Battlepack - Fourth Succession War

[gwaedin]

Hi! We decided to take this old supplement from FASA and play it as a campaign in our Alpha Strike games:
https://www.sarna.net/wiki/BattlePack:_Fourth_Succession_War
We already did something similar in the past, going through the 17 scenarios of the Battle of Coventry.
I am adapting these scenarios to Alpha Strike and the PV/BV based victory conditions system, typically with some size reduction (e.g. the first one goes from a 3 vs. 2 lances to a 2 vs. 1), with a careful eye to balancing.
I won't put a complete scenario out as my previous scenarios/campaigns (e.g. https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,81355.0.html) for obvious reasons, but if anybody is interested I can share the tweaks we are applying.

[Daryk]

I'm all about the 4SW!  Please share your tweaks... :)

[gwaedin]

There you go 

Scenario 1: The Hammer Falls
The Davions are luring Capellans out of Jerome using a Recon Lance as a bait. As the two Capellan lances move out, the AFFS counterattacks with two more lances (Command in T6 and Assault in T9). The game maps are BattleTech and Woodland, originally published with the FSW scenario pack (not mine, but I have it from Map Set Compilation 2). No special rules.

The defender has only the Recon Lance and a Command Lance entering on Turn 1.
In particular, my son wanted to replace the Firestarter with a Wolfhound, but in 3028 only Kell Hounds and Wolf's Dragoons in service of house Steiner had those; therefore, he settled for a Phoenix Hawk (wisely choosing the 1D variant, gamewise identical but for the ENE special - no dangerous MG ammo bins around). This is what he starts with:
Recon Lance                   Role                   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
PXH-1D Phoenix Hawk   Skirmisher   26   45   3   31
ASN-21 Assassin           Scout           22   40   4   22
JR7-D Jenner                   Striker           26   35   4   26
SDR-5V Spider                   Scout           21   30   4   21

We opted for a single lance entering on T6, which is the listed Command Lance reinforced by the Stalker:
Reinforced Command Lance   Role                   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
CPLT-C1 Catapult                   Missile Boat   32   65   3   38
JM6-S JagerMech                   Sniper           26   65   4   26
GHR-5H Grasshopper                   Skirmisher   37   70   4   37
ENF-4R Enforcer                   Skirmisher   32   50   4   32
STK-3F Stalker                           Juggernaut   42   85   4   42

In the original CBT scenario, the Defender started with a force equal to 27% of the Attacker's BV; the Command Lance entering on T6 increased the ratio up to 70%, which went all the way up to 120% with the entrance of the Assault Lance. If you take the product of BV ratio times turns as a balancing criterion, you have to consider an effective game duration of 26 turns (not that anybody expects the game to last that much).
I wanted to balance the game with the current Defender roster (100PV for the Recon and 175PV for the Command Lance, respectively).
Doing some math and trying to keep the same proportions in terms of PV ratios / turns (since we play Alpha Strike), I set a 243PV value for the Attacker forces which will hunt down the Recon lance until T6, when new guests will join the party.

I find victory conditions in old CBT scenarios (before the BV system) a bit messy and unfair. For example, the attacker must eliminate the Recon lance to win a decisive victory (irrespective of the losses); if that's not the case but at least 6 enemy 'Mechs are eliminated, it is a marginal victory. I wouldn't say that having all enemy 'Mechs taken out but a single scout is just a Marginal victory; the same goes for wiping out the recon lance but then losing two full lances to do it, which hardly looks like a victory. Then there's the (independent) victory conditions of the defender 

My solution is quite simple: we use the PV system, with the standard scoring system (2xPV points gained for each enemy unit destroyed, the enemy loses also PV points). The only change is that the Attacker scores 3xPV points for each 'Mech of the Recon lance, and only 1xPV for the other 'Mechs. The Defender scores normally. This way, the Attacker is encouraged to actively hunt the scouts, trying to score big before the Davion reinforcements force them to retreat.

Finally, you might be wondering why I haven't included a roster for the Capellans, too. The reason is that playing with my son we are currently using a strong balancing in his favor. By applying it to my side (the Capellans), the Attacker PV total decreases from 243PV to 138PV. Below is the composition of my Command Lance, but to have a fair fight I recommend beefing up CCAF forces with extra points up to 243:

Command Lance   Role                   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
GHR-5H Grasshopper   Skirmisher   37   70   3   44
VND-1R Vindicator   Brawler           27   45   4   27
CPLT-C1 Catapult   Missile Boat   32   65   3   38
TBT-5N Trebuchet   Missile Boat   29   50   4   29

[Daryk]

Thanks!  Those all sound like reasonable changes. :)

[gwaedin]

The Hammer Falls [T1-T10]
My Capellan troops entered from SW, sprinting behind the cover of the hills to engage the Davion Recon Lance before the arrival of the reinforcements. The defending Jenner was hit and the Trebuchet pushed forward trying to finish it off, allowing the other light 'Mechs to sneak behind it. Its target was crippled but still standing, at the cost of most of its armor. Covering fire by its lancemates failed to hit the fast moving Davions, while the reinforcements made their entrance on the battlefield.
The Jenner fled while the Capellan began falling back. Taking advantage of good cover, they managed to place some good shots on the advancing foes. In particular, a lucky shot disabled the Jagermech's targeting system and a mightly alpha strike from the Trebuchet nearly crippled the Davion Phoenix Hawk. The pilot of the Capellan Grasshopper decided to sacrifice most of his armor allowing the Phoenix Hawk to slide behind it, but at the same time exposing it to deadly fire by the Vindicator. Living up to its name, the 45 tons 'Mech PPC eliminated the Recon Lance leader: a very good bounty. Its two remaining lancemates circled the Capellans, forcing the Trebuchet to hide below water. Yet, good maneuvering by the attackers prevented the enemy heavier 'Mechs from getting good shots; the Stalker was lagging behind, while the Davion Grasshopper also had its armor penetrated and its targeting system compromised. Its Capellan counterpart moved to the flank, from where he caught the advancing Jagermech in the open: all its lasers struck their target, and a second enemy was down. Time to leave, but it won't be easy.

[Daryk]

PaperTech FTW! :)

[gwaedin]

Yep, a nice thing is that we print full-color (most often) custom standees and AS cards with the images of the actual 'Mech variants we are using 

[gwaedin]

By the way, I just noticed that the illustration on the front cover of the FSW Battlepack is the same one on page 93 of AS:CE (in the Special Abilities section)    It looked familiar (poor Firestarter)...

[gwaedin]

The Hammer Falls [T01-T10]
Time to leave, but it won't be easy.

The Hammer Falls [T11-T21]
And indeed it has been not. Feeling confident about how the battle was going, I tried to stay and nail down the enemy Grasshopper. While I got some very good hit chances, my forces didn't manage to stop its retreat and meanwhile my Catapult was backstabbed and crippled by the enemy Assassin (with some help by the Spider). The only good news was that my Trebuchet left the field in one piece.
However, as the Stalker finally got into effective firing range, my forces were encircled and the Catapult was destroyed by a point-black attack made by the Enforcer. Pursuing the enemy Grasshopper was too dangerous, therefore I decided to play it safe and keep mine behind cover. The Vindicator tried to evade the Feds hiding underwater, but the Assassin finished it, despite taking some damage and experiencing a hull breach. The Grasshopper played guerrilla for a while, crippling the Enforcer which however escaped easily thanks to covering fire by the rest of its allies. The last Capellan unit even managed to damage the opposing Catapult's engine, but then it received a critical strike which compromised its fire control system. Alone facing four 'Mechs, including an undamamaged Stalker and Spider, was way above any kind of sensible proposition. The Grasshopper started playing hide and seek while jumping in the woods. The Fed hunting team decided it was enough, and the battle was over.
Two 'Mechs lost in the second part of the battle turned it from a decisive victory to something slightly short of a draw for the Capellans, and a much less worrisome report to be filed in by the Davion commander.

[Daryk]

Yeah, I'd run from an undamaged Stalker too!  Yikes!

[gwaedin]

Scenario 2: Rise of the Revenant
For the second scenario, we move to the forests of Marfik, on the Kurita-Steiner border. The Lyran Commonwealth is staging a very successful invasion on 23 star systems at once. Marfik is very important because Kuritan troops on this world are led by the heir to the Dragon throne, Theodore Kurita. Lyran units send their 'Mechs beyond the support given by allied armor and infantry against the Eleventh Legion of Vega. Theodore orders his troops to keep the enemy at bay exploiting guerrilla tactics.
The battle reenacts one of these battles, with an Assault Lance of the Fourth Skye Rangers ambushed by a company of light Kuritan 'Mechs. The Combine troops must eliminate at least one assault 'Mech, and then they can withdraw. They have automatic initiative for the first two turns.

In our AS adaptation, my son (playing the Lyran side) decided to keep the same lance featured in the original scenario:

Assault Lance   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
Atlas AS7-D      Juggernaut   52   100   3   62
BNC-3E Banshee   Sniper       38   95   3   46
Zeus ZEU-6S      Sniper       35   80   3   42
Zeus ZEU-6S      Sniper       35   80   3   42

The defending force has about 8000BV, while the opposing full Kuritan company has 11500BV. To keep the same ratio the Combine force should be at about 280PV, but with the usual balance my son and I apply, we decided to reduce it to slightly more than 170PV:

Command Lance (Under-Strength)   Role     PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
Panther   PNT-9R                 Brawler   19   35     3       23
Jenner    JR7-D                  Striker   26   35     4       26
Jenner    JR7-D                  Striker   26   35     4       26

Pursuit Lance                     Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
Assassin  ASN-21                 Scout     22   40       3       26
Jenner    JR7-D                       Striker     26   35     4       26
Spider    SDR-5V                 Scout     21   30     4       21
Spider    SDR-5V                 Scout     21   30     3       25

Again, the pre-BV original Victory Conditions were a bit complicate and inconsistent:
Attacker decisive victory if 1 defending unit is eliminated and 10 units escape
Attacker marginal victory if 1 defending unit is eliminated and 6 units escape
Defender decisive victory if 7 attacking units are destroyed
Defender marginal victory if 3 attacking units are destroyed

I adopted a more rational approach based on the PV system, with the Kuritans scoring normally (2xPV for a kill, negative PV for losses) while the Attacker scores only the PV value for any unit it destroys.
Such a criterion would imply that, if one Assault 'Mech is destroyed, the defender should take out at least three Kuritan 'Mechs to win (four if it's the Atlas); this sounds quite reasonable.

