Big Battletech

The thing about Battletech: Alpha Strike is that the mechs and rules are massively simplified, which enable to play with far more toys on the table. Which is how, last night, we found ourselves playing a game with three players a side and over 70 mechs on the table.

Darren put together some lovely terrain. Scattered across the table are the red mechs - some kind of corporate samurai faction. This was their light company; off-table you can see the other two companies (medium and heavy) which would come on as reinforcements.

Opposing them was a group of mercenary mechs (the beige figures entering from the foreground). They had to fight their way to some objectives on the far side of the table. Initially all that stood in their was were the red light mechs.

Frankly we (for I was part of the mercenary team) made heavy weather of them. Specifically I did, showing a spectacular inability to hit them - for example over a couple of turns I took twelve shots at one opposing mech and score two hits. In one volley I rolled 2,3,and two 4s on 2D6 as my rolls to hit. It was pathetic.

We did manage to push forward on the flanks where there weren't so many enemy mechs.

Of course the reinforcements turned up before we'd even made a significant dent in the starter. Here two of Stuart's light mechs regret their decision to push forward so rashly, although you can just see a third that's jumped into the rear of the advancing reinforcements.

I sent a lance of heavy mechs down the other flank. They weren't fast, but with no opponents to shoot at they could sprint.

A view of the centre. In the foreground my other heavy mechs continue to fail to hit anything regardless of range. In the centre our other mechs gang up on some enemy lights.

A wider view. Top left you can see my flanking force pretty much at one of teh objectives, with the Red Perils reacting to it. Enemy lights are being mobbed in the centre, but there's a lot of heavier reinforcements on the way.

Weight of numbers (as well as weight of weight) actually does its work and a lot of enemy lights are finally polished off.

But this is what we'd now have to fight through. 

It was all a bit much. And it was getting late. So we called off the attack.

It was a fun game, although we were running a lot of stuff with some very inexperienced players, so the game didn't play as quickly as we'd hoped.

Thanks to Darren for putting it all together and to everyone else for an entertaining evening and for not mocking my terrible, terrible die rolls too badly.

Return To North Foreland

Over the weekend I replayed the hypothetical North Foreland ECW scenario that I tried a couple of weeks ago. I made a few small changes. Firstly I downgraded the C values of the ships - the two flagships were now C4 whilst the other ships from the original scenario were dropped to C2. In addition I gave each side one of the small ships - the Royalists got Satisfaction whilst the Commonwealth got Greyhound. In both cases they were Q3 C2 with Square Rigged and Shallow Draft

I used the same head-on approach as before, with the wind favouring both sides equally. The Commonwealth force barreled straight at the Royalists looking to fight a close action and use their superior boarding capabilities. In response the Royalists took a risk and turned upwind towards the land, aiming to force the Commonwealth vessels to do the same, slowing them and allowing the better Royalist gunnery at longer ranges to take effect.

The lead Royalist ship, Antelope, was the first to fire.

Even at long range the Royalists inflicted some hits on the Commonwealth vessels.

The Commonwealth force came on quickly, looking to turn at the last minute. Rather than try to work upwind into a storm of enemy gunnery their aim was to pick off the rear of the Royalist force, forcing the other ships to come back downwind to save them. Or abandon them  to their fate.

As the Commonwealth ships closed the Royalists kept up a steady fire. Both Lion and Unicorn had now taken damage. However the Royalist ship Swallow had steered wrong and was heading right into the heart of the Commonwealth force. 

Swallow ran alongside Lion. Unfortunately for the Commonwealth admiral, a shift in the wind saw them taken aback whilst favouring the Royalists. This left Lion unable to turn to come aboard Swallow and board. The two ships exchanged broadsides, though, and Swallow was damaged, including a hit to its tiller.

A lucky shot from the Royalist flag, Constant Reformation, saw a fire break out on the Commonwealth flag, George. It was quickly extinguished, but that was more damage on the Commonwealth force.

The shift of wind had caught the Commonwealth ships badly out of position and the Royalists exploited their chance, hitting them with long-range fire and they slipped between teh land and their opponents.

Antelope passed across the bow of Greyhound and raked it, causing massive damage.

Tiger came under fire from Contact Reformation and Convertine

With its rigging damaged there was a frank and somewhat violent exchange of views between some of the crew and the officers about which side they should really be on. Order was restored, but it left Tiger a spent force.

Greyhound was soon well ablaze.

The last ship in the Commonwealth line had been Constant Warwick, and whilst the rest of the squadron had floundered, its captain had turned it smartly to shadow the Royalists. This now left Antelope with something of a problem, as it was now very badly trapped between the Commonwealth vessel and the shallows.

Tiger struck, the first loss of the action.

The second loss was when Greyhound exploded. This was, in fact, a Royalist loss as just before the cataclysm the surviving crew had decided to throw in their lot with the Royalist cause.

The Royalists were heading for the northern edge of the board, and I reasoned that at this stage with the wind such that they weren't in a good position to turn and engage teh damaged Commonwealth squadron, they'd make a run for it. After all, they weren't really seeking a fight in the first place. The Commonwealth ships got their act together and turned in pursuit; they were better equipped with chaser guns than their opponents.

Constant Warwick was going after Antelope now, and survived a ragged broadside from James at it did so.

George was chasing Constant Reformation. 

And a shot from its chasers started a fire on board the Royalist flag.

Constant Warwick grappled and boarded Antelope, soon gaining the upper-hand in the fight.

James moved to engage George and take the pressure off Constant Warwick, which was having serious issues with the fire.

The little Satisfaction grappled Constant Warwick, leaving the Commonwealth ship fighting two actions. It rose to the challenge.

Despite being outnumbered Constant Warwick was slowly winning the fight against both of its opponents. 

Meanwhile James started a fire on George. 

The crew of the George extinguished that one as well, but the distraction caused the Commonwealth flagship to collide with the James. Both ships were damaged, and it was enough to cause the George to call it a day.

Satisfaction cut the grapples between it and Constant Warwick and made its escape. 

Antelope did the same. All of the Royalist ships were now safely sailing off the board edge.

Royalist damage. Constant Warwick was crippled and still on fire, so it was touch and go whether it would be abandoned. James and Satisfaction were also badly damaged. Antelope had suffered in the boarding action with Constant Warwick. Only Convertine and Swallow had escaped relatively unscathed; Swallow had damaged steering, but Convertine had survived without any damage at all.

Commonwealth damage was similar. They had lost Greyhound, and George was too badly damaged to continue the fight, as was Tiger. Lion was badly beaten up, and had lost its captain. Only Unicorn and Constant Warwick were in a reasonable condition, all the more remarkable in teh case of Constant Warwick which has engaged in a gunnery duel with two Royalist ships and then a boarding action with two ships afterwards.

So the Royalists got away leaving a battered Commonwealth squadron in their wake. However their own force was badly damaged, a lot of the loss occurring in the final escape and much of it at the hands of the plucky captain and crew of Constant Warwick. That one ship turned what could have been an embarrassing Commonwealth defeat into what was simply a bloody draw.