Assaulting the city; Part 2 of the battle for Hooke's World

The intel gathered during the last mission had started giving up it's secrets. The deposits were certainly here, but further to the north still.

Before the USS force could take possession of the resources however, they have to establish a base.
The city was chosen, not only because it had the only sub-space communication compound on the hemisphere, but also to deny it to the NIJA.

The city. Some NIJA infantry are already dug into the city, while the armored contingent and mechs are advancing into the city from the north.

The USS assault force left to right; A heavy tank, three Dagger light mechs, a Silverback heavy artillery mech, a Chataphract CHQ mech, two Imperator heavy assault mechs, two light armors, and at the end another two heavy tanks. A Strike fighter is tasked with support, waiting to swoop down.

Exept for the three infantry units that are already dug in the city the NIJA defenders consists of a Wight heavy mech, a Dictactor heavy mech, a Halberd CHQ mech, a Dagger light mech and an Assassin medium mech. A pair of heavy tanks and a pair of light armor complete the defence force.

As soon as the mechs come into range, the infantry defending the comms centre open up with their AT rockets. The dagger staggers under the assault.

Giving up their location, the infantry is quickly destroyed as one of the Imperator mechs fires it's energy cannons.

Racing down the street next to the compound, a USS heavy tank takes intense fire from the infantry unit inside the building across from him.

A Dagger and a NIJA pair of armor trade shots.

The NIJA heavy tank takes a few hits..

..And then a few more as it's USS counterpart launch a few rounds into it!

 On the left flank a tank fails to damage the entrenched infantry, who in turn fires a few rockets into the companion tank.

A searing bolt of plasma smash into the building, incinerating some of the fighters.

Dagger mechs on both sides advance, firing at each other, while the USS CHQ send round after round into the stricken tank out front.

Return fire trash the firing control of the Dagger by the refinery.

Start of the second turn. The second Imperator and the Strike fighter attacked the NIJA Dictator in the finishing stages of the last turn, knocking off some armor and damaging weapon systems.

The Assassin mech blow off some more armor of the Dagger mech before dodging in behind the bank.

Streaking across the field towards the Dictator, the Strike fighter engages. The mech returns fire, missiles damaging the aircrafts steering. 

Just as he passes, the fighter fires all his weapons, striking multiple hits on the Dictator.  

Lasers strobing, the Strike fighter goes down in flames as one of the wings are sheared off by the coherent light from the Dictator mech. 

Sprinting for the mech hiding behind the bank, a USS Dagger mech fires his missiles at the enemy, scoring several hits. 

Guns booming, the tank blows a bigger hole in the building housing the enemy infantrymen, pinning them further. AT rounds answer the tank, causing some track damage in return.

 A concentrated attack on the Dagger by NIJA armor and mech damages several systems. The USS mechs blows of some chunks of armor off the light armor of infront of it.

The second light armor open fire and damage the USS tank.

Weapon systems damaged, the white NIJA light armor smashes into the flank of a light mech. Bracing for the impact, the mech groans as the charging vehicle makes contact. Through luck or skill, the mech survives with some damage, but the armor is wrecked. 

It's missiles arching into the sky before slamming into the Dagger hiding between the houses, the Silverback mech blows it's target into pieces.

Attempting to finish off the Assassin, the heavy tank drives up and fires at the mech. More armor is blown off, but it still stands!

Rolling up to the edge of wall, the yellow tank fires at the light armor across from it, blowing off bits and pieces.

In an attempt to stop the white tank from destroying the Assassin mech, a unit of infantry charges the tank. Acting quickly, the crew manages to fire their machinegun into the charging infantry. They destroy the unit, but not before taking several hits themselves. 

Start of turn 3. The USS have managed to take out several enemy units, suffering some light losses themselves. The NIJA is wavering, but still holding. 

Quickly re-targeting the mech, the white heavy tank open up on the Assassin again. Multiple hits smash into the mech, bringing it down!

 Pushing it's engines to the max, the last NIJA heavy tank speed towards the Cataphract, firing as it goes. A few lucky hits manage to down the mech, robbing the USS of it's CO!

The Imperator and Wight stride towards each other, guns blazing. Armor melts, systems short out, and in the end, the Wight fall before the less damaged USS heavy.

The Imperator continues to slug it out with the enemy mechs, the CHQ this time. Several hits are traded, damaging serveral systems on both mechs. At the end of the exchange, the are still standing though.

The Dictator's lasers bore into the heavy tank next to the Imperator, turning most of the tank to slag.

When the last light armor of the NIJA blow apart, the New Japanese decide to withdraw. USS have driven their enemies from the city, allowing them to set up a forward base to stage the next operation.


Operation concluded, a USS victory.

The USS got lucky quite early, and it kept going all through the game. Being my first 20+ presence game of Horizon Wars, the objective was kept deliberately simple: By turn 4, whoever had more forces in the field would be the winner, unless they could force 50% combat ineffectives/destroyed units. By the end of turn 3, the USS had managed just that.

USS losses:
Cataphract CHQ P2, Strike fighter P2, Heavy Cav P3 Total losses: 7 Presence, leaving their total at 84 (91-7)

NIJA losses:
Wight P3, 2x Light Cav P2, 2x Light Infantry P1, Assassin P2, Heavy Cav P3 Total losses: 14 Presence, leaving their total at 80 (94-14)

Having being bloodied, the NIJA will probably put up a serious defence to keep the USS taskforce from reaching the precious resources.

I have a few pieces of terrain and a mech or two on the way that will probably show up before the next battle, as I think there is a few pieces I need to make before that battle can take place..

Til next time!