The Battle for Bruce Mines (established 1846)

A Headless Body Production 
The Battle for Bruce Mines (established 1846)

Location: Phil's Basement
Game: All Quiet on the Martian Front
Scenario: The Battle for Bruce Mines (established 1846)
Players: Garth Parker and Mark McConnahay : American Armored Forces Midwest.
                  Bruce Potter and Phil Gardocki: Marvin's Martians.
                  Steve Turn:  The BEF

The Forces: The BEF: one troop each of Imperial Tanks, Kitchener's, Defiants, Spectors, 2 troops of Monotanks, 3 Infantry Squads with their Cardigans and supported by Vickers Machine guns and a Canadian Land Monitor.  About 1,400 points.

The American Armored Forces Midwest:  5 platoons of tanks, Mk II's and III's.  3 companies of infantry and machine guns, a Mk IV, a platoon of Rough Riders.  About 1,400 points.

An unspecified number of Canadians. 

Marvin's Martians: A total of 14 (still active) tripods,  9 Assault, 2 Grenadiers, 1 Scout, a Scientist and a Slaver, supported by 9 Drones and 9 Lobototons.  About 2,500 points.  

The House rules are at the end of the battle report.

Our story so far:  The Martians have crossed the Great Lakes at Sault Ste. Marie, and are proceeding along the coastline of Lake Huron.  The defense of western Ontario has been tasked to General Sir Arthur Currie, GCMG, KCB, and Colonel Jeff Tracy, OBE, KCB, of the BEF, aka The Thunderbirds. 

The battle was planned to have two parts.  A battle field was picked that would funnel the advancing tripods into traps and ambushes by the Canadian army.  After which, the Canadians would retreat under cover of heavy woods.  Once the Canadians have disengaged, the BEF would be form up on a narrow defile of what is appropriately named “Sucker Creek”. 

Using the advanced radio equipment on the Lloyd Command Carrier, it is known that the American Army, commanded by General McIntyre, DSM is racing northward in an attempt to trap the only known mobile elements of the Martians east of the Mississippi River.  However, coordination between the forces has been difficult, and it is uncertain if the Americans can arrive in time.

This battle is currently in progress.  It is midday, and the fight has not gone well.  Only 2 Tripods have been confirmed downed by the Canadians.  A third by the BEF as it seemed eager to run ahead of the pack and was first to cross Sucker Creek.  But the Canadian forces took heavy losses.  And were no longer falling back through the woods, but were being pursued vigorously by Martian drones and lobototons.  While the rest of the Tripods stood just out of range of the BEF’s guns.

Deployment
The BEF are deployed on the short side of the board behind Sucker Creek.  All tanks, and the Canadian Land Monitor, “Daphnis” are deployed between Sucker Creek and the board edge.  Infantry units may be deployed up to the nearest prepared positions west of Sucker Creek. The infantry is considered “Hidden”.  If they remain outside of 6” from any Martian unit, and do not shoot, then the first hit by Martians only reveals the existence of the infantry, but causes no damage.

The BEF starts with 3 Spector’s and 3 Defiants off board.  They may be brought on the board along either one or both long edges on Turn 2 or later with full move and fire as the BEF Player sees fit.  The BEF Player may augment this flank forces with up to 2 units of Mono Tanks.  This he chose to do.

The American player’s forces arrive on the opposite short edge on Turn 2.

The BEF have 11 units, 7 “Order” chips, and have a break point of 6.  the Canadian Land Monitor, “Daphnis” does not count towards this break point.

The American have 11 units, 7 “Order” chips, and have a break point of 6.  For this scenario, the American Industrial Might rule is not in play.

The Martians have 17 units, but only 5 “Order” chips, as they have used them in their engagement with the Canadians, and have a break point of 6.  (as three tripods have already been destroyed.)

The Martians win if they break either the BEF or the Americans.

Behind a raised bank of Sucker Creek, are BEF Imperial Tanks, and "Daphnis"

The BEF lines up behind a narrow defile of Sucker Creek.  Infantry is forward deployed in prepared trenches.

The Martians are mostly lined up about 32" from the tanks.

The view from the opposite edge.

Turn 1:
The BEF has the initiative and elects to move first.

Martian drones infest the occupied woods.  The BEF have a Vickers Machine Gun and a coil gun as part of their kit.

And they manage to let the smoke out of one of the drones.  Like many things, drones don't work very well once the smoke is let out.  Afterwards the BEF Infantry pull back out of assault range.

It turns out the Martians were not quite as far out of range as they thought.  The Kircheners advance up the bank, tri-barrels spinning.  And each manage to roll a one, which effectively disables the guns for the turn.

