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

[Abe Sargent]

December 29, 3065 – Kressly Warworks has purchased two blueprints for two tanks from the Star League era from Word of Blake, and now they own the sole rights of distribution. No one is making them for centuries.

Lightning Hover Tank – Originally made in 2696. We’ll be making an RL variant that uses Rocket Launchers, innovated in the periphery, and used with frequency in the alied powers, including Blake, Capella, Taurian Concordat and Magistracy. 7 15 missile rocket launchrs, and two anti-missile systems. 35 ton, 11/17 hover vee, with 62 point sof armor (light), 1,882,750 CBills and 709 BV.

Beagle Hover Tank – First made in 2666, this 15 ton reconnaissance vehicle has a Beagle Active probe, 1 medium laser, small laser, 12/18 movement, and 53 points of armor. 602,875 CBills. BV of 335. We are also making a variant for Blake-only that has a C3i for them.

We are making 3 Lightnings a month and 2 Beagles a month for us and 2 a month for Blake.

The Beagle will give us a very good version of a typical Savannah Master scout hover vee, with the beagle probe as a nice touch. And the Lightning is highly unusual. A rocket launcher is a one-shot weapon, and it this case, fires 15 missiles, unaimed. Is has 7, and that gives it a strong quick strike and retreat profile (the original Lightning was the same, with one-shot SRM launchers, and this is much better with that goal).

We know tanks, and we have the blueprints. We expect to have these coming off the lines in a year.

[Abe Sargent]

December 31, 3065 -

Essex Training Academy


We have 20 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 29 enrollees for next year. All are staying in the Coalition. We also have 8 graduates of vehicle crews, all regular. We hand them vehicles and move them to our garrison or out to local Coalition worlds. 10 enroll for next year, and 9infantry squads are now being trained as well. 8 infantry squads are completed, the Aerotech wing has its grads – 8 total. 7 more enroll for the 1st year.

We create an Academy Battalion for the senior class, and its 24 folks.


Year 4 - 24
Year 3 – 26
Year 2 - 28
Year 1 – 29

Armor – 10

Aerospace, Year 2 - 8
Aerospace, Year 1 - 7

Infantry, Year 2 - 10
Infantry, Year 1 - 9

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

[Abe Sargent]

The Civil War in 3065 –


As 3065 opens, Combine forces cross the border. They begin attacking worlds: Addicks, Breed, Cassias, Kentares IV, and Kesai IV. By May 15, 3065, all of those worlds are in combat.


As 3065 continues, one of the obvious themes is that the various sides have begun to exhaust their reserves and materiel. The battlefields are winnowing. Which is not good for Lyran Alliance against the Free Skye Revolt. Other than there, no new battles have broken out at all.

October 10, 3065 Kathil is finally done. The allied forces of Victor supporters have won.

But in free Skye, battles begin for worlds like Hesperus II and Freedom.


More and more people in the Lyran Alliance are seeing Katrina as the wrong person, and the wrong side, and more and more people are crossing over to Victor’s allied forces.

By the end of 3065, Breed is captured as the months drag on, Addicks and Cassias are ongoing battles, Kesai IV is lost and the Dragon pulls from that world.

[Abe Sargent]

3066

January 2, 3066 - The expansion plant of Iveco Corporation, which makes Burro II trucks, among many others, has opened on the Capellan Confederation world of Jonathan. Jonathan is in the systems re-taken from the Federated Commonwealth by the Confederation in Operation Guerrero in 3057. It’s about 65 light years from Arboris and Genoa.


January 14, 3066 – Skobel MechWorks is open and restored.

[Abe Sargent]

February 3, 3066 – We take a meeting with Brooks Incorporated, the company on Liberty that is making the Defiance and Ironsides fighters for us. We need another fighter line for the Coalition and for us.

They have factories in a bunch of places in the Free Worlds League where they make tanks, VTOLs, and such, but we are the only factory where they make fighters. So they don’t have the right to any other fighters.

So we can do a new design, or acquire an existing one.

They suggest us contacting someone in a nation we are allied with to license a fighter, since that would be easier and faster.

We all agree to a perfect solution…

February 6, 3066 – We announce that Brooks Incorporated and Andurien AeroTech have agreed to allow Brooks to license their 100 ton Riever aerospace fighter. We are licensing, strait up without changes, the F700 version of this fighter, from 3050, and we’ll build two lines of it here, and they should be up and running in around a year or so, since we are using existing blueprints, and making no changes. The only rule is that we cannot sell them to the Lyran Alliance or Federated Commonwealth, often seen as an enemy of the state of the Free Worlds League.

Here are the reasons why this was a perfect fit:

1). Our two existing lines are both medium fighters with a 55 and 65 ton body. This gives us that nasty assault, Atlas story fighter.
2). We have a long history of an alliance with the Duchy of Andurien, so this makes them money, and is easy to do.
3). Brooks Incorporated’s main FWL factory is on Andurien too.

Because Brooks is there on Andurien as well as Liberty, and we have close Andurien ties, this just makes a lot of sense.

[Abe Sargent]

Why is Word of Blake such a strong ally for the Coalition, compared to other options?

What is Word of Blake getting out of all of this?

1). After abusing the 21st Centauri Lancers in the capture of Terra, Blake got a bad reputation among mercenaries. Since then, they have tried to recreate their image using mercs, like us. They have hired some folks like Herman’s Hermits and used them as examples of people that work well with Word of Blake. So the first thing they get is the door no longer closed on them.

2). Finances. The next thing Blake gets is money. The amount of money ComStar/Blake gets for running HPG stations on worlds is incredible. It funds virtually everything they do. Now imagine that you are getting the HPG cash for planets with a lot of traffic, like Epsilon Eridani or Nanking or even New Home or Liberty. It’s really a lot of dough. Blake makes out financially from this deal.

3). Military units. From the very get go, we sent some salvaged mechs to Blake for stuff from them. Since then, they have used us for quite a lot. They use Kressly Warworks to make an Ostroc for us, Liberty’s fighter company to make Defiances, lines that were made exclusively for ComStar on Nanking and more of those things will crop up. Blake had very little defections of people from ComStar with military equipment, and the ComGuards were among the least to head out to help form Word of Blake. They continue to just spit out an incredible amount of military materiel, and they are building that stuff up.

4). Turning into a real power. Word of Blake was initially seen as a more suspicious ComStar, since the people who liked the manipulations and secrery were the ones who left after ComStar began secularizing themselves and turning into a kinder, gentler organization. Blake needed to be seen as a legitimate, and nice power. Their work with the Coalition is another feather in that ongoing cap.

So Blake gets money, respect, and improves their military. Meanwhile, we get military, respect, tech, and planets that boost our economy. It’s a good alliance right now for both sides.

[Abe Sargent]

February 15, 3066 – Both Lightnings and Beagles are getting spun from Kressly Warworks.

February 28, 3066 – There has been some push-back over on Quentin after the Combine took back over. Some locals look back on our time there fondly, and the Combine is back, cracking down on again on travel and security and such.

Mar 1, 3066 – The Kyudos and Spartans are being delivered to us and the Coalition.

[Abe Sargent]

Mar 4, 3066 – After a long an unsuccessful era of quiet, James Sandoval has passed away. He spent the last few months in quiet.

Mar 6, 3066 – We receive a communication from Duke Tancred Sandoval. Duke Essex agrees to the message and leaves the Coalition on a command circuit prepared for this journey by Tancred.

March 15, 3066 – New Duke Tancred Sandoval contacts the Coordinator and sues successfully for peace, and the Draconis Combine counter-assault ends.

Mar 30, 3066 - Essex arrives at Robinson, the home of the Sandoval family, and the capital of the Draconis March. Tancred meets him. They go to view the body, which is lying in state.


“We’ll keep it up for a few months at least. We’ve had more people visiting his grave than we expected.”

