ScrapYard Armory

Look Who’s Coming to Dinner is the first mission in the Chaos Unbound campaign found in Dawn of the Jihad (now available as Blake Ascending).   Starting out, we selected a force of 2,000 points to take us through the whole campaign.

The mission at hand is a stealth raid on a warehouse facility owned by Kallon Industries.  The reasons don’t matter, only the money does.  The Defenders are a rag tag Merc unit made up of mostly infantry and vehicles.  Not a bad gig if you can pull it off right.  For this mission we can only use 25% of our total force.  For 500 points here is what we get:

• Thor
• BlackHawk
• JES III Missile Carrier
• DI Morgan Assault Tank

Objectives and Bonuses

The objectives are simple.  Destroy four buildings (selected at random and kept hidden from the player) and kill everything in your way.  With only infantry and vehicles to defend it should be a cake walk.

Available bonuses include Blizzard, Electrical Storm, and Overwhelming Force.  Each of these would only inhibit our ability to destroy and maim the Opposing Forces so none are taken.

Campaign Adjustments

• Buildings (CF 25) will be 5 clicks to destroy

Look Who’s Coming to Dinner

Turns 1 – 3

All of the mercenary units begin to move closer with the infantry leading the (slow) charge towards the attacking Dragon’s Fury force.

In response, the Dragon’s Fury army is content to sit tight and pummel the approaching the infantry with long range attacks, crippling or outright killing several infantry.  The BlackHawk meanwhile stalks to the east of the city, drawing a formation of infantry to follow.

Hovercraft get closer but stay just out of reach, positioning themselves for a rapid unified attack.  Both Dragon’s Fury ‘Mechs are running hot as they attempt to get ahead of the body count early in the game.

Turns 4 – 5

The Defenders lurch forward and manage to base every attacking figure except the BlackHawk.  All of a sudden the “sit back and wait” approach is not looking too good!  The Dragon’s Fury takes a turn causing as much damage as possible before the inevitable.  The DI Schmitt Tank deals heavy damage to a JES I Missile Carrier and two Kage Battle Armor bite the dust.

An errant artillery round from the Defender’s Thumper scatters right on top of a friendly infantry, killing them.

Turns 6 – 7

The wounded JES I pushes for a last gasp attack and critically hits the Dragon’s Fury DI Schmitt!  Infantry continue to harass and maneuver for rear shots on the attacking vehicles.  The Black Hawk to the east continues it’s cat and mouse game away from the main action.

On turn 7 another artillery round crashes down off target and kills another friendly, this time the JES I.  The defending Condor tank finally draws blood and weakens the Dragon’s Fury JES III with a solid hit.

The BlackHawk continues to put distance between himself and the pursuing infantry, heating up the whole way.

Turns 8 – 9

A Merc Bellona Tank hits the Dragon’s Fury DI Schmitt and it’s not looking good.  Both Dragon’s Fury ‘Mechs are on the run and pausing only to vent excess heat when absolutely necessary.  So far they are one step ahead.

The JES III also takes a nasty hit from the Merc Condor.  At the end of turn 9 the BlackHawk fails to break away from the infantry at it’s feet.

Turns 10 – 11

The Merc artillery finally earns it’s keep and rolls high enough to spell the end for the Dragon’s Fury DI Schmitt.

The BlackHawk fails a second break attempt and is heating up again.

The Thor finally starts to damage nearby buildings while venting when possible to stay mobile.

Turns 12 – 13

The pursuing infantry take their opportunity and hit the BlackHawk on a push.  The BlackHawk shakes off the damage, breaks and runs for his life!

The Thor destroys the first building while evading the Merc DI Schmitt and momentarily shuts down due to over heating.

Turns 14 to the End

All of the units left on the field are maneuvering around trying to get the upper hand.  The BlackHawk pushes to crush the Bellona Tank with a melee attack, and nullifies its offensive capability.

Nearby vehicles ram the Thor unsuccessfully while the Bellona Tank pushes to shoot at the BlackHawk but misses.

The Thor crumbles another building once it starts up again and dances to cover keeping the Merc DI Schmitt out of sight.

The Infantry continue to harass the BlackHawk while the Bellona Tank pushes too hard trying to get in one last shot and destroys itself.  Outpacing the remaining infantry threat, the BlackHawk pauses to vent or single out lone infantry squads.

The Thor continues to spread damage around to the buildings while avoiding damage from the dangerous DI Schmitt.  Eventually the opportunity presents itself when the DI Schmitt over extends itself and cannot escape the Thor who takes advantage of the DI Schmitt’s minimum range.  The DI Schmitt starts to fade quickly after the Thor begins to pummel it.

With only infantry and severely damaged combat vehicles in the way, the BlackHawk and Thor run the table and clear off the remaining buildings and defenders.

Finishing the Campaign

The mission was a success but the price was high.  After paying the track cost (300 WP) both objectives were achieved (+200 WP).  Salvage from the mission was worth 38 WP but repairs for both ‘Mechs and the destroyed vehicles will run 74 WP total.  That leaves our final Warchest balance at 864 (1,000{starting WP} – 300{track cost} + 200{objectives} – 74{repairs} + 38{salvage}).

Looks like I should ahve taken some of those optional bonuses after all!

In the repair calculations below, the 2.5 is my Force Size Modifier (2,000 / 800).  See my previous post Chaos Campaign:  Mechwarrior Conversion which describes FSM in more detail.

REPAIRS

SALVAGE