Hell's Highway scenario

 

Well finally we manage to get a Tuesday night game in, after a few weeks of interruptions. The scenario was as follows…..

Situation:  Your army has launched a major drive up the Sanlando Valley on Rinn's World. Commanding Alpha Force, you are ordered to hold open it's only viable supply road through this desolate country from Bravo Force counterattacks.

Terrain:  The game was played on a 4 ft. X 6 ft. Table. Two small parallel ridges 2 ft and at 4 ft. In from the left table edge block Line of Sight. Parallel to these, and centered 3 ft from the left and also running across the board are 2 strips of the divided highway. Six Mesa or other desert terrain pieces were also used.

Armies: We used 4000 points. Smaller armies will favor the attacker. Slow armies will be advantaged as the defender. Units with 15 Cm or less movement must have transport.

Deployment: Alpha Force deploys all his units first, on or between the two road strips. Bravo Force deploys up to 18 inches in from either or both short edges.

Victory Conditions: At the end of turn 4 onwards, have the only non-routed units on both highway strips. Anything else is a draw.

Armies used:

White Scars (NetEA Tournament Pack 2013)
BIKE [425]
8 Bike Unit, Captain
BIKE [425]
8 Bike Unit, Chaplain
BIKE [425]
8 Bike Unit, Chaplain
BIKE [425]
8 Bike Unit, Chaplain
TERMINATOR [750]
4 Terminators + 4 Land Raiders, Supreme Commander
PREDATOR [250]
4 Annihilator
PREDATOR [250]
4 Annihilator
PREDATOR [250]
4 Destructor
SCOUT [300]
4 Scouts, Chaplain, 4 Razorback
SCOUT [250]
4 Scouts, 4 Razorback
MARAUDER BOMBERS [250]
2 Bombers

Hammers of Valhalla

WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD [500]
1 Hearthguard unit, 4 Thunderer units, 14 Warrior units, 10 Rhino
WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD [400]
1 Hearthguard unit, 14 Warrior units, 8 Rhino
WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD [400]
1 Hearthguard unit, 8 Rhino, 14 Warrior units
BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD [200]
1 Hearthguard unit, 7 Berzerker units, 4 Rhino
BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD [175]
1 Hearthguard unit, 5 Berzerker units, 3 Rhino
MOLE MORTAR [175]
6 Mole Mortar units
IRON HAWK [275]
Iron Hawk, 3 Iron Eagle
IRON HAWK [275]
Iron Hawk, 3 Iron Eagle
BIKERS GUILD [225]
6 Guild Bike unit, Guildmaster
GOLIATH [300]
2 Goliath Mega-Cannon
COLOSSUS [450]
1 Colossus
COLOSSUS [450]
1 Colossus
BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD [175]
1 Hearthguard unit, 5 Berzerker units

Table lay out

• Table layout looking north and running left(Photo1) to right(Photo3)

Deployment

• White scars deployment(Photo1&3) and Hammers of Valhalla(Photo2)

Turn 1

• White scars go first…
• WS move up Predator unit and shoot the Goliath Mega-Cannon unit, causing 2DC and a BM on the unit(Photo1)

• WS retain the turn and move another predator unit(Photo1) up and shoot the Goliath Mega-Cannon unit, kill one and breaking the unit(Photo2) and so the Goliath Mega-Cannon unit flee down the road(Photo3)

• HOV open up with the MOLE MORTAR unit(Photo1) and target the scouts and manage to clip the bikes, so the scout loses 2 stands and so does the bike unit. So both units get 4 BM’s each(Photo2)

• HOV retain the turn and do a engage action with WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD and did a CC with the predator unit and called intermingled and brought the other Predator unit in(Photo1). After the smoke and sounds clear the predators lose a unit and the other is broken(Photo2). The lone predator flees back to it deployment zone(Photo3) and the WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD get a BM and consolidate, on the hill…(Photo4)

• SW bring the bombers and hit a WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD(Photo1), after the smoke clears the unit take 6 hits and 8 BM’s all up(Photo2)

• SW retain the turn and move predator unit up and shoot IRON HAWK unit, doing a BM(Photo1)

• HOV then move IRON HAWK unit(Photo1)and shoot the Bombers giving them a BM(Photo2)

• HOV then try and retain turn and so the IRON HAWK unit gains another BM(Photo1) and then shoots predator unit, giving it a BM(Photo2)

• WS then do marshalling action on bikes and so do normal move up to hill and then manage to remove all BM’s(Photo1)

• HOV double move BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD up, so it was on the hill(Photo1)

• WS then do marshalling action with scouts and so move the scouts and manage to remove all BM’s(Photo1)

• HOV then move COLOSSUS up near the BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD(Photo1) and shoot the scout unit, killing 3 and giving the unit 4 BM’s(Photo2)

• WS then do engage action with bike unit and target BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD(Photo1), so first round of combat was a draw(Photo2), so onto next round. Which also end in a draw(Photo3), onto round three.The third round saw the WS win, but were broken due to BM’s and flee over the hill(Photo4)

• HOV then fail to activate WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD, gain a BM(Photo1) and then shoot the Predator unit and give it a BM(Photo2).

• WS then do engage action with bike unit and BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD and call intermingled and drag in the COLOSSUS(Photo1), after the smoke and noise clears the WS win the combat(Photo2), the BERZERKER BROTHERHOOD is wiped from the board and the colossus is broken and flees back to a rock formation in between the roads(Photo3). The WS get 3BM’s and consolidate(Photo4)

• HOV then do engage action with Berzerker brotherhood and target scouts(Photo1), after the noise and smoke clears the Berzerker brotherhood is the winner(Photo2) and they get 2 BM’s(Photo3)

• WS then double move scout unit and shoot the BIKERS GUILD(Photo1)(BM not there yet), after the smoke clears the unit loses 2 stands and gains 3 BM’s all up(Photo2)

• HOV do engage action with BIKERS GUILD and target the scouts(Photo1), after the noise and smoke clears the scouts win combat(Photo2) and they get 3BM’s and consolidate on the hill(Photo3)

• HOV retain the turn and move the WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD(Photo1) and then shoot WS bike unit, killing 2 stands and giving the unit 3BM’s all up(Photo2)

• WS do engage action with the TERMINATOR unit and target WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD(Photo1), but WS call intermingled and manage to drag in IRON HAWK, COLOSSUS and broken GOLIATH. The HOV get support from the WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD(Photo2). So on with combat, first round was a draw(Photo3). The second round the WS win the combat(Photo4), so the broken GOLIATH is destroyed and all other HOV are broken(Photo5). So the broken units flee down the road and the WS take 4 BM’s(Photo6)

• HOV don't rally a WARRIOR BROTHERHOOD and COLOSSUS. The WS don’t rally Bike unit. Both sides remove blast markers
• Game called due to time. Yes it took use 2hrs about 20mins to do the first turn. So White scars won, but keep reading..

Summary

A few words from the sub-commander on last nights game….

Thanks for a fun game of Epic A last night with you & Trent. While the scenario looked balanced and was even historically based ( Operation Market-Garden), it was soon obvious this was going to take far more time than we had. Choosing which of three armies that would fight you (SM, Iron Warriors, or Squats), that three round battle and the later huge fight at the end of turn one ate up too much time, even if they were a lot of fun. I regret not pressing for one more turn, even though I'm sure the Marines would have won in the end. The Squats had just lost too much of their good stuff, or were about to.
   When we do this one again I'll have my force ready to immediately deploy.  I'll also have "Bravo Force" arrive from off table instead of 18" in. Even so, we will have to step lively if we are to finish a 4000 points per side battle in 3 hours. Battles under 4000 points per side will not be considered! How could anything less be considered "Epic" ?

Ok couple of other pointers.

• Hammers of Valhalla are Thurgrim's Stronghold Squats 1.4 army structure, but the units stats are from ARMORBREAKER-ADAMANTINE FORGE list. Britt wanted to do that way…which is fine…
• I agree with Britt another turn may have seen the squats in front and close to achieving the scenario conditions….

May the dice roll high for you…

Regards

Greg