Strikezone: Wotan - The Last Phase 1 Victory

The end of the Phase 1 is almost upon us (bit over an hour away when I am writing this) but I was able to log in one more victory for Ariadna on the La Forja Control Deck. In this game we played a different mission and used Limited Insertion rules as we wanted to practice for upcoming ITS events.

Game 6: Fight over antennas  

"With Ariadna's attention mainly on fighting the Nomads over the control of the La Forja Control Deck, the Yu Jing saw an opportunity to sabotage one of the shipyard's antenna fields and hack communications. Fortunately Isobel McGregor was able to obtain intel of the incoming Yu Jing task force, but with limited window of insertion William Wallace was able to assemble only small group of soldiers..."

We played Antenna Field in this game as we wanted to practice Limited Insertion armies and missions for an upcoming tournament. I felt bit handicapped from the start due to only two Specialists but thought I could work around it by playing safe and make sure my opponent can't get to the objectives easy. I was deploying second so that made bit easier for me. My opponent had MVS Lv2 Remote with Engineer on my left, Harakuri in the middle and a camo marker (I guessed it was a sniper) and then Doctor and line trooper on my right (most likely a cheap Lt).

Problem for me was that it was clear Yu Jing units on the table were not adding up to 300pts, so I was expecting several TO units. I deployed my Fireteam Core in the middle (Wallace, Grey Rifle HMG, Isobel and two Volunteer HMGs) as it gave me line of fire to three objectives (one on my right, the middle and the one in front of my opponent's deployment zone) and I could hold the one on my deployment zone. On my left I deployed Fireteam Haris (Grey Rifle T2 Rifle, Mormaer T2 Rifle and Mormaer HMG) and on the right I had McMurrough. I also infiltrated Uxia in front of the enemy deployment zone on my right flank.
 

With Uxia's successful Infiltration I was deciding between doing my Classified (Sabotage) for which I would have to move back towards my side as the terrain piece was behind her, or I also had a good path to attack enemy Doctor. I decided to go with killing the Doctor, with two Orders I was more or less back where I started with Uxia but one less enemy Specialist to worry about (two left on the board). I also wanted to do the Classified but first used McMurrough to block a doorway with Smoke as I didn't want Uxia to give AROs. After Uxia was free to move I moved her to an Objective and on the way accomplished the Classified Objective.

I wasn't able to see anything but a camo marker from long range so I tried to Discover & Shoot with Grey Rifle and then Volunteer but both failed. I even offered free AROs to my opponent but he didn't take the bait to reveal it. I used my remaining Orders to move units into better position, get Isobel base to base with an objective and also placed McMurrough in front of Uxia to block attacks against her.
 

My opponent started his turn by revealing a TO marker on my left flank where he could see my Grey Rifle T2. I was considering to drop Smoke as I'd have B2 thanks to Haris and +3 to PH but then remembered there was Msv Lv2 on that flank also, so I Dodged instead. The TO Marker was just a Ninja with Combi and was shooting over 16 inches and I was behind Cover, so I Dodged away.

Next "reveal" was a Tiger Soldier coming onto the board on my right flank. My opponent's first plan of attack was to take on Isobel but he realized he'd face too many AROs and decided to go after Uxia instead. Unfortunately I had her facing the wrong way and the Tiger Solider shot her from behind. I tried to Change Facing as she was shot in her ZoC but it didn't work and Uxia died. At least it allowed McMurrough to turn around and get better line of sight.

Then came another TO Marker. It was inside the building that Uxia had to cross in my previous turn. I was able to reveal it on its second MOV, I had some really long AROs that could see it only on second part of the Order and my opponent felt confident I wouldn't pass the WIP check. But I did and it turned out to be Hac Tao. With only few Orders left the Hac Tao tried to kill McMurrough but I was able to put down Smoke between us.

My opponent was feeling bit desperate and went back with the Tiger Soldier to try and kill Isobel. He didn't care about the three AROs; Volunteer HMG, Isobel and Mormaer HMG (all of which were Burst 2). Most of the Tiger Soldier's Burst went into Isobel but I rolled better and Isobel's T2 Rifle took the AD Trooper off the board.
 

