Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[El Guapo]

And they sure do have really sturdy ammo compartments.

That does seem like something that's been under-researched techwise.

[NickAragua]

I've spent some time revamping the "Against the Bot" campaign system to generate what I consider to be more entertaining and varied scenarios (and scenario chains, etc). So, the upcoming campaign will be a test of how it works out.

==============================

After discussing it between the command staff, we decide to take on the objective raid contract. Our negotiator signs the NDA and gets us a solid 10% signing bonus. We load Alpha, Beta and Delta lances onto the Union, while Gamma, support vehicles and reserve mechs get put into storage and loaded onto a rented Mule. We fly out to the employer-provided jumpship and begin the transit, every docking collar filled with a dropship.

Once everyone gets over being turned inside out by the first jump, Gbasden and Lt. Scrub attend the full briefing. Hauptmann Friedrich Weiss (Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces) is the commanding officer, while Leftenant Benjamin Allred (of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns) will be our liaison. "Integration appears to be moving full speed ahead." The Hauptmann says with a disdainful look at his Davion counterpart.

"Right." Gbasden says. "This is Lt. Pappa.... peppa.... uh... thanassssiou?, one of my lance leaders." He cringes a little.

Lt. Scrub rolls her eyes. "Good enough... sir." She says.

Weiss looks her over. "Well, it's nice to have some eye candy, anyway." He says with a headshake and a sigh. "Let's get down to business."

Scrub fumes and briefly considers smacking him, but reminds herself that she's getting paid a lot of money and gets to drive a 70-ton mech.

"So, the reason we have all of you here." He points at a map of Cebalrai. "In support of other low-intensity operations being conducted along the Kurita border, our task force has been dispatched to this... " - he sighs with disappointment - "location. Our goal is to destroy support facilities for the Second Dieron Regulars to prevent them from assisting other units in the operational theatre. We also have reports that the Twelfth Sword of Light is conducting training exercises on world, so expect to see then join in the battle."

Gbasden raises his hand. "Uh, what task force?"

"You, and elements of the Twelfth Star Guards." Weiss says, pointing to a nervous-looking pair sitting on chairs near the back of the room. A thin man with a pencil-thin moustache and a woman about twice his width nod. "You'll be operating in different theatres, but in case of overlap, Leftenant Allred will advise. We've already forwarded a detailed target list. Your contracts will be considered complete upon destruction of at least four of the specified targets. The leftenant will advise you regarding target priorities and target status. The jumpship will be back in system exactly five months after dropoff. Don't be late." He smirks. "That's it. Dismissed."

--------------------

"My apologies about the CO." Lt. Allred says as he catches up to Lt. Scrub on the way back to the dropship. "It was completely out of line, what he said."

"He doesn't seem to like you much, either." Scrub says with a smirk. "I take it you'll be coming along planetside?"

"Absolutely! Looking forward to putting my family Griffin through its paces." He looks positively bubbly.

"It's a good fire support mech. We've got a few in our company. You ever use it before?" Scrub looks over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure. I got the third-best score in my graduating class!"

"Third-best?"

"Yep. I would have gotten top marks, but I tripped my mech while walking backwards over a cliff." Allred says with a sheepish grin.

Scrub chuckles sympathetically. "That first step is the worst."

"It certainly is." Allred replies, then switches subjects as they float along in zero G. "So... what kind of mech do you drive?"

----------------------

The Star Guards are a lesser-known mercenary unit. Most of the are garrisoned along the Steiner-Kurita border, but one of their regiments is coming along, bringing a mixed force of mechs and tanks. A little bit of research indicates that this is the "wet behind the ears" regiment. We'll be operating mostly independently, so we'll be responsible for providing security for our own dropship and the Mule. The target list includes a healthy mix of military bases and support facilities, but determining exact routes to the targets and which ones we actually hit will be up to us.

Our mechwarriors spend a lot of time during transit training to operate in low-G environments, with Freyland, Hyena and Stefan benefitting the most (+1 piloting for each). Looking at the financials, the Union might *look* like it's more expensive to operate, but it seriously cuts down travel costs. We're an oversized company, so as long as we mothball ourselves down to 12 mechs and 2 aircraft, our travel costs are cut by about 60% (it would be more, but we have to pay for fuel and maintenance), from ~5M c-bills. and we have the benefit of being able to hot drop in case planetfall goes pear-shaped, not to mention not having to rely on the employer to ferry us around.

Spoiler:

Several jumps and two months later, we're in Draconis Combine space, burning towards a low-G world of questionable value, to face off against some of the Draconis Combine's finest soldiers. The planet is one of those places that was terraformed during the Star League era, but hasn't been kept up since. So, there's not much in the way of population. Or planetary defense coverage. Thus, nobody intercepts our dropships. We make planetfall on March 21, 3032 in "the badlands" and begin Operation Vengeful Thorn.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Do we have a low g pool in gaMma pod?

[Archinerd]

Of course, I've been skinny dipping in it! Don't believe me? Check the tapes!

[NickAragua]

Guys, guys, guys. This is a *Union*, not some luxury Star-League era survey ship.

The air is stale, the toilets back up all the time, the mech bays are the least cramped space on the boat and I don't know what exactly you were skinny dipping in, but it sure as hell wasn't a swimming pool.

[Isgrimnur]

You might want to head to the medic for a contaminant check.

[AWS260]

Of course, I've been skinny dipping in it! Don't believe me? Check the tapes!

I had those tapes erased. Let's never speak of this again.

[NickAragua]

March 29, 3032
Once we land, we quickly commence operations. Orbital scans and analysis of signal intelligence indicate an enemy command center within a few days' march (by mech) of our landing site. Best to keep the Kurita troops off balance and disorganized, especially with their top-heavy command structure, so we commit Zenn7's Beta lance with our Lucifers flying air support.

Additionally our liaison informs us that the 12th Star Guards have requested our support in tackling an incoming enemy lance. It's quite a schlep (six days out), but Lt. Allred considers this a required action as per the terms of our contract. So, Lt. Scrub's Gamma lance gets the job, with the liaison coming along.

That's about as smooth as things get on this contract, though.

The enemy command center is in a nice, picturesque location. Pretty mountain view, beautiful lighting, fortified underground bunker. Can't ask for more. As Beta lance approaches the designated location, they get painted by target locks. Well, not like the Dracs were going to let us walk in and take their base apart.

Beta lance is two Awesomes (Zenn7 and Zarathud), LordMortis in the Hunchback and Pvt. Neala Rogers in the Blackjack. We've got our two aero jocks coming in as well, loaded with cluster bombs. The opfor is a lance of heavy tanks with some lighter and hovertank support and a pair of mechs. One of the main concerns is a pair of LRM Carriers, which we'll have to dispatch "post haste". There are also four turrets, one of which looks like it's packing dual PPCs.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

"This is awesome! My mech's moving so fast!", calls out LordMortis, before getting whapped in the left torso with a PPC shot from a nasty-looking bunker. Two PPC barrels stick out, in addition to what appears to be multiple SRM batteries.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Take out that bunker." Zenn7 orders. Five PPC bolts fly out at the building, hitting turrets and structural elements. The structure crumbles after sending one last PPC bolt Zenn7's way. Our Blackjack gets a couple of hits in on an approaching Condor hovertank with autocannons and lasers. Sparks fly out of the turret, rendering it unable to traverse.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The low gravity allows LordMortis to close to weapons range much faster than expected. He lets rip at a J. Edgar hovertank zipping along the bottom of the hill, but the nimble little tank dodges. Right into the path of our Blackjack's medium laser salvo, which causes heavy damage to the hover skirt, slowing the vehicle down greatly. The Blackjack also lands an autocannon hit on a distant Von Luckner, popping a section of the left tread, which promptly slips off, leaving the vehicle stranded. Zenn7 scores a single hit on a Pegasus, damaging the turret's internals. Zarathud lines up a shot on a distant Vedette up on top of the hill and pegs it with a PPC blast. The tank stops moving.

