A Return to the Artes System

Anyone wanna buy me a set?

I finally managed to get in the third and final campaign game of the current set of campaign games.  It's been some time coming.  After taking a pair of butt-kickings, things like real life and Adepticon got in the way.  I was on point for scenario design, and decided to give my buddy a chance to wreck my lab.  We had access to the Zone Mortalis board, so that seemed to be a perfect setting.

I took five Lone Wolves in power armor, while my friend took seven Plague Marines with various weapons.  The objective would be protecting or destroying one of three different board exits based on your predilection for evil.  As an additional objective, the Plague Marines wanted to leave as little of the lab untouched to allow the zombie apocalypse to continue to build. 

Because of the small size of the mission, we were actually able to get in three of these games.  It turns out that despite the close confines of the board, range is key for the Plague Marines.  The first two games, my opponent took meltaguns and could not do damage fast enough to stop the Lone Wolves before they got into combat.  We found that once that happened, the amount of attacks the Wolves put out usually produced a few rends per turn, while the Plague Marines lower initiative and lack of ability to bypass armor meant they just couldn't stand up. 

Double tapping plasma doesn't end well

In the third game, my opponent switched to plasma guns, allowing him to dominate the longer hallway on the left hand side of the board.  This pinned some of my forces back in the rear of my end.  I ended up losing one of my guys outright to shooting, while also going into combat with wounds off of two more.  Meanwhile, I got drawn into combat in the center of the board and could not extract myself fast enough.  I seemed to come up small in a couple key rounds, allowing some of the Plague Marines to slip by and start wrecking objectives. 


Overall, I was pleased with the scenario.  The forces actually balanced out rather well, and I'd love to have another crack at the plasma gun version of the force.  The initiative shifts back to my buddy, and I think we are also moving to another setting and set of forces.  I'm glad to be continuing the campaign and looking forward to more narrative games.