Hi all, Finally got around to writing a recap of the highs/lows of last weekends RPG bash at Dave Gaskells place in Sunny Weymouth. People attending: DaveG (no shit), Sukh, Rod & PhilJ People who bottled it: Rob (Official Reason: Car Trouble) (Real Reason: Butt Boy) Big Girl's Fannies not attending: Rich, PJ, Gray & PhilM. Special Guest Stars: None We continued Dave's Battletech adventure - "Steal big fuckin' CLAN DropShip" There were 3 main engagements (2 Battlemech & 1 Small Arms) [Prologue] After the mechs damaged from the previous sess returned from repairs, the group carried on towards the Mine area where the new CLAN dropship was being 'tested'. The group moved in a 'better for PJ & PhilM Mechs to get trashed than us' formation. This consisted of the CLUNK(Rich), PENIS-HAWK(PJ) & DERVISH (PhilM) on point, with the 'real men' ATLAS(Rod), BERSERKER(PhilJ), WARHAMMER(Sukh) & BATTLEMASTER (Gray) following at a discreet (and more importantly 'safe') distance behind. [Engagement 1 - Battlemech] The recon lance detect unknown-type mechs approaching our position from the direction of the mine area. They halt and hide in cover. The assault lance continue moving up, consequently, they are spotted by the enemy mechs and they move to interdict (big word) us. When our shite sensors actually identify the approaching mechs, we discover that the CLAN group consists of CRUSADER (65 T) JAEGERMECH (65 T) SHADOW-HAWK (55 T) QUICKDRAW (70 T) OSTROC (70 T) The assault group reach the position where the recon lance is hiding and also take up a 'hidden' posture. PhilJ hides in a small lake and informs us he's going to 'jump out with big guns blazing' when the poor sods get into range. The Clan mechs arrive and see thru the assault lance's cunning use of terrain to hide an ATLAS, BATTLEMASTER & WARHAMMER!. They immediately move to attack. The CLAN OSTROC rushes up to attack. The assault boys decide to forget stealth and let the CLAN fuckers have it. The recon lance start-up their mechs. The DERVISH & CLUNK will take 2 rounds, PJ's PENIS-HAWK will take 6! Well the usual mayhem ensues with the following highlights - the CLAN OSTROC out front gets the shite blown out of it by the ATLAS, WARHAMMER & BATTLEMASTER. It loses a leg, gyro damage and goes arse-over-elbow. Sad really. - PhilJ finds (to his chagrin) that his BERSERKER doesn't, in fact, have JUMP JETS. So he swallows his pride and instead of impressivly jumping-out with axe held aloft screaming like a bastard, has to leisurely wade out of his watery hiding place, while looking VERY sheepish. - Rod's ATLAS hits the SHADOW-HAWK with ALL his weapons and reduces the sad fucker to radioactive ash. (AC20, LRM20 (all hit), 2 Med Lasers & a SRM6). Is that no Centre-Torso I see? - The Warhammer blasts both arms of the JAEGERMECH in one PPC slavo, thereby reducing the JAEGERMECH offensive capability to 2 AC2s. - The DERVISH & CLUNK arrive to finish off the un-mobile OSTROC. PhilM DERVISH gets too close (for some unknown reason 80)), so when the OSTROC's REACTOR gos up, the untouched DERVISH get's 30 points of damage on it Right-side. Ouch!. - The battlefield is filled with the sounds of PPCs, Lasers, missiles hitting, missing, being blown out of the sky, of the screams of dead pilots, of tortured metal and of course the frantic sound of the starter-motor on the PENIS-HAWK - Phil's BERSERKER hits the untouched Quickdraw for 20 pts of HATCHET damage on the HEAD! I think Ulric Von Himmler would have been proud of that hit. Everyone is inspired! - The untouched CRUSADER & JAEGERMECH surrender on seeing the demise of the Quickdraw. We bond 2 more CLAN pilots. The aftermath is - ATLAS with serious damage, DERVISH with serious damage 8-) All other mechs with minor to moderate damage We decide against returning to the dropship again for more repairs and instead try our hand with 'field repairs'. Un-usually for us, a spate of awesome repair rolls confounds DaveG, and most of the Mechs are bought up to fighting ability. The notable exceptions are the CLUNK (Rich, you never really liked that RL armour did you?) and the ATLAS, which, has a roll of cling-film stretched over the hole in its RT (read AC20 ammo) area. EPISODE 2: Daylight Bayonet Charge Across the Minefield. Hi again, When we left, the party was about to be consumed by a huge flaming meteor from out of