Sickles, game 7 - Battle for Hill 1218

Finally, the community has been sanitized from asbestos (ugh!), so we could play a game after a such a long wait! Anyhow, we didn't had all the terrain available so we decided to play a Tier 1 Battle. Giving our Tier 2 units some well needed rest.

Since Joel got way better troops than me (they got levels due to him always winning and got a great company doctrine, while my doctrine most of the time gives me problems and a headache...), so actually, I mustered troops that could... let us say stall the enemy. Units without emotions and who handles traumatic experiences very well! Send in the drones! In case of a loss...

Post the match, we realized that we have misinterpretation a rule in the book about droids, more on that later!

The objective was to "Find and Secure", although it would become a battle of a terrain piece, haha!

The Sickles brought:

• Kicking Kepis (Tier 1 recruits), they are cowards (-1 morale) and also (unfortunately) my most experienced unit in the company...
• Blue Bandits (Lhurgg Tier 1 irregulars), new unit! My fifth Tier 1 irregulars... can't get enough Lhurggs eh?
• Beeping Brawlers (Tier 1 recruits, drone unit).
• Lieutenant Glavnyy (Tier 1, field command), new unit!
• Gurevich and Mikoyan (Tier 1, light patrol vehicles, drones).

The Varuna Legion brought:

• 3rd Assault Crew (Tier 1 recruit).
• 16th Militia (Tier 1 recruits) with Last Stand (!).
• Red Recruits (Tier 1 recruits).
• 14th Colonial Irregulars (Tier 1 irregulars).
• The nameless remote mortar section (Tier 2).

The battlefield, and first turns
I deployed Beeping Brawlers and Kicking Kepis on the left (open) flank and Blue Bandits on the right (more dense) flank. Keeping my fast units and HQ in reserve.

They were faced off by the Varuna mortar section, and the somewhat brave 16th Militia. Going for the hill of 1218.

"Getting coordinates. You ready with the rocket Bill?"

"Take that low hill, remember your training! This is what we've trained for!"

Meanwhile, the Kicking Kepis and Beeping Brawlers got sneaky sneaky by the enormous trees in this foreign world.

"Heigh-ho, heigh ho! It's off to work we go!"

"In position *beep beep*..."

Blue Bandits are flanking.

Reinforcements arrived! The Red Recruits for Joel, and Gurevich for me! I changed my light patrol vehicles to have the anti-grav. rule, which made them slightly more squishy (-1 structure), but gained +3 Move, giving them an effective range of 27", or 21" to engage at short range (which is much needed!).

(Cowardly) Humans and droids, living in peace together <3

Turn 4 and beyond
Since the objectives were in the open, and Joel had a mortar (bad combo for me), I felt that I couldn't play defensively. My troop choices were also made to attack, so; I attacked! Well actually, Joel started it (playground reference). He fired a lousy shot at Beeping Brawlers, giving them 1 suppression. The kind of punishment that droids do not care for! Crying circuits couldn't be heard.

Go go go!

"*Rzzz* Keeping them suppressed *beep beep*. By your command."

"Here we go! *pew pew pew*" - Droid operator

"The' everywher'! Wha' we guna do sarge!?"

"Activate ze Last Stand! 14th Militia, you wanna live forever!?"

The Last Stand
Unpleasantly for my end, the receiving end, with no level ups, 14th Militia really got a grip by removing all the suppression with their "Last Stand"-ability. They even sent away Beeping Brawlers with robot tears down their chrome, leaving smoking scrap behind.

"*Beep beep* back to the depot."

The offensive wasn't going that great. We made a mistake and had to reroll my (for once) great roll, that would have killed that damn mortar section, but alas, now only suppressing them (and also killing a member).

"You want a piece of my Lhurgg @&&!? Here's Johnny!"

On the right flank, Blue Bandits and the newly reinforcing Mikoyan gave Red Recruits enough to send them running, with no chance to recover. Blue Bandits also showed their private parts, a tradition of high reverence.

Lieutenant Glavnyy maybe looks like a Tier 2 Captain Staya, but do not judge the... dog by its hair... i.e. he sucks.

