BattleTech: Alpha Strike - Breakthrough AAR - 5-19-16

I has been almost a year since I was last able to put together a game of Alpha Strike.  I really enjoy the simplicity of the game and even though it has been a year, the rules came right back to us and a good time was had by all.

The scenario - Breakthrough.

A contingent of the 2nd Sword of Light has been cut off from it's main force.  It must breakthrough the line of opposing mechs so it can reconnect.  There is no place to retreat, so the Kurita forces will not be subject to the forced withdrawal rules.  The Kurita force must move accross the battlefield and off the board edge on the opposite end of the table.  All mechs are set up on within 8" of one short edge of the table.

The attacking force must stop the Dragons from reconnecting.  Their objective is to destroy or disable as many mechs as they can.  The attacking forces move onto the table from the opposite short edge on the first turn of the game.

Kurita Forces included 16 mechs divided into 4 lances all with skill 4.

The OpFor included 12 mechs divided into 3 lances all with skill 3.

Shame on me for not taking better notes (or any notes).  Since I didn't get a chance to write up this review until now, I only have the pictures to remind me what happened, so the synopsis is going to be brief.

The Kurita forces started their advance knowing they would loose some of their numbers but also with the understanding that they must break through or all of them would die.

The terrain was fairly open and allowed for open shots as they advanced toward the attacking force.  However, that also meant they could be targeted as well.

Several Mechs fell as the 2nd Sword of Light pushed forward, but they honored themselves by allowing their fellow warriors to continue on.

The attacking force, knowing the defenders had to come through them, didn't advance far and many opted to remain stationary to improve their targeting ability.  There must have been a problem with the targeting computers, though, as it was very challenging for them to acquire locks on their targets and it seems that more shots missed than hit.

 The first mechs of the 2nd Sword of Light reached the enemy line.  

The left flank saw the most mechs break through the attackers line.  All was not lost in this battle and these mechs could now reconnect with the main force of the Kurita battleline.

The attackers managed to get 50% of their mechs off the table.  They could have done better, but these mechs will definitely make a difference in the coming engagements.

BattleTech: Alpha strike - Kill Them All - 6-13-15

My friend, Forrest, and I played a game of BattleTech: Alpha Strike last weekend.  We played a straight up battle with no real goals other than killing to other's army.  While I normally like having some objectives to accomplish, a blood bath worked for a quick friendly game.  

We each brought a 500 point force for the game.

Kurita Forces ready for action.  Almost everyone is skill 3 except the Battlemaster that is skill 2.

The enemy forces.  4 lances of skill 4 mechs

The battlefield

The mechs advance and open fire on each other.

There are no good places to hide here.

A Spider manages to get behind my Awesome and opens up on the rear armor.

The two battle lines face off against each other.

The mechs are protecting their backs with the building.

The unpainted enemy has advance across the board while the Kurita forces have lost many mechs and are falling back.

Say good-bye to the Dragon

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I chose a force of elite pilots, while my opponent went with basic skill levels and got more units.  The open field allowed him to put lots of shots on my guys and he was better about focusing fire than I was.  His fast units where also quick to move forward and get behind my guys.

This was a fun game and while I lost in a big way, I learned a bit in the process.

Misery Campaign - BT: AS - Thrust and Parry

BattleTech has been around for 30 years.  There is a tremendous amount of fluff available for the universe.  I started playing the game back in high school and have gone back to it from time to time over the years.  

With the release of Alpha Strike, I've been playing a lot more of the game.

In order to provide a little historical flavor to my games I purchased the Historical Turning Points: Misery PDF.  There is a whole series of the Turning Points PDF that provide a series of linked games that let you play through some event the the game universe.  I typically play in the early era of the universe so choose the Misery PDF to play through.  

I found an opponent, Cody, put together some army lists and we played through the first scenario.  Thrust and Parry.  

Situation:

Hamar Valley

Misery, Draconis Combine

23 April 3028

The Dragoons' mercenary contract with the Draconis Combine has expired.  The Dragoons move their forces on the planet of Misery toward the main Combine forces on the equator.  The Dragoons use scouts to make probes and see where the Draconis will defend.

The attacking Dragoon's consist of 4 lances of Mechs: 2 light and 2 medium.

Light Lance

Hermes	HER-1B
Panther	PNT-9R
Commando	COM-2D
Commando	COM-2D

Light Lance

Jenner	JR7-D
Panther	PNT-9R
Spider	SDR-5V
Commando	COM-2D

Medium Lance

Hunchback	HBK-4G
Dervish	DV-6M
Griffin	GRF-1N
Centurion	CN9-A

Medium Lance

Hunchback	HBK-4G
Assassin	ASN-21
Whitworth	WTH-1
Vindicator	VND-1R

The defending Kurita forces consist of 4 lances: 2 light, 1 medium, and 1 heavy.

Light Lance

Stinger	STG-3R
Panther	PNT-9R
Jenner	JR7-D
Jenner	JR7-D

Light Lance

Spider	SDR-5V
Spider	SDR-5V
Locust	LCT-1V
Wasp	WSP-1K

Medium Lance

Hunchback	HBK-4G
Assassin	ASN-21
Phoenix Hawk	PXH-1K
Griffin	GRF-1N

Heavy Lance

Dragon	DRG-1N
Catapult	CPLT-C1
Dragon	DRG-1N
Warhammer	WHM-6K

The Attacker must scan the enemy forces off-map.  To do this, an Attacker unit must spend three consecutive turns within 6 inches of the Defender's home edge.  The attacker unit may move, but cannot fire while scanning.  The attackers can use multiple units to reduce the time required.  (200 points if achieved)

The Defender is trying to stop the attackers from completing the scan. (200 points if achieved)

Both sides can earn points for killing enemy units as well.  (50 points per enemy unit killed)

The battlefield and my opponent.

The Kurita forces advance up, but aren't able to hit the Spider in the woods.

A close quarter fight between some Jenners and a Vindicator and Hunchback.

This Panther tries to destroy the Assassin, but has taken a fire control critical hit and can't connect with its weapons.

The trees offer protection to the Commando on the hill.

The Dragoon's have successfully scanned and are now pulling their forces back.

The Assassin and Vindicator take more fire from the Kurita forces.

On Turn 3, the Dragoons had moved 4 mechs across the board and within 6 inches of the defender's table edge.  With four mechs scanning, it only took 1 turn to scan and achieve the mission objective.

They now had to race back off the board while keeping their forces intact.

The Draconis forces were not able to stop the scan and found hitting anything to be a bit of a challenge.

The Dragoons win with 350 points.  200 for scanning and 150 for killing 3 mechs (Wasp, Locust, and Panther).

The Kuritans only killed 2 mechs (Whitworth and Vindicator) for a total of 100 points.

It was a fun game and I enjoyed having objectives besides just killing the enemy.  I am working on getting some more models painted so I can actually use the Random Assignment Tables.

Thanks to Cody for the well played attack.  I look forward to trying out the other scenarios in the PDF.

BattleTech Alpha Strike AAR - A Black Jack's Campaign game 5/28/15

Bill set us up with a game of Alpha Strike this past Thursday evening.  The Black Jack's Mercenary company were sent in to attack a Kurita force containing 2 lances of Mechs, a command Mech, some infantry, and a number of vehicles.  

The Black Jack's had to deploy 1 lance on each corner of the table, so we weren't able to combine fire very effectively.

Below you will see some pictures of the battle.

The Black Jack's had a superior force coming into the battle, but the defenders had the advantage of being together and had cover from much of the incoming forces.

This battle was a testament to the outstanding skills of the Black Jack's techs as there were very few damaged systems even after a few mechs suffering severe damage.  (Bill, the OpFor player, kept rolling 5 or 9 on the crit table.)

The two furthest lances got delayed and bogged down facing off against the enemy Atlas and Cyclops.  These two assault mechs were able to use the buildings to good effect to screen themselves from the bulk of the incoming lances while still maintaining lines of fire to 1 or 2 mechs at a time.  Not to worry though, we will get these two rookie lance commanders trained eventually.