Part 341: Steel Will - Turn 17
Steel Will: Tactical Update 17Initiative Phase
- Delta Battle Lance, Sirdar DNS Militia: Rolled 4!
- 2nd Lance, 3rd Chesterton Voltigeurs: Rolled 3!
DNS Forces win initiative!
Movement Phase
Raven
- Must pass a piloting test or fall (5 base + 3 jumped with gyro damage = 8): rolled 8, succeeds!
Combat Phase
Impact Point Zero
2) Griffin
- Fires ER PPC at Huron Warrior (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 EM Radiation = 8): rolled 3, miss!
- Fires SRM-6 at Huron Warrior (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 EM Radiation = 8): rolled 9, 5 missiles hit Rear Left Torso (5/7 armor remains), Left Leg (12/20 armorremains), Rear Center Torso (3/16 structure remains (Crit!)), Right Leg (7/20 armor remains), Rear Right Torso (5/7 armor remains)!
- Fires SRM-6 at Huron Warrior (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement + 1 EM Radiation = 8): rolled 10, 5 missiles hit Rear Right Torso (3/7 armor remains), Left Leg (10/20 armor remains), Rear Right Torso (1/7 armor remains), Right Leg (5/20 armor remains), Rear Center Torso (1/16 structure remains (Crit!))!
- Gains 28 heat, sinks 22! Overheating!
7) Huron Warrior
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 1220!
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Griffin (4 base + 0 range + 1 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 EM Interference + 1 minimum range = 10): rolled 7, miss!
- Gains 12 heat, sinks 17!
4) Wolverine
- Fires Large Pulse Laser at Hunter Support Tank (4 base + 2 range + 2 movement + 1 enemy movement + 1 EM Interference - 2 Pulse Laser = 8): rolled 4, miss!
- Gains 22 heat, sinks 24!
Cronus
- Fires Large Laser at Wolverine (4 base + 2 range + 0 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 EM Interference = 9): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Wolverine (4 base + 4 range + 0 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 EM Interference = 11): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Wolverine (4 base + 4 range + 0 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 EM Interference = 11): rolled 10, miss!
- Gains 14 weapon heat!
Hunter Light Support Tank
- Fires Flamer at Wolverine (Target out of Range): automatic miss!
Yantai Reservation
9) Watchman
- Torso-twists to threaten hex 1010!
- Fires Large Laser at Phoenix (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement = 7): rolled 8, hit Left Leg (12/20 armor remains)!
- Gains 14 heat, sinks 12!
10) Blackjack
- Fires PPC at Phoenix (4 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement = 7): rolled 8, hit Head (0/9 armor, 2/3 structure remains)! Crit! Pilot Killed Due to Cockpit Breach!
- Fires Medium Laser at Phoenix (4 base + 2 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement = 9): rolled 7, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Phoenix (4 base + 2 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement = 9): rolled 6, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Phoenix (4 base + 2 range + 3 movement + 0 enemy movement = 9): rolled 11, hit Left Torso (10/15 armor remains)!
- Gains 23 heat, sinks 18! Overheating!
11) Raven
- Gains 4 heat, sinks 12!
Caeser
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Cicada (5 base + 0 range + 3 movement + 4 enemy movement = 12): rolled 11, miss!
- Fires Large Pulse Laser at Cicada (5 base + 2 range + 3 movement + 4 enemy movement -2 Pulse Laser = 12): rolled 5, miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Cicada (5 base + 4 range + 3 movement + 4 enemy movement = 16): automatic miss!
- Fires Medium Laser at Cicada (5 base + 4 range + 3 movement + 4 enemy movement = 16): automatic miss!
- Gains 28 heat, sinks 28!
Cicada
- Holds fire!
- Gains 0 weapon heat!
Phoenix
- Fires PPC at Watchman (4 base + 0 range + 0 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 8): rolled 9, hit Left Arm (0/12 armor, 0/6 structure remains)! Arm blown off!
