Battle report homebrew DZC 1500 points

I finally got in a non stressed game of DZC where I had some time to take some pictures. So I thought to write a battlereport and note the rules we used and how much I like them (I wrote this version so I am clearly objective here). It is just a summary and so I assume it is kind of hard to follow it but I have notes on the rules we used and I think those might be of interest to some. 

The Armies. 

My friend played 1500 points of Resistance. 

A Alexander (CV 4) with some Hannibals. Both in Dropships. 
Berzerkers and Fighters in a Troopship.
2 squads of Fighters and Veterans in APC and Dropship.
Gun wagons and AT Technicals in Krakens and 2 Choppers. 
Freeriders and Zhukovs (in a dropship). 

The Scourge army (me) was:

Oppressor (CV 5) in Dropship, 4 Emiritus and 4 Minders in Dropships. 
2x3 Warriors in APC and Marauder
Warriors and Destroyers in Troopships. 
Hunter and Reapers in Marauders
Stalkers and Ravagers in Harbingers. 

Both armies were pretty straightforward. We tried to skip the most special units to make the game flow faster. 

In these rules you are only allowed 5 battlgroups and transports may transport anything they are allowed to transport within the same battlegroup. I e they are not "open" like in version 2 but a bit more flexible than V1. It actually helps keeping track of them as in V1 you had to remember which identical transport was transporting which squad (and mistakes were often made). In V2 it takes so much time deciding what transports to activate it is ridiculous. 

Also note there are some changes to stats - while I want to use the armylists available some of the things just doesn't work. All units have -5 in armour to enable the usage of the damage chart from V1 and Units with movement of 5-6" have their movement decreased with 1 inch and 7+ with 2". Also all infantry have a CQB value like in V1. Pretty basic stuff. 

The mission:

We played the basic Targets of Opportunities with 5 objectives, 2 in forests and 3 in buildings. Each players closest objective and the center objectives was in buildings and the two at the flanks were in Forests. 

Any unit starting their turn inside a garrison may search for objectives. 7+ to find (a six is always a success).
+1 for standard infantry (here it was Warriors and Fighters)
+1 if there is a APC within 3" of the Garrison and it may not be part of embark/disembark, move or shoot this turn
+1 for each time you have already searched and
-1 of there are equal or more enemy squads in the Garrison. 

The above rules makes it very exciting and hard to find objectives. As it should be. Also, note that Elite-infantry have a harder time to find the objectives making it an interesting choice which to activate first as a elite squad can make it much simpler to search for the next basic infantry squad. But then the opponent might be able to attack that weaker infantry before they search. 

Turn 1. 

As transports and Aircrafts move full speed onto the board turn 1 and the non transports on the ground half speed the first turn is a standard "deployment-like" turn. Also each unit are at +2 to hit the turn they enter the table making sure that walk-on demo is limited - you really need the flexibility of the transports in later turns. 

Note on priority and cards. In this set of rules you roll and add the CV. I had rules of not being able to double tap and a 6 becomes an automatic win but honestly it just add things without actually "adding" things. It is just more rules so I skipped them. Then you draw cards to your CV (or 3, whichever is the highest). But with no units on table those cards are more of a "should I save some of them to next turn or not". Even if you have no Commander you still get 3 cards. Most cards have both a global and a more powerful Sphere-effect. So even if you loose your commander you always get cards with effect albeit with weaker effect. 

I really wanted to change up the Command radius as well and instead have the Scouts have a greater range instead. Like Sphere being 16" from Scouts and like 8" from a Commander. Making sure you have the commander to get the CV but relying on scouts to get the orders through. But it skewered the current lists to much and as I have restricted myself not to change the current lists to much (especially on points) it is not something I have implemented. 

 

Scourge activations.

Three bases of infantry entered my building on the right hand flank and was backed up by Ravagers and Hunters. The commander and Scouts moved up in the middle. Destroyers went up behind the center building. On my left side the 2 warriors moved up behind the Forest with objective and was backed up by disembarking Reapers and the Stalkers. 

One thing I did was to decrease movement on the ground and this really hurts Hunters and more specifically Reapers. There are cards to compensate, though, but it really means you have to consider using your transports to the fullest and be prepared to allocate to new places. Units disembark end embark 1" but I have used the activation order from V2. Units can embark directly into Garrisons if the transport is within 2". 

Resistance activations.

Stefan moved up his Cyclones, the infantry in Jacksons/Lifthawk, Zhukovs and disembarked the Alexander as well as moving up the Krakens on his left flank. All took shots at the Scourge Garrison and killed one base of infantry. On the right side the Fighters from the Troopship embarked to take the objective closest to their edge. The Berzerkers stayed in the transport. The Hannibals also disembarked and the Freeriders moved up as much as they could. The Freeriders have infitrate which we missed and thus they should have started up a bit more on the edge. 

On the resistance left flank there was a lot of shooting over the Forest garrison and this was something not really covered in my rules. We agreed that dropships can shoot past a Forest on buildings behind but not ground units. 

When a Garrison takes damage and there are enemy infantry inside you roll a die for each damage (Buildings have armour 6 and Forest armour 4 and can be double damaged like normal by rolling 2 higher than needed on the die (as in V1) then for each damage on a Garrison you roll a die. On 5+ a random infantry squad inside is hit by a E4 hit. 

Score was still 0-0 of course.

Turn 2

Scourge activations. 

Both armies found a objective in their turn (on natural 6s). While the resistance jumped back into their transport the Scourge decided to go down and leave the objective to the APC on the right flank. It survived the fire from the Cyclones first so I felt confident it would survive another barrage. It has 3DP now which is strange but that is because the increased risks for double damage in V2. The Ravagers prepared to fire on the Cyclones next turn and their transport put one damage on one. The hunters disembarked and prepared to fight next turn. The 3 bases of warriors entered the Forest. 

There are three situations in which infantry can find themselves in a Garrison. With no enemy units inside (flexible actions), enemy units but less squads than what you have (not harder to search, can still leave the Garrison with some risk of damage e t c) and with equal or more squads in the Garrison (roll for fortitude to man the walls, not allowed to leave nor leave a objective to a unit outside of the Garrison and harder to search). This makes the order of activation dynamic and important which really emphasize the strengths of DZC - the order of activation and movement is key to success. 

In the center the commander jumped into the fray and disembarked as close as possible to the enemy. As the Resistance still had first activation it could do so fairly safe after the Alexander and Hannibals had been activated. The destroyers entered the center building after enemy infantry got inside. 

On the left flank the Stalkers joined the commander in charging ahead. The 2 bases of warriors entered the Forest and the Reapers disembarked on the far left flank covered by the Forest. 

 

The resistance activations

With the first successful search on the right flank the Resistance was a little on a bind. They really didn't have a fast option to get the objective off and so the infantry jumped back into the transports and moved into the center of table closer to their own table edge behind a building. Since the Scourge had released three bases of infantry in the Forest Garrison on the Resistance's left side they got hammered from this side as well as the commander hadn't disembarked yet. 

The Zhukovs disembarked in the center and the Krakens moved up to prepare to enter the center as well. The Resistance also inserted 2 squads of Fighters in the center building to counter the Destroyers. 

On the left side the Resistance was having a field-day. The Scourge did a late activation with the Commander and the Stalkers on the right side and thus they had inserted three bases of warriors on this flank's Forest with objective inside. As the Scourge infantry had removed the objective from their own Garrison with a objective these three warriors got to suffer through a lot of fire at the Forest and direct fire as well. Then the Veterans entered.  

  

Forests are a special type of Garrison in my rules. Besides being just armour 4 there are several important differences as well from a building. 1. Any unit that may enter difficult terrain can enter the feature and actually search as well. 2. Infantry handles it as a Garrison so during their activation they can search for objective no matter where they are placed in it and if found they get the objective. 3. But the placement of the objective is important here. A infantry may change location to any point in the Forest during their activation. And a found objective follow them but is dropped at the exact location they are when they die (unless other infantry are in the Forest as they would pick it up). 4. Units can shoot at the Forest (armour 4) or directly at the infantry and the range is to the exact location of the infantry. 5. Also units inside a destroyed Forest are killed on 4+. The objective (found or if not found) is treated a objective as well. 

Overall we found the forest rules to really add another layer to the game. 

The result was 1-1 at this stage. 

Turn 3

Now the game shines. The one winning the initiative at this stage have a pretty tough choice. Most units are now poised to attack. But you can only do it with one activation. 

On the Scourge right side the infantry activated and with the help of some cards the damaged warriors actually survived the fight against the Veterans. The Resistance player had to activate the veterans and found the objective but only with the help of a APC that they now couldn't enter to as the warriors were still alive (and they wren't allowed to enter it anyway since it helped them searching). After the second CQB the warriors fled but then the Emeritus fired and destroyed the Forest. The Veterans and the objective they just found was destroyed. 

The Copters managed to survive against all Ravager's AA attacks and destroyed a couple of Hunters. The infantry in the Scourge objective building tried to fire but failed to damage the copter. 

CQB is a bit different in this version. The active player decide which enemy squad in the same Garrison to fight. The active player roll their CQB value x DP and roll against armour without any double damage. The defender does the same but is at -1 to hit. You can only attack normally once per turn (the squad's activation) but you can defend any amount of times. So Elite CQB units are pretty good (but have a harder time to find objectives). 

In the center, lots of the action took place. The first Resistance fighter squad manned the wall and killed a coupe of stalkers just after they had destroyed a Zhukov. In the CQB they Fighters weren't allowed to fight back as they had both shot out of the walls and died. The Destoyers in their turn also manned the walls and shot down a Kraken with the Gun wagons. In the destruction of the transport all the Gun wagons died. The resistance opened up and started to build up damage on the Commander as well as taking out the last Stalker.  

