Other Projects: Urban War

Hi folks!

This week in my Other Projects segment, I'm going to introduce you all to my current favourite wargame: Urban War.

Urban War is a skirmish-level sci-fi game published by the Scotland-based company Urban Mammoth. It is set primarily on the war-torn planet of Kyklops, a world covered in ocean but for a single continent, whose entire surface is one huge city - Iskandria. Four galactic powers each have a share in this world. Ironglass, and their convict legions known as the Junkers. Syntha, who believe that blending man and machine is the next step in humanity's evolution. VASA, an interstellar peace-keeping force. And Viridian, a powerful corporate-funded army. Initially, they were at peace, with each faction granted their own sector in the city leaving a "free zone" in the center.
The invasion of the alien Koralon on Kyklops shattered this peace. Their arrival provoked the Syntha into unleashing their secret robotic army into the city, throwing it into chaos. Now Viridian, VASA, Ironglass and Syntha fight over the battered city while trying to defend their holdings from the Koralon invaders.


There are seven playable factions in Urban War:

Gladiators


The Gladiators are an offshoot of the Junkers. These are pit pighters who in times of peace provided entertainment for the masses in arena fights. When war broke out, they were either drafted into Junker legions, or formed bands of their own to fight for their freedom.
Gladiators specialise in close combat and short range firefights. They have many skilled specialists available, as well as the ferocious Pit Beasts.


Junkers


The convict legions of Ironglass are vast and brutal, if not very sophisticated. Even the pettiest of crimes sentences the perpetrator to a stint in the legions, so there are no shortage of recruits to throw into the fray.
Like the Gladiators, the Junkers prefer close range engagements. However, their line troops are more disposable, and their specialists tend to have heavy armour, firepower, or both.


Koralon


The Koralon are an advanced alien species who have mastered many technologies, including teleportation. The hordes of "purestrain" creatures are further bolstered by hybrids - mutated and corrupted life forms from worlds the Koralon have conquered.
What Koralon forces lack in firepower, they make up for in speed and close combat brutality. Waves of cheap hybrids can tie up the enemy while the heavy hitters use portals to get to where they are needed.


Syntha


The Syntha are guided by the artificial intelligence Prime, on their homeworld of the same name. They believe that the advancement of technology is the most important goal, and their forces reflect this with a mixture of robotic soldiers and cyber-enhanced humans.
Syntha forces are durable and can pack an incredible amount of firepower. They also have access to a few close combat units. Their key weakness is that their robotic units can be slow and inflexible.


Triads


The Triads represent Iskandria's criminal underworld. However, they only become apparent to the rest of society when it gets in the way of their goals. They believe in honour, clan loyalty and skill-at-arms.
The Triads are a flexible force, with a mixture of good ranged and close combat units, a few of which are highly maneuverable. What they lack is advanced technology and heavy armour, making them potentially fragile.


VASA


VASA are a very powerful intersteallar peacekeeping force, patrolling the trade lanes and taxing merchants heavily for the favour. Many do not welcome their almost overbearing presence, but few would be capable of standing up to their mighty fleet and armed forces.
VASA strike teams have a solid core of decent troops to choose from, both ranged and close combat. These can be supported by heavy firepower, rapid assault units, or heavily armoured battlesuits. But all of these come at a cost.


Viridian


The corporate armies of the Viridians are well equipped and trained for ranged combat. They prefer not to engage enemy forces up close in order to minimise casualties, which are highly detrimental to the government's popularity back home.
Strike-teams from Viridia rely on superior ranged firepower to win the day, and have access to a wide variety of powerful long ranged units. They have a very limited close combat ability, and can be at a disadvantage against fast foes.


As with my Babylon 5 posts, I will introduce the game mechanics with a battle report next week. What I will say about them here is that they are elegantly simple and intuitive, and yet offer a lot of depth. They place a great emphasis on tactics, so much so that you have to try really hard to handicap yourself with force selection. The true challenge is using your chosen team effectively on the field.

So next week, expect a battle report to talk you through how the game works. In further posts I will talk more about how I got into it and where I want to go, show the forces I have collected so far, and give a brief report on the tournament I attended in February.