I've Played A Solo Game...

...of Strontium Dog!


Having finished painting all of the models in the range some months ago, this morning I figured it was about time that I actually played a game with them. So, out came the rules for a quick read before setting up a scenario.

The Scenario

I decided to select Johnny alpha and Max Bubba as the respective team leaders. Rolling to see who would be the protagonist, Max scored a 2 against Johnny's 1.For the mission type, I rolled a 4 - Assault, then a 5 - Seize. A further roll of 2 gave the encounter type as a stakeout. Checking the Seize mission, I rolled a 3 meaning the target was a Traitor (comes with a quality hand blaster - I choose the High Power upgrade).

The Traitor - he gets the Gunfighter skill

Recruiting teams to 50 Notoriety I get:

Johnny Alpha with Wulf Sternhammer and Middenface MacNulty

Max Bubba with Impetigo Jones, Brute Mosely, Hiss Weerd and a Stix

The mission gives each side 50,000 Credits to spend. Johnny uses this for a roll on the Law Enforcement table - a 4 would give him a Marshall, but he drops it to a 2 to recruit two Deputies with basic hand blasters. Max rolls a 6 on the Outlaws table but drops to a 5 to recruit two goons with basic hand guns.

Deputies

Goons

Armoury cards - I dealt out 6 cards for each leader, then selected three each. Johnny has a special rule that allows him to keep 1 extra armoury card.

Johnny's amoury cards

Max's armoury cards

Chicanery cards - each leader was dealt 3 cards. Max Bubba has a special rule giving him an extra chicanery card, so a fourth was dealt for him.

Johnny's chicanery cards

Max's chicanery cards

"Jimmy Quickhands has turned fink and wants to spill the beans on Max Bubba's plans. Johnny Alpha has been despatched by the S/D agency to collect him from the planet Drongo, where he has turned himself into the local Marshall's office."

"Max Bubba has tracked him down and brought his team to the hideout where the Deputies are handing him over to Alpha."


With all of the pre-game housekeeping done, I added activation chips to the bag. Both sides had three models with a Cool of 4+, so three star chips were included for each side.

Max Bubba's gang

Johnny Alpha's team

Turn 1

this turn mostly saw characters moving, but there was also some shooting. At the end of his first activation, Wulf successfully returned his star chip to the bag meaning he would get another activation this turn. That came around quite quickly - he moved and shot at the Stix causing two wounds , but this time failed to return the chip to the bag.

Stix with 2 wounds and pinned

Hiss Weerd moved up and took a shot at Wulf causing 3 wounds; one of the Goons also moved and took a shot at Wulf inflicting a 4th wound, incapacitating him.

"Viking down...I repeat...Viking down!"

Positions at end of Turn 1

Turn 2

The Stix hunkered down behind the platformed-tank and managed to remove one wound. One of the Goons moved up and climbed on top of the triple-tank; the other moved up into cover at its base. Hiss took a shot at Johnny, who managed to evade.

One of the Deputies climber up the watchtower and took a shot at the Goon on the triple-tank, but missed. Brute Mosely shot at Middenface causing 2 hits, but Middenface saved against both but took a stun.

Note - if the number of hits and saves are equal, the target doesn't take any wounds but does take a stun.

The second deputy took a shot at Impetigo Jones but missed. Johnny took a long range shot at Hiss, who evaded; he successfully returned his chip to the bag. Impetigo Jones returned fire on the deputy, but also missed.

Johnny activated again and used a Hunker Down action to drag Wulf into cover and played the Medipac card to heal all his wounds. Jimmy Quickhands (the traitor) took an aimed shot at Hiss, but missed.

Note - an Aimed Shot is a double action and the player can either add 1 die to the initial to hit roll or to the Power if he does hit.
Correction - it's +2 dice, which might have made a difference to the game.

Max Bubba moved twice, then failed to return his chip to the bag. Middenface aimed at Brute Mosely but missed, then Johnny activated again, climbing the ri-tank and taking a snapshot at the Goon on top - 3 hits, no saves = 1 dead goon.

