Star Wars Campaign Game 23 – Kashyyk Endgame

Wookies on a balloon!

Scenario

During the previous ground action, the Imperials managed to keep the shield generator in action long enough to allow the cloning materials to be evacuated out-system. 

Shin Hati occupies a Command Post, coordinating the retreat of the last Imperial Remnants off planet. Wookies lead the Rebel Assault on Shin's position. How long can she hold out?

Set Up

The table is 3’ x 3’, on Kashyyk. The Imperials set up first, with Shin and at least the Scout Sniper inside the Command Post, and the rest within the semi-circle marked off the western table edge. The Rebels set up second, within 6” of the eastern table edge. The Wookie balloon is at Low Altitude.

Special Rules

Reinforcements:

·       Baylan Skoll starts in reserve. Starting at the beginning of the 2^nd turn, the Imperial side rolls a D6; on a 4+ he comes on at the centre of then western table edge.

·       If Baylan does not appear, add 1 to the die roll each subsequent turn. At the beginning of Turn 5, if not already in play, Baylan automatically appears.

Capture:

·       Instead of rolling To Wound an opponent in Close Combat, you may Capture instead. 

Victory Conditions 

The Imperials receive 1 Renown point for every full turn they occupy the Command Post.

                  Baylan Skoll receives 5 Renown points for rescuing Shin Hati.

The Rebel Alliance receives 1 Renown point for every Imperial Stormtrooper or Scout Trooper OOA.

Rebels gain 3 Renown points for capturing the mercenary Shin Hati.

Ending the Game

The game ends when Shin Hati exits the western table edge, or at any rate by the end of Turn 6

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Last Thursday we played the latest game of the ongoing Star Wars Galactic Rebellion Campaign, using Wiley Games' Galactic Heroes 2nd Ed. I confess that I have been lax updating the blog regarding these campaign games. I plan to "fill in the gaps" for those earlier games over the next few weeks.

The Rebels had two squads of Wookies (one riding in a hot air balloon controlled by an astromech droid), a squad of Veteran Troopers (including a flamethrower), a captured AT-PT walker, and leadership provided by Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano.

The Imperials were represented by a wounded Shin Hati leading a squad of Scout Troopers, a squad of Stormtroopers with a rocket launcher, with mercenary Force user Baylan Skoll in reserve, coming on to try and rescue his apprentice.

The Command Post was coordinating the final evacuation of Imperial forces off of Kashyyk, the Wookie homeworld. Below, some views of the table looking towards the west.

As seen in the scenario description above, the scenario was asymmetric, with differing goals for the two sides. The Rebels realized early on that though one of their goals was to capture Shin, if she was put Out of Action those Renown Points would be denied the Imperials. Conversely, the Imperials had a bit of a dilemma: they could try to exfiltrate the wounded Shin early, but she provided protection and stiffening for the defence of the Command Post.

Rebel setup, north to south: Wookies and Sabine in a balloon, more Wookies, Veterans, Ahsoka, and the walker. 

The Imperials had Shin and a Scout Sniper in the CP, with the remainder of the troopers set up behind scatter terrain.

The game started fast and furious. There was a general advance by the Rebels across their entire line. The Sniper, who reigned supreme in the previous ground action, managed to go Out of Ammo with his first action. A missile hit the Wookies in the balloon, putting OOA or wounding a couple. For his trouble, the Imperial missile went OOA after taking fire from the survivors in the balloon.  The walker ran deep, into the southwest corner, setting up future action. Sabine jump packed onto a large tree in the northwest, threading the Imperial northern flank. With only two models inside the CP, a couple of Scouts ran toward it, to help ensure the CP remained in action. 

For his trouble, the Imperial missile went OOA after taking fire from the survivors in the balloon.  Sabine leaped down amongst the Imperials, into close combat, putting an Imperial Stormtrooper Officer OOA. Baylan rolled well and came on from reserve, jumping and running into close combat with Sabine. Baylan, armed with a Deadly lightsaber, rolled a natural "10"; Sabine in turn only rolled a "9", resulting in Sabine going OOA, thrown down into the forest floor. Baylan then put up a Shield. The Walker started its southern flank attack by flaming a couple of Stormtroopers. The Wookies on the ground started to hit the Imperial line, putting another Scout OOA. A Rebel with a Flamer managed to get a stream of fire into the CP, Wounding our putting OOA some of the Scouts inside, and Shocking Shin, who in turn Pushed the Rebel away from cover. 

Next Turn, the Walker finished off a couple of Stormtroopers, stomping them into the ground. Sabine Jumped out of the Command post and ran to the relative safety of a large tree. Baylan moved in front of Shin to cover his apprentice, daring anyone to attack him. A surviving Stormtrooper also moved, to cover the north side of the same large tree. Another Wookie was shot out from the balloon's basket. Concentrated Rebel fire left only one Scout Trooper on their feet inside the CP, enough to score another Renown point. Meanwhile, due to horrible Jump rolls, Ahsoka managed to make it to mid-table.

