Gyro hits! Gyro hits everywhere...

o/

The TBAGers backed up by a local Marik Militia Urbie piloted by the infamous Levi.

The infamous PANDA-MONIUM!!! Sans their trademark Jagermech, and accompanied by a borrowed Urbie named Noober, lol.

Hoss came over for another round of Battletech Saturday night, and I thought it was about time the rarely seen Buffet Assault Group themselves took to the field for a battle. Sporting their new primer coat of German Ochre (well, except the Atlas), they were joined by Levi representing the local PDF. 

Hoss had demanded an Urbie to be in my force, and after some debate on what to use to counter that, we eventually decided on an Urbie for his force as well (oddly the two would barely even come within range of once another in the forthcoming battle). It was as usual, an hours long slugfest, interrupted only by an enjoyable dinner break out on the deck. Here's my usual, half-assed, psuedo-bat rep:

Initial deployments. 

Note my poorly positioned Atlas. This was the first time I've ever fielded and Atlas, and scraping for points, I chose the newly retconned but canon AS7-A variant as it was the cheapest option. I would soon find that whilst amusing, its not at all a worthy opponent vs. another Atlas in a 1 v. 1 contest. 

Hoss would add some occasional visual commentary to my photos...

It started off well at least, with my Atlas firing a long ball, lucky AC-5 round that rolled a snake eyes location hit, followed by a triple-crit to Hoss' Battlemaster resulting in 2 engine hits and one to the gyro as well! Effectively neutering the beast (all mechs were Tech level 1 machines).

Turn one went well on the other flank as my 8R and 8T Awesomes lit up his rapidly closing Griffin, inflicting another lucky snake eyes, followed by an engine and gyro hit. In return he'd pump 2 PPC rounds into my 8T's left torso.

Seriously, WTF?!?

Ya know, in the past I've been accused by Rob for always hitting the left torso. Well Hoss put 4 PPC hits in as many shots in 2 turns into the left torso of my AWS-8T, hitting the ammo and killing it in a massive explosion (only 90 points of internal damage...)! It usually takes an act of Congress to grind thru an awesome's armor. Normally, the ammo is in the center torso, but I prefer in the side torsos of my mechs due to the all-to-frequent snake eyes rolls. Guess its a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't...

The TBAGers, reeling from the sudden demise of the Awesome, suddenly falter. Whilst Hoss duly pumped an AC-20 round into my Atlas, along with a snake eyes/gyro hit (we were up to 3 by turn 2 if you're keeping score) along with a few other shots. In return mine fired an amusing anime-like SRM volley of 30 SRMs (it packs 5, SRM6s) managing a paltry 12 SRM hits or so. 

The Battlemaster pilot was still crying foul...

Now with a piloting skill of 8 due to the damaged gyro, my Atlas takes the first of several falls...

Ah yes, the good ol' Stalker nose-boop maneuver...

In the olden days...my Stalkers had a notorious habit of running around all game. Saturday night was no different. After trading heavy fire whilst running into point blank range, Hoss' Awesome decided it wanted to slug my Stalker with it's battlefist. 

In the shooting phase the Awesome missed whilst the Stalker hit it with most everything it had (no, not the LRMs), generating many hits, and a head shot, as well as managing to dodge the the incoming right hook yet successfully kicking the Awesome in the shin (and wrecking a heat sink)! When the smoke cleared, the Awesome pilot was knocked out cold whilst the Stalker pilot could have fried an egg on his dashboard he was running so hot.

In the backfield, Hoss' Griffin turned to take advantage of the stalker's rear armor, but only hit it's 'arm' and a leg. In return Screech (yes Screech was no doubt piloting the 8R Awesome, as it never moved all game) realised belatedly that the Griffin was sitting on a level 3 hill, making the intervening trees irrelevant. As such the 8R unloaded punching right thru the back and scoring an engine hit to the Griffin, as well as considerable internal damage to a side torso, and taking out 2 of it's jump jets!

Levi meanwhile, runs up the middle, introducing the Battlemaster to his AC-20!!

Guess how this disaster is going?

Yup, down she goes again, this time for the last time suffering an AC-20 hit to an ammo bin!

Cornered, alone, outnumbered, and heavily damaged my Atlas met its inevitable doom head on, with another anime missile launch accompanied by 2 medium lasers and the the AC-5. Everything hit including an impressive 22 out of 30 SRMs. Still, it wasn't enough, though it was at least a glorious last stand!

Ignoring the sleeping Awesome pilot, my Stalker ran a mere hex into a lake to help dissipate it's +12 heat load. Reversing its arms to lob some LRMs and a pair of medium lasers at Hoss' beleaguered Griffin in the back field.

The hour was getting late, but Hoss was up for one last round...

Levi, desperately low on ammo, charges into small laser range whilst firing his last (and sadly inaccurate) AC-20 slug. Unfortunately for me, the Dervish and struggling Battlemaster would remove the little Urbie's leg, ending his day. Hoss's Urbie would also lob an AC-10 round at Levi (the game's only Urbie v Urbie shot, but it was well off of the mark). 

Yeah, we don't play that one-legged mech nonsense...

Its taken me how many games to finally kill this infernal mech????

The Awesome pilot finally awoke, and turned its guns on the Stalker which had run around the slumbering giant and was angling for the Battlemaster. Only to make a quick about-face, to meet the the renewed threat! The awesome's pilot, apparently still groggy missed with all 3 PPCs! In return the Stalker alpha-striked with everything but the LRMs (again), and hit with everything! I didn't even get halfway thru the damage before the Awesome's pilot ejected as the mech's head disintegrated under the onslaught. 

...and with that, we called it quits.

Once again the Awesome is the bane of my existence, though this time it would be one of my own. I did finally manage to kill Hoss' though. The AWS-8R is really more like a tank, as it has so many heat sinks, that heat isn't even a concern after the 1st engine hit! Still, it was a solid loss to Hoss as I lost 3 mechs to his 1. 

It was a fun time as always though, and am looking forward to finally bringing Screech to battle this evening!