Finally, since we adopt an Individual Initiative house rule, a +2 initiative bonus is applied for all 'Mechs in the attacking force.

[Daryk]

Sounds reasonable to me, have fun! :)

[gwaedin]

The Hammer Falls [T1-T5]
The Kuritan 'Mechs ambushed the Assault Steiner lance blocking the way to the woods, and then scattered around to get some cover.
They picked one of the two Zeuses as their main target, trying to maneuver so as to get better shots than the enemy or even firing from the rear. Unfortunately for them, the sheer power of the return fire from the Lyran units was enough to first cripple and then outright eliminate a couple of them (the slower leading Panther and a Jenner).
The targeted Zeus found a very good defensive position in the heavy woods behind a hill, but by turn 5 the Kuritan 'Mechs managed to obliterate its armor and heavily damage its internal structure, the engine and some firing systems. The Atlas also lost half of its armor and was (further) slowed down by a critical hit to its leg actuators.
However, the remaining Kuritan 'Mechs also suffered damage, with one Spider and one Jenner saying goodbye to what little armor and a a good share of what little firepower they had in the beginning. Yet, despite the loss of their Tai-i, they will not give up on this engagement until at least one enemy 'Mech falls, as that would compensate the two lost units. Provided they don't lose more...

The attached image shows my Combine forces trying to kill the Zeus barricaded in the heavy woods, before its friends can drive the attackers away.

[five_corparty]

We already did something similar in the past, going through the 17 scenarios of the Battle of Coventry.

VERY COOL! Did you post you Coventry stuff somewhere, I would love to read it!

[Daryk]

Sounds like the hammer is falling fast and often! :)

[gwaedin]

VERY COOL! Did you post you Coventry stuff somewhere, I would love to read it!

Hi! Unfortunately no, we just went along playing it and I kept notes on paper.
But I have my Excel spreadsheet with the roster, from which you can see the actual 'Mechs we used and the PV calculations. Now that I think of it, you can also see which maps we used and infer victory conditions, so maybe it can be useful.
It is the comprehensive spreadsheet for all our AS games. Look for the Coventry workbook here:
https://www.odrive.com/s/055aaf21-1981-4873-ae49-dcc019cc8090-652c4b21
I'm also attaching here the present copy (while the link is to the current one, which will be modified as we play more).
It goes without saying that if you want the present FSW info, it's also already on the spreadsheet.

[gwaedin]

The Hammer Falls [T6-T14]
Another hit on the Zeus damaged its leg actuators, making it more vulnerable and forcing it away from its safe spot in the woods. Meanwhile, the light Kuritans 'Mechs began picking at the Banshee, disabling some of its weapons and making it a modest threat.
Return fire from the Lyran units (with a delay for the Atlas, slowly limping back after killing the Panther) crippled the Spider and a second Jenner. They tried staying in battle for a bit longer, but it became soon very dangerous: a single lucky shot from the enemy could be fatal. However, the undamaged Spider found an opening and jumped behind the crippled Zeus, finally coring it.
The two damaged Combine 'Mechs immediately left the battlefield. Their three remaining comrades slowly picked apart the Banshee, one bit at a time, while making themselves almost impossible to hit by the other Steiner assault machines (although the Atlas got a few times dangerously close). The Banshee tried to retreat to south-east but the Kuritans performed a final flanking maneuver with the Spider and Assassin, and the Jenner landed the killing blow with an Alpha Strike from the other side of the central clearing. The attackers finally retreated in the woods: they lost two light 'Mechs, but took out two Steiner assaults. A victory for the Pillar of Steel, with no doubt.

[Daryk]

Indeed!  That would definitely be a victory for the light 'mechs! :)

[five_corparty]

Hi! Unfortunately no, we just went along playing it and I kept notes on paper.
But I have my Excel spreadsheet with the roster, from which you can see the actual 'Mechs we used and the PV calculations. Now that I think of it, you can also see which maps we used and infer victory conditions, so maybe it can be useful.
It is the comprehensive spreadsheet for all our AS games. Look for the Coventry workbook here:
https://www.odrive.com/s/055aaf21-1981-4873-ae49-dcc019cc8090-652c4b21
I'm also attaching here the present copy (while the link is to the current one, which will be modified as we play more).
It goes without saying that if you want the present FSW info, it's also already on the spreadsheet.

very cool, thanks!!

[gwaedin]

Scenario 3: Strike at the Heart
The third is already a decently sized one for our standards: a lance vs. lance breakthrough scenario.
An inexperienced Davion Assault lance (2 assault and 2 heavy) must march across two maps to take the city of Ghiziga, while the Capellan defenders (a medium lance with only one heavy ‘Mech) must stop them or significantly reduce the forces which make it through.
My son decided to change the unit assigned to the Second Crucis Lancers, keeping only a Catapult and using it to reinforce a Heavy Lance (2 heavy and 2 medium), with slightly better pilots:

Second Crucis Lancers, Third Battalion, Second Company (AFFS)                  
Support Lance (Reinforced)   Role      PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
Marauder MAD-3R       Sniper      35   75   4   35   
Shadow Hawk SHD-2H      Skirmisher   30   55   4   30   
Wolverine WVR-6D      Skirmisher   29   55   4   29   
Catapult CPLT-C1      Missile Boat   32   65   5   29
Black Knight BL-7-KNT      Brawler      34   75   5   31

The original Fed units had 5300BV, as opposed to the 5900BV of the opposing Ariana Grenadiers. Starting from that and using our usual 5:3 balance ratio, I ended up with a 105PV force against the 154PV of Lorenzo: I dropped a Vindicator and kept the other 3 ‘Mechs as an Under-Strength lance:

Ariana Grenadiers (CCAF)                  
Command Lance (Under-Strength)   Role      PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
CTF-2X Cataphract         Brawler      35   70   3   42   
VND-1R Vindicator         Brawler      27   45   4   27   
DV-6M Dervish           Brawler      30   55   3   36   

The only special rule in this case is a -1 modifier on Initative rolls for the Lancers (we use Individual Inittaive).
The usual Breakthrough victory conditions apply: the Attacker scores only the PV values of destroyed enemy units (instead of twice the PV), but also the PV value of any unit successfully exiting the map off the opposite edge.
The original victory conditions gave victory to the Attacker with 3 or 4 units exiting, and to the defender with 1 or 2 units destroyed. With our VCs, I know that I need to eliminate at least two ‘Mechs while losing at most a Vindicator to get a win. I will need to make the most our of what little skill advantage I have.

[Daryk]

Good luck!  That looks like quite the challenge! :)

[Horsemen]

That definitely looks challenging.

[gwaedin]

Indeed it didn't go very well for my Capellans.
Davion forces entered from the south-east corner and advanced steadily towards their objective, the city of Gizhiga (a kilometer beyond the west Woodland map). I had the Dervish in front of them, slowly falling back and trying to take advantage of the good Gunnery skill of its pilot, better mobility, and range, against the attackers: it placed a few good shots on the Black Knight, disabling its PPC.
The Cataphract and Vindicator waited quietly beyond the southernmost hills, and then circled them to engage the enemy Catapult the flank, as the rest of the Feds moved forward. While this proved effective, return fire from the Davion Marauder damaged the Dervish's targeting system, making things a lot more difficult.
The Capellans continued to erase the Catapult's armor, and also damaged some of the Wolverine's weapons. The Catapult was crippled but at the same time the Capellan Vindicator suffered a critical hit to the engine. The Cataphract went with a full alpha strike to finish off the Catapult. However, on the opposite side, the Dervish had to concede its good firing position (behind cover) to the outnumbering enemy 'Mechs. With the other two Liao 'Mechs forced to wait to cool down, the crippled Black Knight sprinted towards the west edge of the battlefield, following the faster Wolverine.
The Dervish desperately tried to stop it, but failed - also ending up with a badly damaged leg. Too slow to escape, it was destroyed by the Shadow Hawk as it and the Marauder left the map.
The Capellan were aware of the risks, but they tried nevertheless to kill the Black Knight - something which would have granted victory for their side. Instead, with the loss of the Dervish, the mission was a failure with most of the enemy forces able to proceed to take on Gizhiga. The elimination of the Davion Catapult is the only thing which mitigated the loss of the mission objective.

[Daryk]

Sounds about right from the actual matchup... And further reinforces my disdain for BV.  There are just too many things that BV doesn't account for to make it workable.

[gwaedin]

Well, the scenario we played was far from being balanced, intentionally.
Sometimes I manage to overcome that because (happily) my skill is still superior to my son's, but he is improving.
In fact I am quite happy at how it turned out: I managed to eliminate the Catapult and then had my chance at the Black Knight - took some risks, and payed for it. It's fair. We're now 2-1 in this campaign for Lorenzo, although his first victory was very close to a draw.
Against an equally skilled opponent, my forces would have included also another 'Mech at least as powerrful as the Cataphract, and then I think it would have been fun for both parties - as it was in our case.
While I agree that BV/PV can't account for everything, I still think it does an amazing job at balancing forces. I wish I had it back when I was playing CBT with my buddy. We used tons back then, with a multiplier for Clan 'Mechs, but it still didn't work so well. I always had to choose between trying some new 'Mechs, or stick to the most efficient designs to have a chance of winning.
Now I can build up a force entirely made of Bad 'Mechs (TM), and still set up a fun scenario in which I have a decent chance of winning! 

