Rapture skirmish tabletop: Sample minis unboxing and first impressions

(continued from the butterfly end of my recent workbench update)

Recap: I recently ran across a new Sci Fi skirmish wargame from some enthusiasts from Germany, called Rapture by Gravity Bay (btw, the game name is great, but not suitable at all as a hashtag / search term... I'll go for #RaptureTheGame instead). The artwork is gorgeous, the story (near future post-pandemic SciFi) fascinating and, although I don't play much, still motivating for me: the rules look eminently playable, fast paced and modern (more on that below). 

A "print and play" preview of the game with rulebook and printable counters and proxies for the minis is available free of charge here.

After a 12 month+ grassroot campaign where the game was presented at big shows and in various gaming clubs (look for "Gravity Bay Rapture" on Youtube for examples), the game is about to go to Kickstarter (placeholder here) for funding of a first normal production run.

Until then, a handful of minis is already available in the Gravity Bay online shop today, so I couldn't resist ordering a few to try them out. Here's a first report on what I got.

Turnaround time from order to delivery was so-so, but I wasn't in a hurry. And I even got a friendly note handwritten on the back of the invoice, a very nice gesture.

Although I spend 98% of my non-historical tabletop time with building and painting and very rarely actually play the games, I had read through the preview rule book and quickly saw many things I really like. Maybe this game will even by playable in real life.

Things I like about the game include: 

• small armies with few minis per side, so one can get playing quickly and collect many different factions
• only a small table (3'x3') needed, reducing the entry barrier to create enough appropriate terrain pieces - the game looks like it will be better in crowded areas with limited lines of sights and multiple levels
• quick games playable in an hour or two, so suitable for a working dad's calendar
• preprinted (and really nice) unit cards with all stats and special rules - yay! No army list fiddling, no memorizing or listing out special rules, just pick up the cards and play. Just as I liked it with Demonworld years ago, and removing the army list creation part that I find so tedious in many other games (GW, I'm looking at you! - but I'm also cutting corners with canned unit values for other games with too much variation, like Piquet)
• modern rules engine (no Igo-Hugo), with activation based sequence of play and unit stats changing as the game continues
• very simple basic rules engine with simple unit stats. This creates a simple baseline for incredibly many ways to vary unit stats, strengths and weaknesses, individualize factions, add chrome to units etc. Even the first three factions already look like they will play very differently from each other.
• fantastic game setting, backstory, artwork (check out the Gravity bay website).

Things I don't like after first read through:

1. Additional purchase needed to play: one of the really cool game features is that unit stats change as the game progresses, e.g. as units use life points and/or morale. But these changes need to be marked on the unit cards - to do that without damaging them you need transparent card sleeves and a wipe-off felt tip pen. 

I know where to get the sleeves (just have to hit the right size) but not the pen, and would like to get both packaged with the game instead of having to chase them separately.

2. No premeasurements of movement and firing distances - I don't like this in other tabletops, either (maybe another reason why I used to enjoy Demonworld so much, I guess I'm a board gamer at heart). 

It rewards a weird talent (estimating distances between an inch and a foot), and encourages gamy behavior like taking pre-measuring terrain pieces (for exaple, I have 25x50 cm terrain plates, giving me an unfair advantage over opponents who don't know this), or taking unimportant pot shots to get a "free" measurement. 

However, I'll be happy to accept the pot shots (not the pre-game measuring, though) as a feature, not a bug, after trying it out in reality.

The boosters with the first minis. Each contains pieces for one mini, a round slotted base, a unit card with stats and a backdrop with a photo, product information and the legal blurb. F.l.t.r.: one mini each for the factions of Atlantis, New World Order (humans), an individual mercenary (crossover model from another game, event mini only) and an Angel.

After unpacking, the first impressions of the minis are very good. They look really nice, have fantastic, fine detail (e.g. very vivid, expressive faces), dynamic-but-not-silly poses, good detail, and big diversity in size/impression/character.

And best of all: correct proportions (!) - wow. That's what drove me away from many classical tabletop minis and back to the good old German flats, I just don't like the chubby / chibi proportions of the traditional metal tabletop minis (historical, fantasy or Sci-Fi) and even many of their plastic and resin successors, where forearms are as thick as correctly proportioned thighs, fists as large as heads and gun barrels as thick as arms. But these minis have really thin, correctly proportioned gun barrels, fingers, even noses. Nice.

Unpacking the first minis: unit cards with picture and stats on the front (and special rules summaries on the back), and the 2-3 part minis for Atlantis and NWO.