Fire was traded between our units on the left. Lieutenant Glavnyy entered the battle, make use of his Command ability to activate more units at the time, which was crucial to keep Joels units suppressed. Otherwise he would got the +2 Firepower from the hill, nasty indeed. Further up, Joel had destroyed both Gurevich and Mikoyan, a sad day indeed, while his mortar section was still licking wounds. The later was great for me, since I went from having a great spot to seize the victory, to now having a grim looking one... Every hit was counted for, nails were bitten, sweat (could have been) pouring.

It's getting cramped on the hill to use the hill bonus ;) On the right, you can see the (in)famous 14th Colonial Irregulars, that withstood an whole arsenal some games ago, scary indeed!

Exchanging fire, between friend and irregulars. Blue Bandits lost the firefight. Luck may have a big impact on small skirmishes in the game, but it gets pretty even during a whole game. It makes things unpredictable, in a good way! Keeps things interesting!

With no other option, and needing every suppression point to turn the tide, Lieutenant Glavnyy charges with his dog, Dog. They did inflict some much needed suppression but was then wiped out... :( Such a promising carrier, lost. I'm talking about the dog.

With most of my units either wiped out or breaking, I was routed once more. The Kicking Kepis, with the battle trauma Cowards, was able to withstand many attacks! It's kind of weird that every unit with low defense and/or morale are miraculously protected. The guarding angel of noobs, I guess.

Joel gained a lot of levels, as usual. He rolled a 4 for winnings, and I rolled a 1... having lost units for 3 kUC I was stone-broke, again. Gee. And, we did realize that you couldn't make drone units out of "ordinary units" (misinterpretation of the rules) so I disbanded Beeping Brawlers for now. We are really trying to get our companies to Tier 3, but the road is long... We even added a "bonus" every 5th game, that we did retroactive, giving me an additional 9 kUC. Maybe I'll get some Tier 3 engineers!

Until next time! Za Sickles!

Rise of the Lhurggs

So, the gaming community is changing the floor so we can't play for a while. At least I get some painting done! I gave the Lhurgg leaders different colors on the swords to easily from distance see which unit it is. I got enough leaders so I can have different colors for all squads, and also two leaders with the same color on their swords to indicate a Tier II unit.

The Lhurggs! The next batch (got 18 left...) are going to be brown and yellow-like. Also, we can see some progress of the second mecha and my new drones.

To paint or not to paint

So, I've been painting some models. I almost got like 30-40 done, they only need some grass on the base. I also ordered some more miniatures today... some units that can act as Tier 3+ infantry (both Lhurgg and human) and a Tier 3+ tank.

These models (below) from http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/ actually belongs to some lion-like race, but as they wear armour they can double as undercover Lhurgg veteran/elite infantry. Rawr!

Picture of the Khurasan miniatures that will act as Lhurggs. I will paint mine purple, the Lhurgg colour.

Engineers! They got hazmat suits that I try to cover as some kind of armour. The blue details are to separate them from ordinary squads from distance.

Elsa and Anna... characters for some kind of future scenario. Never highlighted dresses and breasts before, hmm. Also, to the right, the Lhurgg mecha, done and done! In the background, some new drones!

Gurevich and Mikoyan, my Tier 1 drone patrol vehicles. Different basing should make them easy to identify.

That's all!

Maybe me and Joel will play this week. At least we are preparing to demo the game for the community, yupp yupp.

Za Sickles!

Sickles, game 6 - The Hunt for Red Relic

Yesh miss Moneypenny...

The God of Wealth has once again called upon the Sickles to (hopefully this time also actually succeed) act as a tool of war. Not far away from the recent battle rumors has it that there is some kind of relics from an unknown maker in the vicinity. The mission; to find and secure. The Sickles makes haste since they know that the (blasted) Varuna Legion also operates in the area, full of confidence (and without trauma points...), yet to broken.

Captain Staya assort the strike team personally, if you want anything done - do it yourself. Some Lhurgg units are mustered alongside troopers from the Sickles, despite some of those units surely needs some R&R to lick their wounds.

