The View from the Turret

AT-43 Operation Damocles — Review

Posted on 05Sep08 Updated on 16Aug09

Operation Damocles Campaign Book (not to be confused with the Operation Damocles Initiation Set) is one of the latest campaign books for Rackham’s AT-43 sci-fi miniatures game. Physically the book is the same as the other AT-43 books. It is a 61-page softcover with full color glossy pages. As with the other books, OD includes great artwork and pictures of studio painted models many not seen in previous publications.

Operation Damocles is broken into three main parts. First is the fluff (fiction) of the OD campaign. For those unfamiliar with OD, it is the assault of a Therian factory world by the U.N.A. and Red Blok with the Karmans showing up for their own purposes. OD is the main background story from the Inititian Set and the AT-43 rulebook. The fluff is interesting and answers some questions raised in the fiction of other previous products. Second are the campaign rules and new rules. Lastly are the scenarios themselves.

In board wargame terms OD is essentially a scenario pack. What makes it a campaign is that the scenarios are linked and together form the story of the Operation Damocles campaign. Units can earn experience points to buy decorations/bonuses to improve unit performance. The new equipment and routines are interesting and add some variety to play. The decorations/bonuses for units are the real meat and vary from something as simple as the ability to re-roll a morale test to a unit being able to move and shoot. There are also some new rules such as Artillery Strike, Propaganda, and Karman bullet time. Some of these are supposed to have cards for use during play (such as Doors and Nanopertubations) but my book had no cards. This seems to be a problem with all the books initially released. Supposedly you can contact Fantasy Flight Games directly for the cards.

The scenarios themselves are broken into three phases, one for each level of the factory world. Level 1 scenarios are somewhat more open with Levels 2 and 3 usually in very tight rooms or debris littered areas. The scenarios use a mix of OD Initiation Set maps and AT-43 Reversible Gaming Tiles so you will need both to play all of the included scenarios. The scenarios are varied and well done — They are presented in typical AT-43 fashion and include a map for setup and deployment as well as descriptions of the forces available, objectives, and special rules. There are twelve new scenarios in total.

The book wraps up with the official rules for Colonel Stark and Copperhead (same pages as previously available by pdf) as well as two pages of errata that cover the main rulebook and all the currently available army books. Overall the Operation Damocles Campaign Book is a great value for the money. The various new rules, decorations and bonuses add variety to play and the scenario mix is excellent.