X-Wing: The Game Awakens

There is a disturbance in the Force...

With the arrival of the long awaited rebirth of the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Pete and I are currently experiencing a new burst of enthusiasm for the X-Wing Miniatures game. So last week, we agreed to create two 100 point fleets each, me as Rebels and Pete as Imperials, and spend an evening making spaceship noises.

Game 1

Rebels

• Blue Squadron Pilot (B-Wing) with Heavy Laser Cannon
• Blue Squadron Pilot (B-Wing) with Heavy Laser Cannon
• Rookie Pilot (X-Wing)
• Rookie Pilot (X-Wing)

My thoughts behind this list was mainly to get my two B-Wings on the table for the first time. However, I had a lot of fire-power but only low skill pilots.

Imperials

• Soontir Fel (TIE Interceptor) - Push the Limit, Stealth Device
• Commander Kenkirk (VT-49 Decimator) - Engine Upgrade, Rebel Captive and other upgrades I can't remember

Although I had an advantage in fire-power and numbers, but Pete's list had greater durability, manoeuvrability and better fire arcs. Pete higher pilot skill would also have the ability to react to my moves and fire first.

The fleets advance. One of my X-Wings heads off on a flank attack.

The fleets open fire. The Decimator and an X-Wing take damage.

A dramatic K-turn sees Soontir Fel destroy the fleeing X-Wing.
The B-Wings pour fire on him, leaving the Interceptor on one damage.

The Imperials defend themselves by crashing into the B-Wings.
The X-Wing flank attack starts the long job of bringing down the Decimator.

The B-Wing's poor handling begins to show.
The Decimator takes more damage.

The Rebels pursue the Decimator, but Fel is ominously behind them.

Fel destroys a B-Wing.
The Decimator uses its Engine Upgrade to avoid fire arcs.

With two ships down and Soontir Fel stalking the Rebels, it was just a matter of time as he stalked and destroyed the Rebel ships in short order. The game was closer that it looked at the end as Soontir Fel had onlt a single damage point remaining and the Decimator was down to four (from about a hundred...I may be exaggerating). In fact, if I'd managed to score one extra hit on Soontir Fel on turn three, the game would have gone completely the other way.

In retrospect, I made two mistakes in this game. Firstly, the flank attack just delayed the second X-Wing's arrival to the fight. I'll admit that this was due to the fact that I didn't know the Decimator has a 360 degree attack. If my X-Wings had attacked together, I would have had an extra couple of shots early on, perhaps bringing down Soontir Fel.

Which brings me to the second issue. There were times when I had shots on Fel when I chose to shoot at the Decimator, as it was easier to hit and had a lot of toughness to remove. However, has I focused fire to bring down the Interceptor, Pete would had lost his advantage in manoeuvrability, and the B-Wings would have had longer to attack the Decimator. Honestly, I didn't identify the real threat.

Game 2

Rebels

• Han Solo (YT-1300, Millennium Falcon) with Chewbacca, Gunner, Engine Upgrade and Veteran Instincts
• Jake Farrell (A-Wing, Test Pilot) with Chardaan Refit, Adrenaline Rush and Veteran Instincts
• Prototype Pilot (A-Wing) with Chardaan Refit

This is my version of what's known as a 'Fat Han' build. The idea being that the Millennium Falcon can evade and boost it's way out of trouble, weather what fire it does take and then use what feels like endless re-rolls to ensure it's handing out at least some damage every turn. The A-Wings were there to draw fire and take on enemy fighters, thinning any swarms.

Imperials

• Rexler Brath (TIE Defender)
• Howlrunner (TIE Fighter)
• Backstabber (TIE Fighter)
• Academy Pilot (TIE Fighter)
• Academy Pilot (TIE Fighter)

Pete had a couple of upgrades that I can't remember. In a complete reversal of the first game, Pete had the fire-power and numbers, I had the manoeuvrability and endurance.

The Imperials split their forces.Howlrunner and Academy Pilots face the Falcon and Jake Farrell.
The Prototype Pilot tries to bait and switch the Defender and Backstabber.

