AT-43: Not just “pre-painted 40K”

A lot has been written about AT-43 in the last year. It’s been a huge success for Rackham and Fantasy Flight, so I see no need to review the game here. Instead, I’ll go over a few things my group has discovered during our games which may help you.

1) Play on a small board. We recently experimented with a 3′x3′ board and it really seemed to improve the game. The combat was fast, immediate and deadly. It quickened the pace of the game and made it a lot more fun to play.

2) The rule books need work. There are a lot of rules questions in any game, but the AT-43 books could be organized better. We spend a lot of time flipping through pages figuring things out, looking up threads on message boards and, at times, deciding rules quesitons with a roll of the dice. It’s not bad enough to ruin the game, but hopefully in the future the editing of the books will be better.

3) Battlesuits need to be used carefully. Whether its UNA Steel Arms or Red Blok Kolossus units, low speed and not-so-heavy armor means these guys can get lit up if left out in the open. They pack serious firepower but are pretty fragile when it comes down to it. My suggestion is to leave your suits in reserve and deploy them as reinforcements.  If you can drop them in halfway up the board, you can wreck some serious havoc.

4) Spend that LP. Leadership points are the currency of the game and unless you have some uber-secret plan,  go ahead and spend those points. Most players have more than they need to pull off whatever tricks they have in their bag.

5) Going second is not a bad idea. In the words of one of our local players “you go first, I go second and shoot you. You go again, I go again and shoot you.” As with 40k, going second also allows you to take the last move and secure objectives, critical for winning a game.

Time to game

I’m one of those gamers who grew up alongside the industry. By the industry, I mean both video and tabletop games. Now I’m an adult, with a family and a demanding job. Free time is a precious commodity, and little of it can be devoted to gaming.

I plan to use this blog to discuss my thoughts on how busy adults can continue to enjoy the hobbies that have been part of their lives for so long. Whether its a dungeon crawl, a tabletop battlefield or an electronic saga of life and death, there are still adventures to be had by gamers of my generation. After all, gaming as we know it wouldn’t exist without all the dollars we’ve spent supporting this industry.

Disclaimer: I don’t work for any game company nor am I related to anyone who does. In fact, I don’t know anyone who does.

First topic: Boxed games. If you’re a fan of pen and paper RPGs or miniatures wargames, today there are great new options which blend the best of both worlds. A new breed of games offers really cool adventures that can be enjoyed in a single evening. No more depending on the GM to build a detailed campaign world. No more painting dozens of minis. Just pick up and play.

My current favorite example: Tannhauser from Fantasy Flight Games. This is a game played on a board using highly detailed, pre-painted miniatures. In practice, the game plays out like a miniatures skirmish game, with movement, combat and a really innovative system that governs line of sight.

But there’s more to Tannhauser than just combat. It’s set in a very interesting alternate history in which World War I went on much, much longer. The Germans have discovered magic, the Americans have high-tech sci-fi weaponry. The rules allow you to develop objective based games which can easily be strung together by imaginative players into a campaign.

Or you can simply play quick deathmatch games with your buddies. Whatever the case, everything you need is in one box. There’s a short rule book to read, cleverly presented as an FAQ.

Give it a try. It plays fast, has dynamic rules and really channels that “pulp” feel that is experiencing something of a renaissance right now.