Necromuda returned Woot Woot!

Well now we have just completed our first three games of Necromunda. Wow, what a blast. It was great to get back into it.

So first off I had to make some changes because at least 50% of the gang needed to be Gangers. I stayed with the two champions concept but now it was more challenging, credits wise. I also decided to take Blasting Charges. They have a bit more punch and I just was not sure what the scenarios might throw at me. They have a S5 making them the most impactful thing I have. Range is really low but still at least they are there, if needed.

I had to choose some starting Skills for my Leader and Champions. This was done in a hurry, but I like my choices.

1. My leader, 'Nighthawk' went for Commanding Presence. This allows him to activate one more person in group activation. I have learned that this can be a cool tactic in other games. When the time is right you send in a couple of guys to put someone down and then the last one does the finishing off. It can be devastating.

2. My Champion 'Leveller' has the heavy Stubber and this has Rapid Fire (2). He can be amazing but  he runs the risk of running out of ammo. A big problem to be sure. To overcome this I gave him Munitioneer. It means he can re-roll ammo checks. Anything to keep him in the game and dishing damage at distance.

3. My other Champion 'Rivits' only had a Autogun. Well I had no credits left so ..... He has a decent BS of 4+ so I thought I would boost this with Ballistics Expert which means that if he can pass an Int test he is +1 to hit. Now that is a pretty big deal!!

The Dark Templar had been busy with the scenery. I mean seriously.

Love it

This kit is from Red Beam Design and comes with magnets to hold it all together. I was seriously impressed. Really cool and very good value. I will be checking them out for sure. It was great to play on and gave the much desired height that you need in Necromunda.

There are always stories and as I look back, my Juve 'Frankio' had a great game. He was involved in everything.

The first game was a straight forward 'go at one another' game. The Dark Templar came steaming in and launched himself onto the platform with his leader and some support. Very intimidating. I sent 'Frankio' up to have a look see.

Frankio on the prowl

He was great. Stub gunning away. People being 'pinned'. It was just great fun. In truth he was well supported both from distance and relatively close range. Nighthawk was a beast and took out two of the opposition - DEAD. I 'bottled' early and took the victory points. Cool start.

In the pub that night the story was all about 'Frankio'.

The second game was a funny affair in that we started on top of one another, only 2"'s apart, and we were tasked with taking out a piece of enemy scenery, we used old fashioned gene stealers :-). We started with a small number on the table and then it was supposed to build with reinforcements.

Nighthawk opened up early dishing out the damage before getting hit himself. Frankio came to the rescue, again. It was cool.

Frankio to the rescue

However we both lost people in the first round and both failed bottle tests so the game was over before it started. Amazing!

And so to the third game. Oh wow.

The entire Goliath gang were on the assault. I had 5 sentries. The sentries were randomly moved depending on who rolled the highest dice. I mean this was mad! In the first two turn I controlled the sentries once!! I mean seriously.

I was surrounded as the Goliaths crept closer and closer. Their aim was to take down a centrally positioned structure. It was starting to look really cruel at one point and then 'Frankio' got his shit together. I had control of him twice in a row and he sounded the  alarm by facing down the opposition leader, go 'Frankio'.

I see you!

The rest of the boys came running and what followed was carnage. I mean blood on the floor. The mother of all battles. The Goliaths did what they had come to do but paid a high price! We had our own troubles too. A great game full of emotion with ebbs and flows. I have missed Necrumunda and I glad it is back in my life.

There are lessons to learn and credits to spend but this is for another day.

Tonight in the pub there will be stories to be told of heroes in the field and 'Frankio' has made his name. He was first to face down the Goliaths, he was first to pin one of them, he recused Nighthawk in the second game and raised the alarm in the third. I raise a glass - to 'Frankio'!

The green tide cometh!

Warhammer 40k, 8th Edition. I have decided that there is no point comparing it to previous editions. It is a new game with new rules and making backward looking comparisons is just a waste of time. Like any new game it takes a while to settle into its routine and once the basics have become natural you can begin to have fun with the combinations made possible by the new playing mechanics.

