CincyBattletech
Campaigns (all) => Archived Campaigns => Invasion Of Terra Campaign '10-'11 => Topic started by: Riegien on November 08, 2010, 07:45:53 PM
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Lets see if we can get availability sorted out for the upcoming month or two. I know that Dan wants to run the Harvest Trials sometime soonish too, so this can do double duty for that as well.
I'm free just about every weekend at this point, will update if that changes.
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I'm free most weekends depending how hockey goes.
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I'm busy on the weekend after thanksgiving and on Christmas weekend, but aside from that I should be free.
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I'm busy on the weekend after thanksgiving and on Christmas weekend, but aside from that I should be free.
Same for me
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I am busy the next weekend, the weekend after thanksgiving, and I leave dec 21 for the remainder of the year
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I am usually free, depending on how soon we want to try and game between each session. By the way, when is the Harvest Trials being held?
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Free Saturdays:
Nov 27th
Dec 4th
Dec 11th
Dec 18th
I could likely play on Nov 20th, but would be late.
Has anyone considered having a game on Black Friday? Standing around a game store all day beats shopping.
Another possibility would be Friday, December 31st, if everyone has that day off. We'd be done by early afternoon for those of you that plan to participate in some liver destruction later on.
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Black Friday would be a pheomenally bad idea, as Eric&Co. are going to be slammed with people in the mall that day.
My free Saturdays are:
Nov 13
Nov 27
Dec 4
Dec 18
Jan 1 (although I'll bet Sci-fi is closed that day...)
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So are we going to try to squeeze in one more game in November or are we off until December?
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Waiting to hear back from Dan about the Harvest Trials before setting up the next mission. Hopefully will hear something soon.
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Have we reached a consensus on whether or not we're going to try to do a Klondike game?
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Ok, have talked with Dan. He wants to run the Harvest Trial on the 4th. To keep overlap down and try to make sure people dont need to take off 2 weekends in a row which i know is an issue for some, I'll schedule the next campaign game for December 18th. I also am considering doing something small if there is interest, a grinder or a leviathans demo or something at some point in November, just so we do something this month.
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I have a buddy to check with, he may be interested in a small thing, like a demo/grinder type thing.
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I have a buddy to check with, he may be interested in a small thing, like a demo/grinder type thing.
We can do a CandyGram game again...hopefully this time without power outages.
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For the grinder or whatever, is the Sat. after Thanksgiving the day? Not much left of this month. I should be in.
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That's the hope, waiting to hear back from scifi to make sure they have room for us.
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Found out this evening, that I am helping my daughter to move on the 27th. Looks like I won't be able to make it to the Grinder.
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so, to give you an idea of how little i know about my availability right now, I have been in East Peoria Illinois for the past week. I found out on a thursday, that I would be leaving monday for 10 days. nuff said?
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What the HELL were you doing in Illinois?
In any case man, hope you make the next game.
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Ok, so stupidly short notice. We will have a scrapyard grinder tomorrow the 27th. I will also be bringing a leviathans kit and my warmachine stuff if there is interest for that.
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^^^^where?
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Scifi, will be set up at around 1030.
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Hells yeah! I'll bring some misc gaming stuff (Levs, WM) too, assuming Maria doesn't work tomorrow. Good call!
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I might bring the daughter-8 year old-, only thing is, she only plays a Dire Wolf. She doesn't understand why anybody would ever play anything else. Although she likes the 'My little Pony' Balius that was posted on the BT forum, and she is starting to like the Hellstar, but I don't have the mini.
http://www.classicbattletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,74292.0.html
Yes she is a munchkin
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Well, it looks like I'll have to bring Elessar, so she can teach him how to play...
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Just want to confirm, since I haven't seen much action on these boards, we are having a game this Saturday (December 18th) right?
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Yes, we are having a game. Plan on arriving at 10:30 so we can get started after that, and have enough time for playing through the mission. Bring your dice, bring your pencils, bring your desire to pilot giant stompy robots for glory, honor, and the eteranl promotion of peace through superior firepower.
See you all Sat.
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As an update, I will NOT be there Saturday
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As an update, I will NOT be there Saturday
Boo.
Will you be at our playoff game Friday night?
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My attendance is very dependent upon the weather at this point. If it snows a lot Friday night, then I'm not going to be able to make the drive down.
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Looks like you should be there. Don't think they are calling got any snow tonight.
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As an update, I will NOT be there Saturday
Boo.
Will you be at our playoff game Friday night?
I should be there unless my hand gets worse.
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Your hand is injured?
