(As accurate as I can remember/ describe it)
Yesterday in an epic match a two Stars of Jade Falcons faced off versus two lances of Lyran’s and Kell Hounds mercenary allies. Skills were mostly around 3/4.
Lyran’s (aka Blue Lance)
Rakshasa 2A
Nightstar 9J
Scourge WF1
Mad Cat III 3
‘Kell Hounds’ (aka Red Lance)
Devastator 2EC
SM5 Field Commander
SM5 Field Commander
Kontio
Vs.
Jade Falcon Star One
Jade Hawk 03 (Streaks)
Grand Summoner Prime
Heirofalcon Prime
Cougar Prime
Kit Fox Prime
Jade Falcon Star Two
Timber Wolf Prime
Adder Prime
Adder Prime
Pack Hunter Prime
Pack Hunter Prime
So the ‘map’ was four desert style maps. The top two had twisting canyons and hills (mostly twos and threes). The bottom left had a small village on a plateau with a lake in the center and heavy woods. The bottom right (never really used) had a bowl depression. Plenty of sand dunes in between but lots of ‘empty’ space overall.
Lyran’s deployed mostly in the south west, while the Falcons deployed in both northern maps, one Star to each side. The first turn saw most of the Lyran’s edge up and around the village, while the two SM5’s and the Rakshasa sprinted up the right flank (I say sprinted but the SM5’s pulled 16 hexes each). The Falcons edged up around the mountains and hills for better firing spots. Turn One had no firing.
Turn two had the Falcons advance further placing two Pack Hunters on smaller hills up front, while the rest of their battle line found firing positions. Most of the Lyran’s got firing solutions in wooded terrain on the plateau, while the Kontio and Rakshasa snuck closer.
Then epic-ness ensued. Both SM5 pilots decided hairbrained stunts could get them at rear firing arcs of the Pack Hunters and only minimal return fire. The first passed his one sideslipping check and his Supercharger. The second (crazier pilot) had four checks plus the Supercharger…. Plowed straight into a hill after going 12 hexes and exploded: no crew or ammo hits but three sections fully destroyed, motive system beyond destroyed, and turret destroyed. [Bad decision on my part to attempt so many checks with ever increasing difficulty but I would have been immune from return fire and a back short at short range]. Fire damaged a couple mechs including a Pack Hunter.
Turn three had the Falcons reposition again closer, with the Kontio and Rakshasa getting into good firing/melee range, and the second SM1 directly behind a Pack Hunter. One double burst later and the Pack Hunter was a pile of limbs on the desert floor. Return fire damaged the Kontio and Rakshasa slightly but not much else was really damaged. The Nightstar began inching thru the woods to an optimal firing area while the Devastator began slowing advancing forward.
The next couple of turns had the Kontio skirmishing in the enemy side and back lines, dodging a lot of shots thanks to stealth and fantastic TMM’s [in the entire game not a single Supercharger or MASC roll failed!]. The Rakshasa took a bit heavy damage, so the Scourge began advancing. The Mad Cat III and Nightstar missed quite a lot.
On the Falcon side the Timber Wolf missed quite a lot, the Adders connected a couple times, and the remaining Pack Hunter got a bit of damage. Grand Summoner and Jade Hawk Skirmished with the Kontio, while the Heirofalcon got some shots around.
The next big hit was the Rakshasa receiving critical damage, and the SM5 blitzed the center to get an optimal firing solution at a slightly overheated Timber Wolf. Pack Hunter had a rear shot/kick and both Adders were close enough to add in another PPC each against it. The SM5 needed a five to hit…. And failed. Return fire obliterated the rear of the tank.
In return over the next couple of turns: one of the Adders lost an arm and Targeting Computer, the Kit Fox was killed by Blue Lances fire, the Kontio got a couple TSM punches in, and the Scourge advanced to really put damage on the Falcon force.
After a couple rounds of skirmishing the Kontio took opportunities for back shots but had bad TMM’s and took too much damage. It failed to capitalize on a fallen Timber Wolf, missed good back shot chances with Claws, and then failed to critically damage an Adder when it was heat shutdown. Return fire killed it.
The Mad Cat III began advancing as the Scourge was caught by a pack of Falcons: it did plenty of damage but was killed. By this time the Devastator had advanced into the sand dunes, and the Jade Hawk had come closer. The Falcons outnumber the Lyran’s badly but soon the tide would shift.
Having achieved optimal firing positions the Devastator and Nightstar began blasting anything in sight. the Mad Cat III flanked and drew some fire. It lured the Jade Hawk, Cougar, Timber Wolf, and Pack Hunter away. The Devastator and Nightstar were left to snipe at the Heirofalcon and Adders (behind partial hill cover) and an advancing Grand Summoner. One Adder evaporated, the Pack Hunter was critically damaged but functional, and the Cougar was killed.
The Mad Cat III was cornered and killed, but a Gauss rifle headshot the mostly undamaged Grand Summoner. The Heirofalcon took some critical damage as well, but the Devastators center torso armor was a memory from a couple PPC shots. Gambling on aimed CT shots the Devastator was left with barely any internal structure left. Split fire killed the Pack Hunter, while the Nightstar kept scoring hit after hit. The final Adder went critical after losing its last gun.
Eventually the end was swift. With the Timber Wolf ‘sniping’ from cover, the Heirofalcon and Jade Hawk advanced to kill the Devastator. The both Falcon mechs finished the job (with by the end six total engine hits and CT kill) but return gauss fire killed the Heirofalcon and PPC fire heavily wounded the Jade Hawk.
After SEVEN hours of play the remaining two Falcon commanders offered heigra which was finally accepted. The Nightstar had plenty of armor but the Timber Wolf still had the same and the Jade Hawk was still very dangerous up close.
An epic fight that would have gone different in SOOOOO many ways. We kept losing initiative winning only once. One Falcon commander had terrible gunnery rolls early on. The SM5’s were controlled poorly by me (epically though!) and their guns could have done a LOT more damage had they survived (killing light mechs or potentially others!). The Devastator probably should have stayed back longer, but it did draw a lot of fire and save other mechs. I might have done better with sturdier mechs instead of the SM5’s. The terrain of hills favored the Falcon force initially and plenty of shots missed because of cover. We fed our mechs to the Falcons one at a time as sacrifices to buy time for the big boys to really mess them up. A couple critical misses on both sides that could have swing the game either way (full twelve SRM’s and none hit the Devastators CT while a second round of fire ONLY hit the Nightstars torsos..)
We determined had the fight continued the dice would have determined the victor. A very Pyrrhic victory for the Falcons.
