Battle ReportHeavy Gear

Sector Control Playtest

WiseKensai

By: J.J. Alexander

Mission: Sector Control

South Forces

North Forces

Deployment

  • Yellow: RC CGs
    • South: Elan, Jager, Recon Infantry, Jager 
  • Green: FS CG – Hetairoi, Naga
  • Blue: SK CGs
    • South: King Cobra, Jager, Jager
  • Orange: GP CG – 

My plan was to put the heavies in the center in cover by the stone blocks and kill stuff while taking sectors closest to me, and use everything else to push forward in to the other sectors.

Phil makes sure he has babysitters for his Hold markers while putting Gears on the flanks to go around the blocks and get some sectors. His heavies sit back in area terrain for Fire Missions and general fire support. (I think his group on left is too bunched up)

Objectives

  • South
    • Assassinate on the Kodiak and Hunter from the GP CG.
    • Wipe Them Out on the SK GP. 
  • North:
    • Assassinate on the King Cobra and Jager from the RC CG.
    • Hold.

Turn 1

  • South RC CG – Elan Forward Observes (FO’s) Kodiak, Cobra Braces and Fire Mission’s (FM’s) with LGM and LAR hoping to capitalize on the bunched up units, the primary attack misses but  AE secondary attacks kills the Inf. Tea, and puts 2 damage on back Hunter.
    Jager on right misses Thunder Jaguar. Others move up.
  • North RC CG – Does Let Them Have It order (LTHI), Strike Cheetah bazooka misses Jager on right, Thunder Jaguar on right does LRP attack putting 2 damage on Jager. Cheetah LSMG does 2 on my Recon Inf., Inf. misses their Retaliate back.  Weasel FO’s my Cobra – the Kodiak, Grizzly and Hunter do FM’s with LATM + Rockets and do 2 damage.
  • South SK CG – Jagers go Top Speed + Hide, Cobra was braced and out of actions. 
  • North GP CG – Mortar inf. misses Jager. Hunters move up.
  • South FS CG – Hetairoi main gun misses Kodiak, LLC cripples Hunter on left, Naga MATM does 1 damage on Kodiak and MRC Overkills Hunter on left.
  • North SK CG – Kodiak MRP misses Cobra, Grizzly MGM does 2 dam on Jager on right.

Turn 2

  • South RC CG – Recon Inf. try to FO the Kodiak, but a Jaguar Retaliates and Cripples it, so FO fails.  LTHI happens. Jager LAC = miss on left Hunter, Hunters Retaliate and destroy said Jager scoring an Assassinate VP. Elan FO’s Kodiak, Naga FM’s with MATM, does 2 damage, Hetairroi FM’s with MRP but misses. 
  • North RC CG – Cheetah fails FO on Cobra, Jaguar fails Try Again. Weasel FO’s Cobra – Kodiak and Grizzly miss with their FM’s.
  • South SK CG – LTHI happens, Cobra LAR kills Weasel misses secondary AE on Cheetah, Jager attacks with LAC Crippling SK Cheetah on right. Cobra saves 1 action. 
  • North SK CG – Grizzly HBZ misses Jager by round hut on right, Kodiak MPA misses the same Jager.
  • South FS CG – LTHI happens, Naga MATM attacks Kodiak doing 2 damage, Crippling it, Hetairoi MFG misses Kodiak, Drone misses Hunter on left.
  • North GP CG – Mortar Infantry hides, Hunter on left moves and gets 3 Dam from a Cobra HRC Retaliate.

Turn 3

  • North SK CG – Hunter Overkills Elan, Kodiak MPA destroys Jager behind round hut on right and it’s LGM Cripples Jager on far right. 
  • South FS CG, Naga kills left Hunter with MRC, MATM kills Kodiak. Hetairoi LLC kills Hunter behind stone blocks, MFG does 3 dam on Grizzly.
  • South RC CG – Jaguar and Cheetah kill the Jager on right. 
  • RC SQ CG – Recon Inf. FO’s Grizzly but is killed by the Grizzly’s Retaliate. Jager on right kills Cheetah with LAC.
  • South SK CG – Cobra kills Jaguar on stone blocks on the right.End 3 – South gets 2VP for Wipe Them Out and 1 for Assassinate.

