A weak sun flitters through the grey dust. Shadows obscure the degraded hills around the township, itself little more than a scattering of concrete blocks hurled against the stone of the settlement like dice cast by a dissolute gambler. An empty god of chance.
A wasteland planet named for horror fiction is the perfect place for the Canopians to hide a shame that beats in the heart of every liberal empire. Slaves, cast aside for their crimes, labouring to bring minerals to fuel her decadent wealth. Minerals that Lord Ethan would enjoy - but more than that, the labourers sharpen against their bleak stones an urge to revenge that is worth far more than gold or yttrium...
 |
| Freetown, Hastur 1100 Lockdown Time 4 May, 30[79] |
A couple of weeks ago, Lord Ethan and I decided to throw down again. Actually, we were supposed to play Kill Team, but it's been a while for me and the new rules are different enough that I realised the night before that I wasn't confident in my understanding to play a game. So Mangs was kind enough to pivot twelve hours before deployment to Alpha Strike. A very nice guy.
 |
| 'Hellhound' in his Archer ARC-2R back-to-back with a Canopian Commando COM-2D |
"Remember those scenarios in Mechwarrior 2 where you had to scan enemy buildings?" I said. "Let's do that one with your beautiful city terrain. As you won the last scenario and I have a Recon lance, your pirates can be Defending and my mercenaries employed by the Magistcracy are trying to identify your caches or sympathisers or something and Attacking."
I think the Canopians and Goblin's Paladins are attempting to identify buildings containing partisans loyal to Lord Ethan's Exiles, or possibly access and download caches of information from these buildings - while being careful not to flatten the city. It's a bit much for two entire companies to be going head to head, but I wanted something that felt a bit more tactical than 'can we shoot each other to death'.
 |
| Two Exiles assault 'Mechs straddle an administrative building |
The scenario is Reconnaissance. This is on p.193 of Alpha Strike but the short version is this: Defender picks 1-6 buildings that secretly are targets. Attacker has to spend a combat round in base contact with a building scanning, or otherwise use an active probe ability (which I forgot). Destroying buildings messes with this, but we avoided shooting them so that's fine.
If the attacker scans any buildings and finds a target, they get 100 VP. If they find all objectives and get off the board with a lance worth of units, they get a bonus 500VP. If the defenders prevent this, they get 1,000VP.
This is actually incredibly hard for the attacker, as I have to spend half the game not shooting my opponent's 'Mechs. I mean, that's probably fine if I win initiative enough, right? (I win initiative like once all game.)
Working on this after action report several weeks after the fact, I have once again forgotten most of the details. While reviewing the photos for the blogpost, I further realise that nearly all of the photos taken are of deployment and the literal first turn. I'll do my best with what my 'my child just turned one' brain can manage to sift out.
Mangs set up the board before I arrived at our local game store, as per our tradition of 'first arrives set up' and 'he owns all the 6mm scale terrain'. As he picked a grey landscape, I've since decided that the fight is set on Hastur, a penal colony within the Canopus district of the Magistcracy and therefore deployment distance for the First Canopian Cuirassiers. The terrain is a scruffy village, including a power plant and a sequence of skyscrapers, set against grey hills and open pit mines that look a lot like craters in a different scale.
 |
| Exiles assault 'Mechs |
Working on this after action report several weeks after the fact, I have once again forgotten most of the details. While reviewing the photos for the blogpost, I further realise that nearly all of the photos taken are of deployment and the literal first turn. I'll do my best with what my 'my child just turned one' brain can manage to sift out.
 |
| Exiles Battlemechs take up positions in the mining colony's administrative centre |
Mangs set up the board before I arrived at our local game store, as per our tradition of 'first arrives set up' and 'he owns all the 6mm scale terrain'. As he picked a grey landscape, I've since decided that the fight is set on Hastur, a penal colony within the Canopus district of the Magistcracy and therefore deployment distance for the First Canopian Cuirassiers. The terrain is a scruffy village, including a power plant and a sequence of skyscrapers, set against grey hills and open pit mines that look a lot like craters in a different scale.
Today the Cuirassiers deploy their Recon Lance while Goblin's Paladins mercenaries deploy their Command and Fire Lances.
Lord Ethan's vermin deploy a company worth of ramshackle old spitbuckets that definitely don't beat the tar out of me.
 |
| Mining Settlement 37 'Freedom', Hastur |
 |
| Mercenaries and a Canopian scout waddle through enormous steel structures |
Mangs deployed most of his company in amongst the buildings - the deployment rules for Reconnaissance allow this - opting to keep his own Recon Lance in reserve to respond to my work. I did the same with the Command Lance, although I didn't actually do anything useful with that in the end, just moving in to support the Fire Lance.