In a surprise move, the Imperials focus fire on the Prototype Pilot.
This allows the Falcon and Jake Farrell to destroy an Academy TIE.

Things get close and ugly.
Jake Farell takes significant damage.

Jake Farrell uses Adrenaline Rush to get out of trouble.
The Rebels focus fire on the TIE Defender.

The Defender is destroyed as Jake Farrell once again miraculously survives.

Jake Farrell finally succumbs to enemy fire.
Han Solo faces the TIEs alone.

The Academy Pilot is the first to fall to the Falcon's guns.

The TIE's struggle to cause damage.

Howlrunner is finished off, Backstabber looks outmatched.

With a single TIE left and the Falcon still in rude health, we called it a day. The game would only have ended one way.

If I'm honest, my fleet took little to no skill to fly effectively and a fully tooled up Millennium Falcon is a tough beast. I think Pete made a mistake by attacking the Prototype Pilot early one, when Howlrunner and the Academy Pilots could/should have turned towards the Falcon. I think the only way to beat the Falcon is to concentrate on it. By the time Pete had taken out both A-Wings, he'd taken too much damage to stand a chance against the Falcon.

I'm not sure that a 'Fat Han' build is that much fun to play against, so I'm not sure it's something I'll do often. However, it's nice to know that it's there if there's a losing streak that needs breaking. Also, I like the fact that the iconic ship in the films is one of the best ships in the game; it feels right. So often in licensed games, the iconic characters are over shadowed by the unforeseen utility of 'Security Guard 3'. The Falcon should be hard to stop.

We're playing X-Wing again this week, but this time it's my turn to be the Imperials...

The Customary New Year Post

Happy New Year!

As is customary in the gaming blogosphere, it's time for the annual review of the previous year's productivity and look forward to what's to come. It's quite text heavy this one, and I haven't done any pictures, but hopefully it'll be worth a read.

OPERATION UNTHINKABLE

This year I set myself the target of completing a previously unfinished project every month with the penalty of having to get rid of things I failed to paint. The goal was to become lead mountain free. This hasn't happened, for a couple of reasons, but mainly because I ran out of steam around September, and the project that remain are somewhat larger and more difficult to complete.

However, I have done pretty well, finishing off a number of old projects, completing a few new ones that arose and generally ploughing through my mountain of metal, plastic and mdf. Here's how I got on:

January - Bolt Action Soviets
HMG & 3 Crew
Medium Mortar & 3 Crew
4 Scouts
2 Mine Dogs with Handlers
6 Pin Markers

February - A Very British Civil War Royalists
7 Gentlemen Farmers
12 Armed Schoolboys
2 School Staff Members

March - Urban Terrain
A whole host of things including a chain fence, barrels, a chimney, pipes, a radio antenna, a rooftop planter, a roof entrance and 3 Park Benches.

April - Flames of War Germans
3 Opel Blitz Trucks
Marder IIIM Tank Hunter
An Objective Marker

May - Dropzone Commander Resistance
2 Lifthawk Dropships
2 Hannibal Battle Tanks
Kraken Hovercraft
3 Jackson APC's
6 Infantry Stands

June - Guildball
6 Morticians Players
6 Union Players
A Ball

July - Muskets & Tomahawks
27 Woodland Indians

August - Batman Miniatures Game Tournament
This month I focused on preparing for the BMG World Tournament, the models I painted are listed in the Batman section below.

September - Dropzone Commander Resistance...again!
M3 Alexander Command Tank
8 Cardboard Buildings

October - Zombtober...sort of...
5 Zombies
Amy Pond
Elsa and Anna from Frozen

November - Marvel
Spider-Woman
She-Hulk
Black Widow
4 Hydra Goons
(I also re-based the other models I'd done previously)

December - Bolt Action Soviets...again!
T-34/85
SU-76
2 MDF Industrial Buildings

Overall, Operation Unthinkable has been a success. I may still have models left to paint, but I have really cleared the decks of those awkward little bits and pieces that hang around unfinished. I'm not sure the same format will work with the projects that are left, but setting clear targets has definitely had an impact.

