Topic: Rules for a Necromunda Campaign

[Underhand]

...or you could use him as some type of human shield?

That's what is frustrating.  I have been using him as a human shield for Jacob (my Heavy Stubber guy), and he's actually not completely useless in that role - he has True Ghrit, high initiative and decent leadership, so he doesn't fall off the side of buildings when he gets shot, and he tends to get back up pretty quickly when he gets knocked down.  The problem is, that playing that role means that he needs to be effective at range, which means that Gunslinger and his extra attack are useless (pistols are much, much more effective at close range).  I can't really use him as a close combat fighter either, because his legwound slows him down too much to make effective charges, or dart between cover.  He's a lemon.

Those grenades were bad, and you're losing room to maneuver.  Is it feasible to retake the spore cave, or attack his gambling den? And can Orlock  gangers travel through Golaith turf to attack you? Because, then you could attack the territories without the threat of a double teaming.

You are correct - the Orlocks can't move through Goliath territory - my plans are to keep attacking Octavian's more southern territories to prevent the double teaming, which rules out the Spore Cave.  I'm targeting the Settlement first to avoid spreading myself out like I did previously.

>Don't die!
Isn't the VanSaar Guys your allies? If so, if you can survive long enough, he can do some serious colon-punching to that allience.

The Van Saar guy isn't my ally (in fact I talk to him probably less than anyone else in the group), but he's attacking the Orlock player everyturn at the moment anyway to try to take back the settlement he lost (albeit ineffectively).    He wouldn't be a very strong ally anyway - his gang is small, and he just isn't aggressive enough to be a genuine threat.  Hopefully he might kill or injure a few Orlocks over the next few turns and make it easier for me to fight them off.

[Mr Joe Moose]

This is the best campaign thread I have read in a very long time.  You've kept me entertained through a slow day at work today, and for that I thank you.  Please keep us updated, I can't wait to hear more.

[Farceseer Syranaul]

Great campaign.  You should ask the other players to keep a record of what they are thinking throughout the campaign , and post it here.

I'd keep using Amon "The Lemon" where you have him, and wait until another suitable replacement partner matures for Jacob.  At this point it seems that he would be a good partner for Isaac (the Heavy with a flamer).  Then have this guy see some ground work.  Actually, this guy would be a fair partner for any of your flamer specialists, or as a mentor to the newer members of the gang.

Do hand flamers count as pistols?  What does Killer Rep and True Grit do specifically?

[crew4man]

I've been anxious for the next edition. You tantalize underhand, you tantalize.

[Underhand]

Thank you gentlemen, apologies for the slowness in updating, but turn 5 was a big one, and I'm going to have to break it up a bit.

I'd keep using Amon "The Lemon" where you have him, and wait until another suitable replacement partner matures for Jacob.  At this point it seems that he would be a good partner for Isaac (the Heavy with a flamer).  Then have this guy see some ground work.  Actually, this guy would be a fair partner for any of your flamer specialists, or as a mentor to the newer members of the gang.

I agree - a multishot pistol guy would be good as mid range support - which is something I've lost a bit of, now that I'm not using shotguns.  It's just a shame his stupid fat ass is taking up space in the backfield at the moment.

Do hand flamers count as pistols?  What does Killer Rep and True Grit do specifically?

They do - so they are usable in hand to hand combat to provide a bonus attack, but they automatically run out of ammo after a single ranged blast.

Killer Rep makes the user cause fear when he charges the enemy - making them likely to run away if he charges them (which isn't necessarily a good thing if the guy with killer rep would be likely to beat them in CC).  It's probably the lousiest Ferocity skill, but it can be used to great effect in certain circumstances - if the targeted enemy is already in close combat with another model, then it's a free hit.  And Necromunda isn't like 40k - most models only have leadership 7, and a lot will have leadership 6.

True Grit makes a ganger more likely to get back up after they are shot.  In Necromunda, when a model gets wounded, it either takes a flesh wound (certain stat penalties, but can keep fighting), goes down (can't do much, but crawl away), or goes out of action (removed from play).  Any model who remains down at the end of the turn, tests at the end of the turn to see if they remain down, recover to a flesh wound, or go out of action.  A model with True Grit is much more likely to recover to a flesh wound.



Here's the map at the end of Campaign Turn 4:

Cawdor:  The Hand of Redemption
Escher:  Gothika
Delaque:  Black Coats
Van Saar:  The Second Stringers
Orlock:  The Mortlock Cartel
Goliath:  House Bloodaxe

Campaign Turn 5:

Campaign turn 5 started with Joffrey going after the Delaque player's Old Ruins again.  The loss of the Vents has really counted against the Delaque player, who  has been relying on them to place his shooters in advantageous positions.  Joffrey has also managed to get several Agility upgrades which are helping him get into close combat much more easily than on previous turns. 

Joffrey also spent the money to hire a Bounty Hunter to help him out.  That definitely swung things the way of the Escher, and the Delaque lost their Old Ruins, 9 guys to 3.

The Bounty Hunter (Tex Keel) captured one of the Delaque sharpshooters (a Marksman with a bolter), and so there was some negotiation about the ransom.  Joffrey was a real tool about it.  While negotiating the terms of release, he actually picked up the Delaque model and was turning it over in his fingers as if the off-table abstract notion of having captured an enemy gang member somehow entitled him to possession of the actual model.  What a mindless fleshy pawn of the Illuminati.

Anyway, the Delaque didn't have the money to pay, so they went for a rescue mission, which was exactly what Joffrey wanted, since the Delaque aren't normally all that well suited to them, as they usually require getting up nice and close to the enemy (Ambush is not as good a skill as one might think).  Unfortunately for Joffrey, the Delaque flamer specialist managed to pick up the Hip Shooting ability just recently, and so he's now able to run and shoot, and was able to make  (nicely cooked) mince meat of the Escher guards.  The Delaque leader killed the Bounty Hunter too.

Joffrey was unfazed by the loss.  He knows he's going to eventually grind the Delaque player down, and he's not shy of telling everyone in the store.  I'm pretty sure that the Delaque player is very close to punching him. 

A fight between those two would only go one way.  Joffrey looks like Joffrey, whereas the Delaque player bares a certain resemblance to the guy who played Gannicus in the second Series of Spartacus.  Here's hoping.

The Van Saar went after the Orlock settlement again, and got beaten back pretty comfortably. 

