Encounter Overview
Well this battle report took a while to get written up. The game took place back near the end of December, but I was tired of formatting these and hassling with the pictures so I let them sit for a while. Anyways it’s here now! The match was quite a bit of fun because of how much the central road changed the flow of combat.
I stuck to the smaller table, this time using a 3 foot square of terrain with 5″ deployment zones in the wilderness opposite the central road. I put up some blocking terrain near the middle to help give a “trench” feel of one posse having to charge out of cover and across the big gap.
The deadly posses involved were The Sunset Riders, which used a dedicated mounted member on a super fast Plains Runner (MV 12). The other posse were The Death Snakes, a smaller but extensively equipped posse with a deadly assassin leader. Who would win?
Note on images, all of them are clickable and will open the image at the full size. Apologies for any blurriness, my old camera is still having some issues.
Posse: The Death Snakes: 1/100 IP, 0/1000 ND, 2/3 Traits (not sure what happened there!)
My goal for the posse was to have a team of hard hitting, vicious combatants who could fight on their own. No weak links here. The Neotechnoist Leader named Ice (reminiscing of the TV show Gladiators) exemplified this with good AR and HP, deadly RMC, and a terrific 400kW Lever-Action rifle for sniping. I gave him the Knee Shot trait since enemies will undoubtedly move, and the +3 Damage from it would mean at least 8 damage if the rifle hit, and upwards of 10 before factoring in criticals. That’s good news for single shotting some basic enemies. Next up was Kallas who used a Double Barrel Shotgun and the Speed Reload trait to hopefully fire Both Barrels in a row with deadly effect. He’d be a bit shorter range, but again AR 1 and HP 12 should see him across the street. Jordana was next (you can thank the TV show Chuck for that one, since it had Jordana Brewster on it for a bit). I gave her a heavy 300kW Six-Shooter, which does a respectable 4A-3D and would be deadly if she used Fan the Hammer. Similar stats for her as Kallas, since I had IP to spare with only 3 humans. My dinosaur choice was made simply because I hadn’t tried the Allosaurus out in combat yet, and it’s such a dynamic toy that I wanted to give it a shot. So I made a Plains King Dinosaur named Klahr, who continued the “deadly weapon” idea with his 1A-7D Bite.
For strategy I imagined Kallas riding Klahr to bring his shotgun into combat faster. Jordana would head up the center, and Ice would snipe from the side. I didn’t expect Jordana to hold the entire enemy force by herself, but if I could focus fire all my attacks on a single target I had lots of confidence I would make one enemy drop per turn.
Ice (Neotechnoist Leader)
MV 4, AR 1, RMC 6, MMC 8, BRV 7, HP 10, Knee Shot I. 400kW Lever-Action Rifle.
Kallas (Duster)
MV 3, AR 1, RMC 7, MMC 8, BRV 6, HP 12, Speed Reload. Double Barrel Shotgun, Whiskey Drop.
Jordana (Duster)
MV 3, AR 1, RMC 7, MMC 8, BRV 5, HP 12. 300kW Six-Shooter, Whiskey Drop.
Klahr (Plains King Dinosaur)
MV 6, PMV D6, AR 2, MMC 6, DIS 7, HP 24.
Posse: The Sunset Riders: 1/100 IP, 0/1000 ND, 3/3 Traits
The focus of my posse was a lightning fast dinosaur with a deadly close combat rider, then a basic sniper leader and two cheap members that would form a simple firebase. First up was “Old Jim”, my Neotechnoist Leader who uses a deadly 400kW Lever-Action rifle. I also gave him the Rapid Fire trait to help make sure that 4D from the rifle lands on target. With an RMC of 6 he’d basically hang to one side and shoot at enemies crossing the road. Next up was my dinosaur and rider, named Limefly (after an old fast Battletech mech) and The Man in Black respectively. I tried a new approach of reducing the rider’s Movement to 1, which gave me some bonus IP to play with but would also mean he’d never dismount the dinosaur. Let’s just hope the ride never gets shot out from under him! I beefed up his HP and gave him a Motor Blade which is a nice versatile close combat weapon. His goal would be to hang on the flank opposite Old Jim and counter charge anyone coming across the road. Then came the twins, who were cheap members with cheap 100kW Six-Shooters. They’d bulk up the center and either defensively hold ground or advance across the road, depending on how the enemies looked. I used ancient Warhammer 40,000 Sisters of Battle figures for them, and then had tons of trouble remembering who was who once the bullets starting flying, haha.