BATMAN MINIATURE GAME

Throughout the year, I've also been keeping on top of my Batman backlog and during 2015 I managed to complete the following models:

Batman Crew
Batman (Arkham Origins)
Batman (Frank Miller)
Robin (Tim Drake)
Red Hood,
Alfred Pennyworth
Black Canary
Spoiler (Clix)

Joker Crew
Joker (Arkham City)
Knife Clown
Pipe Clown

League of Assassins
Ra's Al Ghul (DKR)
3 Ninjas
Lady Siva (Clix)

Poison Ivy Crew
Poison Ivy
3 Plants

Free Agents
Victor Zsasz
3 Arkham Lunatics
4 Blackgate Prisoners
Ventriloquist (Clix)

Tokens & Terrain
4 Lamp Posts
4 Sewers
2 Riddle Markers
SWAT Van
2 Arkham Warning Signs

On top of this I've managed to attend 3 tournaments and one campaign day, recording my biggest successes with the Batman crew, but overall, winning more than I lost. Stats for the the year in competitive games are: Played 13, Won 7, Drew 2, Lost 4. I definitely want to get to more tournaments and events this year as they're great days out. I also haven't given up on convincing our little gaming group to play BMG a little more often, but I've been laying off for a bit.

BLOGGING

This year has been a great year for blogging and I've written my highest number of posts in a year since I began the blog. However, I am aware that back in 2011, I wrote 55 posts in only 7 months. This was severely helped by being part of a 'Tale of..' project with several other bloggers which kept me motivate and enthused. This year, Operation Unthinkable and the 6MMRPC project have helped get that motivation back, but both were severely affected by my return to work in Spetember.

I'm always really appreciative of the comments I receive on the blog and I'm trying to ensure that I reply to as many as I can.

GAMING

This year has seen some of our previously common games like Attack Wing and Flames of War take a bit of a back seat to new kids on the block like Imperial Assault and Dropzone Commander, both of which I really enjoy and would highly recommend. I've also tried a few other new games like Frostgrave (which I've not made my mind up about yet, and need to play outside of multi-player), Guildball (which I really want more games of to give me a reason to buy official miniatures) and the different variations of 7TV (there's just too much potential in this ruleset, so much to choose from). Bolt Action and BMG are still there, although Bolt Action had a bit of a hiatus during Dropzone fever, and BMG is almost exclusively something I play at tournaments.

In terms of looking forwards, Dropfleet Commander is due to hit us in the summer and we all backed the Kickstarter and have a stupid bucketload of miniatures arriving, hopefully in June. We also all bought the Kings of War Rules and are getting round to re-basing armies for it. We're going to give a Frostgrave campaign a go, and with the release of The Force Awakens, X-Wing fleets are being dusted off for the first time in a good long while. I want to do about ninety different things with 7TV, but mainly continue my solo 7ombieTV campaign. Games like Black Powder and Dreadfleet will likely continue to be one-offs, but good for multi-player fun.

RESOULTIONS

And here's the important bit. Theses are the gaming goals I'm going to commit to in the coming year:

1. Continue to set targets each month to maintain my motivation to work through my lead pile - format to be decided.

2. Complete at least three of the following projects:

• US War of 1812 for Muskets & Tomahawks
• Mid-War US Tank Company for Flames of War
• German Last Levy Army for Bolt Action
• 6mm ACW Union Army for Black Powder
• Rebase Wood Elf Army for Kings of War
• More heroes and villains for Marvel (oh and write some rules)
• Get DZC Resistance to 1500 points
• Penguin Crew and Two Face Crew for BMG

3. Respond to all comments on the blog and get back to commenting on other people's blogs.

4. Play in at least three BMG events.

5. Get a playable fleet painted for Dropfleet Commander at the same time as the others so that I'm not playing catch up like I am with DZC.

I'll be back to pictures and stuff next time. TTFN.

The Race to Berlin

Happy Christmas!

Yes, I know it's a bit late, but I've been somewhat busy of late, and have had neither the time nor the motivation to paint or blog for most of December. However, with the big day out of the way (not a massive haul of goodies this year, just a couple of DZC blisters, a Penguin crew for BMG and an expansion for Blood Bowl Team manager), it was time for our annual Christmas Fun Day, and for a second year in a row we opted to go for a massive game of Bolt Action.

