I've owned Strike Legion from Legionnaire Games for some time now, and have always been impressed with how it looked. As a 6mm player, I am constantly looking for new games that play easily like Epic: Armageddon does, has the build-your-own ability ingrained in the game, and has option after option...all without slowing the game down. The potential of Strike Legion seemed unlimited, really, but there are always questions when reading through a ruleset as complicated (or rather, potentially complicated) as this one. Let me explain:
The core mechanics themselves are really not difficult, and felt a little like Battletech to me. You activate Platoons, small groups of vehicles or infantry, and play alternates between players. Your options during an activation are (Ive summed up the actions here, not using their formal names):
Move and Fire
Move 1.5x your printed speed with no firing (cannot be done two turns in a row)
Stand and fire with a bonus to hit
Go on Overwatch
Really, what more can you ask for? The neat thing about Move and Fire is that you can fire at any point during your movement, so moving out of cover, firing, then falling back out of LOS is quite valid, or dashing from cover to cover without limiting your ability to engage the enemy.
The game uses an integrated form of Electronic Warfare, in that, at the beginning of each turn, you assign Offensive and Defensive stats to your forces, on a platoon-level. This is made easy by the simply rule that all vehicles in a platoon (usually no more than 4) have the same EW stat. Offensive EW helps you hit the enemy, and obviously Defensive EW helps defend against incoming fire.
Rolling to hit wasnt really difficult, but it was handled in a method similar to Gruntz: each vehicle rolls 2d6 for their attack and attacks are allocated vehicle-to-vehicle. In Epic, my unit of Leman Russ tanks might fire at your unit of Wave Serpents, so I calculate all the attacks I have and throw a handful of dice. You take as many saves as you need to, then remove the unsaved hits, front to back, no questions asked. In Strike Legion, you dont throw the bucket of dice and calculate hits - instead, you assign Tank A to shoot at something, Tank B shoots at something, Tank C...and so on. These targets can be the same, can be different, or can even be in different enemy platoons. Bottom line is, it isnt as streamlined as, say, Epic, but it really wasnt very hard to remember.
We only played the Basic Game, using the introductory scenario called "Parity". Each of us had three platoons of 4 tanks - a very basic tank with two weapons, and since we were using the identical forces, it made remembering stats quite easy!
We quickly learned that tank combat is LETHAL! Which is good, right? We were pulling tanks off left and right. Granted, we were both using a highly Offensive strategy, but the aggressor, playing the Computer forces in the scenario, really cleaned my clock. Which is good...because he brought the wine, so we had to reward him somehow, right?
After the game, we both decided that we really liked how it played, but had slight concerns about it handling a game of similar model count to an average Epic: Armageddon game.
We also came up with some play aides that we feel would really help speed up the game, or at least help our failing memories:
When shots are fired, if the To-Hit roll was successful and was an odd number, the hit is taken against your Hull armor. If the roll was even, it hit your Turret. More than once, we had multiple tanks in a platoon firing at the same target, so my tank might end up taking two or more hits. But since you fire all your declared shots before resolving damage, once the firing was done, it wasnt enough to say, "OK, roll damage twice on this tank." We had to make note of which armor values were to be used.
We think colored chits with "Hull" or "Turret" would suffice. Mini poker chips like the ones from Kaplow Games, or even Sorting chips in a more opaque version would work. My idea is to get two colors (because it is certainly not uncommon for any given tank to have at least 2 weapons, and sometimes both hit!), mark "Odd: Hull" on 10 or so of each color, write "Even: Turret" on the others, and then drop them next to each target as they are hit.
It may be unnecessary, but we thought this could also help in complicated firing situations: drop a colored marker next to a firing tank, and drop a same-colored token next to its target. Once all declarations have been decided, just find the color combinations and let the dice fly.
Are we making it harder than we need to? Likely! However, we have committed to playing larger battles, so we want whatever we can find to help the flow. The mechanics seemed good, which was refreshing: you never really can tell until the first dice are thrown in anger (and no, I dont mean hurled against the wall in a temper tantrum - if you still do that, you dont belong at my gaming table). And now, for me to plan my revenge!
About Me
- Kealios Achilles-Fang
- My name is Gavin McClements. I am a wargamer and family man, living in Los Gatos, which is a suburb of San Jose, CA. Building terrain is one of my favorite aspects of the wargaming hobby - in fact, lately I've become more interested in making my battlefields "pop" than in actually playing.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Warmaster: An Introduction to 10mm Fantasy
With my move coming this next week, Ive had a lot of time to think about gaming and not an awful lot of time to actually do any. I have a few 6mm Epic armies to assemble and paint, but Ive been lured to the concept of massed fantasy battles in smaller model scales for awhile.
I had an opportunity to play Warmaster from Games Workshop last night. Its been one of the rulesets on my short list of fantasy games to try, so even though my friend Aron is moving like I am, and all his terrain is packed away, he was able to bring out a few armies and we had a go at it.
We are playing 1000 points on a glass table, thus the odd reflections. In the center is a small "village" that the Orcs (top) have been menacing, and the Elves (below, me) are moving to stop.
I've owned Future War Commander for a few years now, and studying it prepared me a bit for Warmaster, as the command system is similar. That being said, its the one main reason I never really wanted to put FWC on the tabletop when compared to Epic: Armageddon. In FWC/Warmaster, if a unit fails to receive its order, it cannot move. In Epic, if a unit fails its Activation roll, it can still do something, called the Hold action, but they arent sitting helpless in some useless corner or sitting in front of impending doom.
We built 1000 point armies. Composition isnt really important, but I only took one General and one Wizard as my commanders. I could have used more, especially since ranged combat didnt affect much (my ballista never moved or had a target anywhere near being in range), but Im sure thats game-situational.
In the pics above (same time frame, different levels of zoom), the Orcs had been harboring some spellcasters in the center village, and my spearmen swept in and displaced them (you can see them with the wolf riders just up and left from the yellow square in the pic). My chariots and outriders are engaging a Giant in melee on the far right, my archers are attempting unsuccessfully to establish a firing line on my left, and most of the Orc army is squabbling in the background. In fact, Aron went first, and he failed to activate a single unit with his Commanders before his turn ended.
[A comparison here: Mighty Armies is a game I am looking at heavily as a contender for my money. In it, you get 2d6-worth of activation points, which must be spent to move your units. At first, when I read this, I balked, since I'm not normally a fan of games that dont let me move as I feel I need, but seeing how Warmaster works, consider this: If Aron had only rolled a 2 on his MA activation points, he could have at least advanced two smaller or one larger unit forward (units of up to 4 stands cost 1 point, 5 or 6 stands cost 2), whereas here he basically rolled a Zero and moved nothing. Poor rolling, yes (thats what you get for a game that relies on rolling LOW on dice! LOL), and so mostly an anomaly, but a key issue I have with the game.]
The chariots and Reaver outriders hit the Giant...HARD.
The neat thing about the game, combat wise, is it really feels like GW's Warhammer game. Each stand has a base number of attacks, and actions on the battlefield affect that. Here, my units each had 3 attacks per stand. Charging grants +1, being a chariot on the charge grants +1, and fighting a Fear-inspiring monster gives a -1 (so my chariots had 4 attacks each, and the Reavers were a straight 3 dice per, giving me 18 dice as the furthest stand of Reavers wasnt in base contact). Hitting on 4's, the Giant fell in one round. I liked the combat mechanic, and throwing a satisfactory number of dice was a good thing.
