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Raiding Aces

Battlefront Studio Plays Raiding Aces:
Part One

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 Two here...
Download the Raiding Aces booklet here...

Read the Raiding Aces Design Notes here...

Phil Yates
What Force Did You Choose?
SAS.

Why?
What do you mean why? Because they are the SAS that's why!!!!

What Ace Skill Tree Did You Choose?
Brains: Keep Up Your Fire!


Why?
Firepower is the only thing that will keep the SAS alive!


Right: Phil and Chris check the rules.
Phil and Chris read the rules
Phil's SAS Jeeps 500 point Force List
HQ and 1 full platoon with extra MG's and one .50 cal plus Sporadic Interdiction.

700 point Force List
HQ and two full platoons with extra MG's and one .50 cal for each platoon.

Left: Phil's SAS Jeeps.

Any memorable moments from the afternoon of gaming?
Interdiction is cool! Only extraordinary luck allowed Chris to arrive in time to stop my SAS from dismounting and clearing the village objective. The 2iC survived the improvised ambush and went nuts, seeing off the sahariana and then wiping out the platoon holding the objective, only to be stopped cold by Chris' Ace.

In Mike's game the kicker his armoured cars. Too tough to tackle with a weakened patrol, spelling the death as I lost a turn of shooting as I pulled back.

~ Phil.

Right: Phil's SAS meet a sticky end.

Phil's SAS meet a sticky end
Victor and James prepare for battle Victor Pesch
What Force Did You Choose and why?
Brandenburger Halbkompanie (German). I've liked the DAK range of figures for a long time, and this seemed like a great excuse to paint some. And they get Crusaders!

What Ace Skill Tree Did You Choose and why?
For my first ability I chose ''Custom Ride'. Because my trucks don't have MGs like the other lucky sods, I thought this was a good way to wedge some extra firepower into my force.

Left: Victor and James prepare for battle.
For the second ability I went with 'We Lucky Few', another level one ability. Because my platoons are so expensive I don't get many stands, so this seemed like a great way to improve my survivability. In attack they can act as a meat shield, and in defence they should help me hang around longer.

With a Fearless rating I have a good chance of getting a large platoon, so I may continue down this skill path.

Right: Fighting over the airstrip.
Fighting over the airstrip
Victor thinks about his next move 500 point Force List

Headquarters
Company HQ - 70 points.
AA MGs - 10 points.
Enemy Disguises - 20 points.

Brandenburger Platoon One
2 Brandenburger Sections - 170 points.
Captured Trucks - 5 points.
Enemy Disguises - 50 points.

Brandenburger Platoon Two
2 Brandenburger Sections - 170 points.
Captured Trucks - 5 points.
Enemy Disguises - 50 points.

Left: Victor thinks about his next move.
700 point Force List

Headquarters
Company HQ - 70
points.
AA MGs - 10
points.
Enemy Disguises - 20 points.

Brandenburger Platoon One
2 Brandenburger Sections - 170
points.
Captured Trucks - 5
points.
Enemy Disguises - 50 points.

Right: Victor takes on Wayne.
Victor takes on Wayne
In the process of beating Wayne Brandenburger Platoon Two
2 Brandenburger Sections - 170 points.
Captured Trucks - 5 points.
Enemy Disguises - 50 points.

Panzer Platoon
3 Crusader II - 145 points.

Left: In the process of beating Wayne.
Any memorable moments from the afternoon of gaming?
I had a 500 point game against James, and it didn't end so well for me. Massed MG fire from his jeeps, and a casual assault wiped out my few stands fairly quickly. The desert sun also took its toll, forcing me to re-roll successful motivation tests.

Later on I had a 700 point game against Wayne and my luck improved. Having the Crusaders helped, along with some good dice. I was able to clear out one LRDG patrol and take the objective before his second could come on from reserve.

~ Victor.

Chris Townley
What Force Did You Choose?
Compagnia Mitraglieri.

