The BattleTech Dynasty - Chapter 8, Brother Against Sister - 3062-3067 - COMPLETE!!!!

[Abe Sargent]

They have lost a valuable asset, and want it back.

During the Black Dragon attack via the Combine on the Bears, the Dragon absconded with some naval assets that they used to attack the Bears. They never came back. Initially the DCMs chalked it up to the Ghost Bear Dominion having captured them, or destroyed them.

However, it recently seems that neither happened.

Instead, on an assault to the Ghost Bear system of Alshain, apparently, some of the units ended up in the border system of Tinaca, one jump from Alshain, and one jump from Mualang, held by the Combine. Apparently a JumpShip and its DropShips are in the system, at a far away pirate point, and unknown by Ghost Bear. The Combine can’t risk sending in someone under their flag with tensions as nasty as they are, so they are looking for a nice merc to head in and grab it.



Our target is 4 Jumps away from Dawn.

[Abe Sargent]

2 February, 3066 – We launch into the Tinaca system, at the same pirate point that is expected. Meanwhile, at the same time, we launch at the zenith point in the system.


One group is the Odyssey JumpShip with our:

2 Unions, fully fleshed out with two companies of mechs.
Gazelle, with a full company of tanks

At the pirate point is the Odyssey with:

Union, fully fleshed out
Buccaneer cargo ship
Carrier, with ten fighters

Our first unit will try to land onto the planet and do one of our Trials, and divert attention, with the second to secure the area and find out what happened.

Before launching, here is what we know of our target:

Chimeisho JumpShip (A special new JS made for the Combine and the DCMS) Which has 4 ER Large Lasers and 4 Large Pulse Lasers – 2 Drop Ship capacity, and it has a LF Battery as well.

4 small craft – Should be shuttles

Overlord C, clan refit of Overlord captured in Operation Bulldog from Smoke Jaguar: carries up to 45 mechs, no additional mechs known to be stolen though, uncertain if mechs were abroad when it arrived in Tinaca or not

Upgraded Achilles Assault ship to be an escort, with t 2 fighters and small craft. It was believed to have two Sai fighters on board, as well as two shuttles.

That is what it is expected that is there. This group left Dragon space around four years ago. What has been happening since?

[Abe Sargent]

Magnus is grafted safcon by the local Ghost Bear forces. Because we are on the border with the Combine, even if just one world is one jump away, the 10th Bear Cuirassiers are here on planet. A part of Ghost Bear’s Omega Galaxy, regular, reliable, 60% of full strength right now, normally they’d have four trinaries. (60 mechs) but they have around 40 or so. They’re rebuilding after the war, they savaged the Nova Cat holdings in the war a few years ago.


They haven’t had any battles against anyone outside of Tinaca ever since the war ended a few years ago, and they are chomping at the bit.

6 February, 3066 – We land on Tinaca and initiate a batchall for a Trial of Possession for a full star, 25, of Elemental battle suits.

The units are hanging out and getting ready for the Trial in two days. Magnus, as a former Ghost Bear, spends time catching up on the latest information (non-sensitive) of the clan.

8 February, 3066 – We have the Trial for today

Because the Bear is rebuilding here, they don’t want to lose a lot of mechs. They don’t mind a star of empty Elemental Armor. That’s easily replaceable. We agree to give them our captured Kingfisher Prime if we lose. That’ll help them rebuild one more mech. They dropped to less than 50% in 3063, and have rebuilt slowly over the last 3 years.

As such, they will not be fighting today with mechs. Nor fighters. Nor Elementals. Instead, they agree to fight, unaugmented, in a Circle of Equals, with their leader defending the Elementals. Their Star Colonel is an Elemental. Therefore we need an Elemental’s sized person to face him.

Their Star Colonel is a veteran, and we have that elite Elemental we captured from Falcon, so she’ll step up and face him in the Trial of Possession. Our tanks, mechs, and so forth are out and arrayed to watch the battle. We have one squad of Elementals here, and we can use her to defeat him (the other squad with the other mission)


Due to the experience difference, I am giving us a 1-4 on a d6 chance of winning, and them a 5 or a 6. Odd are in our favor and we roll a 1.

Yay!

We have defeated their Star Colonel today, our Elemental knocked him out. We won 25 suits of Armor.

We have the captured 17 Elementals that are currently not with armor take up 15 of these suits immediately to give us three more points of Battle Armor.

[Abe Sargent]

The next day, Ghost Bears issues a Trial of Possession. They want to retake Magnus as their bondsman to return to their clan. They issued a batchall.

Magnus will defend himself in his Kodiak, and allows them to bid as they choose.

Meanwhile we decide to take a point of Elementals as bondsmen if they lose. That’s 5 that would join us, to wear the armor we captured.


10 February, 3066 –

Our Kodiak takes the field in a enclosed structure they use for local Trials


Their Gladiator A, piloted by their veteran pilot, is actually a bit worse than our pilot.

Our Bv is 6556. Theirs is 5664

They have a 95 ton mech with 4/8 movement and MASC, 19/38 heat, and it features 259 points of armor, 3 large pulse lasers, 4 er medium lasers, and a pair of machine guns. That;s a better movement by far, so they might win by out maneuvering.

Meanwhile, other than concrete and a circular map, this is a flat, open area.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We lose init and charge. They charge back and we are ten hexes apart. We need 7s for the Ultra AC 20 and ER Mediums.

We miss the first Ultra shell but crack with the second (As a reminder, we have the rule where an ultra is simply two attacks, rather than one attack, and then roll to see how many shells hit, which makes no sense really). It smashes their LA. Meanwhile we paint with two more lasers. They hit with all three large pulses and no one falls.

Turn 2 – We lose and charge, they follow suit and base our right flank. I turn and carve them with the Ultra AC 20 twice. Once was just a glancing shot though (just ten damage, not twenty). We stab with some lasers and just carve off 60+ damage on them. They smash hammer us back and stab out with pulses and mediums and machine guns, every weapon they fire hits. We aren’t internal anywhere though, so yay on that. We deal 60 exactly to them, they dealt 44 back. That’s a win for us that turn, match wise.


Turn 3 – We win and they turn and fade backing away so we can’t get into their rear arc. So we charge them this time.

Ultra AC20 just smashes their RL and opens it, and someone lost a foot actuator! Meanwhile we open their CT with the other shell. SRM6 streaks follow later and knife their damages areas once each for a hit on an engine in their CT. Unfortunately, they get lucky twice. First, they get a through armor critical on our left arm. Then they get an limb blown off crit and its on the ground. They didn’t even do that much damage to us that turn – this as the first they actually missed with a weapon.

Their mech falls. Ours does not.

Turn 4 – We lose init and pull back. They rise and MASC to our no-longer-armed Left Side in order to concentrate more fire on it.

Fire spits the AC20, and it hits once for 20 on their LA and cracks it open. No crit, but its barely there. Then our follow up weapons spurt on it, and we destroys their LA, and then hit an engine again in the CT. They savage our wounded left side, go internal, and destroys an SRM6 launcher


Neither fall

They are overheating.

Turn 5 – We lose init and pull back and they charge in. We destroyed their pulse lasers (they were in the LA), so all they have left is 4 mediums and machine guns. Our Ultra firs its last two shells and one hits for 20 on their LL and its done. We pepper a few other places, and we nailed the LT, and hit their MASC. Their mech hits us a bit, but it’s more like ants. Their mech falls.


Turn 6 – We lose init and I move to a better angle. They turn to face us. They fire their lasers and smash our LT and hit the SRM6 ammo and it ignites, and the torso section of ours is gone. But our 8 medium lasers and an SRM6 streak just obliterate parts of their mech, and they lose a LA and we hit another engine, in their LT, and it shuts down.

We fall. And then we win.


Their Gladiator – enginex3, missing LL. LA



Us – Reattach LA, missing LT



Magnus will remain with us, and we gained a group of 5 elementals as bondsman

[Abe Sargent]

16 February, 3066 – After getting things refitted, repaired, and a few smaller Trials between techs and such (lower caste Trials often involve non-fighting Trials, such as darts or cards or something). We blast off from Tinaca

21 February, 3066 – Magnus jumps from Tinaca back to the rally point in Mualang System. We had to run radio silent in the system in order to keep things from being noticed, so we have no idea if they will have completed their mission when we jump back in….


So let’s rewind and find out.

[Abe Sargent]

February 2, 3066 – The second Odyssey, Endless Revival, has arrived here and we placed Dagger
in charge of this expedition. We moved mechs around so that she has a company of jump mechs, in case she can go outside, and a unit of Elementals as well.

We send out scanners and note that the expected JumpShip, with Drops on it is nearby. It’s about a half hour by fighter and DropShip.

We scan their ship, and then hail them. We are more than a week from the main planet, and about two from the jumppoints, so nothing will be coming in. We don’t need to start charging, we can jump anytime (KF Battery). We don’t unfurl the Jump Sail, don’t want to risk getting it damaged in a battle.

Electrical seems to be working, life signs are coming from their unit, and they’re unresponsive to our hail. So we head out in full force, with our Union and Carrier, and fighters unfurling.

After 25 minutes or so, we close enough to visual range that we can see some lights working in detail, but some are out, and there’s some flickering. Could there be electrical problems on board? It’s coming from the JumpShip, not the Drops.

We arrive, with our 10 fighters, and DropShips. We do flybys and no one notices, and we see nothing unusual – no damage, or scorch marks or anything.

Anything from a trap to pirates, from electrical problems to a biohazard disease come to mind and we try to get past some of them, with our scans and such. There are no points of entry on the Chimeisho, and it’s not firing on us.

We unload the Elementals and they lift off, and we do the same with a lance of mechs. Soon Dagger’s Starslayer is joined by two others and a Highlander. They land and explore and their Elementals do as well.

After moving around, we find a port hole, and open it. Inside, nothing. One of the Starslayers opens it up more and moves in, and we see nothing – no people or signs of anything, but the lights are on, and flickering.

We head into the area, and the Elementals flank out into smaller areas.

[Abe Sargent]

Then all of the sudden we hear the crack of small arms fire. Not even major weapons, like a pistol or a flechette weapon. They are firing at two Elementals who are undamaged. We order them to retreat back to us anyway, and they still refuse to answer our hails.

Dagger orders more mechs to jump over and two Shadow Cats, a Catapult, and a Highlander follow. They wait until the second lance crosses space and arrives, and then move down. A Starslayer moves out and is fired at by small arms fire again.

We can see a handful of people attacking the Starslayer. It has all of the effect of attacking my desk with noodles. It won’t even scratch the paint. Okay, it will do that. But nothing more!

We move forward, cautiously scanning for mines and traps, ambushes and more, but none are here in the JumpShip.

After pushing back the locals, we notice they have the same hair style, clothes, and have made jewelry to wear as a bracelet on their left arm, looking very similar. Hmm.


We push back the folks and they retreat after not impacting our mech. We keep exploring and find more people dressed identically and popping out and firing small arms fire at us. Meanwhile, it’s clear that the JumpShip’s systems are not working well, as power is completely out on a few decks.

Explorations onto the two DropShips – Achilles and Overlord C reveal similar situations. Power, but we are similar attacked on both ships by the same sort of folks, but with different clothes, hairstyles, and clothing on each. Did they form gangs or something?

After hours of work we capture all of the antagonistic folks here and do two more searches. We imprison them in the Buccaneer cargo spaces – very cold and uncomfortable, but we put one group in each space, and they aren’t attacking each other within the group and we have removed their weapons and such. We scan the ship to make sure none others are there, then we return to do a full investigation.

[Abe Sargent]

February 5, 3066 – We have jacked our power system into theirs and restored it, and unfurled their JumpSail and begin to get them ready.

Meanwhile, our guess was spot on. They were supposed to arrive at this pirate point along with other units about to hit Alshain, but this one never jumped out. It’s electric system was hurt jumping into the area. Upon arrival, it was damaged, and they were unable to repair it, and that prevented them from getting their jump sail out, and the attack was already underway, and the Alshain Avengers were supposed to come back and collect them after the battle. But all four units were destroyed, and every soldier of the unit was killed by the Combine for treason, and they apparently didn’t give up this unit.

Over the next year, it seems the three groups become increasingly territorial about their areas. The people, incusing a squad of infantry on the Achilles were the worst, and then the others followed quickly. By the time we had arrived, they had socially devolved into gang warfare, territorial stuff, and many folks have become insane due to being in those conditions for three years


But, on board the Overlord C is a full battalion, including a command lance, of pristine, fresh Combine mechs. Only a few were opened up for supplies and such, such as command chairs, and that’s it. Meanwhile the Achilles was made pimpier and more comfortable over time, and it’s nice. Only one room was really dirtied up, as the nastiest latrine you ever saw. They used the Shuttles for additional space and it’s really nice the. The JumpShip, missing its electricity, and the battleground in the middle, is just hit, and it’ll take months to clean and refit.

So, the good news is that we can return all of this stuff to the DCMS and they will get all happy.

Now we could squirrel away some of the stuff that’s here. An Achilles DropShip is a huge boon to our growing navy, and they have pair of fighters, some small craft, and mechs we could take easily enough. But no, this is an Extraction Raid, and it will work marvelously.

But it will take longer to recharge the sails this far out.

[Abe Sargent]

February 24, 3066 – We blast out, and both JumpShips arrive in Mualang.

March 2, 3066 – We land and meet with the local DCMS officials that were awaiting our arrival. We turn over all of the units we took, the prisoners we captured, and more. They are quite surprised to find 40 mechs that they wrote off as destroyed years ago, as well as a nice JumpShip and a pair of DropShips. Everything works.

They notice everything is order, and we took nothing from the JumpShip or its escorts.

We make 32.5 million CBills for a dangerous extraction raid against the clans after expenses.

Meanwhile we gained a salvaged Gladiator, 25 Elemental armor plus 5 soldiers for them.

It was a total win. Sure, we could have just left with the lost Combine military assets, or stole some of our own. But why? I’d rather have the DropShips and JumpShip than the mechs inside.


Of course ,this is always one of the issues with being a mercenary. We got around 40 million in pay. 32 is profit. That’s not bad for what ended up being basically non-combat pay, but it could have been. That’s the cost of like 2 expensive LosTech mechs or a lance of mechs of all sorts, averaging 10 mill per unit. Many recent mechs are actually at that 25-30 mill range, but you can get lots for cheaper, so you get the idea.

Meanwhile, they gained, 40 mechs, again, lets average that at 10 mill per, plus the various things. Hold, let me grab a calculator.

Chimeisho – 1.14 billion
Overlord C – 404 million
Upgraded Achilles – 553 million

Result?

2.549 billion CBills. (That includes shuttles and fighters)

And we made 32 million after costs

The DCMS made out, and we didn’t

This is the problem with being a merc, and it’s one of the reasons so many units fold. We have an A+ Dragoons rating that drove up our deal. We made millions more money because of it. Another unit? They might have brought in 18 mill after expenses.

Now again, we didn’t end up with a challenge of any sort. This was a pancake at the end of the day. The clans never noticed we were there and there was no on site battle. But what if the clans had captured it years ago? What if they found us there? What if the ships were run by pirates? Or angry Alshain Avengers out for revenge? Lots of possibilities emerge. But all we had was they did their best Road Warrior impression.



But man, the side looks heavily slanted on the DCMS side you know.

[Abe Sargent]

Magnus asks for a little extra, maybe they could give us the Sai fighters or some mechs or something. But they just smile like we are idiots.

“After the stunt you guys pulled on Quentin last year, you owe us.”

“Wait, wait. What happened on Quentin was done by the Celestial Coalition, not us. Don’t get us confused. That was the Coalition’s action.” Magnus reminds them.

“When your ruler and your CO are the same guy, trust us, it’s the same thing.”

“Look at it this way. You wanted us, a mercenary unit, under your employ, to grab your stuff from Bear space, because you are not the same as us, and that way, you keep what happens at arm’s length. You can’t operate as if the merc and the house are two different things right now, and then not give our mercenary unit the same courtesy in regards to Quentin a few months ago.”

They don’t look convinced, so ah well. It’s always worth the try.

(What happened at Quentin? Guess you’ll just have to find out when we rewind this dynasty all back and nasty like!)

[Abe Sargent]

We investigate if there are any other contracts from anyone. Combine? Maybe Ghost Bear? Nova Cat? Anyone?

Nope, nothing really major going on right now in Combine space, everyone is rebuilding and such from the Black Dragon society’s nasty-fication.



Mar 4, 3066 – We blast off from Mualang.

June 15, 3066 – Aided by LF batteries and recharge stations, we arrive at Epsilon Eridani and begin to unload all of the things we captured in the second part of the campaign.

[Abe Sargent]

What are we finally walking away with, the second time?


Mad Cat
Turkina
Kingfisher
Masakari
Night Gyr
Fire Falcon
Dragonfly
Vulture x3
Black Lanner
Grizzly
Arcas
Ursus
Vixen
Warhammer Iic
Kraken
Spiritx2
Rifleman Iic
Hellhound
Peregrine
Griffin Iic
2x Baboon
Guillotine Iic
Great Wyrm
Pinion
Gladiatorx2
Man o War
Behemoth

That’s a lot of mechs!

5 veteran bondman, 18 regular bondsman, 2 elite bondsman mech warriors join us – this is in addition to the pilots who joined Liberty Battalion.

[Abe Sargent]

What about Larsen Company?

Larsen Company was given these mechs:

Vixen
Hellhound
Griffin IIc
Uller A
Koshi Prime

Figured they should get some lighters units to speed up and flesh out their unit. They also got a trio of Brutus Assault Tanks from Kressly.

3 squads of Elementals will remain with Liberty Battalion, they got used to fighting with each other.



The 10 omnifighters on the Carrier are made into Spear Binary, which will keep the clan fighters, pilots, and organization system.


Our Unit:

2x Avar
2x Turk
Jengiz
2x Jagatai
2x Sulla
Scytha


All regular clan pilots.


K&C sends the final remittance to Diamond Shark for the Red Eyrie and that will be ready at the end of 3067.

[Abe Sargent]

I tried to bring in changes to the clans where possible, to indicate the ongoing climate and culture there. For example, no known edict was issued by Khan Pryde that we discussed in here, with Falcons manipulating, cheating, and defrauding their own honor and systems. But this is an ongoing issue with Falcon. I’ll give you two canonical examples:

A Trial of Bloodright is issued for a Falcon-only Bloodname, and due to genetic exchanges with other clans, a ristar of another clan is able to claim it, and arrives to the Trial, but his DropShip is held up due to inspections by Falcon because of “possible contaminants” in the DropShip, and then after he arrives late, and they are into the second round of the Trial already, he issues a Trial of Grievance to get himself back in, and they hand him a Linebacker omnimech that mysteriously blows up during the battle and it dies, they claim an electronic glitch killed him. Clearly, the Falcon didn’t want him to participate, in fear that their Bloodname would be outside of their clean.

Another incident happens in 3067 when Steel Viper, back in the homeworlds, is winning a Trial of Possession against a Falcon holding, and the Falcons launch a massive amount artillery right into the Viper’s unit, defeating it. The artillery was not a part of the bid, nor was it the next highest bid, and in fact, was not listed among the defender’s assets, so it was a clearly violation of all things honorable. Which is exactly the trick they tried to pull with us and the Elementals, so this is a clear theme that the Falcons are doing that I wanted to tie into, their ongoing loss of honor.

Ghost Bear is moving more and more towards uniting themselves with Rasalhague, and Wolf is just trying to survive, caught between the two powerful states, and they refused to use, as an example, any of the IS Factories they captured, because they were lesser and tainted. They were split in half when Wolf-in-Exile left, and then lost to Falcon a few times, and they just lost against Falcon during the Incursion, when they struck against the Falcon’s back, and the Falcon grabbed four worlds of their own to the Wolf’s three. Meanwhile, they are using politics to keep themselves solvent. They ceded three worlds to Hell Hounds along the border to Ghost bear, two enemies that hated each other, and then let them go at it, rather than have the bear Book askance at Wolf.

So you saw Clan Wolf sort of avoid a Trial with us and just gave us passage to the other side of their territory. They didn’t avoid it completely, when we landed to issue a formal batchall, they could not avoid it, but they had just a quick one on one match up, and then traded for the fighters and pilots rather than fight another Trial for it. They aren’t cowards, but they are still in a strong rebuilding mode, and you saw precisely that.


Meanwhile, you saw Diamond Shark as its own best friend, playing all sides off to the glory of Shark. They have created tons of deals with local companies and states in the 3060s, and thus helping us out was no big thing. They laughed off a Trial and just sold us stuff. They made deals that made them money.

All four clans are here in this campaign, and hopefully being realistically shown.


Meanwhile, one of the major trends in the clans is a heavy home world vs Inner Sphere clan battle, as the warden vs crusader was ultimately won by the wardens and the destruction of the Jaguars. Ghost Bear was the first clan to relocate to the Inner Sphere completely abandoned the homeworlds, and Nova Cat was censured off, and now other clans are following the bears lead, quietly. Diamond Shark. Snow Raven. Hell’s Horses. Ice Hellion.

[Abe Sargent]

And that concludes the Clan part of this campaign. We will now do a mega-time travel back to late 3063….



END OF THE CLAN CAMPAIGN

[Abe Sargent]

September 23, 3063 – A mercenary unit calling itself the 48th has unloaded here on Epsilon Eridani. They have a contract with a a local company, and they apparently did an Extraction Raid for them. We do some checking, the 48th just appeared in the Chaos March about three years ago, and have refused to register with the MRBC over at Outreach. In fact, the 48th have never even been to Outreach, it seems like the only time they went outside of the Chaos March to find a contract, it was to Galatea, and then they got a deal and came right back to the March. They’ve done contracts with local nobles, short term security deals, raids, those sorts of things, but no major garrison work or anything. This is the first time they did work for someone here on EE though.

Duke Essex has Chief Foster do some more digging. The unit keeps to themselves, and has revealed pretty much nothing about itself to its employers. They have a Clan Overlord DropShip, a battalion of mechs of, mostly but not exclusively, Combine make, and they are light and medium, with very fast units, and they appear to have some clan weapons on their mechs or a few clan mechs here and there. We contact some previous employers and they say that the 48th appears to be extremely honorable and capable. There was one contract done for the Ridzik Brothers over at Hall where they were involved in a ambushed with crossfire in a city, by mechs, and they immediately exposed themselves to shut down that fighting as quickly as possible ,and minimize the local damage.

Those are exactly the sort of people we are looking to bring on, so Duke Essex asks to set up a meeting with the 48th CO.

September 29th, 3063 – Duke Essex meets with the 48ths CO, Major Namihito. We would like to discuss hiring the 48th to a contract and He tells Essex that they have two contracts lined up, two Raids to do for local Chaos March worlds, and then he would be happy to negotiate with the Coalition. Duke Essex inquires, gently, honorably, about wanting to register their contract with the MRBC, but is also gently, and completely, refused.

The 48th will leave EE in a week or so.

