Battle of Bunker 1138 (No Limits battle report for Station 42)

 Recently a group of mercenaries identified as the "Hell Knights" have been raiding farms and other settlements around Station 42.  Marshal Malcom Reed recently fought off a small team of heavily armored merchs at the Redwing Farm.  The attacks however have continued and the mercenary patrols have been bolstered with armour and light mechs.  Still uncertain about the mercenaries motivations Marshal Reed contacted Carson Boon a local militia leader to solicit his assistance in putting together a more organized militia to combat the merenaries.  All attempts to get help from the Tatania government have fallen on deaf ears. 
Several months ago Boon and his men defeated a band of smugglers at an old Military com bunker outside of Station 42.  This seamed like the perfect place to set up a supply for the militia groups operating under his command.  Boon assigned a squad of militia to guard the supply depo along with as AC 10 Autocannon. 
Yesterday a "Hell Knights" attack craft attempted to recon the supply depo but it was hit by the AC 10 and barely managed to escape.  Boon figured that the Mercenaries would send a more substantial force to attack his supplies next so he decided to re-enforce that position. 
 

 The Hell Knights commander on Tatania decided to send in a small strike force to take out the militia base. The mission was nicknamed "Operation Ragtag Recon".  The strike force consisted of :

An Armoured Assualt Squad of 4 troopers and a sergent who was the force commander.  These troops wore Medium Carapace Armour and carried Heavy Blasters as well as frag grenades, smike grenades, and pistols. 

Two Veteran Rifle Squads of 4 troopers and 1 sergent armed with Light Laser Rifles, Frag Grenades, and Flack Armour.

One "Marksman" Battle Suit armed with an AC 5 Autocannon, Laster Sights and a Distortion Field.

One "Hobelar" Light Hover Tank armed with a Pulse Laser and Laser Sights.

 Carson Boon had assembled a ragtag militia force consisting of a mix of trained militia and green militia which were basically just armed citizens.  He also managed to scounge up a couple of light guns that he hoped would counter any heavily armoured threats.  His small army consisted of:

Boon's Irregulars armed with Assault Rifles and Armoured Battle Uniforms.  Boon's Personal militia unit.  Somewhat infameous locally.

The 3rd Tatania Volenteer Infantry armed with Assault Rifles and Armoured Battle Uniforms.  This militia unit commanded by a man known only as "Bear" normally operated in and around Titania City but Boon managed to recruit them to his cause. 

The Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Watch armed with pistols, shotguns, and stub rifles.  This "posse" was raised by Marshal Reed. 

Dutton's Gang armed with pistols, shotguns, and stub rifles.  Dutton's gang hails mostly from Hardscrabble and Ramshackle. 

An AC 10 Autocannon and a Field Gun.  No one is sure where these guys came from but they seem to know Boon and they seemed well trained.  Rumor has is they are part of the Planetary defense force who hijacked these light artilary pieces from their units armoury.

Carson Boon and Redjack the leaders of Boon's Militia.  Redjack was armed with a sniper rifle with laser sights.  Boon was armed with an Assault Rifle. 

 Boon watched as two Transports landed just out of range of his base.  He couldn't tell the exact size of the force that was deployed but he could see a light hover tank and some kind of small mech or warbot in the force.  Boon was hoping his support weapons could handle them.  Unfortunately the "Plesant Valley Neighborhood Watch" "Dutton's Gang"  were not being coperative.  They wanted to hold back despite having shorter ranged weapons so he was forced to send the more experienced units out to engage the merchs. 

 As the merchs moved in the militia AC 10 opened up on the lead unit.  Three mercenaries were taken down instantly.  Unfortunately the trooper with the grenade launcher servived and fired a grenade at the 3rd Titania unit dropping two of it's members and knocking a third to the ground.  The militia returned fire killing the merch with the grenade launcher.  The mercenary hover tank popped over the hill it was behind and took a shot at the AC 10 killing one of the crew before dropping back down behind the hill. 
On the oposite flank the militia field gun took a shot as a blurr they assumed was the mercenary mech but they overshot their target by several meters.  The Mech responded by shooting at Boon's Irregulars with it's AC 5 killing one of the unit's members. 

 The mercenary mech contined to move up on the militia's left this time taking aim at the field cannon killing one of the crew.  Seeing this Redjack loaded a round into his sniper rifle and returned fire at the mech damaging it with a well placed shot.  Boon's Irregulars also fired at the mech with their assault rifles but most of their shots missed or failed to damage the machine. 
The Hover tank was hit hard by the AC 10 with two shots from the support weapon doing damage.  The lone rifleman from behind the blast crater took aim with his Light Laser Rifle and dropped one of the 1rd Titania members while the other rifle squad moved in behind several supply barrels. 

 The "Hobelar" Returned fire at the AC 10 killing it's final crew member.  Suddenly Bear's 3rd Titania were feeling very exposed. 

 Combined fire from the hover tank and the veteran riflemen killed Bear and reduced the 3rd Titania to half strength.  Despite holding their moral they fell back and took up positions behind a pair of parked civilian cars.
The mercenary Armoured Assault Squad moved up behind some crates and took down one of Boon's Irregulars.

 The mech moved up but failed to hit anything even at short range. To make matters worse Boon's Irregulars managed to further damage the mech with Assault Rifle fire
.   

 After doing little more than watch the entire battle the green militia units decided to try to get into the fight.  This proved to be too little too late.  Both traied militia units were hit hard by combined fire from the mercenaries. 

 The 3rd Titania were wiped out by grenade shrapnel and pulse laser fire.  Their boddies lay scattered across a wide patch of ground. 

 The Mech and the mercenaries on the other flank hammered Boon's Irregulars who lost their nerve and fled. 

 The Mech moved it's armoured body around a large civilian truck and started laying into the Marshal's posse. 

On the other flank the Hover Tank moved to the top of a large hill and gunned down three of Dalton's Gang including Dalton. 
At this point it was obvious the battle was lost for the militia.  With their guns silenced and their best troops laying dead or fleeing the remainder of the force fled from the battle. 
With no orders to pursue The mercenaries called in medivac units for not only their own wounded but the militia members as well. 

Notes:  Well this battle is the first in a narative campaign we are starting for the Station 42 story line.  We used the No Limits rules for this battle.  They are completely free and allow a great deal of customization.  This was rougly a 1000 point battle.  The battle was actually much closer than it seemed.  The mech had only one wound left and the tank was down to two wounds.  Up until about the 3rd turn when the AC 10 was silenced it could have gone both ways.  I expected to loose either the tank or the mech and I came close to loosing both. 

We don't like the No Limits rules for cover.  I hate games where the ammount of cover a model recieves is based on how much of that model is sticking out.  Rather we assume that a trooper/vehicle or whatever is trying to make the best use of the cover that they can so instead of assigning light, medium, and heavy cover based on how much of the model is in cover we assign the same modifers to the type of cover.  Light woods, crates, brush, civilian vehicles, and light fencing become light cover (-1 to RA).  Heavy Woods, Rocky outcroppings, military vehicles, most buildings, and walls become medium cover (-2 to RA).  Reinforced bunkers, and similar hardened structures become heavy cover (13 to RA). 

We had a blast playing this game.  We have been playing AE Bounty and running Savage Worlds games in this setting but we wanted some larger scale battles as well.  No Limits was a great choice because you can build any type of army using any type of miniatures you have.