Guihan and April

I’ve received an advanced PDF copy of the 5150: New Beginnings rule book scheduled for release at the end of the month from Two Hour Wargames. What better way to play test and review new rules than with a couple of new miniatures – Guihan and April.

With this new edition of 5150: New Beginnings, we see a final shift from a Table-Top Immersive Wargame to a Table-Top RPG (Role Playing Game) in the use of Battle Boards. But if you like miniatures and terrain, there’s no need to despair, just make your battle board a bit larger to hold terrain as backdrops – perfect example of this is the UDT, Ultimate Dungeon Terrain, from Professor Dungeon Craft often called the D&D pizza. I like using mats from Infinity. Anyway, you no longer need a ton of terrain, but you also don’t have to limit yourself to a flat board. All of these options work.

Why is there no longer a need for a large table-top? Well, like most RPGs movement occurs in the story (theater of the mind so to speak) and the battle board is only needed when called for by a Confrontation or Combat situation. There’s no need for measurement, no need for determining when a figure is in sight of another figure and no need to spend a large amount of time maneuvering a figure into position. In other words, this edition focuses more on the action of the story than the shape and layout of the table.

From a purely wargaming perspective, this is terrible – because in a wargame, the terrain or table layout is an important part of the story, often a puzzle to be solved.

However, from a role-playing perspective, this is great – because you don’t have to limit your game setting to what is on the table. In other words, I can start my encounter with some action in a bar, have some action occur in a subway car or spaceship while in transit, and conclude the action in a seedy warehouse.

So if all you are is a strict table top wargamer, you might not like the battle board concept – if you like your games to have multiple scenes in one game without taking time to set up an entire table for each scene, you’ll love the battle board. I like them both and I think the battle board concept shines best in a game like 5150: New Beginnings.

Defining Characters

Like most RPGs and all of the 5150 rule books before, one of the first things you do is to Define Characters.

Hint, Hint! Red Alert! Danger, Will Robinson! – Now that I have your attention, be sure to read the Defining Characters section. Why? Because the rules for Star Power have changed. If you are a player who has to frequently rely on Star Power for the survival of a character, well you’re going to have to think twice before kicking in the door and charging a Grath when your guns are empty.

Have you ever looked at the artwork of a Grath and seen that malicious grin? Well, it just got wider. Speaking of artwork, the art in this edition is new and all in color.

Both of these characters are Stars – Guihan is the main Star and April is a Grunt Co-Star.

You can build characters from 38 races, which includes robots, Cyndees and GAX. Though, the six major races are the most fleshed out. There are five broad classes and 36 professions, 37 if you count Jack of All Trades. In addition, there are 24 attributes available to choose from for your character.

Guihan and April really don’t have professions, per se. They’re not gangers, though they often hang out with them. They’re mostly errand girls. Guihan dreams or being a transporter and April likes the idea of becoming a merc – hired muscle. So, the best profession choice is to make them Jacks of All Trades. That way, they can run errands for a variety of people and hold down a temporary Joe job when times are tough. Jimmy John, the dealer, often uses the pair as mules to deliver goods across the city. The benefit in using these two is that they run their errands while armed to the teeth.

Kim Guihan

April Sanchez

Guihan and April seldom work alone, but it has happened. Sometimes when only one has a job, the other will tag along just for fun. Just make sure you don’t call them “mules” to their faces.

According to the song, “Girls bring the boys out.” But it doesn’t look like these boys want to play nice.

Closing Thoughts

You can recruit a band of Grunts up to the number of your Star’s Rep. But for my review, I think I’ll just run these two – a Star and a Grunt Co-Star. In my next post will start the first encounter.