Battle of Little Rock
Conditions wrote:
- Pre-Rifts Ruins: Lots of rubble and debris. Ground based movement is considered Difficult Ground (each inch of difficult ground is two inches for purposes of movement).
- Jamming: Radio Communications are impossible to due heavy CS Jamming
- Air Support: 6 CS S7 “Talon” Bombers on long range radar will be in missile range in two rounds
With the transport on the ground the 1st now finds themselves with the full attention of the Coalition!
Seeing a railgun wielding dragon one of the skull walkers gets a bead and opens fire with both heavy rail guns hitting hard, but miraculously Merlaggo shrugs off the blow.
Moving quickly, Anon decouples the Mountaineer and jumps aboard moving close to the building where 3M is holed up ready to pick-up any survivors. Meanwhile, Gryphus takes a few moments to animate Merlaggon with elemental power, allowing the dragon to move like the wind and smash like a tidal wave.
From his position at the rear of the troops Seric uproots and old gnarled tree with his mind and uses it like a club to smash the lead skelebot in a column moving down a ramp. The tree connects with a solid “thwack” smashing the robots armored exterior and sending it flying hundreds of feet away. It lands hard, it’s head coming loose and rolling a few additional feet away from its body (group S4 down to 5 skelebots).
Merlaggon, animated by magical force, opens fire with his railgun causing the Enforcer to stagger from the blows. Sparks fly as the giant robot is rocked backward but it manages to keep its footing. Unfortunately, the dragon charges and takes a giant bit, creating a smoking hole in the Enforcer’s chest. Knowing he cannot go toe-to-toe with a dragon the pilot backpedals, giving Merlaggon another snap causing him to stumble slightly but remains unhurt.
Recovering his feet, the pilot opens fire with the rail gun as the he walks backward (benny to unshake) to make space while the co-pilot ais and fires an anti-personnel missile. Fortunately, for Merlaggon the Enforcer is heavily damaged and the rail gun - while spewing a lot of fire - is poorly sighted (1 hit, 25, AP 18). Despite the damage to their system, the gunner is a true professional and hits home with his missile (33, AP 15).
Screeching in form on high Rod and all his adjuncts open fire from the Dragonwing. His missile strike is particularly deadly blowing up a Skull Walker before it even has a chance to act. His heavy lasers scorch the armor on the second Enforcer but the big robot is able to withstand the onslaught. Some nearby ground troops are not so lucky as the medium ion cannon catches them unawares. Fortunately, for the second group they manage to get under cover and get out of the away of the blast (S5 incapacitated).
Ordering his companions to render assistance Sinder takes it upon himself to burn out some infantry with devastating effect, leaving a smoking crater where human lives once stood. (FYI: You’re supposed to roll damage separately for each group of Extras, but it’s fine for this scene)
Deciding discretion is the better part of valour Anarik turns invisible, then calls forth two demons to do his dirty work. The demons move menacingly toward the nearest soldiers, causing a shudder of indecision to tremor down their lines. They are joined by Anarik’s succubus companion, making for a strange - but fearful - sight.
With the infantry in front of her decimated and the Skull Walker nearby already a hulking wreck the second Enforcer pilot tries to deal with the Dragonwing. The gunner returns fire with a missile of his own while the pilot swings the rail gun to bear on the source of the heavy fire bursts coming from near the Skybunker. The missile lock is good, striking the Dragonwing and detonating on target (27 AP 15) while the rail gun rounds pepper the Skybunker and the surrounding ground causing the hover vehicle to list to one side before the pilot rights it a dozen yards from its original position, jostling everyone who isn’t strapped down (Skybunker takes 2 wounds).
Seeing their numbers decimate the ground troops begin to pull back in a disciplined and orderly retreat. The troopers nearest the bridge begin to pull back beneath the overpass (G4, G5) while laying down heavy fire toward Anarik’s demons. Their heavy laser assault rifles let loose an unholy amount of fire (12 troops firing at ROF 3) but while it is disciplined they are still firing on the move. Lots of shots hit home, killing one of the Voidwalkers but the second and Succubus manage to avoid the brunt of it.
The two exposed groups of Skelebots on the ramp split up. One heads north to cover the infantry withdrawal away from the dragon on their flanks while the other group continues to the bottom of the ramp to deal with Seric and his giant tree club. Four of them open fire with lasers while the fifth launchers grenades. Seric sees a giant hail of fire come his way and manages to stay away from most of it but a couple of blasts hit home just as the grenade clinks at his feet and explodes! (Lasers - 2 Hits: 9 AP 2 & 23 AP 2, Grenade: 12 MD, LBT, MD)
From cover of the abandoned building 3M prepares to bug out, opening fire on the last group of skelebots taking out a large number of them with accurate, disciplined fire. The wounded members of the platoon are holed up inside the building but start helping each other toward the Mountaineer. One of them, wearing some sort of NCO patch gives Anon a sitrep,
”This is the mop up force, part of a bigger group that captured the Captain and some others and carted them off. If we leave, we’re leaving the Captain behind. If we stay we have to fight this lot, and three times as many more.”
Rockerting south behind Sinder’s fireball, Alecto cuts into an isolated squad of infantry, securing the entire flank, leaving only a mod of skelebots in the centre and two Enforcers to tangle with.
Commanded by their human masters the last platoon of Skelebots charges the bridge with a massive hail of fire from laser rifles and grenades (18 Skelebots, ROF 3 Lasers) pushing back Anarik’s demons and threatening to overwhelm the Skybunker just as the first of the evacuees begins to arrive.
While the Coalition appears to be withdrawing, leaving the skelebots to cover their retreat, they do not appear to be just rolling over. Beta and Charlie bring Rod’s attention to the long range radar, a tight squadron of six flying targets is approaching a supersonic speed. IFF quickly verifys them as Talon bombers, normally they operate in stealth mode they are obviously coming in highly visibly as a show of force. Each one is capable of launching heaving missiles and dropping air bursting high explosive munitions. They are also capable dogfighters combatants posing a credible threat to the dragonwing even in flight mode.
MAP