Happy Birthday Hoss!

Hoss: The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

I took a bit of a hiatus both on this here blog, and with playing Battletech in general. Of my few BT opponents: Kushial's new job more or less caused his hobby time to evaporate. It all but takes an act of Congress to get a game in with Rob (and while we've had recent success with 40k, BT games take decidedly longer). 

Screech deployed to a desert, half a world away for the better part of a year. That said, he's back now and trying to coax the local Battletech players back to the tabletop.

Lastly there was Hoss. 

Hoss is all over this blog. Battle reports, such as the pic above which is from only a few posts ago, taken after his first 1-shot-kill of a mech (my Dragon), followed shortly thereafter by the messy demise of my Hunchback. The last comment received on here was by Hoss on the previous post recapping our last game in October of 2021. 

Sadly, it was to be our last ever game. 

Hoss never painted any mechs for PANDA-MONIUM (that I know of anyways), but I'm guessing his colors would have looked something like this.

Hoss, the wily, entertaining and all too AWESOME commander of the PANDA-MONIUM mercenary company passed away unexpectedly about 6 months ago. The pic top was blown up to 20" x 30" or so by another lifelong friend of his and now hangs in the local FLGS where it was taken.

He may have had more black on the arms and legs in proper 'panda' fashion, however I don't think that would have looked too well on this Shadowhawk.

Today is Hoss' birthday. It would make me happy if everyone wished him a happy birthday wherever they are. You don't have to post it on here, though I won't complain if you do. Rather just say a few quiet words for an amazing gamer who has moved on into the light. 

This mini will forever reside in my display case in fond memory of Hoss.

Hoss, today and every day I hope you find yourself surrounded family, friends, and Pandas. Happy Birthday buddy. 

St. Ives Compact border skirmish

 o/

This pic on it's own resulted in a bit of a threadought on the Battletech International FB page...

Hoss' PANDA-MONIUM!! mercenaries, no doubt in the employ of the accursed Capellan Confederation, launched a raid into the St. Ives Compact, and my St. Ives Lancers rushed to intercept! Here's how it all went down...

Turn either one or two, in which both sides (mine on the right) are closing in on one another...

My new Spider's battlefield debut occurred in the employ of Hoss. Whilst the light mech itself is faster than hell, running into point blank range of 2 medium mechs turned out to be folly. As such, the Spider blew up in the first volley. 

However on the next turn, Hoss concentrated fire on my lead Hunchback (HBK-4H). In fact, it was so concentrated that he cored out the center torso to almost the exclusion of all else, and down it went (permanently). 

The firefight starts in earnest, with my Hunchback (HBK-4SP) hammering Hoss' Jagermech, knocking it to the ground for the first time. That Jagermech would prove to be a nigh unkillable zombiemech...

This game was also my first test run of the new Suburbanmechs. With a 50% increase in speed (to a still abysmal 3/5/3) and no internal ammo to blow up I might never run a regular Urbie again! They proved quite dangerous, though as you can see, the one in the backfield fell under a withering onslaught, after it's entire left torso separated from it's body! 

4.5ish hours in my GF called to see how much longer and was kinda incredulous at the notion of it being maybe another hour or two, lol. She was hungry, but you won't like her when she's hangry! So we finished out the turn and this is where we ended up. 

Technically, Hoss' Jagermech wasn't dead with a lone point of structure holding its right leg on (pay no attention to the other pristine leg...). However there was so much internal damage, that the pilot was knocked unconscious, and he/she would have had a +7 to the piloting roll if this mech had attempted to ever get up again. It irks me that I hit most everything internal crit slot in that side torso BUT the ammo...

A late, last turn kill as I'd managed to leg one of Hoss' Panthers.

Whilst this Suburbie survived the battle, I doubt it would ever see battle again instead serving as spare parts for it's brethren.

The dead pile (notably smaller than our last game).

You may have noticed these awesome dice that Hoss both has and the above set which he gifted to me, huzzah! They keep track of all of the movement modifiers and movement rates on one handy little marker. I'd like to get a second set for myself, though they are currently out of stock.

With two mechs destroyed, and a third one effectively if not technically destroyed as well, Hoss handed me the win. That said, his Catapult, Dervish and second Panther, would all exit the field with nary a scratch on them. On my side, there was fairly moderate damage all around barring that one urbie and the K/O'ed Hunchback, and lastly my untouched Jagermech which was parked on a hilltop in the backfield, where it spent the game plinking away with mild effect all game.

As always my good friend, I look forward to our next game and once again thanks for the dice!!

The forest was full of corpses...

...and that was just the battle's halfway point! 

