The BattleTech Dynasty, Chapt 7,Consolidation and Preparations – 3059-3062 - Complete

[Abe Sargent]

Attack #5 happens late at night, about the local equivalent of 4 am. This is an attack in force by Defender and Cinq companies. We are facing Baron Hart’s one company of mechs. They see us and immediately flee, even leaving behind the Baron. They flee quickly into the wilderness



We have two fleeing companies. We chase after Hart’s company with these tow companies of mechs.


Meanwhile, we land our backup company via DropShip right by Hamon’s force. They are forced to face us immediately.



Gold Company

AKU-1X Akuma
HBK-5M Hunchback
TDR-7M Thunderbolt
PTR-6M Penetrator

TDK-7Y Thunder Hawk
SHD-5M Shadow Hawk
GOL-3M Goliath
RFL-5M Rifleman

JR7-K Jenner
CLNT-2-3U Clint
VL-5T Vulcan
PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk


11 of those mechs rock level 2 technology.



Our foes are:


Grasshopper
Javelin
Orion
Scorpion
Spider
VTR-9D Victor *
HGN-736 Highlander *
GRF-1DS Griffin *
BSW-X2 Bushwhacker *
BL-9-KNT Black Knight *
Fireball *
DV-7D Dervish *


All are green save for two regulars in there.


This is their Black Knight, an old heavy mech from the Star league era that was reforged after the reintroduction of lost technology a few years ago and now being made again. It’s 75 tons, 4/6 movement, XL Engine, 15/30 heat sinks, hatchet, 2 large lasers, 1 larg e pulse laser, 1 ER PPC, 4 medium pulse lasers. This variant was made by ComStar to refit their Black Knights to face the clans on Tukkayid, but caught on and new several are made at the factory.






This is our Akuma, a 90 ton assault mech from the Draconis Combine, with an MRM – a medium range missile rack. It has an MRM 30, ER PPC< SRM 4 Streak, SRM6 Streak, medium pulse laser, LB 10X AC, and medium laser. It has good armor, slow for an assault 3/5, and no XL engine. It was designed to be a cost effective BattleMech to help replace losses in the DC. We were able to find a pair on the market and love it. This is its shake down mission for us.

[Abe Sargent]

We are fighting on a random map of hills, but nothing else.


Turn 1 – We win init. We set up on the west. We can’t tell what, but it looks like one of their mechs took some damage falling when going down a cliff. Their Fireball rushes very close to our Rifleman so I fire our guy at it. We have just a few mechs with firing lanes Our Akuma smashes their Scorpion and nails its hop on al leg, it falls and smashes a foot actuator as well.


Turn 2 – We lose init. Their Scorpion manages to stand. We move around. I leap the Vulcan behind their Fireball after it fell in movement. Their Dervish bases our Jenner. Our Vulcan destroys the RTR on the Fireball and it shuts down due to an XL engine. The Akuma nails the SRM ammo on their Scorpion and BOOM! Their Highlander nails the H on our Shadow Hawk twice. We hammer their Victor with some fire from range. It falls as does their Black Knight.


Turn 3 – We win init. Their Spider falls and I hop our PXH next to it. Their Victor rises. C;int hops next to their Bushwhacker. Their BK stands. They leap their Dervish next to our T Bolt. Penetrator of our snext to their downed Spider too. Our Akuma hits the gauss on their Victor and destroys its RA, RL and nails the gyro and engine once each. Our penetrator nails the Spider with pulse lasers and hits the gyro once. Their Victor tumbles and the pilot blacks out. Their Dervish also falls. Our Penetrator punches the Spiders H and destroys it. Our PXH also destroyed its RL.


Turn 4 – We win init. Our Hunch runs next to their Dervish. It stands and moves a bit away from the Hunchback. I walk our Thunder Hawk next to it. I hop or Jenner above and next to their Victor in case I can slice off its head. I start moving some mechs toward their Black Knight, which is isolated. A Guass from their Highlander nails an engine in our Rifleman. Our Akuma nails the H of their Griffin three times with various spread weapons – it’s a critical monger. ER Large Laser from the Thunderbolt shears off the H of their Black Knight! One of its three gauss slugs slides from the Thunder Hawk into their Dervish and smashes ammo. Their Bushwhacker destroys the RT of our Rifleman and it shuts down – XL Engine. Their Grif and Dervish fall. Victor pilot remains knocked out - needs to roll a 10 to wake up.


Turn 5 – We lose init. Clint jumps to the rear of their Orion - their Dervish manages to find its feet. I leave my Thunder Hawk next to it. Our Vulcan jumps next to and above their now risen Griffin. Jenner leaps above and adjacent ot their Grasshopper. Our Jenner blows the LA off their Griffin. Our T Hawks destroys the Dervish’s LL and CT> A gauss slug from our Goliath gets a limb blown off LL on their Highlander and it tumbles after taking 100+ damage and losing a leg. Their Orion tumbles too. I double kick the Grasshopper rather than the Hopper and Griffin and the double kick to its torsos knocks it over.


Turn 6 – We win init. Their Orion regains its feet easily. Clint to the rear of their Bushy. I also base it with the Jenner and get close with other mechs. Their Hopper rises. Our T Hawk nails the Grifn’s ammo and CASE pushes it out but destroys the RT where the XL engine is. Their Orion destroys the LA of our Vulcan. Our Clint destroys both arms of the Bushwhacker. Our Vulcan destroys its LT and it shuts down



And that is over, they surrender.

[Abe Sargent]

Scorpion, FLL, RT,
Fireball missing RT
VTR-9D Victor missing RA, RL, pilot unconscious
Spider missing H, RL
Black Knight missing H
DV-7D Dervish RT, RA, LT, H, LA, RL
HGN-736 Highlander reattach missing L
GRF-1DS Griffin missing RT
Bushwhacker missing RA, LA, LT



Rifleman missing RT
Vulcan missing LA


We turn their Grasshopper and Orion over to local authorities. We got a Fireball, Spider, Victor, Black Knight, Highlander, Griffin, and Bushwhacker



We have one company left, being pursued by the two companies. We radio them and offer to surrender and we’ll turn their machines over to local authorities and there is no jail or anything, all men are released or taken to a new planet.

They agree


We have a battalion of troops on planet of Elgin that we will use to build off.

[Abe Sargent]

May 12, 3059 – Elgin has ordered elections for one month from today, and meanwhile, our Regiment remains on planet for now, helping to rebuild various infrastructures destroyed by some previous battles a while ago.



We have restocked the mechs captured and send them to EE to help the garrison. They will arrive on June 1.






May 30 – One of the nobles has left the planet and abandoned it in the wake of our takeover and move to democracy on the world.


June 12 – A famous reporter is elected the new Governor of Elgin, and the planet has elected several people to form a parliament. They officially ask to join the CC.


June 14 – Elgin has officially entered the Celestial Coalition.



End of Elgin Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

June 18, 1 raid is struck against Kressly Warworks, Inc. A large amount of mechs and fighters are moving now. We have defending it one company each of tanks and mechs at all times.


Nineveh Company is on defense and they order the company of tanks to hold up and we order reinforcements immediately to scramble both aerial and ground based to assist. We have 8 fighters and 12 mechs moving in, and about fifteen minutes out. Nineveh Company scrambled to reach them before they hit the complex’s walls. By keeping the battle away from the company we can reduce the amount of collateral damage that could spring up.


Nineveh Company moves out, and the mechs pull back after it commits and suddenly large amounts of powered armored infantry we could not detect smash the walls of the company and blow their way in from four directions.

Our armor moves as quickly as possible to the locations, but it’s too late. By the time they arrive, Kage Power Armored people have taken several loads of supplies. Their mechs move back to shadow our company and we can’t move back in too far or chase them too much, especially not with aerial support.


Within fifteen minutes, helps begins to arrive and they have gone. We have failed, for the first time, to protect Kressly from a raid . They lost about 4.5 million worth of equipment from mechs and their Blizzard Hover Transport.

We increase our garrison to an additional lance of mechs, several troops of infantry, and two conventional fighters in the air at all times.

[Abe Sargent]

July 1 – Spies from the Duchy of Small are captured while trying to destroy several power substructures on Ingress. One is destroyed and has to be rebuilt.



EVENT – July 12, 3059 – The Free Worlds League has taken Procyon and Sirius. The Sirian Holds are gone and two planets in the Chaos March are off the table.



