Jokers v ISC

[Kenton]

Had 2 games this evening, one with a player who had played once before and one intro game.

The initial game was 135 points.
ISC using the box set plus the Yellow K
Jokers with Vlad, Yuri, Ievgueni, Vassilev, Anton and Yorg.

I have no idea what the ISC mission was but I took the Joker mission that comes with the later releases and was after table quarters.

Initial setup had Jokers spread out in a line with Yorg, Yuri and Vladd on the left with the others strung out to their right (Vassilev on the end).

The ISC all bunched up opposite Yuri and the gang. I was a bit worried as the last thing I wanted was to be hit with a whole load of metal nastiness at once!

The game played fluidly with the Assassin robot running in and badly damaging Vladd as he advanced. Luckily these were body hits and didn't reduce any statistics.

In response Vladd damaged the bot and Yorg (who is outstandingly brutal) thumped it into next week. Yorg's ability to lower the VIG of adjacent targets is exceptionally useful, especially if you can get Anton in on the same target later in the round . . oh yes.

The other robots advanced but did little. Vass and Iev moved to occupy the right quarter and the enemy deployment zone.

Following rounds saw the Yellow K drain AP from many Jokers - a very useful ability . . I can see this being evil if used on a model that has just moved and left a defensive AP on itself.

Some flaming and a molotov later the bots were lightly damaged and the Jokers pretty much ok, just not moving much.

The final rounds saw the Carmine Ronin run in and dice Vlad (circular strike is awesome) only to be wasted by lucky hits from Anton teamed up with Yorg. The Yellow K went down to fire damage and Grey Daimyo to a battering after it killed Yorg.

End result was a Joker clear win (making it 2 for 2). However there were several really dirty tricks played by the ISC that definitely added to the game and give promise for future games. So far I do think that the Joker numbers makes a huge difference.

I'll write more, and hopefully more coherent, reports later.