Xenos Rampant 1st Outing - The Battle for Arkadij

Arkadij in deepest drakkastan has been under the boot of the alien invaders for several months, resistance is rising and the People's Army is ready to strike a blow for freedom.

The first outing for Xenos Rampant, after several games of Lion Rampant which have been really enjoyable, not really a surprise that we should turn our attention to other rules in the Daniel Mersey stable. 

24 points aside - Scenario Bravo - Secret Mission. The Alien forces must Assassinate the human leader to win the game. The humans simply need to kill as many alien units as they can.

These have been tucked away for a number of years, having tried a number of rule sets from Laser Burn to Tomorrow's War. Great fun sitting down and picking the right characteristics for each side. In my head it was a Russian version of Battle for Los Angeles, with perhaps a touch of later Terminator movies for good measure.

The Invaders came on across a broad front, selecting the Mechanoid trait they had no fear of being supressed, but if they fell below 50% strength they ran the risk of shutting down.

Making best use of the cover and free move and/or shooting however the human forces had been busy in their workshops and had been producing battle suits of their own.

The main human position was a factory unit, the heavy cover made it difficult to crack for the Invaders but unbeknown to the human player the Invaders knew that's where the leader of the resistance was, kill him and it's a victory. However the HMG on ground floor supported by spotters was chewing up alien units as they broke cover.

Local militia looked to flank the attackers, but caught in the open were wiped out, it turns out that a unit with armour 1 in the open does not last long, when facing armoured infantry with heavy weapons.

The left flank was clear and the invaders poured fire into the factory causing the resistance to rout. Victory to the off worlders.... But the human leader will leave to fight another day.

Great Fun...

First game complete in under two and half hours including the occasional rule read and cuppa. 

The tactical challenge of having to pick a unit to activate without throwing initiative over to your opponent gives a unique challenge. The free activations reward faster moving troops, but if you can get your heavier troops into the right position they can be rally powerful, especially if you get caught in the open. 

Really fast to play with enough nuance in the trait selections to make forces very distinct.

Having played several Sci-fi rule sets over the years, the ability to create modern/Sci-fi units across your own settings is very appealing, I am already thinking, Starship Troopers, War of the World, V and even Chechnya.

I can defiantely see us playing several move games in the coming weeks as players head home to dig out old collections to bring back to the table.

Old is the new, new - back to Zikanga.

It's been a while since we took a trip to Zikanga, I was wasting a few hours on the web when I came upon Joe Legan's Grunts Forward rules a variation to his Platoon Forward rules these are for isometric warfare and come with a whole bunch of new scenarios and adjusted blinds for irregular forces.

We got chatting about about rules for modern skirmish games and some of the rules of the past and how some of the older rule sets seem to be coming back into fashion - Warhammer Historical, Rapid Fire even some of Charles Grant rule sets...

One that cropped up was Foundry's Rules With No Name for Westerns games, then we remembered that they did a modern variant and what do we know they are still available and for free on the Foundry site...  Street Violence – WargamesFoundry

Giving them the once over they needed a couple of tweaks around activations and a couple of other ideas pinched from other rules sets but we had a reasonable rule set across a couple of pages.

A UN Outpost in a village in the hinterland, no Visitors this time but they are not always needed when the whole world collaborates.

With the UN in control of the village, order was starting to return to the region, several gang members were arrested.

But trouble was only a phone call away.

The local Warlord's gang members burst into the village pouring fire into the peace keepers.

The blue helmets stood little chance with militia members appearing from every nook and cranny.

A fun quick game giving these rules a run out, the wound rules were interesting rolling to see where you were hit, in the hope that elements of the cover protected you from the flying lead.

Despite the UN professional soldiers being a better class, quantity had it's own quality and the militia were able to force enough of the defenders to dive for cover, whilst other gang members got close.

Dropping the cards initiative to a quality level approach allowed us to get more figures on the table, but we may need to slim down the counters and markers, all in all a fun game with poor quality troops very often pinned down by the fewer better armed troops.

Let's see how a team of special forces get on next time?

