Some Dust on March 4th

In the interest of looking for new players for the league we set up a day to play at another location in Portland. Guardian Games is a wonderful place to play, with lots of space and selections of games being played any given time, and the only downside being a complete and utter lack of parking. This was also my first opportunity to use Operation Cerberus, the Allied Hero Pack, Red Devils, Allied Heavy Walker, so I was very excited to use as many of these miniatures as I possibly could.

Only myself and Jiltedtoo were able to attend. The first game we played was the first scenario from Operation Cerberus. The Allies nearly had the victory, but the Axis were able to counter the strategy and eliminate the entire Allied unit before the end of the 5th turn.

Before we finished this game we had a Father and son express interest and we ran through the scenario again with them both. Allies picked up a narrow victory, thanks to that wonderful Jump skill :) After exchanging information we hope to add a few new players to the league.

The birthday boy, left, (yes it was his birthday) looking over his options

 The moment before Rhino and The Grim Reapers jump off the building with the objective, and off the map for the win

From this point our new friends had their own event to participate in, so Jiltedtoo and I continued with Cerberus. This time the second scenario, which looked like it could go either way until the Allies entered the building, and I realized that the Machine guns on the Fireball were still effective in eliminating units in, and on top of the building, since Jiltedtoo pretty much kept his units on the roof and top floor. Within about 6 turns the Allies were able to eliminate the entire Axis force by keeping the Fireball close to one side of the building while advancing infantry through the other side of the building. The Chef and Crackshots weren't too bad of a combination, but by the time they made it to the front line the battle was all but won. Really disappointed that the Chef has no real purpose for all those points other than some minor close range damage. Not even Assault? Really?

Allied Army: Fireball - Rosie & Crackshos - Chef & Crackshots - Rhino & Grim Reapers - Ozz 117 & Grim Reapers - Action Jackson & Red Devils - Johnny & Gunners - Priest & Hell Boys - Bazooka Joe
400 Points

Axis Army: Beobachter - Lara & Heavy Laser Grenadiers - Tank Killers - Angela & Sniper Grenadiers - Kommandotrupp - Manfred & Sturmpionere

200 Points

Both end of game photo's. Chef & Crackshots on the roof after scoring the game winning kill, and their only attack of the game. Rosie (with her Crackshots) and Action Jackson (with 1 Red Devil) on the top floor. Johnny (and his full squad of Gunner Rangers) on the second floor. Bazooka Joe on the bottom floor.
(We kept the Hero on the half-tile and the rest of the units off the board for ease of play with the structures)

Our last game was the 4th scenario from Cerberus, and while the Allied forces still had double the points of the Axis army, the range factor, and game-breaking combination of Angela with the Sniper Grenadiers made approaching the building nearly impossible. Angela accounted for 7 of the 9 hits required to eliminate Johnny and the Gunner Rangers (the other two came from the Sniper Grenadiers) all in one attack action. By turn 4 the Allied forces had the Punisher, Bazooka Joe with Crackshots, and Priest with the Hell Boys left to try and take out a nearly untouched Axis foe.

How the hell am I going to approach this building after loosing the Wildfire, Ozz/Grim Reapers & Rhino/Grim Reapers??

All in all a very fun time and great learning experience (I do have to say that Rosie is so much more valuable with the Heavy Tanks in the game. Both games she brought them back from the brink of destruction). I look forward to our League Night this coming Sunday and getting ready for Dust Day in Olympia!

I have to admit, without hesitation, that I love this game and hope to continue playing it for years to come, but unfortunately the balance is without a doubt in heavy favor of the Axis. With "fast" moving zombies (as ridiculous as sparkling vampires, and the only Armor 3 unit with 5 miniatures), Unlimited Range on nearly every walker, Totenmeister, and now Angela with her deadly abilities and combo potential, I have little hope as an Allied player to pull a victory without relying mainly on how the die rolls, because strategy becomes irrelevant when the die rolls the wrong way. Now with the SSU having "speedy" units I am starting to feel the one main edge the Allies had, quick movement, will become irrelevant in time as more and more units are released with these abilities for all the factions (I mean really... Half the Axis Heroes have Assault vs. 1 Allied Hero (**cough cough** Chef too?? **cough cough** would make his 22 points worth something **cough cough**), And the SSU "Hero Walker", "Grand'ma", already has Assault). Now my small gripe is over.

Good Gaming!!