- Damage transfers to Left Torso (8/10 structure remains)! Crit!
- Fires SRM-2 at Watchman (4 base + 2 range + 0 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 10): rolled 11, 2 missiles hit Left
- Fires SRM-2 at Watchman (4 base + 2 range + 0 movement + 3 enemy movement + 1 light woods = 10): rolled 7, miss!
- Gains 14 weapon heat!
Rampage
- Fires Gauss Rifle at Caesar (2 base + 4 range + 2 movement + 2 enemy movement + 1 partial cover = 11): rolled 6, miss!
Plainsman Hovertank
- Holds fire!
End Phase:
Huron Warrior
- Critical chance in Center Torso! 1 critical hit sustained!
- - Engine hit! +5 heat/turn!
- Critical chance in Center Torso! No critical hits sustained!
Watchman
- Critical chance in Left Torso! No critical hits sustained!
- Critical chance in Left Torso! 1 critical hit sustained!
- - Machine Gun ammo hit!
- Watchman suffers 372 damage to the Left Torso! 0/10 structure remains! Pilot suffers 2 hits!
- - CASE vents 366 damage harmlessly!
- Must pass a 7+ consciousness test: rolled 7, succeeds!
Next Turn’s Movement Phase
Plainsman
- Must pass a driving test in hex 0832 to avoid a sideslip (5 base - 1 distance traveled = 4): rolled 7, succeeds!
- Must pass a driving test in hex 1330 to avoid a sideslip (5 base + 1 distance traveled = 6): rolled 8, succeeds!
Coronet Espinosa could only smile as his foes battled amongst themselves. Subaltern Wang had been expecting an easy mop-up or a quick surrender from the Capellans and the sudden arrival of New Syrtis `Mechs had thrown the young officer into total confusion. Well, Espinosa thought, he’d paid for his confusion with his life, his heirloom Rifleman had proven no match for the terrifyingly advanced technology of the Duchy and the Capellans. Espinosa wondered if even the rare and nearly irreplaceable marvels they’d acquired from President Amaris would be a match for these new innovations.
All the more reason to strike now, while the two powers were blindsiding each other. Espinosa found the comparison to his current situation amusing: his machine was state-of-the-art in the Concordat, but it felt like a child’s toy compared to the `Mechs on the field. The Huron Warrior was swift and powerful, the Wolverine vicious, and the Griffin and its pilot was a complete monster—and clearly both sides knew the other well. Or at least thought they did.
Clearly expecting the Griffin to flee, the Wolverine and Huron Warriors separated in an attempt to cover its escape routes—but the Griffin’s pilot was too canny and split the gap between them. It touched down in relative safety directly behind the Huron Warrior. The Huron Warrior tried a vain shot with its Gauss Rifle but the heavy weapon tracked too slowly at close range and the silvery streak missed wide.
The Griffin belched missiles from its shoulder-mounted launchers, and Espinosa couldn’t help but grin as several found the gaping rent his allies had put in that devastating machine’s rear armor. He almost wanted to see the New Syrtis pilot win. Almost.
The Wolverine twisted and struggled to line up a shot but its efforts were in vain, the Griffin was in its blindspot. The machine spun, and Espinosa called out a warning as the Capellan pilot took a frustration potshot at the fleeing, helpless Hunter. A cloud of oily flame burst from the tank’s flamer, creating a cloud of thick black smoke that spoiled the enemy pilot’s aim, the flickering beam of the Wolverine’s pulse laser missed the tank by half a meter. Mollita painted a grim picture, those shots had been far too close for comfort; and while Espinosa had no particular love for the vehicle crews they were still Taurian soldiers.
He glowered, no longer content to let the Capellans and the Duchy fight it out. He was certain now: if the Taurians couldn’t win and given a choice between the other two? He wanted the Duchy of “Also Davions” to win.
