C.A.V. (Combat Assault Vehicle) is Reaper Miniatures’ latest entry into the mecha miniatures arena. Fans of Steve Jackson’s OGRE and Battletech will be happily surprised by this very capable game system and miniatures line. If you’ve already got micro armor-type models including mecha miniatures, you should have little trouble using them in C.A.V. and the C.A.V. models look like they would easily ‘port into any mecha game you’re already playing.
While I didn’t receive any miniatures from the CAV line to review, they look pretty doggone good to me. Check them out for yourself at www.cavhq.com. They’ve also got scenarios and information on buying decals and terrain stuff from other companies.
THE C.A.V. UNIVERSE
The book is very well organized and is sectioned off into two main areas: background and rules. All art and photos are black and white, but very nicely done. I was a little disappointed about the lack of color photos, but then again, I don’t want the price for the book to rocket above the $25 asking price which is fairly comparable to similar products.
I am not a big fan of cramming game background into the rules section or vice versa. To my thinking, if a gamer wants to learn about the third world war according to the game’s author then he should be able to refer to the background section of the gamebook. Likewise, if all a player wants to know about is the rules and how to play, then the game rules section should answer his questions. I really appreciate not having to weed one out from the other.
The first 83 pages of the book are devoted strictly to the CAV universe. The game universe has the typical far future bent with various political factions including aliens and artificial intelligence vying for military supremacy through the use of infantry, armor and mecha (CAVs). In addition to CAV history, each faction receives a decent write-up with background, iconography for painting inspiration and the breakdown of each government’s military hierarchy. Famous divisions, regiments, etc. are also listed for players who want to really get into the setting and maybe make up “historically-based” units to duke out certain battles.
Technical readouts and schematics for various armored vehicles, primarily CAVs, are featured in the universe section. Advertisements and classifieds for anything from mercenary outfits to military equipment salvage sales are available on many pages of the universe section and help add to the flavor of the game.
Overall, the game history seems useful enough and if that’s your bag, then there’s more than enough stuff to base a decent RPG in there--though rules for doing it are not included nor expected. GURPS, d20, FUDGE, Alternity, etc, would all do well with this setting if you wanted to role-play.
Now, my personal favorite part of any miniatures game is the rules. The last 30 or so pages of the book encompass the CAV game itself. Included with the rules are those oh-so-important references such as 13 pages of data cards (stats for vehicles and infantry), an FAQ on the rules, and a data summary sheet that has all the tables players need to consult to carry out a battle.
A brief summary of turn sequence and how to use the playing cards to carry things out in a game turn would have been helpful.
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY
In order to play, you’ll need miniatures, the book I’m reviewing, several six, eight and ten-sided dice (d6, d8, d10), a deck of playing cards and a playing area plus any terrain the players may want. Players may use either a hex map or a standard gaming area with measured distances on which to play. If you use the measured distance option, a tape measure or ruler would be another nice thing to have.
Models (CAVs, vehicles, infantry) make up a player’s army and each piece has a certain points value as many minis game pieces do. Both players agree on a points limit before a game and build their army within those point limits. Models are grouped into “sections” of four models each with each player being allowed to field a single section of less than four models to make up for points differences. Sections operate as discrete elements during a game turn so it’s a good idea to have some way of identifying THAT set of vehicles from THIS set (e.g. paint schemes, numbers, coloring their bases the same, etc.)
THE GAME TURN
The game turn is very simple, consisting of three phases: Initiative, Action and End.
The first phase is Initiative Phase. During INITIATIVE PHASE, a “deck” of cards is made with a card representing each section (see below) that a player has; so if you and I were playing and each of us had three sections, we would each place three cards (you could use reds and I could use blacks) into a common deck for six cards total. The cards are shuffled and the top card is turned over. Whoever has that color, suit, whatever gets to proceed to the ACTION PHASE with one of his/her sections.
During ACTION PHASE, the acting player may move, shoot and communicate with any one his sections that has not already gone for that turn. Once that section has completed its allowed actions, it’s time to turn over the next card to see who goes next until both players sections have had an action phase with each section for the turn. Note: Deployment for each side works in a similar manner with each side placing a unit on the table a player’s corresponding card is turned over.
The END PHASE simply occurs once both players have had an ACTION PHASE for each of their sections that turn. At that point, the cards get reshuffled and a new turn starts.
