ScrapYard Armory

In 3071 the Word of Blake Jihad came to the Capellan Confederation planet of Necromo, home of the warship yards for the Capellan Navy.  The Shin Legion and Home Guard were protecting the planet until the 48th Shadow Division invades with intent to destroy all defenders and the factories.

Word of Blake – 48th Shadow Division

Alpha Level II

• RJN-200-C Raijin II
• Grigori Dominus
• EXT-5F Exterminator
• Archangel Dominus
• VQR-5V Vanquisher
• Deva Dominus

Beta Level II

• Nexus II
• Malak Luminos
• Preta Dominus
• Preta Infernus
• CRB-45 Crab
• LGH-6W Lightray

Capellan Confederation – Shin Legion

Command Lance

• CTF-3LL Cataphract
• VTR-10L Victor
• EMP-6L Emperor
• PLG-4Z Pillager

Recon Lance

• JA-KL-5S Jackal
• SYU-4B Sha Yu
• PXH-4L Phoenix Hawk
• VND-4L Vindicator

Support Lance

• THR-2L Thunder
• WHM-4L Warhammer
• LHU-3C Lao-Hu
• Y-H10G Yu Huang

Conventional Support Lance

• Po Tank
• Zhukov Heavy Tank
• Manticore Tank
• Vedette Medium Tank

Objectives

The Shin Legion will win a partial victory if they keep the key factory buildings intact (central office, R&D Lab, and power substation).  They win a complete victory if they also destroy at least 50% of the attackers.

The 48th will win a partial victory if they destroy the objective buildings and a complete victory if they also destroy at least 50% of the defenders.

Special Rules

Due to surprise, the 48th win initiative automatically the first two turns.

Turn 1 and 2 – 48th Win Initiative (automatic)

Both opening turns see only movement and missed long range shots.

The Capellans hold the core of their force on the small hill overlooking the battlefield.  They are not making any attempt to bring the battle to the Wobbies.  The lighter units swarm around heavy cover provided by a large hill to the north.

The Word of Blake marches forward ominously, without fear.

Turn 3 – 48th Win Initiative

A lone Preta jumps on top of the north hill for a better look and attracts the attention of several Liao ‘Mechs.  Amazingly the tiny scout gives worse than it receives in the exchange thanks to a very large target modifier from jumping and heavy woods.

The main force of Heavy Liao ‘Mechs stays grouped together but begins to stray from the defensive position they took in the opening turns.  The vehicle lance darts around cover trying to avoid shots from the slowly approaching Word of Blake Heavy Level II.

Turn 4 – Shin Legion Win Initiative

The Preta from last turn jumps again and takes cover in woods.  This time luck is not on its side as a Gauss Rifle rips into the left leg.  However, no internal damage results.

The Liao ‘Mechs stubbornly refuse to close with the enemy, ever fearful of the threat from the complete C3i network deployed by the enemy.  To support the tanks to the south, a Thunder keeps close behind a building avoiding contact but positioning within a short run of potential targets.

The Word of Blake light assets continue to dance around the hill to the the north.  They avoid damage while delivering timely long range hits on targets of opportunity.  The Liao decision to stay at long range is resulting in unreasonably high to-hit numbers.

A Yu Huang of the support lance is picked out from the crowd and pummeled with Heavy Gauss Rifles, ERPPCs, and ER Medium Lasers and forced to fall.  No internal damage but lots of lost armor.

Turn 5 – Shin Legion Win Initiative

The Word of Blake continues to press the advantage and scores more hits against the Yu Huang and a Zhukov Tank.  The scattered response from the Liao forces is barely able to break the concentration of the invading Manei Domini.

The Vanquisher decides not to dwell in a partial cover protected sniper position and struggles to keep pace with his faster allies.

Turn 6 – 48th Win Initiative

The Heavy Level II to the south is not showing any signs of slowing down and is now in range of the objectives.  The Tanks cannot stand up to the potential firepower and choose to attempt escape past nearby buildings.  The nearby Thunder fires into the ground to build up heat, activating TSM.

