Battle in the Trucidonian Desert

40k Battle
Mission: Annihilation
Deployment: Spearhead
Size: 750 points
Forces: Dark Angels vs. Tyranids

This week I played my monthly game in the ongoing Trucidos campaign against my buddy Oz and his scuttling 'Nids. We're wrapping up month number three of the campaign and so far it has yet to disappoint. The two of us had both won our January games, so we were tied in terms of campaign rewards, but I had accumulated more campaign points overall (mostly from making terrain) so that gave me the edge. This meant I got to choose the mission type, and I chose the 'annihilation' scenario. My thinking here was that I would have an easier time wiping out the Tyranids wholesale than trying to play a land-grab race to secure objectives from a foe that was sure to outnumber me at least 2:1.


By-Tor leads the Dark Angels


The Tyranids of Hive Klandathu


Scout Squad Felix takes cover in the woods

I won the roll off and opted to go second, I didn't know if I needed the bottom half of that last turn to scrape something together or not. This meant the Tyranids would go first, and their first turn was incredibly successful. A direct hit from one of the backfield Biovores wiped out half of one of my scout squads, their 4+ armor saves didn't protect them. That wasn't the half of it however, on the Hive Tyrant's first shooting phase, it killed Librarian By-Tor. The Tyrant's Venom Cannon screeched out a hail of shots, over an intervening tactical squad, and slammed into my army's commander. I took three wounds...and failed all of them, weighing in at 20% of my entire army's points, it was a harsh blow. All of this was before my turn!


Incoming!


Stand your ground!

In turn two it went from bad to worse. My remaining snipers, led by my fifty point Scout Captain Winter tried, to no avail, to stem the rushing tide of Genestealers. The clawed monsters clambered up the side of the building's walls and vanquished the marines in deadly melee.


To the bitter end

The scouts on the other side of the board would fare no better. As they emerged form the woods, shotguns blasting, they charged into a swarm of Termagants. Although outnumbered, they should have been evenly matched in strength. It was not to be, after a couple of rounds of melee, only Scout Sergeant Felix was left standing, and that didn't last for long.

I had started the game with a ten-man assault squad, Icarus, and I split them into combat squads before the battle began, with one element going in to reserves. I kept failing my reinforcements roll, and half of the squad seemed content to remain off of the table. With my present squad I charged into the Hive Tyrant, hoping to change the course of the battle. That was also not to be, my luck had gone horribly awry this game! The Hive Tyrant made quick work of the assault marines...I was quickly running out of troops.


By the third turn things weren't as dire, but they didn't seem that much better either. My assault marines in reserves were still refusing to come onto the board, and both squads of my scouts were all dead. My tactical squad was the one shining light, taking out a swarm of Termagants thanks to their rapid fire boltguns. They set upon a another swarm of Rippers, and decimated them as well. I was still two victory points behind, and the game was quickly ending.


The only immediate target my tactical marines could close with was the Hive Tyrant, who had now killed six Dark Angels. They eschewed their boltguns, and closed in melee with it. I don't know why I did this to be honest, I just didn't know what else to do with the thing.


At the bottom of the fourth turn I finally rolled for the rest of squad Icarus to enter the fray. I was two victory points behind at this point; they had a lot of work to do! They started off by exacting vengeance on the Genestealers, bolt pistol and flamer making short work of them. My victory point margin narrowed, but I was still behind.

At the top of turn five, a trio of Tyranid Warriors wheeled on the newly arrived assault squad and tore them apart at range. I thought Tyranids were supposed to be a close combat army! It would take a lot to pull this one out, actually, at best, all I could hope for would be a tie. I had a single man left of Squad Icarus, the veteran sergeant no less. Using his jump pack he bounded towards one of the two Biovores that had been harassing my army the whole game. He was able to strike it down, his power fist might have been a touch overkill, but it would do. There was a second Biovore though, and I wouldn't be able to claim the victory point unless the entire unit was destroyed. Meanwhile, my tactical marines were still engaged in close combat with the Hive Tyrant, their numbers dwindling, but it looked like this would be a melee stalemate. All of the luck the Tyranids had in the beginning seemed to turn against them in this combat, with roll after roll of misses.

