"Battlespace" by Table Salt - A Review"

"Takes up a lot less space than an actual Battlespace...!"

"Ultra Modern" as opposed to "Modern", or "Historical", this game has some traction in the Wargamevault world, and I can't remember how I found out about it - sorry.  I went thru the trouble of printing and reading it all about a year ago, then life got in the way and I am now just getting back into it even as a "2nd edition" is being published [by Modiphius at $45, they published the "Five Parsecs from Home" rules in a nice complete edition that is on my shelf].  No complaints there, but that is for a future review, possibly.

This review is about the so-called "First Edition" that is still a download at Wargamevault here [CLICK] for a very reasonable $9.00 U.S.  If you don't like detailed reviews, then I'll say that the BLUF is:

"Go and buy this, then fine-tune it to your own tastes!"

The rules are not tight, but they are only medium complex.  Altho the designer apparently wanted to head into the "drop-dead simple" sphere, he still ended up with medium complexity and a design that has some loose ends.  

Also, I doubt some of the game mechanics reflect reality, which is a shame because with a little effort they would have been substantially more realistic at zero additional complexity than as they are presently designed. Still, as a solo gamer offering, they are a great deal and worth picking up.  

If you want to use these as a competitive set of rules for your not-40K multiverse, you are barking up the wrong tree unless you want to make your own game cards and such [not hard] and tighten up the game a bit for more competitive play.  That being said, I can see playing the AI as a GM to also be fun.

The rulebook doesn't take much to plow through at 10 pages of rules plus six pages of Advanced Rules, followed by five Missions and a moderately useful appendix of "keywords". There's VERY modest amounts of text with lots of diagrams and pics, so it's likely these could've fit onto just a couple pages without formatting. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how modest an effort it takes to get started with these rules.

THE KEY ASPECTS

"Battlespace" is a solo game that pits the player with a Team of Soldiers against a varied number of "enemies" who are activated with an Artificial Intelligence mechanism [the AI] and are loosely predictable in what they will do. The Team must attempt to accomplish various objectives in the five missions included. 

Requirements: print out the materials. Four Team figs and at least a dozen Enemy are needed, along with terrain, a tape measure, a d20 and a d6.  Space is modest, as little as 2-3' square and you can fight a good game. Cost is $9.

Turn Sequence. Interactive I-GO, U-GO.

1. Player sequentially Activates each Soldier in his team to perform an Order - two if you pass an Initiative roll, three if you max the roll - with possible interruptions from the AI cards.  
2. Then AI goes. 
3. Last, there's an administrative phase.

Soldiers get two Orders, usually, but can't repeat them.  So you can't shoot-shoot, or move-move. I find this needlessly unrealistic and annoying, in that it forces you to Move constantly, whether you want to or not.  I think it would play better and be more realistic if you could freely choose Orders.

There's no overwatch mechanic. There's an element of Action-Reaction depending on the Initiative rolls.  While this substitutes sorta as an overwatch mechanic, you still don't intentionally assign Soldiers to overwatch.  This is an example of "feels less real, but coulda felt a lot more real with a bit of change for little added complexity".  

Still, I think players can get a feel for "Fire and Movement" which is critical to all modern combat. This is because you can sequentially activate Soldiers to fire until you achieve your Fire goal. But you don't feel like a real TL doing it.

Combat Mechanism

Roll a d20 for equal or higher than a number to Hit the enemy or avoid being Hit by the enemy [this number is typically between 9-13, the lower is easier to defeat].  Modifiers will affect the roll. 

Grenades use a device called the Maneuver Card to arc the throw, which can then deviate exactly forward, backward or left / right. The card is a clever and useful tool.

Suppression may be used - it has no chance to harm enemy, but it makes it harder for them to harm you and they can't move, only shoot. Overall, this works OK but in a very simple way. For a bit more effort, I think one could use a die and work for Fire Superiority which would result in Suppression of the Enemy, i.e. "Pinned", but it's a solid mechanic.

