Urban War

Back in the early new millennium (2000-2003) miniatures games were seeing a pretty big resurgence. While favorites of mine like Warzone, and Chronopia were gone; games like VOR, Void, Chainmail, and Dark Age were making their way on the scene. With the exception of VOR (that came later) I played all these, and loved 'em. While my appreciation for Dark Age grew exponentially later on, at the time my favorites were Void and Chainmail.

Void was a game that took the Games Workshop game systems as a basis, and tweaked them somewhat to integrate alternative activation and range bands. I had a Syntha army and was working my way towards a Junkers force when i-Kore crashed. Thankfully, the ever persistent John Robertson and John Grant (of Warzone 2nd edition and Chronopia fame) reformed the company into the strangely-named Urban Mammoth, and retooled the Void universe into Urban War.

Now while I loved Void, I didn't much care for the universe behind it. One of its selling-points was the super-clean hard sci-fi that it presented, but for myself I was into the dark and gritty. I loved (and still do) the Games Workshop universes because of their grim and gothic styling and while the Void system was stellar, I thought the universe was too clean. Urban War kept that hard sci-fi edge but matured it to include imagery that better reflected the grittiness of urban combat. While these new models and the new art turned some of the old guard off, it made me take a second look at a universe I thought too sterile for my enjoyment.

Urban War is a skirmish game done by Urban Mammoth, a games company based out of Scotland. In it, you re-enact combats between forces of around 7-15 models a side. If you want larger conflicts Urban War has a sister game called Metropolis, which is a squad-based game utilizing ~40 models a side. The game has seven factions vying for control of the continent-sized city of Iskandria (on the planet Kyklops): the Junkers (Roman-esque penal legions); the Gladiators (an army of escaped gladiatorial slaves); the Syntha (an army of insidious androids, and cyborgs); VASA (a UN force based off Soviet imagery); the Triads (an army of yakuza gangsters); the Viridians (American-style army and environmental preservationists); and the Koralon (amphibious aliens that assimilate anyone).

Giving orders to my Junker Legionaries.

The points values and profiles are the same in both Urban War and Metropolis which is awesome, as it makes Urban War (UW) the perfect spring-board into Metropolis (Metro). At the beginning of an UW game you give your individual models orders, which not only tell you when they activate but which list of actions they can choose from. The Lock-Fire order will allow you to take more careful shots, but will restrict your movement, while the Snap-Fire order will allow you to move to your heart's content, but severely hinder your shooting.

The game also has an additional mechanic and characteristic that I've never seen in another game, called Calibre (CAL). A model's CAL can go from 0-3 and sometimes 4 with the special characters. CAL allows you to do a myriad of thing, from move faster, to avoid being hit, to taking additional actions. It represents the experience your soldiers acquire thus making them better fighters. While I'll let you in on my misgivings of this mechanic later, I think this is a great way to show experience beyond just increasing the statistics of your fighters like in Necromunda or GorkaMorka.

Gladiators moving up the field.

Other than CAL and the orders, the rest of the game works almost exactly like the old Void system. It's a d10 system using inches that utilizes charts to determine if you hit or damage your enemy. The charts are all reminiscent of the Warhammer/40,000 systems so if you know those it will just take you a little while to convert the d6 mechanic over to the d10 before you're comfortable. To hit you compare your Shooting characteristic (SH) on a table to see the d10 score you need to hit, then you roll damage which is a cross-reference between your weapons Strength and your target's Defence. There are no armor saves like in the Warhammer/40,000 systems mostly because with the probability spread with a d10 as opposed to a d6 you need less rolls to get an even flow.

Metropolis is my favorite of the three systems (UW, Void, and Metro) because I've always been a bigger fan of squad-based games than skirmish games (with the obvious exceptions of GorkaMorka and Chainmail). It doesn't have as detailed an order system, nor does CAL have as many applications as in UW, and this leads to a faster-flowing game which is a virtue when you're pushing 40 models around a tabletop. Metro also uses to greater effect these walkers called CLAUs (Capital Light Armo(u)red Units). CLAUs are also in an expansion to UW called CLAU-Team Actions but the use of them in such small games requires some jigging around of army construction. CLAUs give the game a bigger punch, as there aren't really vehicles to speak of in either UW or Metro. Therefore these big machines act as the heavy units you normally see being taken up by transports or assault tanks.

Now as much as I love these games I do have some misgivings. First of all, I think it's both great and not-so-great that they take a huge cue from the GW systems. While I have no problem with the charts used in Warhammer/40,000, it would've been nice if the games used their own systems. My one critique of the original Void (beyond the clean background) was that it seemed at times like Warhammer 40,000 with alternate activation. But like I said, I also think this is really nice because it's familiar, and it works.