None of it would matter if the game ended here and now, and with the roll of a die, we would find out; turn five is the last true turn of the game, with each one thereafter rolled for. As it turned out, we rolled for at least one more turn.


The Hive Tyrant continued to flail ineffectively against the tactical marines, who in all fairness, were equally ineffective against it. The rest of the Tyranid army however stalked the remaining Icarus trooper who was making his way towards the last Biovore. The living mortar was trying to lumber out of reach, but it couldn't outrun the marine's jump pack. The lone assault trooper was able to both avoid dying from the Tyranid Warrior Venom Cannons in the distance, and cut down the last Biovore, bringing the victory point total to a tie. A roll of the die at the end of the turn said that the game was indeed over.

Moment of the Game:
Probably the single most memorable of the game occurred on the first half of the first turn. I had taken along Librarian By-Tor specifically to deal with the Tyranid menace, picking his psychic powers to handle whatever might be thrown at me, be it swarms of light targets or a couple of Carnifexes. Weighing in at 150 points, he may have been a bit on the heavy side for such a small army, but I was excited to put him on the table as this would be his debut game, and he was named after a Rush song to boot! Well, three failed saves later, and all I just wrote about was put back into the foam tray, waiting for the long ride home, haha. Oh he'll be back!


Veteran Sergeant Obduro

Match MVP:
Well, I couldn't have possibly have hoped to tie it up at the very last second if it hadn't been for my deep striking assault squad, but more importantly, it was the veteran sergeant running around the back field that wiped out the Biovores. Thanks to that act, the final tying victory point to tie the game was earned.

An interesting footnote occurred after the game however. It turns out that Oz realized that the list he had been playing with was with a 1,000 point force, not 750 points as the game called for! An honest mistake, and sure, one hell of an oversight, but these things happen. At least that might explain why I had such an uphill battle the whole time, haha!


As usual, it was a good time, and even though "campaign points" were on the line, we all had a blast. What's more is that not only did we have a new player out, but we played two simultaneous games at Andy's house on a whopping double sized table, thanks to him for these pics. The other game, Space Marines versus Necrons can be found here, check it out!

Barricades, Generators, and a Science Station

As part of our ongoing 40k campaign on the planet of Trucidos, I whipped up some terrain for the month of February. I wanted pieces that would be versatile enough on the tabletop, but still look solidly sci-fi. As part of the scoring system we use however, I had to make quite a bit of it, or at least more than square foot each month, to make it worthwhile.


Science station with accompanying generator


A pair of Batroun-class generators


A series of barricades made from city ruins


Size comparison with a Space Marine


The scene this morning, prior to jumping headlong into the project

Apocabitz Now

I'm all for supporting the local game store and all that good stuff, even though I don't game in those places. I'm lucky in two departments in that I, first, have a rather large base of friends to game with, and secondly, I have a spouse who let's me keep a 8x4 game table permanently set up downstairs. I still pop in at the local Hobbytown (I know, I know, it's a chain), or Nord's Games (regionally local) to buy stuff from time to time however.

Having said all of that, I also buy online just as much. If you look at percentage of dollars spent, online sales actually get most of my money. My post here, and I don't do this very often, is to laud the online 40k store, Apocabitz Now, with some praise.

I've got some ideas cooking for a 5150 solo campaign to report on regularly here, and I wanted to center it around two characters. Well, you don't have to look further than GW's line of Space Orks to find some very flavorful models. I don't play Orks, I have no intention to start, but there's always a model or two that just grabs you and makes you want to paint it. In my case, I like to espouse my loathing of painting in general, but I still found not one, but two models I fell in love with from that line. Boss Snikrot is one of the character models, the other being the leader model (Nob) from the Komando boxed set. This last fig is in a boxed set...for thirty bucks. I like the model, but not that much, in this case though, I wanted that very model! I wasn't about to pick up the whole box just to have four extra Orks lying around, plus it'd jump my '2009 totals' up too, haha!

