Mighty Monsters by Ganesha Games: demolition golems

For my second Mighty Monsters game, I set up a more complex scenario: two golems (entering from the left) will try to destroy as many as possible of the six coloured buildings. Two robots and 4 infantry stands will try to stop them. Both the golems and the robots have a stronger and a weaker unit. The stronger golem can flight and has a psychic ranged area-attack; the rock golem is slow and has no ranged attack. The advanced robot is armed with two lasers; the regular robot has a single laser.

Winged Golem (303 pts)
Head Q3 C2 AA2L; Body Q3 C3; Arms Q3 C3; Wings Q3 C2 Fly Long; Legs Q3 C2; Tail Q3 C3

Rock Golem (175 pts)
Head Q3 C2; Body Q3 C3 Charge; Arms Q3 C4; Legs Q3 C2 Slow

Advanced Robot (230 pts)
Head Q3 C2 Laser C2M; Body Q3 C4; Arms Q3 C3 Laser C3L; Legs Q3 C2

Regular Robot (175 pts)
Head Q3 C2 Laser C2M; Body Q3 C2; Arms Q3 C3; Legs Q3 C2

Infantry (12 pts x 4) Q3 C1

The two golems, entering from the right side of the board, move towards the closest buildings. The Advanced Robot is fast at taking a good shot at the Winged Golem and inflicts the first hits. The Winged Golem ignores the wounds and destroys Building #2; at the same time, the slow rock golem brings down Building #1.

The Winged Golem flies on the opposite side of the board, taking cover behind Building #3. The Advanced Robot rushes in pursuit. While the Regular Robot hesitates at the centre of the board, the Rock Golem slowly moves towards Building #4.

The Winged Golem easily destroys Building #3. He then throws a devastating psychic attack towards the Advanced Robot and the Army Men: 3 of the four Infantry units are killed. Then he flies to Building #5. The Rock Golem charges Building #4 and brings it down too!

Only the two buildings on the left still stand

The Winged Golem destroys Building #5. Then it flies back to the right side of the board and engages in a ranged fight against the Advanced Robot. The other robot tries to defend Building #6, the next target of the Rock Golem. But the golem charges and Knocks Back the Robot against the Building that collapses: the robot takes considerable damage too.

The Rock Golem slams a robot into the last building

With all the buildings destroyed, this was a clear victory for the golems. I played some more rounds. The Rock Golem killed the last Infantry unit, but all the main figures kept fighting, even if some were starting to accumulate red dice.

Now that I begin using different attacks (Slam, in particular) things are more fun. Also, having specific objectives (the buildings in this case) always makes games more interesting. It is clear that a game as large as this (about 500 points per side) is going to take a couple of hours. For my next games, I will try to stay closer to 400 points, and I will make buildings C3 (instead of C2) so that it is less easy to destroy them. I am looking forward to receive the Adventure Crafter by Tana Pigeon, so that I can add some role-playing and link the fights into a story.

Mighty Monsters by Ganesha Games: a solo fight

I ran a first Solo game with the Mighty Monsters rule-set by Ganesha Games. The game is a little more complex than I expected, so I left out some bits. In order to simplify book-keeping, I slightly modified how the “degradation” of wounded units work: a unit gains a single token for each of Slowed, Groggy and Crippled, in this order. These conditions are represented by the pink cubes. The yellow / red pebbles represent yellow / red dice (how dangerous it is to attempt actions). Totally unharmed units have no tokens (no pebbles nor dice).

Blue units (deployed on the left):

3 Infantry squads (each represented by two figures) Q3 C1 Puny Short-Move

A mighty Robot
Head Q3 C3 Shooter C2L (laser)
Body Q3 C4
Arms Q3 C3 Shooter C2L (laser)
Legs Q3 C3 Short-Move

Red side (on the right)

A mighty winged golem
Head Q3 C3 Area Attack C3M (psychic)
Body Q3 C4
Arms Q3 C4
Wings Q3 C4 (Long Flight)
Legs Q3 C3
Tail Q3 C3

The golem crosses the whole board in a single flight and takes position in cover at the corner of a building. His psychic attack hits both the Robot and the soldiers: the Robot now has a yellow die and two of the three infantry squads are out of combat.

