Galts Ghost

 Time for something really different.  Way back in the late 1980's I played Battletech, primarily because at the time it was the only 'wargame' I could find opponent for in the pre-internet era, (It wasn't really a true war-game, soft of a hybrid role playing/battle game in my experience).  It was fun, but it was painfully detailed.  However as part of that detail it had a magnificent backstory.  As relocation for work occurred I drifted away from BattleTech, and ultimately ended up in CT where I found local (as in same small town) historical warmers which allowed me to get back into 'proper wargaming in proper eras'.   Earlier this year the 'Friday Afternoon Old Guys', discovered Alpha Strike, which is, in my opinion, a true 'wargame' version of the original BattleTech game, (your mileage may vary).  So, I had to give it a try.  So what follows is brief solo run-through of a quick little skirmish.  Unlike original BattleTech which I found to be unwieldily with more than 4 'Mechs' per side, Alpha Tech can easily accommodate Battalion size battles and larger.

And since I still had the gaming table set up with terrain from the last Eurica battle.  Time for some more foolishness.

So here we go.

March 9, 3044, Alliance Motors Limited Manufacturing Annex  C, on the planet Sevon in the Outworlds Alliance.

 

John Galt, the 1commander of Galt’s Ghost, a mercenary unit consisting of 2 Battlemechs was just finishing his morning coffee.  He was still trying to wrap his head around the turn of events over the last three years that had resulted in him and his best friends Hans Johnson and Rudolph Klupton being able to live out their lifelong dream.  This was their first job, and the pay was pretty pathetic, but all they had to do was provide additional security for this new remote production line for farm equipment of Alliance Motors Limited.  While only 9 days into their 12-month contract he felt like things were going well.

 

Just as he downed the last of his coffee the facilities PA system blared to life, and alarm Klaxons started going off across the complex.  “Hostile forces inbound, all personnel to shelters.  Security Force stand to. Estimated 10 minutes until arrival.”  John dropped the paper coffee cup and ran outside, passing his partner and lifetime friend Hans as they sprinted towards their Mechs and their first combat. 

 

As soon as the start-up sequence completed on their Mechs, Ralph, their friend and mechanical genius who was mostly responsible for restoring the two Mechs they had unearthed on their home world of Conroe 3 years ago came over the comms system and said “Remember it took me 3 years to get those things operational, make sure you take care of them.  Now go kick some ass!”

 

_____________________________

 

A peaceful Tractor Factory surrounded by farms.

Turn 1

John deployed his Rifleman 4D behind the cover of the factory administrative building while Hans moved Phoenix Hawk 1K across the road to the cover of the farmhouse.  

In the distance the attacking Recon Lance moved forward, With one of their Wasp mechs jumping the river with the intervening woods breaking line of sight.  The Locust moved forward keeping the hill between itself and factory, giving it cover.The other Wasp moved behind another clump of woods which also blocked line of the sight to the small Mech.  The Stinger sprinted behind another clump of trees that blocked line of sight.

 

 

The defenders have deployed (upper right) and the attackers advance taking advantage of the terrain.  As always, click to enlarge.

Turn 2

The attackers continue to advance.  They need to close to medium range in order to engage as none of their light Mechs can fire at long range.  The Wasp on the attackers left ground moves into the woods.  The Locust ground moves into cover behind a farm house.  The other Wasp moves into the woods.  The Stinger ground moves behind the woods breaking line of sight.

The defenders stand still (normally they would have moved to keep the enemy 'to hit' roll higher, but since the light mechs they are facing don't have long range fire power it opted to stand still to improve it's 'to hit' number for not moving).  The Rifleman fires and misses, by a lot, it must be the first combat jitters.

John's radio crackled as Hans' voice came across,  "Hey boss, I thought the plan was you'd soften them up from a distance.  Maybe we need a new plan?"

The attackers continue their steady pace.  But what's their objective?  To raid the factory or to destroy it? Or both?

Turn 3

The defenders won the initiative, again.  (In Alpha Strike the initiative winner moves last, that way they get to see the enemy deployment.)

The attackers launch their assault.  Their left most Wasp jumps forward (jumping makes it harder to be hit, but it also make it harder for them to make hits).  

The defenders move, the Phoenix Hawk ground moves to the other side of the farm house the Locust is behind and the Rfileman moves to the farmhouse the Phoenix Hawk was sheltering behind.

Shooting is simultaneous, with the side that lost initiative shooting first.  The attackers left most Wasp fires at the Rifleman and misses.  The Locust fires across the top of the farmhouse at the Phoenix Hawk and hits doing 1 point of damage to the Phoenix Hawks armor.  The other Wasp fires at the Phoenix Hawk and misses.  The Stinger fires at the Phoenix Hawk rear arc and misses.

