05/09/ 2015 3015, on the 13th planet in the Chemshaw cluster...
One of the remaining Clan Wolf garrisons were preparing to depart when they received intel of a disturbance on a facility controlled by their known-enemy, the Point Barrow Lancers - an InnerSphere unit belonging to the Crucis March Militia. Although already dispatched to "remind" the Wolves that they were to be leaving, both unit's surveys brought back news of a third party present on the planet - a combination of assault tanks and half-Mechs, all painted in black and gray stripes bearing the Greek letter for "Gemini" on a sigil of inverted colors.
Deployment Round...
Not willing to leave uncontested, the Wolves dispatched a binary to the location of the factory while the Lancers sent a full company (light, heavy, and an assault command lance) - all comms silent in their approach to investigate the new presence on the planet. ...In a matter of hours, all three forces met on the battlefield, full spec sensors. Most of the approach of the mystery force was concealed under each vehicle's ECM fields until several half-mechs running at high speed dashed out towards the center of the gathering - in full view of everyone else.
A Point of Protomech Centaurs...
First Round...
Immediately recognizing the formation/use of the protomechs by the Wolves' many favorite enemies - the Hell's Horses, [specifically, a rogue batch that identify themselves as the Gemini Cluster] - the Wolves began to divide their forces into pack formations, half a star sweeping west to intercept the Lancer's light lance, the other half to investigate the martial forces the Horses brought in the east... all the while devoting considerable attention to the rest of the Lancer's concealed beyond the northern ridge.
The Lancers, aware that they had more than one hostile force encroaching on their factory, split their forces to the west (Light lance), center (heavy lance), and east (command) towards a favorable sniping position within the factory's defense bunkers... but they were intercepted by the mystery forces before they could get into position.
The Gemini Cluster - comprised of a single star with 3 points of Centaur, Gorgon, and Minotaur protomechs, and 4 assault-class tanks - also split its forces, but more judiciously. The Minotaurs on the top-most ridge of the factory used their jumpjets to leap back down and reinforce their Gorgon brothers, cloistering around a pair of Mars Assault tanks that had maneuvered towards the same sniping-position the Lancer's Command Lance was running towards. Backing those forces up were one of the Carnivores - taking aim at a Devastator. On the southern side of the east field, the other Carnivore took particular interest in the presence of one of the Wolves' Vultures lingering outside a thatch of trees... well within reach of its devastating hyper-assault gauss rifle. Still using cover for most of the other forces, the Centaurs used their speed to leap out into the open, coordinating indirect missile strikes from their Gemini brothers from beyond the safety of their cover.
The biggest exchange of fire raged in the north-east corner as the Lancer's Devastator, Longbow, and Warhammer duked it out with the Gorgons, Minotaurs, a Carnivore and twin Mars Assaults. Originally expected to fight from range, the Lancer's were overwhelmed by the combination of LRMs and HAGs, the Gemini quickly felling the Longbow (whom could only watch as his missiles sailed too high and wide ,See Pic)) and crippling the Devastator while sending the Warhammer scurring for cover. The Devastator managed to take down two of the Minotaurs during the exchange, but realized too late that the real threat were the assault tanks. ...The Centaur spotters were ineffectual, losing two of their numbers while in the open field. Their damaged contributed little, save for a distraction as the second Carnivore shredded the cloister of trees in an effort to down the unsuspecting Vulture - whose return fire yielded little result while losing an arm and all of its armor in the right torso. Unfortunately for the Carnivore, the Lancer's WarWolf and Marauder had clear line of sight to its flank and put several rounds successfully into the vehicle, stripping the armor and giving pause to the threat of that particular assault tank.
Across the field, more weapons fire was exchanged but no hits were scored. Units were still moving to range as cover was slowly becoming scarce.
2nd Round...
The tactical advantage was lost - all 3 forces were fully engaged and timing was ever-more critical. (Initiative was 12's for everyone, including a Tactical Genius reroll for the Lancers of 12). Ultimately, it was the Gemini that took advantage of the moment.
Seizing the opportunity to strike, the second Mars had already been lining up a shot on the Devastator when, in pre-emptive fashion, loosed it's array of weapons upon its prey. Taking a gauss rifle and large laser to its torso, the HAG clusters ripped apart the Devastator's innards, sending engine bits and myomer bundles scattering every which way - the missile salvos raining down upon it as if ensuring the assault mech was, indeed, dead. [Combat Intuition]
The wounded Carnivore withdrew to safer cover as well, determined to keep its fully functional weapon trained on Wolf hostiles. Fortunately, it still had a target after moving to cover - the Wolve's Thor leapt from cover to help create a trap for the Lancer's in-bound Light lance. The Carnivore lined up a shot on the Thor's flank, peeling off enough damage to give the pilot pause for alarm.
The Wolve's crippled Vulture withdrew, but only so far out of range before a lone Minotaur came spying after it - matching speed. Again, the woods could not protect the Vulture as it fell beneath the Minotaur's missile salvo, but not before the the Wolves combined might leveled the factory shielding the Gemini forces and exploiting the cowardly combatants.
