Battle Report: Star Command Base

This is our sixth game of Rapid Attack, as a group, this year.  We used a couple of rule variants, see the notes, and drilled down into the RAW Elevation rules.  I also debuted a new table-setting.  This was a Battle.

Tom (6 Frames & 24 Systems) = (7 Points per Asset) * (8 assets) = 56 points.

   Yellow Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.
   Orange Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W.

   Red Hammer -- 2Rd/2B/1Y/2W.
   Green Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Blue Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/1Y/2W + SSR.
   White Armored Swarmer -- 2Rh/2B/1Gd8/1Y/2W + SSR.

Me (7 Frames & 28 Systems) = (5 Points per Asset) * (9 assets) = 45 points.  (Oso Oro)
   Uno Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Dos Recon by Fire -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W.

   Tres Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W.

   Cuatro Recon by Fire -- 2B/1Gd8/2Y/2W.

   Cinco Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Seis Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR. 

   Siete Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W.

Phungkyjams (8 Frames & 32 Systems) = (3 Points per Asset) * (9 assets) = 27 points.  (Farmhands)
   Orange Warrior -- 2Rh/1B/1G+d8/1Y/2W.
   Lime Warrior -- 2Rh/1B/1G+d8/1Y/2W.

   Green Warrior -- 2Rh/1B/1G+d8/1Y/2W.
   Light Blue Warrior -- 2Rh/1B/1G+d8/1Y/2W.
   Pink Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Red Soldier -- 2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W + SSR.

   Yellow Recon by Fire -- 2Ra+d8/2Y/2W.

   Blue Brawler -- 2Rh+d8/2B/1Gd8/2W + SSR.

This is what the table looked like at the start of the game.

Events of Round 1 (DDC @ 11): Tom's Blue frame captures my Blue station, and Tom's Green frame captures Phungkyjams' Energy station before the game starts.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame moves East and captures the Neutral station.  Tom's Red frame hits Phungkyjams' Light Blue frame for 1.  My Cuatro frame hits the High Roof for 2 and Tom's Yellow frame for 2, Station Dance.  Phungkyjams' Pink frame hits a Standing Stone for 1, destroying it, and my Dos frame for 1, then moves East towards the Neutral station.  My Dos frame then turns to face the tower and hits Tom's Yellow frame for 3.  Tom's Blue frame steps sideways and saws my Cuatro frame for 3.  My Uno frame uses a SSR to hit the Deck -- at the top of the ramp -- for 1 and Tom's White frame for 1, which then takes 1 Falling damage.  The ramp then collapses and my Uno frame moves North over it towards the Deck.  Tom's White frame bounds back onto the Deck.  My Cinco frame hits the Deck -- South of the tower -- for 1 and Tom's Red frame for 1.  My Tres frame moves North, hits a tree for 1, destroying it, and hits  Phungkyjams' Yellow frame for 3, Station Dance.  Tom's Green frame uses a SSR to hit the Deck -- East of the tower -- for 1, and Phungkyjams' Green frame for 1, then Phungkyjams' Light Blue falls into the hole for 1.

Tom: 70 points.
Me: 40 points.

Phungkyjams: 30 points.

Events of Round 2 (DDC @ 8): Tom's Orange frame hits my Uno frame for 3.  Tom's White frame skips North and hits the Deck -- East of the tower -- with a SSR for 3 and Phungkyjams' Orange frame falls for 1.  My Dos frame jumps backwards and recaptures my Blue station.  Phungkyjams' Yellow frame steps backwards and hits the Landing Strip that Tom's Red frame is standing on for 2.  Phungkyjams' Green frame hops out of the hole it was in and hits Tom's Red frame for 3.  Phungkyjams' Lime frame steps to the East and captures Tom's Ground station.  Phungkyjams' Red frame hits a tree for 1, destroying it, and Tom's Green frame for 3, Station Dance.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame steps to the East and smashes my Seis frame for 7 with shovels, destroying it.

Tom: 56 points.
Me: 40 points.

Phungkyjams: 33 points.

Events of Round 3 (DDC @ 5): Tom's Red frame hits Phungkyjams' Green frame for 1 -- it was aiming at the Low Roof it was standing on.  My Siete frame moves Northeast and captures Phungkyjams' Energy station that was under Tom's control.  My Cinco frame hits the corner of the Tower Overhang for 2 -- Tom's Elevated station then falls to the Deck -- and Tom's Yellow frame for 1.  My Cinco frame then moves forward and captures Tom's fallen Station.  Phungkyjams' Orange frame moves around the corner of the tower and hits my Cinco frame for 6, Station Dance.  My Tres frame hits Phungkyjams' Yellow frame for 3 then shifts West into cover behind a tree.  Tom's Orange frame hits my Uno frame for 1.  Phungkyjams' Light Blue frame also rounds the corner of the tower and hits my Cinco frame for 3, destroying it.  Phungkyjams' Pink frame shifts to the East and captures Tom's Station that was under my control, then hits Tom's Yellow frame for 1, destroying it.  Phungkyjams' Blue frame moves East again, smashes my Uno frame with shovels for 4, destroying it, and captures my Blue station.  Phungkyjams' Red frame turns West and hits my Cuatro frame for 2.

Phungkyjams: 39 points.
Tom: 35 points.

Me: 30 points.

Events of Round 4 (DDC @ 1): We didn't actually play this Round because we'd been at this for five hours and there was no real point anyway.  The Doomsday Clock is ticked to zero.

Phungkyjams: 39 points.
Tom: 35 points.

Me: 30 points.

Here's several during and aftermath pictures.

Start.

Start.

Round 1.

Round 1.

Round 1.

Round 1.

Round 2.

Round 1.

Round 2.

Round 2.

Round 2.

Round 2.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Round 3.

Thoughts & Observations:

• This was a Battle.
• We used the Neutral Station rule again.
• I really need to make a new Neutral Station so I don't have to keep digging the Station out of my Demo Kit.
• We used the "Even Newer 1.0" player count formula from my "Player Count 5" blog post.
• This uncovered some issues with that formula and I'll be revisiting it in the future.
• Even though the "Deck" is only five Bricks high we considered it "Elevated" for ease/consistency of play.
• The "Landing Strip" in the middle of the tower was considered Elevated in relation to the Deck.
• The roof of the tower -- "High Roof" -- was considered Elevated in relation to the rest of the battlefield.
• We were very specific with the "Six Bricks is one Ruler unit" rule ,page 134, since there were multiple Elevated sections on this battlefield.
• It was 6 Ruler units from the ground to the High Roof.
• It was 5 Ruler units from the Deck to the High Roof.
• It was 4 Ruler units from the Low Roof to the High Roof.
• It was 3 Ruler units from the Landing Strip to the High Roof at the back of the building.
• It was 4 Ruler units from the Landing Strip to the High Roof at the front of the building (overhang side).
• And looking at the rules for Falling damage, page 135, I screwed that up a little.
• Trees are 1 Hit.
• Every time a tree was destroyed I removed it from the board and replaced it with six of these to represented the shattered remains.
• Deck Supports are 1 Hit.
• Standing Stones are 1 Hit.
• Deck Plates are 1 Hit.
• Every time a deck plate was destroyed I removed it from the board and replaced it with six random, small plates to represented the shattered remains.
• I used the phrase, "Does that make sense to you?" a lot during this game as we worked through rule interpretations.
• Speaking of rules interpretations, we even had a case of a Frame acting as Cover for terrain.
• Tom's Blue frame capturing my Blue station before the game started is one of those rare cases where placing one of the Defender's remaining Frames "inside the Perimeter or in Cover" was valid and not a wink and a nod.
• I think I made my move a Round too soon.
• Phungkyjams came on strong in the third Round.
• It was really satisfying to absolutely wreck the corner of the upper level of the tower.
• This was a fun, but challenging, game.
• I think it stands as the most complicated we've ever played.
• Flickr page.