That's where Apocabitz Now comes into play. They have a very easy-to-navigate site, broken down into categories by codex army and furthermore by troop type (elite, HQ, fast attack, etc.). They sell more than just bits, and it looks like the regular 40k stuff is always at 20% off. They also offer Forge World items, hobby supplies, and gaming supplies. Overall it's a pretty comprehensive place.

Well they had the Komando Nob I wanted, in pieces, well everything except the head. Also, I didn't think the Snotling-riding-the-backpack was rather silly, so I picked up a regular Komando pack instead...this one much cooler. The head however was a no-show, this makes sense because it's a very distinctive piece that I'm sure gets snatched up a lot; goggles on the forehead, stogie stuck in one corner of the toothy maw...it's nice. Well I emailed them to see what they could do. In less than a day I received a response saying that had just a handful of that particular head, and that they could accommodate me, even though the part wasn't even listed on their site. I took care of the transaction through PayPal, which is always quick, and more importantly, secure, and in less than two days time I received another email telling me my order had been shipped via USPS (shipping was $2.99, orders over $75 are free).

So far so good, but when I got my package in the mail the other day I was amazed at the care in which it was put together. It was just a padded envelope, but inside every individual piece was placed within its own single, miniaturized ziplock bag of heavy plastic. Not only that, but each part was labeled with a printout with its name, part number, and price. This packaging was the kicker, making for an overall good experience.

Their service was incredibly fast, from placing my order to receiving it. Communication was excellent too, informing me when the package shipped out and keeping me in the loop along the way. It was handled through PayPal, so easy and secure there. When the package arrived, it professionally packed with obvious care, they want your gaming stuff to get to you in one piece. Last, but not least, they quickly found me the part I needed that they didn't even list on their site, and got it out to me as well. All in all, kudos to them, they'll certainly get my business again, and if you're looking for 40k bits, or complete figs, they should get yours too.

Custom Clone Wars Minifigs

Morgan 190 is a prominent builder in the world of AFOL's*, and his stuff has a large pension for Star Wars to boot. I wish I had time to ply the intarweb, looking for cool MOC's**, but I let the fabulous Brother's Brick site do the searching for me, and then pass the savings on to you.

I am not up to speed with all of the Clone Wars action going down nowadays, it's definitely being catered to a different demographic, however, if these custom made minifigs are any indication of the colorful characters therein, a closer look might be in order. Check out M190's Flikr photostream for the rest of the cast.



* AFOL-Adult Fan of Lego
** MOC-My Own Creation

Grath Attack

Big uglies; Barnes and Noble

We played some 5150 again this week, making it three weeks in a row now, and had some more fun. Actually, the games were a lot more one-sided, but we still had a good time. I've got a small-scale campaign side project in the works, and to get a little familiar with 5150's Adventurer Campaign rules. I brought along some Grath, and the opposition was picked at the last minute by Andy, using Foundry figs with Free Company stats.


Eamon's Angels

We rolled for armor off the charts, and as you might guess, the ladies ended up not wearing anything. In an odd twist, Father McSweeney rolled up Shimmer armor, which is closest to Dune's force field belts. Unfortunately, it's not that great at stopping steel-jacketed bullets.

Game One:

Jibes and Insults are hurled

Our first game we rolled randomly for was the 'standoff' scenario. I can truly say that this was the absolute fastest miniatures game I have ever played in. Really. On the first half of the first turn, Andy's mercs had the initiative. Per the scenario rules, you can opt to try to "talk the talk" and see if you can basically back the other side down from the conflict, and everyone walks away with their egos, and body parts, intact. Well, he made his rolls, and voila! the game was over, instantly...just like that. Yup, fastest game ever.

