Game This Week

Well, our intentions this week have been a bit obvious, but still, here is the formal notice - this week we will be playing classic Rogue Trader 40k, "The Battle At The Farm".  The scenario will pit Pedro Cantor and his small band of suriving Crimson Fists against Thrugg Bullneck's Ork patrol.

Order of battle for Thursday night's game...

The game will kick off a mini-campaign of linked Rogue Trader games set in the battle for Rynn's World.  Will Pedro Cantor and his survivors take out the Orks before they raise the alarm? Or will Thrugg, Hruk and the boyz stomp on this final mini-pocket of Crimson Fists en route to victory on Rynn's World?  Come by on Thursday night to find out!

Warhammer 40K 25th Anniversary

This past weekend was the 25th anniversary of the game that I play the most, Warhammer 40,000.

The local Games Workshop store participated in the anniversary, hosting events such as a speed painting contest and an Apocalypse game. It was a good day to catch up with fellow hobbysists, meet new people, talk modeling and gaming, and reminisce.

As reported on several blogs, GW released a limited edition model, the central figure of the original Rogue Trader cover by John Sibbick - a Crimson Fists Space Marine Captain sculpted by Juan Diaz (see above).

Conscript KevinH and myself each pre-ordered the fig. I think that it's a beautiful sculpt, capturing the lines of the classic models. It will make a great objective marker for my games. Kevin also painted a very cool Crimson Fists Terminator test model, a photo of which is located here.

Kevin and I have both been playing 40K since the beginning. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride over the years, what with the various editions of the game and some, shall we say, uninspired game design choices. Does anyone remember the RT-era Vehicle Manual with its clear targeting grid? Talk about stopping the game and bringing you "out of the moment".

Admittedly, the 40K rules mechanism itself is somewhat old-fashioned. IGO-UGO? Rulers and tape measures are good things? Seriously? IIRC, games like Crossfire did away with such impedimentia back in the mid-90's. Still and all, 40K provides a fun, cinematic tabletop experience for gamers throughout the world. This is due partly to the interesting background fluff provided in the game materials and the Black Library fiction. Also, it is due in no small part to the various communities that have grown up and matured over the last quarter century, supporting the 40K hobby in its various incarnations: tournament play (like 40Kegger, Astronomi-con, Mechani-Kon, and AdeptiCon), miniature painting sites (CoolMiniOrNot), online community forums (Bolter & Chainsword, Warseer), numerous 40K related blogs, and a multitude of small, unheralded gaming groups that constitute maybe the bulk of the gaming populace.

Rumour has it that the 6th(!) edition of the 40K rules will be coming out sometime in the summer. Time will tell whether this is a good thing or not. I have actually liked the codices that have come out in the last few years, so here's hoping for some more balanced armies and clean rules.

Apocalypse Game

As I indicated above, MarkG, the manager of the local GW store, had organized an Apocalypse game. There's no real balance to such an affair, what with the appearance of super-heavy vehicles and gargantuan creatures. The theme of the day's scrap was "Good" versus "Evil", with a 1500-point limit per participant. Accordingly, I brought my modified 1000-point 40Kegger list, with the addition of a Scorpion Super-Heavy Grav Tank.



The Scorpion was proxied by my old Armorcast Tempest. There's no longer any rules for the Tempest, which is a close fit to the Scorpion, since both are armed with turreted TL-Pulsars.



The factions that played were as follows:
- Good = Blood Angels, Eldar, Imperial Guard, and Space Wolves
- Evil = Chaos Space Marines, Orks, more Orks, and Tyranids

It was an objective game on a 6' x 12' table, with objectives located as follows:
- 2 in the southwest third
- 1 in the northwest third
- 2 in the middle third
- 1 in the southeast third

Both sides bid the maximum time, to try and go second. The Good side lost the resulting tiebreaker die roll and set up first, deploying about half our forces in a shallow line from west to east, both flanks anchored with pairs of Blood Angels Dreadnoughts, with heavy weapons teams and two super-heavy tanks in the southeast third of the table, along with the Wraithlord, some Marine characters, and a Predator tank. We also spread out lots of barbed wire and minefields throughout No-Man's Land, to try and channel the enemy infantry.

The photo below is taken from the western table edge, looking east.



The forces to the southeast:



Three loaded IG Valkyries, a SW Land Raider full of troops, BA Terminators, and the bulk of the Eldar skimmers were held in strategic reserve.