Essex nods. “Your father was a good man.” Seeing Tancred squint a tad, he adds ”Look, your father wasn’t the easiest of people to get along with. We all know that. But we was a good man. He cared more about the people of his March than the aristocrats who placed him in power. That made him abrasive, but in a very good way.”

Tancred smiles a bit at that. “Yes.” After a short walk they arrive inside the Ducal Palace, a place Essex has been before. Tancred has been a huge supporter of Victor, when his father was a pro-Katrina supporter. That has to weigh on Tancred still.

“While I’m happy to have you come and pay your respects to my father, that was not the only reason I contacted you. Obviously things have changed in your state, and ours as a result. We are more distant now. But my father and you never let that interfere with your letters and messages. You sent a unit of ‘Mechs in the dark days of the March. No, my father never forgot stuff like that.”

“Your father was fiercely loyal. So are you Tancred, even if you forget it.”

“Although to different things. I to Victor, to a comrade-in-arms, to the guy who is the white hat.”

“Your father wasn’t loyal to Katrina. He was loyal to these people. These people who you see all around. The ones visiting grave beyond expectations. That’s a loyalty that’s increasing rare these days. For all of my hassles with Duke Hasek, I can’t fault him for that; he has it too.”

“Perhaps. You knew my father in a different way than I did. Than any child could.”

“True. Although that’s not unexpected.”

Tancred lets out a gentle laugh. “My father’s loyalty. That’s why I’m here. Let’s drink to it!” Tancred passes a drink to Essex and they toast Duke James Sandoval.

“And that’s why I brought you here. After I essentially forced him to resign, he had a few months to put his affairs in order as he grew closer and closer to death. He never forgot a debt. The list of people that he feels he owes things to are just extremely long. He has an entire log!“

“Well, as you can imagine, my father willed that you receive some thing that would help defray the bond, trust, and aid you gave him and his people. Come with me, I think you’ll be suitably please.”


Tancred escorts Essex to the local garage and they get a hover-limo driven by an employee of the Duke. After a drive of a half hour or so, they park in the StarPort, and get out.

“My father was always a savvy man with a sharp mind. He knew what people’s greatest needs were. You had an abundance of ‘mechs and other units, but your mercenary unit and your state were always needing more transport assets. Here she is…”




“As you know, JumpShips are all captured by the two sides in the war for combat transport and have been militarized. Even if my father thought that a JumpShip was a proper repayment, we couldn’t have gotten one. The same is true of proper, good, FedCom built and designed DorpShips. But this? Ah this!

This crashed in one of the battles we fought against the Draconis Combine. It took our techs about 9 months to fix it and get it ready again. It’s not on any of our lists of local DropShips and naval assets, since its not ours. My father felt that, since you would often send him battlefield salvage, the least he could do was return the favor in his will!”

Tancred steps aside to reveal a Nagumo class DropShip.


“You sent my father a company of mechs that included some clan tech. If you were to sell it on the open market, this is about the price. That’s a fair exchange. Plus, you have to love the symmetry. My father was a great man.”


“We salvaged this DropShip from the Combine in the last months of 3063 in our campaign against them. Obviously, repairing the crashed ship would be a real benefit to the war effort. But as the techs looked it over, they realized it would take a while to fix up, so my father prioritized other needs. As the war progressed, and it looked worse and worse for us, you can imagine how a infantry-transporting DropShip was de-prioritized.

Every now and then our techs were able to work on in and fix it up, and then, after my father left the office, he made sure that a variety of projects were finished up, this among them. It was repaired about 13 weeks ago. They even launched it to verify that it works. Shoot, you can even take it home with you if you want!”


The Nagumo, a recently created DropShip, is a heavily armed and armored troop transport DropShip. Designed to land and deliver in a hot zone and to protect itself, it has a lot more armor and weapons than is normally expected of this role. It can carry 12 infantry platoons, and 2,270 tons of cargo. (A battalion of infantry) This enables it to deliver all of the various materiel and support that might be needed – food, guns, ammo, mines, surveillance, medical supplies, and so forth.

The only major issue with a Nagumo, is that leaving the gravity well of the planet requires the reconfiguration of the infantry bays, which takes a few hours. You can’t leave hot.

It’s a nice parting gift from an ally.


Essex leaves with the Lucky James a few days later.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Second Small World Campaign


April 20, 3066 – Sir! You need to see this. We have a huge flotilla that has just jumped into the System. They are at pirate points. It looks like a huge army.

“Why would an army that big come here?”

“I don’t know Duke Small, but it’s going to be an issue if they do.”

A few minutes later Small World receives a communiqué.

“Hello Duke Small. This is Leutnant-General Davis Lille. I have been ordered, by Archon’s officers, to bring the 17th Arcturan Guards to Small World in preparation for further campaigns toward Tikonov. We are going to land on your planet.”

“General, please be advised that Duke Braham Essex, of the Celestial Coalition, is two days away in a nearby system. You will not make any move towards my planet until he arrives on scene. He has already been informed. If you come towards our planet, without received permission from him, it will be considered a military attack, and you will be attacked. Just wait two days.”

“Very well, we will wait. On the third day, we move in.”

[Abe Sargent]

Apr 22, 3066 –

“General Lille, this is Duke Essex, say again your reason for being here?”

…

“Alright listen, in the past, Small World has rented part of its surface to troops, and we are happy to do so again. I have a place cordoned off for your arrival. There is no inhabited area anywhere in a 135 mile radius of you. You and your men may unload, and relax here on Small World.

General, I am going to give you one warning. If this is a trick, or a trap to take Small World, if you start building a permanent fort, if you aren’t off this world in four months, that will be considered an act of war. Right now our actions have helped Katrina out considerably, you don’t want to make an enemy of us. I promise you, that if you violate this agreement, I will personally lead an assault on, and take Ruchbah from you and the Archon, and add it and its military industry to the Coalition. Do you agree?”


“We do.”

“Then welcome to Small World.”

The 17th arrives, and there are no major issues. Everything seems to be going fine. We order some additional forces to the world, just in case:


All arrive


Duke Essex and Duke Small spend a few days outlying all of the possible directions that this could wind up going. They create a lot of scenarios for different potential snags that could occur, from sabotage, or a full on invasion.

[Abe Sargent]

June 11, 3066 – Another large flotilla arrives in the system.


The 5th Syrtis Fusiliers is here, led by Major General Robert Koenig. They are organized as an RCT with 1 regiment of mechs, 2 of armor, and 5 of infantry. The 17th are a bit bigger - they have 1 regiment of mechs, 3 of armor, 5 of infantry. Both have equal fighters – the 17th has an extra regiment of armor.

The 5th announces that they heard that the 17th was on planet, and they have come to destroy it. These are huge units, not small ones that can come, do a little brawl on the border tundra where the 17th Arcturan Guard is, and then hop on out. The amount of infrastructure units this size require is massive – techs, administrative, medical, support staff, and more are all needed.

Dukes Small and Essex discussed the possibility of a pro-Victor group wanting to fight the pro-Katrina group that’s here.


Duke Small contracts Maj. Gen. Keonig and gives him a list of requirements for being allowed to stage a war:


1). Fighting a war like that on our planet could get out of hand. Lines on the planet will be drawn, any combatants that cross over those lines will be fired on by local troops.

2). Any retaliation to the above, or a full blown assault, will result in the Coalition officially declaring war on the side that attacks. They will join the Civil War on the other side, and immediately seek out and attack nearby planets, fleets, and industries of that side in nearby systems.

3). The Coalition gets 50% of the salvage from the battle from the person who keeps it.


At first Maj. Gen. Koenig refuses to accept these requirements. After Duke Small points out if it broke out on Koenig’s home-world, he’d be suitably concerned, and want some sort of payment as well for compensation for using it as a battleground.

