Dice And Downloads: Tabletop gaming

"No Infinity this week" I hear you say. Well yes that's true but I have one arguably better, A big ol' trip to Salute. For those of you who don't know its the big gaming event held every year in London at the ExCel centre. This event is probably my most looked forward to event going, even more so than Christmas! Basically a massive hall with many many traders and demo games running all sorts of games. Space battle games, skirmish games, mass army games, few role play games, sci-fi games, fantasy games and so on. I was good this year (really good) and only spent about £70). I managed to find a shop that was giving away the cheapest Infinity product for free when you bought 4 things. They also had a bunch of the 10th anniversary Achilles. I went halves with someone and they got the rule book and Janissary box and I got the Morat sectorial and Achilles box all for £100. The only other things I bought were a few bits of scatter terrain for less than a tenner. So in comparison to other years I was a very very good boy! Not much else to ramble on about, fun was had by all and I am already waiting for next year.

This scenery was part of a big table that went with the past two photos. It had a dungeon under a big snowy mountain.

This was a large Mad Max participation game that was running all day. Little bigger scale than normal but a lot of work went into each vehicle. They were all hand made form different kits.

When we came back a few hours later it was all kicking off!

This looks like my gaming table at home . . . sort of.

Now here is a man who loves his job.

Not my thing anymore but still have love for Games Workshop models. Wouldn't be the same with out any.

No idea what this is but it look cool. Like so many things on the day.

I wonder what awesome game this is from?

This was just a huge display board full of Vietnam stuff.

This guy is here every year marauding around like he owns the place. What a champion.

From what I could tell this game only needed a hand full of models on each side. When I first started war gaming I was keen on the big armies clashing with each other. But now I am preferring having only a few models each side and having to think about each action and movement.

Having played Halo many times I had no idea of the scale between some of the ships. Better play them all again I guess now I understand.

Just popping down the pound shop before I fend of the Nazis.

Someone had made a Minions game to keep the younglings entertained.

That's some Oldhammer style painting right there.

That Centaur looks like he is in serious distress

So me and Oli decided to play another D20 mission as we have smashed out so much ITS recently. This time we rolled 'Collect Debris' on d20 V2.6, I can honestly say this is my favourite mission out of all the D20 missions we have played so far. I decided to use my Pan O as they don't get used much now as they are not ITS worthy. This time however Oli used my old Nomad faction as he wanted to test them out, as he is thinking of using them as his next faction. A few proxies in this game but we will have to just deal with it. So below are our lists and mission brief.

Collect Debris 3

A civilian space ship has crashed under dubious circumstances. Troopers from rivaling nations are picking up debris which could entail clues about the cause of the crash.

Deployment: Before the Initiative roll, 12 objective markers are being deployed. The players alternate in placing 6 markers each. Roll off to see who starts. The markers should have around 25 mm diameter. They count as being S0. The OM have to be placed:

- Within 8 inches of the central line

- At least 4 inches away from each other

Picking up debris: In order to pick up debris, a trooper must be in base contact with the marker and spend a short order skill, succeeding in an unmodified WIP check. Forward Observers get a +3 modifier to this roll. The OM is placed next to the model.

If a model carrying debris falls into a null state, leave the OMs on the board ready to be picked up A trooper can carry up to 3 OM. This limit does not apply to models with the baggage skill.When using troopers with the skills G: Synchronised or G: Servant , only one of the models activated with the order may be used to pick up debris. Victory conditions: At the end of the game, count the total of the debris marker in possession of the own troopers. Markers who went off the board with a trooper in a retreat situation still count as being in possession of that trooper.

1 OP for every two debris markers in possession of own troopers.

+1 OP for the player who has collected more debris.

As you can see lots and lots of stuff to grab. I much prefer this instead of focusing in on one objective and defending one small area of the table. It gave a lot to think about when deploying.

So, this was the table after we had set up all the markers. Having so many does not give much room for sneaky deployment; they all just have to sort of wiggle in whereever they can. This did mean we could choose our sides more on the high ground rather than objective deployment. Oli won the Initiative roll and decided to choose the table side with the massive building and make me deploy first. Here is my list:

Standard style of play for me, one big order pool, lots of tanks and a small order pool of defensive units to transfer over if things get a little hairy. I don't use ORC troops much as I feel for the same points you can have much much better units. But this was a friendly game and I wanted to get out some models I don't often use.

Oli wanted to go vanilla so he took a bit of everything. Having not used hackers before he went for two Custodiers. I did not like this. Slightly larger order pools than me but I was playing Pan O so was totally expecting this...

Turn 1

I set up first. No tricks or silliness just a lot of ORC troopers ready to get stuck in. First things first I gave my Sierra bot support ware (because if you don't you're silly and need to take a good look at your life). It then pumped 4 shots into his Reaktion bot on top of the roof. Managed to put it down but not for good as I only had one order to spend (Oli took two away knowing I would shoot everything in sight). As I had to set up first I didn't know what my enemy was going to deploy, so my ORC hacker found himself in the line of fire to a custodier. I ran forward hoping he would fluff his ARO with a shotgun. He did not and although I might have a mighty BS being that far away, in cover and having ODD I was not in for much of a chance either. The Hacker ORC took a wound then hid in a corner to lick his wounds. After that I spent all of my orders running my baggage bot up the table behind cover and grabbed up as much as I could like a greedy little bugger. With my last order I got my baggage bot to hunker down in the middle of the board, equipped with a combi rifle and total reaktion. I would have liked to have given him support ware as well but did not have enough orders.

