Roughnecks

[SIcon advisor]

My 10 year old daughter has developed a liking for the Roughnecks cartoon and has been eagerly watching them on DVD. Whilst watching them the other day, I told her that I have a game that you can play them in, she got really excited and said she wanted to play! Unfortunately I don't have the Roughnecks and she didn't want to play with just the normal MI.........

My question to you guys is should I get the Roughnecks box and rulebook, and can you play games with just the Roughnecks against the bug army? She likes Dizzy and I think being able to play the guys on the cartoon would help her get into "dad's" hobby.........

 

[shotgun-toting chipmunk]

If that's what will get her into the game, by all means do it

The Roughnecks can be fielded as part of a larger force, or all by themselves. I think they kit out to about 1,000 points.

 

[Rob_A]

You could always use the unit AS a normal unit.
Or just have the roughnecks vs. some bugs, and when she starts enjoying it, suggest adding things she thinks look 'cool'. :?

 

[Goldwyrm]

Here is a force just under 1200 points using the Roughnecks:

Lieutenant Razak
Roughneck Squad (whole Squad from the CGI series but without Marauder upgrades)
MI Sniper
Regular MI squad of 6 with 1 Javelin
CHAS unit

This is one quarter of the Mobile Infantry force used in a game I'm running this Saturday with roughly 5,000 points per side. I'll let you know how the Roughnecks do in that. It's their first game since I painted them up last month.

My impression is that coordinating all their special traits effectively into combos is what is the key to using them well. I think if they are used like a regular MI squad wiithout using those advantages and they're not going to perform up to their points values.

 

[SIcon advisor]

cool

looking forward to hearing how they play

 

[Lt Bartniczek]

I was playing tournment with Roughnecks recently- they are tough, they are cool, they are immortal :wink: Give them plasma muntions one javelin and there will be no enemy they cannot handle!

 

[Captain_Nemo]

Well Goldwyrm, how'd the game go?

 

[Goldwyrm]

Well Goldwyrm, how'd the game go?

I posted a battle report for game one here:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=29184

In the first game the Roughneck player advanced cautiously behind an aggressive Marauder platoon player. The tactic worked well because the Roughnecks acted to protect the flank of the Marauders. There were some mistakes made on the Arachnid side. The only unit of Hoppers was left exposed and taken out. The other units attacked piecemeal and were taken out in this sector. The Roughneck squad in the game had the entire cast of CGI characters with Moritas so they were very good taking out regular Warrior Bugs. The most trouble the Roughneck squad got in was when two ambush bugs popped out. Rico was hit but used his Jumpball ability to dodge. When the game ended the Roughnecks were in the Arachnid deployment area and the Plasma Bug objectives had already been taken out by the Marauders.

The Roughnecks saw more action in game 2. Actually all the Mobile Infantry were heavily engaged in game 2. One of the Bug players had played in game 1 and made sure the same mistakes were not repeated. The Roughnecks spent more time in the crevasses between the plateau pieces rather than on top of them in this game. They did take out an Infiltrator Bug but let a tunnel marker slip by them. A unit of Warrior Bugs emerged and took down T'Phai. We didn;t get to see if Doc could bring him back. This was towards the end of the game though. Essentially because all the MI were engaged everywhere they weren't able to move forward well. This resulted in the Arachnids being able to fire their Plasma Bugs effectively at the Arachnid game objectives of 2 Heavenly Mercy Dropships offtable.

So it is hard to give a verdict on the Roughnecks. I do think as a force they have a lot of personality and flavor which is good enough for me. They worked well supporting the Marauders but have just about the same vulnerability to Arachnids as normal MI. The key is applying their special abilities in the right situations like Rico using his special dodge. I'd like to try them in a smaller game with Doc and Gossard in Marauder suits just to see how they do.

 

[Captain_Nemo]

Nice report! Where'd ya get the quads??

 

[Goldwyrm]

I posted that somewhere else but basically I used oop 1996 Global Games' Fantasian Quads from the Legions of Steel game. The riders were separated at the waist, so I just used the plastic PAMI from the waist up.

 

[SIcon advisor]

well i got them!

they just arrived, amazing figures! so much nicer than the plastic MI. Can't wait to put em together and paint em!

 

[JoseDominguez]

Dammit, I was just going to send you my spare roughnecks box... My cousing is just going back home to Dunstable and his Brother works in Luton.
Aw well, hope your daughter gets into the game
Go for a CHas next! The model is good and in keeping with the one they meet in the CGI.

 

[Goldwyrm]

Dammit, I was just going to send you my spare roughnecks box... My cousing is just going back home to Dunstable and his Brother works in Luton.
Aw well, hope your daughter gets into the game
Go for a CHas next! The model is good and in keeping with the one they meet in the CGI.

You could still send it to him and he could use them for a double blind scenario. I wonder if anyone has tried that with SST??

 

[SIcon advisor]

Dammit, I was just going to send you my spare roughnecks box... My cousing is just going back home to Dunstable and his Brother works in Luton.
Aw well, hope your daughter gets into the game
Go for a CHas next! The model is good and in keeping with the one they meet in the CGI.

dude!
I'll take em anyway if they're going to waste lol :wink: