Albedo ACP164 Introductory Scenario

With my EDF and ILR squads painted and the TerraBlock terrain done its time to try and get the Introductory Scenario played through before the dining table has to be cleared for Christmas.  ILR fighting patrol (6 pax)  coming in from top left, EDF defenders (4 pax) from bottom right. The three coloured decks are Activation (blue), ILR (yellow), EDF (red).

EDF critter moves past a back door, no rabbits in sight yet.

Half way through the first turn and both sides are on the board creeping round the sides of their nearest building. Being me I've converted the rules to 1" square grid play, and using the nice 2ft x 2ft battle map I got at Games Expo.

ILR ready to round the corner, fireteam OC and the LMG critter.

ILR round the other side of the building - dice are activation numbers.

Skirmish Rules Testing: Summary

Having got the end of of my mammoth skirmish rules test I thought it would be useful to do a summary and index piece so that people can get a quick heads up on my view of them all (and this is of course all just my view based on what I want from a game, your mileage my vary).  I've also pulled together what a Frankenstein set might be like - pulling together the best bits from each - and finally on my thoughts on my own set. I've also added Skirmish Sangin and 7TV into the mix, which whilst not in this mega-test I have also played in the recent past.

Reviews Summary

Danger Close 9/10

• Pros: Really good set, all on one sheet A4. Covers most the bases.
• Cons: Activation not ideal

Snapshot 1/10

• Cons: Too lethal, no cover or spot

Azhanti High Lightning 5/10 -> 7/10

• Pros: Surprisingly good for age. Good morale.
• Cons: Dreadful activation. No spotting.

Chain Reaction/Nuts/FNG 6/10

• Pros: Good NPC AI once spotted. Nice campiagn/pre-game/scenarios.
• Cons: Unclear. Odd inverse activation.

Black Ops 6/10

• Pros: Nice guard AI.
• Cons: Noise disappointing. Surprisingly pedestrian for a "big name" release (or because of?)

FiveCore 5.5/10

• Pros: Nice patrol mode and campaign rules. Use of Kill and Suppress dice nice.
• Cons: Rules all over the place. Keep changing dice. Hard to kill. V few DMs.

Albedo ACP164  8/10

• Pros: Well balanced, card system very neat, usable and quick. Nice morale and movt.
• Cons: No spotting (in advanced). No suppression/aimed shots yet. Too many out-of-ammo.

Paragon 4/10

• Pros: Body part effect.
• Cons: Very basic DMs, simultaneous movement. Minimal morale. Hard to hit. No suppression/spot.

FUBAR 6/10

• Pros: Short
• Cons: Ranges too short. No UGL difference. Hard to activate or kill. Few DMs. Poor suppression.

Gruntz 5/10

• Pros: Unit cards nice
• Cons: Very short ranges, very few DMs, lots of stats. Change both ends of die roll. Rapid kills.

Victory Decision: Raid 6/10

• Pros: Nice actions options.
• Cons: Ranges only just OK. Very bloody. Odd wound recovery and not cumulative. No suppression. No morale. Opposed per figure activation.

Fireteam: Modern 7/10

• Pros: Nice activation and action model. Has spotting and reasonable stress. Some suppression.
• Cons: Few DMs. Very bloody. Poor indirect fire.

Skirmish Sangin 7/10

• Pros: Poses and pose chits. Unconscious & mission change mechanic. OK basic mechanics.
• Cons: Very complex per action activation. No suppression. Poorly laid out.

7TV 3/10

• Cons: Star/cast model/countdown doesn't work so well in simulations. IGOUGO. Defend then attack roles. Blurred ranged/melee system. No spot/suppress/IDF. Not really designed for this.

So if forced to choose I'd probably be happy to play both Danger Close and ACP164 as is, with a marginal preference for Danger Close detail wise, but I'd miss the ACP card  approach!

Frankenstein Rules

So given what I think needs to be in a set of skirmish rules which would I choose for each bit?

• Activation: Fireteam:Modern with user choice but random Red/Blue and opportunity to trump
• Actions: Fireteam:Modern or Victory Decision: Raid
• Movement: ACP164 randomness. Skirmish Sangin poses.
• Spotting: Danger Close, good above/below
• Aimed Fire: Danger Close or ACP164
• Suppressive Fire: None really did it right!
• Indirect Fire: Danger Close or ACP164
• Morale: AHL or ACP164
• Wounding: ACP164 or Paragon
• NPC AI: Bits of FiveCore/Chain Reaction/Black Ops
• Scenario/Campaign Builder:  FiveCore/Chain Reaction

Thoughts for My Rules

And what I'm probably looking for in my rules:

