Tukkayid Campaign: Diamond Sharks Part 1

Hi folks,

On Tuesday the Diamond Sharks commenced their invasion of Tukayyid, which historically didn't go to well for them. In fact, if you follow the story, they never make it out of the vicinity of their drop zone. After having my butt handed to me last game, I was ready for some payback. For this game I would be teamed up with Wade and Heinz, controlling a small contingent of veteran ComStar Mechwarriors in a Black Knight (Atlas figure), Lancelot (Dragon figure) and Flashman (Shadowhawk IIC figure). Against us were BennyW and KuriboGoomba controlling two Elite Diamond Shark Mechwarriors in a Warhawk C and Hellbringer Primary. Once again the Comstar Mechs would launch an ambush, affording them a free turn of fire, against Clan Mechs moving in formation.

The game started with the Hellbringer moving onto the board and being engaged by our Mechs. BennyW moved his Warhawk onto the board in such a way that our turn of free shots were very limited. The Hellbringer and Black Knight traded heavy fire, both taking considerable damage from PPC and laser fire. The Black Knight went pretty far up the heat scale and would lose some movement points next turn.

In the second turn the Hellbringer bolted past us, quite unexpectedly, to bring the Warhawk into the fight. It lost its rear center torso armour completely but avoided any critical hits. We decided that the Hellbringer would have to go down first, and quickly, if we were to have any chance against the Warhawk. With its elite pilot, targeting computer and large pulse lasers, it had no troubles putting a head shot on the Lancelot, which had strayed into Partial Cover (shots go to Punch Hit locations). No criticals were scored, but with only two points of internal structure left in the head the Lancelot was vulnerable.

 

The Hellbringer maneuvered so that the Warhawk could cover it with accurate, heavy fire, then opened up with everything at the Black Knight. Surviving the onslaught, just barely, the Black Knight returned fire causing heavy damage but failing to take the Hellbringer down. Like always, I was spreading the damage at the most crucial moment!

 

My Black Knight failed its roll to avoid engine shutdown at 8+ on 2d6 and I prepared to watch it go down in flames next turn. The Hellbringer fared much worse, failing its ammo explosion check:

It was hilarious that the Hellbringer could survive everything that we could throw at it, but couldn't survive its own heat production :-)

With just the undamaged Warhawk to beat (AHHHH!) Wade, Heinz and I took stock of our forces. My Mech was shutdown and would take a turn to recover. Wade's Mech was heavily damaged and Heinz's Mech was ok after avoiding and one-on-one duels. Wade bore the brunt of the next turn's shooting phase, causing a small amount of damage but getting pounded in return. Crucially, one shot hit the Centre Torso Critical location, causing a Gyro hit and destroying the flamer there (which is notorious for taking hits you wish went somewhere else!). 

The next turn my Mech came online again and we maneuvered so that we could all take shots at the Warhawk. BennyW split fire between us, taking the Lancelot out and critically damaging my Black Knight. When it cam to my shooting phase I unleashed everything I had left, 1 ER PPC, 1 Large Pulse Laser, 1 Large Laser and 2 Medium Pulse lasers. Every single shot hit the center torso! Five consecutive rolls of 7 on 2d6 afforded me three chances to cause critical hits. This translated to four locations being destroyed, which made it impossible for the Warhawk to survive the turn. Four engine hits took it down.

 

A decisive victory for ComStar and two kills for my Black Knight!  Even so, I am still smarting from the Jade Falcon loss that I suffered last game. It will be a while before I get a chance to settle that score and, the way the Clans are performing so far, I don't like my chances of redemption.

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Tukkayid Campaign: Jade Falcons Part 1

Hi folks,

I would lying if I said that I haven't been looking forward to starting the Jade Falcon part of the campaign. I have been a JF fan-boy forever. This has required a lot of loyalty in the face of adversity, as they have been portrayed pretty harshly in the Battletech universe; there is a lot not to like about them that I have blissfully ignored.

The first Jade Falcon scenario is one that KuriboGoomba and I were very familiar with. The initial ambush of the Jade Falcon invasion force by Comstar is portrayed in one of my favourite books, "Falcon Guard" by Robert Thurston. In it, the defenders launched their assault from hidden positions in an orchard, striking the Clan Mechs rapidly and then fading away. One Clan Mechwarrior in a Gargoyle, Faulk, is engaged by a Bombardier and is forced to eject. As he escapes, the ejection trajectory takes him through some stray fire that amputates his leg; his screams can be heard in the cockpits of his compatriots. Obviously, we were both keen to relive this scene in a "what if" kind of way.

