Brutal Fight for a Colonial Outpost

The 1st Argyle Rangers continue their effort to drive the mercenaries out of the vulnerable Federated Suns "Outback".  These mercs had held cities and colonies hostage, when they weren't too busy pillaging and looting. This particular town has suffered much, and Col. Laval sent a strong lance commanded by his trusted subordinate and close friend from his Academy days, Lt. Brice to drive the mercs off.

The Rangers were at this point overextended in the expanse that was the Outback, and Brice was limited in who he could bring along. Opting for a fast group of mechs, his lance consisted of a Spider, a Hussar, a Jenner, and to anchor the speedy mechs, a brand new Crusader to go along with his own family's Grasshopper.

"Lt. Brice," said the voice of the dropship commander, watching the engagement from orbit, "we can confirm five enemy mechs on the far side of the city.  It looks like the Dogs of War, by their colors."

Brice let out a private sigh.  The Dogs of War, one of the most disreputable bands of mercenaries in the Inner Sphere, had been a thorn in the side of the Rangers since they were reconstituted by Colonel Laval.  And while the Rangers had typically done well against them, including killing the notorious war criminal Major Bludd, there had been too many close calls for comfort.  Brice himself had once faced down a Dogs of War Grasshopper in a duel.

Brice ordered the light mechs forward to flank the enemy, while the slower heavies used buildings as cover to move up.

Sgt. Schmidt in his Jenner took command of the lights as they moved up. Like Brice, he'd been with the Rangers since their recent revival, when they were barely a company, not the Battalion-sized force they were now.

The heavies started taking PPC fire from the enemy Awesome almost immediately, none of which was accurate.

With the awesome shooting at the heavies, the lights harrassed them from the sides.

The fast moving Spider caught fire when it poked its head around the building from an enemy Commando and Urbanmech. 

"Hey," the Spider pilot said over the radio, "They got an Urbie! I haven't seen one of those mechs in ages. What the hell is one doing here?"

"Cut the chatter," Brice said, killing the chorus of chuckles from the rest of the lance.

The Hussar drew long range fire from the enemy's Jagermech, but nothing connected.  Turning it's torso to fire back, the Hussar struck the mech in the center torso with it's large laser.

By some bizarre chance, the laser struck a fault in the armor causing it to buckle and ignite the Jagermech's ammo stores.  The mech exploded, sending pieces raining down everywhere.

Pressing the unexpected advantage, the lights converged on the enemy formation, forcing some hard decisions about target priority.

While the lights danced around the enemy, Brice led the charge down a narrow alley.  The Urbanmech sat on the other side of it, covering the opening. As Brice advanced, the mech opened fire with it's formidable Autocannon.  For a moment Brice blacked out, before awakening to the red warning lights blazing around him. He'd taken a hit to the cockpit, in the head of the mech, and the cockpit was in shambles. 

"Lucky shot", he mumbled, as he regained control.

Both sides were now fully engaged. A variety of enemy fire blew an arm off the Spider, sending it into retreat.  The enemy Victor mech jumped to the top of a building to pursue. Seeing an opening, Brice jumped his own mech up behind the Victor.  Intending to unload all of his weapons into the mech's rear armor and possibly punch or kick it off the building, Brice allowed himself a small smile as his HUD displayed an easy targeting solution.

Sgt. Schmidt saw this only out of the corner of his eye, as he had his hands full. He'd tried to dart around the enemy Awesome while it was busy shooting at the heavies, but instead the beast turned its guns on him.  Thankfully at such close quarters and with such a fast target, the Awesome just wasted his energy.

The enemy commando, chasing the Spider cleared the building to find itself surrounded.  Unfortunately, the Rangers were moving too fast to shoot as straight as they'd like.

And then the unthinkable. As Brice unleashed all of the weapons systems of his Grasshopper on the enemy, the Urbanmech, barely bothering to move its bulk, took its time to sight in on his mech.  A second autocannon round connected with the Grasshopper's already damaged head.  The round barely exploded, instead just sheared the head straight off, ending the life and career of one of the Rangers' finest pilots.

The Rangers screamed wordlessly in grief and despair, rushing heedlessly in to melee range with the enemy.

A kick from the Victor tore the left leg and half of the attached torso off the lightly armored Hussar.

Now taking very one-sided fire from the enemy, the Commando began to retreat back.  Suddenly fearful of the humble Urbie, Sgt. Schmidt gave the order to withdraw into the city, hoping to draw the faster moving enemy out ahead of the rest.

While the other mechs withdrew, the Hussar managed to somehow right itself, and fired off its payload one last time before being finished off by the Awesome's PPCs.

So far, so good.  The enemy pressed the attack, allowing the Rangers a chance to overwhelm their fast movers. The Urbanmech and the Awesome were still on the other side of the buildings.

The spider didn't last long in that heat, and an autocannon shell from the powerful Victor damaged the Crusader's hip joint, halving its movement. Sgt. Schmidt in his Jenner tried to keep moving, doing his best to draw some fire, but the Dogs of War are relentless.

