I had some time on Sunday evening to have a third game, so I thought I'd give the Orbital Drop scenario a try and have my MMC Marines in power armour assaulting the Forward Operating Base I made out of the old Airfix Coastal Gun Emplacement.
I played this a few times earlier with my homebrew rules. I even wrote a good story from one game here, Raid on Hyperion.
The Martians got Heavy Weapons, and Demolitions, which I figured would prove useful attacking fortifications. I also deployed the MMC in Reduced Model Units of 3 figures in each fireteam. So a big game with 65 points worth of MMC attacking about 40 points of UNMC defenders.
Which is only 1.5:1 odds for attacking a fortified position.
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| UNMC Fireteam patroling the Belter settlement |
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| Stand to! Half of the UNMC platoon is in the FOB itself. The other half are on perimeter patrols to cover the 6 drop zones. |
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| Point Defense Gun is a Support Weapon. Missile Launcher is a Support Weapon with Artillery |
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| Trying vehicle rules with my gunship |
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| First team gets to the objective |
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| Rest of strike force closing in, ignoring the outlying patrols |
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| Point Defense Gun taken out after it has killed a few Marines |
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| Brutal trench clearing. Missile launcher is taken out with grenades |
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| Assaulting the HQ Bunker |
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| Last defenders die hard |
It was fast, furious and fun. The MMC lost 6 out of 30 in the strike force. The UNMC lost 5 captured and 19 KIA out of a garrison of 30, plus the HQ Bunker with its vital intel was captured.
I learned a few more things.
I realized when I went to attack the Bunker that I'd been getting an important part of the elite infantry wrong. "Move" isn't one of their free actions, "Attack" is. Oops. Their assault wouldn't have been nearly as coordinated. So I need to make a better, easier to read reference sheet of all the unit profiles like I gave for Dragon Rampant.
A few more ideas on how to better handle the fortifications for better play balance.
I'm also wrapping my head around the subtleties of shooting and the different upgrades.
I also really need more rocky scatter terrain and some better hills. The cloth draped over foam doesn't lie down enough, so slopes are very tippy and badly defined. Plus it just looks too exposed, even though hills are supposed to count as cover.
And I'm not sure that the olive drab for the UNMC really works for me. Maybe light grey?
I'm not a SciFi guy at all but the minis and the scenery looks nice and the game fun indeed
ReplyDeleteFor the UNMC, I kind of like the green, though it looks a little too like modern Ukrainian camo for me to be entirely comfortable.
ReplyDeleteBut the current conflict does give me an idea for a suggestion. How about you put a nice bright blue shoulder patch or helmet stripe to add a pop of colour? You could even use the pop of colour to distinguish between units.
In the books the UN are referred to as "The Blues" by the MMC, and green just seemed kind of traditional.
DeleteBut on dark moons with low visibility, they could be any colour really. And a Blue Earth shoulder patch would look good.
I should add some helmet markings to designate the leaders too.
Ah the old Airfix Costal Emplacement - looks well in it's new guise .
ReplyDelete