The Big Game XVI - Street Fight

A Laserstorm AAR by Podsy McPod

It was recently once again my pleasure to present a large scale participation wargame to my local gaming club TableTopNorth in Belfast.  The scenario was a continuation of an ongoing campaign between the rebelling human forces of the RPK republic (near future Arabs) and their evil galactic overlords the Naga (snake like aliens).  This game represented the climax of the campaign.  Following a disastrous defeat for the humans as they tried to force their way to the capital Kimtown down the main highway in the last Big Game they rethought their tactics and advanced through the mountains.  This game was set a few weeks after the arrival of the human forces in the capital.  Fighting has stalled and the opposing forces have built defences and hunkered down in adjacent city blocks.  The game would be won by whichever side scored the most victory points.  Uncontested control of each of the hab blocks in each sector scored one victory point at the end of each turn.

Somehow the table looks quite bare but there are six units in each city block

In Laserstorm cover is key.  Any unit directly behind a wall or in a building gets a cover save of 5+ in addition to the normal save roll of the unit.  Normal saves are adjusted by the power of attacking weapon whilst cover saves are not.  Before the game I emphasised how vital staying in cover was but as you can see a lot of units are out in the open as deployment finished.  This led to absolute chaos in the first turn of firing with casualties of around 30% on both sides at the end of the first turn!  Anti tank guns have deployed into the hab blocks at opposite ends of the board.  The alien guns took a casualty and failed a morale test causing them to flee the building they were in.  Once in the open they became very vulnerable to all incoming fire.  This left the aliens without vital anti tank weaponry.  Their human counterparts in contrast never broke a sweat staying resolutely in place for most of the game.

There are actually three guns in this building, one on each floor.  Their nerves of steel were to prove vital.

In the northern human city block with the tanks a much more cautious game was played making full use of cover before advancing.  Unsurprisingly the two central city blocks with enemies on three sides find themselves under a lot of pressure and take heavy casualties.  One alien Raven light vehicle transport with a stand of Vampirra power armour makes a brave dash towards the centre of the battlefield but it is really too little to have much effect.  The Ikwen militia subjugated into military service for the Naga have an outstanding game shooting down multiple enemies.  Even their underpowered solar RPG's prove useful destroying the large human mechs in the central city block.  Human Patrol Carriers make a brave dash to contest control of the northern hab dome on the alien side of the table.  We complete two turns before lunch.  Casualties have been extremely high on both sides with the aliens coming off worst.  The humans are ahead by a couple of victory points.

A heroic charge by human Patrol Carriers towards a hab block makes it contested and loses a victory point for the aliens.

Everyone has understood Laserstorm rules very quickly despite some of the players not regularly playing wargames. Combined with the high turn out of players this means the game is proceeding at a very fast pace.  I fear the game will not last the day.  I have a quick meeting with the team captains and we agree that an equal points value of troops can arrive as reinforcements for both sides on the narrow table edges.  We roll randomly for sides and the aliens come on in the south with the humans in the north.  We also tidy up some depleted units during the lunch break amalgamating and reinforcing some units.

After lunch the aliens make a well considered push with their recycled reinforcement units arriving in the south.  They pour fire into the hab block containing the human anti tank guns but a rotten run of luck means the fire is ineffective.  Only at this juncture does the commander of the alien SKA anti infantry field guns decide to redirect their fire onto the human anti tank guns and they are wiped out almost immediately.  Things are looking up for the aliens.  They are starting to get a secure base in the south.  Titan APC's nip around the corner of a hab block to get an unobstructed shot on a unit of RPK infantry.  Without cover saves the infantry is eliminated in a single round of fire.  On the other hand the aliens remain behind in victory points and have practically nothing left in the north to stop the human reinforcements rolling up them up.

Alien reinforcements of mechs and APC's make an impact.

This proves to be the case.  The alien positions in the north crumble.  Alien anti tank gun reinforcements are brought into play with some success taking out two human tanks.  Relief is only temporary, the human reinforcements prove unstoppable in their advance down the table.  The picture below was taken towards game end as you can see casualties on both sides have been huge.  Four city blocks are firmly under human control and the aliens do not have the troops left to mount any sort of counter attack.  Their commander decides to concede at the end of turn seven with the score at 21/11 in favour of the humans.  I don't feel too bad for the aliens as they had a crushing victory in the last game.

Laserstorm rules worked superbly well without amendment besides allowing a unit activation per side per player.  This is despite the game being played in 15mm rather than 6mm as intended by the author.  I would say there are tiers to Laserstorm rules and we played on the lowest level.  The game moved at by far the fastest pace of any system I have used allowing an unprecedented seven turns of play and we finished an hour ahead of schedule.  I now realise that the speed of play combined with the generous movement rates mean much more detailed scenarios can be played.  Vehicles struggled in the urban environment as perhaps they should.  It was definitely terrain for infantry, battlesuits and mechs.  I should have included more of these in the army lists.

A couple of lone vehicles hold on in the south for the humans as their reinforcements sweep down the table.

The game was set up with enemies in adjacent blocks.  On reflection it would probably have been better to put more room between the opposing forces.  That being said some players did remark that they enjoyed the difficulties of having enemies on more than one side.  The game was almost the victim of it's own success with a much higher turn out of players than in previous years.  If I had known there would have been this many players I would have included more figures.  One of the joys of running an event game for me is to see non wargamers quickly understand the rules and explain them to other players.  This definitely happened during this game.  I would also think Laserstorm rules would be well suited to running a smaller demonstration game at a convention.

Next year I am tempted to do it all again in 6mm...

The Big Game XV - Clearing the Vipers Nest - A Fireteam Andromeda after action report by Podsy Mc Pod.

The Big Game XV - Clearing the Vipers Nest
A Fireteam Andromeda after action report by Podsy Mc Pod.

Fireteam Andromeda is available at: Two Knights Publishing

I must be doing something right.  I was invited to host a second participation wargame this year, at my local gaming club TableTopNorth in Belfast.  A simplified version of Fireteam Andromeda revised edition would again be the rule set of choice having worked extremely well on previous occasions.  You can see five types of marker on table.  The hexagonal ones indicate a unit has activated in the turn, the orange ones that a unit is shaken, the triangular ones that a vehicle is disabled, the irregularly shaped red ones that an assault needs resolved at turn end and the skull tokens indicate damage points.

The scenario was a continuation of an ongoing campaign between the rebelling human forces of the RPK republic (near future Arabs) and their evil galactic overlords the Naga (snake like aliens).  The RPK regular army forces had support from their air cavalry wing the muster troops and Ikwen militia who had been brought to earth by the Naga as agricultural slaves.  The Naga had support from Malig space goblins, a conquered race and various droids.  Basically the Naga have higher tech weapons with better range and damage (power) the saving grace of the human weaponry is that most weapons have the rapid fire ability meaning rate of fire increases by one die per weapon if the firing model is stationary.

We thought long and hard about the scenario for the game and I give a big thanks to all the wonderful guys in the 15mm sci fi facebook page for their input.  We wanted to avoid a clash of two lines of troops like an ancient battle and to incorporate the superb fortress I had purchased from multiverse gaming.  Most of the people who participate in the game do not regularly play wargames so the aim was to complete five turns in the day.  This ruled out anything which needed a lot of movement like a relief scenario.  What we decided was a siege game with prepared siege positions available to the rebels.  To spice things up a bit the rebels would have two forces which they could drop anywhere on table by drop pod.  The aliens would have two advance defensive positions which they could place anywhere on their side of the table.  Victory would be decided by who had control of six victory locations, the three rebel trench lines, the two buildings on the Naga flanks and the ramparts over the gate of the fort.  Control is determined by deciding which side has the highest value, in strength points, of units within six inches of the objective.  Command units are worth three strength points, infantry units two and vehicles one.  These values are reduced by one if the unit is shaken and or half strength or less.

The fluff was that the Naga fort known to the rebels as "the vipers nest" blocked the rebel advance on the main road to the capital.  The rebels would decide on the location of their drop pod landings when terrain was set up but before any troops were placed.  The alien advance defensive positions would be placed without them knowing the location of the drop pod landings.  This is how things looked before the drop pod landings.

So you can see the Aliens have set up one advance defensive position on the far left.  It is occupied by Malig space goblins.  They are armed with laser assault carbines so have limited range but have double dice in assault.   Just to the right of the fort the second position is occupied by rattler droids (light infantry with heavy laser anti tank weapons) and spider droid heavy infantry.  The rebels opted to make both their landing zones on the alien left flank.  We only used one drop pod model to represent all the drop pods in each landing zone.  By a series of amazing die rolls against the odds nearly all the troops in both drop zones landed on target.  Only one unit of Republican guard strayed off target landing in the middle of the fort right beside the Naga commander in chief!  As the rebels had initiative they would have a chance to kill the commander before the forts defenders could react.
One of the drop forces consisted of Ikwen militia.  They are graded as light infantry lacking armour but have improved rapid fire ballistic riles giving three shots per model if stationary and two if they move.  They also have a solar powered RPG support weapon in each unit.   The other drop force is the elite of the RPK army the Republican Guard.  They have improved armour incorporating anti laser defences giving a reroll on saves versus laser fire of 5+ and a grenade launcher in each team.

After the landings the situation looked like this.

I thought the rebels had made a right choice concentrating their forces and with a spectacularly accurate landing things looked good for them.  It is too difficult to give a narrative of the whole battle so I am going to split in into three sections.

Northern Section

Here RPK army regulars supported by Polecat recon vehicles and Guardian Battlesuits faced off against droids and spiderbots along with two recon mechs.  The RPK infantry are support infantry with an RPG and LMG in each unit.  The Polecats have auto cannons very good against infantry and reasonable against vehicles.  The Guardian Battlesuits were fitted with dual improved light machine guns.  Each rattler unit between the spider droids had two heavy lasers but we forgot to put out the right figures.  The Naga mechs have had high powered lasers which could explode the Polecat recon vehicles if they hit.  The standard droids only had average long range laser small arms.
The Polecats and mechs began to duel with the Polecats eventually getting the upper hand taking out both mechs for no loss.  Then the commander on this flank was struck with temporary insanity (or as he claims he obeyed orders from higher command) deciding to leave his prepared positions with all his infantry before any serious losses had been inflicted on the opposition infantry.  Out in the open they took withering fire and were all lost except for one battered unit which retreated to the trench line.  The Polecats realised they could not gain control of the objective facing them but fired for effect anyway.  The Guardian Battlesuits had to turn to face a threat in the centre from Vampirra infantry who had advanced across the table from the fort.  The remaining infantry was lost and the rebels held their own objective by the skin of their teeth with a single strength point of troops.  The Naga objective was firmly in the hands of the droids.

