"One eye on the Stars, the other on the Emperor's Peace..."
Well, I realize that this isn't Horse and Musket, or even Black Powder...but it's really not that different! Which has more to say about George Lucas than anything else.
Anyway, I'm going to knock out this playtest of 5KfL using my trusty WizCoast Star Wars figs, which are a 28mm-ish size. I have loads of them and as I've had little energy for painting lately they are my modern trope stand-ins.
The rules were pretty straightforward, but demanded a bit of work since they're a draft, especially in the Line of Sight and Terrain department. There were also a few "just the way I like it" choices, for example I made it so rolling high is always good, rolling low is always bad. I hate it when rules flip-flop on that! I played it about five times off of my own QRS draft of the rules before I was satisfied I had a working product.
Without further ado, let's hit the table...
***
Fed walked into the squad bay, the white pauldron fluttering off his right shoulder where a catch-all had failed to catch. His guys were in various stages of donning the trademark "white star" armor in an unhurried, efficient fashion that he expected after six months of rigorous peacework. As all had their helmets off, he popped his and crooked it underarm, stretching his jaw so his ears would also pop.
Dool glanced up. "What's the word, boss-Fed?"
"Nothing new," said Fed, "secure a suspicious building, search for contraband, call in the teks if needed. Usual local color plus an Abyssin, Quarren and an Ithorian, perhaps more illustrious types." Snorts and chuckles came from the team. "Weapons include some hunting blasters from the bantha steak crowd, and a couple of E-11 knock-offs we'll want to secure from their deceased owners."
The team was unimpressed and the mood was light as they made a few final checks. One was tapping at the side of his helmet and looking into it.
"You up, Spint?" asked Fed.
"HUD's blinking - turns that greenish color before flickering"
"Give it here," sighed Fed. He didn't want a delay for a helmet fix. He looked at it closely, pulled on a wire then smacked the unit sharply. "Good as grass, but whose got some sticky handy?" A bit of flat paper was shoved into his view. He took it and keeping the wire tense pushed it into the top of the inside helmet. "May pull at your lovely hair a bit but we'll put it in for a tek-look when we get back."
He raised his voice, "OK, hop in ten, team!" The activity level picked up as Fed walked out, heading to the sand-blasted platform where a drop-ship was spinning up.
***
Following the game instructions, I picked a team of 6, and rolled three times on the Advantage Table, getting bonuses for Reaction, Speed and a Modified Weapon with +4" Range. I assigned them to three Stormtroopers, making the one with better Reaction the Leader. He also gives a bonus die for Reaction rolls.
Creating a Mission, I roll an "Outlaw" opposition of 6 "Scum" who are pretty good except half their weaponry is substandard, so they get 2 extra Scummers for 8 total - a bit on the large size. Below, the Enemy show off their pretty faces.
The top three - Tusken, Ithorian and Human Merc - all have a Hunting Blaster - extra range but only shoots once a turn while lit is recharged. Bottom left - Gotel and Quarren - have standard Blasters, same as the Stormtroopers E11. Bottom right - Abyssan, Arconan, and Jawa - have blast pistols. All their pics are at the post office!
The Mission itself is "Secure" and I have to take the center of the table, getting Victory Points each turn I have it and there is no Enemy there, also. Using a bit of creative juices, I put a building at the center as a suspected Spice-atorium or illegal gambling hall.
The grove offers Concealment while all the buildings and the little hillocks offer hard cover. It's choppy terrain, just like in Ep IV [shot in Tunisia, if memory serves].
The enemy rolls to deploy in two even lines with the second a bit behind and closer together. Below, Enemy to left - 1 Pistol, 1 Rifle, 2 blasters.
Enemy to Right - 2 rifles, 2 pistols:
I put them in the back 6" so the two sides will each have a 6" deployment area but be 24" apart, per the rules. Looking up at the big picture pic, you can see they are put behind the best terrain on their side that offered some avenues of fire.
Below, the heroes of the Imperium, Fed and his short squad of six stormtroopers.
Fed at top has the bonus Reaction, the running fig is the one with the speed bonus, and the guy with the longer blaster has a Range bonus. The bottom three are standard stormtroopers. All Have Armor and hi-tek first aid, and use the standard E11 blaster [albeit one with a modified barrel...probably against regs].
