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.