Battletech Campaign #2: "There will be consequences."

My son agonized over which of the two possible missions to take for our second Battletech campaign mission. He was tempted by the opportunity to knock out a lone elite pirate mech before it rejoined its comrades, but opted to defend the nearby logging outpost against a pirate counterattack.

With his mercenary company Fire lance being repaired, and an understrength Security lance guarding their dropship, the Raiders opted to send their main Battle lance to blunt the pirate counterattack. Commander Razor would lead the mechwarriors himself, astride his recently acquired Kurita surplus Dragon.

The logging camp was nestled behind some hills surrounded by woods. The pirates would have to either shoot the gap between the woods or slowly trudge through the rough terrain to reach the town. With 10 buildings in the logging camp, their goal was to destroy 6.

I'm working furiously to get some proper terrain ready for these games, but having to press unpainted models and ratty trees into service. Apologies!

Because of the haste with which the mercenaries erected their defense of the town, the three fuel tanks to the north were still full of volatile petrol. Destroying one would result in a chain of explosions that would destroy all three, fully half of the six buildings needed to win the battle.

The mercenary defenders detected a number of sensor contacts approaching from the south, screened by woods.

The mercenaries take position in the vulnerable gap between woodlands, the only easy access to the town.

My son rushes his mercenary Commando and Centurion forward to block the approach of my pirates, now identified as a 40 ton Clint, a pair of 35 light Striker tanks and light 20 ton Locust recon mech.

A fifth sensor signature slowly makes its way through the woods to the east, flanking the defender's main battle line.

The pirate Locust floors it, trying to dash through the gap, weaving between the mercenary mechs, risking his skin with nothing but his speed. His armor is savaged by my son's Trebuchet and shots from the rear facing lasers of his commander's Dragon.

The pirate Locust survives though, dashing into the cover of town.

The woodland pirate contact reveals itself as a missile armed Dervish. With the Locust in town acting as a spotter, it begins raining down long range indirect missile fire, immune from mercenary attacks! 

In short order the pirate attacks begin inflicting serious damage on the town! Oh no!

Enraged at the damage the Striker light tanks are inflicting on the town, the mercs send the Commando in to beat down the vehicles. It manages to kill one, and cripple the other.

Commander Razor turns his Dragon around to threaten the Dervish, his approach forcing the badly damaged Locust to flee the center of town.

Multiple buildings are destroyed! The Dervish moves out of the woods, gaining line of sight to new building targets. The game is reaching a critical point!

The Commando finishes off the second crippled Striker. The Clint and Locust are completely stripped of armor. Killing one of them will win the game for my son's mercenary defenders.

The Locust has dashed behind the fuel tanks though. With three buildings burning, if the Locust can inflict just a few more points of damage to one of the damaged tanks, they'll all explode, snatching victory for the pirates! We roll initiative for the final turn of the game.

The mercenaries only have one shot at this. Commander Razor squeaks out a long range line of sight to the Locust. His LRMs fail to hit, but he rolls a hit with his meager AC5...

Hitting the Locust's center torso and knocking out its final few points of internal structure. The Locust goes down! The remaining pirates flee! The town is saved!

After Action

Holy smokes! That was the closest game of Battletech I've ever played! It was literally down to a single die roll! I'm totally sold on the campaign system and objective-based missions which totally change the flavor of Battletech for me.

My son earned 575 warchest points, and after paying this mission's fee he's left with a total of 1170. He'll need to use a portion of that to repair and rearm any mechs, but his mercenaries are ready to push on to the final track of this contract: an assault on the pirate outpost.

His mission liaison sent a report of his progress to his employer

He really hates her.