The Battle of Pleasant Valley: A Station 42 War Game Report (sort of)

 May 25th 3033 Hell Knight forces attempt to shut down militia recruiting operations in Pleasant Valley.  Five units of militia occupy the town supported by four improvised armored vehicles.  As the Hell Knight armored column approaches town the defenders are re-enforced by three units of renegade Planetary Guards and one unit of veteran mercenaries from the Wolfhound Freikorps and their vehicles.

We fought this battle back at the end of May and I'm just now getting around to putting it up so this report will be a little different.  Rather than follow my regular format I have put up a number of images with a brief description of what was going on as best as I can remember it.
  

 The Hell Knights began to advance into the city  The scouts have moved ahead and occupied two buildings gaining cover from the rooftops.  A few scouts were knocked out early in an exchange of fire with militia members.

 On the Hell Knight left Flank two LAGAREVs moved in to face off against more militia.

 Carson Boon and his unit as well as the Titania Hunting Club had taken up a position on a large building on the Hell Knights left.

 Fighting got pretty hot in the center of the field.  Bear's militia unit took out a LAGAREV and killed almost an entire squad of mercenary veterans.

 Another LAGAREV was destroyed by small arms fire.  The remaining veteran riflemen fled into a small building.

 Another technical was destroyed on the Hell Knights right flank and a few militia from Dutton's gang were taken out.

 The veterans from the Wolfhound Friekorps attempted to assault the Hell Knights Armored Assault squad's position.  Although more Wolfhounds were Killed in the exchange the Armored Assault squad broke and ran from it's position.

 Two units of renegade Planetary Guards charged in on the Hell Knights left and attacked a squad of mercenary regulars routing them.

 On the Hell Knight right flank the mercenary Landshark AFV laid into Bear's unit and a unit of Planetary Guard causing heavy casualties to both squads.

 On the Hell Knights Left the remaining regular riflemen are completely destroyed as the defenders advance in force.

 Hell Knight Vehicles push through the middle of the field and begin to flank around the side.  

 The Hell Knight Landshark routs the rest of Bear's unit wile the mercenary scout squad picks off most of the remainder of Dutton's gang.

 A Hell Knight Hobelar fires it's pulse laser through gaps in the buildings killing another militia vehicle.

 The Planetary Guard Badger MRAP advances behind the Hell Knight right flank.

 The bloody results of the fighting shows many smoking vehicles on either side.  Casualties mount among the infantry just as quickly.

 Bear's unit is completely destroyed and Dutton's unit is all but wiped out on the Hell Knight's right.

 The Hell Knights Hobelar is taken out by combined fire.  Due to their strong position and Boon's force field the defenders on the Hell Knights left flank have taken very few casualties.

 The Hell Knights hold onto the right flank taking a few casualties but causing far more damage to the enemy.

The last remaining LAGAREV gets revenge killing several of the renegade Planetary Guard.  Both sides took very heavy casualties but the Hell Knights just couldn't do enough damage to push the defenders out so they were forced to pull back.

Notes:  I think the Hell Knights scored more points in this battle than the defenders but they didn't really manage to drive the militia forces out.  It was close in the end but we decided the Titanian's held out.  Oddly enough the best units on each side suffered the worst casualties and proved less effective.  The Hell Knight scouts usually get slaughtered and do very little damage but in this battle they survived and did more damage than my other units.  Despite the fact that Bear's unit was taken down they did do a lot of damage to the mercenaries before being taken out including doing enough damage to the Landshark to destroy one of it's weapons and slow it down.  
Sorry again for the odd format.  I just haven't had time to post reports like I should.  We just finished another battle and I hope to finish the campaign very soon.  The Hell Knights have basically be pushed back to station 42 and the Titania forces are massing for a final assault.  

Project Wraith Episode 2 "Information is Power" game report.

 This is Episode 2 of my new Solar Empires role playing game called "Project Wraith".  The player characters are playing specialist who have had their identity stolen by some kind of hacker known as "Casper".  Casper has been sending them on "jobs" for unknown purposes.  In Episode 1 Casper sent the party to the Greek camp of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids to search for a doctor who had discovered the cure to a dangerous Martian biological weapon.
In this episode Casper sent them to Titania right in the middle of the war zone surrounding Station 42 to meet with a contact who knew the location of Casper's hacker friend known as Starfire.  Casper sent three of his agents.  Spider is a female hacker from Titania.  Vogue is a female public relations specialist from Callisto, and Lone Star is a; gambler, drifter, gunslinger, from Titan.  They met with Casper's contact several kilometers South East of Station 42.

 Unfortunately for the party the meeting was a trap set by the Hell Knight mercenaries.  Six mercenary scouts ambushed the party when the team discovered the true identity of their contact.

Vogue updates her facebook about rolling a critical on her "Look at my boobs" roll she used to distract the bogus contact while Spider maneuvered behind him.

 Spider attempted to subdue their contact while the rest of the team engaged in a gun battle with the mercenary scouts.

