13-18 Sviftmont - Troll Trouble

 After a good meal and a good night's sleep, Broneslav spent the day with the villagers. They begged him to tell the story of the fight with the dragon, which he did with a will, and they feted him in return. It was a relaxing day, and he felt almost said that he had to depart on the morrow. However, he needed to return to his enterprises. So, when the next day dawned, he wished the villagers of Mantru farewell and set out back towards Tanaroa.

For several days, he followed the same path he had taken to get there, dodging the pteranodons round the bridge from the plateau to the mountains and circling around the areas where the rock baboons had raised an outcry at his intrusion on their territory. The journey went well until he reached the mountains south of the plateau. At that point, he stumbled upon a troll looking for a quick snack. The fight was over almost before it began and he escaped with only minor wounds.

Knowing that the troll would regenerate if left long enough, Broneslav built a fire and put the corpse on it. He hoped that would be enough to destroy the evil creature. Then he carried on south, making camp that night in the best shelter he could find. He was well into the mountains now but knew that he would reach hills soon and then the jungles beyond.

May 3025: They Shall Not Pass (Battletech: Alpha Strike)

4th May 3025, Wuhan Pass, near New Wuhan City

Jennie surveyed the assembled team.

"Dracs have landed and are pushing on New Wuhan City. We are part of the task force sent to stop them. I shall be taking a mixed lance out to scout the Kuritan forces in the area. Our goal is to feel out their defences and take their measure before the main assualt. Don't take risks and don't be foolish. You have your instructions, so ask any questions now and then mount up. We move out in 30."

There were no questions.

I decided to experiment with playing on the Battletech hex maps using the conversion rules from Alpha Strike Commander's Edition for this campaign. A planetary level Abstract Combat System map comes with the Historical Turning Points: Galtor supplement, and it is very tempting to use that for a Battleforce: Abstract Combat System campaign too. I must resist!*

The Scenario

The scenario is a Meeting Engagement with equal points and numbers on each side.

Two companies of the 21st Galedon Regulars have been detached to secure Wuhan Pass and access to New Wuhan City, while the rest of the Regulars assault New Derry. Two companies of Johnston's Battalion of the 12th Vegan Rangers have been tasked with taking the pass back and stopping the Kuritan force. The Full Throttle Lemmings are working with the 12th Vegan Rangers and are one of the companies given this job.

Both sides are racing to secure the Wuhan Pass and will enter from opposite sides of the board. The winner will be the one that drives the other side off. Forced Withdrawal is in effect for both sides.

Maps:

Foothills #1

Foothills #2

The Opposing Forces

Full Throttle Lemmings scouting force (119 points):

1. Commander Jennie Raytor - Battlemaster BLR-1G (Named Pilot)
2. Paige Turner - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE (Named Pilot)
3. Theresa Crowd - Shadow Hawk SHD-2D
4. Paul Bearer - Locust LCT-1V

Forward elements of 21st Galedon Regulars (120 points):

1. Charger CGR-1A1 (Commander: Skill 3)
2. Griffin GRF-1N (Skill 3)
3. Shadow Hawk SHD-2H (Skill 3)
4. Jenner JR7-D (Skill 4)

The Battle

"Hostiles coming in," Jennie called to the others as her scope lit up with heat signatures advancing through the hills towards her.

"Roger that. Theresa and me taking a position in the centre," Paige responded.

"Paul, keep an eye on the left flank. Something fast coming in there."

"Roger. On it like a comet. It's a Jenner, Jennie. Taking up position to take it on. Haha, not only do you look like a toilet but I'm going to bust your arse like you were one," Paul crowed as he whizzed his Locust around the Jenner.

Jennie left him to it. Half of what he said did not make sense and most of the rest was just nonsense.

"Godsdammit," Paige cursed as armour panels turned to slag on her Thunderbolt, "I only just got that fixed."

First blood to the Kuritans, while the Lemmings' fire hit low rises and trees but not the enemy.

Theresa was unhappy, "There's something wrong with our guns today. If we make it out of this, I am going to have a serious word with the techs."

Paul, who had got right in behind the Kuritan Jenner agreed, "Shit, I can't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside with this laser. Sighting is definitely off! And now that shithouse is behind me!"

The Jenner's guns blasted armour off Paul's Locust and he swore some more.

The Lemming mechs darted from cover to cover, but the Galedon Regulars had their range now and  their blood was up. Lemming armour was being slagged at an increasing rate.

"Come on, people! Focus your fire and take them out," Jennie called to the others.

The fight descended into a swirling melee. Jennie and Paige held the centre with the Thunderbolt and the Battlemaster, while Paul was engaged in a dance of death with the Jenner and Theresa's Shadow Hawk sought to use cover to supplement its paper-thin armour.

"Eat that!" Paul had finally managed to get his head in the game and the Jenner's rear armour was blasted to shreds. It fled before he could finish it off.

"Hey, Jennie, my display's showing red," he called to his commander, "My armour is trashed."

"Hang in there Paul. We got the Charger and the Shadow Hawk. They're retreating. Maybe pick off one of them if you can. Salvage would be nice."

"Gotcha," Paul responded as he manoeuvred his Locust in behind the heavily limping Charger. He hit the firing stud. "Shit, how the hell did I miss that massive bugger?"

Even as the rest of the lance fled, the Griffin moved to take the fight to the Lemmings. It's pilot had seen that Paige's back was open and that Jennie's Battlemaster was dripping bits of slag armour with bare myomer showing  all over.

"Moving to support you," Theresa announced.

Paige triggered her jump jets and was suddenly behind the Griffin as Jennie pulled back to vent heat. Theresa sought a position of cover to snipe the Griffin from.

"I'm on it," Paige announced as she let rip an Alpha Strike into the rear of the Griffin, "Ha! Let's see you get back up without any legs!"

The Griffin crumpled to the floor, its power going offline to signal surrender.

"Ah, shit," Paul cursed, "That Charger's limping in my direction."

The next moment, a massive blast rocked his tiny mech.

