My worthy opponent was Ed Scott (pillar of London gaming community and creator of the Blades of Arozone fantasy comics) and this was the first time for either of us playing the game. Our venue was the London gaming club HATE (Hackney Area Tabletop Enthusiasts), in their perhaps somewhat confusingly not-located-in-Hackney venue the Karamel Klub, a North London bar/arts space. The club is currently here after having to leave the legendary Bethnal Green Working Men's Club and could do with getting the word out after relocating. If you're reading this and are in London, come along for some of the friendliest game club vibes in the city!
Ed's roster consisted of various mechanical freaks he had kitbashed previously, namely:
1. The Void Herald
(Large missile battery, Power weapon, Heatsink, Defense array)
2. The Iron Wyvern
(Medium weapon, Close combat weapon, Counter missiles, Targeting system)
3. The Pain Engine
(Large missile battery, Basic combat weapon, Piston gauntlet, Virus program)
4. The Steel Sentinel
(Large missile battery, Long range systems, Core stabilisers)
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| The Void Herald. Creepy model, Ed |
My own was a series of scratch-built models I'd started way back in February and I was only too glad to finally play a game with them:
1. Abusor
(Piston gauntlet, Cable whip, Nuclear core, Targeting system)
2. Vituperator
(Flame Thrower, Heavy Weapon, Armor Mk II)
3. Communications Tower 3 (Final Phase)
(AI missile system, Flamethrower, Virus program, Heatsink)
4. The Shameful One
(Railgun, heavy weapon, light weapon, heavy plating [extra platform])
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| Me and the boys (L-R: Comms Tower, Shameful One, Vituperator, Abusor) |
My roughly sketched head canon for my machines was that some space engineers were using age-old "good luck traditions" on a remote tech base to help prevent workplace injuries. Well, turns out some of those traditions were more "grounded" than realised, and unknowing use of occult phrases and charms had eventually fused man with machine with building in a horrible mechanoid flesh embrace. Not exactly original, but sometimes you just need to get your greebly models a little flavour.
Our randomly selected scenario was the fourth in the rulebook,'Burned To A Crisp'. A radiation storm was occurring around the planet, causing potential random spikes in mech heat levels at the end of each turn. Before the storm worsened to unbearable levels, each side had to scramble for resources (5 loot tokens deployed equidistantly on the centre line of the board) and retreat back into bunkers by the end of turn 5. Having the most mechs and loot tokens in bunkers at the end of the game granted victory and extra rolls on the discovery tables.
TURN 1
From left to right I deployed Vituperator, The Shameful One, Abusor and Comms Tower across the board, hoping to concentrate my long range heavy hitting weapons on my left flank, and to get Abusor in melee as soon as possible. Comms Tower would be charged with collecting loot tokens and opening the bunker door nearest my deployment zone. Terrain was fairly finely grained across the whole board so I didn't see any key lines of fire. I decided instead to focus on getting the terror of Abusor (which due to its nuclear core would always explode at maximum potential) right up in the enemy's face with its double melee attack and remain flexible with everything else.
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| Steel Sentinel's flurry of fire starts to build up heat (the red tokens) |
TURN 2
Abusor was able to move in quickly and grab the centre left loot token, and then, hungry to bludgeon something, set its sights on The Void Herald which had swiftly moved in to collect the far left loot token while trading fire with Vituperator in the distance. Vituperator tried to fire its heavy weapon at Void Herald but the low bluff between the two mechs meant it was unable to land a shot.
On my right flank, the Iron Wyvern grabbed its own token and swiftly turned a 180 and turned back for home. Comms Tower's AI light missiles rained out of the sky but also failed to connect with the metallic burrower. I was tempted to chase after the Wyvern but knew that it was a risk to stray too far away from my nearby bunker. He could have that loot token.
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| Iron Wyvern and its separately based tail |
TURN 3
Lots of misses had taken place so far, without any really significant damage being caused by weapon fire. Abusor and The Void Herald were locked in combat, flurries of blows being traded back and forth between two equally horrific bio-engines. The cable whip of Abusor was merciless, and The Void Herald exploded beautifully (and thankfully without to much shrapnel). Shout out to Flames of Orion for having 'sticky' melee rules, I am always a fan of this in low density miniatures games.
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| Abusor and Void Herald locked in close combat |
The Iron Wyvern cruised back around to its home territory, and I decided to disengage with Comms Tower and just send it back to open the bunker - it felt like a waste of an action, but I knew I'd regret not doing it later. I also nastily decided to block Steel Sentinel's second action with a wave of virus signals from Comms Tower, courtesy of the Virus Programme upgrade. Ed had one of these, but I think he forgot to use it against me, thankfully!
