IHMN - first attempt at a game

[pcjohnstone]

Nice batrep keep it up. Following your blog with interest as well

Thanks Brummie - your 7TV posts are always interesting to read.

[Dewbakuk]

A good read thanks.

I've played the Cult of Ra a couple of times now and you just have to accept that the cultists are just cannon fodder. They are best used as ablative armour for your characters who are pretty powerful. The Pharoah in particular needs to be rammed down your opponents throat, cutting his way through the enemy. His FV combined with the sword's pluck modifier means he makes short work of most oponents while his armour (sacred oils) and Pluck  means he is capable of weathering the retaliation, especially with some ablative cultists around.

If you really want to go to town, use the Professor in a support role to the Pharoah by casting his Venom spell on the magic khopesh giving it poison and a pluck modifier of -3. Even enemy leaders fall with ease to this, todtruppen are immune to poison and very annoying however

[pcjohnstone]

Still waiting on our copies of the rules, but this definitely is the kind of AAR I crave, with explanations of what several have gotten wrong.

No matter how well written, rules WILL get misinterpreted by player expectations.

Not sure about Lord Curr as ultimate good, mind you. Something about that name... 

Hard not to get ahead of myself; have already been scanning 'Create your own Company in IHMN', and chatted about grandiose campaigns with maps of the streets and alleyways of Victorian London. Be nice if I'd get a chance to warm to the rules, first. 

Thanks Doug. I do try to put rule mechanics into my AARs as it helps me to go back to the rules after a break - as shown, it also allows others to point out my mistakes  . The authors are very active on these forums so even if we do find something which needs clarifying we'll get an answer quickly I suspect.

My next company is the Scotland Yard one, so a London setting appeals to me as well - just what I need - more buildings!

Cheers,

Norman

[pcjohnstone]

A good read thanks.

I've played the Cult of Ra a couple of times now and you just have to accept that the cultists are just cannon fodder. They are best used as ablative armour for your characters who are pretty powerful. The Pharoah in particular needs to be rammed down your opponents throat, cutting his way through the enemy. His FV combined with the sword's pluck modifier means he makes short work of most oponents while his armour (sacred oils) and Pluck  means he is capable of weathering the retaliation, especially with some ablative cultists around.

If you really want to go to town, use the Professor in a support role to the Pharoah by casting his Venom spell on the magic khopesh giving it poison and a pluck modifier of -3. Even enemy leaders fall with ease to this, todtruppen are immune to poison and very annoying however

Sound advice Dewbakuk, thanks. I suspected I was using the Pharaoh badly and I need to read up on the Mystic powers to see which combinations suit me. I expect the same learning curve will be present in the Scotland Yard company which is my next paint job - any tips on them would be welcome especially as Craig managed to lose the whole Company in a game at Salute according to his report

Cheers, Norman

[Dewbakuk]

Not played with the Police yet, sorry, still waiting for the paint to be finished. Looking at them, my gut reaction is to add more bobbies...

[pcjohnstone]

Not played with the Police yet, sorry, still waiting for the paint to be finished. Looking at them, my gut reaction is to add more bobbies...

Indeed - you can never have enough men with electric truncheons 

[Craig]

Lord Curr as the ultimate good eh  

Curr is more of a pragmatic chap. One to whom the end often justifies the means, and who seldom looks before he leaps. He is also not averse to putting his own ambitions before the needs of others. Also the correct way to pronounce his name is to say it with a growl in your voice through closed teeth and extending the rrrrr.

If you want a champion of good then you need look no further than the bold Captain Napier of the Prince of Wales Extraordinary Company. This company is mentioned but not listed in the rules, though a full company list will be made available for it in the near future.

I lost the Scotland Yard company at Salute for two reasons.
The first was that the scenario objective was to get the Doctor and Amy Pond to safety.
The second was that my son employed a superior tactic. He let me run to get to the Doctor and Amy making no attempt to do so himself. Instead he placed Mohan Singh on the roof of one strategic building and no less than six Incorrigibles with Military Rifles on another. As my men withdrew with the objectives he gunned them down like dogs.

I suspect that he had a spotter in that damned flying car as well...

[Craig]

Indeed - you can never have enough men with electric truncheons 

Said the Actress to the Bishop...

[The_Beast]

Lord Curr as the ultimate good eh  
...

As I recall, you also point out he's none too careful about the company, or Company, he keeps. 'Ultimate good' in this case REALLY needs a sarcasm emoticon. 

And as for Lady Felicity, m'lord's 'constant companion', with her 'two expensive Italian-made custom pearl-handled revolvers', well, you know what Patton said about pearl-handled revolvers...

I lost the Scotland Yard company at Salute for two reasons.
The first was that the scenario objective was to get the Doctor and Amy Pond to safety.
The second was that my son employed a superior tactic. He let me run to get to the Doctor and Amy making no attempt to do so himself. Instead he placed Mohan Singh on the roof of one strategic building and no less than six Incorrigibles with Military Rifles on another. As my men withdrew with the objectives he gunned them down like dogs.

I suspect that he had a spotter in that damned flying car as well...

While lacking in cricket, if my grand-lad ever shows that in a game, I shall shed a tear of joy.

Said the Actress to the Bishop...

Oh, my; a career on the stage, as well. How tawdry... 

Doug

[Mason]

Great!
 

Thanks for the AAR, pcjohnstone, much appreciated.
It certainly answered a few questions as I was certainly wondering about the MG.
But the answer puzzles me even more as it sounds even more powerful than I thought (in the hands of Singh, anyway!).
 


You have certainly been very productive regarding the painting.
Well done, you have produced some really nice Companies.
 

[Dewbakuk]

But the answer puzzles me even more as it sounds even more powerful than I thought (in the hands of Singh, anyway!).
 

It still suffers from other modifiers just like everyone else though. So assuming Singh takes his maximum 3 targets, he's at +6 to hit them. However if he moved he's straight down to +2 to hit them. If they moved it drops down to a straight dice roll, and he's at -1 if they ran. That's assuming they aren't in cover

On that turn where he's set up behind a wall targetting an enemy firing line that is stood in the middle of a park.... well, they're stood in front of a machine gun!

[pcjohnstone]

Thanks for the AAR, pcjohnstone, much appreciated.

My pleasure.

It certainly answered a few questions as I was certainly wondering about the MG.
But the answer puzzles me even more as it sounds even more powerful than I thought (in the hands of Singh, anyway!).
 

It is deadly and I can see it being something even the Pharaoh would shy away from taking on, but the Cultists should really have gone out to neutralise the damn thing earlier - the Mummy with his "Clouding Men's Minds" would be good against it and the ability which allows the Pharaoh to influence Mohan to turn it on his own side would be useful as well (though Mohan's Pluck would make that difficult). It'll be interesting in my next game to compare the MG with the Prussians' flamethrower.

You have certainly been very productive regarding the painting.
Well done, you have produced some really nice Companies.
   

Thanks - I'm on a roll with the painting and I'm hoping to finish the Scotland Yard Company by the weekend 

Cheers, Norman

[Craig]

The Machine Gun is one of the most powerful weapons in this skirmish level game as indeed it should be. One thing to note though, Mohan Singh has no armour. He is actually quite vulnerable to counter-battery fire. A few, well-aimed shots, should shorten his career.

[Dewbakuk]

He always gets killed pretty quickly in my games.