Hello everyone!
This is the report, long overdue, of a Quickstrike game I held in February at the Custodi del Lago (Keepers of the Lake) gaming circle in Verbania (about halfway up Lago Maggiore’s western shore in northern Italy).
All told, there were four players attending (including me). One of them had played a lot of clickytech Mechwarrior games, but had never played CBT; of the other two, one had played one or two games years ago, and the last one was a complete noob to all branches of Battletech. None of them were familiar in any way, shape or form with the game’s fluff.
Well, the clickytech player actually had a crush on the Jade Falcons as a faction (for which he earned my undying esteem) but that’s about it.
With such a novice audience, I had to spend some time to explain the QS rules. They absorbed them fairly quickly, but it took the best part of an hour before I was finished. I handed them the printed tables from the Battleforce QSR for reference, and moved on to describe the scenario.
Since I didn’t know exactly how many players would attend, I had prepared a scenario with 6 mechs per side. Each team received a handout with an in-character situation report, describing the on-planet situation and the scenario’s objectives and special rules.
The defenders were proxying for the 14th Lyran Guards, and the attackers for the 3rd Sirian Lancers, during the two regiments confrontation on Ford in 3028. I can’t remember if I picked the time and place after a canon battle, but I guess that’s not really that important.
The scenario itself was quite simple: the attackers were supposed to steal supplies (representing mech parts) from the warehouse the defenders were protecting. A simple raid, typical of the late Succession Wars.
The defenders would score points for keeping the warehouse safe (10 pts), for maintaining control of the supplies contained within (5 pts each, there were 10 supply crates total), and obviously for damaging and/or destroying enemy mechs (half BF poins value for enemy mechs with internal damage, full value for destroyed mechs).
The attackers’ objectives were similar, but weighed slightly differently: 10 pts if they could manage to destroy the warehouse, 10 pts for each stolen supply crate, and half/full points for damaged/destroyed enemy mechs.
This meant that the breakeven point was at 3-4 stolen crates, which seemed reasonable when i wrote down the scenario.
The forces were the following:
3rd Sirian Lancers (Attackers):Battlemaster BLR-1G (Skill 3, 21 pts)
Warhammer WHM-6R (Skill 4, 13 pts)
Crusader CRD-3L (Skill 4, 13 pts)
Griffin GRF-1N (Skill 3, 18 pts)
Spider SDR-5V (Skill 3, 6 pts)
Stinger STG-3R (Skill 3, 5 pts)
14th Lyran Guards (Defenders):Banshee BNC-3E (Skill 3, 20 pts)
Zeus ZEU-6S (Skill 3, 19 pts)
Marauder MAD-3R (Skill 3, 19 pts)
Hunchback HBK-4G (Skill 4, 10 pts)
Commando CMD-2D (Skill 4, 5 pts)
Locust LCT-1V (Skill 3, 6 pts)
As you can see, the attackers had a far more mobile force, and most of their mechs sported hand actuators, which were important for scenario purposes since they were required to take and carry supply crates. The Battlemaster and Warhammer, the only non-jumping mechs, were supposed to lend support fire and some brute strength to the whole raiding force.
The defenders, in true Lyran style, were slow (if powerful) and completely lacked jump jets, making it somewhat tricky to deal with the attackers’ mobility.
Deployment:
The attackers deployed mostly in the center, just on the far side of the lake (bottom of the picture). Not a big deal, since most of their force could just jump over the lake, but the Warhammer would have to wade through the water to join the fight. The Battlemaster was instead deployed just on the right side of the map, apparently set to make a rush around the edge of the lake. This deployment might seem a bit awkward, especially with the most powerful unit, the Battlemaster, apparently separated from the rest of the force.. but the attackers did have a PlanTM (more on that later).
The defenders deployed much more conservatively around the map center and the warehouse (marked by the 7-hex building on the right center).
Turn 1:
The Warhammer begins to wade through the lake while its mates just jump over, as predicted. The Battlemaster begins to circle the lake (on the right, sadly out of view).
The defenders react by splitting their own force. The Zeus is deemed enough to hold the Battlemaster, which has to cross some open terrain to join the fight. The Banshee and Commando move to intercept the main raiding force, while the Hunchback and Marauder stand in reserve, waiting to see where the attackers are going to push before committing themselves to the battle. The puny Locust just tries to be inconspicuous, but is actually ready to zip across the battlefield to intercept the most mobile attackers should they try a flanking maneuver.
Turn 2:Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of this turn. The Zeus and Battlemaster trade some long range fire, with the Marik assault taking some light damage. Confident that the attackers are going to push trhough the center, the defenders move the Hunchback and Marauder accordingly.
