More Space Marine Adventures: "Fire Team"

Grab your team and live the dream!

"The Game" of Tactical Squad Combat?  We'll see!

GW has been making a very sensible venture into self-contained board games in the 40K universe, using various models, including a few unique ones, but generally always involving Space Marines. They have all been satisfactory introductions to the game. 

A few of the games are very basic e.g. "Doomsday Countdown" and "Rise of the Orks". These may be tweaked to be more tactically challenging for advanced players by simply introducing a few additional *rules* which do not affect the cards or the original stats.  The Arena combat games appear to be a bit more complex and also make for good multi-player games.  All provide a modest amount of modeling and painting, generally 5-10 models or so, and are great introductions to the hobby skills side.

"Labyrinth of the Necrons" is still available [click] I posted on it in this thread [click].  "Doomsday Countdown", the two older Combat Arena games [click] are floating around at the usual second-hand sites and the latest is on sale at Barnes and Noble.  Some are even at Amazon or Walmart on-line.  Plenty of info is available about them at www.BoardgameGeek.com also.  Finally, there's the new exclusive to Target game, "Space Marine Board Game" [click].

If you want to get your kids or a newcomer introduced to tabletop games, these are far more suitable than full blown 40K or even the supposedly stripped down "Battle Companies", and the easily over-complicated "Kill Team" [itself supposedly an intro to the game].  It's as though GW has two design teams that don't talk to each other: one can't make anything simple, the other gets the mission of "introductory game"  

The premier 40K boardgame I've found is this one, "Fire Team", which has plenty on it on line [click] and excellent reviews in YouTube [click]. This is essentially "Kill Team Lite" and much more manageable and it costs a fraction as much.  I grabbed my copy a year or so ago, and read it but didn't have time to crack it open until now.

Motivated by reading my latest Caiaphus Caine omnibus, I grabbed the game again from the shelf. With only a dozen pages of rules, I reviewed and then managed to squeak in a game with long-time gaming pal grognard Ken, who has been willing to try anything [a virtue!].

He pulled the Mission "Critical Escalation" from the dozen cards fanned out in my hand. This is an interesting scenario, as there are 6 objectives, but 2 are removed in the 2nd and 3rd Turning Points [aka "Turns"] so at the end only 2 are left, and their points value increases each Turning Point [TP].  In Turn 1, they are worth 1VP each, Turn 2, the last four are 2 VP each, and Turn 5 the last two are 5 VP each.  So a high-pressure scenario - exciting!

In the above pic, the blue forces [Space Marines] may set up in the blue spaces, and the Necrons in the silver spaces.  We diced for Initiative and alternated set-up, and ended with the below starting positions:

Worth noting are that the 10 Necron Warriors have the same number of Wounds as the 5 Space Marines [SM]in total [80] but the Necrons each shoot as well as a SM. The Scarab swarms add an additional 30 Wounds but have relatively minor attacking ability - but they can fly around and annoy the SM. Overall, a small advantage to the Necron side, and they activate with the first three Necron Warriors each turn.  Til they're dead of course...

First shot of the game, Necrons roll 4 Hits, 3 Critical!

SM saves two, not bad, but he takes 10 Wounds.

Scarabs munch on him for 3 more Hits.

Next Necron to activate, finishes him off.

But revenge comes swiftly - Dimension Corridor traveling Necron gets wacked right off the bat.

In just a few more go-arounds, the Necrons are still marching, thanks to their "Reanimation Protocols" which brought back a few dead Necron Warriors. Also the SM haven't knocked out any Scarab swarms, which gives the Necrons - in essence - 2 Activations for the price of 1 for the first three Activations.

Finally, the last SM is taken down.  The Necrons have achieved most of their Targets of Opportunity, and secured most of the board.  What went wrong?  Hard to tell, as we were muddling thru the tactics most of the time.

Quick thoughts: As the game is alternating by model activation, it does help to win Initiative and get the first shot, but the other side can quickly redress the balance unless they are a very small force.  

The Necrons may only Move and Shoot each turn, while the Space Marines may repeat actions and shoot twice, for example, or move twice. This means that in any given turn, the SM can put forward the same firepower on an equal number of Wounds, but the sequence of events and the quality of the dice rolls really matters.

It helps to be able to take out a figure that has NOT activated yet, as it deprives the enemy of a future activation.  It can also be less than good to kill a fig that has already activated, depending on the situation.

This was a pretty tense game but a solid win for the steel monsters!

     *     *     *

Well, I had to play solo on the first chance I could get, a day later.  This time, the same forces, same Mission:

Necrons draw some great Targets of Opportunity cards. Two are pretty easy, "It's all up to you" and "Maintain your position". But they add 3 VPs to the possibilities.  The last, "Total Annihilation" is a great card for the Necrons, as they have lots of bodies and may wipe out the SM's - for 4 VPs!

The Space Marines [SMs] draw three OK cards:

While each is only worth 1 VP, they are relatively easy to accomplish - for SM anyway.  But they will NEED to accomplish all three for the 3 VPs, due to the Necron threat of an additional 7 VPs!

