Search
Review of Michael T. Desing's Army Ants RPG
 Goto [ Index ] |
The Premise
This game is based on an odd independent comic of the same name. Here goes. You are an ant. You are in the ant army. You fight all other bugs that are the enemy of the ants. So there is not much of a premise. This isn't A Bugs Life. You are humanoid and the beetles and crickets that fight alongside you aren't much bigger than you are. So it is closer to an insect anthropomorphic game (or is that ant-thropomorphic? Ok Ok I'll stop) The game is actually written by the same guy who does the comic so everything fits together nicely.
The Book
The book is 128 pages, softbound and is a strange size. Its only 7" x 10" (legal? A4?). The size of the book doesn't hurt as each page is crammed with stuff, but it does make the book hard to keep open to a particular page. The interior is a typical two column format. The layout is clean with art and charts abounding. And, because it was written by the comic artist himself, the art is all consistent. Strange but consistent. Nothing has a mouth!
The Introduction
The book starts with a fifteen page comic serving as a good introduction to those unfamiliar with Army Ant's main characters and feel, myself included here. The comic also does a good job at setting the mood that is more Rat Patrol than Saving Private Ryan. After the comic is a short, thankfully, one page introduction to role-playing. That is not much of a problem because those new to role-playing would probably have a hard time finding this game anyway.
Character Creation
Each character first must pick a race of the four described (Ant, Beetle, Cricket, and Lady bug). These bugs are the good guys. Each bug race gets a one page write up with a description of their societies, military structures, physical appearance et al. All bugs except ants get a special ability.
After choosing your race you need to pick a Specialty (read Template) for your character. Each race gets certain choices with Ants able to be anything. All the Specialties are military related, no surprise here, and range from such things as Infantry, Airborne, Pilot, Tanks Driver, Engineer, Heavy Weapons etc. The simplicity of the character creation process means that all characters with the same specialty are pretty much the same. While in a high-drama or fantasy game that would be unforgivable, here it doesn't bother me. The characters are supposed to be grunt privates just out of boot camp where conformity is trained into them. Besides, the army is no place for wimpy psychological disadvantages such as Love-Struck or Code Against Killing. There are thirteen specialties presented with rules on making your own.
Once you have picked your specialties you have set your Attributes (MIND, BODY, and SPEED). Now you need to roll your Abilities. Each Attribute has two Abilities, EX: BODY has Power and Stamina. Each Ability is determined by rolling 1 D6 and adding the appropriate Attribute. If your GM is nice, he will let you re-roll any '1's.
Each Specialty starts the character with a set number of skills. Each skill has an associated Ability and a difficulty level. The difficulty ranges from Automatic to Complex. The difficulty of the skill affects how many experience points it takes to advance the skill one level. This is a great idea and is something most other games of this type, such as Star Wars, should have. The descriptions of the skills are usually good, listing when the skill is used and factors that will contribute to or hinder its success. The Tinkering skills (weapon and vehicle) are especially detailed, describing all the modifications and improvements the characters can make to the equipment assigned to them.
This game has levels. But aside from giving characters an extra hit at 4th and 7th level, a character's level is mainly used to determine his rank. Each level has a minimum and maximum rank. If you gain a level and your maximum rank increases, you can roll, adding modifiers based on your performance in the last couple of missions, and if you roll high enough you are promoted. Why do you care what your rank is? Well, rank affects what is probably your most important characteristic: Clout. Each weapon or tank or helicopter has a Clout Cost. Roll your Clout dice versus the item's Clout Cost when you attempt to requisition an item. Since you start as a buck Private with zero Clout and a heavy tank costs thirteen dice, you'd better get crackin'.
Of course, now that you have a rank you need a name and serial number. Ants use simple names like Joe and Zack.
The System
Well, how should I put this? The game system is pretty much a simplified version of the D6 system used in Star Wars. It is simplified in that each skill only goes up to 5D6 and there are no half dice. Abilities are added to rolls as straight numbers, so if you have a Small Arms skill of 1D6, you would roll 1D6 + you Reflex Ability (say 5) for 1D6+5. Difficulty is not a straight numbers as it is in Star Wars, but rather a number of dice from one to nine. Having random difficulties reduces the need for a wild die, which, thankfully, is not present.
Bonuses are usually extra dice or a +1 or +2. Penalties add dice to the opposition roll. For example, if you are firing a gun at long range, you roll your Small Arms skill versus your opponent's Dodge skill. Your opponent gets a 2D6 bonus to his Dodge roll because of the range. High number wins.
Combat
Combat is broken up into rounds, of course, with each character getting two or three actions each round depending on their SPEED Attribute. Each action can be used to fire a weapon or move. Firing compares the skill in your particular weapon with the opponent's Dodge modified by range and cover. If you roll higher, you hit.
Each weapon has a certain number of damage dice that are rolled and compared to the victim's Stamina Ability. If the damage roll is higher, he loses one Stamina Level. These levels go from Winded to Dazed to Stunned to Unconscious to Dead. If the damage roll is greater then two times your Stamina, you lose two levels etc. Except for some quirky rules on rate of fire, the combat is simple and well organized.
Hand to hand combat is similar. There are various skills related to armed and unarmed melee. In addition, there are options to disarm or grab your opponent.
The Other Stuff
In addition to the usual rules, there are rules for combat with land, air, and sea (ok, more like pond) vehicles. Rules for blowing up bunkers and buildings. Buttloads of weapons and military hardware. Thirty seven intelligent NPC races ranging from the tiny Gnat to the mighty Mantis, four NPC-only Specialties, and three NPC-only skills and eighteen predators. Predators are the big boys like lizards and mice. To fight these, you will need an army. Unfortunately, you ARE the army.
There are also some simple but effective rules for fighting large scale battles as well as a little, but not enough, information on running an Army Ant campaign.
The Ratings
Style
The style is clean and efficient, cramming lots of information into its 128 small pages. Every inch of every page is covered with information and art, with almost no white space. The art is usually topical and does a good job setting the mood. The layout is logical, although I would have put the weapons and vehicle information after the chapter on game mechanics. Rules are clearly described and important rules and charts are hilighted in easy to read boxes. One great thing is that this book has been proofread; I have yet to find an obvious mistake. While it may lack the flash of 7th Sea, this little game could be a model of all small company publications. I give it a 4. Certainly better than the average but not so much that people talk about how 'cool' it looks.
Substance
Ok, this is where the ratings get complicated. This game is exactly what it claims to be and has pretty much everything you would need to run a campaign set in the Army Ant universe. I am going to dock a point because of the lack of a good introductory scenario and specific campaign material. It is a steal at $15. You get far more than other $15 games such as Big Eyes, Small Mouths (I liked that game too, just not as much).
So what do you do with an obscure game based on an obscure comic? I'm not sure. Since the ants are humanoid and pretty generic, you could easily use these rules to run a game set in a modern Soldier of Fortune type campaign, such as one based on Dennis Rodman's Special Ops Force. Converting millimeters to feet gets the scale up to human dimensions. Or, you could ignore some of the more advanced weapons for some zany WWII action like in the old show Combat (or the aforementioned Rat Patrol). Whatever you do, don't overlook this little book. It is certainly a change from the grim and gritty games currently flooding the market these days.
Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