space..... .....well no they weren't but it woke you fuckers up. Anyway, after repairing what we could on our Mechs, and after much soul searching, we finally *had* to put PhilM into the CLAN CRUSADER. His DERVISH was just too badly damaged. The Party then continued its hap-hazard way to the Dropship Testing area. After a while, the Recon mechs detect a CLAN Assault lance moving in our area, after a quick vote, everyone decided to hide and hope the fuckers hadn't spotted us. After a while the Clan lance moved away and we continued on. [4 Maps before The Drop Ship Testing Area] Eventually we arrived at the destination, DaveG puts down 4 maps and asked what, how, who was going across these maps to get to the Mine area. ???? we thought, hidden mechs perchance? No-one really wanted to walk into a ambush, so after a democratic decision, it was agreed that the CLUNK(Rich) and the PENIS-HAWK(PJ) would scout out a way across the maps. (Hey, PJ&Rich characters never said nothing to we thought they must have agreeded with the plan). So the PENIS-HAWK & CLUNK leap-frog across the terrain, to and from wooded areas until they get across the maps. No incidents. However DaveG was still being cagey, so eventually we got bored and made a mad dash across the maps. This was done in a line with Rod's ATLAS in front. Crossing the board, Rod's ATLAS set off a few VIBROMINES, but luckly, they were all well ahead of his Mech. {The Drop Ship Testing Area] Things to note:- 1] 3 Buildings and 1 large landing pad. 2] No sign of the CLAN dropship. 3] Mechs 'of unknown configuration' vectoring into our position. So we hide. The clan Mechs arrive and turn out to be - DERVISH VINDICATOR DRAGON GRASSHOPPER QUICKDRAW Unfortunately, I misread the Level on the hexes where the ATLAS BERSERKER & BATTLEMASTER are hiding, *I* thought they were in Level 0 Wooded terrain with level 2 hills on either side. In reality, they were standing in Wooded terrain at Level 3, with level 2 hills on either side. Ok, I accept the mistake, so can we move on now please. Suprisingly the CLAN mechs spot us and open fire, the battle rages... - My Warhammer is unfortunately badly placed and so gets shot to shite from all 5 Clan Mechs in the same round. My shiny untouched mech is internalled everywhere. A hit to head causes 10 bruise damage, I pass out, crash, more bruise damage, nighty night. - The CLAN Vindicator stands back and takes big chunks out of the CLUNK and BATTLEMASTER with a CLAN PPC (15 pts). - The battle finally turns when all our mechs get into position and PhilJ rolling for Rod's ATLAS, completely totals a Mech with a withering rain of AC20 & LRM20 hits. I think it was the Grasshopper or Quickdraw. All those *years* of rolling like a tosser ended with PhilJ using his lifetime allottment of 6's in a 3 hour shooting frenzy. Rod (the lightweight) was asleep, God it was *only* 3.00am - The CLAN Dragon and Grasshopper also gets taken out, as PhilJ dice rolling goes from excellent to unbelievable. - The bastard CLAN Vindicator is really knackering both the CLUNK and BATTLEMASTER. - I finally wake up, and start taking shots at the DERVISH, whose pissing the PENIS-HAWK and BERSERKER off. After one good PPC hit, the Warhammer manages to hit the LRM ammo in the DERVISH's left arm, BANG! no more left-side. - One of the buildings explodes, PhilJ BERSERKER is caught in the conflaguration and takes a whopping 40 points of damage. - The CLAN Dropship returns from airborne tests and decides to STRAFE the mine area. DaveG informs us we have 1 round to move into cover. Panic ensues..... The Warhammer runs into the burning building, the CLUNK & BATTLEMASTER close on the VINDICATOR (on the assumption that they wouldn't strafe their own Mechs). All other mechs hide in whatever woods they can find. - RAT-TAT-TAT-TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA. All our mechs were damaged before the strafe, after the strafing all the mechs are in SERIOUS trouble. The CLUNK is hanging on to dear life, with 4 internal structure in the CT. The Vindicator is also completely shagged. The CLANs *do* fire on their own mechs. The CLUNK also exacts revenge by putting a ER PPC into the bastard at point blank range. Luckly the CLAN dropship flys off after the strafe. Our only chance now to furfil the mission is to find the dropship blueprints in one of