Luthien Campaign Update

 

Scenario 12: Ronin

Following the death of Takashi Kurita, Theodore Kurita forbade the Dragon Claws from seeking revenge. He knew that he would need the elite troops to defend Luthien, so could not afford to have them die in a vainglorious suicidal charge. To ensure their compliance, Theodore held the Dragon Claws Mechs under armed guard prior to the final defence of the city. Unwilling to accept this stain on their honour, some of the Mechwarriors absconded with suits of Kage Stealth armour. Knowing that they needed Mechs to win the vengeance they sought, they set a deadly ambush for a Star of Smoke Jaguar Mechs. Their objective was to trap the Clanners within a narrow canyon using explosive charges to block the entrance and exit. Once the Mechs were boxed in, they would use their Battlearmour’s jumping capacity to hijack them.

 

 

In this scenario the Smoke Jaguar force consisted of a Hellbringer A, a Mad Dog Primary, an Adder Primary, a Storm Crow B and a Kit Fox B. The Draconis force consisted of 12 individual Kage Armour suits and 6 explosive charges set in the canyon walls. Wade wrote down the position of his units which would remain hidden until revealed. I had to enter the eastern edge of the mapsheet and exit a very narrow space to the west. Given that Wade only had a few minutes to place his units, in retrospect, he did an exceptional job. He efficiently identified a small group of choke points that completely changed the topography of the canyon and made my job very difficult right from the start. Additionally, this scenario was brought to you by a responsible quantity of Trooper Ale. Up the Irons!

As soon as the Clan Mechs entered the map Wade started detonating explosives. The Stormcrow B was blasted but managed to stumble through the rubble. With that avenue blocked I manouvered around the other side of the canyon with the Adder and Hellbringer, but received similar punishment. The Hellbringer revealed two Kage suits with its Active Probe, which immediately jumped onto the Mechs and initiated a swarm attack. Despite several attempts to dislodge the battlearmour (sigh… so many double ones), both Mechs were successfully hijacked.

 

 

The Mad Dog and Kitfox scaled the canyon wall using one of the only possible routes, killing a Kage suit on the way. The Stormcrow used its superior speed to distance itself from another Kage suit and open the opportunity to exit the map during the next turn. This would earn me some victory points and deny Wade another Clan mech. On the way it was hit by two demolition charges which caused moderate damage. The Kit Fox was also hijacked (another set of double ones!), meaning I was now outnumbered by my own Mechs.

After finally wrestling control of the Puma, Wade unleashed its twin ER PPCs on the Mad Dog, stripping the armour off each torso. My return fire the following turn was brutal, punching straight through the light Mech’s centre torso and destroying it completely. The Hellbringer attempted to enter the fray but failed a piloting skill roll and fell in some canyon rubble. The Kit Fox twisted torso and unleashed a withering fusillade with its Ultra AC 10, scoring four critical hits across the Mad Dog’s left and right torso. This resulted in an ammunition explosion (5 shots of LRM 20: a whopping 100 damage) and a single engine hit in the other torso. With three engine hits the Mad Dog went down, leaving me with just a Stormcrow in a highly compromised position.

 

 

In the final turn the Stormcrow was ambushed by three hidden Kage suits. In keeping with my luck throughout the night, I failed every possible roll to save myself. This culminated in the hijacking of my final Mech.

 

 

 

During the game I scored -30 points for destroying the Adder, -10 points for denying Wade the Mad Dog and -5 points for taking out a Kage suit (should have been way more of them!). Wade scored 90 points for hijacking 3 Mechs. This gave him a decisive victory with 45 points. Campaign-wise, this gives the Draconis Combine a 40 point advantage heading into the last Classic Battletech game. Next game we’ll see Wade seeking some revenge in my stolen Mechs, in the scenario “Cat and Mouse”.

See you across the table,

M4cr0