SurfMonkey Powers a Portal, Gets Invaded, and Loses a Summoner's War

SurfMonkey came over for our monthly gaming session. We started out the night playing a game I designed called:

You can see some pictures of the game in earlier posts right here on my blog. It is a minis game that is a cross between Dreamblade and Chess.  

I really wanted SurfMonkey's opinion on the game, so we played three games on my standard 8x8 board (there was a tense moment when my son spilled water on my game board, but it appears there is no lasting damage or warping). His suggestion was that we expand the playing board. I suggested a 10x8 board, and we played a fourth game. The extra real estate allowed players to have more time to build their defense before their opponent's forces were upon them. 

Overall, SurfMonkey liked the game, and we will be playing more of it in the future. Good news. Once I have the bugs worked out, I will post it for all to share and enjoy.

From the fields of Enervan, we turned to the world of Warhammer. We took our second run at this really cool game. This time around we decided to play the two factions we hadn't played last time: Chaos and the Dwarves. We randomly determined who would play which faction. I ended up with the Dwarves and he the evil Chaos.

He got off to a quicker start than I did, but I managed to get a unit out and attack his Quest area. He seemed to have a hard time getting any units out and playing a bunch of support cards. Once he got cookin', though, he managed to do some damage. One of the more memorable moments was when a quest of his caused me to discard my whole hand which contained the Dwarven king. However, I recovered, and fielded a strong force of Dwarves and burned his Quest zone, and shortly thereafter, his Kingdom zone. 

I look forward to exploring these decks some more and now that I bought the High Elves and Dark Elves, I am looking forward to seeing how those decks work. Soon I will brave deck building with the sets and see how that goes. 

No gaming night would be complete without a game of Summoner Wars. We semi-randomly rolled for the factions we wanted to play, and the result was the classic match up between the Phoenix Elves and the Tundra Orcs. 

Once again, SurfMonkey's forces were quick to the fight. He had me down to just my summoner at one point, but once I decided to just dump some of my commons and events on a Build Magic phase, things stared to turn around. By the end of the game, I had summoned all three of my Champions and killed the two of his that had hit the board. 

My powerful assault ended up being too much for him, and the mighty three surrounded his poor summoner and ended the game with crushing flair. OUCH!

Next time, SurfMonkey, I hope you fare better. At least you won most of the Portal Mage games...

An excellent night of gaming. Thanks, SurfMonkey. See you next month.

Thanks for reading and good gaming.

Thank You, Mr. Postman!

This came today. Can't wait to crack it open.

Rumble in the Ruins: A Mutants and Death Ray Guns Solo Session

 

No one knows exactly how many years have passed since the Great Clash, a time when fire rained from the sky, and mighty armies waged a devastating war, leaving the world a shattered and ruined husk of what it once was. 

Survivors struggled to make their way in a radically changed world that grew stranger and more dangerous as the forces unleashed by the Great Clash began to assert themselves in this new world that some have come to call the Ruined Earth. Mutants and mutated animals--some of which can only be described as monsters--arose alongside the creations of man that had survived the war, robots and androids free of their human masters, to roam the wastelands.

The Ruined Earth is a savage and toxic land where life is nasty, brutish, and short. A few have banded together in enclaves and communities for safety. Bands of intrepid explorers brave the ruins to find and locate usable artifacts of the ancients to give them the tools necessary to survive. More often than not, though, these explorers encounter other bands of explorers, all trying to survive as well. Inevitably, these encounters result in violence. Those who have the best technology, mutations, skills, and luck emerge victorious, and to the victors go the spoils. The following account is of one of those encounters: A group from the enclave known as Safehaven ran afoul of a marauding band of savage mutants in a ruin on the edge of an area of the Glow... 

