#tabletop wargames

Pregame

My opponent (the other mercenary) and I ended up taking our first contracts on Le Blanc, one of the recommended starting planets, while our House-affiliated group mates duked it out…elsewhere (I really don’t know). Since he said he didn’t care which half of the contract he did, I claimed the “raid” half of things, figuring it would probably favour my speedy, close-range oriented force. I used rep to get a higher base pay, as i was satisfied with 50% transport coverage and wasn’t really planning on doing too much salvage from my opponent anyways. The first Track on our contract was the Raid objective, with the caveat that I was supposed to destroy the two indicated buildings rather than steal things from them. I would receive 50 bonus SP for each building destroyed with the caveat that more than half of my starting units needed to cross the center line, and he would receive 100 SP for each non-support unit of mine he destroyed or crippled. This seems like a more balanced objective than the base Raid at first blush, since the attacker can’t be screwed over by a lack of hand actuators, but the fact is that defending buildings (especially 30SP buildings) from a human opponent is basically impossible since BT lacks any kind of aggro mechanic. I doubt I would have fared any better on the defense than my opponent did.

We started off by rolling for maps (we ended up with two copies of the Corporate Center map sheet, which the Draconis player graciously provided) and complications. I was on Liason command rights while my opponent was Integrated, which I regard as basically a death sentence. I rolled a result that meant I was caught in a sandstorm - I had to spend 25 SP per unit deployed or else have that unit take -1MP for the entire game. Given my list and objective, this was not an option, so I burned the full 125 SP. ouch, considering that I was already in the red from transport costs. My opponent though, proved my view of Integrated correct when he rolled a result that gave me a “small” force of Yakuza allies - 4 BSP galleons and 4 BSP motorized infantry. These were ultimately too slow and weak to be much more than initiative sinks, but they were a welcome addition regardless. After setting up the map, my opponent designated two adjacent buildings as the objectives and deployed his force.

His mercenaries were a very artillery-centric list, consisting of an Archer ARC-5W, a Battle Cobra I, a Kit Fox V, a Mad Dog V, a BSP LRM Carrier, and two BSP Warrior copters with tag. This was slightly bullshit since Tag on the BSP units meant he could dodge the BV tax, but I still wasn’t especially worried. Arrow IV is nasty, but my ‘mechs were fast enough to get under them and the city would afford me ample cover. I should clarify here that while I overall like my opponent, I was a little annoyed by his sportsmanship here. The main thing was that despite having brought a list with Arrow IV launchers (and TAG), he knew basically none of the rules for artillery, down to whether or not Arrow IV does damage in clusters (it does). I understand that BattleTech has a lot of weird niche mechanics and I’d certainly never expect anyone to know all of them, but I think if you’re going to build around something and have access to the rules you should at least look it up ahead of time. That and one other thing I’ll get to later in the game made me raise my eyebrows a little, but it was still fun regardless.

Round 1: Clay Pigeons and High Explosives

I ended up winning initiative for the first round, which meant little to my opponent as he was happy to keep his ‘mechs mostly immobile behind partial cover and staring down firing-line avenues. I started by cautiously moving my yakuza meatshields allies up behind buildings where they could hide from destructive Arrow Iv, while his machines either stood ready behind height one buildings or lined up angles down long streets. As my actual ‘mechs rolled up into the field, he sent his TAG-copters down aggressively to hopefully mark targets for the rockets, trusting in their +5 TMMs to keep them alive.

The board at the end of the first movement phase - note that his black lanner is a proxy for a Mad Dog, and I have two of his unpainted scouts proxying for galleons. The red dice at the far end of the map represent my objective buildings.

