Bit late on the outcome of last weekends game but here goes.
The Devil's Brigade's archeological expedition to New Dallas is interrupted by Word of Blake's Nineteenth Division.
Battletech - Welcome to New Dallas
6/13/15 Game Depot @ Noon
The Devil’s Brigade’s arrival to New Dallas didn’t go unnoticed. A hidden orbital monitor placed by ComStar after the Second Succession War to watch former Hegemony worlds relayed their incursion to the Word of Blake on Terra. Concerned with what might be found, a small unit from the Word of Blake’s Nineteenth Division was dispatched, while an oblivious Devil’s Brigade—with the help of hired archeologists—began investigating the ruins.
Each player controls a small force on their team. Forces and Mech sheets will be provided, but players are encouraged to bring their own forces with the following restrictions:
Defender (Devil's Brigade):
4400 BV, max 4 units.
No non-infantry units with a walk/cruise speed below 5.
Faction: Mercenary General, Draconis Combine
The defenders are subject to Forced Withdrawal.
Attacker (Nineteenth Division):
4000 BV, max 4 units.
No non-infantry units heavier than medium (55 tons or less).
Faction: Inner Sphere General, Draconis Combine, Word of Blake
The attackers are not subject to Forced Withdrawal.
The attackers automatically win initiative on the first round, and gain a +1 to initiative for the next three rounds.
Both:
All units must have Environmental Sealing (all 'mechs have this, as do BA, but few vehicles).
BV is based on the Master Unit List, modified for skill value as per Technical Manual p. 315.
Skill values must be within 2 of each other.
BV must be allotted for TAG and C3.
TAG and C3 may not be linked across player forces.
Units may be selected from the Master Unit List with the following restrictions:
Rules: Introductory, Standard
Types: Battlemech, Combat Vehicle, Infantry
Tech: Inner Sphere
Era: Jihad (3085)
Faction list links (note: these do not cover all selection rules, just faction, era, and unit type):
Attacker: http://tinyurl.com/nblzemh
Defender: http://tinyurl.com/nvgofhw
Victory Conditions:
The attackers score victory points equal to the BV of destroyed defenders plus half the BV of disabled defenders; the defenders score VPs equal to the BV of destroyed attackers only.
A score difference of the team BV cost or more is decisive, less is a marginal victory.
(Battle Value scoring as per p 257 Total Warfare)
Terrain and setup description: The battlefield will be created from one 4’x6’ map with 2" hexes. Expect ruins, a bit of contaminated water, and other rough terrain. New Dallas is a dead world abandoned after many weapons of mass destruction were used during the Free Worlds League invasion shortly after the fall of the Star League. Radiation and chemical contaminants mean a hostile environment. While using 3D terrain, Total Warfare rules for LOS and intervening terrain will be used.
For this game, we will be using the Standard Rules from the Total Warfare book, as well as the following:
-Edge: Each miniature that matches a player's force grants that force a point of Edge. A maximum of two points of Edge can be had in this manner. The Edge point(s) may be spent to reroll any result that directly affects the force.
-There is no “edge of the world.” If a unit is up against a map edge, the three hexes that would be surrounding the unit off the board are now legal hexes for movement; occupying any of those hexes opens up more hexes, etc.
-The following rules from Tactical Operations will be used: Floating Crits, Sprinting, Evading, Crawling, Careful Stand, Firing When Down, ECCM, Expanded Backward Movement, Expanded Stacking, Gauss Shut Off, Active Probe Targeting, Charging.
So it was 2 Players per side with the following forces & skills to the best of my recollection.
East Side = Devils Brigade
Force-1
Thunderbolt-60-RLA (3/4)
Wraith-TR1 (4/5)
Kage-Laser Squad (4/5)
Force-2
Ostscout-7K (3/5)
Ostscout-7K (4/4)
Dervish-6Mr (3/5) (1 Ton SG Ammo)
Griffin-1DS (3/5) (1 Ton SG Ammo)
West Side = WoBbles
Force-1
Lightray-4W (0/1)
Kage-Laser (4/5)
Force-2
Spector-5F (4/5)
WolfHound-5 (4/5)
Enfield-6Q (4/5)
Raiden-Tsunami (4/5)
The field was 36 hexes long & 25/26 Hexes wide & we played using the long sides as home edge for a quick into combat game.
The 2 DB units were set up about 8 hexes inside their long edge & separated by about 10 hexes.
The WoB-2 force came on the map across from the DB-2 force while the Lightray was about 15 hexes down trying to draw off the DB-1 force.
The Wraith tried to play with the Lightray & succeeded in getting beat up by a much better pilot & barely escaped to rejoin the rest of the force a couple turns later.
The T-Bolt moved to engage the Wob-2 force in support of the DB-2 group as the Enfield was the only thing on the map that it could for sure chase down.
Opening Salvos for 2 turns involved some minor armor damage as the Ostscouts managed to TAG the Enfield for SG LRM fire while getting raked over by the Spector & the Raidens.
The Wolfhound slid between the DB-2 force & the T-Bolt to make an end run to get behind the LRM mechs.
Positioned in the rear of the Griffin with guns that could punch through the armor in any location to hit XL, Gyro, or Ammo seemed like a good move. But no one realized that both LRM boats were also equipped with Pulse Lasers too, the Dervish hadn't moved yet, so it backed up to get in the Hound's face & the Scouts failed to TAG anything that round so the Hound got raked over by 5 Lasers at short range. The Hound meanwhile shot at the Dervish instead of the exposed rear of the Griffin.
The damage from 5 lasers was decent in a rare 100% hit rate, but the failed PSR was what really caused problems, falling over at the foot of the Dervish left it with an kick to the side that caved in the XL.
Meanwhile the T-Bolt kept inching closer & closer to the Enfield while the Spector was as annoying as a Spector always is & proved to be impossible to TAG & kept the Ostscouts on their toes.
By turn 5, IIRC, the T-Bolt was finally able to start shooting the Enfield & the LRMs were back to raining down on it as well.
The WoB Raiden & Kage squads had continued to prick at things & finally went down to LRMs.
The Lightray was chasing down the Wraith while avoiding the Scouts & not wanting to get close to the T-Bolt's melee.
Both the Wraith & T-Bolt were showing some serious armor damage by the time the Enfield went down.
At that point the WoB's declared a retreat & we called the game early v/s play out trying to hunt down those 2 fast movers.
Key points of the battle.
1. DB-Force-1 split up & the T-Bolt didn't try to go after the Lightray. While this nearly sacrificed the Wraith against an Uber-Pilot it also left the Wob-2-Force gunned.
2. The Wolfhound failing its PSR right at the foot of the Dervish. It was in okay shape even after getting hit by some lasers & could have been a problem but the Kick hitting a Torso that already had damaged armor was a series of unlucky events.
3. The DB-1 Force getting beat up with lots of holes in their armor & some internal damage, but, never hitting "crippled" status & being pushed into forced withdrawl.
4. Initiative was averaged IIRC but the timing proved helpful to the DB side who after loosing it in Turns 1-3 IIRC finally got it in Turns 4-5 right when they really needed to win some.
