Saturday, March 12, 2011

FUBAR: Urban Warfare Drill

I've run a quick solo game to get the hang of the rules for FUBAR 3.0, a set of sci-fi skirmish rules that fit in a single page. I used RPTools with quickly built tokens (from OneMonk Terraforce troops) to simulate a urban warfare drill between two teams (Red and Purple) each with two units of seasoned soldiers. The grey blocks are buildings that serve as cover (some time, I've got to make some decent maps to use in RPTools so that these battle reports don't look so bland.)



Turn 1
Both teams roll for initiative and red wins. However, they roll a 2 for activation of their first unit and fail. Team purple rolls a 1, failing too. Team red activates its second unit with a 6 and they run to take cover behind a building. The second unit from team purple activates and also moves into cover, ending the turn.

Turn 2
Team red wins the initiative again and activates its first unit. Two failed activations later, team purple activates its last unit for the turn.
Turn 3
Team red wins the initiative but fails activating its first unit. Purple fails too, then red's second unit walks around a corner. The second unit from team purple moves ahead and finds a unit of team red in the open. Unfortunately, only four of them have line of sight. They roll four dice but score no hits. The unit from team red was on guard (since it failed its activation) and shoots back suffering a +2 modifier since team purple's unit is behind cover. They get two hits and team purple doesn't save from any of them. Team purple decides to lose one figure and suppress one.
Turn 4
Team purple wins initiative for this turn and attempts activation of its previously hit unit (with a -1 penalty due to a suppressed figure). Still, the unit is successfully activated by rolling a 5 and runs back to the other side of the building. Team red's first unit activates and, taking advantage of team purple's retreat, advances towards another building. Team purple's second unit moves and fires against that unit, with no hits. Lastly, team red's second unit activates and runs to face team purple's first unit.
Turn 5
Team red wins the initiative and activates the unit at the north of the map. They move forward and shoot team purple's unit without cover penalties, getting 3 hits. The purple unit saves two hits and takes one casualty. That unit activates next and performs an aimed fire action with 4 figures, getting two hits. The red unit saves from one, and also opts to take a casualty. The other units fail activation this turn.
Turn 6
Team purple wins the initiative and activate their unit on the top of the map. They move into firing position and attack with 5 hits. The red unit get no armor saves, so they assign two suppressed units and three casualties! Team red activates their unit on the south and move to a more defensive position. Team purple's unit on the south also moves around the building to surround team red's unit. Team red's recently decimated unit fails activation and therefore runs 6 inches into cover.
Turn 7
Team purple starts turn 7 and fails activating its unit on the top of the map. Team red activates the unit on the south, who move out of cover and cause one figure loss from team purple (two hits, one armor save.) That unit activates next, performing an aimed fire with three hits, one saved by armor. The red unit takes one suppressed unit and one casualty. The other red unit fails activation and continues to flee.
Turn 8
Red team rolls a 4 to activate its unit on the south. Because of a suppressed figure, that is a failure. Team purple successfully activates and attacks with another round of aimed fire. They get another two hits that are taken as suppressed units. At this point, I assume that the red unit shoots back, since they had failed their activation and therefore were on guard. The three unsuppressed figures attack getting one hit that is not saved by armor. The purple team takes the hit as a suppressed figure. The other units fail activation (therefore, the red unit runs to its deployment area again.)
Turn 9
Team purple wins the initiative and activates the unit on the south. They use an assault maneuver to engage in close combat. Team purple gets two hits (no saves) and team red gets one (saved by armor) so the red unit suffers two casualties. Team red activates its two-man unit and makes them rush to join the other unit in close combat. The other unit from team purple leaves cover and runs towards the melee too.
Seeing what should have been a firing exercise turn into a big brawl, the commanders order their soldiers to step back and end the drill. Team purple wins for having less casualties than team red.

Comments
FUBAR 3.0 seems really nice. The game flows fast and action moves back and forth between players. The choice between suppressing or losing a figure adds another tactical element to the game. My "virtual board" was 3'x3' but the weapon ranges made it feel a little cramped. Maybe at 15mm scale, with all ranges scaled down to 2/3, this board size will suffice. In RPTools I can always increase my playing area, too.
After I finished playing, I noticed that I was switching command between teams even after a unit had successful activation. Given that I had only two units per team and they kept separated for most of the game, this didn't have a big impact in this match, but I must pay more attention in the future.

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