Up close, the enemy force is looking slightly beat up, and the buildings look like they've seen better days.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Even Zenn7 has to cool his mech off once in a while. With the external temperature being about 55 degrees celsius, combined with the thin atmosphere, heat dissipation is complete crap. So, he reluctantly fires only two PPC shots at the Pegasus this round. The crew is stunned. Combined with their turret shakes, they whiff their shots on Zarathud, who finishes off the J. Edgar tank. Our Blackjack jumps off to the east, firing autocannons at a Manticore tank on top of the hill, scoring a solid hit on the turret to jam it good. LordMortis backs up and turns right, sawing the damaged Condor hovertank in half with the AC/20.

The enemy Thunderbolt fires a PPC at Zarathud as well, but the shot goes wide. Now, before anyone pipes up, this is the TDR-5SS variant, which, unlike our Thunderbolt (5SE), has no jump jets but instead has a PPC and a flamer. And way more heat sinks. No need to let it get too close, it's a pretty tough customer.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

We hold off at long range and exchange fire, scoring some PPC and light autocannon hits, taking a little fire in return.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 takes a hit to the left leg, damaging the upper leg actuator. The offending Pegasus crew are probably real proud of themselves, until they get splattered by PPCs. Zarathud melts the armor off the front of another Vedette - the tank turns around and starts rolling away. The Blackjack attracts a lot of fire, but it's all LRMs, and they all miss. LordMortis charges up to the bottom of the hill and cracks open the Packrat with an AC/20 burst.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

"Air support is on station, attacking designated targets."

Zenn7 marks the two LRM Carriers, then opens up with all PPCs on the nearby Hunter, melting it to slag. The Blackjack strips armor and blasts wheels off one of the LRM Carriers. LordMortis fires his AC/20 at the Patton tank, then takes a PPC hit to the left torso from the Thunderbolt, melting through the armor. He goes slightly bug-eyed, then let out a sigh of relief as he notices that the shot impacted the now-empty ammo bin. Our Lucifers fly overhead, taking some fire from the Partisans and LRM Carriers. One takes a hit to the fire control system and is unable to finish off its target, but the other LRM Carrier is cut to ribbons.

Then, the shit hits the fan.

"Opfor commander, are you guys with the uh... overlords?"

"Yes..."

"This is uh, this is Lt. Kokawa of the 12th Star Guards. Could you guys stop shooting at us? We're supposed to be on the same side."

Zenn7 rolls his eyes. "Could have fooled me."

We cease fire. Apparently, we've been shooting at friendlies.

[Archinerd]

Wait, what?

[Isgrimnur]

Bravo, Beta, bravo.

[NickAragua]

March 31, 3032

While Beta lance is having a shootout with friendlies, Gamma lance is assigned to bail out a lance of Star Guard mechs who've gotten in way over their head. The liaison heads out with Gamma, although nobody is impressed with his ability to handle his mech - between tripping over every other rock and his inability to shut his yap, Lt. Scrub is forced to put him on "receive only" mode in the comm net after telling him to "cut the chatter" several times.

Beta is Lt. Scrub in the Warhammer, Cylus Maxii in a Phoenix Hawk, Xwraith in a Thunderbolt and Hyena in a Striker. And the liaison in a Griffin, although he's not going to be much help with his 5 gunnery. We're bailing out a Star Guards heavy mech lance - a Phoenix Hawk, a Crusader, and a pair of 5SS Thunderbolts.

As we close in, the opfor resolves on sensors. Two light tanks, a couple of lighter mechs, four "weapon carriers", and four heavy mechs. A Marauder, a Warhammer, a Crusader and a Quickdraw. We also have a few pings off in the distance, telling us that some reinforcements are not too far out. This time, we're reasonably sure we'll be shooting at the right people - the Star Guards guys identify themselves, verbally and via IFF, while the enemy mechs are painted blood red. Those Sword of Light guys are no joke. Our allies, however, probably suck ass. At least they'll absorb some fire.

We'll need to take down the vehicle weapon platforms ASAP to reduce enemy firepower, then work on the mechs. Hopefully we can take down the Marauder, too, that'd be some nice salvage.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We jet forward to a heavily wooded section in the north center of the battlefield, as we need all the cover we can get. We'll probably set some of it on fire as well. Our buddies are to the south.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

It actually takes about half a minute for our forces to close to even extreme weapons range.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Our allies advance a little bit slower.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

This forest will be the key to keeping the enemy units separated and unable to focus fire or support each other. If we give them open terrain, we're screwed. Also, the enemy Cicada makes contact with our lance. A couple of lasers zap around, but nothing hits.

How do we have so much forest on a planet with an average surface temperature over 50 degrees celsius, you ask? Well, we're not talking about oaks or pine trees here. Back in the day, the Star League loved their terraforming and genetic engineering.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Whoop, here we go. The Cicada runs over to peck at the allied Crusader. Cylus Maxii engages an enemy Wasp, scoring a solid hit on the left torso with a medium laser. He eats way too much return fire though, a PPC from somewhere, some LRMs, and an AC/5 burst from the Marauder. Physical combat is pretty disappointing, with a lot of kicks and whiffs and not much else.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Oh goody, enemy hovercraft zipping in from the west. That Cicada makes a mess out of the allied formation, putting a laser into a Thunderbolt's head, then lightly tapping the leg. The rookie pilot overcompensates and slams his machine into the ground, cracking the dome wide open. The rest of weapons fire misses entirely, although we do ignite a fire for some smoke cover.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

The enemy Wasp overextends itself a little and catches a salvo of LRMs, stripping armor from the right arm and almost blowing away the weakened left torso. The enemy Quickdraw eats a bunch of lasers from us and has to take a knee, while an allied Thunderbolt takes a number of PPC and laser shots and falls over. Lt. Scrub takes some time off from lasering the Quickdraw to backhand the Wasp as it fires its weapons at her mech's rear, knocking off the right arm, which also takes off the mech's main armament (only a medium laser, but every little bit helps).

Round 8:

Spoiler:

The enemy Warhammer makes his move. Lt. Scrub drills him with two PPCs center of mass, one going to the center torso, the other breaching left torso armor and melting a small laser. The enemy Quickdraw charges up to Xwraith's Thunderbolt, blasting away with medium lasers and SRMs. Even though he takes a hit to the left hand actuator, he calmly turns left and fires the large laser at the enemy mech's right torso. The armor melts and the rest of the energy connects with the SRM/4 ammo bin, blowing about two thirds of the enemy mech away. His cockpit is a sauna, but it was worth it. Cylus Maxii and Hyena also team up on the enemy Warhammer, with Cylus absorbing a good amount of short range firepower. However, armor holds up pretty well. He delivers a solid kick to the larger mech's left leg then jumps away to cool off.

