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With the city board complete(for the moment) I decided to have a little mini-campaign, situated on a planet known as Hooke’s World:
Hooke’s World has long been considered inconsequential, scarce in precious raw materials and quite inhospitable by human standards.
That was until a recent survey of the polar badlands.
Omni-corp miners, hired by New Imperial Japan (holders of the deed to the planet) found deposits of osmium, plutonium and a host of transuranic elements.
Suffice to say, Hooke’s world was no longer inconsequential.
The USS, United Strike Systems was formerly the holder of the deed, and felt they were owed a certain part of the wealth discovered due to some contractual fine print. Obviously the Imperials dissagreed. While the Unity courts in the core worlds argue the merits of each side of the conflict, out on the fringe the parties were not content to wait, knowing they might stand to lose a considerable amount no matter what the courts decided.
The USS high command authorized a strike force to probe the planetary defences, while the Imperial army on Hooke’s World were put on high alert..
The USS recon team had their orders; find and extract as much information about the imperial defences as they could, then disengage and join up with the main force. The site chosen was a small comms outpost in the badlands, since it is connected to the rest of the enemy comnet but less guarded than the city.
Two recon elements, three light mechs and two light cavalry elements led by a light cav CHQ makes up the USS recon force. They also have fire support from a orbiting spacecraft (counts as armored artillery, but can’t deploy on the table). All the structures belonging to the NIJA can be searched for intel, each is worth 2 vp for the USS.
Guarding the site is a heavy “Katana”-class mech which is also the commander, a “Specter”-class medium mech, two light mechs, two light cav elements, one heavy cav and three elements of light infantry.
Coming out of nowhere, one of the recon elements quickly scan the defensive bunkers in the center of the battlefield.
Stepping out from behind the rocky hill, the Katana mech levels it’s particle cannons at the USS light across from it. The staggered twin blasts blow the light mech to scrap!
The second recon element appears on the left flank, right next to the garage. Calling in a fire mission on the close-by Spectre, the kinetic strike manages to damage every system on the mech!
Start of the second turn. So far only one location has been scouted, and the USS have lost a mech to enemy fire.
In an attempt to take some heat off the recon unit, a USS light armor attacks the Yumi mech, only to be trampled into a wreck by the warmachine. The mech doesn’t escape unharmed either, receiving severe damage to it’s weapon systems as well as it’s armour.
Seeing their window of opportunity closing, the crew of the light armor on the left flank makes a break for it, braving the fire of the combined guards to scan the barracks.
Start of the third turn, the USS falling is back, having managed to scan the garage in the bottom right in the final parts of last turn. With 3 out of 4 objectives scanned, the commander decides they have all they will be able to get and order withdrawal.
Having effected some repairs, the second recon unit calls down more fire on the already damaged Spectre, finishing it off before the last of the sonic booms can be heard.
At this point the rest of the USS contingent have fallen back far enough to be out of danger, and the NIJA doesn’t pursue, they have aerospace assets for that.
At the end of the battle the USS have scored 12 vp; 6vp for the 3 objectives, 2vp for the Spectre mech and 4vp for the two light cav elements destroyed.The NIJA scored 11 vp; 2vp for the objective denied the enemy, 4vp for the two light cav, another 4vp for the two recon elements and 1vp for the Dagger mech.
A close game, the USS winning by the smallest of margins!
Each side starts this campaign with 100 Presence each, and after this battle they are down to USS 91 and NIJA 94.
With the intel paid for in blood and steel, the USS will be planning a major strike against the city, one of the most important sites between them and the mining complexes.
The full report, with more pics on the blog :http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/05/surveying-field-part-1-of-battle-for.html
Thanks for looking!
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
Update: The second battle in my mini campaign
The intel gathered during the last mission had started giving up it’s secrets. The deposits were certainly here, but further to the north still.
Before the USS force could take possession of the resources however, they have to establish a base.
The city was chosen, not only because it had the only sub-space communication compound on the hemisphere, but also to deny it to the NIJA.
The city. Some NIJA infantry are already dug into the city, while the armored contingent and mechs are advancing into the city from the north.