Turn 3

Johnny took an amied shot at the Stix - 2 hits, 2 saves so just a stun - and successfully returned the start chip to the bag. The next chip out was a star chip, so Johnny took another aimed shot - 3 hits, no saves, the Stix was down!

Sadly, Johnny didn't manage to return the chip this time.

The Deputy on the watchtower took another aimed shot at Hiss, who evaded into cover - being out in the open in a bright red outfit was obviously making him a target! The other Deputy moved and took a snapshot at Impetigo Jones, only causing a stun.

Hiss moved up behind cover and took a shot at Middenface - 2 hits, 2 saves caused a stun. Jimmy Quickhands circled round behind the triple-tank, out of sight of any of Max's gang. Max made a double move up to the triple tank, then Brute Mosely decided to give up on shooting and charged Middenface. The impact was brutal - 3 hits, no saves - Middenface was down!

"Scotsman down...I repeat...Scotsman down!"

Impetigo Jones missed another aimed shot at the Deputy on the tower; the remaining Goon slipped forward and took a shot at the now-recovered Wulf, who managed to evade it. Severely annoyed, Wulf opted to charge the Goon, inflicting 1 wound and a pin.


Turn 4

Hiss moved out from behind cover and managed to return his chip to the bag. The Goon removed his pin and then moved away from Wulf - nobody wants to be in striking distance of an enraged Viking!

Brute decided that this charging lark was fun and decided to do it again, taking out the nearby Deputy.

Hiss took an aimed shot at Wulf - 2 hits, 3 saves, no effect - and again managed to return his chip. The Deputy on the tower took another aimed shot at Impetigo Jones, inflicting another stun.

Like Brute, Wulf decided that charging people was "most good fun, my old cucumber" and launched himself at Max Bubba - 4 hits, two saves = 2 wounds on Max.

Note - Wulf gets a base of 4 dice for his Fight stat, plus 1 for charging and a further 1 for "der happy stick, ja?".

Hiss moved into a better position and took another shot at Wulf - again 2 hits, 3 saves, no effect. This time he failed to return his chip to the bag. Impetigo Jones chose to use both his actions to remove the Two stuns he was carrying.

Jimmy Quickhands moved into close range and took a snapshot at his old boss, Max, from behind - two more wounds took Max down.

Pulling the last chip, Johnny removed his pin marker and dropped down from the triple-tank.

Turn 5

The surviving Deputy took two shots at Hiss from the tower - the first hit causing one wound, the second missed. Jimmy Quickhands moved up to the paltformed tank, ready to shoot Jones in the back. Johnny took an aimed shot at Hiss - 3 hits, no saves - Hiss was down!

The remaining Goon decided discretion was the better part of valour (besides which, with Max down he wasn't likely to get paid for this job now) and moved into cover.

Impetigo Jones, clearly having hear Jimmy moving up behind him, turned and fired - 3 hits, 1 save - the traitor was down!

Brute looked for his next target and decided that the remaining Deputy looked tasty, so he moved up to the foot of the tower. Wulf removed his pin and moved up to the platformed tank.

Note - at this point with the Traitor down and over half of Max's gang down, the game should have ended. However, I'd missed that item and carried on to the bitter end.


Turn 6

Aware that Brute has reached the foot of the tower, the Deputy up top leans over and takes two snapshots - the first causes 1 wound, the second misses.

The Goon moves into short range of Wulf and shoots, but misses.

Wulf charges Impetigo Jones - 3 hits, 3 saves, just a stun. Jones doesn't fancy staying in the Berserker's swing and moves away as far as he can.

Johnny passes a cool test to remove his pin then moved into close range and shot at Brute Mosely - inflicting 1 wound.

Brute chose to hunker down in cover away from the tower, but didn't manage to remove either of his two wounds.

Turn 7

Johnny passed his cool test and removed his pin, moving up and shooting at Brute again - 2 hits, 1 save - Brute was down!

