Orbital Battle Command (OBC) - A New Game... Kinda...

"WHAT ! Another new game? That's typical. You say you have too many games already and not enough time to play them all."

Kinda... thing is... I'm not buying into a new system.  I'm making my own.

This is a project/thought experiment I've been toying with for a while, at least mid-2021.

Specifically I wanted to develop a new game;

a)  where I could use my 6mm models, and I didn't have to play Epic,

b)  that is simpler than Epic but still provides a substantive table top wargame experience (i.e. a worthwhile/narrative/strategic battle).

c)  that uses cards and a blind bid system for combat and anything requiring randomness - rather than the (wargame ubiquitous) dice, because...

And I think I've done it.

I'm giving it the working title Orbital Battle Command  [Previous working title(s)  'Kill Zone Commander',  before that  'Battlefront Commander']

I checked a bunch of things on BoardGameGeek and all the most obvious, no-brainer names have been used, sometimes multiple times over the years.  The title has changed a dozen times already but I'm sure I'll eventually find one that feels right.

The statement, 'there's nothing new under the sun,' applies. It would not be entirely unfair to call this a mash up between Epic, One Page Rules, and Euchre. All games I've played and enjoyed over the years.

Anyways, I'm relatively proud of the result, probably more so than my attempted rejigging of other games.  I like my 'One Page Zona', but this is something new and exciting all together.

I've had 2 or 3 move-models-around tests to work out mechanics, and even a small full game. Yeah, I forgot stuff (like all games I play), the kind of nuance aspect, but... overall... I think it worked pretty well.  A blind bid system doesn't work so well when you're playing both sides.

Update: I was fortunate enough to have a 'live' test game on the weekend and it went awesomely. As planned, no showstoppers or on-the-fly rewrites required. Bloody awesome.

- - -

To add some details in regards to the original points.

a-b)  I don't hate Epic, but I wanted to develop something simpler. Epic armies have lots of gotchas which I wanted to get rid of and I wanted to have a far simpler combat system. Both of these aspects make playing pick up games every few months or more as much about relearning/remembering the game as strategic gamesmanship.

c)  What can I say? Dice hate me. Having a fixed dice threshold you have to beat is common and now a bit boring. The dice pass or fail you, and before anyone says, maximise your dice and opportunities to use them.  Of course.  That's the plan.  And plans last as long as the first contact with the enemy.

So rather than sticking with this tried/tired methodology, the players draws a number of cards and play the one they think will get them the win. Obviously higher is better, but there might be cases where playing a high card is a waste or other concerns - which is where the 'strategic' aspect applies.

- - -

Update: On the basis that the basic version (limited units, most basic interactions) was a success I've added in a few more caveats and features, built on top of the basic version.  Things like transports... shields... a few more unit types etc.

What I don't want to do is make the game more complex just in order to be able to make more unit types. It's meant/going to be a 'lite' version of Epic.

Things like transports are going to be necessary on larger games (6x4') so I think there's going to be things to include if it's to scale up.  3x3' was really good, it was fun, but it should have other options.  I felt my 2x2' experimental game was a bit cramped/close so probably 3x3' is a recommended minimum, and don't expect phenomenal results below that size.

There didn't seem to be any particularly OP units in the test game. The point calculation seems 'reasonable'.  At 3x3' a 100pt limit seemed ok - though we went a over that limit on both sides.  

Anyways, I'm excited about the future possibilities of it.

Being 'rules only' there's no scope for commercial opportunities which is fine as that doesn't interest me anyway.  It's more like a 'minigeddon', fan offering. Which is fine.

- - -

This is the current version of the rules, which I'll be keeping updated as I add new stuff or tweak them.

Orbital Battle Command (pdf)

Until next time...

Epic - A Transition Phase... Maybe.

I was largely unimpressed by GW's reboot of Adeptus Titanicus - old AT was the starting point of the old Epic; they started with titans and added smaller units after that.

- Didn't like the micro-management of shields/heat, and the general slow pace of damage and progress.  I don't mind it exists - I know people like this type of thing and I'm glad they have something that works for them.

- The choice to set it in 30k (imperial vs imperial) means there's unlikely to be expansion to other races/armies. Which is... well... boring.  An 'upside' (or trying to find a silver lining) is that you have like vs like so there's less chance of things becoming 'unbalanced' from army/race based shenanigans and tricks.

GW have announced, but not yet released 'phase 2' of AT, tanks and infantry. 'Phase 3' if you include using Aeronautic (planes vs planes), which are included in the new system.

