Let's play: Battletech via MegaMek

[$iljanus]

I'm for the terrain that gives us the best cover to dart around in. forest or factory. Mountains too if there's an advantage there.

Put me in any mech.

[Hyena]

I'm for the terrain that gives us the best cover to dart around in. forest or factory. Mountains too if there's an advantage there.

Put me in any mech.

Same to all of the above.

[El Guapo]

Is my Marauder still out of service? Am I out of service?

I'm inclined to say the forest, since that would help mitigate the Clan range advantage, and since my guy has the forest "terrain master" ability, though the latter doesn't matter if my guy is out of service.

[NickAragua]

Is my Marauder still out of service? Am I out of service?

Yes to both. Right torso is gone, right arm needs to be attached after the torso is rebuilt, cockpit needs to be re-wired (thanks, auto-ejection system). Your guy is still throwing up every five seconds from massive stomach trauma.

[El Guapo]

Is my Marauder still out of service? Am I out of service?

Yes to both. Right torso is gone, right arm needs to be attached after the torso is rebuilt, cockpit needs to be re-wired (thanks, auto-ejection system). Your guy is still throwing up every five seconds from massive stomach trauma.

Ok - I'll defer to the still active mechwarriors on this then.

Also, I'm going to set up a livestream of my vomiting to Jade Falcon. Hopefully they'll decline taking me as a bondsman if we lose.

[Leraje]

Is my Marauder still out of service? Am I out of service?

Yes to both. Right torso is gone, right arm needs to be attached after the torso is rebuilt, cockpit needs to be re-wired (thanks, auto-ejection system). Your guy is still throwing up every five seconds from massive stomach trauma.

Ok - I'll defer to the still active mechwarriors on this then.

Also, I'm going to set up a livestream of my vomiting to Jade Falcon. Hopefully they'll decline taking me as a bondsman if we lose.

Pretty sure you are past your shelf life as far as falcons are concerned anyway

[El Guapo]

Is my Marauder still out of service? Am I out of service?

Yes to both. Right torso is gone, right arm needs to be attached after the torso is rebuilt, cockpit needs to be re-wired (thanks, auto-ejection system). Your guy is still throwing up every five seconds from massive stomach trauma.

Ok - I'll defer to the still active mechwarriors on this then.

Also, I'm going to set up a livestream of my vomiting to Jade Falcon. Hopefully they'll decline taking me as a bondsman if we lose.

Pretty sure you are past your shelf life as far as falcons are concerned anyway

Look, if we lose the inner sphere forces are pretty much screwed, as I think the Falcons are finally going to listen to the merits of my blimp brigade ideas.

[xwraith]

My shade lurks on the sidelines -- good luck!

But just in case I can influence something from the grave -- bring a couple of Catapults (they all have JJs IIRC) and that Thunderbolt.

Maybe form up a LRM lance for focus fire LRM pelting with a CPLT-C1 & the Trebuchet 3C -- too bad we don't have more.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Siljanus - Thunderbolt TDR-5SS
Leraje - Grasshopper
Trebuchet
Annihilator
Phoenix Hawk 3D
Catapult CPLT-C1
Mountain map

"Assault lead to all lances. Remember, they have a range advantage. Use the terrain for cover and get in close. Gang up on loose mechs, take them out quickly. Pull back when you get shot up."

This is easily the largest ground battle we've been in.

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Our two forces advance, the initial range too high even for the clan weapons.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 switches incoming comms just to command lance and company leaders - trying to listen in on 30+ mechwarriors at the same time doesn't really help anyone coordinate anything. Things heat up a little as the clanners open up with long range weapons. Nothing much hits, though, except the Annihilator, which takes a laser to the right arm from a distant Ryoken.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

"Epsilon-Two, Three, target the... " Zenn7 begins, but this is completely impossible to manage. "Eh, screw it. Fire at will." He amends, unnecessarily, watching as the Hatamoto-Hi that has outpaced his Awesome absorbs multiple PPC shots and drops to a knee.

A bunch of LRMs arc out from our side, responding to the long-range direct fire from the clan mechs, but most do not hit.

Paingod moves his "spare" Phoenix Hawk 3D west, getting a little bit a head of the formation. He ducks the mech down under a gauss slug fired by a distant Thor, but is unable to avoid a large pulse laser stitching holes across the mech's left torso. His return fire, however, nails the Thor in the right arm and center torso, extended-range lasers proving their worth and melting some serious armor.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

Our Annihilator gets pounded - not a surprise, given that it's the biggest mech on the field. The mechwarrior returns fire, scoring an AC/10 hit on a Ryoken, but a pair of PPC blasts flay open its right torso armor, popping a pair of heat sinks and one of the four autocannons - the mech is unable to stay upright and drops to the ground, crunching its right shoulder and a second autocannon.

Round 5:

Spoiler:

Paingod's Phoenix Hawk takes a PPC shot to the right arm, nearly removing the limb entirely.

A Ryoken makes the mistake of moving into Zenn7's weapons range, eating three PPC shots. Its armor holds, but.

