Galts Ghost

 Time for something really different.  Way back in the late 1980's I played Battletech, primarily because at the time it was the only 'wargame' I could find opponent for in the pre-internet era, (It wasn't really a true war-game, soft of a hybrid role playing/battle game in my experience).  It was fun, but it was painfully detailed.  However as part of that detail it had a magnificent backstory.  As relocation for work occurred I drifted away from BattleTech, and ultimately ended up in CT where I found local (as in same small town) historical warmers which allowed me to get back into 'proper wargaming in proper eras'.   Earlier this year the 'Friday Afternoon Old Guys', discovered Alpha Strike, which is, in my opinion, a true 'wargame' version of the original BattleTech game, (your mileage may vary).  So, I had to give it a try.  So what follows is brief solo run-through of a quick little skirmish.  Unlike original BattleTech which I found to be unwieldily with more than 4 'Mechs' per side, Alpha Tech can easily accommodate Battalion size battles and larger.

And since I still had the gaming table set up with terrain from the last Eurica battle.  Time for some more foolishness.

So here we go.

March 9, 3044, Alliance Motors Limited Manufacturing Annex  C, on the planet Sevon in the Outworlds Alliance.

 

John Galt, the 1commander of Galt’s Ghost, a mercenary unit consisting of 2 Battlemechs was just finishing his morning coffee.  He was still trying to wrap his head around the turn of events over the last three years that had resulted in him and his best friends Hans Johnson and Rudolph Klupton being able to live out their lifelong dream.  This was their first job, and the pay was pretty pathetic, but all they had to do was provide additional security for this new remote production line for farm equipment of Alliance Motors Limited.  While only 9 days into their 12-month contract he felt like things were going well.

 

Just as he downed the last of his coffee the facilities PA system blared to life, and alarm Klaxons started going off across the complex.  “Hostile forces inbound, all personnel to shelters.  Security Force stand to. Estimated 10 minutes until arrival.”  John dropped the paper coffee cup and ran outside, passing his partner and lifetime friend Hans as they sprinted towards their Mechs and their first combat. 

 

As soon as the start-up sequence completed on their Mechs, Ralph, their friend and mechanical genius who was mostly responsible for restoring the two Mechs they had unearthed on their home world of Conroe 3 years ago came over the comms system and said “Remember it took me 3 years to get those things operational, make sure you take care of them.  Now go kick some ass!”

 

_____________________________

 

A peaceful Tractor Factory surrounded by farms.

Turn 1

John deployed his Rifleman 4D behind the cover of the factory administrative building while Hans moved Phoenix Hawk 1K across the road to the cover of the farmhouse.  

In the distance the attacking Recon Lance moved forward, With one of their Wasp mechs jumping the river with the intervening woods breaking line of sight.  The Locust moved forward keeping the hill between itself and factory, giving it cover.The other Wasp moved behind another clump of woods which also blocked line of the sight to the small Mech.  The Stinger sprinted behind another clump of trees that blocked line of sight.

 

 

The defenders have deployed (upper right) and the attackers advance taking advantage of the terrain.  As always, click to enlarge.

Turn 2

The attackers continue to advance.  They need to close to medium range in order to engage as none of their light Mechs can fire at long range.  The Wasp on the attackers left ground moves into the woods.  The Locust ground moves into cover behind a farm house.  The other Wasp moves into the woods.  The Stinger ground moves behind the woods breaking line of sight.

The defenders stand still (normally they would have moved to keep the enemy 'to hit' roll higher, but since the light mechs they are facing don't have long range fire power it opted to stand still to improve it's 'to hit' number for not moving).  The Rifleman fires and misses, by a lot, it must be the first combat jitters.

John's radio crackled as Hans' voice came across,  "Hey boss, I thought the plan was you'd soften them up from a distance.  Maybe we need a new plan?"

The attackers continue their steady pace.  But what's their objective?  To raid the factory or to destroy it? Or both?

Turn 3

The defenders won the initiative, again.  (In Alpha Strike the initiative winner moves last, that way they get to see the enemy deployment.)

The attackers launch their assault.  Their left most Wasp jumps forward (jumping makes it harder to be hit, but it also make it harder for them to make hits).  

The defenders move, the Phoenix Hawk ground moves to the other side of the farm house the Locust is behind and the Rfileman moves to the farmhouse the Phoenix Hawk was sheltering behind.

Shooting is simultaneous, with the side that lost initiative shooting first.  The attackers left most Wasp fires at the Rifleman and misses.  The Locust fires across the top of the farmhouse at the Phoenix Hawk and hits doing 1 point of damage to the Phoenix Hawks armor.  The other Wasp fires at the Phoenix Hawk and misses.  The Stinger fires at the Phoenix Hawk rear arc and misses.