The Evil side set up, from west to east, some Chaos Marines in the bunker and in the ruined buildings, a big Ork mob of Kans led by a Stompa, and a Heirophant Bio-Titan. A couple of Tyranid Zoenthropes anchored each end of the line. Various Daemons, Chaos Marines, the Doom of Malantai, and a 120+ strong Green Tide of Orks were left in reserve.



The Heirophant is a 10-wound, Toughness 9 monster that's larger than a building. Yikes!



The Good side fired at the Heirophant and the Stompa, infliting 1 wound and a drive hit, respectively.

The Evil side made a general advance, killing the Wraithlord with fire.

Hilariously, the Edmonton GW store telephoned in a random orbital strike onto the center of the table, inflicting some damage on the Kans. Below, Mark takes a photo commemorating the strike. The Winnipeg store subsequently returned the favour...



Some Daemons had teleported within the southeast corner. They were gunned down by close range firepower and a Rune Priest's psychic ability. The two Zoenthropes also fell to Marine missile launchers.





A dying Daemon managed to drop a Vortex Grenade, which stayed on the table to cause havoc. It was scary, but didn't end up doing anything of significance.



The Blood Angels Terminators teleported in the middle of the cluster of buildings in the northwest, setting up a next turn charge against the Chaos troops holding an objective.

In the centre, the Stompa was immobilized by the Scorpion, halting the advance of the Kans if they wanted to stay inside its Force Field.

To the far west, the platoon of infantry mounted in three Valkyries can be seen to have arrived onto the table, trying to control the westernmost objective.



In response, the Doom of Malantai deep struck and the Ork Green Tide used a Flank March to come in on the whole western half of the table, destroying some Guardsmen, some Marines, a Rhino, and a couple of Dreadnoughts. Things were starting to look bad for the side of Good.

That's a lot of Orks...



To the east, the bug Bio-Titan kept moving, unperturbed by the volume of fire directed at it.



Concentrated Evil fire ended up immobilizing the Scorpion and blowing off its main guns.

More Edmonton hijinks ensued, as another strike damaged the Guard's Stormlord Super-Heavy.



The rest of the Good reserves were finally committed, with three of the Eldar skimmers coming on in the southeast, taking control of the objective there, as a BA Dreadnought finished off a small squad of flank-marching Chaos Marines. To the west, the Warp Hunter and Fire Dragons supported an assault by the Space Wolves from their Land Raider.

The Doom of Malantai was killed by the Dragons, the Terminators cleaned out the buildings to the northwest, and a LOT of casualties were inflicted on the Green Tide (the Warp Hunter alone killed 17 Orks with an Aether Rift). That STILL left over 70 Orks in the mob...

...who proceeded to kill off the Space Wolves assault squad, pull the gun off the Warp Hunter, and wipe out the Fire Dragons, leaving the Autarch to yell defiance from the wreckage of her destoyed Wave Serpent. Nearby, some allied Blood Angels wish her "good luck".



The game had started at 1:30 PM; time was called at 5PM.

Surprisingly, the Evil side's steady advance was not enough; they had lost control of the one objective they held in the northwest. In the southwest, the objective nearest the Ork Green Tide was contested by Good forces. The Valkyrie-borne Imperial Guard controlled an objective to the far west.



In the southeast, despite taking a lot of hits from the Bio-Titan, Good forces managed to retain control of another objective.



Final Score: Good = 2 objectives, Evil = 0

All in all, it was a fun game, only slowed down by the enormous close combat in the southwest half of the table. I also liked the random orbital artillery strikes. Those were something no-one could really plan for, adding a certain fog of war to the affair.

Some Random Thoughts

When 40K first came out, I would have never guessed at its present level of popularity. To me it was just another game for me and my friends to play, like the classic versions of Traveller or Dungeons & Dragons. (Yes, I am that old.)

The current state of 40K is interesting. It is the most played game GW makes. GW is the dominant company in the miniature wargaming hobby. You can generally find an opponent to play in many major centres in the world. However, 40K and GW have competitors for our hard earned dollars. Companies like Privateer Press and Battlefront Miniatures make competing miniatures games that are well-supported by their own communities. Various homebrew rules are still written and played, since it is in the nature of a lot of gamers to tinker, and the possibilities of miniatures gaming are many and varied.

