Undaunted 2200: Callisto (U2C), is the latest exciting installment in David Thompson and Trevor Benjamin’s innovative wargame series taking us off-world and into the future in a Sci-Fi setting. This is not an overly complex game but some of the concepts take some getting used to and even though I’ve played every Undaunted game so far I took a while to grasp all the nuances.
This How To Play, therefore is not going to be a didatic dissertation of every aspect of gameplay – both Rodney Smith’s video and Thom Newton’s Review cover that but more an overview of the salient points. Furthermore, players will be coming to Undaunted 2200: Callisto from different angles as either existing Undaunted players or newcomers.
(I’ll cover later a more in-depth look at the Solo system.)
New to Undaunted? – Listen Up!
Forces are organised as:
Squads comprising a number of different Units with the same designation letter
Units are named specialist types with a corresponding Combat Counter on the map
Units consist of 2-5 individual combatants each with their own Combat Card
Mechs – a standee on the map and 5 Combat Cards – with their own squad letter
Command Cards – Overall Commander and Squad Leaders provide support to their respective Squads. They do not have a Combat Counter on the map
These cards will either start in your Deck or in your Supply
The Deck holds those actively engaged. If they have a Combat Counter or Standee on the map they can take casualties
The Supply is the reserve area. Here they are “safe” but if their Unit gets reduced to zero before they are drafted they’re removed along with their Combat Counter.
Interference – your Deck also has 2 of these nuisance cards which clutter up your hand. Previously called “Fog of War” cards which reflects the main way you collect them i.e. when you Scout out new areas. They’re only removed with a Recon action from a Scout unit.
Scouting for Boys (and Girls)
Undaunted uses an area movement system and, importantly, you can not move a unit into an area unless it has been Scouted and marked as such with your Scouted Token. These are placed by a unit that has the Scout Action or by a Commander’s Pathfinder Action. Subsequently a unit with the Control Action can flip the Token to the Control side for claiming Objectives.
Opposing Units can be in the same area and both can have Scouted tokens simultaneously but only 1 side can have a Control Token. If they have taken over Control from their opponent their token is flipped back to Scouted.
An area that you have Scouted stays Scouted for the rest of the Scenario. Note that each Scenario will start with some areas on both sides Scouted and/or Controlled and in Undaunted 2200: Callisto‘s case these are pre-printed on the map boards.
Showing Initiative
Each round take the top 4 cards of your Deck to form your hand. Pick 1 to determine Initiative and you will play the other 3, with the player with the Initiative going first.
This is a tricky decision to make as the better cards have higher values but if you use them to gain Initiative you won’t get to use them on the other hand going first may mean you can suppress or eliminate Units before your opponent can use them.
A Unit can be eliminated with a single hit if you have not used Command cards to Bolster it with reserves from Supply
Rounds repeat until one side has met the Victory conditions either Objectives under your Control or opposing Units Neutralised
What’s Different about Undaunted 2200 Callisto?
Two words – Terrain and Mechs
On a Higher Plane
Undaunted 2200: Callisto has 2 levels of elevation. Those areas that are marked as elevated and the rest.
Being in an Elevated area gives you advantage to both Attack and Defence. You score a Hit with an attack by meeting or surpassing a target number on a die roll. This is often at least 6 or above. Undaunted 2200: Callisto has three different types of dice: the standard black D10, the generous green D12 and the mean red D8
On the same level you use the standard black D10 – giving a 50% shot at 6+.
Below your target – Red D8 – down to a 37.5% chance
Above your target – Green D12 – now it’s up to 58.3%
The effect of the difference varies with the total needed and units on an Elevated area more quickly become impossible to hit because unlike previous Undaunted titles there is no guaranteed hit number on any of the dice. So if you need a 9 on a red D8, forget it!
Bridge the gap
Elevation leads us, almost literally, to Bridges. As you would expect a Bridge will span the gap between two Elevated areas and it may be more than 1 section long. The Deck of the Bridge sits above the lower Foundation level and the Elevated end areas it joins to are its Supports
An area containing a Bridge and its Foundation is considered all 1 area for Scouting, Move distance or Range calculations but has the following restrictions:
You can not move from a Foundation to a Deck or vice versa. Nor can you Attack a Unit if the Foundation and Deck are in the same area.
You can conduct ranged Attacks from one Bridge area to another either Deck or Foundation as long as it is part of another Bridge.
Bridges can make for tactical choke points particularly if the lower level is impassable to some Units often Mechs.
Undaunted 2200: Callisto also has interiors on some boards, introducing Doors which do the usual thing Doors do. They start closed and can be opened by a Unit spending an action in an area with an associated Equipment icon (button!). Strangely, this (magic) button allows the opening of any door on the map. Alternatively you can blast it open with a successful Attack. Once open they stay open, particularly with the second method!
Mechs
While these are somewhat similar to AFVs in other Undaunted. They are different. It took me a while to work them out, not helped by the example in Scenario 1 showing Merc Combat Counters instead of Standees, so I’ll spare you the confusion.
The 5 different LFA Mechs: Artemis; Centurion; Hades; Lyssa and Vulcan have unique names and abilities. The largest Centurion like the Breaker’s Drill also provides a cover bonus for non-mech Units in the same area.
There are 5 Combat Cards for an LFA Mech: 1 x Commander; 2 x Navigator; 2 x Gunner. The Drill has 3 Crew cards. Usually the Mech Commander will start in your Deck and it will be their job to Bolster in the others. The Navigator will Scout and Recon; the Gunner can Attack or Suppress and the Commander can Move, Attack, Suppress or Bolster.
A hit on a Mech can remove any of the crew and you have to hit as many as have been Bolstered to take it down.
Note their different abilities. Most are close combat
Artemis – Close Combat Attack 2 – full range Suppress 3
Centurion – Close Combat Attack 2 – full range Suppress 3 – provides cover
Hades – Range 1: Pulse 2
Lyssa – Range 2: Attack 2 Blast v personnel – Attack 2 v standees
Vulcan – Range 1: Attack 2 – full range Suppress 4
All bar Lyssa can only Attack/Suppress personnel
That’s All Folks!
That should be enough to get you going. I’ll do a Separate HTP for Solo play.
Note: an Errata sheet has been produced by Osprey here.
