The Second Battle of Mullan Pass, Pt 2

A Headless Body Production
Location: Garth's Cave
Game: All Quiet on the Martian Front
Players:  Garth Parker: Mobile forces of Hive Brown 2 ( हीवे ब्राउन २)
                Jenny Parker, American 6th Special Armored Battalion, Captain G.S. Patton, Commanding.
             Phil Gardocki, The American 8th Armored Brigade, and the Canadian expatriate unit, Monty's Pythons.

This is Part 2 of this Battle Report.  For part 1, click this link.

The Forces: As the Martians continue to dominate the center of the United States, natural barriers must be leveraged to force the invaders to unfavorable exchanges.  The largest barriers are the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River.  The 8th Armored Brigade, Major General Frederick Funston, MoH, commanding, has been assigned to defend Mullan Pass in Montana. 

The 8th Armored is well equipped to defend this point, but the Martians have also had years to build up their resources.

The Martians had been successful in clearing the pass in two previous battles, but for reasons known only to them, have withdrawn both times.  Giving the Americans time to repair and reinforce the position.  Recent additions include the 224th and 163rd Artillery Batteries, the 6th Special Armored Battalion, Captain G. S. Patton commanding, and the remains of the Canadian 2nd Squadron, 12th "Three Rivers” Regiment, 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, aka, "Monty's Pythons, Privit Major Palen, commanding.

Scenario:  The Martians continue to perform reconnaissance missions throughout the Rockies.  If any pass can be forced, they will swarm the defenders behind these forbidding mountains.

The Board: Mullan Pass, Montana, 5,223 ft 1592 m     46.6444°N 112.3147°W     The railway is the Northern Pacific Railway, laid in 1883, along with a gravel road into the Helena Forest.

I am going to use all flash photography, it allows for sharper images up close, but darker in the distance.  Let me know your thoughts.

This battle is in progress.

Turn 6:
The Americans had a + 1 on the initiative roll and won the dice off.  They maintained the initiative till the end.

The last Machine Gun Nest lets loose, as the infantry assaults the Reconnaissance tripod.  Two surviving Mk III's fire 6 shots into the Green Gas Tripod.  Then, a final shot, from a lonely tower gun pointed north, hit a vulnerable spot and Boom!

A continuity error here. The green gas Tripod is pulling a Schrodinger, both dead and alive.  In the excitement the figure was not removed for the picture.

The explosion cut a swath through both man and machine.  The Americans lost both Mk III's, the MG squad, and the assaulting infantry.  The Martians lost the the Reconnaissance Tripod and the drones.

Having spent turn 5 charging up to two dice, the Tesla readies to fire again.

Its target at 35 inches, the Grenadier Tripod.

The lightning causes all systems to fail on the Grenadier.  For the fourth time, the sun appears dimmed by an even brighter flash of light.  The lightning bolt then continues to arc to the Assault Tripod behind it, causing another hit, then towards the last Tripod in line before grounding in the stream.

The turn isn't over yet.  A sweep of the heat ray has a Mk II and two tower guns in it's arc.

The tower is immobile, and only requires a 3 to hit.

A pair of 2's.  Followed up by another 2 for the tank.

Sealing the deal, a Reconnaissance Tripod burns the Canadian Mk II.  Monty's Pythons then failed their morale check and fled.

On the north side of the tracks, both sides have fought to a nearly annihilation.  But on the south side, the fight hasn't really started yet.

Turn 7:

A cheap shot on the Scientist Tripod, a tripod hit type 8, followed by a 10, and it collapses to the ground, disabling its controlled drones.

One of the tripods south of the rails has a mobility hit.  Six Steam tanks of the 8th Armored has been taking advantage of this to dive in and out of range for their shots.  While smart, it hasn't been overly effective, as they have been doing this for several turns, but still have failed to take it down.

One of the Canadian tanks is hiding among the destroyed steam tanks of the 8th Armored.  The 8th Armored has now committed its Mk III's in an attempt to push the Martians to their demoralization level of 9.

