5150 SF Rules Battle Report and Review

As a result of the minor sh!tstorm that resulted from our group's less-than-overwhelmingly-positive first impressions of Tomorrow's War, "Ed the Two-Hour Wargames Guy" very generously offered me a review copy of his company's Sci-Fi skirmish wargame, "5150: Star Army". I duly promised to play and review the game and finally we've had a chance to do so. Here goes...

My hardcopy of 5150 comprises a 98-page rulebook bound "cerlox" style. The full-colour cover is well-executed and professional. The inside is black-and-white throughout, with no illustrations and a few line diagrams. While the layout is basic and unornamented, it's clear. Production quality is nowhere near something like Tomorrow's War, but then again, neither is the price. The writing style is conversational, in some cases a bit much so for my liking ("are you picking up what I'm putting down?" yikes) but in most instances, it works. The basic rules take up about half the book while the rest is comprised of the "army lists", scenario contruction and campaign information and the quick reference material.

Like Tomorrow's War, the game uses a "reaction system", where figures act and react to the actions of others, as opposed to the traditional "IGO-UGO" system where one side takes its whole turn, followed by the other side. Unlike Tomorrow's War, the reaction system in 5150 is relatively well-described and is more clearly laid out in the rules. There are a finite number of "reactions" and the circumstances for tests are pretty clearly described. An interesting feature of the rules is that each faction has its own reaction tables and a die roll that would result in success for elite troops often is much less positive if your troops are not as good. I like this feature but it results in a chart-heavy game... 

So we played an introductory scenario, "Rescue the Pilot", pitting three squads of PDF (Rep 3 and 4) against two squads of Star Army troops (Rep 4 and 5). We used Greg's cool new individually based 15mm figures, and just substituted centimeters for inches for movement and range purposes.

The "pilot" is in the building in the middle of the table

Star Army squads moves on

Hapless pilot, "objective-ified" yet again

PDF waiting in ambush

Star Army crosses the river

PDF lurking behind a hedge

Star Army squad decimated by PDF fire

Star Army survivor makes off with the pilot

Star Army squad withdraws

Conscript Brian played the PDF and Greg B. ran the Star Army. The game pretty much went as expected with the better-led Star Army squads lighting up the PDF and achieving their objective of grabbing the pilot. However, they weren't exactly unbloodied, with a Star Army squad caught in the open getting seriously mauled. Greg's die rolling was hot (lots of "obviously dead" results) and Brian's was mostly "not" so that may have made a bit of difference in the result, but as with most "reaction" rulesets we've played, small differentials in troop quality make a huge difference in the game (Tomorrow's War, I'm looking at you).

I think the guys enjoyed the game, but personally, it is gonna take more to move me off my beloved IGO-UGO (I know, I am a bit of a dinosaur that way). The different charts for the different factions are pretty cool, but it is the sheer volume of charts in 5150 that blow my brain a little bit. There are over 100 (!) in the rulebook... including three dealing with Spider Holes (standard chart plus "Discovery" and "Occupancy"), two dealing with Grenades ("Ready" and "Throwing"), etc.  Granted, most won't be used in a game, but still... I guess there were about three pages in the book I had to flip back and forth regularly from, and that's not too bad.

I actually think I prefer the reaction system in 5150 to that in Tomorrow's War, because it seems more clearly laid out and a bit more intuitive. For example, I like that 5150's "Received Fire" reaction is to either duck back, snap fire (at reduced effect) or fire at full effect... and that a firefight can rage back and forth until one combatant is hit, or ducks back out of sight. Very cool.

We didn't get into advanced stuff like leaders' dice in the first game, but I can see us getting detailed in future games. As I said, IGO-UGO may be less "realistic" but on a Thursday night, after a long day at work using my grey cells, sometimes I just want to crack a beer and kick back to some non-brain-melting Warhammer or Lord of the Rings-based gaming. My pleasure is mainly in pushing some nicely-painted lead around a well manicured table. But while I don't need "fancy" in my rules, I have to admit that from time to time it's nice to stretch the brain a bit and I think 5150 could do the trick for that.

Thanks again to Ed Texeira for the review copy. 5150: Star Army can be purchased as a hardcopy or .pdf from Two Hour Wargames.

Robotech At Prairiecon XXXIII

As Dallas posted, we made the visit to Brandon a couple of weeks ago to participate in Prairiecon XXXIII.  Here are some pictures of the Robotech game. 

The game was lots of fun - just as the test game was a few weeks ago.  The RDF side put up a spirited defence, but at Prairiecon this year the Zentreadi prevailed, even though the Zentreadi Officer's pod had a pretty tough outing.

Once again a big thanks to Dallas, Mike F. and Cam for coming out to Prairiecon.  It's a great event, and I look forward to participating again next year.

This Was Prairiecon XXXIII

 

As threatened, last weekend (1-3 June) Conscripts Greg B., Mike F. and me made the trek out to Brandon, Manitoba for Prairiecon XXXIII. We were happy to see Conscript ("Chemical") Cam out as well, having come down from his new home in Minnedosa.

