cards for Cavalry to be included in the activation deck without needing to actually paint any cavalry, which is a bonus.

For the uniforms I've gone with the 14th Dragoons who had a rather nice looking Green and Pink combination which adds an extra unusual colour into the mix for the army.

As far as the unit statistics are concerned the Dragoons are the same as normal Fusiliers once dismounted and come in a few points cheaper when comparing eight model units.

So these chaps will be able to hold the line and form up to deliver volley fire if required. They won't be as fast as the light skirmishers or their mounted counter-parts but they will presumably be more of a shooting threat.

Next up the Grenadiers and then officers for the them and the Voltigeurs. 

Napoleonic's: French Fusiliers & Voltigeurs

We've not played a game this week but I have been busy with the French infantry.
I've completed all 24 of the Fusiliers I had planned for the force and having made a few improvements on the 2nd & 3rd batches they look fit and ready for war.
As the Fusiliers are the standard line infantry of the French Army these chaps should expect to spend a lot of time on the table fighting the British.

I've also completed the 16 Voltigeurs I had planned for the army. The Perry box gives you plenty of options for the heads and rather than go for the plain shako with a small pompom I opted to go for the more showy dress uniform version with large plume. I would imagine that these shakos would not have been worn that often in combat but a big part of the Napoleonic period's appeal is the uniforms so it seemed a shame not to go for the full effect.

Voltigeurs come in small units of 4 - 8 models and have the Scout rule, this allows them to move more quickly through rough terrain and over obstacles. They are however unable to form into close order and fire a volley. They are slightly better shots than the Fusiliers and can pay some extra points to improve the shooting further.

The Voltigeur uniform seems to have varied a reasonable amount with the exact combination of green and yellow on different parts being different between regiments. This allowed me some room for creativity with the exact look for the men of my unit.

With their splendid uniforms they do look a cut above the standard line Fusiliers, as you would expect.

I've also painted up some officers/leaders for my force. These chaps are intended to lead the Fusiliers but could stand in as leaders for the other troop types. In Shakos & Bayonets the officers are divided into the same types as the units, so for Voltigeurs that is Light and Fusiliers Line. Officers can only bolster units of the same type as themselves.

And last of all the whole gang thus far.

Up next are some dismounted Dragoons who will add an extra splash of colour to the force and then the Grenadiers to complete the infantry.

Nido de Plaga IV: Capture a Base of Operations

From Marauder Central Command
To Commander, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake

Captain,

Following your successful mission to secure the landing zone Marauder Intelligence has identified a nearby building complex which will make an excellent base of operations for your force. We have authorised the landing of a Mule transport to help with the movement of the supplies necessary to support your mission on the surface. Planetary scans show no current evidence of organised military forces in your area but further encounters with the 'Zombies' you identified is to be expected. We would recommend including at least one person with engineering experience in your escort team in case of issues with the Mule. Once you have the base of operations secured you can start our mission on the planet.

Gen. Radgrad.

Acting on his further orders Marauder Captain T. deployed a ground assault team lead by the Goblin Bolts. The strike team make-up was :

1* Bolts
2 * Gruntbot, 1 with flamer
1 * Boomer, engineer and grenade specialist
3 * Commando
2 * Mawbeast
1 * Ripper Rainmaker

They also had a Marauder Mule stacked full of supplies to escort up the table to the enclosed compound, we assigned this as having 2 armour and 4 health with a defence of 5+.

The Plague side started with the following on the table:

1 * Aberration
1 * Stage 3A General
6 * Stage 3Z Zombies
2 *  Plague Victims (from the Mazon Labs list)

The advantage of playing an umpire led narrative game is that I could mix up the forces as I liked and also feel free to bring on extra troops as I wished. I also put out two spawn points for the Plague, the Marauders had discovered in the last game that these points could be liable to being destroyed by fire if attacked. I gave them 1 wound with a save of 7+.

Things didn't get off to a great start for the Marauders as the Rainmaker leapt up onto a building to grab the closest supplies cache for it to be the only booby-trap on the table, this did no damage to him but did blow him off the building into the path of the Mule, meaning it wouldn't be able to advance.

Elsewhere the Marauders pushed up and killed a couple of Zombies and the Plague also advanced to try and block the Marauders from accessing the truck which was blocking the advance of the Mule. The Flamer Gruntbot also managed to remove the closest Zombie spawn point.

In the next round the Marauders continued to push forwards and the Rainmaker recovered enough to get a solid shot off on the Aberration causing two wounds, this forced it to take cover behind a handy building. Bolts and the Gruntbots assisted by the Mawbeasts continued to slaughter Zombies and the Plague side was running low of mobs to through into the meat grinder. At the end of Turn 2 I brought on some additional Zombies and Plague Victims to help turn the tide.

Turn 3 saw Boomer jump start the blocking truck and move it out of the way, this allowed the Mule to advance. The Aberration killed a Mawbeast and further Zombies and a Plague Victim fell as the Marauders continued to advance and the Plague reinforcements pushed forwards.

