Empire of the Dead: AAR Entrapment

Empire of the Dead was on the menu as my friend Michael popped around for a game. During the last couple of months we have played a sort of campaign where each of us have 3 factions each and each of us then draw a small card with the name of one of the faction on it. This means that it is completely random who will battle against another.

The draw yesterday meant that the Brotherhood of the Sacred Flame (Holy Order) were pitted against K Division Limehouse (Supernatural Branch). For scenario we rolled Entrapment and Michael, who played K Division decided that he would be the attacker, thus he would attempt to make it across the board.

This was the first time that my London Docks board was used in the 4x4 size, and I am very pleased with how it looks.

The first couple of rounds were spent getting into good positions. At the center of the board a huge building dominated and I was unsure which way around it the peelers would attempt to go, so I had to cover both ways. My Knight Marshal and a brother armed with a hunting rifle had started on one of the piers, but were moved into a position so that they could cover the left flank.

At the beginning of round 3 we had gotten into positions where pistols were becoming useful and charging a possibility. The action was centred on two areas, on the left flank and right flank. Some woeful shooting from both sides meant that melee combat especially on the left flank was becoming decisive.

On the left flank my Knight Marshal was struck down by the Police Sergeant, and the Detective Inspector killed my hunting rifle armed brother. I was doing better on the right flank, were a shot was fired on an unhinged Firearms Constable, who promptly fled the action and left the board. One of my brothers with a heavy pistol managed to shoot another constable.

In round 4 my Deacon charged the Detective Inspector, meaning that three melee combats were being fought and both of us thus only had 1 figure each to move. We both chose to shoot, but neither could get a Remove from Play result. In the combat phase, my Deacon won the combat against the Detective Inspector, removing a wound and putting him on Down. The Police Sergeant then killed another brother. The third combat was indecisive.

Round 5 started with Michael having to roll for his Detective Inspector to see whether he would recover or die from his Down. He rolled a 5 and he therefore stayed Down. With both of us now having lost 3 figures Bravado checks were needed. Here the dice let me down and my Deacon and a brother fled, while Michael had his remaining Firearms Constable flee as well. This meant that there was only 3 figures left on the table and in the combat phase my remaining brother managed to win against the Police Constable.

The last round of the game saw my brother and the Detective Inspector engage in melee, with the DI ending victorious. Despite me losing my last figure, it still ended up a draw as K Division was unable to get 75% of their men to the other side of the board.

It was a highly enjoyable game, where the tides were turned several times.

Most of the pictures I took turned out to be to bad in quality, so I have only included a handful.