Pro tip: If you eject from your mech, you'll be passing out from heat stroke shortly, as the Quickdraw's ejected mechwarrior finds out.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

The enemy Crusader exposes itself on the near side of the hill and eats a bunch of PPC shots, autocannon rounds and laser beams. Armor holds fine, but the mech is visible staggered and misses its salvo. The liaison finally does something useful and nails the enemy Wasp with his PPC, melting off the damaged right torso - the smaller mech fires off its SRMs at Lt. Scrub, then jumps off into the distance. If he wasn't on "receive only", we'd be hearing "I got him, I got him!"

Round 10:

Spoiler:

The enemy hovercraft have closed in to weapons range, so we're going to have to take care of them as well now. Cylus Maxii goes over to take care of that obnoxious Cicada as it lasers the liaison's Griffin in the back. Cylus' medium laser goes to the smaller mech's right leg, melting armor off. The liaison manages to concentrate long enough to send some LRMs in the direction of a Saracen hovertank, poking some holes in the air cushion to slow it down considerably. He swings with his PPC arm back at the Cicada, but the smaller mech ducks and delivers a solid kick to the right leg.

Hyena takes a large number of SRMs, but ignores the light rumble that they cause. Instead, he points the torso-mounted AC/10 at the adjacent enemy Warhammer and lets rip. The rounds track along the enemy mech's right torso before finding a breach in the armor and lighting off the SRM ammo. That's a major reduction in enemy firepower right there.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Cylus pushes his mech pretty hard in the low-G environment, risking leg actuator damage, but manages to get behind the Cicada. The allied mechs are milling around like idiots, letting a single (lighter) medium mech tie up an entire lance of heavy mechs. It's quite embarrasing, frankly. The little bastard manages to breach the rear armor on one of the Thunderbolts, too, although with Cylus working on him, he takes a head shot and another hit to the right leg, melting a bunch of internals. Our main force spends this round firing on enemy hovercraft to mixed effects - we get some shots, but nothing critical. Xwraith and the Marauder exchange kicks - this is where the Marauder's weaker leg armor is telling, as one of those chicken legs is looking pretty exposed after a kick, while Xwraith's leg is just fine.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

"Oh shit, watch that Saladin!", Lt. Scrub calls out as she fires a PPC and lasers at it. The little tank stops short of the PPC bolt, taking only a laser. Xwraith fires at it as well, missing with the large laser, but hitting a nearby Saracen with his mediums, immobilizing it. Hyena engages the Crusader that approaches him, taking a good dose of SRMs, but his return fire blasts the LRM launcher off the Crusader's right arm. He throws a couple of punches as well, ripping the right arm the rest of the way off.

Cylus, meanwhile, takes the right arm off the Cicada with lasers as it continues running around and working on the allied Thunderbolt, then follows up with a kick to the right torso, stripping armor from there. Despite this, the lighter mech whacks the Thunderbolt's left leg, knocking it on its back.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

The enemy units pull back to regroup and cool down for a few seconds. The enemy Cicada takes more armor off the allied Thunderbolt, but its number finally comes up. Cylus gets around its back again, breaching left torso armor, and an allied Crusader fires its short range weapons, peppering the smaller mech with lasers and SRMs. A couple connect with the head, and the mechwarrior blacks out. As the mech falls down, it crunches a laser, then the Thunderbolt it was shooting turns around and dings the other torso section. Good job, jackass, you can hit an immobile mech with its mechwarrior unconscious. The liaison disables the second Saracen tank with a PPC (although, it wasn't a difficult shot, the hover skirt was already half popped previously). He does manage to step on the Harasser laser platform that strays a little too close, crushing the little hovercraft.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Cylus rejoins the fight, as the allied lance makes their way towards it as well. The Saladin hovers around the side of the hill, trying to get an AC/20 shot in. Instead, it takes a PPC from Lt. Scrub and disintegrates. Hyena is engaged by the Crusader and Marauder, melting armor off the Marauder's right leg with some lasers, and taking a healthy dose of SRMs from the Crusader. Him and the Marauder exchange physical attacks - the enemy mech kicks out with its chicken leg, but Hyena brings his own leg up to block - losing some armor, but then countering and snapping the Marauder's right leg off completely.

Round 15:

Spoiler:

Lt. Scrub leaves the safety of the smoke cloud and runs forward to deliver a PPC bolt to a Scorpion tank, melting armor off one side entirely, causing the tank to retreat. Xwraith fires past the downed Marauder at a Galleon that's trying to provide cover, burning a small hole through the armor with the large laser - the beam makes contact with the fuel tank, and up it goes.

The allied Phoenix Hawk opens up on the downed Marauder, in an effort to convince the mechwarrior to power down. The thing is, though, when you try to stomp a downed, legless mech, miss and fall on your ass, you're not convincing anyone of anything. Xwraith puts his foot down firmly on the heavier mech's right arm, though, pinning the PPC in place and pointing the large laser at the cockpit.

The remainder of the enemy force retreats - a beat-up Crusader, and a bunch of tanks that never quite managed to find their way through the woods to join the fight.

We call in the salvage and transport crews - salvage operations in this environment pretty much require the use of industrial mechs, unless we want the tech crews to pass out the second they step out of their transports.

The allied Thunderbolt is pretty beat up, and our mechs are pretty low on armor, but, other than hand actuator damage, nothing unrepairable. Plus, El Guapo is going to be getting his dream mech (once we get back from this contract anyway, unless we just happen to find parts suitable for rebuilding the right leg on a 75-ton mech with chicken legs). The Marauder is actually the only thing we take from this mission, letting the allied unit handle the wrecked tanks and the (actually, surprisingly, mostly intact Cicada).

-------------------

"You don't think this would have been relevant information *before* we marched our mechs over there, Leftenant?" Gbasden asks. "Not only did we kill a bunch of their people and blow up a their tanks, but one of my aerspace fighters is now a sixty-five ton paperweight! And even if we hadn't gotten into a firefight, they'd already blown the command center wide open!"

"I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't think they'd move this quickly and actually capture that base. And with our communications discipline, I didn't find out until after..." the Lieutenant sighs and shakes his head. "If it goes up before arbitration, I'll see to it that my report absolves you of any responsibility."

"Yeah, you better. These Sword of Light guys are tough enough without us shooting at each other. You need to do your job, Lieutenant, not chase glory and tail."

"Beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. Focus on your job or you'll get us all killed."

[Zenn7]

Then, the shit hits the fan.

"Opfor commander, are you guys with the uh... overlords?"

"Yes..."

"This is uh, this is Lt. Kokawa of the 12th Star Guards. Could you guys stop shooting at us? We're supposed to be on the same side."

Zenn7 rolls his eyes. "Could have fooled me."

We cease fire. Apparently, we've been shooting at friendlies.

What the hell??? Can we spare a tech to set up their <BLEEP> IFF transponders??? I know these are not the elite, but surely some of them most have enough command training to know they need to tell us where they're going in an op like this. <BLEEEEPPPP> morons.

Next time we'll just flatten the idiots and not have to worry about this stupidity any more.

<grumble grumble BLEEP grumble BLLEEEEPPPP BLEEP BLEEP...>

[Zarathud]

The good news is that my targeting systems are perfectly calibrated.

The bad news is paperwork.

[Archinerd]

How do you know PPCs don't work on paperwork, have you tried?

[NickAragua]

I believe there was an exhaustive New Avalon Institute of Science research project carried out on "The Effects of Particle Projection Cannon Blasts on Common Types of Paper". The results were inconclusive due to the unreliable performance of PPCs at short ranges and the researchers recommended the usage of larger-caliber autocannons instead. Not really sure how they got the funding for it in the first place.