July 16 – One of the nobles on Elgin, Baron Men Hou has been elected the head of the new Parliament that they just finished building with a Constitution.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 1, 3059 _ The first run of the four legged mech the Greyhound is beginning at Kressly Warworks, and we get 4 Greyhounds.


Aug 3 – We get word that a large group of DropShips and JumpShips arrived in Acamar, and then jumped out. We don’t know who or where, but we put everyone on alert for the next month. We don’t suspect interference by a great house – they are all busy right now.


Aug 10 – A raid by Bryant has destroyed a warehouse on Epsilon Indi and take out a few fighters.


Aug 15 – We have announced the hiring of:


Angel’s Riders, Dragoons rating B, Regiment of mixed troops, one battalion of mechs, two or armor, with about 40% of mechs and 75 % of tanks upgraded with level 2 tech. They are garrisoning Elgin for the next three years.


Sept 5 – Alpha Regiment returned from Elgin. We prepare them for another attack.


Sept 17 – We learn that the Tikonov Brothers on Hall have gathered an army and launched an assault on Tall Trees, which is in the Saiph Triumvirate. They probably looked hard at attacking Hsien, but with our recent expansion in the area, that would put them behind our line, and they may have shifted targets.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Bryant Campaign



Oct 1 – We have arrived at pirate JumpPoints in Bryant heavy The following naval assets have arrived:


Swift Justice, WarShip
Firebird, Avenger DropShip – On Bryant
Honored Living, Colossus DropShip – On Bryant
Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip
Defiance, Overlord DropShip – On Bryant


We have a bajillion fighters, assault DropShips, the tug, and more. Meanwhile, we have dropped off these at the Nadir JumpPoint:

River of Fate, Merchant DropShip
Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip - On Bryant
Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip – On Bryant




And this at the Zenith one:

Merchant Class JumpShip we rented
Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip
Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip - On Bryant



So we have launched into this system on the heavy end. We want to drive out all of the forces on Bryant, including the naval assets that are raiding, and capture the planet. We came in hot.


Our WarShip and its crew are about one day from the planet after hitting a pirate point. No one will be able to escape from its fighters or the Ships. We have small craft to assault as well.


Meanwhile, the Nadir point, with 40 fighters from the Vengeance is essentially secure against anything but a major military threat.


The Zenith point is weaker. It has 6 fighters from the Leopard CV as well as an assault DropShip.

[Abe Sargent]

At the Nadir point is….

One JumpShip with sail furled. As soon as we jump in, they order the sails to close in. It’s just a quick little Scout JumpShip with just one DropShip ring. In that ring in a Mule DropShip, typically a cargo carrier. We launch fighters and demand to board it. We do and inspect it and both the JS and the Mule are merchants. Nothing else here. We can hold the point though.


At the Zenith point is…

A Invader Class JumpShip, with its three droprings. It has just two full, and a third is en route from Bryant. They are:

Leopard CV and a Jumbo cargo DropShip are on it. En route is a Union DropShip. That looks like a military vessel. The Union is about 20 hours out and too far to turn now – not enough fuel to head back.

Both of us launch fighters from our CVs.


They have


2 Rapier
2 Seydlitz
2 Sai


We launch our 6 fighters:

Sparrowhawk, Hellcatx2, Sholgar, 2 Sabres


We also launch two Taurus’s from the rented ship and the Vulcanized Majesty.


Claymore:


1 x ER Large Laser
2 x ER PPCs
4x Large Lasers
4 x Medium Lasers
2 x Large Pulse Lasers
2 x Medium Pulse Lasers
2 x Small Pulse Lasers
4 x LB 10-X ACs
2 x LRM-10s
2 x LRM-20s
3 x Streak SRM-2s


It’s a good assault DropShip


Between the DropShip and our numerical superiority with 6 fighters plus two Taurus’s. We manage to blast them and only had a Sabre damaged.

We salvage a Sai and a Rapier

[Abe Sargent]

We force the JumpShip to surrender, since it’s obviously not ready to jump yet, or else it would have. They refuse.

So we move our Claymore right in front and we begin to carve into its engine armor. After a few minutes they surrender and we drop off some marines.

The Jumbo DropShip has very little in it. We imprison the crew of both ships and find out that they were en route to a raid on Keid. The Jumbo was the ship to collect stuff that they gathered.



Jumbo:


14800 tons
Spherical DropShip
Cargo Carrier
Minor weapons (4 Ac5, 12 Medium Lasers)
10 doors into three cargo areas, that hold 1331, 4400 and 4400 tons
2 Small Craft, currently shuttles


The Jumbo was the forerunner of the common Mule cargo DropShip. It was very venerable, but cramped quarters and living areas made the new Mule much more desirable. Still there are many Jumbos in operation today as they are a durable and reliable ship.


The Invader JumpShip is just a ship that has 3 DropRings. It’s nothing too special.


We await the arrival of the Union. In two days when it arrives weaponless and without an escort, we capture it and the company of mechs aboard.


We have captured a Union, Invader, Jumbo, Leopard CV, 12 mechs, 4 shuttles (2 on Invader), Sai and Sabre fighters.

[Abe Sargent]

Meanwhile….


The WarShip arrives at the planet and unfurls a screen of fighters and small craft. Bryant has launched their defenses – 26 fighters and three military DropShips – an obsolete Avenger, a new Hamilcar and an obsolete Intruder, hoping to pierce the WarShips’s defenses and unload four platoons of marines into the ship – more than 100 men who would likely capture the ship.

Among our small craft are several Battle Taxis. These can pierce the armor of a large ship and power suit marines penetrate the hull and enter to deal damage or capture the ship.

They have three DropShips that are attacking. They also have 26 fighters. We are using 18 fighters, our own Avenger, several Taurus escorts and a few Battle Taxis. Plus, the WarShip itself. It’ll focus onteh DropShips.


Going up against a WarShip is rough for anyone.


Let’s dice and quick sim this

[Abe Sargent]

After getting some heavy damage on the Avenger, we pull it back. Meanwhile a Battle Taxi was destroyed by them and is unrecoverable. They could not stop the other one but the only ship it could hit is the Intruder, and they have penetrated it, but with the large number of platoons aboard, nothing is expected but to slow them down and plant some explosives.


Meanwhile, we have shot down just over half of their fighters 14. We have lost 8 ourselves. More weapons fire from the WarShip stabs into their Hamilcar and it is sent reeling from the naval class damage which only a WarShip can deal. This final salvo sunders the rest of the hull around its engine and blasts it, immobilizing the DropShip.


Their Avenger has broken through our line of fighters and moves towards the WarShip, closing. We have no more units to slow it down. Their Intruder suffers a minor internal explosion and then the armored platoons are slain by their infantry. Our Fighters are smashing more of theirs. The WarShip has released the Colossus. We didn’t want to use it in case we lost the ship and its 36 mechs, but we have no other choice. It spins out and arms its weapons at the incoming Avenger.

Both exchange fire and the Avenger shrugs off the many weapons the Colossus can bear. It does the same and more weapons from the Aegis class WarShip stab into space, and a few hit. Their Intruder resumes moving at the WarShip. Most of their fighters are gone so we break away some fighters to keep the Intruder back.

We stab more weapons into the Avenger and the Warship smashes it hard with its large White Shark missiles. The Avenger keeps moving in, firing furiously at the Colossus and hits its speed and reduces its handling and maneuverability. The Avenger fires again and the Colossus loses a lot of armor, going internal on the side. The combination of fire from the Colossus and Warship destroy the Avenger and it explodes in a frenzy of weapons and energy.


Meanwhile, the fighters have rent the Intruder. We lost more fighters and a few small craft, but it is reeling. We a few more to chase it as it moves to orbit and it begins to break apart. It breaks into four pieces and begins to move away accelerated by the blasts pushing it faster in orbit.


We manage to salvage the Hamilcar, but the other two DropShips are gone. We lost one Battle Taxi, 3 Taurus’s, and 12 fighters, but we can recover 4 of those. We can also recover 11 of theirs.

So all told we gained 3 fighters, a Hamilcar, need to replace 4 small craft, and we need to spend a lot of money fixing the Colossus and Avenger. We also get a few million in scrap each from the Avenger and Intruder.



The WarShip has secured the planet.

[Abe Sargent]

October 5 – We launch the Overlords and Colossus. We can drop three battalions of mechs onto Bryant. They are not going to be happy with us.


