My buddy Mike came over for another friendly game on Thursday, and I finally took my Tripod Kickstarter stuff out of the box to play with it.
I set up a quick scenario, only to find out it was pretty much First Contact from the Rules book. We added some terrain features, but my Mk.I Locust dodged them all.
Not very visible on this table, but my Mk.I is in the center of the near mat, with Mike's two planes just on shore of the coast mat. He was flying MvR's Fokker Dr.1 with rockets, and Kissenberth's Camel with two Ace Skills. There are three objective markers along the coast, and three terrain markers across the middle of the mats.
First blood to the Martians! Well, not really, MvR was well roasted by this shot, and he was out-of-arc and unable to return damage.
Kissenberth tagged the Tripod, but did minimal damage:
Kissenberth attempts to get some energy damage, and I missed my second blast at MvR:
MvR's rockets bounced off the rear shields, and took away three energy, but the following phase MG fire stole two more energy. Energy management started to become a concern:
I deployed Black Smoke on Kissenberth, which landed directly on his stand.
After I drained and destroyed the first objective, I moved to the next. I deployed more smoke to distract the planes as I deal with the next objective:
I'm moving towards the next objective, as MvR attempts to wear down my shields. I respond with more smoke:
Kissenberth nibbles away more energy, he didn't always declare the Anti-Shield Expert skill, but it cost me when he did:
I eventually get to the third objective, but I get seriously tagged by Kissenberth in this shot. A Wounded Martian special damage card! Now, I can't fire any weapons unless I stand still:
NOTE: Technically, MvR should have blocked this shot, but even though we weren't playing with altitude, we decided that a plane at "Altitude One" couldn't block Line of Sight on a target at "Altitude Zero". So, I wore this damage.
I had miscalculated my moves, and I planned a sharp turn to the left, to ensure I ended up on the objective. The sharp Left turn maneuver was also a difficult maneuver, so even without the Wounded Martian issue, I couldn't have returned fire in this instance.
I was saved by the slightest of overlaps!
Standing still to drain the objective and destroy it, let Mike maneuver MvR in for a devastating clear shot:
And I drew this! Two zeros and two jams! Mike was not impressed.
I stood still and turned, but I turned directly into Kissenberth's oncoming plane, and Mike had just performed an Immelmann. This shot provided me with an Engine Special Damage card. So this could work together, with the Wounded Martian damage, almost. Still, not what I wanted to deal with:
A few more phases, and I am trying to dodge Kissenberth as he has done yet another Immelmann to catch me:
Well, I had to stand still for a phase a turn, so I deployed smoke, yet again.
The close-in pounding begins. MvR is back on me from an Immelmann and catches the very edge of the unshielded side. Kissenberth finally uses his Tripod Hunter skill:
His shot caused energy loss, and I drew a B Damage card, which was not a zero. Down went my tripod! I checked, but Wounded Martians don't take longer to stand up, so only two phases of laying around.
Laying the Tripod down:
The Butcher's Bill:
Almost no damage to Kissenberth from repeated smoking, and only the first Heat-ray shot did any damage to MvR. Despite the pounding and the special damage, I did get the Tripod off the mat. My luck was that Mike couldn't get his planes turned around quick enough to get any last ditch shots on my machine before it walked off the edge of the mat.
My tripod really shouldn't have made an escape. Some of the damage draws on both sides were more than lucky. A tight game, and we really have to get these toys out of the box more often.
PS: Yes, I've played a lot of Tripods games in two years, but this was the first game ever with the production miniatures and official published rules.
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