Excellent. Sounds like you've made your choices.
Tomtom232 is piloting the Lineholder.
Forkedknight is piloting the Blitzkrieg.
Talzamir is pilotin the Griffon.
You will be defending an iron mine we currently control. The area looks something like this:
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/thumb/0/04/MapMountainLake.jpg/98px-MapMountainLake.jpg
Sorry for the small size. What you're seeing is a mountain in the southwest with a lake in the center. The lake pours out water which meets a river that runs north south. The mine is adjacent to the lake on the mountain, but that's not terribly relevant for you. All you need to do is repel or destroy the local enemy forces which are in the area. They'll make a move for the iron mine eventually, probably coming in from the east. This means you'll have the mountain and river between them and you.
You'll be dropped into position shortly.
You enter your 'Mechs and are dropped into position.
Talzamir is the first to notice when the enemy approach. He sees off in the distance in the northeast corner a Cobra class helicopter touch down, drop off some foot soldiers, and then circle around to the southeast. In the southeast corner the helicopter meets up with a number of other Bandit vehicles.
The Cobra transport helicopter is lightly armored and mounts a single Medium Laser aimed forward. It also has two defensive devices, one on the front and one in the rear; anti missile systems.
In the southeast is another helicopter. This one is a Karnov class transport. It is not armored. It seems to have been converted to an attack helicopter by loading it down with nothing but one shot rocket launchers.
In addition to the helicopters are hovertanks. Both are well armored. One hovertank is of the Pegasus class and mounts two Medium Pulse Lasers and two SRM6 launchers in a turret. The other is of the Harrier class. It has no turret. Instead it mounts a Large Laser and an SRM6 in the front and a Medium Laser firing backwards.
Talzamir's Griffin is the first to respond by positioning himself. Where does he want to be? There is one position near the mine entrance which uses the ridge to cover a 'Mech standing there while it provides overwatch. He can also position himself on the slope facing the enemy, or hidden behind the mountain ridge near the lake, or out in the open. Where does he want to be?
Talzamir positions the Griffin on the northwest side of the lake (square b3) where the river comes out. Across from him to the east is the crest of the mountain. From here, even though he is on elevation 2, the mountain blocks off most lines of sight from the east and southeast. He can see 2 hexes away to the east just before the crest the overwatch platform mentioned before.
He can see that there are more infantry than he thought to the northeast. There seem to be three squads of infantry forces about 14-15 hexes northeast from where he stands. In addtion, a third hovertank pulls up in the southeast. This one is a Saracen class and it has a turret with three SRM2's and an LRM10. It's moderately armored.
It is time for the Lineholder to position himself.
The Blitzkrieg has not yet had a chance to position itself. Do you want to be next to the Griffin, in square b3, on the northwest edge of the lake, with the mountain between you and the enemy vehicles?
Or perhaps you'd like to be on the northeast side of the lake where there is an elevation 3 platform you can stand on, using the elevation 4 peak for protecion, but able to shoot over it.
Originally posted by AThousandYoungSecond choice!
The Blitzkrieg has not yet had a chance to position itself. Do you want to be next to the Griffin, in square b3, on the northwest edge of the lake, with the mountain between you and the enemy vehicles?
Or perhaps you'd like to be on the northeast side of the lake where there is an elevation 3 platform you can stand on, using the elevation 4 peak for protecion, but able to shoot over it.
Tomtom232 clambers up to the overwatch platform just northeast of the lake (the surface of which is at elevation 2 by the way).
The Blitzkrieg positions itself just northwest of the forest the Griffon is in, on elevation 1, behind elevations 2 and 3, blocking off any line of sight to the east.
Initiative Phase for Round #1
------------------------------
The turn order for movement is:
Karnov UR Transport (Periphery) (Bandits), rolled 3[3+0]
Lineholder KW1-LH3 (Red Hot Pawns), rolled 5[5+0]
Blitzkrieg BTZ-3F (Red Hot Pawns), rolled 6[6+0] / 6[6+0]
Cobra (Bandits), rolled 6[6+0] / 8[8+0] / 6[6+0]
Foot Platoon (Rifle) (Bandits), rolled 6[6+0] / 8[8+0] / 9[9+0]
Harrier Hover Tank BT (Bandits), rolled 7[7+0] / 4[4+0] / 5[5+0]
Pegasus Scout Hover Tank (C3) (Bandits), rolled 7[7+0] / 4[4+0] / 9[9+0]
Foot Platoon (MG) (Bandits), rolled 7[7+0] / 7[7+0]
Jump Platoon (Laser) (Bandits), rolled 9[9+0] / 7[7+0]
Saracen Medium Hover Tank (Bandits), rolled 9[9+0] / 9[9+0]
Griffin GRF-1S (Red Hot Pawns), rolled 11[11+0]
Wind direction is South. Wind strength is Calm. The weather is Clear. Visibility is Daylight.