My next turn started by McMurrough jumping at the Hac Tao. First leap didn't get him into CC and I didn't get Smoke down either as we both rolled the same on the face to face roll. Then when I jumped into CC McMurrough took 1 Wound from Nanopulser but also caused 1 Wound on the Hac Tao. In the second round of CC I managed to get a Crit to finish off the Hac Tao. Feeling good about McMurrough I used few more Orders on him to get him into CC with Harakuri, I managed to score a Wound but got hit with Chain Rifle on the way and McMurrough unfortunately went unconscious. I was hoping to get 2 Wounds on the the Harakuri to kill it but didn't think to ask if it had Total Immunity, so it was safe from DA.

With the last few Orders I tried to Discover & Shoot again but the Grey Rifle failed. Then I tried with a Volunteer and my opponent was still feeling confident but the Volunteer succeeded to Discover! He then needed really low number to hit because it was so far away but with the high Burst I managed to get a Crit.

My opponent lost most of his big guns while all of mine were still alive (I only lost Uxia and McMurrough so far) but as I had Isobel as my last Specialist there was a chance for him to turn the game around because he had three on the board (Hacker Ninja, Harakuri Forward Observer and Engineer) and still had Spitfire Remote too. The turn started with Harakuri Coup de Gracing McMurrough and giving my opponent accomplished Classified. The Harakuri then went for an objective with hopes that it would survive and then would not activate again so I wouldn't be able to shoot it. Unfortunately for my opponent, I still had three HMGs watching that objective and the Harakuri got shredded.

As last resort to try to turn the game around, the Hacker Ninja went back to camouflage state and then moved across the battle field towards Isobel. I thought he was going to try get into CC with Isobel but I had to keep holding ARO and letting him get close because if I tried to Discover he'd just shoot her for free. Turned out that he was planning to shoot Isobel instead. The Ninja was standing on one of the picnic tables when it decided to shoot and faced five AROs; all of the Fireteam (except Wallace) and Mormaer HMG.

The Ninja went full Burst into Isobel. I lost the face to face rolls and she was hit three times. But then she rolled 20, 19 and 15 for ARM saves! After all my other AROs there was nothing left of the Ninja but body parts and blood stains all over the idyllic picnic area.
 

 

I had won the Objectives on the first turn and the second turn and we both had one Specialist left, but I still had four HMGs, full Fireteam Core and full Fireteam Haris so there was nothing my opponent could do after that to even Draw. We called the game done with another victory for the Scots!

PoR Painting Contest Final Entry

And here we go! The final entry for Pride of Rodina's Painting Competition. From last article the main change, which was hard to capture on the photos, was adding slight dark corrosion around the metal bolts on should pads and also darkening of the boots to make them look dirty.

I did try to do chipping but it didn't look right to me, thanks to the camouflage pattern it just ended up looking like a part of it and too busy overall, it was bit messy. Last night I also saw someone post on Facebook a photo of their mini with painted light source from the rifle's scope and the helmet light, which looked cool and I considered doing it but didn't think it would fit onto my own mini.

I am happy with this overall though and looking forward to painting the rest of my French army this way.

Strikezone: Wotan - La Forja Attacks

To change things up a bit for these two games, we did a challenge for our lists. The first challenge was from me. I wanted to play with just basic line troops and one elite unit to lead them, like a new batch of recruits coming from basic training. I wanted to see how the games would go with most units being just basic troops. It was mis-communicated a little and my opponent had other things because the Infinity Army tool doesn't always consider Line Troops to be the Total AVA units I had in mind. I won that game though.

My opponent's challenge was that all units have to be 10-20pts; no more, no less. I enjoyed making a list for this with my USARF and I thought I had a decent army too but as it often goes when I play the Americans I didn't use them as well as I could. 4-2 MOV might be a big deal but it can turn out to be when you are used to your army being usually lot faster. It was still good practice though.

Game 4:  Hunters become the hunted

"Thank you for joining us today for more news from the Wotan Blockade. My name is Monroe Mcginnis and I am here with a fresh batch of Volunteers from Caledonia. The 333rd Blackwatch Regiment newest squad is led by Stg. Rutherfurd of the 3rd Grey Rifles to reinforce Ariadna's presence on the La Forja. These Volunteers might be just out of basic training but they are ready to kick some a..."

*Monroe Mcginnis ducks behind cover as several bullets fly past his head...*

Instead of Nomad opposition the Caledonians found themselves running into detachment of Yu Jing's Imperial Service full of Bounty Hunters, presumably on their way to capture some Nomads for themselves. The Grey Rifle armed with a HMG and most Volunteers took the high ground while most of the Highlanders preferred to be on the ground for a more direct assault.

