Battle Report

Well, nobody responded to my request for input on the scenario, but I’m
posting the battle report anyway.

All things considered, the battle went very well. Due to a lack of available
figures (the attacker forgot a tub of miniatures), the respective forces were
scaled back somewhat from what the scenario called for.

The attacker’s misson was to drive the defender out of a mountain pass
overlooking a highway. The terrain setup was largely light forest, with a few
ruins in the attacker’s initial staging area and a mountain and smaller hill
dominating the defender’s position. A river ran down the defender’s right
flank.

The defender had two command detonated mines and two dummy counters to deploy.
He used the mines in the middle of the table and placed his dummies along the
flanks.

THE FORCES: The attackers (two players) had at their command two platoons of
size 2 vehicles, three platoons of infantry, a forward observer element and
three fire missions from a tri-barrell RAM.

The defender selected two platoons of infantry, a section of power armor and a
sniper.

THE SETUP: The attackers split their forces into two fronts. One would attempt
to occupy the defender’s forces in the middle, while the second force,
including hover tanks, tried to take advantage of the highway and river to
flank the defender’s.

The defender set the majority of his forces down behind a row of concertina
wire in front of the mountain. A reserve of troops was stationed along a
sandbag line near the base of the mountain. One squad of power armor and three
squads of infantry were positioned forward, one in the light forest and one
along a ridge line.

THE OPENING MOVES: The attacker took advantage of his fire missions by
dropping mortar shells in one platoon command squad and two more in the
defender’s reserve area. The opening shells killed the platoon commander and
electronic’s warfare officer. The second salvo routed a squad in the reserve
area. On the next turn, the FO called arty down again in the reserve area, but
with little affect.

Next came the armored assault. Two tanks streaked forward to engage the
forward power armor squad and the forward infantry.

A third tank was preparing to enter the fray when its
suspension was blown by a well-placed round from a
Plasma Infantry Gun.

The defenders waited patiently as the attacker brought his infantry forward.
It wasn’t long, however, until
full-bore firefights were raging across the middle.

Early in the game, the defender was plagued by poor
armor rolls and lost most of his long-range anti-tank
weaponry. On the right flank, the defender lost an
IAVR, a GMS/P and an AGL to attacking infantry. On the
left, an IAVR from the defender’s power armor immobilized another.

It wasn’t long, however, before the attacker’s tanks were able to move into
the defender’s line, rolling over the concertina wire and causing casualties.

AFTERMATH: The defenders were crushed. In play, the commander chose to run a
World War I style of defense that has little place on the modern battlefield,
much less that of the future.

Instead of using his mobile elements of power armor to
mount any type of counter-attack, he was content to
stay in position and stationary.

HIGHLIGHTS: The attackers’ plan worked as they had planned it, although stiff
resistance from a squad of veteran Nuns with Guns did slow an advance on the
right flank. A squad of green Nuns hosed down a squad of elite NSL Jagers as
they advanced on the right flank, killing the SAW specialist and pinning the
squad down in brush. The PIG blast that immobilized an attacker’s tank was at
extreme long range, the fifth range band.