Also - When the Van Saar player came back from lunch, he found that some funny beslubberer had gone and painted the hands and face of his leader brown.  I didn't know it had happened, because I had been outside meeting Joffrey's mum (more of that later), but we both reentered the store at the same time, and there was this weird vibe, like everyone was waiting for something to happen.  It took about 5 minutes for him to notice the new paint job - he saw me notice it.  He gave away absolutely no reaction.  He kept the stiffest poker face I've ever seen.

I don't know who did it, but I'm guessing it was the store manager, since the paint job was pretty good, and he's the only person in there that I've seen with non caucasian painted models.  Funny stuff.

[Lonewolf]

Maybe its time to stop that campaign before someone gets hurt 

[Khemri.]

A proper Necromunda campaign isn't over until someone's teeth are on the floor.

[Underhand]

Turn 5, Game 1:  The Hand of Redemption versus The Mortlock Cartel and House Bloodaxe:

The Orlock and the Goliath both attacked my Workshop.  No surprises there.

My plan was to put an end to their alliance this game.  All I had to do was rout the Orlock and then either win or lose to the Goliath - either way, the Orlock would miss out on the territory.  In fact - it would probably be better if the Goliath took the territory, because then the Orlock would be cut off from me and I could devote the next 3 turns to stripping Octavian of his territories unaided by the Orlock.

Even though we were playing on a different table than last time, my plan was basically the same - the only change being that I would deploy my vent teams either out of sight or slightly out of range of the Orlock Grenadiers.

Either they have been talking to Joffrey, or they have at least learned from his example.  They both bought some Hired Guns.  Octavian brought 2 Scummers and the Orlock player hired a Bounty Hunter and a Scummer. 

Using Hired Guns is a tactic that can go either way.  Early in a campaign, they are powerful,  well equipped with decent (mainly shooting) skills.  Bounty Hunters are of similar power to Gang Leaders, whereas Scum are of a similar level to decently advanced gangers.  They can add a lot of punch for a one off game, but once you stop paying them, you lose them, and the money you spent on them is gone - so for them to be worth it, you really want to win a territory.  Obviously Octavian and the Orlock player feel that if they pay some serious cash for a few turns, they will be able to snuff me out quickly and then turn their attention onto the rest of the map.

By the way - after the last game, both of their heavies rolled the Bulging Biceps skill (move and fire with a heavy weapon) for their heavies.  Quite a coincidence.  I think from now on, either  the Delaque player or me will be present when they roll their advances.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm short on numbers.   I only have 12 guys.  The Orlock has 12 as well and the Goliath has 16 (4 damn Settlements).  With their Hired guns that brings the numbers up to 12 versus 33.  The advantage that I had earlier with having a much more skilled gang has diminished greatly as the three of us have continued to play each other, and everyone has gained bonuses for fighting against superior numbers of opposition gangs (they both get the bonus even though they fight together).


Anyway, the game:

The Orlock player got to select the scenario, and he picked Gang Fight. 

My plan was to target the Orlock and rout them early with my superior close range firepower and melee skills.  I would then turn and face the Goliaths, counter their initial charge with overwatch Heavy Stubber and flamer fire and then counter assault.  I would still probably lose to the overwhelming Goliath numbers . . . but maybe not.

Provided Abraham could stay on his feet, his Iron Will might keep my guys in the fight long enough for the Goliath to fail a single Bottle roll.  Keeping Abraham up would be easier said than done though, since my gang relies on Abraham being up front with the close combat guys to grant the benefit of his leadership bubble, and after the last game, the Goliath leader, Akilar Bloodaxe, developed a Bitter Enmity against Abraham which means that he is affected by the rules for Hatred as regards Abraham.  So despite losing, Akilar actually got better after that last fight.

Anyway, the set up went well, and I succeeded in drawing the Goliath away from the Orlock by setting up Jacob, Ram and (ungh) Amon, off to my right in a position which would allow them to redeploy towards the centre on the second turn.  At the end of my first turn I set up my vent teams in a triangle around the Goliath to the front, front left and left (my view), leaving the right open for the Goliath.   Issac, Boaz and Ephraim in the centre- middle of the table ready to turn both flamers and hand flamer on the Goliath advance once it arrived.  Abraham, Abijah and Jemuel set up to their left to allow Abraham to extend his leadership bubble as far as possible.  My fast moving CC specialists, Josiah and Asa set up with Zohar, ready to slam into the flank of the Orlock as soon as their overwatch fire was finished. 

Every one of my  vent teams was deployed either out of sight or in heavy cover to avoid the 3 Orlock grenade throwers, and each team had a lucky individual sitting there, ready to be the first out of cover, ready to take that grenade (Ephraim, Jemuel and Zohar were the lucky 3).

The Orlock shat themselves, but had no one to shoot at and went into overwatch.

The Goliath all sprinted towards the main fight.  I knew I had 3 turns before the Goliath arrived, because the table we were playing on has a slight lip around its edge, and years ago, someone made markings every 4"along the inside of that lip.  They've been painted over, but are still faintly visible.  I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one who has noticed them.  The closest Goliath model was 22" away from the closest Orlock model.

Ephraim, being the newest, most useless, and second least respected gang member after Amon, went first and got shot at twice.  The first shot pinned him, the second took him down, but it also resulted in the Orlock losing their free ammo pass which they get from their workshop. 

Jemuel went next, and the Orlock took up 3 shots taking him down.  3 lasguns fired for 2 misses and a take down.  Zohar went third and he soaked up another 4 lasgun shots.  A miss, a pin and 2 wounds .  My 3 most junior gang members were down (but not out), the Orlocks had used up about half their firepower, the Goliath were a couple of turns away and I still had 9 guys yet to act in this turn.   That is how you play Necromunda.

The Orlocks weren't out of ammo yet though - they still had a bounty hunter, a scummer (with a bolt pistol and plasma pistol), a heavy stubber, a meltagun (the leader - Mortlock) and 3 grenades.   Abijah was the next cab off the rank, and he got a face full of bolt rounds and plasma from the Scummer (Cutty) which only pinned him (he has 2 wounds) and saw Cutty's bolt pistol jam. 

I decided to take a risk at that point.  Abraham went out next, and I stood him next to the prone form of Jemuel, hoping to draw out those grenades with a tempting 2 man target.   The Orlock player had been waiting for Abraham though, and had his leader, Mortlock, fire his meltagun at him.  This was a shrewd choice, since a meltagun is one of the few weapons which can put Abraham's lights out with a single shot (it does D6 wounds).  Luckily it missed.  Heh.

