necromunda at meeplemart

This past weekend I was able to join some buddies in playing some more necromunda! We had begun a new campaign this year (way back in April) but it kinda got put on hold while we all dealt with preparations for Astronomi-con Toronto 2011.

Last week they started playing again at another FLGS in Toronto called Meeplemart (we are quite lucky here in the GTA with many gaming stores) - I unfortunately was unable to attend last week and so was determined to make it this week.  My friend Mike did write up a small post with a pic of the table setup.

I had spoken with Steve the owner previously about running necromunda there and I had heard he'd built a large table full of terrain for Infinity, which definitely suited our necromunda needs pretty well!

Unfortunately I took about three pics and then forgot!  I'm going to blame my allergies which were terrible that day.  So here's the one good pic I have showing a bit of the terrain and my Escher clustered around trying to move in on Lorand's Arbites.

early in my game vs. the arbites

During this campaign, which I am terming (including Sunday) so far I am 4-0.  While earlier games successes were perhaps a bit less driven by fortune both of Sunday's wins were very jammy!

Game 1 vs. Lorands Arbites

• choke grenades slowed me down and stunned my gang enough for Lorand to rack up some easy casualties.
• first couple turns went quickly as we closed with each other, I was taking bottle tests though by turn four.
• fortunate to get an open shot with my BS5 leader's meltagun on his Arbite Sergeant, forcing him to retire due to his injuries after the game.
• meltagun leader also dropped his cyber-mastiff, the early expense of the meltagun is already paying off in spades, my leader gained two skill levels from this game alone!
• Lorand failed his second bottle test while I had made at least 3-4 already by that time to give me a lucky win!

Game 2 vs. Darrins Orks (counts as Goliaths)

• Darrin selected hit & run for this scenario.  I ended up with 5 gang members to start and he got 6.
• my deployment definitely left something to be desired, first turn he took out my heavy stubber (who got a chest wound and is now T2 :-@ grrr)
• my plasmagun heavy smoked a juve at close range before getting wasted herself (in addition to my leader) - for a ork/goliath gang Darrins shooting sure was deadly!
• lady luck smiled on my first round of reinforcements though and they arrived on the table edge very close to two of Darrins gang, scragging them both (one by shooting and one in close combat)
• lady luck waved as well with my leader jumping up reducing her wound to a flesh wound!
• Darrin chose to bottle at that point as taking my leader out was his objective and he only had 2 models left and I would continue to get reinforcements.

Looking forward to more games at Meeplemart on the excellent terrain.  I will try to get better pictures next time.

Necromunda free for all!

Got my brother Sebastian and a couple other friends around to start getting ourselves back into necromunda (older necromunda batreps here).  Due to time we just had a huge free for all on a 4' x 4' table.  We decided to use table corners (basically you got a 12" square in each corner). Treacherous Conditions roll was 51 (Carrion Bats) which meant after setting up, every model had to take a Ld check or be pinned (possibly falling from ledges).  Lorand also started with a Ratskin scout who owed an honour debt to the enforcer sergeant from the event cards we got.

Lorand rolled highest and got to pick table corner first - he chose the corner with the power plant.  I'll apologize right now, I don't have many pics of Lorand's corner as it was a little awkward to get to being on the other side of the table (plus his minis weren't painted so it ruined the fantasy of it all  - LOL inside joke!) Here's a pic just to see his table corner but it's actually from much later in the game.

enforcer corner (after a couple turns unfortunately)

Sebastian picked next and setup in the corner with the necromunda building with the tall vent stack.

spyrer setup - sorry only pic and it was blurry

I setup in the emptiest corner but which was fairly close to the imperial firebase.

escher setup

Mike setup in the last corner with some of the octagonal and triangular necromunda scenery.

delaque setup (more are just behind that piece of card scenery)

We rolled to see who went first and decided it was just clockwise after that, Mike won the roll and I went last.  We did the Carrion Bats test before each person took their turn. The only one able to do anything other than move closer in the first turn was Mike (he pinned my juve with a shot).  Unfortunately for him, his heavy was the only model to fail it's Ld check, he then fell all the way to the ground from 6" up.  He outrageously survived completely unharmed as I rolled a 1 to wound.  Lorand had 2 enforcers pinned, Sebastian had 1 yeld pinned and I had 2 gangers and a juve pinned (same juve Mike pinned - lol).

Second turn, Mike's heavy ran back to position while the rest took 2 of my escher man down and missed or pinned while shooting the enforcers.  Lorand's enforcers began the smack down, his heavy taking an escher OOA and his sergeant capping a delaque juve with his plasma pistol.  Sebastian's spyrers manuvered around and a yeld took the enforcer heavy man down. I managed to pass my bottle test (seriously? bottle test turn 2!) put some girls on overwatch near the down girls and continued to consolidate my position.  Some pics from turn two below.

