Mummerset Reflection & Overview

It has been more than a year since I last ran a game, which makes me ask what do I and the players want, or expect from playing the game? A better question perhaps is what makes it so hard to run regular games? 

I guess that as I no longer go to a games club each week the opportunity to play games is reduced, and that all of us have jobs and family commitments, which all leads to less games played. I will have to think about a new plan of action that addresses this problem, as the current one is not delivering the goodies.

Some of players have asked me is the Mummerset campaign based on Vietnam? 

No, not really, though it has some shout outs to Vietnam, like airborne formations and riverine operations. The genesis of the Mummerset campaign is rooted in the inter war period, especially the Spanish Civil War, with bits taken from the Russian Civil War. 

I like the whole feel of the period with its ad hoc use of armour, and mix of old and modern tactical doctrines. And yes House Steiner is a nod towards the German support for Franco, as played by General Whales. 

Saying that though, the campaign is not meant, or set as a Nazi Germany parable. The real villains are a blast from the past that have only just been revealed.

The campaign falls under Operation Sandbox, because it is my sandbox where I can kick around ideas. 

I use BattleTech rules, but these really focus on battlemech combat, and presents a vision of combat that is rooted by the constraints of being board game based. My goal is to develop rules to help speed up the amount of time each turn takes, and play games where the focus of the game is on combined arms where the battlemech is important, but doesn't work alone. 

The focus is also on playing with the miniatures on nice terrain too.

Currently I want to polish up the artillery rules, and write them up for the blog.

Then I want to work more on the infantry rules, which are proving to be problematical. This seems to be down to a combination of the size of the figures, which makes them hard to see clearly, and a lack of understanding of how to deploy infantry in BattleTech? 

The basic BattleTech rules for infantry are really rather simple, all things considered. Platoons get an attack value based on size and weapons. It all leads to rather bloody combat. 

I want to get players to enjoy deploying infantry, rather than them being some after thought that gets in the way of the battlemech action. I can see that I'm going have to rethink the organisation into squads/sections and make it easier for the players to understand and use.

When we do the next AAR role-play debrief, and plan the next phase of the campaign, I will sit and talk through the problems the players are having with using infantry. Meanwhile I shall go and jot down some notes and think about how to base the figures so that the organisation tracks both the number of casualties, and allows one to calculate the attack values without having to use a record sheet.

Finally, I've been thinking about using the BattleTech introductory rules from the box set that eliminates all the critical hits and internal structure from play. 

However, a part of me loves the detail, so I'm caught by the desire for fast, yet at the same time, detailed games of giant battlemechs fighting it out. I know that if you reduce the stats for the battlemech too far you end up with something like BattleForce. 

Quite frankly this doesn't satisfy me as it seems to me that there is still too much paperwork, with none of the atmosphere that comes from the details of playing a regular game of BattleTech.

I enjoy the feel of a game where the battlemechs are having bits & pieces shot off and degrading slowly under fire. If I can keep that, and get the game to run with a battalion per side in under four hours per game, I will have cracked it.
  

Mummerset 10.28.12: The 3rd Battle of South Boring AAR

The set up, and all is quiet with House Steiner forces with hidden deployment.

The players plan was to hide their mechs in hidden prepared positions, and wait for the anticipated attack by the Freedom Army of Mummerset on the day when the next pirate jump point opens.

Background

The Freedom Army of Mummerset have a four part plan to bring their ten year campaign to a successful conclusion.

The first part of the plan is how to neutralize House Steiner's deployment? Over the last year FAOM high command have come to the conclusion that House Steiner forces will use their dropship to deliver forces to stem attacks made against their ally General Whales.

Therefore the Circinis Federation dropship will engage the House Steiner dropship in orbit and prevent it from landing during the planned offensive. The plan is to deploy a short-battalion size force with a demi company of battlemechs, drawn from  FAOM and Circinus Federation assets in support. 

This force will be deployed to destroy House Steiner non-battlemech ground forces that remain in South Boring.

The second part of the plan is to simultaneously attack General Whales in South Boring, and reduce his assets so that he no longer has an effective force. It is imperative that his battlemech forces are eliminated, and if possible capture, or kill, both General Whales and last remaining heir to the throne of Mummerset.

A second short-battalion sized force, again with a demi-company of battlemechs drawn from both FAOM and Circinus Federation assets will be in support. This force will deployed with the objective of eliminating all Royalist forces.

The third part of the plan is to also attack the remnant forces of the Mummerset Republican Guard, defeated at the hands of General Whales and House Steiner allies, who retreated to the capital Clear Water Boring.

A third short-battalion sized force will be deployed for this objective with two FAOM battlemechs and one Circinis Federation battlemech in support.

The fourth part of the plan is to detonate the mines that have been placed at Landfall to deny the enemy use of the refueling and repair facilitates that are currently neutral, and supporting both Rufus Marx's Republic of Mummerset government and General Whales Royalists.

In reserve at Newten are a full battalion with air mobile assets for deployment for the follow-up operational phases.

OPFOR Composition (Freedom Army of Mummerset & Circinus Federation Pirates)

Urban Mech UM-R70P custom modified 3062 Inner Sphere tech (move 2-3-2, armour 99 points, and 11 single heat sinks). Loadout 1 x Rotary AC5, 1 x ER medium laser, and 1 x ER small laser.

Rifleman RFL-PAC custom modified 3025 Inner Sphere tech (move 4-6-0, armour 72 points, and 10 single heat sinks). Loadout 4 x Ultra AC2s.

ConstructionMech 30 ton MOD-P custom modified 3132 industrial (3-5-0, armour 48 points, and 1 single heat sink). Loadout 1 x SRM6, and 2 x lift hoists.

Ostol OTL-6PM custom modified 3067 Inner Sphere tech (5-8-0, armour 188 points, and 14 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER PPCs, 2 x ER medium lasers, 2 x ER small lasers, and 1 targeting computer.

Ostroc OSR-4PM custom modified 3067 Inner Sphere tech (5-8-5, armour 179 points, and 14 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER large lasers, 2 x ER medium lasers, 1 x small pulse laser.

Ostol  OTL-5PM custom modified 3067 Inner Sphere tech (5-8-0, armour 120 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 5 x LRM 10s, 2 x medium lasers, 2 x small lasers.

One Company of vehicles:

4 x Vedette light tank
6 x 3039 GEV APCs each carrying one platoon of infantry
2 x 3039 GEV scout vehicles

Two Companys of Infantry (Reinforced):

2 x Mechanised infantry platoons
2 x PAL infantry platoons
2 x Jump infantry platoons
2 x Foot infantry platoons

Long Tom artillery (off board): 1 battery of 4 tubes

4th Battalion of the House Steiner 4444 Regimental Combat Team

Zeus 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 4-6-4, armour 240 points, and 16 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER PPC, 1 x LRM20 (with Artemis), 3 x ER medium lasers, 4 x ER small lasers, and 1 targeting computer.

Scorpion 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 6-9-0, armour 192 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER large lasers, 1 x ER medium laser, 1 x LRM5, 2 x SRM2, and 1 targeting computer.

Firestarter 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 6-9-6, armour 58 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER Large laser, 2 x ER medium lasers, 2 x flamers, and 1 targeting computer.

Commando 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech (move 6-9-0, armour 86 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER medium lasers, 1 x Streak SRM4, 1 x LRM5, 1 x ER small laser, and 1 targeting computer.

Conventional Infantry Company: 4 platoons (with 4 squads of 7 infantry in each) .
Battle Armor Support (Infantry): 2 platoons (with 4 Squads of 5 BA in each).
One platoon of GEV LRM carriers: 1 platoon of 4 vehicles.
Long Tom artillery (off board): 1 battery of 4 tubes.

Initial Deployment

 

The players deployed their mechs along with their conventional infantry platoon,  one scout and one heavy battle armour squad in support,  and one GEV missile carrier. All hidden in pre-prepared  positions on the board.

Clive looking calm and collected as he plans his deployment. Actually, he was quite stressed by having to work out where to best deploy his hidden assets. The consequences of getting this wrong would have a significant impact on the campaign.

Oliver, our youngest player, was commanding the attackers and chose to deploy on the crest of the hills outside the town and dice for sensor contacts i.e.: spot hidden units. Also, as per my Epiphany posts, the BattleTech alternate I-go then U-go rules were replaced with a card activation system.

Oliver, with his dad Trevor, both a year older and Oliver was incredibly cool, calm and collected about his mission.

We were playing with house rules for the artillery, using forward observer cards to designate targets, and allocating artillery barrages as the cards were drawn. This worked incredibly well from a game perspective, and all the players felt that the artillery was now pretty scary.

That explosion at the front is a House Steiner artillery barrage that has just blown up a Freedom Army Urban mech. The two clumps of infantry that are running away are what are left of two platoons that had to bail out of their APCs after said APCs were hit by artillery barrages. The Firestarter at the back, behind one of the buildings, had then lovingly lit up the survivors with its flamethrowers, along with a mechanised infantry platoon that had been in support..

 House Steiner artillery forced the Freedom Army to advance, but it effectively disrupted the attack and caused substantial damage.

Dan rolling for his hit locations on a fleeing enemy mech. His Zeus can be seen on the lower left of the picture with more fleeing enemy infantry platoons that had seen artillery rain down upon them. We remove the layers from the buildings that have been hit by artillery, which is easy to do with Fieldworks products.

The battle then opened up with House Steiner mechs being deployed to apply the coup de grâce to the enemy mechs.

Dan's Zeus again with the enemy mech at the left fleeing in the distance.The enemy tank on the right would bug out and have a pop at the Zeus with little effect.

The downside to this was that it allowed the enemy the opportunity to brings its artillery to bear on them, resulting in the Commando being brought down when the center torso was blown out by sequential attacks by artillery.

Though the half the enemy mechs were destroyed by our players, with the one industrial mech actually captured, what you don't see here is Clive's Commando, which had been blown up by three enemy artillery barrages that hit it, and the Scorpion four legged mech, in quick succession. The Scorpion took considerable damage, but was still battle worthy even with a gyro hit, and losing the coffee maker (player in game joke).

Oliver took the whole, you have been ambushed, very well indeed, and made a credible fist of the whole engagement. The resulting casualty list was five enemy infantry platoons eliminated, three mechs destroyed and their remains captured.

Costs were one Commando gutted, one conventional infantry squad lost, and one scout battle armour both lost when caught by enemy artillery barrages.

Though the players started to turn up around midday for the game, by the time we had lunch, faffed setting up the table, and getting them to decide where to place their hidden units, the game didn't start until 15.00. We played through until 20.00, but I lost count of the number of turns, but I guess about ten were resolved?

So five hours of gaming, which is okay, but still too long.

On the other hand a lot faster than just using conventional BattleTech rules, given we had 10 mechs, 16 vehicles, and just over 12 infantry platoons in play. I would imagine we would not have had enough time to lay to a conclusive outcome using the conventional BattleTech rules, especially with five players who were all a bit rusty on what they had to do.

All in all, an outright House Steiner win, and we now have to wait and see what the happens in the other two battles that are taking place simultaneously on this day.
   

Mummerset: Battle of South Boring Aftermath

   
It's been a while since I posted an update on my Mummerset campaign, which has been down to the intrusion of Real Life (TM). To remind you all where we are see 1st Battle and 2nd Battle for South Boring, or review the whole campaign so far by going here.

Unfortunately, Blogger takes you to the newest post, rather than the first post, so you will have to scroll down to the beginning.

Anyway, the last battle of the campaign had to be split into two games, one for each wing of the of the engagement. The first battle went very well for my players. The second was a bloodbath, and a draw of sorts, as both sides could claim victory for legitimate reasons.

The next game session was our usual RPG after action review and intelligence briefing.

Three of the four players battlemechs had taken damage, which meant that they would not have been in a good position if the enemy had the resources to have staged a counter attack.

Fortunately for the players this was not the case, so Dan didn't have to go out and face anyone without the benefit of having any armour on the cockpit of his Zeus. Susan's Scorpion though damaged, was combat ready, while Clive's Commando had come through unscathed.

The same could not be said for Trevor's Firestarter that was a total wreck, with the added problem of him taking two wounds in the process (calculated as a broken arm and leg with him recovering from being unconscious occurring during the session as we got updates from the field hospital medics).

On the up side the players had manged to capture an Awesome, with no armour to speak of, but otherwise fixable, and a Blackjack that was shot up and missing an arm. The third enemy mech, a Hornet, was really only good for spares that could be salvaged off it, as it had both legs blown off it after being shot up by Dan's Zeus.

The first order was to secure the battle area and retrieve personnel and material, and then to consolidate the defensive positions as best they could.

Afterwards the players had to list the repair priorities for the unit.

