Mission Briefing: Mission #5

Mission 5: Secure the HPG

  Clan Nova Cat has joined the Star League and turned away from their fellow clanners.  They have embraced their Warden path to an extreme, and now feel they must protect the inner sphere from the invading clans, most notably the Smoke Jaguars.  However these Nova Cats are not without honor, they will not just hand over territory to the Star League that they swore to defend.

  Across worlds attacked by Star League forces in Operation Bulldog, ritual battles have taken place between Star League and Clan Nova Cat forces.  These battles allow the Nova Cats to fulfill their oaths and keep their honor.

Nova Cat forces hold only one small territory, but in that territory is one of the two HPG's on Port Arthur.  Our forces to the North have secured the other one, so without this HPG, the Smoke Jaguars here will be out of communication with the rest of their clan off world. 

Primary Objectives:
+ Win at least one honorable duel against the Nova Cats.

+ Don't Die

Secondary Objectives:
+ Win more than one duel for a Clan mech.

+ Don't lose your mech.

Mission Briefing:
  

  Star Colonel Kachotay is the highest ranking Nova Cat on Port Arthur.  He has been in touch with our commanders up North about one of these ritual Duels for possession of the HPG.  Command left the details in my hands.  Have talking with Kachotay this is what we came up with.

  The Star Colonel has squared off against Inner sphere forces numerous times.  Every time they have not honored Zellbrigen (Clan dueling rules) when he faced them.  He believes that the warriors of the inner sphere are capable of an honorable battle with the proper motivation.  At first he wanted us to follow the dueling rules to the letter, luckily this was after he bid the mechs he would defend with.  With the Star he is bringing there is no way we could have gone one on one with his group.  So he agreed to a couple of concessions.  Here are the rules we must follow.

Rule #1 ) No physical attacks. Any physical attacks made by either side will result in an immediate loss of all duels.

Rule #2)  A mech may surrender at any time. Any mech that has lost the ability to fire any weapon for the remainder of the battle must surrender (Out of ammo or weapon loss).  Any mech that has lost two of it's limbs must surrender.  Any one firing upon a mech that has surrendered will result in the immediate loss of all duels.

Rule #3) Any mech leaving their designated battle area will forfeit their match if they are the last remaining mech of their side in that duel.

Rule #4) Mechs will be assigned to a given duel, and may only engage in that duel.  (This one became a moot point as you will see) 

That's it, everything else is fair game.  Firing on downed mechs, firing to the rear of a mech, multiple units attacking one target are all in play.  How did I get him to agree to these terms.  Well, When I said we would need to have multiple units at the same time against his warriors, he agreed as long as he could pick the battle locations.  So each duel will take place in a separate location, far enough away from the other battles to avoid any temptation of swapping dueling targets.   All of these battle sites are in the Nova Cats area of control.

Battle #1 - Nova Plateau (Rocky Plain with minimal cover)

Star Colonel Kachotay (Supernova) G2/P1

vs.

Meech (Starslayer) - Mitch

Rock (Bushwacker) - Jay

Pillsbury (Jagermech) - Kyle

Battle #2 - HPG site (Firebase and HPG building)

Star Captain Costner (Mad Cat A) G2/P3

vs.

Zombie (Blackjack) - Jeff

Caster (Wolf Trap) - Dereck

Warlock (Firefly C) - Gregg

Battle #3 - Nova City (City terrain, Paved streets)

Mechwarrior Chavez (Nova Prime) G3/P4

vs.

Priest (Wolverine) - Larry

Scrapper (Enforcer) - Derek

Battle #4 - Nova Delta (River, Hills, Scattered forest)

Mechwarrior Hayek (Cauldron Born D) G3/P4

vs.

Maverick (Lineholder) - Fab

Patriot (Centurion) - Lee

Battle #5 - The Badlands (Rocky Pillars)

Mechwarrior Lopez (Peregrine) G3/P4

vs.

Viper (Nightsky) - Scott

All battles will begin with the units at least 750m apart (50" or 25 hexes)

The Star Colonel is so confident that his troops will be successful if you don't resort to physical attacks, that we only need to win One duel for him to give us possession of the HPG.  So what is in it for us after we win one of these battles?  Why continue?  The Nova Cats will award us with a Clan mech depending upon how many battles past the 1st that we win.  Here is the what they have offered.


Win 1 Battle: HPG
Win 2 Battles: HPG and Peregrine Mech
Win 3 Battles: HPG and Cauldron Born Omnimech
Win 4 Battles: HPG and Mad Cat Omnimech
Win 5 Battles: HPG and Supernova Mech.


We will be given one choice of the available weapons load outs should we win one of the Omnimechs.


What's the downside?  Well remember if you take Engine or Gyro damage, it will take Furlow a while to repair your mech. (read as: It will have to sit the next mission which might put you in a smaller mech)

What if we don't win any battles?  I'd rather not think about it, but here it is.  I and all of the Dropship crew (Tina, Furlow, etc...) become a bondsmen of Kachotay and you lose the "Lone Wolf" dropship along with any unused mechs in our bays. (And command has to come up with another ritual battle to secure this HPG).  You guys will continue on, most likely getting transferred to become a line unit up north, while another unit would take over down here.  Like I said, I'd rather not think about it...so win at least one if these things will yah?!


Good Luck!


Nash out. 


OOC: I've run a piece of tape down my two tables. Each battle area will be a 3' x 4' area with the terrain listed ablove.  The one battle will be over on the side table where you guys pick up your mechs, 3' x 4' area as well.  See you on the 14th!