The Martian Campaign / The rise of the young guns

[micmellon]

We will play this Easter holiday!

Rough overview:

Every player will try to push a main character from a nobody in the lower ranks of his army to the top of his corporation.
He is a young scion of a famous family/clan etc. and the campaign starts with the beginning of his career.
There is a general list for each fraction and player to choose his individual.
(I will post the list in future)
 

The main character:

There main character is in all scenarios for free but he counts against the maximum number of individuals of your army and has to fit into the army structure.
He has in the first scenario two wounds. He gets for each scenario he survives an additional wound for the next scenario. The maximum amounts of wounds are three. If he gets killed in a scenario the wounds for the scenario are reduced by one. The minimum wounds are one wound. It is not possible to change the maximum number of wounds with healing etc..
It is not possible to apply the “Veteran Rules” to the main character.

Details:

The same scenarios are played simultaneously on two separated tables. In the case of four players each player plays on scenario against one opponent. This means each player plays 3 scenarios. Each one they play against a different opponent.

The “Veteran Rules” applies. See details below.
 
All scenarios are limited by maximum number of rounds and time. The scenario stops when one of the limits is exceeded.
The time limit for the first scenario is 1,5h and for the second and third 2,5h.
There will be a timer. When the timer rings the scenario stops immediately. It is not possible to finish the turn or actions.  

To be fair it is not allowed to waste unnecessary time to block the opponent. If necessary it is possible to take a 5 minutes time out to discuss rules. Each player can do this once per scenario. The time out is only for discussions about rules and not to extend the game time. If the 5 minutes are not enough the discussion will be temporary solved by a dice role. The discussion can be continued after the game.  

Campaign setup:

The Kisma Area:
This area is a high plane in the deserts of Mars. Four corporations are claiming this area as their own.

 

The previous booming cities and industrial complexes are a waste area for generations. But the rich deposits of rare metals and materials of the area keep the conflict running.  Capitol, Bauhaus, Imperial, and Mishima claims this region as their own and even the Brotherhood is hunting there heretics from time to time.
For a short while strange incidents are happing in the area.
Satellites over the region are failing or are disturbed by something. The weather is extremely unstable and an unusual large amount of falling stars a seen on the sky in the nights. The leaders of the corporations and the brotherhood are officially not interested in these events but some young guns in the lower ranks are taking their chance to make a name for themselves and to take the next steps to the top.  

The Scenarios:

Further details will be in the scenario descriptions. The single scenarios will be posted in future.
The optional tasks will be explained in the scenario descriptions, too.
In the case of a tie the player wins who destroyed higher amount of points of the opponent.
If an army fulfils all requirements it is possible to use off board artillery in the campaign.

The first Scenario:
Boundary Dispute (Thanks to WarzoneD for the general idea)

The first scenario is a skirmish of two border patrols calling for reinforcement. The scenario is limited to grunt squads and to the main character who is leading the border patrol. No other individuals, no elite squads, no consultants or advisors and no support units are allowed.

 

The unit and the main character are there to investigate the Kisma area and to find the source of the events.
Task: Stop the reinforcement and eliminate the head of the patrol.

Both player starts with a maximized squad and the main character.
At the start of the 3rd round each player gets reinforcement. The reinforcement appears every second round until one player fulfils the tasks or the time limit is exceeded.

Every game will be played on a separated table.
Each player has 800 points.
The environment is desert level 3.

Victory points:
1 VP if you stop the reinforcement of the opponent
1 VP if you eliminate the main character of the opponent

Outcome of the scenario:
The winner plays the „trenches in the night“ scenario against the loser of the second table.
The “veteran rules” and the rules for the main character will be used as normal.

The second scenario:
Trenches in the night:

After the one side got defeated the player tries to break through the border of a different corporation to enter the area of interest. It follows a two player trench scenario.
 

Still the headquarter doesn’t understand the importance of this mission. It is possible to field elite units and individuals but no personalities, no consultants or advisors and no support units are allowed.

Each winner of the first scenario is playing against the loser of the other table.
The loser of the first game selects secretly the environment start level. The winners of the first game have to select their favourite table and their favourite side.  

Each player has 1000 points.
The environment level will be selected by the loser of the first game. In addition the skirmish happens during the night and the night fighting rules applies.

The last scenario:
Debris of the meteoroid:

Some debris of a meteoroid are detected. They are causing the events in the area. The head quarter hopes to gather knowledge for the development of new weapons and technologies. Each player tries to grab as much information as possible.


