Tonight's game at SoonerCon was a throwback to the Clan Invasion's Battle of Luthien. A binary of mechs and a star of Elementals were tasked with wrecking a Kurita mining complex and a militia unit was tasked to defend it, the original scenario was 'Into the Dark' or something like that . . . and the green Kuritans had their skills improved and the Clan warriors were dropped a bit to try to balance it more for the con.
Everyone shifted over from the grinder when the storyline game began, several new players sitting on the Kurita side. Two experienced players ran the Clan force . . . and charged into the fray! The Jaguars called out their challenges as they engaged the spheriods, a few of the samurai even responded. The Clan side lost initiative every single round which just gave the defenders another advantage. Some early quirks led to a Cauldron Born getting its back shot up by a Vulcan while a long range TAC to the CT put a 2nd gyro hit on the Omni dropping it behind a hill. The Gargoyle C's UAC/20 ended up jamming the first time it fired . . . roll that 2 on a double tap.
On the east side of the battlefield the Timberwolf Prime started opening up on a Thug, which wiffed with its ERPPCs while the Clan warrior started connecting with 2 cERLL. The Thug pilot backed off into cover to try to draw the Timberwolf closer, though it did not help when it did . . . everything connected at 5 hexes- cERLL, 2 cERML, 2 cLRM20s. The center torso was stripped down but no crits were achieved . . . and it survived the duel. Next turn it turned to shield the center torso while fighting which a single hit to the CT left the Thug with a single point of IS. Final turn of life for the Thug, a last LRM managed to find that single point of IS in the CT to wreck the assault.
The east side of the map had the fast force and ended up facing the Thug, Stalker 5M, Ostroc and Marauder 2R . . . the heavy lance played timid which allowed the Clan force to press their duels and slip around the flank where they could turn their weapons on the objective buildings. Even reinforcement from a Scorpion, some infantry and a Catapult K later on did not prevent the Clan force from wrecking 3 of the 4 buildings which ended the battle. Kurita lights & mediums had lost their legs, the Thug was the largest IS mech to fall, but half the Clan mechs had taken internal damage though Elementals got off with just scratched armor.
