After some discussion, we come up with the following plan - Delta and Beta will split the difference on dropship defense. Delta-One and Delta-Two will handle the Kurita forces marching across Emil sector, Beta-One will borrow one of Beta-Three's mechwarriors and go level the command center, while Beta-Two handles Friedrich sector. Delta One/Two and Beta-Two will be assisted by Lyran forces already in the area.
Gamma-three will hit the artillery base, Gamma-Two will attempt to capture the supply depot while Gamma-One will hit the mech base with artillery support. Gamma-Air will be on station to provide air support as needed. The 14th Donegal will be sending two lances to help as well. It'll be a little bit more difficult with the comm center providing coordination for the Kurita forces, but doable.
May 21, 3039
Gamma's assault on the mech base and supporting facilities encounters some initial difficulties - as the Lyran forces move in, a Kurita dropship zips in to let out a swarm of reinforcements. The allied forces call in air support. Gamma-Air is on the job, but before they get there, they are engaged by a Kurita air patrol, and our Slayer winds up having to fight off a light aircraft, while loaded down with bombs. But the aero jock gets it done. The Kurita force turns out to have been a lot smaller than the Lyrans made it sound, and the dropship was a Leopard. Once our aircraft show up and begin their bombing runs, the Kurita guys leave pretty quick. But the delay prevents the Lyran units from join Gamma's assault on the mech base complex. On the plus side, we'll have two aircraft with a full bomb load (and minor armor damage) to support whichever elements of Gamma need it.
Gamma-Three fails to destroy the artillery base. The early night-time raid was a good idea on paper, the goal being to simply jump in, blast the ammo stores, then get out, but the Kurita guys were smart enough to park a lance of artillery tubes a few kilometers away. They shell Gamma-Three on approach, and although our lance manages to disable or destroy three artillery tubes and wreck a few ammo dumps (most of the damage actually done by friendly fire), the base remains functional. Our lance takes catastrophic damage, losing the Ostscout and its mech jock and the Griffin (with the mechwarrior being captured). The Phoenix Hawk and Spider both return to base with severe engine damage. Still, the damage prevents the artillery base from deploying its artillery tubes in time to support the other places Gamma is attacking.
When Gamma-One attacks, the mech base is home to a heavy mech lance, a light mech lance, some garrison tanks and two heavy aircraft flying air support (just happen to arrive at the right time). Gamma-One itself is Hyena back in the Striker, Scrub/Warhammer, Cylus/Grasshopper and Xwraith/Thunderbolt. All we *really* need to do is spot for the artillery so they can blow the base to bits, but if we can get some salvage, so much the better.
Round 1:
We move into a patch of woods and are engaged by lighter enemy units. A Saladin zips in and takes some lasers from Cylus, puffing air and metal chunks out of its skirt. Cylus also sends some missiles at an approaching Panther, the hits clustering around the head.
Scrub and Xwraith engage a Grasshopper in the distance, scoring hits with PPCs and the ER laser respectively, peeling off about two tons of armor.
Hyena's mech rattles a little as a Slayer flies overhead, spoiling his aim with the AC/10. He nails it with a PPC in the tailpipe, though. The aircraft buckles but the aero jock retains control.
Round 2:
Here's something you don't see every day. A Catapult CPLT-K2, otherwise known as a "Katapult". When house Kurita was running low on LRMs, some engineers got the bright idea to take the LRM launchers off a Catapult's shoulders and put PPCs there. Well, the PPCs were pretty heavy and required way more heat sinks, so they took the jump jets off, too, and half the lasers. Then, somebody's cousin probably owned a factory that makes machine guns, so they shoved a pair of those in there too. The twin PPCs make it a dangerous long-range unit.
Cylus jumps clear of the Saladin. The hovertank blasts Scrub's Warhammer with its AC/20, stripping most of the armor off the right arm, but is then zapped with another laser salvo from our Grasshopper, taking it out. A Locust runs up to Hyena, hitting the 80-ton Striker with a laser and some machine gun bursts. Hyena replies by spinning up the autocannon and cracking open the bug mech's right torso, detonating the on-board MG ammo. That's one mech down.
Round 3:
Artillery shells from our battery starts coming down, the Long Tom causing armor and tread damage to a cluster of mechs and tanks.
Scrub's left arm comes off under fire from a large cluster of hostiles plus a Slayer aircraft. She scowls, bringing her remaining PPC to bear on the aerospace fighter and blasts it in the undercarriage. Something puffs out the back, then it corkscrews into the ground right behind the Warhammer.
