Muskets & Tomahawks AAR - 12/28/14

Yesterday Roy S., Wade S and Dan K. met me at our local game store (Game Kastle in Fremont) to play a game of Muskets & Tomahawks.  With all the family stuff going on we made these plans at the last minute having a window of opportunity open up for a game --- so off to play Muskets & Tomahawks we went.

We played a large game --- not worrying that much about points since we've played so much at this point we can get a fairly even game sorted in our heads.  Orders of battle below.

British Order of Battle

42nd Regiment - The Royal Highlanders (The Black Watch)

• 1 x Officer
• 12 x Regulars
• 12 x Regulars
• 12 x Grenadiers

48th Regiment (Webb)

• 1 x Officer
• 12 x Regulars
• 12 x Regulars
• 12 x Grenadiers

8 x Rangers

8 x Rangers

12 x Light infantry

French Order of Battle

Royal-Roussillon

• 1 x Officer
• 12 x Regulars
• 12 x Regulars

La Reine

• 1 x Officer
• 12 x Regulars
• 12 x Regulars

12 x Compagnie Franches de la Marine

1 x Canadian Militia Officer

8 x Canadian Militia

8 x Canadian Militia

1 x Indian Chief

6 x Indians

6 x Indians

6 x Indians

6 x Indians

6 x Indians

The game was a total blood bath and very close ... anytime there was a swing in one sides favor, it would backfire and swing back.  In the end we called it a draw ... it might have slightly ... and I mean slightly started to favor the British at the end (we called it at the beginning of turn 5).

The 42nd (Black Watch) was wiped out completed as was the Royal-Roussillon regiment ... the others took heavy casualties.  The British light infantry survived well (one of the best units in the game IMO) and the Indians took heavy casualties as well.  We had lots of close combat with tomahawks (thrown weapons) getting hurled before engaging.

Do to the size and the fact that two of the four players hadn't played M&T for some time we decided to not roll the sub plots and just play a straight up "kill the other guy" game.  This was also partly due to the last minute lack of preparation on my part for the unexpected game day :-)  Regardless, it was a nail bitter throughout the whole game and all enjoyed playing.

I forgot my camera at home so I only had my phone to take pictures ... but they came out ok ... pictures below of the action.

ACW Progress - New Union and Confederate Units

Lots of progress has been made on the ACW front.  5 units of Confederate infantry and 5 units of Union (Iron Brigade) infantry are in the process of being based.  Roy Scaife is busy at work with these units but it is a major step forward for our initial ACW goal of 10 infantry units a side with 2 artillery units a side (enough to get us gaming using the Black Powder rules ... 2 brigades with artillery per side).  More of course to come ... our "wave 2" effort will double the unit counts ... and wave 3 adds cavalry.  Pictures below of the new units (work in progress).

Note:  Confederate flag poles are being swapped out for longer poles ... Roy is getting around to that shortly.

Confederate Infantry Brigade.

Union Iron Brigade.

Iron Brigade in all its glory.

I'm looking forward to seeing these guys on the tabletop!

Robotech - Rick Hunter's Veritech (Battleoid)

I made a little progress today --- in that I painted up Rick Hunter's VF-1J in battleoid mode.  Not the best pictures as I took them with my phone ... but not the worst either.  More to come ... I'm assembling the buildings from 4Ground in between painting ... the VF-1A in battleoid for the brownie is up next.  Pictures below.

Robotech RPG Tactics Overview

While I was away my Robotech RPG Tactics stuff arrived.  I had funded the Kickstarter some time ago and was happy to see the fruits of the labors I helped fund.  If you are not familiar with the Kickstarter it has had many unhappy "customers" ... but I'll get to that in a minute.  For myself, I love Robotech, having watched it growing up many, many years ago - Macross, The Robotech Masters and the Invid Invasion ... with the Sentinels and most recently The Shadow Chronicles.  Even after all these years when I watch the show I'm entertained (although much more corny these days).  There really is a great underlying story throughout the series despite the surface level 80's Japanimation series/kiddieness.  So for me, funding the Kickstarter was a no-brainer ... and at the end of the day I love that I finally get to play with Robotech mecha miniatures.

