onsdag 27 september 2017

Sickles, game 11 - Just passing by

So, another game. Since we are only two persons playing the campaign we allowed us to get a bonus every 5th game to evolve our companies faster. Furthermore, we removed the need to pay to upgrade our companies to the next tier as that would only delay the progress further. So, with much needed kUC to buy tier III units we took the next step and thus gained another doctrine. I chose the 'strength in numbers' which allows me to field an additional unit one tier lower than the tier of battle. Hence, 18 composition points now becomes 20!

This time we played the scenario 'Demolish', setting the Sickles to be defending, again. We made some stupid but in hindsight 'easy-to-fix' errors while making the terrain. As the scenario is played corner to corner, the terrain we set up gave little or no cover, becoming the major factor for the outcome of the battle. So, I short game and not that fun due to the mistake with the terrain. Well well, lessons learned! Since PMC 2640 is so fast played, not much harm were done as we didn't spend hours of playing.

The Sickles fielded:
- (Field Command 4rd Grade) Lieutenant Ruchka, tier I (once again!)
- (Lhurgg Irregular Troops) Hard Hoofs, tier I
- (Lhurgg Irregular Troops) Swift Swords, tier I
- (Grenadiers team) Storozh Smiters, tier II (once again!)
- (Lhurgg Assault Infantry Team) Shiny Slicers, tier III (!!!)
- (Remote Mortar Section) Ground Gagarin, tier II
- (Rocket-Armed Team) Ataka Away, tier III
- (Light Combat Vehicle) Rasputin, tier III
- (Lhurgg Heavy Patrol Vehicle) Alnico, tier II
- (Lhurgg Heavy Patrol Vehicle) Cobolt, tier II

The Varuna Legion fielded:
- (Remote Mortar Section) Alpha, tier II (last stand, can remove all suppression points once per game)
- (Regular rifle team), tier III
- (Field Command 2nd Grade), tier III
- (LMG Section) Omega, tier II (adrenaline rush & bad reputation, may activate two times during one turn, and may not be promoted *boo hiss*)
- (Rocket Armed Team), tier III
- (Irregular Troops) 4th Colonial, tier I (shooting experts, grants a firepower bonus)
- (Rookie Rifles), tier II
- (Rookie Rifles), tier II

This is the first time had so many high tier units! I usually go with the 'quantity has its quality on its own' kind of thinking. And I also maxed out the number of vehicles (3)! They were set as my reserve due to their high movement.
Setup. Lhurggs, HQ, mortar, engineers and the tier III on the right side (robots as stand ins. I hadn't painted my lhurggs in battle armour at that time.).

The Varuna Legion en masse. There is a lot of s*!t heading my way!



Spreading out! The mortar vs. mortar game began! Who moves first, dies.

The Sickles also spread out, staying behind terrain features. The defence was set to defend deep.

View from the central ruins. A major part of the battle.

Sickles got to the ruins! Yeehaa!


Tier III unit taking up defensive positions, remaining there for the rest of the game as a last resort to protect the objective.

Just out of range and sight! Move forward, shoot, move back, regroup. That's the order if any pesky varunians should close in.

Here they come! LOLOLOLOLOLOL

HQ took point, with its high defence and morale! The Varuna train goes choo choo! Officers first mind you!

A small part of the force act as flank threat and locks down a huge portion of the map with the mortar. A stalemate occurs between the mortars while the main thrust of the legion moves forward.

The Sickles defensive positions, now with armor support!

"Kwavak zresvi vlak!" [Roughly translated to: "Eat my 20mm you social program nerds!". Yes, lhurggs have a efficient language that includes a word for 'eat my 20mm', a common phrase in the lhurgg society (mostly between chieftans).]

Rasputins main gun rolled a '9', killing two from the HQ and breaking them! Gee, some luck there! The HQ set an example, falling back! A LMG section tried to return the favour, but with little effect.

The Varuna Legion takes to the woods and sends out the flanking threat to engage. All or nothing!

"You go ahead! We got you covered... sort of..."

Charge the ruins! From all sides, go!

Chaaarge! Fix bayonettes and RPG:s!

"Yikes! Too many sickles here, and too many nines!"

A mish mash of beat up units.

"It's not worth it. Varunians, fall back!" - XO of the Varuna Legion task force

The ruins that were the main scene of battle. The Sickles had few casualties, and they lived happily ever after.

So, first off. Terrain is very important (as with many games). All the terrain features on the Varuna Legions side were aligned to give minimum cover which made the advance mostly taking place in the open. That combined with the fact the they had no vehicles, compared to three long range firing vehicles gave the varunian commander Joel a mighty good headache. I also rolled like two '9's  as my first rolls, almost destroying two units. Later, more '9's were rolled... for my part... Most of my game was just to pass with units, waiting for Joel to make his move, leaving cover. And then, retribution was harsh. Well well. I got my second level on a unit, and a win! Now it's 4 wins of 11 games. Losses in total (number of models) are almost the same now! My mortar got the "semper fidelis", which makes the units to automatically arrive as a reinforcements. It's not a great combo with the stats of the mortar unit, but hey! It's free!

By the way, Joel chose the 'rapid relocation' that allows him to swap positions on half of his units! I really like that we choose so different doctrines and units, cool cool!

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