Orc Rocket Pack (Fire Jumpa).

Hello All Mad Doc here, to talk about strapping a rocket to an Orcs back. See as I want to play out the big battle, I noticed I will need jump pack troops. Now the USE ME rules do not have any so I decided to make my own. I am starting off with a move of 18", and working back from that. Also this is an Orc pack so it just might not work.

Jet Pack 10Pts.
Range Up to 18 inches. This is a straight line vehicle, not turns can be made. When the model decides to fire the rocket he draws a line to the location he want to land at. Then roll a D6.
D6 roll, Result
1, Falure, roll another D6 for the distance. Once at the distance the rocket explodes. The jumper takes a +3 penetrating hit. Place a 2" template on this mini, any unit touching it takes a +2 penetrating hit.
2, Move 14"
3, Move 15"
4, Move 16"
5, Move 17"
6, Move 18"
Every time the model fires the rocket it changes the critical hit roll to the number of time is has fired. Second firing, on a 1 or 2 roll for the crit. Third firing 1, 2, or 3 roll for crit.

On a roll of 1, then 1 the model explodes on the spot, they started on. Place a 3" template and all touching take a +3 penetrating hit.

If the user does not fire the pack they can move 4", and still make a second move for another 2" a total of 6" per turn.

Now I have worked up the rule,  I decided to test this new rule out.
To do this I set up a small skirmish with a Guard squad and an Orc squad with rocket packs. I am using Universal battle for my table top.

Deployment. As you can see both side are deployed some distance apart.
Guard T1: As the guard does not have the range weapons they sit tight.

Orc T1: the Orcs opt to run for there first move and the squad moves up the allowed 6".

Guard T2: Now the boys are with in long range, and the gurad fires off 4 shots, and get 2 hits. One Orc is Struck. The guard now fire a second time at a -1 for second shot. They score 2 more hits, killing the Orc that was struck, and winging another.

Orc T2: Now it is time to fire the rockets. Mug Thug makes the first jump and there is no issues. The second jumper goes with no issues. The third jumper hits the trigger and and is launched 15" to his death. His body lands and also tries to take out Mug Thug and another. Lucky no one else was hurt this time. The 5th boy also jumped but popped, this time the template was placed on 4 boys. Two took wounds, 1 S, 1 W.

 The 7th jumper landed in the woods, and BOOM. This time the template went on a guardsman as well, but the Orc was the only one hurt or Dead. Now that they all made the jumps, it was time to shoot. The ended up shooting up 2 guardsman, and only wounding them.

So to sum it up I think the rules for the Rocket Pack will work, and add a Orcy level to the game. This weapon it not all that bad if you land in the mix of the enemy and get a good DOOM. Now POPPING before you take off well that is also very Orcy.

Solo VTT game using the USE ME 001 rules.

I decided to play a follow up to my last solo game based on the Orc VS the Guard. I also want to set this up  quickly so I did not follow any points. I started with a few squads of Guard, defending a checkpoint, and a pile of Orc advancing on them. The goal was to hold out till turn 8 and the Guard did.

Looking at the turn 1 photo you can see how the two armies are deployed. the two units that are hard to see are the crew weapons from the guard. Looking at the two block items in the center of the check point they are on top of the blocks.

Over view of the game at the end of this post.....

Turn 1: Guard: Moved the flank units out to the sides. gun crew units fired on the bike but did not hit.

Turn 1: Orc: All units moved forward, Bike took out one guard member from the center line.

Turn 2: Guard: Flank units head to the rocks for cover and to wait for the Orcs to close. Crew guns fire but no hits. Front ranks aim and fire, get lucky and take out a Bike.

Turn 2: Orc: Move forward, units that could fire do so with no effect.

Turn 3: Guard: Right flank PA unit fired on the Orcs for a winged. Left flank walker fire for no effect. Right crew weapon took out a bike. The rest had no effect.

Turn 3: Orc: Moved forward, both bikes and Deard's fried for no effect.

Turn 4: Guard: First turn for reinforcements, d6 need a 6 and got a 2, so no reinforcements this turn. Right flank PA  fired on the Orcs for 3 kills, and 1 struck. Left flank walker fires on the Orcs and gives two of the struck markers. Right guard sent a hail of bullets into the bikes and took out 3 of them. Right crew weapon took out a Dread, and the center guard did the same, but let one Dread winged. 

Turn 4: Orc: As all ways they moved forward.The remaining Dread charged the center guard. The Left flank fried on the PA unit and left two of them winged. Right flank fired on the walker for a struck. Second Dread unit fired on the left crew weapon, killing one of the crew, and winged the other. The center Orcs did the same to the right crew weapon team.