GW's business, and mini-gaming in general, is dwarfed by more generally accepted activities like computer console gaming. Despite its recent success, mini-gaming is still a relatively niche pastime. It will be interesting to watch the future changes in both GW and 40K.

40K: Astronomi-con Prep

Yesterday I had the pleasure of gaming with Harry at Imagine Games and Hobbies. Both he and I are scheduled to play at the Astronomi-con Winnipeg 2012 40K tournament next month, so I decided to take my latest Eldar list out for a spin.

Astronomi-con Winnipeg is happening much earlier this year (March 31 - April 1); it usually runs in June or July. However, Astro Dallas is being held this weekend down in Texas, and I guess scheduling the Vancouver and Toronto events is an issue. I had actually started work on my recently purchased Grey Knight Paladin models, intending to paint them up as a strike force of Crimson Fists Librarians. However, due to timing it looks like I will be going instead with a variation of my recent 40Kegger Eldar Swordwind list:

Eldar Roster - The Return of Ancient Days

HQ: Autarch (1#, 93 pts)
1 Autarch, 93 pts = (base cost 70 + Banshee Mask 3 + Power Weapon 10 + Fusion Gun 10)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 185 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, 60 pts = 5 * 12
1 Wave Serpent, 125 pts = (base cost 90 + Spirit Stones 10) + TL Scatter Lasers 25

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 185 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, 60 pts = 5 * 12
1 Wave Serpent, 125 pts = (base cost 90 + Spirit Stones 10) + TL Scatter Lasers 25

Elite: Fire Dragons (6#, 190 pts)
5 Fire Dragons, 80 pts = 5 * 16
1 Wave Serpent, 110 pts = (base cost 90 + Spirit Stones 10) + TL Shuriken Cannons 10

Elite: Fire Dragons (6#, 200 pts)
5 Fire Dragons, 80 pts = 5 * 16
1 Wave Serpent, 120 pts = (base cost 90 + Spirit Stones 10) + Shuriken Cannon 10 + TL Shuriken Cannons 10

Fast Attack: Hornet (IA) (1#, 115 pts)
1 Hornet (IA), 115 pts = (base cost 65) + Spirit Stones x1 10 + Scatter Laser x1 10 + Pulse Laser x1 30

Fast Attack: Hornet (IA) (1#, 115 pts)
1 Hornet (IA), 115 pts = (base cost 65) + Spirit Stones x1 10 + Scatter Laser x1 10 + Pulse Laser x1 30

Fast Attack: Warp Spiders (5#, 137 pts)
4 Warp Spiders, 88 pts = 4 * 22
1 Warp Spider Exarch, 49 pts = (base cost 34 + Powerblades 10 + Death Spinner x2 5)

Heavy Support: Warp Hunter (IA) (1#, 135 pts)
1 Warp Hunter (IA), 135 pts = (base cost 125 + Spirit Stones 10)

Heavy Support: Wraithlord (1#, 140 pts)
1 Wraithlord, 140 pts = (base cost 90 + Wraithsword 10) + Bright Lance 40

Total Roster Cost: 1495 Points

The list can reserve itself, and has a lot of speed and firepower of various kinds. The Avenger Serpents have longer ranged guns, to give support to the Fire Dragon's tanks. All vehicles have Spirit Stones, to keep them moving. No psychic defense, relying on firepower and tank armour.

Harry came out with a Blood Angels list. Low model count, but very high quality troops:

Blood Angels 2nd Company

HQ: Space Marine Captain, with Plasma Pistol and Lightning Claw

Troops: Tactical Squad, 10 Marines with Missile Launcher, Flamer, and a Sgt., riding in a Rhino APC with Extra Armour

Elite: Death Company, 7 Marines with Power Fist, Thunder Hammer, and two Fusion Pistols

Elite: Terminator Squad, 5 Marines, 4 with Lightning Claws, and a Sgt. with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

Fast Attack: Predator Baal tank with various heavy and super heavy flamethrowers, and with Extra Armour

Heavy Support: Land Raider Crusader

Heavy Support: Devastator Squad, 6 Marines, with four Plasma Cannons, riding in a Razorback armed with TL Assault Cannon

The table was set up with some of the nice, homemade terrain available at Imagine, including a ruined cathedral in the centre of the board.