"Left leg is gone! Gonna have to pull back."

He took cover briefly, only to poke his mech's head out again as the Charger retreated instead of finishing him off.

"Come back and fight," he called after the Charger, "I still have a leg left to kick you with!"

Aftermath

The Full Throttle Lemmings roared down on the Kuritan forces like a tornado with the 12th Vegan Rangers in tow. It was a hard-fought fight, but the charge was irresistible and the battlegroup eventually pushed the Regulars back out of the pass and secured it. New Wuhan City was safe for now.

Discussion

The first three turns were characterised by the Kuritans scoring hits and the Lemmings missing everything. After that, things improved slightly and the Lemmings began to focus their fire to wear down the enemy. The first mech to have to withdraw was the Charger, but its progress was slowed by a motive system hit that halved its movement. This was made worse later when it took another motive hit and could only move one hex per turn. But at least all those hexes were towards its home edge. The Shadow Hawk and the Jenner followed, but were able to sprint off the edge towards home on the turn after they were crippled. The Griffin seemed mostly impervious to being shot until the three big Lemmings could swarm it.

Some of this might have been easier, if the Lemmings had won the initiative more, but they only won three times in a ten-turn game. I think I need new dice for my mercs!

The difference between Ilclan-era mechs and 3025 mechs was made manifest in this game. The destruction went more slowly because both sides had much lower damage outputs, and the mechs were slower too. The game had a completely different feel to it. That was a Good Thing.

Playing on the mapsheets kind of broke my brain a bit in the beginning, but I got into it after a few turns. A few questions arose about the conversion too. I need to check the rules about rounding movement values or how you address fractions of 2" when each hex represents 2" and you have to move in whole hexes. I'll do that while planning the next scenario.

The other thing that arose was checking how many points the Lemmings should get. They only had one crippled mech, but repair costs are high, so I think I need to scale rewards a bit higher or maybe pay my pilots less. After paying the pilots, the Lemmings warchest had taken a hit despite them winning the scenario. That is not so bad for the first scenario, but if they have five more equally "successful" scenarios then they will be broke. I guess that means that I should take what they earned for achieving their objective in this scenario and increase the reward with each subsequent scenario. A single loss should not totally wipe them out, which it would if the victories all go like this, so they need to earn more for those victories.

*With the plethora of rules available for Battletech games, the megalomaniac in me is drawn to using them all to play games at every level all the way up to the entire Inner Sphere at War.

Arrival on Galtor (Battletech: Alpha Strike)

2nd May 3025, near New Wuhan City, Galtor III

The briefing room was buzzing as Jennie Raytor marched up to the front, followed closely by her best friend and XO Anna Daptor. The assembled Lemmings quieted as she turned to face them. They had been on planet

"The boring garrison duty is over. The Dracs have landed and we need to move out to engage them. Early reports indicate that we shall be facing elements of the 7th Sword of Light, so the XO has gathered all the intel on them that we can find. Details have been sent to your noteputers. Study it and be aware of what is going to come."

Rules Stuff

The Lemmings force comes to 347 points, so I diced for the make-up of the opposing force using the RATs in Historical Turning Point: Galtor with a view to making a 350 point force. With 11 mechs diced for, I then picked a mech to make the force up to precisely 350 points. This produced a nicely Kuritan-looking company to face the Lemmings, and conveniently forced me to pick out and paint a few unpainted mechs, so the campaign has already had a positive effect!

Although the mechs are assigned to lances in the list below, I shall randomise which mechs appear in each mission. I anticipate that each game will see a lance of Lemmings fielded and the Kuritan force will be created based on the points value of the fielded lance and the opposing force rules for the specific mission.

Although my mechs are painted as the 8th Sword of Light, and the notional Kuritan company is from the 7th Sword of Light, which historically got wiped out on Galtor, they will stand in for a variety of different Kuritan forces according to where the Lemmings are fighting and what action was happening during the campaign that month.

3 Company, Kismet Battalion, 7th Sword of Light

Command Lance

1. Banshee BNC-3E
2. Stalker STK-3F
3. Grand Dragon DRG-1G
4. Panther PNT-9R

Battle Lance

1. Dragon DRG-1N
2. Dragon DRG-1N
3. Wolverine WVR-6R
4. Panther PNT-9R

Recon Lance

1. Charger CGR-1A1
2. Griffin GRF-1N
3. Shadow Hawk SHD-2H
4. Jenner JR7-D

6-12 Sviftmont - Return to Mantru

 Broneslav awoke stiff and sore but still alive. The dragon's corpse near him was testament to the horrendous fight he had the day before. He immediately decided that it would be unwise to travel as battered as he was, so he set about checking the dragon's lair and making a proper camp. He would wait here a couple of days before heading back to Mantru and then back to where he hoped his ship would be waiting for him.

Breakfast of iron rations did not appeal to him, so he cut out the dragon's heart and roasted it. He had heard in the old tales that eating the heart of a beast like a dragon could grant you special powers. Nothing happened, except that his belly got full. Well, at least he had tried.

On the second day he went out looking for water and to scout the area. He found a large lake surrounded by jungle vegetation. Massive long-necked lizards were immersed in the water. Even the dragon would have felt dwarfed by them, standing ten times and more the height of a man. They ignored him as he filled his water flask and he returned to the cave.

Early on the third day, he set out towards Mantru once more. The journey went well and he managed to avoid any hostile encounters along the way. The villagers were surprised to see him and astounded that he had killed the dragon alone, but they had to believe him because he had its skin with him.

Full Throttle Lemmings IV: A New Contract (Battletech: Alpha Strike)

15th January 3025 

"Jennie, I got us a new contract."

Anna Daptor, XO of the Full Throttle Lemmings was looking very smug.

"Tell me."

Jennie Raytor, commander of the Lemmings, was intrigued. It was not like Anna to be this smug.