In the fourth turn, a Wookie managed to close with and put OOA the last Stormtrooper. The Imperials then drew the next highest card and Shin made her way off the western table edge, ending the game.

The Imperials scored 3 Renown for holding the Command Post for 3 full Turns, and an additional 5 Renown for Shin's rescue, for a total of 8 Renown. The Rebels scored 8 Renown for putting OOA 8 Imperial Troopers. It was a tie!

This was a very close, tense game, whose outcome was far from certain until the last played card. With neither side having an advantage, the stage is set for the Fourth Season Finale Episode.

Thanks again to Elliot, Michal, Hugh, Dallas, and Rob for joining me for fellowship, beer, and Twinkies.

A Few More Black Riders

I painted these models a few weeks ago as a wee break from the Little Bighorn project. I figured they'd take next to no time at all and I was right. They are resin models from a "third party supplier" that I threw in with an order for some other models. The mounted and dismounted models at left are "the Tainted" and the ones at right are "Dwimmerlaik." They were originally retailed together as the metal "Ringwraiths of Angmar."

 

They're certainly decent models but did need some repair as some of the swords were a bit warped and flimsy. But that was pretty easily done with some thin plasticard cut to shape.

Honestly I'd been wanting to bring my contingent of Nazgul up to full strength for awhile now as I was sitting at six dismounted and two mounted models. So this puts me over the top, albeit technically needing one more dismounted model to make the full Nine on foot. However I think I have a metal one left in a blister pack somewhere.

Not a lot of painting required on these models as Dark Rubber and a light touch with Mechanicus Standard Grey do most of the work for you.

They're really well-sculpted models typical of the pieces from Games Workshop Warhammer and it's good to have them in the cabinet. We just need to get Conscript Frederick's excellent Weathertop terrain out for a game!

Moar! Seventh Cavalry Dismounted Troopers and Personalities

The last tranche of dismounted Seventh Cavalry troopers is now finished and the Little Bighorn project continues to steam along. I'm happy with the progress!

Having painted "Autie" earlier I tackled the rest of the models in the Foundry "Personalities" pack. Here we see the General's younger brother Captain Tom Custer (winner of TWO Medals of Honor in the Civil War!), the hapless Major Marcus Reno, and Captain Frederick Benteen. Reno of course was a pretty useless tit in the battle and while Benteen showed moderately more initiative, neither were what you would call "combat effective."

Here are Lt. William W. Cooke, Lt. Charles (Carlo) DeRudio, and "Lonesome" Charley Reynolds. Cooke was Custer's adjutant and buddy. Born in Hamilton, Ontario he served with the Union army in the Civil War under Major-General Ambrose Burnside and fittingly, cultivated immense sideburns. He was the author of the infamous last note sent by Custer back to Benteen urging the latter to "be quick, bring packs." He died with Custer and was scalped twice... the second time losing one of his enormous dundrearies. DeRudio was an Italian serving with Custer and the only man in the battle to carry a saber. Charley Reynolds was the chief scout with the Seventh Cavalry who had a bad feeling about this.

Here's a trooper carrying Custer's personal "standard", a bugler (there were many present at the battle) and another trooper.

With these troopers and characters I'm finished painting the dismounted Seventh Cavalry contingent for the battle. I used the standard colours - uniform coats Kantor Blue highlighted Ultramarines Blue, trousers Sky Blue highlighted Wolf Grey, and everything black highlighted Dark Rubber. The initial drybrush of DR helps a lot!

So on to some more Plains warriors now - hoka hey! 

Seventh Cavalry Dismounted Troopers and Scouts

After the slog of painting almost a dozen mounted Plains warriors it's a relief to get back to some quick work. And by that I mean models that are wearing at least some semblance of a uniform. 

I made quick work of the dismounted troopers. The whole model gets a drybrush of Dark Rubber, this takes care of the highlights on the black hats, crossbelt, cartridge belt, holster, and boots. Then uniform coats and pants are painted Kantor Blue, uniform coat is highlighted Ultramarines Blue, pants are overpainted AK Sky Blue and highlighted Vallejo Wolf Grey. Buckskins are AK Khaki washed with Agrax Earthshade. It was hot in Montana Territory in June so some of the troopers are in shirtsleeves. While the issued shirt was grey, many wore privately purchased shirts and these could have been any colour at all.

The Scouts took a bit more thinking as their apparel is a mix of uniform and Indigenous attire. Oftentimes they were given worn-out or obsolete uniform coats so that's what these three got. I painted their trousers as buckskins or brown cloth, and the "breechclouts" were done in a nice red-black tartan with Khorne Red, Mephiston Red, and Evil Sunz Red, and "Hudson's Bay Blanket" pattern on the other model.

