Training Op!

o/

Nick sizing up the enemy!

Nick and I got together for another small game of Classic BattleTech. Three thousand points this time. Fielding 6 Urbies was under consideration, but instead I opted to go with just vehicles and infantry. Small games like this are good for trying out new ideas and forces that are outside of the proverbial box. 

The three mechs of Nick's 6th Mccarron's Armored Cavalry in back, and my Corey's Homeguard in front (yes, Corey is my name and yes, Corey is also a world in the Capellan Confederation). Notably, this was my first ever use of a VTOL in a game of BattleTech!

The settlement that would be the site of this battle. 

As the forces in this Op are all (nominally) Capellans, I'm calling this a training exercise. The 6th MAC serving as raiders, with the intent of testing the Homeguard's response. Here's how it went down...

Two standard bulldogs advancing into the city. I was pleased to note that their camo blended in pretty well. 

The warrior swings around wide of the 'fresh from the factory' Schrek.

As is the lot of the average Vedette crew, they charged up the middle with the unenviable task of playing 'Bait'. 

The first connecting shot went to the Warrior when several missiles from it's LRM-10 connected with the Victor, no doubt making it angry. That aside, early 6th MAC shooting was largely at extreme range rendering it ineffective, whereas the Homeguard's shooting was better described as woefully inaccurate.

The HBK-4G goes in for the kill and is surrounded! In the prior turn it's AC-20 shredded all of the armor from one of the Bulldog's Turrets, and the Victor did the same to the Vedette's rear armor sending that tank fleeing for it's life!

The Jump Laser infantry kicked things off inflicting a whopping 2 points of damage to the Hunchback. Clearly this inspired the rest of the troops as the tanks hit it from all directions! The Hunchback unfortunately took several rear torso hits and was critted out with 3 engine and 1 gyro hits! That said, its last gasp was to pump an AC-20 into the front of the AC Schrek! Far off in the backfield, the Warrior harried the Raven's rear inflicting minor damage.

All guns turn on the Victor (including that of the returning, out of picture Vedette). While the Victor expertly puts another AC-20 slug into the armorless Bulldog turret, killing the tank. 

The weight of fire from the Homeguard was telling however and the Victor failed it's piloting check, tumbling to the ground! In the backfield, the Raven and Warrior tangled with one another, resulting in a few damaged rotor blades slinging off into some nearby buildings!

Sensing victory, the 6th MAC chooses to ignore the warrior and far off vedette, and concentrate on the larger tanks, further damaging the Schrek and taking out the other Bulldog!

The RVN-1X turned up the white noise of its electronic equipment, only to realize that the Homeguard's sensors were of too old a design to be effected. 

Damaged again with the driver injured, the Schrek tries to limp away to safety, white unleashing a torrent of fire in the form of 3 AC-5s and 6 machine guns at the Victor! I wanted to shoot the Raven, but the +3 to hit meant that I had to continue to plink away at the much more heavily armored assault mech. 

The Schrek's (in)glorious last stand! The rest of my force continued to provide support...

...but in the end was all for naught. 

With the Schrek down, the Vedette and Warrior made a run for it, whereas the jump platoon first headed to the elevators, followed thereafter by the exits. 

Well that was fun! It seems that the elite mercenary's are indeed better than the weekend warriors, despite outnumbering the raiders 2-1. Initially, Nick was very wary of the Schrek, fearing it was the far more dangerous (and thinly armored) PPC toting variety. I like the AC-5 Schreks due to the much thicker armor, but that does unfortunately halve the firepower. The Vedette and Bulldogs did well (once the latter decided to hit something), the Vedette crew's gunnery on the other hand was to be commended! Especially was it was almost always moving at flank speed and never closer than medium range.  

The infantry almost suffered a death from above attack, but Nick figured they weren't worth all of the reading of rules that that would require. Especially as they were inflicting minimal damage. The Warrior did well and didn't die, but wasn't decisive either. The high movement modifiers made it hard to hit, but with only a 4/5 crew, the Raven it was mostly shooting at wasn't an easy target either. 

Looking ahead, Nick will be one of my opponents in the FLGS' 3020s Solaris event on the 5th, not to mention that we have also discussed an all vehicle game at some point in the future. I did that once years ago with Kushial and like the all Urbie game, it was a lot of fun!