AFFS High Command - From the Dark Heart of Arby's to the Very Gates of Sian!

[97jedi]

Where'd you play, MDM? The shop is closed on Sunday, no?

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Well, the obvious answer is someone's house, but honestly who would allow a bunch of gamers into their home? That would be crazy.

[nerd]

Well, the obvious answer is someone's house, but honestly who would allow a bunch of gamers into their home? That would be crazy.

Well, once they've become middle aged types with careers and families, they're housebroken.  And if you limit who you let in, it gets a lot better.

[3rdCrucisLancers]

That's a bloody first turn, Jonathan.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Well, once they've become middle aged types with careers and families, they're housebroken.  And if you limit who you let in, it gets a lot better.

I suppose "broken" is an extremely accurate word, at least. But having kids would destroy even me, so there's no individual judgements there.

[MadDogMaddux]

Nah, the Tavolini is open 7 days a week. Basement fun!

[MadDogMaddux]

That's a bloody first turn, Jonathan.

Well, I let them use an asymetrical attack front, so they hit from all different angles.
Plus, I made it clear that if ANY unit was not covered by ECM (friend or foe) would trigger a visitation from another lance of 'Mechs, so they fochsed fire on the MrV2 and anything else they couldn't cover up. The SRM carriers were not at full armor either, far cry from it.

[GreenDragon]

In my experience, that kind of survival rate for a vehicle like the SRM carrier is about normal - especially if the attackers were able to hit flanks.  Still 3 rounds to eliminate all but one Zombie - not bad.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

Well, I let them use an asymetrical attack front, so they hit from all different angles.
Plus, I made it clear that if ANY unit was not covered by ECM (friend or foe) would trigger a visitation from another lance of 'Mechs, so they fochsed fire on the MrV2 and anything else they couldn't cover up. The SRM carriers were not at full armor either, far cry from it.

So, BAP is a Very Bad Thing for the enemy force to have?

[Neko_Bijin]

That sounds like an extremely fun game---who doesn't love a good ambush?  Glad that your players were smart enough to eliminate the SRMs first.

Did you give thought to letting the defender's reinforcements walk in at round 6 to provide more targets?  By then your players would have been cooled down and positioned to repel them.

Next time, photos!

[GreenDragon]

I'm eyeballing it (based on tonnage) as being slightly in favor of the Attackers - though by less than 2:1.  How did you determine force compositions?  BV, Tonnage, 'ah, this looks good?'  The last can be fun.

[Weirdo]

I like your ECM rule, I'll consider it for a patrol-and-base vs stealthy-raid game I'm considering. My group recently finished a huge month-long city fight, but the RotS was finally able to push House Liao out of Major City X with acceptable losses, even if a fair chunk of the city was flattened in the process. It was a huge fight with 'mech, armor and artillery support with both sides receiving reinforcements periodically. Despite all the immense action going on, my favorite part of the game was the small-unit door-to-door BA fighting that raged within the command center and other buildings. I'm in love with the Angerona now. [rockon]

[3rdCrucisLancers]

Well, I let them use an asymetrical attack front, so they hit from all different angles.
Plus, I made it clear that if ANY unit was not covered by ECM (friend or foe) would trigger a visitation from another lance of 'Mechs, so they fochsed fire on the MrV2 and anything else they couldn't cover up. The SRM carriers were not at full armor either, far cry from it.

That is one cool scenario set-up, MDM.

[MadDogMaddux]

So, BAP is a Very Bad Thing for the enemy force to have?

Well, in this situation, it would have been ECM set to ECCM which would have been so detrimental. Fortunately, these were Protectorate 'Mechs salvaged over the course of time, so none of them had ECM with which to do that.

Generally speaking, I'm a firm believer that if you set a strict scenario objective like requiring all units be covered with ECM, then you must both give your players the necessary equipment to meet the objective, and not build the OpFor in such a way as to totally bork their chances.  ;)

[MadDogMaddux]

I'm eyeballing it (based on tonnage) as being slightly in favor of the Attackers - though by less than 2:1.  How did you determine force compositions?  BV, Tonnage, 'ah, this looks good?'  The last can be fun.

Honestly, it was not a balanced scenario. My experience (from reading, not being in the military) is that war is rarely balanced. The only reason the Freemen attacked at this time is because they felt they had a window of opportunity in which to take advantage of an unbalanced situation. That situation was the players' to lose depending on how they deployed their ECM and neutralized targets.

The Freemen took a beating, frankly, and if they had slipped up even ONCE with the ECM, they probably would have lost the mission. In the wings I had a strike lance comprised of BRZC3, VND5L, OTL7M, and LNX9Q. One turn after they arrived, they'd be joined by ON2M, CTF4L, HBK5L, and GHR6K.



HBK 5L

Code: [Select]

Hunchback HBK-5H

Mass: 50 tons
Tech Base: Inner Sphere
Chassis Config: Biped
Rules Level: Tournament Legal
Era: Clan Invasion
Tech Rating/Era Availability: E/X-X-E
Production Year: 3062
Cost: 6,077,875 C-Bills
Battle Value: 1,602

Chassis: Unknown Standard
Power Plant: Unknown 200 Fusion Engine
Walking Speed: 43.2 km/h (54.0 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 64.8 km/h (86.4 km/h)
Jump Jets: None
    Jump Capacity: 0 meters
Armor: Unknown Stealth Armor w/ CASE
Armament:
    1  LB 20-X AC
    1  ER Medium Laser
    1  Medium Laser
    1  Small Pulse Laser
    1  Small Laser
    1  Guardian ECM Suite
Manufacturer: Unknown
    Primary Factory: Unknown
Communications System: Unknown
Targeting and Tracking System: Unknown

================================================================================
Equipment           Type                         Rating                   Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internal Structure: Standard                      83 points                5.00
Engine:             Fusion Engine                200                       8.50
    Walking MP: 4 (5)
    Running MP: 6 (8)
    Jumping MP: 0
Heat Sinks:         Double Heat Sink             10(20)                    0.00
    Heat Sink Locations: 1 LT, 1 RA
Gyro:               Standard                                               2.00
Cockpit:            Standard                                               3.00
    Actuators:      L: SH+UA+LA+H    R: SH+UA+LA+H
    TSM Locations: 1 CT, 2 LT, 3 LA
Armor:              Stealth Armor                AV - 160                 10.00
    Armor Locations: 2 LT, 2 RT, 2 LA, 2 RA, 2 LL, 2 RL
    CASE Locations: 1 LT                                                   0.50

                                                      Internal       Armor     
                                                      Structure      Factor     
                                                Head     3            9         
                                        Center Torso     16           24       
                                 Center Torso (rear)                  7         
                                           L/R Torso     12           18       
                                    L/R Torso (rear)                  6         
                                             L/R Arm     8            16       
                                             L/R Leg     12           20       

================================================================================
Equipment                                 Location    Heat    Critical    Mass 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Small Pulse Laser                            HD        2         1         1.00
LB 20-X AC                                   CT/RT     6         1/10     14.00
Guardian ECM Suite                           LT        0         2         1.50
ER Medium Laser                              RA        5         1         1.00
Medium Laser                                 RA        3         1         1.00
Small Laser                                  RA        1         1         0.50
@LB 20-X (Cluster) (5)                       LT        -         1         1.00
@LB 20-X (Slug) (5)                          LT        -         1         1.00
                                            Free Critical Slots: 3

BattleForce Statistics
MV      S (+0)  M (+2)  L (+4)  E (+6)   Wt.   Ov   Armor:      5    Points: 16
4          3       2       0       0      2     1   Structure:  4
Special Abilities: TSM, ECM, STL, CASE, SRCH, ES, SOA, FLK 1/1/0


[MadDogMaddux]

That is one cool scenario set-up, MDM.

Thanks bub, and thanks for your feedback as I was working on it!!!

I'll try to keep posting Op Orders and recaps as we go along. And Pictures, I actually have some - hang on.......

Here's turns 1-3 after movement.
Helipads are actually buildings where the POWs are housed.

[MadDogMaddux]

WOOT! After-Action Report Photos NPA!!!

[Arkansas Warrior]

So...new thread time?

[MadDogMaddux]

Tradition!

I'll open a new one in a sec.

[Caesar Steiner for Archon]

I don't know what YOU'RE talking about, but that post was the fourth one or so down from the NPA on page 60.

Have I mentioned that I really like the 50 posts/page setting?

[Doug Glendower]

It's too Lyran for them, apparently.

[Paladin1]

I don't know what YOU'RE talking about, but that post was the fourth one or so down from the NPA on page 60.

Have I mentioned that I really like the 50 posts/page setting?

Page 60?  Hell, I'm only on page 30.  We've got 70 more pages to go by my count.

[GreenDragon]

Me as well.  Also, can anyone lese see the pics?  I'm only seeing red x's  :(

[Paladin1]

Me as well.  Also, can anyone lese see the pics?  I'm only seeing red x's  :(

I'm getting red x's too, it's not just you.