I had difficulty wrapping my mind around movement, I'll admit. This is a silly thing to admit, because it is a lot more straight forward than, say, Warhammer, but it was flexible enough that I was having internal struggles with past paradigms while watching movement unfold (but dont tell Aron this!). Aron, however, had some ease-of-play tricks obviously borne of much play, and they helped.
We had a few really good brawls. We started late in the evening, and only got through half a game, but here my spearmen are receiving a charge on their left flank from trolls, and to their front from boar chariots. The two stands in contact with the enemy got wiped out, but the next turn I got some good counter charges in and the blood started flowing. At one point I had his trolls completely boxed in, and they were swinging away for all they were worth. It was a grand sight at this scale.
I really love how fluid the game is. Ranged combat can force the target back a few centimeters, and there is much shuffling back and forth in melee as well. It felt right to me, and at one point my spearmen were nearly forced from the village, and I thought, how cool! There werent any routs or big disasters, but the battle lines shifted as the fight raged on, and it felt right.
Going back to the lack of activations in the game: as he began, so he continued: Aron's forces largely sat at the back of his deployment zone, as did my two units of heavy cavalry. Aron pointed out that the byproduct of this was both of us having a useful reserve, and this was true, for when my cavalry suddenly responded to the orders being sent their way, they surged in beautiful formation right through the center of the field and really lined themselves up for a killer charge the next turn (Aron warned me that the large brigade of Orcs staring back at them might get their charge off first, so my narrow column of knights might not be in the best position to receive the charge, but this was Aron rolling...with my dice...so I knew the odds of that were slim and left them as they were. LOL sorry Aron!).
All in all, this game has some meat to it! I liked what I saw, magic looked good but wasnt overly powerful. It isnt the "Build-your-own" system I have been really wanting to play, but wow, IMHO there is zero reason to play 28mm Warhammer any more (I have a large Orc army for sale or trade!). But because of that meat, this game is a long one, and even at 1000 points, I doubt we could have gotten out of there in less than 2 hours even if we were both experts at it - it felt more like a 3 hour game. Not a bad thing, in and of itself, but Im hoping for something a tad quicker to play. A lot of my game time is spent setting up impressive looking terrain, and then getting to put it all away again, so faster gameplay is key with this in mind.
Thanks to Aron for having beautifully painted armies and the willingness to host and teach me the game on short notice and at such a late hour. We have decided to give Mighty Armies a try soon as a comparison (there is nothing like throwing dice in anger to see how a game actually plays - you can only theoryhammer so long...pardon the pun).
I had an opportunity to play Warmaster from Games Workshop last night. Its been one of the rulesets on my short list of fantasy games to try, so even though my friend Aron is moving like I am, and all his terrain is packed away, he was able to bring out a few armies and we had a go at it.
We are playing 1000 points on a glass table, thus the odd reflections. In the center is a small "village" that the Orcs (top) have been menacing, and the Elves (below, me) are moving to stop.
I've owned Future War Commander for a few years now, and studying it prepared me a bit for Warmaster, as the command system is similar. That being said, its the one main reason I never really wanted to put FWC on the tabletop when compared to Epic: Armageddon. In FWC/Warmaster, if a unit fails to receive its order, it cannot move. In Epic, if a unit fails its Activation roll, it can still do something, called the Hold action, but they arent sitting helpless in some useless corner or sitting in front of impending doom.
We built 1000 point armies. Composition isnt really important, but I only took one General and one Wizard as my commanders. I could have used more, especially since ranged combat didnt affect much (my ballista never moved or had a target anywhere near being in range), but Im sure thats game-situational.
In the pics above (same time frame, different levels of zoom), the Orcs had been harboring some spellcasters in the center village, and my spearmen swept in and displaced them (you can see them with the wolf riders just up and left from the yellow square in the pic). My chariots and outriders are engaging a Giant in melee on the far right, my archers are attempting unsuccessfully to establish a firing line on my left, and most of the Orc army is squabbling in the background. In fact, Aron went first, and he failed to activate a single unit with his Commanders before his turn ended.
[A comparison here: Mighty Armies is a game I am looking at heavily as a contender for my money. In it, you get 2d6-worth of activation points, which must be spent to move your units. At first, when I read this, I balked, since I'm not normally a fan of games that dont let me move as I feel I need, but seeing how Warmaster works, consider this: If Aron had only rolled a 2 on his MA activation points, he could have at least advanced two smaller or one larger unit forward (units of up to 4 stands cost 1 point, 5 or 6 stands cost 2), whereas here he basically rolled a Zero and moved nothing. Poor rolling, yes (thats what you get for a game that relies on rolling LOW on dice! LOL), and so mostly an anomaly, but a key issue I have with the game.]
The neat thing about the game, combat wise, is it really feels like GW's Warhammer game. Each stand has a base number of attacks, and actions on the battlefield affect that. Here, my units each had 3 attacks per stand. Charging grants +1, being a chariot on the charge grants +1, and fighting a Fear-inspiring monster gives a -1 (so my chariots had 4 attacks each, and the Reavers were a straight 3 dice per, giving me 18 dice as the furthest stand of Reavers wasnt in base contact). Hitting on 4's, the Giant fell in one round. I liked the combat mechanic, and throwing a satisfactory number of dice was a good thing.
I had difficulty wrapping my mind around movement, I'll admit. This is a silly thing to admit, because it is a lot more straight forward than, say, Warhammer, but it was flexible enough that I was having internal struggles with past paradigms while watching movement unfold (but dont tell Aron this!). Aron, however, had some ease-of-play tricks obviously borne of much play, and they helped.
We had a few really good brawls. We started late in the evening, and only got through half a game, but here my spearmen are receiving a charge on their left flank from trolls, and to their front from boar chariots. The two stands in contact with the enemy got wiped out, but the next turn I got some good counter charges in and the blood started flowing. At one point I had his trolls completely boxed in, and they were swinging away for all they were worth. It was a grand sight at this scale.
I really love how fluid the game is. Ranged combat can force the target back a few centimeters, and there is much shuffling back and forth in melee as well. It felt right to me, and at one point my spearmen were nearly forced from the village, and I thought, how cool! There werent any routs or big disasters, but the battle lines shifted as the fight raged on, and it felt right.
Going back to the lack of activations in the game: as he began, so he continued: Aron's forces largely sat at the back of his deployment zone, as did my two units of heavy cavalry. Aron pointed out that the byproduct of this was both of us having a useful reserve, and this was true, for when my cavalry suddenly responded to the orders being sent their way, they surged in beautiful formation right through the center of the field and really lined themselves up for a killer charge the next turn (Aron warned me that the large brigade of Orcs staring back at them might get their charge off first, so my narrow column of knights might not be in the best position to receive the charge, but this was Aron rolling...with my dice...so I knew the odds of that were slim and left them as they were. LOL sorry Aron!).
All in all, this game has some meat to it! I liked what I saw, magic looked good but wasnt overly powerful. It isnt the "Build-your-own" system I have been really wanting to play, but wow, IMHO there is zero reason to play 28mm Warhammer any more (I have a large Orc army for sale or trade!). But because of that meat, this game is a long one, and even at 1000 points, I doubt we could have gotten out of there in less than 2 hours even if we were both experts at it - it felt more like a 3 hour game. Not a bad thing, in and of itself, but Im hoping for something a tad quicker to play. A lot of my game time is spent setting up impressive looking terrain, and then getting to put it all away again, so faster gameplay is key with this in mind.
