This is the fourth post in a narrative campaign between Space X and Blue Origin to control the moon. This will let me play with my Astronauts with guns and associated terrain and vehicles.
Campaign Background
Space X has built a base on the moon to support the establishment of a colony on Mars. Blue Origin has built a base to support the establishment of its O'Neil Space Habitats. Both have found that their dreams are larger than the capital and resources they have available.
Space X has decided on a hostile take over of Blue Origin's assets on the moon and has launched a surprise attack in an extension of their corporate competition for the moon's scarce resources. Luckily Blue Origin has had time to prepare some defenses but they will still always be out numbered by Space X.
Battle Four Scenario Scenario 21 Twin Objectives (OHW scenario book)
A final attack by a Space X force of 6 squads that need to defeat a smaller Blue Origin force of 4 squads and capture a base and nearby hill.
Rules used: FFOL Bigger Battles
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| Start of the game. A force of six squads of Space X comes from the right hand side of the table. One squad of Blue Origin holds the hill in the bottom right hand side and three squads of Blue Origin hold the base. These three squads are sheltering behind vehicles that have been moved to provide a barricade against the advancing Space X hordes. |
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| End of turn 1 - Space X has moved three squads to attack the hill and the other three squads have moved towards the base but remain out of range. The Blue Origin squad on the hill has moved to the edge of the hill and opened fire but has only managed to inflict 4 points of shock on one Space X squad. |
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| End of turn 2 - Space X initiative cards are better than Blue Origin's. In addition to going first they also draw the Queen of Spades which allows them to remove all shock from one unit and then fire. Two Space X squads get to fire at the Blue Origin squad on the hill and despite its cover it is destroyed. The other Space X squad moves towards the solar arrays while the three squads remain out of range of the Blue Origin squads in the base. |
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| End of turn 3 - Blue Origin shuffle their squads to move one squad to the solar arrays to confront the Space X advance there. The other squads maintain their positions in the base. |
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| End of turn 4 - Space X advances across the battlefield. Blue Origin deploys one squad past the Solar Array and they fire on the nearest Space X squad (sorry no firing indicator) and cause two dead and one shock. The Blue Origin squad in the base fires at long range at the advancing Space X squads but gets no hits. |
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| End of turn 5 - Once again Space X wins the initiative. At the base the top most Space X squad moves to close range and gets 4 killed and one shock. Return fire inflicts no casualties. At the Solar Arrays Space X draws the Queen of Spades again as well as firing first and kills three Blue Origin defenders and sends the remaining two running for safety. The last Blue Origin squad moves and fires and kills two Space X fighters and causes two shock. They will need to move first next turn if they hope to survive. |
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| End of turn 6 - Space X again win the initiative and effectively destroy the remaining two Blue Origin squads. The remaining three Blue Origin Astronauts surrender. The battle is lost. |
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| A gratuitous photo of my space base built using electrical conduit sections, clear Christmas ornaments and scratch built computers, screens and machines. |
Final Thoughts: The Bigger Battles rules seemed to work Ok. However they are very dependent on the luck of the activation of each side and the games left me a bit unsatisfied as they seemed to be determined by the first or second turns. I am not sure if the scenarios are unbalanced when using the FFOL rules or it was just the activation cards drawn in each of the games.
I don't think I will play a bonus tie breaker game. Mr. Bezos and Mr. Musk will have to settle for a draw.
Figures
Buildings and solar array are made by me
What next?
At least my readers have been spared zombies for the past eight weeks, hopefully this will continue 😁
I guess it was always likely the more powerful Space X would prevail, Ben - hope you enjoyed the campaign, despite your slight misgivings about the rules and the level of "luck" involved!
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy the campaign Keith. I think I may play one of the OHW scenarios with different sets of rules for my astronauts to see which set I think is best.
DeleteAlright, so I've finally played FFOL Bigger battles and they rules are iffy. I REALLY like the skirmish ones but they don't translate well into big battle. I found that units are extremely brittle and whomever does get the first jump has the big advantage.
ReplyDeleteThey would need a lot of tweaking to get right in my mind;
Have you looked at the Rampant family go rules? Xenos Rampant perhaps? 😁😁
The space station is SUPER cool.
I am glad your sentiment regarding the rules are the same as mine Stew. I will look at the Xenos Rampant rules. I do have the free FUBAR rules for Sci Fi as well as the Future War Commander rules. I may have a few other sets of rules. In any event I will try one scenario with a couple of sets to see which one works best for me.
DeleteI will keep the FFOL rules just for skirmish sized battles.
Thanks for your kind words on the space station. I am not sure it is a design that NASA will go with but it looks cool and reminds me of all the pictures I saw in the 70's when the moon landings were going on.
yeah, I was really surprised actually about how things didn't work as well. for example: the game I was in one side had to get from point A to point B, but since each shock is -1 to movement and you get lots of shock VERY easily; basically makes it impossible to move.
DeleteI had thought it would scale from individuals to groups OK but there seemed to be a big change.
DeleteOnce you get any amount of shock it is nearly impossible to get rid of unless you spend a few turns rallying, of course during which you are likely to get more shock.
Your space station looks splendid.
ReplyDeleteThank you Peter.
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