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[Xvareon]

I'm a big fan of vintage games, and one of the oldest in the Strategy genre I've ever played is Rapid Response. If none of you have heard of it, don't be ashamed; I couldn't even find it on Home of the Underdogs, and that place is built for old games. Rapid Response (RR for short) is a near-future strategic warfare simulator (sort of) with the high end being focused on nuclear warfare, with weapons that can wipe out areas 3 square miles across. The game is real-time, hex-based, and, sadly, keyboard-only (though apparently a joystick can also be used, of all things).

The game is rather simple:  You play as the Yellow Army vs. the Blue Army in your choice out of 8 different campaigns, ranging from amphibious assaults via hovercraft to armored pushes into a fortified city to fully nuclear exchanges with uranium-tipped cruise missiles. For this play-along, I will be doing the Scattered Forces campaign, which... well, I'll just let the briefing tell you guys!

Spoiler: Briefing - Operation: Scattered Forces (click to show/hide)

So it looks like we're up against infantry, presumably backed up by APCs and possibly aircraft, and a whole lot of fun coming our way in the form of an armored column. We'll be hit from two sides at once, and right as our standing army is spread all over hell from a desperate rout. Still, we should have at least some time to get ready for them before the defecation hits the oscillation. We'd better get busy, though. Stupid Blues are probably squatting in our capital's convenience stores right now, sipping Mountain Dew Code Red and laughing about how utterly screwed we are.

Boy, are they in for a surprise. Because General Xvareon has just arrived on the field.

Firstly, let's take a look at our standing forces...

Spoiler: Yellow Army composition (click to show/hide)

Hey, not bad! 12 Tanks, a whopping 6 Artillery Batteries, and... oooh, a Self-Propelled Gun and GML (Guided Missile Launcher)? But it's not even my birthday! To round out this gravy train, I've got a decent-sized airforce of 3 Gunships, 2 Transport planes, and 3 Ground Support Aircraft (think supersonic jets armed with long-range air-to-ground missiles). I've got plenty of boots on the ground in the form of Infantry and even some Airborne, too, but... there's a problem. We only have 3 AA units armed with Stinger missiles in case the enemy sends Gunships or something even worse our way. I may need to use my GSA's to run interception duty if worst comes to worst. All in all, though, I'm pretty confident in my lineup. Let's see how we're looking territory-wise... (North is the top picture, south is bottom.)

Spoiler: Yellow territory (click to show/hide)

(For those of you who are nuts about math and realism or whatever, a single hex on the map represents 1 square mile. Also, every second of game time counts as 1 minute of 'real' time.)

Ok... huh. Scattered? I actually thought it'd be worse. Those infantry down south may be flapping in the wind for now, but it shouldn't take much time to get things together, especially if the enemy really is chasing me with mostly infantry themselves. Looks like we have a very real terrain advantage to work with all around -- some very mountainous terrain to the south, complete with an artillery battery (equipped with a single nuclear-tipped warhead) already in place. The north has a single, small town occupying a bridge over the mouth of the lake, which marks a pretty damn good defense point, especially since such locations generally give pretty good defense bonuses (especially against artillery). I've got a fresh group of tanks and infantry rolling in from the west, trucks carrying more soldiers and artillery batteries from the south, and a sizable airforce at that northern airport.

By the way, the big P's represent Platoons, which are just multiple infantry-type units (up to 6) that have been grouped together. C's represent Companies, which can stack up to 18 such units in a single group. For reference, one unit of Infantry (any type) is made up of 8 individual soldiers. So a max-strength Company is exactly 144 men. While I'm on the subject, Tank groups are composed of 4 tanks each and 16 soldiers (ostensibly 4 crewmen per vehicle). To my knowledge of modern military composition, that sounds about right. I will get into the rest as it becomes relevant.

Now, the enemy's disposition...

Spoiler: Blue territory (click to show/hide)

Ooooooh... Huh. Weird, 'cause they look pretty scattered, too. Is the enemy force-marching their infantry in a desperate bid to catch up with me? In any case, looks like I was right:  APCs in support, definitely some aircraft, and... a guided missile launcher. Ouch. Yeah, that thing has to die before it has a chance to put some serious hurt on us. Aircraft are ideal for this sort of thing, so I look forward to showing them off to you guys. That tank column up north, though... fun times are not gonna be had if they're allowed to group up and roll over that bridge. I have to protect my last two Objective Flags, because if they get captured, I lose the game. We're gonna see if we can use our helicopter gunships to wreck some of those tanks, most likely, and definitely roll up the rest of my artillery batteries to prime firing positions before all this hell comes knocking on our door.

