SHOVE IT!

 o/

Wait, what?!?

I played a game this past week vs. a new opponent, Aaron (guessing on the spelling of his name). 5K, no scenario, just kill each other. Not sure what era we were playing I opted for the all tech level I, fielding my rarely used FRR Drakons. I had a Catapult CPLT-K2 with a 3/5 pilot, a Charger CGR-1A1 with a 4/4 pilot, a Warhammer WHM-6K and a Blackjack BJ-1 (both with 4/5 pilots) and lastly a Jump Laser Iinfantry platoon which rounded my force out to an even 5K. 

The battlefield with a large light forest in the upper right. I screwed up in placing the mapsheet making the only straight running lanes on the paved roads running left to right, rather than straight at one another. 

Aaron fielded a Clan invasion era lance (not sure what faction but going by the MUL is was likely FedCom, Mercs or St. Ives) consisting of an Ostscout OTT-7J, a Javelin JVN-10P, a Spector SPR-5F and lastly a Helios HEL-5D, all with 3/4 pilots. 

Here's how it all went down. 

Here they come, jumping and bouncing at me hard and fast! We traded a few shots here, but nothing significant. 

My Blackjack and intended 'Distraction bot' run up the middle looking for the Helios. Given all of the opposing small, fast and bouncy mechs on the board, the Charger would instead fall back on its secondary role: brawler. 

You know he's serious when he shows up in uniform! He's going to the Navy's nuke school, a fitting choice for a mechwarrior. 

I backed up to the edge to hide my rear armor and instead my near pristine Catapult was instead unceremoniuosly shoved off the board! I was rather caught off guard by this, the kick that almost took the Ostscout's leg was of little comfort. Different folks = different tactics (which as you will see in a bit goes both ways). Thus my Catapult took it's proverbial ball and went home to pout.

I habitually roll like garbage on crits rolls, except here where my Warhammer rolled a box cars to crit the CT of the Javelin, destroying the gyro and damagining the engine! Also, one of this game's many point blank scrums was taking place here. I ought to have brought my Hatchetman.

Always in my rear arc! Not sure what was in worse shape by this point, be it my warhammer or the Blackjack. They were both still up and fighting though. 

The Helios' gauss rifle was kind enough to miss on it's first three shots, and the Charger closed to point blank for optimal SL fire and brawling while keeping the gauss itself from shooting. 

Pretty much more of the same here. 

The Helios hopped up on the building but my Charger didn't take the bait to close in (which would allow Aaron to kick while hitting on the punch chart), and opted to shoot at the little guys (that were moving too fast to hit). In return the Helios' gauss finally connected and removed the Blackjack's side torso, ouch!

The Warhammer then scored a critical which destroyed the Helios' Gauss rifle. That explosion knocked out the pilot knocking his mech prone. Aaron exclaimed: 'Now you can do called shots.' Not really knowing how to do that (nor something I would have thought of) we looked up the rules and in the following turn, aiming for the CT the Wahammer & Charger eliminated the stricken Helios. Like I said earlier, different folks = different tactics. 

The Warhammer took a Gyro hit and went down, only to further damage itself trying to get back up. Like the Javelin (which was finished off by the crippled Blackjack just before it's demise) the Warhammer propped itself up for a few shots before blowing up via an ammo hit. 

Down to the three mechs left standing along with my infantry platoon (who inflicted I think 9 points all game), we called it a draw and ended it there. He could out range and run my Charger, but lacked the firepower to take it down effectively, so we didn't see much point to continuing on.

*****

Well that was fun and a bit different. I'm disappointed that I never again hit the Ostscout's leg which was down to a mere 2 points of structure (though the Infantry did try). I was pleased with the Charger, 3 small lasers and 2 punches if the target's TMM was high or else 5 small lasers and a kick if the TMM was low is nothing to sneeze at. Several times Aaron commented 'I gotta stay away from that Charger.' which I found amusing given the CGR-1A1's reputation as garbage. 

I don't think we ever used the shoving models off of the board as it was sort of a gentlman's agreement. That said, I likewise have never used aimed shots on a crippled mech to ensure that it never gets up again either. As such I am curious to see what our next match is like...