"So, the Fedrats currently occupy Galtor III on the Fedrat-Dorkonis Combine border. They have also found a Star League depot on that planet. However, they have issues on their Liao border and are stretched thin. They were going to move some other local militia units onto the planet, but the dropship carrying them exploded on take-off, so they are even more short-handed and have put the word out in local hiring halls. It's a six-month garrison contract with substantial bonuses if the Dorkonis Combine  attacks, as seems likely. They are paying our transport costs to Galtor as part of the contract. It's an all-expenses-paid trip to some of the best kayaking and megafauna fishing in the Inner Sphere."

"Not sure about the sports," Jennie responded, "but the money will come in handy. Get everyone ready and I'll sign the contract."

Background

I enjoyed the Scouring Sands campaign so much that I am going to dive straight into setting up a different solo campaign. This time, the Full Throttle Lemmings are going to participate in the campaign on Galtor III, which took place between May and September 3025, more than a century before the events on Apolakkia. The official histories do not record the deeds of the Full Throttle Lemmings on Galtor, so it is time to right that wrong and show their contribution to the war there.

The campaign is based on the events described in The Galtor Campaign and Historical Turning Points: Galtor. Scenarios will either be drawn from the ones in these books or be based on descriptions of the action.

There are a few things I need to work through in the absence of a campaign framework like Scouring Sands for the Galtor campaign, such as SP gains for winning scenarios and salvage, but I shall mull those over while I paint some extra Kuritan mechs for the campaign.

Duration and Victory Conditions

There will be one sortie per month, so five in total. The Lemming's actions can be assumed to be minor in the grand scheme of things, so the overarching action will follow the events in the books. At the end of that, the Fedrats will have beaten the Draconis Combine and the campaign is over, and we count what is in the Lemmings' bank account.

The Lemmings start with 520 SP. If they end the campaign with more than that, then they win.

The Full Throttle Lemmings in 3025

As you can see, the Lemmings have not yet fully incorporated their signature Lemming's head scheme of white shoulders and brown head on their mechs. Jennie and Anna are doing their best to implement it as mechs get damaged and armour is replaced, but it is slow going when the pilots and the techs are all so individualistic and ungovernable.

Alpha (Command) Lance:

1. Commander Jennie Raytor - Battlemaster BLR-1G (Named Pilot)
2. Barbara Dwyer - Awesome AWS-8Q
3. Ivor Biggun - Archer ARC-2R
4. Ophelia Paine - Catapult CPLT-C1

Bravo (Striker) Lance:

1. Paige Turner - Thunderbolt TDR-5SE (Named Pilot)
2. Mike Hunt - Wolverine WVR-6R (Named Pilot)
3. Theresa Green - Griffin GRF-1S
4. Theresa Crowd - Shadow Hawk SHD-2D

Gamma (Recon) Lance:

1. Dirk Savage - Phoenix Hawk PXH-1 (Named Pilot)
2. Paul Bearer - Locust LCT-1V
3. Joseph King - Commando COM-2D
4. Kerry Oki - Wasp WSP-1A

The Final Showdown (Battletech Aces: Scouring Sands)

The Lemmings were assembled for the briefing.

"Recon shows the chickens moving en masse towards the city of Rhodes. We have a chance to deal with them once and for all. Better yet, we can catch them in the open outside the city. The Apolakkians have several tubes of artillery set up, so we shall have support for this one, but we must expect a heavy fight. They are desperate. The battle plan is simple. Turi will lead the right flank. I shall lead the left flank. There are canyons on both flanks that we can conceal ourselves in. Work with your lance-mates to clear that sector and then move to help the rest of us. Clear?"

The Lemmings nodded.

"Right then, mount up and head out. Your assignments and courses have been broadcast to your guidance systems. Stick together, take them down and, hey, let's be careful out there!"

As they lined up on the edge of the operations zone, Tom was nervous. The Falcons would be desperate now. They would probably try everything and anything to destroy the Lemmings.

As the first of the Jade Falcon remnants appeared ahead, Tom saw that Star Captain Conrad Sender himself was leading the charge. A Bane and a Marauder IIC quickly followed by a Rifleman IIC, a Summoner, a Howler and a Locust IIC. The Bane was the scariest mech there because of its massive array of LRMs, enough to darken the sky and hide the sun.

"Nothing for it," he thought to himself, "time to ruck in there and cut out this cancer. At least we'll get to fight in the shade while that Bane stands"

"Nowhere left to run to now, Sender. Time to put you in the ground," Tom growled over comms to the Star Captain. He flipped the speakers on. The music helped him focus in battle,

Then, on the Lemmings broadcast channel, "Lemmings ho!"

The Lemmings moved out like a smoothly oiled machine. It would not last, but at least it looked impressive at the start.

The Lemmings deployed into the canyons as planned, using them as cover for the mechs and hiding the tanks until those could move into a good position to shoot.

Tom opened comms to his lance, "Alpha Lance, concentrate your fire on that Thunderbolt. Bring it down."

He led by example and the others followed. Lasers, PPCs and autocannons growled, and the whine of LRMs filled the air as his entire lance focused their fire on Sender's Thunderbolt. It's armour melted off its frame and a leg was blown off, before Tom's own Devastator landed a hit to the cockpit. The Thunderbolt crashed to the ground. Sender did not punch out.

Turi led her reinforced lance against the Bane and directed the Apolakkian artillery to drop smoke on it as wells as to concentrate their artillery fire in that area. Meanwhile, Juggler commanding her J. Edgar hover tank and Cherry in the Spider had got behind the Marauder and were shooting it in the back for all they were worth. Dodger and Accountant in the Pattons had emerged from the canyons. They blew the Howler to pieces in a very short time and turned on the Marauder.

The Falcons, for their part, focused primarily on the Battlemaster. Turi could feel the armour melting to slag around her but kept fighting despite having lost a leg from her mech and the other one having suffered massive damage. The ancient assault mech was slow enough to start with, but now it was all she could do to move it at all.