This shooting phase ultimately went pretty well for me - my Maxim peppered the battle cobra with SRM shots, forcing a PSR (which the Battle Cobra failed on a 4 - a harbinger of its poor performance overall this game), neither copter landed its TAG, the Kit Fox did some indirect shooting that ultimately did nothing, and the archer whiffed its shots against my firefly. By some miracle, Captain Beckett popped the fuck off when firing his large laser into one of the Warrior copters to activate TSM - he hit box cars and the fragile craft careened down into the roof of a corporate building. It wasn’t all rosy, though - that goddamned Mad Dog rolled an 11 and dropped an Arrow Iv rocker right onto my poor firefly - fortunately it survived with no armour breaches and Mechwarrior Tau passed her PSR, but that was tough. I would have to be especially cautious with the light ‘mech going forward. I held off on activating TSM with Foley’s Ostsol (I now believe this to have been a minor mistake), but the Neanderthal bounced up to 9 heat and prepared to smash. With first blood drawn and a strong aggressive position, I was very confident going into round 2.

Round 2: Requiem for a Battle Cobra

I lost initiative this round, and this is where having the insane numbers I did really started to pay off. Without expendable brave Yakuza backing me up, it would have been easier for my opponent to blunt the advance of my melee death machines, and possibly set up some truly punishing response fire. As it was, I had to play cagey for another round, doing my best to figure out where I could let my TMMs cover for aggressive positions. My opponent kept his mechs largely in the same positions, every unit standing still except for the Battle Cobra, which rose to its feet before holding its ground, and the surviving helicopter, which moved into position to hunt some yak. For my part, I ran my Ostsol right up to get to fisticuffs with the Battle Cobra, managing to get just under the guns of the Kit Fox, while my Neanderthal took cover behind a height one building to set up a next-turn advance on the objectives. The Maxim quickly ducked behind the same building the enemy Archer was using for shelter, hiding it from the eyes of dangerous enemies, and my Starslayer and Firefly jumped ahead to back up the Neanderthal’s upcoming attack.

Shooting here was a little bloodier, with the Mad Dog managing to blow up one of my Galleons and put some damage into my Neanderthal with secondary attacks while the Kit Fox used the AoE effect of artillery to target the space *behind* my Ostsol and still deal damage to it - fortunately, neither of the 5-damage groups found my Ostsol’s rear torso armour. Also on that front, the Battle Cobra missed both its point-blank LRM shots while the LRM carrier itself managed to put a 9-damage hit into the heavy’s center torso. The helicopter whiffed its TAG yet again, but the Archer brutalized my Starslayer slightly, which managed to make its PSR and keep its feet. On my end, the Ostsol dumped all its pulse lasers except one into the Battle Cobra (which did not repeat its pratfall from last turn), the Galleon and infantry utterly failed to shoot down the copter, but my Neanderthal managed to dump both a regular large laser and large pulse laser into the Archer's center torso, continuing a dominant performance by captain Beckett. The starslayer whiffed its own shots into the helicopter and the firefly did the same whilst trying to put ER medium lasers into the Battle Cobra. In melee, the Ostsol and Battle Cobra kicked one another with neither going down - while I kicked myself for not activating TSM on it the previous round. Had I hit the right leg instead of the left on the Cobra, it would have been forced to eat pavement for the remainder of the game.

The board after turn two (not shown - two slow units of yakuza bikers who are still in the back of the map. Fortunately our GM ruled that forces added by complications don’t count towards things like positioning orders).

Overall, things were still looking bullish going into turn 3 - I planned to get right up into my opponents teeth and end the game in explosive fashion while bloodying his nose on the way out.

Round 3: I'm Too Broke To Die!

I won't bury the lead here - that's basically what happened. Winning initiative here especially sealed the deal, as I used the bursts of TSM-enhanced speed from my heavier mechs to get right into my opponent's backline while he moved perhaps one unit. My Neanderthal got nose to nose with the objectives and very close tohis Archer, the Maxim scooted well into the backline, the Firefly kept heading into a flanking maneuver, the Ostsol ran past the Battle Cobra to get to grips with the Mad Dog, with the Starslayer taking position on the road to exchange fire once it became clear that the Cobra would be holding position. As before, my yakuza stooges buddies advanced steadily up, ready to sweep up the spoils.

