This is the report of our second DL game. After our first game, we thought we should try Dystopian Legions with more sections on the table.
As 900 points is about the maximum I can make today with my COA models, we decided that the game size would be 900 points.
Other Dystopian Legions games here.
PITCH
Carrying his mysterious loot, Captain Chambers' patrol flees Ceylon's mountains and tries to reach the sea. A Black Watch section, led by the heroic Captain Smethington, joins them. All are exhausted when they run into a COA patrol ...
COA FORCE
- Senior Officer: a captain - the famous Captain Casimiro Tudobem - 150 points
- Line section - veteran: 4 commandos, a commando specialist and a commando master sergeant - 325 points
- Line section - militia: 10 automata section and Monique Dubois - 250 points
- Support section - militia: 3 drones and a drone controller - 170 points
KOB FORCE:
- Senior Officer: a captain - the famous Captain Steven Pettycoat Chambers - 100 points
- A line section - Militia: 5 linemen, a sergeant, a specialist and a gun team - 175 points
- An elite section - Veteran: 2 sky hussars, a sky hussar specialist and a sky hussar caporal - 220 points
- A line section - Regular: 5 Black Watch Riflemen, a Black Watch Specialist, a Black Watch Sergeant - 225 points
- Character: Captain Gilbert Bertie Smethington - 175 points
SCENARIO
The KOB commander got the strategic advantage.
We used the scenario generation rules and ended up with oblique contact / breakthrough / battle weary (NB: I wanted to avoid centre ground and vital objective as I thought I would not be able to win melees against the KOB). We considered that the diagonal line between the two deployment zones needed to be passed to score VP. We also considered that only "real" sections would score VPs past this line, i.e. that lonely Officers or Characters would not.
As we had not read the TAC cards beforehand, we decided to take three random cards each.
DEPLOYMENT
We played on a rather small - 40 by 40 inches - table.
TURN 1
Summary:
On turn 1, sections moved cautiously forward, most of them (except the drones) hiding behind rocks and trees. The drones killed one of the Black Watch riflemen. A successful "focus fire" order allowed the british linemen to damage a drone in return. All other shots failed.
Activation order and main achievements:
- (KOB) Black Watch
- (COA) Drones - killed one Black Watch Rifleman
- (KOB) Sky Hussars
- (COA) Commandos
- (KOB) Captain Smethington
- (COA) Captain Tudobem
- (KOB) Captain Chambers
- (COA) Automata
- (KOB) linemen - damaged one drone
End of turn 1 picture
Victory points at the end of turn 1: KOB=0 / COA=0
TURN 2
Summary:
Although we needed to go past the middle (diagonal) line to score victory points, during turn 2, movements were still cautious. COA concentrated its fire on the Black Watch section. The Black Watch riflemen kept their morale despite 4 losses and despite the "battle weary conditions". One of them was healed at the end of the turn thanks to a "Medic TAC card".
At the end of the turn, the KOB moved the sky hussars a few inches along the forest, just close enough to be able to charge the drones at the beginning of turn 3.
Activation order and main achievements:
- (COA) drones - killed another Black Watch rifleman
- (KOB) Black Watch failed to damage the drones in return
- (COA) Commandos killed two additionnal Black Watch riflemen from the forest
- (KOB) Captain Smethington
- (COA) Captain Tudobem
- (KOB) Hussars moved a few inches so as to be able to charge the drones on the following turn
- (COA) Automata killed the Black Watch Sergeant
- (KOB) Linemen formed line and damaged another drone (7 hits with 7 dice)
- (KOB) Captain Chambers
Comments:
- to avoid a quick loss of firepower, I should have moved the damaged drone slightly to the rear at the beginning of turn 2. Fortunately this mistake had no impact.
- the KOB HMG can't fire when the rest of the section moves. My opponent said he would consider separating the HMG section from the rest (creating a separate "support section") next time.
End of turn 2 picture
Victory points at the end of turn 2: KOB=0/ COA=0
TURN 3
Summary:
I spent 4 command points on the initiative to make sure I would be able to move back my drones. I won the initiative, although my opponent spent 6 CP to beat me. The KOB moved its linemen forward and killed one commando. The COA was not able to kill any british soldier during this turn. The sky hussars moved once again a few inches along the forest in order to score one victory point and to be able to charge either the drones or the automata section at the beginning of turn 4.
Activation order and main achievements:
- (COA) drones moved back and were not able to hit the elusive sky hussars
- (KOB) linemen went forward, formed the line and killed one commando
- (COA) commandos focused their fire on the last Black Watch riflemen but failed to kill any (5 success on the cover save with only 4 dice!)
- (KOB) Black Watch riflemen returned fire but failed to hit the commandos
- (COA) automata section moved at the double
- (KOB and COA) moved officers and character
- (KOB) sky hussars moved slightly forward
End of turn 3 picture
Victory points at the end of turn 3: KOB=1 / COA=0
TURN 4
Summary:
During turn 4, the sky hussars charged the automata section and deactivated 3 of them in the melee phase. Encouraged by the charge, the rest of the KOB force moved forward. One more Black Watch Rifleman and three linemen went down. The heroic Captain Smethington sprang from a rock and killed a second commando with a single revolver shot (6 hits with 6 dice!).
Activation order and main achievements:
- (KOB) the sky hussars charged the automata section
- (COA) drones killed another Black Watch Rifleman
- (KOB) linemen received a perfect drill order and damaged the third drone
- (COA) commandos killed 3 KOB linemen including the Sergeant
- (KOB) Black Watch
- (KOB and COA) moved officers
- (KOB) Captain Smethington moved and killed a second commando
The melee killed 3 automata and wounded one sky hussar. The automata were shaken and the hussars won the upper hand.
Comment: I knew the automata would lose the melee against the hussars. I could have charged the hussars with my commandos and officer but doing so I would have allowed the other KOB sections to cross freely the table and win the game. So I left the poor automata and hoped they would at least stop the hussars till the end of the game.
End of turn 4 picture
Victory points at the end of turn 4: KOB=2 / COA=0
TURN 5
Summary:
Sections ran towards their enemy and the battle turned into a general brawl. Two drones were destroyed by the last long range shots from the linemen and the Black Watch. In the melee phase, one Black Watch soldier, two automata and 3 linemen fell down.
Activation order and main achievements:
- (KOB) Captain Smethington gave a With me order to the linemen. They destroyed one drone (only 7 hits with 18 dice)
- (COA) Drones killed two linemen in return. The linemen were shaken
- (KOB) The Black Watch specialist managed to destroy another drone
- (COA) The commandos charged the linemen
- (KOB) Captain Chambers joined the linemen in the melee
- (COA) Captain Tudobem charged both Black Watch riflemen
During the melee phase:
- Captain Tudobem was wounded but killed one Black Watch soldier
- The sky hussars chopped two more automata
- 3 british linemen were killed while the commando Sergeant was wounded
End of turn 5 picture
Victory points at the end of turn 5: KOB=4 / COA=1
FINAL TURNS
During the final turns, Captain Smethington joined the fight against the commandos and those were badly beaten without causing much harm (the commandos rolled 19 dice ... and got 3 hits in the melee phase). The automata were also destroyed without killing any hussar. Although Captain Tudobem managed to kill the last Black Watch soldier, the KOB won the game.
Victory points at the end: KOB=10 / COA=6
Other Dystopian Legions games here.
