The BattleTech Dynasty, Chapt 6 The Opportunity of Chaos (3057-58) - Chapter Complete

[Abe Sargent]

The other attack is underway as well. This time, no fighter are available, since they are being using in Aleph’s dz. As we move in, a bunch of their mechs pop up and begin attacking. They and we can deploy anywhere to represent this.


Our attacking force is Laser Company. This regular company is moving in when local mechs are moving in to protest. This time, there are no tanks, VTOLs, or infantry, just the 8 mechs listed below. None are level 2 mechs, and all are regular.


Blackjack
CLN-4V Chameleon
Crusader
UrbanMech
WSP-1D Wasp
Phoenix Hawk
Charger
Centurion



This is their Chameleon, a mech typically used for training at academies rather than with forces like this.

[Abe Sargent]

For this battle, we are fighting between two large ponds on the west and east flanks, and a forest in the middle.


Turn 1 – We even win init after we set up. Everybody is next to everybody and a real slugfest is about to begin. One of our Cataphracts hits the foot and hip actuator on their Crusader. A PPC from our Attila shears off the RA of their Wasp. Their Crusader and Centurion fall. Our Commando kicks an destroys the UrbanMech’s LL. Kicks on the Crusader on the ground nail its LRm15 in each arm.


T2 – We lose init. Their Crusader destroys its LA trying to stand and failing. We pepper their Blackjack but nothing else happens in the weapons combat phase. Our Commando kicks the downed UrbanMech in the H and the pilot blacks out.


T3 – We lose init. Their Urbie fails to stand and the pilot blacks out in the fall. I begin to move some of my units out of the trees to the north of the two ponds. I run the Ostroc into the middle of things. Their Chameleon hops into one of the ponds. Their Crusader stands this time. Our Commando’s medium laser shots the UrbanMech’s H and ends its life. Our Attila destroys the RA of their Blackjack. Our Spider misses a kick on their Phoenix hawk and falls.


T4 - We lose init. I move my Archer out of its sniper spot to get it more involved in the battle. Our Longbow is tied up trying to finish off this Crusader next to it. Actually, I decide to begin moving my Longbow away. Let’s just leave the Crusader here for now. Perhaps I’ll run my Locust over to give it a good kick or something. I move in to flank them with my Griffin. Our Spider rises and runs 9 hexes away to give it a hard to hit +3 on movement. I run my Locust behind their Crusader. Our Locust hits teh Crusader’s rear torso and nails the SRM ammo and it lights up. A Cataphract destroys the RT of their Blackjack and hits its gyro once. Our Archer cracks open the Centurion and finds the AC10 ammo and it explodes as well. The Blackjack falls, and is breached and the mech shuts down.


T5 – Incensed by our triple mech kill last turn, they stupidly drive on. We lose init again. We rush our Commando behind their Phoenix Hawk. I keep my Archer still, exactly 14 hexes away from their Wasp, to give me a good line on it. The Wasp’s LT is destroyed by the Archer. The Attila hit sthe MG ammo on their Chameleon and it lights up. Our Javelin destroys the Wasp’s CT. Our Longbow destroys their Phoenix Hawk’s RA. A Cataphract of ours tumbles.

With two mechs left, our foes cannot flee, and surrender to us and they and their mechs are turned over to local authorities.

[Abe Sargent]

UrbanMech, missing H, LL
Blackjack missing RA, RT and 1xgyro hit

Crusader, H, RL
Centurion, RA, H, LA, LL
Chameleon, LA, H
Wasp H, RT, RA, LA, LL, RL



We have defeated one army completely, dealt some damage to another, and the third hid. We need to follow that up by finishing these guys.

[Abe Sargent]

December 15 – After reaching an agreement, the pro-Lyran and pro-Davion forces on planet are combining power against us. We expect they have roughly 10-12 mechs total between them, plus various other military forces. We have six companies, this won’t be hard, only finding them should be a chore. As a result, when we defeat one of these enemies, we will defeat them both.


December 18 - A scout lance is scouting when it is ambushed by infantry, when pursuing them, they hit mines and the LL of Hex Company’s Thorn was destroyed.

December 19 - A large fuel depot was destroyed by the Davion/Steiner forces, and locals go out to put out the fire, while they are, various supplies are raided.

Capolla is a very mountainous and jungle ridden planet. It has a lot of mining and industry in those area, but most of the population lies in the valleys and flat spaces. That’s where most of the battles have taken place, but we suspect that the enemy is up in the mountains. This planet has mines and other places hundreds of years old. It’s easy to get lost on a planet.

December 21 – We catch a break. A raid on a prison to rescue some captured infantry is delayed by particularly stubborn local forces, enabling the nearest mech company of ours to close. We arrive just as the enemy is leaving, and they were unable to break through. We force them into a battle by using the local force as a garrisoning line.

[Abe Sargent]

This is all of their remaining forces:


Watchman
2x Sentry
ENF-5D Enforcer
HCT-5S Hatchetman

WTh-1 Whitworth
WLF-1 Wolfhound
CP-10-Q Cyclops
STK-3F Stalker
Wolverine
Vulcan
MAD-3D Marauder

All of the mechs on top are level 2 mechs. The pilots are mostly normal.

Here is our Raven Company, facing them:

ATA-2 Attila
HBK-4G Hunchback
BLR-1D BattleMaster
DRG-5N Dragon

ARC-2R Archer
MAD-3L Marauder
CRD-3E Crusader
WHM-6L Warhammer

JVN-10F Javelin
CMT Comet
PXH-1K Phoenix Hawk
WLF-2 Wolfhound


This is their Enforcer, a common medium mech for the Federated Suns Military. IT’s a 50 ton mech, and this version has 5/8/5 movement with an XL engine, ER large laser ,LB 10X AC with 2 tons of ammo, small laser, almost max ferro-fib armor with CASE for the ammo.

[Abe Sargent]

We are playing on the Open Terrain map made by FASA. We begin on the east and they on the west. This the map, and I rolled randomly and it is flipped. As a reminder, I like playing on smaller maps because it reduces the number of turns it takes, and since many of these turns take a least an hour to run, sometimes more (I play bigger forces), that’s important to cut.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We lose init. I set up the Crusader and Archer in good camping spots. I run my Phoenix hawk, Wolfhound, Javelin and Dragon to the middle woods to take them quickly for us. They move a Sentry and their Wolverine in to protest our presence. We focus fire on their Whitworth. Ur Phoenix Hawk destroys the LT of their Wolfhound. We went critical all over the Whitworth but didn’t hit anything, it falls though. We accidentally set the hex the Wolvie was in on fire and smoke begins to spread.


Turn 2 – We win init this time. I jump the Attila into a heavy woods in the center in front of the fire and the Wolverine. Their Whitty stands and their Stalker moves in to face us in the middle.
They move a Sentry next to our Attila. I jump my Javelin deep into the woods and go overheat on the Whitworth and I manage to get a few lines of fire on it, despite it moving back. I also get just a few lines on the Wolfhound, so most of my units are firing the Sentry not by my Attila. Archer missiles destroy the Whitworth’s LA. Our Crusader’s missiles drop their Wolfhound’s CT internal armor to 1 but don’t finish it. Our Warhammer destroys the RA of their Whitworth. Going overheat as mentioned, our Javelin destroys the Whitworth;s CT. I decide to punch the Wolfhound with my Javelin, in order to try and hit the CT, and it works. We punch it and it dies. Two kills by the Jav this turn. Our Attila misses the important kick on their Sentry but keeps standing.


Turn 3 – We win init. I jump the Javelin back and out of the way to give it a turn or two to cool down. I move some of my mechs back into the woods to regain land I had to give up. My Phoenix Hawk, for example, runs back to a heavy woods hex near the back. (it lacks jump jets) They try to flank me down the south flank with their Vulcan. I ignore it. I keep my Attila in the same space, hoping someone will try to come like the Sentry did last turn and try to base me. With my Phoenix Hawk in the only heavy woods adjacent to the Attila, it would be a bad long term move, but a good short term one. I’m smart enough to wait until the turn after they moved their Hatchetman before doing so. I do not want to invite a hatchet to my face. Due to rising smoke, I can’t get a bead on any mech with enough force to guarantee it goes down, so I have to hope I get lucky here. A PPC from the Attila shears off the Stalker’s Head, so I got lucky. Their Marauder blows off the RL of our Comet. It took more than 40 damage this turn – way too much for a 20 tonner.


