The Hunt for Ysis

The Hunt for Ysis

I have been painting a few of my old Rackhem confrontation miniatures and thought i would give the miniatures board game hybrid a go solo and use my universal skirmish AI a go as well

universal skirmish AI

each monster and character has a level value and a size value and if it is considered intelligent

level is the level of the figure

size is the number of 1” by 1” squares it occupies

sequence of play

play using the standard game rules then at the end of the turn determine noise for each of your figures

during the game a player character will generate and remove noise every turn  , this noise value will be used to determine what how the enemy will respond to that figure , if more than one figure has the same noise then the closest figure will be the target of that enemy

the noise values are 

doing nothin -1

in cover -1

shooting 1

insight of any enemy 1

walking 2

running 3

fighting 4

charging 5

calculate each figure on your sides awareness rating for the turn

to see if a figure is visible add its size to its awareness value and multiply by 2

so a 1“ X 1” base character who is fighting in melee will have a awareness value of 12 and will be noticed up to 12 squares/inches

if a figure is out of sight the awareness is halved for only those figures that cannot see this figure

this means that an enemy is aware of this figure and will determine what it will do with its reaction

we use these values to determine what this figure will do

to find the enemies reaction

each enemy will be stated as a shooter , support or melee type

take the figure level factor and size as a base number

and modify by the following

is this figure wounded -1 

each enemy that can be seen by this figure -1

each full move from the nearest visible friendly figure -1

so a level 4 figure on a large base ( 2” X 2” ) will have a base value of 16

take off and negative points

if this value of the figure is greater than the nearest threat the figure will act as its primary goal , each point lower than the target moves the option 1 stage to the right

an unintelligent character will use its primary function if its value is more than half that of the enemy

characters will always try to 

a shooter type will try to do these actions in this order 

shoot / support / move towards / move away / melee

a support type will try to do these actions in this order 

support / shoot / melee / move towards / move away 

a melee type will try to do these actions in this order

melee / move towards / support / shoot / move away 

Shoot = move into range an shoot , if in range aim and shoot

Support  = using the figures best ability , this may mean joining a combat with a friend or buffing a friendly figure ( buffing is always primary )

Move towards = take a full move to get closer to a weaker enemy

Melee = move towards nearest enemy and engage in combat

Move away = Move away from as many enemies as possible and take cover

Anyway now to the game

The First scenario in the book

The Venerable Ambrosius is leading a squad of purifiers through an old unused laboratory when he spots ysis running down a corridor , he pauses for a moment and then decides to enter this part of the underground complex and bring this viper to justice or at least remove this scourge from the world

after checking his squad was ready they entered the complex , the place was dark and visibility was poor , a few doors were checked but no sigh of Ysis was found , they explored deeper into the complex , suddenly one of the recruits spots some thing moving and moves forward to investigate , opens the suspected door but this door had an alarmed linked to it , this will obviously warn all the occupants of the groups whereabouts.

One of the purifiers finds a parts of a  device scattered on the floor , this looks like parts of a bomb set to rig the complex to blow , gingerly he dismantles the parts , there must be more he says to Ambrosius

suddenly around the corner a mass of dirz clones and warriors appear , Ysis can be seen at the back hiding behind them

This is the start of a solo play-test using the following “engine” to regulate the enemy forces of a game of Hybrid

The Starting Positions

End of Turn 1  , the sides meet

The Onslaught of the Dirz

The Griffons pull back to a better position

Both sides take heavy losses

Ambrosius Falls Badly wounded

Ysis thinks it is better to run away and fight another day

Aftermath

well this turned out to be quite a struggle for the temple of hod , with Ysis escaped the Purifiers proceeded to destroy this laboratory , which will be one less place for the alchemists to do their dastardly work

on the whole the rules were fun to play and since this was an alternate move system relitivly easy to resolve , though one thing i did not do was allocate the type of move before working out who would move first , i just pulled a token out of the bag , and if a figure had not gone i allowed that figure to go on the defence