SPACE WEIRDOS - The First Impression

With the decision taken not to hold the regular Thursday Zoom game it fell to the diehards (Chris and Tony) to fill the gap and ensure that the Blog wasn't left unsupported.  Obviously a suitably serious game system was required, but which?  Eagle eyed readers who looked at the title will already know the answer - Space Weirdos.

Space Weirdos is a simple 'Astro-Beer and pretzels' sci-fi skirmish available from Wargames Vault for the princely sum of $4.99 (or £4.32 in real money).  Weighing in at a mere 16 pages (including the Cover and rear page Quick Reference Sheet) it uses an opposed dice roll mechanic using pairs of D4, D6, D8, D10 or D12.  Different figures use different die types depending on their skill in defense, shooting, melee or will power with situational benefits or penalties increasing or reducing the die type used.  Despite the short format, rules for designing your own units are included so its was child's play to work out a quick Orc vs Marines game to test the rules out.

In the green corner we have a Marine Sergeant leading his force of two Marines with Heavy Rifles and one Marine with a Flamethrower.  With Heavy Armour and excellent shooting skill the Marines were expecting to gun down the Orks at long range.  If they got in close the Armour and Melee weapons should mean they were still effective.

In the other green corner the Orks, with a Boss leading 4 Orks with Heavy Pistols and Knives along with a Goblin Sniper for long ranged work.  The Ork Boss was a devastating close combat fighter with the other Orks not far behind, all were armed with Heavy Pistols meaning the long range firepower was limited.  The Goblin sniper was looking to engage the enemy from a distance being terrible in hand to hand.

Chris was hosting and had put together both forces so it was up to Tony to choose sides and he picked the Orks, will he wash away the Marines in a green tide?  Will his tactical skill  bring victory?  Has he read the rules?  He claims to have skimmed them and exhibits some knowledge of the mechanics - good enough.  Following pre-game kebabs ordered by Eileen the game begins.

The Marine Sergeant had the Leadership skill Tactician meaning that the Marines roll for initiative using 2d8 against the Orks 2d6.  All figures have 3 actions whose use is limited by their stats.  Speed 2 means only two move actions are allowed per turn for example. 

Turn 1 and the Marines go first.  Players alternate moving figures, both are cautious and there is limited sniping at range which proves ineffective as significant movement meant reduced shooting dice and cover improved defense.  Eventually the Marines scored a hit.  

Rather than automatically inflicting a wound, a successful hit leads to a roll of the Under Fire table (2d6 plus modifiers with a 10 or better killing the target outright)  the Marine rolls a 3 and his target gets a snap shot back at him!  Luckily the Ork misses.  End of the first turn and no casualties have been inflicted.

Turn 2 and the flamer equipped Marine tries to get the bead on an Ork sneaking down the left flank, sadly the Ork is well hidden and no shot is possible.  Instead in his go the Ork charges the flamer, hits and inflicts damage, the Marine goes down.

The goblinsniper comes into his own and takes a shot at the Marine.  He aims, hits and takes the Marine out of action.  First blood to the Orks.

The Marine Sergeant decides to even the score and charges into the fray, sadly for him the fray hasn't read the script and he inflicts no damage.  The Ork Leader counter charges and puts the Sergeant down and stunned.  Things are not looking good for the Marines.  Luckily no other Orks can get into combat and finish the Sergeant off (small mercies).

Turn 3 and the Marines go first.  The Marine Sergeant tries to recover and fails, he tries again and fails a second time, he tries again and succeeds, all three actions used and he's still down.  At least he's not stunned though.  It doesn't last.  After both Orks finish their attacks the Sergeant is out of Action. In compensation the two Marines on the far side of the table each manage to take out an Ork, albeit loosing one of their number in the process. Its still not looking good.

Turn 4 and with only one Marine left Tony senses victory and wins initiative.  An Ork charges in only to be felled by Overwatch fire.  The Marine than takes a turn and kills the second Ork closing in on him (what a Hero!).

He then uses a command point to dodge the incoming fire and hide.  The turn ends and with it the game.  It turns out to have been too little too late.  With 3 dead Marines the Orks score 60 while 4 dead Orks are only worth 52 points.  Victory to the Orks and the Marines are left to wonder what went wrong.

In the inevitable post game discussion the rules are considered to have worked, the game is fast to play, once the rules are understood and the Under Fire and Under Attack tables means that the effect of hits are uncertain and can result in counter fire.  Both sides suffered poor rolls and the initial game saw little damage inflicted.  An enjoyable evening has been had and the game is likely to be played again - overall a success.

Return to Octerapus - The Empire Strikes Back

 To: Space Marine Strike Cruiser ‘Townsville’, base of the third company ‘Imperial Dropbears’ chapter

From: Imperial Battle Barge ‘Zeemaphrame’ commanded by Imperial Inquisitor Lord Rob.

Greetings in the Emperors name.  It has come to my attention that Heretical activity is taking place on Imperial world Octerapus with Traitor Marines having been spotted.  A unit of Deathwatch Marines dispatched to the planet are out of contact and are assumed to have been destroyed. Please urgently send a team of Marines to the planet to locate and destroy the heretics before the heresy takes root.