The view from the west.

Another war machine deploys its Green gas weapon.  Trees melt and defoliate, but the Steam Tanks prove resistant.

Despite the failure of the weapon, the tripod advances.  The routing Canadian tank is in the 3" range and is destroyed.

Turn 8:
The Americans maintain the initiative.

There is bravery, and there is fool hardy.  The Tripod with the green gas has an almost unlimited number of foes against it.

Unlimited plus one.  The Anti-Tripod gun is uncovered.  And whiffs!  However there are some 23 other 4" guns pointed at the Martian war machine, and it goes down. While it may have seemed like overkill, it took every shot, and only the very last available gun to finish the job.

At this point, the Martians hit their break point and retire. 

Major General Frederick Funston, MoH, handed his Warner & Swasey Field Glasses to his aid and rubbed his eyes. The last explosion had left a reverse image of a bright tripod figure surrounded by black flames burned into his retina.  

The lines held.  They held well.

"Signal the recovery crews, get those damaged tanks back for repairs."

"Send out the medical teams.  Lets see how well the bunkers for the towers worked."

"And get a plane in the air, lets make sure they are leaving."

He turned to the table that was laid out for his outdoor command, and moved a rock dedicated to holding down the papers.

"Tesla, Tesla, Tesla, ah, here it is", he thought.  On the he paper wrote, "Recommend continued development and deployment."  He signed the referral and gave it to his aid.  "Label that for General Wood, highest priority.  Copies to General Crozier and that brave man firing the weapon."  The aid saluted and went about his task.

He would have to give a thought on the Mk IV's that Captain Patton brought.  No doubt they looked impressive, but at some point you have all those guns tied to a single point of failure.  I am not sure if I wouldn't rather have a platoon of Mk II's.  They would be lighter on firepower, but can take more hits.  

But then, if all the tanks were Mk IV's, then this war could be won.

"Smith, what is the status on that concrete?"

A major sifted through his papers till he reached a spot.  "Arriving on the SS Honolulan, Seattle, in 2-3 weeks time sir, but only half what we ordered!" 

The General suppressed his displeasure, He knew that outside of the Mississippi River's defenses, Panama was getting the Lions share of the concrete.  "How many towers can we put up with that?"

"5 Sir!"

"Very well, lets get those surveyor maps out and decide where to start digging them."

Captain Patton had made a eloquent point, "Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity."  But concrete can take a lot of hits that men and machine can't.  And it doesn't fail morale, and is a lot easier to train.  As long as the Martians are willing to come through this pass, I'll fight them with the maximum amount of concrete and the minimum number of bodies.

   

The Second Battle of Mullan Pass, Pt 1

A Headless Body Production
Location: Garth's Cave
Game: All Quiet on the Martian Front
Players:  Garth Parker: Mobile forces of Hive Brown 2 ( हीवे ब्राउन २)
                Jenny Parker, American 6th Special Armored Battalion, Captain G.S. Patton, Commanding.
             Phil Gardocki, The American 8th Armored Brigade, and the Canadian expatriate unit, Monty's Pythons.

The Forces: As the Martians continue to dominate the center of the United States, natural barriers must be leveraged to force the invaders to unfavorable exchanges.  The largest barriers are the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River.  The 8th Armored Brigade, Major General Frederick Funston, MoH, commanding, has been assigned to defend Mullan Pass in Montana. 

The 8th Armored is well equipped to defend this point, but the Martians have also had years to build up their resources.

The Martians had been successful in clearing the pass in two previous battles, but for reasons known only to them, have withdrawn both times.  Giving the Americans time to repair and reinforce the position.  Recent additions include the 224th and 163rd Artillery Batteries, the 6th Special Armored Battalion, Captain G. S. Patton commanding, and the remains of the Canadian 2nd Squadron, 12th "Three Rivers” Regiment, 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade, aka, "Monty's Pythons, Privit Major Palen, commanding.

