Wednesday, July 02, 2008

• Building an army worthy of The Master...

  So this past weekend, we had our Big Battle of Luthien scenario. It was a massive Four sided affair, involving elements from:

   

  Word of Blake (42nd Shadow Division)

  Clan Nova Cat (Xi Galaxy)

  House Kurita – Loyalists (Genyosha)

  House Kurita – Black Dragon Society

   

  When I volunteered to build the Word of Blake Force for the scenario, I never thought I would spend as much time as I did last week putting everything together. By Friday, I was totally exhausted from lack of sleep. But I had fun putting it together, and it was going to be interesting seeing how my force fared.

   

  When I was started to build the force, I was given the following stipulations by Andy and Sam:

   

  1. Build a force about a Level III (Battalion) in size;
  2. Add in a few extra Level II’s to make the Word Force more robust;
  3. The force would have to be a Heavier Weight Force;
  4. If I put in Omnimechs, give each Omni several configurations to choose from;
  5. I could put up to Six Clan Mechs in my Force;
  6. I could put up to Six Customized Units in my Force;
  7. After creating the force Andy and Sam instructed me to build and additional Level II of Battlemechs to serve as an “Emergency Reserve”

   

  And so, working with those marching orders, here is the force I came up with;

   

  Command Level II

  Archangel Luminos

  Seraph Dominus

  King Crab KGC-005

  Ostscout OTT-9CS

  LRM Carrier (WoB)

  LRM Carrier (WoB)

   

  Because this was the command level II for my force, this was the most “pimped out unit” All the Mechwarriors were augmented with VDNI (the Commander had Buffered VDNI), Pain Shunts, Multi-modal Implants, Communications Implants, and Dermal Armor. The LRM Carrier Crews were not augmented, but the vehicles did carry a significant amount of Semi-guided LRM Ammo.

   

  Choir Level II

  Nova Cat A

  Deva Infernus

  Grigori Infernus

  Hunstman H

  Stormcrow Prime

  Preta Comminus

   

  Djinn (Standard) Battle Armor

  Djinn (Standard) Battle Armor

  Purifier (ER Small Laser) Battle Armor

  Purifier (ER Small Laser) Battle Armor

  Asura (SRM) Battle Armor

  Asura (SRM) Battle Armor

   

  This was another one of the nasty surprises I was planning on throwing onto the field. While not as tricked out as the Command Level II, the Mechwarriors in this unit were equipped with VDNI. However, they did not get the benefit of Pain Shunts. The Clan Mechs in this Level II were modified in order to carry C3i (this usually entailed dropping Heat Sinks).

   

  To top it off, the Battle Armor attached to the unit were modified with Dermal Armor and TSM Implants, enhancing their survivability and making them deadlier in close quarters fighting.

   

  Level II Alpha

  Vanquisher VQR-2A

  Shootist ST-9C

  Grand Crusader II GRN-D04

  Lancelot LNC25-06

  Crab CRB-30

  Lightray LGH-6W

   

  Level II Beta

  Legacy LGC-02

  Toyama TYM-1B

  Guillotine GLT-6WB

  Exterminator EXT-5E

  Raijin II RJN-200-A

  Malak Comminus

   

  Level II Gamma

  Flashman FLS-9B

  Spartan SPT-N3

  Raijin II RJN-200-A

  Shadow Hawk SHD-11CS

  Griffin GRF-6CS

  Scorpion SCP-12C

   

  I gave 2 Pilots in each of the above Level II VDNI (no pain shunts), but otherwise the pilots remained unmodified.

   

  Level II Mechanized Alpha

  Ontos Heavy Tank

  Ontos Heavy Tank

  Brutus Assault Tank (PPC Variant)

  Brutus Assault Tank (PPC Variant)

  Maxim Heavy Hover Transport (Infantry)

  Maxim Heavy Hover Transport (Infantry)

   

  Level II Mechanized Beta

  Demon

  Demon

  Stygian Strike Tank (Armor)

  Stygian Strike Tank (Armor)

  Maxim Heavy Hover Transport (Infantry)

  Maxim Heavy Hover Transport (Infantry)

   

  Level II Battle Armor

  Phalanx C

  Phalanx C

  Purifier (TAG)

  Purifier (TAG)

  Longinus (Machine Gun)

  Longinus (Machine Gun)

   

  Level II Air Cavalry

  Cyrano (Plasma Rifle)

  Cyrano (Plasma Rifle)

  Hawk Moth Gunship (Armor)

  Hawk Moth Gunship (Armor)

  Cavalry Attack Helicopter

  Cavalry Attack Helicopter

   

  With the exception of the LRM Carriers attached to the Command Level II, none of the vehicles were equipped with C3i and none of the Battle Armor and Infantry was enhanced.

