His:

• Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight
• Ahsoka Tano
• Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
• Commander Gree
• Several Clone Troopers

Mine:

• General Grievous, droid Army Commander
• IG Lancer Droid
• IG-86 Assassin Droid x2
• San Hill
• Battle Droid x4

I had originally put Gha Nachkt in, but he’s been useless in every game I’ve used him in so far, so I traded him out and got a couple more Battle Droids. We played on the wide open Hoth map, which is pretty bad for any melee squad. Luckily, neither of us were doing pure melee. He tried moving Anakin, Palpatine and Ahsoka up one side of the map and eventually got into melee range. However, on their way in, I think all had taken at least some damage. He did off my Lancer droid with the clones before he could do anything and my Battle Droids did their job as fodder. In the end, I won out with Grievous and the two IG-86s left.

Next game we switched allegiances.

His:

• General Grievous, Supreme Commander
• Battle Droid Officer
• Czerka Scientist
• Guard Droid x2
• Battle Droids
• IG-86 Assassin Droid

Mine:

• Captain Panaka
• Anakin Skywalker, Hero of Nelvaan
• Padme Amidala, Senator
• Gungan Shieldbearer
• Ugnaught Demolitionist
• Roron Corobb
• Mas Amedda

This time we played on the flip side of the Hoth map where it’s less wide open. Unfortunately, it was a pretty quick game. He was able to get set up with the door on the opposite side open and waiting for me to enter. Each of my guys went down one at a time to Twin/Double Guard Droids and Opportunist IG-86s. I think I might have offed a Guard Droid.

So a 50/50 record for the night. Not bad.

On a side note, it looks like Fred will be riding with me to gen Con, which I think is pretty damned cool. Maybe I’ll jump in on the SWM League or some sealed events.

My Bounty Hunters:

• Dengar, Bounty Hunter
• Boba Fett, Enforcer
• 4-LOM, Bounty Hunter
• Zuckuss
• Bossk, Bounty Hunter
• Ugnaught Demolitionist

Fred’s New Republic:

• Leia Skywalker, Jedi Knight
• Kyp Durron
• Shado Vao
• General Wedge Antilles
• Luke Skywalker, Force Spirit (attached to Kyp)
• Snivvian Fringer
• Nikto Soldier
• Duros Scout

We played on the Damaged Christophsis map. I sent Zuckuss, Dengar and Bossk down the middle of the map where Boba and 4-LOM moved down the Eastern Corridor with an Ugnaught following along. Fred moved Kyp out in the open where he was able to be concentrated on and finally killed. Fred’s die rolls started failing him for a while and Shado was unable to kill 4-LOM, who eventually put him down. In turn, 4-LOM was taken out by the lone Duros Scout.

Second game we played the following armies…

Me:

• Han Solo in Stormtrooper Armor
• Ithorian Commander
• Princess Leia
• Bothan Noble
• Amanin Scout x2
• Wookiee Soldier x3
• Wookiee Warrior
• Chadra-Fan Pickpocket
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

Fred:

• Jedi Exile
• Jedi Guardian
• Jedi Consular
• Youngling
• Echani Handmaiden
• Gotal Mercenary
• Snivvian Fringer
• Old Republic Guard
• Human Force Adept

My Amanin scouts moved in to do some early damage and managed to get killed for it. A couple of Wookiees went forward as well and did very little. The times one of my guys would get a hit in on the Consular or Guardian, the roll would get Altered. I tried to use Han’s Furious Assault, but the targeting rules in SWM (which I always have the toughest time keeping in mind) kept him from being able to do much. As expected, with the Echani Handmaiden having 6 attacks in a single activation, I lost this one.

This week, however, it seemed like roles were reversed and Fred had trouble with his dice. We ended up playing two games.