[Abe Sargent]

November 4, 3063 – Vicore has produced a major redesign of the Shadow Hawk for the modern market and has sold the blueprints to Lang, as well as agreed to help Lang refit their production line, and open up another.

The new design is called the Shadow Hawk SHD-5C.



Shadow Hawk SHD-5C

55 tons
5/8/5 movement
Light Engine
10 tons of Ferro Fib armor 96% protection
13/26 heat
2 Medium lasers
SRM 6
1 Rotary AC5
1 ER Small Laser


BV of 1699
Cost of 8.6 mill CBills

Lang expects these two, with Vicore help, to begin production in April, 3064, in 7 months.

[Abe Sargent]

14 November, 3063 – We finally get a good deal on another aspect of technology. A couple of years ago, the Lyran Alliance stole the Light Engine technology from Blackwell Industries. Last year, they begun to field mechs made from this stolen tech. A few months later, Blackwell reciprocated by selling the tech, for the first time, to enemies of Katrina including the Combine and the Free Worlds League. They have also agreed to sell it to Kressly Warworks Inc, right here in the Celestial Coalition to continue to press Katie’s buttons. A common theme it seems.

So, using the light engine, and the access we have gained to MRM missiles, KWI has finished designing their newest model of ‘Mech.

Buckshot
70 tons
5/8 movement via Light Engine
Endo and Ferro-Fib
MRM 30
ER PPC
14/28 heat
2 ER Medium lasers
CASE for 2 tons of ammo
11.5 tons of armor
13.4 million CBills

Good speed, 94% armor protection, MRM and ER PPC are a good match with the pair of lasers as backups. It could use more penetrating weapons. 1739 Battle Value.


The speed and armor on the unit is really good but I’m just not sure if I feel it.


Let’s head back and try a different approach. KWI has wanted a brawler mech for a while. Could we make one that feels distinct from the Combine’s No-Dachi, a heavy Mech with a Sword, Triple Strength Myomer, and a pair of MRM20s, as well as other stuff. That’s a pretty good brawler.

Let’s try this again….

Unamed Brawler
70 tons
4/6/4 via Light Engine
12/24 heat
2x ER Medium laser
Ultra AC/10 with 2 tons of ammo
MRM 20 with 2 tons of ammo
CASE for ammo
Hatchet
81% armor
Endo steel
1560 BV
11.3 mill C Bills

Still not feeling it.

I try out a few other ideas, but I’m not getting anything better than the Buckshot. I do like it’s speed., but it feels like the weaponry is missing some oomph. We are trying out other options, such as dropping or adding weight. But 70 tons is ideal for this speed and payload. It’s the most bang for the buck. It’s very pacey for that size, which we like. Hmm….MASC? I could pull off a ton of armor for more ammo?


Nah, the Buckshot is fine. We order a FrankenMech built with the specs just to see how it does outside of the sims.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the New Home Campaign


7 November, 3063 – In order to bring in more loyal troops to battle in the growing Civil War, both of the Lyran Guard units on Keid and New Home are rotated out, since they are both fiercely pro-Katrina.

Keid is certainly not ready for us, not yet. But New Home?


We begin to launch out and take New Home.

“New Home is dominated by a supercontinent named Spina Planetia which stretches from one planetary pole to the other, although New Home also has two smaller continents located in the southern hemisphere which settlers named Arbergeiht and Goldwynn. Possessed of a pleasant, temperate climate, many freshwater lakes and rivers, abundant mineral, chemical and metal resources and located close to Terra, New Home was a very favourable prospect for colonization once discovered.”

“One of the first worlds to be colonized, New Home was colonized by industries looking to exploit the various chemical, mineral and metal resources on the planet; the industries landed scores of young settlers looking to colonize a new world, and many of these new colonists chose to settle on Spina Planetia. Cities and mining operations were soon established around the coast of Spina Planetia and throughout the Great Spine Mountains, a huge mountain range that stretches through the center of the continent; one of these coastal cities located on the northeastern plains, Findler, became the planetary capital. While Findler looked out onto the eastern Tomagasso Ocean, the planetary spaceport was subsequently established seven hundred kilometers to the south of the capital in the city of Mann. The two smaller continents of Arbergeiht and Goldwynn also attracted colonists, and both were soon dotted with small towns and agricultural communities”

[Abe Sargent]

Our goal is to arrive on New Home en-masse, and drive off the local New Home Regulars, a Pro-Liao unit who have spread out across the planet. At full strength, they are a mixed regiment, but years of battle has prevented that. They currently are estimated to have 30 mechs and 35 vehicles, plus infantry, and about 6 aerospace fighters.

So, in order to secure New Home, we will be launching:

Javelin Company (12 fighters)

Myth Battalion, 4 companies of mechs, from Alpha Regiment, from Capolla, is launching as well.


That gives us 48 mechs and 12 fighters, which should be enough.


We use an Invader JumpShip, loaded with an Overlord DropShip, and two Leopard CVs. We also have a JumpShip we rented with a Union and the final company of mechs, landing on a different place on planet. We can use it as a reserve force if needed.



December 16, 3063 – Our forces arrive on New Home. We were uncontested, which is odd.


The Regulators have been having problems consolidating their hold. No one wants to rejoin the Confederation, and the pro-Liao leanings of the Regulars have been unwelcome.

[Abe Sargent]

December 21, 3063 - Chief Ingrid Foster, of the Apollo Office, has connected us with many locals that would much prefer us to these folks. We have created a diversion, and fed these folks some cash for weapons, trucks, and such. They have a huge demonstration nearby one of the Regular facilities, with our mechs hidden, instead of a DropShip in the nearby DropPort. The goal is to agitate the local mechs and tanks out, and then hit them away from their defenses. This is a light industrial area, with no civilian homes. We shouldn’t do a lot of damage here.


The demonstration has started, and they take the bait, as expected. Our partisans fire SRM2 missile launchers, infernos, and are otherwise being annoying. They use a lot of hit and fade tactics, and drive away from the Regulars in armored trucks as Regulars advance. Unfortunately, one truck is destroyed with four locals.

We decide to move in to project the others. Most of their defending units have emerged from their position.

Seeing our units blip out of our DropShip and converge on them, they decide to pull all of their forces together and fight us right here, rather than leaving behind some of their forces to get crushed and fleeing with others. Tanks and mechs alike whirl onto the ferrocrete battlefield.

[Abe Sargent]

We are fighting…..it looks like…24 mechs and 24 tanks too. Four full companies. Our fighters have kept theirs from battle.

We are using three of the four companies from Myth Battalion

We have Heliades, Styx, and Typhon Companies unfurling.



This is their Helios







Coming off the lines in 3058, the Helios is a ‘Mech originally made for the St. Ives Compact, but after their fall, the ‘Mechs have been found in lots of places. Perhaps the CCAF (Capellan Confederation Armed Forces) sent some salvage from that war here to help reinforce their position ,or maybe they just trade, bought, or whatever itself. The Helios, a 60 ton mech, rocks a Gauss, 2 SRM 6s, and 2 ER Medium Lasers. It can jump, has strong armor, and does NOT have the vulnerable XL engine, which is nice.





Our foes are regular and reliable.

I look over any major tanks I fear. Wow. That is an Alacorn Heavy Tank, featuring three gauss rifles. They have some AC20 units like a Von Luckner Heavy Tank, and a pair of Saladin Assault Hover Tanks. Their vee’s tend ot be heavier (which makes sense, they survived a campaign) and heavier armored stuff, like Puma Assault Tank, Brutus Assault Tank, a pair of Po Assault Tanks, 2 Vedette Medium Tanks, 2 Scorpion Light Tanks, and such. Very few tricky units out there (SRM Carrier, and umm…that’s really it. Unless you count those Zephyr Hovertanks)

As for mechs?

They have a Thunder with a big gun, as well as stuff like an Awesome, Stalker, Helios, Axman, Banshee, Zeus and Warhammer.

[Abe Sargent]

This thang is LONG, so I'ma post in in a few posts:


Let’s begin this uber-Brawl!

(36 mechs on our side, and 48 units on theirs!)

There’s no buildings or anything here where we met, just pavement, ruins, roads and dirt. No trees, elevations, or anything else. (We generated a random map at 26x26)


Turn 1 – We lose init. Because of the lack of any sort of defensive terrain, I expect this could be a fast brawl. Most of our units are level 1 tech, and all of their mechs are level 2. But we have some good mechs, like a triad of Awesomes, Thunderbolt, Warhammers, Stalkers and such. In battles like this, I like to fight in a line, with all of our troops having identical speed (we are all moving 5 hexes) and lining up around 12 mechs on the front line. I hop scout units 5, to make them harder to hit (thus less likely yo do so). Although hey, if you want to waste your time on my Wasp or Comet, go ahead. I have long runners like my Wolfhounds running behind on the next line back and we can twist and fire the long range weapons.

Crap. After an hour of movement, the new, supposedly stable MegaMek crashed…..

Blast it! Well, we had saved it at the beginning of movement. So now I have to do all of that again….Sad face.

Turn 1 Redux - We try again. Their Cicada falls twice while turning. Our main target is a Goliath, but I also send some energy into a Drillson, SRM Carrier, Griffin, and Caesar. Results? Lots of misses. Their G just took 40+ damage and stands, and their Griffin 20+. One of our Awesomes immobilizes their Drillson and our Catapult immobile’s a Po Heavy Tank. A boring first turn of fire.

Turn 2 finally arrives! We win init. I push our line forward another 5 hexes. They were not expecting that and back off a bit in some places. Multiple tanks push our position while mechs stayed back, arrayed against us (A smarter tactic than the AI normally employs). I hop our Ostscout next to a Vedette. Watchman runs next to the other Vedette. I run our Ostsol by their Condor Heavy Hover Tank. Our Wolfhound falls while running through rough terrain. I hop a Phoenix Hawk beside their Striker. Their Centurion runs over their Vedette and bases my Ostscout back. Their Cicada bases our Wasp. One of our Jenner’s runs up on their Brutus and next to their Von Luckner. Our other Jenner runs up to support it. Their Helios runs up and and bases a Jenner. Alright, weapons fire time –

Our Phoenix Immobilizes their Striker Light Tank
Their Puma Assault Tank destroys the LA of our Wasp
One of our Trebuchets stuns the crew on one of their Saladin’s for a turn
Their Alacorn Heavy Tank hits our Blackjack twice and destroys its LA
A Jenner stuns the crew on their Von Luckner
Their Brutus Assault Tank goes internal on a Stalker of ours and hits two arm actuators on the LA
Our second Jenner immobilizes their Von Luckner
Our Hunchback gets the first kill of the day. Dead Vedette – destroys the Left Side.
Our Catapult immobilizes a Po.
Our Stalker immobilizes a SRM Carrier and a Condor
Their Vindicator destroys the LT of our Wasp after hitting the SRM2 ammo and it explodes
Our Grand Dragon immobilizes a Rhino Support Tank
Their Axman’s AC20 hits the RT of a Jenner and destroys it.

Our Jenner falls. No other mechs do. An Awesome kicks and destroys a Condor’s front.


That was not a good turn for us. Sure, we savaged some tanks, but we lost our Wasp, and basically lost a Jenner and got a Blackjack savaged too. They haven’t had one mech that badly hit yet.


Turn 3 – We win init. I eject the wounded Jenner. This turn I back up the line a bit. Some more tanks advance on our position. I hop our Grashopper on top of their Po. I run our Dragon next to their Scorpion Light Tank. I run a Wolfhound next to the Scorpion too. Our Ostscout leaps next to the Po the Grasshopper is straddling. I hope the Jenner that survived last turn over too. Their Von Luckner crew abandoned the tank. Firing Time!