Thanks to Aron for having beautifully painted armies and the willingness to host and teach me the game on short notice and at such a late hour. We have decided to give Mighty Armies a try soon as a comparison (there is nothing like throwing dice in anger to see how a game actually plays - you can only theoryhammer so long...pardon the pun).
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Im alive...promise!
I have been out of the loop for two months now, so I wanted to put the proverbial pencil to paper and remind myself what's been going on recently.
I manage a motel in an amazing town, and the property has never done justice to the setting in which it sits. All that is changing now, however, as the owners have finally begun a massive renovation that will make it fit in, thankfully. How does this affect me? I live onsite, and my apartment is slated to become office space, so I will be moving offsite shortly (within a few months, it looks). So I am in this horrible limbo and have been since Christmas, because the house shopping being done could have come to fruition at any time.
Now it looks ready to be settled - a small townhome (more like an apartment) across the street is opening on July 1, and the owners have all but closed on it. Let the packing begin!
This also means that I havent had the craft space to do what I want, and my game room has become a repository for all the household crap that is also in limbo, so just getting the game table and terrain out has been a huge task in and of itself. Thus, no tabletop gaming for the past few months, and maybe not till after the move. Bummer.
I do, however, have some games I am really looking forward to playing, once the move is done. Strike Legion is on the top of my list, as are more games of Epic: Armageddon. 6mm is still my first love. In the 15mm realm, Strike Legion just published Platoon Leader, and I helped edit and playtest it a bit, I received a complimentary copy. Super cool, and I want to get it on the table. Brent over at Bombshell Games, the maker of OP4S, is also working on a new version of a game called The Battlefield and I hope to put some editing work to that as well.
Why havent I done more 15mm? After all, Im pretty sure thats what I opened my blog with! Well, Tomorrow's War just wasnt what I was wanting, as it didnt have the Army Builder aspect to it, and it fried my brain while playing. Gruntz was fun, but a friend of mine didnt dig it...but now Robin is working on his Army Builder program, so I'll likely give it another shot once that comes out.
I started work on an Excel sheet for building units in KJ's Strike Legion game, but the formulas were complicated enough to give me pause. I found a volunteer to help from the TMP forums, so we'll see if he is able to deliver.
What have I been doing recently? A whole lot of no wargaming, but Ive been idle!
I bought a metric ton of World of Warcraft TCG cards around Christmas (I LOVE CCGs) and have been sorting and cataloging them. Ive played some Battletech, been kicking around with Mechwarrior 4 in anticipation of Mechwarrior Online coming online this summer (I even bought a Logitech G940 Flight System in preparation of this, on crazy sale!), and even have started up Tera Online, my first MMO in years since World of Warcraft. I love MMO's also, but tend to get addicted to them, so Ive eased up over the past few years. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on my PS3 has been getting a lot of play time as well. In short, Ive dabbled in most every medium except miniatures. I even got a big shipment from England of Exodus Wars 6mm stuff, so I can finish my Death Korp of Krieg and start a Harakoni Warhawks army for Epic...but alas, it'll likely wait till after the move to get finished.
Of course that's not all I've done. Ive been in a weekly D&D 3.5 campaign, and I've even begun working on a fantasy setting for my own Champions/HERO game (combining L5R, WoW, and a lot of other fantasy genres into something fun), but am highly annoyed that most of the basic books I need for HERO arent available right now. /frustrated!!
So fear not - more work will be done on this blog coming this summer. I'll get more terrain done, post painting updates on my Krieg list, and try to get some Epic and Strike Legion batreps posted. Hang in there. Im not done yet!!!
I manage a motel in an amazing town, and the property has never done justice to the setting in which it sits. All that is changing now, however, as the owners have finally begun a massive renovation that will make it fit in, thankfully. How does this affect me? I live onsite, and my apartment is slated to become office space, so I will be moving offsite shortly (within a few months, it looks). So I am in this horrible limbo and have been since Christmas, because the house shopping being done could have come to fruition at any time.
Now it looks ready to be settled - a small townhome (more like an apartment) across the street is opening on July 1, and the owners have all but closed on it. Let the packing begin!
This also means that I havent had the craft space to do what I want, and my game room has become a repository for all the household crap that is also in limbo, so just getting the game table and terrain out has been a huge task in and of itself. Thus, no tabletop gaming for the past few months, and maybe not till after the move. Bummer.
I do, however, have some games I am really looking forward to playing, once the move is done. Strike Legion is on the top of my list, as are more games of Epic: Armageddon. 6mm is still my first love. In the 15mm realm, Strike Legion just published Platoon Leader, and I helped edit and playtest it a bit, I received a complimentary copy. Super cool, and I want to get it on the table. Brent over at Bombshell Games, the maker of OP4S, is also working on a new version of a game called The Battlefield and I hope to put some editing work to that as well.
Why havent I done more 15mm? After all, Im pretty sure thats what I opened my blog with! Well, Tomorrow's War just wasnt what I was wanting, as it didnt have the Army Builder aspect to it, and it fried my brain while playing. Gruntz was fun, but a friend of mine didnt dig it...but now Robin is working on his Army Builder program, so I'll likely give it another shot once that comes out.
I started work on an Excel sheet for building units in KJ's Strike Legion game, but the formulas were complicated enough to give me pause. I found a volunteer to help from the TMP forums, so we'll see if he is able to deliver.
What have I been doing recently? A whole lot of no wargaming, but Ive been idle!
I bought a metric ton of World of Warcraft TCG cards around Christmas (I LOVE CCGs) and have been sorting and cataloging them. Ive played some Battletech, been kicking around with Mechwarrior 4 in anticipation of Mechwarrior Online coming online this summer (I even bought a Logitech G940 Flight System in preparation of this, on crazy sale!), and even have started up Tera Online, my first MMO in years since World of Warcraft. I love MMO's also, but tend to get addicted to them, so Ive eased up over the past few years. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on my PS3 has been getting a lot of play time as well. In short, Ive dabbled in most every medium except miniatures. I even got a big shipment from England of Exodus Wars 6mm stuff, so I can finish my Death Korp of Krieg and start a Harakoni Warhawks army for Epic...but alas, it'll likely wait till after the move to get finished.
Of course that's not all I've done. Ive been in a weekly D&D 3.5 campaign, and I've even begun working on a fantasy setting for my own Champions/HERO game (combining L5R, WoW, and a lot of other fantasy genres into something fun), but am highly annoyed that most of the basic books I need for HERO arent available right now. /frustrated!!
So fear not - more work will be done on this blog coming this summer. I'll get more terrain done, post painting updates on my Krieg list, and try to get some Epic and Strike Legion batreps posted. Hang in there. Im not done yet!!!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Another 6mm building by JR Miniatures
This is JRM's #13802, Destroyed Red October Factory. I painted it to match a burnt down brick factory, and think I succeeded really well.
The ink here is GW's Devlan Mud. I hadnt thought to use the Badab Black here, but I think it still turned out nicely.
You may notice a slight sheen to the building, which is a little bothersome, but it has been coated with Krylon Matte Varnish that I got at the local Ace Hardware. I am testing out Tester's Dullcoat on my other JRM piece I just finished, in the hopes that I can compare the two...but Dullcoat is expensive and hard to find here in San Jose, CA, at least as far as I can tell.
Making these pieces helps me feel like I have unique terrain, even if they are just store-bought, and spending so much time on them makes it that much more rewarding. Hope you like it.
The ink here is GW's Devlan Mud. I hadnt thought to use the Badab Black here, but I think it still turned out nicely.
