What Ruleset Did You Use In Your Last Game 2016

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War

2) What armies were confronted? - British vs French

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - Two

[Zippee]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Err none really,  so lets just say Good v Bad (good droid v bad droids it turns out)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Fairly, though the dice pool reading still feels a little like taking the auguries

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No. Although it had been a while and this is thefourth session with a first time GM (of anything)

5) How many players were in the game? 5

Episode 3:

Scene 3.01
Back on the Shadow Raptor where they are welcomed aboard, even as Captain Sortuli leads them back to her ready room they see droids being unloaded from the tug and sent straight into service aboard the Raptor – man they must have been really short of droids.

In the ready room the crew is interviewed by General Cracken, it is quickly apparent that whilst happy to have the droids he is less than happy at the cost, it seems that the crew were expected to haggle and 5 million was the limit. Never mind it's done now and Cracken has to accept that they completed his mission, grudgingly he endorses the history wipes and pays up the 5000 credits for Matwe, who then goes on to negotiate the tug as an extra payment. By this time it is apparent that Cracken just wants rid of them.

Proceedings are brought to a sudden conclusion as the PA system blares out: "Attention, all hands prepare for immediate hyperspace jump". The doors slam shut and lock.

"What's going on, why are we..." starts Matwe when suddenly there is a series of muffled explosions from below and alarm sirens begin to howl. The Shadow Raptor drops out of hyperspace with a sickening lurch and drifts, engines dead. In the vision panel is the huge glow of the Vermillion Black Hole – looking very close indeed.

The virtual terminal is offline, the crew look at each other wondering what is happening, the protocol droid (one of the new ones they acquired) attending the interview raises an arm and shoots Tray'essek with a concealed blaster. The trandoshan responds by leaping the droid, knife in hand, only to be punched away to fall heavily against the side of the table. Joval draws his blaster, shoots misses. Matwe turns and shoots blindly into the nearest computer terminal. Meanwhile CH-01 calmly swings his heavy rifle up, aims and blows the droid's head off.

A Lt Hastings comes on the PA "The captain is assessing the damage . . . a technician is on his way to your location . . . several internal explosions . . . dropped out of hyperspace . . . spinning slowly into the black hole . . . dead in the water . . . ion engine, hyperdrive, life support, hatch control, communications, all offline . . . wait . . . something is happening . . . [shooting and screaming] . . . THIS SHIP IS NOW THE PROPERTY OF THE EMPIRE, STAND DOWN, CEASE TO RESIST OR YOU WILL BE TERMINATED [a deep mechanical droid voice, comes on] . . .[more shooting] . . ."

Joval begins tapping into the monitor displays in an attempt to bring up schematics of the ship. Suddenly the internal intercom splutters into life and the Captain's voice announces "Anyone who can hear me, this vessel was on course for the Alliance Headquarters, we must not let those coordinates fall into Imperial hands, if you can hear me please do the utmost to do the following:
[There is the sound of metal screeching]
1)   Warn the rebel fleet that Shadow Raptor is compromised
2)   Disable primary communications – so that the droids cannot relay our position
3)   Use secondary communications to issue an abandon ship order
4)   Disable all hyperdrive capable craft in the fore and aft hangar bays
5)   Free the ship's intelligence officers on the analysis deck and reclaim the ship
That is all, Captain Sortuli out . . . [shots are fired] . . ."

Joval finds schematics of the ship and identifies many of the locations mentioned by the captain. There is much discussion about what to do next, some are for heading to the hangar, grabbing the tug and leaving, others want to help. Eventually it is decided that Joval, Tray'essek and CH-01 will attempt to make it the primary communications on level 1 and issue the warning. Matwe declares he is heading for level 8 and the nearest armoury and then to his tug.

Joval splices the door controls and the crew head to the lifts.

Scene 3.02
In the lift Joval has the panel off and spliced into his tablet and the lift rises, slowly. At level 8 he stops and the doors are pulled apart so that Matwe can get out – he does so and heads down the corridor looking for the armoury door.

The lift doors shut behind him, and the rest ascend to level 1

Scene 3.03
The lift doors open onto the primary communications deck, ahead are several protocol droids a medical droid and an astrogation droid. In the two lower work bays on either side are rows of crew kneeling with hands on heads covered by more protocol droids.

Grenades are rolled, CH-01 shoots the astro-droid, the droids reel in shock.