Last night we played our second game of 8th edition. This time we played battle forged armies and set the limit at 1000points. We used the command points for the first time and rolled on the table for mission and deployment style. My Orks v's the Dark Templar Marine salamanders. We played on a 4X4 table.

I kept my play style very simple and went with the 'green tide' Ork style. I just wanted to 'feel my way' into the game. We were strict with ourselves and followed the phasing very deliberately. This went really well and gave us structure.

1000 point Ork Army

I had 100 models on the table to the Dark Templars 24. He was intimidated for sure. I didn't take Ghazghkull nor did I take any Warbosses. I wanted to save them for another day. I did take a Painboy, Boss Zagstruck, Nob with Warbanner and my leader for the night a Weirdboy. I didn't take Da Jump again something for the future I took the more conservative Warpath instead. I just wanted to see how the boyz would do.

I had: -

30 boyz, nob with PK
30 boyz, nob with PK
15 boyz, nob with PK
20 stormboys, nob with PK

All this meant I did not have to remember lots of different Ork rules. I could settle into the game ruleset. This gave me a battalion detachment and 3 command points on top of the 3 you have as standard. I could have easily tweaked the list to also have a second battalion but again I kept it basic for this game.

Ork Set-up

I set the boyz up with a declined flank so leaving the left side clear.

The marines set-up in the middle of the board opposite. We alternated one squad at a time.

Marines set-up

The Dread was separated off to the left. This was done deliberately to take away landing areas from my Stormboyz. Good move DT.

I had the first turn and I advanced the green tide. The first thing to note here is that characters move separately and as such have to be rolled for separately so there can be some disconnect. This can be a problem if the boyz get away in front because you really want the buffs from the characters. I will need to think about this for the future. I think that greater care is needed in the set-up to make this unlikely. I had the characters behind the boyz, and the boyz were keen.

I went for it and brought in the Stormboyz on the left hand side 'declined' flank.

Stormboyz arrive

What a sweet sight. I advanced them and lost a couple guys doing that but this improved my charge chances. The charge was successful and I was in. I went for the 'first blood' victory point and completely destroyed the 6 man veteran squad before spreading out to entangle the other troops.

It felt great!

However there are lessons to learn. The Boss is not part of the squad and has to be rolled for separately. I had him attack a different target, the Razorback. This was a mistake and I nearly lost him. In future I would declare the charge against two units and this would give him protection. I would also put him against troops.

I also note that everyone gets an extra attack if there are more than 20 models so in future I will always take a larger unit that can afford to lose a few guys and still retain this advantage. Probably take the full 30.

Positioning before and after the 3" secondary move is really essential so that everyone gets tied up. I am going to have to really think about this. I was lucky in that I did tie up all the units but I very nearly didn't succeed in this aim.

Stormboyz in action

Had the Boss gone against the marines and had I got 20 additional attacks because the squad was the right size I could have been much more devastating. I declared all the boyz against the six man squad and could have killed 12 marines with the result, a waste. I should have split the attacks and taken the additional overwatch. There are real lessons to learn here.

I could support this chaos with some Kommando's or indeed some fast attack buggies or ..... there are options and many of them to consider but it would to great to feel some more help arriving before the boyz finally make it.

The boyz arrive

And make it they did! They were buffed by the Warbanner and the Weirdboy's Warpath giving +1 attack and +1 to hit. I didn't get them all into the action I would guess at least 10 - 15 had no attacks and this was just a big mistake. They get 2 attacks normal ,+1 for the choppa, +1 for Warpath, that's four and the PK was in the wrong place - idiot - and both the nob with Warbanner and the Wierdboy had fallen behind and could'n't charge and the Painboy had been mugged because of the same problem. Just silly stuff. But missing out on 40 attacks and not getting the characters in was crazy. Note to self - learn from this experience.

Anyway - I missed the opportunity to smash all before me. Too many errors in both set-up and tactics. The marines held on and in the end the only two people left on the field were both the marine characters.

