The Defense of New Charon pt. 5

 I managed to get off my butt and play a spontaneous game the other night. It was quick, a little bit lame, half hearted by myself, and stopped when I started paying more attention to the TV show "This Is Us", that my wife was watching, and I was kind of half keeping up with. Great show so far (2 episodes in). 

New Charon Militia:
P2 Mech HQ Unit
P2 Mech - heavy hitters
P3 Heavy cavalry
P1 Light infantry x5

NCU
P2 Mech HQ unit
P2 Mech
P2 Light cavalry
P2 Light cavalry
P1 Light infantry x4

A frontier on a frontier. That is how Natalya Phillips would describe this place. New Charon was meant to be an escape, a fresh start for so many. It was out of the way enough to avoid UCS attention, and for those who wanted to avoid even the centralisation of a few settlements coming together to govern each other it was possible to pack up and drive off into the sunset, find somewhere, irrigate, grow, harvest and live a simple life. The handful of locals left in this community called it Sprucewald, but did a landing pad and a few prefabs really need a name? 

As part of the ongoing hunt for the mysterious invaders, Natalya's job was to rest here, refit and await resupply. Her militia were weary of the seemingly endless skirmishes, wary that there was no end in sight, and hoping to be taken off the line (if it could really be called a line). 

Suddenly shells begin bouncing off a prefab. The sentries within jump on the comms back to Natalya. 

"We need you up at this end, incoming fire".

Natalya responds, ordering all of her militia up to the edge of the settlement to return fire. 

An exchange of fire between the sentries and the enemy vehicle causes a little damage and a casualty, but nothing too serious.

Dunn Harrison, prowling on the left flank sends HEAT rounds punching into another enemy vehicle, smashing through the armour, damaging important components.

The enemy responds by trying to get out of sight and close the gap to make their armour piercing chain guns more effective. Infantry rushes forward in an attempt to flank Sprucewald and take the militia in a wicked crossfire.

The militiamen garrisoning the prefab keep the enemy armour engaged in long range sniping, shells bouncing off of the outer walls. They just need to keep them distracted until Natalya and the rest appear.

Natalya and some more footmen arrive, Natalya charging into the village to support the infantry, while the footmen move up to support Dunn.

Dunn exchanges fire with the advancing infantry, taking some damage to his vehicle, but manages to lay down enough HE to scatter an enemy squad.

Natalya lets rip with her CSMP, sending off rockets that tear the enemy vehicle to pieces. No-one was seen leaving the wreckage. At this point the remaining enemy withdraw. This short, sharp skirmish just another in the seemingly endless short, sharp skirmishes taking place out beyond the Reaches. Another firefight, another report for Natalya to write up and send off to Command. Just what she needed on a Tuesday.

Not the most exciting game. It was more about having an evening where I wasn't playing World of Tanks Blitz and didn't feel like painting. This was a fun game to put together, but I want to work harder on making better scenarios.

The Defense of New Charon pt. 4.

I haven't played a game of Horizon Wars in over a year, similarly I haven't played in the New Charon campaign in over a year. Time to get back into it. I had avoided it because my Sci Fi miniatures took some damage in the summer of 2019 from the kids who used them during Activities Week.

I have two forces of 14 Presence. 

Neo Christian Union

2Pt Command Mech with the "Short" range upgrade, which removes 6 from the range to target.

3Pt Heavy Cav. x2 I used Command Resources to upgrade the D stat from 1 to 2. (the dice you roll to attempt to cancel incoming fire)

2Pt Light Cav.

1Pt Light Infantry x4

New Charon Militia

2Pt Command Mech

2Pt mechs x2

3Pt Heavy Cav. I used Command Resources to upgrade the D from 1 to 2, A from 5 to 6 and F from 5 to 6. It is a beast.

1Pt Light Infantry x5

I played a few things possibly wrong.

1. Not sure if I am allowed to spend Command Resources on multiple things on the same vehicle.

2. When units entered the board from reserves, I think you are meant to spend an action getting them on there, but I didn't.

It had been a slog. Months and months of mopping up pockets of resistance. Natalya Phillips was sick of it. These seemingly pointless engagements were wearing on the soul. Too many friends gone. Hoping for an end to this conflict, Phillips had been tasked with another mopping up operation. The big foreheads were still trying to work out who these people were, and what they wanted. 

A small force of invaders were holding a village beyond the Reaches. Phillips' job was to get in and smash them before they had a chance to regroup and push closer to the sector capitol.

Advancing in order to flank the village, the heavily upgraded militia tank came under some ineffective fire from the infantry garrisoned in the buildings. 

Having shown themselves, Natalya in her CSMP and some militamen opened fire, but the protection of the hab held out enough. Garrisoning a building had proved a good tactical move.

After taking some fire, the infantry returned fire to great effect, catching them in the open... 

...causing them to break and run. Natalya found herself holding the flank on her own. 

"Get more support up here!" Natalya yelled down the comms.

The NCU command mech opened fire at Natalya, but was unable to cause any damage, thankfully.

At this point I decided that I would re-set the activation dice at the end of each round. So the NCM have all their actions, then I give them their dice back to enable them to react. This is probably the correct way of doing it anyway.

Natalya advanced up to a thicket of trees and opened fire on the same infantry. A hail of rocket fire launched across the open ground...

...tearing the infantry unit apart. 

So far I have rolled a lot of critical hits. If you roll a natural 12 then the attacker gets to place the damage. Light infantry have an A value of 1, when it hits 0 the unit is destroyed. Thus, rolling a critical hit against light infantry is an instant kill.

