SpineSpur: Big Battle

Today, and yesterday, I got in some SpineSpur games. As the first one was short, I'm not going to bother re-capping it. Let's just say when you play 3-player game, it sucks to be the one the other two players gang-up on...

Anyway, today I played a 155 point game with my buddy Linus. The game was a simple Survival mission, with no special rules (We're both still learning, so I'm trying to keep things simple).

Hack & co: 154 points
Hack
Billy Burns
Amy Brighteyes
Sex Star Six
Molotov Thug (Tim)
Bludgeoning Thugs (x2 - Steve, Tony)

Dark Faith: 155
Anti-Pope
Cardinal Anhelitus
Cardinal Inferni
Sisters (x2)
Torn (x4)
Molotov Thug (Tom)

[Sadly, I have no pictures]

I won deployment, and started setting up on the hill at one end of the board, while Linus started to hide his forces in cover behind a building. I ended up with a line of Torn around the edge of the hill, with the Cardinals and Sisters as back up, while the Linus kept putting his people as far away as possible. To counter this, I stashed the Anti-Pope and Tom beside the hill, so they could cut off any flankers and be the second wave of my attack (after the main force had taken or caused causalities). His hiding threw off my attack plan of playing defensively, so I knew this was going to be a tough one...

The first turn, Billy, Amy, Tim and Six started climbing the building, get on to balconies and other spots, while my wall of undead lurched forwards. I also experimented with the Cardinals' abilities, using "Virulence" for the first time, and Grimnore to save Fear Tokens and Actions. Meanwhile, Hack and his Thug buddies tried to reposition themselves out of my way with a small flanking maneuver. The Anti-Pope and his buddy began moving towards the action ever so slowly.

Over the next few turns, combat started happening, with my Sisters dropping Steve, the bastard with a bat, using their throwing knives; then my wave of Torn crashed against the rock that is Hack. The battle raged, with Amy using "Dance with me!" a few times against my Torn, killing one of them with their own teeth, while Billy and Six watching and shrugging (I assume Six was teaching Billy how to play the guitar... Or stopping Billy from using his flamethrower). Cardinal Anhelitus was the first to fall on my side, biting the dust to Hack. He wasn't alone in death, as a Torn was taken down shortly there after. Meanwhile, the Anti-Pope kept edging his way closer and closer, eying the corpses on the ground and plotting...

As things started to heat up, I finally used the Dark Faith Agenda ability, allowing the Anti-Pope to pop a corpse and raise another one to fight again. I also used Inferni's spell to make my Torn stand back up, keeping them in the fight a little longer. About this time, Six dropped down from his perch and started wailing on his guitar, doing some damage to Inferni. The Sisters played it safe, with one of them grabbing the knives that had taken down Steve, then ducking into some near-by woods. Soon, the Anti-Pope got into range and the former Torn served their master a final time by exploding on command. Later on, Six made the mistake of trying to lay some heavy riffs on the Anti-Pope, but he quickly learned that the Pope doesn't allow just anyone to cast spells on him.

As the game closed, I lost another Torn to Hack, and tossed the Sisters' last blades into Hack's huge back. My Molotov Thug tossed his IED, but fell shortly there after to Six's music.

Final Score (total enemies killed):
Hack & Co. - 5 (including Torn born from a corpse)
Dark Faith - 1

Yeah, Hack is a total monster on the board. I was able to get him down to his last 10 Health, but we ran out of time before I could get the Sisters in range to beat on him. I also had the "Amy/Billy/Six" bubble to avoid, because they were all holed up in the one building. I also lost Anhelitus very early in the game, losing my main Torn booster, and I placed the Anti-Pope too far out. On the other hand, at least he made it to the end of the game this time.

If I could do it again, I would have forced the enemy to come to me and centered all of my forces on the hill. If I have to advance, I need to work on my 'waves.' Torn in the front rank, Sisters following to provide long-ranged support, followed by the Cardinals and the Pope, with my Thug acting as rear-guard. Lessons learned... Once I get the rest of my Thugs finished, I'm going to try going for my of them and using Curse of Undeath to bolster my ranks.

(I also need to figure out how to take Hack down. I haven't killed the guy yet!)