A Year of Alpha Strike – 2016 Leader Board, Week 5
My local group is partaking in a year-long Leader Board for 2016. In cased you missed earlier Weeks, here’s Weeks One, Two, Three, and Four.
Week 5 for the Leader Board Season was the last Saturday game for the 1st Quarter of the year, and we decided to cap off the accomplishment with a Mega Battle!
The lines were drawn between Inner Sphere and Clan, and we all met on Saturday, March 12 to determine which side would reign as Quarter 1 Champions.
The Teams
Each side brought 900PV, split evenly between the players on each side.
Inner Sphere
The Inner Sphere was represented by House Davion (Yay! His job situation finally cooled off, and he made it to the Leader Board!) and Riley’s Raiders (Mercenaries). Each IS player was allotted 450 PV for their individual forces.
House Davion – 450 PV
- AXM-4D Axman – Skill 2
- RFL-8D Rifleman – Skill 2
- BSW-S2 Bushwacker – Skill 3
- BZK-F5 Hollander II – Skill 3
- STH-3S Stealth – Skill 3
- PXH-6D Phoenix Hawk – Skill 3
- OTT-9S Ostscout – Skill 3
- STG-5G Stinger – Skill 3
- DARO-1D Dagger – Skill 2
- CSR-12D Corsair – Skill 3
- STU-D7 Stuka – Skill 3
- Grenadier Battle Armor (SRM/Magshot HK loadout) – Skill 3
- Mo(nocycled)torized Platoon (LRM) – Skill 3
Riley’s Raiders (Mercenaries) – 450 PV
- DVS-2 Devastator – Skill: 4, 54 PV
- LGB-12C Longbow – Skill: 4, 52 PV
- BLR-4S Battlemaster – Skill: 4, 44 PV
- ARC-7S Archer – Skill: 4, 43 PV
- MAD-7D Marauder – Skill: 4, 38 PV
- WHM-7S Warhammer – Skill: 4, 36 PV
- TDR-9M Thunderbolt – Skill: 4, 40 PV
- AXM-2N Axman – Skill: 4, 35 PV
- WVR-9D Wolverine – Skill: 4, 34 PV
- PXH-6D Phoenix Hawk – Skill: 4, 31 PV
- LDT-1 Brigand – Skill: 4, 20 PV
- Koshi (Standard) – Skill: 4, 22 PV
Clans
The Clans were represented by Clan Jade Falcon, Clan Snow Raven, and Clan Ghost Bear. Each Clan player was allotted 300 PV for their individual forces.
Clan Jade Falcon – 300 PV
- Cizin Hover Tank (Standard) – Skill: 3, 34 PV
- Cizin Hover Tank (Standard) – Skill: 3, 34 PV
- Odin Scout Tank (Spotter) – Skill: 6, 11 PV
- Odin Scout Tank (Spotter) – Skill: 6, 11 PV
- Carnivore Assault Tank (Standard) – Skill: 3, 49 PV
- Carnivore Assault Tank (Standard) – Skill: 3, 49 PV
- Fire Falcon Prime – Skill: 3, 32 PV
- Jade Hawk (Standard) – Skill: 3, 61 PV
- Ironhold Assault Battle Armor (Fire) – Skill: 4, 19 PV
Clan Snow Raven – 300 PV
- Mad Dog Mk III Prime – Skill: 1, Semi-Guided LRMs, PV 70
- Mad Dog A – Skill: 2, Semi-Guided LRMs, PV 51
- Bashkir E – Skill: 3, Laser Guided Bombs, PV 35
- Bashkir E – Skill: 3, Laser Guided Bombs, PV 35
- Sabutai D – Skill: 3, Laser Guided Bombs, PV 56
- Sabutai B – Skill: 3, Laser Guided Bombs, PV 53
Clan Ghost Bear – 300 PV
- Mad Dog Mk III Prime – Skill: 3, Semi-Guided LRMs, 52 PV
- Mad Dog Mk III Prime – Skill: 3, Semi-Guided LRMs, 52 PV
- Fire Moth G – Skill: 3, 25 PV
- Fire Moth G – Skill: 3, 25 PV
- Fire Moth G – Skill: 3, 25 PV
- Kobold Battle Armor IIC – Skill: 3, 17 PV
- Kobold Battle Armor IIC – Skill: 3, 17 PV
- Kobold Battle Armor IIC – Skill: 3, 17 PV
- Kobold Battle Armor IIC – Skill: 3, 17 PV
- Kobold Battle Armor IIC – Skill: 3, 17 PV
- Anhur Transport (Standard) – Skill: 3, 18 PV
- Anhur Transport (Standard) – Skill: 3, 18 PV
The Scenario
We decided to actually have a scenario for the Mega Battle instead of just running around and killing each other willy nilly. Its terms are below.
