Tanks for the Game! - BattleTech: Alpha Strike AAR

I recently got a chance to finally play BattleTech: Alpha Strike with a gaming buddy, Russ, from my old gaming group.

It was a pretty simple set up between two mercenary companies, his Commandos and my Lancers. He had seven mechs in two lances, while I had four mechs and four tanks. Russ' pilots were all in older mechs but had Skill values of 2's and 3's, while my machines were newer with less experienced mechwarriors and crew (mostly Skill 4). 

We played on a hex map, which made some of the measuring easier. Each hex counts as 2", so a mech with a 12" could move 6 hexes or sprint 9 hexes. Firing ranges were similarly halved.

The main engagement happened up on the map's plateau between our main Mech lances. Russ' lance consisted of a Thunderbolt, Catapult, Shadow Hawk, and Commando, all with veteran or elite mechwarriors. My lance was heavier, with an Awesome, Thunderbolt, Wolverine, and Phoenix Hawk, but the pilots weren't as good. 

Down near the water, Russ' second lance, with a Wolverine, Shadow Hawk, and Wasp facing off against my tank Lance, with a Manticore, two Bulldogs, and an SRM Carrier. 

One of the Bulldogs ended up as the game's first casualty, destroyed from concentrated fire. 

Russ new the SRM carrier was the most dangerous target in the tank lance (able to hit a target for 6 points of damage!), so it also had to go. First the crew were stunned from a critical hit, then the tank brewed up.

Russ had done up some fantastic wreck markers to show where mechs and tanks were after their destruction. 

With two tanks down, Russ diverted a Shadow Hawk to hopefully put the tonnage equation in his favor. Both sides were stripping armor, but concentrated fire from my forces' Awesome, Thunderbolt and Wolverine knocked out Russ' second Shadow Hawk. 

Meanwhile, my tanks were in full retreat. While most of their weapons were on their turrets, the tanks would lose valuable damage points if the mechs were able to get behind them. 

Up in the hills, the mechs jockeyed for positions, slagging armor and venting heat. The Commandos could land hits more reliably, but the new machines of the Lancers could take those hits and do more damage when they managed to land a blow.  

Fully backed into a corner of the battlefield, the tanks managed to get their first kill, knocking out the Wasp that had gambled on a close range attack.

The Lancer's Wolverine was knocked out by the combined attacks of the Commandos' Thunderbolt and Commando. In return, the damaged Phoenix Hawk landed a close-range attack that brought down the second Shadow Hawk. 

The Wolverine, Bulldog, and Manticore continued their dance along the lakeside. 

Somehow, the Lancers' Thunderbolt was able to weather the combined attack of its Commando counterpart. It likely would have been destroyed if the Commandos' Catapult hadn't pushed its heat too far and been forced to shutdown. 

The Catapult was back up, but the Commandos Thunderbolt was finally put down by the Lancers. 

Tired of the Phoenix Hawk that had been flitting around the battlefield, Russ send the Lone Commandos, erm... Commando, which ended the Phoenix Hawk's flight. 

And the dance between mechs and tanks finally ended with the Commandos Wolverine falling to the Manticore and Bulldog. 

After losing the Catapult as well, Russ and I agreed that his lone Commando wasn't likely to stand up long against the remaining Lancer forces, and we called the game there. 

As I reflected on after the game, had we played this using the Classic BattleTech rules, this would have been a day long affair, if not longer. Instead, we managed to play a tense, exciting game in just a couple hours. The Alpha Strike rules still feel like BattleTech, but allow for larger, combined arms games in a smaller timeframe. I'm looking forward to playing more, with a few alterations (like variable damage, pilot dice, and hexless battlefields). 

The Battle of Monmouth, Part 2 - British Grenadier AAR

This past weekend, the group finished up the Battle of Monmouth started the previous week at Ted's.

Unfortunately, Chip was a little under the weather and couldn't make it, so it was up to me to command the entirety of the British facing Ted's and Steve's Americans.

It started out with a failed charge with a combined regiments of Grenadiers and my pulling back of the Light Dragoons (which would be an error I would rue for the rest of the game.

One of my artillery batteries also broke and ended up fleeing from the battle. 

On the British right, however, my original command was doing well against Steve's defending Americans. While another combined brigade was rushing to reinforce the colonial forces, my skirmishers moved up to continue to plug away and cause casualties. 

As Steve's infantry was forced back, his cannons stopped their retreat and unlimbered, just in time to catch the Queen's Rangers who had planned to run down the American artillerymen!

While the Grenadiers stalled in trying to oust the entrenched Americans, the artillery finally got their range and blasted Ted's cannons out of place, with some help from a small unit of British skirmishers. The Americans promptly fled before they could be rallied.

Meanwhile, the Light Dragoons were making a break for the American rear, weathering the artillery from the American brigade on the hill, just out of shot. 

Steve's brigade continued to hold the British back, but the weight of fire was deadly and the American's couldn't return enough fire to dissuade the attack. The Queens Rangers had managed to scoot around the guns, but ended up blocking a number of shots from the skirmishers. 

The American's could definitely put a feather in their cap when the Grenadier regiment broke and fled! This left a worrying gap in the British line, and threatened the flank of my second combined Grenadier regiment. 

The end came before the American's could exploit the absence of the Grenadiers, however. Steve's brigade broke and collapsed, leaving the American left flank open to a relatively fresh British brigade. 

Both sides decided to withdraw, as the British rearguard had succeeded in spoiling the American attack. 

Ted's brigade on the hill overlooked the American right flank. The Dragoons were just within range of another shot. If I had pressed them forward from the start of my taking over their command, I may have been able to threaten the larger artillery battery in the American center. 

Meanwhile, the Foot Guard troops had positions themselves to hold the center. They were stubbornly difficult to get rid of, although one regiment had suffered a number of casualties between Steve's infantry and Ted's cannons. 

All-in-all, it was a fun conclusion to a great game. There was a discussion afterwards between Steve, Ted and I as to how the game may have gone differently. One suggestion was for Steve's brigade to abandon the farm and retreat to the hill to combined with the arriving reinforcements, instead of trickling into an ongoing fight in a position the British could flank. But as Steve pointed out, that would have left Ted's command vulnerable, and cede a larger amount of the battlefield to the British that the Americans would then have to fight to retake. 

Hopefully we'll get a chance to replay the game and test those theories. 

The Battle of Monmouth, Part 1 - British Grenadier AAR

This week's game night at Ted's featured British Grenadier. It's a ruleset that I had no experience with, but did manage to pick up a used copy of the Deluxe version at some point in the past. I had heard it around various wargaming circles that British Grenadier is one of the better sets of rules for the American War of Independence, so I was looking forward to seeing how they played. 

Ted had set up a table based on the Battle of Monmouth. The action would start after Lee's disastrous attack on the British rearguard. Washington started on the road directing the American forces, bringing up a reserve of Knox's artillery. Clinton started with two infantry forces with some accompanying light infantry on either side of the road. Both sides had a third infantry brigade move onto the table on the first turn. 

Ted also "convention-ized" the rules a bit to make them a bit faster to play. We skipped using the Command section where you assign whether a brigade is Assaulting, Moving, Supporting, etc. This may have removed some of the "friction" of getting your troops to follow your command, but at the same time made the gameplay smoother (I'm assuming). 

I was commanding the British right flank, facing off against Steve and his Americans. My plan was to try and turn Steve's flank, using the Scottish infantry and then the combined Light Infantry regiment. I also had a long line of skirmishers, a "grasshopper" cannon, and a tiny unit of mounted Queen's Rangers.  

Chip, my fellow commander for the Crown, had a massive pair of combined Grenadier regiments, some artillery, and a unit of Light Dragoons that we hoped would be enough to overpower Ted's defending Americans. 

Additionally, Chip and I split up a third brigade that would have been under the control of a third player, had there been one. Chip took the artillery to throw more cannonballs at Ted's infantry, while I had two regiments of Foot Guard to add to my attack. 