Movement

Players use the Maneuver Card for Moves and to keep the Team and Enemy in cohesion if needed.

Morale

There's no significant morale aspect to the game.  Both sides will largely fight to the death or accomplishment of the mission.

Enemy [AI]

The Enemy usually start with a few figures on the board as Stragglers or Groups. More may appear with the cards; these are flipped over when Soldiers fail Initiative, or one gets flipped at the start of the Enemy Phase. The Enemy are not particularly bright, tactically. This suits some irregular forces but not all, and one may feel the need to smarten them up a bit.

Card are also used to retain and display information, both on individual Soldiers [below] or Enemy.  As you'd think, the info on the player's force is a lot more details.  They can also be enhanced with Gear cards. Again, these are nice additions but the limits are often unrealistic, e.g. the underslung Grenade Launcher has two shots, and typically a Team Grenadier in real life carries a lot more in a combat load. The SAW rule didn't feel right to me, altho it does enhance the Team's lethality a bit. etc etc etc.

This entire play-thru is using the RAW [Rules As Written] and so I started with a team of four grunts and 12 points of Gear.

The mission was, of course, Mission #1!  In this mission, you must head to the site of an ambushed Humvee and search for survivors.  There are a few threats lingering around, and you must start at the bottom-left roadway, clear the Humvee wreck and exfil off the opposing table edge.  Simple, right?  Right??

Below, my proxy stormtroopers, keeping the galaxy in a rough semblance of Law & Order while Rebel Scum try to undermine it and embolden organized crime like the Hutts! The table size is around the 2-3' recommended [using an Infinity mat] and the rest is pretty much straight out of the book, with four buildings and some scatter terrain around.

At left is my Stormy team, towards the right is the downed flyer that was ambushed, with a Straggler and an Element of three creeps lurking near the crash [torturing the pilot??].  Above them is another Straggler. These match the red indications of the scenario pictured above, almost perfectly. 

Below, my Imp team with a Team Leader at top left, followed [clockwise] by the Grenadier, Medic, and Radioman.

Scum ahoy! Crash site, with Element of three Scum, and two Stragglers to left and well above [the Jawa].

Turn 1, the Imps Activate and Advance three Soldiers to Concealment.

But, the last Activation of the Grenadier fails [on a '5'], so the Scum get to draw a SITREP card, then roll a '13' for "Enemies Alerted" and then a '6' for that many Stragglers entering - their force has more than doubled in size already!

Card is a bit confusing, but I interpret "1d6 straggler enters the mission area from random edges furthest from the Soldiers" as 6 Stragglers [diced] enter the Battlespace from the edge farthest from the soldiers.  Hope I'm right... And here they are below.  I spread them out evenly as they are "Stragglers" but there's no directions on that, and "yes, it matters".

As that was the last Soldier Activation, I make the usual SITREP draw, and get an LMG upgrade to an Enemy.  As he has no one to Fire upon, he moves the fastest way to get into a Line of Sight to the enemy.

The Scum enter and take up likely positions. Turn 2, the Imps fire a grenade from the Grenadier's Grenade Launcher [has 2 rounds] and it Drifts to the left and misses all Targets in a Target-Rich Environment!

The Peacekeeping Imps advance boldly up the flank endeavoring to take up a position in the highest building, eliminate the opposition and scout out the wreck. My radioman rolls a '20' for 3 Orders, Advances at the run, then takes a shot and jams his weapon on the '1'!  Clearly, we have to emphasize basic Soldier Skills in a Hostile Environment here...

I draw a SITREP card for Turn 2, and a Rebel Scum Pilot pops out of the building nearest the Team, but misses his shot.

Turn 2 Scum move into positions to Fire, and hit the Grenadier despite his Cover.  He takes some wounds thanks to facing half the Scum all by himself!

Turn 3, Imps advance along the building, eliminating both the pilot and a random Scum.

Scum manage to put a 3rd Wound on the Radioman.

