Agreed it was a fun game. The 2nd table wasn't quite as point blank but the shots that mattered all came inside 6 hexes.
A quick after action of the West-Table.
GM Forces (South) (A very "DMM" feel as all 8 mechs were FS/DC based)
Victor-11D
GrassHopper-6K
Bombardier-14K
Grand Dragon-5K
Dervish-9D
Enforcer-III-6Ma
Centurion-D4D
Hollander-F3
Regulator-Standard
Beagle-Standard
Player Forces (North) (Set up inside 1st 12 Hexes)
Archangel-Eminus (Arriving Turn 5)
Goliath-4S (Arriving Turn-3)
Barghest-3T
Gurkha-8G
Griffin-5L
Wolfhound-5
Sprint-C3i
Purifier-Laser (Arriving Turn-5)
The Players all set up right at the 12 Hex range band, slightly east, in some woods & moved forward quickly on turn 1. Fire was exchanged but most of it missed.
I think I managed to land something like 11 points of scattered LRM damage on the Barghest on turn 1.
Turn 2 got a bit more interesting as the players started to split their forces & headed towards the middle of the map. The GM Forces didn't boast tons of long range firepower & my roles were pretty crappy.
By turn 3 things started to get interesting as fire was beginning to really get thrown around & some of it landed.
However the Barghest hiding behind a hill managed to avoid a lot of it thanks to the hill.
The 2 lights continued to be hard to shoot at at +3/+4 every turn.
**Note, it took about 4-5 turns before we realized the Gurkha pilot was running around at 9/14 not using TSM correctly & should only have been 8/12. That might have changed a few moves & could have kept the Regulator alive as it took a TSM kick into the side & was immobilized that might not have happened w/o the extra 2MP every turn.
Goliath comes on from the back of the board.
Regulator spend Turn-4 being stunned & immobile.
Also in Turn-4 the Hollander was de-legged by a kick from the Gurkha. (Also might not have happened?)
The Barghest takes the brunt of damage as several mechs unleash on it. But its still standing
The Victor, GrassHopper, GrandDragon, & Dervish make an abrupt turn Right & suddenly the Goliath looks about to be run over. Victor takes HGR to the RtLeg (the first of many)
Turn-5
The assault on the Goliath takes a bad turn.
The Victor is stopped cold as it ends up between the 2 quads at 6 hexes each & both land HGR shots that hit the same RL from last turn. Combined with other fire this shears off the leg, rips open the torso, & hits the RAC ammo. Suddenly my pristine assault mech is on the ground crippled w/ an unconscious pilot after Head Hit, Feedback, & Fall leaves him failing the Nappytime check of 10. He never wakes up before end of game.
Gurkha hammers into the Grasshopper from behind & does TSM kick.
The Barghest is finally a smoking ruin from repeated MML/SRM strikes from the Bombardier while the Enforcer is trying to make the Wolfhound pay for picking on the downed Hollander in the backfield.
Beagle zooms off the board this turn going right past the Archangel with a 'wave'.
Centurion tosses some long ranged fire at the Archangel & connects with the LRM for the first time all game.
(It spent the entire game firing 2 of 3 weapons each turn thanks to the 10 SHS & never hitting w/ more than 1)
Goliath has a stripped RA-RFL from massive stacked damage but is still going.
Regulator Crew bails out w/o firing.
Turn-6
The Grasshopper gets to the flank of the Goliath & removes that RFL, but again has the Gurkha in its back arc w/ TSM kick & actually manages to knock it over.
Both GrandDragon & Dervish head out wide on opposite flanks to avoid having to go through the Archangel that is camped in the middle of the goal line. They each trade some long ranged sniping fire wile lining up to leave the board.
Turn-7
Dervish & GrandDragon both head off the board.
Grasshopper gets Delegged by HGR from Goliath.
Gurkha survives being sandwiched by the Bombardier & Enforcer.
Game Ends
GM Forces Status
Escaped = Beagle, Centurion, Dervish, GrandDragon
Fully Functional = Bombardier, Enforcer
De-Legged = Victor (Sleeping), Grasshopper, Hollander
Abandoned = Regulator
Player Forces Status
Barghest = Mission Destroyed (3 Engine Hits)
Goliath = Missing Leg
Wolfhound = Hip Crit (4/6MP)
Gurkha = Heavy Armor Damage?
Archangel, Griffin, Purifiers = Minor Armor Damage?
Sprint = Un-hit
Salvage: (Less "quality" salvage on this table but it was in better condition for more SP earned)
Regulator-Abandoned-Crippled
Victor-Asleep-Crippled
342 SP in Salvage Earned for each Player (V/S 242 Each for a Mission-Destroyed Flashman & Thunder)
JR is declined to salvage either unit.
JD has declined the Regulator but is bidding on the Victor.
JB was not around to bid so we'll have to ask him if we wants to bid on either by email.
If JB bids on Victor we will need to have a dice off.
If JB declines the Regulator then it will be up for bid by the "Eastern" table players that were facing Joel
Thoughts on mission balance:
When first planning on this game as a Player I felt it was going to be nigh unwinnable.
The delay for 3/5 units meant fast movers were gone before they arrived.
I expected to see 30-40% 5-6 walking mp & 60-70% be 7+ which would have been hard to stop.
Then I saw the units chosen for GM's & now I'm not sure that the players could have NOT gotten at least the 1st goal.
Having your 3rd fastest unit be 6/9 on a breakthrough mission was iffy.
Having there be no clear paths across the board w/o terrain in the way, also iffy
Having a pair of 4 MP mechs was Really iffy. (That 1 of them was armed w/ mostly Range-6 guns = Bad)
Honestly, Each of the above is a small issue, combined they became a larger one.
To balance this one out wouldn't take much work.
1. Loose the 4MP mechs or at least make them things that put out some firepower at range.
(Maybe Marauder-5D & Penetrator would have been a better combo to handle the mission)
(Having Falconer + Thanatos would have been even better as 5/8 mechs)
2. Not had hills blocking movement on both sides all the way to the side of the map but left at least 1-hex path to allow people to make breaks for the edges w/o being Very slow or being channeled into the gauntlet of fire in the middle.
3. Include 1 fast mover of 7+ MP in each player force.
Its not much but I think it would have made for a solid give/take from what I feared I'd see v/s what ended up seeing.
It also occurs to me that movement might be sped up a bit if there weren't so many different large vision blocking options to choose from, I saw a lot of move delay searching for the best position or way to deal w/ terrain.
Having now sat on the GM side here is what I learned for the campaign:
I fully agree w/ previous GM comments about the use of edge.
The amount of edge is excessive.
Using Edge to avoid a lucky round 2 gauss headcap is one thing, and I'm in favor of it.
But there was so much edge on my table that players were able to burn it to just avoid getting kicked when they lost initiative & got someone next to them or because shots are coming in from the rear (/gasp).
I also don't think you should get to edge the same roll twice if it gets made the 2nd time, seriously, that was just BS IMO & the game would have been Very different had they been limited to 1 point each.
If we are going to continue with free edge for players, I think the GM should be able to have say 1 point per player force to use as well.
That or go back to the old mini's rule where you had to own the mini. (Point was to trigger sales after all)
