Stargrave - Fire Moon!

So here we come to the final scenario of our first Stargrave Campaign. This scenario titled Fire Moon, is set on a planet with lava streams flowing across its surface. 

Hidden away on the planet is a Secret Research Base, that hopefully the players will get to explore. 

 As the scenario was going to require quite a few Magmites, Chen offered to see if he could get a bunch printed & painted before our game. (We used his throughout). 

However I also printed out some figures to represent Magmites.

 

These were called Bony Beetles, I liked the look of their cracked shells, so opted to use them for mine.

 

I got the files from Thingeverse & I believe they were meant to be Metroid critters. They were created by Schlossbauer. 

We had 4 players for this game. Each of us started in 1 of the corners. For our random encounter each turn, there would be 1d3 magmites arriving on 1 of the table nodes. We also had the Unwanted Attention arrivals.

The entrance to the Research Base (also where most of the loot would be found)

 

Inside the entrance was a short hall, ending at a portal (which would bring you to the entrance of the underground base.

 

Once inside, the crew member could navigate through the lab & get to a transport platform to return them to their ships.

 

Things started off on the wrong foot for Kurt's crew, as one of his members was taken down by a pair of magmites.

 

It would seem Scotts MG trooper didn't clean his weapon prior to landing & thus saw it Jam on its first use.

 

My crew approaches the edge of the lava stream.

 

Chen's crew arrives

It doesn't take long to get our walls of smoke blanketing the area

Seeing as Scott was targeting my crew, I offered him one of my placed Magmites, to occupy his time while I got my guys through the lava.

The door is approached & is soon opened. Chen & I agreed to explore the lab rather than gun one another down.

Upon opening one of the doors, Chen had his drone taken out by a Soldier Zombie

 

Scotts troops begin crossing the lava

More crewmen move into the entry

 

Working our way through the lab, there were numerous objectives. We used the specimen vats as 'Data' loot. Opening one (TN16) would provide an Alien Artifact. The lockers & such were 'physical loot' also (TN16)

 

As for the denizens of the lab. There was an escaped Mind Gripper, several Soldier Zombies, a Sentrabot & Warbot.

So upon ending the game & tallying up the total xp earned, Kurt was found to be the 'winner' of the campaign.

Thanks to all who played in the campaign. We will take a summer break from Stargrave & likely launch a new campaign in September.

 

Cangames 2023! It's a Wrap!

As some have noticed, I've been absent from posting....the reason is simple....

                                            CANGAMES! 2023!

Yes after the 3 year hiatus due to the pandemic & then not really knowing which way things were going to pan out in early 2022, Cangames has returned. So off I went to Ottawa for this past long weekend! The convention is held at a Curling Rink. Miniatures share the main area with the vendor booths. The lobby tends to be for RPG's with several round tables. The upstairs has more RPG's & the boardgamers.

 

View of the miniature gaming space with vendor halls

Friday Afternoon started with Samurai Battle. Below is the force I ran (right side of the command tent)

 

I sent an archer unit through the town while the remainder of the force marched forward, using the town to protect the flank. the fellow I was teamed up with sent his mounted samurai surging forward. I sent one of my mounted units to support him.

 However, his mounted troops were pushed back or routed. This became a common theme with his dice rolls.

 On my flank, I was able to catch the opponents leading mounted unit in a charge by my own. His unit routed off the table with mine in pursuit. My unit was able to return the following turn.

 My second mounted unit on the left, charged in to delay the advance of the opponent & was rebuffed, it then moved around the wooded area to join in the battle for the right flank. Below can be seen the attrition of units showing, many were depleted from numerous charges. With the continued bad rolling by my partner, his flank had crumbled. The marginal victory went to the opponents.

I was then scheduled to play in a Bolt Action game, but was told it had been cancelled, so I jumped into a Team Yankee game.

The scenario was a meeting engagement between Canadian & East German Armor circa 1985.Below is one of the flank forces I ran, consisting of a troop of Leopards & 3 TOW units. These were hull down.

My centre force took hits with 2 tanks lost on turn 1 as the East German forces advanced.

This system suffers from the same challenges that cause me to not play Flames of War. The whole clustering of vehicles just irks me to no end. However the opposing side took their lumps too, when we finally got to shoot.

Of note, is that I believe this was an intro game to show people the rules & thus we didn't have any infantry elements. As the T-72's began arriving, they also came under fire. Needless to say by games end, there were a lot of smoking wrecks.

Saturday was a full day beginning at 9am with the Silent Death Red Shirt Smash using the 3:1 scale ships. Certainly one of my favorite space ship battle games.

Players start with small tier 1 ships. The goal being to get a number of damage scored against opposing ships & then get to the warp point. You then return with a tier 2 ship. At games end the player with the most damage caused & being in a Tier 3 ship will be the victor.

The ships are armed with various  guns, missles & torpedo's. Afterwards, Glen & I took our annual Spamalot T Shirt Shot as we do every Cangames

For the afternoon, I got in on a Monster Mash Game, also hosted by the Red Shirts.

This game pits lots of players against one another in a fight to the last man or monster standing event. This game always fills up quick, however you may want to have a  backup plan, as it doesn't take long for players to be knocked out. My random character was a Halfling Wizard & was able to make it to 2nd place...being taken out by a charging dwarf who left with all the laurels.

Saturday Evening was Ironboots & the Curse of the Draugr. This pulpy event hosted by Todd,  is another multi-player, shenanigan filled event that I play in every year.

This year we played in teams of 2, each of our factions having various ways to earn xp tokens. I joined up with Rita, & our faction consisted of 2 Desert Witches with bound Djinn & Efreet's as troops. 

Our mission was to find the lamp & summon the Djinns within to bind to our cause. The water was frozen, so anyone attempting to make more than a single move, were required to roll a slip test.

As we approached the ship, we discovered it had another Djinn guardng it. There also seemed to be some magic portal on board (This was a victory location for our opponents.

Meanwhile on the other end of the table, 3 factions were going head to head & were leaving a lot of dead.

Sunday started off with the Battle of Helms Deep. The host had built his setup out of foam, covered in drywall paste & then carved.

This was a 6 player game & I played one of the attacking Uruk forces, with the Ram & 3 ladders.

We managed to have the wall explode & the door get sundered on the same turn.

 As the host was using he miniatures he owned, there were Men of Minas Tirith present, as well as Morannon Orcs & the Trolls.

The last game I played was Doctor Who - The Galactic Cathedral, another 6 player game where we needed to investigate & disable 5 portals from which Weeping Angels were emerging from. However one of us what not whom we appeared to be.

I played the faction that consisted of The Prime Minisiter (Margaret Thatcher look-alike) who had several security guards, a sniper & Assistant. The game only had 6 turns to complete the tasks & the various Doctors were able to shut down 4 of the 5 gates. The Master (who happened to be disguised as the Prime Minisiter) was unable to thwart the other Time Lords & fled.

Finally here are some images of some of the other game tables present.

Thanks for taking the time to get to this point of the post. I will do a separate post for the items I purchased at the convention.