[gwaedin]

Scenario 4: Justice is Served
For the fourth scenario we are back on the Kuritan front. However, my Combine forces will again face assault ‘Mechs, but not directly Steiner ones: instead, my son will command a lance belonging to the Tyr regiment. The Lyran attack on Kirchbach indeed prompted a rebellion against the Combine defenders, who had to fight as if they were the invading force on enemy soil.
The resulting disruption defines the scenario, in which Kuritan units must hold off the enemy for a variable number of turns (10 to 15, determined at random) before receiving a retreat order; however, they do not know in advance in which direction they should regroup to leave the planet (north or south edge).

I immediately decided to make the scenario an escape one, in which the Tyr attackers score normally for each kill, while the Kuritan defenders score only half the normal PV, but they will gain PV for each unit which exits the map after the retreat order is given. This works as a good incentive for the attacker to play aggressively, while the defender should try to keep alive as many units as possible. It also agrees with the original victory conditions, rewarding the Tyr player for enemy kills and the Kuritan one for own units safely retreated (in both cases a marginal victory with 4-5, and a decisive one with 6+).
No special rules, except for a few streams crossing both BattleTech maps.

The original forces included an assault lance for the attacker (7,790 BV), entering from the east edge on turn 1, pitted against a heavy command lance and a medium fire-support lance (9,664 BV).
Lorenzo made only small changes to his roster, swapping a Zeus for a second Stalker and upgrading the Cyclops from model CP-10-Z to CP-10-Q, for a total modified PV value of 205.
Tyr Regiment, Second Battalion (KungsArmé)               
Assault Lance   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Atlas AS7-D    Juggernaut   52   100   3   62
Stalker STK-4N   Juggernaut   41   85   3   49
Cyclops CP-10-Q    Missile Boat   44   90   4   44
Stalker STK-3F    Juggernaut   42   85   3   50

I took the same ratio and applied our usual balancing (about 160% in favor of Lorenzo), and ended up with the following 156PV force:
Seventeenth Rasalhague Regulars (DCMS)               
Fire-Support Lance (Reinforced)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Trebuchet TBT-5N   Missile Boat   29   50   3   35
Catapult CPLT-C1   Missile Boat   32   65   4   32
Quickdraw QKD-4G   Skirmisher   32   60   4   32
Dervish DV-6M   Missile Boat   30   55   3   36
Clint CLNT-2-3T    Striker   21   40   4   21

[Daryk]

On the face of the scenario, I daresay the defender has the edge as long as they can survive the opening volley... ;)

[gwaedin]

My plan is to use the Clint as an observer and try to harrass the assault 'Mechs with indirect fire from the support lance. Hoping not to get in the way of those heavy hitters too much...

[Daryk]

Good luck!  It won't take much for the Assaults to swat that Clint with their own LRMs...

[gwaedin]

Scenario 4 AAR: T1-T6
The Tyr Regiment units slowly advance along the north edge. The Kuritan 'Mechs are hidden behind the hills, Catapult and Trebuchet to the north, Dervish and Quickdraw south. The Clint is on the western heights, from were it directs a hail of LRMs against the Cyclops. While not terribly effective, half its armor is gone by the time they cross the river and approach the closest hills. There, the two northern Combine ‘Mechs face it directly and completely erase what armor is left with an Alpha Strike: the Cat hits with everything it has (ouch). However, a lucky return shot by the Cyclops cripples it, preventing its run to safety and causing further damage from the Atlas and a Stalker: most of its own armor is gone as well, together with one LRM launcher. And the Kuritans still have to hold for a while... The Clint joins the other two ‘Mechs trying to flank the attackers, as the Cyclops retreats a little bit: however, the other Stalker-3F stands on the southern slopes of the hills and forces them to be careful.

[Daryk]

Interesting developments! :)

[Horsemen]

The wonders of randomness and how it always tends to throw a curve ball into things.

[gwaedin]

The Kuritans attack the Stalker-3F, with the Clint damaging its engine; however, the medium Combine ‘Mech doesn’t notice the Atlas sneaking beyond the hills to have a clear shot which cripples it (ouch!). The same fate occurs to the Trebuchet, which moves out from cover to strike the Cyclops: while it succeeds in also damaging the engine of the opposing assault ‘Mech, it is badly hit by the other Stalker. The Tyr regiment ‘Mechwarriors showed an incredible marksmanship and with a few well-placed shots managed to cripple 4 out of 5 Combine units. Their opponents didn't do too badly with the enemy engines, but this is not going to stop the Tyr juggernauts.
The Trebuchet and the Catapult find some cover behind the hills while the Tyrian assault lance cautiously advances. However, the disruption caused by the sudden revolt delays the retreat orders which only arrive a few minutes later (T13): Combine units must disengage and head to the south. It is too late to do it safely: the Catapult and the Trebuchet try to find cover in the western lake, while firing all they have against their pursuers. The pilot of the Stalker-3F decides to ignore cover fire from the Kuritans and the heat coming from its own damaged engine, and it eventually destroys the Catapult. With no other target for the attackers, the limping Trebuchet is next on the list…

[Daryk]

Heh... it's not looking good for that Treb! :D

[gwaedin]

Indeed. I will try to sprint and dive into the level 2 water two hexes away. The Tyrians will have to move their units adjacent to finish it off. Meanwhile, I will try to score at least a kill (both the Cyclops and the Stalker-3F are in quite a bad shape).
But I don't have much more left... the only healthy 'Mech is a Quickdraw. Dervish and Clint still have their full firepower, but I have to be very careful with them (especially the Clint which barely holds together). That Atlas is nasty and the other Stalker is a deadly foe, too.

[Daryk]

The Clint pretty much started off that way, so no real change there... ;D

[gwaedin]

At least it could merrily jump around!   

[gwaedin]

AAR (T14-T20)
Both sides maneuver defensively: the damaged Cyclops and Stalker retreat behind the hills, as do the Quickdraw and Clint. The Dervish exits the stream using thick woods as cover, with some ineffective shots traded with the enemy. The Trebuchet dives in deep water as the Stalker-4N advances menacingly. The Atlas turns east, its pilot seeming to always anticipate the opponents’ moves. The Clint ‘MechWarrior realizes it can’t be of any use without taking some big chances, and leaves the battlefield. The Atlas corners the Dervish, forcing its pilot to retreat as well or be attacked with full power – and the Kuritan warrior decides to live and fight another day. The Quickdraw has a chance to jump behind the Atlas, but the Stalker effectively covers it back. Then the STK-4N enters water to hunt the Trebuchet. The combine ‘Mech ambushes it from beneath the surface and has a single chance to cause a hull breach, but incredibly it misses and the juggernaut is upon it. Too slow to evade, the Kuritan warrior partially emerges from water for a close-range shootout, which unexpectedly survives losing only its firing control system. However it will have to face another salvo before disengaging, and there’s almost no armor left.

[Daryk]

The Treb was lucky to survive the first volley... I doubt it's luck will hold for the second...

[gwaedin]

Yeah, especially since with half its movement it can only go so far 
I wouldn't bet anything on it, but I have to try.
Maybe try a diversion with the Quickdraw...

[gwaedin]

AAR (T21-T22)
I just added a pic for the last AAR (T14-T20). But what a finale!
The Stalker-4N waits in the water for its chance to finish its prey, while the Atlas tries to keep an eye on the Quickdraw. However, the Trebuchet pilot sees his only chance: running out of water (as much as its damaged leg allows), ignoring the two assault 'Mechs and aiming for a tight spot of the battlefield where he would be out of their firing arcs. Well, not completely, since the Atlas hits with its two rear medium lasers: enough to take out a side torso, but nothing The Treb can't live without. The Combine warrior was already thinking about what to do next, but the other Stalker rapidly puts an end to it: leaving its cover behind the hills, it advances in the woods to deliver the killing blow. However, that was precisely the occasion the Kuritan Quickdraw was waiting for: the heavy 'Mech pops out on top of the southern plateau, out of the Atlas' sight, and fires at the Stalker-3F with everything it has. The trees provide some cover but one of the two LRMs hits, tearing off whatever engine shielding remained and disabling the Lyran juggernaut. When its pilot sees the swarms of LRMs coming, he decides to make sure he brings that damn Trebuchet with him. The Stalker discharges all its weapons with no more concerns about overheating and shutting down, blasting away the enemy medium 'Mech before its own destruction.
The Trebuchet was almost doomed, but taking out the Tyrian 85-tons machine does a lot to ease the pain. Next, the Quickdraw spots a good position behind the rocks from which it could confront the enemy Atlas, but... no way. Its MechWarrior feels he's been lucky enough, and decides against facing a superior machine, with plenty of armor and not a single scratch on it - not to mention the second Stalker, a little behind. He jumps off to safety, away from the battlefield. His single kill, together with the three Combine 'Mechs which made it away, almost makes up for the loss of the Cat and Treb. I guess the Tyrians did not quench their thirst for Kuritan blood, yet.

[Daryk]

Well, it sounds like the Stalker is quite salvageable... I'm less sure about the Treb and Catapult...

[gwaedin]

Yeah, they were both cored out, while the Stalker can be put back to service somehow.
Gamewise, it was still sweet to take out at least one of them before retreating. 
I regard this one as a draw.
So far, we are quite even in this campaign. The total score for the campaign is 275-250 to my advantage.
I got a victory in scenario #3 (Draconis Combine vs. Lyran Commonwealth), while Lorenzo prevailed in scenario #2 (Federated Suns vs. Capellan Confederation); both victories were marginal. Scenarios #1 (again Feds vs. Cappies) and this last one had no clear winner.
Historically speaking, not very accurate - but I assume that whoever designed the scenario pack tried to isolate balanced skirmishes among the initial stages of the war, which had been pretty much one-sided.

