Monday, May 31, 2021

On The Painting Desk- Republican Romans: The Old Ball and Chain Mail

 


My goal for 2021 was to complete a Roman Army by November.  I managed to finish off an Early Republican Roman force that was fully usable for games of Wars of the Republic when it came out from Osprey.  I was ready to play, but I was not done painting Romans, not by a long shot.  

My initial plan was to build Principes and Triarri in Lorica Hamata (Chain Mial).  When I started painting, I only had Pectoral Armored Romans.  I did not look like I would be getting the Lorica Hamata due to delivery and stock issues.  However, I got them about 6 months after ordering them.  I decided to build a second army of Romans identical to my first one, except in Lorica Hamata.    

So, I started by assembling and undercoating them.  Like last time, I based them on washers as I prefer the heft of the finished model as opposed to plastic bases.  I also saved the shields to be painted separately and later.  Finally, I made two units of Hastati all using their Pilums, 1 unit of Principes with swords, and one unit of Triarri with spear.


As usual, my next step was undercoating them all white using a brush.  I then batch painted all their skin, and their sandals in three or four different colors.  From there, it was time to break them into their individual units and start painting them until they were done.  

I decided the Hastati would use an Army Painter Desert Yellow for their tunics and shields, Principes would use a Pure Red, and Triarri would use a flat white.  However, I decided that the Principes would also have red feathers, and the Triarri dark feathers to help them stand out a bit.  


Triarri ready to get their shields equipped....


Principes budge in line.....


Hastati.... while finishing these guys I ran out of Soft Tone Wash, so that delayed completion.  I ordered more, but it got hung up in Brexit, so I had to use some Agrax Earthshade I found locally.  I think that made them come out a bit darker.  


Here are the Principes and Triarri with their shields and ready for battle.  


Hastati all ready to fight!  Another 40 models done and ready to hit the table.  

Here is all of my Romans so far sitting on the shelf ready to get into a scrap!  The left side is the Early Republican Romans, and the right is my Lorica Hamata troops.  You can see that the Lorica Hamata are much more formalized.  I imagine I can use these guys a few ways....

  1. A stand-alone Mid-Republic Army
  2. Swap in Triarri and Principes into my Early Republican Romans
  3. The Roman Republic Army and allied legions 

Here we can see some of the Romans battling with the Greeks of Magna Graecia.  The Hastati lead the way, but are closely supported by the Principes.  


However, this is not the end of my Roman Anabasis!  I have 20 Velites as Light Infantry to add to this force so that I can have a more rounded troop selection for both Early or Mid-Republic forces.  They are still in the early stages, but I hope to have them done by November as well.  


Finally, to make things more exciting I also got a second bag of Lorica Hamate Romans that I was not expecting either!  That was an order 9 months ago!  I should be all caught up on Roman models now.  Anything I get now will be a HUGE surprise.  


The plan for these guys is to make a Late- Republic Army that can be used with the Mid-Republic models to help fill it out.  That means 10 Militai Legion, 10 Legion Regulars, and 2 units of Veteran Legions.  These will follow the same basic painting scheme as the Lorica Hamata guys painted above.  The main difference is equipment.  None of these guys will have the spear option as by the Late-Republic the Triplex Acies and Maniples were replaced with Cohorts.  Velites, Cavalry, and Triarri were all phased out and replaced with mercenary and allied units such as Gauls, Iberians, Numidians, and other allies.  

So, I hope by November I will have at least one more On The Painting Desk to wrap this army up.  At this point, I have painted about 90 Romans for the year, and want to add another 60 to bring me up to 160 Romans!  That might be a record for a single year of painted models for me!  

Wish me luck.  You can start to Pre-order your copy of Wars of the Republic here.   



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Monday, May 24, 2021

Battle Report: Glittering Void- Targeted Attack


 When I originally designed this game, I intended to use Dream Pod 9's "With the Lightnings" Range of figures for my space mecha combat fix!  I still do, and the rules even trying to call out some of the sculpts that go with some of the mecha profile.  However, the game is pretty much scale and model agnostic so you could use anything you wanted!  You could even use Gunpla kits if you wanted to!  

I initially used some of my infamous paper templates to do some playing and testing with the rules.  


However, one day I ran across a bulk set of ugly toy Gundam knock-offs with 144 for about $14 US.  I swooped in and picked them up for use in this game.  Make no mistake, these are some seriously ugly, plastic toys, but at about 10 cents a pop, it did not seem like I could go wrong.  Plus, they are cheap enough to cut up and re-assemble with no fear.  I may also give some of them a lick of paint to see what happens, but not this day.  I could try to pick up some of those Lego weapons to go with them for Beam Cannons and Mas Rifles and the like too.  Perhaps I will see how converting these ugly little dudes goes before I try any of that.  


Armed with my new, plastic Kicko robots I decided I had to get them out on the table for another battle using the Glittering Void rules.  If you go to the desktop version of the blog, you can see a Work-In-Progress section of the blog.  This section has links to games that are playable, but still in the development process.  You can find Glittering Void there.   

The trading contract for the Freehold of New Arcadia will expire and come up for re-negotiation in the next rotations.  Traditionally, these contracts have been held by corporate interests aligned with the New Olympians, and New Arcadia was considered within the New Olympians sphere of interests.  However, the free hold is located in the Asteroid Belt, which the Earth Alliance views at its territory.   