With the coast now clear, the Deputy climbed down from the tower and moved towards the remaining action.

Jones took an aimed shot at Wulf - 1 hit, 1 save, just a stun. This clearly enraged Wulf so he charged at Jones - 3 hits, 1 save, 2 wounds - Jones was down!

Note - as Wulf was carrying 1 stun marker, his Fight stat was reduced to 3 for this attack (plus 1 for charging, plus 1 for "der happy stick").

The Goon shot at the Deputy causing 1 wound.

Turn 8

The first chip out of the bag was a star chip (well, there was a 50:50 chance of that happening). As Wulf was in charge range of the Goon, it would have been rude not to let him continue his berserker rampage so in he went - 2 hits, 1 save - the Goon was down, leaving just Johnny, Wulf and one deputy standing.


Just for fun I decided to work through the post-game process as if this was part of a campaign.


Effects of Wounding
The first job was to determine the effect on any downed characters.

Team Johnny:
Johnny - n/a
Wulf - n/a
Middenface - minor wound (1 game)
Jimmy Quickhands (the traitor) - just a scratch
Deputy 1 - just a scratch
Deputy 2 - n/a

Max's Gang:
Max - just a scratch
Impetigo Jones - minor wound (1 game)
Brute Mosely - minor wound (1 game)
Hiss Weerd - acute wound (3 games)
Stix - minor wound (1 game)
Goon 1 - minor wound (1 game)
Goon 2 - just a scratch

Bounties, Collateral and Medical Expenses
As the Traitor was taken out, the 500,000 credit reward gets split equally between the two sides, so 250,000 credits each.

Team Johnny:
Mission Bounty - 250,000
Unused Armoury cards - 150,000
Unused Chicanery cards - 150,000
Medical Expenses - -65,000
Net Earnings - 485,000 credits

Max's Gang:
Mission Bounty - 250,000
Unused Armoury cards - 150,000
Unused Chicanery cards - 200,000
Medical Expenses - -250,000
Net Earnings: 350,000 credits

Deeds
Brute Mosely - took out Middenface = +1
Impetigo Jones - took out the Traitor = +1
Johnny - won the scenario; took out Hiss, Brute and the Stix = +4
Wulf - took out Impetigo Jones = +1


Grudges

Team Johnny:
Opponents' Deeds = 3
Acute or Serious Wounds = 0
Defender in Seize mission = 1
Named character taken down by non-named = 1
Total = 5

Max's Gang:
Opponents' Deeds = 5
Acute or Serious Wounds = 1
Defender in Seize mission = 0
Named character taken down by non-named = 2*
Total = 5

*the Traitor counts as a non-named character (I just gave him a name for the narrative)


My thoughts on the game

It was rollocking good fun and certainly played out like many of the stories in the comics. For a first game it was perhaps a bit over the top - it would probably have been easier with smaller gangs (and would have taken less time). Including set up and a break for lunch, the game played out over about 4 hours. Stopping to take photos, make notes for this AAR and checking rules probably doubled the playing time.

The activation system worked well and the chance to return the star chips wasn't overpowering - most attempts failed and there were only the two times that a character got three activations in a turn.

Weapons weren't overpowered, in my opinion, but close combat attacks were mostly quite brutal.

I'm not sure how these rules will transfer over to he Judge Dredd game where (typically) two Judges would be facing off against seven or eight (admittedly much weaker) opponents. The risk of taking a pin for failing to return a star chip could be very dangerous for them as they won't be able to use their reaction abilities (Gunfighter, Brawler) if pinned. One of the designers has suggested an alternative where instead of taking star chips, the Judges put a number of normal chips equal to their Cool into the bag; for each activation after the first they test against Cool to see if they get one or two actions.

Bank Holiday Kunersdorf Game

As the August Bank Holiday was the nearest date we could get to the 260th anniversary of the Battle of Kunersdorf, we had decided to do a re-fight at the club (hence my recent painting splurge to finish all the Russian line regiments for my collection). Historically, this was Freddy the Great's worst defeat. It took place shortly after the Battle of Palzig (aka Battle of Kay).

The History Bit

Following their win at Palzig, the Russians under Saltykov had continued their advance toward Frankfurt an der Oder, reaching Kunersdorf on 30 July. On 8 August they were joined by an Austrian corps under Loudon. The army was assembled on a ridge of hills to the North of the town and set about fortifying their position.

Meanwhile, Freddy had gathered an army of about 49,000 men and marched to meet them. Having reconnoitred the Russian positions he planned to repeat his tactics at Leuthen, feinting with a small force from the North whilst bringing the main part of his army through heavy woodland to the East to strike in force at what he believed was the soft rear of the opposition. However, when the Prussians emerged they discovered that Saltykov had outguessed them and they were now facing a well fortified front line.

Following a preliminary bombardment, the Prussians launched their initial attack against the Muhlberg on the Russian left flank held by Suvalov's Corps of Observation, who having borne the brunt of the bombardment finally broke under the weight of the assaulting Prussian grenadiers.

Freddy then turned his attention to rolling up the Russian lines. Unfortunately for him, the time taken to bring up artillery and fresh troops onto the captured Muhlberg also allowed time for Saltykov to redeploy troops and guns to defend against this threat. With the first Prussian wave defeated, and his generals imploring him to retire and attack again the following day, Freddy took a gamble and ordered Seydlitz's cavalry to cross the streams and attack the battery on the Grosser Spitzberg.

The cavalry fought hard but unsuccessfully. They finally broke and routed when Russian and Austrian cavalry charged into their flank.

Freddy's left wing infantry then attacked and captured Kunersdorf and went on to assault the Grosser Spitzberg. Saltykov had reinforced this position with regiments from further along the line; in places the Russians were 4 or 5 lines deep. the fighting was brutal and the Prussians were taking very heavy casualties and becoming exhausted.

Platen tried to widen the combat by sending his cavalry to try to take the Russians from behind - their charges were repulsed by artillery fire.

It was that at this point that Loudon brought forward the Russian and Sustrian cavalry reserve which hit the left wing of the Prussians, breaking and routing them. the Prussians fled North along the Kuhgrund (the defile between the Grosser Spitzberg and the Muhlberg)., abandoning some 160 artilery pieces. During the flight and pursuit, Freddy was nearly killed by a shot and also nearly captured by some Cossacks - they were driven off by the Zieten hussars.


But that's enough of the blather, on with pics (and some commentary).


I actually arrived very early and had quite a long wait until Mike and Stan arrived around 1pm. We got the tables set up, then while they were laying out the terrain I took the time to organise the Russians into their various commands (divisions, lines and brigades). Whilst doing this I discovered that somehow I had missed packing 3 of the musketeer regiments. Luckily I had packed 2 converged grenadier regiments that weren't needed and had a unit-width marker that could be used to replace them. When the terrain was in place, I started deploying the Russians; Mike deployed the Observation Corps, his Cossacks and the Austrian reserves.

Elliot and Peter arrived while we were doing this. The Prussians were then sorted out using hte regiments brought by Stan and Elliot, along with some Hessians from Mike which could substitute for anything which was missing.

Finally, around 2.30-2.45pm we were able to begin. For the Allied army, Mike took the left wing command and Loudon's reserves; Peter (a newbie to the rules) took the left-centre and centre commands; I took the right-centre and right wing commands. Elliot too the Prussian "feint" command and Stan was Freddy with their main force.


The Prussians had first turn and began with their preliminary bombardment of the Russian left wing (the Observation Corps on the Muhlberg). This proved more effective than historical events and nearly half the target units were eliminated, despite being behind fortifications. Mike redeployed their second line units into the vacant front line slots in our first turn. The fighting at that end went on for several turns until the Muhlberg was overrun. the Prussians then had to cross the Kuhgrund and assault the Russians on the Grosser Spitzberg.


Meanwhile, over on my wing, the Russian cavalry started a long, long march around the end of the line to (eventually) occupy the field in front of the centre divisions. After about 15 of our turns (nearly 3 hours of moving), they were sorted out and in position to either attack or defend against the Prussian cavalry. As Stan chose not to follow what happened historically, it was down to me to attack him across the stream.

The fights dragged on for the rest of the game until we called it at 8pm. I think we must have played somewhere in the region of 25-30 turns for each side. The Prussians had caused many more casualties and captured the town and the Muhlberg, but had ground to a resounding halt against the main Russian infantry. They were also not doing well against the combined Russian and Austrian cavalry. We therefore decided to call it a draw, but if the game had continued the Prussian cavalry would very shortly have been overwhelmed and my Allied horsemen would have broken through into Freddy's rear.

Enough of the description, now for the pics (some of them a bit fuzzy and shaky). Apologies for the darkness - it was a very warm day and we opted not to have all the lights on so as not to add more heat to the room.

Deployment:

The tables were set up as 8' x 6' covering the Allied centre to left wing with a 6-x 4' table covering the Allied right-centre and right wings. The river is the Oder and marks the effective boundary of play.

Russian right wing

Russian right-centre and centre

Russian centre, left-centre and left wing

View from the Prussian right wing

The Muhlberg - well fortified but filled with crap troops!

The Prussian right wing "feint"

The Prussian main force

After a few turns:

My cavalry still has about 9 foot to march to make contact.

All the Prussians have now arrived on the table.

Mike's crap Cossacks actually charged Elliot's elite Prussian grenadiers.
Foolhardy, but it did delay their assault briefly.

Pruyssian grenadiers assault the Muhlberg...

...successfully

"Are we nearly there yet?"

Observation Corps grenadiers attempt to throw the Prussians back out...

...and fail, routing through (and routing) the unit behind them.
They did survive a few rounds of melee though.

The Muhlberg is now in Prussian hands.

"Are we nearly there yet?"
"We are there. Well, the hussars and Cossacks are."

Lining up to charge across the stream

"Is this a good idea sir? I mean, we're hussars and they're cuirassiers..."

"So what? We've got Cossacks to support us. Charge!"

"Get in there, son!"

"Sir, I thought you said the Cossacks were going to support us?"

More and more Russian and Austrian cavalry appear on the field.

"Hussars on hussars? Might do better here!"

"OK, let's try this again!"
"Errmm, sir, I believe that both of these lot are "elite"!"

 

"I think we might leave this gap to the Austrians!"

The Austrians line up to charge.
"Hang on, what happened to the Gruzinskiy and Venguerskiy hussars?"
"Sir, it seems that they have broken and some Prussian cuirassiers have pursued
over the stream"

"Aha! So they've fallen into our cunning trap!"

Well, the Austrian dragoons refused to charge those cuirassiers and were then charged themselves. I was able to reinforce the melee with both of those Cossacks , hitting the cuirassiers in the flank and rear. Minced Prussian anyone?

"Do we charge yet, sir?"
"Not yet, boys, not yet!"

"Now we do"

 However, the Russian cuirassiers and horse grenadiers opt not to charge at this point.

As my right wing troops were doing eff all, I decided to start redeploying.
Two artillery batteries and a few infantry regiments to support them started their moves onto the field.

The Prussian assault on Grosser Spitzberg across the Kuhgrund.

The Austrian dragoons defeated the Prussian hussars and crossed the stream.
Sadly, they had rolled low and didn't make contact with the next hussar unit.

All in all, it was a great afternoon (and early evening) of gaming. If we had been able to continue, the outcome would probably have followed history as my cavalry was now across the stream and threatening the Prussian left flank and rear. We also had a crap load of fresh infantry regiments to pout into the fight (Albeit that they would have taken a long time to redeploy).

One thing I did discover is that I need some more Russian commander bases - I didn't have quite enough to represent all of the line, division and brigade officers. That's easily solved with purchases at Colours in 2 weeks' time!