Saturday, October 9, 2010

Mission #2: After Action Report

  Just before our forces were to set out, Captain Nash thought he picked up a ground unit on the dropship sensors.  Just to be safe Viper stayed behind and patrolled the perimeter in his Vulcan while the rest of the 7th when on the SAR mission for the Raven (Merloni) and Catapult (Garciparra).



  As elements of the Lucky 7th approached the two bridges they split into two lances.  Merloni got of a narrowband transmission as the player approached the bridges saying he last saw the Front line clan unit cross the East most bridge (leaving the board).  Lance Alpha for the players consisted of a Clint, Poe in his Valkyrie, Caster in his Panther and Whitworth.  They crossed the western most bridge, headed toward the weapons repair facility.  Lance Beta consisted of  Pillsbury in his Sentinel, Maverick in his Javelin, a Hermes II, and a Jenner.  They crossed the middle bridge headed toward the unknown facility.

(Begin cut-scene)  Lance Alpha spotted two Aerospace fighters coming in at them on a straffing run.  Their tactical displays shows the incoming Smoke Jags were in two Xerxes class fighters, each armed with two Ultra AC20's and 2 ER Large Lasers.  They were not the only ones that saw the fighters coming in...Garciaparra powered up his Catapult and stepped out from his concealed position just as the areospace fighters passed overhead.  He knew the fighters would make quick work of Lance Beta, and fired off an LRM20 at each of the Xerxes soft underbellies.  He managed to splash both of the fighters with critical hits before they could take a shot.  Unfortunately, one of them spiraled into the Easternmost bridge collapsing it.  That however was the least of Garciparra's problems, Ten Elementals lept from the nearby woods right onto his Catapult and began tearing it to pieces.  The power armored infantry managed to critical the LRM Ammo rack.  One of the Elementals happened to be climbing over the Catapult's ejection canopy as safetys engaged punching Garciparra out.  The canopy lifted only about 3 meters with the added ton of powered armor infantry on top of it.  Ramon most likely didn't feel a thing as his ejection seat slammed into the improperly deployed canopy. (End cut-scene)

   Lance Beta takes out one of the twin Ultra AC turrets defending the unknown facility.  Lance Alpha sees a under-strengthed star of Inner sphere Smoke Jag mechs coming from the Weapons facility.  The Smoke Jags have a Locust IIC, Firestarter, Assassin, and Spider.  Merloni, powers up his Raven and breaks to join up with Lance Beta, being a little too close to the Elementals and not wishing to share Garciparra's fate.  Three more squads of Elementals emerge from the woods chasing after the Raven.

  Lance Beta moves up taking out the remaining Streak SRM6 defensive turret.  Scans reveal the unknown facility to be some sort of cockpit / sensor repair building.  Sitting ready to go in one of the crates is a Koshi omni mech Head assembly.  The Javelin picks up the crate and turns to head back to the bridge.  The rest of Lance Beta pour fire into the western most bridge, thinking that might slow down any pursuit from the Clan front line star that has most likely been alerted to their location.

  Lance Alpha engages the Smoke Jag lance.  Mechwarrior Cano in his Locust IIC challenges Caster in his Panther to Honorable combat.  After the second turn of fire the Panther is missing a leg and the players realize the difference between a Locust and a Locust IIC.  The third turn of fire finishes cores the legged Panther, who was given an opportunity to punch out.  The rest of Lance Alpha takes out the Firestarter. 

  Lance Beta moving back to the bridge notices a Smoke Jag Peregrine mech standing in their deployment zone.  The Peregrine however has it's eyes on the badly damaged Valkyrie from Lance Alpha and heads off in that direction.  Lance Beta with the Raven in and the crate begin to cross back over the middle bridge when a Mad Cat enters the board by the western bridge they were shooting at.  Star Captain Gerigh, challenges Pillsbury to honorable combat hoping to slow the fleeing Davion Mechs.  Gerigh scans the bridge after seeing the damage and estimates that it will not support the weight of his Mad Cat.  He puts an ER Large laser in to the rear torso of Pillsbury's Sentinel.  Mechwarrior Hoyt in a Hankyu comes one to the board in the players deployment area and challenges the Jenner.