The game opens with me making a classic 'this looks so cool' move and jumping 'Croft's UrbanMech atop a slag hill at the south of town to do some cool sniping, forgetting completely that it puts him incredibly into the open to be shot at, and UrbanMechs are fragile. The little guy takes most of the opposing company's fire to die, but die he definitely does.
 |
| Exiles move forward to bully the mercenaries out of what they now consider their town |
Mangs played conservatively, moving forward to close the range with me and watching to get outflanked by my rapid elements. I should have fallen back with them instead of just blindly closing to the objectives, but I was deeply concerned with achieving the mission quickly and then withdrawing. That's a good plan but only after you weaken the enemy firepower - otherwise you just feed your guys to the guns. Idiot.
 |
| Being able to forward deploy Assault and Battle Lances really cramps my style |
 |
| wow are those guys are all looking at little ol' me? yes. |
 |
| 'Bone' begins scanning one of the smaller buildings on the outskirts of town |
Half my recon elements come in on (my) eastern half of the map, hoping to close quickly and scan buildings, with a few elements on (my) western side. 'Bone' from the Command Lance also moves in to scan buildings, as a little COM-2D isn't going to be terribly useful against Assault 'Mechs.
 |
| Exiles Recon Lance enters from the north |
Mangs brought in his Recon Lance to counter. We totally forgot that units get a bonus to their speed on roads, but it didn't matter with how fast these guys are.
 |
| Note the historic museum in the foothills, preserved from the original settlement |
He played smart, keeping the lance together and focusing their fire throughout the game. Good play.
 |
| bleb |
All those photos? First turn.
 |
| WSP-3L Wasp gets taken down by a truly incredible amount of firepower |
Second turn is not significantly smarter for me, with Recon elements met with a punishing amount of firepower as they try to turn the corner. I did admittedly forget about the WSP-3L's stealth armour, but I truly doubt that would have helped against that many pips of firepower.
(We use a variant of the Alpha Strike rules which has you roll to hit per pip rather than once and every point causing damage. You still only get one critical per trigger from a round from a 'Mech - no getting three structure critical hits from a 3-firepower 'Mech shooting a stripped target! - but overall this makes the game feel more Battletech-y and less swingy. It does mean the STL is less effective though - rather than reducing the chance for the big Assault 'Mech to miss all its firepower, it just reduces the damage. But that also reduces feels-bad moments so it probably balances itself?)
My other recon elements do engage with the mission objectives, with absolutely zero luck for most of the game. It's quite harrowing watching men and women hurl themselves into a death field in return for absolutely nothing.
Meanwhile, Mangs - who keeps winning initiative by the way - marches his heavy armour forward, knowing that he has the armour and the teeth to win a war of attrition (spoilers). I do my best, but he does a great job of advancing and then withdrawing units that are badly damaged before I can finish them off. One Wolverine (or Griffin?) ends the game with I think a single point of structure left and about four critical systems damaged.
You can see the advantage of having initiative. I thought I had been careful with 'Bone', but Mangs's recon lance was able to shoot him down like he was a Boer prisoner of the British. Horrible.
By the second or third turn, the Canopian/mercenary command was distinctly on the back foot. I like to think I started playing a little more intelligently, more careful about where I applied fire and thoughtful about positioning. It didn't really help much, though. Mangs was terrified of my Nightstar and was careful to avoid it, he played with the cover really well, and I cannot emphasise how fucking annoying it was when he kept winning goddamn initiative.
 |
| On the other side of the field, the Canopian Anubis ABS-3MC scans a building for null result |
My other recon elements do engage with the mission objectives, with absolutely zero luck for most of the game. It's quite harrowing watching men and women hurl themselves into a death field in return for absolutely nothing.
 |
| Assault 'Mechs are way more scary when you only have one in your army. But look at this freehand! |
Meanwhile, Mangs - who keeps winning initiative by the way - marches his heavy armour forward, knowing that he has the armour and the teeth to win a war of attrition (spoilers). I do my best, but he does a great job of advancing and then withdrawing units that are badly damaged before I can finish them off. One Wolverine (or Griffin?) ends the game with I think a single point of structure left and about four critical systems damaged.
 |
| hey we found one! |
 |
| really good positioning here |
You can see the advantage of having initiative. I thought I had been careful with 'Bone', but Mangs's recon lance was able to shoot him down like he was a Boer prisoner of the British. Horrible.
 |
| Intense fighting among the slag hills outside of town |
By the second or third turn, the Canopian/mercenary command was distinctly on the back foot. I like to think I started playing a little more intelligently, more careful about where I applied fire and thoughtful about positioning. It didn't really help much, though. Mangs was terrified of my Nightstar and was careful to avoid it, he played with the cover really well, and I cannot emphasise how fucking annoying it was when he kept winning goddamn initiative.
