Mayhem 10mm Fantasy Battle Report

For anyone who knows me or has read my Blog, they know I love two things:
1. Build-Your-Own units and army lists, and
2. Fantasy

...errr..."But this is a Sci-Fi Blog!", you say, and yes, you'd be correct. However, my first foray into the world of miniature wargaming was Warhammer Fantasy Battles, 6th Ed, back in 2002-2003, and I had some epic, memorable battles. I was enthralled...but as WFB has gotten stranger and stranger and more, well, GW-ized, I left it for other games and other scales (I'm selling my Orcs and Goblins, if you're interested!).

6mm Sci-Fi has captured my heart of late, mostly because I wasn't a huge fan of the Warmaster Fantasy ruleset and the Sci-Fi versions of it (Future War Commander). Lately I've been willing to give FWC a shot, but for this report, let's say that I got sidetracked by Brent Spivey's fantastic new offering called Mayhem.

If you haven't read the Harrison's Ford AAR yet, I recommend you doing so. It is well told, explains the ideas and mechanics behind Mayhem, and has some better pictures than I am about to show you. I managed to borrow some Warmaster units from my friend Thomas Foss (please visit his blog at http://skullandcrown.blogspot.com/ for amazing pictures of the models I used today, as well as a LOT of Warmaster pics!), put together some armies for the Humans and Orcs, and had a go of it. Sadly, my Opponent-to-Be bailed on me, but as this has happened in the past, I was ready for the solo effort.

To do some explaining of my own, the Movement and Combat Quality stats are done by dice types. The mechanic knows as the Versus mechanic allows you to always choose whether to take the Default value (which is one-half the dice size, so a 3 on a d6) OR take a Danger roll, rolling the dice and taking the results. I love it.  As for CQ, the smaller the die type, the better, because in combat, you want to roll lower than your opponent in an opposed check, with a Natural 1 being an auto-kill most of the time.

At first I feared that, even with this neat Versus mechanic, it was going to be little more than a gimmick for what could turn out to be yet another overly-simplistic game engine. I've seen 2-stat units before, and they don't tend to impress me. Well, Mayhem gets it right. Most Troop Types get traits unique to themselves, and Weapons which can be added to these units act as Counters versus different types (called Designations). A Soft Counter improves your Die Type by one (so a unit with CQ d12 would be a d10 in that particular combat), and a Hard Counter improves the Die by two. You also get extra dice to roll in the combat based on different circumstances, which I will point out during the Battle Report. In short, this leads to an awful lot of variety in combat, and I feel it works really, really well.

The other cool mechanic is the Overdrive, which allows a unit to keep going and going as needed, but each time you activate the same unit in a turn, the cost in Command Points to do so increases. This allows you to spread your points around to the whole army, or really zoom in and focus on one or two units as needed. You can even bounce around between units, ie move one unit back to open LOS for some archers, shoot with those archers, then move the original unit back in place...

Mayhem uses Crowns as the currency for Points, and 150 Crowns is a good starting value to learn with.

*Really quick, let me apologize for the pictures. I even went as far as getting the tripod out to get ready for this report, but using the Macro setting and being back a few feet didn't work as magically as I had hoped :(

Humans: 150 crowns

Profiles:
Spearmen: Mov d6, CQ d10, Infantry, Spear, Ranked Fighting [8 crowns]
Heavy Foot: Mov d6, CQ d10, Infantry, Heavy Armor, Swords, Shields [9c]
Crossbows: Mov d6, CQ d12, Infantry, Crossbows [11c]
Heavy Cavalry: Mov d10, CQ d10, Cavalry, Heavy Armor, Lance, Steadfast [16c]
Griffon Rider: Mov d10, CQ d8, Cavalry, Flyer, Blunt weapon, Shield, Heavy Armor, Terror [25c]* (originally I had built the Griffon with Beat Back, but learned later that this wasn't legal...)
Fanatics: Mov d6, CQ d10, Infantry, Great Weapons, Berserker, Fearless, Heavy Armor

I figured the Humans were orderly, and reasonably well trained, but had their CQ lower than the Orcs because I like to envision that Orcs are just nastier and stronger...

