Post by scottwashburn on Dec 27, 2015 13:24:22 GMT
The Ambler Gamers played a big game of All Quiet on the Martian Front recently. We used pretty much everything we had. On the American side we had nearly a full tank battalion. Three full tank companies plus two MK IV monitors, a minelayer, a unit of self-propelled howitzers, three platoons of infantry, several machine gun units and several units of Rough Riders. We also had a lot of trenches and bunkers and my new trench guns. Not including the trenches and trench guns this comes to right around 3,000 points.
On the Martian side we had 8 assault tripods, 4 scout tripods, 2 grenadier tripods and one slaver tripod commanding 24 drones and 9 lobototon stands. We realized that this was way too many things for one slaver, but we only had the one. All told, including two Black Dust launchers and one Green Gas Grenade set it came to 3,190 points. So the two sides were very close to equal.
The Americans had a defensive line of trenches filled with infantry running diagonally across the table (which was about 6’ x 8’). A second line of trenches to the rear held the American artillery and some machine guns. The American commanders (Joe and Steve) chose to deploy most of their armor in front of the trenches along with the Rough Riders and some infantry. One tank company was kept back in reserve. The two MK IV Monitors with their long-ranged 7” guns were kept back behind the trenches, too, hoping to do some sniping. The Martians were deployed along the opposite table edge with the slaver in the center. There wasn’t a lot of terrain, just a few hills and a farm.
The Martians won the initiative on the first turn and sent their machines forward all along the line. In the center the slaver and its slaves slowly advanced, while on the extreme right, the speedy scouts zipped around a hill. The Martian left was a more cautious and moved slowly.
There wasn’t much fire, many of the tripods being out of range. The grenadiers dropped a black dust bomb on the trench line and killed a machine gun stand but that was about all.
One heat ray shot destroyed a Mk II tank, but the rest either missed or bounced off. Martian marksmanship was to be poor the whole battle.
During the American turn most of their forces stayed put on the left. In the center the minelayer dropped a mine and moved on. On the right the rough riders moved ahead and the one tank company moved up to fire. The reserve tank company began shifting left behind the trenches.
Firing was pretty accurate and a number of hits were scored on tripods, but except for one which had its movement controls damaged, all the hits were against the armor rating. The Americans would be as unlucky on the damage table as the Martians were in scoring hits.
But the Americans won the initiative for Turn 2, so they ended up moving twice in a row. They shuffled their forces a bit and the minelayer dropped its second mine. Another shower of fire from their guns scratched off Martian armor, but even the mighty 7” on the MK IVs couldn’t do much of anything, until finally on the far left a humble 4” gun from one of the tanks found its mark and blew up one of the scout tripods. The explosion damaged the scout next to it. They also managed to inflict weapons damage on two of the tripods, making them dangerous for the Martians to fire (if they try to fire, each side rolls a die and the higher roll gets to pick the target—basically, the fire control system is damaged and the shot could go anywhere). They also managed to put a couple of hits on the slaver, but yet again, they couldn’t get a high roll on the tripod damage table.
Then it was the Martian’s turn. They continued to advance the Slaver horde, but leery of the mines they swung the slaver right and the Martian left slid further left. The mines were a threat, but nothing got close enough to set one off the whole game. The leading drones got close enough to the American tanks to launch an assault. The heat rays finally begin to claim some victims, but the drone assault fails to score a single kill and they fall back. Still the Martians inflict some damage, including the command tank for one of the tank companies.
Over on the far left, where the Rough Riders had been trying their luck, they quickly found that luck wasn’t enough.
But now it was the Martian’s chance to move twice in a row. They continued to advance on the right, although in the wake of the drone’s failed assault, now they simply formed a firing line to try and take out the Human tanks with their light heat rays. This they accomplished easily. Combined with other fire, the American tank company facing them was starting to dissolve. With their second move, the drones neared the American trench line, and one of the damaged scouts leaps clear across. Over on the other flank, the Martians are content to stand their ground and slowly blast away the American tanks. Which proves very effective.
The Americans, now thoroughly alarmed at the advance of the drone swarm, concentrate everything they’ve got against the slaver tripod. If they can just knock it out, all those drones will be rendered useless. They score a few more hits but still don’t kill the thing. The American artillery rains down on it, too, and kills a nearby lobototon, but that’s all. Little else is accomplished anywhere along the line and things start to look bad for the Americans.
The Martians moved next and the drones sweep up to the trenches and slaughter everything in their path. Over on the other flank things aren’t looking too good, either. During their second move, the Martians push forward both of the tripods with weapons damage deep into the humans’ lines. Their thinking is that if they get them far enough away from the other Martian forces it won’t matter if they lose the roll-off when they try to fire. Cold, rational Martian thinking, that!
The Americans are getting desperate and try to bring their reserves over to their left. Once again they concentrate everything they can bring to bear against the slaver. Nearly everything just bounces off. But then, then one of the Mark IVs aims carefully with its massive 7” gun and Ka-boom! The slaver explodes! All the drones and lobotons nearby are incinerated in the blast and the survivors just wander off. Hurrah! Finally the human luck has turned. Another well-aimed shot brings down a tripod near the trenches. And over on the other flank another tripod is destroyed. Perhaps there is still hope!
In the Martians’ next move they try to salvage something on their right. They push all their remaining tripods into the human lines. A fine shot destroys one of the Mk IVs, but then when they try to fire one of the tripods with weapons damage at the American artillery, they roll a 9, but the humans roll a 10! The one tripod fires on the other, which is just barely in range and brings it down!
This seems to demoralize the aliens. Both armies are very close to their break points and the Martians decide to pull back and call it a night.
All in all, it was a great game. We had several new players and they picked up the rules right away. Everyone had a really good time.
On the Martian side we had 8 assault tripods, 4 scout tripods, 2 grenadier tripods and one slaver tripod commanding 24 drones and 9 lobototon stands. We realized that this was way too many things for one slaver, but we only had the one. All told, including two Black Dust launchers and one Green Gas Grenade set it came to 3,190 points. So the two sides were very close to equal.
The Americans had a defensive line of trenches filled with infantry running diagonally across the table (which was about 6’ x 8’). A second line of trenches to the rear held the American artillery and some machine guns. The American commanders (Joe and Steve) chose to deploy most of their armor in front of the trenches along with the Rough Riders and some infantry. One tank company was kept back in reserve. The two MK IV Monitors with their long-ranged 7” guns were kept back behind the trenches, too, hoping to do some sniping. The Martians were deployed along the opposite table edge with the slaver in the center. There wasn’t a lot of terrain, just a few hills and a farm.
The Martians won the initiative on the first turn and sent their machines forward all along the line. In the center the slaver and its slaves slowly advanced, while on the extreme right, the speedy scouts zipped around a hill. The Martian left was a more cautious and moved slowly.
There wasn’t much fire, many of the tripods being out of range. The grenadiers dropped a black dust bomb on the trench line and killed a machine gun stand but that was about all.
One heat ray shot destroyed a Mk II tank, but the rest either missed or bounced off. Martian marksmanship was to be poor the whole battle.
During the American turn most of their forces stayed put on the left. In the center the minelayer dropped a mine and moved on. On the right the rough riders moved ahead and the one tank company moved up to fire. The reserve tank company began shifting left behind the trenches.
Firing was pretty accurate and a number of hits were scored on tripods, but except for one which had its movement controls damaged, all the hits were against the armor rating. The Americans would be as unlucky on the damage table as the Martians were in scoring hits.
But the Americans won the initiative for Turn 2, so they ended up moving twice in a row. They shuffled their forces a bit and the minelayer dropped its second mine. Another shower of fire from their guns scratched off Martian armor, but even the mighty 7” on the MK IVs couldn’t do much of anything, until finally on the far left a humble 4” gun from one of the tanks found its mark and blew up one of the scout tripods. The explosion damaged the scout next to it. They also managed to inflict weapons damage on two of the tripods, making them dangerous for the Martians to fire (if they try to fire, each side rolls a die and the higher roll gets to pick the target—basically, the fire control system is damaged and the shot could go anywhere). They also managed to put a couple of hits on the slaver, but yet again, they couldn’t get a high roll on the tripod damage table.
Then it was the Martian’s turn. They continued to advance the Slaver horde, but leery of the mines they swung the slaver right and the Martian left slid further left. The mines were a threat, but nothing got close enough to set one off the whole game. The leading drones got close enough to the American tanks to launch an assault. The heat rays finally begin to claim some victims, but the drone assault fails to score a single kill and they fall back. Still the Martians inflict some damage, including the command tank for one of the tank companies.
Over on the far left, where the Rough Riders had been trying their luck, they quickly found that luck wasn’t enough.
But now it was the Martian’s chance to move twice in a row. They continued to advance on the right, although in the wake of the drone’s failed assault, now they simply formed a firing line to try and take out the Human tanks with their light heat rays. This they accomplished easily. Combined with other fire, the American tank company facing them was starting to dissolve. With their second move, the drones neared the American trench line, and one of the damaged scouts leaps clear across. Over on the other flank, the Martians are content to stand their ground and slowly blast away the American tanks. Which proves very effective.
The Americans, now thoroughly alarmed at the advance of the drone swarm, concentrate everything they’ve got against the slaver tripod. If they can just knock it out, all those drones will be rendered useless. They score a few more hits but still don’t kill the thing. The American artillery rains down on it, too, and kills a nearby lobototon, but that’s all. Little else is accomplished anywhere along the line and things start to look bad for the Americans.
The Martians moved next and the drones sweep up to the trenches and slaughter everything in their path. Over on the other flank things aren’t looking too good, either. During their second move, the Martians push forward both of the tripods with weapons damage deep into the humans’ lines. Their thinking is that if they get them far enough away from the other Martian forces it won’t matter if they lose the roll-off when they try to fire. Cold, rational Martian thinking, that!
The Americans are getting desperate and try to bring their reserves over to their left. Once again they concentrate everything they can bring to bear against the slaver. Nearly everything just bounces off. But then, then one of the Mark IVs aims carefully with its massive 7” gun and Ka-boom! The slaver explodes! All the drones and lobotons nearby are incinerated in the blast and the survivors just wander off. Hurrah! Finally the human luck has turned. Another well-aimed shot brings down a tripod near the trenches. And over on the other flank another tripod is destroyed. Perhaps there is still hope!
In the Martians’ next move they try to salvage something on their right. They push all their remaining tripods into the human lines. A fine shot destroys one of the Mk IVs, but then when they try to fire one of the tripods with weapons damage at the American artillery, they roll a 9, but the humans roll a 10! The one tripod fires on the other, which is just barely in range and brings it down!
This seems to demoralize the aliens. Both armies are very close to their break points and the Martians decide to pull back and call it a night.
All in all, it was a great game. We had several new players and they picked up the rules right away. Everyone had a really good time.
