ScrapYard Armory

This battle was part of the Battle of Tukayyid fought at GenCon 2015.  This was a break out game which featured a smaller side battle that would have an impact on the main game depending on who won.  My thanks go out to my opponent and the Catalyst Demo Agents for putting on a great show and allowing us to participate in this great battle.

Choke Point – Canyon Pass

This canyon is a vital pass to extend supply lines.  Whoever controls this pass will have a distinct advantage, moving supplies and troops easily.

Which ever side wins the scenario controls the pass, allowing 1 lance not currently involved in a scenario to be restored to it’s original strength.

Clan Wolf

• MadCat
• Vulture
• Cauldon-Born
• Blackhawk
• Huntsman

Comstar

• Flashman
• Shootist
• Thug
• Crab
• Black Knight
• Rommel Tank

Turn 1 – Clans Win Initiative

The opening turn has both sides move forward but do not find line of sight among the canyon walls.  Comstar splits its forces between the high and low ground.  The Shootist, Black Knight, and Rommel take the low road leaving the Crab, Flashman, and Thug to cover the high ground.  The Clans overload the high ground, leaving only the Blackhawk to contest low.

No shots fired as there was no line of sight.

Turn 2 – Clans Win Initiative

All forces advance and begin to jockey for position among the tall cliffs and abutments of the canyon.  Both players do their best to hug the walls for cover while attempting to group long range shots against those caught even slightly out of position.

The resulting barrage of long range shots is sporadic and ineffective.  A bit of paint gets scratched but both forces shrug off the damage.

Turn 3 – Clans Win Initiative

Being cautious, the Clans actually back up, attempting to rely on long range shots to whittle the Comstar forces down.  Comstar returns the favor and keeps its distance while opening up some firing lines.

Weapons fire is again only semi effective.  The Black Hawk is able to score two hits against the Shootist while suffering only minor arm damage in reply.  Up top, the Vulture takes the brunt of the Comstar attack but looks no worse for wear.  The Flashman is brutalized by concentrated Clan weapons fire.  The right torso is stripped of armor and a medium laser is blasted into scrap.

Turn 4 – Inner Sphere Win Initiative

The action begins in earnest as the Comstar forces in the bottom of the canyon are set upon by a daring Blackhawk pilot riding high on it’s jump jets.  On the upper level, the Clan forces rush forward and tighten up to line up shots on the forward leaning Flashman.

Both forces unleash hell.  The Blackhawk eats an AC20 slug to the right torso, losing a medium pulse laser and a heatsink in the process.  The Vulture is brutalized by accurate and concentrated fire from the Comstar forces.  Armor is slagged off in tons.  While the spread of damage is quite even, internal damage claims an SRM launcher and a hip actuator.

Return fire from the Clans is awful.  Shots go wide early and often.  Only a few shots land true only to find fresh armor.

The Blackhawk falls under the onslaught and is kicked in the leg.

Turn 5 – Clans Win Initiative

The Clan Vulture digs deep and rushes the Comstar line.  He positions himself against the canyon walls and a perilous cliff edge to block off any possible forward movement.  Remaining Clan forces follow up behind and form a line to assault the Comstar forces.

The Blackhawk uses the initiative win to back off behind a rock formation to lick its wounds.  The Shootist and Black Knight position themselves as best they can while the Rommel plows forward hoping to find a ramp to join the battle at the top of the canyon.

The relative position of forces against the varied canyon terrain forces the Clans to split fire against targets of opportunity.

The MadCat and Cauldron-Born target the Shootist and slag armor but find no crits.  The Shootist replies back and lands an AC20 slug to the Cauldron-Born.  Staggered, the Cauldron-Born falls.

Leading the charge, the Vulture takes more damage scattered against its already battered frame.  A final shot manages to find both ammunition and engine criticals, silencing the great machine.

Turn 6 – Inner Sphere Win Initiative

The Clans charge forward, maintaining a tight conga line facing the bulk of the Comstar forces in the top of the canyon.  By now the Shootist and Black Knight are circling back into the battle and collapsing into the flank of the charging Clan force.  Even the Rommel has located a suitable ramp (albiet further out of the way than desirable) to enable it to join the high ground.

The Cauldron-Born takes a ferocious pounding and slags off armor leaving only its center torso in decent shape.  A LRM launcher and an engine take critical hits.  The Black Knight lines up shots on the MadCat and finds a kink in the armor (TAC) in the left torso which ignites machine gun ammunition.  As a final insult to injury, even the Rommel scores a long range autocannon hit against the reeling Blackhawk.

The Clans focus all possible fire on the Flashman and decimate it.  The torso crumples and explodes under the deadly barrage.  Other opportunity fire targets the Crab and crits a shoulder actuator.

Turn 7 – Clans Win Initiative

The Clans force the issue and continue to press against the Comstar forces.  In return the Comstar forces dance around and end up in a semi circle with guns at the ready.  The Blackhawk takes a chance and jumps behind the Shootist.

Comstar splits fire on the MadCat and Cauldorn born.  Weapons fire is on the mark and pummels the MadCat.  An AC20 slug at medium range is the last straw and sees the Clan ‘Mech crumple in a heap.  The Cauldorn-Born suffers a similar fate and succumbs to multiple criticals and a final ammo explosion.

The Clans rain fire into the Crab but somehow find only armor to slag off.  Both side torsos are crushed but the ‘Mech remains operational.