I wouldn't mind getting the new 'starter box' offering.  Not that I anticipate playing it a lot; but the models are nice and it's more a 'collector'/cos-it's-historic urge. remains to be seen of course.

I currently have 4 resin-print armies which I really like; Black Templars, Custodes, Death Guard (30k) and Eldar.

Two are marines (BT and DG), so I don't have a lot of variety. Ideally, I'd like some Tyranids and a Chaos Marines force (which are kinda marine adjacent), but those are long term projects - mainly so I have options if I want to play someone and be able to bring both forces (i.e. demo for someone without models).

So, today, I boxed the large of my old filament print armies, my old, and first Imperial Fists. I've been putting it off (sentimentality) as the others were retired one by one.  I still have them stashed away in a box in storage. I can't bring myself to throw them out entirely though, haha.

IF I do end up getting on the new expanded AT train then there's a high probability that the force will be built as Imperial Fist. Though I do like Death Guard... and I've long liked the Sons of Horus as well. We'll see what we see.

Until Next Time...

 

Epic - A Future Event

Been an age since I've had a game...  possible as far back as September 2021.

Not entirely surprising as I've largely fallen out of love with the system. I still don't mind a game every now and then, but game days are a very limited time span and there's only so many games you can play.

Anyways, I'm signed up for an event in mid-October (2023).

Looking forward to it.  Have built a list already. Just running Vanilla/Codex marines, not my Templar variation (only approved lists are allowed).

That being the case I can take a titan.  I have retired (boxed) almost all of my old filament armies, but pulled an old Warhound out for repurposing. Didn't want to commandeer one of the new AT ones.

He's been repainted and I smoothed out the worst of the striation,  then I've attached gubbins and widgets on the chassis to fancy up the flat surfaces, and also replaced the weapons.

Given he's going into a resin print army I figured he needed some zuzhing.

This is the models assembled as per the list.  Should be legal though the hunters (anti-air) need to attach to the tactical squads, not the scouts.

I'm hoping to get a game in before the event, but as official game day has come and gone I think it will have to be a solo run.

Until next time...

OPR - One Page Zona - Mini Campaign

Over the last couple of weeks I've been playing with OPZ a bit.

The first couple of sessions were... somewhat frustrating from a narrative point of view.

However I've been contemplating the medium ongoing (which was part of the point) and yesterday I had a more satisfactory series of games.

Summary results...

Game 1:   Tier 1   -   3xHS   -   16 turns

   2x vets (a/rifle)   +   (2x medkits)

Game 2:   Tier 1   -   5xHS   -   11 turns

    3x vets (a/rifle)   +   (3x medkits, 1x auto seer)

Game 3:   Tier 2   -   1xMO + 2xHS   -   8 turns

    3x vets (a/rifle) + 1x vet (shotgun)   +   (medkits,mixed armour,detector,1x red dot)

My earlier games drove home that a substantially OPR-based system, while fine for combat, skirmishes or battles, is less than perfect as an 'exploration' medium.

[Pics mainly to break up a wall of text more than highlighting any particular points.]

I had started on 2x2' map with just two models, and the idea to build the crew ongoing.

This is well and good but OPR really curtails the ability to do much.  Combined with dice failures and restricted turn limits I had the crew wiped out a number of times without much to show for the effort.  Which doesn't progress the story.  Sure it reflects a tough environment, but it doesn't make the effort of gaming particular worthwhile, nor would a newly formed team necessarily jump into the most hostile of encounters immediately.

Specific to the last points you only get to do one 'primary thing' per turn, shoot, charge, or search.  which means during a game you have extremely limited scope to loot objectives, especially given they must be cleared first (i.e. you spend your time fighting, and not exploring).  Given exploration is the goal it seems illogical.

This was extremely noticeable with just 2 models. Perhaps not theoretically impossible, but it's highly unlikely that you're manoeuvring to 3 separate HS and clearing their hostiles, and exploring them, and possibly anomalies along the way.  put simply; it doesn't work.

My 'solution' was two-fold;

i)  dispense with fixed turn limits.

ii)  don't feel bad about sitting on Tier 1 for the first couple of games, especially with only 2 models (until you can build a stronger crew).

I played a couple of games with 2 models at Tier 2 and was wiped out before turn 5.  Admittedly I rolled up some of the toughest hostiles types available, but the resources I had just weren't up to dealing with them.

Other alternatives might include adding action points (in which case you're back playing original ZA), or otherwise/further tinkering and manipulating fundamental mechanics in order to mutate the game into a 'exploration' medium, which seems unsatisfactory as well.

So yesterday I started afresh.  A bigger board. And I started super-basic.   

First game had   2 models with 'standard kit' (veterans with a/rifle + medkit),  on Tier 1,  with 3 HS (no MO)   and NO turn limit.

This gave them time to deal with the threats AND the mission goals in a considered 'safer' manner. They were still attacked, they still took wounds but there was the opportunity to regroup between HS  and  actually get to and interact with all of them.

While fixed turns is considered useful for adding tension and/or motivation there needs to be a compromise in terms of actually achieving game goals.

Second game  I added a third vet,  still on Tier 1 but had 5x  Hot Spots...  this was again, largely about looting in a 'safer' environment, but there were more hostiles to deal with.

I think 3 models is really a 'minimum requirement' for running this game in an enjoyable manner.  2 models feels sub-standard - possibly good for an intro, but barely capable of starting off a meaningful 'campaign' or a set of interconnected games.

Third game I added a fourth model,   and increased to Tier 2.  This time one MO  and 2 Hot spots.  All three points produced high level hostiles so it's not like the game was super easy either.

In all games my models were taking damage, so I don't feel it was overpowered in the other direction.  It just made things achievable.

Notable, I left the turn limits off for all three games, but as my crew count increased and equipment/loadouts improved, the turn limits required went down.

Turn limits might be ok if you're starting with a minimum of 3 models, especially on Tier 1, possibly with 4 models on Tier 2,   if you really wanted to add that 'tension' back in.  I'd still probably suggests a high number of turns available though. perhaps 2 more than I actually took in each game. 

Other than that I think the general mechanics of the combat and the exploration were acceptable.

Anyway, that's my 'progress' and musings on this little project.

Until next time...

Knight Titan for OPR

A while ago I was thinking about playing full version OPR.  However a lot of my actual 40k/28mm armies are mainly/exclusively infantry.

Sure, I have a few lone heavy weapons mixed in, but mainly I built my modest collection on "that model/unit looks cool."

Anyway, I decided that rather than getting tanks to buff up my 'armour' aspect, I thought it might be fun to get a Knight Titan.

And here he is.

It's just standard/common Knight Paladin with standard loadout.  It's  pretty iconic... and cool... hence his inclusion.

A barely passable paint job but it will do. It's actually darker and less shiny than it looks in the pics.

At this stage (pics) I still need to give it a coat of matt clear coat. But the creative aspect is done.

Well, almost.

Until next time...

OPR - 6mm - alien hive vs battle brothers

Had a quick game of mini GF last night. Unboxed my cookie cutter nid aliens vs my favourite printed battle brothers.

2x2' mat, and took about an hour.

Was a low effort session, just wanted to watch a battle.

The horde was weak but plentiful, and the soul snatchers were brutal, wiping out 2 formations of bb early on before they could be neutralized.

All the while the aliens skittered forward up the board, setting themselves around the objectives convincingly.

The bb destroyers and bikes managed to brush off a lot of incoming damage, and the bikes even held their own against the carnivo-rex.

By the end of turn 4 the aliens had taken a lot of damage but still had a functional presence controlling much of the board, while the battle brothers were down to their Tough(x) models.

Another turn might have given the bb a chance to counter forward, but they were greatly depleted.

I missed a few intended loadout changes for the aliens but it probably made very little difference to the result.

The nids covered side to side across the backline. Which is a bit intimidating. And the soul snatchers deployed forward in the closest set of ruins.

The soul snatchers pushed up rapidly through cover, while the majority of the horde progressed up solidly.

The soul snatchers were brutal in CC (their only option) and two of the vanilla battle brother squads were ripped apart before they could do much of anything.

Finally the terminators took out one set, and fire from the tank or bikes took out the other one. But loosing so many activations is pretty devastating in such a low activation army. 

The carnifex and warrior squad followed behind the chaff, finally getting into contact late in the game. Both were largely unscathed by the end of the battle.

The marine bikes did manage to survive an attack from the carnifex and put a number of wounds on it, though wasn't close to half  its Tough(12) value.

By end of battle the battle brothers were pretty much outclassed from the start.

To be fair I didn't really adjust weapons loadout much at all.  Marines had a few upgrades.  The nid warriors should have had ranged weapons but only had melee. possibly the carnifex should have had a more thorough look in as well. 

