So the HBS game has been a thing for some while. Me and a local buddy decided to bring the newly detailed corner of the periphery to life in our own Alpha Strike game. For funsies we used some custom rules meant to simulate the boardgame: a modified fog of war where you can still shoot out to 42" (if you have long range value) but each unit can only "see" out to 24"... in order to take advantage of those long range shots you need to maneuver a spotter akin to how it works in the computer game. And of course we limited ourselves solely to units that are in the computer game incarnation as well. We joked about using the double damage on physical attacks vs tanks rule, but didn't formally agree to use it. Turns out it wouldn't matter.
The Arano Restoration forces:
Command Lance: BattleMaster, Black Knight, Griffin, Something I forgot
Battle Lance: Demolisher, Demolisher, SRM Carrier, SRM Carrier
Fire Lance: Manticore, Manticore, Striker, Striker
The Aurigan Directorate forces:
Lady Victoria's Command Lance: Catapult K-2, Dragon, Centurion, Firestarter
Striker Lance: Dragon, Wolverine, Trebuchet, Jenner
Battle Lance: Manticore, Manticore, SRM Carrier, SRM Carrier
Scout Lance: Galleon, Galleon, Galleon, Galleon
We were deploying "sensor blips" where all we could tell was whether it was a mech or tank until revealed. I tried gaming somewhat with this fog of war by overloading my right flank without telegraphing it. I deployed my Directorate forces with my Command and Battle Lances in the center, Striker Lance on my strong right wing, and Scout Lance split between left and right wing. The Restoration forces would prove to be fairly symmetrically deployed with each lance stringing its constituent units across their entire deployment zone.
The fog of war/blips mechanic proved to be mainly a lot of effort to track without much return. Everything but my Trebuchet ended up getting ID'd by the end of the 2nd round and it was pretty obvious anyway what was going on back there hiding in the crater as I was lobbing IF1's out of it.
My game plan was to surprise my opponent with a stronger than anticipated right wing, and crush his flank there and then pincer his center. The flaw in my plan was a complete forfeiture of the left side of the battlefield to the enemy, and that proved to be my downfall. I couldn't prevent him from settling into some strong cover and enfilading my own center while his out-manned flank successfully fought a fighting retreat/delaying action to prevent me from crushing his own center. I ended up conceding early, I think about round 4 or so as the situation was going from bad to outright untenable. Still, Lady Victoria Epsinosa's Catapult hadn't gone down by the time I threw in the towel, and I did have a minor moral victory in driving the opposing BattleMaster from the center having put it into "wise withdrawal" as opposed to "forced withdrawal".
Play of the match: seizing the unclaimed ruins on my left flank put a dagger in my battle plan. My center was caught in an enfilade and decimated before I could even attempt to reverse the situation.
MVPs: SRM Carriers. For both sides. We might have to say "No SRM Carriers" next time we do a HBS Battletech themed battle.