Leraje engages the Thor that Paingod picked at earlier, taking a gauss slug to the left torso and a pulse laser blast to the left leg.

A pair of lighter units, a Dragonfly and a Fenris, run south, engaging our mechs there. We fire wildly, but our Raven's right torso is destroyed and right arm is blown off by a PPC blast from the Fenris. Said Fenris is kicked by our little Javelin and has to take a knee. That's gonna cost him.

Our Annihilator reports that the mech has had it - apparently a couple of PPCs to the center torso are sometimes enough to wreck the engine shielding and crack the gyro. The last two AC/10 bursts it fires connect with a Ryoken, so it wasn't a complete waste of time to bring it.

Our Hatamoto-Hi blasts the offending Thor with a PPC, scoring a nasty hit on the left leg - it starts limping, then trips and falls over.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

Our Annihilator's operator takes a second to catch her breath and turn off some of the more annoying alarms. The mech really is done - there's basically one ton of armor left on the entire thing (mostly on the back), both arms are in some stage of falling off, and the engine is slowly melting through the internal structure. Our Raven's operator takes off as well.

"Gotcha." Paingod smirks as he fires up the Phoenix Hawk's jump jets to land behind a Thor. The mech's right arm leaves behind a few pieces of loose armor that have shaken off, but now it's just him and the Thor's rear armor. The Thor lets loose a gauss slug at one of our other Phoenix Hawks further down the field, blasting its right arm in half as it fires on a Ryoken, failing to breach armor. Paingod squeezes the trigger on the Phoenix Hawk's lasers, cutting through the Thor's rear armor - the enemy mech lurches, indicating gyro damage, giving our mechwarrior a chance to walk a pulse laser over the head - this apparently causes the enemy mechwarrior to pass out, because the Thor drops backwards.

The downed Fenris, meanwhile, simply gets up and runs about halfway across the battlefield. So much for taking a knee reducing a mech's mobility.

Zenn7 smirks as a follow-up PPC shot at the Ryoken he'd just targeted causes its right arm to explode - the mech remains intact, but that LRM launcher isn't going to be shooting anything any more.

Leraje's Grasshopper crests a hill to engage several clan mechs and takes an armor breach to the left torso from a Ryoken that spots it, popping a heat sink. Leraje scores several hits on a Loki at the base of the hill - it returns fire with a pair of PPC shots from a distant Loki to finish the job the Ryoken started, the Grasshopper's arm spinning off into the distance.

Our Merlin joins the rest of our mechs in cresting the hill and immediately takes a blast from a Ryoken mounting a monster autocannon, our mech's right torso and arm disappearing under the hail of shells. The left arm is cut off by lasers from the same mech - our mechwarrior returns fire, but the Ryoken's armor holds. The Merlin keels over forward.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

"Let's roll that flank up. Ranger Lance, Rally on Epsilon-Two's nav point." Freyland orders, seeing the opening that the Thor going down has left us. Drazzil quickly finishes off the downed mech with a few lasers through the center torso, then moves on.

The Fenris comes back for another run, this time blasting our non-Paingod-controlled Phoenix Hawk 3D with a PPC in the back - the armor breach then lets a couple of streak SRMs in to crack open the engine shielding and gyro, sending it to a knee. The Fenris absorbs an amazing amount of firepower from us, but only comes away with a couple of armor breaches - but does wind up on the ground, where our Thunderbolt stomps its right arm flat. And most of the right torso (though, amazingly enough, none of the equipment there).

Round 8:

Spoiler:

"Target that Loki, stay clear of the Gladiator." Freyland calls out. The Gladiator has an ultra AC/20, so the two lances swinging around the west flank do their best to follow the instruction.

Except for Paingod, who jumps in behind the 95-tonner, hoping to get another round of rear armor shots in. A Loki sees him do this, tracks the mech, and blows out the 45 tonner's right arm with a PPC, while the left arm is cracked by a nearby Black Hawk. Paingod squeezes the trigger on his lasers, peeling some leg armor off the Gladiator before losing all weapons. As our mechwarrior attempts to keep the mech upright, the Gladiator turns around and more or less saws it in half with the ultra autocannon. The structural integrity indicator shows the center torso is intact, but about a third of the XL engine got peeled off, and the mech shuts down.

The Javelin takes pulse laser fire from a Ryoken, resulting in two armor breaches but no critical damage.

In the center of the battlefield, our Hunchback and the Ryoken B have an AC/20 duel. The Hunchback's right-side armor basically disappears under a hail of autocannon fire - the nearby Loki takes advantage of it to pepper our mech's right side with laser and SRM fire, taking out the autocannon and right arm. Our mech's return fire causes a rear armor breach on the Ryoken, popping a heat sink, while follow-up lasers slice the right arm off and crack the engine shielding. The HUnchback is brought to the ground by the attack.

Thud and our Trebuchet plink off a few battle armor troopers with PPC and LRM fire ("Were those part of the declared forces?" our mechwarrior wonders), while AWS and our Catapult try unsuccessfully to fend off the Dragonfly as it pings lasers and SRMs off the Catapult's armor.

