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

[Abe Sargent]

March 4, 3064 - We radio Nanking. They are happy to see our victory, and ready to help us.


On planet –

1st FedCom RCT

FedCom RCT – 1 regiment of mechs, veteran, reliable; aerospace units destroyed in the battle; 3 regiments of armor, regular, unreliable; 5 regiments of infantry, regular and reliable


The 1st Kestrel grenadiers have jumped back to Zurich to help out there. Where bad stuff happens. (Check out the Zurich campaign earlier).


Marshal Ally Swanson, in charge of the 1st, answers a call from Duke Essex. He explains that they were asked to assist by the local government. She knows, she was in contact with the Brest for a while. She cannot, in good conscience, surrender the military-complex of Kallon to Essex. The mech-producing company is too important to vital to the Federated Commonwealth generally, and Victor specifically.


However, she recognizes our legal claim and that we have forced our way here. So, she is going to garrison the factories with her forces, and let the rest of the planet to us. But if we attack her, then all bets are off.

The Coalition forces land and are begun to be seen as liberators. Local Word of Blake plants push the pro-Coalition hysteria.

[Abe Sargent]

Mar 10, 3064 – It’s time to begin to begin the campaign for the factories. As mentioned before, there are secret plans on how to retake Nanking that the Capellan Confederation drew up which Word of Blake supplied to us. Nanking was independent long ago. It voluntarily joined Capella centuries ago. They had it for quite some time. They built a lot of the structures on the world.


And that includes the Brian Castle right by the factory complex that is used as a HQ and garrison by the 1st FedCom RCT. We have the blueprints and schemes for that huge Brian Castle, and it includes a few secrets the FedCom folk never found out about. We are going to exploit that fact in an extreme manner.

Nanking was originally a trade center for the area, and still had strong metals to mine, including a lot of platinum still around. Imagine if you took the mining economy of Genoa, and slapped a center of trade and a large industrial complex on top of it. We’re making tanks and mechs.

Many of its metals are not fancy ones (gold, silver) but useful ones, like iron and titanium. I

Because of this, Nanking has 6 billion people living here. Most aren’t anywhere near the central Kallon factories. They are in the cold mountains, and Nanking has a cooler climate over all. But it has some strong tectonic action.

In the Star League era, The Brian Castle now defended was built over a large geothermal crevice to help keep the people warm. There are no ways down into the giant crevice, because the builders didn’t want to create a back door into their Castle. So instead they used some small pipes and natural vents and such. We couldn’t penetrate that with anything other than maybe, power armored infantry.

We can’t take a lot of units into the crevice either. It’s way too hot. But that wasn’t the Liao plan. Their plan was to explode the bottom of the Castle, thereby causing a large amount of the castle to drop into the crevice below. It’s not even 100 feet deep in most places. But it’ll break stuff, people, and equipment.

Plus, it’ll be a huge psychological bonus to crack their Castle, their un-penetrable fortress, so powerfully.

We begin to unload the huge explosives we brought from home. Our power armored folks will spend the next few days sneaking in occasionally, adding explosives, in this hidden section of the mountain, and then slipping back out.


We load up our fighters with bombs in case we need the heavy stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

Mar 16, 3064 – JumpShips arrive at the Zenith point, and load up the troops and vessels that escaped our battle.

Mar 18, 3064 – After getting a recharge at the Zenith recharge station, they pop back out.


Mar 27, 3064 – We have gotten a lot of locals away from the area, and warned them off. We are ready to go. We send out our forces as close as we feel we can get (about 40 miles away) in a local city and have set up local fornications, pretending to be a part of this camp.

The explosives rock the earth, and work as expected (always use about three times what you think is needed, just in case)

A resounding crack is heard, and much of the Brian Castle falls about 30-40 feet. The front and middle do, but sides and back stay, relatively, firm, although cracks appear in the foundation and more.

Imagine a building so huge and large, that it can hold thousands of troops, support personnel, techs, and more. It can hold hundreds of mechs and tanks, hundreds of tons of supplies, has full facilities from mess halls and barracks to a state of the art medical facility, to prisons and a up to date command and control center with the latest equipment. It has more than a thousand tons of supplies like ammo and guns and personal equipment. It has three separate water wells, as well as enough food for six months for the entire complex, and stored water in case of spoilage.

Now imagine that this sprawling building is in the mountains, and has massive defenses, like gun emplacements, mines ,massive walls and turrets and more. It has very little walls on the outside at all, and the mountain itself is the castle’s fortifications, in a meaningful way. It has numerous gates and entrances in the center, that can be opened to let out tanks, fighters, mechs, and more.

Now imagine that this giant building drops twenty feet. Imagine all of the things that would be torn. People dead, doors to storage rooms, beds, and so forth closed by rock and walls. Tilting floors. Broken materiel. The gates to let out the mechs and tanks are mostly broken. Trapped, inside of this falling castle, is everything the 1st RCT has.

Well, not really, they have a few infantry regiments elsewhere, a few tanks elsewhere. At this point, there’s no need to fight, no need to come out of the three or four doors that still work. More than 200 mechs are bearing down on this position, more than 30 fighters are buzzing it and more than 30 tanks are nearby and closing.

[Abe Sargent]

But the communications are down. There is no one to surrender, and no one to tell the soldiers to surrender either. So a meaningless battle ensues.

Out pour some tanks and mechs that can make it. In the first 15 minutes, it seems around 12 mechs and 20 tanks are out. The mechs are forcing open doors and looking around while infantry try to fix doors, and the tanks have moved into a defensive position. They aren’t thinking. They are running on automatic.

And they are about to get slaughtered if they don’t knock it off.


The first Battalion to arrive on the scene is Water Battalion from Epsilon regiment. They peel off Oasis Company to head in and scout around.

Some gun emplacements almost destroy their Whitworth, so it heads back. If this gauntlet had been better guarded with tanks, infantry, the turrets fully working (some don’t have power), but instead it’s really about hitting mines to take them out and blowing up the defenses. River and Lake Companies move in and Oasis pulls back after cleaning out the local defenses.

River and Lake move in and their tanks are in a defensive position. River Company moves in front to assault the tanks solo, leaving Lake as a reserve, or a company to come in after the tank battle.


River Company:

BLR-3M BattleMaster
ANV-3M Anvil
HNB-4G Hunchback
THR-1L Thunder

AWS-9Q Awesome
Mad Cat D
RFL-5M Rifleman
BMB-12D Bombardier

GRY-1 Greyhound
Clint Iic
ZPH-1A Tarantula
SDR-5V Spider

We have two clan mechs – Mad Cat and Clint IIc

We are facing 21 tanks



This is our Clint IIc, a clan variant of the Clint, more of a refit actually.






They have multiples of the local tanks made here (Partisans and Ontos). Let’s get this party started!


They have a pair of the Rommel Tank variant with a Gauss Rifle. They have a lot of heavier units, and then a lance of four light, hover, J Edgars to help flank, scout, and such.

[Abe Sargent]

This area we are fighting on has a bet of concrete, a bit of elevation, a bit of tries, a bit of rock – really a bit of everything I suppose.


Turn 1 – We lose initiative. This round was mostly positioning. The only major thing was that our Greyhound’s E Medium laser immobilizes one of the J Edgars. Two fires were accidentally set as well.

Turn 2 - We init init. I flanked a group of six mechs down the right side all together. Our Mad Cat’s ER PPC lasers a Rommel and damages its movement. Our Greyhound destroys a J Edgar’s turret and its down. Our Mad Cat took 40+ damage but remained standing.

Turn 3 – We win init. This turn my goal is to bring my beaters in – Hunchbacks Anvils and Thunder’s aren’t that good at range. We charge their flank. Our Tarantula immobilizes one of their many (5) Partisans. Our Greyhound kills a Partisan Air Defense Tank’s front and its gone. Our BattleMaster freezes another J Edgar.

Turn 4 – We lose init. They eject from a J Edgar. We move our mechs in more. Here we go. Our Mad Cat stuns the crew and nails the sensors on an Ontos. An AC20 of love from our Thunder tears into a Partisan’s fuel tank and it explodes. Boom! Our Rifleman kills a 3053 upgraded Ontos’s front. Our Greyhound attacks an unwounded Hetzer, hits with both SRM6s streaks and two ER medium lasers and destroys its front. Welcome to the Greyhound Show, presented by Kressly Warworks Inc! Our BattleMaster destroys a Parisans front. Their Hetzer nailed the engine twice on our Anvil after cracking the torso with its AC20. A Partisan opens up our Hunchback’s leg and hits a foot. Both our Battlemaster and Hunchback falls.

Turn 5 – We win init. I eject the Hunchback, which took a lot of damage last turn. The Ontos tank has a ton of medium lasers, so getting in close can be dangerous too. But we have to do it to clean the defenses out for other companies to come in after us. Our BattleMaster rises. I hop our Anvil out of danger, hopefully. Our Mad Cat immobilizes an Ontos. Our BM immobilizes their final J Edgar. Our Clint stuns the crew of their Ontos.


They are protecting their home, they will keep fighting for now.

Turn 6 – We lose init. Ontos flees. Our Awesome immobilizes their last Ontos. Our BattleMaster then takes out a Rommel. Our Mad Cat immobilizes a Goblin Medium Tank. Our Clint IIc finishes the damaged Ontos by hitting its front. Anvil finishes a J Edgar, but the J Edgar smashes hits head from a SRM 2 before it goes and that’s internal and hits both sensors. Blind mech.


Turn 7 – We win. I eject the Anvil. We are having some ammo concerns. The Bombardier and Rifleman are out of ammo. Their Goblin ejects too. Our Greyhound destroys a Rommel, our Mad Cat a Partisan Air Defense, and our Tarantula a J. Edgar. Their Partisan hits two leg actuators n our Mad Cat. Our BM immobilizes a Myrmidon Medium Tank and then the Awesome kills it. Mad Cat falls.


There are four tanks left. We secure the Ontos, Partisanx2, and Goblin while Lake Company moves past us to hit the Mechs.

[Abe Sargent]

Dead Tanks – J Edgarx3, Partisan (ADT)x2 ,Partisan (fuel), Ontos (3053), Hetzer, Partisan, Rommel – gaussx2, Ontos, Myrmidon

Ejected – J Edgar, Ontos, Goblin


Kills – Greyhoundx4, Thunder, Rifleman, BattleMasterx2, Clint IIc, Anvil, Mad Cat, Tarantula, Awesome,


Lake Company moves in behind the battle, and Mountain Battalion, of Epsilon Company is behind and the next set of forces. Meanwhile fighters are lancing over.

[Abe Sargent]

The battle and running the gauntlet by Oasis Company have given our foes time to grab more mechs. Right now, they have 19 mechs out. They hear over the radio that Lake Company, and then Mountain Battalion are en route. They begin to move out and flee. I don’t want a guerilla force on the planet. Fighters begin to strafe and bomb them and attack them since we can’t get there quickly.

Bombing splits them up and strafing does so even more. They aren’t taking traditional anti-fighter tactics, they’ve been beaten. We lose three fighters after a few rounds, and four more have to retreat, but we have severely damaged, destroyed, and forced the ejection of 10 of their mechs.

Then Lake arrives, and there are 9 wounded mechs with a new company and AeroSpace Support. They can’t flee, so they radio their surrender. They aren’t part of the same unit or anything, and no one is ranked higher than Sergeant. But we accept their surrender none-the-less.


