Star Wars Game (5150)

 I took advantage of the fact that I still had the table ready from my recent Slaughterloo game and decided to have a Star Wars game using the 5150 Star Army rules by Two Hour Wargames. I ended taking a few more pictures than I expected, so this is something of a pictoral summary, with my comments and observations dotted between. Click on the pictures if you want to see larger ones.

The set up: an alien jungle planet. Three possible enemy contacts were set up, two toward the top left of the picture and one by the stone column.

I decided to semi-generate some reinforcements by organising the squads I would use and assigning each one a card. When required, I drew from a card deck to see what turned up. I made up stats as I went and have them filed in a box for future use.

Due to an odd die roll on the first turn, I ended up getting reinforcements before my platoon arrived on the table! 4 Phase 1 Dark Troopers. As it happened they were not so useful...

The Dark Troopers make first contact: A Rebel squad in a defensive position. Might be tough to shift them.

Rebel fire takes out two of the Dark Troopers.

My main force arrives. On the left flank I deploy two squads and the platoon command squad. All are troops of average quality (Rep 4)

On the right flank I deploy my weaker squad. Unfortunately all Rep 3. This would mean they would be less likely to activate efficiently, but I figured all I wanted them to do at this stage was take and hold the jungle in front of them.

The final Dark Trooper attempts to charge and falls to Rebel fire. Useless robots!

On the right, my Stormtroopers advance and survey the carnage!

Contact with the other PEFs. One is a Rebel Squad of average quality but with a poor leader. The other is a poor squad of Klatoonians.

The view from the jungle edge. Fortunately, the enemy were mostly armed with blaster pistols and not in a position to take any shots.

I start to suffer from Rebel fire. Aside from being generally better, the Light Repeating Blaster would lay down heavy enough fire to force the Stormtroopers back into the jungle, meaning that Imperial return fire would be less effective even if it didn't cause casualties.

The exchange of fire between the two squads continues, while the Klatoonians advance on the left.

On the right flank, my Rep 3 Troopers start to suffer from the higher quality Rebel fire, although due to their armour, a lot of the Troopers lying down did not take severe wounds.

Here is an example of what happens when poorly skilled and badly armoured forces advance into the open

Zap! Over half the squad goes down.

Zap! Zap! My follow up fire wipes out the rest. The reaction system used in THW games mean that your forces can react to fire targeted at them, and then follow up with their own fire when active, so a well positioned and trained force can have a brutal effect.

Happy days! I take out the pesky Rebel heavy weapon. This should make things easier for me.

On the right, Rebel fire keeps on forcing my Troopers to fall back to cover. Of course, ones which have been stunned are less able to do so, which meant that the 'good guys' could mercilessly shoot them while they lay on the floor! Rebel scum!

I decide to start a flanking maneuver. I had a squad to the left of the one in the jungle hiding in some ruins. I felt it was time to move them round at attack the Rebels from two angles.

Sorry, blurry picture! Ewww. Gives me a headache just looking at it. But this is a squad which came to reinforce my efforts

Still not managing to shift the rebels on the right....

Despite my best efforts there seems to be a bit of a stalemate on the left flank...

Well, why not just shove everything at them and see what stick?

Yet more Imperial casualties on the right. I was basically using this squad to keep the Rebels in place while I sorted out the left flank.

A bloody conflict ensues in the jungle as I recklessly throw in my jungle scouts.

Annoyingly, this was the only time I partially failed a Man Down test in the game, resulting in two troopers deserting when one was taken out.

On the right flank I finally only have one trooper left, so the Rebels opt to charge into the jungle and finish the job. So the right side of the table is now secured by the Rebels with minimal casualties.

It takes two squads to shift the Rebels out of the jungle. Unfortunately this puts them out of sight of my forces.

The Rebels on what used to be my right flank start to advance towards the river.

Boom! What's this? Another blurry photo? It can only mean one thing: Imperial reinforcements? Did I get so excited by getting more troops that my hands started shaking?! I felt the battle could really turn in my favour now, as I got a good squad of Sith Troopers, all armed with light repeating blasters. In short, quite a devastating squad to have!

"Jungle secured, Sir!"

Rebel Troopers take up position in cover in response to the appearance of the Sith Trooper reinforcements.

The view from behind the Rebels

What's this?! Rebel reinforcements. Uh oh. The Mon Calamari are not exceptional in terms of armour or weaponry, but they do get a bonus to hit in moist environments (and a penalty in dry ones), so the fact that they turned up on a jungle planet was good for the Rebels.

Distracted by finishing off the Rebels, none of my force is positioned to respond to enemy reinforcements.

Sith Troopers advance to the edge of cover. Not only are they excellent warriors, but they have great weapons. The result...?

... The brutal destruction of the Rebels across the river.

 

The changing situation on the left flank. The Mon Calamari suffer from Imperial fire.

Having taken care of the first squad of Rebels, the Sith Troopers move towards the Mon Calamari. The result was a nasty exchange of fire, which saw extensive Rebel casualties.

The scouts advance across the river just to make sure the remaining Rebels were no threat.

At this point I decided to end the game. I rolled the activation dice a couple of times in case the Rebels got reinforcements, but nothing turned up. I had definitely succeeded in my goal of defeating the enemy force.

Luck was on my side, I think. Although the game might seem a little one sided in retrospect, I was never entirely sure what might have happened from turn to turn. Sure, the Sith Troopers were great to get, but they came in relatively late. It was unfortunate for the Rebels that they had the Klatoonians as they never had a chance to do anything and were an easy target for my higher quality soldiers. But in any case, it was a fun game. I did limit myself to infantry, something I won't do next game. One other thing I forgot to mention was that I rolled a result of Bad Intel before the game. I could quite easily have found myself facing a force twice the size, or being outflanked at the beginning, which would obviously have changed things. I was lucky there.

A final point is that, although I won this game, if I had been playing a campaign it would have been less impressive. I managed to lose a whole squad and there was a good chance I would have had to go without replacements in the next game (you don't keep reinforcements rolled during the battle). So I could have faced a similar enemy force with only two thirds of my force, making future missions much harder. Star Army certainly produces a good one-off game, but I am certainly eager to play a proper campaign against the Rebels!

Using Star Army with other settings

(This is the second of two related posts about 5150: Star Army. The first being my general look at the game, which can be found here.)

If, like me, you want to use 5150: Star Army in other settings, such as Star Wars or Warhammer 40k, there isn't a great deal you have to think about changing. This post (perhaps of rather limited interest!) is to look at some of these points and maybe help those who are thinking about using these rules to fight battles with figures from specific ranges.

Weapons and Armour

This is pretty straight forward. Most armour can be closely fitted around one of the SA categories or, if not quite accurate, the abilities of SA categories can be added to or removed. Maybe BTA is a close fit for 40k Terminator armour, but you want to ignore the movement bonuses it gives.

Weapons are equally straight forward really. Most categories are covered, but given that they are all a combination of different ranges impact values and firing rates, it is easy to make something up. For my Star Wars project I use an online resource for the old RPG for weapon ranges and use the damage dice rating as the basis for the weapon's impact value. It should be easy to do similar with other rules. 

Army Organisation 

I try and stick fairly closely to the basic organisation as presented in the rules, but if you want an army that is wildly different then it should not be a problem. Just tweak what is already there.

My Imperial platoon: 3 squads with two repeating blaster assets. One command half-squad

Assets

Platoons and companies have different assets available depending on the investment level and the type of engagement. This is really a case of spending some time and seeing what is available in your collection and suits your force.

Imperial assets: Repeating Blaster, Blaster Cannon, Heavy Repeating Blaster and a Probe Droid.

Reinforcement tables

Depending in your setting and how 'colourful' your army options are, this might be a big or small task. Near future settings where your army would mostly consist of 'standard' squads with a couple of vehicles in support would be easiest. Settings with a big variety of troop types which don't operate under 'usual' military organisation (40k Orks maybe?!) might be a bit trickier. What I am doing is looking at the figures I have available and deciding what might be available to each side. So my campaign is based around a rebellion on an Imperial factory world. Rebel reinforcements include Rebel Troopers, corporate security and some battle droids and vehicles. In essence, figure out what you have and draw up a chart to roll on! My suggestion would be to start simple and develop it as you go.

Infantry Reinforcements chosen to reflect my campaign setting: Battle droids, corporate mercenaries, planetary security and Sith troopers.

