A game we played a few weeks ago to try out Petes new post Jihad Kell Hounds.
And who better to test them out than The greatest Lyran Alive at the moment.
THOMAS HOGARTHS Forces
Tired and tested. He has a few new toys after his posting durning the Jihad.
The Kell Hounds Forces
What remains of the unit post Jihad is a mix of Tech and Faction equipment.
A little concerned with the beatdown the Hounds have received over the last few years. He has tasked himself with checking if the unit is up to protecting Lyran worlds.
Turn 1 &2HOGARTH enters and proceeds to move towards the enemy elements.
While the Hounds break off one lance with the rest of them barreling towards the main chunk of HOGARTHS.
Some of the longer ranged units take up positions on the hillside.
Turn 3Both sides close the gap
Turn4Hogarth is finally in range and Unloads on the
Wolfhound. While only the laser scores a hit. The way the
Wolfhound lists after tells that something is off with its Gyro. HOGARTHS forces are now weapons free.
Hogarth dispatches the
Penetrator and
Warhammer to deal with the pests.
And In a turn up for the books the
Penetrator manages to score a hit on the stealthed
Stealth while its was in woods. Much to everyone's surprise. It definitely makes the unit a tab more nervous.
Turn 5The hounds Flanking maneuver is very apparent now as are their Sniping nests.
From the far side of the river the Clan PPCs take chunks from the
Challengers and the
Archer.
Hogarth receives a lions share of the fire over the rocky outcrop. He orders his troops to return the favor against the
Battlemaster. (We learn that its a bit of a beast). Both Mechs take a savage beating but manage to stay upright.
Turn 6Rather than run into the guns of the hounds on the hill. Hogarths forces hold positions on and attempt to take out the nearer Hound mechs.
The
Locust makes a break for it while the other two hold up the
Penetrator and
Warhammer. The
Goliath gives it a heavy Gauss shot for its troubles sending the poor little bug sliding into the dirt.
Hogarth looses even more armor.
He views it a happy exchange since return fire takes the
Phawks arm. Althou the
Battlemaster does laugh off a gyro hit.
Turn 7The
Wolfhound makes a reappearance with its Charged PPC and takes the remaining protection off Hogarths
Atlas. Hogarth scores a hit on the capacitor it erupts in spectacular fashion.
The
Lynx takes the assault lance worth of fire making it rethink it's short adventure into enemy territory.
The
Archer and
Challangers waste a lot of fire on the
Packhunter. But of the two hits that strike home one of them takes the PPC from the mech. Leaving just the
BlackHawk to protect this side. The
Battlemaster suffers more damage but still keeps kicking.
Turn 8Hogarth falls back Under the enemy fire. And to make sure the boys in the rear ain't giving too much hassle. The two remain units attempt to cause headaches for the tanks. But he still manages to finish off the
Wolfhound.A change in tactics takes the
Warhammer by surprise. Taking one of its sides. Killing the mech.
And Finally the
Battlemaster drops. (Such a beast)
The
Ceasar suffers some minor armor damage while the lead
Challenger avoids a lot of the shots at it.
And taking full advantage of driving off the Nova. The
Archer begins its recon across the water. It would have waited for the tanks but they where far too slow for this sort of recon.
Combined fire form the Hounds on the right side of the field bury into the
Pillager And a Strike to the head Crushes the cockpit. The loss of this assault enrages HOGARTH!
Turn 9The
Archer succeeds in making it over to the far side of the table and in celebration fires off at its opposite on the Hounds side.
The
Ceasar thinking itself safely hidden takes a beating from the
Highlander and ends up on its ear.
The
Fafnir moves forward to try and take some of the pressure off Hogarth. It works as the Hounds focus on it rather than the further out
Atlas.
The
Lynx loses a torso and leaves the
Phawk alone.
The
Spector gets its arm removed and decided he'll flee the table.
AftermathAfter this round of fire the Kell hounds have a Daishi,Thunderhawk and Thimberwolf undamaged. With a slightly Damaged Jagermech and Archer. And a rough looking Phawk,Highlander and Stealth.
While Hogarth himself is fairly battered. The rest of his forces are only really dented. And fairly eager to push across the rocky terrain and start up on the Hounds snipers. They have a slight advantage with the Archer providing firing data for the Challengers.
The hounds where up against a Hell of a lot of armor and they gave a pretty decent account of themselves despite the weight advantage going against them. And of course the LUCK of HOGARTH which helped take out the Locust, Wolfhound and Lynx.
Hogarth might lose a mech or two more in the push. But it would be a cheap price to pay for putting the Mercs in their place.
Taking out Hogarth is always fun. And Petes choice of Hounds was interesting. The
Battlemaster BLR-K4 is a BEAST of Mech and I may look into getting one for Hogarth in the future based on its performance this game.
It was nice to see his forces operate together. They did preform well in spite of the outcome of the fight.
I'm looking forward to taking them on with my other forces.