Patrol Angis Week Five Round Up!

A full skirmish well underway between Prydia and the Khanate

Legionaries advance on Hab Domes

Retained Knights mount an offensive taking the Domes back!

Some pictures from my own testing this week. Its the fifth week of Patrol Angis playtesting and its been a week for the outer limits of the game system. Following up on last week there were some twenty lots of feedback and this took me two evenings to go through with some interesting questions.  As before I have put the main themes into salient points for you to have a look at:

Should there be Shooting 'Beyond Range'?

Some testers asked why (and have done so since week one) there is a 'beyond range' entry for all weapons in the stats tables.  Well in early drafts beyond range shooting was allowed at the cost of weapon strength and change to hit.  I may put it back in if demand is there.  If you can see it you can shoot it.

Does an Ordos being bigger than a Platoon matter?

Real division on this.  Some testers believe that a bigger force gives the Khanate an advantage, other think that the bigger force is needed as most Khanate troops are poorer in quality than Retained.  Personally I think its the second line of through that wins out.  Of forty reports of an Ordos vs a Lance or Platoon the Khanate have won 45% of the time and this points to fairness.

Get Rid of Templates all together!

More and more testers are suggesting that all templates for AoE weapons are done away with and instead a system of 'number of hits on a Troop Element'.  I like this, it makes the rules easier to flow in play.  Perhaps even a ranking system for different number of hits depending on target type such as Infantry and Infantry Size Vehicle. 

Make Maligs really cheap in terms of Points Cost

They will be don't worry!  Maligs are the fun guys of the Ion Age.  But they die quick under fire!

Will there be YouTube videos of Play Examples?

No.  There is limited time and really I think you would all like more miniatures, terrain, books, content and so on rather than a few tutorial videos.  But there is merit of course in the example of play idea.  I could do a couple of blog posts with LOTS of pictures and text to show a turn or three played out.

Presentation of Tables in the final Patrol Angis book

Suggested by three testers is the idea that in the final Patrol Angis book the outline of troop types and weapons along with amour and such should be compartmentalised rather than presented in long collected list as in the testing.  I agree.  It makes it more accessible and allows wargamers to go directly to the Retained or Battlesuits or Muster etc.

Are Female Retained different in play?

No.  In Patrol Angis there is no gender difference in play.  Training, equipment, discipline and so on makes all Retained the same in ability.  I can see it in a small RPG like game but not in general play.  Don't ask me if Maligs count as children!

The number of images coming in is dropping off but that is ok.  I understand everyone is busy and often the testing was so specific that images were not needed.  I have given out suggested colour schemes for several Hab Domes and also for female Retained Knights to playtesters and I expect to see both in images sent in. That said here are some piccies for you to enjoy:

Ian Hoffman witnesses the Khanate Warlord assault!

Canthus Monocycles smash the Retained.  Ian Hoffman

A tricky solo play game from Bob McAlister

Paul Jackson continues the fight on Stanfords world

Chris Pryme shows off his PA Rosters

Huggable sets up for Patrol Angis fun!

The extra files from last week went down really well and only a few quibbles were found with the solo play rules and with the Shia Khan Empire stats and bolt on rules.  There is only a week left in the core testing and I have enjoyed it a lot.  Once it is over I am going to ask a select few if they would like to try out additional Patrol Angis concepts and mechanics across the Festive Period.  After all there are structures and larger vehicles to come next year...

GBS