The center of the power plant is destroyed in a single volley and some damage is placed on the office buildings deep in the Liao deployment zone.  The Word of Blake forces begin taking shots at anything in range, ‘Mech or building.

The Zhukov, unable to match the speed of his lance mates is struck solidly from Word forces and sustains an engine hit.  A Liao Sha Yu who rushed in to disrupt the advance of the Light Level II sheds armor to concentrated firepower and takes an engine hit as well.

In a stunning turn, the Word of Blake Nexus is caught in a short but precise stream of PPC and Autocannon shells from various sources.  Almost all shots land in the center torso, coring the ‘Mech through.  First kill goes to the Shin legion!

Turn 7 – 48th Win Initiative

Unimpeded, the Heavy Level II marches to the front of the Liao ramparts where the speedy Raijin II joins them to level what was left of the Office Building and Power Plant.  The Light Level II to the north consolidates and continues to pressure the main segment of the Liao forces who are still near the base of the hills overlooked by the Research Center.  The Research Center is also victim to long range volleys and is in danger.

The Liao forces unload on a Preta who had rushed forward.  In a roar of Heavy PPCs and laser fire, the Preta has a leg ripped off and two engine hits.  The Archangel is hit with both a light and regular gauss rifle to little effect.  The Thunder who finally rushes into enemy forces lines up a LB-20X shot to a Lightray.  The cluster roll is a full complement which tears apart the weak rear armor and delivers an engine and gyro hit.  Amazingly the Lightray takes the damage and remains standing.  A TSM kick would miss during physical combat.

The Word of Blake is storming into Liao territory and shows no signs of slowing down.  The Cappellans can do nothing to prevent their facilities from getting sacked and cede the battlefield.

Aftermath

As a player on the Capellan side I confess to being a little too worried about the C3i across the board.  We were sure to lose a few ‘Mechs to the network but overkill is a factor that would work for us in the bigger picture.

We really should have challenged the Word of Blake front line sooner.  Once that Heavy Level II got close, it was all over for our poor buildings.  No superior positioning was going to save the day.

What do you think?  What would you have done differently?

A relic of the Star League and the Terran Hegemony, Fortress Dieron radiates the power and majesty of bygone eras.
Occupying nearly two-thirds of Mount Shanyu, the fortress boasts several artillery, turret, and orbital gun emplacements as well as nearly one hundred ’Mech and vehicle bays, cavernous storage facilities, and enough space for over four regiments of troops, support personnel, and command staff.

Fresh from Jihad Turning Points: Dieron the ScrapYardArmory presents Mount Shanyu!

Mount Shanyu PDF (610 KB)

I created a Heavy Metal Map which includes the special terrain featured in the Climbing Mount Shanyu track in the aforementioned Turning Points PDF.  The first 6 pages are the map itself with a generic wall layout.  The last page contains turret and door hexes which can be cut out and used to create the perfect wall for your campaign while still allowing you to stretch out to accommodate any size engagement.  Sorry to say that HMM did not have an option for 500CF doors, so I made due with 50CF figuring adding a zero wouldn’t be that bad.  This ends with the doors labeled as Heavy when they are actually Hardened.

I hope you find it useful.  If there is any desire to have one made with 2″ hexes instead of the standard BattleTech size shoot me and email and I’ll reprint from the Heavy Metal Map file.  Good hunting!

http://www.livingdice.com/3808/gama-trade-show-2010-report-part-5/

Not much in the way of information but still a nice news item.

Before going into specifics about Catalyst Game Labs offerings, I took the opportunity to speak with Randall Bills regarding the recent financial issues announced by Catalyst. He described the issue as “bad habits” that originated at the founding of the company. He also stated that the issue came to light last November and Catalyst is implementing new financial processes and oversight to prevent the issue from reoccuring. Catalyst is now focused on moving forward as a company. Randall also said he had received a lot of support at GTS from attendees.

Interesting to note in the picture, there appears to be a copy of the Hex Pack: Lakes and Rivers in the far right corner.

