Gnomes v. Goblin pirates

Gnomes v Goblin pirates

I thought it would be a little longer before my next battle report – and I had hoped it would be against a real-life opponent, but Covid put pay to that. Oh well, at least I have an opportunity to try out some models I’ve finished painting while in isolation.


Gnomes:
Mama Gimble
Gradock
Quarrel
Young Jack
Billy
Gnomish Airship

Goblins (opposing troupe):
El Capitano
Swiggarty Swooty
Seasick Stu
Crusty Balboa
Firespitter
Beaky Bobby

As this is a solo game, I have the goblins the side with easier access to four moonstones (although, admittedly, two are depth 4). The gnomes are quite spread out and I’m wondering if it’s a mistake to have Billy off the flank chasing after that depth 4 moonstone.

Turn 1

Goblins have the initiative but they let the gnomes move first. With all those firearms around, no-one’s keen to venture into no-man’s land! But Billy is fearless. He High-ho silvers into the fray and begins harvesting the moonstone.

Seasick Stu tells Swiggarty and El Capitano some jokes and then pushes Swiggarty towards the nearest moonstone. Swiggarty harvests.

Quarrel shoots Firespitter, dealing 3 damage. Gradock deals 2 more damage with snare traps

Firespitter harvests then moves towards Beaky and his healing, cowering behind Swiggarty Swooty. Beaky heals him 3 and sets to work on one of the depth 4 moonstones.

Mama Gimble advances to the middle moonstone. Young Jack comes alongside her and harvests the other moonstone down to a 1.

El Captinano shoots twice at Young Jack, dealing 3 damage. The gnomish airship was hoping for a better target than Beaky Bobby, and with just two arcane cards, both pink, he decides not to chance it.

Crusty Balboa ends the turn helping Beaky out with those deep moonstones.

Goblins lead 2 moonstones (Swiggarty, Firespitter) to 0.
 

Turn 2

Swiggarty Swooty sees an opportunity to do some real damage to Young Jack. He shoots twice and with a lucky green 3, that’s the end of Young Jack.

Quarrel wants revenge, but he targets El Capitano, with the higher evade stat. He draws just a green one, though, merely grazing the goblin pirate. Seasick goes next, marching up and giving energy to the captain, Firespitter and Swiggarty Swooty.

 

Sensing danger, Gradock moves up and makes El Capitano forget how to shoot his pistol, before swiping the gnomes’ first moonstone.

Beaky Bobby heals El Capitano and harvests the goblins’ third moonstone.

The gnomish airship moves up to benefit from Mama Gimble’s arcane bonus and takes a shot at Crusty Balboa. It bluffs to deal 2 damage to the lobster. Crusty harvests the moonstone a little more and heads towards the airship.

Across the table, Billy finishes harvesting the gnomes’ second moonstone and moves behind the barrels, ready to charge in next turn. Frustrated by his inability to get a clear shot, Firespitter still blasts Billy twice. “Who needs a clear shot when you have fire?!!!” Mama Gimble harvests, then moves closer to heal Billy, but she fails.

El Capitano would prefer to shoot his enemies than move in close, but Gradock has given him no choice, so he charges into melee. He uses his Hit ability and plays rising attack, which basically guarantees the kill. Billy has 3 thrusts, dealing a fantastic 6 damage to the captain on his way out, leaving the gnomes still with a chance of victory.

Goblins lead 3 moonstones (Swiggarty, Firespitter and Beaky) to 2 (Gradock and Mama Gimble)

Of the two remaining moonstones, the one on the left is firmly the goblins’ with only the gnomish airship close enough to get to it – and of course it can’t harvest! El Capitano has the other moonstone, but he has only 1 wound remaining. The gnomes’ only chance is to kill him and one of the other goblins holding a moonstone.

Turn 3

Gnomes win the roll-off. The airship moves in and takes aim at Firespitter, taking the goblin down to 3 wounds. El Capitano harvests Billy’s dropped moonstone and runs back towards goblin lines – right into Gradock’s snare traps. Bye-bye, captain!

Seasick Stu still manages see the funny side of things, giving Firespitter and Swiggarty extra energy before going in an taking a stab at Gradock (clearing a line of sight for Beaky to heal the Firespitter). Gradock dodges out of the way.

Mama Gimble is angry now – so wrathful that she deals 2 damage to Seasick Stu and gives energy to Quarrel and Gradock. She moves in to attack Seasick Stu in melee. Stu is lucky, suffering only 1 wound in the encounter.

Beaky Bobby heals Firespitter 3 and completely heals Swiggarty Swooty. Not much help when Quarrel has enough energy to shoot twice and draws two green 3s in a row. Swiggarty falls, dropping his moonstone.

Firespitter has the choice to pick up the moonstone but he decides that shooting twice at Quarrel is the way to go. A great first hand halves the gnomes’ wounds but he draws nothing in the follow-up.

Crusty finishes the turn by falling back and harvesting the moonstone he’d left for Beaky Bobby. The wizard’s healing abilities are far more valuable right now.

Goblins lead 3 moonstones (Firespitter, Beaky, Crusty) to 2 (Gradock, Mama Gimble).
 
It’s going to come down to whether Firespitter and Seasick Stu can survive, holding the gnomes off the unclaimed moonstones.


Turn 4

Gnomes win the roll-off. The airship moves in and drops its payload on Firespitter and Seasick Stu, before following up with a bolt to Firespitter’s chest. Firespitter perishes and Stu now has just one wound. A drunk goblin with a serious injury is now all that stands between the gnomes and victory!

That is until Beaky Bobby moves in and fully heals him!

Now Mama’s really mad! She sets at Stu with her frying pan. Stu – with his one melee card – manages to fend her off twice, so she falls back to what she does best: giving out some love to Quarrel and healing him 2 wounds.

Crusty advances, eager for a fight.

Now’s Gradock’s chance to take on Seasick Stu. The goblin’s luck continues to hold and he suffers only 4 wounds across two rounds of melee. Still, Stu doesn’t fancy his chances against Gradock and Mama Gimble, so he backs off two steps and runs away. Quarrel shoots him in the back but still the goblin survives.

At the end of turn 4, it’s a draw, with 2 moonstones to the goblins (Crusty and Beaky) and 2 to the gnomes (Gradock and Mama Gimble). With his 3 inch range, Seasick Stu is preventing the gnomes from harvesting any of the three moonstones!


Sudden Death

Gnomes in the roll-off (again!). The airship reloads and shoots down Seasick Stu. This puts the moonstones very much in the gnomes’ control.

Still, Crusty moves in, intent to pinch Mama Gimble’s moonstone. She steps away but he follows up and attempts to grab Gradock’s – but fails to draw a 3.

 

With that, Quarrel harvests a fallen moonstone (which belonged to Billy at one point, I believe) and clinches the game for the gnomes!

Conclusions

What a tough game! It honestly looked like the game was the goblins’ most of the way, and even in sudden death, Crusty could have won it for them it he’d have drawn a 3.

With both sides heavily packing, this was a very arcane-heavy game. I think the only decisive melee exchange was Billy’s fluke against El Capitano with those 3 thrusts. I wonder whether the goblins would have been better off just grabbing the 4 nearest moonstones and running. Certainly, it would have been a more boring game, but I still think they would have lost – the gnomes’ range and firepower was just too strong.

And what about Young Jack? Every time I use him, he just rushes forward and dies. You might call me reckless. I blame the sculpt.