The USS assault force left to right; A heavy tank, three Dagger light mechs, a Silverback heavy artillery mech, a Chataphract CHQ mech, two Imperator heavy assault mechs, two light armors, and at the end another two heavy tanks. A Strike fighter is tasked with support, waiting to swoop down.
Exept for the three infantry units that are already dug in the city the NIJA defenders consists of a Wight heavy mech, a Dictactor heavy mech, a Halberd CHQ mech, a Dagger light mech and an Assassin medium mech. A pair of heavy tanks and a pair of light armor complete the defence force.
As soon as the mechs come into range, the infantry defending the comms centre open up with their AT rockets. The dagger staggers under the assault.
Giving up their location, the infantry is quickly destroyed as one of the Imperator mechs fires it’s energy cannons.
A Dagger and a NIJA pair of armor trade shots, the NIJA heavy tank takes a few hits and then a few more as it’s USS counterpart launch a few rounds into it!
Start of the second turn. The second Imperator and the Strike fighter attacked the NIJA Dictator in the finishing stages of the last turn, knocking off some armor and damaging weapon systems.
Streaking across the field towards the Dictator, the Strike fighter engages. The mech returns fire, missiles damaging the aircrafts steering.
Lasers strobing, the Strike fighter goes down in flames as one of the wings are sheared off by the coherent light from the Dictator mech.
Sprinting for the mech hiding behind the bank, a USS Dagger mech fires his missiles at the enemy, scoring several hits.
A concentrated attack on the Dagger by NIJA armor and mech damages several systems. The USS mechs blows of some chunks of armor off the light armor of infront of it.
Weapon systems damaged, the white NIJA light armor smashes into the flank of a light mech. Bracing for the impact, the mech groans as the charging vehicle makes contact. Through luck or skill, the mech survives with some damage, but the armor is wrecked.
Rolling up to the edge of wall, the yellow tank fires at the light armor across from it, blowing off bits and pieces.
In an attempt to stop the white tank from destroying the Assassin mech, a unit of infantry charges the tank. Acting quickly, the crew manages to fire their machinegun into the charging infantry. They destroy the unit, but not before taking several hits themselves.
Start of turn 3. The USS have managed to take out several enemy units, suffering some light losses themselves. The NIJA is wavering, but still holding.
Quickly re-targeting the mech, the white heavy tank open up on the Assassin again. Multiple hits smash into the mech, bringing it down!
Pushing it’s engines to the max, the last NIJA heavy tank speed towards the Cataphract, firing as it goes. A few lucky hits manage to down the mech, robbing the USS of it’s CO!
The Imperator and Wight stride towards each other, guns blazing. Armor melts, systems short out, and in the end, the Wight fall before the less damaged USS heavy.
The Imperator continues to slug it out with the enemy mechs, the CHQ this time. Several hits are traded, damaging serveral systems on both mechs. At the end of the exchange, the are still standing though.
The Dictator’s lasers bore into the heavy tank next to the Imperator, turning most of the tank to slag.
When the last light armor of the NIJA blow apart, the New Japanese decide to withdraw. USS have driven their enemies from the city, allowing them to set up a forward base to stage the next operation.
Operation concluded, a USS victory.
The USS got lucky quite early, and it kept going all through the game. Being my first 20+ presence game of Horizon Wars, the objective was kept deliberately simple: By turn 4, whoever had more forces in the field would be the winner, unless they could force 50% combat ineffectives/destroyed units. By the end of turn 3, the USS had managed just that.
USS losses:
Cataphract CHQ P2, Strike fighter P2, Heavy Cav P3 Total losses: 7 Presence, leaving their total at 84 (91-7)NIJA losses:
Wight P3, 2x Light Cav P2, 2x Light Infantry P1, Assassin P2, Heavy Cav P3 Total losses: 14 Presence, leaving their total at 80 (94-14)Having being bloodied, the NIJA will probably put up a serious defence to keep the USS taskforce from reaching the precious resources.
The full report and more pics on the blog: http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/06/assaulting-city-part-2-of-battle-for.html
Thanks for looking
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
The latest part of the battle for Hooke’s World:
After taking the city from Imperial hands, USS high command decided that swift and aggressive action was still crucial. The Imperials had established a defensive line between the city and the mines, the principal target for the USS invasion force.
