Everyone brought a squad from their 40K collections; but, I brought some Blue Moon Martians (http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/view_product.php?product=BMM124) with a heavy weapon (http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/view_product.php?product=BMM125). Since the Martians are not in battlesuits, the other players decided my troops should be Imperial Guard and my weapon was only a heavy bolter. That revelation meant my troops were doomed as everyone else had brought the same amount of Space Marines or Chaos Marines. First, the umpire "nerfed" my speed advantage, then the lasgun range advantages, and finally the weapon went from Lascannon to Heavy Bolter. It did not help that he had mixed and matched the various tables until the rules were incomprehensible. No matter, they all were terrified of my heavy weapon as it looked scary.
The sacrilege was not to use actual siting as the buildings and board are fantastic! There are all sorts of small and effective kill zones that exemplified the dangers of urban warfare.
Our forces advanced to contact. I held the center. Mitch and Mike fought valiantly but were overcome. The game MVP was Ben as his Chaos Marines outmaneuvered and out-shot Mike. By game end the Martians were caught in a pincer. All thing considered, I had a great time using a periscope, my newly painted Martians and playing on Vogelsdorf. Overall, I had fun.
Here's a shot of a Chaos Marine peaking out right before I hosed down his building. You can see his shiny helmeted head just peaking over the top of the building in the center.
Here's a distance shot of my troops blocking movement up the center. Note the fire teams in the ruins on the right and left of the heavy weapon.
How would I change it to make it have flavor and fun and still have some semblance of balance:
1) Make the Martian Weapon a Maser (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maser) so that buildings and armor don't provide cover;
2) Allow the heavy weapon to move and fire as it is on a vehicle chasis;
3) Keep the Guard Stats for the Martian Infantry but let the Martians use a Saucer to beam up and down a fire team (but not the weapon); and,
4) Add a simple In Sight test when someone tries to run across a fire lane.
That would accomplish making the Marines really scared of the weapon and put it on equal footing, replace the loss in firepower and armor with mobility; and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, make the battlefield truly an urban battlefield. I would limit the player to one squad and a heavy weapon to keep the Martians from dominating.
Oh, and Blue Moon has these guys in 15mm (http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/view_product.php?product=15ALN-109) but they are called the Idirion Legion, so no reason not to use them in 15mm.
Great figures, great game and good rules as long as you don't mix and match the versions...the final turns were much better when Ron arrived and ran them they way they should.
Next time, I may bring the Quar. Or maybe, I'll do the typical 40K Arms Race and bring Harlequins! That will teach them to "nerf" my Martians...
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A4HeawmE6A)
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