List:
4) Army Leadership: d10 [Leadership Rolls: 4d10]
24) 3x Spearmen
32) 3x Heavy Foot, 1 Standard, 2x Musician, 1 Elite unit (upgraded to CQ d8 for free)
11) 1x Crossbows
20) 1x Heavy Cavalry, 1 Standard, 1 Musician
16) General, using Heavy Cavalry profile
27) 1x Griffon Rider (with its illegal 2-point Push Back ability factored in)
16) 1x Fanatic

Orcs: 150 crowns

Profiles:
Orc General: Mov d10, CQ d8, Cavalry, Great Weapon, Heavy Armor [16c]
Orc Swords: Mov d6, CQ d10, Infantry, Sword, Shield [6c]
Orc Spears: Mov d6, CQ d8, Infantry, Spear, Shield [8c]
Wolf Skirmisher: Mov d10, CQ d12, Cavalry, Short Bow (downgraded to d10/d20 because of their Cavalry designation) [16c]
Wolf-Riding Hero: Mov d10, CQ d10, Cavalry, Sword, Shield, Hero [18c]
Giant: stats in book [35c]

List:
4) Army Leadership: d10 [Leadership Rolls: 5d10]
16) 1x Orc General
31) 4x Orc Swords, 1 Elite, 1 Banner, 4 Musicians
11) 1x Orc Spears, 1 Standard
35) 2x Wolf Skirmishers, 1 Standard (who originally had a musician.../sigh....if only...)
18) 1x Wolf Hero
35) 1x Giant

I went for more mobile ranged attack, hoping to get some good flank harassment from the bows on the Wolf Riders. Cheap troops seem to do just fine in this game. We'll see.

The battle would take place on a 3'x3' Swamp board. I set up a church that the Humans were to defend, but really, it was just to be a slugfest. Had I a human opponent, it would have been a slaughter to the man, but with just myself to blame, I used the Default game-ending scenario of the first General to die loses (Duh...that makes sense, right?).

Deployment Zones: 9" (the game calls for 1/4 of the board's width to be Deployments on either side). The Orcs deployed first:

 The left has a unit of 2 Swords next to the Spears (the unit that has the General behind them). The other 2 units of Swords are to their right [quickly: each turn you roll for Command Points to order your troops with. The game has a formation called the Advance that allows 1CP to move up to 3 "squared-up" units at once, but with no maneuvering or turning allowed...thus these formations]

The Giant towers by his lonesome in the center, with the two units of Skirmishers and the Wolf Hero on the far right. Units must be in "range" of a Hero when receiving orders, or their actions cost more. This command range is dependent on the Designation of the closest Hero (orders do not come from any specific hero like they do in Warmaster, but rather, you just have to be "in range" of a Hero). I knew those Wolfies would be out and about, spreading their mischief far and wide, which is why I paid extra for the Hero to accompany them.

Next, the Humans:

The Human Left Flank has the Crossbows on a small rise (hoping to gain the extra die for their to-hit rolls). The 3 Spears are ready for an Advance, and the Fanatics are causing ferocious noises just behind them. The Heavy Horse with the General occupy the center, with the 3 Heavy Foot clustered to the Right Flank. Just off behind the massive tree is the Griffon Rider, being as sneaky as he could be.

Turn 1: Orcs
The Orcs roll 5d10 for Command Points and get 10 (roll +1 die per Elite unit, Standard, and extra Hero after the General, taking the highest value).

The Block of Spears and Swords advanced their Default twice [3CP for 2 Actions].
The 2 units of Wolf Skirmishers Advance twice also, moving 10" [3CP]
The Giant in the center decides to Move twice, rolling his Danger rolls each time, and nets 13" of movement for his 3CP. He rushes the church and hollers threats and insults at the units he knows to be lurking behind the woods.
The Block of 2 Swords Advance once, and the General and Wolf Hero each get their free Move because neither had Activated during the turn.

Turn 1: Humans
The Humans get 8 CP from their 4d10.

The Spears Advance twice for 6" [3CP], and the Heavy Foot Advance once for 3" [1CP].
The Knights, General in tow (he has actually "joined" the unit here), sense action as the Wolf Skirmishers move down the Human's left flank. A burst of speed (7") leaves the Knights clammoring for more...

...but the next Danger roll failed to deliver, and the Knights skitter forward a mere 2". The Wolves are safe, for now.

The Fanatics also roll poorly, moving just 2" in support of their General.

Turn 2: Orcs [9CP]
The Wolf Skirmishers race to gain the flank of the Heavy Horse, but only get a 5" on their Danger roll. They decide to push on [3CP], this time rolling 8", which allows them to hit the Crossbow unit.

