There have been some questions that potential customers have been asking about the game:
Is Retro Raygun a skirmish game or a mass combat game?Retro Raygun fits somewhere in between skirmish and mass combat games. However, unlike many wargames each model in a squad does not fire individually or remove individual casualties. In Retro Raygun, squads activate, attack and suffer damage as a single entity with its own set of combat stats and special abilities. Squads do not lose individual models and instead suffer the effects of combat as a single entity. For example, when a basic Robot Legion squad of five models receives a "scatter " result in combat, all 5 models are removed from the table. Game play in Retro Raygun is heavily abstracted and it may seem weird at first, the results are very cinematic and really reflect the feel of pulp sci-fi.
How many models are used in a typical Retro Raygun game? How are the forces different?Most scenarios work best with 2-3 units and a handful of heroes. Galacteer forces typically use 1-3 Galacteer squads. Since Galacteers have the most heroes, it's fun to use most (all) of them. Robot Legion forces usually use two legionnaire squads, and 1-2 hordes of minibots/hoverbots. With the exception of Mechanika, the robots don't have named heroes per se and use Centurions (generic heroes.) The Valkeeri have the most variability. If you are doing a capturing mission, use Valkeeri squads since they have the stun property. Add in Rocket Sleds and Panther hordes is you want a fast strike force. However, the Valkeeri forces are limited to 3 heroines so far: Empress Xenovia, Princess Alluria, and Zephyra (rocket sled heroine).
How is action resolved?All combat and skill tests are resolved using the Raygun Roll-off, a dice mechanic where players do an opposed roll using a variable number of dice based on the units' stat and bouses. Unlike many games, each action is resolved in one Raygun Roll-off. You do not need to make 3-4 rolls to reach an resolution to an action (i.e., roll to hit, roll to damage, roll to save.) It is an elegant, abstract system that does not use charts.
Please feel free to ask me additional questions on this thread. If you are going to Salute, stop by the Wargames Emporium booth and take a look at the rulebook in person. You can learn more by joining our Hydra Miniatures' Facebook group. It can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/hydraminiatures/