In 3063 with the Fed Com Civil War heating up, the 1st Davion Guards on New Avalon knew their days were coming to an end.  Their commander, Marshal Bishop Storek decides to set the final fight on his terms.  By October, Marshal Storek made a final stand with two assault companies at the mountain pass to prevent the Loyalist forces from following the 1st Davion into the pass.

This game was played at Cold Wars 2010 under the stalwart guidance of Demo Agent “Speck”.  This was a BattleForce game with each unit representing a lance of ‘Mechs.

1st Davion Guards

Assault Lance

• EMP-6A Emperor
• HGN-732 Highlander
• MAD-5A Marauder II
• PLG-3Z Pillager

Command Lance

• AWS-9Q Awesome
• Templar Prime
• CP-11-G Cyclops
• Sunder A

Support Lance

• LGB-12C Longbow
• Templar B
• VKG-2F Viking
• AS7-K Atlas

3rd Robinson Rangers

Command Lance

• HBK-4G Hunchback
• BLR-4S Battlemaster
• BNC-5S Banshee
• MR-5M Cerberus

Fire Lance

• DV-7D Dervish
• DV-7D Dervish
• GRF-3M Griffin
• LNX-9C Lynx

Heavy Lance

• CTS-6Y Cestus
• CES-3R Ceasar
• WHM-7S Warhammer
• DGR-3F DragonFire

Recon Lance

• ALM-9D Fireball
• JR7-D Jenner
• SPR-5S Spector
• WLF-2 Wolfhound

Strike Lance

• Blackjack A
• Blackjack A
• MAD-5D Marauder
• PTR-6M Penetrator

Support Lance

• CN10-B Centurion
• WR-DG-02FC War Dog
• AWS-8Q Awesome
• STK-5S Stalker

Objectives

Kill everything.  The Robinson Rangers only win by eliminating every last one of the Davion Guards.

Turns 1 and 2 – Robinson Rangers win Initiative

In the first two turns, each force begins the march towards the enemy.  The Davions tend to be reserved and are more comfortable to allow the Rangers to advance.  The Rangers have a small amount of woods in front of them to give cover.

On turn 2, the Rangers begin to have some separation between their faster units and the larger slower Heavy and Command lances.  In the next few turns the Ranger commanders begin slowing down the attack to allow the slower units to catch up.

Turn 3 – Davion Guards win Initiative

The Davions use their initiative to good advantage.  After committing the Heavy Lance to long range the Davions pounced and managed to isolate a small segment of the Rangers without support.  The numerical advantage at long range pays off big resulting in 13 damage delivered versus 6 received.  An excellent start for the Davions who must fend off the larger force.

Turn 4 – Robinson Rangers win Initiative

Back on the attack, the Rangers try a similar strategy of divide and conquer.  The Davions don’t take the bait and move back to avoid any major exchange of fire.  No shots were fired as no units ended movement within range.

Turn 5 – Robinson Rangers win Initiative

The Rangers are fully cohesive now and rush forward as fast as the Command Lance can follow.  The Recon Lance strays slightly closer to the Davions.  Still in long range but positioning for a flanking opportunity in the future.  The Guards have the terrain advantage and superior long range weapons.  All shots are at long range this turn.

The superior firepower of the Guards is felt by the Rangers.  Half of the Heavy Lance is destroyed (Cestus and Caesar) while the Rangers can only answer with 6 damage to the previously scratched Templar.  There were lots of misses by the Rangers this turn.

Turn 6 – Davion Guards win Initiative

In an interesting move, the Guards pull back and bring the fight out into open terrain.  While the bulk of the Rangers is slowly advancing in a solid group the Recon Lance is now solidly in medium range and threatens the Davion flank.  Three of the Ranger’s Mechs are still at long range while the front two lances (Command and Fire Lances) are now in medium range.

The Davions focus all firepower on the forward leading Command lance delivering a hail of fire that amazingly only destroys the Hunchback.  The Hit to Miss ration is frustratingly high for the Davions.

