Galtor 3025: One Last Push? (Battletech: Alpha Strike)

 Jennie was in the control trailer cursing the damage her Battlemaster had taken in the last engagement. She should have been with her people. Beside her, Eileen Dover was in a similarly frustrated funk. However, there was not time to repair their mechs. The Lemmings needed to drive through the gap that Alpha Team had made. Morale among the other Lemmings was high because the Kurita Atlas and their commander had been taken out in the last engagement. Scuttlebutt said that Kurita morale was commensurately low.

"Lemmings," announced Jennie, "You are going to take the fight to the enemy. Blow their base and we should be rid of those Kurita goons once and for all. That is why you are going in as an ad hoc battlegroup. Your mechs are all we have until we can get the parts we need for the ones destroyed or damaged in the diversionary action. You have been briefed. You know your mission. Identify the key structures and demolish them. We are throwing everything we have at them. Make it count because we might not get a second chance!"

Barb Dwyer led the ad hoc lances out. Her Awesome was the heaviest mech here and would be relied on to be the door opener. Beside her were the rest of Bravo Team plus Theresa Green in her Griffin from Alpha Team. Gamma Team had lost Mike Hunt's Wolverine, but Tim Burr's Blackjack had come through the last action unscathed, so Tim would be fighting alongside the rest of Gamma Team. It was not clear what Kurita had salvaged from their own lances to throw straight back into the fray, but at least they knew the Atlas would not be part of that.

The Mission

The Lemmings have the objective Find the Target. They place three objective markers. To find the target they must have a mech within 6" of the objective marker and must roll 7+ on 2d6 to successfully scan it. Once scanned, the target can be attacked in future combat phases. Destroying 2 identified targets is an automatic victory for the Lemmings, assuming the Kurita forces have not achieved their victory goal.

The 8th Sword of Light have the objective Hold the Fort. They have two objective markers and score victory points from Turn 3 onwards by having uncontested control of them. If they score 10 VPs before the Lemmings achieve their objective, then they win.

The Forced Withdrawal rules are in play, because neither side is totally suicidal.

Both sides start off table as they rally to the operations zone from their previous deployments.

Both sides have 250 PV of mechs.

Forward to Death

True to their name, the Lemmings raced forward with their throttles wide open. The earth shook as seven medium and heavy mechs thundered over the plains and fields at full speed.

"Lemmings, this is Lemming 4," Barb announced, "Confirm comms."

The Lemmings squawked their comms to confirm that all was in order.

"Lemming 4 to all teams. Don't forget the plan. Bravo Team, swing left. Gamma Team, swing right. Both teams must find and destroy their objective before converging on the central objective. Last one to the central objective will buy everyone beer for the rest of the month."

Both Lemmings teams confirmed that they understood. As they reached the ops zone, they swung apart towards their primary objectives.

"Kurita goons in force on left flank!"

"Roger that. Right flank is weakened. Gamma Team moving in."

The Sword of Light mechs were gathered around the objective on the left flank, using the buildings as cover. Bravo Team knew it was in for a fight now. Gamma Team was facing fewer mechs and all medium or light. This meant that their job would be more straightforward. Well, they hoped, anyway.

The view from the Kurita lines. Blue objectives are the Lemmings' targets. Brown objectives are the points that Kurita must defend.

As the Lemmings raced forward, the Kurita mechs held their ground and aimed to keep their ground crew safe. Barb could see the Kurita ground crew streaming out of the target points and mounting up in whatever vehicles they could find. As they did this, the Lemmings poured fire at the Kurita mechs. The Kurita mechs fired back. As crimson fire blasted across the fields and missiles rained down around the objectives, fewer ground crew emerged and more hunkered down inside.

"Take that ya muddy funster!" yelled Paige as she hit a Phoenix Hawk. Huge chunks blasted off the lighter mech. Theresa Crowd and Tim Burr joined in. The Phoenix Hawk's armour melted off its frame. it was an almost naked Phoenix Hawk that quickly fled the field after that.

On the left flank, Theresa Green's Griffin had taken an absolute hammering, so she jumped behind the Kurita mechs to scan the targets and lock them down. The left flank building was confirmed as a target so Ophelia opened up with her LRMs. Huge clouds of concrete dust billowed around the structure as missile after missile tore chunks out of it.

Meanwhile, Theresa had spotted an Archer fleeing the field. Even with half her weapons destroyed and an arm hanging off her mech, she still had enough firepower to cut the Archer down.

"You'll not be back to bother us," she snarled as she headed toward the central objective. Her Griffin was a mess, but her scanners were still working.

The Lemmings push aggressively forward into the town, and a bit more carefully over the open ground on the right flank. Meanwhile, Barb is giving the Kurita Wolverine a kicking in the woods on the left.

With the fight moving into the city, a Wolverine suddenly raced out to attack from the woods. Barb immediately charged it, smashing its leg actuators and ripping its right arm off. The Wolverine raced past Barb's Awesome and got behind Ophelia's Catapult, letting rip a horrendous blast of fire into the missile mech. Ophelia's head rang and blood dripped from her face as she spun her mech around the Wolverine and gave it a massive kick in the jump jets. The weight of her mech crushed the Wolverine and its auto-eject sent its pilot skywards.

