Moon Wars Campaign Part 3

 This is the third post in a narrative campaign between Space X and Blue Origin to control the moon's resources. 

Campaign Background

Space X has built a base on the moon to support the establishment of a colony on Mars. Blue Origin has built a base to support the establishment of its O'Neil Space Habitats. Both have found that their dreams are larger than the capital and resources they have available.

Space X has decided on a hostile take over of Blue Origin's assets on the moon and has launched a surprise attack in an extension of their corporate competition for the moon's scarce resources. Luckily Blue Origin has had time to prepare some defenses but they will still always be out numbered by Space X.

Battle Three    Scenario 22 Ambush (from the OHW scenario book)

A Space X force of 6 units is besieging a Blue Origin base. While outnumbered,  a Blue Origin relieving force of 4 units needs to destroy the larger Space X force to break the siege.

Space X has been caught by surprise and their squads cannot move or fire until turn 3.

To win the game Blue Origin need to destroy all of the Space X squads by turn 15.

Rules used:   FFOL Bigger Battles

The vehicles accompanying the Space X squads are purely decoration. They represent the squads' supplies as they besiege the Blue Origin base. From turn 3 I have added red and yellow rods to indicate who is firing at who. Red for Blue Origin and Yellow for Space X.

In addition to the terrain specified by the scenario I have added three large solar collector arrays for Space X to hide behind. Without these the scenario seems a bit silly considering the weapon ranges.

Some of my older readers may recognise the Blue Origin base being the Airfix D-day gun emplacement  repurposed from Normandy to the south polar region of the moon.

Start of Game. Blue Origin relieving force has reached the edge of the craters from where they will launch their relief effort. The Space X force has one squad guarding the craters, one squad near the base and their remaining four squads at the top of the table hiding behind the solar arrays. My plan for Space X was to use the two squads in the open to hold the Blue Origin force until Space X could activate in turn three.

End of turn 1 - Blue Origin has destroyed the first Space X squad and moved out from the craters to fire at the second Space X squad. The Blue Origin squad in the base has moved out to flank the main Space X force.

End of turn 2 - Blue Origin has killed three squad members of the Space X holding squad and a complete squad from the main force.

End of turn 3 - Only two Space X squads remain. The Blue Origin flanking force decimated another Space X squad sending it remaining two members fleeing from the battle field. Space X has managed to kill three members of one Blue Origin force but they are still outnumbered.

At this point of the game you would expect the remaining Space X forces to flee or surrender. But as my little metal men know no fear they battled on!

End of turn 4 - Space X manage to win the activations and can destroy one Blue Origin squad and finish off another. Unfortunately this leaves one squad in the open for Blue Origin return fire and this Space X squad is destroyed.

End of turn 5 - Space X needed to activate first, destroy one Blue Origin squad and then hide from any return fire. Unfortunately they activated second and were decimated with just one survivor running off to tell HQ the bad news.

Final Thoughts.      As mentioned in the last game, if one side gets the balance of the activations and moves or shoots first they get an enormous advantage, especially if they out number their opposition. Anyway a fun scenario to play out.

Now it is one win for Space X and two wins for Blue Origin. Will Space X be able to claw back a win to tie the campaign? Or will this go down as one of Elon Musk's business missteps. As bad as buying Twitter.

Figures

Astronauts with Guns and the vehicles are from Pendraken. I forgot to add the small craters for additional table decoration. I have corrected this in the next battle.

Moon Wars Campaign Part 2

 This is the second post in a narrative campaign between Space X and Blue Origin to control the moon. This will let me play with my Astronauts with guns and associated terrain and vehicles.

Campaign Background

Space X has built a base on the moon to support the establishment of a colony on Mars. Blue Origin has built a base to support the establishment of its O'Neil Space Habitats. Both have found that their dreams are larger than the capital and resources they have available.

Space X has decided on a hostile take over of Blue Origin's assets on the moon and has launched a surprise attack in an extension of their corporate competition for the moon's scarce resources. Luckily Blue Origin has had time to prepare some defenses but they will still always be out numbered by Space X.

Battle Two    Scenario 25 Infiltration  (OHW scenario book)

Blue Origin forces need to break through the Space X lines to escape encirclement. Once again Blue Origin is outnumbered 4 units to 6. 

All four Blue Origin squads enter on turn one.

Space X have one squad set up at the start of the game. Two squads enter the north side of the table on turn three and a further three squads enter the southern side of the table by the road on turn six.

At least two Blue Origin squads need to exit of the north side by the road to win.

Rules used:   FFOL Bigger Battles

The vehicles accompanying the Blue Origin squads are purely decoration. They represent the squads' supplies as they walk to freedom.

Start of Game. A lonely Space X squad guards the road north. They are green - indicated by the green counter.

End of turn 1 - Blue Origin advances two squads to the hill and two squads straight for the exit. The Space X squad moved over the hill top and their fire has killed one Blue Origin Astronaut and put a lot of shock on the rest of the squad.

End of turn 2 - Activating first in a fire fight is very important. In this case both Blue Origin squads activated before the Space X squad which was eliminated by the short range fire. This was also helped by Blue Origin drawing the Queen of Spades which allowed them to remove all shock from the squad and then fire.

End of turn 3 - Space X has deployed two squads from the north. One in the rocks with cover and one from the road. The plan is to hold on until the Space X three squads arrive on the road from the south. Space X fire has killed one Blue Origin Astronaut and added 2 shock.

End of turn 4 - The fire fight continues. Two more Blue Origin astronauts are killed versus one for Space X, Shock is incurred by both sides. However, Blue Origin has moved up the other two of its squads into range.

End of turn 5 - Once again Blue Origin gets lucky with the activation cards meaning that they shoot before Space X. As well they draw an Ace which is wild and can be used as a Queen of Spades to remove the shock. The Space X squad in the open is chased away with a lot of shock and is no longer in the fight. The Space X squad in the rocky area suffers two dead and one shock. Blue Origin only suffer one shock.

End of turn 6 - The three reinforcing squads from Space X move onto the board but it looks like they are too late. The Space X squad in the rocky area was decimated and its remaining squad member has retreated. Blue Origin head for the exit.

End of turn 7 - Blue Origin once again win the activation draw and will escape. A last ditch volley by the leading Space X squad put one shock on the trailing Blue Origin squad but now they are low on ammo.

Final Thoughts.      If one side gets the balance of the activations and moves or shoots first they get an enormous advantage, especially if they out number their opposition. Anyway a fun scenario to play out.

I decided not to add any additional terrain for LOS blocking to reduce the impact of long range fire. Mainly because I didn't have anything appropriate and also to see if the first game's outcome was just an anomaly. I think if the activations are more even there will be a better balance.

Now it is one win each for Space X and Blue Origin and the campaign is still balanced.

Figures

Astronauts with Guns and the vehicles are from Pendraken as are the small craters.

The road is from my modern terrain. Not really appropriate but it will have to do.