  Lance Alpha takes out Cano in the Locust IIC with a gyro hit and taking out a leg.  The Valkyrie is in serious trouble with minimal armor left and a Peregrine mech closing in.  Seeing a clear line to the crates in the weapons facility, the Whitworth and Clint (Rather than jumping over the river), head south back to the weapons facility to grab a crate or two.  The Peregrine moves up and finishes the Valk the next turn.

  Closing in on leaving the board edge the Javelin and Raven encounter a Firefly C, who does some damage to the Raven, but not enough to stop him from escaping (Primary objective accomplished).  The Javelin leave the board as well securing the Head component for the clan Koshi omni mech.  The Hankyu and Jenner, duke it out on the bridge, neither getting the upper hand.

  The next turn the Hermes II gets off the board, The Sentinel and Jenner finish off the Hankyu while taking fire at long range from the Mad Cat.  The Sentinel and Jenner leave the board the following turn.  Just leaving two members of Lance Beta up near the weapons facility.

  Five squads of Elementals closing on the Clint and Whitworth, along with the Assassin who has been harrasing the players all game.  The Peregrine challenges the Whitworth.  The Firefly C challeneges the Clint even though he is multiple turns away for being in weapons range.  The Clint scans the crates at the weapons facility and grabs a crate that has a clan large pulse laser.

   The Peregrine finally finishes off the Whitworth taking out the CT.  There might have been 10 points of armor left on the Whitworth...no grouping whats so ever on any shots that hit it throughout the game.  The Clint realizes that he will not have a chance to get off the table without using his jumpjets, drops the crate and flees off the table before the FireflyC can put enough accurate fire into him.

Smoke Jaguar losses: Firestarter, Locust IIC, Hankyu, 3 turrets, two small crates.

Davion losses: Panther, Whitworth, Valkyrie

Kill board and salvage reports to follow in a couple days.

(More detailed Images to come on this page, want to restage some of the key moments.)
           
           

Friday, October 8, 2010

Player Dossier: Esteban "Pillsbury" Manillo

1st Davion Guards Dossier


Type: Mechwarrior
Pillsbury (left) and brother Juan (right)

Name:  Esteban Manillo

Callsign:  Pillsbury

Unit: 1st Davion Guards, 7th Company

Battlemech: Jagermech JM7-DD

Specialty:  Light ACs, Sensors


  Esteban and his brother Juan grew up in some of the worst colonial slums in the Davion sphere of control. When old enough Juan joined the military, to escape the gangs, and convinced his brother to go with him. Juan became a mech mechanic and Esteban joined the infantry. Both brothers excelled at their new vocations, but Juan pushed his younger brother to aspire to be more than a mere grunt. Knowing his brothers skills and intelligence, and using some contacts, he got Esteban a chance at being trained as a MechWarrior. Esteban aced his exams and got an appointment to an academy.

  Since his academy days he has done well as a light mech pilot, though now he has a Jagermech. Just like his days in the infantry, he doesn’t back down from a fight, no matter the odds. His call sign was given to him by his brother. Juan always teased Esteban because of his size (6’5”, 375 lbs) and appearance, calling him the Pillsbury Dough Boy in front of other Mechwarriors: the name stuck and has been with him ever since.

  Pillsbury is a loyal and tenacious fighter. He has shown a talent with auto cannons but is not above some close quarters combat, preferring to “curb stomp” an enemy mech.

Addendum: Pillsbury is now in a Daikyu DAI-01, having given up the Jagermech for a Rifleman...and losing the Rifleman in action with the Smoke Jags.




(Entry written by Kyle)