They decided  that getting the Zeus combat worthy was the first order of business, followed by the Scorpion. Due to diplomatic demands from their ally General Whales, the Awesome also need to be be repaired and given over to him, so as to bolster his force of industrial mechs.

After that, then the Blackjack would also be fixed up and given to him, which meant that the Firestarter was going to be the last in line for TLC.

This kept them busy for most of a day (in game time).

We then forwarded the campaign by four days, describing the what happened to their dropship the Northern Lights, the retreat of General Spencer's Republican Guard back to Clear Water Boring, and the arrival of General Whales' convoy at South Boring, bringing much needed men and material.

We then played out the propaganda part of the game, with the Democratic Republic of Mummerset making the most of the virtual destruction of the Firestarter from forces under the command Major Alexander Mercia who then was publically promoted to Lt. Colonel for his efforts.

Arriving in system were a House Steiner jumpship, and the dropship arrived on Mummerset at about the same time as the Awesome was finished being refitted.

The good news was that there were two Goliath battlemechs and four more platoons of infantry. The bad news was that the mech pilots were rookies, and there was no organic transport assets for the infantry, who would therefore have to rely on what was already available.

As things unfolded, more evidence came that the Freedom Army of Mummerset (FAOM) were operating out of Cromwell and that they appeared to have links to the Circinus Federation.

The latter group were a former Word of Blake ally that were thought to have been eliminated when their homeworld was glassed by nukes during the Jihad, which is about fifty years ago as far as the campaign timeline goes (this was a bit like finding Nazis operating out of a secret Antarctic base today).

Also, due to House Steiner's success at propping up General Whales' Royalist faction, the Marion Hegemony and Rimworld Coalition were now both supporting the Republican Guard, with six unarmed industrial mechs being seen with the one remaining Firefly that didn't see action due to being out of service.

Over the next three weeks of campaign time, the players sent special forces teams to recon Clear Water Boring and Cromwell, gaining valuable intelligence in the process.

The Democratic Republic of Mummerset was mounting a fierce propaganda campaign to bolster support for their regime, Meanwhile, the Mummerset Freedom Party came up with the catchy slogan of "Born in the South to die in the North."

Leading the players to decide that they were a bit unstable, and could not be negotiated with in any meaningful way.

The session ended with the players finding out from their Combat Engineers (one of the new platoons that had arrived as reinforcements) that the spaceport facilities at Landfall had been extensively mined, and that there was evidence that this mining was a focused strategy on the part of the Southern Federation and FAOM.

As a result security around the players dropship was stepped up, as it would appear that the enemy are making this one of their prime targets.

Finally, Counter Insurgency Operations began on the Fork River Basin, which is just West of South Boring, against FAOM forces infiltrating the area. This appears to be part of preparations for a big offensive.

This concluded the session, with the game now at week 59, for what was initially touted as a short three month Fly-the-Flag operation.

Players Plan

Is to make it look as if they will take off with the battlemechs in their dropship when the enemy jumpship is next due to arrive in system, thereby appearing to repeat their tactics of keeping the mechs as a mobile force that can be dropped anywhere as necessary.

The players suspect that the enemies plan is to lure their dropship to the spaceport at Landfall and destroy it with mines, or failing that use their dropship to play a game of cat-and-mouse, figuring that this would remove the Steiner battlemechs from the ground engagement as they would be unable to be deployed in time.

Therefore, the players plan to hide their mechs in hidden prepared positions to mask them from being scanned, and wait for the attack by FAoM against General Whales' forces that are in South Boring.

Mummerset 09.04.11: The 2nd Battle of South Boring AAR

   
This session was to resolve the situation from the Republican Guards pincer movement on the defenders of South Boring.

Background

Elements of Colonel Whales's 3rd Royal Guards have pinned down by an attack by General Spencers 1st Republican Guards who have numerical superiority. See the last report for further details in the first link above. 

1st Republican Guards 2nd Battalion

1 x Hornet custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere tech worth 585 bv (move 5-8-5, armour 69 points, and 10 single heat sinks). Loadout 2 x medium lasers, 1 x LRM5 (with 24 rounds of ammo), and 1 x small laser.

1x ConstructionMech MOD custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere industrial tech worth 335 bv (move 3-5-0, armour 40 points, and 1 single heat sinks). Loadout 1 x LRM10 (with 12 rounds of ammo), 2 x machine guns (with 100 rounds of ammo), and a lift hoist.

1 x MaintenanceQuad MOD P custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere industrial tech worth 576 bv (move 3-5-0, armour 48 points, and 6 single heat sinks). Loadout 2 x LRM10 (with 12 rounds of ammo each), and 2 x lift hoists.

4 x Vedette light tanks worth 475 bv each (total 1900 points).
4 x Striker light missile tanks worth 564 bv each (total 2256 points).
4 x 3039 wheeled APCs that could carry one squad of infantry worth 157 bv each (total 628 points).
4 x 3039 GEV APCs that could carry one platoon of infantry worth 102 bv each (total 408 points).
1 x Morningstar City Command vehicle worth 412 bv.

1 x mechanised infantry platoon.
1 x PAL infantry platoon.
2 x jump infantry platoons.
2 x foot infantry platoons.

Also again on call were three artillery batteries in support of the assault.

4th Battalion of the House Steiner 4444 Regimental Combat Team

1 x Firestarter 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1683 bv (move 6-9-6, armour 58 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER Large laser, 2 x ER medium lasers, 2 x flamers, and 1 targeting computer). 

3rd Royal Guards 2nd Battalion

1 x AC5 field gun battery.
4 x foot infantry platoons.

Initial Deployment

As the players had aerial recon and orbital dominance the forces under the command of Major Alexander Mercia (Oliver) were deployed on table in order of the line of march. After this Trevor deployed his forces, which were all initially out of sight or hidden.

Click to embiggen.

The above shows Major Mercia's forces moving down the main road hunting for the enemy, which he has to engage and eliminate and then leave the opposite side of the board within fourteen turns (time set by length of the previous game where General Spencer transmits the withdraw order to the Republican Guards).

 

So, Oliver was very much on the clock and he can't just rush everything to the other side as he would lose if the defenders are still in place.

At the far left you can just glimpse the missile tanks that were positioned to provide indirect fire for the supporting forces, it was a pity that the enemy was so well hidden.

 

In the middle left you can see the advancing industrial mechs and slightly further right the wheeled APCs moving towards a building they suspect is defended. Smoke from an artillery barrage has also been placed on the table.

Click to embiggen.

The first shot of the game sees Trevor brewing up Oliver's leading GEV APC and effectively killing all the infantry inside it too as an added bonus. 

 

Oliver's forces are very bunched up due to the choke points (it is assumed that routes outside of the board are mined or blocked to prevent passage). It sucks to attack dug in defenders.

Click to embiggen.

The battle has just got down and dirty with Trevor's Firestarter bugging out to the far right with Oliver's mech forces in hot pursuit.

 

As can be seen another GEV APC has been hit, but this time the infantry inside were able to get out. Also a wheeled APC has been brewed up with the loss of one PAL infantry squad (Power Armour Light).

 

One of Oliver's industrial mechs is very lucky in that an offboard artillery barrage just misses it after over shooting its target; the building to the left near the front of the board.

Click to embiggen.

The Firestarter is leading the Republican Guard mechs in a merry chase around prime down town real estate that presents exciting investment opportunities for an entrepreneurial real estate developer looking to get in on the ground floor of a major redevelopment of an up and coming residential area.

 

Oliver's Hornet has jumped on top of one of the building trying to catch up with the Firestarter that can just bee seen center top of the picture.

Click to embiggen: Last turn of the battle that ended up being quite a blood bath.

Result of the Battle

Oliver's Hornet mech was taken down by a combination of SRM armed infantry and one of his own artillery barrages overshooting and hitting it just to rub salt into the wound. One industrial mech was still standing relatively unscathed, but the other had been well and truly cored.

 

Trevor's Firestarter fell to three critical hits on the engine shielding and a whole heap of armour sanded off by being under constant fire.

Losses were high on both sides.

 

The Oliver's Republican Guards lost five platoons of infantry, which left one platoon of infantry that was combat effective. He also lost one tank, three GEV APCs and four wheeled APCs.

 

Trevor lost two platoons of infantry. However, Trevor's remaining forces were not in a position to control the battlefield having no armour, and so they agreed to collect the wounded and allowed each other to retrieve mechs and vehicles for salvage.

Oliver and Trevor.

Since Oliver did so well, actually inflicting losses on House Steiner I have promoted his character Major Alexander Mercia to Lt. Colonel, and of course the Republic news service will hail this as a great victory over Colonel Whales Royalists, who only withstood the attack down to the support of the offworld mercenaries that he had employed to subjugate the citizens of Mummerset to the old rule of Kings again.
   

Mummerset 07.18.11: The Battle of South Boring AAR

The session started with me bringing the players up to speed on real life and in game developments.

Trevor couldn't make it so I accounted for that by having some in game problems develop that allowed his mech to be detached, and unfortunately, Graham was required to be in Bournemouth, which meant that I would be both the GM and have to run the OPFOR; the 1st Battalion of the 1st Republican Guards under the command of General Spencer.

Background

At the end of last session the players had taken off in their dropship and were heading towards the jump point.

But the flight plan was a ruse, and that in fact they were only boosting out on an extended elliptical orbit, by using the local satellites to swing back and fall back to Mummerset pulled by gravity, rather than boosting all the way in.

Meanwhile, there are two incoming dropships from the Lyran jumpship inbound for Landfall that will take about a week to arrive and therefore land about three days after the the battle that is about to occur. 

In addition, the so called "pirate" jumpship has used the pirate point and released a dropship that will arrive in orbit around Mummerset at about the same time as the players will be dropped off at South Boring.

This will mean that their dropship can't be used to dominate the airspace over South Boring.

While all this is happening General Spencer has led the 1st Republican Guards out of Clear Water Boring and is heading towards South Boring to deal with Colonel Whales and his 3rd Royal Guards Regiment.

This move will take him approximately three days, with the attack beginning on the third day.

General Spencer has managed to pin Colonel Whales force in South Boring with his 3rd Battalion, while the 1st and 2nd Battalion's are sweeping round the flanks.

The 1st Battalion is under General Spencer has three battlemechs; an Awesome with a command console for the general, a Blackjack and a Hornet. The 2nd Battalion has one battlemech and two industrial mechs; a Fireball and two custom converted industrial mechs with weapons.

Colonel Whales is in a bit of a pickle as his naval convoy that was moving the 3rd Royals up the Fork River was attacked on route by Republican Guard air units. This sunk one of the boats, damaged another and this has meant that the only one battalion of the 3rd Royals in actually sitting in South Boring, and it has been forced to take up a defensive position in the town.

The good news is that he does have two of his four industrial mech with him, but these are seriously outclassed by the enemy Fireball, and the Colonel requests that one battlemech be sent to ease the pressure on his left flank, with the players being tasked to stop General Spencer's attack on his right flank.

1st Republican Guards 1st Battalion

1x Awesome AWS-8P custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere tech worth 1768 bv (move 3-5-0, armour 232 points, and 11 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x autocannon 10 (with 20 rounds of ammo), 1 x large laser, 2 x PPCs, 2 x ER medium laser, and 1 x small laser.

1 x Blackjack BJ2-0P custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere tech worth 1134 bv (move 4-6-4, armour 125 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x Er large lasers, and 2 x autocannon 2s (with 45 rounds of ammo each).

1 x Hornet custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere tech worth 585 bv (move 5-8-5, armour 69 points, and 10 single heat sinks). Loadout 2 x medium lasers, 1 x LRM5 (with 24 rounds of ammo), and 1 x small laser.

4 x Vedette light tanks worth 475 bv each (total 1900 points)
4 x Striker light missile tanks worth 564 bv each (total 2256 points)
4 x 3039 wheeled APCs that could carry one squad of infantry worth 157 bv each (total 628 points)
4 x 3039 GEV APCs that could carry one platoon of infantry worth 102 bv each (total 408 points)

1 x mechanised infantry platoon
2 x jump infantry platoons
2 x foot infantry platoons

Also on call were three artillery batteries and one possible airstrike.

4th Battalion of the House Steiner 4444 Regimental Combat Team

1 x Zeus 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 2973 bv (move 4-6-4, armour 240  points, and 16 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER PPC, 1 x LRM20 (with Artemis with 24 rounds of ammo), 3 x ER medium lasers, 4 x ER small lasers, and 1 targeting computer.

1 x Scorpion 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1763 bv (move 6-9-0, armour 192 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER large lasers, 1 x ER medium laser, 1 x LRM5 (with 24 rounds of ammo), 2 x  SRM2 (with 50 rounds of ammo to share), and 1 targeting computer.

