Background: In February of 3050, a group of unknown BattleMechs struck at the stronghold of the lord known simply as The Old Man of the Mountain. He and his followers are a private and autonymous semi-religious group of soldiers who do not serve any of the Major Houses. The battle started just outside of the mountain stronghold when elements of the attacker's recon forces met recon forces of the defender in a situation which was unexpected to both. The stronghold guardians fought so valiantly that they were slain to the last man, woman, and child. A vid recording of the battle had been remoted to a local station toward the last minutes of the slaughter, as a voice from a dying female warrior warned that whoever these attackers are, they are armed with hitherto unknown weapons, disciplined, and extremely dangerous fighters. Game Set-up: Place 4 BattleTech boards together running lengthwise. The long edge is east to west, and the short edge is north to south. At the far end of the eastern board place a single CityTech board. On the city board there are: 5 light buildings, 3 medium buildings, 2 heavy buildings, and I hardened building. This represents the small village which supports the stronghold and from which the stronghold draws young students for their various apprenticeship programs. At the far west end of the map is a giant wall/gate house which covers that entire end of the board. The north/south sides of the maps are level 7 cliffs which are impossible to climb. Defender Set-up: The defender sets up first anywhere on the CltyTech board. Active in the first scenario: Recon Lance: Panther, good condition, Piloting: 3, Gunnery: 4 Valkyrie, good condition, Piloting: 3, Gunnery: 3 Jenner, excellent cdn , Piloting: 2, Gunnery: 3 Stinger LAM, good cdn, Piloting: 3, Gunnery: 3 Patrol Lance: 2 Saracen medium hover tanks, Driver: 4, Gunnery: 3 2 Pegasus scout tanks: Driver: 3, Gunnery: 4 1 Laser Jump Infantry Platoon Attacker Set-up: The attackers set up second on the eastern edge of the CityTech board. Reinforcements come every 4 turns as follows: five of these mystery 'Mechs every 8 turns until the fortress forces have been destroyed. No prisoners will be taken. Attacker Typical Lance A mixture of types of these unknown 'Mechs: Tonnage: 40 Tons Walking mp: 8 Run mp: 12 Jump mp: 8 Heat Sinks: 10 (20) Armor Factor: 134 Head: 3 9 CT: 12 16/7 LT/RT: 10 13/7 LA/RA: 6 12 LL/RL: 10 19 The Small Print: Those with access to ComStar'S TOP SECRET Technical Readout: 3050 will recogize these 'Mocha as variations of the Dragonfly Onnnimech. You are reminded of your oaths 9 you do achelve this recognition. Goals The defender must destroy each wave as they come upon the stronghold. They will not allow the enemy to have access to the stronghold. The attacker is wanting to eliminate the defender as quickly as possible with the fewest number of waves. Victory Conditions: Attacker must state at beginning of the game how many turns it will take him to eliminate the defender. Defender Major Victory: Any one attacker wave completely destroyed before the next wave comes in. Defender Minor Victory: Even one of defender forces remains after turn # 16. Attacker Minor Victory: Destroys defenders within allocated number of turns. Attacker Major Victory: Destroys defenders before second wave comes in at turn 8. Extended Scenario: If the players wish this battle to extend beyond the lance-to-lance scenario, the stronghold defenders have an additional 5 30 ton 'Mechs, 7 50-ton 'Mechs, 5 65-ton 'Mechs, 5 70ton 'Mechs and 6 80-ton 'Mechs, of the defender's choice (no Star League items, though double heat sinks are allowed. These 'Mechs may not exit the stronghold until turn 5. They may then bring out one lance every two turns. In this version of the scenario, let the attacker have a new wave (of 5) every five turns. Once again, attacker must stipulate the maximum number of 'Mechs he will need to destroy the other forces totally. Victory conditions now go to a victory point system. Extended Scenario Victory Conditions: Attacker gets 1 VP per ten ton of 'Mechs destroyed. Add up tonnage of Attacker 'Mechs used in the scenario (ie, if you commit 800 tons, but you destroy the defender with 400 tons, only count those 400 tons). Subtract 1 VP for each 20 tons of 'Mechs used by the attacker to achieve objective. Attacker is a Small-Unit Strategic Genius: Attacker VP= 155 or better Attacker Major Victory: Attacker VP= 136-154 Attacker Minor Victory: Attacker VP= 126-135 Draw: Attacker VP=1 16-125 Defender Minor Victory: Attacker VP = 96-115 Defender Major Victory: Attacker VP = 86-95 Defender is Kerensky's equal: Attacker VP = 85 or less Back to BattleTechnology 14 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com