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.

Rogue Stars - first game report

I have now played a game of Rogue Stars.  After having read the book twice, read multiple reviews, and watched a couple videos, I was confident enough to at least give it a shot.  I wish I had waited on the QRS that will be available soon, but I survived nonetheless and the book isn't damaged from too much flipping.

So I had two teams ready to go, both from the Infinity Operation Icestorm box set.  The Panoceania are the Star Cops and have the tactical discipline of Determined.  The Nomads are Pirates and have the tactical discipline of Hard to Kill.

The Nomads rolled highest on initiative so became the Attackers and rolled for the "Make it to the Ship Alive" Mission.  Panoceania are the Defenders and rolled for the Location of "Space Port" (very fitting) and the Complication of "They Said It Might Rain", then rolled for the Weather which turned out to be "Cold" (which only affects Reptiloids, so no big deal).

Here is the "Space Port" which oddly enough looks like the terrain from Infinity Operation Icestorm.  It mostly has the appearance of some large docking station.  The left side baseline is where the Attackers (Nomads) begin and must reach the spaceship gate on the far right side.

Here are the two Nomad troopers and their leader.

Here is the Nomad Ninja and Sister Soldier.

The Panoceania Star Cops positioned themselves to receive the naughty Pirate Nomads.

The Nomads tried to push towards the center.  The Star Cop trooper on the rooftop is pinned and loses his gun and the other trooper is knocked prone from a hail of fire.

The Panoceania Knight valiantly attempts to cut down the foes, but is sadly defeated by the deadly Ninja.

The Nomads keep running, trying to spread the Star Cops out and allow others to escape.

Deadly shooting fells two of the Pirate Nomads.

A Nomad trooper and the Ninja sprint for safety even as gunfire chases them.

Despite the best efforts of the Panoceania Star Cops, two of the Nomad Pirates escape in their starship.

After the Game:  The Nomad Pirates lost three of their teammates along the way.  Although when playing Star Cops you could declare them captured instead and play a Rescue mission to free them, I doubt the two remaining Pirates would have much luck.  So the three OOA characters are officially dead and they will be clones in the future.  The two surviving Nomads each received 3 XP; the Ninja spent his to upgrade to Weapon Master 3 and the trooper is banking his.

The Panoceania were able to stabilize their one OOA character, the Knight.  They received 9 XP for causing three OOA on the Nomads.  Both troopers gained Fast 1 and the remaining 3 XP is stored for the future.

In Conclusion:  In the beginning of the game there was a steep learning curve as to be expected.  As things went along I was able to pick up the flow easier.  It is a challenge playing solo, having to keep track of Reactions and all the markers can be a bit daunting, but I think with practice things will smooth out.  A QRS would help cut down on most of the book flipping, and a decent sheet that shows all your characters and their gear and for holding Stress/Pins/Wounds would be nice.

I lucked out on the Mission/Location/Complications.  I'm not sure if I could design some of the more bizarre choices listed.  But that would give me the excuse to do it.  Also the NPC creatures, I hope I have some suitable options.

And yes I do believe I will be playing it again.  It will be joining the other honorable mentions in my collection (ITEN, FUBAR, One Page Rules, etc.)  It just takes a bit more preparation, but I think it can be worth it.

Rogue Stars - the beginning

Rogue Stars published by Osprey and created by Andrea Sfiligoi, (https://ospreypublishing.com/rogue-stars), is a very dense skirmish game.  Not complex or overly difficult, just crammed with so much information in such a thin book.  I imagine if they had no page limit the book might have been 400+ pages easily.  I am not going to do a review of the game, as there are quite a few out there already and describe all the mechanics perfectly.  In fact, here is a video about how to play: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P71OHehKktk&t=104s)

Instead I will give my opinions and show what I have started on in preparation to play the game.

Here is the book in all its glory.  It is 64 pages of tightly compacted rpg-lite skirmish goodness.

The book is filled with characterful artwork (much like the cover) and overloaded with so many options, it really is a sandbox and you can design just about anything you want for your teams.  With all the missions, locations, and complications you will have plenty of exciting gaming in your future.

These "official" tokens/markers came from Andrea Sfiligoi himself via Ganesha Games (http://www.ganeshagames.net/product_info.php?cPath=1_58&products_id=311)

The game mechanics rely heavily on tokens and markers.  The majority of the negative reviews pertain to the use of tokens on a gaming table.  Its all about personal preference, as I don't mind using tokens and plan on putting them to the side on the characters' sheets.  Stress, Pins, and Wounds will be used most frequently, the rest of the shown markers are based on certain situations and will rarely come into play.

So I picked through my miniatures collection, trying to make a few random teams.  I was not prepared for how many options were available.  I kept adding and removing traits, weapons, and equipment.  The paper I was writing on is filled with scratches as I changed my mind so many times.  But once I settled into the rhythm of 'looking' at the miniature to decide what weapons/traits it has, things smoothed out some.