April 6, 3032

Having made it through April 1st with a minimum number of "mini SRMs" in the toilets and myomer lubricant-smeared doorknobs, Gbasden takes Alpha lance out on patrol to intercept an enemy unit that's moving around a little too close to our dropships' landing zone. Lt. Allred coordinates aerospace support from the allied units, diligently making sure to spell out targeting and communications protocols. Well, it's something to keep him busy anyway.

Alpha is Gbasden in his Awesome, Isgrimnur in his Vindicator, El Guapo in the Rifleman (we had to forcibly tear him away from longingly staring at the Marauder in a storage bay in the hired Mule) and Stefan taking his Trebuchet out for a second attempt. This time, possibly without the loss of torso and almost every weapon system.

So, of course, as we walk up to a cluster of woods to check some sensor readings, we get bushwhacked. A reinforced lance of tanks powers up, and a pair of heavy mechs. The allied air support is buzzing overhead, but we'll see how helpful they actually are. The main concern is the SRM Carrier that powers up at point blank range to Gbasden's mech. The Dracs also have a Champion and a Thunderbolt, along with a bunch of mostly harmless tanks.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Gbasden is too close to the SRM Carrier to effectively use PPCs on it, so he turns right and blows away the Hunter instead. El Guapo fires at the visible Vedette, hitting with both autocannons and a laser, chewing up armor without breaching it. Then, the SRM Carrier opens up. All things considered, Gbasden got off easily from catching almost a full 60 SRMs to the front - just one dings the head, the rest make his armor look like swiss cheese. He has to take a knee though, that was a serious impact.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"What are those stupid aero jocks doing?" El Guapo wonders idly as the allied Thunderbird passes over the enemy Thunderbolt without firing a shot. The SRM Carrier has managed to survive Stefan's lasers and retargets him. Which leaves its rear open to Gbasden, who drills through the rear armor with a PPC despite the difficulty of shooting one at point blank range, then carves up the engine with the small laser. Stefan is a little bit harder to target than a lumbering Awesome, so he only takes nine SRMs out of sixty as he ducks down into some woods to avoid the barrage, while pegging the nearby Thunderbolt with a couple of lasers. The SRMs do set the woods around him on fire, though. El Guapo and the Condor exchange fire. El Guapo takes a couple of lasers and a burst from the machinegun, then carves the hovertank up with the twin AC/10s.

At this point, the remaining enemy units pull back. I guess that ambush didn't work out as well. We exchange a few parting shots on the way out, but have no interest in pursuit, especially since it may lead to another ambush, and our lead mech is basically a colander at this point.

Gbasden's commentary on the aircraft is telling: "I'd tell them to cease fire, but I don't think they actually ever fired a shot."

The liaison catches up at this point. "Where's the fight?"

Our salvage crews discover an abandoned Scimitar in the woods that managed to impale itself on a large tree trunk, so we grab that and the Condor wreck to strip armor off of. The rest is earmarked for our employer. We strip the armor from our claimed salvage and transfer ownership to the remains to the employer as well, for a nice, quick 300k bonus. Not really sure what to do with the accumulating prisoner population. We've got four tank dudes and a mechwarrior. Traditional etiquette dictates that we can ransom a mechwarrior, but, while the Kuritans are big on honor and all that stuff, they're not very nice to mercs and might just try to ambush us instead. Holding them is kind of annoying but gives our infantry something to do, while executing them is (we're pretty sure, and legal concurs) a violation of the Ares Conventions and is inadvisable.

We log our complaints about the ineffectiveness of the Star Guards air support. Is it possible that we were such poor shots at one point in time? [spoiler alert: our starting crew had only one person with a gunnery of 3, and most were at 4, 5 or 6].

[Paingod]

How do you know PPCs don't work on paperwork, have you tried?

They work best for dotting the i's ... I use SRM's to cross the t's

[Stefan Stirzaker]

I use flamers on paperwork. Gets it done quick

[El Guapo]

El Guapo in the Rifleman (we had to forcibly tear him away from longingly staring at the Marauder in a storage bay in the hired Mule)

I still don't understand why we couldn't just steal it.

[NickAragua]

Well, it is more satisfying to take the mech from a defeated enemy than it is to go down to the local stop & shop. Plus, they don't sell Marauders there anyway.

April 12, 3032
In preparations for further assaults on enemy facilities, we use our Union to deliver Delta lance around an enemy-held chokepoint. We're briefly tempted to descend to shooting range and do some turkey shooting, but it's not really worth the risk. It's still technically a "low-altitude flyover", but we're not intercepted or shot at from the ground. Delta lance disembarks and goes to ground, ready to reinforce any subsequent activity in the sector.

[Sometimes, you get a "move your units to the other side of the map" scenario, and sometimes you get a scenario which allows you to "hot drop" using a dropship. Sometimes, you get the combination of both, which is basically a free win - all you have to do is load your guys in the dropship, fly over at altitude 10 at maximum speed, keeping at least three hexes away from LRM-equipped units. I'll take it!]

April 20, 3032
We deploy Gamma Lance to recon what appears to be an enemy orbital defence facility that has recently come online. Our goal here is to identify the enemy strongpoints and where they've actually got the guns hidden. Needless to say, we will not be sending aerospace assets of any kind into this area (or, anywhere within line of sight of the area), until we neutralize the orbital guns (or confirm that they are not present). Our liaison identifies it as a priority target, and, while he's a green scrub whose mom should be wiping his nose, we definitely don't want our dropship or aerospace units coming under fire from a ground-mounted naval laser or autocannon.

Gamma lance is Lt. Scrub in the Warhammer, Hyena in the Striker, Cylus Maxii in the Phoenix Hawk and Xwraith in the Thunderbolt. Lt. Allred is coming along in the Griffin (and, as usual, we cut his comms to 'receive only' to minimize the chatter). As we approach the facility (quite a large one, covering over a square kilometer), the opfor gets riled up, but it looks like it's mostly light tanks with a couple of mechs for support.

"Now, Ben, are you absolutely, positively sure these guys aren't with the Star Guards?" Lt. Scrub asks before flipping the jury-rigged switch to allow the liaison to send comms.

"Yes - look, the paint jobs are different, and no IFF response. We double-checked the protocols, so we're clear to engage if necessary." The liaison responds. "I've ap..." he's cut off as Lt. Scrub flicks the switch back. Sure he's cute, but it's impossible to focus with all this blathering.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

We're getting used to the low gravity - it actually allows us to maintain a "walking" pace, keeping our mechs cooler to compensate for the increased temperature, and shaking the mech around less so we can have an easier time shooting.

"Got a target building on scope", Cylus calls out. [To accomplish this mission, three out of the four gun emplacements on the map must be identified, which means a unit has to pass by one. Technically they're supposed to be hidden, but I forgot to do that.]

We advance rapidly through the base. Xwraith tags the Skulker in front of him with a large laser to the front, melting a large amount of armor and giving it a flat tire, while Hyena has to duck a bunch of LRMs. Cylus jams a couple of the wheels on the Vedette's right side, while our liaison gets into a fist fight with a Panther. They both connect kicks, but he winds up on the ground.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

... and knocks himself out while trying to get up. The opfor takes the opportunity and starts whaling on his mech - the Saladin takes an arm off, and some other weapons fire breaches armor as well. Our only real success is Hyena cracking the armor on the nearby Vedette and hurting the crew. Cylus and the enemy Griffin brawl a little bit - Cylus takes a couple of seconds to deliver a kick to an annoying nearby Striker tank, slowing it down considerably as wheels fly off, but takes a boot to the right leg, stripping off armor there.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Cylus leaves behind a bunch of enemy tanks and hops over to some nearby buildings to carry out the requisite scans. One of the hovertanks tries to pursue him but we observe a "piff" coming out of the engine, and the vehicle slows down considerably. Xwraith hops over to the middle of the enemy tank formation, hoping to distract them from the liaison's Griffin, breaching the Saladin's armor with his large laser, then crushing it with a boot, but it's no good. The enemy units pile on, firing just about every kind of weapon possible, and the medium mech's center torso simply expires. No ammo explosion, no glorious headshot, just nibbled to pieces by PPCs and SRMs.

