Warlord and the Sci-Fi theme of Reapercon 2015

[Bonwirn]

I am trying to get a head start on a theme game for Reapercon 2015 using the Warlord Rules and the RAGE system.

 

I think the "monsters" can translate fairly well for what I am thinking.  However, to use minis like the Nova Corp, who have ranged weaponry, can melee up close, etc...  How would you translate that or What datacards would you start with to not totally imbalance the game.

 

Issues I am seeing...  using soldiers with ranged weapons isn't as "hit or miss" as archery and spears.  The soldiers should hit (MAV) as frequently as knights in combat, not the 2s and 3s for ranged combat, I was thinking more like 4s and 5s...  but that would overpower them to have 4s and 5s for melee... or should those be reduced to 2s and 3s...

 

Spell usages... combined with technology, replaced by technology, or just not existant?

 

replaced means casters are RPG carrying folks with different types of grenades...

 

Healers are medics, but need to be within X" to help (versus a spell just needing LOS)?

 

 

Am I getting too bogged down in the mechanics?

 

What are your thoughts?

[Deadeye_Jake]

While I don't have the depth of experience with Warlord 1.0 that some on here do, I think you have rediscovered the over-powered ranged combat that plagued said edition.

 

If you are going to bump up ranged combat stats, then I would suggest making everyone a ranged combatant.  I personally think The Other Game^TM has some seriously ridiculous problems with super-science blaster folk running up to each other to hit them with swords.

 

I guess you could do a couple things like decking out your up-close-and-personal fighters with DR and heavy Defect bonuses (assuming you don't have too many Marksman SAs).

 

Bogged down in mechanics?  Pah!  If we don't want mechanics we can just play checkers.

 

=-Jake

[Froggy the Great]

Also - I and one or two others are working on a quickplay buckets-o-d6 ruleset for a participation game at RCon 2015, using Chronoscope SF figures.  It's not RAGE, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

[joshuaslater]

Just choose which cards to use.  I'd go with some of the cards for the Elites with ranged attacks.  Just use those for your grunts.  It shouldn't bee too hard to rock out with this.

[seej]

Castlebuilder and Reaper have already done the heavy lifting converting Warlord/RAGE into a ranged combat focused game called Cowboys and Gunslingers. I'd recommend grabbing the rules and Data Cards here (http://www.reapermini.com/Games/CowboysandGunslingers), and just tweaking them to suit your needs. Regarding game mechanics, for Convention games, the easier and speedier the better.

[Sergeant_Crunch]

While I don't have the depth of experience with Warlord 1.0 that some on here do, I think you have rediscovered the over-powered ranged combat that plagued said edition.

 

If you are going to bump up ranged combat stats, then I would suggest making everyone a ranged combatant.  I personally think The Other Game^TM has some seriously ridiculous problems with super-science blaster folk running up to each other to hit them with swords.

 

I guess you could do a couple things like decking out your up-close-and-personal fighters with DR and heavy Defect bonuses (assuming you don't have too many Marksman SAs).

 

Bogged down in mechanics?  Pah!  If we don't want mechanics we can just play checkers.

 

=-Jake

It's ok, you can say 40k without the GW Inquisition showing up at your door.

[Castlebuilder]

You can also ask me to share the data cards I already have made up for Nova Corp, IMEF, and assorted other critters & characters.

[herzogbrian]

Comments in after **  to make them easier to spot

 

Issues I am seeing...  using soldiers with ranged weapons isn't as "hit or miss" as archery and spears.  The soldiers should hit (MAV) as frequently as knights in combat, not the 2s and 3s for ranged combat, I was thinking more like 4s and 5s...  but that would overpower them to have 4s and 5s for melee... or should those be reduced to 2s and 3s...

**Raising RAV is OK, if you have either Monsters with 5+ damage tracks, or if you have a TONS of terrain so most everyone can move from cover to cover.  You can also reduce DV so that things that survive the 'no man's land' of the range combat that they just walk through things in Melee a la Starship Troopers.   So things can balance out overall

 

Spell usages... combined with technology, replaced by technology, or just not existant?

replaced means casters are RPG carrying folks with different types of grenades...

