A Headless Body Production
Location: Phil's Basement
Event: Providence Gamer's Game Knight
Game: All Quiet on the Martian Front
Scenario: Martian Counter Attack
Players: Steve Turn playing the BEF. Bruce Potter and John Forscythe playing Ad Hoc Texan formations
Phil Gardocki and Garth Parker are playing the (escaping) Mobile forces of Pod 16, Hive 3 (फली 16, हाइव 3) and Marvin's Martians.
The Raid on Goose Creek (Pop. 2,610)
Our story so far...
The situation was unbearable to think about, but someone must, lest they all were doomed. फॅम्त्ज्ल्न्प्व्च्-।ैक्थ्ळभ्श्रज्ञस्s hive had been inundated by humans! What to do? Bereft of leadership, and just 6 war machines left, and most of them the strange, “अजीब वाले” (Marvins). The nearest poleward hive was filled with human machines. The anti-spinward hive rejected their pleas for help. So it was decided to go anti-poleward. There were human habitations in that direction, but it seems like few human troops. Once they are in the warmer climes, there were other hives that may take them in.
Of power, they had enough for the journey. And there is a convenient human provided strands of metal to work for repairs. That and fresh blood from their noisy vehicles that travel on them.
“Well, that worked out well.” Colonel Tracy surveyed the unloading of his vehicles from the first of two freighters. The GSVR line ran right along the pier, and his tanks were craned straight onto the flat beds. His briefings in route told him of great things. Martians routed after several battles, and one of their hives taken. This technological boon will make the Americans, who were already unsufferable, even more so. At least, with his units on rail cars, he should be able to get the BEF to the front lines in a minimal amount of time.
“When can we get this thing moving”, General Metcalf asked? He was looking at the biggest war machine ever to claw dirt. The newly arrived Charlotte, standing useless on the beach where it first rolled out of the sea, one of its giant track mechanisms off to the side and inundated with workmen. And who authorized it to fly the Texas state flag?
“When the parts get here”, replied the foreman. “They should have arrived two days ago, but the harbor master said the train never arrived. It’s a shame really, they built these things to go to sea and then forgot to use stainless steel for some of the submerged parts. This one track was rusted tight. The others may work with a bit of grease.”
“Even if it could move, it doesn’t have any ammo though. They had to off load all that weight for sea travel to have enough buoyancy to float.”
The intermittent supply situation was causing problems with the reorganization of the troops. There was the shattered 71st and 2nd Texas Tank Brigades being rebuilt along with other units of the Ad Hoc 1st Texas Army Corps. Washington pretty much wrote off Texas, deciding not to waste resources that could be used to hold the Mississippi river. That probably was the right decision. If we lose the industrialized East, then the war is lost. But the Sovereign State of Texas rose to the occasion and with home made machines and grit, managed to hold out against Martian attacks from the north, west and south. They even somehow managed to crush the Martian presence in north Mexico.
And now they are getting deluged with the best equipment Detroit has to offer. God help the Martians.
But right now, it was his job to assemble this rag tag band of battle-weary veterans and newly recruited fanatics into fighting trim. I would judge only about a third are ready to move out, let alone fight an engagement.
<<FLASH>>
“Wha…” <<FLASH>><<FLASH>> Boom!
Heat Rays dancing round Charlotte, one causing an explosion that blew one of the 5” turrets off of its mount.
Humans have about 1875 points, + the BEF. This represents 18 units + the BEF. The Martians have 1680 points in 6 dual armed tripods, and 10 drones.
But the scenario rules have the humans as unprepared and do not have any of their normal hidden unit advantages, plus some are already in a "routed" state. So the points are more even than they appear. See scenario rule: Humans are Surprised.
The Board:
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| We are playing on a 4x8 foot table. |
My goal was to not to over clutter the board. This is to give ground where tactics matter, rather than just board edge to board edge figures and just rolling dice. One way to reduce density is to make the board bigger.
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| One the human right is the great Land Ironclad, "Charlotte". Which, unfortunately has just rolled ashore after a lengthy sea voyage and is unprepared for battle. |
About 15 years earlier, this area was devastated by a category IV hurricane with a storm surge of 12 feet of water. Notable damage was still present in 1915 as some families were wiped at and their properties left uncontrolled. For this scenario, it works out so I can deploy damaged building models.
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Massive tank formations standing by. The Martian players do not know which are effective based on the Humans are Surprised rule.
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| It has been a while since our last Martian game, so the scenario was designed with some personal favorite figures on the board. My Land Ironclad, Marvin, the British, and Bruce's "Patton" tank. |
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| The Martians win by exiting the board near the rail road tracks. Tactics be damned! |
The board is 48" deep. The Martian tripods move 16" a turn. That means, at the earliest, they can exit the board on turn 4. If the initiative rolls are kind, that gives the humans 3 turns to shoot them down. If unkind, or if the Martians dawdle to actually fight, then 4 turns.