The death of their leader seemed to infuriate the other Falcons and they attacked all the harder. On Tom's flank, a Locust and a Summoner piled in against his lance. The Locust lasted just long enough to take out all the armour on Farmer's Centurion leaving it open for the Summoner to take it out. Tom watched with relief as Farmer punched out.

On Turi's flank, the Apolakkians were dropping smoke in front of the Bane as fast as they could, while the Marauder kept advancing to get the best shots it could.

As the Lemmings crippled the remaining Falcon mechs, a pair of Fulcrum tanks entered the field.

"Shite, where did those come from?" Turi cursed.

The Lemmings ducked and dived and dodged for all they were worth while picking apart the Bane and the Marauder, which were the last Falcon mechs standing.

With the left flank cleared, Alpha Lance raced to aid Turi. The Bane was suddenly rocked by a massive explosion as an autocannon round hit something critical. Parts of Bane rained down in a massive area around where it had previously stood. The Marauder did not last much longer, although it was not nearly as spectacular when it just crumpled to the ground.

The Fulcrums were making a nuisance of themselves. They had got in among the Lemmings' formation and were firing as fast as they could while skidding around at full speed. Parts flew off Lemming mechs at a rapid rate as the tanks switched between targets. By now Turi's Battlemaster was mostly holes and she was edging it away from the hostile tanks. A Fulcrum got behind her and punched several rounds through the back of her mech.

"This is Ironwood. I'm hurt and my mech is down. Punching out."

She sailed up into the air and enjoyed the view of the battlefield as she saw a Fulcrum blast Cherry's Spider. He did not eject. Seconds later, the Fulcrum itself was blasted to pieces. A single enemy tank remained.

The Lemmings converged on the last tank. The sheer weight of fire was unavoidable in the end and the Fulcrum just stopped moving. The Lemmings had won.

Back at base, the Apolakkians were jubilant and the Lemmings were the flavour of the day. No Lemming had to buy their own drinks that night.

Tom called for quiet, "A toast, people of Apolakkia, to the fallen. They died for your freedom and we salute them. Today, it was Dendros Tree. Before that, it was Finn Feil, Ingun Peiling and Alf Dusin. Remember their names."

The entire tavern roared out their names and drained their glasses. New drinks were bought and drained.

Tom raised his glass to Turi, who was bravely draining glass after glass from a wheelchair. She would be well enough to pilot a mech again, but she would not be dancing on the tables this night.

Tom was satisfied with the contract's conclusion. He still had all his mechs, and the teams had managed to salvage Sender's Thunderbolt IIC. It made for a nice bonus on top of their pay. He was seriously considering selling the Spider though. It had already acquired the nickname "The Widowmaker" because pilots seemed to die in it. He would discuss all this with his boss Jai when they next spoke. He thought she would be happy with the good relations he had established with the Alyina Mercantile League. This would be good for business.

At the end of the last scenario, I decided to buy some heavier mechs for the Lemmings. I knew this would be the last scenario and that it would be a big battle, so I wanted something heavier. The company had earned enough for that, so I looked at the list of mechs available on Apolakkia and picked out a Battlemaster BLR-1G and a Griffin IIC to add to the Lemmings' roster. This was largely because these were the only mechs I had models for. The Battlemaster is one of the original mechs in the company, while the Griffin IIC was sitting unpainted in a box waiting for me to decide which force to add it to. So, one superquick paintjob later and it was ready to take to the field. Of course, Lemmings CO Jai Raytor will almost certainly give Tom an earbashing for spending CBills that the company needed to pay off its bar tab, but he is used to that.

This was a great scenario with very little tactical finesse. It was so exciting that I forgot to take many pictures, which means there are a lot of turns between the first and second photos. Other things I forgot were the penalty that the Jade Falcons should have had on their initiative for losing their commander, and the need to roll for motive hits on vehicles when they are hit. The former could have made manoeuvring around the enemy easier. The latter could have made the Fulcrums easier to hit.

One thing that surprised me was how the enemy tended to focus their fire on a single mech at a time. The Battlemaster was the focus of so many shots that it is no surprise it ended the game looking like a Swiss cheese. About half my mechs also suffered through-armour criticals. I could not believe the number of double 6s the Jade Falcons rolled, while I continued to mostly roll "No critical hit" results when I scored structural damage on the Falcon mechs. Still, it ended well, apart from losing Cherry when I rolled to see who survived.

Now what should I do?

Reprisals (Battletech Aces: Scouring Sands)

 "We think that Sender is going to try to hurt the locals. Intelligence reports a build-up near critical infrastructure. We're going in to sort the issue out. Maybe this time we'll catch that slippery shiteweasel Sender and send him to the afterlife he so craves."

Tom's voice was hard. Sender had shown himself to be an adherent of the worst of the Jade Falcon's doctrines that saw anyone but their own as not really human. No Full Throttle Lemming would ever do that.

Later, he sat in the cockpit of his Devastator and waited. Scanners showed the approach of a force of mechs and infantry.

"Right, Lemmings, here they come. Remember to take out the infantry first and protect the water plant. Once the saboteur units are down, we'll take those mechs apart and grab that sweet, sweet salvage."

He flipped the speakers on his mech to external and music blared out.

"This one's for you, Sender."

With the Jade Falcon force coming at the plant from the Lemmings' left flank, Tom could see that it would be a race to intercept them. It was also clear that the Lemmings would struggle to stay focused on the infantry with mech targets available.

"Brickyard, Goldfish, you're with me. We're going after the chicken mechas. Ironwood, you're moving in on the right flank. Call if you need fire support, but I hope you don't. We're going to have our work cut out for us here. The rest of you are with Ironwood. Take out the infantry now. Bonus beers are on me if they fail to sabotage anything."

There was a cheer from the others at the thought of free beer. Then they got stuck in. Combat vehicle turbines were cranked up to the max to get to the plant first. Tom really hoped that they would survive long enough against the infantry to prevent the planned sabotage as he watched the hover vehicles kick up rooster sprays crossing the river.

"Alf, Howler, Cherry, follow me in. We're going down the middle. Juggler, Goose, Migraine, swing round the right and cut in from there. I got two hotspots on your route in. Both teams, aim to meet up at the far end of the plant," Turi "Ironwood" Skogen had a clear plan for clearing the plant.

Suddenly there was an explosion.

"Dammit, Ironwood, the area's boobytrapped. I've got leg actuator damage," Alf cursed.

Meanwhile, Headcase, Goldfish and Brickyard were moving into position to take on the oncoming Jade Falcon mechas and coming under fire.

"Shit, bastard's blown my leg out," Tom swore. A lucky shot had trashed the Devastator's right leg and now it was limping along at half speed.

The other two were having better luck as missiles rained down on the oncoming Baboon and Locust IIC, but it was getting hot for all of them.

Ironwood's troop were making quick work of the enemy infantry, although Migraine's Savannah Master had holes in its armour by the time they were down. The saboteurs had boobytrapped the plant in advance of their work and she had tripped one of the traps.

Despite this, and despite Howler's Wolfhound having its armour slagged, they worked together quickly and systematically to identify the enemy infantry and neutralise them.

Tom's troop neutralised the enemy light mechs and turned their attention to the remaining Summoner and Marauder IIC.

Seeing the plight of his infantry, the enemy commander detailed a Rifleman IIC to head into the plant and deal with Ironwood's troop. Its autocannons chattered at high speed and Alf's Wasp was crushed under the weight of the fire. Alf did not punch out of his mecha.

With almost all the saboteurs found and dispatched, Ironwood detailed her troop to surround the Rifleman.

"Kill that muddy funster! Revenge for Alf!"

The combined fire of all the vehicles and mechs left the hostile mecha a smoking wreck and they moved on to take out the last of the saboteur crews. As Migraine's Savannah Master moved into position with the two J. Edgar Light Hovertanks, the saboteurs opened up on her vehicle and the engine blew out even as the fire from Ironwood's troop cut down every last saboteur.

"Aaargh, if I only had one more ..." Migraine's last words left the others wondering.

On the other flank, the Summoner and the Marauder IIC were concentrating their fire on Tom's Devastator. It was a massive machine of mayhem but its armour could still only withstand so much.

"Headcase, punching out."

Next second, Tom felt a massive g-force that nearly caused him to pass out. As he rose into the air, he saw his Devastator crumple to the floor. And as he floated back down, he got a view of the Lemmings working as a team to bring down one hostile after the other. Despite the pain of the ejection, he felt like a proud father.

With Tom's Devastator down, Goldfish and Brickyard were left to finish off the enemy commander's Summoner, while the Marauder IIC sought to get behind them. They tag-teamed it in a deadly dance that saw each pilot hopping behind the other until the Marauder pilot sought cover behind cliffs, only for all the remaining Lemmings to mass near it. With his machine crippled, the Falcon pilot punched out.

"A toast to our fallen," Tom's eyes were blackened and he ached, but he was grateful to be alive, "Alf and Migraine will be missed. Remember their names and that of Finn when we chase down the last of these scumsucking chickens. Tonight we celebrate saving the whole plant, but tomorrow we find out where the rest of the psycho chickens are and we cut their heads off"

The assembled Lemmings drank deeply.

This scenario was characterised by the hostile force rolling way more double 6s than is acceptable. The number of non-penetrating critical hits was utterly ridiculous. It also saw me burning edge tokens like they grew on trees. The only reason Tom survived the destruction of his Devastator was because I used an edge token to reroll a critical hit that would otherwise have seen bits of Tom Skalle all over the battlefield and the Devastator an unrecoverable wreck.

Regrettably, neither Alf nor Migraine had that luxury and they died in the cockpits of their machines. It was an expensive scenario in terms of maintenance costs because of all the critical hits.

Also, I forgot to take photos, because I was too busy having fun. Sorry.

5 Sviftmont - The Dragon's Lair

 The night passed peacefully and Broneslav was woken by the biting insects once more. He readied his pack and set out. He knew he was in the right area to find the dragon he had been told about, but was not sure quite where it was. Fortunately, as an experienced outdoorsman he was able to spot the signs of the beast's passing. His tracking led him to a low stony hill in a clearing in the jungle. A broad opening in the side of the hill gave access to the interior, and the hard-packed dirt and tracks in front of it showed that a massive beast used this area a lot.

Pausing at the mouth of the cave, Broneslav heard the heavy breathing of a massive creature coming from within. The regular, slow nature of the breathing suggested that the beast was asleep. His heart was in his mouth and the adrenaline thundered through his system as he drew his sword and advanced carefully into the cave. Just visible ahead of him was a mound of treasure and in the small amount of light that reached the mound, he could make out the form of a dragon. He knew that this would be a tough fight, so he contemplated turning around. He dithered, and in that moment it was too late.

The dragon's eyes opened and it huffed out a puff of noxious green gas.

"Who dares disturb my slumber?" it roared, "Wait, no, I don't care. You woke me and you shall pay!"

The dragon launched itself at him faster than a beast that size should be able to. He cut at it but his blows seemed to bounce off its armour, barely drawing blood. It belched out a huge cloud of poisonous gas that left him choking and weak despite managing to hold his breath just in time. He rolled out of the cloud of gas and leapt to the attack again. His cut was deeper this time, but not by much. The dragon raked and battered him with its claws and bit it him with razor sharp teeth that left gaping wounds. Seeing no chance to escape, Broneslav surged forward once more. This time his sword bit true and glistening ichor sprayed from a huge wound in the beast's side. The beast fought frenziedly, its claws and teeth tearing chunks out of the young hero. Desperately, he swung his sword at it once more as it drew in a breath to launch more noxious gas at him. His first cut bounced off its scaly hide. The second cut a small gash.

Suddenly he found himself surrounded by poisonous green gas again. He choked once more and rolled away, his lungs painfully labouring under the assault of the chlorine. He could barely stand but had no choice. He leapt in under the dragon's head once more and thrust with his sword. It skittered off the heavy scales, but then suddenly caught and pierced the body to the hilt. Blood sprayed once more and the dragon looked stupidly down at him as its eyes filmed over. He rolled to the side and narrowly avoided getting crushed under its corpse.

Exhausted he lay there a while before bandaging his wounds, of which there were many.

"Why did I think this was a good idea?" he muttered to himself as the adrenaline left and the pain took hold. "Well, it is one less creature of Chaos, so there is that."

With his wounds bandaged, he searched the cavern, not that it took much searching. Thousands of coins lay in a pile in its middle, and the dragon had been sleeping on them. There was far more here than he could take with him, so he picked out the most valuable pieces that he could carry without slowing him down too much. Then he began the slow process of skinning the dragon and taking as much of the skin as he could carry and which had not been damaged in the fight.

By the time he was finished, night had fallen, so he lay down to rest in the lair. Nothing else was likely to challenge the dragon, and nothing should know it was dead yet, so he felt safe enough sleeping an exhausted sleep.

That was tough. Broneslav's dice rolls were really poor and I had to use the Defy Death mechanic for him to take half damage from the dragon breath each time. His combat rolls were not much better. He got one good strike in and the rest of the damage was in increments of 1 or 2 from the Fray Die. Meanwhile, the dragon hit him every time with every attack, and he finished the fight at 2 hit points. I really did wonder if this was going to be his end.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us! (Battletech Aces: Scouring Sands)

 "We believe Sender will head for his main base," Tom informed the assembled Lemmings, "so we are going after him and the base. Scouts tell us there is artillery there and have identified one artillery position, but there might be more. The Apolakkians have come up trumps too. They will be manning a couple of guns from the convoy. We'll be following a route in that should see us turning up on their doorstep unannounced. Once there, we are going to split into two groups. Ironwood will take one group right, while I lead the other group left. Take out the emplacements first, and then engage the Falcons. Juggler will be going in with the J. Edgar to scout and snipe from the margins. Cherry, work with her. Any questions?"

The assembled Lemmings indicated that they had no questions and were ready.

"This is it, Lemmings. Good luck."

Tom turned up the volume on the player in his Devastator DVS-2 and grinned as a mellow tune kicked in.

"Oh yeah, we're gonna ace this base and make this a happy planet soon."

The Falcons caught napping in their base

The Devastator moved forward with Goldfish's Timber Wolf into the nearby woods and both laid down fire on the nearest emplacement. Autocannon fire pinged off his armour as he and Goldfish turned the emplacement to rubble. On the other flank, the Centurion, Archer and Wolfhound did the same to the emplacement nearest them, while Ironwood took the Phoenix in close to the base, ready to hop over the walls and Cherry circled round behind.

Juggler raced the J Edgar into the base to scout it, finding only pain, but also getting off a good volley into the back of the enemy Summoner.

"Dodger, watch out, they've got your range!" Tom was frantic as he saw the massed Falcons focus on the Patton tank commanded by Dodger.

The warning came too late. Hatches popped on the Patton and the crew raced to get out. They were carrying their commander.

"Medevac, we got crew down. Get in here ASAP!"

Tom would have to wait to see if they had lost anyone. He focused back on the main fight. The Lemmings had the base encircled and were moving in. The enemy were being picked apart one mech at a time and the Lemmings' advance seemed inexorable.

"Mop it up, Lemmings!"

"Roger that, Headcase."

The chorus of voices over comms was unanimous. Cherry and Ironwood had taken out the last of the artillery. The Locust had fled, the Marauder and Summoner were down and all that remained was a lone Rifleman. But not for long. The massed fire of the Full Throttle Lemmings turned its armour to slag and cored it.

"Ha! All your base are belong to us, Sender."

Focused fire and a willingness to take a few hits ensured that the Lemmings destroyed each threat quickly and took commensurately less fire as they advanced.

Also, recon paid off. It's always worth spending points on recon if you can afford it. It identified one of the artillery units, while the other was removed because of the earlier assaults on supply dumps and convoys. The one artillery unit that did manage to get shots off missed and the shot drifted onto their Marauder, which amused me immensely, even as it pained me to mark damage on my own troops that were also in the area of effect. Ah well, you win some, you lose some.

Now to see what that git Sender gets up to next.

Negotiations (Battletech Aces: Scouring Sands)

 Following the loss of his supply convoy, the Jade Falcon commander Star Captain Conrad Sender sent a communication in clear. He was willing to meet and to negotiate. In his own words, the Full Throttle Lemmings had made themselves "unignorable".

The local merchants showed themselves to be brave as they strapped into the APCs to head for the meet. The Lemmings respected that and were determined to see that the merchants returned home safely at the end of the negotiations.

Tom was listening to some cheerful music in his Devastator, as he and the rest of the Lemmings stood guard over the merchants of Apolakkia. He and the rest of the Lemmings had developed a lot of respect for the citizens they had met and a lot of sympathy for their plight. They had been mercilessly abused by the Jade Falcon commander. Agapito, the mayor they had met on their first day on planet, had lost his grandfather and his surname to the Jade Falcon occupiers. His father had suffered losses that had broken him. Other citizens had similar stories to tell. Their contact with the locals had made this personal for Tom. Like all of the Full Throttle Lemmings, all the way back to their founders Jennifer Raytor and Anna Daptor, they hated injustice and supported the underdog. He mused on what an underdog actually looked like as he observed the proceedings and listened in to the negotiations. Presumably, it was some sort of old Terran creature that was low on the food chain, but he had never seen a picture of one.

Tom's attention returned sharply to the negotiations as voices were raised and the Falcon Star Captain started getting angrier. This did not bode well. It was with both horror and a sense of the inevitable that he watched explosives detonate under the APCs as the merchants sought to broker a deal.

"Bastards!" yelled Tom, "Lemmings, take that shithead out, and help our clients get out of the combat zone."

He slammed the power on in his Devastator.

"You dezgra surat," Tom broadcast to Conrad Sender's Thunderbolt IIC as he sighted and fired, "I'll fry you and eat your wings!"

"Lemmings, roast that freebirth scum!"

Red and green beams of light blasted out and washed over Sender's Thunderbolt. Autocannon and missile fire exploded against it. Its armour melted like slag as the APCs with the Apolakkians in raced for shelter behind a nearby bluff, where the Lemmings' medium mechas had gathered to protect them.

Shrapnel showered down on Tom's Devastator as a full volley from the Bane crashed into the canopy over his head. Only a few missiles actually struck the massive mecha to damage the armour plating.

The new guy, Dendros "Cherry" Tree, took his Spider and jumped in behind the Bane, landing a crashing volley into its rear.

Sender ran for home, pausing only briefly in the tree line to fire a wild volley at the Lemmings. His mech was limping badly and trailing smoke as he fled.

A Baboon pilot briefly joined the fray, but quickly decided to demonstrate the better part of valour after seeing the Lemmings fire take down the Thunderbolt in a single volley. He took his mech in behind a cliff and did not come out again. A Locust did join the battle but soon regretted it as "Ironwood" Skogen's Archer focused fire on it and Cherry quickly brought his Spider in behind the Locust. The Summoner stepped out from behind the cliffs and got a warm welcome, while the Bane found itself outmanoeuvred by the lighter Lemmings mechs and the J. Edgar hovertank. Their efforts were not enough.

"That cowardly shitweasel Sender has run off," Tom was irked, "and we have these others here guarding his tail for him. I'm ordering a fighting withdrawal. Let's get the Apolakkians home safely and then we can take the fight to the psycho chickens."

That went a lot more quickly than expected. Sender's Thunderbolt went from whole to zero in a single turn as almost every single Lemming fired at and hit it. Shame he could not be killed right there, but there was plot armour to let him get away for a final showdown later.

The Bane was a nasty shock too; 7 points of indirect fire is a lot! As it turned out, Tom's Devastator was the main target for all the Falcon attacks, so I got lucky because it can take a lot of hurt before it starts breaking and they simply did not have enough time to do any real damage.

4 Sviftmont - In the Land of the Big Lizards

 The following morning, the triceratops lumbered off. Broneslav tidied up and sorted out his possessions which the massive beast had nosed through. Fortunately, nothing important was broken, and he was soon on his way into the hills and towards his goal. The journey through the hills was easier than through the mountains, and he made good time, while avoiding unfortunate encounters with local wildlife.

As he camped for the first night in the jungle beyond the hills, the sound of crushed undergrowth woke Broneslav. He readied himself in the cover of a tree and watched as a lumbering beast three times the height of a tall man pushed past near his camp. It was a remarkable creature, walking on two legs but having a bill like a duck. He marvelled at it as it disappeared once more into the night, obviously unaware that he was there.

"A True and Accurate Representation of a Duck-Billed Giant Lizard" from the journals of Broneslav Torenescu, Merchant Adventurer*

The next day, Broneslav marched on through the jungle, cursing the large, bloodsucking flies that seemed to be everywhere. Distracted by them, he did not see the massive, sail-backed lizard that bore down on him and only barely managed to avoid getting swallowed whole. As it was, he scored a tiny cut in the beast's flesh as it bit at him and he only just got his arm out of its mouth before it took it off. It was lucky that he had such good armour! With his scattered wits gathered, he focused better on the fight and was able to block the creature's bites with his shield, while simultaneously cutting hard at its neck. Several hard blows saw its head fly from its body.

He leapt back to avoid the spray of blood and looked around for more of the creature. Luckily, this was a lone beast that had fancied a snack, and not a hunting pack of them. Broneslav bandaged his wounds and carried on.

* Historical life restoration of Edmontosaurus annectens (referred to as “Trachodon mirabilis” in the original figure caption): William H. Ballou: Strange Creatures of the Past – Gigantic Saurians of the Reptilian Age. Century Magazine 55(1):15–24 (1897)

Ambushing a Convoy (Battletech Aces: Scouring Sands)

 Tom was pleased they had found a new pilot for the repaired Spider. He would have been happier if Finn had survived the mission. It was not the way of the Lemmings to howl and moan when one of their number bit the bullet, but they all grieved just the same and the pilots detailed for the mission were all determined that the Falcon's would pay for Finn with their own blood.

The noob was Giorgios Tree, a LoaderMech pilot from the town and an enthusiastic hunter. It turned out that he had a yen to hunt Jade Falcons now. Like almost everyone in town, he had good reason after the Falcon occupation. He was pleased to be coming along on this mission.

1. Devastator DVS-2 (Tom "Headcase" Skalle)
2. Mad Cat (Timber Wolf) B (Anne "Goldfish" Rikke)
3. Archer ARC-5R (Turi "Ironwood" Skogen)
4. Phoenix Hawk PXH-9 (Noel "Brickyard" Atterli)

"The mission is as simple as we make it. Goldfish and Brickyard chase them into the waiting arms of Ironwood and me. Don't take chances, but stop those transports. We'll need to focus on the escorts first, so do that, unless the transports fall right into your laps. Then stop the transports escaping. Everyone clear?"

Nods all round.

"Mount up!"

Headcase and Ironwood were waiting with their mechs powered down to prevent the enemy convoy from spotting them. Goldfish and Brickyard were steaming in behind the convoy but the Falcons did not seem too bothered. They had not detailed anyone to address the pursuing mechs. Perhaps the Falcon commander suspected an ambush and was going to try to fight through.

Tom clicked his tongue impatiently. He really hated the waiting part. His hands hovered over the control board waiting... waiting... waiting

"OK, LIGHT 'EM UP, LEMMINGS!" he roared over comms. Matching actions to words, he fired up his Devastator and slapped play on the tannoy system. Old Earth music blared out.

"Let's take this convoy down!" he called to the other Lemmings as he sighted on the oncoming Jade Falcons and let loose with everything he had.

Ironwood's Archer and Headcase's Devastator moved out of concealment and fired volleys at the oncoming Marauder. Brickyard's Phoenix used its superior agility to bounce around and fire into the backs of the enemy, while Goldfish rained missiles from her Timber Wolf onto the hostiles. The psycho chickens fired back but their fire had less effect because it was scattered between the Lemming mechs, while the Lemmings focused their fire and quickly had smoke pouring from the enemy.

Brickyard took his Phoenix Hawk over the top of the enemy and was able to slam a massive volley into the rear of the Summoner. Meanwhile the Howler felt the full effect of Goldfish's ire, and Ironwood managed to catch an APC out on its own. Unfortunately, it was transporting an artillery crew, which dismounted from the burning APC and began their own attempt at retribution.

It did not take long before the escorts were dead, dying or nearly so, and the Lemmings were able to focus their fire on the transports, which suffered as a result. With all its armour gone, one of the Fulcrum Hovertanks ditched its load and ran. The others were not so lucky.

Surrounded by Lemmings, the Jade Falcons fought and scored solid hits, but the Lemmings were tireless in their assault and soon all the enemy mechs had been destroyed with the remaining transport units following quickly after. The Lemmings held the field and the supplies. The Jade Falcons would be hurting now.

Afterthoughts

This scenario took me a couple of goes to win. The first attempt with a slightly different force make-up so three of my mechs destroyed on the first turn, thanks to a series of ridiculously lucky dice rolls on the part of the Jade Falcons. I swear that my Jade Falcon-themed dice almost never roll less than a 7, while my merc dice almost never roll over a 7. The second attempt went much better, although I kept forgetting to roll for motive unit hits on the APCs and hovertanks, so perhaps it could have gone better still and I might have stopped all of them from escaping. Next time, eh.

The Ice-Heart Court: Fey folk for Five Leagues from the Borderlands

The Ice Heart Court are the Unseelie for Five Leagues from the Borderlands; Fair Folk who are at odds with humanity, and they can take many forms. It is they who steal babies from their cradles, replacing them with changelings. They lure unwary travellers into their mounds, only for the traveller to emerge a hundred years later into a world they do not know, thinking that but a few days have passed Occasionally, they engage in open warfare with the people of Utavoll, or their hunting parties just decide that passing adventurers are fair game. Stories of these encounters with the Wild Hunt are many and rarely end well for the human participant.

Goblin raiders

I'm sure you recognise these figures from the 'Roadside Encounters' and 'Lurking Foes' lists. When they are not out raiding on the roads or defending dank dungeons, these Demonworld Goblins can be found hanging out with the rest of the Court. They are the least of the Fey Folk but their numbers make up for their quality. Many an unwary adventurer has come a cropper because they underestimated the Goblin raiders.

The Rank and Vile

Leaders

Forest folk

The denizens of the forest fight alongside the Ice Heart Court. Many different peoples live in the forests, but all are skilled hunters and trackers, who are likely to spot you before you spot them. If they are peaceful, this will not be a problem for you. If not, then they are likely to be leaving you to feed the trees while they take your goods home with them.

Forest folk melee troops (Two Dragons peasants)

Forest folk missile troops (Two Dragons and Alternative Armies)

Elfin hounds

The Elfin hounds in my world are actually giant, supernatural cats (Nekomata cats from Alternative Armies). I was going to use the same figures as I used for the Dust Hounds in the 'Roadside Encounters' section but could not resist buying giant cats instead. It's nice to have a bit of variety.

Elfin Battle Cats are preternaturally stealthy, hyper aware and clearly not of Midgard. Their senses extend beyond the mortal world to other planes, making them almost impossible to surprise. It also seems like they travel through the other planes at times, being literally in two places at once, which means that they often take adventurers unaware, while being substantially immune to magical attacks because of not being quite where they appear to be.

Elfin battle cats (Nekomata from Alternative Armies)

Spider-touched

The spider-touched are a strange sect. They worship the great spider gods that once inhabited Utavoll and are personally dedicated to the Fey Queen.

Elven spears and archers (RPE)

Time-lost warriors

The world of the Fey exists in parallel with with the physical world of Utavoll and intersects at key points like burial mounds and the so-called faerie rings. Many are the stories of people who accidentally cross the boundaries between the two and return hundreds of years later to find that everything they knew has gone. Time runs differently at the Ice-Heart Court. For these warriors, only a week has passed but a hundred years and more have gone by in Utavoll since they crossed over.

Melee troops (Two Dragons)

Missile troops (Two Dragons)

War dryads

The tree spirits known as dryads are normally peaceful, but lately people have been chopping their homes down and now they are understandably irate. They are well-armed and well-armoured, and make formidable foes.

4217A Ice Witch Temple Guards (RPE)

Tree wardens

There are many spirits at the Ice-Heart Court and many that can be called upon to defend it. Even the trees of the forests will stand against intruders if the Elves call upon their services.

Haunted Trees (Ral Partha Europe)

Tree warden heroes and leaders (Ral Partha Europe)

Fey spirits

Fey spirits can take many forms. Some amuse themselves by appearing as small, cute beings that are nonetheless deadly, while others adopt grotesque forms to scare the beholder from their wits. In the end, it does not really matter though. Whatever form they take, they will happily slaughter you and sing while they are doing it.

Fey spirits (RPE)

Fey Soldiers and Winter Legion

Elven soldiers are a sight to behold in their glittering silver armour and their colourful clothes. Mere humans look positively drab in comparison.

Elven spears and crossbowmen (RPE)

Fey Knights

These are the flower of fey chivalry. Riding to battle in a gay cavalcade with a song on their lips and ribbons in their hair, they present a beautiful sight even as they slaughter you.

Wood Elf knights (RPE)

Queen's Own

The Queen's Own are the best of the best. These Elven blade dancers have perfected their art over many human lifetimes. Well-armed, well-armoured and with combat skills honed to perfection over hundreds of years, they are foes against whom even the stoutest of hearts will wilt. As elves, they completely lack humanity or feeling for those whose lives are so short that they are gone in the blink of an eye.

Elven blade dancers and supporting missile troops (RPE)