Jack of Harts

There is a BattleTech convention happening near my home, so I drove on over. I took a demo kit with me as I always do, because I never go to a convention without it. I didn’t actually demo yesterday, but I’ve already got a lead on people who want to be taught a couple of different BattleTech games that are not in the mainstream, so there’s a good chance I’ll be doing some demoing over the weekend. And I honestly should add the one game to my demo kit since it doesn’t take much room.

The truly fun part yesterday was being pulled into playing a game on Outreach. The Battle of Outreach, where Waco’s Rangers and fellow disaffected mercenaries attacked Wolf’s Dragoons during the early stages of the Jihad. I didn’t pick any mechs. I let the other players choose their stuff. Then the event organizer on the Dragoon side brought four mechs over to me and told me to run them. A BattleMaster, a Highlander, a Longbow, and an Annihilator. Now I see those four mechs in a lance, in Wolf’s Dragoons, and I see Zeta Battalion.

Well, I played them like Zeta Battalion. The enemy was incoming, and there was a Dragoon Warhammer deployed to exchange fire with a big ass assault lance across the field of battle. A smart player would have pulled my assaults back into long range, let the Warhammer take the heat, and snipe at the enemy. But I was playing Zeta. I charged into medium range and shot them. A lot. They evaporated my BattleMaster, and the Warhammer he stood next to, but I killed their Marauder and tore merry hell out of their BattleMaster. That lance retreated behind the buildings and hid the rest of the game. I later found out that was the command lance of the entire assault I had shot full of holes in round one. They were unhappy about that. 😉

Then three full lances of BattleMechs started rolling up on my right. Only a single lance of Homeguard Dragoons holding the right flank, while everybody else was heading west to fight the enemy trying to take over the starport. A smart player would preserve their assaults, and make a slow fighting retreat to the west, just laying down fire and making them pay. Let the homeguard delay them. But I was playing Zeta. Zeta turned right and drove into the enemy’s flank, because the enemy was about to kill a lance of homeguard boys. And Zeta was going to let that happen over their dead bodies.

So the Zeta boys charged a company of BattleMechs and the Highlander and Longbow died firing directly at the enemy. The Annihilator meanwhile just held the middle and trundled around looking for shots. Anyone who knows Annihilators know that they are the ultimate semi-mobile weapons turret. They more shuffle around slowly, and try to put their guns on something. And everybody with a brain tries to be someplace the Annihilator can’t shoot them. Well, by the time the battle of the east flank was running down, that entire company of enemy battlemechs was down to five mechs, the Homeguard lance had finally lost two of their number, and were about to lose the other two, and the Annihilator was ranging fire on anyone who gave them a target and everybody else on the field of battle on the entire eastern edge of the map was hiding behind buildings rather than give him a shot at them.

I played Zeta like Zeta. Dragoons don’t join Zeta to retire. Dragoons retire from Zeta with their boots on, in battle. They charge into battle in a reckless manner. Their commanders die in battle, leading that charge. And when Zeta sees Wolves being killed by overwhelming force, they wade into that overwhelming force to make certain they don’t die alone. Because no Wolf dies alone when Zeta is there.

When the organizers called the battle, the Wolves had decimated Waco’s Rangers at the starport and were starting to turn east to deal with the reinforced company of mechs that had attacked the east. The Annihilator was standing about 6 inches from where he started the battle, standing in the crossroads, ranging guns at anybody who walked into his field of vision. Just laying down the pain. And between the hiding remnants of the command lance and the smashed remnants of the full company that attacked east, there were maybe eight survivors hiding in the buildings. Eight battlemechs of mostly heavy range with an assault or two that could have stepped out in unison, accepted that the Annihilator was going to kill one of them, and shot him to pieces. But no one did. No one was. They were all hiding from Zeta.

One Annihilator of Zeta, one damaged Dervish and one damaged Falcon of Homeguard, and three small, fast units coming back from the west where all the Dragoons had won. Surrounded by dead BattleMechs, friend and foe alike, outnumbered two to one in numbers and probably four to one in tonnage, Zeta was standing right where they started the battle. Three quarters of them died within 12 inches of where they started the battle. The last one ended within 6 inches of where he started.

Zeta Stands.

There has been a lot of government fraud over the years. Minnesota has recently had a fair share of it. Estimates are looking to be over one billion dollars sent to one group of individuals, recent Somali immigrants, and used to buy luxury cars and send home to pay for terrorism. One. Billion. Dollars. With a B. That’s the current estimate. It could be more. We don’t know yet. But it’s been going on for years, and every time it’s been talked about, the Democrats just put more money into the fund that was being raided which kept the fraud going. How much does that cost?

Well, estimates are there are 4.5 million citizens in Minnesota. Divide that into One Billion Dollars and you get something just a bit over 200 dollars. The Minnesota government has been giving money to Somalis, over 200 dollars from each citizen in the State. What could you do with 200 dollars? Do you think you could spend it better? Do you think you would like to get the chance to spend it better? This is merely one way in which the Minnesota government spends our money. I’m betting we can find more fraud if we look for it. But even that much is too much IMHO.

Sword versus Sorcery is what we have here.
Defiance versus Demand. Challenge versus Command.

Though there are lots of evil foes in the stories ahead, S&S is not so much about good versus evil, or good saving the day, or even evil getting its just rewards. It is far more about an individual (though occasionally a team) spitting in the eye of impossible odds simply because he or she can, or wants to, or wants something on the other side of said odds. S&S protagonists may not actually be heroes despite their doing heroic things. And that’s part of the fun of it all.
Heroic storytelling can teach some amazing truths about being human. About what courage is, what growth and maturity are, how society and even the world works, what it means to be loyal, trustworthy, brave, compassionate. At its least, it entertains. At its best, it entertains and shares a value system for heroics; a passion for heroic stories and a belief in the possibility of heroes.

Check out Daggers & Dark Powers by Raconteur Press, if you dare…