Tuesday 8 October 2013

Patrol Angis Playtest Week Two Round Up!

Murdo and Galaine take on the Pioneers!
Canthus Monocycle makes a sneaky approach!
Its the end of week two of the playtesting for Patrol Angis and following up on week one its been a busy week indeed.  Actually this posting a day or so late due to the bloody massive reaction to the Early Supporter Offers on the Hab Dome from Monday.  So what sort of week has it been for testing, what questions and areas came up?  Lets see....

Base Number to Hit
Most playtesters are suggesting an alteration to the basic number on the D8 of 0+ to hit as being too low in open table terrain set ups.  Perhaps 2+ as a basic number is better.  This will be tested in house this week.

Limit Heavy Weapons Firing Ability
The Anvil 888 is a Retained Knight's best friend it seems and despite being reduced in power it was still killing whole Fire-Teams this week.  In house testing of ideas such as limiting to one shot per turn regardless of actions, no firing if movement taken in turn, restricting to one heavy weapon per Lance etc.  These are all being tested out.

Big Squads, Big Morale!
The current morale system is simple and effective but seems to stumble when faced with bigger Troop Elements such as a Squad (10) rather than a Fire-Team (4) or Stick (2).  A modifier may be needed to help bigger TE's from freezing up when taking casualties.

Initiative System
The core feature of Patrol Angis has testers grinning with joy and jumping with anger this week.  A bad roll can mean the end of play for a Platoon and for some this is too much despair to handle.  An alternate system is being trailed here to even it out but to keep it random so you never know just how much you will be able to do with your Platoon per turn.

Jet Packs and 2DMR Retained Knights
Retained Knights have jump jets and can use them once per game.  Could they be used to automatically avoid an incoming attack by jumping out of the way?  Also some say Retained should be harder to kill so tests with 2DMR rather than 1DMR per miniature are being carried out.

Here are some images from playtest games that took place and a good number of testers sent in detailed AAR's too even with some fiction.  I enjoyed these a lot and a few of them I have asked if the author would like to turn them into full scenarios once Patrol Angis is released.

Ian Hoffman's campaign setting for PA Playtesting!
Ian Hoffman gives an impression of Retained in the Fog of War
David Korabell refights week one's game but adds Battlesuits and Bikes
Paul Jackson's long range Anvil fest!
Alexander Wasberg opens a can of whupass in his 2nd week testing games!
Erik Walton's Prydian Lance loses to the League of Canlaster this week
League of Yordan advances!  Rigby and Froberg playtesters.
In week three there will be a shift of focus in the playtesting.  I will blog about it but essentially the core rules are now well tried and many alternatives and ideas suggested so its on to the more exotic and the solo.

As always any questions or comments email me direct or comment on this post and I will come back to you sharpish as I can.

Thanks Everyone for your Efforts this Week!

GBS

5 comments:

  1. Does this (your statement copied below) mean that we should delay the week 3 testing, platoon vs platoon in melee only, until we receive updated instructions?

    From the blog post:
    In week three there will be a shift of focus in the playtesting. I will blog about it but essentially the core rules are now well tried and many alternatives and ideas suggested so its on to the more exotic and the solo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keep to the schedule please. Some testers are already on platoon vs platoon, some are still on week one. I want everyone to pass across the learning curve of game size. My own testing has now shifted focus. All feedback is valuable. The blogging referred to will be about the additional files coming out to testers but this will not be for a number of days.

      Remember to stay dry Gizmo! :-)

      GBS

      Delete
  2. I'll be trying out platoon vs platoon this week as I just got my Retained Post Charlie. For Yordan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the mail? Drop me a message if that is so please.

      For Prydia!

      GBS

      Delete
  3. Message sent.

    Now I have an Anvil 888. Ho, ho, ho.

    ReplyDelete