Urban Center Held for Ransom

Fritz and I both were looking to see some of our new toys on the table to blow each other up inside my new urban scene.

Today Col. Laval, commander of his House unit, the 1st Argyle Rangers, personally intervenes against the Grey Death Legion.  A week ago the Legion landed a force on an isolated world in the FedSuns "Outback", near a somewhat primitive city which the mercenaries planned to hold hostage. So far, no one has been killed, but the AFFS has ordered Laval's 1st Argyle Rangers in to send a message that this sort of thing, common in the 3rd Succession war, will no longer be tolerated.

The Rangers drop a few miles from town, landing a light force meant for close combat in the city streets:  a tracked SRM carrier, elite jump infantry, and five mechs.  A Hatchetman, Quickdraw, Wasp, Stinger, and Col. Laval taking personal command in his Marauder II. 

The streets are eerily quiet, as most of the population has taken shelter after hearing of the approaching mechs.  But the Grey Death Legion is waiting...  Orbital surveillance confirms two Longbow mechs, a Warhammer, a Griffon, and two fast-moving Locusts.  Lots of long range firepower!

Laval moves into the open avenue to draw fire in his massive mech.  One of the Longbows gets lucky and sheers some armor off the commander's ride.

The Ranger force spreads out into the city.  The Quickdraw leads the way, covering the two lighter mechs as the infantry struggles to keep up.

Shots are exchanged with the Locusts, but they're moving too fast to hit.

Forced by the massive volleys of missiles to veer off the main avenue, the slower group goes to the left as the fast group moves right. The Marauder is the only friendly unit with long-range capability, and its PPC range is still shorter than the LRMs that those two Longbows are packing.  Thankfully, the Locusts are too occupied to call in indirect fire for now.

On the right, the fast moving Stinger and Wasp try to engage the Griffin.  Some civilians, ignoring the AFFS broadcast warning them to stay indoors, are caught in the firefight.

The slow moving units take the long way around the left side, closing slowly but surely, and successfully avoiding missile fire.

Things on the right are heating up however. 

With the heavy threat approaching from the left, the mercenary commander orders the locusts to disengage from their firefight and rush past the light mechs.  They're able to call in indirect fire on the Hatchetman from the Longbows behind the building blocks.

Fire rains down on the Hatchetman, blowing his right arm off. With the left, he picks up the hatchet and goes to find cover.

Meanwhile, the jump infantry have advanced far enough to rain long range missiles down from the rooftops.

The Locusts fire their machine guns in response, causing some casualties.

And we're in it now...

The jump infantry's long range missiles have proved a surprising threat to the Legion. The Warhammer, lacking a better shot, decides to destroy the building one platoon is using for cover with its three PPCs.

The building goes down in flaming rubble, but the infantry somehow manage to survive with only a few casualties, as they were on the roof and could use their jump jets to slow their landing.  Chances are those troopers are going to have nightmares about this day for the rest of their lives.

The Wasp pilot gets a bit cocky and tries to get up close and personal with the Griffin.

Meanwhile one of the Locusts ventures too close to Laval and gets its leg blown off with a PPC.

Laval uses his 100 ton mech's feet to finish the job, stomping the tiny mech into scrap.

The Rangers have managed to close the range.  The SRM carrier is lined up to get in the game and drop its extensive payload on those Longbows, while the hatchetman continues to position himself for melee.

On the right, a headshot ends the Wasp pilot's career rather suddenly.

However concentrated fire from the Quickdraw, Stinger and the infantry penetrate the Griffon's armor, igniting its ammo bins and sending pieces of the mech in all directions. (Props to Fritz on the mech pieces!)

The remaining Locust backs way off, disengaging but keeping line of sight to call in those LRMs.

But the Rangers have gotten close enough to engage at short range, and now only the Warhammer stands in their way of attacking the Longbows which are rapidly running out of ammo.

The SRM carrier turns the corner at the same time as the Marauder, and unloads on the Warhammer. The Locust rushes back in, hoping to draw some fire off it, and possibly finish off the heavily damaged Hatchetman.

Things are going sour for the Grey Death Legion.  The Warhammer is taking fire from two LRM infantry platoons, a Quickdraw, SRM Carrier and Marauder II.  It's not long for this world and the pilot knows it.

Taking incredibly amounts of damage, the final kill goes to the Colonel himself, who led the charge. This will go a long way towards weakening his reputation as one who "leads from the rear".

The Longbows take out the slow-moving SRM carrier, but they know the battle is lost and begin to withdraw.

"Let them go boys," says Laval over the radio, "Let them tell their bosses what happened here." The real reason of course was the fact that his Marauder could never have caught up to them, and the Longbows still had a few salvos in their bays. They just weren't worth the damage they might have caused.

The survivors of the Legion's forces escape to fight another day.