V the Mini Series - Outer World Encounters #5

Not every encounter takes place on earth.

The Visitor reach stretches far beyond our solar system, the outer worlds are populated by various species, with various levels of technology. In an unnamed Jungle world a party of shock troopers landed with orders to secure the processing plant, but they were not alone, a private military company was also racing for the resources to make matters worse the planet was infected by a terrible disease which turned the locals into zombies. 

The compound was defended by mobile robotic defences programmed to attack on sight anyone crossing the fence.

Both Shock Troopers and the PMC's made use of the available cover and set about cleansing the locals.

While the PMC had their hands full Diana and here troopers rushed for the security gate and the hard cover it gave the defenders.

True to 'TV' form the Shock Troopers fired and missed which enraged the PMC who made short work of the remaining infected and turned their attention on the Visitors.

Smoke had covered Diana's advance but it also served to allow the PMC's to get in close. One private burst through the smoke killing one of the troopers who was engaged in a long range fire fight with the advancing PMC's only to be killed before he could make good his escape.

Within the compound surprisingly the engineers were able to destroy the sentrybot and as the battle raged at the gate they were able to disable jammers and call for reinforcements. 

Game Over.

Great fun and nice to get in a big game of Stargrave, the random locals made for a good mix forcing both players to think about each move as each round of fire brought more encounters onto the table.

Dispatches from the front XXII - Projects old and new.

A rather eclectic mix of games and projects.

First up club night and over at the Wyvern's a 4 player Stargrave outing, using anything we can get our hands on, just simply turn up and play.

One of the chaps dug out the Core Space playing board, despite it only being 2x2 it did make a fun encounter with lots of laser blasts and Aliens popping out of the walls and floors. Warlords Algoryn took the bragging rights on the night.

Meanwhile the Visitors from the 4th planet from the Sirian Star make hard work of picking off the local inhabitants.

After months of nagging I finally relented and let my young nephew play with the grown up toys. King Arthur has to travel the table visiting various way points picking up recruits and defeating any nasty's along the way. We picked Songs of Blades and Heroes as a great introduction to proper gaming. 

My young padawan  picked up the rules really quickly, even if  he did play fast and loose with the measuring stick :-) After slaying numerous enemies.... Arthur was victorious.

I fear I have created a monster.

A fun encounter besides it gave me the excuse to finish off a couple of odds and ends such as the Warbases Gibbet and the mighty Excalibur stuck firmly in a stone. 

Having given the Sudan a well overdue outing I saw a post of on Tales From GHQ: The Battle of Tettenhall Green with an excellent game of The Very British Civil War. It's been a long while since Worcester was a flame... so maybe time for another outing.

With the King residing in the County at Madresfield Court, Worcester has stuck to it's long held motto of "Civitas in bello et pace fidelis" - The City Faithful in War & Peace. The City maintains a moderate pro government stance with reluctant support from the regular royalist forces and local Worcester City police.

Whilst largely peaceful as the crisis in the country unfolds a number of opposition groups have sprung up, notably armed elements from the Severn Riverside, Wharf, Labours Federation (SRWLF) with an enclave in the Diglis area. This group is supported by communists out of Birmingham and armaments being shipped over the Malvern's from the Anglican's based in Hereford. 

Just need to find where I packed the figures away now.

That's an old project now for a new one - Coming soon in May.

For years I fancied turning the excellent Standard Games - Outremer/Cry Havoc game to miniatures, with the new Baron's War range it might just make it to the table.

Until next time.....

V the Mini Series - Hearts & Minds #4

Its been a while but the recent Stargrave outings and the pending new releases from Crooked Dice nudged me to give the Visitors another outing.

No date as yet for the releases which is good as the painting desk is rather cluttered at the moment.

So on with game and back to Zikanga, this time with a mix of Stargrave and Ambush Alley, the insurgents hot spots need to contain fewer figures than in Ambush Alley but all the in all the balances works well crashing the rules together.

Having tried the stick now for the mouse (sorry carrot) must be the Visitor in me :-)                                With no sign of the militia attacks abating, Henry has the idea to turn the population against the local fighters and so with help from the UN detachment drops into a Zikinga Health Centre with a miracle drug designed to cure everything from yellow fever to malaria.  

However this high profile story was sure to present a target for the militia who had been growing in confidence in recent weeks. So as the locals looked on the insurgents crept closer to the compound.

Zikinga militia rush the main gate in an SUV, it's heavy machine gun sending the UN guards diving for cover. (Should the UN activate on a 1-2 they will abandon their posts and leave the lizards to it.)

From out of the hinterland and shanty huts the militia rush forwards.

The visitor engineers take cover amongst the medical supplies. One of the human guards let's off his guard dog to attack the faction leader, but it is cruelly shot and killed before it reaches his target. In true TV fashion the Security troopers rush forwards but they fail to inflict significant damage on the attackers who despite their poor quality are taking their toll on the aliens and their human lackey's.

Henry and Janice head for the safety of the Shuttle as their troopers failed to stem the tide of resistance fighters.

The Visitor relief force makes steady progress from the far road, hindered by the occasional militia man.

