Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well, I just had my first game after a 15 year break.

Here's what I have to work with:



This is my Civil Defence Force company. It is a private security company and a subsidary of Bowie Industries based out of Alarion in Lyran space, loyal to House Steiner. I only had record sheets for the ARC-2R. Alpha Lance has four Archers and Bravo Lance and Charlie Lance each have three Archers and a point of battle armor.

My opponent was Lord Cameron from the www.classicbattletech.com forums. He decided on a Free Worlds League unit called the Sirian Lancers consisting of:



Warhammer 7M
Tempest 3M
Caesar 3R
Wolverine 7D

I decided on my Alpha Lance consisting of four ARC-2Rs. I would rather have had 7Ls or 4Ms or 5Ws, but, like I said, I only had record sheets for the 2Rs. On a good note, his force totalled over 6200 points so I was able to improve my gunnery to 3 on my lead Archer - Alpha One (the only painted Archer).



Here's our set-up:



Basic 2x2 maps. Scenario is a skirmish. A FWL lance engages a merc lance loyal to House Steiner in a minor border dispute on an obscure unimportant planet. The year is 3050 and the FWL lance has all updated equipment compared to the Lyran mercs who still have 3025 tech.

During the initial moves shots were exchanged at long range but nothing hit:



Because Lord Cameron had split his forces I decided to take advantage of this situation. I moved all my Archers together and concentrated fire on the Caesar to the north:



I used the level 3 hill close to me to completely block LOS to the rest of the Sirian Lancers:



This gave me a couple rounds to freely fire on the Caesar in a 4 on 1 battle at long range. The Caesar was badly mauled by this exchange but all my damage against it was too evenly spread out and despite horrific losses of armour and being blown off its feet at one point, it remained fully functional throughout the battle.

The FWL 'Mechs used this time wisely and closed range behind the safety of the hill:



Now the battle really heated up at close range with the FWL 'Mechs taking the hill and my four Archers retreating out of the water and into nearby woods. The water really slowed my withdrawal down and I took considerable damage in the retreat:



Lord Cameron's Wolverine made an excellent shot with its ER Large Laser into the back of one of my Archers creating an ammo explosion which completely gutted the 'Mech since 2Rs don't have CASE. In the very next round his Warhammer blasted a hole into another Archer causing another ammo explosion and gutting that 'Mech.

It was time for my last two Archers to retreat. They backed into woods and only the Tempest pursued, for which its pilot paid for when my lead Archer, Alpha One, punched the Tempest in the head:



In the end, my last two Archers left the field to the Lord Cameron's Free Worlds League.

It was a good battle but my deployment wasn't the best choice. I had hoped to concentrate fire on and quickly take out the Caesar while isolating the rest of the enemy lance. That almost worked but it didn't solve the problem of the rest of the enemy getting too close for comfort.

My force composition may be the subject of ridicule but I really like Archers. ARC-7Ls with their jump jets and stealth armor would have been much preferred and I will get those record sheets asap. I'll also get my Archers painted up asap.

It was great fun despite the loss and it's good to be back after 15 years.

Well, you might not have had the painted force. But at leasta ll of your mechs have got their arms!

Really nice painting on those mechs of Lord Cameron though.

It's nice to see a Battletech BatRep, thanks for writing it up!

So.... Many.... Archers!

Fun times though by the looks of things.

Capt_Bowman wrote:So.... Many.... Archers!

Fun times though by the looks of things.

No kidding...just thinking about the amount of dice rolling for all those LRMs is giving me a twitch.

Anyhow...great to see all those classic minis. Havent seen a game board look like that since I played BT in high school...about 17 years ago.

Mad4Minis wrote:

Capt_Bowman wrote:So.... Many.... Archers!

Fun times though by the looks of things.

No kidding...just thinking about the amount of dice rolling for all those LRMs is giving me a twitch.

Anyhow...great to see all those classic minis. Havent seen a game board look like that since I played BT in high school...about 17 years ago.

Better LRM racks than SRM carriers. LRMs resolve quickly.

