Carver V Campaign,
Mission Briefing
Mission #10: Charge of the South Essex

Greetings Men,

   The HPG relay station on the moon is operational again.  I sent a message asking for reinforcements, at least for some Mechwarriors to pilot our extra mechs…no luck.  Victor is making his big push to get his sister out of New Avalon.  All available units are tied up in that offensive.  It appears that we are still on our own and have to make our own way out of this thing.  However I was able to get was some spare parts re-directed here.  Those parts will allow us to swap out any Clan – Omni mech to any of its base configurations.  So the Hellion, Cougar, Ryoken, Thor and Mad Cat just got a lot more flexible, which is good we are going to need it.
    The two Lieutenants you captured last mission have revealed some interesting information.  Lt. Gorman of House Steiner told us that we have Colonel Rennier nervous.  With the HPG back up you can bet he has called for reinforcements as well.  He is keeping at least five members of the “Triple digits” with him at all times.
   Rennier is mild compared to Commander Jason Cho of House Liao.  Lt. Zao informs us that Mandrissa Cho is no longer the leader of House Liao on Carver V.  After returning from forging the alliance with House Steiner and almost killing us; (Mission #8) he removed his Mother from power when she questioned his decision to turn against us.  Commander Cho never leaves the Liao palace now.  He has surrounded himself with the remaining Liao forces on the planet.  Commander Cho demanded that two members of the “triple digits” be sent as personal Bodyguards to protect him from the “South Essex”.  Col. Rennier had to threaten removal of those body guards just to get Cho to commit some of his forces to the taking of Banniksburg.
   The time has come to break this alliance.  Commander Cho is expecting an attack, let’s give him one.  His troops have been on alert for almost a month straight, acting like they are under siege, when we have yet to even push in their direction.  They are tired and have doubts in their Commanders abilities and sanity.  Smack them in the mouth and they bloody well will break.  We need to eliminate the Liao Elite guard, destroy the Liao Palace, and remove Commander Cho from power.  The palace destruction and Cho’s death, I mean, Cho's removal from power will keep us out of a two front war, and allow us to focus our efforts on Rennier’s Steiner forces.
   Here’s what we know about the Liao palace and the battleground we will be fighting on.  The Palace is located on top of a hill, being protected by your standard Liao firebase.  Wide open terrain from all directions for miles with a few patches of rough ground.  This will be ugly.  This should show why they call the big boys Assault mechs and not Very-Heavy mechs.
   Lt. Zao and Gorman were very helpful in revealing just what we should be facing in our attack for opposing forces.  The fixed defenses of the fire base are not too heavy.
Two LRM20 turrets and Two twin Light Gauss Rifle turrets.

A Heavy Lance consisting of  a Grasshopper GHR-5N, a Guillotine GLT-4L, Lt. Tsao’s Shadow Hawk SHD-7M, a Wraith TR1.  You have faced these pilots numerous times in the past.


A Fire Lance consisting of Lt. Lee’s stealth armored Archer ARC-7L, the latest version of a War Dog WR-DG-03FC, an Emperor EMP-6A, and Lt. Chan’s Yu Huang Y-H10G.
Watch the War Dog; she has a Heavy Gauss rifle.


Cho’s assigned bodyguards, two members of the “Triple digits” Private Drake in his Atlas AS7-S2 and Private Frost in his King Crab KNG-001.


Next up is Major Kim, who we have faced before while he was piloting a Lau Ho and Emperor mechs.  He now pilots some pretty nice salvage claimed by Commander Cho.
A Mad Cat Mk II.


Finally, Commander Jason Cho himself in his Stealth Pillager PLG-4Z.


It’s not going to be easy, and some of you probably won’t be coming back.  Do this and you’ll be that much closer to goin’ home boys. I’ll have most of the 95th Rifles in reserve to follow you boys in.



Major Richard Sharpe,
CO 95th Rifles
CO South Essex Militia

As promised...here are the player mechs.

First up, the Forlorn Hope...NPC's for the campaign, basic 4/5 mechwarriors.  There is about 20 hexes / 40 inches of wide open terrain to cover and a bunch of Gauss Rifles shooting at them.  Figure at least one of these guys will get head capped.  If one of these guys does survive, I'll let the players use the NPC in the next battle as well.


Next up the newer players that have chosen to join the first wave.  I have a feeling they will be hiding just behind the NPC mechs...but advancing as fast as their 3/5 speed will allow them.  Newer players to the campaign...4/5 mechwarriors.


The next group of players will start advancing at the start of turn #3.  These are some of the veterans of the campaign.  Nova and Guillotine Pilots are 2/4's, Mad Cat's is a 3/4.


Next up is the C3 part of the players mechs.  The Naginata pilot is a 2/4, the Warhammer is a 4/5.  They should be able to take advantage of the Forlorn hopes C3 system...if they are still standing...and they eliminate the ECM of the defenders.  (Warhammer was an early paintjob of mine, think she needs a dip)  These guys will advance at the start of turn #3 as well.


Next are the Player mechs of the players that are running pushing the Forlorn Hope mechs.  This is essentially the 3rd wave.  These players will be allowed to advance these mechs as soon as their NPC mech is out of action, or after Turn #4...so they might be advancing on turn #2, if one fo the NPC mechs is head capped the first turn or they might be pushing 2 mechs on turn #5.  All are veterans of the campaign.  The Banshee is a 3/4, The Stealth Cataphract is a 2/3, the Victor is a 4/4, and Not shown is a Ti'Tsang which is the players figure, he is a 2/3.