 Eventually Spider managed to knock their contact out and then engage the rest of the scouts.  The fire fight was difficult.  Most of the scouts had cover while the team was out in the open.  Eventually the final scout fled the scene after Spider killed the last of his companions.
After defeating the scouts the bogus contact was "convinced" to reveal to the team that he did indeed know where Starfire was hiding but he assured them that the Hell Knights would get to the hacker before they did.

 The team arrived at a small compound about 20 kilometers further South East of their landing position.  Several armed militia members were on the rooftops of the simple structures that made up the compound.

 After convincing the militia members that they were friendly and on an important mission for one of Starfire's associates they were able to meet with militia leader Jim Dutton.

 Just as they were warning Dutton a Hell Knight LAGAREV transport arrived on the scene and blew up one of the small compound buildings with it's scatter laser.

Spider, Lone Star, and Vogue.  I can't remember what was so funny.

 The team immediately took up defensive position to help the militia members defend the compound.  About 10 Hell Knight mercenaries dismounted their transport as the transport's gunner covered them.

 The mercenaries split into two groups and took up positions in cover just outside the compound.  The mercenaries were armed with laser rifles while most of the militia had assault rifles.

 The mercenary LAGAREV was eventually destroyed by; Vogue, Spider, and the militia members.  Lone Star joined Dutton to engage the mercenaries hiding in the rocks.

 Eventually only one mercenary remained alive and only one militia member had been killed.  The mercenary warned the team that they would never get off Titania alive.

The team met with Starfire who told them she had irrefutable proof that the Smith and Wilson Agriculture Company had engaged in illegal dealings with several members of the Titania government and that their seizure of farms and Station 42 was a completely illegal action.  

Starfire agreed to flee Titania with the team but suggested that they gather a force to escort them since the Hell Knights knew where their ship had landed.  

 Before the battle Father Padre, another team member, joined them.  He had been on a separate errand for Casper who had sent him to Titania City aboard a civilian transport to aid them. Jim Dutton gathered his militia including his men and four improvised armored vehicles.  Dutton's forces were joined by a robotic force owned by the enigmatic "Rosie" of Station 42 who also piloted her own Cyclopes mech.
When they arrived at the landing site the Hell Knights had already arrived with three LAGAREVs, one Hobelar tank, an Incubus light mech and two scout squads.
  

The battle was bloody.  Most of Dutton's men were killed and more than half of Rosie's robot troopers were taken out of action.  Rosie's mech was also destroyed but she managed to eject to safety.  The Hell Knights lost half of their infantry forces and two LAGAREVs.  Their mech and tank were also heavily damaged.
The team managed to make it to their ship during the fighting but as they were making a run for the landing ramp a LAGAREV and a lone trooper with a grenade launcher fired on the.  Spider and Lone Star were wounded in the exchange and Starfire was badly wounded and in danger of dying.

As they took off in their ship Father Padre managed to stabilize Starfire with his medical skills.  The team had managed to escape Titania but the militia forces had sacrificed quite a bit for it.  With Casper's resources they should be able to use Starfire's information to completely expose the true nature of the Station 42 War.

Check out the System News Network news report here:  http://systemnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/04/notorious-hacker-starfire-escapes.html
Notes:  This was a tie in between our No Limits campaign on Titania and my new role playing campaign.  We wanted to do an rpg tie in to help us bring the Station 42 War into it's final stage.    

The Battle of FOB 1138: A 2500 point No Limits battle for the Station 42 War

 Titania, March 8th 3033.  Earlier this morning a force of M.S.S.R. and Titania militia attacked FOB 1138 a Hell Knight base West of Station 42.  The Martians made a slow advance towards the base which allowed the mercenaries to move in several armored units to re-enforce the tiny garrison.

 The Martian attack was spearheaded by a captured Jovian "Liger" super heavy tank and four battlesuits.  One of the martian battlesuits advanced killing four member of a Hell Knight veteran rifle squad but was itself destroyed by combined tank and infantry fire.

 A militia improvised armored vehicle scored a hit against a Hell Knight heavy hover tank but was destroyed by a grenade launched by the surviving mercenary veteran.

 A Hell Knight light hover vehicle traded fire with the martian tank but was destroyed by combined fire from the Martian battlesuits and Militia snipers.

 The martians poured heavy fire into the bunker occupied by a squad of Hell Knight veteran heavy infantry but did not manage to bring it down.  It seemed as if the mercenaries had stopped the Martian advance.
 

 Two Martian battlesuits engaged the mercenary Heavy Hover tank in the middle of the field badly damaging it.  The tank responded with several hits but did no damage to the light walkers.

 Fearing that the bunker they were in was about to collapse around them the Hell Knight veteran heavy infantry exited the structure.

 Taking heavy fire from all sides the mercenary heavy hover tank turned it's particle cannon on a squad of Martian veterans killing three and wounding their force commander.  The tank was destroyed shortly after killing the infantrymen.

 Despite the loss of their heavy tank the mercenaries continued to poor fire into the Martian super heavy damaging it little by little.