The resistance Fighters in the Troopship gave their objective to a Kraken and jumped into a building. And on the Resistance right flank they made short turn or the enemy infantry inside of the Forest with objective. But in turn the Scourge Reapers ended the Forrest but the not found objective survived the destruction. It was now only a area of difficult terrain models could get into (but not skimmers). Now both sides had opened up to get one objective each out of the table, one objective was destroyed, one not found in the Forest and one both sides were desperately searching for in the center. 

One thing I have added and made tougher is Hot LZ. A aircraft can not land if it's template is within 4" of a enemy ground unit or within 2" of a Garrison with enemy infantry inside. This means that when it starts to soak up, a better option might be to get further away instead of desperately finding a landing zone to close to the enemy as well. Also it means that light Troopships can not pick up a squad from one Garrison and insert it into another Garrison if there are enemies inside. Basically a nerf to the light transports. The Hot LZ was a problem now when we needed to relocate to get to the last objective. 

Standing is still 1-1

Turn 4. 

The Resistance got a card to connect the two buildings they had infantry inside. And both sides got a card where they could activate a transport and as both had a transport just at the edge with objectives both sides got off their objective with their first activation. With little else to shoot at the Resistance started to pound on the Scourge Commander while it basically ate all the technicals. 

The Reapers started to get hold of Lifthawks and started to shine. That caused some extra destruction as the aircraft exploded. 

When a aircraft is destroyed you roll a die. 1 nothing happens and units onboard disembark. On 2-3 all units inside get their DP hits damaging on 5+. On 4-6 any unit onboard dies on 4+. But I have also added Aircraft explodes which happens as long as you don't roll the 1. Basically all aircrafts within 4" of the dying aircraft are hit with the Aircrafts original DP in hits damaging on 6s. So when a lifthawk dies it can cause a lot of "4 hits damaging on 6s" around it. It makes grouping Aircrafts somewhat extra risky and some more deaths to aircrafts is needed when the transports open up in the Battlegroup like I have done. This is a critical point in V2 of DZC where AA have really lost a lot of power without AA being cheaper. Open transports in V2 really have made AA really that much worse where as in V1 you could stop a squad either by killing it or taking out it's transport.   

The Resistance kept shooting down small aircrafts and took down the Commander down to 3 DP left. The berzerkers came into the Building in the center. No one finds the objective in the center. And the searches are now building up a lot. The Freeriders eat up lots of bullets from the Emiritus and dies. 

Standing are now 2-2

Turn 5. 

In the center no one found the objective. The Fighters used the monorail and couldn't search this turn, the Destroyed failed to find it and the Berzerkes as well. The Fighter squad that could search was killed in the CQB when the destroyers activated first.

On the ground the Scourge player understood that the only one to maybe get a search at the still hidden objective was the Hannibal. So it ate it. But it meant the rest of the Resistance had very little else to shoot at. But the Oppressor somehow survived. At this situation the Resistance only had the Lifthawk's missiles and the Alexander. And the Alexander really didn't want to do any damage though bad die. 

Turn 6. 

The Scourge player activated first and searched with the Destroyers. With +3 and deciding to use the APC outside it was a 3+ to find the objective and they did. Then they killed the Berzerkers. The Resistance activated the infantry fighters fought against the Destroyers and died, enabling the rest of the army to attack the building. With only 2 damages left everything that could did shoot at the Garrison. but in the end the Destroyers stood there with 1 damage point left, giving the Scourge the win. 

End result is 3-2 to the Scourge and it was exciting down to the last die. 

In retrospect there are several things we both could have done different to tip the balance. The Resistance player could have activated in a slightly different order the last 2 turns and gotten a better chance in grabbing the objective, I could have gotten more infantry inside the center building turn 5, giving them a much better chance of getting the objective turn 6, even had the destroyers died. 

I believe we both really enjoyed the game and it gave at least me the vibe of DZC 1's game where it is exciting down to the last few die. Making sure it is not easy getting the objectives is extremely important. 

Rule-wise I was pretty satisfied. I am thinking of upping the Forests armour to 6 to make it closer to Buildings for easier to remember. I did have rules for Flame against buildings and forests but thinking about ditching that - it is just a small rule that is easy to forget. In this set of rules Flame weapons ignore evasive, may do a reactive fire against infantry and may even fire into a Garrison with both friendly and enemy infantry (though each roll of a 1 to hit means you have to take a damage on your own units (no bloody save or anything). It ups the value of flame to the point that it might be a cheap option for another infantry squad if you need some better vehicle presence in your army. I have changed the Hot LZ from Garrisons to 2" and made sure that large template aircrafts can be both within range so that infantry can actually embark into such a Garrison and still outside of Hot LZ.