Battle on planet Bdroom!!!

Hi, how are you?.....Doing well I hope?.....Nothing to complain about?.....Wife not giving you the shits?......Good, that's great news, let's begin :)

I've only written up three Rogue Trader battle reports so far, and they've all been played against my long time buddy from primary school. My son has joined in on two of them, but he was put off playing half way through one of them by the complexity & constant scanning the rule book (anyone who's ever played RT can sympathise) to find the ever elusive rule that you can never remember. But the next one we played with him we simplified the rules quite a bit....and he enjoyed that a whole lot more.

So, fast forward six months, my son has just finished his Xmas holidays, during which time we played a few simplified games of RT together. One we played on his large whiteboard, drawing a map of a cave system on it as he progressed. The next, we played on my small white board that I'd grassified a few years back, just for small skirmish battles. And finally, we played on his bedroom floor....where all boyhood games begin. And so, the latter of these battles is the setting of today's batrep.



The Scenario:

An Ultramarine forward contingent have been slowly gaining the trust of the inhabitants of the planet Bdroom over the last year. This small planet, with no real monetary wealth, has an over abundance of muscle i.e. Ogres. Which they are trying to coerce into the service of the emperor.

But, unlike other settlements that they have been to on this planet, the locals didn't seem too impressed with this "emperor god". Something to do with a shrivelled up dude kept alive be devouring humans by the bucket load sorta turned them off the idea. Strangely though, a couple of the villagers noticed a dash ornament on the bonnet of the Ultramarine's transport and they thought it must be another one of their Gods. They seemed so taken with this "deity" that they began falling over themselves to get a better look at it.

The Ultramarine's, far from home & the prying eyes of any nosey Inquisitors, thought that if they played up this new "deities'" importance to them then they might be able to get what they wanted. So, they travelled back into the city centre, removed a local statue that nobody seemed to care about & set to work re-working him into the same dash ornament, but in life size.

Upon presenting it to the villagers they fell completely under the spell of the Marines. For they had promised them that if they served the Ultramarine's with unquestioning loyalty they would get a chance to meet this God. in person! That was it, the Ogre's were now theirs to command.

Meanwhile, wandering across the vast emptiness that is planet Bdroom in his Walker, looking for more helpless settlements to raid, Thrugg happened across another wrecking machine plying it's trade, a small Khornate warband. He was so impressed with their bloodthirsty devotion to their work that he thought it best if they enjoyed their shared interests together. And after a short introduction (or fight, it was hard to tell) between the two leaders they decided to smash shit up together....awesome!!!!!

Thrugg had heard about an Ultramarine force about a days journey away that had plonked a large statue of a God in a village town square. This sounded like something he'd like to steal & the Khornate wrecking crew were more than willing to kick in a few of those prissy boy Ultramarine's skulls given half a chance. And so they headed off together in the direction of the village.



The protagonists:

"The Village people", pushed around by me:

2 squads of Ultramarine's, 
2 Dreadnoughts,
4 Ogres
and a  bunch of Yokels


"The Gatecrashers", pushed around by my son:

2 squads of Khornate Marines,
2 squads of Orks,
1 Walker,
1 Siege Dreadnought.



The objective:

The Village people had to prevent the invaders from taking the statue out of the village boundary....simples.

Game on! 

The peaceful village of Bdroom....laid out on my sons' bedroom floor.

The idol of "Rock on" will remain in Bdrooms' courtyard forever  more....amen.

Whereas this bunch of ne'er-do-wells has a different objective in mind.

Thrugg bellows to his mob "Bring me dat metal man, or else!"

Khornate traitor marines & Thruggs' crew approach the village, eager to revel in the carnage together.

"Your gunna eat metal fist soon az you stik your ed round ere!"

"Nice'n shady undu vis twee....fink I'll stay ere for a wile :)"

"Vey can't see me ere"

"Let's test the wall's strength"

"Arrhh fuuuck!!! Get down Bill & Ted!"

"Errr, do you fink it's safe here?"

"Kaboooom!!!!" Two marines managed to escape from the wall, moments before it was punched into oblivion.

The Ogre that "couldn't be seen" was seen by a squad of Orks....and died :(

The Evil doers smashed their way into the village. Will the Inhabitants be able to repel them?