Two Grath, by the names of Barnes and Noble, had been causing trouble for some time now among the local haunts and night clubs on Serrex, a dirt ball of a moon best known for an above average spaceport, and a below average clientele. Other than a few [devastating] barroom brawls, and near constant public intoxication, they hadn't done anything worse than anyone else present; they just do it better.

Father Eamon McSweeney and his Angels, troubled girls rescued from a hard life, were on Serrex to find more wayward souls to recruit into their forgiven ranks. Word came over the wire about the Grath thugs, and Eamon thought they warranted a further look, he was known for his hunches.

A dilapidated fountain in an abandoned park had been serving as Barnes and Noble's personal urinal for some time. Father Eamon and his retinue of young women set out at once, armed to the teeth. They met the Grath and a verbal exchange took place. Truth be told, the Grath were too intoxicated to stand, let alone fight. Had they been more sober, they would have at least fired a salvo of assault rifle lead in Eamon's direction.

Father McSweeney spoke crisply, "You boys ever been down-planet?" He referred to Pembroke Colony, the well-to-do planet that Serrex swiftly orbited. It was a pristine, upscale planet, made so by sending their trash 'skyward' to Serrex.

Barnes: "Eh? Piss off..."
Noble: "Whatsit to ya, meat?"

Eamon: "I said, you boys ever been down-planet?"

Barnes: [indiscriminate vomiting]
Noble: "Yeah, we shuttle as we likes." The larger of the two Grath jerked his thumb to a clearing in the trees where a small Type2 craft lay under a fiber weave camouflage net.

One of the Angels slipped away from the oblivious duo and got a closer look at the craft. She scanned its markings and started uploading the idents to the security net. It came back quickly that this craft had been reported in Pembroke Colony airspace five times in the last month, all five flights being unregistered of course. She returned to the group and exchanged a knowing glance with Eamon.

Eamon's posture relaxed markedly, his tone changed too as he spoke again to the Grath, one of which was asleep by this time. "Fine, fine, you boys be careful, there's been reports of muggers after dark in these parts." With that, they left the two to wallow in their debauchery. As they walked back to town, Eamon informed the girls to radio ahead and get their own shuttle prepped and to be ready to track the
Grath shuttle next time it lifts off.

Game Two:

We got some dusting in store for youse...

It turns out young girls had turned up missing on Pembroke Colony, and as Father McSweeney had surmised, Barnes and Noble had something to do with it. The demand for blue collar work on Pembroke Colony was the largest in the sector, in fact, over eighty percent of its citizens worked in service industry jobs, supplying the wealthy with a ready workforce.

Barnes and Noble worked with a small-time indentured servitude ring, "recruiting" new hired help for some of the more affluent communities nestled high atop their gleaming skyscrapers. Those abducted would be press-ganged into a five or ten year work contract with one of the many clerical or cleaning services. The two Grath get a cut of each new recruit they bring in.


Avon calling

The fighting was fierce, with Grath assault rifles turning Eamon's [non-armored] Angels into clouds of fine red mist. A lot of those shots occurred after making in-sight checks too. On the flip side of the coin, Barnes and Noble were, as they say in game terms, dead 'ard. Small arms fire bounced off their thick hides, and they didn't flinch.

We played the 'raid' scenario, with one Grath, Noble, hidden in a building, the other, Barnes, was in cover behind a generator. The objective of the raid, a college freshman (shown above) also started the game hidden in one of the building. Being the canny player that I am, I put the hostage in a building near Barnes, and hid Noble on the opposite side of the board.

It kinda was a slaughter, but Eamon will be back, and now that he knows what he's up against, he's going to call in some favors and bring a SWAT team with him, or at least a rocket launcher. In the overall scheme of things, a third battle is set up nicely, and the size of the conflict is going to scale up accordingly as well. What was going to be just a short, one-off game can now feasibly be a three part scenario.

