Orders:
*Queue Starship Troopers Klendathu disaster tune.*
Recap:
Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee of Thy great goodness to restrain this immoderate weather with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee, that armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory and crush the wickedness and oppression of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.
The weather's perfect. Cod, get me that chaplain. He stands in good with the Lord, and I want to decorate him.
--General Patton, the day after the Weather Prayer worked
...History is replete with significant disasters and successes at the hands of the weather. And as the opening fight on Yunnah started in a blizzard near the geo-thermal plant, it repeated itself.
The entire fight can be summed up in one simple equation. Take a standard pilot from Moonlit wind, a 4|5, in the back bone mech of the unit, a Panther.
On average, he was faced with a +4 mod for jumping (hilly terrain, avoiding concentrated fire) and the weather conditions at either range or within the minimum of the PPC. But by comparison an average unit from Itar's Aces, whom energy weapons and fast moving mechs was the order of the day, faced a relative -3 mod (pulse weapons, computers, better pilot).
In summary, it was a disaster. The Panther couldn't fight in close combat. The Trebuchet and other hard hitting units relied on missile weapons that would never hit because of the blizzard. And the infantry were stuck un-deployable due to the lack of extreme cold weather gear. Evacuation of the on board infantry assets were considered, but abandoned due to the imminent risk of a landed VTOL being shot at.
The opening moves left the infantry huddled up in the GeoThermal plant avoiding the extreme conditions of the outside blizzard. Not long in Itar's Aces began spotting with the helicopters and raining artillery on the plant. The lone panther (Tomo) on the objective began a running battle harrying the oncoming forces. Battered and having successfully distracted a couple mechs, he would go on to go toe to toe against a clan Black Hawk and several other mechs simultaneously.
But it was for naught, the reinforcements arrived too late and too few. Their Grand Dragon, despite leaving a dent in the position of the Itar's Aces, suffered a catastrophic fusion containment failure and began limping early on in the fight. By the time the breaking point had been reached, the Moonlit wind did not have a viable way to leave the field and pleaded for a truce or faced complete dissolution.
In return for granting the functioning panther (whom had been fighting since turn 1) and leaving the salvage material of the another panther, the Moonlit Wind exited the field. They lost their 2 jenners to artillery fire. Their pilots Satomi and Ally were killed.
Moonlit Wind gets 1.8Mcr for fielding that day. Tomo gets an extra experience point for holding the field despite enormous odds till negotiations forced him to dismount. One of the Ripper VTOL crews gets the other for effectively controlling the tempo of the game.
The next game will be the insurrection mission. In place of the Garrison's mercenary assets, the defenders will be consisting of the divisional reserves (po tanks, Behemoths, and the odd pre-3058 reservist).
All in all, it was among the best Battletech games I've ever played with the game hanging on a knife edge for almost 5 turns. (And many apologies, SHAMEFUR DISPRAY!, to Kenny whom I proxied for and nearly took his company down to a lance.) My strategy merely fell completely apart when the Grand Dragon crippled sooner than expected and Gordon played a good game using his forces to his strengths by staying close and focusing his fire. He even successfully second guessed the Moonlit Wind's strategic setup.
That and the blizzard completely hosed the Moonlit Wind force setup.
