Solaris VII event After Action Report

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Hockey games aren't this ugly...

This past weekend was the Solaris VII multiplayer event at out FLGS and it was...alright. I got to meet prettymuch all of the local BattleTech crowd, roll some dice, bullshit with the gang, shoot stuff and of course, have my pink panther be the first mech present to die. All the usual stuff. 

Scott (center) was the primary organizer as with assistance from his buddy Barry on the left there (who's voice sounds a lot like Joe Pesci), and Wyatt to Scott's right. In the foreground you can see Ace & The Master Chief, both ready to rumble! Much to my surprise, no one had every  heard of Ace Darwin's Whipits, or had ever seen anyone with a pink Panther before. 

The whole crew going from left to right: Ian (who sounds surprisingly like my friend Charlie back in TN and is taller than even I am!), Badger (yes, that's his real life name), and again Barry & Scott. 

To the right of Scott is Joe & Chris, Wyatt seen in the 2nd photo above and Jason whom I didn't get a pic of had already left by this point)

And lastly Nick & Dylan. 

The guys who organized the event played in it as well, and given all of the work that they put into 3D printing and painting the terrain, coming up the scenario, etc., why shouldn't they? 12 players, Tech level 1, 3020s era, at least 2 mechs totaling no more than 120 tons (only Chris opted to field a light lance lead by a Crab). 

The initial set up, the blue hexes around the edges being numbered and randomly rolled for. Somehow Ian ended up all on his own on the lefthand side. 

The scenario involved a lot of automated defense turrets that really seemed to bog things down in my opinion. I get what they were aiming for, to force the players into a scrum in the middle, rather than sandbagging in the outfield. However the turrets ate up a lot of time, effectively took Dylan's Orion out of the game on turn 1 with 2 engine crits (notta good experience for a new player). Nick's guillotine took a gyro hit as well.

The Solaris VII, mechs vs turrets game begins...

So many turrets, dear god in heaven, get inside the walls!!

Also, with only Ian on the left side, once his two mechs entered the city (they had a short, straight shot inside the walls), the turrets on that side of the field spun around to attack the nearest target, leaving Nick's Guillotine on our end, and Dylan's now lone surviving Vindicator on the other to run like hell! In total, with 15-16 turrets outside the arena, 2 guarding every gate to the arena and one in the middle, that's like damned near 30! It was a bit...much. 

Yes, exactly.

Armed with a variety of weapons, varying rolls to activate, turrets surrounded by mechs were easily taken down passing out VPs to all who shot them, whereas on the other side, bereft of targets the turrets were ganging up on the few mechs unfortunate enough to be in LRM range.

Skidding at full speed into a wall is a lot of fun, so long it isn't your Wasp doing it! Luckily Ian's other mech was an Atlas. 

At this point, Ace already had no front center torso armor and Chris' Locust at the top was missing an arm or two, and that buttered Crab had seen better days as well. Chris pondered having his Locust run around inside the city, activating all of the turrets. I told him it was a good idea so long as he yelled 'LEERRRRRROY JENKINS! He said sure...why? Ugh, that...hurts...so...much (and I didn't even play Everquest)!

Once inside the city, the wall turrets started to pop-up, and start to attack WTH? When there's already a scrum in progress, who wants to get taken out by a wall turret shooting you in the back?

At this point it was about time for me to go. Originally when I signed up for this we had no plans for the day which was fine as I figured this would take forever with 24+ mechs on the field, commended by a dozen people. However a week and a half ago Frankie heard that a rodeo was in town and so we were going to that in the evening. Thus at the end of turn four, 4.5 hours into the event, my Charger alpha struck into a Blackjack, delivering a 37 points of 'laser good byes', while Ace's Panther disintegrated in the clusterfuck at the wall. Nick checked out as well, not sure if he had plans (he did mention Octoberfest) or had just had enough.

Till we meet again Mr. Blackjack...

As soon as we walked out of the shop and the door closed he turned to me and said: 'So, thoughts?' As I'm sure you can imagine  my first thought was: the turrets need to go. My other thought was to freeze the initiative for the game, or at most reroll when someone dropped out. Instead every turn we rolled for initiative. Followed by roll offs for all of the duplicate rolls, and so on and just that alone was like 10 minutes a turn wasted.  

Nick agreed. Turret combat isn't want Solaris should be about. Again, I get what they were going for but it was just too much. Nick commented that they wanted to really get into the crunchy details whereas at an event like this, streamlining things is better. 

So many thoughts...

