No Honour Among Thieves

An Open Combat Battle report

Scenario

Having succesfully raided the  post office on Biggin street Mastermind and his firm were heading back to their getaway vehicles.  Unknown to them the Sorceress Margaret Fuchs had over heard them discussing their plans in the Malvern Inn the night before and decided to rob them of their ill-gotten gains.

Goals

Mastermind and his firm - Half of the gang must reach their getaway vehicles, including Mastermind and Cobra to claim a major victory.  If half of the gang and one of the leaders escape they can clain a minor victory.  If half of the gang escape but neither of the leaders then the game is a draw.

The Sorceress Margaret Fuchs- Can claim a major victory if she stops half of the gang including both of the leaders from reaching their vehicles.  A minor victory if she stops half of the gang including one of the leaders.  And, a draw if they stop half of the gang from getting away with their swag. 

The gangs were built to 150 points.

Initial deployment

Battle narrative

Margaret Fuchs had called upon all of her skills in the dark arts to summon a formidable group of demons, but Mastermind and his men were not easily intimidate even from the very denizens of hell.

The firm didn`t wait around and moved towards their getaway vehicles.

Gazza pushed too far forward and the Sorceress engulfed him with a fireball.  The lag was made of stern stuff, and shrugged the flames off.

Mastermind stretched out with his psychic powers and filled Dazza`s mind with thoughts of bloodshed.  The geezer sped towards his enemies, the axe handle firmly gripped in his hands, as the red mist overtook him.

The Lord of Skulls spread out his wings and flew towards his enemy.  This fearsome beast from the underworld was met by the fire from two sawn-off shotguns, much to his surprise.

Cobra didn`t want to hang around and engaged the Servant of Charon.  He struck out with his formbidable martial arts skills, but the demon couldn`t be some easily dispatched.

The demons smelt the blood of Cobra and they thronged to feast upon his blood and soul.  A Seeker of Decadence tried to trap him with her succubus ways.  The mental fortitude of the martialist easy resisted her temptations.

Dazza rushed to the aid of Cobra his axe handle whirling trying to make some space for the martialist to deal with the monstrosities.  The Scythe of Lament caught Dazza in the ribs, a chilling laugh slipped from the mouth of the demon as he tasted Dazza`s life essence.

Cobra lashed out with a flurry of blows striking the demon in  several vital points. The Seeker of Decadence scuttled away.  A wounded look of pain and then a smile of pleasue crossed her face.

Margaret Fuchs realised that her minions may need some aid in stopping Mastermind from escaping with the loot and sent some pyrotechnics at Dazza.  The berserk lag didn`t even seem to realise that he was on fire.

The way looked open for Mastermind and Cobra to get to the Capri, if only their men could distract the demons for long enough.

Dazza and Baz showed the Horned one what Cockney`s could do.  Their wepons knocking chucks out of fabric of the demon and forcing it back.

On the other side of the ruins Gazza and Bazza were locked in a deadly combat with the Lord of Skulls.  As hard as they tried to kill the creature their weapons barely made a dent on it

The preternatural speed of the demons closed the escape route for Cobra and Mastermind.  Both of these gangland leaders were able to fend off the demons` blows.  Escaped looked less likely for these likely lads.

 Margaret Fuchs sighed with pleasure as she saw how well her plan was working.  She turned her damned gaze towards Dazza and Baz and unleashed more balls of flame at them.

Mastermind realised that now was the time for his esacpe and used his psychic powers to cloud the mind of the Horned one and fled to his Capri.  The seconds turned into hours as he struggled to unlock the car.

Cobra was not far behind his boss.  Dodging the blows of the demons, Cobra jumped into the car as it sped away. 

Dazza and Baz had brought enough time for their bosses to get away but at the cost of themselves.

Baz was finally cut down by the Seeker of Decadence as he tried to flee.

Gazza and Bazza were fairing no better against the Lord of Skulls.  The demon`s whip wrapped around Gazza`s neck and with an audible crack Gazza`s head was wrenched from his neck.  The sight of the sudden decapitation was too much for Bazza and he fled screaming into the night.

The Sorceress Margaret Fuchs was victorious.  She had acquired the resources that she would need to further her arcane studies.  Her only regret was that both Mastermind and Cobra had escaped, but their time would come.

Afterthoughts

The battle narrative may give a somewhat one sided view of the skirmish, but it was a close run thing.  The Lord of Skulls was on his last legs, as was the Seeker of Decadence and the Horned one.  I took a more character driven choice for the leaders to flee.  I could not imagine them staying around to help their lags.  

Open combat is a nice open set of rules that let you play many types of games with any figure that you have.  I think that they deserve to be better known in the gaming world.  

On a rules note and to not confuse anyone with what is in the rules themselves, to give Margaret  Fuchs some attack spells, and weapons for the criminals I just renamed the missile weapons in the rulebook. I realise that this may not please people looking for more crunch in their game but it works for me.

March update - bring all my gaming to one place.

March update

March like many other months has been a time of distraction. I probably burnt myself out with all of the 15mm painting that I have done and turned to other periods and games. This change led me to realise that I should concentrate all of my gaming efforts in one place rather than having more than one blog. What that means is the Cantwara sector will not only focus on my Sci-Fi games, but on all of my games. This should allow be less distracted.  I will also be importing my posts from my imaginations blog.

The first non Sci-Fi post.

A game of Forager

I backed Forager back in 2017 and this was my first game. They are a cracking set of skirmish rules.



Private Burrage sprinted for the forage. A succulent looking pig.



French fire forced Private Swain to take cover.

Burrage was cut down by the aggressive swordsmanship of Sous Lieutenant Eustache de Saint Pierre.

Lieutenant Montague James took careful aim at the Frenchman as he charged at him. The shot caught Saint Pierre by surprise and he couldn't react to James sabre cut.

Wissant's hands shook as he took aim at the approaching officer. His shot was good but it deflect off of James' St David medallion.

Soldat Jean de Fiennes long range shot hit Swain squarely in the forehead taking the veteran soldier out of the action. The loss of Swain was too much for Lieutenant James and he sounded the retreat. The French were victorious.

The February update

 February update 

What has been on the painting table?

Things at the Cantawara sector have been ticking along at a fair pace and my brush work has been really speeding up.  I have managed to complete one force, the aliens, paint all of the figures that I have for another force, the TMS security forces, and get most of the way through a third group, the Gamley`s Mining Corporation (GMC), as a few other odds and ends. 

Aliens-  Ground Zero Games

The aliens from GZG have been a real joy to paint and I am a little disappointed to have finally finished them.  That is not to say that I won`t return to them in the future, but for now I have more than enough.

My second Xar command group.  I received these as part of the Christmas giveaway by GZG.

A group of Xar riflemen.

As well as armed forces I do like to have a nice section of non-combatants to litter the battlefield and act as objectives.  So, here are some Crusty Civilians from GZG.

A shepherd and his flock.

Hammer`s Slammers-  Ground Zero Games

Turner`s Mining Syndicate security troopers.  

To build on the TMS secuirty forces I decide to add some less well armed and armoured troops.  I can imagine these security guards proteccting the various assets for the company.  I think that I need to get one more squad of the more heavily armoured troops and another transport vehicle to complete the force.

Personnel carrier from GZG

Brethern of The New Light-  Ground Zero Games

Gamley`s Mining Corporation security troopers.  

Some may question why I need a second corporate force and they are probably right too, but I like the idea of corporatations fighting over the resources of the Cantwara sector.  It is a good excuse for me to paint more bright 70s inspired uniforms. 

Odds and Ends

Free Trader Crew - Ground Zero Games

Space Miscreants.  

The Cantwara sector is not only populated by aliens and corporate forces, but also people who make their living in the grey areas of society.  They may turn up robbing banks, resisting corporate oppression or simply breaking heads.

They are joined by an astronaut.  I am pretty sure that the figure is from Alternative Armies.

Vehicles from Ground Zero Games

I decided to paint the first Hovertruck in a livery inspired by the old Hoverspeed livery.  

Scatter terrain from Ground Zero Games

Solar arrays

These solar arrays were a bit of a random impulse buy, but now that I have built and painted them I think that I will add four more to my collection.  I can then use them either individually or as a field of solar arrays.

 

Trying to play the Featherstone way

Last month I had a lot of success playing Stargrunt II and I think they will be a staple of my squad and platoon size games, but I am also looking for something a little more personalised.  A set of rules that will make me feel an attachment for the individual characters in the game.  To that end, I thought I would give Donald Featherstone`s Skirmish Wargaming a try.  

Donald Featherstone`s Skirmish Wargaming was first published in 1975, I do not have one of those venerable tomes, as I was only one when it was published.  Instead, I have a modern reprint from John Curry`s History of Wargaming Project.  The book contains a straightforward set of rules that are then modified to give a period feel.  At its core the rules are a percentile system with some cross referencing on various tables.  The only change that I had to make to the rules was to replace the written orders with alternate activation for movement.  The change was necessitated because I primary play solo and the thought of writing orders for two different sides didn`t fill me with joy.

