How do YOU set up?

[dmcgee1]

Okay, so you've decided that you're going to make him eat his words (figuratively) and show him that his army ain't [insert favorite word for feces here]!

First, here's how we do it:

We play on a 48"x48" (1.22m x 1.22m) surface.  Rarely, we use a 48"x72", for larger battles (1500+ PC).  The deployment zones are, usually, only 8" deep (the book recommends 12", and, sometimes, we do use this) 6" in from either "side" of the board (sometimes this is shoertened or extended depending on force size and agreement of players).

Then, we decide objective(s), environment (at least Level 1 something - jungle, desert, arctic, etc.), special rules (house rules, like haze, etc.) and terrain.

We setup terrain in way so that it reflects something that makes sense regarding the objective.  If it's a fight over territory, we try to make it look like a strategic spot of land worth holding/defending/attacking/taking.  If it is a breakthrough mission, one side or the other (sometimes both) are overrunning a guarded position to penetrate further inward.  If the objective is to take out the enemy's leader, or other important person, we try to make it look like there is a reason for that person to be there.  If it is, simply, an engagement of forces, we try to add a little flavor, such as two forces happening into each other while on patrol.

Regarding these factors, we try to set up the board where neither side has a distinct advantage (unless the scenario call for it, such as Holdout).  Once we are satisfied with setup, we, still, roll for choice of side of board from which we wish to start.  This ensures that both players will setup the board fairly.  Once that is complete, we roll again, including highest LD to decide who places a Unit Cart, first.  We consider this Turn 0.

Then, it's "Game on!"

So, how do you set up your games?

I'll take pictures of our next battle, and attempt to show how we do setup.

[masherking]

Pretty much the same way.
At maplewoood we would have a scenario in mind and we try to have the table meet that as close as possible. This has lead us play on some wacky but very fun table tops.
General speaking I like playing on lots of terrian with enviromental rules from time to time too mix it up.
Though for a change of pace, playing on plain open field (desert or ice fields) with high enviromental effects has proven to provide a very different (but kool) battle.

[dmcgee1]

Though for a change of pace, playing on plain open field (desert or ice fields) with high enviromental effects has proven to provide a very different (but kool) battle.

In those battles, what is the reason for fighting?  Why have the troops opted to fight?  Is there a valuable resource?  Is it a recovery mission?  Do they enjoy freezing/baking their naughty bits off?

[Jibbajabbawocky]

Though for a change of pace, playing on plain open field (desert or ice fields) with high enviromental effects has proven to provide a very different (but kool) battle.

In those battles, what is the reason for fighting?  Why have the troops opted to fight?  Is there a valuable resource?  Is it a recovery mission?  Do they enjoy freezing/baking their naughty bits off?

COBRA was defending a crashed battleship on some icy moon of Jupiter (There was a bunker they were defending, and a few rocky bits).  It actually resembled a 40k board, actually.

[masherking]

Though for a change of pace, playing on plain open field (desert or ice fields) with high enviromental effects has proven to provide a very different (but kool) battle.

In those battles, what is the reason for fighting?  Why have the troops opted to fight?  Is there a valuable resource?  Is it a recovery mission?  Do they enjoy freezing/baking their naughty bits off?

of course theres an objective....I thought it went with out saying.
The last time this was done the objective was for  army"a" to exit the army"B" deployment zone.
a kinda "hold the line" scenario.



 

[Jibbajabbawocky]

Serge even had a few Victors in that army, but with a 12" visibility, they were shotgun fodder.

[dmcgee1]

Viktors were shotgun fodder?!  For shame!  Steve, take yourself out back and commence flogging yourself.  I'll be along shortly to ensure that you doing it correctly, and enough.

[masherking]

Viktors were shotgun fodder?!  For shame!  Steve, take yourself out back and commence flogging yourself.  I'll be along shortly to ensure that you doing it correctly, and enough.

Steve was a madman
using shotguns to shoot Viktors with wild abandon.
serge never played another game of UWZ after that...sad he did win the scenario.

[Jibbajabbawocky]

Viktors were shotgun fodder?!  For shame!  Steve, take yourself out back and commence flogging yourself.  I'll be along shortly to ensure that you doing it correctly, and enough.

Well, my theory is:  The less rolls I need to make, the less rolls I can miss.  Since shotyguns don't roll to hit, it really helps when there is a negative to RC.

[Heretyk]

We play on different surfaces (most of time - 48" squares). 1200 PC per side. Deployment zones vary from tournament to tournament, as we are try separate the deployment zones with ~36". Deployment zones are limited by 6" inches from both sides of the table.

Tournament organizer decides on table environment rules (if any). He also places the terrain pieces on the tables. With all players accounted for, the organizer randomly (using a dice) selects opponents and assigned them (also randomly) to tables for the first order of battles. After that the players roll for table sides, in each pair. Winner of this roll (pure d20, no modifiers) chooses the side. We try to prepare tables, which don't favor any side. The rest goes according to the book (Initiative roll, cards placement, etc.). After the first order ends, the organizer assigns the next pairs according to the scored result, and randomly chooses the tables. On most tournaments we play three orders of battles. We play 6 turns, or 2,5h (which comes first). None of the players will be playing on the same table twice during a single tournament (if that occurs, organizer rolls the table assignment again).