Yes, it is Critical Escalation again... this is a complex mission!

The Good Guys - they are actually from the Necron Labyrinth game, and are great models...playing them as Assault SMs.

Strategic Ploys - I think the "My Faith is My Shield" is great, adding a defensive buff. "Combat Doctrine" lowers the attack from a 3+ to a 2+ to hit, which I wouldn't think I'd need, BUT...

"For the Emperor" allows you to weight a contested Objective.  Sure, that's OK, and "might" be useful.

For the Necrons, they have "Reanimation Protocols" which can return to them any of their dead they roll a natural '6' for...and the "Advanced Combat Protocols Upload" allows them to repeat an Action, so "Move-Move" or "Shoot-Shoot" [most likely COA of course]

The "Dimensional Corridor" allows them to move one Warrior anywhere on the board, which could secure an objective towards end of a Turning Point.

After a bunch of fussing, I finally get both setups correct...I decide to fill the front with SM altho the Necrons have the Initiative and will get the first shot... still, they die pretty easily and with a bit of luck each SM can kill 2 a turn if they are in range.  We'll see....

For the Chromed Forces of Evil, I put their assault rifles up front with all three Scarab swarms. It's a bit hard to remember that each activates SECOND after the first THREE Necron Warriors, and plan that accordingly, but... I think I got it.

Each side buffs a figure...the Necrons use Advanced Combat Protocols to be able to shoot twice, enhancing their Initiative Threat on first Activation. The SM's buff the Grey Wolf SM for one bonus defensive die - the = of being in Cover.

Soooo... first Turning Point is a point-blank massacree, with two SM, 3 Necron Warriors and a Scarab swarm dying.

At the end, the SM have an edge, 4-2 in VP's. They were able to secure three Objectives and achieve their "Spread Out" Target of Opportunity. The Necrons struggled a bit.

For Turning Point 2, the SM choose left card, Necrons right:

Both seem pretty doable...

Necrons are acheiving their Targets of Opportunity...

...and in a great series of rolls, whack the SM Sergeant!

Overall, the game is pretty frustrating, as the SM seem to be able to find 2-3  lousy rolls in every set of 4-5 dice, as in a 1 or 2, which causes them to miss a shot or saving roll. I actually considered giving them a bonus die each roll, they were rolling that badly that consistently...

Anyway, with 3 SM down, the Sergeant down, the last Sole Survivor is forced to act aggressively. He advances and whacks a Necron Warrior...

With some additional oomph, he engages the one of the last two Necrons. The Necrons are staring a win in the face, and the warrior shoots, but only gets one Hit which does 3 Wounds. In return, the SM gets 3 hits, and the Necron only saves 2, so goes down.

There is one final Necron left... and one final SM left!

I had to look at the VP's... it's down to the wire...

SM behind, 6-9, but the last contested Objective is worth 5VPs, so anyone can win.  Wild Card is that if the Necrons kill the last SM, they will win 6-13.

3rd Turning Point, I did the math, calculated the possibilities, and the Space Marines MUST advance and get shot at, so they can secure the Objective for 5 Pts.

Each side is now limited to 1 action point each, alternating [so Move, OR Shoot].  The Necron shoots, get two Hits, one Critical!  The SM MUST MUST save at least one Hit, or the game is very very over.  And he does!

Still, the SM has 13 Wounds out of 16 gone!

For His shot, he hits 4 for 4!  SM saves one Hit, goes down dead [or out of commission, or TERMINATED or whatever...].

The above supposes the Necrons sit tight on their win, so I re-calibrated and had the Necrons move more aggressively earlier, on Turn 4.

In the end, the double-threat of the SM advance on the objective REQUIRES the Necrons to advance into Close Combat to contest the objective, still giving the SM player a chance to kill the last Necron, but a *better* chance, with 5 dice attacking instead of 4.

With the +5 for securing the Objective on the last turn, the SM win 11-9, coming back from 6-9.

Overall, I am uncertain how fair and balanced the game is. First time, Necrons won a solid victory by rolling well and probably playing smart [for robots].  But I think if Ken had shot more sooner, more Necrons would've died faster, and the Necrons may have lost.

This second game the SM were more aggressive, and took [and gave] casualties in the first Turning Point that seemed ruinous.  But, they managed to maneuver and claw their way back despite a really solid defense by the Necrons, a layered shooting gallery with plenty of threats.

In any event, the game came down to the last rolls, and was tight for most of the game, and was very tense.

Using 18 models and a nice board, I can't complain about the visuals or the tactical possibilities or the challenges presented to both sides, who play very very differently.

Overall, I'm mystified by the complainers, and see both the Fire Teams in the box as real contenders based upon two plays of a scenario.  The game is physically pleasing, comes with plenty of figures, has numerous tactical possibilities fought out in tense rounds where every decision and every roll matters, and I found it challenging [with 42 years of table top gaming experience...!!!] so giving this a thumbs-up!

Clearly, we can't be satisfied with that, so will have to do a...

CAMPAIGN!

Stay tuned...