Turn 4 – We lose init. I eject the Comet pilot. No one took the bait last time, so again I am holding the Attila in the middle and hoping that a mech comes up, and perhaps, this time it will be the Hatchetman, who took some damage last turn from a few mechs. If I were them< I’d take the bait and move the Hatchetman over and hope for misses and hits. You are down three mechs to one, and that one on our side is a 20 ton scout mech, when we’ve taken out a 35 ton scout mech of theirs plus a 40 ton fire support mech and an 85 ton assault mech. I push the bulk of my good mechs forward past the tress in the middle to the north, to collapse their flank. This is spearheaded by our BattleMaster, with mechs such as the Hunchback, Warhammer, and Dragon over there. Once again, no one based my Attila. I go overheat on my Crusader and Javelin to take advantage of good firing lines. Our Jav tears through the rear of their Sentry, hits the machine gun ammo, and it explodes, with CASE keeping it alive. An LB10X on our Warhammer by their Enforcer has a pellet that get a through armor critical in our center torso and hits the engine twice and the gyro once. Our Warhammer hits the gyro once on the other Sentry. Our BattleMaster hits the gyro on the other Sentry. Our Warhammer manages to remain standing, but both of their Sentries tumble. The Sentry with the blown out torso destroys its LL on the way down.


Turn 5 – I lose init. I again keep my Attila still. Sooner or later they will pounce on it, I can feel it. I hop my Jav, overheat, behind their Watchman, to give me a chance to kick it over. One Sentry rises, the massively damaged one does not. I move my Hunchback into an ideal sniping post in the thick of things - heavy woods and heavy smoke, but on the edge so it can see everything. I walk the Marauder to their standing Sentry. I run my Dragon behind their Hatchetman. They hop their Enforcer out of this mess. All of their foes are out of the line of sight of my Attila, so I’ll have to move it out next turn. I can’t fire the Warhammer this turn, I need to get back under heat. Our Hunchy hits the engine once on the downed Sentry with its Small laser after missing an opportunity to sink 20 into their Cyclops with its big gun. My Marauder fails to roll a 5 and falls from damage and I miss the opportunity to put the Sentry out of commission with a great kick.


Turn 6 – We win init. Both my Marauder and Warhammer have been unlucky, with the fall and the through armor hit on the double engine and gyro. The longer this battle takes, the more likely it is to take a while. We have not finished one mech in two turns. I push forward. Their Vulcan rushes next to my Crusader. Fire has spread to the Hunchback’s space and the smoke is spreading. Not the ideal space any more. I go prone with the Warhammer. After they base my Crusader with their Marauder step back two spaces deeper into the woods. I leap the Jav where the Crusader was. +2 for moving 5 hexes, +1 for jumping and +2 for heavy woods gives me a +5 bonus to hit, plus their movement – walking for the Marauder, running for the Vulcan. The Jav will hopefully soak up their attacks without any negative things happening as a result. They move three mechs by my downed Marauder – Hatchetman, Sentry, Enforcer. Our Marauder fails to roll a 4 and falls down again. We rise a second time. Their Cyclops nails two foot actuators on our Marauder. An AC20 seeks out and smashes their Enforcer and hits its LL and its gone. Our Dragon’s Ultra AC5 hammers the Enforcer with shells and destroys the CT. Missiles from our Archer hit the machine gun ammo on the wounded Sentry and it lights up as well. It’s pilot blacks out and when it falls, it destroys its RA. Their Sentry, before it went down, destroys the Marauder’s RA. Our Crusader destroys the Vulcan;s RA. Our Marauder and their Cyclops fall. Our Hunchback kicks and destroys the other leg on their 2nd Sentry and it is down officially. Our Jav kicks the Vulcan, hits the open leg, and destroys its RL.


Turn 7 – We win init. Their Vulcan tries to stand a few times, fails, and the pilot blacks out. They back their Marauder back up, and I move the Crusader back to its spot after I move the Javelin. I eject the Marauder. After their damaged Cyclops rises, I walk our pristine, never been fired at despite always spearheading attacks BattleMaster over to it. Even without half of their mechs, they are still pushing. We’ve only gone down two. No one comes over to the prone Warhammer. Our Crusader’s missiles go internal in the other leg of the Vulcan and hit two actuators. It falls and breaks the other leg and is immobile. Archer missiles smash the Hatchetman and destroy the hatchet. Our Wolfhound’s er large laser slips into their Cyclops’s head and leaves just one external armor there. Their Wolverine gets lucky and hits our Attila’s left leg with a through armor critical and gets a leg blown off crit. It falls, but not before eviscerating their Marauder, and opening it up. The AC5 ammo it has explodes when our Javelin;s medium laser tears into it and it lights up. Our BattleMaster punches because I have an opportunity for a head punch, and it works, dead Cyclops. With just three mechs left – Hatchetman, Wolverine, and Watchman, they surrender and we turn them over to the local authorities.

[Abe Sargent]

Whitworth – H, RL, LL, RT, LT
Wolfhound – H, RL, LL, LA, RT, RA
Enforcer H, LT, RT, LA, RA, RL
Marauder RA, LA, RL

Stalker, missing H
Sentry missing LL, RL, LT, 1 gyro hit.
Sentry, 1 gyro hit, missing LT, RA
Vulcan, missing RL, LL
Cyclops, missing H


Comet missing RL
Marauder missing RA, four actuators

[Abe Sargent]

And with that, we have cleansed Capolla of local dissidents of merit. Braham order us to stay here and garrison the planet for now. (in the main timeline, it takes battalion of mechs just three weeks to finish cleansing the world as we did, and with twice the mechs, I figured it would not be that much harder).

Because we are not doing this as a contract, we get no salary paid, damages, armor, and so forth paid for. All losses are incurred by us. Let’s look at the battles:



Battle 1:

Raven, missing RT, RL, LA
Thunderbolt missing H, LT, reattach LA
Catapult, missing RT
Tempest, missing LL, RA

Dart H, LL, RL, RT, LT, LA


Orion, missing RT, RA


Battle 2:


Destroyed sides: Savannah masterx2, Harasser, others


Repair – Javelin 10N, arm



Battle: 3

Whitworth – H, RL, LL, RT, LT
Wolfhound – H, RL, LL, LA, RT, RA
Enforcer H, LT, RT, LA, RA, RL
Marauder RA, LA, RL

Stalker, missing H
Sentry missing LL, RL, LT, 1 gyro hit.
Sentry, 1 gyro hit, missing LT, RA
Vulcan, missing RL, LL
Cyclops, missing H


Comet missing RL
Marauder missing RA, four actuators


To replace, repair and rearm our own mechs: 1.65 ammo; 780k armor, 1.38 mill parts, 1.7 mill weapon replaced, total cost 5.51 mill

To get enemy tanks up and running – only Savannah Masters are salvageable. 120k.

To get enemy mechs up and running – 19.1 million

Salaries and transportation – 2.44 mill

Total cost – 27.17 mill.

We leave with 9 mechs, two hovercraft, and repaired and refitted stuff, plus body parts. That’s not a bad campaign. I need to get money to pay it off though. I sell the Victor, a pair of low tech Cicadas, a Tarantula and a Venom. So I basically traded five mechs for nine.






End of the First Capolla Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

Back to our campaign, already in progress


EVENT December 7, 3057 – After her unit is assaulted on Twycross, Khan Natasha Kerensky, considered by many the greatest MechWarrior of her generation and founder of the Black Widow Company, later Battalion, and Wolf’s Dragoons’ ace, dies in battle in the Refusal War.


December 10 – The month’s orders of Alexanders from Kressly roll in.


EVENT December 10, 3057 – In an assault on SaKhan Vandervahn Chistu of Jade Falcon on the planet Wotan, former ilKhan Ulric Kerensky is slain by Chistu dishonorably which Vlad sees. This battle on Wotan essentially ends the Refusal War. Both Jade Falcon and the crusader elements of Wolf are decimated.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT December 11, 3057 – saKhan Chistu of Jade Falcon declares that this Trial was really a Trial of Absorption and that Clan Wolf’s materiel and men are now theirs.


EVENT December 13, 3057 – Jade Falcon forces technically violate the rules of the Trial by pursuing Warden Wolves to the Lyran Alliance and attack Khan Phelan Ward there.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT December 14, 3057 – Star Captain Vlad, of former Clan Wolf, is discovered alive on Wotan, with proof of Chistu’s dishonorable actions. He challenges Chistu to a Trial of Refusal over this change, wins and slays saKhan Chistu. The Khan of Jade Falcon, Elias Critchall, grants Vlad the bloodname of Phelan Kell, Ward. The Rite of Repudiation is granted, and the new clan is named Jade Wolf. Vlad Ward is elected Khan of Clan Jade Wolf. The new saKhan is Marthe Pryde.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT December 15. 3057 – Operation Guerrero officially ends




December 23 – The Eridani Guards are now listed as Fanatical Loyalty, and not questionable, now that they are the Eridani unit.

[Abe Sargent]

END OF 3057 – Many new technologies were introduced this year, including Inner Sphere versions of the Ultra AC2, AC 10, semi-guided LRMS, and more.


Essex Training Academy


We have15 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 12 enrollees for next year. Of these 15, 4 choose not to stay with us, and the remaining 11 have 3 vet, 6 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. 7 enroll for next year, and 4 infantry squads are now being trained as well. 6 infantry squads are completed, the Aerotech wing is now open. We have 4 members in the initial class and it will take two years to complete.




Year 4 - 17
Year 3- 11
Year 2 – 16
Year 1 - 12

Armor – 4

Aerospace, Year 1 - 4

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

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

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT January 1, 3058 – After being elected as the ruler of Epsilon Eridani officially, Duke Essex resigns as the commanding officer of Kilts and Commandos. He still runs the unit and orders troops, and such, but he is no longer in command of the unit in terms of strategy and fighting. Col. Matthew Humphries has been promoted to CO of Kilts and Commandos.



EVENT January 2, 3058 – Khan Vlad Ward slays ilKhan Elias Critchall after he is elected and Vlad Ward issues a Trail of Refusal. He renames Jade Wolf back to Clan Wolf again. saKhan Marthe Pryde is promoted to Khan of Jade Falcon. Later, Khan Lincoln Osis of Smoke Jaguar will be elected the new ilKhan and yet, inexplicably retains his Khanship of the Jaguars.

[Abe Sargent]

January 3, 3058 Chaos March Update –


There are battles across many worlds still raging, the withdraw of official operation forces has brought the battles to an even messier place. With the Free Worlds League easily capturing their handful of targeted worlds, as well as Capellan success of high count numerous planets are switch to Marik or Liao rule. None are near us, however.

The council meets again, with representatives from Terra Firma and Capolla here.


On January 8 3058, Duke Braham Essex announces the formation of the Celestial Coalition. These three planets are each joining a mutual defense pact and alliance under the banner of the Coalition. Unlike other small states that have risen in the area – Duchy of Small, Sarna Supremacy, Styx Commonality, Sirian Holds - this league is more egalitarian. All three planets are stable, have good economies, and equals in the Coalition. A three member panel is created, with each planet given a vote in major policies and items. Duke Essex is elected the ruler of the Panel and the Coalition for a one year term and gien administrative powers.

The six companies of Kilts and Commandos on Capolla are placed on a garrison contract for the Coalition, and will secure that world for now. Similarly, forces on Terra Firma are placed on a garrison contract. General Benton remains in charge of his large force on Epsilon Eridani.



After discussing the situation with the advisory council, locals at EE and the Panel, Duke Essex authorizes two military expeditions on behalf of the Coalition. The first is an exploratory mission to Procyon and the other is a large military force to Acamar.

(In the main plot line, Capolla and Terra Firma were devastated by war because it went on for much longer. We didn’t have forces on Terra Firma to intervene early, and we didn’t move in to aid Capolla early as well. Both were still damaged, but can recover, with the wealth of EE and their own economies going into the rebuilding project.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Procyon and Sirius Campaign


For some reason, people at these two planets have gone very silent. As mentioned before, JumpShips that arrive in either system have been told to immediately leave the “Sirian Holds” or be destroyed. These two systems have been dark for months. Essex decides to investigate the situation by sending a force to Procyon, the smaller economy and apparently junior partner of the Sirian Holds. The expedition force consists of several of our aerospace assets

Heading out there is the

Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip - –

With these DropShips

Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip –
Firebird, Avenger DropShip –
Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip –

We also take our other JumpShip, the Merchant class one.


Behind, and ready to jump at a moment’s notice is our Warship, the Achilles, and others, in case things go south.

[Abe Sargent]

January 16 – The group arrives at Procyon, and the message is sent. We are at the station the system has at the Nadir spot. We do not respond. Here at this jump point are no other ships. Nothing will arrive any time soon so we wait.

January 17 – Several DropShips lift off Procyon to protest our presence. Our JumpShip drops all

January 19 – They close within twelve hours, and the Merchant JumpShip leaves to give the Warship the heads up. It will jump into the system in ten hours.

January 20 – In the early hours, the WarShip arrives, and we unleash more than 60 fighters, BattleTaxis, military DropShips (Avenger, Achiles) and the WarShip itself.

It’s too late for them to leave. Our overwhelming force crushes them. We faced four DropShips, and captured two, destroyed two, and gained eight more fighters than we lost. We captured two Leopard CV DropShips.

Our forces coalesce around our WarShip, and Capt. Randall Lewis of the Swift Justice moves his taskforce to Procyon itself.


January 25 – No one from Procyon has tried to leave the planet or has sent us a message. Capt Lewis orders some infantry to land via small craft (like shuttles)


January 27 – it appears that Procyon and Sirius have been taken over by a group of religious zealots that have been destroying technology, killing scientists, burning holovids, and more. This is not something we can solve or help, it needs a larger force and power than us.

[Abe Sargent]

February 9 – We do the same trick with Sirius after getting the wounded DropShips back home.


February 15 – We have blasted and destroyed Sirius’s navy. We captured 14 fighters, many of which just surrendered to us. We captured a Claymore Assault DropShip that also surrendered as we eviscerated their fighters and blatantly outclass them. Apparently the anti-tech movement is even stronger here at Sirius, and many of these [people fear for their machines and themselves. We allow most of them to return home to join families, some want to come with us. We also capture a badly damaged Leopard CV, which won’t be worth much.

Even though we can’t land and take out this sort of movement, we can damage their navy, and prevent them from preying on other vessels.


March 1 – Our forces return to Epsilon Eridani. We sell the damaged Leopards but one. They are worth 60 million when fully repaired. One was captured by the Battle Taxi from infantry taking it from the inside, and is barely touched – we keep that one and keep its name – the Stellar Phantom. One is almost a shell of the previous and the other adequately damaged. The resulting value is 15 mill, 55 mill and 40 mill. We sell all three to the Styk Commonality who needs these sorts of assets badly. Money is flowing into them from Davion, Marik, and Humphries hands. Thomas Marik wants a state to keep Sun-Tzu’s ambitions in check, Davion can’t move overtly in favor of a state so far away from his realm right now, and the Matthews family wants to keep lands out of Liao hands, no matter what. They have the money, and we sell them the three Leopard CVs after Matthew Humphries hooks us up with other members of his family to introduce us to Styk. We make 100 mill off a bulk deal that tosses in 12 of the fighters we captured as well to fit in them.

[Abe Sargent]

We gained 7 fighters that were undamaged which we kept along with the pilots for them. We inform the Successor States about what was happening in the Sirian Holds, in case someone wants to move in.

Here is our newest DropShip


Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore Assault Class DropShip
Introduced in 3054, a FedCom DropShip made in Skye
1400 tons
329 tons of cargo
1 ER Large Laser
2 ER PPCs
4 Large Lasers
4 Medium Lasers
2 Large Pulse Lasers
2 Medium Pulse Lasers
2 Small Pulse Lasers
24 LB 10 X Autocannon
2 LRM 10s
2 LRM 20s
3 Streak SRM 2s
4 tons LB 10 X ammo, 6 LRM, 3 SRM

25/20/15 armor

6/9 movement

One of the lightest DropShips made right now, the Claymore is a dedicated assault ship with good armor, and powerful weapons, plus solid speed. It’s meant to threaten other DropShips and fighters, but not larger assets or navies. It’s aerodyne shape enables it to land in the atmosphere on areas such as DropPorts and smaller but reinforced runaways, where you can unload the cargo. It carries no small craft or fighters. The name was kept form what it already had.


End of Procyon and Sirius Campaign




'

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT January 10, 3058 – 21st Centauri Lancers supposedly begin arriving on Terra, but are really Word of Blake forces.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the First Acamar Campaign



Acamar is the only other independent planet with the economic wealth to stand on its own, along with the other three planets in the Celestial Coalition within one jump. While both EE and Capolla having mining, all Acamar has is mining. It is the only major export from the planet. Acamar is a cold planet far away from its Sun. It has a small population of roughly 35 million, all dedicated to the vast mines or serving those who are. It also has numerous mining efforts in the asteroid belts of the system. Despite the chaos on the planet, miners are still mining and selling their goods to which ever merchants are brave enough to enter the system and deal with the issues here.

The nobles were pro-Liao because Capellan gave them a free reign and didn’t tax them too badly. But the merchants really embraced the FedCom, because of the freedoms they gained. They prospered a lot in the last twenty five or so years. The nobles didn’t have the power to fight back. The garrison force was minor. A few months ago, when Operation Guerrero began, local nobles lent their aid, along with their military, along with the guerrilla forces Liao had been installing. They overwhelmed the small garrison and won easily. The surviving forces were forced out into the harsh winter of Acamar to die in late September, 3057.

The owner of a large silver mine, Patrick Gladden, organized the survivors of the garrison and gave them housing in his mine. Along with other mine owners, they pooled their resources and hired the mercenary unit, Tiger Sharks. They hit the ground running, and destroyed several pro-Liao forces. However, confident of a victory, the CO ordered his troops to assault the capital of Kalskag. Meanwhile, the Liao found out and ordered an assault on the headquarters of the combined miners that had surpported the Tiger Sharks. In mid October, the Tiger Sharks invaded Kalskag, blasted the capital building, and decimated the government. Meanwhile, the troops of the government blasted the city that held the merchants alliance and ended it. Both units won. Both groups of leaders were destroyed. Tiger Sharks blast off for Outreach with their employers gone on Nov 1.

Since then, each city and the remaining nobles have created their own fiefs each one run independently. None have any mechs. Also, with many pirates and raiders taking advantage of the chaos, they have moved in and established shop on Acamar. Thus, Acamar has no central government, and people, merchants and nobles all needing someone to come in and clean things up. No one can ask us to, we are going on our own. The pirates are raiding the Acamar system heavily, and miners are finding trade very difficult.


We go in strong. We take Bolt Company of AeroSpace fighters as well as the entire Gamma Regiment. With a full regiment of mechs, plus fighter support, we hope to reestablish order on Acamar and oust the pirates. The only Battlemechs on planet that have survived are those that belong to pirates . With the vast mines here, there are numerous places to hide.

[Abe Sargent]

February 2 – Our forces arrive on Acamar. We announce to the planet that we are cleaning it up, and any pirates who want to leave now will be free to leave the system without harm. Anyone who stays will be rooted out and destroyed without giving any option for surrender to any pirates. We give them three days to leave.

February 6 – Only a few units took us up on or offer. With just one continent on Acamar, and it being a small frozen world, the main place to hide are the mines. Our arrival in several cities was met with applause . We order one company of mechs to both of the cities destroyed by the warfare to help with reconstruction (and to garrison two cities secretly), while the other seven companies pour out.

(For this campaign, I don’t know how many forces or how long this will take. In the mainstream plotline, no one came out to aid Acamar for years so there is no way to know what the strength here is.)


February 12 - Our first sign of pirates is found by Jericho Company when scouting and investing a gold mine. They sense a large group of military forces in the mountains moving, and follow them. After a half hour of pursuit, the mountains widen out as a valley opens up, and there are a group of pirate BattleMechs. Jericho moves in.


Jericho Company:

Daishi A
GLT-3N Guillotine
FLS-8K Flashman
Loki D-UK

GRN-D-01 Grand Crusader
RFL-3N Rifleman
Mad Cat Prime
SHD-5M Shadow Hawk

WVR-6M Wolverine
WLF-2 Wolfhound
WTC-4M Watchman
SDR-5V Spider


Here are the Pirates

Lowtech mechs:

Victor
Valkyrie
Firestarter
Centurion
Panther
Goliath
Grasshopper
Wasp

Level 2 mechs

Axman
Mauler
SDR-7M Spider
HTM-27U Hatamoto-Hi
Jackal
WVR-7K Wolverine


Their 14 mechs are a mix of pilots of all sorts. They have a decidedly Kurita feel to them, and perhaps they are former Dracs. This is their Hatamoto-Hi, a variant of the Hatamoto-Chi with four medium pulse lasers instead of two SRM6s, and still has two PPCs They have four Assault mechs – Victor, Goliath, Hatamoto-HI and Mauler.

[Abe Sargent]

We are fighting in a mountain valley, with a really cold temperature. We’ll randomly generate a map with low amounts of river, ice and hills.

We begin west, they on east. We are elevated up, and they down. Sort of like on a mountainside. There is no hiding or sniping or camping this time.


Turn 1 – We lose init. Their Victor and our Daishi close to within 3 spaces. It should be interesting. I run our Loki in next to the Victor. I run our Shadow hawk next to their Firestarter, who is on a lower elevation but jumped 6, so I have a chance to punt, but not a super good one. I leap the Watchman over to it as well. We unload many mechs on their Victor. Our Daishi hits the Victor’s AC20 ammo and it lights up. Luckily, it missed with its AC20 on our Rifleman. Our Mad Cat and Daishi took some damage as does their Centurion. Alright, kick time. The Watchman misses, the Shadow Hawk kicked and hit a torso. No one falls


Turn 2 – We lose init again. I rush my Wolverine next to a hill in hopes they will expose someone to move in. They do, they move in the Grasshopper. They hop their Wasp behind our Wolverine. I hop my Watchman above their Valkyrie and then go overheat to unload on it. I actually spend a lot of my time targeting their Goliath than their Grasshopper after it is also exposed. And easier ot hit too since it didn’t jump. They concentrate fire on my Guillotine. Our Daishi hits the gyro and engine once each on their Goliath. Our Flashman destroys the RT and two legs are on the ground and he hits the engine again. Our Guillotine destroys the CT of the Goliath. Their Valkyrie tumbles and the Centurion falls, hits its AC ammo and ignites. The Grasshopper missed its kick.


Turn 3 – We win init. Their Valkyrie rises and runs away. Our Rifleman walks backward over elevation and makes the piloting roll. Their Hatamato does the same and makes their roll. I hop the Wolveirne t harass their HAtamato-Hi and is adjacent and one hex up, for a punt shot. The goal is to distract them with the Wolverine and move in with my heavy hitters. Their Axman bases me to protest my presence. I jump my watchman above their Valkyrie again. Their Spider jumps beside and above my Grand Crusader. They hop their Wolverine into my Daishi’s rear arc. Our Loki destroys their Wasps’s RA and LA. Our Grand Crusader went overheat to blaze the Spider with its full barrage of pulse weaponry, smashes it with a Large Pulse Laser to ea head and it falls. Our Mad Cat destroys the LA of their Axman. Having taken more than 100 damage, their Axman needs a a 10 to keep from falling and does not get it. Our Watchman kicks and destroys the LT of their Valkyrie. No falls


Turn 4 – We win init. Their Wolvie jumps over to my Rifleman and bases it. They hop their Firestartre adjacent an above my Wolfhound. I rush my Daishi down the hill towards the center of their force. Their Axman rises. I follow their retreating Valkyrie with my Watchman. I hop my Spider behind and above their Hatamato. I unload the Great Death (Daishi in Japanese) on their Hatamato. More of my attention this turn is on their Wolverine and Firestarter. I also fire that Jackal a bit as well. Our Mad Cat destroys is RT and that’s an XL engine shutdown – our Wolverine destroys its LL too. While defending itself, our Rifleman shots the lower leg actuator of their Wolverine. Our Shadow hawk destroys the LT of their Firestarter, The PPC from their Panther hits the engine twice on our Loki. My Daishi and their Wolverine tumble. Their Grasshopper misses a kick and falls. No other falls.


