Mission 1: Chase
The friendly AI units deploy first and start making their way north. A Ferret light scout helicopter (uh, sorry, "VTOL") buzzes them but takes a PPC from the allied Panther and evaporates. The AI units make good progress towards the north edge of the map, but the Lyrans have shown up in force on the south, meaning we're going to be in for a tough time when our guys get there.
Round 4: An enemy Ostscout closes with the allied Panther and gets into a shooting/kicking match. The Ostscout, as the name implies is an exclusively scouting mech, featuring really high speed, low armor and a single medium laser. Getting into a fight unassisted with the Panther proves to be a bad idea, as the Panther delivers a kick to the Ostscout's leg and it falls over.
Round 5: Our Stinger arrives on the field, chased by an ungodly amount of Lyran units. He's got jump jets, so I have him hop through the dense woods as far as he can, to minimize his chances of getting shot up. Meanwhile, a Lyran attack helicopter encounters air turbulence and flies off the field. The allied Panther delivers another PPC to the pursuing Ostscout, while the Stinger and enemy forces exchange fire. The bad guys have closed to melee range with the Stinger, but I opt not to kick, since 9+ odds means unacceptable odds of having to make a piloting roll.
Round 6: The Stinger leaps free and clear of the pursuing mass of Lyran forces.
Round 7: Beta lance arrives, and I deploy them on the eastern edge of the map, where the opposition is a little thinner.
As you can see, there's a ridiculous number of Lyran units here (by design, this is a "chase" scenario, after all). We will be beating feet as fast as possible. On the minimap, the red triangles are the two allied units making good time to the north, and our Stinger is the lone blue triangle to the southwest. Those are the only three units that have to make it out, the rest just have to survive. I jump and run Beta lance into the woods directly to the north. The Enforcer gives chase and exposes his back to the Whitworth. I have trouble passing up such an opportunity so the Whitworth is going to take a shot at the back arc, and kick him while we're there.
This is what it looks like before the party starts.
gbasden in the Shadow Hawk scores our first kill, a Saladin Assault Hover Tank - a mean, fast hover tank packing an AC/20. An SRM destroys its propulsion system while it's hovering over water and down it goes. Glub glub glub. He takes some heavy fire but keeps his mech standing. The enemy ostscout in the north abandons its pursuit of the allied units to take a shot at our Stinger. While I elected not to try a kick, he did try a kick at 11+ odds, missed, and landed on his arm, which promptly flew off. The Enforcer also fell over after being kicked in the back.
Round 8: Bad news. Four Lyran reinforcement mechs deploy to the north, complicating our light units' efforts to escape. Our Thunderbolt and Centurion arrive on the scene as well, but it's going to be pretty rough.
As you can see, this is going to be a pretty unpleasant situation, but about half the enemy force is isolated beyond the woods so we should be ok. Lot of armor damage in the firing phase that round, but one important thing is the Whitworth cuts the Pegasus hover tank's mobility by 1/2. Following, there's a lot of punching and kicking and two enemy mechs wind up on the ground.
Round 9: Zenn7 arrives in the Awesome. Not really the most optimal situation for it, but having an 80 ton mech present is still great for morale. We continue plowing to the north. The bulk of the enemy force is bogged down in the woods, which is great. This is what the party looks like. Up in the north, it's our moment of truth. If that Ostscout survives getting bumrushed by the northern reinforcements, we might make it out ok.
Zenn7 unloads on the Pegasus hover tank, reducing it's mobility to that of a slow assault mech. Our Centurion blasts the nearby Scorpion light tank with an AC/20, punching through the front. Zenn 7 then proceeds to kick the little Stinger in front of him, taking off its leg.
Round 10: The pursuing Lyran Ostscout decides he's had enough and bugs out. Realistically, our main force just needs to plow through the three enemy mechs (two lights and a medium) and then we're more or less in the clear. Lot of misses during firing that round. El Guapo exercises his ability to dodge the nearby Jenner's kick. Zenn7 appears to severely dislike Stinger legs, because he kicks the left one out from under yet another Stinger that finds itself in front of him. The commander, though, fails to kick the Commando in front of him and falls over.