Finally is the Reserves...Mechs players get to run if their personal mech is taken out early and they want to keep playing. They can bring one of these guys on the turn after their mech falls...4/5 mechwarriors.  This lance contains the Twin C3master Battlemaster that links the whole company together. 

Carver V, Mission #10 Battle Report.

Hello Gang,

  I’d like to share with you some pics and a brief synopsis of the event I ran this weekend.  Part of an ongoing campaign based on the Meccommander2 PC game.

In this mission the players have to destroy or capture the palace guards and kill or capture Commander Cho, leader of House Liao forces on Carver V. 

Here are a few setup pics…lot of open ground to cover.  The river edge is just within Gauss rifle range from where the Mad Cat II and King Crab are standing.


The Firebase and Imperial Palace.


Distance shot from the Palace.


Turn One.
  The Forlorn Hope mechs and newer player mechs move up.  Lots of long range fire, but nothing significant.  The War Dog fails its piloting roll after shooting the Heavy Gauss.  Good shot of the defending mechs.


  Shot of me running the defenders aka “Bad Guys”


Turn Two.
  There is lots of fire at the Charger and No-Dachi…but not enough to drop either of them.  Shot of the round goes to a new player for this mission, Dr. Phelan Morgan Allard-Laio, but we will call him Doc from this point on.  Doc, in the Red Warhammer on the left, hits the Shadowhawk (Just in front of the Atlas) in the head with an ERPPC.  Rolls two crits and gets both Life supports…whew that was close.  The Kraken was trying to hide under a dumpster for most of the game…seeing the gauss rounds flying out of that fire base I don’t blame him.  The Mauler is head capped by the Mad Cat MKII.


Turn Three
  The veteran player mechs start to advance this turn…Mad Cat, Guillotine, Blackhawk.
The Wrath got behind the Komodo, but missed most of his shots.  Charger is finished this round, as is the No-Dachi…but they did their Jobs…Hatamoto takes a bunch of fire as well.
What happened next has to go down as the most unbelievable rounds of fire in the history of the game.  Doc splits fire this turn…putting both ERPPC’s and the SRMs into the Guillotine, having one ERPPC and SRM round hit the head, killing the mechwarrior.  His Secondary target of the Atlas with 2 ER medium lasers at long range, both hit!  One to the Center Torso…One was a floating Crit…to the Head…Two Crits Rolled…Cockpit & doesn’t really matter.  That’s right Doc Head-capped TWO mechs in ONE turn!  I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it….oh wait I didn’t.  I asked the players to roll the dice on the table for all to see after this round.
The loss of the elite undamaged Atlas significantly weakened the Defenders forces…making the game no longer a question of who would win, but which players would survive to rejoice in the victory.


Turn Four
  Commander Cho seeing the uncanny accuracy of the Warhammer orders all units to make it a priority target.  The Warhammer loses and arm and much of its armor this round…The War Dog moves up and finishes off the Hatamoto with a kick to the Center torso.  The Komodo, now free of the Wraith who is going after the Warhammer, starts to flank the firebase, drawing a little fire.  The Green King Crab has been taking pot shots from the river at the bases turrets with it’s gauss rifles the whole game…he ended up taking out three out of the four of them.
  Abomination from these boards is the player controlling the Mad Cat and has played in all 10 missions to date.  He shoots both his ERPPC’s at the Liao Mad Cat MkII, and puts one in the head…very nice shot (on the table where everyone could see).

  The player Naginata fell while crossing the river and breached a leg…stood up and stayed there the rest of the game…utilizing the c3 system to still make accurate shots.


Turn Five
  The second round of brutal, vengeful fire flies into the Warhammer…with a Gauss round from the King Crab taking off its head and Doc along with it.  The Naginata and Cataphract finally drop the Shadow Hawk with ranged fire, coring it.
  The War Dog goes down with a ERPPC shot from Abomination to the torso that Crits the Heavy Gauss Rifle, which does enough to take out the torso internals and eliminate the XL engine.


Turn Six and Seven
  The firing line re-adjusts their sights from the smoldering Warhammer to the next closest mech…the Guillotine.  Rick also had played all 10 missions of the campaign so far, and had become quite the mechwarrior with the nickname “immortal”.  Many of the missions he would only have minimal damage to his mech, less than 10 points, no matter how much I would shoot at him.  I was really just joking when I said in the above posts that he should be careful.  A Gauss round from Commander Cho took off the Guillotine’s head, ending Rick’s immortality.  I felt bad about that boxcar…especially after poking fun at Rick…but he’s a good sport and knows that’s part of the game.

  The Grasshopper falls over from a failed piloting check.  The Wraith jumps over the river, behind the Naginata.  The Mechwarrior, Hoping to hit with enough weapons to cause a piloting check on the assault mech with the flooded leg, all the while attempting to stay away from a hot running Ti’Tsang.


Turn Eight
  The player commander broadcasts an offer for the Liao mechs to surrender.  Being outnumbered two to one at this point many of the Liao pilots wish too, however Commander Cho wishes to fight to the end, he orders his troops to keep fighting.  The House Steiner Mechwarrior sent to protect Cho, broadcasts from his King Crab for all units to stand down.  All the remaining forces of House Liao power down their mechs.  Commander Cho all alone has to face the remaining players and the Steiner King Crab.  Commander Cho comes over the wall fearing the Nova and the Komodo might get behind him.  All players fire at Cho in his Pillager…along with 2 gauss rounds from the Steiner King Crab…with Abomination in his Mad Cat getting credit for his 3rd kill of the game.




Not really the close fought battle I was hoping for…yet another cake walk for the players.
Everyone had a good time though…Mission #11 in 3 weeks.