The crew storm the deck, grenades, shots and knives in a flurry of action – CH-01 walks to the railings and announces "Stand up Rebels and fight back" and then methodically shoots protocol droids – the heavy blaster rifle destroying each droid with a single hit.

Tray'essek kills the medical droid in hand to hand combat, once the smoke clears the crew are in control of the communication deck. CH-01 shoots the last droid in the head.

Joval releases the crew and instructs them to inform the Rebel fleet and hold the primary communication deck – "destroy the array if the droids return".

The crew leave, descending to the hangar bays.

Scene 3.04
In the lift, Joval stops at level 8 and collects Matwe who has been unable to break into the armoury. Again he splices the controls and the crew descend to the forward hangar bay.

Scene 3.05
The bay has many ships, Y-wings, X-wings, Shuttles and the crew's own tug with droid pods. It is apparent that many of the droids are still unpacked.

The bay is patrolled be several protocol droids and astro-droids and a couple of mechanical lifter droids. The hangar bay 'door' is a magnetic field. Above them is a control room on a stairway and gantry.

The crew storm into the control room and shoot the droids there dead, Joval splices into the controls and releases the magnetic doors to the bay, depressurising it – all the droids and the unpacked pods are ejected. Turning the field back on, the crew walks into the hangar. At the far end is a sealed door where the flight crews and engineers are kept prisoner. CH-01 shoots the droid standing guard and releases the rebels. Chief Moheed leads his crews to seal the hangar.

The crew discuss what to do next, Tray'essek and Joval think that they should use some of the X-wings here to take the aft hangar. Before any decision is reached Matwe jumps into one of the X-wings, powers up and launches – as he speeds away from the drifting Shadow Raptor his voice comes over the crew intercom – "I'll meet you in the pub guys. . ."

Joval attempts to convince the rebel pilots to give chase and shoot him down but they refuse.

[Steve J]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Honours of War

2) What armies were confronted? - Austrians vs Prussians

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Very

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - Four plus an umpire

Had to leave before the end but it looked like it might be an Austrian victory.

[Bodvoc]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - To the Strongest

2) What armies were confronted? - WOTR, Lancastrian v Yorksist

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - 2

As usual I managed to throw away the victory even after ransacking the Yorkist camp.

[Zippee]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

2) What armies were confronted? Imperial Droids vs Rebels (and the party fighting for survival and a quick profit)

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? Yes, we're getting better (and quicker) at reading the dice auguries and moving the narrative on accordingly

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? No, although it's been a year or two

5) How many players were in the game? 5 (not necessarily the same 5 as previously though)


Episode 4:

Scene 4.01
Joval, Tray'essek and CH-01 stand with Chief Moheed in the forward hangar bay, wondering where their Captain Matwe thinks he is going. The chief is happy to secure the bay and ensure that no intact hyperspace capable ships will fall into droid hands. However it is increasingly apparent to all that the air quality is dropping alarmingly so, despite being keen to take control of the aft hangar bay, it is clear that life support has to be the priority right now – especially as there is no easy way to reach and take the aft hangar bay.


Scene 4.02
Stepping out of the lift, the crew arrive at the door to life support engineering and, peering through the vision panel, see three droids: two medics and one astro-droid. There are no crew in sight but several terminals and workstations can be seen in front of a number of large silos, each connected by an array of pipes, valves and digital readouts.

With a deep breath, Joval pushes the door open from the side, CH-01 aims and shoots the astro-droid, peeling it's head like a chocolate orange with a single blast, Tray'essek dives through the door and engages one of the medics in melee, knife and claw against vibro-scalpel and hypodermic.

Tray'essek takes his time with his medic whilst CH-01 shoots and destroys the other one. Eventually Joval shoots the medic fighting Tray'essek in the head. That was easy – too easy perhaps?

Taking stock of the control room, there are four labelled workstations (Gravity; Air; Power; Water), Joval splices into the one labelled Air and successfully takes control of it, re-setting the system. However this has no effect – further diagnosis reveals there is a mechanical fault in the ventilation system - a fault beyond the engineering skills of any of them.

Whilst discussing what to do now, Tray'essek hears a muffled thumping coming from one of the silos and CH-01 identifies a maintenance hatch in the wall; opening the hatch they find the engineer team trapped inside. They are immensely grateful and immediately begin work on bringing life support back online.

The crew discuss the next option – they are still keen to get to the aft hangar bay. CH-01 asks the engineers if they can just dial the local gravity in the bay up to impede activity there – they refuse as they can't guarantee not crushing the crew in the area. CH-01 is baffled by their refusal.

