We tried a Priority 1,5, which isn't in the rules but we are just in between having to many units for Priority 1 Tier 2 battles, but too few for a Tier 3 or a Priority 2. Hence, we made up a step in between! 18 Composition Points each, which is almost all our available forces. I maybe got like 26 Compositions Points in my company to deal with, to give a picture of the quantity of troops being on the battlefield this time!
We rolled for the scenario. Invasion! But this time with me as the attacker, moste times I've become the defender. My strategy was to deploy all my main infantry close, within a personal distance to the enemy while guns blazing. This is the first wave, leaving all my support and vehicles in the second wave. With that, Joel couldn't possible "snipe" my support units. Of course; Captain Staya (and Stoy, let's not forget!) was first into the fray!
The Sickles brought:
- Captain Staya, Field Command Tier 2. Command Unit (2) and Inspiring Presence (much needed with a lot of troopers!).
- Ground Gagarin (Remote Mortar Section Tier 2). Broken Minded (worse at rallying from suppression).
- Valor Vintorez (Light MG Section Tier 2).
- Bullet Bullies and Velocity Vintovkas (Rookie Rifle Teams Tier 2).
- Hard Hoofs, Brood Bloods, Swift Swords and Tribal Tribute (Lhurgg Irregular Troops Tier 1)
- Crepit and Alnico (Lhurgg Heavy Patrol Vehicles Tier 2).
The Varuna Legion brought:
- Varuna Defenders (Determined, don't lose Morale because of casualties), Whitewood Rifles (Brave, reduced incoming suppression) and two other Rookie Rifle Teams Tier 2.
- One Irregular Troops Tier 1.
- LMG Team Bravo Tier 3 (Superior Ballistic Skills, increases fire range).
- LMG Section Tier 2.
- Field Command Tier 2.
- M5 (Heavy Patrol Vehicle Tier 2).
Setup and first wave!
Joel setup his veterans, the Varuna Defenders in the middle forest and Whitewood Rifles near a house in the center, which in turn was fortified by the LMG Section.
I couldn't find any landing zones except for some near the same, fortified, building and occupied forest, so I commenced an all out attack! Three Lhurggh Irregulars alongside the Rookie Rifles was deployed, with Captain Staya and Stoy leading the way!
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| Right flank. With Captain Stayas "Command" ability I was able to activate two units in a row, which is very crucial when you are this close! My Lhurrgh units fired upon the LMG Section in the house, killing two members rending the last member to rout from the battle. A successful landing so far! Bullet Bullies got pinned by the returning fire from Varuna Defenders. Please note that I have put in droids (namely from Beeping Brawlers that I cannot field anymore, sadly) into my rifle team. It looks really nice if you ask me! |
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| Left flank. Whitewood Rifles fend off the Lhurgghs, who effectively blocks the LOS for Velocity Vintovkas, in some kind of revenge on their masters/employers. |
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| After the first turn! One broken unit, two suppressed and a lot of suppression on the battlefield! The Sickles was although gaining ground! |
Turn 2, return of the Varuna
Joel got some luck here! And brought in everything except his irregulars and M5 Heavy Patrol Vehicle, look! That half of his forces! With a roll of 5+ for each unit, tjoho!
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| The Varuna (quick) reserve. |
I had to wait patiently for my second wave of support units to arrive... Things were going to get bad, fast!
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| The Sickles second wave. Meat wall of Lhurrghs, some mechas and fire support. The unit with the droid is the LMG Section (I find the mixed units kind of nice! PMC got a "use cool miniatures and be clear" thing going on). |
Due to the randomness where reinforcements arrive during the Invasion scenario, Joel got his HQ and one Rookie Rifle Troop at the right flank, near a building (Great for him!). Another unit on the far side of the battle, with a long march in front of them... (Great for me!). On the left side he got to deploy the much mighty and terrifying LMG Team Bravo. They got increased range And are Tier 3, scary combination indeed! They were deployed with a clear LOS to almost all my forces, starting to ripping sh!* up! They fired with something about +8 or +9 modifier. To give a hint about the sheer power, most units has that in Defence, ergo; not rolling the die to see If they hit, rather than How many they hit! Scary! And they shot up to 28", were rifle units reach a lousy 18".
