It's been a while since I posted on my journal, but having wargamed over the weekend it seems like a good time to blog.
On Saturday I got the opportunity to give Warrocket (Hydra Miniatures' -
http://hydraminiatures.com/ - pulp sci fi spaceship game) a try out. The game is very simple, but highly tactical, and better still has very little record keeping. As the subject would suggest, it focuses on cool looking atomic rocket ships clashing in space and on alien planets, all of which is a 'tick' in my book.
I first heard of the game last year through Andy, a friend of Dale's, at the Dystopian Wars demo we all played. At the time, I was a more focused on getting some interest in Firestorm Armada going, and curious, but not overly keen to invest in two different starship battle games at the same time. However, as Firestorm didn't really do anywhere, I thought I'd give Andy a shout and see if he was up for that game we'd discussed!
So I rocked up to Andy's place on Saturday to play Galacteers (think heroic humans - Dan Dare, Flash Gordon, etc) vs the Imperials (Ming the Mercilous). One of the best aspects of Warrocket is that it reinforces the need for scenario play (as in a stand-up fight he sides are likely to be unbalanced. In the game we played, Andy took the Imperials, dispatched to destory a series of satellites, while I played the heroic Galacteer attempting to fend off this attack on their lines of communication.
The battle quickly became a fight down the two flanks, with my forces (which had superior numbers) quickly dispatching the attack down the right, while the left became a struggle between the slow but tough Imperial class III & IV ships and all the ships I could muster. Meanwhile, with a risky, but ultimately rewarding shift, Andy's Class I ships swept through the mine field and was in position to destory the first of the satelites.
In the end the game came down to a vital turn in which despite my consistent bad rolling (I rolled more 1's and 2's than you could imagine possible), I was able to stun the Class IV Imperial warrocket, which under the house rule drifted off the board on its next activation! That bit of luck meant that I suddenly had the advantage, although was scrambling to bring my forces to bare as satelite after satelite was destoryed.
The end came quickly, and it was a close run thing as Andy conceeded with only a few Class 1 rockets remaining, but only one satelite left intact (although this was on the far side of the board near my largest ships). So it was, with its communication lines battered and bruised the Galacteer won the day!
All in all a great game that was done and dusted (with a rookie player - me - on one side) in less than 2 hours! I have to say a bg thanks to Andy for hosting, and his painted ships look great. One thing that really stood out was the little extras he'd scratch built, such as the satelites (from dowel and tacks - not that you'd ever know it!), and the excellent hit markers (which look so much better than just counters)!
The game seemed really balanced, and was definitely fast! I liked the Stunned house rule we used (which called for rockets to move half their speed forward instead of just staying still), but I notice we did Delaying(delaying lets you go sooner in a future round, but makes you miss a full turn - I would personally treat it like the stun and allow half move) and movement wrong (in moving we were allowing a free 'turn' at the start of each round, which is incorrect! and I though that there was a 50% minimum move, which their isn't, but I would probably house rule). Still none of those would have effected the outcome, I think anyway, and games was still fantastic.
The outcome from this is while was pretty certain I was going to buy a couple of fleets, now I'm certain I will. So charge those Atomics and dial the lazers to full, because Warrocket is here to stay!
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