Author Topic: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs  (Read 16643 times)

Lyran Archer

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Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« on: 05 February 2011, 23:05:18 »
Scenario:

On a frontier world within the Lyran Commonwealth in the 3050's, a planetary governor declares independence from House Steiner. He is gambling that Tharkad is too focused on the Clan invasion to send valuable troops to his far-flung world. He is wrong. The Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces land and begin advancing on his capital from the south. The governor has hired a mercenary BattleMech unit and now calls to them from their base north of the city to defend him from the approaching Lyran forces.

Set-up:

The Defender (the mercs) begins on the north edge of the city map. The Attacker (the LCAF) begins on the south edge of a pond map south of the city. Both start with equal BV points.

Objectives:

The Attacker wins if the Governor's tower (Level 4 Hardened - 150 CF), the admin building (Level 1 Medium - 40 CF), and the power plant (Level 1 Medium - 40CF) are destroyed (a total of 230 CF points). The Defender wins if any of these three buildings are still standing at the end of the battle. 

My opponent, known as Lord Cameron on the classicbattletech forums, is my opponent. We choose our forces and then roll to see who will be the attacker and who will be the defender. Lord Cameron will be the defender and I will play the attacker.

The defending mercs played by Lord Cameron include a Guillotine 8D, a Wolverine 7M, a Hatchetman 5S, and a Phoenix Hawk 3M.



My loyal LCAF attacking force includes four Archer 5Ws and a TAG varient Scimitar hovercraft.



The tall dark governor's tower dominates the middle of the city with the admin building right beside it and the power plant to the northwest at hex 0406.



The Lyran Archer fire lance and Scimitar gain sight of the city.



The Archers and hovercraft approach the city cautiously.



The rebellious governor, high in his dark, fortified tower, takes comfort as his hired guns enter his city and pass by far beneath him.



The mercs block the entrance to the city but the Archers have no intention of entering yet. The Lyran Archers can target the towering stronghold from far outside the city and as some of the 160 LRMs from the LCAF fire lance slam into his tower, the governor demands that the mercs close with the Steiner forces.



The mercs move out as fast as they can but the Guillotine skids and falls - NEVER RUN IN THE CITY!!! The Wolverine and Phoenix Hawk are faster and engage the Archers while the Hatchetman is left behind. The Scimitar zooms into the center of the city. There is nothing the mercs can possibly do to save the governor. A second salvo of 160 LRMs brings down the mighty tower, killing the governor.



The remaining rebels in the admin building and power plant now frantically demand that the mercs do whatever they can. The mercs, knowing that they won't get paid if their employers don't survive, desperately charge the Archers but the Hatchetman and Gullotine are too slow to keep up and the Wolverine and Phoenix Hawk find themselves hopelessly outmatched . Besides the two LRM 20 racks, each Archer 5W carries two SRM 4s and a NARC launcher and can fire all weapons while running without building up any heat. The Wolverine is the target of four NARC homing beacons and a barrage of 32 SRMs but is finally brought to the ground by an Archer's kick. The Hatchetman is closing but the Guillotine still lags behind.



The merc Wolverine gets up and withdraws while the Hatchetman closes to its happy place. A furious slugfest ensues. Archers fire LRMs indirectly at the admin building, spotted by the Scimitar, reducing that rebel-held building to rubble. The merc Hatchetman swings his hatchet at an Archer but misses.



Both sides back off. The Archers withdraw to a more comfortable longer range and the mercs begin to retreat, knowing that there is nothing they can do to save their employers. The remaining rebels curse in vain as missiles from the Archers and Scimitar blow the power plant to smithereens and end their lives. With no employers left alive, the mercs head north.



With all rebel installations destroyed, the Archers pursue the retreating mercs. The Scimitar foolishly zooms into the middle of the mercs in the hopes of attaching NARC homing beacons onto the withdrawing 'Mechs but a blast from the Hatchetman's LB-X cannon immobilizes it. The Hatchetman in turn is too slow retreating and finds itself on the receiving end of the Archers' LRM barrage. The Hatchetman's pilot is knocked unconscious and the 45-ton merc 'Mech topples to the ground.



Both immobile units are doomed. The Hatchetman is blown to smithereens by LRMs and SRMs from the Archer lance while the three remaining mercs concentrate fire on the Scimitar and destroy it.



The mercs flee north as the four Lyran Archers enter the city from the south. The rebellion is over.



I love NARCs!!!  [rockon] The +2 to the cluster hits roll is nice but what I really love is being able to target units with indirect fire without needing a spotter! The Archer 5W also really impressed me. Having all those SRMs and LRMs and being able to fire everything while running without worrying about heat was really nice. Plus, I think it really makes an opponent nervous when there's a homing beacon guiding missiles onto his 'Mech!

I think this scenario would have been better if the defenders had started in the city rather than having to enter from the north. Anyhoo, it was still a lot of fun. I love city fighting.
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

Mattlov

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #1 on: 05 February 2011, 23:15:13 »
Remember the Narc Beacon does not take effect until the NEXT turn after attachment.