********************
Sergeant Sommers followed close at Lieutenant Bellard’s heels, his ponderously slow Blackjack struggling to keep up with swifter, lighter `Mechs. He’d always hated the Blackjack’s terrible performance. At only forty-five tons he was barely more maneuverable than the Colonel’s seventy-ton Caeser. The Blackjack’s only real advantage was firepower: as a light-heavy he had enough armament to decimate other machines in his own weightclass. At least, he would if half of his armament hadn’t been shot away.
The Taurian Phoenix squatted at the top of the hill, its blocky, ungangly body speaking of a primitive, low-tech origin. It was a killing machine that didn’t pretend to be anything else, and the ominous glow of its PPC was proof enough of its intent. Bellard shot first, his large laser catching the heavier Taurian machine in the hip. The laser’s pulse, which didn’t last long enough for the human eye to truly see, lingered for a few moments in an almost artfully render by the Blackjack’s targeting computer.
It wasn’t enough to shake the Taurian’s aim, the PPC crossed the distance in a heartbeat and burned clean through the Watchman’s left shoulder. The machine’s arm fell away in a shower of sparks, but it was the flight of barely-visible SRMs that followed and did the real damage: one of the missiles slipped past the Watchman’s tattered armor, its shaped charge detonating against the side of the Watchman’s ammo bin.
Dorian’s machine stood stock-still for a moment and then, with a smooth, casual motion that seemed to Sommers to take hours but in reality took less than the time it took for him to suck in a fearful breath the Watchman extended its right arm away from its body, holding the Firebee’s battered cockpit as far away as possible.
The air itself shook visibly as the Watchman’s left side vanished in a cloud of smoke and fire, the shockwave kicking up a fresh cloud of the radioactive ash that clung to every surface. White-hot metal glanced from the Blackjack’s chest and sent a fresh cloud of steam hissing from the surface of the Yantai river. The Watchman was driven to its knees, but still Bellard hung on, protecting the Firebee’s cockpit with the bulk of his `Mech.
Sommers didn’t roar for vengeance, didn’t cry out for his commander. With slow deliberation, he brought his Blackjack around to regard the distant Phoenix.
“Lieutenant, is your wife alright?”
“Think so,” Bellard sounded concussed, which was to be expected.
“Good,” Sommers hissed as his PPC flashed upwards at the gloating Phoenix, burning away its transplex canopy and venting the rest of its fury into the myomer supporting it. The Phoenix’s left arm rose, its hand grasping as though trying to shield its face—and then the machine collapsed in a mechanical seizure as its pilot got his first lungful of radioactive ash. Sommers smiled, “I just got her a new ride.”
Delta Battle Lance “The Avenging Angels” Primary Objectives:
- Survive (incomplete)
- Destroy the Capellan Survivors (incomplete)
Delta Battle Lance “The Avenging Angels” Secondary Objectives:
- Rescue Capellan Survivors (failed)
- Defeat Taurian Forces (failed)
2nd Lance, 1st Company, 3rd Chesterton Voltigeurs Primary Objectives:
- Survive (incomplete)
- Destroy the New Syrtis Rescue Party (1/2)
2nd Lance, 1st Company, 3rd Chesterton Voltigeurs Secondary Objectives:
- Link up with the New Syrtis Rescue Party (failed)
- Defeat Taurian Forces (failed)
India Recon Lance “The Last Report” Primary Objectives:
- Retreat?
- Defeat Taurian Forces (incomplete)
India Recon Lance “The Last Report” Secondary Objectives:
- Defend the Fallout Bunker Entrance (failed)
- Use the Raven’s equipment to confirm the condition of the six bunkers and the number (if any) of the survivors (failed)
Point Zero Enemy Movement Mods:
- Cronus – Jumped +3
Yantai Reservation Enemy Movement Mods:
- Cicada – Jumped +4
- Plainsman – Flanked +4
- Rampage – Ran +1
Player Status:
Enemy Status:
