Reap and Sow

General Summary

Mission Profile

• Mission Type: Targeted Attack
• Force Size: 5000 BV
• Mission Cost: 300 WP
• Location: East Sprawl Valley
• Weather: Cloudy
• Time of Day: Evening

Situation Overview

Pirates calling themselves the "Sons of Apollo" have stolen a few IndustrialMechs from one of the facilities in Sprawl Valley. It's believed this is because they could be easily modified into makeshift raiding 'Mechs. The Harbingers have been contracted by Donomo Farms to retrieve these 'Mechs if they have not already been modified, and subdue the pirates so they can be brought to justice. The terrain which they have fled to is rough, and they have dug in at a ridge line which makes it hard to approach without being seen and fired upon. Scans of the area on approach show they also have a tunnel system which allows them to hide units and potentially an escape route. The Harbingers have dispatched a relatively small strike team to deal with this, expecting insignificant resistance.

Objectives

Primary Objective: The pirates need to be taken out, for making trouble for the people of White Reach. Destroy or cripple up to two thirds of the enemy forces. (400 WP)
Secondary Objective: Recover the IndustrialMechs from the enemy, without wrecking them due to center torso or engine destruction. (150 WP)
Optional Objective: Don't just disturb these pests, destroy their base so they can't return here. Destroy all pirate structures in their base. (100 WP)

Setup

The pirates have set themselves up inside a valley where approaching them is considerably difficult. There are a total of 12 hill elements and 9 rough terrain elements which comprise this area, which takes up the center third of the map. On one side of the approach are 4 light woods elements and 4 rough terrain elements, and on the other there are 4 light woods elements and 4 shallow water elements. A predesignated escape route is on hand for the pirate forces, marked by a red hex. There are also four tunnel opening hexes on the map which the pirates may use to try to avoid dangerous circumstances.
The compound has five structures, one of which functions as a crude 'Mech Bay (50 CP), three of which are Light Storage buildings (25 CP), and one is the Simple Command Center (50 CP). The pirate forces set up the captured IndustrialMechs in the center of this compound and must move them to a designated map edge.
The Harbingers may set up on either of the shorter edges of the map, on the last space before the edge. If they so choose, they may split their units between the two.

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Forces

Harbingers

• STK-3F ("Cinders")
  (3/3; Range Master M, Lucky 1)
• ENF-4R B ("Boomstick")
  (3/6; Range Master M)
• Schrek PPC Carrier (Crew 33)
  (0/5; Multi-Tasker)

Sons of Apollo

• FS9-H (4/5)
• LCT-1V (4/5)
• WVR-6R (3/4)
• WHM-6R (3/4)

Stolen IndustrialMechs

• Crosscut (6/4)
• CON-7 Carbine (6/7)
• CON-7 MOD Carbine (4/5)

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Special Rules

Forced Withdrawal: When certain conditions are met, the defending units will surrender in position. These conditions are as follows:

• If a BattleMech expends all their ammunition and has no more available weapons.
• If a BattleMech loses one side torso location due to damage.
• If a BattleMech sustains internal damage in two torso locations or three limb locations.
• If a BattleMech suffers two Engine hits or one Engine hit and one Gyro hit.
• If a BattleMech is rendered immobile or otherwise unable to escape the battlefield.

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Salvage: Salvage may be achieved for units left behind on the battlefield if objectives are met.
IndustrialMechs: Made for commercial use instead of combat use, IndustrialMechs are not nearly as well-protected or sturdy as BattleMechs. Any hit has a chance to cause a critical hit, and any resulting hits to the internal combustion engine will require a piloting skill roll to keep the engine from stalling. Any fall is coupled with a piloting skill roll to prevent the engine from shutting down.
I.C.E. Cold Start: The three IndustrialMechs are not started up on turn 1 and must start before they may move the following turn. To start the engines, a piloting skill roll is required.
Tunnels: Any defending unit who starts their turn on or adjacent to a hex containing a tunnel opening may take a move action and use their whole movement to travel to any other tunnel opening. If they do so, the unit receives a +2 penalty to attacks made and is treated as having walked their full movement but with an -1 penalty to their defensive modifiers. Attackers may seal the tunnel entrance by hitting it with any weapon attack; due to the small size, they do not receive the usual bonus for attacking an immobile object.

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Special Abilities

Lucky: Sometimes you just find luck when you least expect it. For each point of Lucky, this pilot may reroll one Gunnery or Piloting roll per scenario.
Multi-Tasker: Whenever you want to exploit a target-rich environment, or just need to have your attention divided, it's difficult. However, this pilot reduces all attacks against secondary targets by a -1 To-Hit bonus after working on their ability to split their focus.
Range Master: This pilot has trained to fire more accurately at a different range than normal. They swap their short range penalty for the designated range penalty (either medium or long range this means their short range is now less accurate but their chosen range is more accurate.

