----- 6 Days Later -----
Date: December 15, 3013
Location: Mallory’s World
Title: Vive I Vegans
Author: Geoff Swift
Type: Track (Historical Turning Points: Mallory’s World)
Synopsis: After six weeks of regrouping following Prince Ian’s death, the AFFS launches a new offensive against the DCMS invaders on Mallory’s World, merging the 17th Avalon Hussars, 4th Davion Guards and Kell Hounds into a task force to assault the 2nd Legion of Vega. They catch the Combine force by surprise, having leaked false intel to indicate that the 24th Dieron Regulars were their target. The AFFS task force is exclusively ‘Mechs and is 130% of the Legion’s deployed forces. The Guards and Hounds attack from the sides of the map, while the 17th Hussars perform a combat drop on Round 1.
The hapless Legion of Vega must cross three mapsheets laid lengthwise end to end with Avalon Hussars dropping on them from above and a wall of Kell Hounds and Davion Guards coming in from both sides. The Legion automatically loses initiative for the first six turns and gets a 2 point penalty thereafter. Even worse, the Legion has a -1 penalty to all gunnery rolls and only has half loads in their ammo bins. By contrast, the 17th Hussars get gunnery and PSR bonuses, while the 4th Guards have MP and PSR bonuses.
The AFFS player gets their Objective points for stopping 100% of the Legion from getting off their target map edge, while the Legion gets its full point count for getting at least one lance off the Home edge. The Track ends in a draw if the Legion gets between 1 and 3 units off the Home edge.
Historically, the entire 2nd Legion of Vega was obliterated by the vengeful Davion forces, who only regretted that it was the Legion they faced, rather than the hated 2nd Sword of Light.
Notes: Given this setup, the Legion of Vega doesn’t sound much better than a fresh incarnation of the Chain Gang units. The profile describes it as being much like a penal institution in which the prisoners pilot BattleMechs, and enormous casualties are the order of the day. The only dim light at the end of the very, very dangerous tunnel is that you can win if only four units get off the map. The Legion is described as a Medium ‘Mech unit, so that means Griffins, Phoenix Hawks, Wolverines, and the coveted Phoenix Hawk LAM with a boxcars result on the RAT.
The Legion’s one useful special ability is that they can re-roll each unit on the RAT and choose whichever they want. Re-roll everything and hope hard for LAMs. Convert to Aerospace-mode right off the bat and vamoose. Since you’ve got only a 1-in-18 chance for a LAM even with the re-roll, you probably won’t get many, but you should be able to make most of your units 5/8 or 6/9. With 51 hexes to cross through ruinously hostile territory, that’s seven turns of running flat out. If you prioritize units with jump jets, you can just bound over any walls of ‘Mechs that get in your way and keep running full out. You’re going to take absolutely awful casualties, but just keep your survivors together and hope that at least four can reach the finish line. By all means, shoot at the Fedrats, but don’t raise your heat to a level that would reduce your MPs. Speed is life.
My recommendation for the AFFS is to come in mid-field and form three parallel rows of ‘Mechs, about five hexes apart, blocking passage down the map. Have the Guards at the front and the Hounds at the back. Drop the Hussars in on the first map to hit the DCMS troops early and then harry them, serving as the hammer to the other regiments’ anvil. With the three lines of troops, they can shoot at the oncoming Legion and block their movement, and if any jump over, they’ll end up easy meat for the second and third lines. If the defenders mass fire on any jumpers trying to break through, they shouldn’t be able to break through beyond the third line. (And if they do, your rear line reserves have one map remaining to chase them down).
This advice assumes you’re using BattleTech rules and fielding no more than one company of each AFFS unit, giving you 36 troops to 28 Legion ‘Mechs. If Alpha Strike takes off, or you want to use BattleForce 2 rules, that could give you the ability to fully simulate the battle, with the full 108 ‘Mech Legion of Vega against 140 AFFS troops (A reinforced battalion from each command). However, doing it at that level statistically guarantees that the Legion player will be able to roll up four LAMs and win almost instantly. Under BattleTech rules, the most manageable version of the scenario would be one lance from each command, pitting 12 AFFS ‘Mechs against 9 Legion of Vega ‘Mechs – making it much easier for the Legion troops to slip through the net.