The base was out in the badlands, little more then a landing pad and an accompanying structure.
This was the spot selected to attempt the breakthrough, to insert forces in the rear areas of the blockading NIJA elements. If they could manage to get half of their presence’s worth of units off the opposite table edge, they would have enough to interrupt supply lines and harass support units. The Imperials need to keep that from happening.
The NIJA, once again defending, consisted of a Katana heavy mech, one Dictator heavy mech, a Spectre medium mech, one each of a Dagger and Yumi-class lights, one light and one heavy tank, three light infantry units and one heavy artillery unit.
The USS force consisted of a Imperator heavy mech, a Halberd heavy mech, a Regent medium mech, three Dagger light mechs and a pair each of light and heavy tanks.
Stepping out behind the cliff, a USS Dagger mech fire on the closest infantry unit. A lucky hit blows up the defensive structure, taking out the infantry as well.
Return-fire boils off armor and jam actuators of the mech as the infantry targets their attacker.
A second Dagger steps forth and takes fire, distracting the infantry for long enough to let the light armor sweep in and scatter the NIJA infantry.
As he is advancing toward the base, the USS CHQ reels as a bolt of coherent light shorts out some control circuits for the mech’s cannon.
Seeing a chance to get past the blockade, the USS light armor speeds past the Yumi mech. It turns to make chase, blowing out part of the right track assembly.
Despite the damage, the armor speeds on, past the blockade.
While the light armor speeds past, the heavy tank fires on the NIJA light armor..
..But the momentum is too great! In a huge crash the light Imperial armor slams into the tank, wrecking itself in the process!
Actuators protesting, the Regent makes it into the rocky outcropping. Guns blazing, he manages to damage the Katana infront of him.
The Spectre shudders as energy bolts from the USS Imperator slams into it. A rocket barrage from the NIAJ artillery hits home, knocking armor off the USS CHQ.
Rotating left and right, the USS Halberd almost wrecks the Yumi as he moves for the border. Just before he dissappears out of range, he shoots a pair of energy bolts into the other flank of the Dictator.
The two USS heavy tanks trade fire with the NIJA mechs, melting armor and weapons off each other..
..The red heavy tank manages to break off, following after the heavy mech.
With a crackling of ozone, the Katana fires both guns at once. Falling backwards, the Regent’s pilot ejects as the mech crashes to the ground.
Trying to join it’s brothers in arms, the light armor guns it’s engine. Before they can get anywhere though, the Imperial heavy tank blew out the tracks of the escaping armor!
With both armors unable to move, and the Imperator fighting the rest of the Imperials, the battle was over for all intents and purposes. Before he surrendered however, he managed to blow up the Dictator heavy mech.
The USS had managed to get some forces behind the enemy lines, but not enough to claim victory.Both sides had sustained heavy losses however, and so it was only a minor victory for the NIJA.
At the end of this engagement the losses were:
USS
1 heavy tank, 1 light armor, 3 Dagger light mechs, 1 Regent mech and the Imperator heavy mech, leaving the USS at 71 Presence (84-13)NIJA
1 Yumi light mech, 1 Dictator heavy mech, 1 light armor and 3 infantry units, leaving the NIJA with 71 Presence (80-9)With some units to harass the NIJA supply line, the USS are still forced to re-think their strategy, the NIJA will most likely attempt some form of counter attack now that the line has been held.
The mines are still the primary target, but now the USS high command might have to come up with another way to get to them.
Check the blog for the full report and more photos: http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/06/breaking-line-part-3-of-battle-for.html
Thanks for looking!
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
Revisiting an recurring idea; Making anime-style mecha battles work with HW!
It’s no secret that I like Horizon Wars, it’s a great game that can do a lot of different sorts of mecha and combined arms action play faster without making it too simplistic.
If you are interested in reading a bit about my attempts at tinkering with the rules to fit the flavor of certain mecha shows, read on. If you’d rather just get to the action, you can skip this first part!
I have recently started thinking about trying to play more games inspired by some personal favorites, VOTOMS, Gundam and Five Star Stories in particular. Horizon wars is sure to work for games in the spirit of these franchises I’m sure, but there are some things I can’t help but wanting to tinker with to get the right feel. That is, the right feel according to me. 😉
So the problem is two-fold; the amount of damage units can sustain and close combat. Starting with that I think is the easier of the two, damage and how it’s to be allocated, I set up this game between the SADU and the NTC.
The mechas of the respective parties are very much influenced by Votoms design, so I felt they were a good fit visually as well.
What I decided to try was to limit the amount of points units are allowed to place in the A(armor/agility) stat, thereby making them more likely to blow up in a spectacular fashion, just like the AT’s of Votoms. In this game all the units are P2 mechs with an Armor value of 2.
Since I mostly play solo I use a damage allocation table rather than choosing what stat to reduce when a unit is hit. It used to look like this;
A roll of:
1-5 is a hit to the targets Movement.
6-10 is a hit to Firepower.
11-12 is a hit to the Armor/Agility.I also modified this table a bit, so that there is an equal chance of “hitting” either of the 3 active stats. So for each hit I roll a d12;
A 1-4 means a hit to the targets Movement stat.
5-8 is a hit to Firepower.
9-12 is a hit to the Armor/Agility.With these modifications in place I am hoping that the action on the table will be faster and more deadly as well as allowing critical hits have an even bigger impact.
This is where the actual AAR starts!
With the battles between the NTC and SADU turning into a stalemate, the high command on either side is content with whatever progress or even insignificant victory they can manage. That’s why these two squads of mechs find themselves on opposite sides of a pair of automated mining facilities deep in the desert. The dome complex in the centre is both residences for the technicans and a research facility of lesser importance. Both sides have been ordered to take and hold, these facilities to deny them to the enemy. At any cost.
The NTC squad. 5 regular NTC Warrior class mechs and a bazooka-carrying Warrior model. The leader is the mech with the brown base.
The SADU unit. 5 of the Turtle-class frontline mechs, lead by a commander in a single Beetle-class unit.
Most of the first turn is spent manuvering into place, a few daring pilots redline their machines to make it to the dome complex as fast as they can. Cover is scarce on the approach to the domes, something one of the NTC pilots take advantage of. His attack lands a heavy blow on the target, shredding most of it’s armor, but it remains standing..
Having failed to destroy the enemy, the NTC mech is now in the open as a comrade of his target locks on from behind some cover. Blasted by rockets, he loses some armor too!
Start of the second turn. Each side left at least one unit to hold the mine closest to them, while they try to out-manouver the others. Two units from each side is playing a deadly game of cat and mouse outside the dome complex, trying to get the upper hand as trans-plas shatters and metal warps from stray shots.
Getting out into the open was a bad idea. The SADU pilot lines up another barrage, finishing the job this time. The NTC pilot will hopefully learn from his error, if he makes it out that is.
The partner to the recently downed Warrior mech pops around the corner, blowing a few pieces off the legs of the attacker and forcing the SADU mech to retreat back to the relative safety of his companions.
Speeding in from the south side, the bazooka Warrior fires round after round towards the nearest Turtle mech. He manages to do some damage to all of the targets systems, but not long after he takes a hit from a second mech, damaging his weapon.
The stricken SADU mech decides to deal with the most immediate threat while the bazooka mech is busy switching barrels, he spins around the corner and releases a swarm of missiles at the mech there. Taken by surprise, the pilot doesn’t have time even to return fire before his mech is coming apart at the seams from the ferocious attack. That’s the second NTC mech down!
Taking control of the situation, the leader of the Warrior squad shows why he is in charge: In a single smooth spin, he fires his auto-cannon right through the cockpit of one of the Turtles, taking the mech out of action immediately. As he finished the manouver the next burst finds both arm and leg servos of the other SADU mech!
Knowing that keeping the centre is the way to victory, another machine is ordered away from the mine and charges at the NTC leader with rockets speeding towards the enemy machine. The explosions pummel the mech, rends the armor, but fails to take it out completely.
Coming to his commanders aid with a helping of hot lead, the last of the Warrior mechs manage to sever feed wires and damage actuators, but the targets armor remains mostly intact.