Our forces arrive at the local Castle in force, and we set up a garrison. We grab folks as they come up and build a huge, captured section of our camp. After they’ve played this game a few times, no one else comes out.

[Abe Sargent]

Mar 30, 3064 – They have managed to restore enough power and communications to radio their surrender, and we accept. We allow the 1st Fed Com RCT to head off planet, with the folks who surrendered. We take all salvage.

It’ll take a few months to get everyone and everything out, but Nanking is essentially secured, thanks to Word of Blake.


And now that they delivered their promise a while ago, it’s time to deliver on ours.

Nanking used to have a tank factory on it called Rivverson Technologies, that made the Ballista mobile artillery tank. It was the standard mobile artillery tank for about two centuries for the Star League. It was a high quality unit, fast, easy to maintain, accurate, and battle-tested. Ballista tanks were used even in the Succession Wars. The factory was destroyed, and cannot be easily made any more.

[Abe Sargent]

Kallon in a Nutshell makes:

The Ontos Heavy Tank, 95 ton tank debuting in 2832, and rocking a variety of variants over the eras. The base version ran 8 medium lasers and 2 LRM5s. But you can find variants with LRM20s and so forth, In the 3050s, an upgrade to new tech gave it a fusion engine, medium pulse lasers, an LRM15, an SRM4 and 6, Artemis IV for them all, CASE, and ferro-fib armor. They now make this upgraded version here at Nanking


The Partisan Heavy Tank, an 80 ton monster that debuted in 2791 and rocked 4 AC5s and 2 machine guns, with a variety of variants made. One good, but older variant (which we encountered) has 4 LRM 15s. Two newer variants of a Tank called the Air Defense Tank are pretty good.. One has ferro-fib armor, 2 LB5Xs, two Ultra AC5s, and is pretty good against flyers. Another rocks a pair of LB10Xs, 2 Ultra Ac5, and such. They come with C3 slaves, which are not common here in the FedCom, so they aren’t made at the local Plant. They are made at other Kallon plants. They are working on a FedCom special that uses the ubre-popular Rotary AC5, and their version of that Partisan is supposed to roll out in a few months. That’ll be the one we get.


The Wolverine – Kallon created and introduced the Wolverine for the Star League centuries ago. It was a pretty good mech. House Davion upgraded their Wolverine factory on the captured Nanking to make some new guys. They make the 7D variant. It has an XL engine, ferro-armor, MASC to speed you up, ultra AC5, medium pulse laser, SRM6 with CASE, and jump jets. We don’t like XLs, but it’s not that shabby. Kallon has already approved designs for an 8D Variant that has XL engine, endo, rotary AC2, MASC still, SRM6 streak, ER Medium Laser and a targeting computer for the AC2 and laser. It may have some heat issues though (just 10/20 heat sinks). It’s a better design, frankly, which they have begun to work on a prototype of it. Best estimate right now is prototype in three months or so, and begin working on the line switch over a few months, make them early next year.

The Exterminator – In order to save money, in the early 3000s, Kallon began to produce Exterminators on the old blueprint, with none of the high-tech stuff. It just looked like an Exterminator and had a similar weapons payload. They have a wacky new version that shoots things with Narc Pods and ER medium lasers and lots of weird stuff. We don’t like it that much. An Exterminator that does not have all of this fun stuff is not really an Exterminator, and they only make 1/month. It’s also on an exclusive contract to ComStar, since it rocks an iNarc and iC3.


Shadow Hawk – They had a Shadow hawk plant that wants doing too well, and have been a part of Project Phoenix and have retooled it to make the 5D variant of the Shadow Hawk. It rocks a Rotary AC5, streak SRM4, two medium lasers, and lots of fun! It’s very similar to the version that Lang’ll be making over on Caph. They expect it to begin producing Mechs around February 3065.



Nanking did have a huge local garrison, the Nanking SMM. That was destroyed in the Civil War in the early stages. It had 2 regiments of armor, one of mechs, and 2 of infantry. We cannot leave Nanking poorly defended, but we need troops elsewhere.

For now, everyone who came on the mission stays. Major Mei Zhen starts scouring for a useful mercenary to help us out.


Over the next few months, we’ll fly in more units to fix up our flotilla. We’ll be here for a while, essentially garrisoning the place. I sell that salvaged Leopard to help defray the costs of repairing our damaged fleet.



End of the First Nanking Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

I want to get the timeline caught back, after this rewind and then hit y'all with a couple of major "surprises" and then give y'all a full TOE of our unit.

[Abe Sargent]

3064

January 5, 3064 – Kilts and Commandoes, via Duke Essex, send a company of ‘Mechs to Duke James Sandoval, from the Liberty Campaign that were salvaged to help his Draconis March in their ongoing struggle against the Dragon. It includes 2 clan mechs we grabbed, and ten others. All free, to help him out. He needs them a lot more than we do. We’ve donated more than 100 mechs in salvage to places like the Draconis March, Word of Blake, and Free Rasalhague Republic.

Jan 12, 3064 – After the FrankenMech version of the Buckshot is finished, it is taken through its paces. It seems to do well, particularly with the combination of speed on a heavy mech you would not normally be able to afford without the XL engine, but with the added survivability of a Light Engine instead, plus heavy armor, and an adequate payload. The Buckshot is given fully articulated hand actuators in order to push it’s ability to be used as a long term ‘Mech. Kressly greenlights it.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 14, 3064 – The Coalition looks to hire a garrison for Asmodeus, and they need to be trustworthy, because the colony is a jump from other stuff, but we have just one unit on planet that can jump in if they aren’t: Utopia Company.

Vandelay’s Valkyries suits us perfectly right now:

They helped to win a major battle for the Combine in the 4th Succession War. After garrison work for the FedCom, they left for the Taurian Concordat, where they were a mainstay off the Concordat for a while. As part of the Trinity Alliance with the Confederation, they were assigned to aid the St. Ives war. They had even been assigned some upgraded tech as a part of the Trinity Alliance. Then, about 11 months ago, they were assigned to an assault on a St. Ives world when the defenders intercepted and destroyed one of the three DropShips landing before it even arrived. That was an Overlord with the command battalion on board.

Having lost their leader and landing, dead in the water, leader of the infantry Charles Houver took over the unit, and in a show of brilliance, managed to keep most of the mechs of the second battalion that was landing intact, and fought a mobile retreat for a few days, and left the planet with most of their unit still intact.

But the Taurians thought they should have fought harder and the Caps were not impressed. So, they were paid the balance of their contract and terminated for a poor performance, and their Dragoons rating dropped to a C. That puts a major stigma on their unit. Dropped rating, cut by a Periphery realm early, lost CO in battle early on St. Ives.

Their CO was dead, the unit was floundering. Now CO Charles Houver is trying to rebuild, but no one trusts him enough to do so. He is raising the daughter of the former CO, Sarah Vandelay, to take over after she is old enough. We like that character. That loyalty.

So the Valkyries need a good, long term, relatively quiet deal to enable them to rebuild. That’s a good garrison deal. And that sort of character shows that they are a trustworthy unit, with 20% updated assets.



Vandelay’s Valkyries – Garrison until February 1, 3069. One battalion of mechs (Regular, listed as questionable due to reports from Concordat), one mixed battalion (Same), 2 companies of infantry, regular reliable. They have an Overlord DropShip, a Seeker DropShip, and an Invader JumpShip. Rating C. Garrison on Asmodeus right now.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 29, 3064 - After the Lyran Guards launched from Keid, they were denuded of any local forces, and their government has cracked. They’ve already been raided twice and their central government has fallen without the support of the Lyran Guards.

This is perfect. The longer Keid goes without stability, the more they’ll welcome it from us.


February 4, 3064 – Word of Blake approached us and Brooks Inc on Liberty, and multiple other worlds. They had given the plans for a omnifighter called the Defiance to the Capellan Confederation, who agreed to build a new factory building in, split the cost, and then let the Word purchase the first two years of the fighter. This has worked really well, but the problem is that the Word wants a lot more Defiance’s and they are all sent to local forces for a while. They’d like to make the same deal with us, only since we’d be adding a fighter line to an existing plant, with the blueprints, and no need to prototype it, we could have Defiances coming off the lines by the end of 3064. We all agree to the deal.


February 11, 3064 – Over on Caph, a Cretaceous Zone is created, sort of a Jurassic Park writ large, with the creation of a nature preserve and the local dinosaur-like animals in the jungles of the continent of Steam. Tourism will start growing as a result.

[Abe Sargent]

March 25, 3064 – After doing both raids, the 48th arrives back on EE and Duke Essex offers them a deal for the Coalition that would be the first long-term one they would sign. No more living contract to contract, with the typical generous terms the Coalition offers, to a retainer deal. We ask them to begin by assisting over at New Home with garrisoning and training the locals.

We will find out, much later after learning their loyalty trust with our own battlefield honor (after…Quentin…again, check in later to see what we are talking about….the foreshadowing continues…), that the 48th were members of the Draconis Combine 5th Amphigean Assault Group, which was destroyed by Ghost Bear on Krenice in the Clan Invasion. They were left behind by the DCMS, who did not want to risk a Bear retaliation on the world to free them. They survived on their own, behind the Bear lines, for years and years, and then captured the clan Overlord, and blasted off. They were now ronin, officially cut off from their homeland. They chose the mercenary way of life, and have desired to bring a level of samurai honor to their unit, the people they serve, and such. Maj. Namhito, by the way, was the tactical offer for the 5th Amphigean Assault, and is a tactical genius and an elite mechwarrior. Better than most. By Far.

[Abe Sargent]

April 1, 3064 – Duke Essex, Ambassador Yee, Chief Foster, and some others arrive at Kallon Industries and take a meeting with their representative.

“You folks have done this dance a few times already. Here on Nanking you once made mechs for House Liao, then captured and making mechs for House Steiner, then moved over and making stuff House Davion, and now we’ve captured you.”

Ambassador Yee speaks up, “As you folks know, it’s pretty much standard operating procedure to have a company cancel all standing orders for their units, and then sell units to the new state and whoever it authorizes.”

“We understand the drill. For however long you can hold Nanking, you get the merchandise, if we get the cash, but the Exterminator is on an exclusive contract with ComStar. Since that’s not a state, that’s not the same thing. ”

“Don’t worry, we have the cash. We also have a few things you might like. The Coalition has a handful of ‘Mech makers. The Nanking Kallon plant is a huge boon, and we are building a lot of forces up to replace battle losses or to build up units on planets.

Meanwhile, we don’t want the Exterminator. Just change your Exterminator to an exclusive deal with Word of Blake instead. That way, we don’t get a state instead.

Third of all, we have allocated the first 6 months of ‘Mechs (Wolverine, Shadow Hawk) to the Capellan Confederation, who will be sending you the cash and the information on where to deliver them. We’ll get the tanks though.”

“That’s an unusual request. You conquered Nanking for Blake and House Liao?”

Essex smiles. “I don’t see the difference.”


Chief Foster - “Now, we’d like to talk about adding a mechline. How does that work with proprietary information?”


“Mechs and tanks we build here must have your approval to be sold outside of your area. We cannot share any of the stuff. So for example, our company has the license to make Partisans with C3 computers, but not in all of the states. We can’t make a C3 Partisan here on Nanking. The same is true of other things as well.”

