Gates of Antares Battle Report: Algoryn vs Concord Reinforce the Position, Part Two

And now the conclusion of the Reinforce the Position battle report.  At the end of turn three, neither side had managed to gain the upper hand.  The AI assault squad had taken a lot of pins from a net round early in the game but managed to quickly shrug them off, only to be hit with another net round.  The Algoryn were giving as good as they were getting though, lobbing multiple net rounds at the Concord support drones, rendering them virtually useless.  Which side will reign supreme?  Let's get back to the game and find out.

Turn Four

This turn opened with the AI assault squad trying to take advantage of their position to charge the nearby Strike squad.  Unfortunately they couldn't manage to pass their command check and were forced to go down instead.

The nearby AI squad showed them how it was done, charging into assault against the same Strike squad.  The Concord troops tried to ready themselves against their opponents only to fail their reaction miserably.  This combined with the incoming fire from the Algoryn left the Concord troops seriously rattled and made them useless in the assault.  Loosing one of their own, things looked grim for the Concord soldiers but somehow they managed to keep it together long enough to weather a follow up assault and even take down the micro x trooper in the AI squad.

After the fight, both squads consolidated back towards cover to try to get into a better position for the next turn.

The AI squad in the center of the board went next but they were still too rattled by the previous attacks, going down as they failed their command check to run.  The Algoryn streak continued though with one of the x-launchers firing.  They dropped another net round on the support drones and this time it was too much for them to process.  The drones broke and fled the table, leaving one of the Strike squads standing in the middle of the board with no batter field.

Hoping to return the favor, the Concord x-launcher lobbed its own net round at the AI assault squad, adding another single pin to the unit trapped in the woodland.

The second AI support team fired next, this time using a conventional x-launcher round against the severely shaken Strike squad on the western side of the board.  Unlike all the net rounds, this one went wide and exploded harmlessly in front of the Strike troopers.

The Strike squad in open middle of the board braced themselves and opened fire on the assault squad.  Several shots hit home but bounced off the reflex armor with no effect.

The Strike command squad ordered the nearby Strike squad forward and the two units ran into the woodlands by the AI squad laying in ambush.  Most of the AI troops couldn't get a line of sight though so they held onto the ambush order a bit longer.

The mag cannon team felt differently, letting loose a round that blasted a hole right through one of the Strike troopers.

The turn ended with the western Strike squad rallying to shed a majority of their pins and the AI medic team moving up to support the AI squad in the nearby woodlands.  Wrapping things up, the AI squad on ambush return their die to the bag, and the down AI squad and assault squads both pass the test to return their order dice as well.

Turn Five

Concord started this turn with the deafening sound of silence as their x-launcher team tried to fire a dude round.  Ironically enough the Algoryn didn't fare any better as their assault team, now free of pins, got too tangled in the woodland to move at all.

The western AI squad went next, opening fire on the nearby Strike squad who took the opportunity to fire back.  A flurry of rounds later and both units had lost a trooper to their opponents fusillade.

The Strike squad in the center of the field advanced brave as brass and fired on the batter AI squad that had run to get into cover.  They didn't have line of sight to the whole unit but they were able to get them down to a sole survivor who bravely stood his ground.

The eastern Strike squad went next, advancing out of the woodland to open fire on the AI squad.  Most of the rounds bounced off harmlessly but one of them did strike home, killing the AI squad leader.

Undaunted, the AI squad charged the Strike squad, taking down the Concord squad leader in turn as they charged forward.  Neither side could get an upper hand in the ensuing melee and both squads fell back to regroup.

One of the AI support teams tried to follow up against the same Concord squad, dropping a standard round right on top of them.  The Strike troopers were to well dug in though and easily weathered the blast.

The Strike command squad opened fire on the AI squad but their plasma bolts bounced off the Algoryn reflex armor, having little effect.

The rest of the turn was the Algoryn troops repositioning and readying themselves for the final turn.  The medic team held their position, the mag cannon support team went into ambush, and other support team moved forward into the woodland to try to get a line of sight.

Going into potentially the last turn, things were still fairly balanced though casualties were starting to pile up on both side.

Turn Six

This turn a miracle happened; the AI assault squad actually did something!  Charging forward from the mass of brambles they had been tied up in, the assault squad slammed into the Stike squad in the center of the field.  The rejoicing was short lived as two of their number were gunned down by the Strike troopers but the caused a casualty themselves so all wasn't lost.