Mike: "stay there this time!" + 2 capped escher

enforcers shotguns pinned, the sergeants plasma pistol took the juve man down

yeld wasted the enforcer heavy

Turn three things started to get heated.  Mike's delaques were busy, taking the ratskin man down, pinning the enforcer leader and his heavy pilled the stubber rounds into the cyber mastiff - but Lorand made both 5+ saves and the cyber mutt shrugged it off.  The enforcers passed their bottle test, the mastiff charged a delaque - only to get beaten down in close combat, the sergeant stood up and capped another delaque, then both the heavy and ratskin went from man down to OOA (worst time for double 6's!)  At this point we are all going to be taking bottle tests every turn except for the Sebastian so I used my event card "unsafe ladder" on one of his yelds, causing just a S3 hit but it was enough to pin him and give him a flesh wound - damn so close! His malcadon charged the enforcers of whom one was on overwatch - again doing just enough to pin him and cause a flesh wound.  So Sebastian was still safe from bottle tests even though 2 spyrers had been hurt.  I passed my bottle test to have another pretty dismal turn, missing with my shooting, though 1 ganger did recover from man down to flesh wound - woo hoo, a temporary break in bottle tests for me!  

delaque heavy opens up on the cyber-mastiff in the distance

Mike passed his bottle test to start turn four, and proceeded to waste Lorands sergeant, and a couple gangers recovered to flesh wounds.  Lorand made his bottle test having only 4 guys left, but failed twice to hit the pinned malcadon lying in front of him.  He had some dismal luck where his cyber mutt charged a delaque ganger and got scragged for it's trouble.  Then he lucked out as Sebastian failed to escape pinning with the malcadon, though he did charge and take out an enforcer with his S4 jakara.  His yeld then fired at another enforcer, missing - so Sebastian played his event card "toxic pipe", rolling 3 S4 automatic hits with NO armour save from the pipe that exploded above the enforcer.  He then rolled two 2's and a 1 to fail completely in wounding the enforcer, though he was pinned with no armour save available.  In my turn I finally got my first wounding hit of the game, with my juve taking down a delaque juve with her pistol at long range. Then before my CC phase was over, Mike used his event card "necromundan rat" to attack my shotgun ganger on overwatch.  We both fluffed out single attack dice roll (both 1's) so due to charging and it's insane WS of 4 (yes, a rat - WS4!) Mike got two hits on me, which failed to wound but did remove my overwatch.

cyber-mastiff charges but gets smoked in HtH

enforcers luck out that the malcadon didn't escape being pinned

Turn five Mike the wound machine (I think he had at least two gangers with 3 wounds caused each this game) though he only pinned the spyrers on the bridge fighting the enforcers, ran a shotgun ganger up and took a sneaky jakara man down.  Lorand passed his bottle test and continued his ineffective shooting by missing the pinned jakara right next to his enforcers (three 1's in a row!!). Game changed at this point as unfortunately for him, Sebastian failed the very first bottle test he had to make - brutal!!  My escher managed to wound another delaque with a shotgun blast in my turn, and my other ganger who'd been crawling along 2" man down all game recovered to a flesh wound.

escher have secured the firebase and a delaque gets taken down with a shotgun blast

Mike failed his bottle roll on turn 6, moving the turn quickly to Lorand who passed but failed to hit anyone.  My same shotgun ganger who smoked the delaque last turn did the same to another enforcer, causing the last enforcer to break and flee!  We called it a bottle and a day.  In the end the early damage Mike did to me made me play cautious allowing him to get to grips with Lorand a bit more, and my meltagun armed leader worried Sebastian enough he kind of left me alone.  It's funny the only person to actually finish the job and take one of my gangers OOA was Lorand who was setup in the far corner of the table away from me!

how the west (corner) was won!

Necromunda in the New Year

Saturday I had my buddy Mike over to get started on Necromunda in 2010. I suppose it had been nearly a month since we had played so I was definitely itching for some action. Here is the main board section, including the firebase I've recently gotten assembled (will get some nicer pics of the firebase when I get it based) and I tried to make that a focal point of the table.
Because.... I'd read on Eastern Fringe about an idea of using Space Hulk tiles in Necromunda, so we decided to give it a go. To keep things nice and simple, we counted each square as an inch and every square of a section hit by a template weapon counts as a hit. Here's a close-up of the firebase and the "access points" (2 "escape hatches" from the Imperial Strongpoint box I picked up recently, and the 2 card/bulkhead entrances)
This is the Space Hulk layout we used. Added four ladder counters to mark where the "access points" from above were. For simplicity we just said it cost 3" of movement to get down the ladder, same as any other ladder on the surface.
Decided since the Space Hulk tiles added complexity and also (mostly) because my camera battery was dying to not record pics for a battle report. I'll try to give you a gist of the two games though.