That's it for now! Join me tomorrow when I begin Operation: Scattered Forces! Until then, thanks for reading!

[ATHATH]

PTW

[Xvareon]

We're back! I would call this Turn 2, but Rapid Response doesn't work by turns, so meh. Since we've already confirmed our force composition and disposition, it's time to start issuing orders. We've got an army to mobilize and regroup and a massive enemy force to prepare for. So first, let's take a look at our aircraft, since they are very likely to be what ultimately wins this campaign for us.

Spoiler: Transport aircraft 1 (click to show/hide)

This transport aircraft on the frontlines, which you may have seen in an earlier picture, is loaded with a tank battlegroup and a full platoon of infantry. This is going to be very helpful to bolster our forces, but there's a big problem:  You can only load/unload troops from a transport aircraft at an Airport, which are few and far between and only found in town and city tiles. Thankfully, we have one at our northernmost town, which also happens to be where the rest of our airforce is currently stationed. So in the interest of getting those units offloaded and moving to the front as quickly as possible, I order the transport to fly straight there. With that done, I put my glowy hex-cursor over said airport to check out my aerial assets.

Spoiler: Transport aircraft 2 (click to show/hide)

This plane was empty when I found it, but it just so happens that a full platoon of highly-trained Airborne infantry are stationed right there on the base, so we can fix that right now. Joining units together is as simple as selecting compatible units in a given hex, then tapping keys until you've moved whatever units you want to form condensed stacks. You can join multiple infantry units to create platoons and even companies, have infantry ride on top of tanks or inside APCs, haul artillery around with trucks and jeeps, and most importantly, load and unload units from transport helicopters and aircraft. Airborne infantry are unique in that they, along with APCs, are the only units in the game that can be dropped anywhere by transport planes, which otherwise must use an airport. This makes them great for speedy insertion to tie up bridges or take out key artillery units.

I finish the loading order, keep the plane on standby for further orders, and then immediately scramble every jet and gunship on the base and send them to the front lines. The fighters will make a beeline for that lake in the center of the map, as I noticed that our perfidious Blue enemy has Hover Assault Vehicles (HAVs), which can carry up to two squads over water and effectively engage anything up to tanks. As two of my vital artillery pieces are located near the water, I want that flank secured ASAP. The gunships will do their part by flying parallel to the highway, preparing to scream in and strafe any enemy tanks that try to cross that vital bridge. With rotors revving and engines burning, things are looking good. Time to check out our southern base!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A tank, two FAVs (Fast Attack Vehicles), and a Company. Not bad. FAVs are the fastest unit in the game next to Ground Support Fighters, making them perfect for flanking maneuvers. Let's take a look at those infantry...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wow. A full-strength company is great news for us! With the way infantry stacking works in this game, no single enemy unit can kill more than one squad in the same combat 'round', while all the infantry get to pool all their own attack power into one 'shot'. This mainly just serves to make platoons and companies not so easy for armored groups to completely wipe out; which is good, because we want our infantry to have time to use their AT weapons in combat. They're apparently packing Hellfire missiles, of all things. Since when did gunship-grade ordnance find its way into personal rocket launchers? Or maybe they're using some kind of deployable launcher. I dunno.

In case you're wondering why you didn't see that company, the FAVs or the tank (or the Guided Missile Launcher and self-propelled gun I just ordered out of the top city), that's because with the way this game works, you can't actually see unit icons if they're occupying the same hex as an objective flag. In order to see if any units are on a flag, you have to use the Unpile Units command, which shows you just what units are there. This is so you can actually see the primary target you're aiming for when nearly every hex of a large city is covered by units.

This is also how a blue platoon is able to hide on that little objective flag on the bridge over the river. Since I'm assuming they've fortified that hex with anti-tank weapons, though, and my infantry is too far away to hit it and come back in good time, I just leave it for now; those tanks are probably gonna blow straight past the town and head for my north flag, anyway, since the road leads straight to it. I do, however, continue to mobilize all available forces for combat, ordering fresh units in as the scattered ones regroup on the highway to form a death-stack of tanks and AT weapons, ready to party.

