Fourth Game of the Year: Combat Patrol. Same old, same old.

 The usual weekly/bi-weekly  game of combat patrol at XP saw me once more pit my Tau against Darren's Necrons. This time I did generate about 20-25 VPs before being wiped out by Turn Three. We also were able to play those three turns in a hour and 15 minutes. While I lost once more a strategy vs. the Necrons is starting to come up

1) There is no point to separate your force and hunt objectives. You need all the firepower you can get. 

2) The Destroyers are a priority target. With 9 wounds they will need at least 27 shots to be killed in one turn of shooting. Thus you need all your units focusing on them. 

3) Once you have killed them you can start hunting objectives. You will need to make up any starting loss ration using your secondary objectives.

Thus for bad or for good versus Necrons your tactic needs to be the fortress. This a) increases your chance of killing Necron units b) maximizes the chance of attaining the secondary objectives c) maximizes the effect of observers and auras. This is not an army to scatter vs. this opponent. 

The pictures. The good thing is that in just one month I have gotten in four games. Not bad, not bad at all. 

Third Game of the New Year: Xenos Rampant VIP Extraction

 After last weeks game of 40k Combat Patrol, I got the chance to host a remote game with my friend Tasos from Greece. We played Xenos Rampant, pitting my Hegemony (Tau) forces vs. the Despoilers (Death Guard). The game was 24 points a side, on a 36x36 inch table (adjusted deployment zones). I played the defending Hegemony while Tasos played the attacking Despoilers. We used discord for the video feed.

In the end the more aggressive play of Tasos and the more units at his availability (thanks to cheap Militia Rabble Poxwalkers) carried the day. The Hegemony vizier is now in the tender hands of the Despoilers.  Final score was 10 to 3. 

From a game point of view, Xenos Rampant once more delivered a fast and satisfying game. We played 10 turns in two hours. There was little need to remember the rules as the system is intuitive and as long as you got good unit cards, you only need to look up powers etc. Compared to 40k Combat Patrol it does provide more of a chance for the looser to at least do some damage to the winner. The Combat Patro 40k stratagems do provide some extra gameplay at the cost of time. Also the fact that all units in XR block movement and line of sight, does provide a bit more of a ranked game feel to it, compared to the more fluid movements of 40k CP. In the end two different games, but easily both have a place in my hobby life. 

Photos

The Despoilers 

Hegemony force

The table after deployment, view from the Hegemony corner

View from the Despoilers corner

The prize. A Hegemony vizier. "I feel rather exposed here"

General Pictures from the action 

General Advance 

The battle in full development!

Oh no! The Vizier is captured by the Lord of Despoilers

Can the Hegemony Commander make it in time?

The Lord Despoiler, dragging his prisoner, charges the Commander, and kills the brave soul in cruel close combat.

Second game of the new year: 40k Combat Patrol

 I got my second game of the year, playing a Combat Patrol match with Darren at XP Games and Cafe. I ran my Tau and he his Necrons. The game was a wipeout for me. We played three turns in 1.5 hours, and the end result was crushing defeat for me. I did make mistakes as this was my first time playing the new Combat Patrol and the Tau. 

I did have fun, and I would say that this my preferred mode for 40k, but it also did show the superiority of Xenos Rampant, were we played almost 5 turns in 1.5 hours, and I still while  got defeated, but it was not a wipe out. I will play more Combat Patrol of course, as this is preference in the club, and we have the forces  ready, and the rules are more familiar to everyone. But it is the thin gruel to the richer gruel of Xenos Rampant. Which is fine as I try to have one thin and one rich gruel system per period/armies I play.

 That said I will say again, that this is a good way to play 40k, and a good way to to introduce people, or get games in if you are busy with life.

Indeed from the point of view of corporate, this is a very good idea. One could envision future waves of Combat Patrols (like waves in Age of Sigmar Underworlds). A nice company would make them all balanced across waves, but a money making one would say each wave is internally balanced.