My medium and heavy 'Mechs did a lot of damage to his, but in return he was destroying mine. You can see the reduction in my units over the next few turns of the game.
The eastern half of the town saw a gnarly pitched battle, but Mangs's superior numbers (now) told the entire story. I just couldn't get the edge back and I was losing way more 'Mechs that I was comfortable with. While this is a pickup game and not a campaign, it still felt narratively wrong to be losing over a lance of 'Mechs in return for - what, intel? If this were a video game, I'd restart the mission!
I lost the Locust in the latter stage of the game, having sent him up the back of the town to try and find some more objectives. Mangs sent two of his Assault-class 'Mechs to find and kill the LCT-1V, one of the least scary units in the game. I'd say this was a mistake, but he could clearly spare the PPCs.
 |
| Closing on the city centre, with 'Goblin' himself scanning one building and acquiring a target |
 |
| Having successfully outflanked the 'Paladins on the east, the pirate recon lance closed its teeth on the remaining light elements |
The eastern half of the town saw a gnarly pitched battle, but Mangs's superior numbers (now) told the entire story. I just couldn't get the edge back and I was losing way more 'Mechs that I was comfortable with. While this is a pickup game and not a campaign, it still felt narratively wrong to be losing over a lance of 'Mechs in return for - what, intel? If this were a video game, I'd restart the mission!
 |
| Assault-class pirates avoiding the guns of the 'Paladins by hiding behind the civilians they had suborned |
I lost the Locust in the latter stage of the game, having sent him up the back of the town to try and find some more objectives. Mangs sent two of his Assault-class 'Mechs to find and kill the LCT-1V, one of the least scary units in the game. I'd say this was a mistake, but he could clearly spare the PPCs.
You can also see where it was bad enough that I had to use my commander to scan the damn buildings.
This corridor was a constant running battle between damaged elements of the Exiles and my only real firepower in the game. Tall buildings meant that Mangs could easily hide his wounded 'Mechs from my guns, especially combined with him winning initiative all the time god dammit. I did use the Tactical Genius talent from my Command Lance and still didn't beat him.
 |
| a corridor of fire |
This corridor was a constant running battle between damaged elements of the Exiles and my only real firepower in the game. Tall buildings meant that Mangs could easily hide his wounded 'Mechs from my guns, especially combined with him winning initiative all the time god dammit. I did use the Tactical Genius talent from my Command Lance and still didn't beat him.
(I'm growling in annoyance but honestly, Mangs was playing better than me so it didn't really matter.)
Eventually, I decided that I had found at least some objectives and so I should withdraw.
[I've just now been reading the rules for the mission, and actually:
 |
| all objective markers! I needed to find all six and then withdraw! |
So I suppose it's up to Mangs if he actually did win this game, or if we should stick with the result we decided on the day. ]
The next two turns saw me pull my units out of the city and begin a fighting withdrawal. I still lost at least one more 'Mech in this fight - I remember 'Freelance', the mercenary CTF-3D Cataphract biting it, and maybe the Archer as well. But I did successfully get at least four units off, including the Anubis, Mangs's most hated of my beloved Canopians.
With several objectives discovered and a partially successful withdrawal, we decided that the Magistcracy of Canopus had forced a tactical (if pyrrhic) victory, while the Exiles had won the game of blood and steel.
A great game. Well-fought and a lot of fun.
 |
| 'Hellhound' caught from behind during the tactical withdrawal |
Now that the Mercenaries kickstarter has been delivered, I'm going to be working on a lot more Battletech soon - I've even already bought more, and plan to - well. Watch and wait.
I'm considering repainting the Canopians in a more canon style, partly because the yellow & silver really does look very striking on the examples I've seen. So this may well be the last time that you see them in their metallic yellow, although I think that 'Turncoat' will keep his Catapult in his existing scheme, replacement leg and all.
See you all soon...
No comments:
Post a Comment