"I'll teach you to sneak up behind me and scratch my paintwork!" growled Ophelia as she kicked the Wolverine to the ground and stomped all over it.

"Come on, scumbag, I got a present for you!" Barb advanced towards the town and the Battlemaster that was carving chunks off every Lemming it could see. She pounded her firing button as fast as her weapons recharged and reloaded. Armour melted off the Battlemaster, but it returned the favour and her own panel started lighting up with warning lights all over.

The dance of death. The enemy Battlemaster is surrounded and outnumbered.

Meanwhile, Andy Peacock had jumped his Wolverine over the objective and was sneaking around behind the Battlemaster. A couple of shots in its back soon killed its ardour and it started manoeuvring to cover. But it was surrounded and there was really nowhere to go. It pulled back to try to get away.

Another dance of death as the two Shadow Hawks take turns to run rings round each other after the Kurita Stinger was smashed up by Theresa Crowd.

"I'm red lights all over," yelled Tim, "Gotta skedaddle! My engine and fire control are trashed. Pulling back now."

On the right flank, Tim's Blackjack had taken the worst of the hammering from the Warhammer, Shadow Hawk and Stinger that were holding the objective and giving their people time to flee with critical gear.

Gamma Team pushed in hard and blasted the Warhammer which soon fled. In doing so they locked down the objective and prevented more critical materiel from being removed. However, the Shadow Hawk and Stinger were holding on still. Theresa's Shadow Hawk charged in and crushed the Stinger as it tried to dodge within the woods. The Kurita Shadow Hawk dived into the melee and both mechs circled each other for a while until Theresa got behind the Kurita goon and hammered it with her mech's fists. She ripped critical panels off the enemy mech and tore into its innards.

Suddenly the Kurita pilot turned and sprinted away at full speed. The right flank objective was now in Lemming hands.

Ophelia got cocky and jumped into the ruins of the building she had just destroyed, not realising that the Kurita Battlemaster was ready for her. Both mechs fired simultaneously and both mechs fell.

Over on the left flank, Theresa Green had identified the central objective and was pouring as much fire as her damaged mech could into it. The left flank objective had been destroyed. Barb pushed her Awesome through the buildings after the retreating Battlemaster.

"I got it," called Ophelia through comms to her commander. She fired up her jump jets and landed amid the wreckage of the objective with a clear shot at the Battlemaster. Hitting the firing stud, the last of her LRMs flew from the pods and the area around the Battlemaster erupted in showers of dirt and stone and dust. The Battlemaster disappeared from view in the firestorm.

Unfortunately, as Ophelia did this, the Battlemaster's pilot opened up on her Catapult with everything it had, redlining the entire fire control system. Laser fire poured from the assault mech and smashed into the Catapult. The auto-eject powered Ophelia into the air. As she drifted down, she saw the Battlemaster exploding into a thousand plasteel shards as her missiles hit its engine and detonated the fusion turbine that powered it.

Epilogue

"Congratulations, Lemmings. We took this sector. Kurita has pulled back and another company will be cycled into this sector, so it's R&R time for us. Better yet, the ticket has hit our bank accounts, so you will all be paid as soon as Anna has reconciled the accounts."

Jennie was pleased. Although their mechs were battered, the salvage and the paid invoice would cover it all and quite a bit more too. As she looked around at her team, she thought back to the early days and was proud of what she and Anna had achieved with this team. They were all misfits, but that was why they all fitted in here. Yes, they might be battered and bruised, and that bandage on Ophelia's head looked ridiculous, but they had done a good job and worked well together.

"Ok, you lot, you have a week's leave, then I need you all back here. We've a new ticket starting next month and we need to make the jump ship in good time. Anyone not here before departure will find themselves stranded on Galtor without their mech!"

The Lemmings cheered. They knew it was an empty threat, but they would pretend to believe her.

"Oh, and the drinks are on Ophelia. She lost her mech, so she has to pay the forfeit."

The Lemmings cheered twice as hard and raced to the bar.

Conclusions

Campaign over and no permanent losses is not bad. It was fun trying out all the different rules with this mini-campaign.

I like Alpha Strike and am keen to introduce the additional rules from the Commander's Edition book, so that is a plan for another time. It would also be fun to introduce the battlefield support rules. I did not use them this time around, but feel like they will introduce a new dimension to my games. Love the idea of air strikes on mechs!

Battle Suit Alpha worked really well, but I also feel like it will work better with an opponent than solo. 

5150: Mecha Combat is fun and works really well solo, but it lacked a bit of crunch for me, and light mechs felt way too fragile. That said, the campaign system in it is brilliant and easy to combine with whichever rules I choose to use.

All three rules sets are good in their own way, so each is likely to see my table every so often, according to my mood and whims. Now, what should I play next?

