The Nuclear Option - All Quiet on the Martian Front AAR

Gary, Carl, Bob and I decided to end the month with a big All Quiet bash, with the usual Martians-attacking-humans-in-trenches game. 

The Martians were a collection of Assaults, Scouts, Grenadiers, Slavers and Drones. The U.S. Army featured a wide range of steam tanks, infantry and artillery. Debuting for this game were Gary's defense towers, which acted as an immobile tank platoon.

Winning the initiative, the Martians used their command counters to shove as many Assault tripods up the table as possible. Their heat rays managed to destroy a tower and a single tank.

The humans responded with a roaring salvo. Two tripods went down, and the resulting explosions killed four more!

The destroyed Martian units helped the humans win the initiative. Another two tripods fell to the incoming fire.

Fearing the game would end too quickly, the Martians were allowed a reserves roll. So on came too more Assault tripods and a Scout to spot for the Grenadiers.

The remaining tripods advanced, with one out-of-control machine careening towards the human trenches. Heat rays lanced out and melted several more tanks, along with a second tower.

With the main tank battlegroup out in front of the trenches, the humans opened fire again for a devastating results - to both sides! Three more tripods fell, but the resulting explosions wiped most of the tanks and the remaining defensive tower.

After most of the human's firepower wiped out, the Martians continued their advance, melting most of the surviving tanks.

With so many units destroyed, the Martians won the initiative for the turn. Their long strides took them up to the trenches, but the fortifications allowed most of the infantry to survive.

Defensive fire from the remaining artillery units was unable to do much damage.

A lucky roll let the Martians go first again, and then tripods cleared the trenches, wiping out the unarmored artillery and remaining human command units.

Determined to not go down without a fight, the humans managed to take out two more damaged tripods before sounding the retreat. The Martians managed a victory, but at a steep cost. Out of the 23 tripods that took part in the assault, only 6 remained.

All Quiet continues to prove fun, especially when a Tripod goes nuclear and wipes out nearby units, both friend and foe. Gary's still working on putting together materials for future games, so expect to see some pretty impressive scenarios at some point.