Robotech RPG Tactics
Last Saturday I got to play Robotech RPG Tactics with my friend Dan again. I have only played this game twice before with Dan so the chance to play the game again was needed and welcomed. A change of pace or game systems works often, but not to often. We both agreed to keep the game and points simple and to try to re-learn the game as much as possible. A lot of things we remembered, a lot of things we had to re-check, but the whole game went rather smoothly.
Dan had his mind set on using some Destroids so I went along and used the Zentraedi forces. Dan made his selection pretty simple and straight forward with the inclusion of some Veritechs and some Destroids.
Playing the Zentraedi I first went with what I used last time selecting the Regult Attack Squadron and the Regult Attrition Squadron. This would leave Dan shy of 10 points so I swapped the Regult Attrition Squadron for the Regult Recon Squadron. Using the Regult Recon Squadron would give me like Dan a new unit to try in the game being the Quel-Regult. This still left me ten points ahead. We both considered adding some more stuff, but in the end I swapped the Regult Attack Squadron for an additional Regult Recon Squadron. I figure Dan would blow one away to smithereens so having a second would give me a chance to use it and see how it works.
Battle Forces
UEDF - 140 Points generating 10 Command Points
Valkyrie Squadron - 80 Points
VF-1J X 1
VF-1A x 3
Area Denial Destroid Squadron - 60 Points
Defender Destroid x 2
Tomahawk Destroid x 2
Zentraedi - 140 Points generating 16 Command Points
Regult Recon Squadron - 70 Points
Glaug
Regult x 6
Quel-Regult
Regult Recon Squadron - 70 Points
Glaug
Regult x 6
Quel-Regult
Battle Setup
We setup on a normal 6 x 4 table and deployed twelve inches along the short edges. We agreed this setup would give both sides time to react to the first turn moves ensuring no first turn auto-wiping bullshit occurs. This gave the UEDF and especially the Destroids a nice range advantage.
One important detail we added was terrain and treating certain terrain as area terrain. The inclusion of hills and small forests as area terrain provides a small defense bonus, but that bonus can easily mean the difference of damage rolls being successful or not. Hills and trees were invaluable in helping one of my Gluags approach the Valkyrie squadrons. We treated hills and forests as soft cover. We treated some bunkers as area terrain hard cover, but this may have been over generous perhaps. This helped some Regults survive, sort of.
The inclusion of the Quel-Regults was an excellent battle tactic. The surprise that they generated command points on their own was a complete shock to me. I never looked at their abilities on thier cards thinking were just electronic countermeasure units. The Quel-Regult's abilities on top of terrain bonuses I admit are plain brutal, but an effective way to help Zentraedi forces in general. We never allowed the Quel-Regult's abilities to overlap each other and stack.
Battle Highlights
I passed on pictures this time.
The Valkyries early on tried to decimate Regult Recon Squadron 1 on the West side of the battlefield first and in the process lost one or two along the way. Dan conducted an impressive speed boost and combined after burn maneuver to try and recover some losses. This is cool when you get to see rules used in action as they are intended if watching the show. Using the after burn maneuver to alpha strike something is boring, but using the after burn maneuver to get in and out of fighting is heroic. Dan was able to punch throw a Glaug's meat shield defense and damage it. Oddly enough the Glaug he damaged was the Glaug I was hiding from the Destroids attached to Regult Recon Squadron 2.
Regult Recon Squadron 2's Glaug was the most vulnerable during the game as the Destroids kept stripping away Regult after Regult leaving the Glaug to cower behind some terrain to provide support. I think Regult Recon Squadron 2's Quel-Regult was made of more sterner stuff. Regult Recon Squadron 2's Regult count at one point was maybe one to two left and the rest were moving in from reinforcement range.
One tactic which seems to work when combating Valkyries is to get them to empty their missile reserves leaving them with only gun pods left to use. Regults are good for doing this as life is cheap and with a Glaug you can recycle them and I did this. Very few or none of the reinforcement Regults ever made it back to be of any further use.
When the Zentraedi had a chance to return fire surviving the Destroid's firepower turn after turn I saw the true ability of the Glaug's main cannon. The last Valkyrie was the commander and all shots would be going to his rear so I risked it and destroyed it knowing he had no chance of shielding or dodging the main cannon attack. This cut the UEDF's command points in half.
The entire Valkyrie squadron was wiped out. The Glaug from Regult Recon Squadron 1 destroyed the last Valkyrie. The Destroids in return killed the same Glaug.
The Destroids tried to knock out a Quel-Regult and failed doing so shortly after the last Valkyrie was obliterated. If they did this would have cut the Zentraedi command points effectively in half.
I took out a single Tomahawk Destroid. In a formation they are able to absorb and share a lot of damage. We called the game a good shortly after the Tomahawk fell. It was a good game and a good learning experience.
Carnage Report
UEDF
Valkyrie Squadron
VF-1J X 1 -
Destroyed
VF-1A x 3 -
Destroyed x 3
Area Denial Destroid Squadron
Defender Destroid x 2 - 1 Damaged, 1 Maybe Damaged
Tomahawk Destroid x 2 -
1 Destroyed, 1 Damaged
Zentraedi
Regult Recon Squadron 1
Glaug -
Destroyed
Regult x 6 ~ 50% Destroyed and Reinforced,
1 Permanently Destroyed
Quel-Regult -
1 MDC left
Regult Recon Squadron 2
Glaug - Damaged
Regult x 6 > 50% Destroyed and Reinforced
Quel-Regult -
1 MDC left
Lessons learned and things to remember.
This is a list of some things we simply forgot and need to remember. The d6 roll of 1 and 6 is trivial, but playing so many games it makes a big difference.
- A d6 roll of 1 is an auto fail regardless of modifiers.
- A d6 roll of 6 is an auto success regardless of modifiers.
- Shielding damage by splitting damage evenly does not negate an uneven odd point of damage, it is assigned as desired.
- Taking damage is like math and the order of operations is AM/Dodge, Shield (If applicable), RWI.
- RWI rounds down damage.
Robotech RPG Tactics is a fun game so far, but considering Wave II's whereabouts are still considered out there floating the game is limited somewhat. I have picked up some chatter on PB's forums there may be additions to the FAQ and rules as well. The one thing which slows me down is the assembly process. I still have quite a lot of units to assemble for both sides and each one has a large amount of parts. Still I hope to play this game more often if I can.
Check back soon for updates to my dealings in the worlds of Battletech and 40K.
