Battletech 3025 Badlands Campaign Week 2, Engagement at Bossman's Oasis and Engagement at Ambush Alley.

After securing the spaceport and repairing their mechs the Taurian 3rd Concordant Cuirassiers and the Desert Foxes Mercenary Company commanders planned their next moves.  They had learned that the Rockhound Mining company had cut a dozen mines into the mountains to the East and Southwest of the spaceport.  Carved out by industrial mining mechs the mining shafts were perfect hideouts for smaller pirate bands.  Some of these locations were home to specific pirate companies while a few were used by independents. These pirates would have to be delt with before they could move against the Brethren of the Black flag and the other larger pirate commands.  

Another problem they were facing was that the spaceport water supplies were getting dangerously low.  The spaceport was home to several non pirate civilians including some technicians who used the facilities industrial mech bays to service pirate battlemechs and equipment as a means of supporting themselves.  There was also a staff of civilians who ran the spaceport that was still used by, pirate, smuggler, and merchant dropships.  They typically hired independent pirates staying at the facility to escort their tanker trucks to a nearby oasis to re-supply but since the Taurians and Mercs had defeated those pirates the facility administrators now looked to the Concordant forces to provide an escort. 

 

Sunday, July 24th, 3025 at Bossman's Oasis on Badlands.  Operational command decided to send a lance of Cuirassier mechs to escort the water tankers to a nearby oasis west of the spaceport called "Bossman's Oasis".  This location was chosen because it was near the spaceport but a good deal out of the way for any of the known pirate bands to be using.  Never the less drone reconnaissance picked up a lance of black painted battlemechs and trucks that appeared to be on their way to the oasis as well.  A, 20 ton Locust, 45 ton Phoenix Hawk, 50 ton Hunchback, and 30 ton Spider made up the pirate force.  The Taurian lance consisted of two 55 ton Wolverines, a 70 ton Warhammer, and a 85 ton Battlemaster.  With a significant advantage in firepower the Cuirassiers chose to press the engagement.    

The Pirate Hunchback, a 4G variant, Moved to engage the Taurian Warhammer and scored several shots on the 70 ton mechs center torso with medium lasers and it's Autocannon 20.  These shots ripped away the heavy mechs armor and damaged it's engine and gyro.  Return fire from the Warhammer and Battlemaster overwhelmed the pirate and knocked the Hunchback to the ground.  

 

with their Hunchback distracting the heavier Taurian elements the lighter pirate mechs decided to make a move on the tanker trucks the Taurians were guarding in a bid to try and get the Concordant force to withdraw.  The two Taurian Wolverines managed to hold them off dealing significant damage to the pirate Phoenix Hawk.   

The pirate Hunchback attempted to stand but fell again allowing the Taurian Battlemaster to easily dispatch the pilot by blowing away it's cockpit.  

The Taurian Warhammer was forced to withdraw however seeing their comrade and lance commander brutally dispatched broke the resolve of the remaining pirates who chose to flee rather than suffer any more losses.  

The Cuirassiers were able to gather the require supplies and salvage a fairly intact Hunchback to bolster their forces once repaired.  

Monday, July 25th, 3025 at Ambush Ally pass on Badlands.  A Desert Foxes reconnaissance drone picked up a force of independent pirates heading for the Ambush Ally pass through the Middle Mountains protecting a convoy four supply trucks of various manufacture.   The pirate force consisted of a, 20 ton Flea, a 25 ton Commando, a 45 ton Vindicator, and a 50 ton Hunchback.  

Due to the distance and speed at which the pirates were moving the Desert Foxes commander decided to use the companie's Leopard Dropship to send a lance of mechs to intercept the pirates.  The Foxes dispatched a force consisting of, a 75 ton Marauder, a 65 ton Catapult, a 50 ton Enforcer, and a 40 ton Cicada.   

Seeing the powerful mechs of the mercenary force the pirates decided to split their force with the lighter mechs and two trucks attempting to move South of the mercenary force while their medium mechs and two other trucks attempted to slip around a hill north of the Foxes position.  

Despite the supply trucks making good time the mercenaries managed to stop the trucks moving south through a combination of shooting and physical attacks.  

The mercenary Enforcer kicked the leg off the pirate Flea then destroyed it with it's weapons.  Seeing this the commando decided to slip past the Mercenary line and escape.

In the middle of the field the pirate Hunchback and Vindicator advanced on the heavier mercenary Marauder and Catapult while the trucks they were escorting swung wide to the North.  The Marauder took heavy damage while the pirates managed to avoid the firepower of the mercenary mechs.  Despite this with the loss of the lighter mechs and their transports the pirate Vindicator decided to withdraw while the Hunchback pilot charged ahead trying to get past the mercenary defenders.  This left the Hunchback isolated and surrounded by heavier enemy mech.  Rather than fight it out the pirate wisely decided to surrender himself and his mech.

