AT-43: Small-table action

Last night Justin came around for a few games of AT-43 with Marc and myself. Sadly I was exhausted due to a lack of sleep after my night shift and had to retire to bed - but not before taking a few shots of the action. The lads decided to play downstairs on a card table found earlier on the footpath... I must remember to confirm with my neighbour that it is unwanted!

Marc's Karmans (to the left of image) break cover from their sandbags to advance on the ruined building while Justin's Red Blok lurk in the shadows (to the right of image). Justin has been busy making very impressive terrain since I last saw him!

Marc and Justin decided to play small unit actions on the recently acquired table so restricted themselves to take only infantry in their forces. The intention was to see how AT-43 plays when heavily armed and armoured vehicles are not stomping around the field (I must check with them to see how that went). I know my tendency is to take the biggest and baddest pieces available to my army but this tends to create games that become too familiar - as your opponent is forced to bring the same 'big guns' to deal with your same 'monstrous armour' each battle. In this case the restriction was simply limited to "infantry only" which still leaves room for creativity, however there are different measures that could be limited such as stating a maximum value for armour rating or weapon strength to alter battles in different ways.

This idea has already been applied to 'historical' games such as Field of Glory (Ancients), Flames of War (WW2) and Lasalle (Napoleonic) which encourage match-ups that are thematically appropriate by providing army lists that share a common theatre of war or exist on nearby dates in history. This tends to chaff science fiction and fantasy gamers who prefer the idea of more freedom and creativity with army choice and force selection (despite tending to take bring the same favourites to every battle, see previous paragraph). The idea of Early French fighting Late Russians may be appealing but the game you get tends to be fun for only one player!


Before I sign off I'll share an action sequence that depicts Marc's Karmans catching Justin's grenades...

1. Karman warriors begin to cross open ground as they seek the cover of a nearby ruined building:
2. Karman warriors sense a shadow loom above them:

3. BOOM! ...remaining Karman warriors begin to fail pinning and morale checks

Saturday Gamesday

Yesterday was Games Day at my place with both Uncharted Seas and AT-43 on the menu.

Uncharted Seas #1
We started with a replay of an Uncharted Seas match from a previous meeting; Three Frigates and Two Cruisers per side. As Marc has yet to buy (or scratchbuild) a fleet we shared my Iron Dwarves again. Much fun was had and the rules came back to us quickly despite not having played Uncharted Seas for a while.

The game ended with both fleets being whittled down to only one cruiser each - Marc managed to put just enough damage on mine to take a close (and exciting) victory.

Uncharted Seas Game One: A mess of Iron Dwarves!
Click on image for larger version

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Uncharted Seas #2
For our second game we decided to see how three cruisers (150 points) would go against one Battleship (120 points). Marc insisted that I take the Battleship as the models belong to me. I wasn't sure how it would go up against the linked fire from the cruisers - as it turned out it did very well (much to Marc's dismay).

The Battleship is painfully slow but has the advantage of armour, firepower and range (!!!) so the opposing dwarf cruisers have to come into it's deadly 13 AD Band 2 (or worse: 16AD Band 1) to have a realistic chance at penetrating it's thick armour and to avoid being pinged to death from a distance.

Victory for my side of the table, although in hindsight an unfair fight (despite being at a 30 point disadvantage).

Uncharted Seas Game Two: Three Cruisers attempt to bring down one Battleship
Click on image for larger version

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AT-43
Our last game of the day was AT-43. Marc played Karmans and I played Therians (no surprise for anyone that has followed this blog... not that anyone has!). After building 1000 point armies we rolled a Seek and Destroy mission - victory is determined by destroying as many of the enemy as possible before the 6 turn time limit is up.

I managed to get off a Creation routine on turn one to spawn a Succubus Golgoth (this would have gone on for turn after turn but I only own one correct model for spawning and the rules explicitly state no proxies for this routine!). Marc made a blunder early in the game placing his unit activation cards in an undesirable order - then promptly followed this up by forgetting to put an Overwatch drill on one of his units. This put him on the backfoot for the rest of the match (in my defence I asked him a few times if he was sure that he had done everything that he wanted to do before ending his turn - so no takebacks for him!).

Marc spent a turn or two playing defensively (seeking cover and putting everyone on Overwatch) giving him a chance to catch his breath and refocus on the battle. In the meantime I maneuvered my Therians to set up an overwatch firezone and pinged one of his K-Warriors (finishing off the unit two turns later). Having recovered his spirit Marc pushed his trike forward and destroyed an Incubus Golgoth (proxied by my Babylon Zero model).

The remaining AFVs plugged away at each other doing a little damage but scoring no further kills. By turn 6 it wasn't quite enough for the Karmans - being beaten by only one victory point.

Marc: 2 VPs - Kills: Incubus Golgoth (Overseer Alpha)
Troy: 3 VPs - Kills: K-Warriors with Mentor
Result: Therian Victory

AT-43 Afternoon Game: Karmans move into the Therian killzone!
Click on image for larger version

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Conclusion:
We had a fun day of gaming!

I need to continue to work on my terrain (as the last photo clearly shows). We're remembering the rules for both games now and we're still excited by both games so more matches will be had (and the battles will be resolved faster as our experience with the rules continues to improve).

AT-43: The Birthdaying

Yesterday was my birthday and (amongst other events) I had a visit from Marc in the morning. The plan was to have a few games of AT-43 and a few games of Uncharted Seas but sadly we became distracted by phone calls and small cakes so we only got a single game of AT-43 in before Marc to head home.

As we were starting early I had just enough time to open the many boxes of Therians waiting in the lounge room and have a quick look through the army book before Marc arrived.

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).

I went with Therians (of course) and chose the Cyphers subfaction. This gave all my overseers access to both infantry and AFV routines but a disadvantage that I couldn't wager Leadership Points to win initiative (as it turns out: not so bad when Nova's disadvantage would automatically give me initiative anyway *GRIN*).

The match went well for my side of the table; my Storm Golems kept Marc's infantry suppressed while my Incubus Golgoth concentrated on his trikes. The trikes managed to immobilise my Golgoth although this effectively forced me to use the Nucleus Cannon's Sniper ability every round as I wouldn't be moving anyway; the result being trikes with weapons that were promptly pinged off before they could seek cover.

The match ended with Marc's impressive decision to run over my Storm Arachns [sic] with his last remaining trike in the hope of crushing them before they had a chance to explode. Whilst he managed to kill two his movement stopped in the midst of the remaining four who were about to activate... and explode!

Overall a fun morning. On balance I still feel that Uncharted Seas is the more enjoyable game however AT-43 is fun too. We are still flicking through the rulebook for AT-43 during games although this may be due to long breaks between matches. More games must be had and I discussed the possibility with Marc of organising a regular meeting time for miniature wargaming ~ possibly at the library...

In more important news our hot water system has failed so the only showers on offer are COLD. Sadly this is the time of year when warm and/or hot showers are desired :(

AT-43: Therian Deployment

The huge shipment of Therians arrived yesterday although I still haven't had a chance to open up the boxes and play with them ~ so for now they are piled up in the lounge room. I might be able to get a game or two tomorrow (as it's my birthday) *fingers crossed* I can get a few AT-43 and Uncharted Seas games in although I may be pushing the emotional leverage a bit :P

...argh so tired! I'm going to catch a few hours of sleep before heading down to the city for Warhammer Roleplay at midday (Chris has booked a room at the library so we'll be playing in comfort).

AT-43: Friday night firefight(s)

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! :)