I managed to fit in another game against E&C last week continuing my feeler games of the different factions this time I played Germans against E&C's Martians.
This game ran differently from the first as with the cost of formations the Martians had to start small and get mines down fast to steadily build up their forces. Seeing the opportunity to try and over run the Martian walkers I started off with a frigate formation and also built up my resources. With a cagey start we both built and built, I shot at the Martian walkers and didn't do anything, 3+ saves helping out here, until I took a cheekie shot at one of his Relocators and took it down. Now after the first game and a bit I started to see how you would look to win a game without battering your opponent into submission this is to try and concentrate on either the Relocators or Mines. By removing all of one or the other this stops your opponent from gaining any more forces onto the table and thus you can mop up his forces.
E&C continued to build Mines and replaced his lost Relocator, but that forced him onto one end of the table and quite bunched up. This allowed the Germans to build mine after mine whilst relocating forces onto the table to tie up the existing forces on the battlefield. This forced the Marians to bring on Infantry rather than being able to save for more walkers to crush the Germans.
With a steady flow of resources the Germans were able to launch a sweeping attack across the rear of the Marians original table edge and attacking the Mines and second Relocator. Coal production dropped for the Martians whilst picked up for the Germans, so much so that they could afford to being in a Land Cruiser which sat on a hill and alterated shots between walkers and mines.
Recognising the overwhelming situation the Martians decided to call it and headed back to their world.
In the end it was a one sided game but even though looking back I was winning for most of it, it didn't feel that way. Martians have a problem that they are the elite force of the game and are thus costed that way. This makes it difficult for them to initially build up their numbers and hit back at their opponents. However when they do it is generally frightening. Will try to have a go with them next time around.
Oh yes, we played with a proxy for the German Land Cruiser as E&C is still waiting for the Blue to come through - so we used half of the Blue for the British Land Cruiser - I'll just say make sure you visit the little boys room before you tke a look at it otherwise you might have an accident