Dark Angels vs. Rebels: Even More Combat Cards

This would be a simple engagement. Hit dirtside, locate the remaining rebel forces hiding in the ruins of the previous day's orbital bombardment. Eliminate said rebels for the glory of the Emperor. Collect the sacred bolter round casings for the chapter's armory, pack up, and head for home. These are just rebels, they can't put up too much of a fight, right?

Captain Tracto of the fourth company Dark Angels made planetfall personally to oversee the last of the enemy had been put to the sword. His handpicked assault force consisted of several teams of tactical marine fire-teams, an armored Rhino, assault marines, and more. Even the dreadnought Brother James was present.

This battle features the two forces I posted about a few days ago. Still hot on the heels of the recent Combat Cards wave that has been the only minis rules played at the house this year Miller and I went all out and played with the recommended 36 point lists. I love playing 40k "a different way", and like the last battle using the SuperSystem rules, this one also turned out to be a fun, narrative battle in the 40k universe without having to crack open a 40k rulebook.

Using xenos cloaking technology, two rebel infiltrators appear by the Dark Angels Rhino and plant makeshift seismic charges on its hull, destroying it in a ball of flame.

Part of the simplicity of Combat Cards is that it is more of an abstraction of the battle instead of a verbatim blow-by-blow report. As the rules state, the detailed reports are better left to the logistics team back at headquarters.

In the above action with the destroyed Rhino, the Infiltrators were 'down one' because their attack wasn't greater than the target's armor. They were however shooting in the rear arc, so they were up one meaning it was a wash, whatever was drawn off the deck would be the result. 'Eliminated' of course was the first damage card of the game and the Rhino was destroyed before it even had a turn!

You never know what you're going to get when you flip a card for damage. This also means even a lowly grunt armed with a pistol has a shot in the dark taking out an armored walker. Did he really shoot the walker? No, maybe he shot a fuel tank nearby or something, thus the combat abstraction the cards supply.

The dreadnought covers a Tactical marine advance


The middle of the field became a choke point full of overlapping fields of fire. Miller's elite Behemoth unit, the trio of Ogryns took root and began shooting everything they could see. My Techmarine was pinned down, then taken out of action, and I had a single Infantry unit working their way over there. More fighting ensued and if not for the redeeming grace of covering terrain the marines would've been wiped out.


As it turned out the marines weathered the storm and emerged unscathed. Dreadnought Brother James on the other hand did not make it, having lost a close fought melee with the Ogryns. The Ogryn unit, however, was also slain, as was a nearby unit of enemy infantry.

The rebel leader held his action atop a balcony, waiting for the first unfortunate target to open the door. He found his mark as three Dark Angels came scrambling up the ruins, trying to ferret out the enemy. Their armor proved too thick and their prize was the head of the rebel forces, both literally and figuratively.

A refurbished aerial assault drone was the one ace up the rebels' sleeve that the Dark Angels didn't see coming. As tactical marines took their revenge for the destroyed Rhino, a lone enemy power armored trooper (Mechanized unit) closed with them. Again the marines' prowess held...until he drone showed up tearing the Dark Angels to shreds.

The Dark Angels weren't without their own aerial units, as the robed angels of death, Dark Angel assault marines, flew strafing runs over and over again across the battlefield. Here a lone assault marines bears down on an advancing infantry unit, unfortunately the rebels had an aerial defensive asset in the form of a towering mecha equipped with AA-guns.

A cat-and-mouse game ensued for a good portion of the battle between a single Mechanized power armor trooper on the rebels' side and a Dark Angel devastator (Anti-Armor unit). Having so many units per side it became a game of trying to decide which units would act each turn since you didn't have enough activations each turn to get them all in the game. Sometimes a lone unit without a wide variety of targets didn't get a lot of game action, just because another unit elsewhere was more vital.

It was a tough battle, going back and forth for most of the game, but the tide turned in the Dark Angel's favor strongly in the last few turns of the game giving them the victory, but at a price higher than they envisioned they would be paying.

We felt more comfortable with the rules, they came off rather easily actually. Although we doubled the sizes of our forces, the speed of the game had picked up so much thanks to better familiarity it took roughly the same amount of time, if just a bit longer. We still messed up some of the rules, but those have since been cleared up thanks to one of the game's play testers, Mike Z. All in all, another good game and anything that helps get figs on the table to duke it out is always a good thing. Until next time!

Forces for Combat Cards

We finally got in a full-sized game of Tactical Assault: Combat Cards this last week. Picking up a few tips from our first two trial runs we added a full roster of thirty six points per side and included a much wider variety of troop and unit types. There's more than a few innovative mechanics in the game itself, which initially drew me to it, but the other thing was the 'use anything off the shelf' aspect of it. Drawing on that, let's look at the two forces for the battle.


In fluff terms this army would represent a group of special forces troopers with a couple of ad-hoc support units thrown in on loan from the local PDF and the like. Let's break them down:

• x1 Recon Unit, 3pts
• x1 Infiltrator Unit, 3pts
• x3 Infantry Units, 2pts ea.
• x2 Mechanized Units, 4pts ea.
• x1 Command Unit, 2pts
• x2 Aerial Defense Units, 3pts ea.
• x1 Aerial Unit, 2pts
• x1 Behemoth Unit, 6pts
• Total: 36pts

I like the Mechanized units in here being just one figure each. This really lends them that 'power armored' supreme soldier feel. The Infantry units and Command unit are both filled with an appropriate amount of figs, four and two troops respectively and the Infiltrator unit seems reasonable with a small, two-man team. The Recon unit is just one fig, which I might've done a little differently, as it is, it better be one heck of a recon trooper! The Aerial Defense units are neat because they're 15mm figures, so scale in this case is a little abstract. I like to think they really are fifteen foot anti-air mecha, I just don't have any in 28mm! Finally we see a lone aerial unit, a bit of Toy Story whimsy masquerading as a flight drone and another unit of what is becoming a Behemoth staple, a three-Ogryn strong unit.


For the opposing force I wanted to use my (very underused) Dark Angels figures. I also set out with a specific structure in mind, trying to represent an basic military unit with specialist units added on in mission-specific roles. Let's break them down:

• x4 Infantry Units, 2pts ea.
• x1 Command, 2pts
• x1 Engineer, 3pts
• x1 Infiltrator, 3pts
• x1 Anti-armor, 3pts
• x2 Aerial Units, 2pts ea.
• x1 Behemoth, 6pts
• x1 Armored, 5pts
• Total: 34pts (just realized I shorted myself!)

I was quite pleased with my little assault force here, it's very Dark Angels in nature, and fits the Combat Cards rules very well. One thing I should've changed up from the start was making my Infantry Units into Mechanized Units instead. They might cost twice as much per unit, but these are power armored space marines, the Mechanized Unit stats are just for these kinds of troops, I kind of under-statted them by making them mere Infantry. I could've save some points by not taking the Engineer (Techmarine). He was able to participate in some combat, but the Engineer specific rules that applied to him never were applicable in the battle. I loved seeing the Rhino in there as an Armored Unit, although it got taken out in a lucky hit early on, and the Dreadnought makes perfect sense as a Behemoth. The rest are usual suspects; a sniper scout as Infiltrator, a Captain model as the Command unit (edit: captain provided by Tristan over at GW Pertinent, thanks again!), Multi-melta trooper as Anti-armor, and don't forget a pair of jump-pack equipped aerial troopers.

All in all, when I started reading the rules of Tactical Assault, I kept thinking of all the unpainted 15mm stuff I have and how great it would be to paint up unit-specific stands to game with. That idea is still in my head, but there's something to be said about pulling out these old troopers too and breathing new life into them. I should have the AAR regarding both of these forces up soon. Until next time!

Rooting out the Insurgents: More Combat Cards

After their initial clash, medics of the Kilburn High Kings gave the bodies of the PDF a closer examination. An alien parasite was found attached at the base of the back of the neck of the dead troopers, firmly secured to the trooper's brain stem. Death of the trooper meant death to the parasite, but it was also determined than no amount of delicate surgery could remove a live parasite without killing the victim as well. The Kings fell back to their dropship, sent a transmission detailing the situation, and formed their next plan. Further into the settlement was a large concentration of life signs, including some peculiar signatures, xenos in nature. The signatures were on the move, and the Kings mounted up, with reinforcements this time. The next battle was upon them.

Hot on the heels of our last patrol clash with the Combat Cards system, we tore right into another game. In fact, the rules play so fast, it's feasible to get at least two games under your belt in a single evening. This second go-round we added more unit types for variety, as you can see above.

The Pig Iron robot, who acted as protocol command droid last game, was promoted to a Recon Unit position this time around. Recon Units are pretty beefy stats-wise and a single 'bot may not fully represent what a Recon Unit is, but in this case he's a highly-advanced piece of tech dropped behind enemy lines. Now of course tearing into this skinny 'bot is a massive dreadnought masquerading as a Behemoth Unit. Clearly the biggest, baddest (and most expensive) unit in the game.


Another new unit we introduced were a pair of Aerial Units, one for each side of the battle. It seemed last game that there were a lot of cards in our hands that saw no use at all because we didn't have units represented to use the unique card abilities.

Aerial Units don't stay on the table, but kind of do fly-by's when the right cards come up. Above you can see the Kings' Aerial Unit, a mohawk-sporting, jetpack equipped 'rocket jock'. Below is a unit of my PDF troopers, and although out in the open, I had them concealed and hidden, meaning they couldn't be targeted. Well the card played against them was an 'Aerial Spotting' situation, meaning they lost all of their concealment.


There was a great mini-drama playing out between my lone sniper (Heavy Weapons Unit) and Miller's lone power armored soldier (Mechanized Unit), and it was all fueled by the cards. All Miller wanting to do was close in melee and tear my guy to shreds, all I wanted to do was pick off the power armor at a safe distance with my rifle. Card after card saw one trooper or the other get the upper hand, but time and time again somebody's plan was thwarted. This little mini-battle went on for many turns.



Early on in the game my Aerial Unit, a giant floating alien eyeball of doom, was able to destroy the enemy Aerial Unit in a dogfight. After that, my alien eyeball ran roughshod all over the enemy, uncontested for the rest of the battle. He would swoop down and attack at will, blasting unit after unit into oblivion. Definitely the MVP of the battle and proof that the invading aliens did not like being messed with.

It also goes to show that there has to be some balance in the units on both sides or somebody is going to have a headache on their hands. Miller had one Aerial Unit (which went down early) and zero Aerial Defense Units. Without either of these, it made for a frustrating game in which all he could do was hope I didn't draw an 'Eliminate' combat result every time I dive bombed one of his units.

Two-man SAW team bears down on enemy infantry

The mercenaries' quick initiative coupled with a better understanding of understanding of what they were facing favored them greatly in the ensuing battle. They struck quickly into the heart of the settlement, scattering the alien-controlled PDF soldiers just briefly enough to gain a strong foothold in the coming firefight.

A bitter firefight between PDF troopers and a power armored unit ended up in close quarters fighting...where both sides managed to knock one another out of action. Out of action doesn't mean eliminated however, and the race was on to see which side recovered first and was able to get the 'Back in Action' card played on them.


The impressive, armored walker wasn't the only Behemoth Unit on the table. The alien host had parasitically infected a trio of huge Ogryn in addition to the regular PDF troopers. These massive brutes are the only ones strong enough to heft the large bore auto-shotguns, which they used to devastating effect.

Well, two games of Combat Cards down and I'm still digging them. I've said time and time again that it's a big sea of rules and minis out there, I don't see myself tied down to just one system, ever, but I do see these making more appearances. Why? Easy to use with concise, well-written rules. Forces are a cinch to set up and pick up battles take zero prep work and scenario fueled campaigns don't require too much effort. Diceless combat and lack of armor tables, saves, and the like is refreshingly simple, but nothing is taken away from minis combat at all.

I'm not saying the cards are for everyone, but for my style of play they are; narrative battles with an unpredictable fog of war element that play fast and loose, telling a good story in the end. Next time around we'll be using the full 36pt lists per side. I think with such a higher points total we'll be able to put a wide variety of units on the table too, hopefully doing away with some of the asymmetric rock/paper/scissors effect that popped up a bit. Enjoy!