Forces are not expensive, especially if you decide to eschew Citadel Miniatures and go for proxies (for example you could make the Imperial Guard Combat Patrol at around 90 USD vs 134 USD of GW). Indeed Combat Patrol is a nice way to explore some alternative representations of 40k forces.

Finally most Combat Patrols are easily 24 to 48 points of Xenos Rampant forces. Thus one can use them as a benchmark on what to get. 

In another name, while I am not enthusiastic about the rules (they are 40k) or the gameplay, it is a good enough vehicle for having some fun. 

We are re-purposing the Store armies and terrain for Combat Patrol to make it more approachable to those without such stuff.

Here are pictures of the game

First Game of the New Year : Legio Imperialis

 Vern, one of the regulars at the local gaming scene, wants to get ready for a massive Legio Imperialis game at the Las Vegas Open. So he asked for playing sessions to get to learn the rules. This week at XP Games me and Darren played a game he refereed. 

There is a lot to like about the game. The activation and turn system is fluid and avoids a IGOUGO situation. Combat rules are simple. I did feel like most GW games that there are a bit too many special rules, and it is bucket of dice game. But in general we had fun. The models look very good for 10mm, though the infantry could be better. Here are some pictures from the game.

New Year Post: Review of Shenandonah Summer by Scott C. Patchan

 Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2024 brings you all peace, love, health and prosperity. 

I was able to finish most of what had in progress for 2023 before the turn of the year. This makes me happy. Among those was finally finishing Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign by Scott C. Patchan. This is a great book on a less well known campaign of the US Civil War. It covers the Jubal Early's Shenandoah campaign between his evacuation from the skirmishers at Fort Stevens , and the arrival of Phillip Sheridan. The epicenter is the 2nd Battle of Kernstown, a nasty Union defeat, were Early out-generaled George Crook (more well known for his involvement in the wars with Native Americans, and then his advocacy on behalf of their rights).

My interest for this campaign is that there is an Altar of Freedom scenario for this battle, and that it fits a 36x36 inch table. 

Patchan is a an excellent writer with a good knack to know how to balance the big pictures with tiny details. His writing is brisk and he brings to life a campaign that is dotted with many interesting brigade and division level actions (though once must keep in mind, that in many cases US Civil War brigades were the size of European battalions, and divisions the size of European regiments and brigades).

You have the Battle of Cool Springs, July 18, 1864, a Confederate victory, but also an excellent example of how even the tiniest terrain detail, a wall in this case, can make the difference between destruction and salvation. A dogged Union defense along a stone wall with their backs on a river, avoided the kind of catastrophe that happened in Ball's Bluff. 

Then you have the Battle of Rutherford Farm's, July 20, 1864, were once more terrain determines victory and defeat. In this case a subtle terrain feature divides Ramsuer's veteran division as it is attacking a inferior in numbers and experience Union force under Averell, who then proceeds to beat the Confederates. One of those battles that show that veteran status does not always determine the worth of soldiers. 

The Confederates get their blood back at 2nd Kernstown, were simply put Crook drops the ball. They inflict a stingy defeat on the Union side, which leads to a route by the support elements, though Crook did show grit in helping arrange a retreat that saved his army. 

Then we get the Chambersburg Raid, and Averell's revenge for it in the "Battle" of Moorfield where the numerically inferior Union cavalry surprised the unprepared Confederates and routed them without mercy (this one would be a very one sided scenario).

Thus a very rich campaign especially for players seeking  tough but interesting scenarios at the command level of brigade and division. Patchan spends time conducting a proper analysis of the reasons for victory and defeat for each action, and then makes a good argument about the limitations of Early when it came to grasping what exactly his task was. I would say he is fair to both sides. He does focus a bit on Colonel James A. Mulligan who died at 2nd Kernstown. 

A very good book that got my excited for my build for 2nd Kernstown.