Recent updates

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Thus far the original CGR-1A1 & later 'Challenger' variant have been my favorite Chargers. However, after really looking over the 1A9's record sheet, I am thinking that this one may be favorite as well

I painted this CGR-1A9 Charger up to go with my 3rd Drakons after I sold their Firestarter some ways back. Ever since they have been a mech short and this have rarely seen the tabletop. I was going to give them one of my CGR-1A1s to use as a 1A9 but then managed to snag this one off of eBay along with some cheap tanks and several more Urbies, all for about $7.50 apiece (tax & shipping included).

I'm not sure if the red & white, quartered roundels on top of the MASH unit will warn of the vehicle's true purpose or insinuate that the circus is in town...

Next up, I have a MASH unit for use as either an objective or else as terrain, as well as a Bulldog & Hetzer, for my DCMS Swords of Light company. These are the first ever vehicles that I have painted for the SoL. All three of these are from the bargain priced purchase I mentioned above, as is the one below:

This is painted for my WILDFIRE! mercs which share some mechs and tanks with my Hell's Horses Iota galaxy force. The Horses do not have any access to the Skulker though oddly they do the command van...because honorably leading from the rear is a clan thing apparently. Oh wait, Iota has no honor, convenient!

Speaking of the rear, this is usually the end that Nick's VTOLs are invariably shooting up as the van tries to flee in futility.

Unless you really just need some speed, the skulker offers little of actual tabletop utility. This is why I mostly use these as a proxy for a 15-ton Command Van, or as I call them: senior citizens' activity buses (to fruitlessly dissuade Nick 2.0 from shooting them). 

As an armored lance for some cash-strapped mercenaries, this lance is all basics and no frills. 

The missile carrier has both launcher types (which one is the MRM?), and the Hetzer has been converted into the much maligned (even amongst Hetzer crews) laser variant. Please see below for an explanation of that. 

Speaking of vehicles, for the first time ever, The Buffet Assault group finally has its own vehicle compliment (well, aside from their former pair of Warrior VTOLs). The laser Hetzer (yes really) & Bulldog which I was using as the LRM variant survived their first game in the unit's new colors, as did all of the accompanying mechs, though there was quite a bit of damage suffered. 

Some pics from the battle vs Stephen, a new opponent.

The Suburbanmech survived this encounter with nothing more than a heavy punch taken to the CT. Two turns later it would exact revenge via a hit to the back of the Banshee's head with a PPC shot. Sadly for me, I wasn't able to inflict any crits.

I converted the Hetzer into the laser variant as I have always liked the concept of (though have never fielded) the atrocious cousin of the Missile and AC carriers: the Laser carrier. The Laser Hetzer is faster and much more heavily armored, if mounting only half of the Laser carrier's firepower. 

Optimal range: success. An LRM kill: well...

Combine that with the TBAGers' quartermasters not wanting to have to source AC20 ammo purely for a metal box and suddenly this doesn't seem like an entirely bad idea. If anything, it is the cheapest Hetzer option, and in it's battlefield debut was ignored as a non-issue which allowed it to get into the backfield where it proceeded to miss with 75% of its shots on average. 

Yes, the pizza template can even mount a potted plant...or a light forest hex.

After considerable effort and some abysmal gunnery, the Merlin (which had eaten enough LRMs to only have 2 points of head structure left by this point) achieved the game's only kill, taking down the other LRM carrier on the board. Had I kept it back out of the PPC's minimum range I likely would have killed it a turn sooner, but oh well.  

Break-Out Mission

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SURPRISE!

Here is the latest battle report from my most recent game. No, this is not the Frenemies 2.0 follow up mission as that was more or less a slaughter in terms of victory points rather than casualties. Nick brought the speed and I really wasn't able to counter it. I believe the VP total in the end was something like 17-2, ouch! Anyways, onto this battle: 

The Scenario:

Allied forces have been holed up in a dense urban area and have been under segie, unable to break out and retreat. Your objective as the attacker is to break through enemy lines and escort your trapped forces to safety. As the defender your objective is to prevent the enemy breakout and if that fails, to prevent their retreat off of their home board edge. Two separate forces were needed, 3K & 5K, Late Succession war/Renaissance era forces. 

Here is how it went: 

The Battlefield.

My 3K force was a tank lance and a UM-R60L in the city. Here my missile carrier deploys with an excellent lane (literally) of fire. 

Nick's 5K break-through force advancing on my defenders. I had deployed the catapult up on the hill, but with 3 medium/heavy mechs on approach, i jumped it down into cover. I was more interested in it surviving past turn 1 than going down in an immediate blaze of glory. 

Another angle of the above. My Raven at the top of the image would take several hits, all to the same leg taking it out 1 turn! I was not off to a good start...

My urban defenders moving into close quarters with the enemy with the misssile carrier hanging back on overwatch. 

Down a medium laser and a little beat up after a skirmish with one of my Bulldogs, the Spider races down into point blank range of my missile carrier. It is at this point that I revealed that my SRM carrier would stay put! Hilarity ensued and the Spider's pilot punched out when it's 2nd laser was lost. Aww, I wasn't even half way thru my damage rolls. 

Nick's Locust made it to the city and the enemy moved to flee. It was difficult to pursue as my two Bulldogs and Vedette had all suffered motive crits, rendering them as slow, if not slower than the Urbie (which was only remodeling buildings instead of mechs with it's AC20). 

But here comes the SRM carrier! I would spend the rest of the game moving at flank speed, serving as an area denial weapon desperate to get into range. Following the Spider's demise, it never got to fire another shot. 

Hiding in a copse of trees, my Catapult had long since revealed itself to be the unique Butterbee model and it was pummeling an LRM Scorpion tank (that had been NARC'ed earlier on) with impunity. Sadly, the woeful lack of double heat sinks in this mech was severely limiting it's rate of fire. Seriously, why the fuck was that never remedied after they became availible?!? 

Speaking of being NARC'ed, my 2nd Raven died here. 

The Cataphract was outgunned and outnumbered, yet fought on valiantly...

The Scorpion succumbs to the inevitable. 

The Butterbee, camped in the trees simply reversed it's arm launchers to engage the oncoming horde. 

The Cataphract, after a protacted scrum takes a hit to it's remaining AC10 ammo and goes BOOM!

The Butterbee takes a headshot that knocks my pilot unconcious and we called it there. My defending force in the middle was down to the snoozing Catapult and my pursuing force from the city was being lead by an SRM carrier and it's blinding 3/5 speed curve. 

This was a fun one and we will play it again in the future with roles reversed. We collectively took a lot more pics than are posted here, but it gets hard when looking at the thumbnail pics to sort them out into a coherent order as the time stamps differ between phones. 

Complicating matters further, I can tell that the order in which Nick sends over his pics (no doubt sent in the order they were taken), clearly doesn't match the order in which they are recieved, making a further mess of the time stamps. Going thru 30+ pics, reordering them chronologically while deleting dud/redundant pics is kinda laborious.