Lockdown Day 61: Defence of Rynn's Steading part 3

Hi!

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!

Lockdown Day 59: Defence of Rynn's Steading part 2

Hi!

Here's the second game of my Battletech Alphastrike campaign!

Introduction

Following the initial clash at the factory, the pirates have split up into individual lances and have been pillaging outlying settlements whilst the mercenaries of Wilson's Hussars are spread thin trying to catch the marauders.

An emergency call for help has come in from the settlement of Yardholm where the pirate crew has struck the township hard and have fled east towards the badlands. Guessing their route of march, the Hussars have set up an ambush at a region known as the Three Sisters, a trio of large rock pillars that demark the closest boundary of the inhabited regions and the badlands.

It has fallen to Lieutenant Blakenship, commander of the Hussar's Fire Lance to spring the trap on the pirates.

The Forces

Each lance costs around 100 points with the Hussars being deployed at two corners of one side of the battlefield guarding the passes between the Three Sisters whilst the pirates deploy on the opposite edge.

Victory points will be awarded to the Hussars for destroying opposing Mechs or forcing them to withdraw. The Pirates will get points for each Mech they manage to get off the opposite board edge and for destroying opponents.

The Hussars Lance is commanded by Lieutenant Blakenship in his Archer, Lefler in his Wasp, Durant in his Griffin and Jones in her Jenner. Following the last game the Jenner has been totally repaired whilst the Griffin will have a point of damage left over that the harried mercenary techs haven't had chance to repair yet. This force give me two fire support and two fast scout Mechs.

The Pirates once again has Crosby in his Hunchback, Simpson in his Assassin, Marcus in his Mongoose and Hinge in her Locust. Following the last game, the Assassin is totally repaired whilst the Hunchback has two points of damage on it following the mauling it received at the hands of the mercenaries light mechs. This force has three fast moving scouts and a single brawler.

I had the idea that in this campaign, each side has the ability to repair five points of damage between games initially until objectives are claimed and resources captured, or in the case of the mercenaries, the government sending supplies. Therefore the Hussars Ostroc is undergoing further repairs as it was totally stripped of armour in the last game. The Pirates are in a somewhat more difficult situation as not only did they take damage, they had two mechs suffer critical damage which will require extensive repairs so will be needing to capture some swag for them to repair their damaged Mechs.

The Battlefield

The battlefield consists of a central village surrounded by fields to the south and the northern edge is hilly and wooded with the three rock pillars splitting the skyline.

 Pirate deployment

The Game

The pirates won initiative in the first turn and began moving as rapidly as possible across the board towards the Hussars skirmish line. The initial exchange of long range fire saw a smattering of shots with the only success being the Hussar's Archer managing to slam some long range missiles into the Hunchback, stripping a point of damage from the hulking Mech.

 Hussars blocking force

Turn two saw the pirates pushing forward as rapidly as possible and exchanging fire with the Hussars in the hills with the only real success coming from the pirates Locust and Mongoose each scoring a hit on the already damaged Griffin. In the exchange, the Hussar's Jenner pulled off quite a shock by hitting the pirate Locust for a point of damage, despite the range and speed it was moving at. I feel that the Jones in her Jenner needs a raise as she's provided stirling service in two games already!

 Pirates advance through the village with the slower Hunchback lagging behind

 Hussar blocking force opens fire from the hills 

Turn three saw things starting to heat up, in some cases literally with the Hussars Archer overheating (improved attack dice but makes it easier to hit and cannot fire as effectively next turn) and pouring a barrage of missiles into the Hunchback scoring two more hits on the beast (I had hoped to do more damage as I was rolling for four attacks at this point!). Return fire from the Hunchback saw the Archer take a point of damage whilst the pirates light mechs got close enough to open up on the Hussars Wasp who took a critical hit from the firing Mongoose causing it to overheat each time it wanted to fire.

The battlefield mid game

Turn four saw the Archer unable to fire and the pirate Hunchback closing in and keeping up fire with it's massive autocannon which scored a critical on the Hussars mech scoring a critical and reducing the Mechs movement by half. The Mercs seem to be having a bit of an issue with their shooting as despite unloading everything they had at the closing opponents, they failed to score any hits.

