Who Is Supporting Whom?
© Steve Jackson Games
Took longer to get to this replay than I wanted, but that gave me time to do a couple more drafts of my QRS and fine-tune a few decisions about what I was looking for in this playtest. The BLUF is that I wanted to stay as faithful to the fluff and key mechanics as possible, while giving more room for maneuver in the same battlespace - the original game board. Ergo, changes are:
- Scale changed to 20 sec turn, 50m hex [point], 1Movement Point=9kph
[originally 10sec, 37.5m, 1MP=16kph]. No change to elevation levels @2m each.
- The range bands of Fire penalties went from every 10 to every 5 hexes.
- The Combat Results Table [CRT] was made slightly less lethal, about the equivalent of a "-1" to Firing on the 2d6 to resolve.
- Bomb Drones were made a bit more powerful against hard cover and Units. They only hit about as hard as a Holy Hand Grenade and and they are supposed to be mini-nukes!
- The Heavy Weapon rules were fine-tuned a bit. One critical issue is that in the Rules As Written [RAW] you can only operate a HW with an undamaged suit. This makes their use a bit fragile and also to tactics where the HW is surrounded by suits to replace any damaged wielder. I made it so that a 'suit could take a full hit of damage but still Fire, and after that could not.
- I admit to streamlining the Jumping/flying rules a bit... at least I think I did. I may just have clarified the original intent which was a bit hazy on the edges.
The net effect is that one can fight _across_ the battlespace with some maneuver room, instead of being obligated to fight up/down the length over the same valley and be cramped for maneuvering end-to-end. It has a secondary effect of needing units to be a bit closer together for mutual support, but there's still plenty of ways to range the board, with the right tactic and weapon. It's just not quite as lethal.
The scenario I made up was an aggressive patrol to clear out some bunkers along the main Line of Resistance. Red Paneuropean force has been detailed to secure the valley to deny enemy movements - three bunkers are the key.
The interestingly pink/mauve board is below, and the center Bunker 2 [white counter] is on a small level 2 hill in the valley which runs NE / SW. The supporting bunker 3 to NE is not only on a higher level 3 hill but overlooks the valley running SE from it. To the far left is bunker 1 on a level 6 hill. Out in front a Ranger 'suit is maintaining a listening post in a ruined building [hard cover].
I randomly placed two counters in each bunker - 5 Standard 'suits and one HW. Also, one of the bunkers [secretly] is the area Command Post, and the CP functions like a Command Suit until destroyed, allowing a re-roll of one Morale Check per Turn.
Closeup of board left:
Closeup of board right:
Encroaching into the Battlespace is the Combine patrol - three Assault and one Command 'suit, and two Standard 'suits each with a HW. Also, one of each drone type - Recon, Attack and Bomb [OK...basically, I just wanted to try them all out!].
So, the 'suits are even in number, but black has a small edge in quality, one additional HW and the three drones.
Below, Combine Turn 1 starts as a Recon Drone enters that Targets the Ranger suit in the ruined building. Ranger doesn't have an effective shot against it due to its strong ECM value. Next, a Standard 'suit with a Heavy Weapon enters, survives Reaction Fire [RF] from the Ranger, then takes a moving shot on him, damaging him for a level.
Combine Turn 1 continues, and the rest of the force enters, fanning out to left in the woods. To right, in the center woods, the Bomb and Attack Drone's advance in cover. They have the ECM to take care of themselves as well as threaten any Paneuro suits that decide to maneuver against the Combine.
On Combine 2 the HW recovers a bit Shaken then rolls boxcars to wipe out the Ranger. Touche!
The rest of the force has some hot dice and manages to Shock all the 'suits in Bunkers 1 & 2 - turns out 1 has the suit with HW.
The situation in the central woods - Drones sneak up on Shocked Paneuro defenders...caught buttering their baguettes! With limited capability to exploit the situation, only the Drones are an option.
The Bomb Drone advances out of the wood and along the edge...Paneuro has no means to interdict its advance...
...closer it creeps...out of the Line of Sight of the supporting bunker due to the woods and the 2 level hill, it can't be stopped by Reaction Fire.
...But fortune does favor the Paneuros in one respect - it's movement doesn't allow it to plant itself atop the bunker and instantly destroy everything! Instead, it gets close and must Detonate there...
with my tweaks, the Bunker is destroyed on a '2', but both 'suits survive on 5s! Unbelievable! They would have been dead on a 1-4...
The situation at the start of Paneuro Turn 2 - not very promising! 1 dead, 3 Shocked, only 2 'suits in operation, this could be the end!
But hey, let's hear it for hot dice! They don't just fall to the Combine...the Paneuro HW man Fully Recovers on a '5' and then rolls an '11' against the Command Suit, inflicting D3 and pretty much trashing the team's Commander!
In the Panic Morale Phase, the D3 suit dashes for closest cover [the Bunker being destroyed] and hides in the woods.
With things looking rough at both bunkers, I ponder the desirability of Maneuering the two Standard Suits in the right-most Bunker out and towards the woods to their South. It would look like the below. However, a quick calculation reveals that between the IF of the HW and the Attack Drone maneuvering against them, they will not likely be able to have a significant impact before getting shot up badly enough that they are useless. The Bunker is the key to their defense!