I gave a blaster a 12" effective Range, and it's long range is the entire table, like all the weapons, even the blast pistols with a 6" and the hunting blaster a 24" Range. As this is a routine mission and resistance is expected to be light, nothing heavier was dragged along.
Below are the four 'droids working the objective...must be a spice plant! In the SW universe, they are an astro droid, two med droids, and 'Gonk'. The first and last are easily remembered from Tatooine in the First Movie.
Their job is to randomly move around doing their jobs and occasionally blocking fire. They do that well...
By the rules, the player's force deploys second, after the Enemy force, a considerable advantage.
***
Fed looked over the scene. He didn't like it but it could be worse. There was a lot more Scum down there than he thought there would be, altho they were not well armed. But the terrain offered plenty of cover and they didn't expect them to come from the far side, so swinging wide for the drop worked! Only activity was a few old droids scavenged from the wastelands of Tatooine.
Fed considered splitting up into two teams and going wide, but decided he wanted to keep the Squad close together for mutual support and better fire control. Fed preferred everyone to have the same visuals. To his left, he put the fleet-footed Spint and the tinkering Spar, figuring they would be able to move up quickly and establish a base of fire, perhaps even get onto the objective; near them, he put Pel.
On the little hillock with him he kept Dool and Chott. He planned to either use him and them for fire support or to maneuver close up and blast the enemy, preventing them from contesting the objective or destroying valuable evidence.
***
Above, the view from Fed's angle of attack. He's managed to block half the enemy from direct fire on his squad, and hopes to overwhelm the other half quickly. Another nice touch is that the player's force can attempt to steal an Action on the Enemy, but they need to roll high to do it. This would be great as closer is better for this Mission. Unfortunately, Fed doesn't with a '3', and Turn 1 [blue d12] begins!
With great anticipation, I roll for the first Reaction dice: 1 per 'Trooper, plus a bonus 1 for the Leader. I blow the roll, getting no 5+ [or 4 for Fed himself]. Discouraging!
***
Fed positioned his men carefully, but somehow the enemy was on to them. They turned around and saw they'd been outflanked, but recovered quickly - too quick for any of the Troopers to gain ground or open fire. Before Fed realized it, the Scum had moved up against the little hillocks and fired a few ineffective blaster bolts. One may have dashed forward behind the objective, and another definitely scurried to the right building...looked like the Ithorian.***
This ended the friendly Quick Phase [for which I had no one to Activate due to the bad rolling] and the Enemy Phase. We now move on to the third and final Slow Phase.
***
Trying to gain some ground, Fed pushed Spint onto the building roof - he just made it with his high speed, dashing up the strange stepped structure and reporting visuals on 8 Scum. Meanwhile, Spar and Pel took up positions against the enemy dead ahead. With all 5 firing, Fed hoped to score Hits but it was not to be. Still, he had secured the objective and Spint reported only a Jawa loping forward to it.***
Turn 2 I got a solid roll, with the 4 good enough for Fed and the 2 6's good enough for anyone else, so Spar and Spint get them. This will be a better Quick Phase!
***
I randomly move the droids [1/2 d10 in the direction of the point] then drop 2d6 against the 2VP I earned seizing the objective. If I roll my VP or less, I win the scenario and the Enemy slinks away. I really just did it for form's sake, but lo and behold I almost rolled it with a '3'! Would've been shortest playtest evah! anyway, the game continues...barely...
"Blast that Jawa, Spint!" Fed says tersely. No surprise, no time to waste being friendly. Blaster bolts flicker from the roof into the dead space beyond, like lightning. "Got'em," states Spint. "Runt didn't need much of a lead. His pals don't seem to think he's worth bantha poo-doo, tho."
***
T2 Quick Phase starts as Spint uses one Action to finish getting into position, and one Action to Fire at the Jawa. He easily Hits w' a '6' and the Jawa rolls poorly against his Toughness so takes a Wound. He's not dead but could still be. His 2 closest pals need to roll a 4+ to pass morale for seeing him Wounded, and they both do. Fed misses his shots at the Arconan. Pew-pew!
