So, after a bit of a hiatus we finally got around to playing a return match. Sort-of. The Justice Department were given the bye and instead the ‘Judge Cal Multi-Racial Judicial Reform Working Group’ found themselves facing a Street Gang and friends.
Above: The Street Gang Deploys to hold their groundThe Street Gang had three ‘star’ players, the boss with his hand cannon and very handy ‘c’mon you lily livered scum suckers’ ability (puts d3 ganger activation chits of his choice back into the bag), the terror of the takeaways - Dick Porker (waaaaaaaaaaay too overpowered) and Mean Machine Angel (waaaaaay too underpowered - though less points than Porker). Accompanying them were a motley crew of a dozen or so gangers, most with spit guns, a couple with rifles and one with a rocket launcher.
Above: The Street Gang leaders amongst the troopsThe Kleggs had two stars, a Klegg Boss and a SJS veteran street judge, three normal Kleggs and four hounds. Both sides weighed in at around 100 points though this time the Kleggs’ stats were much lower than when they made a mess of the Justice Department as described above.
The scenarios in the rulebook are pretty ordinary so for the purposes of the exercise we agreed to play the ‘rumble’ scenario, the idea being that a Street Gang has declared their part of the sector a No Go Zone and both sides would be fighting for control of the main road in an urban area with plenty of scatter terrain about the place for cover. The terrain comes from a variety of manufacturers and looks pretty good, I think, if you ignore the unpainted TT Combat coffee shop in the background.
Above: The Kleggs cautiously advanceAnyway, the game commenced with the Kleggs advancing cautiously, taking cover as the Street Gang pushed forward with a first line of spit-gun armed skirmishers, a second line of more of the same with the boss and Porker and the long ranged weapons found themselves in the rear ensconced in good sniping positions. While this was going on Mean Machine dialled it up to four and looked for something to headbutt.
Above: The Klegg boss takes on MeanDespite having only a Shoot of 1 the Kleggs elected to try their luck with their auto-stumps and managed to inflict some wounds on the leading gangers. They responded in kind and soon the weight of fire they were able to bring down was having an effect, one Klegg retreated to shake off two wounds while others put a premium on cover as stuns and pins built up. The Klegghounds though had used their extra move well and managed to get close enough to charge. This they did with devastating effect - the gangers can dish it out with their spit guns but don’t stand much of a chance as the Hounds of Klegg tore into the first wave. The boss Klegg also pushed up and his presence drew in Mean Machine and Dick Porker. Soon the centre of the board was awash in a wild melee of claws, choppers, headbutts, blubber and lots and lots of small arms fire (but no barf). This was tremendous fun; it felt true to the source material and was just the sort of gaming experience I was looking for.
Above: Vicious fighting around the wrecked carMean Machine was felled but a Big Meg card (Extra Hottie) saw the car that was being used as cover explode and the slightly wounded chief Klegg took four hits and failed to save a single one causing his removal from the board as a sniper took out the hound that got rid of Mean.
Above: Gangers take a central positionThe gangers were bloodied but not beaten and concentrated in a schwerpunkt of spitguns winging a hound but they didn’t finish it as it crashed into the gangers savaging the intended target only to fall to the rocket launcher assisted by a Seeker armoury card. The gang’s last best hope lay with this knot of thugs and their boss who were holding the centre by themselves and as the punks fell under the relentless jaws of the Klegghounds (and the occasional shot from their masters) the boss endured. For a while.
Above: Gangers start to lose their central positionHe was good enough to hold off one, then two Klegghounds but it all came to a slicey-dicey end when a Klegg clambered over the dumpster and introduced him to his chopper. In the same turn the SJS judge, who consistently failed to get his chit back in the bag after each activation and stayed well away from most of the fighting chipped in with a Rapid Fire! card and then, next turn, a Seeker to dispatch the rocket launcher. Obviously he knew which side of his bread was synthispread and took pains to keep his uniform in regulation order rather than risk losing a button by exerting himself.
Above: the last stand of the BossThe game ended with the gang’s centre being overrun as the two riflemen teamed up to shoot down a Klegg whose attempted charge fell short but as one fell underneath the jaws of a Klegghound his fellow beat a hasty retreat removing this latest no go zone. Judge Fish would be pleased.
Above: the SJS lead from the rearSo, with the game concluded both players agreed it was much more enjoyable than the previous walkover. The de-powered Kleggs were good, but not unbeatable. Though, the hounds seemed a tad too good (as does Dick Porker) but Mean Machine Angel really did not deliver. The melee in the centre of the board was tremendous fun and very much in the spirit of the source material.
Above: CasualtiesPoints of note/contention:
• The reduced frontal fire arcs for two handed weapons worked well. Made players think about both cover and facing when positioning miniatures.
• Pins mattered – especially as charges require two actions so a pinned model that doesn’t shake off their pin is unable to charge.
• The game’s points system is hopeless and some of the characters are poorly designed. Mean Machine Angel should be far more lethal than Dick Poker. However, the revised Klegg stats and point values seemed to work okay.
• Add something to Mean Machine (and other ‘name’ characters) to make him a bit more interesting and give them a bit more durability on the board. Maybe a few ‘luck’ chits which allow him to reroll dice or cancel an opponent’s dice or something like that.
• Have some sort of rule for the Klegghounds to add an element of uncertainty to their command and control. Some ‘skill’ like this:
Nom nom nom – If a Klegghound defeats an opponent the opponent’s miniature must be placed lying on the board. The Klegghound must pass an unmodified cool test to be able to move away from the defeated miniature on its subsequent activation.
If the Klegghound passes it is activated as normal and the opponent’s miniature is removed. If the Klegghound fails it receives zero actions and the opponent’s miniature is removed. The Klegghound may activate as normal in any subsequent activations. Does not apply to defeated robots or anything else a Klegghound reasonably would not be expected to eat.There we go, I’m glad to say that the rules work okay with some tinkering. Weak areas remain the points systems and the way in which certain characters are interpreted but this can largely be fixed with a bit of judicious modification. Other than that, the game played well and would not have looked out of place in the comic.