There is a lot to cover here ... so I've broken my overview into my thoughts about the Kickstarter, models, terrain and finally the game rules.  Before jumping into those sections ... some pictures of the models I've completed painting so far.  I've started with the UEDF forces - with a squadron (4) of Valkyries (1 x VF-1J and 3 x VF-1A) - the theme of the squadron is Vermilion squadron from the show - Rick Hunter, Max Sterling and Ben Dixon's Veritechs are all represented - with a standard "brownie" added for the 4th Veritech.  I've also added a single VF-1S which is Roy Folkers Veritech.  I'll finish off the initial army with 2 x Phalanx destroids.  Anyways, I've completed the fighter mode Veritechs and you can see pictures below.

My Valkyrie squadron with additional VF-1S.

My Valkyrie squadron with additional VF-1S.

VF-1S - Roy Folker.

VF-1S - Roy Folker.

VF-1J - Rick Hunter.

VF-1J - Rick Hunter.

VF-1A - Max Sterling.

VF-1A - Max Sterling.

VF-1A - Ben Dixon.

VF-1A - Ben Dixon.

VF-1A - standard brownie.

VF-1A - standard brownie.

Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter

I'm sure that in the realm of the internet my opinion here will be the unpopular one ... but I hope that some may see where I'm coming from.  I loved the fact that Robotech would finally be getting a miniatures game so I funded the Kickstarter at the Showdown level (2 x boxed set + stretch goals).  The Kickstarter funded on May 20, 2013.  My wave one rewards got delivered in October of 2014 - so it took 17 months to have product in my hands.  Now, Palladium Books I believe was very transparent in their communication ... mostly about the problems they had run into ... and for those familiar with what it takes to produce a miniatures line that was great ... but to the masses that don't know the first thing about producing a miniatures line from scratch it is harder to understand why it takes so long.  It is easy to throw up 3D renders on a Kickstarter site to get people excited and the ball rolling ... but as many have come to see that is far from mass production of a miniatures line (and that when production was done in the continental US ... now we have to deal with China and the Pacific Ocean).

My opinion is that many of the backers of the Kickstarter just wanted the models for use with Battletech (backers who just wanted the models ASAP and couldn't give 2 sh!ts about Robotech - probably Voltron lovers ... lol).  That is fine, but with every update posted by Palladium about the progress of the project the negativity with each comment just continued to spin out of control until it finally reached a steady rate of biblical proportions of negativity.  Personal attacks on people - especially against Kevin Siembieda as if he arrived at work every morning thinking "How can I best screw everyone over?"  I'm not saying the source of the negativity was all Battletech backers (more pointing out one potential source for backer frustration) ... I think just about everyone pooed in that direction at one point or another ... and I'm sure the bulk of backers never commented at all (so it is mostly likely just a small percentage of the 5,342 backers - but boy are they loud).

I get it ... we all paid them money and expected product to be delivered.  Many like to point out that Kickstarter is more of a donation to see a product produced.  That is "letter of the law" true ... however the "spirit of the law" here is that the only reason any Kickstarter is successful is because backers are promised to be given product - and given that product first or at least as a priority.  So I land on the side that the honorable thing to do is make sure you take care of your backers - within the reasonable confines of a business that has to continue to operate.

So rather than continue to write a book about the Kickstarter ... here are my bullet point thoughts --- first the negatives and then the positive (based on my experience):

