Salvage Run: a 2013 5150 game.

This is a 5150 AAR I did in 2013 and put up in the Yahoo group. I figured I'd add it to my blog, even though the rules are outdated.
Salvage Run

The following is a solo game using the Xenoform part of 5150, and various interpretations from earlier Two Hour Wargames rules.

Planet New Iberia is the scene of sporadic combat between humans and bugs.  All has been quiet for several months now.  The mining outpost of Wheel Leisure has been abandoned since bugs were found in the lower mines.  Everyone left in very hasty way, so lots of valuables were left behind.

Bailey Mull had talked to enough drunken miners at the spaceport bar to realize that there were lots of goods in Wheel Leisure ripe for the pickings.  Her good looks and free hand with drinks brought some very exact info as to what she could expect to find for salvage.

Her ship, Grifter, had lain on a rocky ledge for 3 days as she and her crew scouted out Wheel Leisure for any signs of bugs.  For 3 days, there was nothing but the wind to disturb the dirt streets.

She had six crew in three vehicles to head to the warehouses on the far side of town n The crew consists of :

Bailey Mull: Rep 5, Hard Armor, Assault Rifle, Stone Cold

Froggy Hunter:  Rep 5, Assault Rifle, Slow

Al Scramuzza:  Rep 4, Assault Rifle, Hard As Nails.

The Ferret: Rep 4, Flamethrower, Brawler

Izzy Knot:  Rep 4, Grenade Launcher, Medic

Natalie Goodbody: Rep 3, Pistol, Ambidex- terous

Juliette Street: Rep 2, Machine Pistol, Runt

They were in three vehicles.

The lead vehicle was a Teixeira T35, an armored half-track, with a heavy machine gun in an enclosed turret, and a flexible mount light machine gun.  The T35 was cobbled together on a mid-tech world, and due to being just good enough to do the job, and low cost, was as common as a Volkswagen beetle was in the 20^th century. The vehicle was driven by Natalie, with Al riding shotgun, and Bailey in the turret.

Next was a pickup truck, driven by Izzy, with The Ferret as co-pilot.

Tail-end Charley was occupied by Sadie,a Salvage Dog halftrack with a lightly-armored cab and a flexible mount light machine gun.  It’s driven by Juliette, with Froggy riding shotgun.

Bailey led the parade down the main (only) street in Wheel Leisure until a bug hole opened up and out poured a mix of Big Ones and Little Ones to the tune of one dozen.

Bailey immediately let rip with the HMG and killed one Big One.  More bugs filled the holes in the ranks, and Bailey kept shooting, knocking out a total of 2 Big Ones and 2 Little Ones.  And then 4 Big Ones jumped on the T35, blocking the driver’s vision, and too close for the turret gun to bear.  As the T35 came to a halt, Izzy gunned the pickup around the bugs and headed for the warehouse.  Sadie lumbered up, and Froggy hosed the T35 with LMG fire, taking care of 3 bugs.

Bailey hoses the bugs that didn’t make it to the T35, and takes out 2, and tells Natalie to run over another 2.  She misses.  A Big One charges Sadie, but Froggy guns him down.  Meanwhile the last Big One on the T35 strikes frantically at it, but can’t damage the T35.  Since the T35 is impervious to LMG fire, Froggy takes care of the last Big One on board.

Up the street, Izzy and The Ferret jump out of the pickup and enter the warehouse.

The T35 takes care of the last Little One, and heads up the street.  Sadie inexplicably hangs back.  (Juliette’s lousy Rep 2 plays havoc with continuing activation)

While Izzy and The Ferret start looting the warehouse, the T35 turns around and comes up next to Sadie.  Bailey opens the hatch and screams blue murder at Juliette, who lurches forward.  Natalie keeps the T35 fender to fender with Sadie, as Bailey makes interesting comments as to the family history of Juliette, while the 2 vehicles make their way to the warehouse.

Bailey leaps out of the T35, and jerks Juliette out of Sadie, and continues to chew on her, while everyone else loads Sadie, glad not to be Juliette.

Natalie goes to check the fuel tanks across the street, and the pickup starts back to the Grifter.

Sadie is loaded, and Natalie moves the T35 to the tanks to fuel up.

Suddenly 14 bugs pop up between the crews and the way out.  The pickup is long gone, and going faster.  Only Bailey sees them.  She jumps back into the T35, and yells at Natalie to get in and drive.  Sadie rounds the back of the abandoned hauler, and Froggy spots the bugs and takes out 1, and runs out of ammo 

Natalie spins the T35 and Bailey takes out 1 bug.  Froggy reloads.

Bailey fires again, and knocks 1 out.  Froggy takes out 2.

The T35 and Sadie move slowly forward and fires.  Bailey takes out 1, and click, click, is out of ammo.  Froggy misses and is out of ammo.

Natalie guns the engine as Bailey reloads and Sadie lumbers forward as Froggy reloads.  But while they are unloaded, a Little One leaps on the T35, and another jumps on the front of Sadie, and attempts to get Froggy, who gives him a haymaker on jaw, with no effect.

Both the T35 and Sadie move out, with bugs clinging to them.  Froggy and the bug spar ineffectively.

As they roll forward, a sudden lunge from the bug kills Froggy.  The bug continues to slice and dice, and Sadie rolls to a halt, as Juliette grabs for her machine pistol.  The T35 continues on, unaware of what is going on behind them.

Bailey opens the hatch and kills the bug on the T35 with her assault rifle.  Only then does she realize that Sadie is halted, and can only watch as the bug slips into Sadie’s hatch and kills Juliette.

The T35 spins around, with Bailey firing with her assault rifle, since the HMG is too low to have any chance of shooting down the hatch, and might damage Sadie. 

As they pull alongside, she finally pink mists the bug.  She sends Al to get Sadie running so they can get out of Dodge with all of the goodies.  Al cleans out enough goo in record time, and Sadie lurches forward.

As they pass the only 2 story building in town, the second story door swings open and a young voice yells, “Hey, don’t leave me, you salvage skanks,” and Niki the Twister sprints down the stairs, onto the T35, and into the co-pilot’s hatch that Al left open. 

Bailey screams at her, and Natalie says they can’t leave her; she’s just a kid.

Bailey groans, “And you thought the bugs were trouble?”

Even in a vehicle, bugs can give you trouble.  The bugs were very unfortunate in activation rolls, or the game might have gone differently.  There was also a bug activation 45” off the table, so it was ignored.  The humans were drawn with the ATZ NPC table, with appropriate weapons for the figures I had.

The Wounding of Egbert the Eveready by Ase the Average

     I finally have just enough Vikings and Saxons to put on a battle between 2 persons of Medium Social Standing in Two Hour Wargames Captains and Kings. So without further ado, let's introduce the two sides.  First is Egbert's retinue. All the figures are Wargames Factory.

And now, Ase's retinue. The hirdsmen and thralls are Wargames Factory. The Freemen are Gripping Beast Dark Age Warrior plastics, and the berserkers are Old Glory, Hasslefree, and Wargames Factory.

Egbert was anxious to get at the Vikings, so he moved forward quickly.  The Vikings proved no pikers, and ran at the Saxons, breaking their formation. They were unable to close, and the beserkers ended up short of the bows, who sent arrows their way.

As the archers' fire was having a bad effect on the beserkers, Egbert moved his troops behind them. The beserkers lost one figure to the arrows, but 2 more fled. Some berserkers.

The archers ran to the left flank of Egbert's retinue, knowing they were no match for anyone with a shield and melee weapon.  Egbert charged the remaining two berserkers, and slew them, though he lost a man in the process.

The Saxon Weak Fyrd charged the Viking Freeman, probably not a wise decision, but they are Ferocious. The Saxons lose a figure, and 2 more run away. The Vikings, of course, lost a single figure.

The Saxon Quality Fyrd charge the Viking Thralls, and lose 2 to the Viking 1.  Things are not going so well for the Saxons.

The Viking Thrall continue their melee with the Saxon Quality Fyrd, and come off best again, with 3 Saxon casualties to their one. The Viking Freemen continue the carnage on the Weak Fyrd. Ase finally gets his hirdsmen into the Saxon thegns. The Saxons lose two to one, but one of theirs is Egbert himself, wounded and out of the battle, regardless of what it says in the picture below.  This brings all advance from the Saxons to a halt, but none break.

The Saxon Weak Fyrd are destroyed, but the Viking Freemen turn tail and run.

The Viking hirdsmen and Saxon Thegns continue their fight with equal casualties. The Quality Fyrd fare poorly against the Viking Thralls.

The Quality Fyrd and the Viking Thralls continue to trade blows with equal effect.  The Saxon bows move to the Viking right flank.

The Thralls wipe out the Quality Fyrd, but the Saxon bows now have no reason not to shoot at the Thralls, and kill 2.  The rest run!

In what was the center, the hirdsmen continue to deal damage to the thegns, but their nerve also breaks, and the remaining Vikings run!

The Saxons win the day with 2 thegns and 8 bowmen.  

In Conclusion:

I gave the berserkers Rep 5 AC 2, Ferocious.

I forgot to roll for Egbert. He was wounded and not killed. If a melee unit causes an enemy unit to run, they pursue.  In both cases here, the Viking units destroyed the units, and had to take the in melee test. Both were below half, and both failed by 1d6 and routed.The Saxon thegns could have pursued the Vikings, but with only 2 figures against 5, it wouldn't have been wise.

A work about the figures.  I've been building Wargames Factory for a while.  I like the separate arms and weapons. The Gripping Beast Dark Age Warriors are ok.  They only have 5 different figures, two of whom seem to be hunched over with appendix attacks. You must carefully consider what heads you put on those figures, or the shields will come nowhere near the figure's left hand, and will have to be glued to the beard and skirt of the figure.  The GB figures are a little crude, with only pouches on one figure. The shields are not to the standard of most others, having no fasteners to hold the edge binding on. There are heat cracks, quite small, on the backs of some. There are no helmeted heads, and only one head with a fur-lined cap.  There are none of the Phrygian caps, though they are shown on the box art.

The Wargames Factory spears are weak.  I am now using plastic broomstraws in their place.  They must be superguled in. Solvent glues won't work. All things said, I far prefer them over the Gripping Dark Age Warriors.  Gripping Beast Thegns are fine, and of a higher quality.