Vehicle Rules refresher

So I know we screwed up the rules for vehicles the first time through in Mission #1.  This post is to give a little refresher to you and me about how Vehicles work.

The new Total Warfare rules changed how Critcals worked on vehicles with a new chart and everything.  It differs quite a bit from how critical work on battlemechs.  Here are the main points.

1) When rolling damage location on a vehicle and you roll a 2 or 12 you automatically get a roll on the crit chart.  If you are shooting at the vehicle from the side You will also get a crit roll with an 8.  So get to the sides of those vehicles for crits on 2, 8, and 12.

2) Each time you do internal structure damage you get roll on the crit chart.  Not a roll on how many crits you do like with Mechs.  You get one roll on the crit chart.

3) The Crit chart varies with shot location with 4 charts (Front, Side, Rear, and Turret)  You roll 2d6 and check your result.  2-5 on the chart is no effect.  6-11 does various damage to the vehicle, 12 destroys it outright.  You can hit the ammo on an 11 with shots from the rear or turret which will take out the tank unless it has case.  So No real easy way to take out a tank with crits.

Then there is the Motive system damage chart.  The motive chart is kind of like a crit chart the impacts only the vehicle's movement.

1) When rolling damage location if you roll a 3-5 or a 9 you get a roll on the Motive damage chart.  "TRACK HIT!!!"

2) Again you roll 2d6. A 2-5 is no effect, 6-11 slows the vehicle down to various degrees, 12+ immobilizes it.

3) 12+? you say.  Yes you get modifiers to this chart depending upon the type of vehicle and the direction of the shot.  +3 to the chart for hovercraft, +2 for shots from the side, etc... So yeah shooting hovercraft from the side gets your +5 to the roll...7 or better immobilizes it.

A vehicle is considered destroyed if you take out all the internals in one location, or get a critical result that says vehicle destroyed.  The new tables make vehicles a little more tough, but easier to immobilize.  Remember a hovercraft that is immobilized over a water hex is destroyed.  Also there is a -4 to hit an immobilized vehicle (or building, or overheated mech) so there is your easy route to offing tanks.  Immobilize them, then pummel them..

Mission Briefing: Mission #3

Mission 3: Defend the Farms  

Primary Objectives:
+ Defend Matsusaka Cattle Facility
+ Defend Matsusaka Farmhouse
+ Defend Okajima Cattle Facility
+ Defend Okajima Farmhouse

Secondary Objectives:
+ Destroy all Smoke Jaguar forces

Mission Briefing:
  Got to respond fast to this one folks.  One of the workers on the Okajima farm apparently became a Smoke Jaguar informant.

   Tojo Matsui had worked on both the Matsuzaka and Okajima farms for the past 5 years, all under the Smoke Jag oppression.  Apparently Matsui went to the city of Kobe to celebrate his birthday, with his good friend Wataru Nomo.  While there he had a few adult beverages and starting talking.  He spoke of the farms uncovering hidden Battlemechs to the bartender, and how he didn't want to rock the boat as it were.  He liked his life working with the Smoke Jaguars and didn't want to see it change. Turns out, a Smoke Jaguar official was sitting just down the bar from Matsui.  Before Matsui knew it he was taken away to the local Smoke Jaguar Barracks.  Nomo, who happened to be in the restroom, snuck away as Matsui was being taken into custody.  He returned at once to the farm to inform Masters Okajima and Matsuzaka of what had happened.


    It is reasonable to believe the the Jags will strike hard at the farms.  They must be being pressed hard in the Northern Hemisphere and can not afford to have the populace rise against them in the south.  I'm betting they will attempt to make an example of the two farms.  We can't let that happen.  We are the reason the farms are now in danger we must protect them.  There is also political dangers of two Kurita family's falling to the Jags after helping a Davion force.  Not protecting them might damage the newly founded Star League.  Besides, this is a great chance for some quality Clan Salvage.  No telling what all the implications will be if we fail to protect these Farms.    

Expected Jaguar forces:
  We have to hope that most of the heavy and assault Jaguar Forces to have been re-deployed to the north.  I wouldn't imagine that they would send too big of a force to destroy the farms.  Betting some tanks and maybe a light-medium Star of Clan Mechs.  I would guess most of the mechs you saw in our last encounter with the Jags will likely be part of the force.  Just hope that Star Captain Gehrig in his Mad Cat doesn't decide to tag along..


  Will relay recon photos of the area to your mech's while you are your way.  All four buildings are relatively close to one another.  The two farms a separated by a shallow river (one level deep) that can be easily crossed by mechs.  Not knowing which way the Jags will be coming I would suggest keeping a force near by each of the farms, assuming the Jaguars don't beat us there.

Good Luck!

- Nash out -

Mission #3, Primer

  When the Clans began their march to Terra they carved a large swath of territory through the Inner Sphere.  The Smoke Jaguars were brutally efficient on some worlds, Port Arthur being one of those taken in just a couple of days.  The majority of Draconis Combine forces were pulled for the defense of Port Arthur before the Jaguars arrived in the system.    

  Those many loyal to House Kurita were left behind, commanded not to cause trouble with their new Jaguar oppressors.  They were to await the return of Combine forces to retake the world.  The theory being to retain the infrastructure of the Port Arthur. The other reason was to avoid another incident like Turtle Bay, where the Jaguars destroyed all major cities on world from orbit using their Warships. 

  Two long time farming houses were ones that stayed behind.  The Matsuzaka family and the Okajima family had been raising cattle on Port Arthur since it's founding.  The planet has a climate and rotation very similar to Terra.  The soil is very fertile and flora from earth had little trouble adapting.  This opened the door for the importing of terran livestock.  The Matsuzaka farm produced a Kobe style beef, the Okajima specialized in raising a mid-western north american style black angus.  The two families had been producing some of the best quality, most sought after beef in the Draconis Combine.  Now under the jurisdiction of the Smoke Jaguars, they are merely a meat market.  The Jags only care about output and that the bellies of their soldiers are full.    

Tsi-i (Captian) Kumiko Matsuzaka

  The most recent generation of the families each had a member serving in the Combine forces on Port Arthur.  Both remained as part of a token resistance force.  Kenji Okajuma was a mechwarrior for the 1st Sword of the Light, he fell in battle with initial contact with the Smoke Jags.  Kumiko Matsuzaka was a lance commander for the 1st Sword of the Light.  Her lance was all that remained of the resistance force left on Port Arthur.  Rather than have the mechs in enemy hands she returned to her childhood home to hide them.  She and her fellow mechwarriors were later captured in the nearby city of Kobe and are believe to be bondsmen for the Smoke Jaguars.

  Now, almost eight years later, the heads of the two farming families, Joji Okajima and Masahiro Matsuzaka, have contacted the 7th company of the 1st Davion Guards.  They had become aware of the return of Inner sphere troops to Port Arthur and that major battles are being fought across the Northern hemisphere.  It didn't take them long to figure out that the dropship that crashed landed in the forest that borders their farmland was part of that invasion force.  After a lengthy discussion Joji and Masahiro agreed to reveal the mechs and offer them to the stranded unit.  It was time to be rid of their Smoke Jaguar overlords and this was the one way that they could help achieve that end.     

Mission #2, Odds and Ends (11/4 edit)

Mechs have been selected for Mission #3

Added Gregg and a new mech for Josh.  Furlow managed to get the Kintaro up and running from the scrap pile behind the Kurita mech yard we captured in mission #1 (Had to add a mech that wouldn't disrupt the Mech selection process we had already done.)

And the Mechwarrior Roster...

(Issued Callsigns to those that had yet to pick one.  Still need a skill choice from Josh)

And Mech History by Mechwarrior...

(Again added Gregg.  Nice way to quickly stroll down memory lane.  Just so happens my 2nd Javelin mini is painted in Kurita colors, so the whole force will be in Kurita colors except the two "Sensor" mechs)

Smoke Jaguar Dossier: Howler (Baboon)

Smoke Jaguar Dossier

Type: Battlemech

Name: Howler (Baboon) 

Mech Class: Light

Weight: 20 Tons

Tech Base: Clan

Description:
The Howler was first observed among Clan Jade Falcon second-line units, though it has since been proven to be much more widespread. The BattleMech the Inner Sphere dubbed the Baboon is moderately fast for a 'Mech its size, topping out at 119 km/h. Its armament is at least partially enabled by the use of an Endo Steel structure and three tons of Ferro-Fibrous armor.


Armament: 
The Howler is a potent missile boat for its size. Meant to provide fire support to light garrison Stars, the 'Mech carries three LRM-5 launchers and three tons of ammunition.

Variants:
Howler 3 is a prototype in use by the Smoke Jaguars.  Apparently impressed with the capabilities of the Inner sphere Hollander battlemech the Smoke Jaguars scientists looked to improve upon the single weapon light mech design.  The Howler 3 exchanges the standard engine with an XL and adds MASC.  The saved weight allows for the 3 LRM's to be replaced by a single ERPPC with a Targeting Computer.  This design makes for a very capable sniper style mech.




Captain Nash's Mission #2 Analysis: If the Jags have any of these Baboons around, just get close and and crush them.  If they happen to the Prototype with the ERPPC...get close fast and crush them.