Along the southern edge one SADU pilot has gotten dangerously close to the NTC line and was in a shootout with the lone pilot left to guard it.
Once again the NTC commander shows his adversaries why he is the boss. He quickly blows apart the damaged machine to his left, before taking more carefull aim and scraping the one in front of him as well!
Meanwhile the infiltrating Turtle gains the upper hand and destroys the lone guard, before moving up and firing on the exposed back of the bazooka Warrior.
Spinning around to face the new threat, the bazooka warrior zooms into point blank range and delivers the finishing blow, sending pieces of the SADU mech scattering to the four winds.
Having been caught in the deadly accurate fire of the SADU commander and his Beetle mech, the last Warrior mech swings in beind the dome complexto seek cover from his dogged pursuer. The SADU commander catches up however and deliver the final blow!
The Commanders face each other through the greasy smoke of the wrecked warmachines lying around them. They know they each have their orders, but they also know they can’t hold this place with the troops left under their respective command. Gathering up the survivors on either side, they both decide to withdraw for now, taking the dead and wounded with them.
They will settle this another time.
Having finished the first test, I’m glad to see it work so well! The numbers might have been skewed a bit by the fact that I rolled quite a few criticals, but the end result came closer to the high mortality amongst AT pilots in VOTOMS and that was what I was hoping for. The NTC boss is definitely being declared an ace after his stellar preformance during this fight, taking down several mechs with little to no help!
The blog: http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/08/hold-objectives-at-all-costs-horizon.html
Thanks for checking it out!
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
As I think you know, I am not a mech fan.
However, do you think it would be a viable thing as maybe a substitute for Heavy Gear style games, the mechanics for which are too intricate for my needs?
Not and AAR just yet and it took me a good while, but now I’ve managed to finish painting my newest acquisition:
During my time off this summer I decided to finally take the plunge and order some of the new plastic Heavy Gear models from Dream Pod 9. I’d been holding off since their shipping charges to the EU are a bit pricey, but I’m glad I finally did get them!
The models are gorgeous, especially to a VOTOMS fan like myself. Since I got the 2 player starter to make sure I had enough models for two forces that would last me a good while, it has taken this long just to get them all painted up.
But now it’s done, and you can see the result for yourselves:
The southern gears. I decided to keep their colors more or less the standard scheme, since gray on gray is one of my favorites anyhow.
The heavies, King Cobra in the middle, flanked by two Spitting Cobras.
The Black Mambas, going to be the assault squad in my games.
Jaeger general purpose gear, the standard gear of choice for the southern army.
Finally, the Iguana recon gears.
Fighting against them will be the Northern army:
The Northerners. While I do like the original white on ocre scheme of the Northern army, I decided to give them the standard coloring of the ATM-09Scopedog, the main mecha of VOTOMS.
The Northern heavies, Kodiak in the middle flanked by two Grizzlys.
A squad of Jaguar gears. They will be shouldering an assault role, similar to the southern Black Mambas.
Hunter gears, the standard Northern army unit.
A pair of Cheetahs. Light gears for scouting and harrasing enemy units, darting in to strike at weak spots before disappearing again.
The last Nothern unit is the Ferret. A super-light gear, smaller than even the Cheetahs. While it can fight with it’s standard loadout of autocannon and a missile pack, the primary job of a Ferret is recon and artillery spotting.
That is the whole lot!I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fit them in with the rest of my factions on the fringe, if they do they will most likely be included as two sides fighting each other in a strictly planetary affair.
Who knows, maybe one of the many mercenary units or fighting Mega-Corps will get drawn into the situation?The blog:http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/08/more-than-few-gears-too-long-in-making.html
Thanks for looking!
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
In response to some questions after my last post, I have a few comparison shots to share with you today:
I was recently asked a few questions about the new plastic heavy gear models I wrote about in my last post, so I’ll endeavour to answer them, along with some photos comparing them to some of the other models from various ranges I have.
I’ll start with the easiest to answer; Where did I get them and what was the damage?
Heavy Gear has been around for some time, but for reasons unfathomable to me, it hasn’t really got the traction you’d expect from such a long-running line of models. I ordered my 2-player starter box from the company website (link to store page) since the only other option I could find was ebay and that option was no more or less expensive.