Patrol Clash: Combat Cards Test

It was always a backwater outpost, but one with a TSU (Trans-space Union) presence nonetheless. Even with delays in subspace transmissions, ninety days without contact was far too long. With resources already spread too thin, an independent contractor, the Kilburn High Kings, were brought in to investigate and reestablish communications. It would be another two months before they dropped out of n-space at the edge of the solar system, then several weeks after that before entering the planet's orbit. Too much time...

I can't even think of the last time the minis hit the table in an actual battle here at Mik's Minis, too long really. Hot on the heels of the Combat Cards review, art-fiend Miller and I took to the felt. Being a test game the forces were pointed up at about half strength, and I kept the unit variety to a minimum. Above you've got the mercs, grouped into their respective units. Here's the breakdown:

• x3 Infantry Units @ 2pts each
• x1 Command Unit @ 2pts
• x1 Heavy Weapon Unit @ 3pts
• x1 Mechanized Unit @ 4pts
• Total: 15pts (36pts is the norm)

As I said in the initial review, the units are kind of defined by what you're putting on the table. An Infantry Unit could be pretty much anything, for these guys it is a four man fireteam. My Command Unit is a pair of leader-type models, and the Heavy Weapon unit is a single fig wielding a large machine gun (actually a Deathlockdrum for those keeping score). Last is my Mechanized Unit, which could be anything from bikes, to an APC equipped unit, to power armor, I chose the latter.


My poor, neglected Pig Iron troopers who see so little combat...

• x1 Command Unit @ 2pts
• x2 Infantry Units @ 2pts each
• x3 Heavy Weapons Units @ 3pts each
• Total: 15pts

Above you see the same four-man fireteams acting as Infantry Units as well as a two-man Command Unit (this time a captain and his protocol droid). Although there's three Heavy Weapons Units, there's two different flavors. Two of them are two-man units, a SAW gunner and his loader. The third Heavy Weapon Unit is a solitary sniper (seen up front). Although the stats are the exact same, the feel is totally different and as the rules state, those differences only come out in the after action reports and off world bureaucratic inquiries.

Once in-system the Kings still couldn't raise the planet on the comms, it was nothing but static. After dropping in atmo, it was readily clear what had happened; the outpost had been bombed from orbit. Detectors still showed life signs on the surface, lots of them.

Since Miller was using the orange deck, he went with the models wearing orange berets. Game setup alternates unit placement with initiative by a random draw off each deck and corresponding card numbers. Your measurements are from the center of the unit to the center of the target.


Most recently our games of the western Piquet variant, PKowboys came to mind immediately. Waiting for your card to move a unit, waiting for that card to assault with a unit, looking for a card to shoot. But this was better as well, because the cards served two purposes; actions and situations. Actions are played on one unit per turn, situations however are the special powers that can be played anytime, even on your opponent's turn.

The real trick is picking which you want more. You might have a a card that has the excellent 'Opportunity Fire' (overwatch) Situation, but that might also be the only card in your hand with the 'Move Action'. Hang on to the card and wait to shoot the enemy when they move, or use it now to get that Heavy Weapon unit in firing position? This balance made for a very enjoyable game turn after turn. The cards pack even more info, but the last two facets, combat results and random drift however, are drawn randomly as needed.

In the above pic you've got Miller's power armored troopers (Mechanized Unit) close assaulting my two-man SAW team (Heavy Weapons Unit). The power armor outclassed them and got 'Shaken' as their combat result, since they also attacked my unit in the rear arc, their result was up one, being Mechanized their Firepower Rating was higher than my unit's Protection Rating pushing damage up one more netting two up on the combat result totaling an 'Eliminated' result even though 'Shaken' was originally drawn. Well, my guys out regardless, all I can hope for is some parting damage since close combat is simultaneous. I got a 'Fall Back' and no steps up for damage. They retreated a few steps, but my guys bled out.


I had an Infantry Unit kind of out in the open early on, my mistake. All it took was Miller's Heavy Weapon Unit to zero in on them and fire. Combat Results are random, and there weren't any steps up or down for modifiers, so whatever was drawn would be the result. Dead on, 'Eliminated' came off the deck and I lost the unit. Unluck of the draw!

