Double Tap - Grots vs Veer-myn

I had another opportunity to try out One Page Rules' Double Tap, which just got updated to version 1.1  (https://onepagerules.wordpress.com/portfolio/double-tap/)

This time the teams each were about 75 points and I used non-Infinity models.  As well, the battlefield is 4' x 4' with lots of terrain features.  I made up a 'capture and hold' scenario to be played out instead of a straight 'kill'em all' mission.

Left to right:  Skullcap, Ninja, Doc, Pirate, Buckethead, and Patch

The first team is made up of GW Grots.  Skullcap is Quality 3+, has a Pistol and Sword and the Leader ability.  Ninja is Quality 4+, has a Pistol and Sword and the Martial Arts trait.  Doc is Quality 4+, has a Pistol with Fire Rounds and the Doctor trait.  Pirate is Quality 4+, has a Carbine and the Marksman trait.  Buckethead and Patch are both Quality 4+ and have SMGs.  The total points is 75.5.

Left to right:  Progenitor Skitter, Progenitor Skiffe, Nightmare Bonegrinder, Night Crawlers Krikk and Krekk

The second team are Mantic Veer-myn.  Progenitor Skitter is Quality 3+, has a Pistol with Poison and the Leader trait.  Progenitor Skiffe is Quality 4+, has a Sniper Rifle with Poison.  Nightmare Bonegrinder is Quality 4+, has a Sword and Pistol with Poison and the Large and Veteran traits.  Night Crawlers Krikk and Krekk are Quality 4+ and have Pistols with Poison.  Total points are 76.

Pirate takes a commanding position from the second-floor doorway as the others assemble below.

Patch and Ninja are watching the left flank.

Krikk and Krekk are on the Veer-myn left flank.

The Progenitors and Nightmare are on the Veer-myn right.

The three crates are the scenario objectives.

The scenario requires a teams to capture and hold the most objectives by the end of the 4th round.  To capture the objective a unit must be within 2" without any enemy models contesting it.  If no objectives are captured or there is a tie, then the team that has slain the most points in models wins.

Krikk runs to the stairway to the landing pad, trying to keep hidden from sniping Grots.

Skitter advances on the central tower as Bonegrinder goes for the one on their right.

The Grots scamper their way forward.

Things are grim at this point.  Pirate and Skullcap are all that remain of the Grots.

Skiffe has proven how deadly sniping can be from his hidden position.  Bonegrinder is able to take and hold the right objective as Skitter prepares to climb the tower for the center objective.

Pirate is able to take out Progenitor Skitter.

With the last activation of the 4th round, the Grot Pirate guns down Bonegrinder.

With only Skullcap and Pirate remaining of the Grots and Skiffe of the Veer-myn, the Grots are the winners!

Recap:  The Veer-myn were aggressive running to the objectives, relying on the fact that the majority of the Grots had short range weaponry.  But they did not count on a sharpshooter on the Grot team.  Pirate proved to be the star of this game.  As the Night Crawlers ran for the launch pad, Pirate gunned them down.  When Progenitor Skitter tried to cower behind the central tower objective, it was Pirate who killed him.  And when Bonegrinder was the only Veer-myn left on an objective, in the final seconds of the game, it was Pirate who murdered him in a hail of bullet fire and ensured a Grot victory.

Thoughts:  Playing on a 4'x4' battlefield is a challenge when the majority of your units have short range weapons and one team has a sniper rifle.  Although the Grots pulled out a win and that Pirate's Carbine with Marksman proved to be the deciding factor, it was Progenitor Skiffe's Sniper Rifle that kept the Veer-myn unafraid in advancing quickly.  Having a sniper rifle with a commanding view of the field, the reaction shooting of Skiffe took out many Grots and kept the survivors ducked down.

In this case I think it would have been better to reduce the field to 3'x3' in order to clutter in more terrain and break up firing lanes.  There were zero opportunities where either team could get close to being within melee range.  Part of this fault is due to what units were in each team, but I wanted to try something different out to see how Double Tap handles skewed situations.  I'm thinking of other variations of teams to try out next.

