Part 308: Hogarth's Heroes - Turn 7
Hogarth’s Heroes: Tactical Update 7Movement Phase
Blue 2) Steiner’s Awesome
- Stands carefully!
Combat Phase
Blue 1) Hogarth’s Atlas II
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Battlemaster Red 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement - 2 medium pulse laser = 4): rolled 8, hit Center Torso (28/40 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Battlemaster Red 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement - 2 medium pulse laser = 4): rolled 10, hit Right Torso (12/28 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Battlemaster Red 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement - 2 medium pulse laser = 4): rolled 9, hit Left Torso (10/16 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Battlemaster Red 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement - 2 medium pulse laser = 4): rolled 7, hit Center Torso (22/40 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Pulse Laser at Battlemaster Red 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement - 2 medium pulse laser = 4): rolled 10, hit Left Leg (15/26 armor remains)!
Blue 2) Steiner’s Awesome
- Torso Twists to threaten hex 1821!
- Fires PPC at Javelin Red 6 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 2 minimum range + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 3, miss!
- Fires PPC at Javelin Red 6 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 2 minimum range + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires PPC at Javelin Red 6 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 2 minimum range + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 2, miss!
- Fires PPC at Javelin Red 6 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 2 minimum range + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Small Laser at Javelin Red 6 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 light woods + 2 secondary target in rear arc = 15): automatic miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 light woods + 2 secondary target in rear arc = 15): automatic miss!
Blue 3) Vasquez’s Banshee
- Fires PPC at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 10): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires PPC at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 10): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Autocannon/10 at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 10): rolled 9, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 12): rolled 3, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 12): rolled 10, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 12): rolled 8, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 12): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires SRM-6 at Kintaro Red 3 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement = 12): rolled 12, 2 missiles hit Left Torso (16/18 armor remains), Right Leg (21/23 armor remains)!
Blue 4) Schultz’s Zeus
- Fires Large Laser at Black Knight Red 4 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 10, miss!
- Fires Large Laser at Black Knight Red 4 (4 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 11): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires PPC at Black Knight Red 4 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 9): rolled 11, hit Left Arm (10/20 armor remains)! ?!
- Fires LRM-15 at Black Knight Red 4 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 9): rolled 5, miss!
Red 1) Battlemaster
- Fires Medium Laser at Atlas II Blue 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 6): rolled 8, hit Right Arm (14/34 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Laser at Atlas II Blue 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 6): rolled 11, hit Right Torso (15/32 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Laser at Atlas II Blue 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 6): rolled 7, hit Left Torso (27/32 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Laser at Atlas II Blue 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 6): rolled 7, hit Right Arm (9/34 armor remains)!
- Fires SRM-6 at Atlas II Blue 1 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 6): rolled 11, 4 missiles hit Right Torso (13/32 armor remains), Right Torso (11/32 armor remains), Left Torso (25/32 armor remains), Left Arm (12/34 armor remains)!
Red 2) Grand Dragon
- Torso Twists to threaten hex 1616!
- Fires Medium Laser at Zeus Blue 4 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement = 7): rolled 10, hit Right Arm (17/22 armor remains)!
- Fires Medium Laser at Zeus Blue 4 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement = 7): rolled 8, hit Left Arm (14/22 armor remains)!
Red 3) Kintaro
- Holds fire!
Red 4) Black Knight
- Holds fire!
Red 6) Javelin
- Fires SRM-6 at Awesome Red 2 (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement = 7): rolled 4, miss!
- Fires SRM-6 at Awesome Red 2 (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement = 7): rolled 9, 4 missiles hit Left Arm (16/24 armor remains), Right Torso (20/24 armor remains), Left Leg (25/33 armor remains), Left Leg (23/33 armor remains (TAC!))!
Red 7) Wolf Trap
- Torso Twists to threaten hex 0928!
- Fires LB-10X AC (Slug) at Banshee Blue 3 (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 8): rolled 7, miss!
Red 8) Panther 2
- Torso Twists to threaten hex 1319!
- Fires PPC at Awesome Blue 2 (4 base + 0 range + 2 movement + 0 enemy movement = 6): rolled 6, hit Center Torso (11/30 armor remains)!
End Phase:
Battlemaster Red 1
- Ignores piloting tests for dramatic effect this turn!
Black Knight Red 4
- Must roll a 6+ to pass a containment test: rolled 4, fails!
Atlas II Blue 1
- Ignores piloting tests for dramatic effect this turn!
Awesome Blue 2
- Through-Armor Critical in Left Leg! 1 critical hit sustained!
- - Lower Leg Actuator crippled!
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (5 base + 1 actuator damage = 6): rolled 8, miss!
Physical Combat Phase:
Blue 1) Hogarth’s Atlas II
- Make it Look Good (5 base + 2 movement = 7): rolled 8, succeeds!
Red 1) Battlemaster
- Make it Look Good (5 base + 2 movement = 7): rolled 11, succeeds!
End Phase:
Blue 1) Hogarth’s Atlas II
- Rotary Autocannons inexplicably unjam!
Hogarth’s pulse lasers stitched molten lines across the Battlemaster’s torso as he heroically rushed to meet the Red Corsair’s brazen challenge. Fists extended like a professional boxer, the bright crimson Battlemaster threw a few shadow punches in the Atlas’s direction before dodging backwards to avoid a swipe of the other Assault `Mech’s massive fist. In a single, graceful motion the Battlemaster clasped both hands together and raised them for an overhead blow at Hogarth’s seemingly vulnerable cockpit, but the heroic movie General was far too swift—or would seem to be, once the scene was sped up in post to make the fight look real for the movie-going audience.
