Gruntz AAR - Resource Raid

Last week we got in another game of Gruntz.  This was a 1v1 game between the Traveller and I.  Yet again, we really enjoyed the rules, although we are still making some mods.  We both agree that smoke is a must; something I haven't been able to find in the rules.

Drone shot used in pre-mission briefing.

Rules:  Gruntz
House Rules:  All weapon ranges doubled.
                      Chain of Command patrol phase used.
Table size: 6x6

Scenario:  The UNSC peacekeepers had pulled out of one of their bases when the fighting had gotten hot.  Intel reported that, in their haste, they had left several containers behind, one of which contained some critical intelligence.  The eight containers arranged along the parade deck were the reported location of the materials.  The mission is to locate, load and extract the intelligence crystals.

In order to search a container each player has to have a model in contact with it for one round.  That model can perform no other actions and has to pass a skill check.

Parade deck with the shipping containers.

Lt Al-Tharki had gotten the word on his next mission.  After the last fight, he'd been resupplied with replacement vehicles and gotten some new men.  This mission came sooner than he'd like.  The 3rd squad was still not coming together right after all of their losses in the last fight.

View from the enemy side of the table.

The meddlers from the United Nations Space Command had pulled out of one of their patrol bases when the fighting had gotten hot with the Federation.  The base wasn't much use but intel thought they had left behind some data crystals with critical information on them.  Al-Tharki's orders were to race into the base and grab the intel before the Federation Marines found out it was there.

The uncompleted UNSC fortifications.

Al-Tharki stopped several miles outside of the objective and sent his scouts and snipers in to snoop and poop.  They were able to get into position without being observed, but what they reported was not what he expected.

Scout team and sniper team take up position in a barracks.

The other two teams move into the guard tower.

The teams reported sighting the Khanate mercenaries moving in on the site.  Al-Tharki immediately ordered his platoon forward while he got on the horn to see if higher had ordered their hirelings on the same mission.

Khanate scouts move forward.  The red barrels are jump off points for infantry.

Al-Tharki decided he didn't much care why the dogs were there, when they opened fire.  He'd let the high command sort it out after he killed them.  As Al-Tharki moved his troops forward he received more reports from his scouts.  "One scout car, three medium APCs, one battle suit.  Shit."  "They have a tank".  The Lt's blood ran cold.  He didn't have a good counter for heavy armor.  This was going to be an interesting day.

The Khanate tank takes position on the ridge line.  Battle suit moving forward in the center.  Marker light on the scout car to the left.

The dogs were rushing the center.  One of Al-Tharki's auto-canon teams got itself into position overlooking the parade deck, only to get destroyed in a blast of plasma.  The scouts put marker lights onto the scout car and one of the APCs.

An infantry squad moves around the left flank and takes position in some rocks.

Al-Tharki ordered the 1st Squad, with him on board, to the center to search the containers.  He ordered 2nd Squad to the left and 3rd to the right.  The mechs went down each side of the center, providing support for the 1st Squad.  He had ordered his air assault squad to infiltrate on foot behind the scouts.  They were in position in the garage, waiting in ambush.

Al-Tharki and the 1st Squad.  The grunts go on overwatch while the Lt prepares to search the containers.

The APCs and infantry engaged in a long range duel.  Neither side was willing to cross the killing ground of the parade deck.  The dogs were moving a team around the right flank so Al-Tharki called in his drop ship to give them some pause, wishing he had a gunship on call.  He also had his 3rd squad debark their vehicle and take up positions to hold off the enemy infantry.

The situation begins to develop on the right.  Standoff in the center.

The dogs got a plasma team up the stairs to assault the scouts, but they were killed as they made their rush.  The sniper team didn't even bother to turn away from engaging the dog infantry behind the containers.

Khanate plasma team getting gunned down.

Lt Al-Tharki opened the container in front of him and was shocked to find the data crystals.  He ordered his APC to back up to the container so his men could start loading.  Seeing the activity, and guessing what it meant, the dog soldiers made a rush to stop it.  The scout car was destroyed by the hidden infantry in the garage.  The battle suit was pinned by fire and the APC was take out by the 1st Squad's missile launcher.

The fight in the center gets serious.

On the left the tank had come down off of the ridge.  It flamed the Lion scout car with one shot.  It then moved to engage the light mech on the left flank.  The first hit blasted most of the armor off of the Sand Viper.  The pilot backed up behind the barracks and kept out of sight of the tank for the rest of the fight.

The 2nd Squad pinned the dog infantry when they hit them in the open, then sent the survivors loping for the rear.  The scouts and snipers in the barracks were killed but the infantry stood strong.  They even smoked a couple of missiles into the tank, though it just shrugged off their small warheads.

One of the two Khanate dropships, loaded with infantry, zoomed in to drop them behind the 2nd Squad.  The infantry and APC poured everything they had into it, bringing it down between the APC and the tank.

The dropship trying to stop Al-Tharki's APC.  It died in that position, on the hill.

Back in the center the second Khanate dropship moved to the rear to kill the 1st Squad's APC.  It too, was brought down, after scouring armor off of the front of the APC.

The tank, moving into position to smoke 1st Squad's APC.  The Sahadeen just didn't have an answer to this monster.

Al-Tharki got the data crystals loaded into the back of his APC and was checking the container for anything he'd missed.  He heard a shrieking like the dead rising.  Looking out he could see that the tank had moved into a position where it could hit his APC.  The first round had torn the door off of the side and left the vehicle a tilted wreck.  As the driver revved the engine to get out of there, a second round hit, destroying the APC and all of the crystals with it.

The Khan had obviously decided that if he couldn't have the crystals, neither would the Sahadeen.  With that, a pause fell over the battlefield and both sides withdrew.

This was a great game.  The larger table size gives the commanders room to maneuver.  you can go for a flank or push into the back field.  There's room to retreat and still be in the game.  The Chain of Command patrol phase was fun and it led to some interesting tactical decisions.   I used my jump off points to front load my scouts, snipers, one AC team and one infantry squad.  The scouts and snipers then used their infiltrate move, a free 18" move forward after deployment, to get deep onto the table.

The Traveller deployed a bunch of his infantry at his jump offs and it did not pay off.  Infantry in the open is meat on the table in this game.  This is why we need smoke.  It's the only chance you have to move infantry forward without an APC.  This table had quite a bit of cover but not enough for maneuver.  There's no way anyone could have gotten across that parade deck without smoke.

As before, doubling the weapons ranges really worked well.  In a pure infantry fight the book ranges would be fine but with vehicles involved the double range is a must.

The tank totally dominated everything it could see.  As it should.  The APCs could survive one hit, but not two.  It shrugged off infantry missiles, a plasma blast from a light mech and gatling fire from the drop ship.  It killed the scout car with one shot, very cinematic.  I'll have to get one of my tanks on the table for the next game.  I'm also considering my options for tank destroyers.  Both of us felt the pain of our dropships being slick troop carriers rather than gunships.  I'll be modifying at least one of the Falcons into a gunship.  I'll also have to pick up the gunship version of the Sabre from Rebel.

EDIT - I was asked to post the army lists as well.

Caliphate Infiltration Bn.

Khanate Raiding Force