Why?
This force really captured my imagination as it is a great balance of fortified infantry and mobile Sahariana platoons.
 
What Ace Skill Tree Did You Choose?
I chose to go down the Squadron of Heroes path.


Right: Chris and Sean clash.

Chris and Sean clash
Chris deploys his Italians

Why? 
I chose this because it meant that I would have 'Keep Your Fire Up!' as my first ability. This allows a Pinned Down platoon to still fire at full ROF during the shooting step. I figured that this was pretty important as it was possible for my Combat Platoons to be both Confident and Conscript, meaning I would be hit (and pinned) easily and have a reasonable chance of staying pinned. I was also taking the long term approach as the Smash & Grab ability is Squadron of Heroes, which allows your Combat Platoon Command Teams each get a level 1 Ace ability...which would be 'Keep Your Fire Up!' across the board!

Left: Chris deploys his Italians.

Iron Painter: The Forces Gather...
Iron Painter 2011: The Aftermath...

500 point Force List
Mitraglieri HQ - 20 points.
Misto Platoon - 90 points.
Misto Platoon - 90 points.
Autosahariana Platoon - 130 points.
with Extra AA MG - 20 points.
with 0.5" AA MG - 5 points.
with 47/32 - 10 points.
Sahara Cannon Battery - 90 points.
with Observer - 15 points.

Right: Chris' Army.

Chris' Army
Chris clashes with Phil's SAS

700 point Force List
Mitraglieri HQ - 20 points.
Misto Platoon - 90 points.
Misto Platoon - 90 points.
Autosahariana Platoon - 130 points.
with Extra AA MG - 20 points.
with 0.5" AA MG - 5 points.
with 47/32 - 10 points.
Autosahariana Platoon - 130 points.
with Extra AA MG - 20 points.
with 0.5" AA MG - 5 points.
with 47/32 - 10 points.
Sahara Anti-Tank Platoon - 70 points.
Sahara Cannon Battery - 90 points.

Left: Chris clashes with Phil's SAS.

Any memorable moments from the afternoon of gaming?
A couple of moments absolutely sprint to mind. During Turn 1 of the Campaign I was playing Phil and his SAS jeeps were screaming across the desert with guns blazing, preparing to jump out at the last minute and assault my poor Confident Conscript Misto Platoon that was hiding in a small village. My reserves had become "Lost" (meaning they would only arrive on a 6, instead of a 5-6) and his Interdiction dice were on fire meaning that it was looking bad, until an Autosaharia platoon managed to find their way to the table and hit the SAS in the flank. After a brief fire fight they were seen off by the fearless SAS but it was enough to break the attack and allow the remaining infantry to hold the objective.


~ Chris.
Mark Hazell
For our Raiding Aces campaign I decided to take the Arditi Camionettisti.  When I’d painted these platoons up for the box shots and spotlights I’d really enjoyed how they had looked and was interested to see how they would play on the table, a good mix of 20mm AA MG’s, 20mm AT guns and machine guns gave me what I thought was an interesting well armed force. 

The really interesting thing about this force is that its nine fast moving Fearless Veteran vehicles that use the motorcycle recon rules meaning that all the vehicles have 3+ infantry Saves.

Mark's Arditi Camionettisti
Unfortunately the only other platoon choice you can have is some planes so it’s a real one trick pony force. Still at 500 points I was able to have one platoon of nine mixed AS42s. At 700 Points I could add in a sporadic Air Support unit of FIAT CR.42 Falco biplanes.  For my Ace skill I went with “Keep up your fire” from the Brains abilities. This allowed a combat platoon led by my ace that was pinned down to keep their full rate of fire in the shooting step.
Mark takes on Casey The most brutal match up I had was against Casey’s American OSS. I knew it was bound to contain a mix of SMGs, machine guns, Bazookas and AT guns (and boy was I was right!)

Casey’s OSS force stubbornly dug in near his objectives, the “Unbearable Heat” of the Saharan sun ensured that both sides will to fight was low (All motivation tests must be re-rolled).  The Encounter was fought over a rocky area of the Sahara with a small walled village located on Casey’s flank. One platoon of OSS spread out across the table covering both objectives.