Hyena and Cylus focus fire on a Panther, blasting armor off the torso and a few of Cylus' LRMs blowing out a heat sink. The loss of armor causes the light mech to stagger and fall face first, where it stops moving for a little bit, presumably the mechwarrior blacked out.
Xwraith surgically cuts armor off a nearby Wasp's right leg with the ER laser, then stomps on a nearby Harasser, flattening it between the ground and the Thunderbolt's 65-ton foot.
Round 4:
A Long Tom round comes flying in slightly off-target and lands right on top of an unfortunate Harasser, which completely disappears as the on-board ammo (two tons' worth) and fuel add to the artillery shell explosion.
Cylus jumps in to cover Scrub as she pulls back - the Warhammer's right arm takes serious damage as well, one of the actuator snapping under fire from the Katapult. Cylus' fire takes the left arm off a nearby Wasp, then a kick removes the bug mech's left leg, sending it flopping to the ground.
Xwraith jumps forward, disabling a Maxim hover transport with short range laser fire, then stomping a couple of SRM-toting infantry as they clamber out.
Round 5:
Scrub backs the Warhammer up some more, getting ready to retreat. Despite the arm actuator damage, she zaps a nearby Scimitar tank with the PPC, disabling it. A few laser shots from Xwraith reinforce the vehicle's immobility.
Cylus jumps back, firing at some woods to try to put an impromptu smoke screen between our mechs and the enemy swarm - a large laser and an LRM/5 salvo target the Katapult beyond the woods. The laser flakes some armor off the left leg, then the LRMs impact the center torso. It seems like it'd just be a little plink, the Katapult is pretty heavily armored, but it explodes instead. I guess putting that MG ammo there didn't pay off.
To the south, Hyena's Striker beeps at him, reporting a right torso armor breach. He ignores it, blasting the offending Pegasus hovertank, plowing through armor and internal structure with the autocannon. A few blasts from the laser set the nearby woods on fire, forming a smoke screen with better success than Cylus had.
Round 6:
We create another smoke screen but not much happens otherwise, other than some armor blasting, although Hyena does get into a brawl with a Panther in the smoke, knocking it down to a knee.
Round 7:
A Jenner charges through the smoke and Cylus sweeps lasers across its legs, taking nearly all the armor off and damaging internals. Xwraith grunts as SRMs and lasers impact around the cockpit, but finishes Cylus' work, taking the Jenner's leg off at the hip. The mech crushes its right-side weapons as it falls.
Hyena backs up a little and cores out the Panther with a laser and autocannon combo.
Round 8:
There's nothing quite like seeing an infantry platoon caught in the open by a shell from a Long Tom, and Scrub cringes as PBIs go flying everywhere.
Hyena continues the game of cat and mouse in the smoke, poking out to blow up a Scorpion tank as it fires LRMs at Cylus. The Grasshopper is a little bit beleaguered as it gets strafed by the remaining Slayer. The enemy aircraft weathers the return fire and flies off for another pass. The Jenner is being pokey, so it gets a boot to crush the right torso section.
Round 9:
Hyena's mech staggers as the enemy Warhammer bursts through the smoke and unloads short-range weapons. Two heat sinks burst, as well as the PPC. The return fire fails to breach armor, although a boot nearly strips the enemy heavy's right leg.
Xwraith plays hide and seek with the enemy Grasshopper. The ER laser's superior accuracy comes into play as it goes in center of mass, and the Grasshopper lurches and drops to its knees - the beam cuts through the enemy mech's large laser barrel, and its heat readings spike as well.
Cylus jumps south, turning the Grasshopper's lasers on a Harasser, cutting it to bits. The Slayer tries to strafe him but is deterred by a PPC shot from Scrub's Warhammer.
Round 10:
The smoke is becoming a little too crowded, so Hyena steps out and blasts a Galleon tank to bits with the autocannon.
Scrub engages a Crusader, the Warhammer's short-range assault throwing off the enemy mech's aim as it targets Cylus, then stomps on a nearby Vedette, immobilizing it. Cylus' Grasshopper still takes a hit to the arm from one of the Kurita Thunderbolts, blowing out an actuator.
Round 11:
Cylus moves to back Hyena up, detonating a Striker light tank when one of the Grasshopper's lasers connects to its fuel lines. Hyena's mech shudders as that damn Slayer comes back for another strafing run, and the indicators for the right side go black. At least he gets off a last salvo against the nearby Panther, laying it out on its ass. At that point, Cylus capitalizes by stomping on its chest and crushing pretty much every major internal component.
Scrub shakes her head at this point. Our artillery just isn't being accurate enough, and we're taking too much damage. It's time to pull out.