Turn 5 – We win init. My Watchman continues to follow their Valkyrie. They have lost five mechs and have nine left. Their Wolverine falls while standing and stays still. They run the Hatamato-Hi next to my Daishi and the Grasshopper follows. After it stands fine. I rise my Daishi and hop my Loki away from danger. I unload a lot of weapons by a lot of mechs on their Hatamato. I overheat my Rifleman to alpha strike their Wolverine. Our Wolverine destroys the RA and hit the sensors of their Axman. The Flashman hits the engine twice on their Hatamato. Our Watchman destroys the CT of their Valkyrie – Mad Cat destroys the LT of their Hatamato and our Wolfhound its RT. Their Axman hits the gyro of our Wolverine. Our Daishi destroys the CT of their Hatamato. It’s engine explodes hitting Daishi and Grasshopper each for 32 points of damage. Their Axman pilot is knocked unconscious in the fall. Our Daishi falls again. Our Spider punches and destroys their Firestarter’s CT and it is dead. No falls during hand to hand.

With just a severely damaged Wasp, Wolverine, Grasshopper and Mauler, we offer surrender, and they accept. We turn them over to locals, and their four mechs we store for Capolla.

[Abe Sargent]

Spider missing H
Jackal missing RT, LL
Axman, missing LA, RA, sensors hit

Hatamato-Hi LA, RA, H,LL, RL
Victor RA
Goliath H, RT, FRL, RRL, FLL, RLL
Centurion RA, LA, LT
Valkyrie LA, RT, RA, H, LL, RL
Firestarter LA, H, RA, RT, LL, RL


We fix out own mechs very easily. Having clan power allowed us to really push hard this battle.

Our goal is to send the mech that surrender from the pirates that surrendered to Capolla to form a garrison there with the local government’s purview. The Coalition will pay all expenses for this trip – refitting, replacing repairing and rearming. It also pays transport and salaries of the mercs. No money will be made and all salvage is kept - that’s our salary essentially. We keep battlefield salvage and others are turned over to Capolla.

[Abe Sargent]

February 16 – After a long period of silence, pirates strike a local smelting factory to turn ore to ingots. We manage to get a bead on their retreat, and we follow their trail. They have set up an ambush for us, and we blunder into a fusillade of death.




Our Company is:

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


Our enemy is very close already. They have all level one mechs, and mostly smaller ones but they are vets


Phoenix Hawk
Chameleon
Cicada
Charger
Quickdraw
2x Locust
JVN 10-F Javelin
Stinger
Commando


Here is their 25 ton Commando, a mech heavy in weapons and very light in armor.

[Abe Sargent]

This is a joke battle, we will crush them. The map has a lot of rocks and ice, but nothing else.


Turn 1 – We begin in the NE corner but they can start anywhere. We win init. They set up some foes right beside me. I decide to try something – we don’t even move most of our big guys, just our scouts move. Our Marauder hits the sensors on their Cicada. Our Hatamato follows by destroying its RA. Our Atlas unloads on a Locust and destroys a bunch of body parts before hitting the machine gun ammo and finishing it. Our Awesome destroys the RA of their Phoenix Hawk. Our Black Knight hits their Javelins CT section and nails the engine twice. Our Huron Warrior destroys the LT of their Cicada. It falls. Our Apollo punches their Jav and destroys the CT. Our Awesome kicks their PXH to the ground and hits a foot actuator doing it.


Turn 2 – We win init. I keep the same set up – keeping most of my big guys still. Their Cicada stands, rushes into a frozen river, the ice breaks, it falls in and breaches. Their PXH fails to stand and they leap their QD next to my Marauder. Their Charger hits a PPC on my Hatamato. Our Atlas destroys their Commando in much the same way as it did the Locust last turn. Our Awesome’s medium pulse laser rocks the ammo on the Chameleon and it explodes too. Our Marauder gets a limb blown off RA on the Charger and hits a hip. It crashes to the ground and breaks its LL. Our Hatamato kicks and destroys its RL and its down. Our Marauder kicks and hits two actuators on the Quickdraw’s L, it falls and hits a third.

They now have left a Locust, savaged Phoenix Hawk, savaged Quickdraw, Stinger. They surrender as well, and we turn them in.

[Abe Sargent]

Locust H, RA, LL, RL
Javelin H, LL, RL, RT, LT, RA, LA
Commando RA
Chameleon LA, RL, RT

Charger missing RL, LL
Cicada missing LT



With another pirate group down, and a few evacuated, we have no idea how many are left.

[Abe Sargent]

February 25 – Two pirate groups join together for a joint assault on one of our companies as it patrols. Guile Company is assaulted by the combined force. They attack Guile while patrolling a a group of mines. Bolt Company is a few turns away to give us cover to retreat.



Guile:

BNC-2S Banshee
CRK-5003-2 Katana
ANV-3M Anvil
CN9-D Centurion

STK-5M Stalker
MAD-5M Marauder
HUR-WO-R4L Huron Warrior
CLPT-1L Catapult

JR7-K Jenner
SHD-5M Shadow Hawk
JVN-10N Javelin
COM-2D Commando


Our foes:


Level 1 mechs:

UrbanMech
Ostsol
Stalker
Scorpion
Merlin
Hatchetman
Griffin
Dervish
BattleMaster
Locust
Archer
Shadow Hawk


Level 2 tech:

Wolf Trap
HBK-5M Hunchback
Hercules
DRG-5K Grand Dragon
Nightsky
JVN 10-P Javelin
JM-6DD JagerMech


That’s 19 mechs against us with their combined forces.

This is their Hercules, a modern mech that weighs 70 tons, moves 5/8 with XL, rocks 12/24 heat dispersal, has adequate ferro-fib armor, and rocks ER PPC, LB 10 X, SRM2 Streak, 2 rear facing small pulse lasers, and anti-missile system .

[Abe Sargent]

We are fighting in a light snowfall. We can retreat any turn after turn 4, but we must fight until then.


We begin on the north, and them on the south.


Turn 1 - We lose init. There are no trees or cliff to hide behind, or a giant river to keep them back. Just ice, small hills, and rough terrain. We hole up in the back north east corner. Their Scorpion skids and falls on ice. I move my mechs to try and get partial cover. I don’t care so much about killing mechs as I do about surviving. I focus fire on the Wolf Trap in front. Our Katana destroys the Wolf Trap’s RA. Only the Trap took 20+ damage and it stayed standing.


Turn 2 – We win init. Their Scorpion rises and moves out. My Javelin goes prone behind a level one hill to hide. I run up my Commando. They begin moving towards me with force. They retreated the Wolf Trap. This time we focus fire on their Stalker. We went internal in a few places, but no major critical on the Stalker. It took more than 120 damage and fell. Our Anvil took some damage.


Turn 3 – We lose init. they are charging at us now. I rush my Commando into a hole and go prone so they can’t see it. Several of their mechs charge up the small hill in front of my mechs, including the Hercules, Locust, BattleMaster and Javelin. They focus fire on our Banshee. Our Marauder destroys the RA, RL, RT and LA on their Locust. Our Stalker hits the ammo on theirs and it explodes and dies. Dead Stalker. Our Centurion destroys the RT of their Wolf Trap and that’s an XL Engine kill. Our Banshee falls and hits its gyro. Our Anvil falls and damages its RA hitting shoulder actuator, but now no LOF can be drawn to the Anvil.


Turn 4 – We lose init. Our position is downright under invasion. Their Dervish falls while trying to turn over ice. We stand the Banshee, run it away, and then it falls again at the end of its run. Many mechs base mine, including Hatchetman, BattleMaster, Hunchback, Javelin, and Nightsky. I target the Nightsky. Our Stalker destroys the Nightsky’s H and its down. Before it dies, it smashes the Katana’s LA and gets a limb blown off critical. Three more body parts on the Nightsky are destroyed – LL, LT and RA. Their Jav falls.

And the fighters are arriving. We took out a few of their mechs, we grab the Katana’s arm and move off under cover of Bolt Company.



Level Up

Sgt. Ricardo Hernez in the Stalker is now equipped with Edge: 1

[Abe Sargent]

Feb 28 – We believe this pirate force is the last major pirate force on the planet. We just have to take it out.

Mar 3 – We develop a plan to take it out by having a wealty mining caravan guarded by a lance of our mechs, with valuable gems. Meanwhile, in eight of the twenty five vehicles are the remaining mechs of the company. We will institute it tomorrow.

