Disclaimer: This is my first time running Lancer, and I've never played it myself, so feel free to critique my terrible NPC choices.
Background: I run a Lancer game locally with some friends. We have two missions under our belt already, though they were truncated to kind of get a feel for the game, and get to LL2 so we they could get their mechs. This mission is the first under a new time schedule (where we play shorter games usually, but only one combat each, so a mission can stretch multiple days), the first where they have their non-Everest mechs, and the first where I am actually sticking to the general guidance of how much structure/difficulty to give them.
(I will try to cover each encounter/mission I run them through, and what I learn in this style, but mostly detail fun ways I have learned to drag the players around the map without just relying on many-big-shooty)
Mission Summary: This actually took a while, since I presented the players with quite a dilemma, choosing whether or not to help the rebel faction on Suldan break out prisoners from the megacorp convoy they were being paid to defend. They finally did choose, and the three of them left the container truck they had been assigned to ambush the other one in the sandstorm. The sandstorm for this encounter counted as soft cover for everyone.
Players: While they had some fun in their Everests, this was the first mission they got to use a different design. We had a Blackbeard, with the pilot set up naturally for grappling and blademaster, but with a projected shield as well. The second PC was a Genghis, which beyond the usual Harrison flamethrower and napalm grenade, also had an assault rifle and combat knife. The third mech was a Dusk Wing primarily armed with its Veil Rifle. (Note, I don't check what my players are using, since I trust them to follow the rules, and I don't want to pre-spoil their setups for myself. I'd rather us both be surprised at what we encounter).
Op-For: The characters met another merc working for the corporation on the same mission on the ride over, and got hints to his set up. He naturally was guarding the container truck they needed to stop. I set him up as an Elite Reaver, giving him quite a bit of durability and control mechanics. He was initially aided by an Engineer to provide support with drones, and an Assault (albeit damaged for story purposes) joined partway through, and a final reinforcement didn't make it as they wiped out the other three all in one turn.
Play: So...I really really like the Reaver. They are far too durable to throw at players all the time, especially with their self-heals, and with the addition that as an Elite he was really durable. However, he spent the majority of the fight yanking players back and forth into his nano-cloud, and casually grappling them beyond being a major annoyance and unavoidable damage for the poor Blackbeard. The Engineer, while potentially troublesome with its turret, didn't do much other than make them split their focus from the Reaver, as one grapple combo from the Blackbeard and a few stray shots from others spelled its doom, it ended round 2 with only 3 hp and quickly bit it in round 3. In round 2, the Genghis player remembered he picked a mech designed to set things on fire, set the Reaver on fire, and soon found that disabled all the nasty self-healing. Round 3 still ended up with the Reaver structuring the Blackbeard with one final whip+cloud combo, before all the burn damage plowed through its first structure, and then quickly its second. The Assault that entered in round two did some solid damage, ran in, and quickly found a cone of flame and some reliable damage from various sidearms put it right down.
Summary: While it only lasted three rounds, the Elite Reaver getting to go twice and constantly yanking the players around was quite fun for both sides, as they constantly had to worry about his threat range. If the Genghis player had burned him a bit sooner, he likely would have had less time to do anything, but I'll make sure the next Reaver I use has some specials to counteract that being an immediate-win tactic. The other two served to eat random other attacks, keeping them from blowing through the Reavers self-healing too fast before burn was applied, but otherwise did minimal damage to the PCs. It was the first mission in a set of three though, so one structure loss, some eaten repairs (the Reavers' special was to eat a PC repair to heal itself), the Genghis at 3 overcharge and the Blackbeards core bonus spent means they'll have to be a little more careful for Encounter 2.
