Glentworth 1: Meeting Engagement

Glentworth
Federated Suns
7 May 3007
Leftenant René Gagneux walked his Phoenix Hawk through the wild grasslands northeast of the small city where his company of the Capellan March Militia was stationed. The enemy dropship had landed somewhere farther to the northeast and his lance was deployed to intercept them if they tried to move towards the city. He smiled as his sensors picked up a few targets approaching his position. It was time to send some Capellans back home.

This is the first battle in my Assault on Glentworth campaign, so it is using the Meeting Engagement scenario.

The Forces

As the “player force”, the St. Ives Lancers were able to choose up to 33% of their overall force to participate in this scenario. The overall force weights in at 640 tons, so that gave a maximum of 211 tons, but I decided to just take the company’s recon lance at 105 tons. As the “OpFor”, the Capellan March Militia then had a budget of 105 tons and up to 4 ’Mechs.

St. Ives Lancers

After their dropship landed on Glentworth, the St. Ives Lancers’ Commander ordered Subcommander Catherine Fong’s recon lance to set out and ensure the route to the militia’s base of operations.

• Subcommander Catherine Fong (3/4), Phoenix Hawk PXH-1
• Ping (4/3), Wasp WSP-1L
• Li (4/3), Stinger STG-3G
• Alexander (3/5), Locust LCT-1V

The St. Ives Lancers force weighs in at 105 tons and a battle value of 2,890.

Capellan March Militia

After picking up the incoming hostile dropship, Leftenant René Gagneux’s lance from the CMM moved into the field to try to intercept any enemy scouts. René and Peter ended up being in a good position to intercept the St. Ives Lancers recon lance once it was detected.

• Leftenant René Gagneux (3/3), Phoenix Hawk PXH-1D
• Peter (4/4), Shadow Hawk SHD-2D

The Capellan March Militia force weighs in at 100 tons and a battle value of 2,549.

The Battle

As Catherine’s recon lance moved through a hilly region, they picked up two enemy contacts. They had found the planet’s defenders, and now it was time to reclaim Glentworth for the Confederation.

As the two forces closed, Catherine ordered her lance to stay spread out to try to encircle their enemy. Once she got line of sight on the first enemy ’Mech, a Phoenix Hawk, she fired her large laser. Her shot went wide, but so did her opponent’s. As she was exchanging fire, Li reported shots fired at her Stinger from an enemy Shadow Hawk. That long range salvo missed too.

After those ineffective opening shots, the two forces continued to close the distance. Catherine, Ping, and Alexander all moved in and fired on the enemy Phoenix Hawk, but the only hit came from Alexander’s medium laser. In return, his Locust lost all of its right leg armor to a large laser beam and his torso took a glancing blow from a medium laser. Meanwhile, Li got close to the enemy Shadow Hawk but missed with both of her Stinger’s lasers while taking two medium laser hits that burned through to her left torso’s internal structure.

With her lance taking more damage than it was dealing, Subcommander Fong started to worry. She moved to take cover in a stand of trees, but then the enemy Phoenix Hawk fired its jump jets and arced over her ’Mech’s head and landed right behind her. She twisted her torso around to fire her right arm’s weapons at the other Phoenix Hawk and managed to score hits with all three, but she also took hits from two medium lasers that melted away armor on her left leg and arm. Ping circled around to take a shot at the Phoenix Hawk behind Catherine, but he only managed to hit with a single missile.

The enemy Shadow Hawk was walking backwards trying to keep Li’s Stinger in its front firing arc, but her faster ’Mech was easily able to outpace the medium and get to its right flank. Alexander darted across the battlefield in his Locust to get to the Shadow Hawk’s other side. With their target flanked, they hit it with three laser beams and a machine gun. The lasers burned through the Shadow Hawk’s left torso armor and then damaged its autocannon. The Shadow Hawk wasn’t going down easy though and its return fire blasted away what was left of the left torso of Li’s Stinger.

Not wanting to leave her thin rear armor exposed and dealing with high heat, Catherine ran her Phoenix Hawk away from the one behind her, but it circled and managed to stay in her rear arc. Her maneuver did at least allow Ping to get into the enemy Phoenix Hawk’s rear arc though and hit it with two short range missiles. Ignoring the smaller ’Mech, the enemy Phoenix Hawk sent a large laser beam through Catherine’s rear armor and into her right torso, but it luckily didn’t damage any critical systems.

