The Battletech Dynasty: Chapt. 5 - The Invasion, 3050-3056 - Completed

[Abe Sargent]

We have won.



Warhammer missing RL
Vulcan missing LL, RA
Atlas missing RT.
Hollander LT, LA, H, LL, RL
Stealth, H, LL, RA
Hatchetman H, LT, LA, LL, RT, RA< RL
Scarabus
Penetrator gyro x2
Salamander missing RL
Wasp RA, LL
Banshee missing LT, LA, and RL


Jenner reattach LA
Katana, hip, enginex1


Experience – Ronan Gascoigne, vet in the Marauder loses a gunnery – 2/4



Money stuff:

1.92 for ammo and armor
10.32 for everything, including refitting

We spent 8.18 mill


We return on November 27, 3056

[Abe Sargent]

Rewind to:

Aug 1 – Tango Company returns in a week.

Contracts!

Capellan Confederation - Defense
Blake – O Raid
Drac – Security

The Dracs want security for…Ad Duwayd? On the edge of the Inner Sphere? No thanks.

Blakes, let’s talk, target? Eom. A CC world, and not that far away. Interesting.

Word of Blake wants to use the alliance between the CC and FWL to their advantage by becoming the HPG agent of the CC and kicking out ComStar. On Eom there is a Baron who supports ComStar massively, and he is getting in the way, politically, of Blake moving in. They believe his support would crumble if “ComStar” dropped in, destroyed a local garrison, and popped back out. They think it would be too obvious if WoB troops came in with repainted mechs, so they want a merc unit to arrive and attack the Baron’s mech garrison, and then leave. They’ll be doing public parades in the nearby FWL systems when we hit in order to prove that their forces were not involved.


Defender has been on planet for a while, so let’s send them out.


Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x4 x1.6, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Indy
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 months
Transport: Full
40% Bonus

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 2 - Eom is an ugly world. It’s not heavily inhabited and has tons of swamps. The swamps are a source of oil and ore which are both excavated in massive amounts as the sole economic activity on the planet beyond some farms and a few small cities in the small number of plains outside of the massive swamps.

Nov 6 – We have found the garrison Blake spoke of. It has a company of local mechs, with only a third of the mechs using level 2 tech.

Nov 11 – We blast out of our rented DropShip and move to the local garrison. Out pop our targets.


Caps:

Locust
WSP-1L Wasp
Spider
Shadow Hawk
Centurion
Catapult
Goliath
CGR-1A5 Charger


Level 2 Mechs:

Snake
CTF-3L Cataphract
Thunder
Marauder II


That Charger variant is deadly, with an AC20 and real armor

Here is their Snake, a 45 ton mech with an LB 10X, 3x SRM 2 Streak, 5/8/5 (with XL), 11/22 heat, 7 tons of armor.

[Abe Sargent]

T1 – We lose init. One of the things I like to do, for fun, is to come up with clever little names for my savegames. For example, I have “Tanks a Lot” and “Tankzilla” as my saves for battles that involve a lot of armor. I created “Snake Handlin’” for our match vs Steel Viper, and I’m reusing it here because of the mech Snake that’s on their side. Our Hunchback’s AC20 hits a glancing blow, half damage, to their Thunder’s H, but it goes internal and hits the cockpit. Dead Thunder. Our Thor destroys the RL of their Spider. The Thor kicks and destroys the RL of their Wasp – two legs from two mechs in one turn. Hot. Their Wasp pilot blacked out too – double hot.

T2 – We win init. Turn 1 was a clear victory for us, as we took out one mech and knocked out the pilot from a second. I hop our Comet by their Wasp to see if we can’t add a few hits to that pretty little head. Hermes II to the rear of their Shadow Hawk. PXH to the rear of their Catapult. Our Comet does destroy the Wasp H. Our Whitworth blows off the LL of their Charger – our Hermes II gets a limb blown off RL on their Shadow Hawk. Their Chargers LA is destroyed by our Stalker. Our Awesome nails the hip and lower leg actuators on their Marauder II. The Charger pilot blacks out. The MAD II falls. Our Orion kicks and hits a hip on their Centurion and it falls. Our Hermes II kicks their Locust to the ground.

With 6 of their mechs on the ground, one unconscious pilot among them, plus two destroyed mechs, I suspect they want to run. That’s not the plan, so we have surrounded them on the field.

T3 – We lose init. Their Locust rises and runs. Their Centurion and MAD II stand and spin. Hermes II and Comet by their Charger. Our CTF is behind their CTF. Hot Cataphract on Cataphract action ensues. Two shots from our Ultra AC20 on the Thor chew into their Marauder II and destroys the LT. Shut down. Our Hunch destroys the LL of their Cataphract. Our Hermes II destroys the H of their Charger. Our Griffin ignites LRM ammo in their Catapult and explodes. Our Stalker destroys the LA and RT of their Centurion. It falls.

They clearly flee and we keep the legged mechs that can’t follow. The only mechs that fled were Locust, Goliath, Centurion with the hip and missing arms and a torso, and Snake.

[Abe Sargent]

Cataphract missing LL
Wasp missing H, RL.
Thunder fix cockpit
Charger reattach LL, missing LA, H
Shadow Hawk reattached RL
Marauder II missing LT
Catapult – LA, RT, LL
Spider missing RL

Experience – Indervir Multani, Comet, gains Edge: 1

We spent 3.205 mill for everything, and toss in our salary.

Defender Company Returns on February 2, 3057

[Abe Sargent]

Rewind:

Sept 1, 3056 – Cinq Returns today. Contracts:

Periphery – Security
Periphery - Objective Raid
Marik – O Raid on…Fed Com, can’t do
FedCom – O Raid on…DC. doable. What planet? Kessel. Very close too.

The 40th Deiron Regulars are on Kessel. Also there is Diverse Optics Inc, a company that makes er, pulse and regular lasers. Kessel is a world made toxic by centuries of industrial pollution making BattleMechs, DropShips, mining, and more . People have to wear rebreathers when outside of mechs and vehicles.

