Trilaterum

[Greyhart]

I went to CaptainCon this weekend, giving Heavy Gear and Jovian Wars demos, but still had some time to browse.

The booth right next to me was Trench Coat Miniatures. They have some "15mm" (not really, but whatever..) games, the main one is 'Trilaterum'. It's a simple and fast sci-fi game on a small scale and I was intrigued so I started doing some online investigating.

The game 2-player starter is cheap, $45 US and contains minis, rulebook, reference sheet, tape measure, dice and tokens (crafting beads actually but I think that's genius). All you need are a mat and terrain. Each army box contains 1000 points and is a FULL army, nothing else required.. for $30 US. This is normally about 8-10 bases of minis and a vehicle.

The 3D printed minis are a bit cartoonish if I had to pick a word, but to me, that lends to their simple charm. Check out their line of minis. If you don't chuckle at some of them there's something wrong with you. You'll see what I mean when you go look, and you will.

One review that I read had me wanting a demo. The poster said, "It's like a beer and pretzels 40K, but fun!" So Saturday morning I arrived early and got a demo. YES. It was FUN! I enjoyed it so much I bought the starter and two army boxes and a couple extra big models for the whopping cost of $125 US. For the game and essentially FOUR COMPLETE ARMIES I thought it was a steal compared to some other games I play.

Two of my friends had demos and each promptly purchased the starter and an army.

I recommend it if you want something a little lighter to play. It definitely doesn't take itself too seriously.

I began working on one of the starter armies this morning. Unfortunately I'm still recovering from messing up my back and sciatic nerve so the time I can spend at my desk is limited for now.

I'll be posting my - probably slow - progress on them in my hobby blog thread.

 

[Ben_S]

Just had a quick look. Some of the ranges (such as the Gatacans) have quite a familiar style.

 

[Greyhart]

Just had a quick look. Some of the ranges (such as the Gatacans) have quite a familiar style.

You don't say..

 

[Greyhart]

Yesterday my best fiend.. er friend and I played a game of Trilaterum. As requested by @Biggle_Bear here's the write up and pictures. Be aware, this may either be long, or several posts.

We played on a 3' x 3' mat (made by my wife), so deployment was cut down by 3" as the game is usually played on a 4' x 4' (I don't have the room).

The play area.

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Forces were 1250 points.

My army, the Gatacans.

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My friends army, the Barad.

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[Greyhart]

Turn one after deployment.

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The scenario we rolled was "Hunt Them Down". After determining Attacker (me) and Defender, the defending player had to place 3 units in the center of the board and then deploy his remaining units up to 9" in from the table edge. The attacking player then deployed his units 9" in. Goal is for the Attacker to destroy those 3 units to win. The game lasts 6 turns.

I'm not going to do a unit-by-unit blow-by-blow write up. Rather I'll summarize key points in each turn. As attacker I went first. Each player activates up to 3 units, each having two actions of various types to choose from, then the other player does the same until all units have activated.

During Turn 1 I lost one of my jet bikes to indirect fire from a hover platform, along with one of my Wraithgu.. I mean Pneuma Infantry to concentrated fire from the three enemy units in the center of the table.

My friend lost one of the 3 units in the center of the table and withdrew the other two to heavy cover. One of his hover platforms self-destructed due to weapons failure, while another was suppressed due to jammed weapons.

 

[Greyhart]

Turn Two beginning of turn.

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My Soul Harvesters on top of the building ended up suppressed due to jammed weapons, as did my remaining Pneuma Infantry. One infantry stand blew themselves up due to weapons malfunction.

My friend had an even worse time as I managed to take down one infantry and two hover platforms. He suppressed one of his platforms due to jammed weapons and blew up another from weapons malfunction.

Turn Three beginning of turn.

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I didn't lose any units this turn due to horrible dice rolls on my friends part.

He lost three infantry (one of which was one of the three I was trying to take out) and once again blew up a hover platform due to weapons malfunction.

 

[Greyhart]

Turn Four begining of turn.

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Once again no losses for me.

I managed to hunt down and destroy his last units tabling him and winning the game.

End of game.

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Normally our games aren't like this going much more back and forth but the dice gods were really against him yesterday.

 

[Greyhart]

For those of you wondering about all the "jammed weapons" and "weapons malfunctions", here's the mechanics in a nutshell..

Each unit has an Attack value that is the number of D8 you roll. You must roll over the target's defense to hit. Each dice that hits MAY be rolled again, going until you roll all misses or you roll a 1. Note that you don't HAVE to push the roll if you don't want to, but you can get more hits by doing it. It's a risk/reward mechanic. If you get a 1, you roll on a chart to see what happens, it can be good, indifferent, or bad. A 5 means that you're Suppressed (may not do anything and just wasted your attack), an 8 means that something went wrong with your weapons and the unit is removed.

Once again, I highly recommend the game. It's inexpensive, easy to learn, fast to play, and just plain FUN! The gang at Trench Coat Minis are awesome and their customer service is excellent.
There are SO many armies to choose from that you're sure to find one that fits you, and they're releasing more all the time.

If people like this I'll post the next battle we have.