The Safehaven Seeker Squad

Team Leader: Thorin

                                     

Human    Quality: 2+  Combat: 2

Special Rules: Leader, Stealth, 1 Energy Cell, Force Field, Laser Rifle

Cara Killjoy

Human    Quality: 3+  Combat: 2

Special Rules: Hand to Hand Specialist, Defoliant Grenade, 4 Food

Gabriel Yen                                 

   

Human   Quality: 3+  Combat: 2           

Special Rules: NBC Suit, Flamethrower       

Shield

 

Mutant  Quality: 4+  Combat: 3

Special Rules: Mental Shield, Hand to Hand Specialist, Flak Jacket

Twitch 

Mutant  Quality: 4+  Combat: 4

Special Rules: Energy Adaptation, Danger Sense, Shotgun

The Savages: Mutant Marauders

Leader: Kord

Mutant  Quality: 3+  Combat: 3

Special Rules: Leader, Energy Absorption: Electrical, Energy Projection: Laser Eyes,  Savage, Electrical Gun

Shard

Mutant  Quality: 4+  Combat: 3

Special Rules: Energy Projection: Bone Shard, Sharpshooter, 6 Energy Cells

Slither

Mutant  Quality: 4+  Combat: 3

Special Rules: Tailslap, Hand to Hand Specialist, 3 Food

Kang

Mutant  Quality: 4+  Combat: 3

Special Rules: Tough, Savage, Pistol

Grog

Mutated Animal: Ape  Quality: 4+  Combat: 4

Special Rules: Big, 4 Food

The Ruins: A Dangerous Place of Death

The ruins beckoned to both groups. The Glow had been strong here for many winters, but now, it seems to have faded throughout most of the area. The skeletons of the ancient dwellings could hold valuable artifacts. Which of the groups will die today to acquire these lost treasures...

The battlefield is set...

The combatants enter the killing fields...

Round  1

(a Round is each side getting a turn)

Both sides advance and save their ammo until each is closer. The Hand to Hand Specialists are going right up the middle, supported by the ranged weapons of their squad mates. 

Round  2

The battle is joined! Shard knocks Shield flat with one of his flying bone shards. 

Grog sends Cara to the ground. 

Thorin, Twitch, and Gabriel have taken cover and are going to try to give their advance troops some support. 

Round  3

The action heats up. 

Twitch sends Slither down with a shotgun blast. Thorin takes a shot but misses.

Cara and Shield gang up on the big ape.

Gabriel makes his move.

Round  4

Gabriel moves up on Shard for a better shot with his devastating flamethrower.

Thorin tries to take down Kord but misses. 

Kord and Kang move on Twitch.

Slither took Shield down. Neither of them were able to bring Grog down.

Round  5

Gabriel toasts Shard, who hits the ground. 

Twitch blew Kang to pieces and felled Kord. 

Thorin moved in for the killshot, but not before Grog was able to crush Cara.

Once Kord fell, two of the three marauders routed. 

Shard, stunned on the ground, remained.

 Round  6

After Thorin shot and killed Slither, Shield ended Shard, and Grog ran away to fight another day.

The Safehaven Seeker Squad was triumphant. Cara survived, though she has a crippled arm. And the team found some ancient medical supplies buried under the floorboards of one of the ruined dwellings. They returned to Safehaven, heroes for a day. 

So goes life...and death...on the 

Ruined Earth!

The Dead Times: A Fear and Faith Session Report

The Dead Times:


Monsters have always existed, living and preying upon us. They find ways to blend in or stay hidden to avoid being hunted to extinction. Magic exists and can be a potent force to help or harm humanity.


There are those among us who have encountered the supernatural. Their lives are changed forever. Some become victims, but others become Hunters, defenders of their own kind. They wage an invisible war against ancient and arcane forces: largely unknown, unappreciated, and misunderstood by those they protect.


On December 12th, 2012, the Hunters began to lose the war. A cabal of necromancers, tapping into the arcane energies of a rediscovered and ancient artifact of power, unleashed a powerful spell that brought the dead to life. Skeletons and zombies of loved ones crawled from their graves and morgues and began to kill and feed on the living. Then they themselves--the newly dead--arose, driven by the power of ancient magics to kill even more.



The Invisible War has now become visible and all terrifyingly real for the survivors. The Hunters, protectors of those that remain, must now fight on a scale they could not have imagined. Now, they not only fight to defend a few but fight to defend humanity's very existence. Teams of Hunters and survivors scour the countryside looking for others who need rescued and also seek to find an answer to how to stop or defend against the arcane energies that so threaten the human race.


