Guild Ball – Fish (Shark) V Union (Blackheart)

I’ve finally found the time to post up the match report from last Thursday’s game. Unfortunately no pictures again. Also unfortunately Bolt Action and SAGA were called off. On the positive side, I do have pictures from last night’s game and will get that up soon (hopefully).

Line-up

Me: Angel, Shark (cpt), Siren, Salt (msct), Jac, Greyscales

Opponent (Dave, one half of Double Dodge, go check that): Rage, Harry, Blackheart, Avarisse & Greede (henceforth A&G), Mist, Coin

Match Report

Dave won the roll off and elected to kick. Harry took the kick and the ball ended in front Greyscales. I went with three influence for Angel, five Shark, one each for Siren, Salt and Jac, and two for Greyscales. I can’t recall Dave’s loading, but I know Blackheart was fully loaded and there were three on A&G.

Greyscales activated first, jogging into cover, collecting ball, moving back slightly, and passing to Jac. Which he missed. The ball scatted in front of Siren just out of snap range. Greyscales then put up Decoy. Coin went next and did a thing to Rage. Siren went next and collected the ball, which she passed to Salt. I think Harry went next, moving up and throwing a Molotov near my centre left back (a couple of inches in front Siren). Salt went next, moving close enough to pass to Angel. Which he also missed. This time the scatter passed through her base, so it snapped to her. Downside was I didn’t get the momentous dodge I wanted.

A&G were next, A picking up G, moving up the pitch, setting him down and G running over and dodging into combat with Greyscales. With my defence up to six and the -1 TAC from cover, G failed to connect. Angel went next, sprinting to the cover on my left, hitting supershot, and successfully passing back to Shark. I used momentous dodge to put Shark up the field. Mist then moved up a little. Shark then activated Quick Foot and sprinted around the Molotov into combat with Harry. I used a couple of attacks to generate momentum and dodge closer, before bonus timing a shot and scoring a goal. Me 4 v Dave 0. I then used the dodge from scoring the goal to go even deeper into bat country. The ball came in right near Blackheart and snapped to him. Finally fully loaded Blackheart activated and went in on Shark. At the end of his activation Shark had lost 5hp and Dave had generated himself a stack of momentum.

Dave won the initiative roll off for turn two and again Blackheart was fully loaded. Everyone else saw some influence too, though I can’t recall the exact amount. For my part, two Shark, three Angel, four siren, three Greyscales, one Jac and Salt. Blackheart activated first and lay into Shark. He fell a single box of damage shy of taking Shark out though. Shark went next and I attacked for a momentous dodge and was downed in a counter attack. YOLO. Me 4 v Dave 2. Coin was next and dished out another buff, this time to Harry. Next up, Siren spent momentum to ignore the rough ground in the middle of the pitch and successfully Seduced Blackheart, who passed to her. She used a momentous dodge to go back four inches and drop the ball, snapping it to Angel.

Harry then charged Siren and hit her pretty hard, dealing 7 damage and leaving her with Bleed. Angel then made her play, sprinting up, supershot, nailing goal number two. Me 8 v Dave 2. The ball came back in near Mist.

Rage was next and charged Angel. He pushed her around and she ended up 4hp down and in-between Rage and Blackheart. I then moved Jac in and engaged G, rolling really well and scoring 3 damage. Mist then collected the ball and jogged back to protect it. Greyscales then wailed on G some, but not particularly well before A came in to defend his little buddy, knocking Jac down, pushing him around and scoring six damage. Salt then ran over to add to Crowded Out on G because why not? At the end of the turn, Bleed took out Siren. Me 8 v Dave 4.

Dave had all the momentum in the world and I had one, he’d be going first again in turn three. I brought Siren and Shark back on the right side and jogged them up. Six for Shark, three Siren, four Greyscales, and one Jac. Again, don’t recall Dave’s allocations. Blackheart went first and beat Angel down, taking her out. Me 8 v Dave 6. In the process he triggered On My Mark, having Mist pass the ball to him, moving up and dropping the ball. I then sent Siren in on G, achieving a few damage. A then smacked Siren down for a second time, and some healing was dished out on G. Me 8 v Dave 8. I stood Jac up and took a swing at G for a single damage. At this point I’m not sure which of Dave’s players went, I think it was an unexciting move by Rage.

