Another playtest for ROTOR

I felt like it was time to have another game of Reivers Of The Outer Rim, my skirmish level sci fi rules. I wanted to see how the game played out with all the latest changes and also see where there might be room for further improvements. 

In this game, each band of Reivers is looking for tech items in a settlement on a minor planet that had previously been ruled by a renegade warlord and his retinue. Defeated in battle by a military expedition launched by a powerful Mining Corporation, the warlord has moved to a safer location, leaving behind residual forces. Now Reiver bands have moved in to see what they can pick up in the aftermath of the fighting.

No one knows what forces might be left behind or even if there are any static defences. Therefore, each band has been allowed to take a sensor droid in addition to any combat droids they have, unless their band is not able to take droids at all. Normally, the rules specific that you can take either a combat or a sensor droid.

In this scenario, the range of possible NPCs on a roll of 1D10 is;

  1)  Renegade trooper 

  2)  Cyborg

  3)  Defence droid

  4)  Mutant

  5)  Rogue Psyker

  6)  Alien renegade trooper (+1 in H2H attacks, causes Panic)

  7)  Renegade trooper with heavy weapon

  8)  Renegade leader

  9)  Defence drone 

10)  Renegade trooper in augmented combat armour.  

There were four of us playing. Me, plus Clive (who once again provided his excellent scenery), Nick and Matt, all of whom have played ROTOR before.

We each started 12" from a corner. Once again, Clive's combat droid was a big imposing number.

Using sensor droids meant that both salvage items (marked by yellow gems) and NPCs (marked by green gems until within line of sight) were quickly revealed. 

The area shown below soon because full of dangerous NPCs. The defence droid behind the tree was a perpetual threat until it was destroyed late on in the game. The downed figure was an NPC. 

Matt pushed towards the areas where his sensor droid had detected salvage items. The big figure is his Alien Paladin.

Clive's Leader took up a commanding position high above the vegetation. This would also make him an easy target, but he survived. 

Nick's Reivers had problems with a mutant that emerged from a shanty, but was eventually killed.

The red-coated figure is a Rogue Psyker. Successful psychic attacks can be devastating, as lifeforms , apart from other Psykers cannot make a saving throw against psychic forces. Droids are immune to psychic attacks, but can be displaced elsewhere by psykers.

This Cyborg was a dangerous NPC, armed with a heavy weapon. Well, it was dangerous until it got killed.

Things were looking pretty dangerous for my band for a while, as the area was full of nasties.

This mutant NPC decided to drop in on one of Clive's grunts.

It was a fun game, things flowed a lot more smoothly than before and most of the questions that came up were around the searching mechanisms and what sort of things and locations could be searched. The question of looting dead opponents also came up. This aspect of the game needs further development. I shall give it some thought and draft some ideas.

Using sensor droids was a useful addition. They aided the placing of salvage items, but also got a large number of NPCs into play. For this scenario, that was a good aspect of the game, seeing as it was supposed to be occupied by the remnants of a Renegade army. Combat droids are very powerful, but sensor droids also have their uses. I am now wondering whether they should be a standard part of a Reiver band, rather than just an alternative to having a combat droid?