PLAYTEST OF TRIAL OF THE TRIAD GAME 2

In a dramatic and exciting game worthy of a good fantasy novel or film, the Orcs pinned back the pointy ears of the fancy Elves in a stunning win of Game 2: Got the Stones? Both games were solitaired in 2 Player versions in a single day, indicating the success of the "Mini-Campaign" format in providing a complete adventure in a compressed time. The first play with live players will be Thursday Nov. 6 at my place. Experienced HEROSCAPE players are welcome to join in!

The action of this 1,000 point Gotterdamerung was much to complex to narrate fully, but here are a few key moments:

*Elven archers desperatly charging and taking out the Orc Minigun (gatling machine gun)!

*Elf Price Skytree Starborn cutting his way across a bridge through 3 of 4 Berserk Albino Orcs before succumbing, the swords of his enemies inspired by the dreaded Ornac waving his Orc Command Banner nearby!

*Swift Orc Swog Riders, including the GenCon giveaway figure Nerak the Glacian Swog Rider, swooping away up the ridge with two of the stones!

*Derac the Orc Duelling Champion pummeling elf sorceress Jordawn into pulp, only to have his special powers taken away by Morsbane after five attempts at casting the spell of his Rod of Negation!

* Elven female Warriors of Ashra attacking Heavy Grut Orcs on the road, and climbing the mountain to confront Orc War Chief Barak high atop a mountain!

*Elf sorceror Sonlen dragon swooping advancing Orc Ripper War Band infantry to screen the flank of the final elven assault, which was to prove too little, too late!

If you like HEROSCAPE or just want to check it out, come see my large collection of ALL of the Official Figures plus many Custom Figures and even Custom Terrain, along with the original Shiny Water Hexes and lots of other cool stuff. Its a delightful and simple design, which is great fun both to assemble the board and play. Try out this year's GenCon give away figure Agent Skahen. Thrill to the mind clouding powers of my own custom comissioned and just arrived figure Lamont Cranston, The Shadow. In another month, feel the power of my new Mongol Army! Hoo kids, this is scary. Heroscape--in my humble opinion, the best of the new simple games, with beautiful figures and equipment.

HEROSCAPE "TRIAL OF THE TRIAD" KICKS OFF

In a short but exciting first playtest of Game 1: Quest For The Map of the TRIAL OF THE TRIAD, an original HEROSCAPE MINI-CAMPAIGN (now being run by Charley Elsden at his apartment in Brooklyn Heights) the Orcs tore victory from the grasp of the Elves, and killed one of their great wizards while doing it. The great Ulginesh, mounted on his faithful flying horse, got to the ruin site and picked up the map revealing the hiding places of the three Stones of Power: The Blue Stone of Bran, The Red Stone of Rhiannon, and the Yellow Stone of Ymir. Inside the ruins he was sheltered by any advancing Orc archer. But hot on his trail was an Orc Swog Rider (sabre tooth tiger), who engaged him in hand to hand combat. Meanwhile, a squad of expert Elven Aubrien Archers and Master Archer Syvaris shot and killed two powerful Orc Champions, Brunak (ridden Allosaurus) and Tornak (ridden Velociraptor). As the monsters fell, squads of heavy and regular Orc infantry advanced to the river boundary between their lands.

Taking only one wound, it seemed that the wise Elf would easily disengage, while taking possibly one hit, and then fly off with his prize. Yet he did not reckon on the skill of the wily Orc Archers, who now advanced on the road across the bridge to outflank him! Jumping up on foothills of the snowy ridge behind them, they gained line of sight into the ruins, and pierced the Elf with many arrows, so that he became grieviously wounded! Then his attempted disengagement from his foe failed, and he died suddenly of what earlier would have been a trifiling hit. The map fluttered from his pocket. It was quickly snatched up by the fast Swog Rider, who ran quickly back to the bridge, as the Orc archers formed a screen behind to protect him.

Meanwhile, the Elf archers finally came up and formed near the river upstream from the bridge. They shot down most of the Orc regular infantry, as the Orc heavies backed off to the heights above. But there was no way to catch up with the swift Swog rider, and he escaped with the map!