With the contract set to expire, elements of the Earth Alliance have begun aggressively courting New Arcadia.  They have offered lucrative incentives, and coupled them with veiled threats.  In fact, some smaller trading and prospecting vessels from New Arcadia have gone missing in the region.  The Earth Alliance has cited this as a prime reason to change contracts, as the New Olympians have failed to properly protect and enforce the expiring contract.

The powers that be on NeOlympus have deemed it necessary to reinforce their alliance on New Arcadia.  To this end, they have deployed a patrol ship and a compliment of suits to New Arcadia space.  A Carrier arrived and dropped off just such a ship before continuing on its route.  The New Olympian commander on the scene has pledged to find the cause of the missing prospecting vessels.    

 Investigating the last know location of one of these New Arcadian Prospecting ships, the New Olympians had unusual activity on their scopes.  Interference was being thrown out by a large Radiation Band in the area.  Therefore, a patrol of Suits was deployed to investigate further.  This led to an engagement in the Radiation Band between unknown Suits and the New Olympian pilots.

Post-battle analysis allowed the New Olympians to identify that the suits engaged were of Earth Alliance design.  However, the Earth Alliance is well known for selling their tech to anyone with the currency to buy it.  Identifying their suits would not be enough to link them to the loss of the Prospecting Ships from New Arcadia.  

Therefore, the Patrol Craft tracked their potential telemetry to a nearby Asteroid that could house a forward operating base.  En route, unknown suits were identified attempting to transit from the area.  The New Olympian pilots were scrambled to engage the fleeing Suits and attempt to disable and capture the Polemarch suit.  Hopefully, the "Officers" suit would allow the New Olympians to gather needed intel on these freebooters and discover their connection to the missing Prospecting Ships.  

Forces: 

New Olympians

3 Ares Space Combat Suits

1 Ares Space Combat Suit

- Upgrade #2: Dual Heavy Beams

Freebooters

1 Polemarch Suit

- Upgrade- Combat Shield

4 Hoplite Suits

- 1 Upgrade- Rocket Tube   


On the left is the Freebooters.  The Yellow is the Polemach suit, Orange are Hoplon suits, and I will use the #4 suit with the Bazooka.  The right is the New Olympians.  The Yellow is the Dual Beam suit, while the red are standard Ares suits. 

I use dice to raise or lower their altitude.  On the table is Alpha, 1 dice is Beta, and 2 dice is Gamma level.  

I also made some small paper circles for future games that will be used to show the direction travelled.  A key part of this game is that you can travel one direction, but face another.  Facing is based on the Front (marked with an F on my templates but normally the actual faces of the model) and the direction of travel will be based on the triangle on the marker below the template.  Eventually, I will have bases with direction arrows on them, while the miniature will be able to swivel.  Make sense? 

Mission:

Today's mission is found in the main rulebook.  This scenario is a targeted attack.  The New Olympians are trying to disable/knock-out the Polemarch suit, while the Freebooters are attempting to take out the Ares with the dual Beam cannons.  These suits offer an additional +15 VP for taking them out.   

Set-up

Today's game will be on a 48 MU x 48 MU board with 1 MU being one inch.  This area of space has two large radiation fields that the Freebooters are trying to use to cover their escape.  They are marked by Pipe Cleaners.  These fields cover Alpha, Beta, and Gamma heights.  They are obscuring and dangerous.  

The Freebooters are set-up in the corner around their edge of the board.  The Polemach is in the back at Beta level.  The other Hoplon suits are forward of his at various altitudes.  One looks like they are planning on going around the Rad Zones for a flank attack.  Meanwhile, the New Olympians are on the center of the opposite board edge.  The squadron is anchored on the right by the Dual Beam Cannon suit.  The others string across at various heights.  The New Olympians appear to be going between the Rad Zones to start. 


Turn 1:

The Freebooters go first as they have more Suits on the board.  

Move: 

The two sides race towards each other eagerly without holding back.  They look to be going head-to-head.  In that case, the Freebooters look like they have brought more guns to the party! 

Shoot: 

Everyone is just out of range.  


Turn 2: 

The Freebooters have more models and go first.    

Move: 

The Polemarch moves to try and lure some of the New Olympians away, but he largely fails as they turn sharply into the Rad Cloud for cover.  However, the main target with the Dual Beam Cannons lags behind and is in the open.  Hoplite 5 and 4 close in while the others try to target the Ares suits in the Rad cloud.  

Whoops, upon a review of the rules for Rad Fields it turns out they are Dangerous terrain.  That means the Ares suits that flew in there need to make Damage checks! two of them fail!  Thankfully they do not suffer from any special damage.  



Shoot: 

The Dual Beam Ares sees Hoplite #5 closing in up high.  His targeting computer lights him up and he fires, taking the suit a blast of high-powered energy!  Scratch one Freebooter!  The Dual Beams had a forward and Up fire arc, so he could target the higher suit. 


Hoplite #4 lowers his Rocket tube and prepares to fire on the Dual Beam Ares.  The pilot makes a Burst Fire check and passes! His shot is clean, and the Dual Beam Ares is blown to smithereens by a hail of Rocket fire!  Boom!  Objective complete for the Freebooters.  

Of course, that is not the end of the shooting war.  Ares #1 fires out of the Rad Field and manages to blast Hoplite #3 into small pieces with a Beam Rifle shot!  The Polemach returns fire but does not have the range. 

Hoplite #2 fires into the Rad Fields, and manages to finish off the damaged Ares #3! The pilot fails to eject and is riddled with slugs.    



Turn 3: Disengagement Turn

The Freebooters still have the advantage.  They go first again.   

Move:

Realizing their mistake, the remaining Ares suits scatter to get away from the Rad Field.  It damaged their electronic systems and failed to give them adequate cover.  The Polemarch breaks off and goes high, while his remaining Hoplite suits pair up to support each other.  



Shooting: 

The Freebooters have no range or angle this turn.  

Ares Suit #2 has a shot with his Beam Rifle at Hoplite #2 through the edge of the Rad Field.  The pilot makes a Rapid Fire test and passes.  He Opens up a barrage of Beams from his outstretched gun hand and riddles the Freebooter suit with fire.  The Pilot manages to eject safely from his disabled mech, and his picked up by Hoplite Suit #4.  However, his suit is destroyed.  



Conclusion: 

With that, both sides withdraw to lick their wounds.  It was a short, brisk engagement that left both sides bloody.  However, the Freebooters managed to eliminate the heavy firepower of the Dual Beam Ares suit, and the New Olympians failed to catch the Polemarch.  

Freebooters scored 92 VP, while the New Olympians scored 45 VP.  The Freebooters win. 

The two remaining Ares Suits docked back with their patrol ship.  The new, empty maintenance hangars sat open and dark.  A shadow descended over the pilots and crew.  They had come to New Arcadia filled with confidence in their skills and their machines.  Now, that confidence was being tested by a band of Freebooter scum.  

The enemy suits had managed to slip the Patrol Crafts scopes in the Radiation Fields.  The trail of the missing prospecting ship had gone cold.  With that, the New Olympian Patrol Craft made way for a nearby way point, and prepared to make a jump to the closest neutral Freehold, Liberty Pointe.  

Liberty Pointe was not aligned with the New Olympians or Earth Alliance.  The freeholders of Liberty Pointe were aligned with the Outsider Confed.  However, they welcomed ships from all parties to help bolster their trade.  They were a well known den of thieves, cut-throats, mercenaries, and black marketeers.  If the Freebooters were going to try and fence anything from their attacks on New Arcadia; Liberty Pointe would be their logical destination.  

As the New Olympians, that did not go well...... at all.  Of course, the obvious mistake was breaking into the Rad Field.  I wanted to use it for cover.  It was only after doing it that we decided to look at the rules for them again.  Woops!  Not only are they obscuring, but they were also Dangerous!  That cut my forces Hull down by 2 without my enemy even firing a shot!  

I also criminally mis-used my Dual Beam Ares.  I wanted him to slide sideways and provide covering fire for my advancing Suits.  That part worked, but then I left him exposed when he could not keep up with his fellows due to his flight angle compared to his compatriots!  Bad wingman..... Bad! 

On playing again, I think I need to go back and review how damage/critical damage works.  With this "line" Mecha they will rarely get any Critical Damage.  They tend to explode too fast!  Maybe this is fine, leaving Critical Damage for more "Heroic" mechs?  I will want to review and run some more playtests and simulations before I decide.  

Lastly, I liked the models fine.  I do want to chop them up, repose them a bit, and paint them.  I also feel like I need to scour the bitz box and find some weapons or other gear to kit them out with.  I have some other projects to finish up first, but this will be a fun side project. 



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Monday, May 17, 2021

Wargame Design: Creating Meaningful Choices

 



This blog frequently states as a matter-of-fact that the key of good game design is to create meaningful choices for the player.  However, less frequently do I talk about what this means as a matter of game design!  I have hints and clues about it in some of my posts about Creating Tactical Game Play, the 4Ms, Creating Hooks, Fleshing Out the 4Ms, Deployment is a Choice etc.  However, let's talk specifically about creating choice in your designs.  

To get started, we must first define what a meaningful choice is.  Choice is a decision that a player must make.  However, there are plenty of choices that do not lead to any appreciable difference in game play.  For example, if a model can choose to use a shoot action every turn, then the decision is simple what are they going to shoot.  There is really no "choice" about using the ability to shoot to actually shoot.  

Instead, a meaningful choice is a choice that has actual impacts to game play.  So, to continue the above example with the Shoot action it becomes a meaningful choice when there is an impact to the choice.  In the above example, a model can choose to shoot every turn.  However, by choosing to shoot they can not take other actions.  Now, choosing to shoot becomes a meaningful decision.  It is no longer a "no-brainer" to shoot as you will only want to shoot when there are not other actions to take.  Shoot or No-Shoot has now become a "meaningful decision" 


Meaningful Decision = Downstream Impact to the Game


Meaningful Decisions are ones that force a player to decide what is the "best course" of action based on what is happening in the game.  Choices made during the course of a game are "Tactical" decisions where choices made outside of the course of the game is a "Strategic" choice.  Ideally, Tactical and Strategic choices join in a single game system to allow for a maximum amount of choice.  Today though, we will be focusing on Tactical Choice. 


