Continuing and concluding a prior match...
The CCAF's initial push into the Republic following the blackout met a wide range of opponents; planetary militias, mercenaries, RAF line units and the Swordsworn. In turn, the CCAF, not yet willing (or able) to play its full hand were also supported by mercenaries and other units, such as Bannson's Raiders. It was such a confrontation that provided the basis for today's battle; the CCAF probing Republican forces, both sides supported by mercenaries and irregulars.
The CCAF units, for their part, didn't play by the usual rules. Surprisingly, they put together a fully functional C3 Network, and used ECCM to ensure that it stayed operational. Force cohesion was surprisingly strong, though Maskrovika "encouragement" probably helped. The RAF units, by comparison, didn't gel well with their allies.
The result was an interesting lesson in combined arms and pyromania. And while the CCAF won the day, any strategic value from taking the Dirtistan Oil fields was probably reduced by the fact that much of it was now on fire.
With that being said, there were awards to be handed out including, for the first time ever, a triple award.
The Man of the Match as well as the Disproportionate Carnage award and the Cyrano de Bergerac award for pyromania went to a CCAF Merc Cyrano for blowing a fuel tank which, in turn, scorched a RAF Nightstar and Maelstrom. It then repeated the act on a second tank, further scorching the Nightstar and immobilising a Manticore. A third tank (Apparently they didn't learn to keep away from them) further torched the Maelstrom and incinerated a Dervish. A fourth fuel tank (!) again torched the Nightstar, which by this point had only taken damage from exploding fuel tanks. A fifth one immolated a RAF Demon Tank which had the misfortune of being immobilized next to it.
The He died and then he died of it award went to the Pro-Republic Merc Warrior VTOL, for losing it's rotor, having its front destroyed and suffering an Ammo explosion all from the one round of fire. Clearly someone wanted that VTOL dead.
The Luddite's Revenge award went to the RAF Hawk Moth VTOL which managed to survive a round of fire... only to have the Industrial hex it was flying over explode and knock it out of the sky, killing it.
The You've Got A Lot Of Explaining To Do went to the RAF Dervish which ended up going from "fresh" to "lying prone, minus half your armour and in a hex that's on fire" in one turn.
The Paperweight award went to the CCAF JES II for being immobilised in a remote corner of the map while facing nothing even remotely useful. It then also won the Fourth of July award when all umpty-dozen tons of LRM ammo went up at once.
The Nikki Lauda award went to the RAF Nightstar for managing to be caught by exploding fuel tanks three times. And yet, he kept moving next to them. To make matters worse, the one time it managed to be away from a fuel tank, it took a TAC from an LBX pellet that took out its gyro. Ironically, that was the only time it took damage from actual enemy fire.
The To the last I Take potshots at thee award went to a CCAF Regulator II; after being immobilized, the only thing it could hit was an RAF Ajax which was not only immobilised but also had no functional weapons left. The Regulator II won, for broad values of the term.
The Dirt Nap award went to the pro-CCAF Fortune for spending most of the game stunned before recovering in the last turn and putting an LBX pellet into the Nightstar's gyro. It was then stunned.