We played one of the basic scenarios, Seize Ground, using Dawn of War deployment. We rolled again and and placed three objectives , respectively, in the centre of the cathedral (a Ghostwarrior model), in the northwest table quarter (an Eldar Pathfinder in a foxhole) and the southeast table quarter (a Sister of Battle).

Harry won the roll for choice, and decided to take first move and deploy in the northern table half; he had easier access to the cathedral, where he could set up a strong defensive position. This was an interesting choice, since I prefer to move second in an objective-based scenario such as this.

Below, looking towards the southwest, can be seen the initial Blood Angels deployment. Harry set up, from east to west (left to right), the Rhino, the Captain attached to the dismounted Tactical Squad, and the Land Raider Crusader carrying the Death Company.



The Tactical Squad moved onto the central objective. The Razorback carrying the Devastator Squad drove on from the north table edge in the first turn. The Terminators and the Predator tank were kept in reserve.

In the bottom of the first turn, the Eldar brought on everything except the Warp Spiders, who were kept in reserve to deep strike. I jammed a Fire Dragon Wave Serpent into the face of the Land Raider, to keep it busy in the southwest table quarter, where there were no objectives. The Wraithlord moved up in support of those Fire Dragons. The Warp Hunter moved up to fire into the cathedral. To the east came the two Dire Avenger Wave Serpents and the Hornets. The second Fire Dragon Serpent, also carrying the Autarch, moved flat out just to the east of the cathedral.

Long range fire from the Wave Serpents and a Hornet immobilized and blew the turret off of the Razorback, seen near the northern table edge below.



The Warp Hunter unleashed an Aether Rift, killing off seven members of the Tactical Squad with one shot. Since the Tactical Squad was the Blood Angels' only scoring unit, things were already starting to look bad for the Adeptes Astartes...



The Devastator Squad dismbarked behind some cover near the northern table edge. The Death Company disembarked from the Land Raider. Unseen to the east, the Predator Outflanked near a Hornet on the eastern table edge.



Space Marine fire and a hot Close Combat phase saw the first Fire Dragon Wave Serpent blown up. To add insult to injury, the surviving Dragons were Pinned in the wreckage of their vehicle.



The second Fire Dragon squad moved up to the Predator and disembarked, leaving the Autarch inside under tank armour. The other Eldar vehicles moved west.

Eldar fire blew up both the Predator and the Rhino, both of whose wreckage is represented by the large blast markers below.



Meanwhile, the Warp Spiders had teleported near the Devastator Squad, killing half of them with their fire.



The Warp Hunter and the Wraithlord had previously managed to kill most of the Death Company. However, the survivors were Fearless and were able to subsequently charge into the Pinned Fire Dragons.

The Land Raider Stunned the Warp Hunter; its Spirit Stones reduced the effect to Shaken, so it subsequently flew away behind the cathedral to gain cover.

The surviving Devastators killed two of the Warp Spiders, whose morale managed to hold.



To the east, the Terminator Squad teleported beside the easternmost objective, contesting it.



In the north, the Warp Spiders shot up the Devastators some more, then charged into them, tying them up so they could not use their heavy weapons. The Wraithlord charged the Land Raider. Though the Land Raider had moved, the Wraithlord's sword granted it re-rolls to hit, allowing the Wraithlord to slice up the Space Marine tank into chunks of plasteel.



A Dire Avenger Wave Serpent moved up to the eastermost objective, hoping to eventually control it. The Autarch disembarked and rejoined the Fire Dragons. Combined Eldar fire killed off most of the Terminators.



The Autarch did not charge, offering herself and her unit up as bait for the Terminators; if the Terminators charged, they would move away from the objective and no longer contest it. The Terminators were not armed with firearms, and thus could not just stand still in the face of six Eldar fusion guns. So, they accepted the Autarch's implicit challenge and charged. However, the Terminators were wiped out in the ensuing close combat, due to some lucky Eldar die rolls.



A lone Death Company survivor managed to wipe out the other Fire Dragon squad, and moved heroically towards the Wraithlord, which was already damaged by previous Marine fire. Armed with a Thunder Hammer, the Marine had an even chance of destroying the towering Eldar construct.



The Wraithlord failed to kill the Marine with its fire, so it charged into the wreckage to come to grips. In an epic contest, the Death Company veteran succumbed to the Wraithlord's 14-foot-long sword.



In the centre, the combined firepower of several Eldar tanks wiped out the Tactical Squad, leaving only the wounded Space Marine Captain to contest the central objective.



To the north, the second Dire Avenger tank moved flat out to within one move of the northeastern objective. The Warp Spiders managed to wipe out the Devastators in close combat.

By this point, at the bottom of the fourth turn, the only Blood Angel models left on the table were the Space Marine Captain and the immbolized, weaponless Razorback. The Eldar controlled one objective, and were about to take control of another, so we called the game.



Result: Eldar Win

We sat and discussed the game afterward. The Eldar had gained an advantage in the first turn, by reducing the Tactical Squad to less than half strength. From that point on, the Blood Angels game plan changed, to one of trying to prevent the Eldar victory. The Warp Hunter's Aether Rift ability proved crucial, since it ignored cover; in fact, during the game the Warp Hunter never fired its weapon as a standard large blast marker, only as a template weapon.

In retrospect, the Blood Angels might have tried to deploy their reserves into the northwest table quarter, to contest that objective and to help the Tactical Squad control the centre. As it was, the Eldar had the speed to concentrate their forces and defeat the scattered Blood Angels units in succession.

Many thanks to Harry for a fun game; I do not often get to play against Blood Angels players. Thanks also to Wendy at Imagine, for allowing us to play on their table and with their terrain.

Game This Week - FUBAR 6mm Sci-Fi

We were going to attempt this a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately some unforseen real life issues screwed up plans. The plans have been re-loaded, and this week we will be playing FUBAR,  using 6mm figures to skirmish in sci-fi.

As the unfortunate colonists of Colony 24601 struggle with Ork attacks, the Orks themselves are finally ready to complete their job, delivering some unspecified parts stolen from a Binary Petroleum facility to parties unknown.  They have bloodied the noses of the mechanized reservists who had been sent to pursue them. The meeting to deliver the goods and get the cash (or teeth or hacked FutureNetFlix accounts or whatever) is all set up. What could possibly go wrong?

Hope to see you tonight!

Game This Week - Tomorrow's War

Tonight we go for round two vs. Tomorrow's War!

Well, our first go-round was a little rough, but we are not deterred, so this week we will be giving "Tomorrow's War", the sci-fi skirmish rules from Ambush Alley Games/Osprey, another try. I have heaped a fair amount of ranting/complaints on the rules, but conscript Mike A has doggedly suggested that the rules are actually much clearer when you read "Force On Force", the modern skirmish game from Ambush Alley, which uses the identical core system. 

I borrowed a copy of "Force On Force" from Mike A, and I think he's right.  Some things are still fuzzy, but the basics are much clearer in "Force On Force".  Armed with this (still possibly delusional) new understanding, I think we will have a much better time of it.  Or we won't, but it's still fun to push figures around!

Tonight's scenario will pit the sinister, menacing forces of Gün Schwarm against the sinister, menacing forces of FuturKom.  On the world of Dnieper VII, the FuturKom's 356th Guards Army has launched a major offensive and is sweeping all resistance ahead of it.  The 210th Schwarm Korps is trying to dent the advancing Kommulists where it can while falling back toward a new defensive line.  The spearheads of the 356th Guards have had to deal with spoiling attacks from mobile Gün units, the odd mob of "TruKom" rebels, and the occasional air strike by the LuftSchwarm.

One such Kom spearhead, stopped near an abandoned village, was the victim of a particularly hard-hitting air strike.  Their APCs and T-340s have been knocked out, and the troops scattered. The local Güns have spotted this confusion, and have moved in for a quick counterattack, hoping to finish off the column and grab some valuable intelligence from a T-640 that appears to been knocked out. Will the Güns get the job done? Will the Kom motor fuzileers rally in time to see them off? Will TruKom rebels try and join the fun? Lock and load on Dnieper VII!

Hope to see you tonight!

Game Tonight - Rogue Trader

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the hous(es), many creatures were stirring, as Orks had overrun the planet.  In the heavy fighting, the Imperial Warhound class titan Revenge of Rudolphus, known affentionately as "The Red Nose", was destroyed by Ork Stompa mobs.  It seems, however, that the crew survived, bailing out from the crew compartment while the Titan went down, and now they are hiding in some ruins at the edge of an urban sector.  The crew sent a single distress signal on the way out, hoping Imperial forces would detect it, and then went silent, for fear of attracting too much Ork attention.

