Hi there campers! As you may have noticed, there are some pretty significant changes with this issue's column, not the least of which is the new name. Webster's Unabridged defines crucible as follows (and I paraphrase for space considerations - it's not called Unabridged for nothing): 1. a tempered vessel used for melting ores, metals, etc. 2. a hollow at the bottom of a furnace used to receive molten metal. 3. a severe test; a hard trial.

A lot of other changes are coming - we hope to make the Crucible the first place that miniatures enthusiasts turn to when they get their latest issue of SHADIS. (After the comics, of course - let's not lose our perspective.) There will be more scenarios for popular and rising games, painting/modeling workshops, strategies for use in specific games and more generic strategy tips, and of course we will keep showing you the hottest new miniatures. With SHADIS' new gloss format, we will even be able to toss in some color stuff when space permits.

As always, it's nice to know when you are getting some enjoyment out of our efforts, so feel free to write with comments and suggestions. The Crucible is also open to submissions, so if you have an idea you want to explore, a scenario for your favorite game, or another miniatures topic that would be helpful to other enthusiasts, drop us a note.

For our first outing in the new format, we're presenting a scenario for BattleTech

"WAIT FOR IT!"

Marstown, New Earth, Lyran Commonwealth
31 October 3058

The first volley went roaring just meters over the cockpits of the crouching defenders. So close were the missile detonations that flying debris struck the backs and sides of the target 'mechs, sounding like hail on a tin roof.

"Who ARE those guys!?" Dodson demanded, fairly screaming inside the cramped cockpit of his Thunderbolt. The range at which the raiders had opened fire was extreme. One possible answer was the Clans, but his Thunderbolt's enhanced imaging was painting the enemy targets as various Inner Sphere 'mechs.

Captain Freitman's voice came over the comm, "Firebrand, fall back to designation beta. Do you copy? Fall back to beta. Initiate Bolt-hole"

Finally! "We copy, Captain. Falling back to beta see you at Bolt-Hole." Dodson replied. "Catch that Firebrand? We're outta here! Let the bogeys fire up the neighborhood, we're here to protect that factory!"

Dodson's Firebrands, a lance of medium 'mechs led by Dodson's heavy, were already beating a hasty retreat.

Dodson's unit was part of Rory's Hellbenders, a mercenary unit of battalion strength that had been hired by the Lyran Commonwealth to defend New Earth and, in particular, the Mars manufacturing compound in Marstown. Unfortunately there were only 4 lances in the immediate vicinity. By the time reinforcements arrived, this battle would already be over and forgotten.

The Firebrand retreat was punctuated by occasional laser fire on both sides, but Dodson's lance knew better than to get lured into an engagement with the raiders. Their route was a circuitous path meant to tighten up the raider's ranks, causing them to form a group rather than a skirmish line. It seemed to be working.

Dodson had helped put together operation Bolt-Hole and would be giving the signal to spring the trap at beta. His unit twisted through the streets leading toward the huge walls which surrounded the Mars compound. The walls were 10 meters tall and 10 meters thick with another three meters of crennelation along the outer edge. The top of the wall was both wide and strong enough to support a 90-ton 'mech, and ramps along the inner walls allowed non- jumping 'mechs to ascend to the top of the wall, using it as cover and for the height advantage.

That was where an ambush would be expected (for certainly an ambush would be expected), at the edge of the compound walls. So that was exactly where Firebrand led the attackers, right to where the attackers expected to be led. Just as Firebrand reached an intersection only 200 meters from the fortified wall, they split along two different avenues - one large, the other small.

As the raiders entered the intersection, defenders hidden along the wall rose as one and launched their attack. Mortars and shoulder launched SRMs from the hidden Hellbender infantry detachment added to the general confusion. Despite the general chaos and seeming firepower of the defender's ambush, only two lances of 'mechs and two platoons of infantry were involved.

