HG Blitz Game: SRA vs WFP Drop Bears

   A buddy came over and played a little game today.  He decided to play with a 550TV SRA force with a GP squad, a FS squad and a section of Elans with AT.  I used a Drop Bear GP squad and a Dragoon squad with some improved 3ATK/3DEF.  That made a huge difference and saved the game for me.  The SRA drew offense and chose to assassinate my Army CDR, Seize an OBJ (Bottle top on hill) and Destroy my Dragoon squad.

The SRA came across the board pretty fast utilizing ground movement and cover as best they could.  The Bears got off a few shots, most notably a couple LGL rounds flattened several bases of Elans before they brought their AGMs and rockets to bear.

The Dragoon squad held the OBJ, while I tried to flank my GP squad to the right and then bring them around to destroy threats to the OBJ.

I finally was able to stack the modifiers coordinated fire and crossfire on a SRA Cobra and brought down the beast in a volley of fire from the GP squad.  It is so entirely clear that maneuvering to maximize your modifiers is the key to success in this game.  SRA attempted to kill my Cheetah failed and instead decided to close and melee to slow down the GP squads flanking maneuver.  It worked pretty well and slowed down the Bears for two turns, but cost them several gears.

   The Dragoon squad fought tenaciously to hold the OBJ but SRA gears stormed the hill. In desperation, a Dingo charged the Cobra supporting the units on the hill.  His assault caused 3 boxes of damage with his Spike gun.  This ended up being the turning point.  The Dragoon squad regrouped and with fire from the GP squad started to eliminate SRA gears near the OBJ.  At this point it was clear that the SRA no longer had the ability to accomplish any of its OBJs any time soon and so we called the game.    A great game.  We continued to learn tactics and how to best utilize the army lists, modifiers and rules to increase lethality.  Hopefully, we continue playing every week.

Heavy Gear Painting Update

So I took some time to start organizing and prepping my last remaining gears for painting.  I have had them sitting around for a long time (some for years....)

A Southern Strike Cadre with extra gears.  Allows me to change around the configuration of the cadre by just switching out gear combinations.  With these eight I can make Line, Brawler or Rapid Support Strike Cadres.  Gives me a lot of flexibility, but at the same time I can only field one cadre from them. Oh well.

My last two huns and my only Thunderhammer (a little present for my clearly under appreciated Northern forces)

Drakes....hhmmm not sure what to do with these.  One Command and one FS Variant

And my massive Northern point sink...three Mammoths.  I will play a game with all three one day

Heavy Gear Campaign: Operation Sudden Fire Scenario 7 (Mission 2): In and Out (Solo)

After the random choosing of this scenario, I opened up the book and read through the scenario.  I thought that a win for the South would bring about a probable Southern offensive operation to capitalize on the new intel gained from the last scenario.  I was pleasantly surprised that the writers really thought this storyline through very well.  I really applaud DP9 for such a well through out product.  They need to restart making these scenario books in this manner and not the random and non-interconnected scenarios they now have.  The only issue besides the army building I have had in conversions comes in the way of the terrain. The two hex maps that come with the Tac Pack are used in every scenario, however they adapted the maps drastically it seems.  So sometimes woods are boulder fields and imaginary lines create plateau effects, as in this scenario.  This was a bit challenging converting to a viable replicated miniature table.  But I did my best.

Used a bunch of foam sheets and books, covered by my trusty old army blanket

View from on top of the ridge (Northern Deployment Area) towards the Southern deployment zone

Looking up the hill from the Southern position

    The background of this scenario is that the Northern Commander, after receiving the report of the failed intercept of the escaping Southern recon unit, decided to preemptively attack the Southern forces before they took advantage of the intel.  A wise move and uses a feint to draw off the faster and more dangerous gear squads from the South's main force, which (if you read the other posts, you will remember) is the remnants of a regiment.  Well , their heavy support (2 x Nagas) are left with a couple gears and some infantry in the rear as the rest of the unit rushes off to attack the Northern feint attack.  The North on the other hand has assembled an interesting strike force to attack and destroy the Nagas.  They have one Strike Squad of 1x Razorback, 2x Jags and 2x Strike Cheetahs, along with Recon infnatry, Heavy Weapons Infantry (Rockets) and a cool unit called the Armor Killers armed with AGRs and Rockets and JUMP packs!  I was having pictures of Heinlein's original Starship Troopers from the book "jump" through my head.  Anyways, here is where I made my mistake in translating data from TAC to Blitz or just conversion...  IN the Scenario book these infantry units are all just squads of 10 men each.  Well, I just decided for ease of conversion I would make every squad a platoon....oopps.  That would mean 5 x platoons of infantry in this game.  Well, if I don't know infantry rules by the end of this game, I never will!

Starting positions

As the Southern commander starting first I assessed the Northern infantry as my greatest threat, not the gears.  If I could keep them at distance and prevent close range attacks and crossfire it would give my Nagas a better chance.  However, my mission goals were only to survive for 6 turns, not save the Nagas.  However, as damage is cumulative saving the Nagas for later would be important.  So my strategy was to use the infantry to move foraward and bog down the Southern avalanche down the hill and use them to spot, along with my two Iggys targets for my Long-fang and Nash Nagas.  Gears would sweep up anything that got through the infantry.