Since this was the angle of impact:

...I decided to let them wrap to the flank. Impact hits allow units that have them (notably Cavalry and Chariots) to Initiate combat without spending the CP required by all other units. Initiating the Melee (which Impacts count as) also give 1 extra die in the attack, and Impacts are Soft Counters vs Infantry, Cavalry and Beasts, so the normal CQd12 is improved to d10's. 2d10 vs 1d12 saw the Crossbowmen steel themselves and fend off the Wolf attacks. The Skirmishers suffer a Disordered token, and if they get beat once more with that token on, will be eliminated.

The other unit of Skirmishers roll an 8" for their move, running past the Heavy Cavalry and turning to their left (effectively cutting off the cavalry from the Crossbows). They then loose with Short Bows at the Cavalry, using the Volley ability of their bows to send the Knights packing. However, 3d20 vs 1d10 resulted in a tie (remember, lower is better), and the Horse stayed put and the Wolves looked worried.

The last 3CP allow each of the 3 foot units near the center to reposition themselves, with the General close behind.

Turn 2: Humans [7CP]
2 of the 3 clustered Heavy Foot advance on the Human Right for 1CP, leaving the third behind as reinforcements and counter-charges (in this game, any of your units that are forced to flee will be destroyed if they touch another unit or terrain, so keeping space seems to be vital).

3CP allow the 3 central Spears units to reposition (1 balked a bit, rolling 1" on his Danger roll).

Needing 4.25" to reach the Wolf Skirmishers who were harrasing the Knights with Volley Fire, the Fanatics gamble and take their Danger Roll. They get a 6" on their d6, and hit the Wolves in the flank. Using Overdrive to engage, they didnt have the last CP needed to make use of their Great Weapons, but rolling 3d10 (+1 for Initiating, +1 for Flank) vs 1d12, the Fanatics got a Natural 1, slaughtering the Orcs to a man!

This is the End of Turn 2:

INTERMISSION!

My wife caught me in the act of, errr, playing with myself?!

Turn 3: Orcs [10CP]
The Wolf Skirmishers still engaged with the Crossbows are surprised to be still alive, especially given their vantage point and the carnage their brothers nearby just suffered. Instead of Rallying, they decide to Fight On (costing them extra CP to Initiate the battle, and risking losing and death). 3d12 vs 1d12 gives a victory to the Orcs, and now both units have a Disordered token. Being isolated and so deep behind the lines, they prepare to say their last.

The central Orc Spears tries charging a Human Spear unit, but a 2" leaves it a bit short. The Elite Swords next to them show them how it is done, however, and hit the front of the other Spear:

Rolling 2d8 vs 1d10/1d12 (the Ranked Fighting ability of the Human Spears let them roll an extra die in the combat, albeit at one step worse than normal) and the Orcs scored a Natural 1, wiping the Human Spears unit out.

Giants have a Ranged attack to represent their massive reach with their club. It is a d8 for range (meaning up to 8" reach, which is WAY to long in my opinion) and d6 for damage, which is pretty beefy. The Giant had a Heavy Foot within Default range (4") so no roll to hit was needed, and the damage roll netted a Disordered token for the Humans.

An Orc Sword moved up alongside the Giant, and another advances from the back line. The Wolf Hero flees for free, moving 4" (and was really hoping for more; he is just outside the frame to the right in this following Turn End pic).

Turn 3: Humans [4CP on 4d10!]
The Griffon Rider decides that now would be a good time to launch an attack. With his Blunt weapon, which negates Heavy Armor, he was hoping to hit an already-Disordered unit in the flank and kill it, but a) no Orcs had Heavy Armor, and b) no Orcs were getting beaten in the center! He Overdrives to hit the left flank of the previously-victorious Elite Orc Sword unit. With a CQd8, initiating melee and hitting the flank, plus Soft Counter from the Impact, the Griffon rolls 3d6 vs 1d8 and wins by 3. With the Drive Back ability from his Cavalry designator, this means the beaten Orc unit must move backwards 3"...but because this made them touch their Orc Spears unit nearby, they were eliminated instead.

The last CP is spent on the Heavy Cavalry, as they gallop after the fleeing Wolf-Rider Hero. They move 9". [note: We've all heard the derogatory term "HeroHammer", which refers to Warhammer and its ilk, where a Hero can rule the battlefield with his martial prowess. Mayhem gets around this a bit by only letting Heroes be attacked by other Heroes, unless they have joined a unit, in which case the attacker can choose which profile (the unit or the hero) fights back. This is why my Cavalry is chasing the Orc Hero, because with the General attached, they want to catch and kill the Orc]

Run, Orc Hero, Run!