An FC power wants us to land on Kessel, a prefecture capital, and blast some Dracs. Ideally, they’d like us to threaten Diverse Optics, but they don’t expect us to take it or raid it, just to land, be dangerous, destroy some targets and blast off. The goal is to remind the Dracs not to take the FC for granted just because both realms are dealing with the clan threat .

The 40th are green and very questionable in their loyalties. They were the only unit left in the area after the clan invasion, and have been clamoring for more troops to support them for years, but all they’ve gotten are some updated mechs. The AFFC just want a company to pop in, but we convince them to allow us to send a battalion. Imagine how much damage a battalion of mechs with highly trained and capable mechs and men would do against a unit that’s green and feeling unsupported.


Breaker Battalion on Kessel, + 5 armored infantry and Arrow Company diverts to meet us here instead of arriving at EE.


Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x3.7 x1.6, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Liaison
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 3 months
Transport: Full
25% Bonus

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 5 – We have arrived at Kessel. We spread out and start to scout for garrisons.

Nov 7 – The local DropPort we are using does have some infantry and a lance of armor from a local garrison. This is good, we can easily brush these guys aside if we pop out of our DropShips.

Nov 12 – We rent a local warehouse and ship four BattleMech shut down insides of sealed containers. We’ll behind this lance of mechs and men from our Thunder Lance (aka scout lance) in Miner Company. When we are ready, they’ll pop out and destroy the small garrison and secure the area for us on our return.

Nov 15 – Their base is right by the Diverse Optics factory, which makes lasers, home electronics, medical lasers and more. We blast off Breaker’s DropShips to the nearest DropPort. Arrow Company remains behind, in order to use it as a secure launching base. Our plan is to clear off the ferrocrete right by our DropShips to land and reboard if planes are injured, but normally they can launch and reboard from the DropShips themselves.

Nov 28 – After copious amounts of scouting by our armored infantry, we have enough data.

The 40th always has one company on patrol at the factory, one on patrol at their nearby base, and the third company from that battalion on standby at the base ready to load and move out in a minute. It’s not a bad set up, but they can be overwhelmed quickly. What would they do if a battalion of mechs suddenly attacked the factories? I have no idea but it’s puzzling. If we attacked the base, they’d organize all of the other units and push to defend. But the base? My guess is that they would send out both companies that are patrolling and on standby and organize the other two battalions for defense.

If so, that would give us a few minutes of a very lightly defended base. Our infantry could move up, hit a few infantry, power in and do some damage before the supporting mechs arrived. When they did, their attention should be on the infantry wreaking havoc on their base, rather than moving to help out at the factory.

Meanwhile, suppose that the two companies moving to support were slowed by the sudden appearance of 14 Aerospace Fighters? What would they do if they were strafed once by the fighters? Would they hole up and grab defensive positions - which is the normal defense against fighters, or would they push it to get to the company, and keeping themselves open to more attacks?

Now, suppose that instead of a battalion of mechs attacking the company, it’s just two full companies. Would they still do the same? My guess is yes, since guarding Diverse Optics is so important, they would send out both companies to help while gearing up. What if the two companies were attacked by AeroSpace Fighters and at the same time eight mechs from Miner Company bust out of nearby buildings and start attacking. What would they do then?

And how long before their green and questionably loyal unit breaks down and everybody starts fleeing for themselves?

That’s our plan. Hit Diverse Optics with Trident and Fallout, force reinforcements to come down High Street with our fighters and strafe, pop out 8 mechs from Miner and a nearby company we’ve rented, watch as our infantry do a lot of damage to their base and force their units to take care of their own house before coming our way.

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 10 – This is the day the first colonists arrived on Kessel, and it’s a major holiday, with most businesses closed. We spend a few days going over the plan again and again. Part of being professional on a plan like this is making sure everything works as it is supposed to, and that takes drilling and training, going over scenarios, and making decisions on the planning stage before they have to be made on the battlefield. With everything ready, we begin.


Miner Thunder Lance moves out and in half a minute two tanks are immobile and a third is destroyed and a fourth has run away. Another 15 seconds and a platoon of infantry is killed and the other one has fled as well.

Element #1 – Success

One possible consequence of us taking the DropPort was that the 40th would send in mechs immediately, but our infantry report that no one is moving out. Our fighters are free and in the air.


We’ve flung out Trident and Fallout to Diverse Optics from our DropShips. They are 5 minutes away.

The 40th has not been made aware that we are coming for a while. When we are roughly one minute away we start pinging their mag sensors and their company forms as a unit to try and stop us. (You usually patrol as lances).

We crash into their company.

The 40th:


Raptor A
Owens Prime
PNT-10K Panther
Daimyo
Wolf Trap
PXH-3K Phoenix Hawk
Daikyu
CRD-4K Crusader
DRG-5K Grand Dragon
Gunslinger
Katana, regular
CGR-3K Charger


The mechs of this era for Kurita are so much better than the other houses. This is a great unit, with two light scouting omnis, a very good Panther, the Daimyo’s always a good mech, the PXH-3K is my favorite of the new PXHs, the Gunslinger mounts a double gauss action, the Katana is one of the best assault mechs of this era, the Grand Dragon is hot and that CRD is one of the few Crusaders not to ruin itself by giving it a stupid XL engine but instead has much better in your face weapons and is more of a charge into your face mech, but still good. This is a randomly selected unit, but it doesn’t even have some of the real class of the Combine mechs from this era, but it’s good.

This is their Daikyu. It is a 70 ton mech with 5/8 movement, XL, 11/22 heat, 12 tons of armor, an ER PPC, 2x Ultra AC5, an LRM5, a medium laser, and CASE. It is a great long range mech for the DC< even with the XL engine.

[Abe Sargent]

T1 – We win. We hit an engine and gyro on their Dragon and our Hunchback destroys the RT of their Wolf Trap and the mech shuts down. Both our Gallowglas and their Grand Dragon fall. We kick their PXH to the ground.

T2 – We win again. Our GG stands and moves. Their Raptor ran and skidded on ferrocrete and fell in front of one of our Atlas’s. Their PXH fails twice to stand. QDraw behind their G Dragon. Our Daimyo nails the hip on their G Dragon. One of our Hatamato’s hits the gyro once on their Katana. Their pilot blacks out. An Apollo adds an engine hit. Our Huron Warrior nails the gauss in the RA of their Gunslinger, it and the RT are destroyed, dead mech. Our Q Draw hits the other hip on their GDragon. A Marauder gets a limb blown off RA vs it too. Our Gallowglas destroys its LA. Our Atlas destroys the LT of their Raptor – shut down. Their Owns falls, Katana falls and hits its engine and gyro, G Dragon falls and hits its gyro twice and is out. Our PXH falls too. An Atlas kicks and destroys the LA and LT of their Owens and it shuts down.

T3 – We lose init. Watchman behind their Daimyo. Our PXH Stands and runs. Firestarter behind their Crusader. Our Q Draw destroys the LA of their Charger. Our Kintaro blows off the LA of their Daikyu. A Hatamato Chi destroys the LT of their Charger, dead mech, AC20 from the Hunchback destroys their Crusader’s H. A kick from our Black Knight destroys the RL of their Daikyu.

They flee with their wounded PXH, Panther and Daimyo. We move to focus on the plant. We spend the next 15 minutes scouting out, clearing out infantry, and grabbing trucks to put salvage and raided materials on.


Daikyu missing RL, reattach LA
Crusader missing H
Charger missing LT, LA
Raptor A missing LT
Grand Dragon, reattach RA, missing LA, gyrox2
Wolf Trap missing RT
Gunslinger missing RT, RA
Katana gyrox2, enginex2
Owens Prime missing LA, LT

[Abe Sargent]

Meanwhile…


They decide to send in only one company to help out instead of both. Stupid, so we don’t crash in with our troops. They will get slaughtered though.


As their company moves through the industrial area, Arrow Company moves to strafe them while in an exposed area. They savage two mechs right there, and the rest spin and grab defensive positions, finding rubble, moving trees and so forth. That’s smart. They aren’t doing what we expected either time.

They are holding their position, so another pass of our fighters doesn’t do too much besides blast a Jenner into pieces. Their fire lances into a couple of fighters and we don’t want to keep doing that, so we break off.



They have scrambled, quickly, about ten conventional fighters. Arrow Company moves out to engage. Conventional fighters are easy to kill but it will take some time.

With our fighters now being used, their company breaks from cover and moves down…High Street, yay!!

They are moving down, and suddenly, out pop Anvil and Hammer lances from Miner Company. (Normally I’d run this, but they are already damaged, missing ammo, and about to break already – I can’t sim that with MegaMek).

Combined fire lances out from our mechs and shears into the RT of their Rifleman 5M and it shuts down. With the surprise ambush from us plus the damage they’ve already sustained, they break into individual units and begin to flee. We take shots and manage to leg a Clint before it gets away. Our Wolverine runs up to it and aims it’s gun right at the guys head and forces his surrender.

This unit is broken for now. We radio the other two units to send a couple of mechs with hands down here to pick up the Rifleman, arm, and Clint. They will also find a Jenner LL.

What will they do now?


RFL-5M Rifleman missing RT
Clint missing RL
Jenner LL




They choose to wait until all forces are ready and send out four companies of mechs with three remaining on guard and in mechs at the base.

[Abe Sargent]

By this time…..


The Arrow Company has finished off the conventional fighters. Two of our fighters had to return due to damage, none are destroyed.

We have secured the factory and have already started loading crates and moved most of the salvage.

They are ten minutes from the factory.

Our infantry moves back to a backup spot we have chosen in case they never get used. They grab two trucks, load up and move out.

Our infantry arrive at the factory well in advance of the enemy and they move to salvage and raiding. Our mechs move to meet the incoming four companies, although a few lighter ones keep helping. The 8 mechs from Miner Company have arrived to shore up our defenses. Meanwhile, Arrow Company moves in to strafe the edges of their movement. They can’t do a major strafe – strafing roughly 50 mechs with 12 fighters is suicide. All they want to do is slow them down, which succeeds, and they take an additional five minutes to arrive.

We have 30 mechs with elite and veteran pilots in a powerful defensive formation around the factory (a Wasp and injured PXH are still helping things load up), and they have 48 mechs with green pilots. Our mechs have already been reloaded. This is not an obvious victory for them. We have the experience and the weapons. We also have air support.

Do they come in? Looks like no. They are smart, and they keep back and wait out our Fighter’s fuel. While most Aeropace fighters have a fusion plant, they need to eventually return – atmospheric flying and fighting takes a toll. Fearing a trap, they do not bring in additional troops from the garrison, and they remain facing the factory for an hour. In that hour, we’ve gotten 14 trucks from the factory loaded with tons of things they were selling, as well as all salvage loaded up.

We are ready to move out. We order Arrow Company to move back as if to leave, and they fly back to our DropShips that our lance still has secured. They wait about five minutes and then deciding that the fighters have actually left, they push in. They can’t surround us, because they know we’d push out at one company and escape. We have two infantry squads destroy the wall of the factory nearest our DropShips and the mechs and trucks move out, spilling their way to load up, while our mechs drop covering fire.

After fifteen minutes of retreat, with them following, Arrow Company returns for a strafe and they have to back up. We get away. The only injury we suffer is an destroyed RA of an Apollo. We get back and under the weapons of borrowed DropShips, and spend a half hour loading everything up while our fighters return and reboard.

We blast off and return home on January 6, 3057.


We make 6.75 mill and spend 11.905 so we spent 5,155,000 to get everything up and running.

After we return, we crack open the crates and discover we grabbed some electronics for the home, and we also raided a ton of lasers of various types. We sell the electronics on the market for 80% of their price and the lasers for 90% (what we normally get for materiel). We made 4.1 mill total. Total cost, after salaries, gaining tanks and mechs, and more was 1.155 mill. Not bad at all.

[Abe Sargent]

October 1 – This is a major month. We will not be taking any contracts this month, because it’s a month when a ton of people return, and we have o focus on bringing their mechs in, reorganizing, and more.

What happens in October – Beta Regiment finishes their contract with the FC. Shadow Battalion returns from their long anti-clan contract for the Combine, and with all of the stuff they claimed. Catapult Company and a full battalion of mechs from Alpha Regiment return as well. This month, 40 new mechs arrive from various units. Braham will move to Outreach for recruiting purposes, because we need fighter pilots and mech warriors. Next month, Bolt and Guile will return with another 8 mechs and 7 vehicles.

We can get a few fighters with their pilots, but Braham wants to recruit en masse, and that will require buying fighters and recruiting the best pilots. In order to expedite our major recruiting efforts, we send Mei Ling to Solaris VII and Ted jumps to Galatea. We should quickly get elite disposed pilots for the OmniFIghters. We also have 7 bondsmen we captured to help fill our roster, and 11 regular MWs in the garrison, but I prefer not to use them unless I have too. But we’ll need more.


After finishing a retainer contract for the FC, Beta Regiment is ready for some action. The FC would like to reup their deal, but we’re not willing to do that. We order them home. Beta Regiment will arrive back at EE on Jan 14, 3057.

We also gained the money from that contract this month and are rolling in dough again.

We spend 25 million to expand the Essex Training Academy. We are tripling its size, barracks and such, and adding an Aerospace wing, and donating an OmniFighter to it – a Bashkir, plus a trio of aerospace fighters, and another OmniMech, a Loki B. Our maintenance increases to 20 million annually. These will start next year.

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 5 - I think it’s time for me to buy some small craft to go with our JumpShips and the Vengeance. Here’s what I want to buy:

3x NL-42 Battle Taxis for the Vengeance. These weigh 200 tons and have 2 ER Large Lasers and 4 medium pulse lasers. In addition, they have a good amount of armor and speed. They carry two groups of power armored infantry and have a tug adapter. They fire it at a naval vessel and then the Battle Taxi automatically attaches itself to the vessel, and the infantry can drill into their enemy vessel or break out onto its hull and find a hatch. Ten power armored infantry are a devastating amount. For example, how many crew does a Merchant JumpShip have? 20. How are you going to stop these ten guys in power armor from killing your crew and taking over the vessel from the inside? If it’s not a Troop Carrier like the Triumph carrying 4 platoons of infantry, then you can bust in and do a lot of damage. The Avenger has a crew of 15, the Vengeance a crew of 9, the Union a crew of 14. If we can find these when they are without their military personnel on board, a Battle-Taxi going to seriously give us a chance of capturing, intact, naval assets. They are made next door in Outreach, and we can afford three for our Vengeance. Now imagine our Vengeance has its full fighter screen of 40 fighters, and behind them three Battle Taxis. We’ll be able to clean out virtually any fighters opposing the landing of the Battle Taxi. While dealing with the fighters, the Taxi can land and our infantry can infiltrate.

We have purchased three for our Vengeance and will begin training now with our powered armor dudes. I want to pick up six troops exclusively for these missions. When I’m using the Fury Unbound, I want to win hard core.

Each Battle Taxi costs 13.085 mill.

For our JumpShip, I will be going with military carriers. What I mean is that the classic Shuttle or Bus has no weapons, light armor, and it’s just a transport with limited aerodyne landing places. On the other hand, let’s look at the 150 ton Mark VII Landing Craft. While it’s an Aerodyne Craft, unlike others, it has VTOL capabilities in the atmosphere, so it can land in a lot of places safely. In fact, it can land in more places than a large spheroid DropShip could, like swamps and rocky hills and so forth. It can carry 67.44 tons of stuff, and it has a complement of medium and small lasers. It costs 6.9 mill to buy, but we have to get them on the market, and like always, I mark up these things, so we pay 7.5 each. We are picking up four with two each going into our JumpShips. These can easily carry enough ammo and armor to refit a unit on the go – 45-50 tons of armor plates, 10 tons of LRM and SRM ammo, a quartet of gauss rifles, and the rest AC ammo for whatever is in the mechs in the units and we’re good.

I will not be including these small craft in my list of craft, just assume that both JumpShips have the Mark VIIs and the Vengeance is rocking three Battle Taxis plus the small craft that the Achilles and Aegis have as well.

What I would like to do is have some mines in my JumpShips and I can send them down to the surface with this when I need to. Our JumpShips can carry 200-300 tons of cargo each, but they can’t land and unload, so it’s a long process. I sometimes need mines, so when I do for a campaign, I can send in a Mark VII with 67 tons of mines (which is a lot of mines, btw).

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 9 – With Kressly’s Alexanders selling like hotcakes even making 6 a month and the Attila still selling very well and the Lineholder will be the best selling medium mech in the Inner Sphere by the end of 3057, they feel its time to work on another mech. This time, they want a scout lighter mech so it won’t compete with their other offerings. They approach us for ideas, but they don’t like the Comet at all. The trend is to have faster and faster mechs. Plus, they are interested in moving into more advanced building materials, now that they have three under their thumb that aren’t.


BUM-1 Bumblebee
35 tons
6/9(12)/6
10/20 heat
Endo Steel, MASC
7 tons of armor
6x Medium Lasers, one in H, 2 in CT, 1 in RT, 2 in LT.
3.94 mill, BV - 1254

This is an ideal scout mech for us. Kressly really liked the 6/9/6 movement with MASC attached, it’s perfect for the times, and without the weakness of an XL engine it still posts very fast speed. Then you add virtually max armor and a powerful medium/short range weapon arsenal with no ammunition weakness, and you have the Bumblebee. We are using a chassis similar to the Firefly.

They believe a prototype should be coming in roughly 6-8 months.

We put in an order for 6 Alexanders for next December. That’s the next time they have a run ready and unsold – 14 months in the future.

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 16 – Finding three elite squads of infantry for the Kage Armor is easy. Kage is a stealthy armor with both hands free, only five points of armor per person, and they typically carry anti-personnel weapons rather than anti-mech ones. They can sneak around, they jump farther than normal power armor (four hexes instead of three for others), and they have some serious inability to be seen. They are a good battle armor, and Combine only, but ComStar got some from them, and we got some from ComStar, so shhh. Don’t tell anyone.

Over the years we’ve collected infantry squads when available - usually vets or better. We transfer several squads permanently to various naval assets:

Arrow of Fate, Achilles, Veteran Laser Platoon
Swift Justice, Aegis, Veteran Laser Platoon
3x Battle Taxis with the Vengeance, each gets 2 squads of IS Standard veterans.

The rest, like the Elephant and Fortress will get them as transport.

[Abe Sargent]

October 20 – We have a serious meeting with Kressly Warworks. We want to expand our military small craft options. We’ve got a chance to work out the Aquarius, which was a Star League era small craft not made any more, and we are not impressed. Other than it, which isn’t even on the market, and the Battle Taxi, small craft seem to be a relatively unexplored area of opportunity. We wanted to discuss the possibility of them expanding their work, but they aren’t interested in creating brand new lines.

So we take a meeting with someone else.

Representatives from Blackwell Industries, from Outreach are already here. They are the ones that built the Battle Taxi. They make an updated one with clan tech for the Dragoons, and the ones we bought are fun. We discuss three needs we see that small craft could provide that are currently underused. These are the three plans we have walking into the boardroom:


The Aries (Troop Carrier), 200 tons, Spheroid Small Craft
SI – 10, 4/6 thrust, 24 tons of ferro-aluminum armor
Large Laser in Nose
LRM20 with 18 tons of ammo and Artemis IV in each side
2 Small Lasers aft
9 2x Heat Sinks
5 tons of fuel
Cost – 18,617,000 C-Bills after markup

2 Bays:
40 tons of cargo in 1st bay
2 platoons of motorized infantry, 28 people each, in second bay


We feel that the Aires would really open up military operations. Any craft that has small craft can deliver two infantry platoons. Suddenly, a Merchant-class JumpShip can deliver four platoons of infantry. Bigger ships can be converted into major infantry carriers without interfering with other equipment or cargo. This is a powerful small craft.


The Taurus (Escort), 200 tons, Aerodyne Small Craft
SI – 12, 5/8 thrust, 40 tons of ferro-aluminum armor
20/40 heat sinks
2 Large Pulse Lasers in nose
1 Medium Pulse Laser in each wing
1 LRM20 2/ Artemis, 18 shots, in each wing
3 machine guns and ½ ton of ammo to aft
5 tons of fuel
Cost – 22,057,00 C-Bills after markup


This is designed for weapons duty. With massive armor, it is expected to be deployed for long sorties, and has a lot more durability than an Aerospace Fighter. It should be sent out along DropShips or JumpShips (or even WarShips) for days with that amount of armor. The pulse armament is designed to help it strafe in atmospheric battle, when needed. It can also hold and drop a massive tonnage of bombs due to its size. With value in dogfighting, escorting, strafing, and more, this is a small craft that we like a lot more than that dumb ol’ Aquarius.



The Pisces (Mobile Artillery), 200 tons, Spheroid Small Craft
SI – 10, 5/8, 35 tons of ferro-aluminum
20/40
2x Arrow IV in Nose with 20 tons of ammo each
1 LL and 2 ML in each side
2 ML Aft
5 tons fuel
Cost – 19,730,000 C Bills on market after mark up


This is a mobile Artillery Platform designed to land and blast in support with its Arrow IV systems and then launch again and help out somewhere else. Most artillery is mobile anyway, and able to be pulled by trucks or something. There are also mechs with artillery in them – Naga, the updated Catapult, and more. However, the speed a small craft with artillery has would enable it to move from one operating theatre to another with powerful alacrity.


Each of the three small craft in these series have real value for the battlefield, and could fill in holes that currently no small craft does.

Blackwell analyzes our designs. Their Battle Taxi does something nothing else does, and that’s why we’ve come to them.
We hammer out contracts for all three here they are:

Blackwell will produce all three. They have expanded facilities and can work on all three simultaneously.

They will produce six of each for us, which we buy at their marked up cost. They will then place the design on the market, making two a month. The first 24 that sell will be pure profit for Blackwell. After that, if they keep selling, then we get 20% of the profit of each one sold later.

That means we would make, roughly, 6 mill per month off the sales of all three combined if they all sold. But only after the first year and after we get our six each. Blackwell expects them to sell, but they might be a too far outside of standard tactics for many of their suppliers, in particular the Pisces. We agree.

If we buy the first six of each, that is 362 million. We have to pay half right now, and half in ten months when they deliver them. Instead, we will just be doing the Aires and Taurus. The Pisces will not be made.

That’s 243 million total and 121,500,000 right now.

We sell: 3 Man O War, CDA-3M, 2 Fenris, Mauler, and 2 Lokis for much of it. We pay the other 37 mill from our account. We actually put out the whole amount, paying half in an account payable immediately upon receipt of our new small craft.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 1 – We temporarily place Arrow, Bolt and Crossbow Companies on the Fury Unbound, Vengeance, so that if we need to, we can use it and them. Right now, the Swift Justice, Aegis is above EE, with the Fury Unbound; Arrow of Fate, Achilles; Firebird, Avenger; and Faith’s Bulwark, Elephant. Both JumpShips are at the jump points, with no drop ships there at all.

Using parts from mechs we’ve destroyed, we start making new mechs, in the right variant. For example, we’ve made the CRB-27b Crab variant with 2 ER Large Lasers, 16/32 heat, ferro, a medium laser and small laser and virtually max armor with 5/8 movement. It’s a good variant of the mech. We’re doing this with several designs. We also make another Comet.

Our Aegis is up to full crew after we absorb some people on Northwind on our way home. I didn’t want to go to a high profile place like Solaris VII or Outreach to do it, so I went to the lesser traveled but still well known Northwind.


By July 5, we will have these:

Swift Justice, Aegis, Fighters:

GTHA-300 Gotha, Capt. Kyle Hammond, elite
GTHA-300 Gotha, Fetinia Pakulin, veteran
GTHA-300 Gotha, Margit Straskosa, regular
GTHA-300 Gotha, Mimi Tarkonen, regular

THK-53 Tomahawk, Sgt. Mack Grosjean, elite
THK-53 Tomahawk, Josh Colson, veteran
THK-53 Tomahawk, Euan MacMarquis, regular
THK-53 Tomahawk, Chi Minh Nguyen-Tan, regular

F-92 Stingray, Sgt. Darina Nahirni, elite
F-92 Stingray, Simone Lombardie, veteran
F-92 Stingray, Tegan Cartwright, regular
F-92 Stingray, Elvis Cook, regular


F-700 Riever, Lt. Pàli Xhaxhka, elite
F-700 Riever, Sumita Nanna, veteran
F-700 Riever, Claudio Reneiro, veteran
F-700 Riever, Leon Martinez, regular

RGU-133E Rogue, Sgt. Brandon Mitterrand, veteran
RGU-133E Rogue, Lucas Wodnicki, regular


These are older fighters from the Star League era that ComStar pulled out of mothballs and traded to us.

