Deadzone: Death from Above

A little while back I went to a local wargames table-top sale and picked up a box of Eisenkern Panzerjager by Wargames Atlantic. I didn't have anything specific in mind for them other than to use them in Deadzone but mainly I just liked the look of the models. 

Having completed the Napoleonic's I got the box out of the pile and decided to see what strike team they could be used for. After a bit of a look I decided they could be used for a GCPS Ranger based team so order a couple of extra bits from Anvil Industries and got started.

The extra bits where used to make up the mortar and the drone to represent the special ability of the Ranger Lieutenant to guide in mortar fire, it also adds a little theatre to the leaders base.

Ranger Lt.

A 200 point list would look something like this with plenty of Rangers backed up by a mortar. What makes the Rangers special is the Aerial Deployment rule which allows them to drop onto the battlefield rather than deploy in the normal deployment areas stipulated by the scenario.

What this means is that the enemy would only be able to see the mortar on the table when they deploy their troops and the Rangers get to deploy afterwards. This is of course a big advantage and the penalty for this is both an extra points cost but also an increase in the Victory Points awarded to your opponent when they kill a Ranger. Strike Teams generally come in around the 20 VP's mark but the Ranger list comes in at 27 points.

Mortar

Five Rangers with Rifle and one with Flamer

Rangers with Thermal Mines (Banzaii!)

Rangers with Thermal Rifle

Rangers with Sniper Rifle

I did play a game with the list last week against Mr T who was trying out his Forge Fathers for the first time and the ability to land almost on top of the objectives in turn 1 is a massive boost with the bonus of getting your models up high early on in a game that rewards height when shooting being the cherry on the cake.

We also played another game this week with my Asterians being roughly handled by the Forge Fathers who won the day.

Nido de Plaga IV: Escape

Status Report:

Having fought through the Asterian cordon your forces regroup to make a final push towards the pickup area and count your losses. Fortunately they aren't as serious as first thought and Commander Bolts has engaged emergency backup protocols to bring his suit back into action. Unfortunately you have lost one of the Commando's and the Mawbeast which had been vaporised by the Asterian Spectra.
A brief communication from your orbiting ship promises some reinforcements and a rescue ship will be launched to coincide with your arrival at the extraction point.
You know you must make sure Subject F is removed from the planet and hope that you and your fellow Marauders can make it as well.

This was the final battle in our 6 part narrative campaign which has seen the Marauders bravely fight and die above and below the surface of Nido de Plaga IV. It's also going to be the last game of v2 of Deadzone as my v3 box arrived this week. I got some extra terrain in the box including some all new cyber-punk style pieces which I've painted up in red, this adds another different colour onto the board.

The new terrain set includes several signs, awnings, boxes, shelves and a recycling bin amongst it's contents. This helps to add the impression of a Deadzone that has just come into being and hasn't had a chance to fall entirely into decay.

I purchased an extra set of the new additional pieces and made up a couple of little street eateries to place out on the table, the awnings will allow troops to shelter from enemies on higher ground and the little shelves with sauce bottles on look rather good.

Facing off against the escaping Marauders where a horde of ravenous Plague victims, with some starting at the edge of the battle and some already deployed forwards of the raised area the Marauders had to make it too.

The Marauders got some reinforcements for the two lost troops from the last battle in the shape of two Skyscrapper Commando's who dropped onto the battlefield after deployment was completed.

The first turns saw both sides advance with the Marauders laying down some fire into the Plague Zombies who shambled forwards. One Zombie did catch a Skyscrapper in melee and manage to kill him before being gunned down in return.

After that is was more of a punching match between the Marauders and the Plague with the Commando Specialist making good use of his HMG to shoot several Plague and even put two wounds on the mighty Aberration. 

The Commando escorting Subject F was killed by a Zombie and as Subject F ran away Bolts stepped up to tie down the Plague whilst the Gruntbot secured the rear lines.

With everyone else tied up the Gruntbot made a break for the extraction zone but held off calling in the rescue flight (after a fair bit of deliberation) in the hope that more Marauders could be rescued. The Marauder commander had by this point realised that as only one pickup could be made the size of the landing area meant not all the troops engaged could be rescued.

On the next turn Bolts was engaged by the Aberration and the Commando Specialist went down to a Plague Zombie.

When Bolts was killed by the Aberration the Gruntbot called in the rescue. To pile extra troubles on the Marauders the advance guard of an Asterian force had arrived on the battlefield and started to fire on both sides.

There was just time for the Rainmaker to run into the pickup zone in time to be rescued and along with the Mauler and Gruntbot, Subject F was picked up from the planet surface.

The decision of the Gruntbot to stay an extra turn didn't save Bolts or the Commando Specialist but it did mean the Rainmaker and Mauler managed to get away as well and it made for a tense finale to our final v2 game.

Now onto Deadzone v3 so we need to forget the rules we know and check through the book to make sure we adjust to the rules that have been updated.

Our next campaign should be using the Saga Age of Hannibal rules which Mr T is putting together, so hopefully we will be starting that in the near future.

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.

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.