Here was my army:

• General Wedge Antilles
• Twi’lek Black Sun Vigo
• Mara Jade, Jedi
• Kyle Katarn, Battle Master
• Luke Skywalker, Force Spirit

His army went something like this:

• Yomin Karr
• Yuuzhan Vong Elite Warrior
• Yuuzhan Vong Elite Warrior
• Advance Scout
• Yuuzhan Vong Ossus Guardian
• Praetorite Vong Warrior
• Yuuzhan Vong Shaper
• Yuuzhan Vong Shaper

We played in the Transit Station, which worked well for our two mostly-melee armies. The Force Spirit got attached to Kyle. Fred won the deployment roll, which really doesn’t matter for this map since both ends are pretty much the same. I sent Kyle into the fray earlier than everyone else and he paid for it, but at the same time did lots of damage. After many’a Thud Bug and Spit Poison, it came down to General Wedge, Mara and the Vigo for my side and Yomin and a Shaper for his.  Mara finished off Yomin and the Vigo did in the Shaper for the win.

The second game, we used these armies:

His:

• Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith
• Duros Scout
• Jawa Scavenger
• Chiss Mercenary
• Sith Marauder
• Sith Lord

Mine:

• Boba Fett, Mercenary
• Bossk, Bounty Hunter
• 4-LOM, Bounty Hunter
• Zuckuss
• Greedo

Since he was playing Sith, we agreed to play the flavorful map and use Korriban. This was really bad for his melee-centric army, which I ended up feeling pretty bad about. Not to mention, his die rolls were pretty bad as well. I ended up winning this one after losing Bossk and Greedo.

As always, this game is a lot of fun and really pretty easy to learn and play (even though I forget Evade, Intuition and the basic targeting/cover rules). Fred is a good opponent as well as he has the tactics down and comes up with pretty good squads with the minis he has collected.

I did end up watching a pretty cool 15mm historicals game called Field of Glory made by Osprey. The rules seemed pretty simple and I think I picked up most of them from just watching the game for about an hour and a half. The game was Romans (Late? Early? I don’t know!) versus Numidians (I guess they are Middle Eastern Africans?). The Romans were clearly outnumbered and much slower than the Numidians, but once the Romans got in contact with the lighter infantry of the Numidians, you could see how much better the Romans were in combat.

What I gleaned from watching the game is that combat is worked out based on a comparison of the two troops in melee. Dice are rolled looking for 4+. The Romans were allowed to reroll 1′s and if the unit had a leader, they could also reroll 2′s. This determines the number of hits. Whoever loses combat has to take a “cohesion” test with modifiers starting at 7. If the winner did 2 more hits than the loser, the roll is at -1 (which is really +1 as you have to roll over this number to not fail the test). If the loser fails this 2d6 roll they become Disrupted (or Fragmented if they are already Disrupted; or Broken if they are already Fragmented). Being Disrupted/Fragmented affects the number of dice you are allowed to roll when rolling for hits. Disrupted removes 1 out of 3 dice and Fragmented, 1 out of 2. After the cohesion test, the loser then takes a “Death Roll”, which is they have to roll one die and hope for a result greater than the number of hits inflicted by the winner. If this is failed, a stand is removed from the unit. That is pretty much the meat of the game. Of course, there is movement, manuvering, joint actions and some other phases.

The game looks like fun, but as always with historical games, I think they can get boring pretty quick. If this game catches on, I might look into either an Arabic-themed or samurai-themed army.

Tonight is supposed to be our bi-weekly Star Wars RPG game. I know Joe isn’t going to be there, and based on the last few sessions, I don’t expect too many others to actually show up. If there isn’t enough to play tonight, I think I’m going to call the game off completely and maybe figure out something else with some more reliable people.

The way things have been going in my gaming world lately, it almost seems pointless to bother showing up at the store anymore.

On a lighter note, I have reconnected with some of the old crew from the Confrontation days (JR, John, Tim) and I might be getting in a game of 40K or WotR soon. I was also able to set up a War of the Ring game for next Tuesday with Bill so we can re-learn the game.

My awesome wife ordered the Player’s Handbook 2 for me for Father’s Day, so I’ll be getting that soon.

Tuesdays will be going back to Star Wars Miniatures again, which is pretty cool as I need to play with Chairpatine (Emperor on Throne).

