3rd Play: Space Marine Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons

Deeper into the Dungeon, erhm, Labyrinth, Our Heroes did go...

The adventure continues in this third outing. In the first, we played the first two levels and experimented with a few house rules, like Necrons shooting back. The second [unrecorded] play, we replayed the first and second levels, this time with the Rules As Written, as I made a few key errors with the RAW first time out.  This third time, we played the second level, then finished with the third where we met - the Necron Lord!

Well into Level 2, we killed a key Necron personality, a Lych Guard, and gained the exit via the control console. Brothers Cassius and Gabriel have just made their exit, followed by Bro. Frostclaw. The rearguard was Bro. Infernus of the Salamanders, who needed to make an exit path one way or the other - and he definitely chose "other"!  

Making a sweep around a corner, he rolled a '6' on his attack and toasted a Lychguard and an adjacent warrior - cleansed by the purifying holy fire, they melt into puddles of metallic goo.

Bro Frostclaw hesitates at the exit, impatiently awaiting Infernus' arrival.

But just as he hurries to join the team, new Necron warriors teleport in, blocking his escape!

Meanwhile, various Necrons pile up in the distant teleportals, clogging up space. Below, Frostclaw rectifies the situation, blasting several apart in the main corridor.

Bro. Infernus roasts the last impediment to his exit. He hurries and with his final moves, enters the stairwell down to Level 3 where the rest of the team awaits him.

Well, that was a bit nerve-wracking at the end, but we were fortunate that most of the Necron reinforcements arrived at the most distant portals, and the team was able to exit without much trouble.

And that is really one of the biggest challenges in a game with an AI like this - card driven. If the Necron cards come up a certain way, you can go very quickly from situation excellent to situation desperate, as we will soon see.  While you can certainly play and plan conservatively, occasionally risks must be taken, and the cards can go against you - causing SM to lose a turn, or have one less action for an entire round.

I would say that following basic tactical sense will see you succeed in getting thru levels 1 and 2. But it is the Necron cards that dictate if all your team makes it through the level.

Level 3 was an unusual board, with four of the portals right down the main corridor, in the same line as the stairwell down which the SM entered. We got cluttered up exiting the stairwell, and this forced Sgt Cassius of Ultramar to advance quickly to engage the Necron Lord, at board center [on a hovercraft]. Unfortunately, the next Necron card placed 3 Necrons along that axis, and he took one, then another wound and went down! The Emperor's Hand was not upon him this day...

And really, there was little else I would have chosen to do with Sgt Cassius - he needed to advance out of the way, and with his close combat bonus thanks to his trusty chainsword, he had double the chance to bring down the Necron Lord compared to anyone else. While he could have made a flanking maneuver, this could also have resulted in him being isolated and overwhelmed on a side corridor.

Anyway, Brother Frostclawdid work around the flank, and engaged the Necron Lord to no effect. Bro. Infernus then managed to wound him and destroy both adjacent minions on a '6'! This included a Lychguard.

Brother Gabriel then fired away with his trusty bolter, and also rolled a needed '6' on his second shot, then repeated it with his third shot, and the Necron Lord went down, despite having three wounds!  Well, "That was Easy!"

As a great game designer once said, "When in doubt, roll well".

The exit plan wasn't too solid, we were somewhat surprised that the Necron Lord was dead. Brother Frostclaw felt he hadn't killed enough Ancient Evil, and played his "Warrior Born" card to massacre a few more Necrons on the way to the exit.

After his last game bringing up the rear, Bro Infernus wasted no time in getting to the exit stairwell, quickly followed by Bro. Gabriel. Frostclaw didn't wait over-long, however, and soon joined the surviving team at the exit, as more Necrons arrived, but too late to help their Master.

So, the verdict is that the straight-up RAW Basic game should, with just a bit of tactical sense, result in the players gaining all three levels with only 1-2 Space marines lost. In our case, it was one. While it was unfortunate that my son was running Sgt Cassius when he went down, he had his revenge by rolling two 6's in a row to blast the Necron Lord, so he was happy with that.

There are a number of additional challenge cards, and a few Necron and other cards that make the game more difficult, as-is. However, it goes somewhat against the grain to not have Necrons shoot back, so I think our next play-through we will try a campaign with an extra wound for each SM, and with Necrons that move [slowly] and attack [poorly] and see how that goes.

Again, this is the perfect little setup, easily played on a dining table, with each level taking about an hour including setup and take-down. Makes for a quick evening of entertainment for up to 4 family members, and is easy enough that you can play with children and perhaps even coax Mom into blasting a few evil robots - depends on how 'game' she is, of course.