We negotiate down to 20% of salvage, and then broadcast the parameters of their battle.

We carve out clear lines for the battle on the ground, with huge posts and blazes, that give them a 400 mile, (roughly) diameter area, which includes the entire base of the 17th, and some locals hills, and flat terrain, and two rivers, plus a small lake, and dottings of forests all over. There is nothing else there. We pulled out all civilians. We also give the 17th an extenuation of how long they can be there, for obvious reasons.


Because this favors them a bit, the 17th also agreed to the 20% salvage. We mobilize our forces, and Duke Small orders in some aerospace fighters for local support….


Meanwhile, the 5th FC RCT arrives to attack the 17th…

[Abe Sargent]

June 15, 3066 – Duke Essex arrives back on planet to supervise what could be some heavy stuff, he bring ssome forces with him to help keep the peace.

June 18, 3066 - After two days, the fighting has been heavy. There have been some dogfights by fighters outside of the markers, but we are comfortable with that, as long as the mechs and tanks and infantry stay inside the marker.

June 30, 3066 – After some early momentum, the battle has turned against the 5th FedCom RCT. Multiple battles have been fought and the 17th has been clever in positioning and such.

July 2, 3066 – The 5th has been pushed to the line on one side of demarcation. We have multiple units on standby there to protect that border. About twenty five miles past the border are some radioactive material mining interests, so we need to keep fighting from the only major industry and economy on Small World.

July 3, 3066 – The 5th FedCom RCT has chosen to send a lance of mechs past the line to scout out their foes. They were probably testing our resolve as well. The lance was killed after 10 minutes of leaving the area. The 5th has chosen not to retaliate after being reminded of the price

[Abe Sargent]

July 5, 3066 – Another small group has arrived via JumpShips, and two battalions of mechs, mercenaries, hired by Maj Gen. Koenig have arrived to help him regain momentum. Wilson’s Hussars are here on Small World. They aren’t exactly a high-quality unit, they “procured” a DropShip under highly questionable means a few years ago and barely survived as a unit scraping the bottom of the merc barrel. Is this the best the FedCom could do?

July 7, 3066 – At first, the battle swings back the 5th’s way today, and they have charged back away from the line, supported by the new mercenary folks.

Then after a few hours of fighting, the gutsy 17th have pushed the 5th, and this time, they aren’t stopping, the 17th are taking out mercenaries and FedCom RCT folks with equal aplomb. They have gained a strong advantage. In order to flank the 5th, Wilson’s Hussars take a battalion of mechs way outside of the operational area. That’s against the rules, and they know that. The pro-Davion side of the FedCom is probably hoping they can “excuse” this as a mercenary issue only, and distance themselves from it.

We move to hit the mercs hard, and punish them for their impunity. Then, we’re going to hit the 5th, hard as well, to punish them for thinking we’re stupid. Duke Essex orders out Mesopotamia Battalion to smash these idiots, everyone else to their machines, and radios the 17th, speaks with Leutnant-General Lillie.

“General, we’re going to take out the Hussars, then the two of us are going to finish the 5th RCT off. Today. Tonight we’ll give your soldiers more time on planet to recuperate, allow you into some cities to get some drinks, food, rest, and whatever else you want, until you are needed somewhere else.”



Mesopotamia is loaded and heading out. One company is nearby on guard, and the other two were hot and ready and nearby, so they were able to sneak out and get to their posts. All three are near the Hussars in 20 minutes.

[Abe Sargent]

Are those? They are! Well, there’s our proof that this was staged by the FedCom. There are power armored troops riding along with the Hussars, grabbing hold of various foot and hand holds on the mechs as they move out.

The Hussars don’t have the tech or money for power armored stuff, and those are RCT standard power armor. So there’s your proof, right there.

They break off to engage us in companies supported by their power armored buddies, and we engage them, company to company.


Here is what Ninevah is bringing to the party:


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


(Wilson’s Hussars are actually on the cover of the Mercenaries Supplemental and this campaign, minus us, was actually where they regained their mojo, but Small World was taken by the pro-Davion guys against the pro-Katrina forces, and here, our presence has changed things instead.)




2 SRM IS Standard BA and 2 MG IS Standard BA

Axman
Bushwacker
Valkyrie
Vulcan
Warhammer
Zeus
Commando
Dervish
Enforcer
Griffin
Javelin
Orion

About half of these mechs are level 1 tech. They have 5 vet pilots as well. Everyone else is regular.


We have some light terrain, mild hills, and a bit of heavy woods so thick and dense with conifers it’s almost like jungles.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We lose init. They aren’t moving around much. But they do hop their Dervish next to our Javelin in the woods to the south. Masakari fire destroys the LL of their Enforcer. It and their Javelin tumble. Our Masakari took some damage but is fine and dandy, just like candy. Our Jav misses a kick and falls.


Tur n2 – We win init. I bull right on in. Our Jav stands and runs 7 hexes away. Then I hop our PXH to its rear to protect it. I run our Warhammer above and in front of their Bushwacker. Their Jav rises and runs. I unload on their Zeus. Our Vulture’s ER Large Laser lances into their jav’s CT and destroys it. Meanwhile their Zeus destroys the La of our Warhammer. Our Gallowglas destroys the RA of their Firestarter. After carving it open with the Devastator, our Catapult nails the gyro on their Zeus. Then our Warhammer loses its RT to their Orion. Both our Warhammer and their Zeus fall.

Turn 3 – We win in init. I eject the Warhammer. Our Hatamato bases their Enforcer. I jump the Gallowglas above and beside their Firestarter. Our PXH jumps next to their dervish, and in some woods. Comet leaps to the rear of their Warhammer. Their Zeus rises. Our Gallowglas destroys the RT of their Firestarter. Our Devastator cracks open the Warhammer in a few places. Our Shootist nails their Zeus and hits an engine once. Their Vulcan destroys the LA of our Comet. Our Catapult nails the gyro again of their Zeus – two gyro hits, it’s out. Our MAsakari nails the engine twice and gyro once on their Warhammer. Their Hammer falls after taking 120+ damage. Our Gallowglas kicks and destroys the LT of their Firestarter, who finally falls. Meanwhile our Hatamato-Chi kicks the Enforcer and nails its tgyrox2 and engine once. It’s down.

Because these are mercenaries with a lot sense of value, they radio their concession pending us letting them walk. We’ve taken out a Warhammer, Enforcer, Zeus, Javelin, and Firestarter in three rounds of weapons fire, and they’ve taken out our Warhammer and damaged our Comet. We grant them their wish.


Jav H, RT, LT, LL, RL, LA, RA

Warhammer, enginex2, gyrox1
Enforcer missing LL, engine, gyrox2
Firestarter missing RA, RT, LT
Zeus, gyrox2, engine


Ours:

Warhammer missing LA, RT
Comet missing LA


Kill – Vulture, Catapult, Hatamato-Chi

[Abe Sargent]

Battle Two!!


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



Our foes have 4 suits of power armor.

Wasp
Vindicator
UrbanMech (with an AC10 Ultra)
Stalker
Goliath
Victor
Thunderbolt
Stiletto
Shadow Hawk
Firestarter
Enforcer
Clint


They have a mix of some newer stuff and some older stuff as well, plus several are veteran and the Victor pilot is elite.


This is their Stiletto:






We have two small ridges to either side of us on the east of the are. A few conifers and rough patches dot the area.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We win init. I hop some mechs in the south to take the lower trees quickly and our Comet, Thor, jenner and Vulcan have that area secure quickly . Then I move our heavier units in the centers between the two ridges an d west. I keep a few units like the Archer and Vulture in some light trees in the back for now. Light dustings occur, and no one falls or anything.