**Some spells can be tech, but in an infinite universe should not spells be a thing?

 

Healers are medics, but need to be within X" to help (versus a spell just needing LOS)?

**Who is to say that healers don't have guns that fire hypodermic rounds filled with medical nanites.  CP then becomes RAV with the specific ballistics of these types of delivery systems

 

 

[TGP]

I am trying to get a head start on a theme game for Reapercon 2015 using the Warlord Rules and the RAGE system.

 

[ ... ]

 

Am I getting too bogged down in the mechanics?

 

What are your thoughts?

 

 

Also - I and one or two others are working on a quickplay buckets-o-d6 ruleset for a participation game at RCon 2015, using Chronoscope SF figures.  It's not RAGE, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

 

Looking forward to trying both. I would like to register some mild disappointment in advance if figures armed with lazer rifles / beam weapons are saddled with range bands. Just once I would like to see a tabletop game where the figures equipped with high-tech weapons can shoot to the ranges such things could really reach. (Or for that matter a .44 calibre rifle round...)

 

• Winchester Rifle on a 4x4 foot table -?- 'short' range is 6 feet.
• PhazarZap Rifle on a 4x4 foot table -?-  'short' range is 6 feet.

 

6 feet is considered to be a horizontal distance of 360 feet, terrain scaled accordingly, shooting ranges in scale with terrain...

 

Just once.

[Castlebuilder]

 

6 feet is considered to be a horizontal distance of 360 feet, terrain scaled accordingly, shooting ranges in scale with terrain...

 

Just once.

 

While you are correct about ranges, my counter argument is that accuracy decreases significantly once the shooter is put under stress.  I always got a kick out of the guys at the Police Range who bragged about being such great shots but fell apart if you made them do anything but stand still and aim.

[TGP]

 

6 feet is considered to be a horizontal distance of 360 feet, terrain scaled accordingly, shooting ranges in scale with terrain...

 

Just once.

While you are correct about ranges, my counter argument is that accuracy decreases significantly once the shooter is put under stress.  I always got a kick out of the guys at the Police Range who bragged about being such great shots but fell apart if you made them do anything but stand still and aim.

 

Quite true.

 

But in a combat situation those guys will burn the rounds anyway.

 

So in a table-top game, particularly modern, contemporary, or sci-fi ... if the little gun toting minis are not blazing away on even a remote chance of hitting I find it ... disappointing.

 

It is the game mechanic that bugs me: the chance of hitting at that distance is very small ---therefore that distance is "out of range"--- and the rules wind up effectively declaring a bullet flies less distance than a BB. Needs a better mechanic.

_________________________________________________________

 

There is this --- with beam weapons sci-fi author Larry Niven posited this technique: "...Shoot, then aim..."

(Emit sustained laser, swing it onto target...)

 

Nobody really knows how beam weapons will work in practice.

[papabees]

Check out Tomorrow's War. Your range is the table.

[seej]

 

It is the game mechanic that bugs me: the chance of hitting at that distance is very small ---therefore that distance is "out of range"--- and the rules wind up effectively declaring a bullet flies less distance than a BB. Needs a better mechanic.

 

 

This is why I like the ranged mechanic in Cowboys and Gunslingers. Nothing has a maximum range, you just take cumulative "to hit" penalties as the range increases. 

 

I think the problem with the mechanic you point out of the odds being so small that the target becomes "out of range" is due to the dice system of the game used. 40K uses a d6, therefore the lowest odds of hitting something becomes 16.6%. That's still pretty good odds. With RAGE's d10 system, that lowers to 10%. Still not too bad. If you really wanted an "unlimited" range mechanic, you might want to go to a d20 system.

[Froggy the Great]

For my game, ranged weapons are "table" in range, and I'm pondering how to differentiate pistols from rifles.

 

I want to finish up some of the other sections then I'll post a call for playtest.

[smokingwreckage]

Oh, just putting this in here: accuracy in real-life combat tends to be abysmal, BUT, Defiance Vital Ground can assign unlimited range to any weapon you like, you just have to stat it up as such. And pay for it.