The Full Throttle Lemmings

Campaign Morale: 6

Alpha Team:

1. Commander Jennie Raytor (Rep 5) - Battlemaster (Class 1)
2. Eileen Dover (Rep 5) - Marauder (Class 2)
3. Theresa Green (Rep 5) - Griffin (Class 3)

Bravo Team:

1. Barbara Dwyer (Rep 5) - Awesome (Class 2)
2. Andrew Peacock (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
3. Ophelia Paine (Rep 4) - Catapult (Class 3)

Gamma Team:

1. Mike Hunt (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
2. Paige Turner (Rep 4) - Thunderbolt (Class 3)
3. Theresa Crowd (Rep 3) - Shadow Hawk (Class 3)

Delta Team:

1. Timothy Burr (Rep 5) - Blackjack (Class 4)
2. Joseph King (Rep 5) - Commando (Class 5)
3. Paul Bearer (Rep 4) - Locust (Class 5)

House Kurita

Campaign Morale: 0 (1 at start)

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.

Galtor 3025: The Thin End of the Wedge (Battletech: Alpha Strike)

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

1. Jennie Raytor (Skill 2), Battlemaster BLR-1D
2. Eileen Dover (Skill 3), Marauder MAD-3R
3. Theresa Green (Skill 4), Griffin GRF-1N

Heavy Battle Lance (5 uses of Lucky special ability)

Kurita Command Lance

1. Atlas AS7-D (Skill 3, Commander)
2. Griffin GRF-1N (Skill 4, Combat Intuition)
3. Valkyrie VLK-QA (Skill 4)
4. Wasp WSP-1A (Skill 4, Combat Intuition)

The Lemming formation is my standard Alpha Team. Kurita was generated randomly by drawing cards from a deck and I then balanced both sides by adjusting pilot Skill levels. I feel bad making Theresa only Skill 4, given that she is Rep 5 in 5150, but needs must when the devil drives and all that. I suppose I could have just left her at the right skill level but that would be unfair to my poor NPCs.

The goal is simple. Last mech standing wins. The Forced Withdrawal rule is in effect. Kurita may be the villains here, but they are not stupid or suicidal, and the Lemmings are mercenaries who understand that dead pilots don't get a cold beer after the battle.

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

Campaign Morale: (5 at start) 6

Alpha Team:

1. Commander Jennie Raytor (Rep 5) - Battlemaster (Class 1)
2. Eileen Dover (Rep 5) - Marauder (Class 2)
3. Theresa Green (Rep 5) - Griffin (Class 3)

Bravo Team:

1. Barbara Dwyer (Rep 5) - Awesome (Class 2)
2. Andrew Peacock (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
3. Ophelia Paine (Rep 4) - Catapult (Class 3)

Gamma Team:

1. Mike Hunt (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
2. Paige Turner (Rep 4) - Thunderbolt (Class 3)
3. Theresa Crowd (Rep 3) - Shadowhawk (Class 3)

Delta Team:

1. Timothy Burr (Rep 5) - Blackjack (Class 4)
2. Joseph King (Rep 5) - Commando (Class 5)
3. 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.

Galtor 3025: Take That Hill! (Battle Suit Alpha)

 "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

Campaign Morale: (5 at start) 5

Alpha Team:

1. Commander Jennie Raytor (Rep 5) - Battlemaster (Class 1)
2. Eileen Dover (Rep 5) - Marauder (Class 2)
3. Theresa Green (Rep 5) - Griffin (Class 3)

Bravo Team:

1. Barbara Dwyer (Rep 5) - Awesome (Class 2)
2. Andrew Peacock (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
3. Ophelia Paine (Rep 4) - Catapult (Class 3)

Gamma Team:

1. Mike Hunt (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
2. Paige Turner (Rep 4) - Thunderbolt (Class 3)
3. Theresa Crowd (Rep 3) - Shadowhawk (Class 3)

Delta Team:

1. Timothy Burr (Rep 5) - Blackjack (Class 4)
2. Joseph King (Rep 5) - Commando (Class 5)
3. 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.

A couple of games of Battletech: A Game of Armo(u)red Combat

 There is much satisfaction to be had from marking off hit boxes on mecha sheets.

I set up the first of the scenarios in the rulebook that comes with the Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat and played it out solo to refamiliarise myself with the rules. The scenario features two identical lances fighting until one side is no longer combat effective. I took control of one side and left the other to be controlled by a solo bot I found online.

The forces (each side had the same):

• Locust
• Commando
• Catapult
• Shadow Hawk

The Game

The good guys charge in from the left (multicoloured mechs). The bad guys enter from the right (red and unpainted mechs).

The game was fairly simple and I made many tactical mistakes, resulting in my lance losing its light mechs early on when the bot sneezed on them. Who knew my Locusts and Commandos were so vulnerable and the enemies' light mechs were built of hardened adamantium plates? Lesson learned.