Tech Readout: http://www.solaris7.com/TRO/HTMLBattleMech/BattlemechInfo.asp?ID=894

NARC, TAG (tweaked rules) and Missile selection

Little post about some Rules for the campaign.  These may impact which mech a player will take.

With the Raven secured after Mission #2, our Sensor expert, who just happened to have the 1st pick selected the Raven.  How will this impact the game?  Here is the Raven Stuff (Some of this has been posted before)

1) ECM - Essentially will create a 24" Bubble around the Raven that will mess up enemy electronics (Artimus, Narc, sensors, etc...)

2) Probe - along with it's spotting hidden unit ability, it will give one extra level in the Mechwarrior sensor skill tree.  (So Poe will now have the SENSOR ADVANCED skill)

Name: SENSOR ADVANCED
Type: general
Description: Can spot Active units out of LOS within 36”, can tell if those units are Vehicle or Battlemech.  Must have SENSOR Basic Skill.

3) NARC - Magnetic homing beacon, when attached will increase the number of missiles that hit the target mech.  This will stack with any missile skill you may have, but will not stack with Artemis.  you must have Narc tracking missiles loaded (LRM or SRM)

4) TAG (Tweaked rules) - Normally TAG is only for Arty spotting, Seeing as how I have no intention of using Arty in the campaign...I had to make this useful so here goes...  TAG will work with every weapon system in the game.  Before the Fire Phase, the Raven can attempt to TAG a target.  If the target is hit, all weapons shot at that target can ignore the targets movement modifier.  For LRM's to use this you will have to loadup with Semi-guided missiles.  Semi-guided LRM's can fire indirect with out indirect fire modifiers at a TAGged target.

EDIT: in order to use the TAG tweaked rules, you must have the Sensor mechwarrior skill.  Otherwise the TAG works as written in the rulebook.


So this means you will have to select which type of missile ammo you are loading before each mission.
A) Regular
B) Artemis equipped (Needed if you have artemis attached to the launcher)
C) NARC Homing (To seek after a Narc homing beacon)
D) Semi-Guided (LRM's only)
That's all for now...

Mission #2: Killboard, Salvage, Mechbay and Roster

First up the Killboard. This is it set in stone, don't like it too bad.  Kills are awarded for bold actions, doing or saying something that makes most or everyone in the room laugh, and whenever I feel like it.  Anyways here it is for Mission #2.

Click for larger image

Next up are the Mech losses.  Players lost a Panther, Whitworth and Valkyrie.  So Josh, Poe and Caster are are mechless at this time.


  We didn't get any salvage from this mission but there is quite a bit of good news.  First the Bad news, Merloni wasn't forthcoming on his injuries from the dropship crash.  Turns our he has a broken leg, and a pretty bad concussion, without proper medical facilities he won;t be piloting a mech for quite a while.  That puts the Raven in our Mech Bay. 

  Next up, Tech Juan Manillo is quite the weapons expert.  Turns out he worked in an AC factory before becoming a mech tech.  He was able to piece together an Clan Ultra AC2, from the parts of the 11 Ultra AC2's we faced in the first battle.  That along with the other clan salvage, and the Koshi cockpit that Maverick grabbed means we can add a Koshi D to our Mechbay at this time.

  Finally the best news of all.  While you were on mission, Viper was approached by a the heads of a couple of local cattle farming families.  As Port Arthur was being over run in 3050 by the Smoke Jags there was a Kuritan lance of the 1st Sword of the light that trapped on world.  They hid their mechs in the barns of the Okajima and Matsuzaka farms.  The Mechwarriors were later captured by the Smoke Jags, but the mechs were never found.  They have sat there for almost 10 years.  The Matsuzaka and Okajima families have no love for their Smoke Jaguar oppressors, and while they are not thrilled about handing over the mechs to a Davion unit, they see this as the best chance to strike at the Jaguars.  They may smell a little ripe, but they will help us take the fight to the Jags.  We now have a Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, Wolf Trap and Wyvern...four solid medium mechs added to the mech bay. 

  Mechwarrior Roster after mission #2

Poe and Josh need to pick their second regular bonus skill from the mechwarrior skill list.  They also need to choose with they want to spend the 5 kills to improve their piloting or wait til they have 10 kills to improve their gunnery.

Here is the mech selection order for mission #3 (Corrected)
Poe
Josh
Jeff - Lower tonnage current mech tiebreaker
Caster - Bumped up two spots for two player kills (Blue Falcon Rule)
Pillsbury
Mitch
Viper

Maverick
Larry

That's all for now...