Finally A Game!

So Saturday afternoon and evening, I finally got some Battletech in with the Cheef.  It was 8K BV per side and we both packed in the models.  I took most of a company of my 8th Donegal Guards with 10 light mechs.  (Fluff wise, I'm just saying the other two were back guarding the dropship ride home.)  There were 5 HCT-3F Hatchetmans, 2 JVN-10N Javelins, a WTH-1S Whitworth, and 2 VLK-QF Valkyries.  The entire force was jump capable and was able to be very mobile on the board.

Cheef took a mixed bag of his 25th Marik Militia with a GRF-1S Griffin, a WTH-1 Whitworth, a WVR-6M Wolverine, a SCP-1N Scorpion, 3 UM-R60 Urbanmechs, and then a Heavy Tracked APC with a Heavy Mountain Platoon.  Like Cheef, I'm a fan of the Urbanmech and the Wolverine is one of my favorite mechs so it was nice seeing them on the table.

Both forces were standard mechs with no advanced tech so a basic enjoyable 3025 force for both of us.  This was a game with several firsts for us.  The first successful Death From Above attack, first time someone killed one of Cheef's infantry platoons, and first time I got to kill something with a Hatchetman's hatchet.  It was a very enjoyable game played over 9ish hours at a casual pace with several breaks throughout for dinner and other things.  We actually remembered to give each other a force list this time which will help with the game reviews we'll both be doing.

We played on Cheef's game table with his urban hex map and new terrain.  The Dropship is very impressive and has made it onto my "I Want One" list.  His force was spread across the board and I went heavy to one side to take advantage of the slow Urbanmech movement to give me a chance to hit his other flank harder while they got into range.  If either of us could roll better, it might have worked too.

I completely forgot about taking pictures for a number of turns.  At this point, we both had some very messed up mechs.  The only kill though so far was where my Valkyrie by the dropship just flamered the last of the infantry platoon away.  While they're only on the list to round out his points total, I don't think he thought I'd bring a unit to kill them like that.  Normally they're good for piling on 6 to 12 points of damage a turn helping wear down a mech.  Somewhere a bit before this picture was the successful death from above attack where one of my Javelins which was missing a side torso  landed on his Scorpion.  He tried to shoot the mech and spoil the attack but only managed 9 of the 10 damaged needed to force the piloting check.

A few turns later and we arrive at what I am referring to as "The Muggings".  His Hunchback was badly hurt with 2 engine hits and his Wolverine in the background had fallen over due to engine hits as well as losing a foot actuator.  At this point the Hatchmans moved in and had favorable rolls.  I also intended to use the hatchets to finish the mediums off and was looking forward to swinging some axes.  Both mechs died from the shooting though and there was no close combat attack.  This was the turn where the game really swung in my direction.  Even though I had several mechs barely functional, he'd lost 3 units to the one dead Javelin on my side so far.

This was right at the end of the game.  My second Javelin died in the bottom corner beside a Hatcheman that fell over while killing his Griffin.  The Griffin punched my Hatchetman in the face forcing a piloting check with I failed but he took a hatchet to the head to decapitate the Griffin.  This was my first kill with a hatchet so it was nice to see it finally get to earn some glory.  At this point do to being able to gang up on his outnumbered force I took out one Urbanmech, knocked one over as ran out of ammo from a torso crit, and the third lost it's AC.

At this point Cheef called it a game as it was getting late and while he could take out some more of my mechs, I was going to be able to just overwhelm his remaining units with weight of fire.  He was down to a barely touched Whitworth that was running low on LRM ammo, a Scorpion in decent shape, 2 Urbanmechs with no weapon capability, and a barely dented (I kicked it in the butt with a Valkyrie at one point) Heavy APC.  I had both Valkyries with no LRM ammo, a very hot Whitworth with 2 engine hits, and 5 Hatchmans all damaged to various degrees from moderate damage to barely upright.

The Raiding Force

So all in all it was a successful raid for the 8th Donegal Guard with the ability to salvage mech parts and supplies from the city area as the remnants of the 25th Marik Militia force withdrew to regroup and call for some assistance.  We both rolled fairly poorly for a while but around midgame my rolls started improving while his continued to be very streaky.  I'm starting to think he and Neverness need to swap dice and see if that helps any.

I'm definitely looking forward to another game (which hopefully won't be in a year or so like this one took to get in).  And in addition I got a cool Eridani Light Horse decal and an Atlas he had no plans to ever field again from Cheef as a late Christmas present.  I'll be making a run up to Cincinnati in a few days and plan to stop by Iron Wind Metals for some mech shopping so keep an eye out for incoming new mechs.  That's all for now and thanks for stopping by.  See you all next time.