Our Phoenix Hawk destroys the SRM Carrier’s LS.
Their Alacorn destroys the LT of my Blackjack
Our Hunchback destroys a Scorpion Light Tank’s Front
Ultra AC5 AC from our Rifleman tears into their Saladin’s right side and its down
A different Phoenix Hawk hits the ammo in a different Saladin and it explodes.
Our Ostscout’s single weapon, a medium laser, stuns the crew on a Po.
A gauss slug from their Caesar smashes the H of our Blackjack and that pilot and mech are dead
ER PPC from their Vindicator nails an Awesome in the H and almost kills him
Our Warhammer 6D hits their Goliath and nails two leg actuators in the Front-Right-Leg.
Their Thunder hits the Large Laser on our Watchman and destroys it
Their Condor goes internal on our Watchman’s RL, and then rolls a limb blown off crit and the RL is on the ground
Their Helios hits a different Awesome’s head with a Gauss slug, and kills the MW and the mech drops. Two gauss head shots. ARGH!
Missiles from our Archer cascade onto their Vindicator, and some hit the head and black out the pilot.

These mechs fall – Vindicator, Goliath, Watchman

We miss a bunch of kicks on tanks, but no one else tumbles.


Wow. Lost an Awesome and a Blackjack. They still have not lost a single Mech, just some tanks.

Turn 4 – We lose init. I run the damaged Awesome up to their downed Vindicator. I run our Valkyrie up as well. Then one of our Marauders does as well. They can’t rise their Goliath. Their Galleon Light tank slips behind our Rifleman 3N. Our T Bolt charges a Po. I eject our Watchman. I run a Trebuchet on top of a remaining Vedette. They hop a Wasp next to a Rifleman of ours. I hop our Jenner by the Galleon. Their Centurion bases our Wolfhound , the WLF-2. I rush our Ostroc through some rubble and next to their Galleon too. Our Centurion bases their Centurion. I leap a Phoenix hawk next to their Drillson, Quickdraw, and to the rear of their UrbanMech. Their Striker ejects. Weapons time baby!


Our Valkyrie hits the head of the downed Vindicator with a medium laser. But not dead yet.
Our Stalker 3F destroys the FRL of their Goliath.
Their Drillson nails a leg actuators in our PXH-1; one of their Zephyrs does too
Our Hunchback’s AC20 nails the LT of their Wasp, destroys it, and then fires a medium laser and destroys the CT.
Our Grand Dragon hits and destroys the Goliath after decoying the RT.
A small laser from our Awesome lances into the head of their Vinidicator and finishes it.
One of our Warhammer gets a limb blown off critical against their Eagle’s RA
Before it died, their Goliath nailed one of the PPCs on our wounded Awesome #2
Our Thunderbolt immobilizes the other Po
Our Crusader stuns the crew in their Alacorn for a turn.
Our Marauder 3D destroys the RT of their Eagle.

Mechs that fall – Their UrbanMech, Eagle, and our Phoenix Hawk. Our T Bolt kicks and destroys the LS of a Po. Nobody falls.

That was a good turn. We regained momentum after the many head hits last turn.


Turn 5 – We lose init. They manage to rise their Urbie. They move the Brutus in the same hex as the UrbanMech. I begin to push in the middle moving forward again. We have a bru-haha in the south that I pull back from. That’s where their Helios, Axman, Brutus, Quickdraw, Banshee, and Thunder are. Their Galleon rushes one of our Awesomes. I stand our Phoenix Hawk and move it away. Their Eagle rises too. Weapons!


Our Jenner immobilizes a Scorpion which is then destroyed by our Ostroc.
Their Puma destroys our PXH-1 CT and a few other parts are destroyed too.
Before it goes, our PXH takes our their Drillson.
Our other PXH, the PXH-1K hits the LB10X AC on their UrbanMech
Our Rifleman hits the engine once on the UM too
Our Awesome, #2, immobilizes their Alacorn.
Our Crusader hits the gyro and engine once each on their Eagle
One of our Trebuchets, the TBT-5N destroys their other Vedette ammo – boom!
They go internal in two places on our Hunchback
Our Stalker 5M destroys the Eagles CT
Our Archer stuns their Alacorn crew for 3 more turns.
Our Stalker hits the engine once on their Banshee.




Their Axman carves into our dead Phoenix Hawk’s CT and the engine’s safety systems are compromised and it explodes!!!

As it does:

It hits their Po for 13 damage
Their Brutus for 27 damage – immobilized
Their Axman for 13
Their Thunder for 27 – their Thunder’s LT’s AC 20 ammo is hit in the explosion. CASE keeps the Mech alive, but the XL engine shuts it down. No more Thunder!
Their UrbanMch takes 27 and its destroyed massively!!!

And their URBANMECH also has its engine explode TOOO!!!

Holy Crap

The Brutus, in the same square, is automatically destroyed. (And unrecoverable to boot!)
A few mechs take minor damage from the Urban mech explosion (Zeus, Helios, Axman – all take 1 or 3 damage)

Alright, back to the PXH explosion, already in progress:

Their Helios takes 13 damage.


After taking more than 100 damage, their Banshee stays standing! (The pilot needed a 10 to stay standing, and did). No other falls. A Marauder kicks and immobilized their Saracen Medium Hover Tank. Our Comet kicks and stuns the crew on their Rhino tank


THAT was a turn!

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 6 – We win init. They are trying to salvage what is quickly becoming a losing scenario. We have two damaged Awesomes, Hunchback, Rifleman and Thunderbolt. And we’ve lost, or ejected, a Phoenix Hawk, Awesome, Watchman, Wasp, Blackjack and Jenner. But hitting the Thunder and Brutus (both we had barely targeted and barely touched), gave us a big swing. The bot has speed up more and more due to combat losses. So yay! They move a Stalker 5M out in the northwest corner and I Move in a few units of my own on the collapsed flank. I bade it with a Marauder. In comes a Warhammer and Trebuchet to follow. I move my Centurion and Archer 2S in that direction too. They have ejected the Alacorn (Stunned crew + immobile tank is worth leaving). My goal is to push that Stalker and take it down. We are pushing forward considerably in the north and center. It might be wounded, but my T-Bolt bases their Blackjack, as does our Crusader. Warhammer gets next to their Saracen. Comet leaps behind the Blackjack. Their Cicada runs behind our Centurion. Our Grasshopper bases their Centurion. Weapons fire again!!!


Our Awesome #1 hits a bunch of actuators in their Banshee.
Our Marauder hits the H of their Stalker with a PPC’s glancing blow and the pilot blacks out
Their Blackjack hits a PPC on our Awesome #2
Our Warhammer 6D hits and immobilizes their Saracen again.
Our grasshopper hits the engine once, and three leg actuators on their Centurion
Their Banshee destroys the LL on our Catapult
Our Stalker destroys the LA of their Banshee before taking out the LT and that’s an XL engine shutdown.
Their Trebuchet destroys the LA of my Catapult
Our Rifleman hits the gyro on their Centurion



Our Wolfhound WLF-1 takes out the Centurion’s CT.

It’s engine blows up too!

Their Puma takes some damage, their Zeus too. Our Grasshopper took 30 damage and the pilot blacks out.


Falls – Our Grasshopper, Catapult. Their Stalker

Our Warhammer kicks and destroys the right side of their Saracen


Right now, here are the numbers:


Us -27 mechs (not including immobile and down Grasshopper, nor the Catapult I’m liable to eject)

Them – 15 mechs, 8 vees. Many of their vees are immobile (Po, Rhino) or badly damaged (Galleon, Condor). Their Stalker is 5 ways to death. That leaves them an Axman, Warhammer, Awesome, Carapult, Quickdraw, Trebuchet, Griffin, Zeus, Helios, Night Hawk as untouched mechs. We’ve blasted their Blackjack, Stalker, and peppered their Cicada, Caesar, Assassin,

They’ve lost 9 mechs and 16 vees. That’s 25 units. They began under-mech’ed but over-unit’ed. Now that have 27 to 23 but are on the losing side of that formula. We have better pilots too, which helps.

We have these mechs of worth – Cyclops, 2x Rifleman, 2x Stalker, 2x Awesome (damaged) 2x Rifleman, Archer, 2x Warhammer, Ostroc, Ostsol, Grand Dragon and, wounded Hunchback 2x Marauder, Centurion and 2x Trebuchet. We don’t have a lot of light, or weak units in there. Our losses, except for the lucky gauss hit on the Awesome, have been lighter, scoutier mechs. Phoenix Hawk, Watchman, Wasp, Jenner, Blackjack. Sure, losing two heavies last turn hurt (Hopper and Catapult) but we took out multiple tanks, and an assault mech (Banshee) and dropped another assault mech (Stalker).

So, basically, barring a cataclysmic reversal, we’ve won.

Now, there’s nowhere for our foes, the Regulars, to flee to. We can use our company of fighters to keep them near us so we can keep them from fleeing. Is it worth surrendering?

Remember, these are Pro-Liao people on a planet decidedly not. You can’t flee and expect help from the locals - quite the opposite.

But they have no other home. These are folks from the Lyran Guards who defected to protect this area for Liao.

We offer them, and their other unit (the small amount of mechs and armor that did not fight in this battle) free passage paid by us, to Capella. And, we will let them keep their mechs and tanks in their current condition.

They refuse. They see this as do or die. They want to try the hail mary.

Alright, die then!

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 7 – We win init. I eject the Catapult. They are frazzled and making mistakes now. Their placement is way off from before, when they had a good battle-plan. This is going to end quickly I suspect. I move some folks over to guard our Grasshopper. I hop the Ostscout on top of their Rhino. Their Stalker fails to stand and falls back down. It destroyed it’s CT falling down and the Mech is gone. Their Condor Heavy Hover Tank bases our Grasshopper. With the northern flank totally gone, I bring my mechs down the back flank of their center position, held by a Pike, Awesome, Catapult, Warhammer and Assassin. They move over a Zephyr Hovertank. To help out. Our Warhammer bases theirs on the side. Their Night Hawk bases our downed Grasshopper. Their Cicdada runs around behind one of my Warhammers. Our Grand Dragon runs behind their Axman and bases it. Weapons!


Our Awesome destroys the font of their Rhino Support Tank
An AC2 on their Pike hits our Grasshopper’s H for 2 damage.
Their Condor destroys the Hoppers LL
One of their Zephyr opens up a leg on one of my Marauder’s and nails a hip actuators.
Our Valkyrie destroys their Galleon
The other Zephyr gets a limb blown off crit and the LL blows off our Marauder.
Their Hunter’s LRM 20 destroys the LA of our Hopper.
Their Caesar destroys’ our Hopper’s CT
Their Warhammer destroys the RA of our Comet
Our Archer nails four actuators on their Warhammer, including a hip


Falling mechs – Our Marauder, their Warhammer.

Our Warhammer kicks and destroys the LL of theirs on the ground.




Turn 8 – We win init. I eject the Marauder pilot. Basically that turn we exchanged a Marauder for their Warhammer. We took out two tired tanks as well but their Hammer is still on the map. I leap our Ostscout on top of their Pike and next to their Warhammer, who is still on the ground. Their Griffin rushes up to protect their position in the center. Some of our mechs, like our Crusader and Valkyrie, join the flanking. Their Awesome bases our Ostscout (didn’t expect that). I also push down south with my Ostsol and Ostroc leading the way. Our Centurion bases their downed Warhammer. Their BJ hops behind our Valkyrie, they relocate their Zeus from the south to the center to hold us there, and begin to weaken the southern flank more. Our Comet hops behind their BJ. They leap their Axman to our Ostroc. I base their Awesome with a Warhammer and Stalker. Our WLF1 bases their Hunter tank in the south. Their Night Hawk bases our Ostroc too. Our Hunchy bases the Nighthawk and Weapons time again!!!