 He then opened up with his heavy stubber, for 4 shots, 3 hits, 1 wound, and pinning him.  He then threw two grenades, which took Jemuel out of action and did a second wound to Abraham.  His third grenade blew up in the hand of its owner taking him out and pinning the Bounty Hunter, who was standing next to him.  You want to kill Abraham?  Well, you better have more than a meltagun, a heavy stubber and a couple of frag grenades, because that ain't enough.

That was it for the Orlock shooting, and I still had 2 hand to hand specialists, 2 flamers and a Heavy Stubber yet to act.

I charged Asa and Josiah into close combat with a single Orlock shooter, and moved Issac and Boaz into flamer range of 3 Orlocks.  Jacob opened up with five shots from his heavy stubber, pinning an Orlock lasgunner and their Heavy, but getting no wounds.  Isaac and Boaz both opened up with their flamers, pinning a lasgunner, downing  a second and taking a third out of action.  In the close combat phase, Asa and Josiah dealt with their single opponent and followed up into CC with an extra opponent each.

At the end of my second turn, I had lost 1 Juve, had another 2 guys down.  The Orlock, by comparison, had lost 3 guys, had another one down and another 4 pinned  (including the bounty hunter and heavy stubber), with another 2 locked in close combat with my close combat specialists.  Only his leader, the Scummer and a couple of lasgunners were still on their feet and free to act in the next turn.  And the Goliath were still more than a turn away.  I was winning.

 In the Orlock turn, two lasgunners and the Bounty Hunter got back to their feet, but the heavy stubber stayed pinned.   Movement was a tricky choice for the Orlock player.  Necromunda has a rule whereby a model can only target the closest model in its front 90 degree fire arc.  As a result, when you surround an opponent, like I had (close combat guys to the left, Abraham and Abijah to the front and flamer guys to the right), there are some difficult decisions to make - you have to precommit to which direction you are going to shoot at during your movement phase. 

This was a tough one for him.  He had a melta gun, a grenade, a bolter, 3 lasguns and a plasma pistol which could shoot.  7 shots and 6 targets.  He had no choice but to try to kill my flamer guys - they would destroy him if he didn't, but he also wanted to take out Abraham.  Both wise tactical moves.  Unfortunately, he also really, really wanted to be able to use that single remaining grenade to full effect, and the only targets I had which could be hit by a grenade at the same time were Asa and Josiah, who were locked in close combat.

Since there was no way that his guys were going to beat Asa and Josiah, he decided to try to break his guys from combat.   He broke from Asa first, giving Asa a free hit, which he used to hit the guy and take him out of action.  This caused the other one to flee from close combat with Josiah, who also hit him and took him down and out.

Realising how much deep amphetamine parrot he could be in if that grenade didn't land on target, he repositioned his Scummer to take a shot at Josiah.  The Bounty Hunter and Mortlock lined up at Abijah and Abraham, and the three lasguns spread out and lined up Isaac and Boaz.

The grenade landed on target, but failed to wound, and only pinned Asa and Josiah.  The scummer hit Josiah with his plasma pistol, but again, only taking one wound off him.  The bounty hunter fired at Abraham (marksman skill) with his bolter but missed, and his leader shot Abijah with his meltagun, taking him out (rookie targeting priority error there).  The three lasguns opened up on Issac and Boaz, taking only a single wound off Issac, and leaving Boaz unscathed.

The Goliath kept running to the left.  They would arrive next turn.

In my turn, Isaac, Abijah, Asa and Abraham all got back up.  Asa charged the scummer Boaz moved into position to flame down 3 Orlocks, and Abraham charged into the Bounty Hunter.

Jacob only got two shots off with his heavy stubber, but he made them count, taking down a lasgunner and taking the Orlock Heavy out of action.  Unfortunately he also ran out of ammo. Ram went into overwatch in preparation for the oncoming Goliath,  as did Amon who managed to somehow do so without beslubbering up and embarrassing himself.   

Boaz and Issac  managed to lay their flamer template down on 3 Orlocks, wounding them all, taking one out of action and wounding the others.

In the close combat phase, Asa dealt with Cutty extremely convincingly,  getting  7 hits, which were more than enough to put him out of the fight.  Scummers shoot well, but aren't usually too great in melee.

Abraham hit the Bounty Hunter like a ton of bricks, getting 4 hits with his chainsword and three wounds but two of them were flesh wounds ( a 1/36 chance), which allowed the Bounty Hunter to stay in the fight (albeit only at WS2 for next turn).  Octavian laughed his ass off at that.

And that was what saved the Orlock.  If Abraham had taken the bounty hunter down on that turn, then he would have been able to follow up into Mortlock, and that would have been an easy fight for him - Mortlock is impeded in melee combat by his meltagun, and only has WS3 as a result of a hand injury sustained against the Van Saar (the only measurable effect the Van Saar have had on the campaign so far).  Without their leader, the Orlocs would have been reduced to rolling 7 or under on 2d6 to pass their bottle rolls, which probably would have seen them off after a turn or two.  as it was, Mortlock survived another turn, which gave the Goliath time to arrive.

Zohar went out of action, and Josiah got back to his feet in my recovery phase.  At the end of my turn, I had 3 guys out of action and the the Orlock had 10 down or out of action.  The Orlock only had Mortlock, the Bounty Hunter and a lasgunner still in the fight, and the Bounty Hunter would almost certainly not see out the close combat phase of the next turn.

The Orlock got ready for the inevitable during their turn,  moving the lasgunner as far out of CC and frange as was practicable.  Mortlock stood still and went overwatch, waiting for the moment that Abraham dispatched the Bounty Hunter to unleash the fury of his meltagun on him. 

That was against the urging of Octavian, of course who wanted him to drop a grenade on both Abraham and the Bounty Hunter at the same time to teach me the error of my ways, or failing that, let Abraham live so that Bloodaxe could have his way with him.  The grenade definitely would have been the softest option.

In the Orlock shooting phase, Asa got pinned again by the lasgunner. 

In the melee phase, Abraham chopped the Bounty Hunter into little pieces and was immediately shot by Mortlock from overwatch with his meltagun (the second time that has happened), for 5 wounds, which took him out of action.

In the Goliath turn, Ram at least managed to pin the first Goliath that went for the charge (a CC guy with sprint, who would have attacked Boaz), but the rest of the Goliath were still within shooting range of everyone except Jacob, Ram and Amon. 

