The time: Sometime around 3039.
The place: A quiet valley, with a road running up the centre between two areas of farmland.
Arriving from the West, a Davion light lance crests the ridge-line, at the same time as the Strike Lance from Litzkrieg's 3039 mercenary company (as posted elsewhere on these boards) arrives from the East, controlled by the appropriate Princess variants.
| Davion | | | Mercenary | |
| MAD-3D | Marauder | - | WVR-6M | Wolverine |
| CN9-AH | Centurion | - | PXH-1D | Phoenix Hawk |
| FS9-H | Firestarter | - | JR7-F | Jenner |
| LCT-1E | Locust | - | JVN-10N | Javelin |
The starting positions were as below ...
(The map is one of my 30x15 'Valley' maps, that all fit together to make one long North-South valley, if you have an urge to fight your way up one.)
The Marauder and Centurion advanced slowly to the trees ahead of them to assume firing positions, while the Locust and Firestarter headed into the woods to prepare a flanking maneuver. Meanwhile, the Wolverine and Phoenix Hawk followed the treeline to the North, while the Jenner and Javelin headed North-West towards the Marauder and Centurion's positions.
Everything started well, with the one of the Marauder's PPCs removing the Javelin's CT armour in round two, and the Centurion's AC/20 removing the Phoenix Hawk's left arm the following round. And round three was also the one in which the initial fire was set by the Jenner from a missed attack against the Marauder - and the Centurion pilot shook off a head hit from one of the Javelin's SRMs. Round three also showed the physical direction that the battle was going to take, with both the Phoenix Hawk and the Javelin kicking the Centurion in the leg, removing all of the armour. As well as being the start of my tactical error - while the Marauder backed up to keep the range open, the Centurion hadn't stuck with it as a bodyguard, and they got separated.
Come round four, and the lighter three 'mechs from the Strike lance dogpiled the Marauder in the open, although weapons fire only resulted in two minor hits on either side. The Phoenix Hawk teamed up with the Jenner to kick the Firestarter's left leg off, while a Marauder kick removed the armour from the Phoenix Hawk's leg and caused two criticals. As a result, both Phoenix Hawk and Firestarter fell into the crops next to the Marauder.
In round five, the Phoenix Hawk attempted to regain its feet ... and failed, collapsing directly in front of the Maruader, which then removed the armour from the centre torso rear, while also tagging the more distant Wolverine with a glancing PPC shot. The Locust stripped the armour from the Jenner's right arm. And then it all went wrong(er) ... the Javelin managed to hit the Marauder with three SRMs. One of which bounced off the head, but hard enough to knock out the pilot. And seventy-five tons of heavy 'mech, the core of the Davion lance, became a pile of inanimate scrap, without a single breached location. To add insult to injury, the Jenner then gave it a kick. Although the prone Firestarter showed heroic tendencies - firing at the prone Phoenix Hawk beside it, the flamer hitting the breached centre torso rear and damaging the gyro.
Round six, and the Phoenix Hawk pilot, more in hope than fear, again attempted to find his feet, despite a badly damaged leg and a crispy gyro. And failed. Twice. The Wolverine had closed, and joined the Jenner and Javelin in bombarding the helpless Marauder, which took hits from six medium lasers and seventeen SRMs. The sheer weight of fire destroyed the Marauder's engine, making it the first loss of the battle (and technically, to the Javelin). In return, the Centurion cored the Javelin with the AC/20. The prone Firestarter managed a hit on the Jenner, which kicked the armour off it's right arm in return. The Locust, meanwhile, destroyed the Jenner's right arm.
Round seven, and another attempt by the Phoenix Hawk pilot to stand results in another fall, and the pilot blacked out. The Wolverine and Jenner then turned their attention to the Firestarter with both weapons fire and physical attacks, almost destroying the right leg in the process. The following round, the Centurion's heavy autocannon removed the armour from the Wolverine's left leg, and it fell - while the Jenner kicked the armour off the Locust's right leg.
Round nine, and the pilots of the Phoenix Hawk and the Firestarter ejected from their downed 'mechs, hopefully not into any of the ten hexes of burning crops. The Wolverine, however, returned to its feet, and destroyed the Centurion's leg, resulting in a fall and subsequent gyro damage. In return, the Centurion hit the Wolverine a glancing blow in the centre torso with the autocannon, a through-armour critical causing marginal engine damage, receiving a kick to the torso in return.
In round ten, the Jenner stripped the Centurion's rear left torso. The return fire from the Centurion removed the armour from the Wolverine's left arm. In turn, the Wolverine hit the Centurion with the medium laser and six SRMs. A lucky hit scored the part-expended autocannon ammunition. The pilot was immediately auto-ejected - fortunately, as the ensuing chain-reaction triggered the second ton of ammunition, which, in turn, destroyed most of the 'mech, triggering an engine Stackpole. The Wolverine, standing next to this, took damage to the left leg, while the Jenner and Locust each had an arm stripped. As a result of the overwhelming damage, the Wolverine again fell, destroying the leg in the process.
The next round was mostly shuffling around, and no-one hit anyone. But in the follwoing round, the Locust destroyed the Wolverine's left arm. For some reason, in round thirteen, the Wolverine pilot attempted to stand, despite missing a leg ... and failed. And the same in round fourteen, during which the Locust, pursuing the one-armed Jenner, slipped on the road, and destroyed its own right arm in the ensuing skid. A third attempt by the Wolverine pilot to stand was too much, and the head damage from the fall killed the pilot. In the same round, the Locust removed the armour from one of the Jenner's legs, and destroyed the left arm, although not before losing the right torso rear armour.
The, literally, disarmed Jenner then fled the field, leaving it in the sole possession of the one-armed Locust. And a lot of fire, which had been spreading steadily through the fields ...
Lessons:
1. Keep your wingman close - especially if they're a bodyguard.
2. I still don't like fighting Phoenix Hawks or Jenners.
3. Play more often!
I might have another go at this battle, with a better idea of tactics for the lance, and this time I might see what effect switching the Firestarter's flamers to 'cook' mode will have on the Strike Lance.
