AAR - Mission 5
LCO: Major Kelswa
The Wolf Clan forces deployed with the 2nd line star to the northwest, the light nova guarding the easiest access point to the northeast, the assault star anchoring the southwest while the medium star and remaining elementals were deployed to the southwest. This was mostly as expected based on the available intel. With the allied forces committed to assaulting from the east, Major Kelswa took the tough assignment and would tackle the assault star with a goal of pinning it in place allowing the other Ranger forces to secure a foothold on the plateau. As normal, things went sideways from the first moment of engagement.
Blitzkrieg, Marigold and Foil struck hard and fast from the north. A combination of miscommunication on the Wolves part along with some good and lucky shooting in the opening salvo destroyed the UTR powering up the northeast Union-C, securing an early objective. The light nova charged off the plateau to engage allied and Ranger forces and ended up pinning in place an excited allied assault lance. The second line star also advanced off the plateau to engage Ranger forces and while boasting the heaviest mechs on the field, were outnumbered, out tonned and out gunned by Blitzkrieg and Marigold who needed to get through it to make the plateau.
Early maneuverings saw combined fire on both Ehreschuld's Battlemaster as well as the Wolves Man O' War, with both mechs dropping in the second volley. Ehreschuld's fire was enough to trigger an engine explosion in the Man O' War damaging the rest of the assault star that was tightly grouped and doing minor damage to the Lion dropship. The light nova further drove into the allied forces. Understanding that the Lyrans were rookies, a concerted effort to bring down one or more of the Lyran units might see the route of the allies, roughly a quarter of all the forces arrayed against the Wolves. It is a credit to the training provided by the Rangers, that despite engaging the Clan forces and taking significant fire, all Lyran forces maintained their cool and remained engaged throughout.
Another couple of volleys would see Blitzkrieg, Marigold and Foil reach the northern edge of the plateau, still taking fire from the remnants of the second line star, but able to threaten much of the loading units. Allied forces moved to recover MAJ Kelswa and MSGT Price and providing longer range support. The least skilled of the deployed allies in the lightest units, Ehreschuld would not toss them into the close engagement that the exchange became as far less effort would be required to drop the lighter allied units. The tactics didn't come without cost as focused fire from both the medium star and the assault star took their toll. The Ostwar was cored and Ehreschuld's Ebon Jaguar took heavy damage. The Rangers acquitted themselves well, focusing down the Madcat Prime and once again triggering an engine explosion, incinerating the remains of the mech, damaging more of the assault star, again damaging the Lion dropship and ensuring there was little recognizable of the Ostwar.
Paladin's arrival cemented the turning point in the battle. His LAM chased the Mobile HQ while his other forces pressured the medium star, easing the pressure on Ehreschuld. The assault star finished off the Ebon Jaguar and was forced to contend with Paladin's forces from the south and the bulk of the Ranger forces coming in from the north. Marigold, Blitzkrieg and Foil were doing an excellent job wrapping up forces and attacking trucks trying to load onto the dropships. Wolf reinforcements struck from the west and would ultimately core Blitzkrieg's Highlander in the waning moments of the battle. They arrived too late though to have a significant impact on the battle. One of the Union-Cs did manage to escape, damaging friendly and Ranger forces in the wash of it's leaving. The destruction of one of the cargo trucks and the detonation of its cargo - long tom artillery shells, destroyed another similar cargo truck and the two explosions did more significant damage to the Lion. A desperate effort was made to protect the last UTR by the remaining clan forces, but were overwhelmed by the Rangers who destroyed it before they could finish powering up. Once aware that they couldn't leave, lacking power and having taken damage to their engines, they surrendered.
An offer was sent immediately by Lyran Command to the Colonel, offering the Rangers a choice of Clan dropships (emptied) and the mobile recovery unit in exchange to forgo all salvage from the battle. In the end the Colonel declined, the Rangers split the spoils and wrapped the contract.
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Topic: SAPPHIRE Mission 5 - 1/1/3061 (Read 2288 times)