You may notice a slight sheen to the building, which is a little bothersome, but it has been coated with Krylon Matte Varnish that I got at the local Ace Hardware. I am testing out Tester's Dullcoat on my other JRM piece I just finished, in the hopes that I can compare the two...but Dullcoat is expensive and hard to find here in San Jose, CA, at least as far as I can tell.
Making these pieces helps me feel like I have unique terrain, even if they are just store-bought, and spending so much time on them makes it that much more rewarding. Hope you like it.
Im not alone when it comes to not wanting to paint rank after rank...
Ive been surfing over at Tabletop Gaming News today as I often do, and came across this article reviewing Warpath, the to-be-40k-competitor by the guys over at Mantic Games. You can read it here:
http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2012/03/games-that-currently-intrigue-me.html
But what caught my eye was the comment at the end:
"The reality is that I'm not quite as enamoured with the idea of mass battle games like I once was. It no longer fits with how, or indeed where I want my hobby to go. I've done that for roughly the past 15 years or so and in the end I didn't find it a very enjoyable all round hobby experience. I guess it's because deep down I love painting and being forced to have to paint row after row of identikit miniatures fills me with dread now, no matter how I approach it. Painting them to as high a standard as I can achieve, which is what I'd normally choose to do, scares the hell out of me. Especially when I think of the time commitment I'd have to make to such a joyless task. Yet speed painting them, and just doing the basics isn't what I like doing either and I find it a bit soul destroying. Big games take a big commitment and I guess my life isn't quite in that same 'hobby zone' right now that it used to be."
You've just nailed my attitude exactly. I can't tell you whether it's a general trend or just a few of us, but I'm over the whole fill-the-table-with-28mm models thing. It's an excess I can no longer afford either time-wise or cash-wise.
I love painting, which might be evident in the terrain I have done lately, but I think this is because the pieces themselves are so individualistic that it is almost like a skirmish game with terrain :)
I have a new JR Miniatures building to show, maybe tonight, but I wanted to get this out there. It echoes how I feel a lot too...and is one of the reasons that 6mm is such a joy to me right now.
http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2012/03/games-that-currently-intrigue-me.html
But what caught my eye was the comment at the end:
"The reality is that I'm not quite as enamoured with the idea of mass battle games like I once was. It no longer fits with how, or indeed where I want my hobby to go. I've done that for roughly the past 15 years or so and in the end I didn't find it a very enjoyable all round hobby experience. I guess it's because deep down I love painting and being forced to have to paint row after row of identikit miniatures fills me with dread now, no matter how I approach it. Painting them to as high a standard as I can achieve, which is what I'd normally choose to do, scares the hell out of me. Especially when I think of the time commitment I'd have to make to such a joyless task. Yet speed painting them, and just doing the basics isn't what I like doing either and I find it a bit soul destroying. Big games take a big commitment and I guess my life isn't quite in that same 'hobby zone' right now that it used to be."
You've just nailed my attitude exactly. I can't tell you whether it's a general trend or just a few of us, but I'm over the whole fill-the-table-with-28mm models thing. It's an excess I can no longer afford either time-wise or cash-wise.
I love painting, which might be evident in the terrain I have done lately, but I think this is because the pieces themselves are so individualistic that it is almost like a skirmish game with terrain :)
I have a new JR Miniatures building to show, maybe tonight, but I wanted to get this out there. It echoes how I feel a lot too...and is one of the reasons that 6mm is such a joy to me right now.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
JR Miniatures 6mm ruins
I love painting, but I dont tend to find it therapeutic as many do simply because I often cannot sit for long periods without feeling some pretty major discomfort in my back and neck as I work away, all hunched over and whatnot (I know, I know, posture is everything...).
But I still really enjoy. I love making the terrain and I love making it look nice. Sometimes, however, a ready-made piece just looks so good that you cannot help but love it. I feel this way about JR Miniature's stuff.
Here is the JRM #1351 City Block Ruin #2:
Im pretty happy with how the weathering turned out. I observed how the game developers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 textured their buildings on Dome, and I wanted to replicate the building from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's "Vacant", which had a seafoam green-ish color that I loved.
I used GW's Badab Black wash first, then went back over it with Devlan Mud. I kept my strokes vertical and think it really did the job.
I'll put more up as I finish them.
More discussion at: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=22691
But I still really enjoy. I love making the terrain and I love making it look nice. Sometimes, however, a ready-made piece just looks so good that you cannot help but love it. I feel this way about JR Miniature's stuff.
Here is the JRM #1351 City Block Ruin #2:
Im pretty happy with how the weathering turned out. I observed how the game developers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 textured their buildings on Dome, and I wanted to replicate the building from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare's "Vacant", which had a seafoam green-ish color that I loved.
I used GW's Badab Black wash first, then went back over it with Devlan Mud. I kept my strokes vertical and think it really did the job.
I'll put more up as I finish them.
More discussion at: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=22691
Monday, February 20, 2012
6mm Terrain makes a comeback
Ive been searching for the "next" game for some time now, and every time I do, I end up back where I started...
So, in preparation for a game this week, I decided to finish some pieces of terrain that I had started a while back but hadnt completed (in other words, status quo). I am a good painter but I take a miserably long time because I am foolishly fixated on detail. Oh well. I like the results.
First up, a village:
I try to have things look as good as I can get them without sacrificing playability. That is a HARD combination to juggle...but I achieve it mainly by putting my trees on washers and placing small round magnetic sheet-cut circles where they are to go. The trees are then removable and can look good and be moved at the same time.
I like color on my battlefields as well. Too many games have unfinished models and terrain (my own included!) or cityscapes painted in blacks and greys, so I try to splash in what I can. In reality, I mix fall and summer colors, but hey, maybe on some alien world thats what it really looks like! I have Woodland Scenics flowers sprinkled about, and the trees are using WS turf. The trees' color is bigger and grainier, but I realized as I was adding it that the flower mixture would be perfect! Mixing the colors with some green flock would be awesome for 6mm ground cover. I love discovering.
Its my wife's favorite color of the houses, and Im super proud of the fence, so hey, a close up is in order.
Notice also that the yards have a greener color than the roundabout. I tried to replicate the color of lawn, so I got the "Green Grass" flocking from WS....twice. Yea...I forgot that I had thought about this before, so Friday when I ran down to get some, I opened the new jar ($10 USD) before checking my flocking selection. Oh well. I have grass for days now :)
The Church is designed to go near the village, maybe on some soon-to-be-built (LOL who am I kidding...) road system.
Its a little hard to tell from these angles, but the church is slightly elevated, and the path winds up to it from the front. The gravemarkers were obnoxious to do, and superglue isnt the best method of gluing things to MDF board. Its ok...the glue from the sand and flocking should keep them in.
The Devlan Mud wash on all the buildings turned out great, but I am especially pleased with the church.
So thats it for now. One of these days I'll start assembling my Death Korp of Krieg list that I mostly own, and maybe work more on my city scape (combinations of 4"x4" 2mm squares of plasticard to make a city grid). I have also to play Strike Legion, but for now, its on to Epic Armageddon!
NOTE: I had a request for the manufacturer of the buildings. I dont know...but they might be Hovels and Principles (I have no link but got a lead a few years ago, unconfirmed).
As for scale:
Rhino and a stand of Exodus Wars infantry and autocannon:
Whirlwind and a stand of Sisters of Battle Seraphim proxies I got from a blue werewolf's brother...
