ATOW Battletech Campaign
This post details information concerning my ongoing ATOW Battletech RPG game I currently run. This post will help catch up readers and bring them up to speed on what events have unfolded revealing further story line since the last update was posted. If you are a current reader or by chance a new reader please follow along and check back for the next update.
Bonus Battletech Battle Report inside.
Arisfire
First, I will you back to when Lyndon's forces first arrived on Arisfire.
Circa Beginning of Campaign 2.
***** Flashback Sound *****
***** Flashback Cloud *****
During the period of time when Lyndon's forces first arrived on Arisfire, Lyndon received orders for a replacement battlemech and mechwarrior. Lyndon usually shrugs this off as misallocated assets, but this time, both assets where shipped to Lyndon's current location. Lyndon reviewed the orders presented to him form the proper departments. A battlemech order for a replacement destroyed battlemech being a Griffin GRF-1S variant. A mechwarrior order for a replacement dead mechwarrior who was currently being held in the brig under charges of AWOL and resisting arrest.
Upon review the mechwarrior orders, Lyndon understood the mechwarrior was an able pilot and had a complete lack of authority. Lyndon never got the chance to meet the new mechwarrior as his attention was turned to responding to an issue in the mech storage facility. Jave was being unnecessarily difficult over the incorrect transfer of his much beloved older Rifleman with a new Marauder. Lyndon, brought Zoku and Klive along to quickly diffuse the situation. Knowing full well, Jave can at times become out of control in rage. When Lyndon arrived to Jave's location near the Rifleman there was no hope in diffusing a full on mechwarrior brawl. The brawl seemed one sided with Jave and another mechwarrior from Lyndon's parent company on one side and a few stationed mechwarriors. Lyndon's arrival accidentally added more full to the fire when more stationed mechwarriors added themselves to the fight. Lydon was forced to fight his way to Jave so they could remove him from the situation before base authorities arrived.
While the entire mechwarrior brawl was happening, the new player had broken herself out of the brig, disabled a guard and was on her way to find her new commander Lyndon. Her escape triggered a base wide alert to all stationed guards on top of the alert caused by the mechwarrior brawl. On her way to Lyndon's position she disabled another guard and managed to changed to a technician's uniform further concealing herself and confusing pursuing guards. She eventually entered the battlemech storage facility, located the every growing mechwarrior brawl and joined the fray on Lyndon's side.
Lyndon among the fighting did reach Jave's location and to no avail was able to control him. Lyndon at the same time wondered why his new mechwarrior in the brig he had yet to introduce himself to was introducing herself to him. With little time for anything more than dodging fists, the station guards arrived in mass to apprehend the escaped mechwarrior and put an end to the mechwarrior brawl.
That whole story line was how I the GM injected a new player into the campaign and introduced Melee Combat 2.0 which was a huge success I might add.
Jave and the new mechwarrior were sent to the brig. Lyndon, Zoku, and Klive reported to command for a reprimand. Their parent company's second in command Cyndal Graves tossed them a punishment duty and that was to go to check on a listening post on the planet Sutov.
Now, I will you back to when Lyndon's forces returned to Arisfire from Sutov.
Circa Campaign 2
***** Flashback Sound *****
***** Flashback Cloud *****
Arisfire Under Fire
Arriving on Arisfire, Lyndon's forces went about their affairs where appropriate. Wolfy went with Klive to begin to process of removing Jave and the new mechwarrior from the brig and bring the various damaged battlemechs for repairs. Lyndon and Zoku went to meet with their parent company second in command Cyndal Graves. In the meeting room trouble began almost immediately during their discussions about the issues encountered on Sutov. Someone from the attached tech room emerged prompting Cyndal's attention from Lyndon to the tech room. A few brief moments of shouting and sounds of shuffling equipment around gave Lyndon and Zoku the impression something important was missing. Cyndal inquired on the whereabouts of Lyndon's new mechwarrior, but Wolfy reported picking up Jave only and wondered about the absence of the new mechwarrior himself.
The new player after a few sessions ended up moving out of the area and thus was no longer a player character. As a GM I took the liberty of taking a pre made player character and turned the character into a fully functioning NPC. This NPC would help unfold a brilliant turn of events to come.
