Awright, time to try out those Constellation Warriors rules I talked about yesterday with a mini-game!
Now, the rules recommed using the mapbook by PWorks, but I opted to use my dungeon tiles for a squares grid, and some of Nonsense Miniatures official models. Aka, those I have painted up already...
As such, 2 bronze saints (Pegasus and Unicorn) will face off against the silver Sagitta saint. That means in points values that Jabu will be the lowest rank, being Novice at 8 points, Seiya will be a Soldier at 16 points while Ptolemy will be an Expert costing 20 points. A slight 4 point benefit for the Bronze saints, but heck, it is a try out...
In damage points there is a bit of a bigger difference though, as Jabu can take 7, Seiya 8 and Ptolemy only 10 hits though if I read the rules correctly (see below), so it will come down for the Silver saint to try and use his abilities to good use. But hey, Silver saints aren`t expected to win now are they? Now to grab 6 dice, 3 in each colour, for the game, and let's see how it goes.
I was asked to give some feedback on issues and such should I come across, or some thingies that might need a bit of clarification, so I`ll do that of course, marking them in italics in the battle report. Also, for my game stats, I am the bronze player for this solo game.
About the Speed stat issue in damage allocation I talked about in yesterday's post, I talked to the creator in the meantime and it is indeed the choice of which to reduce first, so you can knock off Speed AND ATT before a model gets knocked out.
Deployment
The board was made with dungeon tiles I printed, and some scenery from various sources added to make it look like an old greek ruin, where the series often took place. The small dice where the required markers, though I was a bit confused on how to place them. The text states a 6 square central zone, so I pressume it is the band indicated in the diagram, being rather rectangular as such. I admit I have no idea how big the squares of the suggested PWorks book are, so this might be a battlefield a bit to big...
Fluff in mind, I also decided that Jabu would not have any access to ranged attacks, as he only has a hypnosis like ability in the anime, as well as the Unicorn Gallop. Seiya and Ptolemy both have ranged main attacks in the anime, so they'll be able to make ranged attacks in this try-out game, even though normally it can only be one quarter of your group that can have them.
The First Turn
Well, the game began with the bronze saints getting the high roll. Seiya rushes forward, unleashing Pegasus Ryu Seiken as he closes on the silver saint. Rolling two dice versus ptolemy's 4, the result was two 6's for Seiya vs two 2's and two 3's for Ptolemy. As the silver saint also has a ranged attack in this try out, that meant results 4-6 would have been applicable as well. Seiya was doing 4 points of damage and gained 2 Cosmo, but Ptolemy stops 2 of them and also gains 2 Cosmo. Never the less, first blood to the Bronze saints.
In retaliation, Ptolemy spend his 4 Cosmo to use the "Swift Shooter" ability. This allows him to fire twice (with no ATT loss for range or moving!) at Seiya, who can defend with 3 ATT instead of 2 now though. The first salvo goes bad, as Seiya suffers a single wound and Ptolemy gaining one cosmo, but Seiya's counter hits the silver saint for 3 damage and giving him a cosmo point as well. With his silver armour shattered and a Speed point knocked of, he unleashes his second volley.
And it is a devastating one! Three 6's and a 4 means Ptolemy gains 3 cosmo points and does no less then 7 damage points on the Pegasus saint. Seiya counters with two 1's, blocking 2 damage, and a 4 for an additional point on the Sagitta saint. But the bronze saint sees his armour vaporized, and both his Speed and ATT drop to one, meaning he is on the verge of being knocked out, while Ptolemy loses a point of ATT.
Jabu rushes to Seiya's aid, but as he doesn`t have a ranged attack, the turn ends there.
Turn Two
As this little try out is turning out to be brutal, being played with about a third of the intended points for small games, this might even prove to be the final turn already. So far, no victory points where scored, but this turn might change that quickly, with one bronze saint in tatters, the other lower in ability, and the Silver saint more or less okay with a heap of Cosmo stored. it ptolemy would get the first turn, he could use Swift Shooter again, and this could decimate the bronzes, as Jabu has no retaliation against ranged attacks and still needs to close the gap...
