Played through RT today... rules q's and observations

[cypher622]

My regular opponent and I (my fiance) had half a dozen games today - from two squads + a Lt per side (260 pts each) to 3 squads, a captain and a light vehicle each.
By way of background, this is our first outing with an Evo-based ruleset (barring a couple of attempts at SST some years ago) but we have nearly 40 years of gaming experience between us.

Some observations and requests for clarification - apologies if some of these have already been answered;
If a Lazooka in a Souther squad needs to take a special action before he can fire, can the rest of the squad still fire to full effect (i.e. no one moves but they all shoot?)

Nort army list - Surely the Nort officer should at least have a vibro dag and move 5" like the basic infantry? Every other foot trooper is equipped with one, so it seems odd that he isn't, unless I've missed a note somewhere in the comics that states they don't carry them?

Terrain - we played with quite a lot to break up lines of sight, this seemed to favour the Southers defensive stance, making them very hard to flush out and actually breaking up the Nort advance more than it helped cover them. I feel the book could benefit from a few words about recommended terrain density on the board.

The fluff states that both sides use chem strikes to cover advances, but the option isn't there for the norts.

Obscurement/cover - how to handle this when members of a unit are in different cover? e.g. I have 2 guys behind a jersey barrier (fortification) and 2 2 behind a ruined wall (lesser cover). Does the shooter allocate shooting dice before rolling? How is this handled? Or do we use majority rules if there are more in one cover than the other?

Mission chart - I guess both players have their own separate objectives? So if I am 'You' on the chart, I look up what I need to do to win, and then my opponent looks up the same thing for themself as if they were 'you'? It doesn't seem phrased very clearly to lead to this understanding, and there is no specific mention that this is how it works.

Fortifications - if available in the defend scenario for the Souther player, they give a massive advantage, especially with their longer ranged weapons .

There seems to very little value to the Southers in picking any other tactic than 'Defend'. We found that out of 6 games, the Norts only managed to win one, especially since the Southers will nearly always be able to stand and shoot for full effect from turn one without having to move much. It doesn't seem to give the same feel from the comics that the Norts have numbers and fanaticism (though the WTF re-roll is nice ) on their side when attacking Southers.

We're going to try and play some larger games to gauge how it stacks up at higher levels, but I really think the Norts need some help to cover the distance to the enemy.

Is anyone else finding this problem or are we really missing something with the Norts? I've considered assault squads but they seem to have exactly the same difficulties with covering ground as the regulars. The Norts don't seem to be as effective at attacking as the Southers are at defending.

Thanks!

 

[locarno24]

If a Lazooka in a Souther squad needs to take a special action before he can fire, can the rest of the squad still fire to full effect (i.e. no one moves but they all shoot?)

The whole squad does the same action. So the unit has to do a 'special' action, and can do anything normally allowed by a 'special' action - but shooting isn't something you can do with a special action. They can't do a 'shoot' action, though, or the lazooka won't be able to fire in the following action due to complex. If you have multiple complex weapons you can arm them all, or the unit has other special abilities (I think some EVO units had 'do a special action to dig into cover'), but ultimately shooting the lazooka wastes one action for the whole squad (which why support asset lazooka teams are generally a better buy).

Of course, if your main threat is a tank, that action's shooting with rifles wouldn't have done anything anyway...

Nort army list - Surely the Nort officer should at least have a vibro dag and move 5" like the basic infantry? Every other foot trooper is equipped with one, so it seems odd that he isn't, unless I've missed a note somewhere in the comics that states they don't carry them?

Not that I'm aware of. Certainly the 5" move is at least partly predicated on the Norts' lighter chem suits (hence the 5+ armour) which officers also have.

Terrain - we played with quite a lot to break up lines of sight, this seemed to favour the Southers defensive stance, making them very hard to flush out and actually breaking up the Nort advance more than it helped cover them. I feel the book could benefit from a few words about recommended terrain density on the board.

Agreed.
I still maintain you will need a lot of terrain with these rules.
A Souther squad will, in an average shooting action, kill 2/3 of its own numbers in Norts from outside the Norts return fire range. If they hold their ground (quite likely given the WTF reroll), that's doubled to 1 1/3 times their own numbers of same-cost troops dead in a single turn.

In an open battlefield with just basic troops the Norts get gunned down in droves. The assault squads and fifth columnists are your main edge in pinning the southers in place whilst you do so; if you have the classic Nort Attack/Souther Defend tactics, the Norts get first go, and get to move the assault squads 12" before the game starts - so first turn fire with those lovely carbines is not too unrealistic.

The fluff states that both sides use chem strikes to cover advances, but the option isn't there for the norts.

Agreed. But then there's not much for either side in the rules as yet. It equally seems wierd that only the 'attacker' army has the option to buy emplacements...