Alien Squad Leader 3.0: Human Imperials vs. Outlaw Gang

A friend of mine asked that I try this game out, and it's been sitting on my shelf anyway, so I thought "Sure, why not?"

I missed the first two.  Am I going to be able to follow the plot?

Unlike EVERY game that I play, this one is dependent upon group bases. Not the end of the world, though. I just threw some simple bases together and scavenged what figures I could to make two armies. This wasn't as easy as I had hoped, because I've got a bunch of figures, but they don't all go together. There are 21 different army lists to choose from, each pretty different from the rest, which is kind of impressive.  In the end, I was able two make two armies at the rock bottom points cost of 49 points each.

So here's the scenario: Mr. Green's gang (Outlaw Gang) took over a mining facility out in the badlands. Unity (Human Imperial) sent somebody to take it back. The fight lasts until somebody breaks.

Commander, Infantry x3, Charger APC

Mr. Green the Warlord, Krabs the Gang Leader, Lowlifes x2,
Scavengers, Bloo & Flavio (Adventurers) and a stolen, junker AFV

Mr. Green sets up first, with a lot of freedom as to where.  Then Unity sets up, but with a few more restrictions.  Then, any of Mr. Green's gang that can see the enemy may be put on automatic Overwatch.

The leftmost grey square is the Objective Area.
Like, a mine entrance or something.

TURN 1

The attacker always goes first.  Here, that's Unity.  First the commanders go, then any characters.  Then, the commanders can try to issue orders to units in range.  For Unity (Human Imperial, in the book) a command requires 5+ on 2D6, modified for pinning and damage and such.  You can issue as many orders as you have troops to order, but once you fail, that commander can't issue any more orders for the turn.  Move on to another commander, if you have one.

  One Infantry unit moves into the built-up area, looking for cover.  The little buildings don't actually matter.  It's the grey square that counts.

That dude in the back seems totally pumped!  "F*** YEAH! WAR!"

Another Infantry moves up to the edge of the rocks, but a near miss (scoring the exact Target Number) from one of the Overwatching Lowlifes forces it to retreat further into cover.

Then Mr. Green's gang gets to go.  The Scavengers and the two Adventurers rush forward toward the lone Infantry.  They can't engage in close combat yet, because they couldn't see the Infantry stand before they started.  Most terrain blocks line of sight after 5 centimeters.

Just shove those shipping containers out of the way.  They don't mind.

Meanwhile, Mr. Green and the Gang Leader move into the Objective Area, and the AFV pushes forward and scores a hit on the APC.  The Target Number for shooting is 7+ on 2D6.  Moving and Partial Cover bumps it up to 9+.  An "On Target" attack does one damage.  A "Direct Hit" does two.  The AFV gets 5 and 5 for 10.  That's a hit, and doubles makes it a Direct Hit!

The APC gets an armor save, though.  A 4, 5, or 6 on 1D6 is a save.  The APC gets a 4, and only takes 1 damage after all, and retreats behind the rocks.

Rambo!  I mean, "First Blood!"  Did you know that was the original title?
Did you know it was based on a book?  Today I Learned...

TURN 2

Well, the APC gets its revenge.  Without anyone on Overwatch, it rushes forward behind the buildings and drops off a squad of infantry, which promptly guns down poor Bloo! :(

Two wounds will kill a Character.  A normal squad or vehicle stand requires three.

Nothing clever here.  Very somber.  Move along.

Individual characters, like commanders, are self-motivated, and don't require orders to act.  The other adventurer, Flavio, engages in close combat with the Unity infantry squad.  Technically he's not running in there and punching people, but he's just one guy with a gun, so he can't really "shoot" at the squad and expect to have any effect.  Opposed d6 rolls gives Unity the win, and Flavio is sent running out into the open.  The Scavengers try for close combat as well, with the same effect.

Different kinds of units have different reactions to damage.  Regular troops can back up, or choose to be pinned in place.  "Primitive" units like Adventurers and Scavengers flee blindly when hit.

The Lowlifes behind the wall do manage to hurt the Unity commander, though.

Hurt by Lowlifes.  He's going to be hearing about this all week.

TURN 3

The Unity infantry squad all gather up in the built up area north of the Objective, and the APC pulls up and murders Flavio right in the back.  Dirty pool!

Just like Ol' Yeller. :(

Then, the Unity commander moves forward until he can just see Mr. Green through the buildings, and calls in an artillery strike!  Pretty much everybody in the Objective Area is attacked (5cm from Mr. Green's edges), but two are misses, and Mr. Green and the Scavengers make their Cover Saves. (Like an armor save for infantry in cover.)

The Scavengers recover and move toward the infantry again, and the Lowlifes advance and shoot, but miss.  The AFV advances as well.  The other Lowlifes get bored, hop the wall and shoot at the Unity commander, pinning his squad.

If the gang can take out the commander, it will be much harder
for Unity to operate.

TURN 4

The Unity commander gets cheeky and tries to call in another artillery strike.  He FAILS, and that's it.  He can't issue any more orders, and his turn is over.  There's something to be said for having more than one command (or at least sub-command) unit.

While he's standing there on the phone with his thumb in his butt, the Lowlifes take another shot at him, and score a Direct Hit!  Luckily, he's still in Full Cover and makes his Cover Save.  With two damage, he's nearly dead.  He's still just pinned, though.  You can't get double-pinned.

The Scavengers, meanwhile, throw themselves at the Unity infantry again, and get hurt again.  So dumb, those guys!

I feel like maybe the commander should run away.
But he won't.  Damn his Unified pride!

TURN 5

Unity mostly just misses.

Mr. Green's squad decides to get into the fight, shooting and injuring and pinning a Unity infantry squad.  The Gang Leader, Krabs, tries to issue an order to the Scavengers, but fails.  That would be the end of it, but Mr. Green, as a Warlord, gets to yell at and generally threaten 1D6+1 of his troops each turn, allowing them to automatically activate without a command test, even if they already failed a command test.  As low quality as Outlaw Gangs are, at least they're out there doing things.  What did YOU do today?

The heavily injured Scavengers eschew cover.
Not that they know what "eschew" means.

TURN 6

Free actions!  Get 'em while they're hot!  After the commanders and characters go, any unpinned unit looking at an enemy within 10cm can move toward that enemy or shoot them without having to pass a command test.  Just common sense, really.  So one of the Unity infantry squad shoots at Mr. Green's squad, sending him running for cover.  The other Unity squad misses (and the third is pinned).  The AFV finally kills the Unity commander!  Now, instead of 5+ to activate, each Unity stand will need 7+.

Should have run away.

The Scavengers, having learned NOTHING, throw themselves bodily at the Unity infantry and are predictably slaughtered to a man.

"You Scavengers cannot POSSIBLY take on that squad."
"Say what?  Here, hold our beers."

TURN 7

Everybody misses.  Now would be a good time to go for a snack.

TURN 8

A couple of near misses have units moving around the built-up area to little effect.

TURN 9

Despite being better shots, the Unity infantry miss.

Mr. Green, on the other hand, assaults the Unity infantry for a Direct Hit, destroying it!

Yup.  Those guys are dead.

TURN 10 & 11

Shooting goes back and forth.

TURN 12

Some of the Lowlifes get hurt and flee the area.

The other Lowlifes injure the Unity infantry, chasing it out of cover.  The AFV comes around the corner and scores a Direct Hit, killing the third of Unity's 5 units.  That's half (rounded up), which is Unity's Break Point, and that ends the game.

Game over, man!  Game over!

Wait, didn't Mr. Green's Outlaw Gang lose more than half of its units?  Doesn't matter.  Gangs are pretty heartless.  All that matters are the leaders.  If either Mr. Green or Krabs had been taken out, that would have been the Break Point for them.  Even then, due to the nature of the "Take and Hold" mission, they wouldn't have broken until there were more Unity units in the Objective Area than Mr. Green's units.

Well, this report was harder to write.  Maybe I'm just putting too much pressure on myself. :)  Unlike a lot of the games I like to play, this one had a lot of steps and moving parts.  It wasn't complicated exactly, but there were special rules for each faction, and different rules for each unit type, which needed keeping track of.  That's not a detriment necessarily.  I like the idea of the various armies working a little bit differently.

Overall, the game felt more... "warlike".  The stands made the units feel more militaristic.  I did like the way that hits (and near misses) would push units back, or at least hold them in place.  It kept the game from being the complete overrun that I thought it was going to be.

With the strictly defined terrain, and the way units are defined, this would probably be a good tournament sort of game.  You could even play without minis, just using flat counters, since the terrain is entirely dependant upon its footprint, and even terrain and unit "height" is a predefined abstraction.

Also, it got a little long there in the end.  That is to say, that turns started to go by with nothing happening, due to command failures.  The game actually recommends playing to a time limit.  If your two or three hour playdate is over and your spouse is coming to pick you up, just stop the game (after the defender has his last turn) and add up the Victory Points.  So, long drawn out games are probably uncommon in that regard.  You'd probably be playing with more units, too, which would likely make a difference.

So, it was fun, but certainly a different sort of fun than I'm used to.

At least the rules were clear and consistent and not filthy with typos and nonsense.

Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E