Wargamer Show

Wargamer has now been and gone, and our first demo game went swimmingly! Much fun was had by all and the game itself attracted a fantastic amount of interest from people, which we were all very pleased about (and I understand the trading didn't go too badly either!)

We were there bright and early at about 8.45am ready to set up the table (as well as help set up the last bits of the shop). By 9.30 a couple of other guys from the club had turned up and most of the other games and trade stalls were set up ready to roll when the doors opened at 10am.

"The Plan" ™ was to run two games in two time slots; game one (10am til 12.30) would have 5 players (2 v 3) with a Dindrenzi-Directorate alliance (commanded by Paul and Woody) fighting to seize control of the space station, with the Aquans, Terrans and Sorylians (controlled by myself, John and Gary respectively) defending the station (which was itself inoperational). The result of game one would determine the setup of game two (1pm til 3.30pm); if the Dindrenzi-Directorate won, they would be able to bring the station back online and launch an attack into Terran territory and ambush a civilian convoy (the Terrans would be isolated in the centre of the board and would be required to keep the three civilian ships alive). If the Aquans and co. won, they would force the Dindrenzi-Directorate forces back and gain a chance to strike a decisive blow (the Dindrenzi-Directorate would be limited to 75% of the points of the attackers and enact a "last stand").


Of course, "The Plan" ™ went to pot as soon as we put figures on the table....

First, John and Woody hadn't turned up . To stand-in, we had to recruit two members of the club who had never played the game before and were completely unfamiliar with the rules (Marc, in charge of the Directorate, and Josh controlling the Terrans). By 10am were ready to rumble and the first turn was underway, at which point one of the missing players turned up. We explained the situation and he wandered off to browse the trade stalls for a bit, so he could take up the play in game two. Anyway, the game progressed slowly (as was to be expected for the first turn when everything was still out of range). Turn 2 comes along and we finally get some firing, although nothing of note happens. At this point, Josh decides he's had enough and wanders off. Luckily, another member of the club had turned up by now (Andy) and, although he'd never played Firestorm before he had played a couple of games of Uncharted Seas and so had a little bit of knowledge about how the rules worked.

Unlike Josh, Andy picked the game up quickly and by the end of Turn 3 things were hotting up. Gary, controlling the Sorylians, couldn't roll dice for toffee though which left the Aquans and Terrans facing off against more than twice their number of points, ships and guns!

The Terrans make their slow advance with all guns blazing

It was at this point that Complication #2 occurred. John (who was supposed to be controlling the Terrans originally) and Nigel (who had brought his Brethren fleet for the day) decided they'd waited long enough and brought on parts of their fleets. At this point, we adapted "The Plan" ™ and decided to scrap game two and just keep going with game one for the rest of the day.

Another turn came and went, and it was obvious that the original Terrans and Aquans would not last much longer - both fleets were reduced to just two ships, and the Dindrenzi-Directorate had lost almost nothing in return:

Another turn gone, and the majority of the Sorylian fleet finally turned up:

Of course, by this point it was too little too late. The original Terrans and Aquans were destroyed, leaving the Dindrenzi and Directorate still largely intact to face off against a Sorylian-Terran fleet that was roughly the same size as what we started with (i.e. not a lot!).

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All in all, despite the 'complications', the game turned out pretty well. We attracted plenty of interest from spectators, many of whom had not seen the game before. We got several people involved in playing a new game (including some members of our own club!) and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

We're already talking about possibly putting on games at other shows for early next year; currently, the plan is to run a Stalingrad FoW game as well as another Firestorm game. That said, Spartan Games have just released Dystopian Wars (a Victorian-era Steampunk-based game encompassing land, aerial and naval combat) which has caught the eye of several club members, myself included. Of course, with Christmas coming very soon it's dangerous to buy myself presents (I've made that mistake before and ended up buying the same thing that someone else got for me!). Not to mention my better half would be a bit cross if she knew I'd been spending money on myself rather than various friends and relatives...

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 So, what's next? Well, with Wargamer out of the way I've not got any painting deadlines for the immediate future which basically means I can work on any of the numerous half-finished projects I have waiting in the wings. First though, I do have the two Aquan Heavy Cruisers to finish (they're half-done, but I couldn't get them finished in time for Sunday). After that, who knows? It may pay dividends to actually make a list of what projects I've got, and how far along each of them is. Animosity 5 is coming soon, so it might be high time to get that Tilean army on the move again....

Whatever I decide, I'll be sure to share it so stay tuned! Until next time...

A few more...

 A few more pics of the Aquan fleet. There are more up-to-date pics (with weapon ports painted) but thought I'd share these in the meantime:

Added a few details to the Manta, Battleship and Frigates tonight (before the work's Christmas do...) Also started work on the weapon ports and will (hopefully) complete those tomorrow night. Photos forthcoming, and then I'll talk about Wargamer!

And then there were none...

Just got back from games night, where we squeezed in another practice game of Firestorm Armada before the big day on Sunday (more about that later).


All in all, I received an absolute drubbing at the hands of the Dindrenzi. I would write up a full report, but there's nothing much to tell. To cut a long story short-ish, it was almost a repeat of the game I had on Tuesday (against the same Dindrenzi I might add).

• Absolutely brutal first turn fire put paid to my squadron of Heavy Cruisers (one depressurised and blew up, the other managed a single ineffective broadside before suffering a Critical and exploding, causing 3 damage on my Battleship in the process) and took each of my Light Cruisers down to half strength. I managed a few scattered damage points in return.
• The following turn saw my Light Cruisers destroyed and one Frigate squadron crippled. Turns 3 and 4, I managed to get my Battleship and Manta Battle Carrier in amongst the Dindrenzi and caused heavy damage, before being boarded. My Battleship fought off the boarders but lost all it's crew in the process (thus becoming derelict). I lost the remainder of my Frigates, for one Dindrenzi Heavy Cruiser and one Light Cruiser in return.
• In the final turn, the Manta moved away from the boarding Heavy Cruisers and let loose with all batteries (it was surrounded, so I had targets in every arc). Of course, it was at this point that the dice abandoned me (as if they hadn't already) and I caused only a single point of damage on another Heavy Cruiser. With a heavy damaged Manta as my only remaining ship, we decided to call it a night. 

After two almost identical games, I can see a pattern emerging. Once my Aquans get in amongst the Dindrenzi ships, they can really dish out some pain. The problem is actually getting in amongst the Dindrenzi with enough ships left intact - weathering the storm of the Dindrenzi fore batteries during the first couple of turns is proving next to impossible; in both games, I've lost my Heavy Cruisers, Light Cruisers and half my Frigates before engaging. That's left my Battleship and Manta with insurmountable odds facing them, and even though they chuck out a very tasty amount of dice, they aren't tough enough to survive the fire of a whole Dindrenzi fleet.


Still, we live and learn. I've got my mitts on two more Heavy Cruisers to bulk that squadron up to four in an attempt to give them a bit of survivability (they've formed the vanguard of my attack so far, and thus have been the prime target for enemy fire - hence why they've not survived much beyond turn 3....). Plus a squadron of four can chuck out a very respectable 20 Attack Dice at Medium Range (or 4x8 firing seperately) which should help thin the enemy a bit before the main bulk of the fleet engages.



Anyway, I've just got details to paint on the rest of the fleet (plus the two new Heavy Cruisers) before Sunday. I'll get cracking on those tomorrow, so will try and post some finished pics then. In the meantime, here's a few shots of how they look at the moment (top to bottom: Storm class Light Cruisers, Tsunami class Heavy Cruisers, Manta Battle Carrier, Poseidon class Battleship, Piranha class Frigates)