So with these done I feel like I'm making progress towards completion. I've got about 25 Seventh Cavalry troopers and helpers now, and a dozen mounted and about the same number of dismounted Plains warriors. Ultimately I want to have 40 (or 50?) models a side so I reckon I'm about halfway there. I just primed more troopers and after that, will get to the mounted troopers and 20 or 30 more warriors on foot. I'm going to use the same skin technique I used on my ancient Germans and that should speed the process up a bit.

Hoka hey!  

At Last - Plains Warriors on Horseback

You know how some figures seem to almost paint themselves and others take ages and ages? Well slot these Plains warriors into the latter category... seems like it's been over a month of saying to myself "I will get those guys done THIS WEEKEND" and it never seemed to happen. But I buckled down and now they are done.

  

They are of course the excellent Foundry models. Here we see the model I've painted as Crazy Horse, flanked by two compatriots. I found a suitable model for Crazy Horse (he had to be wearing a breechclout only, no war bonnet, and wielding a carbine - the Foundry model is "Walks Alone") and converted him to hold a pistol in his left hand. The pistol is from an excellent Wild West sprue from Wargames Atlantic which also came in handy later. The other two with Crazy Horse are Touch the Sky and Voice Like Thunder.

Here are Bear Licks with Tongue, New Fire, and Holds Fire. The models were painted with my indigenous skin recipe of Doombull Brown highlighted Ratskin Flesh. The horses seemed to take a long time as I painted several as Appaloosas. Also there was some warpaint on the horses and warriors. I should do more of that but it can be a lot!

  

Here are Lazy Boy, Fish Arrow, and Little Crow.

And finally Walking Rain and Strikes Like Bear.

Finally here are some excellent models sculpted by my friend Paul Hicks and sold by Brigade Games. They are from the civilians pack but converted by me to have revolvers, which came from Wargames Atlantic. Easy conversions. Here I've painted the models as Antelope Woman and Moving Robe Woman, both of whom participated in the battle. Antelope Woman (also known as Kate Big Head) was a Cheyenne woman present at the Little Bighorn battle. She was the sister of White Bull and participated in the battle by encouraging the warriors, helping the wounded, and gathering horses and weapons.

Moving Robe Woman (aka Her Eagle Robe) was later known as Mary Crawler (her father was Crawler, a Hunkpapa). Her little brother Deeds was killed early in the Reno fight. Moving Robe Woman took up a revolver and rode into the fight to seek revenge. She got it - killing a Seventh Cavalry soldier with her knife and shooting interpreter Isaiah Dorman with her revolver. This was pretty well documented as Dorman was the only black man in the battle and his fate drew some special attention. He was married to a Hunkpapa woman himself and was well-known to some of the Hunkpapa at the Little Bighorn, some of whom referred to him familiarly as "Teat". Although Moving Robe Woman didn't personally recount killing Dorman (his body was mutilated by his killer and others in a pretty grisly fashion) she did say "in this narrative I have not boasted of my conquests" and did not disclose her whereabouts when Dorman was killed. The Oglala Eagle Elk (cousin of Crazy Horse) said that Her Eagle Robe had a conversation with Dorman before she killed him with some enthusiasm. It is entirely likely that Moving Robe Woman didn't fully disclose her actions on the battlefield out of concern for later retribution by whites. You can read her own recollection of the battle in Richard Hardorff's book "Lakota Recollections of the Custer Fight" and a description of her encounter with Dorman in Greg Michno's excellent time-study "Lakota Noon," among other places.

Lastly, as Moving Robe Woman herself said to her interviewer in 1931... Eyes Hen La! I have said everything! 

Tyrant’s Legion and Salvagers

 I managed to add a few more units to the Tyrant’s Legion. As mentioned before, the more elite units are called Armsmen and their rules a quite flexible. They can be upgraded with carapace armour and an assortment of special and heavy weapons. They basically operate as Imperial Guard stormtroopers. Several years ago I managed to snag a pile of the old metal storm troopers from 3rd edition. I had no viable plan for them, but they’re some of my favourite gw sculpts. With my Tyrants legion project they finally found a purpose. I painted enough for two full squads with a few extra to round out the squads with heavy bolters and auto cannons. The heavy weapon troopers are from Mad Robot Miniatures who made a fairly faithful representation of the original models.

Next up is a group of space salvage workers from Anvil Industry. These are 3d prints in 28mm scale. Curt demonstrates the came scrap jacks at Prairiecon and I decided to pick up my own crew shortly after. Crew members can have different trades which I represented with different colours. Blue for medical, ochre for mechanics, purple for electronics and green for security.

Thanks for visiting!