Having recently bought the GKR: Heavy Hitters mecha boardgame for the express purpose of using it for Alpha Strike battles, I'm pleased to give a batrep on my first battle using the excellent game pieces as terrain!
My opponent and I agreed to set up the ruins of some city, having been abandoned for hundreds of years. Surely something important was at stake in what's clearly a ritual Trial of Possession agreed to be fought at this locale. At an agreed upon 400PV limit, I brought a reinforced Dark-Age themed company and I faced off against a Supernova augmented with a point of Aerospace support.
The Clans:
Battle Star: Blood Asp, Mad Cat, Loki, Black Hawk, Fenris
Support Star: 5x Elementals
Unattached: 2x Some ASFs. Spoiler alert: they did so little in the battle I don't even recall what they were.
I think everything of his was skill 3, except the Blood Asp at skill 2.
The Kuritans:
Command Lance: Avatar-B (Commander), Sphinx (Multi-Tasker), Rokurokubi (Antagonizer), Rokurokubi
Battle Lance: 2x Mamono IFV, 2x Hiryo WiGE
Scout Lance: 4x Void BA
Support Lance: 4x Zou Assault BA
Unattached: Mobile Long Tom
Command and Support lances were skill 3, all others skill 4.
We set up the battlefield and agreed that the entirety of the rubble-strewn board game board would be considered rubble. The buildings and some extra 6mm terrain were mixed with some forested patches to make a more or less symmetrical battlefield. I anticipated that flanking attacks would be especially key to the battle as the center of the board is a giant area of "You go slow unless you can Jump".
My battle plan as I deployed was to let the Mamonos and Zous clog the middle, and cover the Avatar who'd just lob IF4 attacks all day from behind LOS blocking ruins. My fast mechs and Hiryos would play games on the flanks to press advantages or counter the Clan's attempts to do the same. Being outnumbered (if not out-massed) the Clan side gave the Blood Asp and Loki responsibility for the center of the board while the Mad Cat and Fenris held one flank and the Black Hawk held the other.
With thrusts moving so very slow up the middle, the initial action was unsurprisingly on the flanks. Games of pussyfoot were the rule and no solid advantages were had until I withdrew my Sphinx from facing off against the MadCat and Fenris combo, but I didn't keep track of terrain well enough and the Loki in the center of the board had a nice clean shot right through the urban mess on my Sphinx. Oops. Loki blows full OV and rocks my poor Sphinx for the first significant damage of the game.
It is right after that on turn 3 that the ASFs arrive. I wasn't able to get any infantry carriers into position to have already dropped my BA off, and I sure as hell aren't having them pile out this turn either and beg for aoe bomb attacks. With having to withdraw my Sphinx even further back off the front lines entirely to protect it and not being able to deploy any BA this round, the Clans take the tactical upper hand. The Mad Cat smells blood in the water and presses an advance to pursue the Sphinx, and the Black Hawk gains control of the other flank as my Rokurokubis fall into the ruins to help try to turn the center of the board to my advantage. The only significant damage done is by the fighters that bomb the hell out of my IF-lobbing Avatar, but they don't get internal yet. My Sphinx goes nuts with Multi-Tasker, lighting both fighters up. One crashes on its subsequent Lawn-Dart check, and the other suffers two Fire Control hits and is effectively out of the game.
With that moral victory filling my sails, the tide turns. The Antagonizing Rokurokubi is able to force the Blood Asp to waste its firepower on the low probability shot, opening up my tanks and infantry to advance and seize tactical control of the center of the board without being devastated by the big assault. The Fenris moves to cover his backfield by meeting my Hiryo and its attending BA before I can them up behind the Loki or Blood Asp, and without support his Mad Cat is absolutely swamped by vehicles and infantry as it keeps moving up to chase my Sphinx to finish it off. With the Mad Cat on one flank having moved up, and the Black Hawk on the other flank running completely un-countered after it won a one-on-one duel vs a Rokurokubi, my Avatar can't deny everything LOS and is subsequently targeted for termination. It goes down in the crossfire, but dice gods protect my Sphinx and it goes untouched. I'm able to deal out enough damage to put the Mad Cat, Loki, and Blood Asp all in forced withdrawal in the same turn that I lose my Avatar. With my tanks and infantry dug in nice and snug in the urban ruins, and still backed up by 2 mechs and a Long Tom, the Clan forces accept the offer of Hegira.
Moments that defined the battle:
Removing both ASFs from the battle on their first and only airstrike.
On the turn I resigned to the "inevitable" loss of the Sphinx, it survived unhit.
Not a single moment, but it certainly affected the battle that I won initiative every turn. I never even had to use the Command Lance ability to force a reroll!