Warzone Ressurection, Bauhaus vs. Bauhaus

Yesterday saw my second game of Warzone Resurrection and this time it was for effect already. To make sure that I can get some games in, I joined a mini league hosted by six other local gamers. Nothing too competitive, just a game per month. All games are played using the advanced game rules, at 1000 points using the standard OOB.

This months game was against Björn, the other Bauhaus player. I thought this was great. For one I could get a feel for the Bauhaus faction on an equal footing. And second I could also see how those Bauhaus units I did not have on my roster worked out, since I could not really get a feel for Bauhaus with last weeks game. So background wise, I would guess that the Bauhaus High-command got a bit anxious after one of my patrols was mopped up by the Dark Legion last week and decided to hold an excercise to see if they still had their edge. 😉 We rolled for an alpha level mission, “Search and destroy” in this case.

So what did we field?

Mine, the 23rd Gebirgsturmbrigade the “Fenriswölfe”, were led by Max Steiner as Warlord. He had two six-men squads of Hussars with one LMG each and Scout training, two five-men squads of Venusian Rangers (both Squad Leaders had Medic Training) with three rocket launchers between them and a three-men squad of Vorreiter at his disposal

Table seen from the 23rd Gebirgssturm Brigades side

Björns troops were led by Angelica Drachen as the Warlord, commanding two five-men squads of Hussars (each with one rocket launcher) and two Vulkans in ranged combat configuration. There were also a three-men squad of Armoured Hussars “Juggernauts” and a five-women squad of Etoiles Mortants with a Gehenna Puker flamethrower. Both of these would not deploy at the beginning of the game, but Rapid Deploy (= airdrop) onto the table later. In case yo need to tell our units apart, Björns troops featured black uniforms and white armour, while mine (with the exception of the Rangers) had blue-grey uniforms and light grey armour.

Table seen from the “other” Bauhaus side

The game began with a combat drop by the Juggernauts into the rear of my right hand Hussars and therefore into the right flank of the Vorreiter. Now this combat drop went wrong from the beginning in that they missed their target point and scattered into the board edge. To top things off this also ended their activation, without them being able to do a thing. This is where I got carried away a bit, in that I instantly charged engaged them with my Vorreiter (dumb thing since the Juggernauts would not have been able to do a thing this round anyway). Pushing their attack with both a Strategy and a Tactical Card, they were able to take out two Juggernauts and leave the remaining one with just one wound after close combat. Unfortunately it would take them another three rounds to finish the remaining one off in close combat.

Vorreiter charging into close combat

Now the Etoiles Mortant combat dropped, and they hit their target area. The first one used her flame-thrower on the Venusian Rangers hiding in the woods. One ranger managed to survive due to the Squad Leaders Medic ability, but both squad leaders and two more Rangers perished in the flames. The other Etoiles engaged the Hussars in close combat, killing two of them, the LMG trooper being steadfast in close combat.

Venusian Ranger deployment zone

The rest of the round went pretty unspectacular. Björns Hussars advanced, same as mine on the right flank. My Hussars on the left flank hit back at the Etoiles Mortant. Two of the ladies died when shot at, while the Squad Leader survived the fire. The LMG trooper remained locked in close combat. Angelica Drachen moved forward while trying to remain out of sight from her adversaries and deployed a distortion device in front of the Rangers (which had no effect on the game whatsoever). The Vulkans moved forward, but kept out of firing range to prevent return fire from the Venusian Rangers Rocket Launcher. But the Vulkan Squad received some damage from Max Steiners HMG, before he had to move out of the forest to escape some arachnids that were crawling around him and the Rangers. The Rangers had to leave the forest for the same reason, but one of the squads at least managed to kill the Etoiles Mortants Squad Leader and the trooper with the flamethrower (the later with a shot from a rocket launcher). And thus ended the first round.

Sneaking up

Next came a relative lull in the game. As I said before, the Juggernauts and Vorreiter traded punches, without doing much damage to one another. Björns Hussars by the forest traded shots with the Rangers, slowly reducing each others numbers, with the Rangers receiving more than the dealt out (due to them having to move back into the woods). The Etoiles Mortants and Fenriswolf Hussars remained engaged with one another, but again the LMG trooper and the remaining Etoile failed to harm one another. The 23rd´s Hussars on the right called in an aerial barrage on the Vulkans, which while quite true on target, failed to do more than a single hit on the Vulkan Squad Leader. In return they themselves were the target of an aerial barrage, called in from their counterparts which cost them one trooper. All the while these two Hussar units advanced on one another. The most interesting part the Vulkans firing on Max Steiner, costing him one wound, while Steiner took out the Vulkan Squad Leader.

Vulkan in action

The next round saw more of that. One of the Venusian Rangers rocket launchers damaged the remaining Vulkan, while Steiner added to the damage (unfortunately I had forgotten to aim, so the damage was spread out instead of hitting the already damaged engine, which would cost me dearly), before hiding in the undergrowth. When the Vulkan opened up on Steiner, it scored three wounds taking my Warlord to of the game. On the right flank my Hussars had to advance first and moved behind the Warehouse, with their counterparts still behind the corner.  When their counterparts moved around the corner as well, they were able to get a few shots of, but only manage to kill the LMG operator. To finish the round of Björns Hussars near the forest traded further shots with my Venusian rangers, loosing one of their own while killing the last two Rangers from the first squad. Now everything would depend on how the engagement behind the warehouse would end and how fast my Vorreiter would end their close combat.

Venusian Ranger vs. Hussars

At the beginning of the next round the remaining Venusian Ranger fired his rocket launcher at the Vulkan doing further damage, only to be killed by the Vulkan later that turn. At the same time the Fenriswölfe Hussars behind the warehouse actived and fired their grenade launchers at the enemy Hussars killing them all except for the trooper with the rocket launcher.

Hussars clashing

Björns Hussars by the forest were attacking the remaining Ranger (still alive at this time), while mine were getting into position to attack either the Vulkan or Angelica Drachen, who had finally started to advance again. But now a Vorreiter killed the last Armoured Hussar, freeing the other two join the battle for good. One attacked the Vulkan adding further damage to the walker. The other one attacked Angelica Drachen casing her one wound.

Vorreiter attacking

The next turn saw Angelica Drachen act first (I managed to lose initiative every single round by the way) and charged Vorreiter causing him minimal damage. Up next the Vorreiter themselves activated. The one locked in close combat disengaged freeing one of his mates to fire at Drachen, causing her one more wound. At the same time the last Vorreiter loosened of his HMGs at the Vulkan destroying it for good. Since my Hussars by the Warehouse had killed the last enemy Hussar on that flank and since my Hussars on the other flank were firing at Angelica Drachen as well, Björn and I decided to call it a win for the Fenriswölfe and end the game.

Angelica Drachen and a Vorreiter locked in close combat

All in all it was a great game. I sure made a couple of mistakes, but these should not happen again, so there was a lot to be learned from this game. Plus it was great fun, with a top opponent.