October 7 – A merchant class JumpShip jumps into the Nadir point with two military DropShips on it – a Leopard and a Union. It immediately rejumps, revealing a rare KF battery on it.


We have landed in three places on the planet of Bryant. Our goal is to take out the local forces, and blast Bryant as a threat in the area. Afterwards, we’ll decide if Bryant becomes a member of the Celestial Coalition, because it’s a minor world that drags resources but does not really give many.


We captured one company of their mechs already, so all they have left are two companies of mechs and 6ish of vehicles. We should be enough to smash them.


The good news is that it is easy to find them. Only the poles are inhabited. After it was savaged in the Successor Wars, the remaining population went to the polar regions. It has a lot of lightning storms across the planet and it was a prison planet for the Caps for more than 100 years prior to the 4th Succession War. FC hasn’t invested anything in it either. Bryant did have a mech factory by the Lantren Corporation that made Grasshoppers plus some components for Grasshoppers such as medium lasers and jump jets. But the primary factory was badly damaged in the 2nd Succession War, and never restored, so instead it just continues to make components and a few other things.

We put our heavy units on the north pole by itself – Delta, Butler and Trinity companies. The other two battalion land in the south pole, which has a larger number of people including Lantren. Bryant has a minor population – about 63,000 people total. There are not a lot of places to hide because the main land is a bit much.


Lantren has a mercenary company of tanks guarding it, so the locals are not busy there and we have no desire to smash them, they are fine. Instead we are focusing on the locals.

The “ruler” here is Viscount Dvensky. He is here in the south pole and his home should have at least one company of mechs plus two companies of tanks. However, expecting us to attack him there, he has pulled in two more companies from their normal defensive places near the DropPorts and capital to move them to his home. That means we are facing 5 total companies.

We unfurl our mech companies and move in. We hold back Heliades Company. So Defender, Cinq, Typhon, Styx and Tethys are moving in. We keep Heliades as a reserve. Fighters from the WarShip helped us to land and kept the sky clean from any potential conventional fighters or VTOLs that might face us.

[Abe Sargent]

As we move in, we encounter some mines, which do minor damage to a few legs but slow us down.


Unlike many, there are no walls or borders to his estate, and anyone can walk onto it. Gun Emplacements burst out of the ground and suddenly large lasers are blazing at us and we destroy them in seconds



We push through their defenses and close. Their complex is up against a mountain, and it’s not that cold here at the south pole – its summer in this area of the world. The poles are free from the fierce storms. We smash in with our mechs and they have arrayed all of their tanks and mechs to defend against our force.


Our mech force in the center is Defender Company, the company made up of ex-Defenders of Andurien who joined us and have been with us for a long time. Their mechs focus in the middle and push forward to engage the Defenders.


Defender Company


Daishi Prime
HBK-4G Hunchback
ON1-V Orion
Thor C

AWS-9M Awesome
WTH-1 Whitworth
STK-3F Stalker
CTF-1X Cataphract

PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk
CMT-1 Comet
JNV-10F Javelin
GRF-1N Griffin
HER-2M Hermes II



Bryant Company


Atlas
Striker
Chameleon
Locust
Ostroc
Rifleman
Shadow Hawk
STG-5M Stinger *
CRD-4D Crusader *
ENF-5D Enforcer*
ZEU-5S Zeus *
WVR-7D Wolverine *


Their pilots are regular, asterisks are uptech mechs


This is their Zeus, an upgraded common Lyran Assault mech. It has a veteran pilot.It has Ultra AC5, LRM 15, ER large laser, 2 medium lasers, 14/28 heat sinks, 4/6 movement, no XL engine, Artemis IV for the LRM rack, and 11.5 tons of armor (too light).

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We lose init. We charge with a spearhead of our three assault mechs and the Daishi in the middle. I keep our scout mechs behind some trees and do not get them involved. Our Cataphract nails the gyro once on their Striker. We focus fire on both it and their Atlas. Their Atlas took 40 damage from two AC20 shots from the Ultra on the Thor.. Both of them took more than 80 damage and tumble.


Turn 2 – We lose init. Our Griffin runs up to their Striker. In a panic their Striker stands and moves away. Their Locust stands. Our Awesome bases their Striker. I rush our Thor adjacent and above to their Enforcer. Their Atlas tries to rise, falls and smashes in its H and it is dead. Our Awesome destroys the RA of their Striker and our Griffin its Left and our Cat its RT. Ultra AC5 on the Daishi jams. Ultra AC 20 on Thor smashes their Shadow Hawk after Daishi unloaded into it. Destroy the RL and hit two actuators on the right. Shadow hawk falls and destroys its other leg . Striker tumbles and pilot blacks out. Our Thor kicks the Enforcer but nothing major happens.


Turn 3 – We win init. Jav rushes adjacent and above their Locust. Our Thor hits the SRM ammo on their Ostroc and it explodes. The engine goes up and it hit s a lot of nearby mechs. That includes the rear armor on the Crusader for 30 damage, and Crusader’s ammo is hit and it goes up too. It does not have CASE so it is destroyed too. Our Jav kicks the Locust but little results. Their pilot does not wake up


Turn 4 – We lose init. Our PXH banses their Zeus. Our Jav and Comet keep chasing their Locust. Our Thor smashes their Zeus open with 2 hits of its Ultra AC20 and hits the engine once on it. Ou rJav destroys the Locust R and our Comet its RL. LRM10 fire from the Whitworth destroys the LT of their Zeus and hits the engine once. Our Pixie smashes its RL and hits the torso with its machine gun and hits the engine twice more. It’s down. Our Cat destroys the LA on their Chameleon. Our Awesome smashes the Chameleon several times with ER PPCs and it and the Locust fall.


Turn 5 – Their pilot remained out. We win init. Our Thor bases their Enforcer. Their Chameleon rises and our Cataphract bases it. Our Hermes II destroys the CT of their Locust. Our Hunchback get a limb bowl off on the Rifleman’s RA. Our Orion hits the engine three times with SRM missiles on their chameleon. I spread my attacks out to take out several mechs this tunr hopefully. Our Whity hits the engine once on their Rifleman. Our Awesome hit she Rifleman’s ammo and it ignites. Their Enforcer falls hard. I was hoping to finish it off too. The kick from the Thor doens;t amount to anything and they call it.

[Abe Sargent]

Crusader LA, RA, LL
Ostroc H, LA
Shadow Hawk missing RL, LL
Striker missing RA, LA, RT; pilot blacked out
Atlas missing H
Locust LT, LL, LA, H, RT
Zeus missing LT, RL< enginex4
Chameleon missing LA, enginex3
Rifleman RA, LL


Their Stinger, Wolverine and Enforcer are turned in, yadda yadda.


We salvaged an Atlas, Striker, Shadow Hawk, Chameleon, and ZEU-5S Zeus




On the other fronts, we smashed their tanks badly, and lost 10 mechs, 4 of which we can reclaim and 6 are gone permanently. We captured or salvaged 21 vehicles.



It appears that the Viscount went into hiding.

Left on Bryant are one company of mechs and two of tanks we think.

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 12 – The battalion at the north pole cannot find anything up there. Either the units there went in hiding or they were pulled earlier.



Oct 19 – We have scoured the poles and still can’t find the remaining units. We know they are on planet according to both intel and locals. We have to ferret them out.


Nov 2 – We manage to find one company of tanks after some intense searching and it’s near the mountains that were used by the home by the Viscount. Apparently there was an underground bunker here we just discovered. Stocked here are a lot of technical equipment, parts, ammo, armor, spare weapons, and more. The tank company is rolling out as we move in, this bunker has two entrances. Expecting traps or explosives, we do not pursue them via the bunker, but instead dispatch fighters to hold them in place and fly in a company off a DropShip to answer them In about 30 minutes we have arrived and 15 minutes later, we unfurl.



Heliades is here


Our foes:

Vedette
Goblin
Von Luckner
Brutus
Drillson
Gladius
Hetzer
Hunter
Shrek, updated *
Fulcrum *
Hunter, updated *
Lightning *


Built just two years ago, the Fulcrum is a 50 ton hovertank with 1 each of large laser, LRm10 and medium laser.



This will be a slaughter.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We win init. PPCs from our Awesome hit the PPC carrier and hurt its movement. Our Stalker follows that up with worse movement damage to it. Our Archer does the same to their Lightning. Our Ostroc hurts the movement on their VL and our PXH does the same to their Fulcrum but also stuns their crew for a turn.