And if the need to roll a lot is too much, use a Dice Box. I use a tackle box tray with 24 sections, and put 2d6 in each sections. Shake the box, slam it down, 24 results. Quick and easy.

That's what I use for LRM / SRM / LB-X results. makes things a lot faster.

And not like I didn;t have enough D6 laying around

Nice to see some 'mech action.

Would have thought battle would be better behind the lake. Seems like a few shooting avenues and the lake and trees to the right would have slowed them down a bit.

Tough going 4 archers. plodding monsters and basically long range.

And if your getting a kill from a punch then something has gone wrong!!

Yeah, I hate to say it but your deployment was a bit suboptimal. If you had a scout lance to spot for you it would have been different, but with just the four Archers, you needed those long open firing lanes. And from where you started, you really didn't have them.

Vulcan wrote:Yeah, I hate to say it but your deployment was a bit suboptimal. If you had a scout lance to spot for you it would have been different, but with just the four Archers, you needed those long open firing lanes. And from where you started, you really didn't have them.

Yeah, I'm going for the combined arms approach from now on. I'm going to use the 7L or 9M Archers from now on (both versions have jump jets and CASE) and then stealth jump infantry with anti-'Mech skills maxed out. The infantry can then safely spot for the Archers' indirect LRM attacks and conduct anti-'Mech attacks if the enemy gets too close. Meanwhile, the Archers will jump jet away. The 7L also has stealth armour while the 9M is deadly in close as well as distence.

If AeroSpace units are allowed in the game, I'll go for Eisensturm fighter-bomber close air support.

Actually, you don't even need to go that far.

I'm looking at a wide expanse of map on the left side that never even got used. If you had deployed more to the center of your edge, or even on the other map where there wasn't a big hill and woods blocking your fire lanes you would have done much better.

Wow nice to see so many OOP Archers in one place, and also nice to read some BTech aaaaaction.

bosky wrote:Wow nice to see so many OOP Archers in one place, and also nice to read some BTech aaaaaction.

They look like recasts to me. I see lots of pitting and miscast errors.

Probably got them from someone on EBay.

Well, since no one is making proper new ones...

I actually prefer the new Archer to the Re-Seen one. Actually, I'm a bit of a heretic in that I think most of the new ones look better. not all by a long shot, but most.

Man it's great to see so many Battletech fans. Been a Mechwarrior/Battletech fan since like '95(ish) (Then again I'm only 24 )

As was already stated your deployment could've been slightly better. Your opponent split up force I would've done the same. 2 in the middle of the map, one being your lead Archer, and the other two close to the other side of the map.

Would've allowed great avenue shots against the Caesar while still giving you protection from the other 3 outflanking your right side with woods and light cover.

Not only that, you were definitely outgunned and out tonned from what I can recall, I have my Battletech source books back at home, I'm at work at the moment. (Mine are all the original prints not the new ones that look all pretty.)

You're right that being shoe-horned into one setup does make it kind of hard. It's like fighting stock 'mechs vs fully customized/retrofitted 'mechs. Can make things really interesting.

However, for what you had and where you deployed I think you did very well, even if you didn't win. You held your ground, gave a beating to the Caesar and managed to get a cockpit punch kill, nice work.

Although I feel that is a dishonorable kill.
(heh, me preferring the Clans over IS fighting rules. Yeah I know, nasty Clanner )

Seeing these mini's really makes me want to plasticard/green stuff some and cast them in plastic...hmmm wonder if I can do that legally. >.> ...

Anyways, great Battle Rep and I hope to see more.

Fexor wrote:
You held your ground, gave a beating to the Caesar and managed to get a cockpit punch kill, nice work.

Although I feel that is a dishonorable kill.
(heh, me preferring the Clans over IS fighting rules. Yeah I know, nasty Clanner )

Actually, only one of my fists hit his head so I didn't kill the Tempest - I just shook the pilot up.

I love it. Gone are the days of seeing a full on Btech game played out like that. I haven't seen that sort of thing in about 17 years either. Makes me miss it very much.