"Black Powder" - Franco-Prussian War in 28mm

Prussian infantry advance in Franco-Prussian War action. These are 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry.

In the fall of 2017 I started off with a new project - gaming the Franco-Prussian War in 28mm.  When I started, I hoped to collect and paint sufficient figures to play both skirmish-style games and games with formed units.  While I was able to run a skirmish game in March of last year, it has taken a little more time to get enough units assembled to a game using formed units. But I have been (relatively) focused on making progress with this project through most of 2018 and into 2019.  Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has proven to be an ideal motivational booster. The focus has paid off! I was very excited to run an inaugural game a couple of weeks ago! Here are a few pictures from the evening.

French line along the hills and forest to the left - Prussians advancing on to the table along the top right.

The scenario was for a small encounter battle, set in the very early stages of the war in the summer of 1870. The scenario is very loosely inspired by the Battle of Wissembourg. The Prussians were just beginning to cross the French border in force, and have encountered a small French blocking force.  Being aggressive Prussians, the solution was simple - get to grips with them, and get them out of the way! The French would hold out as long as they could, hoping their comrades would come marching toward the sound of the guns and help out...

The French line is anchored by a battery of muzzle-loading 12-pounders.

Founding Conscript Curt was visiting from Regina, which is always a lot of fun.  Curt and Dallas took command of the Prussian forces - five battalions of regular infantry, a battalion of Jagers, a regiment of dragoons, and two batteries of divisional artillery.  In the event the French resistance proved too stubborn, I also had a little "surprise" mechanism hidden up my sleeve whereby the Prussians could call on their corps artillery to assist with "blockage-removal..."

French Hussars in a blocking position along the road. In the distance, at the top left of the photo, Curt's units can be seen moving to take out that lone French battalion on the hill at the top of the photo.

The stoic French were commanded by Byron and MikeF.  The French forces consisted of three battalions of regular infantry, one battalion of "Turcos", a regiment of Hussars, a battery of 12-pounders and, last but not least, a mitrailleuse battery.

The French senior commanders ponder their situation...

Of course, the rules we used were "Black Powder".  One of the things I enjoy so much about those rules is how easy they are to customize.  When it comes to unit stats, I find Black Powder puts too many dice in the combat columns and not enough in the firepower columns.  Particularly in a conflict defined to a large extent by the performance of rifles like the French Chassepot, I wanted the players to be shooting (and, subsequently, for the Prussians to realize that the French rifles are awesome...). But with a great set of rules like "Black Powder", that's an easy fix... 

Dallas' Prussians take up position and engage the French line in a hot firefight...it is a tough go, as the French rifles were blazing.

So, boom, adjustments to the statistics were made - units overall had more firepower, but the French in particular had even more, while the Prussians had  extra stamina to reflect their larger-sized units and general willingness of their officers to happily plow them forward into the teeth of heavy fire...I also made a few tweaks to make the French Turcos to be rock-hard - by all accounts, they performed as such during the war. So they were ranked as "Elite", able to shake off "disorder" with a successful dice roll.

French battalion in position in the woods...Curt's Prussians are eyeing up that exposed flank...

French troops try to do their duty for the Second Empire!

The French forces occupied a line of hills and a wood covering an important road.  The Prussians would move on to the table on turn one, and look to bludgeon their way past these gallic upstarts... 

Curt moves to take the French flank, but the fire of the Chassepot rifles takes near-immediate effect...

Battle was joined! Things opened, naturally, with some command blunders on the Prussian side which saw Dragoons ignore instructions to threaten the French flank and instead simply wander on to the table and get in everyone's way.  Dallas moved his brigade forward to the cover offered by a walled road, and began trading fire with the French battalions on the ridge.

The French Mitrailleuse battery hammers away at the advancing Prussians.

Despite the wanderings of the Dragoons, the French flank was still a touch vulnerable, and Curt was determined to roll it up, so he sent an infantry battalion on a flank advance instead.  They would suffer heavily at the hands of French rifle fire as they advanced.

French battalion takes position to cover a gap in the line...