Turn 2 - We win init. Our WLF bases their Fulcrum. Our PXH follows. Their Lightning skidded so my Centurion rushes to it and bases it Our Stalker destroys the front of their Schrek. Our Archer immobilizes their Lightning. Our Cat locks the turret on their Von Luckner. Their Fulcrum knocks out our PXH pilot.

Turn 3 – We lose init. They base the PXH with some tanks, such as their Gladius. Our Wasp runs to their Gladius. Our Ostroc bases a Hunter. Our WLF immobilizes their Fulcrum. Their Hetzer hits the CT of our PXH with their AC20 and it is destroyed. Our Cat locks the turret of their Vedette. Our Ostroc kicks and destroys the rear armor of their Hunter, upgraded. Our Cat kicks an destroys their Vedett’s turret and it is destroyed. Our Wasp misses a kick and falls.


Turn 4 – We lose init. Our Wasp rises and runs. Our Wolfhound bases their Drillson. Ostroc bases the other Hunter. Our Trebuchet bases their Von Luckner and our Centurion follows. Our WLF destroys the Fulcrum’s RS. Our Marauder destroys their Hetzer’s front. Our Centurion hits the ammo on the Von Luckner and it explodes! Our Cat slices the Front of their Hunter and destroys it. Our Trebuchet falls. Our Wolfhound kicks their Drillson into immobile territory.


They surrender and we gather them up.

[Abe Sargent]

Schrek PPC Carrier, updated
Hunter, upgraded
Vedette
Fulcrum
Hetzer
Hunter

Drillson immobile
Lightning immobile


Phoenix Hawk RT, LT, LA, RA, < LL, RL



We collect a Goblin, Brutus, Gladius for the local militia. We manage to salvage the two Hunters, Fulcrum but not the Vedette or Schrek, plus the Lightning and Drillson.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 15 – After a lot of searching, a raid by a lance of their mechs hits a local warehouse and steals off some food. Why would they need food?


We suspect that they may be hiding in the nasty storm areas of the planet outside of the polar regions.


Nov 27 – The Viscount is captured by local spies from the Apollo Office we dropped off. He was in hiding and now we have him.

Nov 30 - We have forced the Viscount to give u the locations for the mechs and tanks.


Dec 8 – We have readied a raid on the mech position. As suspected, it is outside in the toxic soup. We wait until a day when the storms have abated, which is rare.


We move in Butler Company


ATA-2 Attila
GLT-3N Guillotine
AXM-1N Axman
KIM-2 Komodo

LGB-7Q Longbow
GLT-5M Guillotine
TBT-5N Trebuchet
RFL-5M Rifleman

VL-5T Vulcan
MON-66 Mongoose
WTC-4M Watchman
JVN-10F Javelin


Butler Company is mostly regular. As we do, they see us and come out. It looks like there are just two lances here right now, their scout lance is out.


Our foes:


AXM-2N Axman *
Wolf Trap *
Watchman *
PXH-3S Phoenix Hawk *
JagerMech
Blackjack
Charger
Grasshopper





Someone must’ve captured a Wolf Trap from the Combine. This is the weird Axman with double LRM15 racks instead of the AC20.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We win init. Our Komodo bases their Wolf Trap when they expose it too much. Our Vulcan leaps to its rear. Nothing major happens in weapons – everybody misses a lot. We double kick the WT and it falls.


Turn 2 – We lose init. Our Komodo and Vulcan base their Pixie. Their Wolf Trap stands and runs and I run our Javelin after it. I order my heavies and assaults to charge their position, minus the Rifleman who holds back. Our Watchman destroys the LA of their Charger. Our Attila just unloads on their Axman and smashes its H twice with missiles and goes internal on a leg and nails the hip actuator. Our Axman gets a limb blown off LA on their Axman. Both it and their Wolf Trap fall as does our Longbow. The PXH destroys its RA in the fall. Our Jav punches the Wolf Trap twice, this both legs and this actuators in each, but it remains standing. It’s a blessed mech. I have unloaded tons of weapons into it these two turns and it is still relatively healthy.


Turn 3 – We win init. Our Longbow stands. Their Axman does not. The 5M Guillotine bases their downed Axman. Their PXH stands and runs away but our Vulcan chases it down. Out Watchman jumps to their Charger. Our Axman walks to their Watchman. You can tell we’ve reached melee range for our mechs. The other Guillotine bases their Wolf Trap. Their BJ hits the engine twice on our Attila. Our Komodo hits the engine one on their PXH. Our Guillotine destroys the RL and LT f their Axman and it shuts down. Unfortunately their Watchman falls after taking an AC20 shot and no ax can follow up. Our other Guillotine kicks and destroys the LL of their Wolf Trap, damage goes up to its LT and hits the engine there twice, it falls, hits its LT and hits the engine a third time, dead mech.


Turn 4 – We win init. I hop our Attila to some woods to hide it a bit. Their Watchy stands. I move some mechs to the area. Their Charger follows me in. I run our Watchman above and next to their Charger. Our Jav bases their PXh and our Vulcan their damaged Blackjack. This will likely be the last round, so I alpha strike a few mechs. I moved my Trebuchet and Longbow exactly 7 hexes away from their Charger and Watchman so I can LRM smash them. Our Rifleman destroys the LT of their Watchman – but no XL engine so no shut down. Our Attila hits the MG ammo in the other torso, its CASE’d away but the pilot blacks out. AC20 shells rock their Chargers RT and blow it up and it falls. Our Komodo and Vulcan kick the Blackjack and destroy its LL. Our Jav punches the PXH because it’s exposed in a lot of torso and manages to smash the RT an hit the engine once, but we don’t finish it.


They call it and surrender.

[Abe Sargent]

We turn over the Grasshopper and JagerMech to the local authorities.

Charger missing LA, RT
PXH-3S Phoenix Hawk missing RA
Axman 2N missing LT, RL
Wolf Trap missing LL, engine x3
Watchman missing LT, RT, blacked out pilot
Blackjack missing LL


We captured all six of these mechs for ourselves.


After interrogation, we discover that they ordered the scout lance away when they engaged us. We have no idea where they could be right now.

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 10 – We have called for elections on Bryant.


Dec 14 – Fighters found their scout lance and drilled them to the ground and they are now dead, and turned over the government – 2 salvaged and one surrendered.


Dec 23 – We have clues to the last tank company but are unable to find it when we follow up.


Dec 26 – They have raided a few warehouses for supplies such as oil, armor, and ammo.


Jan 3, 3060 – We still cannot find the last company, Bryant is too big for this game.


Jan 11 – A new president of Bryant has been elected. Rosetta Jackson was a minor noble, and now elected. She calls publicly for the last units to stand down and turn themselves in.

Jan 13 – They comply and we turn the company over to the government.


Jan 19 – After consideration, Duke Essex has agreed to extend an offer to Bryant to join the Celestial Coalition, they accept later that day.


Jan 25 – We have released the Viscount to the world of Epsilon Indi, where he launched many pirate attacks, and they have arranged to bring him to trial there.


Feb 2 – After consultation with several key players, Kressly Warworks Inc has agreed to purchase 20% of the shares of Lantren Corporation. The influx of cash, plus some grants from the CC will enable them to reopen the Grasshopper primary factory in a year. They will begin working on an updated Grasshopper with new technology, and the Celestial Coalition will be its main customer.

[Abe Sargent]

Total changes from this campaign:


Bryant has gained the following units for their own militia, the 1st Bryant Regulars.

The company of mechs we stopped in space
The company of tanks turned in
Surrendered forces – 3 tanks, 7 mechs
Salvaged – We grant them the 21 salvaged tanks from the huge battle in order to jumpstart their defenses. Many of the pilots and crew will serve in their unit again


So they have three full companies of tanks plus 19 mechs.



Our AeroSpace gains were:

Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip – An odd ship built in 3054, it’s a raider that carries both mechs and fighters – 8 mechs and 4 fighters.

Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip; Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip - We confiscated two DropShips from the ground – both were Gazelles which carried 15 tanks. The local defense won’t need them to strike other planets or anything, so we have procured them for ourselves.

Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip – Carries 12 mechs, yadda yadda

Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip – Cargo hauler, civilian

Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV – Fighter carrier, carries 6 fighters.

Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip – Carries three DropShips

We gained 4 fighters in the salvage.

[Abe Sargent]

Changes:


Butler – Bob Green, in the Guillotine 3N is now 3/5 after notching four kills.


