Heavy Gear - Shattered Peace - Downing Front - Game 4

Hello All,

Time for the forth and final battle report for the series of games on the Downing Front. As mentioned previously playing through some of the Shattered Peace scenarios for the second Earth invasion of Terra Nova.

In our previous games we have seen one of the major thrusts of the CEF  landing in the North bog down and Maglev Alpha. Now  the lead element of a supply column is ambush and attacked in a narrow mountain pass.

In this battle the Northern Objective is to Wipe Out a Combat Group, and Assassinate the CEF Army Commander, and the Earth Forces must Survive with one Combat Group, and Protect their Army commander. We rolled randomly for Wipe Out and Survive and the end of the first round. But the board is pretty small, only 2'x3' with allot of large rocks.

Here you can see the inital set up, some Frames with assault packs in the woods, backed by a second group further back with no special equipment. And a few stands of infantry here and there. The North have a pair of Klemm tanks, and a group of Jaguars behind rocks, each with a Cheetah to provide EW support.



Turn 1:

Here we are at the end of turn 1. The Jaguars moved behind a large rock and went on ECM defense, making them very hard to hit. I moved up a couple of units from the dark colored frame squad to take some shots at the tanks, but was not effective, they took some good damage in return, from both snap fire and indirect missile attacks. I then moved up my Jet Bike guys to take a pot shot at the vulnerable cheetah, and got a good hit, I think maybe crippling him. My other frames just moved up to get ready for the second turn strike. My commander just hiding out in the back. After we rolled it was the dark squad for wipe them out, and the lighter red shoulders frame squad for survive.

Turn 2:

On the second turn the ! got the initiative, and used it to pounce with my Assault armed frames, hoping the the bust on the Rotary Laser cannons would get me some good damage. I charged into contact with my Morgana FLAIL, but was ineffective. The rest hovered forward and fire into the Jaguars. Killing one and doing a bit of damage.

But they were then able to get behind my lines and do some good damage in return. Killing the 1 frames by the big rock. I fired back with, the other fell back for some shots which didn't get me much. The tanks then machine gunned down my jet bike guys and destroyed another frame with missiles.

Turn 3:

Turn 3 the battle really got hot. Most of the rest of the frames were destroyed, but most of the Jaguars were as well, including the Northern Army commander. I moved my remaining FLAIL with his anti-vehicle missile to take a shot at a Klemm but just got the 1 hit from AP. Things are looking pretty bleak for Earth, but allot Northern gears have been destroyed as well, and one Cheetah is dead and the other crippled.

Turn 4:

On Turn 4 my last Assault Pack frame was destroyed in the woods, but got a bit of damage back with a snap fire. My 2 remaining frames from the dark quad fired their lasers at one of the remaining Jaguar, but to no effect. The Klemms got rid of the pesky FLAIL infantry and started to advance.

Turn 5:

Turn 5 saw the last 2 Frame fall back into a defensive position behind a big boulder, Custer style, while the Northern forces circled in. They got a few good chances, but were unable to finish off my army commander.

This left us with a draw on objectives. The North were able to achieve their Wipe Out, but not assassination. And the CEF were able to protect their army commander, but not survive with the other group. I think in the new rules there is a tie braker on army points, which the North must have with both of the tanks still alive, but we didn't worry about that to much.

So that is the end of our series of games, not exactly a climatic final battle, but a fun close in fight in the mountains. Seems clear that the CEF attacks are faltering in this sector, but they are still able to maintain some presence.

Thanks;
Mike