The table rules are:
-"no men’s land" (no rules)
-jungle up to level 6
-desert up to level 6
-artic up to level 6
-subterrain up to level 6
-night fighting rules (from the FAQ)
-canals

The last table is a special one. We try to simulate fighting in narrow corridors, canals, and those kinds of terrains. The small corridors hold space for one small base, and the large ones for one large base or two small ones. There are of course junctions, which hold space for more minis. We play 8 turns on this table (since first turns units are mostly moving, because nobody had LOS to the enemy). LOS is limited to 9", and shooting above 6" is penalized with -2 RC (night vision loadouts cancel this modifier, but not the LOS limitations). Models with size 4+ aren't placed on this table. Some parts of this table aren't accessible to units of size 3. We are using very simple terrain pieces for this table (cutted paper), so this table may look to some rather cheap, but it's easier this way to set up a different board configuration on next tournament (and the table layout is truly random also). Pictures will give you a better understanding of this table:
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1358_1_03.jpg
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1194_1_96.jpg
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/993_1_57.jpg
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/985_1_14.jpg

The objective of every battle is to capture and hold five control points. This is awarded with up to five big points. The sixth big point is awarded for killing more units (in PC), than losing yourself. You can read detailed rules here:

BATTLE RESULTS

1. Your objective is to control marked Victory Points (short: VPs). There are 5 VPs on every table.

2. To control a VP your unit must move to the center of the marker and spend 1 action (inform your opponent when this happens). The VP should be marked as controlled by one of the players. A control VP stays this way for the time of the battle, until the opposing player takes control of it.

3. There are following restrictions on taking control of a VP:
-Vehicles and models bigger than Size 3 can’t control VPs
-Airborne units can't control VPs while flying (they must first land on the ground)
-Infiltrators can't be displaced from cards directly on a VP (however the displacement cards can be)
-Paratroopers can be dropped on a VP
-Displacement cards can't control VPs (they must reveal themselves first)
-Units with Stalk/ Stealth/ Lurk/ Unseen Assailant special abilities can't reveal themselves directly on a VP
-Drop Pods can't land closer than 3" from a VP

4. For every Vp controlled at the end of the battle, players get 1 BIG POINT. Sixth BIG POINT is awarded for killing more enemy models (in point cost), then losing yourself (units, which couldn't play in the battle are not casualties). The difference in players’ casualties is SMALL POINTS.

5. Killing all opposing troops doesn’t get control of all VP. In this case players check, if models can gain control of all VP, respecting all table rules (hazard checks are omitted).

6. Tournament scores are based on player's number of BIG POINTS. If more than one player has the same number of BIG POINTS, SMALL POINTS are used to distinguish players’ final rank.

Table pictures:
-jungle
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1488_1_25.jpg
-desert
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1492_1_34.jpg
-arctic
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1485_1_22.jpg
-subterrain
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1489_1_13.jpg
-no men's land
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1000_1_25.jpg

More pictures (click to enlarge):
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/index.php?galeria=84
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/index.php?galeria=70

Extra stuff (a new Drop-pod conversion, named "it's not a fruit")
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/374_1_42.jpg
Extra stuff (natural fridge)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1203_1_20.jpg
Extra stuff (a new deck of cards)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1190_1_40.jpg
Extra stuff ("testing" 3 player battle rules)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1191_1_82.jpg
Extra stuff (a random polish warzone player, suffering from "desert storms")
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1377_1_36.jpg

[Jibbajabbawocky]

WOW!  The Polish community really knows how to throw down!


I like the Corridor table especially.  I'ce found that the tiles that come with the Doom boardgame by Fantasy Flight work well too, and they lock together nicely.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/doom.html

The box also comes with alot of nice figs that could be used for Dark Legion.  The game itself is super sweet as well.

[Heretyk]

We use elements from Doom board game also (and from Descent board game too, for the record). When the photos from the last grand tournament will be published, you will see it on some of the pictures.

[masherking]

I dig the subterrian board

[Heretyk]

More pictures dug up:

-extreme canals*
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/126_1_05.jpg

-some sea platform* (water level is equal to the table level)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1055_1_09.jpg

-destroyed city
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1354_1_25.jpg

-fighting between (and in) small buildings* (white paper outlines the building rooms, while those standing pieces are doors)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1061_1_43.jpg

-some jungle
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/1379_1_65.jpg

-random canals*
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/238_1_74.jpg

-even more jungle (the white borders are forest limits)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/220_1_85.jpg

-subterranean (the white borders are cavern walls)
http://www.liniafrontu.ehost.pl/galerie/duze/216_1_31.jpg

* - custom table rules where used (not found in the rulebook / FAQ)

And there is one small addendum to the canal's rules (I forgot about this one) - vehicles automatically blow up (by the rulebook they should roll for blowing up). This is enforced to prevent blocking some vital corridors with vehicle wrecks.

I dig the subterrian board

I’m sorry, my mistake. It should “subterranean”.

[behemoth]

1. We generally play games of 600-1000 points, perhaps averaging on 800pts.
2. We always play on a large gamefield full of terrain. Large means 4x6 feet gameboard.
3. We have not used environmental effects except for specially written scenario games that have a special "game master", who has written the scenario and directs it with elements and rules that come as a surprise to all players. Players have a set of guidelines with which to create their forces. About 50% of our games are scenario-oriented and the rest are played as generic 1:1 confrontations.
4. We generally use false leads and double-blind deployment, but at times have mutually agreed NOT to use them just to save time.
5. We play with an open mind and for the fun of it - not because winning at any costs is important.
6. It's very common for us to play out a specifically written scenario BOTH ways. Say a 600pts game goes fast enough so that both players can play both roles of the scenario.

Examples of our gaming boards:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/behemoth/miniatures/terrain/br52.jpg
http://koti.mbnet.fi/behemoth/miniatures/warzone/battlestories/br4-pic12.jpg
http://koti.mbnet.fi/behemoth/miniatures/terrain/cat5.jpg