by Hethwill, 8 March 2026
The following report follows the operations of the ‘Stellar Rats’ in advance of the main assault on planet Kraken, as possible to be enjoyed through the tabletop wargame Raider Drop Zone, designed by Keith Tracton.
Recap
As seen in Part 2
- Intense battles raging in PS-8-9. It certainly seems a focal point for the Kraken forces.
- Terran reinforcements arrive from orbit and about time the heavy gear gets into action.
- Kraken hit and run surely erodes Terran forces and without many chances to fight back.
most images can click to enlarge
The 12th Raider Regiment, ‘Stellar Rats’, is a crack unit selected from the 7th Raider Division of the elite 5th Raider Corps. Their mission is to conduct reconnaissance in force (…)
Raider Drop Zone; Scenarios, Story and Designer Notes book
Turns 5 & 6
Enlarging the coverage on the surface carries a lot of risks. One of them being the less defended areas.
Kraken Hive Mind knows this and after bidding their time placing forces in the tunnels, they finally emerge and try for a rather conventional battle allocating a lot of resources against the recently deployed Terran armour alongside some green recruits Raiders in PS-8-9.
Word is around that the sector is now commonly referred to as ‘Bloody 89’ given the constant combat erupting in it.
“Bloody 89 again Sir!”
“Let the Ypres Armour take the lead. About time we have the Army have some of the heat.”
Krakens always must make use of all the Shock forces in Attack.
This makes their massed attacks quite dangerous if Terrans do not perform up to standards.
The Ypres Armour takes the initial shock, reporting a “One Mind” particularly embedded in the Dragoons and this may provide an opportunity given they also bring alongside heavy weaponry in the form of Plasma platforms. Considerable casualties for both sides sees the Dragoons cycle to the rear just to be replaced by another Dragoon formation supported by the anti-gravitational “tanks”.
Ypres Armour decides to fall back for this wave and let the green Raiders recruits take the fight.
All is set for extreme losses and even advanced reports were giving a completely wrong picture.
Against all expectations the recruits perform with a gallantry to put many veterans to tears of joy and the entire Kraken wave is eliminated in one of the most memorable feats of arms yet.
If that wasn’t enough, incredibly enough, the casualties list coming through are negligible.
Yet the Kraken force still has strategic reserves as the Terrans have none except the Fatigued troops.
This is the latest episode in a running playthrough of Raider Drop Zone from Blue Panther Games; you can find the links to all published episodes at the end of article, with new installments each Sunday
Fatigue isn’t directly a malus, it affects no scores, but indirectly affects the usage of supports of the Fatigued formation.
The Ypres Armour cycles back to the front and is overwhelmed easily, failing AWE immediately, and again the “Bloody Greens” must try to emulate their previous valour.
It proves again that Veterancy is not any guarantee of success and goes down fighting also bringing all the Dragoons down with them.
“…reporting in…for the last time. All army armour lost under Drone legion waves and Dragoon infiltrations. We are the last redoubt.”
— Cap. Dick Springs, CO, Raider Company 173
Green companies cannot form Cadres to reform into Ready companies, so their loss is even more dramatic especially when they fight so heroically.
Their deeds will not go forgotten. Some day in the future, some niche historian will publish a work about the “Green 173 and the defense of Bloody’89”.
As soon as the combat ended and only Kraken units remained, the Navy provided Orbital Bombardment with fair results despite not destroying all remaining Kraken units. Wrecks of heavy equipment all over the field marked the graves of the fallen, the remnants of the costly attack returning to the tunnels.
Terran forces shift to a moving orbit around a strong operations centre focused on PS-8-9.
After the previous complications with operating the surveying equipment and providing tangible intelligence, the teams managed to force some Kraken heavies out of the tunnels and promptly destroyed them.
As the regiment fanned out to PS-7 and PS-6, several more Local Complexes were marked for destruction.
It is at this moment that is worth mentioning that if Kraken do not defend the Complexes then they are simply erased but given their hive existence there’s no end to them.
The Hive Mind starts to feel pressure and designates two fringe areas for the escalation of attacks and experiments with set piece battles with full force.
PS-5-8 was already established with a Perimeter, meaning there’s fortifications in place to aid in defense. PS-8-10 has a fairly strong Terran concentration and reducing it could prove decisive and tip the initiative to the Kraken side.
The Battle for PS-5-8, as Terran reports describe, sees an extremely well disciplined, although reduced force, face triple odds.
Shock attack after shock attack, the Raiders hold their ground and manage to inflict very heavy casualties on the Kraken force.
Hive Mind, as much as it may reach whatever calculations, cannot overcome the fortunes of war and the unexpected grit of Terran resistance.
Estimates point to the attackers being reduced to Dragoon and a half, as the Perimeter held and the attack ended the remnants of the attackers returning to their tunnels.
In PS-8-10 the situation quickly became a guano show with Terran forces quickly becoming overwhelmed and destroyed in the initial waves but eventually the Veteran Raiders managed to hold the line.
Again the Kraken forces retreated back to the Tunnels after the battle.
It is of note to report that there’s a shift of tactics by the Hive and fewer Drones being used.
This leads to the belief that either there’s few of them in the region or they are being kept in reserve.
Forcing the Kraken to the surface continues. The rhythm and frequency are not ideal and subpar as idealized by the Division Command but the Regiment does what it may.
Eventually some are rooted up by a Recon team in PS-5-12 and promptly engaged.
Coordination between the Terran forces was lackluster. And that’s being kind given that at the initial contact an entire Raider company and support weapons team were lost in the attack.
The Kraken even managed to make prisoners!!!!
Eventually the Regiment CO had to step in with some strong words of advice and encouragement to get things rolling as expected. Kraken Dragoons were eliminated and the Prisoners freed.
The casualty lists, for both sides, start to get quite extensive and while estimates always vary – especially if the propaganda directorate has to clear a misunderstanding.
“Stellar Rats operations on planet Kraken going as expected with minimal casualties and yielding major gains!” – probably the great headline to show to everyone else that is off world
Retrieval of casualties becomes more perilous in contested Near Space on top of that, so reformation of new companies from cradles is but a fluke of chance. That is, until the Navy gains control of the area again.
end of part 3 . . .
Raider Drop Zone AAR – Stellar Rats Recon
PART 1 ~ PART 2 ~ PART 3 ~ PART 4
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