The Defender return fire, with the Phoenix Hawk firing at the Locust and misses.  The Rfileman fires at the Locust and finally hits something, doing 2 points of damage boiling off all of the Mechs armor.  However, the Rfileman rolled a 12, which is a critical hit which resulted in no additional damage.

 

I hope the residents of the farm house the phoenix hawk and Locust are fighting over in the center evacuated in time.

Turn 4

The attackers win the initiative, defenders move first.  The Rifleman falls back to cover the factory administration building.  The Phoenix Hawk falls back to the position the Rifleman just left. 

For the attackers move, the left most Wasp jumps forward again.  The Locust and other Wasp switch positions,  And the Stinger moves behind the farm house flanking the defending Mechs.

The defenders fire, the Rifleman targets the Wasp behind the farm house, hitting for 2 points of damage which removes all the armor from the Wasp.  The Phoenix Hawk targets the same Wasp, and misses.

The attackers fire, their left most Wasp firing at the rifleman doing 1 point of damage to its armor.  The Wasp behind the house fires at the Phoenix Hawk and misses, the Locust behind the woods fires at the Phoenix Hawk doing one point of damage to it's armor, but the roll was a 12, which requires a critical hit check, which had no effect.  The Stinger behind the farmhouse fires at the Phoenix Hawk doing one point of damage to its armor.

Looks like the kids may have bitten off more than they can chew.  Is this the end of Galt's Ghost?

Turn 5

The defender wins the initiative.  The attacker moves first.

Their left most Wasp jumps into the factory compound. The Locust and Wasp switch positions, again.  The Stinger moves forward into cover behind the billboard.

The attacker moves the Rfileman back towards one of the assembly buildings to fire on the Wasp, and the Phoenix Hawk falls back into the shipping container yard to fire on the Stinger.

The attackers left most Wasp fires on the assembly building and somehow misses - I guess all of that jumping messed up their aim?  Now we know what the attackers objective seems to be. The Locust fires at the Phoenix Hawk and misses, the other Wasp is out of range.  The Stinger fires at the Phoenix Hawk, and hits doing one point of damage to the Phoenix Hawk's armor.

The defender fires his Rifleman at the Wasp inside the factory compound, and hits doing 2 points of damage removing all of the Wasps armor.  The phoenix Hawk fires at the Stinger behind the billboard, and hits doing 3 points of damage, destroying all of the armor and causing one internal structure hit causing a critical hit roll resulting in a weapon hit.

Turn 6

The defender wins the initiative, attacker moves first.

The Wasp inside the complex moves around to the other side of the assembly plant.   The Locust moves forward to the cover of another farm house and the other Wasp moves into the position the Locust just left.  The Stinger falls back to the cover of the farm house.

The attacker sends his Rifleman after the Wasp that fired on the assembly plant.  The Phoenix Hawk moves to the Cover of the hill to try to finish off the Stinger.

The attackers wasp fires at the assembly plan again and hits, doing 1 point of damage, the building still stands.  The Locust and other Wasp fire at the administrative buildings, the Locust hits doing 1 point of damage and the Stinger misses.  (I really can't roll dice worth $%!#, LOL.  The Stinger doesn't have any weapons due to the critical hit so it can't fire.

The Defending Rifleman fires on the Wasp, and hits doing 2 points of damage which destroys the last of the Mech's internal structure, killing the Mech.  The Phoenix Hawk fires on the battered Stinger, and hits, destroying it's last pip of internal structure and it goes down.

The Assembly Plan and Administrative Building have each taken 1 point of damage, but they still stand.  Two of the 4 attacking light Mechs have been destroyed.  

At this point the attacking forces were down to 50%, the two remaining attackers both have no armor left and only have 2 internal structure points left.  I think at this point they would withdraw, the question is do the defenders pursue let's see what the dice say.

Turn 7

Both of the attacker Mech's sprinted, the Rifleman advanced and took one maximum range shot, missing.  Knowing there was no way to catch the attackers the defenders decided to continue to man their post and begin to salvage what they could from the destroyed Mechs.  Would there be enough to rebuild one of them?

For now, they'd focus on replacing the destroyed armor plates, especially on the Phoenix Hawk.

The Phoenix Hawk may only have 1 armor point left, but it walks triumphantly down the road headed back to the factory complex.

Well, that was a nice distraction.  It played surprisingly quick, if I hadn't been taking pictures and notes it would have taken less than an hour.  I think I got most of the rules right.  Anyway, a fun little excuse to push some plastic around the table and roll some dice.  

It feels like I played this ages ago, I'm rather slow about getting around to posting stuff.  