Centre

Here RPK infantry were supported by Guardian Battlesuits with rocket pod weapon load outs and three light weapons teams with high powered long range anti vehicle lasers.  The Naga had regular heavy infantry with heavy laser support weapons in the fort. In support they had SKA light weapon teams with long range anti infantry lasers and Vampirra assault troops with counter armour against ballistic weapons.

With a stray unit of Republican Guard landing in the fort the first shot of the game was an attempt to assassinate the Naga commander in chief!  It came tantalisingly close to succeeding causing two of the three wounds required.  Good but not good enough.  Then the Vampirra body guards quickly assaulted the hapless Republican guard unit eliminating it.

Seeing the early demise of the RPK infantry in the north their comrades in the centre wisely stayed behind their trench line.  Fire traded with the fort was largely ineffectual.  The Guardian Battlesuits advanced using their rocket pods to good effect against the rattlers in the advance defensive position.  One of the units of spiderbots also attempted to advance but was cut down in the open ground.  The Guardian Battlesuits attempted to take cover behind the rocks but heavy laser fire from the rattlers still found its mark and they were destroyed by game end.  The rebel light weapon teams wisely directed their fire against the swarm of vehicle targets on the Naga left flank.  They had some bad luck in their die rolls but still took down several enemy Battlesuits and I think all the Cobra recon vehicles.  The Vampirra in the fort climbed down the wall to assault units on the Naga left flank and fought their way across table eventually ending up in assault with the troops defending the trench line.  They did not make it close enough to challenge for control of this objective.  The RPK had a single depleted but unshaken infantry unit left.  So again they clung onto an objective with  a single strength point of troops!

Southern Sector

The air cavalry of the RPK army, the Muster troops, held this sector for the rebels.  They had one unit of superior infantry with two RPG's, a unit of light infantry with assault carbines, kamel motorbikes, a flight of Skylark recon vehicles with rocket pods and a unit of Guardian Battlesuits with dual light machine guns.  The Naga had droids, two units of battlesuits, a flight of Cobra recon vehicles and five units of Maligs in the advance defensive position.

This sector descended into absolute chaos right from turn one with assaults breaking out everywhere around the troops that had landed by drop pod.  Initial fire although heavy from the Ikwen and Republican Guard was largely ineffectual.  Perhaps because of this they decided to assault the Cobra recon vehicles and a unit of Battlesuits.  Both these moves were suicidal as they lacked specialised close assault weapons.  On the other hand Battlesuits are very good in assault under Fireteam Andromeda rules being hard to damage and automatically killing infantry if they can hit.  So the drop pod forces both suffered major casualties early on.

The Muster troops on the other hand advanced steadily.  The Skylarks used their rocket pods to take out two of the three Malig light weapon teams.  The Kamel motorbikes successfully assaulted a unit of Maligs.  The Muster superior infantry steadily picked off targets including enemy Battlesuits.  The enemy Cobra recon vehicles advanced only to be shot down by laser fire from the rebel centre. The Muster light infantry took up a strong position in a rock formation.  Things were looking good for the rebels as the Muster troops looked capable of rolling up the flank on their own. Then the tide turned.
Skylarks got shot down by enemy Battlesuits.  The Muster light infantry failed a morale test and got charged by a unit of Maligs without being able to shoot at them as they came in.  The assault carbines giving an extra dice in assault began to tell for the Maligs as they overwhelmed the Kamel bikes.  Naga battlesuits assaulted the rebel Guardian Battlesuits and chased them across the table.  Before long the rebel flank had collapsed and Naga forces were able to move on towards the centre as described earlier.

Conclusion and thoughts on the day.

With the central victory point locations being worth three victory points and the ones on the flanks two victory points the Naga had won yet again scoring a full seven victory points for not losing any of their own victory point locations and gaining another two for capturing the location on the rebel right flank.  So the final score was 9/5 to the Naga.

The rebels began on the back foot having inadvertently chosen the best defended flank to land both their drop pod forces. Being right beside the assault focused Malig and vehicles which they would struggle to damage did them no favours at all.  As they landed so tightly right on target I thought they still had a good chance.  However the game was really lost by two tactical errors.  The advance by rebel infantry in the north was a turn or two premature.  They needed to wear down the defending Naga infantry more before attempting this advance.  The rebel commander and I had a difference of opinion on how to deal with likely unfavourable assaults.  My preference would have been to try and avoid these assaults at all costs.  He felt it was better to try and throw in as many troops as possible to even up the odds.  This tactic did not pay off.  Far too many of the drop pod forces were committed to assaults on vehicles which they had practically no chance of winning.  It really should have been a moment to pause, check the rules and determine the chances of success before carrying out these assaults.   If only the rebels had known their drop pod forces would land so accurately.  If they had landed in the centre or north of the table it could easily have been a win for the rebel side.

Once again Fireteam Andromeda rules proved absolutely sound and allowed play at lightning speed. We actually finished an hour ahead of schedule.  I have been able to hone the choice of units used over the years.  I deliberately did not use any APC's so inexperienced players did not lose entire infantry units if the transport vehicle was destroyed.  Similarly I did not use any heavy vehicles dependant on specific anti vehicle weapons being used to stop them running amok.   The only problem encountered was that some players misinterpreted the capabilities of their units reading the unit cards incorrectly.  I thought I had made the unit cards self explanatory but obviously they were not clear enough for people who do not regularly play the game.  Before we start play next time the team captains and I will take the time to explain the capabilities of each unit to the player commanding it before the game begins, we have the spare time!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and got the feeling the players did too and after all that is what it is all about.

Patrol Angis AAR

Gavin at the Ion Age tuned me into a battle report for his Ion Age rules "Patrol Angis". By now most of you in 15mm scifi are familiar with the Ion Age and the universe that has been unfolding in the various releases, but the rules are new enough that there haven't been a lot of battle reports coming out. This one, from The Conflict Cornucopia blog paints a good picture of the system and the character of the rules. 

To read the battle report, follow this link - HERE

It is worth mentioning that so far I am very much liking what I. have read about the system and this AAR only reinforces those opinions. The universe and rules have some nice innovations and interesting twists while still managing to be a spiritual successor to the older school Space Opera scifi game I grew up on. In a universe that uses such terms as Chameleon Circuits, knights, and weapons with heroic names like Anvil there is little not to love in "Patrol Angis" and the whole of the Ion Age

Give it a read!

For full info on the Ion Age check out the Ion Age Blog - HERE 

-Eli

Fireteam Andromeda AAR by Podsy McPod

Fireteam Andromeda  AAR by Podsy McPod

On Saturday the 18th of April 2015 it was once again my privilege to present a participation wargame to my local gaming club TableTopNorth in Belfast.  Most of the players I knew would be role-players at heart so for rules I used a simplified version of Fireteam Andromeda revised edition.  The recently released online army builder using Battlescribe meant I was able to create unit cards in double quick time.  I enjoyed the freedom of building units outside normal competitive play and the chance to use some of the many colourful options in the Fireteam Andromeda rules.  You can see three types of marker on table.  The hexagonal ones indicate a unit has activated in the turn, the orange ones that a unit is shaken and the skull tokens indicate damage points.  Player numbers were slightly down on previous years at thirteen plus myself as referee but still enough for a fast moving game even with the large number of units on table.

The scenario was a continuation of an ongoing campaign between the rebelling human forces of the RPK republic (near future Arabs) and their evil galactic overlords the Naga (snake like aliens).  Basically the Naga have higher tech weapons with better range and damage (power) the saving grace of the human weaponry is that most weapons have the rapid fire ability meaning rate of fire increases by one die per weapon if the firing model is stationary.  The rebel forces were closing in on the capital of the RPK republic when they discovered that the Naga were using a local farm to breed Xenomorphs.  This was a threat behind rebel lines that could not be ignored. The rebels used electronic warfare to jam the gates on the holding pens and launched an attack before the Naga could bring electronic counter measures to bear.  Victory would be decided by who had control of the four holding pens and the central command tower at game end.  The command tower was worth three victory points and the four holding pens two each.  Control is determined by deciding which side has the highest value, in strength points, of units within six inches of the objective.  Command units are worth three strength points, infantry units two and vehicles one.  These values are reduced by one if the unit is shaken and or half strength or less.

An overview of the battlefield with victory point locations marked.

The corridors and walls do not block line of sight but the buildings and rock formations do.  So the battlefield is fairly open.  Smoke plumes from destroyed vehicles also block line of sight and it was amazing how quickly lines of sight became tight.  I must apologise that the table is just slightly too small to get the unit cards off the map which makes some of the photos look a little untidy.    Here is a photo of the rebel deployment with some of their key assets marked

A view of the rebel deployment with some key assets marked.

A view of the Naga deployment with some key assets marked.

Will the superior alien technology win the day? Will the holding pens open and release hordes of xenomorph hatchlings?  Will the rebel tanks crush all before them?  We were soon to find out.

It is difficult for me to get events in chronological order across the whole table as I was busy refereeing so I will divide the battlefield in to three sectors.  In the North Naga battlesuits with infantry and recon support face off against rebel infantry, mounted infantry on grav bikes, battlesuits, and recon vehicles with anti armour missile launchers.

Naga units in the northern sector.

Disaster strikes the rebel forces right at the start of the game when Naga electronic counter measures force open the gate of the holding pen closest to the rebel forces releasing their deadly occupants.  This really forces the rebel hand making them deal with this threat.   The first units activated all fire on the hatchlings in the holding pen to fairly good effect.  Long range fire from the Naga shakes one of the rebel infantry units and the hatchlings waste no time assaulting the unit as it cannot fire at them as they charge home.  If unshaken the rebel infantry could have fired at the assaulting unit.  It the assaulting unit took casualties it would have to check morale and if it failed it would not complete the charge. This is one of core mechanics of Fireteam Andromeda.

The assault between hatchlings, Muster infantry and Death Rider grav bikes.

The Death Riders grav bike unit having taken considerable casualties from long range fire (against the odds) decide to join the assault where they cannot be targeted until the assault is resolved at the end of the turn.  It is a tough fight for the rebels but the grav bikes swing the result in their favour.  Only two grav bikes remain and then the second holding pen in the sector opens...

Meanwhile Naga fast attack battlesuits with power claws move up and attempt to assault the rebel Polecat recon vehicles.  The recon vehicles are not shaken and so can fire at the charging unit.  They destroy one Battlesuit (exploding it with a high damage roll) and the unit fails it's morale test stopping the charge.  The fast moving (grav powered) Cobra recon vehicles move up but their weapons are anti infantry and cannot damage the human recon vehicles.  Things are looking good for the rebels in this sector until the hatchlings from the second pen charge home on the shaken Polecat recon unit.  The remaining hatchlings have two assault dice each for a total of sixteen but need 5+ to hit and a 6 on their damage roll to cause damage.  The Polecat recon only need at a 3+ to hit and a auto kill but only have one assault dice per model.

