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Post by mikeydanuke on Jan 16, 2009 8:39:01 GMT -5
"Biff" Grady vrs. the Shanghai Cobras, a TO BE CONTINUED BY GASLIGHT serial in 12 exciting chapters. CHAPTER 1, The Deserted Village The chapters opens with our two heroes, Biff Grady and Eddie Zerkle, both Lieutenants in the US Navy, walking down the streets of a Chinese city, circa late 1920's. Suddenly they hear a woman's scream, and rushing forward, they find a beautiful woman and an elderly man struggling against 5 Chinese thugs. They rush in, Biff taking on 3 of the men, Eddie one, and soon rout them. They escort the Woman (Dr. Alice Findly) and the elderly man (Prof. H.E. Findly) back to their ship, where they learn that the Prof. has discovered a new and strange mineral; Zarium, but it was stolen from him. An official from the American Consulate directs the ship's captain to render assistance. Through the efforts of one of the members of the crew (Seaman Jones) Biff learns that a shipment of some sort is at a nearby village, where the transporting vehicle has broken down. The Americans launch an expedition to recover the stolen ore. The battle, at the end of Chapter 1, Dave elected to run the USN landing party, his forces consisted of 2 sections' Each section consisted of 1 hero (Sword and Pistol) 1 Adventurer (SMG and Knife) and a unit consisting of a Leader, (Sword and Pistol) a Veteran (Rifle and Bayonet) and 8 sailors (rifle and bayonet. The Shanghai Cobras had exactly the same force. All the hero's of the encounter (Heros, Adventurers, Leaders, and Veterans had their own stats. In general, the Americans had better stats. Two of the Shanghai Coba's really reeked. The battle: The picture is taken looking South. The two Naval Landing parties are approaching from the South, and the East. The Shanghai Cobras from the West, and Fragrant Flowers Tong (Unpainted stands) from the North. The strange transporting vehicle is in the dead center of the Deserted Village! A view of the Shanghai Cobra infantry armed with Zarium Disintergrator rifles (ZDR). Their leaders carry Zarium Disentergrator Pistols (ZDP) The Navy men close in on the vehicle. This turn or the next a volley from the Shanghai Cobra's will cause Ensign Crane's unit (The lighter shaded stands) to rout...for shame! Undaunted, Eddie leads his men on (the green stands Navymen) Fighting swirls around the wagon between Eddie's group and the Tong troops (Not shown because I hate showing unpainted figures, but my order for heroclix/mageknight stuff didn't arrive in time). Having routed one American Unit the Shanghai Cobra's run around the nearest building to try and take Eddie's group in the rear. The Shanghai Cobra's run into P.O. Kuhn, an old China Fleet sailor, who single handedly brings their flanking movement to a halt. By dent of some really good die rolling on his part, and some really abysmal die rolling on the Shanghai cobra's part, P.O. Kuhn will survive this battle. In the closing stages of the battle, we see Lt. Zerkle (hands on hip, I'm trying to find a better mini for him) exchanging shots with The Mask, a mysterious member of the Shanghai Cobras. The MAsk is armed with a SMG, Eddie with a pistol, and Eddie soon gets the worst of it (He has one HP remaining out of 23 when the scenario ends). Behind him, his men are battling it out with the remainders of the Fragrant Flowers Tong. Not shown (because the pictures didn't turn out very good) was Biff Grady and P.O. Anderson (SMG) going head to toe with The Black Cobra and Chien-lo (armed with a SMG). 