Friday 26 August 2016

Song of Drums & Tomahawks First Play


This is an after action report on the first game of Song of Drums and Tomahawks a couple of us played last night.

     I took the British and my friend Mark took the French.  My force was comprised of:-

1 British Officer
1 British Sergeant (a drummer in the photos)
1 British Grenadier
2 British Rangers
3 British Soldiers

Mark's force was:-

1 French Officer
1 French Sergeant (Customised to drop the Primitive Weapon but add a Musket)
3 French Marines
1 French Courier de Bois
1 Civilian (with a Pistol and Strong)

The location of the battle was at a remote Inn in the far north of the British colonies.  The aim of both sides was to capture the Inn, the French to loot and burn the British to occupy.  The first picture shows my forces deployed on the board edge.  Mark's troops were in the wood on the far side of the Inn.



This is a close-up on my Provincial Troops.


Mark's troops went first and his Marines took up position on the far side of the Inn.  His Courier de Bois tried to outflank the British. The rest moved to occupy the Inn.  The British moved up the two Rangers firing on the Marines.  First Blood to the British when a lucky shot wounded one of the French Marines.  The Courier de Bois was knocked down by more Musket fire.  The photo below shows the scene with the British Sergeant in the Inn yard aiming to occupy the Inn.  Harder to see is the British Grenadier by the front door of the Inn.




Things didn't go well for the British with return fire from the Marines wounding the Ranger who had brought down their friend.  The Courier de Bois recovered before he could be finished off and the French occupied the Inn first knocking down the British Sergeant in the yard.  The British Grenadier still couldn't get inside.



Things went from bad to worse with the French civilian wounding a soldier with his pistol from an Inn window.  The Sergeant failed to get up and the Grenadier still couldn't get through the door.


 The British Grenadier burst through the door and attacked the French Sergeant.  The Sergeant easily defeated the Grenadier leaving him wounded on the floor.  The British Sergeant regained his feet and followed the Grenadier through the door but couldn't come to grips with the burly Frenchman.  The French civilian knocked down another British Soldier.  Things were going very badly for the Brits.  To make matters worse the vulnerable Courier de Bois had made it back into the lee of the Inn.



The Brits through a combination of bad luck and poor choices did very little for several turns.  Their Sergeant was driven back by a series of attacks by his French opponent.  More Frenchmen entered the Inn.  It looked like the end for the plucky Brits.



Another turn of British inactivity with their Sergeant driven back again by his opposite number.  The remaining British Ranger was knocked down by musketry from the French Marines.



In following up his success the French Sergeant had moved in front of the open door.  The British Officer taking careful aim with his pistol fired and brought the French Sergeant down.  Two French casualties now to three British but the morale tests made by the French meant the two remaining Marines disappeared back into the woods and the Civilian abandoned his place to fall back.  The Courier de Bois was made of sterner stuff and didn't move.


Most of the British gathered outside the Inn gate whilst the Sergeant faced the French Officer and Civilian inside the Inn.


All the focus was now on the interior of the Inn.  The British Officer sent in a Soldier to support the Sergeant.  It looked to be too late when the Sergeant was knocked down by a shot from the French Civilian.



The British started to move up to support the Sergeant.  He made it back to his feet and into contact with the French Leader only to be knocked down again.


The climax of the battle came in the interior of the Inn with the British Sergeant repeatedly knocked down yet surviving attack after attack.  Finally with support from the Soldier he killed the French Officer and most of the Frenchmen fled leaving the field to the British.

The final view inside the Inn.


It was a close game with my poor play and poor luck almost costing me the game after 4-5 turns.  It was the lucky shot that killed the French Sergeant that turned the game in my favour.  I probably should still have lost as my Sergeant had to survive several attacks whilst knocked down.  When the tables were turned his luck held and he killed his opponent.

The rules work well but there are a few differences to other Ganesha rules most notably the Group Action rules.  These only allow certain types of troops to move as a group and then only in groups of the same type of troop e.g. Regulars, Rangers or Indians.  Each of these groups has their own type of group move and Leaders usually get to move along with their troops.  The weapon rules are similar to other Ganesha rules but Muskets are pretty powerful though not super-weapons.  Overall a good set of rules.  Next time we'll try some other troops with perhaps some Indians. 

Saturday 13 August 2016

Power Legion - Serpent Society Redux

This post revisits the Serpent Society as several more members have been released in heroclix form in the Superior Foes of Spiderman set. I've included characters that are still to be released in clix form too.

Sidewinder


Image result for marvel heroclix sidewinder

Sidewinder (462 Points)
M A S K
d8 d6 d4 d8
Knockout d8 Activation d8
Teleport d8, Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Side Effects Drones), Leadership d8

Anaconda

Image result for marvel heroclix anaconda



















Anaconda (358 Points)
M A S K
d4 d6 d8 d8
Damage Resistance d8+3 Activation d6
Armor d6, Stretching d6, Amphibious 

Asp


Image result for marvel heroclix asp

Asp (344 Points)
M A S K
d4 d8 d4 d8
Knockout d8 Activation d8
Ranged Damage d8 (Limited: One-use), Acrobat 

Black Mamba


Image result for marvel heroclix black mamba superior foes

Black Mamba (332 Points)
M A S K
d4 d6 d6 d4
Knockout d4 Activation d6
Telepathy d10, Poison d6

Boomslang


Image result for marvel boomslang

Boomslang (248 Points)
M A S K
d4 d8 d4 d6
Knockout d6 Activation d8
Ranged Damage d6 (Device: Boomerang)

Bushmaster


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Bushmaster (484 Points)
M A S K
d6 d8 d8 d6
Knockout d6 Activation d8
Lethal HTH Attack d8, Poison d8, Super Leap d4, Entangle d8 (Limited: Range 1L), Long Move 

Coachwhip


Image result for marvel coachwhip


Coachwhip (308 Points)
M A S K
d4 d6 d6 d6
Knockout d6 Activation d6
Weapon Master d8, Lethal HTH Attack d8

Cobra





















Cobra (534 Points)
M A S K
d6 d12 d6 d8
Knockout  d8+2 Activation d12
Stretching d4, Armor d4, Clinging d8, Poison d8, Lethal HTH Attack d8

Constrictor




















Constrictor (530 Points)
M A S K
d4 d6 d6 d8
Damage Resistance d8+2 Activation d6
Armor d4, Lethal HTH Attack d8, Entangle d8 (Limited: Range 1S), Damaging Aura d10

Copperhead


Image result for marvel copperhead

Copperhead (428 Points)
M A S K
d6 d6 d6 d6
Damage Resistance d6+3 Activation d6
Armor d6, Ranged Damage d8 (One at a Time ), Blast d6 (One at a Time )

Cottonmouth
















Cottonmouth (307 Points)
M A S K
d4 d6 d6 d6
Knockout d6 Activation d6
Lethal HTH Attack d8, Armor Piercing 

Death Adder

Image result for "marvel heroclix" death adder

Death Adder (538 Points)
M A S K
d4 d6 d8 d6
Damage Resistance d6+3 Activation d6
Armor d6, Superswimming d8, Lethal HTH Attack d10, Poison d8, Weapon Master d10

Diamondback


Image result for "marvel heroclix" diamondback

Diamondback (628 Points)
M A S K
d6 d8 d6 d6
Knockout d6 Activation d8
Ranged Damage d8, Poison d8, Blast d8, Acrobat 

Fer de Lance


Image result for marvel fer de lance

Fer de Lance (288 Points)
M A S K
d4 d8 d6 d8
Knockout d8 Activation d8
Lethal HTH Attack d8

Princess Python


Image result for "marvel heroclix" princess python

Princess Python (426 Points)
M A S K
d6 d8 d4 d8
Knockout d8 Activation d8
Entangle d8 (Device: Python), Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Python), Poison d8

Puff Adder


Image result for "marvel heroclix" puff adder

Puff Adder (380 Points)
M A S K
d4 d4 d8 d8
Damage Resistance d8+3 Activation d4
Stretching d4, Poison d8, Armor d6

Rattler

Image result for heroclix rattler

Rattler (426 Points)
M A S K
d6 d6 d8 d8
Knockout d8 Activation d6
Sonic Attack d8, Shield d8

Rock Python


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Rock Python (338 Points)
M A S K
d8 d8 d6 d6
Damage Resistance d6+2 Activation d8
Armor d4, Entangle d10

Viper

Image result for "marvel heroclix" viper

Viper (394 Points)
M A S K
d8 d8 d6 d8
Knockout d8 Activation d8
Poison d6, Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Laser Pistol)