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Your hand is injured?
Infection on a finger that makes putting my gloves on VERY painful.
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We are looking for these mechs for tomorrow. If you have these and have spare room, please pack them.
Anvil
Wyvern
Ostroc
Ha Otoko
Eagle
Falcon
Albatross
Sirocco
Avatar
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I can bring the wyvern, ostroc, Ha otoko, eagle, and albatross.
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It's extraordinarily unlike me to pass up a Battletech game, but today I must. Happy hunting this afternoon! Miss a bunch of six's for me.
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I would like to apologize to Mike and Travis for my early whining. I had a good time and look forward to the next game. Just having a bad day earlier. Thanks for running the campaign, I know it is not an easy task.
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Did you guys play a campaign game yesterday, or did things not come together?
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Yep, the game went off. It was short and bloody, the good guys achieved their objectives, at a high cost though.
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What kind of forces & setup, if you can spare the time to describe it.
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Forces
-WOB brought what looked to be just over heavy 2 Level IIs to the fight. Both were C3i linked, and they were reinforced by 2 PXH LAMs.
-Coalition had an operational Union-class DropShip (upgraded), and a reinforced company of Mechs. However, all but one medium lance were shut down as pilots scrambled to their Mechs.
Layout
-2x2 Mapsheet setup. The north two were the military base, while the bottom (south) two were the starport maps.
-The WOB objectives were: a command center (inside the base), an air control tower (western starport map, close to the west edge), and an ammo dump (eastern starport map, close to the east edge). Objectives were unknown to the coalition.
-The center-south edge of the starport maps were filled with "crates" that the coalition commander had deployed as impromtu mines.
-WOB entered from the southern edge of both starport maps.
-The coalition forces entered from the north-western edge of the western starport map.
AAR
The WOB moved their levels IIs up the center of the maps, avoiding the crates. They came under fire from the DropShip (the MVP of the day), losing an Avatar to a headshot on Turn 1. The Coalition Patrol Lance moved to block a trio of heavy Mechs going for the air control tower, but were unable to stop the WOB from blowing it up from medium range on Turn 2. The WOB LAMs went straight across the entire board on Turn 1, ending their movement as level 1 units behind a level 2 structure, and were unable to be shot at (aside from their +7 modifier). The WOB then went into a holding pattern, forcing the Coalition units to react to them while the LAMs stomped the Command Center flat (mathematically, no active Coalition unit could have made it across the board to stop the LAMs from doing their job - the Patrol lance started the game too far away, and no Coalition unit anywhere near the LAMs activated while they were in the area). During this holding action, another Avatar was heavily damaged but made it off the board, and two other Mechs were totally cored out (a Legacy and a Tessen, IIRC). Finally, a WOB Wraith made it across the board and blew up the ammo dump whilst hiding behind cover (unable to be targeted) - but the turn it managed to blow up the dump, a Coalition HPPC Marauder finally woke up and immediately put both HPPCs into the Wraith's back, coring it out as well. The WOB then retreated off the board in moderately-good order. By the end of the game, 14 WOB Mechs had engaged in combat against 5 Level 1 Coalition Mechs, 4 Level 1 Coalition Mechs, and an immobile DropShip.
Aftermath
Evidently, Coalition command ordered an immediate evacuation of the base (now that the ammo dump and starport were out of commission, it has no additional strategic value). The evacuation was SO fast that no only were the evacuating forces unable to finish destroying the WOB left behind (including the DropShip that had at LEAST 20 more turns until it was able to take off, and could have shot at those prone, immobile, targets for at least 10 of those turns to eliminate the possibility of the WOB Mechs being re-salvaged), but they actually left behind a squadron of Lancer ASFs for the WOB forces, with cute little postcards on the canopies that read "here, this should make future fights more even, so quit bitching about not having any airpower left". The operations officer in charge of the evacuation has been arrested on suspicion of being a WOB agent, as no military with a double-digit IQ would evacuate in such a sloppy fashion. The operation by any sane stretch of the imagination would be considered a pyrrhic victory for the WOB; they lost at either 2 or 3 Mechs totally cored out, and at least 4 more that will require significant repairs. 1 Coalition Mech was cored out, and 1 pilot was killed, with 2 more Mechs with significant damage and 1 DropShip with light armor damage. Luckily for the WOB, they managed to achieve their objectives, and showed a good grasp of LAM-centric raiding operations.
