Hello Mechwarriors,
This new battlereport highlights two items. We decided to push my hybrid Alpha strike, Beta Strike, in terms of the size of the battle we could run. We also wanted to do a classic Clan invasion scenario of trash vs elite. We would send a company of 3025 tech mechs against a star of clan mechs, with some elemental support. To make things even more interesting The Clan forces would be elite (Skill 2) and the Inner Sphere would be regulars (Skill 4). Did I also mention we set up on a huge 5’ x 8’ table.
Here is the map
The line up
Clan
Dire Wolf – Prime
Timber Wolf – Prime
Mad Dog – Prime
Stormcrow - Prime
Nova – Prime
Elemental Star (Laser)
Elemental Star (Laser)
Inner Sphere – All Standard designs
Battlemaster
Victor
Dervish
Valkyrie
Quickdraw
Quickdraw
Wolverine
Centurion
Marauder
Jagermech
Jagermech
Griffin
The battle was great, and I thank my old battletech friend who I had not seen for years for joining the game. We played for about 3 hours and six turns. At the end the Innersphere forces withdrew with the Clanners in control of the field. It was a close game and we debated if one more turn would have finally overwhelmed the Clan forces. IS were simply running out of mechs.
The Clan player did the right thing and used the sheer map size to the clan tech strength. As the Freebirths advanced to overwhelm them, they simply fell back to keep the IS at range.
The IS did have some victories destroying the two most powerful clan mechs. The sheer firepower of the Clanners meant any IS mech that came under their focus fire (what clan honor!) just melted. As an example, my poor Battlemaster was gutted in just two turns. It was brutal!
Here are two interesting observations. Elementals make great support. One point was used to “escort” the Dire Wolf. That point helped keep the IS heavy lance honest and inflicted some solid damage. Especially against the lightly armored the glass cannons known as Jagermechs.
The slower IS mechs did not earn their pay. Their speed and heavy close-range firepower made them poor choices for the map. Faster mechs such as the Quickdraws proved far more useful even at the sacrifice of firepower.
The butcher’s bill…
Clan
Dire Wolf – Prime (Destroyed)
Timber Wolf – Prime (Destroyed)
Mad Dog – Prime (No Damage)
Stormcrow – Prime (Severe Damage- One structure point left!)
Nova – Prime (Light Damage)
Elemental Star (Laser) (Destroyed)
Elemental Star (Laser) (50%)
Inner Sphere – All Standard designs
Battlemaster (Destroyed)
Victor (Light Damage)
Dervish (Destroyed)
Valkyrie (Forced Withdrawal)
Quickdraw (Light Damage)
Quickdraw (Forced Withdraw)
Wolverine (Destroyed)
Centurion (No Damage)
Marauder (Destroyed)
Jagermech (Destroyed)
Jagermech (Forced Withdraw)
Griffin (Heavy Damage)
Mad Dog laying down fire on the closing IS mechs near the end of the game.
The Dervish hopes to bring down the Stormcrow with the gutted Valkyrie providing indirect fire support. The Dervish would fail.
The Jagermechs used the woods to good effect early in the game to block most of the Direwolf’s firepower. When the clan behemoth finally got to the edge they moved to flank and then rush the Direwolf. The Elementals did sting them hard as a result. With the Lance leader in the Marauder providing long range PPC fire support.
Thank you and I hope you enjoyed