I can't see how one can go wrong with this purchase - the $25 price tag [delivered] is the price of the models alone, and the components are nicely done, solid and with good graphics. The levels and AI will work with any team you want to send in - another choice would be my commissar and a few of his guardsmen! And one can vary the Necrons easily, sending in scarabs [move 2, attack 5+ if adjacent], Warriors [move 1, attack 5+ in LoS], Flayers [move 1, attack 4+ if adjacent] or Wraiths [move 1 in any direction, including through walls!, attack 3+] etc etc, you get my drift, once you feel that the original necrons are not challenging enough.

And why stop at Necrons?  Chaos may want to get into the tunnels, also, searching for arcane technology. Or rogue adeptus mechanicus personnel, or dark eldar raiders...

Most importantly, Mr. Winkie enjoyed it, and asked to play on subsequent nights. I'm already cleaning and assembling the Chaos Cultists from Doomsday Countdown, which I plan to have us tackle after we've gotten our "house rules" down with the Necrons.

Space Marine Adventures: Painting Progress

"Ultramar Treetrimmers - The Best in the Multiverse!"

At a couple bucks a pop, these figs are a great deal - plus there's a game included!

So, the painting funk has been officially broken - yay! I am enjoying painting the five different Space Marines in five different schemes and learning some new techniques. Here is where they are with straight-up block painting and some drybrushing:

From left, for those who care: Space Wolves, Salamanders, Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, and Ultramarines are all represented. The white pauldron is going to be for a decal that they will all have, to denote their special detached status to other Imperial forces they should encounter along the way.

Front view - this would be what the Necrons may face!

Sgt. Cassius of Ultramarines. Chain sword and...laspistol? Hard to tell, doesn't match any in the codex I have. Lots of details, worth spending some time painting up. The leather apron took longer than I thought it would, but I am happy with the wear and tear look it has. The chainsword needs an eye-catching look - it is so prominently displayed. May go with the yellow "danger stripes" that are so common.

Brother Frostclaw of the Space Wolves. the green eyes are coming along ok. The warm golds are to offset the cool grey of the armor. His combat knife definitely needs an "energized look" as a regular knife isn't going to cut it [no pun intended].

Brother Infernus of the Salamanders Chapter. His back has a little "temple" on his pack, and the flamer cannister, frag and krak grenades came out fine - they don't pop exactly, but right now they are "realistic" and I'll highlight them later.

Bro. Gabriel of the Blood Angels. The red is looking pretty good with a drybrushing. I would like to get depth with a wash and then bring it up with highlighting.

Bro. Grimm of the Imperial Fists has been the biggest challenge - yellow! But his heavy bolter is a nice centerpiece to the model. I'm thinking to match the ammo cannister in the same green as the clips on the hoses, or perhaps something brighter. I don't plan on a lot of yellow models, but enjoying learning this one.

You can just see the contrast between the ochre on the right half of Grimm's pack below, with the yellow that's been applied.

Below, the Gold Standard! Imperial Fists painted by staff at FLGW store. The staffer spent a while talking painting techniques with me and then ran me through a Kill Team demo. I bought a few paints and washes I wanted to try out immediately.

While I don't think KT is for my 12yo son at this point, the game demo showed me the basic mechanics which appear to not only sound, but pretty easily grasped and even intuitive and realistic - unusual for GW rules, but "blind squirrel finds nut"!

We played his lovely tyranids against a SM Assault Team, and it we an interesting assymetric matchup. I wiped out all the hormagaunts but his big fella synapse critter was a beast, and easily dismembered one of my assault squad before we wrapped it up - the guy had work to do.  

As you can see, the game board and terrain are quite amazing - what skirmish gaming is all about, visually. Plan to try this out with an experienced gamer pal soon.

Meanwhile, as I wrap up the painting of the SMs, we will be trying the Labyrinth of the Necrons again, but this time the Necrons will fight back!

First Play: Space Marine Adventures

The Space Marines Adventures game lands on the dining table

This is the second post about the "Space Marines Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons" game that I'm using to bust out of my long painting funk. In the first [HERE], I gained initial momentum using several simple principles, and have been continuing to progress.

Below, the progress made in time for the first game. 

A step above how they arrived, but plenty of room for little highlights and details to continue. My son likes the models, said they "look cool" and "the little details are amazing!" so that's good. At the base cost of plastic Space Marines being $6 each, the game is basically 5 Space marines [that could be painted however you like] with a free set of rules, cards, game boards, and storage box!

Below, the game set up. Mr. Winkie chose Bros. Frostclaw and Grimm of the Space Wolves and Imperial Fists, respectively. I chose Sgt Cassius of the Ultramarines and Bro. Infernus of the Salamanders. Each comes with a matching colored D6.

We randomly grabbed a tile, placed the entry stairwell, the minions and the three exit points - we don't know which one is actually an exit until we accomplish the objective at center, which is to roll a '6' on an action at the control panel. This is just discernable at board center. We accidentally kept two special cards a character - actually, you DRAW 2 / pick 1 to keep per character.

Mr. Winkie - almost as tall as me, and at 12 he is considerably faster and has already scored more tries in one Junior Skills rugby season than I did in my entire career!  The question is will he enjoy the game?

Necron reinforcement arrives while Sgt Cassius leads Bro Grimm along the path of least resistance to the console to the left of him. Bros Infernus and Frostclaw await their activations to enter the board. Necron is from my circa 1990s army, which is about halfway done - I stopped work on it after I realized that Warhammer 40K doesn't make for fun games, and the project languished.

So right off the bat, I made one error, which upon re-reading the rules today, I figured out. Necron reinforcements arrive at the translocation squares, but if the square is occupied, 2-3 arrive on the orthogonal squares - so it pays to keep the squares clear! This isn't terribly difficult with four Space Marines.

Game play in the RAW [Rules As Written] has the Necrons in essence acting as tar pits. You want to stay away from the translocation points as the only way they can Wound a SM is to arrive in their square. They do not shoot, and they do not move.

This is a bit outside the fluff of the pictured Necrons, all of which have guns, but we will work on that later.

A bit further into the game, all SM have arrived, and been shooting up the Necrons on sight, which has kept their numbers manageable. Sgt Cassius is making a mistake standing on a portal, however...but he's almost at the console!

Unfortunately, Necrons arrive right on top of us. We manage to beat off the attack. Bro Grimm shoots one down and then advances.

However, he also errs in advancing onto a portal!

Sgt Cassius finally rolls a '6'! The exits are flipped, and the actual exit has the stairs down to level two place there. While he has been trying [and failing] to roll the '6', the other brothers have been wasting Necrons and keeping the paths clear.

All head at top speed for the exit as more Necrons arrive!

...and more, and more... Bro Infernus guards the rear.

The brothers are now stacked in the stairwell to level two.

Mr. Winkie arranged the heraldry for a final pic.

Well, that was fun, and Mr. Winkie definitely enjoyed himself!

We gave it another go, and this time allowed Necrons to shoot on a 5+ when they arrived. But even without this, they got Sgt Cassius who was probably a bit overconfident. Bro Grimm did get shot, however.

This second game had us escape with two SM, a marginal victory.

We tried another board, and this time found ourselves crammed in among some portals. Spreading out with good fields of fire is actually better than close mutual support - makes sense in real life, also, I might add.

We played 3-4 times, and enjoyed tweaking the rules a bit. Mr. Winkie looks forward to another go soon!

As stated, the game is a no-brainer to purchase at $25.

1. You get 5 nice models that have interesting weapon variations. As they are plastic, you can modify them to any five in your Kill Team or growing army.
2. Alternately, you can give them a basic paint job and a heavily shaded dip, some decals, and they are very nice game pieces or your kid's first models.
3. The game plays quickly and easily, and is suspenseful. We found that having Necrons shoot or move and attack at a 5+ adds some tension. I'd say that a shot that is not clear should be penalized by -1, so only hitting on a '6'.
4. You can easily add a few simple rules to make the game more tactical, like terrain, etc. 

If you think of the game as 5 models and some nice terrain tiles and card decks, you are heading in the right direction, just like GW is heading in the right direction with these games.

While the games may not satisfy everyone, it is so easy to tweak the rules that your level of tactical play is easily accommodated.  Go buy this game, whether you like Warhammer or not!

Busting Thru Painting Funk with Space Marine Adventures

Peace Returns to the Painting Table

Been struggling with Deep Blue Painting Funk for 20 months now - my last effort at painting was enjoyable time with 54mm Armies in Plastic Brits [CLICK]...

...but suddenly and unexplainably languished. I blame the Army and our crazy OPTEMPO for leaving me too drained to appreciate artistic endeavors. I considered getting moving on it all numerous times, but the sight of my painting table left me discouraged and aghast...

...clearly some action was required.  Main thing got me thinking is that I haven't played a game with Mr. Winkie in a long while.  But the Terminator board game takes a while to set up and needs the dining room table which the Wife has been occupying with her own photography project. 

I decided I needed a quick to set up, easy to play in under an hour, but fun and interesting game that was very self-contained and had just a few miniatures. These requirements left out my:

- unpainted Space Hulk 2nd ed. game, 

- the new Gale Force 9 "Aliens - Another Glorious Day in the Corps" game, 

- "Firefly: Brigands and Browncoats" 

- and painting up my Terminator minis.   

