Battletech Quick Strike Campaign Recon

"Starterbook: Sword and Dragon provides a campaign framework that allows players and gamemasters to run either Sorenson's Sabres or the Fox's Teeth (McKinnon's Raiders) through a period of border raids along the Davion and Kurita borders during the years of 3048-3049."

Mission Recon:

Objective: ID/Scan all of the Defender's force. And, Escape! At least half of the attacker's force must survive and exit the Attacker's home edge after 8 turns (this will need to be amended 'cause there was no way with movement as it is that is is even possible.) Also, apparently Scanning is not covered in the introductory rules, or the entire Strategic Operations book. Therefore I asked for some guidance from the web and it turns out this is in Tactical Operations. The person that answered me recalled something about being a roll of 8+ meant it was successful. It also depended on the equipment on the mech. I just went with 8+ within 4 hexes (the 4 hexes was written in the mission brief. I'll need to look at this as well because the weapon distances are different with QS, I think the scan distance needs to be increased.)

Opposing force has the Forced Withdrawal rule: Basically they are required to disengage and leave the board if they become crippled. (Using some home brews from the web I'm stating crippled once they take some structural damage.)

Sorenson's Sabres:

Daniel Sorenson, skill 2, HTM-27T Hatamoto-Chi Daniel (proxy the Atlas)

Grace Shiro, Skill 3, JR7-K Jenner Grace

Emory Wilk, Skill 3, DRG-1G Grand Dragon Emory

Shakir Jerrar, Skill 3, HBK-4G Hunchback Shakir

The Militia force- Cicada is proxy

Opposing forces Militia working under the Mercenaries on the planet (All skill 5)

(2) SDR-5V Spider (will start on board)

Next two come in on turn 3 from the defender board edge:

JR7-D Jenner

HNT-151 Hornet (proxy a Cicada)

The Battle Report:

Turn 1 – Enter the board and movement

Turn 2- Movement

Turn 3 – Movement. The Spiders, having sent a message back to base are happy to see the arrival of some back up to help with this overwhelming force that has arrived on planet. However small the militia force may be it's still nice to have the same number of forces. The Jenner and Hornet (Cicada) come on board.

Turn 4 – More movement – the defender is hanging back trying to see the intentions of this small force. They're guessing, since this is the only force they're aware of, that it may be a recon mission.

Turn 5 – Grace in her Jenner jumps behind one of the spiders in the back woods. Unfortunately the Spider jumps away before a scan or attack is able to take place.

The Hornet takes some serious hits, damaging the structure but now criticals. (Forced Withdrawal takes effect.) this Militia pilot's had enough and begins plotting how he'll get back home.

Turn 6 – Emory Wilk spots the damaged Hornet turning tail and running. If they're going to scan these buggers, it will have to be stopped. Stopped it is, knocking the unit out of commission. He doesn't know if the pilot survives or not.

Turn 7 – Grace takes hits and suffers a critical weapon hit. The force also attempts scans of the Hunchback and Jenner, to no avail. Grace will head back home, or at least out of the fray not wanting to lose her mech or life for a recon mission.

Turn 8 – One of the Spiders takes on an Engine critical hit and begins to plot movement back home as well.  The Militia Jenner avoids damage from this invading force. One of the Spiders is successfully scanned.

Turn 9 – The scanning equipment fails again. And Emory's Dragon takes a lot of damage from the Jenner in a flank/read attack. He's not happy.

Turn 10 – The Dragon seeing an opportunity takes a shot at the militia spider and kills it. (2^nd kill of the day.) However, this caused him to lose focus on that Jenner. The militia Jenner, feeling sure, takes more shots on this impressive Dragon giving him two structural damage. Emory is thanking his gods that nothing critical is hit. He's also getting very frustrated at this Jenner pilot.

Dragon with dead Spiders

Turn 11 – The remaining militia Spider boldly moves against the much stronger Hatamoto, flanking him and causing damage. Meanwhile, the Jenner inflicts another 3 on Emory's Dragon. All of Sorensons Sabres' shots and scans fail. If they survive this, Daniel will be sharing some words.

Turn 12 – Emory takes out the 2^nd Spider, protecting his leader. This is his 3^rd kill of the day. All scans fail.

Turn 13 – The final Militia Jenner is surrounded – the scan attempt fails. All shots miss. Even though the Jenner, with one shot left, shoots at the Dragon and misses.  Emory is beginning to think they should recruit this Jenner pilot for his skill and bravery.

Turn 14 – The militia Jenner must be out of weapons because he makes a foolhardy charge against the Hunchback. He hits before Emory can fire. The hunchback takes some damage as does the Jenner. As the Jenner is reeling back from the hit, Emory sees his chance and fires his last salvo and knocks the courageous mech out of service! 4 kills for Emory.

Militia Jenner is Surrounded

This is an expensive victory for the team. They gain 75 points for "scanning" all of the downed units. However, they end up spending almost (Down to 10 points) on repairs and ammo. This means, to go into battle next time, they will go into debt to pay for the logistics just to go into battle. However, Daniel is looking at taking a "Supply Run" to bolster his teams supplies and wealth.

They all get a skill point for surviving the battle. Emory gets 4 more for each kill and then obviously he was the VIP, so that's another 1, for a total of 6. 6 more and he'll move up a skill level. (Or down, if you want to look at it that way. He would go from a 3 to a 2.)

Epilogue or What should be done differently:

Jenner Attacks - Dragon soon fires

More time to do the scan or faster mechs. I don't know, if in the BT world if killing units counts also as scanning. I suppose in the fluff it wouldn't because you want to get in and get out. Not sure – ideas are appreciated.

I believe I mis-interpreted the mission brief to say I had to include only what was listed in one Lance. When in reality I could probably choose from the 12 choices. They just group them in Command, Medium, and Recon lances. This doesn't mean I have to take them this way.

I thought I may need to increase the range they're giving me to scan since in QS, the range bands are simplified to 0-3, 4-12, and 13-21. Whereas in regular BT, they vary by Mech and weapon choice. In the next scenario, the scenario brief says to scan buildings and be within two hexes. Heck, the defenders just need to sit on top of the buildings.

It's hard to not want to add some other layers while playing QS. But that's the whole point of it. If you want more detail, play full BT.  I'm thinking of woods and cover. They all count as +2. But as I'm in the woods/light I'm thinking they should be less than heavy. Must. Not. Think. Too. Much. Just. Play.

Speaking of changes, in my next post, I'll cover the house rules I'm using.