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!