The Prussians brought their artillery to bear, and it started to have an effect on the French.  Curt managed to get an assault home, taking a French battalion in the flank and sweeping them from the table. Even as Chassepot and Mitrailleuse volleys took several Prussian units to the brink, and even broke one or two of them, the French line finally gave way on the sixth turn.  Fittingly the Turcos, who had ignored nearly every hit they took, and routinely dispensed with any disorder status thanks to their elite ranking (and MikeF's amazing dice rolls), were the final French unit still on the table - they would have covered the withdrawal...

The stars of the game, the French Turcos...

MikeF shook off nearly every hit from rifle fire and every "disorder" that came up...these guys were not in a mood to give ground...

Oh man, it was just great to see this game played! I had a ton of fun running it, and I hope the guys enjoyed it too.  One takeaway from the game that I will need to adjust for next time is the rate at which "disorder" occurs - because I significantly increased the rate of firing, I also materially increased the odds of a "6" being rolled in shooting, so it was tough for the Prussian infantry to keep moving.  In many ways, this is "historical", in the sense that the French rifle fire was murderous, but the Prussian players should at least have a chance to keep moving, and so I will likely make some adjustments to the "disorder" rate. But otherwise, "Black Powder" was fantastic - indeed, the ease of adjustment and customization is one of its greatest strengths as a rules set, and this game showed that once more.

Another view of the action from the road...casualties starting to pile up on the Prussian side...but they are victorious in the end!

While my 28mm Franco-Prussian war collection is still modest, at least we now have the basics for a game, and of course I will continue to add units here and there to "round out" the collection, allowing for some larger games in the future.  Big thanks to Curt for visiting, and to Dallas, Byron and MikeF for coming out to play - I hope they enjoy this new period as much as I do!

Isstvan Clash - 30k Sons of Horus vs. Death Guard

Byron's Death Guard jet bikes prepare to make their stand amid the ashes of Isstvan III.

Back in the fall, I was itching to get a game of Epic 30k in, and Byron was kind enough to oblige me.  Through this time my hobby mojo has still really been "in" to the broad 30k setting and the Horus Heresy (whether through Adeptus Titanicus, Epic or with the standard scale). So last week I was really keen to play a game of 30k in standard scale (using the fan-created 8th edition rules). Once again Byron was ready and willing to participate.

The battle lines are drawn - the glorious legions of Horus Lupercal assembled on the left side of the photo, while rag-tag pro-Emperor terrorists clog the table on the right side...

Byron has an excellent collection of 30k Death Guard (seen throughout this blog, and on Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge blog), and it is always fun to see those beautiful figures on the table.  They are a fine demonstration of Byron's great skill not only with his airbrush, but with the various filters/coats that he has used to achieve a very chipped and worn effect that looks absolutely fabulous.  Byron brought his lads over last Thursday night for a game.

Byron has done a fine job on his Death Guard collection.  Note the Volkite Culverins on that heavy support squad. Volkite weapons are not quite what they were in the 7th edition, but still...OUCH. 

My Praetor (white cloak, centre) prepares to lead the attack. 

I set the scenario on the ruined world of Isstvan III, location of the outbreak of the Horus Heresy and site of one of the Warmaster's most notorious atrocities clever victories.  In this battle, Horus and his fellow rebel commanders have kicked off their betrayal fight for freedom by trying to purge their own Legions of those who would not toe the line.  As such, on Isstvan III you can have intra-legion conflicts that would pit forces otherwise associated with a unified front against the Emperor against each other instead.

The Death Guard lines await contact...

In the story of the Horus Heresy, the initial wave of Death Guard had been sent down to take out the main defences on the outskirts of the Isstvan III capital city (known as the "Choral City").  Warned of the impending betrayal by Captain Garro, many of these Death Guard troops on the surface raced to seal themselves up in bunkers and fortifications they had just captured from the rebels. They survived the virus bombardment, and once the bombardment subsided, emerged on the ruined surface of the planet...as Horus landed troops to finish off these pockets of survivors, the Death Guard made an effort to move into the ruins of the Choral City and join up with the survivors from the other legions and simply hold out as long as they could. 

XVI Legion prepares to move out.  Note the heavy support squad hunkered behind the Rhino...they would have a disappointing outing...