The Shuttle takes off leaving the Visitor defenders to the mercy of the attackers.

Diana and the relief column watched as the shuttle rose into the sky, they had failed to reach the Medical Centre and saw little point in pressing on knowing that Henry and Janice had cleared the war zone.

Capt Kelo hidden in one of the shanty huts watched as several prisoners were rounded up by the militia and dragged off into the jungle.

Can the prisoners be found and rescued.

Stay tuned next week..... (OK maybe a few months...)

Operation Jungle Heat - A Stargrave Alley mini campaign - Part 2

A short respite for lunch - Now for game two.

Without the professor the assault teams had to make it to the XP, the clan's men were filling the area and if Riddick stayed to long they would be in deep trouble.

If they could reach the XP it had a powerful transmitter, enough to break through the heavy cloud cover which was blocking their local comms to the off world lander.

The teams had to move fast, throwing smoke they rushed forwards, a couple of clansmen waited nervously as the raiders rushed forwards. Their luck was not too last the raiders and blue helmets swept on.

Trouble appeared in the form of an SUV, Riddick's Reapers fired off a couple of HE rounds which landed close by and they sprinted for cover.

Popping yet more smoke they rushed for the gate to the comms station.

The wind picked up and as the smoke cleared more Silvaro clan members appeared blazing away at the advancing troopers. One of the Garak Security troopers to a round knocking him to the ground.

Riddick rushed forwards throwing a grenade into the emplacement as the comms team made it to the bunker to radio the orbiting transport to get them off this tropical rock.

A great days gaming. 

The mash up between Ambush Alley and Stargrave made for a fast paced game, the reinforcements tables needed tweaking to bring the level of troops into play more manageable. 

Wounds were light in both games and the raiders were lucky to have anyone out of the fight which felt good when they were knocking down bad guys.

It had a good feel to it, with both of us looking to take more 'kills' home than the other, individually the clan members were no treat but on mass they could be a real problem.

Definitely more Ambush Alley-Stargrave mash ups to come.

Operation Jungle Heat - A Stargrave Alley mini campaign - Part 1

The recent run of Stargrave games has sent me down a right rabbit hole, we started chatting about how a well trained faction would fare against local NPC's and next thing you know we are mashing together Stargrave and Ambush Alley for a days gaming...

John Riddick got the call at 07.00 A renowned scientist in the field of FTL hyper drives and his team on were intercepted and forced to the surface of a far flung moon. The professor had a close protect team but the ambush was surgical. Within three minutes the entire detail was dead and the professor and his team were gone.

The bad press of a precision snatch and grab would be bad enough, but the professors know how could give any of the numerous off worlders the edge.

It took less than 8 hours to track down the professor thank heavens for the bio-chip to a jungle camp on the darkside of Garak 6. A known stronghold of the Silvaro clan. The Silvaro clan were a low tech bunch of minor criminals and savengers. Major Damitrius virtual image filled the room, that's the place troopers, when you get there, go in rocking and don't bother knocking.

A simple hostage rescue. In and out, no fuss.

Mission Brief

Riddick's team has been tasked with rescuing him and his team. The strike force must quickly infiltrate the neighbourhood rapidly neutralize resistance in the target building and secure the hostage for either a hover ship or ground evacuation.

The Silvaro clan start with 4 squads each made up of 5 Small Arms and 1 support weapon either a rocket launcher or Heavy Machine Gun. Together with 4 hot spots which would generate additional bad guys whenever any of the players triggered an initiative roll of less than 4 

Roll	Reinforcements
2	1 Rocket Launcher
3	1D3 Small Arms + Co-Pilot
4	1D3 Small Arms
5	1 Heavy Machine Gun
6	1D3 Small Arms + Heavy Machine Gun
7	1D3 Small Arms + Rocket Launcher
8	1D6 Small Arms
9	1D3 Small Arms + ROLL AGAIN
10	1 Heavy Machine Gun
11	1D6 Small Arms + Co Pilot + Rocket   Launcher
12	Jeep + Heavy Weapon

Riddick leads his Reapers up the main road, he orders his squads to skirt the shacks and positions his heavy weapons team to target the first of the hot spots.

The clan get a wake up call as a rocket round lands amongst them.

Riddick was supported by a local detachment of Garak troopers, the blue helmets who had been on the back foot for months and were pleased to be supported by such a fine unit of military superstars.

As the turns ticked by more and more clan members filled the table. 

The first hot spot is cleared and the rescue team head further up the table. The clock was ticking, we had 3 hours to get in and grab the boffin.

The second hot spot would be a tougher nut to crack, a sandbag emplacement filled with clan members armed with carbines and heavy weapons. Riddick ordered the local security forces to deal with these whilst he went for the prof.

In true hollywood fashion Riddick's missileman popped up and firer an AP round it ripped into the truck in the compound scattering a number of the guards.

Riddick popped smoke and his men rushed to cover the vehicle park.

Riddick hunkered down behind the skip, he was in touching distance of the professor but the fire from the clan members was intense.  Riddick had to watch as the professor was dragged away.

Very frustrating. Riddick's team had missed their target by 10 mins and a few meters. 

Lunch...... Now to get the hell out of dodge.......