As my infantry approached the American lines, the poor Scots were taking a beating from Steve's defenders, especially since the cannons pretty much started the game in grapeshot range. My skirmishers sat back and threw out Disruption Points here and there, hoping to interfere with the American regiments. 

Chip's Grenadiers dutifully marched forward as the artillery blasted away. Off in the distance, Ted ordered Knox's guns to set up to help defend the center against the (out of frame) Foot Guard. 

Having weathered the storm, the Scots got close enough for a charge. Bayonets lowered, they ran at the American lines - but didn't roll far enough to keep Steve from getting a shot in. Luckily for me, Steve's dice result was dismal, and the American's ended up retreating. 

Of course, Steve just turned his guns to face the now-flanked Scots, but my luck held and the close-range grapeshot somehow didn't lay waste to my infantry. 

Chip's Grenadiers continued their march across the fields.

More impressively, Chip's Light Dragoons not only managed to land a charge home on Ted's right-most infantry regiment, but the cavalrymen sent the Americans fleeing with a number of casualties! 

A round of shooting from my Scottish (who still had somehow survived more grapeshot from the very-much-too-close cannons) and the "grasshopper" cannon sent Steve's already battered regiment fleeing, and they would eventually disperse. This forced Steve's entire brigade to test their morale, which did not help the American position. 

Chip's cavalry were also poised to exploit the gap they had opened in the American line, as Ted's troops also failed to rally and ended up fleeing from the battlefield. 

Steve's infantry were forced into a v-shape as my combined Light Infantry charged the cannons that had been harassing the Scots, forcing the guns to limber and retreat. An additional small infantry regiment had arrived as well, adding to my attack.  

Steve's situation had also changed. While he also received a small regiment to reinforce his position, a new force of Americans had arrived on the hilltop. Chip withdrew the dragoons, but moved his skirmishers up to delay the new arrivals. A round of fire from the British saw three hits on the American skirmishers (that's three 6's on three dice!). 

That's when we called the game for lack of time. We decided to pick it up again in the next week or two. While it seems like the British have the advantage, the Americans are still largely in their defensive positions, and the Americans on the hill could mean trouble if they're not dealt with. 

That said, I'm definitely looking forward to playing more! British Grenadier isn't the first set of AWI rules I've mentioned on the blog, but I did enjoy them. They seemed to move quickly enough after jut a couple turns of guided play from Ted, although I would like to see how the Command section changes how the game plays. 

Good Knight and Good Luck - Warmaster: Revolution AAR

Since Josh recently showed off a wonderful looking Goblins army for Warmaster, I set up a game with my Dogs of War so we could get a feel for the rules, and get some practice for the event at Historicon (barring any cancellations due to rising Covid cases. Who knows at this point...).

Terrain placement focused on a small village, surrounded by fields and the local lord's castle. One side of the road had more hills, eventually leading to a ridge (the table edge), while the other was forested, with denser concentrations of trees that acted as terrain pieces. 

Josh and I brought 2000 point forces, and the scenario was a simple brawl to either a turn limit (6, 7, or 8 turns on a 4+ die roll) or break point (10 for me, 12 for Josh). 

The first turn saw both sides move cautiously from the start, although on Josh's part that was due to a lot of failed command rolls. 

Josh had pushed one of his brigades (Wolf Riders and a unit of Wolf Chariots) up to a gap between the castle and woods, so I sent in a small brigade of Knights to hopefully hit and destroy the units. 

The combat overall went well for the Dogs of War, with none of the knights taking any damage and the Goblins retreating. 

The little greenskins got their courage back when a wyvern-riding Hero and a Giant got into the combat. 

In an absolutely stunning reversal, all but a single stand of the Knights were wiped out, including the attached DoW Hero riding a Griffon.

The Giant made a quick snack of the remaining stand of Knights before moving on towards the remaining DoW Knights, who were now leaderless. 

Things were going a little better for the mercenaries in the center, where the Goblins masses were faced by a couple of pike blocks and the Ogres. Concentrated fire from the crossbowmen forced back a Giant that had wandered too close. 

On the left, things weren't exactly going great. I had loaded most of my forces in the center and right, so I only had a couple units of Light Cavalry and Galloper Guns. I lost one unit of Guns to Josh's massive artillery brigade, but nearly wiped out a unit of Trolls in return. 

My center was pushing strongly forward, wiping out goblin units left and right. But the real danger was the Giant, who could do a lot of damage when charging, if I couldn't surround it with my troops. 

Back in the woods, the greenskins were mopping up the Knights, and the lone Wizard was overrun and killed. 

With my artillery wiped out, I sent the Light Cavalry charging into Josh's artillery unit. If they could do enough damage before dying, then the artillery wouldn't be able to threaten my center. 

On Josh's left, his commanders were busy gathering the various wayward units into a coherent force. I moved my remaining pike block to face them. 

And in the center, my Pikemen had wiped out one brigade of Goblins, and my Ogres had singlehandedly destroyed another (with a little help from a friendly Wizard's fireball). 

The Giant was wounded and down to 4 attacks and 4 hits, but that wasn't enough to bring the beast down, so it still threatened the rear of my army. 

However, losing all those Goblin units was enough to push Josh over his break point! It was a very close game. I ended up with 9.5 unit destroyed, to Josh's 13.5. Had I lost an extra stand here or there, Josh's Goblins would have been the ones declaring victory. 

All in all, it was a great game, with lots of suspense and blunders on both sides. With Josh's 3D printers, he can pretty much print any army he'd like, so I'm looking forward to playing against, and maybe with, various other armies!

Keeping the Balance - Mythic Americas AAR

This past weekend I packed up the car and traveled up the length of the state to Mythicos Studios in North Jersey for a Mythic Americas event. 

While billed as a "beginner tournament," it was really more of a casual meet-and-greet. I got a chance to meet the designers and playtesters of the game, and got the chance to dive into some really juicy background lore of the Mythic universe. I was also shown some previews of upcoming models, and was even given a bunch of Inca models that were the first to be produced domestically, instead of by Warlord!

While up at the store, I did get a chance to play a couple game. Noticeably, everyone who had shown up brought Aztecs! Unfortunately the one player who had an Inca warband for the event wasn't able to make it. 

 

My first game was against Eric and was a mirror match with his Aztecs in the "Liberators and Captors" scenario. 

While it was a fun game, my dice were not on my side throughout the day. My first attempt at Magic with my High Priest (both the Warlord and the Magic User for the Aztecs) resulted in a miscast, which prevented him from casting spells for the next turn. My Ayar also blew up when it tried attacking a pinned down unit of Jaguar Warriors. And my own Jaguar Warriors were turned aside by a small, un-buffed unit of Bound Dead. 

I did manage to steal the one Captives objective that was in the center of the table!

With my offensive capabilities gone, I could only play defense and try to hold on to the Captives until the game ran out. Unfortunately I lost one, and didn't manage to score my Devotion. Eric did, so the game ended with a 2-3 loss. 

My second game was against Chris, the designer behind the Aztec faction. We played the "Build Altars" scenario, and for variety's sake Chris used a Tribal Nations warbands.

Unfortunately, my bad luck continued. My Warlord once again had a miscast on the first turn, and disappeared from the table for a turn (fortunately, Chris' Medicine Man had the same problem!). My unit of Marauders were wiped out in a single turn of shooting, and the rest of Chris' warband chewed through my Aztecs in a hail of stone-tipped arrows and tomahawks. 

While I managed hold on to a slight victory points advantage by throwing down as many altars as I could, in turn 5 Chris pulled out a solid reversal that I wasn't going to pull back from using his Devotion. I believe the game ended in a 4-6 loss. 

So while I look for new dice, I still had a great time. The store and the people in it were fantastic, and I'm excited to see where Mythicos takes the game and Mythic universe.