1 x Commando 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1067 bv (move 6-9-0, armour 86 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER medium lasers, 1 x LRM5 (with 24 rounds of ammo), 1 x Streak SRM4 (with 50 rounds of ammo), 1 x ER small laser, and 1 targeting computer).

4 x Anhur VTOLs that could carry one platoon of infantry 720 bv each (total 2880 points)
1 x Grey Death scout battle armour platoon 16 bv each (total 320 points)
1 x Grey Death assault battle armour platoon 43 bv each (total 860 points)
4 x foot infantry platoons

Initial Deployment

As the players had aerial recon and orbital dominance General Spencer's forces were deployed on table in order of the line of march.

As can be seen above our Captain Green (Dan) looks as happy as Larry as he surveys the oncoming battle. I'm using MechWarrior Dark Age models for the vehicles, with all the vehicles being stand ins for General Spencer's forces.

From the other side Captain Magnusson (Clive) is feigning his usual indifference to such trifles, as for him the battle is won or lost prior to the deployment. He may not look it, but he was feeling quietly confident.

This is the first kill of the game as the 1st Republican Guard Hornet is caught in open by Dan's Zeus that manage to blow both legs off, the left arm and gut the left torso completely in one round.

Prior to this move Susan's Scorpion had blown the left arm off the Blackjack.

The two Republican Guard Vedettes, next to the Hornet, are eliminated by a combination of Susan's Scorpion and House Steiner infantry attacks from the buildings they occupied when the players VTOLs swept in and deposited infantry in choice buildings that then were able to act as choke points to threaten the Republican Guard infantry forces.

We are well into the battle at this point.

Clive's finger is pointing to where the Dan's Zeus is as it lines up to brew up the 1st Republican Guard APCs. One of the Strikers has also been taken out by Susan's Scorpion, which you can just see a bit of a leg of in this picture (the orange blob between the destroyed tank and the tree).

The Blackjack is taken out by Susan's Scorpion, which takes out both gyros and leaves it with one functioning autocannon 2, so at that point the pilot ejected as he was no longer combat effective.

Meanwhile Dan's Zeus takes out the first Republican Guard APC, but misses the shots on the second, third and fourth, which at least allows the remaining infantry to de-bus. Not that it will do them any good, because they then come under a hail of withering fire from the House Steiner infantry that have occupied the building they were about to try and enter.

The MechWarrior mono-cycle horde represent a motorized infantry platoon that was delayed getting onto the battlefield.

Finally, one of the Republican Guard jump infantry platoons was able to deploy while the Awesome and the Zeus face off to exchange pleasantries with each other.

While the Awesome held its own against the Zeus it was forced to move as the Susan's Scorpion was flanking it.

I was trying to get the Awesome off the table at this point, but assault mechs are just too dam slow, and I had nothing that I could use to slow down the House Steiner advance at this point.

However, I was able to move the Awesome away from the Susan's Scorpion and avoid my mech being shot in the side. But, Clive's Commando had been keeping up small scale indirect harassing fire all this time and it was chipping away at my armour, and I felt quite put upon by the cheekiness of it!

Unfortunately the Zeus was waiting and this time Dan got the better of me, as my shots missed, and his didn't.

By this point the Awesome had 5 points of armour left on the right torso, had lost its left arm and had taken internal hits on the right arm, left torso and center torso sections with a gyro hit. The left leg had 12 points, and the right leg 5 points of armour left.

Needless to say as it fell over from failing the piloting roll and the General with his pilot ejecting to be retrieved by the motorized infantry platoon.

And above is the final shot showing the position of the Susan's Scorpion that had herded my Awesome into the Zeus's kill zone, with Clive's Commando snuck in between two buildings lurking with intent.

So another glorious victory for House Steiner, which has saved Colonel Whale's from ignominious defeat at the hands of the Republican Guards.

We of course still have the second battle of South Boring to fight, where Trevor's Firestarter will be facing a Republican Guard Fireball. 

All I have to do now is work out when we can fight this next action? Once this battle has been resolved this will bring this phase of the campaign to a neatish resolution, in that the Republican Guards are now going to be very much on the defensive. 

This then just leaves the Freedom Army of Mummerset to be dealt with by our heroes. I suspect that this will be a far trickier proposition.

Note: No points cost were used in the creation of this scenario, I just added them in so that BattleTech players could see what the totals added up to to satisfy any curiosity about the balance.
   

Next Weekend

Next weekend is the big one, as the three way clash between General Spencer's Republican Guard face off against Colonel Whales 3rd Royal Guards, and the 4th Battalion of the Spirit of Steiner Regimental Combat Team. 

I have managed to invite a my friend Graham, who is a WW2 gamer, to come and play as General Spencer, while the players will each manage their own battlemech. Colonel Whales forces will be in defense and only react to orders from the players, assuming said orders are received and passed on by Colonel Whales HQ?

Trevor can't make it for the big battle of South Boring, so I've devised a cunning plan to account for his absence and have adjusted the battle lines accordingly. Actually makes for a fairer game, for definitions of fairer that don't include easy, or walk over, for the players.

Anyway, enough of me letting the plot out of the bag before hand, I've been busy all day painting up four town boards, and in eight hours I've gone a long way from white undercoat with a wash, to something that at least looks presentable, if not finished. 

I will be spending more time tomorrow as I'd like to flock the boards with static grass just to get them up to a basic standard that won't look to bad to me.

I've also chosen the other terrain boards for the set-up and really would like to add some tree trunk stubs into the two original open terrain boards I've chosen for the game. 

So, another job for tomorrow, and I still have to slap some paint on the infantry units for both the Republican Guards and the 3rd Royals. As luck would have it this scenario doesn't require the players infantry, which are of course all pretty much painted up and ready to go. 

However, they will be deployed at a future point. So hey ho, nose to the grind wheel.

Mummerset 05.21.11: Aftermath

       

The session started off with a recap to bring everyone, especially me, up to speed on what happened last session. 

 

This then led into a task organisation exercise to secure the base the players had retreated into after the last battle, allowing them to consolidate the forces under their command. This involved radioing the helicopter forces and moving straggler units to either the players current location in Elizabethville, or join up with the forces that were left in Clear Water Boring barracks.

The players then got their scout choppers to swept the perimeter and as a result they discovered that the enemy had managed to retrieve the four downed mechs from the last sessions battle. 

