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[Darrian Wolffe]

The shattering of the Rim Worlds Forces on Summer is nearly complete.  The initial lightning strikes against Republican forces on-world completely eliminated all serious opposition to the SLDF within two weeks, and what few Republican units remained combat-capable pulled back into the three surviving Castle Brians.  Over the next several weeks, the Castles underwent periodic  bombardments from orbiting WarShips, destroying peripheral systems and complexes, but not critically hampering the ability of Rim Worlds forces from holding their redoubts.

As November dragged into December, reports began coming in from other Task Force Commonwealth operation commands in regards to "scorched earth" tactics being employed by Republican defenders.  The nearby world of Lone Star, in particular, was hard hit.  Every city on the planet with a population of 50,000 or more was targeted by at least one WMD attack.  These attacks came from a variety of vectors - suicide pilots in aircraft and trucks, hidden artillery batteries with nuclear shells, land-based capital missile systems, and in at least two cases the legendary "briefcase nuke" tore the heart out of a thriving city hitherto untouched by the war.  All Task Force Commonweath commands were thusly informed of the RWR's tactics and were warned to intercept such actions against the civilian population at all costs.

Two weeks after the first report from Lone Star crossed Major Freund's desk, the Castle Brian near Port Moesby launched a bombardment of chemical weapon shells at the city.  Civilian casualties were estimated at roughly 15,000 and were kept that low only because the prevailing winds shifted early in the bombardment, blowing the gas out to sea.  Within 48 hours, the 38th Dragoons, 55th Infantry Division, and 286th Royal BattleMech Division launched a massive counterattack, blowing open a collapsed tunnel section and storming the Castle.  Through what all commanders involved deemed "unfortunate coincidence", less than two dozen RWR prisoners were taken, though persistent rumors state that attempts to surrender were quite common (local troops blamed communication interference for the confusion).

The Castle Brian threatening Strade (and whose defenders were mutilated in a series of attempted counterattacks across the River Strade during the opening hours of the invasion) surrendered without a fight on Christmas Day, 2772.  However, the final active Castle, near Devil's Point, held out through the beginning of February, as General Pantazi clustered the LXXII Corps and XVIII Corps in overwhelming numbers nearby.  Particular care needed to be taken in assaulting this Castle; part of its infrastructure was a major rail line.  The rail line was the primary transport link between the southern storm-wracked mining city of Sylvan and the remainder of the continent.  If severed, feeding the city's population of 350,000 would be impossible.

[Darrian Wolffe]

During this period, the 741st Royal Striker was pulled off the line of battle and given, as much as possible, rear-echelon duty.  Recognition for the incredible accomplishment achieved by the 741st during the initial invasion was universal - you've only just started having to buy your own drinks around mid-January.  Only three DropShips across the entire operation had been shot down, and only a single one of those was carrying troops (2 lance, Bravo Company, 1st Batt; lost with all hands).  Casualties for the operation were incredibly light; with Echo and Fox Companies being the only units seriously engaged and the only units to take casualties from combat action.

All was not perfect, of course.  Echo was used in shows of force against civilians in Strade on three separate occasions, though in only the first case did any combat develop when some of your supporting infantry had molotov cocktails lobbed their way.  Warning shots fired from Mech-scale weaponry at the pavement in front of the mob was sufficient to break them, and each successive time the mob got smaller and began breaking up as soon as the Olive Drab mechs of the SLDF appeared.

In early December, Major Freund removed Sergeant Orlov from the duty roster at the Sergeant's request.  Since being shot out of yet another Mech, and being caught in the middle of a battalion-scale combat action in his bare skin, Orlov's piloting acumen had steadily dropped, and his drinking and sleeplessness had worsened.  Everyone in the unit covered for him, but eventually his morale cracked completely.  In the company of Sergeant Marshall and Lieutenant Hanney, Orlov marched into the Major's office, confessed that he thought he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and requested relief from duty.  The Major reluctantly agreed, and within two weeks Orlov found himself on a DropShip leaving the system, bound for a staff assignment with SLDF battlemech design specialists eager to interview him regarding the performance of his Guillotine.

It was not until the 22nd of February that you received a replacement for the Sergeant.  By then, Echo was activated to help provide perimeter support for the major assault brewing against the Devil's Point Castle Brian.  The first you learned about it was when an SLDF-green Rifleman II stomped its way into your cantonment, locked its legs, and loudspeakered to a "Major Friend" that he was reporting for duty.  You had barely gotten the FNG's name - Carl Biron - and adjusted his IFF to your unit's settings when you heard the order to mount up.  The attack on the Castle was beginning.

