Escape...Into Danger

[nikharwood]

First run-out last night of Strange Aeons with the full rules - and my converted Cultists...I played the "Escape...Into Danger" scenario which sees our Threshold agents trying to get past the Lurkers and off their table edge...

Threshold Agents:
Special Agent Johnson: Bowie Knife, .45 Handgun, Tommy Gun
Agent Garcia: Bowie Knife, .45 Handgun, Bolt-Action Rifle
Agent Freeman: Bowie Knife, .45 Handgun, Double-Barrelled Shotgun

Lurkers: Cult of the Poisoned Ancients
Cult Leader Bartholomew: Bowie Knife, .22 Handgun, Shotgun
Cultist Jemson: .22 Handgun
Cultist Chad: .22 Handgun, Shotgun
Cultist Jerome: Bowie Knife
Ghoul: Claws / Bite

The table - played on my 20" x 20" board - Strange Aeons in 28mm plays on 2' x 3' normally - so I decided that no-one would go to the right of the road / building as you see it in the first pic here:














The Threshold agents rolled high & went first - SA Johnson Commanded his colleagues and they all double-moved forwards:






The Lurkers became aware of the advancing Agents - Bartholomew ordered the Ghoul to the fore with Chad taking up a firing position by the gibbet:




The Threshold agents continue their steadfast advance knowing they must take the fight to the Cult:




The Cult starts firing and Chad wounds Johnson as the Ghoul continues to run towards him - but he's dropped, losing a wound:






There's some further, largely ineffective, return fire from the Agents...


...and the Cultists advance further:




Seizing the opportunity, Johnson & Garcia run for the cover of the ruined building, trying to get away from the menacing Lurkers who take a casualty in the hail of bullets from Johnson's Tommy Gun as he fires from the hip on-the-run:


But Bartholomew runs to the doorway & fires at the backs of the agents, dropping Johnson [Face Up] as the Ghoul charges Freeman :




Freeman passes his Resolve test for being charged by the Hideous Ghoul but is clattered to the ground by the brute [Face Up]:




Johnson recovers & returns fire to drop Bartholomew [Major Injury] - now the Agents are moving fast through the ruin:


Garcia breaks free of the ruin and makes it to the back of the yard:


Garcia is charged by Jerome who puts his faith in his trusty Bowie Knife:


...which proves to be misguided as he is taken out in short measure:


Meanwhile, Freeman has managed to finally gut the Ghoul in an epic combat - leaving only Jemson facing the agents: reflecting that discretion is always the better part of valour, he legs it [failed his Resolve test for last man standing] - allowing the Threshold agents to make good their escape.


Post-battle:
Threshold: found no map pieces, Garcia gains a Skill & improves his shooting ability
Lurkers: only Batholomew took a Major Injury - the post-battle roll saw him make a Full Recovery.

Notes:
A great game - really enjoyable  and which showed me some of the subtleties of this system: how good use of Command [allowing the leader to 'nominate' two other models within range to act] is essential - and forces good decision-making from the Lurkers [who will tend to have more models available - but making you think about the best ones to nominate]; the fact that each nominated model gets two actions [Move, Shoot, Charge etc] rather than the 'normal' one in most skirmish games...excellent.  

[Bloodysword]

Great reports!  Your terrain looks great.  I would love to see the figures up close.  How long did it take you to learn these rules?

[Uncle Mike]

Great stuff here! Can't wait to see more. 

[nikharwood]

Great reports!  Your terrain looks great.  I would love to see the figures up close.  How long did it take you to learn these rules?

Thanks! There are some more pics of these here: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=28214.0 along with some other figures I've got for gaming SA; let me know if you want some more close-ups though 

All these figures & the ruined houses are from Pendraken.

In terms of learning the rules - I had two run-through games of the demo pack, gave the full rules a read-through when they arrived & then got gaming...I love 'em! They're really intuitive, fast and subtle - some nice variation on my previous experience of skirmish games [with the nominating & two actions per model -to name a couple]

Great stuff here! Can't wait to see more. 

Thanks UM - great job you've done with these; I've got a few days off now so will definitely get some more gaming in & post some more batreps; I'll probably dust off some of my 28mm figures too [they're feeling a bit neglected] 

[Stavros Banjo]

Ahhhh, Mr Harwood, I presume...

You still owe me an apology for the ear bashing I got from my wife for buying up all of your surplus Pendraken Germans a couple or three years ago    Sad thing is my Blitzkrieg Commander project never really got off the ground - got too distracted by shiny things here 

Great to see another convert to the gribbliness of all things "Strange Aeons", and in 10mm too - most interesting. Looking forward to seeing more.

[nikharwood]

That can't have been me - must have been some body-snatching imposter...or something 

I'm still playing a load of BKC / CWC / FWC [have just painted up some lovely Pendraken USMC today] - and have pretty-much decided to take all of my new-gaming-activity to 10mm [notwithstanding the 28mm stuff I've already got, natch!]

Anyway - good to be here, I'm loving SA & will bung up more reports etc as they get played...tempted to give VUK a runout tomorrow with my 'red' cultists taking on some Tong rivals...hmm...

Hope your wife has *completely* forgiven you by now!

[Doug ex-em4]

Strange Aeons in 28mm plays on 2' x 3' normally - so I decided that no-one would go to the right of the road / building as you see it in the first pic here

I'm interested in this. In what way do the rules enforce this restriction? I would prefer to decide what size of board I play a game on - I find the idea of having a set size a little off-putting. How important is this aspect of the rules?

Doug

[Malebolgia]

@Doug: it's not really important, more of a guideline I usually play on a 4'x4' table, bigger than recommended. I usually use bigger deployment zones to compensate and to make sure the first 2 turns aren't boring with just moving around.
So use the table size you like ,d adjust however you like. That's so great about the rules set, it's very open to new ideas and house rules

[D@rth J@ymZ]

The Strange Aeons rules are like a nubile, young gymnast; very flexible 

[Argonor]

The Strange Aeons rules are like a nubile, young gymnast; very flexible 

And, female, too...? 

I started palying on a 2'x2' board, have played one game on a 2'x4', and now I have a 3'x3' boar which we used yesterday - with lots of terrain to sneak about in (trees, shrubbery, ruins, etc.) distances do not matter that much. A very open board is another matter, I guess.

[Doug ex-em4]

The Strange Aeons rules are like a nubile, young gymnast; very flexible 

Sold......

Doug