Suddenly their short wave comms crackle to life and Matwe says "hey guys..."


Scene 4.03
Matwe: alone in an X-Wing, suddenly realises that without an astro-droid aboard his options are severely limited. So he returns and approaches the forward hangar bay entrance. Over shortwave comms he asks if the rest of the crew can support him in an attack on the aft hangar bay. Joval and Tray'essek inform him that air was getting short and it was vital they got to Life Support or everyone aboard would have died. Matwe tells the crew he is landing and will meet them at the lifts in a minute.

As they conclude this discussion, one of the Raptor's defence turrets targets Matwe's X-Wing. Matwe shoots, misses and then ducks under the body of the Raptor. More turrets activate, Matwe manoeuvres wildly, and then crash lands his X-Wing right into the middle of the bay, destroying another X-Wing in the process.

Chief Moheed is furious at his conduct, shooting at the ship, crashing his bay, destroying valuable ships and generally being a loose cannon. Matwe waves at him, smiles and tells him he's just following the captain's orders and disabling the ships as he swaggers off towards the lifts to wait for Joval and his crew to join him.

Chief Moheed watches him leave, jaw dropped and fuming, fists clenched and knuckle white.


Scene 4.04
Joval, Tray'essek and CH-01 return to the lift block, still discussing their next objective whilst waiting for Matwe to join them. They really want to get to the aft hangar bay but can't see any easy way to do so, Joval calls Chief Moheed and asks him if some of his pilots could deploy in X-Wings to cover the aft hangar bay and prevent anything leaving. For some reason the chief is less cooperative than when they left him and refuses to do so, because the Raptor's defence turrets would target them and besides he can't afford to lose any more ships. Puzzled, Joval severs the link as Matwe swaggers down the hall.

Finally re-united the crew decide that they should make an attempt to free the Analysis Deck to regain control of the ship. Matwe convinces them that it would be prudent to stop off at the Barracks level on the way as this level is also where the brig and armoury is located and thus there will be heavier weapons available and possibly marine prisoners who could assist with any attempt to reclaim the ship.

Joval brings up ship schematics again and the crew identify a maintenance crawl way that leads into the central barracks area between the brig and armoury. It is assumed that this area will be heavily guarded and the usual approach of kicking down the front door is probably not a good one.


Scene 4.05
Joval, CH-01, Tray'essek and Matwe lie in a metal ventilation duct observing the barracks room through a high level grate. There are dozens of bunk beds in many rows across the chamber. Off to the right a force field glimmers (the entrance to the brig), there is a control panel next to it. To the left there is a door, which should lead to the armoury. Unfortunately there are also numerous droids in the area: four groups of five protocol droids and a pair of medics – their attention seems to be focused on the main entrance almost directly opposite the grate.

In hushed tones it is decided that Joval should attempt to sneak to the control panel and open the force field in the hope that there are prisoners in the brig. CH-01 will cover him from here, and await results.

Joval carefully removes the grate and slides out of the crawl space.


 
Scene 4.06
Joval sneaks up to the control panel and peers through the force field, beyond he can see a corridor lined with cells all behind more force fields – from this angle he can't tell if the cells are occupied. He begins to splice into the control panel, unfortunately this demands standing in plain sight and one of the medic droids spots him and points – before he can utter a command though, CH-01 shoots and the droid's head explodes, CH-01 then rolls out of the crawl space and takes cover behind one of the bunks.

Behind him Tray'essek leaps out and dashes towards the other medic (they have decided the medics must be the 'officers' so taking them out first is probably a priority), Matwe follows him, moving to the left he shoots at the medic and misses. The medic and Tray'essek fight in a whirl of blades to little effect.

Joval opens the access panel and drops the main force field – but not the ones holding the cells. The protocol droids react and open fire, group one shooting at CH-01 and missing. Group two shoot at Matwe and hit him (the door to the armoury swings open), while group three shoots at Joval and group four at Tray'essek, both are wounded.

Joval attempts to force the cell doors open but fails, cursing he jabs a stimpack into his thigh. Matwe dives through the open door to the armoury and also uses a stimpack. Tray'essek rips the medic apart and then races after Matwe, seeking cover. CH-01 continues to fire, eliminating two droids from group one.

The droids return fire, group one hitting CH-01 (and incidentally shooting out the light controls behind him, shrouding him in shadows), group two moves towards the armoury and shoots at Matwe, hitting him again (Matwe grabs a heavy blaster from the weapon racks). Group three manage to miss Joval standing at the access panel (as the wall explodes into chips around him, Joval drops his datapad). Group four also shoot at CH-01 but miss (the bunkbed takes a lot of damage though).

Joval recovers his datapad and finally releasing the cell force fields he stumbles into the corridor, seeking cover. As he moves around the corner he can see curious heads poking cautiously out of the cells – marines, lots of marines!

Matwe shoots at droid group two, taking down one of them; searching the shelf behind him he finds an emergency medical pack. Tray'essek bellows and charges back out; attacking all four droids of group two he disables one of them. CH-01 shoots and destroys another one from group one.

The two remaining droids of group one fumble with a control panel and turn the lights back on around CH-01, the three droids of group two fight Tray'essek but fail to hurt the trandoshan. Group three moves over to the control panel and attempts to reactivate the force fields – they fail. Group four shoots at CH-01 but misses.

Matwe shoots at group two and takes down a droid, CH-01 drops another from group one and Tray'essek kills both the remaining droids from group two, shredding them with his claws. Joval turns to the marines and shouts "Charge!" pointing at the droids attempting to close the force field doors. As 50 plus marines pour out of the cells, he steps back into cover.

The marines take losses but by sheer weight of numbers overwhelm the remaining protocol droids.

The barracks and armoury are secured.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - four games of MeG
2) What armies were confronted? - Late Eastern Patrician Roman vs successor Macedonian, another Later Eastern Patrician Roman, Early Carthaginian and a Bactrian Greek (not all at the same time)
3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - yes
4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - no
5) How many players were in the game? - doubles, so four per game.
Won one, lost three! Great games, top weekend!

[vonlacy]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - A Crown of Paper

2) What armies were confronted? - Lancaster v York

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - Five

Battle of Towton 1461 a two week game.

[paulr]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? Star Wars: Edge of Empire + Age of Rebellion

... Joval turns to the marines and shouts "Charge!" pointing at the droids attempting to close the force field doors. As 50 plus marines pour out of the cells, he steps back into cover.

This man will go far, or be shot out of hand

[Zippee]

This man will go far, or be shot out of hand

to be fair he's a bothan intelligence officer/technician he has no real reason to be anywhere near an actual gunfight - and he was/is badly injured.

[Nosher]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Chain of Command Campaign Game 1

2) What armies were confronted? - US and German

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, but plays very differently when you have named officers and NCO's.......

5) How many players were in the game? - solo

Game 1 in a solo campaign 10 days after DDay with US Forces (Delta Platoon of the 39th US Infantry Regiment) pressing German Fortress troops 4th Platoon/2nd Kompanie of the 729th Fortress Grenadier Regiment deeper into the Cotentin Peninsula.

Only it didn't turn out that way

The US Infantry platoon got a very bloody nose, losing two NCO's and suffering the embarrassment of a whole section being dispersed around the Normandy countryside trying to make their way back to allied lines after attempting a withdrawal under fire.

Some appalling patrol phase manouvres left the US struggling to cross their start line whilst Ostruppen MG42's played a merry dance pinning the Americans down.

To add insult to injury, the Ostruppen are now taking the fight to the American's and are set to probe the weakened US platoons defences.

Hoping to get game 2 in tomorrow with some pictures and background fluff.

[paulr]

Sounds like a good game, just not for the Americans

[Bodvoc]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque

2) What armies were confronted? - 6mm Parliamentarian v Royalist

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mainly yes.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No,

5) How many players were in the game? - four players with 2 commands each.

The Royalists were given a good hiding by the Parliamentarians (I was Royalist and my dice throwing has not improved!). We still all reckon that dragoons are too powerful in these rules. Last night a unit of dragoons took on two charging units of Royalist cavalry (first unit were also Elite Fighters) and won!

[Nosher]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Baroque

2) What armies were confronted? - 6mm Parliamentarian v Royalist

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Mainly yes.

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No,

5) How many players were in the game? - four players with 2 commands each.

The Royalists were given a good hiding by the Parliamentarians (I was Royalist and my dice throwing has not improved!). We still all reckon that dragoons are too powerful in these rules. Last night a unit of dragoons took on two charging units of Royalist cavalry (first unit were also Elite Fighters) and won!

I concur. Dragoons need downgrading shooting wise.

