Ahoy. first off, sorry for the lack of pictures. This was the 3rd of my batreps for the spanish forum campaign I mentioned in the forums a while ago. The previous 2 battles I played for the campaign were a mishima/mishima mostly close-combat slaughterfest (makes for a boring batrep) and a smaller imp/cyber battle that ended in a draw (also makes for a disappointing batrep).This rematch was played with SECOND EDITION rules, so force composition and other rules are a tad different.
This was played on a city map, with various buildings scattered around, 4 of them occupying the central portions of the map. Cybertronic started in the southeast corner, with its 2 squads of infiltrating shock troops (with attached captains) tucked on the south end of two of the buildings in the center of the map. Imperial started in the northwest corner, with the golden lions in the northeast corner of the map.
IMPERIAL
3 squads of 4 trenchers, HMG, sgt
2 squads of 4 blood berets, HMG, sgt
1 squad of 4 golden lions, LMG, sgt
1 trencher sniper
1 blood beret captain (aka “hero”)
1 hurricane walker
CYBERTRONIC
3 squads of 4 chasseurs, HMG, sgt (one squad with 5 chasseurs)
2 squads of 4 shock troops, LMG, sgt
2 shock trooper captains (aka “heroes”)
Vince Diamond
1 EDD
TURN 1
The main cyb forces advance cautiously northwest, while imperial splits into 3 groups that advance separately. The plan of one squad of trenchers and BBs is to reach the extreme west of the map, from where they can fire behind cover at the shock troops, who would have a hard time counter-attacking since their machine-guns are short-ranged. The only casualty this turn is a chasseur, who is fired at by a golden lion who peeks, shoots, and goes back behind a building. (The other golden lions all fail their shots.)
TURN 2
The hurricane joins the troops heading out to the west, and the shock trooper squad, seeing itself in a very vulnerable position, is forced to turn around to the east side of the building they started next to. This leaves them exposed to the golden lions, who eliminate one shock trooper. The other shock troop squad advances in the east side of the map, to possibly surround the golden lions.
TURN 3
The most intense encounter in the game occurs when the shock trooper squad forced to move circles the building and engages a squad of trenchers approaching from the north. First, the shock trooper captain covers 5 of the 6 trenchers with his flame-thrower, but ONLY ELIMINATES ONE. The (now-heated) trenchers counter by moving up point-blank and starting a close-quarters shoot-out, which results in both squads nearly wiping each other out. The 2 surviving shock troopers are taken out by the golden lions. Looking bad for cybertronic, but:
A trencher in an advancing squad in the far north of the map is visible to the (very tall) EDD. It shoots 3 times with its phosphor cannon across the map, with 2 shots deviating, including one that explodes (template) on a wall dangerously close to the second squad of shock troops. The third shot, however, lands right on target, and since the trenchers advanced without fear of being shot at, they were all bunched up. So, the EDD eliminates 5 TRENCHERS IN ONE SHOT, and the sole surviving sergeant panics (as anyone obviously would in his situation.)
The hurricane walker then comes out in the west side of the map, from which it has a good vantage point to the main force of cybertronic. It easily dispatches 3 chasseurs at long range even though these are behind cover, and the chasseurs are all forced to maneuver behind a small building to hide from the powerful gun platform that is the hurricane. The trencher sniper also manages to wound Vince with a lucky shot.
TURN 4
Cybertronic advance, positioning themselves in the eastern part of the map behind a large building. Seeing themselves in a very vulnerable position if they remain still, the golden lions take the offensive and charge out to face the cybers, but wound no one.
TURN 5
The shock trooper captain toasts a golden lion and the gl sergeant, but he and the rest of the shock troopers are wiped out by the remaining golden lions. Things start looking bad for cybertronic, since they are being penned in, in the eastern part of the map, with only two squads of chasseurs, the EDD, and Vince versus four imperial squads, the hurricane, and their individuals.
A squad of blood berets that had taken position in the far northeast of the map now exchanges fire with the chasseurs, resulting in several more casualties. The hurricane walker and a trencher wound the EDD X2. By the end of the turn, 20 imperial troopers and only 10 cybertronic soldiers remain.
TURN 6
The EDD takes out 2 of the 4 blood berets in the northeast squad, but is wounded again by the BB HMG and the trencher sniper. The golden lions are finally wiped out by Vince and the chasseurs, but the walker and the imperials position themselves around the building behind which the remaining cyb forces are hidden.
TURN 7
The EDD peeks out and takes out another BB, but the hurricane seizes the opportunity and charges in to destroy the EDD. (i.e. The imperials allowed their “tank” to charge into the danger zone like a battering ram while maintaining a defensive perimeter behind it.) By the end of the turn only 2 chasseurs and their sergeant remain behind the building, and they surrender to the BB HMG facing them instead of needlessly sacrificing themselves. 13 imperials and the hurricane still remain, so the game was a clear victory for imperial.
STRATEGIC SUMMARY
Cybertronic failed in two respects. The cyb strategy relied greatly on the 2 shock troopers with flamethrowers, and though they hit twice, they only eliminated 3 imperials. In other words, they failed, particularly when you take into account their high cost. Similarly, the EDD remained “in reserve” to eliminate imperials with its cannon while ignoring the hurricane walker. This was also bad strategy, since the hurricane suffered no wounds and was able to “pen in” the cyb forces. An option that could have worked better would have been to attack the hurricane behind a shield of chasseurs, since the hurricane has no tac sense with which to attack the EDD and the EDD could have used its anti-tank cannon on the hurricane.
The imperials on the other hand did really well with a “pincer” strategy that they used twice. They first used it to surround the first squad of shock troops and eliminate it. Afterwards they used the same strategy to surround the main cyb force. Finally, it should be noted that the high leadership of imperial was in full display as they passed their morale tests and did not panic several times, continuing to fight at full efficiency (particularly the BBs and golden lions.)