Lt. Scrub blasts the Striker, blowing away more wheels, while Cylus takes a moment to laser the nearby J. Edgar and get sensor scans on two of the four target buildings.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Cylus jumps over to the next scan target. "I've got enough sensor data, ma'am!" He reports.

"Understood." Lt. Scrub responds. "Fall back to the east. Covering fire."

Our larger mechs start moving back. Cylus can outmaneuver these slowpoke tanks just fine on his own. The two enemy mechs are reluctant to let us go and jump in to engage. We make them pay - the Griffin takes a PPC from Lt. Scrub, while Xwraith makes good use of his Thunderbolt's multi-trac system to blast the armor off the Griffin's right arm and send LRMs at a distant Skulker, deflating tires and generally slowing it down. Hyena barely even blinks as the Panther's SRMs plink off his armor, then lets rip with a solid autocannon burst, taking the armor off the smaller mech's left torso. The smaller mech tries to trip him up, but he's having none of it and gives it a one-two punch directly to the center torso. The left fist cracks the armor, the right fist rips right through and damages the engine shielding as well as the gyro - the Panther barely remains upright.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

The Panther jets out of there and disappears into the sprawling complex. Well, it tries to, anyway. Hyena smirks as the little mech doesn't quite clear a building and lands on the rooftop. One of the hovertanks pursuing Cylus loses control and slams into a building, putting an end to its pursuit as he jumps clear. As he hops over a small cluster and lands, he takes the time to cut into the rear section of the damaged J. Edgar hovertank, turning it into smoking wreckage. Xwraith takes a couple of LRMs and SRMs, but answers with his own, disabling the Skulker with LRM salvo. Hyena and the Griffin have a PPC shootout, but neither mech lands a shot.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The Striker trundles to a stop in the middle of the street as another LRM salvo from Xwraith's Thunderbolt eliminates the last of its motive systems. The Griffin and Lt. Scrub exchange PPC blasts, with the Griffin coming out slightly behind in terms of overall damage, but landing a kick on Xwraith instead. Armor holds, though.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

We pull back. Xwraith covers Lt. Scrub as she backs her overheating mech up out of the area, zapping armor off the Griffin with lasers and exposing internal structure on the the left arm. Cylus ducks under an AC/5 round and snaps off a large laser shot that goes wide. At this point, we clear the field. The garrison doesn't pursue - a lot of their tanks are heavily damaged an the mechs are just about ready to go down.

The mechs that made it back are patched up in short order, having only taken minor armor damage. The liaison's assistant takes his place temporarily. It's fine, the guy was super annoying anyway, right?

Gbasden - you've got enough experience to improve gunnery or piloting (from 4 to 3 for both), get one of the Terrain Master skills (for better usage of woods, etc) or take tips from Zenn7 on how to shoot accurately when your cockpit turns into a sauna and your computers are running so hot they think 2 + 2 is 3.999984.

Time for some group input:
1) Allied forces have identified the portion of the orbital defence facility where the liaison is being held, and his replacement insists on having us carry out the search and rescue operation ("because the other merc group couldn't carry out a search and rescue even if someone else did it for them"). He also informs us that doing this will divert Kurita attention from another opertaion the Star Guards are carrying out.

2) Meanwhile, Delta lance has spotted a substantial enemy force, and Archinerd requests a lance for fire support to identify the enemy units and conduct detailed scans. While not critical, it'll be helpful to have a detailed breakdown of the enemy forces operating in the theatre, and if we poke them pretty good, they'll be less likely to interfere in future operations.

Which, if any, of these missions should we undertake?

[Freyland]

Since I like seeing my name on the Program, I certainly vote for Delta Lance to rumble.

[gbasden]

I'd like Gunnery 3. I've missed too many easy shots recently.

We should probably rescue the liaison even if he is a PITA. I'm totally game to let Delta get a good look at what we are facing first, though.

[Archinerd]

Sounds like I already made a decision.
Although I can't imagine that the liaison being captured makes us look too good in the eyes of our employer.

[El Guapo]

We can do both, right? Let's do both.

[killbot737]

I gave MekHQ a try last night after being inspired to play more Battletech other than the new game. I completely forgot how brutal the tabletop game is once you start hitting internal structure (and why all my custom mechs were always armored behemoths), and how unforgiving RNGs are! "Needs a 3 to hit. Rolls a 2, miss!"

Also, vehicles are WAY more annoying and dangerous in tabletop than they are in the video games, and standing up is a fuckton harder.

[NickAragua]

Yeah, every once in a while you'll get a swarm of hovercraft on open terrain as the opposing force and man is that unpleasant. +4 or +5 movement mod, and they tend to pack way too many SRMs or AC/20s in some cases.

The flip side of vehicles is that if you actually hit them, they are very easy to immobilize - any time the location roll is a 7 (which is 1/6 odds), you get a roll against the motive system, regardless of how much armor there's left on the tank. The number of times I've seen "motive system damage - vehicle immobile" ...

[NickAragua]

April 24, 3032

It appears that we've kicked over a hornet's nest. Delta reports at least three separate enemy forces, over a regiment in strength in total, in addition to discovering an airbase in the region. Conventional fighters only, but those can still be pretty obnoxious. We deploy Alpha and Beta to the area. Alpha will buzz the airbase to get detailed recon data, Beta will screen Alpha from one of the identified enemy companies while Delta conducts recon on the other enemy units.

The "assistant liaison" wrangles up some Star Guards support for Beta, including an artillery piece. It's a classic, boring Thumper, but nothing wrong with a weapon which launches shells with a 45-meter blast radius.

Unfortunately, the particular enemy group that Delta happens to be tracking has a Pegasus hovertank equipped with a high-end sensor suite and the quiet recon mission turns into a frantic chase. At least we get some artillery support. Delta heads through a heavily wooded area to lose its pursuers, which should be quite doable since they're mostly light tanks and hovercraft, with a pair of mechs for support. Just that there are a lot of them.

Round 1-2:

Spoiler:

We have about twenty seconds to get into the woods before the buzzing enemy swarm arrives.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Here they are. Good part is that we should be able to pound them with allied artillery (a standard, boring, Thumper piece) as they try to track us down. A few loose LRMs fly our way, and we send some back, but mostly we just kill random patches of dirt.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Well, sure, the last three artillery blasts whiffed completely, but at least they didn't hit any of our guys.

Round 5-7:

Spoiler:

We're quite clear of the enemy force actually, but I'm going to play it out for the chance to have the artillery knock out some of those tanks.

Round 8:
An artillery shell lands next to the enemy Crab (for the record, a 5/8 mech with a pair of large lasers) and inflicts minor damage on it and the Galleon. The Crab pilot is shaken around a little but remains conscious.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

An enemy fighter gets an angle on us through the woods and fires on Paingod's Griffin. As it weaves to dodge Freyland's LRMs, Paingod launches his own salvo, blasting the little Defender fighter in the back with a six-pack of LRMs, stripping what little armor there is on its rear end.

