Instead of setting the board up with one of my large buildings in the middle, I decided to use a smaller building, but give it a rather big backyard. Chris setup his SotE crew mostly inside the building and placed two hunting rifle carrying members outside.
I decided that I would attempt to attack from all sides, but with my Firearms Constable carrying a hunting rifle staying back to attempt to sniper from the steps of one of the large buildings.
We rolled for daytime/nighttime, which I won and chose nighttime, hoping to get some hiding into the game.
Note
Remember we play with activating one model at a time and with free targeting of models. It has worked very well in all our previous games and gives good freedom. The activating of one model we have found to add to the tactical side of the game as you can no longer swarm an enemy model with 3-4 of your own models without your opponent being able to do anything.
Turn 1
The attacker has the choise of initiative in the first turn and I chose to go first. I activated my Firearms Constable and attempted to shoot one of the hunting rifle carryings members patrolling the backyard. I hit but could not do any damage - this would prove to be the case the entire evening.
All other of my models move closer to the building, with Chris surgically moving his crew into good positions and then hid them or put them on Watch and Shoot. I had to play more aggresively in order to move forward and knew it would cost me.
My Preambulator Boots walking constable who was Unhinged since our last game, moved forward, and when he was targeted I rolled to see whether his Unhinged condition would get the better of him. It did not, but it did not matter as one of Chris' members with a sawn-off shotgun blasted him off the table immediately after.
Turn 2
My crap dice rolling continued, and despite hitting 3 different targets I failed to damage 2 of them. Only the member who had shot my constable was Removed from Play.
Chris on the other hand was becoming very good friends with his dice, constantly rolling high and getting my peelers Down. My Detective Sergeant lost a Wound and was put on Down, and so was my shotgun wielding Firearms Constable. Another PC was Discombobulated before he could act.
My Detective Inspector got close and with his Cbt 6 I really wanted him to get into hand-to-hand combat, but with Charging being the only way to get within 1" of an enemy model, it was extremely difficult to get him into position without leaving him open for at least one turn.
In the Maintenance Phase I rolled for my DS and Firearms Constable, the DS rolling a 1 and was therefore free to act in this turn, while the Firearms Constable remained Down.
Within the first couple of activations my bad luck and Chris' good fortune continued. I hit, but could only do Flesh Wounds or Discombobulated, while Chris put another Down result on my Firearms Constable, envoking the Double Down rule and my peeler was thus Removed from Play. He also managed to kill another PC.
My DS jumped the gap and move into a position to climb a crate in the next turn, which would enable him to shoot down on the two backyard patrolling members. Chris moved a member into the backyard, but when I shot at him I only managed to make him Discombobulated.
My DI moved into a position to get a shot off at one of the backyard members and would be able to Charge next turn.
Turn 4
At the start of the turn I still thought I had a chance to actually win the game. If I could remove the two members in the backyard I would be close enough to suddenly target the members guarding PC Jones.
I won initiative and immediately Charged with my DI. Chris actually managed not to hit anyone and when it was my turn again I activated my DS, who climbed the crate and fire his heavy pistol down on a member. True to form I hit, and damaged but once again managed to roll a Flesh Wound! Chris then activated his Vice-President who moved into postion and blasted his Man-Portable Gatling Gun on my DS, putting him on Down.
Another of my PC activated, hit the target, damaged but rolled a Flesh Wound. The same PC was then put on Down by the backyard member whom I had failed to Remove from Play despite hitting twice.
I was running out of models to activate, so with my last model, the Firearms Constable with a hunting rifle I attempted to shoot but for the third time in a row I rolled a Flesh Wound! Chris then proceeded to move the previously Discombobulated member into position to shoot at my Firearms Constable, putting him on Down.
In the Combat phase my DI managed to hit the member and Removed him from play.
Turn 5
I had three peelers on Down, one of them my DS and rolled for them. I got a Down, Discombobulated and Flesh Wound result. I was still at Breaking Point and rolled for my peelers, with one of them running away and the remaining three staying put.
At this point I conceeded the game. I felt it was pointless to continue as the result was a given.
Campaign results
When we had calculated our shillings, we set about seeing what had happend to our faction members. Since I had failed to rescue PC Jones he was lost to me and Chris got his heavy pistol. His two members received injuries but with the amount of shillings he has gathered from winning the last three games he had no other injuries and has started to use points to let his Subordinates roll for increases stats.
All of my faction members got new injuries, meaning that at the end of the game they had multiple injuries; 2x Weakend Constitution, 2x Arm injury, 2x Leg injury and 2x Eye injury. I then rolled for my Unhinged PC to see if his condition had changed and managed to roll a 10, meaning that he was off to Bedlam.
My incredible bad luck with the dice, had profound effect on the game. If my 3 Flesh Wounds in round 3 had been anything else, I still believe I would have had a chance.
I thought about what whether to carry on with the faction, and decided to give it one more chance. Next time I will use my 31 shillings to purchase the Black Mariah and a driver. Let's see if that changes anything for the Supernatural Branch.
Final thoughts
In 3 games we have had only one hand-to-hand combat. I have managed to be mostly gunned down before getting into a postion where I can Charge. While I do realise that in the real world firearms triumph over melee weapons I think that I'm missing out on an aspect of the game.
One way of altering this is to remove "not within 1"" rule, which will enable models to engage in melee without Charging. Charging will still have an advantage, but will not be the only way to get close to your enemy.
Wow that's some bad luck there Kasper.
ReplyDeleteOne modification I did, was to not give a bonus for short range shots, but instead a -1 for medium and -2 for long. That makes it *harder* to hit, as it should be. Also, I think pistol ranges are too long, though I have not modified that (maybe should be 3"/6"/12", or some such).
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