Turn 4: Orcs [rolling 4d10, having lost the Elite unit, manage 10CP]
The Orc Swords unit next to the Giant, who was merrily swinging his club at puny humans, make an unmodified Danger roll in their attempt to close with the Terror-inspiring Griffon (they needed a Danger roll regardless, as the Griffon was more than 3" away...so it was a win/win). Getting 5", they closed with the right flank of the beast and held their shields up for protection....

The Orc Spears to the front of the Griffon are only 2" away from it. They had a choice: spend 2 extra CP to move their default movement of 3", or gamble with the Danger roll...and since they needed a 2+, why not? They rolled a 1. Of course they did. Using Overdrive, they reach the Griffon, and then spend 5 more (for a total of 8) to initiate melee (3 for third action, +2 because of Terror). With a CQd8, Spears being a Hard Counter vs Cavalry, and 1 additional unit in the flank of the Griffon, the Orcs roll 3d4 vs 1d8. All 4 dice come up 2's...which gets the Griffon excited for a moment. This tie is called a Deadlock, and some Traits only trigger on Deadlocks...and Push Back is one of those...until I read it in the book and saw that it was an Infantry- and Behemoth-only trait. Drats!

The last CP is spent on the Giant, who swings at the Heavy Foot again. The damage dice yields a 1, auto-killing the Humans (which is a bummer: Heavy Armor allows units to suffer 2 Disordered tokens before being killed, instead of just 1...but a crit is a crit is a dead Heavy Foot unit!).

The Wolf Hero flees his free 6". Those Humans just won't give up! Here are two angles of the end of Turn 4: Orcs:

Turn 4: Humans:
The Skirmishers realize that the Orcs still have a blasted Skirmisher unit tied up with the Crossbows (note: "Stuck in", a term from WFB, doesn't apply to Mayhem; you can actively remove a unit from melee. It costs a pretty Command Point, but it can be done!). 1 CP to turn and move into them, 2 to initiate combat, +1 to use the Great Weapons has the Fanatics rolling 4d6 vs 1d12 (flank, 2nd unit, initiating melee, plus Great Weapon's Heavy Counter when Initiating). The Humans win by 7 (irrelevant, but a fun stat nonetheless) and because of the existing Disordered token on the Orcs (and no Heavy Armor), this finishes them off.

"Look, ma, no Wolves!"

The General and his Heavy Horse use two Default moves to catch up to the fleeing Orc Hero. The 10" is plenty of distance to engage, and the General rides to the front of his unit, using their free Impact hits to avoid having to pay more to begin the melee. The Hero has no facing, so the General don't gain an extra die or more for hitting in the flank/rear, and roll 2d6 vs 1d10 (the Lance is a Heavy Counter on Impacts vs everyone!). Despite the good odds, the Orc puts on a brave show and wins the battle by 1! The General and his unit would then liked to have Rallied, removing the marker, but alas, they were 1CP short of being able to do so...which was actually a frequent occurrence during the game ("...if only I had just one more CP!).

The last two CP were spent over by the embattled Griffon. The nearest Human Spears unit moves up in support, pinning the Orc Spears in the right flank. This will lend an extra die to the Griffon in the upcoming grand melee.

The Griffon uses the last CP to melee the Orc Spears. As I started counting up dice, I gave both units +1 die for having a supporting unit beside them. The Griffon's 3d8 vs 2d4 (Spears HURT!) looked daunting, but throwing common sense and good tactics out the window, the Griffon swung anyway. The Orcs rolled 2 1's on their d4's, and the Griffon and his noble rider were deader than dead. Very dead. I think this poof was a Griffon feather:

Turn 5: Orcs [rolling 3d10, losing the banner from the Skirmishers = 2CP!]
With all tactical options limited, and the Wolf-riding Orc Hero all but trapped, he calls out the General and leaped to the attack. 3d10 (initiating, enemy is Disordered) vs 1d10, the mighty Orc Hero dodges a thrust from the ironclad General and sinks his blade deep into the chest of the Human warrior! A Natural 1 killed the General...I fully expected a 2nd Disordered token on the Heavy Armor-wearing unit, but the gamble paid off.

With that, the game was over, and the Orcs kept the field. The fallen General is a bit blurry...

Thoughts and Wrap-up:
So, what did I think? I really, really enjoyed this game. I felt satisfaction as I was counting and changing the different die types, and maneuvering wasn't too bad.

