DC5: Play Test

DC5 Play Testing

  Last weekend I decided to try out the new version of the Deep Corps: 5th Marine Expeditionary Battalion (DC5) rules, and to play with my new terrain I made for that game.
   I set up the game following my rules for doing so, and designed the mission team per the rules. I decided to use my British Forces for this game. (The figures are the older Warzone plastic Imperial troops).

The Mission is on an infested facility. (where, who knows?) Priority 1.
The facility has 5 Objectives.  Two civilians are to be rescued, one in the center galley and one in the red lit room on the right. Two terminals need to be hacked, one in the red lit room, one in a small room near the center. And an important book recovered from the orange lit room on the upper left if the team is able to do so.

Looks pretty with the room lights out!

Warzone plastic Imperial miniatures.  I use them as British Troops, mostly because they look like British troops.

 The team consists of: (Position - Squad/Number - Name)
Rifleman - A1 - Courtney Wade
Rifleman - A2 - Floyd Love
Rifleman - A3 - Bernard Griffith
Medic - A4 - Elbert Ross
Machine Gunner - A6 - Edmund Williamson

  The mission started out with an ominous sign, it took the full activation's of two marines to get the front door open.

 Once open, the rest of the squad advanced quickly in the hall, but remained cautious.

Bernard moved to cover the visible air vent and took up an overwatch position.  No bugs were going to ambush his squad!

Unfortunately, this left the support marines way out in front, by themselves.  While they're quite capable fighters, anyone left alone isn't in a very good position for survival in these places.

(meta note: It's been too long since I played the original! The aliens tend to accumulate over time, so blitzing toward objectives on the first few turns is a better tactical play. Being cautious is good, but you end up being buried in bugs that way.)

  Wade, A1, makes his way past the support guards and into the larger hall, cautiously peering around corners and down halls. 

"Contact! I've got Bugs advancing!" Wade called out over the comms.

Fortunately, it wasn't many. The accurate fire of the marines assault rifle, and eventually, the whining roar of the machine gun cut the creatures down.

Elbert crossed the room to open the next door, presuming his mates could handle the few bugs on their own. He had no trouble with the door.

Of course, that's when things went wrong again.

Aliens popped from the wall vent across the galley, and more sprang from the vent in the open hall area.

 The bugs from the open hall vent were confronted with instant Overwatch fire from Bernard! It didn't phase them though (mostly because he missed every shot and ran himself out of ammo).
The others dealt with the bugs, but not before Edmund took some serious wounds. (tactical edit: Do not leave the Machine Gunner alone out in front!)

  Elbert moved back into the hall to treat Edmunds wounds. 
  Courtney moved up and used a spectacularly placed grenade to entirely eliminate the threat approaching them from the galley.  He then provided a rear guard for the rest of the squad to advance in to the galley.  

  No one touched the civilian yet. The aliens don't bother them for some reason until marines make contact, so he's safer on his own for now. We'll get him on the way out.


Unfortunately, this left Courtney alone when the vent opened again and aliens poured out. He opened up with Panic Fire, and killed many, but it wasn't near enough.
   The flood of bugs raced toward him, three of the lethal creatures reached him, each more than capable of doing horrific wounds. Three would kill him for certain.




Unless, of course, they rolled like this...
They rolled two wounds, out of a possible eight. Lucky marine! 

  

 The rest of the squad returned quickly to dispatch the small horde that had attacked Courtney.  The last bug had to be dealt with by the machine gun.  He killed it, but shot through and wounded Courtney as well!  Still, it was better than dealing with the creatures bite again.

And then the squad learned that they had been badly misusing the term "hoard" up to this point.  Aliens poured from the hall and galley vents, with more simply waiting for their brethren to clear out of the way.

 The marines did the only sensible thing.  They each fired once into the oncoming wall of bugs, then ran into the galley and slammed the door.  
Elbert tended to wounds while the others took up defensive positions to defend against the bugs still coming from the galley vent.  The horde left behind the door was making their way around, so staying put for long was out.

So they quickly made their way down the hall, three marines heading to open the door. All three failed. The others took up Overwatch to cover the rear.

 Eventually, they got in and Floyd quickly completed the objective. Apparently he can hack computers, but doorknobs are just confounding.



Again, the others take up Overwatch and cover positions. Paranoia is obviously starting to set in.

 Once the squad formed up again, they opened the door and charged through.  Edmund was the first through, his gun spinning up as he moved, blasting away he cut down the bugs that dropped from the vent.

The room cleared, the men take up positions to cover the vents as best they can, and simultaneously move to reach the objectives in the room.

But before anyone can grab the objectives...the bugs are back!  And in force this time. 
Bugs pour out of vents, streaking across the floor to rend and shred the marines. The men open up with Panic Fire, cutting down a half dozen creatures, but it's too little.  Floyd goes down in a flurry of teeth and blood.  Courtney and Edmund take grievous wounds.

 Edmund wasn't able to react fast enough, so Edmund fell to the slashing claws and teeth of a lone alien.  Courtney watched with impotent rage, unable to respond, as his gun was empty.
And still the horde in the hallway drew closer.
Without Edmund's gun to halt the bugs, Courtney could only think of one thing to do.  He leapt to the door and slammed it closed. Elbert raced to Edmund, and was able to stabilize him.  As long as they could get him out, he should make a recovery.

 But they aren't getting out.  If the aliens poured out before, this was a tsunami.  Bernard had completed the hacking objective, and had a civilian in tow, when he reached the others.
Courtney, already badly wounded, didn't stand long against the alien tide.  
Bernard and Elbert put up much more of a fight, almost completely clearing the room with assault rifle and shotgun blasts, even a grenade launched almost too close.

Once again the aliens streamed into the room, and this time the two couldn't stop them all.  Both marines, and the civilian, finally fell to the overwhelming alien numbers.

Outcome: Two objectives completed, 77 aliens killed.
All five Marines lost in action.

As a playtest is was a great success.  
I added some rules for things that were missing or unclear. I changes some existing rules to behave better, or to better reflect the game I wanted.  But the majority of the game, the bulk of the rules, worked as they should.  
I didn't actually find any rules that didn't work, just some that needed to work better. 

The end result was that I had fun.  And that's the only real test for it. I will play again and make sure the adjustments work as I expect.

I also need to bring more marines...