Post by lawndart on Feb 16, 2009 18:54:38 GMT -5
This past weekend was Orccon in L.A. Sunday I had schedule a couple of AE-WII demos - but it ended up being just one, long game with four players - three of which were completely new to AE-WWII. Robert was kind enough to leave some of his terrain pieces for us to use - many of which are pictured in the main rule book. It took about an hour for me to teach the rules. In order to keep things simple/manageable for the new players I left out vehicles, secondary objectives special orders, and just had basic "kill the enemy" scenario.
I've got enough Darkson miniatures for four small detachments if I sacrifice one unit to upgrade another). The player detachments were:
-German Veteran with assassin sniper, Dog squad, Mad Scientist, Storm Ape, Officer, Wehrmacht (Stg-44).
-German Experimental with Rohlingsoldat (MG-42), Mad Scientist, Fire Soldiers, Emaciated Troopers, Officer, Wehrmacht (Kar98).
-American experimental with Buffalo, Engineer, Officer, Rocket Troopers, Airborne (BAR/Carbine), K-9 Squad
-American Support with OSS Agent, Bazooka, Browning MG, Sniper, Sergeant, Airborne (Garands)
The Germans were on the left edge, the Americans on the right. On turn one the German Veteran player started off by having the Mad scientist inoculate the Storm Ape...and rolled a 1. Things appeared to get worse for him when, at the end of the turn, an American OSS Agent used hidden deployment to pop out near the sniper. Unfortunately for the OSS Agent, he rolled poorly and only wounded the sniper once. When turn two began the Germans one the initiative and the sniper took out the OSS Agent. before moving into cover.
At this point, the Germans were concentrated on the top of the map (hidden behind cover) and the Americans were mostly on the bottom). In the middle of the map, the Storm ape and the Buffalo Armour took notice of each other and began to head right towards each other. The Storm Ape eventually charged the Buffalo might next to the ruined house in the middle of the map, but did no damage. The Americans, fearing the Storm Ape, set up the dog handler and rocket troops in the house to take up firing positions, and one of the German Shepards charged into the melee. The players then saw a good demonstration of a focused attack as the Storm Ape crushed the Buffalo with a single blow (although the dog was still hanging on for dear life). The American troopers in the building opened fire..and all of them managed to hit the Ape and miss the dog.
The Ape, mortally wounded, tried to exact revenge on the German Shepard gnawing at his leg..but lost the close combat and then died. The German Shepard was feeling pretty good about himself at this point, thinking he had taken out the Ape, but was quickly dispatched by a Wehrmacht Kar98.
Meanwhile, on top part of the board, the Abominations continued their steady advance, where the Americans only had an Airborne unit (albeit with a BAR). One of the fire troopers took out the Airborne with carbine, causing the BAR soldier to retreat back toward the house in the center of the field, at which the Americans tried to consolidate their position. The Abominations charged the house at this point. First a fire soldier died..and then they all did...none of them ever reaching range of an American.
As you can imagine, the abominations were attracting most of the American bullets. The Rohlingsoldat with an MG-42 was left alone at long range. He was originally a veteran, but was given an extra AP by a mad scientists. After lumbering into range, he spent a number of turns just using his 4 AP to shoot. 20 MG42 shots a turn (even at long range needing 6's) proved deadly to the Americans. The Rocket troopers did a suicide attack - jumping right in front of him, managed to finish them off - but were quickly killed by the two German officers. At this point the Americans began to rout and the game ended.
The four players all had a good time...two of them to my knowledge went looking for figures in the dealer room. Another was really getting into the setting and had some ideas for some rules clarifications, changes and new units that I'll organize. One was hopeful that there would be another AE-WWII game at the next L.A. con over Memorial Day weekend (I think I'm going to need to schedule at least one game for that con...). The mix of pulp and historical units appealed to all, and the sides seemed balanced. This was my first time giving a demo to strangers and I think it went
I've got enough Darkson miniatures for four small detachments if I sacrifice one unit to upgrade another). The player detachments were:
-German Veteran with assassin sniper, Dog squad, Mad Scientist, Storm Ape, Officer, Wehrmacht (Stg-44).
-German Experimental with Rohlingsoldat (MG-42), Mad Scientist, Fire Soldiers, Emaciated Troopers, Officer, Wehrmacht (Kar98).
-American experimental with Buffalo, Engineer, Officer, Rocket Troopers, Airborne (BAR/Carbine), K-9 Squad
-American Support with OSS Agent, Bazooka, Browning MG, Sniper, Sergeant, Airborne (Garands)
The Germans were on the left edge, the Americans on the right. On turn one the German Veteran player started off by having the Mad scientist inoculate the Storm Ape...and rolled a 1. Things appeared to get worse for him when, at the end of the turn, an American OSS Agent used hidden deployment to pop out near the sniper. Unfortunately for the OSS Agent, he rolled poorly and only wounded the sniper once. When turn two began the Germans one the initiative and the sniper took out the OSS Agent. before moving into cover.
At this point, the Germans were concentrated on the top of the map (hidden behind cover) and the Americans were mostly on the bottom). In the middle of the map, the Storm ape and the Buffalo Armour took notice of each other and began to head right towards each other. The Storm Ape eventually charged the Buffalo might next to the ruined house in the middle of the map, but did no damage. The Americans, fearing the Storm Ape, set up the dog handler and rocket troops in the house to take up firing positions, and one of the German Shepards charged into the melee. The players then saw a good demonstration of a focused attack as the Storm Ape crushed the Buffalo with a single blow (although the dog was still hanging on for dear life). The American troopers in the building opened fire..and all of them managed to hit the Ape and miss the dog.
The Ape, mortally wounded, tried to exact revenge on the German Shepard gnawing at his leg..but lost the close combat and then died. The German Shepard was feeling pretty good about himself at this point, thinking he had taken out the Ape, but was quickly dispatched by a Wehrmacht Kar98.
Meanwhile, on top part of the board, the Abominations continued their steady advance, where the Americans only had an Airborne unit (albeit with a BAR). One of the fire troopers took out the Airborne with carbine, causing the BAR soldier to retreat back toward the house in the center of the field, at which the Americans tried to consolidate their position. The Abominations charged the house at this point. First a fire soldier died..and then they all did...none of them ever reaching range of an American.
As you can imagine, the abominations were attracting most of the American bullets. The Rohlingsoldat with an MG-42 was left alone at long range. He was originally a veteran, but was given an extra AP by a mad scientists. After lumbering into range, he spent a number of turns just using his 4 AP to shoot. 20 MG42 shots a turn (even at long range needing 6's) proved deadly to the Americans. The Rocket troopers did a suicide attack - jumping right in front of him, managed to finish them off - but were quickly killed by the two German officers. At this point the Americans began to rout and the game ended.
The four players all had a good time...two of them to my knowledge went looking for figures in the dealer room. Another was really getting into the setting and had some ideas for some rules clarifications, changes and new units that I'll organize. One was hopeful that there would be another AE-WWII game at the next L.A. con over Memorial Day weekend (I think I'm going to need to schedule at least one game for that con...). The mix of pulp and historical units appealed to all, and the sides seemed balanced. This was my first time giving a demo to strangers and I think it went
I thought I could stay for the second demo game, but had to leave earlier, which was the only downer for me that weekend...
After that I got to peruse the Occult book for a bit, ....must.... have.... tumbleweed..... All the units will be awesome of course. 