I've owned the Lamenkov's Liability lance dossier since it first came out and while I've always really enjoyed the writing I never got the opportunity to run it.
Seeing as I'm full of 3085 madness at the moment, I decided to try it out on MegaMek. The nefarious Salazar really appealed to me so I decided to run the SELF (Schedar Enlightenment and Liberation Front) forces, along with the mercenary dark horse.
And... it turned out to be a very interesting game - with SELF eventually gaining victory by a narrow margin (the Liability lance was tasked with escaping to the far edge with at least three units still intact) but at a pretty bloody price.
Lessons learned - the Karhu is a deadly infighter and even when you chop off its giant claws it's still able to punch you to death. The plasma rifle is just savage. Salazar used to the great advantage, driving up heat and just tearing armour apart - I can't even imagine what it would do to unarmoured infantry.
and probably the most important maxim - massed fire from even light vehicles can bring down the heaviest battlemech.
Lamenkov's Liability
Lt Lamenkov - TDR-10M Thunderbolt Ilyena
OSP-26 Osprey Lawernce
Karhu Syngman
PRF-1R Prefect Veronica
SELF
Salazar Tsakalotos - TDR-10M Thunderbolt Salazar
Bcn-3r buccaneer
Primitive Dervish
x2 lightning (royals)
x2 lightning (RL)
Chevalier
x3 Myrmidon medium tank
SELF split itself into two battle groups with the light vehicles split off into a clump behind some low rolling hills, while Salazar took the mech lance and hid in a canyon further to the east.
The Myrmidons were strung out, bridging the two groups and had gone hull down on the reverse side of some low hills.
Strung out by their flight, the Liability arrived in two groups - Lt Ilyena way out besides herself further to to west while her three lance mates had arrived further east and were momentarily screened by some low hills.
First round saw all five light light vehicles pour fire into the lieutenant's thunderbolt - with the rocket armed lightning screaming in close, unloading and then trying to break off.
She was caught in the open plains and repeated rocket fire carried away her left torso - and arm!
Meanwhile, Salazar burst out of his hiding place on a stream of jump jets - his two companions were a bit slower and hung back.
In a devastating one two punch, he worked Veronica's Prefect over with a burst of plasma and PPC fire, sending it crashing to the ground.
The Myrmidons also wailed on the former Merc's Prefect, tearing open both sides of the torso.
Lawrence and the Buccaneer squared off - with the RAF warrior keeping his distance and hitting the axe armed mech repeatedly around the torso with PPC and LRM fire.
The SELF Dervish however seemed content to lob LRMs at the big Karhu bringing up the rear. He hit nothing...
While the opening shots and seen two Liability mech badly damaged (including multiple internal hits) they quickly reacted and demonstrated their skill at applying C3 tech and manoeuvre Warfare.
Running flat chat and making good use of the sparse cover, Lawrence managed to flank the Buccaneer - popping up almost beside it where he pumped PPC fire straight into its heart. Leaking waste radiation the former Blakist machine crashed to the ground.
Meanwhile, Veronica fell back and manage to put some cover between her and Sal.
Stuck in the middle Syngman used his linked C3 slave computer to feed his CO targeting data and the two unleashed some serious pay back on the SELF forces - immobilising one lightning and destroying another.
The other remaining light vehicles were effectively useless now having shot off all their ammo in the first round and quickly beat a hasty retreat.
Screaming at the poorly trained SELF fighters to get their act together, Salazar led an advance, determine to catch the Liability in the broken hills and crush them -while two Myrmidons provided suppressing fire to force the opposing Thunderbolt to go to ground, the remainder of the SELF forces closed in on the Liability.
With the Dervish finally arriving to provide some (rather inaccurate fire support) Salzar engaged both Lawrence and Syngman - their return fire was accurate but didn't do a whole lot. Meanwhile, Veronica continued to sulk off in the hills.
The only highlight for the Liability saw the Osprey and Thunderbolt share targeting data to smash one of the pesky Myrmidons. The tank had been moving between pockets of cover hoping to sneak up on the Karhu when heavy PPCs caught it for both sides, turning the interior into crematorium and sending the blackened turret a dozen feet in the air.
While the SELF troops had by now lost almost half their precious ground vehicles - all was not lost and with a bit of coaxing, Salazar manage to force them back into the fight - including the Buccaneer, who's pilot had shaken off his stunning fall and charge back into battle.
By now, the time for subtlety was over and six of the seven mechs were moving into spitting distance.
And having smashed through the opposition, Ilyena was now moving to help - her charge however was cut off. A plucky Myrmidon caught her a burst of PPC fire, gutting the thundebolt's gyro and sending her crashing to the ground.
Cutting her out of e equation proved crushing for her lance and stunned from the fall she missed an amazing bit of combat.
Salazar's coaxing and barked orders finally bore fruit and he and his SELF lance mate's managed to fall on the Liability's Karhu from both sides.
The Buccaneer charged into the gully and smashed into Syngman's Karhu - just as the big clan mech finished off another Myrmidon. The SELF mech hacked down with his hatchet, slicing right through the Karhu's retractable claw. In response Syngman buried left arm deep into the Buccaneer's centre torso, shattering its gyro into a million pieces.
Seeing his opportunity Salazar lunged - sweeping in for the other sidebar drenched the big mech in flaming plasma and then leap forward - his Thunderbolt's giant fist smashing into the Karhu's cockpit and killing the pilot inside.
Having knocked out two mechs - and therefore denying the Liability a victory - what remained of the SELF forces beat a hurried retreat.
While they had bloodied the RAF force, it cost them dearly - including one of their precious mechs that they were forced to abandon on the battlefield - and the rebel leadership made it their displeasure clear to Salazar, effectively freezing him out of further command decisions.
This decision would prove disastrous for the SELF group, by isolating a valuable asset.