Heliades – Dianne Holsteins’ PXH was destroyed, replaced with 3S one from salvage.

Defender – AJ Hussein, pilot of the Phoenix Hawk, gained one point of edge after his fourth kill.


Styx Company - Hubert McCullough’s Comet was destroyed, it is replaced by the Watchman.


Cinq Company – Both pilot Roger Von Harkness and his Griffin were destroyed. Replaced with Jake Kyle, regular, in a salvaged AXM-2N Axman;


Typhon Company – Ostsol destroyed, replaced with ZEU-5S Zeus from salvage.


Tethys Company – Locust destroyed, replaced by Chameleon. Lost our Striker, replaced with theirs from salvage. Lost their Hunchback, we replace with a mech from our garrison on EE – Anvil.


Mechs salvaged: Atlas, Shadow Hawk, Charger, Wolf Trap, Blackjack



We kept these three tanks:

Hunter
Fulcrum *
Hunter, updated *



Our flotilla heads back out and leaves behind Heater Battalion for now to help get things together. (Delta, Trinity and Butler companies)


Feb 15, 3060 – We arrive back on EE with our troops and Ships.



End of the Bryant Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s get an update on the roster.


Kilts and Commandos Roster:



Alpha Regiment: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Star Battalion


Myth Battalion: Capt Foster Keynes, of Typhon Company

Heliades Company –
Styx Company -
Tethys Company –
Typhon Company –


Star Battalion: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Defender Company

Defender Company –
Cinq Company –
Brawler Company – On Terra Firma until June 28, 3059


Heater Battalion: Capt. Jason Thomas, Trinity of Company

Delta Company – On Bryant
Trinity Company- On Bryant
Butler Company – On Bryant



Beta Regiment: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Ganges Battalion


Ganges Battalion: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Phaeton Company

Phaeton Company – On Ingress
Boxer Company – On Ingress
Rebel Company – On Ingress


Amazon Battalion: Capt. Gabriel Williams, of Mustang Company

Mustang Company – Currently on Capolla
Hex Company – Currently on Capolla
Raven Company – Currently on Capolla


Rheims Battalion: Capt. Aurelia Jenson, of Aleph Company

Aleph Company – Currently on Capolla
Laser Company – Currently on Capolla
Sabre Company – Currently on Capolla


Gamma Regiment: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Breaker Battalion


Breaker Battalion: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Fallout Company

Trident Company – Currently on Acamar
Miner Company – Currently on Acamar
Fallout Company - Currently on Acamar


Scimitar Battalion: Capt. Mika Sanders, of Vegas Company

Vegas Company – Currently on Acamar
Guile Company - Currently on Acamar
Tango Company - Currently on Acamar


Mesopotamia Battalion: Capt. Kyla Jeffries, of Nineveh Company

Jericho Company – First Expedition
Babylon Company – Second Expedition
Nineveh Company –


Delta Regiment: Col. Conner Ward

Bandit Battalion: Capt. Andrey Vihorev

Bandit Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Iron Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Kevlar Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061

Flame Battalion: Capt. Johan Kreidler, of Blaze Company

Pyre Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Blaze Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Ember Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061


Armor Battalion: Capt. Jassa Ramgarhia, of Aegis Company

Aegis Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Shield Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Chainmail Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061

Weston Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061
Utopia Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061



Shadow Battalion:

Bruiser Company –
Shadow Company –
Sealion Company –


Gold Company –
Bronze Company -


Vehicles:

Tank First Battalion –
Tank Second Battalion - On Terra Firma until June 28, 3061

Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison,


Fighters: Col. Larry Rowe, of Arrow Company

Arrow Company – Currently on Terra Firma
Bolt Company – Currently on Acamar
Catapult Company –
Dart Company –On Ingress

Naval Assets

Swift Justice, Aegis WarShip –
Scots Flotilla, Merchant JumpShip – On First Expedition
Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip – On Second Expedition
Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip –
River of Fate, Merchant JumpShip -
Robin Hood, Union DropShip – On Second Expedition
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 - On First Expedition
Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip -
Firebird, Avenger DropShip –
Arrow of Fate, Achilles DropShip, Upgraded –
Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip –
Honored Living, Colossus DropShip –
Stellar Phantom, Leopard CV DropShip - On Second Expedition
Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip -
Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip –
Jakob’s Ladder, Buccaneer DropShip (Cargo Vessel) – On Second Expedition
Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip –
Charon’s Message, Union class DropShip
Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV DropShip -
Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip -
Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip –
Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip –
Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip -
Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip -

[Abe Sargent]

We roll back the clock to continue from where the campaign interjected.

Oct 5 – We reup the Tank Battalion’s contract on Terra Firma for two more years.

Oct 10 – After his 18th birthday about two weeks ago, James Roderick Essex has been officially given a position in Kressly Warworks, Inc. While he had some minor mech trainings as any child of Duke Essex did, he did not really have an interest in it, despite having some skill there.

Nov 11 – A raid on Flame Tech on Fletcher is stopped by the mercs we hired to protect it.

Dec 1 – Thoma Marie Essex is promoted to Sergeant. It’s a busy few months for the Essex children.

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 31 – Essex Training Academy:

Essex Training Academy

We have11 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 19 enrollees for next year. Of these 11, 4 choose not to stay with us, and the remaining 7 have 2 vet, 3 regular, 1 green and 1 elite. We also have 6 graduates of vehicle crews, all regular. We hand them vehicles and move them to our garrison. 6 enroll for next year, and 5 infantry squads are now being trained as well. 6 infantry squads are completed, the Aerotech wing has its first grads – 4 total. 4 more enroll for the 1st year.


Year 4 - 16
Year 3 – 12
Year 2 - 18
Year 1 – 19

Armor – 8

Aerospace, Year 2 - 5
Aerospace, Year 1 - 4

Infantry, Year 2 - 5
Infantry, Year 1 - 5

We pay 15 million to the upkeep of the Academy and HQ.

[Abe Sargent]

We spend some time recruiting and sending out some grads.


Titanium Company


Lt. Jamie Holland , HGN-732 Highlander, elite
Marcela Liang, KGC-000 King Crab, elite
Maiti van den Burgt, Hatchetman, veteran
Kamalanetra Necipoglu, CGR-1A5 Charger, veteran


Sgt. Isabella-Maria Berger , Vulture Prime, elite
Lewis Brown, CRD-3R Crusader, veteran
Tobias Meister, ARC-5S Archer, elite
Anna-Teresa Stolk, WTH-2 Whitworth, veteran

Sgt. Ed Bell, Goshawk, elite
Sarieke Kooijmans, JVN-10F Javelin, veteran
Luda Zasekin, WLF-2 Wolfhound, veteran
Cadhla Furse, ASN-23 Assassin , veteran


Javelin, Charger, Crusader and Hatchetman are level 1 mechs. Vulture and Goshawk are clan mechs. This company joins with Gold and Bronze Companies to make Metal Battalion.

[Abe Sargent]

Oasis Company

Lt. Dwayne Tarabaev, VTR-9D Victor, elite
Margriet Peres, Kingfisher A, elite
Nikita Nyurnberg, ST-8A Shootist, elite
Dave Mikailov, OSR-2D Ostroc, veteran

Sgt. Husniyya bin Hanbal, STK-5M Stalker, elite
Elvie O'Rahilly, Cauldron-Born Prime, elite
Tony Tipping, GRF-1DS Griffin , veteran
Bisa Okoth, Whitworth, veteran

Sgt. Angelina Rodmell, Vixen, elite
Jack Sarmento, Locust IIc, elite
Hai-dong Pi, Spider, veteran
Noemi Brabenec, Quickdraw, regular


Kingfisher, Vixen, LCT IIc and Cauldron-Born are in our garrisons from previous battle with the clans. The Spider, Whitworth and Quickdraw are level 1 mechs. All 24 Mechs were in our garrison, we purchased none.

[Abe Sargent]

Operation: Backstab


I encountered this scenario at the back of the rulebook A Guide to Covert Ops. It actually takes place a few years in the future, but there is nothing here that cannot be moved up. Until now, and it should prove to be a nice change of pace from the usual.



Jan 4, 3060 – Duke Essex takes a meeting with Ingrid Foster to appraise him about a situation that has evolved on Acamar. The major issue revolves around some of the few agricultural land on the planet.

