tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36272016672989147722024-03-13T23:01:12.613-04:001000 Foot GeneralRolling dice and leading tiny metal men to early graves. Currently working on Star Schlock, the tabletop skirmish inspired by low budget 80s sci-fi. Visit star-schlock.com for more info.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.comBlogger333125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-22220464488487597142023-07-26T12:05:00.004-04:002023-07-26T12:05:41.556-04:00The Second Star Schlock Kickstarter is LIVE!<p> Oh yeah, I have a blog! I've been toiling away for several years to get my sci-fi skirmish game <i>Star Schlock</i> into production. Our<a href="https://tinyurl.com/2aat9kh7"> Kickstarter </a>is currently running, with a Starter Set, figures, deluxe upgrades and more. I've been running the game at conventions and as a demo at our booth and it's fun, fun, fun!</p><p>Check it out. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/2aat9kh7">The Kickstarter ends August 1, 2023</a>. I really think you'll dig it.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59FDrvawIJd2KpYay2DyHcBDqgCe-HU5XWxJXY2k75CgPWD3mgC-RnpU-a_hMrJ5JNOfaSBoSgNvmagR3L7g-444rTsrNDYSOqOtsbDZHgCNUAa8GLqVMEt6-vEWnaxVhQQQ2opvCRk_9zt68F-0bT3QoQdXCPmkz_7vc3dPnEY8ntLPao8SLE8t1e4pS/s1000/reveal-Formicans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg59FDrvawIJd2KpYay2DyHcBDqgCe-HU5XWxJXY2k75CgPWD3mgC-RnpU-a_hMrJ5JNOfaSBoSgNvmagR3L7g-444rTsrNDYSOqOtsbDZHgCNUAa8GLqVMEt6-vEWnaxVhQQQ2opvCRk_9zt68F-0bT3QoQdXCPmkz_7vc3dPnEY8ntLPao8SLE8t1e4pS/w640-h512/reveal-Formicans.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5UTRp5zsPFG5ZEVm7LESykDwWYWdAr2wUOXDZVJRBkyJnm-1ru3bVccVDUTmJ_fOpaaBLBanOpNlRrBDCY3YEnf8hxFM-FSjLtadnDTy5Pe1bJ1hsgXTI-uQsmnclMUBxz7hLQOjXNvC1uWGB8v4pbk2ruJz-H-FYxBR0jPpK2QYWY7QgernfAXhHrF-/s1200/photo-space-apes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1200" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja5UTRp5zsPFG5ZEVm7LESykDwWYWdAr2wUOXDZVJRBkyJnm-1ru3bVccVDUTmJ_fOpaaBLBanOpNlRrBDCY3YEnf8hxFM-FSjLtadnDTy5Pe1bJ1hsgXTI-uQsmnclMUBxz7hLQOjXNvC1uWGB8v4pbk2ruJz-H-FYxBR0jPpK2QYWY7QgernfAXhHrF-/w640-h422/photo-space-apes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaNnzl3PRogHMYzGiWQ0Z1GHhgd8b0AGNROs2Z7ZmdLhC4CWF7HgjCAOqBJGsgzd-nQeC7BjAIHu_ZBwMIwj2y_8qAO6n2ppuAuKXwgQN-qWEElfSa0K-v6kITmsTou0A_tzlo1xrSSffScxENfNwZCt6lWdmCo14_EIueUxx3_qgNhwHr-ulTNYX5vfBa/s1200/photo-explorer-corps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1200" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaNnzl3PRogHMYzGiWQ0Z1GHhgd8b0AGNROs2Z7ZmdLhC4CWF7HgjCAOqBJGsgzd-nQeC7BjAIHu_ZBwMIwj2y_8qAO6n2ppuAuKXwgQN-qWEElfSa0K-v6kITmsTou0A_tzlo1xrSSffScxENfNwZCt6lWdmCo14_EIueUxx3_qgNhwHr-ulTNYX5vfBa/w640-h422/photo-explorer-corps.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QZoDjTprfCp_5ht5KGsG6WpyZiEMmkmZnkaEhf_hAPrW21SSsfZHCjs335mK56Cx0CPfhTSmwojwEo0DtepE2myn3rGMsc7duxmj_viQ7Atul2onQFV_uyCmrFI7J1EvdjBceik_MgCPQhMqTYrinhy-uAPXJ-43mwB5mUaTbgJ3Qn8N27CJkavQnN9G/s1200/photo-retro-robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1200" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4QZoDjTprfCp_5ht5KGsG6WpyZiEMmkmZnkaEhf_hAPrW21SSsfZHCjs335mK56Cx0CPfhTSmwojwEo0DtepE2myn3rGMsc7duxmj_viQ7Atul2onQFV_uyCmrFI7J1EvdjBceik_MgCPQhMqTYrinhy-uAPXJ-43mwB5mUaTbgJ3Qn8N27CJkavQnN9G/w640-h422/photo-retro-robot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-26673726747427832942021-05-17T23:03:00.002-04:002021-05-17T23:03:14.624-04:0024 Hours Left on my Kickstarter<p> I'm counting down the hours until the end of <a href="http://kck.st/3gZGRxk">my first Kickstarter</a> and it has been quite a ride. I was worried we wouldn't even make my initial $1000 funding goal and bothered even my non-gamer friends with pleas to just chip in a dollar on launch day. We're currently sitting at 1,600% funded, so I think my fears were unfounded.</p><p>The response has been so enthusiastic that I've managed to accelerate my plans for the line by years. Miniatures I had slated for Kickstarter 2 or 3 managed to get into this one. I'm totally psyched that we were able to bring so much of the Star Schlock Universe into reality so quickly. Check this out!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxEXSqKtN8c/YKMsuVOpnOI/AAAAAAAATgc/J0kvd07vJFksnI2iqmW-Tr-YpZniP-yowCPcBGAsYHg/s1516/b765887a-4e49-388e-1b84-a2778338a0c0.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1516" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxEXSqKtN8c/YKMsuVOpnOI/AAAAAAAATgc/J0kvd07vJFksnI2iqmW-Tr-YpZniP-yowCPcBGAsYHg/w506-h640/b765887a-4e49-388e-1b84-a2778338a0c0.jpeg" width="506" /></a></div><br /><p>And that's only about half of the figures available in the campaign! We unlocked over 34 miniatures and there are still a few left we might be able to add with stretch goals. Here are a few of my favorites from the last few days of the Kickstarter.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lzHuSFymDuE/YKMtHdjGXZI/AAAAAAAATg4/RJTS9QNxiEQ_dS-Q3IhcN9vl8NT689o-ACPcBGAsYHg/s1400/strap-Sleazoids.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="1400" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lzHuSFymDuE/YKMtHdjGXZI/AAAAAAAATg4/RJTS9QNxiEQ_dS-Q3IhcN9vl8NT689o-ACPcBGAsYHg/w640-h254/strap-Sleazoids.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xY0_mYKl6WY/YKMtHdsyIGI/AAAAAAAATg4/Z-BacLVqtkkTQi--3OkhO4ExEXaaiKO0gCPcBGAsYHg/s1400/strap-Beefs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="1400" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xY0_mYKl6WY/YKMtHdsyIGI/AAAAAAAATg4/Z-BacLVqtkkTQi--3OkhO4ExEXaaiKO0gCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h254/strap-Beefs.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFhmg6zhfnw/YKMtHX7ZADI/AAAAAAAATg4/5GL6xd1McUcqE1IhiUdP4ygqzU5eXnQswCPcBGAsYHg/s1400/strap-Vipers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="1400" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFhmg6zhfnw/YKMtHX7ZADI/AAAAAAAATg4/5GL6xd1McUcqE1IhiUdP4ygqzU5eXnQswCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h254/strap-Vipers.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Y5fV-XW-9g/YKMtHaMe2OI/AAAAAAAATg4/F0858tzNruMmMrU7MBMM7Zo_hKzSysHdgCPcBGAsYHg/s1400/strap-Rod.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="556" data-original-width="1400" height="254" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Y5fV-XW-9g/YKMtHaMe2OI/AAAAAAAATg4/F0858tzNruMmMrU7MBMM7Zo_hKzSysHdgCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h254/strap-Rod.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>I can't wait to get my hands on the 28mm "lead" figures later this summer. This project has been cooking for four years, and it's so gratifying to see it take its first steps into the world and be embraced so enthusiastically by other hobbyists.</p><p>The<a href="http://kck.st/3gZGRxk"> Star Schlock Astroguards Kickstarter</a> runs until 9PM EST on Tuesday, May 18. Even if you aren't into sci-fi gaming, stop by and take a look at my baby!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-91122690410659009172021-05-03T12:42:00.001-04:002021-05-03T12:42:35.097-04:00My Kickstarter is Coming May 3rd!<p> Hello friends! I've been working on a line of sci-fi miniatures and the rules to support them over the last few years, and after a lengthy gestation the first release is ready to go.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ii0CyHYBuRQ/YHhH7iEeI_I/AAAAAAAATZI/If8V87kTlxMmsYpRXBjKRjM2K-tHsTjngCPcBGAsYHg/s2000/Astroguards-crop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1325" data-original-width="2000" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ii0CyHYBuRQ/YHhH7iEeI_I/AAAAAAAATZI/If8V87kTlxMmsYpRXBjKRjM2K-tHsTjngCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h424/Astroguards-crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>These 28mm Astroguards are the core of my <a href="http://kck.st/3gZGRxk">initial Kickstarter</a>. With stretch goals I'll also be able to make special pre-painted figures in collectible packaging available as add-ons.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4TzsQzLiwAo/YHhIIRAbd5I/AAAAAAAATZQ/i8LTXYr7ErEdBSHwQkNWnOjY36RfN1i2ACPcBGAsYHg/s1600/star-schlock-sleazoid-colonial-conscript.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1600" height="498" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4TzsQzLiwAo/YHhIIRAbd5I/AAAAAAAATZQ/i8LTXYr7ErEdBSHwQkNWnOjY36RfN1i2ACPcBGAsYHg/w640-h498/star-schlock-sleazoid-colonial-conscript.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>If the campaign funds within the first 48 hours I'll also be throwing in a free Space Cadet figure into every pledge that receives figures.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycZqIkypK8c/YHhIA2hnVzI/AAAAAAAATZM/Gna2XAQ2SMg7CtXozCttV63HZ7ajJOvQwCPcBGAsYHg/s2000/Cadet-ering-crop.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1352" data-original-width="2000" height="432" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ycZqIkypK8c/YHhIA2hnVzI/AAAAAAAATZM/Gna2XAQ2SMg7CtXozCttV63HZ7ajJOvQwCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h432/Cadet-ering-crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I'd love to send you some of my figures, but if they aren't your cup a tea even a dollar thrown my way would be invaluable. Please check out <a href="http://kck.st/3gZGRxk">the Kickstarter</a> that has occupied so much of my free time for the last few years. Thanks for all the years of reading my blog and supporting this new venture!</p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-83847854240184989122021-03-30T11:30:00.001-04:002021-03-30T11:30:06.674-04:00"Reactor Online. Scrum Con Online. All Systems Nominal."<a href="https://www.scrum-con.com/">Scrum Con</a> is coming to a computer near you! After two successful conventions, we've decided to bring our local gaming con online to keep the tradition going. Scrum Con has featured a mix of RPGs and wargames that don't always get a ton of attention at some of the other conventions we attend. Fantasy, sci-fi, horror and pulp are the order of the day, often featuring older editions, weird side projects or under appreciated gems. We try to offer a wide variety of games so players can sample a lot of different types and styles of games. It's a veritable buffet of gaming options!<div><br /></div><div>I'll be running my sci-fi game <a href="https://www.starschlock.com/">Star Schlock</a> using <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/Tabletop_Simulator/">Tabletop Simulator</a>. TTS has been a big help in beta testing the rules during the course of the pandemic. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yhq49PibBqM/YGKEfGh8JbI/AAAAAAAATXU/97UD-3wLz3o7EY7rtIEMkehWnggZoxdqgCPcBGAsYHg/s3376/starschlockTTS-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1802" data-original-width="3376" height="342" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yhq49PibBqM/YGKEfGh8JbI/AAAAAAAATXU/97UD-3wLz3o7EY7rtIEMkehWnggZoxdqgCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h342/starschlockTTS-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Currently I'm testing some ideas for vehicle rules and tweaking the individual abilities of specific. units, but the core mechanics of card based initiative, dice pools, and tactical flexibility have become pretty solid over the last two years of testing. The game I'm running at Scrum Con will be a basic introductory battle just to get new players up to speed on how the rules work and to collect additional feedback on them. I'd love to hear what you think!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZOjG46Yigg/YGKEkHoE5AI/AAAAAAAATXY/nJnTxFL0sBooFUT16oni9i5bs_k725JdACPcBGAsYHg/s3340/starschlockTTS-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1840" data-original-width="3340" height="352" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZOjG46Yigg/YGKEkHoE5AI/AAAAAAAATXY/nJnTxFL0sBooFUT16oni9i5bs_k725JdACPcBGAsYHg/w640-h352/starschlockTTS-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>If you are interested in trying it out you can find my game on<a href="https://www.scrum-con.com/schedule"> Saturday April 24th</a> but I'm also hoping to stream it so gamers who don't make it into the game can check it out.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are a ton of other great games available that some exceptional GMs will be running over the course of the con, too. My buddy <a href="https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2020/10/chainmail-battle-for-borderlands.html">Joe got into a classic game of Chainmail</a> run by Eric Hoffman that he's been raving about for months. We're lucky that Eric is running an encore presentation of this classic fantasy ruleset at the Scrum Con.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gYoxSa0UAcE/YGJlZwax94I/AAAAAAAATXE/sXmKNaQgm0kGhcSIprxdBDElmGRx9_sYACPcBGAsYHg/s1542/Chainmail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="1542" height="392" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gYoxSa0UAcE/YGJlZwax94I/AAAAAAAATXE/sXmKNaQgm0kGhcSIprxdBDElmGRx9_sYACPcBGAsYHg/w640-h392/Chainmail.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>I've playtested In Deep Trouble, an MMO inspired dungeon delve among lovingly crafted terrain by a good friend of mine, and I know fellow scrum club member and HMGS veteran <a href="https://misternizz.wordpress.com/">Walt</a> has been working up a daring WWII air raid scenario.</div><div><br /></div><div>I don't know about you, but I've sorely missed the convention experience over the last year. I'm very excited about having a chance to roll some dice and push some lead (even virtually) to tide us over as we finish the last of this pandemic.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you'd like to spice up your weekend besides bingeing yet another Netflix show you can pick up tickets for <a href="https://www.scrum-con.com/">Scrum Con Online</a> before the convention kicks off April 24th and 25th. I hope to see you there!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-38727430859767920522021-02-24T12:00:00.001-05:002021-02-24T12:00:09.568-05:00ASTROGUARDS, my first sci-fi miniatures<p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84C4CfkeLMc/YDXAxSZNqlI/AAAAAAAATRw/IDNBbxhsa4clP_7Si4CVg80jmqHFldY7gCPcBGAsYHg/s1199/Astroguards-banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1199" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-84C4CfkeLMc/YDXAxSZNqlI/AAAAAAAATRw/IDNBbxhsa4clP_7Si4CVg80jmqHFldY7gCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h320/Astroguards-banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Hello loyal blog readers! I know I haven't been posting as frequently as in the past, but it's only because I've been so focused on Star Schlock, the tabletop sci-fi game I've been developing. I've been posting small updates to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarSchlock">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/1000FootGeneral">Twitter</a>, but I'm finally at the point when I'm making real progress I can share.</p><p>Ongoing playtests are revealing only small tweaks that need to be made at this point, and I've moved on to fleshing out the point systems and vehicle rules. The first Star Schlock release will be a Kickstarter for a small collection of miniatures. The initial minis will be the Astroguards, a set of valiant security forces that defend the Union of Sovereign Star Systems from the machinations of hostile alien warlords.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D6G-KBJMF64/YDXBiDmgLqI/AAAAAAAATSM/vGSf43Ehfa8XYCvb_GXBGhqrM8HuAi4iACPcBGAsYHg/s1920/Astroguard-IMG_4274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="1920" height="198" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D6G-KBJMF64/YDXBiDmgLqI/AAAAAAAATSM/vGSf43Ehfa8XYCvb_GXBGhqrM8HuAi4iACPcBGAsYHg/w640-h198/Astroguard-IMG_4274.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><p>Along with the Astroguards I'll be making additional figures available as add-on stretch goals. I've been painting up a few of the 3D printed test figures I have on hand that I'm using for QA before sending to my caster for creating metal masters.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8UKKyBQqCkM/YDXAp7ihDSI/AAAAAAAATRk/NsFePSU0Pn418L6ok7qL_cz5HT7kN9zDQCPcBGAsYHg/s1600/star-schlock-sleazoid-colonial-conscript.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1600" height="498" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8UKKyBQqCkM/YDXAp7ihDSI/AAAAAAAATRk/NsFePSU0Pn418L6ok7qL_cz5HT7kN9zDQCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h498/star-schlock-sleazoid-colonial-conscript.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>If you are interested in either the rules or figures I'd love to have you to join the email list at <a href="http://starschlock.com">starschlock.com</a> so I can give you a heads up on further progress, Kickstarter launch notifications and the opportunity to playtest the rules.</p></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-75988627785042598532021-01-03T15:43:00.000-05:002021-01-03T15:43:17.416-05:00ALIEN: The Movie : The RPG<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_rgayuCoIWM/X_HrpLjq98I/AAAAAAAATKc/X5ab2HxYxE4UCCMTHSd-hrh93SMiwqOHgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_7340.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_rgayuCoIWM/X_HrpLjq98I/AAAAAAAATKc/X5ab2HxYxE4UCCMTHSd-hrh93SMiwqOHgCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h480/IMG_7340.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>I've been busying myself with <a href="https://www.starschlock.com/">Star Schlock</a>, my sci-fi miniatures game over the last few months, but took a break over the holidays to run the new <a href="https://amzn.to/3rMIp0B">Alien RPG</a> for my family.</p><p>What follows is an account of the one night session we played. It's long (looooong), but I felt it was important to document it since I ran my wife and 12 year old son through the situation from the original Alien (1979) movie. The boy knew nothing about the creature or its life cycle, and it had been 20 years since my wife last saw the movie. How would a crew not controlled by a scriptwriter fair against the perfect organism? Would they make the same choices? Could they use their greater agency to make mince meat of the beast or would it be too overpowering and wipe them out as in the film?</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">HANDOUTS</h3><p>I created a number of handouts and resources. Feel free to steal them for your own games:</p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QV5IM88yVX510AqSPzuh2AV0ZpOMswOR/view?usp=sharing">The Crew</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aezOfeVnIrHX8XERd8WA0PKPuIRSuJIK/view?usp=sharing">Nostromo Deck A</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XwPdjSk146eM_59mBnbm_fo9HpaKmC7c/view?usp=sharing">Nostromo Deck B</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/19sj-A9HEH7pehhRepmpWNIFHSCBiflfa/view?usp=sharing">Nostromo Deck C</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MPng8Xq0MUuC-0Q7DjSN95kMMBGg1Hr7/view?usp=sharing">Nostromo room descriptions</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FxmfAOnLhh6FN2pWuRNXrl9JPscoEGGi/view?usp=sharing">Nostromo Bridge and MU/TH/ER cards</a></p><p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GTtJuZqNmagFxgH06hQpDC0bAqFAK1cN/view?usp=sharing">Operations Manual</a></p><p>So in the name of RPG science, I present my findings - a report on the fate of the Nostromo crew and their investigation of LV-426.</p><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">SETUP</h3>My son is aware of the ALIEN films. He's a huge scaredy cat, but seems nonplussed by them. "It's not scary. I already know what the alien looks like. He's got that big sausage head." After overhearing me playing the Alien RPG with some of my gaming buddies over Zoom he asked if we could play sometime. Not wanting the Prometheus lore of Chariot of the Gods to be his first exposure to the film, but knowing he wasn't ready to watch Alien (1979) quite yet, I felt my only choice was to introduce him to the concepts of the series through a scenario based on the first film. I certainly could have just told him the story, but felt this would be a more interesting version and give me a chance to perform an experiment to see how someone with no prior experience would handle the situation the crew of the Nostromo found themselves in.<br /><br />Before playing I asked my son what he knew about the Alien movies. "Well, there's an alien. And there's a spaceship. That's it." He'd have to run multiple characters in the game, but to share some of the burden I also roped my wife into playing. She's seen Alien, but it's been about 20 years. She's not a big fan of RPGs as she doesn't like being responsible for making decisions or getting characters killed. I was pretty sure I could foist Brett and Lambert on her, and I asked her to avoid spoiling some of the surprises.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE CHARACTERS</h3>I created characters for each of the crew and used them to explain how the rules work. I gave the players the option of replacing any of the crew with characters of their own design but they were happy to go with the stock crew. I told them I'd run Kane, the Executive Officer and Ash the Science Officer since in the movie "all they really do is feed information to the rest of the crew."<br /><br />Happy with that explanation, they began picking characters. My son picked Captain Dallas and Brett. I was... surprised. Brett? "Yeah, he's great! Look how strong he is!" To make each of the characters equal I followed the chargen rules as written. Since Brett didn't seem to have a ton of interpersonal skills ("Right.") I put most of his character points into strength, close combat, etc. He turned out more formidable than I think he is in the movie. My wife chose Ripley and Parker. Lambert was a floater. I told them I'd run Lambert until they took a casualty but they felt they could run the pilot themselves so my son took on a third character.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE "PROLOGUE"</h3>I gave my son a brief primer on the universe. "It's about a hundred years in the future. Private companies have handled all spaceflight research, kind of like Space-X now, so they became the ones who colonized the local star systems. That gives them even more power than even governments. You work for one of them as the crew of a commercial towing vehicle."<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xphlBgkd_VQ/X_HsklmQAcI/AAAAAAAATK0/2vW1SryqtPcn4LrFr8W4ostJvwR8Ny4pwCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_7345.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xphlBgkd_VQ/X_HsklmQAcI/AAAAAAAATK0/2vW1SryqtPcn4LrFr8W4ostJvwR8Ny4pwCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h480/IMG_7345.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br />I pulled out a small, color map of the Nostromo's Deck A and gave them a brief tour of their vessel starting with the bridge and ending on the cryopods. "Ok," I told them, "now to get you used to how the rules work we're going to play a brief prologue scenario. Since you are close to your destination, you'll be docking the ship with a space station in orbit around Earth."<br /><br />The crew collected in the galley, we made some test rolls for Jones the Cat to jump on to the table and so I could explain pushing and stress. The players were a bit surprised at how so many dice could roll up zero successes, a them that would carry on throughout the game.<br /><br />"So the crew is eating and shaking off their grogginess from being in cryosleep for several months. Ash notices a yellow indicator light which means MU/TH/ER has a message for Dallas." My son directed Dallas to MU/TH/ER and I suggested the rest of the crew dock the ship. They assigned each crew to a role, Lambert as pilot with Ripley next to her as co-pilot, Kane and Brett behind them in comms. Since my son and wife don't know much about crewing a spaceship ("That's not true!" my wife piped up, "I'm watching The Expanse again. I know all sorts of stuff about ships.") I gave them a Nostromo Operations Manual with common procedures to refer to. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qzqky4e_jWg/X_HtrpGuYqI/AAAAAAAATLk/wZlWocZ_xTgtJo9piBsacDwHveOke0qFQCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_7349.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qzqky4e_jWg/X_HtrpGuYqI/AAAAAAAATLk/wZlWocZ_xTgtJo9piBsacDwHveOke0qFQCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h480/IMG_7349.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>Each procedure had some in-world steps they could follow (but which I expected them to ignore) and some game rules in red for how to actually complete the procedure. They flipped through it until they found Docking Procedure via Main Bow Tube and immediately started reading through the steps.</p><p><br />"Ok, we need to contact traffic control. You do that. Here, just read it out."<br />"This is commercial vessel Nostromo, registration number 180246 contacting traffic control. Do you read me?"<br />"I'll start locking the navigation sensor on the docking bay."<br /><br />I paused them there so we could practice a roll. I covered "aiding another" and despite a huge pool of dice, Ripley was unable to contact traffic control. They asked if they could try again but I let them know that they weren't picking up any radio traffic, let alone Antarctic control. In fact scanning everywhere, they couldn't even find Earth.<br /><br />"Ok, so did Dallas get to talk to MU/TH/ER yet?"<br /><br />He did. I explained only the ranking officer could use a thumbprint to unlock the keypass and access MU/TH/ER and that she was kind of like Siri, but could only communicate via a text readout. When Dallas asked for his message I handed my son a readout of MU/TH/ER's reply.<br /><br />UNKNOWN TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED<br />POSSIBLE DISTRESS CALL<br /><br />FLIGHT PATH DIVERTED<br />CREW REMOVED FROM CRYOSLEEP<br /><br />REGULATIONS REQUIRE INVESTIGATION,<br />RESCUE OF SURVIVORS<br /><br />Dallas rejoins the crew. He explained the situation to the rest of the crew on the bridge.<br />"Where is the signal coming from?"<br />"You are near a gas giant, like Saturn. It has several small moons. The signal is coming from one of those small planetoids."<br />"What does the message say?"<br />"It's a radio signal that repeats every 12 seconds. You can't understand it, it could be coded or in another language, but you are sure it's from an intelligent source."<br />"Can MU/TH/ER decode it?"<br />"Ash volunteers to work with MU/TH/ER to decode the signal for you."<br />"Ok, we wait."<br />That was an unexpected response. Since we could be stuck at an impasse here, I suggested they approach the planetoid while Ash worked on the signal. They returned to their stations and within a few hours were in orbit high over a rocky moon, smaller than Earth but of such density that gravity would be similar. They tried to spot the source of the signal from orbit, but I told them cloud cover made precise location impossible, but they had narrowed it down to one area. I made a roll behind a screen for Ash's progress on the signal decoding and rats! he just hadn't figured it out yet.<br /><br />"Ok, well let's land on the planet and get the prologue done so we can get to the real movie mission."<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE LANDING</h3>The players broke out the Operations Manual again and began going through the procedure. This was all quite unexpected. I'm accustomed to players ignoring stuff like this.<div><br /></div><div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-wGr6kCHKo/X_HuL82etLI/AAAAAAAATL8/V5og56H1mFcD5lvkgiPnr6ERl88oJOfSACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_7348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-wGr6kCHKo/X_HuL82etLI/AAAAAAAATL8/V5og56H1mFcD5lvkgiPnr6ERl88oJOfSACPcBGAsYHg/w640-h480/IMG_7348.JPG" title="The Terrestrial Landing Procedure" width="640" /></a></div><div><br />"Ok, we determine cargo orbital height and speed."<br />"I do that. Uh 'check!'"<br />"Right, so you guys should know the Nostromo is just a tug so you'll leave your cargo in orbit so it can land."<br />"Wait, don't we have a shuttle? Can we take that?"<br />"Unfortunately the Narcissus is for space travel only, so you can shuttle to space stations or use it as a lifeboat. It doesn't have shielding for atmospheric landings."<br />"Ah, ok. Well I check to make sure the EC pressure readings are under 5.0 psia."<br />"I'll lock the pressure seals and monitor the pressure readings."<br /><br />Following the landing procedure from the rules I had them roll an initial piloting check. I was hoping they'd fail to get some damage to strand them on LV-426 but no such luck, Lambert aced the roll. I narrated the descent and told them the local storm required another piloting roll, but again Lambert killed it. "Lambert's great! He's becoming my favorite character. Is he this cool in the movie?" "Ah, not quite."<br /><br />The Nostromo touches down on the planet. Howling wind batters the front viewport with particulate matter - ice or gravel or something. It's dark, but the ship is fine. They scan for the signal and find it's only 2000 meters away. "Close enough to walk," Kane mentions and offers to go find the signal.