Anyways we left, the fam and I went to the rodeo, ate fair food, and here & again I checked my phone to just see 'still going' updates, and after we got home and were chilling out a bit before going to bed, the discord notification came in that the last mech standing was declared at 10:45pm (the game started at 12:30PM), with Scott the winner. 

Hrmm...I know I wasn't there for the last 6 hours, but I always find it a little suspect when an event organizer wins his own event. Those still in attendance didn't have anything but praise, so no foul play appears to have taken place which is good. But still I can't help but wonder...

Reading back thru, this post came a bit more negative than intended. The FLGS is wanting me to help organize an upcoming Urbie Derby. So I guess my turn in the sun to be complained about is coming...

This week's roundup.

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The new Charger sculpt reminds me of something, but I just can't quite place it...

lol, as you can see, I painted up my new KS Charger. I love the Charger, its one of my favorite minis, and it will be one of the two mechs that I will be fielding in my local FLGS' upcoming 3020s era, Solaris free-for-all event. 

Bob's Boomerang, your morning commute's eye in the sky!  is reporting heavy foot traffic on access lane 4...

Those large pauldron armor plates are screaming for a logo of some sort! 

Originally, I was thinking of running the original CGR-1A1 as it is a true zombie mech in that the head, Center torso and legs are the only things to worry about. Well, that and I was hoping to try a charge attack, where if the stars all correctly align, the Charger can mete out a whopping 64 points of impact damage (in 5 point increments)! 

 That 'charge maneuver' might work...once. Then, after my poor, hapless target was cartwheeled across the field following its 80-ton impact. I would likely be shot by everything still left on the table (and the winner is the last mech standing). As such, I'll go with my good ol' standby Zombie-Charger, the CGR-SB Challenger. 

Post Solaris event, I'm not sure who will get this mech, be it my deep periphery Mercs: Battle Rattle, or if it'll gain a pink paw print and join my still winless Ace Darwin's Whipits (I was thinking of bringing Ace to the event purely for style points, even if it is out of his era). Or possibly just start a new faction altogether like the DCMS' Dieron Regulars, allowing me to field this as a CGR-1A9.

Queue Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries...

The one on the left has a bit of foliage stuck to its turret, apparently it got a bit too close to the treetops!

Run away!

The counter rotating props give these a very Russian KA-52 vibe. I have a feeling that they will be just as ineffective in combat as their real life counterparts...

I also painted up my Warrior attack VTOLS. These make my TBAGers the first (ever) unit of mine to have its own air support, meagre as they might be. These look to easiest to field in Alpha Strike, and will likely be contained to just that form of BattleTech play. Actually on second thought, I'll try one of these out in a game of Classic tomorrow night. I'll let ya know how that turns out.   

All together!

Lastly, I also got my first Steel Haven campaign game in. It was a lot of fun even though I lost the snatch and grab scenario. All damage was free to repair for the first game which is good as my Assassin suffered an ammo hit and was obliterated! While my mech will be rebuilt for free, I am down one mechwarrior as there wasn't enough left of that guy to even bury. 

The Buffet Assault Group and 4th Syke Rangers pose for a pre-game, full company photo op. 

A Hokie post to start off 2024

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Happy 2024! Currently (as in the time of this posting) the Southern Snowpocalypse ought to be in full swing, which ought to amount to 2-3 inches of snow. Yes, by all means laugh at us as the region shuts down and chaos on the roadways ensues.

I had intended this to be painted in Jade green in honor of the Jade Turkeys, but my son had other ideas...

Its been a bit slow here on the Battletech front here of late, though I have a few updates. First up, The VTH-1 Hokie battleturkey -mech. This STL was released back around Thanksgiving by Hardware Studios and I bought it intending to make a Jade Turkey mockery-mech. I believe Bishop Steiner himself even came up with stats that would ensure that this bird would be cooked if it alpha-struck with all of it's weapons! 

As Frankie only plays Alphastrike, I'll use the stats of the Firestarter FS9-M for this. That is armed with twin medium & small lasers, and a pair machine guns which match this mini's poultry paltry weapons array.

As this rocket booster of a backend will attest, it also moves 12" a turn and can jump which he ought to like. There was a slight misprint, so I painted that up as battle damage.

Frankie however is a HUGE Virginia Tech fan (for those not familiar, their mascot is a Hokie which is another name for a turkey) and instead requested that this be painted in their colors. As such he was thrilled with this and has claimed it for future use.

As of yet, I have no idea which unit will be blessed with this mech's addition...

*****

Next up, I painted up a Golden Urbie that I had intended to use as a plinth mounted, monument-terrain piece to honor the Urbanmech and all of it's gloriousness. However suitable mounts are stupid expensive. As such, it instead it joined Ace Darwin's Whippets under the callsign of 'Hero'. 

