Got the starter set yesterday, but it was a wife work-night, so didn't really get to look at it much until after 11...of course I was up until WAY too late reading.
I'm really excited about the game. The way everything works is the same as 40k, really, but without the parts that don't make any sense
First, and this is more a personal taste than anything, the whole scale of 40k bothers me tremendously....the best guns around shoot only about a football field? Artillery, if it's lucky, can manage two football fields? Thrity-eight thousand years and our weapons have gotten wimpier?!
The turn sequence if very well defined, similar to how fantasy has a strict order of which you do things in each phase of the turn. First thing you do in your turn is basically "rally" troops: see if folks that disengaged will reform; see if crews that bailed out of tanks get back in; see if tanks that were stuck free themselves; etc.
Then it's the movement phase. The game has coherency similar to 40k...the distance depends on the type of unit and their skill (the higher their skill, the farther apart they can still be). But unlike 40k where if anyone moves the whole unit has moved, you can move some teams and leave others stationary. Teams that don't move do NOT have to stay in command (coherency), but if a team is out of command and you move it, it MUST try to get back in to command. This way some teams can move forward to get ready to assault, while others sit still and shoot Machineguns (MG) to try to pin down the enemy. Cool!
Your chance to hit is not based on the skill of your troops, but on your opponents...the idea being that more skilled troops are better able to get around a battlefield taking advantage of any small pieces of cover they can find, where the less skilled troops just bumble around catching bullets. There are three levels of training: Conscript (hit on 2+), Trained (hit on 3+), and Veteran (hit on 4+). These chances to hit are modified by range (16" is the magic distance), concealment, going to ground, etc.
When the number of hits from a platoon at a platoon (platoon would be analagous to 40k "unit" or squad), then the target player allocates hits. Allocation is SO much more sensible in this game. Basically, hits can only be allocated to teams that the firing teams can see: no more nonsense where just because I can see one space marines ass sticking out from behind a building can I kill the entire squad! Teams that are 'easier' to kill (not in cover, closer, etc) must have hits allocated to them first...you know, things that make sense!
Once the hits are allocated, the target player makes saves. (No 'to-wound' part in this game...if you're hit by a bullet, you're probably out of the fight!). Infantry get a basic 3+ save to nearly everything...nice! Unarmored trucks, guns, etc look like they get a 5+ save. If the team fails a save, it is removed, unless it's in 'bullet blocking cover'...like a house, or behind a stone wall, fortification, etc. In that case the firing player must make a Firepower test (based on the weapon he's firing) to successfully remove the model. Most of the Firepower ratings I saw for normal "infantry" type guns were bad, 5 or 6.
So someone had asked me if I though an infantry heavy force would be viable? I say yes, because of the incredible difficulty in killing them.
Let's say you have a platoon of Trained infantry in a small village, all deployed in the buildings. You don't move or shoot them, so they count as 'gone to ground'. I start shooting machineguns at you...you're trained, so I need a 3+. +1 for being conceled by the buildings. +1 for gone to ground...so I need 5s to hit you. Then you get a 3+ cover for any hits. Then for unsaved hits I need to get a 5 or 6 (depending on what I'm shooting at you) to actually kill it. Deployed appropriately, any infantry is a plague marine!
Vehicles are very similar, but their save is based on the armour value of the facing side of the target, and the AntiTank rating of the firing weapon. The hit vehicle rolls a d6 and adds it to the armour rating: if it is higher than the AT of the firing weapon, it saves. If it is the same, the firing player does a Firepower test: if it fails, nothing happens; if it passes, the crew of the target tank bail out. If the save is less than the AT, a firepower test is done: if it fails, the crew bails out; if it passes, the vehicle is destroyed. Pretty straightforward and sensible!
For ideas on numbers, from memory, the front armour of a Sherman is 6, and the AT of the StuG is 11: so the Sherman needs to roll a 6 to avoid all damage; if he rolls a 5 he might get bailed; 1-4 and he might die.
Artillery is pretty fun too. It doesn't scatter, because you fire 'ranging shots' before the batter unloads. You select an firing platoon, and note who is it's observer (it can observe itself, use it's command team, use it's observer team, or use a company hq; sometimes can use an observer team from another battery). You note which enemy team is the target, based on what the observer can see. You then roll to "range-in" your shot...basically one gun fires, the observer sees where it lands, and tells them which way to change their aim to hit. You get three chances to range-in, with mortars getting a reroll on the 1st. If you fail to range-in, no barrage is fired. If you do, you put down a tempalte (6" square) and roll to hit every team touched by the template. The chance to hit is based on how many shots it took you to range-in! Cool!
A key aspect of the game is 'pinning down' enemy platoons. Armoured vehicles don't get pinned down (go halftracks!), but infantry will be pinned if they take any hits from an artillery barrage, or if they take 5 hits in one shooting phase. Note that this is hits, not wounds! Even if all those hits are saved, the incoming was enough to make them put their heads down. Pinned down units, amongst other things, have their Rate of Fire reduced to 1. MG teams have ROF of 3, Rifle/MG teams are 2, etc. This is very important in the assault phase, when units basically get to Stand & shoot. If the assaulters get pinned down while trying to assault, they're going to be left out in the open, and likely shot up badly on their opponents next turn!
I've only skimmed the assault rules, but it looks like it goes like this: Attackers declare assault, move the teams that are assaulting up to 4" to get in btb. The defender gets to fire at them. If the assaulter takes enough hits to be pinned, they move 4" away. If they're not pinned, they make an attack, chance to hit based on their skill. The defender then has a chance to hit back. Depending on how many hits are done, a side may require a Motivation test (basically a Morale test) to continue the assault. Sides alternate fighting until one side is either completely dead, or one side fails it's motivation test to continue the fight...no multi-turn melees!
Once past the basics, there are tons of extra rules that really fill out the game system. Things like Recon units have a very important job: they take away the Gone to Ground status of enemy units they can see, and they can run away when they're shot at/assaulted! Every major country also has several special rules to reflect their fighting styles and specialties. I didn't read them all, just skimmed, but saw that US infantry troops have Automatic Rifles...Rifles have a Rate of Fire of 1, so they only shoot one time in their shooting phase, but the US Automatic Rifles have ROF 2 in the enemy assault phase! The Germans have a nice mechanized special ability: they can assault while in their transports, fighting the first 'round' of the melee while mounted, then dismounting when the enemy counter attacks (if they do). Germans units also have a Stormtrooper move: if they do not assault, they can make a skill check to move 4" in the assault phase. Spiffy!
I'll have the starter models on Friday...they look very nice, btw! Maybe some folks can get a little tank on tank action going!