• Negatives:
• The first for me was GenCon 2013 - Palladium produced and sold a limited number (500 as I recall) of special edition Max Sterling and Miriya Parina models.  Great, except they were only available to GenCon attendees and in no way made available to backers.  You could of course get them on Ebay afterwards ... for a significant markup.
• The original delivery date of December, 2013 was overly optimistic for a new miniatures game and accompanying miniatures line.  I never had confidence in this date but then again I'm familiar with the work necessary to build a new miniatures game and models from scratch.  Just to develop a decent set of miniature rules can take years ... and these guys not only had to create a new set of rules, but a buttload of new miniatures to boot.  Because of the success of the Kickstarter (wildly over funded) they had essentially and entire "fully matured" miniatures range to produce from the get go.  This just isn't possible to do by any stretch of the imagination in one fell swoop.
• The rules are actually not bad at all, but there are lots of typos and more fundamentally the points system is completely out of whack.  The silver lining here is that the internet community behind this is going to sort that out ... and at the end of the day it really only matters for tournament play (which I'm not big on).
• GenCon 2014.  Now, based on how this was communicated, my perspective was that not only did I get excluded from being able to get the limited edition at GenCon 2013 (sure, I could have spent over a thousand dollars to go there at the last minute ... or paid 4-5x the original cost on Ebay I suppose) ... but as you followed along the updates, the first containers to arrive from China (after many delays) with the wave 1 models was to apparently (this was never clear) be sold at GenCon.  No mention of how this would impact shipment to backers was mentioned.  The case was "hey - we are a business and this is the largest and most important trade show for us to promote the game - therefore leading to more business and money that will support future growth of the product line."  Ok ... I can put my business hat on and say sure, that makes sense from a business perspective.  However, Palladium already had the money needed to produce the Macross product line and it will still be another year (at least) before we see the wave 2 models and hopeful conclusion of the Kickstarter obligations.  At the time they were >6 months late on the original delivery date and provided no information to backers as to how this would impact delivery of product to the backers (at least I didn't see any).  So, for funding the next series of Robotech models, they are years away from that - so there is plenty of time to promote and sell Robotech models to fund that endeavor.  Most importantly is (from the perception of a backer) that for the second time in a row GenCon gets Robotech product before backers.  If money was tight and they had no other revenue lines to keep the lights on ... go nuts.  But they had the option of doing the honorable thing and not propagating the negativity that has built up around this project --- and most importantly, just taking care of the backers who had waited a long time to get Robotech in their hands.  At the end of the day it was a moot point ... the product didn't show up in time anyways ... so all that futzing around for noth'in.
• Positives:
• I like the rules - the game is fun and easy to play.
• Although some models have lots of parts ... and in some cases the lack of experience producing smaller sized "vehicle" type miniatures shows in the parts that could have been one piece ... the models are not hard to put together if you are a miniatures gamer.  Games Workshop models, Warlord Games models and even Perry plastics have as many if not more parts ... and I have had to build a hell of a lot more of those models for an army than what I have to build for Robotech.  I can see where those who are used to metal Battletech miniatures are up in arms ... but they just need to suck it up ... in the bigger picture of the industry the models are not bad at all.
• I actually like the models ... Palladium took the time to make them accurate ... which is important to me and I love the results.
• Wave one (which I knew was inevitable) gives me a ton of stuff to play with (let alone build and paint).
• The inclusion of decals with everything is excellent.
• Unit cards for play and army building is great ... they could be better, but it is a great start.
• I think the delays they encountered are all normal and I appreciated the communication transparency ... even if I think it hurt them more than helped at the end of the day (because of the audience they were communication with).
• Palladium **busted their butts** when the containers showed up to ship to the backers (and are continuing to get it out as fast as they can to overseas backers ... who are currently upset because apparently mass shipping product over ocean's doesn't proceed at Star Trek like transporter speeds).  The bulk of the backers are in the US ... so they started there ... can't blame them for that.
• The colour painting guide at the back of the rulebook is awesome.
• And a lot more!

Ok ... I'll stop there ... this has gone longer than I expected.  I'm actually happy with Palladium at the end of the day - and most importantly I love that I have my Robotech game/miniatures now ... I've been assembling and painting away and have been enjoying every minute of it.  I look forward to the delivery of phase 2, but I'm in no rush at the moment as I have enough to keep me busy for a while.

Robotech RPG Tactics Models

I'll break this into two separate chunks - one for the UEDF (or RDF as I know it) and one for the Zentraedi.

United Earth Defense Force (UEDF)

Wave 1 UEDF models consisted of the Veritech (heads for VF-1A, VF-1J, VF-1S or VF-1R) in battleoid, guardian and fighter mode, Phalanx destroid, Tomahawk destroid, Spartan destroid and finally the Defender destroid (great reference for the mecha here).  The summary of the UEDF models is that assembly is harder than the Zentraedi models but painting them is easier (IMO).  Assembly is harder than the Zentraedi because there are more parts that are smaller - and the arms for the battleoid and guardian mode Veritechs require some forethought.  Painting the UEDF models is easier for me since the details on the models are more defined and deeper (good for black lining).  I highly recommend that you get a pot of liquid green stuff from GW to do some minor gap filling on some of the Veritechs in battleoid and guardian modes (and a little on some of the destroids).  Liquid green stuff makes this very easy.  There are a few options for arms with the Veritechs, but the legs are limited -- but it isn't difficult to do some minor modifications to add some additional dynamic poses to the models.  Here are some pictures of various assemblies.

Zentraedi

Wave 1 models for the Zentraedi consist of the Regult Battlepod, Glaug Officers Pod, Quel-Regult Recon Battlepod, Quel-Gulnau Recovery Pod and Artillery Battlepods (either light, heavy or with the heavy particle cannon).  Assembly of the Zentraedi models is easier because there are fewer parts and they are larger than the UEDF parts.  There are larger flat surface areas and the depth of details on the models are not as good as the UEDF which makes painting a little more challenging.  No gap filling is necessary (I've assembled many of them so far and have not had to do it).  The recon battlepod has some fiddly bits ... but that is about it.  Pictures of some of the models below.

Terrain for Robotech RPG Tactics

There is a lot of terrain available for RRPGT.  Although the scale of the models is 1/285 or 6mm, the 10mm buildings available on the market for Dropzone Commander fit excellently with the Robotech models.  You can pick up the thick paper tiles and buildings set for Dropzone Commander that will give you a 6'x4' table to play on (or download the buildings from the interweb for free).

This is a very inexpensive set that will get you up and
running quickly.

I've gone "full hog" and have purchased the Dropzone Commander Cityscape Battle Board (6'x4') from Games and Gears that you can see below.

If you have the cash this option is just about the best I've seen.

For buildings I've purchased the entire range of Urban Zone 10mm buildings from 4Ground.  Pictures of those below.  They come pre-painted (as you would expect from 4Ground) and are easy to put together ... they also yield amazing detail on the tabletop.  Highly recommended.

10mm pre-painted roads and buildings are also available from Sally 4th.

Burn In Designs also does laser cut buildings as well.  They have a nice range that includes some city bridges as well.

Of course, this all assumes you want to play in a city setting.  You can play in "space" ... although terrain does play a role in the game so a wide open battle doesn't strike me as all that interesting ... but the possibilities are endless ... you can play on the deck of the SDF-1, of a Zentraedi capital ship, Mars Base, within the rings of Saturn ... all of those provide opportunities to play "in space" ... so we'll see what creative things people do for this game.  For me, I've invested in the "Macross city" terrain and will continue down that path for now.  I'll be doing some trees and vegetation for my city layout once it shows up.

Robotech RPG Tactics Game Rules

This will not be an exhaustive overview of the rules --- just a quick glimpse into what the game is about.  I'm hoping to do a GameTime episode for Robotech RPG Tactics in the new year after I get my terrain done and models painted up that will show in more detail a game in action.  When you get your models you get cards.  Some of those cards are "squadron" cards (Veritech squadron is 1 x VF-1J and 3 x VF-1A for example).  Squadron cards may have options for upgrades.  After squadron cards you get unit cards that can be used to add on to your core squadrons.  Generally you get two unit cards for each squadron card you add into your army.  Once you've assemble your forces you can play a game.

The general turn sequence is:

1. Command Phase
1. Replenish Command Pool
2. Determine Initiative
3. Pre-Action Effects
2. Action Phase
1. Initiative Player Activates A Squadron
1. Activation
2. Movement
3. Combat
4. Resolution
2. Non-Initiative Player Activates A Squadron
1. Activation
2. Movement
3. Combat
4. Resolution
3. Alternate 1 & 2 until all squadrons have been activated

There are ranged attacks and close combat attacks you can make during combat depending on your proximity to the enemy.  Some weapons have limited ammo (missiles and such) and others can operate indefinitely (energy weapons).  Mecha have a range of close combat attacks they can do from kicking, punching and so on.

Squadrons and certain units will give you command points that you can use in a variety of ways: firing additional weapon systems, additional close combat attacks and more.

As I mentioned earlier --- there are typos throughout the rulebook (not too bad).  The points system is really the primary problem today.  I can't really blame them though ... it can takes years to sort this kind of stuff out so for a first edition of the rules I'd say not bad at all ... especially given all the other stuff they had to get done (models, bags, decals, colour guide and so on).

I've written too much here ... so I'll stop for now.  Hopefully you've found this stuff useful in some way.  Lots more to come so stay tuned.