Foster – “So if you were to add a Mech line, of a new Mech here?”

“We couldn’t produce the same Mech somewhere else. But that would take too long to do anyway. I’d recommend using a chassis that’s battle tested, and we have the right for. ”

Ambassador Yee– “Such as?”

“We have Exterminator, Wolverine, and Shadow Hawk, obviously, since we make those. We make Rifleman, Griffin and Crusaders for others. For newer mechs, we have created the Penetrator, but we have a sole contract with the locals, the same with things like the Templar. We created the Hornet a while ago, and it’s not doing well now at all, so we’d be happy to reboot it for you with a new face. The Falcon Hawk, though, was a Star League design we updated. We make them for everyone for sale, and we could make either at the same run, if you guarantee sales, or we could refit it for you. So if you wanted a ‘Mech to hit the streets quickly, just name your style.”

Duke Essex interrupts. “That’s sad about the Penetrator. I was hoping we could just add that line here with no changes. It’s a high quality unit. How could we go about changing things?”

“It’s made at our major factory, on Talon. We make 10 different Mech Designs there. The Penetrator still sells well, but everyone who wants them tends to already have them, barring the war, of course. We’ve been making them for 10 years, there certainly could be a window of opportunity. You would have to talk with the Federated Commonwealth Office of Procurement. They would have to approve it. But why would they bother?”

“Just brainstorming here, but what if we paid the cost for the new Penetrator line here, and then guaranteed to sell them the first run, so they can get more Mechs for their war effort?”

“I don’t think a 10 year old design is as sexy there as it would be. I don’t think they’d be interested in losing their exclusivity to the design just so they can buy more of it. Not even in the war.”

“So if we want to sell it, could we make some changes?”

“That’s unlikely, Why not just retool the Talon plant instead? I just don’t see it.”

“It was worth the conversation I suppose.”




“Hmm… What about that Falcon Hawk? We could downgrade the Er PPC to an ER Large Laser, freeing 2 tons. Then strip the small pulse laser, and downgrade the medium pulses to mediums. Then we could use that 5 tons to add a second ER large laser. This gives the mech more long range punch that before.”

“That’s not bad, and it’s a solid light fire support version of the mech. But if you want to sell in this climate, you need something new. You have an extra ton from the conversion, by the way, for another double heat sink.”

“Let me give you a different take. Strip off the XL for a light engine. Swap ferro-fibrous armor for endo steel. Pull off that extra heat sink, we don’t need it that much.”


Falcon Hawk FNHK-9N

35 tons, 5/8
Max armor
Endo Steel, Light Engine
2x ER Large Lasers
2x Medium Lasers
13/26 heat
BV – 1115
Cost 3.92 Mill CBills

Now that has something of merit. It’s cheaper than the other Falcon Hawks (XL engines are more expensive) features light engine, has max 100% armor, and has an interesting long range bite to it. You can run, fire both long range weapons, and not go overheat.

Kallon agrees to run with it. Since it’s on a chassis they know, the only issue is finding the right light version of the 175 engine. Other than that, the mech should be out and ready by February, 3065, if they can figure out the engine thing.


That’ll work, giving us a good scout mech to add to our units with some punch to it.



Welcome to the club Kallon!

[Abe Sargent]

April 3, 3064 – After Katrina Steiner hears of our success on Nanking, she turns this into a huge positive media blitz against Victor. How even people outside the FedCom could see he was wrong, and he couldn’t even defeat a force from the small Coalition

[Abe Sargent]

April 15, 3064 – For the first time in a long time, Duke Essex takes a press conference.


Hello media!

“I’d like to welcome you to one of our first press conferences since the Celestial Coalition formed. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Perhaps too long!

I’d like to announce a major decision by the Coalition. As of today, the Celestial Coalition has officially joined an alliance with the Word of Blake and they will be securing all of our HPG stations. I ask that all ComStar guards turn over their stations to the Word of Blake by one month from today. Thank you!

Look, I don’t have a lot against ComStar. They’ve helped us before, and I’ve personally done a lot of contracts with them. ComStar, I want you to listen to me. You are focusing way too much of your time and energy on the Clans, and on the Civil War between two houses that doesn’t involve you. The fact that the leader of the Civil War is your Precentor Martial does not speak well.

You have done great things with the Free Rasalhague Republic. But so many others need you. The Word of Blake has already been helping us, and we continue to expect great things from this alliance!

Furthermore, we have also been enjoined to the alliance of Marik-Liao, and the Taurian Concordat and the Magistracy of Canopus. United by our identity with the Word of Blake, the six of us will move forward to continue to help the betterment of us all, as well as abroad.

We are here today on Nanking. As you know, we came here to Nanking at the request of the people, and they have offered to join the Celestial Coalition, which was approved this morning. We also embraced the people of Zurich last year, and they, too, joined us. Some of you might be wondering if we are warmongering. We’re not. Both worlds were in the former Sarna March, both worlds have shifted hands multiple times, and deserve to be treated better, and both worlds asked us to help them, prior to us having any soldiers on their world. We aren’t going to start grabbing other worlds the Houses have as a warmonger. We are trying to show that there is a different way to act. A different way to rule. Hand in hand, with the people. With the communities. Together!

I also have one more announcement to make. A lot of folks have wondered if the Coalition is just a figurehead for me, since I keep getting reelected as its head. I get that, I do. We are all about community ownership of our government. That’s why the capital moves each year to a new planet. So, we are placing a three-term limit on the position, so that no one can hold it for too long. We changed the term to five years a while ago. The next election is on January 1, 3065. After that, if I am elected, term limits begin, and that will count as my first term in office under the new rules. Therefore, I cannot lead the Coalition beyond December 31, 3080. This is an opportunity, and we cannot allow our worse natures to dictate things to us.

I’ll take questions at this time.”

[Abe Sargent]

April 20, 3064 – We have hired TekTeam Technical Services, a premier merc unit that specializes in salvage, acquisition and repair, to work on the destroyed Brian Castle on Nanking for a while, and then to scout the battlefields and areas of other planets in the Coalition, and to help train local folks as well. TekTeam is on a 2 year contract for the Coalition.


May 3, 3064 – After looking, we have found help. The Free Worlds League have this mercenary group that wants to raise their prices beyond what they wanted. Marik has tried to unload them with Liao, but they didn’t want them either. We can bring them over and basically we’d be looking to extend their deal. We do so.


Swann’s Cavaliers – 1 regiment of mechs, veteran and reliable; 1 of vehicles, regular and reliable; wing of fighters, regular and reliable, reinforced regiment of infantry, veteran and reliable. Dragoons rating B. We extend their deal through January 1, 3068, and we bring them in for garrison work on Nanking. They’ll arrive in a couple of months. We have increased their pay by 10% to secure them. This is a huge deal for us, because in one stroke we bring in enough forces to garrison the major world of Nanking.

[Abe Sargent]

Let me get you a good post-Nanking look at all of our units and such:


Kilts and Commandos Roster:


Battlemechs –

Alpha Regiment: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Star Battalion

Myth Battalion: Capt Foster Keynes, of Typhon Company

Heliades Company – On Elgin
Styx Company - On Elgin
Tethys Company – On Elgin
Typhon Company – On Elgin


Star Battalion: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Defender Company

Defender Company – Arboris
Cinq Company – Arboris
Brawler Company – Arboris


Heater Battalion: Capt. Jason Thomas, Trinity of Company

Delta Company – On Sheratan
Trinity Company- On Sheratan
Butler Company – On Sheratan

Alpha Regiment is currently being used to garrison and train these three places, and I intend to settle them in for now.


Beta Regiment: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Ganges Battalion

Ganges Battalion: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Phaeton Company

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

Rheims Battalion: Capt. Aurelia Jenson, of Aleph Company

Aleph Company – Acamar
Laser Company – Acamar
Sabre Company – Acamar


Amazon Battalion: Col. Gabriel Williams, of Mustang Company

Mustang Company –
Hex Company –
Raven Company –

I rotated them into other places to free up units for the Nanking assault, with a battalion on EE for aiding folks there.


Gamma Regiment: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Breaker Battalion


Breaker Battalion: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Fallout Company

Trident Company – On Caph until Dec 31, 3063
Miner Company – On Caph until Dec 31, 3063
Fallout Company - On Caph until Dec 31, 3063

Scimitar Battalion: Capt. Mika Sanders, of Vegas Company

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

Mesopotamia Battalion: Capt. Kyla Jeffries, of Nineveh Company

Jericho Company –
Babylon Company –
Nineveh Company –


Breaker Battalion is extended on Caph right now, helping with repairing, cleaning, refitting, with pilots safe from dangerous areas inside insulated cockpits.



Delta Regiment: Col. Conner Ward

Bandit Battalion: Capt. Andrey Vihorev

Bandit Company – Nanking
Iron Company - Nanking
Kevlar Company – Nanking


Flame Battalion: Capt. Johan Kreidler, of Blaze Company

Pyre Company – Nanking
Blaze Company – Nanking
Ember Company – Nanking


Armor Battalion: Capt. Jassa Ramgarhia, of Aegis Company

Aegis Company - Nanking
Shield Company – Nanking
Chainmail Company - Nanking


Delta was just used in attacking Nanking


Epsilon Regiment: Col. Dwayne Tarabaev, Water Battalion

Mountain Battalion: Capt. Stacy Weston of Weston Company

Weston Company - Nanking
Buckhannon Company - Nanking
Elkins Company - Nanking


Metal Battalion: Capt. Roderick Goldbeg, Gold Company

Gold Company – Nanking
Bronze Company - Nanking
Titanium Company - Nanking


Water Battalion: Capt. Dwayne Tarabaev, Oasis Company

Oasis Company – Nanking
River Company – Nanking
Lake Company - Nanking


As was Epsilon



Shadow Battalion:

Bruiser Company – On Zurich
Shadow Company – On Zurich
Sealion Company – On Zurich

Was on the Zurich campaign.


Nordic Weapon Battalion:

Gungnir Company – Nanking
Mjolnir Company – Nanking
Gram Company - Nanking

Used for Nanking too.

Utopia Company – On Asmodeus

Currently just a free company awaiting placement in a new Battalion or Regiment we may form later, and helping guard our newest colony.

[Abe Sargent]

Vehicles:

Tank First Battalion – Arboris
Tank Second Battalion - Elgin
Tank Third Battalion – Nanking


Garrison and Infantry – EE Garrison.


Fighters: Col. Larry Rowe, of Arrow Company

Arrow Company – On Terra Firma
Bolt Company – On Acamar
Catapult Company – Nanking
Dart Company –On Ingress
Javelin Company - Nanking

Our companies have a full 12 fighters, which is unusual for the Inner Sphere. This does not include our Naval Assets, which have full Fighters and Small Craft.