Tri-barrel Gun
The Tri-barrel Gun is a complex and not entirely reliable weapon.
You can choose to shoot one, two or three shots from the gun
– although in most situations you will want to fire with all three
barrels for maximum efect. When you roll ‘to hit,’ any roll of a 1 for
any of the barrels means all the barrels jam and none of the barrels
shoots that turn. is doesn’t affect shooting in subsequent turns –
it just means if you roll any 1s, you don’t get to shoot the Tri-barrel
that turn, and any rolls that would otherwise have hit are ignored.
Editors Note: This will happen 42% of the time.

The Imperials and Daphnis climb their embankment as well, and score a minor hit.

In response, the heat ray reaches out, and burns a Kirchener.  Their morale briefly wavers, but buck-up by the presence of their command tank nearby

Drones advance to the edge of the forest, spraying their heat rays back and forth, but with rising steam of the creek, fail to find their targets.

Turn 2:

The humans maintain the initiative and elect to move first.

Scout Cars, and Mono Tanks arrive on the edge of the board.  (Off panel, lower right)  Taking out a full three drones, and damaging a pair of tripods with weapon hits. 

Kitchener's back up, barrels spinning.  But only one manages to fire, and misses.  Imperials fire and a place a solid hit on of 5 points on one of the Assault Tripods.

The Americans have arrived, with their 4" guns, damaging a Grenadier, detonating another, and destroying the illuminating Scout Tripod.

Taking advantage of their speed and agility, the BEF Armored Cars and Monotanks back up from the damaged tripods.

In the shadow of the mighty Larch, Americans flood the field.

Using "Order" chips, some of the tanks have made double moves.

The BEF is mostly holding the line.

The Humans need to destroy 4 more Tripods to win the game.
No Human units are routed.

This Assault Tripod has a weapon malfunction.  But the humans are too densely packed not to take a shot.  Easily I can get 5 vehicles under the sweep template.  The dice roll off is Martians 4, humans 1.  The shot goes off!  But wait, the max range of the shot is the sum of the dice, and the nearest Mono Tank is 6 inches away.  Curses! 

On the Tripod Damage table 7) The Tripod is damaged and its weapons are disabled. The Tripod’s Armor stat is permanently reduced by 1.In addition, every time the Martian player wishes to shoot with the Tripod, both players must roll a die. Whichever player rolls the highest score can shoot with the Tripod: this means that sometimes the Martian player will shoot and sometimes the opposing player will be able to shoot with the Tripod instead, representing the Tripod ring blind and out of control. the shooter chooses a target, which must lie within a range no greater than the sum of the players’ initial die rolls combined and doubled. For example, if the Martian player rolls a 3 and the opposing player rolls a 7, the opposing player can shoot (because he has the highest score) up to a range of 20 inches (3+7 = 10, x 2 = 20). In any case, the range cannot be greater than the weapon’s maximum range, of course.

For some reason, the Grenadier tripod exits the woods and lobs shock canisters and the American Mk III's.  Both miss.  But Shock canisters can re-roll misses.  And miss again.

Crossing the stream, a sweep of the heat ray destroys two Imperial Tanks, routing the third.

Marvin sweeps the trenches with his heat ray, but infantry is +4 when dug in, and 9 is a hard number to get.

The Kitcheners are also sent to oblivion.

The Martians need only one kill and Marvin decides this infantry company is it.  On their second move of turn 2, they surround the trenches.

The Humans need to destroy 4 more Tripods to win the game.
The BEF have five units routed, two armor, and two infantry, and their command tank!

Turn 3:

The Humans win the iniative and elect to go first.

At first it looked bad for Marvin's Martians.  But by the end of turn 2, it is the BEF in dire straights.   The Martians only need to rout one more BEF to break through.  While the Americans are unscathed, the easy to reach tripods are all destroyed save one.

The Grenadier tripod takes an ill aimed shot at the advancing Americans.  With a movement speed of 4", it is too slow to escape, so it will act as a speed bump to the advancing Americans.

Shots rain down upon the Grenadier Tripod, 9 from the Mk III's 4 more from Patton's Mk IV.  But in the end, the Grenadier still stands.

But, where a multitude of shots were ineffective, as single shot from a marksmen of a Mk II scores on the Scientist Tripod.  Causing a catastrophic explosion, and dispersing of 3 units of Lobototons.

The rapid firing Mono Tanks line up shots on the Slaver Tripod causing a lot of damage.

The dense woods provided dubious cover as the Slaver takes 5 more hits.

Heat rays of 2 Assault Tripods, gas from another, and 5 drones assault the hapless BEF.  A full 4 score men die in the trenches.  But their leadership is solid, and they remain fighting!  The BEF still stand!