Spoiler: Yellow north mobilization (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Yellow south mobilization (click to show/hide)

Our southern flank is also getting some support in the form of supply groups carrying much-needed reinforcements, along with a pair of artillery batteries. Nearly two full companies of infantry and several tanks are also coming in, and the battle lines are being drawn on the edge of the mountainous region and overlooking the road, which I shall call the Blue Ball Express. Now you may ask yourselves, "Xvareon, why aren't you fortifying this road as heavily as the north end of the lake?" to which I reply, "1. Because tanks are harder to stop than infantry, and 2. Because the artillery battery that's already there is armed with a nuclear f***ing warhead that can be fired over 8 miles away. Do I need to explain what radioactive fallout does to stupid little walking blue men with no shielding? 

Spoiler: First shots fired! Transport takedown! (click to show/hide)

My decision to move those fighters over the lake proved to be an inspired one, as I soon notice a Blue transport aircraft quickly approaching the central body of water, no doubt hoping that we won't notice its oppressive blueness between the lake and the sky. No such luck, however, as our multi-role fighters scream in to intercept it not two miles from the water, and bring it down in a blazing fireball in short order. The first shots of this conflict have officially been fired. The only good blue is a dead blue!

With the enemy plane a smoking wreck, my fighters are now in a prime position to attack targets of opportunity along the highway leading out from our blue-infested capital city.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The three aircraft unload a salvo of missiles from four miles away toward the rolling tanks, but unfortunately, it doesn't look like I really did that much damage. Somehow. Urgh, damn quartermasters giving me defective ordnance again... Oh, well. Fortunately, even as I rapidly peel the fighters back to avoid potential retaliation, I notice two enemy HAVs pressing forward, who seem to have not gotten the message down the chain of command yet about that plane. Too bad for them. I fire another volley...

...and this time, my pilots manage to fully knock out one of the hovercraft groups, and apparently damage a second! Yes! You always want to limit your enemy's operational mobility whenever you can. Don't ever leave them an opportunity to hit your flank with air-dropped infantry, or bypass your carefully-prepared killzones with all-terrain vehicles and just sprint right for your vital objective flags. Trust me, it gets really annoying really fast to have to rapidly respond (pun fully intended) to several hotspots at once, especially in a system as clunky as this old game has. But we're doing well so far, and our mortal blue foe is down a peg without us losing a single soldier.

Spoiler: End of turn report (click to show/hide)

Judging from that body count, I think it's safe to assume that that transport we brought down was loaded with paratroopers, which could have caused a serious problem if allowed to unload behind our still-forming lines. That's definitely one less headache for us to deal with later on! Next turn, I expect we will see the enemy tanks beginning to cross the river, and me attempting to take out that missile launcher in the south before it gets close enough to wreck anything important. In the meantime, I will continue to bring up my own artillery and prepare to shell the crap out of these guys as they advance, and finish consolidating my direct combat troops along the roads. Things are bound to get very loud, very fast.

[Xvareon]

Turn 3 proved to be a very eventful romp. So much so, in fact, that I didn't actually get screenshots of everything that was happening, especially early on, as I had a lot of moving around to do just to keep up. To quickly recap, last turn I was ordering a transport plane full of paratroopers and a pair of FAVs to the southern road to try and knock out that guided missile launcher before it could screw us over. Yeaaah... that didn't go so well. The transport got shot down by Stinger missile-armed infantry while on approach. Stinger missiles only have a range of 3 tiles and a 35% chance to kill most aircraft, but apparently that was more than enough. My haste to solve this problem turned into a catastrophic waste. To make matters worse, those FAVs I was bringing in around the mountains got ambushed by one of the enemy Ground Support Aircraft, which knocked out one out of two units with its long-range missiles before proceeding west towards my entrenched tanks and infantry.

Thankfully, my enemy seems to be just as careless and hasty as I am, as they rushed that aircraft right within range of two of my AA infantry. I wish I'd have caught this on screenshot, because I managed to score a hit on the first shot and swat that bird right out of the sky! You think you're so clever, blues? Too bad you flew too close to the !!sun!!

