A rush of blood to the head led me to trying out our Tripods in the ground attack mode.
I used a couple of the trench terrains pieces from the game to represent the HQ's of the forces in the lines, as the main objectives and surrounded them with A & B firing MG's & AA.
All cards deployed face down, only revealed when potentially in range of a Tripod.
I used the card value 5 for destruction of all positions, arguably the HQ objective could've been more.
Tripods were allowed to drain energy from the positions they over ran before destroying them otherwise they were in danger of running out of juice.
I kept the MG's fire to their arcs, I think if I hadn't the Tripods would had an even more torrid time of it...
I didn't involve trench fire, or my altitude rules as I had my hands full tracking all the rest, playing both sides.
I played 3 cannon firing aircraft as air defence.
Well, enough preamble, here it is:
On the left a Locust & a Squid
Deployed on the right was a Scarab
Battle is soon met - though results were mixed. A shot in the open side welcomes the Scarab but scant damage caused.
The Squid, out of reach of the MG to his front, scores a low damage hit on his first attempt
Advancing under MG fire, the Scarab does no damage to the troublesome gun with it's black smoke (though I allowed it to extend the reload process for a phase)
It has no success on the MG with it's heat ray either !
The zero's frequency may be an issue as the Squid tries it's luck .. at least he has shield to the front & sides.
The AA had similar issues thankfully
The Scarab finally gets on target and destroys an AA gun, shrugging off the incoming rounds .
The AA crew facing the Squid get their eye in too, slotting a round in behind it's shields and setting it ablaze !
The Locust is very vulnerable to ground fire as it advances, This single gun wounds the Martian pilot but it doesn't spoil his aim as he severely damages the position. He subsequently stomps it into the mud.
The ground attack continues along the same lines, lots of zero's for both sides, occasional success. Then the air element arrived. Experimental AFB-1's fitted with cannon swoop into the fray backed by a SPAD XII, in time.
Their timing is a bit off though their aim is good with the MG
The AA waits for the friendly to clear before letting rip. The Scarab lashes out at the troublesome AFB, tearing it up as it passes, injuring the pilot.
The Squid clears a couple more positions before the fire catches up with it
The Scarab is under pressure in the midst of the right flank but he perseveres & makes the kill
The Locust limps on & sets about the HQ, lucky to survive incoming rounds
Reinforcements in the shape of a second Squid & Locust arrive - the Squid sets the other AFB-1 on fire then takes it on with his claws as it's double teamed by the Locust, then finishes it off with a second heat ray.
The first AFB reverses & goes after the Scarab, getting off his aimed shot with his MG into it's shields before firing his cannon into an open side as it turns, though it's assault on the second HQ is complete.
The original Locust survives a brush with the SPAD but is low on power and gets roughly treated by covering MG & AA
The second Locust covers his comrade and lights up the SPAD damaging it's engine
The burning Scarab downs the surviving AFB-1 as it passes as more power is drained away by incoming cannon rounds from the AA and MG
Having had a go with his MG the SPAD pilot then looses off it's cannon into the shields of the Locust.
As his cockpit fills with smoke and the machine staggers to recover from the recoil the Locust attempts to grab at him but fails
The second Locust finishes off the left HQ.
Reloading frantically the SPAD pilot heads for the Scarab.
The Scarab sees him coming and uses its heavy heat ray but misses his target
His energy spent he cannot stop the incoming MG fire from the ground or air..
The follow up cannon shot is surplus to requirements as the combined MG fire ended him but had to be done.
The Squid fails to spoil the party
I called it there as the Tripods had destroyed the two HQ targets.
The Butcher's Tally :
RAF:
As you can see the SPAD pilot was a lucky begger !
Tripods:
Squid
Scarab
Locust 1
Squid 2
Locust 2
Pos Destroyed
Pos Survived
This game was played over a number of sessions and days, hope I managed to keep track of it all but there are errors likely I'm sure.
Conclusion is - The Squid is ideal for ground attack with good armour and multi heat ray direction, speed, agility and fast recharge (4) when overlapping positions are ideal. Start smaller next time !
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