Deadzone Enforcers - Theme: Cyborgs, Tactical Discipline:  Opportunity Fire -  Captain (Power Armor, Molecular Slug Thrower, Vibroblade built-in, Veteran), Engineer (Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle, Tech 2, Neuro-jack Array), Heavy Gunner (Light Power Armor, Machine Gun), Trooper (Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle), Assault Trooper (Light Power Armor, Slug Pistol, Vibroblade)  - 201 XP total

Sedition Wars Vanguard - Theme:  Militia, Tactical Discipline:  Cool Under Fire - Sergeant (Light Combat Dress, Plasma Pistol, Vibroblade, Slug Pistol, Veteran, Weapon Master 3, Free Disengage), Sniper (Light Combat Dress, Musket w/ Accurate, Marksman 3, Stealth 1), Medic (Light Combat Dress, Slug Pistol, Molecular Slug Thrower, Medic 2), two Troopers (Light Power Armor, Assault Rifle, Marksman 1) - 201 XP total

Infinity Panoceania - Theme:  Star Cops, Tactical Discipline:  Determined - Repair Bot (Artificial, Nonreactive, Tech 2, Medic 3, Fast 2, Extra Legs 1, Zap Rifle, Neuro-jack Array), Father Knight (Monowire Scythe, Light Power Armor, Weapon Master 2, Veteran, Free Disengage, Electromag Shackles), Jumper (Assault Rifle, Light Power Armor, Slug Pistol, Jump Pack, Medic 1), two Troopers (Assault Rifle, Slug Pistol, Light Combat Dress, Medic 1) - 200 XP total

Infinity Nomads - Theme:  Pirates, Tactical Discipline:  Hard to Kill - Leader (Light Power Armor, Submachine Gun, Veteran, Marksman 2), Sister Knight (Light Combat Dress, Submachine Gun, Slug Pistol, Ambidexterity, Medic 1), Ninja (Light Combat Dress, Submachine Gun, Monowire Blade, Slug Pistol, Difficult Target 3, Weapon Master 2), two Troopers (Light Combat Dress, Submachine Gun, Slug Pistol, Tech 1, Medic 1) - 200 XP total

Reaper Bones Chronoscope - Theme:  Merchants, Tactical Discipline:  Opportunists - Captain (Kevlar, Powered Gauntlet, Molecular Slug Thrower, Veteran, Marksman 2), Engineer (Kevlar, Submachine Gun, Tech 3, Medic 3, Marksman 1), Twin Guy (Kevlar, Zap Pistol, Vibroblade, Fast 1, Weapon Master 3, Difficult Target 1, Marksman 2), Twin Girl (Kevlar, Zap Pistol, Monowire Blade, Fast 1, Weapon Master 3, Difficult Target 1, Marksman 2), Sister Penitent (Kevlar, Submachine Gun, Vibroblade, Weapon Master 3, Free Disengage, Marksman 2), Tome Raider (Kevlar, Submachine Gun, Submachine Gun, Ambidexterity, Fast 1, Difficult Target 1) - 200 XP total

As you can see, there is just so much variety in creating teams.  In my opinion, just like in roleplaying games, character creation is one of the best parts of the game and becomes a mini-game of its own.  I'm sure there are ways to 'break' this process to make ultimate soldiers and odd pairings, but if you stick with the WYSIWYG philosophy (that is: What You See Is What You Get) and design characters based on what they look like, then there won't be any problems.

Now I just need to play a game or two to really see how things work.

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.

How to play Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes

Song of Blades and Heroes has been around for several years.  It was even nominated for the Origins Award for "Best Miniature Rules" back in 2008.  There have been many expansions and supplements for Song of Blades and Heroes (SoBH for short), even some third-party games that use the same or similar game engine; such as, Shadowsea, Of Gods and Mortals, and Song of Our Ancestors.  And recently the game has been updated into Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes, which adds even more spice to the mix.

A lot of forums have active threads about people playing SoBH or painting miniatures to use in SoBH.  But I was surprised at the lack of any videos about it online or the lack of any main-stream attention in general.  If you look at games like Kings of War and Frostgrave and Infinity, they've been around about half the time SoBH has and new battle reports pop up daily on Youtube or in forums about them.

In the several years since SoBH has been released, there has been only a small handful of videos out there, some of which are really old.  Well, its all about to change.  Ganesha Games has revealed a competition, which will lead up to their next Kickstarter called Axe and Brimstone.  The competition is to make a 15 min or less video explaining many of the basic rules of Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes and post it to Youtube before September 10th.  Well, I decided to give it a try.

Behold, a video tutorial of Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes!

Click the link below:

How to play Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes

Some "finished" sci-fi minis

I've been slowly finishing my mounds of miniatures.  They are far from being the masterworks found on most other sites, but they are 'tabletop' ready which is all that matters.  Then I can get back to playing again, games like In the Emperor's Name (ITEN).

Here are all the Sedition Wars Vanguard.  I went with a "Halo Master Chief" green theme, or perhaps a USAriadna from Infinity kinda.

Medic/Engineer, Heavy Gunner, Sniper, and Leader.

Grenade Launchers, Toxic Launchers, Heavy Plasma Gunners.

3 female troopers with helmets, 3 female troopers without helmets, and 5 male troopers.

Haqqislam Starter figures.  And then a converted Reaper Bones Chronoscope cowboy with a Mantic Corporation Trooper head, he kinda fits in.

The EM4 Troopers: three lasergunners, the sergeant with plasma pistol and power sword, and a shotgun trooper.

The heavily converted EM4 Gangers, now looking like mercenary psychos.  Lots of bits went into these guys, from Mantic and Games Workshop and Reaper Bones.

The EM4 Space Rangers, each from a different Clan.

Reaper Bones IMEF.  The middle girl was converted, gave her an assault rifle.

More Reaper Bones Chronoscope figures.

More Chronoscope conversions.  The right two were cowboys, now they are Space Elves.

Mantic Marauders.

Mantic Veermyn.