BACKGROUND
We are still testing the Campaign “Siege of Boston.” We need more time testing on the mission “Operation: Serpent’s Head”, so today we’re going to try it out. We’ll use the medium Russian mech Bear so we can test the modified the Line-Of-Sight rules and their affect on the American special ability “Tactical Network.”
SETUP
Serpent’s Head is simple, each player picks one of his/her personnel as their leader. Whoever kills the opponent’s leader first wins. Today I will play the Russians against Ronnie as the Americans.
The Russians
My Russian force will include Major Molotov and his Command Viper, the medium mech Bear, and three generic Vipers. That’s only 47 points, so I’ll pick the three named pilots Death, Hunter, and Talon to get me to the 50 points I need for the mission. I’ll have Death pilot Bear so his ability to reroll an attack dice will help Bear’s massive weapons hit more often. Hunter and Talon will pilot generic Vipers. The second pilot seat in Bear and the third Viper will have generic pilots. Molotov will be my leader.
The Americans
Ronnie will use Major Wright in her X1 Bulldog, three generic Bulldogs, and a generic Prowler. Zero point pilots will command all the generic mechs. Major Wright will be the American leader.
Obstacle Placement
We’ve placed the buildings similar to the way they were when we played “Operation: Neutralize Enemy Forces.” I have placed the two size 3 buildings (indicated with the red arrows) near my starting board edge to give Bear cover. Ronnie has placed three size 2 buildings (indicated with the blue arrows) to give his mechs cover from Bear’s massive Particle Beam Cannon and its 58 range. The difference in this game will be changes to the Line-Of-Sight rules. Last time we played, the American size 2 mechs could see the size 3 buildings (red arrows) over the size 2 buildings (blue arrows) without moving. When they destroyed the buildings, they could see size 3 Bear over the size 2 buildings without moving. With the modified LOS rule, a size 2 mech can’t see over a size 2 building. So the Americans will now have to move from behind cover to shoot. The other major issue with the old rule was since all the American mechs could see the target, American attackers got massive bonuses to their aim dice from “Tactical Network.” With the updated LOS rule, each American mech will have to either remain exposed after they move so they can add an aim bonus to other attackers or move back behind cover.
BATTLE
Round #1
Molotov’s Command Viper has the highest initiative, so it moves first. Because he is the target of the Americans in this mission, I hang him back behind cover. He shoots at a building from long range and misses. The American’s X1 Bulldog with Major Wright has the next highest initiative. She’s Ronnie’s leader, so he needs to protect her. She moves from cover, hits the building in front of Bear for 6 damage, and moves back to cover. Then the American Prowler moves just far enough from cover to get LOS to the building in front of the Command Viper. Prowler hits the building for 7 damage. The building covering the X1 Bulldog is within range of all three of Bear’s weapons. Poor dice rolls make me miss with my two larger weapons; but since I have Death piloting Bear, I get to reroll a dice! My particle beam cannon now hits and I do 10 damage to the building blowing it away along with Major Wright’s cover. Bear’s ability “Advanced Targeting System” allows its weapons to attack different targets. With her cover gone, Bear fires its third weapon, an autocannon, at the X1 Bulldog for a base 2 damage plus 1 for Major Molotov’s “Pinpoint Targeting” ability for a total of 3 damage. With no cover for Major Wright, Ronnie realizes he has to be aggressive or this could be over quickly. His three generic Bulldog’s move next. Ronnie moves them forward to try use them as cover for Wright. He damages Viper 2 for 7 and sends it into Reactor Overload. This was a major mistake on my part as Molotov’s Command Viper is only range 2 away! If Viper 2 detonated now, the Command Viper takes 10 damage; just enough to send it into Reactor Overload! Luckily, I roll a 4; so I’ll have a couple turns to get Molotov away. Ronnie’s last piece to move is Bulldog 1. It is not in position to move to Wright, so it moves forward and shoots at Viper 1 for 2 damage. Now my three generic Vipers move to finish the turn. First I move Viper 2 forward and away from Molotov. I am just inside my rail launcher’s 20 range to Wright’s X1 Bulldog; but I roll a critical miss of “1.” Viper 3 moves forward but can’t quite get into range of Wright, so it fires at Bulldog 2 and hits for 6 damage. Viper 1 moves forward but misses Bulldog 1.
Round #2
The Command Viper moves forward but doesn’t have the range to hit the X1 Bulldog so it hits Bulldog 3 for 2 damage and moves back to some cover. Wright uses her “Field Repairs” ability to remove a damage from her X1 Bulldog, then hits Viper 3 for 6 before running behind cover. Prowler moves out, shot Viper 2 and hit with both weapons! When the first weapon hit, it disabled the mech. With the mech disabled, damage from the second weapon gets taken off the Reactor Overload dice; reducing it to 1. Viper 2 explodes and takes the nearby building with it. Now the Command Viper is sitting in the open. Bear moves out and fires at Bulldog 2 and Bulldog 3. Both are disabled and their pilots eject. Ronnie rolls a 2 and a 4 for Reactor Overload. Bulldog 1 fires at Viper 1 and hits for 5; it goes into Reactor Overload. With my dice roll of 1, it explodes immediately and takes the oil tank with it. Viper 3 moves up and destroys the smaller building with its railgun. At the end of the turn, Bulldog 2’s Reactor Overload dice reduces to 1 and it explodes.
Round #3
The Command Viper fires at a building but misses. It moves backwards behind Bear for cover. Now that the two generic pilots are out of their mechs and on the board, they move next but don’t have the range to hit anything. Prowler peeks out from cover and hits the building in front of Bear for 3 damage, but only because Wright’s X1 Bulldog has LOS and gave a +1 to the aim dice. Prowler ducks back into cover. Wright remove a damage from her mech, then the X1 Bulldog pokes out and finished the building off. There is no cover left on the Russian side of the board. Bear charges forward, destroys Prowler’s cover, then does just enough damage to disable Prowler. With a Reactor Overload dice roll of “1”, it explodes immediately. Bulldog 1 moves around a building and manages to hit Bear for 5 even though it was at long range and had +1 to cover. Viper 3 moves up again, shoots at the building the Americans are hiding behind, and destroys it. Now the Americans have no cover.
Round #4
The Command Viper is out of range to any American mech so it maneuvers behind Bear for cover. The two generic American pilots move forward but still don’t have the range to hit anything. Major Wright repairs the last damage on X1 Bulldog then shoots at Bear for 6 and moves back to cover behind Bulldog 1. Bear lost its Guided Missiles from the damage. Bear hits the X1 Bulldog for 10. Bulldog 1 shoots at Bear for 5; Bear goes into Reactor Overload and loses its Particle Cannon. Viper 3 hits the X1 Bulldog for 6 more. Major Wright is forced to eject from her mech as it goes into Reactor Overload.
Round #5
Major Wright is now the highest initiative game piece on the board. She’s close enough to Viper 3 to do 2 damage to it. The two generic pilots move forward; one is now in range of Viper 3 hitting for another 1. Molotov moves the Command Viper forward and hits Wright for 2 with a machine gun. Then Bear fires and hits Wright. The Victory conditions on the mission card have been met and the game ends.
Win: Russians
The Russians take the win in a fairly close match. Bear did a lot of damage, but he took a beating too. Had the game lasted a couple more rounds, he would have exploded.
AFTERMATH:
The Good
Line-Of-Sight: The modified rule didn’t stop mechs from attacking, but it did make them move to get LOS. This left some exposed and open to attack.
Tactical Network: LOS changes seem to have fixed the problem with the American special ability “Tactical Network.” Aim dice bonuses were moderate through most of the game because mechs hid behind cover to keep from being hit. They didn’t have LOS and couldn’t give a bonus. It worked to the American’s advantage, but was not overpowered.
Medium Mech Bear: For all its firepower, Bear was a non-factor in the last game. He was hit early and was gang tackled before he could make a different. Not so in this game where he took out Bulldog 2, Bulldog 3, Prowler, several buildings, and heavily damaged the X1 Bulldog!
The Bad
Heroes: This mission forced both sides to hold their heroes back, so they weren’t as effective. This might not be that bad a thing.