The robot rushes forward and gains a clear line of sight to the golem. His lasers also hit, and the golem takes a yellow die in its turn. The golem flies on the top of the building and fires a second psychic area-attack: the last infantry squad is out and the Robot takes a second yellow die. The robot immediately retaliates.

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The golem flies back to the right side of the board. The robot follows, shooting with both lasers and hits again.

After a few more exchanges of ranged attacks, both units have three yellow dice. The golem is Slowed, Groggy and Crippled (the psychic attack is no more available). The robot is only Slowed.
The two close in for the final hand-to-hand fight. It lasted several turns and in the end the robot prevailed.

I like the game and I hope to play more in the near future. By its nature, it allows to use any random figure, more or less independently on scale. The rules detail a number of different attacks, which should provide for a nicely narrative. Damage is handled in such a way that attacks get less and less effective, while defence is unaffected. I guess this could result in somehow slow end-games. But I must try the Berserk rule (one of the things I ignored in this first game): it allows each non-Robot figure to perform a lethal attack which I think might often end a battle. Another thing I could experiment with is lowering the C score of Bodies (which is basically irrelevant for attacks and essential to defensive rolls).

Cybela and the Iron Talisman 6: Ambush in Stonetower

A solo campaign with plastic toys based on the Ironsworn RPG and the OnePageRules Grimdark Future Firefight skirmishing rules.
See setup here.

Previous events: The Duchy of Elfbrook has been attacked by the Duchy of Boarwood. Duchess Cybela of Elfbrook is the best remotely-controlled-mecha-pilot around: she swears a vow to rescue her friend Tahuta, who has snatched the Iron Talisman from the hands of the invaders but is now trapped in Stonetower, in Boarwood-occupied territory. The town of Abon is freed, but Cybela’s power mecha is destroyed in battle. Etana, the chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry, assigns her a much less powerful machine. Nevertheless, Cybela plays a vital role in re-conquering Axeford. The war council decides that an adept of the cult, Count Fanir, will fight side by side with Cybela as a second mecha-pilot.

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NPCs:

Duke Themon of Elfbrook – Cybela’s father
Archmage Brynn, uncle of Cybela and leader of the Cult. A powerful and ambiguous man.
Tahuta – an agent in Elfbrook special forces and Cybela’s best friend.
Etana – chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry. She favours AI robots over human-controlled mecha.
Count Fanir – Cybela’s rival as the best mecha-pilot in Elfbrook and a fervent adept of the Cult.

This battle is based on One Hour Wargames, a book by Neil Thomas (Scenario:22 Ambush). The Elfbrook (green) army has advanced further and currently they are fighting in Stonetower. Seven Elfbrook units (Cybela’s and Fanir’s mecha, a sergeant, two veterans, a missile-launcher armed soldier and a sniper) are advancing towards a small building occupied by a Boarwood unit (the blue infantry squad on the roof). They are ambushed by four more blue units that appear behind the vehicles on the right (one more infantry squad, two veterans, a red golem). In order to win, the blue army must completely destroy the green army. Since the green are surprised, they will be unable to activate during Turn 1. The only green unit which is not in the open is the sniper who, having the “scout” ability was deployed on the military vehicle on the right side of the board.

Turn 1: Only the Boarwood units activate. The infantry squad charges and kills the sniper and takes cover behind and upon the military vehicle. The slow red golem rushes forward. All the other units shoot but (surprisingly) the green take no wound.

Turn 2: Fanir shoots at the golem and misses. Cybela kills one of the infantry men upon the building. The green and blue veterans exchange shots and both sides lose a man. The Elfbrook missile-launcher targets the infantry unit on the military vehicle and hits (a 6 was needed, since they were in cover): the blast kills all the blue men.

Turn 3: The Elfbrook missile launcher now targets the Boarwood infantry upon the building, but misses. The two mecha do the same and they miss too. The green sergeant charges and kills the last blue veteran. The surviving green veteran charges the golem, with no effect.

An Elfbrook veteran charging the golem: it will not go well….

Turn 4: the golem kills the green veteran: it is then charged and killed in its turn by the green sergeant. The Elfbrook missile launcher has a second incredible shot and blasts-off the last two blue men upon the building.

Another clear victory for Cybela &C. I mark 3 progress on the Troublesome vow of recovering the Iron Talisman and Tahuta. Progress in now 8. Time to see how it ends:

Fulfill Your Vow: Challenge:2,6 vs Progress:8 a Strong Hit!
When the Elfbrook soldiers enter the building, they find Tahuta hiding inside. She is badly wounded, but she still has the Iron Talisman with her. Mission accomplished!
Neither Cybela nor Fanir have done anything particularly good or bad during this battle. The hero of the day is the guy with the missile launcher. I will also mark some progress on Cybela’s Extreme background vow of limiting the power of the cult: at least the cult’s adept Fanir has been unable to prove himself a better mecha-pilot than she is.

Cybela’s current situation:

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3
Health:5 Spirit:5 Supply:1 Momentum:1
Vow: retrieve the Iron Talisman (Troublesome) – Fulfilled
Background Vow: limit the power of the Cult (Extreme) Progress:0.8

Cybela and the Iron Talisman 5: intrigue at the war council

A solo campaign with plastic toys based on the Ironsworn RPG and the OnePageRules Grimdark Future Firefight skirmishing rules (but this is a purely Ironsworn session).
See setup here.

Previous events: The Duchy of Elfbrook has been attacked by the Duchy of Boarwood. Duchess Cybela of Elfbrook is the best remotely-controlled-mecha-pilot around: she swears a vow to rescue her friend Tahuta, who has snatched the Iron Talisman from the hands of the invaders but is now trapped in the Boarwood-occupied territory. The town of Abon is freed, but Cybela’s power mecha is destroyed in battle. Etana, the chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry, assigns her a much less powerful machine. Nevertheless, Cybela plays a vital role in re-conquering Axeford. Stonetower, the ultimate goal, is now in sight.

NPCs:

Duke Themon of Elfbrook – Cybela’s father
Archmage Brynn, uncle of Cybela and leader of the Cult. A powerful and ambiguous man.
Tahuta – an agent in Elfbrook special forces and Cybela’s best friend.
Etana – chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry. She favours AI robots over human-controlled mecha.

In this session, I focus on what happens at court, far from the battlefield.
Will this involve a new NPC? [50/50] Oracle: YES
Male or Female? [50/50] Male
NPC Role: Raider
NPC Goal: Harm a rival

Is the rival Cybela? [50/50] Oracle: YES

Count Fanir is the second best mecha-pilot in Elfbrook. He is a fervent adept of the cult. At the war council, Archmage Brynn suggests that Fanir should replace Cybela in the fight for Stonetower: he says he is worried about the safety of the young Duchess but, now that the war seems to be nearly over, he really intends to promote his pupil.
Face Danger: Challenge:5,10 Action:5+3Wits=8 / Weak Hit (-1 Momentum)
Cybela must use all her dialectical skills to convince the war council that her involvement in the operations is essential. She also suggests that this could not be a good time to introduce new people in key roles. The final decision is that she can keep her position, but Fanir will be placed to her side in the next battles: he will use a robot of a different model, so that it will be possible to measure the effectiveness of the two different machines. To Cybela it is clear that the competition will not be so much among different mecha-models as among the two pilots.

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Cybela’s current situation:

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3
Health:5 Spirit:5 Supply:1 Momentum:1
Vow: retrieve the Iron Talisman (Troublesome) Progress:5
Background Vow: limit the power of the Cult (Extreme) Progress:0

Cybela and the Iron Talisman 4: Infiltration in Axeford

A solo campaign with plastic toys based on the Ironsworn RPG and the OnePageRules Grimdark Future Firefight skirmishing rules.
See setup here.

Previous events: The Duchy of Elfbrook has been attacked by the Duchy of Boarwood. Duchesss Cybela of Elfbrook is the best remotely-controlled-mecha-pilot around: she swears a vow to rescue her friend Tahuta, who has snatched the Iron Talisman from the hands of the invaders but is now trapped in the Boarwood-occupied territory. Cybela’s Mecha is destroyed in a first attempt to reconquer the town of Abon, but the second attack is a success. Etana, the chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry, points out that resources are scarce and it could be impossible to replace Cybela’s Mecha, if it were destroyed. During a failed attempt to reconquer Axeford, Cybela’s bot is again destroyed and she is assigned a much less powerful machine.

