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.

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?

Full Throttle Lemmings: The Early Daze (5150: Mecha Combat)

 It's time to use the mechs I painted. I got the Battlech: Mercenaries set recently. It includes a mercs mini-campaign in the Chaos Campaign format, which I have used as the inspiration for this game. The mini-campaign consists of a single mercenary ticket where the mercs are guarding or attacking a mining facility. Given that 5150: Mecha Combat is eminently suited to solo play, I have decided to start there.

Galtor in 3025

Jennie Raytor was annoyed by the amount of paperwork she had to do as leader of the Full Throttle Lemmings. It almost felt like she did more replying to enquiries than she did actual fighting these days. She sighed. This was typical of any job, she supposed. You did the thing you liked and were good at until you got promoted past it to something you did not enjoy. In her case, she had only herself to blame. After all, she had founded the mercenary company Full Throttle Lemmings, so she had to take responsibility for keeping it going. It had all been so much easier back when she first set up in business. Her mind drifted back to those early days..

Wibbly wobbly timey wimey flashback cut

Zhongsha in 3014

The camera focuses on Jennifer "The Lemming" Raytor. Her face is enthusiastic as she explains her plan to her close friends Anna Dapter and Mike Hunt.

"So, you see, we take our mechs and set up on our own. That way we don't have to take orders from any of those stuffed shirts at high command. You've seen how they are with their spit and polish and saluting on every corner. We could be our own bosses and decide where we go and what we do ourselves."

Anna and Mike look doubtful. They know that Jennie has always had issues with authority. She has a tendency to charge into the unknown without thinking, hence her nickname "The Lemming". They both know that this plan will go one of two ways. It will either crash and burn in the most horrible fashion, or it will succeed beyond even anything that Jennie can imagine.

"Ah, what the heck! Let's do it." Anna gave up, "Me and my besties against the universe. At least we get to work together and the brass won't split us up."

"Stuff it," declared Mike, "Why not?"

Jennie hugged them and told Mike that the drinks were on him.

Zhongsha in 3015

Jennie squealed!

"Guys, we got a contract! A worker's collective is being harrassed by some Kurita-connected mining company. They want us to take our mechs and help fend off the Kurita goons. We're going to be eating something other than ramen noodles from now on."

Anna looked tired. The past six months since leaving military school had been hard with little work and little money. She perked up a little at the news. This sounded like the start of something big. Mike was barely paying attention until Anna whooped, but he refused to get his hopes up. Still, a bit of action and some better food would not go amiss.

A few days later, the three of them were on site and setting out on patrol. Their liaison officer, Michael Stand, had briefed them and they had studied the lie of the land. Now it was time to put all that to the test.

A Short Patrol

TwoHourWargame rules generally scale well, so I am starting with a mercenary team of three mechs to keep things simple. One mech will go on patrol while the other two can potentially arrive as reinforcements. This is smaller than the standard game which can feature up to about a company of mechs, so I shall scale down the reinforcement rolls to match my starting scale, assuming any are generated.

Jennie had decided that she would run the first patrol in her Thunderbolt. It was the heaviest mech they had and would be able to hold its own, while Anna's Locust and Mike's Wolverine remained in reserve, ready to join her if needed. As they needed to maintain a constant patrol schedule, it was better that each of them had some downtime unless they were absolutely needed on the battlefield.

She settled into the Thunderbolt's cockpit and fired up the turbine. It's whine was reassuring as she flipped through the checks. All lights green. Coolant gurgled through her chillsuit, designed to keep her from frying as heat built up from the engines and weapons. The neuralink helmet with her Lemming call-sign on it was giving solid feedback. She was ready.

"Lemming 1 moving out!"

"Roger that, Lemming 1. We've got you green on the scanner. No unknowns in the immediate vicinity. You are good to go. Proceed along the route. We'll monitor from here."

The legs of the Thunderbolt rose and fell as she guided it out of the compound. Puffs of dust rose up around it as Jennie guided it along the patrol route. It had been a dry summer, and the earth was dusty and torn up by heavy plant from the mine. The roads were really just dirt tracks, which did not help either. As dust rose around her mech's feet, Jennie directed it towards the small town of Serendipitous Longing, or Dorm 427 to give it the company name. It was here that the workers mainly lived. To her left was a wood. On the east side of the town, there were low hills, but all seemed quiet.

"Lemming 1, we see you approaching Dorm 427 from the south. Take care. Three possible bogeys north of you. We're tagging them on your display."

"Roger that, Control. Moving to intercept Bogey 1."

"Hold up, Lemming 1. We count two more bogeys in the middle of Dorm 427."

Jennie cursed and paused a moment as she looked at her display. The hesitation was enough for the first bogey to round the outskirts of the town.

"Control, this is Lemming 1. Contact! I repeat contact!"