Acamar has a lot of mining interests, but it’s hard to live on the planet. Just 36 million live in the system , and that includes asteroids being mined. Acamar is cold, just on the outer edge of the life ring in the system, and its regularly winter there. There are 9 days to the planet form the jump points and 15 days to recharge, and no recharge station in the system. There is little arable land.

But there are some farms. Three large farms in some of the better land are owned by three minor noble families – the Brynd family, the Langdon family and the Stevens family.

The Brynd family is one of the most successful with seasonal crops, and agri-domes for year round production in Acamar’s winter. They have not been interested in the mining aspects of Acamar, instead focusing on making food, and that has been their bread and butter for generations. They own more than 1400 square klicks.

The Langdon family had been around for 50 years longer than Brynd. They often chaffed under Capellan rule and were squelched regularly, by Liao, thus they flourished under the FC rule. They control land equal to roughly 1300 square klicks.

The Stevens family was granted the land a few decades ago by the Capellan Confederation to a loyal solider. They were stymied earlier after swinging to the FedCom, but they eventually adjusted. His land of 1000 square klicks contain three villages that support large agri-domes.


When the LosTech was rediscovered, there were more discovers from the Star League era than just weapons and armor. They also regained information about things such as medical practices. New scanners were developed and used both for military and industrial practices.

One such scanner has been recently used on Acamar to see if any deposits were hidden from old forms of scanning and investigation.

Well, they found one. A motherlode.


They have discovered a titanium deposit that has the potential to be the biggest one ever on Acamar. It was deep and buried under some rocks that helped to keep it from older scanners.

This titanium deposit is under the Stevens and Langdon’s property.


However, two days ago, an attack occurred on Baron Brynd’s territory against him, from an unknown mech force. We have no idea who or why. After all, the new titanium find isn’t even under his land. We cannot allow another force to launch attacks on our people and land.


It’s time to investigate.


Duke Essex authorizes Chief Ingrid Foster to investigate this personally and give him daily updates from her locations.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 13 – Chief Foster arrives in Outreach and begins to find information on the company of mechs that attacked. Is it a unit on the registry? She wants to do the research herself, to keep our investigation as quiet as possible.


Jan 16 – Foster discovers that the unit was likely part of a mercenary unit called the Broadstreet Bullies. They are not registered in MercNet though. Some contacts on planet reveal that their home used to be on Fletcher and they hire themselves on lesser known worlds, like Galatea.

Jan 17 – An official from Baron Brynd arrives on Outreach and meets with Chief Foster. He had dispatched his aide to recruit mercenary assistance. Instead, Chief Foster will intervene officially.

What information the aide, Andrew Osbourne, has is limited. He came on a Brynd Jump and Drop ship. The info he does have is interesting. A few weeks ago, representatives of the Langdon and Stevens families each approached him, individually, to buy his land. Now that damage has been done to the property, pressure on the purchases has increased.

The various noble families on Acamar have always been rivals, and the new democracy has not ended that. Osbourne believes that either Langdon or Stevens was behind the attack.


As Foster and Osbourne leave the club they are meeting at, two thugs attack them and try to kill them, but Ingrid Foster is easily able to handle them.


After considering the information she has, she decides to swing by Fletcher before heading to Acamr to discover more information on the Broadstreet Bullies.

[Abe Sargent]

February 17 – We arrive at Fletcher. Investigations begin.


It appears that they were the remnants of a Lyran Unit that was destroyed in the clan wars. Several of the lived on Fletcher prior to joining the military, so they used this world as a base a few times. The last time the unit was on the world was about five months ago. Then they jumped out. They performed some nasty anti-civilian tasks and earned some black marks in just a few years in operation.

After some more research, Chief Foster uncovers that one member of the Bullies has a family here on planet and retired about a year ago.


Feb 18 – Chief Foster arrives at the city of Quang Lo. This is a city that tends to attract all of the former pro-Cap civilians on planet. Here Chief Foster has discovered that she can find Jesse Boulerice.

Feb 20 – She stakes out his house and one night pushes him against the wall and captures him easily and returns him to his home. Jesse agrees to give her the information if she helps his family, which is being pressured by a local crime boss. She agrees, and contacts local Apollo Office agents on planet to handle it.

Boulerice is still in contact with the members of his old unit. The group that purchased the Bullies was neither family, but instead Johnston Industries.

Johnston Industries is one of the largest industrial corporations in the Federated Suns. They have a variety of industries on various worlds, and apparently, they were interested in being the company to mine this huge titanium deposit. It requires a significant investment to penetrate the ground and build a mine for a pace this deep and extensive. Johnston would be one of a handful of companies that could outlay that capital.


That is all Boulerise knows, so Foster heads back to jump to Acamar with Osbourne.

[Abe Sargent]

Meanwhile, Duke Essex places a few calls to prepare for her arrival.


Feb 24 – While en route to their JumpShip, the Byrnd DropShip suffers sabotage. After investigating, Foster uncovers explosives placed by fuel tanks and electrical components. They DropShip is slowed by a day.

Interviewing staff reveals that one person’s thumbprint was used to access that room that day. This is Crewman Malverneri, who has been with the Brynds for a few years. Due to her expertise, Foster interrogates him, and he willingly uncovers that he is an agent for House Langdon. However, he did not plant the bomb, he claims he is framed. Foster believes him.

She uses the next bit of travel as time to find the actual saboteur. But, she is unable to discover the person responsible.


Mar 8 – Chief Ingrid Foster and Osbourne Humphries unload from the Brynd DropShip and arrive at his estate. Coming out to meet her is Baron Brynd, who welcomes her. She unloads at his estate and begins to look over the place where the attack happened, while he escorts her. One of his daughters was killed in the attack. However ,it appears that they were not as thorough as they could have been. Many buildings were left half destroyed and others standing. Foster suspects that their goals were to scare and reduce the value, not to destroy.


The Baron meets with her and reveals that Johnston Industries has offered him a buyout for his land, with a month long option to consider it. That month ends in a week or so. Or he could sell it to one of his neighbors.

[Abe Sargent]

Mar 10 - It’s time for some more investigation. Chief Foster meets with two local Apollo Office agents and has them escort her to the local Johnston offices. They have a presence on the world due to the large mining interests in the system.

They break into the security and past the alarm systems. After some investigation, they find a safe underneath the floor and remove four metal tiles in order to uncover it. They crack it and look inside. One is a holodisk called Operation Backstab. Foster takes it and begins to look into it

It appears that both Stevens family and the Langdon families allied to force the Brynd family to concede to Johnston Industries. It looks ike, although the ore is under the other two families, the Brynd estate is the only place they can build the mines and such to get to it, the angles are wrong from the others. So Langdon and Stevens tried to bully him into caving in and selling some of his land. He would not be bullied.

Apparently Baron Stevens contacted Johnston Industries directly, and they came up with a plan to dial both Brynd and Langdon out of the equation. A company of mercenaries was called in to strike at the Brynd estate, and then force them to sell to either JI or to Stevens. Both increased their price over Langdon, to insure he would not be the one the land was sold too. Then they would attack Langdon and do the same to him.


So, JI and Stevens partnered on Operation Backstab. Foster returns to Baron Brynd with this info.

She tells him of everything. He laughs a bit at now knowing. The old thing, he states, is that I would likely have sold some of the land to JI for a good price if they had only asked instead of bullying me from the get go. He moves to call the local authorities, but Chief Foster stops him. She hand him a message from Duke Essex, and he dials it in.

Duke Essex comes on and greets him. This information proves that the Bullies are still on Acamar. When they attacked you, they made this a military issue, not a legal one. This will not be solved in the courts, but at gunpoint. Stay under the radar for the next three days.

[Abe Sargent]

Meanwhile, Fallout Company has moved out of their garrison on the planet and approached the position that the Bullies are said to be waiting at, an old abandoned refinery. They approach and soon their noise is heard by those inside. They quickly jump into their mechs and warm them up as Fallout Company enters the old building.




Fallout Company


AS7-Atlas
AWS-9M Awesome
BL6-KNT Black Knight
KTO-20 Kintaro

HTM-25T Hatamato-Chi
MAD-3D Marauder
HUR-WO-R4L Huron Warrior
APL-1M Apollo

QKD-5K Quickdraw
DMO-1K Daimyo
PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk
WSP-1D Wasp



The Broadstreet Bullies


Battle Hawk
Nightsky
Falconer
Gunslinger
Caesar
WSP-1S Wasp
WHM-7S Warhammer
VT-5S Vulcan
STK-5S Stalker
COM-5S Commando
HCT-5S Hatchetman
MAD-5S Marauder


All of these mechs are level 2 mechs. They are upgraded with good weapons. For example, this Marauder variant sports a Gauss Rifle in addition to the dual ER PPCs. The Hatchetman adds pulse lasers and a LB10X and so forth. Our foes are regular.

This is their Falconer, a 75 ton mech featuring 5/8/5 movement off an XL engine, a gauss, an ER PPC and 4 medium lasers, with 10/20 heat dissipation and 11.5 tons of armor.

[Abe Sargent]

They are in the center and we are entering from the west. We are fighting in the map used for the Factory in Solaris VII:

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go!


Turn 1 – I win init. Our PXH hops next to their Falconer and Nightsky. They have a lot of mechs on the upper floor. Their Battle Hawk skids and falls. We focus fire on their Caesar. Our Awesome destroys its RA and our Huron Warrior its Left. It falls and destroys its RT and the engine shuts down. We push the Falconer with the Phoenix Hawk and it falls down three levels to the ground. It hits the gauss rifle on the arm and that destroys the arm and then destroys the LL and the pilot is knocked out. Their Nightsky kicks the PXh and it falls. Hey, we took out two heavies in one turn!

Turn 2 – We lose init. Our pixie stands and runs. Our Daimyo bases their Battle hawk. Our daimyo destroys its RA> Their Marauder hits the ER PPC in our Daimyo. Their B Hawk destroys its LA. Our Apollo hits the LRM ammo in their Stalker and it goes upCASE prevent sit from being destroyed but the XL engine is gone. A gauss rifle slug form our Huron Warrior smashes the H of their Marauder and it falls dead. Their BH falls. The Falconer pilot does not wake – needs a 10.


Turn 3 – They are devastated but we push on. We win init. I eject the Daimyo. We are so far ahead in the mech count that ejecting a medium mech won’t end anything. We’ve taken out an assault, three heavies, and badly damaged a light in just two turns. Their B Hawk rises. Our Quickdraw jumps to their Vulcan. I leap our Wasp by their B Hawk. Our Wasp takes some damage from their Gunslinger Their Commando’s RA is destroyed by our Huron warrior. Their Wasp hits the Gyro on our Wasp. Our QD destroys their Commando’s CT. An LB 10 X from a Hatchetman destroys our Wasp’s CT. Their ‘Hammer falls. Our QD kicks their Vulcan to the ground. No wake-y


Turn 4 – We lose init. Their Vulcan rises and runs away. I move a few mechs up to their level – Kintaro, Hatamato. Their Nightsky jumps behind our Atlas. I base it with a Black Knight and Awesome. Their Warhammer stands. Our Hatamato-Chi nails the hip and lower leg on their Warhammer. Our Kintaro hits its head twice with SRM missiles and blacks out the pilot. Taking more than 80 damage, their Nightsky tumbles and his its engine once. The Nightsky loses its RA, RT and RL from kicks. And dies to XL engine. No wake-y on falconer.


Turn 5 – We lose init. Their Vulcan skids and I rush our Kintaro next to it. I walk the QD to it as well. Our QD destroys tits RT with a medium laser and it shuts down. Both of their pilots stay asleep.

They refuse to concede and press on

Turn 6 – We lose init. I am moving my heavy units behind the pillar to flank them while our Hatamato and Marauder are on top of the building keeping them locked in place. In a fierce stroke of orneriness, our Hatamato’s PPC smashes the H of their Gunslinger on a direct blow, dealing 13 damage to its H and killing.


Now they concede; we have no force on Acamar to turn their Wasp, Battle Hawk and Hatchetman into, so we recruit them for a garrison on another planet.

[Abe Sargent]

Gunslinger missing H
Nightsky missing RA, LL, RT
WHM-7S Warhammer; pilot blacked out.
Caesar missing RA, LA, RT
Falconer missing RA, LL; pilot knocked out.
Battle hawk missing RA
STK-5S Stalker missing RT
MAD-5S Marauder missing H
COM-5S Commando RT, H, LT, LA, LL, RL
VT-5S Vulcan missing RT




Daimyo missing LA
Wasp RT, LT, LL, RL, H, LA, RA


We captured a Stalker, Marauder, Vulcan, Gunslinger, Nightsky, Warhammer, Caesar, and Falconer.

And we lost a Wasp. We replace it with the Vulcan.


After having defeated one of the companies of the Broadstreet Bullies (They’re a unit with a battalion, but the other two are not on planet nor were they part of this deal), we have brought an end to this chapter in Acamar, Fletcher, and the underworld.


Mar 15 – Johnston Industries has announced that they are closing their Acamar office.

[Abe Sargent]

April 16 – The media is all a twitter as Duke Braham Essex welcomes Chancellor and First Lord Sun-Tzu Liao to Fletcher to visit the graves of the many Chancellors buried here. Sun-Tzu brings gifts for the tomb of Aleisha Liao, one of the most beloved House Lords in IS history. So appalled by the conflict of the Age of War, in the pre-Star League era, she was the one behind the Ares Convention.


“Your message said that we had business to discuss.”

“We do, First Lord. Ceres Metals Industries.”

“Go on.”

“Ceres is the bright star of the Capellan Military-Industrial Complex. Yet it is much weaker than the mammoth companies in other houses. I have an offer to increase its value tremendously.”


Duke Essex slides the Chancellor the information on the Titanium Deposit.

“You know how valuable the ores of Acamar have been for centuries to the Confederation. This is the largest Titanium Deposit ever found. I can dial you back in and give a nice bump to Ceres. “

“And you would do this out of the kindness of your heart?”

“We’re neighbors. Neighbors should be neighborly. And since we are being neighborly, I think it’s time that our neighbor dropped the spying, inciting riots, and so forth on our worlds. Plus three other worlds we have an interest in Carver V, Hsien and Genoa. “

“You are not offering much.”

“I’m not asking for much. If our realm is destabilized, we are much more likely to fall to Steiner or Davion hands than your own. Surely we have more value to you as a buffer state to keep them away from you, and to keep our worlds from their hands. You’ve already reduced the amount of sedition in this region of the March, so I suspect you see that value as well. Ending everything is not a major cost of business.”

“I will pull of your worlds, but not the other three. Plus Ceres will want a 5 year contract to have exclusive right to any more discoveries on Acamar.”

“Yes to the rights for 5 years, but we just have you pull out of Genoa and Hsien.”

“Just one world.”

“Deal. Leave Genoa to us.”


April 18 – At a joint press conference, Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao and Duke Braham Essex sign an accord with a representative of Ceres Metals Industries. Sun-Tzu Liao has officially recognized the Celestial Coalition as a state. May this be the start of a brand new relationship between our two realms!


Baron Brynd was handsomely compensated for about 300 square kilometers of his land. Baron Stevens announced that he graciously had given his interest in the mining under his ground to the government Acamar so that they could get some additional monies to invest in the local infrastructure.


I changed quite a few things about the scenario to fit it into this timeline. I added the fight at the end and changed some details. We made it fit!


End of Operation Backstab

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, like normal, let’s roll back the clock.


Let’s do the Explorations for 3060 with our two Expeditions.


After two years, we are pushing out to planets that are two jumps away, to increase our chance of finding stuff.




First Expedition:


January 31, 3060 –


Carrion System

Class M, Lumin Ia, 2 planets, none habitable


February 15, 3060 –


We misjump to this system


Cube System

Class B, Lumin III, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 81 days away


We have misjumped far away from the jump point. This is our intended system, but we were far off target. This large system has a lot of space, and we are months away from being charged. However, we are not as far away from the habitable planet. It’s 49 days away from our spot, and it will take about 2 and a half months to charge way out there. So we go ahead and launch.


Apr 7 –

We have finally arrived at the local planet.

Cube III
Large
1.25 grav
10% water
Low Pressure
Tainted Atmos
Low Temperature
Plant Life
Cool Temperate Climate



Our people really want to get out and stretch so our satellites are out.