From ‘Townville’: Strewth Mate we’re just in the middle of something here, can’t you take care of it yourself?’

From ‘Zeemaphrame’: No we can’t.  His excellency Lord Rob is busy undergoing routine maintenance.  Planetary garrisons are already committed elsewhere. What’s so urgent you can’t help?

From ‘Townsville’:  We’re having a bar… Err We’re partaking in an ancient chapter ritual that’s totally out of the manual and shouldn’t be interrupted. [Muffled] Here Wayne watch those sausages mate, they’re starting to burn.

From ‘Zeemaphrame’: What? Look Rob is a Lord Inquisitor and he can totally order you to obey you know!  Besides we haven’t carried out a ‘purity review’ of your chapter recently if you get my drift.

From ‘Townville’:  All right mate, don’t stress yourself out, OK we’ll send a few of the boys to deal with it.  Leave it with us.  Townsville out.   Bluey get your lads together, oh and pass those prawns…

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With Rob busy on family business Tony stepped up to play the next game of Kill Team.  The two sides were Tony’s Tactical Space Marines vs Chris’s Heretic Space Marines giving a simplified battle as it was Tony’s first game.

The Heretic Astartes were as the previous battle, Aspiring Champion Derek the Miffed with Plasma Pistol and Power Fist, Chaos Warrior Roderick with Bolter, Chaos Warrior Tyson with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, Chaos Warrior Tarquin with Chaos Icon, Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, Chaos Gunner Brutus with Meltagun and Chaos Heavy Gunner Steve with Heavy Bolter.

The Imperial Dropbears Space Marine Chapter fielded a Sergeant Bluey with Bolt Pistol and Chainsword, three Marines Bruce, Robo and Loco with Boltgun, Gunner Wayne ‘Barbie’ with Flamer and Heavy Gunner Chook with Missile Launcher.

Chaos won the initiative and choose not to use a Strategic Ploy, the Imperials chose Bolter Discipline enabling them to Shoot twice.  Tarquin started by Dashing to the centre objective and securing it for Khorne (1vp to Chaos).  The Imperial response was brutal as Bruce advanced then gunned down Tarquin using his two shooting actions.  Steve moved forward into a shooting position and secured the second objective (2vp for Chaos).  In response Robo leapt onto a shipping container, negating Steve’s cover and again with two shots gunned him down.   

                    Hapless 'Steve the Slaughterer' getting himself slaughtered

Tony’s decision to enact Bolter Discipline looked to be the right one.  Worried about the way things were going Brutus Dashed towards Robo and fired his Melta gun.  The effects were pretty brutal and finally Chaos had started to inflict some casualties.  Wayne moved towards Brutus and unleashed his flamer but only managed to likely injure the marine before securing the third objective (1vp for the Imperials).  Roderick moved position and managed to secure the final objective (3vp for Chaos).  Bluey dashed forward in the centre and managed to shoot Brutus with his bolt pistol inflicting enough damage to kill the injured marine.  Carnage amongst the Chaos ranks with 50% dead and it was still turn 1, admittedly their saving rolls had been rubbish.  Tyson moved up into the middle of the table and Loco jumped onto a shipping container and fired at him for no effect.  Derek dashed into range of Loco and shot him with his Plasma Pistol killing him on the spot.  Chook repositioned at the back lining up on Tyson.

Turn 2 and this time Chaos took Malicious volleys allowing them to shoot twice.  They also won initiative and started off with Bluey charging into combat with Bluey and killing him with his power fist.  He was also planning to shoot down Wayne but Tony reminded his sergeant that ‘Only is Death does duty end’.  Bluey remained in play preventing Derek from shooting an he was still within the Engagement range of the fatally wounded (but not yet expired) Marine.  The next activation saw Bluey killing the Chaos Space Marine Sergeant and securing the central objective before falling to his wounds.  Roderick opened fire at Chook and in two rounds of shooting managed to inflict only 3 wounds on Chook.  He then moved out of sight to avoid the likely counter fire.  Unfortunately Tyson was not so lucky being found to be in the Missile Launchers sights.  One Krak missile saw Tyson blown to bits leaving Roderick as the sole Chaos Marine in play.  The remaining Imperial forces repositioned and captured objectives leaving the score 4/3 to Chaos at the end of the second turn.

Turn 3 and the sole Chaos Marine was first to go.  Using Malicious volleys, he advanced into position where he could see two of his three opponents before unleashing a stream of bolter shells at Chook (unfortunately two lots of shooting saw no hits inflicted).  This time the answering shot hit the unfortunate Roderick killing him and leaving the table to the forces of the Imperium.  Victory to the Empire.

   Chook takes aim at his second Heretic Marine of the day - he's had his Weetabix!

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The game ran well now that we are starting to get the rules under our belt.  There was major rules query.  If someone is killed during a melee attack but uses ‘only in death’ to survive one more activation does the combat continue?  We decided not but we’ll have to see if an official adjudication is announced.  Beyond this the game seemed to be a easy to play although as a new player Tony initially found the rules tricky to get to grip with.  Didn’t stop him winning though.