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 First Blood! Two newbies and their first game

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Laney
Mordheimer
Arachas
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Arachas

Arachas


Posts : 1880
Join date : 2010-08-15
Age : 39
Location : Secret Volcano Lair in The Netherlands

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Empty
PostSubject: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSat Sep 18, 2010 4:16 pm

Ah... we come to it at last. The first battle of our time. That's right! My buddy and I played our first game today. Let me start with a little anecdote.

Last night I was chatting on MSN with my friend. We were talking about the game and our squads. Since he was going to play Urban Fighters, I linked him the discussion thread concerning theColonel's Urban Fighters, so he could take a look at the list. Completely unbeknowest I proceeded looking at the thread myself and the picture thread theColonel put up, wondering what my friend was going to bring to the game. So this afternoon he comes over, we have coffee and he starts unpacking his stuff. I take a look at his mini's and hear myself saying: "Dude, cool. You converted the guns just like that Colonel guy on the forums." Then he pulls out a set of very familiar looking booby traps and everything falls silent for a moment. He puts a way too broad grin on his face...

... crap.

Yes, I suck. Omg. You can guess the mysterious identity of theColonel now, LOL. I did a few facepalms to punish me for my lack of vision afterwards. confused

Anyhow, the game! Here's a summary with pics!

Campaign game 1
Scenario: defend the find
Contestants: Arachas' Cadians vs. the Colonel's Praetor Infiltrators (Urban Fighters)

Seeing as my generic Guardsmen outnumbered Colonel's Praetors by several men, he was designated the defender. He deployed in the building in the centre of the table, with my Cadians deploying along the table edge not far away. I'd have to assault his position: luckily, I brought enough canon fodder!

Initial set-up:

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Overview1

The attackers:

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Attackers1

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Attackers2

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Attackers3

And the defenders:

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Defenders1

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Defenders2

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Defenders3

Turn 1:
Saw the Cadians moving in, confident that their superior numbers would carry the day. Initial fire stunned one of the Praetors' infantrymen. The Cadians' hopes were soon tested as they moved through the ruins not far from the objective building. The lead trooper had barely time to cry in surprise as his head exploded in a gory mess. On the other side of the building, in the open, one of the Praetor's Lieutenants had trained his shotgun on the Cadians, masterfully picking them off as they moved through the ruins.

The Cadians move up:

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Round1

Turn 2:
With the right flank of the Cadians taking heavy fire in the previous turn, the left flank now took a beating. As they homed in on the objective, the Praetors' HW specialist let rip with his flamer and casually toasted a Cadian sarge, while stunning the Lieutenant next to him. On the right flank, the shotgun Lieutenant kept pumping shots into the Cadian's cover, this time blasting two of them over a wall, into the cover (with a ricochet critical!).

The Praetorian Lieutenant (far to the right), picks off his targets:
First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Overview2


Turn 3:
By turn 3 the Cadians were able to take up a firing position themselves and started blasting away at the beleaguered Praetors. The Praetors' other Lieutenant, positioned behind a low wall, took the brunt of the fire on the Cadian's right flank, but was unharmed. The trooper next to him caught a mouthful of stone splinters in the proces, though, and slumped to the ground, stunned (again, ricochet!).The Praetors relented, the Lieutenant with the shotgun once again hitting the Cadians in the ruined building, grazing the Cadian Captain!

Turn 4:
This turn the Cadian flamer came in range of the objective building and immediately started toasting Praetorians. On the right flank, the Cadian sarge exchanged furious fire with the Praetorian shotgunner.

Turn 5:
The Cadian Lieutenant on the left flank declared a charge, receiving covering fire from two recruits. Those did their job too well and gunned down the Lieutenant's target before he could reach it! Out in the open, he was summarily gunned down by the defenders - but stubbornly held on to life, getting away with a stunned result!

The Cadian Lieutenant out in the open:

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Overview5

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Duel

Turn 6:
The Cadian Lieutenant on the right flank was set to charge, hustled up... and tripped. His charge stranded in front of the defenders' gunline, but survived the hail of fire flung his way!

Cadian Lieutenant tripping... the guy in the middle, with the brown undercoat.

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Overview4

Turn 7:
Making up for last turn, the Cadian Lieutenant summarily executed the the Praetorian in front of him. In an attempt to secure victory, the Cadian medic moved up to lend support to the attack, but... tripped, fell headlong through the ruined building and knocked his head on a beam: out of action!

The Cadians move in for the kill!

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Overview6

Following this turn, the Praetor Infiltators decided they'd had enough and routed! Never fear, because the Post Battle Sequence is here! Indeed, a Praetorian sarge was saved from death by the medic and survived with horrible scars! The Cadian Lieutenant who summarily executed his opponent after a failed charge apparantly learned a lot from this encounter and became hardened!