Our Hunchback’s AC20 hits the CT critical of their Night Hawk, gets three crits, and hits the engine three times for a shut down.
Our Archer hits their Awesome’s H, goes critical, gets a head blown off crit, and the H blows off. Dead mech.
Their Axman’s AC20 hits the AC20 on my Hunchback
Our Cyclops destroys the Front of their Po.

None fall. Our Grand Dragon kicks and immobilizes their Hunter. Our Wolfhound 1 misses a kick and falls.


Turn 9 – We lose init. They offer surrender on the same terms we offered before. Nope. They won’t just surrender, turning over their unit, so they keep it up. It’s a total brawl now. I base the fallen Warhammer with my Cyclops. Our Wolfhound rises and runs. Ostsol to the rear of their Axman. Their Zeus bases our Stalker. Ostroc by Hunter.

Our Ostroc destroys the Hunter’s front
Our Ostsol hits two leg actuators on their Axman
Their Hunter destroys the RA of our Hunchback
Their Caesar destroys the LA of my Ostsol.
Our Awesome destroys the LA of their Blackjack
Our TBolt immobilizes their Pike Support Vehicle
Our Trebuchet hits and destroys the LT of their Axman – shutdown
Their Trebuchet hits the gyro on my Ostsol
Our Cyclops gets a limb blown off LA on their Zeus
After hitting it twice with missiles form other mechs, our Stalker’s medium laser sheers off the H of their Zeus.
Their Griffin destroys the LT of our Ostsol


Our Ostsol falls. Our Cyclops kicks and destroys the LS of their Pike. Their BJ falls after being kicked and missing a kick


Turn 10 – We lose init. I eject our Ostsol and Hunchback. That turn we took out two tanks and two more mechs. But they strill have a core of strong units getting pushed back to back – the Puma is nasty good, the Caesar, Guillotine, Trebuchet, Helios, Quickdraw, Catapult and Griffin are not a bad remnant. Plus some scouters are still up and around. Our Crusader bases their Puma. Their BJ fails to stand once, then again. Lots of things are basing lots of things.


Our Comet destroys the Enginex4 on the Blackjack and it shuts down
Their Puma destroys the LA of our Comet
Our Awesome nails the hip on their Quickdraw.
Our T Bolt immobilizes their Puma
Our Marauder hits the gyro and engine once each on their Helios
Our Stalker gets a limb blown off n the Helios’s LA, destroys both the RA, RT, LL, and gyrox3, enginex2 of it too
Their Griffin destroys the RT of our Comet


Their Quickdraw and our Comet fall.

Lots of kicks ensue.

Warhammer kicks and hits LL actuator on their Griffin.
Our Marauder kicks and destroys their Puma’s rear armor.
Our Trebuchet #2 missed a kick and falls.




They continue to refuse to do a normal surrender. Whatever. I’ll just blow them up.


Turn 11 – We win init. I eject the Comet. Their QD Rises and moves a bit. I chase it and base it. Our TBT Rises.


Our Awesome immobilizes one of the Zephyrs
Our T Bolt nails four actuators on their Quickdraw
Our Rifleman destroys the LT of their Guillotine
Their Quickdraw destroys the LA of a Marauder
Our Marauder immobilizes their Condor
Our Rifleman nails the gyro once on their Guillotine
Our Stalker hits the gyro again, and then destroys the Guillotine’s CT
Our Grand Dragon destroys their Trebuchet’s 7M’s RT, dead mech (no engine


Their QD falls hard.

Kicks:

Our Awesome kicks and destroys the RT of their QD. It hits the gyro and that’s two of those.
Our Centurion kicks and destroys the RL of their Cicada and it falls.
Our Stalker kicks their Griffin to the ground.
Our Centurion was kicked and falls down too.


They radio us to accept their official surrender, and we take all of their stuff.

Whew!

[Abe Sargent]

Dead Tanks – Vedettex2, Condor, SRM Carrier, Scorpionx2, Saladinx2 (one by ammo), Pox2, Drillson, Brutus, Saracen, Rhino, Galleon (Explosion), Hunter, Pike, Puma

Ejected – Von Luckner tank, Striker tank, Alacorn



Kills - Hunchbackx4, Awesome #2x2, PXH-1x2, RFL-5M, PXH-1K, Grand Dragonx2, Thunderbolt, Ostrocx2, TBT-5Nx2, STK-5Mx4, WLF-1, STK-3F,, WHM-6D, Awesome #1, Valkyrie, Archer, Cyclopsx2, Comet, MAD-3D,


Wounded and dead mechs of theirs:

Goliath 3M missing RFL, RT
Vindicator 3L missing H
Thunder missing LT
Banshee missing RT, RA
Warhammer 7S missing LL
Night Hawk 2S, x4 engine, 1x gyro
Quickdraw 5M, missing RT, gyrox2
Awesome 9M, reattach H
Blackjack 2 missing LA, enginex4, gyrox1
Axman missing LT
Zeus 9S, reattach LA, missing H
Helios, gyrox3, enginex2, missing LL, RA, RT, reattach LA
Trebuchet 7M, missing RT
Cicada 3F missing RL


Wasp 3M LL, RL, H, LA, RA, RT
Stalker 5M – H, RA, RT, LL, RL
Guillotine 5M H, LL, RL, LA, RA, RT
Eagle, RA, H, LT, LA, LL, RL


Dead – UrbanMech, Centurion D3


Wounded mechs of ours:

Blackjack missing LA, LT, H
Awesome #3 missing H
Jenner missing RT
Watchman, reconnect RL
Catapult missing LL, RA
Grasshopper missing LL, LA
Marauder, reattach LL
Comet missing RA, LA, RT
Hunchback missing RA
Ostsol missing RA, gyrox1, LT
Marauder, missing RA


Parts of our mechs:

Wasp RA, LL
Grasshopper H, RL, RT, RA, LA, LT


We lost a Phoenix Hawk totally


We capture:

Catapult C4C
Caesar 3R
Griffin 3 M
Assassin 23
2 Zephyr
Condor


That was a huge battle.

But we won. The rest of the unit, with a handful of mechs and tanks, accepts our offer and will be transported to the Confederation, for free, with their military assets intact. We’ll only take these.

[Abe Sargent]

December 23, 3063 – We have taken New Home.



(In real life, the Word of Blake were welcomed as liberators after ousting the Regulars from New Home. They were embraced. So we should be as well. What’s good for the Blake is good for the Essex, right?)



More about New Home –

New Home was one of the first colonies of humanity. The planet was very similar to Terra, so it was an obvious choice as an early colony. Because of how old it is, a lot of non-renewable resources are long since used up. In particular, fossil fuels and ores were used up at a very fast clip in order to push the early colonial explosions.

There aren’t a bunch of unused ores just waiting to get tapped, nor a lot of valuable fossil fuels. All of the stuff people wanted was long since used up. Numerous geological surveys arrived, and the most advanced survey teams and instruments all the way through the height of the Star League have uncovered everything there is.

As a result, New Home is about sustainable economies. It has solar, nuclear, and hydro power. People fish and farm. New Home makes enough food to sell it abroad. It also raises plant and animal based things like rubber, textiles, and wood. In fact, there’s a strong plastics industry here too.

There’s still some modest ores around that are of lower value minerals, like cobalt and nickel. But not much.

There’s also a solid amount of industry on the world. Nothing military, but a lot of supplemental industry like clothing manufacturing, processing food, and there’s a decent artisan based economy of people that make things out of bone and leather for decorations.

So New Home has a diverse, Terran like economy, except that it’s best stuff is long since gone, and none of the heavy industry of the military-industrial complex. New Home is a strong economy though, and it’s a positive to the Coalition – it brings in more money than it will take, long term.

Although again, New Home will get some investment in rebuilding after the long war. But the infrastructure here was respected more by combatants, and the area is not nearly as badly damaged as many others. Even places that had war ended quickly, such as Capolla and Terra Firma, were hurt worse than New Home was.

Luckily, New Home never suffered that much from the Amaris Wars or Succession Wars, save for the destruction of stuff in space. It had no major industries to raid. (There were some satellites and stations built that were destroyed)

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 30, 3063 – The local government has begun to take steps toward establishing their own government and is accepted into the Coalition.


1st New Home Hussars – We only take the Alacorn tank, and leave them 17 tanks that were captured and salvaged. We leave them the 13 Mechs , Blackjack, Locust, Awesome, Goliath, Dervish, Commando,
Assassin, Trebuchet, Axman, Vindicator, Enforcer, Hunchback, Shootist.

We swapped some of the captured mechs for those in our garrison and rotated these out.

We replace our dead mechs with a Night Hawk, Quickdraw, and Cicada.



End of the New Home Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

The Problem with Nanking


Nanking is an adjacent, heavily militarized world, next to the Celestial Coalition. It’s a part of the FedCom industrial infrastructure in the Capellan March, and under the auspices of March Lord George Hasek, a fiercely pro-Hasek, anti-everyone guy, who is also fiercely anti-Liao.

Now, thus far, he hasn’t had a major problem with us. Quite the opposite. We have kept a large number of worlds of value out of the hands of the Capellan Confederation. This makes Hasek very happy.

However, he had two worlds just hanging out – Zurich and Nanking, and surrounded by us and House Liao. Zurich has now joined us, and Nanking is sort of naked and exposed. And it's particularly valuable. It’s the home of one of the factories of Kallon Industries, and makes tanks and mechs there. Nanking was Capellan for centuries, but taken in the 4th Succession War by the combined Fed/Com forces. It held out in Operation Guerrero easily enough and Liao never came close to retaking. Sun-Tzu never had the forces.


The Capellan Confederation knows Nanking a lot better than the FedCom, who has been there for about 35 years now. They have drawn up long-standing plans to make a strike against Nanking to reclaim it, but they’ve never had the window of opportunity and units required to do so at the same time.

Sun-Tzu and his forces would much prefer that we had it to the FedCom folks. And, Word of Blake has supplied us with those same plans, and then spent some time on planet placing a few things that will assist our invasion and capture of the planet.


Word of Blake can help us secure the planet as well. But the problem is that we are likely waking the bear.

Right now, George Hasek is extremely insular-focused. He is not concerned with the greater Civil War at all. We agree, really. In fact, George opposed Katrina from the beginning, and was one of the few voices in the FedCom opposed to her taking over from Yvonne Steiner-Davion. He also tried to keep St. Ives Compact free and helped to fight even though Katrina gave Sun-Tzu free reign to reclaim his lost state.

I don’t care much for either Katie or Vic as ruler of a pan-system nation either. One is too much of a White Knight who doesn’t make the smart decisions and the other is too much of a Black Knight who doesn’t make the good decisions. You need both to rule.

Anyway, George is a powerful March lord who’s really interested in taking out Katie, but not to put Vic in place. He thinks both are unsuited to rule, Vic because he abandoned his post and Kate because she’s not a true Davion, and a nasty person too. He has refused both sides the use of his troops. So he’s been staying relatively neutral, moving in units, and quashing rebellions from multiple planets.

If we take Nanking, he will instantly be our enemy, and will come after us on Nanking. He’ll also likely strike against other Coalition targets, such as Genoa or Acamar, that are close to him and really tasty.

[Abe Sargent]

So, here’s the question:

Is Nanking worth it?

Do we get enough from Nanking to make securing it and protecting ourselves against a new potential enemy worth it?