[Battle commentary: Turns out a battalion sized engagement takes a while to resolve. Currently, we're about even in terms of # of mechs crippled/destroyed. LRM ammo is still holding up pretty good, and, more importantly, our Awesomes are still pristine, so we can put a good number of deadly-accurate PPC shots down-range to make a dent in that thick Clan armor.]

[Hyena]

Did I get thrown into a mech, or am I out of action?

[NickAragua]

Did I get thrown into a mech, or am I out of action?

Your guy's left leg is still stitched together, so you're listening in on comms chatter.

[Hyena]

Did I get thrown into a mech, or am I out of action?

Your guy's left leg is still stitched together, so you're listening in on comms chatter.

Ah, crap. Forgot about that.

[$iljanus]

The Fenris absorbs an amazing amount of firepower from us, but only comes away with a couple of armor breaches - but does wind up on the ground, where our Thunderbolt stomps its right arm flat. And most of the right torso (though, amazingly enough, none of the equipment there).

Bring it, you bald freaks! (Damn they build them tough. Respect! Maybe after all this you can be my bondsman. )

[El Guapo]

Can we have a dramatic scene where I swoop in out of nowhere and blast a Clan mech right before it's about to kill one of our guys? Then the other mechwarrior says "I thought you were stuck in the Med Bay", and then I pause before replying "And let you guys have all the fun? Not a chance."

[Freyland]

Can we have a dramatic scene where I swoop in out of nowhere and blast a Clan mech right before it's about to kill one of our guys? Then the other mechwarrior says "I thought you were stuck in the Med Bay", and then I pause before replying "And let you guys have all the fun? Not a chance."

It will have to be at the end of the battle, given how slow blimps are.

[NickAragua]

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Freyland's medium lance continues engaging the a Gladiator, Ryoken, Blackhawk and Loki to the west, to mixed success. The Loki covers the Gladiator's back, blowing through our Javelin's left side with lasers - the damage cuts the left arm off entirely, disables the missile launcher and cracks the gyro.

Our lance causes some damage to the Stormcrow, including a head shot by Bass's Griffin, fire from Drazzil and rear laser attacks by Freyland, but the 55-tonner remains upright. The right side of Drazzil's mech subsequently disappears as the Gladiator turns its monster autocannon and PPC on our medium mech.

To the north, our light lance engages some battle armor and a couple of lighter mechs. For a while, the two groups were at an impasse, but our light mechs, despite their maneuverability, just lack the staying power of the superior clan machines - our Firestarter takes a leg hit, stumbling upon landing, and allowing a 40-ton machine the tac interface identifies as a Battle Cobra to spear its left torso with pulse lasers, detonating the ammo bin.

In the center, the clans abandon the ridge almost entirely - Angel brings the Flashman out around it to engage a Loki, taking some fire from a retreating Ryoken. Laser fire damages the Flashman's left leg, blowing out an actuator and a heat sink. The Loki takes an armor breach on the left arm in return. The retreating Ryoken loses an arm to a PPC from our Griffin, and takes a few LRMs from one of our Dervishes that blow out a heat sink. Our Hatamoto-Hi loses the right arm and a PPC.

Round 10:

Spoiler:

The clan units are studiously keeping out of range of Zenn7's PPCs, leaving our mechwarrior to fry some battle armor troopers instead. Thud swings the Awesome around to the left, finally catching that annoying little Dragonfly, blasting it in the left torso and sending its heat reading skyrocketing as the engine shielding is breached. It appears that the enemy mechwarrior fails to reach the shutdown override button, because the mech suddenly seizes up and keels over.

Angel continues engaging the Loki, whose mechwarrior is unable to get away - a few lasers hit the enemy mech's left leg, frying an actuator. One of our Dervishes joins in, blowing the damaged leg off with a couple of SRMs, while frying the left arm with lasers. The Loki is pretty beat up, but then a laser comes from a distant Ryoken, spearing through the Flashman's center torso and taking out our mech's gyro - the 75-tonner wobbles and falls to the ground. The Loki doesn't make it either, as our Guillotine lands behind it and fries its engine into shutdown.

To the west, Freyland's Cronus takes multiple pulse laser blasts from a Ryoken, frying the right arm laser and an actuator, while another laser brushes across the cockpit. The Gladiator also targets our mech, but the Cronus' center torso armor holds up under the considerable firepower. Still, our Phoenix Hawk and Bass's Griffin bring the enemy Loki to a knee.

Round 11:

Spoiler:

Bass jumps away from the Loki for a second to get a little breathing room and lands next to some battle armor, which proceeds to pelt his Griffin with SRMs and flamer fire, some of the ordnance getting through the armor and dinging the engine shielding. Him and the Loki exchange fire on his way out, his Griffin losing the right arm to a pair of PPC shots while the Loki's right leg gives out. Not a bad trade - the Griffin is effectively disarmed (except for a single LRM/5), but the Loki is as well. Bass stomps a nearby battle armor trooper to prevent the little jerks from swarming all over his mech, then pulls back, hitting the shutdown override button - with just an LRM/5 launcher, there's not much that the Griffin can do.