And NO, the bases on the vehicles arent done, so no comments mentioning them :P
So, in preparation for a game this week, I decided to finish some pieces of terrain that I had started a while back but hadnt completed (in other words, status quo). I am a good painter but I take a miserably long time because I am foolishly fixated on detail. Oh well. I like the results.
First up, a village:
I try to have things look as good as I can get them without sacrificing playability. That is a HARD combination to juggle...but I achieve it mainly by putting my trees on washers and placing small round magnetic sheet-cut circles where they are to go. The trees are then removable and can look good and be moved at the same time.
I like color on my battlefields as well. Too many games have unfinished models and terrain (my own included!) or cityscapes painted in blacks and greys, so I try to splash in what I can. In reality, I mix fall and summer colors, but hey, maybe on some alien world thats what it really looks like! I have Woodland Scenics flowers sprinkled about, and the trees are using WS turf. The trees' color is bigger and grainier, but I realized as I was adding it that the flower mixture would be perfect! Mixing the colors with some green flock would be awesome for 6mm ground cover. I love discovering.
Its my wife's favorite color of the houses, and Im super proud of the fence, so hey, a close up is in order.
Notice also that the yards have a greener color than the roundabout. I tried to replicate the color of lawn, so I got the "Green Grass" flocking from WS....twice. Yea...I forgot that I had thought about this before, so Friday when I ran down to get some, I opened the new jar ($10 USD) before checking my flocking selection. Oh well. I have grass for days now :)
The Church is designed to go near the village, maybe on some soon-to-be-built (LOL who am I kidding...) road system.
Its a little hard to tell from these angles, but the church is slightly elevated, and the path winds up to it from the front. The gravemarkers were obnoxious to do, and superglue isnt the best method of gluing things to MDF board. Its ok...the glue from the sand and flocking should keep them in.
The Devlan Mud wash on all the buildings turned out great, but I am especially pleased with the church.
So thats it for now. One of these days I'll start assembling my Death Korp of Krieg list that I mostly own, and maybe work more on my city scape (combinations of 4"x4" 2mm squares of plasticard to make a city grid). I have also to play Strike Legion, but for now, its on to Epic Armageddon!
NOTE: I had a request for the manufacturer of the buildings. I dont know...but they might be Hovels and Principles (I have no link but got a lead a few years ago, unconfirmed).
As for scale:
Rhino and a stand of Exodus Wars infantry and autocannon:
Whirlwind and a stand of Sisters of Battle Seraphim proxies I got from a blue werewolf's brother...
And NO, the bases on the vehicles arent done, so no comments mentioning them :P
Saturday, February 4, 2012
STORAGE rage!
For the love of pete!
I've got about a dozen buildings from JRM Miniatures made from some type of fragile clay-like substance, and Im at a loss on how to store these beauties!
See how those offending bastards are taking up my table space? So selfish, so thoughtless...them and the other fifty projects I have started and not finished :)
I have SOME ideas on storage. I did THIS (well, "started", not finished, as you can see) to my 6mm buildings:
It actually works fairly well, but damn, its a lot of work, and the box from JoAnn Fabric cost $10...
Im not sure I want to have to do all that for my 15mm buildings, and the small, flat ones deserve more of a smaller tray.
Anyway, Im just throwing a minor temper tantrum on this Saturday, because crafting storage is one of the last things I want to be doing...
How do you store your buildings, at any scale?
I've got about a dozen buildings from JRM Miniatures made from some type of fragile clay-like substance, and Im at a loss on how to store these beauties!
See how those offending bastards are taking up my table space? So selfish, so thoughtless...them and the other fifty projects I have started and not finished :)
I have SOME ideas on storage. I did THIS (well, "started", not finished, as you can see) to my 6mm buildings:
It actually works fairly well, but damn, its a lot of work, and the box from JoAnn Fabric cost $10...
Im not sure I want to have to do all that for my 15mm buildings, and the small, flat ones deserve more of a smaller tray.
Anyway, Im just throwing a minor temper tantrum on this Saturday, because crafting storage is one of the last things I want to be doing...
How do you store your buildings, at any scale?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Gruntz in 15mm gets its first trial run
Tonight, Aron and I put aside Tomorrow's War after two play tests of the rules and gave Gruntz a shot. As I reviewed for the game, I felt much more at ease with the mechanics of the game, although the writing and organization of the rules left a little to be desired. Still, I know Robin of Gruntz is working his tail off on a revision, so I had no qualms with putting together what I knew of the rules and giving it a shot.
Gruntz is a Company-sized game, and focuses on Build-your-Own units with a mechanic very similar to Warmachine or Hordes: each squad that activates gets two actions (unless buffed by the Commander of your forces, or penalized by being Suppressed by enemy fire, ie taking casualties), which are used to move and fire, more or less, in different combinations.
I had already drawn up what I wanted my forces to look like when I bought the game months ago, but instead of using my own creations, I borrowed from Comstar on the Gruntz forums and used his FSE and NSL forces from GZG.
I ended up taking the NSL and had 5 8-man squads (each with 2 Squad Attachments) and 1 "Halftrack" and a Commander. My opponent fielded 2 APCs, 2 squads of 6 troopers, and a 6-man team of Powered Armor, plus his Commander. Our points came out to 150 per side, and we played a Meet-and-Greet on a 3'x3' board. It should be noted that we played with Alternating Activations, not the Rules-as-Written IGOUGO format.
I set up my forces after winning Initiative, keeping 2 squads in my APC and the rest in a long line.
Instead of taking copious notes, I decided to journal the event through pictures at the end of each turn, and make comments and whatnot at the end.
In Turn 1 we discovered the true nature of Gruntz: Range Matters. With most of our squad weapons statted out for 8" range, with 16" being Long Range (and a -4 to hit), almost nothing was done the opening turn. His vehicles were sporting Mortars, and his Powered Armor troops had moved to a position where they could see one of my units. The scatter roll deviated the shots onto a nearby unit, and 2 of my boyz fell. His Commander then ordered his PA units back into cover. My own APC raced forward and delivered its passengers into a nearby ruined farmhouse.
Turn 2 was a little more bloody, as guns started to find their range. My APC, cargo delivered, came around from cover, its plasma cannon firing wildly, killing a FSE trooper and suppressing its unit, but return fire was vicious and the APC was completely eliminated. More shots were traded between the Power Armor unit and my Gruntz on my right, with soldiers in both units falling. My team in the farm yard advanced into firing positions from the house, and their supporting teams dashed ahead, threatening the enemy APC on our left.
Turn 3 would be the final round, as the contestants were growing weary from long work days, but it turns out that the game was naturally headed that way on its own.
His Commander, piloting one of the FSE APCs, had the gumption to charge my Commander (who, while doling out Command points to remove Suppression from his own troopers, hadnt had the movement to QUITE reach cover). My Fearless Leader dove out of the way quite easily (he needed a 5+ on 2d6) much to the chagrin of Aron. We figured this should have been some sort of opposed roll...
My most advance unit on my left swung around the house they had taken refuge behind and popped the backline APC with a few well-placed shots from the Plasma SAW and LAW rocket. Combined fire from my two teams on my right finished off the Power Armor, and one of his central Gruntz units was in Condition Brown and backing away from a nasty round of fire from the farm yard-entrenched NSL soldiers.
We decided that his units would have fled in as orderly a fashion as was reasonable, and called it a night.
Tomorrow's War had some really great things going for it, once we figured it out, but I must admit, I was really enjoying Gruntz. It felt semi-40k-ish to me, in 15mm. Range was likely too big of a factor (-4 on 2d6 is a gigantic modifier), and we never really just picked up gobs of d6's and rolled them (I had successfully located 8 pairs of matched 12mm d6's), but for me, this wasnt a problem.
Aron wasnt so happy with the "Firing is compared to Defense, but nearly every soldier in the unit had a different modifier because of weapon or range, and then weapon damage is compared to armor", but it didnt really bother me much at all. I knew it was similar to Warmachine, but it just worked for me.
It definitely was a swing away from the TW "brain fry" crunch, and a refreshing change at that, and I am really looking forward to drawing my own units up and seeing how Aron runs his. I will play this again in a heartbeat, and will likely start dabbling with more options in-game, and actually run a published scenario or two. A larger 4'x4' board might have been better, but with our time crunch (and the fact that my craft room is so full of junk that its a miracle the 3'x3' board was accessible!) it worked out well.
Other rule sets in the queue? Alien Squad Leader, Stargrunt II, maybe OP4S in 15mm...and I just bought the whole kit and kaboodle of Strike Legion for 6mm off Wargame Vault (www.wargamevault.com) so that will have to come out soon too. Man, wish I wasnt moving in a few months. My gaming stuff is so hard to reach! :)
Gruntz is a Company-sized game, and focuses on Build-your-Own units with a mechanic very similar to Warmachine or Hordes: each squad that activates gets two actions (unless buffed by the Commander of your forces, or penalized by being Suppressed by enemy fire, ie taking casualties), which are used to move and fire, more or less, in different combinations.
I had already drawn up what I wanted my forces to look like when I bought the game months ago, but instead of using my own creations, I borrowed from Comstar on the Gruntz forums and used his FSE and NSL forces from GZG.
I ended up taking the NSL and had 5 8-man squads (each with 2 Squad Attachments) and 1 "Halftrack" and a Commander. My opponent fielded 2 APCs, 2 squads of 6 troopers, and a 6-man team of Powered Armor, plus his Commander. Our points came out to 150 per side, and we played a Meet-and-Greet on a 3'x3' board. It should be noted that we played with Alternating Activations, not the Rules-as-Written IGOUGO format.
I set up my forces after winning Initiative, keeping 2 squads in my APC and the rest in a long line.
Instead of taking copious notes, I decided to journal the event through pictures at the end of each turn, and make comments and whatnot at the end.
In Turn 1 we discovered the true nature of Gruntz: Range Matters. With most of our squad weapons statted out for 8" range, with 16" being Long Range (and a -4 to hit), almost nothing was done the opening turn. His vehicles were sporting Mortars, and his Powered Armor troops had moved to a position where they could see one of my units. The scatter roll deviated the shots onto a nearby unit, and 2 of my boyz fell. His Commander then ordered his PA units back into cover. My own APC raced forward and delivered its passengers into a nearby ruined farmhouse.
Turn 2 was a little more bloody, as guns started to find their range. My APC, cargo delivered, came around from cover, its plasma cannon firing wildly, killing a FSE trooper and suppressing its unit, but return fire was vicious and the APC was completely eliminated. More shots were traded between the Power Armor unit and my Gruntz on my right, with soldiers in both units falling. My team in the farm yard advanced into firing positions from the house, and their supporting teams dashed ahead, threatening the enemy APC on our left.
Turn 3 would be the final round, as the contestants were growing weary from long work days, but it turns out that the game was naturally headed that way on its own.
His Commander, piloting one of the FSE APCs, had the gumption to charge my Commander (who, while doling out Command points to remove Suppression from his own troopers, hadnt had the movement to QUITE reach cover). My Fearless Leader dove out of the way quite easily (he needed a 5+ on 2d6) much to the chagrin of Aron. We figured this should have been some sort of opposed roll...
My most advance unit on my left swung around the house they had taken refuge behind and popped the backline APC with a few well-placed shots from the Plasma SAW and LAW rocket. Combined fire from my two teams on my right finished off the Power Armor, and one of his central Gruntz units was in Condition Brown and backing away from a nasty round of fire from the farm yard-entrenched NSL soldiers.
We decided that his units would have fled in as orderly a fashion as was reasonable, and called it a night.
Tomorrow's War had some really great things going for it, once we figured it out, but I must admit, I was really enjoying Gruntz. It felt semi-40k-ish to me, in 15mm. Range was likely too big of a factor (-4 on 2d6 is a gigantic modifier), and we never really just picked up gobs of d6's and rolled them (I had successfully located 8 pairs of matched 12mm d6's), but for me, this wasnt a problem.
Aron wasnt so happy with the "Firing is compared to Defense, but nearly every soldier in the unit had a different modifier because of weapon or range, and then weapon damage is compared to armor", but it didnt really bother me much at all. I knew it was similar to Warmachine, but it just worked for me.
It definitely was a swing away from the TW "brain fry" crunch, and a refreshing change at that, and I am really looking forward to drawing my own units up and seeing how Aron runs his. I will play this again in a heartbeat, and will likely start dabbling with more options in-game, and actually run a published scenario or two. A larger 4'x4' board might have been better, but with our time crunch (and the fact that my craft room is so full of junk that its a miracle the 3'x3' board was accessible!) it worked out well.
Other rule sets in the queue? Alien Squad Leader, Stargrunt II, maybe OP4S in 15mm...and I just bought the whole kit and kaboodle of Strike Legion for 6mm off Wargame Vault (www.wargamevault.com) so that will have to come out soon too. Man, wish I wasnt moving in a few months. My gaming stuff is so hard to reach! :)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Tomorrow's War scenario - Foot Patrol Ambush and thoughts
As promised, I put together a scenario this week and gave Tomorrow's War a second shot last night. I was inspired by the fact that another blog found life in their second game, and with what I hoped was a firmer understanding of the rules, I hoped for a similar experience.
The scenario is called Foot Patrol Ambush, and can be found HERE. It basically entails a raiding group coming back from another successful sabotage when they are pounced upon by a waiting group of ambushers. Their sole desire is to flee and exit the board safely, but beset by attackers, there is plenty of mayhem to go around.
The Ambushers, called Blue Force, set up 3 fireteams of 5 soldiers in various hiding spots, and also received a Medium Machine Gun team and a Sniper team. The beleagured team, Red Force, is heading north along a trail that they must stick to until the ambush is revealed.
The setup:
I played the Red Force (after all, I dreamed this craziness up, so it was only right that I took the boot to the teeth on its first playtest!) and we set up as written in a 6" x 6" box along the path. An alternate deployment scheme was to keep 2 of the 3 Squads back in reserves, but I wanted to test out the crowded method :)
My Medic can be seen in the back left, with the 3 black bars on his base. The Platoon Leader is to his right, cockeyed on the road, with 4 stripes.
No ambush can be complete without a cast of villains, and the Blue Force showed up in spades. Their Company Command loaned the reinforced Squad their best sniper, seen here lurking directly to the right of the emerging Red Force, where he lays hidden on a hill:
To the Northwest, up ahead and to the left of the advancing Red Force, Blue team #2 can be seen in the trees, with the MMG team up on the hill above them:
Across the board from these guys lurk Blue #3 in the Northeast:
Oh, the pain isnt over. Hidden to our heroes' left is Blue #1, bold and brash in their concealed location just outside of detection range:
The basic rules are this: The Red Force is going to advance down the center along the path. Blue wants to avoid firing until Turn 3, if they can, to get the Reds into their Kill Zone, and as such must pass Troop Quality tests any time they could conceivably react to a Red action. To complicate things, darkness falls at the beginning of Turn 4.
