Nido de Plaga IV: Breakthrough

 ***Priority Transmission***

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

Commander Bolts,

Whilst you have been underground the Asterians have launched a massive attack on the ground base of operations. The fragments of messages we have received indicate an attack with overwhelming forces has wiped out the forces defending the base. We can only assume that the Asterians have somehow brought reinforcements onto the planet without us spotting them.
In order to safeguard Subject F and ensure we do not lose the information gained from the lab you are to lead the forces from the lab to a nearby LZ we have identified for extraction. The Asterian forces are sweeping the area in an attempt to find you so you should avoid becoming engaged in a protracted battle and should move at your best speed to the LZ.

Captain T.

The scenario for this battle was Breakthrough 2.0 with the Marauders aiming to break through the Asterian cordon and make their way to the pickup zone. They had Subject F in tow and would gain 2 Victory Points for getting him off the opposite board edge. VP's where also awarded for getting other members of the Strike Team off the opposite board edge or killing enemy troops.

The Marauders had managed to patch themselves up from the lab fight so went in with the same roster as last time:

1 * Bolts - Commander

3 * Marauder Commando

2 * Mawbeast

1 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Ripper Mauler

1 * Gruntbot

The Asterians took advantage of the influx of new troops onto the planet to bring in a Spectra giant robot:

1 * Marionette Prime

4 * Marionette

1 * Kalyshi

2 * Marionette with Grenade Launcher

1 * Matsudan Inashi

1 * Spectra with Micro Fission Beamer

The game started with 10 Plague victims out on the table all of whom died during the first turn as both sides moved up into cover. The Spectra drew first blood when it smoked a Mawbeast with a shot from it's Fission Beamer, it may only be a pistol but it's a damned big one.

During the second turn both sides got sucked into surprise melees. The Spectra was engaged by the second Mawbeast who took a wound but managed to tie it up and Bolts was charged by the Inashi. Once you've pushed up a bit even a charge of 2 squares can be hard to spot and stop from happening and with the Mawbeasts charge of 3 squares that is extra difficult.

Turn 3 saw the Marauders move first and the Gruntbot join the fight against the Spectra, the Spectra survived the combats but some bad rolling meant it lost it's Energy Shield. The shield is used to block incoming damage but if you roll more 1's than successes it fails and cannot be used again for the rest of the game. 

The fight between Bolts and the Inashi continued with neither side gaining and advantage. 

The next turn was decisive with the Marionette Prime popping up onto the purple building to kill both the Commando Specialist and a normal Commando before falling to returning fire. Bolts was also killed in the same turn along with the Spectra and a couple of Marionette's. Once the shield is stripped from the Spectra it's pretty squishy so it was fairly easy meat for the Mawbeast & Gruntbot.

The exchange of kills left the Marauders in a better position with the Asterians having lost their most powerful piece in the Spectra and now only rolling 3 command dice due to the loss of their leader.

The Asterians did however notice that Subject F was unattended so made a last-gasp effort to secure the win by seizing it.

Some good shooting and then the intervention of the Ripper Mauler saw the Asterian forces further depleted and the Marauders managed to secure the win (18 VP's) by killing the last of the Marionette's leaving only the Inashi standing.

So what was a really hard fought and bloody game came to a close with the Marauders breaking through by virtue of almost total annihilation of the opposing force.

So we just have one more mission to play out in which the Marauders will attempt to escape the planet with their prize and hopefully their lives.

Napoleonic's: British Grenadiers

No game again this week unfortunately but whilst I've found painting up the Brits hard going over the last couple of weeks I have completed 9 Grenadiers. Unlike their French counterparts the British line regiments had where differentiated by their collar and cuff colours so I needed to choose a regiment to paint up. As luck would have it at the Battle of Albuera which I basing my forces around the 28th North Gloucestershire Regiment was present, so that made the choice easy.

The 28th sported bright yellow collars and cuffs which I think gives a quintessentially British infantry look to the unit. As these are Grenadiers they have all white plumes and birds nest shoulder decorations.

I'm not as keen on the poses for the Perry British infantry when compared to the French ones, they are almost entirely made up of loading / firing models rather than advancing ones.

In game terms your average British infantryman is a better shot than the French but worse at fighting. It worth remembering that the numbers are a target when rolling a D10 with the 0 counting as zero (so you roll 0 -9 ). Looking through the book the best stat you can have is 5+ and worst 7+ for any of shoot/fight/survive. So even the best shot isn't that much better than the worst.

The way the Perry infantry box is formulated means you can make 9 elite infantry per box so I will be making up 18 Grenadiers and then 8 Light Infantry from the three boxes I bought. I will then paint up 24 or so centre company infantry.

Napoleonic's: French Infantry Completed

No game this week but I do have some pictures of the completed infantry of France for Shakos & Bayonets. 
The plan is to complete the British infantry next so a game can be played and then work on the mounted troops for both sides afterwards.

I've painted up a decent amount of French infantry so that the commander has some options around their force composition. With 24 each of Grenadiers and Fusiliers they can go a more elite force or stick to the basic line infantry.

