Battletech San Diego [Battle Reports]

[btech.tijuana]

Hello! First post, but long time Battletech fan.

First game here, a practice game. A training battle between Davion and Kurita. This thread will be a battle report blog.

The skirmish forces:

Davion Thunderbolt TDR-5SE - Commander Bisla Stinger STG-3G Phoenix Hawk PHX-1 Kurita Shadowhawk SHD-2K - Commander Tanaka Panther PNT-9R Jenner JR7-D During the Third Succession War, in the Draconis March, a battle occurred on an unidentified border planet. The DCMS and Federated Suns military fought for control of a small settlement. This battle happened some time before 3025, when Commander Vanessa Bisla was a junior officer... Vanessa Bisla, ca. 3039 Some backdrop to the game, whether canon or not! So, we tried to make an even sized battle. All Mechwarriors were Gunnery 4, Piloting 5. The battlefield, with a few additional mechs we did not use Deployment: Davion began in the bottom left, and Kurita in the top middle of the map, centered around a small hill. First turn: The Davions all jumped forward, while the Kuritans positioned on the hill to shoot. The Jenner ran up and snuck behind Davion lines, hiding behind a colony building. Next few turns: The Jenner pilot courageously jumped up behind the Thunderbolt, aiming to unload their arsenal on the back armor. However, the first turn we had moved all mechs one side at a time, but the second turn onwards alternating by initiative. My mistake, and the Thunderbolt turned around to face the Jenner, head on short range. And then, Commander Bisla's lance member in the Stinger jumped up to assist. The Pheonix Hawk jumped up on a nearby hill, giving all 3 Davion mechs a turn to blast the Jenner. The Jenner fired at the Thunderbolt, Kurita having the initiative, but did little damage. Then, all 3 Davion mechs responded, decimating the Jenner's armor all around, and also destroying both arms of the Jenner. Ouch! However, the Thunderbolt exposed its rear to the Kuritans on the mountain, armed with PPCs. Both the Panther and the Shadowhawk connected with their PPCs, including the LRM-5. The back rear torso was penetrated, and a critical hit damaged the Thunderbolt's gyro. Seeing that the Jenner would be destroyed, the Phoenix Hawk began moving towards the other Kuritans. Damaged but determined, the Jenner jumped and caught up to the heated-up and slowed Phoenix Hawk, landing a Death from Above attack. The Phoenix Hawk was still facing the Jenner, shooting all its weapons, the Large Laser, Medium Laser, and Machine Guns, almost destroyed the Jenner, but which still had its legs, barely staying together in its internal structure. The Stinger and Thunderbolt turned around and moved up to engage the Panther and Shadowhawk. The Kuritans on the hill kept their fire on the Thunderbolt, stripping away its armor. The Stinger advanced to flank the Panther, which was busy with the Thunderbolt. The Phoenix Hawk, now overheating, continued moving north and shooting all of its weapons at the Jenner. Only one machinegun managed to hit this round, and the Jenner did another successful Death from Above on the Phoenix Hawk. The Phoenix Hawk was stripped of some armor, but really not hurt. The Stinger and Thunderhawk began shooting at the Shadowhawk and Panther. The Thunderbolt is a tank, and was taking all the Kuritan fire. The Phoenix Hawk used its machineguns to finish off the Jenner, also allowing the Phoenix Hawk to cool down. The Thunderbolt took a critical PPC hit to the center torso that destroyed the previously damaged gyro, causing the Thunderbolt to fall. The Thunderbolt was also at 20 heat points, avoiding an ammunition explosion, but then shut down! The Stinger ran up and blasted the Panther, meanwhile the Panther's SRMs were not causing much damage to the Stinger. Medium Lasers aren't bad close up! The Phoenix Hawk exchanged fire for a turn with the Shadowhawk, and then did a successful Death from Above attack on the Shadowhawk, displacing it. The Stinger tried to do a Death from Above on the Panther, but failed and fell. The Panther then blew off the left leg of the Stinger when it stood up, causing the Stinger to fall over again, and was finally destroyed by another PPC shot. The Thunderbolt's engine was restarted, but Commander Vannessa kept falling over and damaging her mech, eventually crawling 1 MP closer along the colony structures, out of line of sight. The Shadowhawk pushed the Phoenix Hawk off the cliff, causing the Pheonix Hawk to fall. At this point, the Davions surrendered. The Phoenix Hawk and Thunderbolt were still alive, but surrendered so that the mechs could be repaired later. The Draconis Combine took the field, and the two remaining Davion mechwarriors were taken captive. Overall, a good game! My son (Davion player). Well, it was a good game. We did well with the rules. There were no headshots, but the Death from Aboves were fun, and the two hits on the Gyro were hilarious. Later I saw the rapid-fire rules for machine guns; will make sure to try those rules in the future. PS-anyone in San Diego, send me a message!

[btech.tijuana]

Second game, playtesting and showcasing the new terrain. It was a good game, more learning: heat, minimum range, charging.

Draconis Combine vs Lyran Commonwealth, 3025 era

Kurita
Warhammer WHM-6K
Warhammer WHM-6K
Archer ARC-2R
Archer ARC-2R

Steiner
Marauder MAD-3R
Marauder MAD-3R
Crusader CRD-3R
Highlander HGN-733P

So, full lance this time and heavy mechs. More firepower, lots of heat, a Jumping assault mech. All of the mechwarriors were Gunnery 4, Piloting 5 again.

