AK Game 22nd July

[martin goddard]

Exiled army v Communist supported army.

Sean with his exiled army had been exiled to Weymouth. Harsh.
His army was beaten by inspired D6 from martin. Well done martin.


Notes
1. The scenery made the table more difficult for vehicles to whizz around. Good.The table looked good too.
2. Smaller unit size worked well. Morale was more important.
3.Scenery had a big effect on victory (good/bad?)
4. "Taking cover" worked well to reduce casualties.
5. Army size seemed more affordable and less area. This allows more manoeuvre.
6. Assaults were very bloody. Good/bad?


martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Sounds good, Martin.

I feel that assaults should be bloody and decisive. I don't think AK47 needs to be a game of great tactical subtlety!

Simon

[Sean Clark]

1. Amount of scenery now feels right. If you're the defender and your opponent has vehicles, you can try to block certain areas of the table.

2. As Martin says, unit sizes feel right as each death hurts especially if you're militia. It makes The Damned Miltia in Comms quite important too because I think units are more likely to be destroyed if you don't bolster them at the right time.

3. Firefights worked well. My light armour spent the game keeping out of sight of Martin's tanks but did harass infantry which is their job.

4. I love the Communications phase. Best bit of the rules for me at the moment.

5. Game length felt right. I think I shot myself in the foot by taking too much from the countdown early on. It meant I ran out of time to effectively use reinforcements  which could have grabbed me some templates late in the game. This is another area where players will develop their own strategy. Which is good.


6. I really like the different arrival zones for attacker amd defender. However, thinking about it on the flight home, scenery on the defenders baseline is an easy 'grab' for the attacker with his far corner arrival, usually in a template, who can then claim maximum points if held. If that scenery is solid buildings or jungle, or partial and taking cover they are difficult to assault. I do think there are valid tactics to improve chances of success (pinning) but just something to think about with the current victory point schedule. I'm not sure whether I'd personally prefer traditional objectives, or say only solid buildings are worth points but compel both players to take at least 1 each for example. Just thoughts as I approached my landing zone last night.

Thanks for hosting Martin. As ever it was good fun and the cups of tea were spot on.

[Sean Clark]

I tried the Exiled army because of 4D6 motivation instead of 3 to see what impact it had.

I'm not sure I'm the best player to comment, but it wasnt all that useful. I think mainly due to the slightly smaller units, so they are covering fewer squares. However, on the occasion where you leave a couple of bases behind or send them out on a mission, then it may be more useful.

I missed my technicals though. My favourite vehicles at the moment. 

[Smoking gun]

Martin and Sean, That all sounds interesting and it seems the rules are moving in the right direction. Am I right in thinking you played with version "O"?

Best wishes,
Martin from Grimsby

[Hman]

Could I ask, how many bases of infantry per side were used?

Howard

[Sean Clark]

I had 29 bases of infantry made up of:

6 professionals
8 regular
10 militia

I chose 2 lots of extra bases with which I added 2 to the professionals and 3 to the regulars.

I also had:
2 mortar bases
2 MG bases
2 RCL
2 armoured cars

[Sean Clark]

Yes version O Martin.

This was my 4th game, but the first with these significant changes in unit size and the extra piece of scenery.

[martin goddard]

I had 35 bases. This is about 100 figures.

martin

[Wardy64]

Ben is showing interest in AK, as we have never played or viewed it how is are units made up if you are looking at a platoon/unit how many types of bases:small arms,lmgs,rpgs bases or does it not matter? We follow the above, but would like to get the make up of each unit.
D&B

[Sean Clark]

***All of the following is subject to change through playtesting!***

Professional units start at 6
Regular start at 8
Militia at 10

The above numbers include 1 leader base. What they are armed with at the moment doesn't matter. They can be rifles, RPGS, Lmgs etc...all count as small arm bases.

An army starts at 3 units (companies).

Each army has 14 points to to spend on additions. These might be an extra unit, extra small arms bases, HMGs, helicopters etc.

So your army could have 4 units, but at the moment this costs 10pts, so not much left for anything else. Heavy armour (tanks) for instance cost 5pts, so if you have an extra unit, you can't have tanks.

There are 12 army types to choose from  each with their own limits and bonuses. The Religious Movement can have more technials than any other army for example.

If you ask Martin nicely, he'll  add you to the playtest group so you can become invovled in the development  of the rules.

[Wardy64]

Thanks Sean, Ben may be interested in looking at the play testing?

D&B

[martin goddard]

Thanks Sean
I am sure it will change.
Just let me know if you want to take part


martin