Old Jim (Neotechnoist Leader)
MV 4, AR 0, RMC 6, MMC 8, BRV 7, HP 8, Rapid Fire I. 400kW Lever-Action Rifle, Small IRP.
The Man in Black (Duster)
MV 1, AR 1, RMC 8, MMC 6, BRV 6, HP 13, Bonus HP I. Motor Blade.
Cardella (Bandit)
MV 4, AR 1, RMC 7, MMC 8, BRV 6, HP 10. 100kW Six-Shooter
Kina (Bandit)
MV 4, AR 1, RMC 7, MMC 8, BRV 5, HP 10. 100kW Six-Shooter
Limefly (Plains Runner Dinosaur)
MV 12, PMV D10, AR 0, MMC 9, DIS 4, HP 10, Bonus MV I.
Deployment
For the roll off to decide table edges The Sunset Riders got the right side (west) and The Death Snakes got the left side (east). The Death Snakes had to setup first. As mentioned the deployment zone was 5″ from each table edge. There was no objective for the game, since the street would inspire enough strategy without artificial goals.
Death: My setup didn’t have a lot of depth or trickery to it, so I wasn’t worried about going first. As planned I put Jordana right in the middle behind the tall, line of sight blocking hill. She’d either advance with Klahr or summit the hill and provide covering fire. Speaking of Klahr I put Kallas on his back and the two of them were slightly north of Jordana, just beside the tall hill. They would be my spearhead, and what better weapon to break the enemy lines than a shotgun? Heck if it’s savage enough to make World War 1 Germans protest about it, it’s probably still fine for rushing an enemy position. Finally Ice hung out on the right side, just to provide some support for that flank in case The Sunset Riders aimed that way. His long range would mean basically full coverage of the street.
Sunset: Seeing a fresh, unhurt and unhurried force arrayed before me is always intimidating. Luckily I outnumbered The Death Snakes, but they sure sounded better equipped. First of all I placed Old Jim, and I decided to put him to the north (my right flank), since I honestly didn’t want to get into a shooting match with Ice (he had better AR and HP). Plus I could start laying down a withering hail of fire against Klahr, since I figured the dinosaur would be quick to advance. Unlike my little Limefly he couldn’t hide behind any hill on the board, so I imagine he’d be deep into the road in no time. Anyways then the twins were put in front of the thin, tall hill slightly back from the main hill adjacent to the road. Sorry for the poor description, but I thought it was necessary since the pictures don’t have much context. I put the Man in Black and Limefly behind that same thin hill, since I wanted to hop him cover to cover and then hopefully charge a flank or counter charge Klahr.
Turn 1 – Snipers and Streets
1a. Death wins Activation
Death: I wanted to get my simple, no brainer moves out of the way and save Ice until the end to react to the enemy if necessary. So I just bumped Jordana 3″ forward to the base of the stepping hill in front of her. She was still blocked from line of sight, but I could move her up soon if necessary.
Sunset: I matched The Death Snakes opening move by pushing Kina forward to the base of my own tall hill that was adjacent to the road. Looks like they might get into a shooting match soon, but I was outmatched by two hundred kilowatts of six-shooter firepower.
1b. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: Cardella mirrored Kina’s move and placed herself at the base of the same hill. Two 100kW Six-Shooters against Jordana’s single 300kW revolver should be interesting.
Death: Time to move in the spearhead forward! Kallas spurred his mount Klahr forward behind the tall hill. It provided some cover from the middle of The Sunset Rider’s forces, but Old Jim had a pretty clear shot (unfortunately). Not much I can do to prevent that with such a massive dinosaur.
1c. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: I have two Activations left since I outnumbered the enemy 2:1. First of all I had the Man in Black move Limefly 12″ forward to the cover of the second large hill, right beside the twins. He was in a perfect position to charge Klahr if needed. Then I had Old Jim duck into cover and fire at 10+ at Klahr. His 3A weapon paid off and I hit with 1 critical for 6 damage. Not bad for a ranging shot!