The second enemy GSA flew right ahead of their own rolling line of tanks to the north, sadly managing to destroy the artillery battery I had stationed on the edge of those woods. At least they didn't nick any of the helicopter gunships I was moving into position... which come in handy almost immediately, as my own fighters come in hot to brutally intercept the lone aircraft! My gunships join the party shortly afterward, and a rather... interesting dogfight ensues. That enemy pilot must have been some kind of ace, because he managed to shoot down 2 of my fighters before being formally introduced to the ground.

That's a pretty big loss for us, but even worse for them; GSAs are among the best units in this game due to their insane mobility and fast ranged weapon reload time, making them a clutch unit that can pull you out of some very tough spots. As such, losing them can be a crippling blow for a side. This was a necessary move on my part, though, as they were the only units I had that could actually catch up to and eliminate that enemy fighter. I didn't have any AA stationed up top that could could reach it in time.

What follows after is what I did actually manage to get 'on camera'. So here goes!

Spoiler: Tank battle (click to show/hide)

The first enemy units to get across the bridge and reach my waiting defense forces are 3 tank units, which are very swiftly introduced to the horror that is 40 (10x4) units of entrenched heavy armor, backed up by numerous AT infantry and a Hover Assault Vehicle battlegroup. They are almost completely annihilated, save for one unit which is 'merely' disabled. You will note that said unit's blue background has changed to a much more satisfying red. This signifies that the tank group has suffered sufficient damage to render it incapable of moving anywhere under its own power, and it will stay that way until it can be repaired (this happens passively over time without your intervention) and brought back into action. Any ranged fire capability (artillery, etc.) that unit had is also gone until it gets fixed.

Spoiler: Northern conflict (click to show/hide)

Above is the battle for the north. I wasn't able to take out as many of the enemy tanks with artillery as I would have liked, but I was still able to cut them off halfway with air units. You see those little >< markers on the map? Those are combat hexes, which signify battles taking place between direct-fire units. Those revert to showing units again once the battle is won by either side. The battle closest to the northern city is a small platoon of infantry that were air-dropped by helicopters, only to immediately come under attack by my gunships! Out in the open with no cover, they are completely eradicated, leaving the flag secure (although I did station a 7-squad company with APC support there just in case).

That easternmost hex on the road is where a large amount of enemy tanks and APCs were brutally intercepted by 2 of my helicopter gunship units, which, amazingly, ANNIHILATE the armor with almost contemptible ease, despite odds of over 3 to 1 -- although one of my gunship groups did get disabled in the fighting, which is unfortunate, as it's sitting right over the highway which the rest of the enemy units are moving down. I should be able to cover them with artillery reasonably well, though, especially since my supply groups just arrived with the towed batteries from the south city.

Speaking of the south, what about all that fun coming our way on cute fleshy legs? Well, the APCs that were supposed to support them apparently got tired of waiting for them to catch up, and so they simply charged ahead and ran straight into my force of over 300 infantrymen with tank support, all while being shelled to hell and back by the artillery batteries I towed to and entrenched on the hills flanking the road. So you can guess how well that went. 

However, it was at that moment that I had a disturbing epiphany while watching the battle holo-screens from the comfort of my leather officer's chair.

"... Wait, weren't there HAVs coming across the lake— Oh, shit."

Indeed, as a result of moving my fighters away to deal with the lone aircraft that came into my airspace earlier, I couldn't exactly spare anything to finish dealing with the hover assault groups from earlier. One draws dangerously close to my nuclear-armed artillery battery nearest the lake, prompting me to fire it now rather than later.

I am become Death, Shatterer of Worlds.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

BOOOOOM!!

The Blueball Express goes up in a nuclear fireball, engulfing two infantry platoons and destroying them instantaneously. Ouch. Blue Command must have that seen that one all the way back in our occupied capital. When the dust finally settles, a crater one square mile in diameter is all that is left of the road. Radioactive debris scatters into every adjacent hex, turning the area into a deathtrap for any unprotected units that dare to get close. Thankfully, wind direction is not a thing in this game, so irradiated material will not spread like miasma clouds to threaten units outside of the blast area.

