BattleTech- Alpha Strike AAR - King of the Hill - Black Jack's Campaign

I ran and played in a game of BattleTech: Alpha Strike this week.  We had 4 players in the game.  2 of us have played before and kind of know the rules, and 2 of us were new players.

I decided to play the King of the Hill scenario form the Alpha Strike Compendium.  Each side got 3 lances of 3025 era (introductory rule) mechs.  Nothing was faster than 10" and each side had 6 jump capable mechs.  

I set up the table with some buildings from DropZone Commander, some roads, and other misc terrain.  I think the table looked pretty good but could have used a bit more terrain; trees would have been nice.

The tall building on the edge of the city was the "hill" as it was in the center of the table.  You didn't have to be on top of it, just in contact with it in some way.

The Kurita forces advance.  As we will see, we should have set up with a more condensed front instead of spreading out across the whole table.

The mercenary mechs advance using their jump jets to take firing points on top of some buildings.

The mercenary mechs await the advancing Kurita forces.

The right flank of the mercenary forces stand ready to fire upon the dragons.

The Dragon takes up a position behind an industrial structure ready to blast away at the mercenaries holding the objective.

The mercenaries form a defensive position on the objective ready to hold it against the oncoming enemy.

The battlefield.

Two Kurita Mechs take to the roof tops in order to blast away at the mercenary mechs.

Kurita forces advance on the objective hoping to break their hold on it.

A Zeus advances, ready to support the  mechs holding the objective.

A Catapult hides between two buildings and blasts away at the enemy while a Quickdraw attacks the mechs on the roof.

The Kurita forces were torn apart by the combined fire of the mercenaries around the objective.  A lone Cyclops holds the line and tries to do some damage.

Can the Cyclops hold up to this beating?

The mercenaries close in for the kill.

The combined fire takes down the Cyclops and mercenaries start drooling over the salvage value.

All the pilots were skill 2 so damage was easily dealt out.  It was a pretty brutal battle and it only lasted about 6 turns before we called it. The Kurita forces still had a few mechs coming toward the objective, but they were mostly mediums and would be facing a few heavies and assaults so decided to let them take the building instead of losing their mechs to a lost cause.

I'm still a fan of the Alpha Strike rules.  They allow for much quicker and larger games of BattleTech to be played within a reasonable time.  Some of the detail of Classic BattleTech is lost, but in my opinion, this is more than made up for with the quicker game play.

Below is a write up from one of the other players.  Bill, thanks for providing this perspective.  

The Black Jacks Mercenary Company- Operation Phone Call

Client-Code Black

Company Commander: Ben “Black Jack” Johnson-Black Knight

- Lance War Pigs - 

Lance Captain: Randy “War Boss” Seybert- Quickdraw

“Ching Ching” Charlie Donovan- Whitworth

Donna “The Heat” Douglas- Catapult

Rico “Suave” Vasquez- Grasshopper

- Lance La Cosa Nostra - 

Lance Captain: Frank “Stiletto” Gatti- Banshee

“Machine Gun” Joe Paterbo- Zeus

Nick DePaulo- Zeus

“Big” Jimmy Avalon- Hunchback

- The Gun Slingers -

Lance Captain:  “Thunder” Jake Johnson- Wolverine

Blue Anderson- Wolverine

Jack “Buck” Rogers- Enforcer

“Dirty” Dan Jensen- Enforcer

Frank “Stiletto” Gatti’s Mission Debriefing

Our mission on Okinawa 12 was to knock out a Kurita deep space communication array and get out with as few casualties as possible. Mercenary companies like ours don’t have the support of one of the “great” houses and mechs don’t come cheap. Our clients as always paid well for our services and their anonymity. House Kurita has plenty of enemies so they’ll never guess who our client was.

Things started off well our drop ship put us right outside of the communication station. We dispatched the two mechs guarding the place planted the charges and got the hell out of there. We hauled steel to the pick-up point with the reds right on our tail. War Boss played rear guard for the rest of us while we secured the LZ. Luckily their advance force wasn’t any bigger than our three lances. They sent one lance in ahead to cut off our advance on the LZ and La Cosa Nostra pasted them. Their Hunchback was a burning mess in no time. Their Dragon plus another mech tried to cut us off. I could see their Cyclops contesting the LZ with Thunder’s bunch. Machine Gun Joe got tore up pretty good by the Dragon and the Hunchback before it went up like a candle. Joe retreated around a building to keep his Zeus in one piece. We sent Big Jimmy around the building to flank them and he came up right behind their Dragon. The poor bastard didn’t know what hit him. Nick and I pounded the other mech they had while their Cyclops retreated around the other side of the LZ.

Right around then there was a lot of chatter from War Bosses’ lance. They got trashed pretty bad. Most of the reds came in from their flank and they were outnumbered two to one. They must have got a couple of them. I know Donna covered our flank and got a hit on their Dragon and then went up in a ball of fire. I think Rico and Ching Ching got lit up too. Their transponders never went off so it must have been quick. Right about then Blue took out their Cyclops and I smoked another mech of theirs that jumped in from the flank. Right before the airship came in Thunder had to punch out. I think it was the Cyclops that got him. Dirty Dan picked up Thunder and we dusted off. That last round of fire broke them and they disengaged. 

That’s about it. We lost three good pilots and four mechs. Not a good day. The reds must have heard us coming because they responded fast, too fast. I wouldn’t mind going after them again but I’m not going to do it for free.

Kills & Casualties

La Cosa Nostra- 3 Kills no casualties

Gun Slingers- 3 Kills, 1 mech lost no casualties

War Pigs- 2 Kills, 3 mechs lost, 3 casualties

Tale of an Epic Gamer - February goal achieved

I set myself a pretty big goal for February because I had a bit of a head start.  I'm here to say I met the goal for the month.

Second Windrider Host

Second Guardian Detachment

Warlock Command Stand

2 Bright Lance Batteries.  These were previously painted, but I washed the weapons so they match the rest of this force and added them to the roster.

Close up of a Bright Lance

The army in all its glory.

It has been great having a goal to work toward and it has kept me focused on completing these projects.  In one month I have 2,500 points ready for battle.

NetEpicGold

Jetbike Host Company Card - 10 Jetbikes, 5 Vypers - 550 points
Jetbike Host Company Card - 10 Jetbikes, 5 Vypers - 550 points
Guardian Host Company Card - 18 Guardian stands - 450 points
Defender Warhost Company Card - 18 Guardian stands, 9 Falcons - 850 points
Bright Lance Battery Support Card - 3 Bright Lances - 100
Bright Lance Battery Support Card - 3 Bright Lances - 100

Total:  2,600 points

NetEA

Guardian Warhost - 1 Farseer, 7 Guardian stands - 150 points
Guardian Warhost - 1 Farseer, 7 Guardian stands - 150 points
Guardian Warhost - 1 Farseer, 7 Guardian stands - 150 points
Guardian Warhost - 1 Farseer, 5 Guardian stands, 2 Heavy Weapon Platforms - 150 points
Guardian Warhost - 1 Farseer, 5 Guardian stands, 2 Heavy Weapon Platforms - 150 points
Guardian Warhost - 1 Farseer, 5 Guardian stands, 2 Heavy Weapon Platforms - 150 points
Windrider Host - 4 Jetbikes, 2 Vypers - 200 points
Windrider Host - 4 Jetbikes, 2 Vypers - 200 points
Windrider Host - 4 Jetbikes, 2 Vypers - 200 points
Windrider Host - 4 Jetbikes, 2 Vypers - 200 points
Windrider Host - 4 Jetbikes, 2 Vypers - 200 points
Swords of Vaul - 9 Falcons - 450 points

Total:  2,350 points

I think I will be doing Tyranids in March, but haven't decided for sure (it could be Imperial Guard).  I've got to dig out some models and decide on some goals.

Tale of an Epic Gamer - February progress update

I've made some progress toward my February goal.

Here you can see the group of Falcons for my Defender Detachment.

I added some bits of sprue to lift these above the base a bit.

I think these look pretty good.

The second wind rider detachment is ready for basing and I've primed the last batch of guardians.  

At this point, I'm still on track to hit my goal for the month.

Star Wars: Imperial Assault - Storm Trooper

The next model on my quest to paint everything in the Imperial Assault board game is a group of Storm Troopers.  I painted up one, but am not sure I like how it looks.  I tried a different method that I've used before

I started by priming the model white.

Next I painted the gun black and the areas between the armor plate black.

Next I painted a grey line around everything.  All the creases and lines got a grey line.

Here is the result of all my work.  I painted the should pad blue and dry brushed it with a lighter blue.  The gun was also dry brushed with a light grey.  I added gravel to the base and painted it brown.  The base still needs a drybrush and a little bit of flock.

This design is staring to grow on me.  I wasn't sure at first, but I think I'm good with it now.

