Science fiction miniature gaming is much more than Warhammer 40K. And while I have still not found the perfect set of rules, I haven't even tried all I own.
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| The pirate settlement |
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The settlement seen from a different angle
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Having recently completed a large batch of wargaming scenery for science fiction gaming, and being interested in the classic skirmish rules LASERBURN, I decided to put the scenery on the table and do some solo gaming. (I write in the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown.)
Laserburn was first published and copyrighted in 1980. I somehow have acquired two copies, both badly battered and showing their age, but do not ever recall actually playing a game.
Being a skirmish game, I chose two sides. One side was five "Judges," as in the classic British comic "Judge Dredd." Some came from the old Games Workshop Judge Dredd line, others from the newer Warlord Games Judge Dredd range. (The metal Warlord Games line from circa 2014-ish, not the newer resin line from that company.) The Judges are basically hardcore super-cops of the future who enforce the law and punish law-breakers. I'd considered classifying them as "Heroes" but decided "elite soldiers" was a more appropriate category. They were designated as carrying laser pistols and wearing light armor.
The other force was seven figures designated as "hardened space pirates." These came from a few different companies and ranges, including early GW Warhammer 40k space pirates, a RAFM post-holocaust range, a couple that I believe came from Grenadier Traveller line, and one guy with a mohawk and a laser gun who I could not identify. They were designated as wearing flak armor and carrying either laser rifles or laser pistols depending on the casting and how the figures themselves were equipped.
The scenario involved the judges trying to recover a broken anti-grav tank that the pirates had somehow acquired and were planning to repair. The anti-grav tank came from the Epicast WH 40K line and is some sort of Eldar design. I admit I forget exactly which model but the tank still exists in the WH 40K universe but now looks totally different. I had decided that the weapons could not fire and while the judges could fly it away no one else could make it move. (The judges had brought the keys to the vehicle.)
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| The Pirate lair with their salvaged grav-tank under repair |
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| Another view |
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| From Left to right, pirate thug (GW early WH40K), repair technician (RAFM), and pirate leader (RAFM). |
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Four space pirates
Because I have a long thin table, and also because I wanted to keep things interesting, I had the judges approach from two different ends of the table, with the basic plan being to divide the defenders and hopefully capture the grav-tank.
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And thus I began the game. Figures move their entire move one by one depending on their initiative, the higher the initiative the earlier they move. Initiative can change during the game depending on things like wounds and loads carried, and so on. In theory, as the figures move one by one, there is no reason one side would move all their figures before the other, but in this game, as the forces were chosen to be simple, all the judges had identical initiative ratings and each was higher than the pirates, who in their turn had identical initiative scores. While optional rules do allow for varying these a bit using dice to modify a base score, for simplicity I just stuck with the basic ratings, straight out of the book.
I soon discovered the rules are, indeed, very primitive by modern standards in some areas and one of them is movement. One tabletop centimeter equals one real life meter. Figures walk 10cm a turn or run 30cm a turn Walking and "diving" (undefined) are other options. There are no rules for fatigue or terrain effects on movement that I could find in the 48 page little book. (There is a supplement, which I own, but I made no attempt to consult it. Perhaps they are there. One step at a time. One rulebook at a time. Learn the rules little by little.)
Seeing no disadvantage to doing so, I had the judges run one by one from the edge of the table either as far as they could go or to the farthest piece of substantial terrain.
On both sides of the table, groups of pirates reacted, moving towards the oncoming judges and seeking cover.
Having mentioned that Laserburn has no terrain or fatigue rules, what it does focus on is detailed shooting rules. Therefore when shots began being exchanged, things became detailed. They also became very arithmetic heavy.
Semi-automatic weapons, which to me included all the laser weapons in the game, are allowed three shots each turn, although I confess I had misunderstood the rules and only allowed them two shots per turn. As this misunderstanding of the rules was applied uniformly it probably did not affect the outcome but it did slow things down a bit. Besides, it was a solo game so who's going to become upset? +++++ Chances of hitting are determined using a formula, arriving at a number that is a base chance to hit, and then rolling percentile dice. There are multiple factors. +++ Therefore a judge, as an "elite soldier," starts with a base chance of hitting of 130 percent change of hitting. Range is quite important, and if a laser pistol is fired at 18 meters range, 18 cm on the table, the percent chance is reduce 3 percent for each meter or 54%, making the chance of hitting 76%. Additional modifiers are applied for semi-automatic fire ( -6% per shot) and if the target or firer have moved. If the target is behind cover, there is also a modifier. If the firer has a serious and/or light wound, each wound also reduces the chances of hitting the target. If one does arithmetic easily, it's not a big thing, but as some players are not comfortable with that or find arithmetic intimidating, this system is not for everyone. +++ If a hit is scored, three more dice rolls are required. One is for location on the target's body. The second is for armor penetration. The third is only rolled if a wound penetrates armor and is to determine the effect of the hit. Possible effects are instantaneous death, a serious wound, a light wound, or blindness.