I had a few minor gripes:

Maneuvering multiple units isnt smooth. I suppose this is natural, but both the Orcs and Humans tried bringing their blocks of 3 troops to bear and things broke apart.

I really, REALLY wish there was a way to add dice to a Danger roll, whether it be a CP cost, a Trait, or something...gambling on just 1 die, when the game rewards multiple dice in so many other situations, just felt a little off. In fact, in Difficult Terrain, the game already has the "Roll a bunch of dice and keep the lowest", so it shouldn't be a stretch to make the opposite true as well.

As mentioned, the Giant's d8 "Ranged attack" is just too long. I can see a d6, but d4 might even be better. A minor thing, though.

The Command Points system worked pretty well. It isn't my favorite concept because, like Warmaster or FWC, it left certain parts of my battlefield untouched while other parts raged out of control (those Wolf Skirmishers lasted forever, untouched, while that one epic brawl with the Griffon took 8 CP!). Still, I like it better than Warmaster because you KNOW what you're going to get at the beginning of the turn, as opposed to just suddenly having your turn be done or whatever, and this way is is partially Resource Management. All in all, it is something I can live with.

My biggest issue, however, is similar to what I have with other points-build systems, and that is this: in a game where Die Type is so important, making a 1-point difference between Combat Quality dice is just too little. Consider this:

Unit #1: Mov d8, CQd12 unit is 5 points
Unit #2: Mov d6, CQd10 is also 5 points.

Add a Spear to Unit #1 and he costs 6 points. Now he has a Hard Counter vs Cavalry...rolling d8's.
Increase Unit #2's CQ down to d8, also for 1 point, and now he is also 6 points and effectively has a Hard Counter vs EVERYTHING, all the time.

I think CQ dice should increase cost at LEAST by 2 per die type...making the more combat effective units cost that much more. Anyway, I really wrestled with this while I was building the two lists (I built twice as many units as I used, just to be complete, and it was fun too!), but it could be just me.

Everything else felt really fun, though!


I really liked the way Elite units are assigned (each army gets 1 for free), because it requires taking 3 of one unit type in order to upgrade one, and since it only increases the CQ by 1 step, its not a huge deal (well, and it adds 1 die to the CP pool).

I will play this. I will play this with as many people as I can grab to play it with, and for as long as I refuse to give Thomas his models back! I am now hunting for money that will allow me to buy my own Orcs/Goblin army, as well as a Wood Elf army (which I figure will give me a massive range of "good monsters" I can build and use)...and I am really happy about it. I recommend this game highly. I have found the author to be responsive on both Tactical Command and The Miniatures Page. And keep in mind, Brent Spivey kept a lot of things out of this inexpensive ruleset for a reason - he wants players to build upon the basics. I, for one, cannot wait to see what else he is coming out with!

Wanna buy a 28mm WFB Orc Army? :)

The Perfect Game.

I posted my last blog about the state of 6mm rulesets on a number of forums. Most notably, it got a massive response on The Miniatures Page and on Tactical Command. I then took it a step further and got into a long discussion with a friend, a pillar in the 6mm community, who has designed his own rulesets many, many time, and I knew I was in trouble when he defined Strike Legion as "Too Simple."

Oh boy. I am on this quest for the Perfect Game, but does it exist? Can it exist? I am beginning to think not. Perfect for whom? Perfect for what? My "perfect" will clearly be someone else's nightmare, so why bother?

It has been said that a perfect night of gaming includes great friends, good food, and drinks...and I agree. I don't go down to the FLGS for pickup games, because if I dont know you, or know your reputation, I am loathe to give you a few hours of my time that could, conceivably, be highjacked by your antics (no offense - this is hypothetical, you see). You might not even be that bad...but beating you (or losing to you) won't have that thrill, because I dont _know_ you.

But what if the Perfect Evening could include all this fellowship, but also include a Perfect Game as well? Not possible? I wonder.

My needs are different than yours. My desires and hopes are likely light years from yours...so how do we reconcile this?

I am beginning to think we can't. I think I am back to the drawing board, and I must design my own.\

OK. I can do this! I've edited and play tested and helped come with solutions for quite a few games, and writing is my forte...but...but...there is more to a game than writing. Play any game by Spartan Games and you'll see: games need to be playtested!

Simply put, I could quite easily put down on paper my favorite mechanics from this game and that game, combine, tweak and edit a bit, and come up with a formula that might LOOK like a few games on the market, but be different than all of them...but I dont have time or opponents to play a published set of rules, let alone write and develop my own.