Checking around at BGG, I stumbled onto the perfect solution:

"Space Marine Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons" [CLICK] 

...which met ALL the requirements, and was $25 at numerous retailers since it is a gateway game. As a dungeon crawl with three levels AND an advanced deck, AND several team combinations of 4 of the 5 included Space Marines, I'm seeing at least a dozen possible plays of the game. Hoping it recreates the success I had with the OGRE: Objective 218 card game that Mr. Winkie enjoys.

Well, couldn't get motivated to work with figures for myself, but...for Mr. Winkie?  Yeah sure!  The miniatures are very nice plastics, which did fit together pretty well.  I did a little filing and such and then used Plastruct Bonder with brush-on cap to attemble them with modest effort - maybe an hour for everything.

There are mold lines that are very visible at certain light angles. This annoys me.

So I file them down, which took about 30 minutes. I'm OK with the rough texture, as I think it will disappear under primer and painting. Also, I'm looking for a "battered around in combat" look for the armor.

I have to clean the minis again with soap and warm water to get rid of the powder.

Below, the clean, assembled, mold-line-free miniatures. The five colors gives a sort of Parcheesi feel to them as playing pieces. If you gave them a Miracle Dip wash and then painted a few important pieces [like the guns, black] they would be perfectly fine game pieces for a new hobbyist with limited skills.

As an internal set of 5 miniatures, I want them to have a consistent painted style and be as good as my Necrons, whom they will inevitably fight on the board game.

And below, a few comparison shots, against:

- Armies in Plastic 54mm blue Zouave

- Airfix 8th Army Brit

- Old Glory "Pershing Expedition to Mexico" 25mm

A lower angle, showing the relative height better: The SM are not only taller, but considerably more bulky than the Old Glory. They rival the larger plastics.

I decided to paint them in their respective color schemes exactly as on the box [so they will be a perfect fit for the game].  The base primer for SM armor [in my mind] is a sort of grey, so I grabbed a likely color from my IJN 1:2400 naval project:

Despite getting excellent coverage with a perfect day for spray painting [warm, low humidity] several coats, you can see a bit of yellow, red and green plastic in the crevices.  This will require some wet and sloppy painting, which I refuse to do on my gaming table which is covered with my favorite table cloth...this means it is time to face the disastrous wreck of my painting table.

My initial effort was to clean up all the paints and store them back in their drawers, shaking as necessary and throwing out several that had dried out [and were, like 10-30 years old so no surprise there!]. The dust was an indictment of inactivity:

But it felt good to get it cleaned and sorted out. In the end, I only need to replace a few paints, which oddly includes all the yellows.

To be interesting from the artistry perspective, I decided to try my new wet palette with a wet painting style, building up the colors in layers to show the multiple layers that - in "real life" - would undoubtedly be on the SM armor as they repair it post-action and for Saturday Morning Parade [or its equivalent 40,000 years in the future]. I found likely colors in my collection, except for the dead yellows.

I started with the Salamander, as the greens looked the most promising.

Below, the initial coats of the Blood Angel, the Imperial Fist, the Salamander, the Space Wolf, and the Ultramarine. Hoping that the wet palette will continue to provide color transitions tomorrow.

Below, closeups of the five, showing their base coats, all of which are a bit darker than the end coat will be. PP Skorne Red and Moldy Ochre, Vallejo Flat Green, Vallejo grey mixed with an unknown Polly-S grey, and an Armory Blue-08 were used, thinned about 50% with water and a drop of Vallejo Thinner Medium.

I'm satisfied with the results, and enjoyed getting back onto the painting saddle, now that my hands got the brush moving and my painting mojo working!

To summarize, my solution to the painting doldrums:

1. Pick an inexpensive, limited project: $25 and 5 models in this case.
2. Pick something that is about "the kid" since I wasn't motivated to paint for me and my projects.
3. Pick something that dovetails neatly into past and future endeavors: in this case, Warhammer minis I already have; Steel Legion infantry; two lovely commissars; a mostly-complete Necron army. These 5 kill team SM can fight the Necron miniatures on the game board instead of using the [nicely printed] counters.
4. Commit to cleaning and organizing the painting area, which had to be done someday, anyway.
5. Try a new technique to give the minis a unified style, while getting my crafty brain engaged in an outcome.

Hope these ideas help you now or someday in the future.

We had a storm whirl through the neighborhood - a bit scary with high winds. But after, lovely rainbow out back. Worth remembering that it is God's promise not to wipe out humanity despite our evils. Back then, it was thanks to one faithful and obedient fellow, Noah [Genesis 9:8-16]. Now it is thanks to one perfectly obedient fellow, Jesus.

Things are looking up in the creative realms, and some good games with Mr. Winkie will be played in the future - stay tuned!