In fairness, not quite initial impressions as I played many a moon ago. But its been so long, with so many other rule sets in between that I feel like I was playing anew.
Opponent:
Co-worker who apparently decided that he has too much time and money on his hands and miniatures gaming would be a good way to deal with all that. Not a power gamer/WAAC or rules lawyer which was good as this game definitely doesn't allow for that.
Setup:
As this was a beginner match, we kept it to 3 sections of five men (total of 15 miniatures) on each side. Each squad was rated as seasoned and armed with an infantry rifle. So, activating on a 4+, rolling one dice each and hitting on a 5+.
The table played on was 6'x3', with us playing from the short edges (Long edges on the flank). Terrain was a mixture of what we had, but was medium density. Initially we rated the three woods as soft (Providing a +1 mod) and blocking LoS. Linear walls were rated as +2 and non-LoS blocking.
Deployment was allowed two feet onto the table, leaving two feet of 'No mans land' in the middle. No objectives other than destroy the other side in bloody combat.
Play:
Not a turn by turn break down but the general flow of the game: I moved up two squads on my left flank hoping to over power the one squad there. On my right flank I moved up one squad, then moved back as a delaying action, hoping to keep two of his squads there. The plan went pretty poorly as we ground to a halt with no real ability to do any damage to each other. Between suppression and inability to activate, after about 6 turns, one soldier had fell. Finally at about 11 turns, we called it after my right flank squad had been destroyed (After I stopped taking suppression and just let soldiers die) and furthest left flank squad had seen itself reduced to below 50%. Total time was a little under two hours including setup.
Pros
-Easy to grasp and fast moving. After a few turns, we were motored along like pros.
-Rules definitely push for a 'friendly' game as a few situations are going to come up that aren't dealt with in the rules and need to be discussed.
-A little bit of friction is introduced by the activation mechanic, making the best plans go awry. Also you don't know who is going first next turn.
Cons
-Maybe too simple. A few clarifications here and there would be nice. When 'On Guard' can you only react to movement actions or any action the other side takes. We ruled only actual move actions and not just fire actions.
-Being able to take suppression instead of casualties means that fire combat can bog down on smaller units with neither unit really able to kill the other.
-Cover is powerful. Moderate cover drops even elite units from hitting 50% of the time to hitting 16% of the time.
-Going on guard when a unit fails to activate can lead to a static game.
Overall, I enjoyed the game and will keep it in my back pocket for beginner/quick games (And the price is unbeatable). But I don't think it has dethroned Tomorrow's War as the ruleset I reach for when thinking 15mm Sci Fi. Maybe Too Fat Lardies will be the one with their SciFi Chain of Command rules. I still plan to design a few scenarios and ideas in it that can be done in a lunch hour to continue to play.
Opponent:
Co-worker who apparently decided that he has too much time and money on his hands and miniatures gaming would be a good way to deal with all that. Not a power gamer/WAAC or rules lawyer which was good as this game definitely doesn't allow for that.
Setup:
As this was a beginner match, we kept it to 3 sections of five men (total of 15 miniatures) on each side. Each squad was rated as seasoned and armed with an infantry rifle. So, activating on a 4+, rolling one dice each and hitting on a 5+.
The table played on was 6'x3', with us playing from the short edges (Long edges on the flank). Terrain was a mixture of what we had, but was medium density. Initially we rated the three woods as soft (Providing a +1 mod) and blocking LoS. Linear walls were rated as +2 and non-LoS blocking.
Deployment was allowed two feet onto the table, leaving two feet of 'No mans land' in the middle. No objectives other than destroy the other side in bloody combat.
Play:
Not a turn by turn break down but the general flow of the game: I moved up two squads on my left flank hoping to over power the one squad there. On my right flank I moved up one squad, then moved back as a delaying action, hoping to keep two of his squads there. The plan went pretty poorly as we ground to a halt with no real ability to do any damage to each other. Between suppression and inability to activate, after about 6 turns, one soldier had fell. Finally at about 11 turns, we called it after my right flank squad had been destroyed (After I stopped taking suppression and just let soldiers die) and furthest left flank squad had seen itself reduced to below 50%. Total time was a little under two hours including setup.
Pros
-Easy to grasp and fast moving. After a few turns, we were motored along like pros.
-Rules definitely push for a 'friendly' game as a few situations are going to come up that aren't dealt with in the rules and need to be discussed.
-A little bit of friction is introduced by the activation mechanic, making the best plans go awry. Also you don't know who is going first next turn.
Cons
-Maybe too simple. A few clarifications here and there would be nice. When 'On Guard' can you only react to movement actions or any action the other side takes. We ruled only actual move actions and not just fire actions.
-Being able to take suppression instead of casualties means that fire combat can bog down on smaller units with neither unit really able to kill the other.
-Cover is powerful. Moderate cover drops even elite units from hitting 50% of the time to hitting 16% of the time.
-Going on guard when a unit fails to activate can lead to a static game.
Overall, I enjoyed the game and will keep it in my back pocket for beginner/quick games (And the price is unbeatable). But I don't think it has dethroned Tomorrow's War as the ruleset I reach for when thinking 15mm Sci Fi. Maybe Too Fat Lardies will be the one with their SciFi Chain of Command rules. I still plan to design a few scenarios and ideas in it that can be done in a lunch hour to continue to play.
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