"Delta Aux, cease fire. We're clear of pursuit. Thanks for the uh... help." Archinerd calls out, barely managing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Having lost their pursuers, and only expended a couple of LRM salvos, Delta is still basically at 100%, so they'll be backing up Alpha's run at the airbase.

[NickAragua]

April 26, 3032
Four hours later

Alpha lance has the job of buzzing the enemy air base. The good part is that the liaison was able to coordinate a Star Guards unit to reinforce Alpha, and Delta will be assisting as well. The bad part is that this means the "buzzing" is going to turn into a company-level action. There's a pretty substantial garrison, and there's a good chance that they'll be able to scramble some of the aircraft. Also, the Star Guards are sending a Hunter tank, a Pegasus, a J. Edgar and a Darter Scout Car. Well, I guess it technically was supposed to be a recon mission.

The Darter's sensor suite proves to be useful and we're able to identify most of the enemy opfor. Mostly light and medium tanks, a pair of bug mechs with a pair of weapons carriers and two heavy mechs for support.

Normally, for a recon mission, we would want to identify critical facilities then retreat and either come back later or say screw it we don't need to blow this up. However, we a) don't like aircraft buzzing us all the time and b) we're here with sufficient force to finish the job anyway. So, our secondary objective is to simply blow away all these units and any critical infrastructure we find.

On the plus side, it looks like we caught the actual aircraft with their pants down, still in hangars. Except for a couple. Well, it makes sense, it's the middle of the night. At least the moon is shining. We may have to set some of the buildings on fire for lighting, though.

Alpha lance is Gbasden in the Awesome, Isgrimnur in the Vindicator, El Guapo in the Rifleman and Stefan in the Trebuchet. Gbasden's been practicing his gunnery and punching ["melee specialist" trait, +1 damage to melee attacks and -1 to the "to hit" target], so he's swinging his mech's fists around like a boxer getting ready for a fight. Delta lance is one minute out, and, as usual, is Archinerd in a Dervish, Freyland in a Quickdraw, Madmarcus in a Wolverine and Paingod in a Griffin. We deploy along two of the runways, with the allied units next to us. Archinerd's lance will deploy further east when they get here.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

The opfor gets a good start, as a J. Edgar hovertank, its driver apparently having not woken up yet, crashes into a building. Gbasden gets pelted by SRMs from the fighters for little effect, then fires his PPCs at a Saladin that comes around a corner, hitting with one. Armor melts off, but the tank remains intact. El Guapo's searchlight is pretty effective, but Isgrimnur's LRMs go wide - the range is just too long.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

El Guapo lights up a Saladin with the search light, and him and Isgrimnur focus their long-range fire. They ding the armor but the hovertank remains intact. El Guapo takes a single laser shot from a nearby Wasp, but his armor is a little thicker than that. Gbasden is more effective shooting at his target, punching through the right side with the PPC - Stefan's lasers have nothing to hit by the time he gets around to firing.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

El Guapo's mech takes a nasty hit from the Saladin's AC/20, ripping armor off the left torso and knocking out both the searchlight and a medium laser. The impact causes his mech to stagger and his shots to go wide, but Isgrimnur is on the ball - a PPC shot evaporates the nearby Harasser while his LRMs break through the weakened armor on the front of the Saladin and take it out. Gbasden blows away the Darter, clearing the southwest section of the base. Stefan trades LRMs with a distant Hunter, but neither hits.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

El Guapo takes a step to the side to cool off and catch his breath while Isgrimnur works on the Skulker down the road. It's surprisingly tough for a "scout car", taking a PPC and three LRMs to the front without even so much as blinking. Without the searchlight, it's a little harder to see, so not much else hits.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Delta lance arrives and charges in, as the opfor falls back. A single Wasp jumps out in front of Stefan and is instantly taken apart by Gbasden's PPCs - the entire right side of the mech pretty much comes apart under the sustained onslaught. The little mech tilts to the right, falls over and stops moving as its center torso section crunches against the pavement.

El Guapo turns west to fire at a fighter zipping by, scoring a good hit on the right wing with the AC/10, breaching armor and damaging the internal structure. The fighter still manages to score some good hits on the allied J. Edgar hovertank, poking a hole in its hover skirt. Combined with weapons fire and a boot from the nearby Locust, the little dork is basically dead in the water. The other fighter strafes the allied Pegasus, causing one of the SRM launchers to jam.

Well, not like they were doing anything useful anyway.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

We advance and mix it up. El Guapo breaks into the alley to the left to bail out the allied Galleon, blasting away at the Locust with his AC/10s as he rounds the corner. The right torso armor peels off, and the mech's machine gun ammo detonates, providing some nice lighting. Stefan runs in and starts working on the LRM Carrier, peeling off armor with medium lasers as it fires its LRMs at the distant allied Pegasus. He follows up with a boot to crunch through the front side and eliminate the vehicle entirely. The rest of weapons fire is somewhat underwhelming. Isgrimnur takes a couple of minor shots while Paingod fires at the Galleon harassing him, melting most of the armor off the front. Archinerd targets a fighter strafing Freyland, scoring some good hits with LRMs on the left side - the armor flakes off, leaving the pilot breathing some fresh air.

When it comes to kicking though, we do pretty well. Isgrimnur boots aside a Skulker as it tries to drive by, firing at Paingod.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

Stefan trips over the wreckage of the LRM Carrier as he tries to head east, so he gets up and switches directions, heading north instead to take out the SRM Scorpion. It gets the drop on him though, unleashing a full salvo of SRMs - the right arm armor reads as gone. Gbasden retaliates, plowing PPCs into it to melt it down in combination with Stefan and Freyland's lasers.

El Guapo fires away at the Harasser zipping up to Isgrimnur, annihilating it in a flurry of autocannon rounds. Madmarcus' large laser passes right through where the tank once was, scorching the pavement instead. Archinerd scores some solid LRM hits on a distant Vedette, damaging the treads. Freyland's boot strips the armor off the rear of the laser carrier, and the vehicle begins a rapid retreat.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Stefan backs up towards what looks like a mech hangar and gets some suspicious sensor readings. Whoop, there's the power generators and everything. They even have a powered-down Crusader in there! Freyland also gets a solid reading on a critical building as he jumps over to take care of a loose Vedette.

Technically, we could just leave now. But we've got them on the ropes and have only taken minor damage, so we're going to polish these guys off. Especially after one of the little turds gets an AC/5 hit on Archinerd's Dervish, taking out an LRM/10 launcher. Gbasden blasts a Galleon apart while sparing the small laser for a Hunter tank.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Holy crap! I can't believe it! One of the allied units actually did something other than shoot at the air, stumble around aimlessly or get shot! The allied Hunter fires a salvo of LRMs at the enemy Hunter that we've got cornered and immobilizes it. El Guapo blows away the Vedette that's rolling around next to Madmarcus' mech, as Madmarcus lasers the Hunter as well. Freyland takes a couple of AC/5 rounds from the nearby turret, but finishes the dance with his target Vedette, breaching armor with lasers then sending SRMs into the breach to wreck the engine. Paingod aims his PPC at the Vedette to the west, detonating the fuel tank with the resulting armor blowthrough. We take some minor hits, but it's all armor.

