The party started in a small DropShip tied to the Narbonne. They experienced the Case White naval battle strapped into their 'Mechs, with their ability to monitor the fleet chatter interrupted an hour after arrival by damage to the DropShip. They made atmo, but damage to the DropShip necessitated a hot drop, which miraculously they all accomplished without damaging their 'Mechs (which fortunately we all jump-equipped.) On the ground, they proceeded to the objective without further interruption.
The scenario began with a light rain falling at dusk on the evening on March 9th, 3068. The party engaged the Word of Blake Level II, which consisted of medium 'Mechs, mostly Cicada's, with the target (Bruce Lecna) piloting a Siroco quad assault 'Mech. The engagement had a promising start, with David Cho's Hawk Moth scoring a hit on one Cicada and knocking it down. The party soon found the target's Siroco, which had been shadowing the opening engagement using a line of trees as cover, and on Round 5, Alexander's Black Hawk-A swung into position with its dual Clan ER PPC's (and its 1/1 pilot) to attack. On Round 5, the Black Hawk fired all guns on a Buccaneer to try to dissuade it from harrassing the helicopter, and on Round 6, again made an Alpha Strike, this time on the Siroco. Unfortunately, the back-to-back full barrages, combined with the jumping he had been doing to maneuver through the trees, generated far more heat than the 'Mech could handle and on Round 6 he failed his Shutdown (+8) roll. The medium WoB 'Mechs gave up their pursuit of the helicopter and came after the crippled 'Mech, and destroyed it during Round 7 with concentrated fire and physical attacks.
Alexander punched out successfully, and was able to evade the initial group of 'Mechs that had destroyed him, as they turned on Shin's Firestarter, the last party 'Mech on the field. Cho circled wide and landed to recover Alexander in a clearing, while Shin made three high-risk jumps (requiring a 7+ piloting check each time due to actuator damage) to clear the forest ahead of the faster but jump-incapable Wobbies. The Firestarter and Hawk Moth broke contact and scrubbed the engagement, disappearing into the forests of Colorado.
After the fight, we resolved pilot hits, as both Alexander and Shin had taken one. Shin took two standard damage to his chest, and Alexander took the hit to the head, doubling the damage to four BOD. Both required medical attention. With the bulk of the 394th over a thousand miles away and the 9th Division nearly upon them, the ComStar party was ordered to their emergency retreat point, a resistance element based on a nearby ranch. The session closed that night as the Firestarter and the Hawk Moth arrive at Clark's ranch.
The next session I expect to be more roleplaying-oriented before the mission cycle that forms the heart of this campaign starts. Integrating the party should be an interesting experience, especially to see how the leadership falls out in the absence of a comprehensive rank structure. The ComStar party will be getting the plot-dump update, and I need to figure out how to encourage them together with the Ground Crew. I've been thinking about bringing the Harry Simpson issue to a head, requiring the intervention of the soldiers to help resolve the issue.
Also, the promised comment on Training. It seems that on p. 159 of A Time of War, Training is described as simply granting bonus XP in the trained skill to the student. In the description of training skills on p. 334, however, the Training check merely reduces the cost of the new skill by the Margin of Success of the Training check if the skill is bought right then. I am choosing to interpret both of these rules as being in effect, despite the possible interpretation that one or the other is the way that Training works. The practical upshot of this is that it creates something of a class/keystone system, in which the bulk of the skill can be trained up one point a week, but at the point of upgrading, it is more efficient for the instructor (given sufficient skill and thereby MoS), to spend the last week in the alternate training mode.
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