the remaining buildings. So we leave the least damaged mechs outside and everyone else goes into a Operations Building and searches for the comp room. Outside - Sukh, PJ and PhilM Inside - Gray (the security systems expert), Rod, Phil, Rich and Mr Annoying NPC. EPISODE 3: A Farewell to Arms..........and Legs. After the dropship strafe, the remaining 2 CLAN Mechs (VINDICATOR & DERVISH) surrender and we bond 2 more pilots. We decide to call our dropship to pick us up (will take 2 hours) and also make an attempt to get the CLAN dropship blueprints. We split up the group so that, 1 group will stay outside in their Mechs (The least shagged) and hold off any more CLAN attacks (Yeah right, as long as their on foot carrying spears). This group consists of the WARHAMMER (Sukh), PENIS-HAWK(PJ) & the CLAN CRUSADER(PhilM). All our Mechs adopt a prone 'just been strafed and looking dead' posture. The 2nd group (consisting of Gray, PhilJ, Rod , Rich & Annoying NPC) are going to try and retreive the CLAN dropship blueprints from one of the remaining buildings. They get out of their mechs and proceed to arm themselves to the teeth. Obviously the entrance is locked, so Gray (The best at security systems) trys to pick locks, The attempt's not too good, and a bleep bleep sound starts to emanate from the entrance. DaveG casually states that Gray has 2 rounds to try to de-activate the BOMB before it blows. For some reason, the entire group decides to stay and watch Gray disarm the bomb. On the 3rd attempt, Gray suceeds. The door opens, and the group move inside. The group find the Computer room fairly easily and Gray is again called to break the entry password into the computer system. He finds this task a piece of piss. The CLAN blueprints are located and we start a download to a Cystal-RAM thingy (this will take 20 mins). While the groups are in the computer room, Rich spots movement on one of the computer displays. This shows the layout of the building and shows 6 dots appearing from deep inside the mine complex and moving into the building, towards the computer room. Rich is left to watch the monitor, while PhilJ, Gray, Rod & NPC move into an adjacent corridor and setup up a "defensive" position. There are 2 possible entrances that the enemy dudes can appear so, Phil & Gray cover one, while Rich and NPC take the other. The enemy dudes appear, 90 metres down a corridor from Phil & Gray. All the enemy are wearing full armoured suits and carrying Gyroslug Carbines, NASTY! But hey, were still looking hard in our Flak Vest+Helmet Combo (I guess we all remeber the start of Star Wars). A firefight erupts, PhilJ is out of range with his STERNACHT heavy pistol, only Gray can hit them at that range using his LASER Rifle. The two groups start taking potshots at each other. Rod & Annoying NPC move from their position and join PhilJ & Gray at their corridor. 4 of the enemy charge up the corridor firing like bastards, the other 2 are building a rather ominous-looking BIG FACKIN' GUN. The enemy move into PISTOL ranage and so PhilJ, Rod & NPC can also start firing, Gray manages to hit one but doesn't cause enough damage to slow the attack. Of the quartet charging up the corridor, 2 hang back and stay in long range (for us) and fire their GyroSlug carbines (read SHORT range for them). The other two continue charging. The big fackin' gun is still being assembled. so the situation is Rod (Standing) Phil(crouch) NPC(kneel) Gray(Kneel) -+ +-----+ +-------------- | | | | | | | ArmD#1 ArmD#2| | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------- Short/Medium Range (Pistols) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |ArmD#3 ArmD#4 | ----------------------------------- Long Range (Pisotols) | | | | Short Range (Gyrodslug&LaserRfle) | | | | | | | | | | | BFG | | | |ArmD#5 ArmD#6 | -----------------------------------Long Range (Gryo&Laser Rifle) Short Range (BFG) More hits are scores by our guys, as a avalanche of projectile fire hurtals down the corridor, still the damage isn't enough to take the Stormtrooper dudes down. The Annoying NPC is hit, in the head, it's a critical, he's not going to make it.........there is much rejoycing on our side. More shooting, missing, hitting, crap damage, 2 of the stormtroopers have reached our position. These two are fairly badly damaged from numerous hits, but they *wait