I got together with my buddy Hoss at the FLGS for a game of Battletech this past Saturday. Unlike our usual bouts where by game's end, everything on the table is staggering around like a bunch of drunken brawlers. This game was an absolute blood bath! Here's how it all played out:

The first two turns were simply advancing at speed. It wasn't till turn three that any shots were exchanged, and these were few (though my Cyclops' AC-20 did vaporize the left arm of Hoss' Panther much to his dismay). Note: my IFV on the left is disembarking a platoon of Ceremonial Guard.

Hoss' borrowed 'suicide box' (MG variant heavy APC) has by this point torn across the map and is in the process of gunning down the aforementioned platoon! The Cyclops' mechwarrior screamed BUSHIDO! and suicidality charged into the enemy's point blank range, whilst blazing away with his own weaponry. Despite being an assault mech, the Cyclops is too lightly armored for this type of fighting.

My Goblin (MG Variant) IFV comes to the aid of my beleaguered platoon, who is cut down by half to Hoss' APC's machine guns. The Panther pumps a PPC round and a few SRMs into my Hunchback which in turn fires a withering volley of medium lasers in reply.

The green turreted tank was a proxy of a Patten heavy tank, and was all too happy to put another AC-10 round into the cyclops. However the cyclops then finished the job started previously by my Hunchback and finished off the tiresome tank. Normally, only I am fielding tanks...so it was kinda eye opening to be on the wrong side of them for the first time in a long time.

As this nasty little firefight continues, the infantry are slaughtered to the last, filling the forest hex they were holding with only the dead and dying. Meanwhile the Hunchback soaks up another PPC blast whilst taking the Panther apart with yet another laser onslaught. Indeed, one such laser bolt struck the short-ranged-missile ammo bin and the panther is vaporized! We didn't total it up, but I'm guessing it was something like 170+ points of internal damage to an already pummeled 35 ton mech! 

Indeed, the dead pile was growing quickly as my borrowed Panther had also succumbed to a multitude of PPC hits. Hoss' Awesome and Catapult K2 had slagged it's leg which took the mech out of action. Not that it had far to go mind you, sponging far too many PPC hits than a mech of this size ought to endure. 

My commander, had been valiantly leading from the rear in his Dragon 1C, sniping targets of opportunity whilst staying clear of the heavy fighting. However with his ceremonial guard dead, one mech down and the other two already in dire straits, he crested the behind which he'd been hiding and fired all of his weapons into the Awesome, getting it's attention in doing so. 

It is at this point I ought to stop and explain the optional floating crit rule we were using: Normally a snake eyes hit location roll represents a possible golden BB that potentially penetrated the center hull armor and hits the juicy bits within. Instead the floating crit, you roll another location after the snake eyes roll, and inflict the armor damage in the 2nd location rolled, and then roll for the crits there instead. Now back to the game. 

The Awesome, turned ponderously at this new threat and returned fire with it's 3 PPCs. 2 hit, with one snake eyes location roll, that switched then from the center to right torso following the 2nd roll. Untouched up until this point, the Dragon absorbed the two hits without notice but...there were 2 crits rolled for in that right side torso. The only thing in there is Autocannon ammo, which came out to a 78 point internal damage explosion. It go BOOM! This was Hoss' first ever 1-shot-kill!! 

I was displeased at this sudden turn of events until the following turn in which my Goblin IFV also scored a floating crit which rolled a box cars the tore Hoss' Griffin's leg off with a single SRM! Unlike my Dragon's demise, or even the earlier Panthers, I do believe all remaining combatants paused for a moment to witness that shocking kill!

A very happy Hoss just after he obliterated my Hunchback in a brutal crossfire.

Once again screaming BUSHIDO! My much overheated Cyclops charges into point blank range and cuts loose at the Catapult, which returns the favor with plenty of help! 

The Next turn would see a 2nd AC-20 slug hit the Catapult's right leg, taking the mech down for good...

...only for the Cyclops to be blown apart moments later! With that, my Goblin IFV, now my sole surviving model, rode off into the sunset with nary a scratch on it.

The dead pile. 

The survivors, the my Goblin on the left being my only one.

Dude!  That was an absolute blast! It's rare to lose more than one or two, it's even rarer to have so many units just flat out die! Also, not only was this the first game in which Hoss had a 1-shot-kill (paint that Awesome Hoss!!!), but it was also the first time he's ever beaten me in Battletech! 

I did not know that. 

As for painting, I think my Goblin, Cyclops and Hunchback all deserve paint for their glorious actions in combat. 

Onward to battle once more!

A viscous clash of the unpainted masses!

For the first time since February (I think...it was pre-pandemic), I managed to get a game in! My buddy Hoss brought his infamous PANDA-MONIUM!! mercenaries over to do battle vs. my own Mercs, the defending TBAGers. Both of us were fielding mostly recently acquired 3D printed mechs, and as such terrain aside, only my Phoenix Hawk was actually painted. 

The battlefield. The desert maps to the side were not in play.

My TBAGers were fielding (left-to-right) a Flashman-7K, (2) Crab-27s and a Phoenix Hawk 2. Hoss had his customized Jagermech (proxied by a blackjack after a record sheet mix up),  Griffin 1S, Shadowhawk 2K and a Dervish-6M. 

Just showing off my (still) half-painted Dropship. Kushial donated these Megaforce toy tanks to my cause for Scorpion Light tank proxies, as well as the wheeled carrier to be used as whatever. However I passed them onto Hoss post-Game as up until this point, he's still bereft of armored support (and quite frankly, I'm running out of room for my tanks). 

My initial left flank deployment, with no opposition before them.

On my right I deployed a crab with the unenviable task of being 'bait' behind the forest/park. Hoss was game and lined his entire lance up across from it. 

Turn one was the usual high speed maneuvers punctuated by random, long ranged potshots that as usual, hit nothing. 

My 'bait' deftly hides behind the forest. It did manage an angled shot off to it's left, killing many trees in the otherwise futile process. 

Turn two and the shots start connecting with enemy targets! My right flank Crab and Hoss's Shadowhawk savaged one another, with my Crab barely maintaining it's footing. However as for Hoss' Shadowhawk...

...my Crab landed 2 large lasers into the center torso scoring 2 snake eyes rolls for location! Those went on to result 2 engine and 1 gyro hit, effectively crippling the mech!

That highlight aside, there was a good pummeling all around elsewhere, with Hoss' Jagermech putting a medium laser into the face of my Flashman! There would be 3 head shots over the course of the game, with Hoss scoring two of them. No pilots were knocked out, though one came dangerously close! 

The short range firefight ensues, with my laser boats generally coming out for the the better. Meanwhile having already survived one heat induced shut down roll, the Shadowhawk starts to disengage, as it's dangerously high  heat levels render it's PPC more of a liability than an asset. 

My phoenix Hawk managed to skirt around the landing pad and outflank Hoss' lance. It did not however manage to hit any of it's targets whilst doing so. Grrrrr...

'DEATH FROM ABOVE!! Shouts the Griffin's pilot! Hoss' has a love of this so-called 'tactic' that borders on the irrational, but to each there own I guess. Whilst my Flashman scored hits but alas didn't shoot the Griffin out of the sky, it did distract the pilot enough to not connect with my mech and instead just suffer heavy leg damage on the rough landing. To the Flashman's rear, the scrum continued unabated. 

By this point the Shadowhawk had successfully disengaged, and I was soon to find that the Derish was angling to do the same after having it's right arm mangled (but I failed to crit the friggin' SRM ammo, damnit!). His Jager and Griffin were engaging in a holding action to allow their comrades to escape. Made all the more easy, as my now well overheated Phoenix could do nothing but flip Hoss' Dervish the bird. 

Taking one for the team, Hoss' Jagermech disintegrates under the all-around onslaught! whilst the Dervish flees the field. As all of my beat up (though none yet showing any internals) lance turns all guns on his lone Griffin, he ran up the white flag and we called it a game.  

HUZZAH! VICTORY AT LAST!! (I'm used to losing most games can't ya tell?). The aggressive up in your face laser lance seems to work for me a bit more than the usual, slow crawling, war of attrition tactics that I usually employ. Indeed, I may need to try this again soon. Admittedly though, the two lucky crit rolls early on that neutered his Shadowhawk -2K was a BIG help!

Still wins are rare and I'll take it! I'm looking forward to our next game my friend!

Gyro hits! Gyro hits everywhere...

o/

The TBAGers backed up by a local Marik Militia Urbie piloted by the infamous Levi.

The infamous PANDA-MONIUM!!! Sans their trademark Jagermech, and accompanied by a borrowed Urbie named Noober, lol.

Hoss came over for another round of Battletech Saturday night, and I thought it was about time the rarely seen Buffet Assault Group themselves took to the field for a battle. Sporting their new primer coat of German Ochre (well, except the Atlas), they were joined by Levi representing the local PDF. 

Hoss had demanded an Urbie to be in my force, and after some debate on what to use to counter that, we eventually decided on an Urbie for his force as well (oddly the two would barely even come within range of once another in the forthcoming battle). It was as usual, an hours long slugfest, interrupted only by an enjoyable dinner break out on the deck. Here's my usual, half-assed, psuedo-bat rep:

Initial deployments. 

Note my poorly positioned Atlas. This was the first time I've ever fielded and Atlas, and scraping for points, I chose the newly retconned but canon AS7-A variant as it was the cheapest option. I would soon find that whilst amusing, its not at all a worthy opponent vs. another Atlas in a 1 v. 1 contest. 

Hoss would add some occasional visual commentary to my photos...