But luck favours the warriors of Athena, and Jabu closes the range and attacks, Using the Reckless Rush ability, to simulate his Unicorn Gallop, he takes one damage but adds two dice to his attack roll. Jabu scores 1, 1, 3, 5 versus Ptolemy's 2, 5 and 6. Comparing the results, Jabu does a single point of damage, which is blocked, and gains 1 cosmo. The silver saint hits back with 3 points of damage, of which 2 are stopped, and gains 1 cosmo as well. The Unicorn has been blocked, and now the Sagita saint can hit back! Rolling 4 dice against the 2 of Jabu, he uses the Jump Back ability meaning he will get back 2 squares after the attack without suffering an attack of opportunity, and widen the range to Seiya for a ranged attack! Jabu manages to avoid 1 of 2 points of damage and gain a cosmo, while Ptolemy recovers his spend point.
The gravely injured Seiya moves a bit backward, as he can`t fire at Ptolemy due to Jabu blocking his Line of Sight, so opts to go stand on a marker instead. This results in him having +1 ATT in the next turn and score the first victory point of the game, 1-0 to the bronze saints so far.
Turn Three
Both bronze saints are in a hard place, but retain the initiative. In desperation, Jabu charges again, spending 1 Cosmo point to re-roll a single attack dice. Which is waited with a 5 and a 6 on his roll, though it does recover his spend point that way. Ptolemy gets a 1, 2 and 4, meaning he blocks 2 of the three damage points and gains a cosmo point, as well as causing another wound on the surprisingly resilient Unicorn saint. But all warriors are now down to 1 Speed...
In his turn, Ptolemy uses his 3 actions to get three re-rolls on the attack dice for 3 cosmo, but again it's a wasted purchase as he scores a 4 and two 6's. Jabu on the other hand gets two 5's, so neither is blocking anything and a whole lot of damage is dealt. Ptolemy suffers two points, bringing his ATT to a measly 1, but regains two cosmo. Poor Jabu though gets hit for no less then 5 damage, taking him out of the game and scoring 8 points for the Silver saint.
While looking grim, this means the bronze saints suddenly have a slight advantage, as seiya spends 6 cosmo in his turn to use Heal. At 3 points each, he regains 2 ATT and 2 SPEED, then moves forward to Ptolemy and unleashing a desperate ranged attack of 2 dice versus Ptolemy's one...
Scoring a 3 and a 4 versus the silver saints 1, it only results in both gaining a Cosmo point, and the turn ends 1 - 8 in the Silver saint's favour.
Turn Four
Unless divine powers intervene, this is going to be the final turn. Ptolemy must hope to get the initiative to be able to heal up and then attack Seiya, otherwise the bronze saint is likely to finish him off, as he can add cosmo points to get re-rolls. And with a 5 to a 3, Seiya keeps the initiative and charges in, armed with 3 dice versus 1, and 2 re-rolls. With two 5's and a 2 versus a single 5, Seiya knocks the Silver Saint of his feet, and suffers no damage in return, ending the game! Scoring 20 points for the Sagitta saint, as well as 5 extra for eliminating the opponent, the final tally stands at 26 vs 8!
Okay, so that was a fitting, anime kind of true, end of the small playtest game!
Conclusion
These rules are brutal, and especially the abilities can have huge impacts, I was severly impressed by both Heal and the Swift Shooter ability. The rate you gain Cosmo points with, makes it possible to, especcially from turn 2 onwards, use these to the greatest advantage without having to micromanage your powers to much. Initially, it looked very grave for the bronze saints, but they managed to claw back due to this, and it came down to the initiative rolls of the final two turns to see if the Silver saint could follow through on his initial massacre. Failing this, it meant one of the bronzes could recover and move in for the victory, but it could have been totally the other way around instead.
The rules, for me, now that I tried them, have a good pace and anime feel to them, but I guess I`ll have to see what if is going to give once full point sized bands are going to be used, and the power of the Gold saints come in to play with their 4 abilities allowance...
But for a first go, I really liked this little free gameset.
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