[Daryk]

Thanks for sharing the whole campaign with us! :)

[gwaedin]

I will! We still have 6 more scenarios to go.
In parallel, I'm reading the Warrior trilogy.
In the next scenario, the personal account of the battle before the Situation features one of the character in the books!
I'm halfway book one, and have to speed up to keep up with our battles.
I'm reading 1 March 3027, and the next one is 14 April 3029. 

[Daryk]

I look forward to the next installment! :)

[Horsemen]

Keeping it tight always makes it more fun and allows for better war stories.

[gwaedin]

The fifth scenario, set in April 3029, is very interesting, story-wise. The Capellan Confederation launched Operation Riposte, hoping to sever Davion supply lines and stop the invasion. Unfortunately for them, false information was fed concealing the presence of heavy fortifications protecting the six stockpile planets holding vital materiel. In the debacle that followed, a separate operation launched against another world revealed the whereabouts of a major NAIS facility research on the planet Bethel, working on the formula for triple-strength myomer. The main force of the Liao Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers was then sent to the city of Oakland, drawing most of Davion Light Guards’ Delta Company away from the NAIS facility. This allowed a smaller force of Liao ‘Mechs to pin down the defending token force and enabling a special commando squad to steal several NAIS research projects, including the one about TSM (we all know how it ended for the Capellans…). The scenario is introduced by an excerpt from “The Capellan’s Dying Breath”, featuring Captain Andrew Redburn – one of the main characters of Michael Stackpole’s Warrior Trilogy, which I am reading as I write this. I’m still a couple of years before these events, when Andrew was captured by Kuritans while escorting the Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner to New Avalon – but I guess that the Kell’s Hounds fleeing from the Kuritans will save the day.

Anyway, back to our scenario. Fairly straightforward to adapt, a Stand-Up Fight and standard scoring (*) and only a couple of special rules: the attacking 4th Tau Ceti Rangers cannot withdraw before the end of Turn 12, so that the commando forces can extract as much data as possible from the secret NAIS facility; additionally, swarming tactics adopted by Delta Company grant the defending player a +2 Initiative bonus for the whole scenario.
The original Battlepack scenario had two Capellan lances (medium and assault) pitted against two reinforced Davion lances (both light) with better pilots, for a total of about 12,600 vs. 11,300 BV.
I took the same 111% ratio and modified it with our 160% balancing for Lorenzo, who chose these units:

Delta Company, Davion Light Guards (AFFS)   
            
Fox Lance (Under-Strength)           Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Rifleman RFL-4D   Sniper           27   60   3   32
Valkyrie VLK-QA           Missile Boat   22   30   3   26
Hunchback HBK-4SP   Juggernaut   30   50   4   30

Cat Lance (Under-Strength)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Wolfhound WLF-1   Striker   24   35   3   29
Hatchetman HCT-3F   Brawler   20   45   3   24
Jenner JR7-D           Striker   26   35   3   31

These amounts to 172 PV, to which I opposed my 121 PV force:

Fourth Tau Ceti Rangers, First Battalion (CCAF)

Command Lance   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Vindicator VND-1R    Brawler           27   45   3   32
Hunchback HBK-4G   Juggernaut   28   50   4   28
Trebuchet TBT-5N    Missile Boat   29   50   4   29
Catapult CPLT-C1   Missile Boat   32   65   4   32

My son designed a specific Hunchback variant for this scenario, but since it featured Lostech (double heat sinks and CASE) we decided there was no way for it to fit in a regular Davion unit, and he swapped it for another variant combining an energy loadout with twin SRM6, the -4SP version. If you are interested, you can find it on Mordel listed as HBK-2Q, a likely SLDF variant of the original Star League model. I also have an Hunchback, the standard, slightly less powerful (at least in AS terms) HBK-4G.

(*) Going back at the scenario, I considered introducing some slight change to the victory conditions. I always feel the need to add some kind of driver to prompt one of the two sides, to avoid the potential situation in which both players would see turtling as a good strategy (then why should a fight occur)?
The +2 Initiative bonus is quite juicy for the Defender, considering that the attacker cannot retreat any damaged unit until Turn 12. Despite the default assigned attacker/defender roles, I see the defender as the one who should actively move against the opponent. The more so, since in the hypothetical situation in which everybody stays put, the Liao Rangers would just say "thanks, we're done here" and happily retreat after 12 turns - the Davion guards don't know that their Prince actually WANTS Capellans to put their hands on the flawed TSM...
To spice things a bit, I am giving the attacker a flat PV bonus if its units survive until the end of T12. This is also somewhat consistent with the original victory conditions, in which the defender should score a little bit more points of the attacker to win (on a BV basis, considering the 50% higher average unit BV of the original roster). I think that a 20% of the running PV total should be OK (30 PV in our case).
EDIT: Not 10%/15PV as firstly stated. Actually, had I designed the scenario, I would have changed the scoring so that the attacking side scores points for keeping the Davions off for a certain time, without worrying too much about damage they inflict (thus half points scored for kills, but the potential to score as much for accomplishing their objective). However, the original scenario was clearly designed in a symmetric way, so that the objective of the attacker was to inflict casualties on the defender (maybe to distract them from the NAIS facility and dissimulate their intention to simply cause a delay), therefore I decided to stay closer to it.

[Daryk]

Does your son have no respect for the AC/20's bubble of doom? ???

[gwaedin]

I guess it's Disney's fault. The first time we watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame, we had to stop soon because they were crying - it was the scene in which Quasimodo is humiliated by the crowd. It took years for us to go through it again.
So maybe it's more of a Hunchback vs. Swayback thing 
Joking aside, I think that Lorenzo realized how the construction rules really favor energy weapons over ballistic ones in most situations. He couldn't help but notice the higher efficiency per ton, with whatever few disadvantages lasers have being more than offset by removing ammo dependency and the risk of blowing up because of a lucky crit by the opponent. This is even more obvious once you introduce double heat sink technology, unless you go so high with the tonnage that available slots become an issue.
By the way, I'm making a small change to the victory conditions. I'm editing the previous post right now.

[Daryk]

Ah, ok!  And interesting modification to the victory conditions! :)

[gwaedin]

The 4th Tau Ceti Rangers immediately realize that they’re at a disadvantage, outnumbered 3:2 and against a more skilled force. To buy more time, they take position at the NE (Catapult and Trebuchet) and SE (Vindicator and Hunchback) corners, covering the mostly open ground that separates them from the woodlands the Davions are coming from. The Light guards also split in two groups: Rifleman, Hunchback and Valkyrie advancing along the north side; Jenner, Wolfhound and Hatchetman on the opposite one.
The Catapult and Trebuchet engage the enemy Hunchback at long range, with the second one placing several LRMs on target. Unfortunately, the Rifleman snipes the Catapult from far away with its twin PPCs despite range and cover: a lucky shot disables one of the two LRM-15. With a patch of woods between them and the closer enemy, the two Capellan missile boats trade shots with the Valkyrie, causing some light damage.
On the opposite side the two Ranger ‘Mechs try to use hill cover to their advantage, but fail to inflict significant damage on the nimble Fed lights (the Hatchetman struggles to keep their pace). As soon as it enters firing range, the Wolfhound lands several laser hits on the Hunchback, melting off a worrying amount of armor.
The Capellans feint a retreat behind the hills and towards the center of the battlefield. The northernmost Davion units take the bait and, when the Catapult and Trebuchet turn back and skirt around the northeastern hills, they concentrate fire on the Rifleman which is the only unit able to fire back. They strip off most of its armor, but a return salvo with twin large lasers backed up by a PPC almost erases the Catapult one as well.
The Liao lance is literally cornered, facing a superior foe and not in very good shape. And the allied commando forces will need a lot more time to steal the NAIS secrets they have come for. Things don’t look that good for the poor Capellans.

[Daryk]

No, they certainly don't! :D

[gwaedin]

The Feds keep the initiative, squeezing the enemy in a pincer maneuver. Yet, the 4th Tau Ceti Rangers hold their own and the combined firepower of the Vindicator and Hunchback ravages the Jenner’s armor, while a similar fate is suffered by the Hatchetman attacked by the Trebuchet. However, much of the Capellan Hunchback’s armor is gone for good: first its Davion counterpart cripples it, and the Wolfhound finishes it off – not before losing its right arm and most of its right torso armor to a last AC/20 shot.
The Swayback than moves on to bash the Vindicator, which hides behind the hill to face the Jenner at short range. The Hatchetman is in the position to finally lunge at the enemy in melee, but courage of the Davion Light Guards falter: instead of joining their lancemate for another kill, it and the Wolfhound, with very little armor left, dash away from the enemy to seek cover. In the resulting duel, the Vindicator and the Jenner cripple each other, but it is the lighter machine which is nearly falling apart.
Meanwhile, the Catapult jumps in deep water to gain some time while the Trebuchet does its best to keep the only remaining Hunchback and the Valkyrie at bay. The Rifleman instead slips away in the distance, trying to gain some cover from where to strike again. The Capellan commando is almost done with their infiltration of the NAIS research facility, but this has already costed one ‘Mech to the Rangers.

[Daryk]

It's getting sporty! :)

[gwaedin]

Delta Company’s training in fighting against a numerically inferior foe gives an edge to the Davion Light Guards, who always have the initiative against the remaining three Capellan ‘Mechs. Yet, this is not the decisive factor as the Feds switch to a defensive posture, trying to minimize any losses – instead of crushing the Tau Ceti Rangers. In fact, the outcome of the engagement is determined by the vast difference in attack precision exhibited by the two sides during the final stages of the battle.
This is immediately obvious as the Jenner safely limps away in the open, ignoring the shots by the Vindicator which in turn suffers an engine critical hit by the Hatchetman. The Liao ‘Mech corrects its aim and eventually takes out the enemy, but it is too late: this time the Jenner has a chance to fire back and gets through the engine shielding, killing the larger opponent, too.
The Catapult in the water lures the Valkyrie close, ready to strike at it from beneath like a crocodile. A tactic which could have worked, hadn’t it failed twice to grab its thin legs and twist them underwater; instead, the light ‘Mech kicks the 65-tons machine in the head, killings its pilot as the canopy is cracked open and water floods the cockpit.
The Trebuchet attacks the Rifleman and destroys both arms, rendering it almost harmless but not being able to nail it down as it slowly retreats. Then it engages the Hatchetman and cripples it, again failing to take it down and also suffering damage to the engine shielding. Its pilot continues to fight resorting to hit and run tactics, trying to keep thick woods between itself and the dangerous Hunchback. However, again the Treb’s missiles are not precise enough to score a kill, while the 50-tons Davion ‘Mech hits it heavily despite being barely able to spot the Ranger’s missile boat silhouette hiding behind a wooded hill. The attack finally breaks the morale of the only remaining Capellan MechWarrior, who grabs its final chance to escape before it is too late. While they managed to buy enough time for the commando to steal plans from the NAIS facility, the rest of its lance has been wiped out and a single eliminated Jenner is a prize to small to redeem a sound defeat.

[gwaedin]

It's getting sporty! :)

I'd say it got quite ugly from then on. I think Lorenzo made a mistake when he retreated with a couple of units, giving me the chance to hit back instead of taking some risks and pushing for the kill. Yet, I wasn't able to eliminate anything but the doomed Jenner. The Cat missing twice the adjacent Valkyrie and getting kicked in the head, followed by the almost impossible hits scored by the Hunchback against the Trebuchet, was the final nail in the coffin. So maybe he was right in the end...
The decisive victory scored by the Davions now gives a 403-275 lead for the FedCom alliance in this campaign, which was previously even. Now we're halfway through the 10 scenarios. The next one is again Davion vs. Capellans, but I'm not sure we'll play it that soon as it deals with events in the Warrior trilogy which I haven't read about yet: I just began Volume Two, and I think I will need to get past it to Volume Three to be up to date. Since my main PC is still broken and I'm waiting for it to be fixed, tho, I am reading more than usual (no videogaming once in a while) and it won't take too long, hopefully.   
Anyway, Lorenzo is clearly becoming better. Our force balancing started pretty high after a series of victories for me in our previous Outreach scenarios (https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,81355.0.html and https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,79822.0.html). However, as I adjust it dynamically, we're now down from 5:3 to about 3:2   
P.S. I edited the previous post with the scenario setup since Lorenzo and I agreed that the Capellans should receive more points as a reward for resisting at least 12 turns, since this was their main apparent objective.

[Daryk]

Ugly indeed, wow!

[Horsemen]

Sounds like there was a lot of fun in all of that!

[gwaedin]

The end of the last scenario has been a bit frustrating with my forces shred to pieces, while being totally incapable of striking back effectively, but so far the campaign has been a blast. We are eager to continue with the next scenarios!
As I always say, if you're not ready to accept some bad dice rolls, you'd better play something else. 

[Horsemen]

As I always say, if you're not ready to accept some bad dice rolls, you'd better play something else. 

Any game where dice is involved that holds true. But that is part of the fun! What will the dice do to shake things up today!

[gwaedin]

The name reminds me of a SSI geopolitical wargame I played many years ago, that I bought again recently – set during Gulf War. I have fond memories of the diplomatic game, although having played it recently I found its gaming experience flawed. It is very realistic, but this means that some players during a turn only make a diplomatic move (which in the end can make them winners) while other players (the US one) move hoards of units and actually play a wargame.
Anyway, let’s not talk more about real world wargames, with their tragic burden of lost lives, and turn back to our Fourth Succession Wars campaign. We’re looking at the catastrophic attack that Davion forces made on Sarna during the 5th wave. The Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers was pushed into battle by General Hartstone, ahead of the other AFFS units; they were unaware of the presence of all four regiments of McCarron's Armored Cavalry on the planet. Hanse Davion and very few of his circle knew, but because of the questionable loyalty of the 5th – especially after the death of Michael Hasek-Davion at hand of the Capellans – they let Hartstone and his men fall into a deadly, muddy trap – right in the middle of the Big Mac.
While according to the records most of the Fusiliers were wiped out by aerospace fighter and hovercraft attacks, this scenario features only BattleMechs on both sides. Two lances belonging to the Fusilier’s 1st Battalion drop in a swamp, right in the middle of the battlefield and in sight of a full company of McCarron’s Fourth regiment. Their objective is to break free of the swampy ground and find safety on the nearby hills on either side, while the mercenaries (who choose on which side of the swamp they deploy after the setup of the attacker) try to eliminate them.
I made this scenario an obvious breakthrough one, in which the Davion attacker will score points for units safely leaving the map, and only half the points for killed enemy units; the mercenaries instead will score as usual. The open terrain hexes in the middle Woodlands map represent a treacherous swamp in which unit can easily become mired – sitting ducks under enemy fire. This is the only special rule of the scenario.
Lorenzo freely picked units from the two Davion lances (Assault and Fire), also swapping a Stalker for a Longbow, ending up with this formidable reinforced Assault Lance (231PV):

Fifth Syrtis Fusiliers, First Battalion, Second Company (AFFS)           

Assault Lance (Reinforced)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Longbow LGB-7Q   Missile Boat   45   85   3   54
Atlas AS7-D    Juggernaut   52   100   3   62
Awesome AWS-8Q    Sniper       39   80   3   47
Catapult CPLT-C1   Missile Boat   32   65   3   38
Dervish DV-6M   Missile Boat   30   55   4   30

In the original Battlepack scenario the defender had a nearly 20% BV advantage. Applying our usual 3:2 balancing we ended up with a 177PV opposing force for my Big Mac units: I took three ‘Mechs from the Command lance and added a Charger and a Cicada from the other two (Strike and Recon), building up a force well suited for close range engagements:

Fourth McCarron's Armored Cavalry Regiment (CCAF)       
 
Command Lance (Reinforced)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Cataphract CTF-2X    Brawler   35   70   3   42
Grasshopper GHR-5H    Skirmisher   37   70   3   44
Vindicator VND-1R    Brawler   27   45   4   27
Charger CGR-1A5   Juggernaut   38   80   4   38
Cicada CDA-2A   Scout   22   40   3   26

My plan is to assault the opposing ‘Mechs who I hope will inevitably struggle to leave the swamp, or find a good defensive position to attack the bulk of Lorenzo’s forces should he decide to stand and fight where his forces are.

[Daryk]

Well, two of his 'mechs should be able to leave pretty easily... it's the other three I'm worried about... ;)

[gwaedin]

I'm also a bit worried... of what they could do to my units during the long time it will take them to leave 

[gwaedin]

The Big Mac units approach the swamp from the west, while the Davion ‘Mechs begin moving east. The Dervish easily puts some distance between itself and the attackers, while the Longbow slowly makes its way up and down through the woods. Further south, the other three Syrtis machines also advance through the swampy terrain, trying to provide some long-range cover. The pilot of the mercenary Cicada is a bit too confident and immediately gets stuck, having its armor obliterated by the rain of LRMs coming from the Longbow. The assault ‘Mech loses a good amount of its armor from the concentrated attack, also suffering critical hits to a leg and engine. With a damaged leg it will take ages for the Davion missile boat to move through the swamp, and the mercenary units turn at the Atlas. Unfortunately for them, the Charger also becomes stuck and return fire from the 100-ton juggernaut cripples the Vindicator, which begins overheating because of damage to the engine shielding. The Big Mac units insist and succeed in peeling off layer after layer of armor from the Atlas, but really poor marksmanship (against a slow target in the open) prevents them from crippling the Davion monster. The Cicada flanks the Longbow in the woods, forced to close the distance to avoid covering fire from the Dervish: a choice that proves to be fatal, as the assault ‘Mech twist its torso and takes advantage of his tonnage to place a devastating physical attack, which eliminates the mercs’ medium. Before receiving the killing blow, the Cicada manages at least to damage the other leg of its opponent, which is now nearly immobilized. However, the Big Mac must still eliminate it and the Atlas to win the battle, without suffering further losses.

[Daryk]

I'm skeptical of the ability of the Grasshopper and Cataphract to pull a victory out of this...

[gwaedin]

If Captain Joseph Torrance insists on missing an Atlas at medium range, in plain sight, with ALL the weapons on his Cataphract, I'd have to agree  Anyway, don't forget about the Charger. It's not the wimpy 1A1 model, it's the actually useful 1A5. It only needs to avoid getting stuck in the swamp again 

[Daryk]

Ah, I thought it was more FUBAR than that... ;D

[gwaedin]

The Feds continue their retreat; the Big Mac cautiously pursues, trying to staying behind cover. The Capellans are outgunned and outranged by the Atlas-Awesome-Catapult trio, and they need to be careful. Their leader again proves to be a rather incompetent shooter: it tries to push the Dervish back, but it cannot land a single shot on target, and return fire from the medium Davion ‘Mech vaporizes large patches of armor, leaving the internal structure underneath exposed.
The rest of the Capellan Mechwarriors are not performing much better, as they fail to destroy the Longbow which is slowly crawling out of the woods on its limping legs. They only manage to disable one of the LRMs, which the huge beast is not using anyway, to limit the heat output from its damaged engine and keep on moving.
It is up to the Charger to immobilize the 85-ton machine, and the Vindicator, firing safely from the distant woods, finally takes down the tough opponent. The Longbow however drew most of the Capellan fire so far and its companions do not just stand by: while the Atlas’ missiles land short of their target, the Awesome cycles its trio of PPCs with deadly effectiveness, crippling the Cataphract as it tries to look for cover in the woods overlooking the swamp.
The Capellan commander would like to nail down at least another enemy ‘Mech. The Atlas, with most of its armor gone, is indeed is a very juicy target, but two of the attacking ‘Mechs (including his own) are in pretty bad shape and further losses should be avoided.