   

   

  As for the Emergency Force, Brian (JadeHellbringer) and Ben (WordofGhostBear) convinced me to use the following:

   

  The Opacus Venatori

  Sorry, I’m not going to spill the details on the make up of that force and what it is packing. You’ll have to wait to see them…   But they are totally Bad Ass (especially Berith). And they have Cookies too!

   

   

   

  The Battlefield Map was set up with each Faction having a deployment zone in each corner of the map. Then, another deployment zone was set up in the center of the map. (This is what the initial deployment areas looked like):

   

  East è          

   

  Black Dragons                                                                                              Nova Cats

   

   

   

             

                                                              Central Point

   

   

   

   

  Word of Blake                                                                                               DCMS

   

   

  The Black Dragon Deployment Zone was in a built up urban area. Word of Blake’s deployment zone was separated from the rest of the board by a tall ridge that had a good view of the Battlefield. The Nova Cat’s deployment zone was a valley, and the DCMS deployment zone was the ruins of an old base. A river running just east of the Central Deployment Zone separated the Nova Cat and DCMS deployment zones from the rest of the Battlefield. Also, a there was a heavily forested area between the WoB and DCMS deployment zones, which would prove to be important on Day 2.

   

   

  Day 1

  The first day’s battle began with each force starting off with roughly 12 Units on the Board. Team WoB (Ben, Brian, and I) started off with Alpha and Beta Level II’s on the field.  Beta Level II started in our home corner, while Alpha Level II was given the dubious distinction of holding the central deployment zone – smack in the middle of three rival factions.

   

  When the battle kicked off, almost immediately Alpha Level II started coming under fire from three separate directions.  Alpha started to push forward against the Nova Cats forward deployment zone and was promptly pushed back by the surging Nova Cat forces.  At that point, the Nova Cats, DCMS, and Black Dragons were converging on the central deployment zone, so Alpha began a fighting withdrawal, taking hideous casualties in the process. By the end of the day, the Grand Crusader was the sole survivor left from Alpha Level II. In addition, the two Demon Tanks from Beta Mechanized Level II were lost helping Alpha try to hold the central deployment zone.

   

  In the meantime, Beta Level II was screening Team WoB’s home corner against probing attacks by the DCMS. At the same time, it came to Ben’s attention that the entire Black Dragon Force had moved away from its deployment zone. Using the dense urban terrain to cover his approach, Ben used the faster elements of Beta Level II to seize the Black Dragon’s deployment zone.

   

  So at the end of the Day One, Team WoB had fared about as well as could be expected given the circumstances. Though they had lost the Central Deployment zone, Team WoB had seized another deployment zone as compensation.  WoB casualties had been pretty rough, but we gave as good as we got.

   

  Day 2

  We had fewer players available for Day 2 so, using the pretext that Team WoB seized the Black Dragon’s deployment zone the day before, we pulled the Black Dragon units off the Board to make the battle more manageable.

   

  The Battle itself began with a reorganization of forces. All the teams were allowed to pull from the board forces of their choosing and bring on replacement forces for the Second Day’s battle. We chose to bring on:

   

  The Command Level II (run by me),

  The Choir Level II (minus the Battle Armor) (run by Brian); and

  A Level II of the Opacus Venatori (run by Ben)

   

  Ben set up forward of the Black Dragon deployment zone. I took the center in the urban area between Black Dragon and WoB deployment zones, and Brian deployed on the ridge outside the WoB deployment zone.

   

  The Battle proved to be even more vicious than the day before.  Ben more than held his own on the left with the Opacus Venatori against the Nova Cats. No one was willing to tangle with them in them in the urban terrain.  In the meantime, the heavily forested terrain forced the DCMS forces towards the center of the board and right into the crosshairs of Brian and I.  Our enfilading fire pounded the DCMS forces severely, as their assault mechs started dropping left and right.  The DCMS casualties were getting bad enough that I asked Sam if the DCMS could start pulling units from the Black Dragons now unused pool of mechs just to keep the DCMS in the fight.

   

  But at the end of two days fighting, it ended up being a draw for the three remaining sides, as the cumulative number of casualties inflicted and the Team objectives met evened out. But a good time was had by all and I hope to do something like this again!

   

   

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