Designers Note: The scenario was written such that Blue #'s 1 and 3 were out of LOS of the deployed Red Team (those trees block LOS 3" into them, and all LOS through them). Once the models were placed, however, the Blue player decided he was comfortable with their location, and so we moved forward as it was.
Turn 1:
Red Force has Init on Turn 1 per scenario rules. One of my fireteams take a Tactical (6") move forward along the edge of the trail, and Aron holds his breath as all 4 of his teams take a TQ test to hold their fire (the sniper doesnt need to test, as his resolve is made of iron). All four pass, and the rest of my fireteams advance unaware.
We decided that since "Spot Hidden Unit" was an actual action, that my units wouldnt be able to passively search, so even though they closed within Optimal Range of the Blue #1 here, no alarm was sounded.
Turn 2:
Initiative is rolled and Blue Force wins it. All 5 units go on Overwatch and dig in their heels as their prey draws closer.
My rightmost fireteam advances...
...and those same four Blue teams take their TQ test. Teams #1 (on my left) and #3 (back right) fail and open fire, using their Overwatch to fire first in the Rounds of Fire. Blue #3 tossed 7d vs 6d and scored 7 hits against my 2 saves, so all 4 of the team members drop:
Without all the grizzly details, my teams scattered, and began dashing for cover now that the ambush had been revealed. We had one rules question come up: In the photo below, one of my teams is moving along the length of the tape, and the clear d6 is the intended point that the Overwatching teams are firing at them. Once that fire is resolved, the Round of Fire gives me the chance to return fire...which I do from that clear die? Then, once that is complete, my team advances the rest of the way along their intended route until they reach their destination. At THAT point, the other teams that failed their Reaction tests get to fire...right?
Deciding they have cover, my leftmost team has had enough and declares Fire on Blue #1 in the woods closest to them. The Medium Machine Gun team on the hill breaks their ambush and pours fire into my team but I saved his 4 hits. My return fire was ineffective. Then #1, using Overwatch, fires for their third time this turn but I saved, and my return fire was again ineffective. Then my team gets to perform their actual action, and I shoot up the trees pretty good...and Blue #1's return fire dropped one of my men (his 4d vs my 7d and I cant save! Meep!)
I end up sprinting a few teams to the right, and end up dropping the Machine Gunner's assistant with some return fire (while they have excellent Firepower, small weapon teams dont seem to have much survivability!). A few of my units are halted in their progress by failing key Morale Checks due to casualties (Intimidating weapons didnt scare my boys, which was nice, even though I was rolling d8's for Morale until most of the way through the game when I bothered to check my own notes!).
Another round of fire eventually drops the Machine Gunner himself, and Turn 2 ends:
Turn 3:
2d8 vs 3d6 gives the Initiative back to Team Blue. The Red Force calls its medic over to one of the wiped out teams, and First Aid rolls are pretty gentle to me, with no KIA this turn:
Blue #1 and #2 go on Overwatch. The sniper contines to survey the field from his hilltop, and Blue #2 adjusts their location inside their woods. I argued with myself for a minute or two, but finally decided NOT to react to this movement at all, figuring I would get to fire from any Rounds that came my way, and wanted to move on my own at the end of the turn. He decides to fire at my Platoon Leader's fireteam on my right. Question: My fireteam hadnt moved yet this turn. Does it get the In Cover defense die when it is fired upon? We decided NO, because it was hoping/planning/going to move later that turn, but predicating rules on assumed future actions is iffy, I think...anyway, fire on both sides was ineffective.
Finally the sniper slips the safety off, sights on the backs of some sprinting Red Force soldiers, holds his breath, and unleashes hell. One of my units had broken the halfway point in its mad dash for cover on my right, but the sniper blows his Overwatch roll and a storm begins to blow in, reducing Optimum Range to 6" for everyone (not that it mattered, really). Unit #1 also fails their Overwatch test, but Blue #2 doesnt. At the point of impact, my team is Exposed and moving Rapidly, but for all that (his 8d vs my 5d) I only take 1 hit and scamper into the safety of the trees. With LOS now blocked, the sniper eases off the trigger and sighs, as do Blue #1 (well, "sighing" for the grunts was more likely "cursed uncontrollably").
More running, another Red fireteam is wiped out, and I generally get closer to safety...or so I hope. Darkness decends and Turn 3 is done.
Turn 4:
Again with the 2d8 vs 3d6 and Blue wins Initiative. I end up suffering one KIA in the woods to the right, and then Blue comes in with the plan to break the rush once and for all.
Blue #1 uses Suppression Fire on my Platoon Leader's fireteam. I pass the MC for Suppression, but take a casualty, and that MC results in the team being pinned. Mrrr! I had hoped to get my leader off the board this turn, and now he was stuck in cover and wouldnt risk his neck leaving it. Blue had hoped to keep their heads down for another reason however:
Blue #3 declares a Close Assault at my second unit in their woods. My Defensive fire drops one of the charging maniacs, and the Morale Check is a Pinned...until we realize he threw one too few dice. The extra die is a success, and Hand to Hand is joined. After two rounds of it, my men were dead or captured. The remaining fireteams on my side made moves as best they could, and we called it.
The night was drawing late (in real life, not just in the scenario!), and the scenario had quite some moves to be made before it could rightfully be resolved. We did some quick math, made some educated guesses, and declared it "too close to call", giving an exceptionally Marginal Victory to the Red Force for surviving so long.
Brutal.
I have to say, the game was really enjoyable. The balance for the scenario felt JUST about right, and both of us had much better knowledge of the game than the first time. In fact, if I hadnt been taking copious notes and taking pictures, we likely would have finished the entire game, but then you wouldnt have known how it turned out, would you? You should be grateful! :)
Actually, all kidding aside, the game really was fun. We were calculating and throwing dice fairly quickly. We had a few complications (like Overwatch, which added a layer of crunchiness to the order of things) that we spent time looking up, but it really did flow much better this time around. That being said, the game is CRUNCHY. I look at games on two extremes: Beer & Pretzels, and "Let's drink our beer AFTER the game so we can come down off the brain fry". Tomorrow's War was certainly the second for us; maybe a splash too crunchy for a relaxing evening of gaming. I am not planning on shelving it out of disgust or for any other silly reason, but may not be breaking it out until I try a few of the other 15mm options out there for comparrison. I will, however, give it more props than I did originally: it worked for me this time around (see my previous blog: I read Force on Force to get some needed clarification...)
Oh yea: I updated my Quick Reference Sheet HERE. It worked really well this time.
Thanks for reading.
The scenario is called Foot Patrol Ambush, and can be found HERE. It basically entails a raiding group coming back from another successful sabotage when they are pounced upon by a waiting group of ambushers. Their sole desire is to flee and exit the board safely, but beset by attackers, there is plenty of mayhem to go around.
The Ambushers, called Blue Force, set up 3 fireteams of 5 soldiers in various hiding spots, and also received a Medium Machine Gun team and a Sniper team. The beleagured team, Red Force, is heading north along a trail that they must stick to until the ambush is revealed.
The setup:
I played the Red Force (after all, I dreamed this craziness up, so it was only right that I took the boot to the teeth on its first playtest!) and we set up as written in a 6" x 6" box along the path. An alternate deployment scheme was to keep 2 of the 3 Squads back in reserves, but I wanted to test out the crowded method :)
My Medic can be seen in the back left, with the 3 black bars on his base. The Platoon Leader is to his right, cockeyed on the road, with 4 stripes.