The Crusader was unable to get clear and forced to face off with the Awesome and Victor while the Commando harassed his rear.

Sgt. Schmidt took care of the Commando, but things were not looking good.

The Awesome was in optimum PPC range, and there was no way the Crusader could close or retreat.  All he could do was shoot back and pray.

Schmidt's Jenner, still up and running fast as ever, circled the block yet again and found the Victor's rear.

Unleashing everything he had, and overriding the flashing overheat warnings, the Victor finally exploded.

Unfortunately, at nearly the same moment, two PPC blasts from the Awesome flashed into the Crusader's center torso, blasting right through its reactor.  Schmit could see the pilot eject as the mech went down, skidding along the street helplessly.  He could do nothing, as his Jenner had no hands.

"I'm sorry friend," he said, his radio off, as he turned his mech around and fled.

A nasty, brutal battle, one that the Rangers will remember and avenge.

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.

Urban Tiles for Battletech

For a while I haven't been exactly satisfied with my Battletech terrain, specifically my urban terrain.  I use paper buildings, which work perfectly well, but paper roads tend to curl and not look so hot on the table.  I thought I'd try my hand at modular city boards designed to work with my paper buildings.

Herein I tell the tale of how I made these not entirely successful boards.  I mean, they're ok, but there were some lessons learned that others might benefit from if trying to make their own. 

Ok, let's get to it:  I started with a sheet of mdf hardboard (the stuff the bottom of your dresser drawers are probably made of), which is cheap at Home Depot.  Mdf is pretty thin but very sturdy and makes great bases for terrain. I had the sheet left over from another project.

Using a bandsaw, I cut them into squares and rectangles, and here made my first mistake.

Lesson 1:  When making modular terrain, don't free-hand with the saw.  I drew my roads on only after I cut everything up, and so I ended up with sizes that weren't entirely identical, and so don't fit together perfectly. 

After the boards were cut, I drew in the roads of an appropriate size for the buildings. As you can see, the cuts aren't exactly even.

Next came the roads and sidewalks themselves. I wanted to achieve a raised effect for sidewalks and curbs, so I used cardstock to build up these areas. I cut cardstock into strips for the curbs as well. They're not exactly to scale, but they are small enough to create the illusion that they are.

Lesson 2:  Cardstock isn't really thick enough for this. It turned out to be more or less unnecessary. I could just have glued on the strips and had pretty much the same effect. Further, the cardstock didn't take the paint and primer as well as the mdf did as you'll see.

A lot of unnecessary work went into this.

Priming and painting the base coat in two stages. 

1) Prime everything gray (automotive primer).  Then, with an airbrush, I used two lighter greys to build up to a more "concrete" light gray on all sidewalk areas. I left the roads themselves alone as they are going to be totally different, but didn't worry about overspray either.

2) To do the roads, I used masking tape to mask the concrete areas, and primed the exposed roads black.  Then, using a darker and then a lighter gray, brought it up to a more asphalt color. I made sure not to use too similar grays for this.

Came out ok...

Always nice to "test" your terrain with some posed shots...

Well, sort of.  The masking tape I used was not exactly artist quality. It was cheap, and very harsh on the painted paper, even pulling up the primer.  While something similar happened when masking the roads later (for the lines), its notable that that tape only pulled off the airbrushed color, not the primer.  Paper just doesn't hold it as well.

Lesson 2.5: Paper doesn't hold paint as well as hardboard. Oh, and use high quality masking tape on airbrushed areas.

Afterwards I had to go back in with a brush to cover these areas in an approximation of the airbrushed color. Needless to say, it's a bit blotchy.

Now for the lines.  There are a lot of different ways that lines are painted on roads, depending on where you live. I went with double yellow in the middle, with white for the shoulders and intersections. Using a good Tamiya masking tape meant for minis, I taped off the lines. 

This needed to be done in two or three steps, as the double yellow is closer together than I can achieve with this tape in one go, and also to create sharp intersections.

Going in with the airbrush, I painted everything white.  Yellow won't cover anything else.  I thought I was able to more or less freehand with all that masking, but it turned out there was significant overspray from the airbrush.

Lesson 3: Tape should be at least .5 inch in width to prevent overspray.

And yet, even with the good tape, a lot of airbrushed paint came up when I removed it. The dark black below is the primer color which didn't come up.

Some boards fared better than others.

Once all the lines were painted, I went back in with a brush to do corrections. I didn't try to cover all the mess, and as it happens it makes some areas look damaged, like a real road.  Kind of a happy accident. Then I brushed on a lighter shade of grey for the thin curbs to bring them out.  The result is below.

Final product.  It's more or less adequate.

And here's how it looks on the table.  I also added a park area to one of the boards, with two colors of flock. Probably the best looking part of the project.

Lesson 4:  Measure better.  I just threw the uneven pieces together, drew on roads and went with it. That means that the final product is somewhat less modular than it should have been, as not all the sides fit together without gaps. If I try something like this again, I'll spend far more time on the planning phase.

A city!  Time to blow it up...