On the heels of a months long 1815 Napoleonic campaign, I decided to relax a little with some old fashioned Battletech.
My opponent, representing some nameless merc faction, brought a 5 mech force weighing 370 combined tons....... Atlas, Banshee, Grasshopper, Jagermech, and Hermes. I responded with a Liao aligned force.... King Crab, Crockett, Stalker, Flashman, and little ole' Mongoose.
I can't say what my opponent's thoughts for force selection were, but I can say that I departed from my normal choices (close in fighters with lots of weapons) by choosing some mechs with distinctive long range weapons. For example, the KGC-001 King crab, with a pair of Gauss rifles, and the Crockett, with a pair of ER Large Lasers (one of my least favorite "big" weapons) and an LB-10X. The Stalker is a platform I like... a lot. And it has a nice mix of short to mid-long weapons. The Flashman has always been a favorite, though, I normally do not like to use mechs with XL engines (the KGC-001 also has an XL engine).
Anyway, things started off as a simple meeting engagement, just a bash em up until one side threw in the towel or we ran out of time.
We gamed on the small lake and stream maps, giving us some hills and woods, but also some clear open terrain too.
A few turns in, the game began to shape up....
I sent my Mongoose racing down my left flank. This little miracle beastie first shot up the Hermes, then the Banshee, then the Jager Mech, and finished the game shooting the Grasshopper, basically circling the main gaming area during the game.
I posted my Flashman and Stalker firmly on the hill, while the King Crab and Crockett covered the open center.
The misbegotten Mercs had a lucky hit on the King Crab very early on, resulting in an Engine hit. This kept me from using my Large Pulse Laser most of the game, but I had enough heat sinks to easily keep both Gauss rifles and the LRM in play.
My mechs managed to do some damage at range (and close up with the Mongoose doing his drive-bys on every enemy mech) while their Atlas and Grasshopper (and eventually, the Jagermech) closed with my mechs.
The Jagermech managed to jam one of his Ultra AC-5s, but, someone tagged my Flashman in the head. Though it did not penetrate, it did knock the pilot unconscious for a turn. The Stalker and Flashman (once he woke up) concentrated their fire, with the Crockett, on the closing Atlas, just grinding him down. The enemy grasshopper pushed hard on our right flank, but took damage (including a few Gauss rifle hits for the King Crab) the entire way.
We entered what would be our final turn like this....
On the enemy merc side the Atlas had been severely pummeled, the Banshee had been hit pretty hard, but was still together... the Hermes had taken some moderate damage from the Mongoose, but was in good shape, the Jagermech has cored in a few places (those things are long on ACs and short on armor), and the Grasshopper was pretty beat up. Notice the Mongoose on the Grasshopper's tail.
My Stalker had absorbed some severe damage from the Atlas, the Flashman was taking a beating, the Mongoose had lost an arm (and was showing endo skeleton in most places)... but... the Crokett had not been hit at all, and the King Crab had been taken about 12 points of damage total (though was suffering that lucky Engine hit from early on).
We opened up on each other, and this final turn the Atlas first lost its right leg, then left arm, then crit result set off the SRM-6 ammo, meaning the Atlas exploded even as it began to fall down.
Return fire from the Atlas scored again on the Stalker, but despite a heavy beating the Stalker remained in the game, with all systems on good order. The Flashman absorbed more hits from the Banshee and Hermes (now all around on our immediate left flank)... down to 3 points of endo skeleton in its left leg, cored in a couple of other places, this was my most heavily damaged mech... but was still in it... at least for another turn.
But this turn was not over yet....
The Jagermech took two Gauss rifle shots from the King Crab. Its already penetrated armor could not stop the complete destruction of its center torso, and it collapsed upon itself, completely destroyed.
We finished up this turn, and the mercs had had enough. My Flashman was ready to retreat (though the Hermes alone could have probably stopped and destroyed it), the Stalker was likely to lose a 1 on 1 with the Banshee.... but... the near cherry Crockett and King Crab would have made short work of the Grasshopper before turning their attention to said Banshee. And the Mongoose was still running all over the board (sometimes, if you have 8/12 movement, you just have to use it).
All in all, I had a good time... the merc commander did too. It was an odd position for me, forming a firing line and shooting up advancing mechs, but I guess even old dogs can learn new tricks.
Keep your PPC charged, and your fusion engine cool, and the world will turn....
Thanks.
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