<br /><br />"Ok, we let Kane go check out the signal. Wait. We should probably send someone with him. How about Brett."<br />"Brett?"<br />"Yeah, he's so strong and tough."<br />They discuss the composition of the search party and settle on Kane, Brett, Ripley and Parker. Dallas isn't an option since he's the captain and you never put the captain in harm's way, and Lambert has to stay on the ship since she's the pilot/navigator and essential to getting back into orbit.<br /><br />They each get in an EVA suit and I tell them they can take one piece of gear. Parker takes a grapple harpoon gun that was stowed in the Narcissus, Ripley takes a rangefinder that can home in on the signal (to use Comtech rather than Survival to navigate to it), Brett takes a hand held light and I have Kane carry a multi-kit (a suitcase like object with parts to assemble emergency gear including a tent, stretcher, 12 foot ladder or winch with 60 meter cable).<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">THE DERELICT</h3>They navigate towards the signal with successful rolls. The weather starts to clear and they spot a horseshoe shaped object in the distance. It's big, about half the size of the Nostromo, but weird. It doesn't seem to have any straight lines or hard angles. They reach the derelict and find two large holes in the side of it that could offer access. It's taken two turns to reach the derelict and poor Air Supply rolls have dropped Ripley to only 3 air remaining. My wife had been enjoying some "space wine" and started to forget her role in this process.<br />"Oh, no way. Ripley is not going in there!"<br />"But we've come so far," Kane replies "We must go on. We must go on!"<br /><br />Kane crawls into the first hole. They discuss leaving someone outside. My wife's characters Ripley and Parker are particularly reluctant ("I'm not gettin' paid enough to go into this spooky old place!" Parker grouses) but eventually they all head in. The continue through a weird ribbed corridor before finding an opening in the ceiling into a larger chamber. They boost each other up, leaving Parker behind in the entry tunnel. The chamber is dominated by a huge structure, an enormous fossilized alien pilot fused to a weird control chair. They choose to keep their distance rather than inspect any closer (like what may have killed it). Kane spots an opening in the floor.<br /><br />"Perhaps the survivors are down there." Kane volunteers to go down. They assemble the winch, Kane is lowered in and they hear him over the radio.<br /><br />"it's a cave of some sort." "positively tropical" "row of extrusions on the floor. Like cabbages." "layer of mist" "appears to react when broken." "wait a minute. There's movement."<br /><br />They hear Kane gasp, a squeal and then garbled gurgling. The line goes slack.<br /><br />The players discuss what to do, immediately suggesting they send at least two people down to get Kane and figuring out the logistics of getting Parker into the chamber so he and Brett can rescue Kane. I remind them they can just winch Kane up which they happily do. Kane appears with some sort of brown organic creature sucked to his face, having crushed and pushed through his helmet. They are worried he's losing air but I assure them his lifesigns are stable for now, but that there is a slow leak in the mask. The entire crew makes another air supply roll with terrible results.<br /><br />"We need to get out of here!" They disassemble the winch and using the LEGO-like abilities of the multi-kit reassemble it into a stretcher to carry Kane back to the ship. The wind has picked up again, but Ripley manages to find the Nostromo with Ash's help from his seat in the science blister. Air supplies continue to drop and by the time they limp into the pool of light from the ship's flood lights Ripley's air supply runs out. Parker and Brett struggle through the howling winds to drag Kane and Ripley to the cargo lift, pushing rolls, shouting over the comms to get Dallas to open the airlock. Dallas obliges and Ash opens the airlock, he and Dallas rushing Kane to the infirmary while Lambert pops Ripley's helmet off so she can breathe again.<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">KANE'S SON</h3>Dallas, Ash and Lambert get to the infirmary, put on scrubs and get out medical tools. Ripley retires to the crew barracks to recover from her ordeal and de-stress while Parker and Brett take off their EVA suits and slump against the wall outside the infirmary observation window.<br /><br />Dallas uses a laser scalpel to cut away Kane's EVA suit. He finds a brown, spider like creature with eight limbs stuck to Kane's face, a long segmented tail wrapped around Kane's neck. Two lobes ("Dad, what's a 'lobe'?") or pouches on the rear of the creature seem to inflate and deflate in rhythm with Kane's breathing. The look of disgust one my son's face was priceless.<br /><br />"What's it doing to him? Can we scan him or something?" They move Kane to the autodoc and perform a scan which shows a long tube extending from the creature down Kane's throat. It could be providing him oxygen or it could be sucking nutrients out of him. They pull Kane out of the autodoc and Dallas prepares to cut it off with the laser scalpel, right at one of the lobes.<br /><br />"Wait just a minute, wait just a minute." Ash interrupts, "If it's feeding him oxygen, if we cut it off we could wind up killing Kane."<br />"Hmm," Dallas ponders, "You could be right. Ok, you monitor Kane and study the creature. My agenda is to recover my tarnished career by getting things done for the company correctly and efficiently. Let's take off and get out of here."<br /><br />Once the rest of the crew had rested and destressed, they took positions on the bridge and blasted off from the planetoid ("Good riddance! I hate that place!"). A few in-game hours later and an easy piloting roll and the Nostromo had picked up it's cargo and was on its way to Earth.<br /><br />"So hold on, how far away are we from Earth?" Lambert does some calculations and reports the Nostromo is ten months from its destination.<br />"Hold on, hold on, hold on. TEN MONTHS!" we had now left my wife's spotty memory of the movie and she was incensed, "I thought you said it was only like six months from Thedus! Where are we! Show me a map!"<br />I was surprised at their reaction, but I dutifully got out the star map from the Starter Kit. We located Thedus and nearby LV-426. It looks pretty close on the map but I explained it can't account for Z-axis distance. LV-436 is obviously very "deep" along the galactic axis. Whew!<br /><br />Ash interrupts the discussion via the ship's intercom. "Captain Dallas, I think you should join me in the infirmary. There's been a change in Kane's condition."<br /><br />Dallas arrives to the infirmary to find Kane sitting up, a robe around his shoulders sipping a cup of water and being comforted by Ash. Ash explains that he'd been monitoring Kane, and was checking some samples at the analysis desk when he heard a noise behind him. He turned to find the creature had dropped off Kane and crawled into the far corner of the room, quite dead. He shows Dallas the dead creature, curled up on its back with its legs curled together like a dead spider.<br /><br />"And you are sure it is dead?"<br />"Quite certain captain."<br /><br />My wife was rolling her eyes HARD at this point, despising Ash. "I do not trust that guy.", but we had left her spotty memory of the film (save for the one encounter mocked in Spaceballs) so she was in uncharted territory along with my son. As for my son, he had Dallas call the rest of the crew to the medbay to show them Kane was alright.<br /><br />"Ok, so everybody's ok. We checked out the signal and found no survivors. So I guess the prologue is done. Can we go into cryosleep to get to the real mission?"<br /><br />I told him of course, but cryosleep dehydrates you and Kane says he's famished, so maybe a final celebratory meal is in order. My son agrees that's a great idea and the crew joins in a jovial meal to toast Kane's good health. Kane is wolfing food down like there's no tomorrow when he starts to choke. Dallas tries to help him, but Kane starts to convulse and then flips on his back on top of the galley table.<br /><br />"Oh no! Get a stretcher! We need to get him to the medlab!" my son exclaimed. I describe a spot of blood appearing on Kane's shirt. My son is confused. "Blood?" I describe a huge gout which sprays everyone in the galley as a small snake-like creature with metallic teeth and a pair of tiny t-rex arms erupts from a hole in Kane's chest.<br /><br />"Wait. What?!" my son asks. Obviously the crew is shocked, and the chestburster is able to squeal and dart across the galley table before making its way into a small air duct on the far side of the room.<br /><br />It was silent for a moment before my son came to the realization. "So Kane's... dead?"<br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">SPACE BEAST</h3>Tension levels were rising among the players. "We need to catch that thing. Are there any weapons on board?" I explain the Nostromo is just a big space truck and doesn't carry weapons, but the crew can improvise some things. The players agree to split up into pairs to gather supplies. Ripley and Brett head to the maintenance garage to get cargo nets and materials to assemble cattle prods, Ash and Parker move to the science blister where Ash says he can create some crude motion trackers. Dallas decides to get some info from MU/TH/ER while Lambert waits outside.<br /><br />We discuss the computer's AI component and if it's aware of the creature. I decide MU/TH/ER has access to Kane's life signs, the autodoc scans and anything Ash has notified her about. I had a number of cards with stock text replies. Dallas interfaces with the computer and starts probing for info.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jVcH4C3u21o/X_HszU8Fj8I/AAAAAAAATK8/gFClPbDNKGsPlXCk3C7hNckbGXGsPGHngCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_7344.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jVcH4C3u21o/X_HszU8Fj8I/AAAAAAAATK8/gFClPbDNKGsPlXCk3C7hNckbGXGsPGHngCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h480/IMG_7344.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br />"What is the organism"<br />ORGANISM UNKNOWN.<br />"Has it been seen on another ship?"<br />UNABLE TO CLARIFY.<br />"We were so far from the distress signal. How did you detect it in order to reroute us to the planet. Wasn't there a closer ship."<br />DOES NOT COMPUTE.<br />"Aargh! I hate this stupid computer. Why does it not compute? MU/TH/ER, you sent us there. Why did you send us to that planet?"<br />UNABLE TO COMPLY DUE TO SPECIAL ORDER 937<br />"Wait what? What is order 937?" my son was pretty irritated and confused by MU/TH/ER at this point (naturally). "Hold on, I saw something in the manual," my wife offered. They flipped through until finding the MU/TH/ER instructions.<br />"I use my emergency command override. What is special order 937?" My son read the order explaining the requirement to capture the creature. Crew expendable. My son grimaced. "Where is Ash?"<br /><br />He finds him in the science blister, just finishing up the motion trackers. Dallas tells Parker to take them up the galley ("I'm not taking them up there all alone, I'm not gettin' paid enough for this! We need to discuss the bonus situation." "I use Dallas' special talent to order Parker to the galley.") Now alone, Dallas pushes Ash against a wall.<br /><br />"I know about special order 937!"<br />"I'm sorry captain, it was science officer eyes only. I had no idea we would be put in such jeopardy."<br />"It said 'crew expendable'. You knew!"<br />"I don't like this any more than you do, captain. I suggest we capture and contain the creature as quickly as possible."<br />"Ok, let's get the creature back to the company. This should look good on my record. Just don't tell the rest of the crew ok, this will be our secret."<br />"Of course captain."<br /><br />At this point, I wasn't sure what to expect. I hadn't needed to prod the crew very much thus far, other than having Kane volunteer to go down into the derelict ship's cargo hold. They had revealed order 937 earlier than scripted but I was surprised by Dallas' conspiracy of silence with Ash. We were in uncharted territory for all of us.<br /><br />After placing Kane's corpse in a sealed cryochamber ("His family will want to bury him."), the crew assembled in the galley to take stock of their supplies. In addition to the cargo net, cattle prods, and motion detector ("I want to know how it works. Dallas asks Ash to demonstrate it. I move my hand in front of the detector. Does it make a noise or something?"), they are also able to gather two incinerators, a few fire extinguishers and medkits. They took a look at the map of A deck and asked where the ventilation shafts run. At this point I told them the shafts run through the life support system and throughout the ship so it could be anywhere. To illustrate I unrolled three 18" x 24" blueprints, one of each deck on the ship.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yuXpcTKrEAg/X_Hs77AJ7qI/AAAAAAAATLI/IMb3DIiGI3sLCI2F-QJIRr9TqtINTy5vgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_7347.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yuXpcTKrEAg/X_Hs77AJ7qI/AAAAAAAATLI/IMb3DIiGI3sLCI2F-QJIRr9TqtINTy5vgCPcBGAsYHg/w640-h480/IMG_7347.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br />"Oh boy." They decide their best bet is to split into two teams. One team will search Deck A, the other will search Deck C. As they clear the decks they'll move to Deck B, hopefully flushing the creature there. Prior to them searching I decided to place the other lifeforms aboard the ship where they appeared in the movie, happy to move them in response to the crew's actions. Parker, Lambert and Dallas start on Deck A, while Deck C is searched by Ash ("Ripley doesn't trust Ash, give him the cargo net."), Ripley (motion detector) and Brett (incinerator). They take the maintenance lift down to the dimly lit bowels of C deck. They enter the vestibule outside the air scrubbers and activate the motion detector. It picks up a faint signal in the maintenance garage. The team enter the cluttered garage, stepping around cargo crates and a grav sled loaded with coolant cannisters. They use the motion detector again. It clearly signals a locker on the far side of the garage. They approach, tension rising ("I'm not tense. There's no way we are going to find it that easy Dad!"). Ripley flings the locker open, something small and brown darts out of it. <br /><br />"Oh! I was wrong!"<br />"Does Ash need to make an attack roll with the net to catch it?"<br />"He would, but Ash raises the cargo net and lets it go."<br />"WHAT! Ash you traitor! I knew Ripley shouldn't trust him!"<br />"Ash looks at you surprised. 'It was Jones.' he says, 'It was the cat."<br /><br />The crew let out a variety of Charlie Brown-style AAAARGHs before deciding they'd need to catch Jones first so it doesn't keep setting off the motion detector. Ash, having already put himself in harms way and in no way the owner of the cat states that it shouldn't be his responsibility to catch the cat.<br /><br />"Fine. Brett can catch it. Which way did it go? Right here into the landing claw chamber? Ok, you all stick together, I'll just go in here and get the cat." Brett enters the landing claw chamber alone. The vertical shaft rises three stories above him, holding the enormous landing claw over his head. Maintenance chains rattle in the breeze generated by air vents high on the chamber wall. The condensation provides a constant trickle of water over every surface here which has rusted and corroded much of the metal in the chamber. Brett can hear Jones meowing in the distance and he spots a discarded transparent glove below the landing claw.<br /><br />"A glove? I'll check it out. Is it gross? I don't want to pick it up."<br />"You can use a pen or a small tool to get it off the floor. You examine it and realize it's more like a discarded snake skin after it molts."<br />"Weird. Oh is it from that snake thing that came out of Kane? It's growing? What are these cards you are dealing out?"<br /><br />I describe an enormouse black creature, it's long snaking tail and 'sausuge shaped head' crawl down the landing claw behind Brett. It drops to the ground, then rises up to attack! I roll a 2 on the Drone attack chart - 'Playing with its prey'. The enormous creature swats at Brett knocking him to the ground, his incinerator clattering to the floor. He screams. The A Deck crew hear him over the open comm channel and race towards the maintenance lift. Ash and Ripley turn and rush towards the landing claw chamber. Ripley is first in, dropping the motion dector and unslinging her cattle prod. She charges the beast, and fudging the rules a touch, I give her chance to make an attack. The cattle prod sparks and skitters across the creature's carapace. It whirls, grabbing her and 'Ready to Kill'. Its lips pull back, its jaws open revealing a second set of jaws inside. Ash reaches the door to the landing claw chamber. And closes it.<br /><br />"ASH!" My wife and son are yelling now, both in character and ooc simultaneously. This game is great. The Deck A crew weren't previously dealt cards, so I redeal everything. Dallas reaches Ash first.<br /><br />"What did you DO!"<br />"Captain, the creature inside. We don't know what it can do. I had to make the moral choice of protecting three other crewmembers against the two inside."<br />"Ash open this door! Wait, I can use my command talent!" Dallas rolls successfully and Ash reluctantly complies at the cost of a stress point to Dallas. With one action left, the players check to see what equipment they assigned Dallas so he can save Ripley.<br /><br />"A FIRE EXTINGUISHER! We gave him a FIRE EXTINGUISHER!" My wife is apopleptic. <br />"Ok, can I shoot the extinguisher at the creature from here? Maybe it will scare it." <br /><br />I remember the final scene of the movie where Ripley drives the creature from its hiding spot by venting gas on it. I tell my son he can vent the fire extinguisher which will give him an opportunity to attempt a manipulate roll to drive the creature back, but this will be the one and only time this will work. He agrees and rolls. 0 successes.<br /><br />"Ugh, Ripley's dead. It's fine. I knew this was going to happen."<br />"Wait, I can push it!"<br /><br />Dallas takes a stress point and rolls again, three successes. Cheers erupt from the table as we decide additional successes not only force the creature to release Ripley but compels it to retreat back up the landing claw out of sight. The rest of the crew gathers and attempt some ineffective incinerator blasts up the landing claw but are unable to even spot the creature higher in the chamber. Ripley grabs Jones and the crew retreat, sealing the landing claw chamber behind them.<br /><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">"LET'S BLAST IT INTO SPACE"</h3>The crew collects in the maintenance garage, Ripley berating Ash for leaving them to die. Dallas quiets them and they start formulating possible solutions. They pull out the blueprints and realize the landing claw chamber spans all three decks, but there's only one door that provides access which they've just sealed. There's some concern that the creature may have "burrowed into other parts of the ship."<br /><br />Brett's incinerator is low on fuel and the other is on the table in the galley. Ripley, Brett and Lambert head to A deck to get the second incinerator and refuel Brett's. While they are gone, Dallas confers with Parker. <br /><br />"Is there any other way in or out of the landing claw chamber?"<br />"No. I mean, just the airlock in the floor of the chamber that allows the claw to deploy as landing gear."<p></p><br /><div>"That thing's dangerous. We aren't going to be able to capture it. We can just blow it out the airlock into space."<br /><div><br /></div><div>There are airlock controls here at the door to the landing claw chamber. Dallas preps a manual override which seals all vents and ducts to the landing claw chamber, purges the atmosphere out of it and triggers the landing claw chamber to open against Ash's protests. The landing claw chamber retracts but warning klaxons and flashing yellow hazard lights erupt throughout the ship.</div><div><br /></div><div>On A Deck Ripley checks a terminal and sees a warning from MU/TH/ER</div><div>WARNING</div><div>HULL BREACH</div><div>PRESSURE DROPPING</div><div>ATMOSPHERE ESCAPING</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="sewrxeohp8jeyih"></span><span class="sewrxeohp8jeyih"></span>She warns Dallas over the intercomm who closes the landing claw bay. The klaxons cut off but the warning lights still spin, increasing the entire crew's stress. Spooked, they gather on the bridge. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lambert relays a damage report. "Hull breach detected in life support on B deck."</div><div>"What? That doesn't make any sense."<br /></div><div>"For more info you can head to B deck and check the Life Support Terminal."</div><div>My wife got a pained expression on her face, "But I don'wannagotoBdeck!"</div><div><br />She summons her courage and sends Ripley, Brett and Parker to B deck. Darting from bulkhead to bulkhead, swinging the incinerator and motion detector back and forth, jumping at shadows, they reach the terminal on B deck. They check the pressure logs and find the landing claw chamber seals all closed correctly, but when the door was opened atmosphere began venting from the life support ducts on B deck, drawing atmosphere in from throughout the ship and venting it into space. </div><div><br /></div><div>They ask if they can just seal off the life support system. I explain the air scrubbers in the bow of the ship are a bit like the Nostromo's heart. Multichambered and delicate. While they are large enough to crawl through, there are a network of smaller ventilation ducts, like capillaries, that run throughout the vessel to carry air to each chamber of the ship from the airscrubbers. In the event of a hull breach in the air scrubbers (from something like a stray meteor), the air scrubbers can be sealed off deck by deck from the Life Support Terminal. Once contained, typically maintenance personnel will enter the air scrubber ducts to manually close the iris doors around the breached location. After isolating the specific breached scrubber and sealing it, the entire air scrubber complex can be re-opened.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Can we just seal each deck of air scrubbers?"</div><div>"Well, for a short time, but you'll fill the ship with CO2 and eventually die."</div><div>"What if we just cut off one deck and get into cryo?"</div><div>"The cryo units still use the airscrubbers to maintain your oxygen levels in cryo. You could risk it with just 50% capacity, but you are 10 months from home which is really risky."</div><div>"So you're saying we need to actually crawl into the vents, find the breach, and seal it?" my wife confirmed, "Screw Weyland-Yutani and their dumb ship. Why did they even design it this way?"</div><div><br /></div><div>Since the air scrubbers recorded a hull breach, they decided to wear EVA suits into them ducts. I cautioned them that the bulky suits plus equipment they brought would be tricky to negotiate through the ducts, but they persisted. They again broke into two teams. Brett and Parker would enter the ducts on B deck followed by Ripley, while Dallas, Ash and Lambert would descend to C deck and wait outside the other scrubbers in case the alien tried to enter the scrubbers from their level. </div><div><br /></div><div>The B deck team entered the completely dark air scrubbers, slowly moving in single file from a single entrance tunnel into the chambers at the center of the complex. Only one person could fit into each section at a time, so Parker was the first to encounter a number of distressing discoveries. Slime coated sections of ductwork, some resin-like extrusions in another scrubber and finally an air scrubber that appeared to be completely covered in a waxy brown resin, worked into a number rib-like nodules spanning the floor to ceiling the scrubber. This entire process took forever. The character movement was slow, the hour was getting late for the players, and the stress level of both players and characters was rising. To get done faster, they decided to split up. Brett took a side duct, while Parker started sealing the air scrubbers coated in resin since they probably wouldn't be functioning anyway. On C deck, Dallas and Lambert entered the tunnel to start checking for the hull breach. At that moment Ripley activated the motion detector. A faint, indistinct signal emenated from the far end of the air scrubber complex on B deck.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Oh god, it's here. We need to get out of here!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Brett pushed forward down his side passage towards the exit. As he did so he discovered more resin coatings but also a huge rend in the air duct passage, bent and corroded that offered access to the crawlspaces between the walls of the ship's quarters and the outer hull. He had little time to inspect the breach as loud, skittering movement echoed down the ductwork from behind him. </div><div><br /></div><div>The alien leapt towards Brett, pushing him from the ductwork and into the white paneled hexagonal chamber outside. Laying on his back, desperately searching for his dropped incinerator Brett screams as the creature looms over him. Over open comms the entire crew hears his desperate strangled cry. Dallas and Lambert begin panicking as well. On C deck, Ash can look up into the chamber above, watching Brett's predicament. The creature retracts its lips, descends on Brett for a fatal 'head bite', Brett's skull is crushed by the beast's secondary jaws. The creature descends the ladder towards C deck landing next to Ash.</div><div><br /></div><div>Parker manages to squeeze towards the ductwork in time to see the alien's tail disappear down the hatchway. He checks Brett but can offer no aid but looks down the hatchway gleefully, knowing Ash is finally going to get his due. </div><div><br /></div><div>"The creature rises up from a crouch after landing next to Ash. The science officer backs against the wall, trying to squeeze into a corner of the hexagonal room. The beast whirls on him..."</div><div>"Yes! Finally! Get some Ash, it's what you deserve!"<br /></div><div>"...but ignroing him turns towards the open tunnel where Dallas and Lambert entered."</div><div>"WHAT!!?!"</div><div><br /></div><div>Using info from a cut scene in Aliens where the creatures ignore a similar synthetic, I decided the alien would treat Ash as just another piece of equipment. My wife and son, not realizing Ash was a robot, were shocked and dismayed. On his turn Parker pointed his incinerator down the hatch towards the creature and let loose, bathing it in flame. The initial attack hit it square in the back for three total damage, but the fire intensity only inflicted a single additional hit. The beast hissed and shot an arm up the hatch, yanking Parker down hard onto the C deck floor. Ripley finally manages to extricate herself from the air ducts to see the beast looming over Parker.</div><div><br /></div><div>"What do you do?"</div><div>"Oh my god, I only have the motion detector. Oh we are so dead. So dead. Wait, Brett is here right? You said he dropped the incinerator?"</div><div>"Yes, it's laying in a pool of blood next to Brett's shattered corpse."</div><div>"YES! Ok, I drop the motion detector as a free action, pick the incinerator as a fast action and I'll use my slow action to shoot at the alien."</div><div>"You ready the incinerator, point it down onto C Deck. Ash has backed away, but the creature is engaged with Parker. You are going to hit them both with the flame."</div><div>"Oh my god, oh my god. We are screwed. Ripley's dead. Ok, what if I bash it with the butt of the incinerator? Can I jump down and try to smash it? The alien will kill Ripley but maybe Dallas and Lambert can escape."</div><div>"Sure, in fact I'll treat it as a blunt object which gives you an extra die."</div><div>"Ok, Ripley has, let's see, 3 strength and (oh great) 1 close combat. But I get to add 9 dice for my stress, right? Ok, here goes nothing."</div><div><br /></div><div>Ripley flung herself down the hatchway, using her momentum to drive the butt of her incinerator into the creature's enormouse domed head for three points of damage (and no facehuggers on the stress dice!). Unfortunately for her the alien receives 8 dice for its armor. I reluctantly gathered the handful of dice as I knew the creature would likely be tearing poor Ripley to bits next round. The armor dice clattered across the table resulting in zero successes. I checked the creature's remaining health.</div><div><br /></div><div>"The butt of the icinerator impacts the back of the creatures head, splitting a seam down its entire length. Caustic yellow fluid squirts from it and..." rolling 1 success on a whole handful of acid dice "... burns Ripley for a single point of damage. The beast collapses, shudders, and dies."</div><div><br /></div><div>There was a moment of silent shock as the fact registered.</div><div><br /></div><div>"You mean... we killed it?" I nodded and the table erupted in cheers. They had spent the last hour playing while standing up as a way to bleed off nervous energy from the rising tension. Now they erupted in excited, nervous laughter, "I can't believe it, I can't believe we killed it!" "Oh my gosh, that was great that was so great." "I was sure we were dead. I really thought I was going to get Ripley killed!" This was the first time I've ever seen my wife engaged by an RPG and my son was over the moon.</div><div><br /></div><div>We played for about five hours, finishing up just before midnight on New Year's eve. We chatted about the game for a few minutes, then rushed to the couch to watch the ball drop with two minutes to go. As it did we cursed 2020 and welcomed 2021, watched some lame bands play to non-existant crowds, and finally gave up on NYE coverage around 1:30. As we tuned out my son piped up. "Dad, I know it's late, but can we watch Alien. Like, now?" So we did, and he was scared, and he was thrilled, and I got to share not only one of my favorite movies with him but the most unique RPG experience I think I've ever had with my family. This game is great.</div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-32564832404029024152020-08-03T10:20:00.000-04:002020-08-03T10:20:16.154-04:00Battletech Campaign #18: Factory Assault<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the last of the stubborn Lyran defenses on Parakoila shattered, Captain Razor gathered the members of his mercenary company together for a final briefing.<br />