We find a remnant of a colony that was here a long time ago. It looks like someone set up a colony here, possibly because of the distance to the jump point. They built colonies not from advanced electronics and technology but appears to eschew it. They stripped their DropShip down, and then there are multiple tools, spearheads, hoes, shovels, and other rudimentary items. We find an old corrupted holodisk that discusses the loss of their cattle. Their cattle could not live for long on the planet due to the atmosphere and they died off after two or three years. Without their major draft animal, the planet provided no other animals to use. The result was an agrarian economy that became increasingly dependent on local plants. Poor nutrition set in, since they did not have doctors and medical facilities to ensure people were getting the appropriate nutrients. Without fertilization, the plants here did not have fruit, seeds, nuts, berries or flowers. Instead, they were asexual, and reproduced from their death, and a new plant would grow up to replace it. Thus they could not get the vitamins and minerals necessary for healthy living. About seventy years later, they died out, with their DropShip already stripped of parts and unable to be used to get them off planet.


We spend two weeks furlough on planet and then blast off again. The DropShip is corroded and the parts were stripped out – no value here at all.


Apr 22 – We leave Cube III


June 11 – We arrive back at the JumpShip and blast out

[Abe Sargent]

Flayer System

Class K, Lumin VI, 8 planets, 1 habitable, 5 days



June 16 –

Flayer II

Small
.75 grav
Low Pressure
Toxic Atmosphere
Standard Temperature
Microbes
Arid Climate


We investigate this planet for a few days, but there is nothing here.

June 26 –


Behold System


Class F, Lumin II, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 16 days


Aug 12 –


Behold I

Medium
1.1 grav
No Water
Trace Pressure
Toxic Atmosphere
Medium Temperature
No Life


This is a dead planet with nothing of worth at all.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 31 –


Spore System

Class M, Lumin VII, 5 planets, none habitable



Sept 11 –


Ana System

Class K, Lumin IV, 4 planets, 3 habitable, 4 days



Sept 15 –


Ana I

Small
0.8 grav
40% water
Low Pressure
Tainted Atmos
Medium Temperature
Fish
Temperate climate


We land on the planet after some surveys from orbit begin. The life here is based on a synthetic system with some nasty viruses which we don’t believe can mutate to attack mammals. But, the fish appear lethal to eat for humans. So no eating the tuna!


The planet is very small, even smaller than normal ones. We suspect it was once a moon of a nearby gas giant that was taken out of its orbit and then came here.


Sept 18 -

Ana II

Medium
0.9 grav
25% water
Normal Pressure
Tainted Atmosphere
Low Temperature
Amphibians
Arid Climate

Ana II has large amphibians that attack our local mech force exploring. aFter being battered around we are forced to leave.


Sept 22 -

Ana III

Medium
1.0 grav
No water
Normal Pressure
Toxic Atmosphere
Medium Temperature
Microbes
Cool Temperate Climate



This planet is also dead. The atmosphere is not just toxic but downright caustic to our metal. We have no chance of landing.

[Abe Sargent]

Sept 28 –

Dega System

Class O, Lumin IV, no planets


Oct 15 –

Ceta System

Class G, Lumin V, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 9 days


Oct 22 –


Ceta II

Large
1.2 grav
20% water
Medium Pressure
Tainted Atmosphere
Low Temperature
Fish
Boreal Climate


This planet has something quite interesting around it. It really gets the juices of our people flowing. What is so interesting about Ceta II? Orbiting the planet are three vintage Star league satellites. These are powerful scientific satellite that were just left here. The planet has nothing of worth, but we secure the satellites. They are much better than the current satellites we use. We’ll use them for our expedition in the future after cleaning them and giving them a once over. Star League era tech is so good that three hundred years later, these satellites are still better than anything we have and are functional.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 3 –

Raka System


Class M, Lumin IV, 9 planets, 2 habitable, 4 days


Nov 7 –

Raka III

Small
0.85 grav
75% water
Medium Pressure
Tainted Atmosphere
Medium Temperature
Reptiles
Warm Temperate Climate



Raka III is a solid world that we think could be a great colony world is it wasn’t for the atmosphere and the lack of industrial metals. There are a few small bauxite deposits, and a few minor gold and platinum deposits – but germanium, iron, titanium, copper, and more just really aren’t here. There are some extensive tin deposits though. If we need those later, Raka III is a good choice. The animals are fun. Our scientists believe that we could terraform this into a better atmosphere after about 50 years of work. We skip that.



Nov 13 – Raka V

Medium
1.0 grav
50% water
Medium Pressure
Tainted Atmosphere
Low Temperature
Microbes
Arctic Climate


This frozen planet is quite old. (Raka IV was destroyed with a collision with an asteroid and has no atmosphere, just dust and a dead world). It appears to have been frozen for a long time. The climatology report reveals this is likely not from an Ice Age, but simply the status of the planet. The equatorial regions are warm and balmy, with melted water streams and ponds. There are no oceans at all, just large glaciers in the south and north. Due to the lack of consistent climate, only microbes inhabit this world, and it appears that no higher life form ever lived here.


There is nothing special here.

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 21 –


Lotus System


Class B, Lumin IV, no planets



Dec 13 -


Mox System


Class M, Lumin VII, 5 planets, 1 habitable, 4 days.


Dec 17 –


Mox II

Large
1.25 grav
10% water
Trace Pressure
Tainted Atmosphere
Low Temperature
Plants
Warm Temperate Climate


Mox II’s lack of much of atmosphere had led to little development of life. The minor plant-life is all underwater. There is not a lot of biological diversity among these plants, we count maybe 20 different species in our quick studies of various sites. The atmosphere lets loose most essential gases for life, and the plants live off trace amounts in the water. There is nothing of interest here, like great mines or signs of habitation.



Jan 1, 3061 – The First Expedition arrives back at EE for unloading the satellites and a bit of rest.

[Abe Sargent]

Second Expedition (I roll to see if they find anything. I don’t want to spend two hours doing what I did above and not finding anything save for a few satellites!) - They find nothing either. They return with more of our space successfully mapped.


Rewind….

[Abe Sargent]

January 15, 3060 – Sabotage from the Duchy of Small strikes Ingress and destroys a few transportation facilities.

January 20 – Hall’s assault on Tall Trees failed.


January 23 – Another hit of sabotage on Ingress


Feb 1 – As of today, outside of the Celestial Coalition itself, the Free Rasalhague Republic has become the largest customer of the mechs from Kressly Warworks Inc that we were involved with – Greyhound, Bumblebee, Attila, and Alexander Omni-Mech. We have been buying mechs for local garrisons and such. The FRR is a true friend to us even now. We have free reign to buy any of the mechs made by them and supposed to be just for them, but we can buy any we need.

They have a real need for mechs, because even though the clan war was years ago, they lost so many mechs, but they didn’t lose nearly as many soldiers, so they have a lot of extra MechWarriors that are dispossessed. As a thank you, Duke Braham Essex sends to Haakon Magnusson, Prince of the FRR, a gift of an Uller and Puma clan omnimechs, RVN-3L Raven, LCT-3S Locust, LCT-3M Locust, PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk, Hercules, FLS-8K Flashman, CN9-D Centurion and Tempest. Ten updated and clan mechs for them to add to their growing army. They need them more than we do.

[Abe Sargent]

February 23 - A raid by the Duchy of Small launched from Sheratan hits Ingress . Duke Essex calls a meeting to discuss solutions.


March 25 – The WarShip arrives at Small World. With the Vengeance, Tug, and two assault DropShips it moves in.


March 27 – The WarShip arrives. The WarShip has begun to blockade Small World. On world, the palace of the Small family, and Duke Blake Small, is far away from towns and cities. That’s good.


We got this idea from the Capellan Confederation. They send one WarShip to blockade the Sarna Supremacy’s key world while they assaulted the other world and starved Sarna. Similarly, Small World needs a lot of food, that’s why they went for Ingress to begin with. Thus, we are going to blockade them until they knock it off.


Apr 15 – Duke Essex gets a communiqué from Duke Small while on Fletcher waiting for the arrival of Sun-Tzu tomorrow. Duke Small is very apologetic. He has no idea how those raids and sabotage happened from his units, and he apologizes. Essex agrees to move the WarShip back if he agrees to ensure that his Duchy is done attacking our worlds. He does.


We have no desire to assault Sheratan – it was savaged in the wars, and we can’t afford to invest in it. Small World isn’t that hot either, and not worth the time to take it and hold it

[Abe Sargent]

Apr 20, 3060 – We get great news. Theodore Kurita has decided to grant us official recognition as a state. This may be because post-Bryant, we are now of some size compared to the many other realms in the March. Or it might be because our Gunship diplomacy on Small World meets their approval, or they fear us. Doubtful, but one never knows. Or it could be because Sun-Tzu just gave us official recognition, so they figure why not.