The Rangers have a much more successful round of shooting and manage to waste no shots on overkill at all.  Both Templars fall to combined damage from the Ranger forces.  The final point of damage on the Command Lance Templar came from a lowly Fireball from the Recon Lance.

Turn 7 – Robinson Rangers win Initiative

Feeling rather smug, the Rangers hope to press their advantage.  They brazenly rush to trap the Davion assault lances in melee range.

Weapons fire for the Davions is mixed but the shots that do hit are devastating.    The Davions concentrate fire on two lances and combined with physical attacks the rest of the wounded Heavy Lance and the entire Command Lance is destroyed.  Perhaps going to melee range was not the best choice by the Ranger commanders?

Not to be outdone, the Rangers unleash a blistering volley of fire on the Davion Lances.  Each lance received at least some attacks and very few missed.  The Viking in the Support Lance was killed by an unfortunate headcap very early into it’s internal structural.  A Pillager, Emperor and Longbow all join their fallen comrades, the latter two from physical attacks at the end of the turn.

Turn 8 – Davion Guards win Initiative

The Davions try to spread the field by jumping the Assault lance to high ground.  The Rangers have ample jumping ability to counter Davion maneuvers.  The Ranger Fire Lance and Recon Lance both have rear shots on Davion lances.  The noose is beginning to tighten around the Guards.

The Davions concentrate on the Recon and Strike Lances and kill 3 ‘Mechs in the process, a Jenner, Fireball, and Marauder.

The Rangers continue to make lucky rolls and destroy 3 ‘Mechs; one by a headshot.  All this while the entire Fire Lance misses and three ‘Mechs have no targets due to overkill.  In the Physical attack phase, the Rangers pile damage on the opposing Marauder II.

Turn 9 – Davion Guards win Initiative

The initiative advantage is not enough to save the battered Davions.

The last damage the Davions manage to muster is to kill the Recon Lance Spector.

The Rangers begin cleaning up and finish off the Assault Lance with rear shots and heavily damage the Command Lance Sunder.  The last remaining member of Command Lance is a lone Awesome who manages to survive one more turn against the Robinson Ranger onslaught.

Thoughts on the Game

I honestly did not think that this game would be as one sided as it was.  Certainly some of it was luck.  The Davions had several opportunities to do some serious damage early on but missed some easy rolls.  Honestly, when I saw the Davion Guard record sheets I cringed.  Several lance members could do 5 or 6 damage at most ranges.  Whatever these things hit, they were going to hurt badly if not outright kill.

It’s obvious that the Davions held the weapon and skill advantage but the shear volume of opposition ‘Mechs was too much.  In the war of attrition, the Davions lost.

One more point.  I think the Davions should have done more to secure the better terrain positions early in the game.  In BattleForce, it is key to remember that you receive FULL benefit from your individual movement without even moving.

Every once in a while you just have to brag.

Today is my day.

Everything you see; final price: $97.20

Local gaming store was having a sale and right or not, all of their BattleTech miniatures ended up in the $1 bin.  So I had to buy them.  All of them.

What can I say?  I’m happy while my significant other is mildly annoyed.  I have a lot of painting to do.  Time to get busy!

This lance of Locusts in Black Widow company colors was a commission piece for a fan of the site.  While I am satisfied with the end result, it took me too much time to come through to the end.  I don’t think I will be able to take future commissions until I am more confident in my ability to find the time required to finish a project in a reasonable timeframe.

That said, here is a quick brief on how I got from bare metal to the painted lance you see above.

Construction

These things are tiny!  Lining up the legs was a beast of a task.  I took extra care and spent a few evenings making sure they would be dead on so the upper body of the ‘Mech ended up level.  Nobody likes an oddly leaning miniature.

One of the Locusts I modified to show a more drastic bend in the leg.  I’m not the best modder out there but after a few layers of paint, I am satisfied with the result.  Not ecstatic.  But it will do.  It helps to break up the monotony of the lance.  Variety is the spice of life, on the tabletop and otherwise.

