Painting - Downsync

Here's an update with what I've been painting since last time: more Downsync models. 

The Republic's Goliath squads are rough-and-tumble power suits equipped with anti-tank cannons and machine guns. I decided to pick up two squads, since I like the models and enjoy the multi-role armaments they have. 

Seeker teams are stealthy infantry units, able to scan enemy pings, spot for Mandible artillery units, and reach out with their sniper rifle that can kill any Stunned unit (even tanks!). 

The other Heavy unit I picked up was a Mandible mobile artillery. They're slow and pretty much defenseless, but have no maximum range and can swap between anti-infantry and anti-everything rounds. 

Rounding out the force is a pair of Harbinger recon vehicles, which are fast moving, able to both scan enemy pings and are another unit that can spot for the Mandible (giving me three potential spotting vectors in a game). 

I Have Reservations - Downsync AAR

This past weekend I helped Carl test out a scenario for Downsync. 

Inspired by a Flames of War scenario, the Downsync version sees both players placing 1 each of their Large, Medium, and Small pings into off-table reserves. The Attacker goes first in deployment, the Defender second, chosen by a dice off. The players then choose a quarter of the table to deploy one objective in, then place a second objective in the opposite quarter, and then finally deploy their non-reserve pings in the original quarter.

Both sides are looking to score four points from objective captures. At the beginning of turn three, the players' reserve pings arrive from the long table edge that their original deployment objective was on.

For this game, I had taken my "generalist" Republic list:

2 Harbingers

Seeker team

Vector squad

2 Crusaders

2 Goliath squads

Courier

Samson

Mandible

Mark, my opponent, had the following Coalition list (if I remember correctly):

2 Widow Scouts

2 Soldier Spider Drone squads

2 Virago

2 Phantom

Aurora

Marksman

Destroyer

Both sides spent the first turn maneuvering Pings.

I did try to use the Seeker team to spot for the Mandible, but unfortunately I messed up the line-of-sight rules and deployed them poorly. I lost one Harbinger, but traded it for an Aurora and a Widow (and before it had managed to deploy its Infiltrator Spider Drone squad). I also wiped out a Soldier Spider Drone squad thank to massed MG fire from the Goliath squad deployed in the small forest.

This early committal of Republic reveals gave Mark plenty of targets for his arriving reserves, while his own units were still hidden as pings.  

Both sides' reserves hammered into their respective flanks. I lost the Mandible and one of the Crusaders defending my objectives, but took out Mark's last Widow Scout (which again wasn't able to deploy its Infiltrator squad) and got lucky enough to destroy his reserved Marksman heavy tank.

Mark lost another Soldier squad to more Goliath MG fire, as well as his second Aurora and Virago.

Concentrated fire from Republic units managed to knock out the Coalition Destroyer, and my Goliath squad closed in to knock out the last Virago. Not, however, before it managed to score a point, putting Mark in the lead a 1-0.

It was at this point that we decided that we would make an adjustment to the scenario; adding a six turn limit. This was important because, had we not put a limit, I could have just spent as much time as a I wanted scoring points or just wiping out the last remaining Coalition unit. 

Such as it was, this meant that Mark's positioning and delaying of my forces only let me score one point myself before the game ended, leaving us with a draw, 1-1. 

We discussed our thoughts on the scenario with Carl after the game. We found the general idea behind the scenario to be sound, and suggested adding the turn limit to encourage more aggression. Carl did point out that removing the other side entirely from the table would have given the remaining player a full 4 point victory. 

I look forward to testing more scenarios for Downsync.