I mean we certainly have spent some time investing in companies that make ‘Mechs – Lantren Corporation makes Grasshoppers and Quickdraws. Lang makes Shadow Hawks. Kressly makes a handful of mechs we like enough to use (Attila, Alexander, Bumblebee, Greyhound) and then some we don’t like that much (Bandersnatch, Lineholder). That’s it.

The Coalition can easily use this immediate injection of mechs.

How much?

A dumbed down Exterminator. A upgraded Shadow Hawk (I know, that’s funny). Wolverine. Tanks like the Ontos and Partisan.


That’s not a bad addition to the Coalition. Along with the Legions in Liberty, the Brutus, Blizzard and such over at Kressly, this gives us some more tank-age. Meanwhile, we add more mech lines quickly.

Although, if we wanted to add Ontos and Partisan that much we could have taken Sirius.

Are there any other major company worlds nearby???

Ruchbah makes like a bajillion different VTOLS if we care about that in any way shape or form. Errai has some Battlemech making facilities. Those are good on the Davion side – Steiner? New Earth

I’m not interested in taking systems from the FWL, CC, or DC. Two are future-allies and the other is not a dragon I want to wake up.

So here is the question. Will the Nanking campaign be an example of us getting too big for our britches?


We might need to play it closer to the vest to these sorts of places.

[Abe Sargent]

Now here’s what’s good.

Nanking was once controlled by the Capellan Confederation for centuries. When it changed hands, after the 4th Secession War, about 34 years ago, Nanking was placed in the newly formed Sarna March. As you might recall, the Sarna March was gifted to his new bride, Melissa, by Hanse Davion as the spoils of war. Melissa and her Lyran Commonwealth ran the area, although increasing both houses ran lots of places as the Federated Commonwealth became a thing.

Many people on Nanking resented the change over from Liao to Steiner. They still did just a few decades later in 3057 when Operation Guererro led to the Chaos March’s formation. Melissa was a beneficial ruler though, and like a lot of fellow worlds in the Sarna March, they really grew to like her.

So you had some pro-Melissa folks, and some pro-Liao folks. Then 3057 hit, and the Federated Commonwealth troops were able to fend off the Liao attack. The Sarna March was no more. So Nanking was moved, along with nearby planet Zurich, to the Capella March, under Duke Hasek.

The problems are obvious. Neither the Pro-Steiner side, nor the Pro-Liao side wants to be a part of the Federated Suns part of the FC, and especially post-Civil War. Most of the planet are loyalists who support Katrina. That’s why they were able to rise up a bit to the allied forces who now control the world.

Right now, on Nanking, we have two major issues. Duke Hasek has ordered the planet controlled. But the people are lashing out. They may not agree on why, but they are pretty unanimous in not liking Hasek.

So, one of the things Word of Blake has been helping us is in demonstrating that we are a legitimate option. Kate is not prioritizing the world, so far away from her supply lines. Sun-Tzu can’t send a fleet to capture Nanking and then keep it, any incursion by him would give Hasek the excuse he has been waiting for since the St. Ives conflict ended to send troops across the border en masse.

But we can. Multiple nations have asked us to come in and help them – Ingress, Fletcher, Sheratan, Keid. And we are going to help others we approached – Arboris, Liberty, Epsilon Indi. Considering that, Blake is talking us up as an option on the table. We can take Nanking for the people. And our track record certainly shows that we are capable of doing that, and very beneficial administrators.

All they have to do is ask.

After working there for more than a year, we get the first overture from underground movements in the planet that have the ear of the rulers. They are feeling us out via back channels. Chief Foster takes Ambassador Yee (who we hired from Steiner after the Liberty debacle) to meet with them and arrives at Nanking a month later to talk and meet with various groups.

A few weeks later, the two women return with a variety of intel, and more importantly, the paper we need. We have video, and an official letter to the Celestial Coalition, signed by the rulers, asking for our aid to liberate Nanking.


We have our Casus Belli.

[Abe Sargent]

December 1, 3063 – Over on our colony of Asmodeus, a military group has begun a raid near our central complex and against a local mining interest. As a reminder, Asmodeus was a world, rich in minerals, we discovered and had a colony begin there. We build a central administrative complex, and then allowed other mining companies to come in and take various parts of the world under their control and build their own DropPorts and mining facilities and they hire their own small garrison from mercs. And we have Utopia Company on planet as our persona garrison.

This is the first raid on Asmodeus. They have unloaded from a transport DropShip – a older Jumbo class DropShip, and are moving out. A company of mechs and another of tanks are slashing through the area. The company of tanks included six Maxim hover personal carriers, that are each carrying a squad of infantry, along with 6 other fast hover scouts to protect and search, and quartet of hover trucks that are used to carry are in the middle protected.

Meanwhile a company of mechs is coming strait at the area garrisoned by Utopia company. We rouse the rest of the force and move them to intercept. This is clearly just a way to keep us otherwise entertained.

After about 30 minutes, battle has begun, but their hover force is already at their target. Here is our unit:


Masakari B
BLR-1GB BattleMaster
CRB-27b Crab
AX-1N Axman

MR-5M Cerberus
Rifleman IIc
CLPT-C1 Catapult
Griffin Iic

ALX-1KC Alexander
CMT-1 Comet
STG-3G Stinger
BUM-1 Bumblebee


This unit include two mechs from Kressly that we designed (Alexander, Bumblebee) as a FrankenMech we like (Comet) as well as three clan mechs (Masakari B, Rifleman IIc, Griffin IIc) and some solid updated mechs (BattleMasters, Crab, Axman, Cerberus). With a good Catapult as level 1 tech (and the Stinger is as well).

We have 5 elite, 4 veteran, and 3 regular in this company.


Our foes:

Grasshopper
Grand Dragon
Wolverine
Javelin
Dart
Hatchetman
Venom
Hercules
Wolf Trap
Maelstrom
Duan Gung
Phoenix Hawk


It’s a very fast unit, with everyone either having jump jets, or at least a 5/8 speed. They are all veteran. No assaults though. Like this Duan Gung!

[Abe Sargent]

We are on the left side of a large warehouse, and we move past it to set up on the south edge of the battlefield.


Turn 1 – We lose initiative. We move a wedge of assaults, with our BattleMaster in the center. They are on the edges and flanks of the area, only. Clearly just trying to keep us occupied. A little long range weaponry is enhanced, and a light dusting of armor on a few folks occurs.

Turn 2 – We lose init. I force ourselves up the center from the southern edge. Might as well push in. They seem to melt away, finding space to push in along the deep flanks and corner. We focus some weapons on their Maelstrom, but we scratch it for just 20+ damage and its fine. As is our mechs too (none took 20 or more)


Turn 3 – We win init. I run everyone forward their max, and break our formation. Our foes drive deeper on the edges, and in fact, their Venom and Dart are flanking us on the east, and ran into the far south-east corner. Their Maelstrom is too far away so I concentrate rain on their Hercules instead. And we sandblast it for 60+ damage, and it’s still on its feet. They concentrate on the BattleMaster and do 40+ and Is still up to.

Turn 4 – They win init again and have fully flanked us as we move in two directions, one north-east and one north-west, with two spears. We have the Masakari leading one and our BM the other. Weapons stab from our mechs and lance into two main targets - their Hercules in one corner and Hatchetman in the other. Our Rifleman Iic’ large pulse lasers smashes their Hercules three times out of three for a shot on its RA, and two in the RT and we hit an engine there. We pepper it with missiles from the Griffin IIc and Catapult, but it’s still alive. Meanwhile our Cerberus’s two gauss rifles smash into their Hatchetman and carve two holes for later weapons to fire into. After opening up a few more holes in our BattleMaster, a pair of LB10Xs from their Hatchetman and Wolf Trap hit it with cluster shots, one for 6 and the other for a full 10 damage, and they nail a bunch of crits, including the hip, gyro once, a pair of medium lasers and a heat sink. Their Hercules took 80+ damage and falls down and destroys its RT and shuts down (XL Engine). Their Hatchetman is still standing. Our BM falls and is badly beaten.


Turn 5 – We lose init. They move off to the corners of the map, and we push back to protest the wounded BattleMaster. Long range weapons from their Duan Gung’s LRM 10 smash our BM and tears out its RT. Meanwhile they focus on a pair of our mechs that are close by and begin to carve their initials into our Stinger. We send weapons back into their Maelstrom and Hachetman, but still no critical blow.

They fade away, granting themselves the time they needed.

[Abe Sargent]

Theirs –

Hercules shutdown


Ours –

BM, gyro, actuators, weapons, missing RT.


We salvage their Hercules


We aren’t sure what sort of a contract they had, or if they did this on their own. They ended up stealing around 22.5 million CBills worth of ore from a local company. But, a Hercules is worth 16.4 million. So that’s a major loss. If they sell the CBills at face value (unlikely) cost, and then add in their losses for ammo, fuel, armor, and more, and replace that Hercules, it could be a loss. On the other hand, if they have a really nice contract, then this could be a win, if, for an example, they have just 50% Battle Loss Compensation, they’ll make 8.2 mill from the loss of the Hercules.

So we send the Hercules to the EE garrison. This past year, Asmodeus made more money for the local companies than ever, an increase of about 18% from the previous year’s money. So it’s obvious that Asmodeus needs more than the token company for defense now.

[Abe Sargent]

December 10, 3063 - There are multiple reasons why gaining Carver V, now known as Liberty, is very important.

First of all, Liberty has the small Steiner plant that produces the Legion tank. This is a 100 ton tank designed as a mech killer. It features two gauss rifles, two medium lasers, and an SRM2 streak. It has hugely high amounts of armor to protect itself, save for the rear where it has a lot less. It’s a tracked design, with the weapons in the turret. It’s a powerful tank for a new generation of fighting, and Liberty can produce them.

Liberty has taken over the plant, which has just one tank line surviving, and renamed it the Liberty Belle Plant. The Belle makes just one Legion a month after damage from the battle hurt the other lines. But this is a large boost. We can rebuild or restore another line to double production, and Kressly, who knows tanks quite well, has sent over aid.

The first benefit is this Tank producing factory.

[Abe Sargent]

The second is Brooks, Incorporated. This smaller, regional, but multi-national company makes vehicles and aerospace fighters mostly for the Free Worlds League. They have plants on places like Andurien and Irian. They have a small plant on Liberty that has made an aerospace fighter known as the Ironsides, which was introduced by them back in 2613. Brooks made the fighters here and at four other plants. All of the other plants were destroyed, and the Liberty plant was put in mothballs due to limited sales as a cost-cutting measure. They have occasionally checked in to make sure things are working, but the plant hasn’t been used to make Ironsides in quite some time. We have contacted Brooks, Incorporated, and they are more than happy to reboot their Ironsides line for a new generation, if we will guarantee a market for them. They have plans to produce an upgraded fighter for the modern market. With that design, plus the production line just in mothballs, we expect fighters to pore off the lines in about 6 months.

They already made the frame, engine, armor, tracking and communication systems here in their factory. All they need to import is weapons and any additional equipment. This variant they already planned, is the IRN-SD3, with an ER PPC, ER Large Laser, and 5x MRM10 missile launchers with 120 rounds of ammo for them.

The original Ironsides was a battle tested design that was extremely solid. We’ll be happy to introduce the unit into our navy. In fact, we have guaranteed Brooks that we will be the only market for the fighter (just Celestial Coalition and K&C mercenary unit). Anybody else wanting an Ironsides purchase needs to come through us.

[Abe Sargent]

The final benefit is perhaps far reaching. Liberty is one of a small number of systems in the Inner Sphere where WarShips used to be made. Delhi Warships built a large shipyards in the system for Vincent corvette-class WarShip. This was one of the most prolific WarShips. Introduced in 2432, they made Vincent WarShips for more than 300 years. There are still Vincents in operation today in the clans. They were a very high quality design.

