Battle of Betelgeuse - a collection of small scenarios

[gwaedin]

Hi folks!
After sharing a collection of small scenarios (https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,67335.0.html), my son and I played the good old Battle of Coventry campaign. 17 scenarios that I had to adapt to our needs, often reducing their size and modifying the roster to have balanced games. It took us about a year and a half, since some scenarios took us a few playings to complete.
Our next battlefield is going to be the battle of Betelgeuse, which took place in 3030 during the Andurien/Canopus invasion of the Capellan Confederation. Again, we will play a linked set of scenarios, but not a proper campaign; we tried it and didn't like that too much. We prefer to play independent battles, but with some feeling of continuity in the story.
Anyway, I just prepared the first one in this series and I thought about sharing it here.
I will update this thread by adding the next ones as we play through them.

[Grizzly]

This looks awesome. The Andurien War is a neat part of Battletech that I enjoyed reading about in Brush Wars.

[Failure16]

Very nicely presented. Best of luck with keeping it going!


...Galt's Grenadiers? Of StarDate and late-BattleTechnology fame?

[gwaedin]

...Galt's Grenadiers? Of StarDate and late-BattleTechnology fame?

Yep! Straight out of BattleTechnology Magazine #9  ;)
Finished the first scenario, after 5hrs of play. Got some luck by shooting down the Thunderbird (failed control roll), then I managed to take advantage of cover, range and the heavy rain to inflict damage while avoiding trouble, or at least distributing it evenly among my units.
I repelled the Capellans with the single loss of a Dragon, but I have to admit that my son got a very bad streak of rolls (it seemed the Hornet was almost impossible to hit). He's already putting up his forces for the next scenario, and he is very determined to take revenge.
I'm working on it, expect it to appear here soon.

On a side note: I don't know about you, but I felt some conflict in playing wargames with my son now that war is a very real thing, not so far away. I thought about it, but then decided to go on. The first thing is that BT is a very abstract game, it's just like chess but with 'Mechs  ;) We move counters on a hex map, roll dice and have fun together. The second thought is that I can teach my son something about war. That even if you win, you are always losing a lot: a lot of good men and resources. That one day you may end up as a winner, but next day you might lose everything. Even more important, that often whoever wins becomes the owner of a damn big pile of rubble where cities, industries... life used to be. Everybody loses. We comment our battles and he asks me about the real war, because he struggles to understand why people would do that for real. When we look at the rosters of our battles, it is obvious even for a child that the war is such a huge waste - even without considering the enormous and longlasting suffering it causes.

[gwaedin]

I'm working on it, expect it to appear here soon.

Actually very soon. There you are. I also added a copy of the table I use to keep track of buildings CF.

[Failure16]

Yep! Straight out of BattleTechnology Magazine #9  ;)
Finished the first scenario, after 5hrs of play. Got some luck by shooting down the Thunderbird (failed control roll), then I managed to take advantage of cover, range and the heavy rain to inflict damage while avoiding trouble, or at least distributing it evenly among my units.
I repelled the Capellans with the single loss of a Dragon, but I have to admit that my son got a very bad streak of rolls (it seemed the Hornet was almost impossible to hit). He's already putting up his forces for the next scenario, and he is very determined to take revenge.
I'm working on it, expect it to appear here soon.

On a side note: I don't know about you, but I felt some conflict in playing wargames with my son now that war is a very real thing, not so far away. I thought about it, but then decided to go on. The first thing is that BT is a very abstract game, it's just like chess but with 'Mechs  ;) We move counters on a hex map, roll dice and have fun together. The second thought is that I can teach my son something about war. That even if you win, you are always losing a lot: a lot of good men and resources. That one day you may end up as a winner, but next day you might lose everything. Even more important, that often whoever wins becomes the owner of a damn big pile of rubble where cities, industries... life used to be. Everybody loses. We comment our battles and he asks me about the real war, because he struggles to understand why people would do that for real. When we look at the rosters of our battles, it is obvious even for a child that the war is such a huge waste - even without considering the enormous and longlasting suffering it causes.

Glad to see any of the old stuff get used in the present. A nice trip down memory lane.

I'd like to think that you are teaching your son the most valuable lesson of all, actually, and I commend you for do so, and in such a fashion.

The few that know me here know very well that the cost of war is something that is never very far from my mind, or my pen.

[Daryk]

*snip*
The few that know me here know very well that the cost of war is something that is never very far from my mind, or my pen.

And that is what makes you one of the keepers, good sir!  :thumbsup:

[Failure16]

And you are even more valuable, but thanks.

Hope the campaign continues apace, gwaedin!

[gwaedin]

Se played scenario 2 last week. It was practically a draw.
I'm nearly finished with Scenario 3, but I stumbled on some inconsistencies on AS rules for buildings.
Happily, sgt Starbuck pointed me at the most recent Alpha Strike errata and I am going to work on it soon.
This time it features a combat drop by reinforcing elite units (affiliated to house Hiritsu), landing to strike the rear lines of the invaders.

[gwaedin]

There you go. I added the third scenario and also reworked all the Alpha Strike CF ratings, following the discussion here https://bg.battletech.com/forums/alpha-strike-101/some-thoughts-on-building-cf/msg1834542/#msg1834542.
My son fell in love with the Hired Steel series and he wanted the same lance shown there. Had my take at figuring out the specs of the 'Mech involved, that I loaded on Mordel. How many tools at our disposal... when playing BT with a friend in the early 90's, it was all pen an paper. I think this might be the final episode for now; I am going to complete the Aftermath section once we play it out. Enjoy!
EDIT: I appended two building tables for the last scenario, I find them useful to track building damage.

[Failure16]

Nice work on the PDF; I agree that a tracking sheet for buildings makes more sense than any other possible alternative when involved in a city fight. I remember well the days of writing on the corners of the original CityTech building counters their CF and having to erase them and keep them updated for hours on end...it made sense when we were kids, right?

And cheers to your dedication and the compassion with which you engage in a delicate subject with your son.

Though a cynic or pragmatist might say that war will never be far from any place there are enough humans to organize and engage in it as systematic endeavor. 

[gwaedin]

There it is. Today it was the last school day, so while our girls were out my son and I had our gaming night and finished the third scenario.
He spread his forces too thin and I've been quite lucky with some shots which badly damaged his units. There was nothing I could do to save the depots, but that came with a steep price as my units wiped out his lance. No more Hired Steel episodes, in this universe.   :(
As usual we had a lot of fun. He nearly took out my Locust in a way which I didn't expect, I will have to be careful in the future.
This concludes te Betelgeuse series, at least for now.
The next one is going to be a new addition in the Small Scenarios series (https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,67335.0.html), with a couple of lances of Wolf's Dragoons (one of which not very experienced) that Lorenzo will put up against my Jade Falcons, fielding a mix of light/medium Omnis with some second line 'Mechs. We already played two scenarios in that series (Keep the Wolves away and Scout Hunters). The year is 3054, with 3050 tech - actually my son and I created his own custom Enforcer variant (it's on Mordel as model ENF-5F).
See you in the other thread!