ScrapYard Armory

York was supposed to be a quiet base for Victor Davion and his Allied forces during the Fed Com Civil War, but to their surprise General Esteban had set a trap for them.  Within a few short hours of their landings, the Loyalist had divided the Allied forces and was close to capturing Victor Davion.  Join the fight to either save Victor Davion’s Allied forces or destroy them.

This battle was fought at Historicon 2009 and was prepared and hosted by Catalyst Demo Agent “Speck”.  The Davions are caught on York and need to escape off the left edge of the overall camera shots.  The Lyrans are ready to pounce and need to do as much damage as possible before the Davions make their escape.

Lyran Alliance

• GRF-6S Griffin
• ZEU-9S Zeus
• AWS-8Q Awesome
• HBK-5S Hunchback
• MAD-5S Marauder
• BNC-6S Banshee
• AS7-S2 Atlas
• NGS-5S Nighsky

Federated Suns

• DVS-2 Devastator
• AGS-4D Argus
• MAD-5S Marauder
• CN10-B Centurion
• STK-7D Stalker
• WHM-9D Warhammer
• ARC-8M Archer
• STY-3D Starslayer

The Setup

In the picture above, the Davion forces are located dead center of the battlefield.  The Lyran Alliance forces are broken up into two lances at the near and far left corners of the map.

Turn 1 – Davions win Initiative

The Davions split the center mountain and stay low.  Only the Marauder takes any kind of high ground. The Lyrans meanwhile converge towards the middle.

The Davion Stalker and Devastator are picked out from the crowd of ‘Mechs and receive fire from one lance a piece.  The Stalker almost has it’s right torso armor cleared by concentrated weapons fire while the Devastator shrugs off damage without so much as a few paint scratches.

The Davions split their fire across three Lyran targets scoring an internal damage to a Marauder’s left torso but no critical damage.

Turn 2 – Davions win Initiative

The Devastator and Stalker lead the Davion rush to the objective edge.  Faster Battlemechs begin to get close but turn to offer fire support for the slower units left behind.  The Lyrans now pick their ranges and line up as many Heavy Gauss Rifles on the two previously damaged Davions.  In a daring run, the Lyran Nightsky (painted red) gets behind the Davion Devastator for a chance to hit the rear armor.

The Davion Stalker once again takes the lions share of damage but this time it’s left torso takes the most.  A Heavy Guass Rifle, LB-10X and LB20-X all hit solidly.  The armor in the section is ripped apart and a medium pulse laser is blasted into scrap.  The Devastator takes an equal beating but the damage is nicely spread around, pot marking the massive armor loadout but avoiding any serious threats.

The Davions spread damage across the easiest targets available but concentrate three ‘Mechs on the Lyran Hunchback with the dangerous LB-20X.  Damage is light except for the Hunchback.  The combined fire pays off as the Hunchback loses his LB-20X to critical damage.

Turn 3 – Lyrans win Initiative

The Lyran Zeus and Griffin move to block the Devastator and Stalker from leaving so soon.  The Nightsky again maneuvers behind the Devastator.  The Davions counter the Zeus by moving the speedy Starslayer directly behind.  The remaining Davion forces rally around the likely exit points and a large furball of destruction ensues.

The Davion Stalker already has two head hits from earlier turns’ LB-X cluster fire.  Another turn of concentrated fire lands several key blows, including an ER Large Laser to the head and a disastrous Heavy Gauss Rifle to the right torso which hits the SRM ammo stores.  As the ammo erupts the pilot takes his fifth pilot hit and falls unconscious.  Unable to make his pilot roll to avoid falling or the ensuing seat belt check the MechWarrior cannot avoid his final pilot hit.

The Davion Starslayer hits with most of its lasers to the Zeus’ rear armor scoring three critical hits, all of which hit engine criticals.  The path is now clear for the Devastator to escape.

However, the Devastator is mauled by another full lance of firepower.  The Nightstalker gets a critical hit on the engine by chopping through the rear armor weakened by the Marauder’s lasers.  Coupled with the loss of a double heat sink, the Devastaor’s heat spikes just enough to decrease his movement for the next turn, preventing an otherwise easy exit.

The Lyran Marauder takes serious fire from the Davion Marauder now closing in and the Argus.  Already heating up from pouring fire into the Devastator, the Mech takes an engine hit and a heat sink critical hit and is in serious trouble.  He needs to cool down next turn.

Turn 4 – Lyrans win Initiative

The Davions begin to make their escape, leaving some of their slower brethren behind.  The Centurion, Warhammer, Starslayer and Archer all exit this turn.  The Lyrans sprint towards the remaining Davion Mechs lining up several back shots.

Four Lyrans complete the destruction of the Devastator and spread remaining fire power across available targets of opportunity.  The final shot on the Devastator came from the Lyran Griffin ER Medium Laser that delivered the third engine hit.  The Lyran Awesome has it’s leg blown off by the Davion Marauder who only fired a single PPC to stay cool this turn.  The Argus jams his RAC/5 this turn and fails to do significant damage.

Turn 5 – Davions win Initiative

The Lyran Marauder and Nightsky move to positions around the woods anticipating the Argus’ move.  The Argus surprises everyone by splitting the woods and while not making it far, manages to obtain very good cover from enemy fire.

The Argus does not disappoint during weapons fire, a volley of LRMs hit the Lyran Awesome in the head.  The consciousness roll is snake eyes and the pilot drifts to sleep.  The Davion Marauder would finish the job with a gauss rifle to the center torso which is enough to core the ‘Mech.

While covered from most incoming fire, the Argus was not immune to two elevens and a twelve rolled by the Atlas pilot.  While not doing much critical damage, precious armor is slagged off the Heavy ‘Mech.

Turn 6 – Lyrans win Initiative

The Argus makes a mad dash to the objective edge, falling just short of the goal.  The Marauder stays on board to support.

Sensing the end, all Lyran Mechs pile firepower into the wounded Argus.  The Atlas once again is the deadliest of the bunch and punches a hole deep into the left torso.  A missile critical finds an ammo bin causing the Argus and it’s XL engine to go up in smoke.

In a final bid for revenge, both Davion ‘Mechs fire on the terribly damaged Marauder.  A gauss rifle slug rips off the right arm and burrows into the side torso for good measure.  The XL engine is silenced and the ‘Mech drops.

The next turn, the last Davion ‘Mech, the Marauder, exits to meet his fellow warriors to the evacuation waypoint.

Mission Recap

While there were no official victory points for this scenario, I’d like to know who you the readers feel won this battle. The objective for the Davions was to exit as much personnel off the map as possible while the Lyrans did everything in their power to stop them.  The Davions lost three mechs, two assault and one heavy while the Lyrans lost three, two assault and one heavy.

Leave a comment and let me know who made the better moves in the end turns?  Who deserves the victory?