Death: Unlike Old Jim and his cowardly, hiding posse, I didn’t have range to anyone with Ice. I moved him forward and behind a tree on his same hill, hoping to close the gap a bit.
Turn 2 – Snipers and Shuffling
2a. Death wins Activation
Death: First of all I continued my slow advance with Jordana. She stepped up the slope leading to the tall hill, but didn’t summit yet as that would require a Run. I didn’t want to Run her into the open and not get a shot off. Instead I figured she’d safely wait in cover and move and shoot next turn.
Sunset: I was a bit worried that Cardella would be outranged by Ice if the flank came to a shootout, so I moved her to the right to add some extra cover between the two.
2b. Death wins Activation
Death: Klahr was shot already, so I wanted to get him across the road as soon as possible. No more skulking behind cover. I Ran him directly forward, with only a crater and some open turf between him and a tasty meal of Cardella.
Sunset: I wanted to keep Old Jim firing at Klahr. I moved him to the right up a slight hill, which afforded a tiny scrap of cover, but more importantly put Klahr into medium range. I shot and again got 1 critical hit for 6 more damage. Still not enough to Panic Klahr, but hey, he’s down to half HP already!
2c. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: I had a tough choice to make in terms of what Limefly would do. He could try to hold off Klahr in close combat, or try to swing around and reach Ice in close combat. I decided the twins and Old Jim’s firepower could handle Klahr, so I moved Limefly to the left so that he was behind
cover at the southern tip of the hill. Next turn he will be able to Run a massive 12+6″ and reach Ice in melee! I finished my turn by moving Kina to the base of the tall hill, since she had to climb up the stepping stone along the way. I was at medium range of Klahr, so I snapped off a shot. Another lucky roll with 1 critical for 3 measly damage.
Death: Klahr was getting pounded, but hopefully could survive another turn and reach the relative safety of melee. Plus Kallas was safe so far, and certainly wouldn’t have survived the trip across the street, so Klahr is serving his purpose. Anyways with Ice I could just barely see Limefly’s head peaking out from behind the hill. The dinosaur was small, but not THAT small. Ice only needed 8+ to hit (so nice when the target doesn’t have Armor), so I decided to activate Knee Shot to hopefully pour on some more damage. I hit with 1 critical for a total of 9 damage, which put Limefly down to 1 HP and caused him to Panic (slowing his massive 12″ Movement to D10!). If only I had hit with just one more attack I could have killed the dinosaur and effectively stranded The Man in Black. As it stands I don’t think the pair will be effective in rushing Ice anytime soon.
Turn 3 – Fangs and Terror
3a. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: Phew I lucked out winning Activation, since it meant I could have Limefly dive for cover before Ice got another shot off. I rolled for Limefly’s PMV and got a 2! So he basically went from 12″ MV to 2″ :( Anyways I shuffled him around until I was sure Ice couldn’t see him, or move to see him. The Panic was cleared after this, but I didn’t know what to do with the gravely wounded dinosaur now.
Death: With the cowardly Limefly burrowing even further behind the hill I left Ice for now and focused on getting Klahr into melee before he had to weather another round of fire. I moved him directly forward towards Cardella, then rolled to Charge the 3″ to reach her. I rolled enough movement and could reach Cardella, and Klahr viciously went to work on her, hitting with his 1 attack for 8 damage. Cardella passed her Bravery test, goodness knows how!
3b. Death wins Activation
Death: It was time for Jordana to stop hiding and start contributing. She moved into the open on top of the tall hill and fired at 9+ at Kina. The kick from her gun must have been too much as not a single shot hit!
Sunset: Kina couldn’t handle Jordana (and maybe Ice, depending on how he moved) alone, so she ducked back down the hill to the stepping stone. This put her into a Crossfire with Klahr, who was also at short range. She grabbed her revolver and held the trigger and Fanned the Hammer, which gave her a total of 6+2 attacks (thanks Crossfire!) at 9+. She only hit 3 times for a total of 4 damage. The upside is it knocked Khalr 2″ backwards (well, sideways), although he was still in melee with Cardella. Kina will need to Reload though since Fan the Hammer empties the gun (plus I rolled a 1, so it was worth Fanning the Hammer!).