The game then devolved into a series of viscous melee combats as the all melee Plague clashed with the by now mostly melee Marauders, two of the Commando's fell to the Plague as did the second Mawbeast and one of the Gruntbots. But Bolts and flamer Gruntbot as well as the Rainmaker still pressed on. 

At this point the Marauders had the mule one move away from the secure area (they just needed to move it up to win) and the Plague had the route blocked so a grenade from Boomer was thrown but only managed to knock the Plague Victim onto the bonnet of the Mule.

When Boomer fell to the Plague that left only Bolts, the flamer Gruntbot, and the Rainmaker left to see out the mission. Fortunately the Gruntbot was up to the task as it managed a flame and melee combo that set the Aberration on fire and when it activated it tool the one wound it needed for it to be killed.

The three remaining Marauders then managed to clear out enough of the Plague to see the Mule to the objective. It had looked like the Marauders would easily win the game early on but adding in the reinforcements made it a much tougher proposition for them and it turned out to be a very close game in the end.

Next time the Marauders will be having a look around on the planet to try and extract some data on what has been happening.

 

Nido de Plaga IV: Secure the Landing Site

From: Marauder Central Command
To: Commander, Marauder Assault Cruiser Mandrake

Captain,

Our long range sensors have picked up distress signals from planet Nido de Plaga IV that indicate a major disaster has swept the planet. Details of the exact nature of the disaster are as yet unclear. We believe the planet was home to a Mazon Labs research facility, this corporation is known to have an extensive weapon and bio-tech research program. As you can see from your star chart the planet is close to the Death Arc and therefore on the border of Asterian space. We believe local resistance should be limited but you should be prepared for other off planet forces to arrive and investigate.
Your mission is to travel to Nido de Plaga IV at top speed and once their neutralise any remaining corporate threats, discover what the cause of the disaster was and most importantly secure any remaining technology for the Marauder cause. Your ship and it's company will be the only Marauder forces on hand so all other forces met are to be considered hostile and dealt with swiftly and with extreme prejudice.
Your first task on arrival at the planet will be to secure a landing site for your ground forces, once this is completed further instructions will be issued.

Gen. Radgrad.

The message above was received by Marauder Captain T. last week and heralded the start of a 6 mission mini-campaign which will see him lead his brave Marauders onto the planet Nido de Plaga IV to discover what has happened and most likely kick some serious arse. Their first priority was to secure a landing area so heavier equipment could be transferred to the planet surface and to eliminate a Mazon Labs security detachment that was holding the area.

The Marauders advance party landed to find a smaller Mazon Labs force holding off a large number of Plague victims whilst presumably hoping for rescue themselves. Captain T. opted to send the following force into action in this mission:

1 * Marauder Warlord

3 * Marauder Commando's

2 * Mawbeast

1 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG

1 * Gruntbot

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Ripper Mauler

The Mazon Labs force was already deployed on the landing pad and was hotly engaged with multiple groups of Plague Zombies. Lead by Guard Commander Graves they fielded:

1* Guard Commander Graves
3 * Mazon Security Guard

3 * Urbana Black Wing Marine

3 * Urbana Black Wing Ranger Specialist with Thermal Rifle

The Marauder commanders mission was to either wipe out the Mazon Labs forces or reach 15 VP's, as the Zombies are worth zero VP's they would just be getting in the way and we used the AI Zombie rules I'd formulated to control them.

The game started with the Mazon troops mostly concentrating on clearing the closest Zombie packs, not being great in melee they didn't want to let the Zombies get in close. The Marauders mostly pushed forwards and shot at a few Zombies and also opened fire with the HMG Commando on the Mazon troops, wounding one.
In the Zombie turn the one group shambled into Ripper Mauler who managed to take out two of the three attackers but took a wound in the process. We also rolled to place two more groups of Zombies who appeared near the Mazon lines.

A similar pattern was followed over the next couple of turns with the Mazon troops mostly taking shots at close by Zombies though one Specialist did manage to put another two wounds on the Ripper Mauler causing it to flee into the backfield rather than die.

The Marauders split their fire more between the Mazon and the Zombies with the Rainmaker in particular laying down some effective fire on the Mazon and killing several of them. One Mawbeast did manage to die when it charged a lone Zombie, much to it's surprise.

A few turns in I stopped the Zombies from spawning (they had been spawning two groups of three at the end of each turn) to encourage the Marauders to advance and this allowed the Gruntbot and the surviving Mawbeast move up the board. One of the Ranger Specialists also managed to find the single booby-trap on the board but managed to survive both the explosion and the fall that resulted.

As the defenders numbers started to drop the Gruntbot got into action but was largely held by a Security Guard who fought well above her pay grade, the Ranger was however savaged by the remaining Mawbeast. 

Guard Commander Graves pitched into the combat with the Gruntbot but whilst he was able to put two wounds on it in the next the Mawbeast charged in and killed him off.

At this point with the defenders mostly dead and their leader slain the surviving members of the Mazon Labs team scattered, no doubt to become victims for a Zombie horde. 
It had been a hard grinding battle for the Marauders but they had the landing platform they required to supply a proper mission on the planet.