So I had the opportunity to introduce two new players to Btech recently. I was over at a friend's house wrapping up a mission in the campaign I am running, and we offered to run a quick pickup game with some extra record sheets we had on hand for his roommate and another mutual friend. I wasn't planning to batrep it so the details are a bit sketchy, but the game ended on such a memorable note I thought it would be worth trying to write it up anyways.
Setup:
original battletech map.
Team1: Enforcer 3/4, Griffin 3/5 (2951pts)
Team2: Centurion 3/4. Crab 3/4 (2881pts)
House rules: floating crits, individual initiative
We paired one new player with each experienced player, and let the new players choose which of the two mechs on the team they wanted. (though there was some subtle hinting that the mechs with TWO big guns would be more interesting to play as than the LRM fire support) Somewhere in there, it was mentioned that part of the reason that the ranges were so short is that the tech 1 mechs were 300 year old relics cobbled together mad max style, which apparently instantly made the game "300% cooler"
It ended up with myself in the griffin, the other experienced player in the centurion, his roommate in the enforcer, and our mutual friend in the crab.
Turn one, all four mechs move up, with my griffin jumping onto the lvl3 hill where I would sit for much of the game. Since we were explaining the rules as we went along, both of the new guys managed to position themselves such that their mutual LoS was blocked by multiple woods despite being each other's closest target.
There is a smattering of damage all around, with the most significant being a large laser hit to the centurion's cannon arm.
Starting on turn 2, the new guys start dueling, the centurion advances steadily on my position, while I alternate shooting at whichever enemy has the best to-hit numbers. The centurion gets a lucky hit to my cockpit with the AC-10 and we show off critical hit rolling, pilot damage, and unconciousness checks. The centurion demonstrates piloting skill checks by passing through the water.
A few turns later the new guys have both realized the benefits of planting themselves in heavy woods, and we show off multiple targets when the enforcer pilot wants too shoot at the centurion, but can only get LoS with his left arm, so he fires the autocannon at the crab as a secondary.
Around this time is when that hit to the centurion's right arm came into play when I winged him with my PPC, sending it into internal, and rolling 12 to rip off the arm on the crit roll.
The turn after this, I jumped down to demonstrate close combat against the centurion, since I felt confident he would not try to punch at my damaged head. (He lost his left arm hand actuator at some point prior.)
This lured the crab out into the open to attack me, which turned out to be a mistake when the enforcer managed to destroy one of his large lasers.
The crab chases after me, as I take partial cover on top of the opposite hill. Meanwhile the enforcer homes in on the centurion, damaging it enough that a lucky secondary targeted LRM spread gets through his left torso armor and touches off his ammo racks destroying the mech entirely.
Seeing that the battle is pretty much lost, the crab tries for a 5 hex charge attack vs the enforcer. The enforcer hits with both guns for 18 damage but the small laser misses, and my griffin is overheating so badly I can only afford to fire the LRMs, which fortunately squeak in just enough damage to force a PSR, which he fails. Now presented with a tempting target despite the movement penalties, the enforcer attempts a kick.
The kick succeeds, hits the prone crab in the head into internals, and then rolls 12 for the critical, tearing it off & punting the entire head assembly across the map!
After the game, the crab pilot said, "If I had to lose my first game, that was definitely the way to go!", followed by, "I want to play that again, soon!"