4 Times Biff ran unscathed through a hail of SMG fire to close with his enemies. Seeing this, I tried the same thing with the Black Cobra, who had the same "Save" as Biff. The Black Cobra failed 3 out of 4 save's, and so went to join his ancestors. The Chapter ends with Biff, behind the armored cab of the transport vehicle, exchanging shots with the Mask. Suddenly, there is a close up of a "dead" Tong warrior pulling the pin out of a grenade, and throwing it under the vehicle. Next is a far shot of a huge explosion taking place and the wagon getting blown to a million pieces. Is this the end of Eddie? Come back next week for Chapter 2: Attack of the Spiders. (As a battle, Dave did well, knocking off 5 of my hero's, while I got 2 of his. Neither of us accomplished the mission objective, which was to capture the Zarium, which was hidden in a crate of apples on the armored wagon. Oddly enough, the Black Cobra, who had a 75% chance of passing his save checks, failed 3 of 4, which the Cobra Captain, with a save of 6 (25% chance of passing) made all but one, but was still around at the end of the battle, and in fact took out one of the American officers in hand to hand combat! All in all, and despite doing a few things wrong, a very fun game, and only 11 more chapters to go! Toodles all MDN
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Post by mikeydanuke on Jan 24, 2009 10:47:50 GMT -5
Sigh....I seem to be having a problem posting the further adventures of Biff Grady vrs. the Shanghai Cobras.....Let me try this One more time... With the Zarium destroyed, Professor Findly is at a loss, as he said he found only 1 small source of the ore. Everyone is at a loss. Enter Seaman Jones. He overheard some of the Chinese thugs talking about a town called Mangtse (Which Alice Findly recognizes as being a mountain village near he dig site) and it is decided an expedition will be launched to explore things. Biff Grady, Eddie, and a few enlisted men, will accompany the expedition. Steaming up a river, the steamship is attacked by river pirates. The Americans will fight them off, but in the course of the fight, Dr. Alice is kidnapped. Eddie sees this, and in moving to help her, trips on a rope and smacks his head against a steel bulkhead. The morning, Biff is bound and determined to find and rescue Alice. One of the Chinese coolies (really a martial arts expert with a hidden agenda, i.e. subplot if needed) says he knows where the attackers came from, and can lead a rescue attempt. Eddie is suspiscious, but Biff, who is always willing to give another man a chance to prove his attentions, agrees to let Chu-Hsi giude them. Along the way, the rescue party gets divided up as promising leads are checked out, until finally, Biff Grady, P.O. Kuhn (armed with a submachine gun) Eddie, Chu-Hsi, Elizabeth Stone (really a mysterious woman with an alternate personna, the dual pistol wielding "Wisp", another sub-plot) James Redhawk (Adventurer) and Hans (an ex-Austrian Hungarian soldier), and Seaman Jones (seaman Jones has a unique ability, he can accidently shoot friendly characters) Hearing a woman's scream, Biff rushes into some ruined buildings. There he sees Dr. Findly, her arms in chains, being dragged by Sang Chaio, towards another building. Suddenly a man dressed in mandarin robes steps out of the shadows. He is holding a box. "Welcome to my trap foolish Americans" He cackles, "Prepare to meet your death!" From out of the shadows comes the sounds of clacking and clashing. Two huge Mechanical Scorpions, armed with Gatling guns, emerge. Undaunted, armed with pistol and sword, Biff rushes forward.... (Left to right) Chu-Hsi, a martial arts expert, James Redhawk, P.O. Kuhn, Biff Grady, and Elizabeth Stone (in her Wisp personna) advance to rescue Dr. Findly. Chu-Hsi puts on a burst of speed and runs in front of the steam powered spiders, next turn he closes with Sang Chaio and free's the Doctor. Biff Grady shoots one of the Mechanical Scorpions and takes it out with a well placed single shot (rolled 17 on 3 die 6!) The Findly is running back towards the Good guys start line, with Princess San Soo in close pursuit. The Wisp is fixing to shoot the Cobra Sergeant. On the bridge, the steam spiders attack P.O. Kuhn, who has just routed the Cobra's infantry with a well placed blast from his SMG. In the closing scene, Biff Grady, who has gone to the aid of Chu-Hsi, is cut down as Princess San Soo runs him through the heart with her sword! As Biff falls at her feet, unmoving, the screen fills with the ominous words "To Be Continued......"