3c. Death wins Activation
Death: Hmm if Klahr can hold out a bit longer he should be able to gobble up Cardella and then lock down Old Jim. I’d love to get Ice in to support, but was waffling on compromising his position or over-extending. As much as I hated to do it, I left Ice where he was, out of range.
Sunset: With Ice far out of range and Jordana blocked from the main fighting by a lot of terrain, I was in a pretty good position to continue my focus fire on Klahr. Cardella was part of the Crossfire against Klahr, and she didn’t have long to live. I decided to Fan the Hammer with her as well. She hit 3 times (2 of which were criticals!) for a total of 6 damage. More importantly the ability has Knockback 2″, so Klahr got pushed out of melee with her! I mean, I guess he could re-Charge next turn, but at least it removes the Melee penalty for Old Jim. Speaking of which the leader moved into a fresh Crossfire position with Klahr, at medium range. I decided to use Rapid Fire for a total of 7 Attacks. And then…I missed with all of them! I could have put down the dinosaur, but Old Jim had a bad case of the shakes or something!
Turn 4 – Titans and Reloads
4a. Death wins Activation
Death: I knew Klahr didn’t have much time left, so I handled him first. Instead of Charging I took a longer move route into combat with Cardella to get out of the numerous Crossfires. Then of course I had to miss with his attack on Cardella. At least it was just 1 Attack compared to Old Jim’s 7 that he missed, haha.
Sunset: Old Jim continued to pour fire into Klahr. He wasn’t in a Crossfire this time, but he still hit twice for 6 damage. Getting close to bringing down the dinosaur now.
4b. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: I wanted to save Limefly as my trump card, so I got a few housekeeping issues out of the way with this activation. Namely Reloading with Kina, who stayed where she was.
Death: Seeing the swirling melee and mess of laser blasts Jordana Ran down her hill to close the gap, and be a bit less exposed to future return fire.
4c. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: I had Cardella Reload, yep yep. Then The Man in Black swung Limefly into Klahr’s flank (man oh man 12″ is a long distance and really allows some surprises as opponents often underestimate the reach). Swinging his Motor Blade the rider hit 3 times (2 of which were criticals!) for a big 8 damage, which kills Klahr!
Death: Well that was bound to happen eventually, so I can’t say I’m surprised. In fact I was really impressed with Klahr’s survivability in general. After the first two critical hits when he crossed the street I was nervous, but he really soaked up those Crossfires and still got a hit in there. Plus Kallas is alive and well and at optimum shotgun range! Anyways I moved Ice to the edge of the hill, since he was starting to get a bit of a denied flank going on. Plus with Limefly moved over there wasn’t much that could hurt Ice (yet!).
Turn 5 – Shotguns and Fear
5a. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: Well with Klahr dead I had a new problem: Kallas! There’d be two barrels of hot plasma blasting all over the place pretty soon. Cardella was in melee with him, just because of where he dismounted, so she fired first. Bad rolling though, as I missed with everything
and rolled a 1, so she’d have to Reload!
Death: I didn’t expect Kallas to last long that close to so many enemy troops, so he got busy killin’. I used Both Barrels at medium range against Old Jim, rolling 4 Attacks. Kallas hit with 3 (2 of which were criticals) for a
massive 10 damage, which killed Old Jim outright! Now that’s an entrance. The Man in Black and Kina both Flee as a result of their Leader being killed.
5b. Death wins Activation
Death: Jordana continued to march across the street, firing as she went. She shot at medium range at 10+, trying to hit Cardella for the kill. Luck was with Jordana as she got 2 hits (1 of which was a critical) for 6 damage, which kills Cardella!
Sunset: Well, that was a terrible turn of events. Cardella was bound to die, but to have Old Jim EXPLODE to unexpectedly definitely hurt. Anyways Limefly had to Flee since his rider was a mess, so he headed very far from anything important. I wanted to keep him in cover at least, so I Ran him behind a large hill in the hopes of surviving another turn.