The new mechwarrior had broken herself from the brig again and infiltrated the command area's tech room prior to Lyndon arriving almost on schedule. The reason for the infiltration was to steal a sensitive data storage device the parent company had obtained through previous rough engagements with pirate forces. The new mechwarrior's next move was to flee the military installation using her Griffin battlemech. The military installation undergoing large military drills was perfect cover for her escape. Lyndon and Zoku caught on to her escape plans and headed for their dropship to gear up.
Chasing Stolen Data
With the majority of battlemechs in for repairs and personnel on other assignments, Lyndon and Zoku chose to use the two spare battlemechs. Lyndon piloted the Mongoose for speed while Zoku piloted the Centurion for extra firepower in case the Griffin put up a serious fight. One small amount of luck came in the form of a remote sensor quickly fitted to the palm of the Mongoose's hand actuator to be attached to the rogue Griffin.
To attach the remote sensor , Lyndon piloting the Mongoose would have to get up and make a successful punch attack against the Griffin. To avoid the Griffin's pilot noticing the attachment of the sensor a distraction from the Centurion is necessary by any means. In game term rules, the Griffin would need to be facing the Centurion causing a distraction and garnering its attention. The Mongoose would need to make a punch attack behind the Griffin or at least out of her facing.
First they had to find the Griffin which was hiding among hills and trees darting to an from cover. Lyndon's forces would have a free four hex radius scan per turn to locate the hidden Griffin which was also on the move.
Battletech Battle Report
Note: A Mongoose model was substituted with a Spider model for this mission.
Turn 01
Lyndon scans the first blip.
Turn 02
First blip remains stationary.
Turn 03
First blip remains stationary. Lyndon scans a second blip.
The Griffin's pilot had a trick up her sleeve to help her elude her pursuers.
Turn 04
First blip is out of scan range. Second blip remains stationary.
Turn 05
First blip out of scan range. Second blip remains stationary. Zoku had yet to scan anything in the northern portion of the hills.
Turn 06
First blip out of scan range. Second blip had moved. Lyndon used the Mongoose's speed to try and cover more ground. Zoku moved back to the center of the immediate area to focus on the last scanned blip to find if it had moved.
Turn 07
No blips scanned. Lyndon headed back to the raw center of the area to regroup with Zoku.
Turn 08
No blips scanned. Lyndon went North while Zoku went South.
Turn 09
Blip scanned. he regrouping tactic worked, Zoku scanned a blip.
Turn 10
Blip scanned - Blip moved - Decoy. Zoku scanned the blip as it passed right by her Battlemech's pilot view range and saw nothing and heard little. Zoku felt like she was being had. Lyndon thought to cover the previous area once again.
Turn 11
Blip Moved - Decoy. Zoku on the trail of a thief used her instincts to discover what was really going on. Lynon was scanning nothing behind their positions.
Turn 12
Blip Moved - Decoy. Lyndon handed over tracking the decoy blip while Zoku moved further ahead.
Turn 13
Blip Scanned - Blip moved - Decoy. Both Lyndon and Zoku believed they had possibly found the Griffin's hiding spot. Both Battlemechs moved in from different directions in to flush the Griffin out of hiding.
Turn 14
Blip Scanned, Griffin Scanned. Success was in view, the Griffin jumped out of its hiding place and immediately took a fall. I remember setting up a special rule, but I can't recall what it was.
Turn 15
Centurion baits the Griffin. Zoku immediately began firing at the Griffin to draws its attention to her Battemech so Lyndon could move in with the Mongoose. Zoku had figured the decoy would mimic the movement of the Griffin.
Turn 16
Centurion continues to bait the Griffin. Zoku continues her onslaught although losing some ground due to the limitations of backing up. This allowed the Griffin to get in close to do some considerable damage to the Centurion.
Turn 17
Centurion baits Griffin while the Mongoose attached the remote sensor. The Griffin and the Centurion engage in close quarters combat while the Mongoose annoyingly harasses the Griffin from the rear. Lyndon executes a successful battlemech punch attack and attaches the remote sensor without the Griffin's pilot noticing.
