Light mech stories

[Fnord]

Light mechs, the weakest mechs on the battlefield... and that makes it all the more satisfying to see them take down one of their larger brothers. So what are your stories of heroic light mechs?

In a recent game I had a very brave hussar that challenged a Jagermech (that had take a few hits earlier in the game). The Hussar kicked the Jagermech, which toppled over, and its pilot fainted. The following turn the Hussar managed to kick the Jagermech in its already damaged head, thus ending the life of the Jagermech & its pilot.
 Needles to say, using fast mechs to kick the opponents mech in the shin has become a popular strategy in my group.

[ONE_HELLCAT]

I had a Stinger that lost both of its arms bring down a heavy (70 or 75 tonner) with a DFA. That Stinger was nothing but a walking skeleton after that.

[E. Icaza]

Two come readily to mind:

I had a friend who was using a LCT-1M Locust and got a TAC on a Stone Rhino and three engine hits off the crit.  All of this happened on turn 2 or 3, IIRC.

The same friend, in a MW RPG campaign, DFA'ed his Stinger into the head of a Steel Viper Star Captain's Executioner and knocked the pilot unconscious.  Because of displacement, the Executioner was pushed into the adjacent hex...which was three elevation levels lower.  The unconscious Steel Viper Star Captain falls three levels...onto his head.  The end result was that our merc unit captured an almost pristine Executioner, which we sold to Earthworks Incorporated for a pair of ARC-4M Archers and a pair of TDR-7M Thunderbolts.

[JPArbiter]

I had a Wolfhound go toe to toe with an AWS-8Q.  equal pilots, and with only two LRM volleys from a catapult for backup, the wolfhound outlasted he Awesome and made it combat ineffective (killed all three ppcs)

I admit the Hound was not in a position to do much of anything after that fight, with both arms gone and a cracked engine.

[Morpheus1975]

in a 100 total tons two on two game my Valkyrie got a TAC with the first shot of the game.  I needed 10's or 11's to hit but fired anyways because I figured he'd die before he ran out of ammo.  Hit my brothers custom 75 tonner with a TAC. Rolled boxcars on the crit roll and got 3 engine crits.

We restarted the game.

[House Davie Merc]

In one game I had a Firestarter FS9-M Mirage with a 4/4 pilot take out an Archer ARC-2S
AND a Banshee BNC-3S .

The opponent's Archer and Banshee were both perched on a  hill in light woods at elevation  3 and behind an elevation 4 peak,
but several hexes away from each other .

They were both getting partial cover from anything on the valley floor .

To the rear of the Archer it was an elevation of 2 ,and to it's rear right was a single hex
that reached an elevation of 4 .
(Meaning if I could get to the bottom of that elevation 4 cliff behind the Archer  then the Banshee wouldn't have LOS on
my Mirage and I'd have a back shot at the Archer .  )

I decided that my Warhammer WHM-6D ,Archer ARC-2R ,and Catapult CPLT-A1 would remain at 22 hexes from the
enemy Archer ARC-2S while dealing with the enemy's lighter mechs .
Meanwhile my Mirage would make it's way to that opening and keep his mech's busy enough for me
to close in .

After a few jumps from woods to woods ,my Mirage ran into a position on the opposite side of the hill the enemy was
on ,but 5 hexes from my goal and with LOS to them totally blocked behind another level 2 cliff face .
The Mirage  had to waste a round waiting to win initiative ,but when I did it moved right after the enemy Archer
and jumped right in his 6 .
Alpha strike !
A medium laser and a MG hit the same rear side torso and I struck an ammo crit !

BOOM !

I didn't expect to take him out . I just wanted to keep him occupied .    :o

For the next several rounds I taught the opponent why the Banshee BNC-3S should never be left
without an escort to fight against a light jumper .

Every time I won initiative I got in his rear right where he had no way to respond .

When I lost initiative I jumped ino a position that blocked LOS .

He started to ease his way off that mountain .
Once he headed down in elevation and lost his LA PPC I kept kicking him in the back
and knocking him down .
I eventually cored that Banshee with raw damage .

Once the rest of my forces eliminated everything else and caught up I had them wait
for the Mirage to take out that Banshee on his own .

I'll always like the Mirage after that fight .

[Shijima_3085]

Fire Moth H (the one with the metric butt-load of heavy small lasers) sneaked up behind a Dire Wolf.  Nailed it in the rear CT with everything but one of them.  One minor problem: mechanized BA under the old rules absorb a whole lot more damage.   [tickedoff]  One *very* dead Elemental and one fully functional Dire Wolf.  Good thing for functioning MASC on the next turn.

[Demos]

They survived the first turn  :D

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Solitaire.

First time using: VS Mad Cat B- ran behind it every round and backstabbed it with my lasers repeatedly- got some internal damage (at least one engine hit and some other stuff was wrecked) before it finally got its back to a wall, at which point I simply ran around and backstabbed his Supernova 2 instead.