Turn 2 – We win init again. I hop folks to position for potential back-attack runs next turn. We have a lot of high numbers to hit some folks, so I try to shoot well, taking targets of opportunity. After that turn, still not much, although our clan mech Thor took 40+. Our Vulcan punched their Firestarter’s hip, but it’s still standing


Turn 3 – This is going to be one of those longer, drawn out battles. We lose init. They have a lot of short range mechs that scare me – ultra AC10 on the Urbie, Victor, Thunderbolt, that’s a strong Stalker variant – the 5M, and so forth. Range is their vulnerability I think, but we haven’t been pecking them apart like I’d hoped. I’ll come in some, leadi ng with our Attila. Hope it works! I hop our Vulcan into a heavy woods hex that is at -1 elevation, hoping someone might expose themselves to close. Their FS runs on that hip actuators but manages to keep standing. Idiot. Another slow turn with a few mechs taking some damage, and nothing major happening.


Turn 4 – We lose init again. I back up my forces. I walk my Jenner into a similar trap that my Vulcan was in last turn. Still nothing. I alpha Strike my Jenner at their Firestarter, Our Jenner nails the large laser on their Firestarter. Their Goliath nails a medium laser on our Jenner. Our Vulcan takes out the RA of their Urbie. Our Jenner falls and destroys its RA. The hex with the Jenner in it ignites.

Turn 5 – We win init. I charge everything up. Vulcan in the trap again. I careful stand the Jenner. The Firestarter closed with it. Out Attila destroys the LA and LT of their Vindicator, as well as blowing off the RA. Out Thor unloads on their untouched dStalker with its Ultra AC 20 and such and blows it for a ton of damage. After our Thug follows it up with more with two PPCs and 11 out of 12 SRMs from its packs, the Grand Crusader nails it with a pair of LRM20s, and then a medium pulse laser hits the SRM6 narc ammo. Dead mech (no CASE). Their Vindicator falls, destroys its RT, and the pilot blacks out. Their Shadow Hawk falls (from just 20+ damage) as well.

Turn 6 – We win init. I push some folks forward more. I leap the Attila into some woods and right in front of their force. I move the Alexander in hard as well. Their Shadow Hawk rises. Our Comet gets next to their Firestarter. Our Comet fires all of its mighty weapons load and blows off a RA, destroys a RL and LT. Our Thug destroys their Urbie’s LT, and our Griffin it’s Right Leg. Meanwhile our Vulture cracks the AC20 of their Victor and takes it out. Our Grand Crusader’s large pulse laser hits the Thunderbolt’s head, cracks the armor, and nails the cockpit, killing the MW. After it falls, their Urbie destroys its other leg, and their Firestarter tumbles as well. No one else does. Our Atilla kicks an undamaged Wasp and destroys its RL. It falls.


They call it at that. Too much all at once, plus the lucky kill against the Thunderbolt.


Wasp missing RL
UrbanMech missing RA, LT, RL, LL
Vindicator missing LT, LA, RT, reattach RA
Stalker LA, RL
Firetsarter missing RL, LT, reattach RA
Thunderbolt, fix cockpit


Jenner missing RA


Kill – Grand Crusaderx2,

[Abe Sargent]

And match #3, here we go!



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


Our foes have some battle armor, plus


Archer
Stinger
Rifleman
Tempest
2x Marauder
Jenner
JagerMech
Fireball
Sentry
Crusader
Orion


This is their Tempest!




Not a single assault mech in the lot, but a bunch of heavies to make up for it I suppose. 4 vet pilots too.

No trees in this area, just some modest hills, and a depression in the middle, plus a bit of concrete.

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We place our big stuff on the east flank to head south towards our foes, unimpeded by the central depression. We lose init. I move my team down 5 hexes. After focusing on it a bit, we destroy their Rifleman’s LT with our Rifleman, and it shuts down the XL engine the mech is toting. They need an 11 to Gauss rifle our Wolfhound with their Tempest – it works and the Wolvies LT is destroyed. It falls down.

Turn 2 – We lose init. We eject the Wolfhound. I charge in again on the flank. Our Shadow Hawk starts carving into their Marauder and hits a PPC and then the Grand Crusader its LA. Our Flashman destroys the LT of the Stinger.

Turn 3 – We lose init again. Our Daishi (which stands for Great Death) destroys the RA of their Archer while our Lokie nails its leg actuators. Meanwhile our Grand Crusader hits the engine and gyro once on the damaged Marauder. Our Watchman blows out their Stinger’s RL. Our Mad Cat finishes things by hitting the engine twice more on their Marauder. Their Archer falls and breaks its LA into pieces. Stinger falls too.


They call it! All done. We took out their Rifleman and Marauder completely, devastated their Archer and Stinger.


Archer missing RA, LA
Marauder missing LA, enginex3, gyro
Stinger missing LT, RL
Rifleman, missing LT



Wolfhound missing LT


Kills – Rifleman, Mad Cat,


With their concession, the Hussars are down.

[Abe Sargent]

The next thing we are going to do is coordinate our strike against the 5th FedCom RCT with the 17th Arcturan. We’ve been coordinated with Lillie about ways to go.

We’ve brought in our extra forces, don’t a quick reload/rearmor of the mechs we used against the Hussars (we won’t have a Thor, Comet, Warhammer, Jenner, Wolfhound) and head out to smash the weak and losing 5th.

Fighters fly overhead, and we move in.

Mesopotamia Battalion will drive, minus the damaged units, through the south flank on their position. Meanwhile, Nordic Weapon Battalion will drive on their east flank. That gives us roughly 35 mechs flanking them in the middle of a battle with the 17th that they are already losing.

The 5th FedCom sends out some tanks and infantry to slow us down on the flanks so they can keep focusing on the folks in front. It does, but not as much as they probably hoped.

Seeing an impending flanking attack on two flanks, the 5th RCT breaks and flees. Their DropShips are about 2 miles to the north-east. They begin to move for their transport quickly and appear to be quitting Small World. We begin to follow them, and they break off some units to again act as a rear guard to keep them forward. The 17th blows through them and sends their fastest units to harass the 5th and keep them focused.

After a while, the 5th FedCom RCT reaches their place with the local defenders of tanks and troops here protecting their formations, and a bunch of DropShips as well. An RCT has a ton of DropShips, Unions, Leopard CVs, Gazelles, a Mule or two, an Excalibur or two in there, a rare Conquistador, and a lot more.

The 17th begins to build a cordon around them. What is that?

Essex orders our local DropShips to pick up the 6 companies of K&C here and radios Lillie.


“You need to punish these folks. Your side is losing the war on both fronts in the Lyran and FedSuns territories. You need more than a little victory here. You need a total destruction. Push into the Dropzone and smash their forces, and their DropShips. Do a combat drop right on top of them and smash them!


It’ll take the 5th hours to fully load up and begin to leave. You have time to load up, and then do a combat drop right on top of their units. Don’t let them leave yet. Punch again!”


Lillie takes Essex’s advice and they load up. 6 DropShips carrying Kilts and Commandos mechs get ready to do a combat drop on top of the 5th’s position, and the 17th Arcturan Guard are doing the same, while tanks push forward.

We are fighting hard and furiously, for a while.

[Abe Sargent]

They loaded up some of their units already, particularly infantry, and they find out we are coming in, so they get units into defensive positions to fire on us as we drop onto them. DropShips that are fully loaded go ahead and lift up, and around 7 or 8 are heading up.


Like many of our major battles, we are not going to fight every single battle of this drop. Instead, we’ll play a few, maybe one or two, and a follow up or so.

Braham Essex is eyeing that Conquistador. It’s a rare DropShip, hasn’t lifted off, and it not that much loaded. Meanwhile it’s a command DropShip for RCTs that was recently designed. It’s a strong DropShip, and would be a powerful capture.

Outside of the Conquistador is a command company of mechs, all high level, top-of-the-line stuff. That’s going to be our target, and we are going in with our best company to try and blast that company, and the DropShip that’s with it.

