Battle ReportHeavy Gear

Heavy Gear Battle Report

WiseKensai

06/18/2021

Phil Abramowitz (Black Talon) vs JJ Alexander (South)

100 TV

Overview

This battle report is a playthrough of a scenario from the Heavy Gear Blitz Tournament System v 0.1 – the High Ground scenario.  This was a 100 TV Black Talon vs South game.  

Forces

Black Talon

After two lopsided defeats for my Northern army, I switched to my Black Talons . This is a force I had never used before, but I thought it would be good for me to help learn about both EW usage and orders (both of which I had not used much of in the past).  With fewer models I would have to concentrate  more on not losing any.   For my 100 TV force I had two combat groups.

Figure 1: 100 Point Black Talons

These groups are listed to match the picture above, left to right. 

NameTVCG Commander
Sigma Owl16RCX
Gamma Raven15RC
Dark Naga Theta28FS
Alpha Owl17FSX
Omega Vulture24FS
TOTAL100

The force has ten orders – every model has two.  However, it has nine total SP/CP – which is quite a lot for five models.  Each model is a vet (one sp each), the two Owls are both (SP + 1), and the combat group leaders provide an additional two.  In fact, each Owl had 3 CP – plenty for giving out orders.

South

JJ Took 3 combat groups as well: GP, FS, Recon.  This was the same force he took in the last game.

NameTVCG Commander
Command Naga23FSX
Long Fang Hetairoi  (with drone)26FS
Drone1
King Cobra Gunner19SKX
Jager6SK
Jager6SK
Elan3RC
Jager6RCX
Jager6RC
Recon Squad4RC
TOTAL100

Map Setup

After watching the latest episode (Episode 60) of Late Night Wargames on YouTube, and saw the suggestions about terrain, we changed things up a bit.

Editor’s Note: This is the discussion Phil is referring to:

We both added more terrain and added larger terrain capable of fully hiding models behind it.  Previously most of the terrain we used was fairly low in height.

Deployment

Black Talon

Figure 2: Black Talon Deployment

I deployed my recon squad on the right side behind solid cover.  The Fire Support Squad was in the left corner.  The goal was to use the recon squad to both haywire and then target designate for the fire support squad   Both squads would try and stay at long range and rely on their stealth (all Black Talon models have stealth) to win the  long-range indirect fire battle.

South

JJ Deployed his heavy Fire Support squad  on my right, with the Strike right next to in the center.  Just like last game – the King Cobra, Naga and Hetairoi in the middle were looking formidable.  The recon squad was split on the left and right edges of the board.

Figure 3: South Deployment (Side view)

Objectives

Black Talon

I did not have any models to waste for either Hold the Line or Break the Line, so all my objectives were offensive

  • Assassinate (King Cobra  and Jager leading RC team)
  • Wipe them out (Recon squad).

South

JJs objectives were:

  • Wipe them out (my Fire Support squad)
  • Break the Line

Turn 1

JJ won the initiative on turn 1.  He activated his recon squad, and when he moved the Elan up to scan Objective #3, the Naga responded with react+ with it’s MRC and crippled it.  I then activated my recon squad.  The Raven used it’s first action to Hack the King Cobra (it was not near any other EW units) and its second to TD for the FS squad.  The Naga used its two actions to shoot 2 MATMs at the haywired Cobra – which knocked it down to 1 health, and then the Sigma Owl used its MRP to finish it off.  This gave me one VP from assassinate. The South then activated the Fire Support squad, and the Hetairoi crippiled the Vulture.  I then tried to move the FS squad up slightly to get better cover from the Hetairoi and Naga, but the Vulture then died when shot by a vulture from the strike squad.