There's two things I have said in the past which make 5150 stand out for me. First, is the games focus on scenario and story, and eschew points values. Fights aren't always fair, and balance is usually an abstract at best. There will be times where it is almost futile for one side to win...or even come close to a dignified loss. This beautifully illustrates the second point however, you don't play a 5150 game to just start and finish it. You play it as but one component of an overall package, which is much bigger than a single game.

Just Another Bug Hunt

Lawton II is a central ring planet of considerable mineral wealth. It has enjoyed an elevated seat in the sector's council for some time, and its location within the heart of the trade gate lanes ensures it to be well off for centuries to come.

Lawton II has a somewhat dirty past unfortunately; its natural resources were unfairly wrested away from the indigenous peoples already living there. The Bayang were once a low-tech, peaceful race who enjoyed an existence subsiding on a complex agricultural culture. When automated survey teams first landed hundreds of years ago, the Bayang were determined to pose no immediate threat to corporate assimilation.

Through legal manipulation and covert strong arming, the Bayang quickly found their way of life over as corporate colonists flocked to this natural resource gem. The Bayang were the only sentient species on the planet, and their numbers were surprisingly sparse. Physiologically, the Bayang were extremely long lived, yet would only reproduce once in their lifetime; hatching a single pod. It was not uncommon, however, for a Bayang to choose not to reproduce whatsoever.

The Bayang are second rate citizens now on their own planet. Outright slavery would have brought down the swift hammer of Galactic Prime, so instead the corporations simply shuffled the natives to the side and began colonizing, mining, and taking over their planet.

Modern day life in Lawton II resembles most planetary metropolises in terms of government and infrastructure, with the deeds of the past better left forgotten and erased from history.


A battle node of Bayang (using Hydrissian stats)


Mercenaries of the B.O.B. Charter (using Free Company stats)


COG Operatives


B.O.B. Charter Mercs clear the nearby woods

The sector had been under a minor Bug infestation for the last three cycles. No major incidents had been reported on any of the planets so far, but it has come to the attention of sector council that the frequency of the reports had increased.

Lawton II was no stranger to an occasional bug sighting, but most were isolated incidents, and many reports were suspected to simply be fauna as yet undiscovered by the original survey teams. However, contact has been lost recently by many mining sectors in the remote back country. A COG team was put in charge of the investigation before full fledged military forces were committed.

Acting as a small, five-man unit, the COG team contracted Free Company Mercenaries of the B.O.B. Charter that were known to be of somewhat good repute, and operated exclusively in the system. Their contract fees were waved in exchange for COG forces turning a blind eye to some of the few illegal transgressions the B.O.B. Charter had unfortunately been involved in. The B.O.B. Charter, which would be dirtside, in turn hired out a Bayang Diplomat and its battle node retinue to act as local scouts and guides.


Bayang clear another forest

The COG team circled the area far overhead in their Type 4 Gunship, scanning the grounds for bugsign, keeping in radio and visual range with the ground teams. If significant contact, and subsequent allied casualties occur, the COG team would then pod drop into the center of the disturbance, eliminate the bug threat, and extract the remaining survivors. It should be noted there was also a contingency plan that called for eliminating any allied survivors as well. This would only be needed as determined by preset parameters, of course.


Bugsign! A horde of thirty two bugs erupt from their nest...


B.O.B. Charter Mercs take cover and prepare to fire


A second bug hole erupts west of the B.O.B. Charter Mercs, uncomfortably close


It was shortly after the second bug hole opened up that a third appeared directly behind the first nest. A transmission was sent to orbit and intel reports were instantly amended to change the bug rating of Lawton II to BR3. This was no isolated incident, nor were these indigenous fauna; Lawton II had an infestation. It was decided that COG forces were to pod drop and intervene at once.