[Abe Sargent]

Essex has ordered Mjolnir Company, our best one we have, to drop and stop those folks:



This battle won’t end soon.


Here is Mjolnir:

Daishi A
ON2-M Orion
BLR-3M BattleMaster
ENF-4D-UK Enforcer

GUN-1ERD Gunslinger
Nobori-Nin B
MAD-5M Marauder
CRD-5S Crusader

GHB-6B Grashopper
STY-3C Starslayer
Shadow Cat Prime
FS9-C Firestarter

The company is 7 elite, and 5 veteran.


It’s a potent, powerful company, with a load of level 2 and 3 mechs. All are updated mechs with great stuff behind them.

They have the Conquistador in the back, we can move towards it and fight it if possible.

Here is their Command Company:


Uziel
Hellspawn
Dart
Fafnir
Garm
Enforcer III
Jagermech III
Stealth
Nightsky
Wolf Trap
Maelstrom
Valkyrie


Their units are mostly vet, with a few elite in there too.



This is their Fafnir, a 100 ton assault mech with two heavy gauss rifles, and a few solid close range weapons to boot. Nasty stuff!





This is basically all even and such.

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go.

Their company starts in the middle of the map. We get the edge. Their BV is about 5000 more than ours, even with our sexy clan tech. Here we go!

We have some hills and woods , not a whole lot else. I begin deploying by tossing our Gunslinger into some heavy woods.

Turn 1 – We win init even with the +2 they get to their initiative (due to the DS). They are on a hill in the center of the map, which is obviously probable, fighting uphill. I need to figure out, do I take out a few mechs, and then focus on the big Conquistador, or vice versa? Whoa, they just blazed their Dart right up to me. The Conquistador has 410 armor on the left side, the area we are attacking. (the rear, while more vulnerable, had massive trees, cliffs, and stuff, and they chose this site well for their folks). I make targets of opportunity instead, to reduce the headaches on the map. That’s the Fafnir, standing in heavy woods and not moving. Our Gunslinger blows the LA off their Uziel with a gauss rifle and its medium lasers hit the gyro and engine once each on their Dart. Our Nobori-Nin hits some heavy gauss ammo in the RA of their Fafnir. Their Maelstrom gets a through armor critical on our Gunslinger and nails the engine once. Three of their mechs fall – Dart, Valkyrie, and Fafnir. Their DropShip misses, mostly, although a gauss slug nails my Crusader.


Turn 2 – We win init again. Our Firestarter leaps into light woods and adjacent to their Fafnir. Our Orion takes some woods to the west of their position. I charge the Daishi up at them too. Our Shadow Cat runs around behind their Stealth. Gauss rifle to your rear? Ouch! Their Fafnir stands. Valkyrie too. The Dart even follows suit. Their Maelstrom moves in and bases some of our units. Our Nobori-nin destroys the RA of that Dart. Our Orion nails the ER PPC on their Wolf Trap. Meanwhile our Enforcer nails the LRM 10 ammo in there and boom!! CASE, but dead mech. Their DropShip nails our Enforcer a few times, and it took 60+ damage from it, but it and our Daishi are standing, while their Stealth and Fafnir fall.


Turn 3 – We lost init this time. Their Fafnir rises and our Daishi bases it. Thgeir Stealth rises and runs behind our Shadow Cat. I move our Marauder into the heavy woods the Fafnir was in and base it too. I move some stuff by their Maelstrom. Our BattleMaster bases it. While running, their Dart falls (gyro hit). It was trying to get behind our Gunslinger. Our Gunslinger’s rear facing medium pulse lasers destroy the LT of their Dart. A large pulse laser from our Daishi shears off the head of their Fafnir. We also destroy its RL. Meanwhile, our BM’s ER PPC lances into their Maelstrom’s H and takes it out too. Two headshot kills of the heaviest two mechs. Dang. Our Shadow Cat’s ER Medium Lasr nbails the CT of their Enforcer III and hits the gyro three times. Dead Enforcer III. On the otherhand, fire lances into our Shadow Cat and it fall shard and destroys its RA from their Conquistador.

Turn 4 – We win init. I eject the Shadow Cat. I hop our Marauder next to their Garm. I run our damaged Daishi into the space with the heavy woods the Marauder left. Their Hellspawn bases or BM, so I walk our Crusader behind the Hellspawn. Meanwhile I hop teh Nobori-nin behind both their Uziel and Stealth. Their Dart tries to stand three times, falls down, breaks its RT and hits its gyro a second time, and its down. Our Marauder takes out the RL on the Garm. Our Gunslinger destroys the RT of their Hellspawn, and that’s a kill/shut down with an XL engine. The Garm obviously tumbles.

Turn 5 – We lose init. Whoa! Five squads of powered armor infantry are pouring of the Conquistador! Their Garm stays on the ground. Their JagerMech III tears into my Enforcer some more. Our Daishi destroys the RA and RT of their Stealth. Engine shutdown. Our Marauder takes out the RT, LL, of their Garm. Two legs dead is a kill. Their Conquistador just savages our Starslayer and destroys its RA and RL.


Turn 6 – We lose init. I eject the Starslayer. I have to move my Gunslinger from it’s sniper spot, and our Nobori-Nin is guarding its rear. Our Nobori-Nin finishes their Nightsky by destroying it’s HD with an LB10X without the shotgun shot. Before it dies, it destroys the RA on the Nin. Meanwhile the Gunslinger’s gauss cracks the Uziel open and hits an engine twice on it. Our Marauder destroys the LA of their Valkyrie. Our Enforcer takes even more damage, loses a RL to the Conquistador, and falls.


Turn 7 – We lose again. We eject the Enforcer. RA of their Valkyrie destroyed by the Marauder. I’m focusing fire on their DropShip.

Turn 8 – We win initiative back again. I expose our Firestarter to base their Uziel. The first damage is dealt to the Conquistaor. Our BAatleMaster hits the Fire Control System and a crit on a weapons bay, injures crew, killing two outright, and hits sensors. Meanwhile that Nobori Nin nails the engine and gyro on their Uziel, once each. Engine shut down. They rock the Firestarter, internal, no major damage, and it stands.

The only mechs left are a Valkyrie, badly damaged, and a virtually untouched JagerMech III. Meanwhile, we’ve gone massively internal of the Conquistador, which is weakened.

They surrender. We have captured a Conquistador and some other fun stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

Their Stuff?

Nightsky, missing H
Garm missing RL, RT, LL
Stealth missing RA, RT
Enforcer III, gyrox3, engine
Maelstrom, missing H
Fafnir, missing H, RL
Wolf Trap, missing RT
Dart, missing RA, LT, RT, gyrox2
Hellspawn, missing RT
Uziel, reattach LA, enginex3, gyro

Valkyrie missing RA


Our Stuff

Shadow Cat missing RA.
Starslayer missing RA, RL
Nobori-Nin, missing RA
Enforcer, missing RL


Gunslinger, engine


Kills – Enforcer, Daishix2, BattleMaster, Shadow Cat, Gunslinger, Marauder, Nobori-Ninx2,

[Abe Sargent]

All across the LZ, similar battles are happening. Of our remaining five companies one was pushed back and lost about half of its units (although many ejected, and the mechs are fine). We destroyed a few DropShips, and captured an Excalibur.

Backed by a smashing of armor, the hot drops have been supplemented by a powerful reinforcing threat. All over the area, DropShips are destroyed or captured, and units destroyed. A few DropShips manage to take flight, some wounded.

Duke Essex orders his DropShips and fighters to chase down the wounded DropShips. They destroy a Gazelle and force down an upgraded Triumph. We lost a few fighters though.


A few more hours pass, and the battle is won, as the handful of remaining forces have surrendered by laying down arms.

The 5th FedCom RCT has been absolutely devastated. Of the many DropShips they brought, only 11 actually made it off the planet, some half, or none, full. A Union, with a full company of mechs, is the only mechs that made it off Small World. Meanwhile, about 40 tanks are off, and about two regiments of infantry made it off too. All of the fighters were destroyed.

The Hussars have about 50% loss to their mercenary command.

The 5th has essentially been destroyed as a unit.

(This is exactly what happened on Small World in the mainline story – while retreating and loading up, a huge hot drop, followed by all of the armor smashed them so hard that they changed the retreat into a surrender.. The only difference? It was the 5th on the winning end, and the 17th on the losing side.)

[Abe Sargent]

This is precisely the sort of major victory Katrina and her loyalist forces need.

Leutnant-General Lillie and Dukes Essex and Small meet up to celebrate, and figure out some stuff.

After negotiations for a while, they make the following agreements:

1). In the final battle, units will keep the salvage of things they directly fought against and took down.

2). The 20% battle salvage remittance will not involve anything that was fought for today, but things prior to today(when both sides began fighting the 5th).

3). They have traded 20% of the mechs salvaged from the 5th to all of the tanks salvaged from the 5th (they salvaged around 50 mechs, so we’d get ten mechs. They salvaged about 75 tanks. They don’t want the tanks that much, We’d get 15 tanks, and ten mechs, and we are swapping 10 mechs for 60 tanks, a solid deal)


All of those tanks will be given to the local folks.


The 100% salvage that we have today, alone, is more than enough.

We offer some horse trades of the DropShips we captured with some of those they did. We captured a Conquistador, upgraded Triumph ,upgraded Excalibur, and Leopard CV. We offer them a Triumph for some other mech carriers, or something else we can better use, but they aren’t really interested. They want all of their transport units for this side in the war, which needs more right now.


In other news, we message Blake to tell Maltex Corporation to begin to create the two lines we have discussed. We’re coming in.

[Abe Sargent]

July 7, 3066 –

“Correct, and that’s why we are coming out against the pro-Davion side in the Civil War. Katrina’s forces haven’t attacked us once. Not one time has a single mech of hers landed, or a wing of her fighters come towards us. She could have tried to do so at Keid or New Home or Liberty, or at Nanking or Zurich, or at Small World. But she never did.

But here we have a pro-Davion unit, who specifically violated the agreement, and marched a lance of mechs beyond their line. Then they did so with a battalion a few days later once again, en masse. Intentionally. And this wasn’t the first time. Pro-Victor units destroyed buildings and infrastructure on Zurich as well.”


….

“Hmmm? No, I don’t think that this was an example of mercenaries going rogue. First of all, remember that I’ve been a mercenary since 3030. That’s more than 30 years of battles and contracts. I know the mercenary world, and I can tell you that people hire mercenaries to do things all of the time intentionally, in order to avoid the blame. That’s exactly what happened here. Exactly.”

…

“How do I know? It’s simple. Outreach is the Mercenary Mecca, and its one jump away from Small World. If you wanted to hire some mercenaries to come over and smash, the Federated Commonwealth could have done a lot better than to have hired a unit with a D- rating. There were multiple units on planet, not on contract, that were not even approached by the 5th FC RCT. I’ve provided you all with a list of the units with a rating of C or better on world that could have been hired. They intentionally hired a unit with a low reputation on purpose, to increase the likelihood that it would not come back on them.

Well it will. As of today, we are declaring the anti-Katrina forces of Victor Ian Steiner-Davion persona non grata in the Celestial Coalition. They are to remove themselves from our space lanes and recharge stations in one week’s time, or will force them out. They are no longer welcome in any of our systems, and we will deny them furlough on our planets.

You cannot come to wage a war with someone else on one of our planets, agree to keep the conflict away from our citizens, and then ignore us and our people. We will strike back. Citizens should no longer be a casualty of this war, or any other, and it’s time that Victor learned that lesson.

Victor Ian Steiner-Davion. I want you to listen to me. You are not the good guy here. You are not the white knight. Your armies have violated treaties, your supporters have violated the Ares Conventions, and you have not pulled them back. You are not the white knight. It’s time you realized that. If you want to be, you need to clean up your own back yard first.”

[Abe Sargent]

July 9, 3066 – Lillie offered to stay and garrison the planet and keep the remnants of the 5th under watch, but there aren’t that many that surrendered.

We turned over the captured mechs from the Hussars to the local guard, as well as the 75 salvaged tanks.


Over the next few months, salvage operations are in full force, as well as tech outfits and security requirements and more. Taverns, restaurants, trading bazaars, and more are all heavily used, and the Small World economy is healthier than ever. In fact, the lingering benefits of this travel and economic growth will be felt for some time. Duke Small uses the temporary benefits to invest in additional mining expeditions and equipment, in order to flesh out their economy a bit more with the radioactive mining.


In the meantime, we have salvaged Mech’s and tanks from our hot drop, as well as those DropShips:


Conquistador, DropShip – Ready September 15, 3066
Triumph, Upgraded, DropShip – Ready December 1, 3066
Excalibur, Upgraded, DropShip – Ready September 15, 3066
Leopard CV, Upgraded, DropShip – Ready October 15, 3066

Not sure we need another Leopard CV but the Triumph is a sign we need to push our tanks more.

Here’s why:

The Upgraded Triumph can carry 36 vehicles, and 4 mechs, or cargo. Basically, it can carry an entire battalion of tanks. That’s a pretty useful transport DropShip.


As was mentioned, that Conquistador was the prize. It’s the most expensive DropShip. Ever. It’s 1.42 billion C-Bills in value (according to MegaMek, 1.6 billion according to Heavy Metal), and roughly 15 of them have been made in the last 6 years or so.

They are designed to be the ideal command DropShip for an entire RCT. First of all, they carry a lot of troops:

Fighters? 18 aerospace fighters
Vehicles? 12 tanks
Mechs? 24 mechs
Battle Armor? 20 squads of battle armor
Infantry? 16 platoons of infantry
Cargo? 877 tons of additional cargo space

That clearly has a huge ability to bring a lot of stuff to the table.

In other news, the Conquistador has all of the latest, most up-to-date electronics, including two decks of computing, electronics, scanning equipment, and more. The general can use it to keep abreast of all of the major changes. Meanwhile, after it lands, it has a huge, spacious medical bay that opens up the ship and is turned into a full service combat hospital. It juts requires a skeleton crew to run (so killing a few helped us considerably). It’s designed to be smooth, and luxurious. And it’s expensive. The next most-expensive DropShip is the recently released Nekohono’o, at 873 million. The only ship, clan, IS, or Star league, that is more expensive is the spyship the Pueblo, and it costs more than some WarShips, and was designed in the Star League era to copy the roles of espionage WarShips like the BugEye.

What do to with the Conquistador? There’s going to be a limited market for them, since they were designed with a specific purpose in mind. You have to have a unit which has Mechs, Tanks, Power Armor, infantry, and fighters. And you have to need the pimped up communications, electronics, and all of that. It’s not a typical DropShip.

On the other hand, large units in the Free Worlds League, Capellan Confederation, Draconis Combine, or even Word of Blake/ComStar might find it exceedingly valuable. Merchants and mercenaries aren’t going to be too interested in it.

But a major player might be willing to shell out the dough.

On the third hand, we could fix it up, pick up some power armored troops, and then use it exactly as intended ourselves. It’s a pretty useful thing.

I go ahead and sell the Leopard and use it to fix, and repair, and stock our battle losses and salvage that won’t be coming out of the Celestial Coalition budget. We have about 65 million left after that, which will hit our general budget.

[Abe Sargent]

Here are the mechs we salvaged, get ready for some fun:

Gunslinger
Nightsky
Axmanx2
Garmx2
Stealth
Enforcer III
Maelstrom
Fafnir
Barghest
Bushwackerx2
Victor
Wolf Trap
Dart
Fireball
Hellspawn
Uzielx2
Javelin
BattleMaster
Banshee
Caesar
Devastator
Wolfhoundx2
Battle Hawk

This was on 6 flanks of fighting.

