MEVO Session Report #4: Combined Arms

Combined arms gone wrong.

I have a new favorite scenario.

It goes by the name of “Loss Clusters,” #13 in MEVO, and while I’m not sure it’s actually my all-time favorite ATS scenario (ok probably not), it’s by far the best MEVO scenario I’ve played to date. You’ve got Russian armor and mechanized infantry assaulting a Ukrainian village garrisoned by a metric truck-ton of MGs and NLAWs, with multiple avenues of approach for the Russians to choose from, and with both sides feeling like they’re on the edge of defeat at any moment. Classic, baby, classic.

MEVO Session Report #3

Pew pew

On we continue with the process of MEVOtic discovery.

With my freshly constructed large table, I went straight for one of the big kahunas. I busted out scenario #4, “Virtue Signals,” which takes place on 6 maps with 16-20 AFVs for the Russians and 14 for the ‘muricans. Large in size but not in units. Oh, and there’s a tiny little bit of OBA that surely won’t affect anything. After all, what’s one measly battery of 300 mm MRLS?

MEVO Session Report #2

Here you can find my first MEVO Session Report, which was more of an exploration than a full game.

More MEVO was played by me, and so now more MEVO session reports will be read by you, dear ATSer. Last time Mitch and I messed around with scenario #23, in which my incompetent Belarusians led by their incompetent commander (i.e., moi) got absolutely pummeled assaulting a U.S. position in a town; it was a great exploration, but perhaps not indicative of what the MEVO experience will be like when played, erm, competently. I also soloed scenario #8, which is mainly infantry, but infantry combat isn’t leaving me convinced like it does in CATS, so I wanted to give an all-armor scenario a whirl.

MEVO Session Report

Bradley infantry fighting vehicles

Insert funny intro here.

No please, come up with your own humorous intro so I don’t have to. MEVO is nigh fresh off the presses, and we just got our first opposed session in last night (“opposed” – not a lot of concern for winning and losing here), so you can either wait a week for my initial impressions as I come up with some clever way to start the article, or you can come up with your own “sci-fi ATS will be PMEVO (Post-Modern EVO)” joke yourself so we can get to the meat of the matter.

Finished? Good – I hope you tittered yourself silly. Now let’s begin.

Session Report: “Meat Choppers”

December is usually Bulge month for wargamers, but around here, it’s Pacific month. And that suits me just fine: I’m a fan of underrepresented theaters and conflicts, of striking out into the undiscovered country of battles unknown and ungamed instead of rehashing yet again the tried and true, tired and trite, seventy-eighth version of the December 16th breakout.

Until a Canadian friend says, “It’s snowing here, I want to play a some ATS Bulge.”

Sigh.

You want overcoats and winterized maps, eh? How about hockey stick-wielding Germans and maple syrup?

I couldn’t find any ATS scenarios containing those, but I did find one with the next best thing: bicycles. No seriously, there are rules for bicycles in ATS. I bet you never knew. And not only that, “Meat Choppers” from Parker’s Crossroads is set during the Battle of the Bulge on a winterized map. Mix me a Yukon Jack, I guess we’ll just have to play. Herein lies a brief review of the session.