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Battle Report

Prelude

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"Sensors picking up four BattleMechs, doesn't look like the stolen equipment is turned on yet." Cinders checked the Stalker's instruments. "Two Light-class BattleMechs, one Medium-class BattleMech, and one Heavy-class BattleMech." He glanced to one side. "Schrek, engage through the pass on the right, try to take out their buildings. Boomstick, you and I flank left and take what we can."
"Sure thing, you think we got this?"
"Intel says their Heavy is a Warhammer, so I think we got this in the bag. Just try not to expose yourself, you don't have the armor I do."
"I sense Murphy."
Cinders curled his lip. "You invoked him, not me, this is on your head now."

Turn 1

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Approaching through the passes, the Schrek fires downrange and destroys the one of the buildings with three shots of the PPCs. Sensors resolve the motion of the four BattleMechs, but none of the IndustrialMechs manage to get their engines running. The pirate Locust rushes out, attempting to engage the Enforcer before noticing the Stalker there.

Turn 2

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As the pirates realized escape was improbable, the Wolverine and Warhammer fired on Stalker and dealt significant damage. The Firestarter fired its jump jets and dropped onto the Stalker in a successful Death From Above maneuver, which resulted in the Stalker falling over. The Locust had quickly darted around behind the Stalker, hoping to capitalize on its lack of mobility. It took damage from the Enforcer for its trouble, becoming seriously damaged.
At the same time, the two Carbine ConstructionMechs managed to get their engines running, just in time for the approaching Schrek to knock down one Carbine, causing its engine to stall out. Its third PPC fired into the other Carbine, and sheared off an arm at the shoulder joint.

Turn 3

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The Warhammer landed critical hit to damage the Stalker's engine, then its heat management system proceeded to light up like a Christmas Tree. The Enforcer manages to deal enough damage finish off the Firestarter and the Stalker focused its weapons on the Warhammer now, hoping to put it down before the Warhammer could deal worse damage. Meanwhile, the Schrek nailed the fleeing Carbine and legged it, then destroyed the engine of the Crosscut ForestryMech through the rear.

Turn 4

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The Locust charged out of the woods at the Stalker, dealing some damage but taking more for the risky maneuver. Between that and the Stalker firing into the charging Light BattleMech, it crumpled on the ground and lay there. Meanwhile, the Enforcer fired into the Wolverine, and damage continued to rain into the Stalker from the Warhammer in front of it and the Wolverine behind it. The Schrek, finished with the IndustrialMechs, managed to swing around and blast the Warhammer in the back; the damage of two PPCs almost sheared the left arm off.

Turn 5

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Firing on the Stalker, the Warhammer managed to damage the right arm's LRM Launcher and deal serious damage to the internal structure. Then the Warhammer had its gyro destroyed by the Schrek with three PPCs in the back, one of which destroyed the left arm. The Enforcer attempted to land a Death From Above on the Wolverine, and fails, but the Stalker shreds armor off the Wolverine and forces it to stumble. However, as the last standing BattleMech the pirate quickly surrenders.

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Aftermath

"Commander Dupree is going to be pissed." Boomstick whistled, looking at the Stalker's damage. "Man that is going to be some work to patch up. Are you all right in there?" There was silence and he hesitated. "Ah, Cinders?"
"This is your fault. You were the one who invoked Murphy." A groan. "Durent Firebase, this is Task Force Reaper. Signal Donomo Farms, tell them where they can pick up their hardware, send the Dropship to pick us up?"
"Copy, Cinders. Good to hear from you, and I won't tell Dupree you got soundly whupped by pirates."

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Damage Report

Damage

• STK-3F: Left Arm (15 Armor), Left Leg (6 Armor), Left Torso (29 Armor), Right Arm (23 Armor, 25% Internal), Right Torso (32 Armor, 25% Internal), Center Torso (36 Armor, 50% Internal), Engine Hit (1), LRM-10 (RA, 1 Hit)
• ENF-4F B : Left Leg (5 Armor), Left Torso (5 Armor), Right Arm (5 Armor), Center Torso (2 Armor)

Rearming

• ENF-4R B: AC/10 (1 ton)
• STK-3F: SRM-6 (1 ton)

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Salvage Report

• WHM-6R salvaged intact, and passed on to Kreiss. Valued at 35 WP.
• WVR-6R surrendered, and passed on to Kreiss. Valued at 23 WP.
• LCT-1V surrendered, and passed on to Kreis. Valued at 10 WP.
• FS9-H destroyed, scrap passed to Kreiss. Valued at 7 WP.

Kreiss wrote off a total of 75 WP.

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Mission Report

Primary Objective: Succeeded. (+400 WP)
Secondary Objective: Succeeded. (+150 WP)
Optional Objective: Succeeded. (100 WP)

Salvage Awarded: Claim authorized on abandoned units.

Table of Contents

• General Summary
• Forces
• Special Rules
• Special Abilities
• Battle Report
• Aftermath
• Damage Report
• Salvage Report
• Mission Report

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Report Date

31 Aug 2019

Campaign Round

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