I chose a Gargoyle A to represent Mechwarrior Faulk (3/4) and a Stormcrow A (Mecharrior Leehma, 3/4) for its accurate close range brawling ability. In reserve I had Mechwarrior Khastis (3/4) in his Hellbringer Primary; we had a feeling that the Clanners were going to have a very hard time. The Comstar Mechs, controlled by KuriboGoomba and Wade, consisted of a Bomdardier, Thug, Hunchback and Sentinel deployed in secret. I placed my Mechs withing three hexes of the center hex and Comstar Mechs proceeded to boil out of their holes.

The Gargoyle is represented by a Summoner model, I really need to get myself a Gargoyle figure, I seem to use them all the time.

In the free turn of fire the Comstar Mechs were afforded by their ambush, they managed to maul Faulk's Gargoyle. The Thug opened up into its rear armour with PPCs and SRMs, whilst the Bombardier hit it with indirect LRM's. Even the Sentinel caused damage with its Ultra AC 5, punching some holes in the Gargoyle's center torso. The next turn the Gargoyle rounded on the Thug and unleashed two PPC's and a large pulse laser into it, causing heavy damage. The Stormcrow moved to intercept a newly appeared Hunchback, causing significant damage to several locations, before all four Comstar Mechs combined there firepower to destroy the Gargoyle with three engine hits.

The Stormcrow blasted away at the Hunchback, forcing it to withdraw in order to prevent any chance of me recovering a victory from the game. With the Hellbringer appearing from reserve smashing it with PPC's, there was no choice but for it to run off the board. With that the Stormcrow and Hellbringer turned their attentions to the Thug, which they flayed with heavy fire for two turns.







Like all of my games so far, the damage I dealt was spread to evenly, preventing me from taking the big Mech down. I wasn't the only one having trouble, we played out a whole turn with no hits from any Mech! Roll after roll we failed to hit easy shots (at 5+ on 2d6), failed to achieve critical hits, failed shutdown rolls on 4+, fail, fail, fail, fail, fail. The situation prompted Goomba to show us this picture on his phone, which I share now to reflect the bleak hilarity of the situation:

Eventually the Thug fell, having failed a piloting skill roll after taking more than 20 damage in one turn and a gyro hit. The rest of the Comstar Mechs ran off the board to preserve their marginal victory.

The game played out very similar to the story, thanks to Goomba and Wade's focus on taking down Faulk early on. Our consistently low rolls after that were so frustrating, all we could do was laugh and try to stack the odds in our favour. I think the dice Gods were the real winners last night.

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Tukkayid Campaign: Ghost Bears Part 1

Hi folks,

Battletech Tuesday saw KuriboGoomba take control of his favourite Clan, the Ghost Bears, as they begin their invasion of Tukkayid. He chose a Timberwolf D with twin head-capping PPC's, two forward firing Streak SRM 6's and two rear firing Streak SRM 6's for taking a piece out of any sneak attackers, as well as a Mad Dog (no surprises there...) A. The A variant is capable of dealing 20 damage at range, with its PPC and LB-5X AC, but it really steals the show up close with its six SRM 6 launchers. Switching over to cluster rounds on the autocannon would also provide Goomba with even more chances of hitting critical systems. Both of his Mechwarrior were elite; 1/2 gunnery/piloting.

I teamed up with Heinz for this game, and chose a Crockett (Dragon model), Shadowhawk SHD-5M (Zeus model) and a Hussar (Cicada model). We had a Precenter with gunnery/piloting 2/3 in the Crockett and the other Mechwarriors were both veterans (3/4). We started the game in hidden positions, choosing hexes in the middle of the board to provide the best fields of fire early in the game, whilst keeping cover in reach for when things start to heat up.

The Ghost Bears positioned themselves in the prescribed hex rows (07XX, 08XX or 09XX) and fell into the Comstar trap perfectly. In the hex immediately behind the Mad Dog the Crocket opened up with all weapons, grievously damaging the Clan Mechs rear torso armour.





With the Crockett now locked in a duel with the Mad Dog, the Timberwolf challenged the Shadowhawk and proceeded to pummel it. It was not an even match-up, but Heinz and I were hoping that the Mad Dog would go down hard, leaving a more favourable three-on-one battle that Goomba had no chance of decisively winning. With that in mind the Hussar opened fire on the Mad Dog as well, breaking the dueling rules and opening it up as a second target for both Clan Mechs.





Our plan to eliminate the Mad Dog quickly was a good one, but for the second time in recent memory, the Mad Dog just wouldn't die.

Just. Wouldn't. Die.

The Crockett caused massive amounts of damage but spread it across locations. At some point Heinz made an error and broke a rule of the Shadowhawk's duel with the Timberwolf. Jumping on the opportunity, the Mad Dog got a good shot off at close range and hit with 22 (!) short range missiles. This is what that looks like, and he wasn't even done yet:





The Shadowhawk disappeared in the blizzard of fire, its centre torso utterly cored. The heat produced by all of that weapon fire caused the Mad Dog to shut down, so payback came quickly. The Crockett opened up on the Mad Dog's rear armour again, punching through to the critical locations and causing two head hits. It also sustained heavy damage to a leg, reducing its movement points.





The next turn the Mad Dog's systems came back online and it moved a short distance, shadowed by the Crockett. Both Mechs prepared to unload broadsides at each other, twisting torso to unleash hell at point-blank range.





The Crockett destroyed most of the locations on the Mad Dog in this final salvo, whilst the Timberwolf put some very lucky shots into the Hussar that chewed through it from arm to engine. Dead in one unlucky round. One-on-one, plan in tatters, the Crockett squared off against the essentially undamaged Timberwolf.





The Crockett lasted two turns, but put up a hell of a fight. It scored multiple head hits against the Clan Mech and had an opportunity to cripple it through engine or gyro hits, but my luck had run dry. At the end of the last turn the mauled Crockett failed a piloting skill roll at 3+ on 2d6 and we decided to call it a night.


 


KuriboGoomba is always a challenging opponent in Battletech and he knew how to make the most of the tactical error we made; the Ghost Bears were well deserving of the marginal victory it afforded them. I think they probably picked up a skilled Bondsman as well, that Precenter caused some havoc!

See you across the table,

M4cr0 

Tukkayid Campaign: Nova Cats Part 1

Hi folks,

The Nova Cats have had a pretty good run so far in our Battletech games, despite the fact that none of the players in my gaming group care two jots about them. In our recent Luthien campaign the Nova Cats performed particularly well in urban/short range settings, with a certain Gargoyle C MechWarrior tearing it up with his Ultra AC 20. In the first scenario of the Nova Cats invasion of Tukkayid we decided to bring the same guy back for another go. We teamed him up with an Adder C Star-mate to take on three Comstar Mechs: an Exterminator, a Flashman and a Crab.

1st Turn: Gargoyle (black Atlas) and Adder are ambushed by a Crab (Cicada), Flashman (Zeus) and Exterminator (Dragon).

In the first turn the Comstar Mechs emerged from there hiding spots and pummelled the Adder. As a Comstar player it was our goal to take down one of the Clan Mechs as quickly as possible. Considering how heavily armoured the Gargoyle is and the positioning of the Clan Mechs after the first turn, our choice was pretty simple; pick on the little guy. 

We continued to harass the Adder whilst evading the Gargoyle, dealing heavy damage it with multiple large lasers on the Flashman and Crab. In reply the Adder hit the Crab with a NARC beacon and rained LRM's down upon it. It wasn't enough to save the Adder though; it fell to multiple engine hits next turn. The Gargoyle drew a bead on the Exterminator and hammered it for a turn, dealing hits with both the Ultra AC 20 and ER medium laser array. Crumbs.

With the Adder down we couldn't avoid the Gargoyle any longer. With the Exterminator heavily damaged after only one turn of fire Wade suggested we just run it in and get a kick in. According to the Clan duelling rules Goomba couldn't return the favour and, for a cheap shot, a successful kick could lead to the Gargoyle being incapacitated much quicker. The Exterminator barely survived the Gargoyle's salvo and landed its kick, along with several medium laser blasts, to the Gargoyle's right leg. Then things started to go pear shaped for our heroes...

For the next hour or so, Wade and I did not win a single initiative roll. With the Gargoyle's comparatively high movement rate, there was no place we could go that he couldn't follow and he made us pay for it every turn. The best we could do was lure him into overlapping firing arcs and clench our teeth. We poured fire into that damned leg, but just couldn't take it out.

Overheating and limping from critical leg hits, Goomba's Gargoyle continued to win initiative and destroyed both Comstar Mechs to secure a decisive victory for the Nova Cats. At the end of the game the Gargoyle's record sheet told the story; massive amounts of damaged spread across too many locations. A few hits shifted to the arms or back onto that right leg and we would have won it. As it was, the Gargoyle MechWarrior had proved his mettle once again... time to give him a name I think!

No armour left in five locations and only one shot left with the autocannon!