Coalition Assessment
Given the relative starting locations of the WOB forces and the Coalition forces, and the order and time in which reinforcements were brought into play, the scenario was unwinnable. To the defender's credit, they realized this after only 10 seconds of engagement, and focused their defense on destroying as many WOB units as possible. In the future, Coalition forces will make a special note not to try to defend static structures anywhere near those structures, since it is physically impossible to stop an OPFOR unit from just shooting the target structure from long range and withdrawing, and will endeavor to engage the enemy further away from structures of importance (preferrably multiple mapsheets "further away"). The enemy shows a good grasp of LAM operations, and so Coalition forces will develop communications protocols to call in Combat Air Patrol units from the operating sector specifically to bounce the LAMs out of the sky/ Additionally, as LAMs present a very low-profile target, all spaces around important structures will be cleared and leveled out to a distance of 120 meters, preventing the OPFOR from simply zipping past defensive lines too fast to be shot at at all, landing behind a low hill or structure and being about to level the target with impunity. Command-detonated landmines are also strongly encouraged.
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Thanks for the recap.
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That about says it all.
The LAMs, as the new rules are written, kick tail for raids. 23MP, can cross any terrain, enough armor for a couple OOPs! moments, and decent weapons. They are terrible fighters, and only passable as mechs, but as AirMechs, when used properly, can be very useful against objective targets. I won't engage other fighters air to air for any reason though. And I would only use them as mechs when required for the objective, i.e. fly in, transform, grab something with the hand actuators, then run away.
I certainly will be buying Interstellar OPs, both in PDF and hard copy as soon as it is released. The full rules for the LAMs will be appreciated.
I thought it was a fun mission.
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It was good to see everyone again and blow some stuff up whether it be big stompy robots or even bigger flying boats. The single SRM head cap was certainly a memorable moment.
The only thing I didn't like about the scenario was that the WoB was allowed to withdraw their units from any map edge instead of just their home map edge. Restricting the WoB to only withdrawing from their home map edge would've at least added a small element of risk to the LAM raid as it would've given us an opportunity to shoot at them as they fled. I understand that giving the WoB a scenario they really can't fail was only fair after how one sided the set up to the previous scenario was however I would've liked to have at least had the opportunity to shoot at the LAMs.
I still definitely enjoyed the game and was pleased with the fight the coalition put up. Drew and Jack had a good time too.
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however I would've liked to have at least had the opportunity to shoot at the LAMs.
I've played the LAMs enough now to have formed some solid opinions. LAMs---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------and -----------------------------------------you--------------------------------------------would have-------------------never have----------------------------------REDACTED FOR OPSEC--------------------------------------gotten LOS-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------then--------------------------------but if you would--------------------------------next time I'll-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------artillery---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------and you will have---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------REDACTED FOR OPSEC-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------no method of defense----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------and that pretty much sums up my theory on LAMs.
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... but they actually left behind a squadron of Lancer ASFs for the WOB forces, with cute little postcards on the canopies that read "here, this should make future fights more even, so quit bitching about not having any airpower left".
Really? We left an entire squadron of ASF's on a field of battle that we completely owned?
Coalition Assessment
Given the relative starting locations of the WOB forces and the Coalition forces, and the order and time in which reinforcements were brought into play, the scenario was unwinnable. To the defender's credit, they realized this after only 10 seconds of engagement, and focused their defense on destroying as many WOB units as possible. In the future, Coalition forces will make a special note not to try to defend static structures anywhere near those structures, since it is physically impossible to stop an OPFOR unit from just shooting the target structure from long range and withdrawing, and will endeavor to engage the enemy further away from structures of importance (preferrably multiple mapsheets "further away"). The enemy shows a good grasp of LAM operations, and so Coalition forces will develop communications protocols to call in Combat Air Patrol units from the operating sector specifically to bounce the LAMs out of the sky/ Additionally, as LAMs present a very low-profile target, all spaces around important structures will be cleared and leveled out to a distance of 120 meters, preventing the OPFOR from simply zipping past defensive lines too fast to be shot at at all, landing behind a low hill or structure and being about to level the target with impunity. Command-detonated landmines are also strongly encouraged.
Yea, since there's no such thing as screening, defending anything stationary on a battlefield is near-impossible against a determined force (or unless you can meet them far enough away from the objectives that they must shoot you before they can get there) and defending when all your mechs (except for one medium lance) are inactive for essentially the entire scenario is not possible without the application of nuclear persuasion.
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You guys trashing any mechs this weekend?
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I can't, got an anniversary this weekend.
GM's: When is our next campaign game?
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Not me, I have other plans on Sat.
What is the date we are shooting for in Jan.?