This *could* have been a very costly turn for me - it was for the Yakuza, certainly, who got two Galleons turned into burning husks by the Kit Fox. The Archer missed its lasers while sending its SRMs (and, hilariously, a NARC that was immediately rendered useless by the Neanderthal's ECM) into the Neanderthal for a grand total of 8 damage, but the Mad Dog clutched way up here as a result of the copter finally landing tag onto the Starslayer. It proceeded to fire a homing missile into the Starslayer for 20 damage while throwing blistering pulse laser-fire onto Foley's Ostsol - triggering two PSRs that I had to spend Edge to pass. Then came the second weird etiquette moment.

My opponent began asking why I was still attacking him when I started to declare targets, given that I was obviously going to take out the objectives this turn. I was kind of taken aback by this - it was asked in an overall neutral tone but the implication that I would be an asshole for returning fire and costing him campaign money kind of paralyzed me to the extent that I couldn't even come up with the reason that he had shot me up that same turn - let alone the reason of blunting him up for next track, which would be the same in-game month. So I just kinda stumbled into agreeing to withdraw, my Neandethal blasting apart the first objective with an alpha strike and then hatcheting the second down while my firefly whiffed shots (that he questioned why I was even making) into the Archer. Like, I don't think he was trying to wheedle for advantage intentionally, but it was just such a strange moment that I was left with a slightly sour taste. Looking back, I should have at least *tried* to punch some structure damage into the Mad Dog - next game I certainly will.

An overall shot of the board with a close-up of the action - note the Neanderthal about to go to town on the objectives.

But I'm still happy with the victory for certain, only my Starslayer ended the bout with structure damage (1 pip done to the left arm) with my Maxim being entirely fresh. Even with that sandstorm and armour repairs, this track has paid off handsomely - and I expect the next one will do even moreso. The Neanderthal was a real all-star here, landing some lucky hits and taking out both objectives, but I’d also like to spotlight the Ostsol for its blistering speed (seriously, this thing becomes a 7/11 with the TSM up) and the Maxim, which I half expected to die immediately but ended up knocking a Clantech medium on its ass - all in all, an excellent showing.

“My lasers melted the first supply depot into slag as the nearby enemy Archer futilely plinked missiles against my Neanderthal’s armour - the cockpit, already sweltering with activated TSM, grew noticeably hotter, and I blinked sweat out of my eyes before bringing the hatchet down on the second depot. The enormous blade crashed through the roof like a meteor, jagging to one side and cutting a deep furrow into the pavement as the building collapsed in a cloud of dust and debris. I had just yanked the weapon free to point threateningly at the Archer when their Captain, over in that Mad Dog, radioed in a surrender and request for mutual withdrawal. I was sorry tempted to refuse and pound these fuckers into scrap - they’d been happy enough to lob artillery at us after all, and it seemed unsporting to call things off now that we were finally at handshake range. But the yak were getting torn up, Molly’s Starslayer showed a gaping breach, and we’d still have another engagement. I accepted, watching these rocket enthusiasts power down weapons and retreat as my people did the same. Foley actually made his Ostsol wave at the retreating Mad Dog, calling out “have a nice day!” to its receding back as we took stock of the damage and regrouped. There wouldn’t be time for full repairs - Anderson wanted us to move on the Feddies’ headquarters, and we were eager to oblige. The sea-bills were sweet, but the prospect of round two was even sweeter.”

This was the first of several so the implementation isn't perfect, but she's one of my favorites nonetheless. For one, the off-pink steel is very useful in certain schemes (Pro Acryl Coal Black -> Neutral Grey -> Pink -> Pink + White).

Secondly, in the words of Al Pacino: she's got a great ass. GW puts way too many details on their models, so on these Eschers I shaved off excess doodads and made up the difference with a little Greenstuff. I was reading some Catwoman graphic novels around this time and wanted practice painting latex (similar but subtly different from glossy leather). Plus it seems like the model companies only make space for skinny women. A far future sans curvy gals would be grim and dark indeed.