Pic After Turn 1

Operation Cerberus Scenario 5 A Bloody Victory

SITREP 600 points per side, supposed to be played by four. Played with Dan as Allies and Jay as Axis. Units stayed divided for Victory purposes. Allied rolled for Defender, Defender gets to place all cover. Defender uses AT Traps to close off two of the four entrances for Heavy Walkers.

Turn 1 All units just move onto the map. Allied Boss gives Fireball an additional move. This puts Fireball six squares into the board. Fireball has Hell Boys and the Chef onboard.

Turn 2 Konigsluther took out a AT Trap. Ludwig received one hit from Punisher, and then was finished off by Pounder. Punisher has 13 Foxtrot and Angie on board. Fireball hits Stephan and Sturmpioniere causing three hits with the flamethrower, then the Chef and Hell Boys move out of the Fireball and finished them off. Fireball also took out Heavy Recon Grenadiers and damaged Lara three times with the machineguns. Gorillas and Marcus received an additional activation and wiped out Grim Reapers and Ozz 117. Marcus took three damage points in return. Fireball receives five damage points from Sturmkonig and Lothar.

Turn 3 The Chef and Hell Boys move adjacent to Battle Grenadiers and eliminate them, but not before, Battle Grenadiers take out three Hell Boys with reactive fire eliminating them and damaging Chef twice. Tank Killers are taken out by the flamethrower on Fireball and Lara is taken out by MG’s on Fireball. Lothar causes two more damage points to Fireball. Punisher takes out Lothar. Konigsluther takes out second AT Trap clearing a path. Beobachter moves adjacent to The Chef, eliminating the Chef but not before the Chef takes one out with close combat. Sturmkonig takes out Fireball. The Boss rolls and brings back Fireball. WOOHOO! Marcus and Gorillas charge and eliminate the Pounder.

Turn 4 Punisher eliminates the rest of Marcus, the Gorillas and one more Zombie. Angela and Sniper take out the bazooka from the Gunners and give Joe one point of damage. The Boss reactivates Punisher who destroys Hans. Rhino and Hammers cause five points of damage to Sturmkonig. Heinrich reactivated by Kommandotruppe kills the mechanic from the Boss. Bazooka Joe and the Gunners take out Angela and the Snipers. One Zombie takes out the MG from the Boss.

Turn 5 Heinrich takes out the last of the Boss. Rhino and the Hammers take out Sturmkonig. Punisher takes out Heinrich and the last Zombie. Konigsluther hits the Punisher four times.

Turn 6 Steel Rain causes nine points of damage to Konigsluther. Konigsluther causes four more points of damage to Punisher. Rosie with Tank Head pops out of the Punisher and completely fixes the Punisher. Punisher eliminates Konigsluther. Kommandotruppe brings back Konigsluther. Whatever! I have never seen Command Squads bring back units on the first roll. Rhino and the Hammers take out the last unit of Beobachter.

Turn 7 Pounder hits Konigsluther three times. Konigsluther takes out Hotdog and also causes two damage points to Joe and takes out one Gunner. Joe and the Gunners take out the MG, Mechanic and Medic from Kommandotruppe. Kommandotruppe gets Konigsluther to activate again and it takes out a Pounder and two Gunners.

Turn 8 Konigsluther takes out Steel Rain. Kommandotruppe allows Konigsluther to activate again, but the game is called.

Putting Rosie with Tank Head in a Heavy Walker really helps that Walker when it is damaged. The Command Squad being able to bring back a Heavy Walker is really helpful too.

We had a great time. I like the large battle. I think the 3D buildings are really cool. It should also be noted, other attacks went on too, but they didn't cause casualties or just minor hits.

Indeed, bringing back a 100AP walker into the game can really unbalance the match, if the other side is not able to do so as well.

I'm interested, does the book suggest any special way in which this scenario should be played with 4 people?

Ouch, this pic shows how big the heavies are! Pics of the heavies on their own don't show the true size of these beasts.

As to bringing back a heavy walker, I think that can break the game dramatically, seems unfair due to the amount ittakes to destroy them and the amount of damage they do.

And I didn't think passengers could do anything while being carried?

They can't. Rosie had to exit the Punisher before fixing it. But it's handy to have her riding it, so she can just pop out at the appropriate moment and do her magic.

But I agree, it seems overkill that the Mechanic's ability can be used to bring back anything from a 22AP Blackhawk to a 100AP Punisher. Suddenly the Medic is a lot less powerful, since the best he can do is bring back a 34AP Hell Boys squad.

And yeah, the heavies do look huge. I didn't think their bodies fully occupied those 4 squares, with the guns extending far and away.... Man, I'm still very hesitant to acquire these things....

I don't think it's that overbalanced when it's only a 33% chance to succeed anyway, right?

blkdymnd said:

It is only 33%, but when it happens (and it will) the difference is game balance is huge, I've lost games before due to my oppo bringing back Mickey near the end of the game, bringing back a heavy will be catastrophic at any point in the game, epecially when you have probably already lost your hard hitters trying to take one out to start off with. Bringing a heavy back will pretty much guarantee you victory.

Although that just means you should make it a priority to kill the mechanic or the radioman before destroying a heavy walker.

Loophole Master said:

How often have you acieved that or let yours been killed until game end? You will probably have to get past the heavy to get to the command squad, it might even be inside! Don't think a command squad has ever been destoryed in our games until game end.

True, I've only managed to take shots at the Command Squad halfway through the game if my opponent commits a blunder. And specially with these high-point games, you can easily afford to keep your CS well protected at the furthest end of the board. Though I don't think anybody would be crazy enough to keep one inside a heavy walker, and waste the opportunity to try and use its abilities every round.

I wouldn't be opposed to an AP cap to the CS's ability to bring back units. Something around 50-60.

Major Mishap said:

I thought the same thing. I thought the Medium walkers were nice size until I bought the Heavies and now I am like, they dwarf the mediums. Like someone else said, Rosie jumped out and fixed the walker. 13 Foxtrot was also in the Heavy, plan was for it to jump out and call in artillery from Steel Rain, but it did not get the opportunity.

blkdymnd said:

I have gone numerous games without being able to roll a hit to bring on a destroyed unit. Of course in this game the Punisher rolled 10 dice at "a" Zombie sustained: first rolls, no hits. Reroll for sustained 5 hits, then Jay rolls 5 hits for Damage resilient.

In this scenario the only way to score points was to get to the other side of the board and opposite corner. Unless you lose a Heavy right away, you may not have enough time to get it across the board. But, that is just this sceanrio. What I liked is that the Fireball has scout, so it moved normally two squares, then scout ability another two squares, then The Boss rolled for Get moving you bunch of monkeys and succeeded. I thought that was huge. It was six squares into the battlefield. Brought that flamethrower right into range.

I just don't see the situation coming up often enough for it to be an issue that needs to change any rules. First, you have to destroy said heavy. Second, you need to roll your hit to bring back. Third, you have to do all of that early enough in the game for it to even make a difference.

In fact I think the Rosie combo is much more detrimental, it's not available to both sides and the walker completely protects her til she needs it.

blkdymnd said:

concur

I generaly find that taking out the command squad is the game ender in most matches. also i find that the rosies combo is very powerful but easy enough t overcome, the heavy walkers can really only stand up to a rounds worth of fire anyways. also its shear guesswork and luck as for the right time to use tank head you can just as easily lose the unit as you can get a good repair in, adv reactive fire ftw.