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.