Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Dust Tactics League Play! 06-24-2012


Red Castle Games saw the return of our league after a two week hiatus. A few games of Dust Warfare were played in between league nights, as well as a few games with the SSU for battle reports that will be featured in the DUST Fanzine! Today we continued our Operation Blue Thunder v2.0 League and finished up Scenarios 8 and 9. In addition we had a new player attend our league play, Jeffrey Durkauff! Nicholas played 2 small games with Jeffrey, one Axis v. Axis, the other SSU v. Axis. Jeffrey won the Axis v. Axis game, and Nicholas won the SSU v. Axis game (Nicholas played as the SSU in the second game). We will be returning to Red Castle next week to continue the league, which only has 6 games remaining before it’s finished!

Scenario 8: Evacuation

This is the last scenario of the original Operation Blue Thunder campaign book. The Attacker is trying to escape the installation and must have a single miniature in the Defenders deployment zone at the end of Turn 8 to gain a victory. Both armies start on opposite ends of the map, which is 3 tiles by 3 tiles.

John v. Justin
  • Attacker:
    John – Allies: 248 points
    Bazooka Joe – Rhino – 13 Foxtrot – BBQ Squad – Death Dealers – Grim Reapers – Recon Boys – Tank Busters – The Gunners – Mickey – Wildfire
  • Defender:
    Justin – Allies: 250 points
    Bazooka Joe – OZZ-177 – The Priest – BBQ Squad – Corps Officers – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Recon Boys – Recon Boys – Mickey
The action started in Turn 2 when John’s Allies took advantage of an opening and quickly eliminated a squad of Recon Boys. Justin’s Allies were able to get some revenge by eliminating the Death Dealers and Tank Busters. Ozz and his Grim Reapers tried to flank John’s army, but his Mickey made short work of the Hero and his squad at the end of the Turn. John’s Allies felt some more punishment in Turn 3 when Rhino and his Grim Reapers fell early in the round followed by Bazooka Joe and his BBQ Squad. Turn 4 saw the battle turn in favor of John’s Allied Army. Justin’s Bazooka Joe, BBQ Squad, and second group of Recon Boys fell in the Turn. More fire was exchanged in Turn 5 with Justin’s Allies losing the Corps Officers, The Priest, and Hell Boys. John lost the advantage of his Mickey, 13 Foxtrot, and his Gunner Rangers by the end of Turn 6. Turn 8 came down to Justin’s Mickey versus John’s Wildfire and Recon Boys. John positioned his units so that the Mickey had no chance of targeting both units, and could only focus fire on John’s Wildfire. The end of Turn 8 saw the destruction of John’s Wildfire, but his Recon Boys were alive and well in the objective space and the Victory went to John’s Allied army.


Victor: John – Allies

Victory Points:
  • John – Attacker: 215 points 
  • Justin – Defender: 233 points

Nicholas v. John
  • Attacker:
    Nicholas – Axis: 249 points
    Grenadier X – Lara – Manfred – Markus – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers 
  • Defender:
    John – Allies: 248 points
    Bazooka Joe – Rhino – 13 Foxtrot – BBQ Squad – Death Dealers – Grim Reapers – Recon Boys – Tank Busters – The Gunners – Mickey – Wildfire
The carnage started in Turn 3 when the Axis and Allied forces clashed in the center of the map. The Axis lost Totenmeister, her Axis Zombies, and a squad of Recon Grenadiers while the Allies lost their Recon Boys, BBQ Squad, and Death Dealers. Turn 4 saw an immediate continuation of the bloody engagement when Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers laid waste to the Grim Reapers and Bazooka Joe. Markus and his Gorillas did an effective job of closing distance on the Wildfire and Mickey, making short work of both walkers. The Allies did their fair share of damage by finishing off Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers immediately after they wrought their devastation, and made great use of Reactive Fire by eliminating Grenadier X and his Axis Zombies in the middle of their activation before they had a chance to further hurt the Allied forces! By the end of Turn 6 the Axis lost Manfred and his Recon Grenadiers, while the Allies lost Rhino and his Tank Busters along with the Gunner Rangers. The beginning of turn 7 saw only 1 unit for each force remaining. The Allies had their 13 Foxtrot guarding the objective zone, while the Axis had an injured Markus and his remaining Axis Gorilla (Markus was down to a single wound). The Allies won the initiative of Turn 8 and 13 Foxtrot was able to score 2 hits on the Gorillas, but 1 hit was saved by corner cover, allowing Markus to survive the engagement and continue the fight! 13 Foxtrot was defenseless against the gravely injured Markus, who made short work of the unit and moved into the objective square to gain a victory for the Axis.


Victor: Nicholas – Axis

Victory Points:
  • Nicholas – Attacker: 248 points 
  • John – Defender: 229 points

Scenario 9: The Race To Victory

This is the first of 3 extra scenarios from the Operation Blue Thunder Campaign book that is a part of the Terrain Tile Set. The Attacker deploys on a bridge and must get to the objective squares, which are mixed in with the Defenders deployment zone at the opposite end of the map. The trick here is that the Defender also has 4 deployment zones along the edges in the middle of the map, which allow the Defender the option of surrounding the attacking force as they deploy off the bridge. Each unit that the Attacker successfully escapes off the map is worth double points for the Attacker’s VP total. Full unit kills are scored as normal for each player. The player with the most Victory Points at the end of Turn 8 is the winner of the scenario. A very difficult scenario for any Attacker to win, since the map tiles are 3 wide by 4 deep with little cover and terrain to block line of sight for the approaching force. Quite possibly the new “Kobayashi Maru” scenario (The “old” Kobayashi Maru was Scenario 4 from the original Operation Blue Thunder Campaign Book, which was nearly impossible for any attacker to win before the release of Operation Seelöwe and the associated Heavy Infantry Units and Light Walkers).