Take care and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

So much lead, and now plastic, so little time

EURICA HEATS UP, AGAIN

 Return with us now to those golden days of the mid 1980’s, when Communist were evil and Capitalist were good (or at least better).  It’s been a while since we last visited the region of Africa known as Eurica.  What’s that you say, you’ve never heard of Eurica?  Or maybe it’s just that it’s been about 3 years since the whole Eurica foolishness started and you have like, actual important stuff to remember.

In any event, for a refresher you can check out the Eurica overview at https://barrysredoubt.blogspot.com/2022/03/eurica-was-project-x.html  for the 1985 CIA (that’s Conceptual ImagiNation Assessment) Source Book on the region.  If that peaks your interest enough you can always find the assessments of the other belligerents by sorting on the label ‘Eurica Campaign’.  The orders of battle are outdated, but the backgrounds are accurate.

While 3 years have passed for you and me, time moves differently in Eurica, where it has only been 5 months since the events in Eurica Goes Hot (see here https://barrysredoubt.blogspot.com/2022/07/eurica-goes-hot.html ). One of our stalwart Lt. from that adventure return.

 

On with the foolishness!

____________________

 

2:45 a.m., November 3, 1985.  Wilhelmsland Border with Rubishland

 

Lt. Weber was pleased with the stealth his platoon showed as they moved into their observation positions under cover of darkness.  He felt a slight sense of unease, as this location was a mere 45 miles from the location on the border he and Lt. Koch had fought the initial battle of the last Rubishland invasion at. He was also uneasy as this was his platoons first deployment with their ‘new’ gifts from the Americans, a platoon of M551 Sheridan light/recon tanks; he missed his old Scorpion.  His Company and a Company of the newly arrived M-60A3 tanks just assigned to 2^nd Brigade had been deployed to monitor this region of the border.  The M-60A3 platoon was commanded by LT Holt, who Weber really didn’t know that well.  But the big noisy tanks managed to take up their observation positions without giving away their presence.  Now the boring part of staying hidden and observing.

Apparently high command had a reason to expect the Rubishlanders may be preparing another incursion.  

 

But a nagging thought kept telling Weber this wouldn’t be boring for long, the rules of engagement had been too specific. He remembered his briefing from Oberst Richter– “if they cross to our side of the ridge line do not engage, but report.  If they continue on and contact the Border Road, light them up, do not wait for authorization. Report immediately, air assets will be standing by ready to scramble if needed.”  As he reflected on this more, he began to wonder just what the hell command knew that they weren’t sharing.  Any if they knew something, why did they just send 2 platoons?  

 

 

The view of the soon to be battlefield, looking Southerly.  In the upper right is a farm house and farm. At the top of the photo is the Ridgeline that defines the border, and the nice, paved, Border Road on the Wilhelmsland side.

 

At 6:12 a.m. Weber’s gunner announced, “Sir, movement front, still on their side of the border”.  Weber dropped down to the commander’s gun site and mumbled a curse, “T-62’s? where the hell did they get those from.” 

Thirty seconds after calling in the spot report Oberst Richter responded, “Rules of engagement are unchanged, I’m getting air assets vectored your way.

This ‘tip of the spear’ shit while being outnumbered and outgunned is getting old, Weber mused.  It was then Weber realized the mistake he made in his initial deployment, he was still thinking like a Scorpion Commander.  The Sheridan’s Shillelagh missile had incredible range but they couldn’t be used up close.  That meant they had to rely on their 152mm main gun HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) rounds, and his left most tank was too close to the road and would only be able to get one missile shot off most likely. 

 Unfortunately, the recoil from the conventional rounds had a bad habit of screwing up the IR missile tracking if they tried to switch back to missiles. 

 

                      Rubishland arrives, view from the Wilhelmsland side

 

Turn 2

As his command crossed into Wilhelmsland territory, the Commander of the Rubishland Battalion was still trying to grasp his orders.  “Cross the border near the outlying farm and liberate the crops in the fields from the capitalist oppressors and return the crops to Rubishland for the Generals dinner.  Use of deadly force on any attempt to interfere with our people’s right to the Capitalist food is authorized. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.  Now go Comrade Major, do your duty to Rubishland.”

 

Lt. Weber watched as the Rubishland vehicles advanced willing them to stop before reaching the Border Road.  Sadly they didn’t, as the Recon BRDM entered the middle of the road he ordered his to platoon to fire. 

Weber's left most tank hit and killed a T-62, the next tank missed, apparently the early morning sun washing out the Infrared single to the missile causing it to careen wildly into the sky.  Lt. Weber's tank fired at the BRDM-2, apparently getting a glancing hit by the missile body (curse that sun shine), causing the BRDM to take a morale check, which it passed.  The remaining tank of Weber's platoon fired at the Recon BMP destroying it.  The M-60A3 tanks of Lt. Kirk's platoon remained in their hide positions.