Mar 5 – Our decoy failed, they either didn’t care, didn’t know or thought it was a trap.

Mar 7 – We try another decoy in a different place, and this time, the pirates use us to strike at another marketplace and make away with stuff. It seems we have a mole in our contacts, o let the pirates know when our local unit was engaged.

Mar 9 – We secretly ship in another company to that area. We run the decoy again, and again, the pirates are no where near it. But they don’t strike either. Still, I feel they know.

Mar 12 – We run the decoy on another route for a 4th time, and this time, they move out. Before they arrive at a local warehouse district, we move out the local company, Miner Company to face their full force. They have not repaired the Locust yet, nor have they repaired the Nightsky fully either.

[Abe Sargent]

Miner Company has:



BLR-1D BattleMaster
CTF-3L Cataphract
ANV-3M Anvil
WVR-6M Wolverine

AWS-8M Awesome
ARC-2R Archer
APL-1M Apollo
GOL-1H Goliath

WTC-3D Watchman
COM-2D Commando
PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk
FS9-M Firestarter


These are there mechs again:



UrbanMech
Ostsol
Scorpion
Merlin
Hatchetman
Griffin
Dervish
BattleMaster
Archer
Shadow Hawk


Level 2 tech:

HBK-5M Hunchback
Hercules
DRG-5K Grand Dragon
JVN 10-P Javelin
JM-6DD JagerMech




This is their Hunchback, a slower well armored 50 ton mech with the biggest gun on the battlefield.

[Abe Sargent]

15 mechs we have to handle. However, as we close with their company, out from a local warehouse burst a group of vehicles and move to attack us as these foes turn on us as well. It appears that our attempt to spring a trap was reversed, and they trapped us instead!

These are their vehicles

All are level 1 tech tanks

2x Striker Light Tank
AC2 Carrier
Brutus Assault Tank
Devastator Heavy Tank
Manticore heavy Tank
Pike Support Vehicle
Saracen Medium Hover Tank
Scorpion Light Tank


This is their Merlin, the first new mech design in a long era of time, created in 3010. 60 ton mech with 4/6/4 movement, 18 heat sinks, PPC, LRM 5, Machine gun, Flamer and two medium lasers. 10.5 tons of armor.

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go!



Turn 1 – We are fighting on a map with just roads, a few buildings, and concrete off an on – no hills, rocks, trees, ice, or anything else. I set up our Archer and Apollo behind level one buildings to give them some coverage while they launch missiles. I can leave after any round. The pirates are here for the warehouses and to smash us ups up a bit. They’d rather turn and finish there than to chase us. We lose init. With many skid rolls, just one tank misses and slides into a building Our Goliath walked into and through a building and it collapses. Many of their troops are by a large fuel tank, so I order the Wolverine to fire at it. They focus fire on our BattleMaster. Our Apollo destroys the front side of their AC2 Carrier after our Archer immobilized it. We were unable to light up the Fuel Tank. Ah well. Our Cataphract destroys the LA of their Hunchback. It took more than 80 damage, fell, hit a hip and foot actuator.


Turn 2 – We win init. We had good first turn, can we build on that? I leap our Phoenix hawk next to their Pike. They charge their Saracen next to my Wolverine. Their Hunchy tumbles when it attempts to rise. A Hatchet man bases my Awesome. No skids. I unload on the Hatchetman. Our Wolvie hits the movement on their Saracen. Our Awesome gets a limb blown off crit on their Hatchetman’s LL. Our PXH hits the movement on their Pike. The Apollo nails the AC10 on their Hatchetman. The BattleMaster destroys the RL on their Hunchback. Our Cataphract destroys the RT, LT on their Hatchetman and this the engine twice. It’s dead. (Can’t stand with no arms and just one leg, has no weapons). Nothing major kick wise results.


Turn 3 – Still had a good turn, need to keep it up They focused some nice fire on our Awesome that turn. We lose init. Their Pike flees from our PXH. The Saracen pulls out as well. Don’t know why, but their Hunchy tried to stand and fell. It needs a10. Their Jav jumps on top of a building and it falls. It removes some of my building defense so it was bad for the Jav, but good for the rest of the team. They charge our position with Merlin, Jav, a few tanks. It’s tentative. Our BattleMaster smashes the front side of their Scorpion Tank. Their Dervish goes internal on my Awesome’s RT. Their Brutus and Hercules join the assault and nail a few heat sinks there. Their Scorpion hits an XL engine there. Our Goliath destroys their Hunchback;s LT and hits the gyro once. Our Cat destroys the front side of their Pike. Their UrbanMech tumbles.


Turn 4 – Part of me wants to call it before my Awesome is destroyed. There are still 12 mechs out there not counting the Hunchback and Hatchetman, and we’ve just hit the edges. I wanted to push and take out more of their military. We’ll push. We win init. I go prone with the Awesome behind a building. No one can see it from their side now. Their Saracen moves back in. They try to rise their Hunch, it fials, and the pilot blacks out. Their Urbie does stand though. Their Jav stands, forces more of the building to collapse on its way out, and skids and falls. I walk my Wolverine to their Saracen, ina flash of what happened two turns ago  Their giant tanks – Brutus, Manticore and Devastator are moving my south flank. Their Merlin bases my Wolverine. I hop out PXH next to a Striker. Their BAttleMaster joins the southern assault with the tanks. I hop the Anvil behind the Merlin and next to the Saracen. They split their assault against our Wolverine, Anvil and Cataphract. Our Commando hammers their Striker nad immobilizes it. Their BattleMaster destroys the RA of our Anvil. The Apollo destroys the LT and RA of their Urbie. Our Goliath hits its gyro once. Our Archer destroys the RL of their Javelin. Our Anvil, their Hercules, and their UrbanMech all fall. Our Wolvie kicks nad destroys the Saracen;s Front Side.

We went internal in the Cat, Anvil lost a limb, have the badly wounded Awesome, and its time to call it. We move out, and they turn around. We do not get salvage.


Hatchetman missing RT, LT, reattach LL
Hunchback missing LT, LA, RL

Pike, Saracen, AC2 Carrier, Scorpion Tank, missing front


Repair – Anvil missing RA

[Abe Sargent]

March 11 – Our foe won’t be able to get the Hunch and Hatchetman back online for a while, and their UrbanMech was badly damaged. You can only recover a tank that is destroyed side sometimes, but it doesn’t take long to do so, so if they were able to recover one of the destroyed tanks, it likely is up and running now. Remember they still have a Locust and Nightsky that were injured but could be up soon.


March 23 – Bolt Company spies their Merlin while sweeping the sky. This group has outmaneuvered us twice, so we decide to go in hard. We have three companies converging on a trio of mountains and mines about twenty seven miles from each other, and they will hold on these three exists as we move in with another battalion. The remaining battalion keep their distance, and Bolt Company is doing flyovers.

We don’t see them anywhere, and there are two major mines in the area that could house this many mechs and tanks. A scout lance holds outside of one while the entire battalion heads into another. They have multiple exits, and Bolt is flying over as well. As we enter, mines go off and blast the walls down. None of our mechs are caught in it. We circle around to anther entrance, and no mines go off. We move in, after a few minutes, Bolt sees them exiting the mine from another exit. They are all there, and we order the net to close, with the three companies on the edge to close them down.

Bolt Company keeps them from breaking up into smaller units with strafing. In thirty minutes, we have three companies of twelve mechs each plus air support surrounding a group of 16 mechs and a handful of tanks, with another battalion of mechs coming up from the mine to reinforce the position. We send them a message. We will accept their surrender, and personally escort them off planet, or we will destroy them, and turn them over to the local authorities.

They surrender and we take their military equipment, send it to Capolla, and take them out and drop them off at Outreach for employment or travel.

