Tomorrow's War meets Battletech: House Kurita's "Stalker" arrived

Finally... the Beast has arrived! 85 ton "Stalker". I got four copies of this huge Mech, this one goes into line with my 1st Sword Of Light Kurita forces, one will be 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT (Davion), one 1st TYR Regiment of Rasalhague and one is going into House Steiner's service. *evil grin*

More Alpha Strike!

Me and the best mates were meeting again today to have our usual Sunday-afternoon battle. Since Alpha Strike was well received, we picked to play with our Mechs again.
One of my friends hasn't played AS yet so he was eager to give it a try. I decided to let the boys handle my two painted armies and acted as advisor/referee - in other words, I had to flick through the rules if we didn't know something :-)
Anyway, the same figures as last time were used and Kurita once again kicked Davion's a$$. I did not take pictures throughout the whole match but here are some for fun anyways:

Alpha Strike!

Kurita vs. Davion, bringing all IS units that have been finished so far

Best mate and myself have enjoyed our first game of Alpha Strike today. We love it. We already like CBT very much but this is just awesome. Alpha Strike enables us to play with large quantities of Mechs (even in our bigger scale) without too much book keeping.

We brought all units that I had painted up so far, in total 135 vs 136 points.

Kurita:

Kanazuchi Battle Armor
Locust
Stinger
Wasp
Mongoose
Hatamoto Chi
Dragon
Archer
Scorpion
Rifleman
Longbow
Warhammer
Atlas

Davion:

Stinger
Raven
Locust
Wasp
Banshee
Zeus
Archer
Crusader
Goliath
Warhammer
Longbow
Rifleman

 

 

After two or so rounds: both sides closing in on each other

Davion's Raven spotting for Longbow indirect LRM attack: my Kurita Locust gets a shower of high explosive love :-(

My Warhammer gets if from all sides. Banshee, Goliath and a recon lance pounding it with fire.

Zeus and Warhammer get into position to await my Atlas' assault on the center frontline.

A Davion Stinger jumped over the building in an attempt to kill the Whammy (one inner structure point remaining) but missed its shot! My Warhammer returns the favour and blasts it to pieces.

My attempt to stop the LRM fire attacks of the Crusader end with my recon Locust being shot to a burning wreck.

My assault and heavy mechs keep up the pressure, steadily advancing.

The city turns into a scrapyard: my Rifleman gets shot by the Banshee but in turn headshots (rolled 12 on critical hits!) the Zeus :-)  A little later the Banshee gets wasted by the Atlas.

Having taken out the Banshee and Zeus on the right flank, my center force is backed up by Hatamoto and Atlas. Ready to steam roller attack the Davions.

Kanazuchi Battle Armor got casualties by Raven fire and is wiped out by Crusader missile strike.

The Atlas walks through the Davion line and leaves behind burning hulks of twisted metal. My Archer got missile bombed by Longbow and Crusader and killed with the final shot: by a Locust!

The game ended with a Kurita victory. Last Mechs standing on my side: Atlas (nearly fresh), Longbow (heavily dented), Warhammer (only held together by sheer willpower), Stinger (only one point of structure). Mechs on Davion side still standing: none.

Can't wait for the next weekend for another match!

Tau vs Space Wolves

Last Sunday my mate and I had played a little game of Warhammer 40k (1500pts). The session was mainly to explain the core rules to the girls.

We've played over 5 rounds in total. I was able to achieve a victory although my forces consisted of only 1338 pts in total, which was a little less than the Space Wolves army of my friend.

Some pics:

And if you haven't had a look yet, check out my ongoing Red Scorpions chapter blog:

www.swordofordon.blogspot.com

Battle For Skira: USMC "Gators" (AAVP7A1) WIP #2

I promised there would be more and I shall keep that promise. :-) A long afternoon of kit building later:

Gator #3 assembled and #2 received its primer

Battle For Skira: USMC "Gators" (AAVP7A1) WIP #1

After finishing off the AH-1Z my next project for the "Battle For Skira" campaign is some ground vehicles. I picked my AAVP7A1 amtracks, call-sign "Gator", to be the next in line.

The models are one Dragon die-cast, expanded with EAAK made from resin (Black Dog CZ), and two Dragon Amtracks w/EAAK kits that got single pieces of stowage from Black Dog and other brands (S&S for example) glued all over the place. :-)

The diecast and one of the plastic kits are shown below in various stages of the current build. I need to assemble the next kit and will start painting when all are completely assembled.

"A Few Blocks Of Hell" - a Force On Force game report

Two players, infantry units only. Regular forces vs. regular forces.

Scenario played:
"A Few Blocks Of Hell", US Army in Fallujah, out of the FoF (Osprey) rulebook.

Optional rules used for the scenario: "Juba" (a sniper for the Jihadists) and "Raindancer" (a FO with medium mortars on call for the Army).

Forces:
Haymaker 1-1 (Squad Leader 1)
Haymaker 1-1-A and 1-1-B (two standard fire teams)

Haymaker 1-2 (Squad Leader 2)
Haymaker 1-2-A and 1-2-B (two more fire teams)

Raindancer (FO)

versus

Local Jihadists troops 1-5 (JD1 -JD5)
Syrian Street Fighters (SY1 and SY2)
"Juba" with spotter (Sniper Team/ weapons team with SVD rifle ( not suppressed), team starts hidden)

Table set up like indicated by the scenario (more or less)

TURN 1:
Initiative: US Army (as dictated by scenario)

1-1 merges with 1-1-B and they make a rapid move and decide to fire on JD1 once in final position. Using the method that works best, I moved the Squad Leader figure along the path they will run. JD1 and JD2 want to react.

My opponent declares that JD2 will react when the Army passes an open spot on an intersection. Reaction Test failed, so the US boys reach their destination, then the intended target JD1 declares it will react now. Reaction Test failed, now the Army goes first in the firefight. The US Army attacks.

One Jihadist gets hit and and goes down. We rolled to find out who got hit, the Leader goes down. With a casualty ("callous" was used to quicken things little) the Jihadists take their Morale Test. They were retreating.

1-1-A makes a rapid move with JD5 trying to catch them in the open. Reaction Test fails.

1-2 (leader) and 1-2-A rapid move towards their mission objective. JD2 again  tries to react and fails. "Juba" fires his sniper rifle but thank god, he fails to do damage. I chose to use the chance and try to spot the hidden sniper team, since he fired a weapon that is not suppressed but I fail to turn that bonus into something useful and so I move on, unable to find the location of the Sniper shooting at my boys.


TURN 2:
1-1 and 1-1-B rapid move towards a corner of a house and want to fire onto JD2. They'd like to react and fail (again). The fire of the Army resulted in zero figures down and no suppression.

1-2, 1-2-A and 1-2-B as well as the FO (Raindancer) move towards their objectives by rapid movement and aren't seen by anyone.

JD1, JD3, JD4 and Juba move to get into positions allowing to intercept the Army on their march to the houses they are looking for.

And before I foret to mention it:
1-1-A und Raindancer together with 1-1-B declare to be on Overwatch now.

TURN 3 (now it is getting really interesting):
Beginning with turn 3 initiative can change according to the scenario. So, we roll and guess what: the Jihadists actually beat me to it.

The local Jihadists JD1 fire on my advancing fire team and I fail to react in time, fire is exchanged and the RPG taking its toll on my Army soldiers. A rifleman was hit and went down. Making the Morale Test I fail and they withdraw to cover.
Raindancer and fire team 1-2-B also react to JD1's intensions and win the reaction test. With my opponent rolling a "1", the FOW card "Death Or Glory" was drawn and played on JD7 (random). The fire onto the Jihadists resulted into them being pinned.

They also lose their Leader, check Morale, fail and withdraw off the table! (no cover available).

JD4 was activated and moved with tactical speed into position to fire upon 1-1-A. My soldiers want to react and I fail the test with another natural 1. Fog Of War turnes out to be "In Your Face" and grants me 3 extra victory points. Thanks a lot.

We exchange fire and my fire team survives without a scratch due to bad die rolls on my mates' side. My return fire kills a rifleman and they have to test Morale. They pass and stand (but keep being suppressed until rallied).


Payback time. 1-2 and team 1-2-A move tactically and fire upon JD4. The Jihadists declare a reaction and I remind myself of the still placed markers on some units that went on Overwatch. I roll the die and still fail. Noooo!

So the reaction between Jihadists and my squad leader and fire team 1-2-A follows. Another 1 rolled results in FOW "All Clear". I had won the test so I finally open up on the JD4 squad. Three hits scored, three guys down. The following Morale test fails and the holy warriors retreat 11 inches into cover.

JD4 fails to rally but since they are in cover they just stay there.
I make my First Aid check on my downed Rifleman and have to find out the boy is dead :-(

1-2 and team 1-2-A on Overwatch.

TURN 4:
The US keeps initiative.

1-1 and 1-1-B rapidly move (time is becoming an issue to reach the objective). Since no one can trace a LOS onto them they just walk as I please.

1-1-A however is seen after I activate them and so JD5 declares its reaction with fire. 1-1-A wins and JD5 receives four  figures being struck by incoming fire, gets pinned by the sheer volume of fire and yet is capable to achieve a STAND on their Morale Test! The lonesome survivor shoots back but of course that was to no effect.

1-2-B and the bored FO (hadn't called in my arty yet) moved tactically and are seen by JD2 who immediately react by fire. Since I declared units on overwatch last turn, Squad Leader 1-2 and team 1-2-A open up and suppress JD2 with their Leader being shot. They pass their Morale test and stay were they are.

The Jihadists and all Syrian Street Fighters move with rapid speed into new positions to flank the Americans.

JD4 flees off table since they failed their Morale Test again.

TURN 5:

We began the turn but decided that its impossible for the local insurgency to stop the US to claim the houses on top of the scenario map. Even with less victory points for not reaching it by turn 4, the Army would have won with 18 points for killed Insurgents even without owning the objective. The "In Your Face" card would have done the rest. So we stopped it there.

Its noteworthy that the text above is missing some very specific details, so don't be surprized if something seems not to make sense. Can't tell you why though (seriously, deal with it).  The pics are from the game but not placed in between the write-up to display any events described, just some random images taken during the game, nothing else!