The attack went off smoothly, with a large gap in the attacking formation - held only by a single scout lance - around the critical rail line.  An hour into the action, you began hearing crows of victory as SLDF MechWarriors began penetrating into the Castle Brian itself.  Suddenly, a panicked female voice came over the global comms channel.

"Radiological alert!  Radiological alert!  This is Cobra Recon Three-Six, we have a radiological alarm on our probes!  There's a train leaving the Castle on the northbound rail line and it's carrying a nuke!  Estimated yield 70 K-T, minimum.  All units, train is carrying refugees and active Mechs on flatbeds.  The fuckers have civilian hostages on the dammed train.  We have taken fire from the active Mechs on the train.  Request any available combat unit to intercept."

Voices crowd the channel.  Is that the only nuke?  What's destination?  Should we break off the attack to intercept?  The command channel light suddenly glows, and you hear General Pantazi's voice across the line.

"Echo Six, this is General Pantazi.  The rail line cuts though a series of hills three klicks south of your position.  Fan out and intercept that train.  You are not, I repeat -NOT - to cut the rail line or destroy the cab and derail the thing.  Get close, scan for which car has the nuke, and blow it to hell.  Destroy the enemy, save the civilians.  I'll be dammed if I let Summer turn into another Lone Star.  Prisoners will be at your discretion, Echo-Six.  General Pantazi, out."

[Darrian Wolffe]

The Great Train Kablooie
23 February, 2773

The Rim Worlds are going to plow a train carrying a nuclear device into a city, basically out of spite.  Stop the train, and try not to die yourselves.


Scenario Rules  

1) The Game set-up is as follows:
[][][][]
[][][][]  ->North

2) The Train will move from the south end of the board, along a pre-determined path, to the North end of the board.  The train consists of several hexes worth of attached "cars".  Each "Car" is targeted independently, and will remain attached to all other cars, even if destroyed (destroying a Car which is not the engine car will not derail the entire train).  The leadmost car is considered the "Engine" car.  The train has 4 MP on Turns 1 & 2, 5 MP on Turns 3-8, and 6 MP on turns 9+ (as it accelerates).

3) OPFOR units may leave the train at any time, by spending 2 Jumping MP and passing a PSR with a +1 modifier (in addition to all other modifiers).  A Mech Car may contain up to 6 Mechs. OPFOR Mechs firing from the train suffer a +3 to hit modifier, and impose a +1 penalty to attempts to hit them (they are not counted as being stationary).  A Mech car has a flat armor value of approximately 70, and the destruction of a mech car will immediately dismount all Mechs on board that car (count as 2-level fall) in the adjacent hexes, displacing as normal.

4) Passenger Cars have a flat armor value of approximately 50.  Individual attacks which deal more than 3 points of damage will deal every 4th point of damage to the passengers inside.

5) Gun Cars have a Gunnery Rating of 4, and a flat armor value of approximately 80, but suffer no penalty for their own movement.

6) A unit may move within 3 hexes of the train and, if it makes no attacks whatsoever that turn, may scan all train cars within 3 hexes and within Line of Sight of that unit's position (End Phase Action, TN 10 Sensor Operations check).  All details on all cars successfully scanned, including number and type of Mechs, surviving passengers, state of guns, and presence of the nuke, will be revealed by a successful check.

7) Once the nuke is revealed, the car must be destroyed (reduced to 0 armor).  Once the car is destroyed, a successful attack during the following turn which deals 8 or more damage will destroy the nuke.  There is a +1 target movement modifier (as the train is moving) to hit, and the shot counts as an aimed shot (+4 to hit, must roll 6, 7, or 8 to strike, otherwise shot missed; equipment and/or SPAs which affect an aimed shot DO affect this attack).

PC mechs may not physically board the train.

9) Units MAY move through the rail line hexes - these provide no cover and have no effect on LoS.
      

Special Game Rules
-ALL EDGE IS REFRESHED TO YOUR ATTRIBUTE VALUE



Objectives
1) Stop the entire Train from leaving the board
2) Do not destroy the Engine Car or the rail line itself
3) Destroy enemy units

[Death or Glory]

PC mechs may not physically board the train.

That sounds like a challenge.

[agustaaquila]

OOG: Beginning mental boarding

Ic:

Captian, from what I can see we need to get our best sensor people and scan the train before it gets moving too fast.  Then pop the nuke.  Everyone else should be on anti mech duty, or destroying the turrets.  I have nothing strong enough to destroy the nuke itself, but I can find it if I  get in range.

[Ice]

Sir from what I am seeing best bet is to have sensors on as soon as possible my suggestion would be the command lance. With the speed of our Griffins and Callahan's Shadowhawk we should be able to keep up, scan, and hopefully expose the nuke. With Hawkers Osprey we have the gauss to take it out plus his sensors if we can not find it. Seems like we are suited just right to the task at hand.