Freyland jumps east to help our Phoenix Hawk with the Ryoken, but the Gladiator keeps sawing away with its ultra autocannon, rapid firing the weapon until the Cronus simply disintegrates. The Gladiator's anti-missile system swats some LRMs that come its way from our Trebuchet as our counterattack comes in ineffectively.

Round 12:

Spoiler:

Zenn7, our Hatamoto-Chi and the Catapult take out the Battle Cobra that had nailed one of our light mechs earlier, moving up north to finish circling the remaining clan mechs - it's right section disappears under PPC, laser and LRM fire, and the mech falls over. Said light lance is pretty reduced in number - it started out with two Ostscouts, a Spider and an Assassin, but now it's just an Ostscout with a damaged leg and an Assassin.

Round 13:

Spoiler:

Seems like the clanners are reaching their equipment's breaking point. So are we, but...

Thud takes about half the torso off a Ryoken after an SRM bin blows under PPC fire, sending the arm flying over a nearby hill. Our Guillotine, moving to support the Awesome and finishing the staggering Ryoken off suddenly collapses as the Gladiator, having finished off most of Freyland's flanking force, tracks the autocannon upwards along its torso, removing the head.

"Come, surats, taste the fury of the Falcon's Claws!" comes a transmission over the open frequency.

To the south, the Dragonfly somehow has managed to recover and gets in a nasty shot on Siljanus' Thunderbolt - our mechwarrior and two other mechs have been camping out on the ridge sending a steady stream of LRMs and PPC fire down hill, but Siljanus' fire is interrupted by arm and actuator damage, as well as an SRM to the dome. He returns fire, stripping armor from the light mech's leg. This allows our Hunchback, which is down to a pair of lasers, to run in and kick the staggering mech down to a knee.

Round 14:

Spoiler:

Thud's Awesome rocks as the left arm armor is breached by a gauss slug from a distant Loki, the impact throwing our mechwarrior's aim off and making him hit the target Thor with only one PPC. The Thor is also targeted by one of our Ostrocs that jumps in close, frying the larger mech's PPC with lasers, while a Griffin takes its left arm autocannon out of action.

A Black Hawk tries to get in behind Thud's mech, but AWS is on the job, grazing its head with the Phoenix Hawk LAM's snub-nose PPC, while cutting chunks of armor off with lasers. It's not enough to prevent our assault mech from taking more lasers and a head shot, however.

Zenn7, the Hatamoto-Hi, the Catapult and an Ostscout engage a pair of Black Hawks, Zenn7 blasting one in the leg with a PPC, blowing out a jump jet and the hip actuator. It staggers forward a little, so the two other PPC shots track upwards, the second hitting the right torso, the third hitting the head, exposing the cockpit. The Hatamoto-Hi moves forward and loses a pulse laser from its left torso, also taking damage to the left arm. The Ostscout finishes off the Black Hawk's leg, while the Hatamoto-Hi's left torso is disabled by residual fire from the now-mostly-weaponless Thor, LRMs exploiting an LBX autocannon breach and cracking the gyro housing.

To the west, our Phoenix Hawk continues trying to delay the Gladiator, to not much effect - its left arm is blown off by a Black Hawk covering the larger mech, while the 95-tonner lets rip with the autocannon, nearly cracking our 45-tonner's left leg and removing the right arm, leaving it weaponless.

The ridge is finally secured as our Hunchback blasts the Dragonfly in the hip with its remaining lasers, though not before it cripples our Griffin with a few lasers to the rear. The lighter mech staggers, letting our Trebuchet 3C get in a shot on its center torso, melting some engine shielding.

[Battle commentary: We've got this in the bag, but god damn that Gladiator is a freaking monster.]
---

"Come on, you dumb bastards, give it up." Wolf mouths quietly, watching the battle progress in the holotank in the dropship. Though both forces have taken heavy casualties, it's obvious that the clan forces are not doing as well - of their mechs, only three show as green, three as yellow and two as red. The rest show as combat ineffective or destroyed. Meanwhile, our force is closing in on the remaining clan forces, which are steadily being pushed back to the west. As our mechwarrior watches, our Catapult stomps another clan mech, designated a Nova on their display, drops to the ground and its combat effectiveness indicator goes black.

Star Commander Bella scoffs. "Would you, bondsman?"

Wolf sighs. "I don't know. If I was you, I would have let us mercs withdraw by now, done a prisoner exchange, gotten paid, and been on my way."

Bella's expression doesn't change. "To where, working for another disloyal 'great house', who has no problem abandoning you at their convenience?"

Wolf shrugs. "That's the way it is, yeah. Take a break, fix and upgrade our mechs, then back into it. Pays pretty well, and those of us that decide to retire do quite well for ourselves."

Bella spreads her arms. "Retire. Dying of old age. Ugh. It does not have to be that way, you know. We, of Clan Jade Falcon, are fighting to restore the Star League."

It's Wolf's turn to smirk. "So are all the successor states. It sucks. But we don't really fight for them. We fight for each other" followed up by an eyeroll "... and the money. And the loot. What makes you any better?"