Good to see the Archers get a solid win, but when the objective is destroy buildings, it is really hard to lose a scenario like that.  Buildings are just too easy to smash.
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Old Knight

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #2 on: 05 February 2011, 23:29:22 »
With another map between city and archer sides, the game would have been more equal.  Nice report anyway !! :-)
It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, be able to evade them; if weaker, be able to avoid them.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #3 on: 05 February 2011, 23:48:23 »
Remember the Narc Beacon does not take effect until the NEXT turn after attachment.

Good to see the Archers get a solid win, but when the objective is destroy buildings, it is really hard to lose a scenario like that.  Buildings are just too easy to smash.

We did remember that. The rules were more than explicit about the next weapons phase. I find NARCs more useful as indirect guidance than cluster hit boosters anyway.

I was prepared to defend the city as well if that was the result of the choice of attacker/defender roll-off, but yeah, the buildings went down a lot faster than I had thought they would.
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

markhall

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #4 on: 06 February 2011, 12:51:19 »
Nice report.
There is very little that the defenders could do to spot those LRM Vollies. But even when they started fighting against your forces they got pasted.

I'm not sure how Happy the locals will be with House Troops firing on their hometown.
All those Poor Civilans.

I can see a few interesting New reports after this.



Trenchknife

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #5 on: 06 February 2011, 20:06:10 »
Interesting scenario....with the Archers on the offense there was never any doubt that they would win the scenario. 

If you are going to do city fighting in the future I recommend actuallly using a city.  :)  The fact that you could range fire on your objectives from the outset had this pretty much decided.   If you have to fight IN a city with building cutting off LOS to your target you have to rely on your spotter living long enough to NARC every target or having to close in yourself.  That certainly makes it more interesting.  As it stands your city was only 300 meters by 300 meters...that's...tiny.

Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #6 on: 06 February 2011, 21:10:55 »
Interesting scenario....with the Archers on the offense there was never any doubt that they would win the scenario. 

If you are going to do city fighting in the future I recommend actuallly using a city.  :)  The fact that you could range fire on your objectives from the outset had this pretty much decided.   If you have to fight IN a city with building cutting off LOS to your target you have to rely on your spotter living long enough to NARC every target or having to close in yourself.  That certainly makes it more interesting.  As it stands your city was only 300 meters by 300 meters...that's...tiny.

So, you're perhaps suggesting flipping a map over so that the entire map is pavement and then fill the entire map with buidings so that the entire map is city with the objectives out of sight deep within the city. I LOVE IT!!! Now I just got to get my hands on A LOT more buildings!
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

Trenchknife

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #7 on: 07 February 2011, 01:24:20 »
It gets a lot easier if you by one of the map compilation sets.  I think it's Com Set #2 that has all the nice city maps.  I'm running a scenario with six mapboards on the weekends...all six maps are city.  Buildings and pavement and streets...OH MY!

Crunch

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #8 on: 07 February 2011, 02:07:46 »
It gets a lot easier if you by one of the map compilation sets.  I think it's Com Set #2 that has all the nice city maps.  I'm running a scenario with six mapboards on the weekends...all six maps are city.  Buildings and pavement and streets...OH MY!

The next map pack is supposed to be urban terrain as well.
Quote
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Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #9 on: 07 February 2011, 08:09:26 »
It gets a lot easier if you by one of the map compilation sets.  I think it's Com Set #2 that has all the nice city maps.  I'm running a scenario with six mapboards on the weekends...all six maps are city.  Buildings and pavement and streets...OH MY!

I actually have almost every map ever printed and I do have several city maps with buildings printed on them, but, visually, I hate them. We play at FLGS and when people walk by and see a 3D city with BattleMechs running around, they say, "Cool!" There is a wowness factor that you just don't get from the completely flat city maps. At first glance you can't even tell it's a city until you look close and see that some terrain are buildings. I'll just by more monsterapocolypse buildings.
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

markhall

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #10 on: 07 February 2011, 09:30:46 »
And the Ral partha ones work well too.

But the monster ones are a nice easy addition to any table.

Lord Cameron

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #11 on: 07 February 2011, 11:52:53 »
Good to see the Archers get a solid win, but when the objective is destroy buildings, it is really hard to lose a scenario like that. Buildings are just too easy to smash.

Yep! I think I got in one or two hits (ERLL's) before the primary objective was destroyed.
The initial scenario objectives were only the tower & the power plant.

With another map between city and archer sides, the game would have been more equal.  Nice report anyway !! :-)

That was my thought too.
Defender should set up on the map between the city & the attacker's entry map.
Unfortunately it's tough to get table space on Saturdays, we only had room for 2 x 21/2 maps
« Last Edit: 07 February 2011, 11:55:20 by Lord Cameron »
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Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #12 on: 07 February 2011, 12:18:26 »
Yep! I think I got in one or two hits (ERLL's) before the primary objective was destroyed.
The initial scenario objectives were only the tower & the power plant.

Okay, this was my first time making up a BattleTech scenario in fifteen years!  :D I think, however, that if you had of deployed more to the west of the city and had just run down the board edge at my Archers you may have had a chance.

That was my thought too.
Defender should set up on the map between the city & the attacker's entry map.
Unfortunately it's tough to get table space on Saturdays, we only had room for 2 x 21/2 maps

Agreed. Very much agreed. In hindsight, the defender should have been able to deploy at least anywhere on the city map.

Oh well, it's your turn next time to come up with the scenario, Lord Cameron.
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

Lord Cameron

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #13 on: 07 February 2011, 17:00:11 »
I actually have almost every map ever printed and I do have several city maps with buildings printed on them, but, visually, I hate them.

No there are also printed maps with NO buildings, just printed streets. You can place the buildings in the empty lots. :)
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Lord Cameron

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #14 on: 08 February 2011, 01:38:08 »
Okay, this was my first time making up a BattleTech scenario in fifteen years!  :D

No worries, now we know how easy it is to kill buildings.  ;D
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Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #15 on: 08 February 2011, 09:22:43 »
No there are also printed maps with NO buildings, just printed streets. You can place the buildings in the empty lots. :)

Okay, I looked and found three or four of the maps you were talking about. Here's a pic:



I'm still going to need a LOT more buildings to fill the city out but I agree that it does look better. I put a bridge in the foreground (a Demolisher is about to cross it). Maybe we can use that in future capture-the-bridge scenarios. Also, maybe capturing installations would be better than just destroying them. Anyhoo, kill and learn...I mean, live and learn.
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

Old Knight

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #16 on: 10 February 2011, 13:56:29 »
No worries, now we know how easy it is to kill buildings.  ;D
I wasn't knowing that when you hit a building with a cluster weapon, all the shot automatically hit.
 ;)
It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, be able to evade them; if weaker, be able to avoid them.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #17 on: 10 February 2011, 16:16:43 »
I wasn't knowing that when you hit a building with a cluster weapon, all the shot automatically hit.
 ;)

It doesn't unless you're standing right beside it. The Archers fired altogether 160 missiles per turn and I only need a few to hit to make it hurt. The to-hit numbers were pretty low even at long range:

4 (gunnery) + 4 (long range) + 2 (running) - 4 (immobile target) = 6

The level 4 tower and the power plant were hit by direct fire so there wasn't even an indirect modifier. If even 5 of the 8 LRM racks hit, there's a potential of 100 damage, of which I'll score around 60 against the building. Even a hardened building thus goes down pretty quickly. Also, I wasn't always running or even moving my Archers.

The guy I played against, Lord Cameron, is a Catalyst demo agent so we're not making any silly mistakes like that.   
« Last Edit: 10 February 2011, 17:20:48 by Lyran Archer »
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

Old Knight

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #18 on: 14 February 2011, 19:43:41 »
So i wasn't wrong. Good to know that i don't make a mistake in applying rules but i surely don't understand well your stories. Don't worry Lyran Archer, your explanation is clear but english is not my native language and i sometimes missunderstand what people write down here.  ;)
Anyway, thank you to correct me  ;D
It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, be able to evade them; if weaker, be able to avoid them.
All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Jackmc

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #19 on: 14 February 2011, 19:54:14 »
If even 5 of the 8 LRM racks hit, there's a potential of 100 damage,

In the long run, you'll find yourself getting a little bit better results with your Archers if you base you tactics off the average damage of the racks rather than the max potential.  In the case of LRM-20's average is 12 pts or 16 w/ Artemis or Narc.

-Jackmc


Lyran Archer

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #20 on: 14 February 2011, 21:05:31 »
In the long run, you'll find yourself getting a little bit better results with your Archers if you base you tactics off the average damage of the racks rather than the max potential.  In the case of LRM-20's average is 12 pts or 16 w/ Artemis or Narc.

-Jackmc

True. Regardless, it only takes the Archer lance two or three turns to take down even a hardened building. Lord Cameron and I decided after playing this battle that capturing objectives would be a more challenging scenario than blowing stuff up, which was simply too easy. Even keeping the building hidden doesn't help because a spotter can easily zoom around and spot for indirect fire.
LCAF German Expeditionary Militia Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust: 1 Overlord class DropShip, 1 Fortress class DropShip, 2 AeroSpace Fighters, 4 BattleMech Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Battalion
Motto: STAND (behind a hill) AND DELIVER (indirectly via spotter)!

Mattlov

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Re: Lyran Archers vs Rebel-employed Mercs
« Reply #21 on: 14 February 2011, 21:28:10 »
Of course with TacOps you can get silly, like armoring buildings as well.  I envision a game where there is a difficult to see building, covered in armor, and about 30 Anti-Missile Systems on the roof.  }:)
"The rules technically allow all sorts of bad ideas." -Moonsword


 

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