22 June - 21st June Dropzone Commander vs The Wife

Well it may have taken us two weeks but we finally got there, who would have thought family and work commitments would go and get in the way of gaming but there you go ;).

So after her painting spree we both ended up being able to comfortably get 1500 points on the table. I think once she's done we can both get to 2000 but then it'll be time for some more blisters.

The Wife set up the table and I went for a sector control type mission for
something different (we've only really played find the Intel/objective missions before this).

I won the setup roll, but The Wife took initiative on the first turn. She began with some cautious defensive movement of her aerial gates bringing out some Havens and getting troops into buildings early on for the extra weight of points. I went for a more fast aggressive approach (that's the Scourge for you) just rapidly taking two Marauders loaded with my light tank options (one Hunters, one Reapers) into the neighbouring quarters. The turn continued this way with The Wife solidly filling her starting quarter and myself sending more troops out to the wings and several to push up and hold the centre.

  

The second turn began with my Vanguard battle group taking the offensive with my Reapers pulling down a Thunderbird and on the far side my Hunters removing a Tarantula. She answered with her remaining Tarantula and while the laser pod had no effect the gravity cannon quite easily demolished on of my skimmers. My next move was to start pulling apart her anti-air so my Slayers came into play and while her Haven was able to ignore the fire from their Marauder the heavy skimmers themselves took out both her Birdeaters, following which they disgorged their cargo of Razorworms into the nearby building to take out the Braves that had taken possession of it. As the Shaltari infantry braced for attack they sent some gauss rifle fire down on the Slayers managing some slight damage on one of the Scourge vehicles. My Corsairs available this turn I went for a slightly risky attack run against the remaining Thunderbird but the single shot that penetrated the shielding was deflected by armour and her Jaguar proved to be in range taking out one of the Scourge fast attack ships. Her Tomahawks were teleported down in front of the Reapers but some spectacularly poor shooting had not a single anti-air skimmer hit and my answering Prowlers quickly swarmed the alien tanks leaving two of them steaming wrecks. Her Gharial's microwave cannon was only able to kill one of the small Scourge scouts, but her freshly deployed Ocelot easily vaporised one of the Reapers.

Finally in the building the battle began with the worms tearing upward through the floor in their haste to attack the waiting Shaltari Braves. After a short but brutal combat the worms had taken some damage but the Braves were completely outclassed with two thirds of the unit either laying dead on the floor or part way down the gullet of the Scourge terror troopers. Despite their losses, the brave alien warriors held firm waiting for the next attack. Her Kukri entered the battle for the first time managing to take down one of the Prowler's Intruder transport ships. The massive Scourge Annihilator managed a direct hit on the Gharial but those damned Shaltari shields kicked in and the alien commander emerged from the bombardment unscathed. The Slayers however had some success rounding the corner and dismantling the Jaguar and the continued attacks on the Haven from the Marauder finally result in the troop gate being destroyed. The Braves decided to pull out of the building leaving it to the worms allowing a neighbouring unit to open fire on the just departed building bring down some rubble but the worms easily dodge the debris. The final unit deploy deeper into battlefield putting a small amount of pressure on the Scourge flank. The Gharial using the flexibility of the Shaltari gate deployment quickly moves to that flank and takes out one of the remaining Hunters. Meanwhile the Scourge commander in his Desolator drifts over to the nearby Thunderbird and attacks with a non focused ion storm easily disintegrating the Shaltari ship and damaging all the nearby buildings. The Prowlers continue their assault disabling the remaining Tomahawk and swarming onto the Ocelot although the vehicles shields save it this time.

It was at this moment The Wife decided on a tactical retreat [rout :)] leaving the Scourge in control of the field with minimal losses.

Great game The Wife wants a rematch so we've left the table up though we might move a few bits and pieces around. Her downfall which she realised was the way she used the gates, in previous games she's had me on the ropes with her ability to bounce around the table through them and this time I'd managed to surround her and she mostly stood and fought which wasn't working for her on the day. I'm impressed with just how strong the Razorworms are and I can see myself trying to fit more in for focal point missions or the like when I need to clear buildings, although I might tweak my list a little to see if I can fit in the Destroyers to see how they play on the table.