Company vs Company (over 40 000 BV on table) batrep (video)

[Lyran Archer]

This was an epic marathon game played from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm on Saturday, May 21st, 2011.

This was the final battle in a FedCom Civil War campaign that Phell (from these forums) and I have been playing. There were three smaller lance on lance skirmishes leading up to this climax. In the First Battle for River City, my Lyran Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust lance completely wiped out his entire Davion 3rd Crucis Lancers lance. In the Second battle for River City, my Lyrans destroyed a BattleMaster but withdrew with no LRM ammo and dragging their knocked out Rifleman. In the Battle of Bridgewater, the 3rd Crucis Lancers again forced my Lyrans to withdraw but they lost a Mongoose in the process for no Lyran losses.

The Lyrans have suffered no permanent losses but have been giving ground. The Davions have taken ground but have lost half a company. This is the final showdown. Company versus company. The 3rd Crucis Lancers are a Davion unit loyal to Victor Steiner-Davion on a hostile Lyran world and must hold River City at all costs. The Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust is a Lyran unit loyal to Archon Katrina (aka Katherine)Steiner and, having whittled down the invaders, must now crush the Davion invaders and retake their world.

The 3rd Crucis Lancers - just over 20 000 BV
Catapult C4 (3/5 pilot)
Argus 2D (4/5)
Stalker 7D (3/5)
Atlas 7D (4/5)
Awesome 9Q (3/5)
Thug 11E (2/5)
2 x Wolfhound 2s (both 2/5 pilots)
Cataphract 3D (2/5)
Mongoose 66 (4/5)
Centurion - Yen-lo-Wang (1/3)
Orion 2M (4/5)

The Kampfgruppe Panzerfaust - just over 20 000 BV
Rifleman 6X (4/4 pilot)
11 x Archer 5Ws (3/5 pilots) - all have half TAG/half Narc LRMS and half Inferno/half Narc SRMs
2 x Sprint TAG helicopters (0/0 pilots)

The video is in two parts. Part 1 is ten minutes long and part two is about six minutes long. Enjoy the brutal conclusion to our campaign.

Part 1:
http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p21/Star_Destroyer/?action=view&current=BattleofRiverCity-Part1.mp4

Part 2:
http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p21/Star_Destroyer/?action=view&current=RiverCity-Part2.mp4

[Phell]

Between tactical errors and bad rolls that was a brutal game.

[sfsct]

Interesting task organization.  Im surprised your opponent cam out of the city to run head long into your missile barrage.  Oh well.  Interesting.

[Devens]

Gratz on the Victory Lyran Archer.

Interesting task organization.  I'm surprised your opponent cam out of the city to run head long into your missile barrage.  Oh well.  Interesting.

I am not, unless he took out those helicopters he very well could have been looking individual mechs being isolated and Anihilated Piecemail via Indirect Fire if he did not.  Tag range is 15, gunnery 0.  The VTOLs could have picked off his parimiter(Via Indirect Archer Fire) and avoided mass fire if he stayed in the city.  Probably the biggest mistake I see is the Light Lance being committed and Lost before Adiquit Assault support was in range.  If he had gotten the second Helicopter it might have been worth it but in the end the second whirly-bird survived and so did Lyran Archers Tactics.

The VTOLs are the Lynchpin in Lyran Archers Tactics.  Without them he is forced to expose 1 or more archers a Turn to massed fire from Heavy and Assault Mechs.

[Lyran Archer]

I am not, unless he took out those helicopters he very well could have been looking individual mechs being isolated and Anihilated Piecemail via Indirect Fire if he did not.  Tag range is 15, gunnery 0.  The VTOLs could have picked off his parimiter(Via Indirect Archer Fire) and avoided mass fire if he stayed in the city.  Probably the biggest mistake I see is the Light Lance being committed and Lost before Adiquit Assault support was in range.  If he had gotten the second Helicopter it might have been worth it but in the end the second whirly-bird survived and so did Lyran Archers Tactics.

The VTOLs are the Lynchpin in Lyran Archers Tactics.  Without them he is forced to expose 1 or more archers a Turn to massed fire from Heavy and Assault Mechs.

Excellent assessment, sir.

One of the reasons my Archers became strung out was because I was racing to engage his lights before the heavies and assaults could come into play. It was actually me that then made the "tactical error" (not you, Phell) because he was willing to trade his lights for the helicopters and he did in the first turn of shooting - the Mongoose for the helicopter. The survival of the second helicopter was a miracle, not good planning on my part, because Phell then made some horrible rolls and just couldn't finish off the second chopper. I, at first, had been surprised by 2/5 pilots on the Wolfhounds but then suddenly realized what they really were - chopper killers!

The Cataphract also had a 2/5 pilot and an LBX cannon (so, like - 5 to hit the chopper!) but just couldn't connect to the second helicopter, which started to pull back at that time because things became direct-fire anyway when the Davions crested that first hill.

The survival of the second chopper was more good luck than good management on my part and then the game would have been very different.

[Phell]

I think had I grouped my forces better and struck in unison it would have been a very different game though.

[Lyran Archer]

I think had I grouped my forces better and struck in unison it would have been a very different game though.