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| Right flank! |
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| Lacking any real enemies of the state to fire upon, the Lhurggh units were ordered to fire at the enemies within the state. This time, meaning that the Bullet Bullies lost a guy and a ton of suppression. Leaving them, now unbroken, but with only 1 Morale left. The "Not a step backwards" doctrine worked for the very first time (I tend to eradicate my units with it... which is a too effective way to remove the suppression...)! Bulliet Bullies was back in the action, but very frail. The funny thing was that they didn't got suppressed or broken again during the game! They only got one suppression point at the time, which they can hold with 1 Morale. Haha, what a miracle! |
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| On the left side, I finally broke the brave Whitewood Rifles, while LMG Team Brave was shredding me to bits! |
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| "Hello from the other side, this is Papa Smurf to LMG Team Bravo, come in!" "Bravo team here!" "We can see that you are shredding troopers and Lhurgghs alike from here, nice going! Papa Smurf out!" |
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| Rookie Rifles on the right takes up position on a high vantage point, threatening the Sickles flank. |
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| Reinforcements are arriving, after a long run! |
Battle for the Bloody Forest
With only the Varuna Defenders left in the center of the table, the Sickles enforced the Lhurrghs forward, charging once again with guns wildly and inaccurately firing!
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| "Who are we?! We are the Varuna Defenders, we won't break! Choose your targets men! Fight them off!" |
The assault wasn't going that great, but the good thing was that neither did the returning fire of the defenders.
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| An tactical, yet war scarred veteran owl gets an glimpse of the battlefield, on the right side the owl can se troopers and Lhurrghs running from the hail of bullets from the LMG Team Bravo. The owls applause, silently but resolute. |
Second wave incoming!
You guessed it! Now's the time for payback, and sure it is dear and costly! Concentrating my mechas to fend off the LMG Team Bravo and their newly arrived irregular comrades. Aiding the mechas was the "voluntary" Lhurrgh unit that shielded the mechas from the firestorm of LMG Team Bravo. Funny thing was that they got like 9 suppression without anyone died! They must have gone scared by a combination of the storm of bullets and that they actually survived! Joel rolled with a D10+2 HITS! I can't believe that they survived! Well, except for routing with their guns and swords between their legs.
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| The sacrifice in operation Lhurrgh shield (got the casualties later, importantly enough, not from the LMG Team Bravo! ha!). Crepit and Alnico got into cover and made the payback come hot, smoking hot! |
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| Ah, the look of white cubes (broken) that isn't your own, what a feeling! |
A collage of the heroes of Operation Lhurggh Shield (listen to soundtrack at the same time, of course!):
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| No need to be afraid anymore, the threat is gone! Later, Velocity Vintovkas rallied! Thanks to Captain Staya (Stoy was... wounded) on the... erm... other side of the building... showing his Inspiring Presence, even through the concrete house! |
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| Right flank, showing where Captain Staya lost Stoy this time. Also showing Ground Gagarin and Valor Vintorez. The latter almost got pinned by the desperate enemy, seeing that a LMG Section in the center house could give some serious trouble, locking down two out of three landing sites. But he failed with one suppression, so close! |
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| "Getting coordinates. Corpral... light 'em up! *dakka dakka dakka*" |
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| The assault of the bloody forest continues. The Varuna Defenders sure are Determined! With the blue sword, the heroic Hard Hoofs (they got a fan down the community! Cheering for them! Huzzah!). They didn't even got broken this game, first Lhurggh unit ever! All (surviving) members received the Medal of Questionable Honor for their services. May I add that Hard Hoofs formed a circle around Ground Gagarin, protecting them the very last round from any reckless move from Joel, to his disappointment! |
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| Flanking mechas, strolling in the woodlands, just out of sight. And Joels watch, I must be in these AAR:s. |
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| The remaining forces of the Varuna Legion. HQ, Rookie Rifle and the Varuna Defenders (that has been fighting since round 1, without any KIA:s! Damn! That's over 10 rounds! |
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| With concentrated fire I was able to break the last unit needed to rout the Varuna Legion, this time! You need to break more than half of the enemies units. |
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| Bonus picture of the flanking mechas, pouring in some good old 30mm shells into the "community service" obliged men of the Varuna Legion. A welcome tradition in Lhurggh culture. |
My second win! Gee. The Sickles got 14 kUC, that's more than they ever had! Wow! In total, casualties start to even out. I've lost 63 troopers and Joel has lost 48. Getting close! Yes, I keep track, on everything! In the beginning the ratio was like 1-3 in Joels favour.
Did we forgot the M5 Heavy Patrol Vehicle? Nope! It must have broken down or something, arriving the last round, round 13 or something, doing nothing. Yay.
I bought some engineers, both Tier 2 and 3 and a new HQ Tier 1 since the last failed me... so I welcome Lieutenant Ruchka! May his service be longer than one battle! I really do hope that the engineers don't let me down, although I really seem to be able to find their main strength, compared to other units... Hmm, we will see.
I got no levels this time either, but I got like six units with 8 experience points. Joel really showed me that levels do matter, a lot! Can't wait!
Well, za Sickles!
