Ion Hammer!

 

Hello, humans!

It's November now, which means it's time for Nordic Weasel Games' "NovHammer" event.  What does that entail?  Playing Squad Hammer and it's variants!  That's it!  Pretty easy, right?

To start it off, my first go at it is some good old Squad Hammer Core with my Ion Age minis.  The scenario I've envisioned is several Prydian units trying to defend a war-torn area of a city from Khanate (mostly Malig) forces.

Here are the stat cards I'm using.  First, the Prydians.

And then the Khanate

Here's an overhead shot of the initial setup:

Ooh! Satellite imagery!

Squad Hammer Core is pretty easy to use.  I decided that I wanted a scenario of one side holding the field against an enemy force.  I could have just had a fight to the death, but I like objectives, so I set up some objective markers, mostly by the rules.  To reflect the scenario, I put two Supremacy objectives near the center line.  They're worth 1 point every turn that they're not contested.  I also put one at the attacker's rear to encourage them to watch their backs.  Then I added three Security objectives more or less midway between the attacker's home edge and the table center line.  These are worth 2 points if uncontested, but only once.  These will give the attackers a little something for attacking an entrenched defender, and also might lure the defenders out of position.  We'll see.

Round 1:

The  Khanate is on the offensive, so they'll go first.

They roll 2D6, keeping the higher die, for Orders and get [2,3] = 3 Orders!

The Khanate wants to get those Security objectives, so they send the Orb Bike racing after one with a Move Out.  The Orb Bike is fast, but unstable.  Luckily, they (barely) pass the test and the bike zooms toward the objective.

Vroom! Vroom!

The other Security Objective is in the near the center, and the Malig Grenadiers Move Out toward it.  This seems like a good time to try the HQ special ability.  They pass their test and give their Order to the Grenadiers, who finish moving into cover, and fire at the Prydian Champion.  They need a 6+ to hit, but the Champion is Armored and just outside of Firefight range, so we'll call it an 8+, which they make exactly, blasting the Champion for 4 damage!

First blood!  [Goblin cackling]

Now it's the Prydians' Turn.  They get [3, 5] = 5 Orders.

The Prydians need to stop the Khanate from locking down those Security Objectives, so they send the Duxis in to hack at the Grenadiers.  Normally, when an enemy charges you, you take one damage automatically.  However, these Grenadiers are in cover, so I choose to ignore that damage if my opponent agrees (which he does, because he's me).  I think this ought to be a standard rule, personally.

The Grenadiers get a 6 and the Duxis gets a 5.  However, while both sides are made for close combat, the Grenadiers are defending from cover.  On the other hand, the Duxis is well armored, and a vehicle to boot.  So we call it a tie.  Both sides take damage.  The Grenadiers probably ought to run, but they don't want to lose that objective, so they fight again on a tie.  This time it's 4 vs. 5.  The Grenadiers take the difference (2) in damage and retreat.

[Giant lightsaber noises]

With plenty of Orders left, the Champion Regroups (healing 2 damage) and the Retinue fires at the Orb Bike, but the bike is too far and too fast and their shots just plink off of the big metal sphere.

Pew! Pew! Pew!  Plink! Spak! Ping!

With one Order left, it's a long shot down the road to hit the Orb Bike, but heck!  They did it!  And for 6 damage, too!

Sharpshooters?

That's the end of the first round, and the Duxis has secured 2 Victory Points.  The Prydians also get two points for their Supremacy objectives, and the Khanate gets 1 for the same.

Prydia: 4 vs Khanate: 1

Round 2:

The Khanate gets 5 Orders this round, and two of them are spent missing the Prydian rifles trying to get onto that building.  Nonetheless, I rolled so poorly for everyone involved.  I don't want to feel sorry for the villains, but come on!  Still, one of the Overlords takes just 1 point of damage, and the second Overlord eventually tags the enemy for 2 points.

The Orb Bike falls back onto the objective to Defend, and the Grenadiers regroup.