Her hands moved as fast as they could to the firing stud. Luckily, the pilot of the approaching Phoenix Hawk seemed as surprised as her. She cursed as the display showed locking on but it seemed an eternity before she got tone. She hammered the firing stud to give the enemy mech everything she had.

She muttered as her light lasers melted armour on the enemy's chest and gut but did little more than cosmetic damage. Her real focus was on her PPG. Crimson fire streamed from her mech's right arm as she directed it at her opponent's head. She grunted with satisfaction as the mech's head exploded and the Phoenix Hawk collapsed backwards.

"Eat that, ya muddy funster!"

She breathed a short-lived sigh of relief, as another bogey approached through the town.

The Kurita Shadowhawk appeared from behind a building in the town centre, its pilot intent on revenge. Jennie swung her mech round as fast as she could, it's myalomar steel frame groaning in protest. The noise was heightened by the sound of her rocket launcher cycling through its reload sequence. Her heart hammered as she waited to get tone again. The enemy mech was sighting on her as she cut loose with everything once more. The heat rose in her cockpit and she was quickly drenched in sweat. The fast shot saw lasers and missiles impact the building around the Shadowhawk, throwing up clouds of concrete, but the PPG blazed crimson energy and punched a hole straight through the Shadowhawk's chest. The last she saw of it was the Kurita pilot ejecting as she pushed her trusty Thunderbolt on into Dorm 247. As she did so, one of the bogeys suddenly disappeared from her screen. She was not sure what it had been, but it was definitely not a mech.

"Control, this is Lemming 1. Scratch two bogeys. The third was nothing but I got a bad feeling about all this. Too many Kurita goons patrolling round Dorm 247."

Jennie's course through the town lead her from cover to cover towards the next bogey. She had paused for a quick breather, glad that the cockpit had cooled down a bit, when the bogey emerged from around the corner of another building.

"Control, contact. I repeat, contact."

Jennie was jumpy but still got her shot off before the Stinger could do anything. Chunks of concrete rained down around it as her missiles took out part of someone's living room. Again, her trusty PPG rained crimson hell on the Kurita goon and the Stinger exploded into a thousand pieces taking its pilot with it. 

"Scratch one more hostile, Control. Continuing the patrol."

Jennie followed the patrol route, finding that the last bogey was actually a herd of the local cattle.

As Jennie reached the end of her patrol, Anna's Locust hurried up to the start point of the patrol route.

"Am I too late?"

"What do you think? Come on, lets get back to the bay and down a couple of brews. Mike can take the next patrol, while the Collective recovers that Shadowhawk. We earned some salvage today and that is worth celebrating."

The Campaign

I wasn't going to turn this into a full campaign, because I'm just getting used to this iteration of the THW rules, but it is fun to work through all parts of them in these training games, and the campaign system is really simple. So...

Full Throttle Lemmings: campaign morale starts at 3 and neither increased nor went down.

Kurita Goons: campaign morale also starts at 3 (these are not their first line troops) but goes down to 2 because they lost the campaign morale roll.

That's really all there is to it. Winning battles gives you chance of improving your morale. Losing them gives you a chance of losing morale. If either side drops to morale 0, they give up and go home in disgrace.

There is also an experience roll to see if your pilot improves after a battle. Jennie is Rep 5 so she needs to roll a 6 on 1d6 to become better. She did not learn anything she did not already know in this fight.

Because they did a Patrol Mission and won, the next mission for the Lemmings will be an Assault mission on the Kurita forces.

There are rules for recovering mechs and injured pilots. Those are not relevant for the Lemmings this time around and I am assuming that there is a horde of anonymous Kurita goons to be encountered, so I shall not be tracking them. However, in a future campaign I shall give each side access to all the mechs I have painted for them and shall keep track of mechs and pilots for both sides, including making my own encounter table based around those mechs. I like that type of campaign management!

Final Thoughts

I spent a lot of time flipping through the rulebook, but that was to be expected. I need to print out the charts and keep them separate, which will make things easier.

Jennie got lucky with the In Sight tests and got to fire first each time. That was crucial to her taking out all the enemy mechs without taking any damage. Also, the PPG is nasty. Most mechs will lose body parts if it hits them and smaller mechs are just toast even if it is just a glancing shot. I am a little concerned that my light mechs will be far too vulnerable in these games, but I do have ideas about how to use them as scouts, so we shall see how that goes.

There are a couple of things in the rules I was not too sure about and I suspect I played them wrong to my own disadvantage, but the game went smoothly enough and was quick, so I am not too bothered.

It should not be too much hassle scaling the forces up up to a team of three mechs as a starting force or even to a squad of six. But first, I have to see if Jennie, Anna and Mike can survive long enough for this to be the actual origin story of the Full Throttle Lemmings.

Full Throttle Lemmings PLC (Battletech)

 Commander Jennifer Raytor marched to the podium. The assembled mechwarriors watched attentively as she took up her place in front of them and attempted to show the PowerPoint 3025 slideshow that she had been working on all night. Eventually one of the mechtechs took pity on her and showed her what to press to display her slides.