NPCs:

Duke Themon of Elfbrook – Cybela’s father
Archmage Brynn, uncle of Cybela and leader of the Cult. A powerful and ambiguous man.
Tahuta – an agent in Elfbrook special forces and Cybela’s best friend.
Etana – chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry. She favours AI robots over human-controlled mecha.

This battle is based on One Hour Wargames, a book by Neil Thomas (Scenario:25 Infiltration). The battle in Axeford is raging again. A Boarwood (blue) squad has successfully infiltrated behind the Elfbrook (green) lines. After hitting their objective, they are retreating and must cross the board from the left to the right edge (I randomly rolled both who will be the infiltrating army and which side of the board they will enter). Boardwood’s squad is composed of four units (two missile-launcher-armed soldiers, an Infantry Squad and the red golem): in order to win, two units must exit the right side of the board. Elfbrook initially only has a Sergeant (randomly rolled) and Cybela’s new not-so-powerful bot (Q:3+, D:3+, Ranged:A1, CCW:A1, slow), but they will receive a new unit for each of the first four turns. The game will last up to 6 turns.

Turn 1: a green Infantry Squad enters from the South edge of the board. The blue army advances, without any intention to engage in a fight. Cybela and the Sergeant shoot and miss.

Turn 2: two green veterans enter from the North (not visible in the picture). The blue army splits: one of the missile-launcher men and the Infantry squad rush forward, while the other missile-launcher and the golem sacrifice themselves in the attempt to cover the retreat of their companions. None of the Elfbrook shots hits their target.

Turn 3: a green sniper appears on the truck on the right. The Elfbrook veterans kill one of the missile-launcher-men. The Golem charges the Sergeant. The two opposed Infantry Squads exchange shots and one of the blue men goes down.

Turn 4: an Elfbrook soldier with a missile launcher arrives from the South side and kills the two remaining blue Infantry soldiers. The last surviving Boarwood man is taken down by the sniper. Cybela stuns the golem.

This is a strong victory for Elfbrook! Cybela takes +2 Momentum. I also mark 3 Progress on her vow to retrieve the Iron Talisman. This corresponds to 3 freed squares on the map of the area: after reconquering Axeford, the green army finds its way open to advance along the coast: Stormbay is soon freed. Then a joined attack from the North and the South-East forces the blue army to also retreat from Elkfield and Redhill: Stonetower, where Tahuta and the Talisman are supposed to be, is now in sight!

Cybela’s current situation:

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3
Health:5 Spirit:5 Supply:1 Momentum:2
Vow: retrieve the Iron Talisman (Troublesome) Progress:5
Background Vow: limit the power of the Cult (Extreme) Progress:0

Cybela and the Iron Talisman 3: Battle in Axeford

A solo campaign with plastic toys based on the Ironsworn RPG and the OnePageRules Grimdark Future Firefight skirmishing rules.
See setup here.

NPCs:

Duke Themon of Elfbrook – Cybela’s father
Archmage Brynn, uncle of Cybela and leader of the Cult. A powerful and ambiguous man.
Tahuta – an agent in Elfbrook special forces and Cybela’s best friend.
Etana – chief engineer at the Mechanization Ministry. She favours AI robots over human-controlled mecha.

_______________

This scenario is based on One Hour Wargames, a book by Neil Thomas (Scenario:5 Bridgehead). An Elfbrook infantry squad has taken control of an important objective: the yellow building at the centre of the the board. Each turn, both sides have a chance of reinforcements arriving: Elfbrook (green) forces will enter from point D, Boarwood (blue) forces will randomly arrive from A, B or C. The game will be 6 turns long, with the goal of being the only force having units within 12″ of the objective.
At turn 0, I randomly deployed at C a blue infantry squad.

Turn 1 and 2: no reinforcements rolled. The two infantry squads exchange shots and each side loses a man. The blue advance to take cover behind the vehicles and the green take cover behind the yellow building.

Turn 3: Cybela’s mecha enters from point D. The blue have a second infantry squad from A.
Turn 4: The green receive a sniper which, being a “Scout”, can be directly deployed at the top of the target building. The blue deploy at C a weapon-team armed with a missile launcher. Cybela’s Tough Mecha takes a first wound from the blue infantry squad. The green infantry near the target is now attacked on two sides by blue infantry.

