Guest article written from the desktop of the
Kurita commander, Ted Conn.
we rejoin our broadcast already in progress...
Intro: It has been almost a year since we started the Proserpina campaign. For info on the first installment of this campaign, go to
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/522394/the-battle-for-proserpina-part-1.
I will refresh some information originally relayed in ‘part 1’, as it has been a while! The variant rules we use in this campaign are here on
BGG. Info on the variant, called Call To Honor, can be found here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/271685/mechwarrior-call-to-honorSetting:Proserpina is a world ravaged by war. Nuclear fallout, scorched earth policy and various highly contested engagements on the world have led to the creation of several continental 'Dead Zones'. Fast forward several years. The
Draconis Combine (House
Kurita) rules with an iron fist. Dirt poor people scratch out meager existences by foraging in the 'Dead Zones' and finding lost tech or anything else of value. The populace rails silently against the oppressive
Draconis regime. The Highlanders, a collection of mercenaries (terrorists?), aim to throw off
Kurita’s yoke and return Proserpina to its original ‘glory’...for some unknown entity.Situation:
Kurita’s iron grip on Proserpina was challenged. Pride Town had been attacked in a most devious, yet disconcerting manner.
Draconis High Command, while commending the actions of the planet side commander for his role in maintaining order during the attack, issued a military
lock down. All civilian traffic was considered hostile while the situation was further assessed.
Within a day after the battle ended, recon ‘
mechs to the NW of Pride Town reported a large column of civilian vehicles heading toward the ‘Dead Zone’. A majority of these vehicles appeared to contain supplies that a settlement would require: Foodstuffs, housing fabrications, etc. As this information was relayed, a sizable force of armor and infantry appeared from the ‘Zone’ in question and assumed a defensive position along the vehicles’ route. Oddly, their
IFF signatures
didn’t signify ‘foe’, even though the recon ‘
mechs could clearly see they
weren’t
Draconis forces. The planetary commander
didn’t waste any time dispatching three lances of ‘
mechs, air cavalry and power armored troops to the location. The order was clear: There are no civilians in this conflict. Kill anything in sight.
Map:The map featured a road that ran from the SE to the NW. There was another road that intersected and ran straight north about 1/3 of the way into the map. The terrain was mainly comprised of rock formations and was considered ‘rough’ terrain for wheeled vehicles. There were two built-up areas on the map: A small resupply station in the SE corner and a heretofore unknown collection of buildings along the road, in the NW area of the ‘Dead Lands’. The insurgents were formed in a defensive position along the length of the western edge of the board. The
Kuritan forces entered from the east, with the ‘
mechs entering along the road in the SE corner of the board. Game:The objectives for both sides were clear. The insurgents had to get their ‘civilian’ vehicles off the western edge of the map.
Kuritan forces had to inflict as much damage to the insurgents as they could.The game started with
Kuritan forces, the 9
th Benjamin Regulars (Ted and Carl), coming in ‘hot and heavy’ from the east. The ‘
mechs pushed their heat sinks as they hurried to catch up to the fleeing ‘civilian’ vehicles. With insurgent military forces looming on the horizon, but still out of effective range, the ‘
mechs fired on the convoy, knocking out a couple of vehicles and damaging a couple more. They then blended into the resupply station’s buildings and waited of the enemy to close the distance. Meanwhile, the air units and armor moved to engage the enemies’ defensive perimeter. They started giving and taking fire almost immediately. Even under this storm of tightly-knit energy beams and hot flying metal, the transport
VTOLs continued to head due west, directly into the heart of the enemy’s formations.
The Highlanders (Bill and Ken) reacted immediately and aggressively. The SW mass of ‘
mechs and armor moved toward the resupply station and the
Draconis forces. They opened fire on anything within their
HUDs, inflicting light damage to a couple of units. The center (west) Highlander forces
didn’t have to move to engage their enemies, as the
Draconis VTOLS and air support helicopters had not only moved in and started deploying power armored infantry, but had split into two formations near the Highlander rear. These aerial units took a great deal of damage, with two
VTOLs knocked out of the sky.
The second
Kuritan turn included a lot of action. A large ‘
mech battle along the southern flank raged without any Highlander or
Kuritan losses. The battle’s center was littered with dead forced from both sides (mainly infantry), but the insurgents’
IFF scramblers were discovered. Unfortunately, there
wasn’t time to destroy them. The northern flank was stalemated by rough terrain and poor shooting, but both sides were closing to get into short range.
Unfortunately, the evening ended before a firm resolution on any part of the front could be established. We sat around the table and discussed what most likely would have happened, which brings us to…
Ending:The outcome of the battle
wasn’t clear, as the conflict
wasn’t carried to the end. Five convoy vehicles had been destroyed or rerouted to the north. However, some key points in the campaign were established.
Draconis-
The insurgents established a base of operations in the ‘Dead Zone’, which was believed to be uninhabitable. The exact location of this base is unknown. It is also known that the insurgents have the capability of masking their
IFF signatures. This was evidenced in the initial Pride Town attack and was also observed during the attack on the convoy. This reinforced the need for martial law and the ‘shoot first, ask later’ mentality
Kuritan troops had adopted. Some supplies did make it into the ‘Dead Zone’, indicating that the rebels’ continued viability in the area should be considered a fact. Incursions into the ‘Dead Zone’ to locate and destroy the insurgents’ base of operations are highly recommended.
Highlanders-
Things went according to plan, more or less. The damned
Kuritans caught wind of our convoy and destroyed valuable supplies, but we did get quite a lot of supplies, ammunition and people to further our cause. We
didn’t figure they’d open fire on the convoy, but evidently they are taking us seriously. Good. They should, because we’re in this for the long haul. With the old man’s information, we can pursue our goals to rid Proserpina of House
Kurita and the
Draconis Combine. They did discover our
IFF jamming stations, which is a shame, but the information cost them dearly.