 

I then advanced the time with daily reports updating on the riots, and general news reports that were being aired over the Mummerset Broadcasting Company (MBC). Revolution seemed to be on the cards yet it was a revolution that seemed rather calm all things considered. Police were handling the riots and the Mummerset army was just waiting in barracks, apart from the 3rd Royal Guards who had gone out to defend the palace from attack by the "pirate" forces.

Communication with the diplomatic mission was re-established and the players made their report to the Duke. 

 

The session then became one of sifting through reports and summarizing events as they occurred. This allowed me to use the Duke to move the diplomatic mission from Clear Water Boring to Elizabethville and co-opting the players as military attaches under his command. 

 

Orders also arrived by drop ship from Major Lester at Bolan with a notification that Dan's brevet promotion to captain became confirmed as a full promotion, and the other players all received brevet promotions to the rank of captain, so as to fit into their new roles of military attaches. 

 

The team also grew with the addition of brevet Captain Edmund Deville who had arrived on the drop ship that had brought their new orders with his Firestarter as reinforcements for the players team.

Summary of Events

No enemy mechs had been spotted in Clear Water Boring during the attack on Elizabethville. Civilians riots had been handled by the Royal Mummerset Mounted Police (RMMP) both in Clear Water Boring and Elizabethville. 

 

No other reports of fighting were heard, which suggested that the attack was focused on one limited objective, namely destroying the Kingdoms administrative center and the royal family.

Post Attack Developments

The players had sent out their special forces team who had reported back that the apparent revolution "didn't smell right" as a full on revolution that the initial attack on Elizabethville, but more like a military led coup d'état. The enemy "pirate" force had managed to do its vanishing act again. 

 

In the aftermath of the attack three main factions appeared.

The first was the Royalist faction led by Colonel Whales, and his 3rd Royal Guards, which had been sighted going North after the battle at the palace. Colonel Whales seemed to be the military leader of any remaining Royal loyalists, with the Right Honourable John McDevitt of the RMMP, and the Mayor of Elizabethville being his civilian counterparts.

The Northern Alliance faction appeared to be the biggest and strongest faction as it was based in Clear Water Boring the commercial heart of Mummerset. The Mayor of Clear Water Boring, Chirico Marx, announce his support on MBC for Prime Minister Rufus T. Marx's motion in Parliament to turn the Kingdom of Mummerset into the Democratic Republic of Mummerset (DROM); with Rufus T. Marx as its first President of course. 

 

I sold this very much as a progressive development to move the politics of this world forward.

The main opposition appeared to be a Southern Faction led by the Mayor of New Cromwell, Lady Charlotte Spencer, with support from the RMMP Constable of New Cromwell, the Right Honourable Sir Henry Bewley. 

 

While the players could not prove that the Southern Faction were the ring leaders behind the so called "pirates" that had attacked Elizabethville, the fact that the Lady Spencer seemed remarkably well informed of the action at Cromwell where the players had fought two enemy mechs did suggest a link.

However, a compromise between the Marx led Northern Alliance, and the Spencer led Southern Factions, led to the announcement of the "New Deal" making everyone citizens of Mummerset with rights protected by a constitution that would be drawn up with representatives from all the factions.

The Rise of the Republic

The days and weeks passed by with the MBC televising the developments of the new constitution and the rights people would have as citizens of the Republic. However, the players started to notice that while the motto "service brings citizenship," one could easily lose one citizenship if one was found guilty of a crime against the state, for example by spraying graffiti or getting into a street brawl when drunk. 

 

Otherwise life on Mummerset seemed to drift along with occasional protests at the developments in the drawing up of the Constitution being dealt with by the RMMP, which had been renamed the Republican Mounted Mummerset Police, just shortened back to Mounties. 

 

So no change there then.

Further investigations and intelligence reports from the Second Attache David Bradford, the diplomatic missions spook, indicated the Marx & Spencer coalition had eight of the 13 mayors of Mummerset in their pockets, but that four towns were sitting on the fence.

 

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Elizabethville was calling for an investigation into the assassination of the Prince Albert and General Briton.

The Marx & Spencer coalition formally invited the Marion Hegemony and Outworld Coalition to set up diplomatic missions on Mummerset, which suggested to the players that the "pirates" were aligned to one of the ruling families, probably the Southern faction under Lady Spencer and the Right Honourable Sir Henry Bewley. 

 

The local network of informers had also heard that there was an illegitimate heir to the throne, and that the Mounties had indicated that they served the citizens of Mummerset, and supported law & order above any other considerations.

Soon after the existence of the "pirates" as an onworld faction was confirmed, after leaflets for the Mummerset Freedom Party (MFP) were found, and further investigation showed that this was the political wing of the Freedom Army of Mummerset (FAOM). 

 

This political wing was made up of lesser colony founding families that felt disenfranchised by the actions of the founding fathers of Mummerset, and that FAOM basically channeled the political protest of the MFP in a more direct manner.

Rumble in the Jungle

Like all good marriages of convenience the Marx & Spencer DROM fell out. However, the MBC announced that Colonel Spencer was being promoted to General, to replace the late Sir Thomas Briton, and was being made the overall Commander-in-Chief of all Mummerset armed forces. 

 

General Spencer was then interviewed by the MBC and announced the formation of the 1st Republican Guards with its own battlemech force. With the General telling everyone that he would be leading the force himself in an Awesome assault class battlemech. General Spencer also announced that the the 1st Royal Guards would be renamed the 1st Republican Guards.

Meanwhile Colonel Whales had taken his forces to Whales Land and appeared to be in exile, but in his journey into exile had managed to liberate four of the six industrial mechs that House Steiner had brought as part of the diplomatic mission to secure the boron market. 

 

Needless to say that via unofficial channels that Colonel Whales had requested help in converting said industrial mechs for combat and training for the pilots of his battlemech force.

 

The Duke agreed that it would be in the best interest of House Steiner to provide a cadre to train Colonel Whale's forces, but that it would not be in the best interest to declare this action to the current government of Mummerset. This was basically on the understanding that the players wanted all their options open and have plausible deniability if the need arose to ditch the Royalists in favour of whoever won the upcoming war.

Inevitably, Lady Spencer then declared that the Southern Federation would support the Mummerset Freedom Party's application to be recognized under the new constitution, and in a surprise move the former 2nd Royal Guards regiment declared itself loyal to the Southern Faction of the Republic.

