Deadzone Battle Report - Enforcers vs. Forge Fathers vs. Plague

On 7 May 2017 I played a three way custom Deadzone scenario at Nerima Miniatures Club in Japan. My opponents were Koizumi-San and Yuasaki-San. Koizumi-San is a veteran of the game, and also happens to be the distributor for Mantic Games in Japan. His web store Furious Glory can be found here. Yuasaki-San was a complete novice, and this would be his second game ever. Koizumi-San would be the Plague, Yuasaki-San would be the Forge Fathers, and I would be the Enforcers for this, my sixth game of Deadzone. I have to admit that I'm appalling at this game. I'm rocking a 1-4 record in Deadzone, and my only win is against poor Yuasaki-San in his very first game. Against Yuasaki-San I couldn't fricking miss. Every shot I fired hit and killed the Steel Warriors, despite my assurances to him that the Forge Fathers were a tough, robust faction. That didn't seem to put him off, however, as he enthusiastically jumped back into the saddle for this three-cornered battle.

Scenario

The playing area.

In this game we used two Deadzone mats aligned side by side. The board was set up like this:

										2
											2
									1			1
				FORGE FATHERS								PLAGUE
				ENFORCERS								OBJECTIVES

After rolling for recon tests the Forge Fathers chose to deploy in the west, the Plague to the east, and the Enforcers deployed in the middle. Each team was four squares equidistant to the objective in the middle. Each team was worth approximately 150 points, and the lists were as follows:

Enforcers	Forge Fathers	Plague
1 Enforcer Captain 2 Enforcers 1 Assault Enforcer 1 Enforcer Specialist with Burst Laser 2 Pathfinders 1 D.O.G. Drone	1 Steel Warrior Huscarl 4 Steel Warriors 1 Steel Warrior Specialist with Hailstorm Autocannon	1 Stage 1A 2 Stage 2A 1 Stage 3A 2 Stage 3D Hellhounds 2 Stage 3A Specialists with Heavy Machine Guns 1 Plague Teraton

The winner would be the team that scored 15 points first. This could be achieved either through controlling the objectives in the middle, or by simply killing the enemy.

Rounds 1-2

I realized that Yuasaki-San had not forgotten his loss in his first game when he aggressively marched his units towards me rather than towards the objective. I, on the other hand, committed the cardinal sin of wargaming by splitting my forces, with half my guys trying to take on the Plague to the east, and the other half squaring off against the Forge Fathers in the west. Koizumi-San wasted no time rushing the bulk of his forces towards the objective. One of his 3A heavy machine gunners jumped onto high ground and let rip a burst which killed my Enforcer rifleman on the extreme right flank. First blood to the Plague.

Boom. Headshot.

Rounds 3-4

I initially thought that the Forge Father push to the Enforcers was just payback, but looking back at the pictures I realized that Yuasaki-San didn't have a choice due to the layout of the terrain and the stodginess of the Forge Fathers. A straight rush towards the objective would have left them horribly exposed, and so the right approach took them on a looping route that would carry them close to the Enforcer lines. This meant that an Enforcer and Forge Father showdown was inevitable. Yuasaki-San did win the Recon test so he had first pick of deployment zones, but unfortunately for him (and me!) his inexperience did not allow him to gauge the effect of terrain at first glance. The best approach was taken by the Plague, who had ample cover to advance pretty much unmolested all the way to the objective.

My Enforcers began in the middle, but that was the least of their problems. Their chief handicap was that their Commander was incompetent.

The Forge Fathers move towards the objective. The slightly open space on the left of their advance forced them to advance to the right, into contact with the Enforcers.

While the Forge Fathers and the Plague advanced I was struck by a severe case of indecisionitis, moving troops forwards and backwards, and taking Hail Mary shots which achieved absolutely nothing. I lost my D.O.G. drone to the Plague heavy machine gunner, while the rest of my troops took cover from the relentless Forge Father fire. One Steel Warrior pushed right up to the Enforcer lines, but despite our best efforts, we could only inflict a single Wound on it which was healed immediately through the Too Stubborn To Die rule.

