This battle was fought in Louisville, KY on Sunday the 14th, 2013. We just have two active players, but we want to find our fellow Mechwarriors in the area and encourage the to come join us!
Situation:
Marian Hegemony raiders are intent in hitting warehouses full of goods before they are shipped to the drop port on the world of Thraxa. Canopian forces are there to stop them.
Location:
Battle took place on two map sheets, one standard and the other had a hill. Due to limited area at the time, we didn't use three, but probably should have.
Objective:
Destroy the opposing force (same for both sides)
Defenders:
Two lances of Claybourne's Commandos (my opponent)
Skills - 4/5 across the board
2 x Wasps
2 x Locust 1V
2 x Locust 1M
1 x Phoenix Hawk
1 x Valkyrie
Attackers:
One Century from the Marian Hegemony Armed Forces (Me!)
Skils: 3/4 across the board
1 x Wasp
1 x Stinger
1 x Spider
1 x Centurion
1 x Panther
Result:
Marian Hegemony Victory with no loss of Mechs, but a heck of a lot of armor removed. Canopian forces lost five mechs (all four Locusts and the Valkyrie) and three withdrew with little damage.
Breakdown:
Canopian forces started aggressively with three Locusts and the Valkyrie moving in amongst the Marian forces to get behind them. As they won the first few rounds of initiative, they quickly succeeded with little damage to themselves. The three Marian Mechs, Centurion, Panther, & Spider, were outnumbered and out maneuvered consistently. Both the Centurion and Panther began losing back armor at a high rate. Several internal hits were scored, but no criticals were achieved. Marian forces were having a hard time connecting with any shots.
The Marian Stinger and Wasp were successful in gaining the attention of the Canopian Wasps, Phoenix Hawk and one Locust which kept them out of the main fight. After two rounds, the Defender realized his error and tried to redeploy his forces, but the Marian Wasp and Stinger made enough of a nuisance of themselves that they couldn't completely break away. Though the Locust joined its compatriots in the main engagement.
The break in the battle came when one Canopian Locust failed a piloting roll in two consecutive rounds. At the same time, Marian forces gained the initiative and were able to put down a Locust 1M and the Valkyrie with combined fire from the Centurion and Panther, luck of the dice, and a failed DFA from the Valkyrie.
Shortly thereafter, the Marian Wasp was able to break away and join the main battle which put the Marians in a position of superior numbers and firepower. The Canopians attempted to regroup, but the two remaining Locusts were dispatched with no kills to their credit.
When the Marian forces reformed and prepared to hit the remaining Canopian forces, the defenders withdrew to avoid the inevitable.
Analysis:
Both myself and my opponent were a bit rusty, so we made some errors on rules and such, but we did a good job. I only won this match as my opponent over committed to chasing down my Stinger and Wasp. Had he moved half of those forces into the main battle, the results would have been very different.
One things that did stand out was the skill differences. My pilots were fewer in numbers, but their higher skills kept them alive. Numerous times, I would willingly put my mechs into harmful but advantageous positions. With my high movement modifiers for jumping, my opponent was unable to hit me due to his skill level. Maximum jump movement made my Stinger, Spider and Wasp nigh untouchable! While they could not return much firepower, they did enough to keep my opponent engaged.
Most of the machines on the board were heat neutral so heat played no factor. Those mechs that did generate heat we able to cycle weapons or change movement type to cool off quickly.
Both my opponent and I said it was a good game and we are looking forward to a rematch.
