Frostbite - Turn 2 - Abandoned Base

This is the 2nd time that Dave's Monkeys and my Therians have clashed at the Abandoned Base, and this battle was pretty damn entertaining to play. Dave pushed 2 companies in the sector, allowing him to mix and match his army lists - maximizing the number of Monkey mechs he could field. I still had Tiamat's company controlling the sector from the first week.

Dave's forces, again, entered the sector on the Western edge. He quickly gained control of the 2 Karman crystals and started collecting RP. I entrenched what few infantry I had on the objective markers, and set Tiamat to reproducing Hekats as quickly as she could. (I was using the same strategy of 'camping' and harassing Dave's small mechs and infantry with Hekats to prevent his entry to the Abandoned Base).

This battle, however, turned out differently than the Turn 1 battle. Dave made quite an impact with his Buggy and Trikes. My Hekats weren't produced quickly enough to halt his advance, and it didn't take long for Dave's Monkey mechs to get in the Base and start creating havoc. Dave scored a major moral victory in this battle by taking out Tiamat. (I could have respawned her, but I would have forfeited VP in the process, risking the loss of the battle).

In the end, Dave and I fought to a draw - even at 20VP. Both of our forces were pushed out of the sector. I think, though, that I suffered the brunt of the attrition in the battle - losing Tiamat was expensive and puts a serious hole in that company.

Frostbite - Turn 2 - Underground Base

In this battle, Rob's 3rd company pushed into the Underground Base, where my Therian forces lay entrenched. Both of our forces were entering from opposite sides of the building, which meant that terrain wasn't going to be a factor. It also meant that we were going to come into conflict quickly.

Rob's GenCol list gave him quite an advantage by allowing him to field 2 Urods (one cloned). As we've seen in past battles, Urod plays a really significant role in any Red Blok army list - drawing a lot of fire, and repairing damage quickly. If Urod isn't taken down within the first few turns, it's likely that the Red Blok will steamroll over any opposing force. If you can destroy Urod, then the Red Blok forces have typically crumbled under the pressure.

Even though I was fielding Babylon Zero (our only Urod killer, at this point!), there was no way she could stand up to two invading Urods. I foolishly had Babs overwatch one of the Urods, which prevented me from targeting one of the Urod's frame - to take it out of the battle. By the next turn, Babs had sustained enough damage to put her own of the action (and I subsequently forgot to 'pop' Nina Zero from the destroyed mech. Oops).

The rest of the battle ground on, painfully, for another hour and a half. If VP, and company survival, weren't at stake in the campaign, I would have conceded the battle after Babylon's death. Instead, I was forced to continually retreat, while having my Company Commander pump out Hekat Golgoths. The Hekats proved some distraction, allowing my main force to retreat, but there was no way to hold objectives or gather much in the way of RP to bring in reinforcements.

This battle was rather frustrating for me to play, mainly because it "ended" rather quickly and dragged on unnecessarily. It also made me really question some of the game balance of AT-43. Maybe it's sour grapes talking, but the game gets rather frustrating when it seems that specific units dominate play. Army point value is supposed to mediate unit power, but I question whether some units are priced correctly.

Oh well. Lessons learned, differnt strategies to consider, and more battles to fight.

Summer: the Bane of Wargaming

5 weeks since my last post - Wow. The month of September has been surprisingly busy, and wargaming has ground to a halt.

A month ago, we wrapped up Week 2 of Frostbite, so that leaves me behind 2 battreps and an update of our campaign map. The battreps are going to be rather abridged and to the point, this time. I don't have photographs, and the battles took place about 2 months ago. So, they're not exactly fresh in my mind.

Frostbite - Turn 2 - Ice Floe Oscar

Our 2nd turn of battle started off with Dave's monkeys facing off against Rob's Red Blok, again in Ice Floe Oscar. The mission differed slightly in that Rob had controlled the sector last turn and could deploy his initial forces in the center of the map. He also had purchased some jersey barriers with his leftover MP from the first turn - to provide his company with a more defensible position. Dave entered the battle from the same challenging table edge - across the ice floes - but his company was fortified with more monkey mechs!

Rob began by placing his jersey barriers, and then deployed Urod and a few infantry units on the central ice floe. The victory point marker was on this floe - which meant that Rob needed to dig in, and Dave needed to force the entrenched Red Blok of the floe to gather VP. Because he was a defender, Rob would only start with 1000AP - but as we've learned in many battles, having Urod in your assault force can be a huge equalizer.

Dave started his push across the ice floes, getting Saint Anuman and his monkey mech, Jindo-Un, into position quickly. There was going to be an early exchange of fire between Jindo and Urod! Dave's Trike didn't fare as well, though, and had a hard time getting space to move on the central ice floe. With Urod, Jindo-Un, and a monkey crystal in close proximity, Dave's company was squeezed through a small "pipeline".

If I remember correctly, Rob was forced to trigger Jindo-Un's overwatch early in the battle to close range. Jindo-Un opened up with some decent anti-AFV fire, but couldn't take Urod down quickly enough. (You have to take down Urod in a quick strike to have a serious effect on the battle. Otherwise, Urod's 2 mechanics can make the AFV nearly indestructible). With the Trike squeezed for space, there just wasn't enough monkey firepower in range, and sadly, Jindo-Un was blown to pieces. The Trike moved into closer range the following turn, but couldn't inflict much damage, and was destroyed quickly by Urod.

From here, the battle trudge to an inevitable conclusion. Dave didn't have the AFV firepower to inflict any harm on Urod, which meant that the Red Blok could easily "camp" on the ice floe and collect VP until the game ended. What few infantry Dave brought into the battle were picked off by snipers, and he decided to not bring any infantry in from reserve because they would suffer the same fate.