Now a larger force of Orcs and Elves are assembling for Game #2. The Orcs know the location of the three hidden Stones. They must uncover and unite them somewhere on the board, as the Elves shadow the Orc parties to await opportunites to seize the Stones once they are found.
Will the Elves be able to recover, or will the Orcs recover the Stones, and use them to found an Empire after this second and final game? Only time will tell...

***

REVIEW: Hold The Line (Worthington Games)

Today I'm solitairing Hold The Line, a simple but sweet ARW game by Worthington Games, for the first time. Their hexes and hex terrain are a bit smaller than the Borg games. Rather than use sectors and cards, it uses Command Points. You get a few each turn plus a variable 1-3 die roll. For a CP you can move or fire a unit, for two CP you can move and fire Dragoons, move a unit an extra space with a leader, or initiate infantry close combat with a unit. The attractive cardboard counters are in strength points.

Its a neat little game. You track turns and have time limits, so you must choose your actions carefully, although you do get to see the results of one before making the next. Each unit can only perform one action per turn (move or fight).

The first scenario is The Battle of Long Island, so I'm gaming out a struggle that took place between the club and my house, with the evacuation a few blocks down the hill! The Americans have about 12 units and the British about 20.

Its a neat balance between using your CPs to advance or fight. The British are facing an open enemy flank, while the Americans must pull out of their forward line and into almost empty fortifications behind them. They have three units from Manhattan that can land and man the line--but that costs CPs, like everything else! In the second half of the game they can roll to evacuate--if the British haven't penetrated the line and cut off the evac hexes.

Lights move faster, Elites are more durable, Militia weaker in every respect except shooting, and Dragoons fast but can't perform close combat. Artillery fires the best.About 13 optional rules let you adjust the tactical details to your own satisfaction, and add more detail to the basic game.HTL offers twelve ARW scenarios, with a French and Indian expansion available from www.worthingtongames.com These can be played out in campaign series as well.

This game is more or less their older Clash for a Continent game without their wood blocks, and they offer the old scenario book as well, which I would assume has different battles. I played their Rorke's Drift game Victoria Cross with Pete Stein, back when Metro first moved to Park Slope. The company is in Virgina Beach, and they are working on a Mexican American War game with the same system, and have done the Alamo as well as a few others, mostly on American subjects.

Charley

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Read All About it: Imperial Guard and Tau Clash

***NEW FLASH***
Forces from the Empire of the Tau, lead by Elsden the Ethereal, engaged Imperial forces during the earlier afternoon hours this past Sunday. The unknown ethereal commander staggered the hardened veterans of the Imperial Guard with an opening barrage of murderous fire that completely destroyed Zeta squad. As Imperial troops hurried to reorganize their firing lines to the Tau onslaught, a second front opened in Ballou Woods to the west as Tau forces performed a clever flanking maneuver in a desperate attempt to collapse the Imperial lines.

The fighting in Ballou Woods would last the rest of the day as Tau forces continuously assaulted Guard units, attempting to establish a base of operations threatening the Imperial left flank. Lieutenant Heavens was given terse orders to hold the woods at all costs; he was the only Imperial soul leave those woods alive.

As Tau forces began to consolidate their middle position, Imperial paratroopers counterattacked; landing strongly on their flank and launching an assault. Recently re-supplied and manning heavy assault weapons and flamers, the tide began to turn. The Tau Hammerhead gunship swooped in the valley and brought its guns to bear; only the brave determination of the airborne units hampered this gunship’s potential for mass destruction. Unknown Tau technology unveiled its worst surprise yet to the advancing paratroopers.

Deadly air bursting explosives launched from their remaining battle suits inflicted large casualties within Imperial ranks; elite paratroopers fell. Only the timely arrival of the flame-throwing Hellhound decided the outcome; incinerating the woods where the last Tau garrison held strong. Having sustained intolerable losses and just losing its grip on its closest objective; Tau forces re-evaluated their position and evacuated the planet.