How Do You Create Meaningful Tactical Choice? 

This is the $64 Thousand dollar question.  Unfortunately, it is not a cut and dry answer.  However, the easiest way to think about it is that choices need consequences.  Consequence free choices are boring and easy to make.  There must be trade-offs.

(Positive Outcomes / Negative Impacts) + Downstream Impacts to the Game = Meaningful Choice

The Positive Outcomes are the meat of most mechanics.  You shoot someone, you engage in melee, you force them back etc.  The Negative Outcomes are not always as clear.  The Downstream Impact to the game is whatever happens actually changes how the games outcome was moving.  That is a meaningful choice. 

Positive Outcomes are straight forward, they are what the player actual wants to have happen.  It is the Negative Impacts that are harder to determine.  Here are some idea.    

1. Firepower vs Maneuver

The Futility of Realistic Weapon Ranges discusses one of the key things to think about.  You must juggle the balance between firepower and maneuver.  Where a player chooses to go must have an impact in how the game is played.  Otherwise, they will always take the shortest route to the win condition.  This is the logical course to follow, unless there are reasons not too.  

Generally, that reason is that enemy firepower will stop you from following the straightest course.  Therefore, there needs to be an interaction between how far models can move, how far weapons can fire, and how do you reduce an enemies firepower.  

Some ways to add complications is by adding terrain, adding modifiers to ranges, and/or creating areas where firepower can not be deployed due to fire arcs.  Therefore, players then need to make choices about how they will interact with these complications to achieve the objective.  

The rules will help facilitate these decisions.  For example, models with a 360 degree fire arc can see all around them.  There are no blind spots for them.  This means how you choose to face a model has no impact or repercussions.  To add tactical decisions, you can reduce their fire arc to 180 degree forward.  Now, enemies can approach in "safety" from their firepower on the flank and rear.  Now, a player has to think about and decide where to position their model to minimize the danger from an approaching enemy.  

2. Objective vs Force Capabilities

Games must have alternate win conditions besides simply killing the enemy.  Without Objectives, opponents will simply close to optimum firing range and blast away at the enemy.  There is no meaningful tactical choice in this situation.  The solution is "solved" at that point and there are no decisions, only determining outcomes.   

Objectives give forces a reason to act and react to each other.  Objectives force players to decide how best to accomplish their missions.  They normally can not just sit and wait for their enemies to wander into their line of fire.  Instead, they are forced to move towards the Objectives while avoiding the enemies actions.  You now have a situations where decisions matter. 

For example, if you need more opponents than your enemy within X distance of point A; how do you secure it?  Does your whole army move up and stand on it?  Do you send some forward to tie up your enemy from even getting to the objective?  How much of it do you send forward?

The answer to your objectives should not simply be to "kill" all your opponents on the board. 


3.  Outcomes Vs Bad Consequences

Good decisions should not be a free gimme or a "solved" issue.  Interesting choices need trade-offs and consequences.  Therefore, if you choose to do X, then that means you can not do Y.  You then need to evaluate which is better in any given situation, do you chose X or Y.  If a decision is consequence free, it is not an interesting decision.             

A consequence doesn't need to be mechanically bad, such as implying negative mods or worse probabilities.  Instead, they could also be restrictions or a requirement to test where none existed before.  These are also consequences that can apply to a decision. 

For example, in Heirs to Empire if you move your light cavalry to open order they can turn and wheel freely, but they are treated as Disordered which gives penalties in combat.  Getting into and out of Open Order requires a command point to be spent from a limited pool.  Is the ability to freely move worth the penalties?  In some situations yes, and others no.  Therefore, you have a tactical decision with consequences. 

Decisions must have consequences, both good and bad.   



4. Limitations of Action

As a commander, you simple can not do everything you want to do in a turn.  These limitations could be based on how a turn is structured, activation methods, resource management or mechanics driven.  However, no matter the method, they all make it so a commander can not just "do" whatever they want.  

Some examples: 

In Blucher, it takes Momentum Points to move.  Once you are out of Momentum Points you can no longer move your forces.  

Blood Bowl, You can act until you fail a roll.  Then play goes to your opponent, even if your team needed to do more things that possession.  

Black Ops, has models that activate only when a card is pulled for them.  Therefore, they can not always react at the best time. 

Reality's Edge, each model makes an activation check.  if passed they can do two actions, but it failed they can only do 1.

As you can see, these limits help define the game.  How you can operate within these limits dictate how you play and your tactics.  These limitations are what imposes a decision point.  Without these limitations, there would be fewer meaningful decisions in the game.  



Final Thoughts

One of the key aspects of a good game is to create decision points, but they must be Meaningful Choices.  Such choices can be viewed as a simple equation when you are building out the 4Ms or Chrome in your game.  

(Positive Outcomes / Negative Impacts) + Downstream Impacts to the Game = Meaningful Choice

Meaningful choices and decisions can not happen in a vaccum.  There must be good and bad and they must have downstream impacts for the game.  There is a simple maxim in RPGs, if rolling a dice does not add anything to the story, do not have a player roll a dice.  The same is true here.  If a decision point is not meaningful, do not leave space for a decision.  

It is not as easy as simply writing a list of things that are or are not "Meaningful Decisions" as they will vary a lot based on your game.  The above are some guidelines to get you started.  However, if you apply the simple formula to decision points in your game, you will soon be able to tell if you are creating Meaningful Choices for game play.   



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Monday, May 10, 2021

Battle Report: Glittering Void- ID and Engage

 


If you are in desktop version, on the left hand side of the blog you will see a WIP section of the blog.  That is where I put various games I am still working on and adapting for play.  Today's game is called Glittering Void and it can be found in that section of the rules.  

The trading contract for the Freehold of New Arcadia will expire and come up for re-negotiation in the next rotations.  Traditionally, these contracts have been held by corporate interests aligned with the New Olympians, and New Arcadia was considered within the New Olympians sphere of interests.  However, the free hold is located in the Asteroid Belt, which the Earth Alliance views at its territory.   

With the contract set to expire, elements of the Earth Alliance have begun aggressively courting New Arcadia.  They have offered lucrative incentives, and coupled them with veiled threats.  In fact, some smaller trading and prospecting vessels from New Arcadia have gone missing in the region.  The Earth Alliance has cited this as a prime reason to change contracts, as the New Olympians have failed to properly protect and enforce the expiring contract.

The powers that be on NeOlympus have deemed it necessary to reinforce their alliance on New Arcadia.  To this end, they have deployed a patrol ship and a compliment of suits to New Arcadia space.  A Carrier arrived and dropped off just such a ship before continuing on its route.  The New Olympian commander on the scene has pledged to find the cause of the missing prospecting vessels.    

 Investigating the last know location of one of these New Arcadian Prospecting ships, the New Olympians had unusual activity on their scopes.  Interference was being thrown out by a large Radiation Band in the area.  Therefore, a patrol of Suits was deployed to investigate further. 

Forces

New Olympians

3 Ares Space Combat Suits

1 Ares Space Combat Suit

- Upgrade #2: Dual Heavy Beams

Unkowns

1 Polemarch Suit

- Upgrade- Combat Shield

4 Hoplite Suits

- 1 Upgrade- Rocket Tube

Unknows on the Left, New Olympians on the Right

Of course, today's play test will be featuring my (in)famous Paper Templates!   

I use dice to raise or lower their altitude.  On the table is Alpha, 1 dice is Beta, and 2 dice is Gamma level.  

I also made some small paper circles for future games that will be used to show the direction travelled.  A key part of this game is that you can travel one direction, but face another.  Facing is based on the Front (marked with an F on my templates) and the direction of travel will be based on the triangle on the marker below the template.  Make sense? 

Mission:

Today's mission is found in the main rulebook.  In this scenario, unknown blips have been detected and combat units have been deployed to identify the unknowns and determine who they are.  You can score additional Victory Points by using your sensors to "ID" a target as well as normal combat processes. 

Set-up

Today's game will be on a 48 MU x 48 MU board with 1 MU being one inch.  There is a Radiation band that goes across the board at Alpha and Beta level.  This radiation band has been making long range Identification of the unknowns difficult.  It is 12 MU wide and arcs across near the center line of the board.  I am using pipe cleaners to differentiate the edges.    



The Unknowns are on one side of the Radiation band, while the New Olympians are on the other.  All suits are deployed up to 6 MU from the board edge.  The New Olympians are at various altitude bands and speeds.  The Earth Alliance are all at Alpha level and coming on at full speed.       

Turn 1:

The "Unknowns" have more units, so they can activate a unit first.  Each player chooses the Maneuver cards for their suits and marks it on the H.U.D. along with their speed and altitude. 

Movement:

Both sides speed towards the radiation belt.  However, no one breaches it this turn.  Two New Olympian Suits are above the Radiation Belt at Gamma altitude, but none of the Unknows are there to match them.  

Shooting: 

No one has the range for shooting yet.


You can see the height and direction indicators in action!

Turn 2:

The Unknowns still have more Units, so have the Initiative.  

Movement:      

Unknown H3 breaks the Radiation Belt at Alpha.  He is met by A6 speeding up and maneuvering into the belt at Beta, while A7 (with his dual Beam Cannons) escorts him in and drops to Beta as well.  Unknown H4 tries to maneuver into the Belt, but is just shy at Beta Altitude.  

The New Olympian A5 breaks the edge of the Radiation Belt, and he is met by two incoming unknowns at Alpha level as well.  One rotates away from him, while the other stays close by.  A5 is covered by A2 at beta level.  

Finally, Unkown P1 enters the edge of the Radiation Belt and pivots towards A6, both at Beta.  



Shooting: 

Unkown P1 has Pilot skill of 4+ and Initiative, so they attack first.  A6 is in the proper arc and medium range. The Unknown hits once, but the New Olympian suits shrugs off the blast with its armor! 

The New Olympians have a higher Pilot skill than the remaining Unknown suits, so they shoot next.  A7 with the dual Beam cannons targets H4 and thanks to Extra Damage blasts the suit into inert junks!  

Ares suit 5 fires on Unknown H2 at range, but the shot bounces off the Suits armor.  A2 fires at Unknown P1 at range, and hits; blasting off the suits combat arm!  Ares Suit 6 does not have the right arc to target H3.  