I was delighted for the Dark Templar. He fought stoutly and just inched his way into the winning position. It was a great night and the game is definitely fun to play. Congrats to the DT and my Wierdboy will be getting a yellow streak on his cloak to remember his actions on this night ;-)

Frostgrave game 4

The Haunted Houses

We had a great morning and needed the bit of lunch when it came. Lots to talk about and the hand to hand combat proved to be something a bit more devastating than we had expected. For our next game we kept the random encounter special rule, even though nothing had appeared last game. On a 16 or above a random creature attacks the person who is picking up treasure. We rolled on the scenario table and The Haunted Houses came up.

Haunted Board

The idea is that there are 6 huts represented by the cups each of which holds a piece of treasure. When you open the door (the handle) you roll to see if there is a Wraith in the hut. All very straight forward until we looked up the Wraith. Only magic items do damage to it. It doubles all the damage that it does (we didn't remember that) and it can walk through walls (we didn't remember that either)

We just panicked at the only magic can do damage. None of our soldiers had magic items yet so we had problems. We nearly decided to ignore that rule but didn't in the end. It would be down to our Wizards and Apprentices to take care of business.

The nerves started in again but I was feeling confident and decided to be more aggressive in my approach.

First round

I set-up on the right and put myself in 3 groups. My wizard took a group out to the right flank. I was going to use Leap to get someone quickly to the furthest away hut. I held a second group of 2 centrally and took the rest with my Apprentice to the left. I planned to blow by the third hut and pressure a forth piece of treasure.

Treasure Hunter has a look

I advanced the Treasure Hunter using my Wizard and put up a wall between the entrance door and party of opposition soldiers. Now if I could just sneak in and grab the treasure we would be sorted. I opened the door and .....

Wraith (looks rather like an old fashioned Genestealer)

Damn and blast and damn again. Also because I had moved and then opened the door I had no actions left to escape. He was on me.

He was on me

Not only that but my wall came down between phases. I had soldiers and an Apprentice bearing down on me. I contemplated using my new AOE fireball but thought it too risky. I would have had to step out to get in position and if I failed I was certain to lose my Wizard, but I was tempted, like really tempted.

In the end I put the wall back up and slunk away. There were 4 in the enemy party and if I stuck around they would soon be having shots at me. I would lose my Treasure Hunter but such is life. I did manage some success though, as I got a sneaky shot at the opposing Apprentice with my Ranger and she was killed!!

Retreat

On the other side things had also got interesting.  The Dark Templar got very excited and in a particularly aggressive manoeuvre came at me with everything he had including his Wizard. I was taken aback. I lost my Apprentice as they came bursting through a wall of fog.

Through the fog

But then I called on the great Orkish gods Gork and Mork to bless my dice rolling. This was hand to hand - Ork style. I sent in my Man at Arms, Thatcher. He has +4 Fight and had Gloves of Strength. It was a rolling maul and we were all having lumps knocked out of Health stats. I was surviving and beginning to put pressure on the opposing Wizard. And then it happened I rolled some amazing dice and the Dark Templar must have slipped on a banana skin because I had him!

His Wizard broke free and ran. My Rangers, who were now down to 3 & 5 points of Health tracked him down and killed him!! Oh Yes. Ranger Edmund  did the final deed. What a game. Breathtaking in the extreme.

We called the game at this point and agreed to only take the treasure we were carrying i.e. two each.

In the after game roll up the Wizards and Apprentices survived but I lost my Marksman, Cedric. Dead and gone for ever.

You know, I am just loving this game. It takes you through the full range of emotions. I will have some rebuilding to do in the after game. For the Dark Templar's take see here.

Frostgrave Game 3

Having played a couple of games we decided to step up the stakes for our third outing. We decided to play Random Encounters optional rule. This would mean that we rolled a D20 every time a piece of Treasure was picked up, on a 16 or more a beast of some kind was also discover who would promptly attack. All kinds of beasts are available and a dice roll on the table (page 110) decides what has been found.

