Last night I accepted an invitation to play AT-43 with Marc and Justin (at Marc's place). AT-43 is a science fiction miniatures wargame made by a French company called Rackham. The models are pre-constructed and pre-painted so you can use them straight out-of-the-box (as opposed to most other miniature wargames I play that require the game pieces to be built and painted by the hobbyist before they can be used). Last night's gathering was an open attempt to lure me back into the game after I had given up in frustration a few months earlier.
My early experiences with AT-43 saw me playing a strider-heavy Red Blok force. They are a Soviet themed faction that tend to have thick armour but low accuracy - so they last a while but can't hit anything! The result is that I wasn't having much fun with them (although they are still my favourite faction as far as their designs go). Justin ended up with my models and I spent the money on dinner with Emily. However, this was not to be the end of my time with AT-43 as the opening paragraph has already indicated!
It was suggested that the Therians may be more fun for me as they have lots of tricks and good accuracy. The Therians are an alien-ish Machine faction that mix design elements taken from 'the machines' from
The Matrix, Necrons from
Warhammer 40,000 and a dash of robot-skeletons from
The Terminator... all wearing Kabuki masks! Well, maybe not Kabuki masks - but it sounds creepier if I describe them that way (they actually wear plain white masks, I suppose that's creepy enough!). Surprisingly this is not the strangest faction in the game (a description of the Karmans will follow shortly).
I cautioned against playing three-player games but no one wanted to sit out (which is understandable) so we decided to roll a die to see who would be 'stuck in the middle' each game.
Game 1; 650 points (?) [at least one unit of Rank 1 Infantry]
I can't quite remember the details of this game except that Marc ended up deploying on the long edge of the table with Justin and I on the short ends, thus leaving Marc as the closest and easiest target for both of us (much to the delight of everyone - including our spectators who popped in for a few minutes). Marc was playing his beloved Karmans; a faction of genetically enchanced Apes wearing powered armour and flying around on hoverbikes/hovertrikes. Sandwiched between Justin and I they didn't last long (again with the delight from spectators).
In the above picture my Wraith Golgoth (the big black thing in the foreground) is about to put some hurt on Marc's hoverbike (the blue and white thing in the middle of the picture). In the background can be seen Marc and Tanya's kitchen; proof that there is a real world.
The game began to drag a little and I offered to concede to Justin so we could move onto the next game - but Marc would have none of it! From memory I ended up with a narrow win although I've since forgotten the closing moments.
Overall: I like the Therian tricks.
Game 2; 1000 points [no additional restrictions]
For this game I went back to my old friends the Red Blok. Urod and a Sierp gobbled up all my points and I came to the table with only two models. Dicing for table edge Justin and I ended up on the long sides and (surprise surprise) Marc was between us on a short side. True to form his Karmans took an early hammering from the combined attention of Urod and Justin's UNA striders (The UNA are a vaguely-USA themed faction, lots of high-tech soldiers with good weapons and fire support).
The mid-game of this match grinded to a halt as we became confused over some finer points of the rules (specifically how cover and line-of-sight affects striders). The above picture depicts a scene that most miniature wargamers will find familiar; players flicking through the rulebook trying to find the rule they are sure they saw but now can't find again!
Once the action resumed Justin and I got back to our terrain-dance as our striders moved in and out of cover to repair themselves or shoot each other. In the meantime Marc's only remaining Karman moved up through cover and charged one of Justin's damaged striders - which he managed to kill... although this left him in the open and promptly riddled with laser fire next turn.
Deciding that enough-was-enough I decided to push Urod out of the terrain and unto the objective (which I would be able to secure thanks to playing the Frontline subfaction). This left me in the open but I crossed my fingers that Urod's armour and self-repair would allow me to endure the two full turns required to hold the objective and win the game. Sadly Justin managed to break with precedent and put two missiles squarely into Urod's frame and it was all over; victory for the UNA.
Overall: UNA are hard to beat! I had more fun with Red Blok this game than I had in the past but the same concerns are there.
Game 3; 740 points [at least one unit of Rank 1 Infantry]
Deciding that black is the new black I went with Therians for our last game of the night. This time Justin ended up 'in the middle' on a long table edge with his UNA. I was lucky enough to have a clear avenue from my deployment zone through terrain directly to the objective marker, which in the interest of good sportsmanship I pointed out to Marc and Justin, but which to their credit they decided to leave in position.
I chose to activate my infantry first which seemed to provoke a little surprise until I declared an Infantry Routine (aka 'Therian trick') to give them a boosted dash value - which they used to run straight at the objective. This left my strider on the starting line who promptly vanished under four missiles from Justin's UNA... although it did buy a precious extra turn for my fast moving infantry.
As I continued to close in on the victory marker Justin and Marc exchanged shots in a strider/hovertrike exchange. As the smoke cleared they pushed forward to put some fire on my infantry but by this point it was too late; any loses to my infantry were fixed with an Infantry Routine (aka 'Therian trick') that allowed me to 'respawn' one lost model in the unit per turn. So I was able to sit on the victory counter, being pinged from a distance but respawning my losses. Two turns passed and the match went to the wicked Therians; woot!
Overall: I like the Therian tricks!
Conclusion: I'm going to keep an eye on the usual cheap sources of AT-43 figures and pick up some Therians if the price is right (and if the postage is right too!). I had fun although we did grind down on a few rules that gave me a bit of a headache. It was good to finally meet Justin in the real world and to see Marc and Tanya's lovely townhouse ~ more games must be had! :)
Marc designed his Karman army using the Nova sub-faction which allowed him to negate actions that require me to spend Leadership Points by spending the same amount! As he was careful to keep 4 LP handy at all times this meant that I couldn't get my Creation routine off and create a free Succubus... however Nova's disadvantage gave me initiative each round. So despite not being able to use my best Therian trick I could always count on taking the first action ~ which as we discovered is a huge advantage when you have more units than your opponent (as I did). 