Cadian Lieutenant aims to execute!

First Blood! Two newbies and their first game Duel2



I hope you guys enjoyed it! We certainly did. We found Death Squads to be an easy-flowing game with interesting rules for the weapons and movement. It's a lot like 40k in terms of cover and To-Hit/To Wound and a lot like Mordheim in many other things... but better! I'm looking forward to our next game!
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Mordheimer

Mordheimer


Posts : 9756
Join date : 2009-07-12
Age : 50
Location : Elizabeth City, NC (USA)

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSat Sep 18, 2010 7:47 pm

Yahoo!!! Another great game, and a new pair of Believers! Hehehe! I'm very happy that our intention on designed managed to translate well... we want the game to flow easily, with certain fast-pace action... that feels like an extension of 40k, but somehow different.

I do not know how the Praetor Infiltrators managed to put so many banana peels on the field (great strategy, by the way!), but I imagine that the Cadians will buy some new spiked-boots to gain traction! Just Kidding

Thank you for your Battle Report... VERY nice. The pictures look GREAT and your narrative really transported me there. Almost as good as seeing you guys play!

Do you guys have any observations for us? Mind you that the Scenarios and some of the rules are being polished for v0.6.0... but any input you guys can give is ALWAYS appreciated. Again, thanks for playing Death Squads and sharing your adventures (and the pics too!). If there is ANYTHING we could do to improve the game, let us know!


Question... so what is up next for the Arachas' Cadians and the Praetor Infiltrators? Any vicious and devious plans? More! bounce
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Arachas

Arachas


Posts : 1880
Join date : 2010-08-15
Age : 39
Location : Secret Volcano Lair in The Netherlands

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 2:54 am

I knew you'd enjoy it, Mord. Smile Thanks for sharing your enthusiasm!

I feel we'll have to play some more to really be able to offer suggestions. What needs improving is my terrain and unpainted mini's! We were having questions now and then, but they were mostly oversights as we read through the rules too quickly.

So yeah, we'll attempt to play another game soon. Colonel has recruited his brother to play with us. And next weekend we'll be having a gaming weekend at a friend's place, so we might be able to talk them into it. Wink
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Laney

Laney


Posts : 3352
Join date : 2010-02-13
Age : 47
Location : Colchester, Essex, England

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 3:33 am

Great game report - loved it! Excellent detail great pics, I felt I could have been there. It's really interesting seeing what the post game sequence throws up for the squads. Two new legends have begun!

Top Job!

cheers Laney
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Da Bank

Da Bank


Posts : 2724
Join date : 2009-07-28
Location : Fort Myers, FL (USA)

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 8:20 am

This is an awesome report with pics. Keep up the great work.
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Mordheimer

Mordheimer


Posts : 9756
Join date : 2009-07-12
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Location : Elizabeth City, NC (USA)

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 2:33 pm

What I really like about Death Squads is that you could write TWO stories... in which each Squad is 'the hero' and each can tell the tale from their perspective. Ask the Colonel to write a short story (2 or 3 paragraphs) of WHY they were fighting and what happened in the battle. You do the same... then read each other stories. You will be AMAZED! For you, maybe the Medic tripped on the hazardous terrain, and for The Colonel they were trying to assassinate the Medic and they managed to poison him previous the battle, and the Medic collapsed when his adrenaline levels increased. Heroes and villains will naturally develop, even within the same Squad, and legends will grow to mythical proportions. In game terms the effect is the same (Medic = OOA) but the weaving of the point of views make for great intrigue!

You add TheColonel's brother and maybe another friend... and the space-opera you get is going to drive EVERYONE crazy (in a good way), and you will soon find yourself people asking you what happened in the last game and lamenting they can't play because of 'stupid work schedules'. HA!

Poke TheColonel... I'm dying to know what happened to the Praetor Infiltrators!!! scratch
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edward

edward


Posts : 443
Join date : 2010-05-05
Age : 29
Location : Palmerston North, New Zealand

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 3:48 pm

wow guys cool battle report keep em coming

@ mord me and kiwi might be having another report soon
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Mordheimer

Mordheimer


Posts : 9756
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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 4:19 pm

GO EDWARD!!! ... and Kiwi (but just a little... I don't want him to know that I like him as much as I do!)
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edward

edward


Posts : 443
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Location : Palmerston North, New Zealand

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeSun Sep 19, 2010 5:01 pm

well hopefully the mordians will win this time

have a flamer now Flamethrower
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Kiwi

Kiwi


Posts : 461
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Age : 29
Location : Palmerston North, New Zealand

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeMon Sep 20, 2010 12:48 am

Great battle report! The squads look great and the terrain is far better than anything I'm able to come up with (might have to steal those tripod things). Can't wait for more.

