Always a pleasure: March 2010

AT-43 is a game.
AT-43 is a wargame.
AT-43 is a sci-fi wargame.
AT-43 is a miniatures sci-fi wargame.
AT-43 is a French miniatures sci-fi wargame.

The game follows the line of Warhammer or any other tactical miniature wargame. Therefore and basically, the game is a battle between at least two players, each commands an army represented by plastic miniatures.

However the game has some peculiarities which makes it quite different compared to similar games.

AT-43 is an army based game.

That means that there are several different armies from which the players can choose which one to play. Each army has a different way or approach to technology and war, some are fast but light armoured, other are slow but heavy, one can be more infantry oriented, another will rely more on tanks and so on.

For a battle, both players will agree previously the amount of Army Points (APs) they are going to field. Every single unit on the game has a value on APs and therefore the agreed amount of APs will determine the size and the strength of the combating forces.

A normal game uses 2000 APs, divided in an Assault force and a Reinforcement force. For a total force of 2000 APs there is a maximum of 1500 APs for the Assault force and the rest (at least 500 APs) for the Reinforcements.

The Assault force enters the game directly on the 1st round (usually, there are however exceptions) but the Reinforcement units will have to wait until the Assault units have captured enough secondary objectives to generate enough Reinforcement Points (RPs) to bring the Reinforcement units into the battle field.

Every army has a basic Army build pattern and four factions which offer another four alternative Army build patterns. Those five Army build patterns are use to build up the Army, which means that in order to spend the 2000 APs of our force we are required to field certain type of units as defined in the choosen pattern. For example, the ARC faction of the Red Block is based mainly in infantry units, however the Frontline faction of the Red Block is much more tank based. So 2000 APs of a Red Block ARC will look or field very different units than a Red Block Frontline force.

The four basic Armies of the game are U.N.A., Therians, Red Block and Kharmans. Another two, new Armies are available since some months (Cogs and O.N.I.) and another one (Kriggs) is in the production phase.

AT-43 is an objectives based game.

Every battle has two different classes of objectives. On the battle field there will be different points or positions, for example a bunker, a communication antenna or another Tactical Marker which has to be controlled by the players. By controlling a primary objective the controlling player will get a fix amount of Victory Points (VPs). Usually a battle or scenario is won by the first player able to achieve 20 VPs.

The control of a secondary objective gives Reinforcement Points (RPs) which are used to move units from the Reinsforcements into the Reserve of the assault force and then into the battlefield.

A player controls an objective by placing more soldiers at less than 10cm of the objective than its opponent. Usually only soldiers can control objectives, Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) can not control objectives.

Therefore an Army should field both, soldiers and AFVs. There are some exceptions to this, however

AT-43 is a sequence based game.

Every battle is played in rounds. A round is divided in three Phases.

The 1st Phase is the planning Phase. Each player decides the sequence in which its units are going to act. This is achieved by the use of cards. Each card represents one of the units of the Army and at the begining of each round, at the planning Phase, each player chooses the sequence of its cards in secret and places the cards face down on the table in the order in which the units have to be activated and played.

Once the Activation Sequence has been done, the players determine which one will act first. This marks the end of the planning Phase.

The next Phase is the Tactical Phase. The 1st player reveals the first card of its sequence, activates the represented unit and resolves the possible movement and actions of the unit. When the first player finishs the activation of its first unit, the second player reveals its first card and proceeds to activate its first unit. This process is repeated until both played have been able to activate all the units in their Assault force.

In this way the activation of the fighting forces alternates between the two players.

The last Phase, the Control Phase, simply consists on checking which units control which objetives, the asignation of the corresponding VPs and RPs and eventually the transfer of units from the Reinforcement into the Assault Force by paying the required amount of RPs. The card representing the Reinforcement unit is added to the activation sequence and enters the battle the next round.

Questions ?