So for our game last week, Byron's Death Guard forces would represent loyal marines who, having suppressed the rebellious regime on Isstvan III, were then betrayed and abandoned on the surface, bombarded from space and,  once it was clear they had managed to heroically endure said bombardment, were subjected to a ground assault...at a power level of 90, his forces represented a blocking force, looking to hold out while larger groups of their comrades escape to join fellow surviving loyalists in the Choral City. 

A 20-man tactical squad races forward. 

Contemptor dreadnought spearheads an assault, and a 15-man assault squad prepares to join the action. 

I assembled a similar power level force from the Sons of Horus, tasked with smashing these delusional followers of the so-called "Emperor" and preventing them from linking up with other survivors to perpetrate further acts of reactionary pro-Imperial terrorism...for rules, we used the fan-created 30k 8th edition stats and lists.  Remember that GW made the (somewhat bewildering) decision not to formally do an 8th edition for 30k...but the 30k community filled that gap in like...five minutes? Anyway, they did fine work, and we took advantage of this.

Death Guard jet bikes arrive to help stabilize the loyalist line...

And look, this game wasn't complicated.  Work was busy for both of us, and we were not about to tax our minds with a complicated game. This was a nice line-em-up, light-em-up game! My brave and honourable troops of the XVI Legion moved as quickly as possible to get to grips with craven Horus-deniers on the other side.  Surely we would wipe them from the table?

Well, not so much...over four turns of 30k mayhem, both sides pounded each other to pieces.  My 15-man assault squad and my kill-stealing very brave Praetor were the stars of the game for the Sons of Horus.  Of course, only two models were still around from that assault squad by the end of the game, but they did good work.  The Sons of Horus Praetor, for his part, cut down (or, depending on your perspective, "kill-stole") quite a few enemy tactical marines, before using his plasma pistol to score the final wound against one of Byron's Contemptor dreadnoughts...which duly EXPLODED! Mortal wounds all around!  Great stuff!  The Praetor eventually succumbed to combined fire from surviving loyalists. Having fallen bravely in the Warmaster's honour, his name will be inscribed on some motivational deck plate somewhere on Horus' ship, the Vengeful Spirit.

The XVI Legion Praetor..."edges in" *cough* to help in the close assault...

On the "needs improvement" file, I was excited of course to debut my new Sicaran combat tank.  But this was a newly-painted vehicle and...well, it went the way of newly-painted vehicles.  The Sicaran cannons shot up of lots of loyalists, but in the end my tank was blasted to bits.

The Death Guard dreadnought has just one wound remaining...the Sons of Horus Praetor draws a bead with his deadly plasma pistol, and...

KABOOM! Where did everyone go? Mortal wounds all around, including a couple on the Praetor himself...

The biggest disappointment was my heavy support squad with lascannons.  I was counting on those guys to take down some of Byron's heavy armour, but the only thing they managed to knock out was their own sense of self-worth...awful rolling...back to school for them!

Boy...that 15-man assault squad sure took a beating...

For Byron's side, his collection is tremendous, but in particular I just LOVED the jet-bike squad. He has them mounted on custom pill-shaped flying bases, and they look SUPER COOL. We found the rules penalized them a bit (the penalties for shooting heavy weapons when moving are a deterrent to zipping around the table - that seemed odd) but oh man they were neat on the table - and tough to bring down!

Surviving members of Byron's heavy support squad look to mop up a few more of their betrayers...

There were very few models remaining on either side when the game concluded - very apropos for 30k in my opinion. The loyalists payed a dear price, while Horus would surely rage at the heavy losses and delay incurred in what should have been a boring "mop-up" operation! Time for some new commanders in the Legion! I would say it was a loyalist victory.

Thanks again to Byron for the game - I just love the 30k setting, and it was great fun to push some Legion stuff around the table once again.  Hopefully Isstvan III will be a setting we can return to again soon.

Death of a Baneblade - 40k 8th Edition Battle Report

Imperial Baneblade 6813 contemplates its final moments amid 40k action ...

Do you have any figures that you must actually dust off before you use them on the table? Last night I had the chance to do just that as Conscript Byron popped over for a game of 40k 8th Edition.