Turn 5: two blue veterans enter at B; no reinforcements for Elfbrook. The green infantry loses a second man. The Mecha kills one of the blue men behind the vehicle, but it is hit by the missile launcher (second wound).

Turn 6: the blue infantry on the left charges the last Elfbrook soldier near the building: they are successful. The sniper at the top of the building is the only surviving Elfbrook soldier. A missile damages one of the legs of the Mecha, which is now immobilized. The mecha still manages to stun the man with the missile launcher; it also resists the charge of the blue infantry-man.

No clear victory for any of the two sides. Boarwood seems in better shape, with more surviving units.
Should I consider this a Boarwood victory (a “Miss” for Cybela)? [Likely] Oracle: YES
Elfbrook is unable to take control of Axeford and they are forced to retreat.

Can Cybela’s Mecha be retrieved and repaired? [Unlikely] Oracle:NO
Pay the price: -1 supply (now 1). Etana informs Cybela that the Mechanization Ministry is unable to replace her mecha with a similar model. She will have to use an inferior machine.

Cybela’s current situation:

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3
Health:5 Spirit:5 Supply:1 Momentum:0
Vow: retrieve the Iron Talisman (Troublesome) Progress:2
Background Vow: limit the power of the Cult (Extreme) Progress:0

Cybela and the Iron Talisman 2: Assaulting a plasma cannon

A solo campaign with plastic toys based on the Ironsworn RPG and the OnePageRules Grimdark Future Firefight skirmishing rules.
See setup here.

NPCs:

Duke Themon of Elfbrook – Cybela’s father
Archmage Brynn, uncle of Cybela and leader of the Cult. A powerful and ambiguous man.
Tahuta – an agent in Elfbrook special forces and Cybela’s best friend.

__________________________

A second attack to Abon sees Cybela’s Mecha trying to neutralize a large plasma gun that the Boarwood army has strategically placed at the top of a building. The Boarwood (blue) side includes a weapon team, a veteran, an infantry squad and the plasma cannon (Q:3+ D:3+ Ap1, Tough3). The Mecha is supported by three veterans and two infantry squads. Being on higher ground, the blue units count as being in cover. I compensated this advantage by assigning more points to the green army (145 vs 95).
The green squad enters from the right.

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Turn 1: Cybela, after the recent incident, aims at the blue soldier with the missile launcher and puts it out of combat. One of the green veterans is put out of combat and another is stunned.

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Turn 2 and 3: The crew of the plasma cannon takes two hits: they will now have to roll on the wound table. One of the two Elfbrook infantry squads moves forward in the open towards the stairs: two of the three men are killed.

Turn 4: The surviving infantry man climbs the stairs and charges the only surviving member of the cannon’s crew, but he is stunned and then killed by the blue veteran. The green also loose a veteran hit by the blue infantry squad. The mecha is hit at a leg, it is now immobilized (both its Quality and Defence are degraded by one step).

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I decided to give Cybela a chance and run a fifth Turn. First, I rolled for morale, since 3 of the 6 green units are out of combat. The surviving infantry squad fails the roll and leaves the field. The Mecha keeps shooting at the cannon but fails. Luckily, the veteran does not miss and puts the cannot out of combat. A very marginal victory (I consider this a “Weak Hit” Battle outcome).

I mark two progress on the progress map: Abon and Newbridge have been conquered. But Cybela must pay the price. I subtract another supply point (now 2). I also introduce a new problematic NPC.

[Oracle] Male of female (50/50): Female
Hint: Debate Opinion

Etana is the chief engineer of the Department of War. She is convinced that human-controlled mecha are not efficient. It would be less costly to replace them with AI machines. This time it was possible to fix the leg of Cybela’s Mecha, but when it is destroyed it might be impossible to replace it.

Etana.jpgRES

Cybela’s current situation:

Stats: Edge:2 Heart:1 Iron:2 Shadow:1 Wits:3
Health:5 Spirit:5 Supply:2 Momentum:0
Vow: retrieve the Iron Talisman (Troublesome) Progress:2
Background Vow: limit the power of the Cult (Extreme) Progress:0