The Blackhawk suffers some damage from the Rommel while it unloads into the Shootist.  No criticals despite a few new holes in the Shootist’s rear.

Both the Crab and Shootist fall.  The Blackhawk takes the opportunity to kick the downed ‘Mech but finds only armor for his trouble.

Turn 8 – Inner Sphere Win Initiative

Sensing the end, the Clan forces muster their final courage and stand their ground against the quickly enveloping Comstar forces.

The remaining Clan forces concentrate all fire power on the Shootist.  The Clan weapons finally seem to begin hitting their mark.  A double through armor critical combines for 4 torso criticals yielding a gyro and 3 engines.

Return fire from Comstar buries the Blackhawk.  The Huntsman is almost cored out leaving only a shell of a ‘Mech left standing.

The End

At this point the game is called in favor of the victorious Comstar forces.  A great game with a lot of interesting interaction with the terrain.  The way the canyon dictated line of sight made for several very strategic moves by both sides.  I don’t think either of us expected such a tactical treat on such a map.

Congrats to my winning opponent and a well played game!

The last day of GenCon is always a little bitter sweet.  It’s been a great convention.  I’ve played lots of great games, saw some old friends, and made a few new ones.

Iron Wind Metals

I finally got around to doing my shopping at the Iron Wind Metals booth.  They had an impressive display as always.  LAMs were in abundant.  Convention exclusives lined the shelves.  TRO Lance Packs were packaged and waiting to be bought.

Also on hand were lots of different resin terrain packs.  Some from XMarxs and more from other sources.  Always good to see a variety of options.

I ended up picking up a Poseidon PSD-V2, a few Rabid Coyotes, a Mortis, and a few shipping containing/building models that looked interesting and easy to paint. Expect to see a few future posts on these hobby projects.

A Friendly Sign

One thing I forgot to mention, while playing in the Alpha Strike game I was admiring the paint jobs on the ‘Mechs we were using.  Honestly it looked almost familiar if you could say such a thing about painted ‘Mechs.  Sure enough I flip over the ‘Mech to see the underside of the hex base and I see the signature of a friend from New Jersey, Friedrich Haas.  If you are are reading this, it was great to play with your minis at GenCon!

Wrapping Up

I spent what little time I had remaining in Indy to playtest a game in the First Exposure room.  I played a quick little card game called Farms and Factories.  It was fast playing and had some very satisfying game play.  On that note, I have to say that this playtest area was a fantastic idea fantastically executed.  That room was well organized and run.  I love the idea and to see it done so well really felt good.  I would love to see this similar concept spread to other conventions.

After that, I got a chance to demo a few more games prior to heading off to the airport.  I got to sample the Portal game from Cryptozoic (fast paced game with some interesting mechanics, I’ll be watching for it in the fall), Dark Moon by Stronghold Games (fun but requires a good bit of skill to avoid suiciding as the non-infected), and M.E.R.Cs Recon from MegaCon Games (Co-operative objective based urban combat with loads of minis).

I had a great time and I only hope I can make it out again soon.  Time will tell.

Saturday is often the longest and most rewarding day of GenCon.  I started bright and early and took in a playtest game in a special area of the con devoted to games that are not yet fully baked.  This was a great idea.  I had a blast playing The Coterie, an in-development dungeon crawler with a rather unique combat dice resolution mechanic.

I managed to play a lot of games today and had a lot of fun.  GenCon never seems to disappoint.

Alpha Strike

Around mid day I took in a game of Alpha Strike.  A Marik and Kurita company faced off to take over a bridge in the center of the battlefield.  For a two hour time slot I felt the game went wonderfully.  The Marik side lost on the last turn by a single point.  From the force balance to the objective based scenario we were able to battle things out to a very satisfying conclusion inside of the two hours we were scheduled.  Kudos to the demo team for a great event.

Tukayyid

In the evening I settled down for a side mission in support of the Tukayyid storyline game.  I played a Clan Wolf star against a reinforced ComStar lance.  I fought bravely but alas, the dice were not with the poor Clans.  Congrats to my opponent Elliot for securing victory and allowing the Inner Sphere forces on the main board to receive a repair action (even though it was too late in the evening to make use of it.).

Expect to see a full After Action Report in the near future once I have some time to catch my breath from the weekend.

Battle the Masters

The Masters were on hand to take on the best and brightest the fan world could muster. I did not stay late enough to see the conclusion but everyone seemed to be having a blast.  Add to that an ample supply of free pizza supplied by Catalyst and you have a recipe for a memorable end to the convention.

All the Rest

I spent a good amount of my time wandering the exhibit hall taking in the sights and demoing new games that caught my eye.  There were lots of neat looking miniature games but I feel I don’t have the time to play what I have to justify bringing in any other minis into the mix.  There is only so much time for BattleTech as it is so I tried to keep my eye out for board games and the like which did not have the same need for hobby time.

There were a lot of new companies and unique games to see.  The one board game that I felt really stood out was Fantasy Flight Games’ Mission to Mars.  It is a secret role selection and worker placement/manipulation game where you are flinging astronauts into space and moving them around to conquer the vital resources on the planet Mars.  Lots of fun and ample opportunity for shenanigans.

Runner up was Nevermore, a fast playing set collection card game where your death may be only the beginning of your opportunities to screw with your buddies.