The Prydians now have 5 Orders.

I'm wondering if maybe I'm making poor choices for the Khanate.  But then again, the dice have a lot to say about it.  Three attacks at good range and they still couldn't take out that one squad of rifles?

Anyway, those same rifles now move up the ladder to grab the next Security objective.  Could I have gotten any of the Khanate guys in close enough to block them?  I don't know.  Oh well.

The Champion moves around and fights the Orb Bike.  It's ties all the way down, but the bike is pretty hurt and blows up after the second exchange.

"I take no joy in this." [stifled chortle]

The third Order goes to the Duxis who moves up, but not enough to get anywhere.  So the Retinue gives it an Order and it charges forward and OBLITERATES the Grenadiers.  It also manages to contest the Supremacy objective, too.  I think the Khanate's only hope now is to start killing thing fast!

I guess they shouldn't have brought
grenades to a sword fight?

The fifth Order is wasted, as I don't want to move the other Prydians off of their objectives.

The Prydians score another Security objective, and block the Khanate's Supremacy objective, and also manage to kill two enemy units!  Here's the score:

Prydia: 4 + 6 vs. Khanate: 1 + 0

Yeesh.  That's just sad.

Round 3:

Khanate Orders: 4

This is what I'm talking about!  Three of the Khanate attacks hit with 10s and 11s, but then rolled 1s for damage.  Now, the enemy counter-attacks also rolled 1s, so I guess silver linings or whatever?  The fourth attack rolled snake-eyes.

A comedy of errors.

Prydian Orders: 4

The rifles and the Champion spend their Orders regrouping, with the Champion regrouping a second time thanks to the Retinue's motivational speech.  The Duxis doesn't regroup, but instead chases the Khanate HQ unit away from its Supremacy point!

"This is MY house now!"

Let's see...

Prydia: 10 + 3 vs. Khanate: 1 + 0

Round 4:

Khanate Orders: 4

Finally, a little luck (even though it took 3 nearly suicidal attacks to do it).  The stupid Duxis goes down!  The HQ, an Overlord and finally a Rifle squad chipped away at it, ending with a 6 damage hit from the Rifle squad!  A moral victory, at least. :)

The Maligs should get over there and teabag
it now before it gets too hot.

The Khanate Heavy Weapons squad once again missed from short range and got shot back at by the Prydian rifles, who did 2 more damage to them.

Prydian Orders: 6 (of course)

This.  This is the kind of ridiculous luck I'm talking about.  The Prydians have 6 Orders and really nothing to do but hang back and soak up the Victory Points while waiting for the Khanate to come for them.  But, you know, might as well take a couple of pot shots across the table.

"12!" "5!" "10!" "6!"

The Champion and the Retinue, from long range inflict a combined 11 damage on the poor Khanate Rifles.  Embarrassing.  The other Prydians Defend for lack of anything better to do.

The Prydians are suddenly still, shocked at
the tragic gore they have inflicted.

Prydia: 13 + 3 vs. Khanate: 1 + 1

Round 5:

This might be the last round.  We'll check after this one is over.

Khanate Orders: ...

You know what, never mind.  If there was an orbital strike that took out every single Prydian unit right this instance, the Khanate still wouldn't be able to catch up to 16 points in the time available.

The Khanate concedes.  Admittedly, they had awful dice luck, but maybe I should have had them move more aggressively towards the objectives?  I don't know.  I don't think they ever had enough orders to really make a go of it.

It sounds like I'm complaining a lot here, but that's just because I tend to side with the underdog and I worry that maybe I'm not playing them well.  To look at it another way, the heroic Prydians defended their city from space goblins!  Yay!

So that's Squad Hammer Core.  It's a great game, especially when playing with friends.

Next: Probably some in-development Squad Hammer giant mech combat rules!  Stompy, stompy!

You can get Squad Hammer Core - People's Edition HERE!

(Oh, look!  At the time of writing, it's Pay What You Want!)

Ĝis la revido!

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E