Tag Archives: Warfighter

Warfighter – France Expansion: Weapons & Missions

Boardgames, Post World War II, Review, Skirmish, Solitaire

Another day, another post.  Cold mornings with temps in 20s keep from engaging with the Work Farm, and I have the looming tax returns at arm’s length.  So, might as well post up.

The French come with a number of weapons/weapon systems not found in the basic game.  Different personal weapons with similar capabilities of those used by US forces, but crew served machine guns.  The French do have a number of explosive firing options.  The Eryx launcher is intriguing.

The missions are intriguing also, with low load-out limits and a nice mix of small and large resource points to spend.  I’ve included the African Warlords Expansion #32 locations in the following photo

 

Warfighter – France Expansion: Equipment & Skills

Boardgames, Post World War II, Review, Skirmish, Solitaire

Some time ago, I purchased the African Warlords Expansion #32.  Never opened the box.  But, after my more recent plays of Warfighter 2nd Edition, I decided to go all-in and purchase Warlords Expansion #33, as well as France #51.  These sets open any number of new play possibilities.

The France expansion contains a number of new (at least to me) skills and equipment options.  The set also includes an entirely new complement of weapons.  I’ll hold off on discussing the weapons until I’ve used some of the expansion’s unique systems.

The Local Translator card looks to be of some value.  Notice that only one card is for French soldiers, only.  Two of the cards involve hydration and acclimitization.

The African Location Cards add environmental considerations to the game.  Many locations require a D10 roll to determine if the individual soldier or squad is affected by the heat.  If the player must roll equal to or higher than the environmental number to avoid being suppressed or wounded (player’s choice).  The only way to avoid this is to play a “Hardy” token.  This token is contained in later basic game expansions, and covered in the DV Games on-line rules compendium.

The new equipment cards provide a number of options to obtain/expend Hardy tokens and avoid heat effects.  It looks like individual loadouts will involve a maximum use of canteens and hydration packs.  I’ll have to think through cooler placement.

Looking forward to setting this one up.

Good Decision(?)

Boardgames, Post World War II, Sessions, Skirmish, Solitaire

It worked out…..barely.  The Hostile Turn was interesting.

Since  no soldiers were in the location occupied by the hostiles, no reinforcements were drawn.  The still active Leader’s “Inspired” trait allowed each hostile to discard one suppressed marker, so the RPG Team took a shot at Minyard.  The result was two wounds to both him and Sietz.  Fortunately, Minyard’s hand contained a “Take Cover” card  cancelling the attack.  Whew!   The Martyr moved to the location occupied by the other hostiles, leaving the Objective card unoccupied.  Again, no reinforcements were drawn for the Objective because it was unoccupied.  The screen shielding the target had left.

The Team now had one 40mm round  left, so one chance to kill the VIP.  Since this would take a single action by Seitz, both soldiers refreshed/augmented their hand, hoping to draw a card or cards to enhance the attack.  No luck, so only a single Combined Fire card could be used, adding two to the attack role.

In Warfighter, any weapon attack involves both a six-sided and ten-sided die (D6 & D10).  The D6 determines whether the attack “defeats” the target’s cover, while the D10 determines if the target is killed or suppressed.

The Objective has a cover rating of four, with the M203 having a kill number of eight.  higher (the “0” on the D10 counts as a “10”).  A roll of four or more is required to defeat the cover, and eight or more to kill.  If only one number is rolled, then the target is suppressed.  If neither rolled, the target is unaffected.

I rolled a 3D6, and 8D10.  No kill!  Ugh and Oh Well, My My……But, walking away I remembered the M203 has a penetration rating of one.  This is added to the defeat cover roll.  Success!

Next…..On to Africa!

Tough Decision

Boardgames, Post World War II, Skirmish, Solitaire

Had left my Warfighter scenario set up on the dining room table, so I  picked up where I left off….with a tough decision to make.

The decision was whether or not to play the “Stronghold” card as my fourth location, and the last card before activating and engaging the scenario’s objective.

Here’s a photograph with lots of information….along with a semi-coherent account of what happened.

The team’s mission is to  eliminate a VIP from Range 2.  But, in order to do this, the objective has to be activated, and this requires a soldier entering the adjacent location (card).

The team consists of Minyard (action cards to left of play aid, weapons and equipment above his personality card to the right of the play aid) with a M4 carbine, and Seitz (action, personality, weapons and equipment to the right of Minyard)  with an M203 carbine (M4 plus grenade launcher).  The plan is to use Seitz’s grenade launcher to eliminate the VIP.  In Warfighter, each soldier gets two actions per Soldier Turn.  Some cards allow the soldier to perform without using an action.

There is plenty of time left, and good cards to play.  No reason to discard in order to discard and draw for an alternate location card…..or was there?  I decided to go for it, even though activating the Stronghold location triggers the placement of at least seven points of hostiles.

Minyard held the card and used one action to place it.

Well, I drew what you see at the top of the photo.  Two Gunmen, a Radioman, a Leader and an RPG team. The Gunmen have to be killed first as they screen the other bad guys.  Yikes!!  I considered calling it quits, but decided to give the cards a chance.

So…..I used a Move Out  card (no action) for Seitz to enter the Stronghold  location.  This activated the Objective, which calls for a hostile fighter card draw.  My reward was a Martyr Bomber!  That dark cloud did have a silver lining.  A Martyr must move towards the nearest soldier during the Hostile Turn.  So, he would leave the objective ocation, and not serve as a screen for the VIP.  Well, that’s my interpretation.  And, in desperate times, researching Rules As Written (RAW) is not necessarily a priority.

Seitz then engaged one set of gunmen with a hand grenade, using a Snap Shot (again no action) card, killed them both, and moved back – using another Move Out  card – to his previous location.  Seitz engaged the Gunmen  with his M203, and after they were eliminated, suppressed the RPG team with another M40 grenade.  Minyard then suppressed the Radioman, but couldn’t harm the Leader.

Suppressed Hostiles will not be able to attack or move during the upcoming Hostile Turn.  However, the Leader can take action.

Will finish the turn tonight, and hopefully write up the outcome tomorrow.

Kids!

Boardgames, Post World War II, Sessions, Skirmish, Solitaire

Now  playing this great solitaire game.  I had forgotten just how good it is.

Went over to its Boardgamegeek page and downloaded this mini-mat.  Saves so much space!  Now I can comfortably play it at my desk, with the Soldier Player cards and loadout on a small side table.

The usual re-entry fits-and-starts with the rules.  This narrative discussion really helped.  So, with this, the 2nd Edition rulebook, downloaded key terms and universal rules, I had all the resources required to play.

Here’s a quick snap of the first mission of my campaign game.

Notice the Refugee Card?  That ruined everything.  Damn Kids!!!  No auto bursts or explosives.  My M-203 – which I’m counting on to kill the mission’s VIP target and to kill multiple bad guys, is useless.  So, I became bogged down in a gunfight characterized by my die rolls that suppressed, but did not kill.  After one Player-Soldier was wounded twice and  my Mission Timer clicking down, I went into abort mode.

Granted, it is a tough mission with low (41) resource points. But, I’m sure an experienced player would have figured things out.  I’ll use this as a negative score, and do my usual reset.

Lots of fun, though.

Warfighter vs. Ranger

Boardgames, Review,

Title reminds me of…….

Enjoying another session with Warfighter.

Started thinking about one of its modern tactical mission predecessors, Ranger.

What a difference, and not just the programmed text aspect of Ranger, but in the treatment of mission planning and execution.

Warfighter focuses on team selection. Sure, Ranger has that planning aspect also, but it goes into greater depth as the soldiers literally “acquire” skills during their pre-mission refresher training. In Warfighter, they come with their skills.

Ranger’s planning phase also involves route selection, and not simply blind movement to contact. Warfighter’s card allocation and flow allows little in the way of route planning. You can avoid a certain piece of terrain or place, but at the cost of time loss. That’s an acceptable abstraction, but Ranger focuses more on avoiding contact. After all its subtitle is “Modern Patrolling Operations.”

Warfighter is all about combat. As one reviewer over at Boardgame Geek put it, and I quote rather loosely, it’s “the analog version of Call To Duty”. Ranger’s combat is not as involved or relentless.

The tension in Ranger is “what might I run into next”. The tension in Warfighter is “how many of these bastards am I going to have to shoot next”.

Apples and Oranges. But, wouldn’t it be nice to combine the two?

Warfighter

Boardgames, Review

Never been one for video games. The ones I did like were Asteriods, Space Invaders and, later, Doom. All point and shot, and all date me.

Put Warfighter on the table this week. It’s not just a point and shoot game.

 I’ve developed an interest in ultra-modern skirmish wargaming, and checked out the highly regarded Sangrin rulesets. Had one and lost it in the Great IPad Data Loss Debacle. I lack the will to commit to the time and expense needed to paint the figures and construct terrain. And, I wanted to do this on a small scale, like 10mm. No figures available, even from the redoubtable Pendraken line. I thought Warfighter might provide the experience without all the work. It does.

Played three small scenarios the past few days. The learning curve was not smooth.

The commentaries about rule difficulties are spot on. But, again, you can say that about many games. It just becomes more frustrating for a game that shouldn’t be that difficult. Maybe it’s just me, but wrapping my head around a game where the cards are loaded with information is difficult.

Once I got it……I GOT it, and the game just flowed. Lots of tension and decision making. Do I really want to play that “Back Street” card that is loaded with potential bad guys and trouble? Maybe take an action and discard for the possibility of easier terrain.

Sure, once the enemy appears it is a point and shoot, but a coordinated one. It’s just not you. There are other troops, and all actions have to be integrated for a successful mission. Gee, a fast playing tactical card game where you go with the fundamentals: move, shoot and communicate. Shocking!

The challenges begin before the mission starts. How does one allocate resource points between personnel, their skills, equipment, and weapons? You can’t have it all, whether it’s a matter of resource points or ability of a soldier to carry what you think he should have as opposed to need.

It’s a challenging and entertaining game. Highly Recommended.

I’ll post up some other thoughts and commentary after a few more plays.