Mission 1 -
6/30/57
The arrival on planet went as planned as far as could be. The movement of dropships carried forces to staging areas as soon as they hit the tarmac. Delta deployed as part of a reinforced company to a repair and refit base as the temporary garrison relief. This was stated as a secure base but this would prove as anything but.
Upon arrival in true drac fashion the liason transmitted orders with patrol locations. The liason deploying alongside his personal guard on or near the southern battlements in an assumed overwatch role. Civilians still running amok were scattered across the tarmac and city. Fire Lance deployed on the southern tarmac along the main patrol road. Blitzkrieg deployed into the northeastern park entrance and Norbotten outside the western park entrance.
The opfor deployed in essentially a three pronged formation. The southwestern prong consisted of a mixed medium heavy lance supported by a heavy tank formation. The southeastern prong contained a fedsuns mixed medium assault lance. A small demi lance deployed due east and a mixed medium heavy lance completed the northeast prong.
The southwestern force would utilize cover through isolated cross streets to move and take the occasional pot shot down the street entrances. Quickly made clear the drac liason wanted nothing to do with this force issuing orders for the dual thumper turrets to level the city block. They obliged heavily with one mentioning something of the local union asking for a rubble quarry and more work.
This battle would be heavily dictated by firing pockets, firing lanes and in some cases sheer will. The combine would essentially hold the ramparts the majority of the battle. The only real thing of note being the loss of multiple spotters by textbook combine war tactics. The push into the enemy for direct combat and spotting. This would result in the entire southwest prong focusing and removing both mechs in the first half or so of the battle. The rest became direct fire support as was the intended role. The ppc turrets systematically were assaulted and removed in the early part of the battle but not before dealing damage to multiple units.
Norbotten would through the course of the battle split in two sections. One reinforcing the southern ramparts and would remain there while the other came south of the eastern park entrance to deter light elements attempting to break through and destroy the civilian units. Soon it became apparent that the north eastern flank needed help prompting a simultaneous squak from all three CO. This would be the relatively how Norbotten would remain for the remainder of the battle locked in combat among the terraces in support of Blitzkrieg. This support was heavily needed and important to prevent their near total crippling.
Blitzkrieg would for much of the battle play hide and seek peekaboo whack a mole style with the medium heavy lance to the north taking the heaviest damage with at least one unit being downed but recoverable. Specificly given the green light to pull back as needed it appeared that the choice became dig in. Although facing a smaller enemy they were not the least bit phased by what they encountered. Tenacious and unflinching with the words death to the combine painted on the mechs they gave much more than they got. The sudden appearance of an Axman prompted from medium concern to outright terror as not only did this signal the true push from the northeastern prong the axman hit the southern flank at the same time roughly. Quickly it came in among the tree covered terraces for brutal infighting and ire. When all was said and done Blitzkrieg wouldn't see the interior of the base until even after the recovery units dragged the downed Orion and the lances new fed suns Griffin back. Kicking the downed Axman on the way out.
The civilians units well ran for their lives and rightly so with the near miracle that they weren't killed in a few cases. The occasional FU heard on external speakers followed by small lasers or similar.
Fury would come in and do just as intended. Reinforce isolate and kill isolated units. With the artillery and dracs putting additional fire into the southwest prong this ended up being a fairly short engagement in some aspects but terrifyingly horrible in results. The continued artillery fire would continue to damage the southern vehicles forcing the prong to push forward.. The jaggermech found itself isolated and in the sights of the newly arrived entire fresh lance at the end of its street. This would result in one of the few non artillery related plumes of the day. Reviewed Gun cam footage showed extreme skill of the jagermech but the outright ferocity of the return fire rupturing the engine causing a catastrophic engine breach hitting many of its nearby companions. One pilot in the lance later was overhead talking about the gauss slug nearly taking its head off followed by a flashing light, smoke and debris. This would devolve further into a structural collapse with enforcer still above, the war dog running for its life only to run into the entire firing line and fury lance. Enforcer 2 simply ceased to exist once it took a full battery to its back from Fury 1. The scare came as drac artillery attempted to coordinate fire between the liason, Dracs, Fury and Fire. This did not go as planned as the targets were coordinated but Fury lance CO simply yelled "If I get hit with artillery it's my fault." That was exactly what would happen following the broken communication. Which did not stay broken for long. A shell landed near if not on top of the opfor tanks but also the Wraith of fury lance a nice new convertible with additional component damage the shrapnel missing by the grace of God. The communications line came back and after many minutes of swearing back and forth resolved itself.
Fire Lance deployed on the southern tarmac at the closest road for outer perimeter guard. Attempting to survey the land they didn't get very far and were essentially caught in an opening among the tarmac and city edge. This looked to be something of a conundrum but ended up playing into the plan. Seeing the opening ranges Fire Lance went into generating the lightning storm that would continue throughout the remainder of the battle in the south and center of the battlefield. As the fed suns units closed they began to push into the open gaps allowing Fire Lance to position slightly better firing lanes minimizing the possible return fire. Leading to several turns of severe damage among some of the southeast prong with near nothing in return. As this continued rather than pulling back it was decided to hold this pocket forcing the opfor CO to choose how they wanted to be hurt. The pocket shifted as needed maximizing firing lanes isolating primary and secondary targets each turn melting much of the armor that it set its might on. The first surprise came to a centurion which attempted to use cover but misjudged only to be outright cored in one volley. So much electrical interference may have contributed to the lack of overlapping precise fire periodically into targeted locations later however. The opfor CO decided the turrets were the path of least resistance. Opfor CO chose his path and without much to be done to break the bad position they pushed. For several turns this resulted in near 1 on 4 fire with no fire at all from the assault group. They withered into the flank of the ppc towers for cover regrouping yo try pushing the corner in force. They did just that which then promptly ended the cyclops, followed by the Enfield in back to back volleys. The Sentinel ran its morale broken its arms flailing about. Cam footage would later show just why there was such surprise. Out of pity and embarrasment everyone simply looked the other way opting not to shoot it that weapons cycle. This about signaled the end of battle while additional arty finished the tanks long and medium range fire was exchanged with the last remaining mech the gunslinger. Signaling it had enough and with enough damage done it was agreed it could leave.
The multi prong push was heavily stalled and placement not optimal. The Rangers blunted the tip of the spears and shattered the attack. They left wondering was this really an objective raid?
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Topic: GEMINI Mission 1 - 6/30/57 (Read 2085 times)