From: Christopher Downes-Ward <Christopher_Downes-Ward@a...>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:55:13 +0100
Subject: [DS]AAR The Battle of Research Station Muriel - Again (Long)
I ran this Scenario several years ago (May 2001
http://lists.firedrake.org/gzg/200105/msg00337.html) but have now run it
again with a few changes to the terrain and Force Composition intended to make
the scenario more even.
A force of Tryanids attacked a research station being constructed by D troop
of 1er Escadron, 2eme Regiment Ãtranger de Cavalrie. The rest of the squadron
plus a supporting artillery battery rushed to the rescue. The the battle is
described below.
The terrain
A flat open plain studded with occasional clumps of trees. A single river
winds across the area. In a loop of the river on the side nearest the Tyranid
base line was a cluster of buildings representing the research station,
reached by a single road from the French baseline. The river was fordable by
infantry along its whole length. The banks of the river were considered to
give hull down cover from either side. Most of the terrain is normal to GEV's
with the exception of the wooded areas (impassable), the riverbanks
(difficult), the road (easy) and RS Muriel (difficult). For everything else
the basic terrain was normal, with other stuff being difficult, except the
road that was easy.
Organization and Equipment
Note: all infantry units were designed using Steve Gibson's alternative
infantry rules -
http://www.cowell.org/~andy/min/ds2/variants/sgib-infantry.html
French
1er Escadron, 2eme Regiment Ãtranger de Cavalrie (reinforced)
Headquarters (Veteran/1)
1 AC-8 Hovertank
1 ACVI-3/PC Command Vehicle
1 ACVI-3/VOA Artillery Observation Vehicle (attachment)
A (Veteran/2) and B (Regular/2) Troops
3 AC-8 Hover tanks
C (Regular/2) and D (Green/1) Troops
3 ACVI-3/TT MICV's
4 line infantry elements (1 the troop commander) 3 line APSW elements 1 line
LAD element
1er Batterie Compagnie Autonome de l'Artillery d'Aurore
(Regular/2) (attachment)
4 RAM Mortars (off table), 3 HEF Markers, 1 MAK Marker
Technically all the infantry can't fit in the 3 ACVI-3's but in order to
model the "real" unit the LAD and Command teams are counted as being split
across the three vehicles. See
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dheb/2300/Europe/France/CDW2REC.htm
for a more detailed look at this unit.
AC-8 Hovertank
Size 3, GMS/H (ENH) MDC/3 Fixed, RFAC/1 (Turret), APSW, ENH Firecon, ENH
ECM, Fast GEV. 3/2 Armour
ACVI-3/TT MICV
Size 3, GMS/L (ENH) RFAC/1 (Turret), APSW ENH Firecon, ENH ECM 2/1
Armour, 2 Infantry Stands, 2/1 Armour
The ACVI-3/PC is an ACVI-3/TT but with command systems, the ACVI-3/VOA
is the ACVI-3/TT but with an artillery observer.