Earlier in the week I had dug out and dusted off my collection of Imperial Guard "Praetorians".  The original plan was for them to face off against Dallas' Ork hordes, but unfortunately Dallas was unable to join us this week. A substitute "Xenos threat" was therefore required. To address this need I went even further into the "old-stuff-I-don't-have-room-to-display-but-can't-find-the-will-to-dispose-of" pile in my basement and pulled out my long-dormant Tau collection...

Starting disposition - the Imperial infantry have secured the staging site of an old mine facility,  while the Baneblade (accompanied by a Chimera APC with a mounted squad aboard); the Tau ambush would come at the right side of the photo. 

How old is some of this stuff? Well, the Praetorians have been part of my collection probably since...around 2009 or 2010. I do not recall the last time they saw action on the tabletop...it may be on the blog here somewhere, but it would have been quite a while ago, back before Dallas moved to his current address.

Praetorian troops take up firing positions.

Praetorian auto cannon support squad ready for action. 

As for the Tau, well, they are even older - you can tell from the photos.  I painted these when the Tau were first released by GW, so this would have been somewhere around 2001-02, something like that.  It was fitting that Byron was able to stop by last night, as we were chuckling at how I had painted these very Tau models to be ready for one of the "WarCon" tournaments he used to run - and that was a long time ago!

Imperial mechanized troops dismount as the ambush begins.

Tau Pathfinders deploy markerlights to ease the targeting of their fellow troops - while Kroot mercenaries cover them up front. 

So - one old collection to face off against another old collection.  I wanted to spice it up a bit...and I thought..."Baneblade!"  Back in January of 2011 I completed one of the (at the time) new plastic Baneblade tank kits.  But it had never once seen action on the tabletop, not once, since that time.  So I thought it would be fun to haul it out and see how it performed in the 8th Edition of Warhammer 40k.

The Tau ambush takes shape...the plastic targeting markers were used to indicate markerlight "hits".

I set up a 6' x 6' table, and made the Baneblade central to the scenario.  The Imperial Force would represent some column advancing toward an objective on a sparsely-populated Imperial mining colony.  The Tau interlopers, while indifferent to the Imperial infantry, were alarmed at the Baneblade, and sent a strike force to eliminate it.  The Tau would have six turns to destroy the Baneblade.

The Kroot decide to eliminate the Chimera with a close assault...would tie up the tank and render it useless for the game...

Byron took command of the Tau, while I played the Baneblade and its covering force of Praetorian infantry.  Both sides were at 70 "Power Levels" in terms of size.

Byron's Tau commander opted for an aggressive strategy, with his XV8 Crisis teams arriving in a drop from their Manta gunship high above the table, and hoping to get a kill with an all-out assault in that first round of shooting. We laughed at how this plan might have been received by the other Crisis Suit pilots..."like, right in front the enemy objective...are we SURE about that?"

Surprise! The Tau Commander, accompanied by two XV8 Crisis Suit teams, drops in to make the kill!

Baneblade commander notes the presence of Xenos power suits...

Meanwhile, Fire Warriors engage the supporting Praetorian infantry at long range. 

It almost worked like that. Byron's drop was dramatic, and did damage the Baneblade pretty badly, but it still survived for a bit. The air filled with firing from exotic Tau weapons, met with shattering return volleys of Imperial Guard heavy weapons and the arsenal of the mighty Baneblade tank. It took four turns, but the Baneblade was eventually put out of action, with the coup-de-grace delivered by the lethal railgun of the Tau Hammerhead tank.

The Company Commander watches developments from his improvised command post. 

More Fire Warriors move into position...

Imperial mortars try and eliminate enemy infantry...

It was a costly victory, in that the Tau lost both of their XV8 Crisis teams in the huge volleys of return fire. The Tau Commander himself was nearly clipped, losing his two shield drones (lucky for him they came along!).  On the other hand, no Crisis Suit pilots would be around to question the Commander's strategy...the losses were regrettable, but I suspect this counted as a "greater good" overall outcome for this Tau Commander...