Shortly after attaching the sensor, a pair of Chargers were spotted moving across the open fields West of the Griffin's position. The Chargers were part of an extraction lance piloted by expert battlemech pilots and they are full of themselves. Lyndon and Zoku knew all to well these battlemechs were part of an extraction team to remove the Griffin from Arisfire. Lyndon and Zoku knowing all to well the Chargers were the personal guard of an at large Cyclops battlemech. They wondered if the Cyclops was on Arisfire.
The invading Chargers didn't exactly go unnoticed as they were detected by a pair of FWL Harasser hovercraft patrolling the area. The Harassers were part of garrison lance complemented by a pair of Warriors VTOLs. Communication from the Harassers and Lyndon was open and he let them know who was FWL and who was not. Lyndon asked if the Harassers could keep the Chargers busy as he was chasing a rogue Battlemech. The Harassers took the request and headed for the Chargers to keep them occupied in the open fields.
Turn 18
Mongoose baits Griffin to pull some of the onslaught of the Griffin's attacks away from the Centurion. FWL Harassers engage the Chargers keeping raw speed a priority.
When the Griffin reached the edge of the border between the hills and the open fields all communication went down. This worried both Lyndon and Zoku along with the pair of Harassers as neither unit could communicate with each other, all communications were scrambled. The FWL units and the enemy units were all contained within some sort of communications bubble. Was this a sign of the Cyclops, Lyndon was uncertain based upon past experiences.
Turn 19
The Griffin flees while Lyndon and Zoku pursue. The Pirate aligned Chargers are outmatched against the Harasser's superior movement, firepower, and range.
Turn 20
The Griffin flees while Lyndon and Zoku pursue. The Chargers retreat with the Griffin in tow.
The Choice
With the Griffin taking serious damage and the pilot refusing to let herself be captured, the players as a whole had to make a very important decision. Continue to fight the Griffin and risk an ammo explosion thereby possibly destroying the data or let the Griffin escape and track it down at a more appropriate time. This decision was further hampered by the communications being scrambled. Lyndon and Zoku both chose stop slow their pursuit and allow the Griffin escape. Knowing she had no idea a beacon was attached to her Griffin giving they attempted to make it look like they were being outpaced or outmatched compared to the larger Charger battlemechs.
End Game
The Chargers and the Griffin escape. Lyndon calls back the Harasser units to avoid them from damaging the Griffin.
Thoughts
The chasing data scenario was a huge amount of fun and trickery for a game session. There was a chance if Lyndon and Zoku did not work together the Griffin would escape.- Lyndon had scanned the Griffin early on, if he had investigated the blip he would have found the Griffin much earlier, but he moved on. I forget why.
- Lyndon's movement around a bit too much creating a gap for the Griffin to escape through.
- Lyndon's excellent use of speed along with the decision to regroup might have very well saved them from missing the Griffin entirely. All this under his hatred for light battlemechs.
- Zoku's large scanning movement path helped to find the decoy again which lead them to the Griffin.
- The fact the decoy mimicked the Griffin's movement surprised the players and completely threw them off.
Chasing the Griffin
Returning to base Lyndon and Zoku reported to command and advised them of the situation. Lyndon was in full mind to chase the Griffin down. The commander in charge Cyndall Graves issued them an order to capture or kill the Griffin's pilot and capture of destroy the data contained within the Griffin itself. This alone was a prize well earned as they had full support from their superiors.
Lyndon gathered all his personnel and equipment aboard the dropship. A Thunderbolt piloted by a veteran warrior the likes of Jave was added to the dropship's manifest in case things got rough. The dropship blasted off Arisfire to travel to their next destination.
Now all they had to do was wait for a listening post to pick up the remote sensor's homing beacon.
Conclusion
I know this update has been late in appearing. I got behind a bunch working on scenarios past this, but I promise two excellent Battletech Battle Reports will follow very shortly. Sometimes I feel like i should run two blogs, but that is a lot of extra work right now.
On the painting front. I have been hastily painting my Tyranid Army which will get a feature showing everything I have painted since about last August/September time frame. I have also broken into my Reaper Bones II miniatures and begun to paint some of them. It is nice to get a chance to paint something outside your normal zone and learn a few tricks.
I will post again soon and especially before the turn of Spetember. Plus this is my 75th post for this blog.
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