As if in response to some unspoken command, the raiders immediately turned down the narrow side street which two members of Firebrand had fled along just moments earlier. The quick maneuver protected them from the bulk of the ambush's fire. The street which the Vaiders had selected traveled parallel to the wall and towa~d the mai . n gates. There was ample cover to prevent the wall's defenders from getting any good targets.

Dodson watched his radar screen from around a nearby corner. "Wait for it!", he whispered to himself, his thumb twitching on the mic's power key. Then the unmistakable roar of SRMs fllled the air. "GO! GO! GO!" he yelled into his mike.

Bolt-hole had hidden a few SRM carriers in buildings iong both side streets, to provide an up-close-and-person welcome to the invaders. As the last "GO!" left Dodson's lips, six pairs of jump jet trails leapt from the nearby wall, arching through the air toward the raiders' position. Other friendly 'mechs suddenly appeared on Dodson's radar as the engines of other friendlies fired to life in nearby streets.

It was going to be costly, but Dodson was sure that his one would go in the 'W' column . Then his Thunderbolt rounded the corner, Delta Dart LRM flipping pen, and his targeting gear worked for a lock on the nearby raider, a heavily damaged Archer. As the Archer turned, it's own launchers opening, Dodson waited for the locking tone and whispered to himself, "Wait for it!"

ATTACKER

The Khans of Clan Smoke Jaguar had grown to hate the truce imposed by the Clan loss at Tukayyid, as had most of the other clans. At first it was a matter A honor to uphold the truce, but later is was a bond to chaff the flesh of any true warrior. There was also a growing fear that, left alone for almost another decade, the Inner Sphere would be ready for the Clans, despite their incessant internal bickering.

So it was that Clan Smoke Jaguar, as the jade Falcons had done just months before, secretly set about to raid deep into Inner Sphere territory and to cripple key research and manufacturing facilities. Though it was a technical violation of the Truce of Tukayyid, wasn't the Inner Sphere's military build-up a violation of the spirit of that truce?

Two captured Union class dropships were repaired and repainted as pirate vessels. The identification transponders were removed, as pirate captains would have done, and a number of captured Inner Sphere 'mechs were repaired and modified. Warriors were hand picked from among the clan's best new Pilots, and support personnel from among the most devoted bondsmen. Older, more experienced pilots could not be used because their absence would be noted at Clan gatherings.

The newly created raiders were provided a captured jumpship and maps to all known pirate jump points in their target area, the Chaos March. The leaders were also given a list of possible targets along with all the Clan's latest intelligence regarding the Chaos March area of space, which was considered a perfect theater of operations.

Using independent intelligence services, the Smoke Jaguar raiders learned about the importance of New Earth's Mars Manufacturing facility. Still, the raiders were not interested in taking on a full battalion, not without an edge. When they acquired information on the Hellbenders' training exercises, they decided to make a try for the Mars facility.

RULES

Attacker's 'mechs are selected from the 3050 or 3055 sourcebooks, but each has been built into the shell of an Inner Sphere model such that a 70 ton Clan 'mech might appear to be a modified Archer or Grasshopper. Thus the raiders appear to be well equipped pirates (rather a contradiction in terms ... ), Notes should be made on each record sheet to identify the figure being used to represent it. The Attacker is allowed up to 80% of the points used by the Defender in selecting forces (using the method defined in the Tukayyid sourcebook for Clan Smoke Jaguar).

Attacker sets-up after the defender and must do so in an 18" x 8" box in the northeast corner of the play area. The attacker expects that the Defender will have hidden or uncommitted units.

OBJECTIVE:

To capture or destroy the research facility. In order to capture it, all defending 'mechs must either be destroyed or driven from the city. To destroy the facility, 300 points of damage must be done to the main building (which is in the southwest corner of the map).

DEFENDER

The mercenary unit "Rory's Hellbenders" was hired by the Lyran Commonwealth to protect the planet of New Earth and the Mars Manufacturing Inc. production facilities there. The Hellbenders knew that there had been a lot of activity in the Chaos March, mostly minor disputes over boundaries between small governments, and that there was the distinct possibility of some spillover action on New Earth.

