Missed Target!

On TMP and Wargames Website there have been a few posts about the Target for Tonight miniature rules, which have just been republished. I'm waiting for them to come out in e-reader format.

From the 1941 documentary

If you are not familiar, TfT models Avro Lancaster raids against Germany in World War 2. It sounds a lot like B-17, the venerable Avalon Hill game. The Devon Wargames blog has an excellent battle report.

Anyway, when the reprint was announced a few months ago, I got so excited I could not wait. I ended up creating my own version, set in space. Well, all the posts about TfT gor me interested in playing my version. I decided to pull it out, and ran into a snag. I never printed out the rules; they are still on my laptop. Alas, my laptop is malfunctioning (it won't recharge) so I can't use it. Instead, I'm borrowing my laptop from work. Unfortunately, this means that I don't have access to most of my rules. So instead of playing a game I'm typing this lament.

A Christian LARP

Just an update on why I've been so silent the past two weeks. Instead of playing I have been busy writing rules. But these rules are not for minis; they are for LARPing, at church.

A month or so ago, my church surveyed the parishioners about how to get people involved. My answer was "run a LARP." Now, I did not expect a response (or if they did I thought they might excommunicate me!). On the contrary, the youth pastor has expressed interest!

We plan to get started in the fall. For the time being, I am "Christianizing" the rules I currently use. So this has become my major activity. Check out my LARP blog for notes on my progress.

On top of that we went to Disney last week. :)

A Fighting Retreat

Introduction
Since last week's skirmishes, I've been jotting down ideas for sci fi ground combat rules. I decided to experiment today using conventional forces (i.e. no mechs).

I decided to bring back my scratch built forces, made with wood, rice, thin spaghetti, and a lentil. They may be crude but they have a certain charm in my eyes.

Battle Report
After defeat at Vesta, the human forces are in full retreat. The robot vanguard seeks to cut of the retreat while the humans try to fend off the pursuit.

The humans (brown - on left) have crossed the river and are making a strategic hill.

As the robots advance, the humans lay down savage fire.

Two robot armored units are destroyed. Alas, robot infantry takes out the sole human armored unit.

 Human infantry holds the bridge against sustained attacks.

But the robots cross the north bridge.

The humans defeat an armored assault and hold the south bridge.

Then the humans on the hill drive off a robot assault.

With only a missile launcher left, the robot commander calls off the pursuit. The humans are saved! For the moment . . .

Game Notes

• I used scenario 20 - fighting retreat from One Hour Wargames. The robots had to seize the hill by turn 15; I threw in the towel by turn 8. Total game time was about half an hour.
• I'm still playing around with the unit factors. I definitely need to beef up the armor's defense.
• Update: I forgot to mention that I made this part of an ongoing campaign that began over a year ago and subsequently stalled. Now the robots are up 2 victories to 1.

Another Skirmish

Since yesterday's skirmish I've been pondering mecha rules. Samurai Robot Battle Royale seemed a little slow for my tastes. I looked into a couple of other rules sets from Wargame Vault but they weren't exactly what I was looking for either.

This morning I had an inspiration. Use Bob Cordery's 20th Century rules from the Portable Wargame and adapt them for sci fi battles incuding mechs. Inspired by SRBR, I tracked damage by body part (head, right arm, left arm, torso, and legs) for the mechs.

Here is my experiment - another skirmish between robot (gray) and human mechs. Once again, tanks are standing in for mechs.

The human mech is trundling up the road to the town. The robot mech jumps out from behind the rocks and fires, damaging the human mech's left arm

Note - For activation, I used the Ganesha Games mechanic. When a body part is damaged, its Quality becomes 1 higher. Thus, if my Quality is 3, I would need a 4 to activate that body part.

The human mech makes it into the town, giving it cover. The robot mech launches a missile salvo. A huge explosion engulfs the human mech. Its right arm and head are damaged!

The two mechs trade torso hits. The robot mech wants to move back to the cover of the rocks, but its systems could not handle multiple actions (not enough activations). It decides to launch another missile salvo, which misses!

The human mech unleashes hell. Cannon fire and missiles spew forth, ripping into the robot mech. A shot penetrates its torso and rips through the engine room. The engines explode!

I must say that this gave a quick (about 20 minutes) and intense game!

A Mecha Skirmish

As war rages on Zirconia, the robot invaders and human defenders have taken to mechs to patrol the lines. In this skirmish, opposing mechs clash. Both are MAIMs (Mechanized Armored Infantry Module) as outlined in Samurai Robot Battle Royale.

Note: I don't have any mech models so I pressed a couple of scratch built tanks into service.

The robot mech (top) is progressing down a road. The human mech receives word of the incursion and moves to stop the enemy.

The robot mech reaches the town. The human mech crests the ridge and the opponents both shoot but miss.

Realizing the odds were against him, the human rushes into close combat. The robot mech strikes the human, causing engine damage.

The robot mech punches and kicks its opponent to no avail.

The robot mech destroys the human's shield. The human mech rips away the robot's shield.

This began a flurry of ineffective strikes (my dice rolling was pitiful). Eventually, the mechs broke off the indecisive action. (I tired of the constant misses)

Thoughts
What did I think of SRBR? Here are a few thoughts after my short trial:

• It has a number of interesting mechanics, especially treating each part of the mech separately for activation. There are also tons of different features (weapons, attack modes, etc.)
• I liked that the mechs did not feel like tanks; having a variety of close combat options gave them a different flavor.
• However, in my case, combat did drag. It could be my bad dice rolling, or it could be a feature of the opposed die roll mechanic (I've had similar issues in the past with DBA).
• There is quite a bit of detail, which is good if you want to design unique mechs. However, it means that it is not practical to have several mechs on the board when playing solo. I think I'd prefer a higher level game, with a couple of mechs + some support units per side.
• Nevertheless, I think I can mine SRBR for a ton of ideas.

For now, I am not sure where I am going with my mech project. I'll continue to experiment.

What About Miniatures?

You'll notice that I used a couple of tanks that I scratch built a few years ago. I have some sci fi minis from Germy (sold by GZG) but I have actually packed them up and may sell them off. Even before I went on a mecha kick, I was leaning toward using my scratch built forces. Now, I am even more determined to go that route.

Next Project

The last couple of weeks I've had time to play, but I just couldn't decide what game or genre I wanted. I thought about some sci-fi battles, but the standard grav tanks just didn't do it for me.

Then I had a thought. Big Stompy Robots!

I've never been big on BSRs before. They just seem so unrealistic; I guess that's why they are now appealing to me.

Anyway, after reading a related post on The Wargame's Website, I decided to pick up this

SRBR is a Ganesha Games product, so I am familiar with many of the mechanics. I'm reading through it and so far am interested.