Steam Wars Playtest II

We had the second play test of Steam Wars and having tweaked the vehicle rules and wound levels, it worked really well. I made some simple paper markers to show if a unit had been “activated”, if it had been “pinned” or if it was “ready” (which is overwatch really but sounds a little less like a certain other game).

The rules have expanded from two pages to three pages, but it is still a very simple system. I have borrowed favourite bits from other games and made up a few bits where I thought other games lacked.

The two forces were pretty similar to the first game, but I did use some more artillery. An artillery unit can use a spotter to give Line Of Sight an indirect firing weapon, so it can be positioned in cover and out of harms way. Well, at least until some jump pack infantry swoop in to cause havoc…

Close combat is brutal, a unit of Meridia Heavy Infantry were quickly taken apart by some close combat Prussian Assault Troops with their steam powered Chainswords and Energy Hammers.
Jump troops are fun, these bronze Prussian jump troops bounded across the battlefield to attack the Meridia artillery position.

The poor old artillery crew had a hard time when they were assaulted by heavily armoured jump troops, only the Meridia Sergeant with his pistol had any chance of hurting the tough Prussian close combat specialists.

Where possible, infantry units make the best use of cover and two units facing off against each other can have quite a fire fight lasting several turns.

Command units can be packed out with some specialist models, the Commander obviously, a medic, an engineer and a standard bearer, all of which provide some benefits.

Mr Steinberg is working on some missions and objectives that we will include so it becomes less of an annihilation game and may even introduce some strategy!

If I can get my flying stands sorted out, we will try the rules for flying machines soon, four Zeppelin airships and six steam planes zipping around will literally add another dimension to the game.