The Sickles' strike force.

Captain Staya brought to the fray:

• Himself (Field Command 3rd Grade, Tier II)!
• Bullet Bullies (Rookie Rifle Team, Tier II), new unit!
• Velocity Vintovkas (Rookie Rifle Team, Tier II), was in the last battle and has 5 trauma. They sure need some rest!
• Kicking Kepis (Recruits, Tier I)
• Tribal Tribute (Lhurgg Irregular Troops, Tier I)
• Swift Swords (Lhurgg Irregular Troops, Tier I)
• Beeping Brawlers (Drone Recruits, Tier I), chrome and shine!
• Ground Gagarin (Remote Mortar Section, Tier II)

The force of the Varuna Legion.

They were opposed by the Varuna Legion, consisting off:

• Red Skulls Assault Team (Irregular Troops, Tier I), with Adrenaline Rush (once per game, two actions instead of one)
• Black Team (Rookie Rifle Team, Tier II)
• Blue Team (Rookie Rifle Team, Tier II)
• Fort Vega Cadets (Recruits, Tier I), with Amazing Stamina (+1 Move).
• Grenadier Team (Grenadiers Team, Tier II)
• LMG Section (Light MG Section, Tier II)
• M5 (Heavy Patrol Vehicle, Tier II)

Scenario setup, table, deployment and turn 1-2

Table setup. The three grey small... "monoliths" were the objectives. The Sickles deployed, from left to right. Beeping Brawlers, Ground Gagarin, Swift Swords, Kicking Kepis and Tribal Tribute, a total of 6 composition points.

The scenario indicates that we would fight over the control over three objectives. During this game, a unit may use a special action (forfeiting any other action) to check the objective, as "there can be only one!", as Highlander taught us. Anyway, first check is on 5+ for being the objective that we are looking for, rendering a +1 modifier on any checks on the remaining two. The force holding the objective can't be routed and win at game end (which could end from turn 12 and on).

In the rules there are some, in our opinion, inconsequential rules regarding number of units, composition points (for fielding units) and unit tiers. We made a house rule to Always use any of these restrictions bound to compositions points (i.e. reinforcements, determine number of units to deploy, rout etc.). Easy, and in most cases the most fair way to do it, if you ask us at least.

Anyways...

The Varuna Legion fielded their LMG section on the Sickles far right flank, the M5 patrol vehicle in the center (replacement for the loss of the one prior to this battle, a unit which had Incendiary rounds) and the Black Team on the Sickles far left flank.

OAll in all, all units moved forward at high pace to get to the objectives. The M5 covered one objective, locking the Sickles right flank. The LMG section got into position to cover the M5 but still stayed in reach for the closest objective. Black Team secured the second objective on the Varuna Legions side of the table. The Sickles moved all units forward, using the terrain as cover. Swift Swords moved towards the one, and only, objective on their side of the table. Ground Gagarin, found line of sight and started shelling Black Team, sadly to no effect. May the God of Dices not have abandoned me once again!

"No problem Mr. M5, we cover your metal @!#"

"Show us your best shot Ground Gagarin!"

"Incoming! Move move move!"

Turn 3
First reinforcements arrived. Bulliet Bullies in the center for the Sickles (finally some quality troops eh?) while the Varuna Legion deployed Fort Vega Cadets on the Sickles far left, facing Beeping Brawlers, but also the Red Skulls Assault Team in the center.

Alas, the Varuna Legion got the initiative and checked the objective close to Black Team, and it was relic we were fighting for! The Varuna Legion got into defence, while the Sickles now had to mount an attack and claim what is, somewhat, (at least should be) rightfully theirs!

Ground Gagarin sets up in a building to cover the right flank, forcing the varunian LMG section to redeploy. To the right; Bullet Bullies!

The main bulk of the Varuna Legion, also shows how close the advancing Lhurgghs from Swift Swords are to the Black Team on the other side of the forest. Who can't see each other

Another view of the battlefield. On the far side of the forest to the left, you can see the flanking Lhurrghs from Tribal Tribute.