These are also my my first (soft) resin minis, so far I've only used resin castings for terrain and a hard resin 3rd party conversion kit for some GW stuff. 

As a newbie with this material I have lots of questions, for example how to clean up the minis (scratching off mold lines and other bits with my usual trusty pocket knife didn't work too well, but I seem to remember warnings not to use files on resin as the filings / dust is supposed to be dangerous).  

I also wonder whether my usual habits for basecoating (with car anti-rust base and normal white spray base coat) and paint selection (water color with clear spray varnish) will work on the resin surface, especially as the thin bits I like so much are flexible and bendy. 

And: how do you go about converting such models? How do you cut them, fill gaps, which materials can you combine with this soft resin? And, for that matter, how do you just straighten out the nicely proportioned, elegant gun barrels if they come out of the booster slightly bent?

A beginners guide to this kind of resin castings (or are they 3d prints?) would be welcome.

The most complex model of the first batch: the Angel. Comes with body, two wings, extra pieces for one extra calf, four arms, heads, feathers behind the head and two small feathery bits I couldn't find on any of the pictures in the booster or on the website, so left them off the mini.

Assembly of the Angel was interesting, because many pieces and links required careful cleaning. But overall it went nicely and at first glance normal modelling super glue seems to create very hard and stable bonds quickly.

The minis display very little visible flash (but there is some, so I guess they are cast not 3d-printed, after all). There is enough to require cleaning, and esp. there are imprecisions affecting the mortise-and-tenon links between the bodies and limbs. These needed some scratching and fiddling and didn't really lead to perfectly clean results.

The assembled minis, waiting to be basecoated.

I can't wait to get these basecoated and painted. The minis should be very painting friendly and I already have lots of ideas for color schemes. 

I hope this initial batch will get me into the phase waiting for the kickstarter results, and I will post an update when I have the first results.

Tabletop Workbench November 2020

 

The butterfly is fluttering again (at the end of this post), so here are some updates from my workbench. As always, click on the photos to enlarge.

(Half-)finished work is from my Zinna project, where a few minis are waiting for the rest of their unit to be added:

The first Prussian half-battery ready for action

First half of Nadasdy hussars (not based yet because these minis will be mixed up with the remaining eight hussars).

Another unit that is not yet half complete is the Baden-Baden infantry regiment (2 batallions).

Back in the cardboard box, waiting for their comrades before being based: the first painted Baden-Baden musketeers

The next batch of Baden-Baden infantry, basecoated and half painted (the white cuffs, waistcoats and lapels are hard to see here, though).

In addition, I have recently continued an old WH40K project, the Tallarn inspired Si Fi Desert Rats:

The third wheeled Chimera equipped with a Griffon large caliber mortar after the first wash, waiting for another wash, highlights amd detailing.

And then the butterfly: I recently ran across a new Sci Fi skirmish wargame from some enthusiasts from Germany, called Rapture by Gravity Bay. The artwork is gorgeous, the story (near future post-pandemic SciFi) fascinating and, although I don't play much, still motivating for me: the rules look eminently playable, fast paced and modern. A sneak preciew of the game with rulebook and printable counters and proxies for the minis is available here.

After a 12 month+ grassroot campaign where the game was presented at big shows and in various gaming clubs (look for "Gravity Bay Rapture" on Youtube for examples), the game is about to go to Kickstarter for funding of a first normal production run.

Until then, a handful of minis is already available in the Gravity Bay online shop today, so I couldn't resist ordering a few to try them out. I will post a separate unboxing/first impressions summary later, so here just are a couple photos to wet your appetite.

The first boosters

The first minis assembled, ready to be cleaned and basecoated.
From left to right (in my words, check the website for the official faction names): Human professional soldier, Atlantis water dweller with a mining water drill repurposed into a short distance weapon (how cool is that?), a really angry Angel (maybe because the four heads keep up a permanent shouting match among themselves?), and a robotic police AI which can fight for every faction and keeps changing its mind on tactical priorities.

The cards hold the unit stats. Special unit rules are summarized on the card backs. I am so happy about this approach - I much prefer that over handwritten army lists or looking everything up in rule and army books. That was one of the playability features in Demonworld, for example. And as much as I love the WH40K IP and minis, I just hate the work to compile an army list and write down or memorize all unit specific special rules.

Slow-Mo Piquet: Game 4, the story without the die rolls

As for previous Piquet games (here and here), after detailed game logs with all initiative pips and die rolls which are more for my own reference, I also want to post one summary with the story of the battle as it evolved.

You can click on the pictures to see a larger version, as always.