Carapaced masses bound towards the Mercs

As the bugs from the second nest charged headlong towards the ranks of the B.O.B. Charter Mercs, most of the humans' nerves broke and they ran, clambering up the scaffolding of a nearby crane to take cover. The Lieutenant and his second-in-command maintained their composure, stood their ground, and fired round after round of small arms fire into the teeming mass.


The bugs prepare for close combat


Through the withering hail of bullets from the COG team's assault rifles, the high cyclic rate of B.O.B. Charter Mercs' submachine guns, and a stalwart melee stand by the B.O.B. captain, the bugs of the second nest were cut down entirely. A small victory, but the battle was far from over however.


Horde!

The brood from the remaining two nests surged forward as one, threatening to engulf any who stood against them. If the COG troopers were concerned, they didn't show it as they carefully put round after round into the target rich environment, all the while executing a judicious tactical retreat, keeping the bugs at bay.


COG troops continue to retreat, and signal the 'clear out' directive to the Mercs


Fire in the hole!

As ground forces were trying to coordinate orbital fire support (ie, try to find something like 'off board fire support' in the rulebook) they switched from their assault rifles to their wrist mounted mini-grenade launchers built into the gauntlets of their Neo-Armor. It was found that the blast radius of the grenades was most efficient when dealing with targets grouped so tightly together.


Bayang firing line

Bayang forces had a busy time of their own. Early in the battle their alien intellect perceived a threat so overwhelming that they took cover in a nearby building. Their cerebral functions threatened to shut down their bodies in a comatose state as a defensive/submissive tactic. If it weren't for the COG team leader, who engaged them early on, persuading them to "Get back out there and fight you limp-[edit] [edit] ups!" they would have surely been been overrun.

Wielding energy weapons devised mostly on their own, using what technological scraps were thrown their way, the Bayang tore into the bugs; bright, incandescent beams lanced out in irregular streams, blasting the targets' shells apart.


Run away! (loosely translated)

As the horde inevitably closed with the Bayang, the natives exhibited a fascinating cultural coping mechanism. The Diplomat is the leader of the battle node, and the safety of the node is its primary responsibility. When the node is threatened by sure destruction, it is the Diplomat's duty to stay behind and sacrifice itself so that the others may escape. It is then customary that those who escaped change their pheromone signature to that of the fallen diplomat; a sort of way of honoring the fallen by "renaming" themselves after it.


Your [scent] will not be forgotten (loosely translated)


Eagle inbound

The Bayang node was wiped out, the B.O.B. Charter Mercs were safely beyond the bug's immediate reach, and the COG troops were out of both assault rifle ammo, as well as mini-grenades...and the bugs kept coming. COG troops began assembling their sky hook harness apparatus to prepare for a low altitude extraction of their team. It would take time to configure, but their training had them more than ready for the task. The gunship moved into position, low and fast, successfully snaring the team's harness and arcing skyward, COG in tow, before the bugs could close.

Nerve agents were shelled into the area first from a mountain howitzer battalion several kilometers away, but to no avail, the bugs were impervious to the deadly vapors. It was hoped that the structural facility could be saved, minimizing the overall economic cost of the battle. Option 'B' was more direct, as a corvette waiting in orbit rained guided helbombs to the surface, leveling the structures, and bugs, that were there.

5150 in 59 Turns

Taking a departure from the campaign goodness that has been our 40k campaign, Andy and I sat down this week for some 5150. It's a completely different game (obviously) but it also gives a completely different feel on the tabletop. Both systems do their respective jobs well, but those jobs they're trying to accomplish are on opposite ends of the spectrum.


5150 boasts the "use any figure from your collection" motto, and in that department it doesn't disappoint. I opted to use my Necromunda Ratskin Renegades (here's their roster) to stand in for 5150's Mad Max-style "Nomads". They're a perfect match.

For the game, these Nomadic "desert savages" helped assist the more organized (and better funded!) Planetary Defense Force soldiers. Their planet has reported scattered 'bug' attacks, and contact has been lost on the outskirts of the city. The Army regulars have been dispatched elsewhere, so it's up to an ad hoc coalition of militia troops and renegades.


