Author Topic: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy  (Read 4635 times)

serrate

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Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« on: 01 July 2013, 12:45:56 »
In our local Cincinnati campaign, the SLDF's assault on the RWR nears it's close. The full campaign can be found here: http://forums.cincybattletech.com/index.php?board=14.0

This will not be a full AAR, but I hope you enjoy the pics.

On January 15th, the SLDF stormed the beaches of Anchorage where the RWR were ready and waiting. Much carnage ensued:

Pre-deployment


The forces assemble for the defense/assault of Anchorage. This pic does NOT represent all units that eventually hit the table. There are 2 companies missing which were later added, as well as the extended company of PC mechs.


Deployment begins. It appears that someone near the top of the pic is deploying a grenade on behalf of the RWR defense. RWR sets up 2 lances per company on the front half of their city maps, and 1 lance per company in the rear. SLDF mech are currently "in water" as they arrive on mech-sized Higgins boats on turn 1.


serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #1 on: 01 July 2013, 12:48:08 »
That's no moon! That's a Rattler MKII Anti-Aerospace Mobile Fortress, and no, he's not happy to see us.


Rattler MKII Anti-Aerospace Mobile Fortress. And his attendant company of RWR mechs.


The Shark and the Snakes. Somehow seems appropriate that the "Rattler" is being accompanied by Draconis SoL-painted mechs, but I'm sure that's just an unpublished RWR scheme. By the way, this Rattler was constructed by Darrian Wolffe (Rob).

serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #2 on: 01 July 2013, 12:51:56 »
Anchorage shore-line in panorama. That's a lot of shoreline. And no, the table is not curved, just one of the odd effects of a panoramic shot of a close object.


Turn 1 Movement

Sergeant Jim Schwartz spent the night of his assigned patrol at a local pub, where he awoke the next morning (January 15th, 2779) bereft of his dignity and wallet. As he returned to the base at Anchorage, he encountered this scene, and he immediately reversed course and headed back to his favorite pub. He was discovered at a local hospital being treated for alcohol poisoning 2 days later by victorious SLDF forces when they came to investigate reports of a deserted pristine Locust parked in a suburb. This gun-cam footage was used during his trial to prove that he had (however briefly) been at the Battle of Anchorage. Although he avoided incarceration, he was stripped of his mech, and spent his remaining days drinking himself to a slow death. Before his demise, he was known for frequently waking up from his alcohol-induced sleep to scream "It's all shaking, the whole planet is SHAKING!!"


Failed bombing run

While Operation ANCHORHEAD was reported to be a battle exclusively of ground units, one RWR pilot recounted the tale of Corporal Dick "Speedy" Gonzalez, his wingman, who he was unable to convince to leave this area well enough alone. Tetrarch Mason "Deadeye" Coleman reported that Speedy defied orders and flew his bomb-laden Vulcan towards the SLDF landing zone with a comment that "God lined 'em up, and I'm gonna knock 'em down!"

As Tet. Mason watched helplessly, Speedy's approach did not go unnoticed by the SLDF companies nearest the attack-run and their forces lit up the sky with so much ordinance that Speedy's Vulcan was effectively vaporized before ever getting into range of his bombs. Due to the sheer amount of devastation in this battle, it was weeks before an SLDF mechwarrior was found to corroborate this story.

serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #3 on: 01 July 2013, 12:54:14 »
Rob vs Dan. Dan begins moving his IF units behind a building for the indirect beat-down.



Bryan vs Phil. The Longbows and Zeus's park on the hill and begin to rain the pain. To my left is Steve vs Seth. The kid made a good showing of himself and kept Steve busy. To my right is part of Mike's 1st company, which has the unenviable task of taking down a Rattler before it can really worry about the mechs.



Mike/Hat vs Denson/Travis. Mike's 2nd company moves through a port facility, while Hat moves forward to assault Travis' position.


serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #4 on: 01 July 2013, 12:56:08 »
Brandon vs Brett. Brandon moves his scout lance up quickly versus Brett's RWR force.



An attempt at walking in panorama view. Didn't say it was a successful attempt.



The Beast from the East
While scary to see on the table, in practice the conversion rules gimped this unit severely and it was easily taken down. Of course, it might've been better suited to be behind the front lines lobbing artillery for awhile instead of up-front being pounded by 4-5 lances of mechs.


serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #5 on: 01 July 2013, 12:57:42 »
Heavy Metal. The disconcerting roar of constant thunder under a blue sky.



SLDF advances in the middle.

Mike's lance of Locusts was worrisome enough to distract a few mechs, leaving both our companies to steadily push forward. Here, my assault lance pushes forward towards the RWR reinforcement building, anchored by Major Fruend and MSGR Schwepps.



This is what all BT games should look like


serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #6 on: 01 July 2013, 13:00:33 »
Carnage fails to collect Spider
Yes, that's a very fortunate spider in the middle of that assault brick. Still alive, pilot requests new underpants and a pressure washer.



Massed reinforcements
The RWR's massed reinforcements could potentially turn the table for awhile in this neighborhood. SLDF forces take a different route.



Rattler in repose



Say hello to my little friend


serrate

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #7 on: 01 July 2013, 13:01:22 »
Final kill board tally

The SLDF took out 69 mechs and 1 mobile fortress, the RWR demolishes 42 mechs. The kill board tells you this was an SLDF victory. The beach says this is a loss for humanity. By the way, before the final turn it was noted that 12 mechs needed to die in order for us to reach 100 kills on the day. Some said it couldn't be done.  23 mechs went down.


Dragon Cat

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #8 on: 01 July 2013, 13:07:56 »
Very impressive display looks like fun game
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https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,20515.0.html - Part 1

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https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,79196.0.html - Part 3

Ouchies

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #9 on: 01 July 2013, 14:18:24 »
VERY NICE O0

Kudos for such a huge game.  The administrative overhead and organization must of been immense.

Black Omega

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #10 on: 01 July 2013, 19:03:28 »
Nice pictures Bryan.  I liked your background fluff.

For every one who wasn't there, we used the quick strike rules and the total forces fielded were over 2 REGIMENTS!  [19 companies (228 mechs) and 1 anti-warship mobile fortress]  Setup to teardown was 8 hours with 9 turns completed and a 1/2 hour+ break for lunch.

Here is the link to my photo-bucket library of the event:
http://s122.photobucket.com/user/srullmann/library/SLDF%20invasion%20of%20Anchorage%20Alaska%2015%20Jan%202779?sort=2&page=1

It was a grand time had by all.
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Son of Kerenski

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #11 on: 02 July 2013, 02:05:41 »
Looks awesome! Would love to play a game of this scale someday.

Thanks for the fill in BO, I was about to ask questions about time & rules sets. So the 8 hex max long range was used for this battle?

And I take it an entire side moved ALL of their mechs depending on a single initiative roll?

Darrian Wolffe

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #12 on: 02 July 2013, 04:47:32 »
Thanks for the fill in BO, I was about to ask questions about time & rules sets. So the 8 hex max long range was used for this battle?

The 8-hex long range to which you refer is used in Battleforce (1 counter=4 mechs).  We were using range bands similar to those in the upcoming Alpha Strike ruleset; which themselves are quite similar to the miniatures rules range bands.

Quote
And I take it an entire side moved ALL of their mechs depending on a single initiative roll?

Goodness no.  In this case, each player controlled a company (occasionally two).  The losing side of initiative moved one lance of each of their companies, then the winning side moved one lance of each of their companies, and so forth.


As a side note: the Rattler is actually a Mark ONE Rattler, not the Mark II found in the Jihad sourcebooks.  Which explains why it looks different and has more barracuda missile launchers than the Mk II artwork.

Finally, I'd like to stress that NOBODY had any significant experience with this ruleset before the day began (I'd had a refresher game at Origins so I could run this).  So that's 220+ units on the board, 9 turns in 7.5 hours...with completely new players.  I'm wondering what we could do once we'd all had 15-20 games under our belts and know the system as backwards and forwards as we do with regular BattleTech.
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Son of Kerenski

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Re: Operation ANCHORHEAD (Quickstrike) - pic-heavy
« Reply #13 on: 03 July 2013, 03:18:58 »
Ahhhh I always get that mixed up as we played our first game with the Battleforce Quick Start rules.

Too many damn products with "Quick" in their titles!

We do a similar thing with Initiative ourselves, depending on the number of mechs involved we do phases. So we might do 4 phases if everyone has a company (3 mechs per phase). That was you wouldnt be forced to move an entire lance at once, but a mech from each lance. Or whatever combination you prefer depending on the situation.

 

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