In the Amaris Wars and Coup, then-Carver’s WarShip production facilities were hit and destroyed. Meanwhile the other WarShip production plant, by Delhi WarShips in Capella (which made a different WarShip) was absorbed by another military operation. Vincents have not been made for a long time.

But as a system that once hosted a large and prolific WarShip building capacity, Liberty is very important. The planet formerly known as Carver IV is now a fiefdom of Carver V. Also, the moon on Carver V was settled as well. Carver IV was the host of the plant, and after its destruction, is now mostly a small agricultural planet, with little else of note. Less than 50 million live on Carver IV, which was destroyed in the Amaris Wars. But the planet was never fully explored for scrap, information on the shipyards, or anything else. So we intend to send some survey and exploration teams to really scavenge Carver IV more fully than has ever been done, with the latest technology, to see what we can unearth.

Much of the infrastructure of the shipyards is still here. It doesn’t corrode much in space. It’s damaged badly, and scored from a variety of weapons. Even if we were able to refurnish it and build a new facility for making WarShips, that would be really, really bad. I suspect a lot of folks would see the shipyards as a huge target of opportunity. Even if we put our WarShip on constant guard, it would be too much to defend. A simple strike by the Lyran Alliance with 5 WarShips, 4 regiments of troops, and hundreds of fighters would capture it. They could build a strike force in a few months of that size.

But perhaps we could refit the shipyards to make DropShips, or maybe even JumpShips. That would be useful and not as much of a target. That’s doable. And it puts our small nation on even more even footings with other folks.

[Abe Sargent]

In late 3063, War on Kathil has continued as well. Tikonov has also flared up considerably. Talon, a potent industrial world, heats up. The Isle of Skye’s secessionist fury begins to be seen.

In order to sustain his battle against the Dragon, Duke Sandoval allies even stronger with Katrina, to get supplies from her, but he has to quell the growing pro-Victor sentiment in the Draconis March.

By the end of 3063, all of the Combine worlds captured by Duke Sandoval had been pacified.

[Abe Sargent]

December 31, 3063 -

Essex Training Academy


We have 19 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 26 enrollees for next year. All are staying in the Coalition. We also have 7 graduates of vehicle crews, all regular. We hand them vehicles and move them to our garrison or out to local Coalition worlds. 8 enroll for next year, and 8 infantry squads are now being trained as well. 8 infantry squads are completed, the Aerotech wing has its grads – 5 total. 8 more enroll for the 1st year.

We create an Academy Battalion for the senior class, and its 18 folks.




Year 4 - 18
Year 3 – 20
Year 2 - 24
Year 1 – 26

Armor – 8

Aerospace, Year 2 - 5
Aerospace, Year 1 - 8

Infantry, Year 2 - 8
Infantry, Year 1 - 8

We pay 17.5 million to the upkeep of the Academy and HQ.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the First Nanking Campaign


January 3, 3064 – The major issue with Nanking is its defenses. Specifically, the AFFC Brest, a Fox-class Corvette WarShip that is around the planet, and protects it from invading forces.

The key to cracking Nanking is to break the Fox. That’s going to be Capt. Randal Lewis’s job.

We have a variety of planning meetings. The Inner Sphere has a myth of the power and resilience of WarShips. But as Capt. Lewis points out, that’s really not the case at all. No one in the Inner Sphere (outside of perhaps ComStar and Word of Blake obviously) has as much experience with WarShips as him. The Brest rolled off the lines about 5 years ago. It’s crew has yet to be in a major ship-on-ship battle. Multiple WarShips have already engaged in the Civil War, but this ship has not.

As Lewis points out, a corvette class WarShip would never have been used to guard a planet in his days – you would have used something a lot bigger. Corvettes were used as scout vessels, to protect larger, better WarShips, and perhaps to raid bandits. Our ship, the Aegis-class Swift Justice is a Heavy Cruiser. What does that mean?


Here are the WarShip classes:


Corvette – Light, fast, usually in a escort, raiding, sort role. Their Fox is here.
Destroyer
Frigate
Light Cruiser
Heavy Cruiser – Our Aegis ship, the Swift Justice
Battlecruiser – The Black Lion we Captured
Battleship
Dreadnaught
Miscellaneous (Carriers, Spy Ships, Cargo, etc)

Capt. Lewis uses a simple illustration. Imagine that the Fox Corvette is a light, fast, Locust. It paces the battlefield, can make quick strikes, and its to give you a long zone of control. Now imagine that our ship is an Orion. Not as fast, not as agile, but with strong armor, weapons, and range. If they battle, the Orion is usually going to win without question. Sure, you might be fighting in odd terrain, or the Locust might get a head shot on the Orion to put it down or somesuch. But the Orion is going to win for all intents and purposes.

The Brest is a Locust, and the Swift Justice is an Orion.

If we go in hard, we should win. Easily.

[Abe Sargent]

So the next question Essex is worried about is fighter support. What if they have a ton of fighters all over the plane they can launch?

Yeah, so Col. Larry Rowe can head out with his fighters, and we’ll need the Vengeance for sure. Our Vengeance and Swift Justice, alone, is about 60 fighters, that’s likely to be enough to defeat our foes, barring something truly unusual.

Can we capture the Brest?

This would require us to secure the vessel. The Manassas was captured by Smoke Jaguar from Capt Lewis because his CO didn’t really trust the strength of the clans. Plus the clans used their Elementals in mass on the outside of the vessel, punching in holes, and breaking stuff in.

We could use battle armored infantry. What about jump capable mechs? That’s been a common theme too to capture aerospace assets. That’s possible as well. The Battle Taxi though, that’s probably the best chance of getting in and stealing the WarShip. We could load the vessel with ten Battle Taxis, instead of their normal components.

We could also just disable the Fox without destroying it. If we do that, we can salvage it. Although we’d have to fix it up before bringing it back home – that could take months. Or even a year or so. That’d make us a high profile target for a retribution strike to reclaim a Fox Warship.

[Abe Sargent]

Anyway, we spend some time on capturing scenarios. They have some assault ships and fighters as well. It’s not a cake walk. But we will be heading in extremely hot.


Swift Justice – with these four DropShips – Vengeance, Tug, Achilles, Avenger

Majestic Hobo, JS – With the Claymore, Hamilcar, and Upgraded Fortress

Celestial Vagrant , JS, - With all three Leopard CVs giving us 18 fighters – Catapult and Javelin Aerospace Companies (some fighters fit in the Hamilcar as well)


Johnny Appleseed, JS – With Colossus, Excalibur, Overlord

Scots Flotila, JS – With the Overlord Upgraded, Overlord

Maxim of Glory, JS, - With the Overlord, Overlord, and Mule


In the Overlord, Upgraded – Nordic Battalion
Epsilon Regiment is joining us in three other Overlords
Delta Regiment is in the 5th Overlord, Colossus, Excalibur
3rd Tank Battalion is on the Colossus.
12 infantry squads in the Excalibur
5 power armor squads in the Fortress
More tech people than normal -

We have a ton of support Vees in the Colossus and Excalibur, including ordinance transports, trucks, scout cars, spotter planes, and more. We have a ton of ammo, armor, mines, pickets, and more to be able to build. The Mule is mostly empty, it’s for cargo, salvage, or anything we come across that we want to take back. The Fortress is used as a distraction, and will be used in an assault capacity, with the power armored folks jumping out or attacking as needed.

We have more tech folks than normal, in spaces used for infantry in the Colossus. They include a large amount of techs for aerospace units, transport vessels, and so forth. We have a much higher support crew that you would normally expect.





We are going in incredibly heavy, and committing every major aerospace asset, 7 battalions of mechs, and a battalion of tanks, plus more fighters than you can count. If we lose, or if we have miscalculated, the setback in Nanking is tremendously significant.

[Abe Sargent]

February 29, 3064 – We have arrived in Nanking. We take immediate stock of everything. We arrived, en masse, at a pirate point 42 hours from the planet.

There is a ton of aerospace traffic here in Nanking. As expected, the Brest Fox-class corvette is around the planet. The Brest has 5 DropRings, all of which have assault or similar level Dropships on them. There are a number of JumpShips and DropShips heading to and from the planet (As would be expected for a planet with a large factory)


Duke James Essex is on board the Swift Justice and he sends a quick communication to the captain of the Brest. In a minute, he appears on screen. Duke Essex begins to address him.

“The Celestial Coalition has been specifically asked with coming to Nanking, and securing the independence of Nanking from the Federated Commonwealth. I have here an official request signed by the top three members of the local government, authorizing our presence here. We are here legally, at the behest of the local government.

Hold, let me transmit this letter to you now Captain. Let me know when you’ve gotten it and read it.”

A few minutes later, the Captain confirms that he has the letter.

“Now, perhaps you think that we faked the letter. Or force the people to give their consent. Well, I have coordinated with the local government to contact you and confirm it. Go ahead”

Forty minutes pass.

“Your letter is legitimate. But I cannot let go of the area I was sworn to protect.”

“Captain, you are sworn to the pro-Victor side because you’ve seen the sins of the ruling Katrina Steiner-Davion. You’ve seen how she treats the people. And you are siding with the people against the ruler who is rightfully in charge of your nation. Now we are asked to side with the people. Why would you want to stop us? If listening to the cries of the people and the sins of the government led you to where you are, right now, why stop? They don’t want you, or your nation, to lead them anymore.

Let me put it another way. You’re a military man. Maybe a more practical point – you’ve seen and analyzed our taskforce. We’ve done the same with you. We both know that you don’t have the capability of stopping us. Why not concede the planet, and save your ship, your escorts and fighters, and anyone else on planet who wants to join you, and leave? Relocate to fight against the Civil War somewhere else. You don’t want to lose your flotilla against another nation – Victor can’t afford that. So leave because you are siding with the locals. Or leave to keep the war going somewhere else. But leave. That’s the smart play here.

And Captain, one more thing. Note that I didn’t try to make you angry to fight us. I didn’t start drawing lines in the sand saying, “Leave now, you aren’t welcome” or anything like that to force your hand. I have spoken to you in respect. Just go, and fight again somewhere, and leave the people of Nanking to the will of the people.”

A brief pause.

“I have my orders. I must guard Nanking. And I will. You will not pass to Nanking.”

“Very well captain. Your over-exaggerated view of yourself may be what brings down your side of the Civil War, but alright. You certainly won’t be the first person to rush foolishly to death in a time of war.”


Of course, we broadcast that to the people of Nanking, so they can see what we say and know.


We are coming to save them

[Abe Sargent]

Here are our foes:


Fox:

12 fighters, 2 small craft, which are just DropShuttles

Claymorex2

Overlord A3:

6 fighters, 3 battle armor infantry

Leopard CV:

6 fighters

Upgraded Intruder:

2 fighters, 3 platoons of marines


From their Fox, they have 26 fighters. That Overlord A3 is a major problem. It’s a refitted assault DropShip that has a nasty amount of armor, and it features some naval class weapons as well. It’s a major problem.


Because we gave them a couple of days to get ready, other vessels launched to help defend their planet. They are all in.

They have another 12 fighters from the planet

Another Leopard CV is with them

They also have a few transport vessels that have good armor/weapons and can be used in an assault context:

3 Upgraded Unions
2 Upgraded Fortress
Hannibal
4 Leopards

These DropShips and fighters are all in the sky, swarming around.

[Abe Sargent]

March 2, 3064– We have arrived and unfurled our small craft, DropShips and more. Some things launched but are a few hours behind their navy (Excalibur, Colossus, Overlords, and Mule).