Game 1 was scavengers, we each started on an edge away from the firebase and the underground. I got pretty badly mauled in this game, none of my gang even made it into the tunnels, so Mike made off with all the loot (straight creds for his outlaw gang) and a huge bonus for my gangs massive gang rating. Everything went perfectly for Mike except that he rolled "captured" for his leader's serious injury. I had a wandering doc as my event card so my gang mostly escaped with minimal injuries.

Game 2 was the rescue mission. A bit of a grindhouse for both gangs. I started with his leader underground. He ended up freeing his leader, but I shot or carved up the rest of his gang as they tried to make a getaway, so he bottled. My gang still took a bunch of serious injuries, but I decided to risk my Archeotech Hoard with 4d6, and rolled 3, 4, 5, and 6. I had to sell a couple items but ended up with enough creds to pick up another Heavy armed with a Plasma Gun. A juve died, but another was recruited from my two settlements so I now have 16 models in my gang and every single Escher mini I own is in use (WYSIWYG too, except for a single model with chainsword/plasma pistol who really has a sword/needle pistol). Mike's been getting some good advances, but had to save all his creds because he's going to have to re-host his daemonhost after the next game for sure.

necromunda batrep - new gang

Here is the batrep from Saturday's gang fight - Delaques vs. Escher.

I wrote a new gang list to give Mike a break from the Spyrers and to give me more to do in the game. I went with a ranged leader to try and ensure she's always around for bottle tests. I had debated a plasma gun for my heavy, but in the end took the reliable heavy stubber. I had a juve and ganger to go with each. Juve as a shield and ganger with some basic weapons. Then I took two more CC oriented groups. A juve & ganger armed for CC, plus a ganger with a lasgun to provide some reliable fire support.

TABLE SETUP
I tried to make sure there were more walkways in use so we wouldn't need to adjust for whatever we rolled on the treacherous conditions table. this worked out well as we ended up rolling acid rain and started most of our guys with something overhead to protect them - as you can see by the deployment pictures later.
north end
east end
south end
west end
INITIAL DEPLOYMENT
Escher deployment - I deployed first, picked the south end. Everyone but my heavy and her juve human shield were deployed under walkways or roof to avoid the acid rain.
Escher overview (hopefully this helps you understand the direction of the game)

Delaque deployment - Mike deployed second in the north end and followed my lead keeping most guys with a roof over their head except for his heavy stubber and supporting ganger. Just before we started we rolled for the acid rain. Mike's lasgun guy was hit, but survived it and gained Impressive Scars (+1 Ld)
Delaque overview

TURN 1
The delaque heavy stubber & supporting ganger went on overwatch, while the rest of his gang ran forwards to get good positions.
First thing in my turn was playing my event card - hallucinogenic gas clouds. I only rolled enough for one gas cloud, but managed to get it right over Mike's heavy & ganger. Both his guys resisted it's effects.
The rest of my Eschers ran forwards trying to take advantage of cover, with the heavy stubber and lasgun girls hanging back on overwatch.
My leader managed a boltgun shot on his leader, but only pinned him.

TURN 2
Hilarity (well for me) begins this turn. We rolled for the gas cloud and it shrunk. Mike's two delaques were partially under the template - using necromunda rules I needed a 4+ to hit them.
Both were hit, neither resisted the gas - his heavy getting pinned by visions of bugs crawling all over him.
Meanwhile the lasgun armed ganger is convinced there are enemies all around. Mike rolls a scatter die for his facing and of course it's directed at his large group of gangers with his leader. One of Mike's other gangers gets taken "man down" by his wild shooting. We decided to award him 5 xp for a wounding hit to take some of the sting out! The rest of the guys in that area took advantage of the leader being around and all kept their nerve.
Safe from the acid rain, Mike's group with the flamer make a dash forwards - my heavy stubber let's loose on overwatch, only manages to get two hits, neither of which could be spread - but does take a shotgun armed delaque out of action, while running out of ammo for the rest of the game. His juve and flamer lose their nerve and run back a few inches to cover.
His leader leaves a juve behind to protect the ganger down and rushes forwards with two more juves.
In my turn, the gangers who have basic weapons take up overwatch again.
My ammo-less heavy and her juve shield run down to support my leader with their stub guns (ha!) My leader's shooting is ineffective.
The more CC oriented gang members try to work their way forwards in cover.

TURN 3
We start once again with the gas cloud, it doesn't change at all, this time just pinning the lasgun delaque with visions of creepy crawlies. His heavy runs away from the gas cloud. The rest of the delaques advance more slowly.
The heavy stubber opens up on my shotgun armed ganger and takes her "man down" - but eerily also running out of ammo.
Meanwhile Mike's leader and two juves open up on the nearest CC armed escher and pin both of them.
His down ganger stays down, but his flamer armed heavy rallies.
In my turn the delaques once again resist the effects of the gas cloud, however my gang stepped up and caused damage on their own. My orange hair takes out a lone delaque juve standing in the open.
The rest of my gang rushed forwards hoping to take advantage and get some CC wounds.
My leader took his leader straight "out of action". His two juves lose their nerve and go into hiding.
Then just the icing on the cake my shotgun ganger managed to pull through the pain and went from "man down" to "flesh wound", saving me from taking guaranteed bottle test next turn.

TURN 4
The delaques pass their bottle test and hang around, the gas cloud has no effect on the lasgun delaque still in it's area of effect. His flamer armed heavy takes advantage of his "Hip Shooting" skill (MONSTROUS on a flamer. Run 8" and fire! The -1 to hit has no effect) to rush my two closest CC gang members and roast them both (one "man down", one straight "out of action").
Mike continues to pour fire at my other CC equiped girls, misses - but uses his event card to cause D3 S4 hits from a nearby pipe that burst, taking my ganger "out of action".
My turn goes relatively quickly - I pass my bottle test. I charge a shotgun armed ganger with two of my juves and except for the girls nearest his hiding juves - the rest of my gang goes on overwatch as they don't have line of sight, and I wanted to keep them in cover - my casualties are starting to pile up.
Early on it looked like I would have an easy time of it, but Mike's gang hung in there and started to make it difficult (hip shooting flamer FTW!). My first juve rocks his ganger "out of action" and follows up behind a bulkhead to protect her from the flamer - he'll only be able to pick one of the two to flambe!

TURN 5
Mike makes his bottle test. The gas cloud finally drifted this time, totally catching the same lasgun ganger who'd been traumatized by it all game - luckily he resisted it's effects again. The delaques advance slowly trying to work their way forward to shoot from cover. Mike's heavy uses his shotgun and wastes the juve in the open near his flamer.
She goes "man down" only, so Mike then uses his flamer to wound her again and causes her to go "out of action".
In my turn I pass my bottle test. My juve who avoided his two heavies charges his flamer guy. Another juve runs to get within her initiative distance to spot his two hidden juves. My heavy shoots one of his previously hidden juves with her stub gun, taking him "man down" and causing the other juve to flee into hiding.
The rest of my gang stays on overwatch. His flamer armed heavy totally scrags my CC juve taking her "out of action". Meanwhile my other CC juve pulls herself together from being "man down" and suffers a flesh wound.

TURN 6
We continue to pass bottle tests. Mike's flamer roasts my newly risen CC juve, while the rest of his gang miss. He decides to use his down juve's 2" crawl to roll off the walkway, suffering a S3 hit, but allowing his other broken juve to protect him.
In my turn the gas cloud finally dissipates, my juve charges his broken juve (technically I couldn't charge him because he was hidden, but we allowed it to seem more realistic - although playing delaque there's a debate to be had there ;) ) but I have a horrific round of shooting - missing everything. My juve scrags his in CC.

TURN 7
Mike finally bottles and the game is mine.

It was a bloody affair with something like 7 casualties on his side and 5 on mine. Post game a shotgun armed delaque dies outright, while one of my gangers suffers multiple injuries (including an old battle wound and a leg wound) - to add insult 2 more of my gangers suffer leg wounds. A quarter of my gang is now M3! Luckily for the most part, I was able to move equipment around between gang members - making the M3 gangers my supporting fire. On the plus side I did get a couple wound increases (very nice!) and one of those got a toughness increase as well (hard as nails!). We both rolled captured for one gang member, so we just did a straight trade to keep things easy.

I REALLY lucked out with my territory rolls. An archeotech (2d6*10) plus two d6*10 territories, and even a settlement. This has given me a great inflow of cash post game - and luckily I've had enough gangers I could even send one to assist my leader looking for rare items.

We played a short second game - but were running out of time so no pics. Mike will be a little disappointed as he thoroughly trashed my gang in this fight. He took all my girls out of action for not a scratch on his guys. This was package run from Anthony Case, which was quite fun and we'll for sure be including it in the future. Mike captured one of my juves, but I did luck out after the second game and my settlement provided a free juve!