The end is near for the Baneblade...Tau Devilfish APCs attempt to kill steal...and they would almost manage it!

KaBOOM! The Baneblade is "out of action"!

Tau Hammerhead taking in the spectacle of its kill shot...

"Where did those other Crisis suits go? Oh well...it's for the greater good, after all."

It was a lot of fun to get these models out on to the table, so a big thanks to Byron for stopping by. 40k's 8th Edition has many, many warts, but the setting is still awesome, and the game is still a ton of fun when you play with fun players.  It is great that these dusty old figures can still get some time on the gaming tables. Hope to see folks again next week!

Adeptus Titanicus Game - The Titans Go For A Walk

"Full stride!" Legio Mortis moves to engage some deluded "loyalists" during a game of  "Adeptus Titanicus"

With the paint only just dry on the Warlord kits from my copy of GW's re-booted "Adeptus Titanicus", we took the Titans and the new rules out for a spin this week during our Thursday night game.  After rushing to get the Titans finished and poring over the new rule book for three weeks, I was anxious to try the game, see how it played, and see the towering new Warlord models on the table!

The Scenario & Set Up

Poster featuring the official spokesperson for Legio Mortis...

We went with a very simple scenario, and a small number of Titans on each side. Legio Mortis and Legio Griphonicus would be confronting each other amidst an urban area on some planet in the war-torn Imperium.  I told the players the loyalty of the planetary governor was wavering as the Horus Heresy raged, and he would likely declare support for whichever faction had more Titans standing around his enclave after the battle! Thus the objective: "total annihilation".  How Horus-Heresy-sounding...

Each side had three Titans - one Warlord, one Reaver and one Warhound.  The Warlords were the beautiful new models from the box set, while the Reavers and Warhounds you see here are private sculpts, not commercially available (which is why they are so small - but it still worked fine overall). GW has released a Reaver model, and I expect the Warhounds will be out before too long.

Preliminary deployments complete - Loyalists at the top of the photo, Rebels at the bottom - and the Imperial Governor's facility in the middle (planetary officials likely cowering in a sub-basement). 

Dallas and Dave V took command of the Legio Mortis detachment, pursuing bold action in the name of hope and change from Horus Lupercal! Byron M and John M commanded the delusional "loyalists" of Legio Griphonicus, preparing to waste their precious Titans in some pointless attempt to halt the inevitable triumph of Horus over the weak and false "Emperor"...

The table was 4' x 4' - I wanted to a) test the assertion by the designers that the game worked well on a smaller space b) ensure we had room on the tables for the nice, but cumbersome, "terminals", and c) have the Titans killing each other right from the first turn...

The Game

Missiles flew! Reactor were pushed! Machine spirits were awakened! Orders were issued! In all, we managed to play five turns before folks had to call it a night, and...none of the Titans were knocked out!?

Legio Mortis Warlord providing covering fire

Look, damage was done - the Reavers on both sides were not doing great, with the Princeps yelling at the servitors to get those void shields back up on both God-engines.  I think one more turn would have seen one or both of them cook off.  John also maneuvered his loyalist Warhound into a good position to dish out some serious harm to Dave's Warhound in the opposite Legio.

But the lads were rolling hot with both saving throws (meaning the Void shields hung around longer than expected) and had good luck with the reactor dice, meaning that reactors were pushed, but there were no melt-down incidents, which was a disappointment for me, but good news for the Titan crews :)

Dave's Warhound tried to find some cover amid the buildings, but John's loyalist Warhound was hunting it down as the game ended. 

The guys also had great rolls with their repair actions, so the Void shields were constantly being restored, all that reactor pressure was being vented, and even critical hits were being restored! Impressive stuff. Unless you wanted to see reactor meltdowns...oh well...

Final dispositions - you can see the Warlords hardly moved, while the duelling Reavers were closing  in on each other in the middle. 

In fact, the only time the dice were NOT hot occurred when one Titan or another had a chance to make a killer shot on an unshielded opponents - the shots would miss, or do only superficial damage...this helped keep the Titans around longer than they otherwise might have been.

In the end, the game was a stalemate, although both Reavers were going to need some time in the repair docks...