We also decided to play a Scenario and rolled for The Worm Hunts. This meant that every time a piece of treasure is picked up there was a chance that a giant worm would also appear and the chances of it appearing improved each time a measure was packed up. Double jeopardy! The giant worm is a proper beast with +4 Fight and 20 Health points. Not to be trifled with!

We had learned, from the first days gaming, that it is important to really stack the terrain so that is what we did.

Stacking the terrain

We put the building in the middle to block up lines of sight and used all the trees we had . Next we placed the 6 pieces of treasure. I was down numbers for this game because one of my Thugs had been Badly Injured in the last battle. We were ready to rock and roll!

I chose to advance from the left and decided that the two pieces of treasure in the building should be my main targets. The building would give me good cover and I planned to use Telekinesis to drag the furthest piece of treasure towards me. The third piece of treasure was in a wood on the right so a set my speedy Thief after that and gave him two Rangers to act as cover.

Baldric advances

It was all working out to plan. We pinged the odd shot at one another but the terrain and the walls that I dropped combined with the fog dropped by the Dark Templar meant that it was all a bit cluttered.

But then the game burst into life with the appearance of a Giant Worm!

Worm Time!

It appeared when my Treasure Hunter, Victor, picked up the treasure that Baldric magically moved towards us. Up to now we had not got into Hand to Hand combat so this was going to be a new mechanic for us.

I bravely sent my thug, Signor in to help battle the creature. He was promptly eaten! I sent in my Man at Arms Thatcher and he had chunks taken out of him. And in its own turn the worm eat my treasure hunter, Victor. Jesus!! This was a very different game. Hand to hand is devastating.

I panicked and decided to take a risk. Baldric fired a fire bolt into the combat. The risk was that I would hit my own guy. I didn't, I hit the worm and it exploded into a mess. Relief!

The nerves settled.

To add insult to injury the Dark Templar pinged a shot at Thatcher who was now standing in the open, a bit shocked by recent events and on low health. The result - dead!

I was feeling completely wasted and the Dark Templar was giggling to himself. Everything was going his way. He was successfully casting spells, had raised his zombie, picked up some treasure and just had one more to pick up. I was down three guys and feeling like I just wanted to get off the board to lick my wounds. He was even pressuring the building I was in with five guys - but then - it happened as the Dark Templar picked up the final piece of treasure - a second Worm!!! (in the form of a Rat Ogre)

A second worm

Having just witnessed the carnage at my end of the table the DT a little on edge. The Worm promptly eat the zombie with the treasure and then tore into a group of three guys who had been pressing one end of the building that I was in. 

As I had just demonstrated there was little point in attacking this beast individually so the DT swarmed his guys over him and only with the benefit of numbers did he actually attack. A much better strategy! He was successful.

This also bought me time to get to safety. I dropped a few walls to cover my exit and we were done. An outstanding game of Frostgrave. I felt like I had been in a proper scrap and the adrenaline was pumping. It was time for some lunch and a much deserved cuppa.

In the after game I improved Wall, Bolt and Leap. Magical Gloves of Strength also dropped which I gave to my Man at Arms. I kept my Gold Crowns.

Frostgrave battle report

So we have played Frostgrave. Me oh my. I have been looking forward to it for time now. It is an extreme game and I love its spirit. I think that it speaks to the soul of a proper gamer. I love that fact that the wizard is central to everything and that the damage dealing is, well, out there!!

We learned that that we need to take more risks with the wizards. We were to cautious by far. This game is different. Having said that, I feel more bought into it than many others we have played over many years. Frostgrave is intelligent. Someone has thought about what 'gamers' like and built this game around that ethos. I am impressed  - and I mean seriously impressed. We have tried to build games - new games - based on what we love and its like someone has been in my brain and delivered that which we have been trying to develop. I am amazed and delighted in equal measure. It lack 'handfuls of dice' but that is all. It is fast moving and drama is delivered in spades!!!

You have got to play this game. It is just so much fun. Quick action, short timescale, and utterly dynamic. Fun fun fun.

First Frostgrave Warband

I had managed to get some paint on my guys and added Baldric and Samson to give me a starting lineup.

