Speed? Got it. Accuracy? Not so much...

 o/

Yet another hapless settlement about to be destroyed in battle...

Nick & I met up for another game Wednesday night, this time using a scenario rather than the usual kill everything in sight (though, ultimately they all kind of go that way at some point). 

The mission brief. 

We upped the game size to 3500points, Lostech era with the exception of one mech sporting some Star League tech of some sort. We then rolled off to see who's mech would be the 'prize' to be captured. Nick had a Blackjack BJ-3 with its new fangled double heat sinks, whereas I had a Cyclops CP-10-HQ, with a still intact Collapsible Command Module (basically a side torso stuffed with a fold-a-fort/field HQ/tent and super computer). This Cyclops variant is more or less an objective/fluff model, and this was the perfect opportunity to actually use it!

I won the roll off and decided my prize was better, and thus my Cyclops would be the hunted mech, meaning it could not be shot at. Erroneously, for the first half of the ensuing game, I was under the mistaken impression that I also could not shoot at Nick's Blackjack, allowing it to roam the field unmolested, doh!

That said, with base 4/5 pilots and a bunch of fast moving mechs with +3 & +4 to modifiers all over the place, there would be a lot of shooting, but not so much hitting. So perhaps that really didn't matter. Throughout the game, the dice were not kind to either of us, though for a turn or two, Nick especially. 

Oh look! The city is undefended...

The wall seemingly goes on forever!

The first shots are fired, with the Prize bringing up the rear.

Jenner v. Jenner. At least one of these two ugly machines had the decency to try and conceal itself! These two would tangle with one another throughout the game. 

An overhead view of a bunch of small mechs shooting a lot and hitting only a little (odds are the buildings didn't fare too well in these exchanges).

Still not firing at the Blackjack the Dragon put a few rounds into the Panther instead.

Speed is life! My Jenner survived this multi-mech  assault with nary a scratch due to its +4 to hit speed modifier. Speaking of, it's reversed guns didn't hit anything for the same reason.

REAR ARMOR? This is a great opportun-oh wait, fuck it has a damned +4 to hit. Take that you damned wall!

Shots were landing here and there, but none too many were recorded. My Wasp was the first to fall (doesn't take much), and my Jenner taking some hits, in exchange for similar (though not yet fatal) damage to nick's Panther and Spider.

Its gotta be interference from the radar and communication towers, that must be what is throwing off our aim!

Ugh, these two again. I believe that by this point my Jenner was down the SRM launcher and one arm (taking 2 lasers with it) which was fine as it had an engine hit as well. 

The battle finally moves outside of the city's wall

Well mostly, the Panther hopped the wall and my Cyclops finally put the mech out of it's misery (it had been running around 1 remaining point of CT structure for several turns).

 This was a fast moving game of extensive maneuver and atrocious aim! My elite Swords of Light mechs were as sharp as the average spork, and Nick's Vegan Rangers (or the Soy Boys as he called them, lol) weren't doing much better.

Like the Panther before it, my Jenner succumbs to the inevitable, losing a leg. 

Similarly, the Dragon, incapable of shooting worth a damn, charges the damaged, 1-armed Spider and punches and stomps the little mech into oblivion!

Any notion of not shooting the Blackjack had long since passed, with my Cyclops and (armless) Dragon making a last stand against the Blackjack, while the Dragon's rear mounted laser shot at the Jenner (again). Indeed, at this point blank range the Cyclops emptied it's LRM's ammo, but it was all to no avail. 

The hour was starting to run late and it was a 'school' night. While the tenets of Bushido would rightfully inspire the Dragon to suicidally fight to the end, doing so would only delay the inevitable. As such the Cyclops powered down, and it's pilot turned the keys over to Nick to claim his new Cyclops with it's integral field kitchen collapsible command module...

The victor claims his prized...sheet of paper?!?!