The box itself is 90 USD, one of the more expensive single purchases I’ve made since turning away from 40K and Warmachine/Hordes. But for that price you do get 27 mechs (14 northern and 13 southern as well as 3 drones for the south) and also the Heavy Gear Blitz rulebook. Each mech comes a selection of weapons and extras and most of them exept for the heavy mechs can be posed either standing or moving thanks to some extra leg parts.
The drones will most likely come in handy somehow and the rulebook is a nicely produced soft cover for my rules collection, even though I’m not sure if I will ever actually play it.
Good value for your money anyhow, with the average cost per mech being 3,3 USD and that’s not including the rulebook and the remotes.Living in Sweden means that shipping from the US is a mixed bag, some companies have pretty good flat-rate charges, while other are quite expensive. DP9 sadly falls in the latter category, with the S&H charges ending up at 33.95 USD for the shipping to Sweden.
While it feels a bit excessive, the average cost per mech is still only 4,6 USD even with the S&H included. That means they are still quite a bit cheaper than a lot of other offerings and they look great to boot!
That being said I’d probably never place another order unless I was getting more than a few mechs, to offset the high shipping charges.
Now to the next query, how they look next to models from other ranges. The heavy Gear mechs are 10mm models, or about 1/144 scale. I scrounged up some models for some comparison shots, the non Heavy Gear models will have manufacturer as well as their intended scale listed
Left to right we have: GZG Japanese infantry (6mm), HG Spitting Cobra heavy mech and an Onslaught Hellborn Cultist(6mm).
Left to right we have: GZG Japanese infantry (6mm), HG Jager and an Onslaught Hellborn Cultist(6mm).
Left to right we have: HG Spitting Cobra, HG Jager, GZG Hound dog(6mm) and an Onslaught OTC Oni Close Assault Rig(6mm).
Left to right we have: HG Spitting Cobra, HG Jager, GW Space Marine Terminator(28mm) and a EM-4 Mech(not sure about the scale on this one).
Left to right we have: HG Spitting Cobra, HG Jager next to a Reaper Cav Halbeard (10mm).
Left to right we have: HG Spitting Cobra, HG Jager and a Critical Mass Arc Fleet Combat Walker (15mm).
Left to right we have: HG Spitting Cobra, HG Jager, Brigade Models Neo-Soviet Bizon MBT (6mm) and an Angel Barracks Junker “Thor” Hovertank (6mm).
Finally we have a shot of all the mechs( + the terminator) arranged by height.
I hope this helps anybody that were wondering about the HG Mechs, if you have any more questions I’ll try to answer them as well!The blog: http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/09/not-all-giant-robots-are-created-equal.html
Thanks for looking!
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
Heavy Gear has been around for some time, but for reasons unfathomable to me, it hasn’t really got the traction you’d expect from such a long-running line of models
Thanks for the super detailed response.
For me, I got into HG and its lore when it first came out in 1994?
The artwork blew my mind and the background was very cool and also a bit mysterious.
We played as SIU characters and it was ace, but we never did get into the wargaming side of it.
Maybe the super interesting world meant that wargames would not take advantage of all the fluff and that would be a waste?
Happy with the way the first attempt at modified damage allocation went, I decided to run another game, this time including something I’ve been looking at since the release of HW; Super Heavy units.
A Super Heavy unit is basically any unit with a P of 4 or more. These powerfull elements are sure to change things up a bit and in the rulebook it’s suggested that whenever used the scenarios should revolve around them since they are such potent units. I decided to forgo using any of the traits exclusive to the SH elements, trying out the SADU’s prototype EX-01 mech as a P4 unit.
With several EX-01 prototypes completed and run through all the tests possible in the lab, it was now time for the first real field test beyond the one proof of concept use some months before.
A suitable target had been chosen; A small NTC outpost not too far from then last stalemate fought in the desert. Eager for a quick victory and a chance to prove the new designs worth in actual combat conditions, the SADU deployed..
The NTC base was quiet, one squad was on patrol and the other inside the compound.
The defenders currently in the camp consists of two Bazooka Warriors and two regular Warrior mechs, the Warrior with the brown base is the CHQ for the NTC. The patrol, currently off table, consist of three Warriors and one Bazooka warrior mech.