Round 11: The commander finally gets up, but can't move anywhere. I move the Centurion to support him so that anyone trying to get in his rear arc will get an AC-20 to the backside. The allied Ostscout reaches the northern end of the board (1/3 escaped!) The bad guys start clustering around the commander's Thunderbolt (time to get out of there, bro), and the enemy Phoenix Hawk jumps into a crowd of our mechs. Well, who am I to say no. Zenn7 unloads on the rather tenacious Pegasus, which is finally destroyed. The commander gets in a good hit on the Commando with a large laser (breaching center torso armor), but takes one too many blows to the head and fails to stay up, blacking out as he hits the ground. That's real bad. Gbasden and our Whitworth both deliver kicks to the Shadow Hawk, knocking its leg off and sending it to the ground.
Round 12: I move the Centurion, Zenn7 and El Guapo in to support The commander. El Guapo in the Panther scores a good hit on the Galeon light tank, destroying a stabilizer (whatever the hell that means). The Lyrans spend time whaling on the Thunderbolt, boring through the internal structure and inflicting hits on many systems. The Centurion scores an AC/20 hit on the Enforcer, breaching the left torso, but no other effect. The commander's leg comes off during the kicking phase.
Round 13: The commander stays unconscious. Pretty sure this means that mech is toast. He can't even punch out. Meanwhile, a little piece of crap Stinger that Zenn7 legged earlier somehow manages to get up. Zenn7 fixes that problem permanently by disintegrating the mech's torso section with PPCs. The commander's Thunderbolt continues to take damage while on the ground (vicious bastards, aren't they), and a stray missile catches the SRM 2 ammo, which cooks off. The unconscious pilot is incinerated. The Centurion hits the enemy Enforcer with another AC/20 shot, knocking it down again. Meanwhile, up north, our Stinger manages to get around an enemy Centurion and unloads on its back (although to little effect).
Round 14: With no reason to stick around, the rest of the lance pulls back north, consolidating our position. The silver lining is that the enemy Enforcer fails to get up, the pilot knocking herself out. This is the situation:
Zenn7 unloads with PPCs on the Rifleman, scoring two solid hits, while El Guapo hits the Jenner's left arm with SRMs. Heat is a problem for the Panther, it's hard to jump around AND fire your PPC. Up north, the allied Panther and our Stinger make a break for it. They need to get through this soon, or we won't have any mechs left.
Round 15: Continuing our "tactical advance to the rear". The good news is our only real pursuers are a Rifleman, a Commando, the Jenner and the Galleon. And the Rifleman, if we're going to be honest, is a real crappy mech design with serious heat issues. Of course, that doesn't matter, as Zenn7 lands a head shot with a PPC and the whole thing comes tumbling down. El Guapo nails a pursuing Vedette tank with a PPC, knocking off a few treads. The Rifleman deals a parting blow to Zenn7, hitting the gyro and engine. Thankfully, he remains standing.
Round 16: Up north, our Stinger and Panther have made it through the gauntlet of reinforcement mechs and jump into some dense woods for cover. One or two more turns, and we *should* be in the clear. Unless that Panther mucks up a landing roll. The two remaining enemy light mechs insist on closing in on our main formation, so we will oblige them with what weapons salvo we can manage. Combined fire from Zenn7's Awesome and the Whitworth inflicts severe damage on the Commando, knocking out heat sinks and pretty much every system in its right leg. Good luck getting up, bro.
Round 17: Some enemy armor advances on our position, and a Galeon light tank catches an AC/20 round for its trouble, coming apart. Our units in the north have survived their last round, and are now free and clear to run to the map edge. We exchange some fire, but nothing important.
Round 18: Our last northern unit makes it to the map edge, and we declare victory. We exchange some finishing fire with enemy forces, and Zenn7 gives them a parting gift in the form of his fist puncturing the Jenner's SRM 4 ammo bin, blowing the whole mech to kibble. With sufficient forces retreated off the north edge, "victory" is ours.
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