Storming Forwards - "5 K from Leipzig" Playtest 2

The Emperor Is Looking for a Few Good Clones!

Or men...he'll settle for bio-humans if he has to.      latest (1920×1024) (nocookie.net)

In the never-ending quest to develop the ultimate set of modern skirmish rules, further playtesting was conducted using a different mission, a standard patrol mission. In this one, rather than securing an objective, the valiant Guardians of Order have to plug their way around the board investigating pieces of terrain. In each, a marker denotes the possibility of there being contraband / evidence or actual bad guys. Instead of Scum and Villainy, the opposition is provided by the less-than-peaceful Tusken, natives of the wild Jundland Wastes and other areas that are not to be traveled lightly, if at all.

Below, the locals in all their glory. There are up to eight that may appear, half with hunting blasters [one of which is mounted on a bantha, the Leader, who can also dismount] and half with a gaderffii stick which counts as a melee weapon and will therefore win ties in melee. Figs are Wizards of the Coast pre-painted plastics and the terrain is from the pet shop intended for the recreation of lizards or perhaps Krayt Dragon pups, if that's more your style.

Below, the Heroes of the Empire, the same squad previously fielded with a few bonuses based upon their post-battle roll-ups. Below them are the markers used to denote victory points [blue] or enemy [yellow]. The system I used is that each of the 8 terrain pieces has a flipped marker on it. When the Stormtroopers touch the marker it is revealed as either its value in victory points or its value in Tuskens - which Tuskens is randomly decided.

As a reminder, VPs are rolled against at the end of each turn - if the dice are equal or less than the amount of VPs, the game ends.

Below, I played a couple of test games to make sure my scenario parameters worked.  In this last playtest, the Stormeys triggered the main body - yellow 4 - in the first terrain piece they patrolled.  As it contained the Leader, he was able to activate the other two markers, one each turn, for support. 

The fight was pretty intense, with the gaderffii stick-wielding Tuskens slugging the scout sent to check out the marker, who went down wounded. He was rescued by his buddies who were placed in overwatch positions and achieved fire superiority and administered first aid. The Tusken leader charged out from behind the hill but was wounded. The Stormeys then dominated the firefight with the supporting Tuskens who took some wounds and fled. Overall, a well executed tripping of the Tusken ambush.

With this, I was pretty certain that the game was ready for its next tester, and made an appointment to meet up with Steve, who is an experienced gamer and has played several other skirmish games. Plus, he's a Star Wars fan and can make great Tusken barks!  

Below, I set up a table at a local FLGS [which thankfully has open play and a good attitude about the Wuhan-flu]. The mission was to secure the center building and drive off the natives suspected of illegal weapons manufacturing. Below view is from the Stormey side.

And this view is from the Tusken side.

Steve caught on to the mecahnics - and therefore the tactics - of the rules quite quickly.  He experimented with various Actions that subtly alter the tactics, and established a good battle rhythm for his team.  He learned "on the job" while engaging his first couple of Tuskens in a field on the way to the building. That firefight triggered the alertness of a few others that were able to snipe at his team from cover on the far side of the building [from Steve's point of view].

Steve pressed on out of the field and enveloped the building on two sides.  He then engaged more Tuskens on both sides of the building. On the West side, two were sneaking up using the building as Cover. Steve's point man ended up in their ugly faces, outnumbered...

The team of three exchanged fire with the supporting Tuskens with hunting blasters, then ended up in melee with gaderffii stick-swinging thugs. After some unlucky rolls, Steve had a couple of troopers down, despite KO'ing one Ugly and Wounding another. Fortunately, leveraging his own supports, Steve was able to regain the initiative, administer advanced First Aid, and kill the bad guys on the west side, and suppress the snipers.

Meanwhile, on the east side of the building, the Stormtroopers team triggered the main force including the Tusken leader and and some of his warriors. This meant they had to fight it out in close terrain. The Stormey's stuck together and using covering fire were able to beat off the gaderffii stick brutes and organize for a bantha charge!

Pressing on, the White Knights of the Empire finished off the foot soldiers, shooting two down...

Then, their Leader - I believe - won a melee against the bantha, and administered a bucket of old-fashioned whoop-ass!  The remaining Tuskens fled the table.

Overall, a good playtest.  In the excitement, I forgot to do some morale checks for both sides, caught up in explaining the rules and such. It always happens!  At least I remembered to take some pics this time.

There were a couple mechanical tweaks that need to be made - Steve had great questions and it made it clear what needed to be clarified or simplified in the rules.  Just so he would have the entire "Five Kliks" experience, I had him roll up his campaign results, and he got a few skills and some fate for his team.

Again, these beta rules are an unfinished product, but have been great to work with, provoking a lot of thought on my part, and plenty of opportunities to develop the rules a bit further in the 6d6 style.

All this makes me want to make more progress on my Taliban - who will make great substitutes for Tusken Raiders in the Real World!