Gbasden and Archinerd work on collapsing some of the generator buildings, but they're tough and we'd probably benefit from some analysis of sensor data. Really, we just want to bring down the turrets shooting at us. Gbasden takes a moment to stomp on a Scimitar zipping by, wedging it in between a surprisingly sturdy streetlamp and a nearby building. Stefan unloads on the turret targeting him, damaging its rotation mechanism.

At this point, all mobile enemy units have been disabled or destroyed. Except for the two unpowered mechs stuck in their bays. We get on the loudspeaker and offer them the opportunity to walk away with their mechs. These guys being Kurita, they wouldn't have gone for an offer of surrender. Even as it is, someone's probably going to have to kill themselves for this failure. After some waffling, the mechs and their tech crews walk away, leaving the grounded aircraft to fend for themselves.

We slag everything we can and get salvage in there to pick up the wrecks, but being deep in enemy territory with the enemy force that Delta encountered, we don't have the time to linger. We grab about half the tanks to strip armor off of and leave the rest for the allies (and/or earmarked for the employer). Once we get back to civilization, the rest of the parts will sell for about three quarters of a million C-Bills, which isn't too bad. We've got plenty of spare parts for the Dervish and Rifleman, so they'll be back in business in no time.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Ugh i hate it when you get LRM carrier stuck to your foot

[NickAragua]

You think that's bad, try stepping into an SRM Carrier.

April 27, 3032
As Alpha and Delta begin returning to base, Beta screens them and the salvage convoy from a third enemy force - a lance of heavy mechs (mostly), backed up by some hovercraft and weapons carriers. And a lance of heavy tanks. Archinerd's lance is still mostly undamaged, so they swing over to join the fight while Alpha proceeds back to base. We pick a building complex as our interception point, as it's good to have plenty of cover.

Our goal here is two-fold: "tag" enemy units with weapons fire, spotting or physical attacks ("for identification"), and give them a bit of a bloody nose so they back off.

As a reminder, Beta is Zenn7 and Zarathud in Awesomes, LordMortis in a Hunchback, "not-so-green" rookie in a Blackjack. Delta, well, they've been in the last two missions.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our heavies approach from the north side of the town while the Blackjack flanks from the east. The opfor approaches from the southwest.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

The opfor is a little spread out.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Audio sensors pick up a screech and a crash to the west.

Round 4:
The opfor is still hanging out on the far side of town. We're going to have to provoke them.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Delta lance arrives in "parade formation" and moves rapidly to join the "battle". Well, actually, we do make contact with the enemy force. An enemy Galleon tank moves into town and gets blown apart by Zarathud's PPCs. LordMortis plows through the south end of town. The Manticore there hits him in the right leg with a PPC shot, then takes a burst from the AC/20, seriously chewing up turret armor. Then, a plink by one of LM's medium lasers cuts the tank's treads in half, and the crew can't scramble out fast enough. A salvo of LRMs goes flying overhead, indicating that sticking around may not be the best plan.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

An enemy Wasp tries to slow down Zarathud as he advances through the town with Delta lance at his back. It's a fools errand, but you have to admire the little bug mech's spirit. It doesn't work out well for him. Madmarcus fires every gun on his mech at the building on which the Wasp lands - he'll have to take a turn to cool off, but the building begins wobbling. A PPC blast from Paingod's Griffin reduces its structural integrity to the point where it collapses. Freyland uses this opportunity to pump lasers and LRMs into the little bug mech, melting through the center torso armor and damaging a lot of internal components. As the building comes down, the Wasp's left torso section is mangled, and the left arm comes off. "Most unwise" indeed.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

As the Wasp tries to get up, its center torso section can't take the stress and the mech basically falls apart. Zenn7 has had enough of that LRM Carrier pelting him with missiles from long range, so he takes it apart with PPCs as he gets closer. LordMortis engages the Partisan and Tokugawa heavy tanks, causing minor damage to the Partisan's motive system as his AC/20 burst goes wide.

The Tokugawa TKG-150 is a 60-ton machine, with this particular variant packing a turret-mounted AC/10 and SRM/6 launcher. Better than the TKG-151 variant, that dumb thing has two AC/2s. The Partisan is basically a quad-cannon technical, except it weighs 80 tons and packs four AC/5s. Mostly useful against lighter aircraft.

As LordMortis gets in there and mixes it up with the enemy tanks at short range, a pair of enemy heavy mechs arrive to the west, and the remaining enemy units begin retreating. We were unable to get full scans on even half of them before they bugged out, but we did manage to give them a bloody nose to keep them away from our other units heading back to base. The salvage team diverts a couple of flatbed trucks so our guys can load the wrecks. We claim the disabled Manticore, earmarking the rest for our employer. Well, realistically, we just take the armor off the Manticore then shove the rest of the chassis into the Mule as well to sell it off later.

[xwraith]

A Partisan could be useful if we were trying to hold a LZ against enemy air.

Time to add a Defend Base/LZ mode to a unit in the Megamek campaign

[NickAragua]

We're working on it.

Preferably though, we don't have to defend our base of operations directly. It's a little risky. What if those scrubs get lucky and take down something important?

April 27, 3032
Orbital Defence Complex

At Lt. Scrub's "strong insistence", Gamma lance is assigned to engage the garrison at the orbital defence facility. The idea here is to keep the garrison occupied so that the Star Guards units can go about their business elsewhere. Our secondary goal is to get our rescue team into and out of the building where our employer's liaison is being held. We've got a Ferret carrying a squad of jump infantry ready to go. Ideally we'll clear some space, then the Ferret will zip in, drop the infantry, then circle around to pick them up. Hopefully it goes better than the last time we tried that. The target building is way in the back of the base, so the Ferret will go in while the enemy force is occupied up front.

Gamma is Hyena in the Striker, Cylus Maxii in the Phoenix Hawk, Xwraith in the Thunderbolt and Lt. Scrub in the Warhammer. The garrison appears to have reinforced a bit since the last time we were here. We give the liaison's assistant one of our spare Griffins so he can hang out at long range and provide fire support (let's be honest, her gunnery is even worse than the liaison's).

The opfor is the standard gaggle of tanks and hovercraft, supported by the Panther and Griffin from the last time we engaged this facility. Our main concerns initially are the dual PPC turret and the hovercraft. We only have to engage the enemy for a brief period of time, but we do have to make it look good.

We're engaging an outlying part of the facility located in a deep crater. A former quarry, maybe?

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our heavier units advance from the south, with Cylus flanking around the west. The Ferret is intercepted by a Peregrine VTOL which isn't great. Cylus ignores the pitter patter of AC/2 rounds and LRMs against his armor and lines up a perfect shot on a Pegasus down the hill, coring out the engine. As we exchange mostly ineffective fire with the enemy force, the liaison's assistant surprises us by lining up a perfect PPC shot on a distant AC/2 carrier. The blue bolt melts most of the front armor, then the LRMs go internal and take the vehicle apart. Ok then.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

We move eastwards. The enemy tanks have trouble getting up the hill, so we're not getting shot up as badly as we could be. We inflict some damage but fail to breach armor.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

The Peregrine doggedly pursues our Ferret. There's no way that we can unload the rescue squad without them getting mowed down by the Peregrine's machineguns, so the Ferret heads back towards our mechs to see if our guys can't do something about it. The enemy Griffin decides to jump in and brawl. Unfortunately for him, Hyena and Lt. Scrub are paying attention and deliver a large number of lasers, PPC blasts and autocannon rounds, knocking it over. The right arm and left torso armor is breached, and then Xwraith reaches over to the fallen mech (since it's right there anyway) and pulls the arm off entirely, taking the PPC with it.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Cylus manages to distract the Peregrine, so the Ferret is now free to fly in. It's somewhat of a relief when you get about twent target lock warnings, but then when the incoming rounds hit, they're only AC/2s. Lt. Scrub avoids most of the serious enemy fire and returns a PPC bolt at the Saladin, taking it down. Hyena lets rip with the AC/10 and lasers and breaches the front armor, damaging the drive train on a Vedette - the tank starts trundling down the hill, belching black smoke. The liaison assistant fires another solid PPC shot, blasting the LRM/10 launcher off a Striker tank.