The Ork Warlord, Snagrod the Arch-Arsonist, is furious - meaning, more furious than he usually is. The victory is not complete without the heads of the titan's crew.  Snagrod rolls out personally with his lads to find these suriving humies and get them for his "collection", ready to finish the job the over-sized mek toys could not.  It's the holidays, after all, and the heads of the Titan crew would make great decorations.

Meanwhile, from the Imperial perspective, Titan crews are precious assets - way more important than any other ground-troop types. That means other, less important, lives, such as those of the ground troops, are to be risked in order to save them!

Will the Imperial forces find and resecue the Titan Crew in time for Christmas (where the crew will be ruthlessly interrogated to find out how it was they could have lost their precious machine)?  Or will the Ork Warlord get another set of "decorations" for his, er, "tree"?  We'll find out tonight!

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Tonight we will ring in the holidays with a game of Warhammer 40k, using the classic "Rogue Trader" rules.  Of course, I guess they won't be completely "classic", in that we will play with some amendments, including:

• Vehicle rules - we will use the vehicles rules of the current edition of 40k for the vehicles, with combat speed, crew shaken etc.  So no worrying about the turn radius, acceleration etc.  Although we'll still have a little twist to keep the power fields around!
• Infantry armour - we'll up the armour a little bit, so power armour saves on a 3+ instead of a 4+, and flak armour saves on a 5+ instead of a 6+, etc.  Not to worry - lots of saving throw modifiers abound, so everything will be killed at a rapid pace, I'm sure.
• Templates - we will use the templates from the current edition, as common sense dictates, as opposed to worrying about a half-inch blast radius for this weapon, a one-and-a-half inch for that one, etc. etc.
• Deviation/Area Fire - we will use the updated rules from pg. 89 of the 40k Compendium, where deviation of area fire weapons is related to the model's ballistic skill, and not the size of the template.
• Terrain - we'll be sure to have "true line of sight".....NOT.

So come on out tonight to Dallas' place and hearken back to the time when Warhammer 40k was a fun skirmish game!

Tomorrow's War - Today's Headache

Cover of "Tomorrow's War" - new skirmish rules that are generating a ton of buzz

A couple months ago, TMP member "Osprey Joe" kindly offered to send us a review copy of Osprey's hot new SF skirmish ruleset, "Tomorrow's War".  As a Scotsman and a Winnipegger (our motto: "if it's free, it's for me") I could not help but take him up on this generous offer.  The book drop-shipped and arrived directly from Amazon, in good condition except for a razor-cut on the cover near the spine.  Not sure how that happened but it doesn't really affect the condition of the book.

Wanting to familiarize myself with the rules and host a game in a timely fashion, I read a bit of the book each night in bed before going to sleep.  Certainly a pleasant way to pass a few minutes at the end of the day - the book is beautifully designed, laid out and executed. The paper is glossy and heavy, the binding feels like quality, and the pictures are pretty. There is tons of background included, which some readers will enjoy, but to me is of marginal relevance as we use our own models and factions in our SF games.

Unfortunately the book worked rather better as a sleep aid than I had expected. As I said, I'm not too interested in the "TW Universe" (especially as there aren't model ranges specific to the factions) and I found the rules to be rather... dense as well.  And keep in mind I spend my days reading stuff like this. There are just a lot of fundamental rules points where questions still exist. For example: what happens when there are no active models in a unit (i.e. they are all "tipped over" potential casualties) and no First Aid check can be made at the start of the next turn?  Does the unit disappear, or just stay tipped over? (we think they remain on the table). Do "tipped over" models contribute to a unit's armour saving rolls when they are shot at? Can hits be allocated to wounded or tipped over models before active models? And my favourite, when reaction fire causes models in a moving unit to be tipped over, do these tipped over models "follow" the rest of the unit as they complete their movement? (Unbelievably to me, this basic question regarding a situation that will happen in virtually every game was answered on TMP by the designer with a "do it whichever way you like, in agreement with your opponent")

In any event, we were still eager to give the rules a go so we set up the "Rescue the Downed Pilot" scenario from page 96 of the rulebook.