The planet of Macaroon Bosh maintains a comfortable existence in the overall galactic scene. It's relative small size keeps it out of the greater political quagmire of the system, and yet it is still large enough to shake the stigma of being just another backwater planet.


Desert Nomads on the left, PDF Troopers on the right

The planetary defense grid succumbed quickly to bug meteors. Armed forces were sent into the major metropolitan areas for bitter urban fighting against an unstoppable foe. This left many of the outlying areas without proper military support; enter the PDF. There has been an uneasy truce between Nomads and PDF for the past dozen or so years, and an accord was put into place for the two entities to assist one another to do their part as well. Regardless if you live in the wastes, or the cities, the bug threat endangers the entire planet. I should've taken better pics of the PDF forces, Andy had used Imperial Guard Steel Legion, and painted them in a desert motif, they looked great, and function perfectly in their militia role.


Three Dogs takes up a lookout position with his bolt-action rifle


PDF troopers cover while the Nomads (distant) check for bug holes

Our mission was simple; play a cooperative game against the system's automated adversary, the "bug". For the game, we used literal 'bugs', critters bought out of a grocery store toy aisle, for pennies on the bug. The tabletop had about a dozen or so pieces of terrain, and our mission was to investigate each piece, looking for bug sign. 'Clearing' a terrain objective was as simple as rolling two successes in a turn. Bug encounters were handled on an initiative check of '7' in a given turn. If this happened, another series of charts would be rolled on to see what kind, and how many bugs (if any) appeared. We had a few close calls (sensor blips reported, but no bugs) but didn't actually see a bug hole burst from the ground until turn 22.


While one squad searched a terrain piece, the other would provide cover and overwatch fire. Here you see PDF troopers investigate a reliquary while the Nomads keep a wary eye to the horizon.


Two successes in a turn proved to be a little too much at times. Here, Nomads fumble about for three turns in a row before finally gaining access to this C.A.N. and declaring it bug free.


Bug hole!


Three Dogs snaps off round after round as the bugs pour from their nest


A single bug hole instantly yields 2:1 odds against the humans


Bug eyed view of dinner, err, PDF troopers


At first sighting the Nomad forces lost their nerve and ran from the sight of the oncoming horde. The PDF Sergeant held his trigger finger in check as the undisciplined band raced past, fighting the urge to gun the "savages" down. He focused his resolve on the chattering horde and barked orders to his troopers armed with assault rifles to lay down a blanket of covering fire.


Bugs advance to the nearest enemy, in this case the improvised sniper Three Dogs holed up atop the Rat's Nest. His doom was imminent, and his name would have to be changed to Sacrificial Dog. Fortunately, PDF troopers suppressed the bug's movement, and the Nomads found their courage, wheeling around to flank the carapace covered horrors.


The nomads, armed with shotguns, found some success in killing the bugs, but not a lot. The PDF troopers on the other hand, armed with higher tech assault rifles could throw out a hail of bullets each turn, each rifle shooting three times each; their volleys were much more effective.


With the bugs caught in the crossfire, their movement impeded, Three Dogs was given a turn of reprieve before he attempted his escape. The firepower of the allied troops eventually drove the bugs from their prone position, as they ran for cover in ruins further away. That's when the allied forces stalked them down.


The bugs were driven away from the stinging cloud of jacketed lead, their numbers dropping more and more each turn. The PDF troopers also carried fragmentation grenades, which they hurled into the bug's direction. The bugs sought shelter in the broken remains of a building, hoping to hide among the twisted beams and broken concrete slabs.


As the humans moved in, guns blazing, it looked like the game would soon be over with a rousing declare of success. We were a good thirty or forty turns into the game, and our planet had a low bug rating of '2', so this was the only bug hole to show itself. There were a few "sensor blip" moments, but they didn't yield anything. The game was basically over, we had rolled very few encounter initiatives of '7', so after the last bug or two were killed (they were cowering and open targets, except for their cover) the game would be over. That's when things turned for the worse.