Scenario:  The Martians continue to perform reconnaissance missions throughout the Rockies.  If any pass can be forced, they will swarm the defenders behind these forbidding mountains.

The Board: Mullan Pass, Montana, 5,223 ft 1592 m     46.6444°N 112.3147°W     The railway is the Northern Pacific Railway, laid in 1883, along with a gravel road into the Helena Forest.

I am going to use all flash photography, it allows for sharper images up close, but darker in the distance.  Let me know your thoughts.

The defenses of Mullan Pass.  The American 6th Special Armored Battalion supported by 104th Mobile Artillery Battery, is on the left side of the tracks. 

The American 8th Armored Brigade, with the remains of "Monty's Pythons" is mostly on the right side of the tracks. 

The Martians from  हीवे ब्राउन २ deploy just out of range of the forward towers.

The tripod's eye view.

Turn 1:
The Martians roll the high die for initiative, and elect to move first.

Having been warned that the Martians were coming from air reconnaissance, the Steam Tanks have their boilers up to pressure and move out.

Captain Patton's Mk IV special is standing by.

Once a force to be reckoned with, now reduced to a single platoon, the Canadian 2nd Squadron, 12th "Three Rivers” Regiment pulls up to the rear.

It is hoped by the defenders that this might be a false alarm, or even just a diversion.  This hope is dashed as the shadows in the mists solidify into a solid phalanx of Martian Tripods. 

At least 11 tripods

With drones supporting. 

The Martian attack seems to be coordinated.  The seemed to be willing to spend the time to peel back the layers of the human defenses.  Heat rays reach out to the forward towers.  The concrete proves to be proof for now, as all the towers are unscathed.

Turn 2:
The crews of the outer towers know they have a short life expectancy.  Fire a couple of shots, then head for the bunkers deep in the basement.

A Tripod figure advances to a copse of trees, its legs covered by vegetation. 

But that only focuses the tower's shots on the more important crew cabin.

And the power systems that drive the war machine.

Where it explodes like a container full of Samsung Galaxies.

Breaking the 4th wall too much?

The forest has be shredded to so much kindling.

The Americans get little time to celebrate as the Martians make quick work of the forward towers.

Turn 3:

In the past, we keep forgetting about the command points, leaving most "on the table" at the end of the game.  Today we are focusing on using them to "double time" the troops.  Both Patton and Tesla line up good shots.  Patton scores a hit on the Assault Tripod on the edge of the table.  Tesla wiffs his to hit roll with a 1.

The first platoon of steam tanks approach to maximum range.

Lots of shots fired, but the Americans are having trouble getting tanks in range.  The terrain is just terrible to work around.  The MK III's of the 6th Special Armored Battalion take a hit and rout.  Just as they clear the tree's they see Patton, who is also a command tank, and with two command points are immediately rallied.

 

Turn 4:

Recognizing a prima donna when they see one, almost every Tripod in range focuses on Patton's Mk IV.  Disabling it.

Headless of the wreckage, the Tripods continue to advance.  The forward guns of all the towers are out, and they can now focus on the comparatively weaker MK II's

Almost all the Tripods have hits on them now though.  One has a mobility hit, another a weapons hit.

Tesla takes turn 3 off to recharge his Inductor-Capacitor (LC) circuits to 2 dice, and fires again.  And again he rolls a 1.

Foolish humans, your weapons are useless!  (says the Tripod with the mobility hit)

The Recon Tripod, left side has had a charmed life.  Fired on by side tower guns, assaulted by Infantry, it just keeps taking one hit at a time.  But you can tell, all the Tripods have hits, and on the human side, their only loss was Patton's Mk IV.

Turn 5:
The initiative swings, and the Americans get a double fire. Using the American Industrial Might rule, Captain Patton gets into another Mk IV tank, and arrives on the field.

Another Tripod goes down.  The two on the left each pick up another hit.