 Light Mechs fight for the best line of sight on the flank

Turn five saw two of the pirate mechs slipping through the Hussars line and escaping into the badlands whilst the Archer and Hunchback blasted one another to scrap. The Hunchback crippled the Archer with four criticals, blowing off a leg and badly mauling it's launchers but in return the Archer caused a chain reaction of explosions on the pirate mech reducing it to a pile of scrap, killing the pilot.

Pirate mechs close with the Hussars

Escaping Pirates

Turn six saw the last pirate mech escape the Hussars and join it's lancemates in the Badlands leaving the mercenaries to lick their wounds.

I totalled up the victory points with the Pirates scoring 4 and the Hussars 2 so a victory for Red's Marauders but at quite a price as they lost one of their most powerful machines but the supplies the escaping Mechs carried should help repair their damaged machines from game 1. If I was to choose lance composition again, I'd choose four light, fast moving Mechs and saved the Hunchback for when I was facing a slugfest rather than a scenario that required maneuver.

The Hussars were unfortunate with their dice rolling but I should have tried to get the two fire support mechs moved to a more central location so they could concentrate fire on the approaching mechs rather than hugging the edges of the board which saw the Griffin soon outmaneuvered and left able to only lob the odd indirect shot at the rapidly departing pirates.

The critical hits the Hussars took during this game will prove interesting later in the campaign as the amount of damage the Archer took is worrying and Captain Wilson is going to have to do some lobbying to get more supplies to effect repairs, something that may be a bit difficult as the recent ambush failed to do more to deter further attacks from the Pirates.

The campaign is starting to heat up with the victory points standing at five a side over the course of both games and the more I play, the more I'm tempted to add some infantry scale skirmishing into the mix as small character based scenarios may be fun involving information gathering, supply raids and so on.

I think I'll just keep to the basics for this campaign but I think for my next, I want to put together some infantry and characters for some fun sub campaign games in. There's also the option of adding some space combat to the mix as Dropships and Aerospace assets clash in the initial stages of the campaign. It's fascinating how much can be incorporated into Battletech if one is so inclined and I'm keen to further explore this in the future as it is possible to really get stuck into the nitty gritty of the conflicts of the Inner Sphere be it small skirmishes or massive planetary invasions!

I've now got my first Mech Lance that I sculpted painted and ready to show tomorrow as well as a second Hunter light tank and I'm keen to get a second lance built!

Tomorrow I'll get them photographed and hope to show off some more bits and bobs I've been working on so till then, All the best!

Lockdown Day 58: Defence of Rynn's Steading part 1

Hi!

A little later than planned but here's the first installment of my Battletech Alphastrike campaign!

Introduction

Wilson's Hussars have been hired by the Magistrix of Canopia to defend the world of Rynn's Steading, a largely agricultural planet with rolling plains and sparse forests with numerous rocky escarpments.

Decidedly down on their luck, the Hussars have taken the assignment to get out of being stuck on the Periphery without employment and jumped at the chance to take work, no matter how poor the pay is. In return for a nominal sum and transport, the Canopians have agreed to enact repairs to the Hussars dilapidated mechs and get them all into running order which has been a real boon to the out of luck mercs.

Unbeknownst to them, Rynn's Steading is home to one of the Canopians armaments factories and word has somehow got out about it so the Canopians need some hired muscle to defend it whilst their own Mech units are busy elsewhere and as such Wilson's Hussars are going to earn their creds the hard way as Red's Marauders, a notorious pirate band has jumped in system and landed an understrength company of Mechs on the world planning to raid said factory for ammunition and other supplies they can sell beyond the Periphery.

Hearing of the landing, Captain Wilson has rushed a lance of newly repaired Mechs out to defend the factory from the attacking pirates.

The Forces

Each force has a total of 275 points of units to call on with each battle allowing for 100 point forces with any casualties being carried over into following games. Damage can be repaired between games but resources on both sides are limited so whilst repairing armour or restocking ammunition isn't going to be too difficult, replacing valuable components or weapons is going to affect the latter stages of the campaign.

