Part 651: Retaking Sirdar - Turn 8

Retaking Sirdar Update 8

Star Captain Kalas Coston crept forward at a steady pace. The thrum of his Undine’s UMUs sent vibrations through his feet and legs. He shifted every so often, dropping to the floor of the sewage outflow pipe to walk long enough to keep his legs from going numb. It wasn’t always possible to do that in an Undine, a warrior might spend days operating one in deep ocean currents, but there was no danger of deep vein thrombosis here. His battle armor’s sonar coughed, then fed the data straight back to his neural implants. Even on the slowest, lowest-intensity pulses it was easy enough to see once the battle armor’s computer had been calibrated to filter out any detritus smaller than a man’s head.

In the history of warfare, strong defensive positions had always been prized. When mountains and cliffs were in short supply, mankind built their own. When rivers didn’t flow, mankind dug them out. Mankind had been building fortifications for as long as they’d existed, but no fortress was unassailable. Even the mountain under which Star Captain Coston now crawled could be scoured from the face of the planet given enough time and a determined enough orbital bombardment—but they didn’t have the time. The Snow Ravens had lost their greatest prize, and refused to commit their fleet to anything even remotely resembling a geostationary orbit.

The task of digging the worm Amaris out of his hole had fallen to Clan Sea Fox. While their `Mech forces launched a full-scale assault, teams of elementals had crept through the sewer lines the Clan felt would most likely connect to Amaris’s subterranean base. Kalas, at least, had found success, slipping past a series of heavily armored blast doors that were no doubt designed to close off the facility in the event of a siege. The Rim Worlders were undoubtedly leaving their sewer lines open as long as possible—a sensible move, as septic cisterns could fill remarkably quickly. Which wasn’t to suggest the Rim Worlders were entirely unprepared for this approach: the muck outside Kalas’s closed environment was pressurized just enough to make such a venture nearly impossible for commandos in normal scuba gear—but the existence of the Undine battle armor was one the Sea Foxes had kept carefully hidden as they’d gradually worked to draw the Rim Worlders closer to the coastal swamps and river wetlands that seemed to reduce the mobility advantages of the BattleMech forces. In less than twelve hours, the first all-out Undine attacks would show the Inner Sphere scum how unsafe those wetlands truly were.

One way or another, Kalas Coston’s own mission would be finished by the time those attacks started. He did not expect to live to see them. Headhunting—searching out and slaying the enemy’s leadership—was a time-honored tradition among the Clans. Killing or capturing the enemy’s commanding officer or headquarters vehicle was nearly always an instantaneous victory for the side daring enough to make the attempt, but Kalas was not so naïve as to believe the Rim Worlders would let his troops assassinate the Amaris and walk away. Which suited him just fine, every moment he spent outside of his Undine was agony of the highest order. He needed the data his armor fed his brain, without it he felt blind and deaf, slow, sluggish, and worst of all stupid.

The Undine settled to a stop on his next sonar pulse, and Kalas raised his right fist to stop his troops behind him. He’d come to rest at the base of a long, vertical shaft—that was almost certainly their way in. There’d be a sewer processing plant, but such facilities would almost certainly be near the center of a base of this sort. The risk of a facility near the periphery being damaged was far too high. He pointed, and kicked in his UMUs, ascending slowly to give himself enough time to react to any grates or sensors. They were in—now all they needed to do was find and destroy their target.








Movement Phase
Warhammer (Player)
- Insufficient MP to reach hex 1808: needs 5, has 4!

Jinggau
- Orion forces a 9+ test to resist becoming demoralized: rolled 6, fails!

Stalker
- Marauder forces a 9+ test to resist becoming demoralized: rolled 10, succeeds!



Shooting Phase
Hunchback (Player)
- Attacks Lao Hu (4 skill + 2 TMM + 2 range + 2 woods + 1 partial cover = 11): rolled 10, miss!

Watchman (Player)
- Holds fire!

Shadow Hawk (Player)
- Attacks Men Shen (4 skill + 3 TMM + 0 range = 7): rolled 4, miss! Lucky!
- - Rerolled attack: rolled 8, hit! 2 damage sustained!

Blackjack (Player)
- Attacks Men Shen (4 skill + 3 TMM + 2 range + 1 partial cover = 10): rolled 5, miss!

Warhammer (Player)
- No Line of Sight to target!

Marauder (Player)
- Attacks Stalker (4 skill + 1 TMM + 2 range + 1 woods + 2 jumped - 1 jumping jack = 9): rolled 10, hit! 4 damage sustained! 2 Crits!

Grasshopper (Player)
- Attacks Stalker (4 skill + 1 TMM + 2 range + 2 woods + 2 jumped = 11): rolled 3, miss!

Scarabus (Player)
- Attacks Galleon A (4 skill + 2 TMM + 0 range = 6): rolled 11, hit! 2 damage sustained! CfMSD!

Wolfhound (Player)
- Holds fire!

Spider (Player)
- Attacks Stalker (4 skill + 1 TMM + 0 range = 5): rolled 4, miss!

Crusader Prime
- Attacks Grasshopper (3 skill + 2 TMM + 2 range + 2 woods - 1 stationary = 8): rolled 8, hit! 6 damage sustained!

Men Shen Prime
- Attacks Shadow Hawk (4 skill + 3 TMM + 0 range = 7): rolled 5, miss!

Jinggau
- Attacks Warhammer (4 skill + 1 TMM + 2 range + 1 woods + 1 cover = 9): rolled 9, hit! 5 damage sustained! 3 critical hits sustained! Warhammer forced to withdraw!

Lao Hu
- Attacks Hunchback (4 skill + 1 TMM + 2 range + 2 woods = 9): rolled 7, miss!

Cyclops
- Holds fire!

Stalker
- Attacks Marauder (4 skill + 2 TMM + 2 range + 2 woods = 10): rolled 7, miss!

Sha Yu
- Attacks Marauder (4 skill + 2 TMM + 2 range + 2 woods = 10): rolled 8, miss!

Vindicator
- Attacks Shadow Hawk (4 skill + 2 TMM + 2 range - 1 stationary = 7): rolled 9, hit! 2 damage sustained!

Galleon A
- Attacks Scarabus (4 skill + 1 TMM + 0 range + 1 woods = 6): rolled 7, hit! 2 damage sustained! 1 Structure unit lost all armor, forced to withdraw!



End Phase:
Stalker
- Critical chance: rolled 8, fire control hit! Weapon hit!
- Critical chance: rolled 6, fire control hit! Weapon hit!

Galleon A
- Chance for Motive System Damage: rolled 5, no motive system damage sustained!

Warhammer
- Critical chance: rolled 3, Engine hit!
- Critical chance: rolled 4, fire control hit!
- Critical chance: rolled 8, weapon hit!








Next Turn’s Movement Phase
PTN’s note: I can only do this because we’re playing Alpha Strike.

Crusader Prime
- Jumps to hex 0216!

Men Shen Prime
- Moves to hex 0427!

Jinggau
- Moves to hex 1812!

Lao Hu
- Remains stationary in hex 1508!

Cyclops
- Moves to hex 1307!

Stalker
- Moves to hex 0715!

Sha Yu
- Retreats to hex 0314!

Vindicator
- Remains Stationary in hex 0207!

Skulker A
- Retreats off the map!

Galleon A
- Ends turn in hex 1009!



Player Status:






Opposing Force Status:





Special Rules
Forced Withdrawal - `Mechs and Vehicles which suffer more than 50% structure damage will automatically attempt to retreat off the nearest friendly board edge. Units with only 1 point of structure will withdraw if all of their armor is destroyed.



Primary Objectives
Primary Objectives
- Destroy or Drive Off All Enemy Scouts (7/8 destroyed)
or
- Destroy or Drive Off All Enemy `Mechs (5/12 destroyed)



Orders Due: Midnight Saturday!