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Raiding Aces
Battlefront Studio Plays Raiding Aces:
Part Two

Whilst Mike was writing Burning Empires, many of us in the Studio kept an eye on what was going on with the Raiding Forces in particular. We fondly remembered "back in the days" when Sting of the Scorpion originally came out and were keen to have go using these revamped units. Needless to say when we first started discussing and play testing Raiding Aces we immediately convinced the powers that be that we needed to schedule in some Friday afternoon raiding. It was a pretty easy sell as you can comfortably play 4 or 5 games in an afternoon, which allows you to play an entire campaign of a couple of sessions, or even one big day of gaming!

We asked each of the gamers to give us their thoughts on their forces, their Raiding Ace abilities and any particularly memorable games.

Read Battlefront Studio Plays Raiding Aces: Part One here...
Download the Raiding Aces booklet here...

Read the Raiding Aces Design Notes here...
Sean Goodison
What Force Did You Choose?
Sudan Rifle Company.

Why?
I wanted to take the Desert Fort while still playing as the good-guys.

What Ace Skill Tree Did You Choose?
The God of War abilities from Infantry Aces.


Why?
Because my force wasn't a true raiding force a lot of the Raiding Ace abilities were of little or no use to me. So I referred back to the Infantry Ace abilities and decided that "I Need Mortar Support" and the other God of War skills would give me some much needed extra firepower.


Right: Sean at the gaming table.
Sean at the gaming table
Sean and Blake prepare for battle 500 point Force List
Company HQ - 25 points.
Add Mortar Section - 30 points.
Sudan Rifle Platoon - 145 points.
Sudan Rifle Platoon - 145 points.
Sudan Machine-Gun Platoon - 120 points.

700 point Force List
Company HQ - 25 points.
Add Mortar Section - 30 points.
Sudan Rifle Platoon - 110 points.
Sudan Rifle Platoon - 110 points.
Sudan Machine-Gun Platoon - 120 points.
Desert Fort - 300 points.

Left: Sean and Blake prepare for battle.
Any memorable moments from the afternoon of gaming?
My decisive victory against Blake's Autosahariana. We rolled up the 'Get the General' mission which tasked him with destroying a convoy of trucks as they rolled across the table. Luckily for me the mission rules provided me with a much larger force of 1200 points, which meant my imposing fort made an early debut. With riflemen and HMGs on the wall keeping watch over the trucks Blake's jeeps were methodically cut down. All six jeeps made it safely across the board and I only lost a single stand.

Right: Sean takes on Chris.
Sean takes on Chris
My joy was short lived however as my very next opponent, Chris, made the fort's drawbacks abundantly clear. With a reconnaissance deployment move and some fast driving jeeps he cleared one of my platoons off their designated objective when they failed to dig in. The troops inside the fort were safe but had no way to reinforce the objective in time to prevent the Italians from winning. Perhaps I should have waited until the 900 point level before adding the fort.

~ Sean.
Blake and Sean seek advice from Mike
Blake Coster
What Force Did You Choose?
I decided to use the Italian 103a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti (as featured on page 150 of Burning Empires).

Why?
The force is made up of a combination of the AS37 and the AS42, but mostly the AS42 which in my opinion is one cool looking vehicle especially when brisling with machine-guns and other such weapons. This force also has a nice combination of firepower too; including the 20mm Solothurn Anti-tank rifle, the 20/65 gun and the 47/32 gun and of course machine-guns.
What Ace Skill Tree Did You Choose?
I choose the Brains archetype for my Raiding Ace and the Turn One ability of Custom Ride. This allowed my Ace to be mounted in a custom vehicle armed with two AA MGs and a Twin AA MG and could utilise all of the Motorcycle Reconnaissance special rules.

Why?
I choose this skill because how can you go wrong with more machine-guns? More guns equal more shooting and hopefully more enemy units destroyed on the tabletop. Fingers crossed!


Right: Blake shares his experiences with Victor, James and Wayne.
Blake and Sean seek advice from Mike
500 point Force List:
103a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti
One Camionettisti Platoon – 460 points.
with one Command AS42 Sahariana.
with three AS42 da 20/65.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 15 points.
with one AS37 da 20/65.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.
with two AS42 da Solothurn.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 10 points.
with one AS42 da 47/32.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.
with one AS37 da 47/32.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.

Total Points: 500 points

700 point Force List:
103a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti
One Camionettisti Platoon – 460 points.
with one Command AS42 Sahariana.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.
with three AS42 da 20/65.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 15 points.
with one AS37 da 20/65.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.
with two AS42 da Solothurn.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 10 points.
with one AS42 da 47/32.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.
with one AS37 da 47/32.
plus passenger fired AA MG – 5 points.
Sporadic Air Support
with FIAT CR.42 Falco – 90 points.

Total Points: 695 points
Below: Sean's Fort dominates the table.
Blake's 103a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti vs. Sean's Sudan Rifle Company
Any memorable moments from the afternoon of gaming?
I played a memorable (for all the wrong reasons, for me anyway)game against Sean. We played Get the General, a mission that required me as the attacker to destroy a convoy of trucks before they could escape safely off the table. Despite being a 500 point game, the mission rules allowed both Sean and I to take a large force, I decided to field a 600 points (my 500 point list with Sporadic Air Support from the FIAT CR.42 Falcos) while Sean could field double that total at 1200 points! This meant he could take the fort which he deployed in a dominant position near the centre of the table.

I was able to successfully intercept the convoy, but despite my abundance of shots I was unable to destroy any of the trucks, mainly due to my ineptitude with Firepower tests (in addition to the ineffective Air Support). In my attempts to destroy the convoy I came within range of Sean’s infantry manning the fort, including his HMG teams. As I continued to fail my Firepower tests, he slowly whittled me down until the convoy was able to emerge safely from the burning wrecks of my AS37s and AS42s and make it to safety.

Well played Sean, well played!

~ Blake.

Gaming Action: Raiding Aces Style
Gaming Action: Raiding Aces Style
Gaming Action: Raiding Aces Style
Gaming Action: Raiding Aces Style Blake's 103a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti vs. Sean's Sudan Rifle Company
Blake's 103a Compagnia Arditi Camionettisti vs. Sean's Sudan Rifle Company


Last Updated On Monday, January 9, 2012 by Blake at Battlefront