It could be a labor of love, spanning years and decades and a million miniature manufacturers...but do I want this to be me for the next 10 angry years of my life, conning friends to play my frankenstein and give me feedback on it, only to tweak some more?

Or do I think, Fuck It, and play your game and like it?

Dont drink and blog, btw. You keep having to hit the backspace to correct your stupid typos... :)

6mm Wargame Rulesets - What I like and what I want

I was in a discussion with a friend over what I was looking for in a 6mm wargame, or even more specific, what I thought MADE a good 6mm wargame. Here are some of my ramblings:

Gavin’s 3 Questions Regarding 6mm Sci-fi Miniature Wargames:

What do I want in a 6mm Sci-Fi game? What do I think makes a perfect game at the level I am looking for? Why would I want to play my game instead of some of the other games I have experience with?

Gavin’s Background:

Much of my gaming experience is with the 28mm, typically in the Skirmish genre. However, as more and more smaller-scale miniatures began showing up on news sites such as Tabletop Gaming News (TGN) and The Miniatures Page (TMP), I became enamored with how much detail some of the figures could possess, and so I began my foray into games of a larger scale but using smaller scale miniatures. This was near the end of 2008 or so. I quickly settled on 6mm, and in my search for a rule set to use, I came across “Epic: Armageddon.” There were a few competitor rules I looked at, but at the time, Epic suited all my wants.

What do I like so much about Epic?

Epic had a few things that I have since included in my definitions of a perfect game: REGIMENTAL GAME (8-12 units): The size of the game feels just right. Having 8 to 12 units on the field, each anywhere from 5 to 20 models strong, was the regimental-level game I was longing for. It gave careful balance to “combined arms”, and including infantry, armor, and air support/artillery all worked well with each other. ALTERNATING ACTIONS: The alternating activations was good as well. I cannot stand IGOUGO rules, so taking turns after each unit was activated helped the game feel fluid, and allowed nearly-instant reactions to opponent’s actions. I also really liked the Overwatch mechanic, as well as Retaining Initiative (which had a nice risk vs reward element: yes, you can double up on front-end actions, allowing for carefully coordinated assaults or firing for effect on a wounded-but-not-killed enemy unit, but it also increased the chance that a unit wouldn’t activate correctly, and if your surprise didn’t work, you might be outnumbered in activations near the end of the turn, letting the enemy act with impunity and without response. EASE OF GAMEPLAY: I really liked the ease of game play as well. If Games Workshop does one thing well, it is writing pretty straightforward rules. The act of attacking is really quite simple: count up all the attacks coming from my unit, roll the dice. Any hits are saved against by the target unit; if there are multiple types of viable targets, allocate hits before rolling. Then all failed saves are removed, front to back. While there may be a case that requires the two players to think about how hits are allocated, etc, in general it is quick and efficient, and allowed players the tactical considerations of who to place up front, because location mattered.

So why didn’t I keep playing Epic?