Double Tap - Operation Icestorm - Panoceania vs Nomads

One Page Rules has redesigned itself, sharing some games that look familiar and bringing out one that had disappeared off its roster.  I'm talking about Double Tap:  https://onepagerules.wordpress.com/portfolio/double-tap/

Double Tap is a one page take on Corvus Belli's Infinity.  The core mechanics are the same as when I first tried the game out, but now the designer has added in some special traits and unit creation rules.

Ooh, shiny Operation: Icestorm.

So I pulled out Operation Icestorm, gave stats to the Panoceania and Nomads, and laid out the game mat and terrain like Mission 5: Take R&D.  The primary goal is to take and hold the central rooftop after 4 rounds and secondary goal is to kill enemy units.

The central building is the primary objective.  Panoceania will setup on the left and Nomads to the right.

Panoceania:  Akalis, Nisses, Orc Troop, Father Knight, and 3 Fusiliers.

Panoceania:  Akalis is Quality 4+, has a Carbine and Airborne Deployment.  Nisses is Quality 4+, has a Sniper Rifle, Mimetism (-1 to be shot at, made this one trait up), and Spotter.  Orc Troop is Quality 4+, has a Carbine and Armored.  Father Knight is Quality 3+, has a Knife, Armored, Martial Arts, and Leader.  The three Fusiliers are Quality 4+ and have Carbines.

Nomads:  Reverend Healer, Spektr, Grenzer, Mobile Brigada, and 3 Corregidor Alguaciles.

Nomads:  Reverend Healer is Quality 3+, has a Carbine, Doctor, Leader, and Mimetism (-1 to be shot at, made this one trait up).  Spektr is Quality 4+, has Carbine, Camouflage, and Infiltrate.  Grenzer is Quality 4+, has Sniper Rifle and Spotter.  Mobile Brigada is Quality 4+, has Carbine and Armored.  The three Alguaciles are Quality 4+ and have Carbines.

Here is the Nomads' deployment zone.

Here is the Panoceania's deployment zone.

Here is the Reverend Healer and the Father Knight locked in melee in the 4th round.  Panoceania has one Fusilier on the rooftop and no Nomads to contest it.  The Reverend Healer is the only Nomad in range.

The Reverend Healer is able to Dodge out of melee with the Father Knight and uses the last Activation Point to climb the ladder to the roof and to shoot at the Fusilier.  Unfortunately her shots missed.

Here are the survivors of both teams.  With the building contested, Panoceania still wins with more kills.

The Nomads were the first to get to the building as the Spektr stealthed his way up.  But soon found out the hard way that the sniping Nisses was not fooled by camouflage.  As the game progressed, more units found themselves gunned down as they peaked around corners, trying to make a run for the central building.  In the end; the Father Knight had made his way into the Nomads' side of the board, hacking down the Mobile Brigada and moving into melee with the Reverend Healer.  In a last ditch effort the Reverend Healer dodged out of melee with the Father Knight, climbed a ladder up the building and tried to gun down the lone Fusilier on the rooftop.  But her shots went wild.

The game played out like I thought it would.  Units moved up, trying to stay in cover, taking potshots from around corners and getting shot up along the way as they crossed lanes with enemies in line of sight.  Hugging cover is key to this game as your units WILL get shot at unless you are cowering behind buildings.

Deadzone - sci-fi miniatures assemble!

As I look to the future; with Rogue Stars from Osprey in late December and Harder than Steel from Ganesha Games sometime next year, or as I think of Double Tap by One Page Rules and In the Emperor's Name and FUBAR by Forge of War, I have come to the conclusion that I'm severely lacking in my sci-fi miniatures collection.

With this serious injustice to my meager miniature stockpile, I have searched for ways to inexpensively augment my horde.  One option I discovered was the starter boxes for Deadzone from Mantic Games.

I picked up three starters; Forge Fathers (Dwarves in Space!), Veer-myn (Ratmen in Space!), and Marauders (Orcs in Space!).

Due to a slight error, I was sent the faction booster instead of the actual starter, but it contains plenty for my needs regardless.  Here is a big cannon-tank thing, a couple engineer/pilots with tracked drones (which I put weapons on), and a couple motorcycles.

Here are the grunts of the Forge Fathers.  I made a sergeant stand on an orc head while holding a maul and one-handing the rifle.

I made one of each special/heavy weapon and one hussar.  Then there are the Brokkrs, which would make great space pirates or miners or engineers or scouts.