Most of Goliath stood back and shot, opening up with about a dozen shots, which were enough to take out Boaz, take down Issac, and pin Josiah and Asa.   

I passed my Bottle roll and Asa recovered from being pinned, and I charged him into CC with the Lasgunner, who wasn't quite out of range of Asa's Sprint ability.  None of my ranged guys (Jacob, Ram and Amon) had a shot on Mortlock, so they went into overwatch.  Asa cut down the lasgunner with little trouble.

Only Mortlock was left on the table for the Orlock.  And he ran.  He sprinted as far away from Josiah and Asa as he could get without breaking cover to let my ranged squad have a chance to take him out.

The Goliath stuck to cover and elected to shoot again, rather than expose themselves to Jacob's heavy stubber.  I still shot at them, but they were in heavy cover, and I only managed a single wound to one of the scummers.  The Goliath shooting succeeded in taking Asa down and pinning Josiah.  All of their long ranged weapons would be in range of my long ranged crew next turn.

I failed my bottle roll at the start of my turn and lost the game.   I also lost  the Workshop, which was picked up by the Orlock, reducing me back to my starting territories.

Aftermath:

That was a frustrating outcome.  I think I executed my plan pretty much perfectly against the Orlock.  They were dead on their feet, and only just managed to squeak out without getting completely tabled, but they just kept passing their bottle rolls, and eventually I failed one.

In hindsight, the only thing I might have done differently would have been to be a little bit more conservative with Abraham.  If he had still been up at the end, I probably wouldn't have failed that last bottle roll.  But on the other hand, moving him out when I did, definitely drew a huge amount of firepower off the rest of my gang, and set things up for the next turn where I inflicted serious casualties which would normally have been enough to win the fight. 

It was that fight against the Bounty Hunter which saved the Orlock.  Much like Abraham's fight against Bloodaxe, despite dealing several wounds, Abraham didn't quite take him down.  If he had, then Abraham would have been able to use his follow up move to take out Mortlock, and wouldn't have been taken out of action himself.  If this, if that.

In any event, I doubt that would have been enough to save me.  The Goliath were unscathed at that point.   Combined together, and with their mercenaries, the Orlock and Goliath simply had too much of a numbers advantage.   I don't think I could really have done any better in that game than I did.  Together, the Orlock and Goliath have simply attained the strategic (in terms of territory and income) and tactical (in terms of numbers) ascendancy.


Here's the map:

[Swamp Rat]

Could be a good thing in the long run, though it looks like you really need a second wind.

On the note of the Bulging Biceps that they've both got, could that call all of the Goliath's new recruits into account? Not that it's worth bringing up, but maybe keeping an eye on.

Maybe you could have a word with the Orlock and Van Saar, and trying to hit the same target (hard i know, you're all separated). How're you using vents in the campaign? Can you hit anywhere on the map or what?

I mean, if the three of you were to make a joint effort on one of them, and give a strong impression that you three are now working together (as in, you'll attack each others positions when others attack them). That'd mean you can double team opposing gangs.

If you can successfully hold off the Orlocks, then surely you and one of the others could blitzkrieg the others.

That does depend on how the rules are working though.

[Underhand]

On the note of the Bulging Biceps that they've both got, could that call all of the Goliath's new recruits into account? Not that it's worth bringing up, but maybe keeping an eye on.

Nah, the number of Juves isn't really suspicious - he has 4 settlements, and he's actually paid creds to hire some of them, so I don't suspect any wrong doing there.

Maybe you could have a word with the Orlock and Van Saar, and trying to hit the same target (hard i know, you're all separated). How're you using vents in the campaign? Can you hit anywhere on the map or what?

I mean, if the three of you were to make a joint effort on one of them, and give a strong impression that you three are now working together (as in, you'll attack each others positions when others attack them). That'd mean you can double team opposing gangs.

If you can successfully hold off the Orlocks, then surely you and one of the others could blitzkrieg the others.

That does depend on how the rules are working though.

Unfortunately I can't.  The vents let us hit anywhere within a range of 2 squares, but to do so requires leaving a chunk of your gang at home, so it's really only much use in attacking a really poorly defended territory (although we've changed the campaign rule relating to assigning territory to gang members, which I'll explain later). 

As a result, I still wouldn't be able to assist the Delaque or Van Saar in an attack on anyone.  I've been pushed back too far, and Joffrey and the Orlock have claimed the middle ground of the campaign map.

You are right though - we do have to organise something.  And we should have done so before now.

Change to campaign rules:

A few turns back, we changed the rule relating to having to assign gang members (and leaders and heavies) to a territory in order to gain income from it and assist in battles close to it.  It was simply to restrictive, and had the potential for some ridiculously lopsided games.  Nevertheless, we still wanted to keep a strategic element to the post game phase. 

The new rule is that you automatically collect income from a territory regardless of whether anyone is assigned to it.  If you do assign someone to it though, then you get to re-roll the income dice.  Assigning a ganger ties them to that territory, allowing them to only attack or defend that territory, or a neighboring one.

The new rule allows people to use their entire gang to attack or defend and still generate decent income.  If they want to earn a bit more, then they can commit a ganger to a territory, but take the risk that he might not be usable in the next fight.  Most people have not been assigning gangers to territories, prefering to keep them for the fighting.  The exceptions have been with territories which are close to the enemy lines, and aren't likely to result in a ganger being left out of the fight.  Joffrey also normally keeps a ganger back at his Spore Cave too.

[Underhand]

Turn 5 Game 2: The Hand of Redemption versus House Bloodaxe

I went for Octavian's Gambling Den.  I needed to win this game, and I needed to take the Gambling Den.  If I didn't take it, I would only generate an income of 15 creds next turn, which wouldn't be enough to replace any of my losses and would see my gang tip into a death spiral with my gang gradually getting weaker every turn while my opponents would get stronger.  Recovery would be difficult, if not impossible.

Octavian took forever to set up.  But he set up smart.  You know those movies where the humans have been conducting experiments on animals, and then one day, one of the animals does something a lot smarter than the humans thought they were capable of, and it's a scary moment?

Well Octavian did that in this game.  He set up his gangers in two man teams and spread them out in a tiered defence that would prevent me from being able to crunch them all at once, but would put my attackers in easy counter fire/charge range of his guys.  Out the front, he had 4  Juves stationed out on their own ready to take the hits. 

The placement of the Juves in particular was smart.  Games that I am involved in are normally over pretty quickly.  I have a very short ranged gang due to all the flamer templates, but due to having 3 vents, I'm able to deploy pretty close to the enemy.  By turn 3 or 4, the casualties are normally pretty severe for at least one side.  With other gangs, the first four or five  turns are usually spent maneuvering with only the occasional shots fired at long range at ganger's in heavy cover.  By placing his Juves where he did, Octavian set them up to draw out my flamers by taking out his 4 least valuable gang members, and allowing him to counter assault or shoot  the following turn. 

Normally, that wouldn't bother me - being given 4 enemy casualties on turn 2 is like being given victory on a platter.  Unfortunately, Octavian hired another scummer to his horde, taking his total numbers to 17, and pushing his bottle threshold to 5.

The second clever thing he did was put most of his gang into hiding following his first turn, which denied my ranged team the opportunity to pick off any more of his guys and force an early bottle roll.

The first exchanges ended with me taking down his 4 juves, and him taking down 3 of mine even though he did more wounds.  My gang has a lot of multi wound models, which makes it tricky to stop with ranged fire.

The following turn saw me take all 4 of his juves out of action by sticking knives into their prone forms and losing another ganger to overwatch fire.  After that, the game became a bit of a stalemate.   Abijah went down and caused Asa and Josiah to flee into cover, which totally disrupted the structure of my close combat assault plan.  The result was a lot of short ranged fire fight from overwatch, with a lot of my guys getting pinned behind cover, and a lot of the Goliaths running out of ammo.  The insults traded over the table between Octavian and me were more damaging than the gunfire between our gangs.

Octavian wouldn't charge me because Isaac and Boaz had his main lines of attack covered with their flamers.    By the same token, I wouldn't charge him, because he had set up a layered defence which would likely see me trade lose one of my guys for every one of his I took down, which would only end in a win for the Goliath.

With both sides bogged down taking pot shots at each other from heavy cover, it was really just a matter of waiting until one side failed their bottle roll.  That was only ever going to go one way, with Abraham's Iron Will keeping my guys in the fight until House Bloodaxe failed their bottle roll on turn 9, giving the Hand of Redemption a 6 - 4 victory.

Aftermath:

It was a win, but I needed more than a simple win.  I needed to win by a 3 to 1 casualty ratio to take the Gambling Den.  Octavian new that, and played accordingly, being content to lose, so long as he didn't lose by too much.

One might think that I should have gone harder after the Goliath after the initial exchanges.  I would often agree with such a sentiment but it simply wasn't on the cards this time around.  Once 3 of my guys went down,  just wasn't in a position to take out 9 of his guys without losing any more of mine.  Even if I'd committed to a full assault, got really  lucky and tabled him, I still would have lost a minimum of another 3 guys (and that's best case non fanciful scenario), and that still would have resulted in a win which wouldn't have been enough to take the territory.  Every casualty I would have taken would be another 3 of his I had to take down to win the territory.

Outwardly, I pretended I was happy with the win and maintained a confident "this is another purely routine, by-the-numbers Hand of Redemption roll up of House Bloodaxe", since showing disappointment or any sense of defeat would just encourage Octavian and the Orlock player.  Inwardly though, this not-enough-of-a-win, was just as frustrating as the earlier loss.  It was a game I really needed to win, and depending on how my post game sequence turned out, it could very well have been the tipping point.

Octavian treated the loss like it was a win, and received pats on the back from Joffrey and the Orlock player, who was still smarting a bit from the spanking I gave him in the earlier game.  The Orlock player and Octavian have developed a post game victory high-five sequence, too by the way.  It looks as stupid as it sounds.

Octavian took the time after the game while we were packing up to explain the Bloodaxe/Mortlock masterplan for Underhive domination:

Octavian:      Next turn you will go after my Gambling Den again, since you don't want to take a territory that will expose you to attack from both of us at once.
Underhand:   Maybe.  Maybe not.
O:       Then we'll attack your Vents.  The Orlock will take them.  Then your Slag, which I'll get. Then your Old Ruins -
UH:     Kid, you still have plenty to learn.  If you think that's going to happen -
O:       That is what's happening.

And I didn't have much I could say back.


Here's the map at the end of turn 5, again:


Cawdor:  The Hand of Redemption
Escher:  Gothika
Delaque:  Black Coats
Van Saar:  The Second Stringers
Orlock:  The Mortlock Cartel
Goliath:  House Bloodaxe

[Underhand]

Joffrey's Mum:

We don't always play on the same day each week.  We aim for Saturdays, but I'm often hungover on Saturdays, as is the Delaque player on Sundays (actually, most days, but Sundays in particular), and the Van Saar plays sport (rugby and cricket), which can be vairable.  As a result we have found ourselves sometimes having to get in some quick games on Thursday nights after work. 

Last round, after I dropped off my miniature case, I was walking out of the store, and saw Joffrey getting out of the passenger seat of what was pretty obviously his mother's mercedes, mid way through a pretty intense argument.  From what I could tell, the argument was about what time Joffrey would be finished so that she could drive him home.  Despite being 19, Joffrey hasn't learnt how to drive, or at least doesn't own a car even though he is from an affluent enough background to be able to afford one, and lives in a city where a car is pretty much required due to our amphetamine parrotty public transport system, probably because he spends too much of his parent's disposable income on miniature wargaming.  My point is Joffrey is a spoilt brat.

He finished off by saying " . . . When I'm beslubbering finished!" and slamming the car door.  When he turned around, he noticed me walking past, looked embarrassed and stomped past me.  I gave him a nod and a half way and kept on walking past the socially awkward moment.

I was due to play both the Orlock and Goliath player shortly, and I had to be on top of my game, which for me means loading up on caffeine.  Across the way from the GW is one f those bookstores that does coffee, so that was where I headed.  It's a good spot to take a break from the GW, since it mainly caters to middle aged women, and the staff tend to give dirty looks to the less hygienic members of the gaming crowd, who instead go to the internet cafe next door.  Due to my age, and the fact that I know how to dress, I pass without notice.  While I was waiting for my order, Joffrey's mum entered the store behind me.

Joffrey's Mum:  Excuse me?  Good evening?
Underhand:  Oh hi.  It is a good evening.
JM:  [polite, friendly laugh] It is!  I saw you outside.  Are you a friend of Joffrey's?
UH:  . . . I know him, yes.  I take it you must be Joffrey's . . .
JM:  Stepmother [laughs again]. How could you tell?

I could tell because, while Joffrey is whiter than rice, his stepmother is of subcontinental descent.

UH:  You simply look far too young to have a son of Joffrey's age. [She laughs again] Take a seat, if you like.
JM: Thank you.  Do you own the store? [She was asking because I was somewhat overdressed for a night of hobby wargaming, having just come from work in a three piece suit].
UH:  No.  I just came from work.  I'm a lawyer.
JM: Ahh! [It's often a relief for the parents of the younger members of the hobby to find out that not everyone that hangs out at the store is a neck bearded, greasy haired, black wearing weirdo.]

We chatted for a while.  She's nothing like Joffrey.  She married his dad 9 years ago and has a daughter of her own, who is studying law.  I think she was trying to confirm that I wasn't a psychopath, and whether there was any possibility that I could give Joffrey a lift home at the end of the night instead of her. She asked a lot of questions about career avenues in law.  We were eventually interrupted by the Delaque player.

Gannicus:  Hey mate - [He momentarily paused to look Joffreys mum up and down.  He grinned.] - Hello.
UH:  Gannicus, this is Cersei, Cersei, this is Gannicus.  [They shake hands]
G:    Very nice to meet you. [turning to me] Mate, Joffrey, Chucklebeslubber (the Orlock player) and that other little dipamphetamine parrot (Octavian) are saying that you automatically forfeit if you don't get back in there.
JM:  . . .
UH:  Gan, Cersei is (Joffrey's real name)'s mum. [Gannicus had called Joffrey 'Joffrey' rather than by his real name. A lot of people at the store have started to call Joffrey, Joffrey behind his back].
G:    Huh? Oh.  Ohhh.
JM:  [Just nods - obviously used to such a reaction].
UH:  Well, I guess I have to get going.  Lovely to meet you.
JM:  Likewise.

Gannicus and I left the book shop and headed back towards the Games Workshop.

G:    That's Joffrey's stepmother?  Really?
UH:  Apparently.
G:    Is she seeing anyone?
UH:  Joffrey's dad?
G:   Oh right.  Duh.

[Underhand]

Here's how things ended up after round 5:

Abraham:  Leader:

M	WS	BS	S	T	W	A	I	LD	Skills & Weapons
4	6	5	3	4	3	1	5	8	Old Battle Wound, Nerves of Steel, True Grit, Iron Will. Bolt Pistol, Chainsword. WS6 now makes Abraham a badass in close combat.  As he should be.  An extra attack would seal things up nicely.

Jacob: Heavy:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills Injuries & Weapons
4	3	5	3	4	1	2	4	8	Partially Deafened.  Fixer,  Medic Heavy Stubber.  Both excellent upgrades.  I have be-atched before about too many balistic skill upgrades instead of weaponskill upgrades.  I am not doing that now.  A Balistic Skill 5 Heavy is a game winner, hitting enemies in heavy cover on a 4+.  And I need to start winning some games.  That Medic skill is also really handy - with my inability to replace my losses, the ability to reroll serious injury results after the battle is a God send..

Isaac: Heavy:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	4	3	3	3	1	2	3	7	Medic, Armourer, Weaponsmith, Inventor, Fixer, Counter attack.  Arm Wound .  Flamer, Autopistol, Sword.  Both good upgrades.  Fixer is pretty useless for me at the moment, but once I start taking back territories, it will come into its own.

Ram: Ganger:
 

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	2	4	3	3	1	1	4	7	Armourer, Impetuous, Arm Wound.  Berserk Charge, Nerves of Steel.  Hand wound. Lasgun.  Meh.  +1 Initiative (especially with Nerves of Steel) will help him get out of pinning, which happens to him a lot, since together with Amon, he's the bullet taker for Jacob.  The hand wound (lost 2 fingers - dropping him to WS2) isn't such a disadvantage for a ranged specialist.  I'll be hoping to give him shooting skills from now on.

Boaz: Ganger:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	5	4	4	3	1	1	3	7	Specialist, Inventor, Crack Shot. Flamer, autopistol, sword. Gets a sword for added protection in CC.  Inventor can come in handy, particularly when I don't have enough cash to actually buy stuff on the rare trade chart.  Crack shot is always a nice skill to have (reroll wound effects) - I was hoping for Hip Shooting (run and shoot - deadly with a flamer), but Crack Shot will do.

Abijah:  Ganger:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	3	3	4	3	2	2	3	6	Nerves of Steel, Impetuous, Fixer, Disarm, Combat Master. Handflamer, Stubber.  A very solid member of the gang.  Abraham's bodyguard. Needs an agility upgrade.

Asa: Ganger

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	4	4	3	4	2	1	4	6	Impetuous, Step Aside, Leap, Feint, Disarm, Combat Master .  Autopistol, Sword.  One of my best.

Amon:  Ganger:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries and Weapons
3	3	3	3	2	2	1	5	7	Gun Fighter, True Grit, Killer Rep.  Leg Wound. Lasgun.  Two games, and not a single upgrade.  The biggest disappointment I have with . . .  ahh beslubber it.

Josiah: Ganger:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	3	3	3	3	3	2	5	7	Parry, Sprint, Counter Attack. Stubber,  Sword x2.  Finally got that +1WS bonus.  That WS2 was really holding Josiah back.  Even with 3 base attacks and 3 parries, his low weapon skill was holding him back against high weapon skill opponents.  I found myself having to be very selective as to who to send him up against.  Even on the charge, he would have a tough time beating a WS5 enemy.  That is no longer the case.

Zohar: Ganger:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	3	2	3	3	1	2	4	7	Partially Defeaned Hand flamer, Stubber.  I don't mind the Leadership upgrade - it's an area where my gang is a bit light on at the moment. Meh.

Jemuel: Ganger:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	2	2	4	3	2	1	2	6	Specialst, Armourer, Nerves of Steel Blinded in One Eye,  Shell Shocked . Hand flamer, Stubber.    Can't complain.  Man, I have a lot of armourers in this gang.  I wish I had the creds to spend on bolt weapons.  At least my flamers won't be running out of ammo too often.

Ephraim: Juve:

M	WS	BS	S	T	A	W	I	LD	Skills, Injuries & Weapons
4	2	3	3	3	1	1	3	6	Nerves of Steel, Berserk Charge.  Old Battle Wound. Hand Flamer, Stubber. Not bad upgrades.  He might end up joining my ranged team - Amon's days are numbered.  Pity about the Old Battle Wound.

Overall, I'm happy about those upgrades.  Josiah getting WS3 is an overdue bonus.  Abraham is legitimately scary in close combat now.  Boaz got a couple of nice upgrades, and the junior guys are progressing nicely. 

The big bonus though, is Jacob and his BS5.  BS5 is a big deal in Necromunda.  The most effective Cawdor gang I ever ran had 2 BS5 shotgun guys.  They ruled the midfield, hitting opposition gangers in heavy cover on 3+ with scatter shot.  I wish I had room  for a couple of shotguns in this gang.  Damn my poverty.

A heavy stubber guy with BS5 is on another level though.  The heavy stubber guy is always on a par with the Gang Leader in terms of his tactical importance to a gang.  The placement of the heavy stubber defines the rest of the gang's set up, and the setup and movement of the other gang.  A BS3 heavy stubber is dangerous because there is the realistic possibility that he could take out maybe 3 of your guys in one turn if he rolls lucky, however that is very unlikely to happen  if you stick to cover - you can take your chances with a BS3 heavy.

You can't do that with a BS 5 heavy.  A BS5 heavy, hits people out in the open on 2+ and those in heavy cover on a 4+.  He will always get a minimum of 2 shots (maximum 6), so odds are that he will at least hit a single target that he shoots at, and more than likely wound.  Against 3 targets in heavy cover, he could very well put them all down. 

You can take your chances and run a ganger from one piece of cover to another against a BS3 heavy on overwatch, and there is a decent chance you'll make it.  That's suicide against a BS5 heavy.  A BS5 heavy stubber guy focussing fire on a single target doesn't just take them down, he takes them out.

I can't wait to use him against Octavian and the Orlock player.

[Perigrine]

Excellent updates as usual. I'd love to see the look on joffreys face if he ever found out you had coffee with his step mom.

[Swamp Rat]

Excellent updates as usual. I'd love to see the look on joffreys face if he ever found out you had coffee with his step mom.

Seconded. I love that, "is she seeing anyone?" line.

[Underhand]

Excellent updates as usual. I'd love to see the look on joffreys face if he ever found out you had coffee with his step mom.

Oh he found out.  His stepmother told him on the way home.  She must have also asked who 'Joffrey' was because he's found out abut that too.   And he's pissed.

Campaign Turn 6:

Here's the map at the beginning of turn 6:



Cawdor:  The Hand of Redemption
Escher:  Gothika
Delaque:  Black Coats
Van Saar:  The Second Stringers
Orlock:  the Mortlock Cartel
Goliath:  House Bloodaxe

You will note that Van Saar Old Ruins have been converted into a Settlement as a result of Jonah rolling an Isotropic Fuel Rod at the trading post.

The Delaque went after Joffrey's Workshop.
Joffrey went targeted the Delaque Friendly Doc
The Van Saar went after the Orlock Settlement
The Orlock and Goliath went after my Vents
I went after Octavian's Gambling Den.

Joffrey repeated his strategy of using hired guns which were successful on the previous turn against the Delaque. He hired 2 bounty hunters (which is a lot of creds to spend) and took the Delaque to pieces by taking out Gannicus's best ranged guys on turn 3, and then smacking into melee on the 5th turn.  Both of Gannicus's heavies were taken captive (that heavy stubber heavy now has BS5 and crack shot - he's one of the most dangerous characters in the whole campaign).  Gannicus also took a captive however, so Joffrey had to swap him back for free.  The flamer heavy (Flaming Moe) was a different story. 

Joffrey, as is his way, took the opportunity to be a bit of a dick.  He could do so this time because he knew he had the advantage for 2 reasons:

1.  Flaming Moe was the captive, and therefore couldn't be used as part of the rescue team;
2.  He managed to nab some screamers at the trading post during the last campaign turn.

Joffrey was acting a bit more assholish than usual for two reasons:

1.  He found out about his nickname.
2.  Gannicus had spent the previous hour giving him amphetamine parrot about me having coffee with his step mother.

So Joffrey took the opportunity to explain in great detail how much fun he was going to have selling Flaming Moe for the bounty, taking his flamer and using it against Gannicus to take his last 3 territories away from him and dump him out of the campaign.

Which prompted Gannicus to call Joffrey a douchebag and stage another Rescue Mission.  They set up the table:

Gannicus:  I'm going to paste paste that racoon faced be-atch all over the table. (he was talking about Shamora, Joffrey's leader).
Joffrey:      I'm going to beat you again, and take your Friendly Doc.
G:  ...
J:  And you're going to cry.
G:  I'm going to beslubber you in every room of the house.
Store Manager:  Pack up your amphetamine parrot and get out.  Seven days.

Gannicus getting banned meant that Joffrey would have missed out on his turn to attack, so he got to target a new territory.  Who do you think he went after?

Turn 6, Game 1: The Hand of Redemption -v- Gothika, The Mortlock Cartel and House Bloodaxe

Joffrey didn't want to target my Old Ruins.  Although he has more Gangers than me, and they are generally better equipped, he still has bad memories of the three way between us and Gannicus back in the first round.  My hand flamers destroyed him n that game, and he's been sulking about it ever since, even though we have reduced the size of their templates to the old sizes.  My Gang is also a lot more experienced than his due to all the 3 way games I've had against the Orlocks and Goliaths.  By taking me one on one, he could definitely lose, and he didn't want to risk that, certainly not over some amphetamine parrotty Old Ruins.   He wanted to kick my ass, and the bes way of making sure of that was to do it with a couple of mates.

We played the game using the store's spacehulk terrain.  Each of us set up in a different corner.  Suffice it to say that I lost.  I went third, and Joffrey managed to set deploy 3 of his guys from his vents to stop me being able to deploy my vent teams to any suitable locations.  As a result, I wasn't able to spread out across the table to different parts of the table and shut down different corridors with my flamers.  That meant that my guys were bunched up and extremely vulnerable to the Orlock grenade throwers.  I managed to pretty much avoid the grenades, but it meant that the Escher and Goliaths were able to charge into close combat with me on turn 6. 

For a while, I was able to hold the Escher and Goliaths back due to the narrowness of the corridors.  One of my guys was sufficient to pin two of theirs in Close Combat, and my flamers were able to wait in overwatch to burn down anyone who got past them.  Eventually that stopped working though, and Boaz and Jacob got pinned, allowing the Escher and Goliath to close with me. 