The attacking SADU force consists of five Turtle-class mechs, a Beetle-class and the EX-01.
As they enter the rocky area leading up to the outpost one of the NTC’s sensor arrays is triggered, they know that company is coming!
One overly brave SADU pilot moves his mech up fast, opting to stay in the open to reach his target quicker. This turns out to be something of a mistake, as one of the NTC Bazooka mechs move up to some nearby rocks and open fire. The heavy round hits, blowing chunks out of the stricken mech, but it remains standing.
Eager to try out the new unit, the pilot of the EX-01 fires his thrusters and starts a targeting lock on the only visible enemy, lining up his twin auto cannons..
..And he scores a series of devastating hits, blowing his target apart in a ferocious explosion!
Meanwhile the bulk of the SADU mechs have gone right, stacking up behind the rocks there to begin their assault. The pilot of the Beetle mech pops out a bit early to take a shot at the lone buildings outside the base and manage to cause some superficial damage. It does however expose him to a counter attack from a NTC Warrior mech and the autocannon rounds tear into the machines legs and armor, rending them.
The start of the second turn. The SADU is strongly positioned to attack the unshielded buildings, but the NTC reinforcements could arrive at any moment..
Returning fire at point blank range, the Beetle pilot has better luck than his opponent, and the Warrior mech grinds to a halt, toppling over.
On the other side of the rocky line, another Warrior pilot engages the already wounded Turtle-class mecha in a firefight. Both mechs take a pounding..
..But the Turtle gets the better of the Bazooka Warrior in the end and the defeated mech crashes into the sand.
It’s not looking good for the NTC defenders, the commander is forced to retreat after a short firefight with the EX-01, both units take some damage, but the NTC mecha is clearly the looser and falls back inside the protective walls. At the same time the first of the patrol mechs return in time to engage the attacking Beetle mech.
Soon another of the patrol’s number joins the fight, and a well-placed bazooka round knocks the Beetle out of the fight.
The mechs keep returning and engages the attackers with fierce determination, but it’s all a little too little a little too late, and the buildings outside the walls crumble under the onslaught of the SADU assault!
Braving fire from the new experimental unit as well as it’s companions, the commander charges into one of the Turtles at full speed, thoughly wrecking both his own and the enemy mech. The Ex-01’s pilot is told over secure comms that SADUCOM has all the data they need and the remaining units are to fall back at their best speed, the mission is accomplished.
The remaining NTC pilots starts chasing after the retreating enemy, trying to take out and capture as many units as it can before they slip away. short-range auto-cannon fire takes care of one Turtle close to the patrol..
While two others hunt down and cripple another. While it could still fight back, it’s legs and locomotive systems were damaged enough that the pilot chose to surrender rather than be shot to pieces as he was a sitting duck anyhow.
Halting momentarily, trying to decide if he could take out the remaining Warrior mechs and rescue the SADU pilots by himself, the EX-01’s comm system insistently tell it’s pilot to fall back, to do his duty. The pilot finally turns to follow his retreating comrades, swearing to come back to rescue his fellows or to avenge them them if that proves impossible.
A decisive SADU win, and a great first run for the EX-01’s production model!
With hindsight I realize that I should probably have set the bar for mission completion on the SADU’s part a bit higher, either by increasing the hp of the buildings or just having them destroy at least two of them to make things a bit more even. There was a fair bit of crits being rolled on both sides however the early double crit from the EX-01 gave the whole thing an explosive start!
The blog: http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.se/2017/09/live-field-test-beware-ex-01-horizon.html
Thanks for checking it out!
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
Cheers Greg, I was also thinking that the defensive position would afford them more advantage than it ended up doing. Of course, the high number of SADU crits didn’t exactly help things along for the NTC either!
Thanks for the kind words James, I’m a bit torn as to who I’d like to win out in the end myself. As you say, the NTC mechs are great, but then again I love the SADU ones as well, particularly the EX-01 and it’s sister model EX-02.
It’s never wrong to support one side because it looks the coolest, that’s basicly my go to solution as well
http://lasersandbroadswords.blogspot.com My project blog
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