Monday, March 3, 2008

Battle report 02032008: the Mighty Therians vs the Red Blok...again!

/send_hello.overseer.***
Hello, overseers! Welcome to the EMI grid!
/end_hello.overseer.***

/sending_report.02032008
/Force_composition.Therian
/Storm golem unit
/company leader: Dyssnowman.Omega
/Storm golem unit
/Bane goliath unit
/Incubus golgoth
/Wraith golgoth

/Force_composition.Red.Blok
/Hetman: Urod
/company leader: Odin 0-1 and Manon 0-2
/Dragonov Kommandos
/Sierp unit
/RPG.Kolossus unit
/Strielitz.Kolossus unit

/Objective_secure cargo container

/synopsis_report.02032008
/As with the previous conflict, both factions began by moving their units onto the field of battle. Though the conditions would have allowed some units to be held in reserve I concluded that the best course of action would be to take advantage of my superior numbers. Again in this battle cover was plentiful so most units were able to quickly move into defensive positions though it proved to be of limited value against the Red.Blok indirect fire.
/The battle proved to be long and difficult but ultimately we were able to hold the objective long enough to achieve victory. Several units proved to be vital in achieving this goal.

/Incubus golgoth
/The sniper ability of this unit proved to be quite deadly on several occasions as this overseer was able to quickly and effectively neutralize even enemy troops that had taken advantage of cover on the battlefield. The praise of the concensus and an increase in bandwidth is highly recommended for the efforts of this overseer.

/Bane goliaths
/Though they were destroyed before the end of the encounter, the bane.goliaths proved to be of immense value against the armored unit of the faction Red.Blok. Their exceptional range and armor piercing ability along with their own ability to withstand damage should not be overlooked by any overseer.

/Hekat golgoth
/At several times in the battle I created a Hekat golgoth. Though a couple of these were destroyed outright their sacrifice did provide a valuable distraction as my other forces advanced. Though I had originally been skeptical of how useful they would be at first, I am very pleased with their performance today and I shall endeavor to expand my resources to include more of them in the future.
/end_synopsis_report.17022008

/analysis_report.17022008…
/DONE

/send_goodbye
Have a nice day and thank you for your information!
/end_message

And this time I remembered to bring a camera! Not too many pictures though as I found myself thoroughly engrossed in the game most of the time but I did manage to get a few.

For this game, we played a variation on the "Bridgehead" scenario. We followed the basic scenario for the most part but we did use a container as the primary objective instead of a hill. We also add two neutral access zones to each side of the board so that we had the option of keeping some of our forces in reserve. Not that either of us did that (we both throw our entire armies into the fray right from the start) but it's the thought that counts, right?


This shot shows you the middle of turn one. Steven has just moved on his unit of Strielitz Kolossus and was checking to see if he had line of sight to my unit of Bane Goliaths located on the other side of the board. Though he shots went wide this turn, in the next turn he was able to hit them and ground the unit. He had not realized that their armor was a strong as it was so he was not able to do any damage but he did manage to slow them down for a turn and keep me from getting them into position.

This next shot is one of my most memorible from the game. My Hekat had dashed forward to engaged Urod, triggering a nearby unit of RPG Kolossus that were on overwatch. Their rockets managed to damage the Hekat, destroying one weapon and damaged the legs, but it was still intact! Unfortunately it also was about 3cm away from Urod, leaving me too far away to be able to attack it but well within the range of its weapons.

Needless to say the Hekat quickly disappeared as Urod blew it to pieces, giving Steven first blood for the game and my first casualty. Even though it was destroyed without being able to inflict a single point of damage, the Hekat had tied up Urod for a turn which is all that I was really hoping for.

Shortly after my Hekat turned into a pile of scrap, we caught sight of these two massive, multi-faceted objects. What could they be?!?!? Actually these were two giant d20's that we used to keep track of our victory points.

I know what you're thinking; what does this have to do with the game? Nothing, I just liked the picture. : )

These next two shots are from the middle of the game but they really capture the turning point of the game in my opinion. In the first shot you can see my forces on the table. My Incubus and my unit of Bane Goliaths are located just to the right of the cylindar in the center of the picture. Up to this point I had been keeping my Banes inside a nearby building, taking pot shots when I could. Right before this picture, Steven had moved his Sierps out from behind a building on his side of the table so I rushed my Banes out into the open to take adantage of this. Between them and the Incubus I was able to destroy one of the Sierps and damage the other one. This move ultimately cost me the unit of Banes as Urod opened fire on them, but the damage that I was able to inflict was worth it in my opinion.

After this turn, I dashed my Storm Golems forward giving me control of the container for a turn. From that point on, he fighting became much more intense as Steven and I started vying for control of the container. By the last turn, Steven only had Urod left on his side while I had my Wraith, a Hekat, and half a squad of Storm Golems. Since he was playing Frontline, he could control the container with just Urod while I needed to keep my Golems alive a little bit longer.

One salvo from Urod later and I only had the one Golem left, leaving us tied for control until I reconstructed another Golem. This was just enough to give me control and win the game, but just barely!

All and all, this game was a long one but it was an absolute blast! There was a lot of jockeying for position before we both scrambled for the container and then the real blood bath began, and I think that we both had a great time which is the most important thing. I also was able to learn from my previous mistakes, which is always a good thing too.

1) The routines are the key to victory. And this game just proves that point for me. Starting with turn one and going right up to the end of the game I was spending leadership points like gangbusters on my routines. Be it dashing my units forward, creating Hekats, or reconstructing my fallen troops, the routines really made the difference for me.

2) The faction is crucial. Yet another point from the last game that proved to be oh so true. This time I ran a Cypher army and man are they versatile! Choosing them cost me the ability to wager LPs for my authority check but considering that I was facing the twins I really wasn’t too worried about it. I would much rather have the ability to mix my routines over being able to wager for the authority check any day.

3) Striders, striders, striders! Do not ignore the striders! And this I did not do, not this time. I picked up a Hekat and a unit of Bane Goliaths and it makes a world of difference. The Banes can rip apart most things they shoot at (in fact I managed to take down the entire RPG Kolossus unit with one shot!) and their armor makes them pretty hard to kill as well. They did get banged around by the Sierps a couple of times but all that happened was they were knocked down. This slowed them down a couple of times but given a choice between slowed down and dead, I’ll take slowed down thank you very much.

Overall, I think that this was one of my most enjoyable games of AT-43 yet. The battle was hard fought and I just barely managed to squeak out the victory, but I had a blast the whole time and I am really looking forward to the next game day down at the Shop.

No comments: