Alpha Strike Battle Report #2 (Now with Pictures)

Alpha Strike Battle Report

Hey Game Fans, we’re back with another Alpha Strike battle report from our correspondent, Drewbacca.  This one is another introductory game, this time between the Enraged Wookie and Papa Wookie.  (Fun Fact, Papa Wookie is a Bloodnamed Battletech player from the heyday of Battletech tournaments at Gencon).   Let’s break down the game, and take a look at how two generations of Battletech players took a shot at something new.

Game Point Value:  

150 pv

Terrain and Table Setup

Light urban, light woods, some water (completely ignored this game). Approx dimensions 43" X 48"

Papa Wookie’s Lance

Flashman, Grasshopper, Clint, Javelin

Drewbacca’s Lance

Thunderbolt, crusader, hunchback, firestarter

Early Game

Thomas lost initiative and enters from the woodland area, each mech contained within a 12" arc for the formation. Andrew won initiative and takes the light urban area, each mech about 4-6 inches from the nearest friendly unit. Turn 1 after deployment, Firestarter jumps onto a high vantage point on top of a building to spot for his friends (who do a single point of damage from IF, to the grasshopper), and loses all three points of external armor from combined fire from the enemy heavy mechs, as no other mech was presented as a target. Turn 2, heavies swap fire after both sides close in on each other, the Firestarter has taken shelter behind some buildings. Both sides take some damage, but most of the damage is taken by the grasshopper and nearly downed.

Mid Game

Turn 3, Grasshopper is taken out, the thunderbolt has a single point of structure left, and the hunchback has one external armor left. Both hunchback and crusader are not running warm with little to show for it and it only gets worse from here on out. Turn 4, both the thunderbolt and Firestarter will go down this turn, and not a single shot from Andrew's mechs landed a hit in response. Thomas hit everything he shot at (which died as a result, the Javelin did not fire due to no targets in his LOS). Turn 5, The crusader takes up a position that shields him from the smaller more maneuverable mechs and tries to predict where the Heavy mech will end up. The hunchback doesn't die this turn because the lighter mechs can't use OV, as they both have OV 0.

End Game

Turn 6, Andrew is left with a nearly destroyed Hunchback and a fresh Crusader who are both at heat level 3 (due to consecutive turns of overheating and doing next to no damage to the enemy mechs). Thomas has 2 fresh mediums, and a beaten up Flashman. The hunchback hunkers down next to a building, waiting for his imminent doom from 2-3 mechs (because they collectively only have to do a single point of damage to finish him off, which happens at the first opportunity). Turn 7, time to play games has run out, and Andrew concedes the match. As he has only one unit remaining and hasn't landed a hit for three full turns of shooting, while Thomas can't seem to miss in this match. Order of causalities Grasshopper turn 3 Thunderbolt, Firestarter turn 4 Hunchback turn 6 Turn 7, end game.

Conclusions and Thoughts

Thomas had one main complaint, IF ( Indirect Fire) should be affected by the direction the attack is coming in from. For example: spotter has clear LOS to the target who is standing next to a building, on the attacker's side of the target a building shields the mech completely from direct fire attacks. If there is a building/solid structure (cliff side) is between the IF attacker and the target, some or all of the damage should be taken by the obstacle not the target. If the obstacle is the same height as the target all damage is taken by the target. If the obstacle is 1 level higher than the target, the target should only take half/less damage. If the obstacle is 2 levels higher than the target, the target should be completely shielded. The situations described above are suggesting that the target is in contact with the base of the obstacle, or within 1" of the base. The point was also made that IF doesn't usually amount to much damage, at least before the clan invasion.

OMG PIctures

Note: The Red Loki (Hellbringer) is filling in for the Flashman, and the Black Viper (Dragonfly) is filling in for a Javelin.

I think my favorite thing about these pictures is it is a father and son sitting down at a kitchen table to play a game that they both love.  They don’t need fancy terrain, or the latest and greatest innovations in game play (everything on the table is a 3rd Succession War era unit, except the proxies).  They spent the afternoon playing Alpha Strike, and had a blast doing it.  I hear tale that i’ll have another one of these Battle Reports featuring Drewbacca and his brother, and the dice failed the Enraged Wookie.