[Abe Sargent]

Naval Assets:

Warships –

Swift Justice, Aegis WarShip – Nanking
Brest, Fox WarShip – Nanking, ready Feb 1, 3065
Red Eyrie, Black Lion WarShip – Available December 3067

JumpShips –

Scots Flotilla, Merchant JumpShip – Nanking
Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip – Nanking
Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip – Nanking
River of Fate, Merchant JumpShip – M.I.A.
Celestial Vagrant, Tramp JumpShip – Nanking
Majestic Hobo, Tramp JumpShip - Nanking
Field of Duty, Invader JumpShip – Available 1 December, 3066
Merchant of Venice, Odyssey JumpShip – Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066
Endless Revival, Odyssey JumpShip – Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066


Military Carrying DropShips –

Robin Hood, Union DropShip –
Megan’s Fury, Union DropShip -
Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip –
Charon’s Message, Union DropShip
Star River, Union DropShip – Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066
Serendipitous Victory, Union-C DropShip - Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066
Amalgamated Bliss, Union DropShip –Clan Campaign, Available August 5, 3065
Lights of Volga, Union DropShip, Upgraded -
Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip – Nanking
Serial Advantage, Overlord DropShip - Nanking
Defiance, Overlord DropShip – Nanking
Daily Menace, Overlord DropShip, Upgraded - Nanking
Faith’s Bulwark, Fortress DropShip, Upgraded - Nanking
King Arthur, Excalibur DropShip – Nanking
Peacemaker – Gazelle DropShip -
Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip -
Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip - Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066
Honored Living, Colossus DropShip – Nanking
Green Goblet, Broadsword DropShip – Clan Campaign, Traded to Diamond Shark
Roost of War, Broadsword DropShip – Clan Campaign, Traded to Diamond Shark


Aerospace Fighter Carrying DropShips -

Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip – Nanking
Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV DropShip – Nanking
Stellar Phantom, Leopard CV DropShip - Nanking
Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV DropShip - Nanking
Clawhammer, Carrier DropShip – Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066


Assault DropShips –

Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip – Nanking
Bannick’s Burn, Claymore DropShip – Nanking, ready Feb 1, 3065
Firebird, Avenger DropShip – Nanking
Arrow of Fate, Achilles DropShip, Upgraded – Nanking
Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip – Nanking
Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip – Nanking
Blaze of Glory, Overlord-A3 - Nanking, ready Feb 1, 3065
Paris West, Intruder DropShip, Upgraded - Nanking, ready Feb 1, 3065
Ribbon of Night, Intruder DropShip - Available January 31, 3067



Cargo DropShips -

Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip -
Jakob’s Ladder, Buccaneer DropShip (Cargo Vessel) – Clan Campaign, Available June 15, 3066
Donkey’s Wrath, Mule DropShip - Nanking

[Abe Sargent]

Celestial Coalition Forces:

We regularly rotate K&C forces in and out of the various planets of the CC.

Mercs:

The Bouncers – Regiment of mercs, on Capolla until May 3, 3066, Rating B, 40% level 2 tech, 10% clan tech, 1 battalion mechs, 1 battalion infantry, several wings fighters, 1 battalion tanks , veteran.

Smithson’s Chinese Bandits – A regiment of mostly level 2 mechs. Rating A-, veteran, Retainer contract on Terra Firma until September 1, 3066. We expect to keep them around for a while.

The Blackhearts – Garrisoning Genoa until Aug 1, 3066.Rating B, regiment of mechs, and another tanks, plus fighters and infantry. We rotated them to Genoa to help in defense there, from Epsilon Indi. They are also helping to train the local forces. Veteran.

Narhal’s Raiders – Garrison on Fletcher, until November 30, 3065, a regiment of mechs, C+ rating, many upgraded mechs, regular.

The Furies – Regiment of tanks on Ingress until December 31, 3067. A rating. Regular, reliable, 1/3 of tanks are upgraded. Higher quality tanks – such as LRM Carrier, Shrek, Zhukov, Rommel, Patton, etc.

Angel’s Riders - Dragoons rating B, Regiment of mixed troops, one battalion of mechs, two of armor, with about 40% of mechs and 75 % of tanks upgraded with level 2 tech. They are garrisoning Caph until Sept 1, 3065.

Hsien Hotheads – Garrisoning New Home and Keid. A BattleMech regiment with a Dragoons rating of C. Veteran, reliable. We have them until July 19, 3068.

Lindon’s Battalion – Retainer on Acamar. A+ rating. Veteran, reliable battalion of mechs, elite, reliable, wing of fighters, green, questionable, battalion of infantry, through April 1, 3067.

Swann’s Cavaliers – 1 regiment of mechs, veteran and reliable; 1 of vehicles, regular and reliable; wing of fighters, regular and reliable; reinforced regiment of infantry, veteran and reliable. Dragoons rating B. We extend their deal through January 1, 3068, and we bring them in for garrison work on Nanking.

Kraken Unleashed – Regular, garrison and cadre, Keid, D rating, infantry, sea and hover vees, regular fighters, and BattleMechs all trained in water tactics together. Garrison and cadre until April 15, 3067.

TekTeam Technical Services – On Nanking, contract until May 1, 3066; salvage and repair experts ,and doing some cadre work as well. Veteran, reliable



Local Units:

1st Liberty Legion – One regiment each of upgraded mechs and tanks, along with infantry support. Regular, fanatical.

Arboris Avengers - 23 tanks, 7 mechs, 1 VTOL and 5 fighters we captured. One battalion of infantry. Green, fanatical.


1st Capolla Lancers – A Battalion of mechs. Considered green, reliable, but the ‘Mechs were upgraded ones and quite strong.

1st Bryant Regulars – Battalion of tanks, 60 Mechs. Multiple infantry squads. Regular, reliable. We are still building this unit up. We’d like to get the ‘Mechs up to a regiment.

1st Genoan Chargers – Two companies of mechs, ten tanks,5 squads of infantry, 2 Warrior VTOLs.

1st Hsien Regulars – Regiment of tanks, 2 companies of mechs, infantry, 2 fighters. Green, reliable.

1st New Home Hussars – 13 mechs, 17 tanks.

1st Caph Cavalry – 16 vees, 19 Mechs from the Grenadiers, some of those pilots. Green, reliable.


Eridani Guards – Regular, Fanatical. 2 battalions of Mechs, 1 regiment of vehicles, 3 regiments of infantry, a few wings of aerospace fighters, numerous conventional fighters and VTOLs, and some infantry too.

Epsilon Indi Regulars – 1 mixed regiment, fanatical, regular. Some infantry, some tanks, some mechs, some fighters.

Infantry – We have 8 squads of regular infantry on Capolla, Ingress, Asmodeus, Elgin, Terra Firma, Acamar, Sheratan, Keid, New Home, and Ingress. None on Indi, Bryant, Hsien, Arboris, Eridani or Fletcher, which have their own defense forces.

[Abe Sargent]

More on Nanking and Blake and Hall

Now that we have Nanking securely in our possession, that leaves one planet left in our sights that we can reasonably take, and Blake wants us to have it to, so that they can switch over to their control. Hall.



Hall needs to fall.

Once that happens, just three planets are left – Small World, which is not a high priority target, and the former capital of the Duchy of Small, who we have no interest in, and then Outreach and Northwind, which we have huge interests in, but could never, ever, ever take. Well ,after a bloodbath, maybe Northwind. But the planet would be roiling with issues if we did.



Hall is our top priority. We’ll have even added Zurich and Nanking to our totals.



Taking Nanking was good politics for a variety of reasons. Katrina adores it. We have removed a painful element from the Civil War and Victor’s side is down a factory and a WarShip plus some escorts. Now, we did let some Aerospace assets leave, as well as the survivors of the First FC RCT, so we didn’t hurt their war-waging capabilities as much as we could have, but it was still a huge win for us, and a big win for Katrina.

We also get in nicely with Sun-Tzu. We are close enough that he could strike at us. Not likely, but it could happen. We sell him some Davion designed mechs to make him happy, deny the Capellan March a mech factory world, and add it to an ally. That’s a strong plus.

Blake is happy. They get the contract ComStar had for the Exterminator line. That’s good too.

So, Comstar is not happy – they lost the Exterminator line, as well as our change over to Word of Blake. Victor, not happy either. And Duke Hasek is really upset,

[Abe Sargent]

May 5, 3064 – Representatives of multiple interests from Keid has approached us. They want to apply to become a part of the Coalition, and then we’ll move in, garrison their world, and protect them from the ongoing pirate band.

We have accepted them in, and welcome them to the union. We’ll move over a garrison unit to, to help keep things steady.

Because of the presence of the Lyran Guards, Keid’s infrastructure was not damaged as much in the Chaos March problems. Keid is another world with a large amount of water, around 80% of the surface. In addition to worlds like Hsien, Carver V(Liberty), New Home’s large water (due to its Terra-like nature) and more.


Keid is a major commercial center, with large amounts of shopping, trading, merchants, and more. It has a much more modern service-based economy. Melissa Steiner-Davion really developed the world and invested in Keid post-4th Succession War. The population was strongly pro-Melissa, but never pro-FedCom or that much pro-Lyran Alliance afterwards. Keid killed off the leaders of its rebellion in order to keep the peace and it was quick and painless.



Because of the large oceans, Keid has a major industrial company, Bigoti Seacraft. Bigoti makes large blue-water naval vessels, like submarines, ships, support vehicles, and more for the oceans.

Blue water naval assets do not have the popularity of other military craft. They have the least amount of transportability from one planet to another, or from one operational zone of command to another. Meanwhile, humanity has not built a lot of settlements over oceans and such that require a lot of naval vessels to assist. Meanwhile, many worlds are water-poor, and there’s no value at all in a submarine in that sort of place.

Plus, when there’s a need to fight in water there are usually other options. VTOLs, and fighters both Aerospace and Conventional can hit stuff at water. Hovercraft can hover over the water and hit things. Even Mechs can go underwater (and if you add a few things to them, they can be really good under water too).

With a large number of water rich worlds nearby though, Bigoti Seacraft can do some good stuff helping shore up any blue water naval needs we have.


Like Liberty, Keid was a haven for a small WarShip manufacturing company, Thompson’s Shipyards, which made the Carson WarShip, introduced in 2632 and finished by 2722. This Destroyer class WarShip was initially ordered for around 400 to be made, but the Lola III came around later and replaced the Carson before that order was completed and then de-commissioned when the powerful Essex class was commissioned. There are still a few Carsons in service in Word of Blake/ComStar’s navy. The Shipyards were closed down in 2720, long before the Amaris Coup begun. But in the Succession Wars, the Shipyards were destroyed in order to prevent the Capellan Confederation from having the ‘Yards and the capacity to reboot them. Unfortunately for us, they were destroyed so badly, that there’s nothing left for us. They were even stripped down badly, and any useful metals, parts, information, and more was stripped over the centuries since. The Shipyards are just a bit of torn mass, and nothing else today, a sad sign to a once-strong region of space.


So there’s no shipyard potential with Keid. But we have added blue water naval assets to the Coalition if we want. And that sort of diversity is always nice. Yay!


We hire the Kraken Unleashed Mercenary group to garrison Keid, protect the Bigoti Seacraft area, and also to get some experience in blue water naval assets. They specialize in amphibious attacks and more. They were recently formed, just finished their first contrast garrisoning Remshield, wee they took out some invaders, and now we are hiring them for Keid specifically,, but to help many of our water rich worlds generally, get in training and expertise.


(I went ahead and made adjustments on our TOE for Keid's arrival)

[Abe Sargent]

May 14, 3064 - Hsien Hotheads has just finished a contract with the Free Worlds League. This is a unit that was formed more than 250 years ago in 2781. The Capellan Confederation attacked Hsien, captured it, and exiled the noble rulers. The Twohy family. They left and formed a mercenary unit with all of the loyalist people from Hsien that left with them.