This fight drags on with minimal casualties on either side.  By the time it resolves the losses on the human infantry have mounted.  The Cobra recon vehicles swoop in to take the holding pen closest to rebel lines.  The rebel recon vehicles finally win the fight but it is too late.  Both objectives in this sector are firmly in the hands of the Naga.

Central Sector

Here the initial action is dominated by the Naga trying to get their anti armour assault drones into contact with the rebel tank platoon.  These pesky drones have high powered ultra short range lasers counting as improved anti armour melee weapons.  The drones advance and take cover in the control tower.  A little abstraction going on here, they are technically mounted infantry so can occupy buildings.  The rebels concentrate fire on them causing heavy casualties.

A good overview of the Naga advance in the centre.

Elsewhere in this sector goblin Malig units and the one unit of full size Xenomorphs on table lead the advance.  The Xenomorphs jump the corridor and assault a unit of shaken Battlesuits.  They need 5+ on their damage roll to cause damage and have twelve dice.  They get an amazing seven hits causing damage wiping out the Battlesuit unit.  A Malig unit takes the control tower but is soon shot up by advancing RPK infantry who take the tower themselves.  At this point I found it very hard to call who would win control of the tower.  Advancing Naga laser rifle infantry squads took heavy casualties as they advanced across open ground towards the tower.  In the final turn the last remaining holding pen opens and the hatchlings rush to assault the tower.  The RPK infantry unit is shaken so cannot fire at the chargers.  With forty assault dice against it, it is doomed.  The Naga hold this objective.

The RPK infantry bravely occupy the control tower.  Counter intuitively in this scenario they would have been better standing behind it and avoiding being assaulted.

Southern Sector

Despite destroying the opposing Battlesuits rebel forces get badly pinned down around this rocky outcrop.

The opening moves by the rebels are again to concentrate fire on the holding pen and casualties on the hatchlings within are heavier than in the North.  The mounted infantry on motorbikes are a unit whose key asset is their speed.  Instead they go to ground in cover and are shot up by the opposing forces.

Rebel forces advance in the south but it is too little too late.

Autocannons on the human recon vehicles make short work of the Naga battlesuits.  Rebel infantry both regular RPK units and superior Muster infantry advance taking up positions around the corridors and in cover within the rock formation.  One unit of RPK infantry shoots up and then assaults a Malig unit wiping it out.  Titan Recon vehicles use their high grav movement to move into the holding pen on the rebel side but when strength points are totalled it is still deemed to be in rebel hands.

A final overview of the table as the game ended

Conclusion

The Naga are deemed to be in control of three of the holding pens and the central control tower so win by a margin of nine victory points to two.  The Naga had definitely made more effective use of one of the core mechanics of the game, that is, to shake units and then assault them.  They were also aided by the holding pen in the North opening right at the beginning of the game against the odds.  The rebels were too static, they needed to be moving from the first turn.
Although that said they were right to concentrate fire on the holding pens before they opened.  On reflection there should have been fewer hatchlings in the units and perhaps their armour value dropped by one.  One of the rebel key assets a light weapons team of laser cannons did little.  It should have moved to a position where it could fire on Naga vehicles in the north, this could well have turned the tide of battle in that sector.  They also suffered some bad luck failing key morale checks.

It was interesting to note just how much more survivability vehicles had following the changes to revised edition.  There were loads of infantry support weapons on table capable of taking out vehicles but this did not happen, I don't know what the players were doing with them.  The rebel tank platoon was steadily taking hits but as they are spread evenly it was never enough to take out a model.  Several players remarked on how well balanced the game was.  I think that is due mostly to the robust points system used in Fireteam Andromeda.  Play went very quickly with us actually finishing the final turn of play about forty minutes ahead of schedule.  Before the game I doubted we would finish the final turn.  If anybody would like the details of the rules tweaks I have used to adapt Fireteam Andromeda for participation play just drop me a message on Facebook.

Lasers and Broadswords: Five Parsecs From Home Campaign turn 1

Post from Lasers and Broadswords blog. 

Written By Alexander Wasberg

Five Parsecs From Home Campaign turn 1 I have finally gotten my Campaign going!

My Adventurers can be found here: Link


Currenty stuck on a sandy, somewhat inhospitable world known as Ares-2, our heroes find them-selves in an unenvious position. This planet is a dump, quite frankly, and they would like to head to one of the myriad of other worlds on the fringe.

But there is a problem; in their latest attempt to "hit the jackpot", their spacecraft was destroyed when they tried to evade the local customs agents. The ship was a rickety old death-trap, to be sure, but it was their ticket out of here as well.

Now they find that they have no choise but to try and find a patron, do make enough dough to get a new ship, or failing that, a shuttle-ticket to a slightly more civilized planet.

Tasks:

Captain Black: As the leader, he goes out to find a job, and without too much trouble or haggling, he finds a Calamian diplomat, who offers them a job.

Mr. Hammer: The warbot is left behind to guard the room the group resides in at a local seedy motel.

Chiyo: Goes out to find something to barter for, the rent needs to be payed, even if they can't find a job!

Mr. Smith: Strikes out to look for a patron as well, has preciously little luck however.

The Job:
As the diplomat explained to the captain, the job is simple; Go to an run-down settlement a few miles south of town, explore the area and assess the damage on the remaining structures and the local micro-plant.
The reason is simple; the Calamian corporate interests in the area is great, but buying unsurveyed property on the fringe is unadvisable, so our heroes are doing so for them.