These actually are the droids we are looking for. Here waiting for the Fort Vega Cadets to make the first move, who are doing vice versa. Both units spent most of the time waiting for a good moment to push forward.

Fire was exchanged on the right flank. Ground Gagarin was scratching the paintjob on the M5, which seemed to helped Kicking Kepis in the building to find their target. They scored a perfect hit, dealing 7 damage to the M5 which was put out of action (we had no wool for this game, yet again, so a radioactive die symbol got to make do for the knocked out vehicle. As an act of revenge the varunian LMG section returned fire and knocked Kicking Kepis to smithereens, falling back with  no chance of regrouping (since I failed all the rolls to regroup, haha). A good trade for me (Tier I for a Tier II)!

It also gained me an additional advantage since I now had far more units (almost the double) than my opponent Joel. Since he was on the defence, I could wait and see what he would do first, acting and thus reacting later with most units.

Turn 4-5
It was now pretty obvious how the battlefield was molded. The left flank had some kind of Mexican standoff between the Fort Vega Cadets in the forest and the Beeping Brawlers behind the hill, a stalemate. On the right losses were mounting as Kicking Kepis was retreating off the board and the M5 was just a pile of metal and burning smoke. The Lhurggh unit, Tribal Tribute moved from cover to cover and avoided fire for a long time, still locking the right flank. Joel sent in reinforcements, Blue Team to protect the LMG section.

Outside the so important 2" from the edge, and therefore hidden from scary machine guns!

Next cover! Getting ready to valiantly attack the LMG section. Their comrades, Hard Hoofs, did it some games ago with... a disappointing result. Good luck guys! Raff raff!

Then something incredible happened! Joel saw a miss in my placement behind the hill and repositioned the LMG section to open fire, and got 7 hits! Ouch! Bye bye... and then... so many 1:s. Gosh! Jeez! Come again? Only 3? 3 suppression from 7 hits? Okey then.

They didn't even got pinned (remember the 14th colonials? They also did this trick, apparently armour is not needed). What did I do? I hit back! Up on the hills, guns blazing and seconds later (and some rolls) the LMG section lost a member and was broken! The Lhurggh (as a whole) first achievement!

The erm... reinforcement, then beat back the Tribal Tribute killing three and giving them 12 suppression, but I was proud! Dang, I was proud!

"You wanna live forever!? Let's kill some Lhurggs!"

So what's happening on the left flank?

Chillin' in the forest, Swedish style. The standoff continues.

One forest to rule them all
So a lot of action took place in the middle, near of the objective (as it should!). It was very exciting since the forest made all support useless but still cut off reinforcements to enter the area. So far a very good game indeed!

Since the Velocity Vintovkas and Captain Stoya was deployed in the middle and advancing towards the forest in the center, Joel deployed his last units in the middle. The Grenadiers Team. He also activated the Red Skulls Assault Team which allowed him to fire at point blank range!

And roll 1. Giving 1 suppression. The battle for the middle forest had some trouble since every unit had +2 Defence and we rolled awfully bad, both of us.

Sometimes tactics don't cut the deal! Now, time to seize the opportunity of attack!

Joel repositioned the fast(er) Fort Vega Cadets to aid the center, but was caught in a hail of fire from Ground Gagarin indirect fire, thus using their speed to quickly leave the battlefield. Beep beep! Beeping Brawlers advanced to flank the varunian defenders of the objective.

Overview of the battle. The Sickles "elite" troops advanced while Captain Staya shouted orders.

Captain Staya (and Ground Gagarin, with their pistols!) fired upon the retreated Swift Swords to "convince" them to return back, to no effect. But they rallied anyway so they didn't seem to mind... maybe it's some kind of alien culture thing.

Captain Staya also orders his troops forward with the Command Ability, giving me the momentum.

"Holy sh!t, it's a whole other company!"

With the momentum, and more units and got the upper hand in the middle. Joel still had the Blue Team and the now rallied LMG section, but they were out of position to aid their allies. That's 4 of Joels 12 composition points, a great deal!

