Weasel-Tech Introductory Scenario 3 Player Family Game #1
It all started with my online grocery order last night. I was looking for a bathroom cleaning product and this popped up: Mainstays Kids Interlocking Street Foam Mat
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/mainstays-kids-interlocking-street-foam-mat-not-applicable/6000196471548
I guess I've looked at enough 1'x1' tiles now to recognize when something seems to be in a certain scale. At a glance the roads seemed appropriate for something 10-12mm scale.
I put a new CGL BattleTech mini on the mat. I had removed the original base and glued the Thunderbolt onto a 40mm hex. Overall, the 'mech actually looked pretty good.
I have been a bit disheartened when it comes to gaming. The LGS has great terrain and is a great place to meet up with friends. Due to current restrictions though, the LGS is not an ideal place to go.
Gaming at home is difficult. Our one table is used to entertain my kid with arts and crafts, her schoolwork, and eating purposes. It tends to get piled high with all sorts of stuff and takes a while to clear when I want to get a game in. My storage situation isn't the best and my terrain and regular gaming mats are limited. It can sometimes take over an hour to get everything cleared and set up, and another half hour to put it all away. I needed something that was quicker to deal with and could be stored less carefully even if it meant sacrificing some visual appeal.
Flat pack terrain like the stuff that comes in the Gale Force 9 Tanks games has been pretty handy, and I've always liked the idea of a kids toy car playmat as a gaming surface. The fact that this one was full of trees and buildings to block line of sight but also having a good road system made it a pretty good choice for the 6mm stuff I have going on. My wife had asked me over the winter holiday if Weasel-Tech was something I could play with my daughter, so I figured tonight would be the perfect time to find out.
The entire width of the road measures a little less than 40mm.
The Zentraedi stand in our way.
Weasel-Tech is optimised for a densely packed 3'x3' table with lots of height. Imagination and reason would have to fill in the height. We decided that the larger trees blocked line of sight and the smaller trees and smaller houses did not. The giant cow did not have an effect this game.
The goal of the Introductory Scenario is for three player mecha to cross the table, eliminate one enemy unit, and leave the opposing table edge. Arrayed to stop us are a unit of three Palladium Books Regult Battle Pods playing the part of MG wielding Macaw Swarm, a Kids Logic Queadluun-Rau Power Armour playing the part of the Rocket wielding Mamba Elite, and three Palladium Books Regults lead by a Telnesta-Regult to represent the Bem* wielding Macaw Swarm.
*Beam weapons are affectionately known as Bems on the Nordic Weasel Games Discord due to a spelling error in a promotional post about the game.
That poor Phalanx was the first RRT mini I assembled. It's so janky.
Our player mecha were a CGL Thunderbolt representing the X-1b Mecha, a Palladium Books Phalanx representing the D-1b Mecha, and a CityTech Victor representing the B-2 Mecha.
My daughter choose first, and she picked the Thunderbolt. My wife chose the Phalanx as she thought it was charmingly ugly, and I was left with the Victor which pleased me as that strange sculpt is one of my favourite mechs. I adore its scarecrow posture.
Training mission commencing!
It took a while to get the game started. My wife and daughter were both invested in absorbing YouTube videos on their devices, but they eventually broke free and we commenced the game. It was already pretty close to my daughter's bedtime so we knew that we probably wouldn't be able to finish the game but there was enough time to get a taste of it.
I didn't want to slow the gameplay down too much with photography, so I only snapped a couple pics of the action. Explaining the rules and the options for movement and weapons took a while. I wish I had printed out the Combat Reference to speed things up. My daughter invented a side game where the glass beads on the table were children we had to rescue as we moved along the map.
The first two turns were a bit slow but it gave my wife a good feel of the mechanics and it was fun to puzzle out line of sight and discuss strategy.
The turn order in the Introductory Scenario is:
1st Player Phase
Elite Phase
2nd Player Phase
Swarm Phase
3rd Player Phase
Resolution Phase
We traded 1st player phase back and forth as we jockeyed for good firing positions.
The first round was all movement and children rescuing. The second round saw us trading fire with the opposing mecha. My mecha launched to the top of the building and started chewing away at the MG Swarm. My wife traded Rockets with the Elite, and my daughter engaged with the Bem Swarm to no effect.
In the third round my wife continued to attack the Elite, my mecha fired at the Bem Swarm that was by my daughter eliminating one then launched to the next building, and my daughter wiped out the remaining two Bem Swarm.
Things look bad for Mr. Janky.
In the Resolution Phase of the third round, we rolled a 5 which meant the enemy reinforcements of a 4 mecha Rocket Swarm arrived behind us.
The fourth round was the last. My mecha tried to finish the MG Swarm off but failed, and it launched itself off the table edge. The Elite attempted to eliminate my wife but failed. My wife was caught with the Swarm at her back and the Elite in front of her. She failed to eliminate the Elite and moved into cover. The Swarms were unable to get line of sight on our two remaining mecha. My daughter's path was clear so she attempted to Power Slide off the table but rolled low, falling short of the table edge but in cover.
We wrapped up the game there and decided to reset it the next time we play. Overall my wife and daughter enjoyed their experience and found the playmat quite enjoyable and visually engaging. The game's combat mechanics are simple enough to learn but involve enough variation and tactical consideration to keep things lively.
The real meat of the game comes from the campaign system so once we have the Introductory Scenario successfully run we can dig into the full game. Combat-wise, we'll be adding HQ Support, Equipment, and the enemy will be unknown blips rather then know units. Campaign-wise, we'll delve into Squadron creation, Tech Research, Operation details, Mission set-up, and Resolution. There are also optional rules such as Side Missions, Battle Events, Pilot Skills and The Social System. Plenty of things to keep a family or a solo wargamer happy and engaged during these cold, restricted times.