Roster

This is my starting roster. There are one or two stat errors which we picked up along the way. In the main my plan was to use wall a lot and Then on offence I had Elemental Bolt. I invested in a Ranger to give some covering fire. My fast moving Thief & Treasure Hunter would go after the Treasure.

The Board

I set-up the gaming area and I thought it was quite busy but we have learned that the game requires more terrain.

I played Baldric and Samson as my Wizard and Apprentice and then the others as they were built. We used green and blue dice as treasure markers. I have ordered Treasure Markers and dice - just waiting on delivery.

First Wall

And so to battle and it wasn't long before my first Wall appears. And then my second. (large matchbox wrapped in a paper sheet)

It was really effective and allowed me to gather the Treasure in relative freedom. However I was getting to cocky and had not realised how devastating ranged shooting and magic could be. Our first casualty was soon in evidence - my apprentice, Samson!! Dead.

We giggled but to be honest I was hoping this wasn't going to be a fatal blow for my Warband. Only time would tell. We played on and My first Elemental Bolt proved to be impressive as I dispatched one of the enemy soldiers. All that was left was the singed spot he was standing on. It was all good fun.

We finished with three treasures each which was a nice balanced start.

In the after game phase I was delighted when my Apprentice recovered with full health and then I rolled very lucky on the Treasure tables resulting in lots of Gold Crowns and a Grimoire which I already knew so I could sell it. Result.

I elected for an Inn as my base. This allowed me to increase the Warband size from 10 to 11. I filled the ranks with a Marksman, two more Rangers and another fast moving Thief. A great start to my Frostgrave adventure.

He shoots - he Sscoooorresss!

2016 and the start of some regular gaming. Hurray. Today it was Guild Ball. My Masons taking on the Dark Templars Butchers. Our first proper game with six a side teams, needing 12 victory points to claim the win.

Now I had given the game some thought. We had played a couple games with the Starter Box sets and learned a fair bit from that. We both agreed that this is a really good game to play and that each of the teams has its own distinct character. The players combinations and styles are also unique and the game dynamics are very well thought out.

Team selection.

My captain Honour is in, as the whole team revolves around her.
Next is Harmony. She is linked with Honour and can even use Honours stats in certain situations.
Marbles is in the line up. He is a cool mascot and can be great for the team.
Flint is my ball carrier and main Kicker so he is a must. Long distance kicking if Influence is used well.
Mallet is a solid player if a bit slow. He will be shoring up the middle of the park.
My final choice was the inclusion of Tower. I liked the way he could dish damage against Knocked Down players.

Tactics

I had a basic plan. I knew that the Butchers would want to take hold of the middle of the field and then lock the Masons into battle and beat them senseless. To counter this I planned to kick the ball wide to create space and then pass it a fair bit to generate Momentum and use the Give'n'Go and Pass'n'Move rules to allow characters an extra 4" Dodge. This had worked well in our starter games and with Flint on the board I should be able to really take advantage of this.

I planned to use Marbles to tie up  the Butchers ball carrier Brisket. Marbles has the Goad ability. This forces the named model to move towards Marbles all the time he is on the board. Also because Marbles has Loved Creature the Butchers will not want to kill him early. This gives the team big bonuses in the turn he dies. So move Marbles away from the play and lock Brisket out of the action.

Tower and Mallet will engage the Butchers in the middle of the park.

Honour, Harmony and Flint will form a flying squad and operate on the sidelines with a view to scoring 3 goals. Each worth 4 victory points.

The plan is to score early and then use Flint, Marbles, Honour and Harmony to Tackle. They have Tackle in their first damage slot and this will be important.

The main thing is to move and pass. Score early and try to get the ball back. Take advantage of the early rounds when I have all my guys on the board.

The Game

The Masons started the game by kicking off.

I lined up with my Kicker in the middle and then split Harmony and Honour. This gave me options to move the ball away from Brisket. I kicked diagonally and placed the ball just over the half way line. 4 dice needing a single 4+ roll. Fail! The ball scatters and ends up almost off the board.

