Hello All,
A friend and I just completed a fantastic game of battletech that I wish to share. In our previous encounter, a lone Clan Star (five mechs) defeated an entire company (12 mechs) of Inner Sphere (IS) mechs I wanted to present a challenge to the Clanners.
I would throw yet another full company at the clan defenses but this time the IS forces would be equipped with upgraded mechs from the 3060 era.
I fully expected that the new tech and sheer numbers would cause a walk over for the IS forces. What happen was a shock. Let me begin by stating we do not play Clan honor rules. Mechs are focused down with laser (pun intended) efficiency.
The Forces
Clan Wolf (Vet Skill 2)
Direwolf (Prime), Timber Wolf (Prime), Mad Dog (Prime), Stormcrow (Prime), Nova (Prime), 2 points of elementals
Donegal Guards, Lyran Alliance, (Vet Skill 3)
Zeus, Salamander, Enfield, Barghest
Gallowglas, Black Hawk-Ku, Falconer, Griffin
Commando, Talon, Night Hawk, Wolfhound
The Butcher’s bill is easy to describe. NOT one mech left the board. It was 100% carnage for all sides. The battlefield was claimed by the Clan Wolf Elementals. The sole survivors of this entire fight.
The clan forces at their start line.
The clan force would hold the center while giving ground to the strong light push against their right flank. The Nova was tasked to dance with the Blackhawk, Falconer, and Night Hawk on the left flank. The Elementals would act as close in protection. The Dire Wolf, Timber Wolf, Mad Dog, and Stormcrow would focus to bring down the strongest mech in the enemy force. The first target was the Lyran Zeus.
Priority Target….
Turn 1 and one dead assault mech
The Clanners would continue this ruthless efficiency for the next few turns.
Turn 2 - The Barghest
Turn 3 - The Gallowglas
It seemed the Wolf forces were going through the entire chain of the command from the top down. The clanners continued to trade space for time collapsing to the center. While the IS forces continued their relentless advance at all costs. It was not until turn 4 when the IS forces claimed a victory with the destruction of the Timber Wolf but at the loss of the Griffon. The massive fireball below is the Timber Wolf with the ammo bins cooking off.
The Black hawk-Ku and Falconer pushed through the Western woods to hem the clanners in. The Nova took advantage of this and brought down the Falconer.
The Stormcrow was the next Wolf mech to fall. It was killed by a PPC from the Talon that died for securing the kill.
The opposing sides were now trading mechs with no quarter asked for or given.
The Mad Dog succumbed to the barrage of IS fire while the Black Hawk-Ku was destroyed by the Dire Wolf. The IS mech still melted a third of the Clan assault mech’s armor before being brought down.
The Steiner forces are trying to swarm the Dire Wolf. The Wolfhound goes down.
The Commando gets behind the Dire wolf and lays a barrage of missiles into it. The Dire Wolf twist to bring its left arm to bear and the brave light mech dies. Having pinned the assault mech down the Enfield and the Salamander move in and finally bring the Clan monster down. With its last salvo the Dire Wolf cores out the Enfield.
This led to the most exciting part of the game. The Wolf Nova faced off against a relatively fresh Salamander who had been providing indirect fire support from the central woods. The ultimate knife fighter vs a pure fire support mech. The Nova rushed to close the distance on the LRM boat. The Salamander unleashed one massive volley that inflicted heavy damage. A critical hit on the hip forced the Nova to use its jump jets to close the distance.
As the Nova landed directly in front of the assault mech the pilot howled in joy knowing that victory was hers. The howl become one of primal rage when the Salamander fired its only defensive weapons, two medium lasers. The shots were true, and the Wolf pilot sensed the reactor failing. In a fit rage she slammed the trigger of ALL the lasers. The torrent of beams sliced through the enemy mech. The last two opponents collapsed in heaps at each other feet.
The elementals witnessed in awe at the pure savagery and destruction that surrounded them.
I could not have planned a better game ending. It was spectacular!
I thank my friend for playing. I am happy seeing what this hybrid Alpha strike/Classic BT approach was capable of. I intended it to be played between lances, the fact that we ran 19 units in 4 hours over 10 turns felt great.
Thank you all for reading.
