[FMA] Full Metal AAR

> Seriously, though, I'm planning on running a test this weekend with a

> The results of this will be very interesting - please post an AAR!

Well, it's a bit later than promised, but the playtest finally happened (my
Padwan learner got his butt grounded for a bit.) The setup was stolen
wholesale from a scenario in the SW Miniatures Battles game, downsized
slightly to put it at skirmish scale. The sides were:

Empire
---------
1 Ten-man stormtrooper squad, split into 5-man teams
Full body armor, blasters, 1 repeating blaster/team, 1 leader. Troop
quality was blue with 1 & 2 motivations (representing the fact that
stortroopers will charge to their death, but can't hit the broad side of a
barn.) There were two 'greens' as well (bad draws on my part.)

Rebel
---------------
1 Six-man infiltration cell, 1 leader. Flak vests, blasters. Troop
quality Veteran, motivation was mostly 2's with one 1 and one 3 drawn.

For blasters I merely used the provided stats for 'Assault Rifle'... this was
a 'get the feet wet' test, not a try for exacting genre accuracy. The rebels
started out in cover in the center of a cluttered warehouse, up to some
undefined nefarious deeds. The Imperials had got wind of their efforts, and
had sent a squad to each of the warehouse
doors to capture/kill their quarry. Mini's (for those who care) were a
bunch of unpainted plastic 40K marines I've had lying in pieces for years, and
six orphan Fantasians from... Legions of Steel or somesuch.

My opponnent was a teenager I'm mentoring who has no real background in
wargaming; in fact he's much more into arcade and CCGs. I've sat him down to
Full Thrust once, but it didn't take. FMA, on the other hand, seemed to take
quite well. One quick spin through the rules, and we had at it. Ended up
playing twice through the scenario, switching sides. This game is fast, even
with newbies!

The games went well, although were a bit simplistic as I didn't even try to
fudge autofire rules for the repeaters; action was pretty much potshots back
and forth. The second time through we added grenades (made up some damage
rules on the spot) and discovered that grenades indoors are nasty. The grenade
targeting rules seem a bit off... the way the rules read now, missing one's
target number by one produces greater deviations that simply rolling way low!
Nevertheless, game two was largely an excercise in grenade lobbing which
produced near total casualties on both sides and nearly every activation
figures were suppressed. Niceties like overwatch, reaction fire, etc. were
ignored; I plan to use them next time, however.

And, of course, the critical question: how did the players like the game? The
answer: very, very well. This is the first time I've seen Josh so enthused
about any of 'my' games. We spent pretty much the rest of the afternoon
talking scenarios, not just Star Wars, but all sorts of genres (Terminator,
Aliens, superhero, although I think I may have to draw the line at a
Dragonball Z adaptation.:P) He asked to borrow the rules and my dice and is
presumably even now working out rules modifications and scenarios for our next
meeting... I really am amazed at how entusiastically he's taken to it.

Theorizing about the reasons why it's so appealing? My guess is a) it's easy
to play b) the Star Wars angle of course; but chiefly c) it's easy for a
younger mind to grasp the literal relationship of one
character/one model and the small scale action which he's seen in movies
before. This leads me to think that maybe this would be a way to undercut some
of the Evil Empire's business: market a version of the game with flashy cover
and interior illos, put out a line of unrealistic but 'cool' minis and call it
Full Metal Adolescent.:)

Seriously, I think this is a really good start, and I plan on incorporating
some of the list suggestions on combat moves (I'm tending
towards the 2dX method), handling the effects of full-auto fire for area
denial, and special weapons (Josh has been most insistent on the need for
rocket launchers and flamethrowers O.o). I'd like to get into
unit-level morale, but that's probably not going to be a priority for a
bit.

I'm also thinking that there should be some sort of spotting and target
recognition rules... while I don't want to get anywhere near the oppressive
Phoenix Command level of things, such issues are a critical part of CQB.
Suggestions, anyone?

At any rate, bravo Jon! This game may actually get me into buying and painting
25mm, a size I've avoided for many a year.

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