[Daryk]

Interesting developments! :)

[gwaedin]

The Davion ‘Mechs continue their retreat, with the Capellans pressing on – except for the badly damaged Vindicator and the Cataphract, which remain in the rear. The Grasshopper and Charger concentrate fire on the enemy Awesome, and they succeed in crippling it. The Dervish and the Atlas flee at full speed, but their limping companion can do little to avoid the enemy fire. Even if the Charger again gets stuck in the swamp, the two Capellan ‘Mechs relentlessly eat chunk after chunk of armor from the Awesome, which bravely returns fire against the Charger. In the end the Charger delivers the killing blow, not before having a leg disabled; it immediately seeks cover, as the Grasshopper faces the Catapult, ready for a duel. At medium range the odds are in favor of the slightly heavier ‘Mech, and the remaining Davion warrior leaves the battlefield.
Although the AFFS managed to save three of its units, the destruction of two assault machines makes this a win for the Capellans – the loss of a single Cicada can be tolerated.
This marginal victory is enough to recover the terrain lost in this campaign to Lorenzo’s forces. On the Davion/Liao front he still leads 2-1 (with a draw), but I’m ahead on the Kurita/Steiner front with one victory and one draw. The global score of the campaign is 458-451 in Lorenzo’s favor, a very balanced situation.
The next scenario, featuring Marik and Liao forces, will likely tip the scales in one direction or the other.

[Daryk]

Balanced indeed!  Talk about a cliff hanger! :)

[gwaedin]

At last we have a scenario involving the Free Worlds League, clashing against former Capellan units, now fighting for the newly formed Tikonov Republic as allies of House Davion. In fact this has first led Lorenzo to assume that he would play the FWLM and I would keep the Capellans, but then we decided that it made more sense for him to keep on with the pro Davion-Steiner alliance and I to take the opposing forces.
Scenario 7 revolves around one of the few battles where the Marik troops opposed a strong resistance to the invading Tikonov Free Republic attackers. Janos Marik later decided that his troops were outstretched after receiving news about the war between the Duchy of Andurien and the Capellan Confederation, opening a second front that the FWLM was not able to cover. Fearing a strong Lyran offensive, the Captain-General ordered his forces back Terra-ward and lost 14 worlds without a single shot fired. In fact, the LCAF had no such plan, but the deception worked perfectly.
Nevertheless, before the retreat, the Marik militia was successfully holding its own on the world of Wasat against the Third Republican forces – thanks to the determination of the League’s troops, and the battlefield acumen of their commander, Colonel Hawkins. To put a stop to this, Republican forces sent a strike team to find and destroy Hawkins’ HQ. The HQ is a medium target, not moving but neither considered immobile, whose location is hidden to the attacker. To find it, enemy units must bump into its hex or end their movement adjacent to it.
The original scenario put a reinforced heavy lance attacking against a Marik assault lance, with an almost perfect 1:1 BV ratio. Lorenzo had originally opted for a heavy lance when he thought he’d be taking the FWLM side, but then settled for a fortified medium lance (the original scenario calls it “reinforced” even if it’s 6 ‘Mechs and not 5). He just replaced a Trebuchet for a Grasshopper and a Jenner for one of the two Spider. His force amounts to 181PV, which with our usual 5:3 balancing leaves me less than 110PV to oppose him. Sticking to the assault ‘Mechs originally provided, I decided to pick a short lance with an Atlas and an Awesome, both with good pilots. It won’t be easy, since my troops will be heavily outnumbered.
The original victory conditions granted the attacker a decisive victory if the HQ was destroyed, and nothing otherwise; the objective of the defender was to defend the HQ, with a marginal victory still possible otherwise if 4 enemy units were destroyed. As usual I modified them, assuming that the attacker only scores half of the usual points but gains a number of points equal to the opposing force PV if they manage to destroy the HQ; the defender instead scores points normally.
 
Third Republican Regiment, Third Battalion, Second Company (TFRA)

Command Lance (Fortified)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
Cataphract CTF-2X    Brawler   35   70   3   42   
Trebuchet TBT-5S   Skirmisher 33   50   4   33   
Catapult CPLT-C1   Missile Boat   32   65   4   32   
Vindicator VND-1R    Brawler   27   45   4   27   
Jenner JR7-D   Striker   26   35   4   26   
Spider SDR-5V   Scout   21   30   4   21   

Fifteenth Marik Militia, Second Battalion, First Company (FWLM)

Assault Lance (Short)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod   
Atlas AS7-D    Juggernaut   52   100   3   62   
Awesome AWS-8Q    Sniper       39   80   3   47   

[Daryk]

That sounds like a reasonable mod... good luck to both of you! :)

[gwaedin]

The strike team splits in two groups: the leading Cataphract advances along the southern route, together with the fastest Republican units (Jenner and Spider); the Trebuchet, Vindicator and Catapult proceed on a more central course. They carefully inspect terrain which could hide their objective.
While they approach, the two Marik defenders try to hit at long range with no success – but at least they take no damage on their own from the return fire.
The two assault machines control the center of the battlefield, ready to wait for the attackers. The Spider comes in clear view of the Awesome and a couple of PPC hits almost erase its armor, with its medium lasers barely scratching the enemy; the light Tikonov ‘Mech momentarily retreats behind its two companions. The Atlas instead used heavy woods as cover and cripples the Cataphract as it climbs on a hill. For the time being, the Leaguers are successfully holding off the enemy, but they will soon be severely outnumbered.

[Daryk]

The assaults are off to a good start! :)

[gwaedin]

The pressure of the Republic attack shifts north, with the Jenner darting through the central woods hoping to find the secret HQ. The two assaults stay behind cover, looking for good opportunity shots: the Awesome in particular lands a few more PPC hits on the limping Cataphract, whose armor is mostly gone by now. The Spider and the Jenner attempt a flanking maneuver, but they are repelled as the Awesome almost shots the SDR-5V to pieces – happily for its pilot, there’s no ammo which can blow up.
The Atlas then sets itself in a good firing position and successfully damages the Catapult’s engine shielding, but suffers a similar fate when it is attacked by the Trebuchet, which causes it to overheat. That’s a heavy blow to the offensive capability of the FWL forces, only partially balanced by the fact that also the Jenner has its engine damaged by the PPC barrage set up by the Awesome. And the strike team is getting closer to their objective…

[Daryk]

An Atlas with an engine hit is in better shape than a Catapult... :)

[gwaedin]

True, but the Cat comes with a Trebuchet and Vindicator as well...

[Daryk]

It shouldn't take too much attention from the Awesome to remove the Treb... the Vindy, on the other hand... :D

[gwaedin]

Beware, I noticed a mistake in the listed roster. It is not the usual TBT-5N, it is the TBT-5S with two SRM 6 and three medium lasers, and enough heat sinks to use them effectively. Easily outranged by the Atlas twin LRM 20 and the Awesome trio of PPCs, but nasty if it gets close enough.

[Daryk]

Yeah, that's a tougher Treb to deal with!

[gwaedin]

Both sides take a more defensive stance, staying behind cover and cooling down while looking for good opportunity shots. With all the Republican ‘Mechs still active, each hit taken brings the Marik forces one step closer to disaster. Yet, their opponents do not fare much better, with the Awesome relentless trio of PPC stripping off most of the Vindicator armor when the enemy advances. Eventually, when the Trebuchet and the Catapult also join the skirmish, the Marik pilot is forced to slowly retreat towards the water, losing a little bit of armor here and there. The Atlas cannot provide cover continuously, but it hits hard the Catapult when its pilot tries a flanking maneuver. The Spider, almost falling apart, takes advantage of the Awesome retreat to speed ahead and scout for the Marik HQ. In fact, it skirts by the hidden outpost as it dashes west, failing to notice it – happily for its occupants.

[Daryk]

I hope the HQ types are wearing their brown pants! ;D

[gwaedin]

Yeah, as soon as the Republican forces find it, I don't expect them to last long...

[gwaedin]

The Republican Jenner joins the Spider in its push to explore the eastern hills. The Awesome tries to finish the enemy scout firing several times, but its PPCs repeatedly fail to strike the nimble light ‘Mech as it jumps around. The damaged engine of the Atlas forces it to use volley fire; instead of wasting precious shooting opportunities on the hard-to-target lights, it definitively cripples the Cataphract by taking out some fire control systems and weapons, and then destroys one of the Catapult’s LRMs. The two FWL ‘Mechs take a bit more damage, but their armor resist so far. However, the Trebuchet finally finds the hidden HQ at coordinates 1410. The Vindicator and the Jenner immediately attack, while the whole of the Republican forces begin to retreat under covering fire. The HQ is still standing and all the units involved in the fight are still operative, but everything is almost falling apart and soon rubble and wreckage will litter the battlefield. While the HQ looks doomed, the outcome of the battle is uncertain. Will the attackers safely retreat after destroying their objective, or will the defenders make them pay a dear price for it? Assuming that the Atlas and Awesome will resist, since their fall would spell disaster for the Marik forces.

