So after a series of weather and other scheduling delays, Forrest and I were finally able to sit down to another game of Deep Wars. This time, Forrest cooked up the scenario, which involved two separate bands of Fortune Hunters ransacking underwater structures for artifacts.
The goal was to grab as many artifacts as possible. There are rules for scavenging and using tech items, but this was more of a "smash-and-grab" game. All dice rolls were on a D6. Models had to be in base contact with a structure to enter; on a roll of 5+, a door was found in the structure. If no door was found, the only way to get in was by cutting, which only the breaching mech can do, and which required two actions (for a quick description of activations for Deep Wars, please check out my previous game report in this section of the forum). Once inside, the model could spend one activation looking for artifacts. On a roll of 4 or 5, one artifact was found; on a roll of 6, two artifacts were found. Lastly, when trying to get into the building, armed guards would appear on a 2D6 roll of 10+. We also had a few sharks on the board, which caused some mayhem.
My initial deployment:
I opted to deploy models on all three depth levels--partly to get over some of the terrain, and partly to test out my homemade swim stands. The board was roughly 4'x3'.
In turn one, my breaching mech found an entry into the closest structure, and was able to pick up two artifacts (we placed models on top of the structures to show that they were inside).
The rest of our forces started moving towards various other structures. Then, the sharks started moving. There are rules for various sharks and other predatory sea creatures in this game. They all basically do the same thing: they will stalk towards the lowest quality (point value) model in their field of vision, and conduct a charging melee attack once they're in range. The sharks move after both players have completed all their activations. Forrest's breaching mech was immediately attacked, as was his heavy support diver.
At the beginning of turn two, Forrest's mech and tactical dive soldier were able to kill the shark that had just attacked them.
However, his heavy dive trooper was locked in melee combat with one of the other sharks until the end of the game (neither the shark nor the diver were ever able to kill each other--they continually rolled "fallen" results against each other, which is like a stun). Meanwhile, I was trying to get my mech--with his two found artifacts--out of the structure he was in, but I completely failed the activation test.
In turn three, the other shark finally caught up with me. This particular shark had the "Gulp" ability, meaning that he swallowed his prey whole if he won in combat. Well, my tactical diver lost the combat roll, and was swallowed!
Once swallowed, a model has two turn to attempt to cut its way out of the shark, before it succumbs to the shark's digestive juices. However, cutting out of the shark requires two Force actions--meaning you need to get at least two successes on the activation roll, and THEN get two successful Force rolls (rolling against the model's Strength rating; in this case, a 4+). Things weren't looking good for my dive soldier...
Meanwhile, on the other side of the board, one of Forrest's dive soldiers got into another structure, but awakened the guard!
The guard (we used the stats for a Dagathonan caller, one of the Scaly Horde characters, represented with a model from another game system) attacked my heavy support trooper, who was on his way to the same structure, with a melee attack; thankfully, the heavy trooper is pretty tough, and rendered the Dag fallen. On the other side of the board, my recon diver took a shot at his recon diver, rendering his diver fallen.
In turn 4, my diver who had been swallowed only got one Force activation...luckily, those do accumulate, so I was hoping I'd get the same results in turn 5 so he could cut his way out. No other structures were assaulted.
In turn 5, the final turn...my swallowed diver failed his activation test, and died a terrible death in the belly of the beast. Meanwhile, Forrest's now-recovered recon diver killed my recon diver with one shot.
At that point, we had to end the game due to time constraints. I won, collecting four artifacts to his two.
Observations:
This is our third game of Deep Wars, and I really enjoy it! The unique activation system really adds to the game. It can make or break your battle plans.
Playing with the other combatants--sharks and the structure guardians--added a fun dimension. Although, we decided that the dice roll was a little too high for the guardians to appear. The sharks were a real pain--as I showed earlier, Forrest's heavy support diver was basically useless to him for the whole game due to being tied up in melee with a shark.
We downsized the playing field a bit from the last time we played. This is a skirmish-level game, and neither of us has fielded a warband with more than 6 models yet. Considering that most models can only move five inches per activation (you could move up to 15 inches, if you got three successes on your activation rolls and spent them all on movement), playing on a smaller board isn't a bad thing. Anti-Matter Games is releasing an official Deep Wars terrain mat at some point, and it's only 24"x24".
We went a little overboard (no pun intended) with the terrain--will probably have fewer pieces in our next game.
The comedic highlight of the game was my poor tactical dive trooper getting eaten. Good times.
Thanks for taking the time to read this game report!
