2024 was neither a good year for gaming, nor for updating this blog. Lord Ethan sent his pirates at me in August and I never got around to writing this up...
Borgan's Rift
remains a backwater, or at the very least a marginal planet in the Magistcracy, but the fires of the FedCom continue to smoulder. Pirate activity burns along such marginal worlds, and the forces of both the liberal Canopians and their more structured allies in the Confederation are stretched.
Following his defeats earlier at
Old Port Town and
on the mining demi-planet of Kallix-7, "Lord Ethan" has re-armed and re-equipped - shockingly fast for an old pirate king - and made a bold strike at Crescent City. One of the few metropolises on Borgan's Rift worth calling a 'city', Crescent City is home to a new Drop Port. Capturing or at least sacking the city will be quite profitable for the pirate - or his backers...
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| 'Mechs from Goblin's Paladins take up position in parkland |
Stretched resources mean that the
1st Canopian Cuirassiers can only spare a single recon lance to defend the city's outer suburbs. Command in the field is taken by
Goblin's Paladins, bringing Command and Fire lances to the fight, for a total of a single company.
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| Pirates filter through the administrative buildings... |
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| ..and take up a strong position. |
Much data has been lost due to digital degradation (.i. it's been five months), so this after action report must remain relatively brief. The
Exiles took up strong positions and laid down covering fire into the approaching mercenaries. The
Exiles had clearly spent their time training, giving a much stronger showing than previous encounters; they disabled Turncoat's
Catapult CPLT-C1, losing two 'Mechs in return, but were in a strong place...
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| Palm trees and rolling hills make the power district a pleasant commute |
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| The hills light up with missile launchers and laser fire |
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| Note the veteran Croft's UrbanMech UM-R60 taking up position on the roof of an administrative tower |
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| That Wasp is not in a very lucky spot... |
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| Recon lances flirt |
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| A Magistcracy Anubis skitters through an office park |
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Veteran 'Mechwarrior Bone uses his intuition
to get a drop on a pirate Phoenix Hawk to take them out from behind |
The forces closed together on one another, but the
Exiles' heavier 'Mechs and high grade training begins to tell on the lighter mercenaries.
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| An oblique column defends the station with punishing firepower |
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| Palm trees burn |
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| Point-blank fire |
The Wasp managed to get behind the 'Mech holding the power station and got his ammunition cache in a lucky shot, annihilating him. Unfortunately, it wasn't really enough...
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| Drone-eye capture |
Despite the excellent manoeuvring of the
Paladins and the Magistcracy recon lance, the sheer firepower of the
Exiles was taking its toll. The mercenaries and their employers were losing 'Mechs, gear - and pilots. They withdrew in good order, leaving the plant - and the outer suburbs - to the pirates.
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| The Magistcracy withdraws... |
We ended the game after Turn Five due to time constraints - I had to get back home to Arthur!
It being a while since we played, we both had some trouble with the rules so the game took longer than we intended. Alpha Strike is SUCH a great game, though. We agreed that this was tons and tons of fun.
Because my casualties were slightly heavier and my opponent actually held the objective, we agreed that he had the win. I think I could possibly have won - there was still a pathway! - but he definitely had the advantage. He played really well, though, and his list was definitely better than mine. Giving the
UrbanMech a Skill 1 pilot is very
funny but not very good
list building.
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| Exiles casualties |
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| Magistcracy/Paladins casualties |
We're still waiting on the Mercenaries kickstarter here in Australia, but soon I'll have many more Magistcracy and Goblin's Paladins - and I'll get around to painting my Clan one day...
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