The vanilla tactical battle brothers did have flame thrower upgrades but they were taken out before they could even print them to bear.

Anyways, was a fun little session. I'd be keen to get this or similar another run.

Until next time...

OPR - 6mm - havoc brothers vs battle brothers

This is something I've been meaning to get around to after pondering my 6mm collection, pondering epic, and seeing posts about people doing Grimdark Future (GF) in smaller scales.

Had kind of spur of the moment game last night.

Whacked together havoc brothers (chaos marines) vs battle brothers (space marines) lists to the tune of 1840pt (or there abouts).

rolled out the 2x2' mat on the desert side, grabbed some ruins and called it a thing.

There is a suggestion in the core rules in the 'kitchen table rules" (i.e. for smaller games) and the option that I used is to "halve distances, rounding up".   while technically a 24" heavy rifle can shoot the length of the board I'm taking the distance as "effective and useful distance," or "distance with guaranteed potential." regardless.

chaos has 2 tactical teams, 1 heavy weapons team, 1 cultist group, 1 terminator team (ambush/late deployment), 1 tank and 1 helbrute (heavy walker).

marines had 3 tactical teams, 1 jetpack/assault team (ambush), 1 terminator team (ambush), 1 tank, and 2 landspeeders (ambush).

turn 1 was largely the deployed units moving up toward the objectives and into cover, with barely a shot fired.

start of turn 2 all the ambush unit arrived and teams started picking up the objectives.

while they weren't primary in holding objectives the armoured units (tanks/walkers/etc) were pivotal in holding areas. in fact none of the amour (on either side) ended up taking any wounds - there were other more pressing tasks (i.e. infantry holding or screening objectives etc).

by the end of turn 4 most of the infantry had taken substantial losses (on both sides) but the objective situation was fairly solidified.  the 'top' and 'middle' objectives were held by marines. 

conversely the 'bottom' objective was almost controlled by chaos (again the tank was a dominant presence) - however by the end of turn 4 the marines did manage to contest it.

so the final result was marines(2):chaos(0).

all this took approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes based on photo time stamps.

some thoughts...

armour

while there were some 'deadly' weapons on the field the armour was largely avoided. there were a few shots taken, and some melee/impacts were done but mostly the action took place around them, avoiding them where possible.

I was using '3D' rules for tanks so infantry can target armour 'over' an infantry unit in front of it, and vice versa.  so you can't screen a 'taller' unit behind a 'shorter' unit.

a tanks ability to split fire between its different weapons is a very nice option to have.

I'm thinking that a predominantly armour vs predominantly infantry matchup might have issues.

Focusing on taking out a tough(6) or tough(12) unit is a big task. That's a lot of actions that could be used on something more beneficial... depending on the situation.  Yep, there are deadly weapons for that but it needs to be a pre-planned consideration/loadout.  regular weapons are quite likely to just ping off the hull ineffectively. so you need AP and you'd likely deadly.  armour units are going to be at least 3+ def and quite likely 2+ def.  while this is the same for infantry marine eq it's still a large task.

you also don't get the benefit of whittling down infantry units, making them less and less effective in attacks etc.

distances

generally this was simple.   a weapon shoots 24" normally, now it shoots 12". fast adds 1" not 2". etc etc.

the only slight niggles were things like the "all units must be 1" apart unless charging" rule so 1" / 2 rounding up is 1"... ok.

terrain

this caused a moment of consideration... the ruins were both 'cover terrain' and 'difficult terrain', especially at 6mm which is very low-fi on detail.

in difficult terrain (rubble) you can move no more than 6" per turn, so now that's 3"... ok, easy enough.  "if any model in a unit moves in or through difficult terrain at any point of its move, then all models in the unit may not move more than 6" for that movement."

a comparison

this is not the same as epic. not at all. nothing like it.

you could probably up the points (a lot) and up the tank and knight/titan presence.  that might automatically skew the game/loadout selection toward deadly as well

it still wouldn't play like epic though. by comparison epic seems very 'shorthand' of the battle action despite having a preponderance of 'special rules' that complicate it. I probably like the idea of more tanks/armour, and i'll probably give that a go with the 6mm OPR.

I did try an epic-esque conversion some time ago with sub-par results. it technically worked, but the results could be described generously as 'clunky' or 'broken', and less charitably as 'unplayable'.

conclusion

this was fun. it was definitely OPR:GF, just smaller. there were minimal changes required by changing scale - certainly not enough that it should people off doing it.

i intend to do this again.

until next time...