Wednesday 19 December 2018

Wasteland clash

 After watching Mortal Engines this Monday I really wanted to play some game with huge machines battling it out, so it was time to take titanicus out. In this game the rebels of legio Mortis had to kill enemy engines to win points whereas the loyalists had to kill the most expensive enemy titan, Manus Mortis
 Both sides deployed in two lines
 The battle would revolve around a gigantic plasma cannon
 While three traitors engaged frontally a fourth circled around
 After a first turn of concentrated fire Manus Mortis lost all its shields
 Cannily the traitor princeps ran for cover, denying the enemy their objective
 Imperius Damnatio opened fire at long range with its blasters and volcano
 The rest of Metalica aimed at the fleeing engine
 Next turn the titan ws hidden safely behind the plasma generators covered by Tantus Abolitorus who lost all its shields under the vengeful loyalist barrage
 sneaky sneaky

 Abolitorus had a close encounter with death when Galgamech missed with its wrecking ball
 Next turn Mortis sticked some weapons out of cover to fire at Imperius Tenebrus
Princeps Pentecost opened up at the dodgy titan, almost blowing up its legs.
We rolled and the game ended there, with a close loyalist victory 6-5 thanks to quadrant control
It's the best movie of the year! What are you waiting for?

Wednesday 12 December 2018

Saving priest Ryan

 The notorious confederate spy father Ryan has been aprehended by the forces of the union and is being held in the ruined red roofed house. The confederates must extract him by the other edge of the field trough the enemy army.
 A piket of unionists guards the prisioner
 Launching a rebel yell the confederates rush the house
 Bayonetting all but two of the guards
 The bulk of yanks shows up on the middle of the field, shooting their rifled muskets
 A shocked survivor runs for dear life
 Colonel Mcpherson leds the remaining unionists into battle at the sound of the gun
 He forms most of his command into a mass of troops 
 Concentrated fire blews away the reb artillery
 However the southerners return with a devastating volley that leaves the body of troops ragged and retreating in confusion
 Yankee officers try to restablish order in vain
Finally the union gun has seen enough and retreats from the field, reducinng the nordist morale to zero and winning the battle for the southerners. Yeeha!
yank vs reb

Thursday 6 December 2018

Drepana

 This year's ancient naval game is the battle of Drepana: consul Publius Pulcher is skirting the south coast of Sicily sailing into Drepana (behind the hill) when he realizes that the carthaginians under Adherbal have sallied out of the harbour and are readying themselves for battle. The consul, frustrated with the sacred chicken (who were too seasick to eat the ritual grain) threw them overboard, purportedly incurring the wrath of the gods and defeat.
 GALLOS IACTOS, CONSUL PUGNAVIT
 Roman fleet
 Adherbal in his hexres

 The carthaginians have the first turn and turn around while their rear moves behind the battleline
 The romans move in diagonal
 The light vanguard ships aim for the enemy monoremes

 Both lines begin to close in

 The punic rear is swiflty boarded and sunk


 However the romans have advanced too eagerly, and the punics turn around and begin to ram the vulnerable sides of the galleys
 crunch!
 The enemy van is still sailing ahead of the romans
 The last quinquereme in the line is swamped by foes
 A roman ship launches a boarding action with help of the Corvus
 Badly damaged by a ram, a roman five grapples her enemy with the assault bridge 
 The flagship of Pulcher is sunk by the hexres, sending the consul to swim with the chicken
The foremost five sunks a defenceless trireme

 Fire is no obstacle for roman assaults
 In the rear the badly damaged romans try to strike back in close quarters
 The haughty Adherbal is set upon by two roman ships intent on vengeance
 In the center a galley has been devastated by a ram to the side but her compatriots come to the rescue
 One of the galleys in the rear burns out her last damage and sinks
 After several rounds of combat, a battered punic flees
 Adherbal and his elite bodyguards are undaunted by the atackers and win one round of combat, sending a monoreme to the bottom
 Whenever they can the roman ships nail the enemy with their corvi


 A monoreme catches the fleeing ship and finishes off her crew
 The slow grind of combat takes its toll and the carthaginians begin to lose ships
 One after the other
 Seeing her chance a monoreme attacks a bigger but decimated five
 Destroying her thanks to superior combat skill
 The punics aren't out of the picture however, and a side ram...
 ... sinks a roman five
 The lone survivor from the roman rear battles on
 As the last defenders are slain, the eagles fly over the enemy decks

 Adherbal is sentenced when his overbearing ship is attacked by no less than four romans
 A lone monoreme sinks as a burning hulk
 The romans have conquered right and center while losing their own left flank
 The final chapter of the battle is written by Adherbal who sinks with his burning ship
The battle ends then in a decisive roman victory 36 to 28 that has changed history.
The roman gods where against me in the first encounters of the battle, but once the impious Pulcher had been slain, their wrath abated and the gradual grind of boarding tipped the battle in my favour.

GALLOS VINDICATOS, DII VICTORAM AD NOS CONCESSERUNT