Thoughts On The Rules & Other Ephemera

Overall, I really like the new game.  The rules are fun and clever - so often the case with GW rules that are not 40k rules.  It was our first time playing, and I'm sure we missed opportunities for nuance and perhaps some clever tactics which might come with more experience, but really in a first game like this you want to get used to the basics first while enjoying the models, and this was a good chance to do just that.

Reaver moves to engage the enemy...hopefully before being blown to bits - this fellow lost his shields many times, and suffered a couple of critical hits...but he was still upright at the end of the game! 

Were there some frustrations? You bet - I'll get to them momentarily, but know as you read some of my own "reactor venting" here, it comes from a foundation that still really, really enjoys the game.  And hey - these are subjective thoughts - YMMV! But, a few irritants of varying scale, lets get to those...

I'll start with the dice.  With the new box set, you get a whole set of really nice dice! Some are superfluous - like custom D6s (you will already have a ton of those, but I'm a sucker for dice with logos in place of the "6", so, nice to have).  A couple of D10s. Fine.  Nice to have, but I already have a bunch of those too. BUT, there are the order dice...specific to the game, good to have (I could improvise with the old order dice from Epic or Battlefleet Gothic, but there are a couple specific symbols for Adeptus Titanicus, so good to have). Then, there is the hit location dice. Oh, and the scatter dice. Oh - and these are very important - the reactor dice.

What is the problem, you say? They are all the same !@#!@#ing colour! It is a huge pain to try and pick the hit location dice out of the order dice, or find the reactor dice or scatter dice. Yes, generally, be careful and organized with your dice on the table, but come on!  One of the best lines from the game last night was the deadpan suggestion by one of the guys that GW keep the dice the same colour in order to try and keep the cost of the game down....ROFL.

Warhound hunting prey...

Anyway, my advice for dice - bring your own D6s, D10s, and a scatter dice from a previous GW game - ones that will be a different colour.  Print up some paper markers for orders.  It should be much easier to keep track of your reactor dice and hit location dice at that point.

Ok. Enough about dice.  How about the table size? Well, whatever the rules designers claim in the book, a 4' x 4' table size is kinda lame for this game.  Even a small number of Titans should spread out into a more standard 6' x 4', in order to give the Princeps - particularly those commanding the towering Warlord Titans - a reason to maneuver a little.  Between the "Apocalypse Missile Launchers" and the "Bellicosa Volcano Cannons" the Warlords had little reason to move, even with the intervening buildings on the table, thanks to the very long range of the weapons.

So you need more room. This brings me to the "terminals".  They are very nice, yes they are! But they consume substantial wargaming-table real estate - we only had a total of six Titans in action, and the space the "terminals" took up was a not-insubstantial pain in the ass.  When combined with the need - in my opinion - for at least a 6' x 4' gaming surface, you will need to make accommodations for your gaming space to deal with this if you want to play this game, .  This may, or may not, be a big deal depending on where and how you game, but plan for it. The "terminals" will need to be somewhere the players can see them and keep track of them as they move the markers.

The "terminals" for "Adeptus Titanicus" - very pretty, but they soak up a LOT of space in your gaming table/area.

OK, enough about the physical space. What about the rules? I am pretty sure we mixed up some rules a couple of times - this is to be expected in any new run through the rules, but there was one particular issue I kept going over in my head, and it was caused by the obtuse writing in the rule book.

Now I pick on GW a lot, for a lot of good reasons - and dumb writing is a good reason. But dumb writing is hardly limited to GW.  Go try and read about forming squares in the first edition of the "Black Powder" rules, or the patrol phase in "Chain of Command", or to understand just about any basic aspect of "Tomorrow's War"...and those are all excellent rule sets (try them all!)...bad writing happens, no matter the intentions.  It is almost always a product of the fact that game rules are written and reviewed by those that developed and tested them...so when the rules are proof-read, well, it will all seem obvious, as you already know the rules, right? This leads to baffling explanations of simple concepts, or concepts which are not explained, because those who proof-read assumed others would know the rules as well as they do. I know this is an issue, because I do this all the time in my day-to-day work, and our business is constantly trying to guard against the problems it can cause...problems like the "blast" rule in "Adeptus Titanicus".

