Having painted up some modern US troops for the painting challenge
both Ash and I thought it was high time we put a modern rule-set to the test and
so we go together a couple of nights to try out Osprey’s Black Ops by Guy
Bowers. This also gave us a chance to dress up the table with the terrain we’ve
been beavering away at over the last 6 months however that’s for another post.
So what’s the score with Black Ops. Well its skirmish level,
usually with a handful of troops (4-12 ish) with each model being managed independently.
It follows the model of most skirmish systems out there with the usual dice to
hit, dice to kill mechanic.
 |
| Ash looks worried! |
The interesting part is the activation mechanic, this is
card driven with the troops under your command being grouped into Jacks
(troops), Queens (specialists such as medics), Kings (Heavies) and Aces’s
(leaders). Both you and your opponent have two cards for each of the different types
in the deck (once player reds, the other blacks) as well as a Joker which allows
your Leader an additional activation when it is drawn.
As a card is drawn all the models in that category get to activate, either moving and firing, running, in reserve, hiding etc and in
this respect the actions are in line with other systems. The thing that is neat
is that you can put a model into reserve, thereby banking their activation
until later in the turn. Then when it
suits you can activate them as a group when your leader activates (as long as
he’s close enough) thereby allowing you to stack your troops outside a
building, ready to assault the enemy inside altogether.
 |
| My Fire team stack before assaulting the compound |
Shooting works how you would expect in a skirmish game and in
this respect Black Ops is pretty straight forward. However troops do have a
facing unlike most skirmish level games, thus giving you the opportunity to outmanoeuvre
your opponent. At first this felt a little weird however when you reorient your
thinking from a game turn representing several minutes to more like 10 seconds
it starts to make sense. For example the missions generally last 6 turns however
when each model gets two activations each turn it means that a lot can happen
in those turns but the mechanics make it feel like things are happening fast.
Oh and I said that models get 2 activations a turn, well
there’s still the joke in the activation deck, this can be used to give your
leader 3 activations or he can pass it on to another model within 6”. Very
useful for when you’ve just been outmanoeuvred!
Ash and I’s first game was a blistering firefight in an
Afghan village with British infantry attempting to recapture a military vehicle
that had been “appropriated” by the local militia who were unwilling to give it
up (it had an awesome sound system).
 |
| Well positioned Afghan Militia |
So simply to try out the system I assaulted the compound and
ran one of my fire teams through the main square with the other trying to get
to high ground to provide covering fire. It didn’t work, my fire team was
severely wounded by the AK fire coming from the old cinema rooftop that Ash had
cleverly positioned some of his militia on.
Things to note:
- If you put troops in reserve on their first activation and don’t use it, you lose it
- When you get close to troops with Assault Rifles things go bad very, very quickly
- This game would easily replicate 007 trying to steal the plans from a nefarious villain in his top secret lab!
Next post will have more pics!
