"Listen up, Lemmings! That last patrol has highlighted several targets for assault. We're going in after one of them. There's a hill overlooking the main route into Dorm 564 where Kurita are currently holed up. If we can take it, it can form the staging point for a full scale assault to take the Dorm town. Secondary objectives in this ops area are two small Hab Zones and the crossroads beneath the hill. Bravo Team will move in on the objectives, secure them, and hold while we follow up. If it all goes sideways, skedaddle. Got it?"
Bravo Team nodded with a mix of trepidation and adrenaline-fuelled elation. Theirs would be the danger and the glory. They would be the point of the spear for a change.
"Everyone else, be ready to move out on my signal. We're not sure exactly what Kurita has in this sector, so we need to be ready for anything. We know they have assault mechs, because we've blown some of them up, but they might have more and we can't rely on them running away like last time. Barb, you have command until we get there. Good luck and, hey, let's be careful out there."
Bravo team gathered round their team leader.
"Andy, you're on point. Get in there, scout the zone and delay any hostiles. Ophelia will provide indirect fire support. Call on her as much as you need to screw Kurita up. We'll take our approach path from your report. Understood?"
"Copy that!" echoed both pilots at the same time.
"Ok, losers, mount up! We're going to a party and there will be fireworks."
A short while later, Andy moved into the ops area. His display picked up a single heat signal.
"Bravo Team, medium mech on other side of ops zone. Looks to be moving on Hab Unit 4621. Lemming 5 moving towards Hab Unit 4629."
He pushed his mech forward as fast as it would go.
"Bravo Team, this is Lemming 5. Hab Unit 4629 secure. Radar shows hostile in Hab Unit 4621. Moving to flank."
From his new position in some woods on the hill, he spotted the enemy mech.
"Lemming 5 reporting. Kurita Shadow Hawk has moved to occupy the crossroads. Engaging."
He stabbed the fire button. Chunks flew from the enemy mech, which turned in his direction and knocked out his machine gun.
"Grudnabbit, Bravo Team, where are the rest of you? I'm taking heavy fire here. I have weapons systems down and cannot hold if this keeps up."
Andy's machineguns had been knocked out and the laser that was his main weapon had gone offline. He frantically fired everything else he had at the Shadow Hawk as he simultaneously tried to fix the damage to his mech.
"Lemming 5, this is Lemming 4. Moving in to engage."
Barb's Awesome had advanced up the road and could see the Kurita Shadow Hawk. She was annoyed that Ophelia's Catapult was lagging behind. They would need its firepower. She focused on the Shadow Hawk and waited to hear tone. The second it came, she hit the firing stud. Rockets flew from the pods on either side of her and turned the crossroads into a pitted wasteland. The Shadow Hawk crumbled under the onslaught.
"This is Lemming 4. Hostile is down. Advancing on remaining objectives."
The ops area was quiet apart from the burning wreckage. Andy took the opportunity to move into position on the hill, while Ophelia finally caught up and Barb advanced towards the nearby Hab Unit.
"Lemming 5 to Bravo Team. Hostile Atlas in ops zone. Kill it! Kill it with fire!"
"Don't be so overly dramatic, Lemming 5," came Barb's short reply, "Bravo Team advance."
As they pushed forward, the Atlas, which had previously secured Hab Unit 4621 suddenly found itself in a cat and mouse game with Andy's Wolverine. Using cover as best he could, he tried to pick bits off it, but it returned the favour and hammered his mech. He dodged back among the buildings and called in fire from Ophelia, but the Atlas's heavy armour held despite multiple hits. The pilot probably had a shocking headache though.
Barb had neared the crossroads now but was taking fire from a Kurita Warhammer that had moved in to back up the Atlas.
"Lemming 6, this is Lemming 4. Lock on my marked coordinates and fire at will."
"Roger that, Lemming 4."
Ophelia connected her targeting computer to Barb's signal and pressed the firing stud. Huge salvos of rockets powered down onto the Warhammer and blew its right arm off, taking a rail gun with it. Armour plates melted under the onslaught as the Warhammer fired at Barb.
A second full rocket salvo launched and the Warhammer collapsed under the weight of the fire.
Barb grunted with satisfaction. The Warhammer was down and they had control of the ops zone within the mission time limit. The Atlas could be picked apart at will now.
"Bravo Team, this is Lemming 1. Entering ops zone on your six now."
As Bravo Team regrouped for the next push, the other Lemming teams were now moving in behind them. The Atlas, if it had any sense would retreat as fast as its massive, slow behind could carry it.
Conclusions
I like the Fistful of Lead series so I decided to run this scenario using Battle Suit Alpha, the mech variant of those rules. I mapped my pilots and mechs onto Battle Suit Alpha as best I could, but I figure it does not make too much difference if they vary a bit, because both sides have the same advantages and disadvantages in this process. The campaign results are still adjudicated using 5150: Mecha Combat though.
For this game, I had 33 points of mechs in my team, which would normally require me to reduce the quality of some of my pilots, but I chose instead to just make the Kurita mechs match them in points value by drawing mechs from a deck until I had the right value. This created an enemy force comprising 1 Warhammer, 1 Atlas and 1 Shadow Hawk.
The scenario began with both medium mechs (Wolverine and Shadow Hawk) on the table. The remaining mechs would reinforce them by rolling at the end of each turn. On a dice roll equal or less than that turn number, they would enter the battlefield the following turn. As it turned out, it was turn 3 when Barb Dwyer and her Awesome arrived and turn 5 before the Atlas and Ophelia Paine's Catapult arrived. The Warhammer was way late to the parade. This clearly favoured me, but could have gone entirely the other way.
For the campaign, the Lemmings scored 1 more success than Kurita, so Kurita morale went down and Lemming morale remained the same.
That was a fun game. It was made easier by the bad guys not showing up on time, but the Wolverine nearly got slagged a couple of times. Drawing the card that lets you repair damage was supremely useful, especially because the Wolverine was fast enough to move to the furthest objective and contest it simply by being there.
In terms of game play, it all went smoothly and I do not think I played anything wrong other than forgetting to roll a d12 for Barb when shooting. I rolled a d10 which disadvanted her. My fault. I should pay attention to my pilot's abilities. Speaking of abilities, I really need to note their effects on the stat cards, so that I remember them all. There was much thumbing through the rules to check them. Next time.
Solo play went quite well. I started with the draft solo rules from Wiley Games, but wound up doing what was likely to be best for each mech. The card draw system for activation created enough chaos that I did not need to make any difficult calls on who would do what. The only bit I really retained was activating enemy mechs in order of precedence. Lance leader first, then 2IC then the trooper. That does not always make complete sense, but it does fit with the pecking order in House Kurita battalions.
The Full Throttle Lemmings
Alpha Team:
- Commander Jennie Raytor (Rep 5) - Battlemaster (Class 1)
- Eileen Dover (Rep 5) - Marauder (Class 2)
- Theresa Green (Rep 5) - Griffin (Class 3)
Bravo Team:
- Barbara Dwyer (Rep 5) - Awesome (Class 2)
- Andrew Peacock (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
- Ophelia Paine (Rep 4) - Catapult (Class 3)
Gamma Team:
- Mike Hunt (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
- Paige Turner (Rep 4) - Thunderbolt (Class 3)
- Theresa Crowd (Rep 3) - Shadowhawk (Class 3)
Delta Team:
- Timothy Burr (Rep 5) - Blackjack (Class 4)
- Joseph King (Rep 5) - Commando (Class 5)
- Paul Bearer (Rep 4) - Locust (Class 5)
House Kurita
Campaign Morale: (3 at start) 2
The Kurita mechs are not organised into teams for this campaign. I have made a deck of stat cards and draw the appropriate number of cards as needed when they are encountered. The mechs available are:
- Atlas (Class 1)
- Battlemaster (Class 1)
- Archer (Class 2)
- Orion (Class 2)
- Warhammer (Class 2)
- Shadowhawk (Class 3)
- Griffin (Class 3)
- Wolverine (Class 3)
- Phoenix Hawk (Class 4)
- Valkyrie (Class 5)
- Wasp (Class 5)
- Stinger (Class 5)
All mechs on both sides are Battletech figures, so I have listed them with the names they have in Battletech.
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