Unfortunately my group fell apart. Not pleased at all. With that being the case, I thought I would at least post the remaining work I did. Hopefully the ideas present may help someone out with what they are doing.
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Jim's Jockstrap is located in the same village. It is the divest of dive bars with a smell that stands up to the name. A faint haze of smoke is present in the air and it is clear that some parts of it look to not have been cleaned since the Star League era. If it wasn't for the fact that it would be impossible, you could swear that parts of the outside were painted in crumbling lead paint.
Inside is fairly empty. There are only a handful of depressed-looking patrons and more than half are drinking by themselves. If the players carefully look around and check – perhaps a perception roll – they may notice two men sharing the same booth. Two other men are working in the bar. The first is Jim, who is gruff, gray, of mixed descent and is the owner. The second is Han, who is younger and of oriental background.
Jim doesn't seem to know much at all about the bandits except how much of a nuisance they are. Thankfully, they mostly leave this village alone as it is, in his words, “The ass-end of the planet.”
Han, however, does know something. He is anxious and acting coy. He will claim his shift is ending soon and is just trying to get out ASAP. The players can choose to press Han or wait for his shift to end. Either way, two of the patrons have paired off. They are thugs of the bandits and it turns out that Han has been giving them free drinks in an exchange of favors (money, loot, and protection of the bar). The pair clearly mean business. The Thug stats from AtoW p.337 would be appropriate.
If the players press Han too much, the thugs might move quickly and in the bar to silence them. If the players wait for Han to get off his shift and approach him outside the bar, the thugs will attack then. The thugs will attempt to subdue the player characters figuring that they might get access to gear.
The conflict can go one of three ways.
1. The players are quick at eliminating the thugs. They stop Han and can interrogate for information. Han will inform them about a remote building a few kilometers away used by the two thugs. More members of the bandits might be present and it is up to the players how they will approach.
2. The players slowly eliminate the thugs. Han gets away and the players have to chase him down. The thugs, if they are alive, are unlikely to talk, but might if the players are good at intimidation. Otherwise, they will have to track Han down to wherever he might have disappeared to.
3. The players lose the encounter. They find themselves tied up in the building with several bandits. Their possessions are in another room. The knots are poorly made; however, they are still restrained with one or two bandits overseeing them.
The building is among the foothills of the mountains on the continent. The earth has a reddish hue with a small number of plants. Nestled among a small valley, it is relatively inconspicuous: ferrocrete structure, beige color, flat roof, antennae and satellite dish. Perhaps an old farmhouse from when Star League equipment kept the lands fertile. Due to line of sight, the players can approach relatively inconspicuously and observe from a distance. Built into the side of the valley near the building is a cave entrance large enough for a 'mech.
The forces the bandits have at their disposal is appropriate to what the players bring whether on foot, vehicles, or 'mechs. The state of repair of bandit equipment should not be pristine, but not falling apart. CF of the building should be that of a Medium L2 building. Once the bandits are eliminated or driven off, the building may be searched for additional information. The building is not trapped as the bandits had no need to do so.
If the players bring 'mechs, the bandits can emerge from the cave. Once the bandits have been eliminated, investigation of the area shows primitive 'mech gantries and maintenance equipment. Functional and broken down vehicles are also present. It is likely that any bandits not in 'mechs escaped either on foot or vehicle. The bandits should used the forced withdraw rules.
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After successfully escaping or defeating the bandits, refit & repair back at the dropship is probably the best idea. The bandits, however, are unlikely to take this sitting down and may engage in a counter attack at the dropship using a mixed force of vehicles and 'mechs. As in the last scenario, the bandits will use the forced withdraw rules. The players may find their equipment in various states of repair. Use of the weapons on the dropship is a tricky proposition:
1. firing weapons would include the dropship in combat, which could mean return fire
2. if the dropship is damaged, it may strand the player characters
3. the bandits are likely to want to take the dropship intact for supplies or their own use
4. utilizing the dropship could quickly tip the engagement in the players' favor
5. the GM may decide that the weapons on this dropship are not functional since the players' are the bottom of the barrel mercs
If the players are successful in their defense, they may now plan for their attack on the main bandit enclave or to strike more of the smaller bases among the mountains in order to whittle away at the bandit forces. They may also want to contact Ichiro again for any information: he may be more communicative about other sources of information now that the bandits have been weakened. If the players show enough fortitude and skill, Ichiro may feel confident enough to include others of his group in the conversation.
If the players searched the compound from the previous engagement, they may have found a map. This may corroborate any information they get from Ichiro or others of his clique. There are somewhere between 3 to 5 other locations outside of the main base that can be struck. Not all may be staffed with an appreciable bandit force. However, there may be individuals that can be interrogated or provide details on the main base's defenses.
The Cache
The Hatchets had seemed to come out of nowhere with surprising capabilities for such a small group. Despite being bandits and their equipment in not the best of repair, their 'mechs were still operational and in fair condition. As it turns out, the bandits had stumbled upon a cache of equipment in the mountains. Although initially thought to be Star League in origin, it post-dates that time. Evidence points to it being a post-1st Succession war cache from a military unit that abandoned its post or contract.
Of Ichiro's group, one does know of the general location of the cache because it is possibly in what was once his land. His name is Jonathan. He once had a manor among the mountains and can possibly lead the team along paths to get there. How he does this, depends on interactions with the team.
1. Jonathan is a long-retired mechwarrior. He still has his 'mech, but his rusty skills could cause him to be more of a liability than an asset. Regardless, he can guide the players easily to the rumored site. However, the players will need to convince him to suit up. The players with Jonathan will then arrive near the cache and square off against the contingent of bandits
2. Satellite uplink and guidance over the comms could work, but the players might get lost; thus leaving them open to ambush. Unless the players AND Jonathan can succeed on their Navigation/Ground rolls, the bandits will get the first chance to attack.
If the players are successful, magnetic resonance scans of the area may notice an anomaly in the hills and point to the cache wherein equipment is located. It is then free for the players to investigate and hopefully salvage materials.
NB: This was my attempt to give the players their first +1 weapon, in a sense. There is not a lot of practical Lostech in the AtoW book the way it comes across in the fiction. I didn't want to give immediate access to Star League-era weapons and heat sinks, but something to help with roleplaying. What I chose were the following:
1. Field Comm. Sat, advanced, p.301
2. Fusion recharger, p. 307
3. Deluxe toolkit, p. 310
4. Electronics repair kit, p. 310
5. Armor
6. The rest of the cache is mostly empty with odds and ends left. The bandits have consumed most of the consumables or moved them.
Suggested bandit 'mechs would be those designs that would be extinct by the 3rd Succession war, but not utilizing Star League tech. Also the downgraded 2750 designs such as the Guillotine 4L.
It is in the best interest of the characters to try and capture one of the enemy mechwarriors. As the bandits have suffered loses, a decisive blow to The Hatchets can now be made. A captured 'mechwarrior can give them the info needed to track down the leader and main base of operations.