From the minutes of the Board of Inquiry on the Mira Recon Mission, April, 3028. The Board: What was your position at this time? Deladier: All of Third Company was on the southern end of the line. We were near the edge of a marshy area that just sort of merged into the sea a couple hundred meters off. The Board: And when did you actually realize there were enemy forces in the area? Deladier: Captain Voelker mustered us in a hurry and said there were sensor rigs in the area. He also said he had blips on his scanner out over the swamp ... and about that time my exmike picked up hoverfans. So we knew they were coming. The Board: And Captain Voelker deployed your forces to meet the attack? Deladier: He just had us stand by, ready. Major Fraser, he came up a few minutes later with Battalion HO and directed the fighting. He's the one that ordered us to extend the line and keep the tanks from getting ashore behind us. The Board: And then the Major ... left you to fend for yourselves, eh? Deladler: Captain said he was called away to another part of the field... The Board: While you tried to hold an exposed flank against enemy forces that could come and go at will. Deladier: The way we saw it, we had to keep them from getting 'round behind us. Those devils were lurking out there in the mist, ready to sweep around and block the clear ground at the edge of the marsh. We figured it was going to be our only line of retreat. The Board: But in fact your people were ultimately overpowered and outflanked, since Major Fraser never sent you any assistance. Thank you, SubCommander... Situation: 0542 Local, 8 April 3028 Mira Although Fraser had every reason to believe that the ocean and marshes to the southwest would be sufficient to protect his flank, he reckoned without the knowledge of the full Davion strength on Mira. For attached to the 1st Crucis Lancers was the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment, a mercenary unit equipped with medium and heavy hovertanks ideally suited for combat operations in Mira's swamps. Leading the 6th ACR was Colonel Morgan Graeme, an outspoken proponent of modern cavalry tactics. Graeme recognized the difficulties inherent in his assignment, which was to swing around the rear of the Kearny forces and delay any attempted retreat by the Highlanders across the open plains southeast of the battlefield. This would allow the Davion 'Mechs to arrive in force before the Highlanders could break away. Knowing that tanks were outmatched even by small 'Mechs, and seeing the possibly disastrous consequences of losing too much strength trying to engage the Kearny line in force, Graeme opted for Parthian-style tactics of repeated harassing attacks designed to inflict damage and keep the BattleMechs occupied while other hovertanks moved to the far end of the Kearny line and carried out the primary mission of securing the retreat route. Ultimately Voelker's attempts to block every potential weak point on his front allowed Colonel Graeme the chance to upset Third Company's equilibrium and defeat them in detail. Contributing to Voelker's failure were problems not only with the heat and the difficult terrain, but most especially with low visibility. While Graeme's tanks maneuvered through the swamps at will, the Highlanders couldn't spot them until they were quite close. And dispersion effects of fog on energy weapons made it difficult to hit targets, a problem further compounded by the fact that Voelker's Vindicators and Panthers used PPCs, which were of limited value in the kind of close-in fighting that raged around the swamp's edge. All in all, it is not at all surprising that Graeme's cavalry tactics carried the day. Game Set-Up The scenario uses the maps from BattleForce, set up as shown, with BattleTech rules and procedures. The river line of A-B-C marks the edge of the Equatorial Sea and is treated as water with a depth of 3 or greater. The other rivers are treated normally. All roads and bridges are ignored except as they delimit other terrain. The northernmost line of road hexes indicates the boundary of the swamp. All hexes south of this line (inclusive) are treated as Marsh regardless o terrain types shown. Hexes north of the line remain the terrain type shown. The Defender sets up first. The Attacker has the initiative. Defender The Third Company of the 4th Battalion, 2nd Kearny Highland Regiment, Northwind Highlanders, plus the 4th Battalion's Command Lance. (See the Campaign listings on page 51.) All 'Mechs begin in good condition. The defender may set up in any hexes north of the marsh line. Attacker Elements of the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment, including the following vehicles: 1 Drillson Heavy Hovertank 4 Whirlwind Heavy Hovertanks 2 Harrier Heavy Hovertanks 6 Saracen Medium Hovertanks 6 Scimitar Medium Hovertanks 6 Saladin Assault Hovertanks Statistics on the Harrier and Whirlwind tanks are available in Issue 0202 of BattleTechnology; all other tanks are described in BattleTech Technical Readout3026. The Attacker may deploy as many of his available tanks as he desires at the start of any turn and may bring in others at a later time as necessary. However, possible entry hexes are limited early in the game. On Turn 1, tanks may enter any hex on the western edge of the board, or any of the first 6 hexes starting in the southwest corner (through 0617). On the second turn, go to 1217, on the third 1817, and so on until all hexes on the south edge are available. Entry through other sides of the map is prohibited. Victory Conditions The Attacker scores 10 points for every Kearny 'Mech destroyed, while losing 5 points for each of his own tanks lost. If there are at least 250 tons worth of hovertanks deployed in clear terrain hexes of either board and no Kearny 'Mechs are located east of that line of hexes, the Attacker receives an extra 25 points per turn until such time as these conditions no longer hold, or until the game is over. An extra 10 points is scored for each hovertank which exits the north edge of Map A east of the river (only). The Defender receives 3 points per hovertank destroyed. Attheend of each game turn until the end of play, 10 points are added to his score just for continuing to hold his position. An additional 5 points accrue for each BattleMech exited off the North or East edges of either map (but not west of the river on Map A). The game ends on the turn in which no Highlander'Mechs remain on either map, either through elimination or withdrawal, or when all hovertanks are eliminated. The Attacker may voluntarily end the game by calling off his attacks at any time, in which case the Defender wins automatically no matter what the current VP score may be. Actually, the Defender is unlikely to 'Win" the battle in a military sense. However, players can consider that a Defender who scores more VPs than his opponent has handled Third Company magnificently. If the Attacker scores more points, the 6th Armored Cavalry has carried out its assignment in superb fashion. Special Rules Withdrawal: The Defender may withdraw from the mapboards off of any clear terrain hex on the north or east sides of the map. Withdrawing units successfully scores VPs for the Defender and may also provide extra'Mechs for use in later scenarios in this campaign. However, it also may weaken the line and permit a Davion breakthrough. Exited units can be brought back into play, but at a penalty of 10 VP per re-entered unit. Pursuit: The Attacker may move units off the north edge of Map A (east of the river) to score extra VPs. However, no unit may be exited in this fashion if doing so would leave a greater tonnage of Kearny 'Mechs than there is hovercraft tonnage in play. The Attacker may not bring exited units back from here. Davion units may also be exited freely from the south or west map edges and brought back at any later time. There are neither VP bonuses nor penalties to such movement. Kearny Headquarters Lance: At the start of each turn, the Kearny player should roll 1 D6. If the result is a 6, Major Fraser is needed elsewhere. Each turn that Battalion Headquarters remains in play thereafter costs 5 VP, assessed at the start of the turn. The Battalion HQ Lance must be withdrawn off the North Edge of the board east of the river on Map A and may not be returned to play once it has exited. Back to BattleTechnology 5 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1988 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com