Yet another Lyran/Marik border skirmish...

o/

I have no recollection of when I last (or even if I've ever) fielded this many mechs that were all painted in the same, matching color scheme...

After what seems like eons in trying to align schedules for a game of Battletech, my buddy Rob was finally able to come over for a game! 8k points, I knew he was bringing Blitzkriegs (hideous things that they are) among others, so after much hemming and hawing, I opted for a Jihad era demi-company rather than my originally planned succession wars era d-co. 

Hopefully you can follow thru the battle via my highlight reel of pics:

My list. The asterisks on the R-60s denote their use of precision ammo. Whilst that left them with a mere 5 AC rounds a piece, I didn't realistically expect them to last much longer than that. 

The opening round with Rob's banzai charge up the middle! I deployed my Hunchback poorly, meaning it spent the first few turns uselessly navigating zig-zagging slot canyons...

I also fucked up in my 1st turn by camping my Whitworth in a cozy little secluded spot of terrain. My intent was to use an Urbie as a spotter and have it lob some LRMs indirectly. It wasn't till the shooting phase that I realized that I'd swapped the LRM toting model out at the last minute for the (apparently salvaged/captured) rocket toting pirate version...

I'm not sure which Lyran unit Rob was attacking with as they were all sporting the infamous 'fresh from the factory' lack of paint. So fresh in fact that the Berserker BRZ-C3 in the rear wasn't even fully assembled! Woe betide any who find themselves within reach of the invisible axe of death which hits at 40 fucking points per stroke!!!

The Whitworth and a trio of Urbies bottleneck up at the mouth of the pass amidst the initial exchange of fire...

The Urbie on point takes a brutal AC20 hit whilst the conga line dumps all they have into the lead Blitzkrieg. They inflicted multiple hits, destroying an 'arm' (if you can find one on that mini let me know) as well as scoring engine and gyro criticals, knocking it to the ground! In the backfield, my Wolverine takes a tumble caused by hits from the Crossbow.

The Urbies hopscotch around giving 'Levi' (the Urbie numbered 501) room to jump (gingerly) in retreat. Doing so put its rear armor to the enemy, protecting it's ONE remaining point of center torso structure!!! Luckily Urbies don't have lower arm actuators, meaning their guns can fire backwards as they run, no...jog, no...briskly walk away.

Meanwhile the Whitworth advanced to harry the retreating Blitzkrieg, and my Griffin jumped over it to cut off its escape! Much to the surprise of my Whitworth pilot however, the Berserker ran up into point blank range!

In the shooting phase the advancing Blitzkrieg pumped 2 AC20 rounds into the next Urbie in line and it pretty-much disintegrated under the onslaught. In return my Hunchback opened up with everything it had at the same BlitzKrieg's rear hitting with just...one...freaking...medium pulse laser BUT: that punched thru the right rear armor and hit ammo. 

The Blitzkrieg disappeared in a mushroom cloud!! 

In a panic, the Whitworth fired a whopping 40 rockets at the Berserker, hitting it with 24 (collectively) and making it quite angry! In return it fired a few lasers to warm both it's axe and the Whitworth up. Then, swinging said axe it sliced off the Whitworth's ENTIRE left torso! Unsurprisingly, the mech fell under such punishment!

Run Levi RUN!!!

In the backfield, my Wolverine and Rob's Crossbow were bloodying each other slowly but consistently, knocking one another to the ground in the process. 

The Whitworth struggles to its feet after a few tries and staggers backwards in retreat, however the Berserker was in it's prime and ran past the stricken machine to take aim at the closest Urbie, whilst the Hunchback moves into optimal firing position. In the back, the stricken Blitzkrieg tries to retreat but can't shake my Griffin. 

In the shooting phase the Griffin tears off the Krieg's other 'arm' and the Wolverine and Crossbow pummel each other. Unfortunately for me, the Crossbow scored 4 internal rolls on the Wolverine, taking out the SRM-6 and then hitting the ammo! I had CASE, but that's still kinda useless when paired with an XL engine, the Wolverine was done! 

Up front the Panicking R-69 Urbie & Hunchback unloaded into the Berserker hitting with virtually everything, even scoring 2 AC 10 hits with the Ultra! Undeterred, down came the axe and the right side of the R-69 was shorn from its body! That said, the stubby stature of the Urbie served it well and it remained on its feet.

This along with a growled comment begrudgingly acknowledged the impressive, massed fire power of my Urbie lance. 

At this point it was getting late and we decided to call it. Had the game continued, Rob growled that he would have been coming for the Hunchback next after it's withering volley of lasers! 

The Butcher's Bill:

I'd lost my Wolverine (it even got a paint chip! Fucking metal minis...) and an Urbie, with two more Urbies and the Whitworth critically damaged (and likely scrapped post battle). My three remaining mechs were practically untouched. As for Rob's Lyrans, one Blitzkrieg was beaten all to hell and the other was a still smoking crater! Whereas the Crossbow and Berserker both had moderate armor damage, but nothing that was in danger of going internal had the game continued. As such I'm calling that a solid win for Rob. 

We had a lot of fun though, and I hope it doesn't seemingly take years to arrange another game. 

Tentatively I'm scheduled to play Hoss again here later today. Additionally I'd like to play Rob again, as well as  Kushial in the near future, and Screech too.