 One of the Martian battlesuits caught the mercenary heavy infantry in the open killing five troopers.  The four remaining veterans responded with well aimed shots that brought the Martian down.

 The Martian Liger was finally destroyed but not after trading quite a bit of damage with the mercenary tanks.

 A unit of Titania militia finished off one of the mercenary medium hover tanks that had been badly damaged by their allies super heavy.

In a last desperate act one of the Hell Knights medium hover tank rammed a Martian battlesuit but only managed to inflict light damage on itself.  Unable to stop the Martian advance the mercenaries withdrew from the field.

Notes:  We actually penalized the Hell Knights 100 points for the bunker because we have decided that fortifications in deployment zones really give the defender an advantage.  This was actually a very close battle that came down to less than 100 victory points.  In fact my last shot of the battle was an attempt to kill the Martian general with one of my snipers.  Unfortunately I rolled a 10 and was not even able to re-roll with the sniper's sure shot ability because of the critical fumble.  I rolled a disproportionate number of 10s during the battle especially when I only needed a nine to hit on most of those rolls.  Of 18 railgun shots fired from the medium tanks only 6 hit and only 3 managed to do damage and the worst shots I had required a roll of 8 or under on a D10.  The dice just were not with me in this fight.  Still my wife fought a very aggressive battle using her tank and battlesuits quite effectively.  

The Battle of Rattrap Road: A 2500 point No Limits Battle Report for the Station 42 War

 Titania, March 2nd 3033:  Earlier today a force of renegade Titania Planetary Guard advancing towards Station 42 spotted a force of Hell Knight mercenaries East of Rattrap Road.  The Guard units moved off the road to engage the mercenaries near two compounds.

 The battle opened up with a heated exchange between armored vehicles.  The Hell Knights heavy hover tank and the Titania mech were both damaged from the fire as well as one of the mercenary light transports and a guard tank.

 The smaller Northern compound saw the first infantry casualties when one of the Planetary guard units came under fire from a veteran mercenary unit.  Two guardsmen were killed and the remaining two fled the battle.

 As the rest of the forces engaged both compounds became the center of intense fighting.  The center of the field was dominated by Titania forces opposed only by a mercenary fire team and a light transport.

 Another squad of Titania guardsmen were gunned down at the Northern compound by a mercenary sniper and the mercenary commander piloting a "Marksman" class battlesuit.

 In the Southern compound a mercenary "Landshark" armored fighting vehicle flew over the low walls and disembarked a squad of heavily armored veteran Hell Knights.  The mercenaries used their heavy blasters and their vehicles pulse laser to destroy a building occupied by a squad of Titania guardsmen.  General Drake of the renegade Titania Planetary Guard occupied an adjacent building with his command squad and they also engaged the mercenaries killing two of them.  

 With General Drake threatened the Titania forces pressed the attack but were faced with strong opposition by the mercenary forces.

 At the Northern compound the mercenary light transport and most of the veteran rifle squad were wiped out by combined fire.  The mercenary commander and sniper fought on but the battlesuit was forced to find cover when his distortion field gave out.

 In the Southern compound the heavily armored veteran and their AFV reduced the General's building to rubble with combined fire.  Although the General and his field doctor managed to survive the buildings collapse they were both hit by light machine gun fire from the mercenary Incubus mech and wounded or killed.  

 The Titania mech and the mercenary commander continued to play a game of cat and mouse at the Northern compound.  Both the mech and the battlesuit suffered damage in this exchange.

 At the Southern compound a single Planetary Guard tank came under intense fire from several mercenary vehicles.  The tank was heavily damaged but fought on.

 Although we are still uncertain as to the fate of General Drake the Hell Knight heavy infantry were seen loading his body into the back of their armored vehicle.  

 With the General's capture the highly mobile Incubus mech used it's jump jets to position itself to attempt to support the Hell Knight commander.

 Unfortunately for the mercenary commander it was too little too late.  The Incubus mech did manage to destroy the Titania mech but not before the commander's battlesuit was taken out by the metal behemoth.

 At almost the same moment the Planetary Guard tank managed to destroy the mercenary heavy hover tank but was itself destroy by scatter laser fire from one of the mercenary light tranports.

 Titania forces charged up a hill and engaged a mercenary sniper there in hand to hand combat but one of the three Planetary Guard squads were gunned down by another Hell Knight veteran rifle squad.

As the engagement ended the renegade Planetary guard forces did manage to capture a mercenary sniper but it was a poor exchange for their losses.  The Hell Knights held the field and the renegade Titania General.  The Planetary guardsmen were forced to withdraw back towards Titania City.

Stuart MacMurry, Associated Press

Notes:  This was the third battle in our "Military Escalation" phase of the Station 42 War and the first one that resulted in such a sound defeat for allied Titania forces.  On the field it looked like a close battle but the Guardsmen suffered about twice the points value in casualties as the mercenaries and of course the mercs captured General Drake.  We haven't yet decided the General's fate or exactly what impact this is going to have on the campaign but it will certainly be significant.