Indeed. Also, the Thug, Cataphract, and two Wolfhounds should have been your lead lance because those four were definately chopper-killers. Once my choppers were down, it would have been a straight direct-fire slugfest in which you may have had the upper hand with all those PPCs.

I'm going to give my Lyrans a rest for a while and start seeing how well my Clan Wolves do, so I will be playing direct-fire now too. 

[Devens]

I think had I grouped my forces better and struck in unison it would have been a very different game though.

My Condolances on the bad dice rolling, I know how it can be to loose a critical exchange due to bad dice especialy when everything else falls where you want it.

I think striking in unison would have helped greatly as it would have forced Lyran Archer to choose between the Chopper hunter killers and the Heavy and Assault Mechs.  And with the forces combined fire he might not have realized that the Wolfhounds, Cataphract, and Thug were Chopper Hunters till it was to late.

I learned quite early in the game that unsupported lights die fast but with propper heavy support a few light can turn into a nightmare for your opponent when they have to choose between swatting lights and mass firing on Assaults because in the end they can take the similar amounts of fire to kill.

If it were me I prabably would have built my company around a Lance of Dragon Fire's, but then again I like that mech enough that I own 4 of them and its a Lyran Design.

[Zenoflame]

I have to say I'm all about these video batrep's.  If it wasn't to much of a hassle please keep posting these.

Thank you.

[VF1LAM]

Lyran Archer isn't a munchkin, because I've done company-versus-company before with a lot of LRMs on one side...

[Devens]

I did not say he was, and if its coming across that way then I appologise for it.

If anything his use of almost entirely Archers proves that if you pick the right mechs and tactics an all 1 design unit can work.  I knew that it could for a decent trooper design like the Dragon Fire, Enforcer, Vindicator, or Warhammer but never thought of Archers as a valid option for it before Lyran Archers Batreps.

[Ladob]

If anything his use of almost entirely Archers proves that if you pick the right mechs and tactics an all 1 design unit can work.

Pretty interesting battle indeed.

As for the "one unit companies" idea, that is meant to be the canon formation during the Star League era and I wonder what kinds of games could be held with that in mind?

We once had a 12 Awesome 8Q vs. 12 Orion fight and it was a blast... the PPCs and major armor of the Awesomes could not fully detain the right on firepower of the Orions once they closed in (was about 2x2 boards game). I don't remember the winner, but I do remember it was no "laser boats make it" as it may be expected.

While playing in that era we also tried making 3 times same mech companies as a compromise and that led to very interesting battles as well (say, 4 PHX, 4 Arc, 4 Stingers against 4 WHM, 4 LCT, 4 Dervishes, etc..).

[Devens]

The True strength of 1 to 3 designs for a regiment is in the Logistics and maitenece end.  Since we dont usualy see that in battletech its usualy ignored.  In a strategic game that accuratly reflects logistical realities a 1 to 3 design force would be able to sustain combat operations far longer and more effectively than the mish-mash that is found in cannon units.  The advantages in a custumized mish-mash force would quickly be replaced by the nightmare of supplying and repairing that same unit while the 1 to 3 design regiment would never really loose step due to the easier time of supplying and repairing their unit.       

And if you pick the right design, varients can cover up weaknesses nicely.  The Enforcer III comes to mind.  Standard Model, 2 Gauss Varients, and the Ultra 20 Varient for a close combat unit.  It also really puts the true value of Omnimechs in perspective once you account for Logistics and start fielding them in numbers.     

We once had a 12 Awesome 8Q vs. 12 Orion fight and it was a blast... the PPCs and major armor of the Awesomes could not fully detain the right on firepower of the Orions once they closed in (was about 2x2 boards game). I don't remember the winner, but I do remember it was no "laser boats make it" as it may be expected.

It would be intresting to see how omnimech vs non-omni companies fair in a campaign game in such a fight.  Give each player 12 mechs of 1 design and a set amount of C-bills to buy supplies and spare parts before the campaign begins.   

[Cambo]

It would be intresting to see how omnimech vs non-omni companies fair in a campaign game in such a fight.  Give each player 12 mechs of 1 design and a set amount of C-bills to buy supplies and spare parts before the campaign begins.

The real issue is the repair times of the omnimechs vs the non omni... It's faster to swap out an empty ammo bin component for a full one on an omni than it is to actually reload. 

Most campaign rules I've seen don't take into effect the actual repair times as opposed to the repair cost.

If the omnis can refit and advance while the non omnis are still reloading it would make for some interesting continuing battles. (I guess that is the definition of a campaign ;) )

[Ladob]

I guess an experiment in a small scale (perhaps lance vs. lance) going for skirmish battles, forced withdrawal on both sides etc. Can be set for that. I will see if I get a group running on one of my MekWars servers.

[Devens]

The real issue is the repair times of the omnimechs vs the non omni... It's faster to swap out an empty ammo bin component for a full one on an omni than it is to actually reload. 

Most campaign rules I've seen don't take into effect the actual repair times as opposed to the repair cost.

If the omnis can refit and advance while the non omnis are still reloading it would make for some interesting continuing battles. (I guess that is the definition of a campaign ;) )

Yep, and the capabilities of the Force the IS is facing might have changed greatly between fights to boot.