The Unknowns fire back!  H3 fires on A6, but misses due to radiation messing with his gun sights.  H1 also streaks by targeting A6 and his Mass driver tears into the enemy suit and damages its thrusters.  Despite getting attack himself, H2 is out of range of the attacker! 



Turn 3:

Both sides have the same amount of models, so they dice off.  The "Unknowns" have Initiative.  Everyone chooses maneuver cards.   

Movement:

Suits scattered as the fighting intensified!  H3 and A7 rocked past each other at Beta altitude.  Meanwhile A6 dodged out of the opposite side of the belt, but facing the wrong way and ending at altitude Alpha.  H1 tried to pursue, but was too slow.  A2 and P1 both ended up going high and breaking out of the Rad Belt, but unable to draw a good bead on each other.  Finally, A5 and H1 got very close and started circling each other at Alpha level. 



Shooting: 

P1 gets to try to shoot first, but he has no targets!  

A5 manages to scan Unknown H2 as he lashes out with his combat arm!  He misses!  The New Olympians are our of shots.  

H2 tries to attack A5 back, but fails to land his punch.  H1 uses his Mass Rifle on A7 one altitude up from him.  He snags the Dual Heavy Beamed Ares but not enough to take it out!     

Turn 4: 

The Unknowns continue to have Initiative.  

Movement:       

The two sides are beginning to break apart, and will need to maneuver back in to continue the fight.  However, there may be some opportunity fire.  



Shooting: 

A2 fires a long rang beam shot at H1, but misses.  A2 and H2 exchange fire, but fail to find the mark in the Radiation Belt.

Turn 5: 

The Unknowns continue to have initiative. 

Movement: 

H3 and H2 move back into the belt to engage at Beta and Alpha respectively.  P1 also drops back into the belt to Beta.  They are met by A2, A6, and A7 all coming back into the fight.  H1 and A5 are dueling beyond the belt.  


Shooting: 

P1 fires on Ares A2 but misses.  

A7 fires his dual Heavy beam Cannons at H3, but some how he flies on through the blast!  A2 also targets H3, and damages his controls! A6 also fires but misses.  A5 fires on H1, and knocks the pilot unconscious with a blast to the cockpit, taking its Pilot rating above 7+ and taking it out of action. 



H3 returns fire on A6 but misses as well.  H5 flies by and fires on A6 and blasts the suit into atoms with his Mas rifle!       

End: 

The Unknowns have lost 2 suits, to the New Olympians 1.  The New Olympians also got 1 ID on the Unknowns.


Turn 6:         

This time, the New Olympians snatch the Initiative.  

Movement:

The remaining Unknowns swarm Ares 2 in the Radiation Belt at Alpha level.  A5 tries desperately to get back into the fight, while A7 is at Beta and can not provide covering fire.  This could be the last firefight of the game. 



Shooting: 

A2 gets a clean ID of P1 and H3.  He then fires at the unIDed target.  The close range firepower is too much for the suit, and leaves it drifting lifeless in space. 

P1 fires up close at A2. The close range Mas Rifle fire is enough and totals A2.  From outside of the Rad belt, A5 fires his Beam Rifle at P1, and manages to score a hit that causes internal damage and reduces P1 Thrust by 1.    

H3 no longer has any shots as A5 is too far away and A2 was destroyed.  



Turn 7- Disengagement Turn

The Unknowns regain the Initiative. 

Movement: 

P1 and H3 try to break off back to their home base.  However, A5 goes head-to-head with the retreating H3 at Alpha level.  A7 continues to stay at Beta and try to cover the retreat back to their patrol ship.  

Shooting:

A5 opens fire at close range on H3 and blasts the enemy suit to pieces.  Boom! 



Conclusion

New Olympians win 75 VP to 40 VP.  

Even before the patrol returned, the Intel crew were analyzing the signature IDs sent back to the Patrol Ship.  It was clear that the Unknown Suits that had been engaged were Earth Alliance models, but that wouldn't be enough to pin the missing prospecting craft on them.  The Earth Alliance sold their hardware to anyone with enough resources to buy them.  They could just as easily been pirates, mercenaries, or rebels.  More work would need to be done if the New Olympians were going to prove that the Earth Alliance was somehow involved.  

So, how did the game play.  If White Star/Red Star is intended to make the "flying" part of the game easier, this did the opposite!  You have to carefully use your thrust to rotate facing, rotate direction of movement, AND choose the right Maneuver card to get into a position to use your weapons.  

Thankfully, the 3 altitude makes it mush easier, with most suits being able to shoot up a level as well.  Therefore, the "engagement" radius is pretty large but there is also a lot of maneuver you can do to try and avoid combat for a bit.  It is all about careful planning and the order of activation.  

The Radiation Belt made the fighting up-close and personal.  I reduced the speeds to 1 MU instead of 2 MU per rating (accidentally) and that helped on a 48 MU x 48MU board.  Plus, the Rad Belt slows suits down too.  They could be zipping all over the board otherwise!  I do not have a problem with that!  

