chainI'm getting closer to finishing my Spugs and Hydrissians painted and ready for combat. Ed the "Chain Reaction" guy has released some rules for using those aliens with CR, or more specifically, the upcoming "40k killer" version of CR, "Broken Earth".
Broken Earth is shaping up to be "Nuts!" for scifi. You'll be able to field platoons worth of guys, each organized according to their nation/race's conventions, and fight it out. I'm suspecting that there will be reinforcements rules like in "Nuts!", so that you won't be able to bring your whole force into the fight in a very predictable way.
That's one of the things I love about THW - everything is variable and uncertain. You roll to see how big of a squad you can field, how well the squad members will perform, etc. Of course, if you're playing a campaign (the best way to do THW games), you will generate your squad once, then track the fates of your squad members over their careers. Dead squaddies may get replacements, wounded guys might recover, get sent home, or come back a little shell shocked. Not that these are completely revolutionary ideas in a game, but CR pulls them off in style.
Anyway, back to my aliens. The rules Ed has generated for them make the two forces VERY different, which gives me good hope for the future of BE.
Spugs, which are man-sized bipedal grasshoppers with guns, are the most alien psychologically. They don't seem too concerned about staying in cover, avoiding being shot, etc. They have powerful long range guns and a relentless attitude. That is, until things go badly for them, then they "bug out" (pun intended). There's no rallying a Spug, once they give up, they leave. Spugs also have an interesting "main firepower weapon" - the plasma cannon. This cannon can fire a flame-thrower like swath of plasma up to 12" away, or blast plasma bombs up to 48" away. Nasty and dangerous.
Hydrissians, despite looking a bit like snake-necked dinos, are more "human" in their outlook. But their physiology is a little awkward, and they can't move very fast. To make things worse, their primary squad weapon is a short range "disintegrator" weapon called the "Dissembler". Now, this gun will ruin your day if it hits you, but they 'driss have to get right on top of you to take the shot. Fortunately for them, they have a MONSTER tough "firepower" weapon which fires small black hole bombs. Yup. Everything in a 3" radius is almost certainly going to go away, and that little baby can deliver the goods up to 48" away (most games are played on 48" square tables, for reference). So their tactic is "don't move much, and get that singularity cannon into LoS. Use the dissembler when they get too close". The squad leader (colorfully called The Diplomat) carries a staff in addition to his Dissembler that is also a melee weapon, in case things get too close.
To make things even more dangerous, both sides have powered armor troops. The "Spugnaut" is a heavily armored beast bristling with guns. The Hydrissian power suit (needs a catchier name) isn't as heavy, but is faster than an unarmored 'driss, and carries either a "Thump Gun" or a "Skywhale Harpoon", which can work like a can opener on just about anything.
I suspect that tanks and other armor are in the future. What this comes down to is this: Broken Earth is shaping up to be a hard core sci fi slaughter fest, with singularity bombs, plasma grenades, powered armor, and lord knows what else, and it's built around a set of rules that I was able to teach a 10 year old how to play competently in about 15 minutes.
I promise that this is not a paid advertisement :-), but if any of this sounds interesting to you, head on over to Two Hour Wargames or the Two Hour Wargames' Yahoo Group and take a look around.