Meanwhile, Colonel Whales requested access to transmit a message over the House Steiner communication satellites under the banner of the World Wide Broadcasting Company WWBC. 

 

His hour long speech to the people blanketed all channels and announced that he was acting as Regent to the 18 year old daughter, of the late Prince HRH Albert Burlington, Princess Natasha Anastasia Briton-Burlington. In addition, he would be visiting South Port, East Point, New Start and South Boring (the four towns that had not declared for the the Marx & Spencer coalition) to make his case for the Republic to become a constitutional monarchy with the Princess.

By this time we had reached week 48 of the campaign, and the Republican government made it quite clear that they knew that the players had been helping the royal faction and the Duke announced that House Steiner would be leaving Mummerset. 

 

The players then did a rather good pea-under-the-cup shuffle of appearing to load up all their assets into the drop ship, while actually sending them out to rendezvous with the 3rd Royal Guards.  So they only took off with only their battlemechs loaded on their drop ship Northern Lights, which meant that they could also be prepped for a combat drop to insert them behind Republican Guard forces when the time came for action.

The plan was to deceive the Republican Guards and lure them out of Clear Water Boring where they were dug in. 

 

Colonel Whale's force was using the Fork River, a major deep water shipping lane, to move his forces to South Boring, while travelling with an airborne security force to visit the towns with Princess Natasha, thereby focusing President Rufus T. Marx's faction on the political maneuverings rather than the impending display of military force.

The game ended with the Northern Lights drop ship taking off from Mummerset, and General Spencer leading the Republican Guards out of Clear Water Boring to attack Colonel Whales's forces at South Boring. 

 

Hurrah!
  

It's a Long Road...

It was my intention after last Saturday's game to sit down and write up what happened. My intention remains, but time is fleeting and I've lost control...

What I will say at this point is that the campaign is surprising me, especially as I'm the GM who kind of knows what is really going on, or at least is seen as the master manipulator of all that goes on. Slipping into corporate speak, this emergent property is down to the synergy from the interplay between the player and myself as the narrative of the story develops.

For instance, we have discovered during the previous sessions that the so called offworld pirates were in fact onworld forces, who then became a bunch of people who oppose the government of Mummerset, and from this place we changed the label from "pirates" to calling them the "Freedom Army of Mummerset, " the military wing of the Mummerset Freedom Party.

The name having also evolved from what had happened during the game, as all I knew as the GM was that I wanted a bunch of people causing trouble and lowering property values on Mummerset.

So, I made all that up as I went along, but it fits the plot of my story.

So what is the story? Well, I hide everything in plain sight, so the story remains the one I set out for the players. They, as representatives of their government, are going somewhere to fly the flag and support a diplomatic trade mission, which is the main McGuffin of the plot; it's all about the getting the Boron deposits.

However, as the story unfolds details get added. 

Some are mere trifles that I add to amuse myself, like the names of the characters, or places. Others are big picture stuff to do with acquiring the Boron and the lack of potable water on Mummerset. 

Everything else revolves around this, and things evolve from the different goals each faction has. 

All the Mummerset factions want technology to improve the quality of life onworld, while the House Steiner faction want the Boron (actually my players want battles, but they also want reasons for having the battles, and they want games that are fun), and it has amazed me how other stuff just falls into place from this when you add one or more other factions who have a different idea on how to achieve the goal of improving the technology base of Mummerset.

Hence the Mummerset Freedom Party, the political wing of the Freedom Army of Mummerset and their goal of removing the current government for the greater good of Mummerset. 

One of the things that came out of the previous sessions where the "pirate" attacks were described as "Strike and Fade" was the that the "pirates" had the whole sleight-of-hand, pea under the cup routine going when it came to deploying their forces. This hoisted me on my own petard, because during the last session I thought that the next battle the player team would fight would be the "pirates," but I could think of no way to arrange said fight, and my players were in that zone too.

However, I had more than one faction in opposition and this is what saved my bacon on the day, and from this the dominoes tumbled along until we reached the inevitable conclusion that a battle between President Marx's faction and the Royalist diehard Colonel Whales was on the cards. 

And thus I find myself now having to fast track the painting of the Democratic Republic of Mummerset's forces, as the Mummerset Freedom Party I was working on will not be needed next time.
   

Mummerset 03.27.11 Part 3: Battle of Elizabethville AAR

         

The battle of Elizabethville was the second BattleTech game of the Mummerset campaign.

OPFOR Force Composition

Trevor was again the commanding the OPFOR with me as GM for this second game of the day. 

Trevor's force this time had four battlemechs, two jump infantry platoons, two standard infantry platoons, two mechanised infantry platoons (represented with mono-wheeled gyro bikes), and one power armour platoon, four towed artillery pieces and an armoured car,  to deploy as he saw fit.

Urban Mech UM-R70P  custom modified 3062 Inner Sphere tech tech worth 741 bv (move 2-3-2, armour 99 points, and 11 single heat sinks). Loadout 1 x Rotary AC5, 1 x ER medium laser, and 1 x ER small laser.

Rifleman RFL-PAC custom modified 3025 Inner Sphere tech worth 708 bv (move 4-6-0, armour 72  points, and 10 single heat sinks). Loadout 4 x Ultra AC2s.

ConstructionMech MOD-P custom modified 3132 industrial tech worth 332 bv (3-5-0, armour 48 points, and 1 single heat sink). Loadout 1 x SRM6, and 2 x lift hoists.

ConstructionMech MOD-P2 custom modified 3132 industrial tech worth 368 bv (3-5-0, armour 64 points, and 1 single heat sink). Loadout 1 x Light AC2, and 2 x lift hoists.

However, both the industrial mechs were played as notional mechs, as I hadn't remembered to print them out, but could remember roughly what their stats were (very roughly as I remembered the weapons wrong, and they were played as if one had an LRM5 and the other as an AC5, oops).

Force Anvil Composition

Clive was in nominally in command command of force Anvil, being the pilot of the Commando, while Susan piloted the Scorpion, and this time Dan controlled the four battle armour squads.

Commando 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1067 bv (move 6-9-0, armour 86 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x ER medium lasers, 1 x Streak SRM4, 1 x (Streak) LRM5, 1 x ER small laser, and (1 targeting computer). See notes in italic.

Scorpion 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1763 bv (move 6-9-0, armour 192 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER large lasers, 1 x ER medium laser, 1 x LRM5, 2 x  SRM2, and 1 targeting computer.

