Poldercon TNT scenario - Tanks for nothing - test game 1

Right, first test game in the pocket and it is safe to say Erik and I are hooked.

From the start, including set up of scenery, to the final roll of the dice took us less then 90 minutes. We are both experienced gamers and the game isn't complex so the basics were in our system before the first turn had ended. We really like the unpredicatbility of never knowing you will get to activate someone again. Erik was rolling 20''s like they were free (we had brought the wrong dice by accident, so the 20's were actually 10's of course) in the first half of the game. Later on, not so much. But more about that later.

First, the set up. Basically all we have right now that is suitable.

Nothing too open, but not too built up either. My mat is a Desert Hotz mat with airbrushed rocks, works well for now.

My band of Peacekeepers (actually Necromunda Cawdor), pretty much WYSIWYG apart from the juve with a knife and pistol...he had no pistol. The leaders bolter counted as a submachine gun (well, a very big one)

Eriks band of Mutants (converted plastic IG mini's forma long time ago), also pretty much WYSIWYG apart from having no double head :)

The game had some very tense moments. I rolled terribly for my activations so didn't get very far at first, but then Erik started to fail a few and I killed one of his mutants with a mid range shot. I then managed to move my men up and my knife guy actually made it to the water heater and in his next turn managed to spike it for 1 AP. My boss then joined up and he spiked the remaining 1 AP. I then took a casualty as my shotgun was taken out of action and then the Mutant flamer made a bold move and managed to hose my knife guy and my leader. Knife guy died, the leader was miraculously missed. He then moved his leader 1 inch away from mine and hosed me with his assault rifle....and missed (thank God!). My leader switched to his light weapon and returned the favour by charging him and was greeted with a electric shock....that didn't hit. He managed to score one wound on the mutant leader that then rolled a 1 for his morale test and he was gone. My assault gunner then moved up and shot down the mutant flamer by hosing him with rapid fire (with 1 measly hit), only to be killed in the next round by a Mutant shooting from high up cover. My leader then moved back to the water heater and filled his jug. My rifleman was taking pot shots across the table with the mutant on high ground in cover and didn't manage to hit anything, so I had hoped to move him towards the water heater for another jug of water but a tring of activation failures meant he never made it there and my leader left the table with the water. Eriks men retreated too, even after passing his 50% and 25% bottle tests, but they just decided they would have none of it.

So, a win for the victorious Peacekeepers.

And a loss for the remaining mutants....or was it?

Purely on VP's I scored 7 vs Erik's 3....a win. But playing this game is half the fun. the other half is seeing who lives and dies and then the exploration phase.

So, Erik's leader had a Close Call, and his flamer and submachine guy were both Banged Up.

I on the other hand had a Dead shotgun guy, a Lucky Break for knife guy and a Close Call for the assault gunner.

Experience wise we had the following:

Erik's Mutants

• Leader +2 xp
• Flamer +3 xp
• Submachine +2 xp
• MP +4 xp
• Rifle +2xp

My Peacekeepers

•  Leader +6 xp
• Shotgun - DEAD
• Knife - 2xp
• Assault Gun - 5xp 
• Rifle - 2xp

So, a win on XP as well.

Then we went exploring.

 Oh FFS...not only does he have more people that can explore, he finds way more bottlecaps and he pulled a face card (Ace of Hertas - you find a offline Depend-o-bot) and he passes the test!

Erik's Mutants earn 51 Bottlecaps and a free robot! He must spend 10 BC for his upkeep.
My team collects 36 Bottlecaps, and I must spend 6 BC for my upkeep, but I will need to rehire another guy.

....if this would have been a real game :)

So, all in all, easy to learn, deadly, no endless dice rolling or that GW "tons-a-dice" crap and the leveling and exploring is just the cherry on top. I think this introgame can be played in 60 minutes if I give the players the following:

• Quick reference sheet
• Weapons stats sheet (on the back of the QRF)
• Character cards for the players with a picture of who they represent
• The right dice :)
• A copy of the scenario

Which then leaves 30 minutes for discussing the game and showing how the experience goes and how much fun that part is.

