Author Topic: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ  (Read 7213 times)

Joel47

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The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« on: 21 March 2011, 16:11:49 »
Mission Synopsis: Galatea, Lyran Alliance; 5 October 3072.  Broadcasting Northwind Highlanders codes and messages of friendship, the Forty-seventh Shadow Division from the Word of Blake catches the mercenary world with its pants down.

Time & Venue: We are scheduled to start at 12:00pm, and will play until 7:00pm.  Game Depot, NW corner of Southern & McClintock.

Unit selection: Miniatures & record sheets for pre-made forces will be provided, or players may bring their own.
•   47th Shadow Division (attacker):  4000 BV2, one to six units, no aerospace.  All units must be available in 3072 and be selected from the following faction lists: Inner Sphere General, Word of Blake.  All skills must be G3/P4 or better.
•   Mercenaries (defender):  5000 BV2, one to six units, no aerospace.  All units must be available in 3072 and be selected from the following faction lists:  Inner Sphere General, Mercenary General.
•   If an attacking player's force consists of at least two units and all units in the force are connected by C3 or C3i (including spending the BV), that force may be connected with any other player's C3-capable force that meets the same conditions.  No more than two forces can be on a single C3 network, though multiple independent networks can exist.
•   Piloting (or Driving, or Anti-Mech) and Gunnery Skills may not differ in value by more than 2.
•   All units must be Tournament-legal units selected from the faction list at http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~lacasse/factionlist/.  Units published after the list was released (e.g., the Celestial 'mechs) may be included according to their "fluff" text.
•   Bringing assembled miniatures that match units your force will give each matching model one point of Edge, usable to re-roll one roll directly affecting it once during the battle.  This does not apply to forces provided by the GM.
•   If you would prefer to play one side or the other, email me ahead of time (joel@agee-hyland.com).

Terrain and setup description: The battle will be held on a 4’ x 6’ map (2” hexes; 24x36) with several urban areas.  All of the Attacker’s units begin the game with a high speed insertion. The insertion occurs before the first turn's movement. The controlling
player designates the target hex for the unit’s arrival, and makes a Piloting Skill roll with a +2 penalty.  If the roll succeeds, the unit lands in the target hex and may move normally.  If the PSR fails, the unit lands 1D6 hexes away from its intended hex in a random direction and suffers damage as if it had fallen from a Level 4 height. Units scattered off the map area in this fashion are considered destroyed. Also, the unit may not move during the first turn, but may fire as normal. 

Pandemonium: Chaos rules, with Blakist sympathizers, opportunists and others all hitting the field in one massive jumble.
Roll 2D6 at the beginning of every turn for each defending unit, starting with Turn 6. On a result of 10+, that unit turns “chaotic.” Immediately roll 1D6 and consult the following table to determine the unit’s new loyalty. Once a unit has turned chaotic, it no longer performs this check.
Roll    Loyalty Result
1–2    Unit sides with Word of Blake and targets all Defender units
3–6    Unit panics and attempts to flee the battlefield, following the Forced Withdrawal rules

Victory Conditions: Due to the amount of hatred between the forces, only destruction of the enemy is acceptable.  Victory points are scored equal to the BV of destroyed units plus one half the BV of crippled units.  (Units that cannot affect the battle will be counted as destroyed and removed from the board.)
 
Special Rules:  With a few exceptions, only Total Warfare rules will be used.
•   Initiative will be done two units at a time, rather than one.
•   The Attackers get a +1 to all initiative rolls.
•   There is no “edge of the world.”  If a mech is up against a map edge, the three hexes that would be surrounding the mech 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, Careful Stand, Firing When Down, ECCM.
•   The Defenders are subject to Forced Withdrawal.  If an Attacking unit is reduced to a point where a forced withdrawal is called for, that unit instead receives a –1 bonus to all Gunnery and Piloting Skill rolls and will fight until destroyed or unable to function.

Hellraiser

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #1 on: 22 March 2011, 11:19:50 »
Count me in for the Mercs so I can kill me some Weebles !
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

Joel47

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #2 on: 01 April 2011, 12:53:22 »
Reminder bump.  See you tomorrow!

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #3 on: 01 April 2011, 18:28:27 »
/whistles a happy tune and sings "I'ma gonna nuke me some wobblies"  :D
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

Joel47

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #4 on: 01 April 2011, 18:29:16 »
Until all your forces blow their loyalty checks...  :D

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #5 on: 01 April 2011, 19:02:42 »
I'm very unsure how that rule is going to work out.
As I mentioned on Email, I really don't think the 1K BV advantage is worth all the Mercs give up in No C3 & Morale checks.
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

Joel47

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #6 on: 02 April 2011, 00:31:25 »
We'll have to see.  My sample forces give the mercs a pretty scary weight advantage.

Oh, and in case the mercenary players try to keep the game slow to reduce the number of rounds played with loyalty checks, I'll start them a few hours in if necessary...