Greyscales was next and he laid into G. For three damage. Over four influence. #fishthings. Mist then moved up next, collecting ball and passing to Harry who used a momentous dodge to get closer to the goal. There was probably some more healing on G. Mistakes had been made, but it’s cool, I just wanted that little bugger down. Shark jogged in and wailed on G. One damage. One damage. One damage. One damage. One damage, down. Me 10 v Dave 8. And then there was no one left to hit. Harry activated and moved up, kicked for goal, and nailed it.

That’s the match: Me 10 v Dave 12.

Aftermath

Another great game and some good learnings. First thing I realised was I should have brought Siren and Shark on different sides of the pitch (I had no idea On My Mark was a possibility, will know for next time). Second thing was that in turn two, Shark could have used his Legendary and then tried for a Tidal Surge on Rage, shifting him back into the middle of nowhere. Together that would have protected Siren and Angel (Rage and Harry wouldn’t have been able to move up and engage either), and saved one or both of them so I could move them out of harm’s way (my movement being greater than theirs). A third thing I thought while typing all this out: not sure if I used my free goal scoring dodge on Angel. Should have if I didn’t. And finally, running Siren in to certain death was Poor Choices.

Next Time

Saturday is Blessing of the Scum Father 2, which looks like it’ll be three rounds. Hopefully I’ll have match reports for all my matches. Alternatively just one higher level report on the whole tournament. Whatever the case, everyone is set to get a prize! I’ve also painted all my Fish now, so I’ll post up pictures of the other six (Kraken, Corsair, Tentacles, Hag, and Veteran Siren) soon.

British V Deutsche Afrika Korp – Engagement

The Easter long weekend and my mate Tom was keen to catch up, so what better time to (finally) play some more Flames of War?

Mission and Table

I rolled up engagement for the mission. Tom won the roll off and was the attacker. Objectives were placed more or less opposite each other. My side (the one with the two ridges) had one behind the rough terrain on my left flank, and the other just behind the ridge in the centre. Tom has one just over the hill and the other I placed near the road on the other side of the field.

Forces

We just ran with everything we had (only my force fits an organisation chart).

German:

HQ with two Panzer III Ls

Two Panzer platoons – 1st with two Panzer IV F2s, two Panzer III Ls and a Panzer III N, 2nd with one Panzer IV F2, two Panzer III Ls and one Panzer III N

Heavy anti-aircraft battery with two Flak 88s with extra crew (so rate of fire 3)

Priority air support from Ju87G Stukas

 

British

HQ and two heavy armoured platoons with three shermans a piece

Light armour platoon with three honey stuarts

Kingforce armour platoon with three Churchill IIIs – this platoon wasn’t actually part of the force organisation chart, but we were doing a fun “use everything” battle, so it came under the company’s command

Sporadic air support from Hurricane IIICs

 

Order of Battle

I deployed my Flak 88s on the objective on my left flank and my second Panzer platoon behind the ridge in the centre. Tom positioned a platoon of Shermans in the centre of the field and the Churchills on the road.

I had first turn and did a big fat load of nothing. Meeting Engagement meant I couldn’t call in air support. Reserves were on delay. I didn’t want to sneak my Panzers out yet, and I made the call that the Flak 88s couldn’t fire (everything for me was supposed to count as having moved, Flak 88s are immobile. So I considered they’d been towed on and set up). Tom similarly did little, moving up his Shermans and Churchills. The Shermans opened fire on the Flak 88s, but were in effective.

Turn 2 and I kept my Panzers still again. My Stukas came in and wrecked two Churchills, while my Flak 88s bust open a single Sherman. Tom’s turn and the lone Churchill stuck around and moved up. The Shermans returned fire on the Flak 88s, but again were ineffective.

Turn 3 and there were no reserves to be seen. With two of the Churchills dead and the third showing me side armour, I moved out my Panzers. The Flak 88s wrecked the remaining two Shermans, but my Panzers couldn’t penetrate the Churchill’s armour. Toms turn and his Churchill turned to take on my Panzers, and his Hurricanes showed up to strafe my Flaks. The Hurricanes managed to take out a Flak, but the Churchill’s shots were ineffective.

Turn 4 and I still had no reserves. My Stukas came in again as I moved my Panzers up. The Churchill took a hit from the Stukas, but somehow wasn’t knocked out. The Churchill failed to remount, and the Hurricanes didn’t show up either.

Turn 5 and finally my first Panzer platoon showed up, driving in on the centre of the field. My Stukas were back as my Panzers continued their advance. Once more I just couldn’t crack the Churchill. British reinforcements also arrived in the form of two Sherman platoons (including the HQ). They came in from the corner opposite the Flak 88 though, which was not ideal. The Churchill remounted and decided to advance, opening fire and scoring one kill on the second Panzer platoon. Unfortunately the Shermans were out of range.

