Clan Mutant Sea Bass: Founders vs Warriors Battle!

[asburygrad]

Khan Kirk McCauley of Clan Mutant Sea Bass placed a great challenge before the regular warriors of our Clan: team up with a fellow warrior and match up against one of our founders. “Seek out his personal command unit, and destroy it! Winners will be forever remembered in our new Clan’s Remembrance.”

So it came to pass that the warriors of the Clan met their commanders in honorable combat – not for rank, not for prizes, but for sheer glory and bragging rights!

Each founder built a 1050-point army, with 7 orders per turn. Teams consisted of two players who each had 600-point armies and 4 orders each. Clan founders were allowed to place terrain any way they liked. Perfect Day was considered to be in effect, and each team of warriors was given a mission: if they eliminated the founder’s custom Mech or vehicle, they would earn an extra Victory Condition (just like a mission card) which the founders were not able to earn themselves. Time limit for each match was set at 90 minutes.

As Loremaster of the Clan, I took to the field in command of the following battle force:
“Bondsman” Cauldron Born (custom Mech) w/ Decoy gear
SS Paladin
Liao Paladin
2 SS Arrow IV
2 Hi Hadur
Merc Zahn w/ DF Schmitt
SS Mobile HQ
9 ROTS Minigun Cycles
5 SH ATVs
5 Liao ATVs
Liao Combat Technician

My first match was against MarcMayhem and Stormhammers. MarcMayhem played Jade Falcon faction pure:
One of the Battleforce Shrikes with his pilot (0/1/1 stats)
Kelswa
Skanada
2 TTL
Various other infantry

“Stormhammers” played House Steiner/Stormhammers faction pure:
“Unsterblich” Atlas w/ custom pilot (1/2/2) and ECM Suite
5 Ravagers
2 Long Toms

I was immediately concerned about SH’s artillery pieces, which outranged all my artillery except the Paladins. They were able to get two rounds of artillery fire off before my Liao ATVs based them up in their deployment zone; those artillery shots damaged my Hi Hadurs.

I kept artillery tokens on the two assault Mechs and the Kelswa for the entire game. The Atlas tried to dance around the pogs and eventually had a nasty ammo explosion due to heat. The Shrike player thought that he could run up the Mech, shutdown for a turn, and then use it’s vent rating of 4 to restart the next turn. Unfortunately, my Schmitt-drop and Cauldron Born both shot him while he was shutdown, and an Arrow IV pogged him as well. On the next turn, the Schmitt pushed to damage the Shrike again, and a Minigun Cycle fired the kill shot.

My artillery worked on the Kelswa and Skanda (which were in formation with each other) while my Zahn picked up the Schmitt and headed after the Atlas. My first attempt to hit the Atlas from the Schmitt failed, and I could not re-roll the attack due to ECM Suite on the assault Mech! But the shot did finish off both the Kelswa and the Skanda. On his turn, SH broke the Atlas away from some basing infantry and tried to run – but was still within the Schmitt’s range. Next turn, the tank pushed again to finish off the assault Mech.

My Liao ATVs earned me a number of VC 3 points while sitting on the Long Toms. SH’s Ravager formation fired individually and ate up my 5 SH ATVs – but that kept them busy the whole game. After the Atlas died, the players surrendered – but Marc wanted to see if his remaining infantry could manage to kill my Cauldron Born on their own. Five attack rolls later, his force was completely wiped out, and my Mech had suffered no damage. I won with 3 VCs, and only lost 7 or 8 infantry to their Shrike, Atlas, Kelswa, Skanda, and infantry.


Second game was against sunny_d and 53Leon. Sunny ran Rasalhague Dominion pure:
“Headhunter” Karhu w/ Miraborg (not sure which one) and Heat Seeking Ammo
R10 loaded with 2 Towed Gauss Rifles
2 Skandas in formation with the R10
3 SRM Team
5 Clan Battle Armor

Leon’s army actually scared me a little:
“Refuge” Daishi w/ Marc LeAndre and Guardian Retrofit
DF JI2A1 Attack APC w/ a Combat Tech
DF Maxim w/ 3 Kurita Oni Battle Armor

On his first turn, Leon ran Refuge up his full speed value, actually getting it behind my formation of SH ATVs. For some unknown reason, he positioned the Daishi with its rear arc facing me, with only hindering terrain (not blocking) to protect it. Not sure if he wanted to shoot the ATVs next turn or what, but I took full advantage: the Schmitt and Cauldron Born both shot into that rear arc for 7 total damage (after his AAMS roll took 2 off the Schmitt’s damage) and a click of heat. On his next turn, he ran the assault Mech back near his transports, but it took two heat (since Refuge was no longer on its starting marker) and shutdown. I then pogged the Daishi relentlessly.

Many of the pogs drifted off, and I think they dealt more damage to the Attack APC than to his Mech: the APC eventually went into Salvage and spat out the Combat Tech. My Zahn had picked up the Schmitt by this time and dropped it off, allowing the tank to knock Refuge into Salvage. My SH ATVs fired in formation and hit, but the 1 click of damage was not enough to finish the big Mech. On the next turn, the Combat Tech repaired Refuge 5 clicks – but my Schmitt pushed to deal 5 back to it. Again, the ATVs fired hoping to take it out – but the Daishi survived that final click of damage, and ran off the next turn (now that its heat dial was totally under control). Refuge ended the game having never fired a shot.

On the other side of the field, Sunny moved his units up under sporadic artillery fire – most of my attention was on Refuge. I did keep pogging the Karhu though, and it finally moved within reach of my artillery – but shutdown due to heat from dodging all the pogs. It had taken enough damage that two shots from my custom Mech (and one direct-fire attack from my SS Paladin) eliminated it. His vehicles finally moved up, but had gotten chewed by the artillery pretty hard – the Cauldron Born salvaged the R10, which killed one of its passengers due to lack of room. We called the game there, after one hour. I again won all three VCs, losing 3 or 4 ATVs against their Karhu and TGR, and Daishi, R10, and JI2A1 that were all in salvage.


I had a great time in both games, and I can’t wait to hit the field for Clan Mutant Sea Bass again soon. I hope that the other Founders might log on and post their results – I had to leave immediately after the second game, and so missed out on the after-action reports and bragging. ;D

[asburygrad]

Here's a follow-up battle report from our Khan:

Battle Report:
Khan Kirk McCauley, Supreme Commander of Clan Mutant Sea Bass

ARMY TO+E:
BR Faction Pride

"Il Kahn" Command VTOL custom vehicle

(Unrestricted VTOL on Mech base. 225 points with pilot. Light Mech dial depth. 16" ballistic attack. Very good attack and defense values. Low damage values. Pilot abilities include improved command [one additional order 4-5, two orders 6], and ability to push without pushing damage. Still limited to two consecutive turns.)

Two "fast" baser squads:
BR Killer Clowns ATV
2x BR Trike Squads
BR ATV Squad
3x BR Mini-gun Cycles

Tank Drops
2x Merc Zahn Transport
BR M1 Marksman
BR Behemoth

Capture Teams
2x BR Anat Transports
2x Gamma Regt Ghillie Suits
BR Combat Engineers
BR Oni Battle Armor

Bypass/Command Teams
2 x BR Sprint VTOL
2 X Gamma Regiment Kage BA

Artillery emplacement:
4x BR Peasant Company (to prevent basing)
BR Killer Clowns Combat Technician (Command)
SS Arrow IV
Liao Arrow IV
BR Kenneth Melchedek Sniper
Rhode's Graces Combat Technicians


Even though we jokingly referred to this match as the Olds vs the Noobs, it was anything but. We had a great showing of 12 players, which was just perfect for this event. We paired the 8 "Warriors" and let them roll off and choose their "Founder". Sword_sworn (who was a surprise visitor) had a real bad week at college, so he decided to take his anger out on me. He has been playing since about 2002 and is a very formidable adversary on any day. He was paired with our most junior player, Bsnizzle. Since Sword_sworn was a late show, he took some time to build his force and help polish Bsnizzle's with pilots and gear. I was not looking forward to going into a match with a 150 point deficit against Sword_sworn.

Sword_sworn played Republic pure with the Battleforce Mangonel with a 1/2/2 pilot and Armor Piercing, a Kelswa / Bishop VTOL tank drop, 2x DI towed heavy artillery, and 4x Elementals.

Bsnizzle had a Battleforce Jade Falcon Shrike, with a pilot, Milagro Jade Hawk with pilot and Decoy, and some light infantry.

The terrain was arrayed with a small city of blocking terrain in the middle of a large rectangular 4 x 8' battlefield. Since this was an unrestricted format, there were multiple elevated hills along the sides of the city. I infiltrated my ATV formation to the left flank and my BR Sprint VTOLs wide around each flank as well. I also infiltrated my peasant companies equally around my artillery formation to prevent basers.

My opponents got initiative and began to move forward into the city with their Mechs, holding back with their infantry and support. I moved forward with my VTOL, masked behind the buildings. I also moved forward with my four transports, planning to pop up and tag a Mech with my VTOL’s Homing Beacon later in the match and follow up with a hammer shot from one of my tank drops from behind blocking. After I gave my clowns two consecutive move orders, I was making 4 command rolls.

I paired the light transports up, with one of the tank drops, on either side of the city, which worked out well. I never lacked in orders, having an
average of 9 per turn. Bsnizzle moved forward with his Shrike. I made a rules mistake at this point and moved my VTOL and used Homing Beacon consecutively (not allowed) and followed up with a shot from my behemoth tank drop from behind blocking. We identified this mistake next turn, and I did not make any more VTOL combined movement/attacks.

During the game I was also able to repair 2 clicks of damage per turn from the faction pride. This gave my fast basers a little more life, and I was able to tie up Bsnizzle's second Mech. I was able later in the game to maneuver from behind the buildings with a tank drop and infantry drop to create a pretty devastating medium range (8") firing formation to finish off Sword_sworn's Mangonnel. I had intended for those units to be capture teams, but they worked equally well getting my attack values up.

Another key event in the battle started with a mistake I made. Sword_sworn had his VTOL tank drop on my right side. I moved one of my BR Sprint's forward, not recognizing the threat; Sword_sworn had not advertised the tank drop and I hadn't really surveyed his force adequately enough before the match. This mistake cost me my sprint and the Guille suit inside. However I was able to move one of my Anat transports out from the city and pushed it on the consecutive turn to drop the combat engineers at the base of the hill. With its nine inch jump jets, it had range to base the Kelswa on the side. This tied up his Kelswa for the rest of the game. He was never able to break away, or maneuver his Elementals in time to deal with the single infantry. The one infantry effectively tied up his entire remaining force minus the artillery.

The battle pretty much stalled at this point. My signature VTOL was weakened due to some hits from artillery (I pushed it continuously to make my shots), and since I couldn't lose it because of the special VC 4, I had to pull it back. I did not have a chance to repair. Also Bsnizzle moved his weakened Jade Hawk up to base my Behemoth tank drop and pinned it down. No further real damage was dealt by either player.

So how did I lose? Two reasons. First, I let Sword_sworn's bravado get under my skin – he’s a well-known smack-talker. The second is, I perceived I was winning after destroying his Mangonel, but because of the 150 point build deficit, and 70 point faction pride, I really wasn't. The loss of the Sprint and some infantry was enough to reduce my point advantage. I could have pushed a little harder to get VC 3, and I didn't take it. I won VC 1, but lost VC 2, and the game.

Critical points:
+I effectively used firing formations and orders to consistently hit 24
with decoy.
+I tied up half of a players force with 1 infantry unit.
-I did not do a thorough review of my opponents force prior to play to understand his strengths and weaknesses.
-I did not review my standing during the battle to determine decisively whether I was winning or losing.
-I allowed myself to become distracted my Sword_sworn and by describing the game to a visiting customer.


I played two additional matches and won.

In the match against Housemoro and Broadsword08, I established an upper hand pretty quickly. Housemoro used their team’s initiative to move his entire artillery and infantry force forward in one large formation. This was my most significant threat, so I used my first turn to blanket it with a full barrage from my artillery. He chose not to push his artillery the second turn, but I did. By the third turn his artillery was basically ineffective and his shot drifted and came up short of my artillery. On the fourth turn, I hit them again. So I decimated his entire formation with no damage to mine.

While this was going on, I was maneuvering using blocking to try and get my basers in close to Broadsword08's Shiro, Jackelope, and Padilla AMT. He was on the same hill that Sword_sworn had deployed his tank drop on the far back right corner of the field (seeking to outrange me with 18"). As I moved forward with my basers, he hit the formation, but fortunately divided his 5 damage over three ATVs. This was not enough to kill them, so I pulled them back and repaired. I continued to move in and out hoping that he would shut his Shiro down so that I could move in with the IL Kahn VTOL, and/or the Sprint VTOL and infantry. Whenever he was two clicks into his heat dial, I would feint in with some low cost infantry trying to get him to push the Shiro.

On the turn he chose to vent, I used the 24 speed of Sprint to flank around the back of his Shiro formation. He chose not to assault with the Shiro, I was not in his Padilla's arc, and his Jackelope assaulted and missed the shot. I was then able to deploy the Guille Suit and harass his Jakalope and Padilla for a few turns. I tried to capture the Padilla, but failed. Broadsword08 was eventually able to kill the Guille, but the Shiro only picked off some more of my infantry, but never made any significant contribution to the battle.

Simultaneously on the left half of the battlefield, I flanked with my other Sprint, and was able to capture VC 3. In the center I used the blocking terrain to unmask my Il Kahn VTOL, Homing Beacon Housemoro's Vulture, and hit it with a tank drop. With no threat from artillery, I continued to pursue Housemoro's Vulture with my tanks, infantry and transports, using the buildings as cover, while he pulled it back into shallow water to attempt repair (combat engineers).
I was able to use artillery and tanks to give him no rest. He was able to repair once before I destroyed his combat engineers, but I immediately applied more damage than he repaired, and killed his combat techs. He was able to assault my Sprint (on the hill behind Broadsword08) and use his "prototype Clan ability" to repair a Sniper artillery two clicks (I was unclear on what his abilities were before the match; they were just text on his phone).

Fortunately, at this point, I had broken the back of Housemoro's force, the repair attempts were too little too late, and the two of them were unable to mutually support each other. I think they would have done much better if Housemoro had chosen to either hold his artillery out of my range, or pushed it on the second turn. Also, Broadsword08 should have broken my basing formation by destroying a center vehicle, instead of distributing the damage. Broadsword08 often moved his two AMS vehicles outside of a mutual 6" distance, watering down their effectiveness. Regrettably I was never able to pull off any envisioned capture attempts, and my basers were not as effective because of the elevated blocking. My opponents did a good job of utilizing the elevated blocking to increase their defense and prevent me running up to base in one turn.


The match against 53Leon and MarcMayhem probably had the most action. Of the "noobs", I think they are our two most serious up-and-coming players. Marcmayhem had a Jade Falcon-based force with some of the older Mechs with inherent faction abilities. However, I used my 7 to 11 command orders per turn to dominate. I was never short of orders, and thought a couple of times that I might have overdone the additional command rolls. After some initial maneuvering, I hit Marcmayhem's JF Shrike first with a vicious combined arms tank drop. I had pulled all four of my transports up across the center of the city, behind blocking.

The trap was set. Marcmayhem moved into range. I moved two of the transports forward to deploy the Behemoth and two infantry to pull of a firing formation from between a building. I left space to pull in the M1 Marksman tank drop for a follow-up shot, but it missed (an 8 I think). He then pulled of a nasty DFA with his injured Shrike on my M1 Marksman tank drop, but he paid for it in the end. He then lost his shutdown Shrike to a massive artillery barrage.

A scrum started to form around this area as Marcmayhem and I moved in more support vehicles and infantry. During my turn he indicated through measurement that he intended to surround my remaining tank drop with his infantry, so I pushed and placed pogs all around my vehicles, so that they would affect his infantry the following turn if he decided to base, but not my vehicles. He moved into base anyway, and over the course of the next few turns, I peeled his infantry off my vehicles with the artillery. My artillery was really the star against Marcmayhem. I simultaneously chipped away at his Skanda-Kelswa-infantry firing formation from the scrum, and was able to flank that line with my Minigun Cycles and hit it as well.

We had a real fight going mid-right center of the battlefield between Marcmayhem and I. Of note, he had a four-infantry formation including one little pog throwing infantry-artillery that he held back. Although he held it in reserve, and it contributed somewhat to the "scrum", it did not prevent me from getting into the DZ with my Sprints, and later all of my Minigun Cycles.

53Leon contributed a little to the scrum, but most of his points were tied up in his Refuge Daishi with preferred pilot and Guardian Retrofit. He had started on my left side, and as stated by Asburygrad, 53Leon had a dangerous force with his Daishi as the flagship. Even though I based it early on with my ATVs, he used his ability to break away without a roll (I'm not as familiar with that fig as I should be). I did land a pot shot with my VTOL, but he moved into the water and repaired (ala Housemoro). His Daishi shut down, but he did not mark it with two tokens. I missed that opportunity to drop a full artillery barrage on him.

I gave up on messing with the Daishi at that point and focused on the scrum and destroying anything else 53Leon had. I chased down his transport which he was moving up on my left flank, to capture it with both Sprints, but he broke away and evaded. I then moved into their DZ with both Sprints. His zippy transport swept in from the left and moved forward toward my Signature VTOL. At that point I unleashed a hit from the VTOL and rammed his transport with an Anat which salvaged his transport. He attempted to move his infantry forward in a firing formation to attack my VTOL, but he was rolling against impossible odds. After giving up on the Daishi, I was able to finish off his infantry and the transport with the limited forces I had on my left flank.

Although victorious, I made some mistakes. I underestimated the Daishi, but fortunately the ATVs kept it busy and moving. I think 53Leon got frustrated (although he didn't show it) when he couldn't really get his Daishi into play to its fullest capability, and he could have more effectively used his transport and infantry at the end of the battle (at least to capture some VC 3). Marcmayhem played very well. The DFA was sweet, but at that point he had already lost.


All in all, a great Saturday.