The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Bluebird Toys (UK) Ltd. The Mulberrys Kembrey Park Swindon Wiltshire United Kingdom SN2 6YP 01793-437800

Havok - Skirmish Set

This SF Figure Wargame was an attempt from 1997 to try and cash in on the Warhammer market from a British Toy company that suffered from Bad Marketing.

They released too early for the Christmas Rush.
They locked into a deal with a catalogue shop, which meant that it became impossible to buy specific units for the game, as you could only buy random figures.

However, the basic set is surfacing in toy shops at knockdown rates, and should be even cheaper now after Christmas, and it is worth a look. originally £11.95 (about $17.95), and has been seen for as low as £4.95 ($8.00).

For your money you get

a set of rules
two rulers used to measure movement and range
10 figures - Per Side, with decals and assembly instructions. Comes "pre-painted".
- One "Giant Robot Like" Battle-Form
- One Battle Form Warrior. Superior, blight armoured Human
- Three normal troops
8 Dice, two normal six siders, and six special "Combat" sixsiders
Four bits of carboard ruined cityscape
26 cards with Statistics for different unit types. Each Unit has statistics for SPEED, FIREPOWER, CLOSE COMBAT, PSYKE, ARMOUR, STRENGTH and ARMOUR. 1

The setting of the game is supposed to be a struggle between the Karn, invaders from an alien universe, and the Nexus, survivors of the various forces from "our" universe. Add to that an Alien Species called the Pterovore who predate on both sides and you have the background.

The rules are introduced in a step by step format,

Introductory has a static fire fight
Intermediate brings movement, ranges for combat, line of sight, cover and simple close combat
The full game expands the close combat rules and Psyke (Psionic) Combat
There is a point system for Army Building

So, how does it all work.

After a roll to decide for initiative, each side moves one unit TYPE at a time. So if you have five Line Troopers amongst your Army and you want to move one, you move all at the same time. After all movement has been completed then Ranged or Close combat can be undertaken. Each Ruler suppplied with the game is divided into halves, for each unit of SPEED the unit has it can move one of these half-divisions of a ruler. Only some units can move after firing.

Once the first side has moved and fired one unit type, the other player moves and fires one of his or hers until all units have been moved and fired.

Range of Firefights is determined by these same Half-ruler divisions.

One half division is SHORT Range.
Between one half-division and a full ruler is Medium Range and
Between one full ruler and the length of the second is LONG Range

To resolve Fire Combat

each Unit rolls a number of the Red Combat dice equal to its firepower to see how many times the Unit hits its target. These dice have three blank sides, two sides showing a Skull and one side showing an explosion. Each Skull means ONE hit on a target, a blank means a miss and an explosion means a SHOT ON TARGET and roll another Combat Die. If you get yet another explosion then keep on going until you get a blank or a Skull.
You divide the number of shots on target by the Strength of the Target and for every whole number (ie, forget remainders) you have a chance to penetrate armour. That is the number of HITS.
Finally to check if you HAVE penetrated you roll a normal die for each HIT and if you get greater than the ARMOUR of the target then you have eliminated it.

Range modifies the number of dice rolled, and Units may combine fire so that weaker units have a chance to take out stronger. Cover adds to the effective Strength of a Unit, reducing the number of HITS a unit takes.

A similar system is used for Close Combat, but if playing the full rules then engaged units weaken every round in combat and it can be possible to mob opponents. Psyke combats are always ONE on ONE affairs.

The variety of Infantry, "Jump" Infantry and Vehicle Units ensures some variety, and the game actually plays quite quickly, despite the long winded explanation above. There are holes in the rules, like for moving around corners, but a moment's thought resolves most arguments

If full price this game wouldn't be worth the money. Other units have to be bought at a fairly pricey rate per pack of three infantry or one vehicle, but at the discount rates, and the fact you could always use some-one elses' figures for the game, make this worthwhile. It's a fun wee game with nice-light rules.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)