Wilson's Hussars

The Hussars lance is commanded by Lieutenant Stilson in her Ostroc with Durant in his Griffin, Yaro in his Locust and Jones in her Jenner. The lance itself is a bit ad hoc so consists of two scouts, a skirmisher and a long ranged expert.

Red's Marauders

Red's Marauders consists of Crosby in a Hunchback, Slambo in a Vindicator, Rowle in a Spider and Simpson in an Assassin. this lance has two fast moving and mobile mechs, a long range expert and a close quarter specialist.

The Battlefield

The battlefield consists of a couple of farming hamlets on one side of the river and a small industrial zone on the other. There are two objectives to claim, the central village has information concealed in it that may prove interesting later in the campaign and the central industrial building is packed with weapons. Any unit within 3 inches of an objective at the end of a turn claims a victory point. If another enemy unit is within 3 inches of the same objective it is contested and neither side gains the victory points.

Victory points can also be claimed by forcing enemy mechs to withdraw once they've lost their armour or by destroying them.

The Game

The game itself was rather a lot of fun and I got so carried away with the action, that I forgot to take pictures but here's a quick overview:

The pirates won the initiative early on in the game and moved forward towards the industrial zone whilst a lone mech, the Vindicator moved towards the village hoping to snipe the mercenaries with it's long range PPC.

The Hussars rushed their light mechs towards the industrial zone and claimed the Victory Point for the first turn. These light mechs would become the bane of the Pirate's lives in later turns but more on that later!

Turn 2 and 3 saw long range fire exchanged between the forces but only light damage was caused with Wilson's Hussars coming out somewhat worse from the exchange but still in fighting form. During this exchange, the Hussars still claimed the industrial zone and the slower moving pirate Vindicator couldn't claim the village objective till turn 3.

Turn 4 had Lieutenant Stilson overheat her mech and blaze away at the Vindicator in the village but only caused a single point of damage and in return got hammered by the Hunchback and Vindicator and would have to retreat due to all her Mech's armour being blasted off.

Turn 5 saw the Hussars really start to make their move as the pirates had made a bit of a slog getting their mechs close enough to the industrial zone to contest the objective and in a furious exchange of fire involving both the Hussars light mechs using the terrain to their advantage resulted in the pirate Spider being stripped of armour and crippled and the Hunchback finding itself unable to get the Hussars Jenner out of it's rear arc and blasting it with short range fire.

Turn 6 had the pirate's starting to withdraw after their Vindicator took a weapons critical from the combined fire of the Hussars Griffin and Ostroc and the crippled whilst their badly limping Spider tried to make a run for it. Crosby, now enraged by the constant fire from the Hussars Jenner maneuvered his mech so he thought his rear arc was covered by a building but the Jenner ignited it's jump jets, flying over the building before unleashing another short range barrage into the larger Mechs back.

The action around the industrial zone

At this point, it was about 11.30pm local time and I wanted to go to bed so allowed the game to finish so I totalled up the victory points which saw Wilson's Hussars claim 6 to the Pirates 2.

I really enjoyed the game but feel that the Pirates chose their deployment poorly as they should have concentrated their heavier mechs on pushing into the industrial zone whilst allowing one of the lighter mechs to hold the village.

The Hussars did remarkably well, especially considering they had lighter mechs for the most part and pilot of the match goes to Jones in her Jenner who really used her mech's strengths to her advantage by outmaneuvering the heavy Hunchback, a mech who could destroy her lighter machine in a single volley.

Needless to say, our cat Mab decided to get involved and help out:

Bloosh!

Next time round I'll make sure to get more photos and we shall see if Wilson's Hussars manage to drive Red's Marauders offworld or if the pirates will manage to pull out a win in game 2 which I hope to play out later today as I am keen to play out another game as soon as possible.

It's interesting to play using paper tokens as whilst it does make a game playable and fun, it just lacks the visual appeal of proper mechs so I'll need to see about getting myself some machs build and painted for future campaigns. Handily I've got my first two Mechs painted and will try and get the remaining two done asap!

Hopefully I'll have another post up today so watch this space!

All the best!