[Daryk]

Sounds like it's already lasting longer than expected... ;)

[gwaedin]

You're definitely right, I'm also suprised. 16 turns and no one yet scored a single point: the HQ is still standing (not for long) and all 'Mechs are still on their legs.
Lorenzo took a cautious approach on his way in, and I tried to snipe its units from afar. I can't complain about the effectiveness of my short lance, because it dished out a lot of damage. I don't think there's a single Republican 'Mech with any armor bubbles left, but Lorenzo managed to have this damage spread out on his numerically superior units. My two 'Mechs still have some protection, but not much, and the engine hit suffered by the Atlas is more than an annoyance. In the simplified AS rules, engine hit means +1 Heat no matter what the heat output level of the 'Mech was; a +5 heat output on an Atlas would not be as bad under TW rules. Happily, the Atlas is in good company, with the Catapult, Jenner and Cataphract experiencing similar issues. However, numbers are still on Lorenzo's part, unless I begin to finally take out some units before it's too late.

[gwaedin]

The Republican forces continue with their retreat, leaving only the Trebuchet, behind the safety of the northern hills, to take care of the enemy HQ. There is no way for the defenders to stop it; they turn against the attackers in sight to cause as much damage as they can. The Awesome targets the Cataphract as soon as it leaves water, damaging its engine; the attacker leader is still walking despite the many hits taken, but eventually the Atlas kills it. The Trebuchet finally eliminates the objective and sprints to regroup, but suffers an engine hit as the Atlas keeps on firing, ignoring the heat surge coming from its own damaged core. Meanwhile, the Awesome tries to nail down the Catapult, but the heavy ‘Mech flees together with the faster Jenner. The 80-ton machine starts trading fire with the Republican Vindicator: its shots are way more effective, with blue PPC lightning tearing off layer after layer of armor and carving the internal structure underneath, leaving the medium ‘Mech limping and with both torsos blown off. The Vindicator then hides behind the trees and the Awesome turns its attention to the Trebuchet, also damaging heavily its internal structure but unable to score a kill. The Treb barely escapes with the Spider, but the Vindicator is not so lucky: the Atlas, after waiting enough to cool down, maneuver to have a clear LOS and sends a flight of LRMs which takes the 45-ton ‘Mech down before it can reach safety.
While the strike team fulfilled their mission and eliminated Colonel Hawkins’ HQ, they can hardly rejoice. Despite clear numerical superiority, they lost two ‘Mechs and did not score a single kill against the defenders, which did an awesome job of protecting the HQ until they could, then hitting hard the attackers with no losses on the Marik side. In the end the score is 138-40 in favour of the FWLM, which gives me a weak lead in the campaign: 589-498 after 7 scenarios (out of 10).

[Daryk]

Sounds like you're headed down to the wire! :)

[gwaedin]

This time we have a big shot, no less than Duke Frederick Steiner himself, leading a suicide mission against Combine’s supplies on Dromini VI. The Commonwealth forces’ goal is to stop Kurita plans, aimed at invading a number of lightly defended Lyran worlds behind the front lines and bringing a fatal halt to LCAF offensive. Regardless of the outcome of Frederick’s action, the real objective of the Lyran attack are the six Combine JumpShips in the system. Their presence hidden to the Duke himself, Loki Agents take advantage of the ground battle to launch from one of the attacking LCAF ships and cross space in silvery life bubbles to reach the enemy Jumpships, armed with demolition packs. They sacrifice their life to sabotage the Kuritan vessels and stop cold the Combine offensive.
The scenario covers a small piece of the ground raid, with an assault lance led by Duke Frederick performing a combat drop amidst Kuritan defenders placed at the outskirts of the city of Kanashimi, where 5 ammunition bunkers are located.
In the previous Scenario 7, we felt that the victory conditions didn’t do justice to the importance of the objective. The reason lies in a difficulty of balancing: if you have forces ideally of equal strength, and you give access to extra points for one side with an easy-to-kill target, the scenario becomes imbalanced. On the other hand, if you take losses into account, what looks like the main objective of the mission becomes a secondary one. The perspective becomes that of a lost cause for the defender, who cannot really hope to avoid destruction of the “main” objective, but can still pull a win if the attacker’s losses are too high – that was the case for us.
This time I really wanted to play with conditions consistent with the importance of the target. In the original scenario, the Lyrans have a 9,500BV assault lance, with veteran ‘Mechwarriors; they face a heavy command lance and five other ‘Mechs from two different lances, for a total of 12,000 BV; close to a 75% BV ratio for the attacker. With the classic old victory conditions, assigned separately for the two sides, we have the attacker winning a Decisive Victory if all the bunkers are destroyed, and a marginal one if one or two survive. The defender instead must save those one or two bunkers and destroy all the attackers to obtain a Marginal Victory, which becomes a Decisive Victory if only two or fewer bunkers are destroyed. Not liking this sort of entangled conditions, we modified those so that the attacker scores half the usual points for each kill (therefore only the modified BV value, not twice), and loses points normally. Additionally, each destroyed bunker is worth to the attacker 50% of the initial total defender’s forces points (that would be 6,000 BV with the listed forces). The defender scores normally.
In this way the attacking side would still win a decisive victory by destroying all the bunkers (with 60 armor points each, or 6 CF in AS), provided it takes out three defending units before the assault lance is eliminated. If it does so with only two bunkers destroyed, it goes almost the opposite way.
Naturally, we adapted this to AS rules and my son Lorenzo also changed a little bit his lineup, replacing a Zeus with a Highlander. I shrinked my forces to account for our usual balancing. This is what the roster looks like:

Tenth Lyran Guards,  (LCAF)       
            
Regimental Command Lance   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Atlas AS7-D    Juggernaut   52   100   2   72
Highlander HGN-733P   Sniper   46   90   3   55
Awesome AWS-8Q    Sniper       39   80   3   47
STK-3F Stalker   Juggernaut   42   85   3   50

Legions of Vega, elements (DCMS)   
                
Command Lance (Reinforced)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod

Grasshopper GHR-5H    Skirmisher   37   70   4   37
Dragon DRG-1N   Skirmisher   32   60   4   32
Panther PNT-9R   Brawler   19   35   4   19
STK-3F Stalker   Juggernaut   42   85   4   42
Awesome AWS-8Q    Sniper   39   80   4   39

[Daryk]

Hmmm... I think my money's on Frederick... :)

[gwaedin]

Historically, that's how it went... although still finished with a bullet in the head for him.

[gwaedin]

The Lyran lance drops west in the woodlands. The Stalker and the Awesome (which suffers minor damage during landing) on the north ridge, close to an isolated bunker; the Atlas and the Highlander to the south. The defending Kuritan units are mostly positioned east, and they immediately start moving towards the enemy. The fire lanes set by the enemy limit their ability to take effective firing positions, with the DCMS Awesome too far away. The dracs suffer minor damage and can do very little to stop the enemy, with the Lyran Awesome blowing up one bunker and two more damaged. Things look grim for the defenders.

[Daryk]

Wow... that went very quickly in Frederick's favor!

[gwaedin]

The Kuritans concentrate fire on the opposing Awesome, at the same time suffering sparse hits spread over different ‘Mechs. Nevertheless, the 80-ton machine succeeds in destroying a second ammunition bunker. The Grasshopper jumps behind the Atlas and Highlander, but the latter easily shrugs off the damage. The Steiner forces relentlessly attack their objectives, with the Duke’s Atlas destroying a third bunker and the Awesome again taking out another before taking cover in the woods. The Lyran Stalker becomes the most exposed target for the DCMS ‘Mechs which strip off most of its armor, but a vicious return shot damages the Kuritan Awesome’s fire control systems. The Panther remains behind near the water, never able to cross the open and close in without becoming an easy target for the Atlas and Highlander. It fires a few PPC shots here and there from the distance, completely ineffective. With internal structure now exposed on several ‘Mechs, both sides begin to suffer critical damage: targeting systems, weapons and even the engine (the attacking Stalker). The Grasshopper jumps away from the heat of the battle and barely escapes behind a ridge as the last remaining patches of armor are destroyed. Meanwhile, the Kuritan Stalker maneuvers to have a clear LOS to the enemy Awesome: a powerful Alpha Strike blows away its target, although it brings the ‘Mech very close to emergency shutdown. This gives a brief pause to its counterpart, which stops firing and tries to maneuver behind firing cover offered by its two remaining companions. The Kuritans gang on it though, and after cooling down the Stalker again fires most of its weapons at the other STK-3F, which eventually falls under the Dragon’s finishing blow.
The battle reaches a stalemate: the Highlander and Atlas are outnumbered five to two, but they are almost untouched by the vicious fight which had its toll on the Kuritans. The DCMS units move to protect the last standing bunker. The Duke and his remaining lancemate desist, satisfied with the destruction of 80% of the objectives. In fact, the (suicide) mission is accomplished with a (marginal) victory for House Steiner.
We all know things are not going to end up very well for Duke Frederick, but sure he fought valiantly his last battle.
The final score is 241-194 in Lorenzo’s favor, and he closes up in the campaign in which my forces are leading 783-739 after eight scenarios. The Fourth Succession War is almost over...

[Daryk]

Victory is victory! :)

[gwaedin]

Last but one scenario in this series. The setting is the Tartarus Caldera on Crossing, with the final showdown between the decimated Wolf’s Dragoons and the outnumbering Kurita forces, belonging to the Eight Galedon Regulars. The scenario is a very simple Standup Fight, and takes place on a single Battletech map. It is a standoff between (originally) a Hoplite and a Wolfhound piloted by Dragoons Mechwarriors, whose combined skill and fury make them truly heroic warriors; and a regular heavy DCMS lance. Victory conditions assign a decisive victory to the side which wipes out the opponent, with the Dragoons having a chance of a marginal victory if they eliminate three enemy units. Dragoons’ forces amount to about 85% of the Kurita total BV.
This reminds me of the first scenarios Lorenzo and I played when I introduced him to Alpha Strike, in which we typically used a couple of ‘Mechs each. Lorenzo this time kept the original Dragoons units; I multiplied the 85% BV ratio for our usual balancing, ending up with two heavy ‘Mechs (the signature Kuritan Dragon and a Catapult) against his two. The main difference is the skill level, heroic vs. regular, which gives my opponent an advantage of 87-64 in terms of starting PV. We are keeping the usual PV-based scoring, with each side gaining twice PV for enemy units eliminated, and losing the PV value for its own losses.