The battlefield

Initial turns: Kurita moved up on the hill. The Archers went into the forest, and the Warhammers moved up by the area of rough terrain. Steiner mechs all ran forward, with the Crusader going to the left.

The Kurita Warhammers focused their PPCs on the Highlander, which took damage as moving up, but nothing serious. The Archers focused their fire on one of the Marauders.

The Lyran Crusader & Highlander battered one of the Warhammers, getting into the internal armor on the left torso early, causing the Warhammers to move back and the Kuritans to form up a wall or 'circle the wagon' if you will, as the Crusader was positioning to get behind the Draconis lines. The Marauders were putting the hurt on one of the Archers, but the Archer was able to soak up the damage.

This game, the mechs went into Woods terrain, which did give some help protection wise.

Both sides had as many weapons blazing every turn as much output as we could, which caused all of the Mechs to heat up. Really, before we were not paying so much attention to the heat scale but did this game. Except for the Highlander, the rest of the mechs ended up having to take a turn to cool down. No one had any ammunition explosions, but one of the Marauders shut down on the Lyran side. Numerous mechs would be shutting down and restarting during this game.

The forward-most Warhammer was taking a lot of damage; the Crusader was rolling well with its LRMs, and also the Medium Lasers and SRMs were connecting in the medium-long range bracket. The Highlander went on the offensive. The Warhammer was really hurting; the left torso (if I remember right, this side did not hold any ammo) was destroyed and the Center torso already suffering a weak internal torso, so the Warhammer tried to move back on the backside of the mountain range. However, the Highlander was able to jump up, and both medium lasers damaged the Center torso again. Finally, the SRM hit the center once more and destroyed the Warhammer. First casualty of the game! This also put the Highlander behind, and above, the Kuritans.

The Archers focused fire on one of the Marauders, which was suffering damage, but the other was untouched. The Marauders were within the minimum range of the Archers, and the Archers had the Highlander above them, behind their backs. So, the Kuritans decided to get physical, with both Archers successfully charging the Marauders. One Marauder fell over, getting flipped around.

The gully in front of the mountains would become a mosh pit. Now I see why that term is used sometimes describing battletech! The Archers and Marauders were kicking each other and shooting their Medium Lasers. Really, no one was hurting anyone, and the Archers tried to back up again to start shooting.The Highlander saw the opportunity to do a Death from Above onto the closest Archer. But the Highlander missed and fell!

The fallen Highlander bolstered the Kuritans, who got too cocky, as one Archer decided to charge the fallen Highlander, exposing its back to one of the Marauders. The Marauder's cannonade pierced the rear left torso and detonated the Archer's ammo, destroying a second Kurita mech!

The Crusader and Warhammer had been brawling with their weapons, and the Warhammer was able to run behind the Crusader, which shutdown to overheating. Once the Crusader restarted, it ran towards its comrades.

The other Archer, seeing the destruction of his brother, ran across the road to try to get distance to fire its weapons.

The photo shows what I forgot, a lot of the Lyran mechs kept shutting down, as they were using every opportunity to fire off as many of their weapons as possible. The Warhammer used shutdown Lyrans to its advantage to run farther into the town, trying to take pot shots at the Highlander, which at this time was badly damaged. The Highlander had a leg destroyed, but managed to upright itself, and kept Jumping every turn closer to the Warhammer. Hop hop?

The Marauder was able to finish off the other Archer, destroying one side of its torso which contained ammunition. This made the game 3v1, but all of the Lyran mechs were running very hot, and all damaged. The Warhammer had a turn or two to run away and cool off. Unfortunately, the Warhammer was not connecting shots, and was heating up. A few hits could have destroyed any of the crippled Lyran mechs. But, the Warhammer shut down, and the Kuritans were defeated.

After Battle Report: It was a good game; the Crusader was really deadly, and the Highlander was able to follow up, working well in a team. The Marauders and Archers got to close to each other and were fluffing their attacks, kicking, pushing, charging and shooting with medium lasers. I can see why an AC/20 or some Mechs with Weapons like the Hatchetman can be useful for the up close / zoning.

Also, all of the mechs this game were not very fast, and we learned how to manage heat, what to shoot, what can hit at ranges etc. The Double Archers were pretty ineffective really, but a funny thing, the opening shots of the game were indirect fire from the backside of the mountain, connecting to a Marauder, who had a Warhammer spotting. The Marauders closed in too easily for the Archers, who did not have backup.

The Lyran Commonwealth took the field.

And here are some photos of other models prepared; infantry, tanks, Drones. The infantry have a loitering ammunition launcher. The vehicles are architectural models. I have more (cars, trucks etc) which can be used as props for the games.

Anyone remember Spaceman spiff? I used to follow his stuff back in the day. Seen some cool builds and models on this forum as well. I like the modeling aspect of the hobby as well. There is a tactical missile launcher as well from Reaper CAV which scales well, and some artillery and battlefield objectives. Drones are 3d prints & GHQ Predators. Infantry are Pendraken 10mm. I tried to do the 3d printed infantry, but they are so brittle and break when I pick them up. A little out of scale but not that much, and nice pewter free metal from what I can tell. The other infantry-infiltrator style suit guys are GZG 6mm.