Scenario

The 2008 reprint includes both a fantasy and SCI-FI scenario, something that was not in the original book.  As the Cantwara sector is firmly rooted in the SCI-FI genre I thought that I would try the Mining Station Sigma 9 scenario.  In this scenario, the starship Hibernia has been shot down and the surviving crew and passengers must search the mining station for a radio to call for help before they are overrun by the resident aliens.

Table layout

The scenario as written in the book required a more moon like table layout, but I don`t really have any of that sort of terrain, so I have made some adjustments to utilise the pieces that I have.

Deployment

To determine the landing sites of the passengers and crew of the Hibernia I decided to turn to Donald Featherstone`s mechanism for parachute drops from his book Airborne Operations.  I took twelve small, numbered pieces of paper put them in a box and scattered them over the board.

Game narrative

After the impact of the landing the crew of the Hibernia soon released themselves from their pods and headed towards the mining outpost.

As the crew searched the buildings ominous sounds were carried on the wind and it wasn`t long before large shapes burst out of the undergrowth.  Captain Haggerstrand saw the creatures first.  Shouting a word of warning he opened fired with his laser pistol.  The superheated ray burning holes in the creatures as they approached.

The captain`s warning came too late for senior administrator George Long.  He ran as fast as he could, his breath coming in deep pants, but the creatures were just too fast.

The crew scrambled around the outpost looking for anything to defend themselves with and the radio that could lead to their salvation as the number of aliens increased.  Isolated acts of bravery helped to buy time for the rest of the crew to send out the distress call.

The droid CM2-CGN blocked the path of a group of aliens his old joints creaking as he moved forward.  He tried to fend off two of the creatures with his ungainly limbs, but his chassis was not designed for hand-to-hand combat.  The aliens tore him apart.

Miss Smith the accountant realised that she couldn`t outrun the group of creatures that was chasing her, so she turned to face the creatures.  Like a Valkyrie she fought the creatures and managed to hold them off for a short while before they ripped her apart.

Chief Engineer Smith smashed the skull of an alien with her wrench and forced her way into the shack.  Inside she found the radio set and quickly sent out a distress signal.  Would the passengers and crew be able to hold out until the rescuers arrived?

The alien numbers just kept on increasing as the stranded survivors looked to the sky for salvation. A distant sound of engines coming to their ears.

Engineer 1^st class Fletcher, and CM2-CDN scrambled into a security van.  Inside they found two laser rifles still intact.  The pair opened fire on the aliens with their lethal weapons.  The lasers cut their way through the inhuman creatures.

The aliens rampaged through the outpost looking for the few survivors that were left.  Knowing that he was all that stood between the aliens and two passengers.  Lieutenant Baker stood his ground firing his laser pistol repeatedly until it finally drained its charge, and the aliens overwhelmed him. 

The laser fire coming from the security van soon attracted the attention of the aliens.  CM2-CDN and Fletcher kept up their fire as the number of alien corpses around them increased but their efforts soon drained the power packs of their rifles, and they were reduced to using them as clubs.

The roar of the gun cutter`s engines and the staccato sound of its autocannons soon scattered the aliens.  The survivors breathed a sigh of relief and turned their attention to the wounded.

Crew:

Captain Haggerstrand – Grievously injured

Lieutenant Baker – Killed

Chief Engineer Smith – Unhurt

Engineer 1^st class Fletcher – Seriously injured

Droid CM1-CPA – Destroyed

Droid CM2-CDN - Seriously damage

Droid CM2-CGN – Destroyed

Passengers:

Miss Smith, accountant – Killed

Thorne, mining engineer – Unhurt

Valentine, miner – Grievously injured

Mr. George Long, senior administrator – Killed

Mrs. Long, wife and secretary of George Long – Unhurt

Final thoughts

I really enjoyed the game; the rules themselves are quite straightforward but there were some gaps in the rules that need to be filled in.  I found that it was very hard to kill people in the rules.  I think the highest chance of a kill was 8%, which seemed a little low when someone was surrounded by six enemies and seriously injured.  I may try some other percentile rule systems, perhaps Laserburn or Inquisitor before I fiddle too much with Donald Featherstone`s rules.  I will definitely play them again as they are a solid set of rules that only need a few tweaks.