Scenario:
On a frontier world within the Lyran Commonwealth in the 3050's, a planetary governor declares independence from House Steiner. He is gambling that Tharkad is too focused on the Clan invasion to send valuable troops to his far-flung world. He is wrong. The Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces land and begin advancing on his capital from the south. The governor has hired a mercenary BattleMech unit and now calls to them from their base north of the city to defend him from the approaching Lyran forces.
Set-up:
The Defender (the mercs) begins on the north edge of the city map. The Attacker (the LCAF) begins on the south edge of a pond map south of the city. Both start with equal BV points.
Objectives:
The Attacker wins if the Governor's tower (Level 4 Hardened - 150 CF), the admin building (Level 1 Medium - 40 CF), and the power plant (Level 1 Medium - 40CF) are destroyed (a total of 230 CF points). The Defender wins if any of these three buildings are still standing at the end of the battle.
My opponent, known as Lord Cameron on the classicbattletech forums, is my opponent. We choose our forces and then roll to see who will be the attacker and who will be the defender. Lord Cameron will be the defender and I will play the attacker.
The defending mercs played by Lord Cameron include a Guillotine 8D, a Wolverine 7M, a Hatchetman 5S, and a Phoenix Hawk 3M.
My loyal LCAF attacking force includes four Archer 5Ws and a TAG varient Scimitar hovercraft.
The tall dark governor's tower dominates the middle of the city with the admin building right beside it and the power plant to the northwest at hex 0406.
The Lyran Archer fire lance and Scimitar gain sight of the city.
The Archers and hovercraft approach the city cautiously.
The rebellious governor, high in his dark, fortified tower, takes comfort as his hired guns enter his city and pass by far beneath him.
The mercs block the entrance to the city but the Archers have no intention of entering yet. The Lyran Archers can target the towering stronghold from far outside the city and as some of the 160 LRMs from the LCAF fire lance slam into his tower, the governor demands that the mercs close with the Steiner forces.
The mercs move out as fast as they can but the Guillotine skids and falls -
NEVER RUN IN THE CITY!!! The Wolverine and Phoenix Hawk are faster and engage the Archers while the Hatchetman is left behind. The Scimitar zooms into the center of the city. There is nothing the mercs can possibly do to save the governor. A second salvo of 160 LRMs brings down the mighty tower, killing the governor.
The remaining rebels in the admin building and power plant now frantically demand that the mercs do whatever they can. The mercs, knowing that they won't get paid if their employers don't survive, desperately charge the Archers but the Hatchetman and Gullotine are too slow to keep up and the Wolverine and Phoenix Hawk find themselves hopelessly outmatched . Besides the two LRM 20 racks, each Archer 5W carries two SRM 4s and a NARC launcher and can fire all weapons while running without building up any heat. The Wolverine is the target of four NARC homing beacons and a barrage of 32 SRMs but is finally brought to the ground by an Archer's kick. The Hatchetman is closing but the Guillotine still lags behind.
The merc Wolverine gets up and withdraws while the Hatchetman closes to its happy place. A furious slugfest ensues. Archers fire LRMs indirectly at the admin building, spotted by the Scimitar, reducing that rebel-held building to rubble. The merc Hatchetman swings his hatchet at an Archer but misses.
Both sides back off. The Archers withdraw to a more comfortable longer range and the mercs begin to retreat, knowing that there is nothing they can do to save their employers. The remaining rebels curse in vain as missiles from the Archers and Scimitar blow the power plant to smithereens and end their lives. With no employers left alive, the mercs head north.
With all rebel installations destroyed, the Archers pursue the retreating mercs. The Scimitar foolishly zooms into the middle of the mercs in the hopes of attaching NARC homing beacons onto the withdrawing 'Mechs but a blast from the Hatchetman's LB-X cannon immobilizes it. The Hatchetman in turn is too slow retreating and finds itself on the receiving end of the Archers' LRM barrage. The Hatchetman's pilot is knocked unconscious and the 45-ton merc 'Mech topples to the ground.
Both immobile units are doomed. The Hatchetman is blown to smithereens by LRMs and SRMs from the Archer lance while the three remaining mercs concentrate fire on the Scimitar and destroy it.
The mercs flee north as the four Lyran Archers enter the city from the south. The rebellion is over.
I love NARCs!!! [rockon] The +2 to the cluster hits roll is nice but what I really love is being able to target units with indirect fire without needing a spotter! The Archer 5W also really impressed me. Having all those SRMs and LRMs and being able to fire everything while running without worrying about heat was really nice. Plus, I think it really makes an opponent nervous when there's a homing beacon guiding missiles onto his 'Mech!
I think this scenario would have been better if the defenders had started in the city rather than having to enter from the north. Anyhoo, it was still a lot of fun. I love city fighting.