Greetings all! May this Christmas find you with everything you need, and most of what you want.

I took Monday off and headed to Mid-South Hobbies & Games (BTW, check out their website. It looks nice!). I needed to repair a lot of my damaged 40k stuff, and was actually sorting chits for my old hex-and-counter game 7th Fleet when these two walked in, carrying some Battletech stuff:

Everybody, meet Andrew (L) and Stephen (R). After some chit-chat, we got down to negotiating. They didn’t have a lot of time, and MSH closes at 4 on Mondays, so we decided on a short game of 6,000 BV2 per side.

My forces consisted of a Marauder, Bushwhacker, a RAC armed Centurion variant, and Jenner. I actually came in about 60 points light.

I faced a Longbow, Hunchback IIC, a Black Lanner and a Penetrator.

I took shots at the end of each turn. First turn, we all came on, with everybody on one side, but the Hunchback, who thought he would try a flanking maneuver. Too bad he’s a 4/6/4.

Turn 2: The faster Mechs make contact. The Marauder sets so he’s in range of the Longbow, but out of the Longbows range. The Marauder actually scores a hit with a PPC. The Black Lanner runs right up to the Centurion, and hits with everything but the kitchen sink. Too bad the first shot rolled, a Clan ER PPC, takes the head clean off. We decided that further rolling was not necessary. The Centurion and Jenner return fire, and both totally whiff.

Here’s a close-up shot of the dead Centurion.:

Turn 3: Now I’m upset! The Marauder and Longbow move into position to trade shots, while the overheated Jenner hides beside a building. The Black Lanner backs up, right into the sights of the Bushwhacker, who unleashes a fusillade of fire. The AC/10 hits the head, while the other weapons cause a smattering of damage. Considering the AC/10 does 10 points of damage to the 9 points of armor, I caused a point of internal structure damage. Rolling for critical hit chance, I roll…BOXCARS! Blew his head clean off! Payback! But before going down, the Black Lanner burns the entire left arm off the Jenner.

Here’s the long view of the end of the third turn:

Turn 4: The Marauder and Longbow close to short range and exchange more fire. The Marauder gets a hit in his Gauss Rifle Ammo bin. Thankfully, that stuff doesn’t go “boom!” He also receives two engine crits, one from a golden BB. Meanwhile, the Penetrator moves over to support the Longbow and gang up on the Marauder. The Bushwhacker, drunk with blood, runs up behind the Penetrator. The seriously overheated Jenner decides to hide and cool off. The Hunchback IIC (remember him?) is still plodding his way into the battle. The Bushwhacker fires at the Penetrator, and hits the head with the AC/10. No crit though. Drat. The Penetrator, hoping to help finish off the now seriously wounded Marauder (who goes under forced withdrawal due to two engine hits) hits the clown button…and fails his “Avoid Shutdown” roll. Oops.

Turn 5: The Marauder is overheated to the point where he can’t move. So what does he do? Fires a PPC! I don’t remember if it hit. The cooled-off Jenner runs close to the Penetrator. Seeing the Bushwhacker has the Penetrator under control, the Jenner doesn’t fire. The pilot of the Bushwhacker takes his hands off the controls, cracks his knuckles, and hits the clown button, using aimed shots. The AC/10 and Large Laser hit the CT rear doing major internal damage, one LRM 5 actually hits (not aimed), and the machine guns go for the head. One MG hits and polishes off the two remaining internal structure left in the head, killing the pilot. YEAH!

Here’s the long view at the end of the turn:

Turn 6: Things aren’t looking too good for Andrew and Stephen. They lost two Mechs, one is still not in the fight, and their assault Mech is about to be surrounded. The Jenner runs up to the Longbow, but whiffs with everything. The Marauder backs up and fires again, and the Bushwhacker unloads into the Longbow. The Longbow fails his PSR and goes down.

Turn 7: We are getting close to the time my opponents have to leave, Don comes over to ask, “How much longer?”, a sure hint he’s about to lock us in the store. We decide to make this the last turn. The Jenner runs around behind the Longbow and shoots him in the back, but he might as well be a mosquito on a giant. The Marauder backs up more, firing as he goes. The Bushwhacker again unloads into the Longbow. The Longbow misses with all of his shots. The Hunchback IIC (remember him?) seeing the battle finished before he could get into the fight, in a show of frustration alpha strikes into the nearest building, destroying it.

At this point the game was called. With me losing one Mech, and having another under Forced Withdrawal, but killing two and seriously wounding the Longbow, I managed to eke out a Minor Victory. Yay me!