July 12th, 3044, a combined light industrial and office park on the planet Sevon in the Outworlds Alliance.
The Pirates are back, or maybe they were different Pirates, John had begun to realize that the local government wasn’t very good about sharing intelligence data. What he did know was that there were once again invaders on the planet and his employer, Alliance Motors Ltd., had ordered he and Hans to leave their assigned location and make the 40 mile trek to this out of the way office/industrial park. The invaders were reported to be advancing to this location, and since Alliance Motors had corporate offices in the office park, that was apparently reason enough to leave the manufacturing facility unguarded. John had his suspicions that there was more than just corporate offices here though, he’d heard rumors of some kind of advanced research project – which he thought unusual since Alliance Motors was an agricultural equipment manufacturer.
The spotty intelligence reports indicated a Lance size element of unknown composition enroute. The only good news was that since the location also contained one of the main planetary communications relays, the planetary militia had managed to provide the support of 2 Pike armored vehicles and one Wasp Light Mech.
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Since the last Alpha Strike game went so fast, and I still wanted to roll more dice I set this up quick as soon as I finished the previous game, which explains why it isn’t’ a well thought out scenario.
The attackers primary objective is to destroy the research facility (which doesn’t really sound like something mere Pirates would be concerned with, who are these guys?), with secondary objectives of taking out the communication infrastructure, they have 5 turns to accomplish this before they must withdraw.
The defender’s objective is somewhat divided. Galts Ghost want to drive off the attackers while defending the Alliance Motors research building, the planetary Milita (Pikes and Wasp) want to drive off the attacker while defending the communications assets. What could possibly go wrong with inconsistent orders being given?
As always click on the image to get a bigger version.
Turn 1
And we roll for initiative and the attackers win, the defenders will move first. One of the defending Pikes moves forward into a covered firing position, the rest stand still. The attackers advance using woods and hills for cover.
The defending Rifleman and Pike fire at the Ostsol and Shadow Hawk at long range and miss.
The attacking Shadow Hawk fires at the Pike and misses, the attacking Valkyrie fires at the Rifleman and misses. (Nice to see my dice luck continues to SUCK, no matter which side I’m rolling for).
Turn 2
Roll for initiative and the defender wins, the attacker will move first.
The attackers Stinger sprints into the woods. (Since it sprinted it cannot fire this turn). The Valkyrie jumps into the woods. The Ostsol moves into cover behind the farm house, and the Shakow Hawk moves behind the rock outcropping.
For the defenders one of the Pikes moves around the edge of the hill, the Rifleman takes the Pikes previous position, the other Pike moves into the tree line, the Phoenix Hawk moves into the woods and the Wasp Jumps to cover of the hill.
The attackers fire phase, the Stinger can’t shoot because he sprinted, the Valkyrie fires at long range at the defending Pike in the woods and misses. The Ostsol fires at the Satellite installation and hits, doing 3 damage destroying the building. The Shadow Hawk fires at the Microwave Relay station next to the satellite installation and destroys it.
The defenders firing phase starts with the Stinger firing on the Wasp, doing 1 point of damage. The Phoenix Hawk fires at the Stinger and misses. One of the Pike’s fires at the Stinger doing 1 point of damage, destroying the last of the Stingers armor. The remaining Pike fires at the Shadow Hawk and misses, the Rifleman fires at the Shadow Hawk and does 1 point of damage.
Turn 3
The attacker wins initiative, defender moves first.
The defending Wasp jumps towards the Stinger. The Pike falls back behind one of the office buildings. The Phoenix Hawk moves forward to the Pike’s old position. The Pike stays stationary while the Rifleman moves back into the tree line.
The attackers Stinger jumps behind the defending Wasp who foolishly got to close. The Valkyrie Jumps forward and the Ostsol move forward towards the Phoenix Hawk. The Shadow Hawk Jumps forward trying to keep the woods between itself and the defenders.
The defenders Phoenix Hawk fires on the attacking Stinger, destroying it (the Stinger still gets to shoot this turn since combat is simultaneous). One Pike fires at the Valkyrie getting 1 hit, the Pike fires at the Shadow Hawk getting 1 hit. The Rifleman fires at the Shadow Hawk and gets 2 hits plus a Criticial Hit (rolled a 12) which was a Weapon Hit reducing the Shadow Hawk’s damage by one.
The attackers Stinger fires into the back of the defending Wasp as it dies, doing 2 points of damage stripping all of the armor off of Wasp. The Valkyrie fires at the defending Phoenix Hawk doing 1 point of damage. The attacking Ostsol fires at the Phoenix Hawk doing 1 point of damage. The Shadow Hawk fires at the defending Pike and does 2 points of damage, when vehicles (non-mech) are hit the must take an automotive critical hit, which was no result.
Turn 4
Defender wins initiative, attacker moves first.
The attacking Valkyrie and Ostsol both move into woods. The Shadow Hawk moved into the woods.
For the defenders Wasp moves behind the Valkyrie. One Pike and the Shadow Hawk move into cover behind the buildings. The other Pike stands still, making it easier for it to hit, but also easier to be hit. The Rifleman moves to cover behind a building.
The attacking Valkyrie fires on the research building, doing 1 point of damage. The
Ostsol fires into the research building, doing enough additional damage to destroy it! Satisfying their main objective. The Shadow Hawk fires at a Pike, doing 1 point of damage.
The defending Wasp fires into the rear arc of the Valkyrie hitting for 2 points of damage and removing the last of the Valkyrie’s armor. The Phoenix Hawk and one Pike fire at the Ostsol, the Pike hits for 2 points of damage and the Phoenix Hawk misses. The remaining Pike fires at the Shadow Hawk and misses. The Rifleman fires at the Shadow and hits for 1 point, burning off the last of the Shadow Hawk’s armor.
That ended the 5th turn which was the scenario length. The attackers achieved their primary objecting and 50% of their secondary objective. Will the stay on planet or will the leave? And just who the hell are these guys? Pirates don't tend to destroy research facilities, raid them sure, but destroy them? And why would 'agricultural equipment' research be of any interest to Pirates anyway? WTF is going on here?
Well, that was fun and fast. It would have easily played out in under one hour if I wasn't taking pictures and writing it down as I went. There are still a few things I don't think I'm getting right from a rules perspective and I need to actually remember to look at the movement markers when I calculate the to hit values - I messed a few of those up.
All in all a fun learning exercise. And there's still enough time to throw together another scenario together and play it out today... hmmm... that is a thought. And as quick as the games have played out so far they are rather easy to write up...
Also, I need more, varied terrain. The card stock buildings that come with the Alpha Strike box set are excellent quality for what they are and fill in nicely. But I need a better selection of industrial buildings. I also need to make some more highways. And more hills suitable for 6mm figures.
And Galt's Ghost, for however long I stick with them need more long range firepower. But since they failed to keep the research building from being destroyed I rather doubt they'll be getting a bonus. Hopefully they make good money on the battlefield salvage. Which reminds me I need to figure out a way to determine when a destroyed mech/vehcile in Alpha Strike is really destroyed or repairable. In the old Classic Battle Tech, with the insane level of detail you could tell exactly what component was destroyed - at least that's how I remember, but then it has been almost 40 years since I played Classic BattleTech.
Anyway, if you made it through the rambling to this point thanks for reading.
Take care.
So much lead, so little time
