Myself and the local demo agent brought pairs of 400PV companies to our latest game in hopes of some local guys who've been expressing interest in playing might show up. Sadly they didn't, and we had nothing to do with 2 companies of troops a piece but pit them in battle to the death against one another.
We used lance movement rules to make the game go faster (and it would go fast... the whole game was over in less than 3 hours), ASC lance formation rules, and in a change for us no Variable Damage. We usually always play with Variable Damage, but we haven't lately for the last couple of games. We're starting to get used to it, and I daresay we're kind of liking it. Plus more damage means stuff dies faster, and stuff dying faster means games go faster.
I also wanted to try some new terrain we've never used up to this point. Lava! Super duper hot and deadly river of lava! Huzzah! Since we both had alot of tanks, we used the crusted over lava rules.
My force:
A Mech Battle Lance, 2 Mech Striker Lances, a Tank Fire Lance, A Scout Lance made up of hovers and VTOLs, a Lance of Flamer Infantry, and an overstrength Support Lance comprising 3 C3M master tanks and 2 APCs. My tank company was all C3 networked (except the VTOLs, but they had TAG for my Schiltron...), and to my joy my opponent didn't bring any ECM today. Hooray!
Opposing force (best as I recall):
A Mech Battle Lance, a Mech Command Lance, a Mech Striker lance, 2 Tank Fire Lances, A lance of APCs and a Lance of Battle Armor of some kind.
General overview:
I've begun to notice our games tend to play out with similar scripts. There's the center attraction of a clash in the middle of the board, with a sideshow on either side as we try to slip flankers around to get behind the other side's center. This game wouldn't be any different, despite the strategy proving to be disastrous for both of us due to the lack of cover we're both generally used to exploiting.
That's a picture from the end of round one. We both have already lost so much stuff we're both demoralized. I'm probably better off since all I technically lost so far is the Shiro and a Nyx, but lance movement allowed my opponent to save his APCs for late-turn movement and pull off 4 anti-mech attacks. Not pictured above are all those motive hits that are super annoying on Cavalry mechs. My opponent on the other hand was not happy about my killing 3 of his 4 Von Luckners in the opening volley. Hey, I say. You bring guys that throw 7 damage, I have to kill them. Don't blame me for killing them. The only reason those Von Luckners didn't vaporize my Avatar was because they needed to waste some shots blowing away my little hover C3 spotter who took one for the team.
We each destroyed one another's vanguard. I chose to deal with it by collapsing my flanks best I could into the center to compensate. It did not go well for my now gimpy striker lances.
The blood. So. Much. Blood.
The turn did not go well for me. I had terrible rolls on my attacks against that last Von Luckner. So many misses... by the time I finally finished it I had used up so much firepower it was the only thing I killed... in exchange for losing my entire left flank to the meatgrinder. Bad trade.
With unfettered access to my underbelly, my opponent's flank swarmed in on me. But ironically, this would be my side's finest moment. Where I lost an entire lance of mechs last turn, he did this turn. Including two of his big aces: the Blood Asp and the Lament. (Hooray for C3 and Fire Lances!)
My network at this point has lost its spotters, but was otherwise intact. My center was pushed to its breaking point, but it was still holding a thin line of Kurita red. On the other hand, my opponent's center and flank were routed and his remaining flank was bogged down with my zombie Rokurokubis. He threw in the towel.
MVP: Jes II Strategic Missile Launchers. Why have I never used them before? Give them Sniper SPA and C3 spotters and what CAN'T they do? Notable mention: Rokurokubis. They always serve me well. Always. This time a pair of them anchored a flank and fended off a pretty solid push (2 Rommels, 2 medium mechs, 2 APCs & BA)
Play of the Day: I have to give it to my opponent. One of his APCs charged my mauled Avatar. The little git killed my heavy with a suicide impact! Runnerup PoD: One of his BA squads in forced withdrawal jumped onto the lava crust and fell thru. Womp, womp!
Parting thoughts:
WTF were we thinking? We just charged headlong into each other without any respect to the particular terrain for this battle. Out in the open screaming banzai at one another... what else was gonna happen but a massacre?
Lava: Pretty fun, I think. Aside from the comical event of that hapless fleeing infantry going in, noone suffered directly for the lava (aside from there being no cover across the center of the board). It still added some interesting decision making. Is it
really worth making the move across... a 1 in 6 chance of instadeath is still 1 in 6....
Turhans+Schiltron: These were my C3Master units. Why have I never bothered using the inherent TAG function on C3Ms before? I really like this pairing. Turhans carry their own infantry escorts, and Schiltrons are OMNIs and can carry more via MEC. A nice little self-supporting nut of a unit!
