Friday Night is terrain night 2

Last night I took a stanley knife to my two remaining cork heat mats. I wanted a hill to break up the monotonous flatness of the Adonis Colony. I already have some, but having looked at how much better I chopped the edges of these hills, I will probably attack those hills again and re-paint them.

I also used the shavings to create some rock formations. I actually primed them this morning, and painted them their first brown this evening, but have no pictures. I am actually pleased with them, but the paint and glue have warped the bases a little.

Battle for Adonis part 2: Return Engagement. Horizon Wars Battle Report.

The Quansec probing attack had cleared the settlement. They did not do it fast enough to prevent the Hysys commander from calling for reinforcements, but they did it. In fact, they advanced further to try to control a larger settlement that would provide a greater strategic opportunity. They now had control of two settlements with hydroponics facilities. Should they get cut off in the system, they should be able to sustain themselves for a prolonged period of time.

Hysys command cannot allow this to happen and with the reinforcements finally on the scene, they are moving to reclaim the larger settlement. The scenario is a Deliberate Attack, but I am not using any hidden deployment. I could create a dice mechanism for revealing hidden deployment (1-6 a unit is there, 7-12 the unit is not there, thus in another spot), but decided against it. I will just try to be impartial with myself. If the defenders (Quansec) have four or more active units on the field at the end of turn 2 then they have successfully delayed the attack. If they have 2 or fewer then they lose. 

Quansec:

P2 Mech, CHQ 

P2 Light Cav x3

P1 Light Inf x3

Hysys:
P1 Light Mech x2 (one is the CHQ)
P2 Light Cav x3
P1 Light Inf x3

Two infantry elements were occupying the buildings in the settlement while the CHQ mech and a supporting infantry element were waiting on the outskirts ready to respond to threats. A platoon of cavalry were approaching and would arrive shortly. The Hysys commander split his force into three. She sent the CHQ mech with two infantry elements to tie down the forces in the settlement, meanwhile the other mech and a cavalry unit would sweep around the flank to provide a deadly crossfire. Two cavalry and an infantry unit were held back just in case.

The Hysys commander, in what may have been a bad move, sent her flanking forces up first. The cavalry and the mech advanced, with the cavalry going around the power station and the mech advancing straight ahead. Long range shots were exchanged with the Quansec mech and the infantry unit assigned to it. No real damage was dealt.

Likewise the force on the right advanced as rapidly as possible to close distance on the settlement and to find some cover. Shots were exchanged, damage was dealt, but no real casualties were suffered. One of the Quansec infantry elements dug into their building, a move which would prove useful, whereas the most forward unit neglected to do this, a move that would be their undoing.

In turn two, the un-dug-in infantry exchanges fire with the advancing Hysys infantry, dealing damage, but also being dealt damage. Most of the damage was taken to the movement.

Meanwhile on the left flank the cavalry charges the infantry unit holed up along the pipeline. It was a ruinous attack with the infantry being slaughtered. On a game note, they actually drew the roll, and I couldn't be bothered to check what happens in the event of a draw so I just rerolled them both. Maybe that would have changed the shape of the game. As it stood, the Quansec flank was crumbling so they needed help.

Thankfully the cavalry quite literally saved the day. They arrived and poured down fire on the mech, forcing it's driver to make some decisions as to what to engage. It started shooting it out with the cavalry in an attempt to stop their successful attack.

Other fire was exchanged, with damage being dealt. Now, the game was last night, and I am not sure what this picture is of. It can't be the end of turn one, because I had no reinforcements arrive. It can't be the end of turn 2 because Quansec would have won as they have more than 4 units on the table. But all of the units have two action counters. I am quite confused now.

Hysys infantry have occupied a building in the settlement and by the looks of things have destroyed the Quansec unit that was opposite. That must have been some close-range fire ripping the dwellings to shreds.

Hysys cavalry laying down fire into the flanks of the Quansec mech. This fire was quite ineffective.

The arrival of a final cavalry unit meant the death of the enemy mech. They managed to bring it down in flaming glory. This left the flank quite secure and gave the Hysys forces a real problem as they needed to destroy more units but would probably be unable to reach these three before the end of the second turn.

The two remaining mechs exchange some long range fire with the only undefended crit of the game. They were tearing each other apart, but were both somehow functional after the firefight.

The game ended with the remaining Hysys forces unable to dislodge the mech and infantry from the edge of the settlement. They would also have to worry about being flanked by the Quansec cavalry if they stayed around more. Even with the help of two units of cavalry reinforcements they were unable to win quickly enough. Quansec had successfully defended for long enough.

I will need to think about what happened more, but it was a really fun game this time. You can absolutely feel a difference between P7 and P11 forces. The game lasted about an hour, but there were just so many more tactical options.

