Xenos Rampant 1st Outing - The Battle for Arkadij

Arkadij in deepest drakkastan has been under the boot of the alien invaders for several months, resistance is rising and the People's Army is ready to strike a blow for freedom.

The first outing for Xenos Rampant, after several games of Lion Rampant which have been really enjoyable, not really a surprise that we should turn our attention to other rules in the Daniel Mersey stable. 

24 points aside - Scenario Bravo - Secret Mission. The Alien forces must Assassinate the human leader to win the game. The humans simply need to kill as many alien units as they can.

These have been tucked away for a number of years, having tried a number of rule sets from Laser Burn to Tomorrow's War. Great fun sitting down and picking the right characteristics for each side. In my head it was a Russian version of Battle for Los Angeles, with perhaps a touch of later Terminator movies for good measure.

The Invaders came on across a broad front, selecting the Mechanoid trait they had no fear of being supressed, but if they fell below 50% strength they ran the risk of shutting down.

Making best use of the cover and free move and/or shooting however the human forces had been busy in their workshops and had been producing battle suits of their own.

The main human position was a factory unit, the heavy cover made it difficult to crack for the Invaders but unbeknown to the human player the Invaders knew that's where the leader of the resistance was, kill him and it's a victory. However the HMG on ground floor supported by spotters was chewing up alien units as they broke cover.

Local militia looked to flank the attackers, but caught in the open were wiped out, it turns out that a unit with armour 1 in the open does not last long, when facing armoured infantry with heavy weapons.

The left flank was clear and the invaders poured fire into the factory causing the resistance to rout. Victory to the off worlders.... But the human leader will leave to fight another day.

Great Fun...

First game complete in under two and half hours including the occasional rule read and cuppa. 

The tactical challenge of having to pick a unit to activate without throwing initiative over to your opponent gives a unique challenge. The free activations reward faster moving troops, but if you can get your heavier troops into the right position they can be rally powerful, especially if you get caught in the open. 

Really fast to play with enough nuance in the trait selections to make forces very distinct.

Having played several Sci-fi rule sets over the years, the ability to create modern/Sci-fi units across your own settings is very appealing, I am already thinking, Starship Troopers, War of the World, V and even Chechnya.

I can defiantely see us playing several move games in the coming weeks as players head home to dig out old collections to bring back to the table.