This is a battalion of fighters, not a mere company. We do not have the ability to be choosy with our pilots as much as with mechs, and we get a lot of regular pilots.


Achilles Fighters:

Visigoth B, Sgt. Dorothie Colbeaux, elite
Visigoth A, Martine Yei, elite


Since the only fighters the Achilles gets are a flight of two fighters, I wanted elite clan omnis here. I am moving the two Riever’s we traded for elsewhere.

[Abe Sargent]

Fury Unbound (Vengeance) Uno Battalion


F-700 Riever, Capt. Zarek Papadopolos, elite
F-700 Riever, Feliciano DiBiagio, elite

SL-17R Shilone, Sgt. Ippei Suzuki, elite
SL-17R Shilone, Julie Foster, veteran
SL-17R Shilone, Arizona Trossen, regular
SL-17R Shilone, Katy Hanson, regular

CHP-W10 Chippewa, Lt. Joshua MacRaith, elite
CHP-W10 Chippewa, Erica, clan elite (1/2)
CHP-W10 Chippewa, Bingham Hoover, veteran
CHP-W10 Chippewa, Marimo Samman, regular

SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Sgt. Linda bin Ahmad, elite
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Scott Bechstein, veteran
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Deborah Schmidt, regular
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Douglas Hall, regular

F-92 Stingray, Sgt. Jannah MacBeth, elite
F-92 Stingray, Yoriyuki Kiyomizu, veteran
F-92 Stingray, Nora Østlie, regular
F-92 Stingray, Luca Dodgson, regular

Turk Prime, Sgt. Oscar Tripp, elite
Turk Prime, Chasity Tinker, elite

[Abe Sargent]

Fury Unbound (Vengeance) Dos Battalion


STU-K5 Stuka, Col. Larry Rowe, elite
STU-K5 Stuka, Dalton Page, elite

SL-15R Slayer, Lt. Chris Mhari, elite
SL-15R Slayer, Yuliana Haga, veteran
SL-15R Slayer, Jessica, clan elite (1/2)
SL-15R Slayer, Jun-soo Nyamu, regular

SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Sgt. Piyan Hussein, elite
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Marilyn Birstall, veteran
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Basak Perez, regular
SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, Hannah Goldberg, regular

S-3 Sai, Sgt. Adair Bennett, elite
S-3 Sai, Logan bin Sariyah, veteran
LCF-R16 Lucifer, Joe Holmes, regular
LCF-R16 Lucifer, Thien-Thu Ba, regular

CSR-V12 Corsair, Sgt. Fiona O’Connell, elite
CSR-V12 Corsair, Florence Whitfield, veteran
CSR-V12 Corsair, Lola Joneson, regular
CSR-V12 Corsair, Marta Teodorescu, regular

Sabutai Prime, Marcie Dawson, elite
Jagatai B, Sean Brann, elite



We promoted Larry Rowe, over Arrow Company’s 14 fighters to run our naval fighters – Fury Unbound, Swift Justice and Arrow of Fate. He is the colonel of this regiment of fighters.

These extra fighters cost us 88.26 mill. Buying my own fighters and recruiting pilots that are without a fighter was a lot faster than recruiting those with fighters. We were able to grab these folks quickly because we only half cared about experience. About half are just regular pilots, with enough elites and veterans in there to make things interesting.

A lot of level one tech fighters are on the market, because new fighters are coming available. We used some upgraded level 2 versions in here, like the LCF-R16 Lucifer or the SL-15R Slayer. They usually just have upgraded weapons or heat sinks, but not expensive XL engines or anything.

In order to balance the books, we sell: Loki Chassis with everything but a few limbs, Uller and Fenris chassis missing arms and one leg, Wolf Trap, Scarabus, Spector, Shadow Hawk, and Wraith. We pay the remaining 4.3 mill from our stuff.

On July 5, we’ll pull our three companies of fighters back out from the Fury Unbound and resume our normal operations.

[Abe Sargent]

Flame Battalion:


Pyre Company

Capt. Gavin Collier, elite, ATA-2C Attila
Sun Xiang, elite, Highlander IIc
Sandra Matthews, veteran, CRD-4K Crusader
Mia Ponder, veteran, Penetrator

Sgt. Veronica Anderson, elite, Gunslinger
Kylie Starr, elite, Rifleman IIc
Aishah Abdel, veteran, Apollo
Peter Schiller, veteran, Catapult

Sgt. Becky O’Connell, elite, ALX-1kc Alexander
Nikolas Liakos, elite, WLF-2 Wolfhound
Destiny Gaither, veteran, WSP-3M Wasp
Chris Wiesnewsky, regular, Spider


We bought the Catapult, Spider, and Apollos. Only the Spider and Catapult are level 1 mechs.

[Abe Sargent]

Blaze Company


Lt. Johan Kreidler, elite, ATA-2C Attila
Esther Goldberg, elite, WHM-7S Warhammer
Ike, clan veteran, Thunderbolt
Nadia Ali, veteran, DRG-5K Grand Dragon

Sgt. Rebecca Cooke, elite, Salamander
Marinus van Goejj, elite, Supernova
Zach Beyer, elite, Galahad
Reinaldo da Silva, veteran, Archer

Sgt. Ishida Fujimoto, elite, FS9-S Firestarter
Daniel Woodburn, veteran, Phoenix Hawk
Ajay Yadav, veteran, WSP-3M Wasp
Cooper Smith, regular, HER-2M Hermes II


We bought the Hermes II and Archer. 4 low tech mechs – T Bolt, Archer, PXH and HER-2M.

