Dustball was a small fight in the grand campaign to unite the Sol Sector but it was a brutal fight
inside the numerous mining stations. The single flaw in an otherwise great design was the
vulnerability of the Franks MBT in having its main weapon damaged and thereby taking the tank out
of the fight until the large powerful cannon could be replaced in a temporary depot. The Franks and
the Ghost mecha fought nasty long range duels on the wide open dunes of Dustball where the
powerful gun of the Franks could really shine. Persistent dust-storms made these long range duels a
rare occurrence though.
If it were not for the close air support provided by Scarab Dropships then the 13th may have lost
the Battle for Dustball. The 13th DropshipWing performed superbly and proved in some battles to be
the single best asset the 13th MLG had on Dustball. In one case a single Scarab, piloted by Captain
Darryl Rogers, accounted for no less than eight enemy mecha kills and numerous drone kills when he
was covering the retreat of Echo Company, 3rd Battalion after they managed to secure an enemy AI
core.
The AI core, code-named Judas, has proved to be a font of intel on Ghost intentions and
capabilities. Naval Intelligence managed to convince the AI to turn and has been working with Judas
to shorten the war with the Ghost worlds within the Sol Sector.
Echo Company, 13th Marine Landing Battalion, fights their way back to friendly lines. Ghost forces seem to boil out of the very ground and oppose them at every turn. During the long retreat back to the Space-head Echo company comes across a special forces unit whose Scarab dropship was shot down and the mecha were forced to eject and had hard landings during a dust storm. The pilots of the mecha and the Dropship survived the crash but the frequent dust storms are interfering with communications. Finally they get through to the retreating Echo company who diverts to pick them up.
The scarabs push forward to engage the Ghost forces but are overcome with accurate and concentrated fire.
2nd platoon, Echo Company pushes forward to secure the down pilots waiting near their crippled dropship.
1st Platoon, Echo Company pushes forward to secure the pilot. A brave scout sled driver flies forward and recovers the Mecha pilot from the wreckage of his crippled machine while the rest of the platoon engages Ghost forces in a fierce firefight all around them.
Third Platoon dismounts its infantry to push up the slope where the other mecha pilot awaits rescue. The rest of third platoon's forces cover them but take heavy fire from opposing Ghost forces.
A unit of Assault mecha and Heavy "Spider" mecha push forward and do tremendous damage to a heavily out-gunnned second platoon.
Despite heavy fire the Ghost forces armor shrugs off most of the railgun rounds fired at them. Their inexorable advance pushes forward slowly but steadily towards the downed dropships and the crippled special forces mecha. They eventually manage to secure the dropship as they force back second platoon with heavy casualties.
Ghost forces come close to securing one of the mecha pilots an his crippled ride. 1st platoon manages to secure the pilot and drive back the Ghost forces on the right flank.
Aftermath:
The game ended up being a victory for the Terran troops despite horrendous casualties. They managed to rescue both mecha pilots but the fate of the Dropship crew is unknown. The last images of them showed them being pulled from the wreckage and transported off to an unknown destination.
Kevin had some amazing rolls and managed to kill off all of the Scarabs who pushed forward to engage the Ghost forces early on. I probably should have been less aggressive and pushed with my forces together but I wanted to try and pin or destroy some of the Ghost's supporting mecha early on. That didn't work out so well and lost all of my dropships support on the first two turns. After that it was a tough fight. The Franks is a good tank but hampered by its sole weapon, its main gun. Once the main gun has been put out of action the Franks is just moving terrain. I think we are going to have to field some combat engineers for field repairs of damaged tanks.
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