----- That Same Year -----
Date: May, 3020
Location: Harrow’s Sun
Title: Cry Vengeance!
Author: Richard Meyer, Walter Hunt, Lisa Hunt & Evan Jarrison
Type: Scenario (The Fox’s Teeth)
Synopsis: In Spring 3020, House Kurita invaded Harrow’s Sun and spent two weeks sweeping the AFFS garrison (a Ceti Hussars regiment and the 7th Crucis Lancers regiment) before them. The 7th Crucis Lancers unit known as McKinnon’s Raiders lost its commander (Ross McKinnon) and XO (Kurt Lytton) in a single battle, leaving Ross’ son Ian McKinnon in charge. Rather than trying to fight the Kuritan forces straight on, Ian launched a guerilla campaign, starting with an assault on a former Ceti Hussars communications relay, now garrisoned by a reinforced lance of the 12th Vegan Rangers.
The Rangers field 260 tons with pre-existing damage, while McKinnon’s Raiders field 360 tons, also with pre-existing damage. The Raiders get 3 points for each enemy ‘Mech destroyed/disabled, and 5-15 points for each building destroyed (2-4 points for each one damaged). The Rangers get 5 points for each Raider destroyed or disabled and 3 points for each Ranger that retreats off the map. If the battle continues past turn 20, the Rangers start checking for reinforcements each turn. If they arrive (1 in 12 chance every turn), the Rangers get 25 bonus points and a 185-ton lance of undamaged reinforcements.
Notes: The scenario automatically ends at the end of the turn in which the reinforcements arrive, so there’s almost no point in printing the record sheets or putting the minis on the field unless the Raiders are right where the reinforcements enter. All in all, the reinforcement roll is just to incentivize McKinnon’s troops to finish their job in less than 20 turns.
The 12th Vegan Rangers is a very, very odd mercenary force to be flying Kuritan colors in 3020. Its write-up in Field Manual: Mercenaries (Revised) says that it was converted from a private army of a Federated Suns noble on Verde to a mercenary command, and hired out to the Federated Suns and Lyran Commonwealth. The Galtor Campaign writeup indicates that the unit has contracted for the Lyrans, the Federated Suns, and “princes of the Periphery.” If it was formed by a FedSuns nobleman and continued to provide income to the FedSuns planet Verde, why would it have a contract with the Draconis Combine to invade the Federated Suns? It sounds like the Duke of Verde should be expecting to be arrested for treason at this point. The Legion of Vega would make much more sense than the 12th Vegan Rangers.
[Update: Herb Beas has confirmed that the Legion of Vega should be the OpFor, rather than then 12th Vegan Rangers.]
The Raiders want to get in, kill the buildings, and get out before turn 15, at the latest. This is one of the earliest scenarios, so the rules for buildings use a threshold damage system rather than simply marking off damage on the armor diagram. The stables take half damage from any hit, attacks on the silo only damage the transmission tower on a 6+ on 2d6 after a successful hit, and the ranch house only takes damage on an 8+ on 2d6. No heights are indicated. Given the difficulty of damaging the buildings with weapons fire, I’d recommend just walking up to them with an appropriately heavy ‘Mech and climbing on top, overwhelming the CF with mass and causing it to collapse. Sure, you’ll take damage in the fall, but not much, and the building will be insta-killed – no fuss, no muss. The Warhammer and Marauder can be in the thick of the buildings within three turns, so making the 15-turn deadline for killing all the buildings should be simple. If you can do at least 6 damage to the heaviest buildings, your Shadow Hawk and Griffin will also be suitable for crushing real estate. While smooshing the buildings, you can turn your weapons on the outnumbered and outgunned Rangers.
For the Rangers, this is a difficult scenario to win. You’re outnumbered, outgunned, and have to protect weak buildings. Your Archer, Crusader and Rifleman should hang back in among the buildings and provide long-range support, while the Stinger and Phoenix Hawk try for back shots. There’s really no good way to stop the enemy from wiping out the buildings if they catch on to the trick of stepping on them and making them collapse (especially with mid-weight jumpers like the Griffin, which can waltz past your lines). To balance that out, you might want to give the 12th Vegan some of the abilities from Field Manual: Mercenaries (Revised): -1 to-hit bonus on all medium-range weapon attacks, may torso twist multiple times in the same phase (essentially giving a 360 degree arc of fire), and may fire at multiple targets with no penalty.
The Rangers should concentrate on ‘Mechs heavy enough to crush the buildings. If they can be brought down, the enemy won’t have enough weight to easily take out buildings, and will have to resort to firepower.
