The Debacle
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Hiring the new recruit, Mauler feels the team is ready to seek a long term contract on a campaign - rather than random patrols. How does the team do?


The WrathChild mech salvaged in the last mission, is sold.

D.A.Y.E.S
Code Name: Tensile
Recon Mech – name: DragonFly - one large and one small laser - good computer systems.

Using some of his contacts, Mauler manages a deal to get another Cyborg pilot from GYZMOTECH.
Name: Phillip.
Code Name: Kull.
From the sale of the WrathChild, the team is able to secure a Prowler mech. Small laser and two Power axes. It was a scary moment when Kull saw the mech. The grin on his face said it all.

Getting ready for the next mission - Mauler informs the team that he is taking them on a trip to the Savannah where there is an arena match. If we do well, it could mean more missions.

** This is basically the Savannah campaign. This campaign is for rookie pilots. This particular campaign is set such that even if you die, it allows you to try the failed mission again - you would get no XP, but your team is returned to full health. Succeed, and you carry the XP, damage (permanent now) and cash over to the next mission in the campaign.***


The team is deployed in the North East corner of the arena directly behind a hill so most of therir line of sight is blocked to the rest of the map. Mauler, having practiced well in the art of Map reading on the way over, quickly notes the areas where quicksand is.

He gives his orders. Tensile responds in his emotionless tone - "Affirmative" and begins to climb the hill. No orders need to be given to Kull as he is already off and running up the hill, Power Axes revving fully. Wolf ambles south to follow a line of trees around the base of the hill.

Kull makes first contact - spotting the enemy in the distance. Mauler smiles. There is a lake between the two teams so there should be plenty of time to lock them all up while they are trying to cross the river.

Mauler and Tensile go into the trees at the top of the hill. All mechs starting selecting and locking targets.

Mauler is mildly surprised when his first lock attempt is successful. Unfortunately he misses with both weapon shots.

Wolf MISSES his lock attempt - strange
Kull and Tensile are lock geniuses. They lock, refine to a better lock, switch targets, lock again...

The enemy mechs reach the river and start to cross. Mauler smiles.
They should start falling over any time now.. no.. they aren't.. the team starts firing on them.. missing.. two are across the lake.. dammit!
The third one does topple over in the water, but gets up and keeps coming.

Wolf fails his lock attempt again. Mauler is worried. This is NOT a good sign.

Mauler fires both autocannons on one mech - both hit squarely in the legs. The mech doesn't even flinch. The buzzing of the Power Axes become very loud as Kull pushes his mech into a full speed charging run off the hill. A blood-curdling scream fills the earpieces of the other team members.
Kull shrugs off incoming machine gun fire, smashing into the nearest enemy mech. Both mechs go crashing to the ground.
Kull takes the worst of it hitting his cockpit hard. He loses some hit points. Enemy mech right leg goes red.
Kull slowly gets up, going into a crouch first. Shaking his head clear, he fires his small laser from the crouched position and hits.
He starts to stand straight, just as the enemy mech tries to stand but fails and topples over. The power axes are revving up again.

Tensile is alternating fire on his weapons, driving up his heat, but it keeps constant weapon fire on his targeted enemy.

Wolf has been quiet on the radio but finally reports a good lock - fires his weapons - but MISSES!! muttering is heard over the comm channel.

Kull straightens up. The power axes come down, One hits and now both enemy mech legs are showing red.
The sounds of the power axes and the sight of Kull waving them in fury got the enemies attention. All four enemy mechs target Kull.
Most of their attacks miss, but some critical damage gets through. Kulls’ fallen opponent finally stands up and punches him. The sound of a Vibra Claw scratching against the armor is heard but does no damage.

Tensile is just a rythmn of efficiency. Small laser fires – hits – recycling - large laser ready - fires - hits –recycling - small laser ready - fires - hits.
The loud boom of Maulers autocannons splits the air again but alas, his shots go crashing into pure dirt.

Wolf fires and hits with both weapons. Shoulder actuator of one mech ceases to function under the EM pulse hit.

Kull swings the axes again - left torso now bright red on enemy mech, as it’s armor s destroyed leaving it’s internal structure bare.
Kull thinks about staying for another swipe but wisely chooses to move as two more enemy mechs have entered melee range. He's peppered with machine gun fire while retreating and takes another hit in the cockpit.

Mauler fires and scores two hits on Kull's target disabling his damaged torso, The mech crashes to the ground. Mauler quickly switches targets.

