A very successful game night at Knightfall Games!! The blog won't be too long, but I take that as a good thing since we had 2 new people to introduce to the game! I do have some picks and will highlight some points in the great team game we had.
We started out or event with having our new players, Ed and Skylar, play nothing other than the first scenario of Operation Blue Thunder, Reconnaissance. Always a good scenario to introduce the game, and we added the Heroes, Joe and Sigrid. Ed took the Death Dealers, BBQ Rangers, and a Hot Dog. Skylar took the Laser Grenadiers, Battle Grenadiers, and Luther. The game really came down to the roll of the dice with the brutal elimination of the BBQ Rangers on the first attack. The Hot Dog took care of the Battle Grenadiers, but the Luther was too much, and with only the M9 Bazooka of the Death Dealers remaining it was a clear victory for the Axis.
Our second game and map were devised by Major Headcase. 2 Allied and 2 Axis players working as a team (1 initiative roll per team, and 1 unique unit per team), but each player having 160 points available to spend on their forces (totaling 320 points per team). The Teams were Skylar and Headcase as the Axis, with Ed and myself as the Allies
**Special Note: Our group usually plays with Artillery Fire ignoring only cover that comes from "direction", such as corner cover, and cover provided by rooftops. Things like tank traps, ammo crates, rubble, forest, etc... still apply cover. We can see the argument that it's a parabolic trajectory and ignores cover provided by "direction", but not a single one of us can make any sense of why it ignores all cover, except cover from structures. Rubble, trees, tank traps, etc... are perfectly capable of absorbing that damage as well.**
The Game Map:
Shot of the Map at the end of the first turn.
All units placed:
Axis Army:
Ludwig - Heavy Laser Grenadiers - Hermann - Recon Grenadiers - Luther - Heinrich - Heavy Flak Grenadiers - Sniper Grenadiers - Sigrid & Laser Grenadiers - Lara and Heavy Recon Grenadiers
Allied Army:
Joe & Death Dealers - Pounder - 13 Foxtrot - Steel Rain - Corps Officers - Wildfire - Ozz 117 & Grim Reapers - Boss Squad - Johnny One Eye & BBQ Rangers
The game was pretty touch and go at first with Ozz & The Grim Reapers keeping the Snipers, Lara's squad, and Sigrid's squad at bay, with Johnny & the BBQ Rangers also staying within striking distance, and the Wildfire going to the right to position itself in range of both door openings ready to react to the enemy's first movement out of the structure. The Pounder and Joe's Death Dealers went left to draw the Luther, Herman, and Heavy Laser Grenadiers to their side of the map. However, that also kept 13 Foxtrot from getting a safe view on a target, and the Corps Officers were specifically brought in to reload the Steel Rain and provide light healing while testing their abilities.
As the game progressed, Ozz took some heavy damage to protect his squad, and retreated to the Corps Officers to heal up after inflicting some light damage on Lara. 13 Foxtrot was eliminated before they could be of much use, but the Command Squad was able to get LOS on the Heinrich, and the Steel Rain made sure to fire it's entire payload to secure the kill. Plus the Corps Officers were close by to immediately reload! Johnny and his squad took a chance while Sigrid was hurt, but the lack of luck on the next activation gave Sigrid the advantage. By the end of close combat the only one left standing was Sigrid with a single hit remaining. The Wildfire was able to score the kill on Sigrid, but
ended up falling to fire from the Heavy Flak Grenadiers, and the
advantage of their Burst Weapons (double dice!!!), but not before dealing more damage to Lara.
The game turned in the Allies favor at a very specific point. The Ludwig destroyed a tank trap that was in it's way, to have easy access to an exposed Pounder. When the Ludwig made it's move, it was only able to score one hit on the Pounder. The Hermann was quick to back up the Ludwig to go for the kill shot, should the Ludwig be destroyed in the Pounder's retaliation. The Pounder was able to quickly fire and destroy the Ludwig! Plus the Steel Rain was able to move into a support position behind the Pounder, but out of range of the Herman, should the Pounder fall in the next turn. However a great stroke of luck came to the Allies when they were able to successfully reactivate the Pounder! This might not sound like much, but this was the ONLY successful reactivation of the entire game, and it was exactly the reactivation the Allies needed. The Pounder made short work of the Hermann, but the Heavy Laser Grenadiers immediately came out and scored the revenge kill on the Pounder. At this point the Steel Rain had a direct shot lined up at both Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers, now out of their building on the right side of the map and out of cover, as well as the 2 remaining Heavy Laser Grenadiers, who were out of range. The decision was made to have the Steel Rain go for Lara and her squad since they were a threat to the Boss Squad, so all 4 Rockets were fired and dealt more than enough damage! Damage Resilience came to the rescue and kept Lara and one of her squad members alive. The Steel Rain was also able to shoot it's .30 Cal MG at the Heavy Lasers and scored 1 hit. Joe and The Death Dealers were quick to clean up the last unit and start movement into the building.
At this point the game was pretty much in the Allies' pocket. Ozz and his squad were able to make short work of the Recon Grenadiers, and the Petard Mortar helped to nearly finish off the Heavy Flak Grenadiers. The Corps Officers were also able to give Ozz & The Grim Reapers a shot with their Stim Pack, and after a Double Move & Sustained Attack with Heroic Attack, they were able to finish off Lara and the Laser Grenadiers with a massive amount of hits. At this point the game was called since only the snipers and 1 Heavy Flak Grenadier remained. The Allies still had a full squad, and nearly fully healed, of Grim Reapers with Ozz, a Boss Squad AND Corps Officers with no hits, Joe & The Death Dealers with some light damage (though Joe was down to 1 hit), and the Steel Rain (with no more artillery shots). A great game, and our new players had a blast with all the carnage. Hopefully we have some new league members, but in the very least our attempt to generate more interest in the Portland area is becoming more and more successful.
We made an attempt to play the 4 player scenario out of Cerberus, but didn't have enough time to get past turn 3 before people had to start heading home and the store was getting ready to close up for the night. Hopefully we can try it again in 2 weeks at our next official game night!
Good Gaming!!
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