Advancing up the flank, Malcolm Kennett opened fire on the other enemy infantry squad. Rockets smashed the building, and tore holes in the squad to the point where they broke.

Militia reinforcements arrive to help support Natalya and to cover the centre.

"Open up on the village," ordered Natalya to Dunn Harrison, tank commander. Dunn responded by putting a couple of rounds through the central building. The collapse killed enough soldiers to make that squad combat ineffective. 

Just some perspective, this is the dice. Tank rolled enough for two hits. the three 12s meant the infantry had to roll three 12s with four dice to save themselves. Amazingly they managed to roll two of them. But not enough. 

A long shot, but a good one. The NCU commander fired at Kennett's mech, damaging the legs again. 

"When am I going to catch a break? Back off to the quartermasters when this is all over," said Kennett to no-one in particular.

Armoured reinforcements arrived and began pounding at Dunn and his crew. He took a few hits, some minor damage to the tracks, but nothing too serious.

"We need to press the attack," called Natalya over the comms, and began directing her forces forwards.

In game terms, we have finished turn two. The defenders lose if the turn ends with them having two or fewer combat effective units on table. The defenders win if they have four or more, whose Presence is worth double that of their advanced force. They need 10 on table to win.

Natalya and the infantry exchange fire with the command mech, seriously damaging it, immobilizing it even. But it could still fire, and was going to pose a threat to that flank until it could be completely obliterated. 

Dunn and Kennett opened fire on the enemy armour, causing significant damage, but not doing enough to kill it outright. It could still fight on.

At this point, the militia have ended their side of turn 3. The NCU are getting reinforcements that will bring their total presence on board to 11, meaning they will technically win the engagement unless the militia can kill 2 presence worth of units. It felt a bit gamey. 

Dunn reacted to the NCU armour manuvering. His shot rang true but only caused minor damage again.

In an exchange of fire, Dunn found himself having to button up. "Sir, things aren't going so well here," he reported back to Natalya. 

The NCU armour then rounded the rocky outcrop and opened fire on Kennett, although caused no damage. Kennett would live to fight another day, although his mech would need some work again.

The NCU commander, unable to move, took fire and fired upon Natalya. This exchange did little, but was successful in holding up the militia attack even further.

NCU reinforcements entered the fray to further delay the militia advance. Natalya had to call for further reinforcements and needed to order her supporting infantry to dig in in a defensive line and wait. 

"We will hold them here, and wait it out," she ordered. "Central is sending down some heavier guns to help us dislodge this lot."

 

And this is how it ended. I mean, the NCU took more casualties. But the militia didn't advance quickly enough nor do enough damage. I was sad not to get the chance to use my smoke plumes that seem often attached to StuG IIIs. I look forward to playing again. Although I will admit, having played Battlegroup, I miss the idea of pinning units, as opposed to "hit point" sort of systems. Unless I further abstract what the stats of units are while making the narrative up?

See you next time.

The Defense of New Charon pt. 3 - Investigating the Enemy

Scouting elements of the New Charon Militia had noticed patterns. Concentrations of these invading forces seemed to be gathering in little explored areas beyond the reaches of any known settlement. Merissa Cantos has sent a detachment of the militia to investigate one such concentration out in the rocky steppes beyond an outlying farm. Unsure what to expect the militia, led by Natalya Phillips cautiously advance in an attempt to avoid ambush. 

Advancing past the farm buildings, Natalya orders her team to stay alert. They split into two forces, one entering the farm, one skirting around the perimeter. 

Almost immediately one infantry unit comes under fire from an advancing tank. Running for cover, it was about to get real.

 In response to this first blood, Natalya advances and takes the enemy tank under fire. The missiles ring true blasting a hole or two in the armour causing some damage. The crew, however remain resolute.

Malcolm Kennett, Natalya's trusted second advances in his CSMP and fires a salvo at another enemy tank. A few strike true and damage the engines. 

Natalya and some infantry support take the tank under fire again. Mysterious infantry advance up behind the tank in order to support it better.

The advancing enemy infantry comes under fire from some militia. This fight is getting more intense, there are more of these mysterious attackers than Natalya originally thought. 

Some of Natalya's men come under fire from the mystery invaders. Trying to get back in touch with central Natalya reports what is going on. Merissa Cantos assures that reinforcements are on the way.

One of the supporting CSMPs launches a spread of rockets at another enemy infantry unit completely obliterating it. The price for not hugging cover is high, especially when facing high explosive missiles from those protecting their homes.

Malcolm Kennett comes under fire, taking damage to his leg servos. He frantically calls for more infantry support.

 Support comes, with infantry lauching their handheld anti armour weapons, further damaging the tank. The engine sputters, the tank falls to the ground. Hopefully it's resistance is over. 

 Caught in the open one militia unit comes under fire and becomes combat ineffective. Severe casualties take them out of the battle.

Finally the militia infantry get that desired hit, blowing up the ammunition storage, causing catastrophic damage.

 Natalya and the infantry support finally end the firefight with the remaining enemy tank, destroying it handily. It looks like those reinforcements might not be needed.

 Combining fire Natalya eradicates another infantry unit. There is little resistance left. The militia might finally be able to get to the bottom of who these people are and what they want.

 Kennett takes more damage to his walker from the remaining enemy infantry, he gets a missile off but misses wildly. His HUD malfunctioning he manages to get a cry for help off to his team.

 The other CSMP walker comes in and finishes off the enemy resistance. Now to investigate what they were doing there.

 Advancing past the rocks, the militia uncover some strange objects. They look like ruins, but the earliest known colonists on New Charon, before it was called New Charon arrived less than a century ago. Could these be evidence of some kind of other civilization? And if so, what do these invaders want with them?