Turn 3:
The attackers finally show their hand! With the Battlemaster playing it safe at long range on the right side of the map, the Zeus was feeling safe..until the Crusader unexpectedly waits until the last possible moment to jump in the middle of the lake, double-teaming the Zeus at medium range with help from the Battlemaster. Taken by surprise, the defenders can only move the Marauder in support, but are unable to concentrate fire effectively on the lightly damaged Battlemaster. No shots connect, but it’s not that important. With this move, the attackers have also drawn the two most powerful defenders away from the map center, giving their lighter units a much better chance at reaching the warehouse. With the Warhammer finally emerging from the lake and moving into support position, the Griffin and Spider feel safe enough to jump into the central woods, while the Stinger seems to be preparing for a run on the left flank. Because of all the woods, the Banshee can’t do anything about it.. but here comes the Hunchback! Bravely challenging the Griffin in front of him, he savages the Marik machine with a short range barrage (the way only a Hunchback can do), taking only cosmetic damage in return. With nearly all armor gone, the Griffin now has to be very careful.
In the meanwhile, the Locust and Stinger chase each other on the left side of the map, excanging light damage.
Turn 4:
The Warhammer moves forward from its lofty perch to take the heat away from the Griffin, and the Hunchback is only too happy to stick to the woods and slug it out at medium range. However, with the defenders losing initiative this turn, the Banshee suddenly realizes just how exposed his rear is to the enemy jumpers. It just cannot both move out of jumping range and still cover the Hunchback at the same time. Trusting in its heavy armor, it backpedals a bit into a small patch of woods nearby, just daring the enemy light mechs to jump in range of its guns. While the Hunchback smacks the Warhammer hard taking only light damage in return, the Griffin is all too happy to oblige and line up for a rear shot, which however is not very effective given its low short range damage value. Unexpectedly, the Spider does not go for the Banshee’s rear, but instead jumps into the lake, taking potshots at the Marauder.
On the right side of the map, things are definitely heating up. The Battlemaster has now taken a fair amount of armor damage, but the Zeus is not untouched, either. The Marauder targets the Crusader, but the Zeus has to split fire on the Battlemaster because of the intervening cliff. The long range shots are all ineffective, though.
Turn 5: 
Unfortunately, because of time constraints this was the last turn of the game. As such, the moves were a lot more reckless than the conservative ones taken so far. Eager to score a kill, the Zeus’ (and Marauder’s) commander charges the Crusader at short range, with the Marauder hanging back in support. The opposing Marik commander is happy to oblige, and sends the Battlemaster into brawling range, too. Someone is about to be introduced to a world of pain here!
Back in the map center, the Warhammer is now backing off after the trashing it took from the Hunchback; another hit would go internal, while the damned medium machine still has enough armor to absorb a full salvo. Desperate to steal some supplies before time goes out, the Griffin jumps into the warehouse. The Hunchback, Banshee and Commando all follow, trying to damage or disable the jumper despite the possible collateral damage to the building.
Time to resolve this mess.
Despite moving closer to the map center, the Locust and Stinger are still both out of the main action, and just manage to break even with a single point of damage scored on each other.
The three Steiner mechs concentrate fire on the Griffin, going internal but failing to inflict any criticals. The warehouse still stands, but is damaged in the process, and most importantly the Griffin manages to snatch two supply crates for his team!
On the right side of the map, it’s a slugfest. The Lyran Marauder and Zeus split fire, stripping most of the armor from the Battlemaster and Crusader, but because of the arguably poor choice of targets they fail to inflict any internal damage. The Zeus is not so lucky, and despite starting the turn in good shape is savaged by the short range firepower of the two Marik mechs. The armor gives out, and the damage goes internal. That would be bad enough, but there is still the physical attack phase to go through..
Selling himself dearly, the Zeus finally manages to breach the Crusader’s armor (but still no crits). However, the Marik mech, helped by the Battlemaster, shows no mercy: the Lyran machine is pounded into scrap in a battlemech-scaled mugging.. the first and only casualty of the day!
With no time to play a 6th turn, it is finally time to count points and declare the victor. As it turns out, in spite of the supplies taken by the Griffin and the Zeus they destroyed, it was the defenders who scored higher. In addition to the Crusader and Griffin they critically damaged, they still retained control of 8 supply crates. Because of the Zeus, though, the game was declared only a marginal victory for the Lyrans. Besides, had the game gone on for one or two more turns, the spider and maybe the Stinger too would have had the chance to steal some supplies. Had they succeded, that would have turned the tables completely.
Despite the time and score issues, the game was a success. The players especially appreciated the strategic level of the game and the thinking behind unit movement and relative positioning. Thanks in part to the scenario objectives, the game succesfully highlighted the different roles and abilities of the units on the field.
All in all, everyone had fun, and enjoyed the simple but still interesting game system: definitely a success overall O0