The Dark Templar had included Shank in his line-up and I think the model is just spectacular. I love those flowing chains.

Brisket was lined up on the Butchers right, so would be the target for Marbles. Ox and Boar lined up in the middle with Boiler on the left.

The chase was on to pick up the ball. I actually managed to get Flint to the ball. He ran down the line with it and then kicked back to Harmony. 4 dice needing a single 4+, Fail! OMG! The plan had been to make two or three passes to give extra movement to Harmony and Honour but No.

The ball scatters and both teams decend on it. Ox comes through and finally gets hold of it. Love that model too and the DT has done a cool painting job on him.

It looked like I was in real trouble.

Marbles had done his job and was locking down Brisket and Princess on the left and Tower and Mallet were standing up to Boar in the middle.

I realised that I could hit Boar on a 2+ and planned to try and take him out. Mallet hit him with Knock Down. I had given Tower loads of Influence and he then got stuck into the prone Boar. I got close but couldn't quite kill him. I needed to have a third person there to guarantee success. I got soon close though.

I sent Honour after Ox to Tackle for the ball.

He countered a couple of times and so the ball exchanged hands. It was very dramatic and thankfully I had given her enough Influence to do the job. Finally she got the ball and passed it down the field to Flint who used Pass'n'Move to advance towards the goal.

Finally Flint uses Super Shot to gain Kick bonuses and takes his shot with 5 dice needing a 4+.

Success!! The Masons score. It's our first ever and quite dramatic! Yippee!

Now in reality I was being beaten to a pulp elsewhere on the board. All that messing at the beginning was costing me. I had been 6-0 down but this score got me back to 6-4.

In Guild Ball the ball bounces straight back into play. It bounced out to the far wing so I used Run the Length to advance Flint in its direction.

The problem for the Masons was that we were losing players. This then gave numerical advantage to the Butchers and additional dice rolling advantages. We needed to retrieve the ball quickly and score again to have any hope of victory.

Both Marbles and Flint have Tackle in the first damage columns. I needed to use this. Marbles continued to Goad Brisket so she couldn't escape with the ball and this gave Flint the chance to get close and Tackle the ball back.



Shank was close and he stole in back for the Butchers. He hit Flint hard and did a lot of Damage allowing him to Wrap. He Tackled on the first damage and Flint used Close Control to hold on to the ball but Shank Tackled again on the Wrap and then stole away.



Honour went down to Ox. Marbles went down and then in the Maintenance phase Flint finally went down to Poison.

Butchers win 12 - 4.

Summary

We love the game. This one was good fun. It was unfortunate that I fumbled the ball so much in the beginning but once I finally got hold of it and generated Momentum I started to shine.

It is clear that each character has its own role and getting them doing the things that they are good at is vital to having success. We learned a lot in this our first proper game and it was great to see some of the new characters in action.

We still have a lot to learn and I know I will enjoy the journey.

Mr J - a happy man!

Today was the day that we have been waiting for and we finally got a couple of games in. Two huge victories for Mr J's Crew. Both games finished something like 20 VP's to 3 VP's but to be fair we were more interested in play testing the rules than really playing and the Crew composition really favoured Mr J. You just have to have henchmen in this game.

200 rep Crew's

Batman Crew - Batman AC (130), Robin (68)

Joker Crew - Joker (90), Sniggering (25), Triston (26), August (25), Clown (knife) (15), Clown (tube) (14)

We played the Skirmish Scenario for both games.

Game 1 - The Dud!

The Joker crew brought an Ammo Crate, Titian Dose & 2 Gas Canisters. Batman brought 2 Riddles, an Ammo Crate and a Titian Dose.

I decided to keep the Objectives as close to my starting position as I could. I placed them in a line on the edge of Batmans deployment area.

The idea was to Run my guys in turn one directly towards them. I put Clown (tube) in the Sewer and kept Sniggering back to defend Batman's Ammo Crate.

The game almost had a hugely dramatic start because Batman was deployed next to a Sewer (to use his Explosive Gel) but close to a Lamppost and more importantly in Line of Sight of Sniggering. I started to think about the possibility of 9 Blood damage.....