***
Spar was in Range of his hopped-up E11. He had upped the charge and put a longer barrel on it for enhanced bolt stability. He grinned to himself, altho no one could see it behind his helmet. He was positioned out of the Scum's blast pistol effective Range but they were in his - perfect! Still, the Tusken had some kind of strange, antique hunting blaster that he was lining up on Fed's team. Spar let his his sight package line up and it when it chirped he squeezed off. The up-charged E11 gave a loud PEW! and the Tusken took one to the face, dust and debris flying as he flopped into view and lay still. "Ha!" he said to himself. On the Squad 'com he calmly reported, "One hunter hunted, boss." "I saw, nice shot Spar - you get First Kill today," replied Fed calmly. Still, he was grinning as well. The squad needed guys who could hit a scurrier at distance.
"Hey, they're running!" Shouted Pel who was covering Spar's shooting.
"I see it," said Fed. "Stay low and lookout for any sticking around while I move up on our right."
***
Spar was in Range and got the '5' he needed to hit the Tusken raider with hunting blaster. The Tusken rolled badly against his Toughness and was KO. Both nearby Scum failed Morale and Fled - yellow dice. Being near the Table Edge, they touched it and were out of the game. I've no problem with a game that may punish you for rolling badly and being near the board edge...
Well, Fed's plan is working so far! He's got four of the enemy ded or fled, and secured the objective. Only direct fire he has coming at the squad is from the Ithorian hunter by the right building. He [it?] will have to be rushed and taken out, while the other Enemy team is held at bay.
Speaking of which...where are those Scum??
Time for Turn 2 Enemy Phase.
***
Fed scanned the dead space behind the building. The droids moved around doing their jobs without any concern for the fight. The Jawa lay in a little lump of dirty brown cloth. He spied movement - at the corner of the far berm! Fed was just about to speak a warning when blaster Fire erupted from the spot, tearing up the building's clay roof. He saw Spint fall over or was it a dodge??
"I'm hit," pants Spint, "Sith balls! Right in the gut..." his voice trailed off.
"Back off the edge" advises Pel, "be right there."
Fed likes it when the Squad works like a well-charged piece of tek. "We'll push forward until we can get some Fire on that berm," he says.
"Copy," pants Spint, "I can hold." He knows he can rely on Fed to push forward like the Emperor's finest. "Looks like there's only two here, a human with a hunting blaster and the Quarren who got me."
***
In game terms, the Quarren moved up to within effective Range of his blaster [which makes his shooting about twice as effective] and let the exposed Trooper on the roof have it with a '5'. Spint then needed a 4+ to avoid a Wound and take a Stun instead. Unfortunately, he rolled a '2'. His choices are to fight on risking bleeding out each turn or to attempt some self first aid. Sending over another trooper will help with the first aid process, since it is a die roll not a certain thing. Fortunately, both the closest troopers pass their morale easily, with a '5' and a '6'. I like how the rules handle stuns and wounds, you have to decide on how to preserve your people and what Actions you will spend to do it, especially when they are Wounded.
To make matters worse, the Human Merc with the hunting blaster also hits Spint and he again rolls low, a '3', taking a second wound. He really needs help now!
You can see the Gotel Fringer entering the woods at far left. I'm realizing that putting Spint up there gave him a good field of fire, but also made him a target of the entire Enemy team that was previously blocked from Direct Fire by the building. And the stupid thing was I planned it that way for the Stormtroopers, I just forgot...
Above, the two closest Stormtroopers again check morale for the wounding of Spint on the roof. The guy on the right passes but the one on the left fails and becomes Scared [basically, if he gets Scared again he will Flee and meanwhile he's not going to advance - there's no Rally rule in the game].
***
Bolts of energy lance out from the Enemy, striking the building roof and the crest of the berm in front of Spar, who eats dirt while checking his helmet for damage.
"You still in it, Spar?" asks Fed.
"I think so," he answers, but his voice is choppy, "can you hear me?"
"Pel, check his transmitter. My team and I will keep the hunters busy."
"Will do."
"Spint, you still there?" No answer. "Spint, report!" Still nothing.
"Poo-doo," spits out Fed. "Squad, we have to close in!"
***
Below, the trooper that failed morale held on, "Scared" but was Stunned by the Ithorian with hunting blaster. His buddy was fine. The Stuns mean he'll lose his Actions for next turn, basically, so a "pin" result. Fortunately, Pel passed as I need him to move over towards the Wounded Spint on the roof. He Dashes over quickly.
***
Pel shakes Spint who is laying amidst a bunch of debris and clay shards.