Turn 5: Guard: Reinforcement roll need 5 or 6, and got a 1. No reinforcements this turn. Front unit in HTH with the Dread and give it a a struck wound. Both crew weapons fire at reduced rate, with both missing. Right flank PA unit, two make their auto repair, then the squad opens up on the Orcs, with 4 kills. Left flank walker fires on the Orc line with 3 kill spread over two shots. Left guard move to cove center.

Turn 5: Orc: Keep moving forward. Center Dread in HTH with the the center guard, kill 2. the other Dread squad move to block line of sight, and get a better shot, end with 5 hit and not damage on the left guard unit.

Left flank move to HTH with the PA unit, for one kill. Right flank fire on the walker and take it out.

Turn 6: Guard: Once more the guard fail the reinforcement roll, and are left on their own. The center unit finish the job on the Dread with a HTH kill. Right flank PA HTH 1 kill 1 winged. Left guard move back and fire on the Dread unit, no hits. Left crew weapon fires at reduced rate, on the Orc with 2 killed, and 1 winged. Right crew same as the left fires n the Orc with 1 killed.

Turn 6: Orc: Dread fire on the left guard, as well as the Orc for a total of 3 kills.

Turn 7: Guard: Yeah they make their roll, and get a APC and a 6 man squad deploying to the left. APC opens on the Dreads for a kill, and the new squad fires on the Orcs for a kill and a winged. Left flank PA unit fires on Orcs for a struck. Right crew weapon get a kill, left crew weapon gets 2 kills. Remaining left squad fires on Dreads for a struck. Center fires on the Orcs for a kill.

Turn 7: Orc: Left flank HTH with PA get a kill (PA makes his auto repair to make him struck). Center Orcs get a kill on the Center guard. Dreads get 2 kill from the left guard. The right fires on the new guard squad for a kill.

Last Turn........

Turn 8: Guard: Right flank PA unit HTH with the Orcs get 4 kills. The APC get 2 kills and a winged on the Dreads. Right crew weapon fires and kills two Orcs. Left reinforcements get a kill. Right guard move to cover lift side of the check point. 

Turn 8: Orc: The remaining Orc from the center charges the guard, for a kill. Left flank get 2 HTH kills and a winged on the PA unit. The Right flank charged the reinforcements for a kill and a winged.

The End!

This is a cleaned up image of the battlefield at the end of turn 8. Here you can see the Orc's are out numbered, and will not last many more turns. Also the guard would roll for Reinforcements on a 1 for a d6, so they would get them.

Game overview:

Well I have fun playing out this solo USE ME game. I still some times miss items during the game, and for get a rule or two, but with hat in mind he is my overview. I played this game over two days, and yes I can save the game during play, and restore it as I go. This scenario was a simple defend and hold, and on turn 4 the Guard can roll for reinforcements. That did not go so well! 

To start the Guard was simply going to say put and defend it's position. I sent the PA (power armored unit) to the Right to cover the Orcs that would come that way, as well as sending the Walker. I learned the the PA are tough, and the walker got lucky, but need to be beefed up. Both units did their job well. The squads also did their job and held on very well. The big surprise to me was the two crew weapons. Both took big hits early, but after reviewing the rules they could fight with only one member alive. So both weapons fired, with one man and he was wounded, and they kept killing the Orcs. For me they are the over all winners of this battle.

Now the Orcs, they did their job, but I have made them to slow, and will alter that for my next battle with them. Also if they had a vehicle to transport them this would have changed the battle. the bikes, and Dreads were to soften the middle, allowing the flanks to come around for a pincer move. The Dammed Crew weapons held that option off. The HTH skills of the Orcs was spot on, and with more speed this battle would have been going their way not the Guards way. 

So tacitly I think I played both armies well, I just messed up on the Orc speed, and the Guard walker was way to weak.

So if you like this, and the fact that I used a Virtual Table Top let me know.

Noel.

Noel's Log 7-16-2012

Noel's Log for the week of 7-16-2012

Blog Reviews:
This week I wan to share three blog posts from my reading list. The first is from a fellow that likes Orcs in space just like me. Thorlongus has a blog called "The 15mm Plunge" and has posted a few photos of a great conversion he has completed. He took some fantasy Orcs, and put some AK47 on them and poof he ended up with some cool SciFi Orcs. Have a look.

Next Ken From Proxie Models has posted he created some 20mm round raised lip bases, that he is selling. I have been looking for just such for my single based 15mm troopers. You may know I have used buttons in the past, but would rather uses these. I have dropped Ken a line in hopes he will get back to me with more info.

