The Let's Play Archive

Battletech

by PoptartsNinja

Part 356: Hastilude - Turn 2

Hastilude: Tactical Update 2

“Knights, this is Galaxy Commander Karen Horn,” the radio crackled with actual words for once, instead of the Clanners’ nigh-incomprehensible gibberish. “I must complement your scientist caste! The Jade Falcon Clan would be enamored with this `Mech’s design: a fat bird about to vomit up a meal for its young. It would remind them of their earliest days in the sibko.”

The other Clanners laughed at Horn’s apparent jest, although the humor was lost on Sir Vincent El-Hashem. A notorious stoic, the young officer likely wouldn’t have laughed even if he’d understood; but if the Clanners were going to talk rather than fight he wouldn’t dissuade them. The longer they failed to take this fight seriously the bigger the advantage the Knights could seize.

“What do you think?” Vince queried the rest of the Long Lance. “It looks like they’re circling around to the west. Do we engage head-on?”

Dr. Sequord was the first to respond, her advice succinct and sound “That’s what they want us to do. I wouldn’t.”

“Hammer and Anvil?” Sir Ryden suggested, naming the classic Free Worlds League combat doctrine where a slow force tied up the enemy so a swift force could flank it and attack from the rear. “Anvil” was as much a description of his machine’s ideal role as anything else.

“Splitting our forces will just get us picked off,” Mignon’s soft-spoken voice didn’t carry well over the radio. She practically had to shout into her microphone to get it to pick up; so the young Knight had long-since earned a reputation for “battlefield wisdom.” She only spoke when she felt she had something important to add.

“A head-on fight is what they want,” Kemper Varas agreed, “but not what they expect. They’re watching for treachery but this isn’t the time for anything underhanded, it’s the time for a little brutality. Let’s teach them the dangers of arrogance, yes?”







Movement Phase
Albatross
- Attempts to enter hex 1627, but has insufficient MP! Movement ends in hex 1828!



Unit Status:


Knights of the Inner Sphere Mission Objectives:
- Win (incomplete)

Hastilude Enemy Movement Mods:
- Albatross – Ran +1
- Anvil – Ran +2
- Wraith – Ran +3
- Orion – Ran +1
- Grizzly – Ran +1