They took a ton of JumpShips and DropShips when they left, and they have lots of units and such. They wanted to do lots of assaults and raids to get good money and salvage to pay their upkeep, but over the years they were pushed into debt from being forced to upkeep their transport via garrison deals and such.

After years of keeping their debt deeper and deeper with the FedCom, they were given a ton of cash from Word of Blake to free themselves, (many mercenary units in the FedCom have become virtual house units due to their company store-esque debt). They took a contract for Blake and headed outside of the Inner Sphere into the deep periphery for a few years, then they came back to do a tour of duty in the Free Worlds League.

Their contract is up, and we have a huge offer for them. Come home. After more than 250 years in the wilderness, Hsien isn’t under control of House Liao and the Hotheads aren’t tied down to a major contract. The unit was handed down from parent to child, and the Twohy are still in charge.

They can come home, be a normal unit, no longer worried about finances, no longer worried about debt. United again, at last.


Hsien Hotheads arrive as a regular unit of the Coalition and in the employ of them generally and the local world specially, just like all of the other regular units we have.

They will be garrisoning Hsien and its twin Elgin for us. They have a ton of JumpShips and DropShips from that run.

Hsein Hotheads – Regiment of mechs, veteran, reliable, Col. Brenna Twohy in charge.

They favor attacking, fast medium/heavies with a lot of power, and not that many slower assaults or weaker lights. Speed and power.

After arriving, Brenna Twohy, a direct descendant of the original Duke Robert Twohy, has been widely celebrated locals, and she has refrained from getting involved in politics, but there’s obviously a long lost love there, and we are happy to bring them back together. Note that the government we set up there is democratic, so they could certainly elect Twohy if they wanted, to be their leader, or on their council.

[Abe Sargent]

18 May, 3064 – Ted Izumo, founded member of Kilts and Commandos, has passed at the age of 86. He will be sorely missed here. We split multiple roles of Izumo at the Academy. We promote a trainer to run the academics, another to run the garrison, and a third to run the administration. No one person can fill Ted’s shoes.

[Abe Sargent]

2 June 3064 – After the Coalition and K&C have been investing in the Iveco Burro II as their combat armored transport of choice (and it works really well), and all of their 3065 product has already been bought up, Iveco has been approached by both the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation 9our allies) to build a plant in their territory with the Burro II as their lead feature. They have decided on Jonathan, in the Confederation as their first expansion target.

11 June, 3064 – The first actual prototypes of the Buckshot have been built. Using a Rifleman chassis as the beginning, the chest and legs look similar, but the arms and head are very different. The ‘Mech has shown some long-term and medium range potential. Anticipating sales due to advanced building specs (ER Medium Lasers, MRM 30, Light Engine) the marketing retinue has shown a deep market for this ‘Mech. It can be this generation’s Alexander. Kressly orders a full four lines.


10 August, 3064 – After delays due to the new technology taking longer than expected, the Shadow Hawk SHD-5C begin rolling off the line in Lang on Caph, and 2 a month are beginning to churn out.


Due to its contract, Vicore gets the first 3 months free as part of their compensation. So the November allotment will go on the market. The Coalition has ordered months of Shadow Hawks to help out their various forces. Word of Blake has also ordered two months worth. The Coalition will get Nov-Jan, then WOB gets Feb, Mar, then the Coalition takes production back over.

[Abe Sargent]

August 18, 3064 – A bomb abroad the Brest WarShip sets back it’s refitting by 2 weeks.

August 21, 3064 – A pirate band that escaped from Arboris just struck Terra Firma. We give the Chinese Bandits permission to take a battalion of troops, and hunt them down.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the First Small World Campaign

September 13, 3064 – Chief Foster takes a meeting with Duke Essex. Our priorities may have just changed.

Small World has recently, in the last few weeks, unearthed a huge amount of valuable elements that will put it on the map financially.


Small World is exactly what it sounds like, a smaller world, in a smaller system. Despite being 5th in the system planet-wise, it’s just 2 days from the jump-points, has a Zenith recharging station. 80% of Small World, a world owned by the Small Family for centuries (the family took the name of the world, not vice versa.) is tundra. It is undergoing a massive Ice Age that keeps things bitterly cold.

It has a small population around the equator and tropics, such as they are. There are two, small, island-esque continents on the equator, where all of the major population centers are. Five large cities on those bands have around 90% of the world’s population.

Small World’s economy is very much a one-note economy. Their claim to fame is mining for radioactive elements and then selling them.

“With icebergs floating through its seas and three of its five continents buried under glaciers, Small World's only claim to fame is the radioactive materials that can be extracted from mining operations along the equator. In fact most of the world's wealth comes from supporting these mines. One family, the Smalls, own most of these mines and have been the planet's noble rulers for quite a while. A long-term dream held by the family was to found a star empire”

For a long time, the Duchy collected military surplus from the Federated Suns, equipped it, and began training a unit whose size far outweighed the economy value and strength of the planet. As the dream for the Duchy of Small died, so did dreams o glory among the population. We no longer think they would be as recalcitrant to Celestial Coalition ownership. They’ve become more disengaged, and work-focused, and the Duke has lost his verve with them.

A huge new area of mining has been opened, and they found a lot more in there than expected – by about 350%! It’s a huge opportunity to inject additional cash into the planet’s economy.

We suspect this could lead to other folks coming in and securing Small World. Anyone could do so – Draconis Combine, pro-Victor allied forces, pro-Katrina loyalist forces, neutral-ish folks like the Capellan March Duke Hasek or even the Draconis March Lord Duke Sandoval.

So, we are going to look to head in. Defenders are in the areas in the center area – there’s nothing in the tundra of military value. Just the occasional herders, hunters, and scavengers.

[Abe Sargent]

Small World does not have a lot of defenders. It’s the Ducal Militia. After losing Ingress and Sheraton to us, all remaining troops consolidated to Small World. Duke Small’s declarations of Davion and Liao not helping his world have rung true. It’s not a very valuable world at all. But he made enough money to afford surplus weapons, mechs, and tanks as the Federated Commonwealth was moving to update their mechs. He leased areas of the tundra as remote on the planet, centrally located in the FedCom, places to train and practice, and in exchange, he was able to purchase a lot of surplus at a good rate. He assembled a regiment of tanks and mechs in less than a decade.

Ducal Militia today? One battalion of mechs, 4 companies of tanks. All level one technology. Regular, and reliable.


In a small region, with a small number of forces, that’s a doable situation.

We will be sending:

Mesopotamia Battalion, of Epsilon Regiment. We send along a trio of Unions to carry them there. We will be sending in a company of fighters as well, Arrow Company will be relocating from Terra Firma.

[Abe Sargent]

September 28, 3064 – There is nothing to protest our arrival on Small World – no fighters, no DropShips, nothing. Intel has their forces in garrisons in the five cities, as the mining interests are done in the suburbs of all of the cities – so each city has military, production, and economic value for garrisoning. That spreads out their units. Now they’ve put a full company of mechs and tanks right by the newly open up mining complex.

So we hit that place first. We have Nineveh Company unloading in that area. Within 15 minutes we have reached their compound and they have moved out to attack us. We are facing 12 mechs and 12 tanks with just 12 mechs – but we have higher level tech, some clan tech, they are all regular pilots, we also 50/50 elite/veteran:


Masakari C
ST-8A Shootist
HTM-27T Hatamato-Chi
GAL-1GLS Gallowglas

DVS-2 Devastator
Vulture B
CPLT-C1 Catapult
WHD-6D Warhammer

WTC-4M Watchman
JVN-10F Javelin
PXH-1D Phoenix Hawk
CMT-1 Comet


We’re also a but on the heavy side. 3 assaults (Masakari, Hatamato, Devastator), 2 mediums (Watchman, PXH), 2 ligghts (Comet, jav) and then a ton of quality heavies (Shootist, Gallowglas, Vulture, Catapult, and Warhammer) with two clan omnis in there.

We believe this is a very winnable battle.


This is our Gallowglas:







Here is the enemy company of Mechs, all level 1 tech:

Wasp
BattleMaster
Commando
Crusader
Phoenix Hawk
Shadow Hawk
UrbanMech
Scorpion
Cicada
Goliath
Marauder
JagerMech


There’s a lot of reasons these designs might have been sold as surplus and such. First, some might have been captured in war, and then not needed, like the UrbanMech. Quad designs aren’t valued highly, so the Scorpion and Goliath probably reflect that. Some are highly common Davion mechs that would have been replaced by updated and newer models. You can see mechs like the JagerMech and Commando sliding here. Others are mechs that are venerable, fight for a lot of militaries, but are tired – Wasp, Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, Marauder and Crusader.


He has these tanks:

2x AC2 Carriers
Schrek, AC Carrier version
Ontos
2x Harasser Missile Platforms
2x Goblin Medium Tanks
2x Condor Heavy Hover Tanks
Vedette Medium Tank
Saladin Assault Hover Tank



It also looks like about 5 squads of infantry are with them, and a lance of 4 VTOLS is buzzing around too. We did not have the infantry and VTOLs in our scouting report. The VTOLs are all the AC5 carrying versions of the Warrior Attack Helicopter. 2 squads of jump infantry with machine guns, two foot infantry with machine guns, and a foot with SRMS.

Even with all of this, the battle value for this match is 20206 for them and 31461 for us…


Let’s go!

[Abe Sargent]

We have modest roads, some concrete, light trees and hills. There are two nice heavy woods sniper spots for me. I put my Vulture in one. My Devastator is a 3/5 guy, with a bunch of 4/6 escorts, so I put it on the road to move it in too.

Turn 1 – I lose initiative starting out. I can’t see what, but something of theirs skidded. I focus a lot of fire on their Marauder. This is the more durable version that does not have ammo from the AC5 but the extra large laser that you almost never fire. After a lot of fire nailed it, our Masakari’s ER PPC nails the CT, goes critical, and hits the engine 3x and gyro 3x with other stuff. They concentrated fire on our Masakari, but missed. A lot.

Turn 2 – We lose init again. I took out one of their best mechs in the first turn – that was not bad. I back up my heavier units. They are buzzing my flanks with VTOLs while moving down the center to me. A VTOl of their sideslips but is okay. A Shadow Hawk, turned on pavement, skidded and fell. I concentrate some long range fire on their Crusader, and a bit at tanks moving towards us. For example, our Devastator mech has 2 gauss, and 2 PPCs, so it can just blast stuff at range. Our Vulture destroys a Vedette Medium tank’s left side with missiles (SRM6 streaks). PPC from the Devastator opens their Crusader’s LL and hits the hip actuator. Our Masakari follows that by just destroying the LL completely. It tumbles, hard, after taking more than 100 damage this turn. BOOM! Our Jav kicks and immobilizes a Harasser.