Second time- playing with someone who's familiar with me.  He had a 0/0 Dasher H.  Decided not to use it one round.  I ran 4 hexes away from it and hit it with the HLL- blew off the Right Torso (I'd been hoping for a leg or the center torso, since the later would have killed it and the former would have been a mission kill).

Third time: enemy was using a Puma Prime, had no experience with the Solitaire.  He advanced and fired both ER PPCs while at medium range against my +4 movement.  Missed with both shots.  Next round, he advanced again (closing from 16 hexes to 10 hexes).  I ran around behind him.  He missed again, I caught him in the Left Torso with the HLL, (destroying it), then critted an engine slot in the Right Torso with one of my HMLs.

[6shooter]

Valkyrie needed a 12 to hit the awesome, got it. Then rolled a 12, 10 missiles hit!  5 to the center torso, awesome pilot laughed, then 5 to the head, lights out for the laughing boy. Valk pilot ran next to the awesome, who continued his nap and dfa'ed him next turn. Since that hurt his legs the Valkyrie used his laser and good leg to erode the awesome. My youngest son still talks about this victory over his brother.

[Stormfury]

Best I've got was a 120-ton-per-side max 4 unit tournament. I took a Grand Dragon, Locust, Stinger, and Wasp. The idea was simple; the Grand Dragon would be a brich wall people focused on to the exclusion of the three lights.

It worked pretty well. The Grand Dragon was usually too tough to kill before the lights pasted something, and from there things were in my favour.

The Stinger-3G really shone, though. Especially when he executed a 6-hex jump, landed right next to a pristine Grashopper (which missed its shots, having also jumped) and kicked it, causing the Grashopper to fall flat on its face, KO the pilot, and crit out the engine.

Things went down-hill for my opponent from there :P

[Demon55]

I used a single Wolfhound to hold off a Warhammer and its friends while the Wolfhound's lancemates escaped.

[inq101]

A Firestarter that (I'd forgotten was even there) snuck up on my Longbow and pushed up the heatscale enough to detonate its ammo.  In the same game my Spider spent something like 6 turns not being hit by a King Crab before KOing the pilot.

[Wanderer]

Tournament, four random light mechs per side, 3025-tech.

Opponent's Valkyrie walks just into PPC range of my Panther, who didn't move. Rest of his lance moves into long (but viable) laser/SRM range, but my three lancemates are out of range of everything.

We exchange fire. Everything misses except my PPC on the Valkyrie, the first shot of the game. Head shot, crit the cockpit.

He spent the rest of the time in an absolute fury trying to kill that Panther, which gets it's armor shot up and a few points of internal damage, but no crits for the entire game- but we take advantage of his mono-maniacal kitty hunt and cripple a Javelin for good measure.

[Demon55]

Yeah it is best not to let your temper get the better of you.

[Sartris]

Jenner and an Atlas come within 3 hexes of each other on the classic BT map

Atlas unloads, misses with everything

Jenner alphas, misses with everything except the SRM-4

1 missile hit

CT (critical)

Two criticals

Gyro

Gyro

Laughter.

[btp2k2]

Yeah it is best not to let your temper get the better of you.

We used to play with a guy like that....and ironically, the kill that got him the most worked up was from a Panther.

I had a Panther that was hiding in a crevice between a couple hills. I hadn't moved it all game. Apparently, this dude forgot all about the Panther cause he moved his completely unscathed Atlas right past the crevice my Panther was in. I thought he was going to flip the table when I immediately let out a maniacal laugh and moved my Panther directly behind the Atlas. The Atlas fired his rear mounted med lasers, both missed....I fired the Panther's PPC, melted through his rear armor and kinda maybe got a critical hit on a full magazine of A/C20 ammo. BOOM goes the Atlas.


Funny story from a later game with the same guy.....this time I have an Atlas and he tries a similar move. He gets a Hunchback behind my Atlas. I fire the rear meds and both hit. I rolled for hit location and get 12s both rolls. 10 points to the brain. Crit the cockpit.

That was the last time he ever played with me. :D

[Sartris]

I just remembered one where I was on the wrong side of the beating

We were playing on some of the maps from Set 7.  I was running a Panther and had been sniping for most of the game.  About turn 10, I get mauled fairly badly (including a PPC to the head), so I jumped out of the way behind a building.  I was still learning the building rules, so I assumed I had found a safe spot against the closing enemy mechs.  What I failed to realize was that mechs get to move through buildings. 

That turn, the enemy Archer burst through the wall and punched my head off  :D

Lesson learned

[Diamondshark]

I was in a Fire Moth H, against an AS7-D Atlas.  It took two turns to get into position (we were in rocky terrain, and he was hiding behind a hill for some reason), then I run into him, give him a full alpha to the face, and he returns.  We both mostly miss, with a few dents here and there.  The next turn, he loses initiative, and backs off, so I run behind him.  Another full alpha.  Ammo explosion.  Done.