With their d-spinners set for plasma grenades, the three remaining assault troopers tore into the Strike troopers... and took only took out one of them while two of the assault troopers fell.  The squad leader was undaunted though and held his ground!

The Concord troops followed up their advantage and dog piled onto the assault leader, taking him down though another of their numbers fell in the melee.  Overall not the most impressive showing but it was definitely better than being stuck in the woods.

The remnants of the Concord squad fell back into the nearby woodland to try to get some cover from the other AI squads that hadn't activated yet.

The Concord support team went next and landed a net round right on top of the closest AI squad.  This proved to be too much for them and they quickly ran from the field.

The western AI squad opened fire on the same Concord team as last turn but this time the Strike were caught by surprise with one of their numbers falling to the incoming mag rounds.

Looking to press their advantage on the shaken Concord squads, one of the AI support teams launched a net round to try to break them.  The round went wide, just falling short of hitting the nearby Strike command squad.

The second support team fared better.  Their round deviated but still managed to hit their target, racking up a number of pins on the command squad.

The central Strike squad tried to take a shot at the closest AI squad but it the strain was too much, forcing them down for the turn.

Meanwhile, the AI medic team advanced to the edge of the woodland and opened fire on the western Strike squad.  Their tender ministrations dropped another C3 trooper and sent the last one running for the hills.

The eastern Strike squad opened fire on the lone AI trooper hiding behind the building but weren't able to get any of their shots to connect.  He responded by firing back but wasn't able to pierce their hyper light armor.

And with that... the game was over.  The die roll for an extra turn came up with a 1, definitively drawing the action to a close but the question remains... which side won?  Since neither side was broken, the point values of the units that were removed are used to determine the winner.  On the Concord side of the table, the C3D1 light support drone unit was taken out along with one of the Strike squads, coming up with a grand total of 273 points.  On the Algoryn side, they lost the AI assault squad and one AI squad for a total of 267 points meaning they just barely squeak by with a win.

Mistakes Made and Things Learned

I believe this was the first time that I tried fielding such well rounded lists and it was interesting to see how the pieces all fit together.  The support units really do help round out the forces and can be a valuable asset to have though in the future I want to try running them differently.

I think it would be better to split up the C3D1 drones and give them each a batter drone.  This would let them move around the battlefield independently and provide cover for other units as they advance.  That said I think I would leave the spotter drones off of them.  Since I see them a supporting tactical units which should already have spotters, it seems a bit to redundant and kind of a points sink to put them on the support drones as well.

Meanwhile, I think I'll skip the batter drone for the support squad with an x-launcher.  With overhead spotter patching, the support team will probably be out of line of sight so the points for a batter drone would probably be better spent elsewhere.

On the Algoryn side of things, I want to get some more AI assault troopers so I can field a larger squad.  I'll admit that they really haven't been very effective for me but hopefully with another couple of bodies in there it will help.  I really like the concept behind them so it would be great to have them be a viable choice for an army.

The other thing I might do is drop the medic team.  I've never had them in position to use them as medics though having a small two man team with mag guns isn't a bad thing.  Still I can't help but wonder if perhaps there might be a better use for the points.

Something that applies for both factions is the various special ammunition types.  This game I primarily used net ammo to pile on the pins.  I looked at the other kinds and tried to look for situations that they would be helpful but I just wasn't seeing anything.  I might try dropping the other types for now and then expand to include more as I identify situations that they could be useful.  This would probably be easier from a rules point of view as well as I would only have to remember one type of speical muntion instead of five.

The same applies for the special munitions for the micro-x and slingnet launchers.  I genuinely forgot about overload and slingnet munitions so I might drop down to one of them for now so that using it becomes second nature.  Once this happens, I can look at adding or swapping in the other type as needed.  It will also free up some more points and give me a bit more to play with.

Of course none of these things are really mistakes, but there was a doozy that I was making; spotter OH patching can only be done through one spotter drone.  I was thinking that you could patch through multiple drones which is the main reason there was some much overhead fire in the first couple of turns.  Whoopsy!  Let's count that as a lesson learned, shall we?

Final Thoughts

So now the question is what's next?  I'm thinking I might break out the Ghar and give them a test drive; see how the distort die and all their other rules change the game.  That said, it also might be good to do another game or two with the more normal armies to make sure some of these rules are second nature first.  I also have a friend that has said he would be interested in a demo so I need to figure out when we can fit that it as well; it's always better to have another opponent to play against instead of just pushing around the models solo.  There is also at least one gaming store locally that I want to check out, plus another in New Hampshire that I know hosts Antares games so there are definietly some options out there.  Until next time...

Gates of Antares Battle Report: Algoryn vs Concord Reinforce the Position, Part One

I finally had my dice, tape measure, and miniatures all in one location!  Huzzah!  That means it's time for the Algoryn troops of Yadrolla to face of against the Concord attack force from Bastion.  For this battle, I broke out the pieces of terrain that I have finished off and set up a 4' x 4' table.  Overall this is a fairly straightforward set up, but I wanted to touch on the various elements first.

Here is an overview of the table.  The left edge is side A and will be north of this battle for ease of reference.  Most of the terrain on the table are basic types right out of the main rules.

Across the board are several areas of dense woodland.  They block line of sight and give a cover bonus of +2 Res to units within them, which will make them good cover for the advancing armies.  They do count as difficult terrain though, requiring an agility roll with a -1 penalty in order to enter or move through them.

There are also several "buildings" scattered across the board, but in this case they can not be entered and just serve to block line of sight.  I'll come up with some more elaborate buildings in the future but for now these will work.

Finally, there is one special piece of terrain that takes the form of a thrasher vine.  A form of sentient plant, this is a "counts as" model of a spiker shrub.  This means it is a piece of light terrain that provides +1 Res for cover and does require an agility test to move through.  In addition, the thrasher shrub will attack units that fail their agility test, causing d3 Sv 0 hits along with one pin.

For the scenario, I grabbed Matched Scenario 2: Reinforce the Position from the main rulebook.  For initial deployment, both forces deploy half of their order dice within one move of their table edge.  The remaining units can either enter on turn 1 from their own table edge or on turn 2 from either the east or west edge of the board.  Units that move on in turn 1 are able to do so freely but any units that enter after that need to make a order test to enter the board.

The objective for both sides is very straight forward; break you opponent by reducing them to half strength (3 order dice for the Concord or 4 dice for the Algoryn).  If neither side has done this buy the end of turn 6, a d6 is rolled.  On a 4 or better, one more turn is played, otherwise the game is over.

Algoryn garrison troops from Yadrolla

The heart of the Algoryn force consists of three AI squads and one AI assault squad.  These are supported by a medic team equipped with mag repeaters, and three 2-man support teams; two of them equipped with x-launchers with all the ammo types, the third a mag cannon team.

This forces gives the Algoryn some options as they advance across the board.  The three AI squads can put out respectable firepower between their mag guns and micro x-launchers, while the AI assault squad can move in to threaten any units it can close with.  All of the units except for the medic team are equipped with spotter drones, which should give the two x-launcher teams good coverage across the board.  The mag cannon will be restricted to attacking units in direct line of sight but it should be able to make short work of any target it hits.  Finally, the AI medic team is there to stay close to as many squads as it can to let them reroll a failed Res test and their mag repeaters should give them a bit of punch as well.

Concord Attack Force from Bastion

The Concord force is built around a core of three Strike squads led by a Strike command squad.  These are supported by a unit of two light support drones equipped with plasma light supports and a 2-man support team equipped with an x-launcher with all the ammo types.  All of the units are equipped with spotter drones while the support units are also equipped with batter drones, providing them with some mobile cover if they need it.

This is a fairly standard Concord force.  The Strike teams and their command squad form the backbone of the army while the two supporting units do just that.  The batter drones should help provide some cover which will let the Concord advance a little easier and all the spotter drones should be able to give the x-launcher team good coverage.

Deployment

With the forces assembled, its time to deploy.  A quick roll of the dice and the Algoryn are assigned side A which is this case is the northern edge of the board.  This side of the board is a bit more open than the southern side which will make things a bit trickier, plus there is also the thrasher bush in the northwest corner.  Their reflex armor makes them a bit more resilient to its attention but it would still mean unwanted pins on any units moving through.

By comparison, the south side of the board has a large woodland in the center which should provide good cover for the Concord x-launcher team, though linking the spotter line of sights might be a challenge.

Turn One

As the two forces detect each other, the Concord are quick to jump to action.  The x-launcher advances into cover behind the large woodland while their batter drone shifts its batter field off to one side to give the nearby Strike squad some cover.

The Algoryn follow suit with their easternmost x-launcher running forward to get behind their own cover.

The AI assault squad moved next, sprinting through the open to get into cover behind one of the woodlands in the center of the board.  Unfortunately they pushed themselves a little too hard and earned themselves a pin for their efforts.