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Post by mikeydanuke on Feb 11, 2009 11:30:35 GMT -5
Chapter 2 of Biff Grady vrs the Shanghai Cobras ended with Biff apparently being run through the heart by Princess San Sooo, but when chapter 3 opens we see that what really happened was that the Princess struck him with the flat of her sword, knocking him unconscious (Hero's cannot die in a movie serial). Biff is captured. Seeing Biff fall, Eddie calls a retreat, but Seaman Jones happens to look back and see that Biff is alive. Eddie wants to organize a rescue, but is ordered not to. They are ordered to return to the city. Biff eventually wakes up, and goes through the obligatory torture scene with one of the bad hero's cackling as he increases the torture with every passing minute. He still refuses to talk. The Princess, meanwhile, has gone to her father, Kang the Merciless, leader of the Shanghai Cobra's, and come up with a plan. She will have one of her agents help Biff escape, and then can pass information on to her. Kang agrees, a particularly pretty girl named Zing Zhaio (Who really is a martial artist specializing in throwing knives) helps Biff escape (A long sequence of Biff battling Cobra's who run into his fists by ones and two's as he makes his way out of the torture dungeon) and eventually rejoins his comrades. Zing Zhaio edges her way into the hero's organization, through Eddie is suspiscious. Eventually Zing Zhaio gets word to the Princess that the Professor has made a ZPC (Zarium Powered Cannon) and is working on other weapons. The Princess orders an attack on the Laboratory where the Professor is working. Leading the attack will be men wearing Dr. Sins newest invention, the Shedaioshe combat suits, equipped with power gatling guns and huge battle hammers. (Really jut a mage knight figure) Shanghai Cobra infantry begin their advance from the west. Sailors from the USS Porkbarrel run out of the laboratory to engage the Shanghai Cobras advancing from the east. A lucky shot will badly wound the Princess. Sailors from the USS Bishop begin their (Failed) charge against the Cobra infantry cowering behind a stone wall. The sailors will be shot down in droves. The fighting rages in the laboratory. One of the combat suits has been destroyed by some incredibly accurate shooting on the part of Wedge Donovan and the sailors from the USS Porkbarrel. The Princess has also be knocked unconscious as she entered the lab. Seaman Jones is moving up to capture her. (At this point it looked like the bad guys were going to be able to capture the Professor, who was the main victory condition, but if the good guys captured Kang's daughter it would kinda of even things out) Seaman Jones bravely engages the Other Combat suit. The other SC infantry unit (The ones that didn't spend most of the game cowering behind a stone wall..he...he...) attempt to charge into the lab. Their morale is not up to it. (Sorry for the not fully painted figures...just didn't have time to get them done) In a surprising twist, Professor Findly, (white suit) is trying to run off the edge of the board (To fulfill the good guys victory condition-he has to escape off either edge East or west) but was intercepted by the Black Cobra (second in command of the Shanghai Cobras) a martial artist too. However, the Black Cobra's attempt to subdue the professor (Non-lethal damage attack) is pretty low, and the professor isn't down (yet) meanwhile, ensign Crane and PO Main (the survivors of the sailors from the USS Bishop) attack the Black Cobra. The Black Cobra fails a save on a die roll of 20 (Bad) and falls, and the Professor is free to continue running for the edge of the board! Next turn (This picture) Ensign Crane fails a save on a 20 also, but PO Main bayonets the Black Cobra and he is out! The fight ends with an overwhelming Good Guy Victory! 2 of the SC 'Heroes' are captured, and 5 other characters are dispatched, giving the Good guys 7 VP's and the Victory (Professor escapes). The Bad guys only dispatched 1 good guy character BUT, miss Zing Zahio, did not get activated as a secret agent (worth 2 VP points to the SC's), and as a matter of fact now has some convincing bruises to show her loyalty to the Americans, so will probably be trusted even more is following chapters, so the SC's score 3 VP's. Now, a brief break, and on to writing Chapter 4.
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 11, 2009 13:01:07 GMT -5
Sounds more like a Feng Shui RPG then a mini game, but amusing to read either way. Thanks for keeping us posted.
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Post by mikeydanuke on Feb 12, 2009 10:35:07 GMT -5
It is a Movie Serial! The way I have been writing the chapters (remember in the 1930's movie serials, there had to be LOT's of action) there are two main fights each chapter, a small one, and a climatic fight at the end of the chapter. Usually I have been doing the battle at the end of the chapter as the write up.