Beyond my tactical mistakes, I also concluded that my dice were fifth columnists determined to sabotage my chances. They missed easy shots, while the enemy poured home all kinds of improbable hits. It only took a single internal hit for the enemy to score a critical on my Commando that detonated its ammo and blew it to smithereens, for example. Meanwhile, the enemy mechs took hit after hit to their internal structure and never once suffered a critical hit.

The bot added a layer of uncertainty to the proceedings. For some reason, the enemy Commando spent a lot of the game running away from my force or hiding behind the enemy Catapult. It's pilot clearly saw what happened to my Commando and decided not to suffer the same fate!

It was a dice-intensive game, but with four mechs per side it was larger than was comfortable for solo play and took a lot of energy and brain power to keep everything straight in my head. As a result, I played a couple of turns a night over the course of a couple of weeks. In the end, I finally got my game together and ganged up on the enemy light mechs, taking them out, then turned on the Shadow Hawk and Catapult. This became a slugging match where the enemy Shadow Hawk had no armour left at all, but stubbornly refused to suffer a life-ending critical hit, fighting to the very last internal structure point on its central torso.

Meanwhile, my Catapult ran out of missiles and had to close on the enemy Catapult which had also run out of missiles. In a brutal slog, both mechs blasted bits off each other until only the core of each remained. The two mechs faced each other and went for their lasers. Mine missed. The enemy hit. My pilot was forced to eject from their destroyed mech.

They don't look it in this picture but both mechs are trailing armour plates and shedding bolts at this point

My Shadow Hawk limped over to the enemy Catapult and faced it down. The duel could have gone either way. Both mechs were trailing critical bits of their structure and dropping bolts all over the place, but the gods spoke and the last mech standing was my Shadow Hawk.

This was a brutal game in many ways, but good fun.

The Second Game

The second game was the second scenario in the rule booklet. It was much shorter. It featured a Battlemaster attempting to break back through to its own lines. A Wolverine, a Commando and a Locust were all that was in its way. I chose to pilot the Battlemaster myself and let the bot take the others.

The Battlemaster enters from the left. The enemy is massed behind the hills awaiting their chance

I raced towards the enemy, trying to use cover to stop them from ganging up on me. As I neared the enemy, I managed to single out the Commando. After a huge number of missed shots, a PPC to the chest followed up by a couple of laser shots disintegrated the Commando. The Battlemaster's cockpit was heating up but it was still manageable. Time to single out the Locust. Damn, it was fast and hard to hit! A lucky PPC shot took its leg off and it fell to the ground. I kicked it until it stopped moving.

But the Wolverine had moved up on me while I was doing this. No way I was going to escape the faster mechs so I took cover and fired a series of shots, needing only a 6+ to hit. Every single shot missed. The Wolverine blasted my Battlemaster's head, ripping all the armour away and melting bits of the internal structure. Blood dripping from my head, I tried to focus on hitting the Wolverine with everything I had.  The situation was critical, so I went full alpha strike. Again, every single shot missed and as the heat built up in my cockpit, the Wolverine took aim and fired. It was the last thing I ever saw.

Two turns, two head hits, no more Battlemaster. Wildly improbable shooting from the bot, but a great fun game. From a solo perspective, having a non-combat related goal is more interesting than just blasting the other side, as this game showed.

Final Words

I have found other solo bots online, including scenarios, so I shall try some of those out, and am very tempted to combine them with the mercenary campaign rules found in the Mercenaries boxed set and in Hotspots: Hinterlands. Restricting solo games to a couple of mechs a side max will reduce fatigue and make the games go more quickly. I can easily play larger games if ever I find a group to play with, but I can see the option for a nice little solo campaign building up the Full Throttle Lemmings using yet another different rules set. It will be like Fox Tales with much more situational humour and dad jokes (not that Fox Tales is not already the best Battletech fiction around, but, you know)!

On the solo front, I cannot wait for Battletech: Aces to be released. I feel like Alpha Strike and the solo system in the Aces boxes will suit me nicely, although I have not actually played Alpha Strike yet. It is up for playing in the near future though, as soon as I have painted all the mechs from the boxed set. Not sure when that will be though. I am right off painting at the moment.

Galtor 3025: Opening Moves (5150: Mecha Combat)

 It had been a long road, but the Full Throttle Lemmings were now established mercs. That first ticket on Zhongsha had turned everything around. With that ticket under their belts, more tickets followed. Most were small, but a mounting series of successes weighed against only a few failures saw the Lemming's reputation increase and with it the value of their tickets.

The increase in income had led to the company buying more mechs and pilots, and now their establishment comprised a full company and a small dropship of their own. It had also led to Jennie wishing she could die in battle instead of bored to death by the ever increasing amounts of paperwork that their employer on Galtor kept demanding of her.

The new ticket was a full-on war, and the Lemmings were just one of many units involved in fighting off the rapacious Draconis Combine. Jennie mulled all this over as she strapped into the Battlemaster she had salvaged on a previous ticket. She liked this monster mech. It let her get up close and personal.

"This is Lemming 1, do you read me Control?"

"Roger, Lemming 1. Control reads you loud and clear. Give 'em hell, and, hey, let's be careful out there!"

