Operation Bronze Eyes – Week 5Kobayashi’s Crows fly in support of Kaine’s Kings this week, while the Sparrows’ air superiority prevents them from taking damage this week.
The Special Forces’ picket fails as they encounter a militia Firestarter. Of the 19 members, only two survived the encounter, and the traumatized survivors are folded into the field guns unit.
Wednesday is the 1st of September. Militia morale remains
High, but September brings another wave of reinforcements to aid the assault.
A few surprising designs came up for purchase on the mercenary auction market. Albus passed over purchasing one of a pair of original model Black Knights – while advanced technology, the only examples in the design were an active probe (useless if no one has advanced ECM suites), and the irreplaceable endo-steel chassis.
The Brotherhood did buy a
RPR-100b Rapier, an extremely rare Royal variant of this heavy design. Swift enough to keep up with the Shilones, it joined the Crows as Commander Kobayashi’s fighter.
The next day, Linda’s Lancers drew their first mission, breaking the Militia lines ahead of a Marik assault.
The only problem was that a heavy ‘Mech lance was holding that part of the lines.
To understand how unlucky they are to pull this sort of mission, the lance is considered Light at the moment. They had a 20% chance of drawing a heavy lance as the opposition, a 17% chance to draw a pure ‘Mech lance, and 33% chance to draw a medium and three heavies. The only way the results could have been worse is if they pulled 4 heavies, or 3 heavies and an assault.
This is also why I run heavy lances, the mismatches aren’t nearly as bad.The battle went about as well as you could expect, matching the medium lance with its regular pilots against a heavy lance with two elites. Linda’s Phoenix Hawk was crippled, and the Griffin torn apart by an ammunition explosion. Their liaison was killed when his cockpit was destroyed. Luckily the militia honored their request to withdraw, and they recovered Jami from the battlefield.
The one bright spark was that they managed to destroy a Militia Enforcer in the exchange.
After the battle, Albus purchased a GRF-1N Griffin to replace the destroyed model. It was delivered alongside the Rapier, which Ichiro gleefully took possession of.
He got his chance to try it in action a few days later, as Kaine’s Kings dug in to defend a fortress city against an advancing company of militia forces. Centering on a medium lance of Griffins, with support from two lances of light tanks and ‘Mechs.
Unlike Linda’s ill-fated battle a few days previously, the terrain favors the Brotherhood this time, their jump jets and superior mass allowing them to both pick their battles and punish the lighter militia forces if they get too close.
The Brotherhood advanced from the west, while the assaulting Militia moved up from the east.
The two forces made contact. While the Warhammer hung back to snipe with its PPCs, Wind and Knave tried to swat a Warrior helicopter harassing them.
A Saracen presses the Warhammer, while the main thrust of the militia advance is met by Wind and Knave, who take the fight to the Javelin and Phoenix Hawk leading it.
The brawl continues to swirl. While the Brotherhood is dealing out a lot of damage, they aren’t managing to drop any of their opponents yet, and the damage they’re taking in return is starting to tell.
The air support arrives, but their flight path is restricted by the city’s towering skyscrapers. They flash by down the main avenue, eager to put a dent in the Militia’s attack.
Their runs are devastating, the Shilone’s bombs wiping out the Panther and a Hunter at its feet. Tengu forgoes his bombs for the moment, letting his large pulse laser and autocannon rip apart the Phoenix Hawk underneath his fighter.
Knave’s Grasshopper goes down, victim of a gyro hit, and the militia’s reinforcements arrive to join the battle.
The Militia’s air support makes their own runs, scattering mines all over Wind’s position. Meanwhile, Knave is busy punishing one of the Griffins, bringing it to the ground with his heavy fire.
The battle continues to go against the Brotherhood. Knave’s Grasshopper has taken two engine hits and a gyro hit, and he jumps to safety, but fails to land correctly. Wind is still in the fight, but almost on his own, while the Warhammer is trying to vent heat after being struck with multiple inferno bombs.
While the air support dog fights above the city, the Brotherhood continues to brawl with the militia forces.
One of the Defenders is shot down, but the Meteor cores out Knave’s Grasshopper. Wind goes on a rampage after his friend’s ‘Mech goes down, taking down a Griffin and closing in on a second.
With their last Griffin down, the Militia forces break and begin falling back. A few shots are exchanged as the forces break apart, but the battered Brotherhood is in no condition to counterattack.
The Grasshopper is only good for salvage, with its center torso, engine and gyro all shredded. The Guillotine and Warhammer both took moderate damage, but no penetrating hits.
Billy Kaine was moderately injured, but in good spirits.
The Brotherhood claimed all the salvage except for one of the Griffins, looking to refill their coffers.
6 of the militia were KIA, and one captured.
Commander Ichiro Kobayashi claimed the Phoenix Hawk as a kill.
Petty Officer Melissa Lyle claimed the Hunter, Panther and Medium Strike Fighter as kills.
Sergeant Matt Fischer claimed the three Griffins and a Vedette AC/2.
Corporal Baira claimed the J. Edgar, Saracen and Meteor Heavy Strike Fighter.
The Marauder, just in mothballs, is quickly reactivated and assigned to Billy. By Sunday, most of the damage is squared away. The Stalker is missing a LRM bin, and the Phoenix Hawk is missing a large laser that none of their salvage has been able to replace yet.
With the Special Forces wiped out, the Swallows fly air superiority, while the Crows fly air support once again.
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Topic: The Iron Brotherhood - A Battletech/MekHQ Let's Play: Operation Eclipse (Read 46943 times)