Li and Alexander tried to position themselves to continue flanking the Shadow Hawk, but it caught on to their plan and rushed towards Alexander’s Locust to push into long range for Li’s remaining medium laser. That maneuver seemed to distract its MechWarrior though and it missed Alexander’s Locust despite being at short range.

The Shadow Hawk then backed towards its partner’s position as Catherine’s lance swarmed in to close range. Laser beams, missiles, and machine gun bursts filled the space between the combatants, but surprisingly few of the shots hit. Li hit the Davion Phoenix Hawk with three short range missiles, Alex hit the Shadow Hawk with his laser and machine guns, and then his Locust took a single missile hit from his target.

As the enemy ’Mechs put a little distance between themselves, Catherine moved to engage the Phoenix Hawk while the rest of her lance engaged the Shadow Hawk. She exchanged fire with her target and chipped away at its armor with hits from a medium laser and machine gun. The return laser fire destroyed her left shoulder actuator. Her lance’s light ’Mechs combined fire and savaged the left arm of the Shadow Hawk costing it a medium laser. They kept up their speed to make themselves difficult targets, and it paid off with the Shadow Hawk only managing to hit with a single short-range missile.

Seemingly wanting to cover each other’s backs, the Davion ’Mechs converged on the top of a hill. Catherine pursued the Phoenix Hawk while the rest of her lance ran tight circles around the hill while turning their torsos to fire uphill. The Phoenix Hawk took hits from Catherine and Alexander, but only lost some armor plating. The Shadow Hawk did not fare as well. Li’s medium laser burnt through its leg armor and savaged the actuators controlling both its upper and lower leg. It shuddered, but the Davion MechWarrior managed to keep the Shadow Hawk upright despite the damage. The Phoenix Hawk and Shadow Hawk returned fire, but they only managed to chip away a little armor on Alexander’s Locust and Catherine’s Phoenix Hawk.

Seeing the Shadow Hawk’s crippled leg, Catherine moved in for the kill while the rest of her lance circled. The enemy Phoenix Hawk used its jump jets to get behind her again, but she hoped that her lance mates could keep it busy while she finished off the Shadow Hawk. As she closed, the Shadow Hawk hit her with a medium laser and a trio of missiles and then the Phoenix Hawk behind her melted through her rear torso armor. Despite the internal damage, she was happy to see that no important systems were damaged. Then she unleashed her Phoenix Hawk’s firepower on the Shadow Hawk. One of her medium lasers punched through its torso armor and it suddenly shook as one of its ammo bins ignited. Its MechWarrior rocketed out in its ejection seat, but based on the poor landing, they were either badly injured or dead.

Now outnumbered four-to-one, the Davion Phoenix Hawk jumped away from the battle. Catherine considered ordering a pursuit, but decided it was better to conserve her lance and let the Davion MechWarrior retreat.

The Outcome

With half of the opposing force destroyed, Subcommander Fong’s lance won a victory for the Capellan Confederation. That gives the St. Ives Lancers a clear approach towards the main Federated Suns defenses, so the campaign’s next battle will use the Breakthrough scenario as the St. Ives Lancers try to get through the defensive line of the Capellan March Militia.

St. Ives Lancers

Damage Report

Catherine’s Phoenix Hawk has taken damage to both its armor and internal structure. It also has a damaged shoulder actuator in its left arm.

Ping’s Wasp in undamaged.

Li’s Stinger has taken damage to both its armor and internal structure. It lost its left torso and left arm.

Alexander’s Locust has taken damage to its armor.

Warchest

The St. Ives Lancers spent 100 WP to participate in the scenario, and then earned back 200 WP for achieving the Make their Acquaintance objective. No repairs or purchases were able to be made after this scenario. That puts their current warchest at 1,100 WP.

Capellan March Militia

Damage Report

René’s Phoenix Hawk has taken damage to its armor.

Peter’s Shadow Hawk was completely destroyed. He also took 3 points of damage.

Warchest

The Capellan March Militia spent 100 WP to participate in the scenario, and did not achieve any objectives. No repairs or purchases were able to be made after this scenario. That puts their current warchest at 900 WP.