Crisis in Drawbridge: Transformers vs Sentinels

 There's more to meets the eye here!

We're back in the Jimulthuan Quadrant, and I, Stylus, continue to push the boundaries of what is acceptable to field in a 40k campaign.

Marvel Crisis Protocol remains my game of choice, but I happened to glance at some Transformers I painted a few years ago. The poor things have barely seen the tabletop (because they don't have a game system) and when I discovered their base sizes correlate with MCP, it was game on!

Cabal / Decepticons

The entire tactical decisions of my squad building boiled down to which MCP character best fitted the evil Decepticons I had.

• Gladiator packs a wallop, is supremely confident and even has a ranged laser attack, so that's Megatron.
• M.O.D.O.K. brings mind control and an attack that hits multiple targets (which I imagined to be the mini-cassettes popping out), so we have our Soundwave.
• Ironmonger has jump jets an an attitude of late-stage capitalism that is perfect for Starscream.
• Sin made an appearance because I needed to add more points, and also a leadership ability (such as it is). She will represent the female protagonists of the Transformers franchise, like Megan Fox. Let's say she's her sister, Samantha.

Sentinels

Greetings! It is I, jhnlk of many consonants, returning to the jimulthuan quadrant to continue a war already predetermined by the cabal... I hope. 

Poor Stylus is sullied by my Marvel ignorance. Upon seeing the Decepticons, I opted for models that looked similar! Enter the Sentinels. 

• Cassandra Nova is my leader. She looks fairly powerful but I assume is a little fragile if I stick her out on her own. 
• Sentinel Prime MK4 is the first big robot to take the stage. 
• Sentinel MK4… I am sure there is a difference but I can’t tell just yet.
• Prime Sentinel - okay who is naming these?! This is the little one. I’ve been told this one can be pesky if it gets in and about the enemy but surely is the most fragile of the team?

Other than similar looks, I opted for a team of a similar roster size. My last game of MCP had too

many models for me to manage and I spread them all too thin. I am going to keep a compact formation and hope to use overlapping powers rather than over extend myself.

Mission and deployment

In a nod to the sci-fi setting of Drawbridge (hence the terrain), we're playing Alien Ship Crashes Downtown and Power Overload! Factory Goes Up In Flames. Two fairly straightforward crises, but the potential to explode objectives and inflict damage when you least want it.

Sentinels take the top half of the board and cluster together quite closely. From left to right, Prime Sentinel (the little one), Sentinel Mk4 and Sentinel Prime Mk4 (the big one) with only Cassandra Nova on the centre.

The Decepticons are more spread out: Megatron is on the left flank, Soundwave in the centre and Starscream on the right. Sin cowers under the cover of a building and wishes she had more hit points.
 

jhnlk wins the roll for the first turn and we're away!

Round 1

It's a cagey start on both sides: Prime Sentinel (hereafter 'Nanosentinel' - because there's too many Primes in this franchise!) takes the left Extract, Sentinel Mk4 steps up to hold the centre-left Secure. Cassandra Nova and Sentinel Prime stand on the home Secure.

I confess, I am nervous of leaping into the trap of Stylus’ power houses!

The Decepticons try a bit of repositioning: Starscream grabs the right Extract, as planned. But Sin runs up to hold the centre-right Secure, which is closer to the action than I'd like. 

This allows Megatron to run sideways onto the home Secure and Soundwave to walk up and collect the centre Extract (I'm relying on his defensive tech and high hit points to keep him alive).

Barely a shot fired, but we're all generating big power pools, so things should kick off soon.

Score: Decepticons 4 : 3 Sentinels

Round 2

Things kick off. Sentinel Prime boosts up his Plasma Blast Mk2 and double-taps Soundwave. The dice spike for Sentinel Prime and whiff for Soundwave and 10 hit points disappear very rapidly. 

As a consolation, Megatron can play the Protector of the Empire card and swoop in for some payback. Sadly, he wasn't counting on getting close to Cassandra Nova, who can use Psychic Distraction to burn off a few wounds. Megatron then whiffs his attack on the Sentinel Prime.

Undaunted, during his actual turn, Megatron lays into Sentinel Prime, leaving it on a single wound and unable to push through any more. Cassandra Nova slaps back with a Psionic Bolt, followed by a Mind Possession that has Megatron wandering off towards the back line, but still close enough to play Psychic Distraction and daze him!

So I've already lost my 6 Threat and 5 Threat characters. This is fine.

Clearly it's Starscream's time to shine. He swoops in and plinks off the last wound from Sentinel Prime, poaching the kill for himself. ("I guess that makes me the new leader!")

The Mk4 moves to the centre and picks up the fallen Extract objective. The Nanosentinel hunkers down on the Secure, lacking any conscious targets. Sin runs back to the home Secure and considers her life choices.

That was a mental turn. A supreme dash of luck has boosted my confidence! Although despite my team talk at the start, I have left Nanosentinel woefully out of position on the wing. 