What he failed to mention is the gang of punks who have taken over the area since it's official abandonment a few years ago, but that information felt irrelevant to the diplomat, it didn't have anything to do with their main interest in the area after all!

The Mission:

The Group meets up back at the motel, grabbing gear and getting ready to head out:

The Captain brings his trusted revolver.
Mr Hammer is wired up with a Gattling gun (counts as rattle-gun) and a brutal melee weapon.
Chiyo carries a handgun, as well as her wrench.
Mr Smith has a modified assault weapon (counts as rattle-gun with assault module)

As the approach the area, they notice that there are indeed punks there, and not being terribly surprised at their employers failure to mention this, they get ready for work. 

Battle on New-Tokyo - a small scale Gruntz Skirmish game between the Hell Divers and Pale Riders (Ex-RUSK)

By Harold
From: http://clearhorizonsalvage.blogspot.com/

Hell Divers from ClearHorizon Miniatures
RUSK from Armies Army
Gruntz available from: WargameVault

Buildings from Gamecraft Miniatures
Sidewalks, Planters, and Barricades from Warsenal
--

This game is a little different than what you'll normally see.

Each force had four figures and each figure operated independently.  We built each figure using the Gruntz Specialist rules with a couple of guidelines for damage, sizes and armor etc.

We had a lot of fun.  It turned into a very tactical game where neither of us were willing to push and flank as much as we should have.  With only four figures it seems like any damage was very dangerous to the goal of accomplishing the mission.

It came down to putting the figures in the right places and hoping for luck.  Much like real life.

Both forces were pretty equally matched.  I want to do a game in the future that has asymmetrical forces to really push the boundaries of this ruleset.

It was about 100 points a side and took about an hour or so.

For activation we dealt a card from a normal card deck to each player for however many figures they had left.

Each player would then assign the cards so that the figures would activate from highest to lowest. We decided before hand which suits were in which order.

We would then announce the highest card we have and compare to the other player.  Whoever had highest would activate their figure and so forth.  This had a fun random and planned aspect to it that really added to the game.

We also ruled that grenades could be thrown at spots instead of just figures with normal to roll and scatter.

-

Podsy McPod provides another Fireteam Andromeda AAR!

AAR by Podsy McPod

Bringing Sci-Fi gaming to the roleplaying masses. An after action report of the Big Game 12.9
For a number of years my local gaming club (TableTopNorth) in Belfast has allowed me to run participation figures wargames events.  These have become known as the Big Games.  On Saturday the 5th of April I had the privilege of running the latest Big Game.

With Fireteam Andromeda being my favoured set of sci-fi rules I wanted to use them.  At first I was baffled as to how to do it.  The heart of Fireteam Andromeda is the unique and incredibly subtle command and control mechanism which allows units already activated to take extra commands, known as active commands.  In various other circumstances units can make reactive commands.  I knew most of players would not be regular figure gamers and this would confuse them so reluctantly this mechanic had to go.  Instead in each activation phase each player would be allowed to activate one unit and take it through the four potential actions.  Regrouping to recover from morale or damage effects, moving, shooting (or running for infantry and mechs) and assaulting if desired for units that did not run.  Each unit in the game would have it's own unit card giving all the required stats for the player controlling it.

Rise of the Robots: A Fireteam Andromeda AAR by Podsy McPod

By Podsy McPod

Posted by Harold

Fireteam Andromeda is available here.

Rise of the Robots: A Fireteam Andromeda AAR

One of the first sets of figures I bought for sci-fi gaming are the mini mechs pictured below.  I never found a way to field more than a couple.  I was also feeling a little tired of the desert colour scheme of most of my armies.  So I drew up a "mekanoid" army list using low cost infantry to allow me to field eight mini mechs. It was also a bit of a gimmick army as it is all rated poor experience level which is not too much of a drawback as being robots they automatically pass morale tests, confidence checks in Fireteam Andromeda terms.  The negative side is they cannot use extra commands in an activation without a commander with the overseer trait on table. So they are vulnerable if their commanders are lost.

Fireteam Andromeda AAR - By Podsy McPod

Posted by Harold


Written by Podsy McPod

Fireteam Andromeda is available here: Wargame Vault for $16.43

This is an after action report of a recent game I had of Fireteam Andromeda with a gaming buddy and good friend Gary.

This was a pretty standard game of FA using one platoon each to a value of 1000 points.  The battle was over a mining complex.

Gary chose to play the Naga, a high tech army of space snakes from Critical Mass Games.  He chose a generic platoon which gave him access to the one vehicle unit he used of mini mechs counting as Battle Suits.  His force was made up as follows.  A field commander, 2 NCO's, 3 units of infantry each with their own support weapon and an attached weapon, 2 units of Vampirra power armour infantry, a unit of scouts with their own attached Grav transport and a unit of Mini Mech Battle suits.  The scouts, and power armour units are all good in assault.  The infantry squads pack a lot of punch with the extra weapons.  The mini mechs are armed with pulse cannons and also grenade launchers which are deadly to all at close range.

The Naga Deployment

Colony 15 - In The Emperor's Name AAR

After painting and reviewing the Colony 15 figures from Darkest Star Games, I thought it would be fun to play a little game with them. It will be good to field larger armies of these figures as the factions are expanded. But for now, I had more than enough figures to play a small skirmish. 

First, I broke out my template for In The Emperor's Name cards and had a go with the figures. 

Dominion Wastelands - a USE ME test game

The flock on my Dominion Wastelands terrain set had barely finished drying when I played my first game. :) 

Game Preparation

Looking at the USE ME unit cards I had already made, I decided to throw in a few changes before the playtest.  In USE ME, Elan is a combined measure of the characters' morale, training, and experience. I had instinctively given the elite Expeditionary power armored troops the highest Elan stat (6). Thinking about my storyline, this just didn't fit. These troops have been in space, and had been training to fight a different enemy. Combining that background with the idea that Earth's terrain has been substantially changed, even the most elite Expeditionary troops should be at a disadvantaged.  So I lowered their Elan to 4 for this first game.  

I also gave them an APC - a light vehicle with a 12" move and a vehicle automatic weapon.  Assuming the driver wasn't a member of the Elite cadre, I lowered its Elan to 3.

The Dominion troops received a slight bump to match the offset. I gave the standard troopers Elan 5 for this first game, and the larger battlesuit the highest Elan rating at 6.  A force of six troopers and one Battlesuit would be the Dominion forces in this battle. I figured this would represent a basic patrol force - locating deposits of the precious blue crystals and identifying any enclaves of human resistance.

Even with the modified stats, this didn't look very balanced.  I simply removed five of the Expeditionary troops and set up the game itself.  I kept the table mostly the same from my "work in progress" photos, simply removing the Armies Army troops from the settlement.  The Dominion forces deployed on either side of the lower-right hill, while the Expeditionary forces would enter on the gravel road (chosen by a coin toss).

The Battle

With their higher Elan ratings, the Dominion had the first chance to act. I simply advanced them toward the settlement, using the crystals as cover.  The Expeditionary APC entered from the left.  It moved into the settlement, deploying its passengers into the cover of the storage shack. The APC took a pot shot at the Dominion battlesuit, but only managed to kick up some loose gravel.

The Dominion forces acted quickly. While the troopers advanced from both the lower and right-hand sides of the board, the battlesuit fired upon the APC. Its armor proved too strong for the battlesuit. Even though it was partially covered by a wrecked armored vehicle, concentrated fire from the Expeditionary troopers (including their heavy weapon) managed to bring down the Battlesuit.  Meanwhile, the APC raced across the road to divide the Dominion troopers.

The delay was successful - only one of the trooper units managed to get within assault distance of the Expeditionary troopers. Despite their lack of experience, the Expeditionary force outnumbered and outgunnned the Dominion troopers, and had the advantage of both power armor and a defensive position.  All three aliens advancing from the lower edge were winged or struck. 

During the next round, two of the Expeditionary troops broke cover to engage the second Dominion unit. They coordinated with their APC and set up a deadly crossfire. All three aliens were killed, with only a single human being winged.

By now the Dominion had completely failed in its mission. They attempted to close in and use their superior close combat abilities, but still couldn't do significant damage the Expeditionary power armor. The two flanking Expeditionary troopers returned to the melee, but the fight was already over.

Mission Debriefing

The game was far more lopsided than I predicted - the USE ME rules are very robust and playable. The downside?  They realistically favor an entrenched defender over an equivalent attacker!  But it gave me a chance to see how I want to run these characters as I develop the Dominion Wastelands campaign.

• Dominion Troopers.  They had normal Infantry Small Arms, and I just don't think it works for the Critical Mass Kaamados Vivipara figures. I'm going to change them to the Flamethrower rules found in the USE ME Post Apocalypse book. 
• Dominion Battlesuit.  Very underwhelming performance from an excellent Kaamados Draco battlesuit. I'm going to try upgrading them from Armored Infantry to an unarmored Light Vehicle, just to see if that makes a significant difference.
• Expeditionary Elites.  Going to upgrade them to Elan 5, but use them only sparingly. In future skirmishes, there may only be one or two of these power-armored figures leading a fireteam of normal Expeditionary grunts.
• Expeditionary APC.  It delivered what it promised!

I definitely enjoyed having USE ME as the framework.  But I may not be using it at its full capability. Omer Golan included some really neat ideas in the Post Apocalypse section - specifically using Toxic Pits.  I might find a way to utilize the Blue Crystals in-game; possibly doubling the optimal range or adding +1 penetration to Dominion figures in base contact.  That would certainly change the strategy for both forces!

Cheers,

Chris

USE ME Terminus - Primal Score AAR

(TV announcer voiceover)

Previously, on Terminus...

Terminus had promised each challenge would prove more difficult.  After they placed Trooper Jamiss' remains into a cryo-pod, Commander Aiden checked his scanner.  He saw numerous small blips in the adjacent valley, closing in on their position.  And unlike the mechanisms they had just fought, these appeared to have life signs.  There was no time to grieve.  He ordered his men to unpack the drone-mounted rail cannons, and sent his lead scout to find a good firing position.

"You may just be getting warmed up, Terminus," thought Aiden.  "But you still have no idea who you are facing.  No matter what you have, we'll be ready." 

Scenario Two - Primal Score

The second scenario in Gavin Syme's Terminus campaign pits the Challengers against a massive horde of primitive troops.  My challengers escaped the previous scenario relatively unscathed - just a single Winged model at the start of this game.  I added two crewed heavy weapon systems (Micropanzer Gun Drones) and swapped the flamethrower for a sniper rifle.  

Lacking suitable primitives in my collection, I decided to go with mindless-yet-controllable creatures - Oddzial Osmy Spaceworms.  A total of 28 would be used in this scenario, broken down into swarms of four Worms.  One swarm would enter the table each turn.

The scenario calls for a long and skinny valley, with the Challengers in a suitable overwatch position.  I set up a 1' x 3' table instead of my usual 2' x 2' setup, and imagined rocky cliff walls on either side of the table.    

The game pretty well ran itself.  I gave the Worms a movement stat of 6", so they could cross the table pretty quickly.  But their aggressive setting meant that they wouldn't fire their weapons (I figured they had the equivalent of sidearms) until getting close, and would actually favor melee combat.  The gun drones had an optimal range of 16" and a max of 32".  They were able to wear down each horde from a distance, and the survivors were mopped up by rifle fire as they crept closer.

At least, that was the theory.  

The first few swarms were completely wiped out.  But the Worms kept appearing, and my early luck started turning into poor dice rolls.  The Worms were able to fire their first shots at the Challengers, and one of the gun crews was Struck.  I had to burn one turn rotating out riflemen at the guns, which allowed even more Worms to close in.

By the tenth game turn, everything had devolved into a brutal melee.  The hilltop was soon covered with blood and slime, and most figures were Winged or Struck after a few rounds of melee.  Seven Challengers were taken out of action, and finally Commander Aiden fell beside them.  But even with its superior numbers, Terminus couldn't break their spirits.  Two Challengers survived the onslaught, killing the last of the vicious Worms.

Aftermath

I started the game with ten Challengers, and only had two still standing at the end.  Fortunately, the post-battle rolls were very kind to me.  Six returned unscathed, a seventh returned with a Winged counter.  The two survivors weren't as lucky, and will also carry their Winged counters into the third scenario.

Commander Aiden regained consciousness, and was quickly overwhelmed by the stench of mutilated Worm carcasses.  His men helped him to his feet so he could assess the situation.  One of his best men, Corporal Gray, had been killed.  Nearly everyone was hurt, but they could make it back to the safety of their ship.  Aiden hoped they would get a few hours to rest and recover - they had certainly earned it. But deep down, he knew Terminus wouldn't give them the chance.

This was a really fun game - kudos to Gavin for providing me with an entertaining evening!

Cheers,

Chris

USE ME Terminus - Planetfall AAR

In the first scenario in the Terminus campaign, the Challengers are ambushed immediately upon landing their shuttle.  While the attack is initially directed against the Challengers themselves, Terminus' true objective is to destroy their ship and leave them vulnerable to further attacks.

Commander Aiden struggled uselessly with his ship's controls.  Terminus clearly had assumed control.  But where were they being taken?  The dense cloud cover finally broke, and he could see a barren desert landscape.  The ship was starting to slow down, and the landing sequence was somehow triggered.  It appeared that Terminus wanted to set them on a high plateau, with an imposing-looking valley just a few hundred meters away.  

The ship had barely come to a stop when the proximity alarm sounded.  Aiden looked at the scanner - they were being approached from each side by three human-sized metallic objects.  There was something else - the unmistakeable signature of light particle weapons.  There was no time to waste.  He ordered his men to grab their carbines as he lowered the ship's entry ramp.

Terminus' first test had begun.


GAME SETUP

Since I prefer smaller games than Gavin Syme wrote, I ended up downsizing the suggested forces a bit.  I also reduced Terminus' victory conditions from three "demo charges" to one.  My Challengers were two five-man teams of Rebel Minis Earthforce Homeguard.  The Challengers' ship was represented by Brigade Models' excellent Athena VTOL.  I deployed a team on each side of the ship.

I figured Terminus' forces should look like something that can be... controlled.  So I went with two teams of three Rebel Minis Scourge Infantry.

SCENARIO RECAP

The battle was short but intense.  I pretty much followed the same sequence each time for the Challengers - Hunker Down with the first action and Shoot with the second.  Terminus responded by shooting and moving ever closer to the ship.

Despite their superior weapons, Terminus' warriors weren't very effective in combat.  They only managed to get a single Winged result from a Challenger in the first three turns, while five of their number were killed.  On the fourth turn, the final Terminus warrior assaulted the Challengers on the ship's starboard side.  It killed the Challenger with its final action of the turn.  The Challengers on the port side, having dispatched their opponents, raced around the front of the ship to help.

The Terminus warrior had a clear path to the ship.  If the Challengers failed to take initiative in the fifth turn, Terminus would destroy their vessel.  So I grabbed the dice I had been using... grey for the Challengers, white for Terminus, and threw them into the ol' Litko dice tower.

The Challengers were able to concentrate all of their fire on the single Terminus warrior.  It was quickly destroyed.  

AFTERMATH

The Challengers had survived the first challenge from Terminus.  But they had lost one of their number, and a second had been Winged during the assault.  I rolled on the USE ME post-battle table.  He would be forced to carry his Winged counter into Scenario Two.

Terminus had promised each challenge would prove more difficult.  After they placed Trooper Jamiss' remains into a cryo-pod, Commander Aiden checked his scanner.  He saw numerous small blips in the adjacent valley, closing in on their position.  And unlike the mechanisms they had just fought, these appeared to have life signs.  There was no time to grieve.  He ordered his men to unpack the drone-mounted rail cannons, and sent his lead scout to find a good firing position.  

"You may just be getting warmed up, Terminus," thought Aiden.  "But you still have no idea who you are facing.  No matter what you have, we'll be ready." 

Cheers,

Chris