The Atlas’s massive fists caught the Battlemaster’s wrists as its joined hands fell, though the force of the impact drove the Atlas to one knee. Its arms quaking under the Battlemaster’s forceful assault.
“You’re finished, Hogarth!” The Red Corsair laughed, though her laugh caught in her throat as Thomas cracked open his front cockpit hatch. Stepping forward onto his precarious perch, he motioned for the Red Corsair to do the same.
The Battlemaster’s dome-shaped cockpit slid open with a hiss, revealing a slim woman in a featureless black bodysuit and similarly black neurohelmet. That the cameras would’ve gotten a full view of the black-clad young woman actually piloting the Battlemaster would have been no concern, the two-seat design was hardly uncommon and only a trained `Mechwarrior would realize that the rearmost seat was the primary command chair.
A shock of knee-length hair, unnaturally red and vibrant, blew in the wind behind the Red Corsair. For this scene, it’d been sewn directly to the costume; and there’d been the usual issues with strands being sucked into the Battlemaster’s ventilation system. Fortunately, no cameras peaked over the Red Corsair’s shoulder to reveal how truly awful the rear of her combat costume looked.
“You can’t defeat the Lyran spirit!” Hogarth called to her.
“I have quite enough trouble with spirits already, I don’t need yours! The Lyran spirit will never crush Skye,” she countered, “we shall never again kneel to a foreign master!”
Hogarth and the Red Corsair stood, heroic opposites—one large, handsome, and vital (if perhaps a touch overweight) and sporting the Lyran Commonwealth’s most famous and respectable moustache with a confidence that warmed the hearts of his men (in theory); the other slim, sensual, and cold as the Tharkad winter they were all pretending was summer on Summer. Their eyes locked, and Hogarth laughed.
“I’d recognize you anywhere, Melissa Steiner!” he laughed, clapping his hands together as though he’d just been let in on some great universal joke. “I remember playing with you when we were both children!”
“You were never a child, General,” The Red Corsair said darkly. “And you always were too smart for your own—”
A distant thundercrack interrupted their conversation as Colonel Schultz’s Zeus scored a direct hit on the distant, immobile Black Knight. A surge of eldritch power burst from the distant `Mech as the glowing runes covering its surface flared—and then exploded in a burst of necrotic green light! The Black Knight crumbled as though made of papier-mâché—which wasn’t far from the truth. For a brief instant, the body of a common Cattlemaster Agromech could be seen beneath the artificial façade before a massive explosion burst from the ground at its feet.
“Clovis!” the Red Corsair screamed, her fearful cry changing to a howl of fury in an instant. With a roar, she threw herself back into the Battlemaster’s cockpit which closed around her like the mouth of some great monster. Its joints straining, the crimson `Mech redoubled its efforts to smash Hogarth’s Atlas into the ground.
Hogarth tumbled back into the Atlas’s open cockpit, falling conveniently into his command couch. With the front hatch still hanging open he replied to the Red Corsair’s enraged howl with a roar of defiance, his larger and stronger Atlas forcing the Battlemaster’s arms apart—and then snapped them off with only the barest hint of preplanted explosives. The Battlemaster fell to its knees as its pilot’s fighting spirit seemed to flow from it.
“Hogarth, you—you goon,” the Red Corsair practically sobbed, “you’ve ruined everything! In another hour, Clovis would’ve had the ghost contained and sealed away! Now it’s free once again!”
As if in response to the Red Corsair’s words, a distant lump of snow—an island in the center of the “not frozen” lake shook itself as though waking from a dream. A massive figure, dwarfing even Hogarth’s Atlas rose to its feet, the barrels of its cannons tracking back and forth as if searching for something to kill. In unison, the enemy `Mechs on the field froze in place—then resumed moving in a sickening, jerky fashion. A powerful, thready voice filled the comms with laughter.
“A nice try, little Steiner; but your great house means nothing to me. You could have served, now? You shall simply die.”
Primary Objectives
Destroy Richard Cameron’s Behemoth (0/1)
Secondary Objectives
Thomas Hogarth duels the Red Corsair (0/1)
One of Hogarth’s Heroes “dies” dramatically, but no more than one (0/1)
Hogarth kills the ghost with his Ghost-Killer PPC (0/1)
Believe in Andrew Steiner (0/1)
Cross the Streams (0/4) (everyone has to hit with a PPC for it to count)
Hidden Objectives
Piles of Cardboard Boxes Destroyed: 1
Fruit Carts Destroyed: 1
Wilhelm Screams: 1
Flubbed Lines: 1
Key:
Blue1) Atlas II
Blue2) Awesome
Blue3) Banshee
Blue4) Zeus
Red1) Battlemaster – Stationary, 0
Enemy `Mech Key
Green2) Dragon – Ran, 2
Green3) Kintaro – Ran, 1
Green6) Javelin – Jumped, 2
Green7) Wolf Trap – Ran, 3
Green8) Panther 2 – Ran, 1
Behemoth – Stationary, 0
Player `Mech Status
Enemy `Mech Status
Cinematic Crit Table
2 – Railing Kill / Protagonist Injured!
3 – Stunned Enemy / Protagonist Flesh Wound!
4 – Huge Random Explosion!
5 – Fruit Vendor Demolished / Chickens Escape / Outhouse Detonates!
6 – Cardboard Boxes Destroyed!
7 – Wilhelm Scream / Flubbed Line!
8 – Cardboard Boxes Destroyed!
9 – Explosive Barrels Explode Unexpectedly!
10 – Something Catches Fire!
11 – Delayed Casualty / Protagonist Flesh Wound!
12 – Kneecapped / Protagonist Injured!