"Because we *are* the Star League." Bella states. "Our ancestors in the Star League Defense Force left the Inner Sphere centuries ago, disgusted by the infighting of these petty successor states. Now, we return." She paces. "We make our way to Terra, to re-take the throne world of humankind." She stops, looking at Wolf. "We will bring these pretenders to heel and re-unite humanity under a new golden age. You have a chance to be a part of this. To fight for something other than money or scraps from the tables of these dezgra house forces." She smirks. "If our Star Colonel fails here, like I believe he is about to do, he will either die or be challenged for his rank. I will be entering a Trial of Position for one of the rank slots that frees up as a result. You will have a chance to take a Trial of Position as well, cut your bond-cord and become a real mechwarrior. Imagine driving one of our superior BattleMechs, instead of this Inner Sphere trash!" She looks at Wolf, seemingly expecting an answer.

[$iljanus]

Not too bad for a bunch of mangy surats...

[Freyland]

Did I die?

[Leraje]

What's the final butcher's bill - men and materiel?

[Zenn7]

We won't just live to fight another day, get another contract and repeat...

We performed better than anyone helping us, successfully fought a trial of refusal to escape the clan by their own rules!

Our price to be hired is going up through the roof!!!

[$iljanus]

We won't just live to fight another day, get another contract and repeat...

We performed better than anyone helping us, successfully fought a trial of refusal to escape the clan by their own rules!

Our price to be hired is going up through the roof!!!

We should be a minor house after this is over!

[gbasden]

We won't just live to fight another day, get another contract and repeat...

We performed better than anyone helping us, successfully fought a trial of refusal to escape the clan by their own rules!

Our price to be hired is going up through the roof!!!

We should be a minor house after this is over!

Yes, with our four remaining combat capable mechs we will be a force to be feared!

[$iljanus]

We won't just live to fight another day, get another contract and repeat...

We performed better than anyone helping us, successfully fought a trial of refusal to escape the clan by their own rules!

Our price to be hired is going up through the roof!!!

We should be a minor house after this is over!

Yes, with our four remaining combat capable mechs we will be a force to be feared!

Well, after a suitable rebuilding period of course. I’ve heard that blimps might be an economical solution in the meantime...

[Leraje]

We won't just live to fight another day, get another contract and repeat...

We performed better than anyone helping us, successfully fought a trial of refusal to escape the clan by their own rules!

Our price to be hired is going up through the roof!!!

We should be a minor house after this is over!

Yes, with our four remaining combat capable mechs we will be a force to be feared!

Well, after a suitable rebuilding period of course. I’ve heard that blimps might be an economical solution in the meantime...

Right... attach a deploy-able balloon to every mech so that when they are legged the excessive heat can be utilized to to create lift and provide mobility...

[NickAragua]

Did I die?

Unlikely, the cockpit of your Cronus is intact, so unless the post-battle roll is *really* bad, you should be ok.

What's the final butcher's bill - men and materiel?

I'll figure it out in detail after the fight finishes (the clanners aren't actually giving up yet), but we're probably going to be down a company of light and medium mechs after this fight, along with a Guillotine and at least one KIA mechwarrior. It'll be worse if we lose, of course (but it's unlikely at this point).

Overall, during the invasion, we lost a pretty large number of aerospace fighters (at least 33%), and a non-trivial number of mechs/mechwarriors. Exact count will be updated in the end, but we'll still be ~battalion sized, just with a lot less spare/high tech mechs.

[gbasden]

Overall, during the invasion, we lost a pretty large number of aerospace fighters (at least 33%), and a non-trivial number of mechs/mechwarriors. Exact count will be updated in the end, but we'll still be ~battalion sized, just with a lot less spare/high tech mechs.

Good thing we kept a lot of spares. Even if some of them, like the poor lamented Annihilator, didn't exactly shine.

[Leraje]

Overall, during the invasion, we lost a pretty large number of aerospace fighters (at least 33%), and a non-trivial number of mechs/mechwarriors. Exact count will be updated in the end, but we'll still be ~battalion sized, just with a lot less spare/high tech mechs.

Good thing we kept a lot of spares. Even if some of them, like the poor lamented Annihilator, didn't exactly shine.

Ani needs much tech loving in order to shine - Endo, XL or even better Clan tech, then you get 4x UAC10s or 4x Gauss backed by some energy weapons and max armour.

[NickAragua]

Round 15:

Spoiler:

The battle is definitely coming to an end - a good thing too, as a lot of our LRM-equipped units are reporting empty.

Zenn7 targets the Thor to the north - it's almost out of action, with no weapons left, but it still has an LRM/15 rack, which it uses to ping some missiles off our Awesome's armor. That remains, but its right arm is disabled. As it turns to face the new threat, our Assassin jumps west and puts a couple of SRMs into the engine block, joined by a large laser from a nearby Ostroc - the 70-tonner shuts down and eats dirt.