I broke the Black Team and assaulted them, killing all! No quarters is given! Beeping Brawlers caught the Grenadiers Team in the open, breaking their morale. As the Varuna Legion wasn't holding the objective any more, they were routed. The Sickles won! Their first win in the campaign!

"Fall back! The red tide is coming!"

It felt very good to win! Firstly, I got some well needed funds and experience and not that much trauma. Now, some of Joels units needs respite and he also lost two Tier II units this game. This will also give me some breathing room. It also feels good to actually giving my opponent a rough time, it's not fun to always lose, or win!. Great game all in all! It seems that PMC2640 always gives great games, huh!

Yes, we are all psyched about this game :D

The surviving units of the Varuna Legion; the remnants of the LMG section and Blue Team.

For the 10 kUC I bought some new units. A new Tier II patrol vehicle (my third), a Lhurggh Tier II nomad unit (from the expansion, they got stealth!) and a Tier I HQ. The Tier I HQ don't have the Inspiring Presence, increasing the odds to rally, but they cost half as much and still lets me activate the "Not a step backwards!" company ability. I need to try that out!

No levels ups for my units yet, but at least no battle traumas! Joels Red Skulls Assault Team got "Into the shadows", giving them the stealth ability, a very scary combo indeed. Lurking for the right momentto strike!


Za Sickles.

Sickles, game 5 - Battle of 14th Colonials

And we're back!
With this battle report I'm up to date with the campaign. It'sa niiice! This is the battle of the 14th Colonials.

As always, we rolled for terrain and mission, which gave us the Invasion scenario on a barren world. It felt good to leave the city, sort of. Since the rapid evacuation of captain Staya, the not that successful CEO of the Sickles, the company has established a base on this barren world. Not long after, the Varuna Legion, invades to try and occupy the base.

The smoke lays thick as the invading forces tries to get cover during the precious first seconds of the assault. The defenders has called for reinforcements which has responded, to fight back the invaders together as comrades. But what they don't know is that the Varuna Legion is deploying some of their crack units onto the battlefield.

"Open fire! Fend off those pesky capitalist mercenary invaders!"

The Sickles forces consisted off:

• Velocity Vintovkas, Tier II Rookie Rifle Team.
• Panzer Projectors, Tier II Rookie Rifle Team [new!].
• Honour Holders, Tier I Recruits.
• Ground Gagarin, Tier II Remote Mortar Section.
• Crocuta, Tier II Lhurgg Heavy Patrol Vehicle [new! Since the first of this kind blew up first game!].
• Ataka Away, Tier III Rocket-Armed Team [the heroes of the company, that are responsible for wiping out 100% (read: 1) of the enemy units!].

Note that the Lhurgg units were on relax and spa, due to 'a lot' of trauma points... Droids needed a service, ya know, every 10000 miles and so on.

With so many new units, I got no kUC:s left. I hope I'll get some stash this time!


The objectively evil invading forces of the Varuna Legion:

• Tier II Heavy Patrol Vehicle, with Incendiary rounds [!!!].
• Tier III Light MG Team.
• Tier I Irregulars.
• 2 Tier II Rookie Rifle Teams, including Varuna Defenders (Determined).
• Tier II Field Command.

Setup and game turn 1

In the foreground we have the Panzer Projectors (their first game). Far away we see Velocity Vintovkas, joined by captain Staya (but not Stoy who got treats at the spa and relax due to animal rights in the 27th century). The blue pillars are the three landing zones we were fighting for.

The Varuna infantry unit on the left is the Varuna Defenders, joined by another rookie team and their vehicle.

I got the first round, trying to open fire and taking advantage of the received suppression the landing troops gain. Sadly for me, to no effect! My other unit, Velocity Vintovkas, was out of range but moved out of their safehold to assist their troubled allies.

Joels vehicle had incendiary rounds, which doubles the amount of suppression points the target gains if it is in cover. So, Panzer Projectors got 12 suppression points (which is maximum...) and some KIA:s! Varuna Defenders valiantly charged with bayonets and grenades ready to slaughter any survivors from the first barrage. Hmm, things was looking grim, already turn 1! Best spent 4 kUC ever! ;)

In my opinion, it's a bit harsh to get destroyed if assaulted when broken. A remove from play á la retreat from the battlefield would suffice. Anyway. 4 kUC later...