[Abe Sargent]

We gained these mechs and pieces:


Spider
Jackal
Axman,
Charger
Cicada


Hatamato-Hi LA, RA, H,LL, RL
Victor RA
Goliath H, RT, FRL, RRL, FLL, RLL
Centurion RA, LA, LT
Valkyrie LA, RT, RA, H, LL, RL
Firestarter LA, H, RA, RT, LL, RL
Locust H, RA, LL, RL
Javelin H, LL, RL, RT, LT, RA, LA
Commando RA
Chameleon LA, RL, RT

[Abe Sargent]

Heading to Capolla for a garrison there:


Wasp
Wolverine
Mauler
Grasshopper
Locust
Phoenix Hawk
Quickdraw
Stinger
UrbanMech
Ostsol
Scorpion
Merlin
Hatchetman
Griffin
Dervish
BattleMaster
Locust
Archer
Shadow Hawk
Wolf Trap
HBK-5M Hunchback
Hercules
DRG-5K Grand Dragon
Nightsky
JVN 10-P Javelin
JM-6DD JagerMech



2x Striker Light Tank
AC2 Carrier
Brutus Assault Tank
Devastator Heavy Tank
Manticore heavy Tank
Scorpion Light Tank

[Abe Sargent]

April 22 – Duke Essex has established a new government on Acamar. This time, it’s a democratically elected one, with the 35 mill people voting on a 9 member council with two year terms to lead them. The first elections were held a week ago, and the people voted both some nobles and some businessmen as well as a minister to the council. The people are impressed with K&C troops helping the locals rebuild, as well as Essex’s creation of Democracy. After being established, Acamar officially announces today it is joining the Celestial Coalition as an equal member. Staying behind are two battalions of troops to keep the peace, ensure there are no other pirates and to keep them away, and Bolt Company is staying here as well. Mesopotamia Battalion will leave on May 1, 3058, for a new location.


End of the First Acamar Campaign




.

[Abe Sargent]

Time to head back to January.

We use our new MechWarriors to create new companies:


Weston Company


KGC-000 King Crab, Lt. Stacy Weston, elite
TDR-5S Thunderbolt, Wan-ju Yee, veteran
CGR-1A5 Charger, Bob Madison, regular
AX-1N Axman, Ebony George, veteran


Loki A, Sgt. Hija Ngigi, elite
CTF-3L Cataphract, Lena Vasavi, regular
CLPT-C1 Catapult, Graham Nelson, regular
EXC-B2 Excalibur, Vilenina Roletsky, veteran


ALX-1KC Alexander KC Variant, Sgt. Meghan O’Malley, veteran
SDR-5V Spider, Brady Kyle, regular
SNT-04 Sentry, Sasha St. David, regular
BUM-1 Bumblebee, Natalia Kassle, regular


The Charger, Spider, Catapult and Thunderbolt are low tech mechs.

[Abe Sargent]

Utopia Company


Masakari B, Lt. Avidanta Priti, elite
BLR-1GB BattleMaster, Laura Dumas, vet
CRB-27b Crab, Radek Koliewska, regular
AX-1N Axman, Marina Neagoe, vet


MR-5M Cerberus, Sgt. Noora Muhtadi, elite
WHM-7M Warhammer, Mark Sedgwick, veteran
CLPT-C1 Catapult, Mathew Intatano, regular
Griffin IIc, Minerva López, elite


ALX-1KC Alexander KC Variant, Sgt. Leslie Jackson, elite
CMT-1 Comet, Hi De, regular
STG-3G Stinger, Ansoain Stiteller, regular
BUM-1 Bumblebee, Lutoslaw Bryk, veteran


These mechs are level one: Catapult, Comet and Stinger . The Griffin IIc and Masakari are clan.

[Abe Sargent]

I don’t have good mechs or men for a third company that’s well rounded. I have solid mechs such as Alexander, Bumblebee, Warhammer, Striker, Dragon, Centurion, Gunslinger, and a few other modern ones. I also have some fringe ones I could force in, such as Rifleman, Stalker, Goliath, a new tech Trebuchet with a weak XL engine, and some others. But the problem is that I don’t have any more scout mechs left of quality. I have tons of crappy Locusts, Wasps, and Stingers, but I don’t want to keep sending out those generally weaker mech designs over solid Javelins, Jenners, Spiders, Watchman, and others. I also have Panthers and UrbanMechs, but Urbies suck and the Panthers are good mech but hard to secure a spot in a modern company. Plus, I have used up our graduating class and some recruits, so a third company would be mostly regular and green pilots of uncertain quality. That’s not what I want for K&C. For now, these two companies are assigned to Delta Regiment, Braham Essex’s old unit, which has been given to newly promoted Colonel Conner Ward.


One of the negative things about where we have gone is the distinct lack of information about how to run a state like this. I was hoping that Combat Operations would have it in the strategic game, but it’s more like board game mechanics than anything else - empires get a certain number of points each month, and have to spend them on upkeep, moving troops, the economy, and so forth. It’s a simplified set of mechanics.

They’ve been discussing a book entitled Interstellar Operations for a while now. It has no release date, and they have been working on it for at least two years. My hope is that we could get some rules with it. Here are the sorts of things I am looking for – how many C bills does a planet make or industries make? How much does it cost to build an academy? I just guessed. How much does it cost to upkeep a WarShip? There are mentions that it’s a lot, but it doesn’t seem so. Why are prices of ships so much different in sourcebooks then from now? (For example the Leopard CV is worth 60 mill in TRO 3057, but more than 150 million in later sources). What about planetary defenses such as orbiting satellites, and stations? How much do they cost to upkeep and build? What about upkeeping a recharge station, like we have at some of our systems? What about building and repairing local infrastructure after it is damaged in battle, such as train tracks and Drop Ports. What about espionage? What about people and media and keeping locals happy? These rules simply don’t exist in BattleTech. This has always been a war game or RPG, and anything that helps with those two is in bounds. Management of stuff isn’t here.

This stuff is in our game systems. Want to build a castle in D&D? There are detailed rules. Want to run a Barony? Check out the rules for running them in the Companion Rules Book for D&D. They even have ways to determine what exports come from a place and how much gold it makes every turn. Those rules simply don’t exist in BattleTech. This is important for a campaign such as this. If I sell a BattleMech, can I build a house? A warehouse? A compound? Military barracks? Medical facilities?

How do I run this campaign now that my main character, Duke Essex, runs a nation of four systems? I’d love rules that would let us know. Do we have enough money to hire mercenaries to garrison worlds? It’s just impossible to tell. This is the one area of BattleTech that I wish had more info out there.

So, with this lack of information, what do we do? I gave myself the lower price on the Leopard CVs because I didn’t want to give my unit triple that figure. (To be fair, those prices seem a little low. A 100 ton level 1 tech aerospace fighter costs 6-10 million based on what equipment it carries but the level one tech 1720 ton Leopard CV, which carries six fighters, only costs 60 million? I just did some research in the Tech Manual I have and it seems that the 150ish million is much closer to the actual price of the Leopard CV, so let’s just assumed that we got 300 mil land invested 200 in the academy, headquarters, and so forth)

Do I just focus on the warfare aspect of the dynasty, and ignore the political, administrative and economic aspects? BattleTech seems to. They used to have a lot of information on supply lines and vehicles such as Ordinance Trucks, Coolant Vehicles, Mobile HQ, Mobile med units, and so forth to keep your supply line. No modern day book has that sort of thing. It’s just sort of assumed that you are doing It and protecting it. In both the fiction and the video games, people constantly attack supply lines – which is a basic rule of warfare - but we sort of ignore it in game. Sure logistics isn’t. sexy, but it is a layer of realistic info that would make for a nice additional layer to the game, but which we don’t get that often. Even looking at campaign rules about things such as BattleMech repair and field refits and jury rigging, we still don’t have enough info for the long haul, and it’s all just rules and charts, with no real battle presence. Will I have to spend 100,000 C Bills to replace it ir just 5k repairing it, let’s find out! Can I replace this medium laser with two smalls? Let’s find out! You still don’t have very many stats for the mobile machinery of engineering which can be assaulted mid repair or mid refit. Again, attacking a group while repairing makes a lot of battlefield sense, but we don’t have those rules easily running around.

I guess, because we lack these rules, we’ll just keep it at the level we currently have.

[Abe Sargent]

January 20 – 3058 -Duke Essex takes a meeting with Humphries family. Just as they have been giving money to the Styk Commonality to keep planets out of Liao hands, they want to “invest” in us. We agree, and will use Humphries money for military costs.

January 21 – Braham Essex announces an aggressive reconstruction campaign on Capolla, Terra Firma, and Acamar replace and repair damaged infrastructure from the recent battles.