No mini's left behind (1) - Starship Troopers

After a but of a tidy up in the gaming room, you come across a few more items from the cupboard of shame, I thought I had cleared many of these items during lockdown but clearly not.

So bare metal blisters went on e-bay and several others dropped into the painting queue - On the basis of ship in or ship out - No Mini's are left behind :-)

First up a 3D printed Brain Bug for Starship Troopers - The Mongoose variant sell for around £60.00 on E-bay but this proxy will do just fine... I seem to recall this one was purchased over 4 years ago - finally now table ready.

Perfect for raid scenarios and the like the Mobile Infantry will have their work cut out in the tunnels of Klandethu.

Might be even tempted to get a game in over the Christmas break now this is finished.

Right on to the next box and whatever is tucked away in there.

V the Mini Series - Knock Knock #5

Over the years I have switched between several rules sets and this outing is no different. In low level games I like the idea of ducking back and being pinned by fire, Chain Reaction by Two Hour Wargames really captures this well and strikes the balance between 'Stars' and regular troopers.

Back to the depths of Zikanga where the Visitors have been struggling to suppress the local population, it just goes to show not every mothership was sent to major US and European cities. 

Intelligence has led to resistance leader Soloman Mohah who is located in a village protected by a group of militia men. The Visitors need to capture him, whilst keeping casualties to a minimum.

The Visitors can approach the village from any of the access roads, the militia man the main check point and have men in most of the huts. The militia outnumber the Visitors by 3:1 but they are poorer quality. 

Picking the right access road Diana and the Shock Troopers rush in with the heavy laser cannon pouring fire into the militia men who stumbled from the first hut. The intention to attract the defenders and draw them out of their defensive positions.

Having drawn the sentries away a fresh detachment of Shock Troopers advanced up the main road using the concrete pillars as cover. 

As the firefight at the front of the village continues, further Visitors land at the rear of the village, which is largely undefended.

The Visitors get the drop on Soloman, taking out a number of his guards who were unable to react in time. Caught in the open they are cut down where they stood.

A lowly technician rushes round the corner to grab Soloman but is shot down, he would not get a second shot as another technician sets her blaster to stun and Soloman is down.

Visitors fill the village while the remainder of Soloman militia hide in the huts unwilling to risk more of their number in a firefight with the Shock Troopers. 

A fun encounter which delivered the right result. One person of interest captured, 15 of his militiamen killed for the loss of only two troopers. The Chain Reaction rules work really well, with the lower quality militia were often unable to react and fire in the same turn. The Visitor Body armour protected many of the troopers unless caught in the open at close range or from higher calibre weapons of the militia.

The reaction rules worked well, the threat of the heavy laser cannon and the blasters forced many of the militia to keep their heads down when better trained troops might be inclined to return fire....

Episode 6 - Can Soloman Mohah be rescued?

V The mini-series - Yet more Visitors.

A break from all the khaki and back to some Crooked Dice Miniatures which I picked up last March at Hammerhead. The latest 'not' V troops were modelled on the Security Troopers of the original 80's mini-series. They were distinguished by a gold-coloured helmets.

However, I had already created a number of these before the extras appeared in the Crooked Dice catalogue, so I opted for Charles Elite Guard - Only seen in the later TV series which followed a few years after the series mini-series.

Commander Charles was a high-ranking Visitor who served as The Leader's special envoy. He is sent to take over military operations from Diana, his guards had white uniforms in a style similar to the shock troopers.

Other entrants making appearance from the TV series were the Visitor jeeps, first up a Laser Cannon manned by Shock Troopers, the second is manned by a V technician. I still need to add the Visitor decal, but they look the part.

Don't forget 'not' Willie. Willie was a Visitor technician who was originally scheduled to be deployed in Saudi Arabia - Played by Robert Englund they have really captured his likeness.

Quite a force with a lander proxy.... Feels like a fresh outing is required soon.

Dispatches from the front XXII - Projects old and new.

A rather eclectic mix of games and projects.

First up club night and over at the Wyvern's a 4 player Stargrave outing, using anything we can get our hands on, just simply turn up and play.

