The Dragon’s Fury, Fire and Smoke
3069 Luthien
The Jihad has erupted and Theodore Kurita lies in a coma. In this time of Chaos the Black Dragons strike at the capital to seize control of the Combine. When the Blakists arrive to help the question remains… help who?
This three faction battle was played at TotalCon 2013. Many thanks go to the players and to the game master Mike Mahaney.
The Forces
The Black Dragons
- Griffin – custom
- Shadowhawk – custom
- Wolverine 8C
- Warhammer 8D
The Red Dragons
- Firestarter OD
- Grand Dragon 7K
- Avatar OC
- Charger C
Word of Blake
- Crab 30
- Raijin 101-C
- Champion 3P
- Bombadier 14C
- Tessen
Turn 1
The Red Dragons move cautiously on the western side of the map. They appear unwilling to over play their hand so early in the game. They use a local building for cover as they draw slowly closer to the opposing forces.
The Word of Blake takes a more daring start and rushes towards a small hill that stands between them and the Black Dragons.
The Black Dragons have a similar idea and use the hill to cover their advance. The lone Warhammer lags behind and heads towards a slightly southern waypoint.
No weapons fire on this turn as there is no line of sight.
Turn 2
The Word of Blake concentrate their force at the edge of the woods near the Black Dragons. Their faster units vault onto the hill taking partial cover.
The Black Dragons respond by jumping into the edge of the woods being careful to not give up any easy shots. The Warhammer is not quite separated (but still well in range of its PPCs) from the main Black Dragon force and makes his way slowly south-west.
The Red Dragons continue to creep closer using the hills and building as cover to stay out of sight.
In a surprising turn, the Word of Blake manages to cut out the Black Dragon Master C3 unit from the network ruining some otherwise juicy shots from the Warhammer. Regardless the only damage dealt that turn was a large pulse laser hit on the Word of Blake Crab. First blood to the Black Dragons.
Turn 3
Perhaps deterred from their initial encounter the Word of Blake abandons the eastern hill and takes a western route along the edge of the woods towards the approaching Red Dragons.
The Red Dragons have now brought their tightly packed force into the fray and position several units within sight of the Word of Blake force.
The Black Dragons jump deeper into the woods keeping an equal distance between the two other forces. The Warhammer continues to creep along at the southern edge of the map looking for shots.
The Black Dragons lack line of sight for any shots.
The Grand Dragon (Red Dragon force) takes some decent hits from the Word of Blake, but only loses some armor. One head hit shakes up the pilot but he remains conscious.
Return fire concentrates on the Champion (RD player rolls to-hits of 12, 12, 12, 10 and 9!) and slags multiple tons of armor from the Word of Blake ‘Mech.
Turn 4
The Black Dragon Warhammer finally makes it to his sniping post, a partial cover hill overlooking the bulk of the battle well in range of his PPCs. The other Black Dragon units jump atop the center hill to confront the advancing Word of Blake.
The Word of Blake sends their faster units into the woods to harras the Black Dragons while the heavier units push the Red Dragon force preferring to stay at a modest range in doing so.
The Red Dragons continue to dance just out of reach and remains cautious about committing to the battle in earnest.
The Word of Blake open up on the Black Dragon Shadowhawk and Wolverine. The damage is heavy but well spread across the available locations. The Shadowhawk takes one head hit.
The Black Dragons concentrate fire on the Raijin and scores modest damage. The Warhammer, despite decent to-hit numbers at range, manages to miss with everything.
The Red Dragons and Word of Blake trade shots at range and manage to only scratch up more armor in the process.
Turn 5
The Black Dragons push hard with the Griffin and Wolverine while the Shadowhawk jumps back to take a breather. The Warhammer stands still overlooking the battle.
The Word of Blake is now spread out but applying pressure on the Red Dragons who back up, seemingly unwilling to go toe to toe with the Blakists. The Word of Blake Tessen boldly makes a run along the northern edge of the battle field to force action against the Red Dragon force. The Raijin
stays behind to harass the Black Dragon force.
The Red Dragon player general comments that their force is exercising a strategy of “cautious indifference” for this battle.
The Red Dragon force concentrates fire on the Word of Blake Tessen who wobbles under the barrage and is sent to the ground after a failed piloting skill roll.
The Word of Blake response is scattered and sheds modest amounts of armor from the Red Dragons. The lone bright spot is when the Bombadier scores an impressive full LRM20 rack hit on the Red Dragon Firestarter which includes a head hit.
In a spectacular display of ineffectiveness, the Black Dragons miss every shot they attempt this turn.
Turn 6
The Word of Blake strongly pushes against the Red Dragons who finally respond in kind and plunge their unit into the fray. Jumping ‘Mechs fly across and over opposing units looking for rear shots. A fury of combat erupts near the north-western hill.
The Black Dragons perch themselves on the hills and at the edge of the woods to take shots at long range as they come.
The Black Dragons concentrate fire on the Word of Blake Bombadier and slags armor away revealing the internal structure on the left leg.
The Red Dragons spread their attacks but the Champion takes the worst of it, losing all armor on the right leg (1 foot critical hit) as well as the right arm.
The Word of Blake takes a beating this turn and cannot muster up the die rolls to return the favor. Lots of misses and missed opportunities in the now mostly short range brawl.
Turn 7
The Red Dragon player reiterates their overarching strategy of “casual disinterest”. Their units begin to jump away as they can and try to maneuver out of the grasp of the Word of Blake force.
The Word of Blake doubles down and continues to press on the Red Dragons while the Raijin guards the rear from the Black Dragon force.
The Black Dragons remain stoic on their respective hills. Only the Wolverine ventures forward closer to the enemy to provide C3 spotting for his lancemates.
The Black Dragons concentrate fire on the Blakist Champion. Right leg criticals cripple the ‘Mech and more armor is slagged away. Another head hit adds to the punishment. The ‘Mech would fall at the end of the phase taking another pilot hit in the process.
The Word of Blake manages to riddle the Black Dragon Griffin with over 20 points of damage, shedding armor but failing to do any serious damage.
The remaining Word of Blake and Red Dragon units pour weapons fire into each other melting armor away by the ton.
In the physical attack phase the Word of Blake Tessen reaps some revenge and kicks off the arm of the Firestarter beneath him.
Turn 8
The Red Dragons continue to pull back and are almost the the edge of the map. The Black Dragons stay put in their sniping positions using the Wolverine to spot for their attacks. The Word of Blake spreads out slightly while keeping all of their units within sight of the enemy.
In a surprise move, the Red Dragons send their Charger to charge the Word of Blake Bombadier.
The Black Dragons concentrate fire on the already battered Blakist Champion. After two head hits, weapon criticals and blown off arms, the ‘Mech falls knocking the pilot unconscious and crippling the engine.
The Word of Blake Raijin and Black Dragon Wolverine are toe to toe and trade shots. The Raijin suffers a head hit and has it’s SRM ammo crit’d causing the ‘Mech to go up in smoke.
Remaining Word of Blake ‘Mechs pummel the Red Dragon Charger but only manage to ding the armor of the mighty assault ‘Mech.
Remaining weapons fire is ineffective at dealing significant damage.
The Charger makes his piloting skill roll to remain standing after weapons fire. Then the charge roll… misses! The Charger trips in the process and falls.
The End
At this point the convention slot was up and a winner was declared. The Black Dragons managed to deal the most damage and took down two Word of Blake ‘Mechs and were declared the winner.
Posted under After Action Report