No ambush can be complete without a cast of villains, and the Blue Force showed up in spades. Their Company Command loaned the reinforced Squad their best sniper, seen here lurking directly to the right of the emerging Red Force, where he lays hidden on a hill:
To the Northwest, up ahead and to the left of the advancing Red Force, Blue team #2 can be seen in the trees, with the MMG team up on the hill above them:
Across the board from these guys lurk Blue #3 in the Northeast:
Oh, the pain isnt over. Hidden to our heroes' left is Blue #1, bold and brash in their concealed location just outside of detection range:
The basic rules are this: The Red Force is going to advance down the center along the path. Blue wants to avoid firing until Turn 3, if they can, to get the Reds into their Kill Zone, and as such must pass Troop Quality tests any time they could conceivably react to a Red action. To complicate things, darkness falls at the beginning of Turn 4.
Designers Note: The scenario was written such that Blue #'s 1 and 3 were out of LOS of the deployed Red Team (those trees block LOS 3" into them, and all LOS through them). Once the models were placed, however, the Blue player decided he was comfortable with their location, and so we moved forward as it was.
Turn 1:
Red Force has Init on Turn 1 per scenario rules. One of my fireteams take a Tactical (6") move forward along the edge of the trail, and Aron holds his breath as all 4 of his teams take a TQ test to hold their fire (the sniper doesnt need to test, as his resolve is made of iron). All four pass, and the rest of my fireteams advance unaware.
We decided that since "Spot Hidden Unit" was an actual action, that my units wouldnt be able to passively search, so even though they closed within Optimal Range of the Blue #1 here, no alarm was sounded.
Turn 2:
Initiative is rolled and Blue Force wins it. All 5 units go on Overwatch and dig in their heels as their prey draws closer.
My rightmost fireteam advances...
...and those same four Blue teams take their TQ test. Teams #1 (on my left) and #3 (back right) fail and open fire, using their Overwatch to fire first in the Rounds of Fire. Blue #3 tossed 7d vs 6d and scored 7 hits against my 2 saves, so all 4 of the team members drop:
Without all the grizzly details, my teams scattered, and began dashing for cover now that the ambush had been revealed. We had one rules question come up: In the photo below, one of my teams is moving along the length of the tape, and the clear d6 is the intended point that the Overwatching teams are firing at them. Once that fire is resolved, the Round of Fire gives me the chance to return fire...which I do from that clear die? Then, once that is complete, my team advances the rest of the way along their intended route until they reach their destination. At THAT point, the other teams that failed their Reaction tests get to fire...right?
Deciding they have cover, my leftmost team has had enough and declares Fire on Blue #1 in the woods closest to them. The Medium Machine Gun team on the hill breaks their ambush and pours fire into my team but I saved his 4 hits. My return fire was ineffective. Then #1, using Overwatch, fires for their third time this turn but I saved, and my return fire was again ineffective. Then my team gets to perform their actual action, and I shoot up the trees pretty good...and Blue #1's return fire dropped one of my men (his 4d vs my 7d and I cant save! Meep!)
I end up sprinting a few teams to the right, and end up dropping the Machine Gunner's assistant with some return fire (while they have excellent Firepower, small weapon teams dont seem to have much survivability!). A few of my units are halted in their progress by failing key Morale Checks due to casualties (Intimidating weapons didnt scare my boys, which was nice, even though I was rolling d8's for Morale until most of the way through the game when I bothered to check my own notes!).
Another round of fire eventually drops the Machine Gunner himself, and Turn 2 ends:
Turn 3:
2d8 vs 3d6 gives the Initiative back to Team Blue. The Red Force calls its medic over to one of the wiped out teams, and First Aid rolls are pretty gentle to me, with no KIA this turn:
Blue #1 and #2 go on Overwatch. The sniper contines to survey the field from his hilltop, and Blue #2 adjusts their location inside their woods. I argued with myself for a minute or two, but finally decided NOT to react to this movement at all, figuring I would get to fire from any Rounds that came my way, and wanted to move on my own at the end of the turn. He decides to fire at my Platoon Leader's fireteam on my right. Question: My fireteam hadnt moved yet this turn. Does it get the In Cover defense die when it is fired upon? We decided NO, because it was hoping/planning/going to move later that turn, but predicating rules on assumed future actions is iffy, I think...anyway, fire on both sides was ineffective.
Finally the sniper slips the safety off, sights on the backs of some sprinting Red Force soldiers, holds his breath, and unleashes hell. One of my units had broken the halfway point in its mad dash for cover on my right, but the sniper blows his Overwatch roll and a storm begins to blow in, reducing Optimum Range to 6" for everyone (not that it mattered, really). Unit #1 also fails their Overwatch test, but Blue #2 doesnt. At the point of impact, my team is Exposed and moving Rapidly, but for all that (his 8d vs my 5d) I only take 1 hit and scamper into the safety of the trees. With LOS now blocked, the sniper eases off the trigger and sighs, as do Blue #1 (well, "sighing" for the grunts was more likely "cursed uncontrollably").
More running, another Red fireteam is wiped out, and I generally get closer to safety...or so I hope. Darkness decends and Turn 3 is done.
Turn 4:
Again with the 2d8 vs 3d6 and Blue wins Initiative. I end up suffering one KIA in the woods to the right, and then Blue comes in with the plan to break the rush once and for all.
Blue #1 uses Suppression Fire on my Platoon Leader's fireteam. I pass the MC for Suppression, but take a casualty, and that MC results in the team being pinned. Mrrr! I had hoped to get my leader off the board this turn, and now he was stuck in cover and wouldnt risk his neck leaving it. Blue had hoped to keep their heads down for another reason however:
Blue #3 declares a Close Assault at my second unit in their woods. My Defensive fire drops one of the charging maniacs, and the Morale Check is a Pinned...until we realize he threw one too few dice. The extra die is a success, and Hand to Hand is joined. After two rounds of it, my men were dead or captured. The remaining fireteams on my side made moves as best they could, and we called it.
The night was drawing late (in real life, not just in the scenario!), and the scenario had quite some moves to be made before it could rightfully be resolved. We did some quick math, made some educated guesses, and declared it "too close to call", giving an exceptionally Marginal Victory to the Red Force for surviving so long.
Brutal.
I have to say, the game was really enjoyable. The balance for the scenario felt JUST about right, and both of us had much better knowledge of the game than the first time. In fact, if I hadnt been taking copious notes and taking pictures, we likely would have finished the entire game, but then you wouldnt have known how it turned out, would you? You should be grateful! :)
Actually, all kidding aside, the game really was fun. We were calculating and throwing dice fairly quickly. We had a few complications (like Overwatch, which added a layer of crunchiness to the order of things) that we spent time looking up, but it really did flow much better this time around. That being said, the game is CRUNCHY. I look at games on two extremes: Beer & Pretzels, and "Let's drink our beer AFTER the game so we can come down off the brain fry". Tomorrow's War was certainly the second for us; maybe a splash too crunchy for a relaxing evening of gaming. I am not planning on shelving it out of disgust or for any other silly reason, but may not be breaking it out until I try a few of the other 15mm options out there for comparrison. I will, however, give it more props than I did originally: it worked for me this time around (see my previous blog: I read Force on Force to get some needed clarification...)
Oh yea: I updated my Quick Reference Sheet HERE. It worked really well this time.
Thanks for reading.
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