Stunned by the sudden "erasure" of their cover, the Gemini Gorgons were ill-prepared for what happened next: the Lancer's 80-ton Charger - bearing a chain whip and sword - leaped into the air and came crashing down behind one of their kin. In a blink of an eye, the assault-mech's melee weapons tore through and shreded the hapless protomech, the chain ripping the legs off with a single sweep while the sword came down, cleaving the rest of the unit from head to torso. It is still unknown whether it was blood or coolant that sprayed the Charger's canopy ferroglass...
The two Assault tanks that missed the bloody exchange responded to the squeal of the brother Gorgons. Although they could not turn to face the 80-ton assailaint, they were able to train their turrets to the south and stripped the cocky-pilot of its armor... yet they could not fell the beast.
The Warhammer escaped to it's secondary cover, disjointed from the destroyed factory ruins and using the Charger's assault as a distraction. It maintained its maneuvering to keep as many of the Gemini out of its sight, but only managed barely. Pursued by a pair of Minotaurs, their shots struck out the Warhammer's exposed criticals and caught the ammo bin on the left side, sending the assault mech to the dirt.
Rounding the corner after the Devastator's destruction, the Warwolf thought it could catch the primary Mars offguard. The two exchanged fire successfully, though the tank seemed unphased by the heavy-mech's presence. Both it and the northern-most Carnivore made short work of its armor during the exchange.
The Vulpes and Marauder found themselves nearing the center of the open field. Using cover - both terrain and barricades - they managed to make clever strikes on the Wolves but miscalculated the presence of the Gemini protomechs. The Marauder watched as the Warhammer went down and sent a threatening volley towards the Mars tank that made the kill, but missed, sending its shots too high. The Vulpes, remained within sight of the Centaurs, a pair of which landed shots from the exposed side of the protective barricade while the third called in airstrikes from the Gorgons and Minotaurs - peeling away enough armor to breach the internals. The Stealth armor, it seems, was no match for indirect fire...
On the west side of the map, the faster Light lance of the Lancers continued to maneuver for position, getting closer and closer to the partial intercepting Star. The Wolves respected the speed of their opponents, giving them wide berths and choosing optimal cover to fire from - hoping to eventually catch one making a mistake.
Round 3...
With their cover gone and their presence exposed, the Gorgons, Centaurs, and Minotaurs clamoured in withdrawl. They knew they couldn't out-maneuver the jumping Charger, nor could they afford to be struck out in the open when the Wolves bared their teeth. Instead, they swarmed to disrupt any path the melee-mech could possibly take, putting themselves around the wounded Carnivore and one of the Mars.
The Vulpes, with internals exposed, retreated downhill towards cover, but foolishly exposing its flank to a pair of awaiting Minotaurs detatched from their kin. Their missile made little work out of [what was left] of the unit.
The Wolves roared to life, sending mechs up the hill or to the sides, destroying most of the Lancer's Light lance, and crippling the Loki that crested the far-west ridge - but not before it put the approaching Fenris on its heels and sent it tumblign down the rockface. The south-eastern factory ruins continued to shield most of the retreating Gemini forces, but could not halt the Wolf advance. The MadCat made quick work of the wounded Carnivore, blasting the center turret to pieces before being riddled with holes by the cluster-shot hyper-assault gauss the tank was toting. The remaining Centaurs plinked away at the MadCat's armor with their heavy lasers, but could only threaten the big-Wolf with their arsenal - that pilot was not impressed.
The leader of the Wolves finally emerged from the woods at the center - an ace pilot who was debating on who she was going to exchange fire with. Seizing the opportunity of the removed cover, she took a long aim at one of the assault tanks on the far-east field that had been doing all the fighting and launched its missiles and ppcs, scoring hits across the hull of the tank. The Mars crew were not impressed; laughing off the attack, they coordinated a strike against the Madcat commander but their volleys only managed taunt the Wolves into pursuing them.
The Warwolf closed to get a better shot at the Mars, hoping to strip enough armor off one of the Mars coming to melee with the Charger, but succombed to weapons fire as the Carnivore's HAG was just too much to take.
After finally closing in to grapple and sunder the closest Mars tank, the Charger raised both its weapons high in order to come smashing down on the distracted vehicle. Unfortunately, the spray on the canopy glass concealed the presence of the Gorgons nearby as it unleashed a salvo of LRMs right up into the cockpit. Like the proverbial uppercut in a fighting duel, the Charger reeled back and toppled over from the blow, smoke billowing out of from where the ferro-glass windshield was as the Lancer's commander's body melted from the heat after being separated by the blast.
Round 4... {did not play; hit time limit}
After having their forces reduced by 50%, the remaining Lancers withdrew, leaving the Wolves to fight off whatever else the Gemini Cluster had to offer them...
**Edits** forgot about the Warwolf. Would've liked to have seen it in more action :-X
