Tomorrow's War run-through

USMC entered from west. Pilot located in fenced-in area in center.

Running a little behind here. As previously noted, October through December is very hectic these days. But we're catching up! A couple weeks ago, Maurice and I sat down to try out Tomorrow's War. I've heard good things about the game, even if it isn't exactly my oeuvre. But always open to new and interesting gaming experiences. (A couple guys at the local store note that my crew is always trying out new and different games, that's a good reputation to have I think.)

The pic above is our attempt to recreate "Lost and Found," the 'rescue the downed pilot' scenario from the book. And by recreate, I mean Maurice made an effort to get the map as close as he could. Which of course lead to me mocking him, but I guess that reflects more on me than him, but hey.  (I also asked if I could just shoot the pilot, naturally. Stupid Interstellar Geneva Convention!)

My Kontrol Battalion played the role of the slightly more numerous but less technologically equipped 'bad guys.' There was a downed pilot, holed up in the open next to a rough building. (We don't like to use the term 'human shield.') His USMC forces had to enter the area, where Kontrol troops were set up in ambush, collect the pilot (Sgt. MacGuffin!), and leave the board off the same edge.

This sounded like an easy day for my side... and I was dramatically mistaken. The good guys had a higher training/quality level, meaning they were rolling d8s, while I was rolling d6s. Most rolls are oppossed, and compared directly. Meaning it was easy for him to negate even my best rolls, repeatedly.

So yeah. I started in position, and didn't even have to maneuver much (I did send the command squad into the building, but it didn't help them.) I could have repositioned my far west squad to try and 'cut off' the good guys... but I don't see how they wouldn't have just maneuvered around. or focused their fire on the blocking squad, and kept moving anyways.

Some other players have tried out the same scenario, to a similar end, as noted in this thread. The rules aren't bad, but man, unequal training levels really hurt. I'm not against giving the game another go, but I really want to read up on how to make it more of a fair fight for both sides while keeping things interesting.