Logging Road 2-16, Kyushan Highlands, Kyushu---Off World AAR

Hey all---we got another playtest of Off World in today. The United Nations of Earth and Mars Army, having taken over the occupation duties on the colony world of Kyushu after the UN Marines took control of the coast, are now moving into the highlands to pursue the shattered Kyushan Armed Forces.  The KAF has deployed militia troops and droid forces to cover their withdrawal.

The UNEM Army forces consisted of two tanks, two APCs, and two squads, each made up of a squad leader and two 5-man elements.

The Kyushan forces in there way were a motley crew.  A squad of local militia fighters, with shoulder launched rockets; four sections of robotic droids; and some reinforcements off-table (who ended up not arriving).

The UNEM objective was to fight their way up the road.  We ran the scenario as though the UNEM troops don't realize an ambush was in the making.  They drove up the main road and came under rocket attack from the droids.

The table--6'x4'. Great terrain by Russ---thanks, Russ!

Droids hiding on the hill sides

Ambush! Rockets streak down from the hills; the first volley misses.

The tanks and APCs engage the droids, inflicting several casualties and pinning down most of the droid troops.

The grunts un-ass their tracks

One squad moves to the left, to advance into a wooded and brushy area

The dismounted troops wait for more support fire before moving out

The grunts attack the ridge line and clear it of droid resistance

The UNEM troops decisively won the initial phase of the ambush.  Several droids were smashed and UNEM casualties were 0.  The infantry continued moving forward, engaging the droids.  Things started to go wrong, though.  The droids are crappy troops, but they don't retreat---you gotta kill them all.  This forced the infantry into a long fight, outside the support of their vehicles.

The retreating droids---fallen back, but not beaten

A couple of those droids moved forward, to fire rockets at the tanks

On the left flank, UNEM infantry charged over the crest of the hill to attack the droids...

But the local militia open fire on the UNEM troops, inflicting a casualty.  The UNEM squad leader tries to keep his squad going, but is hit in the process and falls.

Fallen UNEM troopers

Retreating UNEM troops

Meanwhile, another UNEM fire team tries to assault the droids who have moved up to engage the tanks...

But they get lit up by defensive fire from the droids and the militia, and are pinned down.  Their squad leader is also hit while trying to push the troops forward.

A third fireteam attacks to kill the last droid---but the droid fended them off! The fireteam withdrew.

The UNEM force has lost all the momentum it had only two turns earlier.  The tankers rev their engines and move forward; it's gonna take serious firepower to break this blocking enemy force.

 

The lead tank rolls forward and engages the militia, killing 2 with maingun and MG fire.

These droids aren't out, though.  One of their number has a dangerous AT laser, and fires on the tank...

The beam punches through, hits ammo, and BAM---scratch one tank!

Meanwhile, the militia engage a UNEM APC with rockets...

...destroying one of the two APCs!

We called the game at this point.  UNEM casualties were 4 infantry (including 2 squad leaders), a tank, and an APC; Kyushan losses were 2 militia and 8 droids.  

I felt it was an effective playtest and a fun game. We agreed that we wanted more rules for remote-control weaponry; several times we wanted the militia to be able to use remote devices to guide droid AT rockets to their targets. I might also make the to-hit numbers generally easier, to make more modifiers possible and to generally make firing more effective.  There wasn't much opportunity to allow infantry their new (compared to the WWII version) ability to move and fire in this scenario, so that will have to wait for the next playtest.  I will be introducing a "sprint" rule, to allow infantry to move very short distances and avoid the worst of defensive fire.  All of this is to introduce more movement into the game, which I think will set it apart from the WWII version and do as much to make it feel modern/sci-fi as will lasers, droids, and aliens.

Thanks to Russ for the great terrain and to Myth Games in McAllen for the table. If you're in the Rio Grande Valley and want to play, please send me an email---we get together fairly regularly for games.

Thanks for looking!