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| Mid-game state of play |
[DUMB GUY NOT READING THE SCENARIO PROPERLY INTERLUDE]
It was at this point in the game that I realised we had the rules for the bunkers wrong. Yes, there were two bunkers, but each could be used by EITHER side to house mechs and thus secure victory conditions. It wasn't a your-base-my-base kind of deal. Presumably they all connect to miles of communal tunnels underground, all of which are also battled for by mechs....anyway, that scenario could've been worded more clearly, but it was on me for skim reading.
This revelation about our VPs come just before some fortifying vegan cuisine (Karamel Kitchens are fantastic if you want vegan diner/junk food and it looks like they do a killer vegan roast on Sundays). Bellies full, we waded into the chaos and destruction of...
TURN 4
I decided I'd need to shoot for the moon and run The Shameful One all the way through the battlefield to the opposite bunker. There was no way it could make it all the way back to where it started. However, I'd have to hope that one of Ed's mechs opened it before I got there as I wouldn't have the spare actions!
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| Blood fire death |
Abusor later fell to a flurry of shots from Pain Engine. Thankfully for my own forces, it did NOT explode, but shut down for the game. If it had blown up I'm pretty sure I would have lost the game then if I had to suffer the 2d3 damage for everything in its blast radius (starting Hull Points for mechs is only 6 in Flames of Orion. At zero it's out of the game one way or another).
Steel Sentinel took the opportunity to get a few shots off at a distance, trying to plug Comms Tower, but it stood undaunted.
The end of this turn (I think) then saw Steel Sentinel get the Big Red Button award, as overzealous use of weapons and Bolstered actions meant it was heated over the threshold by radiation and blew up.
TURN 5
The Comms Tower crawled on its clicking slicing apparatus underground, into the bunker with one loot token. The Shameful One did likewise - luckily Pain Engine (iirc) had opened up the other bunker in the enemy deployment zone. Vituperator was roasted in the radiation storm, unable to get to safety. Ed managed to get one mech home I believe, which from the pictures I assume was Pain Engine but I can't quite remember! All his other mechs managed to make their Casualty rolls and survive relatively unscathed though. Mechs that reach 0 HP or explode have a 1/3 chance of suffering a Scar, a lasting effect that causes problems in later campaign games, and can be repaired with the right amount of cash. Ed was also fortunate enough to roll a whole new mech chassis on his post-game Discoveries to be used alongside his existing four combatants. Get modelling Ed!
WOT I THINK SO FAR
That was our first game of Flames of Orion. Honestly, I was a little uncertain if I needed another mech game, as someone who plays the occasional Battletech match. However, I feel that the strength of Flames is not that it is "A bit like Battletech but rules-like" or "A bit like grimdark Battletech", both niches which have been covered by Catalyst themselves at least to some degree.
Rather, the things that made this game so fun were actually where it diverged from The Big B. It had a speedy feel that was extremely action-packed, and though I love Battletech's granularity, there's no denying that it feels more simulationist than speedy. Even without the radiation storm rules, I can see that heat very quickly rockets up unless you're prepared to be outmaneuvered/outgunned by your opponent and not use the Bolstered actions. Coupling this with the fact that in this game, reaching your heat limit means without exception that your mech is out of the game (even if it doesn't explode, there is no rebooting after shutdowns here), the game seems almost guaranteed to feel hard-hitting and consequential at each play.
Speaking of granularity, I can't pretend I don't miss having more details on hit locations and damage to mech components. The game certainly doesn't need it and I applaud the decision to do without (there is a very good 2d6 Crit table which fills this narrative/mechanical role) but one of the genre tropes I like is the feeling of a clunking great bot ready to fall apart piece by piece, which you won't find here. The mechs are swift combatants that won't need to worry about difficult terrain or damaged servors, but they are easily damaged and explode at the drop of a hat.
Instead of granularity in the damage rules, you have a different kind of depth as you get the joy of trying out different weapon/upgrade combos, either randomly or based on what you currently have in your bits box. Gear and loot has quite an easy-come, easy-go feel, with very generous rolls on tables based on victory and loot recovery.
There's ample support for a mid-length campaign at least in the concise Discovery and Scars systems, though like any of these systems they'll only benefit from expansion, hopefully by the ever growing Flames community. I'm looking forward to playing again soon, and to trying out a few mad scientist builds of mechs, and the rules for air and ground support units too.
Flames of Orion is on Kickstarter until the 5th of June.
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| Steel Sentinel |