Greg and I ran some game there too. On Saturday morning I rolled out a Star Wars Starship Battles "Hoth" game, using some extra rules additions to the basic game. They worked out pretty well. My wife made the papier-mache ice planet!
 

Space carnage abounded and I think the 5 others who played had a good time :-)

Prairiecon was back at Assiniboine Community College this year and I think it worked out great. I used to be very involved with Prairiecon when I lived in Brandon (and have the "President-in-Exile" t-shirt to prove it ;-) and I try to go out every year to run a couple games and help where I can. For a long time now I've been involved in the used game auction which is great fun - "Yes, it's compatible with AD&D! Copyright date? marred and illegible!" Cam apparently stole bought a bunch of 40K stuff for cheap cheap after the auction... got that stuff painted yet Cam? It's been a week!!

Some of the miniatures gaming (including Warhammer 40K and Fantasy) went down in the gym. Lotsa space but really hot down there.

Greg's Robotech game was a hit, as usual. Amazing figures and terrain surface. He always seems to be able to design a good close scenario - something I aspire to but often fall short of...

I ran a Star Wars "Hoth" ground battle game as well. It was a fun time but a bit of a walkover for the Rebels. "Recall the Transports...!"

I spiffed up the terrain a bit by faking up a hangar at the Rebel end of the table.

New Shield Generator looked pretty decent.

"Suck on some Dak! AAAaaaaaaa..."

This young feller was the Rebellion's star asset. Here he is posing with the critical hit he scored on the hapless Cam's Imperials...

All in all, great times at the 'con. One's brain is always fried after a weekend of gaming and this was no different. It's good fun to roll out your stuff and put on a game for a convention, and it helps the 'con out too. Highly encouraged if you've never done it, and if you have, I salute you!

28mm Sci-Fi Penal Legion

One of my longer-running ongoing projects is a 40K Guard army that has been in the queue since (apparently) 2009... ack. So far I've gotten one squad of Renegades and two Leman Russ tanks painted, and some Death Riders assembled, but that's about it.

However, a post on TMP or some such ignited the fires of creativity (acquisition) anew when I spotted the very nice Victoria Lamb conversion kits for GW's Imperial Guard. Aha! Penal Legion troopers to go with the Renegade Guardsmen!

The conversion parts you get in the Penal Guard Squad kit are lovely - torsos, heads and weapons with attached arms. The last is particularly applauded by me, as one of my pet peeves is figures with separate hands and weapons... no matter how carefully you place the weapons in the hands it always looks awkward, like the model has wooden prosthetic hands that can't quite grasp the weapon.

Kit quality was great with nary a bend in the white metal parts. Fitment was also rather good for the most part, with joins disguised with GW's new Liquid Green Stuff.

You might notice that some of the heads are different - not willing to leave well enough alone, I mixed in a few of Maxmini's Tox Guardsman heads I picked up at Salute.
 

While expensive, the Maxmini heads are amazing little resin sculpts that reflect the hapless character I love in Imperial Guardsmen - especially Renegades and especially especially Penal Legionnaires. How much more hapless can you get than that??

The only GW part left on the models is the legs - I used plastic Catachan legs and I think they work perfectly. Oh, those and a sprinkling of IG equipment on the belts - a few canteens, ammo pouches, combat knives etc. Penal Legionnaires are not very high up on the Guard logistics chain ;-)

The completed squad of 10. For colour scheme I am thinking hi-viz prison orange... the torsos have these cool "number patches" across the front and back... I have some fond memories of these guys from childhood comic book reading...

;-)

40K 6th Edition?

Greg posted his thoughts on the recent digital version of Codex: Space Marines here.

Here is the new teaser trailer for what I presume is Warhammer 40K, 6th edition (thanks to Mike D for the link).

"VI" = 6th ed. = June . Hmm.

The 5th ed. rulebook has not been available for sale from the GW website for a short while. However, there`s been no official statement regarding 6th ed. until now. If this follows previous GW marketing efforts, will June 23 be the date when we can pre-order the new rules, which would be released a couple of weeks later?

I admit that I am somewhat disappointed in the lack of real info. I don`t count all the various spoilers that have been floating about the internet. I have not seen a proper, coordinated marketing campaign.

Some questions for the peanut gallery:

• Does the publishing of the latest iteration of the core rules for GW`s flagship game demand more marketing horsepower than the efforts shown so far?
• What do you think of the now-usual GW news blackout? What purpose does such a news blackout serve?
• What would be an appropriate level of marketing effort for such a significant release? How would you create interest and excitement for 6th ed.?
• What kind of content and functionality do you want to see in a digital release of the core rules? What would be a fair price?

It is the 25th anniversary of 40K; I`ve been really looking forward to the release of 6th ed.

The release of new core rules is  of not-insignificant interest to me. I play a lot of tournament 40K - besides local events, last year I set aside time and money to travel to events in Vancouver and Las Vegas.  How will my Eldar Swordwind work under the new rules?  How do I need to modify both my strategy and tactics? Should I change up the new Crimson Fists army I am painting? What new models will I spend my hard earned dollars on? I just want to get a handle on the game I shall be playing for the next several years.