Vehicles

Although the lists in the book describe a variety of vehicles, the rules themselves go through, step by step, the different things which need to be defined. So this is a case of start from the beginning and work through, deciding how to define the different aspects of your vehicles. You'll want to note the possible Rep of the crew for when you roll them up and also create a chart of available vehicles for reinforcement purposes. Worth noting is that the rules expect the 2nd and 3rd vehicles rolled as reinforcements to be the same as the first, the idea being they are part of the same platoon. Personally I don't bother with this as I don't have 3 of the same vehicle and don't think it is really required in Star Wars games. So a key point here is the rules are definitely your tool to use as you see fit.

Potential vehicle reinforcements: TIE Crawler, Viper war droid, AT-ST walker and speeder bike

Other stuff

There are rules for retrieving wounded and using the skills of medics, so these along with other bits and pieces will have to be decided upon as you go, or discarded if inappropriate to your setting. You may also want to tweak the random events so they are more specific. 

You will also need to decide which reaction tables you will use for your forces, which will determine the outcomes of them coming under fire, taking cohesion tests and so forth. For the time being I am using the Star Army reactions for professional, soldiers and another for less well trained chaps. It's also not too hard to look at the options and create your own. 

The main work that would be required is probably if you want hero types in your setting. Personally I think it should be kept as simple as possible. So Jedi can just be very high Rep characters with a large melee bonus. But there is definitely scope for deciding on the effects of various psychic abilities and such like if you want. 

The rules also don't use a points system, so this should be seen as an opportunity to jump on in and experiment! 

Final word

There are plenty of generic systems which can be used for gaming in your preferred sci-fi setting. But I find that 5150 Star Army brings together a lot of interesting elements which make it worth the (not too large) effort needed to play Star Wars games with it. In fairness I have probably gone to the extreme of what is required!

Hopefully this post has been of some interest or given you a few ideas to try out. Maybe it's even encouraged you to pull out an old collection and try using it with whatever your current favourite rules are. Comments are welcome as always and thanks for reading. 

A look at: 5150 Star Army

I thought I'd kick off my 'new-look' blog with a couple of related posts. A look at 5150 Star Army by Two Hour Wargames and my thoughts on how it adapts to different settings.

5150 Star Army is Two Hour Wargames' rule set for platoon level sci-fi wargames. It is set in their 5150 universe, but easily adapted for whatever setting you like.

How does it work?

SA uses similar mechanics to other THW rules, with an integrated turn sequence centred around their reaction system, meaning that players don't have an unrealistic control over their forces. (For more info see my post about Chain Reaction 3.) The main difference from other rules by the company is that figures are organised into squads of 8 figures and players typically control a platoon of three squads or a company of two platoons. Same side, solo and opposed games are all possible.

Bugs everywhere! (From the THW Blog post found here)

Any aliens?

I won't dwell too much on the different races available, but the rules cover various humans along with setting specific aliens and generic bugs. What is worth mentioning is that they are all neatly represented by different abilities. If you want to play in your own setting, you can easily pick and choose from these to create your own alien races. It works well without making things over complicated.

BatRep of 5150 Used for WH40K. From this blog

And the scenarios?

Patrol, attack and defend scenarios are available, although the reality is that, combined with things like the enemy investment level, variable reinforcements and PEFs, there is a lot of variation in actual gameplay. 

Reinforcements can appear for either side during the game. Squads, vehicles, off board artillery, snipers and strafing runs are all covered. This really varies the basic scenarios and forces you to respond to a changing situation on the fly.

Assets are also available at platoon and company level with their availability being dependant on the type of mission and the investment level. They include flame throwers, machine guns, plasma guns, satchel charges and more.

Great looking game from this blog. Note the recurring theme of "Ace for solo gaming"

Hang on! Enemy Investment Level? PEFs? What...?!?

The Enemy Investment Level determines how much effort the enemy is willing to put into defending or attacking the region the battle takes place in. This has a direct bearing on the strength of resistance you are likely to find. PEFs are 'Potential Enemy Forces', markers placed at the start of the game which are resolved when in line of sight. They could be enemy squads, vehicles, defensive emplacements, or just a false signal. 

Sci-fi is about the tech! What gear and equipment is available for my troops?