Thud exchanges fire with the Gladiator, scoring two PPC hits on its massive armor. AWS and an Ostroc help out as well, with Bass sending a couple of LRMs its way. The enemy assault mech returns fire, raking autocannon rounds diagonally across our mech - the left torso has barely any armor left and the foot actuator jams, while fire from the Black Hawk to the rear pops a few heat sinks. The damage is simply too much, with nearly eight tons of armor disappearing, and the Awesome drops to the ground.

To the west, our Shadow Hawk is taken out when a Black Hawk puts a gauss slug through the left torso ammo bin, tearing our mech apart. Our Trebuchet 3C does its best to contribute, but half of its LRMs are shot out of the air by a Black Hawk's anti-missile system. The other half, though arrow in on that mech's right torso, spraying heat sink coolant out on impact.

Round 16:

Spoiler:

Thud slowly and painfully brings the beat-up Awesome back up to its feet, scoring a PPC shot on the Gladiator's right torso and exposing the internal structure. A nearby Ryoken runs up, slicing the damaged mech's left leg off with a pulse laser, the rest of its light beams tracking upwards towards the damaged torso - a brief light show ensues before the mech's engine engages safety overrides and shuts down.

One of our Griffins gets in behind the offending Ryoken, cutting into *its* engine shielding with lasers, while AWS zips in behind a Black Hawk and kicks it in the back, in addition to delivering a snub-nose PPC blast to a limb - the squat mech has to take a knee to avoid face-planting.

Round 17:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 starts lumbering up the hill to see if he can help take on the Gladiator. On the way up, his mech is targeted by a Black Hawk firing a pretty large number of lasers, so he takes the opportunity to open up the lighter mech's left side with a few PPC shots, destroying actuators, jump jets and heat sinks. The Black Hawk staggers, allowing AWS to get a good shot in on its left side with the snub-nose and lasers, blowing the left arm off and cracking the torso. Archinerd's Dervish is long since out of ammo for the LRM launchers, but its short range weapons work just fine, finishing the enemy mech off.

Siljanus winds up being the Gladiator's next target, but thankfully, the clan mech appears to have run out of autocannon ammo, so it limits itself to blasting through our Thunderbolt's right leg armor with a PPC shot, destroying a heat sink and frying an actuator. Our mechwarrior's PPC shot hits the hill in front of the Gladiator instead, although a nearby Griffin scores some laser hits and causes another armor breach, while its anti-missile system is put to work overtime destroying incoming LRMs from our Trebuchet (the only mech we have at this point with any LRMs left).

To the west, our other Dervish takes out another Black Hawk. With only three functional mechs left, things aren't looking good for the clan force, but the commander seems to be determined to see things through to the end.

Round 18:

Spoiler:

Looks like our assault mech friend has finally figured out that he's bit off more than he can chew, but it's a little too late. Zenn7's PPCs breach the 95-tonner's left-side armor, while AWS takes a chunk out of the engine shielding with the snub-nose PPC.

To the northeast, a stray pack of battle armor legs one of our Ostscouts, but it's a moot point.

"Well fought, surats." Comes the transmission on the open channel. "You may retrieve your fallen warriors from the battlefield and leave this world."

"One more thing." Zenn7 brings up. "You have taken a number of our people as prisoners, and we have a few of yours. Let's exchange."

"No." comes the flat response. "Prisoner exchanges are dishonorable. If you wish the return of the personnel we have taken as bondsmen, you may challenge their mentors for Trials of Possession. As for the personnel you have taken, I doubt that they will wish to return - for if they do, the only place for them here is a solamha unit. I suggest you ask them. But do not take too long, in case my superior officers change their mind."

---

This was a pretty nasty fight. Totaled mechs are three mediums (two Cronuses and a Shadow Hawk), three lights (a Firestarter, a Javelin and a Spider). After Thud's Awesome is wheeled back into the dropship, the techs pronounce it dead on arrival as well - the torso sections (all of them) are warped beyond repair, and none of the limbs are actually attached to the mech. The only thing intact is the head.

At this point, we have a single lance of fully operational battlemechs left.

Surprisingly, none of the mechwarriors who participated in this battle were killed, although the guy driving the Guillotine that got taken out with a headshot has a broken arm and collar bone.

Overall, this invasion was pretty costly for us. Aerospace losses were pretty nasty - four Shilones, five light fighters of various kinds and a Chippewa. But we were able to make up the difference by snapping up fighters that got left behind when everyone fled prior to the invasion, so we're doing pretty well for aerospace units overall.

Losses among the tank forces we directly employed (and our allied units as well) were pretty horrific. We deployed a company's worth of armor, with two tanks surviving - the Demon and a Manticore. Casualties among the tankers were pretty high as well.

Mech losses were significant, though not fatal. We did lose a few favorite mechs, though, including Isgrimnur's Hatchetman and Gbasden/Thud's Awesome - a total of fifteen mechs overall were totaled. The good news is that we have plenty of spares, although a lot of them are not as good as what we're used to.

One aerospace pilot was killed. On the ground, Xwraith met his end battling hot dropped clanners in his Catapult. Scrub survived, but lost an arm and won't be driving a mech again. Additionally, five mechwarriors were captured and taken as bondsmen, including Wolf and Cylus.