"Good to hear you're on Control today, Anna."

Anna's voice over comms took Jennie right back to that first ticket and watching Anna's Locust be blown to pieces. She had grieved for weeks, especially because there was nothing left of Anna's body to recover when they salvaged the ops area. But then, two months later, a wandering band of mendicants entered the compound where the Lemmings were based. Anna was with them, though barely alive. The mendicants had found her shattered body and kept her alive as they followed their path through the wilderness. By the time they returned to what passed for civilisation, the damage to Anna's nervous system was permanent. She would never pilot a mech again, but Jennie did not care. Her friend was alive. She paid for the best medical care she could and they were able to source prosthetic limbs. Soon Anna was up and moving around. She took over the role of XO of the Lemmings and often sat as Control on missions.

"Lemming teams Alpha and Delta. Lights are green, you are good to go."

"Roger that, Control. Lemmings ho!"

Six mechs moved out in something resembling a military formation towards the ops area. Given the individualistic nature of mech pilots generally and the Lemmings in particular, anything resembling a formation was a triumph worth celebrating. They would patrol towards Kurita territory and see what they could find. The eyes in the sky were all very well, but there were ways to hide troops and fortifications from them. Sometimes the Mk. 1 Eyeball was needed.

The ops area was hilly with woods all over. Alpha Team moved to secure a woods line in the centre. Bravo team moved up into a wooded hill on the right.

"Bogeys centre and left, Lemmings."

"Roger that, Control."

Delta team moved into position to scout.

"Negative on bogeys one and two, Alpha Team. Just some hopmonkeys stirring up dust by the look of it. Wait! Bogey three is hot. Team and a bit of goons. I count one Atlas, one Battlemaster, one Shadow Hawk, one Griffin and one Warhammer."

As Delta team ducked back into cover, the Kurita goons did the same, scared by the appearance of a fearsome Locust in the distance. 

Heroic Kurita mechs duck for cover! In the foreground, you can see the stat cards I made for the game.

"Ok, Delta Team. Hold position. Alpha Team moving up."

Jennie led her team to the edge of the woods, where they had clear sight to the bravest of the enemy mechs. The Warhammer and the Shadow Hawk had occupied the edge of the woods, using cover while giving themselves a good line of sight towards the Lemmings. They reacted instantly, firing at the Lemmings. Armour plates were melted from various parts of the Lemmings' mechs as rockets and lasers blasted across the battlefield.

"Take that, you scumsucker," Eileen crowed as her PPG blasted crimson fire straight through the middle of the Warhammer. The enemy pilot bailed out, but the Warhammer would need serious repairs.

"Don't get cocky, Eileen," Jennie admonished as she blasted the leg off the Shadow Hawk, causing it to fall to the ground. A PPG shot and a fusilade of rockets than blew its head off. "Gotcha!"

Turning their attention to the Battlemaster and the Griffin, which were the only goons left visible, Alpha Team loosed several salvoes of rockets. Both enemy mechs fled.

Delta Team took this opportunity to move up and start scanning towards the enemy lines. The sole remaining enemy mech realised what was going on and turned towards them. Green lasers cut Paul's Locust in half. The rest of the team sighed in relief as he successfully ejected.

"Pull back to cover, Delta Team. Alpha Team moving in."

Delta Team knew better than to argue and retreated to the cover of some woods behind them.

The three heavier mechs moved towards the woods where the enemy Atlas had taken up station. Seeing its easy targets withdrawing, the Atlas moved back towards the new threat.

As Alpha Team advanced, a blip appeared on their displays behind them. The final member of the Kurita squad had turned up. It was a Phoenix Hawk that had used its superior mobility to try to flank the Lemmings and attack them in the rear.

While still moving towards the Atlas, Jennie swivelled the torso of her Battlemaster and blasted the head off the Phoenix Hawk with a single shot.

"Hah!"

Alpha Team was soon in position beside the wooded hill. The Atlas seemed to have frozen for a while, its pilot unsure whether to retreat or engage. There was a big difference between attacking a team of light mechs and facing a whole team of mediums and heavies.

By the time the pilot had made their mind up, Alpha Team were in position. In a smoothly coordinated and most un-Lemming-like manoeuvre, all three moved up simultaneously to surround the Atlas. Jenny fired first... and missed with every shot.

"What the frack?!" She cursed as the Atlas returned fire and melted huge plates of her chest armour to slag. Lights all over her display turned red, warning of imminent collapse. She stabbed the fire button again and this time she was right on target. A single shot blasted the Atlas' head clean off and the enemy mech collapsed where it stood.

"Delta Team, clear to scout. We have your six."

Delta Team moved up again as Alpha Team stood guard. They recorded what they needed to and headed towards home. Tim collected Paul on the way. The cockpit of the Blackjack was cramped but they would soon be back at base.

As Delta Team transmitted the results of the patrol to Control, they raced their mechs home. Alpha Team followed at a more stately pace, ready to cover the lighter mechs if any more goons showed up. None did.

"Control, ops area is secure. Send in salvage teams."