Score: Decepticons 7 : 7 Sentinels

Round 3

Soundwave reactivates, and with a full tank of energon and only four hit points left, he's the only option to go first. I want to remove Sentinel Prime - it's too useful in buffing the rest of the team, plus its leadership ability has been doling out power as my highest threat characters have been dropping.

Playing the Dark Reign tactic to allow full rerolls, Soundwave hits him with the Doomsday Chair attack (I like to think this is Laserbeak). It does nothing at all (probably Rumble, then) but at least Cassandra Nova gets caught in the secondary attack.

I have to spend the last of Soundwave's power on a second Doomsday Chair attack (which sadly means no movement shenanigans), which again fails to dent Sentinel Prime, but does at least daze Cassandra Nova, so that's something.

For all my talk of protecting her, Cassandra is caught in the crossfire!

On the Sentinels' turn, Sentinel Prime turns his attention to Megatron with his Suppression Protocols Mk, which takes off a chunk of damage and, even worse, throws on a lot of annoying conditions: Incinerate, Shock and - worse of all, since I'm already out of position - Slow. All Megatron can do is limp towards the home Secure and hope for better next time.

Starscream once again seizes his moment and hits Sentinel Prime, taking off a couple of wounds and, more importantly, giving him the power to play the Guns Blazin' tactic, which basically nukes Sentinel Prime and takes him off the board. ("I guess that makes me the new leader!")

The Sentinel Mk4 needs two attempts to plasma blast Soundwave, but the outcome was never really in doubt. Another KO!

Sin attempts to leave her Secure objective, shoot the Nanosentinel, then hit-and-run back to safety, but she miscalculated her power and is left stranded and out of Stealth range. All the Nanosentinel can do is shake his head and score another two points.

Score: Decepticons 8 : 10 Sentinels

Round 4

With the initiative back in the Sentinels' hands, Megatron is looking decidedly vulnerable to an awakened Cassandra Nova. And so it proves, with the leader of the Decepticons falling to the Mind Possession / Psychic Distraction combo.  ("I guess that makes me the new leader!")

Starscream uses his Jump Jets to close up to Cassandra Nova, only to be hit by Psychic Distraction himself - which has the secondary effect of allowing Cassandra to retreat safely behind cover. (Having quickly become a favourite move of mine - it feels spectacularly fiendish - I did warn Stylus I would play it if he moved close!) Robbed of targets, Starscream shoots the Nanosentinel twice, but to no avail.

In response, the Nanosentinel softens up Starscream, who is then dazed by Sentinel Mk4. Sin then comes under the robot's attention and is immediately one-shot.

Score: Decepticons 8 : 13 Sentinels

Round 5

My one consolation (other than regaining the initiative) is that this is a slow scoring game, so maybe there is still hope.

Starscream throws everything at the Sentinel Mk4, but leaves him alive on a couple of wounds. Cassandra Nova has to move back into position, so only gets one attack on Starscream, which leaves him standing, thanks to his Reinforced Armor Plating. ("I guess that makes me the new leader!")

It's Sin's time to shine. If she can daze the Sentinel with her rapid fire Automatic Pistols, she can Hit-and-Run onto the Nanosentinel's objective and thump it with a Make It Personal spender.

The first part actually works - the Sentinel is dazed, to pistol fire! The dream stays briefly alive, but then Sin whiffs her next attack and the Nanosentinel KOs her.

The Sentinels score out the victory and only Starscream is left alive. ("I guess that makes me the new leader!")

Score: Decepticons 8 : 17 Sentinels

Retreat to Cybertron!

What a rout! I definitely had some shocking dice rolls early on, but I think that just exposed my poor gameplay. Soundwave/M.O.D.O.K. can be an excellent turret, but he can be very fragile and needs some mechanic to save him (Fall Back or Sacrifice tactics, or a good bodyguard). Once he was dazed, I was on the defensive.

I was surprised how ineffective Megatron/Gladiator was for a 6 Threat, but I did throw him right into the lion's mouth. I think he would have been better bullying weaker characters to build up his Confidence tokens, then gone for the kill. Although it didn't help that all the throws my characters could do were ineffective because the Sentinels were too big!

By contrast, for a 3 Threat, Starscream/Ironmonger did brilliantly (don't tell him I said that). He was able to move around the board, tank hits and lay down some hurt very efficiently. He just couldn't win the game by himself.

Unlike poor Stylus, I had spectacularly fortuitous dice - especially in turn two - and Stylus fell prey to the very gambit I was burned by in the previous game. 

I was stuck between really enjoying this gameplay and feeling slightly guilty by the chasm in our respective fortunes! 

This army looks great and plays really well together. With an extra power level, it can take two Sentinel Mk4 which would unlock more use of the tactic cards that I largely forgot until after Sentinel Prime was toast. 

All in all, that was great fun and lovely to see the Deceptions on the table. Maybe I'll have better luck with the Autobots next time...