Point(s) of Order
- The table is set up with five(5) Objective Markers (single hex markers) set equidistant from one another in the middle of the board between the two deployment zones.
- The two sides, consisting of teams of players and over all equal PV between the sides, will fight for control of the objectives.
- Beginning with the End Phase of Turn 3, either side is eligible to claim victory.
- In order to claim a Scenario Victory, once side must control four(4) of the five(5) objective points during the End Phase of a Turn.
- In order to control an objective point, one side must have at least one unit in base contact with the objective marker while no enemy units are in base contact with the objective marker.
- The objective markers can provide a cover bonus to eligible units that are in base contact.
- The time limit for the game is three hours (180 minutes). At the end of 180 minutes, if a Scenario Victory has not been achieved by either side, the side with the highest Kill Score wins the game.
- For the purposes of the Mega Battle and for the Leader Board standings, a Win will result in a Win for all players on the winning side, and a Loss will result in a Loss for all players on the losing side.
Special Rules
- Kill Scoring: The Basic Kill Scoring Table is in effect for this scenario, as it is in all game for the 2016 Leader Board. While the Kill Scoring does not affect who wins or loses, each side needs to keep track of its kills in order to properly register the data for the game. For the purposes of the Mega Battle, Kill Score will be awarded on a per team basis, so every kill you get will count for your teammates as well.
The board is set.
The Game
Here, I have to apologize. I did not take all the pictures I should have during the game turns. What pictures I do have are below, along with brief summaries of the Turns.
The city terrain played a major role in setting up engagements.
Bashkir fighters showed up this round and began runs on targets. The Clans took good advantage of their mobility and TAG equipped Battle Armor, raining down accurate Indirect Fire. The Inner Sphere forces moved in, weathered most of the fire, and began to establish fire lane positions on the objectives.
Riley’s Raiders and House Davion poke out to see if they can spot any Clanners.
Bashkirs coming back for their second pass of the game. Several units clashed, with both sides moving onto objectives, contesting and controlling as they could. IS forces begin to take casualties, while the Clan losses are minimal. End Phase sees Clans in control of 2 objectives, IS in control of 1, and 2 contested.
But the Clan forces are well hidden and await the proper time to strike.
The fighting over the objectives was dirty and down to the bitter end.
The Results
The Clans claimed an Objective Victory over the Inner Sphere and exacted a terrible toll in unit losses. The Kill Score ended up 63 to 25 in favor of the Clans. As mentioned in the scenario rules, each Clan player received a Win and an Objective Win, while each Inner Sphere player received a Loss. Every play’s Kill Score stat went up by the team number (Clan players each got 63 KS, and IS players each got 25 KS).
The current standings after Week 5 are below.
| Faction | Games Played | Wins | Losses | Ties | *Win % | Scenario Victories | *Scenario Victory % | *Kill Score | *Units Painted |
| Clan Snow Raven | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.00% | 1 | 20.00% | 128 | 0 |
| House Davion | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 25 | 0 |
| Mercenaries / Clan Sea Fox | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 41.67% | 2 | 33.33% | 94 | 0 |
| Clan Jade Falcon | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 55.56% | 4 | 44.44% | 218 | 0 |
| Clan Ghost Bear | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 94.44% | 4 | 44.44% | 234 | 0 |
| Wolf’s Dragoons | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | 1 | 16.67% | 81 | 0 |
| 5th Sword of Light | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 33 | 0 |
| Draconis Combine | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 44 | 0 |
Parting Thoughts
We discussed it a bit afterwards, and we like the 300 PV level for forces. We might try bumping regular games from 250 to 300 in the next couple of Weeks to see if we like it better. We need to evaluate whether or not it will slow gown games enough to disrupt the 90 min time limit we usually play with.
Well, that does it for Week 5. I like how I did the lists this time, and I will start recording the lists each week in this fashion, just with pictures, too.
Currently, Week 6, the final week of Quarter 1, is scheduled to be fought on Thursday, March 31.
If you are interested in learning more about BattleTech: Alpha Strike, check out the Quick Start Rules from Catalyst Game Labs, here.