Another bug hole opened up while we were just standing there, our tactics were pretty lax, and we weren't really covering one another anymore. This time however there weren't teeming masses of bugs, but a single, behemoth 'puker' bug appeared. Our shotguns could barely put a bug down, the assault rifles were better. Ironically enough, the leader of my Nomads, armed with twin machine pistols, had no chance of his 9mm bullets penetrating them at all. Now this giant shows up, and I'm sure my Nomads wouldn't have had any weapon that could come close to scratching it's surface, so we had a real fight on our hands. The thing about 5150 too is that battles aren't always fair, you may not always be able to go toe to toe with the enemy, especially if power armor or the like is involved. In this respect it's more "realistic", well, as realistic as one can get in a science fiction battle anyway. If you eschew points values, you can focus on scenario type play too, where sides were certainly not always even. It keeps things interesting.


One puker was bad enough, but it really hit the fan when the very next turn we rolled another bug sighting, and got a contact result...AND rolled another puker bug! Obviously the bugs had laid a cunning trap for us, giving a good forty turns to get complacent before it was sprung. Well, now we had no option but to perform a "tactical withdrawal".


Then, on the third turn in line, we rolled a third bug sighting, and a third encounter, haha. We were all doomed, this time warrior bugs didn't spring from an underground lair, nor did a giant puker bug show up...this time they were winged. The winged bug mechanic works a lot like a fly-by attack (appropriately enough) and we had a ton of these beasts to deal with. So, with two pukers, a fresh twenty four fliers, and we didn't completely kill the first brood, well we were in dire straits, our egress was in full effect.


I'm proud of my bug horde, these were the winged bugs from the same grocery store packs that my crawlers came out of. I took GW clear flying stands and epoxied them to metal washers. For basing I just used dirt and rocks, and then super glued the bugs to the tips of the stands, voila, instant flying bugs that look great on the table. The only real cost associated with them was the washers themselves, which was next to nothing. The bugs came twenty to a $1 pack, so a nickel a bug basically. I had plenty of clear flying stands left over from my Tau army, but you could easily just use cut down bar-b-que skewers or the like.


Run! PDF and Nomad alike fast move towards the table's edge


In cinematic fashion, the last stretch of table was just in reach, but bugs were on our flank, and their fly-by attacks had a long range to them, our troops would definitely get hit before they escaped.


The combined firepower kept the first wave of fly-by attacks at bay as the PDF troopers were able to exit the table edge. They had the information they were looking for, and I think it's safe to assume that the bug rating of Macaroon Bosh is now squarely a '3', which means next time we'll be better prepared and bring along goodies such as LAW rockets, body armor, and the like. Maybe even a Grath or two. The Nomads would suffer one more fly-by attack, but the hale of pellets from their shotguns were able to buy them another round. They would've been able to move off the table with the PDF, had they not failed part of their 'fast move' Rep check.

Overall, the game was a lot of fun. 40k plays in a very concise, turn based manner, that has a definite beginning and end. It's designed to facilitate a tournament scene, and works wonders on the game table in a crowded game store with a wide range of ages. 5150 is about kicking back and taking your time with the game, which can be an amorphous, nebulous affair that changes direction mid-stream at the roll of the dice. Filling in the gaps of action with your own fluff and story make for a nice overall package, and game play itself is fast and fun. Having reaction tables and the ability to always be on virtual overwatch make for a more tense affair where each player is always in the game, regardless if it's their turn or not. Lastly, Andy and I played alongside one another, not in direct opposition to each other, against a foe that was largely on auto-pilot. This was another boon to the 5150 rules, and also they work just as well as a solo game if desired. I already have some ideas for an solo campaign using the Adventurers section of the rules. The rulebooks could be clearer at times, but the game works great on its own and easily earns a place in the regular rotation of games.