No Retreat The crusader was battered, armor showing the scars of a desperate campaign. Lieutenant Chang watched it lumber into position, a juggernaut ready to deal out death. With a frown, he dropped his control helmet in place and followed the Majors fighting machine. A suicide job, he thought grimly. No way out this time. His own marauder lurched forward awkwardly, and Chang cursed the fault in the left leg for the hundredth time that morning. The battle two days before had cost the Roughriders dear; now Chang and the others around him were paying the price for being second-best. He wondered how Major Qaffad liked his now command, a scratch company of derelicts, too badly knocked about in that last fight to keep up with the rest of the Roughriders, but still capable of putting up a fight. The grapevine said Qaffad had volunteered for the job rather than give up his mechs to some other pilot. Chang shook his head, and felt the mech match his movement. No one else had been given a choice. For them, it was 'Defend the pass at all costs - to the bitter end.* Somewhere behind him, Hanson's Roughriders were calling for pickup, counting on their battered rearguard to keep the conquerors from exploiting their victory. Chang scanned the level ground near the end of the pass ahead of his, mech, his thoughts bitter. What was the use of blaming Hansen? None of the mechs here could have kept ahead of the pursuit for long - certainly not against the Black Widows. They were better off standing here and helping the rest of the unit escape. Better dead then dispossessed, Chang told himself. Then, almost by instinct, he caught the tell-tale plume of dust that was being kicked up down on the plain below Connor's Pass. Somewhere down there the Black Widows were bounding forward, leading the victorious forces of Kurita's House on the chase. Mentally, Chang called up a computer status report, and began checking off his mech's systems one by one. They'd hold this pass ... or die trying. Situation: 0930 Hours (TST) Istmar III In the wake of their victory at Hannisport, the forces of the House of Kurita launched a classic pursuit to exploit their success. Istmar III lay open to Kurita's superior forces, and their opponents, a mixed bat of mercenaries and regulars in the pay of the Houses of Steiner and Davion, were in complete disarray. One quick stroke had prevented the alliance between the two Houses from fully materializing, thus ending the threat their combined forces posed to Luthien once and for all. As the alliance position fell apart, Hansen's Roughriders followed one of the prime laws of mercenary forces throughout history hopeless causes are bad for business. Withdrawing from the plains around Hannisport, the Roughriders called in their transports and prepared to make good their escape. It was a risky operation at best, for though the skies were fairly clear of Kurita's aerospace forces, the victors of Hannisport were close behind the disorganized mercenaries. In order to move faster, and to buy time for the pickup, Hansen was forced to leave behind an improvised company of damaged mechs to hold Connors Pass against the pursuers. The screening mechs were given orders to hold to the last man and machine. When Kurita's forces, spearheaded by the Black Widow company of Wolf's Dragoons came on the scene, the result was a fierce skirmish that decided the fate of the Roughriders, regiment on Istmar Ill. Game Set-up Lay out the BattleTech game maps in the config uration shown. Prepare BattleMech Record Sheets for all themechs involved in the action. Bitter End: The Defense of Connor's Pass should be played using the expert BattleTech rules. The defender deploys first. Defender Major John Qaffad's company consists of: A. 1 Crusader - all movement rates halved, right arm LRM inoperative, 7 heat sinks B. 1 Marauder,+2 modifier on all Pilot skill rolls, left arm PPC inoperative C. 1 Rifleman - 3 heat sinks D. 1 Archer - no movement allowed, head armor 8 points,all laser damage halved E. 1 Archer -all movement halved F. 1 Warhammer - 12 heat sinks, right torso SRM inoperative G. 1 Shadow Hawk - movement allowed only on Pilot Skill roll, 7 heat sinks, no jump movement H. 1 Griffin - jump movement only, engine heat doubled I. Phoenix Hawk - change facing costs 3 MP per hexside, center torso rear armor 3, large laser +3 modifier to hit Deployment: Anywhere on either map Attacker: The Black Widows enter the map in three waves: Turn 1 - Recon Lance A. 1 Rifleman B. 1 Phoenix Hawk- bad left arm laser, on 10+ it fails to fire, 9 it did fire creates 4 heat instead of 3. C. 2 Stingers, one in perfect shape, one missing 4 armor points from right torso. Turn 2 - Fire Lance D. 2 Archers, one in perfect shape, one is minus 1. heat sink and has only 10 armor points on its left leg. E. 1 Wasp in good shape F. 1 Stinger- bad actuators, movement reduced to walk 5 / run 8 Turn 4 - Command Lance G. 1 Warhammer - Kerensky's H. 1 Marauder I. 1 Crusader, +2 heat per turn from plant J. 1 Griffin, bad jump, only 3 hexes; at 2 heat points per hex, PPC will not fire on 10+ Deployment: The attacking Widows enter the board anywhere along the south edge of the South Map. Special Rules 1. The lake hexes on both boards are treated as light woods in this scenario. 2. Units may exit from either the north or south edges of the board, but may not exit to the east or west. Victory Conditions Qaffad's defenders earn one victory point per turn until the end of the game, plus 5 victory points for each attacking mech destroyed. The Black Widow attackers earn 10 victory points for each attacking mech that exits from the north edge of the north map before the end of the game. The game ends when all attacking mechs are destroyed or exited from the map. The player with the most victory points after the end of the game wins. BATTLETECH is the second edition rules set for BattleDroids, completely rewritten with now statistics and rules. Each BATTLETECH scenario pack contains history, background, statistics and 15 scenarios for two of the toughest Mech companies out there. Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #8 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy. 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