Tyranid
Swarm
2 Exocrine Broods (3 vehicles) (Green/2 and Regular/3)
2 Termagant Broods (5 elements + 1 warrior) (Regular/1 and
Green/2) carried in a total of 6 Mirins
1 Genestealer Brood (5 elements + 1 warrior) (Veteran/2) carried
in 3 Mirins
1 Gargoyle Brood (5 elements) (Regular/2)
1 Hormagaunt Brood (5 elements + 1 warrior) (Veteran/3) carried
in 3 Mirins
1 Lictor Brood (5 vehicles) (Regular/2)
1 Biovore Brood (5 vehicles) (3 HEF Markers, 2 Biological
Markers) (Veteran/2)
1 Carnifex Brood (4 Elements)
Exocrine MBT:
Size 5, MDC/3 x 3 (Fixed), RFAC/1 (Turret), APSW, BAS Firecon, No ECM,
Slow Tracked, 3A/2A Armour
Biovore Infantry Walker:
Size 2, Light Artillery, APSW, Infantry Walker, 2A/1A Armour
Lictor Infantry Walker
Size 1, RFAC/1 x 2 (Arm), APSW, BAS Firecon, No ECM, Infantry Walker,
1A/0A armour
Carnifex Walker
Size 3, Combat Walker, DFFG/5 x 1 (Arm), RFAC/2 x 1 (Arm), APSW, BAS
Fircon, No ECM, Backup Systems, 3A/2A Armour
Mirin APC (Brigade Miniatures)
Size 2, Slow Tracked, APSW x 1, BAS Fircon, No ECM, 2A/1A Armour, 2
Infantry Teams
Gargoyles Move 12", HTK 3, Range 6", Firepower 2, Flying, IAVR (6")
Genestealers Move 4", HTK 4, Range 2", Firepower 4 (Close Combat Only), IAVR
(2") Hormagaunt Move 4", HTK 4, Range 2", Firepower 4 (Close Combat Only),
IAVR (2") Termagaunts Move 2", HTK 4, Range 4", Firepower 2, IAVR (4")
Warriors Move 2", HTK 5, Range 12", Firepower 4, IAVR (6")
Special Rules: Genestealers, Warriors and Lictors are normal units. All other
units are subject to the following rules. If they are not within 10" of a
warrior then they act instinctively. For Exocrines and Biovores this instinct
is to remain stationary and fire at the NEAREST enemy unit. For Termagaunts,
Gargoyles, Mirins and Hormagaunts this is to move towards the nearest enemy
unit shooting if possible, and if in range close assault, if they close
assault and win they must follow through. All units except Genestealers,
Warriors and Lictors are subject to panic at all times (irrespective of
quality) however if they panic they react according to instinct rather than
loose an action. Tyranids do not suffer the reaction test for use of
biological weapons.
Setup:
At the start D troop was placed among the buildings with the 3 ACVI-3's
parked hull down by the river. The French artillery was off table. The
Tyranids started with the Lictors and Carnifexes on the flanks intending to
move forward and interdict the French reinforcements. The rest started so as
move forward mounted and then do a dismounted assault on the research centre.
Experience and leadership levels for the French were designed as part of the
scenario. Tyranid levels were done by pulling chits from an opaque container.
Reinforcement Schedule (all French) Turn 3
B Troop
Turn 5
A Troop
Turn 7
C Troop
Turn 9 Headquarters (no French rally attempts allowed until they arrive)
I did not take detailed turn by turn notes but the general shape of things was
that the Tyranids carried out a fairly standard assault against the research
centre with the Gargoyles doing nothing more that absorb fire. D troop failed
their morale and fell back towards the advancing B troop, meanwhile the
Tyrnanid player (me) made a mess of his first artillery barrage and dropped
half of it on his own troops!
The survivors of the assault moved into the research centre to try and "dig
in" while the A and B troops engaged the Exocrines in a long range shoot out
which the Exocrines lost. At this point I decided to try and drop a bio weapon
barrage on the newly arrived C troop, but no one with a LOS on them seemed
able to call fire, so I dropped the barrage on one of the tank troops, which
it could not affect directly, but it did force a morale check for the entire
force that lead to D troop routing and C troop becoming shaken.
At this point the French HQ arrived and managed to rally the Infantry; the
French player (My brother in law Bill) worked out the significance of the
Warrior stands and started to concentrate fire on units that had them.
The French then moved in to retake the research centre dropping a barrage on
the centre with great effect with the HQ unit's artillery observer making his
first roll. As he moved in for the kill the 6" range of the surviving warriors
IAVR came as a bit of a surprise taking out 2 tanks.
When the assault went in the French managed to push the Tryranids out into the
open and broke the surviving "infantry".
At this point we called it a day, the Tryanids still had some Mirins,
Biovores, Carnifexes and Termagants left but all the Warriors were dead, on
the other hand the French had lost some APCs, Tanks and Infantry and were not
in a state to follow up; RS Muriel was a complete wreck.
This seemed to go closer to my intention for the scenario than last time I ran
it with both sides having chances to attack and defend. As the Tyranid player
I really felt the lack of a dedicated artillery observer unit and also felt
that I could have done with a better long range tank killer.