5c. Death wins Activation
Death: Unlike Old Jim, Ice was still alive, but he certainly wasn’t doing much. What started as not wanting to over-extend has now become a definite lack of shooting from him. To this end I Ran him towards the combat, trying to get into range for a few deadly potshots.
Sunset: Kina had to Flee after seeing Old Jim die, so she headed away from Kallas up a large hill. I fired at medium range at Kallas, his shotgun still smoking, but only hit once on 8+ for 2 damage.
Turn 6 – Firing and Revenge
6a. Death wins Activation
Death: Well it’s time to use Kallas’ trick. He activated Speed Reload to bring his Double Barrel Shotgun back online, then moved over to sight in on Limefly. The shot was at long range but he only needed an 8+ on 4 Attacks to kill. Kallas missed them all! I was really hoping for a double kill with him.
Sunset: Kina backed down the hill to get out of line of sight from Jordana and Ice, then fired at medium range against Kallas, hitting 2 times for 3 damage. I miss the bonuses of Crossfire and Fan the Hammer, haha.
6b. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: After barely surviving Kallas’ attack The Man in Black wanted to put an end to the deadly shotgun threat. He swung Limefly around and moved into melee with Kallas, hitting 3 times (1 was a critical) for 7 damage, which kills Kallas! Revenge, woo hoo.
Death: That was abrupt…perhaps not quite as abrupt as Old Jim, but still I expected at least another turn from Kallas. Anyways Jordana edged around the nearest crater and fired long range at Limefly. She missed with two 1s (haha). Ice was nearby so he used Yeehaw! to allow a single re-roll, which turned into a critical for a total of 5 damage against Limefly! The dinosaur crumpled to the ground. Jordana would still need to Reload due to her other bad roll of 1. Finally Ice could shoot (for once!) at close to his maximum range (21″ in this case) at 9+ against the now unmounted Man in Black, hitting once for 5 damage.
Turn 7 – Cat and Mouse
7a. Sunset wins Activation
Sunset: With most of the big movers and shakers dead the game would tend towards cleanup at this point. The Man in Black was slow as heck now that he was dismounted, but still feebly Ran 2″ towards the nearest hill.
Death: Ice advanced his full 4″ and gets Man in Black in his sights, shooting at long range at 9+. He missed all his shots, which was just delaying the kill on his incredibly slow opponent.
7b. Death wins Activation
Death: Jordana also moved forward which put the Man in Black in long range for her pistol. She outdid Ice in her shooting though, hitting 2 times (1 was a critical) for 5 damage, which had been reduced a bit because the Man in Black was in a scrap of cover.
Sunset: Kina spun around the edge of the cliff to shoot short range at Jordana. I didn’t want to have her needing to reload from using Fan the Hammer, so I stuck with a normal attack. It didn’t matter anyways as I missed with everything.
Turn 8 – Cleanup and Kills
8a. Death wins Activation
Death: Ice continued his barrage against the Man in Black, again at long range. He had better luck this time with 2 hits (1 of which was a critical) for a total of 7 damage, which kills Man in Black. Only Kina remains!
Sunset: Well there isn’t much left of my shattered posse. Kina and her trusty 100kw Six-Shooter might not do much, but hopefully they can at least kill Jordana. I fired at short range against Jordana, hitting once for 2 damage. After this Kina moved up the tall hill into the cover of the tree, since a commanding position might help a bit.
Death: Jordana spun and fired at short range against Kina, hitting 2 times for 4 damage as the vegetation absorbed some of the shot. Jordana moved to the bottom of the hill but didn’t have enough Movement to reach the top…yet.
Turn 9 – Not Over Yet
9a. Death wins Activation
Death: Calmly Ice lifted his rifle to kill Kina, needing only a 7+ to hit. Maybe the wind changed, or maybe a solar flare interfered with his vision, but he missed with everything! Looks like this is going to overtime, haha. Next Jordana Ran up the tall hill to be face to face with Kina, although not quite in melee combat.
Sunset: Intent on showing the cocky Jordana what happened to the last person at short range, Kina Fanned the Hammer for 4 hits (1 of which was a critical) for 6 damage, which causes Jordana to Flee! Kina moved back down the hill to deny Ice his shot.
