Finally played another match yesterday - haven't had a properly free evening in weeks. I'm glad to report it was a win, though one that hinged a fair amount on luck.
It was a really open map, littered with rough terrain but nary a hill in sight. I had a pretty nice, fast, relatively low BV army:
- Ostscout, 1xML
- Cicada, 2xML, 1xSL
- Mongoose 3/4, 3xML, 1xSL (my favourite unit so far!)
- Falcon, 1xML, 2xSL, 2xMG(R)
- Scorpion light tank, 2xLRM6, 1xMG
- Mortar Infantry
The enemy had a single light mech, a Prowler, one AC/20 Hetzer, another vehicle that carried one ER Large Laser and was pretty fast, and a few more light units.
The enemy's fast ER Large Laser unit could tear me apart from a distance if I let him, so I had to close in and charge. Of course, that Hetzer was deadly in close range: if he ever got a shot in to any of my rear torsos, my mech would instantly explode.
I quickly found the most open piece of terrain I could so that I could capitalise on fast movement. I doubt that I did more than a handful of moves the entire match that didn't give me +3 to-hit, even though I didn't really always get the optimal firing choices for this. He always moved his ERLL last, so I couldn't really flank that.
However, in a couple of turns I managed to close and get behind the Hetzer and Prowler. He never did get less than a 9+ to hit my mechs using his AC/20, so he missed all of those shots, and I was safe! Focusing my fire on enemy vehicles that I had flanked, the insane amounts of potential crits came to bear. I almost immobilised the Prowler (was 1/2 movement), and stunned the Hetzer within the firs turns. Subsequent flanking moves blew up its engines.
Amidst all the kicking that I was inflicting on the enemy's units, my Falcon missed, stumbled, and fell. He was in trouble! The Hetzer had him in his sights at medium range, and the entire skirmish was going on within a few hexes of him. The first thing I did that turn was get him up and run as far as possible. Didn't even turn! Unfortunately, that still left him within sight of the Hetzer, and the enemy moved his ERLL vee to stand right beside the Falcon.
I had left a couple of units behind the Hetzer to try to finish it off, and as my last move I got my Mongoose to run right next to the ERLL vee. I had run for at least 5 hexes (for a +2 to-hit), but the Hezter had a side shot on my Mongoose... Fortunately, that missed, and that turn, even though the configuration didn't seem to indicate it, I managed to get a lot of shots at short or medium distance to the ERLL vee. It didn't seem like that because a lot of my units were flanking the Prowler or the Hetzer... whatever the case, the barrage of fire that I did manage to get in, plus my Mongoose's kick crippled the ERLL by immobilising it and its turret. That meant the enemy's two most powerful weapons were now absolutely static, and I could move around them at will.
I moved all of my mechs behind the Hetzer, which was also out of the line of fire of the now static ERLL turret. The infantry still hadn't gotten near the fight, and the Scorpion had taken a beating and was moving around helplessly trying not to get shot at.
The enemy decided to rush its light mech onto the Hetzer's hex, which meant it was adjacent to 3 of my mechs, poised to kick, at point blank range. Since the Hetzer couldn't do anything, I focused most of my fire on the enemy's mech, though some went to the Hetzer too. The Hetzer, already damaged, exploded couldn't take the fire and explided, so that I could focus all of my kicks on the mech... which promptly went down when it lost one of its legs with all sorts of actuators hit, including its hips. He knocked himself out too when he fell.
The enemy then ejected his Prowler (to try to salvage it rather than be destroyed), and his other smaller, loose units managed to crit my Scorpion and destroy it. By then the battle had been decided. The Falcon was somewhat damaged, but all my other mechs were still 100% operational, many undamaged at all. The mop up operations were swift, with a kick to the static ERLL vee taking it out (without me really intending to do so).
With the mech KOd and missing several limbs, the Prowler ejected, the Hetzer and the ERLL vee destroyed, the victory conditions were achieved.
So, while I kept my mechs running around all the time to avoid getting hit, I was extremely lucky in the specific crits that I got. Don't get me wrong, I
worked to get those crits, but the fact that they reduced the Prowler to 1/2, then entirely immobilised the Hetzer and the ERLL vee, PLUS its turret, was pretty lucky. That effectively allowed me to entirely ignore his heavy weapons while I took care of removing his units one by one.
Why the enemy decided to move the ERLL unit to point-blank range on my damaged Falcon is, however, beyond me. It's an extended range weapon, and it could be pretty much anywhere and still manage short and medium shots. He also did that move when I had the initiative, meaning I was able to react to it and get a kick in.
Anyway, it was still a victory, and I got the Prowler as salvage, for very minimum repair costs. I have quite a few RPs and C-bills that I will be able to use for more mech bays and heavy mechs. Might be fielding that heavy mech lance I've been wanting to field before long
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Topic: Battletech campaigns & multiplayer (newbies welcome) (Read 43157 times)