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The icy caverns hidden within the mountains that had long served as their base of operations were now returned to their former primordial beauty. The mech repair gantries, heated barracks, and ammunition stores had been packed away on transport hovercraft or scuttled to avoid capture by the Lyrans. Now illumination from the last few unstowed work lights were refracted by the icicles hanging from the arched ceiling, filling the dozens of faces turned towards Captain Razor with an unearthly bluish glow.<br />
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The Captain stood before the assembled mechwarriors, mechtechs, supply officers, commandos, medical personal, drivers and other support personnel of the <i>Raiders</i> and began outlining the plan for their final mission on the icy world.<br />
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Their objective was the capture of Battlemech-X, a mech of unknown origin the Lyrans had been testing on the icy world. The battlemech was being housed within a factory complex, the outer ring of sensor stations and pickets that protected it had been methodically smashed over the last several months by <i>Razor's Raiders</i><br />
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The upcoming mission would destroy defenses around the factory housing Battlmech-X and provide cover for a team of House Kurita commandos to infiltrate the factory and take control of the battlemech.<br />
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Once the <i>Raiders</i> assaulted the factory and claimed the Lyran's prize, any pretense that <i>Razor's Raiders</i> were simple pirates would be blown. The mercenary company, including all support personnel, the Kurita commando team and Battlemech-X would need to escape aboard the dropship belonging to the allied mercenary company <i>Wu's Woeful Witches</i>. Their escape dropship had already been burning towards Parakoila for several days. The precision execution of the operation would be critical, as no time could be spared for repair or rearmament following the battle. In addition, earlier recon missions had determined the factory complex was guarded by several heavy and assault class battlemechs, with others able to be called in as reinforcements from nearby bases. This would be a challenging op.<br />
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The assault would be broken into two theaters. Two lances would assault the factory proper and escort the commando team to the mech hangar housing Battlemech-X.</div>
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A third reinforced lance would attack the landing pad, clearing it of defenses and securing a dropzone for the approaching dropship.<br />
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With nerves on edge, the march to the theater of operations was quiet. Tense. As Captain Razor's command lance and the company recon lance drew within visual range of the factory complex, sensor data began flowing from the light scout mechs as they began a visual scan of the industrial zone.<br />
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The complex was defended by a pair of heavy laser turrets powered by a reinforced generator. As the enemy mech sensors picked up pings from hostile approaching forces they fell into defensive positions.<br />
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A Lyran Rifleman picked a location to the west of the complex, a Hunchback sporting a devastating short range AC20 sidling up to it as a bodyguard.<br />
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A Thunderbolt squated in the lee of the primary mech hangar, relying on the lance Phoenix Hawk to act as its eyes.<br />
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The bulk of the <i>Raiders </i>deployed en masse to the northeast.</div>
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Sgt. Maple in her Phoenix Hawk escorted the inexperienced mechwarrior "Lizard" in his captured Rifleman into a commanding position behind a ridge to the northwest.<br />
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The two long range mechs began an autocannon duel as their comrades maneuvered into position.<br />
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As the attack element skirted the battlefield to the east, Sgt. Cooler twiddled the knobs on her sensor readout as a new seismic trace resolved itself on the display.<br />
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"Ah, captain, I'm detecting new pings. Assault class for sure."<br />
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As the Lyrans pulled their defenses in tight to thwart the mercenaries' thrust, an 80 ton Zeus arrived from the southern end of the battlefield. Joined by the Lyran Thunderbolt, the two formidable mechs began swinging along the eastern edge of the battlefield.<br />
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"Pepper, take Snag and Hoover beyond the ridge." Captain Razor radioed his favorite sergeant. "See if you can't draw those two heavy mechs towards you."<br />
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"Got it cap'n. I'll bait the hook."<br />
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The trio of mercenary mechs laid down concentrated fire on the approaching heavy mechs. Angling to present their front armor to their foes, the two enemy mechs strode clear of surrounding cover into the ice fields to the east.<br />
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With a thunderous sonic boom, a Hellcat aerospace fighter broke through the cloud cover and laid down a devastating strafing attack on the rear armor of the approaching Lyran heavies.<br />
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"Nice work Pepper, you set those two up perfectly for that airstrike. They aren't down yet though, so fall back to the north ridge."<br />
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In the center of the industrial complex the Lyran turrets and long range mechs kept the mercenaries pinned down behind cover.<br />
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Using it's jump jets, the Lyran Phoenix Hawk began drawing closer, hoping to flush the attackers from out of their defensive positions.<br />
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Concentrating their fire, the mercenaries destroyed the complex's generator. Devoid of power, the laser turrets fell silent.<br />
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"Turrets are down." Captain Razor radioed the lances under his direct command. "Form up on me and head into the complex. We need to knock out their command and control center to clear the way for the commando team."<br />
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Leading the way in his Dragon heavy mech, Captain Razor's mercenary warriors closed within close range of the Lyran defenders.<br />
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Dispensing with finely tuned scanning of the buildings to find the Lyran commanders, the mercenaries opted for the brute force tactic of bringing every structure down. Autocannons and lasers tore through the hardened bunkers of the complex. One by one each was reduced to rubble.<br />
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With only light return fire, and forced to maneuver in the close confines of the industrial zone, Lt. Snag found his Centurion face to face with the House Steiner Hunchback and its dreaded AC 20.<br />
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Backed up by the Lyran Rifelman the two mechs ripped the Centurion's torso armor apart, coring the mech in a single round. Riding a pillar of flame as his pilot's seat ejected, Snag's Centurion was the first casualty of the battle.<br />
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To the east, Sgt. Cooler throttled her Locust up into a run, Kiwi's Griffin trying to keep up the pace.<br />
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"Cap'n, I've got visual on the commandos. Those heavies are right on top of the approach."<br />
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Darting around the flank of the approaching heavy mechs, Cooler's Locust raked the rear of the Lyran Thunderbolt. Her light machine guns pierced the heavy mech's internals, knocking out its SRM launcher.<br />
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Skidding to a stop and then darting back behind the enemy Zeus, Cooler's Locust and Kiwi's Griffin fired on the assault mech from the rear. Distracted by their attack, the Zeus failed to score a hit on the Kurita APC that shot past them along the access road.<br />
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As the battle raged around them the Kurita commandos disembarked from the Packrat APC and rushed into the mech hangar.<br />
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Near the center of town the Lyran Hunchback strode forward into a threatening position, the House Steiner Phoenix Hawk falling back towards it for protection.<br />
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Having suffered concentrated fire to one its left leg, the Lyran Phoenix Hawk was doing its best to shield it from the approaching mechs from the east. Seizing the opportunity, Sgt. Maple kicked her own Phoenix Hawk's jumped jets and leapt into position behind the Hunchback.<br />
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Unloading a stream of laser and machine fun fire Maple obliterated the last internal components holding the enemy mech's leg together. It crashed to the crowd in a gout of smoke and billowing powdery snow.<br />
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With the loss of the Phoenix Hawk, destruction of the generator, laser turrets and command bunker and with their heavy and assault mechs taking internal damage, the Lyran's signaled a retreat.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
The battle to secure the factory complex was a victory for <i>Razor's Raiders</i>, but the fate of the dropzone still hung in the balance. Will the battle lance be able to secure the escape route for the mercenaries?<br />
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A fun game, but this climactic event is stretching Battletech to its limits. It's taking us multiple evenings to play out this grand company on company action, something probably better suited to Alpha Strike. Still, what better time to tie up the game table with a giant game than the forced quarantine we're all dealing with? Thank God for in-house opponents to play with!<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-52718508825466078452020-06-19T09:36:00.000-04:002020-06-19T09:36:46.840-04:00Battletech Campaign #17: A Communications Disruption Can Mean Only One Thing...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Having recovered the Stinger LAM as well as a trio of new mechs, <i>Razor's Raiders</i> were poised to launch their final assault on the Lyran stronghold. As their Kurita employers began packing the parts and technical parts for evac from their hidden mountain base, Captain Razor dispatched the <i>Raider's</i> Battle lance under command of Lt. Slick to knock out the last communications array to mask their impending assault.<br />
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As this was a <i>disrupt</i> mission, the Battle lance would need to locate the communications array among the buildings on the battlefield and destroy it. Alternatively, they could simply raze every building without completing a scan of them.<br />
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With his Wasp crippled during the last mission, mechwarrior Cobra was assigned the recently stolen Rifleman mech, bolstering the Battle lance with its additional long range firepower.<br />
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The Battle lance was rounded out by Lt. Slick's Centurion, Tag's long range missile carrying Trebuchet and the grizzled Sgt. Bone's Wolverine.<br />
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This last comms array lay along an elevated highway running across the ice plains to the factory complex that would be the target of the <i>Raiders'</i> final assault.<br />
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As they approached the target area, their sensors detected the approach of enemy mechs. Squinting through the flurries that swirled on cold eddies across the plains, Lt. Slick could just make out familiar markings on the enemy mechs. The lieutenant's comm crackled as an enemy mech broadcast over an open frequency.<br />
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"Attention pirates! This is Colonel Bain, of <i>Bain's Hussars</i>. You've raided this world for far too long, and despite my mercenary company repeatedly rebuffing your attacks you still persist. But we have you now! I'm going to end your campaign, personally."<br />
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"Lieutenant, don't get distracted by this mouthy SOB," Tag advised, "Let's concentrate on taking down that comms array."<br />
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"Agreed. But taking out the Colonel's Archer couldn't hurt."<br />
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The enemy mercs began deploying along the elevated highway to clear their firing lanes beyond the buildings they were protecting.<br />
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The enemy Commando swung wide to the south, angling for the <i>Raiders'</i> back lines. The <i>Raiders'</i> long range mechs climbed on to the hills to gain clear shots at the nearest buildings, while Bone's Wolverine swept north and began scanning them for the comms equipment.<br />
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The closest building didn't emit the telltale frequencies of the communications array, but its location would make an excellent sniper perch. Concentrated fire destroyed it, clearing the way for Cobra's Rifleman.<br />
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<i>Razor's Raiders</i> continued to advance firing on Lyran structures, taking only sporadic fire from the approaching <i>Hussar</i> mechs.<br />
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Approaching the midpoint of the battlefield Sgt. Bone scanned the third building, detecting the comms array.<br />
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"It's 'ere, lieutenant." he radioed, "Pour some fire onnit, I've got me hands full wit' this Hussar mech." Bone armed his weapons and targeted the <i>Hussar</i> mech that jumped into the geyser field just to his left.<br />
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Climbing atop a far rise, the enemy Warhammer drew a clear line of sight to <i>Razor's Raiders</i>. A PPC bolt sparked from one of its arm mounted cannons striking Slick's Centurion in the chest.<br />
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In response Cobra targeted the Warhammer, but unfamiliar with the new mech's controls found only his light autocannons were in range. Like gun fighters facing off at high noon, the two mechs traded long range fire down the length of the elevated highway.<br />
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Outranging their opponents, the <i>Hussar</i> heavy mechs worked their way into a position that afforded them clear shots on Slick's Centurion. PPCs and LRMs rained down on him, blasting chunks of armor from the front torso of his mech.<br />
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"Taking heavy fire here," he shouted over the warning alarms ringing in his cockpit, "Cobra, knock that comms array out, the rest of you concentrate fire on that Archer."<br />
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The comms array building exploded into cloud of concrete dust as the Rifleman shredded it with large laser and autocannon fire. Though they'd completed their mission, their victory was not yet secure. To the south the <i>Hussar</i> Commando raced past the <i>Raider's</i> front line as its heavier comrades kept up their suppressing fire.<br />
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His mech's armor in a disastrous condition, Lt. Slick began pulling back. Hurtling into view atop a pillar of jet exhaust the enemy Wolverine alighted next to Tag's Trebuchet, raking the lieutenant's Centurion with lasers and short range missiles before barely missing a swift kick at the Trebuchet.<br />
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"Lieutenant, we're aint goin' t'be able to withstand the volume o' fire those heavies are laying down." Sgt. Bone advised.<br />
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"Agreed. Lance, sight exit lines to retreat from the field. Continue concentrating fire on that Archer. Maybe we can slow it down to cover our escape."<br />
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In answer, the <i>Hussars'</i> commander climbed atop a ridge and pelted the withdrawing Centurion with long range missiles.<br />
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Locking all weapons on the Archer, the <i>Raiders'</i> autocannons and missiles struck home, savaging the heavy mech and blowing one of its arms off. Reeling from the attack the 70 ton mech spun and crashed to the ground.<br />
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"Now's our chance! Move, move!"<br />
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The <i>Raiders</i> turned and throttled up. Continued harassing fire from the Hussar's did not let up though, and piercing the shredded armor of the Centurion inflicted critical hits on its engine. A blistering attack by the Commando's short range missiles pierced the Rifleman's back as it fled, striking its gyro. The heavy mech wobbled, but managed to right itself and run to safety.<br />
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The <i>Hussars'</i> commander managed to regain his Archer's feet. Shaking its one remaining fist in the air he cursed the <i>Raiders</i> who had escaped the <i>Hussars'</i> grasp again.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
We had a number of twists that conspired to make this a game my son and I were eager to get to. He was excited to put the Rifleman on the field, one of the few heavy mechs that's been added to his mercenary company. And after weeks of begging to "build some bridges" with our 3D terrain I relented and created this raised highway layout that provided some sneaky passages that were tall enough for mechs to move under. On my side of the table, I was able to roll up a pretty killer lance of mercenary mechs including two of my favorites - the Archer and Warhammer. I was a bit nervous about throwing them against my son, but based on battle value points and tonnage our two forces were pretty close in power. I thought this would be a decent match up, but I haven't run an Archer in 20 years so I wasn't quite sure how deadly it would turn out to be.<br />
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Quite deadly in fact. The combination of PPCs from the Warhammer and twin LRMs from the Archer are a deadly combo. Each round they fire at his Centurion shredded armor off the poor thing. My son was also rudely surprised at the low maneuverability of his mechs. Having run so many light and mediums complete with jump jets for the bulk of our games, he was distraught to find his mechs unable to extricate themselves from fire once the battle began to turn.<br />
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He did complete his mission and realized he needed to evac well before it was clear he wouldn't be able to hold up against the enemy mercs. I'm hoping this battle gave him enough experience to run his heavier mechs during the upcoming factory assault next week.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-8981815959246568422020-06-12T09:41:00.000-04:002020-06-12T09:41:37.065-04:00Battletech Campaign #16: Operation Bedlam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Previously on "<i>Razor's Raiders</i>": Our mercenary company raiding the Lyran world of Parakoila <a href="https://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com/2020/05/battletech-campaign-10-nasty-short-and.html" target="_blank">encountered a Stinger LAM</a>, a light recon mech that had the unusual capability to transform into an aerospace fighter. Exceedingly rare among the declining technological base of the Inner Sphere, LAM mechs were coveted as both status symbols as well as useful additions to military forces for their exceptional scouting capabilities.<br />
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Though the Stinger LAM the <i>Raiders</i> encountered did little more than buzz the battlefield, the news of their encounter spread among the mercenaries, catching the interest of their allied merc company <i>Wu's Woeful Witches</i>. As a dedicated aerospace outfit, the <i>Witches</i> were willing to pay a significant bounty to <i>Razor's Raiders</i> if they could capture and deliver the Stinger LAM to them intact.<br />
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The <i>Witches</i> hatched a plan and suggested it to Captain Razor, while his XO offered an alternative.<br />
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While I presented both missions to my son right after his merc company's encounter with the LAM, my son has been focused on making sure he would be in the best position to succeed. He's undertaken numerous supply runs to build his forces, disrupt the Lyran ability to counter attack and conducted a final recon mission to give him the best chance of capturing the LAM. But with food supplies of his on-world guerrilla supporters running low, he had run out of time for further preparations.<br />
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Wary of sending light mechs into the tight confines of old mining tunnels, he opted for his XO's suggested tactic of attacking the LAM hangar during a blizzard in the hopes of capturing it before the local forces had time to react.<br />
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Knowing the heavier mechs of their Command lance would have little hope of catching the Lyrans in time to prevent them from powering up their mechs, Captain Razor opted to deploy his Recon and Battle lances under the command of Lt. "Slick" Exof piloting his venerable Centurion battlemech.<br />
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As the eight mercenary mechs slogged through the deep snow, buffeted by high winds, they could just make out the looming gray shapes of the Lyran mech hangars through the snow that pelted and skittered across their canopies.<br />
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"There it is." Sgt. Maple called out over her Phoenix Hawk's comm system, "Let's just hope all the picket system arrays we knocked out didn't pick us up on approach."<br />
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Lt. Slick checked his sensor array according to standard protocols and noticed a seismic reading beyond the mech hangars to the west.<br />
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"I've noticed a seismic reading beyond the hangars to the west," he informed his lances, "Kiwi, Tag, come with me to that ridge to the north. The rest of you make best possible speed to the mech hangars before we have to face whatever's coming."<br />
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Using the cover of the mech hangars, the Recon lanced dashed towards their targets but were suddenly illuminated by spotlights from the building's eaves.<br />
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"Sod it, we're spotted!" Sgt. Bone groused as he peeled off from the Battle lance, Cobra's Wasp close behind. Alarms began to sound from the Lyran compound as the merc company vaulted over the low anti-tank wall that ringed the hangar complex.<br />
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Sgt. Cooler spurred her Locust into a sprint and rounded the north edge of the hangars. "Lieutenant, I've got eyes on our seismic bogies. A Commando, pair of Strikers and a pair of Scorpions."<br />
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"And it looks like we've woken their mechwarriors up. I've spotted four people dashing from the barracks in nothing but their skivvies and neurohelmets along with at least a company of machine gun infantry."<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Each hangar contains two mechs, but until my son had a mech with line of sight to them I kept their contents off table. I had to use paper tokens to represent the mechwarriors (for shame!) </td></tr>
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"Life's cheap." Sgt. Maple began.<br />
"BattleMechs are expensive," Cooler finished the popular slogan. "Weapons hot." Her Locust's machine guns sprayed the fleeing mechwarriors who managed to dodge the fusillade, but the green beam of her medium laser caught one of the enemy pilots vaporizing him into a cloud of ash.<br />
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With the thunderous footfalls of half a dozen mechs shaking the ground, the Lyran infantry deployed to meet the assault. If they could hold off the mercs long enough for their mechwarriors to reach the hangars they might have a chance.<br />
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Weapons fire from a mercenary Wolverine decimated one of the Lyran infantry platoons as they desperately fired their heavy machine guns at the attackers.<br />
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Sgt. Bone instinctively weaved to the left as a pair of golden tracers sliced towards him from a rise to the west.<br />
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"Lieutenant, takin' some harassing fire."<br />
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"Continue to press the attack. Concentrate on taking out those mechwarriors Cooler spotted."<br />
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A volley of LRMs shot past Bone's Wolverine as the Strikers drew within range. Hidden behind a low hill, the Lyran tanks fired indirectly with targeting data from their allied Commando who was spoiled for targets to call.<br />
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The Lyran mechwarriors dashed towards the hangars, now just thirty meters away. The mercenary mechs waded into the midst of the Lyran infantry, heedless of the danger in order to direct all fire at stopping the enemy mechwarriors.<br />
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Desperate to save their comrades, the defenders of House Steiner accelerated into short range of their mercenary enemies.<br />
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Sgt. Bone hit the emergency brace button on his modified control panel, forcing his Wolverine to take a wide stance as volleys of missiles exploded across the rear armor of his BattleMech. His own SRMs peppered the tarmac around the last fleeing mech pilot, the unfortunate warrior pinwheeling through the sky as explosions lifted his body into the air. Steadying his mech he surveyed his comrades to see the House Steiner Commando launch an alpha strike at Cobra's Wasp, a cavalcade of missiles explosions shearing one of the lighter mech's arms off.<br />
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"Mechjocks are down," Bone growled, "Knock out the resta these boys 'fore they scratch the 'tenant's paint job."<br />
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Acknowledging the sergeant's order, Cooler dashed her Locust into the rear arc of the Scorpions.<br />
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Lt. Slick continued to advance at range, providing occasional desultory LRM fire at viable vehicle targets.<br />
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With their hopes of mech reinforcement dashed, the Lyran vehicles began reversing away from the mercenary mechs that now turned their attention to them.<br />
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Maple's Phoenix Hawk lead the charge, slicing glowing chunks of metal from the Striker tanks with medium and large lasers. A swift kick from Tag's Trebuchet flipped the light tank onto it's back before it shuddered and ripped itself apart from internal ammo explosions.<br />
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With comrades advancing, Cobra jumped his Wasp behind them to shield his damaged mech from fire spat by the retreating tanks. The Lyran Commando followed, it's short ranged missiles blasting the Wasp's other arm free from the battlemech's torso.<br />
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"Can't take much more of this!" Cobra exclaimed over the company comms channel.<br />
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As the Commando broke free from the pack of mercenary mechs and peppered the rear armor of Tag's Trebuchet with another volley of SRMs, a lone Stinger emerged 'round the mech hangars to the south.<br />
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Having sat out most of the battle in a deep defensive position, Hoover's Stinger was in a perfect spot to cut off the Commando's retreat. A precise strike by its medium laser and machine guns obliterated the last internal structure of one of the Commando's damaged legs, sending it face first into the tundra.<br />
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With the final Lyran mech down, and mercenary mechs crushing fleeing tanks under foot, Lt. Slick radioed back to base.<br />
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"LAM secure Captain. The field is ours."<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
While this was a fairly lopsided battle in favor of the mercs, it really came down to one or two rolls. I had initially offered this mission to my son when he was sporting half repaired, undergunned mechs and novice mechwarriors. Rather than take my bait, he bid his time, building his forces, accumulating stockpiles of spare parts and giving his mechwarriors time to advance from regular to veteran pilots.<br />
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With all that, he still exhausted his entire reserve of supply points to even launch this mission, and several of the Lyran mechwarriors were at the door to the mech hangars which would have brought a Warhammer and Stinger LAM into the fray.<br />
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Not only did he claim the Stinger LAM to turn over to <i>Wu's Woeful Witches</i>, my son secured three additional battlemechs in pristine condition for his mercenaries: a Griffin, Rifleman and Warhammer. And not a moment too soon, as his scouts have already identified numerous heavy and assault battlemechs guarding his final target: the mech factory complex housing the mysterious Battlemech X he's been hired to steal.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-69501905111839420392020-05-29T09:40:00.001-04:002020-05-29T09:40:34.707-04:00Battletech Campaign #15: Old Dogs, New Tricks<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z9gIf2v85wU/Xs_3lOPxw8I/AAAAAAAASjU/6nDHpr-atqM1JcVD-lSlnN6er9UKe0x0QCPcBGAsYHg/s1600/IMG_7033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z9gIf2v85wU/Xs_3lOPxw8I/AAAAAAAASjU/6nDHpr-atqM1JcVD-lSlnN6er9UKe0x0QCPcBGAsYHg/s640/IMG_7033.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A House Steiner Trebuchet I painted over 20 years ago, in desperate need of refurbishment and rebasing.</td></tr>
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With the supplies of their Kurita employers dwindling, <i>Razor's Raiders</i> have been maneuvering for their final assault on Lyran positions across the ice world of Parakoila.<br />
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After their <a href="https://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com/2020/05/battletech-campaign-14.html" target="_blank">heartbreaking loss during their last mission</a>, Captain Razor directed the final repairs on Sgt. Cooler's Locust and dispatched the recon lance on a final scouting sortie.<br />
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Following a narrow roadway that descended from their mountain hideout, the recon lance needed to probe enemy defenses, scanning all they encountered at short range in order to deliver the telemetry back to base. Using the cover of darkness, the <i>Raiders</i> relied on instruments to navigate the cover of the boulder strewn pass.</div>
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Lyran seismic detectors alerted House Steiner forces and the nearest lance was deployed to halt the mercenary incursion. Commanded by a lieutenant in a hastily repaired Thunderbolt, the heavy mechs of the planetary garrison trudged along the snow covered service road to meet their attackers.</div>
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Having <a href="https://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com/2020/05/battletech-campaign-13-speed-is-cover.html" target="_blank">previously encountered</a> <i>Razor's Raiders</i> the Lyran lieutenant was eager to settle the score after his earlier defeat. Backed up by a 50 ton Trebuchet, the lieutenant deployed the two mechs behind cover in a more open area of the pass with good lines of sight to await the inevitable onslaught.</div>
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Using the cover of night and their great speed, Razor's Raiders dashed from one rocky outcrop to another. Unable to get a strong target lock or even a shot over iron sights in the darkness the Lyrans ground their teeth in frustration.</div>
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Despite the protection of the terrain and poor lighting, the recon team was hesitant to approach.</div>
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"Home Base, this is Recon One. Looks like we've stumbled into some stiff opposition here," Sgt. Maple reported over the lance comms channel from atop her Phoenix Hawk. "It's going to be tricky."</div>
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"Sergeant, I've got an idea," offered Sgt. Cooler as her Locust dashed into cover behind a low rise. "That old Star League training vid I was telling you about. I finally got a magnetic tape reader running and was able to view it while they were pulling my Locust's gyro last week."</div>
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"Aw, c'mon Cooler, can it with that old junk," came Kiwi's admonition over her Griffin's comm channel. "Just face it, you got rolled by that junk dealer. Aint no way he pulled it from a genuine Star League base."</div>
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"Negative Hoover, it was legit. There was a lot of magnetic corruption, but I could make out enough to see it was real. It was titled 'Going Prone and You', a training documentary by the Star League hero Troy McClure."</div>
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"Hope you learned something, Cooler." Kiwi snapped, "cuz things just got infinitely worse."</div>
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While the recon lance jockeyed for position among the rocks at the north end of the canyon a pair of additional Lyran mechs stomped in from the south.</div>
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70 tons each, the heavy House Steiner Warhammers sported a pair of long range PPCs, a dreadful array of short range weaponry and most distressingly, high powered searchlights mounted on their left shoulders.</div>
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The two mechs rolled out into a deep defensive line to cover the advance of their Lyran comrades. With an electric thrum both of the heavy mech's searchlights snapped on, flooding the canyon with light. </div>
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"Alright, can the chatter team," Sgt. Maple directed. "We need to get on those mechs before they have a chance to fully deploy. Kiwi, Hoover, you lay down harassing fire. Cooler, let's get in there to scan."</div>
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Sighting the most likely spot for a confrontation, the garrison Thunderbolt eased into a hollow that offered protection on three sides. The Trebuchet and Warhammer maneuvered to provide long range support as the mercenaries began their approach.</div>
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Sgt. Cooler throttled her Locust up to nearly 120 kph headed straight towards the Thunderbolt that tripled her mech's weight. The Thunderbolt swiveled at the hips to meet the Locust's charge, but at the last moment the light mech dropped, sliding behind the rocky outcrop like a runner stealing third base.</div>
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Rather than an easy shot at short range over partial cover, the Locust was now completely obscured and the Thunderbolt was left without a target. Despite the obscured line of sight the Locust's short range sensors worked just find and read the enemy mech's navigation telemetry just fine.</div>
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With one recon scan complete, Sgt. Maple jumped her Phoenix Hawk into position behind a high ridge. A Lyran Warhammer on the west flank turned and hurled two charged particle bolts at the mercenary, blasting armor from its leg and torso.</div>
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With the House Steiner mechs swatting at the mercs along the west, Cpl. Kiwi lifted off on jump jets and settled into notch in the canyon wall completely obscured from the enemy.</div>
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"Gimme those coordinates, Hoover!"</div>
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Hoover's Stinger dashed into the open, using sensors to feed location data to Kiwi's hidden Griffin. With target coordinates locked, the Griffin fired a volley of long range missiles into the sky that arced in a tight parabola and came down directly on the Lyran Thunderbolt.</div>
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Taking a cue from Cooler, Sgt. Maple guided her Phoenix Hawk into close range of the Lyran Warhammer before diving to the ground behind a low hill. Dialing in her sensors Sgt. Maple picked up the vital navigation data from a second Lyran mech.</div>
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"Only two left team! Cooler, what's your status?"</div>
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"No worries Maple, I've got this!" Cooler's Locust swung wide around the Lyran lines, pausing in the shadow of the second Warhammer's rear. The 70-ton titan swiveled, but unable to bring its torso mounted searchlight to bear the tiny mercenary recon mech was blind to the Warhammer's weapon sights.</div>
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Data flowed into Cooler's sensor recorder, cataloguing navigation patterns, enemy mech transponder pings, and a host of other crucial information.</div>
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"Got it! One left!"</div>
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"Nice work Cooler. Nail that Trebuchet and let's clear out. Hoover and Kiwi, start falling back." The recon commander continued to issue orders to the lance as she prepared to get her mech to its feet when the garrison Thunderbolt rounded the rise and peppered the Phoenix Hawk with short range missiles</div>
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Easing her mech to its feet, Maple backpedaled towards the north firing a single large laser bolt at the Lyran Thunderbolt in the hopes of getting a lucky cockpit hit. The Steiner mech, focused on punishing the mercenary intruders, focused all of its short range weaponry on the recon lance leader. Four medium lasers struck home, leaving blistered and blacked score marks across the mercenary mech's torso. Firing her jump jets Maple fell back to an exposed position on a high ridge.</div>
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The Lyran Trebuchet turned and locked on with LRMs, unleashing a full volley from both. 24 of the 30 missiles struck home, rocking the Phoenix Hawk back with the impact of the warheads. Alarms rang in the cockpit as Sgt. Maple forced her mech stay upright.</div>
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"Getting torn up out here Cooler! What's your status?"</div>
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"Getting the data now!"</div>
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Green characters on a black background jittered across her sensor screen. A low ping signaled the completion of the data transfer. Out of the corner of her eye Cooler noticed one of the Warhammers slowly making it to the top of a ridge to the south. Its spotlight snapped on, catching the mercenary Locust in the full glare of a brilliant cone of light. Caught in the open, and having had to slow her mech's pace to draw within range of the Trebuchet, Cooler's Locust made an easy target for the Lyran mech.</div>
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The Warhammer pilot chuckled to himself, locking short range missiles onto the Locust, and finding it within the perfect range for his PPCs. The reticle turned green and he unleashed his volley.</div>
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Seeing the danger, Cooler took a panicked step backward as the blue bolts snapped past her Locust's cockpit followed closely by the vapor trails of half a dozen short range missiles.</div>
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"That was TOO close! Recon Lance, this is Recon Three. I have the data, repeat I have the data."</div>
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"And not a moment too soon!" Sgt. Maple turned her battered Phoenix Hawk north, dodging a few desultory final blasts from Lyran PPCs as the <i>Raiders</i> recon lance retreated into the night, victorious again.</div>
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Aftermath</h3>
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Only one mech took any significant damage in this matchup, but it was one of the most tense games my son and I have played! My random enemy forces finally turned up some fitting House Steiner mechs, and unlike a previous recon mission my son chose to do a close range scan of enemy forces. He'd have to draw within four hexes of my mechs, each bristling with short range weaponry and able to deliver knock out punches to light mechs at long range. It was a tense battle as each misstep could cost my son one of his mechs.</div>
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I've been reading the old First Strike rules which has some advice on playing Battletech, including the rule about prone mechs behind level one hills being out of line of sight of other mechs at ground level. With his mechs largely outmatched he cooked up a plan to use that tactic to get into position, risking the piloting rolls to stand in order to be immune to enemy fire. He even suggested the team had been watching old training videos just before departing to explain their new found tactic.</div>
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Once I caught on to his trick I moved my mechs on top of various hills so he'd be unable to hit the dirt. Robbed of his newly discovered tactic he was forced to maneuver his Locust into a non-optimal position to scan the Trebuchet and I was sure his luck had run out. At four hexes away, caught in the glare of a searchlight my Warhammer only needed 6+ to hit. We both caught our breath as I rolled the attacks and erupted in laughter at the numerous 'ones' that turned up, saving Cooler's bacon once again.</div>
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With another recon mission under his belt, and supplies that will only last for three more missions <i>Razor's Raiders</i> are about to launch the final raids on the Lyrans of Parakoila.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-8866854185137752492020-05-22T10:45:00.000-04:002020-05-22T10:46:08.578-04:00Battletech Campaign #14: Situation Normal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After our straightforward last battle, I decided to offer my son a different type of recon mission. It would be challenging and risky, but offered a hefty reward in intel.<br />
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As Captain Razor lead his battered but victorious lance back to base he received a communication from their aerospace allies who spotted unusual enemy activity. The Lyrans had dispatched a small force to the battlefield and were sifting through the rubble in search for something. If they acted quickly, a different lance could be dispatched from the mercenaries' hidden base to intercept them. If the Lyrans recovered any sort of communication cyphers or equipment they'd be loaded in an "HQ" transport vehicle. A mercenary lance would simply need to reach the HQ vehicle, pick it up and make a hasty getaway back to base.<br />
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Weighing his options Captain Razor decided to proceed with the mission. Disappointingly, his recon lance was still nursing a Locust with a shattered gyro. Rather than risking further damage to the mech, the mercenaries' main battle lance was given the green light to suit up and race to the theater of operations instead.<br />
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Mercenary commands can't often be picky with the forces they marshal, and Captain Razor has been forced to gather the "odd men out" into his battle lance, a catch-all of disparate mechs and pilots that don't receive the plum assignments given to the command and recon lances. </div>
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Racing ahead of the slower medium mechs in the lance, Cpl. "Cobra" piloting his 20 ton Wasp scout mech was the first to arrive within visual range of the battlefield. The sight before him was daunting.</div>
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Through the smoke from the still burning communications buildings, Cpl. Cobra could make out nearly half a dozen light mechs in a tight defensive formation around a number of light vehicles making ready to depart. </div>
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"Lieutenant, it's a real hornet's nest up here." He radioed to his lance commander, "I've got eyes on the HQ vehicle, but they've got infantry in defensive positions to the west, about a full company of light mechs and armor, and a clear shot down the main road artery to the east. If they reach the main highway there we'll never be able to catch 'em"<br />
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"We're nearly there. See if you can't disable that HQ vehicle."<br />
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Outnumbered 12 to 1, Cpl. Cobra triggered his jump jets and took a pair of 180 meter long leaps along the north edge of the ice plain, just out of weapon range of the Lyrans. In response, a pair of lightly armed Locust scout mechs broke off from the pack in pursuit, while the vehicle convoy began trundling along the main thoroughfare.<br />
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Closing to short range one of the Locusts spat heavy machine gun fire at the light mercenary mech, splintering and pock-marking armor along its arm. Cobra's lightly armed Wasp was still out of range of the HQ vehicle, and could only manage an ineffective laser shot at his pursuers.<br />
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Fearing the Wasp was a diversionary tactic, the bulk of the Lyran defenders fell into a tight escort formation, but freeing a pair of more heavily armed Commando scouts to fall back to pounce on any other threat that might appear from the west. Taking on a full lance of light mechs was more than Cpl. Cobra had bargained for.<br />
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"Man, why couldn't they have sent a Phoenix Hawk to do this? My Wasp aint cut out for this sort of thing!"<br />
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"Quit yer bellyachin'," a familiar voice drawled over the comms, "The cavalry is here." Cresting the rise to the west the remainder of the battle lance stomped into visual range. The gravelly tones of Sgt. Instein's voice had snapped scores of mechwarriors to attention over the years. Piloting the lance's Wolverine, Sgt. "Bone" Instein was a veteran of decades of mech combat. Legless and unable to adapt to cybernetic replacements, his Wolverine had to be specially modified to accommodate his battle wounds. Now his arrival stiffened the Wasp pilot's nerve as the lance began to focus on the mission at hand.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sgt. "Bone" Instein in his Wolverine escorting "Tag" in the Trebuchet support mech.</td></tr>
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"Slick", the lance commander piloting a Centurion directed his support mech to make best speed and target the fleeing HQ vehicle in hopes of disabling it. Still shellshocked from a mauling at the hands of the Lyrans several weeks ago, "Tag" in his Trebuchet reluctantly kicked his mech into a run towards the convoy.<br />
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Drawing just into range of the convoy, the Trebuchet's long range missiles snaked across the ice plain, impacting one of the trailing Scorpion tanks and knocking a tread from its road wheels. Disabled, it was still potent though and its turret rotated, firing an autocannon shell at long range that impacted Sgt. Bone's Wolverine.<br />
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With the convoy speeding away, the mercenaries were forced to throw caution to the wind and race towards their targets. The Lyran mechs fell on the mercs, battering their armor with lasers, missiles and machine guns.<br />
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Climbing a small peak to give him a commanding view of the battlefield, Lt. Slick was still too far out of range to do much good other than call out targets.<br />
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Seeing a golden opportunity, one of the Lyran Locusts peeled off to make a direct attack on the Centurion's rear. A more heavily armed variant, the Lyran LCT-1S fired a pair of light SRMs and a medium laser, scoring direct hits with all four missiles and the laser directly into the rear torso of the Centurion.<br />
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A capable mechwarrior, but with few combat missions under his belt, Lt. Slick cut the "low armor" alarm in his cockpit and nervously checked his internal structure readout.<br />
<br />
"Team, I just took a pretty heavy blow here. All internals check out, but I want to remind everyone to check their six and avoid taking unnecessary damage to the rear of your battlemech."<br />
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Sgt. Bone cut the lieutenant's comm message short as a flurry of short range missiles impacted his mech's head. He steadied his Wolverine and unleashed a volley of SRMs and lasers at a Commando just 20 meters away, the Lyran lining up a shot on Cpl. Cobra's Wasp. LRM vapor trails streaked by the Wolverine's canopy as Tag attempted another shot at the fleeing convoy. Dodging attacks from a Locust and Commando threw off the Trebuchet's aim and the missiles fell wide.<br />
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One of the Lyran Locusts dashed towards the Trebuchet, raking the mech from behind with machine guns before unleashing a swift kick at the support mech. Slick ticked a box on Tag's pilot evaluation chart ("Situational awareness: Poor") missing the melee as Tag's Trebuchet darted forward, throwing off the Lyran's aim and sending the Locust crashing onto its back. </div>
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The impact drove a hunk of scrap rebar through the scout's thin rear armor directly into its engine core. Heat sink failure cascaded across the mech's internal structure. Wobbling to a standing position, its internal temperature invariably rising and unable to cool itself, the Locust withdrew from the battle.<br />
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The mercs continued their headlong charge across the ice plain, dodging behind cover when possible, but shedding armor at an alarming rate as the Lyran light mechs and Scorpion tanks continued to inflict a death by a thousand cuts.<br />
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Piloting the slowest mech in the lance, Lt. Slick eased his Centurion off the rise and headed towards the fleeing convoy. Harried by a Locust and a pair of light hovercraft, the lieutenant had to divert to the north to avoid the dug in infantry lying in wait within the ruins of the destroyed base.<br />
<br />
"Team, I've had to divert north to avoid some stiff Lyran resistance. You should be drawing within range of that HQ vehicle so I'll need you to direct the bulk of your attacks towards disabling it. Of course, don't hit it TOO hard. We don't want to blow it up."<br />
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"Aye, lieutenant," Bone spat through gritted teeth as he wrestled his mech's gyros into keeping the 55 ton behemoth on two feet after suffering the impact of four medium lasers from a single mech. "Watch yerself boys, watch yerself. Those basterds got themselves a Fire Javelin. Steer clear o' that one."<br />
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"Roger that sergeant," Tag acknowledged as both of his Trebuchet's LRM missile target sensors locked on to the fleeing HQ vehicle. "I've got solid tone on both racks? Do I fire?"<br />
<br />
"Hmm, I think in this case with the volume of fire we're laying down range it might be prudent to only f-"<br />
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"Let 'em both loose laddie!" Sgt. Bone cut off the lieutenant as half a dozen enemy SRM rockets exploded in a fireworks display across his Wolverine's chest. Making for cover behind an outcrop of rock, his autocannon spat three 120mm shells at the Lyran Javelin. The Lyran backpedaled out of sight behind the outcrop, giving Sgt. Bone a moment to take a read on the situation. Turning his mech round, he stole a glance to see Tag's Trebuchet planting a foot into the frozen ground, leaning forward to counteract the force unleashed by the continuous rolling barrage of LRMs he was firing. Thirty long range missiles streaked over his Wolverine's head, their vapor trails white across a sky growing purple with dusk. A cascade of explosions rippled across the HQ vehicle, engulfing it in flame, hiding it from view in billows of ink black smoke. A hush fell over the battlefield as both parties checked the status of the prize.<br />
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"Hits away! Did we get it?" the lieutenant called over the comm.<br />
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The smoke cleared revealing the HQ vehicle rolling on <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span> battered, blackened, dragging bits of metal that kicked up sparks on the road, but rolling nonetheless.<br />
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"Negative," Tag sighed, "it just impacted on the surface,"<br />
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"Right boys, don't think we can risk 'nuther shot. It's goin' t'be a scrum." Using his cavalary mech's enormous arm, he waved and gestured to Cpl. Cobra. The Wasp raised an arm in comprehension, turned, and bounded away in a long looping run out of view towards the northeast. Sgt. Bone triggered his comms, directing another salvo of the Trebuchet's LRMs at the convoy, but this time towards one of the lead Scorpion tanks.<br />
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The missiles shattered the tank's main drive wheel. Venting smoke from burning oil the armored vehicle ground to a halt, blocking the main road to the east.<br />
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"Sgt. Bone, I'm still encountering some stiff resistance to the west. What's your situation?"<br />
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"We're blockin' th' road, lietenant. Cobra's makin' a sweep round the ridge to the northwest. Should be able to flank that HQ truck and snatch it right up. They're almost to the main highway though. If'n we don't catch em, they'll be able to open their throttles and slip our grasp!"<br />
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Lyran Commandos continued to swirl around the perimeter of the battlefield. One sporting a tangle of wires and blackened metal where its left arm used to be throttled up in an attempt to get to a defensive position. Sgt. Bone locked his target reticle on it and opened up with this autocannon before delivering a swift kick that shattered the Lyran Javelin's arm.<br />
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The autocannon rounds pierced the Commando's light rear armor, touching off a round of SRM ammo, the explosions coursing through its internal structure and ripping its engine to pieces.<br />
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"Well, you seem to have things well in hand. I'm going to fall back to a defensive position to cover your retreat."<br />
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"Lieutenant, beggin' yer pardon sir, but we need that autocannon o' yours on this end o' the field." Another indicator on the Wolverine's armor integrity display flipped to red as the Javelin spun on him and melted away the last shreds of armor along its right arm with its quad medium lasers.<br />
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"I'm sorry sergeant, you're just going to have to make do with what you have. You see, there are these infantry-" Sgt. Bone muted the lieutenant's comm channel, unleashing another volley of short ranged missiles at one of the Scorpion tanks.<br />
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"Corporal, it's on you boyo." The Wasp's cloven feet kicked up clouds of ice particles as it raced round the far east end of the ridge. Cpl. Cobra sighted the HQ vehicle as it left the main road to divert around the wrecked Scorpion just 60 meters away.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Allllllmoooost thhhheeere."</td></tr>
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Suddenly aware of the peril their HQ vehicle was in, the remaining Lyran Scorpions deployed in a defensive screen around it.<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
"Watch it Cobra, they're on ter yeh!" Alerted by Sgt. Bone's warning, Cpl. Cobra turned his Wasp around and backed across the main road as the Lyran Commando and Savannah Master hover tanks raced towards him.<br />
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<br />
"Tag, we got t'give the boy more time. Light up those tank!"<br />
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Tag eased his Trebuchet into a commanding position overlooking the battlefield and began knocking out the disabled Scorpions, but the return fire from the last tank disabled one of his LRM racks.<br />
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Focusing on the task at hand, Corporal Cobra shut down his primary laser weaponry and targeted the HQ vehicle for manual manipulation by his paired hand actuators.<br />
<br />
"That's right Cobra, catch that oiled pig!"<br />
<br />
The Wasp leaned over in a crouch, hands poised to snatch the vital cargo. Cobra licked his lips, the sweet taste of victory dancing on his tongue. An alarm cut through his focus. Incoming missiles. Cobra glanced up as a dozen warheads trailing white vapor trails filled his viewport. Explosions rocked his mech, driving it backwards from the impact before it teetered forward and regained its balance. Cobra caught his breath, staring in disbelief as the HQ vehicle trundled through the snow past his mech's severed left arm.<br />
<br />
"I missed it seargent, I missed it! I lost an arm! It's no good!"<br />
<br />
"Easy boy, I'm onnit." The Wolverine charged across the ice field, turning and skidding to a stop next to the HQ vehicle. Cobra's crippled Wasp fell back into a defensive position behind Sgt. Bone's mech.<br />
<br />
"Get clear boy, y'canna do any more good back there!"<br />
<br />
The Lyrans moved in for the kill. Thin green beams lanced from the Javelin, blackening and boiling away the armor on the Wasp's left leg, shredding the myomer fibers and internal structural supports. Wreathed in smoke from the burning wrecks, Sgt. Bone switched to magnetic sensors to catch a reading on the fleeing HQ vehicle. Nearly to the main highway, he was just in time to snag it.<br />
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The ghostly image of his Wolverine's hand actuators filled his magneto-sensor view screen, fingers flexed, grasping towards the HQ truck. A flash of light lanced across his screen, a medium laser from the Commando only a few meters away. As Sgt. Bone's vision cleared he could see one of his mech's hands hanging limply in the sensor screen, nearly severed at the wrist. A mirthless laugh escaped Sgt. Bone's throat. He flipped on all of his comms channels.<br />
<br />
"- I repeat, Sgt. Bone what is your status?"<br />
<br />
"SNAFU lieutenant. SNAFU."<br />
<br />
Sgt. Bone threw his Wolverine into reverse, autocannon shell cases catching the last rays of sunlight as he laid down continuous autocannon fire at the Lyran mechs. Falling back to defensive positions, the crippled mercenaries made a hasty fighting withdrawal as the Lyrans fell back into a close escort of the fleeing HQ vehicle. The small convoy reached the main highway and headed south towards the primary factory compounds of Parakoila.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
Forgive me, but I got a little carried away there with the write up. This was another game that seemed to generate personalities, heroes and villains that took life in my son's and my imaginations that I felt I needed to capture.<br />
<br />
I'm employing a variety of house rules including some to make vehicles easier to run. I had some thoughts on making them a bit weaker and wanted to try them out with a convoy ambush. To keep things interesting I included a "snatch and grab" objective my son's mercs would need to capture. On paper the two forces were roughly equal in battle value and because he only need to pick up a vehicle and exit, or disable it and destroy the rest of the defenders I thought he'd have a fairly easy time of it. I was so very wrong.<br />
<br />
I had inadvertently put his lance up against an entire company of enemy units. While most were low battle value targets that should have been knocked out relatively easily, the advantage I gained by always being able to position multiple units in his rear arcs along with the ticking clock of the fleeing vehicle meant he could never position his units defensively. He was forced to race his mechs across the table just to reach the HQ vehicle and he nearly did it. Knocking out the tanks to clog the road, attempting to disable the HQ truck before it could flee and swinging his Wasp around the back of a hill to catch the objective at the last moment were all excellent plans. Unfortunately his die rolling was absolute garbage. He lost initiative 6 out of 8 rounds and was routinely missing rolls where he needed a 5 or higher. Had his rolling been better, had either of us remembered he still has airstrikes available (which proved so decisive in the last battle) or had he used his battle lance's reroll ability this mission could have turned out very differently.<br />
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An absolutely brutal combat but the <i>Raiders</i> managed to escape with their lives and their mechs to fight another day.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-19888515012370124952020-05-19T12:19:00.000-04:002020-05-19T12:19:43.948-04:00Battletech Campaign #13: Speed is Cover<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After our last unsatisfying game of Battletech, my son and I were eager to get back to the Inner Sphere. We managed to sneak in an extra game this week, and it thankfully lived up to our expectations.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>Having completed a recon mission, and now fully stocked on parts and supplies in their secret mountain hideout, Captain Razor of my son's mercenary company was ready to begin assaulting the communications network of the Lyran defenses on the ice world of Parakoila.<br />
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He planned on launching his mission during a blizzard, waiting for the arrival of a Lyran officer in the hopes of taking out an additional key Lyran asset. His mercs would be assaulting a small Lyran outpost, the site of a communications array that helped coordinate defenses on the ice world. With their satellite communications disrupted by the joint actions of <i>Wu's Woeful Witches</i> (an aerospace-only mercenary company), an attack by <i>Razor's Raiders</i> on the Lyran ground based communications would hinder their ability to respond to the merc's future attacks with heavy forces.<br />
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<i>In essence, as the Lyran defender I roll 2d6 on a table of random defenders. The higher the roll, the more daunting the defenses. Currently I add a +2 to that roll, and each communications array the mercs destroy inflict a -1 penalty.</i><br />
<br />
He'd be bringing his newly refurbished Command lance - Captain Razor in his Dragon, 'Snag' in his Centurion, a rookie in a Javelin and Sgt. 'Pepper' (who's heroic exploits in previous missions have made her a house favorite) in her Griffin.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If Razor bites it I'm going to petition for my son to let Sgt. Pepper take over as commander. I'm pretty sure you can figure out what I think he should rename the mercenary company in that eventuality.</td></tr>
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As for the Lyrans, I managed to roll a decent weight for my lance: two 65 ton heavy mechs (a Thunderbolt and Rifleman), a 40 ton Cicada and a ubiquitous Griffin. The commander in the Thunderbolt deployed the bulk of his forces within the communications outpost, with the Cicada skirting the battlefield on the far north flank in hopes of swinging to the enemy rear.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A lonely Cicada working the perimeter.</td></tr>
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With two lances of pristine mechs piloted by veteran mechwarriors, we were set for brutal match up. This one would be close.<br />
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<h3>
Battle is Joined.</h3>
Despite the blizzard making missile fire inaccurate, the approach to the target filled the mercenaries with dread, looking more like a march into a lion's den.<br />
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Captain Razor gunned his engine for a small hillock to the south of the battlefield, but the rest of the lance panicked and headed to cover behind a tall outcrop as the first light autocannon rounds whistled towards them.<br />
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The battle barely begun and already Razor's Raiders were losing control of the situation. Thrown off by the appearance of such an intimidating force, the mercs scrambled for cover, maneuvering for maximum protection.<br />
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As the heavy Lyran mechs trundled forward and the enemy Cicada dashed towards the mercs pinned down by long range PPC and autocannon fire, Captain Razor remembered an asset he hadn't touched thus far in the campaign.<br />
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Radioing the allied aerospace mercenaries, he requested an airstrike on the the Lyran defenses. A Hellcat heavy strike fighter obliged, and angled for a strafing run on the Lyran defenses.<br />
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Only half remembering the rules for strafe attacks and not wanting to slow the game down terribly, I winged the ruling, allowing the Hellcat to make attacks on any targets within a five hex line. Lining up his shot, my son identified the targets and began rolling dice.<br />
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As the Hellcat screamed low across the battlefield, relying on sensors to hug the ground and line up targets, it unleashed a torrent of laser fire.<br />
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Explosions rocked the battlefield as fireballs erupted from two buildings utterly destroyed by the attack. The Rifleman, caught from behind, was knocked to the ground by the blistering laser salvo that sheared hunks of armor from its torso and arm.<br />
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Seeing the devastating effect of close air support the remaining Lyrans spread out in an effort to avoid being caught in future airstrikes, and to draw unimpeded beads on the mercs still cowering behind cover.<br />
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The Lyran Cicada rounded the far end of the battlefield, the Thunderbolt anchoring the center and making steady progress down the main road. Seeing the noose tighten, Captain Razor turned his Dragon and charged back to provide support to his lancemates. Despite the catastrophic airstrike on the Lyran base, the merc's attack was floundering.<br />
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With the pocket closing, Captain Razor opened a channel to his lance.<br />
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"Those Lyrans are going to be on you any second now. You've got to get moving!"<br />
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"But there's no cover! We'll be shot apart!"<br />
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Remembering the sage words of his own father, Captain Razor recounted the mechwarrior's creed, "Remember, 'speed IS cover'."<br />
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Snapped from her fear and confusion, Sgt. 'Pepper' punched her jump jets leaping into the open ice field. As the Lyran mechs turned their weapons on the new target, Captain Razor continued cajoling his soldiers, finally getting the rest of them moving from behind their defensive position. Left alone, Razor didn't register the thunderous charge of the Lyran Cicada.<br />
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40 tons of steel came barreling at him at over 75 kph, intent on charging into the mercenary commander. Catching the glint of ice particles thrown up by the Cicada's footfalls out of the corner of his eye, Captain Razor pulled back hard on the control yoke, barely avoiding the charge and managing to land a brutal kick to the Cicada's leg.<br />
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With battle fully joined, both sides were now jockeying for the best positions on the battlefield. Like a prehistoric beast emerging from some primordial fog, the Lyran Thunderbolt took up an anchor position in the mists from a hot springs geyser.<br />
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The Lyran Griffin and Rifleman headed for a small hill to the south, hoping to gain a height advantage to negate any defensive cover the mercs might find, while Captain Razor, the merc Javelin and Centurion worked their way north towards the remaining buildings.<br />
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With most of the mercenaries spread out and using cover to mask their approach, the three Lyran mechs circled Sgt. Pepper's lone Griffin. Pepper lined up a shot at the enemy commander's mech and squeezed off a PPC shot. The electrically charged particles snapped across the short distance between the two mechs, shattering the armor on the enemy commander's cockpit but failing to disable any key systems.<br />
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Withering fire from all three defenders raked the mercenary Griffin, blistering her armor and exposing the delicate interior to the harsh winds of the raging blizzard.<br />
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In return Razor concentrated his long range fire on the House Steiner Rifleman. Shuddering from the impact of autocannon and long range missiles, the pilot steered the battlemech onto a low rise, hoping to set up a more defensible position at its far south end to provide long range covering fire for its lancemates.<br />
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With a nearly severed leg, the Lyran Cicada pulled away and punched the throttle to head back towards the communications base. Captain Razor and the rookie Javelin fell into close pursuit.<br />
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Buildings on either side of the Cicada erupted in flame as it dashed along the main access roadway as the mercenaries fired over open sights at the base structures.<br />
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Sgt. Pepper struggled to keep her mech upright after the accurate fire of three enemy mechs shredded her armor. Failing, she crashed to the ground barely succeeding to stay conscious from the bone jarring impact. Bleary eyed, she checked her sensor scopes.<br />
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"Captain, I'm down. That Thunderbolt's turned round, headed your way."<br />
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Her warning delivered, Pepper cut the alarms blaring in her cockpit and forced her shattered mech to its feet again. Treating her wounded mech as delicately as she could, she throttled up and swung south, attempting to get behind cover far from the main battle line. The Rifleman and Griffin turned to pursue. If they could take out the mercenary Griffin, they'd be able to rejoin their comrades and add their numbers to the defense of the base.<br />
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Too far away to aid Pepper, Captain Razor turned his attention to the mission at hand. Directing fire from the merc Javelin and Centurion, the three <i>Raider</i> mechs scored hits on more base buildings, setting them alight. The Lyran Cicada raced away from the infernos, but caught a single blast from Captain Razor's rear facing medium laser.<br />
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With the quick mercenary mechs in his base, the Lyran commander charged his heavy Thunderbolt back towards them as quickly as he could.<br />
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Razor took up a defensive position behind one of the target buildings. The two titan exchanged long range fire, the mercenary Captain delivering a solid kick to the base building.<br />
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Preoccupied with countering the Lyran commander's attack and stomping buildings, Razor did not notice the approach of the enemy Cicada. The light mech slowed to a walk, steadying its weapons and scoring the rear armor of the Dragon with laser fire.<br />
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To the south, Pepper scrambled to get away from the closing Lyran's but realized it was a fruitless task. Desperate to put the mercenary down, the Rifleman pegged his heat by unleashing two large laser attacks which hit, but failed to score critical hits. With myomer fibre bundles seizing up from the growing heat, the Rifleman pilot found he was unable to turn quickly enough to prevent Pepper from using jump jets to get directly behind him.<br />
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PPC bolts and LRMS sliced through the air at Pepper from the enemy Griffin, barely missing. Pepper wiped the sweat from her eyes. Any single hit could inflict a critical hit that would cripple her mech.<br />
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To the north the two enemy commanders squared off, directing their allies to concentrate fire on their targets.<br />
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Despite being nearly equal in weight, the Thunderbolt outgunned Razor's Dragon. The Lyran commander continued to stride forward, shrugging off SRMs from the Javelin and ducking Razor's autocannon rounds. The Lyran Cicada continued forward, delivering tiny insect like bites of small laser fire to the Dragon's rear armor. Warning bells triggered in the captain's cockpit as the Cicada delivered a kick to the Dragon's leg. The Cicada's foot managed to pierce the rear of the Dragon's knee and putting 40 tons of weight behind it, shear down through the merc's leg, disabling multiple actuators.<br />
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While much of the base was blazing, one structure was left standing. Captain Razor couldn't be sure the mission was complete until each had been flattened, but both his mech and Pepper's wouldn't be able to hold out much longer.<br />
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While in better shape, the Lyran Thunderbolt was starting to take internal damage across its torso. The Lyran commander was keeping his cool and trying to talk down the Rifleman pilot who was reporting with, greater urgency, each the crippling hit the mercenary Griffin was inflicting on his machine.<br />
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"It's behind me, chief! I've got an autocannon out! My mech's burnin' up! Somebody get this thing off me!"<br />
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The Lyran Griffin strode forward, blasting Pepper with a PPC bolt that managed to hit despite the short range. Her mech reeled, but steadying it she lined up a long range LRM shot. The shoulder mounted rockets fired, vapor trails snaking around the enemy Griffin right on top of her to explode across the enemy commander's torso. The Griffin cocked a single foot, aimed at Pepper's cockpit. Pulling hard on the control yokes she darted out of the way, using the enemy pilot's momentary loss of balance to turn and deliver two quick jabs at the rear of the Lyran Rifleman. Rent by the airstrike at the beginning of the battle, her punches struck home, cracking the engine core of the Rifleman and damaging its gyro.<br />
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The Lyran commander paused and took stock of the situation. His base was on fire. The Rifleman mech, a hereditary asset assigned to the 19th Lyran Guard for six generations was nearly crippled. His own damage display was flashing red on both side torsos, the onboard helper button lit up "EJECT AMMO?".<br />
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"Stop messing around, finish off that Griffin and get over here. We need to put this Dragon down and end these pirate attacks once and for all."<br />
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Sgt. Snag, finally maneuvering his slow mercenary Centurion into a clear line of sight opened up with LRM and autocannon fire at the Lyran Thunderbolt.<br />
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With the Centurion in range the match up to the north was no longer even. The Thunderbolt commander began to backpeddle, calling in the Cicada to hunt the mercenary Javelin who raced in behind him.<br />
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With the Lyrans pulling back, Captain Razor sheltered behind the low building, content with firing long range missiles and autocannons as it reyreated. With a satisfying crash the building collapsed as Razor managed to use his crippled leg to knock out the final supports holding it up.<br />
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The Lyran Rifleman struggled to its feet. Overheating and staggering, it managed a single large laser blast at Pepper's Griffin as she arced overhead on jump jets, missing by inches.<br />
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The Rifleman pilot, strained to get his mech turned with a damaged gyro and myomer fibers seizing up from heat. Sgt. Pepper ducked another close range blast of PPC fire from her enemy counterpart and locked onto the rear armor of the distant Rifleman.<br />
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Risking overheating herself but desperate, Sgt. Pepper fired both of her weapons well under minimum range at the Rifleman. The PPC snapped over the Rifleman's head, and only four missiles struck home but their explosions cascaded through the Rifleman's damaged interior, sending shrapnel into the already damaged gyro.<br />
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As the whirring device shuddered and snapped from its bearings the Rifleman lost all sense of balance. Damaged cylindrical arms waved piteously as the 65 ton machine toppled over with a thunderous crash.<br />
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The Lyran commander ordered the remaining Javelin and Cicada to pull retreat. Saluting the enemy commander, the Thunderbolt backed away, ceding the field to the victorious mercenaries.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
What a game! Initiative see-sawed between both sides and I'm not referring to the die roll. I had forgotten about the possible airstrikes he could deliver, and their initial appearance obliterated two of the six buildings I was defending seeming to seal my fate from the first round. But having gotten used to the light forces I've been shackled with, or being able to run circles around my heavies with his recon lance, he was knocked off his game when confronted with such an intimidating lance of opponents. The opening rounds felt like the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, with his mechs hugging any available cover and my Lyrans laying down suppressing fire, but working their way forward to firing positions that would afford them unobstructed views.<br />
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Once he got going though, my slower mechs had a hard time responding. The Dragon's armament isn't impressive (in my opinion) but its higher speed allowed it to avoid my Thunderbolt and lay waste to my base. My Cicada (which I groaned over when I rolled it up) performed better than I expected. After missing a charge early in the game it was able to fall back and deliver some pretty decisive damage to the mercs, inflicting a crit on the Javelin's SRM in passing and crippling the Dragon by attacking from the rear and delivering a kick to an already damaged leg.<br />
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The star of the game though was Sgt. Pepper. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of each die roll, but after she leapt out of cover she was focus-fired by three of my mechs for several rounds. It gave the rest of the mercenaries the breathing room to advance on my base, but Pepper's armor was absolutely shredded by the middle of the game. I was convinced a solid hit would put her down but she managed to avoid taking critical damage over the rest of the game. Easy shots (5+ to hit) would go wide, or hits that did strike home would fail to crit. My son was in a tough position, trying to get her into cover or flee but unable to shake the Lyran Griffin. Seeing he couldn't outrun the enemy he was forced to stay in the fight and ended up focusing on the wounded Rifleman.<br />
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A normal game of Battletech probably would have lasted twice as long if we were using the standard forced withdrawal rules, and Pepper surely would have lost her mech (if not her life) but under out morale rules forces pull out once they start taking excessive damage or losing mechs. Had I managed to drop Pepper and inflict a critical torso hit on the Dragon, my Lyrans would have claimed victory. It was only Pepper's tenacious survival and the lucky crits she landed that swung things in my son's favor.<br />
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A great game, each of us feeling we were about to lose before things tilted back in our favor multiple times over the course of the match. Headshots, heroes, crazy attacks that needed 12+ to hit actually landing - a great and thrilling game.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-76613554652199642202020-05-15T11:12:00.001-04:002020-05-15T11:12:40.200-04:00Battletech Campaign #12: We're on a Road to Nowhere<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Resting and repairing after their latest victory, the jubilant mercenaries of <i>Razor's Raiders</i> received an additional bit of good news. A message from the Lyran defenders of Parakoila broadcast over open radio frequencies acknowledged their latest victory and opened the possibility of a prisoner and mech exchange.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Gutan tag, pirate dogs. I am Leutnant-Colonel Wagner of the 19th Lyran Guards. We have two of your mechwarriors and their crippled battlemechs, captured during a previous sortie. We are willing to conduct a prisoner exchange for our mechwarriors and battlemechs in your custody, according to the rules of war.”</blockquote>
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<a name='more'></a>Our campaign is set in 3002, late in the Third Succession War when life is cheap but battlemechs are expensive. I think mech and prisoner exchanges would probably be the rule of the day to preserve the ancient battle machines since factories that can produce them are rare. I added in the option of ransoming or exchanging captured pilots and mechs as a standard battlefield option.<br />
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My son agreed to the deal, anxious to get his captured Locust back, but wanted to know if any of the captured Lyran pilots were willing to defect to his mercenary unit instead. I decided to let him roll a d6 for each captive and on a 6 the captive would be eager to join his crew. Surprisingly, the random number generator decided the Commando's mechwarrior wanted to stay with his machine (muttering something about being under suspicion for unmentionable crimes by his superior officer) and agreed to join the mercenary band.<br />
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With prisoners and mechs exchanged, and still playing the part of pirate raiders, my son's mercs rested and repaired before launching another recon mission. To shake things up a bit I added a new recon mission type — Deep Recon — that I thought might benefit his light mechs who can't go toe to toe with the heavier battle machines House Steiner would inevitably field.<br />
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Using the cover of a windstorm, my son's mercenaries would simply need to get one or more mechs to the far side of the battlefield to observe distant enemy defense and then hustle at least 50% of his force off his home edge to safety. With many of his mechs still in need of repair he formed a new Recon Lance —the Locust, Stinger, a Griffin piloted by Cpl."Kiwi" and the Phoenix Hawk as a command mech.<br />
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Descending from their mountain hideout, the mercs have been making forays deeper into the industrial heartland of Lyran occupation on the world. Following a road network, Sgt. Cooler opened up the throttle on her Locust as the flat expanse close to their objective opened before her.<br />
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Their approach had been detected though, and the Lyrans scrambled the nearest available unit to stop them. In these campaign games I roll my units randomly, and thus far had been plagued by low rolls resulting in fast but relatively weak mechs. This time I rolled a 10 on 2d6 granting me a poorly trained militia lance of heavy mechs. The slow speed of my forces meant the mercs had several rounds to approach the target zone unmolested. Ugh, how I wished I could have a few 25-ton Commandos at that moment!<br />
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When my lightest element, a Griffin, arrived he found the Locust nearing its objective with the mercenaries' trailing units approaching the center of the battlefield.<br />
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The mercenary's heavier mechs, the Phoenix Hawk and Griffin took up defensive positions on a low hill dominating the central plain, while the Stinger raced forward to catch up to the speedy Locust.<br />
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The Griffin fired an ineffective PPC bolt at the Stinger, but the canny mercs had used their speed, terrain and the high winds to make LRM fire impossible.<br />
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The Lyran Griffin used its speed and jump jets to close the distance to the intruders, hoping a lucky particle cannon hit might slow them down. A lone Griffin had no hopes of stopping the mercs, but the arrival of its lance mates offered a fleeting hope they'd be able to catch the intruders.<br />
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A 65-ton Thunderbolt and a pair of 70-ton Orions entered the battle at the beginning of round 5. While slow, I hoped to cut off the merc's escape and lay devastating fire on their lighter units.<br />
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Alarmed at the arrival of such heavy mechs, the mercs turned to face the intruders, taking cover in in the meager protection offered by a few low hills.<br />
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Knowing I would never be able to outmaneuver them, I sent my Lyrans out in a wide line, hoping their interlocking fields of fire would be able to catch the mercenaries like fish in a net.<br />
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My Orions clomped forward to dominate the center and east end of the battlefield, to which the mercenaries responded by falling back. The Orions opened up with long range LRM and autocannon fire, but the howling winds of the icy plain were just strong enough to throw their shots wide. If only I had rolled up mechs with long range energy weapons!<br />
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To the east the Griffin and Thunderbolt began honing in on the merc recon mechs desperately trying to complete their long range binocular scan of the Lyran disposition to the far west.<br />
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Sgt. Cooler, dodging bolts of blue plasma from the Griffin's PPC raced into cover with the Stinger. Time seem to march forward agonizingly slow, their onboard seismic sensors registering every footfall of the approaching Thunderbolt, but each second they held out gathered even more critical data that could merc lives in future missions.<br />
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To the east, the Phoenix Hawk and Griffin continued to fall back. Having caught a few errant medium laser hits they knew they'd be outmatched in a slugfest with the heavy Orions.<br />
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In constant coded communication with the Stinger and Locust on the far end of the battlefield, they'd be able to download the scans they completed and race them back to the mountain hideout. If they could only hold out long enough!<br />
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Spooked by the approach of the Thunderbolt, Sgt. Cooler made a break for it in her Locust. The Lyran Griffin had fallen back and taken a sniper's position atop a hill at the center of the battlefield, forcing Cooler to race by it at close range.<br />
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The Griffin tracked the speeding Locust, leading the target (difficult at such a close range) and squeezed off a PPC blast. The blue bolt tore through the scout mech's armor, blowing an arm off and burning a hole directly into the engine shielding at the core of the machine. Smoke billowed from the Locust as Sgt. Cooler wrestled with the controls to keep the machine pointed towards home.<br />
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Now left completely alone, the Stinger pilot managed to use his jump jets to dart into the only safe spot —directly behind his titanic opponent!<br />
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With the bulk of its weapons mounted in its torso, the Thunderbolt made a poor close combat brawler. Ignoring the sporadic machine gun fire that sprayed its rear torso armor it aimed its large laser at the wounded Locust but the beam swung wide, missing the crippled mech.<br />
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Hoping to get a clearer shot on the retreating Locust, the Thunderbolt climbed higher up the hill. Seeing the threat the battlemech's long range laser posed the Stinger pilot maneuvered into position just behind the heavy mech a second time.<br />
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"Going to spray me with machine guns again?" I scoffed.<br />
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"Nope. I need my arms for a physical attack."<br />
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Ah, poor boy. Even a few punches wouldn't penetrate the Thunderbolt's rear armor. My Thunderbolt snapped off a few long range attacks at the Locust, but to no avail. With shooting complete I fetched the punch location chart for the Stinger's attack.<br />
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"I'm not punching dad, I'm pushing."<br />
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Alarm bells sounded within the Thunderbolt's cockpit as gyros strained to keep the mech upright. Astonished, the T-bolt pilot flicked through the external camera feeds before finding the miniature Stinger pushing the Thunderbolt with all its might. Stone and snow cascaded down the steep slow beneath the heavy mech's foot as it struggled to find purchase. With a groan of steel and the whine of flexing myomer muscles the 65-ton behemoth toppled over head first before crashing into the ground two stories below it.<br />
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Satisfied the Thunderbolt wouldn't be able to keep up now, the victorious Stinger jumped away to the south, the Locust veering off to the north while the Phoenix Hawk and Griffin exited the battle to the east. Like birds scattering from a hunting hawk, the mercenaries split up and returned to base, custodians of the precious reconnaissance info for their next attack, another victory marked in their combat record.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
This was a bit of an odd game for us. The recon mechs did what they were supposed to do, the high winds definitely saved their bacon several times, and my Lyran heavies were just too slow and poorly equipped for the weather to do much about it. I assume clashes like this with only sporadic fire would be typical of the battlefields of the Inner Sphere, but with few opportunities to mark off tiny little armor bubbles on our record sheets, this was an unsatisfying game that left us wanting more. I think tweaking the mission parameters to force all mechs off their home edge (rather than just 50%) might encourage more close range fighting, but that's the type of thing a playtest like this is supposed to find. In any case, we wrapped up the game quickly and the mercs got another victory under their belts.<br />
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Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-39674150427258623912020-05-08T09:16:00.000-04:002020-05-08T09:16:55.634-04:00Battletech Campaign #11: Evacuate? In Our Moment of Triumph?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once more <i>Razor's Raiders</i> took to the field, in the only available mechs they could cobble together. Having succeeded at securing vital supplies my son's mercenaries were able to get a few mechs in working order, patched together enough to mount another assault on a Lyran supply depot. Dropped behind enemy lines in the year 3002 though, none of his mechs were in perfect working order. The Phoenix Hawk had permanent damage to one of its arms, the Griffin was bearing battered armor from a previous sortie, and Captain Razor's Dragon was harboring a knocked out LRM launcher and half its armor across its torso. Only the Centurion of Sgt. "Snag" Exof was in pristine condition, a status that wouldn't last long once battle was joined.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>While my son is using lances pulled from his mercenary commander, I have to deploy forces rolled from a random unit generator table. I built the table to fit both the mechs I have on hand and weight it towards those fielded by House Steiner. Low rolls tend to generate vehicles, infantry and light mechs, while higher rolls grant me heavy and assault mechs. House Steiner has a propensity for fielding higher weight class mechs so I gain a +2 to my 2d6 roll. I've haven't rolled anything that resulted above a 6 yet during this campaign, but I was feeling confident this time. Lady luck smiled on me and my "6 or lower" streak was broken. Naturally, I got a 7.<br />
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With a new 3D printer spitting out terrain for me, my son's mechs would be raiding a Lyran supply depot defended by my forces: two Commandos, a Clint, Wolverine and two Striker tanks. While outweighed by my opponent, I hoped my greater numbers and the shoddy condition of his mechs would even things out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sigh</i>. I really want to get my Zeus on the table someday.</td></tr>
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My supply depot was situation between two hills toward the east, with a high ridge offering some protection from his mechs approach from the west. The bulk of his mechs climbed the ridge in the center of the battlefield, while his Griffin piloted by Sgt. Pepper looped north.<br />
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I positioned my Wolverine and Clint near the supply depot, intending to use their AC 5s to whittle down the armor of the attackers at long range. I kept one of my Commandos in reserve to pounce once their armor had opened, using the other as a spotter for the LRM carrying Striker tanks.<br />
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I shifted my Wolverine north to support my spotter Commando. The Griffin was sporting heavy damage from her previous engagement. If I could put her down quickly I could swing everything around to counter the mercenary's main thrust.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view from the west. My Striker tanks ready to deliver indirect fire, their Commando spotter taking cover to the north.</td></tr>
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<br />Of course this strategy left only my Clint to defend the supply depot. After coming under murderous long range fire he couldn't hope to counter for long, he used jump jets to take cover behind one of the supply buildings.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Clint Eastwood? What kind of stupid name is that?" "Everybody everywhere will say, "Clint Eastwood is the biggest yellow-belly in the West."</td></tr>
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Seeing the threat posed by the merc's advance my Wolverine shifted and fired several ineffectual AC5 rounds at the Dragon and Phoenix Hawk as they played cat-and-mouse with my Clint.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mercs strike the outer supply yard, the Clint just barely visible behind one of the depot buildings.</td></tr>
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To the north my Lyrans were having more success. My Commando delivered a devastating short range barrage, hitting with all of its weapons, along with an SRM volley from the Wolverine. Great molten slags of armor fell away from the Griffin, revealing the delicate inner workings of its myomer musculature. She may have escaped last time, but Sgt. Pepper's Griffin would be going down tonight!<br />
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The mercs deployed into the supply yard, taking time to scan the buildings to identify which had the valuable armaments they'd need to secure to continue the campaign. Leaving the Griffin to my Commando, I hopped my Wolverine into a geyser field whose sudden eruptions would grant me cover from the mercs. Having failed numerous indirect fire attacks with my Strikers I also pulled them into direct line of sight of the mercenaries to bring their full complement of weapons to bear.<br />
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Both of my Commandos managed to close on the wounded Griffin, forced to leap atop the central hill to escape them.<br />
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My Clint, outgunned and outnumbered put up a valiant defense, scoring hits agains the Dragon and landing a punch to the Centurion's head!<br />
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With their scanning mission complete, the mercs began falling back, ready to deliver the intel to the guerilla team that would sneak in later to steal the vital supplies.<br />
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My Wolverine, largely untouched thus far, charged into close range to strike with its SRMs and medium laser at Captain Razor's Dragon.<br />
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In return it was attacked by the Phoenix Hawk, who savaged it by scoring two back-to-back head shots with its medium laser and machine gun! Rocked by the impact, the Wolverine pilot stayed conscious but was certainly aware that another lucky blow could end him.<br />
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Captain Razor stayed behind in his Dragon while the wounded Griffin and "unhelmeted" Centurion headed for the escape point. We paused the game for a few minutes to discuss the definition, pros and cons of a "fighting withdrawal".<br />
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One of my Commandos charged towards the retreating Griffin. Surely one more solid hit would put it down! Taking aim he unloaded with an alpha strike of SRMs and a medium laser. This being a frozen world and the mercs choosing to attack during a cold snap, there was a potential for the frigid temperatures to disable weapons on a roll of snake-eyes. As my Commando pilot pulled the trigger, alarms sounded as both of his SRMs jammed in the cold.<br />
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The Griffin returned fire, delivering a PPC bolt that struck the Commando's central torso, burning through its remaining armor and delivering two critical hits to its gyro. The 25 ton mech toppled to the ground in flames.<br />
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My Wolverine — sporting a massive head wound — leapt forward on jump jets to take his shot at downing the Griffin but failed to hit. Things were not looking good for my boys.<br />
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Despite my inability to deliver death blows to his mechs, my son was starting to get nervous. He had completed the primary mission, but needed to get his mechs to safety. His Griffin and Phoenix Hawk were using their jump jets effectively to get closer to safety, but the slower Dragon and Centurion were being left behind. Both were bearing huge rents in critical armor where a solid blow could destroy the mech. Seeing their vulnerability, both pilots gunned their throttles in an attempt to reach the safety of the western escape route.<br />
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As the mercenary mechs converged on the only escape route, they entered an open field devoid of cover. My Lyran Strikers emerged from around a hill, ready to deliver long range artillery fire.<br />
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Putting its back against a cliff face, the Centurion fell under a vicious barrage of short range missiles to its front but suffered only scattered hits across arms and torso.<br />
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The Clint and Wolverine steadied their aim and fired a pair of autocannon shells that impacted the Griffin, but failed to hit internal structure.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Griffin just wouldn't die. Like Rasputin.</td></tr>
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Positioned right at the edge of the battlefield the Griffin and Phoenix Hawk were poised to escape, but delayed to grant the retreating Dragon and Centurion covering fire.<br />
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As the Centurion reached the escape route, the Lyrans turned their full attention on Sgt. Pepper's Griffin. The Clint, now sporting critical hits to its torso, failed to land a long range hit with its autocannon, and missed a punch at the Phoenix Hawk who had jumped into short range. The Phoenix Hawk deftly delivered a devastating kick to the Clint, rocking the 40 ton mech whose pilot struggled to keep it upright.<br />
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Now obsessed with downing the Griffin, the remaining Commando and Striker tanks drew into short range, locking on with SRMs. Vapor trails streaked towards their target, but Pepper juked the missiles, darting out of their path and countering with a PPC hit against the Commando well under the weapon's minimum range. The Lyran commander cursed (to himself. There were children present).<br />
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The mercenaries began to fall back to a defensive position, wedged into the lee of a low ridge that offered some protection. The Phoenix Hawk and Centurion turned their attention to the Clint, the flurry of lasers and autocannon rounds shearing off both of its legs. Cut nearly in two, the Lyran pilot shut down his mech and crawled from the wreckage.<br />
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Furious at the loss of another mech, the Lyran commander ordered his remaining Commando into a nearly suicidal charge, a last ditch attack to take out the Griffin before he'd sound the retreat.<br />
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The light mech darted into a gap in the mercenary lines to fire SRMs at point blank range. While a few missiles struck home, they failed inflict critical hits or down the Griffin. The combined return fire from the mercs legged the Commando, which toppled in a heap.<br />
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Peering through the smoke of three burning mechs and finally comprehending the totality of his defeat, the Lyran commander ordered a retreat to the remaining Strikers.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Yuuuge success. Everyone's saying they've never seen success like this. Tremendous."</td></tr>
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
Wow. I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of a draw. After a number of rousing games this one felt more like a meat grinder. My forces were not optimized and did not work well together. I had lots of weapons that could spray damage, great for inflicting crits on already damaged targets, but I didn't have anything with real punch. I was hoping to open holes up with the AC 5s from my Clint and Wolverine, but they just don't have the impact necessary.<br />
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I don't want to heap blame on the dice, but the dice gods were definitely taking sides in this match up. Over the course of 8 rounds my Strikers only landed one or two hits each. I locked up three different weapons from the cold, and my son scored three head hits to my one. Heck, he cored a nearly pristine Commando in one shot!<br />
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Despite all of that, I got a serious case of tunnel vision in attempting to take out his most wounded mech—the Griffin. One they'd completed the mission I should have played far more conservatively, and sending my Commando in the lion's den on the last turn was the height of foolishness. Still, props to my son. He agonized over the decision to retreat the Griffin or risk it to protect the Centurion and Dragon falling back to their lines. His luck with the dice and ability to use the Griffin's jump jets to keep it moving managed to keep it alive and deliver killing blows on multiple mechs. The Phoenix Hawk was a star player as well, blasting the armor from the Wolverine's head at close range, blowing legs off the Clint and always jumping where I didn't want it to.<br />
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With their resounding victory, the mercenaries have captured enough supply resources to repair crippled mechs, salvage heavy mechs or lighter and rearm autocannons and missiles. By holding the field at the end of the battle they were also able to salvage both Commandos, the Clint and take all three mechwarriors prisoner, an utter disaster for the Lyrans defending the world. Those early missions on this Lyran world were nearly the end of Razor's Raiders, but with a firmly established base the mercs are in a position to cripple Lyran defenses on Parakoila and strike at their primary objectives — capturing Battlemech X.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-49425270720988736882020-05-01T17:47:00.000-04:002020-05-01T17:50:03.566-04:00Battletech Campaign #10: Nasty, Brutish, and Short<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With supplies commandeered from a local garrison, my son's mercenaries <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span> <i>Razor's Raiders</i> - began preliminary planning for a more direct strike at Lyran defenses on the ice world of Parakoila. Using the influx of armor and ammo to repair a few of his light mechs, the mercenary commander decided to send a scouting force on a reconnaissance mission to gather data on troop movements to make subsequent assaults less risky.<br />
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Using a mission option to launch his recce at night would hinder ranged weapon attacks, but since his mechs only needed to scan enemy forces and hold out for eight rounds my son felt it was in his best interests to use stealth and the cover of darkness to his advantage. Examining the battlefield he found it was crisscrossed by ice ravines, one of which was the site of geothermal activity based on the number of geyser plumes spouting from it.<br />
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His recon lance took up a position on the western edge of the ice ravines, intending to use the more open ground in that direction to speed his approach towards the enemy units now detected on radar.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A newly refurbished Phoenix Hawk, Locust, Wasp and Griffin deploy to the south. </td></tr>
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The enemy force consisted of a single Lyran Griffin perched in a sniping position on an outcrop, a Commando and a pair of Scorpion light tanks backed into defensive positions to meet the attackers. Several more mechs showed up on the merc's sensors <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">—</span> Lyran reinforcements en route to bolster the Griffin's defenses.<br />
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With clear terrain ahead of them, save for single low hill, the mercenary Locust and Wasp throttled up, kicking up clouds of ice crystals that glittered in the meager starlight.<br />
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The mercenaries decision to launch their raid at night was paying off. The recon mechs high speed and cover of darkness made them untrackable by enemy weapons. The mercenary commander chortled confidently.<br />
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Within moments the Locust piloted by the mercenary company's newest edition, Sgt. 'Cooler', was toe to tread with the enemy tanks. Taking only sporadic machine gun fire she deigned to return fire using her advanced sensors to read an array of data from the enemy transponders instead.<br />
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With one enemy scanned the mercenaries were 25% of the way to victory in the first 30 seconds of the engagement.<br />
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Taking position on low hill, lance commander "Pepper" in her Griffin notified her mercenary lancemates she had a readout on the approaching enemies: a Locust and Stinger had arrived within weapon's range.<br />
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The tanks backed off as the Lyran Locust and Commando swung into action, sweeping towards the overconfident Locust that had charged their position. Seeing her exposed position, Sgt. 'Cooler' threw her Locust into reverse, putting distance between her and the lights rushing her position.<br />
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On the far flank the Lyran Stinger loped forward, but lance commander "Pepper" was detecting a strange sensor readout from it. The entire battlemech's frame began to shift into a new configuration. This was no ordinary Stinger, but a Stinger LAM! It gunned its jump jets and took to the air, angling for the mercenary rear in a wide sweep around their flank.<br />
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"Pepper" ordered the Phoenix Hawk to hunker down behind the edge of a nearby ice ravine. Elbows propped on the ridge, the mercenary Phoenix Hawk began laying down cover fire for its retreating lancemate in her Locust, while 'Pepper' in her Griffin and the Wasp used jump jets to close the distance to the enemy in hopes of gathering the vital intel.<br />
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Seeing the terrible risk her lancemates were putting themselves in, Sgt. 'Cooler' feinted and juked around the approaching Lyran light battelemechs before hurtling towards the enemy positions again! In a flash she had rounded the high ridge and run a sensor scan with the Lyran Griffin (now engaged in a PPC duel with 'Pepper' in her own GRF-1N).<br />
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With their prey slipping their jaws, the Lyran hounds set their sights on the Wasp instead. Startled by their approach, the mercenary Wasp took a knee in order to draw a steady bead on the approaching enemies with his medium laser.<br />
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His hesitancy would prove disastrous. Robbed of maneuverability, the Wasp was easy prey for the two Lyran scouts. 'Pepper' turned, LRMs impacting her left arm from the distant Griffin, assuring the Wasp she could inflict some rear shots to peel the two Lyran lights off him. Seeing he was outmatched, the Wasp's pilot declined. "Negative lance commander, scan the Locust. I've got the Commando." Dropping his medium laser the Wasp conducted a close range scan of the enemy Commando as target lock alarms rang in his cockpit.<br />
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The Stinger LAM continued its long swing around the battlefield while SRMs and medium lasers ripped the Wasp apart, the close quarters fire fight illuminating the rest of the battlefield.<br />