Turn 6 and my Panzers made it onto the objective, if I started next turn with them on it I’d end the battle. My final lot of reserves, the command platoon, showed up in the centre of the field. Meanwhile, my Stukas again tried to knock out the last Churchill but failed. The second Panzer platoon moved up to engage it but were likewise ineffective. Meanwhile my Flak bailed a single Sherman. The Sherman failed to remount while the others moved up. Unfortunately for me the Honey Stuarts not only showed up, but arrived right in front of my Panzers. The Hurricanes also came back for another strafe. The dice were not in Tom’s favour though and by the end of the shooting phase, only a single Panzer from the first platoon was destroyed.

Turn 7 and I turned everything in the centre towards the Shermans on the left. My Stukas were back, this time on the Shermans. When the guns stopped firing, one of the Sherman platoons and the Honey Stuarts were all smoking wrecks. The battle was all but over, but Tom shifted up his Shermans (the bailed one remounted) anyway. The Shermans failed to do anything, but the Churchill took out two more Panzers and the last Panzer from the first platoon quit the field.

 

Turn 8 and my second platoon was on the far right objective uncontested. Victory to Germany! It was a good battle, though the dice were definitely in my favour. Tom was a big fan of snake eyes, and he really could have used one of the Sherman platoons on the other flank.

Next Time

I’ve a game of Bolt Action, and hopefully some SAGA too, teed up for next Saturday. In addition, Thursday night is Guild Ball. Finally, I finished Kraken yesterday and Veteran Siren today. Unfortunately Sakana’s blister was baseless, so I’ll need to solve that problem before I can do any work on him.

Happy wargaming!

Guild Ball – First Game

I had my first full game of Guild Ball last night. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures, so you’ll have to be content with a wall of text.

Team Lineup

Me: Greyscales, Jac, Shark (cpt), Salt (msct), Siren, Angel

Opponent (Elly): Greyscales, Veteran Siren, Kraken, Corsair (cpt), Tentacles (msct)

Match Report

I elected to kick, running Shark straight down the middle of the pitch and kicking the ball to the forward left into rough ground. It scatter to the right and forward a bit, landing not far from Elly’s Greyscales.

Turn 1

I can’t recall how Elly assigned his influence, but I went with 6 on Shark, 2 on Angel, 1 Salt, 1 Jac, 2 Greyscales (could have been 2 Jac and 1 Greyscales actually), and 1 on Siren.

Elly’s Greyscales retrieved the ball, passed to Corsair and activated Decoy. I then activated Shark, realised running headlong into the enemy team with no support was a Bad Idea, and decided to use Elly’s Greyscales as a momentum battery. I think I ended up netting three momentum.

Corsair charged in on Shark and knocked him down. He then proceeded to beat Shark rather badly, before passing the ball to his Angel, who used momentum to dodge forward. I didn’t have a great deal to do next, so I just moved Angel up into cover and activated Nimble.

Elly’s Angel then pelted up the pitch, just to the left of mine, hit supershot and nailed a goal. I can’t quite recall my play next, but either Greyscales or Jac retrieved the ball (I think it was Greyscales) and passed to Jac.

With me unable to get anyone close enough to Shark, Elly spent his next activation crowding out Shark, moving up Veteran Siren. Jac moved up, passed to Salt. Tentacles came up to add to the crowd out bonus on Shark. Salt ducked across and passed to my Angel. Kraken came in and caused Serious Pain to Shark – but he managed to stay up on 1hp! Finally Siren moved up slightly and attacked Elly’s Angel for a result I can’t recall.

Turn 2

I had the momentum advantage, but it didn’t help me for I rolled a 1 against Elly’s 6. My influence for this turn was 2 Shark, 3 Angel, 3 Siren, 2 Greyscales, 2 Jac, and 1 Salt.

Corsair went first, moving away from Shark and nabbing the ball of my Angel with Rough Seas. I was ok with this though, because I followed up with Seduce from Siren and had Corsair pass the ball straight back.

Elly knew my goal play from Angel would come next, so he shifted Tentacles to try make the shot harder. I was still able to avoid the tougher shot with a sprint and a Super Shot, ending up with a screamer.