for it*, extend bayonets and CHARGE! The big fackin' gun is also being swivelled towards our position Fuck my buttocks! The enemy fire first, one hits Gray at point blank range, its a leg hit, a bad one, The Flak Vest+Helmet Combo(FVHC) offers no protection to legs....Gray goes from unscratched to VERY SERIOUS. The leg is...well..can I put it this way Everyone with 2 legs please step forward..not so fast Mr Davies. Gray returning shot, also hits for a considerable amount of damage, stunning and blasting the stormtrooper back 3 feet. He out of it too. The other stormtrooper misses Rod, and PhilJ & Rod returing fire take him down too. The situation is, Boyz 2 Bad Evil Armoured Dudes 2, Hmmm a war of attrition. Rod&PhilJ scream for help. Rich leaves the Comp room and rushes to the firefight, the boys outside (Sukh&PJ&PhilM) leave their mechs and enter the building (will take 5 rounds to reach Rod&PhilJ). The big facking gun is taking huge chunks out of corridor walls... PhilJ heroically rolls over to Gray, heaves him into cover, then picks up Gray's Laser Rifle and fires and hits in one round. What a guy! Rod picks up Dead NPC's really impressive looking HEAVY NEEDLER. Which he finds has the same range as his pistol (i.e long range for dudes mid-way down corridor). Arse! Rich arrives and also heroically rolls over to Gray's side to do First Aid on Gray. This is quiet impressive, as Rich needs a 8 and still manages to suceed. Gray goes from SERIOUS (11+) to regain conciousness to (7+). PhilJ&Rod exchange a few more minor hits with ArmD#3 and #4. Gray regains his senses (cunning use of 'senses' thereby not having to try and spell councousness again). Rich calmly assembles his AUTOMATIC GRENADE LAUCHER and sets is to 'FULL AUTO'. Sukh&Phil&PJ have reached the computer room. Rich hefts his support weapon and launches a stream of 10 random mini-grenades at ArmD#4. He needs a 9, he gets a 9. ArmD#4 finds himself surrounded by 4 High Explosive, 3 Flechettes, 2 Flash & 1 Smoke Grenade. BANG, BANG, BANG, WHOP, SLICE, PUFF, etc, They'll need a spatula to gather his remains. ArmD#3 returns fire, obviously distracted by the FLASH & SMOKE grenades decides to flip his carbine and shoot himself in the HEAD 'Wild at Heart' style. He is no more, and for once we had nothing to do with it. The BFG zeros in on Rod, and fires. Rod feels a stinging sensation and looks down at the stump that was his right arm (cue: Carl Weathers scene from Predator) Yes Rod loses his right arm (and also a rather unpleasant personal habit). The Flak Vest + Helmet Combo again proves it's as much use as a condom machine in the Vatican. The corridor fills with smoke (the grenade), they can't see us, but PhilJ's Laser Rifle has a IR scope and he CAN see them. Rich again risks losing a appendage and rolls over to Rod and does a sucessful First Aid. The 2nd Group (Sukh&PhilM&PJ) head down the other corridor and attempt to 'flank' the remaining Armoured dudes and hit them in a crossfire. PhilJ manages to shoot the BFG and takes it out of action. PhilM & PJ rush up to ArmD#5 & #6, they exchange fire, PhilM whose for some reason does a Kamakairze charge at the 2 stormtroppers, misses with his sawn-off shotgun and takes multiple Gyroslug hits to his arm & leg (the Flak Vest+Helmet Combo fails again). PJ misses, Sukh the weedy bastard is still gasping for breath and still isn't in range. PhilJ hits one Arm dude for more damage. [Final Round] PhilM goes down in a deluge of blood, the Armoured dudes turn their attention (and Carbines) toward PJ. PJ gets shot in his *drum roll* left arm, for wicked damage. But the lucky, jammy fucker is wearing a Flak JACKET + Helmet combo and therefore takes minor damage. We return fire, more hits, more minor damage. I get into range, but must decide whether to risk shooting my STERNACHT heavy pistol at the remaining Arm Dudes, with the chance of missing and hitting either PJ or PhilM. Decision, I need a 8 to hit, am I the kind of bastard who'll gleefully fire into a melee. Fuck it, I can't risk shooting a friend with just a pistol..... I therefore decide to shoot with BOTH of my STERNACHT heavy pistols. I amazingly hit with both pistols, hitting ArmD#5 in the right arm with both shots. They surrender. We get the Dropship plans and haul ass off this planet. A very tough assignment indeed. Cheers Sukh.