EotD: Supernatural Branch vs. Gentlemen's Club

Had a game yesterday with my friend Chris. It was very interesting as we changed how we did melee combat. As readers of this blog know Chris and I have been looking a this before. The Combat system in Empire of the Dead is without doubt it's weakest point as it almost makes the Cbt stat obsolete. In fact the stat only comes into play in case of a tie, which is not that often. This means that a Beastlord with Cbt 7 has no better chance of hitting a model with Cbt 3 - which is crazy. In the system your Att stat is a lot more important than your Cbt.

Chris therefore proposed that we added the Cbt to our roll instead (we have done this before). The TN is 10 and successes cancel each other out. This can bring a scenario about, where neither opponent is wounded.

Another reason why this was an interesting game was because I for the first time over a year, decided that I would have a Black Moria coach in my faction. Previous attempts have not been successful, but I figured I would give it a try again. Chris had brought his Malifaux Freikorps figures, which he used as a Russian Mercenary team.

We rolled up the Blissful Ignorance scenario and got 6 civilians on the table.

It turned out to be a blast of a game, and I managed to get a lot of pictures between the turns. I have added a small text below each instead of a lengthy writeup. We both had the upper hand several times in the game. At some point I had 4 men closing in on Chris' president - but in the following combat rounds, I lost and ultimately my DI fled.

My Black Moria proved worth the price - it killed the Russian sniper, provided cover for the peelers and almost managed to block the way of another Russian with a captured civilian. Certainly not the last time I will bring one.

The change to the combat worked okay, but after the game we came up with a another way to tackle combat. We will give it a try the next time we game.

 Intial deployment - diagonal corners

 Intial deployment - Peelers taking cover on the pier

 Intial deployment - Gentlemen's Club looking towards the civilians

  Intial deployment - Civilians blissfully ignorant of the upcoming battle

  Intial deployment - Black Moria ready to make the streets safe

Peelers move onto the streets

 The Russians move

 Russian sniper and leader take up positions

 Peelers move cautiously along the pier

First civilian is captured by the Russians - Peelers unable to prevent it

Black Moria speeds towards Russian intent on blocking their retreat

Russian leader stalking civilian - while Peelers ponder their next move

Russians capture more civilians close to their deployment zones

Sniper fires in vain at onrushing Black Moria

Russian leader captures civilian - Peeler plots surprise attack from pier


View from the other side

 Peelers finally manages to get to a civilian

The Black Moria driver successfully shoots the Russian sniper with his light pistol, but will be able to block the other Russian's way?

Two civilians escorted away by the authorities

Peelers closing in Russian leader

 Overview of board at the end of a turn (5 I think)

Peeler is killed by man portable gatling gun from across the board

Russian VP is killed by out of picture DI. Russian leader holding his own against peelers.

Another peeler dies

Peeler bringing civilians out of the combat zone

The Black Moria has to take the long way round

 Another peeler shot, while the DI is getting ready to charge

 Final scene before the DI flees, third peeler is killed.