Left: Mark takes on Casey.
Speeding across the sun backed earth; the Arditi Camionettisti manoeuvred its way to the OSS right flank taking cover behind a large escarpment. The last vehicle, an AS42 47/32 shot its gun at maximum range at the concealed shape of a 37mm gun scoring a hit on the gun but failing to cause any damage. Unfortunately for the AS42 crew, the 37mm gunner was a crack shot and his return fire hit the fuel tank and turned the vehicle into a burning wreck.

Right: Mark's burning wreaks litter the desert.
Mark's burning wreaks litter the desert
The Arditi Camionettisti made several attempts to pin down Casey’s OSS and then launched lightning fast assault but the shimmering heat rising from the ground was throwing off their aim and all their attempts were thwarted by Casey’s defensive fire. Strangely the heat didn’t seem to affect Casey’s rolls at all and the AS42’s were all destroyed by his unerringly accurate fire. Over all a fast and fun game and I’m looking forward to playing a longer campaign.

~ Mark.
Mike at the table Mike Haught
Choosing just one force for this Raiding Aces campaign was tough as I like them all! In the end I chose Unternehmen Dora because I love desert exploration. Dora was built originally as a desert expedition and evolved into a semi-military force reinforced with Brandenburger troops. The force is shrouded in mystery and not a lot of documentary remains of it. So I’ve had fun following the clues to piece the story together, finding out where they operated, about their equipment, and learning about their brief engagements with the Free French in Chad, Algeria, and Niger.

Left: Mike at the table.
For my ace I went with the Trickster archetype because I loved the story that Andrew wrote into that Ace’s flavour text. The abilities include Cunning Like a Fox (which allows my Ace to deploy from ambush and then be removed to be redeployed), Diversion (which I can use to distract an enemy platoon and make good on my escape), Booby Traps (to befuddle any would-be chasers), and Trickster (which allows my ace to move platoons about the table).
500 Point List
Unternehmen Dora HQ (2 trucks) - 75
points.
+ add extra hull-mounted MG to both trucks - 10
points.
Brandenburger Dora Platoon (4 trucks) - 145 points.
+ add extra hull-mounted MG to all trucks - 20 points.
Brandenburger Dora Platoon (4 trucks) - 145 points.
+ add extra hull-mounted MG to all trucks - 20 points.
Panzerspäh Platoon (2x Sd Kfz 222)  - 70 points.
Total: 485 points.

Notes
The story here is that my Ace is leading a simple mission to chart the unknown.

We arrived in the area under the effects of an unrelenting Khamseen sand storm. Still, the mission needed to be done, so we split up to cover more ground. At about midday we encountered an LRDG patrol (Wayne) also charting the region. Although they are a pain to maintain and move in the desert, I was sure glad to have a pair of armoured cars in my expedition! They covered our escape and bought us time to regroup the patrol and drive off the British.


Right: Mike and Wayne fight it out.
Mike and Wayne fight it out
Burning trucks 700 Point List
As Above with:
Brandenburger Dora Platoon (4 trucks) - 145 points.
+ add extra hull-mounted MG to all trucks - 20 points.
+ add Enemy Disguises for all trucks -  40 points.
Total: 690 points.

Left:
Burning trucks.
Notes
With his charting complete, my Ace has been instructed to check out the Allied situation in the deep Sahara. So he’s equipped a platoon with disguises in order to utilise his Bedouin contacts to infiltrate enemy lines.

As suspected, we encountered the enemy several kilometres beyond the border. It was an SAS patrol (Phil), so our ruse wouldn’t really work against these cunning raiders. They respond to only one tactic: firepower! To overcome their massive amounts of machine-gun fire, we had to and did strike first to reduce their return fire. What resulted was a fierce dust up, but in the end we got ‘em, thanks to cunning manoeuvring!

~ Mike.


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