Gruntz Batrep - Patrol action on Malvee

Rhys played his first game of Gruntz the other day.  He has been collecting his army slowly over the last couple of months and I've been painting them for him.  He gets units or vehicles as rewards for being good at school.  As I've mentioned before, Rhys is special needs and having that goal helps.  I print out a picture of the model he's aiming for that week and put it in his folder so the teacher can remind him of his goal when necessary.

The buildings are from the Ion Age line.  I need to take a moment to gush here.  I've seen them online, and they look good, but I was not prepared for the quality of what I got.  These are on a par with the best in the business.  Sharp, clean and clever.  Buy some.  You will not regret it.  the turrets that come with these fit on their vehicles as well, giving you a huge number of options for both vics and buildings.

The following battle report is a squad level game between Rhys' Raiders and the 47th Infiltration Company.  We played on a single 2ft x 2ft table tile.

Sgt Jackson sat in the hab tower and thought about how much he loved independent duty.  The Raiders, as an armored recon battalion, looked for independence and initiative in their leaders.  They pushed authority as far down the chain as they could.  As a mercenary outfit they also weren't much on spit and polish.  Jackson felt right at home.

Half a fire team, dug in on guard duty.

His squad had been pushed out as a forward outpost in the plains between the Federation, their employers, and the Caliphate.  Aerial recon had identified a promising spot and dropped a bunker and two hab modules into position to form the core of the patrol base.  Unfortunately the excavator had broken down and his squad, eight scouts, one Bug APC with two crew and himself, were not able to dig in properly.

The Ion Age buildings.  Again.  Wow!  The figures represent who is inside each.

The Sgt had placed one fire team in overwatch on the two hills, two men per hill.  The other team was split between the bunker and the attached hab dome, with one man awake out of four.  It was 0255 and Sgt Jackson was about to call stand to.

The Infiltration company APC appears out of nowhere.

Just as Jackson began to toggle his mike he was interrupted by an incoming call.  "Snake 5 this is 1, incoming bogey.  Distance 75m., Azimuth 225.  Over."  "1, 5, how did it get so close? Over."  Jackson realized, as soon as he'd said it, that it didn't matter and he didn't have time to figure it out now.  At 75m that vic was already on his position.  "1, observe and report.  3, (the APC) incoming bogey on your nine, identify and report.  Weapons free".  "2, (2nd team) get your team up and ready, we have company".

The Bug moves to engage the Nur-a-Din APC from the 47th.

Jackson heard the engine on the Bug roar into life, followed almost immediately by the chatter of a chain gun and the woosh of missiles firing.  Linking into the visors of his vedettes he saw the two APCs exchanging fire, with missiles from both striking home.  Black smoke erupted from the Caliphate vic.  Jackson thought it was done for and began to relax.  The crew of the Bug must have as well.

The Bug burns while the Nur-a-Din disgorges infantry and advances to suppress the reinforcements.

Jackson barked out more orders "2, this is 5, move to investigate the enemy vehicle".  "All 1 and 3 units stand fast".  As Jackson moved out with the second squad he heard the sound of the chain gun firing again and saw his APC explode.  "5, this is 2, the enemy APC is still active.  It's dropping off infantry!"  Sgt Jackson realized he and the team with him were caught in the open.  "Run!" he yelled, seeing that his veteran infantry had already realized the same thing and were keeping up with him.  "At least they are all running towards the fight".  He thought.  You never knew how a man would react in combat, even veterans did the wrong thing sometimes.

The infantry fire fight heats up.

The early morning had become chaos.  The enemy infantry were backlighted by the burning Bug, but they were alert and ready.  Jackson's infantry were in better positions but were still waking up and getting their bearings.  The fight was relatively even; there were no heavy weapons on either side.  Except for that APC.  It's chain gun killed both scouts on the far hill.  The enemy infantry were falling, but so were Jackson's men.  At 20 yards it was hard to miss.

The Raider firing line is getting thin.

In the end, the firepower of the APC proved decisive.  Jackson's men didn't have anything that could hurt the monster.  He was still trying to figure out how to kill it when one of it's missiles hit him in the chest.  Private Seymour was the only survivor.  When he saw his Sgt blown to pieces with an anti-armor missile he turned and ran, evading into the dark.

Private Seymour, running for his life, err, evading to report.

Cpl Kamoukian stood in the middle of the patrol base.  His Sgt was dead, along with half of the squad.  Still, they'd taken the base and Bn reported no comms sent after their attack.  The mercs had a nice neat hole in their lines, and they didn't know it.  The rest of the company would be pushing through that hole in the next few hours.  All in all, the price was worth it, especially because 3rd squad got to sit back and guard the base.  Now what did these merc have to drink?

This was Rhys' first game.  He learned a bit, but mostly he just had a great time.  Gruntz is easy enough that he can understand the rolls he needs, as long as I help him.  "You need a seven", (Rhys) "Or higher".  Tactics will come with time.  He also wants those missile launchers that are sitting in his goal pile (like a lead pile but more acceptable for SWMBO).