The Kings hit dirtside fast and hard, trying to raise the PDF on local radio, still no answer. After making visual contact with a patrol they openly approached them, only to be fired upon! Something had gone wrong and the uniforms might be that of the PDF, whoever was wearing them was definitely the enemy. The power armor and SAW gunner of the Kings proved to turn the tide with the rest of the units performing their roles admirably. It was a total route with the mercs suffering very little fatalities. Something was certainly amiss, and further investigation was needed.

The game played fast and was certainly fun. I can see this ruleset being perfect or quick, pick-up games and no-frills set up. It would also shine in a loose campaign, map-based or otherwise, that could be played out over the course of day. The other facet which originally drew me to the game was that anything goes in the unit department, allowing you to use a wide range of whatever you've got on the shelf. The cards were fun to use and the fact that combat results were drawn off the same deck made it so streamlined and perfectly meshed into the overall mechanics.

The cards also represented a lot of fun challenges as to which cards you kept, do you discard, save them for reactions, or use them for actions? So many times I didn't want to use a card because it has a great action on it, but I needed that vital reaction! It made for an open game where the narrative unfolded as the game progressed. I think another go is certainly in order. Enjoy!

Tactical Assault: Combat Cards

Saw a post and a blurb on one of my favorite blogs, Tiny Solitary Soldiers, about a game by the same name of the title of this post.

It sounded cool and Spacejacker has never led me astray, so I checked it out at the Tactical Assault Games website. I liked what I saw, in fact something about had me quite taken with it. I plucked down a mere eleven bucks, made some copies, and the rest is what you see here.


The rules, a solid QRS, and two decks of the Combat Cards

Why was I taken with these rules right off the bat? I mean really, there's tons and tons of rules out there, so why these? There was just an intangible quality about them. My curiosity was piqued when I saw solo scenarios and mechanics. Then I had to raise an eyebrow when I saw the game required zero dice. Genre ranges from WWII to modern to near-future, it's up to you and what you've got on hand, so far so good.

It helped that the rulebook itself is free, here's a direct link. Sure, you get what you pay for, but these rules are well laid out, compact, and efficient. They get the job done in a no-frills manner in a simple, to-the-point style that said to me that this game is one of those that will be easy to get the hang of it and get on the tabletop quickly enough without a high learning curve.


After reading the rules, the overall package struck me as the love-child between Piquet and Hordes of the Things; two games that I absolutely adore and could play all the time. In Piquet the fog of war is always in full effect and just because you may want your troops to do something at an opportune moment, it doesn't mean they will. You have to wait on the right cards to come your way, and that's where the dice-less beauty of Combat Cards comes into play as well.

Each side of the conflict utilizes a combat card deck turn in and turn out. Here's a breakdown of a sample card. Playing these cards on your unit is what makes them 'go', be it moving, shooting, close combat, engineering, and more. If you don't have a move card in your hand, then your troops aren't moving that turn.

Other card mechanics including interrupt effects too like over-watch fire. The dice-less part comes into play when "rolling" for damage. When a unit shoots another unit, the top card of your deck is flipped over and you apply the combat result on that card to the target. This is further modified by steps up or down the combat result track depending on things like cover, firepower, and the like.


There's a list of units in the rules, each for a certain point value, and descriptions of what that unit does. There's also examples of what the unit could be, key word being "could". And this is where Combat Cards strikes me as Hordes of the Things, the units themselves are abstract, so really you can use anything you have on hand...or paint up specific units to match, it's up to you.

Scale is up to you as well, either you're throwing down on a skirmish level (one figure is one unit) or on an army level (five tanks is a single unit). A mechanized unit is pretty much anything that is augmented in the movement department, you define it by what you put on the table. In the long run, personally, I think it would be fun to paint up some 15mm sci-fi specifically for use here, putting multiple figures on a base and throwing in some mechs for good measure.

I think I've gone on enough here about the game, hopefully you get the idea! We've got a test battle lined up this week between a couple of 28mm skirmish platoons, so I'll be posting that batrep soon enough. Maybe I'll get in one of those solo games too...