Turn 1 ended with both sides losing a large model – but I learned that my plan for dealing with large models could work (using the Raven to haywire and TD for the Naga)

Score 1-0 Black Talon

Figure 4: Turn 1

Turn 2

I won initiative, and I activated my Recon squad and repeated what I did last turn – I first Haywired the Southern Naga  (although I used the Sigma Owl to do it this time, so that each model in the RC squad would still have an action left for a reaction), and then target designated with the Raven for my Naga. My Alpha Owl also gave a “Let Them Have it” order to the FS squad as well. This time both ATMs were enough to kill the Southern Naga in one volley. The South then activated its recon squad.  The Southern  recon infantry squad was able to scan objective 3 for a VP, and one of the Jagers was sent in to attack my RC squad.  The Jager missed and my Raven’s reaction crippled the Jager.  The Raven has ECM+ giving it ECM protect – which was extremely useful in keeping the RC squad alive.  The Sigma Owl then reacted against the enemy drone and killed it.  The Hetairoi headed towards my Naga and shot at it, but was unable to hit.

Score 1-1

Figure 5: Turn 2

Turn 3

I again repeated my normal first activation with my RC squad – the Raven both Haywired and TDs the Southern Hetairoi – and my Naga shot two MATMs at it.  The Hetairoi, but it was cripplied.  Meanwhile I activate the Sigma Owl and it advance up the right and used its first action to scan objective #3 for a VP, and then killed an enemy Jager with it’s light Bazooka.  On my next activation for my FS squad remained back in cover and the Alpha Owl killed the Jager leading the RC squad with its MRF.  This gave me two more VPs from my objectives – one from assassinate and one for reducing the Recon Squad to 50%.  The game was effectively over at this point

Score 4-1 Black Talon

Figure 6: Turn 3

Turn 4

I won the initiative again – and my Raven TD’d the crippled Hetairoi for my Naga – which finished it off this time. My Sigma Owl then raced to contest the center objective and killed another Jager.  At this point, we called the game – the south was down to one Recon Infantry squad and one Jager.  My FS support squad planned on just moving and scanning objective #3 – and we assumed I would have succeeded.  The center objective was contested by my Sigma Owl and a Southern Jager.  The Southern Recon Infantry squad could not reach the Break the Line objective.

Final Score: 5-1 Black Talon

Figure 8: Turn 4 End of Game

Total carnage at the end of the game:

  • South lost 90% of its TV
  • Black Talon lost 24%

Mission Hotwash

Neither of us were prepared for how good the Black Talon were.  The user of Haywire was instrumental to effectively cripple targets before they were attacked by 2 ATMs.  In addition they have enough order to execute orders at will – and both “Let Them Have It” and “Protection Up” were invaluable for the FS squad.  The Southern Commander was probably a little cautious after losing the King Cobra so early in turn 1, but having such a large EW advantage was huge, and the Talons won every single opposed EW roll in the game.

Both the Owls and the Raven were great surprises.  I had used Nagas before in Southern lists, but the EW advantage of the Raven and the 3 CPs of each Owl were game-changing.  In addition, I love the LBZ that the Sigma Owl has – it’s Burst 1 (In the lore it’s a rapid-firing bazooka) and it was a great short range weapon.

I played my Talon force correctly by keeping them at long range until the big targets were taken care of.  It hurt the South not being able to sensor lock me most of the game, removing the threat on indirect attacks.

Thoughts on Scenario

Adding additional terrain provided additional opportunities and this game felt less like a shooting gallery than others.  I see the importance of having terrain tall enough to hide gears behind – my RC squad spent the first three turns just popping out from behind solid cover to give orders and then moving back into the cover.  

This was also our first HGBTS scenario with scan objectives – and this was tailor-made for Black Talons due to their EW abilities.  Having scan objectives in the scenarios makes scout gears much more important.  It was nice having different scenario objectives that require different skills to accomplish.

Of the three scenarios, this was my favorite (to be fair, it’s the only one I won), but I did really like the Sector Control scenario as well. I did prefer contesting large sectors than the control points found in Incursion.  For Incursion you really seem to need gears capable of going toe-to-toe with an enemy – as the control points require such close proximity. In sector control even lightweight units can contest a sector effectively by staying away from enemies.