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Thread: Planes, Trains, and Martian Tripods

  1. #1

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
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    Default Planes, Trains, and Martian Tripods

    Our Second Saturday club meetings have recently seen us play two games before breaking for a late lunch, and the second one for several months has often been a Tripods and Triplanes game. Yesterday saw this occur again, with us using six Jasta 11 triplanes against three Martian tripods (two MkI Locusts and a MkII Scarab). The objective for the Martians was a wonderful railroad line and a passenger train stuck on the line - 'flat' files printed off by Dan (camelbeagle) from the Forum's files section - great stuff, indeed. The Martians had to march the length of the table to reach the train, while the Earthlings started in a bit closer in front of the rail line.

    I have been wanting to use altitude in the T&T games, so this game we tried it. At ALT 1 or 2 (i.e. one peg or two pegs), the Black Smoke will have an effect on planes, so at ALT 1 and 2, planes could fire at tripods using regular firing rules - 2 damage cards at Short range and 1 at Long. At ALT 3 and 4, BS has no effect, and so we allowed planes to fire at tripods at Short range with 1 card - Long range was 'out of range' of tripods. Tripods had no detriments firing at planes at any range. We also allowed planes to collide with tripods at ALT 1 and 2 - we house-rule collisions in our group, and so if a plane ended its movement with its peg or red dot on the tripod base, we counted it a collision. Both vehicles draw a card from the C deck - if the plane had collided with the shielded side of the Martian, it needed an 'energy hit' to do any damage; if the plane hit the unshielded side of the tripod, then points damage/special damage applied (just as in normal firing at the Martians).

    After a couple of turns, the combatants were close enough to start firing at one another. Two of us were moving the Martians and had conferenced before beginning about our general plan to get to the train and destroy it, so when the triplanes got close enough we began firing. We had both used Black Smoke initially in an effort to 'protect' our flanks a bit. Here the Locust's Heat-Ray strikes a central triplane.

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    With energy expended and energy lost due to fire on shields, the Martians remained in place for a couple of turns, recharging (or attempting to...) and turning to try and present shielded sides to the Earthlings while doing damage with Heat-Rays and Black Smoke...

    This picture gives a good idea of the triplanes' ability to stay close to their targets - they are much more nimble than the later-war planes we had used in Martian scenarios up to this point... We would have lots of cards-replacing-planes or tripods for several turns...

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    The first kill of the game was Lt. Weiss, who had been on the receiving end of several H-R strikes and went down in flames. He would respawn and come on again in a later turn...

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    Black Smoke is piling up on the battlefield, as flanks need protecting and triplanes don't cooperate by moving as the Martians hoped they would. To be honest, BS did cause substantial damage to the triplanes at various times during the game and proved more efficient at dealing out damage than the H-Rs did.

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    A good overhead shot of everyone swirling around one another - you can see rocket counters on several of the triplane bases. The Earthlings tried to get off rocket attacks, only to be thwarted by damage as they were trying to make their attack runs. Several collisions took place during this melee.

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    Here is the demise of the left-flank Locust - caused in part by collision (the 6 is a C deck card). With all the triplanes buzzing around the Martians, it was the rare movement phase where Martians weren't taking damage from both shielded and unshielded sides...

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    The remaining Martians decided to break out of the scrum and head for the rail line, and as time was beginning to run out on the scenario, they were moving toward it. The triplanes were in hot pursuit and would likely have caught the lead Locust before it could reach the train. Nominal victory to the Earthlings, barring any bizarre distribution of damage cards...

    As to altitude, all things considered, we agreed the rules we used worked pretty well. In addition to triplanes colliding with tripods, there were also a couple of plane-on-plane collisions, but altitude also helped planes avoid colliding with one another. We will use the rules again next time we defend Earth from the invaders. I think triplanes are also very effective against tripods - their ability to stay close to the target and respond more effectively to Martians stopping/sitting still is quite a plus. We look forward to playing again and continuing to add aspects of the rules in to flummox the invaders -next time we plan to add terrain effects in to topple some tripods...

    All the best,
    Matt

  2. #2

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    Great game! Lots of fun! I think the tripods are a very wonderful addition. Thanks for the great report!