I would also like a little clean-up of the orders and the CAL systems. I find the order system really unique and interesting, but it does feel a little clunky. I mean, a few of the orders allow the same things to happen but with different modifiers. I found myself having to look at the actions charts again and again even though I just got through giving the same order to a previous unit, in order to see just what Snap-fire did. I also found the same confusion with the CAL mechanic. CAL lets you do different things depending of what order you're on, and whether you're being shot at or shooting, or moving, or whatever! I think in terms of my CAL critique, a unifying of the rule would go a long way to making it less confusing. I have no doubt that after a few more games I'll have CAL and the orders under my belt, but for the early games it's a steeper than normal learning curve (though nowhere near as steep as Warmachine/Hordes. At least in those games the mechanics are the same throughout).

I've also noticed how hard it is to get into close combat, even when I played my Junkers against my friends Gladiators. Both the Junkers and the Gladiators are close-range troops, and the basic soldiers are equipped nearly the same. Not one close combat ensued in our game. We walked or ran to about 12" from each other then fired our shotguns until things died. Now granted, when setting up the table we put some weird terrain in the middle which we thought blocked line of sight when we were looming above them from our godly positions over the tabletop, but from a model's eye view we found that they did very little to obscure someone on the other side of it. I'm sure that had we put some more restrictive terrain in the middle our game would've danced to another tune.

All-in-all UW, and Metro are great games and more than worthy successors to the Void throne. I anticipate that any future games I have with these systems will be more than worth my time and effort. Hell, I can even see these games working their way into my top 10! And that's saying a lot.

Around April 2011, Urban Mammoth is coming out with a 2nd edition to Urban War which will come in a handy A5-sized paperback with full-color content (and hopefully some model pictures, which are sadly absent from both the UW and Metro rulebooks). And later this year, they're even announcing a 6mm wargame that will take place in the UW/Metro universe but back in the days of Void (so only the four galactic empires (Junkers, VASA, Syntha and Viridia) will be represented) called Age of Tyrants. Keep an eye out for this stuff. I know I will.

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Urban War Army Builder Part 2

Now here's something interesting. Instead of posting erratically with up to a month in between posts, I post out of my new schedule a full day after a regularly-scheduled post! I amaze myself.

Yes, it's true. The first finished army of 2011! My Urban War Junkers. Bask in their red glory.

So there you have it! The first three pictures are of my 160pt Urban War force, and the last picture is of the whole squad (plus a Flame Thrower guy who goes in another squad and an extra guy) which will form the basis of my Metropolis force. I'm very excited, and I hope I get a game in either this week or next. For my 300pt force I'm adding two Sandrunners, an Exo-Suit, and a Lictor.

You'll also notice that there's some Epic Blood Angels' Rhinos in the background. They are but one color away from being finished, and then no marine shall have to hoof-it! I'm well on track with my Epic painting, but I can't relent. I need to get them done by the end of the month. Not only for the contest I'm in, but in order to keep to my (already jam-packed schedule).

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Urban War Army Builder

Alright, so four of us in my game group decided to work on some Urban War forces from Urban Mammoth.

I'm doing the Junkers
Another is doing Gladiators
The third is doing Viridians
And the fourth is working on Syntha

So far we've all got our figures, and two of us have our rulebooks, and two of us have started painting. Here are the photos:


Syntha

From Urban War Builder Campaign

From Urban War Builder Campaign

From Urban War Builder Campaign

From Urban War Builder Campaign

From Urban War Builder Campaign

Here's a Gladiator test figure

From Urban War Builder Campaign

Here are some of my Junkers:
The Test Figure

From Urban War Builder Campaign

From Urban War Builder Campaign

My incomplete squad

From Urban War Builder Campaign

From Urban War Builder Campaign

The Viridian player hasn't completed any figures yet.

Stay tuned for more on this exciting challenge! This week I'm going to Victoria, BC to visit my girlfriend, where I will paint my Epic Blood Angels while she's at school, and hopefully finish a vast majority (if not all) of my infantry. Next week I'll work on my Urban War figures some more, and bother the other two contestants in order to get some work and/or photos from them. Also, I got the rest of my VOR Union army in the mail today. They're all there, and they look like really good sculpts! Great quality and tons of venting, which leads me to believe that these were recent castings.

Anyway, I'll work on the VOR figures some more soon, and let the blog know about it ASAP.

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METROPOLIS: Battle-Force Conflicts (initial impressions)

Thanks to the good folks at Battlefield Berlin I received my copy of Metropolis by Urban Mammoth a scant two days after I ordered it. I imagine the post office had something to do with this as well, but I'm not sure. It's all pretty deep.

This is a game I was pretty into around 2003/2004 when it was VOID 1.1, and then it became Urban War, and I was so-so on it. The models had improved exponentially, but the game-play had changed to something reminiscent of Necromunda, and I already had one of those (scratch that, I had two of those); except this time there was no campaign element to the game, so I just had a bunch of figures running around killing things one-off. Now I have no problem with skirmish games when there's a campaign, as I can stand the fighting being centered in the middle of the board if wacky stuff happens to my forces afterwords, but with no campaign, I'd rather just play a battle game, thanks. I'll have to write another entry on that topic.

Regardless, Metropolis is the latest incarnation of VOID 1.1, and hopefully one that will stick around much longer than VOID 1.1 did. You may not know from the descriptor after the title of the game but the makers of a game they describe as "Battle-Force Conflicts" are, indeed, native English speakers, hailing, in fact, from Scotland. I'm just convinced that the chaps at Urban Mammoth like funny names for things, like companies. Also of note, the designers of this game were also involved with Warzone and Chronopia of which I spoke in my last entry. Clint Langley, whose art I shall forever be iffy about, did most (if not all) of the art in this book.

What about this book? Well, looking inside it follows a pattern which gets boring: Page of text, page of text with a picture of a guy/gal, page of text, page of text with a picture of a guy/gal, etc. I would have liked to see some battle scenes, or even a picture of two things fighting on a page. Or better yet, show me some models! I think Urban Mammoth makes some very, very, good figures, and yet there's not a single one in here. Not on the cover, not on the back, and none in the middle! Just pictures of the individual combatants. In this aspect I feel the book lacks. It feels at times, like flipping through the pages of an artist's portfolio. However nice battle scenes and miniatures would be, it wouldn't make the layout anything less claustrophobic. All the text is of the same font, and while neatly spaced and organized, it gives you a cramped feeling, and the line/paragraph breaks feel non-existent, giving it the feel of a long scroll of continuous text like something Jack Kerouac would have written. But like I said, it's still neatly organized.

Despite my ambivalent feelings towards Clint Langley, and the layout of the book, you have to admit that the price isn't that bad. For only £15, 22,50€, or $30USD it's not a waste of money for a gamer, though I don't know if someone just checking it out would like to pay that. It comes complete with all the army lists for every one of the seven factions inside, with listings for every available model (and then some), and an armory section. I'm very excited to start playing this game again.

The game itself plays much like 40K, which I think is a good thing, but many people wont. It doesn't play exactly like 40K, however, and I'll go into more depth in a later post, when I've had more time to look over and digest the rules, than the cursory, excited, glance I gave it after opening my mailbox. For instance the game uses alternate activation, each unit moving before the next is called to do so; there's no armor saves (there's cover saves), instead using only a 'to-hit' and 'to-wound' roll; the game uses d10s, but still does the bucket rolling method that Warhammer and 40K use, as opposed to the single rolls like in Warmachine/Dark Age; there's also cross-referencing charts like in 40K and Fantasy (strength vs. toughness, except in this case it's damage vs. toughness); and they have a fixed-range of weapons where short range is 12", medium range is 24", long is 36", and extreme (the coolest range) is 48". People who like 40K will like this game for the similar style it presents but with refreshing differences which do create a new playing experience, while those that don't like 40K will like it because it's got some of the best aspects of 40K along with alternate activation (which I personally find better than the Igougo® system of 40K/Fantasy/Warmachine/Hordes/etc./etc.), and other aspects which, as I've said before, do make for a different gaming experience than 40K.

I've actually been sitting here for 5 minutes after I wrote that last sentence thinking of a comparison of two things that is similar to the differences between Metropolis and 40K. I guess in all my ramblings on that subject, you'll have to read between the lines and make the comparison yourself. It's not like the two games are identical, but it's also not like they're as different as 40K and Warmachine are, however.

Regardless, if you're lucky enough to live in an area in which Metropolis is played, you can see for yourself. However, let me know when you find one that's outside of the UK, 'cause even if you find one there's a good chance it'll mostly be Urban War gamers, as Urban War requires only a few of the figs that Metropolis needs (around 10 compared to Metropolis' 40 or so). Though, I think that Metropolis will be a richer experience than Urban War, and it seems Urban Mammoth thinks this too, as they're adding vehicles to the game while Urban War will stick to infantry-based battles, and Metropolis is arguably their magnum opus, while Urban War was just the intermediary stage between Urban War, and Metropolis.

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