Back at base they debriefed and headed for the bar, while the salvage teams recovered the damaged and destroyed mechs. Paul's Locust would fight another day, once it was repaired.

"You lost your mech, so you're buying the beers, Paul!"

The rest of the Lemmings cheered as Paul was made to dig deep and pay the bar tab for all the Lemmings.

The Full Throttle Lemmings

I'm not sure if this will be a campaign or not, but it is always fun to set things up that way. Everything is recorded here, including post-game rolls, so I can pick up again if the urge strikes.

Campaign Morale: 5 (4 at start)

Alpha Team:

1. Commander Jennie Raytor (Rep 5) - Battlemaster (Class 1)
2. Eileen Dover (Rep 5) - Marauder (Class 2)
3. Theresa Green (Rep 5) - Griffin (Class 3)

Bravo Team:

1. Barbara Dwyer (Rep 5) - Awesome (Class 2)
2. Andrew Peacock (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
3. Ophelia Paine (Rep 4) - Catapult (Class 3)

Gamma Team:

1. Mike Hunt (Rep 4) - Wolverine (Class 3)
2. Paige Turner (Rep 4) - Thunderbolt (Class 3)
3. Theresa Crowd (Rep 3) - Shadowhawk (Class 3)

Delta Team:

1. Timothy Burr (Rep 5) - Blackjack (Class 4)
2. Joseph King (Rep 5) - Commando (Class 5)
3. Paul Bearer (Rep 4) - Locust (Class 5)

House Kurita

Campaign Morale: 3 (4 at start)

The Kurita mechs are not organised into teams. 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.

Conclusions

So, I decided to give Anna some Plot Armour(tm) after the last game and return her in the role of XO of the Full Throttle Lemmings. I mean if Catalyst Game Labs can give Clan Wolf implausible plot armour like that, then why can't I?

The game went smoothly and I got more of a handle on how it is meant to work. Helps if you read the rules, you know! I found answers to the questions I had in it. Can you believe that?

In retrospect, I should have had Alpha Team move on the Atlas before Delta moved in to scout, but I got careless. Then I realised that Delta was no closer so it would become the focal point of the Atlas' attacks. Oops! Luckily, I rolled well and the Locust will be repaired and available for the next mission if I continue the campaign.

Kurita has huge resources, so I have not rolled for mech or pilot recovery. Their campaign morale represents the will to invest in the battle rather than anything else.

The Lemmings had great Campaign Morale rolls, while Kurita's were as bad as it gets. As a result, their morale went down one point while the Lemmings' morale went up one point. Obviously, getting Paul to pay for their beer is good for morale!

Full Throttle Lemmings: Bringing it home (5150: Mecha Combat)

 "Good to see you back in the saddle, Anna. Right, we've cleared the way, so this time we're going in. It will be the full team again. The goal is the Kurita base. We're going to cause some chaos and hopefully make it uneconomical for them to stay here. Any questions?"

Anna and Mike shook their heads.

"Good. This is the layout of the ground. As you can see, we'll advance through these woods in the centre and form up on the edge of them. Once we know where the bogeys are, we'll aim to use the line of hills between us and the bad dudes to sneak up. We're going in at night to make this easier. There's a low hill off to our right flank. We'll swing round from the centre to that hill. Once past that, we have a clear run at their main depot. The main issue will be that they have not fielded their heaviest mechs against us yet, so we need to be canny and try to take them out piecemeal. Our goal here is to clear the operations area. That will give us a straight run at the main Kurita depot. Remember, ff they gang up on us, we're toast, so we need to pick them off one at a time."

Anna and Mike did not seem particularly enthralled by that last comment, but they understood. They were mech pilots, after all, and this was what they lived for. And died for sometimes.

"Right, mount up. We're moving out in 30 minutes."

They all headed for their mechs and the start-up checks that Jennie insisted upon, surprisingly given her cavalier attitude to most other routine tasks.

"Ready, Lemmings?"

"Aye!"

"Sure!"

"Ok. Move out. You know the plan."

Control had reported bogeys ahead in a rough line covering the approach to the Kurita depot. One seemed to be in the open, so the Lemmings headed towards that one. Moving out as a tight group, they advanced through the woods until Anna had sight of the bogey on the right flank.

"Looks like a decoy, Lemming 1. I have a bad feeling about this."

The Lemmings moved as a group into the lee of the nearest hill. Anna manoeuvred her Locust to the crest line for a view over to the next bogey.

"Kurita Archer ahead!"

She backed her Locust swiftly back to join the other two.

The Archer's pilot quickly ducked back towards the remaining bogey. So far none of the bogeys had moved, which made it feel like the Lemmings were walking into an ambush.

Jennie suddenly felt unsure of what to do and the Lemmings waited where they were. The decision was soon taken out of her hands as the Archer advanced to the crest of the hill above them. The Lemmings got the first shots in, but apart from some minor damage to the Archer's left arm, their shots all went wide or churned up dirt just in front of the Archer. The Archer returned fire and the Locust's left leg flew off threw the air, taking a direct hit from a rocket that melted the armour and crushed the substructure beneath it. A volley from its other rocket launcher blasted Anna's Locust to bits. The explosion lit up the night sky as the Locust's chest disintegrated and its turbine blew up.