"Ahem," she began, "Thank you all for turning up. As of today, The Board has acknowledged and accepted our application. It is my pleasure to announce that Full Throttle Lemmings is now officially a mercenary company and that each of you will receive a standard share of our profits as contracts are completed subject to the usual deductions for maintenance, subsistence, transport, etc. If you read your contracts you will see an itemised list of legitimate deductions in footnote 62 on pages 391-405. See also Annexes 4, 5, 7, 23 and 48 for additional potential deductions That understood, welcome to the Full Throttle Lemmings. I look forward to working with you all."

The Lemmings PLC all cheered. They were certain that they would all soon be rich. After all, the galaxy had been riven by war for centuries. Others had profited before them and now it was their turn.

Command Lance: (L to R) Commando, Locust, Awesome and Catapult

Jennie banged her commander's baton on the podium, and they all calmed down and listened attentively.

"So, to the first order of business. We need to ensure that our 'mechs present the proper air of professionalism and corporate branding to the world. For this reason, I have had the advertising techs prepare a brief."

Comm units pinged as Jennie pushed a button and the brief was sent to all the pilots. She moved her slideshow on.

"So that we make a good impression from the outset, I have authorised expenditure from the central warchest to cover repainting all of your mechs in accord with the brief. This will be your first order of business. Go and see to it while I and the admin team review possible contracts. Dismissed!"

Striker Lance: (L to R) Griffin, Wolverine, Shadow Hawk and Blackjack

She handed the brief to her own mechtech and went to see to the administrative business that was her burden as commander. She could hear distant cheerful banter from her pilots as they went about the business of getting their mechs painted. She was looking forward to seeing them all in uniform at the review next week.

A week later, the pilots had parked their mechs up in review order by lance. Jennie was cheerfully downing her first coffee of the day as she finished up the admin and prepared to review the mechs in their new livery.

She marched out of the barracks office to the parade ground and stopped dead as she saw what awaited her. Her mood instantly became blacker than the coffee she had just drunk.

"What in the name of all that is unholy is going on here?" she thundered.

The assembled mechwarriors looked puzzled.

"Why have none of you followed the brief?" she roared.

Silence reigned as the mechwarriors beside their mechs stared carefully straight forward into the middle distance.

"Commander," her personal mechtech approached her, "Permission to speak?"

Jennie nodded, not trusting herself to actually speak.

The mechtech pushed a commscreen into her hands.

"Here's the brief you sent. We all followed it."

Hands shaking, she looked at the screen.

Full Throttle Lemmings Executive Order #54

Painting of unit battlemechs: The executive commander authorises the use of central warchest funds for all pilots to paint their mechs in a scheme of their choosing. Go wild!

Gritting her teeth agains the stream of expletives that wanted to come out and shaking with rage, she stood silently and immovable for thirty seconds before she trusted herself to speak.

Heavy Battle Lance: (L to R) Battlemaster, Marauder, Thunderbolt and Wolverine

"If I find out who hacked the painting brief, I shall deduct the full cost of painting all of the unit's battlemechs from their wages and make them pay for repainting them in the chosen uniform scheme. In the meantime, we shall have to put up with this godawful mess, because the central warchest does not have the spare funds in it for us to do this again. Dismissed!"

She stormed back into her office and pondered the use of shooting a random company member just to register her annoyance. it would be very satisfying...

Discussion

I spotted Battletech in the local games shop a while back. I had not played it since the early '90s but the nostalgia was huge so I bought the Beginner Box and Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat. At the time, I managed to get the Griffin and the Wolverine from the Beginner Box painted and I played a couple of games using only the Beginner Box rules. It was fun but I did not get the rest of the mechas painted. However, I did buy a bunch more mechas between then and now, including the Alpha Strike boxed set and the Clan Invasion boxed set, and I suddenly had the urge to paint them (probably because I am meant to be painting Rangers of Shadow Deep figures). So, I now have a mercenary company as a result. I figure that by painting them in a mix of liveries, they can stand in anywhere as newly salvaged mechas that have not yet been painted in uniform colours. As such they can support any other factions I collect, as well as being generic mercenaries in their own right. Also, the varied paint schemes mean that I can play games using just these mechas and none of the mechas will look out of place, whichever side they are on.

In terms of rules, I obviously have the Battletech rules and the Alpha Strike quick start rules. I want to play them, because both fulfil a need, but I am unsure how they will play solo. I have 5150: No Quarter - Mecha Warfare, which fits the bill for solo play. I also have Battle Suit Alpha, a Fistful of Lead spin-off. My experience of Fistful of Lead is that these will work well solo while also offering a quick game for when I have an opponent but not too much time. I'm looking forward to playing all of these, but I really should get back to painting figures for Rangers of Shadow Deep and not let myself get distracted again.