The game was supposed to capture the feel of an Anime dogfight, and I think it does that pretty well!  Suits are zipping around all over the place.  Guns are blazing.  Suits can get special damage that impact their performance.  Finally, there were several cinematic moments in the game as Mecha suits fired as they flew past each other and away, they tried to hit each other on a few close passes, and the closer you got the more deadly everything was!  

I want to try playing through it a few more times before I pass final judgement.  maneuvering was a bit more intensive than I normally like, BUT those maneuvers do capture the right feel of the game.  The H.U.D. was also invaluable as an off board tracking system.  I think I might be able to ditch the maneuver cards, but I need to try some non-suit only games before I decide.  The cards seems like they will make non-suits maneuver more realistically.  Finally, there are a couple niggling details to iron out as well just to smooth out play.    

Another W.I.P. game managed to hit the table this year!  I am pretty happy about that! Give Glittering Void a try for yourself, and let me know what you think in the message board.      



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Monday, May 3, 2021

Review: Gangs of Rome- Warbanner/Footsore Miniatures

 


I picked up the Gangs of Rome PDF during a Black Friday sale at Footsore Miniatures.  I didn't download the PDF until January of 2021, and then I did not get a chance to read and absorb them before now.  Therefore, they have been sitting in my "inbox" for a while now.  

I have to admit, the concept for this game intrigued me greatly.  A "historical" gang fight game set in the Eternal City in the days of the Senate?  Intriguing.  I have always had a soft spot for gladiators and the like.  I knew that gladiators  were often hired out as street thugs and toughs for the favor of their patron.  I had been doing a lot of research on Ancient Rome for Wars of the Republic and The Games: Blood and Spectacles.   The period of the Gracchi brothers and the cold war between the Optimates and the Populares, and even earlier the Plebians vs the Patricians and the political infighting was a source of much interest.  A low-level game to help play out such political turmoil using the ideas of the Roman patronage system and shadow power seemed very intriguing to me! 

In addition, the game promised spectacle!  Rome was the city of Brick and Marble.  It was the growing power of the world, and was constantly growing, building, and changing.  In a way, it was like an Ancient Underhive as it grew larger, more populous, and more divided.  The boards for a game set in Rome promised to be interesting, unique, and dense.  I doubt my wallet or talents could do it justice.  

Finally, I had actually had a similar game in my Concept Folder to build.  I sat on it, as I grew intimidated by the research I would need to do for it.  However, it looks like my hesitation will be rewarded as someone beat me to the punch! 

Let us explore the streets of Rome together! 

From the Rulebook PDF for Gangs of Rome


Prelude to Gangs of Rome:

Before we get too far, I think it is important to discuss the "novel" approach this game planned to take with their miniature releases.  They intended to sell a model that came with a randomly generated card with a name, stats, and bit of information about the fighter such as where they hailed from and what gods they worshipped.  This would also come with 4 Denarii (or coins) that would map to gear in the game, 2 common, 1 uncommon, and 1 rare.  Even if you bought 10 of the same Fighter 5 pose, you could have completely different stats and equipment become available from those exact same models.  

This is referred to as the Hand of Fate in the rules.  In a way, it was like a combination of collectible minis, collectible cards, and blind packs but you knew exactly the sculpt you were going to get.    This was a ..... novel approach.  I feel before I get to far into the game, it is very important to understand this aspect Gangs of Rome and it may shed insight into why the rules are built the way they are.

I will save my thoughts on this business model and product decision to the end as I feel it is separate from the game mechanics themselves.  Lately, I have found that game design and product design are two different sides of the same coin.  

From the Gangs of Rome Rules PDF

What I Liked:

Dice rolling is simple and easy.  You are looking for successes and a 4+ is a success 90% of the time. Each stat is a pool of dice you use for your tests.  Test are either against a target # of successes if unopposed, or opposed with the highest number of successes winning.  Simple and just the way I like my dice rolls.  However, injury removes dice from your pool, so too many injuries may keep you alive but just really bad at doing things! I like! 

On the cards, it states where a fighter is from and who their gods are.  This is relevant in the game.  Fighters from the same place have advantages over fighters from different locations.  They do not block Line-of-sight or movement.  Therefore, if you randomly get a couple fighters from the same location you have a decision about how you want to use them.  This is a simple and elegant little bit of Chrome to bring Strategic choice to your little warband. 

As for the gods, a Model can choose to spend their activation praying to their gods.  They make a roll and a success allows them to gain a bit of inspiration.  They type of inspiration also varies based on the gods that they follow.  Therefore, a model can always try to do something useful whenever they are activated, even if they are not fighting.  

The game use a bank of coins called a Denarii.  You get a collection of Denarii based on the size of your gang, and the rarity of the Denarii you have selected.  These are weapons, special abilities, and equipment that can be shifted around between your gang as the game progresses.  You shuffle the Denarii in an out of your bank as a form of resource management to help off set the abilities of your foe, off set your model's weakness, or capitalize on their strengths.  The bank is also depleted as you use it, and will not recycle until all Denarii are used.  This is one of the unique resource management elements of the game and acts as a deck of abilities and powers you can use and assign to various fighters and swap them around during the game as well. 