Infantry stands ready with grenades for another charge.  The Recon Tripod has a weapon failure, and it's armor is down to 7.  with +2 for grenades, assaulting it is a viable option.

Against the 6th Armor, not a lot is going on.  One Assault Tripod has a mobility hit, and is getting 3 shots on it a turn by a platoon of steam tanks, that then retreat out of range.  The other is trading shots with another platoon of steam tanks in the woods.

Green gas is unleashed on the Machine-Gunners.  The last squad passes his morale check.

A sweep of a heat ray, and another two tanks are sent to oblivion. 

The view from the south side of the pass.

At this time the game was called, but will resume in two weeks.  Stay tuned!

The Second Battle of Sheboygan

A Headless Body Production

All Quiet on the Martian Front After Action Report: The Second Battle of Sheboygan

Location: Phil's Basement
Game: All Quiet on the Martian Front
Scenario: The Second Battle of Sheboygan
Players: Stephen Turn; BEF
               Garth Parker; American Armored Forces Midwest.
               Jenny Parker; Patton's Armored Forces.
               Phil Gardocki; Marvin's Martians.
               Bruce Potter; Local Pod Martians.

The Forces: A battery of Field Guns, an Anti-Tripod Gun, 2 platoons of Mk II's and III's, a clamp tank, Patton's Mk IV, 2 Troops of Rough Riders, a Machine Gun Squad, 3 Infantry Squad, 2 Armored Infantry Squads.  Supported by the BEF with 1 Troop of Imperial Tanks, 2 Troops of Monotanks, and 3 Squads of Infantry.  About 2,300 points

A total of 14 tripods,  8 Assault, 2 Grenadier, 2 Slavers and 2 Scouts, supported by 12 Drones.  About 2400 points.  


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.

  
Prologue (This is long, so if you want just the battle report, scroll down about 4 pages)

“Be seated.”

Major General Frank McIntyre, DSM, took to the podium.

“Gentlemen, I have summoned you here today to bring you up to date on our current status.

“You have all been working on you separate parts of the preparations, but none of you know the whole situation.  I feel every man needs to know as much as possible of what is to come, so that when the plans go to fuck, and they will, they will be able to make decisions based on what they know, and what is the our intent.”

“As you know, the war is not going well.  Recently, most of Calgary in western Canada has fallen to the invader.  This after successfully defending that territory for a year, with low supplies, and mercurial allies. 

“The Martians pursued those forces, through the mountains, and had managed to secure Mullan pass.  Opening the way to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. “

“The Martians, with a great loss of their war machines, have breached the Mississippi line and taken St Louis.  That victory is considered pyrrhic, as an estimated 500 tripods were estimated destroyed.  But they still managed to follow that victory by sweeping the Mississippi delta.  Taking Shreveport and Baton Rouge, and only swamps and the big guns of the Navy battlewagons are keeping them from taking New Orleans.”

“Those other battles were important.  Losing them hurt, but in the end, they gain the invader much territory, but little industry. “

“That stops now.”

“4 months ago, the Martian launched their long anticipated assault here, in Sheboygan.  We had been preparing for this assault for 4 years, and in the end we repelled the invader.  Sheboygan is the lynch pin of our industrial heartland.  If Sheboygan falls, then the road opens to Waukegan, then Chicago.  That road must be kept closed.”

“The cost was high then.  The invaders gutted the industry and buildings as they attacked.  The invaders got to the coast, but were turned by by massive artillery fire at point blank range.  But destroying much of it before retreating.  They were turned back, and since then we have been rebuilding our defenses.  Those gutted buildings are going to be death traps for Tripods.  They are so used to looking down on us, it is going to be quite a surprise to look at a 25 pounder eye to eye.”

<polite laughter>

“Since then, we have damned up the Sheboygan River.  This will make the routes from the north of the city impassible.   It will also limit the most direct routes west of the city for the invader.  In short, I intend to funnel the invader into a narrow defile, and blast away at them as then come at is a few at a time.”