January 28 – A lot of experimental technology is now hitting the market in terms of weaponry, armor and more. Over this year and the next, a lot of Inner Sphere versions of Clan Tech will become available, such as LB2, 5 and 20 Xs, Ultra AC2, 5 and 20, SRM 4 and 6 streak, ER Medium and Small lasers, and more. We will also see new armors, new missiles, and so forth.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT January 30, 3058 – In order to bloody her Clan, regain their good name, Khan Pryde orders her troops to cross into Lyran space. They begin to strike several worlds.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT February 12. 3058 – While trying to reach Smoke Jaguar space to discuss an alliance against the Falcons for their incursion, a jump of Katrina Steiner’s puts her ship in Wolf’s taskforce where she is captured, man a bondsman, and will alter meet with Khan Vlad Ward and forge a Wolf/Lyran alliance. A news blackout is declared so Victor Steiner-Davion will not know of the new Falcon incursion into Steiner Space or what is happened with Katrina.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT February 28, 3058 – After consolidating their forces, the Word of Blake Centauri Lancers begin battle on Terra, along with guerrilla attacks by operatives on planet, and a virus inserted into the defense computer. Meanwhile, Blake forces jump into the system. In a few days, after fighting their way through the weakened defenses now focused on battle below, they manage to land and assault Terra

[Abe Sargent]

March 1 – After spending some time re-gathering his mechs and units, he has been talking with various local leaders, and one is particularly upset.

Duke Benson Abraham governs the nearby planet of Epsilon Indi. Still loyal to House Davion, he has been doing what he can again the problems in his world. Epsilon Indi was devastated by nuclear fallout in the last few centuries, and the Capellan rulers did little. Since taking over, the FedCom supported several projects to reclaim land and develop the economy. After discovering several major untapped mineral resources, the development if Indi continued. From 3035 to 3050, the population doubled and the hardy people continued to hammer at the stubborn planet to yield its secrets.

This growing prosperity brought a lot of attention from Sun Tzu Liao and his Zhanzheng de guang intelligence and rebels. They struck hard, taking several cities on planet. The locals formed massive counter-insurgency groups and struck hard against the Liao forces and recaptured a few towns. A Marik backed mercenary unit is still on planet even though Operation Guerrero ended some time ago, and it is reinforcing the Capellan position. They are the Lagendorf Lancers. The major defnse of KRist, a major mining center which is well defended, has become the key battle on planet, as the local defenders of the Epsilon Indi Irregulars are based here. The Irregulars have outdated mechs, local infantry and tanks, and nothing too damaging against the mercs and the Cap forces still on planet. While KRist has not yet fallen, each attack brings the Liao forces closer to breaking through.

Duke Abraham has tried to get aid from Davion, and he has asked for aid from various Marshal, the military, and Victor. No one is coming. Eyes are not on the Chaos March. He has looked into hiring mercenaries, but he cannot get a high enough quality of troop or enough numbers to fight against the Capellans on planet. If a major force does not arrive quickly, they will lose the planet. Various force reports verify this.

Essex agrees to send aid. He also does not require Duke Abraham to join the Celestial Coalition if they win. “That’s what those idiots on the thrones do.”

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the First Epsilon Indi Campaign


March 25 – Our troops arrive and land on Epsilon Indi. The Capellans have bought out the Lancer’s contract, and now are the ones administering them officially. We look at reports on the lancers. They are a regiment of BattleMechs, poorly run. They are regular, and have attitude problems with their staff. They prefer long drawn out defensive campaigns in order to reduce losses. Their battle commander is uninspired. If we can force them to take heavy losses quickly, we can demoralize them ad keep pushing until they are off the field.

They have just a few wings of green aerospace fighters. Their allies are the local Epsilon Indo Freedom Brigade, the forces gathered by the Liao units, and they are a large infantry unit. They are not currently fighting with the Lancers, but are allied with them.

We captured the area around the planet by deploying our Vengeance and its 40 fighters. It enabled us to do a hot combat drop to hit the Lancers as fast as possible and smash them. We have not secured the LZ, but are clearing it with a few fighters and landing virtually on top of them.

We dispatched Delta Regiment. Because Flame Battalion is currently on Terra Firma, we have just eight companies, with the two new ones – Utopia and Weston joining. To reinforce them, we have also sent Catapult Company, a aerospace company, to aid us. Plus, we have dispatched a super special surprise and given Conner Ward permission to use it if necessary. The Fury Unbound will leave in a few days to head back out and assist elsewhere, but for now blasts the local fighters.

[Abe Sargent]

Here are our Companies – Utopia, Weston, Shadow, Sealion, Bruiser, Aegis, Shield and Chainmail.

After dropping hot, several companies have their presence protested. The first is Aegis Company.

Daishi Prime
Man o War H
GAL-1GLS Gallowglas
ON1-K Orion

GUN-1ERD Gunslinger
DAI-01 Daikyu
TBT-7A Trebuchet
ARC-2R Archer

STY-3C Starslayer
STG-3G Stinger
SDR-5V Spider
ASN-40 Assassin

We have two clan mechs, about five elite pilots, and a few vets and regulars.

Our Foes

ON1-M Orion
PXH-3M Phoenix Hawk
Albatross
Apollo
WVR-7M Wolverine
WSP-3M Wasp
VUL-5M Vulcan
Anvil
Hammer
Battle Hawk
Wraith
AS7-K Atlas


Because of their decades-longstanding contract with Marik, they have a lot of Marik mechs, and upgraded tech. Since they were not fighting the clans, Marik spent a lot of money to not only send refits to the FC and DC but also to refit their own mechs. After all, they spent no money on rebuilding units or planets.


This is their Albatross, an odd 95 ton mech which feels like it has everything but the kitchen sink. Among its weapons are an LB 10x AC, LRM 15, er large laser, large pulse laser, srm 6, and two medium lasers. It has an XL engine that moves it 4/6 CCASE to protect the ammo, 14/28 heat sink, and just 13 tons of normal armor.

[Abe Sargent]

They will retreat after losing just a few mechs.

We are fighting by hills, and rocks. No plants.


Turn 1 – We only have level 1 hills and level 1 depressions. We lose initiative. We don’t move any of our four fire support mechs – Daikyu, Archer, Trebuchet and Gunslinger. We hop our Stinger above their Vulcan, who also jumped. Our missile weapons focus on tehe nearby Albatross, and our smash mechs on the nearby Orion. Their Anvil destroys our Stinger’s CT and it is destroyed permanently. Our Starslayer hits an engine on the Albatross once. After taking more than 120 damage, it tumbles.


Turn 2 – We win init. A few of their mechs go overheat, including the Phoenix Hawk. They retreat their Orion. Their Albatross falls when it tries to stand and stays on the ground. Their Atlas begins to approach my fire support mech’s position now that one of the guardians, the Stinger, it gone. Our Spider hops to their Orion. Our Assassin does as well. I move the Man O War to just two hexes away from the Orion too. Our Archer destroys the LT on their Albatross and it shuts down. Their Atlas destroys the LA on our Archer. Our Man o War destroys the LA of their Orion. Their Atlas falls. Our Archer took more than 80 damage but did not tumble. We kick and destroy the RL of the Orion and it falls hard.

Turn 3 – We lose init. I order the Man O War to move on from the downed Orion. It tries to stand but fails. The Atlas stands and runs closer though. They hop their PXH next and above of our Daishi. We have flanked them with our smash lance on the east flank. We have successfully pincered them. They begin to move their mechs into a retreating position, and will probably leave after this round. Our Gunslinger gets a limb blown off on the Atlas RA. Our Daikyu destroys its Rt and it shuts down, too many engine hits. Their Orion hits the hip and foot on our Spider. Our daishi destroys their Phoenix hawks LA, LT and shuts down the mech with engine hits. Our Gallowglas destroys their Battle hawks RT and its shuts down. Our Orion hits the engine and gyro twice each on it. Our Man O War’s Ultra AC 10 destroys the RT of their Orion and it shuts down too.

In one turn, we have destroyed four of their mechs and five total. They quickly retreat. Our Spider fell, but nothing else. We are unable to get a mech to replace the Stinger from this salvage, so Aegis is running at 11 mechs right now. Archer we can fix from our parts and supplies in a few days.

[Abe Sargent]

Stinger H, LT, RT, LA, RA, LL, RL
Archer missing LA

Albatross, missing LT
Atlas, missing RT.
Phoenix Hawk, missing LA, LT
Battle Hawk, missing RT, reapir gyro, engine
Orion, missing RT, RL, LA