It started off well at least, with my Atlas firing a long ball, lucky AC-5 round that rolled a snake eyes location hit, followed by a triple-crit to Hoss' Battlemaster resulting in 2 engine hits and one to the gyro as well! Effectively neutering the beast (all mechs were Tech level 1 machines).

Turn one went well on the other flank as my 8R and 8T Awesomes lit up his rapidly closing Griffin, inflicting another lucky snake eyes, followed by an engine and gyro hit. In return he'd pump 2 PPC rounds into my 8T's left torso.

Seriously, WTF?!?

Ya know, in the past I've been accused by Rob for always hitting the left torso. Well Hoss put 4 PPC hits in as many shots in 2 turns into the left torso of my AWS-8T, hitting the ammo and killing it in a massive explosion (only 90 points of internal damage...)! It usually takes an act of Congress to grind thru an awesome's armor. Normally, the ammo is in the center torso, but I prefer in the side torsos of my mechs due to the all-to-frequent snake eyes rolls. Guess its a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't...

The TBAGers, reeling from the sudden demise of the Awesome, suddenly falter. Whilst Hoss duly pumped an AC-20 round into my Atlas, along with a snake eyes/gyro hit (we were up to 3 by turn 2 if you're keeping score) along with a few other shots. In return mine fired an amusing anime-like SRM volley of 30 SRMs (it packs 5, SRM6s) managing a paltry 12 SRM hits or so. 

The Battlemaster pilot was still crying foul...

Now with a piloting skill of 8 due to the damaged gyro, my Atlas takes the first of several falls...

Ah yes, the good ol' Stalker nose-boop maneuver...

In the olden days...my Stalkers had a notorious habit of running around all game. Saturday night was no different. After trading heavy fire whilst running into point blank range, Hoss' Awesome decided it wanted to slug my Stalker with it's battlefist. 

In the shooting phase the Awesome missed whilst the Stalker hit it with most everything it had (no, not the LRMs), generating many hits, and a head shot, as well as managing to dodge the the incoming right hook yet successfully kicking the Awesome in the shin (and wrecking a heat sink)! When the smoke cleared, the Awesome pilot was knocked out cold whilst the Stalker pilot could have fried an egg on his dashboard he was running so hot.

In the backfield, Hoss' Griffin turned to take advantage of the stalker's rear armor, but only hit it's 'arm' and a leg. In return Screech (yes Screech was no doubt piloting the 8R Awesome, as it never moved all game) realised belatedly that the Griffin was sitting on a level 3 hill, making the intervening trees irrelevant. As such the 8R unloaded punching right thru the back and scoring an engine hit to the Griffin, as well as considerable internal damage to a side torso, and taking out 2 of it's jump jets!

Levi meanwhile, runs up the middle, introducing the Battlemaster to his AC-20!!

Guess how this disaster is going?

Yup, down she goes again, this time for the last time suffering an AC-20 hit to an ammo bin!

Cornered, alone, outnumbered, and heavily damaged my Atlas met its inevitable doom head on, with another anime missile launch accompanied by 2 medium lasers and the the AC-5. Everything hit including an impressive 22 out of 30 SRMs. Still, it wasn't enough, though it was at least a glorious last stand!

Ignoring the sleeping Awesome pilot, my Stalker ran a mere hex into a lake to help dissipate it's +12 heat load. Reversing its arms to lob some LRMs and a pair of medium lasers at Hoss' beleaguered Griffin in the back field.

The hour was getting late, but Hoss was up for one last round...

Levi, desperately low on ammo, charges into small laser range whilst firing his last (and sadly inaccurate) AC-20 slug. Unfortunately for me, the Dervish and struggling Battlemaster would remove the little Urbie's leg, ending his day. Hoss's Urbie would also lob an AC-10 round at Levi (the game's only Urbie v Urbie shot, but it was well off of the mark). 

Yeah, we don't play that one-legged mech nonsense...

Its taken me how many games to finally kill this infernal mech????

The Awesome pilot finally awoke, and turned its guns on the Stalker which had run around the slumbering giant and was angling for the Battlemaster. Only to make a quick about-face, to meet the the renewed threat! The awesome's pilot, apparently still groggy missed with all 3 PPCs! In return the Stalker alpha-striked with everything but the LRMs (again), and hit with everything! I didn't even get halfway thru the damage before the Awesome's pilot ejected as the mech's head disintegrated under the onslaught. 

...and with that, we called it quits.

Once again the Awesome is the bane of my existence, though this time it would be one of my own. I did finally manage to kill Hoss' though. The AWS-8R is really more like a tank, as it has so many heat sinks, that heat isn't even a concern after the 1st engine hit! Still, it was a solid loss to Hoss as I lost 3 mechs to his 1. 

It was a fun time as always though, and am looking forward to finally bringing Screech to battle this evening!