Justin v. John
  • Attacker:
    Justin – Allies: 300 points
    Bazooka Joe – Johnny One-Eye – OZZ-177 – Rhino – Crack Shots – Grim Reapers – Grim Reapers – The Gunners – The Gunners – Mickey – Mickey – Wildfire – Wildfire
  • Defender:
    John – Allies: 296 points
    Bazooka Joe – Rhino – BBQ Squad – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Tank Busters – The Boss – The Hammers – Mickey – Mickey
Once again the action began in Turn 2 between the two Allied forces. John deployed his Tank Busters near the Allied deployment zone and finished off the Wildfire at the beginning of the turn, while Ozz and his Grim Reapers made a dash for the objective, only to fall to the BBQ Rangers just short of their goal. Turn 3 saw Justin’s Rhino and Grim Reapers fall to fire from John’s Mickey. Justin also lost his Gunner Rangers to fire from John’s Grim Reapers, but Justin’s remaining Wildfire made short work of the heavy infantry unit. Turn 4 saw Johnny and his Gunner Rangers take a bold chance in an attempt to destroy a damaged Mickey, but missed entirely, and then fell to the Sustained Fire retaliation from the target Mickey. John’s second Mickey made short work of the remaining Wildfire. The 3 final turns were pretty much a lock for John’s Allied forces. John lost his damaged Mickey in Turn 6, but took both of Justin’s Mickey’s in Turns 7 and 8. One was lost to a revived Tank Buster squad, and the other fell to Rhino and the Hammers’ powerful Rocket Punches. In a final act of desperation Justin’s remaining unit (Bazooka Joe) was able to make a Sustained Attack to eliminate John’s severely hurt Bazooka Joe and Hell Boys. Justin’s Bazooka Joe then fell to the remaining Mickey and victory was secured for John’s Allied forces. In Turn 7 the Crack Shots were able to make use of their Agility and escape the map while avoiding reactive fire from Bazooka Joe and his BBQ Rangers.


Victor: John – Allies

Victory Points:
  • Justin – Attacker: 193 points
  • John – Defender: 290 points

John v. Nick
  • Attacker:
    John – Allies: 296 points
    Bazooka Joe – Rhino – BBQ Squad – Grim Reapers – Hell Boys – Tank Busters – The Boss – The Hammers – Mickey – Mickey
  • Defender:
    Nicholas – Axis: 299 points
    Grenadier X – Lara – Manfred – Markus – Totenmeister – Axis Gorillas – Axis Zombies – Axis Zombies – Beobachter – Heavy Kommandotrupp – Heavy Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers – Recon Grenadiers – Sniper Grenadiers
This engagement was quick and brutal. Turn 1 saw the Allied Mickey fall to a flanking attack by Grenadier X and his Zombies, while Markus and his Gorillas made a similar maneuver to eliminate the Tank Busters. Rhino and his Hammers fell early in Turn 2, while Lara and her Heavy Recon Grenadiers focused their attack on The Boss Squad to eliminate the Command Unit. By the end of Turn 2 the Allies also lost Bazooka Joe, Hell Boys, Grim Reapers, and the second Mickey. The only Axis troops to not be involved in the battle at this point were both squads of Recon Grenadiers, Manfred, and Beobachters who were holding the objective line. All the Allies had left for turn 3 was the BBQ Squad, but the undead units made short work of the Assault Rangers for an Axis victory!


Victor: Nicholas – Axis

Victory Points:
  • John – Attacker: 0 points
  • Nicholas – Defender: 296 points

A quick write up from Nicholas on the game he played with Jeffrey:


Jeffery - Axis:
Sigrid
Laser Grenadiers
Heavy Recon Grenadiers
Lothar

Nicholas - Axis:
Sturmpioneers
Stefan
Angela
Sniper Grenadiers
Heinrich

This was Jeffrey’s first game with the group. We played on a 9 x 9 tile map. It was a king of the hill scenario with the objective inside a one story building. Nicholas’ Axis quickly captured the objective with his Sturmpioneers lead by Stefan. Jeffrey moved his Heavy Recon into the building but line of sight to the defending Sturmpioneers was blocked by an interior wall. Nicholas moved the Sniper Grenadiers lead by Angela outside of the building to strike Jeffrey’s Lothar with her powerful 20 mm sniper rifle. As the Lothar and Angela exchanged fire, Jeffrey moved his Laser Grenadiers lead by Sigrid flanking the Sturmpioneers. Jeffery’s win on turn 3 allowed the Laser Grendadiers to move and fire using Sigrid’s Berserk ability wiping out the Stumpioneers. The same turn also saw the Lothar move past the Sniper Grenadiers cover, wiping out Angela and the two man squad. The Heavy recon moved forward taking the objective square. During the next turn the Heinrich moved forward as the Laser Grenadiers found a firing position at one of the building doors. On turn 5 the Heinrich won the initiative causing the Laser Grenadiers to take a loss and damage Sigrid. The Laser Grenadiers and Sigrid returned fire taking down the Heinrich.

Winner:
  • Jeffrey 108 points 
  • Nicholas 0 points

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