I'm still planning to continue the Five Leagues campaign, but I had to pause for a while to paint the figures I needed for the next game. I also painted a dozen other figures in a bunch of genres. That was fun.
I also had an idea for a new set of rules for shooting combat. More specifically I've had this particular idea for quite some time, but I just now worked out a few issues I had, so I was able to finally try out the rules!
Bunching up is also a poor idea, unless you're the bad guys. If you're an bad guy with an RPG, it really works out pretty well.
The troops were making much better use of cover, and I was loving the reaction mechanic. It really does play different that anything else we've played.
That photo right above was a really tense part of the game for me. I needed to get those guys off the street so we could start checking buildings, but I was genuinely wary of moving out of cover to actually do it. A game generating what I consider to be reasonably realistic feelings is a win in my book.
And the RPG is still quite effective, even against vehicles. Just prior to this I did a review of my vehicle rules. It was short, largely due to knowing I didn't have any. So I had to come up with them. It turns out that my rules work really well for man-to-man combat. They'll also work well for small vehicles like trucks or jeeps, possibly an armored car, but anything bigger just isn't going to work without some really arbitrary rules stuck in there.
I got it figured out, and they worked great. Then the jeep blew up and I no longer needed them...
Following the success of the modern game, it seemed to me that the rules should work just as well for a western. The only differences between 1873 Arizona and 2018 Iraq is attitude and rate of fire.
So I set up a game. The eight outlaws are going into town to rob the bank. The sheriff and his two deputies, along with the two Pinkertons the bank hired, are there to stop them.
As expected, the rules created epic gunfights. Guns blazing, ricochets forcing people back, ducking, dodging! The speed of a mans reaction would save him, or doom him!
I also added civilians into this game. The streets just didn't seem right being empty. I just had them move randomly when activated. In the photo above, the civilians were unerringly drawn to the Sheriff for some reason. The just kept crowding around him. It was pretty amusing. I kept picturing him waving them back saying "I'm a little busy here, folks".
I made the outlaws the same skill and training as the previous ones, there are six of them.
The bounty hunters are elite, but there's only three of them. Plus the outlaw is inside an easily defendable position. I decided the money must be hidden in the cave, just so the outlaw had a bit more of a walk to exit the board.
The hunters fought their way through the additional gang. Able Cain spent a lot of the game covering the door to the house, putting slugs into the door frame every time the outlaw tried to escape. Eventually only the one outlaw remained, so the hunters closed in, using all the cover they could.
I also had an idea for a new set of rules for shooting combat. More specifically I've had this particular idea for quite some time, but I just now worked out a few issues I had, so I was able to finally try out the rules!
I set up the game as a modern one. The Marines are going in to rescue an American being held hostage. Even when testing I don't like playing just flat fights, there needs to be a point for me.
A very important aspect of my new rules is that cover is important. Very important. I know this, but I don't really "get" it, apparently. I used cover as well as I do in any other wargame, but this one makes it more important. The idea of suppression fire to keep the enemies head down is also important, but I only sort of kept that in mind.
Bunching up is also a poor idea, unless you're the bad guys. If you're an bad guy with an RPG, it really works out pretty well.
At the end of the game, 22 insurgents were down, but so were 7 Marines. The last two made it back to the truck and rolled out of there. Mission failure, but rule success!
I was tweaking and writing as I played in order to make it better, but the base concept I started with ended up working really well. It seemed like a good idea, and like it would work, but it's hard to tell for sure until you see it in practice. Hence the test.
So after the tweaks, and the very important thing that I now "Get it", I set it up again.
For complex political reasons (meaning I don't know why) the Chinese have sent in troops to get the American out.
Really, I just wanted to use different figures. I also wanted to test out different equipment, and unit set-ups.
I also changed the Initiative mechanic. It works just as well as the method I used in the first game. I guess that means that it doesn't matter what method of initiative you use. The reaction mechanic keeps it flowing regardless of how the figures are initially activated.
The troops were making much better use of cover, and I was loving the reaction mechanic. It really does play different that anything else we've played.
That photo right above was a really tense part of the game for me. I needed to get those guys off the street so we could start checking buildings, but I was genuinely wary of moving out of cover to actually do it. A game generating what I consider to be reasonably realistic feelings is a win in my book.
And the RPG is still quite effective, even against vehicles. Just prior to this I did a review of my vehicle rules. It was short, largely due to knowing I didn't have any. So I had to come up with them. It turns out that my rules work really well for man-to-man combat. They'll also work well for small vehicles like trucks or jeeps, possibly an armored car, but anything bigger just isn't going to work without some really arbitrary rules stuck in there.
I got it figured out, and they worked great. Then the jeep blew up and I no longer needed them...
The game concluded, the Chinese were successful in rescuing the hostage. 17 downed insurgents and only two soldiers. I was making proper use of cover and suppression, and was more properly aware of reactions.
I really like how this game flows! It's tense, it's fluid, and it's fun!
Following the success of the modern game, it seemed to me that the rules should work just as well for a western. The only differences between 1873 Arizona and 2018 Iraq is attitude and rate of fire.
So I set up a game. The eight outlaws are going into town to rob the bank. The sheriff and his two deputies, along with the two Pinkertons the bank hired, are there to stop them.
As expected, the rules created epic gunfights. Guns blazing, ricochets forcing people back, ducking, dodging! The speed of a mans reaction would save him, or doom him!
I also added civilians into this game. The streets just didn't seem right being empty. I just had them move randomly when activated. In the photo above, the civilians were unerringly drawn to the Sheriff for some reason. The just kept crowding around him. It was pretty amusing. I kept picturing him waving them back saying "I'm a little busy here, folks".
In the end one of the outlaws managed to dodge the Pinkertons bullets, and escape with the loot. It wasn't the guy in the photo, he didn't make it. Only one outlaw left the board vertical, but they did manage to gun down a Pinkerton. Incapacitated, but not automatically dead if it were a campaign. If it were a moderns game, I'd say he would recover. In the Old west, he would need to roll or something, it wouldn't be an auto recover. The town doc is good, but he's not a modern hospital.
I was also playing with the stats for the guys in this game. Green, regular, and expert training and shooting levels, varying move stats, etc, to be sure they balanced out. They did.
I was very happy with how the rules handled the western. They work just as well for this as they do modern conflicts!
So I played it again to be sure I had all the bugs out.
The lone outlaw got away with the loot, a sum that was apparently enough to split eight ways, so it must be quite a bit. That isn't something the law just chalks up, so they issued a poster for the guy.
And that's why these three bounty hunters have tracked him down. He's holed up in that house with another gang.
I made the outlaws the same skill and training as the previous ones, there are six of them.
The bounty hunters are elite, but there's only three of them. Plus the outlaw is inside an easily defendable position. I decided the money must be hidden in the cave, just so the outlaw had a bit more of a walk to exit the board.
The hunters fought their way through the additional gang. Able Cain spent a lot of the game covering the door to the house, putting slugs into the door frame every time the outlaw tried to escape. Eventually only the one outlaw remained, so the hunters closed in, using all the cover they could.
Before they could get too close, the outlaw burst through the door, guns blazing. The third hunter was too far South to help, and neither of the two men out front reacted quickly enough to stop him. The outlaw shot down one bounty hunter, then the other. Then took off for the cave. The cards were on his side, and he managed to reach the cave for his money, and exit the board before the third hunter could reach him. The no-name nobody had actually managed to escape again!
All in all, the rules are really very cool. They work like they should, they're fun, and they seem to work for multiple genres equally well!
They won't handle larger vehicles well, but they can be avoided. There's also no real way to give specific figures any sort of Heroic Abilities (without just arbitrarily assigning them I guess). So it's a squad game really. The cowboys work, but only if they aren't specific individuals.
I will be playing this again!
Now I'll get back to the Five Leagues campaign, assuming I don't get distracted with painting western things. I don't need to...
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