Mono y mono...
This past Friday evening, I played a game against Mal, a new opponent to me. This would only be Mal's 2nd tabletop game (having mostly played various video game versions of Battletech), and she asked for a scenario as she'd (correctly) heard that the fight to the death slugging matches can take forever.
The original scenario:
Unfortunately one of our mechwarriors has fallen gravely ill and had to be medevac'd out immediately. His (canon though quite) unique mech is unfortunately still out in the field and his senior technician is the only other person who knows how to pilot the monster. As he pilots the miserably slow (Urbie slow) machine back to base, a small escort has been detailed to accompany the priceless mech home, we can only hope that enemy forces don't try to ambush us along our route...
As such I suggested we give the above escort the Dragoons Behemoth scenario another try and she readily agreed. We fielded 4K points each, with the defender also having the Behemoth with a 5/5 technician at the controls. We rolled to see who was attacking and who would be defending. I don't recall which of us won said roll, but I would be attacking and she would be defending.
Mal's backdrop for this particular game:
In the spring of 3031 on the planet Cammal, a small unit action occurred that featured a singularly large 'Mech: the Behemoth. Thought to have fallen to Kurita forces on Misery in 3028, this titan that once was seen only amongst Wolf's Dragoons suddenly appeared in the employ of the Infernal Legion. The infamous 'Mech suddenly faced the possibility of a third change of hands as a twist of fate left the titan' s MechWarrior ill, and his machine piloted by an inexperienced technician. A forward Capellan Lance's Raven detected the massive 'Mech, prompting a fight to steal the warmachine away, or destroy it completely.
Here's how it all went down:
Mal's force: The Infernal Legion.
Looking to acquire said Behemoth were my 'filthy Capellans' fielding a Raven RVN-1X, Catapult CPLT-C1, Cataphract CTF-1X (this was my lance's CO with a 4/4 pilot) and of course no Capellan force is complete without an Urbanmech UM-R60.
The initial deployment with The Infernal Legion and their charge starting midfield in hopes of actually making it across the board. My Capellans were hugging the board edge.
Finally! A worthy opponent of the mighty Urbanmech!
Mal & her forces were in high spirits as they charged forward leaving the ponderous Behemoth in the dust.
Mal's left (my rght) flank is already looking like it will be the site of the initial close-in fighting.
The opposing light mechs immediately started harassing one another, trading medium laser and SRM fire.
Much to my surprise, Mal kept the Behomoth stationary, sniping from afar while it's escort rushed up into point blank range!
They singled out my Cataphract as their primary target and started to abuse the heavy mech with concentrated fire!
Moving a bit too aggresively, the Capellan Raven give the Legion's Firestarter and Javelin the slip and makes a run for the backfield, keeping intervening terrain between itself and the Behemoth.
While a scrum breaks out on the left flan, the Raven kept running, opting for the long way around to get behind the Behemoth. Not needing to worry about the Behemoth, the Firestarter gives chase, via a shorter route.
The Javelin meanwhile was peppering the generally inaccurate fire from the Urbie. Though the Urbanmech did at least manage to wreck one of the Javelin's arms.
Pushing in a little too aggresively, the Cataphract slips thru the Legion's line (taking a beating on it's way through).
Soon almost everybody was behind the Behemoth, and concentrating fire, the Capellans make an attempt to eliminate the Firestarter. They were not successful, though the Firestarter took several hits nonetheless.
The Marauder turns around to come to the defence of the Behemoth, while the Urbie and Javelin continue slugging it out at point blank range.
The tech driving the Behemoth had had enough of this shit and was making a run for it! Running guns blazing at the Urbie though failing to hit due to his/her lack of training.
The Firestarter tries to fall back to a safe distance, and too small to really hurt the primary target, the Raven continues to engage the Firestarter. The two damage each other further, though not enough to matter too much.
At this point, the Urbie's plan was to put it's face to the board edge, reverse guns and support the attack on the Dragoon's mech, as it's rear torso armor was thicker than what was left on the front. However, the damned Javelin was still in the backfield forcing it to face that mech head on. I believe both hit each other, but no kill shots were to be had.
The Centurion finally punches thru the shredded armor of the Cataphract, inflicting 1 engine and 2 gyro hits, taking the mech out!
At this point we called it as the hour was getting late, and my Catapult & Raven were too heavily outgunned to be able to inflict enough damage on the Bemehoth to end it's trip home. It had taken several licks, and one arm was looking fairly rough. However, unlike the first time we tried this scenario, it's legs were holding up just fine.
I am thinking that in the future, when/if we try this one again that the attcker should have 5K to balance things out a bit more. We may have discussed that the last time (or something to that effect), but I honestly do not recall, and didn't think of it this time until after I was back home.
For Mals' second ever table top game, she had an impressive grasp of the rules resulting in smooth game play with very little coming up in question. As such, I am looking forward to more games with Mal in the future!
I think we were both impressed by just how much damage the Cataphract took before falling. It was quite the sponge for enemy fire!