Great game yesterday Jester, thanks for putting it on! :thumbsup:
I just wish the Cyclops got to see a little more action before the Long Toms got that lucky hit on it.
Other than that, it was a bloody fight all around. For those who werent able to join us but wish to know some of the details, here you go.
The Amaris forces had:
Matar, Annihilator 1X, Rampage 4G, Pillager 3Z, Cyclops 10Z, Awesome 8Q, Dragoon 03, Helepolis 3H, Emperor 6A, 4 LRM turrets w/ twin LRM20s, 4 turrets w/ AC20 & twin SRM6s, 2 turrets w/ AC10 thumper artillery cannon 4 medium pulse lasers & 6 MGs. They also had some pit traps that filled with a highly corrosive acid and dozens upon dozens of minefields. All the turrets had gunnery skills of 3 and all their mech warriors were 1 gunners & 2 pilots.
SLDF:
Excalibur B2b, Warhammer 6R, Hussar Db, Lynx 9Q, Phoenix Hawk 1c (special), Cestus 6Y, Mongoose 66b, Bombardier 12D, Starslayer 2C, Osprey 15, King Crab 010, Black Knight 6b, Externinator 4C, Kyudo 02, Orion K, Marauder 2R, Griffin 2N, Phienix 3R, Stinger 3Gb, Shadow Hawk 2Hb, Archer 2Rb, Higander 732b, Shootist 8A, Battlemaster & 4 off-board Ling Toms. All the mech pilots were 2 gunners and 3 pilots with the exception of the King Crab being a 1/2.
The SLDF's objective was to find hidden entrances into a launch control facility and open up a way to try and get as many Maxims into the facility as they could. All Amaris forces had to do was stall the SLDF for as long as they could. The SLDF started with all their mechs on the board with the exception of the King Crab, Highlander, Shootist and Black Knight; those would enter the battlefield on turn 6 via combat dropping.
The first turn of the game started off with the SLDF advancing and shifting the bulk of their forces to their right flank to avoid going down the middle of the board that was flanked by 2 large hills. Upon one of these hills (the one the SLDF shifter towards) was the Rampage and Pillager. The opposite hill had the Emperor. Further behind those 2 hills (about12-14 hexes away) was the biggest hill on the board where all the rest of the Amaris mechs had deployed.
The SLDF started off by focusing on the Pillager and the Amaris in return opened up on the Cestus. The Pillager took a blistering amount of damage, but nothing major was lost. The Cestus was quickly dealt with when a gauss rifle punched through its face; first blood to Amaris.
The next couple turns saw the SLDF continue to push down their right flank and running into the first line of mines. 2 of the AC20 turrets revealed themselves (one on each of the middle hills) and began to lay down covering fire for the Pillager to pull back. The SLDF destroyed the turret closest to them. One of the LRM turrets on the hill where the rest of the Amaris mechs were started laying down thunder LRMs in the valley between the 2 middle hills. The Rampage and Pillgaer tried to take out the Mongoose to deprive the SLDF of one of their beagle probes; but in an amazing disaster, the Mongoose was largely missed. The Stinger ended up falling in a pit trap, but managed to get out of it using its jump jets before the acid could cripple it.
The SLDF Long Toms then started to make their presence felt as rounds began landing on the hill where the bulk of the Amaris mechs were positioned. Some light damage was done, but nothing too spectacular. The SLDF managed to chase the Pillager and destroy it. The other AC20 turret had been trying to engage targets that were in range, but kept missing with it's big gun.
The SLDF then managed to core the Rampage without any sizable loss in return; the remaining AC20 turret kept missing with 8s and 9s to hit... However, the minefields were slowing the SLDF down a bit. The Mongoose was finally taken out by a gauss rifle and other SLDF mechs were starting to take noticeable damage.
Seeing that they were spending too much time on trying to clear minefields, the SLDF decided to charge through them. When they passed the 2nd line of mines, another AC20 turret revealed itself and open fired. All the Amaris LRM turrets then started to fire swarm missiles at the clump of SLDF mechs with 1 of the AC10 turrets engaging the Hussar to remove the last BAP the SLDF had left on the board.
This is when the SLDF made their push towards the big hill. Over the next couple turns the SLDF managed to lose the Hussar, the Phoenix Hawk (which was kicked in the head by the Awesome), the Lynx (who tried to DFA the Annihilator), the Warhammer and the Excalibur passed out from 4 pilot hits. The Cyclops got unlucky and had one of the Long Tom rounds drift right behind it. Damage from the Long Tom managed to punch through its rear left torso which caused an ammo explosion taking it out in a conflagration. This was also about when the lance of the King Crab, Highlander, Black Knight and Shootist landed to join the fight.
The Annihilator and Awesome started to go internal on several locations. The Awesome lost one of its PPCs and the Annihilator lost an LBX. Despite the Amaris side starting to become overwhelmed, the SLDF were running out of time. They only found 2 of 4 entrances. One had been rigged to detonate and exploded in the faces of the Griffin and Exterminator thereby collapsing it. The other one had the Matar (untouched btw) sitting right in front of it.
The Bombardier's LRM ammo had been depleted and decided to charge the 4th AC20 turret that had revealed its position when it fired at the Black Knight in the previous turn. With the combined firepower from the Emperor, who had managed to retreat to the main hill, and the AC20 turret the Bombardier was destroyed.
As a side note, the little Stinger that could managed to fall into another pit but was able to stand up in the same turn to get out the following round.
It was at this point I called the game due to time constraints. We had completed 7 full turns. I had secretly written down that starting at the end of turn 10 I would roll a die to determine if the launch sequence had reached a point where a missile launch was unavoidable. If I rolled a 6 and the SLDF didnt have enough Maxims enter the base, then Amaris would win. If I didn't roll a 6 and the SLDF had forces inside the base, the SLDF would win. If I didnt roll a 6, but the SLDF didnt have enough Maxims in, then another turn would be played. On the following turn the die roll for a launch to occur would drop from a 6 to a 5.
Because we had to call time, I did a hypothetical to see how many turns it would take to launch. The Amaris side would have needed to hold off the SLDF for an additional 5 turns. Looking at the board state, I made a judgement call saying the SLDF would be able to get the Maxims in, but just barely.
The Maxims were 2 tunrs away from getting in a position to make a dash for an entrance. During that time, the Black Knight would have been able to find 1 of the 2 remaining hidden doors. The SLDF had enough mechs to blow open that door and give the remaining Amaris mechs stuff to deal with at the same time.
The SLDF may have lost another mech or 2 during this time. The Marauder had started going internal on its CT and had taken a gyro and engine hit. Amaris would most certainly have lost the Annihilator during this time ad it was about to lose its RT and was about to start having its CT take internal damage. The Awesome was on the verge of losing both its arms, but that wouldnt have affected it that much.
So in summary, the SLDF would have managed to win the scenario by the skin of their teeth. The total loses for each side were the following:
AMARIS
3/4 AC20 turrets
3/4 LRM turrets
1/2 AC10 turrets
Pillager
Annihilator
Cyclops
Rampage
SLDF
Cestus
Bomabardier
Marauder
Mongoose
Hussar
Phoenix Hawk
Lynx
Excalibur
Warhammer
Long Tom artillery piece (from Helepolis counter battery fire)
The Amarus side had some really unlucky rolls. The Pillager managed to miss with both of its gauss rifles in 2 consecutive turns needing 5s to hit. Then there was the Long Tom that scattered behind the Cyclops that caused an ammo explosion. Out of all the shots the AC20 turrets took, which was at least a dozen, only one hit. Most of the shots needed 8s and 9s to hit, but 1 or two of those should have hit. The only time an AC20 turret hit was when the Bombardier got right next to one; every other shot from the AC20s missed.
The worst luck the SLDF had was when the Stinger fell in those 2 pits and the Cestus getting head shot in the first turn.
Other than that, there really wasnt much either side could have done better. The SLDF kept their mechs concentrated (for the most part) and focused on the biggest threats as the situation changed.
Amaris did a good job of taking out the Hussar and Mongoose before they could get use their BAPs to great effect; although the Mongoose should have died much earlier if it wasnt for those 2 bad rounds of shooting from the Pillager. The only thing could have possibly been done different is not having the Helepolis do counter battery. I completely understand why it was done and I am not criticizing the decision to take out the Long Toms; but it would have been interesting to see what sort of different results may have happened had it kept shooting at the SLDF on the map.
Both sides played well I think everyone had a good time playing. I want to thank everyone who came out to the game and for putting up with the parking complications. I especially want to thank Jatska and Firesprocket for providing some of the mechs I didnt have that were used in the game. I also want to thank Daryk, megs1120, and Jatska (again) for helping with setting up the game and helping take it down. Thank you Paul for helping out the SLDF people and make the game run a bit smoother.
Look forward more games with you all. Until then, cheers!
-Jester
