Alpha Strike - Bad day for the Black Widows

[Weirdo]

Whistler and I managed to play a modified track from Turning Points Misery yesterday, turning it into a Black Widows vs 8th SoL fight.



Don't get me wrong, it was loads of fun! But, well...


Black Widow Company(with a small Zeta Battalion detachment) trying to fight their way past a company of 8th Sword of Light to hit a command post. Command Lance on the left, Recon Lance on the right, Fire Lance is hidden in forward positions.


Whereupon I am a dumbass, and try to charge an entrenched elevated enemy, while his flankers cut up my Recon Lance. (It doesn't help that I truly couldn't hit shit this day. Never seen so many 2s and 3s my life.) This round would also see both Marauders on my side take crippling damage and begin forced withdrawal.


He's pretty much stopped my assault cold at this point. I am heartened by my Wasp leading an entire lance of his on a merry chase, but my Command Lance is rapidly getting shredded, and while I did drop one of his Dragons, the other is behind me, cutting off my retreating units while also preventing an aggressive advance from my fire lance.


It's all over but the screaming at this point. The Wasp actually made it to the command post, only to be immediately crushed by a Panther that had lain in wait this entire time. I finally took down the Charger that had been doing much of the pounding of Command Lance, but also losing most of said lance in the process.


The final tally of the dead. Note the ratio of red mechs to black ones. The Dragon was pleased this day.

[Elmoth]

Nice there! thanks for the report!

[Major Headcase]

X

[Elmoth]

There was. Potential line of advance through a Ravine-forest along the 050x-051x vertical I. The bottom left corner of the table. But yeah, a good shoting range that puts pressure on the attacker for sure.

[whistler]

I felt a little guilty about this tbh. I didn't exactly feel like a strategic mastermind during the game but when I saw the map spread I knew how to play this battle. I was expecting that wooded hill to be a sea wall that I would start on and then fall back from, not the damn white cliffs of Dover. I had good numbers though so I decided to stand and deliver. The commander's Charger, spec'd for brawling, was just screaming to be unleashed, but I held firm we turned them back.

I will say that Weirdo's dice were his own worst enemy. And I'm not just trying to make anyone feel better. They failed him, hard, whereas mine were doing just fine. The hidden Archers ended up being a bigger obstacle than the Marauder II or the Black Widow herself, which was also kind of a surprise.

And while I was happy to get at least one 6 point punch in with the Charger, the best moment was when the hidden Panther (the Order lance's tac genius I left behind to guard the base), who was just licking his chops while watching that Wasp come in for a landing, lept out of the woods and just freakin' clotheslined him to death. It gave me so many awesome mental images, including a proud pilot turning from his superior after being congratulated during the AAR and going 'squeee, ohmygodSempainoticedme'.

Oh, and huge thanks to Weirdo for coming up with the perfect name for my Sword of Light battalion during the game: The Breaking Wave. So awesome.

Honor the Dragon. Glory to Alpha Stike.

Sorry about all the run-on sentences 

[Calimehter]

Thank you for the report!

Tough to have to go after a defended position and then have the dice go cold just as you do it, but still looked entertaining.