A New Game - A New Obsession

ALL THE FUN OF A GREAT GAME - WITH THE LUXURY OF PREPAINTS

Recently I was introduced to a game called AT-43 from Rackham Games. I had been eyeing it for a while, and we had been selling a lot at the store, so I decided to jump in and give it a shot.

It turns out it is a great game!

The army construction is pretty basic, with players selecting units for their force based on loose "platoon patterns". There is also very little available in the way of tricking out your forces (e.g. no special weapons or abilities to give to specific figures, no mixing and matching heavier weapons - they all must be of the same type in a unit, etc.). Instead you fill the slots of your force with the unit that does what you want it to (better vs. vehicles, better vs. snipers, etc). This keeps the army building pretty simple, straightforward and easy to do - even for pick-up games.

An AT-43 Battle Being Fought In The Desert

The turn sequence is chock full of strategic thinking with each player deciding before the turn starts in what order they will activate their units. In addition there are "leadership points" that players can spend during their turn to win the initiative, give orders to their troops, or utilize an army specific ability. The turns go very quickly in a back and forth format - I activate one, you activate one, etc.

Combat resolution is quick and easy, but not too deadly. It takes alot of work to take down a unit. There are a few little quirky things in the rules, but nothing that really detracts from the flavor of the game.

Red Block Commandos Move To Assault

The best part in all of this is that all of the miniatures for the game come completely pre-painted - and painted pretty well at that! This allows AT-43 to be a nice secondary game to your usual obsession (an import factor for someone like me who plays more games than I care to admit).

All in all, I have greatly enjoyed all of the games I have played of it. I am well on my way to collecting several rather large armies of the different factions, much to the chagrin of my wife. I am looking forward to playing this a lot more in the future!

Until next time...

Cheers!

Dan