Epic G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. - AAR

• ++++++  Message Start  ++++++

  
  

  
  

  
  

  To Commandar Krause of the Dark Lion Space Marine Chapter

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Ork forces have landed on the planet Landis V.  While this world is not of particular importance to the empire, reports have been received that show these orks have been able to build titans in a very short amount of time.  All reports indicate that only small titans have been completed.  While these ork monstrosities are no match when compared to the glorious and miraculous machines of the Titan Legions, the speed at which these have been constructed is of great concern.  The empire does not want this clan of orks to take their titans off Landis V and possibly threaten a more vital world. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  As such, your force is being dispatched to Landis V with orders to destroy the ork titans as well as the ork forces.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Supreme Commander Darius

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Quote of the Day:  Through the destruction of our enemies do we earn our salvation!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  ++++++  Message End  ++++++

I set up a game of G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. for my gaming group, but I used GW's Epic 40k models for different kind of sci-fi variant.  Above was the background story and intro for the game I sent to the players.

Here are a couple of photos of the board at the start of the game.  You can see we had a small city area with some tall buildings and the rest of the board had some mountainous terrain and some forested areas.

The Marines started with 4 Tactical Squads mounted in Rhinos, 1 unit of Terminators mounted in Land Raiders, 2 units of bikes, 2 units of predators and 2 Titans.

Each Marine model counted as 2 models.  So they had 2 attacks in shooting and scuffle, and 2 wounds.  They also didn't track wounds if a model wasn't killed.  So for example, if a unit suffered 3 wounds from an attack, 1 model was removed and the remaining wounds was ignored.  The Marines were severely outnumbered to compensate for this nice benefit.  Titans had more wounds and shooting attacks, but could only scuffle vs other titans.

The orks started with 7 units of dismounted infantry, 4 units of gunwagons and a unit of stompas on the board.  There was also a  Mega-Gargant, but construction wasn't finished yet.  Of course there was a chance that it would come on line during the game.  In addition the Orks has 3 gargants that came on the table to support their defenses/attack (do orks ever defend?) during the game.

I was playing with a GoPro camera during the game and got some overhead shots during the game.  You can see the models moving during the game, but the battery died midway through the battle.  I'll plan better next time.

The game has already started, but you can see how the troops were deployed to start the battle.

The Marines deploy, ready to engage the Ork horde.

Ork infantry advance along side Ork Gunwagonz ready to engage the Marines.

The Marines advance toward the oncoming horde.

Both sides have advanced.

The Marines dismount infantry in the middle of the field ready to open fire on the Orks.

Add caption

The Orks advance on both flanks, but hold back in the center.

Add caption

The Marines split up to move around the forest.

The Orks continue to push forward on the right flank ready to engage the Marines, but loose some gunwagonz on the left flank.

The Orks up fire on the Predators, and manage to kill one.

This is the last picture from overhead.  My battery died.  

Fighting in the streets of the city is intense and the orks don't have the numbers to repel the Marines.

A Mob of Gunwagonz tries to swing around the city and engage the Titan, but find its guns to be devastating.

The Marines take the city and start to advance through it.

The Marines hold the center of the battlefield ready to blast away any orks that show their ugly green faces.

Two Mobz of Orks try to push around the edge of the city, but take heavy fire.

Boyz and Gun trucks move up to attack a squad of Tactical Marines still mounted in Rhinos.

A Mob of Boyz tries to move through a forested area to assault the Marines, but loses most of its unit in the process.

An Eldar force comes out of the Warp and moves to attack one of the Imperial Titans.  It appears that the Farseers have seen a future that shows the need to take down that Titan in order to protect their Craftworld.

More Eldar exit the Warp Gate (the little red token) and head for the Imperial Titan.  Seeing fresh juicy targets, the Orks upon up fire on the Eldar.

The target of the Eldar force takes some damage.

The Marines push into the Titan construction area, but face Ork defenders.

The Titan exits the city ready to face any new threats the Orks or Eldar can throw at it.

The Marines were able to take out the Ork gargants (3 of them joined the battle, but I failed to get any pictures of them) the Mega-Gargant that was under construction, and the stompa mob.  They also drove off the Eldar forces that showed up out of nowhere.  Even being severally outnumbered, the Marines superior training and equipment allowed them to defeat their enemies.

This was a fun game and I look forward to playing a few more.  I already have an idea for the next battle.  Thanks to Randy, Doug, and Bill for joining me for the game and leading your forces with such bravery.

While G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. is made for Victorian Sci-fi games, with a little tweaking it can work really well with lots of other settings.  The Maines were maybe a bit over-powered.  I think in the next game I will take away the rule that they can ignore wounds that don't kill a model and have those wounds stay in place.  I think I will also boost the size of the Ork infantry units to 15 stands per mob.

I hope you enjoyed this AAR.