It’s been a busy week, but I’m finally getting some pictures posted from the HAVOC demo table at DADICOM 2011 that was held in San Marino, Italy. I want to start by thanking the guys who put in all the time and effort.
3D Venexia (from left to right): Ilves, Nicola, Marco and the man with the best head of hair… Paolo
The team of 3D Venexia spent weeks putting together some great terrain, fantastically painted miniatures, and planning their scenarios. As is evidenced by the photos below, all the hard work definitely paid off! And yes, that’s Paolo’s real hair!
The team brought back a lot of great feedback from gamers and designers alike. I’m really happy that Europen gamers got a chance to see HAVOC in action on such a nice table. My only regret is that I couldn’t be there myself this year. But there’s always next year, right? Keep an eye out…
bombshell games 
Very cool, love the terrain/minis.
Brent, I do have an unrelated balance question though. Is it just my group or is Artillery about the best unit in the game? We always guess relatively accurate on distance and hit with the second or third D6 at worse. This means taking out a Giant, Heavy Cavalry, Named, Beasts is relatively easy.
I can’t ever see someone taking a Giant in our game as it’s too big of a risk. It will never make it to Melee if the opponent took a piece of Artillery.
The only downside to Artillery in our minds is if the opponent goes skirmishers/cheap infantry. You will likely not make your points value back then.
Are we missing something? Is it intended to be this way?
Thanks! Dig the new layout/branding by the way.
Posted by Charles | July 12, 2011, 11:54 amGood question Charles!
The rules for Artillery went through several revisions, and ultimately the current version was kept for simplicity and ease of play. That being said, the changes that I’m going to detail below will probably work better for your group. You can let them know that they are an official variant.
Artillery
1. After selecting the target model and making a ranged guess, if the distance guessed is further than the target model (i.e. long), then the shot is considered lost.
2. Reduce the DMG for each bounce that the projectile takes whether it contacts a model or not.
These two simple changes will make Artillery a little less lethal with the exception extremely accurate guesses.
On the Giant…
The above changes should make you a little less leery about taking a Giant in your force- especially if you use some screening troops.
The other suggestion I would make is that you try the Wounds rule found here on the site for your Giant. In the amount of time that it will take an Artillery piece to eliminate a Giant with the Wounds trait, the rest of your army will already be across the field.
Artillery counters?
The Furioso is an excellent counter for Artillery! Think about it. After you make a 12 inch move as you standard action, then you can immediately spend a HAVOC token to make another 12 inch move. That’s a 24 inch threat range.You can almost always make it so that you are in direct base contact with the Artillery and crew on Phase II of the first turn.
Above you mentioned Skirmishers as a good counter to Artillery. So, what’s better than Skirmishers? Named Skirmishers!!
The faster Named Skirmishers are really nice for this- The Pack, The Rush. But the Zombies can be a really effective counter to Artillery. Not only do they have DR to increase their survivability, but the threat of Zombie conversion can make opponents especially nervous.
I know I just threw a lot at you, but I’d love to hear what you try, and how it works. Definitely try the Artillery changes if nothing else.
Posted by voodooink | July 12, 2011, 8:08 pmOh, I almost forgot…
I’m glad that you’re liking the new layout & branding! Thanks for the feedback!!
Also, keep an eye on the site. I’ve got an idea that I’ve been kicking around for a pre-order/beta of my Sci-Fi system that will allow players to actively participate in the design process. Should be interesting… 🙂
Posted by voodooink | July 12, 2011, 8:19 pmThanks Brent! We actually thought about the reducing damage by D6 per bounce instead of per hit. We were a little leery of making that change as we’ve only played 5 games and thought we may have missed some tactical solutions to the issue. We definitely did not think about the Furioso, I imagine a single game where vulnerable artillery is rushed and the group becoming a little gun-shy from sinking that many points into a somewhat fragile model.
I’ll definitely pre-order the Sci-Fi rules. My group currently games 28mm Fantasy and 20mm Vietnam but I’ve been contemplating grabbing some 40k models for Stargrunt II. We’ve been talking about your Sci-Fi/Western rules in development and I think the group’s excited.
Will it have the same scale as Havoc? 10-20 figures? I’m hoping so as that’s the perfect scale in my opinion, it reduces cost but still allows a wider range of tactics and depth than games like Song of Blade and Heroes.
Posted by Charles | July 13, 2011, 11:45 amYou were definitely on the right track! As for the other games…
The first release of Sci-Fi rules are aimed at 15mm, but it can easily be played at the 28mm scale. As far as model count, that can vary greatly depending on force composition and game mode. It will be interesting to see what people do with it during the beta as it’s something of a sandbox. (You’ll understand what I mean by that when you see it!)
The next release will follow very quickly and will take the base mechanics found in the first release, add some details and complexities, and modify the activations. This will be a game that focuses on the Fire Team level, and you could have a very intense game with only 12 miniatures on the board.
The rules for the Wild West expansion are ready, I just have to find the time to get the layout, editing, and proofing completed! The testing and development on the other projects has cut into it.
Posted by voodooink | July 13, 2011, 11:10 pmI definitely think I understand your meaning of sandbox. Played a few sandbox games like Car Wars and Starmada. Think that’s a great design decision with your rulesets since you encourage people to use whatever minis they want. Makes sense to offer a toolbox of rules to use.
I just picked up ten boxes of AT-43 minis on sale so it looks like I’m set for Havoc Sci-Fi. Need to convince my group to pick up some sci-fi stuff.
Posted by Charles | July 21, 2011, 8:31 pmYou can definitely ‘use any miniatures you want’, and this game will push that concept well beyond what I could with HAVOC. Not only that, but people will be empowered will some tools that will allow them to easily build scenarios and drive action on the table in new and meaningful ways. Seeing what my local testers have been able to do with these makes me very excited about getting it to the online community for testing and development.
10 boxes!? Your definitely set for Sci-Fi!! The AT-43 mini were a good find, as those are a little hard to come by these days.
Posted by voodooink | July 23, 2011, 9:18 am