The Dadao strikes the Katana

[markhall]

So Myself and Lorcan went at it on Alpha Strike last week.

Both sides has 590 points worth of troops. With a Hilly Terrain as the battlefield.

Lorcan took his Ryuken Nin. Using the Unit Special rules: If all members of a lance Fire at the same target they receive a -1.
Command Lance:
Shiro (skill 2, Tactical Genius)
Orichi (skill 3, Combat Intuition)
Hitosume Kozo (Skill 3, Antagoniser)
Firestarter (skill 3)

Battle Lance (Lucky 6):
Avatar (Skill 3)
Black Knight (Skill 3, Marksman)
Wolverine (Skill 3)
Phoenix Hawk (Skill 3)

Striker Lance
Pegasus X-Pulse (Skill 4, Blood Stalker) x 2
Regulator RAC (Skill 4, Blood Stalker)
Regulator RAC (Skill 4)

Infantry:
Hiryu MRM (Skill 4)x2
Oni MRM (Skill 3) x 4



Facing him was Generic Liao force.

Battle Lance (Lucky 6)
Thunderbolt TDR-7M (Skill 2)
Thunder THR-1L(Skill 3)
Yu Huang Y-H9GB(Skill 4)
Loa Hu LHU-3C (Skill 4)

Striker Lance
Ti Ts'ang TSG-9J (Skill 3,Speed Demon)
Wraith TR1(Skill 2, Speed Demon)
Wraith TR1(Skill 2,Speed Demon)
Assassin ASN-99(Skill 4)

Striker Lance
Hammer HMR-3C(Skill 2)
Cataphract CTF-3l(Skill 3)
Flea FLE-20(Skill 3)(Skill 3)
Flea FLE-20(Skill 3)(Skill 3)

Fire Support Lance
Hunter Light Support Tank(3054)(skill 4, Oblique Attacker)
Hunter Light Support Tank(3054)(skill 4, Oblique Attacker)
Ontos Heavy Tank (3053)(Skill 3)
Ontos Heavy Tank (3053)(Skill 3)



The Mission was "The Bout to Knock the other Guy out!"

[markhall]

Incoming Operation Report!!

Turn 1
Is your Standard entry level moment. With Lorcan squaring up his Dracs In the center of the table.
While I come on as a group. Only spreading out based on units speed.  My Tanks making the first Hill.
Lorcan also chose one of the Fleas to be the Target of the Blood Stalkers ability.





Turn 2
Lorcan Spread his forces across the table spreading his forces on the Right side of the table and center. I focused on the Middle and Left side.  This got me the first kill of the game as I dropped one of the Hiryu with the striker lance.
The incoming Hovertanks also lost a Pegasus to a mobility crit. Their attempts to drop the flea being scuppered by the Stealth armor and woods cover. 





Go BOOMSPLODE!!

[markhall]

Turn 3
Lorcans faster units make it to my lines and we begin battle the Battle.
My Striker lance attempt to Mug the Pheonix Hawk. It's left hurting but the Ti Ts'ang pays the price thanks to the fun of C3 and the special unit rule.  My tanks move to what they consider a better firing position.
The Fleas Do their best to avoid the hovertanks hunting them.
This lets the Cataphract and Hammer Take out a Regulator while the immobilized Pegasus is finished off by the Yu Hang.
And the Thunder begins his Hunt of the remaining Hiryu who has dropped it's infantry.
The Hunters indirect the dropped off Infantry into the dirt giving them little chance to join the battle.







Micheal Bay san presents  EXPLOSIONS!

[markhall]

Turn 4
Lorcan took advantage of his Initiative reroll to try win Initiative and missed out.
Since the Yu Haung didn't move. The Dracs batters it this turn with their Command Lance removing most of it's armour.
In return we blast the fire starter and the striker lance takes out the second Regulator.
The Phoenix Hawk regroups in cover with the Wolverine while they target the Assassin causing a Fire control crit.






This turns Butcher bill

[worktroll]

Who let Michael Bay take the photos? :D

Looks like everyone had a ball!

[markhall]

Turn 5
The Thunder continues to miss the Hiryu even with a rerole use.
The Pegasus finally connects with it's Blood tracked Flea. Wiping the poor little guy off the board.
An Ontos takes some minor armor damage.
The poor put upon wounded Assassin goes down to the C3 lance finishing the Job.
My Liao throw some fire down field and Kill the Orichi.
The Wraiths move forward on the Left Flank firing as they go.








Turn 6
With the passing of the Flea the Pegasus sets it's sights on the Yu Huang and finishes off the slow moving beast.
The Hammer makes it pay for it's efforts.
The last Flea and The Thunder fail to kill the Hiryu but at least the Flea connects with it's target.

The injured ontos takes more fire causing Fire control hits. And I discover the advantages of the Shiro Armor.
Halves the damage of the fire power that hits it. I need my energy boats for this one.






All DEAD!

[Tai Dai Cultist]

And I discover the advantages of the Shiro Armor.
Halves the damage of the fire power that hits it. I need my energy boats for this one.

You might have been snookered there.  Hardened armor does nothing in AS after the stats conversion process.  Its toughness is represented in AS with the CR special and translating into more AS scale armor bubbles.  Have you seen a Rokurokubi?  7 armor bubbles on a SZ 1 mech :D

Awesome pics tho, love the pew pew!

[markhall]

Turn 7
Knowing I needed my Wraiths Lorcan walloped one rather hard. Taking it away from me.
I responded by using the majority of my forces to Drop that rather nasty Shrio.

The Thunder proves its a creature of Habit when it yet again fails to connect with the Hiryu.
Choosing the Avatar as the easiest to Kill. The Tanks and the mechs that didn't fire on the Shiro choose to rain fire down on it causing a Fire control hit and a lot of damage to the wee beasty.
Anther Battle Armor is removed by the Hunters.

[markhall]

Turn 8
Feeling the Hammer start to fall. Lorcan attempted to regroup his remaining forces in the center.
This results in a dead Wraith that was chasing the Hitosume Kozo. It in no way aided in the Hitozumes death. Which was done by most of the heavy lifters.

The Hammer shows the Thunder how it's done and takes out the stupid Widge. And that was all she wrote for this game.






KA BOOM!


Aftermath:

Lorcan kindly gave me the win. We assumed I'd lose two or three more units taking down his remaining forces. Based on the ebb of the game. The luck wasn't with him on his to hit rolls. Even with the re Roll it seldom proved helpful.
I had my own Issues (Bloody Unless Thunder) but it didn't seem as bad as his sides problems.

The Ryukens Special  rules seems a tad powerful in Alpha Strike. But the best counter to it is remove one unit form each lance. And the Dracs needed all the help they could to hit this game. Even his usual abuse of C3 wasn't that helpful.

I enjoyed the stealth armor and those Fleas are a lot of fun. And I look forward to taking them out again.
The Yu Huang was a tad underwhelming and I really hope the Thunder fairs better next game.

[JadedFalcon]

Cool AAR. The dramatic lighting, drab color schemes, and bleak landscape really adds to the gritty cinematic feel.  O0

[Lorcan Nagle]

You might have been snookered there.  Hardened armor does nothing in AS after the stats conversion process.  Its toughness is represented in AS with the CR special and translating into more AS scale armor bubbles.  Have you seen a Rokurokubi?  7 armor bubbles on a SZ 1 mech :D

Awesome pics tho, love the pew pew!

It was the Shiro with Ballistic Reinforced Armour, which reduces damage from any unit firing at it that has LRM, SRM, IF, FLK or AC special abilities. 

And I totally missed that Mark had posted this batrep!  It was a very fun game, and I think my guys gave a good accounting of themselves after a dismal first couple of turns.  Looking forward to taking this force out again sometime soon.

And I really need to repaint those vehicles and infantry.

[markhall]

And I really need to repaint those vehicles and infantry.

The Infantry at the very least!

And I think the change of abilities around in the command lance will make for a much more interesting unit as we discussed last night.

[Tai Dai Cultist]

It was the Shiro with Ballistic Reinforced Armour, which reduces damage from any unit firing at it that has LRM, SRM, IF, FLK or AC special abilities. 

I went into the rulebook to double check... reducing damage by half sounded too good to be true.  When I've used BRA it only ever reduced damage by 1, if even that.  I figured y'all must have thought hardened armor halved damage like it did in CBT!

Turns out the rule says you're right!  But the example in how to use the rule said I was right.  Huh.  I posted a request for clarification in the rules forum.