Next it was Oliver's go. He managed to get his helper bot up to the top of the roof and get his Reaktion bot back on its feet. Next he dropped a repeater on the floor near by so he could give support ware. I had not even considered this move. Now all my hard effort was for nothing as he smashed me back. Both our bots had the same BS and support ware so it was down to a good old fashioned face to face in its rawest form. But I lost that and now I was down a reaction HMG and the tables had turned. This was quite order intensive for him so with his last few orders Oli use his hacking device to give both his ODD hackers Cyber Mask. Now I was starting to panic as they both had shotguns and my guys were none the wiser. The only redeeming factor was that he spent so much time blasting me away that he didn't get any loot, so it was not all bad.

Turn 2

Now it was time for revenge. I decided to use my trump card and brought on my Commando. I gave him a spit fire as I feel it would be rude not to when he has such a good BS. He walked on the board as close as I could get to Oli's deployment and went on a bit of a mad one. I decided to be cautious and take on one enemy at a time. Normally I would split my burst as I was gunning down line troops but I wanted this guy to live as long as he could. Long story short I pumped loads of orders into him and he took out 2 Alguacils, 1 Moderator and two Krazy Koalas. Then he hunkered down in between a box and a wall went into suppression behind enemy lines and shouted "Come at me bro!"

The ORC then moved into position in the storage building ready to nab some loot next turn. In the small order pool I just put what I had left into suppression . . . except the Warcor as he is rubbish and only carries a camera and sun pistol as everything else has been banned by the Concilium Convention. At least one person has to play by the rules right?

Oliver's turn two was played out slightly more aggressive. His Reverend was now looking rather PanOish so was able to just wander up the board as he pleased. Sad times for me as my force has the WIP of a rock and didn't manage to pass one roll to see what was going on. This let him blast my baggage bot carrying all the loot at close range and took it out sharpish. He then used cyber mask again, spent one order to move a tiny bit further and smashed my ORC brandishing a HMG. He decided to take him on right in the open so I didn't get cover. Having BS14 is great but not when someone pops out of impersonation within 8 and has ODD. Seriously Nomads wind me up some times :) To put the Icing on the cake he then repaired his Lunkohod that I took down on the sly on the first turn. Now I had no loot and was down a baggage bot and HMG ORC.

Turn 3

Now it was time for redemption. I was on the war path and out for revenge. I decided to get my Commando going again as he knocked a nice chunk out of Oliver's force the first turn he came into action and I wanted to keep the momentum up. First off I spent an order to move him out of his hidey hole and look right down the back of the board. I got a nice shot at his clock maker at long range, was basically a free kill. I spent another order to start advancing up and at the last second realised he had a camo marker right around the corner of the building I was trying to sneak past. I knew it would either be an Intruder or Zero and did not want to risk that X Visor sniper at close range. This made me crawl back into the hole I came out of and re-think my battle plan. Not wanting to have my other models feel left out, I put a few orders into my ORC hacker. He jumped forward to take a shot at his Lunkohod Remote. All good in theory, it had a shotgun at long range and I was an ORC with nice BS. But then suddenly out of nowhere a wild Spekter appeared! I tried to take it on but I was no match for him and he blasted the ORC to the ground. I then spent a few orders: I ran my med bot for 3 orders around the side of the table, over some bins and through the storage room. Rolled a 20 but no worries I have a cube and a command token. WRONG. I rolled an 18 and killed him dead for good. I had two orders left and no chance of getting anything else, so I thought I would just make it as hard as possible for Oli to grab anything himself. He had spent all of his efforts smashing my force in. So with my last few orders I put my commando in the open looking right down his lines and shot the Spekter in the back. With my last order I put him into suppression. If I could stop him from getting anything I would win with 1 point.

Oliver had not many orders left at this point but did not need to do much to win, just grab two objectives and he had his ODD hackers right up the board. But first he had to deal with my Commando. He ran his camo marker up so it was within 16 and popped out to reveal a Zero with a combi. Both of us standing in the open shooting right at each other it took him 3 full orders and he ended up losing. It felt good watching that many orders get wasted on nothing, especially at this point in the game where order efficiency was crucial. At this point I think Oli had had enough of my Spitfire and decided to deal with him using his Intruder. He moved with one order to pop out and blast him with a multi-sniper at close range. At this point my luck had run dry and and he exploded into red mist. It was sad to see him go but he did so much damage it was completely worth it. The Intruder then moved forward and picked up two objectives. With the last few orders both of his Custodiers scooped up a few each completely unopposed, and that was that.

So that was the end, a solid victory to the Nomad Scum but well deserved. The final score ended up at 6 - 1 to Oliver.