One Highlander followed the Grey Rifle's Fireteam to provide Smoke cover from enemy sniper fire. This allowed The Grey Rifle to get into optimal range and unload hail of bullets at the sniper. The HMG bullets had no trouble shredding the Yu Jing sniper. This allowed another Highlander, armed with a Boarding Shotgun to run down a flank in attempt to take out Miranda Ashcroft. Unfortunately just as he run threw a Smoke Grenade into a doorway to cover his charge, a Yu Jing WarCor surprised him with a Flash Pulse and stunned the Highlander.

With the rest of the Yu Jing units hiding in another control room, the Grey Rifle ordered his Fireteam to advance and lock down one of the antennas. Within the Fireteam were two Volunteers with HGMs, a Paramedic and one armed with a Chain Rifle. They were supported by two Highlanders, one near the Fireteam and one on the ground, their orders were to cover the open area in Smoke if the Yu Jing decided to shoot down from the high ground; hopefully forcing them to come down and get close.
 

 

The Imperial Service had significantly less support from their Mission Control due less overall presence on La Forja, and so loss of a trooper was more keenly felt. At first they tried a frontal assault at the Scots but the Highlanders followed the plan and soon the area was covered in Smoke. Whilst this prevented long range engagements, it allowed Miranda to sneak through the Smoke undetected with plans to take out the Grey Rifle and disorient the Volunteers.

This plan of attack worked as far as getting into close quarters but Miranda underestimated one thing, the Scots are always ready for close combat! Armed with his trusty claymore the Grey Rifle swung at Miranda with such ferocity that even the highly advanced monofilament katana wasn't able to stop the Bounty Hunter being cleaved in half.

Battle cries of Freedom and for Dawn swept over the battlefield and...

  

This broadcast by the so-called "Highlander Herald" agency is fake. The Yu Jing State Empire was never on La Forja and any claims otherwise will be considered treason. It is illegal to view or distribute this broadcast within the Human Sphere and the galaxy. If you suspect anyone from viewing this report it immediately to the nearest Yu Jing representative.

((Out-Of-Character: After my mate lost Miranda and I still had everything alive the game was over soon after, he wasn't able to do much while I had complete control over the board. I didn't get full 10 due to not being able to do my Classified so had only Secure HVT.))

Game 5:  Tactical Point 

  

This was a second game of the day and we did not change the table, so when my opponent won the roll off and chose to be on the same side as before I decided to change up my plan of attack. Last time I deployment my Fireteam on the right flank so I put them on the left flank this time. Then I had Urugan at the middle and sniper with doctor and my Lt on the high ground. This turned out to be a bit of mistake later but I'll get to that.

My opponent deployed very similarly as last time he did, with most units in a building on the high ground and surrounded access to his Lt with Mad-Traps. He had few units on the ground but only sniper was a real threat. He also had Krakot Renegade on my right flank.
 

Just about every time I play my mate James my first turn tends to be very similar (I prefer going first) as he hides most of his units and tends to do a good job of making it hard for me to get to them. The only thing I could see from long range was a unit with a HMG. I tried to first attack with a Hardcase as we were within 16 inches from where I was shooting but the terrain confused me and I didn't realize he could see my Hardcase when he wasn't in cover; which led to my Hardcase getting killed.

My Fireteam did a better job of killing the HMG from long range with a sniper rifle. Since the Grunts are only 4-2 I didn't feel I had enough Orders to advance them into a good place so instead I gave Urugan Supportware and moved up up the middle close to my opponent's deployment zone with plans of holding his advance. I also had a second Sniper Grunt covering the Urugan.
 

My opponent's first turn was much faster and deadlier. Turns out I made a really bad mistake with the Urugan and Sniper because he had a MSV Lv2 Remote and units with Smoke Grenade Launchers. To my defense I just didn't think about it as my opponent normally plays Ariadna too and this Smoke trick is just not often on my mind (but it should be!). So of course the Urugan and Sniper both died.

The rest of his turn was running the Renegade down my flank. I was able to hit it with a Heavy Flamer and put it unconscious but my Grunt died too. Unfortunately for me the Renegade rolled +3 PH and Regeneration on the MetaChemistry chart and came back to life. With nothing else blocking his way he run up to my Lt and tried to subdue her with Stun Pistol, but failed and got himself killed again.
 

The second turn didn't go much better for me. I had plans for completing my Data Scan Classified by scanning the unconscious Renegade but the enemy Remote was blocking my hacker from moving. So I tried to take it out with my Fireteam, got my Sniper into a good range with full five-man support but what do you know... she gets killed. I did have a Paramedic next to her (and it was also my second Classified to medic someone) so I tried to revive her, which sadly didn't work either.

I tried to kill the Remote again with a regular Rifle, it wasn't in the optimal range but I had 4 dice vs 1. It was bit of a last desperate attempt and the Remote didn't die. Thanks to this frustrating turn of events I then forgot about the Renegade's Regeneration and left him there unconscious like a fool. So my opponent's second turn was super quick. All he did was Regenerate the Renegade and then run after my Lt, this time managing to put her into Immobilized-1 state. The rest of his turn was literally just throwing Speculative Grenades at my nearby 112, and eventually succeeding at killing him.
 

 

Going into my last turn I knew I had very slim chance of getting some of the objective points, my Fireteam was not in a good place to achieve any and most of my army was dead. I dropped in my Airborne Ranger but did it too close to enemy deployment zone and he was hit by Mad-Traps as he landed, which he didn't manage to save and then was stuck in a not useful position. My opponent had a Hacker near my Fireteam with plans of either going for the antennas or hunting my Paramedic Grunts or my new Lt (Grunt with Heavy Flamer). Though the enemy Remote was still in the way.

At least this time I had the Orders to move closer and get into better range and was able to kill it with a rifle. My opponent kept forgetting to put it into Supressive Fire which made it easier for me. On the way to shoot the Remote I had also killed some Line Trooper who was exposed. With next Order I was able to kill the enemy Hacker with a Heavy Flamer (not my Lt, I had two in the Fireteam). Then I used Rifle again to finish the Remote completely off the table as there was an Engineer near it, and also moved my Heavy Flamer into better position with plans to kill anything that tried to revive the Hacker but I missed line of fire of a Sniper and the Grunt died.

The remaining three Grunts were positioned to cover access to the unconscious Hacker and into the building where my new Lt was. With the old Lt who was still in Immobilized-1 I declared Reset, she was alone in her own Order Group at this point. The Renegade who was still nearby shot her with normal weapons instead of a Stun Pistol and managed to get her killed, which helped me to deny points to my opponent.

It put him into a tricky spot because he didn't have a good way of attacking my Fireteam but then realized he was able to get to my HVT. It took most of his Orders as he had to do Cautious Moves but he got there. He also tried to Stun my Paramedics but they held their own and killed the attacking Bounty Hunter.

In the end my opponent won by one tactical objective point from Securing HVT. 

PoR Painting Contest Almost Done

Thanks to being stuck at my mate's house on Sunday (literally trapped, road was closed off thanks to some people running around so I couldn't drive away) I didn't have as much time as I thought I would but I did get some work done, so I am happy with that. 

The photos are not the best as I took them at night and I don't have any good day light lamps at home, so I will take better ones in the morning for my final entry.

The last thing to improve will be adding wear and tear to the armour and maybe some highlights on the armour plates too, my only concern was that I am not sure how to highlight camouflage, I just think it will look like a mess. I don't normally put many highlights on weapons as I don't think they need it, but that is also one thing I can learn to do better.

PoR Painting Contest Update

On the 19th of May I have posted about entering the Pride of Rodina Painting Contest and I had every intention of painting more regularly with more updates, but as it often happens life had different plans for me. So I am bit behind but I am confident I can finish my entry over the weekend to look at least bit decent!

As I am writing this I have already made more progress than on the photos but didn't have time to take new photos of it, so I wanted to at least share how my Veteran Kazak looks with basic colours and before any washes & highlights. 

I have already finish a camouflage pattern over the sandy armour and hope to get all the highlights done on Saturday, mainly on the gun, the backpack roll and everything that isn't camouflage. On Sunday I will finish the base and be ready to submit before middnight. That is the plan anyway, lets see if I can do it.

Strikezone: Wotan - Ariadna Brawl

I was planning to play different missions this weekend for the campaign but the people I normally play with decided to go to a tournament. I didn't want to go to that event and so I could at least log something, I had to teach the game to another mate of mine instead. To keep things simple (and help my faction a bit in Wotan) I gave him a choice to play either USArianda or Caledonia, and the lists we played were fairly similar of only 150pts. 

The report itself is bit more narrative written than my regular battle reports. I wanted to try it out before committing to doing like a proper story report. 

Just like with the previous Wotan article, more photos and the army lists can be found on the Wotan website report; link below.

Game 3: Those are my guns!

"After the successful fortifications of the Indra-3 Security Coordination and Control deck the Ariadna army began to prepare for focusing its attention elsewhere in the blockage. It should have been a routine task to visit the armory for equipment and weapons but as fate would have it Caledonian operative Lilith and his freedom fighters decided to visit the armory at the same time as Field Commander Jarod and his Rangers. 

While they might be good mates at time of peace (well, as peaceful as it can get on Dawn), their competitive nature would not allow either of them to stand down and let the other get to the armoury first. After all, everyone knows it is not just about beating the enemy, you gotta have the guns that make the loudest bang to look bad ass while doing it!"

The USAriadna Rangers decided to fortify against the Caledonias and took the high ground with most of their units bunkered down, as not to make it easy for the aggressive Highlanders to get close. The Caledonians were true to their reputation and started the skirmish by charging head on, only to realize the Rangers had a sniper covering one of their flanks. Cameronian of clan McDonald learned this the hard way as he was caught by surprise, failing to use his Smoke Grenades and took a bullet.

With the flanking option gone, more direct approach was decided and a Scots Guard with support of a Highlander and a 112 Doctor rushed the armory. The American WarCor was handy with his Flash Pulse and forced the Highlander to Smoke the room, allowing the Scots Guard to pick up a Light Shotgun. The 112 Doctor stayed outside of the armory while several other Caledonian units advanced forward.

While the Caledonians were busy securing the armory, the Rangers sent a Devil Dog Marine on a flank attack of his own. He knocked out one of the Blackwatch Regiment Volunteers but otherwise held his position, threatening the other nearby Caledonians. Not as hotheaded as the Caledonians, the Rangers planned to take the armoury later with a superior force and to that end sent unit in slow tactical advance for a later assault.

The Caledonians had the armoury secured for now and planned to keep it that way. Though while the Scots Guard and the 112 Doctor were busy searching for new weapons, the Highlander noticed a USA Grunt trying to flank them. He would have none of it and charged outside. The resulting spray of bullets and Chain Rifle made it hard to see who was hit by what but in the end they both managed to knock each another out of the fight.

It wasn't easy to move within the army thanks to fire from Grunt Sniper and the American WarCor but those were taken care of by the Scots Guards, a burst fire of SMGs into the Sniper and a Molotok against the WarCor. This seemed to upset the Rangers. They were shouting something about not targeting non combatants but the Scots Guard with Molokot just flipped them off. Turned out it was a distraction, allowing the Devil Dog Marine (whos K-9 was taken out of the fight by a Volunteer with HMG earlier) jump into close combat with the rude Scots Guard.

The Caledonians are always ready for a fight though and the Scot managed to stab the Devil Dog in a leg with his trusty knife. While that was going on, a Marauder Paramedic tried to wake up the WarCor but he was knocked out good and had to be evacuated out of the fight. The rest of the Rangers kept slowly advancing, getting ready to push the Scots out of the armory soon.

The time for fun was coming to its end, the HQ would tolerate the brawl only for so long before calling both Commanders sodding wankers and restricting their access to booze as punishment for wasting time; which nobody in Ariadna wants! With that mind the Caledonians decided to rush the armory with everyone that was close enough to make it. The units inside tried to grab more weapons and equipment but in their hurry and excitement from the fight they forgot the access codes and the panoplies wouldn't open.

 
The close combat fight between the Scots Guard and Devil Dog was still going on but a human, even a Scotsman, could hold out only for so long against an angry Dog-Warrior. After one punch too many the Scots Guard was knocked out, allowing the Devil Dog to join the attack on the entrenched Scots inside the armory.

First came attack from the front and a hail of bullets took out the Scots Guard with SMGs. Then an attack from the right, engulfing most of the room in fire and taking out the 112 Doctor and a Scottish WarCor. In the end there was only one Scots Guard left, fending off the Rangers with his Marksman Rifle. The last attack came from a Grunt, charging in with her Rifle. This could have give the Rangers control over the Armory but the pressure got to her and her shots went wide, missing the Scots Guard completely who then knocked her out.

The Caledonians celebrated their victory by mocking the Rangers with witty insults as they had to wait outside while the Scots picked all the coolest guns for their next missions.