Let's get this beast home (take 2).

Mono y mono...

This past Friday evening, I played a game against Mal, a new opponent to me. This would only be Mal's 2nd tabletop game (having mostly played various video game versions of Battletech), and she asked for a scenario as she'd (correctly) heard that the fight to the death slugging matches can take forever. 

The original scenario:

Unfortunately one of our mechwarriors has fallen gravely ill and had to be medevac'd out immediately. His (canon though quite) unique mech is unfortunately still out in the field and his senior technician is the only other person who knows how to pilot the monster. As he pilots the miserably slow (Urbie slow) machine back to base, a small escort has been detailed to accompany the priceless mech home, we can only hope that enemy forces don't try to ambush us along our route...

As such I suggested we give the above escort the Dragoons Behemoth scenario another try and she readily agreed. We fielded 4K points each, with the defender also having the Behemoth with a 5/5 technician at the controls. We rolled to see who was attacking and who would be defending. I don't recall which of us won said roll, but I would be attacking and she would be defending. 

Mal's backdrop for this particular game:

In the spring of 3031 on the planet Cammal, a small unit action occurred that featured a singularly large 'Mech: the Behemoth. Thought to have fallen to Kurita forces on Misery in 3028, this titan that once was seen only amongst Wolf's Dragoons suddenly appeared in the employ of the Infernal Legion. The infamous 'Mech suddenly faced the possibility of a third change of hands as a twist of fate left the titan' s MechWarrior ill, and his machine piloted by an inexperienced technician. A forward Capellan Lance's Raven detected the massive 'Mech, prompting a fight to steal the warmachine away, or destroy it completely.

Here's how it all went down: 

Mal's force: The Infernal Legion. 

Looking to acquire said Behemoth were my 'filthy Capellans' fielding a Raven RVN-1X, Catapult CPLT-C1, Cataphract CTF-1X (this was my lance's CO with a 4/4 pilot) and of course no Capellan force is complete without an Urbanmech UM-R60. 

The initial deployment with  The Infernal Legion and their charge starting midfield in hopes of actually making it across the board. My Capellans were hugging the board edge. 

Finally! A worthy opponent of the mighty Urbanmech!

Mal & her forces were in high spirits as they charged forward leaving the ponderous Behemoth in the dust.

Mal's left (my rght) flank is already looking like it will be the site of the initial close-in fighting. 

The opposing light mechs immediately started harassing one another, trading medium laser and SRM fire. 

Much to my surprise, Mal kept the Behomoth stationary, sniping from afar while it's escort rushed up into point blank range!

They singled out my Cataphract as their primary target and started to abuse the heavy mech with concentrated fire!

Moving a bit too aggresively, the Capellan Raven give the Legion's Firestarter and Javelin the slip and makes a run for the backfield, keeping intervening terrain between itself and the Behemoth.

While a scrum breaks out on the left flan, the Raven kept running, opting for the long way around to get behind the Behemoth. Not needing to worry about the Behemoth, the Firestarter gives chase, via a shorter route.

The Javelin meanwhile was peppering the generally inaccurate fire from the Urbie. Though the Urbanmech did at least manage to wreck one of the Javelin's arms. 

Pushing in a little too aggresively, the Cataphract slips thru the Legion's line (taking a beating on it's way through). 

Soon almost everybody was behind the Behemoth, and concentrating fire, the Capellans make an attempt to eliminate the Firestarter. They were not successful, though the Firestarter took several hits nonetheless. 

The Marauder turns around to come to the defence of the Behemoth, while the Urbie and Javelin continue slugging it out at point blank range.

The tech driving the Behemoth had had enough of this shit and was making a run for it! Running guns blazing at the Urbie though failing to hit due to his/her lack of training. 

The Firestarter tries to fall back to a safe distance, and too small to really hurt the primary target, the Raven continues to engage the Firestarter. The two damage each other further, though not enough to matter too much.

At this point, the Urbie's plan was to put it's face to the board edge, reverse guns and support the attack on the Dragoon's mech, as it's rear torso armor was thicker than what was left on the front. However, the damned Javelin was still in the backfield forcing it to face that mech head on. I believe both hit each other, but no kill shots were to be had.

The Centurion finally punches thru the shredded armor of the Cataphract, inflicting 1 engine and 2 gyro hits, taking the mech out! 

At this point we called it as the hour was getting late, and my Catapult & Raven were too heavily outgunned to be able to  inflict enough damage on the Bemehoth to end it's trip home. It had taken several licks, and one arm was looking fairly rough. However, unlike the first time we tried this scenario, it's legs were holding up just fine. 

I am thinking that in the future, when/if we try this one again that the attcker should have 5K to balance things out a bit more. We may have discussed that the last time (or something to that effect), but I honestly do not recall, and didn't think of it this time until after I was back home. 

For Mals' second ever table top game, she had an impressive grasp of the rules resulting in smooth game play with very little coming up in question. As such, I am looking forward to more games with Mal in the future!

I think we were both impressed by just how much damage the Cataphract took before falling. It was quite the sponge for enemy fire!

Let's get this beast home...

o/

Easy-peasy, right? Note: the incorrect die was used for the Atlas' movement. 

Nick came over for another game and below was the scenario that I came up with.  

Unfortunately one of our mechwarriors has fallen gravely ill and had to be medevac'd out immediately. His (canon though quite) unique mech is unfortunately still out in the field and his senior technician is the only other person who knows how to pilot the machine. As he pilots the miserably slow (Urbie slow) machine back to base, a small escort has been detailed to accompany the priceless mech home, we can only hope that enemy forces don't try to ambush us along our route...

Originally I said 5K BV and early succession wars, Nick asked if he could upgrade to a little Star League era tech right about the time I realized that my Wolf's Dragoons showed up in the lostech era. That said, I was running a canon custom mech (albeit with a shitty pilot) and said why not (eschewing advanced weaponry, Nick mainly want after double heat sinks, though there were a few other bells & whistles). 

The objective, was to get my Wolf's Dragoons' Behemoth BHN-6H across the board (theoretically made all the easier as it was a straight shot, and there's a hex of free movement on pavement which is handy as it moves as fast as an Urbie). The technician driving this monster was a 5/5, which dropped the BV down to a reasonable BV of 1533. 

Here's how it all went down:

My Dragoons force: The aforementioned BHN-6H, escorted by an AS7-D, HOP-4B & a WSP-1D

Getting the requisite cat on the game table pic out of the way early.

Nick's OpFor sporting it's new lightning scheme. 

The battlefield during the opening moves. Nick asked what malady befell the Behemoth pilot. Food poisoning? However with the Canopian pleasure circus dropship on the platform, we decided it was an STD. 

You see those modifiers? Yeah, nobody hitting anybody in this corner. 

The Hoplite and Phoenix hawk exchange some early shots. 

Moving in, close and fast!

The Atlas jumps runs out on point taking advantage of the extra movement. 

That's a hellova decoy! I know my LRM 20 lit up the Battlemaster.

And the fun continued with the Battlemaster taking the worst of it. 

The Behemoth lobs some in accurate shots into the surrounding city, while taking several hits in return. Luckily it stayed on it's feet.

The Hoplite just kept hanging back and laying down fairly decent fire support. I do believe it took a PPC to the head right here though. 

Ah, a good old fashioned scrum ensues. The Atlas holds the Warhammer still and puts an AC-20 slug right into the CT rear! Unfortunately (and as would be the case pretty much all game, I failed to roll a crit). It the threw 2 punches, one of which connected and shattered the Warhammer's head, but again failed to Crit. Return fire more or less targeted the Behemoth, though an SRM volley hit the Atlas which had a golden BB that delt 2 engine crits to the already toasty Atlas. Not good. 

While it took a few shots to its heavily armored rear torso with no ill effect, virtually all of the hits sustained by the Behemoth were to either it's head, or its right leg. Mostly though, it was just the leg. 

So, suffering the fate of most of my light mechs, the Behemoth goes down due to a leg loss, costing me the game just a few turns in. 

Seriously, WTF? 

We interrupt this broadcast for a feline intermission...

With the Behemoth down, all guns turned towards the Atlas. It could only return fire with the LRM due to the high heat levels. The Wasp & Hoplite did their best to help the big guy but under the concentrated fire...

Down it went, suffering a gyro hit before falling. THAT would essentially be it's death knell as it's piloting jumped up to an 8. 

After inflicting 20 points of self inflicted damage in failed attempts to get up, it propped itself up and heat be damned it fired the rear lasers hitting the Stinger and sending some LRMs downrange. Damage inflicted on the prone mech knocked the Atlas' pilot out cold for 5 turns. Sad face. 

The wasp jumped in behind the Warhammer, and lost its left torso to the Battlemaster, but in return...

It put a medium laser into the head of the Warhammer which the Atlas had punched earlier, decapitating the mech! 

Yup, time to run!

In the last act of vengeance, the Phoenix Hawk did a death from above, crushing the cockpit of the Hoplite which took a PPC to that location earlier in the game! With that, the Wasp bolted. 

Welp, it seemed like a good scenario, especially with 50+ points of armor and structure in each leg alone, but...when that's all that gets hit (and I watched the rolls, it was totally random) is a single leg for the most part. There's not much you can do about it. 

I was pleased with the Atlas this time around, as most every AC-20 round hit aside from those needing box cars, and it more or less looked like hamburger when it was taken out of action. Whereas the Hoplite only took a few hits, unfortunately two went to the head. 

The Stinger aside, Nick's Battlemaster was in pretty bad shape and and I think the Phoenix Hawk was pretty well beat up as well. It was fun though, and I enjoyed not being on the wrong end of the AC-20 for once! As for the Behemoth, well...next time it is used, it'll be with a real mechwarrior behind the wheel. 

The battle for the Thanksgiving leftovers...

 o/

Paint equals extra armor...right?

Well not really, there was enough homemade apple pie left to go around for everybody (we didn't ask for anything else). We made a quick visit to Tennessee for turkey day, and later on Black Friday, while shoppers across the nation were locked in brutal, hand-to-hand combat, fighting for the store's best deals, Screech and I settled down at the Airbnb that my wife & I were staying at for a game of Battletech: 

Jihad era, 10K points, standard scenario: Kill each other. Here's is the recap:

Screech's infamous Name Pending© mercenaries. 

My recently painted Wolf's Dragoons Alpha regiment. Not pictured is an additional platoon of hover assault mechanized infantry.

The battlefield, the buildings in the middle were levels 5-7 for some line-of-sight disruption in the centerfield.

Turn one and both sides' flankers, flank each other.

Everything starts to move in close except for the Atlas AS7-K which I parked on a level 4 hill to provide some long ranged fire support.

Strategery in action...

There were a lot of close in engagements with my Man O' War taking a beating in the middle. The Bushwhacker's LBX-20 was scaring the bejesus out of my mechs, though thankfully (for me) it never once connected with anything. 

The circus side show continues...

No circus is complete without a flea circus. The infantry managed to both hit the Flea and avoid the return fire. 

The last moments of the Firefly C, which (as always for my light mechs) was lost when it's leg was destroyed. Presumably it toppled into the river. 

The Guillotine was doing well as Guillotines always do, the Hoplite was also preforming well despite its mediocre offensive capability. The Man O' War meanwhile was looking for a place to hide. 

Oh and the waste of points in the backfield called the Atlas? Yeah it continued to miss entirely too often for a gunnery 3 pilot. 

The Man O' War was desperate to get away from the Devastator at this point!

With it's center torso almost entirely cored out, the Man O' War cinematically fired its arm weapons in either direction after it found it's hiding spot was instead a crossfire. 

The Flea's multitude of anti-infantry weapons finally connect, and the hover infantry is annihilated in the river. 

Both the Rifleman & Guillotine were giving as good as they were getting, the Archer on the other hand was about as inaccurate a fire support unit as my Atlas.

At about 11pm I ran up the white flag. While I only lost the Firefly and infantry, the Man O' War was down to a mere 2 points of CT structure. 

While the accuracy of our pilots left a lot to be desired all around, we had several mechs on both sides deep into structure and/or missing limbs. My loathing of the Atlas continues (and with good reason), whereas Screech's Archer and Bushwhacker weren't any better. As always, it was a good game which is all that matters, especially as we now live about 600 miles apart making these a rare event.