As the Combine rolls into the end of their first minute, the Paneuro force is at 50% effectiveness! One additional D3 suit is in the woods, and can Target.
Combine Turn 3. The Recon and Attack Drones light up almost all the remaining Paneuro force, and the Combine kills the Shocked Standard Suit. Paneuro is down to three 'suits capable of continuing the fight. Combine losses are negligible.
Paneuro Turn 3. The Panicked 'suit in the woods fully Recovers! Big deal, he's badly damaged...
Paneuro Turn 3. Far supporting Bunker 3 Targets a Combine Assault Suit - the HW in Bunker #1 vaporizes him - Damn! Nothing else of note occurs.
Checking the Math, on Combine Turn 4, the withdraw from DF of Bunker #1, which has a Heavy Weapon.
...it's time for Combine to beat down Bunker #3 with long range HW fire. Still, they Maneuver an Attack Drone closer, but with a faithful Combine symbol appearing, nothing is gained against the Drone from Bunker #3.
On Paneuro Turn 4, the HW 'suit fires on a HW wielding Standard Suit, but despite good odds, blows both Fires thanks to handy Combine symbol '1s'!!
Enough is enough! says the [damaged] Combine Command suit! They rush the Panueuro Bunker #1 on Turn 5 with all they have - he can't Fire at everyone, right??
Paneuro Turn 5. They max their Targeting capacity and shoot what else they have. They manage to trash a Standard 'suit wielding a HW!
Combine Turn 6. They rush Bunker #1 and dogpile it, severely damaging the 'suit to the point where the HW can't be used.
Still, on Paneuro #6, the damaged 'suit manages to Shock an Assault 'suit!
The Combine work to return Assault 'suits to man the Heavy Weapons.
With these, they batter the remaining Bunker...Shocking both 'suits...
...and the undamaged 'suit panics and Jumps High! He is wiped out by Reaction Fire from the Combine force. Game Over!
Paneuro 1. Hot roll from the Paneuro Shocks one of the HW wielding 'suits. Generally, the Combine force is protected enough by distance and Soft Cover that RF is either impossible or weak, and Fire is only hopeful with Targeting.
This could easily have been "the turn" in which the Paneuro force was overwhelmed and nearly wiped out. However, there wasn't enough additional firepower to push that sort of result - instead, the Shock results have to fall under the category of "good fortune" and anyway they require bad Paneuro Morale Checks to exploit.
Morale rolls don't go quite as well at 'former Bunker #2' and one 'suit remains in Shock while the other Panics on a '1'!
Should be noted that I have the Ogre Dice...unfortunately, the symbols are on the '1' spot in games where it is best to roll high! Ergo, I switch them out and if you roll the opposing symbol they intervened and botched your attack / morale / whatever.
Also, the other HW 'suit is Damaged and Panicked!
Combine Turn 7. Meanwhile, the Assault 'suit wipes out the 'suit in Bunker #1. The Command suit works to help to rally the Standard 'suit that has been damaged.
But to count the cost... after a tough mid-game, the Combine lost one each of an Assault and Standard 'suit. The Bomb Drone, blew up...but is that really a loss? The Command and one Standard 'suit were both D3 [heavily Damaged]. Two Assault suits were intact, each wielding one Heavy Weapon. The Recon and Attack Drones also survived.
Overall, this was a pretty wild scenario, and the Combine's slender advantage was almost negated by the Paneuro Bunkers. While the Combine got to choose the time and place, and they also prevented any Paneuro maneuvering through significant firepower threats. This - barely - allowed them to overwhelm the toughest bunker that had the Heavy Weapon which also prevented the most dangerous threat to the Combine force.
A few things worthy of note:
- the game mechanics of individual Unit activation v. Reaction Fire pretty much result in a carefully balanced situation of Actions v. Reaction Fire.
- This does result in a somewhat 'choppy' feel to the Action. This may be suitable for Skirmish games, YMMV!
- true coordination and coordination feel is somewhat lacking.
- most situations are tense with tactical decisions. If you want this in a game, then this is for you!
- if you want to emphasize the 'make a plan, decide on the plan, execute the plan' aspect of warfare, then a game with Phases may be a better choice for you.
- I love the old-school graphics; the old-school mechanics of a 2d6 [added, so 2-12] CRT and a buncha modifiers is occasionally wearisome with math. But with play one gets a pretty good feel for what is a right decision, and you don't need to 'pre-add' or constantly calculate to make tactical choices most of the time.
The changes I made worked great! Totally satisfied that I have slightly adapted a classic 80s game to the 2020s and it has the best of its design with a bit of streamlining.
The only thing I want to try out is to divide activities into Phases, a la Team Yankee and the First Battle design by Frank Chadwick. I think there is a bit of a sweet spot with using Phases while retaining a jump'n flying feel to the game that is futuristic.
We'll see!
before you change more, try playing on a bunch of ASL/SL (Squad Leader boards). that is much more like the terrain density of a battlefield than the wide open spaces of the battlesuit maps. the scale is close enough that you probably don't need to mod anything.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I sold all my SL stuff on line years ago.
ReplyDelete:)
I had thought of that, and also of another 1:1 skirmish board game by Avalon Hill, that I also sold off years ago. Can't remember the name of it. It would be great to get a skirmish level sci-fi boardgame board, since that would have more suitable terrain on it.