• Core Mechanic:  Probably D20, so effectively 5% changes. But do like the card model (suppose could generate afterwards). Also toying with FATE dice.
• Activation: Need to be able to choose who to activate, so can do proper fire & manoeuvre, but with some friction, Fireteam:Modern really is pretty close.
• Actions: A good range, at least 6, maybe even 12 so you feel like you have choices to make, perhaps with different ones for interior and exterior (maybe even 1s and 5s "bounds" as the two engagement types have different feels to them).
• Movement: Some element of randomness, even if just +/- 1 or 2 units. Also differentiate between "patrol" (actually a quite slow walk), "jog" (fast, but not out of breath) and "run" (very fast and out of breath)
• Spotting: Full DM set, including cover and up/down storey, and movement and size
• Aimed Fire: Long ranges, but rapid fall off of DMs. Can spend actions to aim better. Out of ammo (not quite as frequent as ACP164) and also gun jam. Might do to hit target area, then body part locations THEN base save role on both cover for that location and any armour. Extra detail would be worth it I think.
• Suppressive Fire: Add up weight of fire, spread across target frontage, reduced change to kill but higher chance of suppression. Little you can do if suppressed except keep head down or fall back, or very unaimed fire. WRG mech rules had it pretty good.
• Indirect Fire: Roll for on target/offset/direction - must always go "bang" somewhere! Less side ways deviation if line-of-sight (eg UGL)
• Morale: Some form of stress for person, and then unit morale based on casualties. Mission change for "western" forces. Maybe even some sort of "TV" rating as I think was planned for Fighting Season. Would like to include the Flight/Fuss/Fight model from Brains and Bullets book.
• Wounding: Body location and minor/serious/dead.
• NPC AI: Guard, fighting patrol, ambush and encounter modes? Keep to cover.
• Scenario/Campaign Builder: Steal ideas from FiveCore/Chain Reaction, but not a key focus!

Oh well, time to start play-testing!

Skirmish Rules Testing: Part 12 - Fireteam:Modern

Cpl Hore taking fire as he approaches his favourite corner

Presentation

74 page PDF from Wargames Vault. $9.99. Well designed and laid out with good QRS pages, Good balance between imagery, diagrams, rules, explanation and "fluff". 3rd Edition used.

The insurgents inflicting more suppression on Hore in the distance

Set-Up

Standard with standard 10 encounter positions for the 5 teams, randomly rolled as they come into sight.

LCpl Wall goes right-flank, but the target is down already

How It Played

Or Hore's Revenge! Hore made it to the T junction corner. The insurgent commander, Nufail, and RPG man Mahamadou were on the house to the left but only pepered the wall and caused Hore to flinch. Hore spotted them, and he and Jones took them both out in the first volley. More insurgents popped up from the building across the street and again were quickly taken out. Wall brought his fireteam up. Another insurgent pair put a couple of suppression points on Hore, but he quickly shook them off. Wade and Kronfield headed off down the main street but were engaged by another insurgent team, Kronfield getting a serious wound. Hore moved up and with Wade put enough fire into the shooters to kill them. A final insurgent team opened up from the scrub land, Wall started making a right flank attack, but Hore and co despatched them before they got close. The remaining insurgent team legged it.

ENDEX overview - and Hore's trail of carnage!

Rules Impression

The activation system worked really well, just red or black cards to randomise whose team activates next - but you choose which team, and have a "hand" of spare cards so you can trump (as well as normal overwatch). Then random roll to see how many activation points, and a reasonable selection of actions (only one firing per turn though). Nice rules on radio and comms use for cohesion. Fixed movement per AP. 

Firing was very bloody, especially for the Brits as a) they got more AP (on 4+ not 5/6+), b) hit on 4+ (not 5+ or 6+), and with body armour took less damage. Only the key DMs. Spotting OK (but few DMs), but no deviation/miss rules for indirect fire. Suppression didnt really work as suppression (as with 4 activations you could remove 2 shock and still do aimed fire - so effectively no penalty if stationary). Everything was pretty simple though and no odd maths.

Overall

One of the better sets, but just a few too DMs and some significant gaps (IDF) and poor suppression/stress for me. Ace activation though. Overall 7/10 - 7.5/10 at a push.

Next Steps

So that's it, 12 sets of modern/SF skirmish rules played and evaluated. taken me a lot longer than I thought - my other armies think I've left home! Next steps in this little strand though are to a) write a summary piece and thoughts on my own rules (hopefully next week) and b) start play-testing my rules, and then finally c) share an AAR of the same scenario some time in Jan/Feb. Will also squeeze in a few more Albedo games - especially using the corridor terrain. Oh and I also signed up to the new Ultracombat modern skirmish rules from the Radio DishDash/Skirmish Sangin team, so will hopefully have those to test soon too!