Delta Regiment (Wolf's Dragoons)                   
 
Provisional Lance (Short)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Hoplite HOP-4B   Sniper   30   55   1   48
Wolfhound WLF-1    Striker   24   35   1   39

Eight Galedon Regulars (DCMS)           
        
Command Lance (Short)   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Dragon DRG-1N   Skirmisher   32   60   4   32
Catapult CPLT-C1   Missile Boat   32   65   4   32

[Daryk]

Not an easy match up... at Classic scale, it would be the Dragoons maneuvering for maximum TMMs constantly.

[gwaedin]

Yep, in AS Lorenzo doesn't even need to do that, since the TMM is automatic. That, and the vastly superior marksmanship of his 'Mechs... I have a bad feeling about this. Never mess with the Dragoons... how long does it take for the Kuritans to learn that? 

[gwaedin]

The Wolf’s Dragoons take position in the lake at the center, with the two DCMS ‘Mechs attacking from opposite sides. They manage to inflict some serious damage to the Hoplite, initially avoiding much of the imprecise return fire. Then the Dragoons Mechwarriors begin to find their target regularly and force the Catapult to take cover. Yet, the pilot of the Dragon surprises the Wolfhound as the Kuritan ‘Mech dives in water and reemerges behind the enemy, wiping out most of its armor. However, the Hoplite nearby is ready to react and eliminates the threat with a clean PPC head shot. The Dragoons don’t have time to rejoice, however, since the Hoplite suffers the same fate following a shower of LRMs fired from the Catapult. It is now a duel between the Cat and the Wolfhound. The latter dives in water and the Catapult takes the opportunity to close the distance, patiently waiting in the woods next to the shore. When the Wolfhound makes its move, its pilot fully exploits her greater skill in the inevitable shootout, damaging the fire control system of the opponent. The Wolfhound suddenly becomes almost impossible to hit and the Catapult jumps into a recess in the hills, hoping for the Wolfhound to get close. When the Dragoon pilot realizes that the enemy will not face her in the open, it runs to the final assault. Even at close range the Kuritan Mechwarrior has only a slim chance of hitting: some weapons find their target, eating up small bit of internal structure but unable to stop the enemy. The Wolfhound first cripples and then finishes off the Catapult, as its last volleys of LRMs eventually hit the targeting system of the Dragoon machine… too late.
This has been a quick and interesting scenario. With a bit of luck initially I managed to soften up the Hoplite. Then my Dragon ended up in a very difficult position, but still managed to seriously damage the Wolfhound. Suddenly, a couple of lucky headshots halved our forces within one turn. I tried to keep the Wolfhound in check, but after a hit to the FC system Lorenzo did a good job, forcing the Catapult in a corner and grabbing a deserved (marginal) victory. One more scenario to go and we’re as close as ever, with Lorenzo leading 819-815 after nine battles.

[Daryk]

Close indeed!

[gwaedin]

The final scenario replays the well-known battle outside Maximilian Liao’s palace, when a DropShip seized by Morgan Hasek-Davion and his First Kathil Uhlans raids the heart of the Capellan Confederation to rescue Justin Xiang Allard and Alexi Mallory. They face elite House Imarra troops, whose ‘Mechs have been freshly refitted with the experimental Triple Strength Myomer fibers stolen from a secret NAIS facility in scenario 5. Soon after the DropShip fires missiles releasing a thick cloud of green smoke, things start to get horrible for the Liao defenders.
The original BattlePack scenario was set on a face-down (i.e. blank) BattleTech map, which I find quite sad to play on. I believe the original intent was to have a mostly open battlefield, representing Sian Royal Spaceport, and the designers had to do with the two BattleTech maps and the Woodland one included in the BattlePack. I decided to replace the empty mapsheet with a City Ruins map, which already nicely played the role of Coventry’s spaceport at the beginning of a previous campaign.
The forces included a veteran Davion medium pursuit lance fighting against a Capellan regular lance, with a double pair of Cataphract and Blackjack. Interestingly, the Blackjack model is listed as the BJ-3 with double heat sinks. Later on, canon set the introduction date for the BJ-3 variant as 3042, with earlier prototypes from the St. Ives compact identified as the less advanced BJ-3X version. For balancing purposes, I still considered the BJ-3 present in the initial setup, which sees the attacking First Kathil Uhlans lance at 4,700BV and the opposing House Imarra lance at 5,600BV, with a 15% advantage for the defenders.
Lorenzo opted for a change in his roster, replacing an Enforcer and two Hatchetman with a Wolverine, a Mongoose and a Locust and keeping only the original Firestarter, for 115 PV total:

First Kathil Uhlans (AFFS)                   
Pursuit Lance   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Wolverine WVR-6R   Skirmisher   30   55   3   36
Mongoose MON-67   Striker   27   25   3   32
Locust LCT-3V   Scout   19   20   3   23
Firestarter FS9-H   Scout   20   35   3   24

There are a couple of special rules which really represent the twist for this scenario: Green Smoke and TSM.
Starting with TSM, it is assumed that the defending ‘Mechs are equipped with TSM. At the time the BattlePack was published, there were no rules covering Prototype TSM and therefore the Capellan units use those for regular TSM (which require overheat to work but also provide MP bonus in addition to extra physical damage). We decided to use those for Prototype TSM instead (TSMX), which in AS gives no point advantage. However, I recalculated the defender’s BV assuming it had TSM, and that would bring the total to 6,600BV for a 30% advantage. With our 8:5 balancing applied, this translates into a 98 PV force for my troops, which I obtained dropping one of the two BJ-3X:

House Imarra (CCAF)                   
Command Lance   Role   PV   Tons   Skill   PVmod
Cataphract CTF-2X   Brawler   35   70   4   35
Cataphract CTF-2X   Brawler   35   70   4   35
Blackjack BJ-3X   Brawler   28   55   4   28

The second special rule is related to the thick smoke curtain which engulfs the whole spaceport, causing a +2 modifier to all weapon attacks. More importantly, the green chemical compound is the same adopted by Anti-TSM warheads, with the effect of causing continuous damage to TSMx equipped units with exposed internal structure (or no armor in AS).

The original scenario was meant to last for 10 Turns, after which the attacking forces are supposed to have completed the extraction of their agent and leave. The usual complicated Victory conditions are based on the number of surviving units for the attacker (3 would give a Decisive Victory, 1 or 2 a Marginal Victory); for the defender, it is the number of units eliminated (4 for a Decisive Victory and 3 for a Marginal Victory). I modified them in what seems to me a more rational approach, considering the typical Extraction scenario: the defender scores point normally, while the attacker scores only half (i.e. the unmodified value) PV for enemy units which are destroyed, but also scores the PV for own units which successfully escape after the end of Turn 10 (they cannot leave the battlefield before).

[Daryk]

Sounds like it's going to be an interesting fight! :)

[gwaedin]

The Uhlans take position on the southern paved area, except for the Wolverine standing alone on the northern landing pad. Their confidence makes them vulnerable to the initial assault by the defenders, which catch them by surprise and engage the enemy lights at very close range. The prototype TSM does its job and one of the two Cataphracts crushes the Davion Mongoose, immediately restoring numerical balance. The other severely damages the Firestarter which however manages to escape, although the energy blasts coming from the Blackjack compromise its fire control system; the Capellan medium ‘Mech suffers only light damage in return.
The initial aggression loses momentum, and the swift reaction of the Uhlans forces House Imarra units to push back a little. The high maneuverability of the attackers, combined with the very poor visibility caused by the thick clouds of green smoke, negates the firepower advantage of the defenders. Their fire is ineffective at longer range, and while their shots miss the Wolverine repeatedly strike the Blackjack, disabling one of its PPC. Confused news about the vulnerability of exposed myomers to the green smoke begin to come from the radio; the pilot of the Blackjack, with very little armor left, wisely decides to try to put as much distance as possible between his machine and the enemy. While the Firestarter dances between the sparse trees to avoid a barrage of autocannon and laser shots, the Locust remains aggressive. It sneaks behind one of the two Cataphracts, discharging all its weapons on its back. When the Blackjack manages to flee, the Locust even goes head-to-head against the CTF-2X, dodging its salvos and stinging with its single medium laser. Everything changes moments before the rescue of the Fed agent is confirmed, when a Cataphract finally places the killing shot which disables the Firestarter. No reason for the Wolverine and Locust to stay there, but as they pull off the two remaining Imarra units fire everything they have at the 20-ton ‘Mech, heedless of the resulting heat surge. The Locust resists a first blast eating on its internal structure, but its fortune ceases to smile when a second, powerful shot stops its escape. Mission accomplished, but the Wolverine is the only ‘Mech returning home: a dear price to be payed, with no casualties inflicted on the Capellans defending this part of the Sian spaceport.
The scenario ends with a decisive victory for House Imarra, which also marks the closing of this wonderful 10-parts campaign. Its outcome has been incredibly uncertain so far, but my “bad guys” finally grab a win with a final score of 973-776. Going through the whole 4th Succession War was a lot of fun, a way to relive the events of the Warrior trilogy. Not sure what we’ll do next, but I’ll let you know!

[Daryk]

Thanks for posting the whole campaign!  Glad you and your son had fun! :)