Return to Xenos Rampant & a visit to 7th City Collectables

With our usual club having a week off, I decided to book in a game of Xenos Rampant with Paul W. Having only recently heard about 7th City Collectables, a local gaming store just a few miles away from me on the outskirts of Nottingham, I booked a table and pulled the poilus out of the loft.

7th City Collectables is a lovely venue, really well-lit and clean. For once, I didn’t have to adjust the light and colour balance on my pics! It was pretty busy when we arrived just after 7 as the previous Pokemon games were finishing but quietened down as the evening went on. I got a free drink with my table booking, which was a nice touch, and we got the toys out.

Paul has recently acquired a 3D printed Eldar-style landing port and was keen to get it out, so this became the main setting for the game. It’s not small! Back in the early days of 40K/ Rogue Trader, this kind of scenery was only available as bespoke handmade pieces and rarely seen outside of the pages of White Dwarf, so it was quite an experience to get to play on something of this size. (I think it made it all worthwhile for Paul lugging his two massive Really Useful Boxes into the venue!)

It also proved to be excellent for blocking line of sight and providing cover during the game, something that is very much recommended in XR due to the long ranges and power of weapons.

Forces used were our Weird World War One French and Germans. Both of these have their basis in historical minis that we collected with a number of more sci-fi units added. Paul’s Germans have rocketeers, a spider-like walker and (my nemesis) a horde of werewolves, my French have a mechanoid and their secret weapon, a huge hook-clawed xenomorph goaded into battle by some halberdiers and a baguette handler, naturally. (You can see how I made this force here).

As I had a diplomat mini in my box, I suggested that we play the VIP Extraction scenario from the XR rulebook. This VIP had got himself stranded on the docking platform and was waiting to be picked up by either side for the win.

This turned into rather a one-sided affair as my support weapons struggled against Paul’s superior types. I’d not noted the ‘engulfing’ special rule before that removes all cover bonuses for a mere +1 point, so my tactic of deploying my supporting weapons in cover was useless. Coupled with ‘armour piercing’ that reduces Armour by 1, and my futuristic Maginot Line crumbled in a matter of minutes.

I’d rushed forward some bold poilu light infantry to meet the VIP…they met the werewolves on the stairs…it didn’t end well! The werewolves did get to meet the hook beast and his baguettes a few minutes later, but by that point the VIP had fled.

Added to that, Paul’s rocketeers (moving 12″) had already zipped up to the platform and made their exit with the VIP. Game over!

This all felt a bit rushed so we re-set and played a different scenario with three different objectives to take and hold on the spaceport terrain. Following Paul’s sage advice, I changed my support weapons around to include ‘engulfing’ and ‘armour piercing’ so we had better parity in forces, and off we went.

I took less photos of this one but it was a much more evenly-matched game, and frankly I probably remembered how to play after a few months off XR!

My support weapons held the left flank while I carefully advanced the infantry forwards to the right, making best use of the cover. Some fortunate shooting pinned down one of Paul’s heavy infantry units on my right, making the advance easier.

The werewolves had deployed opposite the support weapons and mech on my left flank, which meant that they spent a large part of the game with their heads down waiting to rush the stairs.

Meanwhile, my infantry had made it to the central tower and were climbing up to the upper level of the spaceport. The first unit of poilus got shot off the building and fled, but I followed up by sending in the baguette handler and his ferocious beast, which quickly cleared the tower.

Although my support weapons were now taking casualties and the mech had suffered a terminal systems failure (rolling a double when at half strength is never good as a mechanoid in XR!), the infantry were in control of the main building and spread out to take two of the objectives. The Germans’ attempt to pin them with suppressing fire was ineffective, although the bloodied werewolves had finally pulled themselves together and taken the third objective.

With the turn limit reached, we diced for the value of our objectives, giving a deserved 6-5 win to the French.

Overall, a super evening’s gaming. XR continues to deliver a fast-paced game that you can play with any minis you like and doesn’t require too much rulebook-searching. The first game was a bit abrupt but once I had brought my force more in line with Paul’s for the second scenario, we had a very even and enjoyable scrap.

7th City Collectables is also a lovely venue and I will be certain to return!