Urban warfare at it's finest. Note the fallen Grasshopper behind Hero. When it came to piloting checks, I apparently I couldn't roll higher than a 3 on 2D6 for most of the night. Several mechs fell as a result. 

Hero made it's combat debut which was anything but golden after it failed a piloting check and broke it's LBX-10 during the fall. Unable to flee, it stood its ground and blazed away with small lasers (neither of which missed, for what little that is worth) as it was hacked apart by Kushial's Hatchetman. 

Speaking of, Kushial ought to have a battle report up soon. However by game's end I'd reached the obvious conclusion that Shadowhawks just plain suck. The two which are in my Whippets unit are liable to be retired from service after two consecutive games of fruitlessly plinking away at the enemy with their crummy weaponry. 

So many battles!

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A dual to the death between two heavy recon mechs.

Well the Inner Sphere is well and truly aflame here locally, with three games of Battletech played since my last post, two of Alpha Strike and one of Classic. 

Painted up for the occasion; like any self respecting newly painted minis, they all died!

First up, Frankie and I played a civil war era game of Alpha Strike vs. Rob & his Capellans. Frankie was running mercs and I had Capellans, the St. Ives Compact. This was a fun game and our FIRST victory in Alpha Strike, huzzah! Frankie tends to write notes all over his unit roster page with all of the mech cards printed on it, and I noted when we got home that 'we won!' was written across the page, lol. 

UM-R69s providing covering fire for Frankie's advancing Mercs. 

This firefight became known as the alley of death, and decided the game. 

Later that weekend, my Whipits got their battlefield debut vs. Kushial's Davion forces. Rather than retell a story already told, you can just read his account here. 

Yeah, this about sums up that debacle.

This past Wednesday, neither Rob nor Screech were available, so instead our 300 point force split in half and Frankie and I battled each other in a 150 point game at home (after 14 months, it was the first mini game played in our new house). 

Tired after a long road march, the FWLM voted for dinner at the next Urbie Burger on the route, only to hear over coms that their Wobbly allies were pulling up at a Dunkin Davions instead. Naturally this disagreement lead to a fight to the death!

A nasty firefight this was. 

+4 to hit was no matter, my Guillotine turned the cocky little Mercury into a greasy smear.

The last two on the board, my Wolverine with one point of damage vs. Frankie's untouched Vulcan. This fast moving dual would cover several turns and about half of the board. 

In the end I got him though, the extra tonnage pulling me thru! That said, the Wolverine was down to 2 points of structure remaining and only a 5" movement rate.

I just squeaked out that one! He was kicking my ass early on taking down my battle armor squad and Scorpion mech by the end of turn two. Had Frankie had a battle lance with rerolls like I did, rather than light strikers with the speed demons SPA (+2" movement to all but the Crabs), odds are I'd have lost. Indeed, following the game he said 'I want to play this list again! I think I like fast mechs rather than the big heavy ones you usually give me, but I think I want the rerolls next time.' 

And there we have it folks. Not only is Frankie definitely hooked (speaking of, Kushial donated some more reading material for Frankie), but he's even found his preferred playstyle! This makes me a happy Dad.

The latest on my Mercenaries

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This pic explains a few die rolls...

I've been rather productive on Battletech front. We're settling into a summer routine of a game of Alpha Strike once a night per week (fingers crossed it stays that way). Frankie seems to have taken a liking to it the game despite our continued losses. Indeed, he specifically requested that his lance include the Dragon this week, seems he's found a favorite mech. 

Unfortunately I was unable to squeeze my painted CGR-SB Challenger into this list.

Last week's game of AS saw The Buffet Assault Group itself take to the field, and for the first time ever at company strength! Having learned to not put all of our eggs into Frankie's basket, our lists were almost identical in points. Frankie commanded the lance in back, whereas I used the Hunchback lance as I knew he'd have trouble telling them apart. We split the recon lance with 1 Stinger a piece, with him taking the Phoenix Hawk and the Firestarter for myself. 

That's our dead pile on the right, with the three survivors on the left not having taken a single point of damage among them. Curious.

In Frankie's estimation 'I think we did a lot better this time!' (quote), to which I agreed that yes, we didn't get tabled. Rob & Screech both fielded 150pts each themselves with Rob claiming to have the Capellan Confederation and Screech with Steiner as is usual. Once again, without a lick of paint nor primer to be seen, they looked like the Grey Death Legion to us. 