One truly cool idea is the use of off board command structure. This is a simple, but original idea to simulate an army’s use of intelligence assets like satellites or spies to help with deployment and initiative. Players can spend points for off-board command assets just like points for models on the board. These assets translate into additional cards that can be used during the deployment and initiative phases
MODEL STATISTICS AND GAMEPLAY
The stats or Data Cards for each vehicle had me seriously worried at first glance. There is a lot of information on those bad boys and all I could think was “this is an awful lot of stuff here”. Fortunately, I took the time to read through the explanation of each of those sections and it really isn’t that much once you do that. Don’t let the appearance of over complexity daunt you. This game really does a good job of marrying simulation with fairly straightforward (and comprehensive) games rules.
Models have Damage Points, which track how much damage they can take (duh). The novel approach (to me at least) that CAV takes is that every time your vehicle/unit loses a damage point, you refer over to the next column to see what its performance stats are now that it‘s damaged. That is, the more damage a unit takes, the worse it performs, eventually getting to the point where the player will have to make decisions like whether or not he will move OR fire since the unit has taken too much damage to do both actions in the same turn.
A model’s movement is based on a certain number of movement points per turn. A turn of this much costs this many points, moving forward costs that much, etc. This is pretty clear-cut except where you get into the movement modifier table that lets you determine how much terrain affects your movement. The table presented in the rules seems to do a good job of simulating the effects of mud, snow, rubble etc, but at the cost of breaking up the action to whip out the calculator. For the player who just HAS to know how much quicker his vehicle moves on the road as opposed to normal terrain, then the option is there.
I’ve never been one for dealing with a lot of math during the heat of battle and I’m afraid I’ve decided to forego using these rules all together. This a personal issue, I admit, and the game is actually more complete for having these rules. I just don’t personally like them. Gotta say though that it’s always easier to drop a rule that you don’t use or like rather than inventing one to cover something the designer failed to address.
Units basically have two types attacks: ranged and close assault (duh). Ranged attacks are further broken down into: direct (machine guns, lasers, cannon) and indirect (think mortars). Both ranged attacks and close assault rules are well explained in the rules and the author is kind enough to provide easily followed examples (most with photographs). Of particular convenience is the author’s continued explanation of what happens if the player is using hex-mats or measured distance since there is some difference.
The rules take into account everything from cover to the guy pressing the cannon trigger’s skill and d10s are used to resolve these actions. Most actions are done using opposed rolls (attacker rolls dice and defender rolls dice with the attacker needing to beat the defender in order to succeed). The d6s and d8s mentioned previously are used to track damage on models.
The game really is good at simulating what it would probably be like to actually use mechas and other armored vehicle. CAV is also tailor made for players who want to field models with a personal feel. Vehicles can be built (within certain parameters) to carry specific weapons mixes, to increase vehicle performance and vehicle crew members can be selected individually based on their skill to make unique elements within a section.
Vehicle crews can really be used to give an armored model “character”. A vehicle’s abilities are based in part on how well they are operated and crew members range from regular to veteran to elite to ace with corresponding bonuses for using the vehicle’s weaponry and equipment. Just like weapons options, advanced crew (with their bonuses) cost points in order to field.
Just about any factor of future combat is represented. For example, attacking models can try to boost their shooting abilities by achieving “lock-on” while defenders can use electronic counter measures to try to thwart their attackers. There are also two parts of unit operation that really do make the game more intense: Repair and Power Allocation.
Each turn, a model may attempt to make repairs (infantry units can also do this, but it’s the medic that’s doing the fixing). A dice roll against the unit’s repair stat is required to pull this off and movement negatively impacts the chances of a repair succeeding--you try to suture a marine or adjust a CAV’s thermal coupler while you’re booking across a stump-riddled field. If a vehicle or infantry unit succeeds at a repair, then it regains a damage point and any capabilities associated with that. Nothing like sweating that roll when you’ve got one damage point left and the merest hint of cover between you and a section of Spectre CAVs.
Power Allocation is another nail-biting element which really comes into play later in the game when a vehicle has taken damage. Movement, weapons use and just about anything else a vehicle does requires a certain level of power. A pristine, restocked CAV’s reactor has no problem providing enough juice to walk down the street and chew bubble gum at the same time. But the player of a CAV with only a couple of damage points left gets to start making interesting, if not pleasant, decisions such as “move or shoot”. Praying is usually in there somewhere and fortunately doesn’t require power allocation.
SUMMARY
Overall, CAV is a really good game of micro-armor/mecha combat and I would recommend it to anyone who plays mecha games or who is interested in getting into this genre. As with virtually all war games, the rules require a good reading in order to avoid confusion, but proper organization of game information and frequent rules examples help to reduce misunderstandings. This is a solid product.
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)