The Defender return fire, with the Phoenix Hawk firing at the Locust and misses.  The Rfileman fires at the Locust and finally hits something, doing 2 points of damage boiling off all of the Mechs armor.  However, the Rfileman rolled a 12, which is a critical hit which resulted in no additional damage.

 

I hope the residents of the farm house the phoenix hawk and Locust are fighting over in the center evacuated in time.

Turn 4

The attackers win the initiative, defenders move first.  The Rifleman falls back to cover the factory administration building.  The Phoenix Hawk falls back to the position the Rifleman just left. 

For the attackers move, the left most Wasp jumps forward again.  The Locust and other Wasp switch positions,  And the Stinger moves behind the farm house flanking the defending Mechs.

The defenders fire, the Rifleman targets the Wasp behind the farm house, hitting for 2 points of damage which removes all the armor from the Wasp.  The Phoenix Hawk targets the same Wasp, and misses.

The attackers fire, their left most Wasp firing at the rifleman doing 1 point of damage to its armor.  The Wasp behind the house fires at the Phoenix Hawk and misses, the Locust behind the woods fires at the Phoenix Hawk doing one point of damage to it's armor, but the roll was a 12, which requires a critical hit check, which had no effect.  The Stinger behind the farmhouse fires at the Phoenix Hawk doing one point of damage to its armor.

Looks like the kids may have bitten off more than they can chew.  Is this the end of Galt's Ghost?

Turn 5

The defender wins the initiative.  The attacker moves first.

Their left most Wasp jumps into the factory compound. The Locust and Wasp switch positions, again.  The Stinger moves forward into cover behind the billboard.

The attacker moves the Rfileman back towards one of the assembly buildings to fire on the Wasp, and the Phoenix Hawk falls back into the shipping container yard to fire on the Stinger.

The attackers left most Wasp fires on the assembly building and somehow misses - I guess all of that jumping messed up their aim?  Now we know what the attackers objective seems to be. The Locust fires at the Phoenix Hawk and misses, the other Wasp is out of range.  The Stinger fires at the Phoenix Hawk, and hits doing one point of damage to the Phoenix Hawk's armor.

The defender fires his Rifleman at the Wasp inside the factory compound, and hits doing 2 points of damage removing all of the Wasps armor.  The phoenix Hawk fires at the Stinger behind the billboard, and hits doing 3 points of damage, destroying all of the armor and causing one internal structure hit causing a critical hit roll resulting in a weapon hit.

Turn 6

The defender wins the initiative, attacker moves first.

The Wasp inside the complex moves around to the other side of the assembly plant.   The Locust moves forward to the cover of another farm house and the other Wasp moves into the position the Locust just left.  The Stinger falls back to the cover of the farm house.

The attacker sends his Rifleman after the Wasp that fired on the assembly plant.  The Phoenix Hawk moves to the Cover of the hill to try to finish off the Stinger.

The attackers wasp fires at the assembly plan again and hits, doing 1 point of damage, the building still stands.  The Locust and other Wasp fire at the administrative buildings, the Locust hits doing 1 point of damage and the Stinger misses.  (I really can't roll dice worth $%!#, LOL.  The Stinger doesn't have any weapons due to the critical hit so it can't fire.

The Defending Rifleman fires on the Wasp, and hits doing 2 points of damage which destroys the last of the Mech's internal structure, killing the Mech.  The Phoenix Hawk fires on the battered Stinger, and hits, destroying it's last pip of internal structure and it goes down.

The Assembly Plan and Administrative Building have each taken 1 point of damage, but they still stand.  Two of the 4 attacking light Mechs have been destroyed.  

At this point the attacking forces were down to 50%, the two remaining attackers both have no armor left and only have 2 internal structure points left.  I think at this point they would withdraw, the question is do the defenders pursue let's see what the dice say.

Turn 7

Both of the attacker Mech's sprinted, the Rifleman advanced and took one maximum range shot, missing.  Knowing there was no way to catch the attackers the defenders decided to continue to man their post and begin to salvage what they could from the destroyed Mechs.  Would there be enough to rebuild one of them?

For now, they'd focus on replacing the destroyed armor plates, especially on the Phoenix Hawk.

The Phoenix Hawk may only have 1 armor point left, but it walks triumphantly down the road headed back to the factory complex.

Well, that was a nice distraction.  It played surprisingly quick, if I hadn't been taking pictures and notes it would have taken less than an hour.  I think I got most of the rules right.  Anyway, a fun little excuse to push some plastic around the table and roll some dice.  

It feels like I played this ages ago, I'm rather slow about getting around to posting stuff.  

Take care and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

So much lead, and now plastic, so little time