Small scenarios

[gwaedin]

Hi! I recently picked BattleTech up again after many (>20) years, playing with a friend I was with at high school.
I saw that many available scenarios are quite large, often involving at least two lances per side. We don't have that much time to play unfortunately and for this reason we made up our own.
I thought I could share them. You can download a PDF here:
https://www.odrive.com/s/7d9aaa89-ce7f-4f91-881d-025f32808c20-62a337f1
I put a link to my odrive folder because that way you can download the most updated version of the file, in which I plan to add further scenarios as we play them.
EDIT: The link cannot be accessed after 100 visits but if you write me here I can easily refresh it. Surprisingly, it already reached this limit - I wasn't expecting to exceed 100 downloads!  ;)
I removed scenarios 6 and 7 because they now belong to Battle of Morges mini-campaign (have a look at the Fan Scenarios and Campaigns section).

A big thanks goes to Simon Landmine for creating the WWE2018 MegaMek map scenario 4 is based on. I just made some changes to the buildings CF. Attached you'll find a modified version of that map with the values recommended in the scenario. I'm also attaching a MegaMek version of the Battleforce map (scenario 2) and the Citytech map with all the buildings already in place for scenario 3

[Syzyx]

Neat! Thanks for sharing. I am likely going to try out the researcher scenario this weekend.

[Daryk]

Nicely done!  It reminds me of the 4th Succession War Scenarios book...  :thumbsup:

[gwaedin]

I just updated the file by adding a fifth scenario (Eavesdropping) that I am going to play next time against my son.
It is set in 3063, Clan Ghost Bear vs. Draconis Combine. A player is out to intercept a transmission regarding a convoy (which will most likely appear in a sixth scenario  ^-^) while the other one is trying to receive the info and prevent the opponent from obtaining the same.
It is a sort of asymmetric King of the hill scenario in which the attacker gains points for each turn he ends within 6 hexes from a specific building while the defender (already set up on the map) gains half that amount if he can keep the attacker away. Big point penalty for whoever destroys the building before the transmission is complete (superiors of either party are not happy).
I haven't playtested it yet. Any suggestion is welcome (also regarding the scenario description - I'm not a native speaker and there might be quite some room for improvements in wording). I would be delighted to read AAR of these scenarios! I promise I'll do my best to do my own.
I'm attaching a MegaMek map of the middle Citytech board with (hopefully) the right buildings already set up.
EDIT1: I also added Alpha Strike stats for the scenario.
EDIT2: I modified the map by using a more varied set of buildings (chosen by my son)  8)

[Simon Landmine]

Nice work!

(And always happy to see my boards get used - and my MM iterations of existing designs!)

[gwaedin]

Yesterday night we played "Wanted dead or alive".
I fielded a light star of Wolf's Dragoons (Fenris B, Dragonfly D, Dragonfly E, Puma A and Koshi C).
My opponent picked some custom unit from Mordel: a light Frost Falcon Mk XXX Mod NC, with a 0/5 pilot, to use as a TAG spotter for three Naga prime armed with twin Arrow IV each, made cheap by using 8/8 pilots  :o; he also added another custom 'Mech, an assault brawler Hell Scream HS4.
I was the attacker and immediately entered from the west gaining control of the building area. By turn I had recovered the enemy scientist with a Dragonfly crouching behind the buildings, with another one in place. The other three 'Mechs tried to keep the Frost Falcon and Hell Scream away but a couple of Arrow IV crippled the Fenris. The Nagas stayed in the back lines shooting 6 homing missiles every turn.
I managed to flee with the Koshi as the Fenris was disintegrated. I had my chance to kill the Frost Falcon spotter with the two Dragonflies but had no luck and also the Puma only scratched some paint off the Hell Scream. I tried to bypass the Hell Scream with the Puma but he god a very lucky TAG shot and two Arrow IV barely in range crippled it as well. I resisted with the two Dragonflies for a bit but in the end they were also destroyed.
A rather munchkin unit selection by my opponent but the game has been a lot of fun, still - and since I was coming from three decisive victories in the previous games we had, I can't complain. Had I known what to expect I could have try to maneuver differently; I remember. I probably should have gone for the Frost Falcon early on but I didn't imagine the abusing TAG + 0 Gunnery combination...
Next time we'll stick to canon units and more importantly I would like to try individual initiative instead of the standard one (with init streak compensation). The Nagas actually acted as init sinks and even if I won a few init rounds I was never in the position to seriously harm the last-moving Frost Falcon without badly exposing my units to the Arrow IV shower.

EDIT: Actually, I found out today that we made a _little_ mistake in our BV calculations... My friend picked the units on Mordel taking their BV as listed. This means he didn't add the BV values for the TAG system equipped by the Frost Falcon and the Hell Scream! For the Frost Falcon, with its 8/12/8 movement and 0 Gunnery pilot, that amounted (once applied to the 18 tons of Arrow IV ammo carried by the three Nagas) to a good chunk of points. He turned out having 13,300 BV, as opposed to the 10,000 cap we were supposed to use in the scenario. Anyway, I'm still convinced that the main issue was the standard initiative system in which the three Nagas acted as init sinks. I am preparing a init table to use in the next scenario, which I will probably playtest in a reduced form against my son using Alpha Strike rules - I'd like to see how both the scenario (Eavesdropping) and the individual initiative system work!

[Simon Landmine]

with a 0/5 pilot, to use as a TAG spotter

Ouch! There are quite a lot of discussions about house-ruling that people need to keep Piloting and Gunnery within 2 (or even 1) of each other, so that you don't end up with that kind of "stumbling sniper" - and I don't know how those 8/8 button-mashers even managed to walk as far as the battlefield without tripping up and self-destructing!

[gwaedin]

That's true, although if it's on the table, works for me. I thought expecially the 8/8 being so cheap but actually an 8/8 is only 64% BV of a standard 4/5, meaning that you are actually giving up any chance of real fighting but still you cannot amass them. The numbers on the revised table seem to work.
With correct BV evaluation he couldn't have brought to battle a similar force: the Frost Falcon and Hell Scream, with those two pilots, were already 9,500 out of 10,000 BV total. He only put in the three Nagas because of the error in BV. Also, with individual initiative, he wouldn't have received such a huge tactical advantage.
With a true 10k vs 10k and individual initiative I would give gladly replay that battle with the forces we had and I think I would get a very decent chance at winning, even with my boring 3/4 Clan Mechwarriors.  ;)

[gwaedin]

Hi folks! It's been a while since I wrote here last time. In these months my son and I played a couple of AS campaigns: a standard Planetary assault set in 3063 (Clan Ghost Bear vs. Draconis Combine) and a custom-made Chaos Campaign made up taking inspiration from the Assault on Jump-Station Kusari scenario published on BattleTechnology Magazine #9. In the latter I played Galt's Grenadiers in service of House Kurita against my son's Davion forces, the year being 3030. 3+4 scenarios overall, and a lot of fun. Having more time to play with my kids is one of the few good things about this terrible COVID-19 pandemic.  :(
Now we are back at doing single scenarios, always of small size to keep them within a couple of hours; I typically field 100-150 PV with my son (who is 7 years old) having about 150% of my PV value to balance things out.
I added a new Breakthrough scenario to my short collection (same URL as before), in which a small unit of Wolf's Dragoons tries to break through Jade Falcons lines during the Battle of Morges, set in 3054. Since the two maps are cluttered with buildings, I used a custom-made building chart to list their position and CF. If anybody is interested you will find it in attach.
As you can see, I am trying to add more fluff (consistent with the setting) to the scenarios to make them more appealing: I hope somebody can enjoy that.
P.S. by the way, we permanently moved to rolling Individual Initiative and I am convinced that the game works much better in this way. You can't rely on a given unit always acting last or one but last, giving more freedom to choose forces without worrying about anybody having potential init sinks (whether they be artillery, infantry or weak units). Also, the game runs much faster. We use a custom-made table for that as well, also attached.

EDIT: today we finally played the last "Keep the Wolves away" scenario. My under-strength Command Star managed to pick off my son's Elementals and Badger tracked transport, taking advantage of hiding, building cover and indirect fire. Luckily, he was more worried about safely getting his Mad Cat and Executioner out of his target edge, especially after my hidden Ostroc ripped a good bit of the Timberwolf armour. However, the retaliation by the Executioner was hard and besides damaging the Ostroc it also crippled the Uller, despite the heavy building cover. There was no way for me to do more damage without risking heavy losses and I pulled back, managing to achieve victory by a very narrow margin. He got through with his most powerful units but I managed to kill the other two with no losses.
Now I'm working at a follow-up scenario in which some lone Wolves come to the rescue of a group of 4th Skye Rangers which is hiding from the Jade Falcons. When it's ready, I will append it to the PDF file at the download link above.

[gwaedin]

I completed scenario #7, Scout hunters, and we played it today. You can find it following the link on odrive and also in attach.
We played using the units in the file and I was the Jade Falcons.
I quickly swept along the two maps without finding any unit for the first 5 turns. Then I stumbled in the Talon and Sentinel, hidden in the middle woods. While the two opened fire at point-blank against my Viper and Summoner, respectively, they didn't live long. The Viper quickly dispatched the Talon while the Adder killed the Sentinel, already crippled by the Summoner. At that point the Assassin and the Cicada also showed up: the first one in the northern woods, trying to hit the Viper from behind as it was finishing off the enemy. The Cicada instead was hidden in one of the buildings which my units apparently missed while mopping up the southern map. Unfortunately for the Rangers the reinforcements were still a bit too far away and the Assassin soon fell, too. It was only by turn 10 that the Wolf's Dragoons Executioner and Withworth came in, joining forces with the Cicada in the southwest quadrant. While the Summoner and Adder teamed up on the Executioner and crippled the Cicada, they also suffered from the wrath of the enemy assault 'Mech. As the Viper managed to close in, the Adder had to choose between trying to finish off the fourth 'Mech in the Scout lance and saving its butt, and opted for the second choice. With a leg badly damaged, it still managed to hit the Executioner hard enough to buy the Summoner (with severe weapons damage) a chance to slip away. The Viper tried chasing the Cicada but the latter fled and so, with no armor left of its own, it also abandoned the battlefield.
The delay in the arrival of the Wolves has been fatal to the Rangers: I managed to obliterate three 'Mechs from the target lance with no losses, gaining a decisive victory. Had the Executioner arrived a couple of turns earlier, it would have been much harder. Anyway, a lot of fun for this one. We played it in slightly more than two hours using Alpha Strike advanced rules. I hope you enjoy it.

[gwaedin]

This does not look anymore the place to post this kind of stuff... the collection has been moved to Fan Scenarios and Campaigns, with another one added 

[Daryk]

Replying late to an earlier reply: the difference in Piloting and Gunnery is much easier to explain when you remember vehicles have crews.  The diver can be significantly more junior than the gunner...