Battlefleet Gothic August 23rd

 

Back on the 23rd of August a bunch of us got together for a four player game of Battlefleet Gothic. It was Orks against the Imperium in a 1500 point game. It was the first time a battleship had been used by us for quite some time. It also marked the first appearance of an Ork big ship.

Both fleets lined up along the long edge of the table facing opposite short edges. As a result they both had to maneuver their fleets to bring their weapons to bear. This was a challenge for the Orks with their lesser turns and especially a challenge for their Rok.

All Quiet on the Martian Front Saturday August 30th

 

The battlefield, American deployment zone in the lower left

Martian deployment zones, top left and lower right

Martian forces

American forces

We played the breakout scenario from the rulebook, with around 295 points a side. The Americans started in one corner and had to somehow make it to the opposite corner of the table. The game had a 3 turn minimum with a die roll after the third turn to see if the game comes to an abrupt end. It was a tight fit for the American forces but they needed to force a breakout and had to do it quickly so keeping troops in reserve was counter intuitive.

It was a close game with much carnage on both sides, the Martians lost 5 of 12 tripods while the Americans saw many of their tanks destroyed. The game did end after three turns, which were not nearly enough turns to have given the Americans a chance of winning. Ultimately the forces seemed to be fairly evenly weakened. As the Martian player said if this was a Martian victory, a few more like this and the invasion would be over.

More pictures follow...

AAR Pulp Alley - Vice Alley II, Late night flight

 

 

The Pointes across from Martin airfield

The first game of the new campaign, oddly enough not actually from the Vice Alley book. We went for one from Perilous Island; Last Flight. We simply substituted substituted the location and used cops instead of French troops. Otherwise it fits well with the Vice Alley theme, one faction trying to sneak a star witness out of the city while the other seeks to prevent this from happening.

 

Martin Airfield

China Station campaign - China Station Inferno

 

So, we had a two player game, home brew Mystery League (a duo league) vs The Sons of the Empire league from one of the Pulp Alley books. The Empire league was played by a first time player. Well for a first time player he certainly picked up the rules pretty fast. He made great use of the cards dealt to him even though this was the first time playing with this league he picked up on the nuances of the league.

Fantastic Battles Dwarf vs Goblin April 21 2024

 

Rematch Goblins vs Dwarves

So, with the battlefield still set up, we thought we would have time to play FB and still get in a game of Pulp Ally. However we were delayed in starting the game and just did not have time or the energy for two games. 

This was another stab at a Dwarf army defending against a horde of fast moving Goblins. I acted as ref for the game as neither player was all that familiar with the rules. The armies were 1000 points each and each army had 5 captains, 3 wizards and a Warlord. The dwarven army was made up of my FB purpose based Roman Dwarves (with a couple of WH based hand-gunner units) while the Goblins, for the most part, were on my homemade movement trays.

Fantastic Battles April 04 2024

Deployment after mishap roles. Not much impact on either army, one Dwarf unit suffered -2 Resolve & one wolf rider unit rushed ahead 4BW.

 

Yet another classic match up Dwarf vs Goblin, was played today. This was a game originally planned for last November, but had to be postponed. Thankfully Craig was able to attend this game despite the resurgence of winter! 

Pulp Alley AAR June 11th Trail of Clues

In order to get ready for our new campaign, we figured we should maybe try out the rules again as it has been a long time since we last played this game. Also this game was a way of introducing a new player to the game.

In the trail of clues scenario four plot points are placed 12" in from the corners, then each of the leagues are deployed within 12" of a corner (more than 6" away from a plot point) The major plot point is only placed on the table when one of the leagues has completed a minor plot point. 

 The set up

 

Pulp Alley at OMG April 2nd 2023

 So, first time gaming at the club went well. Two rookies to the game and one old pro. I am not certain if the rookies knew what they were getting into, but they seemed to go with the flow and picked up the rules pretty quickly. I brought 8 leagues with me and allowed the players to choose who to play. We went with a simple scenario, Lost Keys  and after a brief explanation of the rules we had at it.

See the bottom of the post for the league sheets used.

 It was a scatter start so the leagues deployed all over the board and at all heights! 

 

Fantastic Battles AAR for Thursday Jan 26th game

 

 Two 1000 point armies, Dwarf vs Orc.

 

Dwarf defenders

Orc attackers

 

Pulp Alley AAR pulp alley of the Apes

 

 

 

Fantastic Battles AAR June 26th 2022 game

 

 

All Quiet on the Martian Front - First game AAR

First Chaos in Carpathia game in many years

It has been many years since we last tried this game, and I figured it was long over due for another test. Three players fought in out in this one, in a variation of one of the Cairo scenarios.
Set up saw one random character from each group placed in the centre of the table while members of their group formed up some distance behind them. There was no subtlety in this scenario, just fighting! As such it was a good test of the combat rules but, of course, did  not allow us to explore any other aspects of the game, but combat is what I wanted to see!

Pulp Alley - Caravan Attack

Not a comic book report this time, as too few pictures were taken. The game was an interesting game that pitted a regular league, The agents of OZ vs Frankie and her boys, a new league that I had recently made. The new league is a challenging league to play, one leader with no shoot or brawl, but 5D10 dodge,and the swarm ability and three Allies each with an extra ability (companions perk) , and each with either the goon or beast ability, and therefore no ability to complete plot points!

First go at What a Tanker!

Saw this game in action at Hotlead, and thought it looked like it might be fun to play, and you know what it is! It is a game with a lot of random elements to it, so it could be frustrating for some, but I like the chaos, the fact that your best laid plans can be ruined by poor command dice rolls, just when you see the enemy in the open ahead of you, you fail to get the acquire or aim dice that you need or worse everything but the fire die!

Pulp Alley The Lemurian Campaign: Chapter 1 Arena of Terror

Our first Pulp Alley game of the new year, playing the first scenario of our new campaign, in our version of The Lost World of Lemuria!

Three leagues have arrived in Lemuria via various different routes, but all have been captured by the locals, and have been sent to the Arena of Terror to fight it out with each other, and the arena beasts! However the leagues, uncertain of the lay of the land, have decided to band together to confront what ever terrors might appear to fight them.
 

Pulp Alley game set in Venice updated Jan 17 2019 with ending pages

This game was played just before Christmas of 2018, and was an opportunity for players to test out their leagues for the up coming Lemuria campaign, set to commence on January 19th 2019.
It was also a chance for me to test out some scenario ideas.

I discuss the scenario in detail after part one...

Tomb of the Serpent New Nameless Ruin AAR, second game of the day

So this was the second time we played this game on the same day, and the third time playing this scenario. Up to this point the servants of evil had split the games winning 1 losing 1.
 
In this game Roosevelt's Angels made some significant roster changes and also picked up a mount for Ike, the leader. The player for the Angels had had direct experience going up against mounted leagues having played the servants in the Burning Desert scenario vs three mostly mounted leagues.. The value of mounted figures is quite significant particularly in this type of scenario where the league is trying to get across and off the board as soon as possible. Will it be enough to ensure victory...?
Read on!

Pulp Alley TOS The Nameless Ruins

Our most recent game, played July 14th 2018. We played three games that day all part of the campaign. This was our second crack at the Nameless Ruins scenario, the first time was a three league game, that went right down to the wire. This time the game did not take long to finish and the outcome was never really in doubt. That said, it was a fun game that still had tension, as the servants were randomly drawn, and you never knew what you might encounter.

Pulp Alley Tomb of the Serpent Cairo Caper