“We have received some reinforcements, but not enough.  England has sent the BEF with their radium powered weapons and engines and Colonel Patton here will be testing out his new tank.  I wish we had a couple of those Land Ironclads instead, but we lost 5 defending St Louis, which is why the tripod destroyed count was so high, and another was lost in Edmonton.  The rest have been deployed to go on the offensive elsewhere.”

“One advantage we have is in the air.  Those brave pilots have been tracking the Martians when they fled 4 months back, and have kept tabs on their buildup.” 

And to himself, He thought, " And suffered 50% casualties per sortie doing so."

“So from this we know their casualties, and their buildup of forces.  They won’t be coming to Sheboygan with a hundred tripods like last time, but we know this.”

“They are coming!”

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

The Red Martian stood before his assembled forces.  Row after row of war machines lined the field.  Off in the distance, a tree smoked from the crash of yet another of the annoying human flying machines.

क्या आपको हिन्दी टायपिंग में दिक्कत आती है आज इन्टरनेट पर अनेकों साफ्टवेयर उपलब्ध है. मैं हिन्दी में का प्रयोग करती हूं. आप भी इसे उपयोग कर सकते हैं.

मुझे इस ब्लाग पर अनेकों कमेन्ट यह जानने के लिये आते हैं कि हिन्दी में कैसे टायप करें हिन्दी में टायपिंग कैसे करें

से हिन्दी में टायपिंग करना एकदम आसान है. यदि आप टायपिंग नहीं जानते तो इसका हिन्दीपैड  ले आउट यानी ट्रांसलिट्रेशन चुनकर सीधे टायप कर सकते ह. इसमें हिन्दुस्तान लिखने के लिये आपको और कैफे हिन्दी टाईपिंग टूल इसे हिन्दी में लिखता रहेगा. आप इसके जरिये बिना रुके अच्छी खासी स्पीड से टायप कर सकते हैं.

कई
क्या आप कृतिदेव या रेमिंग्टन हिन्दी टायपिंग के अभ्यस्त हैं
यदि आप कृतिदेव फोन्ट्स में टायपिंग करते रहे हैं तो कैफे हिन्दी टाईपिंग टूल से आप कृतिदेव टायपिंग स्टाइल चुनकर अपनी पुरानी आदत से ही टायपिंग कर सकते हैं.

इसके अलावा कैफेहिन्दी टाईपिंग टूल में इंस्क्रिप्ट और शुषा  पद्धति से भी टायपिंग कर सकते हैं.



इस सॉफ्टवेयर की कीमत को लेकर आप चिंतित नहीं हों क्योंकि यह आपके लिए बिल्कुल मुफ्त उपलब्ध है. यह विभिन्न वेबसाईटों से मुफ्त उपलब्ध है. आप इसे निम्न लिंक से भी डाउनलोड कर सकते हैं. इसका साइज सिर्फ केबी है.


फोन्ट परिवर्तक
The Board: The center of the city of Sheboygan.  Once a great industrial center, it is now in ruins after the Martian attack early in '15. 

The paved road is Taylor Drive, the flooded Sheboygan river meanders along the north edge. 

Burned out factories litter the landscape between Taylor Drive and 19th street.

Part of the rural suburbs remained untouched form the previous battle.

The remains of a crumbled tripod, the rotting corpse of its driver, is a testament of human courage and fortitude. 

Deployment:

General McIntyre has had 4 months to prepare the battle field for the next assault.  The towers have been excavated to allow hidden movement of his tanks.  Tunnels, trenches and hidey holes are all around the city for men to operate from.

Colonel Patton backs his tank into the remains of the Sheboygan Iron Works.  Other tanks are also well hid.  The clamp tank stands by it's exit hole ready to charge an unsuspecting tripod. 

Mk III's, their boilers up to pressure, are ready for action.

The first of the tripod figures are spotted.

It looks like two full pods of Martians.  They are crammed into a small area due to the flooded river, but will that really matter?

The color of the tripods usually indicates which hive they originated from.  The dark ones are from the local pod in Minnesota,.  The other seem to be from the Calgary Canada Hive, otherwise known as Marvin's Martians.

Turn 1:
The Martians move first.
Either by sharp eyes, or just accurate assessment as to where the humans could be hiding, the Martians advance to an invisible line, just out of range of human weapons and stop.

The American Army holds their positions, as they are well entrenched and can afford to be patient.

Turn 2:
The Martians keep the initiative and move first.

As one, three Tripods accelerate, moving faster than normally possible.  They raise their heat rays, and sweep human positions. 

Behind the fast moving tripods are the Drones and Grenadier tripods.  The scouts have already illuminated targets for Black Dust projectors. 

Heat rays slice through the forward berms.  But the BEF Infantry are well protected and only take minor casualties.

On that cue, BEF Imperial tanks drive up Taylor Drive and engage the invader. 

High velocity 2 pound shells rain around the Martian Scout Tripod, but it avoided them all.

Mk III's, under cover and standing by.  One more turn and it will be there turn to engage the invaders.

Turn 3:
The American Army takes the initiative and moves first.

Two platoons of Mk III's engage the nearest Tripods.  But their shots bounce harmlessly off the armored monstrosities. 

The US Army have thrown a might weight of shells, but as yet, not a single Tripod has been scratched, let alone destroyed.

Martians advance in their turn.

Some Tripods are slowed.  But still have targets down range.

Black dust covers an entrenched figures who are wiped out to a man.

So to, the BEF's Imperial Tanks.

Quickly, the Tripod figures follow up their victories.

The view from the vantage of the Mk III's

The view from the entrenched infantry.

Turn 4:
The American Army keeps the initiative and moves first.
BEF reinforcements arrive.  A Troop of Monotanks weave between the Martians legs and into their rear. Guns Blazing they pick on the Dark Martian with the Green Gas.  Auto loading 2 pounders throw 12 shells at the Tripod, but none manage a to damage the monster.

Undaunted the Mk III's continue to lay down a fusillade. 

In support, Medium guns from afar.

The platoon of MK III's have a good series of hits, 6 out of 9. 

Two penetrate the armor of the tripod.

Total damage, 1 hit point.

Using the excavated paths under the ruined tower of the Sheboygan Iron Works, Colonel Patten sneaks out and opens up with 4 rapid fire guns and his 5" main gun.

Four Mk II's add their 4" guns to the concentrated fire.

A dark Martian is hit.

The dark tripod shutters, there is a keening, then a flash, a hundred times as bright as the sun.  A tumultuous shock wave, made visible by bent light in its path radiated outward.   Where there was a war machine, there is naught but dust and smoke.

In their turn, the Martians adjust their lines.  Destroying a platoon of Mk II's by the coaling station.  Another Tripod released his green gas, melting a newly found Machine Gun nest.

More entrenched BEF are revealed. 

Mk II"s in flaming ruin.

Drones raise their light heat ray projectors against the Troop of Monotanks.

And managed to burn them all down.

Ignoring all threats, a Black Dust Projecting Martian steps into the center of the line.  Infantry to the right, Rough Riders to the left, and in front 6 Mk III's, with Guns in the distance.

Marvin has seen this all before, and is content to use drones for his skirmishers.

More machine gunners are revealed.  They hold their position, but their shots are bows and arrows against the lightning.

May be they continue because they have a visual on what is possible.

The view from the Martian rear.

Brave men assault a tripod from ambush.  Attacking with guts and grenades, they bring it down.

Patton's tank plays hide and seek in the ruins.

A tripod gets around the coaling station hunting the overlarge human tank.

The Tripod sweeps his heat ray, and only plows dirt.  9 guns reply, only causing minor damage.

Drones inundate the woods, taking down and dismembering the brave men that took down the Tripod.