I think I want to finish painting the miniatures before I play further games, and I have the half term holiday in which to do this. I suppose we will see. I also want to play a different scenario this time. I might just make some up, with objectives to capture.

The Battle for Adonis is will underway.

Battle for Adonis: A Horizon Wars battle report

Finished or not I decided to take my miniatures for a spin and finally get round to playing a Horizon Wars engagement. I kept it small, partly because I like small, and partly because I only have enough miniatures for small right now.

Adonis is a colony owned by Hysys GmbH, the largest German mega-corporation. It is a prairie like planet with large swathes of open grassland. The only reason it is not a bustling world is that it is fairly out of the way and was only recently discovered. In a century or so who knows how established this planet will be?

Due to its lack of importance there is only a small, mobile garrison of Hysys security forces designed to respond to possible alien threats and the occasional pirate raid. It was unusual for them to be having to respond to a military incursion, but the intelligence doesn't lie. Quansec forces had landed south of a small settlement. Tasked to respond was a small force: there were already two light infantry elements garrisoned, and a light mech and two light cavalry units were on their way, expected to arrive imminently. 

P1 Light Mech: A3 M3 F3 D2

P2 Light Cav: A3 M5 F3 D2 x2

P1 Light Infantry: A2 M3 F3 D4 x2

The Quansec forces approaching needed to silence the garrison quickly to prevent further reinforcements. The engagement is a Deliberate Attack, meaning if the defenders have more than 2 elements on the field at the end of the 2nd turn they win. If not, they lose.

Quansec are fielding:
P2 Mech CHQ: A3 M4 F4 D3
P2 Light Cav: A4 M5 F3 D3
P1 Light inf: A1 M3 F3 D4 x3

The Quansec forces sent their mech along with two infantry units directly to the settlement, while they flanked with an infantry unit and the cavalry. Hysys began with infantry inside a building and another unit behind the hydroponics centre.

The Mech and infantry move up to the settlement all the while exchanging ineffective fire with the enemy infantry. No blood is spilled.

That is until the mech scores a crit, reducing the infantry's A down to 1.

The flanking Quansec infantry score another hit and it would seem I treated it like a crit by accident, thus reducing the A to 0 and destroying the unit.

At the end of the first turn this is the picture. Hysys will bring on their reserves this turn, and thinking about it I am not sure I was supposed to allow them to bring on all 3 units. The infantry is going to be surrounded, but luckily reserves are arriving. Quansec need to advance faster and get down to business.

Fire is exchanged between the infantry units and light cavalry, resulting in the destruction of the Hysys infantry.

Hysys bring on a light cavalry unit who fires at the opposing cavalry, damaging it. They also bring on their light mech and send it off down the right flank, away from the fight.

Hysys bring on another light cavalry element. The Quansec mech fires and misses the Hysys mech. It is now a desperate situation for the Quansec battlegroup. They need to take that light mech down and prevent communications getting out. But they only have two slow infantry units to try and to so.

They tried. Infantry attacking the mech at all opportunities, but damn did he have some good counter measures.

While the Quansec force has taken the settlement, they were unable to prevent communications from being sent out. Reinforcements would be on their way. Questions will begin to be asked as to why Quansec was interested in this planet enough to send a force there.

I will write a more in-depth review of the rules at a later date, but needless to say this was very fun. I messed up a couple of rules, but still enjoyed the story as it unfolded. The game played out in just under 30 minutes and had a definite conclusion. I will be finishing more terrain and miniatures as time goes on so my table will also look more impressive as it goes.

Friday night is terrain night.

Upturned yoghurt pots, Toffifee packaging, plug protectors and the other terrain I made months ago that has been languishing in a state of half finishedness. Last night my wife visited her friend and my daughter went to bed without incident. So I busted out my terrain, my Armypainter Quickshade, and a brush I don't care about. 

I feel like the quickshade is on its way out. It seems thicker than normal and has a constant layer of hardness over it. But we shall see.

Here we have some bunkers/power generators/even landing pads I suppose. They are just yogurt pots, primed and painted grey and then I stuck some numbers on. They will do.

Below is a Toffifee thing. You pop them out and eat them. I got this for Christmas and immediately saw its potential. It is some sort of hydroponics facility. One must still eat, even on hostile planets.

These are my oil pipelines. I can have a line go the length of a table now.

Various buildings and sci-fi looking things for building a colony.

Not sure what this will be.

First Horizon Wars forces 6mm.

These aren't finished yet, but I wanted to post my first units based up and ready for Horizon Wars. I still need to flock the infantry and cavalry, and the mech needs more details and other work done to it.

The force below is made up of New Israeli infantry from GZG along with some cavalry elements also from GZG (but I have since forgotten what they are). The EM4 mecha still need some work, highlights, shading, and a few other colours.