[markhall]

While I'm loving the lights vs assualt lucky shot tales. Evey mech is capable of that.

Some of the best light mech moments I've seen in recent time. Was durning a Klondike era game when a Spider Charged into a clan formation with the intentions of Pushing a Highlander into a river.
Poor bugger missed by 1.
It was a Brave maneuver and would have been lovely if it worked.

Had a lovely moment when I got a Piranha behind a Direwolf A. That had a breach on the rear torso already.
I figured I'd not be long for the world but it was worth the exchange. When he announced he's fire the Gauss at me and the LPLasers at a target out front. I did a little happy dance. Smegged one of his Ammo bins and Sped away happy to have survived.
Spent the rest of the game chasing a  Myst lynx down.


Also the Firestarter is awesome and deserves lots of Kudos.
I can't count the amount of times I've seen two of them operating as a team and kicking the snot out of bigger mechs.

[Slideways]

We had a player running a Locust in a campaign, still does actually.  The objective was to survey an area deep within a city occupied by enemy forces.  The Mercenary Locust, the fastest Mech on the board, volunteered to run ahead of his lancemates and discovered two Schrekk PPC carriers and two Saladin Assault Hovertanks stationed in a park within the city.  Obviously the Mechwarrior piloting the Locust nearly crapped his pants and turned and burned.  Luckily, only one PPC and zero AC20's hit the little fella. 
We still, to this day, reminisce about that suicidal moment... I'm pretty sure that horseshoe still hurts that Mechwarrior.

[Lorcan Nagle]

While I'm loving the lights vs assualt lucky shot tales. Evey mech is capable of that.

Some of the best light mech moments I've seen in recent time. Was durning a Klondike era game when a Spider Charged into a clan formation with the intentions of Pushing a Highlander into a river.
Poor bugger missed by 1.
It was a Brave maneuver and would have been lovely if it worked.

Lest we forget, that same Spider punched a Victor's AC arm off later in the game.

[Frabby]

Once upon a time in the mid-90s we played a huge objective raid. 2 players per side, with one regiment's worth of forces (attacker 'Mech and aerospace only, defender combined arms including mines, artillery, tanks, infantry). The gameboard was huge, I think it was 5x4 map sheets.

I was in the attacking team, and our attacking regiment was a bit on the heavy side. And we got our backsides handed to us - badly. The defenders had considerably lighter forces and used their superior mobility to full effect as the game board was big enough to allow that for a change. (The crowning moment of awesome [not] was when a brand-new Atlas stepped out of the DropShip and was CT-critted by an assault rifle infantry squad hitting the ammo.)

That scenario taught me the value of speed in large games. I honestly don't remember if the defenders had any one 'Mech slower than 5/8/5 (we were more 4/6 and 3/5) and with a game board that large, this totally gave them the strategic initiative.

[Reaver]

My Diamond Shark mechwarrior was working his way up in the Solaris rings (long story -- basically one of the few survivors at Tukayyid) and after a string of six wins, he had a championship bout.  At the end of the day, I lost by the slimmest of margins.  My opponents Phoenix Hawk had a crisped leg actuator and a nick in the gyro, but somehow was still able to stick the landing on a jump behind me that zeroed my CT.

Had I gotten one last shot in on him, that pilot would forever have been known as the guy whose P-Hawk got shot out from under him by the Clanner in a stock Urbie.

[markhall]

Lest we forget, that same Spider punched a Victor's AC arm off later in the game.

We do not.
I have much love and Weapons fire for that spider.
I think the PPC Love Michelle showed it last game proved that. :)

[Cannon_Fodder]

I have done this as a MechWarrior on foot with only a pistol.

MW 2 rpg game, several of our character sneaked into an occupied city to meet up with a leader of the local resistance to get information on the Mercenary unit that was holding the city in a ruthless iron grip. On our way out of town we spot the merc commander in his prized Dire Wolf C on top of a building.

I asked the GM what the CF of that building was since most of the buildings in this area of town were lights and mediums.

His response was, "CF 100. Just enough." So I pulled out my Stersnacht ant the building and manged to roll two of my 4D6 came up 6 for one point of BT damage. As the building collapsed the Dire Wolf took a TAC to the CT and 2 gyro hits.

Much laughter from the other players. The look the GM gave me was priceless.

[BirdofPrey]

We need a hall of fame for that one.

[Cannon_Fodder]

Smallest 'Mech I have piloted for any length of time was a Viper(Dragon fly) at 40t its a medium so the cool stories I have for it don't count for the light 'Mech thread.

My story was too close to Sartris to not share.

[noobk]

One of the first games I played against clan mechs when i was younger. My Jenner got behind my buddies mad cat and brought it down. Loved Jenners ever since.

[evilauthor]

This is what happens when you try to do the Atlas test on a random map: