Last week Lewis and I got together to have a first game of 0200 Hundred Hours, Night Raids in World War Two. 0200 Hours is published by Grey for Now Games and focuses on night time raids with 5 – 20 models per side. The starter set comes includes the rulebook, cards, tokens, dice and 18 German sentries and 12 SAS raiders. The miniatures are multi-part plastic kits from Wargames Atlantic, and are fantastically, detailed. The German sentries are the best set of Germans I have come across for Pulp Gaming as they can be assembled standing guard, patrolling with guard dogs on a leash, using torches, checking papers or even having a crafty ‘fag’! The SAS raiders also have great options. Lots of silenced weapons, soldiers placing demolitions, carrying radio and other raiding poses. I’ve not assembled and painted these yet, so I fielded an SOE / Resistance group using some SOE Operatives from Bad Squiddo Games and some Wargames Atlantic Partisans (with a few pieces left over from the German Sentry sprues… torches / slung rifle / map arms).

We played the introductory scenario ‘Hunted’ from the rulebook, or at least a reasonable approximation of the scenario. For some bizarre reason I am struggling to keep tabs on this particular rulebook. I brought the starter set, skimmed the rulebook, started assembling the miniatures and then lost the rulebook for several weeks, found it and then lost it again, so we played our first game based on watching the You Tube videos and referencing the various Quick Reference sheets available from the Facebook Group. I have since also purchased the PDF copy of the rules for the times I can not find my physical copy. The ‘Hunted’ scenario features a group of ‘attackers’ attempting to move across the table to a rendezvous point at the far side of the table while the defenders patrols attempt to stop them. The scenario uses a simplified, cut down ruleset, omitting patrol routes, alarm levels, veteran and requisition cards. It should have omitted Order & Event cards, but as I’d lost the rulebook I made a mistake and used them. The other rules mistake we made (due to losing book) was that characters get two activations. We only allowed them to activate once.

Lewis played the German defenders and fielded a German Officer, Sergeant and three pairs of troopers.

I fielded an SOE / Resistance team (based on the Partisan profiles in the starter set). This was led by Nancy Wake (SOE Agent), with 2 IC Noor Inayat Khan (SOE Agent), and two pairs of Resistance Fighters made from the plastic Partisan set.

The terrain set up represented a farm and its surrounding countryside in Northern France. The Attackers set up on the left hand table edge, the defenders deployed in the right hand half of the table. Each figure has an activation token which is placed and drawn from a bag. There are different types of tokens for troopers and characters. Players take turn drawing and activating a figure or a pair of figures. In the picture above, the German Sergeant has just reported to the officer (i.e activated, and we can see an activation token has been placed by the figure).

Key mechanics in the game focus around sneaking, concealment and spotting targets in the dark. 0200 Hours uses some very clever dice based mechanics using special dice that are supplied with the game. The White dice is for noisy actions that could give your position away, the Grey dice is for quiet, stealthy actions. Most actions use a mix of the two types of dice. At the start of the game all figures are concealed, hidden in the darkness. In the picture above both the German Patrol and the resistance team have given there positions away, hence the spotted tokens by the figures. Presumably the Germans are spotted as they have been advancing with there flashlights on, and the French have trod on a dry stick in the wood. It is possible, in some circumstances to become concealed again.

Nancy Wade is advancing stealthily across the Courtyard using the wagon as cover. She is not yet aware of the German Officer standing, hidden in the darkness.

He does however reveal his position as he returns fire at the two Partisans that have arrived and shot from the corner of the barn.

In the woods, the German Patrol opens fire and takes out one of the Partisans and suppresses the other.

The German Officer, focussing on the firers at the corner of the barn does not notice Nancy until it is to late. She sneaks up behind him and silently slits his throat with her commando knife, before slipping back into the shadows.

Unfortunately Noor Inayat Khan is spotted, possibly silhouetted as she moved past the courtyard wall. A lucky shot from the German sentry, takes her down.

The German Sergeant moved into the courtyard entrance and is taken down by pistol fire from the resistance fighters. Nancy still remains concealed.

The remaining resistance fighter in the woods made a run for it, but was taken down by the German sentries.

For the SOE / Resistance to win they needed three figures to reach the RV (represented by the arrow token). This is how close they came. Foolishly, I thought we were close enough to make a dash (taking the advance rather than sneak action), unfortunately the gamble did not pay off, we did not quiet have enough successes to make the RV, we lost concealment and the Germans on there activation took down another Resistance fighter meaning that only two figures escaped, meaning that the defenders had won.

Even although we got a few of the rules wrong, we certainly got a very good flavour for the game. I am looking forward to playing some more games. The Patrol route, patrol / roving patrol actions could be used to enhance NPC actions in Pulp Alley and other games. The unique game play interaction of quiet / noisy dice with action choices for sneaking / advancing faster but with more noise, combined with the option to ‘freeze’ remaining hidden but at the sacrifice of any movement are excellent ways to represent small night time actions. I see from the 0200 Hours Facebook group that a few people have already played 0200 Hours reskinned for Star Wars, with Rebel Commandos attacking Imperial Bases, and I can see that the rules could be easily amended for nigh time raids in many periods and genre’s! If you’ve not come across 0200 Hours before, it is well worth checking out!