Black Base Color

The Black base was a simple base color and a series of dry brushing steps.  Not much to comment on.  This was the easy part of the paint job.

Black	Cold Grey	Stonewall Grey

Red Highlights

When I first laid paint down on the highlight portions, I used a simple base color and a panel line to accent.  After a day or two to look it over I was very dissatisfied with the result.  The panel line was far too harsh.  I ended up laying down several glazes to smooth the transition.  The difference between high and low is less noticeable but for the small accents they are, I am pleased with the result.  I went just a bit outside my comfort zone for this one.  If I had chosen a more drastic peak-to-mean color palette to start with, the fade would have been fantastic.  At least I think so.  Can’t wait for the next opportunity to try it out.

Gory Red	Scar Red	Bloody Red

Cockpit

I’m very comfortable with a blue jewel for cockpits these days.  The small surface on the side cockpits were a bit of a bear to get into.  Those area have a less gradual fade to them, but the focus is usually going to be on the front facing cockpit panel anyways.

Stormy Blue	Magic Blue	Electric Blue

Details

Details for this lance were limited to gunmetal on the laser ports and decals from Fighting Pirannha Graphics.

Base

The base was made using my standard basing mix and several drybrushing steps.  The extra rock under the modified Locust came from a simple cork.  The drybrushing I gave the underlying terrain came out slightly different when applied to the cork, which worked out well.

Beasty Brown	Filthy Brown	Dead White

Dieron takes us back to the Draconis Combine and also back to Ben Rome, the originator of the Jihad Turning Points series.  How does Mr. Rome handle the return to the Combine sandbox and how does it stack up with the first of the series?  Has the Jihad Turning Points aged well or gone sour?  Read on to find out!

The New Dieron

New Dieron opens up this edition of the Jihad Turning Point series with an action packed fire fight between elite forces from both House Kurita and the Word of Blake.  In a delicate chess match each vies to outplay their opponent.  An entertaining piece of writing from beginning to end and it sets the stage for what is to come.

Something just isn’t right though.  The way the story pans out leaves me wondering.  I expect that the peculiarities I see are evident of my general lack of knowledge of the significance of Dieron in the Jihad.  Hopefully the rest of the PDF will help illuminate the matter.

Some Special Thanks

An interesting note from Ben Rome’s special thanks.

Many thanks to the hundreds of fans who participated in the Origins and GenCon Dieron canon event in 2009, where a few key results from the reclaiming of Dieron in 3077 were determined. (You may even recognize a couple of the events herein.)

It’s great to see fan participation end up in the pages of canon fiction.  Fans of the game can still have an impact on the game even if that impact is a handful of die rolls among the many thousand it must have taken to compile the results of the Origins and GenCon games.

Atlas

The Atlas section gives a thorough account of the geographical features of the planet sprinkled with nuggets of information on the Blakist invasion and eventual liberation.  Equal parts history lesson and geography, we have a neat description of the planet to accompany the full sized planetary map we now expect from the Jihad series.  Par for the course, but the real reason I buy these PDFs is yet to come.

Combatants

Blakists, Ghost Bears and Kurita, Oh My!  My first impression was that the force abilities were rather safe.  A bit too heavy in the use of off-map movement and initiative bonuses.  Rather vanilla.  But things got better as the pages turned.  By the end I have to say I enjoyed the section and the variety of force abilities.

The notes section is full of the kind of information that I love reading as it helps to put the pieces together.  That full picture gives a very nice account of the events that occurred on Dieron during the occupation.

Best force ability goes to the 23rd Division.  When special “arsonist” squads are deployed in a track, you are bound to find yourself in some fun and interesting situations.  Still, anyone using them during a game is going to have a bear of a time following up on all of the fire and smoke rolls.  But if you don’t like rolling dice, maybe BattleTech is not the right game for you to begin with.

Tracks

We have hit the motherload.  Dieron brings us nine tracks, the most ever for the Turning Points series.

The Tracks in Dieron have a slight change.  The Situation section of each track is written as fiction instead of the factual, “who what where” style of Turning Points prior.  I read each introduction and gave it a day to marinate.  After letting it all soak in, I can say that they have grown on me.  The bulk of each track has all the facts anyways, so the extra fiction is a added blessing.  Kudos to Mr. Rome for trying something new.

Dieron provides excellent tracks with a lot to offer.  At times the objectives seem a little on the safe side.  That combined with the liberal use of Tactical Operations add-ins leads to a potential mundane set of wartracks.  The saving grace is the character within the special rules and optional bonuses.

From Banzai Courage, Air Strikes, to unique terrain requirements, the collection of Dieron tracks as a whole brings a healthy dose of creativity to the Turning Points series.  The quality of the Dieron tracks is on par for the series but does not hold a candle to either Sian or Galtor.

Record Sheets

We only get two new unique variants in this Turning Points.  For more tracks, it’s a trade I’d make any day.

Both designs are Clan chassis.  The Dasher is a bit predictable.  Run fast, hit hard and don’t get caught.  The Kodiak is a bit more interesting due to mixed technology.  It’s a frightening standard engine beast with a C3 Master and Inner Sphere weapons.

All The Rest

Dieron finishes up with the expertly crafted planetary assault map.  We are still waiting for Interstellar Operations to give us updated rules to use them but they are a welcome and expected addition at the end of each Turning Point PDF.

What a week.

I’ve written and deleted this post about a dozen times now.  I’m at a loss for exactly what to say.

From Adam Jury via the CBT.com forums;

The details of my business relationship at Catalyst is irrelevant to the general public, but the fact that it no longer exists isn’t. I absolutely love the games I worked on, and I think that we accomplished great things in a short time, including my graphics work [with David Stansel and Matt Heerdt] on BattleTech, such as the the Box Set, Total Warfare, TechManual, and Tactical Operations. The entire crew — from writing to art to development to the camospecs crew and everyone else — put much blood, sweat, and tears into that series of books, and all I hope for now is that everyone continues to enjoy them for what they are.

Catalyst Game Labs is moving on from this.  There has been a very healthy flow of PDF products and Randall has posted up pictures of a brand new print product, HexPacks: Lakes and Rivers.  Maps have so far been the missing link with Catalyst.  Maps for the game have only been available as FanPro branded releases.  Maps will soon be back.  The product lineup from source books, fiction, miniatures and maps will be in place and available for new comers to get in the cockpit and fire their first PPC.

From Randalls blog post;

I believe in Catalyst, I believe in the team we have, I believe we’ll over come what’s occurred and come out of this down the road stronger than ever. Most importantly I believe in the strength of BattleTech and the community, and that’s a rock I’m using personally to help move forward.

Time to move on.  This blog will follow suit.  I have a review for JTP: Dieron, two battle reports from Cold Wars 2010, and enough draft posts to feed this blog for the next two years.

One last quote from the CBT.com forums, courtesy of Razziberry;

BattleTech is what cockroaches will be playing after humans die-off.

Hell yes.  Lock and load.

Official Statement from Catalyst

http://catalystgamelabs.com/2010/03/17/catalyst-game-labs-press-release/

Adam Jury Has Left CGL

From JMH

The best way Dumpshockers can help out is to slow down, take a deep breath, and not let rumors get out of control. I have heard the rumors, I know there are problems, but I have also talked to the entire management team at CGL and have not heard plans to shut anything down. There are matters that definitely need to be addressed–specifically, the future of CGL as an organization and the outstanding, long-past-due payments to freelancers. I’ve asked management to address those issues, and they will be meeting tomorrow to discuss their best options.

So in the meantime I’d ask everyone to calm down and not spread rumors. I’m very sad that CGL has recently lost some very good people, but I remain hopeful that we will continue producing great Shadowrun products for you, and that the people who worked on those products will be paid what they are owed.

I’m happy to answer questions in this thread or through PM, but I again ask people to keep speculation on this thread to a minimum.