Most of those are on the lighter side of life. The Garms, Dart, Fireball, Javelin, Battle Hawk, Wolfhounds, are all light mechs. Meanwhile the Uziels, Nightsky, Stealth, Enforcer III, Bushwackers, Wolf Traps are all mediums. Only the Gunslinger, Fafnir, Battlemaster, Banshee, and Victor are assaults, so of the 28 mechs we salvaged, just 5 were assault mechs, which is fairly common (target the small stuff first, right?).

This is a huge amount of salvage. All of these mechs are worth some cash. Many can fill holes in the mechs we lost.

[Abe Sargent]

We did a lot of ejecting today, but we still had some mechs get demolished in the heavy fighting. Here are mechs we lost, and who will be replacing them:


Gugnir Company:

Lost HBK-5N Hunchback (center torso of it was destroyed). Replacing it with the salvaged Victor 10D version (with an ultra AC20).


Gram Company :

Sentry did a sacrifice play to keep the company’s Viking alive. It was savaged and destroyed. replaced with a salvaged Javelin.

Meanwhile, Gram’s missile launching Cobra was also taken out, Ammo explosion (no case) took it out. Replacing it with the salvaged Enforcer III


Babylon Company

Unfortunately, Babylon lost the Thor, a clan omnimech. It’s CT and other places were totally destroyed. We only left with a handful of parts for our garrison. This was a major hit to the company. It was not the only one. We replace it with a Vulture from the garrison.

Meanwhile, we lost the Archer and the Griffin from the fire support of the mechs here. We’ll replace them with a Gunslinger and the LRM variant of the Axman

They totally blew out Babylon’s Jenner and it was destroyed. We have a lot of good scout, light mechs to choose from though. I like the Raven, from our garrison, for it, this company could benefit from its electronics suite.


Babylon was the company that lost and had to retreat.



Ninevah –

Ninevah’s Shootist was absolutely destroyed, caught in the crossfire of a DropShip and an opposing fire supporting unit. The salvaged BattleMaster heads in for it. That’s probably an upgrade, really.


However the Phoenix Hawk was blasted, and I have to go with a salvaged Wolfhound. That’s probably a downgrade.


Those are the swaps we have to make.



As a reminder, our Javelin 11-F is a version of the mech that has endo steel, 6/9/6 movement, max armor, 10/20 heat, 5 medium lasers, and a targeting computer. It’s our favorite light mech. It’s a field refit we do of many of our Javelins.



End of the Second Small World Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

April 25, 3066 – The first suits of Gray Death power armor are released to us. We let the GDR get the first few months worth of sales, so they can build their forces up.


May 1, 3066 – The Excaliburs and Mercurys begin to roll off the lines for Skobel.

June 24, 3066, Duke Essex arrives with the Nagumo-class DropShip, the Lucky James.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Errai Campaign

July 10, 3066 – Alright Blake, tell me what you have. You’ve been working on getting us a way onto Errai for 20 months now, you wanted us to go in, and now we have our political excuse. Punishment for Small World. Victor’s side keeps pissing me off.

So let’s hit them. Hard.

What’s the plan?

That easy, eh?


I want the forces in system in a month. Might as well begin now.


The Northwind Highlanders used to have a unit garrisoning Errai. But, after the Highlanders left the FedCom, they left Errai too, so a new group of mercenaries are there, garrisoned on planet – Harlock’s Warriors. And that’s it. Despite the presence of a mech-making factory on planet, it’s clear that it’s not valued that much (probably because the mechs are sold to ComStar, and not kept domestically). The world is a border world with the Combine and us, but apparently not a high profile target.

Take a look:


Harlock’s Warriors – Recently had a purge of units in some infighting, and are now green, reliable.

One regiment of mechs, purge dropped them to 80ish right now.


The Warriors prefer to attack and do raids, not garrison work. Their mechs are faster medium mechs. Very few heavy and assault designs, and those are usually mobile too keep up with the mediums.

They have a squadron of regular, reliable fighters as well.

And that’s it. Not tons of armor or infantry or difficult troops.

We’re elite, bigger, nastier, have the best equipment, and they would be defending, green, outgunned and out numbered.

That’s an easy recipe for success.

So, with the invasion looking downright quaint compared to some of our others, and the political climate being right, and the numbers lining up, one major question remains –

Will the people accept us, or will they spend a lot of time working against us?

And I guess a second question – what will the eventual counter-strike look like? Can we keep Errai?

[Abe Sargent]

Blake has been working on those things for quite some time…


We don’t have an answer to the second question, but will we be resisted?

It’s been a dominion for centuries, since the Terran Hegemony took it first and then the Fed Suns seconds.

Every planet has dissenters, and the Civil War too. There were small outlets of dissent. Remember, at first, the Draconis March was pro-Katrina, and pushing against the Combine. Then it became pro-Victor and befriending the Dragon. That’s a confused thing to do, to yank a people like that. Those created rifts and fractures in the local population, in addition to the typical Civil War stuff.

So right now, the population is roughly 50% Victor and 35% Katrina and 15% don’t care. However, around 55% are pro former Duke James Sandoval, and just 30% are pro-Tancred, his son and now Duke. Those are odd numbers to play with. Tancred’s pro-Victor stance is popular, his lack of an anti-Dragon stance is not.

There is a divide here, and Blake propaganda-ists have been playing it. Now, we don’t think it will get to Zurich/Hall/Nanking levels where we are welcomed prior to heading in, but we do think that things are unsettled enough that an essentially neutral party who is not Katrina, Victor, Steiner, Davion, or Tancred would not be unwelcome.

There would be dissent from some corners, and probably some violence to result, but not as bad as it could have been. Particularly, if we win the world in a more noble way against Harlock’s Warriors. No city fighting, infrastructure derailment, or orbital bombardment.

[Abe Sargent]

August 14, 3066 – We have arrived at the system, where the jumppoints are just 2 days away. Duke Essex escorts the group. Everything looks as expected. Solid amounts of commercial traffic, and nothing untoward. We have brought with us our naval flotilla, just in case they were needed, but it looks like they weren’t.


What else came with?

Delta Regiment

Dart Company (Fighters)

We brought some JumpShips and DropShips over to help us out!


August 16, 3066, After some initial skirmishes with their fighters, Dart Company forces down landings of our people. We unload Delta Regiment in a few places.

Errai was colonized to be an industrial world. That’s all it is, a huge manufacturing, mining, smelting, industrial world with roughly 300 million folks. It makes Mechs for non-battle needs, exoskeletons, weapons, transport, refines and purifies the ore it mines, creates the basic building supplies used in lots of other places and ships them out, and that sort of thing. It’s has a very vibrant, robust industrial economy.

It’s hilly or mountainous pretty much everywhere, and there are multiple mining consortiums and complexes on world that bring out stuff although it’s not a major mining world, like Acamar, Genoa, Nanking or colony Asmodeus. Instead it has a lot of gems and stones and other things that have industrial uses and are getting mined, so diamond cutters, gemstone refractors, inhibitors, and more are all made here. Other mines grab the smaller value stuff locally, so they don’t have to ship it.

Errai is a small world, just two days from the jump points, in a small system. Because of that, it’ s not that hard to defend, it’s not a spread out world or anything.

There are a few solid industrial complexes that are extremely large, and thus viable targets. Each of those has a small fort and garrison, some run locally, and some by the Warriors.

The only other place to have a garrison is the capital, where a battalion of Warriors lay.

We have landed Armor Battalion right by the capital, and they are going to engage in a campaign to capture that area and take out the Warriors.

We split a pair of companies into the three different industrial complexes, roughly equivalent to the local defense force.

