Post by mkcontra on Dec 15, 2012 20:17:03 GMT -5
Hello everyone! (photos towards the bottom)
This is a long time in coming, considering Gencon was in August, but unfortunately, work and lives have picked up tremendously for both Aaron (who helped me run the event) and me following the Con, so getting this effectively written up fell to the wayside. We feel especially bad our fantastic players who made both events superb, Robin, since Gruntz deserved a quick turnaround on the report, and for Rebel Minis and Critical Mass Games who provided material support for the game (some of which the players are still waiting on as prize support...it’s coming soon!!!!). Without any of those groups, the events could not have happened, so THANK YOU.
Anyways, on to the write-up!
We ran two instances of the same scenario, entitled Raid on Däniken Alpha, on both Thursday and Friday mornings. Given the early start times, we’d initially feared low participation, but both events sold out on the first day of pre-registration, so clearly Gruntz sells.
SCENARIO:
The scenario featured two approximately 240 point armies, with a mixed alien force from the Suns of Destiny Mercenary Company attacking an outpost controlled by the East Hyadum Trading Company (and their mostly-humanoid forces).
The desert battlefield featured a mixture of hills, palm forests, and agri-fields, with a water-source in one corner.
The goal was to obtain the most victory points over six turns. Victory points were earned as follows:
Suns of Destiny:
3 points for destroying the Outpost’s communication’s tower (on their right flank/defender’s left)
3 points for destroying the Outpost’s control module located in the center portion of the defender’s part of the table
3 points for destroying the Outpost’s water treatment plant next to the water source (Attacker’s left flank/defender’s right)
1 point for each enemy unit fully destroyed
(Objectives are destroyed by having a Gruntz model (must be made using the Gruntz unit builder i.e. no tanks/walkers) in base contact with the objective take 2 actions to plant a charge (as one attacking team learned, you could push move a model into contact using a leader and use the remaining 2 actions to destroy the objective).
East Hyadum Trading Company:
3 points for having the communication’s tower intact at the end of the game
3 points for having the module intact at the end of the game
3 points for having the treatment plant intact at the end of the game
1 point for each enemy unit destroyed
The victory points were probably skewed slightly towards the attackers in terms of ease, but it played pretty closely.
We also gave each side one ‘commander’ order they could use anywhere on the table each turn (i.e. push move, etc.).
Initiative/activation order was determined each turn via random card draw.
FORCES:
Each of our fine players was given control of 2 squads of Gruntz or small mechanized specialists, as well as a larger vehicle.
Here’s a link to all the cards we used:
docs.google.com/folder/d/0Bzhwbb7YdbU6YlhudUtqQlhCaGs/edit
Suns of Destiny
Left:
Alien Mercenaries (GZG), Timonids (Khurasan) and a Dropship (Rebel
Center:
Protolenes (CMG), Ayame Walkers (CMG) Imperator (Gruntz/CMG)
Right:
Felids (Khurasan), Felid Bikers (Khurasan), Okami Mecha (CMG)
East Hyadum Trading Company
Left:
Quar (Zombiesmith), Viper Walkers (Rebel), Commanche (Rebel)
Center:
SAS Troopers (Micropanzer), Velon (Blue Moon), Merka Heavy Tank (Rebel)
Right:
OUDF in helmets (GZG), OUDF in bush caps (GZG), Cafferata Transport w/ accompanying artillery piece (Khurasan and Mechwarrior Dark Age)
Game 1:
Game 1 saw a close victory for the defenders.
The Attacker’s left flank saw a sweeping advance early on, with both Gruntz squads taking to the air in the Dropship, and making use of the vehicle’s High Flux Reactor and Commander Push Move to position themselves behind the defenders, ready to unleash hell in turn 2.
In the other two sectors, a general advance was sounded with shots exchanged between the Imperator and Merka.
From there, however, things went belly-up for the Attackers: both defending squads around the purification station pulled high initiatives and proceeded to annihilate the two attacking squads.
Overall, the attackers were able to destroy the comms tower late in the game and inflict significant casualties on the defenders, it wasn’t enough to make up for the remaining two standing objectives.
Game 2:
Friday’s game was quite different:
The Attacker’s right flank rapidly stormed the comm’s tower, with the Jet Bikes using their Commander Move to destroy it on turn 2.
On the left, the dropship emptied its cargo in front of the defenders; this time, the attackers received a better set of initiative scores, assaulting and mauling the closer of the two defending squads. The 2nd squad, however, exacted a heavy toll in revenge, eliminating the Timonids and damaging the Alien Mercs. The Mercs, however, made good use of their auto-healers and stayed in the game (this back and forth of the Mercs being slaughtered and the attacking player rolling fantastically on his saves continued for a few turns). Eventually, the Alien Merc heavy was able to sneak into contact with the Purifier and plant the charge.
In the center, the Merka and Imperator exchanged shots, with both eventually falling.
In the end, the Attackers were able to capitalize on the two destroyed objectives and claimed a solid win!
Between the two different results, the scenario turned out to be fun and challenging for both sides. The random activation made things a bit chaotic, but worked well in a convention setting.
Here are some pictures from the games. So as not to burden anyone's connection, the rest can be found here:
smg.beta.photobucket.com/user/Mkcontra/library/Gruntz
Again, thanks so much to Robin, Rebel Minis, Critical Mass Games and the players for their support and participation. Special thanks to Scorpio for helping plan and test the scenario and skrivanek for helping paint figs for the event and running it with me at the Con. It really was a pleasure to host the event and I’m just sorry this never went up earlier.
Maurice
This is a long time in coming, considering Gencon was in August, but unfortunately, work and lives have picked up tremendously for both Aaron (who helped me run the event) and me following the Con, so getting this effectively written up fell to the wayside. We feel especially bad our fantastic players who made both events superb, Robin, since Gruntz deserved a quick turnaround on the report, and for Rebel Minis and Critical Mass Games who provided material support for the game (some of which the players are still waiting on as prize support...it’s coming soon!!!!). Without any of those groups, the events could not have happened, so THANK YOU.
Anyways, on to the write-up!
We ran two instances of the same scenario, entitled Raid on Däniken Alpha, on both Thursday and Friday mornings. Given the early start times, we’d initially feared low participation, but both events sold out on the first day of pre-registration, so clearly Gruntz sells.
SCENARIO:
The scenario featured two approximately 240 point armies, with a mixed alien force from the Suns of Destiny Mercenary Company attacking an outpost controlled by the East Hyadum Trading Company (and their mostly-humanoid forces).
The desert battlefield featured a mixture of hills, palm forests, and agri-fields, with a water-source in one corner.
The goal was to obtain the most victory points over six turns. Victory points were earned as follows:
Suns of Destiny:
3 points for destroying the Outpost’s communication’s tower (on their right flank/defender’s left)
3 points for destroying the Outpost’s control module located in the center portion of the defender’s part of the table
3 points for destroying the Outpost’s water treatment plant next to the water source (Attacker’s left flank/defender’s right)
1 point for each enemy unit fully destroyed
(Objectives are destroyed by having a Gruntz model (must be made using the Gruntz unit builder i.e. no tanks/walkers) in base contact with the objective take 2 actions to plant a charge (as one attacking team learned, you could push move a model into contact using a leader and use the remaining 2 actions to destroy the objective).
East Hyadum Trading Company:
3 points for having the communication’s tower intact at the end of the game
3 points for having the module intact at the end of the game
3 points for having the treatment plant intact at the end of the game
1 point for each enemy unit destroyed
The victory points were probably skewed slightly towards the attackers in terms of ease, but it played pretty closely.
We also gave each side one ‘commander’ order they could use anywhere on the table each turn (i.e. push move, etc.).
Initiative/activation order was determined each turn via random card draw.
FORCES:
Each of our fine players was given control of 2 squads of Gruntz or small mechanized specialists, as well as a larger vehicle.
Here’s a link to all the cards we used:
docs.google.com/folder/d/0Bzhwbb7YdbU6YlhudUtqQlhCaGs/edit
Suns of Destiny
Left:
Alien Mercenaries (GZG), Timonids (Khurasan) and a Dropship (Rebel
Center:
Protolenes (CMG), Ayame Walkers (CMG) Imperator (Gruntz/CMG)
Right:
Felids (Khurasan), Felid Bikers (Khurasan), Okami Mecha (CMG)
East Hyadum Trading Company
Left:
Quar (Zombiesmith), Viper Walkers (Rebel), Commanche (Rebel)
Center:
SAS Troopers (Micropanzer), Velon (Blue Moon), Merka Heavy Tank (Rebel)
Right:
OUDF in helmets (GZG), OUDF in bush caps (GZG), Cafferata Transport w/ accompanying artillery piece (Khurasan and Mechwarrior Dark Age)
Game 1:
Game 1 saw a close victory for the defenders.
The Attacker’s left flank saw a sweeping advance early on, with both Gruntz squads taking to the air in the Dropship, and making use of the vehicle’s High Flux Reactor and Commander Push Move to position themselves behind the defenders, ready to unleash hell in turn 2.
In the other two sectors, a general advance was sounded with shots exchanged between the Imperator and Merka.
From there, however, things went belly-up for the Attackers: both defending squads around the purification station pulled high initiatives and proceeded to annihilate the two attacking squads.
Overall, the attackers were able to destroy the comms tower late in the game and inflict significant casualties on the defenders, it wasn’t enough to make up for the remaining two standing objectives.
Game 2:
Friday’s game was quite different:
The Attacker’s right flank rapidly stormed the comm’s tower, with the Jet Bikes using their Commander Move to destroy it on turn 2.
On the left, the dropship emptied its cargo in front of the defenders; this time, the attackers received a better set of initiative scores, assaulting and mauling the closer of the two defending squads. The 2nd squad, however, exacted a heavy toll in revenge, eliminating the Timonids and damaging the Alien Mercs. The Mercs, however, made good use of their auto-healers and stayed in the game (this back and forth of the Mercs being slaughtered and the attacking player rolling fantastically on his saves continued for a few turns). Eventually, the Alien Merc heavy was able to sneak into contact with the Purifier and plant the charge.
In the center, the Merka and Imperator exchanged shots, with both eventually falling.
In the end, the Attackers were able to capitalize on the two destroyed objectives and claimed a solid win!
Between the two different results, the scenario turned out to be fun and challenging for both sides. The random activation made things a bit chaotic, but worked well in a convention setting.
Here are some pictures from the games. So as not to burden anyone's connection, the rest can be found here:
smg.beta.photobucket.com/user/Mkcontra/library/Gruntz
Again, thanks so much to Robin, Rebel Minis, Critical Mass Games and the players for their support and participation. Special thanks to Scorpio for helping plan and test the scenario and skrivanek for helping paint figs for the event and running it with me at the Con. It really was a pleasure to host the event and I’m just sorry this never went up earlier.
Maurice