***

In a bit of hero warship, rather than stop at a pink paw print, Hotshot has added splotches of pink to his mech's 2-tone purpleflage. 

Prior to that, I painted up the last member of Ace Darwin's Whipits: The WSP-1A who's pilot's callsign is 'Hotshot'. Named by Kushial after a brand of Wasp killer that he no doubt sells in the store that he manages. 

With a name like 'Hotshot', you can (correctly) imagine that this guy has an ego a mile wide crammed into the little mech's even tinier cockpit. An eternal discipline problem for the 18th Marik Militia, he 'wandered off' and was left behind on Hall when that unit suffered a crushing defeat in the War of '39. When the Dragoons radioed the dropships boosting towards orbit, informing them that 'they forgot one', the Marik response was 'he's your problem now'. 

Why stop at a mere pink paw print when you can make your mech's ridiculous camouflage scheme even more garish?

While a discipline problem pilot might normally fit in well with the Black Widows, they were unimpressed with both Hotshot & his mech, and left them both behind as well. Stranded on Hall, Hotshot begrudgingly signed a contract with the Fed Suns' 4th Republican Guards. Often-bored out of his mind by garrison duty (much like his servie in teh FWLM), he would amuse himself by using his mech to play Jenga with their palletized supplies. Quickly, the Davions cashed out their 'contractor' with a 1-way trip off world. 

Eventually making it to Outreach, Hotshot has bounced from command to command and contract to contract. He has quickly earned himself a reputation that few are willing to deal with. That said, he's like a star struck groupie in the presence of Ace, and has even gone so far as to add pink coloring to his Wasp's purpleflage, over and above the mere paw print that Ace requires.

Ace doesn't expect this subdued state to last, but he's hoping that the hero-worship will last for the duration of this contract at the least.

Ace Darwin's Whipits

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My incarnation of Ace Darwin's Whipits circa mid-3050s.

I've always liked this unit, and it's a prefect dumping ground for my 1-off paint jobs as well. I've decided to give my band of Whipits a bit more personality and as such, all of the Mechwarriors have callsigns painted on the back of their bases. They're also much more highly skilled than my usual horde of 4/5 noobs.

Their callsigns.

What follows are the little backstories that I've come up for each of my named mechwarriors.

Ravyn: The only female mechwarrior in this lot, she's a former (and at best fair to middling) Solaris jock who competed in several smaller leagues but never hit the big time. Her immaculately maintained yet stock SHD-2H is always painted jet black, which goes with both her hair, and some would say her heart (though not to her face mind you). Side note: The spelling of her name is done in the same manner as an old, long lost friend of mine from a few decades ago. 

Yankee: Yankee earned his name a few years back when fighting Screech's Nova Cats. I had two new Enforcers in bare resin, one grey (and now in my St. Ives lance from the prior post), and the other in blue resin. Dubbed Rebel & Yankee respectively, their performance was at best adequate though my mercs were taking a beating under the withering hail of superior clan pilots and technology. Then Yankee managed a lucky roll and put an AC-10 round thru the cockpit of either a heavy or assault omni-mech, and turning it's trueborn pilot into goo. The mech was painted within a week and the name stuck (unlike Rebel's).

Yankee's ENF-4R has been upgraded with an aftermarket SLEP package. The mech has been reskinned in ferro fibrous armor which shaved a half ton off of it's overall weight, and yet still having enough armor plating left over to reinforce the mech's rear torso armor to something almost approaching respectable. The remaining half ton was utilized by added CASE to the AC's ammo bay.

A glamour shot of Ace's both famous and customized Pink Panther. 

Ace: Canon backstory.

Here's a better look at their Pink Panther paw insignias. 

Hopper: I don't have much on Hopper other than to say that if on hearing his name the somewhat disheveled sheriff from Stranger Things comes to mind, then you're on the right track. His stock GRH-5H is nothing fancy, but like his Netflix counterpart, he's both a good guy and generally gets the job done.

Ronin: Ronin's a veteran/deserter of one of the renegade DCMS units that revolted during the Ronin war. Rather than fight in a glorious if suicidal last stand as Bushido would dictate, he instead took the pragmatic route and somehow managed to flee into exile as a mercenary. Unlike Ravyn's SHD-2H, Ronin' has been modified. The head mounted SRM-2 has been swapped out for a 2nd medium laser, and the weight saved by the removal of the SRM's ammo was used to add an Artemis IV targeting system to the LRM-5. 

I also have a Wasp on the way (and the rest of the lance that it comes with it, though only the Wasp will join the Whipits). Color scheme and name for the Wasp and it's pilot are still to be determined.