That Belongs in a Museum! (Laserburn)

 I'm briefly back in the UK and got a game in with my long-suffering friend, Steve. We played Laserburn. It was a simple set-up of two groups of 'archaeologists' fighting to take the dig site, so that they could loot excavate it. We both had 5 figures, one of which was our leader and personal figure plus a unit of four followers. The terrain was a jungle with a ruined temple in the middle and the battlefield was 2' x 2'. The temple was the objective. There was nothing subtle about the scenario. We just had to fight until one side or the other retreated. I was too busy enjoying the game to take pictures, so this is not really a battle report in the usual format. Fortunately, I have photos of two of the figures used to help keep you engaged.

Dalia

The game itself progressed with both teams advancing towards the temple, using the cover as best they could. One of my conscripts, Dalia, opened fire on the approaching hostiles, but missed by more than the usual country mile. Steve's return fire wounded my other conscript, George, and caused him to duck back into cover. A second shot wounded Dalia in the leg, but she retained her cool and stayed in position, ready to return fire. As Steve's troops advanced closer, my leader made it to the temple and hid behind a large, solid wall. Turtle, a regular trooper in light armour, used his jetpack to duck in behind one of Steve's figures, and then remembered that his assault rifle was really not that useful at point blank range. There was much loud firing, but the bullets went everywhere but where they were intended. My leader then charged in with his force sword and got cut down by Steve's figure! So much for buying a veteran leader!! Dalia promptly shot the offending figure, while Steve's leader cut down Turtle. Why did I bother spending all those credits on armour?

Shades

At this point, both sides were shaken. Steve had two figures that were knocked out and one dead. My leader and Turtle were dead. My remaining regular, Shades, took up the mantle of command, succeeding by only a very narrow margin. This brought my troops back from shaken status, meaning we could advance on the objective again. Steve dealt with that by having his leader shoot Dalia. As seems to be traditional in Laserburn, she was shot in every single appendage before the kill shot took her out. We were returned to shaken status. At this point, one of Steve's knocked out troops came to, lifting his force back from shaken status. Shades immediately avenged Dalia by planting a bullet in Steve's leader's heart and returning his force to shaken status. With neither force now able to advance, we called the game. Steve's force was closer to the temple so it was a victory for him, especially because he still had one figure that could come back round, admittedly with many wounded appendages because it had been lying in the open so my troops had spent every spare moment they had shooting at it and failing to kill it.

This was a great fun game that reminded me why I like Laserburn so much. Yes, there is a long list of modifiers for your to hit rolls. Yes, there is maths with the modifier for range being the actual range multiplied by a weapon-dependent multiplier. Yes, you roll to hit, then for hit location, then for penetration, then for damge. I know some people do not like this level of detail. None of these things bother me. It's not like the maths is particularly hard. The modifiers make sense and you quickly get used to the ones that apply to the circumstances of your game. The level of detail on the hit and damage is great, because it builds a narrative in your imagination, and it's the right level of crunchy for the size of game we play. And this game is just loaded with nostalgia for me. I've played it off and on for around 40 years now and I fully intend to take it into the care home with me. After all, the mental arithmetic involved will help keep my brain active into my dotage.