Here's the third part of my Battletech Alphastrike campaign!
Introduction
Following the pirates escape at the Three Sisters, Captain Wilson has been pressured by the local Canopian government to increase his forces efforts to bringing the marauding invaders to heel. Meanwhile, stung by the loss of one of their heavy Mechs, the pirate commander Red Redowski has decided to target an isolated warehouse that he has heard houses much needed equipment that he desperately needs.
Wilson happens to be leading the lance that is defending the outpost and now he and the pirate captain will meet on the field of combat for the first time.
The Forces
Each force consists of 100 points with both force commanders opting to lead their forces.
Victory points will be awarded to the force in control of the central warehouse at the end of the game and bonus points will be awarded for destroying enemy Mechs or forcing them to withdraw from the field.
Wilson's Hussars
The Hussars Lance is commanded by Captain Wilson in his Marauder with Jones in her Jenner, Yaro in his Locust and Hayes in his Enforcer This gives me two light skirmishers, a heavy and a medium mech. Although I only have one capable of long range fire, the combination of speed and short range punch should put the Hussars in a solid position.
Red's Marauders
With only 100 points and several of the Pirates light mechs badly needing repair, the Captain Redowski has gambled on using his two heaviest remaining mechs along side a lighter skirmisher. Redowski pilots a Thunderbolt and is accompanied by Milo, his number two in a Wolverine and Ratchett in a Wasp. While the lance is understrength, it does pack considerable punch at all ranges and heavy armour. It will be interesting to see how they manage against the more nimble Hussars.
The Battlefield
The Battlefield
The isolated warehouses are situated in a valley surrounded by low hills with several small settlements dotted around and some patches of woods.
The Game
The Objective
The Pirates won initiative and the two heavy Mechs burst from the trees and thunder towards the objective whilst their lone light mech maneuvers into the hilltop village preparing to snipe any of the Hussars light mechs who try to flank it's heavier kin.
Wilson's Hussars deploy behind the other hilltop village with their two light Mechs begin to make a dash down the flank, relying on their speed to avoid getting a pasting from the pirates heavies. Captain Wilson in his Marauder moves forward as fast as he can towards the objective with the Enforcer accompanying him.
Initial fire from the pirate heavies fail to score any hits, despite their higher piloting skill but in return Captain Wilson's Marauder manages to score a long range hit on the pirate Thunderbolt.
Turn two saw the pirate heavies continue their thunder run towards the warehouse, keenly aware that they need to grab some swag and deal some hurt to the mercenary force. The two mech commanders trade fire as they close with each scoring two hits a piece on their opponents but the Hussars Enforcer also manages to hit the Thunderbolt. Meanwhile the pirate's Wasp fires ineffectually at the Hussars Locust but the small mech is just too nimble and dances out of the way.
Turn three saw heavy fire exchanged between Wilson and Redowski with Wilson overheating his Marauder and scoring four hits on the pirate Thunderbolt and only taking two points in return. The Pirate Wolverine fires but misses the Hussars command Mech in a display of heroically bad dice rolling which would prove to be the turning point of the game.
Turn four saw the Hussars mechs in cover near the objective and the pirates gambit failing as in an intense exchange of fire the pirate Thunderbolt is utterly destroyed and the Hussars Marauder badly damaged. Seeing their commanders Mech explode, the remaining pirate Mechs begin to withdraw, exchanging fire with the Hussars light machines who were closing in on their rear.
Totalling up the victory points saw Wilson's Hussars win 2 points to the pirates 1 which saw the mercenary force drawing ahead slightly in the campaign.
Whee! This was a short but brutal skirmish which has cost the pirates dear with the loss of their heaviest mech and their captain dead or captured. Meanwhile, the Hussars have managed to hold the pirates off but at the cost of a second badly damaged Mech.
The after battle will see several of the Hussars lighter Mechs getting completely repaired but the techs having their work cut out to get the Marauder from this game and Archer from the last back into working order.
Meanwhile, the pirates have some difficult decisions to make as whilst they've had some success pillaging outlying areas, they are experiencing stiff resistance from what they had believed were a bunch of hasbeen mercenaries who they should have been able to wipe the floor with. Now two of their heavy mechs have been destroyed and it's looking a bit grim for the next battle. Despite this, the Vindicator and Spider from games one and two which had been badly damaged have now been put back into working order using some of the booty captured during the Three Sisters affair so they do still have a capable force that can give the Hussars a bloody nose.
We shall see how things go tomorrow as the fourth and possibly final game in the mini campaign plays out so watch this space!
In other news, following my last post where I was unsure about the direction I'd gone in with my Mechs that I'd sculpted, I've had another bash at it today and have spent a bit more time on each of the newer sculpts which should, I hope, give them the style that I want.
Work in Progress Shot
After feeling that I had hit a bit of a wall yesterday, I'm feeling a bit more confident today that I can stick with my SD Battletech project and see it completed, even if it's only going to be a couple of lances worth!
Thanks for the suggestions and support folks and All the best!
That tank looks super. Overall the project feels like a Nintendo like portable console battletech game.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks!
DeleteI really enjoyed building it! I'm tempted to make some of the heavier 80-100 ton behemoths next!
I quite like your paper standies pictures. Do you do the art yourself?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the difficulty fixing mechs....is it purely about the repair costs, or are mechs out of a few games for critical/structural repairs?
Hi!
DeleteThanks for the comments!
I do indeed draw them myself. It's handy to be able to throw together any lance from any force using whatever mech I fancy in about half an hour!
At present I give each force 5 points of armour repairs between games with a maximum of three points of repairs on any single Mech. Internal damage costs two points to repair reflecting the complexity of the work done.
I think for my next campaign I'll be using the Battletech Chaos Campaign system which goes into the repairs a bit more deeply.
I also allow destroyed mechs to be recovered and salvaged by the victors of any game but thus far the two pirate Mechs that have been taken out by Wilson's Hussars were utterly destroyed and only yielded a bit of armour plate.
Individual games also allow the pirates to loot objectives and gain more whilst the Hussars have to lobby their employers with successful missions to get more than the five points of repairs between games.
I'm planning a two lance a side game next involving the enraged pirates descending on Rynn's Retreat, the capital of Rynn's Steading in a last, big attack with the Hussars trying to hold them off.
It's going to be an interesting game as the mercs have their two biggest mechs off getting repaired following a pummelling during the last couple of games whilst the pirates have a points advantage too.
Will Wilson's Hussars manage to defend the town!