Tomorrow's War: First Game

Having read through the infantry rules of Ambush Alley Games’ Tomorrow’s War it was time to try out the first scenario in the book solo.  This is your basic infantry firefight between opposing squads, with a little twist. Essentially, an aerospace fighter has gone down over disputed territory with the pilot punching out and taking refuge in a building.  A squad of thirteen Marines is sent to extract the pilot before the enemy reach him (or her).  Unbeknownst to them, however, the enemy have set up an ambush and are waiting with twenty-odd frontier guards to spring the trap on the approaching Marines.

Setup - Marines approaching from the bottom of shot.

The Marines have to cross a watercourse to reach the downed pilot.  I split my squad into two groups, each heading for one of two crossing points available.  Immediately things went wrong as the first fireteam heading for the bridge ran into a hail of fire from hidden frontier guards to their right.  They all went down and things looked bad.  A second fireteam used the handy woods to get into engagement angle of the ambushers who had revealed themselves and managed to hit a couple.  When a fireteam of Frontier Guards to the left popped up they failed to inflict any damage, and were mercilessly cut down by return fire. Two fireteams wiped out in the first turn! The Marine squad leader then tried to reach his hit fireteam and offer assistance, but was taken out by pinpoint fire from the Frontier Guards.

Marines advance.

Turn Two saw further movement by the two remaining Marine fireteams, who managed to ride out fire from the more distant ambushers and suppress them with return fire (because the Frontier Guards in the scenario are at the lowest D6 troop quality, if they take a negative morale result that takes them out of the fight for a turn).

Situation at the end of Turn One.

 
On Turn Three one fireteam finally reached the downed pilot, under cover of some smoke grenades and the fact that two of the remaining three Frontier Guard fireteams were suppressed.

Marines reach the downed pilot.

Meanwhile, the other Marine fireteam went across to their downed comrades and was able to administer first aid.  This resulted in two of those downed Marines from the first turn being confirmed seriously wounded and thus out-of-the-fight.  The squad leader was dead.

Another angle of the firefight with Marine casualties in the centre by the bridge.

The downed pilot was now escorted back to the shelter of the woods by a Marine fireteam, and then off to the rear.  Covering fire from one fireteam, and good armour rolls, prevented the Frontier Guards from thwarting this movement.  However, the Frontier Guards did manage to take down the remaining two Marines of the first fireteam.

The pilot is escorted to safety.

A mad scramble ensued as the Frontier Guards sought to reach the downed Marines first and take them prisoner.  Fortunately for the Marines, their comrades arrived in time to blast the Frontier Guards rushing across the open towards them.

Frontier Guards.

The game ended as a good victory for the Marines, who had rescued the pilot at the cost of three serious casualties and a collection of minor wounds.  The Frontier Guards only had two men untouched at the end of the battle.

Marines race forward.

Thoughts on TW:  this was a good, if fairly generic introduction.  I got to grips with the reaction mechanism that is at the heart of AAG products. The player who wins initiative sets the tone of the turn, and if he consistently wins a run of initiative rolls at the start of each turn (or even just draws – as that goes to the player who had initiative last turn) then he can dictate proceedings to some extent.  The Frontier Guards were only D6 troop quality, which (as is the way AAG wants it) made life tougher for them on initiative and reaction rolls.  I also hadn’t realised until playing the effect of only being a D6 troop quality when it came to morale. A single bad morale result took a Frontier Guard fireteam out of the fight at a crucial time and allowed the Marines to reach the downed pilot. The better tech of the Marines also gave them an advantage over the course of the battle as their extra firepower or defence die in each round of fire told.

The similarities with 5150 are apparent – the reaction mechanism in particular.  The differences are in nuances, such as the fact that you can select whether to react in TW, whereas in 5150 you take an In Sight test automatically and the result may not be one you intended.  Also, 5150 is more granular in its treatment of fireteam/squad weapons.  TW has a more generic approach to individual weapons, although support weapons are given detailed treatment.