Wolf fires again. Hits his target in the same leg as before. The enemy pilot struggles but fails to keep his mech standing and falls over.

Two on the ground, but they are still functional.

Too cocky!! Kull turns and charges in with blood lust in his eyes to finish of the downed mech. He's hit with machine gun fire and a light meson charge that damages his Hip, slowing him down.
He barrels in and swings his axes - MISS!! He continues to run right through. The second mech gets up, turns and fires on Tensile - Head hit! Luckily, no damage to pilot.
Mauler asks if he's ok. 'Affirmative'... is the response from Tensile.

Mauler hits his target and wobbles him. The mech drops to the ground.

Then it gets real ugly.

One mech, which had taken little to no action up to this point, broke away from the melee group, turns, and fires a tesla bolt!!
Kulls' Lower torso evaporates and he drops to the ground. Another mech swivels and fires at Tensile. His mech buckles but he is able to keep it standing.
Kull looks up from the ground at three mechs standing over him and the fourth nearby.
Kull initiates the eject sequence.
Tensiles’ lock attempt hits gold - he gets the best scan possible. So good he can tell the target mech has Kull locked on solid.
He fires but misses...
Wolf switches targets to the Telsa Bolt mech and fires without lock. Pulse laser misses, but the EM Pulse freezes his hip.
Tensile surgically removes the right leg from the heavily damaged enemy mech then switches his target.
Kull safely ejects.

Tensile scores another perfect lock. This enemy mech is being piloted by an android and has Wolf locked up.
The Tesla Bolt fires again, this time targeted at Wolf, but misses.

Wolf hits the mech with EM pulse, freezes his hip again. The enemy mech topples to the ground.

Another enemy Mech targets Tensile and fires. Head hit again! Cockpit! Tensile Killed in action!!

Mauler is the next one to go down. The Telsa Bolt removed his almost completely undamaged leg from the rest of his Mech. Mauler punches out safely.

Wolf looks at the two remaining enemy mechs and decides to run.
He gets to the base of the hill when he is hit with a Cold Light gun followed by the Tesla Bolt. His Tripwire goes down.
Wolf ejects and is damaged badly in the ejection.


So...

That arena match shows the Mech Masters are not quite ready for campaign combat.. good thing it resets .. lol...

It's back to random patrols to get XP and get some skills up.. of course if they die there it's permanent.

The Team Rebuilds!
Topic: ToS Chronicles
After that impressive duel victory by Wolf, the Mech Masters team has re-equipped its' leader - Mauler with a Fang recon mech.

Out into the fray goes David (Wolf) and Mike (Mauler).

As leader, Mauler directs Wolf into some trees while he goes up a hill to take a look. Unfortunately, this just showed up Mauler’s poor planning. The trees were in swampland!

Wolf falls in the swamp, and is stuck. Mauler makes it to the top of the hill and spots the two enemy mechs coming towards him. Behind him he hears the crash of yet another failed attempt by Wolf to get up.

Mauler tries to lock on nearest mech - fails!!
Wolf gets up!! He walks forward... again more swamp!! Damn!! Wolf falls over again.

Mauler decides to try and lead them away from the area as Wolf gets up. While running, Mauler is hit with small laser fire. Mauler still trying to get that elusive lock, but fails again.
Wolf has damaged his mech so much in the swamp, his right leg is already in the red. Forcing himself to calm down, Wolf finally gets his mech standing, and walks out of the swamp.
Wolf crests the hill and locks up the first target with ease.
He fires and hits the lead enemy mech - a Banzaii mech. The second enemy (a Wrathchild) stops chasing Mauler, and locks up Wolf. Wolf hits the Banzai again with the EM pulser - no effect!

Mauler's poor navigational skill continues to plague him as his manoeuvres take him out of line of sight with the enemy, thus breaking his lock attempt with 2 seconds left till lock. Mauler screams loudly....

Wolf starts a run along the hillside to present a harder moving target, but the WrathChild tracks and hits him with a Neutron Gun! That weapon does zero damage to armor but can affect pilots. Wolf loses hitpoints and is now dizzy. Still, he gets a good scanner lock on the WrathChild, but manoeuvring while dizzy has him missing both of his shots.

Mauler finally figures out his map and climbs a small hill to regain line of sight on the enemy mechs. He attempts again to get a good scanner lock.
Still dizzy, Wolf is able to hit the WrathChild with his pulse laser but misses with the EM pulse. The Banzaii mech constantly hits Wolf with machine guns and small laser fire. Wolfs’ Tripwire mech centre torso is now showing red as armor is stripped away.

Mauler’s lock on attempt-fails again!!! Screw it!! Mauler charges to close the range. Without a good lock lock, he fires on the Banzaii with both his AutoCannons/7 ... and HITS!!
The WrathChild swivels to face this new threat. Locking on Mauler, he fires his Neutron Blaster - Zaap!! Mauler loses hitpoints and is stunned!!

Wolf’s life support systems start healing him. Finally, his dizziness ends. With a clearer head, he locks up the Banzaii- a perfect lock – and fires both weapons. All hit and Banzaii drops to the ground.
Wolf hammers the Banzaii, forcing him to drop again while attempting to stand. Wolf holds off from closing to use the Vibra Claws because of the torso damage he has.

The WrathChild presses his attack on Mauler but misses. Mauler hits the Banzaii again (still with no lock) - leg blown off!!
The WrathChild switches again to Wolf and fires its Neutron Gun and hits.
NO EFFECT!!
Wolf laughs and places his crosshairs on the WrathChild.
Mauler stops and tries again to lock WrathChild - FAILS!! Great screaming is heard...

Coordinating their attacks, Mauler and Wolf finally beat down the Wrathchild, dropping him under withering fire from the Pulse Laser/Em pulse and the autocannons(without lock!!).

Both enemy mech pilots eject!!

Victory and salvage!! The team salvaged the damaged WrathChild.

Wolf's puny mechanic skill means the team pays 50% more than normal to fix damage.
Mauler uses his xp to up his leadership skill to try and get a skilled recruit.

New team member - an Android.
Name: D.A.Y.E.S (we feel it stands something but are not sure).
Came in with some good stats. Funny though, he has more skills in piloting larger mechs than what he can drive now. Anyways, trained him up with the starting XP and he is ready to go!!

D.A.Y.E.S is also now the new Mechanic (34% mark up on repairs).

D.A.Y.E.S has great energy weapon skills so he can pilot the WrathChild. The team will look over the other stock mechs for sale to see if there is a better choice. The thought of EM pulsing the enemy then hitting the pilot with the neutron gun is really tempting though.

Will also buy a proper map for Mauler....

Wolf to the Rescue!!
Topic: ToS Chronicles
Looking to rebuild his crippled team, Mauler hires Wolf, who quickly gets to prove his worth...


Mauler is now the mechanic, but with only 9 (!) points in the Damage control skill, he can only maintain 1 mech on the team. (sadly I noticed this AFTER applying XP so i couldn't do anything about it)

So, Mauler sends Wolf out ALONE in his new TripWire.

Out on patrol, Wolf climbs the nearest hill – and immediately spots the enemy titan - Recon class.
Picking up Wolf on his sensors, the enemy titan charges forward, weapons blazing. Wolf ignores the one hit received and takes his time and refines his lock. Good lock received! Wolf pushes forward on his throttle and charges off the hill to close the range.

Seeing Wolf running to meet him, the enemy recon titan jumps, looking to do a death from above on Wolf.
Tracking the jumping titan through the air, Wolf fires his EM Pulser (basically a EMP gun that has a chance of shutting down, temporarily, parts of a mech - based on where it hits).
The EM Pulser hits the titan in the leg. Hip seized!! The enemy titan lands but the pilot fails to keep it standing – and falls down.

Wolf opens up with Pulse lasers. Hit.. weapon recycle.. fires.. hit again.
Shrugging off the hits, the enemy pilot pushes his mech off the ground – but is slammed back down when Wolf does critical damage to its arms with his Vibra Claws.

The recon mech pilot tries again to stand – and is successful. Turning, he fires his small and large lasers, scoring hits with both weapons.
Wolf brings his mech under control and retains his footing. His EM Pulser showing ready, he fires and the heat sink temporarily shut down on enemy mech.
Stepping in close, Wolf fires and misses with his pulse laser, but hits with his Vibra Claws. The enemy recon mech goes down again.
Wolf kicks and buries his foot in the mechs’ centre torso.
Relentless, Wolf fires his pulse laser again and blows off the enemy mechs right arm!
Wolf rakes his Vibra Claws across his torso again.
The enemy mech pilot had enough. The cockpit hatch exploded as the pilot ejected.

