Well damn. The dice are just cooling down after an absolutely blistering playtest of our steampunk/ fantasy/ VSF mashup system, “Hyperian Wars” – today featuring the Sky Marines of the Grand Alliance versus the villainous Virum Nascii. And DAMN, the result was really not what we expected, but it was an absolutely corking game! So, with memories still relatively fresh and unclouded by liquor, time to dive into this evening’s battle report –
Lists:
Grand Alliance Sky Marines (all troops are skirmishers):
5 x Poison Grenadiers (skirmishers) – Poison Grenades, Hand Weapons
10 x Stormtroopers – Hand Weapons
8 x Plague Priests – Hand Weapons
So, one side has the firepower – but the other has numbers. And speed. Who would prevail?
Deployment:
Sky Marines deploy onto the southern edge – with little in the way of missile fire, we went for best firing positions to maximise our ranged advantageVirum Nascii deploy, concentrating on the ruined village – aiming to overwhelm one area of the Sky Marine lines before moving on. Slaves and warriors to the fore to absorb casualties, Warlord and his retinue of elite troops use them as cover to get in range and get stuck in!The Slaves catch a glimpse of their enemy on the horizon!The view from the Sky Marine lines – that’s a LOT of rats!
Turn 1
Sky Marine rifle fire rips through the exposed archer Slaves, killing half their numberHQ section mortar falls among archer slaves, adding to the carnage as the Virum Nascii hurtle forwards – I’d placed my weakest units at the front to absorb casualties, in true merciless villain style!
Turn 2
Sky Marines gain the initiative and gun down the remaining Slave archersAfter gunning down the archers, Sky Marines suddenly find the Virum Nascii getting very, very, very close!Mortar shell falls amongst the slave regimentSeeing their brothers about to get overrun, No. 3 Squad open up on the Ratmen!
Turn 3
Virum Nascii were just about to hit Sky Marine positions, and things were about to get… interesting…
Sky Marines pour fire point blank into the onrushing Ratmen hordeBut it’s not even close to enough – No. 2 squad are torn apart by the vicious beastmenMortar shell bursts upon the Ratmen warriors!The Ratmen warriors finish off No. 2 squad with sword and claw!
The surviving Ratmen warriors achieve Frenzy and crash on into Sky Marine HQ!The elite human infantry dispatch the Virum Nascii beasts, but at a cost, losing the signallersPlague priests pile on to the HQ!The Warlord and his elite bodyguard crash into No. 3 squad!The Sky Marines put up a valiant fight, but they’re no much for the vicious Virum Nascii!
Turn 4
Plague priests overwhelm the Sky Marine HQ!Only one Priest left standing, but HQ – and Lt. Gorman – is down!Meanwhile, No. 1 squad cluster up in the ruins to repel the oncoming Virum Nascii!A frenzied maelstrom of blood and claws in the ruined temple!In the last moments of the battle, the last Sky Marine (PFC Hudson) pumps rounds into the seething mass of Ratmen – “COME GET SOME MOTHERF*CKER!”
But in the end.. it was game over, man. Game over.
Wow. Holy sh*t but that was a blast – the Sky Marines deploying, full of confidence in our ranged firepower, taking down huge numbers of Virum Nascii….. right up until the rats got into charge range and then it hit the fan and no mistake! My outnumbered squads were ripped apart in short order, and damn but the Ratmen are FAST!!
In fact, the battle played out much like a steampunk/ fantasy version of the classic movie “Aliens” – the Sky Marines inflicting huge losses on the ratmen for no loss to themselves… right up until the moment when they weren’t.. and then it became a massacre! Hence the title – fans will recognise Hadley’s Hope as the colony established on LV426.
All in all, a hell of a game, right down to PFC Hudson’s last stand in the temple! And we should add, this got the attention of none other than Black Library author himself, Gav Thorpe!
Yeah, so the other day we were meant to be working on our entry for the DakkaDakka League Of Extraordinary Riveters terrain competition… and then something went wrong..
(by the way – if you’re reading this, Wyloch, then this is for YOU! 😉 )
Must.. glue.. things…Must.. glue..more.. things.. yoghurt pot, bottle caps, glue lid, cardboardArmour plating complete“Eyes” done with green stuff, rivets done with fast drying PVA applied with a cocktail stickChainsword and gatling cannon addedMore rivets….Feet! Actually carved from foamboard and then wrapped in cardboard… then more rivets addedPrimed! Now it’s looking like a model…Attempt at zenithal highlighting… yeah….And prewash with Vallejo black ink – didn’t quite go to plan…
…..aaaand who wants to see it in red?