The second x-launcher moved next, advancing into cover behind another woodland in the northeast corner of the board.

The Algoryn continued their offensive wave with the AI squad sprinting forward through the open area in the center of the board.  They followed suit as they also strained themselves, also earning a pin.

The Concord Strike squad in the southeast corner advanced into position behind the batter field.

The last Strike squad sprinted forward to get behind cover on the southwest corner of the board, but the Concord fitness plan is as efficient as the Algoryn, earning themselves a pin.

About halfway through the turn I realized that the two forces could have brought on their reinforcements in the first turn but... oops.  That's okay, they can just show up now.

Turn Two

Once again the Concord grab the initiative, moving on the pair of C1D3 support drones.  These floated up the center of the board and opened fire on the AI squad right out in the open.  As the hail of plasma flew in their direction, the AI squad dropped to the ground.  Most of the squad avoids the barrage but the leader and one of the troopers aren't so lucky, being blasted by the plasma light support guns.

The Algoryn respond by lobbing a net round onto the support drones.  As luck would have it the round landed dead on, with the suspensor waves disrupting them and inflicting three pins.

With a second pull for the Algoryn, the support team spotter patches through and they lob another net round at the support drones.  Again, the round lands on target and inflicts four more pins, putting the support drones on the edge of breaking completely.

The Algoryn get the next pull as well and take advantage of being able to flank.  Entering from the middle of the northwest edge, they moved into one of the woodlands and open fire on the Strike squad.  The Concord troops go down and the incoming fire doesn't cause any casualties though they do get another pin.

The trend continues as the Algoryn activate again, this time with the assault squad running forward into the woodland they are behind.  They get tangled in the brush but are still able to get into a good position to strike next turn.

Patching through nearby spotter drones, the Concord x-launcher lobs a net round at the assault squad, landing dead on and maxing out the pins at four.

Next is another Algoryn pull but luckily for the Concord, the AI mag cannon team gets lost and don't come onto the board this turn.  This is followed by the last of the Concord reinforcements running onto the board as the Strike squad moves into cover behind the support drone batter shield.

The Concord keeps the pressure on with their Strike squad on the eastern edge going onto ambush behind the cover of the support team batter field.

The last two pulls are both Algoryn.  First, the last AI squad moves onto the board using one of the buildings to block line of sight to the Strike squad in ambush.

The AI medic team moves next, taking up position behind the AI squad on the western edge of the board.

With all of the units moved, its time to roll for down orders.  The Concord strike squad is able to shake it off but the AI squad in the center of the table remains down.  Perhaps not the worst thing in the world since they are very exposed but being able to move would probably be better.

Turn Three

The Algoryn led things off with the AI assault squad rallying, managing to loose all of their pins which will put them into a good position... as long as they survive this round.

The Concord support drones follow their lead and rally as well, though they only drop three pins.  Not ideal but they are definitely in a better position than they were in.

The AI squad on the western edge opens fire from cover on the Strike squad, open fire in response.  A massive flurry of mag rounds and plasma bolts later, one squads take one pin... and that's it.  Huzzah!


Next the Strike squad on the southern side by the support drones opens fire on the AI squad that is still down.  Unloading a massive amount of rapid fire at their target, the AI squad weathers the attack, only gaining a pin in the process.

One of the AI support teams goes next, lobbing another net round onto the support drones.  The shot misses but only deviates an inch, putting all the pins the unit had shed right back on the unit.  After that the Concord command Strike squad moves over to take a supporting position behind the Strike squad on ambush on the eastern side.

The mag cannon team finally manages to find its way onto the board, moving onto the northern edge of the board.  It lets loose one of it rounds but the shot just barely misses its target.

Last unit for the Concord is the x-launcher which lobs another net round at the recently recovered assault squad.  Keeping up the trend, the round strikes home, putting three pins on them again.

Next the second AI x-launcher team fires a net round at the support drones to try to break them but no such luck.  The round misses and deviates enough to have no effect at all.  This is followed by the medic team advancing though they don't actually move (don't want them to get stuck down) while the AI team behind the building on the east go into ambush.

To wrap up the turn, the AI squad that was stuck down manage to pull themselves together.  Meanwhile, the Concord Strike squad that was on ambush gives up its die while the AI team that just went onto ambush keep theirs.

And that marks the halfway point!  Neither side has managed to gain the upper hand though the Algoryn have those support drones on the ropes with all those pins. Seems like a good place to call things for now but the rest of the report is coming soon.  Until next time...