Battle Report: Encounter On Rynn's Steading

Following the Pirate raid on Rynn's Steading, Wilson's Hussars have settled into their new contract to garrison the world and defend the Magistracy's newly established industrial sites.

The Pirates have seemingly been driven offworld but Captain Wilson is keen to keep his mercs busy and a recent scan of the rolling plains between Rynn's Retreat, the planetary capitol and the outlying Agri stations has seen him dispatch a lance to scout the area.

Having spotted a possible hit on his scanner, trooper Durant in his Griffin Low Blow, has split off from the rest of the lance to investigate.

Rynn's World Campaign Map

"Wilson command, this is Low Blow. I'm getting an intermittent scanner trace South East of our current location and a range of 5 klicks."

"Roger that Low Blow, investigate the trace and then loop back to the rest of the lance. It may be nothing but I'm feeling a tad jumpy so be careful and report what you find asap."

"Sure thing ElTee. Low Blow out."

As his mech climbs the ridgeline, the merc can see a yellow and red painted Wolverine approaching from the South and ignoring his shouted command for it to identify itself and power down it's weapons, the mech instead turns and opens fire.

"This is Low Blow! Enemy Contact sighted two klicks south from previous contact. Have spotted a Marauder's Wolverine and am engaging!"

Wilson's Hussars V Red's Marauders

Wilson's Marauders are represented by Trooper Durant in his GRF-1N Griffin, Callsign Low Blow whilst the Marauders have a WVR-6R Wolverine at present it's callsign and pilot are unknown as its transmissions are coded.

Rules Used: Battletech Basic Rules (ammo depletion but no piloting rolls, criticals, internal structure or close combat).

The skirmish takes place near a small lake surrounded on two sides by hills and sparse patches of scrubby vegetation. The Wolverine enters from the South and the Griffin from the North.

The game started with Low Blow maneuvering his Mech around the northern hill whilst the Wolverine began running toward him in an attempt to close range so he could bring his full array of weapons to bear on the mercenary Mech.

Initial fire from both sides were ineffectual but as his greater range came to effect, Low Blow managed to blast the Wolverines centre torso with his PPC but things got a bit dicey as the Wolverine repeatedly used it's jump jets to try and close with the Griffin. 

This close range fire began to tell as Low Blow took several shots to the centre torso but fortunately a well placed PPC to the cockpit of the Wolverine put the opposing mech out of commission.

As the remainder of the lance approached, they discover their lance mate standing guard over the smoking wreck. What was this lone Pirate mech doing out here and more importantly, does it have any friends...

Conclusion

Well that was an interesting skirmish and I have learned that using jump jets really add an extra element to the game. I hope to play the advanced rules that I have in the 3rd edition book that I have found which will introduce heat and piloting checks which would probably have had quite an impact on this game if I'd played it using them.

I have to admit that I'm finding the Griffin looks like it would work best with a lancemate to keep an opponent occupied whilst it snipes them as it's long range weapons are pretty shooty but when the enemy gets close, it gets a bit hairy.

It also runs through it's LRM ammo frighteningly quickly as that's two games where I've depleted it badly without it having much effect.

I think that as things stand, I may have to tweak the Gunnery Skills of my Mechs as in each game I've played, it's very difficult to hit at anything beyond short range which is a bit annoying. I think I'll change regular pilots to Gunnery Skill 3 rather than 4 which should allow for some better long range shooting. Other than that, I'm quite excited about getting a new round of campaign gaming going on Rynn's Steading soon as who knows what information can be salvaged from the wrecked Wolverine?