This year, I'd be wheeling my Soviets out alongside Wes and his Americans, against the combined German forces of Pete and Matt. We decided to play with 1500 points each, on and 8x4 table, with The Germans defending the centre against an attack on two fronts down the length of the table.

With the requirement to field 1500 points, and the city of Berlin, I needed to break out the brushes to finish off two armour vehicles that I'd previously undercoated, and two of Sarissa Precision's excellent industrial buildings.

The first vehicle is a resin SU-76 self-propelled gun. Packing a light howitzer, this open-topped little vehicle was bought mainly to allow me to use the optional rule which permits me to take an inexperienced SU-76 instead of my usual free rifle squad. Annoyingly, I've managed to misplace to crew somewhere, so it's currently without anybody to man the gun...which might explain its performance in the game today... 

The second vehicle is a proper tank, a T-34/85, technically the same tank as I already own, just with a bigger gun. In recent months, both Pete and Matt have up-armoured their Germans, and so a little bit more penetration was required. However, I mainly bought this as Pete and I were goading each other to spend money a the Derby Wargames show and buying the T-34 was required to make him buy a Cromwell for his British.

Happily, I now have enough armoured vehicles to play a Tank War game in 28mm. Unfortunately, my eagerness for such an encounter might be somewhat tempered by events that happened today.

So the forces lined up:

• My Soviets - Berlin Army Selector: featuring 2 T-34's, an SU-76, Tank Riders, Tough Fighters, Regulars and Inexperienced cannon-fodder.
• Wes's Americans - Operation Cobra Army Selector: featuring Veteran Infantry riding in Half-Tracks, a Sherman tank and Air Support (in theory).
• Matt's Germans - Last Levy Army Selector: featuring Inexperienced Volkssturm, Veteran Grenadiers, a Puma and a Veteran Panther!
• Pete's Germans - Battle of the Bulge Army Selector: featuring the SS, Regular Grenadiers, a Panzer II Luchs and a Tiger!

Yes, you read that correctly. Our medium tanks would be facing off against both a Tiger and a Panther with only one heavy gun between them...

Here's table, as seen from the end I would be attacking. My goal would be to reach the road crossing the middle of the table before the end of turn six. Yes, I know it doesn't look exactly like Berlin in 1945, but we were quite proud of it.

Here's the end that Wes would be advancing up...at least that was the plan...

Abd here's the German deployment. That's an awful lot of armour in there, and there's infantry in pretty much every building in the shot, including an MMG in the bunker.

I just want to draw your attention this apparently insignificant unit of 8 inexperienced Volkssturm manning a makeshift barricade of chairs and tables. It doesn't look much...

The game began under cover of night, with a preparatory bombardment of the German positions, which threw pins all over the place. Pete being Pete decided that the best form of defence was attack and threw a half-track full of SS down towards my deployment, providing my T-34/85 with its first kill, forcing the SS to dismount and get shot up over two turns and them assaulted by my Tough Fighting Veterans. Pete's opinion is that this held me up, but I suspect that this speed bump might have been more effective further up the road.

An yes, we're in a building. The road didn't reach the edge of the table, so we decided to use this warehouse as a covered bridge of sorts.

My infantry made headway towards the central barricades under cover of darkness.

Over on my right, another assault force massed behind the T-34/76 and Tank Riders.

My Scouts in forward positions took fire from the Puma which was to be a thorn in my side. The Scouts dug in behind the cart, and although the NCO would survive the game, they were never able to shake enough pins to get moving forwards.

Meanwhile, the German forces spent most of the first turn trying to rally themselves and remove pins. You can just about see that Volkssturm squad behind the barricade.

Over on the Western Front the U.S. Half-Tracks rolled forwards and disgorged their passengers into the alleyways around the houses, whilst the Sherman moved up in support.

However, the Germans were waiting...

On turn two, the sun came up and all hell broke loose. My T-34/76 opened fire of the Puma and missed, but was immobilised in return, rendering it little more than a machine gun turret for the rest of the game.

My infantry and gun teams got into position to blaze away down the street at the barricades, and that measly unit of Volkssturm behind them.

My T-34/85 advanced into the teeth of the Tiger and the Panther. It failed to hit the Panther, but managed to machine-gun some infantry. Inexplicably, the Russian tank managed to survive out in the open as the Panther failed it's orders test (for the second time) and the Tiger missed!

I've included this picture, purely to prove that the SU-76 was on the table, as it did absolutely nothing worthy of note all game. In inexperienced direct fire artillery piece is really neither use nor ornament. (I know that the dice on top of the building says three, but these pictures were taken at the end of turn two.)

Having realised that I was making faster progress than predicted, the German Infantrys began to move to oppose my advance.

Over on the other front, the Germans began to pour fire on the hapless Americans, who couldn't seem to hit a barn door with their shooting. The Panzer II knocked out the rear Half-Track forcing it's passengers into the street, where they were pinned down and shot to pieces by the SS.

By the end of Turn three, casualties had begun to mount, and I was poised, ready for a big push against my right flank, helped by the fact that the immobile T-34 provided enough of a threat to make Matt not push his luck and move the Puma to a less exposed position.

The centre had already been the scene of carnage, with assault and counter assault inside the warehouse, but the plucky Volkssturn were still in postions, despite numerous attempts to dislodge them with everything from rifle fire to mortar bombardment.

Recognising the fragility of the unit, the Germans brought up reserve units to bolster the barricades.

On the right, the T-34/85's luck ran out and the Tiger found it's mark. However, the Panther once again failed to do anything.

Meanwhile, in a run of atrocious luck, Wes was unable to call in air support, was still unable to cause any real damage, and took withering fire from the dug in Germans.

On turn four, the assaults began. The Tank Riders took out a Volkssturm unit before falling back into cover, and were supported by the advancing Rifle Squad.

The on LMG squad in the centre assaulted out of the warehouse to destroy a German mortar, then consolidated into one of the central houses, only to be assaulted themselves and cut down to a man. Meanwhile, the other LMG squad edged up shooting at the Volkssturm on the barricade to little effect.

On the left, the Tough Fighters used the Truck as cover from the finally mobile Panther, but needn't have worried as the Truck proved impervious to the Panther's fire.

The Panzer II was able to get inbetween the U.S. forces, and even survived a couple of assaults. The Americans continued to wither under fire. I think Wes was officially beginning to not enjoy the game at this point.

The Puma and Sherman had sparred ineffectually over the previous few turns, but the Sherman had the last laugh and destroyed the Puma as it advanced on the centre.

By the end of turn five, there had been more assaults, further bombardment and even some friendly fire, but when the smoke cleared, the Volkssturm were somehow still holding their flimsy barricade.

On the right, I'd driven the Germans away from the fence, but at a heavy cost in lives. Very Soviet.

With the exception of the Sherman, the American assault pretty much petered out, and the big cats were on the hunt. With no Americans to worry about, the Germans were beginning to move reinforcements to face my shattered command.

In all honesty, the Germans had probably won. Wes's  command was gone and mine was ragged or ineffectual (SU-76, I'm looking at you). There had been quite a high attrition rate in the German forces, but not enough to break them. It had looked ropey at times, and a bit more luck with my artillery would probably have made the difference. At my end of the table it was pretty much a stalemate, however, the atrocious luck the Wes suffered meant that there were still a couple of fairly fresh German units to throw into the fray.

I'm still not convinced that the scenarios in Bolt Action where one side has to attack across the table are all that balanced, as I don't think I've ever seen the attacker win. I knew this game would be hard, but more importantly, it was fun, and it felt 'right' for what we were trying to achieve. The Germans had stopped us today, but with the casualties they'd taken, tomorrow would be a different story - and that, I suppose, is the bit that wargames miss.

All in all, it was a cracking 5 hour game, and a great way to end the year.

I'll be back over the next few days to review my blogging year and look forward to the next one. If I don't post before Thursday, Happy New Year!