The rescue squad unloads from the Ferret but gets caught in a rocket barrage from the nearby turret. Still, enough survive that they'll be able to carry out the search and rescue. On the plus side, the rocket launcher is a one-shot weapon, so the Ferret can just hang out down there.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

"We are in the building and working our way towards the holding cells. Took heavy casualties on the drop." the jump squad reports. The Ferret circles around to the pickup area on the other side.

Lt. Scrub backs up a little to avoid getting the same fusilade of fire she received earlier. It doesn't help, she takes multiple SRMs and autocannon fire slowly peels off her armor. She scores a solid PPC and medium laser hit at a nearby Condor tank, damaging the air ducts but not disabling it. Cylus hops in on a quad LRM turret, blasting away with lasers. Going to take a while to bring that building down. Hyena moves up and spins up his AC/10, taking down the Pike support vehicle firing at us.

The enemy Panther jumps in. The mech is basically glowing red from overheating, so he doesn't fire any weapons, but does get a kick in on Hyena's right arm. Hyena catches the leg with one of his arms and wrenches it, damaging the foot actuator and sending the smaller mech to the ground.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Cylus jumps around the northern flank of the enemy mobile force, pinching them in, scoring a laser hit on a Scimitar hover tank. Lt. Scrub lines up a pair of PPC shots on the damaged Striker, melting off all the armor on the left side. Hyena takes a nasty SRM salvo from the enemy Panther, damaging his hand and upper arm actuator on the right arm. To add insult to injury, a Saracen hovertank zips in, firing SRMs at the same time as Hyena focuses in on it with lasers. The lasers destroy the hovertank's air ducts, deflating the air cushion, but one of its SRMs hits the Striker's head and Hyena blacks out. Xwraith takes the Panther down though, removing the left leg with lasers. The enemy Griffin makes an effort to stomp on Hyena's mech, but it's hampered somewhat when Xwraith breaks through its right leg armor, busting up the hip and foot actuator (pulling a leg muscle is no joke, fellas), and the enemy mech has to take a knee.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

"Rescue squad, status update!" calls out Lt. Scrub.

"Encountering resistance. We're going to need a minute."

"You don't have a minute. You have thirty seconds."

Hyena's mech gets pounded - the left leg takes some actuator damage and the armor comes off the right torso. Xwraith continues covering him, firing at the enemy Griffin - the 55-ton mech's left arm is destroyed, and the right leg comes off under the laser onslaught, bringing it down to the ground. Lt. Scrub puts a PPC onto the downed enemy Panther, which finally ceases firing after that.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Hyena wakes up to find his mech face down on the ground, surrounded by disabled enemies.

"Did I do that?" He wonders before slowly bringing his mech back up, before staggering as another laser blast drills into his shoulder actuator. Xwraith is able to disable the offending Condor, melting armor and motive systems, but the damage is already done. To the north, Cylus has managed to engage the rest of the enemy units, keeping the busy for the most part.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

"Shit, the Peregrine's back!"

"Hey, get back here and pick us up, asshole!"

The S&R squad is obviously having fun.

Xwraith is on a roll today, meanwhile. As Cylus continues firing up his jump jets, engaging Vedettes, dodging PPC blasts and LRM salvos, he nails one of the Vedettes with dual medium lasers, stunning the crew, while damaging the treads with a boot. Xwraith then cores out the engine on an adjacent Vedette. Hyena gets in on the action too, firing his PPC at the quad LRM turret that's been plowing LRMs into us for a while - the shot goes directly through the gunner's seat and the turret slumps down.

Round 10:
The enemy force is looking a little ragged. "This is Ferret, we've got the S&R guys on board. Target acquired as well."

Cylus Maxii takes a couple of good shots from the distant PPC turret, and we're unable to get good shots on the remaining enemy units.

"Allied forces have accomplished their mission. Time to leave." The liaison informs us.

And that's what we do. The enemy force isn't much shape to pursue.

Hyena's broken collar bone will keep him out for about three weeks. His mech is mostly serviceable, except for the shoulder actuator on the right arm. It won't affect his ability to fire weapons or anything though, so it should be fine. Unless something breaches the armor, then that arm is just going to come off. The end of the week is spent frantically patching mechs back up, but we get it done before sending everyone back out again.

LordMortis, you can improve gunnery or piloting (both are currently identical). Which one?

Also, while Hyena convalesces, we'll need to bring our spare mechwarrior and a spare mech out of storage. Which will it be?

1) Stalker (85 ton death trap with ammo in the arms and heat issues, but a lot of guns and armor)
2) Hermes 2S (6/9, 40 tons, AC/5 and medium laser for main armament, with a flamer for backup vs infantry)
3) Shadow Hawk 2K (5/8/3, PPC and LRM/5, Paingod's old ride)
4) Centurion CN9-A (Standard 4/6, 50 tons, AC/10, 2x medium laser and LRM/10 for weapons)
5) Trebuchet TBT-5S (5/8, 2x SRM/6, 3x Medium Laser)

We also have some bug mechs, a pair of Firestarters, a Commando and a Brutus Assault Tank (a 75-ton monstrosity with two PPCs on a turret and two SRM/6 launchers facing forward). Of course, our experience fielding vehicles ourselves has been... less than stellar.

[Hyena]

Well dammit. Now that I read that AAR, I know I *didn't* throw of a Death Blossom and kill all those guys around me. Thanks for the backup, XWraith. I take back all those bad things Cylus paid me to tape on the inside of your cockpit.

I vote we re-field that Centurion. If it's the one I piloted before my Striker, that is one solid sucker.

[El Guapo]

Well, how much do we like the spare MechWarrior? If we rebrand "death trap" as "thrilling edge-of-your-seat ride", he might go for it.

[xwraith]

I’d say the Centurian would be a good choice.

[Archinerd]

Centurion doesn't have jump jets, but otherwise a good pick I think.

[Paingod]

I like big lumbering death traps and things with jump jets, but the Centurion would work too as long as it's not in the front line (I imagine with those weapons, it's either light on armor or really hot). Not really any bad choices (in my head).

[El Guapo]

C'mon, if we're not going to USE the death trap, what's the point in having it around? The MechWarrior will blow up a bunch of things for us, and then once he departs like a candle in the wind, then we'll get a new MechWarrior.

[NickAragua]

Sounds like we have a volunteer for the Stalker, everyone!

[El Guapo]

Sounds like we have a volunteer for the Stalker, everyone!

I mean, I'd love to, but my good friend Spare MechWarrior and I were talking, and he REALLY wants to pilot it. So like, I couldn't in good faith take it when I know that my good buddy Spare MechWarrior wants to.

[Hyena]

Sounds like we have a volunteer for the Stalker, everyone!

I mean, I'd love to, but my good friend Spare MechWarrior and I were talking, and he REALLY wants to pilot it. So like, I couldn't in good faith take it when I know that my good buddy Spare MechWarrior wants to.

I think the only thing I've ever seen crawfish faster is an actual crawfish.