It follows a two player version of the debris of a meteoroid scenario. This time there are no limitations to build an army. The head quarter understands and supports the mission this time. It is possible to buy two elite squads for one grunt squad. And to buy one support squad you need one grunt and one elite squad.

The winners of the last match get 5“ extra deployment zone to simulate the advantage of the break through. This time the opponents are the players who have not played against each other during the campaign. It can happen that the two winner and the two losers of the last scenario are playing against each other.

Each player has 1200 points.
The environment is desert level 6.

End of the campaign:

The most important question to answer is of course: Who is he hero of the day?
To answer the question use the following point system:

2 CVPs (Campaign Victory Points) for the winner of the first scenario.
2 CVPs for the winner of the second scenario.
3 CVPs for the winner of the third scenario.
The player which main character survived the most scenarios gets 1 CVP.
The player who eliminates the most opponent main characters gets 1 CVP.

Optional tasks:
It is possible to get additional CVPs at the end of the campaign.
The player who fulfils the most optional tasks will get 2 CVPs.
The second will get 1 CVP.

The player with the most CVPs at the end wins.
In the case of a tie wins the player who got the most CVPs through winning of scenarios.
If there is still a tie the opponents’ game will be used. The player who won the direct battle wins the campaign.

The Veteran Rules:

Upgrades:
• Individuals (including single unit vehicles) who survived and killed at least one enemy or could get at least a scenario victory point will be upgraded to veteran units.
• Squads (including vehicle squads) where survived at least the half of the squad and who killed at least one enemy or captured at least one scenario victory point will be upgraded to veteran units.
• These individuals or squads can increase their CC, RC, LD, PW, or Armor value by one.
• A veteran unit will be upgraded a second time will become a hero unit. It is not allowed to increase the same value like they upgraded already as veterans. After the hero status no further upgrade is possible.
• If a unit with veteran or hero status will be used in a later scenario the bonus applies.

Examples and appendix:
• Example 1: Two of six Assault Marines of a squad survived. The points for the two units will return to the pool of points. Nothing else happens.
• Example 2: Three of six Assault Marines of a squad survives. The points of the three units will return to the pool of points. Capitol notes a veteran AM squad and increase the RC value +1. If Capitol will use in one of the later scenarios an AM unit, so he can use this veteran unit with the bonus. The squad does not to be the same like the original squad but the number of members of this squad cannot extend over 150% (round down) of the original one. A second AM squad in the force will of course not gain this bonus (except two veteran AM units exist). The veteran status is lost if the veteran unit will lose more than 50% of the squad members during a scenario.
• Example 3: One of two Orcas (Orca squad without a specialist) survives with just one wound left. The full points of the surviving Orca will return to the pool of points. The wounds don’t matter. Capitol has from now an Orca veteran unit, because half of the squad survived. Capitol can now buy for the next scenario a squad of veteran Orcas. This squad can include two MKII and one MK IV or V specialist and he can increase the armor value by one. This is conforming to the rules because three Orcas are 150% of the original Orca squad of two before they got the veteran status.

[micmellon]

I have added the single scenarios:

http://forum54.oli.us/index.php/topic,6663.0.html   - Scenario 1
http://forum54.oli.us/index.php/topic,6662.0.html   - Scenario 2
http://forum54.oli.us/index.php/topic,6663.0.html   - Scenario 3

I (or one of my friends) will post a detailed report about the campaign and about the single scenarios after we played them.

[micmellon]

We will have the following fractions called to arms:

Mishima,
Capitol,
Imperial, and the
Brotherhood.

This Saturday the rise of the young guns starts...

[micmellon]

End of the campaign. All young guns have a frustrating future in the middle management except the one of the Brotherhood. He will take the seat next to Cardinal Dominik.

All players lost two games and won one game except of the Brotherhood. They were unbeatable.

For me it is a fast story to tell.

My 1st game was against Brotherhood and it was a quick one.

I lost all initiatives, so I fielded first a big Squad of Trenchers and my individual.
Afterwards the brotherhood placed a big squad of Arch Primates next to my deployment zone.


(The Rest of my Trenchers after the 1st round)

Then he pushed the conflict into my deployment zone and burned some of my trenchers. They fought hard but desperate. I used even my main character in a try to turn the page. A mistake that taught me a lesson at the end of the campaign.

A short time later (3rd round) the Arch Primates hold my reinforcement zone and killed all models of me.


(Victory of the Brotherhood)

My 2nd game was a better one. I played against Capitol.
It was balanced and a thriller game for me and my opponent.
I liked it the most of the three ones of the day. A had a plan and it worked well.

I had a tight line of defense in the front and kept some models in the back to keep the possible Para deployment units away. I was lucky my opponent tried a different strategy. I think he does not like paras at all.


(Deployment zone Imperial)

First I send a squad of Storm Trenches. I lost a view (especially my specialist) but most landed in the corner next to the deployment zone of Capitol. That kept Capitol busy and the first Wailing Banshees squad was too busy to start a charge to my trenches.


(Capitol and the Storm Trenchers)

A fire mission sent a couple of the first line of defense of Capitol into an endless sleep. I have to say I love the fire mission. It extreme hard to get it done with Imperial but it is big fun.  

I assault the trenches on the opponent corner with a squad of Mourning Wolves, a squad of Warhounds and a Wolfbane Vanquisher. Most models got killed during the charge but the Warhounds and two Mourning Wolves were able to enter the opponent trench.

 (Warhounds assault)

During the round Capitol was able to kill all of my Warhounds but two (one?) Mourning Wolves made the victory points I needed. I got some undesired help from two Capitol soldiers. True Gentlemen who made a perfect meat shield for my girls. The Wolfpack kept the second squad of Banshees busy, too.


(Wolfpack assault)

At the end one Banshee tried a desperate maneuver and moved into a covered corner of my deployment zone. The corner had cover but not enough. My Trencher HMG specialist blew him away. After two rounds the time was over and I had my victory.

The 3rd one was a hard one. I made some unnecessary mistakes and I got a big surprise. The game last forever. We played 4 rounds. That was something I never thought it will happen and it works badly for me.

I pushed hard forward in the first round with two Vermins. Each one loaded with a squad of 8 black berets. I moved them as my last two actions but Mishima had almost the double of units on the field. I reached the target and started with the analysis of one of the debris. At the second one I was not able to do more then to exit the vehicle.
Afterwards it was Mishimas turn. He sent 6 battle walkers to wipe out the imperial force. And he had almost no weapon malfunction in the first round. He was really successful. The one crater around the debris was empty and in the second one were three guys left. I made one victory point and I was able to lift the small debris with one of the Vermins.


(Escape of the Vermin with the debris)

The field around the debris was lost. I had no chance to hold the area. All I could do was to get the small one into my deployment zone to achieve the secondary goal and to try my best to keep the opponent away from the big debris. It was a disaster. My own model blocked the escape route for the Vermin. It had to stop one inch of the deployment zone away and got killed.


(A lot of weapon malfunctions (all the markers) and the traitor who blocked my own vehicle)

Around the big debris it looked worse.
All my models who tried to kill Mishima models got weapon malfunctions in a row.
In the very last round (round 4) Mishima was able to get 2 victory points. I thought we would play two or two and a half round maximum and I was wrong. My strategy was to reach the goal as fast as possible and to hold the craters for 2 rounds. Enough to win. I was not able to fight such a long time.

At the end of the campaign I was officially the last because Mishima won the last game and got three victory points and Capitol lost never his main character. If I have not blocked my way of the Vermin or if I had run away with my main character in the first game I would be second. The small things made the difference. Of course Brotherhood was the player of the day. But Brotherhood was beyond us anyway.    

[Lopis]

Of course Brotherhood was the player of the day. But Brotherhood was beyond us anyway.     

Nah ! Thst would be too easy an explanation ....

Yeah Infiltrators as grunts is a bad ass move, but I got mainly lucky in the order of the opponents I was thrown into and some of my rolls were pretty good.

First round against Imperial (the only opponent n0t able to field Parachuters), and only a small amount of Weapon malfunctions.

Second game against Mishima in a favourable Environment level ( and Mishima not likely to drop parachuters under these circumstances).
He miscalculated my force an misplaced his Faceless and I got the lucky draw to drop 10 out of 10 Parachuters alive into the opponents deployment zone behind the trenches.

Third game against Capitol, and he was not able to play a long game. With the advantage of a shorter distance I was able to secure 8 Points in second round and took the lead that was not to beat anymore. And Capitol massed troops with many activations a got a lot of weapon malfunctions (me nearly none, since I didn´t have many ranged combat units included), couldn´t move properly because I was able to uncover his whole army in my thrid activation and he didn´t have the room to move them properly and he could move his Orcas well (blocked by his own models...).

So I think I had good preconditions with the army structure, but I think the order of opponents and a good deal of luck won the day.
Couldn´t have been strategy, since I had none besides " get to the front fast and have a bit of fun" (aka wreak havoc...).