Tuesday 22 March 2016

Battle at the Farm ! - Leadplague Version



This week end, I was in Paris with some friends and I took the opportunity to go meet my pal Goulven. You might remember how he single handedly crushed my chaos renegades with his squats in a game of 40k 2nd ed the last time we had met...

Well while this occasion was just meant to catch up, chat and have a beer, my host had secretly prepared an impromptu game of Rogue Trader.
I think you will all appreciate this kind of gesture but not only was this a proper game of Rogue Trader with proper oldschool miniatures and all, this was THE proper Rogue Trader scenario : Battle at the farm !



Now let me get back on this scenario for starters. The Battle at the farm is the first 40k scenario ever displayed in the Rogue Trader Rulebook. It's a typical Good Vs Bad scenario with a horde of orks facing a fistful of marines.
A fistful of marines... well not exactly.
I strongly advise you to read Zhu's brilliant article about battle reports of this scenario. The scenario is strongly unbalanced with point values not being equal on either side (marines have about twice more points than orks) and with many details in favor of the marines.




Now the thing is, this game was not strictly accurate to the rules. First of all, the set up was on a far smaller board which should probably be in favor of the orks who would be able to come quicker at the marines and with the cover being more efficient :



A few things changed too with the missile launcher being replaced by a Heavy Bolter (pros and cons for that), some of the orks getting carapace armour (as on the models available) and some other things. The fact I'm a very poor player (I managed to get the marines by luck) and Goulven is a far more talented one meant that MAYBE, just maybe, the orks could have a chance...

With all that prepared and with the beers open we just had to meet our heroes of the day, starting with squad leaders :


And Pedro Kantor himself :

"Feel the fist of revenge ! "

I roughly placed my marines in their farm and started to wait for the orks who had the first turn...


The orks started to move to my position and opened fire first, getting the first blood trophy. With 15 marines, I had to be careful to preserve my forces...


When my turn arrived, I made everyone shoot, which meant 14 bolters and a heavy Bolter :


3 hits and no wound after that (accompanied by the annoying laughter of my partner), it was time to change turns...
The boys were in good position, they could not fail with all odds in their favor !


"Seriously ? Did we really all miss ? Awkwaaaard..."

Orks were drawing nearer and they had gained a psychological asset with the casualties count in their favour. The marines tried to focus on the closest threats from that point...


Pedro Kantor spotted Thrugg, the cursed ork responsible for all that... would the 2 meet hand to hand or would they try to take the other down another way ?

"- Saw you first humie !
- No ! I saw you first, you green scum !
-OK, den I saw ya in second but I'ma kill ya !
- FALSE ! I also saw you in second and I AM gonna kill you !
- Fack, did is gonna be annoying..."

As the marines were slowly gaining the advantage back, some of the orks were crushed under the mental pressure and fled...

"- Pretty sure I left the gas on under the kettle, better go back and check..."

Pedro Kantor had already taken some severe wounds but this was not the moment to put a knee down...


He spotted one of the last orks who had hidden behind the barricades to try and take the marines Hero down...

"Huhuhu, now you see me, now you don't..."
 The threat didn't last long though and soon all the orks were wipded from the area...


The price paid by the marines was heavy though, two thirds of them had perished under the assault. The cost of victory is always paid in blood sweat and tears though... Duty had a bitter taste as ever, thier mission had been accomplished.



So here we were, the game was played in about an hour and was very fun to play while eating and drinking. Both of us felt the ork could win this game at the start but once the heavy bolter started to work properly, the balance quickly changed (that following fire rule...).

Zhu has proposed many ways to change the balance of the game and amongst the solution, I think I'd try to keep the forces as they are but I'd change the board. With more cover and perhaps a slightly different position of objectives to give more challenge to the marine player. I quite like that the forces are not equal so I wouldn't give anything else to the orks really.

One of the observations we made with Goulven was that grenades would have totally changed the game if some had been available... maybe having a couple on each side could be fun...

I'd like to thank Goulven again for this exquisite opportunity to have a game (first 40k game of the year), for being an excellent host and for a little present in lead form (more about that soon ;) )

Soon on Leadplague, some painted stuff...





32 comments:

  1. lovely, thanks for sharing :)

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    1. Cheers, it was a real nice surprise to see the game was just waiting for me !

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  2. Excellent! Looks like fun, even if you were a slow starter!

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    1. Never been great friends with dice but it was good fun !

