The Battle for Hill 02056

At the end of Spring Break last week Mike D and I got together for another round of AT-43.  The Red Blok forces (mine) were demoralized after a rough beating at Xu Qin (last battle, see post below), and so there was a "do or die" feeling in the ranks as the orders came to secure a small and rather mundane hill.  When the Therians, in their insane calculations, developed an interest in hill 02056 as well, the Blok forces knew that they would get their chance for revenge!  Great game again, and with lower expectations I was pleased with the performance of my army.  Urod (the large strider with big gun below) once again was the MVP (and Mike D's not taking any special characters was a help - see insane reasoning of the Therians, above), but the Sierp especially gets high praise after this one for holding down and troubling the enemy infantry for most of the game.

In the first round of the game my Kolossus units (the little infantry-sized armored fellers from the last post) charged out onto the field, firing at whatever they could see.  There are no pics of them in this report because they all got spanked in more or less short order.  Before going, though, they did put the hurt on some enemy units, and so I was generally pleased with them.  This is the Sierp, which fires two mortars that I didn't appreciate last game.  They never miss, though, and can force infantry to "take cover," which was very helpful for most of this game.

This Wraith Golgoth entered the field only to be showered by the rockets of the Kolossus units mentioned above.  The Kolossus units fire a bunch of rockets (4 per model), but only start to be accurate closer than 30cm.  In the past I have tried to close with them, which is impossible because they are so slow (and Mike D is wise to my tricks!).  In this game I treated them as suicide bombers.  They rushed out firing, and I expected never to need anything other than a "6" to hit.  Seemed to work better, and I was less bummed out!

The Therians enter the board.  Not sure of the types, but Mike D had three units enter the table and head for the hill.  The Sierp managed to cause attrition on all of the units because its mortars ignore the cover that Mike D was using so well.
Another shot of the golems entering the board.  Those claws promise to be deadly in melee, but the army I chose is infantry light, so thankfully I have not had to face them yet.

My infantry entered the board and took cover in a ruined house.  The cover rules are kind to dug-in infantry, which I think really works well.  My unit was totally pinned down, and while they could return fire with enemy infantry, they couldn't hope to move for fear og the Wraith Golgoth bearing down on them.

My Nakovalny strider (with Gauss guns - effectively machine guns) on either side, closes with the Golem infantry, only to be intercepted by the Hekate (sp?) that the Therians are able to construct at will!  The Nakovalny did not survive, but took out some infantry before being overwhelemd.

A close up shot of the Hakate waiting to spring on the Nakovalny strider.  My only saving grace is that Mike D only has one of these models, and so can only generate them one at a time.  If he had a bunch of them I would be completely screwed.  It is a powerful ability, and Mike D doesn't make a lot of mistakes in how he uses it!

"Urod," the special character version of the Hetman Strider (actually it is piloted by the special characters), is my star player, and here he bears down on a Wraith Golgoth.  Because of my special rules, my Striders can take scenario objectives, and so here Urod is claiming the hill while taking shots at the Golgoth.  The Golgoth is just as tough in a lot of ways, but the special "Urod" Hetman can repair itself, which makes it very powerful.

The Hekate, having done away with the Nakovalny strider, then prowled around and attacked the Sierp, wgich was then fleeing from the Wraith Golgoth that had taken over the right flank.  The sniper in my infantry unit, out of spite, managed to put one hit on its propulsion through that notch in the corner before it ran off.

The end game saw the Hetman claiming the last five victory points while the Wraith Golgoth that was left finished off the infantry in the ruined house.  Final score was 20-18, Red Blok.  It was a very fun game, and very close -- many times it could have gone either way.  All in all the Hetman was the saving grace of the army, which makes me shudder to think of when Mike brings out the big Therian guns, like Babylon Zero!