Obviously, this system is a bit time consuming and requires record keeping.
When the hardened space pirates returned fire, they began with a base chance of hitting of 100 percent.
The rules also include a detailed hand to hand combat system although no hand to hand combat occurred in this game. Therefore I did not get the chance to try it out. Next game, I'll have to make a point of putting combatants without missile weapons on both sides and see what happens.
At this end of the table, shots were fired back and forth. Soon one of the space pirates took a serious wound to the body. In these rules, serious wounds are, for lack of a better word, "serious." The combatant became unconscious immediately. Each turn thereafter he remained unconscious unless he rolled a six on a regular dice. As his initiative was now lower, the roll to regain consciousness was done at the end of each turn after the other combatants on his side had been activated and moved.
Again, as the rules date from 1980, at times they show their age. The contents seem a bit disorganized and specific rules are sometimes hard to find. Other times rules or rules clarifications that one would expect in a contemporary set of rules simply aren't there. Therefore, it seemed to me that when a combatant regains consciousness, the first thing he or she must do, presumably, is rise from lying down to standing which takes a third of a turn.
At one end of the table, two judges exchanged shots with two pirates. All had laser pistols, but armor and base chances of hitting were different.
At the end of the table, two pirates with laser rifles tried to take positions to intercept the three oncoming judges while the other laser rifle armed guard and the repair technician and pirate leader, each. While the judges had an advantage in terms of higher ratings and better armor, the fact that the pirates at this end of the table had heavier weaponry seemed to balance things out well.
Well, three out of the five anyway. The pirate leader and the pirate repair technician did not have any missile weapons at all, and therefore did very little throughout the scenario. In hindsight, the scenario could have been much improved if their role in things had been better conceived before hand. Without any missile weapons they couldn't join in any of the firefights so they didn't do much there. Although they did have melee weapons, one a sword and the other a cane (big stick? club? baton?), they were clearly not tough enough or numerous enough to be intended to be used in the scenario as missile troops. Looking back at things, the scenario would have been much improved if the leader and the repair technician had actually been given a chance to do what he eponymously was supposed to do, repair the anti-grav tank! Tension and enjoyment could have been much improved if the repair technician were given a small chance (perhaps 2% as a starting point ) of repairing all or part of the systems on the anti-grav tank on the first turn and had the chance increase each turn perhaps by adding 2% each turn or even increase the chance exponentially (i.e. go from 2 to 4 to 8 to 16 to 32 to 64% ) . Perhaps a chart that randomly determines which grav-tank system begins to function first (movement, force screen, secondary weapons, main weapons, etc.) or, alternatively and, I think, preferably, to have them activate in a given sequence with the chance of making them working going back down to 2% each time one activates as the repair technician goes back to his starting point again. Alas!! Missed opportunities! Next time. Next time.
In the end, as the judges converged from two directions on the five remaining pirates, shots were exchanged for a couple turns. The results were two judges seriously wounded and one dead and two o he space pirates dead or seriously wounded.
At this point, the morale rules kicked in and became relevant. Once again, the rules began to show their age. The Laserburn morale rules take up take up half a page, half of page 18 to be specific. Not only that, in this half page they also lump up in the rules for unit organization. Basically, figures must be designated as part of a unit or else as a one man unit. If a unit takes serious casualties, in other words equal to half or more its members dead or seriously wounded, it becomes "shaken." This is automatic and there are no dice involved. Shaken units will not advance on the enemy. As the rules say nothing about whether they could fire or not, I assumed they could and the firing continued although the movement stopped.
[After reading these rules again, it became clear that I did not follow the unit rules properly. I'm not sure if this was a bad thing in a skirmish game with five figures versus seven figures, but, for the record, I should have grouped the figures into units more carefully.]
Eventually the last laser armed space pirate took a serious wound to the body and dropped. Although the leader and the repair technician were still conscious, they were unable to advance on the enemy and the enemy was unable to advance on them. The game ended in a draw.
In conclusion, Laserburn is a set of rules that a lot of people clearly have had a lot of fine with. There's no reason people could not have fun with it today. It has a loyal following and can still be purchased new today ( see:
https://www.alternative-armies.com/products/lbr01-laserburn-rulebook and please tell them who sent you.) Clearly, it has its fans.
On the other hand, to say "Well, surely it contains everything one might need or expect in a set of rules," is just not true. If one were to play it a great deal, one would have to invent house rules for some situations to bring them up to modern expectations (for instance, terrain rules and rules that produce some randomization to the morale results) or find a way to arbitrate and settle disagreements among players. (Ideally, players should meet to have fun and be able to trust each other while working things out in a friendly and cooperative fashion. Of course, this does not always happen.) The heavy dependence on one's ability to do and feel comfortable with long strings of calculations of simple arithmetic makes these rules not for everyone, and could slow down the flow of play for many people.
Still, the solo game was fun, and I hope to use these again some day for a simple skirmish game in the future. They seem like a fun little set of rules if the scenario and setting are well designed and chosen for the rules.
