This Scenario 2 (Attack on Outpost 983) playtest AAR is long overdue. My attention got diverted for a couple weeks to the project of adding some additional WWII items to the business. Now that it is safely into other people’s hands, I can get back to this project. In short, the rules set Fictioneers: Legacy is coming along nicely. We still need some background info written and the text cleaned up a bit but the core rules are ready to be released for beta testing. If you are interested in getting a copy of the rules and providing feedback to us about them, please let us know via the contact form here. Two of the five planned initial scenarios have been playtested and just need typed up. The other three are just basic ideas and still need to be developed. Getting the core rules and first 2 scenarios ready to coincide with the launch of Fictioneer minis has been our goal for quite some time, and it looks like we are still on track. The molds are getting closer to being complete but are still likely months away.
Scenario 2 is a typical attacker-defender arrangement. The scenario name and writeup purposely does not list any specific factions so players can drop it in with whichever forces they have. As opposed to Scenario 1 which is exactly balanced and good for tournament style play, the balance on this is a bit more subjective. It is meant for casual games between friends or to be run at a club or game convention. If the attackers get slaughtered without making much progress, or the defenders are too easily overrun, make some adjustments before you run it again. Some experimentation regarding balance might be needed with your particular factions & units. The scenario details how to setup the terrain and how to setup/deploy units. There are no victory points or time limit. The objective is total control of the board at any cost. Either side can yield whenever they feel that they can no long continue.
With the factions that we used for this session, and the terrain called for, the 2:1 odds specified in the scenario for the forces worked out just fine. The Klacktons with some Eeek Mercenaries were the attackers and worked their way across the open field. It took a bit to push the Ssss out of their advanced positions in the woods. The attack there was successful thanks to the Klackon’s heavy support weapons which stayed back in the relative safety of some woods on their board edge. The long reach of those 2 pieces allowed for a relentless barrage.
The Klackon troops finally reached the woods, and overran the Ssss there. The Ssss survivors had to fall back to their defensive trench. (We lost a few good crabs in the woods that day.)
(The sadly unpainted trench shown below is a 3D printed modular design we’ve been experimenting with. Some version of it might make it into production. We’ll see… it is still a little fiddly to produce.) The Klackons had to advance again to fire on the trench position. The Ssss held on for a few turns with many losses on both sides. Eventually, the Klackons wore them down there also.
The Ssss then had a wooded area surrounded with barricades protecting an HQ bunker to retreat to for their final stand. We didn’t play out the rest of the battle. Honestly, it could have gone either way with the troops remaining, and that was exactly the results we hoped for in this experiment.
The other thing with session allowed us to playtest as more powerful than Terran races. Terran sized type things are killed with 1 hit in these rules. Larger aliens such as Klackons, Ssss, Blarads, Sitan Giants, etc., take more than 1 hit. This Terran equivalency is used instead of troop point costs for our scenarios. The Ssss for example take 3 hits each so a squad of 3 of them is roughly the same as a 8-10 figure Terran squad. It is not an exact-science trade because it causes differences in the amount of shots fired which is then offset by moral and command/control issues. Depending on the situation, the cost/benefit varies for having fewer more powerful troops vs more weaker troops.
The “behind the curtain” reason for making races more powerful based on their larger size is a bit mundane. Sure it makes sense that a larger person/creature would be stronger but it really comes down to cost. The biggest cost component of a miniature is the amount of metal. If the strengths of the Ssss and Terrans were the same, a player would need to buy the same number of figures but the Ssss player would have to pay 3 times the cost due to the larger figures. With our rules, the Ssss are 3 times as as powerful, so the player only needs 1/3 the figures and the units cost the Ssss player the same as the Terran player. I hope I explained that well enough. The squad packs listed on our webstore will are based on this system. The Ssss are packaged 3 to a pack. The Klackon, which are equivalent to 5 Terrans, are packaged 2 to a pack. Terrans when they are available, will be packaged 8-10 to a pack. That’s likely all more math than folks care about. The short answer is that the per squad price should be nearly the same no mater which faction you choose to play. We felt that was an important concept from the initial planning of the game balance. Pick the faction you like the looks of, or based on how many miniatures you like to have in a you unit. The overall cost for an army will not vary much from faction to faction. Multiple squads for both the 25mm Klackon and Ssss figures that we used in this playtest session are currently available on our online shop here.
Up next: WWII initial play test AAR of our 20thC Beer & Pretzel rules, followed by some new crafting tutorials.
RRB Minis & More 