However, since the chapter ended with the Black Cobra and the Princess both being captured by the Good Guys (somewhat unexpected I feel, but the bad guys did do some spetacularly bad die rolling at a few critical spots in the fight) I have decided that the main battle of chapter 4 will actually be in the middle of the chapter, as the shanghai Cobras attack a police convoy taking the Princess and the Black Cobra to a Maximum security Prison.
Sweet and innocent (appearing) Zing Zhaio will plant evidence indicating Eddie's guilt in the attack (whether it succeeds or not) and he will be accused and ordered to remain on ship awaiting further investigation. On a dark night, 2 members of the "Black Gang" * will knock him unconscious and lower him over the side, further proving his "guilt" by flight.
The Chapter will end with Biff swearing that Eddie was set up and that he will prove it!
Not that I want to give away the plot (I'm writing it as I go sorta...)
Toodles all
MDN
* = in the Sand Pebbles (A movie I've only watched 5 or 6 times in my life) Chinese workers assumed a slew of lowly positions onboard the ship to free the sailors from strenuous duties.
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Post by mikeydanuke on Feb 19, 2009 0:07:57 GMT -5
And now for Chapter 4..................... As mentioned, in this chapter, the clamatic battle occurs in the middle of the Chapter. The Navy has turned over the Princess and the Black Cobra to the Chinese/International Police. An armed convoy has arrived and Inspector Sidney Shang, of the Chungking Police has taken them into custody. Expecting a possible rescue attempt, the convoy is escorted by an armed car, armed with an ERG (Electromagnetic Ray-volt Gun) and a Lewis machine gun (medium machine gun) A picture of a scratch built conversion by Mr. Jim of the armored car. The gunner manning the Lewis Gun (on the top of the AC) actually swivels. The Police convoy has passed and the Shnaghai Cobras spring their trap! With a thunderous explosion, the bridge across the Nanosung river is blown, and the ambush sprung! In the foreground, Dr. Sin (my guy) directs Mechanical Spiders and Scorpion Automata to the attack. In the background, Dave moves the Armored Ram (a unconverted John Deere tractor-just brought that morning). His other troops, the Mask and a unit of SC Infantry advance. The police convoy on the road, to the right is the impassable Nanosung river, with the reddish spot being the blown bridge. There is a small house surrounded by rice paddies to either side of the road. The advance continues! (the "armored" ram made a squeaking noise when it was moved, like dragging a fingernail over a chalk board, and the owner of the store was threatening Dave with being killed and eaten if he didn't stop it. I have since removed the wheels) The police take cover. The armored ram makes it attack on the police armored car...and misses! The armored car turns and fires it ERG....and misses! But Bret Hawkins, manning the Lewis Gun, and at point blank range, fires 4 bursts into the unprotected side of the ram (on his 5th shot the machine gun jammed) and it is enough to removed the driver from the ranks of the Shanghai Cobra Foreign Legion. The mechanical spiders have "killed" Inspector Shang, and Andrew Hamilton, Special Agent of the US Treasury, and disabled one of the police cars, at the cost of 8 out of 10 of the spiders. 2 of the Scorpion Automata have been put out of action, both from the Lewis Gun (the armored car, on the other hand, has been shot to shreds, the driver killed, and is immobile, but the machine gun is still working) At this point, Dr. Sin decides that it is time to enact plan "B", and that he must be alive to do it. He retreats and abandons the remaining Automata, which promptly shuts down. It was a victory for the forces of Law and Order! 7 SC characters were dispatched, to a cost of only 5 Police! But the Police victory was dearly brought, as they have to abandon their armored car and the experimental ERG. (Did they remember to destroy the gun before moving away?). At best, we consider it a "Good Guy" marginal victory. So, the score at the end of Chapter 4 is: Chapter 1: A Draw. Chapter 2: SC Tactical Victory Chapter 3: GG Decisive Victory Chapter 4: GG Marginal Victory Sadly, the next three weeks are not good for any of us getting together...work, vacation, visitors, etc., and in about 5 weeks I start 2 months of 6 x 12 hr days a week, so I am not sure when we're going to be able to get Chapter 5 in. Toodles all Mikeydanuke
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 20, 2009 14:12:20 GMT -5
Doesn't reality suck sometimes?
