Situation February, 3068. Galatea
"After Outreach, we retreated to Galatea. Dad had some old friends there that could help us set up there for a while. With the costs of fleeing Outreach, as well as repairing from our failed mission there, money was running a little tight. It's nice to have friends in these times. Contracts were light, despite all of the chaos going on around us. Turns out that our name was being confused with another command, the Chaos Irregulars. I filed the paperwork to have an official name change made, said it'll take a while. In the meantime we found a contract to our liking. The Free World League assaulted Skye, and the Alliance needed help clearing them off. Despite what happened to dad, I still love working for the Alliance. They always pay well, and this time wouldn't any different. Time and speed was of the essence. I sent Mel in with our scout craft. Despite poor terrain intel, we hit hard, and only one of their 'Mechs left the field, though with how it was moving, I suspect it would be overrun by the Lyrans before it could retreat. We did lose some of our brotherhood though. They'll be sorely missed." - Gabriel D'Vries
Setup:
Left to right, long edges - City Tech Map, Scattered Woods Map.
City Tech map had the airfield, with the long edge of that map being the defenders map edge. My forces would arrive on the Scattered Woods map.
Forces:
Attacker
The Chaos March Irregulars (Last game with that name) -
Melvinia "Mel" Richter (3/5) - Gallowglas GAL-1GLS
(4/5) - Pegasus Light Scout Hover
(3/5) - Pegasus Light Scout Hover
(3/4) - Bandit G
Foot Platoon (4/8) (Not trained for anti-mech.)
Defender
Quickdraw QKD-4H (4/5)
Hunchback HBK-4H (4/5)
Wasp WSP-3M (4/5) - "Ready Five"
Toyama TYM-1A (4/5) - "Ready Five"
Battlefield Conditions
Geysers (No effect, really...)
Force Conditions
Undergunned (Didn't benefit from Lyran Meat Shields.)
Optional Rules:
Floating Criticals
Careful Stand
Ground Vehicle Hit Location Chart removes the Critical on an 8 and the possible motive Damage on a 9.
(We also use VTOL Lateral Slip that Quads can use, but that is not pertinent to this battle. Though the same rule allows Hover to do the same. D'Oh.)
Phase 1:
My original intention was to zip in fast, destroy the ready five targets before they could activate (9+, starting on the End Phase of Turn 2.) Instead, the first couple of turns was me winding through the trees, rather than zipping across an empty field. I was able to bring the Bandit and a Pegasus to bear on the Toyama, targetting his right torso (since he was considered immobilized.) The other Pegasus and the Gallowglas put pressure on the Hunchback, knocking him prone at one point. The turn the Toyama dropped due to ammo explosion (Does the Word not believe in CASE?) the Wasp activated. No objective has been met yet.
Phase 2:
One Pegasus maneuvered to get behind the Quickdraw. The Wasp walked over to try and stomp him. The Bandit roamed over to take a shot at the Wasp, as did the second Pegasus. Wasp died in a blaze of SRM and laser fire. The Bandit, however, suffered enough motive damage to drop him to a 4/6. At this point, the Bandit and one of the two Pegasus attempt to return to my board edge, as they are far too damaged to continue to fight. Meanwhile, the Gallowglas and other Pegasus have yet to be damaged. Salt in the wounds has been met, as both units that started in ready five were destroyed.
Phase 3:
The retreating Pegasus was far ahead of the enemy units, and had no trouble making his way towards my board edge, even with the reduced maneuverability due to the Scattered Woods map. The Bandit, on the other hand, was chased by the Quickdraw, would could take advantage of the lack of speed and maneuverability that he Bandit had. Meanwhile, between the second Pegasus , the Gallowglas, and the Infantry, the Hunchback suffered enough pilot damage to force him to retreat (four hits). Despite needing a 10 to remain conscious, he remained awake, and was able to lob a single AC/10 into the Bandit, reducing his turret to enough that a single hit would take it out. As he retreated, the Gallowglas and remaining Pegasus turned their attention to the Quickdraw pursuing the Bandit.
Final Phase:
The Bandit was one turn from escape. If the Quickdraw either missed, failed to hit the turret, or failed to reduce his motive speed, the Bandit would escape the field. As luck would have it, the Quickdraw would hit but once. Sadly, luck didn't hold out as the single shot that hit found the turret. The Bandit, and it's entire crew, was lost. At that point, the Quickdraw had to contend with the remaining - barely hurt - Gallowglas, and the remaining Pegasus. It took a few turns, and the Quickdraw was forced into a withdrawal, falling in rubble from one of the building that the infantry had been demolishing, taking his first cluster of damage to the head. Not content to see it flee successfully, the Gallowglas and Pegasus continued to keep pressure on it, finally felling it with a large laser shot to the head. Final objectives met. Just plain mean - all enemy jumping 'mechs destroyed. Frugal is the word of the day - keep casualties at 25% or below.
There was a little bit of a "really?" moment, as my opponent chose to chase down the Bandit, rather than stay and defend the airbase that was still under attack. Still, this victory made up for the loss from the previous game. Only two years earlier. Heh.