There is a good range of weapons and armour represented in the game. Modern style projectile weapons as well as lasers are present, with the differences represented by varying the firing ranges, the number of targets which can be shot in one turn and the impact values against different armour types. 

Armour can be one of four classes: soft body, hard body, exo-suits and battle tactical armour. The latter two also afford the wearer extra movement, targeting, communication and other benefits. I see hard body armour being like Storm Troopers, exo-suits like GW Space Marines and BTA like in the Starship Troopers novel. 

All of this makes it quite easy to create new weapons to fit your preferred setting and figure out their effectiveness against various armour types.

Want an asymmetric game with a modern/near-future feel? Look no further than here!

So, tell me about the options for a campaign. 

When you start a campaign you pick your side, who you are fighting against and decide who is attacking and defending the planet. You undertake two missions per month, the results of which will cause your campaign morale and that of your enemy to rise or fall. The side whose morale drops to zero first loses. 

Your first mission will be a patrol, but after that it could be any of the three types depending on the outcome of your last game. So you may find yourself on the offensive or defensive at various times depending on how you are doing. 

Before each game you need to determine various factors, all of which work towards making a seemingly small range of scenarios actually quite varied. The investment level has to be determined along weather conditions and what kind of intelligence is available. This last point is very important as entering a scenario with poor intel can result in your force being outflanked or running into a much larger enemy force than expected. Simple rules to implement which allow for unexpected situations to crop up and make even setting up interesting!

Following the battle, you find out if you have received replacements for your losses and any gaps in your command structure are filled by promoting soldiers. You may feel cocky at the onset, but try to fight a campaign on an enemy planet when your senior command doesn't care too much about the platoon it sent in as a token gesture to gauge the enemy strength. Soon you'll be begging for more soldiers, even green recruits, and every battle becomes a balance between preserving your force and achieving the required victory. Tough times, soldier, so just man-up and get on with it!

And is solo play actually any good?

Solo play is well catered for. In addition to the variability from the PEF rules, there are charts to determine enemy behaviour during the game. These are used by rolling against the enemy Rep to decide what action they take and vary depend upon the type of scenario. There are also basic tactics which the enemy will follow in addition to the mission specific ones. Added to the ongoing campaign, this means lots of fun and variation for the solo gamer. 

Any other points I should know about?

Here is a list of things I could think of that I haven't covered:

• Random events including snipers, mines and artillery strikes. 
• Variable insertion: enter the table on foot, in APCs or even by dropship!
• Rules to cover all kinds of vehicles without being overly complex. 
• Structures including bunkers and other buildings
• Rules for 'Stars' so you can heroically lead your forces into battle. 

There has to be something you are not so keen on, surely?

I think there are a couple of gaps to fill if you wanted to game the whole gamut of sci-fi settings. Things like psionics or independent heroes are not covered, and there are no rules for droids, specifically thinking of single ones like Imperial Probe Droids. But in truth it is pretty easy to figure out the odd special skill here and there, or construct a special set of reaction tables for droids to make them act like you want. If you really wanted a game focused on the exploits of larger than life heroes like Han or Luke from Star Wars, then you'd probably want to check out the more skirmish focused 5150 New Beginnings.  But these are minor quibbles given the game's remit of delivering fairly 'hard' sci-fi platoon battles. This it does very well indeed.

Final words to sum up?

I'd like to finish with a quote from the designer's notes which summarises what I like about the game:

5150: STAR ARMY is all about potential. We're giving you the tools to play the sci-fi games you want, as big as you want, and as detailed as you want. Not the crunchy "what bolt was hit" details rules to cover all aspects of sci-fi warfare but easy to follow rules that cover all aspects of sci-fi warfare.

STAR ARMY is not for everyone. You'll find that you do not have total control of your forces, this isn't chess, that you will often not know what you're facing, and the reinforcement system can be cruel at times. But you will be presented with challenges every battle and the tension that comes from uncertainty.

Star Army is great as a solo game and for playing campaigns that are focused on the games to be played rather than lots of paper work. Despite what I said in the section above, in practice it is very flexible in terms of adapting your favourite setting as well. I always used to play Star Wars using Star Grunt. But I'll use Star Army from now on. And that's strong praise from me!