Immediately after firing the shell, I Join the artillery unit with a scout group that I had moved to its hex just in case, and order the jeeps to highball for safety. The HAV hot on their tail then comes under fire from the fixed 105mm howitzers I have much closer to my main force, and is very quickly destroyed.

In some homicidal quest for vengeance, the enemy gunship support pulls another Folly of Icarus and flies straight into my Stinger missile-enforced no-fly zone. The RNG apparently favors me today, as we score another 35% hit and bring the noisy machines down in the foothills just one mile away from our main defending force.

Spoiler: Aftermath (click to show/hide)

Things are not looking good for the Blue team. They did manage to surprise me by sneaking in a trio of T-copters and dropping some AT infantry to successfully take and hold my southern objective flag, but with their buddies up north already cut off and destroyed, I'm still safe, as I only need to hold one flag to stay in the game.

It was around this point that I noticed a blooming fireball over my grouping of troops on the south road, which came from the 15-hex-range cruise missile of a GML. That same GML I failed to take out earlier. I am now officially down an entire tank battlegroup. With a vengeance, I order my last surviving strike fighter craft in, skirting around the crater to take out the launcher. Annnd... my ranged missile attack somehow fails to hit a target roughly the length of a barn. Wow. Just wow, guys.

"But sir, the radiation from the nuke must have affected our missile guidance sys—"
"NO F***ING EXCUSES! GET STUCK IN AND NAIL THAT SON OF A B**** RIGHT NOW!!"

Thankfully, my pilot hears me loud and clear, and soon his 20mm direct-fire cannons reduce that headache on wheels to molten slag. (Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how much money the average U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile costs?)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Up north, the reward for our careful consolidation of forces is the complete blunting of the enemy advance, as every tank group they managed to bring was mercilessly gunned down by a combination of artillery barrages from fixed guns and SPGs, the cruise missiles of our GML, and an overwhelming force of tanks, infantry, and helicopter gunships. That army is now moving steadily up through the graveyard of wrecked armor & vehicles, drawing ever closer to the sparsely-garrisoned town.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Wait... What are you idiots do— WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

Yes, folks, those infantry are walking straight into the radioactive hellzone. Without any APCs to ride in for protection, they are quickly reduced to little more than plumes of irradiated miasma. Gosh, if only we had such a miracle device in DF...

Interestingly, the rest of the infantry further back apparently got the message a bit late, as they abruptly turned around and started marching straight back to their command center at the capital. I guess they're hoping that the token force they left behind at the north town will serve as buffer enough to distract me so they can consolidate themselves behind their few remaining artillery batteries. With the entirety of their armored support gone, however, no amount of infantry is gonna save them from an entire battalion of glorious angry redneck yellows in tanks. Looks like all there is left to do is mop-up... oh, but what's this?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Huzzah! My self-propelled gun manages to land a perfect shot on a moving target, disabling the HAV that had just crossed the river! With my pilot already back from killing that GML, I leave this one to him. The poor defenseless vehicle can only look on in horror as the majestic golden eagle swoops down, talons extended...

Annnd... CUT!

End of 'turn', folks! Sadly, I wasn't able to get a screenshot of the body count report this time, as this old game borked itself and apparently reset the Campaign Status screen when I reloaded my saved game. I think it had something to do with the only way to directly leave a game of Rapid Response being to 'surrender' the match, which apparently resets your whole counter. Damn. Well, I'll just have to remember to exit out of DOSBox instead of RR from now on. Too bad, though; I was really hoping to see just how many tanks and infantry I managed to kill while defending against that push.

Join me next time for the final, glorious assault to retake our capital! (Sorry if this campaign seems so short. I think I chose one of the easier ones... plus there's just so freaking much happening at once, so I don't really know how to do this slowly. If I start another campaign after this, I'll work on my technique. Hope you're enjoying it, though!)

[ATHATH]

Have you ever played a game called Ogre? This game seems very similar to it.

[Xvareon]

Um, no, not really...  I vaguely remember Ogre as some kind of giant mecha-tank board game? No, never played it. Is it good? How does it work?