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  3. I remember this scenario fondly. Never played it though. Looks great fun.

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    1. It was actually a first for me, never had played this one. I'm glad I've ticked this one off the list with such a cool partner !

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  4. Cool rolls JB :p

    I like the shanty buildings, are they scratch built?

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    1. They're resin kits from "Idon'tknowwho", well painted by Goulven and perfect for gaming.
      Cheers, critical failures are a bit of a specialty of mine, been working on it for some time now. ;)

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    2. By the way, Goulven mentionned the scenery is from :
      http://www.daemonscape.com/contents/en-uk/d3.html

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    3. Cool, thanks for the link JB. My email notification thingy has died, so sorry for the late reply ;)

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  5. We needz more dakka! LOL Wonderful report JB. ;)

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    1. Orks sure do, they were shot one by one, and if it wasn't for my poor rolls it would have been a much quicker process really.

      Cheers bud !

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  6. Wow, those dice rolls are legendary ! Nice to see some action, even one that took some time to flow properly. I like the board and the way you managed to have it all work on suc a limited space. Great report, thanks to youi, the imperium of man is safe, once again. :)

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    1. My bad luck is legendary yeah, many films about it in the making actually...
      Quick and fun, that's how I like games and this one was just perfect, we just moved and shoot, not one close combat !

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  7. Waow, that's a great game ! Goulven is really welcoming host, his room is the place to be for an old 40k game.
    I'd never tried Rt, Just 2nd edition, but I will enjoy a little initiation.
    Hope to see you on our V2 day near Lyon.

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    1. He's a wonderful host yes ! Timetables are always hectic like hell for me but if I can make it I will attend for some some oldschool fun !

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  8. I remember this very well. Still in the back of my rule book too I think...

    Thanks for sharing, lucky sod!

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    1. Still at the back of mine too (had to switch for a better copy, the old one being in too poor a shape). Still great fun to be had !

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  9. Lovely...I last played that scenario when I was 10 years old. Time is a fickle master...

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    1. Took me 25 years to play the damn scenario, never too late to mend ;)

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  10. Lovely wright-up mate, you're a lucky boy!

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    1. I am ! Great and quick little fun... (still talking about the game)

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  11. Great looking game, Always nice to see lavishly painted figures on old school terrain. I hope you can someday get round to playing the scenarios from book of the astronomican, that would be an awesome series of blog posts, not to mention a full day of gaming!

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    1. There's a return match for this scenario thta was published in WD, I'd like to try that and of course the ones in the BotA (need scenery for those).
      Funny thing is that none of the figures here were painted by Goulven or myself, they were given to him amongst some others (the box weighs a tonne) and they're all clad in their glorious oldschool paintjobs !

      Thanks !

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  12. That looks like a laugh. I love those Daemonscape huts and particularly the windmill (I have them unpainted in a box, I must get to them soon).

    A few years ago (maybe less than ten years ago?), when 40k had a birthday of some sort a small campaign was added to this scenario in the current White Dwarf. That article also updated the associated scenario that was printed in WD around the time that Rogue Trader was released.

    While the rules in that more recent White Dwarf would have been for modern 40k, it would be extremely simple to transfer them to whatever version of the rules appeals to you.

    That could be a good man-date for you and Goulven at some future point perhaps.

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    1. You're absolutely right and it's been suggested to me yesterday, didn't even know about that follow-up scenario. Now it leaves us very little choice.
      Oh my god, this is going to be our 3rd date, is it OK to do a campaign on the 3rd date ? (blushes and runs away)

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    2. Ha ha!

      I have been out of the one-to-one man-dating scene for a while now. I only do group man-dating with guys that I met on the internet now.

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    3. I'm a bit old-fashioned, I phone and all... kids do it more casually these days it seems.

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  13. I can never get tired of this scenario :D

    Not sure if we're speaking about the same thing, but for sure WD#94 got the follow-up scenario for this one, the Jadeberry Hill battle. I played it and was fun, I'd bet I have some scans of that. If you want them, just give me a heads up!

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    1. Great minds think alike it seems, Cheetor/Sho3box above suggested the very same game and another player too. I'm really eager to try the return match now !

      Thanks a lot !

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  14. Fun read ... love the bat rep. That's a fantastic piece of terrain your host has.

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    1. Yep, it's a real pleasure pushing lead on a nice table !

      THanks a lot !

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