GW - Is There A "Duh" In "Digital"?

"Brazen Claws"? There's an app for that...

Is there a "duh" in "digital"? Maybe we should ask GW.  Like many gamers, I receive regular GW emails about products etc., and the latest breathless missive informed me that GW is "going digital".  I was excited for half a second to think that GW had finally come up with some kind of useful app that would be helpful for gaming.  Considering the iPad had been on the market since April of 2010, and tablet products are common accessories these days (I'm a notorious curmudgeon about Apple and I was still blown away by it - my cynicism was completely pwned by the design skills of Apple) I thought it was about time that GW got on the bandwagon.

My iPad has been quite handy for gaming (Conscript Cam will no doubt savour this admission on my part, as well he should). While I enjoy "Angry Birds" and any number of other time wasting games, it was not long before I was cramming every gaming PDF I could on to my iPad, so I could have them handy while gaming.  I'm not here to proclaim the death of books, etc. etc. I quite enjoy paper books, and enjoy well-produced rule books and hope they continue for a long time.  But it has been very useful to have charts, stats lists etc. available for quick and easy reference.  My copy of the "Tomorrow's War" rules is a digital one, just to name an example, and it is very useful to have it in electronic format on the tablet reader.

Places like the Wargames Vault are offering more and more rules for download.  Even just having the rules in an electronic format is quite handy, and game companies have yet to start to explore the tools that a digital app for gaming might provide. 

"Um, do you have your paper rulebook, because this actually says nothing about the 12 special rules that apply in this situation..."

GW had a great opportunity here, particularly 40k, with its points-driven "armies", scenarios that are functionally the same and separated only by small details, and endless byzantine layers of special rules in its various game products should be a prime candidate to exploit the opportunity presented by tablets like the iPad.  You could have an army builder app.  You could have an app with a handy list of all the tiresome special rules in 40k to help smooth over the games. Just imagine all the cool stuff.  You could even have a dice app or something for iPhones - just give it a shake! Like I said, I was excited for half a second...

But it didn't take long to lose the excitement - in fact, it was gone by the time I was halfway through the marketing email.  Out of all of the initial "offerings", just one is a Codex. The other is a painting book (handy, but again, is that really what is needed up front?), and then some "scrolls".  A distinctly underwhelming initial offer of product.  The digital "opportunity" as a GW player would be to have to carry fewer books, not need books AND my iPad just so I can try and "legally" use some scroll or whatever in a Warhammer game.

Watch out "Plants vs. Zombies" - here comes the Great Cave Squig!

Of all the initial products, the only interesting one (and of any use for gaming) might be the codex.  So I looked it up on the iBook store. The Codex is for sale for the light sum of $49.99 US.  This is actually more than a paper codex - a small amount more, but still more.  A bold attempt to deny the actual economics of how digital publishing actually "works".  If any company would expect you to pay the same or more for a file over a print equivalent, it would be GW, right?

The other GW files are much less expensive than the codex - the "scrolls" are only 99 cents. That is still 99 cents more than they are worth, as they ad very little to the gaming experience. What do you need a scroll for???


No doubt the Space Marine i-Codex has some sort of alleged interactive benefit, which GW could allegedly claim would justify it being more expensive than the paper book.  This is hilarious. If GW thinks I am going to pay MORE for an electronic codex, they have another thing coming. I'm not saying it should be free, or just 99 cents, but charging the same price as the print book, never mind slightly more, points to a rather fundamental misunderstanding of digital economics.  Like every other business which has tried to tame the digital medium with this type of denial/defiance, this approach will serve only to drive more business toward the "waters off Tortuga", where GW has actually been "digital" for years.

GW is hardly the only business to have seen its commercial assumptions blow-torched when applied to the reality of digital mediums. And I can imagine Apple must be a challenging company to deal with - after all, has anyone else managed to push a company like AT&T around? Charging almost $20 for individual figures is one thing - that debate is a spirited one, and who knows how it will play out in the long run. But if GW really thinks that "going digital" means another chance to toss off overpriced stuff, then it is another troubling sign that the geniuses behind "145" are calling too many shots. 

Plans for the Weekend...?

If you happen to be in the neighbourhood (southwestern Manitoba, Canada) why not pop 'round to Prairiecon?

Conscripts Greg B., Mike F., Frederick C., Perry G. and I will all be there - Greg running his very cool Robotech game, and me putting on two Star Wars games - fleet scale starships and a Hoth ground battle in a mini-campaign.

Prairiecon is one of those things that is an indelible part of my youth. I started going over 30 years ago (!) when the main draw was the AD&D tournament. Great memories of friends and good times, my mother still talks about how we'd come back home after a weekend of solid gaming with our "brains fried."

Nowadays I've scaled back my participation in PrairieCon to running two games on the weekend and helping out with the auction. But I still really look forward to the Con every year and it's great to see my old gaming pals from Brandon again. And this year the nostalgia trip is even stronger, as the event has returned to its original venue - Assiniboine Community College, site of many an amazing adventure ;-)

See you in Brandon!