I've played a lot of vintage computer games in my day, since I pretty much grew up in the era when they were being made. I've got such titles as Master of Magic, Stronghold (the D&D one by Strategic Simulations, which I hope to show to you guys as well) and Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance under my belt, too. One day, some of these games are likely to be nothing but distant memories. I'm hoping to relive a little of my childhood through these Let's Plays, as well as put on an entertaining spectacle for you guys. I've still got several more campaigns I can slog through after this one is done, and more games besides to try out. Rapid Response is one that almost no one these days remembers, 'cause at the time it was freeware released in advance of the main product; back in the day, you could opt to buy the 'full game', which I never did, but I'm told that it included many more campaigns than just these 8. You can find Rapid Response online if you look hard enough. I forget exactly where I did find it. I could also give it to some of you directly if you give me an E-Mail address, maybe, assuming I can find all the files and you have DOSBox.

[Cthulhu]

This game actually looks pretty cool but I dunno if I can handle the age of it.  Do you know any similar modern games?  Hex-based modern warfare, hopefully some tactical nukage?

[Xvareon]

Sorry, but I can't think of any straight-up, simple modern strategy games similar to Rapid Response off the top of my head, and I can't in good conscience recommend some of the other modern hex-based games I know of, since they generally possess an extremely steep learning curve. I've generally been more focused on high fantasy genres rather than modern warfare these days, anyway. I always liked Rapid Response because it's very easy on the eyes, pretty simple to grasp and get used to, and offers just enough challenge and variety to keep things interesting.

You will wish you'd never been born when you try playing the Amphibious Blues mission, which has you trying to fend off a massive two-pronged assault from two different parts of the map at once. As you can't just pause the game and move your cursor around freely (only stationary), you're likely to lose units just by having to spend time moving your screen around so you can issue orders to all your troops. In that way, missions like Under Seize (the nigh-unwinnable, backs-to-the-wall capital city defense mission where you're surrounded on all sides) are actually easier to handle because nearly all of your units are in the same small area. Less cursor movement to deal with that way. Heh.

Still, it's not nearly enough of a problem to drive me away from the game. It's immensely satisfying when you do actually manage to win a campaign, because the game actually expects that you will lose -- you are very often against forces many times your size, and you have to rely on your wits (and fast key-tapping) to survive. Some luck also helps. ^^

EDIT:

This game actually looks pretty cool but I dunno if I can handle the age of it.

Rapid Response should be playable on any PC or computer that can run DOSBox, the go-to software for running all DOS-based vintage games. Age shouldn't really be a factor. I mean, the game itself is 17 years older than the computer I'm currently running it on and it still works. All it needs is the modern miracle that is DOSBox.

[Cthulhu]

Oh I'm okay with steep learning curves, the high fidelity of these things is what's drawing me in.  I'm playing Gary Grigsby's War in the East right now.  It's fun but I kind of feel like a modern wargame in the same style would be better.

I'm sure I'll be able to run it but I dunno if I can deal with the gameplay that comes with the age.  fighting the interface and all that.  It also sounds like it's real time and that's not really my thing.

[GentlemanRaptor]

The (totally legal) shareware version is available on the Internet Archive, I believe, for those who want to play along at home.

Also, about OGRE - this does seem similar to the GEV expansion, which focused less on megatanks and more on, well, GEVs and other armored vehicles. It's a blast to play.

[ATHATH]

Um, no, not really...  I vaguely remember Ogre as some kind of giant mecha-tank board game? No, never played it. Is it good? How does it work?

I've played a lot of vintage computer games in my day, since I pretty much grew up in the era when they were being made. I've got such titles as Master of Magic, Stronghold (the D&D one by Strategic Simulations, which I hope to show to you guys as well) and Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance under my belt, too. One day, some of these games are likely to be nothing but distant memories. I'm hoping to relive a little of my childhood through these Let's Plays, as well as put on an entertaining spectacle for you guys. I've still got several more campaigns I can slog through after this one is done, and more games besides to try out. Rapid Response is one that almost no one these days remembers, 'cause at the time it was freeware released in advance of the main product; back in the day, you could opt to buy the 'full game', which I never did, but I'm told that it included many more campaigns than just these 8. You can find Rapid Response online if you look hard enough. I forget exactly where I did find it. I could also give it to some of you directly if you give me an E-Mail address, maybe, assuming I can find all the files and you have DOSBox.

Basically, it's a tabletop game where one player plays as a sentient (and possibly sapient) super-tank, and the other player plays as a force of varied units and has to defend their base.