Author Topic: 500PV Teaching Game  (Read 2348 times)

Tai Dai Cultist

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500PV Teaching Game
« on: 10 July 2018, 19:40:50 »
I had one of those special games where it's an opportunity to hook another Alpha Strike player!  An old-time BattleTecher wanted to get back in touch with his old love (vice?) and agreed to try out Alpha Strike.

There was a misunderstanding about the PV limit, and one person showed up with a 500PV list and the other with 2 250s.  Easy fix... we even ended up making a basic story behind the battle out of it:  The larger Canopian force is engaged in a wargame with its Capellan and Aurigan Directorate allies.  (House Espinosa rises again!)

Canopian force (Dark Age units):
Vulture MkIV, Thunderbolt, Hatchetman, Assassin, Commando
2x Manticores, 2x Goblins (w IT1 Spec Ops squads)
2x Harassers, 2x Pegasus, 2x Maxim (w Foot Rifle Platoons)
Lucifer III, Hammerhead

Capellan/Directorate force (3025 units)
Stalker, Dervish, Trebuchet, Vindicator
4x Vedettes
4x Galleons
4x Galleons
Catapult K-2, Orion, Hunchback, Panther
Dragon, Quickdraw, Wolverine, Firestarter

The Canopian side deployed in three tight clusters: the heavy tanks in the center, the hovers on the right, and the mechs on the left.  I spread thin across the entire deployment zone.

As the game unfolded, the Canopian player had a plan.  Perhaps Cannae, as he let me charge in to take the center.  His flanks tried to anchor his position, but I started off ignoring the hovers and focusing hard on his mechs.  I sent my Firestarter way wide while advancing in on his mech-side anchor.  That little mech drew his entire anchor to respond, and I charged that void hard.

We had some fun comparing my zerg rushing his mechs to the tactics of the 40K imperial guard he's more accustomed to facing:  I told him "you can shoot at this unit or that one, but you can't shoot at ALL of them!"

His hovers did swing around and entered my backfield, but I held 3 mechs and a lance's worth of tanks ready to welcome them after leaving that whole side of the table to them.  In a credit to the first-timer's plan, he did get the timing down to strike my backfield at the same moment the ASFs arrived overhead.  My mechs shot up the ASFs, and my tanks got lucky hits and took out both TMM 4 Harassers.  I saved Galleons on initiative, and needing to move ASFs last in order to hit anything guaranteed me last move on the ground and was able to swing close enough for short range shots.  And both ASFs would prove to fail their Lawn Dart checks.

After 3 turns, we had to call the game on account of time but I do believe a fine time was had by all.

Lessons learned: You can put a price on a skill upgrade from 4 to 3, but you can't put a price on the impact it makes in play.  We were 4s almost across the board, and things could just run screaming across open terrain and be fairly safe from anything but a hailstorm of concentrated fire.

Very fun to see in practice that tech levels have little to do with impacting the outcome of a game (unlike say Skill values)

We tried to warn the new player about how crappy Aerospace is in AS- but he's a pilot and wanted to bring fighters.  I could only shrug and fight to not say "I told you so" after the lawn darts.  Honestly, I think TPTB need to declare that Aerospace PVs are halved when included in a ground battle.  They're just not a part of the game for enough turns to be priced the way they are.  There was about 50PV in fighters for this one, and they did NOTHING.  Missed their strikes, and lawn dart'd after their one pass.  Sure, it drew some fire for one round that might have gone elsewhere, but is that worth 50PV?  Besides even if they had succeeded on their Lawn Dart checks, it'd be another two rounds before they could wheel around and strike again.  By that time it'd have been 2 airstrikes in the span of 5 turns.  Is that worth 50PV?  10PV a turn where you only even get to use them for 2 turns... Not a good value.  25PV would have been reasonable.

Anyway, no clear winner nor loser... which makes it decent as an in-universe wargame where pilot proficiency is the goal rather than victory :D




 

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