So about 10 days ago I took up a standing challenge that Lorcan Nagel has with our group, to take on the unit he refers to as The ScrapBox Militia, with whatever force, in whatever Era, we want. Since there are still parts of my 100th Raven Battle Cluster I have yet to try out, I took him up on the challenge with a game of Alpha Strike set in 3145. The Militia would be defending a mining outpost on a Federated Suns world near the border with the Raven Alliance, with the Draconis Combine rolling over the Suns, the Ravens have moved to extend their protection over the nearby worlds.
The Forces.
100th Raven Battle Cluster elements.
Elements of Trinary Charlie.
Deimos-A
Savage Coyote-W
Daishi-D
Man'O'War-D
Man'O'War-D
Hellion-Prime
Puma-A
Hankyu-D
Uller-I
Koshi-B
Star of Sylph Battle Armour.
Militia
Warhammer-6D
Catapault-K
Hunchback-4G
Centurion-9A
Pheonix Hawk
Falcon
Wasp
Locust
Hunter Tanks x2
Striker Tanks x2
Vedette Tanks x2
Harasser Tanks x2
Packrat LRPP x2
Skulker Scouts x2
Guardian Fighters x2
9x Platoons of Infantry.
As you can see although Lorcan's force is all 3025 tech, he definitely has the numbers, particularly as I didn't have any points spare to improve the warriors in the units, this was not going to be easy.
We decided on 3 different objective buildings that had to be taken and held for a win. Additionally since his force lacks integral transports for the Infantry we allowed him to forward deploy among the buildings of the outpost.
Turn 1: The first Turn I deployed the Assault Star towards the Center of the line and the Raven's Right Flank, the Daishi sitting on the hill in order for it to have a good wide field of fire. The Sylph's mostly stayed in the center also but stayed low in order to minimise any incoming fire, taking advantage of the hills and woods. Lastly the Light Star took the Left Flank with the faster elements of the unit going as wide as possible in the hopes of turning the flank.
The Militia meanwhile parked their Fire Support tanks behind the hill and used the infantry to spot for a few Hail Mary shots at the Light Star as they sped down the flank, none of which connected. The Warhammer and Catapault set themselves up on the same hill for direct fire while the remaining mechs started up the flank opposite the Assault Star. The Packrats and Skulkers started moving to intercept the Light Star while the Vedette's and Harassers nosed into the center, using the buildings as cover.
Turn 1 the biggest hit for the Militia came from the Guardians who swooped in with Cluster Bombs on the Savage Coyote, catching the Deimos in the blast. The Ravens hadn't been able to stretch to providing CAP and instead were relying on the HAG's of the Daishi for AAA, sadly this time around, it missed and the Guardians were able to escape, though they would be back.
With the Infantry occupying buildings any weapons fire from the Light Star and Sylphs would have been ineffectual so the Hellion, Puma and Koshi took the more pragmatic approach to cover their approach and fragged the most outlying building, taking out 2 Infantry Platoons, though not before they were able to spot for the Fire Support tanks who hit the Koshi.
Turn 2 With the damage to the Savage it held back and let the Man'O'Wars take the lead on the Right while the Puma and Hankyu helped reinforce the center. The Hellion, Koshi and Uller kept pushing up the left flank. The Militia mechs continued to close with the Assault Star while the Vedette's and Harassers shifted to the center with the Harrassers making a high speed attempt on the Savage Coyote, the Miltia Light Lance not far behind.
Most of the Clan Assault's fire went wide but one of the Man'O'Wars managed to tag the Hunchback, stripping it of its armour and inflicted a Weapons Critical. Meanwhile the Packrats and Skulkers moved to strike at the Light mechs as they advanced, concentrated fire allowed them to strip the last of the armoru from the Koshi but the Hellion and Uller managed to take out both Skulkers. The Harassers shots on the Savage Coyote went wide but the Hankyu moved up to get a close in shot, damaging one of the hovercraft while a potshot from the Deimos managed to strip the armour from the Militia's Falcon.
Turn 3 and the Clans managed to take the Objective Building on the left but not for long as the surviving Packrats managed to take out the Koshi in the process, the Hellion having pushed wide. The Guardians returned to try and finish off the Savage Coyote as well as concentrated fire from damn near everything the Militia could bring to bear. Luckily the Ravens had a trick up their sleeve, knowing the Guardians would be back I had made a point of keeping the Savage on the ground, waiting until this turn to reveal its prodigious jump capacity by jumping it 10 inches into the woods and driving the To-Hit numbers against it through the roof. This time around the Guardians missed, the Daishi didn't, swatting one of the aircraft to shreds with HAG fire. Meanwhile the lighter Militia mechs were playing with the paired Man'O'Wars and scoring hits but so were the big assault mechs, one striking the Pheonix Hawk, stripping it of armour and inflicting a Weapon Critical, while the Deimos once again sniped at distant targets, hitting the Catapult that was still shooting from the hill.
Turn 4 and we were getting tight to time but still had some serious slaughter to come. The Raven left flank move was faltering with the loss of the Koshi and a smattering of hits on the Hellion that had stripped it of armour. While the Uller had managed to take over from the Koshi and controlled the target building the Hellion had a decision to make, fall back and support, or go for one last suicidal strike. Being the Clans, I went for it, speeding up onto the hill and going for a kill shot on the Catapult. The move had the fortunate side effect of tempting the fire lance of tanks out from their position behind the hill but we had no time to see if that could have been telling. Meanwhile the Assault Star was hurting and having lost Initiative and with so many enemy units getting close and looking for back shots, they fell back on the woods and circled the wagons with the Hankyu and Puma for support. Meanwhile the Sylphs took advantage of an opening and decided to let rip with their own bombing run, one Point going after the Vedettes who were driving up the center in the hopes of scoring a citical (they didn't) while the other 4 Points mobbed the Centurion.
The Deimos was starting to feel persecuted with the amount of fire coming at it still, the Harassers swinging all the way around the Woods to try and finished it off but missing, while the Militia Light Lance continued to peck at both Man'O'Wars and pushed one to a level of internal damage that would Force Withdrawal.
The fire Support tanks inundated the Hellion with missile fire and tore it apart but it got its revenge, fire from the Light Clan Mech and the Savage Coyote detonated the Catapult. Meanwhile the Sylphs Cluster Bombs managed to strip all the armour from the Centurion and, more importantly, took out the Hunchback that had too close and was caught in the firestorm.
We had to call the game at this point but the final tally stood at,
Elements of Trinary Charlie.
Deimos-A (Badly damaged but still operational)
Savage Coyote-W (Down to 50% Structure and planning to Force Withdraw next Turn)
Daishi-D (Mint)
Man'O'War-D (Down to 50% Structure and planning to Force Withdraw next Turn)
Man'O'War-D (Damaged but still in the fight)
Hellion-Prime (Dead)
Puma-A (Mint)
Hankyu-D (Mint)
Uller-I (Damaged but still in it)
Koshi-B (Dead)
Star of Sylph Battle Armour. (One Point damaged, all Cluster bombs expended)
Militia
Warhammer-6D (Mint)
Catapault-K (Dead)
Hunchback-4G (Dead)
Centurion-9A (Badly damaged)
Pheonix Hawk (Badly damaged and critted)
Falcon (Badly damaged and critted)
Wasp (Mint)
Locust (Mint)
Hunter Tanks x2 (Mint)
Striker Tanks x2 (Mint)
Vedette Tanks x2 (Damaged)
Harasser Tanks x2 (1 Damaged)
Packrat LRPP x2 (Mint)
Skulker Scouts x2 (Dead)
Guardian Fighters x2 (1 Dead, Cluster Bombs expended)
9x Platoons of Infantry. (2x Dead)
Some of you might be wondering about the photos by the way, this is in response to some shots my fellow player Mark Hall did a while back with his phone, being a professional photographer, I felt a small, if rushed, response was necessary. :P