Turn 4

  • South FS CG – Naga Hacks Grizzly doing 1 damage + Haywire, then it’s MATM and Hetairoi’s MFG kills the Grizzly.
  • North GP CG moves Mortar Inf.
  • South CG – Cobra kills back Cheetah, Jager moves up to take sector.

End of Game

South VP’s

  • Assassinate = 2
  • WTO = 2
  • Sectors = 3

TV left: 75

North VP’s

  • Hold = 1
  • Assassinate = 1

TV left: 3

Final Score: South victory, 7-2.

Post game analysis and thoughts

First off, we had the following house rules in effect:

  • Deployment Initiative roll off – we roll initiative during the “Deployment” step of Setup to decide sides and first activation. Whoever wins this first initiative roll either chooses deployment side or chooses who goes first.The player who chooses side also chooses who deploys the first CG and who chooses the first Objective. This is to minimize the first activation advantage. This is only at the very start of the game – so turns 2+ roll initiative as normal. 
  • AE and Blast weapons can do max damage of 3 to infantry. I really liked this because at least you have a chance to cripple non GREL squads (assuming undamaged) at longer ranges. 
  • If a model is at Top Speed, it’s movement is divided in to 2 moves, each equal to it’s MR, and there is a window for Reactions after the first move if no Actions are declared during that first move. 

Scenario specific things:

  • I like this scenario, it’s simple and doesn’t involve more markers on the Battlefield, which I think compliments the standard Objectives rules in terms of not cluttering the board (Hold Capture specifically). It encourages more aggressive movement and opens up a lot of interesting tactical/strategic possibilities in conjunction with the standard Objectives. I prefer this kind of sector or area based scoring better than adding more markers and such. 
  • I echo Phil’s thoughts that players shouldn’t know which scenario they may play, forcing “all comers” list building. Maybe 3 possible scenarios could be disclosed for a given tournament… 
  • We had a question come up – are the sector’s boundaries supposed to be known at all times, or do you only get to measure them at the beginning and end of game? We played it that they’re known at all times, for speed of play. 
  • We had a suggestion for Battlefield setup – no terrain in the back 6” of the deployment zones – this is to make it more difficult to hide Leaders in the backfields. 
  • I think counting Crippled models as half of the TV for scoring and end of game purposes might be appropriate, especially for high ARM models. 

Non scenario-specific things:

  • Let Them Have It is very strong. The fact that an entire CG can get the bonus regardless of where they are on the board or how far they are from the commander makes it incredibly efficient. Maybe capping it at 3 actions would balance it – so the LTHI order goes off and then the next 3 attacks after that get the +1d6 bonus, or maybe models have to be in Formation when the order is given, but then are free to move out of formation and still get the bonus…
  • Infantry getting +2d6 for cover while at Top Speed still seems a bit too much, especially for Recon Infantry doing FO’s. Maybe at Top Speed they should get EITHER the Top Speed or Cover defense bonus, but not both. 
  • If a Drone Disembarks from a model in a CG benefiting from LTHI, does it get the LTHI bonus? 
  • We both agreed that the MMG on the Hunter Killer drone is too much for a 1TV model especially because it also has AMS. I think a MIW would be more appropriate. 

In closing I’d like to say that it was a lot of fun. The game in general seems to be in a good spot for the most part, it’s very playable, moves relatively fast and has a TON of options available without feeling clunky. The interplay of Electronic Warfare and Communications based mechanics is really cool, and generally I think they did a great job of streamlining it, although Phil and I think Satup seems a bit anemic, although if it’s free in terms of TV cost, then maybe it’s not an issue. 

I hoped you enjoyed this report, thanks for reading.