FWC Battle report: Andrayadans vs... Gundams o_O !?!

So, we started a new year of gaming, and as such I thought it an opportune moment to make a battle report about the first battle of the year. Send a textie to my long time buddy / personal driver / arch nemesis to hear if he wanted to participate, and when he said yes, I needed to find something special. Enter my beloved Gundams, it`s about time they paid of their airmiles with a decent performance on the battlefield.

+++ Incomming Message +++
+++ Security Clearance: ST-8 Ultraviolet +++
+++ Subject: XMFG-10-Dieci +++

This is Celestial Being *stop* Operation Meteor is a go *stop* We repeat: Operation Meteor is a go *stop*
All systems green *stop* Dynames device launched *stop*
Please Confirm *stop* Celestial Being out *stop*

+++ Message ends +++

Okay, so that fluff isn`t completely correct as it mixes and matches parts from 3 different Gundam anime series, but my game friends aren`t the lovers of anime like I am so they won`t know ;)

The scene was set as such for a 1500 points battle, me taking my list from the Cav Open Market list, the enemy drawing from his Andrayada forces. Being part of the campaign, the battle took place `somewhere in Africa` but that`s completely irrelevant for the non-campaign players heehe. The campaign itself can be found here for those intrested.
The table was 48 on 48 inches (aka, 4 tiles of TSS terrain tiles), with various kinds of scenery.



So up to the army lists. Guy, my opponent (as in Guy Ritchie type of Guy, not that guy type of guy) had 1350 points at his disposal with his advanced tech and selected a CO and HQ to give the orders, 6 Warrior units, 4 of the heavily armoured Vanguards, 2 Scout Recce warriors and 6 Voran walkers. A Light Orbital Bombardment stood also at his command, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.



The Gundams faced them off with a CO and HQ, supported by 4 Regular infantry, 2 Raider IFV vehicles, a Dragoon tank (all models from the Plasmablast Progenitors), a Desert Zaku (Kahn) and Sniper Gouf (Warden) 1/400 Bandai models, and the stars of the line up, the Endless Waltz versions of HeavyArms and Sandrock (both 1/300 scale Bandai). HeavyArms was the Ogre from the list, Sandrock an Emperor.



The Gundams lost the roll to deploy first, but took the win in the roll for who would have turn 1. My breakpoint was 7 (15 `counting` units as massives count double) vs 6 for the Andrayadans.

And so battle commenced...



Turn 1

The Gundam CO took the first order for his account, moving the assault group of Sandrock, the IFV`s and the Infantry forward one time... and then blundering causing not only the turn to end, but also to saddle him up with a -2 CV for the next turn... way to start a battle.

The Andrayadans on their part started almost as bad, as the HQ failed to command the infantry, so they didn`t advance, as would the CO as he tried to take over. Luckily, the CO had already rolled a command bonus for the other part of the force as the robots advanced and took possession of some of the large buildings in front of them.

Turn 2

The HQ of the Gundams then moves HeavyArms forward while the Desert Zaku opens fire, but without success against the vanguard in the building. The CO then orders some infantry in the buildings as well, but one of the Regulars becomes suppressed by opportunity fire. Sandrock advances alone towards enemy lines, but then the CO blunders again and forces Sandrock to move towards the enemy lines. Not a bad blunder, `cause this would let me charge Sandrock in on Initiative next turn.



The Andrayadan Recce boosts both their commanders CV value, but then it starts to go wrong big time, as the HQ manages to order one move before failing, and the CO fails when trying to bring in the Bombardment centered on Sandrock. This would become a serious running problem for the Andrayada in the battle as you`ll see later on, and we decided afterwards it was due to them still running on MS-DOS instead of Windows 7.

Turn 3

Enter Sandrock! Charging on Initiative, the huge Gundam lunges into the Vanguard on the building in fornt of him, unhindered by defensive fire, and flushes the elite warriors out and back to the next building. In the meantime, the Sniper Gouf suppresses a Warrior unit. Smart Missiles crash against the Dragoon tank, but fail to kill or even supress the machine, and it`s return fire suppresses one of the Voran walkers, which would then be finished of by a volley from HeavyArms.
Two infantry stands of the Andrayadans are then finished off by the Dragoon and HeavyArms, as the HQ managed to keep giving orders before failing when needing a 4...
The CO just pulls his flank a bit back including Sandrock to organise the line for the next strike.



The Andrayada in return had a couple of units less to command due to suppressions and casualties, and started with target painting the Sniper Gouf. And that was it, as both the HQ and the CO botch their first order attempts...



Turn 4

Feeling I could let the Andrayada reach their breakpoint, I decided to let the push come from the other side this round, so my rusty enemies would be caught between two huge Gundams that would work their way towards each other, clearing a building at a time.
Sandrock did nothing except powering his shield back up, as the Gouf becomes suppressed by opportunity fire from Vanguards.
The Zaku was then destroyed by the Smart Missiles from the Voran, but this took that weapon out of sight and HeavyArms moved in line of sight to take out the war machine. The first volley suppressed it, the second finished it off, leaving the biggest treat to my shields, the unsavable smart missiles, a memory in the past. The Dragoon tank rolled forward a bit and suppressed, then finished, a Warrior unit.
On the other flank, combined fire from the Regular squads took out a Vanguard unit, while an IFV managed to gun down a unit of Scouts.
The Andrayadans where seriously starting to run out of units, and more importantly, out of CV value.



But the robotic monstrosities had one more ace in their sleeve... the Light Orbital Bombardment came through and smashed into the middle of the bunched up infantry in the centre. Though it did supress the Andrayadan scouts nearby as well, it ravaged in the Gundam lines, supressing the HQ, a Regulars unit and an IFV, and destroying the Zaku and another Regulars unit.
Unfortunatly for the Andrayadans, they can`t follow up on the success as yet another command roll, by the CO, is failed and ends their turn.



In practice, and in hindsight, this was where the battle ended as the Andrayadans had played their last hand and failed to capitulate on the success due to poor command rolls... but respect to my opponent, he wouldn`t just yield yet, as `un Fall Backable` infantry in Hard cover is hard to shift, and me just refusing to hide behind buildings and let the huge machines do the job, but keeping up with peppering -useless- shots at the enemy in the flats.

Turn 5

Both HeavyArms and the Dragoon advance a little to draw new firing lines, and in doing so suppress the Andrayadan scouts. Samdrock steadily advances back to a forward position in order to launch a new attack later on...



The Andrayadan turn was even shorter though. A Vanguard unit manages to suppress an IFV on initiative fire... and that was it as once again the CO botches the roll. Like I said in the beginning, this would be a running problem for my opponent, who if lucky managed to even give a single order. Shoudl learn him to use loaded dice on 6 muahahaha.

Turn 6

A short turn for me, as I failed some command rolls for once very soon in the ordering. A Regular unit was killed by opportunity fire, while the Dragoon suppressed a Warrior unit, and that was it for me. The Andrayadans could make this a hurt turn, as I`m starting to near my break point as well now, and unlike the metalic beast on the other side, I do need to test and one flunk would mean my force running of the battlefield. I just must see not to loose a single unit anymore now...



... which won`t happen as the Andrayada software isn`t patched up in a long time. Though they manage to designate the Dragoon, not one shot even manages to hit, and then... they fail all command rolls again. I almost started to feel sorry for Guy... almost... die Nemesis die!!!! Mwuahahahahaha *kuch* right... on to:

Turn 7: The End is Near

The turn starts with Sandrock thundering into the Vanguards, and kills them off by causing double or more hits. On the other flank, the Dragoon and HeavyArms use initiative to charge the Scouts, and needless to be said, made very, very short work of them...



The Andrayadan CO did the only thing he could, and gave the `boot down` order to the few remaining troops still standing. The battle was over and Operation Meteor a success.



Concluding this, I was very lucky that Guy couldn`t manage to pass a lot of CV tests, especcially with the shaky start of my force with two blunders in a row. I feared to loose at least one of the huge Gundams to enemy fire, the Massive trait making them easier to hit, while coping with the problems of flushing out the infantry in the buildings.
In the end though, more due to his lack of luck then my excessive luck the Gundams carried home the battle, and for more `pure intimidation` factor then cost / efficiency I nominate Sandrock as `hero of the battle` as his charges shattered the flank twice and causing the Andrayadans to stay put in the buildings and unable to maneuvre anywhere, as falling out of the buildings to avoid the charge would leave them open to the volleys of HeavyArms...



That`s it for the first battle of the year, ciao ciao all and till the next time!