Xenos Rampant and Space Hulk again

For the September session we played two games of Xenos Rampant, followed by a game of Space Hulk.

We decided to make up lists of set points and then roll for scenarios.

The first game saw me fielding 36 points of Space Marines vs Rick's Necrons in the Diversion scenario. The game ended in a draw.

For the second game Adrian's Eldar defended against Rick's Tyranids in the Orbital Drop scenario.

We wrapped up the afternoon with a big game of Space Hulk.

For the October session I am planning to return to some historicals with a game of Napoleonics.

Xenos Rampant and Space Hulk

For our monthly session we played a 4-player game of Xenos Rampant. The centrepiece of the game was Rick's Upzone terrain. The scenario had an Eldar force (commanded by Adrian and me) trying to destroy a Necron pyramid (defended by Rick and FG). A series of poor command rolls on the part of the Eldar players and excellent rolls by the Necron players made it a rather one-sided affair.

We then played two games of 1st Edition Space Hulk, with FG and I each taking turns to play the Space Marines. It's a testament to the quality of the scenario designers that both games pretty much came down to one die roll during the final turn. We hope to play more Space Hulk during our next session on September.

Sepoys and Xenos

We had another double bill session on Sunday, with the first game being The Relief of Luckpore. I was too busy running the game and having too much fun to take photos, but fortunately my friends did.

We played a standard scenario, with the mutineers blocking the Grand Trunk Road by occupying a  village on one side of the road, while I commanded a bunch of badmash hidden behind a hill on the other side.

The British players approached the problem methodically, by first driving off the badmash, and then moving their artillery to occupy the hill, and then proceeding to bombard the village. The mutineers outnumbered the British, but with only one commander, they could not shift their forces to face the threat in time, and were soon routed.

Throughout the game we felt hampered by the command limitations imposed by the rules, which is probably realistic, and tells me that to be successful one probably has to be proactive in moving troops and applying constant pressure on the enemy. I hope to return to the rules again soon.

For the second game we played an 'Aliens'-themed scenario using the Xenos Rampant rules. The Colonial Marines had to evacuate all civilians from a settlement that has been invaded by xenos, and had 12 activations to do so before it would be nuked from orbit. I placed nine buildings on the table, and randomly decided what was found inside each building by using cards to represent civilians, aliens, and "empty"; in addition, one card represented the alien queen.

The Marines players (who played the British in our first game) once again approached the problem methodically, moving their heavy weapon to cover the main avenue of approach, and then moving their squads in mutually supporting positions.

Nevertheless, the aliens were too powerful in melee, with the Queen being almost invulnerable. The Marines lost more than half their strength, and the Queen was killed only when she charged the heavy weapon. The Marines retreated with two units of civilians and three activations to spare, but left three buildings unexplored - one of which turned out to contain civilians - and gaining a narrow victory.

Although I was a playtester for a few of the Rampant series of rules, this was the first time I played a full game against other players. The game was quick because we had only two troop types on each side, and the aliens had no ranged attack capability. The card placement mechanic gave the game an unpredictability that made it exciting for both sides.

The next wargaming session is scheduled for March, when we plan to play a Kings of War game. We are also planning to play Space Hulk, and a home-mod version of Gaslands featuring Orks and kitbashed Ork Trukks in the future. Stay tuned.