Red Hot Pawns: 3740 BV remaining (from 3740 initially)
Bandits: 3490 BV remaining (from 3490 initially)
The Karnov transport-turned-rocket-launcher helicopter flies north and a bit west just in front of tomtom232's positon. It is low down (elevation 1) flying over the river. It is 5 hexes from tomtom232's Lineholder, moving fairly slowly - possibly an excellent target unless it's too low down and the peak is blocking line of sight.
To make sure of a good shot, the Lineholder can walk north and then east around the peak. This will expose him to enemy fire though.
The Karnov's rockets are aimed north. It cannot shoot any 'Mech yet, but if any were to leave the mountain and venture out onto level ground it would be able to launch. It has 140 single shot rockets all of which can be fired at once...it is acting as suppressive fire, preventing anyone from exiting the mountain region to the north. It is very clearly trying to prevent the Blitzkrieg from running out.
Tomtom232's move. Will he leave his defended overwatch position?
The Blitzkrieg moves next. It can move up to the level 2 part of the hill and look over the level 3 crest. It's unlikely he'll get a shot at the Karnov if he does but it's possible. Or he could go on top of that level 3 peak, or move into the river and try to get closer...any of these will keep him out of the Karnov's arc of fire. At this point there seems little reason to move into the open but you can if you want to chase down the infantry or make sure to get a shot at the Karnov.
Ideally, I'd like to deal with the hostile force in stages. Crush the fast ones first, mechs when they get in range, and stay out of the range of the infantry, to assassinate them with long-range fire later in some mopping-up action. Rushing to face much hostile force sounds bad for me. The Lineholder is a far better anvil than I am, whereas the Blitzkrieg is ideal to be a hammer.
All in all, I see next to no reason to move right now. The enemy is too far and the initiative is unfavorable for a jump or coming up to the crest.. so I stay put.
Tomtom232 and forkedknight hold position, waiting to see what the enemy will do.
Both units of leg infantry armed with short range weapons in the top right corner move west one hex. Now they are slighly less far away. The jump jet infantry with their medium range laser stay put in the corner. None of these infantry are likely to be influencing the battle any time soon.
The Cobra transport helicopter zooms ahead of the Karnov helicopter and is now low down over the river further upstream from the Karnov. The river at this point is just north of where it meets up with the water from the lake so the helicopter has a view down the river for a few hexes before it bends. It is about 6 hexes from all 'Mechs. It seems to be heading towards the north side of the mountain.
The Harrier and Saracen hovertanks move over to the river as well until they are hovering over the water in the southern part of the map. In the far south the Pegasus hover tank looks up at the mountain from the edge of the river, hidden behind some trees.
And last, in position to respond to everyone, is the Griffin. It can advance 2 hexes further north and take up an excellent overwatch position in an elevation 2 forest behind the elevation 3 ridge facing northeast. It can also hop into position any number of places - beyond the same ridge to get a good shot at the Cobra, next to the Lineholder across the river up high, or to the southern or southeastern slopes to face the Pegasus, or out into the open in the north...if it holds position it will be able to look down the same stream the Cobra is looking down, line of sight blocked only by a bend in the river.
Where will the Griffin go?
My priority is to be able to dish out more damage with shots with a decent likelihood of hitting than I will have incoming for stepping up into the open. No matter how great a shot I would get at the Cobra it won't be worth it if the result is like Butch Cassidy vs the Bolivian army, which did not end well for the said outlaw.
Hence the choice; the step forth into the overlook position to snipe at the Cobra, if and only if it is relatively safe, otherwise a safer shot from another position, probably next to the Lineholder. The hovertanks from outside their arc of fire are my first priority, then helos, then showdowns with a tank at an inferior firing position as a distant third. Jumping is something I'd rather generally avoid as it makes it hard to aim properly. As everyone else has moved already, I am at an ideal position, initiative-wise, to make a move that enables far more than it exposes us to.