The last Grenadier Tripod positions itself in an optimal point.  If it explodes, a full 3 platoons of American armor will be exposed to the blast.

The Humans need to destroy 2 more Tripods to win the game.
The BEF have five units routed, one more and they will be defeated.

Turn 4:
The Martians win the initiative and elect to move first.

Marvin's Martians retreat to the edge of the board, leaving the Slaver and it's drones, along with the Green Gas Tripod to finish off the BEF.

They surround HMCAS Daphnis, and score hit upon hit, reducing her to ruin.

Which, they do!  The BEF is defeated.  A technical win for the Martians!

However, the Americans are unscathed, and we decided to give them their turn.

The Mk II's and III's get 12 shots off on an Assault Tripod, but miss.  The remaining Mk III's reduce the Grenadier to scrap, taking the Martians to one away from routing.

The game was a close victory for the Martians.   

======================================================
Amid a shower of sparks from the melting radio equipment, Corporal Davies opened the quick escape hatch at the bottom of the tank.  The vehicles crewmen quickly bailed to the comparative safety of the ground beneath it.  He continued to hold the hatch as the last man approached the exit.

"Get out of here, George", Colonel Tracy ordered.

The corporal did not hesitate to argue and dived through the hole.  

"We have gotten too good at abandoning these things", thought Colonel Tracy as he followed his batman.  Once on the ground, he signaled one of the crew to hit the top hatch release switch.  Above the top hatch popped open, giving the heat somewhere to go.  The side effect was to also provide more smoke to act as cover for escaping crewmen. 

Laying on the ground, the men lay still.  If the Martians moved on, they were safe, if they did not, then reaper coils will take them.  He cringed watching the tripod legs moved closer and closer.  In the distance there was the sound of cannon fire.  The tripod legs moved on, until they could no longer be seen.

"How many of these battle am I going to lose before they replace me" thought Tracy.  The answer came to mind, "All of them I guess.  No other officer would have this assignment.  The glory assignments have been defending all of Europe at the Nile River line, not some back woods colony."

==============================================================
The Mk IV pulled aside the road at the creeks edge.  Captain Patton popped the hatch and looked out.  The speedier Mk II's and III's had already crossed, pursuing the Martians.  Which in itself was a novelty.  But as fast as the tanks were, the Tripods were faster still.  He scanned the horizon, but the dense woods prevented him from seeing any of the fleeing Martians.

He turned his attention the BEF.  Judging from the ruined tanks, the British put up a hell of a fight.  But even while burning and melting, these tanks had a refined and finished look about them, that made his own tanks look slap-dash by comparison.  Men began to crawl out from under their vehicles.  More and more men.  Some began to pull their burned comrades out.  Flare guns were fired in the air.  Most were green, some yellow, then from behind him, a couple of reds.  Petrol engines started up from nearby woods.  From the woods, motorcycles with stretchers for side cars raced out, splitting up heading for the flares origin points.  

Patton watched the activity being orchestrated in front of him and realized the British process of recovering their wounded was extremely well thought out and practiced.  He made a mental note to study this process.  A man saved is one less we have to train.

The first company of American Infantry marched up the road, the lead company of several they managed to bring.  Today, the infantry did not die in droves.  Today was different.

Captain Patton hopped out of his tanks and ran towards the lead company commander.  "Davis, I think our pursuit is over.  Lets see if we can help these magnificent bastards." 


==============================================================


House Rules:
The clamp tank does not count as a unit for the purposes of human demoralization.

Units brought back using American Industrial Might count as additional units.  Effectively each unit brought back raises the human demoralization level by .5.  They must be successfully brought onto the board for this purpose. 
 

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 Tesla Gun is reduced to 175 points.

The cost of a Land Ironclad is increased to 1,500 points.

 
Smoke areas:  Human defenses can contain areas of canisters designed to throw up a large amount of smoke.  Units within the smoke and up to 3 inches behind the smoke are have their defense to heat rays increased by +2.  (Grenadier bombardment, Green Gas and Black Dust ignore this effect)  Beyond that the Martians elevation allows them to shoot and be shot at normally.

Chains obstacle:  Any Tripod crossing the chain obstacle rolls a d10, on a 1 or 2, the Tripod is entangled.  The roll to disentangle on subsequent turns is a 4+.  While entangled, Tripods cannot move, and have their to hit number reduced to 5+.  They may shoot normally.

Tower guns:  Tower guns have the chain obstacle sited in and get an additional +1 to hit a Tripod that is entangled by the chains obstacle (4+ to hit).  Tower guns are well camouflaged and cannot be targeted until they first shoot.  After which the normal 3+ is required to hit.