From the vantage point of a raised bridge, a Scout Tripod illuminates the Artillery in the distance.  Shock canisters are soon to follow.

The Dark Pod Martians decide to allow no enemy behind them, and wipe out the Machine Gunners.

They too, have a visual on what is possible.

The view from the American side of the board.

And the other half of the table.

================================================================
At this point we took a break for the evening.  For a recap, the entire BEF has been destroyed for 5 units, and a unit of MK II's, and 3 infantry.  This against two tripods downed. This is not a good for the Americans.  The Americans are 8 towards their break point of 12.
================================================================
Turn 6:
The Americans have +2 for the initiative die roll and rolls a 5 to the Martian 10, so the initiative belongs to the Martians.

Drones attack on the Rough Riders. 

Surrounded, the Rough Riders maneuver their bikes like whirling dervishes.  The lag caused by remote control have a difficult time dealing with it.  So what looked like a slaughter, was simply difficult times.

The heat ray destroys a Mk III.  The fail their morale and flee.

Under cover are 3 more Mk III's.

A boy and his dog, Marvin and K-9

Shock drones finish of the last of the BEF.  The Human demoralization level is now 10

Martians burn the recently arrived Mk II's

They seem to be from Canada, eh?

The downed Tripods Driver seems to have escaped.

Counter battery fire destroyed one gun, but a command point kept them in line.

Marvin is assessing his mortality, and realizes he is now in front of the line.  Just as he decides to back up, one of his legs becomes trapped.  A clamp tank, hidden in the ruins, races out.  Its crew, bails out and runs into a near by hidey hole.  Where they shut a reinforced steel door behind them before the nearby drones can react.

O deary, deary me.  What shall I do? 

This was a moment the American army was waiting for.  Marvin is immobilized, two other Tripods are about to be tow cabled.  Shot after shot rang out, the Anti Tripod gun, 2 Artillery, 9 shots from tanks, none managed to even scrape the red paint off of Marvin's hide.

The Martian in the north routs it's Mk III's then approaches within 3 inches, and they are destroyed.  He is then attacked by Rough Riders.  But the cabling was faulty, and he remains untangled.

Unlike his mate to the south.  Who received two immobilization markers from his Rough Rider attack.

Patton and the remaining Mk II's shoot at the immobile Tripod.

Round after round hit then bounce.

Then one hit scores an 8, re-roll for number of hits.  And that is a 9.  The Tripod has 10 hits, needing only a BB gun to kill it.  Somewhere a rifle shot rang out, scoring the bare minimum to hit of 4 and and followed up with a damage roll of 2.  With that, the Tripod crumpled into ruin.

Turn 7:
The Martians have the initiative and move first.

Drones are brought up, and assault human infantry.  One is killed, the other routs.  The Humans demoralization level is 11!

The Humans are only one away from demoralization, and Martians decide it will be Patton.  Every major weapon fires into the Sheboygan Iron Works.  Heavy heat rays, Grenadier drones, Shock Bombardments.  Finally, in desperation, the question was raised, "Does the Slaver have a heat ray?"    "Of course it does."  Books open to confirm.  We need a 5 to hit and a 9 to kill.  And that is how the dice rolled.  A cascade of sparks and smoke emanate from the broken building.  followed by a mighty ululation from the surviving Tripods. 

Sheboygan, belongs, to the Martians!

K9, using his heat ray like a welding torch, separates Marvin from his clamp.

Epilogue.

===================================================================
Following his crew, Colonel Patton slid out of the emergency escape hatch of his tank. Using the stub of his cigar, he lit the fuse of the box of fireworks and smoke bombs mounted under the hull of his Mk IV.  Looking up, he noted the 4 inch deep gash from the heat ray that took out his boiler controls.  "Well, that will buff out." he thought.

Like his men before him, he crawled on his belly to a hole that lead to the excavated basement deep in the ruin.  Once inside, he shut the 3 inch steel door to keep random drones out.  Then he straightened his shirt and tie and and saluted Major General Frank McIntyre, who stood patiently waiting for his situation report.  "General, I think we have had enough, lets call it in."