[Abe Sargent]

Ember Company

Lt. Hrothgar Bjornnson, elite, ATA-2C Attila
Sean Carmichael, elite, CGR-1A5 Charger
Greg, clan veteran, Gallowglas
Enrique Juarez, veteran, ON1-K Orion

Sgt. Lyle Sanders, elite, Apollo
Brock Johnson, elite, Masakari C
Nabil Abdullah, elite, Vulture C
Emily Michaels, veteran, TBT-7A Trebuchet

Sgt. Andrej Zamoyski, elite, QKD-5K Quickdraw
Rex Whittamore, elite, Starslayer
Ramona Tilburgh, veteran, SDR-5V Spider
Tricia Bertero, veteran, DRT-4S Dart

We bought the Apollo and Gallowglas previously and some Orions came on the market. We also picked up some Starslayers as well.

[Abe Sargent]

Armor Battalion


Aegis Company


Capt. Jassa Ramgarhia, elite, Daishi Prime
Peter von Oy, elite, Man-o’-War H
Jakob, clan elite, Gallowglas
Carolyn McCree, veteran, ON1-K Orion

Sgt. Julius Hipolito, elite, Gunslinger
Robert Tai, elite, Daikyu
Marc Ruzika, veteran, TBT-7A Trebuchet
Abe Miyashiro, veteran, Archer

Sgt. Bernadette Cowan, elite, Starslayer
Miles Levine, regular, Spider
Cathy Campos, regular, STG-3G Stinger
Shayna McGriff, veteran, ASN-40 Assassin


The Archer, Gallowglas, Orion, Starslayer and Spider were from previous purchases. The Orion, Archer, Spider and Stinger are level 1 mechs.

[Abe Sargent]

Shield Company


Lt. Molly Sanchez, elite, AS7-S Atlas
Kyle, clan elite , WHM-6D Warhammer
Ashley Hardesty, elite, Man O War H
Guillaume Petard, veteran, ZEU-9S Zeus

Sgt. Lu Chao, elite, Apollo
Matthew Omari, elite, Rifleman IIc
Patrick Fitzhugh, elite, Vulture Prime
Maximilian Giovanni, veteran, BJ-2 Blackjack

Sgt. Mark Longfeather, elite, Starslayer
Maria de Souza, regular, STG-3G Stinger
Andrew Jackson, veteran, ASN-40 Assassin
Lucy Atwater, regular, WLF-2 Wolfhound


Only the Warhammer and Stinger are level one mechs. We bought the Wolfhound and Apollo

[Abe Sargent]

Chainmail Company

Lt. Rhys Arturo, elite, ATA-2C Attila
Annabelle Westerman, elite, Katana
Sara, clan elite, Gallowglas
Jude Rogers, elite, Mad Cat S

Sgt. Ronald Chambers, elite, CP-10-Q Cyclops
Sadiq Abdikarím , elite, Warhammer IIc
Karl Karlsson, veteran, Catapult
Amanda Jenkins, veteran, RFL-5M Rifleman

Sgt. Di Dang, elite, Starslayer
Jennifer Gensler, veteran, QKD-5K Quickdraw
Simon Marx, regular, CMT Comet
Ian Cushing, regular, DRT-4S Dart



We were unable to buy a lot of mechs I like on the market. Sad. No Javelins, no BattleMasters, no Watchmen (so I went with Starslayers instead), etc. I was happy I found the Gallowglases and Orions, or these folks would look a lot worse. We used a lot of variants on mechs I don’t like that much in order to make the cut – variants of the Assassin, Man o War, Dart, Quickdraw, Cyclops, Stinger, and more.

[Abe Sargent]

We spent 84.25 mill on all of the mechs, upgrades and more.

We sell:

CGR-3K Charger
Scarabus
BNC-5S Banshee
2x Lokis

After those sales, we made 5.41 mill.

Those five mechs paid for everything. They paid for 2x Catapults, 2x Gallowglases, 2x Orions, 2x Wolfhounds, 3x Starslayers, 2x Apollos, 2x Archer, 2x Spider, Hermes II, Dart, plus we fixed up a few mechs from parts and refitted several mechs. Including Comet, Warhammer 6D, one of the Quickdraws, an Apollo plus a few I didn’t end up putting in a company.

These two battalions are merging with Shadow Battalion to make Delta Regiment.

We now have four regiments of mechs.

We traded 5 mechs for 19, plus more.

Now, our people for these came from several sources. All grads from tomorrow were moved in. We added the clan bondsman as well. Essex gets 5 recruit rolls a month on Outreach, and that’s 30 people right there, with our ability to select the best ones. Then add in recruits from Solaris VII and Galatea and we filled two battalions of troops, 72 dispossessed, graduates and bondsmen. We still have 14 green and 11 regular MWs in our garrison plus Ted and Mei. We also have 81 IS mechs and 31 clan mechs.

My goal is to have another battalion full by the end of the year to move Shadow back out of a Regiment, with a hope that we can also bring in some folks for these 65 tanks I have, only a handful of which have folks running them in my garrison.

[Abe Sargent]

December 31 – EVENT – After spending a year with a cadre unit fighting twice, Thoma Marie Essex has officially graduated fifth in her class of more than a hundred MechWarriors. She has chosen not to return to K&C, and is instead taking a position as a Leutnant with the high profile and elite 15th Lyran Guards on Hesperus II.

[Abe Sargent]

This year, a lot of things happened in the Inner Sphere. Mitchell Avellar becomes President of the Outworlds Alliance. The Second Skye Rebellion began, but the leader was assassinated and the assault on Glengarry failed so things are starting to die down a bit. A Treaty of Alliance was signed between the Taurian Concordat and Magistracy of Canopus.

In technology, the Free Worlds League introduced a light gauss rifle, a version that weighs a few tons less, carries twice as much ammo, does almost half as much damage and goes farther. Several new power armors, DropShips, JumpShips and such are introduced, as well as tons more mechs.

Braham Essex is removing himself as the CO of Shadow Battalion for now, and just running Delta Regiment. We are very pleased with Conner Ward and promoting the ex-Jade Falcon to Captain and giving him Shadow Battalion.

[Abe Sargent]

Essex Training Academy

We have11 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 16 enrollees for next year. Of these 11, 3 choose not to stay with us, and the remaining 8 have 2 vet, 4 regular and 2 elite. All of those were used in our units. We also have 5 graduates of vehicle crews, all regular. We hand them vehicles and move them to our garrison. 6 enroll for next year, and 6 infantry squads are now being trained as well.