Lastly here is a very cool Ork troop transporter. I will not build it in paper, but might give it a try. I was more going to take the idea, and build it out of plastic. This thing is like a WWII landing craft with Orky treads and guns. How cool is this????

Workbench:
Well I did not get a hole bunch done this weekend, as it was my weekend to work from home. Once a month I have to update all legacy computers at work. So I did work on some mounted Dwarfs, but did not take any photos. I also tried another cracked earth base, and failed. So I have set up a control strip and will try a bunch of different mixes and see if I can redo what I did the first time. Very sad, I was really hoping for a big wow out of this.

I did take some time yesterday to build some units for Fantasy Rules 3 in Universal Battle. This is a tool that will let you replace your minis, table, and other players and be any ware in the world with internet access. I have been a big fan of this software, but have a hard time explaining it to people. Picture your self playing your game. You have your army on the table in front of you, and your opponent has the same. Now lets take the minis and turn them into digital versions, lets do the same with the table, and the opponent is 100,000 miles away. Here is how you would play the same game with the same rules. This is a pay to play software. There is a free version that can be used, but you can not save any thing. I have found if you have one paid account and every thing is in that account Units and such, you can have people with free accounts join the game.

I think it is $14. for one year, and $29 life time. I started with the one year and went to the life time. Also there is a week, and month pass. Any way the $29. is a deal.

This example can be used to play ANY miniature game. You can use this for RRtK, Pride of Lions, For the Masses, HOtT, Mighty Armies From Rebel. Your imagination is the limit here. Just think if you could play your favorite game with some one across the country, or world. I bet you would play more. To make it better you just need a VOIP call service like Skype, or google talk.

Any way here are some of the units I built this weekend in the army creator.

First up are my Dwarfs. As you will see I was able to recreate just about every unit type I have in real lead.

Starting at the top Left:

Row1- Hand units, Flying maidens, Mounted , Battlewagon.

Row2- Hand units, Xbows, Mounted, same Battlewagon as above.

Row3- Hero, Shaman, General, Blista , Heavy Artillery.

Next are my Lizardmen.

Row1- Hand unit, Heavy mounted, Battlewagon, Large beast.

Row2- Pikes, Light mounted.

Row3- Flying cav, Small turtle battlewagon.

Lastly my knights.

Row1- Mounted, heavy mounted.

Row2- Hand units, Single Mounted chars.

Now I have more units to create and it is very simple to do so. I am also looking into creating a few simple videos on how to use this software for other game types. I have started but not sure how or if this will come to life. I have never really done videos, and editing. I have all the tools just not the know how.

So that is it for this week, and I hope you have a great one.

Please not I have shared the other content with out there permission. If this is an issue please contact me, and I will remove it at once.

May the die fall in your favor.

Noel

Yet Another Timely Post From ME!

Hi All,
I have been busy as all ways, and have only grabbed hobby time in small bits. I have been working on the TV room in our house. We have not been using our TV room, or Den for years, and have decided to make it a functional room for the hole family. So I ripped out the carpet and put down a new floor. Now the only ones who liked the carpet was the dogs, and they used it as a toilet.

Here is the floor half done. I was completely done after finishing this project.

Next on the mini front, I was able to pick up some new to me minis online. A great Guy was parting with some Khurasan units (unpainted), and some Old Crow vehicles. Here is the prime box I used. The tanks I did on another box in black.

I was able to offer him what he wanted, and they cam in this past week. I have all was wanted to get some of the Khurasan units as they are very nice looking, kinda like Haloish. But I was never sure how I would paint them up. So as I was moving crap around my desk at home I saw my copy of Battle Field 2142 (PC game) and I loved the way the units would have Orange on there uniforms. Also I do not buy into the need for camo in the future. With tech being as high as it is now, I do not need to really see you. So I opted for a simple OD green, with Orange added. I have painted and dipped them I just now need to do the bases, and come back with a mat or flat finish coat to dull them out. The APC is just painted and not finished yet, soon I will dip it!!!

So I do like them.
Next I have been reading the Micro scenarios from Gaven from 15mm UK, and I am going to play them all out in Universal Battle. I am going to change it up a bit, but putting Space Orcs up as the bad guys. I got this idea from a guy running the old RT At The Farm scenario, and I loved the AAR he did. So keep you eyes open for a bit on that set of games. Oh yes I will be using USE ME for the rules.

Orc's Drift After action Report.

This New YeTurn Seven:This New Year's weekend I decided to play out my idea of Rork's Drift using Orcsas Zulus, and Praetorian guard as Brits. I did not play a live game but used Universal Battle web based TTG game.
For the rule I use USE ME 001 from 15mm UK. I did a bit of tweaking to the rules as I felt they are needed, but that is the great part about USE ME they need house rules.

