Wednesday 12 January 2011

Axles and Alloys Battle Report #1

Having built and painted four battle cars each, my son Charlie and I finally got round to a battle using our post-apocalypse cars. We chose to use the Axles and Alloys rules set for a number of reasons- firstly it promised to be fast and furious, secondly, it was highly recommended by a number of people on the Lead Adventure Forum, but mostly because it's free to download! (Here).
We started off on opposing sides of the table. Charlie had Dynamite (heavy chassis with turret mounted medium gun, armoured crew compartment and smoke launcher), The Exorcist (medium chassis, with two light guns and one medium gun, all in the front arc), The Destroyer (Medium chassis, with medium gun front, fire extinguisher, and ram) and Hulk (medium chassis, ram, front mounted medium and light gun). I went for a sporty Blue Lighting (Light chassis, two light guns- front, and nitro), Battle Bug (light chassis, light gun front, armoured wheels and napalm dropper), Disco Inferno (Medium chassis, Flame thrower- front, ram, rear mounted light gun) and Grunge (heavy chassis, Twin light guns in a turret, smoke launcher, armoured crew compartment).
Charlie proceeded cautiously; unwilling to risk a skid he kept his speed down, hugging train for cover. I went hell for leather, pedal to the metal, racing towards him as fast as I could. Initially things looked grim for my team. The longer range of charlies medium guns proved very effective, at least until I managed to close the gap. Then my superior speed and maneuverability started to come into its own.
Disco Inferno hunts The Destroyer- His flame thrower hits home- fortunately The destroyer had the good sense to pack a fire extinguisher!

Grunge, being slower than the rest of my team got caught up in an ambush, and had to use his smoke launchers, and a lot of burring rubber, to speed his way out of danger. I began to wonder why I fitted two light guns to Grunge's turret, when a medium gun would have given me better range and more fire power for the same cost. 'Still, it looks cool!
Quick, deploy smoke and get the frag out of here!

The Exorcist's formidable fire power takes out Disco Inferno in a ball of fiery death when he lights up the fuel tanks. Boom!

My team begin to feel the pressure as The Exorcist takes out Disco inferno. Blue Lightning punches his nirto to accelerate out of danger. Meanwhile Hulk catches Battle Bug unawares, and smashes into her with his ram, then blazes away with his guns at short range. Battle Bug only manages to escape by dropping a barrel load of napalm behind her. Hulk wisely swerves off to avoid it.
Crunch! Hulk Smash!


A generous application of napalm to the road surface discourages anyone from following the now badly damaged Battle Bug!


Now it came down to a matter of speed vs brute force. Blue Lighting and Battle bug, being lighter cars, were able to consistently out-maneuver their enemy, but lacked the punch to take them out. This wasn't helped when Blue Lighting lost one of his lasers off the front.

Battle Bug Deploys Napalm directly in front of The Exorcist, and he had no choice but to race through it, bursting into flames- he's taken out when he looses control and plows into a wall. Grunge takes a hit from Dynamite that blows out his fuel tank, and yet another of my team dies in a fiery ball of doom. Things are looking grim now with just two light cars left, and just two light guns between them.

Grunge dies in a big bang! Armoured fuel tanks are beginning to look quite useful.


The game comes to a conclusion when Hulk races through a pool of burning napalm to ram Blue Lighting. Both cars are destroyed out right, leaving only a dilapidated Battle Bug to face an almost unscathed Dynamite. Wisely Battle bug withdrew, limping away and leaving as mass of burning fuel, twisted metal and carnage behind.


To conclude- this was a great game. A+A is a fantastic little system- simple enough to be easily picked up, yet with enough complexity to allow tactics and cunning. Charlie had a great time (especially because he won- and I wasn't going easy on him). The lighter cars with their speed and manoeuvrability were not overshadowed by their heavier opponents, but the light guns lacked the punch compared to charlie's heavier weapons. My next plan to build some cars with heavier weapons.

More bang for your buck!





2 comments:

Andy said...

Love that pink beetle! :-)

Must remember to check out those rules, they seem like a lot of fun.

skywatcher said...

Great to see the enjoyment of the game. You have to try Axles and Alloys 2! It is free and takes the A&A to the next developed level.

click here to check it out