Year 4 - 15
Year 3 - 17
Year 2- 11
Year 1 – 16

Armor – 6

Infantry, Year 2 - 4
Infantry, Year 1 - 6

We pay 12.5 million to the upkeep of the Academy and HQ.

[Abe Sargent]

Where we stand at the end of Chapter 5.



Kilts and Commandos Table of Organization and Equipment:


Alpha Regiment:

Heliades Company - Return on June 8, 3057
Styx Company - Return on June 8, 3057
Tethys Company – Return on June 8, 3057
Typhon Company – Return on June 8, 3057
Defender Company – Returns on February 2, 3057
Cinq Company –
Brawler Company – On Terra Firma until June 28, 3059
Delta Company –
Trinity Company-
Butler Company –


Beta Regiment:

Phaeton Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Boxer Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Rebel Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Mustang Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Hex Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Raven Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Aleph Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Laser Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057
Sabre Company – Return on Jan 14, 3057


Gamma Regiment:

Breaker Battalion:

Trident Company – return home on January 6, 3057.
Miner Company – return home on January 6, 3057.
Fallout Company - return home on January 6, 3057.

Scimitar Battalion:

Vegas Company –
Guile Company -
Tango Company -


Mesopotamia Battalion:

Jericho Company – Return on Jan 26, 3057
Babylon Company – Return on Jan 26, 3057
Nineveh Company – Return on Jan 26, 3057


Delta Regiment


Shadow Battalion:

Bruiser Company – Ready March 15
Shadow Company – Ready March 15
Sealion Company – Ready March 15


Flame Battalion:

Pyre Company – Ready March 15
Blaze Company – Ready March 15
Ember Company – Ready March 15


Armor Battalion:

Aegis Company – Ready March 15
Shield Company – Ready March 15
Chainmail Company - Ready March 15


Arrow Company - return home on January 6, 3057.
Bolt Company –
Catapult Company -.
Tank First Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3057
Tank Second Battalion - On Terra Firma until June 28, 3059
Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison,


Swift Justice, Aegis WarShip – Fighters Ready July 5, 3057
Scots Flotilla, Merchant JumpShip –
Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip - –
Robin Hood, Union DropShip –
Megan’s Fury, Union DropShip -
Star River, Union DropShip -
Serendipitous Victory, Union-C DropShip -.
Amalgamated Bliss, Union DropShip –.
Defiance, Overlord DropShip –
Daily Menace, Overlord DropShip, Upgraded -
Faith’s Bulwark, Fortress DropShip, Upgraded -
Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip - Fighters Ready July 5, 3057
Firebird, Avenger DropShip –
Arrow of Fate, Achilles DropShip, Upgraded - Fighters Ready July 5, 3057
Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip –

[Abe Sargent]

Before we end this, I am modifying the MegaMek rules a bit.

1). Called Shots are now an option (aim high, low, left or right for a +3 modifier)
2). We are turning on Direct Blows, in order to make the clans more dangerous. For each 3 rolled over the target number, the weapon does +1 damage or +2 on the missiles hit chart. So, if I need a 6 to hit, and I roll a 9, then I deal +1 damage, and +2 damage on a 12. This helps people with low to-hit numbers, such as clans.
3). Light mechs get a +2 to physical attacks and medium mechs a +1 due to being easier to hit with a smaller mech.
4). This one is a big one – for each 20 damage a mech takes beyond the first, it’s piloting roll to stay standing gets an extra +1 modifier.
5). Anti-Missile Systems can reduce missile hits to zero, rather than no lower than the smallest possible hit.
6). Regular ACs can now be fired with a rapid fire mode similar to ultra ACs, but they jam on a to hit roll of 4 or less and explode on a 2.
7). ECM Suites can be placed on a Ghost Target mode which might, sometimes, make it harder to hit.
8). Gauss rifles may be powered down during an end turn to shut them off and prevent critical.
9). Rapid Fire option available with Machine Guns – 1d6 heat made and damage dealt. Uses a lot of ammo.
10). Expanded Heat Scale used in case mechs jack their heat above 30
11). There is a chance for Heat Sink coolant failure when any mech goes overheat.
12). Club attacks now use teh punch table

[Abe Sargent]

Just for fun, this is my ideal, level 1/2 technology IS company from this era, and why:

Scout Lance - Javelin 10F, Watchman, WLF-2 Wolfhound, and SDR-7M level 2 Spider with endo and ferro to lighten everything else and upgrade the 2 mediums to pulses.


Smash Lance - Penetrator, Anvil, BattleMaster BLR-3M basic level 2 BM variant, Highlander HGN-732b – it pulls off two heat sinks for 2x and adds Artemis IV for SRM 6 and LRM 20, with gauss and 3x Mediums, and jump jets and better heat and max armor.


Fire Support – Salamander, Gallowglas, Apollo, Gunslinger


That one level 1 mech (my beloved Javelin) and 2 with XL engines (Gunslinger, Salamander). It includes 7 mechs from 3055 and the other four are upgrades or changes to level

[Abe Sargent]

For the next chapter, everything begins. I’m still not sure in which direction we’ll go. 3057 is when everything changes. No spoilers here, but I’ve set this up to logically do one of three major things. For BattleTech fans who know the universe, here are the three paths, hints, I see before my unit:

1). The Serpent and the Bulldog
2). Chaos
3). Terra and Blake


With wins against all six clans, we are an obvious choice for 1). Our location leads to 2). With ComStar really trusting us, I can totally see us replacing Brion’s Legion instead of the 21st Centauri Lancers for 3).

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, that is the end of Chapter 5. Thanks for reading. I'm done with B-Tech for a while again. It seems like I pick this up every year or so. We'll come back for Chapter 6, when all of the pieces come together. We have just ten years left in this dynasty, and it began back in 3030, and we are ending after 3056. This chapter had seven years of major battles, contracts, and campaigns, and I hope you liked it, but stay tuned for Chapter 6. No matter which path we choose, you won;t regret it.

[Warhammer]

A great read as always! I wish I had the patience and time to make my own B-Tech dynasty, it is such a rich universe to do this with.

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

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