We played game 4 of our campaign over a VTT using boardgame counters, so I am sorry to say there are no photos as screenshots don't quite turn out. But, here's a little story of how it went:
"This is more than a setback, this is a tragedy." Tears threatened the eyes of Oberstleutnant Wrangel as he stared at the carnage and refuse that had begun the day as Kampfgruppe Shalston. "My men. My strong, brave men..." It was incomprehensible that a 500 strong force had been obliterated, cut down to barely 200 in a mere hours time. Fires burned in the twisted remains of troops truck, supply blowers and tanks. Body parts and detritus littered the roadway and verges for almost a mile.
Wrangel's left hand twisted the uniform shoulder of his driver as he stood, braced against the windshield of the open topped Sph69 blower transport. "I trained these men for months. We voyaged together from Boheim and spent months in small fights in securing New Canberra and the port of Adelaide, and now they are gone, just so much burned meat. I told that fool Shalston to cancel the operation, that the plan had been compromised, but NO! He just couldn't believe our 'pitiful' enemy could marshal enough forces to be a problem, let alone move so swiftly..." He stared around, wild eyed for a few moments more before coming back to himself. Disengaging his hand from the poor driver he slowly ran it under his soft cap, pushing his hair back some. It was a little longer than he usually liked to keep it but there had been no time for a cut, let alone proper sleeping and eating.
"I'm sorry, Feldwebel, I should not speak ill of fellow officers in front of others. Please ignore my outburst." With the hover truck at rest, Wrangel stepping down onto the old broken asphalt road, being sure to not step on any shrapnel. A couple of troopers in Heinrich PKA suits shifted nervously in their outward facing seats along the rear flank of the vehicle. A few strides took the Oberstleutnant to stand before a sweaty and haggard looking troop that sat dazedly on a rock at the side of the road. His head rolled awkwardly to look up at the officer, a cigarette dropping from his mouth as he tried to stagger upright. Wrangel put his hand on the mans shoulder, forcing him gently back down.
"No, no, Unteroffizier, sit, sit." Wrangel quickly gazed about, noting a torn arm nearby as well as a little blood caked on the soldiers neck that had run from an ear. "Can you tell me what happened? How many there were? Do you know who is in charge?"
The soldier's eyes shifted up, unfocused and slightly wide. Too loudly he spoke, "I... I was almost halfway back in the convoy, in the first truck for my company. We had disembarked from the river transports and were making good time up this road. It was bumpy, I don't remember a road so bumpy ever before... but then it was also shaking. I didn't know... it wasn't normal. And just then the fireballs and explosions happened up ahead. They were everywhere, but mostly on east side. I saw 3, 4 truck fly into the air as they exploded, and their troops were thrown all about. The tank near the front blew up, I saw lasers hit it repeatedly. It slumped a bit, like it melted." The Unteroffizier wiped the side of his face and his nose with a coat sleeve, then waved away a fly.
"The tank just ahead of use turned and drove up a small embankment on our right. I saw them shoot up a couple of enemy suits and also hit a Sandstalker. We all jumped out of our trucks as quickly as we could but enemy fire ripped into everything!" His speech cadence was getting faster and a little louder, the eyes just a bit wider, only seeing the past and not the present. "Two suits crested the embankment right next to us. They blasted the tank and my truck. When it exploded I was thrown and I swear, I SWEAR that I saw one of those suits rip another truck in half with one hand! I couldn't move, I just watch them move down the line, blasting everything. Enemy infantry were shooting anything that still fought, and grabbed whatever they could. I saw some give medical treatment to some of our men, I don't know why. But the bullets and lasers were still flying. Everything was burning. One suit was hit in the legs, and for enemy troops grabbed it and pulled it away. An Sph towards the rear exploded, but then it was quiet. They were just gone".
Ever so slowly, the troopers face sank to his hands, elbows braced on his knees as his body began to shake. Another nearby soldier pickup the story as Wangel placed his hand on the Sergeant's head, an image of the comforting father. "The tail of our column was able to deploy and begin to fight effectively, sir. The enemy lost two more Sandstalkers and one of their tanks before they began to withdraw. They took some of their dead with them, but we estimate that they probably did not lose more than a dozen infantry, as well as three suits and the four Sandstalkers. There are also two burned out tanks. I think they left once they knew your force were close, Oberstleutnant"
Wangel looked up at the soldier. "Funker, how many did we lose? Do you know yet?" The soldier's mouth tightened before delivering the news. "We have over one hundred and fifty dead, most of those were caught in their trucks when the ambush started. Four out of the five type 182 tanks we had were lost, and so were out two Sandstalkers. Many supplies burned, and of course Oberst Shalston was also killed." He dipped his head briefly before going on. "Sir, we just got word that satellites will soon be overhead. We know the enemy departed in three groups, perhaps we can track and hunt them down before they can rendezvous?"
Oberstleutnant Wangel turned his head as rhythmic clomping approached along the column, PKA suits and Krote hopper scout tanks moving forwards as a growling scream came closer from the direction of the river. "Yes, Funker, yes. It is time our newer units have a chance to prove their worth. We cannot alter the tragedy of what has happened here today, but we can exact some form of revenge. Soon, very soon..."
Game Notes
Yep, it was a slaughter. The info from the Major that the IMA rescued proved to be a boon. They were able to scrape up quite a force and get them into position very early. Extremely poor recon rolls by the SDR forces as they advanced up the road from Port Tandou towards Broken Hill allowed their convoy to get deep into the ambush zone before the fireworks started. It took a few turns, but eventually the SDR were able to get a small base of fire and start to maneuver against the ambushers. At this point the IMA were about even in strength to the remaining SDR troops, and with a warning that enemy reinforcements were close they decided to bug out. Air cover kept pursuit at bay for the two further turns we played, so the in effect got away pretty clean after suffering some casualties. BUT... as the Funker said, satellites will soon be up, and the IMA has no idea that they even exist. We will see what sort of trouble they bring and whether they will be the advantage the SDR hopes for.
And if you're curious, the counters we used for the game were scanned from unpunched sheets from both the SF3D 1 and 2 games, as well as couple copied from the PDF of the combined rules. They look similar to those below: