Capturing more bridges...

 o/ 

One hellova fight in progress!

As promised previously, Nick & I played this scenario again with our roles reversed. This time I was playing the defenders and he the attackers. Oddly, I was playing Capellans and Nick Mercenaries, so we also switched factions. 9300 BV this time as Nick's force was a little off again, 3050s era although Nick would end up fielding no upgraded tech. 

Here's how it all went, or as best I can recall as there were a lot of mechs and tanks on the board. 

My Capellan Homeguard force which I called the Jedburg Militia (Jedburg is a town not far from here, with the most redneck sounding name that I have ever heard of). I had a Heavy Mountain Platoon, 3055 LRM carrier, (2) standard Bulldogs, a Liao Vedette, a UM-60, UM-R63, (2) UM-R60Ls (both with 3/5 pilots), an RVN-3L, RVN-4X, CTF-1X and a CPLT-C4C with a 3/5 pilot and serving as my commander. 

The battlefield during our opening maneuvers.

A better view of the same...

I did not get a group photo of Nick's forces, but you can see them pretty good here. In green were The Swamp Foxes fielding a Highlander, Marauder, Quickdraw & Valkyrie, and in blue with the lightning trim were Haim's Hebrew Hammers (yes really), fielding a Battlemaster, Phoenix Hawk, Warhammer and Wasp. All of his mechs were base models & pilots I believe.

Turn two and both sides finally got a good bead on one another with the Vedette leading the charge down the center.

In my backfield, the Infantry platoon was camped atop a building and calling out targets for the hidden LRM carrier's indirect fire. These two units would neither move nor suffer any damage all game. Firing with impunity, they would connect with a fair few missiles on Nick's forces. 

The suddenly, all hell breaks loose! The Cataphract would put an AC-10 into the head of the Highlander deleting it's life support systems (luckily not needed on this world). The Cataphract would suffer heavily for that, but remained standing. In the backfield, Nick would complain that my RVN-4X was tying up an entire lance though in truth that was not so. 

I love this photo. On the left you can see that if any of Nick's mechs were to hop over my Raven and the building behind it, then they would be squarely in cross hairs of a trio of Urbies as well as an immobilized Bulldog (not quite, but the driver was bleeding out...), which were instead sniping at limited targets and doing so at long range. 

With my Catapult, and all of my forces across the 2nd river providing fire support, my Raven-3L, Cataphract and 2nd Bulldog run straight into a hornet's nest! The Raven whiffed other than to plant a Narc beacon onto the Battlemaster, the Cataphract & Bulldog put in a few hits into the Warhammer, which along with the indirect LRM fire, brought that mech to the ground. In return the Cataphract got mauled with it's autocannon being taken out of action, as well as a rear facing ML. The Bulldog was hit as well I think, but nothing major.

The Catapult meanwhile dumped into the Highlander, hitting with both LRM 20s & large laser for a collective 40 points of damage! 

Just another angle of the brawl on the boulevard.

Behind all of this, the first bridge was heating up as well...

Successfully having run the inital gauntlet, the Vedette moved to secure the first bridge. My RVN-4X and Nick's Valk & Quickdraw all jumped onto the bridge as well (luckily it was sturdy). They traded fire but no major damage was suffered as the movement mods were pretty high all around. 

Meanwhile one of my UM-R60Ls held the 2nd bridge, daring something to come around the corner. With so many models firing, the non-firing R60Ls went unnoticed in the chaos. We don't declare mech variants beforehand, so Nick probably assumed that the Urbie on the bridge was another standard one. That said, with 4 Urbies on the table, he commented while we were deploying that there was likely an AC-20 Urbie hiding in there somewhere. 

You're about to find out why Nick really doesn't like this Catapult variant...

Things got rather ugly when Nick's Mercenaries made a late push on the 2nd bridge! The Cataphract backed up to a building to dump its now useless AC ammo (which had little armor by this point to hide behind). The Catapult took a punishing volley of fire that knocked it from it's feet, but not before it put it's large laser into the Highlander's head, vaporizing the mechwarrior within! The Phoenix Hawk & Wasp jump onto the Bridge and the Urbie damned near takes the Phoenix Hawk's leg off with an AC-20 slug! Knocking the mech to the ground. 

The Brawl from the first bridge moves on up the street following the rest of the mechs, while the vedette stayed behind, successfully securing that objective. The Narc'ed Battlemaster ran into some heavy trees to (successfully) avoid any incoming fire and damaging the 3L Raven which whiffed it's shooting at the wasp aside from plunking a Narc beacon onto the back of that mech's head.

My backline continued to fire at whatever was in range all game, the 2nd UM-R60L took a pot shot on this last turn, cratering a building and scaring the be Jesus out of the Battlemaster, but doing little more. Nick was not pleased by the realization that there were two AC-20 Urbies were on the table. Aside from the Bulldog in the trees, none of my units in this last pic suffered any damage in this game. 

By this point in time it was 9:45pm on a weeknight and Nick ran up the white flag. I held 1 bridge, the 2nd was contested with my R60L staring down a Phoenix Hawk and Wasp, both of which had one leg into structure. The Highlander was down, the Warhammer not far from it, and...well everything on that road leading to bridge #2 was moderately to severely damaged in one way or another. 

I still had a pristine LRM carrier, spotter platoon and trio of Urbies in the backfield, The Urbie on Bridge 2 took a ML hit I think. While not mobile by any means, were there still time to play this one out, he wasn't sure his battered forces could weather this untouched force, while still having to deal with my first wave units. 

Once again this was a fun scenario, and again a close one with 1 bridge held and the 2nd contested. After the first game, I was fearing Nick would arrive with his Demolisher tanks, to do to me what I had previously done to him. Likewise while the infantry spotters and 3055 LRM carrier preformed admirably, all it would have taken was 1 VTOL to zip into the backfield and wreck my day. I don't think he did anything wrong tactically, rather I just got really lucky with his traditionally built force. It allowed my static backline and sheer numbers carry the day. 

Capture the bridges!

 o/

Charge of the 'Light Brigade'!

Nick 2.0 came over for a game this past week with another scenario of his own creation (he is much better at that than I am). Clan invasion era, 9050 BV. Originally it was just 9K, but he thought he was over by 40-odd points and I added in a platoon of hover-laser infantry. Turns out he was under by 100 points, so I just gave him a hover-laser infantry company to compensate. 

There were three bridges over impassible waterways (jumping over was allowed) and each bridge would need to be held by a controlling unit at game's end to count as a siezed objective. Killing the opposing forces was a secondary objective. We both took a ton of pics during the game, and rather than mix the two, I've decided to use his pics almost exclusively, with just a few of mine added it. Here's how it all went down:

My mercenary force consisted of a lance of Corey's Cavaliers mechs: VT-5M, SHD-3H, CGR-3K, RFL-3N, backed up by a lance of the Turtles assault armor: Schrek - Std., Ontos - Std., Behemoth - Std., Behemoth - Armor, and lastly a platoon of despondantly unemployed hover-laser mechanized infantry platoon that we found in a spaceport bar. 

Nick's force was (I think, am going off of memory) a lance of the Tikonov Lancers mechs: WHM-7M, PXH-3D, WSP-1S & RFL-3N, backed up by a lance of McCarron's 6th Armored Cavalry with: RVN-3L, ENF-4R, VTR-9D and an HBK-5M/or 5N.

Lastly, he had the loaner hover-laser mechanized company that fired the platoon that my force had hired. 

The battlefield with our deployments. 

Note the early use of a pizza template as the Raven was occupying the same hex as a hover platoon. 

Turn 1 would be unusually bloody, as my Vulcan put a large pulse laser thru the cockpit of the Raven killing the pilot instantly! The Raven's Narc beacon missed though it was a moot point as the rest of Nick's nearby forces pummelled the Vulcan, destroying it!

The remainder of my mechs sent supporting fire across the river whilst, the first bridge groaned under weight of the 375 ton tank lance meandering across it. Nick's Victor, P Hawk and enforcer fired into the hulking tanks, making them angry. 

Turn two and there were two separate brawls breaking out. On the bridge, a Capellan hover platoon inflicted 3 points of damage to the Armor Behemoth and a lucky side crit of 'crew stunned'. 3 points to an over-armored brick and I think I was more stunned by that result than the tank was! Sensing an easy kill, two hover platoons raced into point blank range of the stricken Behemoth as well as the other Behemoth's many machine guns...

The Victor and Enforcer all took hits as did a few tanks. Meanwhile the Charger and Shadow Hawk (henceforth: SHD because I am lazy), crossed the river for a pointblank duel in the backfield. 

In what would become a comically repetitive (for me) event, Nick's Warhammer fails it's piloting check and hits the ground. 

Thw Warhammer regains it's footing and the scrum is more or less a repeat of the last turn. The Hunchback lands a rare AC-20 hit removing an arm from the SHD, luckily for me it is the one with no weapons in it. 

The two leading Capellan hover platoons were now gone, and the wounded third was engaging with what was left my hover platoon in a fratricidal firefight on the second bridge. The Enforcer (it was in really bad shape by this point) and Victor fall back under the withering hail of tank fire! All three of the forward tanks had mobility crits, but the roads were largely compensating for the mobility loss. 

Both the Ontos and Behmoth #2 were trundling about at reduced speed, whereas the armor Behemoth #1 was immobilised. The Schrek and Rifleman both stayed behind to snipe at whatever targets presented themselves, the the Schrek securing the bridge. 

The damaged, lead Behemoth makes a miraculous roll of 11 on its PSR to round the corner a flank speed without skidding! The Victor jumps back across the river while the Enforcer makes a run for it. Whilst the Enforcer's rear armor is notoriously thin, at least it had armor in that location! The backfield scrum continues with the Schrek sniping the Wasp out of existance with a lucky PPC shot.

Run Forest, RUN! The gunners on the Ontos cackled maniacally as they unleash hell on the fleeing Enforcer. The Behemoths meanwhile concentrate their fire on the Victor.

2-3 falls later, the beat-all-to-hell Warhammer starts an orderly retreat along with the rest of Nick's remaining forces. The SHD brazenly contests the 2nd bridge as an AC-20 slug whizzes by! As you can see by the new set of flames, the Enforcer had unsurprisingly succumb to the Ontos' laser light show. 

A wider angle of the board. Also down and burning was the Victor. After another massed volley of AC-10 slugs, the mech failed it's PSR, inflicting a critical hit on itself during it's fall, which if I recall correctly hit the SRM ammo bin. Meanwhile the SHD suffered a CT crit of a 'lower-6'. Normally that would be the SRM ammo and certain death, but this was a 3H model. So instead of another mech kill, all Nick did was wreck a machine gun.

I'll probably never field the 2H model again...

In the final turn the Charger moved up onto the 2nd bridge to help the beleagured SHD secure the objective. While it would be successful in this endeavor by distracting the Hunchback, it came at a heavy cost. An AC-20 slug punched thru the rear torso armor and hit an almost empty LRM-20 ammo bin. CASE and an XL engine took care of the rest and the Charger was down for the count!

Still falling back, the Warhammer relinquished control of bridge #2 and with my Schrek still parked on the first bridge. Victory was mine with 2 out of 3 objectives secured! That said, the Hunchback was still in my SHD's backfield, rendering the 'secure' status of the 2nd bridge tenuous at best. 

All told Corey's Cavalier's  lost the Vulcan and Charger, with the SHD suffering heavy damage. The Rifleman was untouched. As for the Turtles, the armor variant Behemoth was immobilised and the standard one was moving slowly with it's right side internal structure well exposed. The Ontos had a moderate amount of damage, but nothing too serious and the Schrek in the back was untouched. 

The Tikinov Lancer's lost the Wasp, the Warhammer was on its last legs, whereas the Rifleman and Phoenix Hawk both had just minor damage. McCarron's Armored cavalry on the other hand only had the lone Hunchback survive with relatively modest damage. 

Lastly, not a single mechanized hover-laser infantryman/woman survived the battle.

This was a fun one and like Nick's last scenario, we will be playing this one again in the future, with attacker and defender's roles reversed. 

Coolant Truck Scenario

Coolant, gimme fresh coolant!

Mal & I got together last week for another game. This time trying out my coolant truck scenario which I based off of an Alphastrike scenario that I found...on reddit maybe? Below is said scenario (its a bit of a long one): 

Each player has 5,000 BV forces. 

Following a recent battle, the defending forces are falling back to a Forward Operating Base (FOB) for repairs and maintenance. As the defenders are approaching the FOB’s defensive perimeter, an enemy vanguard is detected on approach. Unfortunately, the defender’s battlemechs are in no shape for a direct engagement until they’ve undergone basic maintenance. 

The defender chooses a table edge and marks a zone (that is the size of my firing arcs template) representing the forward operating base. The FOB is placed anywhere along their table edge. It must be six hexes from the table edge, and at least six hexes from either side of the table. Place a coolant truck at the center of the FOB. The attacker’s table edge is opposite the defender’s table edge. 

Next, the defender places four watchtowers on the table. Place the first tower within 8 hexes of the base’s perimeter. Further towers can be placed anywhere on the table, but must be within 8 hexes of another outpost and not within the base’s perimeter. Towers may not be placed within 10 hexes of the attacker’s table edge. Each Tower is a heavy building with 40 CF. Outposts may be a spotter for indirect fire. 

The defender rolls for each of their mechs for pre-existing damage, either: 4 SRM hits or 3 small laser hits (ideally half of the force should take SRM damage, and the other half SL damage). Roll for locations using the front facing chart, rerolling head shots, critical hits are ignored. The defenders’ units are placed within their walk/ground speed of the table center in initiative order. 

OBJECTIVES 

Emergency Cool down: The defender’s mechs are damaged and need a coolant swap before they can be fully effective on the battlefield. A defender’s battlemech’s heat sinks function at half efficiency until they undergo a coolant swap. Each of the defender’s battlemechs must perform the Coolant Swap action to be restored to full efficiency.  Score 1 VP each time a battlemech completes the Coolant Swap sequence.  

Hold the Line: The defender scores 1 VP for each enemy mech that is destroyed or forced to withdrawal. 

Slash and Burn: The attacker must destroy as many watchtowers as possible to help clear the way for a future assault. The attacker also scores 1 VP for each enemy mech that is destroyed or forced to withdrawal. 

 

SPECIAL RULES 

Coolant Swap: A defending battlemech’s heat sinks function at half efficiency until the coolant swap action is taken. To perform this action, a battlemech must end the Movement Phase adjacent to a coolant truck and announce the mech is hooking up to the coolant truck. Hooking up requires the remainder of the turn and the mech may make no attacks, nor be attacked (per standard Succession Wars battlefield etiquette). The coolant swap takes 1 round (so 1 round to get into proper position of the coolant truck, and 1 turn to perform the coolant swap). Only 1 mech may perform a coolant swap at a time. 

 If during the coolant swap the battlemech expends any movement points or moves at least a hex due to forced movement, the mech takes a 5 point of damage grouping allocated by the Kick Hit Location and the coolant truck is destroyed. The coolant truck is too valuable to be directly targeted by the attacking forces. 

Forced Withdrawal: The attacker & defender must adhere to the Forced Withdrawal rules. A mech is considered crippled and forced to withdrawal when it suffers any combination of the following: 

• 2 engine hits 

• 1 gyro hit 

• When it loses a side torso 

• When all ranged weapons are rendered inoperable 

• When at least 3 locations have suffered internal structure damage 

Here are some pics from the game, but with Mercuries running rampant in all directions, it was kinda hard to keep track of what was going on where.

I was fielding the Capellan Confederation (early succession wars era) with an Assassin ASN-21, A Mongoose MON-67, six Mercury MCY-98s, and a superfluous mountin infantry platoon to guard the FOB. 

The battlefield with the FOB plainly evident. I forgot that I don't have 4 watchtowers, so 4 apartment blocks were used in their place. 

The Mongoose undergoing an early coolant swap with a Mercury waiting in the wings for a swap next. 

Mal's always ready for a fight!

This week the Infernal Legion was fielding a 3/5 STK-3F, an Archer ARC-2R, A wolverine WVR-6R and a Commando COM-2D. 

Turn one and Mal's lance took down Watchtower # 6 for an easy VP. I tried to claim war crimes and the killing of civilians. To which Mal replied: Civilians don't spot for indirect LRM fire.
(Oh come on, it was only an LRM-5...).

By this point Mercury # 5 was into internal structure on it's leg and well too far forward for any hope of a coolant swap. Screaming For the Confederation! It unloaded into the rear armor of the Stalker and managed to hit with everything, including a few rear torso shots! Of course it's paltry weapons didn't punch through the Stalker's armor

Mercuries! Mercuries everywhere...

Having never fielded any of these mechs previously, Mal was having a hard time getting a feel for them as the Mercuries ran in all directions, sniping from every angle (all that was missing was the Benny Hill theme music). 

I screwed up and left the Assassin out of position, wasting a turn before got into proper place next to the truck. Here it is getting a coolant swap for a 3rd VP, while another Mercury is heading in. 

Oh btw, the Stalker reversed it's arms and destroyed Mercury 5, for Mal's 2nd VP. 

Chaos was reigning across the board when unfortunately we ran out of time, as the FLGS was closing. 

In the end, I won by a slim margin of 3VPs to Mal's 2. Had we not run out of time, who knows who would have won. Mal did pose a question to me after the fact of: how many victory points were needed to secure victory? Uhh...yeah, I dunno. I hadn't thought of that, 8 maybe?

I thought I was in trouble as I figured that she would simply take down the 4 towers for 4 easy VPs. However the horde of distraction bots did just that, and she forgot about targeting the towers after the first turn.

Honestly I am not sure how this would have worked out if she was defending as I likely would have surrounded the FOB and she'd more or less be forced to circle the wagons.

Here are Mal's thoughts on this one:

The "damaged lance needs to refuel" concept is cool, but I'm not sure how to balance it. Maybe they get some light turrets instead of watchtowers that can only do spotting? Or have a time limit for the attackers; if all enemy units (or a minimum of 4, if one has a swarm) get refueled, the attacker has to withdraw, with the premise being hitting the weakened lance is a target of opportunity, but if they get resupplied, it would just become a pitched battle the attackers don't need to force.

I guess I'll have to tweak this one some more and maybe try it without any small fast hordes to see how it would work out (though it was built for the Mercuries, something I forgot to mention to her before game.

We had fun though.