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| The Martians hedge their bets and spend 6 of their 8 command points on a double move, a total of 24", carrying them to the center of the board. |
Note, the BEF Figures on the bottom left have not entered the board yet. See the scenario rule: The British are Coming!
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| The Martians concentrate their fire on the "Patton" tank. But their heat rays scatter wide. |
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| The Patton Tanks main gun also miss, but their dual hull mounted 4" guns find a chink in the nameless tripods armor. |
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| The BEF, with their Monotanks in the vanguard, drop off the Coil rifle and advance, their rapid guns firing with amazing accuracy. |
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| As everyone's eyes clear from the twin scintillating explosions, it is revealed that the field gun's initial barrage was spot on target. |
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| There was no collateral damage from exploding tripods here. Just damn good die rolls. |
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| Leaving Marvin, Huey and Louie with no choice but to withdraw. |
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| Such a dramatic win deserves all the pictures it can get... |
OK then, that happened....
Our wives are looking to have the house to themselves until 10(ish), this simply wouldn't do.
It's 8:10. What to do. Most of that time was spent just getting adjusted to the scenario and the setup. So lets go again. I am hoping that it wasn't just the scenario rules that caused this debacle. With just 6 tripods, the Martian force was a bit fragile.
But it also seemed that the Humans rolled very well with the Humans are Surprised rule.
Do over.
Blah... "Raid on Goose Creek", Blah... "Scenario Rules", Blah, Blah...
The Humans reroll their Humans are Surprised rule. One adjustment made to the rule where they can spend command points to actually rally the pre-routed units.
The Martians decide to actually use the terrain to their advantage. Hills are not "What you see is what you get", but considered tall enough to obscure vision.
Turn 1:
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| As with last game, the Tripods spend command points with a double initial move. Shoot, then on their second move, retreat behind the hills. |
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| The tripod code-named "Louie" successfully destroys a MkIII tank, routing the remaining members of it's platoon. |
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| Heat rays dance around the Mark IV, "Patton", tank. With different results from the first game. |
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| Then the tripods huddle together behind the relative safety of the hills. |
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| There is a scenario rule regarding the destruction of the Charlotte, but the Martians are not going for it. They still need to escape off the board for a win. |
The humans do manage to get some shots around the edge of the hills, but to no effect.
Turn 2:
By a lot, I do mean alot! The Texans have 18 units on the board, setting their demoralization level to 9. The BEF has 9 units to add to that for 27, and a demoralization level of 14!
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| At the bottom of the 2nd. The humans get more shots around the hill. |
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| The BEF Monotanks are double gunned and fires "Rapid Fire", for a total of 12 shots from the unit. A nameless tripod picks up a second hit. |
Turn 3:
The humans win the
initiative and elect to move first. Creating a double fire situation.
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| Their remaining Mk III's pour on the fire causing a weapon hit on Louie. |
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| But the Mono tanks have nought but drones visible, and pick off two of them. |
The Martians now must advance, or miss their opportunity to exit. The game does have a turn limit. Normally 6 turns, with a chance of 7.
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| The "strangely coifed" drones were wiped out last turn. It is time for Huey and Louie to return the favor. |
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| Marvin ascends the hill and sweeps the Machine Gun platoon to no effect. But a nameless tripod clears a building of infantry with green gas. |
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| The BEF's Monotanks are melted into junk. |
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| ooooLLLLLAAAAAA! |
Turn 4:
The Martian regain the initiative and elect to go first.
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| Always the first to escape ;), Marvin races for the exit point. Sweeping elements in front with his heat ray. |
The exit point is within 12" of the end of the the track line above.
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| Nameless tripods take out the BEF's Coil gun. |
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| Successive sweeps of the heat ray's take out most of the BEF's infantry. |
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| Leaving the count of routed units at 14! |
With the demoralization of the Texans, all resistance ceases. Which will allot the Martian 2 full turns to exit the board.
Scenario Rules
The Martians have complete surprise on an encampment of units recovering from earlier battles around Caddo Lake. These units have random combat worthiness.
Goose Creek.
The buildings representing the boom town of Goose Creek are decorative only. The area within 4" of the road are considered built up with shanty's and more permanent buildings and considered "Low Ruins" per the rules. Infantry in the area has +3 Defense, +2 Armor, Artillery +2 and +1, Tanks +1 and + 0.
Humans are Surprised
On the first human turn, roll a morale die for each unit.
If they roll under their morale, usually 5, then all is well, the unit can move and shoot normally.
Units failing morale remain on the board but count as routed to the human demoralization level. This represents ammunition shortages, men off base in town, or just not willing to man the guns at this time.
The total point costs for units that failed morale are added up and deducted from the army total, and order points recalculated. Currently 1,845.
If they roll their morale exactly, roll a D6. On a 1 or 2, only one element is available. On a 3 or 4, only two elements are available. On a 5+, all is well. The remaining elements remain on the board as targets. The Martian is not told if the unit has morale issues or not. But he’ll probably figure it out.
No ambushes are placed. No entrenchments have been dug.
The British Are Coming.
The British player (Steve) starts off the board. On the first human turn he can move on to the human side of the board and shoot.
Humans add 2 order points to their total.
Once on board, an element of the BEF can act as a field commander.
Or he can remain off board and choose to arrive on the either short edge on turn 2.
Or he can remain off board and choose to arrive on the Martian edge on turn 3.
The decision to remain off or arrive is made independently each human turn.
The Charlotte
The Land Ironclad Charlotte is mostly disabled. Immobile and no ammo except for it’s machine guns. Not knowing this, the Martians have targeted it before the game starts. It has 3 hits.
Should the Martian destroy the Charlotte, they add one to their victory.
American Industrial Might:
Turned off for this game.
Martian Victory Conditions.
There is an exit point within 1 foot of the rail road tracks. If 4 tripods make it off the exit point, they gain a marginal victory.
Defeating the Human army is a marginal victory.
Defeating the humans and getting off the board is a tactical victory.
Destroying the Charlotte turns a marginal to a tactical victory, or a tactical victory to a strategic victory.
Humans win if they destroy 3 tripods.
House Rules:
Clarification. Entrenchments and fortifications offer full cover both front and back.
Double moves. When a unit makes a double move, it must first complete one move, and meet all the requirements, before making the second move.
Machine-Gun Too Effective. Small arms attacks, including Rifles and MG's roll on the Tripod damage table at a -3. Less than one is still a one. Multiple penetrations on a single fusillade still add 1 per. This will reduce the chance of an MG causing a Martian detonation. For example, an MG Company rolls 9 dice, scoring 5 hits. Their power is +1 and need to roll a 10 to penetrate a fresh Tripod with an armor of 11. On the penetration roll, The MG's rolls 2 10's. On the Tripod damage chart they will roll 1 die at a -2. -3 initially, +1 for the extra penetration. The Martian tripod still could die, if the roll modified roll is 8, and the second roll is 10. But most likely, the result will be a single damage point.
House Rules:
Refined Line of Sight Rules (a work in progress):
We will start to use some refined rules for defining Line of Sight.
Unless in ambush (to be defined by the scenario) all units can see each other if within 6” of each other.
Beyond 6”, Human Infantry, Artillery, Motorcycle, BEF vehicles, and Martian Drones and Lobototons are not visible if deeper than 2” in the woods (dense or light)
Beyond 6”, Human Steam Powered vehicles are not visible if deeper than 4” in the woods (dense or light).
Beyond 6” Martian Tripods are not visible if deeper than 2” in or beyond Towering Ruins and Dense Woods, and any terrain type designated as a “Hill”.
Note: The above is does not count if the hidden units have fired their weapons this turn or last.
The clamp tank does not count as a unit for the purposes of human demoralization.
The Towering Ruins are passable to human vehicles, at half speed, but remain impassable to Martian Tripods.
Humans in Towering Ruins have their defense against heat rays and shock canisters improved as follows:
Infantry +5/+3, Artillery +4/+2, Vehicles +2/+2
Humans in Towering Ruins have their defense against green gas and black dust improved as follows (wind tunnel effects):
Infantry +2/+2, Artillery +2/+2, Vehicles +1/+1
When in assault combat, the defenders do not get a bonus for terrain advantages for the "to hit" roll, but do get the terrain armor advantage, if any.
Macadam roads give a movement bonus to tripods.
Dirt roads give a movement bonus to humans only.
The cost of a Land Ironclad is increased to 1,500 points.
Proposed house rules:
Tanks and Vehicles must start the game in a entrenchment or fortification to receive any benefit for it. They cannot simply just drive into an existing one and gain a benefit.
Light artillery can be manhandled to turn, or move at half speed, 2 inches.
Hasty entrenchments. They offer full cover infantry and artillery to the front, but not the rear.
Clarification. Entrenchments and fortifications offer full cover both front and back.
Double moves. When a unit makes a double move, it must first complete one move, and meet all the requirements, before making the second move.
Machine-Gun Too Effective. Small arms attacks, including Rifles and MG's roll on the Tripod damage table at a -3. Less than one is still a one. Multiple penetrations on a single fusillade still add 1 per. This will reduce the chance of an MG causing a Martian detonation. For example, an MG Company rolls 9 dice, scoring 5 hits. Their power is +1 and need to roll a 10 to penetrate a fresh Tripod with an armor of 11. On the penetration roll, The MG's rolls 2 10's. On the Tripod damage chart they will roll 1 die at a -2. -3 initially, +1 for the extra penetration. The Martian tripod still could die, if the roll modified roll is 8, and the second roll is 10. But most likely, the result will be a single damage point.