See you across the table,

M4cr0

Tukkayid Campaign: Smoke Jaguars Part 1

Hi folks,

Battletech Tuesday is back! A couple of days ago Heinz, KuriboGoomba, Wade and I spent the night popping the lid on a new campaign: Tukayyid. Goomba and I played through parts of this book way back in highschool (mid-late 90's), particularly the Jade Falcon and Ghost Bear missions. Considering we seem to have hit on a nice groove with our Battletech campaign play, I figured this would be a good time to revisit this juggernaut of a conflict.

Each session we will play a scenario from a different Clan and cycle through them (there are about 4 scenarios per Clan). To accommodate individual player's preference for certain Clans, each of us will alternate between playing the Clan and Comstar forces. This week I was teamed up with Heinz to represent the Smoke Jaguars as they attempt to secure a drop site, whilst Goomba and Wade would control a defending Lance of heavy Comstar Mechs.

Heinz rolled for our Mechs and came up with a Stormcrow C, a Timberwolf A and a Summoner A. This would give us a nice selection of pulse lasers and "head-cappers", just perfect for dueling, which is lucky as this scenario enforces the strictest level of Clan dueling rules. Wade and Joel selected a Hunchback, Archer (represented by a Catapult figure; hurry up new sculpts!), Marauder (represented by a Dragon) and an Awesome; a classic selection of hard-hitting Innersphere Mechs.

The game started with the Clan Mechs hot-dropping into ruined urban terrain (all buildings above level 5 on the map counted as rubble). With an inauspicious crunch, the Stormcrow failed its piloting skill roll and sustained heavy damage. The Timberwolf challenged the Awesome and immediately fired upon it with its PPC's, taking no damage in return. The Summoner challenged the Archer in and slammed home a gauss rifle slug and a large pulse laser volley. The next turn the Stormcrow was back on its feet challenging the Marauder, which took one turn of fire before withdrawing to focus fire on the Timberwolf.

After I closed in on the Archer with my Summoner, to maximise the effect of minimum range on the LRM 20's, Wade brought the Hunchback into play to cover for it. I was now stuck between staying close and weathering the AC 20, or moving out of range and exposing myself to long range missile fire. I grit my teeth for one turn to put some extra fire into the Archer before withdrawing; taking 20 damage to a single location repeatedly did not appeal to me.

Meanwhile, Heinz engaged the Awesome at close range to bring his medium pulse lasers into play. It lost an arm and eventually a leg in the exchange, but dealt horrendous amounts of damage in return. The Marauder maneuvered to support the Awesome, whilst carefully staying out of sight of my Stormcrow.

After losing two jump jets to critical hits, as well as two head hits, the Summoner jumped towards the centre of the board where there was more support. The unengaged Hunchback moved to pursue and I challenged it with my Stormcrow; he had nothing else to shoot at and I needed to take pressure off the Summoner. That means that the Stormcrow was now challenging two Mechs simultaneously. Needless to say, I hoped to take out the Hunchback quickly. I managed to hit it twice in the head, once with an LB 10X AC sub-munition and again with a large pulse laser shot, but failed to cause any critical hits. In the next turn the Hunchback destroyed the Summoner with another head hit, and I immediately returned the favour by touching off a ton of AC 20 ammo with one of my Stormcrow's medium pulse lasers.

On the other side of the board, the Awesome combined with the Marauder to disable the Timberwolf, by destroying multiple leg actuators and hitting the gyro. It was simply too hard for Heinz's pilot to stand the Mech up, though he tried several times, sustaining hilarious amounts of falling damage. The Timberwolf was eventually destroyed by the Marauder's kick, which completely destroyed the center torso.

With the Hunchback down and the Archer now unengaged, the Stormcrow challenged it and jammed it into a corner. With the Awesome floundering on the ground and the Marauder busy shooting up Heinz's Timberwolf, nobody was going rescue it. I kept pouring fire into it until it went down.

With that we called an end to the game; it was getting late and at this age we are afraid we will turn into pumpkins. Wade and Goomba had pulled every underhanded freebirth tactic in the book during the game, using the strict Clan engagement rules to their advantage. We were constantly being fired upon by Mechs involved in other challenges, so that we could not return fire. Ultimately, we were saved from a more painful defeat by Heinz's heroics with the Timberwolf (holding up an Awesome and a Marauder for the entire game, only one of which he could fire upon), as well as the effective fire of the Stormcrow taking down two Comstar Mechs. I am sure both the Stormcrow and the Marauder will return in future games to haunt each other...

See you across the table,

M4cr0