Tomorrow's War AAR: Test Drive

Took the Tomorrow's War ruleset for a little test drive over the Labor Day Weekend, and figured what I haven't figured out.  Now I know what sections of the rulebook need a good re-reading.  Here are some quick notes on the game.

I have 20 each of the lizardmen and humans, so we set them up as two forces with Quality and Morale at d8 for everyone.  The lizards deployed in two squads of two fireteams plus a couple of 'platoon' leaders, while the humans went with three 'squads' of six men each with a couple of 'platoon' leaders.  Guess this battle was fought late in the war when attrition had reduced the number of effectives each side could put in the field.

The mission was simple for both sides, secure the perimeter of the mining station.  Whichever force had more men alive inside the perimeter at the end of turn six would be the winner.

End of Turn One - Positioning.  The lizards make straight for
the prize, and the humans begin a more
conservative pincer movement.

Middle of Turn Two - First Contact.  The marines get the drop
on the lizards.

End of Turn Two - Both sides have a unit inside the perimeter.
Red arrows indicate a firefight.  The humans get the better
of the first round of combat, trading one dead marine for
three seriously wounded lizards.

Middle of Turn Three - Turning Point.  The humans close assault
the larger lizard force and it goes horribly wrong.  The lizards can't
break the charge, but make up for in it melee.  The lizards
don't take a single casualty, and capture two POWs.

End of Turn Three.  The humans move up on the left and
keep up the suppression fire on the right.

End of Turn Four.  The marines on the right flank move into thicker cover,
to no avail.  They do nothing to the lizards, but receive three more
casualties.  The squad to their left falls back in response
to the overwhelming advance of the 2nd lizard squad.

End of Turn Five - the Better Part of Valor.  The humans quit
the field, rushing the casualties from squad one to
MEDEVAC.  Lizards victorious.

While the troop quality and numbers were even, the lizards had more and better support weapons.  In the end, they were simply able to put a lot more lead and lazer blasts in the air, and that made the critical difference.  If we play this again, I'll probably give the marines some sort of light armor to compensate and give them more stopping power.

Post game wrap-up.  Guess we'll have to put the
\terrain and figures back in the box later.