6 December, 3070
Clan Homeworlds
A short time ago, information came to the Watch from an unknown and highly secretive source which intimates that the Diamond Sharks are dealing Clan technology directly to the Federated Suns in the Inner Sphere; this action would go directly against the Grand Council's specific restrictions on their trade practices, and if true the consequences for the Sharks would be dire. At the dictate of the IlKhan, Watch forces landed on Priori and located the Diamond Shark Merchant Caste coordination facility so it may be seized and inspected in the name of the Grand Council.
Upon identifying the contraband and Diamond Shark headquarters facility in a compound far from any other settlement on the planet, Watch forces issued an ultimatum to the defending Diamond Shark forces. Surrender the facility under the authority of the Watch and the Ilkhan, or forfeit Clan conventions and be bombarded into dust from afar. The Diamond Sharks, showing their negotiating acumen, proposed a counter-offer: they invoked the right to declare a Trial of Refusal against the Ilkhan's orders, a trial would would double as a Trial of Possession for the facility. If the defending forces were victorious, the Ilkhan's orders would be refused and the Sharks would grant hegira - the right of retreat - to the Watch forces. If the Watch was victorious, they could take possession of the facility and all contents thereof.
Seeing that the alternative is to bombard the facility and lose the intelligence data, the Watch commander acquiesced to the proposed Trial.
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Game Setup
This game is played on four BattleTech mapsheets representing a Circle of Equals. These maps are determined randomly (see TW, pg 263). Maps MUST be laid out as indicated below, and may be arranged as chosen by the Watch player (ie, roll for the maps, do the bidding process, then lay out the maps).
Map Layout
east [][]......west
.......[][]
Deployment
OPFOR
OPFOR units enter on the north edge during their movement on Turn one.
Clan
Clan units enter the board along the south edge during their movement on Turn one.
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Game Rules
1) Forced Withdrawal rules are not in effect, but any player may CHOOSE to withdrawal a unit off-board via any board edge (or voluntarily shut their Mech down as an End Phase declaration) if it meets any of the following conditions: missing a limb, internal in 3 locations, no weapons remaining capable of dealing 7+ damage, 1 engine or gyro hit, 2+ pilot hits, no armor remaining on the head.
2) This game has no turn limit.
3) Aerospace units MUST be bid away during a player's first bid; they cannot remain within the designated Circle of equals at flight speeds.
4) Honorable Combat: Diamond Shark players must make a 2d6 roll in front of the GM or AGM. The result is kept secret. On an 7+, the Diamond Sharks may choose to break Zellbringen during the Trial. On any lower result, they must fight using Liberal Zellbringen for the entire Trial.
5) Any unit which exists the board area for any reason has left the Circle of Equals and counts as "destroyed" for purposes of determining the scenario victor only.
Warchest Rewards and Costs
Track Cost: 100
Objectives
1) Trial of Possession: Have the last unit capable of movement, and with at least one weapon functional and with ammo, within the Circle of Equals +300
2) Honor Above All: Victory through sheer mass is less than impressive. If you field more Assault-class units (any unit which weights more than 75 tons; a point of tanks counts as 2 units) than the Diamond Sharks, reduce the Track Reward for Objective 1 to 150 WCP instead of 300 WCP. If you field less Assault-class units than the Diamond Sharks, increase the Track Reward for Objective 1 to 400 WCP.
Options:
+100 Complicated Weather: Roll once on the Weather Table (pg.69, TO) and apply the result to the battlefield. Each player gets 1 free point of Edge to adjust this roll (you MAY spend your free point of edge to reroll your opponent's reroll)
Zellbringen (you MUST choose Liberal Zellbringen. If you lose the Trial, you receive HALF of the listed payout. If you win the Trial, you receive the full payout)
+100: Liberal Zellbringen: Clan forces must engage OPFOR using Zellbringen duelling** rules (ie, they must engage in 1-on-1 [or 1-on-2, 1-on-3, etc] duels with OPFOR units, may not use area-effect weapons, and may not use physical attacks. At the end of each phase in which the OPFOR combines fire, uses area-effect weapons and/or physical attacks, or breaks LOS for the second turn in a row, the Clan player must roll 2d6. On an 7+, the Clan player is freed from the confines of Zellbringen for the remainder of the scenario. For every subsequent turn in which the OPFOR breaks Zellbringen, the TN of this check is reduced by 1.) This cannot stack with any other Zellbringen option.
Track Exits
There are no track exit options for this scenario.