"ANNA!" screamed Jennie as she saw her oldest friend blasted to smithereens before her eyes.

Jennie and Mike let rip with everything they had, but again their shots were poorly aimed and just scratched the Archer. It returned fire. A volley from its heavy lasers blasted the legs off Mike's Wolverine. To her relief, Jennie saw Mike's autoeject deploy.

While this was going on, the other bogey was slowly approaching closer. It moved up to join the Archer on the crest of the hill, but turned out to be static on the scanner. Kurita was clearly struggling with funding the defence of their facilities now that the Lemmings had trashed so many of their mechs.

It was now the Kurita goon's turn to dither. Who knew what was going in his cockpit but he just stood there as Jennie fired everything she had at him. It caused little damage, but he decided to withdraw to cover.

Jennie followed up, taking up a position on the crest of the next hill. She fired again before the goon could react. Although most of her shots bounced off the larger mech's armour, she still blew chunks off its leg and a volley from her own rocket launcher blew its lower torso apart, just as she brought her PPG to bear and smashed a hole straight through its chest. The Kurita mech made an even more spectacular explosion than Anna's Locust had as its turbine went critical and exploded.

With the battlefield clear of enemy mechs, the way was open to the Kurita compound. Jennie's mech was a mess from missile and laser hits, but that could be repaired easily, and Kurita had no real defences left. She marched her Thunderbolt towards the compound, her faced hardened into a grim mask. She would make them pay for the loss of her friend.

Epilogue

The campaign had been costly for the Lemmings. Anna's loss hit Jennie particularly hard. Neither Mike's Wolverine nor Anna's Locust were recoverable either. Fortunately, they had been able to salvage and repair two of the knocked out Kurita mechs, so Mike was now back in the cockpit of a Wolverine, although this one would need repainting to something other than Kurita red.

The money for the ticket would tide them over to the next ticket though, and that was what they were here for. The worker's collective was happy with what they had done and was going to ensure they got good references too. The Full Throttle Lemmings were on their way.

Campaign

Lemming morale: 4

Kurita morale: 0

Despite the losses, the Lemmings achieved their goal and won the scenario. They then scored two more successes than the Kurita goons on the campaign morale table, so Lemmings morale went up one point while Kurita lost a point taking them to zero. That signals the end of the campaign.

A future campaign will see the Lemmings starting with a campaign morale of 5 because they won this campaign. On top of that, I shall deploy all my Lemming mechs, so that they have a full platoon of mechs available.

Afterthoughts

That was a rough scenario, even though the Lemmings only rolled up one opponent. The key problem was that I made a couple of mistakes, like forgetting to use Jennie's Marksman skill when rolling for hit location, and not applying Duck Back results on hits that failed to do damage until late in the game. No idea why I forgot both of these given that they are clearly written on the record sheets and reaction charts, but shit happens. I think the Duck Back issue would have made a difference to the outcome of this game, because the Lemmings consistently won the In Sight tests, meaning that they could have shot at the Archer and forced it to duck back before it could shoot at them. Lessons learned. I'll remember next time (possibly!).

I was also spectacularly disappointed with my dice. The Archer took up position at the crest of a hill, which meant that its lower half was protected and could not be damaged. I then promptly rolled leg hit after leg hit when the Lemmings did hit it. Worse yet, the Lemmings missed so many shots. I think the dice were making up for all the hits in previous games.

The final lesson from this mini-campaign is not to put pilots you like in light mechs. The Locust is great for scouting, and the way spotting and In Sight tests work means that it can pop up to spot and then duck back to avoid the consequences of spotting, which is very useful. However, the second it starts getting shot at, it is almost certain to be knocked out unless the enemy has only the lightest weaponry.

As far as this iteration of the 5150 rules goes, I like it. The games are quick and it will benefit from campaign play rather than single scenarios. I kind of wish light mechs were more durable, but I'll just have to keep that in mind when assigning pilots to scenarios, and also make sure that the light mechs never get too close to the main action. Some aspects of the rules require interpretation, but I'm ok with that. The main thing for me was the timing of when you react to something happening. So, does a mech duck back after you fire your first weapon at it and not cause damage, or do you fire everything and then apply all the effects? I interpreted it that all the weapons were linked by the fire control computer, so you fire everything you want to at one target and then apply effects, before turning to the next target, but I don't recall reading that in the rules anywhere. Maybe I missed it. I'm not sure how mech losses will affect campaign play. I suspect that once you start losing, then you will continue losing unless you get a lucky scenario or two and you could run out of mechs at some point, so maybe campaigns need to be relatively short. We'll see.

Full Throttle Lemmings: Getting Offensive (5150: Mecha Combat)

 "Listen up, Lemmings! We're going to raid those Kurita goons. We're all of us going in together and we're going to hurt them."