NOTE: I forgot about the 2″ Knockback with Fan the Hammer, which would have sent Jordana sailing off the cliff
This is a textbook case of old vs new paintjob. I must have been 16 when I painted Kina (left) whereas I just painted Jordana (right).
Turn 10 – Stunning and Surviving
10a. Death wins Activation
Death: Jordana is Fleeing, but is technically too slow to Flee backwards down the tall hill. The hill is 2″ high so she’d need MV 4, but she only has 3. So instead she is Stunned! She decides to just stay where she is. Kina had ducked behind the hill so Ice no longer had a shot. He Ran forward to try to get into line of sight.
Sunset: Kina is a real trooper, and I wish with all my heart she had Old Jim’s 400kW rifle instead of her measly pistol! Anyways she needs to Reload, but instead of doing that Kina moves up the tall hill into melee with Jordana! She uses the Natural Weapon “Push”, which hits for 1 damage, and ALSO applies a 2″ Knockback that sends Jordana off the cliff! She takes a further 2 damage from the fall and is down to 1 HP. The downside is Kina is all alone in Ice’s line of sight now.
Turn 11 – Gotcha!
11a. Sunset wins Activation (with a roll of 11 to 1!)
Sunset: Winning Activation is great since it means I can (hopefully) get into cover. I moved Kina back down the hill and Reloaded her revolver.
Death: I moved Jordana forward to the base of the hill and had her take her Whiskey Drop, which recovered 2 HP so she’s at 3 HP. Ice moves around the hill into line of sight with Kina…no hiding from the inevitable! He fires and hits 2 times for 6 damage, which finally kills Kina!
After Action Report
Death: Pulled out a victory! That was such a tense back and forth battle. When Klahr died I’ll admit I had my doubts, but then Kallas swung it back by killing Old Jim, and subsequently dying soon after in melee with Limefly, but then his killer died, and so on. Definitely could have gone either way at a lot of points. During the game I felt that I didn’t use Ice nearly enough. I was too nervous to move him closer, but as soon as Old Jim was dead I could have been owning the long distances. Instead I had to spend (waste!) turns running him forward. Otherwise everything worked okay. Klahr did well in bringing Kallas into combat, and doing a bit of damage to boot. It’s always a toss up between being the aggressor and just playing defensive. I did take more fire than I would have just sitting in my “hill bunker” as The Sunset Riders did, but at the same time I got to dictate the flow of the game whereas my opponent just had to react to my moves. Anyways all in all I felt the Posse did a solid job, and the high cost weapons paid off very well. I can only imagine what would have happened if Kina didn’t have a cheap knockaround gun but a REAL weapon.
Sunset: Ugh how could I forget the 2″ Knockback on Kina’s Fan the Hammer against Jordana near the end there?! Not saying that was my biggest mistake, but it certainly is the freshest. I think wimping out with Limefly hurt me. He did okay in the backlines once Klahr arrived, but that was more due to The Death Snakes inability to kill Limefly than my own tactical genius. If I had committed him earlier I might have slowed Klahr before he (and Kallas!) really reached my lines. I guess I can’t be too much to blame since he Fled after taking a shot from Ice, so I had to react to that. Anyways everyone did okay. I would have liked Old Jim to survive longer, but who could have foreseen that much damage at once? I’m waffling on whether the twins were a worthwhile investment, since their 100kW Six-Shooters were hitting reliably (and Fan the Hammer + Crossfire rocked!) but they didn’t do a ton of damage, and certainly seemed like an easy “threat” to ignore.
Complete Turn Log
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I’ve been making some minor changes to the current rules, and as I’ve mentioned in the past this will eventually result in a v1.2 release of the Dinosaur Cowboys rulebook. The most recent change was adding two new classes of Dinosaurs, a $400 herbivore (to match the Raptor) called “Fin” (aka Dimetrodon). The second big class change was reworking King to be Tyrannosaurus specific, and cost $700 (to match the Horned dinosaur which also costs $700), and then I made the old King class into “Terror” and had it focus on the Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus, etc. So basically more options for the “in between” priced dinosaurs.
Dinosaur Cowboys - Tabletop Skirmish Game 