@ Edward Not until my minis can come out of hiding (2 flamers is better than 1 Just Kidding )
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Arachas

Arachas


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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeMon Sep 20, 2010 6:42 am

Looking back I do have some observations.

First off, playing generic troops gives a huge advantage in early games. Not overpowered, mind you, but I won this game through weight of numbers. Colonel was rolling an insane amount of critical hits (and trust me, that's something for him), but still I had enough guys to close in on his position. So the special rules are cool, but generic is cool, too. Wink

Second, about those special rules: what bothers me is that certain advantages are covertype-specific. Urban Fighters get an extra cover save in Urban terrain, Ice Fighters in natural terrain. Sure it sounds logical, but imagine this: both me and another friend where we play have urban terrain tables. This means playing Ice Fighters would be plain silly. Wouldn't it be more fun to simply give these regiments more general advantages?
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Mordheimer

Mordheimer


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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeMon Sep 20, 2010 9:33 am

[quote="Arachas"]Looking back I do have some observations.

Arachas wrote:
First off, playing generic troops gives a huge advantage in early games. Not overpowered, mind you, but I won this game through weight of numbers. Colonel was rolling an insane amount of critical hits (and trust me, that's something for him), but still I had enough guys to close in on his position. So the special rules are cool, but generic is cool, too. Wink
Thanks for the feedback! cheers That is the initial intention of the Cadians; having an edge by numbers. We are toying with the idea of every Officer starting with Dum-Dum Bullets or Hot Shot Power Pack (player choice, one game use)... but we are not sure. We are also considering making Officers Immune to Fear vs Chaos (Imperial Renegades, Chaos Cultists, etc.) Finally, the Cadians will get an exclusive Hired Gun (which costs money)... a Karskin Veteran Sargeant (good armor & Hellgun!) What do you think?


Arachas wrote:
Second, about those special rules: what bothers me is that certain advantages are covertype-specific. Urban Fighters get an extra cover save in Urban terrain, Ice Fighters in natural terrain. Sure it sounds logical, but imagine this: both me and another friend where we play have urban terrain tables. This means playing Ice Fighters would be plain silly. Wouldn't it be more fun to simply give these regiments more general advantages?
Ohh... that! Hehehehe... it is something that we discussed. When you think of the Catachan Fang, is a SUPER powerful weapon... so having one of their other bonuses 'restricted' to a Cover Save bonus while in other Area Terrain type, it complements well. We put some area terrain that simulates Jungle (WHAT OF IT DOZER!?! I like my trees!) on some games.


For the Ice Guard, we managed to move away from the Clitche by using Lyubov's background; rather than an ice planet (like Star War's Hoff... a gian ice-cube like the Antartic) Madprophet modeled their planet as the US Rocky Mountains or the French Alps... rocky coniferous forests. Lots of cliffs and rocky terrain, with pine trees and other vegetation and lots of snow in many areas, but not all of it. This allowed the development of a better mouse trap, in this case a better Climbing Harness. Their natural 'skill' is Ambush, using the natural envirionment. The rule "If playing on a natural environment table (not an Urban Terrain Table, which is a table with 50% or more ruins and/or buildings)..." is VERY broad. Based on your photos, you play in a 'desolate' rural field. Check out the pictures of our urban games... you can not go 6" bumbing into a building or ruins, and most buildings have 2 stories (but most have 3 or 4!) If you pull your structural terrain (buildings & ruins) base to base... do they cover more than half the table? If your answer is no, then you do NOT play in an Urban Table. Flexibility among players is key. After all, the Ambush is kindda cool... but not overly powerful.

IMHO, players should be able to skip the Lyubov's 'natural envirionment' formality, just like the Jenkala's are not restricted by the table type. The Catachan restriction is a must (follows fluff) and you SHOULD make more terrain... feed the addiction... but other Squads, I call for flexibility.
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Arachas

Arachas


Posts : 1880
Join date : 2010-08-15
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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeTue Sep 21, 2010 1:57 am

Not to worry: I intend to add a lot of terrain. (:
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Weird WWII

Weird WWII


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Location : Republic of Texas

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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitimeTue Apr 24, 2012 6:57 pm

Looks like a few smoke grenades or even catching something on fire would have been a big help.

Great stuff,
Brian
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PostSubject: Re: First Blood! Two newbies and their first game   First Blood! Two newbies and their first game I_icon_minitime

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