Can I get some help with my first BrikWars game? (Hoth)

[Talarius]

Hi,

I've been collecting certain Rebel and Imperial brick sets very casually over the last 4 years or so, and finally have enough to play a little game of BrikWars with a friend this weekend.  (btw, I'm not clear on how obtuse I need to be about copyrights, so I'm playing it safe for my inaugural post)

I got my 2005 edition BrikWars rulebook printed up last night and am reading it whenever I have a spare moment (which are far too few).  

I'm wondering if someone can point me to any fan supplements for the figures we'll be using?  Or give us some advice on how to play.

You can take a look at the assembled combatants here:
Imperials: http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h69/T ... rs/005.jpg
Rebels: http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h69/T ... rs/004.jpg

The Imperials have an additional 5 "troopers" and a pilot I will be adding.
I don't own any Rebel snowspeeders, so the starfighter is subbing for one.

We have two scenarios in mind:
"secure the sensor data"
background: the imperial forces have found the rebel base on Hoth. Full invasion has begun.  Rebel command input the code for sensor nodes to self destruct so information gathered & rebel codes could not be taken by Imperial Forces.  Unfortunately one of the sensor nodes is not responding to the destruct command and its last relay showed it had been discovered by an Imperial Probe Droid. It is too late to prevent the Empire from knowing the location of the node, so it must be destroyed manually.

Goal for Rebels: get to the node & destroy it, failing that, prevent the Imperial forces from getting the information back to their command.
Goal for the Empire: get to the node, get its data and return it safely to HQ. Destroy any rebels you come across.

simple & without an obvious attacker/defender.

"Pilot Escape"
Rebel pilots shot down after fighting the large Elephant-shaped battle constructs of the Imperials are hoofing it back to the Rebel defensive line.  Advance elements of the Imperials are attempting to capture them, or failing that, kill them.
Rebel pilot figures start in the Imperial half of the board and must escape off their friendly board edge.  The Imperial 2-legged walker comes on in reserve.  The turn following it's appearance the Rebel "snowspeeder" comes on the table from their board edge.

So those aren't too bad, imho.

But we have no clue if the Imperial troopers should get the benefit of armor, whether the guns should all be long-range, how fast vehicles should move, how tough they should be, how strong the various weapons should be (weapon towers, missile launchers, heavy MG-style Imperial lascannons) etc.

I don't want to try and recreate (and fail) the work of far more experienced BrikWar players, so if anyone can either help out or point me to some useful info, we'd be really grateful.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  I have lots of other minifigs from this Intellectual Property, but these seemed to make the most sense for the battle.  Beyond that, we have lots of "City" figures.  Firefighters, doctors, construction workers, a couple policemen.  Nothing else sci-fi or fantasy related.  A firestation, rescue helicopter.  That's pretty much it.

Oh and lots of old, discolored briks that have been around since the 70's.  

Thanks!

[Arkbrik]

Hello and welcome to BrikWars!

I'm not clear on how obtuse I need to be about copyrights

As long as you're not editing the wiki it is OK to say Lego and Star Wars. But of course, you sound cooler if you say Leg-Ore and Space Wars.

I'm wondering if someone can point me to any fan supplements for the figures we'll be using?

I'm not aware of any such supplements, but if this is your first time you should play it simple. Elect one guy each as Hero and have the rest as normal Minifigs.

But we have no clue if the Imperial troopers should get the benefit of armor

If they have an actual armor piece (other than helmets) then they get benefit from it. It looks like some of the clone dudes have armor.

whether the guns should all be long-range

If they wield the gun with both hands (or at least keep the other hand free) then it's long range, otherwise short ranged. The most important thing is that all guns which look the same have the same stats.

how fast vehicles should move, how tough they should be, how strong the various weapons should be

This is all covered in chapter 7 of the rulebook. To give some examples, tanks move 8", cars 12", fighter planes 20". Your vehicles look like they would have an armor of 1d10 or 2d10. Weapons get better the longer they are, simple as that.

these seemed to make the most sense for the battle.

Everything (and nothing) makes sense if you're in the right BrikWars mindset.

Beyond that, we have lots of "City" figures. Firefighters, doctors, construction workers, a couple policemen. Nothing else sci-fi or fantasy related. A firestation, rescue helicopter.

Sounds awesome! There are way too few city-themed battles on this forum.

[aoffan23]

Beyond that, we have lots of "City" figures. Firefighters, doctors, construction workers, a couple policemen. Nothing else sci-fi or fantasy related. A firestation, rescue helicopter.

Once you get more used to playing, add them in as either NPCs or a third team. We don't see enough battles with random civilians caught in the crossfire.

Your forces are pretty good, decent sized and they're also uniform. The Star Wars sets are perfect for starting out, but once you progress try to make more custom infantry etc. But what you've got here is a great starting point for teams.

As for the scenarios, they sound pretty good, but for the pilot one I would suggest having half of the Imperials on the board at first, just to give the pilots a better chance.

as for the armour, I would start out not having the armour, unless there's actually a piece of body armour on the minifig.

Also, got any pics of all your buildings? If you have enough you could probably make a good battlefield on a table or something.

Arkbrik already said just about everything else, so that's all I've got to share.

Hope to see some more from you, you seem like a pretty decent guy.

[Ross_Varn]

Well, hello mate. You sound like you'll do just fine here. Don't make it too complicated, like Arkbrik said.

We don't see enough battles with random civilians caught in the crossfire.

I played one like this once. DarthBrik was chasing me around the battlefield at one point, trying to save the last guy before he got obliterated by my mech.

Lots of fun.

[Cpt. Zipps]

Unless you're using weird minifigs with strange abillities( say superpowers, mages or the like) just use the standard rules. A blaster rifle is long rang, pistol is short range, very simple.


If it's just a two person battle than I would just start with a deathmatch rather than an objective based scenario. It's simpler.

[Talarius]

Thank you very much for all the advice.  It's great to start out with some experienced folks leading the way.  I didn't clue into the fact that Armor needed to be physically different plastik, so that's good to know.  Stormtroopers always seemed to drop like flies in the movies, so I think they bought their equipment from Discount Armorers.

Buildings?  On an ice planet?  Well, we may make a few, but it'll probably be pretty open shooting.  We'll make some snow drifts and rock formations to break things up.  I *did* go down to the Lego store yesterday and buy a large cup of random bitz from from the bins.  Grey, black and bley bloks, so we can build some small buildings and various gribbly tech-looking things around the battlefield.

As a long-time miniatures wargamer, I've got TONS of terrain, but it's more traditional Warhammer 40K-style stuff.

We'll be sure to take pictures, make mistakes and report back here next week!  

Thanks again!

[Cpt. Zipps]

For a n00b you ask very good questions and at least you have wargamming experience.

You have potential.

[aoffan23]

^ Agreed

I also played 40k for about 4-5 years, and it definitely helped out getting started, though it did get in the way of my creativity a bit (I kept arming every sergeant with a bolt pistol and chainsword ).

Anyways, hope to see some more stuff from you. It's nice to have someone who looks for ways to improve their stuff.

[Cpt. Zipps]

^ Agreed

I also played 40k for about 4-5 years, and it definitely helped out getting started, though it did get in the way of my creativity a bit (I kept arming every sergeant with a bolt pistol and chainsword ).

Anyways, hope to see some more stuff from you. It's nice to have someone who looks for ways to improve their stuff.

same here, all of my officers were differentiated by having a CC weapon and pistol and epaulettes