Siege of Port Boon II - Blood and Sand, Nemo's revenge!

[Promise of Elysia]

Shattered masonry had been heaped into piles in order to clear the wall breaches, the majority of the fallen stone work had been crushed and ground underfoot until it was little more than white dust swirled through the air by the constantly shifting coastal winds. Through the white swirl another fresh contingent marched into the newly occupied territory of Port Boon, it had been a hard fight that had seen many a good soldier dead but it had been a necessary fight.

In a brief moment of respite from the rigours of the instillation of law and order within the city limits and the deployment and garrisoning of the almost constant flow of reinforcements Forward Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff watched the last of the Winter Guard crossed the walls threshold through the swirling whiteness and mused how much it resembled the tempestual blizzards of home.
“Another battle group will arrive by dawn” Supreme Kommandant Irusk remarked casting his eye across the ranks of soldiers marching past them in perfect step.
“Our Engineers will have the wall rebuilt and reinforced with Khadorian steel by the weeks end” replied the icy Kommander.
“Man hunters are as we speak scouring the surrounding countryside in search of surviving Cygnarian’s”
“They will find few, once the doom reavers were unleashed not even the Greylords themselves could restrain them”
“Even so, the gates and towers are watched over by our Widowmakers none will come within their range and survive” Irusk nodded towards the half reconstructed tower, in its shadow still as carved ice several figures watched their killing grounds through spyglasses.
“Kommander Stakhov holds the port itself along with a contingent of his finest Kommandos and word has it the Emperess has dispatched the Butcher to ensure our little prize is not stolen away from us before we can capitalize on Zerkova’s discovery”
“Has Strakhov found any evidence of the dragon spawn?”
“You beliveve the idle chatter of the street urchins Sorscha?” the question was laced with genuine surprise and further punctuated by Irusk’s raised eyebrow.
“Fully, no. But the Cygnarian’s employed the Trollkin as mercenaries and I doubt even their savagery could account for the destruction reaped upon the constructs of the Nightmare Empire.”
“No perhaps not”

***

The dust has settle and Port Boon has been taken by the might of the Kadorian Warmachine, with the Cygnarian’s forced to retreat from their battlements and make for safer ground while all the while hunter groups harry their heels. The servants of the Nightmare Empire gained no foothold despite attempting to exploit siege, thrown back into the sea by the unlikely combination of Ethrunbal’s draconic children and the Trollkin mercenaries’ in the hire of the ports noble ruler.

Months have passed the city of Port Boon has been rebuilt and reinforced by fierce Kadorian soldiers, Cygnar has rallied an army and makes the march to retake their city undercover of darkness hoping to surprise their enemy and crush the usurpers. Toruk stirs and his Lich Lords cast their baleful gaze across the seas once again, black arks have been constructed and phalanxes of Bane warriors march to war alongside towering Helljacks.

The board is set and the pieces are ready but so many things cannot be planned for in war, the savaged Trollkin have once again taken the coin of the displaced Cygnarian military. Many scholars and beggars have spoken of towering beasts of iron flesh clashing with the dark steel deathjack across the bleach sand beaches, if the stories hold some truth the Cygnarian’s care little for the enemy of your enemy is your friend but can the Legion of Everblight be trusted even for a heartbeat?

***

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to invite you to participate in the fight to retake or hold the city of Port Boon. Much like our first multi-player game the players will be broken up into teams and will be given their own objectives to achieve throughout the game.

More information is coming soon but for now please feel free to post up your ideas for strategies to combat the Cryxian menace or the iron resolve of the Khadorian warriors?

[Scrugglebug]

Off the top of my head...

Smaller table,
Synchronised Turns - i.e. Given our previous LSB (Large Scale Battle), we effectively had 3 tables; Protectorate v Retribution, Khador (and Skorne) v Cygnar, and Cryx vs Legion/Trolls. Now, given the Beach Battle was so far away it was completely unrelated to the rest of the board, there was some serious timing issues with Lee's retribution moving over to the Khador board i.e. he slotted in with the Cygnar turn, but essentially meant that he would have got a double activation. As such, each 'area' needs to be so that each ROUND has to be resolved on all zones before any zone can progress. All allies share a starting turn. Yes some people will have very short rounds, and some will have longer ones (Stef...) but it's fairer and makes more sense.
Ease of use - 15 minute turns per player, no more than 4 players in a zone. Coordinating 5? Khador players, some Skorne and occasionally a word to the Menites was a bit too much. 4 Players per zone cleans things up, a bit. Obviously the point is fluidity, so moving from zone to zone should be ok, but needs to be controlled some how.
Clearing up spell interactions - It's quite clear in HordesMachine what spells affect other units. If it says 'friendly faction' then it should be able to affect friendly faction models, no matter what caster cast it. HOWEVER, with more that one player activating models at the same time, there must be a caveat. I would suggest that for a unit to be affected by a friendly spell, it must be BEFORE or AFTER that units activation e.g. Khador Player 1 couldn't charge unit A at a target, and Khador Player Two casts Iron Flesh when the unit get there, and Unit A proceeds to make attacks. It tidies a few things up (i.e. spells like Battle Lust and deciding not to cast them once a player has realised it's a failed charge).
Less gimmicky siege machinery - Whilst the avalanche cannon and Storm Turret things where cool, the were a bit broken and unwieldy. The walls and siege aspect needs to be worked up to balance 1) being able to gun from the walls the enemy to death 2) turning up and wrecking the walls instantly with heavy jacks.