Smuggler's Lament - Game 1 - The Worm Turns

Good evening,

Last week, being the last week of school for the year, the lovely children of Room 3 got me a parting gift, among other things, of money - enough to finally purchase a C-Roc Cruiser, Guns for Hire, and, with a little of my own that I had squirreled away (and the judicious use of one of the coffee cards that I was also gifted with), the Ghost. Cool!

So, being the start of the summer holidays and all, and having a fellow teacher keen on X Wing also on holiday, I thought we'd run the campaign. Smuggler's Lament.

The delivery of weapons to the Rebels (the crew of the Ghost, no less - Kanan, with Sabine in the Phantom) has been intercepted by both a Gozanti cruiser (another recent purchase), it's compliment of Academie Piloted Ties and a Patrol Leader in a VT-49 Decimator.

(I wanted Imperial ships with hyperdrive to fit my idea of a rendezvous out of system!).

Scum

• C-Roc cruiser with a Heavy Laser Turret

Rebel

• Kanaan in the Ghost, with a Dorsal Turret
• Sabine in the Phantom

Imperial

• Gozanti Cruiser with Docking Clamps, Dual Laser Turret and Automatic Protocols
• Four Academy Ties
• Patrol Leader in his VT-49

Mark took the Imperials, while I took the Scum and Rebels.

And so it begins...

Mark quickly deployed his docked Tie...took it off the rack, so to speak...

...while Kanan eyes up the Gozanti.

Meanwhile, the C-Roc cautiously observes the threat to its front...

...and the M-3 scoots out of the way!

Realising the danger of literally being run over by the cruiser, Kanan tries to gun past it...

...only to be stopped short by the Academy pilot. Stink! Any move forward next turn and the Ghost's road kill!

Mark unleashes the Ties (loosens his Ties?) upon the Ghost, while the VT takes on the C-Roc.

Kanaan yanks hard to port...

...and flies down the cruiser's flank.

Mark takes umbrage with the M-3, and directs the Ties to strangle his approach.

"Right, if I hard turn the M-3, I can 5K past the path of the C-Roc and come back around..."

Arghh! Mark blocks my M-3. So much for my cunning plan!

Still...now that the VT has run into the back of the Tie..Mwahahaha! I've dialed the C-Roc straight on. Surely that'll hit the VT. Surely.

Surely not!

Drats!

And two ships pass in the night...

As Mark does a recover action on his cruiser, I realise that the Ghost is on a hiding to nothing by taking on the Gozanti alone. I try to swing around the back to join the fight against the VT.

I had tried to be clever and block the Patrol Leader so as he could be run down by the C-Roc, but Mark more cleverly anticipated my move, flew the VT down south, and...

...blew up my scyk!

Drats!

So I deployed the Phantom...

...initially off the mat...

...but Mark graciously allowed me to fly it in the right direction!

Second to last round in this eight round game before I can head off into hyperspace.

I fly my cruiser to starboard, gaining some distance on the VT, seeing as the Heavy Laser Cannon turret is a range 2-3 weapon, and we take yet more pot shots at each other. Mark is finally chewing into hull. Any one of the  crits taken must be carried on into the next game, so...yeah. No crits so far, but it's surely just a matter of time...

And on the other flank, the Ghost is on her last legs. Mark has just realised that he needs to destroy either the C-Roc or all my other ships to win the scenario. So he's swarming the Ghost. I just need to keep the cruiser and another ship alive to win.

I have a bad feeling about this...

Hey...

...this might just work after all...

Yeah, nah, no it doesn't!

Bother!

Any named ships that are destroyed cannot be bought back for subsequent battles in the campaign.

Drats! Drats! Drats!

Last turn, and having narrowly avoided a collision last time, this Academy Pilot...

...makes darn sure he manages to collide this time! You've got to admire his tenaciously. If at first you don't succeed...

I bug Sabine out stage left...

...while the Gozanti finally lands a crit, losing cargo into the path of Academy Pilot Two...

...just before it jumps into hyperspace.

Now that was a fun game. It was great to have my two new big 'uns on the board, even if they did ignore each other most of the game.

Game Two in the campaign will be later in January, when Mark gets back from his hols.

Thanks Mark,

Nick

Heroic Hoplites Finally Finished - Huzzah!

Good afternoon,

End of another couple of weeks of holidays (much of which I spent working, but there you go), and here, finally, along with the first of my Macedonian Cav...

...including Thessalian Cavalry (Cv), some generic Greek LH, and young Alexander himself, atop Bucephalus, which I'll use to represent all Hellenistic generals (DBA Kn - after all, they were all trying to be a new Alexander, right up to Napoleon!)...

...I have finally finished painting all of my Hoplites!

(Newline metals)

So now I have 18 hoplite elements. Huzzah! Enough for two opposing armies...

...in this case II/05b [Later Hoplite] Athenian Army 448-275 BC...

• 1 x General (Sp)
• 1 x Cavalry (Cv)
• 1 x Cavalry (LH)
• 4 x Hoplites (Sp)
• 3 x Hoplites (Sp) (or Peltasts (Ps), which I've pulled into my 4Ax elements)
• 1 x Hoplites (Sp) (see above)
• 1 x Archers ([3]Bw - mine are 4Bw...for some reason...)

...which is pretty much my 1/52 [Early Hoplite] Later Athenian list...

...against II/05i [Later Hoplite] Other Hoplite Armies in Greece 448-225 BC...

• 1 x General (Sp)
• 1 x Hoplites (Sp) (or Cavalry (Cv) which will be in the form of my Alexandrian Allied Greek Cav, which are now on the painting block, so to speak)
• 7 x Hoplites (Sp)
• 2 x Hoplites (Sp) (or Peltasts (Ps), which I've pulled into my 4Ax elements)
• 1 x Psiloi (Ps) (these are actually figures from my first box of Revell Pretorians many, many, many moons ago)

...or of course a double DBA army, probably against those upstarts from the north, the Macedonians. (I'm not doing another 4 12Bw elements to complete a second Early Achaemenid Persian army!)

Cool! Now to game with them...sometime...

Nick

Sticky Stickmen Stoically Standing

Good afternoon,

Well, it must be holidays, because I applied some paint to some figures. Actually, two of these elements I painted over this last week, two of them I finished about eight weeks ago, but, well, Term 2 got busy.

So...some Later Hoplite Greeks...

...note the difference in the Little Big Man Studios transfers compared to the Veni Vidi Vici one...

...and two more elements of Macedonian Phalangites.

Note, these two are sans Army Painter Quickshade, because I thought that the shade really dulled down my first phalangite element.

That's the one on the left. Of the screen. Right of the line, I suppose.

And back of the column.

It's mostly noticeable on the shields.

So, four more elements of Stoically Standing Sticky Stickmen.

Making eight Later Hoplite elements completed.

Two more  of these to go (13 of the phalangites), then I best paint up some later Greek cavalry.

Nick