Rounds 5-6

With the Forge Fathers and the Enforcers locked in combat the Plague run rampant over the objectives.

With the Forge Fathers and the Enforcers locked in an extended firefight the Plague sent most of their forces to claim the objectives. One notable exception was the Plague Teraton, which careened into the Enforcer lines. My Enforcer Captain found himself in a mortal battle for his life, and he was lucky to escape with only one Wound after two assaults. I charged into the fray with my Assault Enforcer in a desperate bid to save my Captain's life, but it was all in vain - the Teraton killed them both with equal disdain. In the west Forge Father and Plague forces were finally in contact, and a Steel Warrior armed with an autocannon was laying down suppression fire from high ground. There was simply too much Plague around the objective now to dislodge them, however, and Koizumi-San was able to earn easy Victory Points by occupying the objectives.

The mutilated corpses of my Enforcer Captain and his Assault comrade lie bloodied at the feet of the Plague Teraton. An albino Teraton. OK, an unpainted Teraton.

Conclusion

In the end the Plague won handily without too much effort, advancing aggressively onto the objectives while the Enforcers and the Forge Fathers traded ineffective shots against each other. The Enforcers were indecisive and ineffective in the middle, being unable to commit to either side and wasting a lot of moves bouncing back and forth. The Forge Fathers pressed hard against the Enforcers, allowing the Plague a mostly uncontested advance from their side of the board. A last minute offer of truce to the Forge Fathers was too little, too late, and the Plague secured their victory in typically brutal fashion when the Plague Teraton ripped apart my Enforcer Captain and his Assault compatriot in close combat. At this point the Plague was swarming all over the objective, and it was pretty clear who had won.

Closing Thoughts

I liked the scenario, but perhaps we need to increase the Victory Points total needed to win to 20 points. 15 seemed a tad too low, as the Forge Fathers were still all intact when the game ended. They could have still given the Plague some trouble if they had been able to advance closer to the objective.

The Enforcers, on the other hand, lost man after man mostly due to a Plague heavy machine gunner occupying the high ground on the Enforcer right flank. Instead of concentrating all fire on this threat I split my fire between the Forge Fathers and the Plague, and unsurprisingly achieved very little. This game requires you to concentrate your resources (i.e. my Tag abilities, extra Command dice and shooting turns) to systematically remove threats. I failed to do that, and paid the price. I should have chosen to push hard against one or the other, but perhaps I was being a little too polite - I didn't want to appear overly aggressive. That will come with time and familiarity.

I also need to revise my Enforcer list. Assault Enforcers are pretty useless in my opinion, and I would probably be better off swapping him out for another Pathfinder armed with a Tag rifle. The D.O.G. Drone is also another liability. His Burst Laser is nice, but he is an automatic shooting target from the enemy due to his low Survive score and lack of Armour. This is offset by his speed (Sprint 4) and low points cost, so even though he is brittle he is not overly expensive to lose. I can't decide on whether to keep him or not. I also forgot my Pathfinders' Scout rule, which gives them a free Sprint move at the start of the game.

It was a fun game, contested in good spirit, and I learned more about game mechanics. I've also gained a greater appreciation for terrain - I didn't really grasp that an empty 2 by 2 square area is a killing zone in this game. For next time I've acquired a few more Enforcer models, as well as a Games Workshop Tau Broadside suit which I intend to proxy as a Strider. This gives me more options for force building, and to try out new units and combinations. 

I'm trying to improve my Japanese, with the ultimate goal being to be able to explain the rules of the game fluently and clearly to new Japanese players. I was trying to pay attention to Koizumi-San's explanations in Japanese to Yuasaki-San, but I'm afraid I have a ways to go. Rather than looking for other expatriates, I will probably have more luck finding local players or by introducing new people to the game.