The dismounted Dragoons are essentially the same as Fusiliers but activate with a Cavalry card so should offer some operational flexibility on the table.

The Voltigeurs have been seen before but I've now painted up an 'Officer' with musket to lead them, he's got a horn to make sure he has their attention!

The rules specify that the leaders are Officers but at this level of combat I'd be happy to assume that anyone with sufficient force of will / personality could rally the men into action and lead them to death and / or glory. With this in mind I've painted up a drummer for the Fusiliers and a Sapper Sargent for the Grenadiers to act as Officers. The Voltigeurs have the bugler to lead them on the battlefield and inspire them to victory.

Officer models are about the same price as 3 or 4 regular infantry so you won't be fielding many of them in a force, but their range of influence isn't that large (6inch radius I think) so they will require careful placement on the battlefield.

Nido de Plaga IV: Subject F

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

Commander,

Our analysts have deciphered the data you managed to retrieve on your last mission have obtained several valuable pieces of intelligence.
Firstly, the artefact you observed being studied is believed by Mazon Labs to be of Asterian manufacture and to be some sort of biological weapon system.
Secondly, shortly after the discovery of the object a Subject F was also found and taken to a secure underground location to be studied. Subject F seems to have some way of controlling the biological agent released by the object which Mazon Labs was investigating.
Thirdly, some sort of catastrophic event took place in the research facility shortly before the planet went silent and the 'plague' started to spread. From the fragmented messages you where able to retrieve we believe it may have been a Veer-myn attack. As you know the Veer-myn are found on many planets in the outer spheres and tend to remain hidden deep beneath the surface. We suspect they must have realised what the Mazon Labs had discovered and tried to seize it themselves.
Our deep surface scans have pin-pointed the research lab and found an area that looks to still be securely contained. You should make your way to the lab and secure any information and samples you can find with Subject F being your top priority.

Captain T.

This weeks Deadzone campaign game saw the Marauders venture into an underground Mazon Labs facility in search of Subject F. As the area is under ground we played all the buildings as blocking terrain which could not be climbed onto. This meant the action would be confined to the corridors between the buildings and would be a more close-quarters affair than is normally the case. I setup a research area in the middle with a couple of  1 cube buildings which had doors, these could be hacked to release the occupant(s).

The Marauders went combat heavy again with a very similar line-up to the last mission:

1 * Bolts - Commander

3 * Marauder Commando

2 * Mawbeast

1 * Marauder Commando Specialist with HMG

1 * Ripper Rainmaker

1 * Ripper Mauler

1 * Gruntbot

The Veer-Myn also went melee heavy with :

1 * Crone Mother

1 * Piper with 2 Rat Swarms

2 * Volt Runner

2 * Volt Stalker

1 * Nightmare

1 * Shocker

1 * Fuser

In order to win the Marauders needed to take control of Subject F and also have at least 16 victory points.

On the first turn both sides pushed forwards without firing.

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The second turn started badly for the Veer-Myn as a Volt Runner activated and then flipped the booby-trap object and was then blown into an exposed square only to be eaten by a Mawbeast. The Mawbeast was then attacked and killed by a couple of Veer-Myn who avenged the fallen Runner. Everyone else pushed forwards with a Commando being killed by gun fire.

On the third turn the Goblins got stuck in with their Gruntbot suits and a couple of melees that would last the rest of the game formed up, with the Veer-Myn feeding units into the Goblin mincer.

The Marauder Specialist was then committed to opening the first cell and struck lucky with Subject F being released straight away, the Marauder didn't have time to chat as the Veer-Myn also pressed forwards.

More bodies pressed forwards into the standing melees with the Ripper Rainmaker trying to help Bolt's, this however lead to it's death in the next turn.

With Subject F in tow the Commando Specialist went to investigate a containment tank only to release a Plague Victim who promptly added to the Specialists issues which got worse when a pack of rats joined the fun.

This lead to the death of the Specialist which left the Marauders on 16 VP's but without Subject F.

They then got a lucky break as Subject F frightened by the rats and Plague victim scattered in a random direction into the open arms of Bolts as the last action of the round.

This left a badly bloodied Marauder strike team licking their wounds but also victorious, they now need to get Subject F back to base and off the planet.

Hopefully we will see how that goes next week.

Napoleonic's: French Grenadiers

Another week with no game unfortunately but I have been making good progress on the French from Perry Miniatures and have almost completed all the infantry.

This time we have the Grenadiers who formed the elite first company of a battalion and consisted of the best and bravest soldiers a unit had. As with the Voltigeurs I've gone with the dress uniform which means bearskins to add that extra level of Napoleonic bling. 

In game terms the Grenadiers are classed a Veterans and have a 5+ Aggression (melee stat) as opposed to the 6+ of the Fusiliers. As such these chaps should be even better in melee combat so you may want to get them stuck into the opposition.

Next week we should be back on the Deadzone trail and hopefully I'll have completed the last of the French infantry and be starting on the plucky Brits.