Bolt Action

Two of the Basement Generals are amassing quite a few nicely painted WW2 armies. Time to get them bloody. German and American reinforced rifle platoons clash in a game of Bolt Action.

Great fun, but one again I was "whelmed" by the game. Not over or underwhelmed, just whelmed. I gives a quick fun result, but that was about it.
Vanilla.
I have a long and tortured past with WW2 games. There's a reason I've sold most of my collection. The closest I've come to enjoying a ruleset for the period is Victory Decision. The other players weren't too keen on it because it was pretty brutal. That's because they didn't use the right (realistic) tactics.
Will I play again? Yes. Somebody else's pretty toys and I actually get to play. Will I be running out to buy a bunch of WW2 miniatures to build a Bolt Action army? No.

Fistful of Lead Thursday

The sleepy border town of Lesterville got rearranged and laid out for a 4 player scenario. El Guappo, infamous bandito, was crossing over the river into Lesterville to rob the bank. Marshal Bill had caught wind of the plot, and was going to arrest him. The catch was that Bill had to take El Guappo alive.

Meanwhile, two other gangs, the Leftover Gang headed by Johnny One-Leg and Ed Harley and his Long Riders were there to steal a pack mule loaded with gold and get it across the border into Mexico.

 Johnny One-Leg and the Leftovers

 El Guappo

 Marshal Bill and his men

Ed Harley and the Long Riders

So, we had in fact two separate 1v1 games going on the same board at the same time.
Marshal Bill decided to make a run for the bank and wait ofr the Bandits. He also placed some men up on buildings in the path El Guappo seemed to be taking.

 El Guappo crosses the border

The Longriders got the jump on the Leftovers and positioned themselves beteer for the upcoming blood bath.
Poor Johnny One-Leg. He survived the Civil War battlefields only to be gunned down in the streets of Lesterville before his men. In the hail of bullets to follow, only O'Malley of the Leftovers was left alive. He was pinned, and survived a turn of gunfire directed at him only to roll a "1" on his recovery roll. Time to leave!
The battle between the Banditos and the Marshal's men started to heat up. Though in cover, the Marshal's men were taking hits. They almost lost the game when they accidentally shot at El Guappo. If they had killed him, they would have failed their objective. Eventually, Mashsal Bill grappled with El Guappo and cuffed him. The Banditos lone survivor could only watch as his leader was taken to jail.

A great game. The Boy forgot his video games for a night and actually played with us like the old days. He was the unfortunate Johnny One-Leg. Oh well, he always has Call of Duty.

Chapter XI: The Frozen Flame - Pulp Adventures in the Arctic

Well, I already had the terrain out, and it hasn't seen the light of day in years. This Thursday was Pulp Alley.
We had five teams all duking it out to find the mysterious Frozen Flame, simultaneously a power source and a portal to a new adventure. After rolling off for starting positions, the Leagues moved towards the Plot Points. At least one had to be conquered before the Main Plot Point, a cave, could be discovered.

 The Red Raptor takes on the Iron Legion.

 Wu Fang advances through the mist

Lefty Holds off Wu while Virginia and Harcourt climb the hill

The fighting began immediately as the Iron Legion attacked both Pecos Pete's and the Red Raptor's Leagues. Boy, did he pay for that. Within 2 turns, Herr Baron had lost all his Iron Troopers.

Meanwhile Wu Fang's Horde raced Virginia Dare and Danger, Inc. to the summit.
While the battle raged below, Virginia managed to make it to the cave and discover the Frozen Flame.

 A cowardly henchman attacks Virginia from behind, but luckily a bark from Wellington alerts her to danger.

A great night of gaming. And to top it off,  I got my new copy of the Pulp Alley vehicle supplement. Huzzah!

Super Battle in the Artic

"When the mysterious alien known as the Despot arrived, his plans for Earth were unclear. Gathering the remnants of the defeated International Crime Syndicate, he began using them as pawns in a great scheme.
Little did our heroes know, but the Despot had not intended to invade Earth. Our backwater home was quite literally, off his radar. A malfunctioning R Drive sent his ship way off course and stranded the so called "Master of a 1000 Worlds" here.
Now, he must muster his intergalactic forces for invasion. To do so, he needs a few key pieces. One is a mysterious artifact known as the Sphere of Infinity, trapped deep in an iceberg in the arctic..."

Left to Right, our Heroes: A.J.A.X., Warhawk,One-Eyed-Jack, Cyclops, Bubble Boy, and Goldar

 

 Left to right, the Villains: Permafrost, Snapper, Eggsterminator, Elektra, Killshot and Korgoth.

Six players each controlled 2 supers. Both sides had to start on floating icebergs and forced to leap from berg to berg until they reached the larger playing area. Unless, of course you can fly.

Heroes on the move

Villains advance

The fliers clashed first. The hero, One-Eyed-Jack, unleashed his Improbability Rays at the villainess Elektra, dropping her in one blast from the sky.

With the only flying bad guy down, the heroes had an easy run to the Dark Idol. This ancient statue was the only way to unlock the cave beneath the surface.
Our heroes quickly unlocked the Idol's secret and opened the cave.

Cylcops, of the New Olympians, made a valiant stand against the villains to buy time for his other heroes. The heroes unlocked the cave, but found the Sphere guarded by two Ice Trolls!

Bubble Boy smacked around by the Trolls like a beachball at a concert

Permafrost in his element

Snapper sends Cyclops to the drink.

While the good guys were busy tackling the trolls, Korgoth snuck past and grabbed the sphere.
Victory to the forces of evil. Again.
Fabulous terrain provided by my pal, Warren.

M&R: the Battle of Spickern-Speckern

On the border between the Principality Borogravia and the Arch Duchy of Volborg sit the twin towns of Spickern and Speckern. Seperated by some rolling hills, both towns are almost identical. Indeed, many a traveler has ended up in one town while trying to reach the other.
When Spickern declared it's gates open to Borogravia, Speckern called for help from their patron Volborg, fearing an invasion.
And rightly so. While on the march to Spickern, Borogravian troops became lost in the rain and ended up mid morning staring at two twin towns. But which one was Spickern? Both town flags were similar. Simultaneously, Volborg's troops arrived with the same problem...

We used my favorite rules for large Lace War era battles, Might & Reason. They give a pretty accurate feel for the period with it's limitations in command and control and rigid formations, and manage to keep the tension up with the unique turn system.
Both sides started with equal forces but had leave half their troops off table until they arrived. Both sides elected to keep the cavalry off table because they would be faster getting into position if they arrived too late.

The Borogravian side was handicapped by poor leader rolls. Two of their generals had reduced command ranges, forcing them keep in tight formations and having their overall commander have to spend a lot of time "grabbing his officers by the lapels".
Both towns were occupied early.

The Volborgian right was held by some late arriving cavalry. Outnumbered by heavy horse, they made a valiant effort, but were quickly overrun. Meanwhile, on the left, a stalemate formed.
The center held most of both sides cannon and infantry. Amidst clouds of gunpowder the two sides came to grips. Both sides traded casualties. Just as the fighting hit a peak, the sun went down.
Both sides had taken equal loses. But, in the end Borogravia had captured Spickern. They were later forced to withdraw.
We made do with paper armies this time. A good time. And I needed it.