Play testing City Grounds...

During my time as a commission painter i have written and released a few wargames. Two of which i released on kickstarter and they got a fair bit of attention. One of my games "City Grounds", a mordheim inspired city fight style game has been in development for many years and only this year during lockdown did i begin working on it again. The game is a fun mix of gang fighting, skirmish style mechanics and it is inspired by the manouvers and actions of parkour style films and video games (such as mirrors edge or district 13). 

Mirrors edge is a fast flowing and intense sci fi action parkour game. It shows how flow and momentum are important in action.

When i write wargames i like to focus on the feel i wish to achieve "after the fact", so that when my players look back on the game they just played they can envisage a similar scenario in their collective mind. My dinosaur game Cretacea  Is based on the tv show walking with dinosaurs and is meant to emulate the way they graze and hunt, so that when you look back on a game it's almost like reminicsing about an old tv show you once watched. 

A must watch for all action fans and also quite funny in places district 13 is an intense action sci fi with heavy parkour elements. The creators of the movie actually created the parkour movement and nurtured it to fame.

Since this was our first physical play test of the system in nearly 8 years we decided to play a simple territory grab. We had two markers, one on the factory and one on the water tower. Whoever held each (within 2") at the end of each turn (up to 6 turns) wins a point of renown. Kills also gain a point. 

My old buddy Tom playing the Constabulary (below in blue and purple) and as usual kicking my hiney. 

The constabulary, here to clean up the streets of Oakbridge. Three hulking, heavilly armoured, hammer wielding badasses.

The rabble, a mix of grung, humans, dwarves and elves with short and long range weapons.

After priority rolls we set up on either side of the board. Tom took the woods and i took the ruins. 

THE GAME

During the first few turns the rabble split in half and attempted to climb the ruins while also meandering into town. Due to the activation rolls rules the rabble kept hillariously failing actions and stood fairly still for a while. We dove into the game so fast that we forgot some basic rules e.g. "most basic actions first" which increases your chance of elongating your own turn as more successes means more turn. 
The constabulary had better luck and took control of both Dens within two turns. There was no combat yet but because this was a playtest game we where fairly busy flipping and jumping over things (in game). 

As the game progressed the constabulary continued to have a solid grasp on the victory locations. The rabble tried to push in and had some success but where pushed back again and again by the constabulary. Many bad rolls plagued the rabble including a few hillarious "snake eye moments" concluding in many funny falls from height and some damages. The rabble took a few tragedies as they tried to push off the constabulary but many failures ensued including a drastic death of Gorthak (our orc) who was kicked off the top of the water tower by one of the constabulary. There was one really fun parkour moment where the dark elf character from the rabble ran the full height of the water tower and contested the location for a turn, sadly also getting kicked off the top and falling also to his death. 

As tom piled up points of renown one after another (he scored a total of 12 to my 0 which is hillarious) the rabble finally got some good rolls and got up to the victory locations. With just a few turns left they made a good effort to push back the constabulary but the combast where brief as the constabulary are so strong. The game concluded in an obvious win for the constabulary. 

WHAT DID WE LEARN DURING THIS GAME? 

- Fall damage needs tobe revised and extended. 
- Rough terrain/ high terrain needs to be modified to include balance mechanics to give more gravitas to fantastical acrobatic feats. 
- Models cannot run up ladders now. 
- footing tests for unarmoured models on high ground who may fall due to actions. 
- adding Dive, Tackle and Swing actions. 
- Removal of bonus dice on extra hard rolls. 
- Attacks of oppertunity need some minor revision.
- Jump distances have been changed. 
- Punch and kick prerequesites changed and shortened. 
- Points values for wounds have been added. 
​

OUR NEXT GAME? 

We will be playing the same game (swapping teams) this week and then hopefully purchasing some new teams (probably simple 5-10 man teams in different races). I am excited to have a playtester friend again as i haven't been able to test my games for a long time. Keep your eyes peeled for more soon!