They were not, however, made aware that Mars Manufacturing had received a research contract to design a clan-like LRM launcher for the Lyran Alliance, or how close the development was to completion. Such knowledge would certainly have affected contract negotiations.

By hiring such a token garrison force, the Lyran Alliance had hoped to give the appearance that New Earth had nothing of real import. The 'hide in plain sight' method did not work in this case, however, because a leak in Lyran intelligence sold information to another intelligence network that eventually placed the data in the hands of the Smoke Jaguar pirates".

The Hellbenders had been on New Earth for 16 uneventful months and had decided, just a couple of months earlier, to hold some training exercises on the sparsely populated southern continent. Those exercis es began just two weeks ago, leaving less than half of the garrison force to protect the Mars facility.

The one great advantage of the defenders is the huge wall surrounding the Mars complex. It is 10 meters tall, 10 meters thick, and has three meters of crennelation along the top of the wall. It is sturdy enough to hold a 90 ton 'mech, though that is a test of its design limits, and has a couple of ramps to allow non- jumping 'mechs to reach the top of the wall.

RULES

The defender will select forces using the point system presented in the Tukayyid sourcebook. The defender uses the Com Guard table, but may not take Star League or Refits, and must also make the 8+ roll for 3050 'mechs. The attacker will be able to use 80% of that point value in determining their own forces.

Up to 25% of the defending force (numerical value as opposed to point value) may be hidden in and around the city, using the hidden unit rules from the BattleTech Compendium: The Rules of Warfare. For this purpose, each infantry platoon, vehicle, and 'mech counts as one placement/model. Another 35% may be hidden on or along (within or without) the Mars facility's wall. Make careful notes as to the location and facing of all hidden units.

With a number of the defending units hidden only 40% of the total defending force must be visible at the start of the game, and they may be placed anywhere on the playing surface. Defender must set-up, first.

OBJECTIVE:

The Hellbenders' primary goal is to protect the Mars facility. This is accomplished if the raiders are either destroyed or forced to retreat (see Forced Retreat rules at end of scenario). Regardless of how well the Defenders. are doing, if the facility's main building is destroyed they have lost.

Game Set-Up

Players have a couple of choices here; you can play on six or eight of the BattleTech map boards, using the blank-hex back-sides, or you can use a tabletop set- up using the miniatures rules presented in the BattleTech Compendium. Either way, try to set-up the terrain or map boards as close as possible to the provided map.

Because this scenario takes place in and around a city, there are a lot of buildings. Most players won't own quite that extensive a supply of buildings and will have to resort to cutting buildings out of paper. While a piece of paper laid out on a table top isn't nearly as appealing as a three-dimensional representation, you gotta use what you have on hand.

The rules for moving through, destroying, and hiding in buildings (also found in the BattleTech Compendium) are very important during this scenario, so both players should take a few minutes to familiarize themselves with the rules. If questions arise during play, turn back to the rules and work it out - they are pretty comprehensive on this subject.

All buildings on the map are considered to be medium (CF 40, about - are level 2), the wall surrounding the Mars compound is considered heavy (CF 90), and the main gates are considered heavy (CF 60). The wall is high enough that a 'mech must be at level two in order to fire over the wall at ground level targets within, such as the main complex or 'mechs that are not on the wall.

SPECIAL RULES

Forced Retreat

Neither of these forces are so committed to this battle that they will allow themselves to be decimated to the last 'mech. Consequently, there must he a condition which, if met, will persuade them that enough is enough. If, at the beginning of any turn, either of the forces has less than 25% of the tonnage of their opponent, their forces must move away from their opponent in a forced retreat. Infantry are not included in this calculation. Incapacitated (shutdown, legless, etc.) vehicles or 'mechs are not included in this calculation either.

Retreating forces must move at least their full walking speed toward the closest board edge as long as that path does not require the forces to move through the opponent's forces, otherwise select the next-closest edge. Retreating units may still fire at enemy forces, but have a +2 to their target number. Infantry surrender and are removed from play if forced to retreat.