Tomorrow's War: Lost & Found

I managed to get down to the local club on Saturday and was lucky enough to get a couple of games of Tomorrow's War in. Both games were really introductory ones for a few club members who had "invested" in the rules but yet to get them to the table.

You'll have to forgive the poor quality of the photos as I managed to forget my real camera and had to rely on the rather ropey one in my blackberry.

The first games was one of the sample scenarios, Lost & Found, from the rule book.  An Interface Fighter flying close support for the USMC has suffered a catastrophic engine failure and the pilot has been forced to bail out over contested territory.  The Marines need to go and rescue him.

For some bizarre reason (possibly because I had played before) I ended up in command of the Democratic People's Republic of Glory (DPRG) forces.  So I decided to stand back and survey the strategic situation whilst allowing my subordinates to experience the realities of war.

The game began slowly with the players getting to grips with the mechanisms.  The USMC advanced slowly through the jungle but eventually had to break cover.  A firefight broke out and after a couple of rounds of firing the USMC fire team came off worst.

It was at this point that the USMC player morale nearly broke with them disputing how they could possibly cover the open ground to the building where the pilot was hiding without getting wiped out.  But they persevered and began to realise that the initial firefight had gone our way in large part due to the exceptional dice rolling of the DPRG player.  More firefights ensued and we took most of the casualties; however, it delayed the USMC enough to gain us a (very) minor victory.

Having learned a lot from the initial game another was set up but with some power armour and a vehicle on each side to test those elements of the rules.  This time I swapped sides and joined the USMC (but not in command this time).  It was a meeting engagement with holding the large building in the centre of the table being the objective.

Power armour proved to be very interesting as the squad on each side decided to face off against one another.  Troop Quality ended up being decisive in that encounter!

The USMC had an APC in support which proved very useful.  The vehicle is one of the soon to be released additions to the excellent Brigade Models range.

 

The game ended with a USMC victory this time.

You can find another account and some much, much better pictures on the Brigade Models blog.

Wargaming Weekend: The Last Stand at Red Ridge

For our final tabletop game of the weekend we decided to revisit Tomorrow's War.  This time we selected the second scenario from the rulebook using Lenin's GZG power armoured troops versus my Denizen Mid Tech troopers.

The scenario took place in Brazil in 2289 with a US operation going a little awry.  US Special Forces were to be dropped into the Brazilian jungle to take out a ballistic missile platform.  Unfortunately the dropship hit a mine and so only six men hit anywhere near the intended drop zone.  Given that there wasn't actually a missile platform (it was actually a mining vehicle - faulty intel) the reception from the Brazilian Home Defence Battalion was somewhat hostile!

The game began with Lenin deploying this six operatives in three groups and me deploying the six Brazilian fire teams on three table edges and their APC support on the fourth.

Unfortunately for the Americans, the operative with the missile launcher (the only ordnance they had which could take out the Brazilian APC was on the wrong side of the ridge!

Faced with troops on all sides the US troops chose to open fire and then withdraw to the rocky ground on top of the ridge which provided some rudimentary cover.

The Brazilians use fire and movement to advance which, along with the heavy covering fire from the APC, put the Americans under real pressure.

The Brazilian numbers eventually began to tell and the US operatives were knocked down one by one. Whilst they were recovering some of the Brazilians (the others thought better of it!) took the chance and rushed them.  Fearing capture the US troops chose to take some of their captors with them.

The repeated APC fire allowed the other Brazilian groups to close with similar results.  In the end the US force was neutralised and three of them taken prisoner.

Wargames Weekend: Tomorrow's War

Our second game of the weekend was a first outing for Osprey and Ambush Alley's Tomorrow's War rules (TW). This gave us both a chance to dust off some Denizen and GZG 25mm SF figures and see how TW differs from Force on Force.

The backstory was that a planet was trying to break away from the Galactic Empire and Imperial troops had been sent to make them change their minds. I took command of the Rebels, who were defending part of one of their space ports with Lenin commanding the Imperial troops. My troops were armed and armoured pretty conventionally whilst Lenin had power armoured troopers with Chameleon camouflage.

The Imperial troops advanced through the light wood towards the perimeter of the landing area and one of their squads spotted a squad of Rebel troops scanning the area from an emplacement. The Imperials immediately opened fire and the Rebels, taken by surprise, were decimated; however, the firing not only alerted another Rebel squad but also gave them a target to aim for. A couple of the Imperials went down to the Rebel heavy weapons and the Imperials ceased fire to avoid giving themselves away. This on and off fire fight continued until the Rebels brought up their reserve squad and concentrated their fire which forced the Imperials to fall back.

On the other flank the second Imperial squad wasn't fairing much better. Their initial attack had less impact and so a similar firefight began with the Rebels eventually getting the upper hand.

With the remaining Imperial troops withdrawing the day went to the Rebels.

Once we got back into the swing of things the rules played out reasonably well. Of course our first issue was working through actions, interruptions and reactions between a set of troops in Chameleon suits with advanced sensors and some hidden opposition!

The key thing we did learn was that we needed more space with 25mm figures (we were only playing on a 6x4' table. Next time we'll be trying it on my new, larger 8x6' table (or if either of us decide to start a new project - doing it in 15mm!)

First Look: Tomorrow's War

Having enjoyed reading Force on Force (FoF) and been in search of a set of rules suitable for my collection of 25mm Denizen and GZG figures I decided to take the plunge and picked up a copy of Tomorrow's War (TW) - the science fiction rules based on FoF.

TW is presented in a very similar way to FoF but at 260 pages is even thicker.  The rules are clearly based on FoF but provide a series of additional concepts to allow to deal with different technology levels, robots and the like.  As with FoF the rules concentrate on the capability of the troops rather than the individual weapon types.

It is clear that these rules are intended to be used for hard science fiction rather than science fantasy with little provision for alien races and the like (although there is some guidance as to how you might add them).  Which suits me as hard SF is my preference.

In addition to the rules themselves, which are organised in almost exactly the same way as FoF, provides a backstory with a mix of Nation states and major Corporations vying for control of various colonies and resources.

Having recently played FoF and enjoyed them I am really looking forward to getting TW to the table.