"Stop sleeping on the job, trooper!" he shouts for effect. Spint groans. Relieved, Pel activates the stim pack in the back of Spints armor and is rewarded with Spint twitching and talking. "What happened?" He asks. "You got blasted again is all," says Pel, "but break time is over." He switches to the squad net.
"We're activated up here."
"If you can suppress the Scum, do it. If not, slide off the back, Dool is right there. And we may have popped the Ithorian Scum to the right, so you've got eyes on the Enemy main body." Pel took a quick peek over the roof edge.
***
The Enemy Phase doesn't see any successful shooting on the part of the Scum, and the Slow Phase sees more misses by the Imps, so the Turn ends. I roll against the 6 VPs the Troopers have now earned, and get...
...a '6' - Game over, and a win for Imperial order in the Galaxy!
***
"Looks like they're on the run," Pel reports. He snaps a few shots at the flickers of movement in the brush. There were a few more Scum down here than he'd thought! He let's out a sigh of relief. "Not today, Scum, not today," he says to himself. He turns to Spint.
"Hey Hero, let's get down from here in case they find their courage somewhere."
"You said it," Spint agrees and starts gingerly sliding off the rubble pile. Pel helps him and Dool hops up to help when he sees the debris sliding off the building.
Still, I had some more time, and wanted to try out the mechanics more so I played a bit longer.
Turn 4 started well, with a hot roll that allowed 5 of the 6 Troopers to activate in the Quick Phase. I was fine with that since there were plenty of targets around.
I shifted Fed and Chott close to the Ithorian, planning to finish him off. I moved Pel and Spint over to the other side of the building, away from the Enemy team. I got a wound on the Ithorian. The Gotel made a bold move against Dool, dashing up and shooting him from behind, but missed. Dool then shot him dead and raced around the other side of the building, and the Human Merc Fled. The Quorren did well, putting some stuns against Pal and Spint, but taking one himself. This put me into Turn 5 or so.
At this point, with only two still in the fight, one Wounded, I ended the playtest. Overall, the Scum took two KO, two Wounded, and three Fled. The Troopers had one Wounded twice, which was my mistake to expose him so much.
Back at base, Spint got some better med care, spending some time in the bacta tank but not very long.
In the post-Mission phases, I rolled poorly for upgrades to my Trooper's attributes, but still improved Reaction for Spar and shooting for Fed. There were no KO's on my side, so everyone is ready for the next patrol!
***
As the IDT speeder returned them to base, Fed regarded his squad carefully. They were talking amongst themselves and tinkering with their gear. They seemed sound, and they'd been relieved quickly after securing the building and finding indications of Spice production. The Tekkies and the relief had come out on this IDT and the turnaround time had been brief. They'd taken a quick spin over the area and found no Scum in sight - the survivors had escaped on a small landspeeder hidden nearby, probably an old X-34, they still used junk like that here.
Spint put his helmet on and tapped it a few times.
"Hey, I think the debris impacts got my HUD back online!"
"No, that was your hard head knocking around in your helmet," said Pel, whacking the back of it for emphasis. Spint casually back-handed Pel.
"OK, enough of that," said Fed. "Spint, take it to the tek-types to make sure, and let's not get anything else inop by mistreating it, you got me?"
"We get you!" Shouted the squad.
***
This played pretty smoothly with a few rough patches where things were not quite complete, or I did not like how the mechanics worked.
The narrative feel was excellent, if not very fleshed out. For example, it was no stretch to move the rules into the Star Wars universe as there was very little horse and musket flavor to them, aside from the mechanic to reload muskets, which I kept and used for the "Hunting Blasters" some of the Scum had.
It is easy for an experienced gamer to take the raw product and tweak it. I liked the simplicity of the Shooting. Strong spots are the turn sequence, which I think is brilliant, and the Stun / Wound system which I really liked as it pushed you to aid your pals in game terms, not just "because it's nice".
I gave the Stormtroopers an enhanced first aid ability [+1] due to higher tek. I also gave them a morale bonus that they didn't really need - I'll take it out next time.
I expanded and more carefully defined Enemy Actions, but held to the spirit of the RAW, largely.
In the RAW, you get a move and a Shoot Action, one each. I don't see any reason for that - you may as well just say you have one action of any type instead. It also encouraged pointless moving and shooting because it is free and there's no penalty to the Move Action if you shoot and vice versa. I changed it so that you always have two of any type, so you can shoot-shoot, move-move, etc. This also gives the game the dynamic feel of fast-paced modern combat.
I felt obligated to add an overwatch rule. It won't come up a lot unless you have heavy machine guns or up-close-and-personal encounters around corners and doorways, but "saving an action" shows someone ready and waiting for something to happen, which is a very realistic occupation... and critical for just a few situations. It also forces players to act a bit more realistically, knowing that if they stick their nose out, they may get shot...just like in real life.
As stated previously, I don't see how you can go wrong with these rules at "Pay what you want". The solo play is solid and provides for plenty of reasonable choices for the Enemy force. Ultimately, the Enemy force is always a bit inferior to the player's force, which is fine in solo gaming, especially one that is narrative and campaign driven. Most wargames have players keep at it until both sides are nearly destroyed which is fun but not realistic. I like how this game feels realistic in this regard [Star Wars notwithstanding].
Will definitely have this on the table again soon!
Have purchased Five Parsecs Bug Hunt, am tempted by Five Kliks from the Zone, and will purchase the new Five Parsecs from home game book by Modiphius, as I think the engine here is very solid.
I did receive feedback from "His Weaselness" regarding game mechanics, which was interesting and informative, and definitely worth putting below.
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UtB!: I do have a game mechanic question, however...
The 2-Action mechanic is not unusual, and very versatile. In the Leipzig version you allow players Move / Combat actions in any order. In the Bug Hunt version it is Move then Combat. The mechanic Move/Shoot is an Alpha-Strike attack mechanic [it rewards the attacker]. A Shoot/Move mechanic is a denial mechanic [it rewards the retreater]. Allowing both gives players lots of flexibility and plenty of opportunities to screw up [as gamers are prone to do].
Personally, I found the Move and Combat in any order mechanic from Leipzig to be more difficult to explain than just giving 2 Actions, which can be Move-Move, Fire-Fire, Fire-Move, Move-Fire or other Actions. But Hunt introduces a wonderful system for multple Tasks in the "Problem Solving" section, at - it appears - the cost of using your Combat Action.
Can you elaborate on how / why you decide to impose TYPES of Actions in your 2-Action systems? In other words, why does each figure get a Move Action and a Fire Action, but not two of them, and not always in the same order.
"His Weaselness": I like to experiment!
Joking aside, the primary reason for doing it that way is that it pushes the player towards moving around. One factor that multiple-action systems can get hung up on is that standing still and firing with all of your actions tends to be the most appealing option, which isn’t dreadfully exciting.
By making it so the player can always move, it hopefully helps nudge people towards actually do so and using it to improve their position etc., which in turn keeps the game flowing. This also simplifies the AI somewhat, because it’s one less condition that has to be accounted for.
As far as the order of the actions, I typically favor move-then-shoot because it forces the player to commit to an action: If you want to attack, you will then be in a position where you can also be attacked in turn. It is also, again, easier for the AI to handle. I don’t recall off-hand why Leipzig allows you to do things in either order. Maybe it was just time to try something new :)
It is worth noting that the above are strictly in the context of a solo game, where the considerations are different. In player-v-player designs, I’ve used a variety of options as seemed to fit at the time.
You are absolutely right that any system of “action types” ends up being less elegant because you have to quantify what action can be used for what, which is messy at best.
The question is a fairly common one, so feel reassured in that!
The mechanics are robust enough to be experimented upon. I tend to be slightly more cautious with what can be done within the solo framework.
UtB!: Thanks for the reply, that's just what I was looking for!
I think your missions generally encourage movement - my first mission was "Secure" so I had to advance to center table. My second mission, which is against the Tuskans, is patrol, and you have to move from terrain to terrain to get VP.
Also, the relatively short ranges for the basic "snap-shot" do give you a choice about Maneuver v. Fire.
Altho I ran the Stormtroopers as breechloaders who could fire twice and the Outlaws had hunting blasters that functioned exactly as black powder muskets, so in terms of game mechanics it was American Civil War, really.
Interesting to read about these rules and your application to a Star Wars game. A most enjoyable read.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think it would work at first, honestly, but Star Wars is so Space Opera at the price of 'realism' that the _pace_ of battle is basically "Last of the Mohicans" not "Lone Survivor" or even "Band of Brothers" for that matter.
ReplyDeleteThe mechanical choices are very strong, I have to hand it to Mr. Weasel in that regard. It is a solid frame upon which to build lots of stuff!