A quick comparison – We have:

40 fighters on the Vengeance, 4 on the Hamilcar, 18 in leopards and another 6 from the Colossus/Excalibur that are in the main group, 18 on the WarShip.

That’s 96 fighters. They have 38 fighters. That’s a huge win.

Our WarShip is a nasty Heavy Cruiser, theirs is a much lighter Fox. It doesn’t have the armor, nor the weapons, to stand for long. That’s a win for us.

Our Assault DropShips (Avenger, Achilles, Claymore) are roughly equal to theirs (Claymorex2, Intruder). Yay!

Their Overlord A variant is a huge win for them.

We have a variety of small craft, including 200 ton fighters and 8 Battle Taxis. We bought some more, but I didn’t want to stay and buy a year’s worth of BattleTaxis to pump up this battle, so we are using the 4 we already had. That’s a win for us.

For backup, transport stuff, we have in battle our Fortress, 3 Leopard CVs. They have 4 Leopards normal, 1 Leopard CV, 3 Unions, and 2 Fortress and a Hannibal they win this aspect of the battle going away.

We have two unusual things though. Our Tug comes with a nasty set of weapons, armor and is essentially an assault craft that can Tug and repair as well. It’s a potent Star league era vessel. We also have the unusual Assault craft Hamilcar, which is designed to take opposing DropShips. It has a good amount of armor, weapons, and fighters. On board are 8 jump capable mechs that will jump out as it approaches a target to hit the vessel, while it distracts them with its weapons.

With the massive amount of support craft,, fighters, DropShips, powered infantry, mechs, and WarShips, there is no way we could fight this on MegaMek. Or on real maps. It would take a week to sim it all!

So, let me grab some dice to give this battle a bit of a feel to it. The numbers are on our side, and the positives as well.

[Abe Sargent]

Plan #1 - Our goal is to use 50 of our numerous fighters to engage their 38, and get them from the battle. This dogfighting will hopefully keep them from hitting our other assets. If they refuse to engage, we can use our fighters to chase them down and take some into balls of fiery fury.


Plan #2 – Use 40 fighters to dodge past DropShips and engage that Overlord. With it’s naval class weapons, it’s a threat against our WarShips and DropShips, so we need fighters to engage it and take it down. We have the numbers to do so.

Plan #3 – The Hamilcar should engage the closest transport vessel that doesn’t have any infantry on it. As an assault vessel backed by mechs, it should beat that. Our ideal target is a Union.

Plan #4 – Our four assault vessels (Tug, Achilles, Avenger, Claymore) should run interference and keep their DropShips from getting too close to our WarShip. They are a defensive screen. We also have the 8 fighters left, as well as the fighter-ish small craft.

Plan #5 – Keep the Battle Taxi back. Some should be in the screen around our WarShip, expecting to hit an opportunity of convenience. Meanwhile, the others will be in the back of the attack on their Overlord. After it falls, fighters will break off for targets of opportunity among their DropShips, and Taxis are ordered in to support them.

Plan #6 – Bring our WarShip to bear on theirs, and win that battle.


No one in the houses has fought as many naval battles with WarShips involved as Randal Lewis has. So we have that ace up our sleeve. Plus, we are able to push the battle in the right direction.


Now, we don’t know what their plan of attacks are, and how they view the participants in the battle. For example, we expect they may rush our WarShip with everything they have got, but what if they don’t? What if they hang back and play it safe, looking for angles of attack to open up.

We don’t know how the Nanking flotilla will respond to our arrival.


But battle begins.

[Abe Sargent]

It appears that they are using a more tempered rush. They have created a wedge. Their wedge has the WarShip in the back middle, and just in front the Overlord A. They have fighters arrayed split down the middle on the ends, on the sides, between the fighters and Overlord/WarShip, they have their DropShips, with the weakest, 2 Leopards, in front, just to the sides of the wedge.

As Lewis mentions, the wedge is a common naval formation, and one that’s basic, hard to screw up, and will force us to play by their rules, and make adjustments to our plans. However, it’s the wrong formation for a corvette. Your corvette can’t go the speed that it’s capable of, because it’s turtling behind a formation. Imagine a light, 25 ton Commando mech that can normally go 6/8, but to protect itself from infantry, it just goes 3 or 4 hexes at a time, behind a line of infantry. It’s not using its speed right. That Fox is being used in the wrong naval tactic.

They are driving at us, but not so much that they are getting crazy. But as expected, they are driving right at our WarShip.

We modify our plans a bit. We send our fighters to engage theirs, as expected, and hit their wedge. From all sides. Then in front we have the other 40 fighters trying to push into the middle of the wedge, and drive past the Leopards and hit the Overlord A. Right next to the Overlord is two assault ships – the Claymores. So behind our fighters come our small craft, and then our Assault DropShips. We keep a small number by our WarShip (our Fortress, a few small craft, the 8 extra fighters, etc). As a screen and reserve.

The Hamilcar launches its mechs as it closes with a Leopard and it attacks. The combination of mechs and the assault appears to shake the Leopard in the front, and we expect that ship to fall soon.

Meanwhile, our 40 fighters lost some ships, but have broken into their wedge and are pushing towards the Claymores and Overlord A. Our own units are behind.

[Abe Sargent]

Because they are engaging all along their flanks with our 50 fighters, they have ordered the transport DropShips along the flanks of the WarShip to push forward and support their fighters. In a few places, they are winning the battles.

Their WarShip cracks the first volley at a few of our small craft and fighters, and take out a pair. Meanwhile our fighters begin attack runs on the Overlord A. The Overlord, and Warships will be range of naval weapons next turn.

Their Claymores dice into fighters as our small craft return the fire. We move a pair of Taxis to a Claymore. They will land next turn.

Meanwhile, our Tug and Avenger dice into a Leopard and begin to carve it up.


On the next turn, they are winning some more flank battles. They open up and hit our WarShip with naval weapons twice, but not that much of an effect. We target their Fox and are much more effective. Our WarShip doesn’t even have normal weapons to fight against fighters and such –it’s all naval weapons. Naval autocannons tear into their Fox and carve armor off all over it.

Our fighters runs are doling some damage into their Overlord as well. More of our fighters are destroyed by their Claymore and Leopard. Our Taxis are bring shot by the other Claymore. One is damaged badly and breaks off their landing and will return. The other landed and will begin to carve into the armor and deposit a squad of battle armored infantry inside. A Claymore just has a crew of 15. We might be able to capture it…


Meanwhile, their Intruder has blasted our Tug, and I order it to begin retreating. It’ll take a while, and it’s not that badly damaged yet, but I want to start it. The Hamilcar has finished their Leopard and moves to support the attack on the other Leopard. We damage that DropShip too.


On the next turn, they carve into our WarShip again. It begins to take some damage, and theirs takes a lot more. It’s like watching a small ship with 6 cannons trade broadside fire with a Ship of the Line. You won’t be able to sustain it for long. Their Overlord is badly damaged from the fighters buzzing around, and the small craft are ordered to protect the battles on the flank against their transport DropShips and fighters.

We destroy the other Leopard and ignite it’s fuel. Dead Leopard boom!

On the next turn, we go first and dole out so much damage to their Fox that a side begins to crumple. Our fighters have destroyed the Overlords front side, and space begins to cascade in. Dead Drop Ship. That enables us to bring in out DropShips, and multiple ones head in.

Their Intruder and Claymore have damaged our Tug on the way out and it’s not looking good at all. We have lost more fighters. They have about 10 fighters left. We have about 50 still operational. We order the jump capable mechs to their WarShip, unload the Fortress and Fury CVs into the rift created to send its battle armor to the WarShip as well, and our remaining Battle Taxis move in. We radio a quick offer to see if they want to concede victory and possession of the planet to us, but they don’t even respond.


The next turn sees their WarShip try the hail mary and stab at us again. They do manage to damage our drive, and that reduce our speed by one. We have killed too many of the crew in their Claymore and it has been removed from battle. A lucky shot our virtually undamaged Fury CV penetrates the hull and hits the engine and it shuts down.

We are winning strongly on the flanks after our fighters are pushing around to help out. A Union of theirs carves into our own Claymore and begins to score the armor severely.

Instead of firing at their, we fire at their Intruder, and destroy its front and right sides completely.

On the next turn, they only manage to fire half of their shots, it looks like we damage them too badly. They miss and hit here and there and the Aegis shrugs it off like it name sake. We destroy the other Claymore with combined fire from fighters, Claymore, Hamilcar, small craft, Leopard CVs, Avenger and Achilles. It crumpled and breaks into a bunch of pieces. That’s not going to be salvageable.

We don’t even fire the Aegis. We do land mechs on their Fox, but they have normal weapons too, and they kill two of our mechs coming in. The Fortress will be close enough next turn to unload its infantry, as will two Taxis. We begin to recall damaged units that we don’t need, such as our Claymore and damaged small craft and such.


Our next turn sees us begin to land on the WarShip and unload 7 different squads of power armor. Two are going into the hold via carvings from Taxies and 5 from the Fortress. They can’t target their weapons for infantry and mechs on the hull, so they again stab their naval weapons at our ship, and again, barely do anything. Meanwhile, we are quickly ending the rest of the battle. We’ve scuttled the Hannibal, and they have managed to injure our Hamilcar, so we send it back. Our fighters are about to take out that Leopard CV. It’s pretty now. We again offer surrender.

Duke Essex offers a nice deal.

They can walk out, right now, and keep any fighters or DropShips that can sail away on their own power, we keep all of the salvage, and the WarShip. We have 6 mechs and 7 squads of infantry in and around that ship. It’s going to fall anyway. Do you want to lose those other ships you have?

They agree. Hostilities cease. They gather their men from the ships we captured, and then they take off with anything that can fly off to the local jump points.

[Abe Sargent]

And we begin to look at our salvage:


We have captured a Leopard DropShip by our Hamilcar
A Claymore DropShip from a BattleTaxi

We can salvage their…hold on, let me get some more dice….


Overlord A
Intruder

Nothing else DropShip level is salvageable. I was hoping to get that Hannibal, but no dice. Ah well.

We salvaged 13 of their fighters.

We are able to re-up our Leopard CV.

We lost 58 fighters. We can salvage 21. That means we need to replace 24 fighters, or a full two companies of fighters.

We also lost 7 small craft, just 2 of which are recoverable.


We captured the Brest, let’s take a look.


Battle damage was pretty bad. It would not have survived another salvo from us. Capt. Lewis, ever the smart guy, knew when to stop firing.

The inter-space engines are damaged too badly, and will take about two weeks to repair. The KF drive and battery are undamaged. However, the armor, and structure, is crumpled in multiple places, and will require about 4 months to fix at a drydock, 6 outside of it. It’ll take about 6 weeks to fix our Aegis.

We recovered a vast majority of the pilots we lost – they were able to eject and stay alive

Fixing our damaged stuff (Claymore, Tug, small craft, etc) will take a couple of months.


So we are going to stay here for a few months, parked above Nanking, with our giant flotilla, and begin to work. Our Tug is going to be doing a lot of extra work.


The amount of money it will cost to fix our stuff and our salvage is criminally high. Normally K&C gets 100% battle loss and fixing from the Coalition. But this is going to be well over a billion CBills, maybe a lot more(I don’t know how much it costs to fix a WarShip).


But we have arrived. We also have aerial superiority with roughly 35 fighters ready to go, fixed, cleaned, re-armored, and re-ammoed. Our cargo and transport ships behind this navy have arrived – the Vengeance, Mule, Overlords, Excalibur, and Colossus.