"How bad was it George", asked the General?

"About 50%, General.  With the BEF taking the brunt of it."

General McIntyre visibly blanched at the news.

"You know what that means, don't you General?", offered Patton.

Major General McIntyre shook his head sadly, "Yes, George, it means we win."

"Damn right it means we win.  They don't have the numbers, sir!"

Major General Frank McIntyre turned to the men awaiting his orders, "All right, call it in", he ordered.

The men snapped into action.  Five bent over their telegraph sets and started tapping out Morse Code with a practiced ease from transcribed copies of orders on their desks.  Two others operated buttons on control boxes.  Off in the distance electric motors could be heard spinning up.

Along the side of the ruin of the Sheboygan Iron Works, flags snapped into position and raised up the side of the towering structure.

The twelve foot squares that could be seen for miles.  A Tripod took a snap shot at one, freeing the line and sending the flags aloft like a kite.  But it was too late, they were already observed by expectant eyes.

Within in a minute the American army was in total rout.  Vehicles caught fire and were abandoned, smoke dotted the landscape as soldiers fled for their lives.

The Martian slobbered in pleasure.  This is the best part.  Time to harvest fresh blood.  It charged forward, but more and more it was just smoke, and not humans he was finding.  He lowered the Tripod to till the carapace was just off the ground, reaper tentacles searching and probing and finding nothing.  It probed an overturned vehicle, that emanated smoke and sparks in a beguiling way.

The Tripods perambulated down the thoroughfares. One observed a large symbol painted white on the black material of the road, and recognized it as the human number 5.  Another observed a human flying machine, flying much to high to hit.

"They're past 19th Street general!"  announced one of the radiomen.

General McIntyre nodded in acknowledgement and stared at the map on the wall.

"Status of New York and Agincourt", he inquired?

Two radio operators started tapping their telegraphs then waited for the reply.

"15th Street general!"

"New York is in position and is ready", reported one.

"Agincourt reports all is in readiness", reported the another.

"Very well, now we wait."

Now that K9 had cut him free from that annoying tank, Marvin joined the pursuit.  The black material that the humans made their road from made his transit much faster than normal, and he thrilled in the chase.  He could see his pod mates slowing down, and noted the human number 4 painted on the road.  Drones crawled over the debris, one was attempting to cut open a steel door it found buried in the ground, but otherwise, spotting nothing of interest. The ululation from the tripods spoke of frustration.  "Where are the humans?"  Other than desiccated, burned or poisoned bodies, there were no fresh captives.  "WHERE ARE THEY?"

Marvin almost caught up to them, when he saw the human number 3 on the road surface.  A thought occurred, as he looked up and also noted the human flying machine.  The machine was producing green smoke.  Probably trying to protect itself from the heat ray.  A wasted gesture, even at this range the heat ray could flash it like a weed if it hit, but at that range, it was a very low percentage shot.

Marvin slowed, and noted the smoke emanating from the flying machine was now red.  He then looked down at the large number 2 on the ground.  He turned around and started heading the way he came.  K-9 caught up with him, then turned to follow.  Marvin had to couch his warning cry carefully.  Fear was not tolerated, so "Run Away" was not acceptable.  Perhaps an advisory tone to observe for unexpected problems?

The ground shook, as behind Marvin, the first salvo of from the 14" guns from the USS New York, and 12" guns of the HMS Agincourt straddled the tall metal pole emplaced in the ground with the huge number 1 on it. Around it, a full dozen tripods wailed in confusion and terror.

"Oh well", Marvin thought, "Problem solved."

Two miles away, with dust kicking up with every salvo.  Colonel Patton pulled a pair of cigars out of his humidor.  Reverently he closed the lid, and offered one to his commander.  Lighting them both, he murmured to himself, "This is how you win a war, by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his planet."

He chuckled to himself, "I am going to have to write that one down."