The game also assumes that the city of Rome is full of people!  Therefore, there are various Mobs of people moving about that act as a complication, terrain, and more.  The good side is the added value and options these Mobs can bring as they go from ordinary to angry and vice versa.  They can be used as a tactical element as well by forcing them to panic or drawing them closer to you.  On the down side, it starts to make a skirmish game rather model heavy!   

One of my favorite actions is to Blend.  With this you can move up to a Mob Base and essentially disappear into the Mob.  A fighter who has blended may later return to play from ANY mob marker on the board.  This is a great little mechanic!

From the Gangs of Rome Rulebook PDF


What I Did Not Like:

The game uses a blind bag draw system for activation.  This is a perfectly serviceable method that allows for randomization and uncertainty of activation order.  Many games have used it to good effect and it is a tried and true game mechanic.  I personally am not a huge fan of it as I prefer to make decisions that impact order activation preferably on a risk/reward continuum.  I am thinking games like Blood Bowl or Hail Caesar with their push-your-luck method or even The Men Who Would Be Kings  where there is a default action if you fail the activation role.  Even Turf War where you get a base action and then trying to do more risks losing initiative.  

The game has a number of specific actions or combinations of actions.  For example, you can Combat + Move, or Charge Move + Combat; but there is no simple Move + Combat.    Another interesting note is the more wounds you have received, the slower you can move, but charge distance is tied to their fighting score and not based on Flesh.  This feels a bit like a If This/Then That type of rule and the kind of thing I always mess up when I am actually playing the game!     

There are a surprising amount of rules for moving through and over terrain in this game.  Detecting folks coming up a ladder, ambushing them at the top of a climb, cut a rope, etc.  They take up about 2 pages in a 36 page book with a lot of illustrations.  Moving over terrain can require a lot of dice rolling and injury to go from point A to Point B.  I am not sure how I feel about this yet as it seems really cumbersome and full of Niche cases, but I am sure it is intended to add "flavor" or "tactics" to the game.  It just looks hard to remember.  

From the Gangs of Rome Rulebook PDF

 Meh and Other Uncertainties 

The game is played on a 3x3 foot board, which is nice as it will be hard to fill a larger board with the appropriate terrain.  This is a terrain heavy game.  

Similarly to moving, there are also two types of attacks.  Blood that cause physical injury and reduce a foes ability scores is one.  The other is called Brawl and impact a models placement on the board.  The default attack is a Blood attack, but Brawl could be useful for positioning purposes.  Blood is Fight vs Defense, while Brawl attacks are Attack vs Agility.  In theory, I like the idea of the two kinds of attacks as it adds decision making and some tactics, however I feel like other game systems have done it simpler and better.  Specifically, I am thinking about Dracula's America and their "Shove" mechanic.  However, this game system is trying really hard to add tactical depth once melee has been engaged and not be just a stand and roll dice affair.     

If you lose a game, you are required to print and sign a Personal Influence Marker.  This is essentially a campaign point that you can use against this opponent in the future.  You can collect several of them to be raised to the Senatorial class OR you can cash them in and use them for an advantage in the game.  They are a form of very personalized campaign scoring.  I think this could be a hoot in a small gaming group or club, but is a bit clumsy.  The rules require you to make, retain, and hand off these Personal Influence Markers in order to use them.  

The PDF rules I purchased had 3 scenarios included, and index, and a QRS. 

From the Gangs of Rome Rulebook PDF

Final Thoughts:  

CCG, with Collectible Miniatures, meets wargaming.  That is my basic summary of the rules for Gangs of Rome.  Personally, it is not to my taste at all, but I can see its appeal as a "product" to be sold in a package.  After all, you have randomly generated fighter cards and special abilities when you buy a pack.  The game also has extra monetization built in with pebbles, pebble bags, measurement devices and custom dice, which to be fair you do not NEED to play the game.  However, you do need the cards and the Denarii coins that come with the models.  I have no idea how many different common, uncommon, and rare Denarii coins there are.   

It is essentially the X-wing "product" model but with Historical models.  

That being said, there is a difference between "Product Design" and "Game Design".  Game design is focused on the mechanics and choices that players must make in game to successfully complete a game.  In this aspect, there are several design aspects I like.  It is a pretty solid game system that is trying really hard to provide choices in melee and movement.  In some areas I think it is trying a bit too hard, but there are also some nice ideas hidden in there as well.  

If you are wondering what the big draw is mechanically I think there are a couple of ideas:  

  1. Mobs as a tactical and complicating element of the game
  2. Using a "deck" to augment and empower models as a resource and fog-of-war
  3. Injury impacting ability 1 for 1  
To me, those are the big "Innovations" in this ruleset as a game.  

However, much of this game is really "Product Design" and dabbling with new ways to monetize the wargaming hobby, especially for skirmish level games.  In that sense, it is trying to take the successful X-wing model and apply it to historical skirmish.  As far as concepts go, it is not a bad one.  However, I think to be truly successful they would need Pre-painted models and Terrain packs.  In addition, they also need special rules associated with the terrain packs they created similar to Marvel: Crisis Protocol.  

I think I will save further discussion about Product Design vs. Game Design for a different entry.  Suffice it to sat that I find this trend in monetization and product design in the industry to be.... sub-optimal..... for my tastes and preferences. 

Overall, not a bad game but not one I see myself playing due to the terrain needs and the monetization model associated with the game.      





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