• Mara Jade, Jedi
• Boba Fett, Mercenary
• Kel Dor Bounty Hunter
• General Wedge Antilles
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

Fred played a list like this:

• Kazdan Paratus
• Junk Golem
• Kel Dor Bounty Hunter
• Gha Nackt
• K-3PO
• Elite Rebel Commando
• Nikto Soldier
• R2-D2

We played on the Death Star map and Fred ended up on the hangar side of the map. Wedge pretty much stayed in the middle room the whole game while Mara, KDBH, and 2 Ugnaughts went up the top side of the map while Boba and an Ugnaught went up the other side. Mara ended up getting hung up by the Junk Golem and took damage from hits and from Splash damage. Boba tried to avoid getting hurt badly by the KDBH’s Self Destruct, but ended up taking 50 damage in one turn. After Boba took out Kazdan and Gha Nackt while Mara set her sights on the ERC, Fred conceded the game. As always, it’s a blast playing against Fred.

Right now, I am really enjoying playing this game. I missed going to a tournament last weekend (even though my awesome wife was totally cool with me going if I’d wanted to), but I think the next one I’ll try to make it there and see how I do in a more competitive environment.

I’m eagerly awaiting my order from StrikeZoneOnline for some SWM singles of the more “competitive” pieces. I basically went through the Gen Con 2008 lists and the German Championships to see what was most used and ordered most of those.

This is my first attempt at a semi-competitive squad:

• Anakin Skywalker, Champion of Nelvaan
• Padme Amidala, Senator
• Captain Panaka
• Roron Corobb
• Gungan Shieldbearer
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x4

I think this build is pretty generic as I’ve seen a lot of them using the big figures I used except Roron. Padme lets Anakin attack at the end of her turn and Panaka lets two people switch places. The GSB is there to try and protect Anakin and Roron and the Ugnaughts are there to open doors and as filler. This squad really needed Mas Amedda to be really cool.

Fred asked to borrow some of my Yuzaan Vong minis, so I should have known this was going to be trouble.

Fred’s Squad:

• Yomin Carr
• Yuuzhan Vong Shaper x3
• Yuuzhan Vong Warrior x3?
• Yuuzhan Vong Elite Warrior x3?
• Yuuzhan Vong Elite Warrior x2?
• Advance Scout
• Human Force Adept

We played on the Commander’s Office (Ruined Base) map.

Let’s just say Thud Bugs + Spit Poison and having to roll tons of saves really hurt my squad. I sent my guys pretty much right up the middle while he did pretty much the same. The game went back and forth for quite a while and in the end it came down to a YV Elite Warrior, YV Shaper, Padme, and 2x Ugnaughts. The Ugnaughts managed to end up doing a ton of damage and after the Shaper was gone the Elite Warrior was not so scary. Finally, 2 Ugnaughts were left after one of them did the final wound to the Elite Warrior. This was a very fun game and Fred is a good opponent to play against.

We did play a second game, but we had to call it just a couple of rounds in. I conceded the win to him since I hadn’t killed anything and he was consistently damaging or killing my droids.

My Squad #1:

• General Wedge Antilles
• Garm Bel Iblis (Elite Rebel Commando, Dresellian Commando)
• Boba Fett, Mercenary
• Human Soldier of Fortune
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

The funny thing about this is that I originally hadn’t even thought about Garm at all. I’d originally planned on using a bunch of Bounty Hunters (Dengar, Bossk, etc.) to benefit from Mobile Attack and Evade. going through the binder, I saw Garm and thought I could use him to get more stuff.

Fred’s Squad #1:

• Darth Maul, Champion of the Sith
• Darth Tyranus, Legacy of the Dark Side
• ASN Assassin Droid
• Battle Droid x5

Map: Freight Transit Station

I chose the map simply because it seemed to look like fun. No strategy to it at all. I deployed on the right side of the map while he chose the left. This game was fun, but I feel like I lost for one very simple reason: I moved Wedge and Garm into harm’s way. Things seemed to be going fairly well until he got Maul and Tyranus into melee range of Boba. Boba kept tactically retreating to minimize Maul’s damage output. In the end Maul went down, but Boba went down to Kouhun Infestation + Force Lightning by the time it was over.

We decided we had time for another game, so we picked out our next squads. I had just built an Exar Kun squad using what Masassi Sith Mutants I have plus some Savage figs.