Jennie hoped her morale-boosting speech did not jinx the operation, but she had to be positive.

"Anna, you're on point. Scout them out and keep that tin can of yours out of harm's way. It will be hard with the low hills all over the area. If you have to, retreat onto the reverse slope of any hill and wait for us to take out the threats. Our goal is to sweep the area clean ready for a strike at their infrastructure. Spot, kill, spot, kill, right?"

Anna nodded. She knew that her Locust had tinfoil armour, so she would use her manoeuvrability to spot for the other two.

"Sure thing, Jennie."

"Mike, you're with me. Stay on my flank and work with me to take any goons we see down."

Mike nodded too.

"Yup, boss. Got it."

"Ok. We're still quite new at this, so I want to see you take care, but also remember that if we do not know what we are going to do, how can they predict it? When they go low, we shoot them in the head!"

The words made no real sense, but Jennie felt better for having said them. The three mech pilots marched outside and mounted up. Once the startup checks were completed, they moved out up the dusty road in single file. Anna's Locust led the column.

An hour later they were deploying at the edge of the operational area. As the trio trio advanced off the approach road and onto their assault trajectory, comms squawked.

"Lemming team, this is Control. We have three bogeys on scanner, covering the whole front of the operations area, twelve o'clock, one and three. They should now be showing on your displays. Good luck."

"Roger that, Control. Lemmings ho!" called Jennie over comms, "And keep it tight!"

She had heard commanders say this last. She had no clue what it meant, but she was a commander now and so it was something she too must say, she felt.

The Lemming team moved quickly to the lee of the nearest hill.

As Jennie and Mike took up position just behind the crest of a hill, Ann advanced her Locust to the crest of the next hill ahead of her.

"All clear, Control. Bogey was negative."

"Bogeys advancing. Countdown to contact."

"Hold in position, Lemming 2."

"Roger that. Aw crap, incoming Orion."

Anna backed the little Locust behind the hill and out of sight.

Jennie and Mike quickly moved up to the crest that Anna had so recently vacated. The Orion lumbered round to face them and fired, but its payload only kicked dirt up into the faces of the Thunderbolt and the Wolverine. Jennie stabbed the fire button on her PPG a second before Mike let rip. The crimson energy bolt hit the Orion full in the chest. Armour melted as if it had not been there and the mech disintegrated into a thousand component parts, like a New Year's fireworks show.

"Lemming team, multiple bogeys incoming on our three. I count a Warhammer, a Wasp and a Valkyrie."

While they had been focused on the Orion, a Kurita goon team had moved up on their flank. The Lemmings raced to swivel their mech's torsoes and fire.

Jennie counted the nanoseconds as the Thunderbolt's systems locked onto the approaching Warhammer. Each nanosecond felt like an hour. The time it took her thumb to depress the fire button felt even longer. But it was her shot that went first. Rockets blasted the chest of the Kurita mech, melting bits of its armour to slag. Then her PPG lanced out. A crimson beam of death nearly ripped the giant mech in half. As the pilot ejected, Mike turned his attention to the Valkyrie beside it.

Green fire leapt from all his lasers only to set light to the dry grass around the little mech. Then his rockets landed and the mech's head exploded. The headless mech toppled to the ground. As this was happening, Anna focused her fire on the remaining Wasp. Her Locust and the Wasp exchanged fire, it's laser lancing out, only to hit the hill that Anna's mech was behind. She, in turn hit the enemy mech but failed to do more than scratch its paintwork. The gun duel continued until suddenly a lucky shot hit Anna's mech in the middle and nearly cut it in half. Cursing as her autoeject went into action, she now had a bird's eye view of the rest of the battle, while her parachute opened and she drifted back to the ground.

Both Jennie and Mike turned their attention to the Wasp. It was never clear which of them hit it, but there would be no salvage from the little mech. Their fire had cut it to bits and triggered an explosion in its turbine.

"Objective complete. Operations area secured. Control, send salvage teams. We are returning to base."

Stopping to pick Anna up, Jennie turned for home. Things had gone better than they could have.

Campaign Morale

Lemmings: 3

Kurita: 1

Outcome

Anna was recovered with her pride hurt but otherwise uninjured. Her Locust was also recovered and  repaired. It will be usable next scenario. With Kurita morale reduced to 1, the next scenario could be the last.

This could have gone a lot worse than it did. Anna's gun duel could have gone better though. She and the other mech got into a duel where neither side managed to roll low enough to damage the other but both kept passing tests, so they kept fighting until the goon got lucky and blew the Locust in half.

With the way casualties pile up, I get the feeling that a campaign could quickly see you running out of mechs if you lose a scenario or two. I guess it is probably best to stick to fielding a smaller percentage of your force. Enemies are scaled based on what you field, so it would make sense to husband your resources in that way.

The next scenario will be a Lemmings assault again. If you win an assault scenario, you assualt again. I mean, why wouldn't you keep kicking someone while they are down if it means the war will be over sooner? Will it be the last battle for this mini-campaign though?