BattleTech - JHS3070: Chaos Unleashed - Brew-Ha-Ha

[ravehnhuhrxt]

Thursday June 17th, 2010 @ 7 PM

[Monteray One]: "HQ, I'm getting an odd signal over the horizon. Really bizarre."
[HQ]: "Patch it through."
[Monteray Three]: "Sure bet someone's coming and wants us to know it. Looks like those kooks in the Coterie were right after all."
[HQ]: “Boys, that’s the worst rendition of ‘Baby Mack Attack’ I’ve ever heard. Didn’t know it even still existed.”
[Monteray Four]: “Nuevodiscola should’ve died with the damn dingo.”
[HQ]: “Well, e-com analysis shows it’s a modified ECM wave. Whoever it is, they’re coming in to play.”
[Monteray One]: “Roger that, HQ. Mongoose Lance, prep for high-angle scanning run on vector two-four-oh. Pass and scan, people. No heroics.”

SITUATION
Mather Swamp, Lowellstowne
Tohelet, Free Worlds League
6 May 3069

   Subcontracting work out is tough, but pays off in spades if the timing is right. As your command passes through the Free Worlds League, a member of the mysterious Coterie contacts your CO to assist with defenses in the apparently defenseless Rim Commonality. Seems the Eighth Orloff is the only unit in the area, and several pirates and hard-luck mercs have taken advantage of that fact by executing heavy raids. The bandits have absconded with enormous amounts of foodstuffs and basic supplies, more than those groups would normally require. This means someone’s coordinating the raids, and piling up a large amount of the fundamentals for an army or a world in crisis. You haven’t heard of any planets in crisis around here, so most likely someone is building an army.
   The Coterie seem to think that the large peat farms outside Lowellstowne make a viable target, so here you sit, babysitting some hardened muck. Ah, the mercenary life!

GAME SET-UP
   Use Hill/Mountain Terrain maps. The gamemaster may place at least one building (gamemaster’s preference) anywhere on the map that the players’ force must defend.

Attacker
   The Attacker consists of elements of Reed’s Brew, and fields a force equal to 75 percent of the Defender’s total deployed force. Reed’s Brew is a Veteran mercenary command and rolls on the D column of the Mercenary Random Assignment Table (see 122, Field Manual: Mercenaries, Revised).

   The mercenaries start on the map edge farthest from the gamemaster-designated target.

Defender
   The Defender consists of the player group and the small planetary militia. The players may use up to 50 percent of their total force; the militia equals 25 percent of the players’ deployed force and is Green.
   Set up the Defender within eight hexes of the gamemaster-designated objective.

WARCHEST
Track Cost: 600 WP
Optional Bonuses (all bonuses cumulative):
   +150 Brute Force: Add a number of mercenaries equal to 50 percent of the Defender’s total deployed force. These units enter later in the track (as determined by the gamemaster).
   +250 Sharpshooter: The gamemaster designates at least 25% of the units in the Attacker’s force as Elite.

Victory Bonuses (not cumulative):
   +450 Partial Victory: Complete one objective.
   +800 Total Victory: Complete all objectives.

OBJECTIVES
   1. Defend target: The gamemaster-designated target must survive the track.
   2. Information: Capture or cripple one mercenary unit.
   3. Eliminate the threat: Destroy or cripple the Attacker’s force.

SPECIAL RULES
   The following rules are in effect for this track.

Reed’s Brew
   Reed’s Brew isn’t suicidal but they are out to prove that they’re more than just a “party patrol”. They will begin to withdraw only after they take over 50% losses.

AFTERMATH
   The battlefield hadn’t even cooled before several small cargo craft bearing members of the Coterie arrived on-station to assess the damage. While you were tangling with the “Beer Can Brigade,” another merc force hammered Lowellstowne and “liberated” several containers of seed and cattle from one of the giant land train
terminals. The fighting started several fires that took most of the next day to corral.
   As for you and your team, the Coterie representative just smiled, handed you the confirmed transfer order and politely asked you to leave. While you had no problem complying, you couldn’t help but wonder what was going on….

NEXT TRACK
Brute Force; Living Dead Men

[ravehnhuhrxt]

After Action Report

The players chose the Sharpshooter victory bonus.

The attackers for this mission were made up of 2 lances of Reed's Brew mercenary company.

The 2 lances were MAD-9M Marauder, AXM-1N Axman, PHX-1D Phoenix Hawk, STG-3R Stinger, SDR-7M Spider, BJ-2 Blackjack, HBK-5N Hunchback and TBT-7M Trebuchet

The militia support for the defenders were DRV-6M Dervish, PHX-3M Phoenix Hawk, GRF-3M Griffin.

The players force, The Gray Gryphons, consists of MAD-5D Marauder, OSR-4L Ostroc, Victor VTR-9K, Battlemaster BLR-3SGG (custom) and Shadow Hawk SHD-5D

Reed's Brew were having an off night and weren't connecting with many of their shots while the militia forces were remarkably hardy and connected with many their shots despite being green troops.

The first 2 rounds were spent with Reed's Brew maneuvering into range of the target building while exchanging fire with the defenders. Armor was stripped but no serious damage was inflicted on either side. The 3rd round saw the attacking Phoenix Hawk achieve range and after hitting the building was slamed in the rear by the Gryphon's Ostroc causing it to fall down.

The 4th round saw the destruction of the target building thereby causing the players to lose objective 1. Although objective 1 was lost, the players were able to capture both the Blackjack pilot and the Phoenix Hawk's pilot by destroying the Phoenix Hawk's leg and the Blackjack's gyro although the gained their first causalty when the Axman buried it's ax in the Dervish's head.

Since their objective was obtained, Reed's Brew were attempting to retreat from the field but only 1 mech was able to make it off the field.

Next mission:  Brute Force.