In the end, we survived, and will rebuild. We have one more piece of business to take care of on this rock, however.

---

October 7, 3050

"The first step is for you to stop using contractions so that you at least no longer sound like a genetic inferior." Star Commander Bella smirks, leading Wolf to the Jade Falcon dropship's mech bay. "Now. Your former employers have challenged me, and several other mechwarriors to a Trial of Posession for the bondsmen we have taken. Our techs have repaired the mechs we captured from them, and you will fight on our behalf."

Wolf raises an eyebrow.

"We are bidding four mechs, one per bondsman. If you defeat your opponents, you will have earned your place as a mechwarrior of Clan Jade Falcon. And if not", Bella shrugs, "you were not worthy of the honor in the first place and will be returned to your employers, minus your BattleMech."

"What about Cylus?" Wolf asks.

"We in Clan Jade Falcon are nothing if not tolerant, but there is no room in our ranks for ancient fossils like that." the Star Commander shudders.

"Really?" Wolf wonders. "Other than Zenn7, Cylus probably has the most kills of the company in that Grasshopper."

Bella's lip curls. "Over how many years? It will take more than a pair of random flukes to convince me that aged mechwarriors past their prime are worthy of anything other than being solamha fodder."

"Plus, the mechwarrior refused the honor of joining with us." She finishes.

Wolf shrugs.

---

In the two days we've had, we've gotten a few mechs patched up.

Wolverine WVR-6M - 55 tons
Trebuchet TBT-3C - 50 tons
Phoenix Hawk LAM PHX-HK1 - 50 tons
Griffin GRF-1S - 55 tons
Griffin GRF-1N - 55 tons
Dervish DV-7D (slight up-armor) - 55 tons
Dervish DV-6MD (high-tech mech) - 55 tons
Awesome AWS-8Q - 80 tons
Assassin ASN-21 - 40 tons

We will be fighting tech-upgraded versions of the following mechs:
2x Griffin
Phoenix Hawk
Warhammer

The clanners have set the weight limit for the challenge at 215 tons. It basically boils down to:

[] bringing four medium mechs (three 55 tonners and a 50) or
[] Zenn7's Awesome and two other mechs

[Leraje]

[] bringing four medium mechs (three 55 tonners and a 50) or
[x] Zenn7's Awesome and two other mechs

[El Guapo]

[] bringing four medium mechs (three 55 tonners and a 50) or
[x] Zenn7's Awesome and two other mechs

Seems reasonable.

If we lose the Trial of Possession, does Jade Falcon get additional prisoners or anything else? Or are we basically just risking the mechs that we send into combat?

[NickAragua]

Nope, just the mechs we send in.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

Never be a tanker!

We can rebuild but as bondsmen. Good work in that huge battle. Another gladiator would of done us in

[Zenn7]

[] bringing four medium mechs (three 55 tonners and a 50) or
[x] Zenn7's Awesome and two other mechs

Seems reasonable.

If we lose the Trial of Possession, does Jade Falcon get additional prisoners or anything else? Or are we basically just risking the mechs that we send into combat?

Yeah, this "solamha" gizzer is gonna kick some more clan a$$.
We have room for 135 tons more of mechs. Which sucks given our options, best we can do weight wise is 2 55 tonners. Giving us a further 25 ton disadvantage.

How do they come up with "fair" - they have tech upgraded, 225 tons of mech and limit us to using only 215 tons of mechs with our inferior tech. I'm pretty sure if we fought all our fights against them with us possessing their "even" side like this match, we'd have performed significantly better.

Since we aren't fighting for Cylus, what's going to happen to him?

[$iljanus]

Since they don't have a "use" for Cylus I'd like to ask for him back as well if we win.

Bunch of Hitler youth wannabes.

Oh, and bring in the Awesome if that makes good tactical sense.

[AWS260]

[x] bringing four medium mechs (three 55 tonners and a 50) or
[] Zenn7's Awesome and two other mechs

I will always advocate for the little guys. Also, it's more tonnage.

[NickAragua]

Vote Results:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 + 2 other mechs

Zenn7's Awesome and Archinerd's Dervish march out of the hangar bay. Our surprise last-minute addition is a Thunderbolt, driven by Bass. The machine (formerly belonging to Xwraith Mk III, who's the only one of his "line" that survived to retirement) was sitting in the hangar - the mechwarrior is still in the medbay, so the techs put in a little overtime to re-calibrate the neurohelmet and get the mech going. The Trebuchet 3C has a little more firepower, but it lacks jump jets and its armor is considerably lighter than the Thunderbolt's, so we leave it at home.

Our three mechs approach the battlefield from the north, while the four clanner units approach from the south.

---

"The Awesome..." Wolf says, revving up the Warhammer. "Holy Weisman on a stick. Ok lance. I don't care if we've got the crazy clan extended-range PPCs. That Awesome will take you apart. Use your maneuverability and close in fast, take him down first."

"Don't you mean Star?" says one of the other mechwarriors, chuckling.

