Saturday Gaming

Junior and I got in two games of my new home-brewed skirmish wargame on Saturday. I put the rules together because I'm just not really altogether happy with the other small-scale rules I've looked at lately. Once I've playtested enough and edit the written rules to my satisfaction, I'll probably post them for anyone to use.

Game 1 featured my US Army National Guardsmen and the Giant Radioactive Bugs from the Swamp. Junior took control of the Giant Ladybugs. His goal was to devour sheep at the farm nearby. The National Guard was to protect the herd and kill bugs.

Our initial setups. The bugs had to start in the pond. The Army had to set up within 12" of their table edge.

The bugs make their way through the woods for cover. The heavily armed jeep covers the road.

The bugs shoot the gap. The Queen and one Drone have taken a point of damage. The bug in the middle of the road is running interference - targeting priority means the Recoilless Rifle is going to have a hard time hitting the swarm further away stampeding through the fence.

INCOMING! The Army is about to get up close and personal with the monsters.

A giant bug attacks the jeep. It managed to destroy the gun, rendering the jeep pretty useless.

The generals.

The bazooka man managed to blast the Queen to smithereens before running forward to help Sergeant Jones with the bug he's been dueling with for a few minutes now.

The Guardsmen surround the last bug and squash it! 

By the rules of the scenario, we determined that even though the bugs were wiped out, they still had a minor victory for killing more than 4 sheep. Need to make the bugs slightly tougher.

Game 2 featured my hapless Fantasy Human Warband against the wily Undead horde. It was a more straight forward affair - a simple hack n' slash kill fest. We both got to test out spell casting, I had my Algor the Green Wizard and Junior's leader was Blackie the Black, Necromancer Supreme. 

Our setups. Junior formed small groups of 2 or 3 models. I formed two large groups, one of 5 and the other of 6 models.

Two of his skellies flanking my left side.

Yeah, I got flanked. I was hoping the spearmen (just out of frame to the bottom) and archers would be able to deal with the two wretches.

The battle is met in the center!

Things didn't go so well on my left. His archers pegged one of my spearmen thanks to a fortunate target priority override. He moved his Necromancer and a bodyguard out to duel my Wizard. It put his Necromancer within range of nearly every casualty making his Resurrection spell extremely useful.

He managed to kill one of my very strong Swordsmen and resurrect him as a skeleton warrior.

Algor, in a desperate attempt to slow down the horde, casts Explosion, hitting everything within 6 inches of himself with a moderate attack. It of course fails to harm any of the Undead and kills everything left in my force, save the Wizard.

With that, I surrendered. One knuckleheaded wizard against the boneyard just isn't what the doctor ordered. 

Both games were very entertaining. I am quite happy with the rules. I need to make significant changes to two of the spells Junior got with his Necromancer. They were next to useless and need to get powered up. Resurrect was brutal. That what playtesting is for though. Actually, he brought up many points in the second game that will help the game in general.