Turn 3 –We lose the initiative again. They keep targeting the Masakari, so I run it up behind some trees to give it a turn of not-being-targeted. I back up a lot of my folks again, because we are doing very well at range. They eject their Harasser. Their Shadow Hawk failed to stand – twice, before finally rising. They ran their Cicada to flank the Vulture’s position in the south, and I just unload on it with stuff with pulse lasers and SRM6s. I am quickly falling in love with a Devastator despite that dopey XL. JagerMech is a target of opportunity and long range this turn. Our Vulture destroys the RA of their Cicada. Our Watchman nails the Cicada’s PPC. Our Devastator destroys the LA and RA on their JagerMech. Our Catapult blows off the RL of the JM. Then our Hatamato-Chi hits the AC5 ammo on the JM and it explodes. BOOM! Now, the safety engine on their JM fails. BOOM times TWO! It immobilizes and stuns the crew on a Condor. Two infantry platoons are killed. Our PXH immobilizes a Harasser.


Turn 4 – We still lose baby. We move forward with the big stuff. They eject from a Harasser and Condor. Saladin does as well. I must have missed its injury – it wasn’t on our map – no line of sight to it. Cicada ejects too since it has no weapons (machine guns on destroys arm, dead PPC). Their Pixie bases our Javelin. Now its time to fire at their best mech – BattleMaster. Their Goliath opens up our Jav and hits a jump jet. Our Masakari destroys the right side of a Goblin. We missed a lot that round.

Turn 5 – We lose again. I push forward again, leading with the Shootist, who I want to make relevant. They retreat their Battemaster. Pansy! Their PXH bases our Masakari. The Masakari punishes him by destroying his RA. Both their BM and PXh fall.

Turn 6 – We finally win initiative. Our PXH leaps next to their downed BM. I divert our Shootist to deal with a Commando that circled behind my Catapult, Devastator and Gallowglas. AC 20 from the Shootist hits the Commando in the CT and its destroyed. BOOM! Our Masakari destroys the LL on their Pixie. The Gallowglas hits the medium laser and AC5 on their Shadow Hawk. Their Pixie falls.

Turn 7 – We win again. They eject their Pixie. I continue to charge forward most of my Mechs. I base their Wasp with my PXH I am turning the Catapult, almost out of ammo, into a scouting charge mech with its 4 medium lasers. Our Hatamato destroys the RT of their BattleMaster. Then the Warhammer destroys the front of a Warrior attack VTOl. Hoping to duplicate the one-shot success of last turn, our Shootist’s AC20 carves into their UrbanMech, hits the RA and destroys it. Our Catapult immobilizes their Shrek (AC Version). Our Gallowglas destroys the LA and LT of their UrbanMech. Our Masakari takes out an AC2 Carrier. Their UM falls. Our Pixie kicks, destroys the RL of their Wasp, which tumbles hard.

The mechs still alive are the savaged Shadow Hawk, Crusader, Wasp, UrbanMech and BattleMaster, plus the Scorpion and Goliath. They have lost tanks, infantry, and VTOLs. The Ducal Guard want to move off, but we have surrounded them on the map. Their VTOLs escape, but everything else is forced to surrender.





Ejected – Tanks: Harasserx2, Condor, Saladin; Mechs: Cicada (missing arm), Pixie (missing leg)

Dead tank – Vedette, Goblin, Warrior VTOL, AC2 Carrier

Marauder – 3x engine, 3x gyro
Crusader, missing LL
Wasp missing RL

Commando, LL, RL, H, RT< LT, LA, RA



Kill – Masakari x3, Vulture, Hatamato-Chi x5, Shootist, Warhammer


We have taken the first installation, and done so massively well. I played this one more cautiously due to the number of foes we faced, and we only went internal on a Javelin. Nasty stuff!

[Abe Sargent]

Our second unloading was Jericho Company. They are at the next major garrison, which has a company of Mechs and they unload and face their garrison at the same time. They have some extra infantry too, but no vehicles


Here is the powerful Jericho Company:


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

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

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

That’s three Omni clan mechs (Loki, Mad Cat, and Daishi). Also 50/50 elite and veteran.

Here’s our Grand Crusader, a design made for Word of Blake and friends, which we captured when we were normally doing Smash the Blake mission for ComStar.





Our foes:


Banshee
Chameleon
2x Griffin
JagerMech
Jenner
Striker
Zeus
Locust
Stinger
Quickdraw
Rifleman


3 platoons of MG Foot, and 2 of flamer foot

We have, roughly, three times their Battle Value.

[Abe Sargent]

The map has no buildings, elevation, or trees. But we do have a lot of ruins and rough, some concrete too.

Turn 1 – We lose init. I move a strong strike force in the center, led by our Daishi, charging north between some rubble. Our Daishi’s large pulse laser sheers into their JagerMech’s head and goes internal, almost a dead mech! Our Mad Cat follows by hitting the engine and gyro once each on the JM . Guillotine destroys the LA. Meanwhile our Flashman’s large laser nails the gyro on their Locust. Both of their mech’s tumble hard.

Turn 2 – I’m getting used to losing Init a lot I guess. I keep pushing. I think we can end this quickly. Their Locust stands, runs around behind our Guillotine, and then falls. It’s hard to run with a hit gyro. We concentrate fire on their Banshee and dole more than 120 damage into it and it falls hard. Our G Crusader kicks, destroys the LT and CT of their Locust.


Turn 3 –We win init. I base their Striker with our Mad Cat. We are all moving to each other in a big bru-ha-ha. Their JM fails to stand and their pilot blacks out, so I run over our Watchman and Wolfhound to it. Our WLF severs the H of their JM. Meanwhile our Wolverine hits the engine, twice, on their Banshee. Our Guillotine cracks their Striker’s Head with a through armor critical, and hits life support and sensors. Our Mad Cat follows with a pair of engine hits on the Striker too. Finally, our Grand Crusader unloads some LRM20 action and hits the engine twice more and takes out that Banshee. After taking 120+ the Striker just crumples to the ground.


Turn 4 – We lose init again. I don’t think this’ll go on too much longer. Their Striker fails to stand, falls, and the pilot blacks out. I have our Wolverine, Watchman, and Wolfhound surround their Rifleman. After softening it for him, the Grand Crusader destroys the RA, RT, LT, LA of their Rifleman. Our Guillotine hits their Zeus’s head twice, with medium lasers – the pilot blacked out . The the Flashman follows with a medium laser and dead Zeus, H destroyed

With 6 mechs left that aren’t blacked out or defeated (Griffin, wounded Griffin, wounded Chameleon, Jenner, Quickdraw) they radio their surrender.


Rifleman missing LT, LA, RT, RA
JagerMech, missing H, RT
Locust H, RT, RA, RL, LA
Banshee, 4xengine
Striker, just internal damage.
Zeus, missing H


Kills – Grand Crusaderx3, Wolfhound, Flashman

[Abe Sargent]

At precisely the same time, our third company unloads right outside of their final fort with a company of mechs. (The other two cities have a company of tanks each). Our foes begin to flee, but we buzz them with fighters, and they lack fighter support, so they choose to turn and face us full on, rather than have a running battle.


Babylon Company:


ATA-2 Attila
Thor C
THG-11E Thug
GAL-1GLS Gallowglas

GRN-D-01 Grand Crusader
Vulture D-UK
ARC-4M Archer
GRF-3M Griffin

ALX-1kc Alexander
VL-5T Vulcan
CMT-1 Comet
JR7-F Jenner


7 elite, and 5 veteran pilots

Vulture and Thor are clan mechs.


This is our Thor baby:





They have 5 units of infantry too (3x SRM, 2x MG), plus…

Vindicator
Panther
Longbow
Grasshopper
Commando
Charger
Stalker
Wolverine
Whitworth
Wasp
Warhammer
Blackjack


We are more than three times their BV

[Abe Sargent]

No elevation, and nothing to hide behind, just wide open terrain, with a small river, concrete, and rubble.

Turn 1 – We lose initiative. Again. Light early damage doesn’t do a lot, and their Wolverine falls from something like 20 damage.

Turn 2 – We lose. Again. I am dashing my heaviest units across this field. They base my Vulcan with their Wolverine after it stands. Our Vulture nails a leg actuator on their wasp. Their Wolverine falls again, as does their Wasp.


Turn 3 –We win init. They rise the Wasp. I hop my Vulcan beside their Commando. Jenner runs behind their Longbow. We keep missing – its annoying. Meanwhile, their Panther gets a limb bowl off critical again my Vulcan’s RA. Their Longbow gets a through armor crit and nails a foot actuators in a leg of my Attila. Our Archer’s rear facing medium laser destroys the CT of their Wasp and its down. Whoa! Our Jenner hits the rear of the Longbow, which no one else has touched., First medium laser – center torso rear. Second medium laser? Center torso rear, 3 crits rolls, Gyro, Gryo, AMMO (who puts ammo in the CT of a mech -0 that’s dumb) and it explodes. Our Comet took out most of an infantry squad.


Turn 4 – We lose init. I run my overheated Jenner away. My Thor bases their Stalker. My Vulcan runs behind their Panther. Our Comet kills the platoon of infantry. Our Thor unloads, with the Ultra AC 20 leading the way and hits the Stalker for more than 60 damage by himself. Then our Gallowglas hits LRM 10 ammo in the Stalker’s LA. 60 damage from the explosion. Dead LA Dead LT. Deaad CT. Dead mech. Meanwhile our Vulture destroys the LA and hits some legs on their Blackjack. Everyone is still standing.


Turn 5 – We win init. Jump the Jenner behind their Commando. Lots of basing. They have a bunch of wounded mechs – BJ, Vindicator, panther, Wolverine. I’ma try to take out multiple ones this turn. Expecting an alpha strike, I go overheat on multiple mechs. Our Thor’s Ultra AC20 destroys the LT of their Vindicator. Our Vulcan nails the gyro and engine once each on the Panther. Our Vulture the gyro once and engine twice on their Wolverine. RA of their Panther is destroyed by our Thug. Our Grand Crusader destroys the Blackjack’s LL and the Vindicators RL, and then….CT too looks like. Our Attila destroys the RT, RL, And CT of their BJ. Our Alexander destroys the RT of their Commando. Their Panther and Wolverine fall. Our Vulcan kicks, hits the ammo in the LT and destroys their Panther.


With a pristine Charger and Whitworth, and damaged Wolverine and Commando, they call it.


Wasp, H, LL, RL, RT, LT, LA, LA
Longbow H, LT, LL, RL, LA
Stalker H, RA
Vindicator H, LL, RT, RA, LT, LA
Blackjack H, LT, LA
Panther LA



Us – reattach Vulcan’s RA


Kills – Archer, Jenner, Comet, Gallowglas, Grand Crusader, Attila, Vulcan

[Abe Sargent]

We radio Duke Small. Does he want to concede Small World to the Coalition? Or continue his battle?

After three battles, not only have we not lost a mech, we’ve only lost a couple of limbs. We have 34 of 36 mechs fully operational, plus the fighters on top of that.

After that display, Duke Small is ready to call it.



October 3, 3064 – Duke Small has agreed to have Small World join the coalition. We don’t need to toss him out and hold elections. There’s just one noble family on Small World. That’s all there’s ever been. And the people have a loyalty of centuries to his family. There’s no major uprisings or anything of no either, plus he owns virtually all of the mines, so it would be hard to remove him. Chief Foster recommends leaving behind a small, secret, intelligence team to make sure he remains loyal. But he knows that a Great House that retook Small World would have ousted him, his family, and taken his mines and given them to one of their contractors.

So he’s annoyed, but not massively so.



We’ll leave behind our Battalion as a garrison for now.