The previous two battles were kind of meeting encounters between retreating troops and the vanguard of the pursuers. This time I wanted to go for a classical linear battle, as outlined in the setting.

So as planned, the first few turns here and here were spent marching the armies on the table in long march columns organized by wings. 

The Empire received an extra move card as part of the army characterization, and were allowed to march on the table in two parallel columns. Although the Prussians stole a march on them in turn one with a timely heroic action, overall it began to show soon that the Empire would be deployed into line formation before the Prussians were ready. 

At the end of turn three, the Empire infantry on the right are already starting to form into line formation while the infantry intended for the Prussian center are still marching (dangerously close to the enemy cavalry in front of the villages on their side). On the Prussians far right, the skirmishing Frei infantry keep the deployed line of three Kurmainz battalions in check.

As you can see in the picture above, the Empire's Ansbach Dragoons are closing in on the Prussian infantry center while they are still in column of route. The Dragoons wasted no time and brushed one Prussian Fusilier battalion off the table with a quick charge. 

On the left and in the center, the Empire had formed line before the Prussians did, but got stuck in a fruitless firefight and, eventually, in a fatal attack where two (!) Kurmainz battalions were pushed back by the skirmishing Wunsch Frei-infantry, one of them even routing off the table in total disarray.

The protracted firefight on the Empire left. Frustrated because they completely failed to impress the opposing skirmishers, the Kurmainz battalions charge and are beaten back soundly by Wunsch.

In the center (as on the unfortunate left) the Empire is evolving its columns into line formation ahead of the Prussians, with the reformed Dragoons holding the Prussian Hussars at bay.

Things are very crowded, though, as the Empire struggles to develop two mutually supporting lines.

A view of the Empire center, which is actually getting crowded as the Empire reserves already advance to take pressure of their unlucky left flank units. The Croats have advanced to the tip of the hill on the Empire right.

The Ansbach Dragoons try to force another hole into the still forming Prussian line, but are thrown back by the Malachovsky Hussars who cause a one base loss with a timely counter attack.

The situation after the cavalry clash on the Empire right flank

In turn 6, there is general fighting along the line, but mostly inconclusive fire back and forth. 

Then, the cavalry fight on the Prussians left flank escalates, with Malachovsky Hussars charging Ansbach Dragoons, routing them but breaking itself on the Empire Grenadiers behind the Dragoons. 

Prussian left wing after the cavalry fight - Ansbach Dragoons are runnimg off the table at half strength, Malachovsky Hussars have been wiped out by fire from the combined Kurmainz and Ernestinisch Sachsen Grenadiers.

On the Prussian right, the skirmishing Wunsch Freikorps continue their unbelievable heroics, routing a Kurmainz batallion in a very close melee (tied die roll resolved in favor of the attacking Prussians). 

The skirmishing Wunsch Freikorps watch their opponents turn from "line" into "run" formation

The resulting gap in the Empire's left flank, and even more in its depleted morale chip pool, essentially forces the Empire to retreat despite all of its valiant efforts and local victories. 

I have played out a little bit of that retreat, and it might be fun one day to complete a retreat until all losing units are off the table, but here the Empire line was still organized enough, and the Prussians so cautious, that it didn't seem worth the effort and I ended the game a few initiative rolls after this.

Empire troops are beginning to retreat, Prussian infantry advances cautiously as the Empire center still has full strength battalions firing at them.

Learnings for future games

I had to relearn most items from the last game:

• cav units (not just elites) would have counted as two for army size determination - with my growing army sizes this is getting relevant as armies will get over the minimum three card allotment
• cavalry charging skirmishers does not have to wait for cav move, they can attack on an (opportunity?) pip
• movement in III/IV also allows all units more than 12" from an enemy to move (and all movement cards allow formation changes to such units). This is important if I play out the marching into battle.

And I ran into one new complication: I got confused how many morale chips can be lost in one melee. 

I saw some weird corner cases, like the Prussian battalion losing a melee by a factor of three (routing it) but with very low die rolls (few bases lost), so they were off the table with fewer chips lost than some Empire units who remained on the table and rejoined the fight after rallying, but lost multiple chips in high-roll, close results. 

For some time I thought there should be at most one morale chip loss per lost melee, not multiples for losing, becoming disordered, stand losses etc. But rereading the rules it seems clear that these chip losses add up, so a single unit with one or two unfortunate melee results can eat up five or more chips. Somehow this means that even if they remain on the table and not routing, a small number of damaged units can ruin the whole army's morale. 

I'll try to make myself believe that is historical until the suspension of disbelief fails even worse in future games.