With Lt. Weber's Company now visible after firing, the Rubishland forces return fire.  Only 3 of the Rubishland tanks were in range, hitting one of Lt. Weber's tanks causing it to take a moral check, which it passed.

As always, double click to enlarge.  The puffs of smoke show those units that fired. Destroyed units have flame and smoke markers. View from the Rubishland side.

Turn 3

The Rubishland Commander swore as the recon BMP to his front burst into flames.  

Curse generals and curse these damnable Capitalist, why couldn't they peacefully accept the inevitability of the Peoples Revolution? He ordered his left most company to proceed to the fields and begin to harvest them.  His right and center companies were ordered to advance and eliminate the Wilhelmsland units.  The crew of the BRDM said 'screw this', and fell back.

The Wilhelsmland units stayed in the woods.  

The Rubishland units fire, destroying one of the Sheridan Platoons on their right flank, and one of the Sheridan Platoons in the center.  Lt. Weber's Company fires at the 2 advancing companies of T-62's, destroying 3 platoons.  The left most company of the Rubishland force closed in on the field to their front, while some of the members of the tank platoon by the farm house dismount to loot the home, (no doubt looking for one of those elusive betamax video players that were the objective of the last Rubishland invasion.)

Lt. Weber winced as he saw one of his tanks explode in a brilliant ball of fire.  "only Americans would use aluminum for Tank Armor" he muttered and then he heard a loud road and saw a sheet of flame as his tank erupted into flames and darkness engulfed him.

The Commander of Rubishland Battalion swore as the more of his command died, then we was thrown face first into the commander's gunsite and everything went dark.

Wow - the Platoons both Commanders were with were destroyed... that was a bloody round. I'll have to come up with some rolls at the end of the battle to see who lived or died.

Scene of the carnage

Rubishland left flank.  One tank platoon plundering the farm house, and the others closing on the field.

Turn 4

The Rubishland unit on their left flank moved into the field, the laborers jumped out of the trucks and began shucking corn and throwing it into the trucks. Finding the farmhouse already looted, the troops of that platoon remount and advance to engage the remaining Sheridan near them. The other 2 Rubishland Companies, each now down to a single platoon continue to advance to engage the remaining Sheridans.

The 2 left most Wilhelmsland M-60A3 tank platoons charge out of the woods to get into range to engage the remaining T-62.  The other 2 platoons stay in the woods and prepare to engage the T-62's in the field to their front.

The Rubishland tanks fire and destroy another platoon of Sheridans.  The far left T-62 by the farm house fires and destroys the last Sheridan.  The remainder of tthe far left company of T-62's is out of range of the visible Wilhelmsland forces and can't fire.

The Wilhemsland Sheridan's fire and destroy 1 platoon of T-62's and force another to take a morale check which it fails.  The M-60A3's that charged out of the woods fire at the platoon by the farm house, forcing it to take a morale check which it fails.

The 2 M-60A3 platoons still in the woods fire at the T-62's in the farm field and missed.  The fancy, high tech thermal imaging sites confusing the gunners still new to the technology.

The sole surviving Rubishland Company Commander decided they had enough corn for the General and ordered his troops to prepare to retreat.

Turn 5

The surviving Rubishland vehicles begin to withdraw back to their side of the border.  The M60-A3 tanks advance, and the Air Force finally decides to show up.  I guess they needed to hit the breakfast buffet at the Officers Club one last time before they headed out to the flight line.

A Wilhelmsland Tornado came screaming in unloading cluster bombs on the fleeing Rubishlanders, Causing one T-62 to fail a morale check and destroying the truck full of corn that all of this blood was spilled over. Two of the M-60A3 platoons fire at the remaining T-62 platoon and the other M-60A3's fire at the second retreating truck, destroying both.

The air strike goes in, better late than never.

End of the battle.  It looks a lot better enlarged on a computer screen.

Well, that went quick.  And it was definitely a bad day for the Sheridan recon tanks.  If used in a proper recon role they may be ok, but trying to use them as a cheap tank, isn't going to work.  Lt. Weber should have changed his deployment, M-60A3's close to the road, Sheridan's with the stand off range of their missiles further back.

Speaking of Lt. Weber, he survived, at least he was still alive when they pulled him from the wreckage of his tank.  

The Rubishland Commander did not.  Probably for the best for him and his family as President for Life Idi Sanford is not a forgiving man when commanders fail him.

What will Wilhelmsland do now?  They still haven't recovered in either material or trained manpower since the last war ended mere months ago.  What exactly is the Wilhelmsland high command up to?  And the really big question, how long will go by until I get around to the next installment?  Months? years? decades?

Enjoy the nice fall weather.  Probably less than a month before the first snow.

So much lead, so little time.