Turn 4, concerned as I was about our Radioman who was 1 Wound away from being Downed, my point man stumbles upon an IED, fails the Threat Level roll, and is Downed!  The Team Leader behind is also knocked prone by the blast.

the stairs are an obvious place to trap, we should've known!

Turn 5, the Imps plow forward up the stairs, dragging their Downed Radioman who gets successful First Aid and drops to four Wounds, which still means he's Downed, but he's not KIA.

Along the way, the Imps are taking out a few Scum.

Turn 6-8, the Imps completely wreck the Scum, killing nearly all of them, despite the fact that they're dragging a Downed trooper and have a Wounded man. Firing from atop the building definitely helped, and the SITREP cards have been either irrelevant or not very dangerous.

Below, around Turn 9, the Imps get onto the wreck, and discover that the survivor [if any] is missing on a '5'.

Despite the heat they've gotten, the Imps press on to EXFIL the opposite board edge from the one they entered.

Even as they look forward to an easy exit, the SITREP cards turn against them, delivering three ambushing scum on three consecutive turns, all from the building closest to the Team Leader.  They are mercilessly cut down, but the TL takes a couple Wounds along the way.

Another Scum exits the same building...

Finally, our Heroes in White are ready to EXFIL the Battlespace, but the Scum finally get a good card, and three Stragglers enter, two of which are Trained Soldiers. I had to pick an entry point, so I diced for the board edge, then had them enter board center as you can move'n shoot in this game, which seemed unbalancingly good to me.

The Reinforcements enter along the flank, but the Imps have moved too fast for them and they take a few potshots that miss as they spring their cowardly ambush.

They inflicted one more Wound and then the Imps EXFIL the Battlespace, Dragging one Downed trooper and one with 3 of 4 Wounds [red chit].  The others are worn out but OK.  And they whacked one last Scum on the way out!

Counting the Butcher's Bill: The Scum lost 16/18, and the Imps took 9 wounds of 16 available, Dragging one Soldier to safety and another limped off with 3 of 4 Wounds lost.

This was a suspenseful and successful solo game from a solid solo system. 

Overall, I'd say that it is:

Engaging, has Strong Narrative, High Replay Value, is Moderately Complex, has Good Support [mostly thru Fb here: CLICK], would be a Gateway Game if run by someone with experience, and is fairly realistic. While it is a bit "general" by nature, and doesn't necessarily invoke modern war except with the card details, that can be seen as a good thing as you tweak the game for almost any combat from 1916 to 2016.

The cards introduce a random event into the narrative. However, it is random, and you usually can't do much to prepare for it except stay together and hope an that IF you fail an Initiative test, you fail it early so the rest of your team can react to it.  

With the turn sequence Player then Enemy, the Enemy always get a "counter-move + attack" and you can't do anything about it until your next turn.  This can be overwhelming if the enemy force gets plussed-up with SITREP cards.  This is a good example of why an Overwatch mechanic is essential - you could detail 1-2 Soldiers [preferably one with a SAW] to act as your Base of Fire, then hose down any skunks that showed their head. Yes, I will introduce this myself for my games, along with Concealment +2 and Cover +4 bonuses. Still, should I have to implement these changes? The alternative is that you "game the AI system and hunker down for a turn or two while the AI sends you the wave of attackers piecemeal, then you pop out and shoot them.  This is also the weakness of the inability to repeat a named action - you have to do gamey unrealistic things to avoid game consequences.

On the one hand, I feel like if the design goal was a simple [not simplistic] game at the expense of realism, it is a bit complex for that and some mechanics could have been simpler with no loss of "feel". 

If the goal was a moderately complex game with high realism, then I find some game mechanics and "game tactics" seem unrealistic.

Still, it is easier to tweak the rules for this game than to design from the ground up, so I say that the overall package is "highly recommended" 

Should also be noted that "Battlespace" has fan support and additional modules for Seals, Cover Ops and such have been created and are free at the Fb page Files section.

So go find your own "Battlespace"!