[sunjester]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Regiment of Foote

2) What armies were confronted? - Late Royalist and Parliament

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Yes

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No

5) How many players were in the game? - 2 Last Hussar and myself

Lesson to self - be (even) more aggressive! I was defending with the Royalists. I had my poorer infantry units on the right flank behind a stone wall, my veterans in the centre and massed my cavalry on the left, where there was open ground. LH massed his cavalry to face mine, deployed just enough troops on the other flank to pin mine guys there and launched as massive infantry assault in the centre.  As the countdown reached a score of 6 the cavalry had achieved mutual destruction (I had a couple of unit off table in pursuit, but they were both at a reduced strength) and, following a prolonged fire fight, LH had 5 infantry units closing in on my veterans. I decided to use the parley rule to end the battle early and in the end I'd achieved a marginal victory for the King.

We decided to play on, as we had time, "to see what might have happened". I threw my infantry forward, attack being the best form of defense, and promptly routed several of his units in quick succession!

[Chris Pringle]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles! (BBB)

2) What armies were confronted? - Confederate vs Union

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Absolutely!

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, it's been our staple diet for the past 7 years.

5) How many players were in the game? 4 + the ref

This was the ACW battle of Nashville, about which I knew nothing, but apparently was the only truly decisive battle of the war, in which an entire Confederate army was pretty much destroyed. Our game managed to replicate that fairly faithfully, but the scenario presented enough challenging decisions for both sides and the victory conditions are well calibrated.

I don't usually post here about my regular BBB outings, but this was my first BBB game for a month and I really needed my fix! As a bonus, I didn't have to do anything except turn up and play: Crispin not only wrote the scenario, he provided armies and custom-built terrain. We had a great time.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[Nosher]

Sunjester - ROF, Peter Pig RFCM yes?

Does it (like other games in their range) use the squared terrain movement system?

How much does slightly larger bases than 30x30 affect the game? My bases would be 40x40, three bases to a unit - two of pike, one of musket?

[toxicpixie]

On Baroque -

I concur. Dragoons need downgrading shooting wise.

I'm starting to wonder the same tbh. Not sure about downgrading shooting (ie giving them a shooting mod), but perhaps knock VBU down to 4, which is sort of the "tipping point" where a couple of hits becomes likely to smash you in one bound...

Must trot over to the Impetus forums and see what others think!

[Zippee]

On Baroque -

I'm starting to wonder the same tbh. Not sure about downgrading shooting (ie giving them a shooting mod), but perhaps knock VBU down to 4, which is sort of the "tipping point" where a couple of hits becomes likely to smash you in one bound...

Must trot over to the Impetus forums and see what others think!

Not been much in depth comment on it, but I think it's understood that they may be a bit good / under-priced. Similarly massed RE are a bit good / under-priced

In general there's not a lot of play experience being discussed, possibly due to the limited number of lists available. Whatever you opinion, tournaments produce the best performance commentary and I don't think there's been (M)any

You can comment on whether you think tercios are too manoeuvrable, whether gendarmes in 1560 should be heavier armoured and whether you think lancers should be able to use point blank shot just because they have a pistol though 

[toxicpixie]

Can't see any comment at all on Dragoons, though I do remember some muttering about Massed Reiters (and I do have to say on the occasion you manage to get the caracole to work it is good, but it ain't easy with all those Discipline tests!) and Massed units in general (the melee bonus is far better than the drop to S speed and minor vulnerability to Artillery, I think).

Tournaments tend to produce "hot house" results, and probe the margins but they're not a substitute for reasoned play testing and discussion. Although they do show what creative people will be willing to cheese against holes you didn't even know were there!

[Leman]

1) What ruleset do you use in your last game? - Bloody Big Battles! (BBB)

2) What armies were confronted? - Confederate vs Union

3) Did you feel comfortable with the ruleset? - Absolutely!

4) and... was the first time do you use the ruleset? - No, it's been our staple diet for the past 7 years.

5) How many players were in the game? 4 + the ref

This was the ACW battle of Nashville, about which I knew nothing, but apparently was the only truly decisive battle of the war, in which an entire Confederate army was pretty much destroyed. Our game managed to replicate that fairly faithfully, but the scenario presented enough challenging decisions for both sides and the victory conditions are well calibrated.

I don't usually post here about my regular BBB outings, but this was my first BBB game for a month and I really needed my fix! As a bonus, I didn't have to do anything except turn up and play: Crispin not only wrote the scenario, he provided armies and custom-built terrain. We had a great time.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

Looking forward to that one appearing in the scenario downloads. I'm very much a fan of the ACW Western Theatre which hasn't received that much coverage until relatively recently.