"There are four of us. It's a lance." Wolf replies.

---

"Right people. Focus fire. Stay in cover, stay together. I'll take the Warhammer. Archinerd, Bass, keep the little guys off of me." Zenn7 orders.

---

Round 1:

Spoiler:

Zenn7 takes a large laser hit to the right leg from an approaching Phoenix Hawk, while Archinerd starts a fire to throw some smoke up.

LRMs fly back and forth but whiff.

Round 2:

Spoiler:

"Down, don't silhouette yourselves." Zenn7 tells the lance.

We hop down into the forest, to negate the range advantage of the clan-upgrade.

Round 3:

Spoiler:

Archinerd has a brief shot at the Warhammer and Griffin, but the LRMs and lasers go wide, while the streak SRMs fail to achieve lock.

Round 4:

Spoiler:

The three light mechs come in, the Phoenix Hawk and Griffin 1N charging at Zenn7, while the Griffin 1DS hangs back. That's the one that gets three PPC shots, two hitting the center torso. The 55-ton mech rocks backwards, but the mechwarrior keeps it upright. It'd be embarrasing if he didn't, he's one of ours after all.

Round 5:
[camera feed damaged]
Our Awesome gets swarmed and takes an armor breach to the left leg. The mechwarrior throws a couple of punches, which the nearby Griffin "blocks" by expending a good half ton of armor off its arms, then the Phoenix Hawk kicks the back of the Awesome's leg, ripping it off.

Round 6:

Spoiler:

The three lighter mechs cluster around our Awesome, finishing it off with weapons fire. The Thunderbolt and Dervish inflict some damage on them, but fail to stop this.

Round 7:

Spoiler:

It's the Thunderbolt's turn to take multiple armor breaches, one in the left torso from behind, one in the right from the front.

Round 8:

Spoiler:

Bass can't keep the Thunderbolt from getting pummeled with lasers and loses the right arm, along with most of the right torso.

Round 9:

Spoiler:

Bass attempts to retreat, getting a couple more laser shots in on the Phoenix Hawk, but the Griffin jumps in behind him and punches the Thunderbolt in the back, detonating the LRM ammo bin. Our mechwarrior goes for an ejection seat ride, getting a little tangled up in the flaming trees.

"Just you guys and me, I guess." Archinerd states. "Should have listened to AWS."

Round 11:

Spoiler:

A laser disables the Dervish's left arm, the impact forcing our mech to a knee. The last thing our mechwarrior sees is a Griffin's foot descending on his cockpit.

---

Zenn7 climbs out of the cockpit of his thoroughly wrecked Awesome, settling down on top of a non-superheated section of the torso, watching the Warhammer approach. The mech lowers itself to a knee, and the chainlink ladder comes out the back, Wolf climbing down to the ground and climbing up.

The other three mechs approach, their armor still smoking from spots where laser and PPC fire impacted, their mechwarriors likewise bringing them down to a knee and climbing down.

"Sorry about the mech." Wolf says, stopping, arms crossed.

Zenn7 spits, the liquid sizzling as it hits a patch of hot metal.

"I'd ask if you wanted to come with us." Wolf continues. "But I don't think those clan guys would take you."

Zenn7 stares off into the burning forest. "Wouldn't go with them, anyway. Pompous bastards are just as bad as the great houses." He looks up at Wolf. "Pass your test, did you?"

Wolf smirks. "Yeah. I guess I did. I've got a lot of work to do, teaching these clanners proper tactics and strategy, but there's a lot more... growth opportunity there."

"Sure. Just no loyalty." Zenn7 responds.

Wolf nods. "Maybe not. But they do have the better tech. And they're probably going to steamroll us."

"What about you, why don't you take those fancy upgraded mechs and come back with us?"

"What, even after we killed Nori (Archinerd) and destroyed both your mechs?"

Zenn7 nods. "Didn't say that people would forgive you that easily. But in the end, we take care of our own, one way or another."

Wolf sighs, uncertain, looking back at the other three bondsmen.

[] Stay with the clans. Character leaves the campaign for good.
[] Come back to the Overlords. Leave the refitted mechs. (Probably) no further consequences.
[] Come back to the Overlords, keeping the refitted mechs. Clanners likely to take a very dim view of it.

[El Guapo]

Up to wolf. But seems like taking the upgraded mechs (while it would be awesome) wouldn't be the best idea, as I assume that would void our "we'll let you leave" trial agreement.

[Leraje]

Up to wolf. But seems like taking the upgraded mechs (while it would be awesome) wouldn't be the best idea, as I assume that would void our "we'll let you leave" trial agreement.

Agreed.

[$iljanus]

Well, that could have gone better...

I'd leave it up to Wolf. But if Wolf returns he shouldn't take the Clan mech since I think they will take a dim view of being ripped off.

[El Guapo]

Well, that could have gone better...

I'd leave it up to Wolf. But if Wolf returns he shouldn't take the Clan mech since I think they will take a dim view of being ripped off.

Honestly, kind of what I was expecting. We won the most important battle of the last two, though.