With the high ground taken, it was now time to push hard against the Kurita base.
"Alpha Team, we're going in the front door," Jennie announced to the assembled Lemmings, "The rest of you will be covering our flanks. Advance as fast as you can and keep us secure. You're a distraction from the main show, so we don't wind up facing a full company on our own."
As she clicked through the display, Jennie was relieved that, for once, the Lemmings had not sabotaged her presentation and that the lines of advance had not been changed to resemble genitalia. She gave precise instructions to all present.
"Any questions? No? Ok, sort yourselves out and mount up. We move out in one hour."
Yet another miracle! All the Lemmings were ready well before time, and none were overly hungover. Jennie started to worry that this boded ill for their assault on the Kurita stronghold. Still, her Battlemaster and Eileen's Marauder were solid mechs with good firepower, so they should be able to hold their own, while Theresa's Griffin was agile and could manoeuvre round any slower mechs with ease. The only worry was what they might face. Kurita had taken a mauling, but that Atlas kept coming back. It probably belonged to the Kurita commander, hence it got priority repairs and was most likely to be at the centre of the line. That was a worry. Beyond that, it would all depend upon how well her two wings did in drawing off the other Kurita mechs.
Well, worry would accomplish nothing. Anna had her back from Control and she would soon enough know whether she was overfaced or not. If nothing else they could just blast what they could and run. She focused on driving her Battlemaster forward to the jumping off point. Alpha Team was the best in the Lemmings, which made them better than most other mech pilots, by her reckoning. She had faith that between them they could get through this.
The Mission
As Alpha Team advanced towards the Kurita dorm town, Anna's voice crackled over the team channel.
"Alpha Team, four bogeys moving in from the north. I've mapped them to your comps. Drones show an Atlas, a Griffin, a Valkyrie and a Wasp. Looks like their main command lance. Bravo, Gamma and Delta teams are in position and engaging the rest of the Kurita company so you're weapons free. Clear this lance out of the way and you will have a clear run at their main depot."
"Roger that, Control. Alpha Team, form up on me. We're going in hot. Pick off the midgets first and then we'll decapitate the dragon right here."
"Roger that, Lemming 1."
"Confirmed, Lemming 1."
Eileen and Theresa formed up, one on either side of Jennie's Battlemaster.
"Lemmings ho!" called Jennie through the team comms channel.
They could not see her waving them forward, but they knew what she was doing, and they knew she would have Garryowen playing in her cockpit. Alpha Team moved quickly into the danger zone.
The Forces
Alpha Team, The Full Throttle Lemmings
- Jennie Raytor (Skill 2), Battlemaster BLR-1D
- Eileen Dover (Skill 3), Marauder MAD-3R
- Theresa Green (Skill 4), Griffin GRF-1N
Kurita Command Lance
- Atlas AS7-D (Skill 3, Commander)
- Griffin GRF-1N (Skill 4, Combat Intuition)
- Valkyrie VLK-QA (Skill 4)
- Wasp WSP-1A (Skill 4, Combat Intuition)
The Fray
As the Lemmings advanced towards the dorm town, their scanners showed the enemy lance advancing through the buildings towards them.
"Contact!" called Eileen, "Kurita Griffin on building on my 12."
"Engage!" returned Jennie.
"Confirmed!"
They opened fire at the same time as missile trails could be seen launching from the enemy mech. Missiles crashed into Jennie's Battlemaster. Her targeting computer suddenly flashed and went hazy.
"Godsdammit," she cursed, "Alpha team, that hit knocked out sensors on my fire systems."
As the Griffin held its ground on the building roof, a Kurita Valkyrie joined it. Sensor blips showed the other enemy mechs advancing through the town.
Theresa took her Griffin around the buildings to secure the flank as the others adopted firing positions in cover.
Jennie and Eileen got the range of the enemy Griffin and Valkyrie. Lasers and missiles fired in both directions as the enemy mechs hammered Jennie's Battlemaster, but she held her nerve and gave as good as she got. As the Valkyrie was blasted to pieces, the Griffin's pilot suddenly discovered an urgent errand they had to run back at base. They fired up their jump jets and were quickly out of sight.
With only two Kurita mechs left, the Lemmings started to feel more confident. By now, Theresa was trading shots with the Wasp as the Atlas advanced slowly but surely towards the others. Seeing the imminent danger of being outflanked, the Wasp pilot headed further over the flank to some woods, but this just gave all three Lemmings the chance to focus their fire on it as Eileen dodged around buildings to stay out of the Atlas's line of sight. The Wasp did not last long.
The Atlas finally found clear lines of sight to Lemmings and opened fire. Sparks flew on Jennie's control board and alarms sounded as critical systems were destroyed or malfunctioned. Her own shots went wide of the Atlas and she knew she needed to withdraw. Her mech was totally not battleworthy now. Theresa and Eileen picked up the gauntlet and sprayed fire at the Atlas, which continued to stalk Eileen's Marauder.
From its new position in the woods, the Atlas fired volley after volley at the Marauder which started to resemble a Swiss cheese more than an armoured vehicle. Their own shots told on the Atlas though, and the Kurita commander raced for the town and cover, as Eileen withdrew her Marauder out of the ops zone.
Seeing her chance, Theresa gunned her mech into the town after the Atlas. As it raced at a full speed somewhat less than half her normal speed, Theresa saw her chance. She focused her fire on the holes where the Atlas's armour plate had been and several missiles landed in the right spot. The Atlas fell with an earthshaking thud.
"Alpha Team, it's safe to come back now. The scary Kurita commander is no more," she informed the others. She received only curses for her words, but knew with satisfaction that she would be feted tonight at The Ferret and Firkin.
Conclusions
This was my first try of the Alpha Strike rules for Battletech and used only the quickstart rules. I chose to play a smaller game with one lance per side. After statting up Alpha Team, I randomly generated a lance for the Kurita force aiming to have the same points as Alpha Team. I balanced the two forces by making the Atlas pilot Skill 3. I was uncertain how it would affect the game, but I chose not to use the optional mech abilities that are not in the Starter Set, which means that the Atlas did not get its fancy ammo for its AC or LRM. I am not sure how adding those will affect the game, but it is something for the future.
The playing area was 4' x 4', instead of the 6' x 4' recommended in the rules, simply because that was the space I had. With a smaller force size, I figured it would not matter too much. I have another table I can add to make the whole thing 6' x 4' but it is currently otherwise occupied. Maybe next time I can empty that table and use it too.
The solo rules were the same as the ones I used for the earlier Battletech games. They worked well for what I wanted, although a couple of the results seemed nonsensical so I overruled them.
The game went well with me only making a few mistakes that I recognised. I'll read the rules again before the next game. It also went quickly, which was useful and seemed to strike the right balance between detail and quick play for me. As happened with full-fat Battletech, the Lemmings scored only a single critical hit on the Kurita mechs, while Jennie's Battlemaster suffered a critical hit on the first shot against it, destroying part of her fire control system. Both the Battlemaster and the Marauder took an absolute pasting and had to withdraw. It was lucky that both were so close to the base edge or they might have been caught and destroyed.
Of the enemy mechs, none suffered critical hits at all, despite rolling for them. The Griffin was damaged enough to have to withdraw and was close enough to its base edge to get away easily. The Atlas had been drawn all the way into the Lemmings' half of the battlefield, so when it was finally forced to withdraw, it was easy for Theresa to zip around a building and catch it from the flank to destroy it.
All in all, it was fun and I look forward to the next round where I shall see how much more burdensome it is to play a full 250 points game.
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: (2 at start) 1
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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