Gruntz, Pike and Shotte, SAGA, and Mutant Future Weekend Gaming 11-8-12

Had a great weekend at the BArons gaming Thurs-Fir-Sat.

Thursday was a mega Gruntz game. We had 8 players and 35 units a side. And it was the first time we have played it. It was a lot of fun. We played for 2 1/2 hours and with one more turn we would have had a full conclusion. It was a simple meeting engagement. armor, ifv's, mechs, specialists, power armor, infantry. On one side, the Aliens fron the Korden Quadrant, a hegemony of vicisious mercenary worlds. On the other, The Quick Reaction Force of the Humanist Protectorate. Lots of carnage. Pics below:

A lot of fun was had and Gruntz got a lot of positive reviews from the BG's. We will definately be playing more. And based on how monster a game this was, compared to all the other examples and battle reports I've read, I was impressed that by putting gruntz on a single base speeds up play. I am based on Flames of War bases so no individual bases for us. I can't fathom moving single 15's in a game this big. No way. Figs are a mix of GZG, CMG, and DP9. Terrain is homemade, Kato, and AT-43.

Next up was Friday Night. Just me and the BAron. That never happens. It was pretty fun. We played a game of Pike and Shotte with his gorgeous Italian Wars stuff. It was quick and deadly. And fun.Pics:

Pike and Shotte is quick like Black powder so you need a ton of troops. The BAron has a ton, but we didn't want to go crazy just yet. HE is also in the middle of the great rebasing, so no finished bases.

Once we finished Pike and Shotte, we broke out SAGA to give it a whirl. Honestly I had never read the rules, didn't understand them very well, although the booze at this point may have been clouding my judgement. I think they are a good set, I need to read them. They seem like a set that rewards you mightily for knowing your troops, the rules, and the game boards. Not a pick up and go sort of game for multiple people, or those who haven't read the rules. It was fun to see my horde of Vikings finally get on the field. Couple of Pics:

Finally, on Saturday we played Mutant Future. It is the Retro-Clone RPG of Gamma World nuttiness. We had a couple of new players, so we had to fold them into the story. Hope they enjoyed the chaos. I know that most of you are not interested in tales of RPG gaming, so I won't digress too far. In summary, the group, consisting of a Mutant Anteater, A Mutant Wolf-Eagle hybrid, A Mutant Sunflower who is a badass, a mutant human, and a Pure Strain Human, rescued a Mutant Bat-Fox hybrid and released a deactivated Combat Engineering Synthetic from his slumber since the 'big one'. They detroyed a hungry, floating, gamma ray shooting, Gamma Eye that was hunting them for food. Also they got further dragged into the territorial disputes of the goose stepping, jack boot wearing, facist, hated Pig Men Cabals. Fun was had by all. 

For me, as much as I love classic D&D(red cover basic, blue cover expert, or Labrynth Lord), I find myself falling back into easy tropes while game mastering. Mutant Future keeps me on my toes. And my great love and the vision I have in my head of the Post Apocalyptic setting really forces me to be creative. Its a lot of fun if you give yourself over to it. My style is no-prep. Everything is on thefly, with maybe a few whispy plot threads dangling around. A sandbox. Go play.

So it was a fun weekend. Much gaming. I am off gaming this week and next, until schedules for basketball settle down and the rhythn of the holidays is in full force. Happy Gaming.