Honestly, it isn’t so much that I stopped playing Epic as it is that I just haven’t gone back to it yet. I still feel it is one of the best, most elegant rulesets I have ever played. However, as I started collecting more and more models for my different armies, I started looking at them and wishing I could use this unit with that army, and my hunt for new armies revolved around unit types rather than tactical considerations…and so I began the hunt for a ruleset that allowed me to “Make My Own Army,” or even, in some cases, “Make My Own Units.” I also really wanted just a tad more in my games. I wanted a rocket battery to feel just a little different than an anti tank missile, or to have a unit that had a cool defensive measure or little extra that might make it more unique than another, similar unit on the opposing side. A few extra special rules wouldn’t be too bad, and if done properly, could really add some extra flavor to the game. As an aside, my gaming time and availability of viable opponents has dwindled to the point that I rarely get the chance to put lead on the table any more. This has much more to do with my lack of playing Epic than any other decision. SEEDS OF WAR: Once I realized I wanted to “Make My Own (MMO)”, I stopped considering rulesets that had their own universe (“Seeds of War” by Dark Realm Miniatures, for example, no matter how good the ruleset was supposed to be) and started really examining the rules that let me MMO. There weren’t many. FUTURE WAR COMMANDER: The first I bought was “Future War Commander.” When considering games that cater to the “collector”, ie the gamer who buys figures “just because” and then wants to use them all in a game, FWC is the current leader and has quite a following. I admit, I wasn’t thrilled by what I saw, but couldn’t put my finger on exactly why, so it gathered dust until Aron ran it one weekend for his birthday. I did, however, get a chance to play “Warmaster” with him, and this was my first experience with the “Command” system. I hated it. I wanted to move my units as I saw fit, and have them fail to accomplish their shooting, or armor saves, or Morale Checks, but not just to do something! Epic had Activation Rolls, but if you failed the roll, the unit could still do something, just maybe not exactly what you wanted, or maybe it would just suffer a penalty as well as the blast marker. And more importantly, failing an activation roll didn’t end your turn. This goes back to my dislike of IGOUGO, but I just don’t fancy games that don’t allow me to marshal my forces how I want (in board game form, this is the “Battle Lore” system by Richard Borg – it’s just something I don’t enjoy). The other small thing that bothered me about FWC was the stat lines of units. Often times, special abilities are represented by “#” or other symbols. I prefer a Notes section on my unit that has an entry there to remind me; nitpicky, I know, but there it is. STRIKE LEGION: The next ruleset I found that let me MMO was “Strike Legion.” The more I read it, the more I saw potential in it. I felt that it was like “Battletech” – it had so many options, and picking and choosing what to use was half the fun. I even ran some games with friends, just to get the feel of it. I really loved how the game seemed to encompass all the stuff I was looking for. Missiles and Rockets and Electronic Warfare were all really represented well. Field Guns looked and felt like they should, and offboard artillery and ortillery was quite a reality. However, the execution just fell a little flat in my opinion. LACKING SHOOTING MECHANIC: For one thing, the shooting mechanic was anything but elegant. As mentioned before, in Epic, my unit of 4 tanks firing at your 4 tanks was a pretty straightforward affair. In SL, it wasn’t. I had to declare each of my tank’s targets, and then make separate rolls for each. Your tank 1 might have been hit once, tank 2 was hit twice, tank 3 was missed, and tank 4 was hit once. Not only was dice rolling not quick, but you had to accurately mark who got hit and with what. In addition to this, SL added Hit Location, and differentiated between Hull and Turret, so now you have to denote that Tank 2 was hit once in the turret and once in the Hull (or what have you), and remind me when it came time to inflicting damage where it was that I hit. In a game that should be streamlined at the regimental level, this wouldn’t fly, and this is why I believe that SL is more of a battalion-sized game and not the large-scale combined arms regimental combat I want. EXCESSIVE COMBAT TABLES: The other thing about SL was that it had tables to refer to in combat. Once I hit and rolled for damage, I had to see what I hit. I imagine that in time I could memorize the tables (two, since there are different locations for hull and turret-ish), but that isn’t the speed of play I am looking for. Combine this with unit cards for each unit, complete with hit points and hit locations and expendable munitions that need to be tracked, and it just slows play down. STRIKE LEGION’S GOOD VARIETY: I do, however, really like the way SL uses different sizes of dice, and I do appreciate the different weapon types. Having an Armor value work against ballistic/gauss weapons, and Shields work against Lasers or energy weapons, was kind of cool. If the to-hit process was more streamlined, it could have been a winner. I’ll revisit this later. DIRTSIDE II: I admit that this is pretty much my experience with rulesets at this scale. I have read, but not played, Dirtside II, but can’t stand the idea of chits for combat.

What else do I like?

Dice: As mentioned before, I like different types of dice. I like them representing troop quality and shooting values, I like them representing different weapon strengths, and I generally prefer anything to the bog-standard d6. I just don’t like the d6 as a randomizer, and the d20 is way too generalized. The d6, d8, and even d10s all can work in concert together, if done properly. I feel that SL got a lot of this right. I DON’T like weapons that cannot damage a potential target. This could lead to something running rampant and without consequence. There are many ways to represent a horribly tough unit, such as incredible defenses, multiple wounds, etc, but weapon strength to armor strength tables (as seen in both “Warhammer 40K” and “Dropzone Commander”) have at least a few situations where something cannot hurt another unit. I think, in general, this should be avoided. Bases: How a unit is based is important to me. Having a unit based for one game, which then does not work for another, pretty much defeats the purpose of having a generic game that works with everything. Epic did this really, really well: it stated that there are minimum measurements for basing, but that “almost anything goes”. Tech Levels: I like the fact that not all armies are created the same. I like the concept of defining different technologies and assigning them to Tech Levels. I think that when building an army, taking the TL of the units should be a major consideration, and should affect cost of the units in general. I think Strike Legion did this pretty well, but his unit building computations got so insane that many of us tried to write a “Unit builder spreadsheet” and failed. I hear buzzers going off in my head at the thought of this, showing just how wrong this is! TECHNOLOGICAL COST EFFCIENCIES: I also think SL did it right by allowing a unit at a higher level TL to buy a lower level tech item and get some savings from it. My TL 10 tank with TL 10 gear and an average crew should cost slightly more than your TL10 tank that is running TL8 gear and an average crew. It might be minimal, but I think it should exist. It could be even just that a d6 gauss weapon requires one tech level, while a d8 is slightly higher, and a d10 is even higher still. This is, in my opinion, one thing SL did really well. If only the author had the foresight to then print the TL of the unit on the unit card! This is such a major considering while building the unit, that it should be shown to the world during game play. Close Combat: Who doesn’t like the idea of sword-wielding tanks?! This is one of those philosophical issues that is almost too scary to touch, but that I feel both “Epic” and “Dropzone Commander” got right: Epic’s Firefight (FF) and Close Combat (CC) stats work really well, I feel… And so does DZC’s restriction that Close Combat really only ever happens indoors, because seriously, if you have a working gun in your hand, would you really drop it and charge the enemy? Again, this is a touchy subject, and making CC too hard to manage would really be eliminating or penalizing an “Aliens-type army” maybe too much.

So what do I wish I was playing?

Epic, with build your own rules. Seriously. Add a bit of meat from SL and you could have a perfect game. But how do you marry two differing game concepts: The regimental fast-flow game and The battalion-sized near-skirmish game? Man, isn’t that the million dollar question? Again, if SL had simplified its to-hit system, and then had a competent unit builder that didn’t require calculus, I’d be all over it. How do I think it should run? Let’s say I have a unit of 4 tanks, each with a burly gauss weapon and a smaller laser gun. Your 4 tanks have medium armor and medium shields. I roll my 8 attacks: 4 gauss and 4 lasers. This is probably done with one die per attack, which is based on my Quality (like “Tomorrow’s War”). Maybe in my case, I am veterans and am throwing d8’s. Three gauss and 2 lasers hit (maybe the formula is similar to SL: base range gives a to-hit, modified by what, armor, special defenses, your skill, terrain, Electronic Warfare?). I roll my 3 gauss versus your armor and get 1 hit, and roll my 2 lasers versus your shields, and get 2 hits. Now you assign 3 hits and be done with it. Maybe these tanks are 2 wounds per, and one is knocked out right away. Maybe the extra wound, if it just “sits” there until the end of turn, is discarded like it is in FWC – not sure. I typically prefer higher defenses rather than multi-wound models, to ease record keeping, but certain circumstances like ‘War Machines’ in “Epic” might call for it.

What will I play in the future?

I’d play most anything that let me play with anything from my collection, and would really love something that let me build my own units. I think keeping a Force Organization in play is important, otherwise I could really take a 100% air force army and mob an unprepared enemy with it (even in Epic, taking 2 units of flyers versus someone with little to no Anti-Air is a train wreck waiting to happen). Maybe giving three or four doctrines to choose from, which defines how many of any given unit type you could take, wouldn’t be amiss…but that’s another hard call. I wouldn’t play anything that made me roll to activate my units, “Warmaster-style.” I wouldn’t play an IGOUGO system, and in the vein of my first point, might buy the rules for (but not play) rules that wanted me to own proprietary models. Why do I write all this? Do I have hope for the future of my own wargaming? Yea, I think so. I think I am desperately hoping that Polyversal is the next "big thing". Commercial games are important to me because they bring people together (just look at the Epic community over at Tactical Command and how massive and international it is) and can be easily shared and played with other people. If it isn't the "one" (and let's face it - many of us gamers suffer from the "looking for the next big thing" syndrome), then maybe I'll need to embrace FWC, or SL, regardless of their faults, or just get used to forever proxying in Epic. Or maybe someone else will bring out "the next big thing" and it'll be something I feel comfortable getting on. Or...I'll just be stuck daydreaming and not actually playing. Wow, what a sad waste that would be...and something I should really be conscious of and avoid! I know this was a lot of free-form rambling, but I wanted to get this down while I had the creative juices going. I hope this helps, and I would be certainly willing to expand on any point I made here, or on any that I missed. Thanks, Gavin McClements, February 2013. [For completeness, I also posted this on TMP and TacCom]