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #7 on: 02 April 2011, 12:05:35 »
TRY to keep things slow ????

PA-LEEZ  ::),  isn't slow the defining characteristic of most of our games ??  ;)
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

BirdofPrey

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #8 on: 02 April 2011, 22:57:05 »
Well, Gee, next time maybe I should bring two synergistic forces with more LRMs than is healthy.
Good game guys, enjoy a complimentary nuke.

Joel47

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #9 on: 02 April 2011, 23:32:09 »
At least they were kind enough to agree with me that the Word forces needed re-rolls after over half their force couldn't roll the 6 needed for a safe drop -- and one of the failures drifted onto one of the few safely-landed 'mechs...

(In retrospect, I need to set the PSR lower, or give enough BV so Piloting skills are better if I'm going to do that again.)

Here are two pictures from the game.

Joel47

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #10 on: 02 April 2011, 23:32:36 »
This second pic shows several LRM carriers lurking between the buildings...

BirdofPrey

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #11 on: 02 April 2011, 23:36:38 »
If it means anything, one of the Jihad books has one of the 47th's special abilities as an automatic success when using dropping troops rules.
Another idea is every force gets one free edge point to use just for the drop roll, prevents total disaster, but multiple bad rolls can still hurt.

Hellraiser

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #12 on: 03 April 2011, 00:04:11 »
Well, Gee, next time maybe I should bring two synergistic forces with more LRMs than is healthy.
Good game guys, enjoy a complimentary nuke.
When one is forced into a corner up against "free" C3 nets w/ ECCM in effect, a bonus to initiative, and the threat of having your units desert or flee,  one is forced to get creative  ;)

Besides, its not unhealthy till I bring a 3rd LRM carrier per force  :D
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #13 on: 03 April 2011, 00:06:45 »
(In retrospect, I need to set the PSR lower, or give enough BV so Piloting skills are better if I'm going to do that again.)
I would think the 4-pilots would have been good enough but I didn't count on the +2 & the use of some small cockpits too.

3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #14 on: 03 April 2011, 00:25:36 »
So, trying to recall all the forces here.....

Guillotine-6WB  +  Gurka-4G
Preta-Dominus  +  PhoenixHawk-7CS
Hussar-500D  +  RedShift-2A  +  Ostscout-9CS

The problem here is each of these makes a nice "Spotter" group but that no one really brought the "Gunner" group to go with it.

The Guillotine being the big man on campus instead of the "sidekick" was an issue.

The Redshift could have been dropped off with the Ost or Hussar and picked up another Heavy/Assault boat to pair up with the remaining mech or a Mercury, or C3i Vee like the Beagle or Zephyr with C3i to create a better Hunter/Killer team.

To many "Striker" units in those groups, awesome harassers but none back the kind of firepower needed to take down a force of 4 Assault Mechs supported by the LRM/AC20 team of love.
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

Hellraiser

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #15 on: 03 April 2011, 00:29:55 »
At least they were kind enough to agree with me that the Word forces needed re-rolls after over half their force couldn't roll the 6 needed for a safe drop -- and one of the failures drifted onto one of the few safely landed 'mechs...
I like to think of it as getting in 2 games in the same day  :D

Game 1, Turn 1,  4 mechs plow into the earth with horrible dice luck,  we skill turns 2+ because its a walkover,  chalk it up to a W boys and start Game 2.

Game 2,  Turn 1,  All mechs land safely, blowing 1 point of edge total, and the WoB Striker Team begins their all day long sprint around the board waiting for us to turn on each other.


3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #16 on: 03 April 2011, 00:35:47 »
Looking at it now I see why you felt 4K was not enough.

Maybe if we went 5K & 6K respectively it would have worked out w/ more options in WoB force creation.

Then again, it could have been SOOO much worse if one of the Assaults had changed sides instead of just the 1 Fleeing.
2 LRM Carriers turning traitor with 3 units fleeing (Sprint, LRM Carrier, Pillager) was worse than I was hoping for but not as bad as I feared might happen.

3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

BirdofPrey

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #17 on: 03 April 2011, 00:43:34 »
I would think the 4-pilots would have been good enough but I didn't count on the +2 & the use of some small cockpits too.


I must have just been unlucky then.  I had all regular cockpits but still botched 2 out of 3 rolls and had another mech land on top of me.

So, trying to recall all the forces here.....

Guillotine-6WB  +  Gurka-4G
Preta-Dominus  +  PhoenixHawk-7CS
Hussar-500D  +  RedShift-2A  +  Ostscout-9CS

The problem here is each of these makes a nice "Spotter" group but that no one really brought the "Gunner" group to go with it.

The Guillotine being the big man on campus instead of the "sidekick" was an issue.

The Redshift could have been dropped off with the Ost or Hussar and picked up another Heavy/Assault boat to pair up with the remaining mech or a Mercury, or C3i Vee like the Beagle or Zephyr with C3i to create a better Hunter/Killer team.