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As the burning wreck that was the Wasp fell to the ground 'Pepper' completed the final scan on the enemy Locust. With the mission complete she ordered the lance to fall back to defensive positions.<br />
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Sgt. 'Cooler' in her Locust skidded to a stop. Confused by the twisting ravines she turned her Locust 180 degrees and raced back along the path she'd traversed earlier, right into the grasp of the Lyran lights. Seeing she was threatened by rear attacks from the enemy Griffin, 'Pepper' triggered her jump jets leaping into hand to hand combat with the enemy Griffin in hopes of covering 'Cooler's' escape.<br />
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Undistracted by 'Pepper's' heroic charge, the enemy Griffin drew a bead on the Locust and fired a single bolt of charged blue particles at the Locust.<br />
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The PPC blew the Locust's leg clean off. As her mech toppled to the ground Sgt. 'Cooler's escape pod rocketed into the sky on a pillar of flame. With half her forces gone, 'Pepper' ordered the remaining Phoenix Hawk into a full retreat. The two mechs used their jump jets to disappear back into the darkness, custodians of the vital sensor readings that were their primary mission, but at a heavy cost.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
A good game, but not my most shining moment as a parent! The ease with which my son was able to race his Locust into position and scan my forces, coupled with the penalty from night fighting (a +2 to ranged attacks) made it look like we'd barely roll dice before the mercenaries would be able to chalk up another victory.<br />
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As our units closed though, those to-hit number dropped to 10s and 11s. I had learned my lesson in our last game in regards to keeping light mechs alive when my two Commandos were blown apart after I let their speed drop. I kept my Commando and Locust moving at a run constantly, but it was a lesson I failed to pass on to my son. Getting tunnel vision on the game itself, I missed the fact that his Wasp stopped moving for a round. I still held out hope he could get the rest of his units off the board safely, but my Griffin managed to roll incredibly well with a low hit probability shot with its PPC against my son's Locust.<br />
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The boy took it like a champ. He debated risking his remaining mechs to scoop up his ejected pilots but decided getting the intelligence back to base was the highest priority. And the LAM, which I've never had a chance to use in game, failed to do much in this short, sharp encounter. I don't think this will be the last we see of it though.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-14158508309686689832020-04-26T16:08:00.000-04:002020-04-26T16:08:34.798-04:00Battletech Campaign #9: Push Comes to Shove<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With a successful recon mission under their belt, my son's mercenaries - <i>Razor's Raiders</i> - were able to identify the mechs and vehicles guarding their next target before committing to an attack. Rolling for my forces in the open my son knew I'd be fielding a pair of vehicles, three light mechs and a medium. With the battered state his mechs were in though, he was unsure if he should proceed. I reminded him that'd I'd rolled a 4 on 2d6, and it was unlikely that aborting the mission would result in a better array of units he'd be facing. Weighing his options, and desperate for the parts guarded by my units he grimly committed to the battle. And what a battle it turned out to be.<br />
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I deployed my meager Lyran security detail around the storage depot my son would need to scan so saboteurs could later infiltrate it and steal the supplies <i>Razor's Raiders</i> required to repair their damaged mechs.<br />
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My commander directed the action from a battered 55 ton Wolverine, still sporting armor damage to a leg from an earlier battle. A Stinger and two Commandos made up the rest of the lance, also fielded with a few points of armor damage. A pair of tiny Savannah Master hovercraft (able to accelerate to a whopping 20 movement points) would be available for harassing any attackers.<br />
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The orientation of the map left my son's mercs within range on turn one as I raced my light mechs to stop them. One of my Commandos opened up with a salvo of SRM missiles, the first attack of the game that all hit the merc's Phoenix Hawk in the left arm. A 12 rolled on the critical hit table sheared it right off, a dismaying start to the attack for <i>Razor's Raiders</i>.<br />
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My Lyran Wolverine stayed in reserve, taking cover behind a building and sending the remaining Commando and hovercraft to attack the merc's Dragon heavy mech, the command battlemech of Captain Razor himself! With the Dragon in cover, and sporting relatively intact armor, I hoped a lucky shot using the punch chart for mechs in partial cover could score a head wound and take the commander out of the battle.<br />
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The Dragon had lost its LRM in a previous battle, but managed to score a few hits with a medium laser and AC5 on the Commando that raced into range.<br />
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Like wolves hunting prey, my light mechs swept around the merc's advance, threatening their rear armor and forcing them into the only safe spot, a ridge that overlooked the supply depot. The Phoenix Hawk and Griffin used jump jets to get into position while my Wolverine shifted to meet the new threat.<br />
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On my flank, my Stinger and Commando concentrated on the Centurion that had fallen behind. A critical hit a leg actuator gave them some hope, but a kick attack delivered to the Commando sent it to the ground from the force of its impact.<br />
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My light mechs continued their assault. Hovercraft, Stinger and Commando converged on the Centurion hoping to put the wounded beast down. It shrugged off all attacks and with a single lucky shot from its rear facing medium laser touched off the Commando's SRM ammo stores. Even using our more forgiving ammo critical hit house rule didn't help, as the ammo explosions continued to explode ripping the light mech to pieces. Score one for the mercenaries!<br />
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Sensing an opportunity though, I sent the other Lyran Commando into close combat with the mercenary Griffin. Declining to use any arm mounted weapons, it peppered the Griffin with an SRM 4 before using its momentum to deliver a mighty shove!<br />
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The Griffin toppled over the edge of the escarpment, falling four stories and suffering 18 (!) points of damage. The Lyran's weren't out of this fight yet.<br />
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As the mercenaries began swarming the supply depot a fortuitous initiative roll allowed my commander to maneuver his Wolverine into a prime position to attack the Phoenix Hawk's battered right side. A conclusive attack here would rob it of its remaining weapons and inflict a morale penalty on the mercenaries. I rolled my alpha strike.<br />
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For the second time in this campaign the subzero temperatures of this ice world locked up my heavy's weapons. Alarms sounded in the Wolverine's cockpit as its medium laser shorted out and its autocannon seized up from the extreme cold.<br />
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A precise AC5 round fired by Captain Razor struck home knocking out the Wolverine's SRM. Things were looking desperate.<br />
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Now weaponless, the Wolverine turned its 55 frame towards the Dragon heavy mech and accelerated, intent on delivering a crippling charge attack.<br />
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Seeing the threat, the Phoenix Hawk pilot angled his nearly wrecked machine towards the charging Wolverine and raced after it, shooting lasers and machine guns into its light armor in a desperate bid to halt the Lyran commander. Captain Razor turned his heavy Dragon mech and sliced a molten scar across the Wolverine's torso with a medium laser, the total damage striking the Wolverine forcing a piloting check to remain upright.<br />
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I snatched up the dice and quickly snapped off two of them to get the simple piloting check of a 4 or better over with so we could get on to the physical combat phase and my epic charge attack. Naturally I rolled a 3.<br />
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The fusillade of fire directed at the Wolverine caused it to wobble, then topple over, its momentum carrying it forward and digging a trench of dirt as it finally slid to rest at the feet of Captain Razor's Dragon. Both mercenary mechs unleashed a torrent of kicks and stomps to the downed Lyran mech.<br />
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Across the map, the Centurion continued to swat at the remaining Stinger to little effect. Angling into position the Griffin was able to land a solid blow to the rear armor of the Stinger with its PPC. Rolling three critical on its center torso knocked out its engine in one hit.<br />
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The Wolverine managed to get back up, but the mercenaries easily got into its rear arc, blowing its remaining armor to bits.<br />
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With three light mechs down, the remaining Lyrans called the fight and retreated from the field.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
This was a fantastic game! Despite losing, the seesaw nature of it, the epic pushes and charges, the incredible long shots that blew mechs to pieces in one blow made for an exciting and cinematic game. I love the 3025 era and using the campaign rules forces both us to go into battle without optimal lances. Stripped of armor, suffering ongoing penalties, and missing weapons make every game feel like we're riding a knife's edge. The morale rules we are using also help bring the game to a definitive conclusion beyond just destroying or crippling all enemy mechs.<br />
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As for Razor's Raiders, now that they've secured a supply depot they'll be able to make hasty field repairs to damaged mechs. Crippled mechs will still be beyond their repair capabilities for now, but the tenuous foothold they've had has become a bit more secure. Controlling the field also allowed them to salvage the Lyran Stinger which they'll stash in a mountain cave until they can get acquire more supply resources to repair its obliterated engine shielding.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-8982374306037286142020-04-24T15:58:00.001-04:002020-04-26T15:12:06.229-04:00Battletech Campaign #8: Across the Misty Ice Fields<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Continuing our Battletech campaign on the ice world of Parakoila, my son's mercenaries - <i>Razor's Raiders</i> - attempted to recover from their mauling in the last battle by sending an ad hoc scout force of any available mechs to recon the enemy.<br />
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Rolling up my random force my son's mercenaries lucked out: just six vehicles and two Locust light mechs would oppose them. We decided the opfor was a convoy heading to reinforce the border posts the mercs had been hitting.<br />
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The convoy was crossing a geyser field. During the end phase of each round we rolled for the random eruption of hot spring geysers which acted as a hex of light woods and would add 5 heat to any mech standing in them.<br />
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The mercenary recon force was made up of the only viable mechs that had survived the past few battles: a Phoenix Hawk, Dragon, Griffin and Centurion.<br />
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The battle opened with the Locust pilots hitting full throttle on their light mechs. Their only hope was to rely on speed to avoid enemy fire and make some sweeps behind the mercenaries for those sweet rear arc shots.<br />
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The mercs cautiously advanced. With several mechs missing armor, they relied on long range attacks to soften up their opponents.<br />
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The Locusts swung into range and began peppering the rear armor of the mercs with medium lasers, machine guns and SRMs, but the mercenaries focused on the mission at hand - scanning four of the enemy units and preventing the vehicles from reaching the far table edge.<br />
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Pulling into range, the light Scorpion and Striker tanks blasted at the Dragon taking cover behind a low rise.<br />
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Cresting a rise, my son's favorite mech - the Centurion - rained death down upon the tanks making for the gap between the hills.<br />
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While tanks began to burn, the Locusts continued harrying the mercenaries, hoping for a lucky head shot or back attack to blunt their firepower.<br />
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Seeing an opportunity to fire on the weak rear areas of the tanks, the Dragon and Centurion swung around to launch devastating attacks on the vehicles. Both tanks were soon burning.<br />
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Seeing they were outmatched, the remaining vehicles gunned it for the safety of the table edge.<br />
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The Locusts closed in to provide close support on the fleeing Strikers.<br />
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Straying too close, one of the Lyran Locusts was felled by a kick delivered by the mercenary Griffin. Oh the ignominy!<br />
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Falling back the Griffin and Phoenix Hawk were able to knock out two more tanks. With the bulk of the vehicles burning the remaining Locust fled the field.<br />
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Victory for the mercs! This was a fairly lopsided battle, but in this campaign the battles are less important than the war. Unable to repair, each AC 5 or machine gun hit I delivered with my outgunned forces was a severe wound to the mercenaries. My son has keyed on to that, and used his forces cautiously. The Phoenix Hawk fell back nursing an unarmored leg when I'd expect it to keep fighting in most other games of Battletech I've played. Campaigning definitely adds to the overall experience.<br />
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With his recon mission settled my son was able to scout the enemy forces surrounding the supply depot he'd be raiding next: two vehicles, three light mechs and a medium. Normally a pushover for the medium and heavy mechs he'll be fielding, but low on armor and ammo it's going to be a near run thing. Vital to his ability to keep his forces in the field, the next battle will be a "do or die" moment for <i>Razor's Raiders</i>.<br />
<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-23286241272387156732020-04-17T09:36:00.000-04:002020-04-17T09:36:23.270-04:00Battletech Campaign #7: The Ice Storm Cometh<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After breaking through enemy lines on the frozen world of Parakoila, my son's mercenaries reached the hidden mountain enclave of a Kurita spy. He welcomed them to the hidden base and gave them the objective of their guerrilla campaign: to steal a mysterious new battlemech the Lyrans had snuck here for testing.<br />
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Before they could launch an assault on the factory complex where it was being housed the mercs would need to run a number of supply raids, recon missions and communications disruptions until they had tipped the scales in their favor for their ultimate mission.<br />
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My son had his choice of three different missions. Because he'd be hampered in repairing, rearming and salvaging mechs until he'd built up a supply cache he prioritized a supply run mission as his first objective.<br />
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Unable to repair his recon lance, he was forced to send a lance of medium mechs into battle. Not cut out for lightning fast raids, they'd be at a disadvantage during the battle. Increasing his risk, he decided to attack during a cold snap that plunged the temperature to 50 below zero. While the lower temperatures would help mitigate the battlemech's heat generation there was the possibility the utter cold and moisture would freeze up or short out some of their weapons (any weapon that rolled snake eyes on an attack would be disabled for the rest of the game).<br />
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With the mission parameters set I rolled up my defense force, adding +2 to my random unit generation for being Lyran and having full communication capabilities. My lance of light and medium mechs would be augmented by a Scorpion tank and a 95 ton Ontos (an extremely rare vehicle on Parakoila). The Ontos is a behemoth, boasting two LRM 5s and eight medium lasers. It took up a position defending the supply depot from the approaching raiders.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lyran defenses move into position, guarding the supply depot.</td></tr>
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My son was suitably worried about the Ontos, and as his lance crested the rise overlooking the supply houses they prepared for long range sniping to wear it down before it could bring its laser battery in range.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Razor", the mercenary captain in his 60 ton Dragon mech, leads the assault force of a Trebuchet, Wolverine and Centurion. </td></tr>
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Concerned the long range attacks by the Dragon, Trebuchet and Wolverine may eventually batter the Ontos apart from long range, my light mechs - a Commando and Jenner - raced towards the attackers, hoping to skirt their right flank and hit them from the rear.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Commando and Jenner race forward, their Stinger companion hanging back after suffering crippling long range AC5 and LRM fire.</td></tr>
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The Wolverine and tanks trundled into cover near the supply depot storehouses.<br />
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The mercenary Centurion on the far left flank strode forward, suffering numerous long range attacks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just need to finish basing this Centurion. I painted him 20 years ago, so that will happen any day now.</td></tr>
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Despite being behind partial cover the Trebuchet suffered a series of unlucky strikes. Flanked by the Jenner and weathering long range missiles from the Ontos, the fusillade cracked its armor and touched off an ammo bin. Only our house rule that reduces ammo explosions from obliterating mechs saved it. Despite that saving grace the Trebuchet was nearly cored. Under our morale rules such a devastating attack shook the merc's morale.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ammo explosion!</td></tr>
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One small glimmer of hope was the brutal beating met out to the Lyran Commando. Having swung too close the Dragon, it suffered laser fire and a final deadly kick which crippled one of its legs. Failing its piloting roll the Commando crashed to the ground.<br />
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With their Trebuchet crippled and Centurion losing armor quickly, the mercenaries redoubled their effort to destroy the Ontos so they could move into the supply depot. They began moving forward out of cover, but doing so exposed their backs to the Lyran Jenner.<br />
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With such tempting targets, the Jenner pilot couldn't resist mashing the fire button, executing multiple alpha strikes in a row. Even with the sub zero temperatures its heat spiked to 15 points.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the best day of this Jenner pilot's life. Alpha strike! Alpha strike! Alpha strike!</td></tr>
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Now out of cover, the Ontos saw its opportunity. It rolled forward, finally bringing its eight lasers into range of the wavering enemy Centurion and fired everything it had at the wounded mech.<br />
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Sparks flew and smoke billowed from the Ontos' laser battery as multiple weapon systems shorted out and jammed from the cold! We use a single "pilot die" to speed up attacks. With it rolling a one and multiple other dice showing 'ones' the Ontos' lasers and LRM seized up in the freezing cold.<br />
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The mercs turned their full fury on the assault tank, obliterating the now vulnerable beast as it had drawn within range of the bulk of their weapons.<br />
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Their victory was short lived though. The Lyran Wolverine now focused on the mercenary Centurion. Leaping close it leveled its weapons at the mech and got a lucky head shot. Multiple criticals destroyed the Centurion's life support and sensor system and knocked the pilot unconscious. The Wolverine delivered a quick uppercut that sent its target crashing into the snow.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This poor pilot rolled snake eyes on his piloting roll. Bad luck!</td></tr>
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The tide of battle had turned against the mercenaries. Despite the crippled Commando failing four piloting rolls in a row attempting to stand up and deciding to eject before risking an ammo explosion triggered by falling damage, the Lyrans could see victory in their grasp.<br />
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The Jenner withdrew to cool down (now reduced to 4/6 movement!), but the Stinger, Wolverine and Scorpion moved in to put down the remaining mercenary mechs. With only a few morale points left, downing a mech or even inflicting a few criticals were all that were needed to secure the battlefield.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Stinger raced forward and took cinematic (but non game affecting) cover behind the burning hulk of the Ontos assault tank.</td></tr>
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The Wolverines squared off, the mercenary using terrain to its advantage to protect its naked and vulnerable rear arc.<br />
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The Centurion pilot managed to rouse himself, only to be targeted by the enemy Wolverine. A final shot struck the Centurion's armorless arm, knocking out its heavy autocannon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wolverine moving in to finish off the Centurion he'd head shotted earlier.</td></tr>
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That was enough for the mercenary captain. Calling a retreat, the mercs beat a hasty exit and ceded the field to the Lyrans.<br />
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<h3>
Aftermath</h3>
Without the Ontos I suspect the battle would have been heavily in favor of the mercenaries. I can't really determine the impact the assault tank had on the battle as it only managed to fire sporadic LRM attacks at dug in enemy mechs. It was the focus of the bulk of attacks on the Lyrans for the first half of the game though, and my Jenner was able to get into position to be an absolute terror. Having half the weapons of the Ontos, the Jenner shredded two medium mechs and was still quite intact by game's end. That pilot deserves a medal.<br />
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My son's mercenaries are in a jam now. Having failed to secure a critical source of supplies they'll have to go into the next battle without any repairs. We discussed how tricky the campaign on this world would be, how it would start very difficult and get easier as he struck at the Lyran defenses, but the loss still stung. Don't feel too bad for him, it's the first time he's lost a game of Battletech.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-30937167651716087622020-04-15T09:00:00.000-04:002020-04-15T21:49:36.918-04:00Battletech Campaign #6: Breaking the Ice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After our warm up on the desert planet of Vantaa, my son's mercenary force accepted their next contract - a secret mission to the ice world of Parakoila. After making planetfall they'd need to reach a Kurita contact in the mountains before waging a guerilla campaign agains the Lyran planetary defense force. Their first obstacle? Breaking through the Lyran lines attempting to halt their exit from the drop zone.<br />
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Playing a full company battle in Battletech is a bit much (we haven't tried Alpha Strike yet which should alleviate the slowness of such a large game) so my son's mercs sent two lances of fast mechs to break through the Lyran lines while his heavy lance snuck around their flanks off table.<br />
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The Lyrans only had a token force (rolled randomly) that was maneuvered into position. They'd have to hold the field long enough for heavier reinforcements to arrive.<br />
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My son's mercs simply had to get four mechs across the far table edge. Each would inflict morale losses to the Lyran's as if they had lost one of their own mechs of equivalent size. I positioned my paltry forces near a choke point. My two infantry units took commanding positions on the hills above the mountain pass I expected the mercs to force their way through.<br />
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The mercs opened their assault by using the jump jets on their light mechs to leap the hills before them, hoping the defensive bonus from jumping would deflect enemy fire.<br />
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The mercenary Locust attempted to rely on its speed for safety, but the twisting mountain pass made jinking difficult. Suffering harassing fire it ducked behind some cliffs halfway across the field. The Lyran infantry seized their moment, scaling the rise and pouring small arms fire into the lightly armored Locust.<br />
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Nearly crippled by the infantry (!), the Locust spent the next several rounds dashing from one bit of cover to another. The Lyran scouts, a pair of Locusts, dashed forward to threaten the merc's rear.<br />
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Despite their bravery, the planetary defenders in their light Scorpion tanks were no match for large lasers, autocannons and steel rending kicks by 50 ton battle machines. Soon the battlefield was littered with burning wrecks.<br />
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In the chaotic melee the defenders managed to get off a few lucky shots. A mercenary Stinger caught in the open suffered withering fire, losing an arm and shredding its remaining armor. In one round it suffered so much damage that it was effectively out of the battle.<br />
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Despite their small victories in pummeling a mercenary Locust and Stinger, the planetary defenses were nearly smashed when the Lyran cavalry arrived. Perhaps the mercs wouldn't get away so easily.<br />
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A medium Lyran lance of arrived from the flank. 50+ tons of Wolverine and Hunchback dashed towards the merc's escape zone, while two light mechs - a Commando and Jenner - made for the stragglers being left behind.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In a cinematic highlight, the lance leader in his Centurion stayed behind as a rear guard, smashing an LRM carrying Striker, fending off rear attacks by two light mechs and then coring the enemy Commando in one salvo. It was epic.</td></tr>
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The mercenary's position was growing tenuous. Their wounded Locust managed to escape to safety, but the remaining lights, badly wounded, were forced to shelter behind their larger brethren in hopes of limping to safety. A miscalculation on my son's part (just one hex short of escape!) forced the mercs to survive an entire additional round.<br />