The Imperial commander surveyed the battlefield and mourned his dead. Raising his clenched fist to the air, he cursed Elsden the Ethereal for the decimation of his elite paratroopers.
******

Alejandro (Alex) Lopez

Arkham Horror League: Metro WG off to a strong start

The NY Metro Wargamers Club team claimed its first victory in the FFG sponsored Arkham Horror League (see  http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ah_league.html ). The scenario pit our 5 intrepid investigators against the horrid serpent god Yig and his vile worshippers. The team consisted of:

• Joe Diamond (Frank Griebel)
• Gloria Goldberg (Gaylord Tang)
  
• Vincent Lee (Peter Bless)
  
• Ashcan Pete (Sean Mannion)
  
• Harvey Walters (Tim Staines)
  
• Game Master / Coach (Mike Willner)
  

Despite the fact that some of us had not played in a long time, had only played once or twice, or were playing our first game, the team took control of the situation right from the start. Monsters were kept under control, gates closed at a regular pace, and encounters were well played. Every player got to contribute, and some even got the save the day, like when Joe Diamond managed to remove a Doom Token from the Doom Track during an encounter late in the game that gave two other players the time they needed to return from the other dimensions.

In the end the game was won by closing gates, and Yig never awoke from his slumber. The team racked up 23 points and moves onto Scenario 2, where they will face the dreaded Nyarathotep and his legion of masked acolytes. 

Anyone interested in joining the team is welcome, we can rotate players in and out of future games, and there are 9 more scenarios to play! Contact Mike Willner ( willner90@msn.com ) 

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"Jesus Saves, Moses Invests, C'thulhu Collects"

Battle of Hochkirch14th October, 1757)

Rules Used: Warfare in the Age of Reason
Scale: 15mm
Figures: Essex, Old Glory, Freikorps
Turn Length: 10
Special Rules: No Prussian units can be activated until: (a) Turn 3 (b) When an Austrian unit moves within 4".
This scenario is adapted from the Battle of Hochkirk in Die Kriegskunst.

By October 1757 Frederick had removed his battered army from their entanglements with the Russians. Having given up Silesea, Frederick centered his army in Saxony. As it was resting and refitting, the Austrians under the command of Field Marshal Daun (PB) attacked the Prussian positions around Hochkirk. Their objective was to seize the Hochkirk Heights and remove the Prussians from the town. Leading a flank march from the west would be General Loudon and his mixed force of Croats and Line Infantry. Assaulting Hochkirk Hill would be units from Generals D'Aynse, Sincere, Starhemberg, and Bathyani.

(L-R: Field Marshal Loudon, Field Marshal Lacy, Artist's rendering of Croats)

The Prussian commander, Field Marshal Keith (IO) set his army facing what he perceived to be the center of the expected Austrian attack- the east. Medium guns were dug in facing the east whilst grenadiers under von Schmettau took the position on the Hill. General von Kanitz had his infantry units deployed within Hochkirk while to their north (off the table) the units of Prince Karl von Brandenberg were encamped.

(L-R: Frederick the Great, Field Marshal Keith, General von Schmettau)

In the morning, the Austrians set off and began to press the attack on the Hill. Two infantry battlations quickly engaged the Grenadiers while reinforcements moved to their right and left flanks, protecting them. General Loudon's column moved down the road towards Hochkirch under a screen of Croats. The General von Schmettau deployed a unit of grenadiers forward to delay them while General von Kanitz quickly moved his units through Hochkirch.

General Loudon's Division sets off towards Hochkirch.....

...and the fighting for the Hill intensifies...

...while more Prussians move to join the fight....

Soon, the Prussian guns were manned and the Grenadier divisions were putting up a stiff resistance. However, they soon fell back from their positons from the weight of the Austrian attack. At this time, the valant men of Grenadier Battalion 3/6 charged the Austrians to hold off their advance. This timely charge cost the Austrians precious time as it held up the advance.

(L-R: More Prussians arrive- An artists rendition of the charge- The Croats engage)

This timely charge cost the Austrians precious time. As the day pressed on the Austrians deployed on their right- all the while under the fire of the Prussian guns in Hochkirk. On the Austrian left, the Croats succeded in outflankingvon Brandenberg's division. Soon, Brandenberg's battalions began to fall back and the men of the 3/6 were killed to the man. This victory was short lived as the Austrians began to run out of energy and their attacks began to stall.

In the end, the Prussians held out while the Austrians took one of two objectives. Casualties were high, but General Keith held out.