Our goal is to have four different strikes occur at the same time, preventing support by each unit. We are not going to try and engage the local militia. We want to drive off the Warriors, and then make a play for Errai.

[Abe Sargent]

August 19, 3066 – Our mechs are out!


The first industrial complex is right outside of one of the deepest and most labyrinthine mining passages on the world. Old mines are right there. Maltex is here as well. So we need to hit fast and hard, because we can’t secure all of the entrances to that mining area, and we don’t want our foes to go into hiding. We have a lance of fighters with us to help retain strategic control of the area, in case they are needed.

We are leading with Iron Company, and we have Bandit Company in the 4 o’clock position. The militia are not here (Maltex gave them a hint to move out for a couple of hours), and we pull up to their defensive position before they notice us, since their pickets are gone. They manage to get two lances of mechs in one company up and hit us with those two lances, plus the one on defensive duty. They aren’t even picking the best firing lanes or defensive positions.

They really are green. Dang.

Here is Iron Company


Guillotine Iic
CGR-1A5 Charger
ON1-M Orion
KGC-000 King Crab

Mad Cat Prime
EXC-B2 Excalibur
Nobori-Nin B
GOL-3M Goliath

ALX-1kc Alexander
Shadow Hawk Iic
CLNT-2-3U Clint
CMT-1 Comet

That unit has four clan mechs (Guillotine IIc, Mad Cat, Nobori-Nin and Shadow Hawk IIc) and two of those are omnis. Then add in an Inner Sphere omnimech (Alexander) and multiple strong mechs of the heavy and assault category (Charger, Orion, King Crab, Goliath, and Excalibur) and Iron Company was created as a heavy assault company. Other than the Clint pilot, they are all veteran.


The King Crab -




Our foes?


LowTech –

Warhammer
Scorpion
2x Jenner

LostTech –

Centurion
Bushwacker
Quickdraw
Spider
Trebuchet 7M
Phoenix Hawk 3D
Stealth
Thunder

All green save for a regular pilot in the Thunder

(We are playing on a FASA made DropPort map, because it has a lot of conctete a few buildings and such)

[Abe Sargent]

I will be leading with the King Crab.

Turn 1 – We lose initiative. Their Centurion races behind our Charger, so I move our Excalibur, Mad cat, and such. Our Orion nails the lrm ammo on their Trebuchet with its LB10X after it took a little damage and the CASE stilfed explosion still shuts the thing right on down. Meanwhile our Guillotine IIc’s pulse lasers carve into their Spider and destroy its RL. It falls right on down. We double kick their Centurion and it falls.

Turn 2 – We lose initiative again. I charge again with the King Crab leading the way. None of their lighter mechs want to get near it, I thas a nasty zone of control with its paired AC20s. Our Clint, Excalibur, SHD IIC and Orion base their Warhammer. Their Stealth falls as it gets a MASC failure. Their Centurion rises fine though. I try to unload some serious power on that Quickdraw. LRM missiles from the Mad Cat take out the RT of their Centurion. Dead mech. All three AC20s that I have missed (Charger, 2x King Crab. Sigh). Despite taking 100+ damage, their Warhammer is still standing. We kick it three out of four changes, and it can’t make every roll, falls, hits its hip. That’s it.

One of the obvious questions is, when will they flee? They are facing a huge number of heavier assault and heavy mechs, without even one assault to call their own. They have green pilots, and a quartet of lower tech units. We have a lance of clan tech units and vet pilots. How long would you really want to throw good mechs after bad, as a mercenary?

After losing a Trebuchet, Centurion, getting a Warhammer savaged and Spider legged, they aren’t here for profit any longer, so they begin gto head out and leave.


Trebuchet missing RT
Centurion, missing RT
Spider missing RL


Kills – Orion, Mad Cat

[Abe Sargent]

Meanwhile, Bandit Company pushed behind us on the other company, and they were warmed up due to the delay in getting to them. Seeing the results here, they begin a retreating pattern from Bandit and are covering their losing companions. They aren’t heading towards the mines though, but a large open road that heads away from the complex. They are full on fleeing at this point. Um….okay?

Are being tricked? Or are they just not good when they aren’t on the attack?

The first position has been secured.



The second complex has a lot of refining, smelting operations that try to work with the ore.

Attacking here are Kevlar and Pyre Companies. We have two major routes to the area, and a company moving up the area. They spy us coming in, and instead of playing defender in the keep, they decide to break out and hit us, 2 companies to one.

[Abe Sargent]

They choose the company with the fewer clan mechs to attack – Kevlar:


Kevlar Company –

Behemoth
Highlander Iic
THR-1L Thunder
KTO-19 Kintaro

AWS-9M Awesome
Kingfisher A
TBT-7M Trebuchet
EXC-B2 Excalibur

ALX-1kc Alexander
Corvis
PXH-3M Phoenix Hawk
BUM-1 Bumblebee

The clan mechs are the Behemoth, Corvis, Highlander IIc and Kingfisher.

The Behemoth is a massive and nasty unit. It has a very simple weapons payload – 2 large pulse lasers, 2 gauss rifles, and a small pulse laser.

These are all veterans.


Our foes have 24 mechs, with an emphasis on speed and medium mechs, just like the previous group. All are green save for a Victor and Hunchback 6S variant (with a faster engine).

The Corvis:

[Abe Sargent]

We are on a map with train tracks, the road, some water to the west and some trees and buildings there too.

Turn 1 – We win init. Remember they are trying to escape, so we can retreat anytime and keep the field. I grab some woods in the south with my units and move in. We have a spot of fire exchange as well. They destroy the LL on our Trebuchet. I didn’t blow out any of their units. The hex with the Trebuchet was on fire though, so yay!


Turn 2 – We win init again. They are charging our position in the north, with some light woods and lighter mechs (Phoenix Hawk, Corvis, Bumblebee). In order to help protect our downed Trebuchet, I hop the Alexander into woods on the west flank by their Charger and Valkyrie. A few mechs move out on the south flank, like one of their Wolfhounds, which just based my Behemoth. I leap our PXH to the rear of their Hunchback. Their Locust bases our Awesome. I move the Kintaro in the check this stuff out. Nothing major in the exchange of fire, but we knock down their Whitworth, Enforcer, and Valkyrie. Our PXh took some damage but is fine. Our Kintaro kicks the Locust’s RL and destroys it. Our Awesome kicks its LL and LT and blows through them both. Meanwhile our Behemoth kicks their Wolfhound, and it falls and destroys its RL in the tumble. Hmm. I would have figured we’d have blown through a few enemies by now. I need to concentrate and take out more of these folks.

Turn 3 – We lose it. Their Locust ejects and the Wolfhound stays on the ground by the Behemoth. Their Valkyrie rises after falling once. Their Whitworth, on the other hand, fails twice, and on the third fail, blacks out. Nasty. Their Enforcer stands easily too. I leap our Pixie back into some woods. A Nightsky runs near my southern team. A Cicada follows. I leap the Alexander away. Here comes a Starslayer as well. They are pushing. Our Highlander IIc nails the LT on their Enforcer 5D and destroys it, dead mech. Our Kingfisher destroys the RA on their Nightsky with an ER PPC. Who falls? Their Wraith and Nightsky. Unfortunately, they set the hex with the Kingfisher on fire – which is not good. That’ll spread to the other woods down here and turn my turtle position into a bad place to be. Our Excalibur and Behemoth kick and destroys the LL, RA, and RT of that Wolfhound as well

Turn 4 – We lose init. Their Nightsky fails to move up three itmes. Then a fourth time. Their Starslayer bases some of my stuff. I decide to hop the Alexander over again. They base it with a Jav, and its next to a Griffin. I run the Thunder to the north to help on that flank. Their Cicada gets near our Trebuchet, still on the ground. Our Kintaro bases it. