Adventures on Terra Nova

[Galadrin]

This is the third in a series of skirmish-scale Heavy Gear battles I have been playing with my son. I decided to take pictures this time to share. We use the 1st Edition rules with the Tactical Field Support and Tactical Air Support supplements.

Setup

The third battle in a series, the North has punched through the Southern defensive lines, advancing quickly into the AST's rear areas. In this scenario, the North has to capture a Southern firebase in the jungle

Southern Firebase

The base is lightly defended by a pair of second-line OACS-04M/SU Sidewinders. The HA-7 Titan is here for rearmament and repair. With no crew present to pilot the fearsome VTOL, the lead technician decides to take things into his own hands and orders his assistant to prepare for take-off.

Northern Squadron

The Northern forces consisted of a Fire Support Squadron with two HACS-01MG-MP Hunters (the Squadron leader and 2iC), a HACS-01MG-AST Assault Hunter with an extra clip of Snub Cannon ammo and a HACS-02HG-MPS Grizzly. The pre-battle morale check results in nervous chatter from the Grizzly pilot, reducing the confidence of the unit as a whole.

Turn 1

The North starts off rolling towards the Firebase at combat speed. The Assault Hunter swings to the East to flank the base while the remaining Gears push the main attack.

Turn 1

Hearing the frantic reports of the base commander, a Southern Mounted Heavy Recon Escouade races through the jungle to reinforce the base defenders. Each pair of Jackrabbit combat bike and Jackrabbit B sidecar bike carries a fire team of 5 recon infantry armed with four Dartand 7mm Assault Rifles and a 37mm Grenade Rifle.

Turn 2

"Red" fire team dismounts near the western end of the firebase while the base commander in the Sidewinder takes cover behind a corridor, taking ineffective pot shots at the onrushing Northern forces.

Turn 2

"Blue" fire team dismounts on the Eastern side of the firebase, prepared to defend it with their lives.

Turn 3

The Southern 2iC moves to intercept the flanking Assault Hunter, but both pilots fail to connect with their attacks.

Turn 3

The Southern Commander charges forward to meet the attackers, targeting the Northern squadron leader with his PR-50 Autocannon.

Turn 3

The Northern leader fumbles his defense roll and his Hunter is overkilled by accurate fire from the Southern commander. The death of their leader causes Northern morale to take a hit.

Turn 4

In the following turn, the 2iC moves to check on the Northern squadron leader (to avoid the "Buddy Rule" morale check) but is then gunned down himself by the Southern leader. The Grizzly turns his M225 Heavy Autocannon on the Sidewinder, but the Southern Commander has thrown his SMS wheels into reverse and ducked behind a tower, causing the autocannon shells to splash against the structure.

Turn 4

The situation at the end of Turn 4. The Assault Hunter has raced towards the base and then swung around to face the Sidewinder pursuing it. The Titan finally takes off, after taking several turns to prepare for flight.

Turn 5

After having taking a heavy mobility hit from the Sidewinder, the Assault Hunter takes fire from "Red" team behind it. While this attack misses, it allows "Blue" team to coordinate fire, taking advantage of the Consecutive Defense Penalty to land a successful hit with their 37mm Grenade Rifle. Unfortunately for the Northern pilot, this strikes the spare magazine of Snub Cannon ammo, which then explodes, destroying the Gear.

Turn 5

The Grizzly, now alone, tries desperately to shake off the crippling -2 morale penalties that are preventing the North from seizing the initiative. At the same time, the Titan is now on the hunt and swoops in behind the Grizzly. Spending a Tactical Command Point to do an about-face, the Grizzly dodges two ATMs from the inexperienced repair crew piloting the Attack VTOL. Undeterred, the lead mechanic spends a Tactical Command Point, gaining an additional action to dump its Vogel-8 Rocket Pod into the slowly moving target. The Grizzly goes up in an enormous explosion, ending the Northern attack on the firebase.

End Game

The carnage at the end of the battle. The Southern forces performed exceptionally well, defending the fire base with no casualties. Things began to fall apart with the Northern squadron as soon as the leader went down and morale began to spiral (and splitting the attacking forces into two vectors did not help much either).

In the end, the Southern player played his defense very aggressively and this surprised the Northern player... he charged forward with the lead Sidewinder and bottlenecked the Northern squadron in a tight ravine, with no option other than to charge forward and be surrounded or retreat (what Sun Tzu referred to as "Deadly Ground"). The Buddy Rule meant that the Northern pilots had to check on their fallen comrades, creating a domino effect as they all succumbed to the dangers of the deadly ground.

[Spinal Tap]

Superb write up and a fabulous looking table; I have a soft spot for Heroscape terrain.

Hope to see more of your games on here.

[Bloggard]

great look with the heroscape terrain.

[Daeothar]

Great write up and a smashing victory for the Southerners; they performed well, even the inexperienced repair crew

And I was never a real fan of grid based terrain, not even for Battletech back in the eighties. But you've really made it shine here, especially in combination with the old GW jungle trees; the Heroscape terrain and trees complement eachother prefectly.