All in all quite happy. Still plenty of time to get the scenery sorted out, custom pieces made (the central 4x4 inch (or bigger) ruined building with the water heater) and lot's more scatter scenery. Pat's pallets worked really well scattered on the board.

Poldercon TNT scenario - Tanks for nothing - planning stage

The scenario I have selected was released in a demo pack a few weeks ago  It contains the rules, a QRF sheet, cut outs for markers and miniatures and of course a introductory scenario for 2 or more players called "Tanks for nothing". In this scenario the goal of the players is to tap water from old water heater (and not get killed) and either have it in your possession by the end of the game or make your way off the board with it.

What I need for this game is the following:

• A central ruin of 4 inches in diameter or bigger that houses the water heater.
• Enough scenery to fill the rest of the 90x90 or 120x120 board and have plenty of line of sight breakers. 
• A minimum of 2 players.
• Miniatures or cut-outs for 2 or more premade warbands.
• Markers and dice.
• A water heater.

I've laminated and bound the entire pack, prepped the cut out miniatures by glueing it to thin card, laminated all of the markers and that was as far as I could go for now. Until Erik mentioned to me that he had read through the pack and wanted to have a go at playing the game this friday. Just after lunch today I grabbed some bits from my bits box, a bit of wire, a base and some superglue later I had a sort-of water heater, a quick paintjob later I had a finished sort-of water heater and after applying 2 coats of varnish and some papers on the base I have a really finished sort-of water heater.

 In situ it looks the part. Sure, the base colour is different but such is life with washes...and the building (still) isn't finished yet.

The water heater was made from a 1/24 truck bit, with brass wire and pipe, a Zinge industries valve and some pinheads. Paintjob using foam stipling and several light washes.

Erik will bring some Mordheim scenery to fill out the table, so we will see how the game goes. Plenty of time to make adjustments if the need arises.

The rest of the scenery should be done by November as I have a deadline for the Crisis show for a Rogue Trader game.

Poldercon CY6! scenario - Old Crow - planning stage

The scenario I have selected for the Poldercon CY6! mission is "Old Crow". This is from the original rulebook. It desribes a mission by the 363rd Fighter squadron flying P-51B's, escorting B-17G's on a bombing run to Leipzig, being attacked by Bf-109's and Fw-190's. Things like spotting, visibility, sun side etc will not be used for the demo game, this is purely for flying and shooting.

What I need for this game is the following:

Germans:
2x Bf 109G-6
2xFw 190-A8

Americans:
4x P-51B
6x B-17G

After checking my extensive collection I find that the Germans are not the problem, they are easily covered. The Ameican side however is a problem. I only own 4 B-17G's, and 1 of those has the underside and top turrets filed down (what was I thinking??) so that is useless. I'll need to order 2 packs of those (ISA 280b at 2.80 Pounds per 2). Strangely, I also do not own any Mustang B's ( I could have sworn I had a few) so those will need to be ordered as well (ISA 283a at 2.00 Pounds per 6) but 1 pack of those will suffice.

After checking tons of planes I noticed that quite a few of them already had magnets drilled and glued in place, but worryingly half a dozen or so had shattered magnets, where the outer layer had peeled off and the magnet itself seems to have disintegrated? A few aircraft had small nailheads in the underside, which might be a safer bet as replacing a shatterd magnet from inside a painted aircraft is a nightmare, where the magnets from the flightstands are easily replaced. The nailhead would also help with hooking on the smoke trail for an engine fire. I'll go have a look for a box of small nails at the DIY tomorrow, can't be too expensive at the Hornbach in Tilburg where I have to be tomorrow to get started on clearing out the garage.

Painting wise I will start with the 2 German sets, see if I'm not missing any suitable decals and if so, order those along with the American planes when and if I have the money. I will paint them the same way as I'm used to, in pairs with the same scheme, but different numbering and/or prop colour. Old Crow and friends are easy, tons of info on that scheme for any particular date to be found, including D-Day schemes (always nice).

Which ia great scheme for the first flight, and to diversify I'd like to use another Fighter aquadron (486th) and go with this scheme:

Easy to see which group is which.

For the 109G-6's I think I will go with this, easy scheme for later war as well even if this one is missing the nose bulges.

Fw190's...Pips machine is pretty iconic. Also grey camouflage suitable for later war.