If I could just get the first turn ..... but No! Batman got to go first and used his Explosive Gel to take out the Sewer and the Lamppost. Back in darkness and safe.

My Crew piled forward getting ready for the clash that would surely come in Turn 2.

I got to go first in Turn 2 and was able to manoeuvre Mr J forward and into range for the famous One Shot Gun. Now I had gone to the trouble of putting the One Shot Gun in Mr J's hand. I just knew that it would make the difference. I announced the shot with glee. 'Automatic Hit' I said and '2+ to damage'. What did the Dark Templar retort? 'anything but a one then'. He should never had said that .....

Sure enough - thats what I rolled. Utter disappointment! The opening salvo - a dud!

In truth this became a theme for the day. We both rolled absolutely useless dice. We couldn't get beyond the 1's and 2's most of the time.

Batman took to the air after that. The Batclaw is pretty cool and very characterful.

I moved onto the Objectives and Batman jumped Triston using his Sneak Attack. Our poor dice rolling continued but even so, Triston was taken down.

The game finished up with a bit of hand to hand combat involving Robin, Mr J & August. We knocked lumps out of one another but no one went down. August did a couple of Blood damage so he has earned the Blood on his shirt ;-)

The Joker crew amassed loads of Victory Points by sitting on the Objectives. I thought it was funny to be suffering Gas damage when claiming VP's. We had tested the movement rules, the hand to hand rules and the shooting rules. We found them a bit alien but that is usually the case with any new rule set. Counter management was proving to be a real pain - just something else to get used to.

We were disappointed that that so little damage was done by the combat and equally recognised that our dice rolling had been poor. Maybe Game 2 would be an improvement.

Game 2 - Handbags

This opened up with a bit of fun as I placed the Gas Canisters next to Batman and Robin. When they activated they both failed Willpower tests and took some damage. A very funny moment.

Batman set-up his Ammo and Titan Container along the line of my deployment zone. This was going to be more interesting. I advanced as I did in the first game. This time Batman did not mess around and took straight to the air. He got in position and used his ranged attack to take down my Clown (knife) Ouch.

The Joker was not impressed and reached for the One Shot gun. Ha, ha - this time there was success and the Batman was splatted with Blood damage.

We had allowed the Riddles to be placed up high so Batman & Robin stepped up and solved both Riddles. 

Batman was now ahead in terms of VP's and I was a man down. Could he keep me from getting to the Objectives? I had high hopes of taking out Batman himself. He had taken half damage and all Blood. I had a few turns to make it tell. He would have to come down from his high place to capture the remaining Objectives and start to score. 

How would it play out? As an aside you got to hand it to the Dark Templar - his painting is just outstanding.

I fired Explosive Teeth and Shotgun rounds at Batman for a couple of rounds and nothing! Crap dice! I was getting frustrated. My Henchmen did their job and made it the Objectives.

And Yip - you guessed they started failing Willpower tests and taking Blood damage. At least I was getting VP's. The Joker and Triston stayed in my deployment zone to challenge Batman & Robin. A major hand to hand combat broke out on the Batmobile. Very funny.

Tristan went down. Mr J ran out of Ammo and stepped in with the knife - but, yet again, rubbish dice rolling. It was like 'handbags at dawn'. Funny though.

Yet again - huge victory for the Joker Crew but this was more about learning how to play the game and we learned a lot.

Summary

It was fun. We both would have liked there to be a bit more carnage and it feels like Batman is very under powered. A lot of thinking to do but good fun. I think that the games lacked drama - there were no belly laugh moments and no great tales to tell. That might come on another day and lets face it we both rolled rubbish dice. I even passed a Willpower test of 4. Yes - that is two dice less than or equal to 4. I rolled a 1 and 2!

We both felt that 200 rep was nice to learn but really it needed 350 rep to get a bit more power into the Crews. Maybe then the stories will unfold.

For today ..... suffice it to say ..... Mr J has a big smile on his face.