Gruntz:Modern Africa

Missed posting last Friday. Most of my post Thursday night game posts were done Friday mornings at work. Insert sad face. Now that I'm up and running at home, here we go.
Our own Propaganda Architect has been converting Gruntz to a more modern setting. So far it works great. Our yet-to-be-named nations's struggles have been fun to game.
This scenario involved our Dictator for Life, fearing for the safety of his ill gotten spoils, is moving them to the safety of a neighboring country. Trucks, loaded down with loot must move across the table to the waiting airplane.

His second objective is to hold the radio station for as long as possible. If the people find out he in moving his stuff, they may rise up in rebellion before he escapes.
Thirdly, those boy soldier are bad press internationally. If they could be taken out quietly during the battle (hand to hand), that's a plus.
We decided the trucks were moving slow due to the weight of all those furs, painting, jewels, imported cars and luxuries. That, and if allowed to double move, the game would be over quick.
The dictator had fewer, but better troops. And did we mention an airforce?

Between the jet and the copter, most of the resistance on the left flank was eliminated.
Meanwhile, the foreign mercenaries holding the radio station were slowly being wiped out by the sheer numbers of the resistance.
Two trucks were shot up and forced to stop. One by a crazy technical that braved a minefield to sprint ahead and block the way.
It was fun. Gruntz is easy to grasp. My only beef is the assault rules. Not because of the rules themselves, but the reality of assault (HTH) in modern rules. Just as in real life, you better suppress those defenders if you want to close with them. Timing is everything.
The table looked great with all the extras. Perhaps a post battle beer outside the warehouse.

Tonight's pairing.

Basement-con -2 AAR: Thursday

Basementcon-con2, that mini convention in my basement is now over. I didn't take as many pics as I should have, but here they are.
Thursday: Gruntz 15mm SciFi
Lead Addict brought over his horde of 15mm Sci-Fi minis for a playtest with the group of Gruntz. I have read thru Gruntz a few times and marveled at how simple they looked. We had had a short playtest before that didn't go well. Lots of shooting and no results. We had to be doing something wrong. The Gruntz website has nice videos on game play, which helped.

Listening post Alpha 34

The Mercs

Merc mechs

Human leader

This was battle over a Hyperspace listening post. The opponents would be humans on one side vs alien mercenaries. The reviews I've read have Gruntz as small affairs. For this 8 players battle we changed the rules from single based 15mm figs to whole stands marking kills with a tiny d6.
After a brief explanation of the rules, (which turns out is very similar to a game I've never played, Warmachine) the fight unfolded quickly. You roll 2d6 adding your shooting trait trying to make or beat your opponent' armor rating. A successful hit means you roll 2d6 with your weapon's damage trying to match or beat your opponent's soak value. Easy.

Everyone picked up the rules by turn 2, but we found the missile rules devastating and changed on the fly. Vehicles and troops were dropping like flies. The mercs seemed to have the upper hand. Then the humans destroyed most of the merc's armor and things swung in favor of the humans. That when it ended. I think most found it fun. We might even try a moderns game with them.

The brews for the night's tasting. A Romanian pilsner Timisoreanna. Very smooth. Reminded me of Pilsner Urquell.

Then, the polar opposite. White Hatter by a New Holland. Wow this brew had a bite. Not a fan at all. It was hard to get anyone to taste it after they saw my face. Kinda like when the milk goes bad and you ask your wife, "hey, smell this?".

More AAR tomorrow.