Motley's Marauders are still split into 2 elements following their respective retreats from Outreach and Fletcher at the start of the WoB jihad. Alpha and Gamma companies, along with their battalion command lance and their new small vehicle/infantry force traveled to Galatea and took a contract with the Skye/Bolan forces, supporting Operation Uberschatten. The contract has the mercs filling rear echelon roles while the Lyran troops do most of the front-line fighting. In their first action, the Marauders were assigned to guard a supply depot, which was almost razed to the ground by a small insurgent force that was made up of ex-Colfax militia and former FWL warriors who had escaped the main fighting. Angered and more than a little embarrassed, the Marauders made it their mission to hunt down the insurgent force and get some payback.
Meanwhile, commander Allen, leader of the FWL forces, found that word of his success had spread and some new recruits began arriving. Among them was Major Wallace, who disagreed with Allen's conservative approach and lusted for offensive action against the Lyran's mercenary puppets. When Allen ordered his units split up between multiple "safe" locations, Wallace fumed. Of his own accord, he went into a nearby town on an intelligence gathering mission and got himself captured by a Lyran security patrol. His lance, who were fiercely loyal to him, immediately set off on a rescue mission. His hands tied, Allen was forced to support the attack. He sent a combined tank/infantry force to try to halt the security convoy and rescue Wallace.
The defenseless security convoy halts in cover.
Wallace's lancemates close in
Unfortunately for Allen, Motley's Marauders had also sent along an escort, consisting of a short lance of Saladin hovercraft and the Old Man's command lance of four assault Mechs. The FWL forces put up a fight but the Marauder firepower was too great and Wallace remained a prisoner.
At the FWL main base, Allen was faced with another problem. The Marauders had identified the petrochemical refinery as a potential insurgent base and were combat dropping right outside his front door. With no time to plan a move and nowhere to go, the FWL troops came out to fight.
The table at set up. It's not evident in most of the pics but the large storage tank and the tall smokestack both have blinking LED lights, because atmosphere...
Insurgent tanks come out to play
VTOLs are a pain in the rear
Catapult bombards while Marauder forces advance in the open
Insurgents get lucky and take down a speedy Tarantula
Cover does not help the FWL Warhammer. He sustained multiple crits and went down hard
Marauder air support arrives and mostly misses
Marauder heavies prepare to sweep around to the left
VTOLs move out on their way to being annoying
FWL Thunderbolt bites it
Both sides took casualties. The Marauders were able to retreat their most damaged units in order to preserve most of their strength, but the FWL were not so lucky. Their VTOLs and J. Edgars were skillfully handled, and picked at the Marauders all game. The mercs simply had no answer for their speed and flanking ability, but the light units couldn't hold the facility without their Mech support. At the end, both sides felt that they could not take much more, and were each secretly considering retreating, but the Marauder field commander decided to push it for one more turn. In the last turn, they downed the FWL Hercules, leaving the Vindicator as the sole insurgent Mech standing. The insurgents could not hold the field and sounded the general retreat. The Marauders were content to let them go, as long as they took the pesky VTOLs with them.
These battles were run simultaneously at Games and Stuff, Glen Burnie Maryland on Monday 30 Sept. We had about 10 players split between 2 tables. As GM, I communicated with both opposing commanders privately, feeding them intel and allowing them to decide what actions they were taking. The results of those decisions were played out on the tabletop. The convoy escort was unfortunate for the FWL forces. The Marauder assault Mechs were slow, and arrived late to the party, but they dominated the field and the FWL never really had much of a chance. The fight at the petrochem facility was far more even, and both sides were pretty battered by the end. The Marauders held the field at the end of the day but will get no time to lick their wounds. Lyran high command has just called them forward to leapfrog to the next duty station as the front-line forces continue their offensive. Stay tuned for more in a few weeks.