Their quest and struggles continue. Most keep the faith, but all know fear...



Mission Briefing: 


Your team was tasked with exploring a nearby, burnt-out town where a traveler reported hearing human voices as he passed through. Your team's mission is twofold: find and rescue any survivors and bring them back to your base, and to eradicate the walking dead present in the town. 


So began my first multi-player Fear and Faith game. I used the basic zombie scenario provided in the rules but added a rule that any good model who was killed by the zombies would rise again as a zombie after the next good player turnover. The good side had a 296 point force, and the evil, 408.


The players were mostly new to miniature skirmish games in general, but with plenty of imagination and tactical acumen, they did an excellent job! Thanks for a great night, folks. I had an awesome time!








The Survivor Team Alpha: 


Curt Kane (played by Jason): Survivor Leader: Semi-automatic rifle, Heavy Weapon: Small Sledgehammer

Gil Brant (played by Tim): Survivor w/ SMG

Kate Turner (played by Katy): Survivor Cop/Detective w/ Semi-automatic pistol.

Maximillian Kirtz (played by Zack): Heroic Hunter: Semi-automatic pistol, Shotgun

Tessa Reeder (played by Cianna): Heroic Hunter: Semi-automatic pistol

The team made its way into the ruined town at dawn. All seemed quiet. Just when they thought this was going to be a milk run, a zombie came around the corner of a building. They went into high alert and readied themselves for battle. 

As the team's firearms shattered the dawn peace, more zombies began to appear and make their way toward the intrepid team of explorers. The eerie silence of the approaching zombies and the scent of death in the air unnerved the heroes as they continued their struggle against the shambling dead. 

Curt Kane climbs to the roof of what used to be the town's diner. He was joined by Gil and later, Maximillian. The ladies stay on the ground to engage the enemy. Curt's rifle was well-suited to this tactic, and he began picking off the zeds with excellent accuracy. By this time, though a few Twitchers had arrived, making the job of the heroes that much harder. 

After fending off a Twitcher and several other zombies, Tessa decided to address the other part of their mission, which was to search for survivors. She slipped into the diner, looking for the living. She found two terrified children she eventually managed to calm. Meanwhile on the roof and the street, the battle rages.

The zombies try to scale the wall. Poor Kate falls to the zombies, though, and soon rises to join their ranks. Would she be the first of many, or would she be a lone casualty?

A Twitcher makes it to the roof, but is quickly dispatched by Curt and Gil while Maximillian watches the rear of the building, spraying destruction down upon the horrors below with his trusty shotgun.

Meanwhile, Tessa has emerged from the diner with the two children in an attempt to get them out of the town and back to safety. However, she runs into some trouble from her walking dead teammate and her new zombie friends, and a jammed pistol. In a horrible zombie swipe, Tessa falls and then rises as the undead. The children weep.

Maximillian makes it to the ground to provide a distraction for Gil who has taken it upon himself to rescue the children. "The children are our future," he said as he sprayed the newly dead shells of his former friends with bullets from his submachine gun. He backed away as fast as he could, kids in tow. Maximillian fought off Curt who through a string of horrible occurrences, became the undead as well, sending his remaining friends into a rout. 

Maximillian, Gil, and the two children managed to escape the killing field, but at a great cost. They are all as safe as one can be in this horrible new world. 


Maximillian and Gil both know that soon they will have to go back out into the dangerous world to try to bring an end to this unholy curse that has descended upon their home. But for now, they will remember friends fallen and try to find solace in the laughter of newly-rescued children. However, they know deep inside that a long, difficult, terror-filled life awaits those young souls here in the Dead Times.  

Space Marines Enter Crippled Space Hulk...

Never Heard From Again. What did they find there that brought about their end of days? 


The truth is captured below in picto slates that were sent before the end...

Yes! A most palpable hit!

First time I have seen the Brood Lords in any of my games...

Poor Brother Leon. When we finally got to attack, he missed all three of his chances...

They died valiantly and with honor for Chapter and Emperor!