The Guard numbered around 90 with 9 squads 6 rifles, one HW, and a squad leader Elan 3. I had two, two man sniper units on the roofs Elan 4. I had to mortar teams Elan 3. Then a two man squad of leaders Elan 5. My house rules for the guard were, 3" template for the mortars, killed rolled 1D6, on a 4,5,6 the were walking wounded and fought from the Hospital at -1, no +1 from close range. Max of 10 can fight from the Hospital windows. What I forgot to use was grenades, and will be replaying this with them soon.

For the Orcs I started with 15 squads of 9 boys, and a Nob, all Elan 2 with Close Combat skill. They were armed with reg rifles only. Rule for the Orcs, I would place a new full squad of Orcs for every 10 Orcs killed. I would add a few squads of say just CC boys that move faster but only have side arm, and CC skill.

For the map I used the lay out of the mission from the Real Rork's Drift battle. I tool the liberty of tweaking the surroundings based on the limited terrain features in UB. For the Map see my earlier post.

For the game I use a way of dealing with the states of minis by turning them. Winged 1/4 turn, Struck 1/2 turn. Please note the HW guys are started at 1/4 facing.

Turn One:
Here is the screen shot of the end of turn one. This was just a movement tunr, as the rnages were to much, and I forgot to shoot the mortars.
Please click the image for a larger view.

Turn Two:
This turn I did not forget the mortars, and got a few of the green skins. Also the Guard at the barn were hit with some losses, that did not make the walking wounded. Two dead.

Turn Three:
The mortars finished a Orc unit, the snipers from the left fired center to start on the Orc. More guard dead from the barn. Also moved guard to support the barn.

Turn Four:
Once more firing damage is dealt to the Orcs but with little effect. They keep coming. Now if you look at the barn, and mid guard you will see they are taking hits. Fisrt 10 boy squad placed for the Orcs.

Turn Five:
The mortars keep dealing out damage but not enough. The Orcs are now at the wall, and working on CC attacks. The Orcs on the left are just waiting for there chance to charge.

Turn Six:
I was forced to sop the game after the guards play, so there are two photos. Both are just more of both sides dying. Also we see the first walking wounded make it to the Hospital to continue the fight. Also the Orcs got another two squads.

USE ME 001 from 15mm UKTurn Seven:
Orc are working on the bull horn attack. They are working the Barn flank, and now the far left flank is charging in.

Turn Eight:
First of we have a mortar epic fail. From the movie "We were Solders" "Get small" "Bring it in close".
Well I did and it went bad, but not to bad, as it only took out one guy. At this point I will say my die rolls on the mortars SUCKED, and most of them failed, and diverted. Some of the diverted shots were good, but most ended up with 1, 2 or no hits.

Turn Nine:
Here is ware I stopped playing and I got through the Guard turn. The Orcs are picking away at the Guard and would soon over run from the center, splitting the Guard forces. And the next turn a new Orc squad was coming.

Recap:
I do not expect the Guard to survive this game, but I did expect the Guard to produce larger damage.
I am going to replay this soon, but remembering the Guard grenades, and giving the Orcs their assault squads to run in and weaken the walls first. Also the snipers sucked!!!!! I might swap them out for another mortar team, and add in a Spec Ops team to cover the flanks. At any rate I enjoyed this game, even though I was forced to play it out over 4 days.
If you would like to know more drop me a line "noelvh AT Gmail D0T C0M".

Noel

Orc's Drift the game!

Hi All,
I have put a Universal Battle Map, and match together. I want to share the code you any one who would like to load it up and play it out. I have built the map based on the real lay out of the mission. Please note there is a fee to use UB with custom content. I think I paid $14.00 for one year, and it is $29.00 for life time. When my one year runs out I am going for the life time one. If nothing more that to play solo games.

Code: From the link copy the code and paste into the map part of the software.
Map Link

Also I have filled out the map with all the base units for a game.

For this match I have a starting army of Orcs at 150, and IG at 100. I would think after turn 2 roll a D6 for the orks, and add that many more 10 man units to the board. I do not see the IG winning but how long can they last. Another way would be from every 10 Orcs killed place a new unit on the board. This way the IG might have a chance. Also fill the hospital with walking wounded and fight from the windows (up to 10 men can fire from the hospital, and at reduced to hit). The hospital is the right most building part of the main group. The barn, and coral is to the far right of that. The mission is the long building closest to the Orc lines, with the store being to the far left.
Here is the file for the match.

I will most likely play this out as a solo game using the rules USE ME 001.
If you need help with UB or the files please let me know by email:
noelvh AT Gmail DOT COM

Enjoy.
Noel