One of the chaps dug out the Core Space playing board, despite it only being 2x2 it did make a fun encounter with lots of laser blasts and Aliens popping out of the walls and floors. Warlords Algoryn took the bragging rights on the night.

Meanwhile the Visitors from the 4th planet from the Sirian Star make hard work of picking off the local inhabitants.

After months of nagging I finally relented and let my young nephew play with the grown up toys. King Arthur has to travel the table visiting various way points picking up recruits and defeating any nasty's along the way. We picked Songs of Blades and Heroes as a great introduction to proper gaming. 

My young padawan  picked up the rules really quickly, even if  he did play fast and loose with the measuring stick :-) After slaying numerous enemies.... Arthur was victorious.

I fear I have created a monster.

A fun encounter besides it gave me the excuse to finish off a couple of odds and ends such as the Warbases Gibbet and the mighty Excalibur stuck firmly in a stone. 

Having given the Sudan a well overdue outing I saw a post of on Tales From GHQ: The Battle of Tettenhall Green with an excellent game of The Very British Civil War. It's been a long while since Worcester was a flame... so maybe time for another outing.

With the King residing in the County at Madresfield Court, Worcester has stuck to it's long held motto of "Civitas in bello et pace fidelis" - The City Faithful in War & Peace. The City maintains a moderate pro government stance with reluctant support from the regular royalist forces and local Worcester City police.

Whilst largely peaceful as the crisis in the country unfolds a number of opposition groups have sprung up, notably armed elements from the Severn Riverside, Wharf, Labours Federation (SRWLF) with an enclave in the Diglis area. This group is supported by communists out of Birmingham and armaments being shipped over the Malvern's from the Anglican's based in Hereford. 

Just need to find where I packed the figures away now.

That's an old project now for a new one - Coming soon in May.

For years I fancied turning the excellent Standard Games - Outremer/Cry Havoc game to miniatures, with the new Baron's War range it might just make it to the table.

Until next time.....

V the Mini Series - Hearts & Minds #4

Its been a while but the recent Stargrave outings and the pending new releases from Crooked Dice nudged me to give the Visitors another outing.

No date as yet for the releases which is good as the painting desk is rather cluttered at the moment.

So on with game and back to Zikanga, this time with a mix of Stargrave and Ambush Alley, the insurgents hot spots need to contain fewer figures than in Ambush Alley but all the in all the balances works well crashing the rules together.

Having tried the stick now for the mouse (sorry carrot) must be the Visitor in me :-)                                With no sign of the militia attacks abating, Henry has the idea to turn the population against the local fighters and so with help from the UN detachment drops into a Zikinga Health Centre with a miracle drug designed to cure everything from yellow fever to malaria.  

However this high profile story was sure to present a target for the militia who had been growing in confidence in recent weeks. So as the locals looked on the insurgents crept closer to the compound.

Zikinga militia rush the main gate in an SUV, it's heavy machine gun sending the UN guards diving for cover. (Should the UN activate on a 1-2 they will abandon their posts and leave the lizards to it.)

From out of the hinterland and shanty huts the militia rush forwards.

The visitor engineers take cover amongst the medical supplies. One of the human guards let's off his guard dog to attack the faction leader, but it is cruelly shot and killed before it reaches his target. In true TV fashion the Security troopers rush forwards but they fail to inflict significant damage on the attackers who despite their poor quality are taking their toll on the aliens and their human lackey's.

Henry and Janice head for the safety of the Shuttle as their troopers failed to stem the tide of resistance fighters.

The Visitor relief force makes steady progress from the far road, hindered by the occasional militia man.

The Shuttle takes off leaving the Visitor defenders to the mercy of the attackers.

Diana and the relief column watched as the shuttle rose into the sky, they had failed to reach the Medical Centre and saw little point in pressing on knowing that Henry and Janice had cleared the war zone.

Capt Kelo hidden in one of the shanty huts watched as several prisoners were rounded up by the militia and dragged off into the jungle.

Can the prisoners be found and rescued.

Stay tuned next week..... (OK maybe a few months...)