Even considering half the pirate forces "escaped" their surviving forces were scattered and the Desert Foxes salvaged a fully operational Hunchback 4G with only minor damage to it's armor making this a solid victory for the mercenaries.  

 

 

Battletech 3025 The Badlands War Campaign

 

Thursday, July 7th, 3025 near the City of Grover on Althea's Choice, Taurian Concordant.  Pirates have raided a munitions plant owned by Cross Industries.  The owner of the plant, Alton Cross, had contacted Lt. Chance Antares of the Desert Foxes mercenary company, the only mech force on planet, to attempt to intercept the pirates before they can escape.

The Mercenaries engage the Pirates heading south presumably to rendezvous with their dropship.  The Pirates have been making their way through a broken plateau but must cross an area of open ground to reach their destination.  The Desert Foxes have chosen this location to engage them.  

Though the Mercenaries damaged several of the Pirate mechs the Pirates managed to evade them and escape the battle.  It was later reported that no dropship was detected taking off from the planet after the skirmish and the status of the bandit lance was unknown.  

Tuesday, July 11th, 3025. City of Grover on Althea's Choice, Taurian Concordant.  The 3rd Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Concordant Cuirassiers arrived on planet two days ago to take place in training exercises with the Desert Foxes.  The Battlemechs of both companies are being re-fitted with non-lethal weapons for the exercise.  The operation command is contacted by Alton Cross, of Cross Munitions, a local aristocrat, who informs them that his ancestral Trebuchet Battlemech had just been stolen by a force of Pirates consisting of two lances of battlemechs.  A Union Class drop ship has been detected entering the upper atmosphere that has refused any attempts to contact it.  Based on the ships trajectory and the heading of the Pirates who stole Cross's Battlemech it looks like they are part of the same operation.  Cross demands the Taurians do something to recover his mech and offers the Desert Foxes a substantial reward if they provide assistance.  With only one lance of four Battlemechs each both the Cuirassiers and Foxes move quickly to intercept the Pirates.  

The two forces engage in a broken plateau Southwest of Grover.  The Pirate force consist of two lances plus the stolen Trebuchet.  

With only two minutes until the dropship gets in range the Mercenaries and Taurian forces move quickly to engage the Pirates.  

A pair of Pirate Jenners cause havoc among the Taurian ranks and a Cuirassier Shadowhawk is taken down.  

After about a minute of intense fighting several of the Pirate Battlemechs have been heavily damaged.  The Pirates decide to retreat and abandon the Trebuchet they had stolen.  The pirate piloting the Trebuchet attempts to bail and escape on foot but is apprehended by the Desert Foxes Cicada Battlemech.  

Tuesday, July 18th, 3025.  Rockhound Mining Company Spaceport on Bandland, Pirates Haven Star Cluster.  After interrogating the pirate captured on Althea's Choice it was discovered that the Pirates who had recently raided the planet were part of the Brethren of the Black Flag based on the planet Badlands in the nearby Pirates Haven Star Cluster.  He also revealed that several independent pirate commands were based on the planet.  

Subaltern Douglas Owen, commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Concordant Cuirassiers ordered his 3rd company, already stationed on Althea's Choice to conducted a punitive raid and scouting mission on the planet Badlands.  Alton Cross hired the Desert Foxes Mercenary Company to assist with the raid.  Both companies were outfitted with a Trojan and Leopard class Dropship for transport to and on the planet.  The Taurian Defense Forces also Provided an Invader Class Jumpship for transport to the system.  

The operation command decided to attempt to make landing at the former Rockhound Mining Company Spaceport based on intelligence provided by the captured pirate.  According to the pirate the facility was home to at best a single company of independent pirates who often signed on with other pirate commands for individual raids.  As such they did not fight as an organized force and would likely abandon the facility if pressed.  

On approach to the spaceport it was discovered that the facility was defended by an orbital defense gun.  Rather than risk their larger Trojan dropships it was decided that the two smaller Leopard drop ships would land a lance of four Battlemechs each on the planet outside the range of the gun and then they would proceed overland to the spaceport.  

Initially the Pirates were extremely aggressive due to their superior numbers rushing forward to engage the Taurians and Mercenaries.  A Taurian Stalker Battlemech suffered an extremely unfortunate ammunition explosion when a short range missile managed to slip passed the assault mechs armor and detonate the magazine.  

 Two pirate mechs, a Commando and Jenner, were also taken down early causing some of the Pirates to loose their resolve and begin a fighting withdrawal.  

Without proper support the lighter Pirate mechs began to fall to the heavier Taurian and Mercenary machines.  

By the end of the battle the Taurians and Mercenaries had managed to capture or destroy six of the twelve Pirate Battlemechs including a lightly damaged Griffin who had shudown from overheating during the fight while only loosing their single Stalker.  The Taurians and Mercenaries were able to land their Trojans without any further issues.  

 

 

 

  

Stargrave "Misery Cluster Campaign" Mission 01: Botched Deal at Lonely Jack's

Despite being situated smack dab in the middle of the galaxy at the crossroads of numerous trade lanes the Misery Cluster was considered a bit of a backwater.  Home to numerous agricultural worlds and mining operations the worlds of the cluster are home to numerous tiny settlements with only a few larger cities.  One such outpost is "Lonely Jack's" situated on a small moon orbiting a gas giant of Johnson's Star.  

The mercenary crew of the "Hellhound" and the spacer crew of the "Cometary Blaze" have both been invited to bid on some valuable data and other goods but instead of the smugglers they were expecting the town had been taken over by the Bloodborn pirates.  Instead of a bidding war a desperate shootout breaks out.    

One of the Pirate ruffians is taken out early as the crew move in.  Another of the "Bloodborn" rushes into the streets and fires at the captain of the "Hellhound" crew but misses.  

More "Hellhound" crew members move into the outpost talking up a strong position behind a wall with their carbines laying down covering fire.  

Viper Eyes captain of the "Hellhound" crew cuts down a pirate quickly and efficiently before the drunken bastard can get any more shots off.    

As the crews move towards their objective a Grenadier from the "Hellhound" is stunned by a shot from a Pathfinder of the "Cometary Blaze".  Another pirate is shot and stunned by the Troopers from the "Hellhound".  

Angel the first mate of the "Hellhound" advances to cover their stunned Grenadier.  The manage to shoot and stun the Pathfinder that injured their comrade.  

Moving from building to building to avoid the carbine fire of the mercenaries some of the spacers move in on a location they believe has some data to be retrieved.  

Two more crewmen of the "Cometary Blaze" move in on the communication station where the deal for the data was to take place.  

                                      

Two spacers drag their crewmember into a nearby building after the Pathfinder was shot by Angel and his mercenary comrades.  

Kole of the "Cometary Blaze" and Velma of the "Hellhound" surprise each other inside the com station where they were suppose to meet up with the hacker who offered both crews the data.

 

Responding to Velma's distress call Viper Eyes burst into the com station and attack Kole.  The Tekker first mate manages to deploy a drone but get's cut up pretty bad by the mercenary captain.

Another spacer is dropped by the accurate fire of mercenary carbines.  Lying unmoving in dirt it doesn't look like he will be making it back to his ship.  

A Code Breaker from the "Cometary Blaze" enters the clinic to retrieve some data and kills one of the pirates wounded by the mercenaries.  However another pirate guards the clinic.  

More crewmen of the "Blaze" enter the clinic and a shootout ensues over the medical data stored there.

With Cole stunned Velma is able to download the data in the communication station's main computer.

Angel and his troopers secure another data station and download it's contents for the mercenaries after taking out a crewmember from the opposing crew.  

The spacer's manages to secure a recipe for combat drugs from the clinic's medical computer.  

Instead of downloading the data that the crews were looking for Velma manages to download a fat stack of credits instead.

After driving the spacers into cover Angel and his mercs are able to easily download data from the salvage station computer.  

Things were not looking great for the spacer crew of the "Cometary Blaze" so they decided to bug out with their stolen data.  The mercs managed to gather the rest of the loot before heading back to their ship with no real casualties.  

All in all the day went better for the mercs than the spacers but neither crew got away empty handed.  

Creative January Warhammer 40,000 Commander's Edition Space Marine Force

I managed to get my project in just under the wire for Creative January.  This is the Space Marine Force painted as Dark Angels using some pretty quick techniques and oil washes.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out.  I was going for an advanced tabletop quality for this force and I think I managed that.  The Ravenwing Outriders have the simplest paint jobs but I had to fully assemble them before painting and the legs of the bikers were molded into the piece with the exhaust so it was harder to get to the seat of the bikes.  They remained black which worked out okay.  

I was most happy with the way the bases blend into the red clay side of the battle board.  I think the color also provides a nice contrast to the Space Marines armor. 

  

The commander was definitely the hardest miniature in the box.  It took me nearly a full weekend to paint him.  My wife has been working on the Necrons that came in the boxed set so we will hopefully be able to play out the starter Scenarios soon.  

I managed to snag a box of Dark Vengeance from my FLGS for about $100.00 so I'm going to have several more Dank Angels to paint up soon.  The nice thing about this set is that all of the Dark Angels have their iconography molded on so I won't have to deal with fiddly decals.  

 When I painted the Outriders I also painted this old Chaplain.  I think he is from 2nd Edition.  He's metal and has a small base but I'm going to use him with my Scout detachment so he should work well for them.  I've found several other sets of Space Marines but my son is also working on his own chapter so we are splitting them between our forces.  I have "Kill Team" on order which I'm actually looking forward to playing than the full game.  I have a lot of 40K miniatures from the past from several different factions so I should be able to make several small forces.