Preview: New Hope City PI (Part 3)

Following on from Part 1 and Part 2 of my preview, my PI has found he must return to the scene of the crime and try and locate security footage of the vehicle theft.

It is now day time in a busy area of town. I have to get to the parking garage at the opposite end of the table. Between me and there, lie 4 PEFs and a line of sight obscuring building. The PEFs are evenly distributed, so I opt to go left, round the front of the building.

This is now a great example of how things don't go well...

The first PEF resolves as police, just the usual security, not Stormtroopers. Fine I think, no problem. I pass my interaction check and they leave me be. But no, not so simple. I almost forgot that Police will automatically assess you for suspicious behaviour. The Law Level for that time of day and the fact that it is an important area of town (this is my own modifier based on those given in the game) mean they easily roll more successes (in this case meaning 1-3 on a die) than I do (using the table for suspicious behaviour). First, they check me for warrants. I have not committed any crimes so they don't arrest me, but they will now question me about why I am there and what I am doing. Probably they are extra vigilant following recent vehicle thefts!

[An aside before continuing. THW games use a core mechanic of 'passing' dice. You have a target number, often your REP, and roll (usually) two dice. Each one that scores the target number or less counts as 'passed'. So you normally can pass with 0, 1 or 2 dice for varying degrees of effect. For example, a REP 4 character rolls a 5 and a 2. The 5 is higher than his rep, so fails. The 2 is equal to or lower, so passes. He counts as 'Passed 1d6' for whatever check he was making.]

I use the "Investigation and Arrest" table to find out what happens. I roll two dice against my REP of 5, so need 5 or less. They roll against a Level 2 crime rating, needing 2 or less. I roll badly, 3 and 6, so I pass with 1 die. They roll well, 1 and 2, so they pass with 2. A difference of 1 die in favour of the police mean they take me in for some proper questioning. This is bad. I could potentially go to jail for a crime I didn't commit!

Fortunately, a quick roll on the 'Questioning' table goes in my favour and they drop the case against me. This is a relief as I really didn't want to end up in court! On the downside, they did haul me off the streets while I was trying to carry out my investigation. This wastes time and now I have to return to the place during a different time of day, which can have a knock on effect depending on where you are. I'm fortunate in that the timer doesn't start ticking until I find the first clue and the Factory District is fairly stable in terms of it's law level. But still, it was a close shave I didn't need.

I head back and try again. I quickly encounter a mechanic, but to no effect, so we both carry on our way. The next encounter is a bit more risky.

PEFs move around the table during the game. One went into a nearby building, so I decided to go that way round, hoping it wouldn't come out again. Not so lucky, it jumps out and surprises me. Worse, I find out it is a gang member. Fortunately my People skill, which is used in these interactions, is higher than his resulting in a better outcome when I roll the dice. He isn't interested in me and I quickly move on.

Approaching the side entrance of the car park I encounter a medic. Would have been nice to get him on my side for future, but he's too busy with whatever he's up to. I enter the car park and quickly find the security footage I am after. Heading off the table, I check for another travel encounter and end the scenario.

Great, I've found my first clue which is good, but now the clock starts ticking. I check what I need to do next... another clue. What fits my story? I see someone in a mask steal the vehicle, but the footage also shows a landspeeder slowly moving around the lot. Maybe casing the joint? I'm going to check that out. Research shows it is likely to be near a bar in the commercial district. I don't really have much choice but to head of immediately due to the time constraints. This is what I meant before about the knock on effect of being hauled off for questioning by the police. The area I am heading to has a Law Level of 3 during the day, but now I am heading there in the 'Late' part of the day it drops to 2. There are fewer PEFs (3), but a much higher chance of more appearing out of nowhere and surprising me. So because of the inconvenience earlier I may be in for a rougher ride now.

This game is interesting in how it can throw unexpected occurrences at you and how they can have a knock on effect for future encounters. 'Wargamers' may be dismayed at the lack of actual conflict so far, but that is more than covered by games using the core 5150 rules. This expansion is all about the investigation, the story around it and what happens to you along the way. Sure, the deeper I get into things the more dangerous it will become, certainly when I start to question possible suspects. But for now it has thrown up a few surprises and tense moments, really making it feel like an investigation game rather than a skirmish wargame with a PI theme.