"We come in peace! *dakka dakka dakka, pew pew, stabb stabb*" - Varuna Defenders

Turn 2

"All your base are belong to us!" - A now famous saying within the Varuna Legion

Well, I tried to get into position with the aiding troops, but the ones who was getting help was now dead. So, instead of aiding, it's now time for revenge! In the meantime the Varuna Legion got comfortable in the base and even parked their car outside the front. But we'll shown them whose (bad) neighborhood this is!

Parked car, in the wrong neighborhood.

End of turn 2. Overview of the battlefield. Reinforcements has arrived for the Sickles; the Honour Holders!

Turn 3
Reinforcements has arrived, and it's the famous Ataka Away! They were able to walk in, casually, and fire a missile, casually, at the Varuna vehicle which blew up! Casualty! hehehe! The anti-tank rule doubles the roll of the D10, so a '5' was enough to finally blow that vehicle up! It had given me huge problems during game 1, 2 and 3. Ah, the sweet taste of revenge!

Please note that Ataka Away still stands for 100% of the destroyed units by the company, I'm impressed!

The Honour Holders also joined the fight and took positions on the right flank. Velocity Vintovkas got ready to retake the base and moved forward, guns blazing with no effect. The Lhurgg walker, Crocuta, joined the fray but was out of range to engage.

I could feel the winds of change! Next turn, I could engage with all four units against two, odds were looking good for the Sickles!

End of turn 3. The red cube at the vehicle is there to mark it as destroyed, unfortunately we had no smoke around.

Turn 4
More reinforcements! More more more! Ground Gagarin hit the field and started launching grenades down the base, also, with no effect. The Varuna Defenders rolled a hard '9' and sent Velocity Vintovkas crying, pulling back with the company banner, leaving comrades behind. This pretty much halted the advance. Units in buildings gain +2 Firepower and Defence. That is very scary for low tier units to compete against! Buildings are a fearsome force multiplier! I could only hope for my units with destructive weapons to score a good hit and raze the base, with Varuna units under the concrete crumbles! My hope stayed with Ataka Away and Ground Gagarin.

Turn 5

Second wave is here to save the day, for Joel at least!

I repositioned Crocuta and Velocity Vintovkas actually got back in the game, despite having lost two troopers. The Varuna field commander started shouting orders to the left and right, letting the MG team ripp against Ground Gagarin, killing one trooper and sending the other one off the board. The Varuna Legion was now advancing on all fronts, leaving the newly captured base too make a counter-counter-attack! Taking the point was the Tier 1 squad of irregulars. What a spearhead... Ataka Away lost a member, fleeing. So did Honour Holders (Honour Droppers?). What the...!?

Did I do anything about it? Yeah! Fired with all I had on those irregulars in the i middle. They were close, they were without cover and were fired upon like six times. They didn't even get suppressed! Hence, they are now the 14th Colonials. A named unit, even without a level up! For having only a defence of 7, those guys were stubborn!

I just wanted to say; I kept track during the game, being used to roll awkwardly bad. I rolled no '4', '6', '7', '8' or '9' during the whole game! I rolled '5':s twice, that's it! Rest was, well you guessed it... low (a roll of 0 is zero). At the meantime, I must admit thou, Joel plays solidly and never leave anything to chance! Hats off comrade!

Last turn, he sent Ataka Away, away. Same with Honour Droppers. He also blew up Crocuta (!) with rifle fire (!). So I gained over 9000 trauma points due to being routed and lost two Tier II units, which costs a total of 8 kUC.

Rolling for new funds, I got 2 kUC...

Noodles for the company from now on! And we need those Lhurggs and droids back! Stoy can fetch them maybe.

Turn 6. Before the bitter and dark end.

"Comrade captain Staya Sir? May we have water to the noodles Sir?"

"No." - The not so much of a comrade captain Staya