Have to admit you are definately running the most interesting skirmish game I have ever read. I love the conversion, it will be interesting to see what the John Deer comes out like in the end.
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Post by mikeydanuke on Mar 6, 2009 4:07:18 GMT -5
A re-arrangement of activities allowed us to get in a game yesterday, so I thought I would write it up. It's 1 O'clock in the morning, but I've been working Night shift, so I'm pretty much wide awake. What better way to pass the time..... First through...last week, while getting out of my work can, I apparently lost my glasses, so I decided to stop at a Drugstore on the way home and buy another pair of cheap reading glasses. I stopped at a CVCS Pharmacy, found a pair of cheap glasses, and stopped by the toy section of the store, which I almost always do in any store (Books and Toys......Books and Toys.....). To my surprise, I found some little toy cars that looked like they were just perfect for GASLIGHT. I brought 1, took it home, compared it, found it was just perfect for what I was looking for, and next day brought 3 more. Having exhausted the toy cars at one store, I visited 3 more stores in the immediate vicinity and purchased 2 more. The cars are made Welly, as Die cast collectables, and are inexpensive ($5.00 each). Now on to the story.... At the end of Chapter 4, Inspector Shang is down, The Princess and the Black Cobra captives of the Chinese Authorities, and Eddie has been kidnapped by the Shanghai Cobras..... With the Inspector down, Bret Hawkins is in charge of the convoy, and it proceeds down the road till it meets another convoy of Chinese police. Now, Bret is a dead shot with a Lewis Machine gun, and a brave and fearless warrior, but a little naive. When presented with papers directing that the Princess and Black Cobra be turned over to them, Bret complies, but it is a trick, (Dr. Sin's plan B). The "Police" depart with the Princess and the Black Cobra. Bret and his compatriots will be in disgrace. If Inspector Shang had been conscious he might have realized what was going on.... The Princess will now have her chance to taunt Eddie, and will do so, but he refuses to become downcast over his fate, and eventually she falls in love with him (all the little 8 and 9 yr old boys will be out getting popcorn and drinks at this time) and agrees to help him escape. They do so, and in running away, meet up with Biff, Dr. Findley, Bret, and some others, on their way to rescue them. As greetings are exchanged, suddenly 3 more vehicles are observed approaching, the setting is laid for "The Chase" For this scenario, I had prepared a rolling map that "covered" 3 8' long tables. The map could be slid to expose 4' sections as the chase progressed. To win, the Americans had to exit off Map 3. The American forces consisted of 4 hero's, 2 adventurers, and 2 veterans. The Cobras had 2 hero's, 2 adventurers, 3 leaders, and 8 veterans. In GASLIGHT, Hero's have better stats then Veterans (and so on down the line). Thus, the Americans had better troops than the Cobras. Jim ruined my carefully planned scenario. First, a picture of the 6 Automobiles I've purchased so far. Dr. Alice, Biff, Bret, and Seaman Jones run for her '31 B.M.W. 328. Eddie, the Princess, Seaman Smith (with Rifle) and Andre Dupre jump into a '28 Chevy. The "still being converted" armored Ram. There is a little tube behind the gun shield so that a Machine gun, cannon, Electro-plasma-inscendiary-ray-gun, (etc) can be fitted. Still a bit of work to be done The Shanghai Cobras pursue the fleeing Americans in a Ford roadster convertable, (white car) and a Merlin V16 (blue car) To my surprise, Jim elects to drive into a small village and dismount, to make a fight of it there. In part, his decision was warrented (he feels) because one of the Cobra riflemen got a lucky shot and picked off the only American armed with a long range weapon. I decided to go ahead and make a fight of it, and dismounted some of my troops, which turned out to maybe not have been the best idea, but did make it more of a fight. Eddie is leading his group to engage the evil Countess and her group. The machine gunner on the Armored Ram unloads three shots into the Chevy and destroys it. Which is why the car is turned over on it's side. Alice charges the Armored Ram, Biff is not too far behind. The armored ram has shot up Alice's BMW and rolls down the road. In the climax of the battle, the ram will turn and the gunner get three shots into the Ford roadster, which has just been captured by Eddie and the Princess. Eddie fails 2 "saves" and the Princess fails one, and bother are rendered unconscious (hero's cannot be killed). The battle is essentially over. The tally was: 6 American character's down. The Cobra's were down 5, but the Americans failed to meet any of their victory conditions, and Eddie and the princess were re-captured, it was decided it was a definite Cobra victory. This was also one of the quickest fights we've down, starting around 17:45, and ending around 20:45. Okay, gotta go. Toodles MDN
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Mar 6, 2009 11:14:20 GMT -5
Love the rolling map idea, reminds me of the old GW game Dark Future.
