Empire of the Dead "Entrapment" AAR

[Anatoli]

Played 3 games of EotD this weekend with a friend. We started a mini campaign to see how all parts fit together.

First game was "Entrapment" where one side has tricked the other into showing up at a lcoation only to find out it's an ambush. I played the "Gentlemen's club" while my friend played the "Nosferatu" faction.

Full AAR on my blog

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.se/2012/05/empire-of-dead-entrapment-aar.html

[Skrapwelder]

Great table. I really like those two rubbled sarcophagus pieces in the middle.

[DeafNala]

I love your Battle Reports. The minis & terrain are LOVELY; & the whole thing is very inspiring. As always, VERY WELL DONE!

[Malamute]

Nicely painted miniatures and terrain. 

[thebinmann]

Lovely stuff and a nice report

How do you rate the game now you have played three games? How long did each take?

[Anatoli]

Game 1 took less than 30 minutes. Game 2 was pretty long (12 turns!) and we were both playing very tactical and cautiously in that game so I think it took nearly 90 minutes.

From the impression I got, you really need to play it in campaign mode to get the most out of it. It's the campaign rules that make the game - just like in Legends of the Old West and Strange Aeons. Once you get the hang of the rules it should be easy to fit at least 3 games into one afternoon, speeding up campaign play.

Played 3 games, 2 regular and 1 game where we did a little "alternate activation" test of the rules. I will be posting the remaining 2 reports soon as well.

[Mike D. Mc Brice]

What do you think about the Initiative rules? Since each side completes their move and shoot action in one go it will often happen that one side has 2 activations in a row before the other side can react. Compared to the activation system of the "Legends..." rules, where both sides make their complete moves before the game carries on to the shooting actions, the EOTD rules rely more on the dice instead of tactical decitions by the players.

[Anatoli]

The initiative is based on a roll at the start of the turn.  It happens that one side gets to activate "twice in a row" , activating last in one turn and first in the next. Though it did not pose any real problem in the games I played. We also had a couple of initiative "draws" in which case the turn is handled over to the player who did not have initiative the last turn. A bit of balancing there.

You do have to adapt your playstyle since you can't rely on a fixed turn initiative or on winning the turn. In my second  campaign game both me and my opponent were a lot more careful on how to move, where you end movement and prepared for enemy attacks. The game also features a overwatch mode where models can take shots at enemy models that pass their LoS if you haven't activated yet. So the player going first will often end up not having any overwatch units, while the second player has almost everything in overwatch.

[Chairface]

I enjoyed the heck out of this. Thank you!

[Marine0846]

Excellent AAR.
Lovely minis and terrain.
I find I am more and more interested in this type of gamming.
But I have to much else going on.
It sure is fun to read about other's games.
Thanks for sharing.

[majorsmith]

great table set up!

[axabrax]

Really like the "Nicodem" figure. Is that a conversion or...?

[Anatoli]

He is one of the "London Gentlemen" from the old Vampire Wars range. I added the owl (GW wood elf owl) :-)

I bought a ton of the Gothic Horror/Vampire wars miniatures to use with Malifaux and Strange Aeons. So I pretty much already have all I need to play Empire of the Dead as well. The range is very versatile and works for a lot of different games.