View from Southern Deployment Zone

 Switching caps to the North, I found that my units although well equipt, needed to close the distance to be effective and that would be an issue if I didn't find a way to punch through the Southern infantry.  As soon as the Southern infantry advanced I knew I had to keep the "lines"  somewhat in the middle of the battlefield.  If not I would not have room maneuver or range the enemy Nagas.  So, goal one stop the Southern infantry, goal two bypass with gears and Armor killers to get to the prize.  

View from Northern Deployment Zone

 After Turn 1, I found that the Southern troops were not as defenseless and easy as I forecasted.  Coordinated fire and IF pulverized the Northern Razorback as it moved forward to get a shot.  Also, as a large amount of the infantry are armed with just assault rifles or MGs they can't really effect the gears, and the gears are loaded out to kill heavies so like wise they can't kill infantry effectively.  I can see that the middle plateau of this battle field is going to be strewn with dead infantry and broken gears very quickly.  I think though the strategy for both sides would change dramatically if they did have only one squad of each type of infnatry.  This would allow for some much more dramatic moves.  The BNorth does have one badger to ferry the Heavy Infantry, but since I upgraded them to a platoon, I would have to ferry four squads now back and forth....I still could I guess, but the AGRs are in a good position shooting down from 2 elevation levels above aining that +1 already to cancel out range degradation....hmm  We'll see in Turn 2.

End of Turn 1

Too be continued.......

Heavy Gear Campaign: Operation Sudden Fire Scenario 1 (Mission 1): Block and Run (Solo)

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the comparable army lists for this scenario pack, but in the end I gave up.  Using cards from different lists and I just gave each side 2 CPs for the scenario.  I started this scenario on the last entry, but the wife interrupted and I was unable to finish this really fun scenario until today.  First off, playing solo was much more rewarding this time than any time in the past.  I fought each side really aggressively....as casualties will show.  I didn't keep the mission objectives in mind though and this cost both sides gears which will be missed later.  This highlights the importance and types of tactics used in a single game versus a campaign.  I did use a dedicated die roller which ensured I was not cheating.  She rolled the dice constantly for over 45 minutes on and off....

So we left off on turn 2.  Turn three was a good indication of the bloodbath that was beginning.
North won initiative and opted to let the South move first.  The Iggy and Dart in the west decided to try and run to rejoin the rest of the cadre in the east after successfully drawing three of the Northern gears to the west.   The Iggy was gunned down in the open as it about to reach cover by a Jaguar.  Luckily the pilot rolled a 6 and ejected safely.  The pilot scampered tot eh woods and was last seen riding off the field to  the north on a stolen tractor.  The Dart seeing its faster comrade in front erupt into flames, abruptly  returned to the hill for cover.

In the east the Southern gears enacted a pincer move which had mixed results.  The Iggy moved around the eastern side of the hill catching the Jag in crossfire.  The Mamba stormed over the hil and through the slot to pound the Jaguar to smithereens.  However, the Dart which went around the western side got a RFB shot in the face from the Strike Cheetah.

One of the Northern Hunters cut through the woods and finished off the Dart with crossfire.  

Turn 4 started with North winning initiative again...(I wasn't rolling)...  They opted to go first with some juicy targets available.  The Hunter in the woods blew a big hole in the back of the Mamba (no didn't have the upgraded back...oopps)  The Mamba attempted to flank the wary Cheetah,but was caught and blown to pieces by the Cheetahs RFB.  The Iggy in the east tried to chase down the Cheetah, but fumbled its perfect LRP shot into the Cheetah's back.  A this point the North could have possibly sealed the fate of the South by killing the Iggy, but instead focused on the Dart stuck to the southwest. 

   The Jag and the Hunter in the west had been working to get crossfire and eliminate the cover the lone Dart was effectively using on the hill to the south.  The Dart let fly with a lucky shot salvo of LRPs and decimated the Hunter as it moved through the open to the north of the hill.  Then the next turn it stunned the Jag with a HG and continued to hold off the 2nd Hunter as it approached from the NE.  In a last desperate attempt to rejoin the Iggy to the NE it sprinted to its death NE of the hill.

The Iggy in the east still persisted in catching the Cheetah and blew away the little nuisance once and for all with its LRPs just SW of the hill.

At this point the distance between the remaining Southern Iggy and the two Northern gears was so great that the North would never be able to catch the Iggy as it escaped North.  So the Southern intel analysts will be extremely happy with today's outcome.  Unfortunately it cost the South 4 gears and 3 pilots.  The Northern squad lost sight of its objectives and in an attempt to destroy gears rather than wear them down and prevent there escape failed to keep the South from winning the engagement.  The North lost three gears and pilots.

So South +2 VP for escape,  North 0 VP  On a random roll the South chooses scenario 7...In and Out