Ahoy, all.
Background: A friend from work convinced me now that 2023 seems to have possibly brought us a "settled in" edition of the core rules*, to give N23 a go. With no pit slave rebellions available that are not ogryn, I had thought to make use of my much-adored cannibal dinosaur chickens from SPACE as Ash Waste Nomads, but was eventually convinced by said friend from work to give Crimson Oracle's "Kroot Farstalkers" a test drive.
So far: So far, games have been against Delaque, which have similar strengths: Cunning primary, for example. In games to date, when our numbers are low (four to six fighters), the Kroot get run off quickly and easily, in no small part due to their poorer mental/social characteristics than the Delaque. In numbers, hoewever (eight fighters, say), they are a distinct threat. Partly this may be my "ratskins" playstyle, where coordination and splitting out opponents' fighters is key. Worth noting, though, at no point have they seriously outnumbered their opponents until folks start going out of action. Also worth noting, the 2023 Ghast Harvest scenario makes for a pile of cash for the winner, if they haven't lost a bunch of fighters to OOA. Madness. But that isn't about the Kroot.
Things I have noticed:
1. The feeding tokens come up relatively rarely (coup de gras), and then have yet to successfully make the roll to harvest them (3+). As such, the Mealtime rule is basically just a constant penalty, and really could simplify things by just writing it as such, and instead just having the "Adaptations" be something purchased on fighter hire (as currently for Leader and Champions). The Feeding Token rule ("Ravenous" and "mealtime") adds a fair bit of complication seemingly unnecessarily. Instead, at least until I have more experience with the gang, I would recommend keeping the Leader and Champions able to purchase a selected Adaptation on hire, as is currently, allowing other fighters to purchase an random roll on the Adaptations table on hire, and keeping "Ravenous" as a penalty for the gang's members, which is the role it currently has most of the time.
2. The Krootox Rider being a mounted unit has forced us to house rule the mount being allowed in non-Ash-Wastes games., as the gang does not have an unmounted prospect, and as the combined profile (some stats are the krootox, some are the rider), even if we ignored the "may not appear without the Mount" rule, the profile wouldn't be sensible for the rider only. At present, at least until I have more experience with the gang, I would suggest using the Krootox's profile for the prospect (M4 instead of M6) rather than having the "Mount" be part of the Krootox (yes, despite most Mounts affecting the fighter's movement), such that the "Mount" purchased as equipment is actually the rider (which allows the equipping of ranged and melee weapons, including the built-in suspensors). This would allow the possibility of the Krootox coming in "dismounted" (by leaving ranged weapons behind, and fighting only with fists and grenades).
As written, the only reason that Mounted rules seem to be used for the Krootox Rider is to prevent them from climbing, and to ensure a punishing dismount on being shot (with an initiative of 5+, they won't often be avoiding being pinned). As a Mount, thus restricted to Ash Wastes scenarios, the Krootox (with a move of 4") is not fast enough to participate in Rolling Road scenarios (unlike the Wasters' Dirtbike or the Ash Nomads' bugs), and is formally forbidden (without House Rules) from participating in Sector Mechanicus and Zone Mortalis scenarios.
Splitting the Krootox (and its profile) and the Rider (and its weilding guns) into two discrete elements would allow for fielding it "dismounted" in most scenarios, since the number of scenarios it can be fielded RAW is ... slim.
3. The flexibility of each fighter characteristics-wise, but also the flexibility of the Kroot Rifle as their most common weapon, makes for a nicely objective-focused Switch Hit gang that is fun to play. Yes, for thirty credits, most starting gangers CAN have a ranged weapon and a melee weapon to get them started, but it taking only one weapon slot does give them a later advantage for development, as they still have two weapon spaces open to specialize a bit. Their strength of 4 makes grenades quite viable (which is thematically appropriate, given the prevalence of grenades on Kroot minis across the range). Knockback as default has taken down a scattering of opposing fighters through falls. Play style, the DO remind me somewhat of the old Ratskins, though with less "horde," mind you the Crew rules from N17-N23 make Horde gangs less of a thing.
Their poor mental stats overall do mean that once the gang Bottles, they WILL quickly vanish. But really, my habits from N95 are that when a gang needs to start making Bottle checks, it is probably time to cut losses anyway.
Plus, of course, I love modeling my cannibal dinosaur chickens from SPAAAACE.
There. First thoughts. Will attempt to keep the thread updated as I learn more from playing them more.
Background: A friend from work convinced me now that 2023 seems to have possibly brought us a "settled in" edition of the core rules*, to give N23 a go. With no pit slave rebellions available that are not ogryn, I had thought to make use of my much-adored cannibal dinosaur chickens from SPACE as Ash Waste Nomads, but was eventually convinced by said friend from work to give Crimson Oracle's "Kroot Farstalkers" a test drive.
So far: So far, games have been against Delaque, which have similar strengths: Cunning primary, for example. In games to date, when our numbers are low (four to six fighters), the Kroot get run off quickly and easily, in no small part due to their poorer mental/social characteristics than the Delaque. In numbers, hoewever (eight fighters, say), they are a distinct threat. Partly this may be my "ratskins" playstyle, where coordination and splitting out opponents' fighters is key. Worth noting, though, at no point have they seriously outnumbered their opponents until folks start going out of action. Also worth noting, the 2023 Ghast Harvest scenario makes for a pile of cash for the winner, if they haven't lost a bunch of fighters to OOA. Madness. But that isn't about the Kroot.
Things I have noticed:
1. The feeding tokens come up relatively rarely (coup de gras), and then have yet to successfully make the roll to harvest them (3+). As such, the Mealtime rule is basically just a constant penalty, and really could simplify things by just writing it as such, and instead just having the "Adaptations" be something purchased on fighter hire (as currently for Leader and Champions). The Feeding Token rule ("Ravenous" and "mealtime") adds a fair bit of complication seemingly unnecessarily. Instead, at least until I have more experience with the gang, I would recommend keeping the Leader and Champions able to purchase a selected Adaptation on hire, as is currently, allowing other fighters to purchase an random roll on the Adaptations table on hire, and keeping "Ravenous" as a penalty for the gang's members, which is the role it currently has most of the time.
2. The Krootox Rider being a mounted unit has forced us to house rule the mount being allowed in non-Ash-Wastes games., as the gang does not have an unmounted prospect, and as the combined profile (some stats are the krootox, some are the rider), even if we ignored the "may not appear without the Mount" rule, the profile wouldn't be sensible for the rider only. At present, at least until I have more experience with the gang, I would suggest using the Krootox's profile for the prospect (M4 instead of M6) rather than having the "Mount" be part of the Krootox (yes, despite most Mounts affecting the fighter's movement), such that the "Mount" purchased as equipment is actually the rider (which allows the equipping of ranged and melee weapons, including the built-in suspensors). This would allow the possibility of the Krootox coming in "dismounted" (by leaving ranged weapons behind, and fighting only with fists and grenades).
As written, the only reason that Mounted rules seem to be used for the Krootox Rider is to prevent them from climbing, and to ensure a punishing dismount on being shot (with an initiative of 5+, they won't often be avoiding being pinned). As a Mount, thus restricted to Ash Wastes scenarios, the Krootox (with a move of 4") is not fast enough to participate in Rolling Road scenarios (unlike the Wasters' Dirtbike or the Ash Nomads' bugs), and is formally forbidden (without House Rules) from participating in Sector Mechanicus and Zone Mortalis scenarios.
Splitting the Krootox (and its profile) and the Rider (and its weilding guns) into two discrete elements would allow for fielding it "dismounted" in most scenarios, since the number of scenarios it can be fielded RAW is ... slim.
3. The flexibility of each fighter characteristics-wise, but also the flexibility of the Kroot Rifle as their most common weapon, makes for a nicely objective-focused Switch Hit gang that is fun to play. Yes, for thirty credits, most starting gangers CAN have a ranged weapon and a melee weapon to get them started, but it taking only one weapon slot does give them a later advantage for development, as they still have two weapon spaces open to specialize a bit. Their strength of 4 makes grenades quite viable (which is thematically appropriate, given the prevalence of grenades on Kroot minis across the range). Knockback as default has taken down a scattering of opposing fighters through falls. Play style, the DO remind me somewhat of the old Ratskins, though with less "horde," mind you the Crew rules from N17-N23 make Horde gangs less of a thing.
Their poor mental stats overall do mean that once the gang Bottles, they WILL quickly vanish. But really, my habits from N95 are that when a gang needs to start making Bottle checks, it is probably time to cut losses anyway.
Plus, of course, I love modeling my cannibal dinosaur chickens from SPAAAACE.
There. First thoughts. Will attempt to keep the thread updated as I learn more from playing them more.
