NYE 2021 Battletech

New Year's Eve meant birthday celebrations at Phil's home again.

Like last year he ran a couple of games of Battletech, with each player playing one game over two map boards (non-scrolling) with players randomly assigned to one of two teams.

We were able to choose our mech, limited to 2000 BV, with a 200 BV bonus for mechs armed with less than three PPCs. Tech was limited to 3070 or earlier. Pilot and Gunnery skills were not allowed to be more than 2 points apart (e.g. 3/5, 2/4, 7/5, etc). I elected to go with my unplayed Marauder MAD-3R (two PPCs, autocannon/5, and two medium lasers) that I painted earlier this year with a Pilot skill of 4 and Gunnery skill of 2 (4/2).

Scoring would be 1 point per point of damage caused (both armour + internal structure), a bonus 50 points if your mech survives the game, and a bonus 20 points if the mech was operational and on the table at the end of the game. Game ends when all the mechs from one side have been destroyed, have left the table or after three hours.

With 12 players taking part we rolled off to see whether we'd be in game 1 or 2 and what team we'd be in. I was teamed up with Andreas (Marauder) and Andrew O (Rifleman IIC) in the first game. Our opponents were Paul G (Marauder), Tyler (Thunderbolt) and Lachlan (Awesome).

It's been a while since I played, and it showed. Young Lachlan made a game of it by deploying on a flank and turning the central axis of battle diagonally along the two maps. I strayed too far from a forest to lose the cover bonus and was shooting with weapons that didn't match the heat sinks I had. I forgot to keep track of my heat (funny as it hit 38 degrees during the day), but considering there was a few turns I didn't shoot and I only caused 35 points of damage I don't think it was an issue. I did however with my first shot manage to destroy Tyler's Thunderbolt with a head shot (again, not great tactics).

 (Ignore the blue hue, that's from the plastic sun shade overhead. Or the natural light on the planet we were battling on.)

After that it was a matter of time for Paul to go down, Andreas get killed by a head shot (that's his thing), and Lachan shot up by the Rifleman IIC and my Marauder. Game two was slightly more brutal - head shots also being a feature.

It was good to end the year with a game, and see me paint a fair few miniatures. Hope 2022 is better for all.