An overhead view of the table - the USMC faction can be seen advancing through the open on the right side of the pitcure, while the DPRG squads wait in ambush

The game pitted three teams of d8-quality USMC rockstars (repped by Greg's IG Kasrkin Stormtroopers) against four teams of somewhat less rockstar-ish d6-quality DPRG (my Pig Iron Kolony militia), waiting in ambush.

The sturdy conscripts of Futurkom played the part of the DPRG in the game

The game started with USMC having the Initiative and needing to retrieve the pilot from the building near the centre of the table. I was thinking that the mission should be cake from the DPRG perspective as we were set up in ambush... however our effective "ambush range" was only 12 inches and the USMC retrieval lanes were mostly outside this zone of death.

Greg B's GW Kasrkin Models stood in for the USMC side in the scenario

The downed pilot - always a source of trouble for the REAL fighting troops...

However, as always, the best laid plans... etc. etc. As the USMC advanced towards their objective I succumbed to the temptation to get "trigger happy" and light up the attackers... which didn't go so well.
My d6 firepower rolls were no match for Greg's hot-rolling Reaction Fire with d8s.

The Futurkom grunts wait in ambush...

USMC troops wait on Overwatch in the woods

The game turned into a bit of a gong show as, turn by turn, my squads were whittled down by accurate USMC fire. Towards the end I tried to move some teams into the building with the pilot to induce some close combat with the USMC (faint hope I know) but the intrepid Kommers were lit up before they knew what had hit them.

The Futurkommers try and visit with the downed pilot...

What happens in "Tomorrow's War" when one side has a better troop quality...

It was all over by about Turn 6 as all of my troops were tipped over with no active models left to make First Aid checks.  I suppose technically we might have declared a "Thorpian Moral Victory" since the USMC couldn't have retrieved the pilot and made it back to their table edge by the end of turn 8... but it hardly seems like much of a "victory" when you have no models left to fight with.

We set up the models again and the DPRG tried a more patient tactic, which worked somewhat better at first, lighting up a USMC team advancing in the open, working some angles to try and cover the objective, and mostly JUST NOT MOVING. We didn't finish the second run through but I suspect it probably would have finished similarly to the first, albeit with more USMC casualties.

Summing up? Tomorrow's War has some great points - turn interruption and Reactions are very cool.  However it's easy to get mixed up as to who's got Initiative, who's reacted, and who can react, as well as the plethora of markers required to denote wound status and other things. The rulebook desperately needs some editing and organization. It's a beautiful book but some more attention to detail is warranted. For example, in the sample scenario we played, the terrain includes a stream and small lake. Referring to the "terrain effects" section in the book (also not easy to find), we see a statement to the effect that "the scenario will specify the game effects of the water feature on movement". Guess what?  It didn't, so we had to agree on that ourselves. Not a big deal in this case, but if the scenario was designed with a specific water effect in mind, it was a well-guarded secret. Likewise the maps for the scenarios - the text listed table sizes as anything from 3x3 to 6x4, but the maps all show 4x4 layouts!

These are minor niggles, of course, next to the Big Unanswered Questions in the rulebook (like "what happens to tipped over figures?") but it bespeaks what many have complained about of late - an emphasis on rulebook form over function.  There are a ton of beautiful looking rulebooks out nowadays and aesthetic appeal in game books is no longer the exclusive realm of Games Workshop. But I get the feeling with TW that more emphasis was placed on the physical product than on the guts of the thing - cogently laid out rules that are lucid and easy to find. The lack of a quick play sheet, for example, is inexcusable, especially when considering the number of pages devoted to background fluff. We'll certainly try TW again but we are increasingly skeptical of the "love bombs" (thanks Greg) for TW being dropped in carpet-fashion all over the web. Grade: B-.

Dallas

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Dallas has summed things up very well.  My two cents - the book looks great, but was written as though you already knew the rules.  At the end of the day, I think there is a great set of rules in there somewhere.  It was neat to play a game knowing, for instance, that you could cover the advance of your own troops, and it made you plot out different approach paths etc. 

But the rulebook itself is inexecusably baffling and incomplete - the lack of clear information on what happens to a casualty is the most galling example, but in general, the rules the read out like you should already just know them.  Do you still exchange fire when you are fired at while on the move? How many times can regular units react?  What is the difference between ambush and overwatch? The book implies the the answers are obvious. Sorry - they're not. 