The cars look similar to some I picked up for use with Heroclix, they were around the same price too.
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Post by mikeydanuke on Mar 8, 2009 13:37:16 GMT -5
I never played Heroclix, but I make extensive use of them as GASLIGHT figures. The cars work well with the Heroclix figures, but are a little large for the Old Glory (american sailors-25MM) Nonetheless, I am pleased with them.
Jim and I were discussing the old Steve JAckson game; Car Wars, and conversions, and maybe one of the latter chapters will be a HUGE automobile fight, with folks armed with rifles, grenades, machine guns, etc blazing away at each other. I even went out and purchased an extra (duplicate) car and am converting/repainting it. It will have a tube mount so that a variety of weapomns can be mounted on it, like a machine gun, electro-plama-discharge gun, etc.
Sadly, the outage schedule has come out, and I am afraid we will not be able to get another game in this month, so it will be a couple of months before we (myself included) will find out how the next chapter of "Biff Grady vrs. the Sahnghai Cobras" ends.
Toodles
MDN
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Post by mikeydanuke on Jun 11, 2009 23:20:29 GMT -5
After a long absence, I am finally getting back into war gaming stride, and we (Me, Jim, Dave, and maybe Scott) are getting together (hopefully) to film Chapter 7 of BGVSHC's on this coming Sunday. Astute readers may have noticed that I ended this narrative on Chapter 5, yet am re-starting on Chapter 7. There is actually a method behind this.
Serials quite frequently would have a couple of chapters devoted to re-capping the actions of the serial up to that point. The reasoning could have been an earnest attempt to bring any late comers up to speed with what was going on, or could have been a cynical attempt to "pad" the serial by using flashbacks to recount the action up to that point. After all, if a director used a couple of chapters to recount previous events, he didn't have to spend money to film a seperate chapter(s), and thus a real 10 chapter serial would become a 12 chapter serial!
At any rate, Chapter 6 would be a standard "recounting" of the action in the previous 5 chapters. Biff and Alice have escaped and rejoined the American and Chinese forces. Eddie and the Princess have been re-captured and are back in Prison.
The Score, as such, counting as Draw as "0" , a marginal as "1", Tactical as "2", and Decisive as "3" find the ShangHai Cobras with a very slim lead, 5 pts to the Good Guys 4. With still 6 Chapters to go.
Chaio all
MDN
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Jun 12, 2009 10:46:04 GMT -5
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Post by lichemaster on Jun 13, 2009 13:41:11 GMT -5
I have the rule book for Uncharted sea, great game, quick and easy to learn. I have yet to pick up any models yet.
On a side note Spartan games just released 2 more factions for Uncharted seas. Bone griffins & shroud mages.
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Post by mikeydanuke on Jun 14, 2009 11:47:30 GMT -5
Pretty much like LOTHS, Unchartered Seas is a neat game, but there just doesn't seem to be very much interest in it in this part of the world. Several months (Shortly before the last outage) I ran across one person who had brought the game and miniatures, but dragging Dave down to the local store and playing a few games hasn't generated any interest. Kinda have to go with whats being played in the area...... But the miniatures did look beautiful. Thanks for posting them. .....now, where did I leave the Shanghai Cobras... ? MDN
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Post by mikeydanuke on Jun 14, 2009 20:49:06 GMT -5
Well, the battle at the end of Chapter 7 was one of the briefest major fights our group has had so far. In part because of some really abyssmal die rolling on my part. I mean really abyssmal.
To start with, on rolling up the characters for the Shang Hai Cobras, i rolled very low stats, the majority of my die rolls being <10. This gave the major characters of the SHC's some poor combat numbers.
Then to top it off, I consistently rolled bad during the battle. Needing a 17 or less for various activities, I seemed only capable of rolling 18, 19, or 20's. Needing an 18 or less, I seemed adept at rolling 19 or 20's.
So. as the Story Goes:
CHAPTER 7, FINDING THE ENEMY
Prof. Findly, working in his laboratory, has developed a Zarium Direction Locator. He thinks he can use it to locate refined Zarium. Using such a device the American Command hopes they will be able to locate the Shang Hai Cobra's main facilities. After some reconnaisance, the Americans have located what they believe is one facilities, and they decide to launch a raid against it.
Arriving close to the enemy compound, Biff splits his forces into two groups, one to approach from the East, the other from the West. The compound is swarming with Cobra's and civilians (scantily clad women, entertaining the troops....).
The attack goes in, the Armored Car and a truck approaching from the East, another squad of Sailors coming in two cars from the West )one armed with a Machine Gun. The Cobras forces are scattered, but rush to form a defensive line.
(sadly-for me-I had randomly placed the SC's, so their infantry ended being split up evenly across the river, the two pilots for the Battle Suits were a couple of turns away)
The Americans advanced, fire from the Armored Car caused one 5 strong Cobra infantry groups to run away.
The pilots of the BAttle Suits (where the most effective Cobra weaponry was) managed to reach the suits. BOTH failed to start the suits the first chance they had. Both successfully started on their second turn, both stalled on their 3rd turn (12 - 20 % chance fail to start or sustain...I was hot!!!)
The Battle Suits finally move, then stall again. Then one of them takes some critical damage and is basically out of action. The other one gets one burst of machine gun fire off, then the gun jams. The gun is cleared next turn, then the Battlesuit stalls again. (By then I conceded the battle)
On the aother side of the board, the Cobra Infantry got a few shots into the Armericans, but they saved each time. In return, the Sailors got some shots in, which seemed to uneerringly pick of the unit leaders (who had poor saves, as mentioned earlier...)
So, things ended with the Cobra Infantry dead, and the Battle suits useless.
Not a very fun battle from my stand point.
However, not shown in the battle was a discussion had earlier between Alice, her father, "Biff" and others in the American command. She wanted to comer along for the attack, and the men wouldn't let her. So, she follows anyway, driving her car with headlights out. Eventually through, while watching the battle, she is caught by some roaming Cobras and kidnapped.
And I don't know why I can't load any pictures up...tried
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Jun 15, 2009 21:43:07 GMT -5
Thanks for pointing out that the imageshack integration isn't working.
Trying to fix that now.
Sounds like an interesting battle, though as you noted not much fun. I bet your opponent was laughing his ass off though at all those failed attempts to use the suits.
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Post by mikeydanuke on Jul 13, 2009 19:15:51 GMT -5
Gilvan, were you able to get the imageshack integration working? I still can't seem to up,load an image? Not sure why.
Anyway, the story goes:
CHAPTER 8, The RESCUE:
Prof. Findley has developed his Zarium Ore Directional Finder further, and using it the Americans were able to locate a large deposit of the ore. Hoping that it was the site of the captured Eddie, Princess, and Dr. Alice, and rescue mission was launched.
[Interlude: Jim likes to use his own miniatures, however, as pointed out by Dave, they were in the "wrong" uniforms for the 1930's Navy (Jim's an ex-air force fellow), some how or another, Dave and I, being true deep water ex-sailors, started referring to Jim's troops as the Coast Guardies, and the name has stuck, so when I refer to Sailors I am referring to my figures, and Coasties, I am referring to Jim's]
The Chapter ends in a battle in a huge underground cavern. I purchased 5 sheets of styrofoam boards, did a little hacking, cutting, and glueing, and sprayed the finished product with Grey Paint, and I had 4 sheets of modular dungeon.