We create:

1st Small World Militia – 5 VTOLs, 11 squads of infantry, 19 mechs that surrendered or ejected are used to rebuild the garrison, 29 tanks.


We bring in all of the salvage back home to roost


End of the First Small World Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

October 4, 3064 - An old comrade has arrived at Outreach, and jumped over to Epsilon Eridani to talk with Duke Essex. He is Col. Jurgen Peterson, CO of the Legion of the Rising Sun, a regiment of ex-Combine mercenaries.

The Legion served a variety of states, and both Kilts and Commandoes and the Legion were staging on the world of Wolcott against Clan Smoke Jaguar for the Draconis Combine at the same that. That was the mission were Essex personally led his unit, and found and captured a WarShip the Manassas from the clan, which they then traded to ComStar for the one they have now. Both groups operated from the same base for a while, and that led to mutual meetings together, working on administrative aspects of command, such as materiel and supply, and even had some joint training sessions to keep people fresh a few times.

They finished the Combine deal in 3059 and Word of Blake made them an offer, but they instead took a 5 year deal with the Free Worlds League, which is almost over (It ends December 1, 3064). The price of a mercenary has dropped in the FWLM and they aren’t being offered as much to renew, so they are casting about for new offers. Consider the high price the Coalition offers folks, as well as the professional relationship between Essex and Peterson, he’s here to see what might be done for his unit.

The Legion is a strong regiment of mechs. Peterson considers himself a samurai (albeit a masterless ronin) and he only hires soldiers that meet his criteria of honor, duty, principles, and martial standing. That’s a good fit for who we are – keeping fights out of cities, keeping locals out of battle, restoring and investing in people and more. They are a very good, strong unit, and would immediately give us a nasty force, on the level of us, or Smithson’s Chinese Bandits.

They have their own DropShips, although no JumpShips. They are a veteran reliable unit, withal upgraded units, as well as some clan tech and mechs in there too.

Essex makes Peterson a nice offer. A 5 year contract, as a retainer, in order to be used. We’ll toss in a little extra, plus one more bonus. He escorts Peterson to their mech garage and shows him a clan OmniMech captured during the Liberty campaign. The Blood Asp. It’s a power, potent, nasty assault omni mech recently made. You get that, and the extra money too.

They shake hands. By December 18, 3064, the Legion of the Rising Sun arrives under a contract with the Celestial Coalition and will head to Caph for now. We fear the Combine could strike at Caph now that we are rebuilding it. Putting a unit on planet that is made up of ex-Combine folks, who is on great relations with the DCMS and locals there, garrisoning the world will hopefully keep the Dragon from attacking a world that might end up being a political snafu.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Hall Campaign


Hall is in an odd place. It’s the home of the Ridzek sons who created the New Tikonov Republic. They tried to take Tall Trees, lost, and our moving into worlds near them, like Elgin and Hsien bottled them up. Since then, they have turtled up.


November 1, 3064 – We begin to get the Hall Campaign ready. Blake is aiding us with a very Blacke-ish idea. Hall is the most difficult of the worlds to absorb after Caph. The Ridzeks are okay, but not major players. They conquered the world and brought them together from a variety of factions, and haven’t really sucked as rulers or anything to open up any doors.



So the people of Hall enjoy the Ridzeks.

[Abe Sargent]

Our goal is to sort of “encourage” Hall to join us voluntarily.

Hall’s greatest fear is the Capellan Confederation taking them. They are currently pushing against the Saiph Triumvirate and moving to bring them back into the House Liao fold. That will put Hall as the sole world between Marik, Liao, and us. Both of the major houses could make a play for Hall at any time and we’ve been pretty expansionistic as well, so frankly, Hall probably doubts it will remain the “New Tikonov Free Republic” for long.

What we want to do is to force it to voluntarily join us, while the Confederation is focused on the three worlds of the Triumvirate and finishing them off. (With Blake help as well)


So here is the goal. We are going to take a group of mechwarriors from our garrison here on Epsilon Eridani, assign them with Liao mechs from the garrison, paint them up in the colors of Warrior House Fujita, a group of Warrior House folks with a long and troubled history of nearby contention in the area, and then do an Objective Raid on Hall, in order to push their fear.

[Abe Sargent]

That’s our goal.

We have these mechs assigned to this taskforce:

2x Raven
2x Thunder
3x Lao Hu
3x Men Shen
2x Catapult
Vindicator
2x Commando
Caesar
2x Locust
Warhammer
Snake
Orion
2x Wolverine
Hunchback
2x Firestarter
Rifleman
Crusader
Wasp
Marauder
Black Knight
2x Clint
Goliath
Phoenix Hawk
Blackjack


So this unit includes a lot of House Liao mechs, and then some generic mechs to round out the numbers that could, legitimately, be in a Warrior House unit.

Our garrison MWs are green or regular. We will be heading in a triad of transport JumpShips that will just let us unload, quietly in a local DropPort that is near an industrial complex, hit it quickly grabbing minor but feasible stuff, and fend off any tanks or mechs that might protest our presence, load up on the DropShips (which will be slower, since they are cargo ships) and then blast off and return. We will jump to Tall Trees, then to Aldebaran in the CC< and then two jumps back to EE. That way in case they hear about it.

They just arrived on the planet.

[Abe Sargent]

November 3, 3064 – After scouting around a bit, they have decided to strike at a pair of local warehouses just three miles from the DropPort. They unload and break out. One of our makeshift companies hangs back to secure the landing zone. The other two break out. One will secure the transport area, and makes sure that vehicles, planes, VTOLs, and other things in the area are just civilian, and clears a path, and the third hits the warehouse.

In fifteen minutes, a few infantry platoons arrive at the DropPort and begin to spread out. They are not starting a fight with a company of hostile mechs, but are securing combat zones, evacuating folk, protecting centers of population and such.

As the companies head out, a lance of scout mechs arrive in the area, and are not attacking, because of the huge outnumbered nature of the area. They begin to secure lines of fire to get ready, and attack us.

Meanwhile, the third company is at the warehouses, fired and destroyed the tops of the warehouses, and mechs are reaching in and pulling out boxes, crates, and equipment. The warehouses have military and industrial supplies.

Because we aren’t taking much, within a few minutes, we have secured what we want and begin to fade. A company of tanks arrive but they decide to let us go as our forces are combining together, and they don’t want to face an entire battalion of mechs.

Within less than 2 hours, we have lifted off and the plan worked very successfully. We took about 9 million worth of stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

November 5, 3064 – Local Blake inspired folks have begun to bad-mouth the Warrior House and Liao’s militarization.

Nov 18, 3064 – Demonstrations have begun against Liao expansionism in the Saiph Triumvirate right on Hall. Blake is playing both sides nicely. They helped Liao take the Styk Commonality, now they are helping in Saiph area, but now they are bad-mouthing to push Hall to us.


Nov 24, 3064 – The demonstrations are beginning to take on a pro-Celestial Coalition feel. Local talking heads are talking about the choice between Liao and us, and about how we’ve got a good track record of letting local planets retain power, and investing in their infrastructure.

Dec 14, 3064 – The growing groundswell of pro-Coalition feeling and increased considerably.



Jan 11, 3065 – The Ridzik brothers have agreed, and applied to join the Celestial Coalition. We bring them in a few weeks.


Hall has joined the Coalition, and again, Blake has delivered on a promise as designed.

(In real world, Blake convinced Hall to join the Free Worlds League in 3067. Using Blake in the exact same way Marik would use, for the same benefit, bringing them to an ally, makes pure sense.)


End of the Hall Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

THIRD WHITTING CONFERENCE - 3064


At the 3rd Whitting Conference, against the backdrop of the FedCom Civil War, the Inner Sphere again meets with the 3rd Star League conference.


The First Lord Theodore Kurita arrives and opens the ceremonies here in the Free Worlds League. The earliest business is that of our own election to the Star League. We host a presentation, and point out some of the unique aspects of our nation. Unlike most Inner Sphere smaller powers, we were not formed by civil war or revolution, we carved a state out of the region of space that was left behind by others. We have united fishers and farmers, shepherds and soldiers, merchants and miners.

After consideration, we are granted Star League status, unanimously. We thought Katrina might vote against us for no reason other than to be uppity, but she relented. I think our actions on Nanking have helped pull her around a bit.

More business occurs over the next few days. The Word of Blake is nominated for membership by Thomas Marik, and Duke Essex seconds it. Sun-Tzu Liao nominates the Taurian Concordat and Marik seconds it. That’s supposed to be it for nominations for the Star League, but Essex surprises everyone by nominating the Magistracy of Canopus. After a pause, Sun-Tzu seconds.

At the 4th Conference, in 3067, those three bodies will present and then be voted on for membership. It’ll be held in Tharkad in the Lyran Alliance.

Meanwhile, in the final bit of business, Christian Mansdottir, is elected First Lord of the Star League in a negotiated agreement to have an unaligned member as the leader.

[Abe Sargent]

MercNet Review of Duke James Essex, the Celestial Coalition, and Kilts and Commandoes


After having been a mercenary for more than 30 years, and building his mercenary command from a mixed company to one of the largest, and most famous mercenary units in the Inner Sphere, Duke Essex understands the mercenary business virtually better than anyone. It’s a strong testament to his view of mercenaries that he has hired quite a few since turning his own command into his own nation in the Celestial Coaltion.

Unlike other smaller states, the Coalition embraces the use and value of merc units. Their offers are lucrative, they support other units with tech and transport, and they usually give generous salvage rights. In fact, according to our database, the Coalition pays better and compensates mercenaries better than four of the five great houses.

Another major point to consider is that mercenary units have never been used in a grinding capacity as cannon fodder by Essex and his team. In fact, he has taken on multiple mercenary units, and then actively looked to strengthen them and let them grow from losses in Chaos March battles, the Civil War, or the Clan invasion. The banner example of this is Smithson’s Chinese Bandits, who dropped from two regiments to two battalions, but since then, have bee rebuilt to a full regiment again in just a few years under the auspicies of the Coalition.

Because they are still growing, as well as rebuilding their military, the Coalition has a strong need for mercenaries to supplement their forces. They are at the crossroads of every major House, and at any time, the Combine could decide to pluck Caph or the Federated Suns Acamar or the Free Worlds League Hsien and Elgin, and the Lyran Alliance New Home and Keid and the Capellan Confederation Zurich or Nanking. Because of the uniqueness of their situation, and the lack of a guarantee of extanice (like the Federated Commonwealth gave the St. Ives Compact for so long), the Coalition is likely to need mercenaries from here on out.

[Abe Sargent]

The Civil War in 3064:

As 3064 gets fully underway, the Federated Suns battles are beginning to wrap up. While most of the early flare ups were here, they have been mostly put down and won by one or the other side. But the Lyran battles are fully engaged now, and blowing up. By now, most of the major units are engaged in battles that are ongoing. Other units are getting called in.

Kathil continues to be the crucible of this war, with sides investing troops into the battle. Talon and Tikonov are also major places of concern.

The major battle of this war is the counter attack since the Ghost Bear border conflict was now over, by the Draconis Combine on the captured world. They are mad, and ready to strike hard at Duke Robinson. Massive troops deployments follow.


Because of the huge Jade Falcon Incursion, both sides sort of set their battles aside and fought together in the Alliance. Adam Steiner manages to fight them off after creating a variety of defenses. The Falcons capture more worlds from the Lyrans though, and keep some.