Those of us who have played GW games over the years have experienced many of the little variances they inflict on how to use weapons that use the round blast effect templates.  The core elements are consistent - a round template, a direction dice, and a dice (or number of dice) for the "scatter".  The GW "scatter dice" itself is almost ubiquitous in every gaming collection.

These core components have been consistent over the years, but the specific steps involved in using them always seem to be something the rules writers at GW feel compelled to fiddle with - they can't seem to help themselves, and each new edition/new rule set that makes use of these same basic tools always has some slight difference in process.

And so, the explanation of the "Blast" special rule for weapons on p. 38 of "Adeptus Titanicus"  could be part of a court filing by one of President Trump's lawyers...I would share the whole section here, but I don't want to be sued by GW, so I'll limit it to one quote:

"Then, check to see whether the central hole is within range and arc. If it is not within arc, the shot is wasted and has no effect. If it is not within range, do not roll To Hit - each shot will scatter as follows:"

The section goes on to explain a scatter mechanism any GW gamer would be familiar with. Which is fine.  It notes that even a "hit" result on the scatter die is still a scatter (using the little arrow on the "hit" symbol - again, a familiar GW mechanism). But...what about if the the shot IS within arc AND within range?

I wish I could tell you. Do you just make a ballistic skill shot like normal? Do you still use the scatter die, but count the "hit" symbol as a hit, with no scatter? I don't know, and the rules, as far as I can tell, seem to assume you just know what to do...so they don't specify.

This came up a lot last night, as the Volcano Cannons are "Blast" weapons, so every time the Warlords opened fire, we needed to go through this..I ended up forcing the guys to use the scatter die process regardless, and then still rolling to hit with their ballistic skill after.  Which, now that I think about it, is kinda dumb, and surely wrong...but I'm not sure what I should have done, at least by the letter of the rules...

Further confusion - if you get the centre of the blast marker over the model, it counts as two "hits"...yet the Volcano cannon is listed as getting 1 die for attacks - so do you still get two dice if you land the centre of the template, or does that "1" in this instance mean only one template? I'm not sure.

And this issue is really forced to the forefront, because all you have for your Warlords right now are Volcano Cannons!  I feel I must again express frustration at how GW saw fit to only include a single weapon load out in the Warlord kit, which retails for over $200 CAD.  For now at least, we are stuck with these stupid Volcano Cannons on our Warlords...so I need to figure this out.

What did I do wrong here? I'm sure my approach was the wrong one.  Is there an official answer? Did I miss a page where this was explained (this is possible - I am quite dense!) - let me know, fellow gamers...

For Next Time

Huge Warlord Titan for Legio Gryphonicus in action last night. 

I did not deploy any Knight Banners last night.  Again, we were just getting to know the rules. And for me, "Adeptus Titanicus" is about Titans, not Knights!  I just SO love the setting and back story of the Titans, but I am utterly indifferent to the silly Knight houses.  Don't get me wrong - the Knight models (both these new ones for "Adeptus Titanicus" and the big 28mm ones) are absolutely stunning. But where the Titan Legions are cool, ominous and impressive, the Knight "households" all sound like a bunch of cosplay rejects from a Harry Potter fan fiction play. Playing the Knights in "Adeptus Titanicus" would be like going to a steak house and ordering chicken.

Still, after last night, I can see how the Knights must be important in this game.  With their ability to maneuver, the Knights might get close enough to cause some serious aggravation to the other side. I may never embrace the stupid Knight Households ("Oh look, here comes Lord Humperfeather from House Pony-tickles"), but I had better get those Knights painted up - a couple banners will add a neat dynamic to the next "Adeptus Titanicus" game.

So there was some venting here, but again - the bottom line, I certainly enjoyed the game, and I hope the other fellows did too. I look forward to more games of "Adeptus Titanicus" through the end of the year!  Overall it's a neat set of rules, and Titans blasting each other to bits is a lot of fun.

Big thanks to Dallas for hosting, and to Dallas, Byron, Dave and John for playing last night.  The reactors are powered down for now, but I hope we can try the game again sometime soon!