The year is 2066, Global civilization has collapsed, your country no longer exists, your company is your warband......
Warfare in Age of Madness is realitvly new game from Viseceral Impact Studios, and this their only game they do so far. I got this game for chirstmas although i tell my wife that i want this game.
This game is set in post apocalyptic future but not as far as some game, you and your followers are withness the fall, may it be zombie apocalypse, nuclear showers, war and etc. No matter what cause end of the world, the civilization is in ruin and states as we know cease to exist.
WiAoM is approx. company level IGOYGO game with some interesting mechanics, this game has many good points - it is easy to play, it is very cutomizable (in terms of building player armies and scenarios) and armies aren´t big so you can get into play in no time. Players "armies" will be formed of infantry bases, specialist teams and vehicles, the game itself didnt have air units (yet) but almost everything that come into your mind it is possible - you can have heavy weapons teams, AT Gun teams, tanks, apcs even hovercrafts or mechas.
Lets look on basic mechanics of game, as has been written above the system is I go You go, meaning first player will start his turn activating his units and performing actions and then his enemy takes turn. however units can be in Alert or stalk mode (spending some of their precious Action Points) and then can take action as response to enemy action, they can move, shoot or even charge enemy unit - however the price of alert units they move very very slowly and since game is all about getting resources and loot and more time you use to deal with enemy less resources you will be able to recover, sometimes be cautiones it well worth but sometimes you just need to move quick, and get fast out of you can.
every unit have Action points usually 2(for example moving cost 1 AP while attack or charge cost 2 APs) apart from various units you force also have few attributes which defines how well your forces are organised and how good C2 systems their have first is motivation points this are points which allow you add one AP to unit per point or allow roll of dice, after turn they replenish - ex-military units will have motivation 5 while bunch of rednecks will have 1 point. another is Network it means how good your communications and command structure is - if command element in alert status it can normaly give units inside command distance 3AP instead of standart 2, better then network is larger the distance is. Teamwork means how good your troops are in terms of performing other actions than shooting for example deploying mines, coordinating flank up maneovers and so on.
last is Moxie which basicly is morale. Speaking of morale there is suppresion system included which use what game named friction points. you are getting friction points if you fail your save (how many depends on if the weapon is blast weapon or not) vehicles can suffer friction points if they also suffer critical hit and stunned. maximum of friction points is 4, your forces will not panic and move of board but became almost uneffective on battlefield until they try to rally, they shoot worse, cannot move.
unlike similiar games (like FOW) WiAoM uses hitpoint system your units have two or more hitpoints (infantry teams for example have 2 HPs, infected horde AKA zombies have 6 HPs and MBT have 8) however if you have medic you can heal up your damaged infantry teams, and if you have enginners they can repair even damaged vehicles if they pass test. shoting is pretty straightforward as 40kay - to hit to wound and save roll, in case of vehicles if you able to score penetrating hit you will also need to roll to see if hit is critical hit - this hits can cause instant 4 Friction points representing stun of crew, disabling weapons or mobility system or destruction of vehicle outright.
Force creation rules are excelent, you will have few choices for your core forces - infantry equipped with blades (variours close combat weapons, excelent choice for various Mad max styled troops) infantry with bolt action and hunting rifles, to squads equipped with Assault rifles and LMGs, you can little cutomize your troops with various special weapons such as grenade launchers, RPGs and AT weapons,some attributes like NLOS Antitank guided launchers, vehicles are more interesting - you choose hull, type of vehicle (soft skin , Armoured fighting vehicle,mecha,hover or tank), traits such as transport, open topped or some other and then choose weapons as count points (there is some limitations but you create vehicle stats in no time - i created HMMWV with 50.cal in few moments, the designer is flexibile and you can do almost anything. you can enhance your force by recruiting some mercenaries, aquiring zombies you launch on unsuspecting enemy or IED
What maybe someone bother is only one scenario in rules, but dont be afraid the scenario is flexibile and different everytime you play, scenario is about recovering 4 supply cashes, but there is catch you also leaving your own resources on table eg. field camp and if this captured it will cost you many (6) victory points while cache is worth 2 points and 1 for every scavanged loot marker (if you destroy enemy unit loot marker has replace the model this represent resources left behind and you can spend 1 AP to recover them) and also until start of the game you have no idea what will be your deployment zone which creates interesting Fog of War.
What i dont like about rules is lack of campaing rules which this game even scream about them, otherwise nice and solid system i will run few games but as i see it it nice system and with mechanics as their are you can use system for Cold war gone hot or modern wargaming
“A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers.” - General Schwartzkopf