By the middle of Fall, most of the worlds were under fire by the Dragon. By the end of the year, the worlds had been recaptured, and punitive strikes into the Draconis March by the massed were underway.

Kathil continues to be a major battlefield. Tikonov and a few others are also ongoing.

The Free Skye Revolt becomes a major player in the battle in the fall of 3064.

[Abe Sargent]

December 10, 3064 – After the marriage of Sun-Tzu and Isis Marik has brought their realms closer and closer, Sun-Tzu has begin incorporating his alliances with the two Periphery realms of the Taurian Concordat and the Magistracy of Canopus into the Marik-Liao hegemony.

Dec 11, 3064 – The Bandits found the bandits, took them, down, captured two DropShips, and a company of mechs for their unit. Like all of our mercs, they get 100% salvage, so they keep it all. We do have a line that says if they want to sell any salvage, we have the right of first refusal for the full market value. One of the DropShips, a Union, they’ll keep, for the mechs they salvaged. They can add a command company to their unit to bring it to 10 companies, instead of the nine they currently have. The other DropShip is a Mule, which they don’t need. We buy it from them for cargo and transport needs.


December 19, 3064 – After the Oppenheimer Vees begin working on Caph eight months ago, they have cleared out to the two areas of the two factories on planet that we think are recoverable. We suspect we can clean them up in around a half year or so.

[Abe Sargent]

December 31, 3064 -

Essex Training Academy


We have 18 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 28 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 10 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 20 folks.


Year 4 - 20
Year 3 – 24
Year 2 - 26
Year 1 – 28

Armor – 8

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

Infantry, Year 2 - 8
Infantry, Year 1 - 10

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

[Abe Sargent]

The following conversations were recorded by Apollo Office agents that are spying on Duke Hasek's office:




“If we are going into Nanking, we have to win. We can’t expect to arrive at Nanking with a win, and then lose. The amount of materal we would be forced to commit to the campaign requires us to win. If we lose, then that will set us back so much.”

“You are currect Duke.”

“So, let’s take another look at everything they have on planet. We have to take Nanking.”

“The first thing is the flotilla they keep in defense. Sometimes they move it temporarily to help out in another situation, but right now, they have the two WarShips, that include the Fox that they captured from us, as well as the Swift Justice Aegis class they have.”

“Do they have any personnel remain on the Fox that we could use?”

“No, they were very careful about using their own people. They’ve had a WarShip for longer than we have, so they had a lot of folks available to slide over. In addition to the WarShips, they have the pocket WarShip, the Overlord A-3 they took from us, as well as ships like a Hamilcar, Claymores, Achilles, and such.”

“And it seemed like a lot of fighters.”

“It’s taken them some serious cash, but they transferred over some dead pilots, and have sent over many of the Ironsides fighters from Liberty they buy up. They picked up some fighters from the market, and they now are back to almost 80 or 90 fighters. It’s more than your typical assault fighter group by far, but you could have more. They have also replaced their small craft, so the flotillia is a major obstable. Before thinking of the units on planet, we would have to go in hot enough and strong enough to push them aside.”

“Could we create a diversion in another system to pull them away?”

“Not easily. Remember that their Captain, Randall Lewis, is arguably the single most experienced WarShip pilot in the Inner Sphere. He was in numerous WarShip battles during the Star league era, and fought in some of the biggest battles in history. You can’t expect to distract him, or out maneuver him. In order to win, we have to assume that he’ll outsmart you. So you need a big enough force to deal with his surprises, and still win.”

“Setting him aside, what sort of a flotilla would be enough?”

“Well Duke, their Swift Victory is a massively nasty craft. Our own Avalon class WarShip is the only thing in our arsensal that’s close. Let me put this in BattleMech terms. Our Overlord A3 is like a Commando. Our Fox is like a Wolfhound. Together, they can damamge an enemy mech. Their mech is a tough, durable, heavy mech, that’s almost an assault mech, like an Orion or a Warhammer. We can’t rely on just having a lot of Foxes or Overlords. You’ve seen the video from the battle. They dominated, and only were slowed down a it, and were intentionally trying not to destroy the Fox because they wanted to capture it. They blown in out faster had they wanted or needed to. Our Avalon is a missile boat, like an Archer. But the Avalon is a heavy armored Archer, that’s hard to penetrate. Their unit has a ton more weapons than we have, and is the better design, but ours is not bad. So we’d need an Avalon backed by at least two Foxes and three Overlords , or other Pocket Warships to take out their Aegis.”

“We can probably borrow that.”

“Hold on. Now add another Fox and Overlord to counter theirs. Now toss on another Overlord to make sure we have the edge in that battle. We would need an Avalon, three Foxes, and five Overlords (or other ships) to win the battle.”

“Wow…”

“I know. And more. Are you willing to win the battle but lose an Avalon? There’s only 11 out there, and they are roughly divded between Katrina and Victor. Do you think either side will loan you an Avalon to retake Nanking unless you are really sure that they’ll get it back?”

“I’m owed some favors I can call it. Or I can declare for one side, and get an Avalon for it. Anyway, other than the WarShips, what else would you want?”

“Right, now….I’d want at least 120 fighters. Then add in double the number of assault DropShips, say, 20. Take in 15 heavy assault DropShips, 120 fighters, three Foxes, an Avalon, five Overlords, and I think you are likely to win.”

“That is committing a lot for this planet…”

“True, and it’s just the naval forces. Now, the planet ones:

They have the Swann’s Cavaliers unit, one each regiment of veteran mechs, tanks, and infantry, with a strong aerospace presence. That’s one set of problems.

They have their Epsilon Regiment on planet. This is an elite/veteran regiment of mechs, that includes large amounts of clan mechs and upgraded mechs that are extrmemely strong.

Now, add in their Nordic Weapon Battlation, which was designed to be a tough Black Widow Battalion like unit, with all elite pilots, and the best of the best in terms of mechs.

The next is a battlation of tanks that Kilts and Commandoes runs. Not a major problem

Then add in some local militia, including infantry, mercs that work for Kallon and other locals that were vetted by K&C.

Everything on planet are veterans and elites. Infantry, tanks, mechs, fighters, and this is going to be a very difficult nut to crack.”

“Again, best estimate to take them out?”

“Kilts and Commandos have done really well, historically,by having foes that underestimate them. You need to go in three to one to have any chance of taking them out. Especially this regiment and battlation. If you want to take out these 12 companies, you need 36. You need for regiments of elite and veteran mechs. Then you need a regiment of armor against theirs. Then I’d add 2:1 odds against the Cavaliers, who are battle tested, and strong. My realistic chance of taking Nanking would involve 6 regiments of mechs, 3 of armor, 3 of infantry, and an another 36 fighters for the ground support.”

“Wow. That’s a lot more than I thought it would take.”

“It’s a lot. Now, Nanking has really enjoyed their time in the Coalition right now, and they are very popular. They were never a pro-Davion world, but always felt more Steiner, and we’ve had issues keeping it at times. Word of Blake is getting units that ComStar was receiveing from Kallon, and they have some units on planet and are a strong ally with the Coalition. Will Nanking and Blake resist us? It’s likely. How much? Those are wild cards we can’t account for. Here’s another one, Kallon Industries has been building a nice relationship as well, and will be opening another mech line that the Coalition funded.”

“But we can reclaim Nanking. Sure, it’ll be a major commitment. But we can do it.”

“True. But I have this Duke? Is it worth it? If we take them out, but lose three WarShips, 7 or 8 DropShips, 300 mechs, 130 tanks, and 100 fighters, all to take Nanking, is that worth it? The massive amount of financial loss for the potential win is a cost-benefit analysis I think we lose. Kallon Industries on planet made the Ontos and Partisan tank, neither of which aren’t replaceable. They made Shadow Hawks and Wolverines. It would take a decade to replace the mech losses from this battle, from the planet we would capture. That’s not a huge incentive to take it. Especially, if things turn sour. Imagine that Wolf’s Dragoons defended it. You wouldn’t touch it, right? Well, Duke Hasek, sire, if you want me to do this, I will do this as best and as quickly as I can. And we’ll take it back. But, any campaign against Nanking will be a loss before it begins.”


“I’ll think it over then.”




A few weeks later…

“So no one wants to let go of an Avalon. They are split 6-5 in the Civil War, they are guarding precious places, and used in major naval engagements. They are just aren’t available.”

“And if we removed an Avalon from the invasion flotilla, what then?”

“We don’t have a ship that can reliably face a heavy cruiser Aegis class WarShip. It was one of the prides of the Star League. At that point, you’d need to bring like 8 Foxes and 12 pocket WarShips. It’s just not doable without the Avalon.”

“What about a Mjolnir class, what would be the chance of it cracking the Aegis?”

“I see where you are going with this. You think you could borrow or get one from the pro-Victor forces in the Lyran Alliance?”

“Perhaps. So what if we did that?”

“As you know, the Mjolnir was specifically designed to beat an Avalon. No inner sphere WarShip has more armor, and it has a massive amount of weaponry to boot. It’s a Battlecruiser, and an amazingly nasty ship. If you could secure it, that’s a better ship than their Aegis, and it’d push the odds in our favor considerably.”

“Let me see what I can do then.”

“Well, remember Duke that there’s only three of them out there.”





“It was just captured by Clan Wolf-in-Exile? Can we use it? Oh, it was that badly damaged then…”

“Duke Hasek, we’re going to be able to secure them. One is in drydock still beng built, our intel was wrong on that. One was captured by Clan Wolf (Exile), and the other was damaged and under Katrina’s control. “

“Can you think of anyone else willing to help us? ComStar maybe?”

“ They are allied with Blake, Marik, and Liao. Kurita doesn’t care, and ComStar is doing more important stuff. There is no one else out there.”

“I can’t believe that we’ll just let them go, take Nanking, and let them walk away with it!” Duke Hasek slams his hand on the desk and walks out.

[Abe Sargent]

3065


January 6, 3065 – We have taken meetings with Martinson Armaments for their factory on Caph that we will be helping them restore. They have a factory on Terra that makes units for the Word of Blake, using their own designs. So we won’t be making them here. But what we can do is use some older designs that were destroyed.

The first is the Spartan. The SPT-N2 was made by Martinson starting in 2765, for the Star League. 80 tons, almost max armor, 5/8 movment (XL engine, yuck), 13/36 heat sinks, almost full armor, and 3x medium pulse lasers, ER PPC, TAG, 2x SRM2 streaks and an anti-missile system with two tons of ammo. (No CASE though which is dumb). 1605 BV and 20.5 million CBills. That’s pricey.

The next mech they made was the Kyudo, first debuted back in 2443. A later model, the D-02 was made by them. Get ready:

45 tons, almost max armor. No XL Engine, 5/8 movement, 10/20 heat sinks.
LRM20, CASE, 2 tons of ammo, Artemis IV, and ER Large Laser
1286 BV, 4.441 million CBills

We have already fallen in love with it.

So, we have authorized the rebooting of their Spartan and Kyudos on Caph, and the Kyudo will be made with two lines (roughly 2x month) and the Spartan at 1.

(In the main line, after being restored, we don’t know what they made. This stuff makes sense)

This gives them time to find all of the weapons, equipment and such long before everything is secure. But they have the blueprints for the chassis and such already.