Jason H.
Shadowrun Line Developer

Cold Wars 2010 was held in Lancaster, PA this past weekend.  I was able to visit for two days this year and a full line up of games was on the schedule.  Many thanks go to Demo Agent “Speck” and his minions for the excellent games.

Much buzz was in the air over the venue shakeup for HMGS’s signature convention, Historicon.  Historicon will be hosted in Valley Forge, PA this year instead of Baltimore as originally planned.  I’ve never been to the Valley Forge venue but the BattleTech crew seems optimistic about the expected turn out.  I’ll be there ‘Mechs and terrain in tow as I’ll be running at least one game. So, come on out and see what I cook up!

Last Stand of the Davion Guards

The first game on Friday was a BattleForce game from the FedCom civil war.  With only four people at the table we moved through the turns quickly and completed the game to 100% destruction of one of the forces.  A great game!

Did the Davion Guards hold out or did the Robinson Rangers bust through the defensive line to attack the Davion flank?  I’ll have a complete battle report available shortly!

Red versus Blue

Capture the flag in the Solaris arenas.  Each side had two lances of BattleMechs in a long but narrow arena.  The goal was simple, capture the enemy flag and return it to your base.  I had a lot of fun playing this game despite the fact that my team ended up losing.  Inside of four hours we battled and raced across the arena and had a clear winner in the end.  I was pleasantly surprised by how fun this game was.  Maybe it was the map setup or the selection of units but the game just felt right.  It is absolutely something I’d like to do again and possibly create a few maps for in the future.

There are always things to improve.  Some of the faster MASC units may be an unbalancing influence but not something that can’t be countered.  I think it may have been unwise to leave a lone LongBow near our deployment zone to defend the flag.  Any ‘Mech with pulse weapons would have been a better choice.  At the very least we should not have left him so far forward.  The Mercury who stole our flag had a clear shot to race across the board and that was our fault for leaving the door open.

I’ll reiterate; It was a great game.  Look at the photos of the game below and take note of the layout.  I dare say, it almost looks like a concept paintball field (speedball not woodsball, if you don’t play paintball ask someone who does for the reference).

Clash on Labrea

The Ghost Bears fight it out against the Nova Cats for control of a supply depot.  Each side had two stars a piece and the fighting was furious.  Luck was not on the side of the Ghost Bears as they lost more than a few units to through armor criticals and head shots.  Clan ERPPCs are a bitch.

The frequent falls were comical at times.  We had up to four ‘Mechs down in a pile as failed pilot rolls and gyro hits took their toll.  A fun game despite my limited participation.  My Ryoken B was unfortunately caught a bit ahead of the vanguard and ate too many pulse lasers on turn two or three.

The End of Necromo

The Word of Blake is intent on destroying the production facilities on the Capellan world of Necromo.  I was on the side of the Capellans fending off the toaster lovers from laying waste to our power plants and research centers.

The End of Necromo will be another full battle report to be featured in a future post.  Until then, here are a few teasers.

Grand Melee

The Grand Melee is the traditional end of the Saturday evening.  I took to a NovaCat C and ran head first into the awaiting pulse lasers of a Glass Spider.  In the second turn, due to the combined fire from no less than three ‘Mechs, I succumbed to three engine hits.

Sigh.

I didn’t do near the damage I wanted but such is life.  In a perfect world I would of been able to stay at a more significant range to use my autocannons to greater effect.  As it was, I was sandwiched between the Glass Spider and a Rifleman IIC.  Rock and hard place, check.  Not to mention the extra attention from a Kraken in heavy woods and partial cover in the center of the battle.

But, I’m not bitter at all.  Good times were had by all and I got to do some play testing for a future post in the break just before the Melee.  Can’t wait for the next con.

All the Rest

Here are a few pictures from the rest of the convention.  As always there were quite a few fantastic setups.  If you have not been to a HMGS event you need to start.  It may not have the publicity of GenCon or Origins but it is more wargame centric and is in no way a small convention.  Historicon is just around the corner so make a point to come out for a day or more.  You will not be disappointed.