I really want to play TW again - so at that basic level, I would say the rules are a success.  But to do that, we'll have to pile through all sorts of forums etc just to ascertain the basic mechanics of how the game is supposed to work.  I look forward to an edition of these rules that contains the rules.

Greg

Battle Report - FUBAR - Bloody Nose For Task Force Bravo

Yesterday I visited with fellow Conscript Dave V and he was kind enough to run through another FUBAR game, further advancing the story of "Task Force Bravo".  Unfortunately for the intrepid reservists, it was a rough outing!

Orks hold out while the Mek works on the stalled battlewagon

Captain Hawkins was in pursuit of Ork mercenaries who had stolen components from a Binary Petroleum "Technical Site" on Colony 24601.  The Orks had been on the move for several days, stopping often. The Task Force finally found a pattern to the movement, and when they stopped again at an abandonded fringer settlement, the Task Force moved in to try and recapture the stolen goods.

Task Force Bravo rumbles toward the objective, confident the big Mammoth tanks will provide good cover

Dave V took the Ork side, and I played the Task Force side.  The Orks had stopped in the abandoned settlement, and were experiencing technical difficulties.  There was only a small guard force with the stranded battlewagon.  The Ork Mercenary Captain somehow got wind that the Task Force was coming, and had bottled off to get some reinforcements...would the Task Force overwhelm the Orks, or would they manage to get the clunky battlewagon moving, and escape with their stolen loot once again?

Orks under fire from heavy tanks. Reservists: "Hey, this is great!"

Unlike the last battle, which had more infantry, this was mostly a tank battle.  Dave would roll each turn to see if he could get the battlewagon started, and to see if his reinforcements showed.  The Pax Arcadian side had both of its big, bad "Mammoth"-class tanks out for the party, together with the four "Cruiser" tanks, and two APCs with two squads of troops.

Oh no! Ork reinforcements!

The Ork holding force consisted of an AT gun, a solitary Gunwagon, two squads of infantry and some battlewagons.  The help coming, however, was very impressive - four more Gunwagons, and a Gunfortress!

Ork Gunfortress approaches. Reservists: "WTF?"

The Task Force made good initial progress, rolling up to the village and pounding the Ork defenders.  I got over-confident, and I stopped moving forward, opting instead for "aimed fire" attempts.  This really smashed up the Orks, but it meant that Dave's reinforcements could easily block for the "hot potatoe(s)" in the battlewagon.

No wonder the Orks were so confident...

When the Ork reinforcements arrived, the battle turned, and the Cruiser tanks started to get immobilized and have their weapons knocked out.  I had some very poor saving throws, while Dave concentrated his fire very well, and he managed to knock out one of the big Mammoths!

Task Force under fire as reinforcments appear for the Orks.  Operation is officially "much less fun": reservists.

The other Mammoth started to rip into the Ork vehicles - its huge main gun ripped through the Ork armour - but in the end, the battlewagon made another escape!

The Mammoth tanks hammered away, but couldn't make the breakthrough.

The infantry tried their luck from the flanks - these fellows took out an AT gun, but took heavy fire from the village, while the APCs weapons were knocked out by Ork shooting.

The Task Force gave a good account of themsevles - there were a lot of burning Ork vehicles by the end of the game.  But it was a rough outing, with three Cruiser tanks and one Mammoth tank badly shot up.  Where did these extra Ork tanks come from? Who is footing the bill for these mercenaries? And what has got the Ork Mercs so invested in this that they would use a Gunfortress? Most of all - who told the Orks the Task Force was coming?

A burning Mammoth tank! Not a good omen for the Task Force...

These infantry approached from the flank, but burning and immobilized tanks can't provide much cover fire, so they held back....

With heavy damage to vehicles, the Task Force will have to lie low and make repairs.  Hawkins makes a report of the incident to his superiors - will they ignore him? Send reinforcements? What will BP make of all of this?  Stay tuned...


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Another very entertaining FUBAR game.  I took my eye off the ball, and in the end paid the price - the Pax Arcadia tanks shot up a lot of Ork stuff, but the prize got away. 

Building on the lessons of the first game, I improved the activation scores for both sides, and the game had a much, much better flow to it.   The challenge in this game was book-keeping - which tank had a knocked out MG, vs. knocked main gun, vs. immobilized but still firing etc. was a bit of a challenge.

Thanks to Dave V for hosting and for playing - and stay tuned for further adventures of Task Force Bravo!