The attackers consisted of a platoon of Coasties, led by Biff, an armored car, and a truck, and an additional adventurer, all under Jim's control. Dave led a platoon of Navy troops, a machine gun equipped, (but unarmored car) a truck, and an adventurer. There were thus, 2 heroes, 2 adventurers, 20 troops, 2 vehicle mounted machine guns in the attacking force. The defenders consisted of 3 groups of troops, each consisting of a hero in a Combat suit (Medium machine gun and battle axe equipped) and a platoon of troops. However, the defenders were playing zone defense, so they were not self supporting. My die rolling was better this time around. The first two heroes were about average (Lady Tien and the Black Cobra) and as luck would have it these were the first two to meet the Americans. The third Hero, Sang Chaio, was a little bit better, but he had exceptional luck during the battle.....
The American's approached the entrance to the Cavern. They could make out Cobra troops under cover inside the mouth. The Navy went up the right side of the cavern with their truck leading the way. There was a large rock formation right in the middle at the entrance which force the Americans to split up. The Coasties went up the left side, their armored car in the lead.
The Navy's truck got hit by a blast of machine gun fire from Lady Tien and ground to a stop. The sailors charged forward, but a second blast of machine gun fire and ray gun fire dropped two of them. They passed their morale, but Dave pulled them back.
The Armored car moved forward and engaged Lady Tien (If moved forward far enough to also be in range of the Black Cobra, so their was a lot of machine gun fire going on. Lady Tien got the worst of the exchange, with he power plant being destroyed, and the escape hatches of her suit destroyed, so she was out of action. However, Under the Black Cobra's and Lady Tiens MG's, the Armored car was brought to a stop also. A lucky shot from the armor car disabled the Black Cobra's Combat suit for 5 turns, and with that the coasties charged forward, engaged the Combat Suit, and using their bayonets started ripping out tubing, cables, and such. (The end result was that by the time the Black Cobra could start his Combat Suit again, he needed to roll a 5 or less on a 20 sided dice, and an 7 or less to sustain, and his movement was down to 2" ;'s a turn.
Leaving the Black Cobra with steam poutring out of leaks and holes in the suit, the Navy and Coasties pressed on (There was a time limit of sorts on this scenario).
By now, there was only 1 Cobra force remaining, Sang Chaio's men, who were attempting to hustles Eddie, the Princess, and Dr. Alice out an escape hole.
The Machine gun equipped armored car edged forward and engaged SAng Chaio. The Americans missed, but Sang Chaio unloaded a deadly burst of Machine gun Fire into the car, killing the gunner. The Navy's morale promptly failed and they ran back. Biff and the Coasties advanced past the abandoned car. A burst from Sang Chaio dropped 3 sailors, but their morale held! while Biff charged the Cobra's dragging Eddie away, the Coasties charged the Cobra infantry! It was hand to hand, and the Coasties lost 2 to 1! Now their morale broke and they scattered!
Biff killed the cobra escorting the Princess, and then charged Sang Chaio. Biff missed, but Sang Chaio didn't
[The chapter would end with a shot of Biff going down in front of Sang Chaio, and then Sang Chaio raising his huge battle axe and bringing it down then "To be continued..." appearing on the screen]
So, the battle ended, Eddie and the Princess had been rescued, fulfilling 2 of the 3 victory conditions, but in doing so, Biff had been captured (so now Biff and Dr. Alice and prisoners) and the Americans driven from the Cave. We decided it was a Draw.
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Jul 14, 2009 7:24:14 GMT -5
Not sure what's up with the imageshack thing. It works fine for me. An alternative is to try www.photobucket.com That is what I use for almost all of my image hosting. Once you create a free account you then upload images to your album. Once they are uploaded you just copy past the code section to your post here. It's not quite as easy as just hitting browse and chossing an image, but still works. Plus you can set up albums and such on photobucket which is a nice way to organize your photos. For example I have a cool mini folder for all my painted minis, a mini exchange folder for pictures of minis I received and painted from miniature exchanges, lots of folders for pics of my daughter etc. Would love to see those modular boards.
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