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Dodging AC20 rounds, the merc Wasp and a Griffin managed to get across the border to safety. The other crippled Griffin couldn't escape, but my son had snuck a Javelin into position on my far flank. With three mechs already escaped, my Lyrans had one round to stop the Javelin or they'd lose the battle. I sent everything I could after it.<br />
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My Locusts raced into position behind the Javelin, while two Savannah Masters swept in with medium lasers. Before they could strike though, my son jumped his crippled Stinger into the rear arc of my Locusts. Knowing it was nearly destroyed, I had written the Stinger off, assuming my son would be racing it off the map as quick as possible. Still, how much could a crippled Stinger do?<br />
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Apparently a lot! A medium laser and machine gun cut through the Locust's thin light armor before it had a chance at landing a deadly kick to the Javelin's head. Having survived the ineffective attacks of the other Lyran enemies the Javelin easily leapt to freedom the next round forcing the Lyrans to call off their pursuit and cede the field.<br />
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My son's merc reached the contact in the mountains. Secure in their small hidden base, they had their first toehold on a hostile world.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-4280877185148114132020-04-14T13:48:00.000-04:002020-04-15T21:49:22.752-04:00Battletech Campaign Intermission: Campaign MaintenanceI created some mercenary upkeep rules for the Battletech campaign we are playing. The previous C-bill based version was a bit of a headache, but the war point version from Catalyst's "Chaos Campaign" tracks is a bit easier and more flexible. The minutiae of Battletech campaign finances might not be of interest to you unless you are running a campaign yourself, but I figured I'd throw it out there in case someone else wants to mine it for ideas.<br />
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I totaled up the war points my son secured after his campaign on Vantaa, and updated his "Current Assets" to reflect mech losses to enemy fire and salvaged mechs that haven't been repaired yet.<br />
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Using a random mech availability table I rolled up some possible additions he could add to his force: 8 light mechs, 7 mediums, 3 heavy and 2 assaults (that seemed about right to me). Mechs could be junkers and salvage, or could be in fighting shape with its own mechwarrior pilot. Each mech had a chance of being crippled (25%), damaged (25%) or ready (50%). If a mech was ready I rolled up a pilot (Green, Regular, Veteran or Elite) and picked a call sign for them. The cost for each was taken from the Chaos Campaign chapter in Strategic Operations.<br />
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I'm using the repair costs from the Chaos Campaign, but I introduced a new "rush" mechanic to lower repair costs and reduce time but at the risk of permanently screwing the mech up. In reading some of the old supplements from the 80s there are plenty of 3025 mechs that go into battle missing armor, with broken actuators, flaky weapons and a host of mechanical issues peculiar to that particular mech. I love that stuff.<br />
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The defects I introduced shouldn't require a ton of bookkeeping. It will mostly be permanent armor damage that can be removed from the record sheet before play. The equipment defects require a bit more to remember, but should be rare.<br />
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My son picked up some of the crippled mechs to give to his dispossessed mechwarriors and rushed repairs on them resulting in some missing armor (the P-Hawk only has like 2 armor left on one arm - permanently!) and a machine gun on a Locust that can jam. It needs some tweaking, but overall it worked pretty well.<br />
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Next time - Assault on an Ice Planet!<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-36903697548129421212020-04-05T10:36:00.001-04:002020-04-15T21:49:06.059-04:00Battletech Campaign #5: Pesky Bugs<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mercenary mechs escorting a recovery vehicle (Rifleman salvage not shown).</td></tr>
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Still stuck inside, my son and I continued our Battletech campaign with a follow up from our last mission. Having head-shot two mechs which were otherwise in decent condition, he wanted to attempt to salvage them.<br />
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We decided he would be able to recover the Phoenix Hawk without incident, but the Lyran forces were able to send reinforcements while his transport of the salvaged Rifleman was en route back to the mercenary's dropship.<br />
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The desert world of Vantaa is riddled with canyons and this battle would be fought in treacherous terrain. We laid out two canyon maps end to end. The salvage was mounted on a recovery vehicle which would have to make the trip from one short end of the battlefield to the other.<br />
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My son's mercenaries divided their forces into two groups, each traveling in parallel along the lip of a canyon.<br />
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The battle began with the appearance of two Lyran scout mechs, a Wasp and a Stinger.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lyran scouts rushing into battle before even having their edge highlighting and basing complete.</td></tr>
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Under our house morale rules, the mercs had a morale rating of 17, while the outnumbered Lyrans were sporting a lowly a 8 morale. If the mercs could put the two scouts down quickly the Lyrans would call off the attack. Unfortunately, the two bug mechs used their jump jets to reach unassailable positions.<br />
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As the mercs slowly made their way forward, the Lyran scouts were joined by trailing forces: a PPC armed Vindicator and a heavy Quickdraw mech.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Quickdraw. The Ed Grimley of the 31st century.</td></tr>
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The Quickdraw peeled off to slow the two mechs furthest from the recovery vehicle while its three companions launched their assault, intent on disabling the salvage truck.<br />
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The Vindicator snapped off a long range PPC at the truck, needing a 12 to hit and rolling the required box cars! Yikes! The truck raced into cover behind a ridge while the two Lyran scouts closed in focus on the truck.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mercenary captain and ally attempting to shield the recovery vehicle.</td></tr>
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With the recovery vehicle out of sight from the Vindicator it fell to the two 20 ton scout mechs to finish it off. They leapt forward into range of their light weaponry, but put themselves into peril when the mercenary Wolverine used its own jump jets to get behind them.<br />
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The mercenaries turned their attacks on the pair of scout mechs which were surprisingly resilient. I was certain both bug mechs would be put out of action almost immediately in this battle, but the damage scattered across their frames didn't put them down for several rounds.<br />
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Across the canyon, the pair of mech giants continued to trade blows. At one point the Vindicator was sent down after failing the piloting roll required by suffering over 20 points of damage. A small victory that would not last.<br />
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The Quickdraw waded into battle, unleashing a torrent of lasers at the mercenary Trebuchet. A lucky strike touched off the Trebuchet's LRM ammo, instigating a catastrophic explosion that destroyed the mech. Luckily the pilot was able to eject, but things were not looking good for the mercenaries.<br />
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The bug mechs swarmed the recovery vehicle. Missing weapons, they needed to close to rake it with machine gun fire and deliver punishing physical attacks. With a final attack the recovery vehicle was disabled just before the mercenaries put down both Lyran scouts.<br />
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Having lost two mechs and suffered a number of critical hits the Lyran attackers were down to a morale of 2, while the mercenaries were holding steady at 12. Having achieved their goal, but with little hope of making up the morale deficit, the Lyrans withdrew from the battlefield.<br />
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While counted as a minor victory for the mercenaries for forcing the enemy to withdraw the loss of the Rifleman salvage and a Trebuchet stung. My son took it well, but as the mercs boarded their dropship for new pastures we both knew they'd need to build up their forces before launching into the next contract.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Communique from the merc's next employer.</td></tr>
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<h3>
Final Thoughts</h3>
I played Battletech 20 years ago with my college buddies. We invariably played with big, beefy mechs. I was keen on Archers, Battlemasters, Zeus and Awesomes. Dialing things back to get my son up to speed and digging into the post apocalyptic feel of the 3025 era I'm putting a lot more light and medium mechs on the table.<br />
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Eyeballing this encounter I was sure those two scout mechs, the 20 ton Wasp and Stinger were going to go down in a single round when faced by a heavy mech and three mediums. I don't know if it was bad rolling (my son was plagued by awful rolls for the first half of the game) or I had underestimated them, but the bug mechs earned a lot of respect in both our eyes.<br />
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The combination of campaign, scenarios and morale rules is also a ton of fun which require an additional post to detail. My son is having a great time and spent yesterday afternoon agonizing over which crappy mechs to add to his growing mercenary forces for the upcoming mission to the ice world of Parakoila. Old Battletech is best Battletech!<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-5549277756119886662020-04-02T11:36:00.002-04:002020-04-15T21:48:54.929-04:00Battletech Campaign #4: Back in the Saddle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My son and I haven't played Battletech since pausing our summer campaign a few years ago. Now that we're stuck inside for the foreseeable future and my regular gaming groups are on COVID hiatus, I found I needed to roll some dice and kill some little metal men.<br />
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I dusted off the notes from our Battletech campaign, advanced the campaign timeline a few years and the boy and I jumped back into the metal mayhem of the early 31st century.<br />
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My son's mercenary outfit fell on some hard times in the intervening years. They've held on to a few of the core of their mechwarriors, but will need to prove themselves before getting access to the juiciest contracts. Luckily they've caught a lucky break in getting the attention of a Draconic Combine official.<br />
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A pretty simple search and destroy mission with a few wrinkles for interest. I haven't played Battletech for years, so I wanted a scenario that was straightforward to ease back into the rules.<br />
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I skipped my morale rules for our last Battletech game, and the ensuing 7 hour long slugfest sapped my desire to run mechs for years. I brought my morale tracker back to make sure we finished the game in a reasonable time.<br />
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My son chose to launch his attack during a sandstorm, the heavy winds and blowing dust making ranged attacks more difficult. He entered the box canyon his forces were raiding to face my lance of defending Lyran mechs.<br />
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The one point sandstorm penalty didn't seem significant at first, but was just enough to negate any hope of making long range shots as the two forces closed. I sent the bulk of my forces along my left flank, while my Rifleman took a position waist-deep in a shallow river to mitigate the heat I knew its weapons would soon be generating.<br />
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My left flank started tangling with the merc's main force: a Centurion and Griffin. My Rifleman laid down some support fire, but was still pretty far away. I moved it down the river to get into range, little heeding the threat posed by my the merc's light Javelin mech.<br />
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Using its jump jets it managed to get into an ace spot directly behind my Rifleman and unleashed a torrent of SRMs into its back. That's when I discovered mechs standing in shallow water use the punch location chart to determine hits. The SRMs tore through the heavier mech's rear armor, critical hits cascading through it, destroying a gyro and sending it crashing into the water.<br />
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I still had some hope. Maybe I could stand up? Maybe I could reposition to protect my back long enough to get a few large laser shots off? That's when the merc Griffin swooped in with the coup de gras: a single PPC shot blowing the Rifleman's head clean off!<br />
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The destruction of the defender's heavy mech (including the critical torso hit it suffered) sent their morale plummeting. There was still a chance to pull out a victory but the loss of an ancient and terrifying machine like a Rifleman was enough to have the surviving mechwarriors question if the battle was winnable. Still they pressed on.<br />
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While the Rifleman had been maneuvering on the right flank, my Phoenix Hawk had been trading blows with the merc's heavier Centurion mech. Worried about getting charged, and hoping to get under the minimum range of its long range missiles, the Phoenix Hawk closed to point blank range.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Please excuse the half-finished paint job on the P-Hawk. He was pressed into service before he was ready!</td></tr>
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Forced into an awkward position by a poor initiative roll the Phoenix Hawk withstood the blistering laser attacks of the Centurion who had climbed onto an outcrop just above it. With the shooting phase complete I began updating my heat and preparing for the next round.<br />
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"Dad, hold on. I want to kick him."<br />
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"Hmm?"<br />
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"I can kick this Phoenix Guy right?"<br />
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That's when I learned another important lesson about Battletech. When a mech at an elevated level kicks another they use the increasingly worrying punch attack damage allocation chart. My son rolled to hit, connected and dealt 10 points of damage to the Phoenix Hawk's head, shearing it completely off.<br />
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The defender's morale collapsed at this point, the surviving Lyran mechs making a hasty retreat. The mercenaries (and their 11 year old commander) were over the moon at not one but two head shots in a single game. As for me, spending a few hours laughing and rolling dice were the perfect antidote to the stress of our current situation. I can't wait to play again!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-38117298288328251512020-03-02T15:19:00.002-05:002020-03-02T15:19:20.058-05:00Scrum Con 2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Another Scrum Con has wrapped, and I think we're getting the hang of this.<div>
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This was our game club's second convention. After our inaugural run we incorporated the feedback from attendees to 2019 and expanded to a larger venue for this year's con. It was again a mix of wargames and rpgs, highlighting classics from the last forty years as well as lesser played gems and home-brewed rules sets. We featured wargames centered on "genre" subjects (fantasy, sci-fi, horror, alternate history) but were happy to host some traditional historic wargames too. On the RPG side we were lucky to host games run by some of the designers who laid the foundations of the hobby: Zeb Cook, Bill Slaviscek and Ed Stark, along with a number of inventive and entertaining RPG game masters. </div>
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<h3>
Star Schlock</h3>
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When I wasn't schlepping convention supplies, guarding the flea market or running other con errands I was GMing a session of my sci-fi wargame, <a href="https://www.starschlock.com/" target="_blank">Star Schlock</a>.</div>
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In this scenario two warring factions, the democracy loving Federation and the rapacious Totalitarian Dominion, have landed on a desert moon on the frontier of space. In their skirmishes they've awakened a third faction, ancient aliens who hate all other life in the universe. Rising from hibernation the aliens have resurrected dead men to do their bidding. The tide of undead horrors have swept across the moon and now the last remaining Federation and Dominion forces must battle for control of the only remaining shuttle craft to escape the encircling space zombie menace.</div>
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My six players divided up to take control of the three factions. Star Schlock can take a minute to get the hang of, but by round two my players were starting to grok the rules. </div>
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The Federation and Dominion took an early lead, but the undead horde is an unrelenting tide and slowly pushed the living off the key navigation beacon objectives they needed to win. </div>
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As we worked through the final round the Federation and Dominion had a chance to pull out a victory, but a uh... overlooked rule by the GM (oops) and a whiffed final roll left the moon in control of the aliens and their slavering space ghouls.</div>
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Despite a hiccup here and there my players were great sports, a blast to run the game for and gave me plenty of positive feedback after the game.</div>
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<h3>
Poised to Grow</h3>
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That seemed to be a theme of the convention as a whole. While there were a few bumps in the road for the convention, the feedback we've received from the post con survey seems to be extremely positive. Overall I think the con was a success and I'm looking forward to improving and hosting it again next year with the rest of the Scrum Club. </div>
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If you attended the convention, please check your email for the link to the survey (we take your feedback seriously!) If you are in the DC metro area (or can get here) next February please make plans to attend Scrum Con 2021. We're growing, learning as we go, but are committed to making a gem of a local con.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-61608879797591444202020-01-15T16:27:00.002-05:002020-01-15T16:27:36.946-05:00Sci-Fi Hangar by Impudent Mortal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't like MDF building kits. There are so many minor details that irk me — the perfect 90 degree accuracy, the little pegs that show through on corner joins, the uniformity of design and identical thickness of every wall and element — each one contributes to breaking the immersion for me. I've held off on assembling any large MDF kits, but after seeing the I<a href="https://www.impudentmortal.com/" target="_blank">mpudent Mortal</a> display at Historicon last summer I couldn't resist any longer. I need to fill a table with sci-fi buildings, the Impudent Mortal kits were some of the best I'd seen and scratch-building my own wasn't going to cut it. I figured with a little extra care I could reduce the issues that bug me about MDF kits and still save time by using a pre-manufactured model. Check out my build after the jump.<br />
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I picked up three kits and just before Christmas got to work on the first one, the <a href="https://www.impudentmortal.com/product/kessel-repair-shop/" target="_blank">Kessel Repair Shop</a>. My first step was knolling all the parts. Seeing the multitude of small pieces nearly cover my 6x4 wargame table was a but daunting.<br />
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The directions downloadable from Impudent Mortal are a bit light on detail, consisting only of photos of each stage of the build. They only gave me a little trouble and I was able to finish the whole construction up over the course of a few nights.<br />
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I could see right away I'd need to hide the telltale signs of the garage being an MDF kit, so using bits of plasti-card and cardstock I started adding details to the building.<br />
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I left the protective paper on the various acrylic windows so make painting easier and gave the whole building a quick coat of spray lacquer to help seal the MDF and paper sections.<br />
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I paint terrain in several layers:<br />
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<li>Primer to give an even coat and tooth for subsequent layers to grip</li>
<li>Base Coat + variable colors. Nothing in nature is a single absolute shade of color. I add blotches of wildly different color I hope will peek through the final layers of paint to add verisimilitude to the finish.</li>
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<li>Second Base Coat to obscure the variable colors and provide a base to weather. In this case I used a light overspray of gray for the structure walls and a teal/blue for the roof.</li>
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<li>Paint Chipping with a sponge on corners or areas that would be worn down by human contact or the elements</li>
<li>Wash of dark browns, blacks, rust for weathering</li>
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<li>Drybrush of brown and sand in areas that would receive a lot of dust and dirt.</li>
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At this point the kit was good enough for the tabletop and made an appearance in a <a href="https://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-update-on-what-ive-been-up-to.html" target="_blank">Star Schlock battle</a>, but I wasn't quite done with it yet.</div>
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I added some real gnarly rust to the roof as a contrasting color to the teal and added some lighting to the interior as well.</div>
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The interior of the garage was a bit too clean, so I added some detritus while still leaving the inside playable. </div>
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The mechanical bits are made from my bits box: wind up gears I ripped out of the toy cars I cannibalized for <a href="https://1000footgeneral.blogspot.com/2018/11/gaslands.html" target="_blank">Gaslands</a>, a panel from an ancient Robotech kit I've squirreled away since the 80s, bits of sprue and mdf offcuts, and crumpled paper I cut from the tiniest text I could find in a Vallejo catalog. </div>
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The office received some resin lockers I picked up from Crooked Dice (I think).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lockers, just visible through the door, fit perfectly between the office desk and wall.</td></tr>
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So, after working on it for three weeks it's finally done, and I got to spend the bulk of my time and attention on the details I really enjoyed. </div>
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I have a few more Impudent Mortal kits to build, but most of the sci-fi kits MDF kits I've found are so heavily steeped in a "Warhammer 40K adjacent" aesthetic I don't really want to use them for Star Schlock. If you have any generic sci-fi terrain kits or models you'd like to recommend please drop your tips in the comments!</div>
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If you are interested in Star Schlock, the sci-fi skirmish game I've been working on, you can <a href="https://www.starschlock.com/" target="_blank">sign up for updates</a> on the Star Schlock website or stop by <a href="https://tabletop.events/conventions/scrum-con-2020" target="_blank">Scrum-Con</a> on February 29, 2020 in Silver Spring, MD where I'll be running it.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3627201667298914772.post-695796117789629692020-01-07T16:54:00.002-05:002020-01-07T16:54:34.133-05:00An update on what I've been Up To (spoiler: it's Star Schlock)Hello friend! It's been a while since I've posted anything to my blog, but I've been so busy on game stuff I haven't had a chance to log an update. I've been prepping to run my sci-fi skirmish game Star Schlock in February at <a href="https://tabletop.events/conventions/scrum-con-2020" target="_blank">Scrum Con</a>, our club's convention near Washington DC. If you live in the area you should totally come. It's fun!<br />
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In preparation I painted up a few more figures for the game.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mystery gunslinger I picked up at a con and a little Bombshell Miniatures bot I gave a gun.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A great alien leader from Colony 87. It took me a few years to figure out what color he needed to be.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The frog alien's stat card in Star Schlock. Any resemblance to a person living or dead is purely coincidental.</td></tr>
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I also ran the game on New Year's eve to try some new units and rules out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evil Totalitarian Dominion dronetroopers face off for control of the spaceport against a royal house of the Federated Alliance.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Murdertron goes down in a hail of laser fire as the Royal Astro Guards storm the building.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kroglogg snipers engaged in a firefight with dastardly dronetroopers.</td></tr>
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I've been taking a lot of time translating my notes into an actual draft rulebook for the game. Star Schlock can get a bit complex, so a lot of my time has been simplifying, clarifying and reducing the headache of trying to learn the game from a written document. I collect rule sets to dissect, owning far more than I'll ever have a chance to play. While I like understanding how a game works, I find reading them can often feel like drudgery. I have some ideas for layout and design to make comprehending a new set a bit easier that I've started experimenting with. Will see if it pans out or if this is a design path that leads to a dead end.<br />
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I also received my final test prints of the 3D sculpts for my Star Schlock Astro Guards. I discovered a few tiny updates to make and then they'll be sent to the caster.<br />
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I'm hoping to run a Kickstarter for these in the spring, but even if I'm only to get a handful of master figures completed for myself I'll be happy. Sculpting and casting my own figures has been a bucket list item for me since I painted my first orc over 30 years ago. If you are interested in either the Star Schlock game or the figures, I've set up <a href="https://www.starschlock.com/" target="_blank">a website where you can sign up for updates</a>. Until next time!<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300726634407646984noreply@blogger.com5