Heavy Gear - Incident at Checkpoint Ypsilon

Lt. Stone wiped the sweat from his brow before taking another gaze at the horizon with his binoculars. The hot rays of Helios hitting him were only slightly less uncomfortable than the stale air in his Sabretooth's cockpit, and the open canopy gave him a chance to smoke. What him and his men were really doing out here in WFP territory, where the Barrington Basin met the Great Western Plain, was anybodys guess. Word had simply come down from the brass that they were to advance on this small settlement, simply coded "Checkpoint Ypsilon" in the briefing to engage dissidents. Furthermore, the briefing had been delivered by a Northern Guard Intelligence Service officer, so it had to be something serious.

Stone's comm began chirping with information being downloaded, and he quickly scanned the information. "Dissidents" he found out, were CNCS units looking to desert and form their own fiefdom in the badlands, but not before destroying essential infrastructure on the way. While a UMF man himself, and his unit dedicated to the Northern Guard, he could not forgive their traitorous ways to Northern ideals. Something on the horizon caught his attention, and he quickly looked through his binoculars again. Dust trails, and Gears creating them on their way inbound. He quickly brought down the canopy and sealed the cockpit. "Alright boys, lets hit them where it hurts" he sent out to his troops on the general comm channel. He checked his autocannon's ammo clip one last time, and engaged his secondary movement system to intercept the hostiles...

So let's kick off 2011 with another battle report! In a rematch of sorts against regular opponent Jay, we've got some North on North action in a 700 TV point battle. My PL 2 NorGuard force consisted of a GP Squad with UMF Tiger and Sabretooth upgrades, an Infantry Platoon and a FS Squad. Jay also had a PL 2 force that consisted of 2 GP Squads and a FS Squad. My Objectives consisted of Breakthrough and Recon of one of his GP Squad. Jay's Objectives of Seize and Wipe Them Out on my GP Squad.

Here's a shot of both of our forces. Jay had chosen to spread his forces out along his battle line while I chose to make a heavy push up my left flank:

A closer look at my left flank. My goal was to overwhelm him on this side, and thus achieve my Breakthrough objective:

My Infantry Platoon and elements of my FS Squad stand guard on my right flank. One of my infantry squads bunkers in on Jay's Seize objective in the warehouse:

A "Gears Eye View" of what my GP Squad and Infantry are up against on the left flank:

Elements of my GP Squad and FS Squad attack their opponents from atop a ridge (and my CP counter cowers behind a rocky outcropping):

My GP Squad begin mopping up the remainder of Jay's GP Squad and FS Squad:

A good shot of the fight mid-battle. Things are beginning to turn in my favour on the left flank, as Jay has few remaining units to stop me from achieving my Breakthrough objective:

Meanwhile, on the right flank, Jay has fresh Gears ready to Seize is objective, with little of my forces between the two:

My Infantry Platoon bunkers up in the buildings around Jay's Seize objective, while raining field mortars (much to their futility) on enemy units:

Jay brings reinforcement to my left flank, but they prove no match for my GP Squad:

Jay's last ditch effort on his objective results in the total destruction of his forces on my right flank:

A well-placed rocket from the remaining infantry base removes the Hunter from existence:

In the end I had achieved 4 VP to Jay's 0 VP and completely tabled his force. While Jay was still learning to use his Grizzlies more effectively, he's also got some really bad luck, or I just have good luck. Either way it will add up for him and run out for me and the tables will be turned!