To many "Striker" units in those groups, awesome harassers but none back the kind of firepower needed to take down a force of 4 Assault Mechs supported by the LRM/AC20 team of love.

I probably should have generated my own force.  I had figured the HPPC variant of the Burke would be a nice thing to bring.  It's not on the lacasse list but the fluff and MUL say the WoB had it (as if the C3i didn't give it away) and it seems to me like it has decent firepower and armor for the BV cost.  Also the variant of ostscout that  was in the force Joel made is a mech I would have brought, tonnage waste of the BAP aside, the ECM makes a good screen and the TAG is good for Semi-guided LRMs.

If I remember correctly, I think the Ghurka group was the only pre-generated that had bigger mechs in it.  Under the BV restraints, it kinda makes sense. The only way mine took the third mech was by not having c3 on the Redshift.  I think I saw a force with battle armor too; how's that for small units.

Looking at it now I see why you felt 4K was not enough.

Maybe if we went 5K & 6K respectively it would have worked out w/ more options in WoB force creation.

Then again, it could have been SOOO much worse if one of the Assaults had changed sides instead of just the 1 Fleeing.
2 LRM Carriers turning traitor with 3 units fleeing (Sprint, LRM Carrier, Pillager) was worse than I was hoping for but not as bad as I feared might happen.


I think even 4500 BV would have been just enough room to get a decent heavy mech, but 5k would have been better.  5k vs 6k seems like a good balance.

It's a pity those LRM carriers didn't last long enough to do anything after they turned.  Thats one of the things about units changing sides.  unless it's a fast unit, once it does, it's going to be in the middle of an enemy formation.



I did like this scenario.  I'd play it again, but I'd definitely change my force selection.
« Last Edit: 03 April 2011, 00:52:36 by BirdofPrey »

Hellraiser

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #18 on: 03 April 2011, 01:09:47 »
I must have just been unlucky then.  I had all regular cockpits but still botched 2 out of 3 rolls and had another mech land on top of me.
Yeah, that would be some just plain bad luck, like having the GLT get Headcapped on Round 2 AFTER having used edge on the landing.

Quote
It's a pity those LRM carriers didn't last long enough to do anything after they turned.  Thats one of the things about units changing sides.  unless it's a fast unit, once it does, it's going to be in the middle of an enemy formation.
Yeah, I think the only flaw there was the one targeted the Demo when both should have gone after the LRM Carrier,  1-2 hexes would have made for a better shot from the Tan one and maybe killed my Green one. 

Quote
I did like this scenario.  I'd play it again, but I'd definitely change my force selection.
I enjoyed it, but at the same time I hate anything where the game totally turns on its head at a single die roll.
I think maybe instead of 10+ and then another 1D6 for action, if we changed it to 11-Flee, 12-Turn to keep the same "Ratio" but cut the # of times it happens I'd be a little more comfortable playing it. 

Imagine if it was Assault Mechs outside the city, instead of thin skinned LRM Carriers right next to the Demolisher, that had changed sides.
Would have been a totally different outcome,  IMHO.


That said, I do think I have a new favorite bodyguard type,  normally I just pick something with MPL, ML, SRM batteries, but after today I certainly do think that AC20s+Precision ammo is enough to make any Small/Fast unit think twice about charging LRM boats.
I tried something different today on a fluke and it worked out really well, IMHO.
3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo

Radec2000

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #19 on: 03 April 2011, 03:25:02 »
Or, if that same demolisher had turned while in the middle of all those LRM carriers that couldn't have taken a single attack from it.

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Re: The Word Comes to Galatea, April 2 in Tempe, AZ
« Reply #20 on: 03 April 2011, 13:32:00 »
Or, if that same demolisher had turned while in the middle of all those LRM carriers that couldn't have taken a single attack from it.
Yeah, that was my #1 fear.
Which is why the LRMs were "slowly" spreading out a little and the Victor & Saladin were also never too far off. 
Aside from being tactically sound in protecting each other, they were able to "counter" each other if anyone turned traitor.

Turn 6 looked bad for us as 2 LRM Carriers turned Traitor while our single surviving Sprint turned Yellow and retreated.  But in the end it didn't turn out "too" bad.  The LRMs missed when they turned on us, and the Demo burned them w/ a split shot.

All 3 of the eventual "retreats" were at least still able to keep an arc on some enemy as they bailed and added a little extra fire before they left.

So as I said above, it was over all worse than I would have liked but way better than I feared it could go.

3041: General Lance Hawkins: The Equalizers
3053: Star Colonel Rexor Kerensky: The Silver Wolves

"I don't shoot Urbanmechs, I walk up, stomp on their foot, wait for the head to pop open & drop in a hand grenade (or Elemental)" - Joel47
Against mechs, infantry have two options: Run screaming from Godzilla, or giggle under your breath as the arrogant fools blunder into your trap. - Weirdo