The ball came back in, and I believe Kraken finished off Shark before nabbing the ball and passing to Corsair. I rued putting 2 influence on Shark instead of 1 at this point, but charged Jac in on Corsair anyway and got a tackle result. Veteran Siren moved up with Death Gaze and took on Jac, who took 1 damage before counter attacking. Veteran Siren then scored a momentous push-dodge, before Greyscales ran in on Veteran Siren and netted two damage. I can’t recall what Elly’s last move was, but Salt made his way to my left back.

Turn Three

Shark came back on the left side of the pitch and I won the initiative roll off – good times! I went with 4 Shark, 1 Salt, 3 Siren, 1 Greyscales, 4 Jac, 1 Angel (I had an extra influence for my goal last turn).

Jac went first, scoring a tackle, breaking Close Control, a second tackle, winning possession, a momentous push, to get Corsair away, and a pass to Salt. Corsair then turned and ran into my Angel, who went Full Defensive. He proceeded to wail on her to no avail, much to my delight and Elly’s frustration.

Salt was up next and moved closer to Shark before passing to him. Next Angel’s luck ran out, for Kraken came in and proceeded to beat her senseless thanks to significant crowding out bonuses. I then made my Shark play: Quick Foot, sprint, followed by a successful shot on goal.

The ball came back in just passed the melee that’d taken down my Angel – plenty close enough for Elly’s Angel to jog to the ball, back to a good shooting spot, and make a successful Super Shot even with crowding out from Siren.

Game over: 8 (Me) plays 12 (Elly).

Aftermath

I really enjoyed the game and learnt a number of things. Firstly, Shark might be a great Rambo, but don’t try run him into an entire enemy team. Second, I probably should have used a single influence on Shark turn two and given an extra to Greyscales or Jac. Third, I should have considered holding off my goal scoring in turn three to set something up to prevent an instant answering goal from Elly. Fourth, read my players more (i.e. double check them before the game) because I realised afterwards I forgot a few things, like Jac’s Resolute (which would have come into play once or twice) and probably had a couple of options I overlooked. I’d probably look to have more influence on Siren turn one too.

Overall though I’m pretty pleased. It was my first six man game (after only two three man games) and I nailed two goals, which I’m pretty pleased with.

I’ll have two more matches before 29 April (club plays every Thursday) when I’ve put myself in for the club’s next Guild Ball tournament. I’m looking forward to it!

Next Time

I’ll be having a game of Bolt Action or Flames of War tomorrow (hopefully the latter), so that report should be up before the weekend is out provided nothing else pops up! Also, Kraken and Veteran Siren are almost done, so expect to see them soon too. I’ll be painting Corsair and Sakana next, and getting Tentacles and Hag (provided she’s in stock) next week for next weekend. I’m taking 24 April off work and 25 April being ANZAC Day, two four day weekends in a row mean there’s no excuse not to have a fully painted Fisherman’s Guild! (Also there’s an ISU-152 for Bolt Action to finish…)

Until then!

Guild Ball – Fishermen’s Guild

It’s been a while. I’ve not been doing any wargaming anything of late – lack of opponents means lack of motivation (X-Wing doesn’t count, even though I play weekly and have been going to events). I found a group near enough to me that plays Guild Ball (which I’ve been wanting to learn and play for ages now) regularly though and found motivation to finish getting a team together.

Greyscales, Jac and Salt

I have previously posted about Shark, Angel and Siren who come with the Fisherman’s Guild starter box. Last week I picked up Greyscales, Jac and Salt so I could field a full team and start playing games (albeit without any player options).

I’m happy with how they all turned out and continued with my marshy base theme.

Unlike Shark, Greyscales’ hands actually aligned without issue! So that was a bonus. His right leg is in a different position than I’ve seen online, but I prefer my positioning.

Jac’s weapon hand was very recalcitrant, but I got there in the end. I continued with earthy tones using colours associated with water (i.e. blue and green), but also added a bit of red to Jac.

Salt is the best because he is an otter. I like Salt. And like the ball, he was very easy to paint.

And here we have the whole team together: Shark (cpt), Salt (msct), Greyscales, Angel, Jac and Siren. Ready to kick goals and kick more goals, and I’ve plenty more goals.

Next

I’m going to head along to the club and learn the game. I’m in Melbourne Wednesday to Saturday next week, but when I am back (or maybe Monday or Tuesday) I will probably pick up two or three more models (probably Corsair, Kraken and Sakana). After they’re done, I’ll see where things are at. I might fully finish off the Fishermen’s Guild before getting started on the Brewer’s – the starter box models will just have to live undercoated and with the base flesh coat done for a while longer.