Red basecoat, smokey ink pin was – white undercoat for the yellow areas, which then got a thin wash of Vallejo Skin Wash.. weathering was sponge chipping, first black and then boltgun metalSide viewPipework on the rear, courtesy of some sprue offcuts
Chainsaw arm reinforced with more sprue offcutsHmm… what could make a Warlord princeps think “oh, sh*t”
Yeah, I’m going to have to go and build my Imperator after allHmm… something of a scale issue…But there again, weren’t gargants and titans always undersized? I’m sure we’ll figure something out..
We’ve really got the bug for scratchbuilding Epic stuff now, so stay tuned for more! Till next time, keep hoarding that recycling….
The field of battleHuman forces line up, riflemen on the ridge covering the infantry about to advance into the ruined villageRatmen line up opposite, slaves with “slings” on the extreme left flankPoison grenadiers loiter in the centre, looking for targets of opportunityOut on the far right Ratmen flank, the Slave unit is tasked with holding an uncontested objectiveThe two forces face off…Who will prevail?
Turn 1
Both sides advance into the ruined village, looking to claim the densely packed objectivesPoison Grenadiers draw first blood, downing a cavalryman with a grenadeWhilst out on the Ratmen left flank, Slaves advance to seize their first objective
Turn 2
In the centre, human cavalry led by the Captain bear down on the Poison Grenadiers, killing two and forcing the others to withdraw, while the Slave unit bears down on another objective and battle is joined in the ruined village..Human infantry engage the block of Ratmen warriors in the village streetsAfter driving them off, however, the Ratmen Stormtroopers pitch in!Meanwhile the Captain leads the cavalry against the remaining Poison GrenadiersBut another cavalryman falls to their arcane lethal devices!Archer slaves advance on the riflemen, albeit largely ineffectually – rifle fire drops four slaves and a few warriors, while infantry engage rat stormtroopers and Warlord in the village centre
Bloody gutter fighting around the ruinsAfter selflessly letting his bodyguard weather the melee attacks, the Ratman Warlord wades in!
By this point both sides had secured two objectives, but losses on the human side were mounting up more rapidly than the more numerous Ratmen – could superior human firepower prevail?
Turn 3
Slaves are moving in in a pincer movement while Stormtroopers rush the human infantry from the rearCarnage in the streets, causing the human infantry to WaverWho quickly rally to return the favour, charging the Stormtroopers in the rear..Riflemen pour fire into the Ratmen, retreating out of arrow range- they successfully wipe out half the Warriors, causing them to Waver
As we ended Turn 3, It was 4-1 to the Ratmen in terms of objectives secured as superior numbers were beginning to tell..
Turn 4 (Final Turn)
Between the Warriors, the Stormtroopers and the Warlord, that’s it for the human infantry!Ratmen advance steadily, arrows falling amongst the riflemenThe Captain takes down the last Poison Grenadier, settling a rather personal feud..And as the Slaves turn to face the cavalry remnants and the archers advance onto the ridge to take on the remaining riflemen, it’s 3 to the Ratmen, 1 contested and 1 for the humans… and that’s it!
Heavy losses all round but the vastly superior numbers of Ratmen were better placed to soak them up, and I think I really needed to focus absolutely everything on annihilating one unit at a time – rather than getting my riflemen duelling with the archers and the cavalry mixing it up with Poison Grenadiers, we should have plowed everything into hammering the central Ratmen units the infantry were facing… still, plenty of time for another game!
Once again, a really fun game from the One Page Rules folks and a great “introductory” wargame – you can play this one with the nippers (and I intend to once my youngling stops regarding dice as tasty snack treats) as well as your mates and having everything immediately accessible is a big help keeping the game flowing. I could say it’s almost too simplistic, but… the guy’s stated intent was to produce a game that could fit onto one page! It’s a cracking fun game and a great framework to houserule extra bits and pieces on if you want more depth, and there’s plenty that we’ve learned about game design and economical rules writing that will be making it’s way into our next series of releases (probably next year sometime, don’t hold your breath!).
Meanwhile we’ve got some scenery to paint for the League Of Extraordinary Riveters on Dakkadakka.com, and something pretty cool (and big.. and VERY red) on the horizon to show off… stay thrifty out there, we’ll be back soon!
Skinflint Games 