My Squad #2:

• Exar Kun
• Boma
• Massassi Sith Mutant x2
• Varactyl Wrangler
• Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

Fred’s Squad #2:

• Luke Skywalker, Legacy of the Light Side
• Princess Leia of Cloud City
• Obi Wan Kenobi, Unleashed
• Bothan Noble
• Elite Rebel Commando
• Mon Calamari Medic
• R2-D2
• Tusken Raider

Map: Hall of Judgement

I deployed on the right side of the map and he deployed on the left, inside the temple. My first move was to send the Varactyl Wrangler ahead of everyone else, then the Boma, MSMs, etc. I didn’t realize until the next turn that the Varactyl would negate Exar Kun’s CE, so I sent him to the other side of the map. Boma ran forward and smoked his Tusken Raider only to be pasted by Obi-Wan, Luke, Bothan, and everyone else. R2 was used to Override closed some doors to funnel my guys through. I’d lost all but Exar Kun by the end who proceeded to mop the floor with the rest of his squad. Holy Moly! He’s definitley worth the $16 I spent on him last Saturday! Next time I use this squad, I’ll likely swap out the Varactyl for a couple more Ugnaughts for Exar Kun’s Energy Transferrence Force Power.

My squad:

• Luke and Yoda
• Juno Eclipse
• C-3PO and R2-D2
• Czerka Scientist
• Gotal Fringer x2
• Utapaun Soldier x2
• Ugnaught Demolitionist

His squad:

• Darth Malak, DLOTS
• Dark Jedi Master
• Echani Handmaiden
• GenoHaradan Assassin x2
• Devaronian Bounty Hunter
• Tusken Raider

The game was lots of fun even though my Czerka Scientist + Gotal Fringer/Utapaun Soldier plan failed miserably. Loda did the most work and damage, though they did end up falling. The most interesting thing that happened was Loda using Force Stun on Malak two turns in a row where he failed the save and then re-rolled and still failed. Fred ended up winning pretty handily.

Game two we decided to play on the Clone Strike Muunlist map. Again, we played 150 points.

My squad:

• Emperor Palpatine
• Darth Vader, Imperial Commander
• Admiral Ozzel
• Stormtrooper x2
• Raxus Prime Trooper x2
• EVO Trooper x2

His squad:

• General Grievous, Supreme Commander
• Battle Droid Officer
• Super Battle Droid x2
• Guard Droid x2
• I think that’s it?

This game started out pretty awesomely for me as I rolled a 6 on the first initiative roll and added 2x Stormtroopers and 2x Raxus Prime Troopers thanks to Ozzel’s Imperial Reserves 20 ability. First turn was a lot of moving through cover and Fred moving GG and crew through some rooms on one side of the map. Second turn I started moving Palps into the rooms to engage GG. I was able to Force Lightning GG a couple of times and eventually get Vader into melee range. Unfortunately, the Guard Droids did some serious damage to him and he fell at the hands of GG. Palpatine took care of GG right after that. We called the game around there due to time. That game was a blast as I felt less like I was losing right off the bat.

I’m digging this game more and more as I play it.

• Darth Malak
• Sith Heavy Assault Droid x2
• Sith Elite Trooper
• Sith Guard
• Sith Trooper

Mike played:

• Jabba, Crime Lord
• Mas Amedda
• Jolee Bindo
• Tion Medon
• Utapauan on Dactillion x5

He won the choice to pick the map and chose the Revenge of the Sith board. The game went fairly quickly, which is something I like about SWM. I won initiative probably 90% of the time. His “command team” of Jolee Bindo, Jabba, Tion, and Mas all hung out in one room while the Dactillion’s took care of the rest with the help of Booming Voice and the commander effects from his team. The 5 Dactillions were a pain to deal with and my Sith Heavy Assault Driods seemed to last a good long time. One of them and a Sith Elite Trooper took care of Jolee once he finally came out of the room. In the end, he eliminated every one of my figures while he still had one or two Dactillions and all of his command team minus Jolee. I can see how this game can get kind of frustrating if you play against uber competitive people, but this game was fun and the people who play there say they aren’t playing competitively. They seemed like a good group of guys and I had a blast.