“Not A Tanker?” A 6mm Sci-Fi Adaptation...

[Commander Roj]

An adaptation of (not surprisingly perhaps) the Lardy game “What A Tanker” for the discerning 6mm Sci-Fi fan:

http://brigademodels.co.uk/mws/blog/

[Mako]

Sounds like a great idea!

I like it.

[Commander Roj]

Thanks Mako. I am continuing to develop it and will post up a report in due course. I had another game on Thursday with cards and some other ideas. A few wrinkles to iron out, but it shows promise.

[Evil Dave]

We've played Wanker about a dozen times, locally, and have kicked around the idea of a 6mm sci-fi version. Glad we're not the only ones. Did you magnetize the turrets?

[Commander Roj]

Hi Evil Dave! It was a bit lonely here with just myself and Mako! I didn’t magnetise the turrets as these were built and painted a while ago...possibly even the last century! Not a bad idea at all though. However, I must admit that I didn’t stick religiously to the rules as written (partly because I didn’t re-read and made some mistakes) For example, I didn’t use the 6=a movement roll as the grav tank concept seemed more like aircraft that aren’t going to encounter difficult going like a ground vehicle. I would for those.

 I forgot about turret movement, but I would be tempted to leave out anyway as a fast traverse/ auto unmanned turret. Variations are bound to be “to taste” to simulate what the individual wants from a sci-fi game.

I had a second game (or part of one...) More to come soon.

[Evil Dave]

That's a good point on the turret traverse rates. I'd also suppose that moving wouldn't take awake aimed either given modern+ guidance systems.

[Commander Roj]

I didn’t take any accuracy away for movement, but with grav vehicles it might be very high speed indeed. With hovercraft it could be quite fast and a bit rough. I think it is relative. Write what you like or seems to add flavour into a scenario. For example, I was thinking for adding in the potential for crashes at very high speed over some terrain types.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

I didn’t take any accuracy away for movement, but with grav vehicles it might be very high speed indeed. With hovercraft it could be quite fast and a bit rough. I think it is relative. Write what you like or seems to add flavour into a scenario. For example, I was thinking for adding in the potential for crashes at very high speed over some terrain types.

That would be in keeping with the old FASA Renegade Legion Centurion rules, where terrain had varying "safe speeds" for grav vehicles and if you pushed the throttle too hard you'd rip yourself apart from collisions with inclines, trees, etc.  They also had the option to "fly high" and ignore terrain for both movement and drawing line of sight, with the drawback of being visible to everyone on the table and catching incoming fire on your belly where penetrating shots were more likely to knock out your grav drive - and that while flying far above the ground. 

The game was a bit fiddly, but had good ideas to mine and streamline.

[Evil Dave]

Centurion was good fun. I remember my cousin slugging away at my armor, only to have my pivot my tank and let him start fresh on the untouched side.

[Commander Roj]

That would be in keeping with the old FASA Renegade Legion Centurion rules, where terrain had varying "safe speeds" for grav vehicles and if you pushed the throttle too hard you'd rip yourself apart from collisions with inclines, trees, etc.  They also had the option to "fly high" and ignore terrain for both movement and drawing line of sight, with the drawback of being visible to everyone on the table and catching incoming fire on your belly where penetrating shots were more likely to knock out your grav drive - and that while flying far above the ground. 

The game was a bit fiddly, but had good ideas to mine and streamline.

I don’t know much about Centurion, although I had RL Leviathan. That was a bit complex too. Those ground effects are what I was thinking of, although I baulk at anything that isn’t “skimming” the surface. Pop ups, yes; flying, not for me although it fits in some backgrounds admittedly.

[Mako]

I like the high-flying idea too, permitting the vehicles to move double to triple the speeds of vehicles closer to the ground.

It's great for surprising the enemy, though as mentioned, everyone gets to see and shoot at you too.

Definitely a must for urgent, orbital insertions on a defended location, though most of the time I suspect the commanders will prefer to do that on the other side of a planet, out of range of defensive fire, and then move in at low altitude.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

I like the high-flying idea too, permitting the vehicles to move double to triple the speeds of vehicles closer to the ground.

It's great for surprising the enemy, though as mentioned, everyone gets to see and shoot at you too.

Definitely a must for urgent, orbital insertions on a defended location, though most of the time I suspect the commanders will prefer to do that on the other side of a planet, out of range of defensive fire, and then move in at low altitude.

That's the other good thing about "high grav" rules, it lets you play those high-risk hot-drop assaults for the times when the attacker can't take the time to do things more safely.

[Commander Roj]

Another report coming soon.

Unfortunately I can’t seem to post any photos at the moment. Not sure why...

[Commander Roj]

More Grav and hover action here:

http://brigademodels.co.uk/mws/blog/

Hopefully I can work out how I posted pictures direct to Lead Adventure in the first place soon.

[Chief Lackey Rich]

Right click on image, select copy image address, open new post here on LAF, click on insert image tool at extreme left of tool bar, paste the addy you just copied between the html brackets, done.



Sounds interesting, and sure looks good.