Rogue Warriors - First impression

Since I've gone back to plastic models and so I don't just paint and wargame I have a desire to play a game about LRRP in Vietnam. I guess it's due to Dragon's great set and it's cover by the legendary Ron Volstad.

It's just there is not that much nice NAM models (link to nice Nam figures in the comments please).

By sheer coincidence I doomscroll on Facebook and lo and behold, suddenly a PDF of Rogue Warriors downloads.

So let's see whats inside.

It's a totally generic action shooter focused on modern conflicts (1939+) all the way into the future. It is a man2man skirmish game in which you basically control 4 soldiers per side on a smaller table (around 36x36 is recommended, but smaller is fine). However you can have a whole horde of soldiers, up to 12.

The system is built around d6 mechanics, classically an attack roll followed by a defense roll. Mechanics like aim or cover modify the rolls. The game has alternating activation, however, when activating a soldier a bit of friction comes into play when the d6 roll determines whether you or your opponent chooses the soldier from your faction to activate. The reaction system is that a model can move one inch in response to an enemy activation, if it has not already been activated this round, and loses the ability to be activated. That's not much, is it? So when you can activate, you can choose one of five packages:

1. move and shoot
2. move and melee
3. move and run
4. aim and shoot
5. melee
6. universal action (pick up, drop, pass)

The game does not count on anything extra in the basic rules. You just walk around and shoot at each other, the ranges are arcade (Sniper rifle 36", LMG 24", if played on ground scale it's 52 meters). Weapons are generic, usable as placeholders for the era you set the game in. Ergo, you'll play the submachine gun as a Sten as Commando in Italy, but for the SAS in Princess's Gate it will be an MP-5.

Rogue Warriors is very minimalistic, a few abilities for soldiers, a few categories of units, a bit of weapons and a bit of equipment. For example, the night vision gives you a +1 if you shoot in the dark. But there's nothing in the core rules about what darkness does...

Probably the best part of the rules is the mission description generator (without any mechanics) where you combine plot, location, mission, objective, enemy (if you play swarm, coop or solo), deployment and win condition. So, for example, you might work out that the plot is Desert Convoy Attack, set in the jungle, where you have to escape from Norwegian special forces in a boat that you have to destroy. And that's not the most absurd situation. However, of course, here you need to engage your brain and combine the compatible. It's really cool when brainstorming mission ideas, where the 36 possible deployment zones help in planning.

The basic rules (PDFs for 10gbp, printed on Amazon for 18gbp - for which you get a free PDF from the authors) don't really say much. You get a super generic shooter, without a single new idea. The game challenges you with pure gamist - how best to use (abuse) the rules of the game. With eight models on the table in the basic version, the game can be really nimble. 

Is there anything to criticize with a minigame like this? The downside for me is the ban on pre-measuring that comes with really ridiculous ranges. On paper, I don't like the friction in activation. It's NPE combined with an extra roll, but on the table it can create unexpected plot twists.

Is 10GBP for an action arcade a lot or a little? Pretty much for me. There are add-ons available for the game bringing narrative campaigns, mize, or vehicles, ranging from SAS in North Africa, to Vietnam, 80s action movies, ice battlefields, and sci-fi, including psychic skills. Another 7GBP for the PDF or 15GBP for the printed book, by the way.

The books have very nice covers, but the period ones (ww2 and Nam) could do with realistic cover art. As it is, it looks like a failed AI. On the other hand, the game isn't a simulation and it's definitely not "play the period". It's an alternative to the current 40K Kill Team for Counterstrike or Call of Duty players. It can be great at that, and that's what it's designed for. After all, we can bring "history" into it ourselves by using the mechanics from all those other books "correctly".

Here is probably the biggest problem for me, the game profiles itself as a simple game to learn and play, you don't need much to play it, it's agnostic to period, setting and scale. Something for beginners, something like Ravenfest for people who like pew pew. Ravenfeast is free. Yeah, it's not a commercial project either. But 18/10GBP for a couple of pages of rules, or if you want to play Vietnam 32/17GBP seems really a lot to me, given the extreme simplicity of the system. Of course, if you're with Rogue Warriors and you're investing 7GBP a month, that's really different than 49GBP + 10GBP for the initial PDF purchase (or 123 paper + PDF). That's a heck of a deal, you can almost buy a playable army for Warhammer for that. I actually don't like this EA level monetization and find it very discouraging. If this is a game designed to hook newcomers, the pricing model is downright hostile to that, in my opinion. I don't expect a relaxing afternoon game to have a premium price. On the other hand, price is always determined by demand.

After a first read, it's very much lacking any wow effect where I'm like: "I want to play this". It didn't impress, but it didn't disappoint either. The question is whether it will motivate me to buy the Vietnam expansion. But certainly the curiosity to play the game and the curiosity over what the book contains about the setting prevails.

And maybe after (if) I play a few games, I'll change my mind.

P.S. I: feel like I've written more text than there are rules in the book.

P.S. II: they have wonderful tutorial videos