Round 12:
As we pull back, Cylus gets a good shot on the enemy Warhammer, jumping over it through the smoke and blowing out its SRM ammo, sending debris sky-high.
The Crusader chases Scrub and Xwraith through the smoke, taking a significant amount of damage but disabling Scrub's second PPC. Xwraith opens up with every laser, then boots it, causing the enemy mech to stagger and drop to a knee.
Round 13:
The Crusader struggles up and backs out, to be replaced by a Thunderbolt. Xwraith engages the enemy mech, but the 5S model has more firepower, at the expense of not having jump jets, plus our mech is more damaged. Still, no armor breaches yet.
Cylus takes down a Galleon tank that lingers in the woods a little too long.
Round 14:
That Thunderbolt chasing Xwraith and Scrub through the smoke overshoots its capabilities a little. Xwraith runs around the back of the enemy mech, distracting it with rear attacks, then Scrub sends a fusillade of short range fire at the enemy mech. In addition to the severe leg damage from MG fire and SRMs, one SRM gets through the center torso armor plating and shatters the gyro. Leg actuators crack as the mech keels over.
Round 15:
I guess we didn't withdraw so much as pull back into a bunch of smoke and start picking the Kurita guys off one by one. Cylus picks off a Scorpion tank with ease, while Scrub and Xwraith blast the Crusader as it wanders back into the smoke, inflicting multiple armor breaches. Scrub holds its attention while Xwraith kicks the leg out from under it, the heavy mech crushing its right arm as it topples.
Round 16:
That Slayer comes around for another pass, firing lasers and SRMs at Cylus' Grasshopper, scoring some hits. Xwraith has had enough of it and locks on LRMs, a good number of missiles impacting the enemy aircraft. The aerospace fighter's engine goes out and it goes down.
Unfortunately, it goes down right into Cylus' mech, bouncing off before both the fighter and the mech fall to the ground.
Round 17:
The legged Crusader starts moving around again and pointing its remaining weapons where it shouldn't, so Scrub unloads on it. A machine gun burst hits the Crusader's MG ammo storage bin, and up it goes.
Round 18:
Cylus wakes up, feeling a little groggy. The mech's damage readouts are basically entirely in the red, except for the legs, which are intact for some reason. The right arm is missing entirely, as is a large chunk of torso structure. It's time for the Grasshopper to retire honorably from the field while the remaining enemy units are otherwise occupied.
Scrub takes out the nearby Galleon tank as it approaches the smoke cloud, her Warhammer's short ranged weapons remaining just as effective despite the loss of the two PPCs. Xwraith engages the enemy Thunderbolt, causing major armor loss, and making the enemy mechwarrior fall over.
Round 19, 20:
Xwraith briefly steps out of the smoke, taking some fire and delivering a laser blast plus LRMs to the Scimitar. All damage is absorbed by armor, however. The mechwarrior in the enemy Thunderbolt moves into the smoke, hoping to get the drop on Scrub, but she's ready and her short range weapons blow out one of the Kurita mech's lasers. Not the big one, but still. Whereas the enemy mechwarrior must be sweating balls by now, Scrub is keeping nice and cool, as she's got no PPCs to fire. A match up of Thunderbolt and Scimitar hovertank vs Thunderbolt and damaged Warhammer doesn't end well, the enemy mech's left torso ruined and all lasers but one inoperative.
This leaves a crappy hovertank and two treadheads who spent the time cowering in the base as artillery shells rained around them. The base is pretty wrecked at this point, so we allow the Thunderbolt to grab its left arm and withdraw. The enemy mechwarrior bows to Scrub as he leaves. It's just as well, that was her last SRM salvo. While we're distracted though, the Slayer that bounced off of Cylus manages to fire up its engines and performs a rough ground take off.
What a goddamn meat grinder. But at least we won. And even better, some of the buildings remain intact, so we can salvage some spare parts and ammo, in addition to anything we may or may not get from the supply depot. Unit salvage is pretty good, we pick up the downed Slayer for spare parts for our aircraft, and the gyro'd Thunderbolt, because you can never have enough Thunderbolts. Gamma-One is probably going to be out for a while though as we organize repairs.
Cylus was the MVP on this one, taking down a whopping nine enemy units, including four mechs. Our artillery guys, meanwhile, need to work on their targeting. Scrub spends the whole trip back to base giving the artillery guys an earful. "Not that I don't appreciate you guys scattering that infantry platoon to the four winds, but you assholes fired off sixty three Thumper rounds and twenty one Long Tom rounds, and all you have to show for it is a little armor damage and some dead infantry? Come on!"