  3. #3

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    Planes aren't supposed to collide with tripods (Rulebook Page 11-13). Planes are not low enough to hit tripods, even if not using Altitude optional rules.

    IMHO, I'd think that a canvas and wood plane hitting a shielded metal object the size of a building would be catastrophic to the plane, and insignificant to the tripod. At Altitude 1, I might consider a plane's fatal impact (hits the tripod squarely enought to destroy the plane) might have a chance to topple a tripod. Just my take, anyway.

    Just an interesting development in game mechanics, where collisions did affect tripods: when I was playtesting the game, tripods that ran into each other could topple, but now only move back to their starting position, and don't get to move as planned. This really messes up a turn, if it happens in the first phase, as you end up executing your next few planned moves without being where you intended.

    I have found Black Smoke to be much more effective, as I usually try to launch it when the plane is too close to dodge it, or to cover an approach path to an unshielded side. Now that it also blocks line of site (again, not playing Altitude), it protects against, occassionally, long-ranged shots, as well.

    Sopwith Triplanes, Camels, Dr.Is, anything with tight turns is a definite advantage with such slow-moving targets. SPADs and Albatros (D.IIIs or D.Vs) are at a distict disadvantage, due to long run-ins on targets that can change facing to shrug off hits. The official damage decks that allow multiple energy cube loss for bigger hits is a pain for the Martians.

    Although the Humans are not supposed to communicate during the game, they could use signal flares (if the plane has line-of-site to the firing plane) or hand signals (within a half-range ruler and line-of-site) to indicate which tripod is to be concentrated upon. A color per tripod could be chosen, and colored cue cards could be displayed at the start of a planning phase (end of a previous turn?). It would be up to the individual pilots to remember what the color meant in the heat of the moment, though.

    Last time I played this game against seasoned veteran players, they chewed up the tripods, even without any coordination. They saw someone hit a tripod, and they turned on it like a pack of hungry dogs, leaving the other targets for later. One after the other fell in quick succession, using this tactic.
    Mike
    "Flying is learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss" Douglas Adams
    "Wings of Glory won't skin your elbows and knees while practicing." OldGuy59

  4. #4

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
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    That's why we're house ruling collisions, Mike We want to see if it's something to add to the mix - we know we want to add altitude, so we will see where collisions go. We already house rule collisions in our regular plane games - both planes' pegs/red dots have to overlap bases for the two to collide. That cuts down on collisions dramatically from the way the WoG rules work. And we thought we would try something similar with Tripods. There was even some talk of the "Kamikaze Effect" a collision might have on a tripod were it to be intentional.

    You are right as rain on the aspect of experienced pilots versus tripods - our games are decidedly lopsided in favor of the Earthlings...

    All the best,
    Matt

  5. #5

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    Fun looking battle Matt. I agree that veteran pilots have an advantage over the invaders. In the games I have run even with less nimble planes the Martians are hard put. The Heat-Ray is so hard to use it is almost a waste of time instead of moving on to the objectives at full tilt. I guess it all depends on the situation and what tripod is involved. Still a very fun game.

    I have one player really wanting to play a tripod again. He'll get his chance at Cold Wars in March.

  6. #6

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    Nice AAR - thanks, for posting, Matt.


    I guess the name of the game (Tripods and Triplanes) is actually a clue in what to use against the Martians.

  7. #7

    matt56's Avatar May you forever fly in blue skies.
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    Yeah, Pete, I think the game name is the clue I will have to lay out some decks and check the length of some of the movement arrows. I believe the triplanes have about the same length of 'straights' as the Locust and the Scarab. The Squid and Cuttlefish, as second gen 'pods, have a bit longer straight, if I remember correctly, which means they could outrun the DrI...

    As Mike mentions, the choice between the slower rotary planes and the later inline fighters makes a difference. The fact that the 'pods must plot either a STOP or a RUN each turn makes it more difficult to 'keep on target'. In the games I've played as the Martians, I have never played the RUN card yet - energy management and regeneration is such an issue that I have not wanted to spend more energy to go straight. I shall have to try it eventually when the situation seems to call for it.

    Perhaps increasing the energy level of the tripods would be the way to toughen them up - maybe we will try upping the 'storage level' by half to see what happens... I still have the feeling that the Martians are not quite the challenge they should be.

    All the best,
    Matt



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