Victory!!!
Used Xp to promote Wolf to the team Mechanic position. Being a better mechanic than Mauler, the team can now maintain more mechs.
Bought another Fang recon mech for Mauler.

Mech Masters - Early Days
Topic: ToS Chronicles
This was written AFTER I got the idea to do action reports - so it may seem a bit "fuzzy". Bear with it, as it does at least lay the foundation for the later reports in the series.


Team name: Mech Masters

Leader: Mike Masters.
Code Name: Mauler
Race: Human
His combat skills leans more to Cannons
Recon Mech – name: Fang

Manager and Mechanic: Phil J.
Code Name: Gyzmo.
Race: Cyborg
His combat skills lean more to Cannons and Melee fighting
Recon Mech

We won our first fight. Gyzmo carved them up good with his power axes as Mauler stayed back and hammered them with his cannon - although he did run out of ammo.

XP applied and Mechs repaired.


Hired a new team member:
Mechanic: Nigel
CodeName: Dazed
Race: Replicant - I
His combat skills lean more to Unguided missiles and cannons.
Recon Mech

Second mission
There is a river running through the map. Initially, the enemy was not in sight.
Sent the team to climb the nearest hill. Enemy spotted. 2 Mechs. 1 Recon and 1 Light.

Gyzmo charges towards the river to close range for his quad machine guns, and to get into melee range for his twin Power axes. Machine guns do double damage if you are in melee range, and they are the fastest recycling weapons.

Mauler and Dazed stay in the trees and start locking targets. Mauler is having a hard time getting good locks.
Dazed, on the other hand, gets an average lock on the recon and a perfect lock on the Light mech.

Gyzmo engages Jump Jets to cross river (at Rookie level, walking across could be bad)
Mauler and Dazed start shooting.. both missing.. (both are still Rookies.. and it shows).

Gyzmo is across the river, still in the air, floats over the Light Mech, and lines himself up to do a “death from above” when ....
Both enemy mechs open up on Gyzmo. Heavy Meson cannon slug (which has a good chance at doing a critical) hits Gyzmo.
CRITICAL HIT on Gyro. Amazingly, Gyzmo passes the pilot skill check to remain airborne.

Gyzmo lands his wounded mech. The damaged gyro throws the mech off balance and Gyzmo flails at the controls trying to keep his mech standing – but fails. His mech falls to the ground.

Seemingly happy with the outcome of their onslaught, the enemy mechs ignore Gyzmo. Light mech jumps across river. The recon mech climbs the hill disappears from view. Gyzmo slowly gets up and goes off after recon mech.

The trees on the hill mask the incoming light mech. Mauler breaks cover looking for the enemy mechs. He reacquires them and opens up with all weapons. The enemy mechs all lock onto Mauler and hammer him with everything they have. Alerts are going off in Mauler’s cockpit.
He radios Dazed – “Feel free to help out – anytime now would be good!”

Gyzmo chases the recon mech back across river, but his damaged Gyro causes him to fall in the river. He continues to fall on every attempt to stand.

Dazed runs down the hill to help Mauler. He let’s loose his missiles, peppering the light mech. His systems shows the Light Titan’s left leg has lost most of its armor.

Ignoring Dazed, the enemy mechs continue to pound on Mauler. Reeling under the barrage, Mauler fights to keep his mech standing – and then all his power goes out. Engine destroyed!

Turning to face Dazed, the enemy mechs close in on him and tear into his armor. Eventualy, his right leg buckles and snaps and his mech falls to the ground. Standing over him, the enemy mechs kick, punch and fire their weapons into him.

Concentrating solely on his controls, Gyzmo finally gets his mech to stand up (14% chance and he did it!), and marches out of the river. He charges into the fray, revving his power axes.

His first swing with the power axe cleaves off the damaged leg from the Light Titan! With a wicked grin on his face, Gyzmo turns to face the enemy recon titan.

The recon titan looked up at Gyzmo, but with weapon still pointing at Dazed, he fires. The shot hits the engine and Dazed mech engine explodes!!
Dazed is killed instantly.
The rolling fireball superheats the other mechs and causes Gyzmo's engine to also explode, killing him as well!!
Both enemy mechs take damage and the resulting heat shuts them down.

Mission failure.

Back at HQ.. Mauler applies his little xp from that mission and recruits :

Name: David
Code Name: Wolf.
Race: Human.
His combat skills are leaning towards Energy weapons and missiles and a
little melee.
Recon Mech - name: TripWire.