Sci Fi: Battle for Ghenna IV Continues....

.... as I continue to test out gaming theories on my unsuspecting fellow game club members!  But I digress...

Basically, I ran two games, one very small and short, and one larger and longer, to watch the integration of light scout walkers with infantry.  The walkers seemed to attract most of the attention, and they had a pretty high casualty rate by the end of the large game.

Here was the basic table set up for both games (slightly changed between games)...

Somewhere near the water processing station of Ghenna IV, Ni'Hon PLF have deployed a small force of infantry supported by light scout walkers.  Startled Free Miner militia race back to their housing units, and the battle begins...

The first shot of the game tore the legs from a Ni'Hon walker, effectively crippling it for the game...

Yes, and if that walker looks suspiciously like an oop Battletech Archer, you'd be right.  I am a cheapskate, and if I have boxes full of 6mm scale 'mechs that look great as 15mm light vehicles, no one is going to stop me from using them.

The Free Miners were pretty effective in cutting down the Ni'Hon elite infantry, and gained convincing possession of at least one objective, winning the short game.

In the meanwhile, a strong force of Pride Warriors (affectionately nicknames "war cats" by the locals) landed.  Daunted by their inhuman ferocity, the Ni'Hon PLF and Free Miners hastily formed an alliance of convenience to fight the common foe.  The following are images from the larger, 4 platoon game.  You will notice a number of different walkers, each side having its own "color".

An early shot of the game, as war cats have already screamed onto the table, apparently unfazed by the looming mechanical Ni'Hon menace to their fore...

The Free Miners surged into their living area, moving aggressively to dislodge the Pride Warrior invaders.  They even experimented with charging into hand to hand combat...

... but after losing an entire team of 6 models for eliminating only 1 Pride Warrior, the experiment was not repeated again during the game.

A giant hand looms across the land, as tiny figures scurry for cover....

A Ni'Hon walker (looking suspiciously like a Rifleman) maneuvered on the Pride Warrior infantry, inflicting some casualties.  The war cats responded by sprinting one of their Daishi-like medium walkers into the rear arc of the Ni'Hon machine... and lined up the shot....

...cat-BOOM!

Unfortunately, the war cat celebration was short lived.  Apparently, the green hued walker positioned itself with its side to an alert PLF ATGM team.  The Yabu AT-12 missile burned towards the war cat walker....

... and slammed into the side of its head, with devastating results.

While the Ni'Hon were continuing to inflict losses on the Pride Warriors on one side of the table, on the other side, the Free Miner militia was completely out classed and out numbered by their opponents ( the miners only fielded 1/3 of the total human point value, and it took some time for PLF elements to begin to engage the cats on the miner side of the battle).  Below, one of the cobbled together Free Miner scout walkers (I think they named this one "Hussar") lurks behind a solid worker dorm, in an attempt to avoid spontaneous combustion as Pride Warrior medium walkers and teams of fast moving infantry advance.

To no avail....

But at least at this point of the game, the Ni'Hon PLF were beginning to engage both war cat platoons.... notice another downed Ni'Hon walker, and the accumulated penetrating hits (green markers) assigned to both Ni'Hon and Pride walkers.

The next to last war cat walker soon fell, leaving only 1 badly damaged Ni'Hon walker facing off against 1 badly damaged Pride Warrior walker.

In the end, there was little doubt that the war cats had won the battle.  The miner force had been gutted, and though the PLF still had measurable strength on the table, the cats had firm control of one of the objectives.  Casualties were moderate in both the Ni'Hon and cat infantry.

The walkers, on the other hand, took a beating.  2 of 3 Pride medium walkers destroyed, the survivor badly damaged.  2 of 3 Ni'Hon light walkers destroyed, the survivor badly damaged. 2 of 2 miner light walkers destroyed, no survivors.

Not sure what I learned about integration of walkers and infantry, other than everyone likes to shoot at vehicles.  A lot. 

But all the players had a good time, there were plenty of tense dice rolls.  The scenario was a simple, straightforward meeting engagement... simply further playtesting. 

I did include most of my "electric box buildings" in the game, as well as another sci-fi terrain piece, I call the globe trees... here is a close up of one...

A pretty simple method that produces a completely alien looking form of vegetation.  I planned these for 28mm John Carter of Mars games, but they look great in 15mm too (though as quite large plants), and mixed pretty well with the aquarium jungle.  I should look for more of these to put together.

Thanks for reading, it is starting to appear to me that things have not gone very well for my miners.  Their best success was against the Ni'Hon... who in their turn managed better success against the Pride Warriors than the miners did.

Will this spell the end of Ghenna IV and the birth of Lidderbachs IV?  Only time will tell...