A brave (or stupid?) Ogre rushes the Siege Dreadnought, while the Walker decides to introduce his foot to an old cottage.

This single rocket ended the Dreads' "wall smashing" days.

Much to the surprise & dismay of the people huddled behind the building, they were showered with debris....killing quite a few of them.

Hammeroid charged the two Ultramarine dreads'.

Only to be undone by that pesky rocket launcher dude, damn you!!!!

The marines managed to cut down a few of the unwelcome visitors to Bdroom, but not enough to dissuade them from entering.

A couple of sneaky marines decide to get up higher so that they may
be able to have a crack at the Walker crew.

Not fast enough to get out of the Walkers way.

The Khornate follower's begin their attack on the right flank. 

The two marines decided to try and "get in" the howdah, but failed :(

An Excalibur moment occurred while the Orks tried to gain entry into the tower.

Running down opponents turned out to be best (and funnest) way to
dispatch the enemy.

Failing to get in the howdah, the marines opted to make a dash for the
roof of the tower. Killing the crew of the Walker seemed the only 
plausible way to stop it.

Meanwhile, an Ogre & dread beat up the leg of the Walker. Making it
leak hydraulic fluid all over it's shiny paint work :(

Another Ogre introduced himself to the Khornate baddies, making a
 lasting impression.

Once again, the kicking attack kept working for the
Walker....Thrugg was well pleased with himself.

The traitors attempted to light up the Ogre, but he enjoyed the
warmth & just laughed in their faces :D

The one time in the entire game that nobody was killed when the
Walker decided to charge them...amazing!

The Khornate guys had quite a bad time for most of the game. Here they were finished off by collective assault from
the Ogre & Ultramarine's.

Followed by another stomp fest from the Walker. Thrugg now had tears of joy running down his battle scared face.

These two Ogres had managed to completely disable the Walkers right leg....immobilising it. 
Immediately after which Thrugg & co. jumped down to deal with. 

Amazingly, both Ogres were dispatched by the two Orks!

The rocket dude had the misfortune of having his magazine
 explode....beside his head. No amount of armour save was
 going to protect him from that.

Thrugg & his chum jumped back into the howdah and rained death onto
 the two remaining marines who had just got into firing position 
on top of the tower...bad luck old chums, bad luck indeed.

Thrugg & his best and only pal, perched upon their disabled Walker, 
surrounded by yokels.....what to do? What to do????

So....with a bit of a stalemate occurring, the villagers decided to do what they love to do most.....

What else could they do?

Conclusion:

With nothing left for the townsfolk to damage the Walker with....short of a few farmers axes. And the Walker crew still having full use of their assault cannon, there didn't seem to be a outright winner, so we called it a draw. It was a lot of fun, my son really enjoyed it & he's now nagging me for more. So all in all, it was a great success.

cheers :)

YOOOOO SHALL NOT PAAAAASSSSSS!!!!!......Mr Close Assault Dreadnought!!!

The third instalment of four Rogue Trader scenarios that I played earlier this year. This type of game was one that I've wanted to play for a very long time, a Rogue Trader game in a fantasy setting.


The Scenario:

A small Ultramarine force had been tasked with setting up an observation outpost on an uncharted planet. An Ork Warlord is suspected of using it as a base of operations to launch raids on passing Imperial trade ships.

The planet was thought to be uninhabited (apart from the Greenskins), but not long after they had finished setting up their camp they discovered the remains of earthen dwellings, a disused mine shaft and other such evidence of human occupation.

A few days later (while out on patrol) they came across a small party of Ork's, sleeping in the open. They had a rather run down Walker (AT-ST) with them, but they were completely unprepared for the Marines. In a brief encounter the Ork's were slain & the Walker left as a smouldering wreck.

The Marine's returned to their makeshift camp to file a report of their engagement. Unaware that the noise of the battle had not only been been heard by the local populace, but that they were now on their way to the scene to investigate the cause of the disturbance.


Ultramarines: Pushed around by Rob_s

1 x 5 man squad with a flamer
1 x 5 man squad with a rocket launcher
1 x Close Assault Dreadnought (Chuck)


Locals: Pushed around by me

17 x humans in chain with hand weapons
3 x dwarves with hand weapons
1 x lvl 5 hero in plate armour with hand weapon
1 x lvl 25 wizard (Groondolf)

And so it begins:

The Local's find the battlefield remains and search through it....bemused at what they discover. Meanwhile, the
 Marines kick back and stare at the grass.

"Realistic" foot print effects lead off to the centre of the grass mat. What could have created such things?

Groondolf cast "Ectoplasmic mist" near the Marine's to shield his followers advance. Like he
somehow knew that they had guns & and that his best chance of success was to close
with them ASAP :)

1st squad moved forward from their base and set up a shooting gallery on top of the nearest hill. Killing the three
dwarves, even before they had a chance to scowl at them.

2nd squad now moved to the centre as well. Their superior armour & armaments making them nigh invulnerable to the
natives feeble weaponry. The Locals split into two groups. Groondolf and a small bunch of followers moved to engage
with the enemy head on, while.....

.....the other larger force moved to the left, trying to outflank the enemy using the Ectoplasmic mist as cover.

Rocket man proved to be pretty ineffectual during the game. Only killing a couple of  Local's.

Round & round the Mulberry bush.

I rolled appallingly for most of the game, hence the locals got churned up pretty good....for the first half anyway.

"Steal mind" made Chuck amble away from the combat for a few rounds. Giving me a
much needed respite from his menace.

Using up a few more of my magic points I cast Ectoplasmic mist again, enveloping the Marines in the centre. It enabled
 my followers to engage with them in hand to hand combat without getting gunned down on their approach.

The end result? I had lost half of my force, but he Marine's routed from their losses. 

I used the last of my magic points to cast "Temporal distort" to give my guys a second
 move. Allowing them to close with the last remaining Marine....annoying rocket dude!

Meanwhile, Chuck had regained his faculties & rather quickly set about driving Groondolfs' head down on through
his spinal column.

The Local's ended rocket man.

And then Chuck ended them all rather horribly in return :(

Conclusion:

Even though I had rolled quite horribly for most of the game, we both agreed afterwards that chain/plate armour is not a fair match for a bolter. I think to play these sorts of games you need a lot of terrain and/or cover, just to give the normal populace a chance. Either that or have a shit tonne of them in reserve? Actually that might be fun :D

We had a great time playing this type of game. I think it warrants some further investigation.

Ramble: 

I remember hearing about these types of games that were written about in Warhammer Siege when I was a teen. I wondered how you'd actually go about playing an equitable game (one side with guns vs the other with crossbows) without it turning into a turkey shoot. My gaming buddies & I never gave it a go, too much for our teenage brains to even contemplate attempting.

Then about five years ago I got hold of a copy of Siege and read through the whole book, for the first time! I was blown away with the & quality of the artwork, the detailed dioramas, the descriptions and just the sheer quantity of untapped possibilities, ripe for the picking. In my opinion it's up there with RT & 3rd ed Fantasy....I reckon it's that good.

In amongst all of the evocative illustrations, dioramas and complex (but awesomely detailed) siege rules, there's some random scenario generation charts. And more specifically, there's a chart solely devoted to playing mixed scenarios, pitting Fantasy against RT peoples/species.

Disappointingly though, I never got to see anyone playing it....over my entire gaming life (some 28 years worth). I never had the opportunity to witness or read about a mixed world game being played. No friendly face offs, no gaming convention display games, not even a WD batrep.....nothing! Which is a real shame, coz I think that if it was given the right amount of support I think it could have grown legs. Maybe even spawned a whole new direction for GW to take the RT world in? Who knows.....maybe it was just a fun little side project for Rick Priestley?

I have a couple of other theories (possibly more plausible than my previous supposition) as to why it may have not taken off as well; Most gamers (or more specifically GW gamers from that time period) usually only collected one type of miniature, either Fantasy or 40K. And you sort of involuntarily locked yourself into that gaming mindset....never thinking about them ever coexisting. Also, there was really no reason or opportunity to play alongside each other either. Be it in a tournament setting at each others homes. And lastly, when my friends & I got into wargaming we really only ever had the time and/or money to collect (and occasionally paint) one genre of miniatures. So we just played in one setting....all the time.


I'll definitely be exploring more of this style of game.


Cheers all :)