The battle armour was two squad each of five Grey Death Scouts, and five Grey Death heavy suits. Dan also had the use of the Northern Lights infantry security platoon, which was deployed before the dropship left to go back and pick up force Anvil from Cromwell.

Initial Deployment

Trevor's orders were again to not lose his mechs, and as this was his second game he had quickly cottoned on to the fact that while he had a lot of stuff that looked very impressive as it swept onto the the battlefield,  it was stuff that would in all likelihood die once engaged in combat.

Force Anvil moved to engage hostile forces that were heading towards the barracks of the the 3rd Royal Mummerset Guards where the dropship Northern Lights had landed them so that they could relieve Force Forge, which was under attack from rebel forces outside the palace at Elizabethville.  As they moved out from the camp they came under immediate fire from hostile forces.

The picture shows the game at the end of turn five.

The players had deployed the Scorpion in the center, which meant that it dominated the main thoroughfare and slowed down the enemy advance.

The Urban mech was the first mech destroyed, after the Scorpion's second round of fire had hit with devastating effect with the right arm being blown off after the right torso was completely vaporized, which resulted in the Urban mech pilot ejecting.

Meanwhile one industrial mech on the players left flank had been rendered hors de combat by the Commando, after some dilly-dallying around that had caused the Commando 15 points of damage total, with a five point hit to the head. 

 

After beating the industrial mech to a pulp the Commando then swept up the left hand side to flank the remaining industrial mech.

Then the Scorpion went on to punch holes in the Rifleman, which then failed its piloting roll and promptly fell over causing more damage to itself. 

 

Unfortunately, for Susan, her Scorpion suffered a golden bb hit when Trevor rolled a double six on the critical hits tale after rolling a double one for the hit location. Fortunately, Susan's Scorpion only took two engine hits and one gyro hit from this event, otherwise her mech would have also been rendered hors de combat.

As can be seen from the above picture, placing the Scorpion on the central thoroughfare meant that Trevor's rebel force had to divide into two and come down both flanks. Well it didn't have to divide, but after the first round of fire hit the Urban mech to devastating effect, the rest of his forces strangely enough moved out of the Scorpion's line-of-sight.

During the mech part of the battle, Dan's battle armour and one infantry platoon had managed to roll up the rebel infantry platoons that they encountered, including ripping the armoured car to pieces with a close assault by a battle armour squad.

 

Unfortunately, Dan's battle armour got a bit of a licking too, losing a total of four heavy and two light battle armour suits.

With the Scorpion severely damaged the players didn't fancy pursuing the enemy who had started to withdraw at this point. The game was called, with me as GM again declaring a Steiner victory as the purpose of the battle was to send the enemy dropship packing and identify the existence of hostile mechs. 

 

Seriously, this was a bloodbath with droves of rebel infantry being killed and downed mechs and the loss of the armoured car meaning that they would not to be able to effectively take control of the the 3rd Royal Guards barracks and armoury.

Notes in Italics

Clive was to say the least really unlucky with his die rolls throughout this game, which caused him a certain amount of frustration to say the least. So I decided to retcon his mech stats slightly, hence the italics. 

 

I've changed out his Streak LRM launcher for a targeting computer as on the whole this will make hitting things generally easier. The in game rationale will be that when servicing his mech after the battle the technicians discovered that the computer programme controlling the mech had the wrong software for the actual hardware the mech was fitted with (though how no-one noticed this until now is another matter, I guess wrongly labeled parts?).

Just realised this is my 100th post. Permission to cheer loudly!

  

Mummerset 03.27.11 Part 2: Battle of Cromwell AAR

      
The battle of Cromwell was the first BattleTech game of the Mummerset campaign.

OPFOR Force Composition

Trevor commanded the OPFOR with me as GM for this his first game of BattleTech. Trevor's force consisted of two battlemechs, one jump and one standard infantry platoon's, and four towed AC5 artillery pieces to deploy as he saw fit. He also had four smoke barrages from eight pre-registered artillery pieces that he could call upon.

Urban Mech 2C P custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 1105 bv (move 3-5-3, armour 96 points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x Ultra AC10, 2 x ER medium lasers, and 2 x ER small lasers.

Jagermech JM6-P custom modified 3132 Inner Sphere tech worth 1230 bv (move 4-6-0, armour 128   points, and 10 double heat sinks). Loadout 2 x Ultra AC2s, 1 x LRM15,  2 x ER medium lasers, and 2 x ER small lasers.

Force Anvil Composition

Dan was nominally in command command of force Anvil, being the pilot of the Zeus, Susan notionally controlled the off board artillery battery (she wanted to watch and learn), while Clive controlled the two battle armour squads.

Zeus 2C XP custom modified 3132 Clan tech worth 2973 bv (move 4-6-4, armour 240  points, and 16 double heat sinks). Loadout 1 x ER PPC, 1 x LRM20 (with Artemis), 3 x ER medium lasers, 4 x ER small lasers, and 1 targeting computer.

The battle armour was one squad each  of five Grey Death Scouts, and five Grey Death heavy suits.

Both the four GEVs and four self-propelled artillery pieces had notional stats, as the models were effectively off board throughout the game. Therefore the GEV missile carriers were treated as LRM20 launchers, while the self-propelled guns were Thumper artillery pieces (the smallest artillery caliber in BattleTech).

Inital Deployment

Trevor's orders were to not lose his mechs, and the players wanted to nail the Urban mech. 

Force Anvil entered the outskirts of the abandoned city of Cromwell and came under immediate fire from hostile forces that were hidden in various buildings. Dan strode the Zeus down the centre road giving fire support to his battle armour squads and destroying the enemy AC5 towed field artillery units.

The above picture shows the game at the end of turn three, and we can see the Urban mech retreating after one round of fire had hit it to devastating effect.

Both sides offboard artillery barrages have been resolved and the Jagermech has decided it will leave the area under cover of the smoke barrage having done nothing more than threatening the VTOLS, which the players could not afford to lose therefore effectively denying them of the chance to do a coupe de main.

During the mech part of the battle, Clive's battle armour rolled over the rebel infantry platoons that they encountered, but lost a total of one heavy and one light battle armour suits while doing so. As he noted this may appear to be light casualties, but they are inherently not replaceable.

Trevor effectively lost three quarters of his infantry platoons and towed AC5 artillery pieces, there not being much left to extract after the barrages hit home.

Things have been difficult recently after my mother-in-law became ill and died last Friday, hence the delay in posting these AARs to the blog. Things may be a little slow for a while until after the funeral.