The Veer-myn, space rats.  I made one of each type of rat ogre then the two progenitors/leaders.  The giant drilling machine is a cobbled together contraption from random bits, I love constructing stuff out of leftovers.

The swarm of Veer-myn.  Up front are the 12 pistol/knife wielders, then three heavy weapons, and in the back are the rats from the Project Pandora boardgame.  

The Marauders, or Space Orcs.  The two big guys I outfitted each with heavy ranged and close combat weapons, instead of making them only one type.  Then there are the four mutant dog-things and goblin snipers.  The fourth goblin sniper was supposed to look like he is scared or running away, so I modified him to look like he is sneaking up instead.

And the Orc horde.  In the back are the Marauders I picked up many moons ago, they have pistols and close combat weapons, along with two heavy weapons and a couple with power claws.  The Marauders up front are more like commandos; with rifles, shotguns, and a guy with a flamer.  The commando captain has some kind of power spear thing.

At this point, I have plenty to use for sci-fi games.  Coupled with the Sedition Wars' Vanguard, Deadzone Enforcers, Infinity Haqqislam/Nomads/Panoceania, and miscellaneous Reaper Bones Chronoscope minis, I should have enough variety to play anything.

Now I just need to paint....alot.

Infinity - Operation Icestorm

I've already dipped my toes a bit into Corvus Belli's Infinity (http://infinitythegame.com/) by purchasing the Haqqislam Starter Box (http://www.data-sphere.net/starting-with-haqqislam/).  I really like all the details in the miniatures and the character concepts are so original.  I have yet to play Infinity, but that might change soon.  I bought:  OPERATION ICESTORM.

The box has some gorgeous artwork and showcases the fantastic painted models (which I have no chance of replicating).  Inside are 14 miniatures, dice, lots of tokens, rulebook, and paper terrain.

The tokens were flimsy, so I glued them to thin cardboard.

Here is the paper terrain and battle mat.

I had this Infinity terrain from a while back, I should be able to combine it with the ones from Operation Icestorm to make an even bigger playing field.

Here are the miniatures; all glued and primed.  The goal is bright colors.

Once all the miniatures are painted I will try out the missions in the rulebook.  I'll most likely be playing solo, so hopefully the rules will allow some friendly solo play.  If that fails, I'll try out Double Tap again from One Page Rules (which is no longer found on their website), but I have a copy still and shouldn't be too difficult to augment as needed.

As well, as mentioned in the previous blog post, I'll have these miniatures ready for when Rogue Stars comes available.  Or for even further down the line, Harder than Steel from Ganesha Games.  Its nice having multiple options on rules to use for sets of miniatures.

One Page Rules - Double Tap playtest - 9/14/15

I came across One Page Rules many months ago.  Never tried any of their rules out...until now!  In my hunt for a simplified version of Infinity I tried a playtest copy of One Page Rules' Double Tap (https://onepagerules.wordpress.com/misc/).  Its free, so I grabbed a copy and dived right in.

Gotta love rules that fit on one page.

Here is the 'battlefield'.  I like how quick and easy it is to set up and break down later.

Here are the Infinity Haqqislam minis.  They are in a state of undress, more painting still needed.  But I have a Hero (Knife/SMG), Sniper, 3 Rifle troops, and a Shotgun troop (its a flamethrower but option not available currently).

Here are the Sedition Wars troops.  There is a Hero (pistol/knife), HMG troop, Sniper, and 3 Rifle troops.

Sedition Wars set-up.  Sniper in a key location, with HMG troop about to fill the alleyway.

Haqqislam's Sniper is ready on the rooftop as the Hero and Shotgun (flamethrower) prepare a sprint to the enemy's side of the battlefield.

Haqqislam advance!

HMG wipes out the Sniper.

Near the end, a lone Sedition trooper takes on the Haqqislam Hero and Shotgun troop.  Lucky rolls and the Sedition troop is the clear victor.

The Sedition Sniper got two confirmed kills this match.

These two gunners traded bullets throughout the game.  Eventually the Sedition trooper prevailed.

Double Tap has some potential.  I have some questions I'll be posting up on the One Page Rules forum (http://onepagerules.proboards.com/).  I'm hoping they'll flesh this ruleset out some more; special rules, upgrades, weapons, etc.  All in all I like what they have done with Double Tap.