Urban War Weapons Test Dept

Following on from last weeks introductory Urban War game, MacSver and I had another game to test out some specific pieces of equipment (and their associated rules). One section was how weapons teams played, so the Viridians had a HMG team and Mortar Team (which handily also tested indirect\speculative fire effectiveness) and the other was to see if Heavy Armour could be a game breaker, courtesy of some VASA Black Legion.

The table was set as shown with players starting at either end.

3 objectives were randomly positioned D10 inches from the centre of the table (the direction indicated by the way the D10 pointed) to run a variation of the 3 Sisters Scenario in the rulebook. The 66% breakpoint was kept.

The Viridian's split into 3 groups from the off. A brace headed to the covering position on the left, the Weapons teams moved right to try and take advantage of the limits high position and cover, and the foot-sloggers pushed through the middle.

The VASA decided to move more directly towards the objective points, one force flanking wide and most the others working with the middle cover positions.

A round or 2 in and the the 2 forces had reached their phase one positions. The mortar crew decided to try a shot at the VASA sniper, which and a good elevated position overlook a main bottleneck. Their test shot the previous turn and hopelessly missed but this shot hit the sniper right on top of the head and even took out the supporting Suppressor on half damage.

On the other side of the table the VASA were carefully pushing forward with little resistance, as the covering Marines failed Overwatch command checks time and time again, with only there hard cover saving their skins.

With the VASA starting to close in (and starting to keep space between them) the targets were getting rare for the Viridian Mortar. One (very) speculative shot though did pay off with another mortar landing on the head of a Suppressor, ending his fight. The Heavy Machine Gun team had reached their optimum position to use their range and firepower (especially with the enemy Sniper gone) but all they managed to do all game is make a lot of noise - no hits were scored.

MacSver though it was time to test out the Heavy Armour special rule and popped a Red Guard member up for a charge. Heavy Armour basically acts as an additional save, with the appropriate level (+2 in this case) adding onto a D10 roll, hoping to get an total result of 10 or more. Unfortunately for his jump trooper MacSver didn't make his required 8+ roll and he was out-of-game. So not a license to stride down the centre of the table then!

The turn count was starting to get to the crucial number 6, and everyone was wary of the final objective dash (from games ends from turn 6 onwards with a rolled D10 + turn number > 12). The VASA Sergeant rushed out of cover to try and take out her opposite number. No-one was on overwatch, but fortunately he made a crucial cover save. A hail of lead flew the other way, but with one Marine shooting and the Sergeant ploughing ALL his CAL extra shots at the VASA Commander she was still untroubled. Finally a lone Marine stepped from cover, drew a bead and took down the enemy #1.

This signalled the 66% breaking point for the VASA force and they withdrew.

A fun and useful game. MacSver was most obliging, it must be pointed out, in putting some of his troops in perilous positions to allow the testing of some rules and effects. The effect of mortars to negate obstacles was shown (and also their unreliable accuracy). It also hammered home the importance of finding some solid cover to stand behind when taking fire - this extra save really saved the bacon of some of the Viridian Marines time and time again.