I was outnumbered by 2-1 in close combat by the best 2 close combat gangs in the campaign.  It's times like that, that Abraham's Iron Will is actually a disadvantage - it was just keeping me in the fight, racking up more injuries.  If I had hung around, All of my fighters would not only be down, but actually out of action, and rolling on the serious injuries chart at the end of the turn (in addition to any other injuries I might pick up in my second game against Octavian).  On average, that would result in 3 guys dead or captured, to say nothing of the other little niggling injuries that can gradually bring a gang undone.  I voluntarily bottled with 9 of my guys down.

Final score:
Hand of Redemption:  9/12 down
House Bloodaxe:  5/18 down
Gothika:  4/15 down
The Mortlock Cartel:  1/14 down

I think I stuck around 2 turns too long.  I was hoping that either the Escher or Goliath would fail a bottle roll, but it was not to be.  Man, did I ever get given amphetamine parrot for bottling (be-atching) out.  But hanging around would have been stupid.   It just wasn't a game I was ever going to win. 

Here's the map after the fight:



Cawdor:  The Hand of Redemption
Escher:  Gothika
Delaque:  Black Coats
Van Saar:  The Second Stringers
Orlock:  the Mortlock Cartel
Goliath:  House Bloodaxe

[Underhand]

Turn 6, Game 2:

I went after Octavian's Gambling Den.

Abraham didn't turn up.  His Old Battle Wound flared up and took him out of action for the game.   That was not good.

To a certain extent, all Necromunda gangs rely on their Leaders in order to win.  The Leader usually has a decently high leadership characteristic of 8 or 9.  It is his leadership score that the gang rolls against once they lose more than 25% of their guys to determine whether they bottle out.  The leader also has a leadership bubble of 6" which allows other gang members to use his leadership when testing for morale, such as when a nearby fighter goes down.  In a game where leadership of 7 is common, and 6 isn't uncommon, that high level leadership bubble is important.

Abraham is even more important to my Gang than most leaders for two main reasons:

 Firstly, my gang's leadership is otherwise pretty crappy.  Apart from Abraham, only Jacob has a leadership of higher than 7.  When I deploy my vent teams, I make sure Abraham is in the middle to bolster the leadership of the rest of my forward team.  Without Abraham, a lot of my guys would flee as soon as one of them went down.

Secondly, Abraham has Iron Will.  It allows him to re roll a failed bottle roll.  No one else in the campaign has Iron Will.  If casualties are even, my gang can sit in cover and wait for the other side to fail its bottle roll.  Without Abraham, I don't have that.

Abraham is also a powerful fighter in his own right, being one of my best CC guys, and one of my deadliest shots.  Very hard to take down too.

So without Abraham, my gang was a lot flakier. 

Without Abraham's leadership bubble, I was more inclined to spread my vent teams out a bit more than usual, in order to prevent a single casualty setting off a domino effect of further routing.      It meant that I was a bit more spread out than I normally like, and wasn't able to concentrate my short ranged firepower as much as I normally do.  Abraham not being there also meant that I was missing one of my most effective fighters.

I lost.  Once my guys started dropping, a couple more broke and ran, allowing those that remained to get overwhelmed.  I survived my first two bottle rolls, but went left on the third.  final score was 4-1.  Octavian took my Vents.

Turn 6 was a bad one for me.  I lost 2 territories, and they were both important.  As Joffrey was kind enough to point out, no one has lost 2 territories in a single turn in this campaign until now.  My 3 Vent territories are (were) one of the best things I had going for me.  The ability to deploy 9 of my gangers at the end of my first turn represented probably my greatest advantage over everyone else.  I've lost 2 of them now, and the Orlock and the Goliath have picked them up.

Here's the map at the end of Turn 6:




Not good.  Not good at all.

I did get to meet Joffrey's step sister though.

[Toad_Raider]

It really, *really* looks like you're doomed at this point. Early leader syndrome has struck you bad, my friend.  What happens when you (or anyone else) is out of the campaign? That's it for them, until the whole thing is over? That'd be a real shame, I'm very much enjoying the antics of you and your "friends".

[Underhand]

I'm not done yet.

Take a look at the map.  Put yourself in the position of Octavian and the Orlock player.  We'll assume that I don't take back any territory (just for argument's sake).  The next territory they have to take from me is that Slag.  Octavian will take that, because it's his turn.  After that, unless the Orlock player is willing to play another two turns and give all of my territory to Octavian (which he won't), Octavian will end up getting sealed in underneath the Orlock.  The only option for Octavian from that point will be to attack the Orlock.

The only way for the Orlock player to avoid that is to let Octavian take the last three territories so that Octavian will have an avenue to attack Joffrey.

But once I'm gone (not that that's going to happen), Octavian will either have the choice of attacking Joffrey, who is a skilled player and has a fat bankroll, or going after the Orlock player, who, although well funded, is nowhere near as formidable, and has already been beaten by Octavian back during the early stages of the campaign.

The other factor for Octavian to consider is that he will have to start any allied campaign against Joffrey by attacking  Joffrey's Old Ruins (arguably the amphetamine parrottiest territory in the game), whereas there are a host of good territories on offer if he goes after the Orlock. 

Sooner or later, the Orlock player is going to have to realise what a vulnerable position he's in.  All that has to happen is for Octavian and Joffrey to strike up an alliance, and he's screwed.  It could be better for him to abandon the alliance with Octavian now, and turn to attack the Van Saar.  Jonah (the Van Saar player) is the only player the Orlock player would be confident of beating one on one, and he still has a few nice territories worth attacking.  If the Orlock player abandons Octavian now, he can spend the next few turns mopping up Jonah, which will give him time to stock up in preparation for a much tougher fight against the Goliaths while Octavian is occupied with wiping me out (theoretically), and only gaining my worthless territories as a reward.

These are the seeds of doubt I have to sow in their minds.  And I have to play it just right for it to work.  I wasn't able to split them up before when the rewards for their alliance were some really nice income producing territories (and even a couple of my Vents, which grant a tactical advantage), but now that all they have left to gain by combining against me is an Old Ruins, a Slag and a Vents,  there isn't anywhere near the same incentive to work together as there was before.  Their loyalty will be tested.

There are at least another three games left for my gang in this campaign, and a lot can happen in that time.  I'm not going anywhere.

[Toad_Raider]

Excellent, glad to hear it! Thanks for the breakdown - I look forward to your continued efforts!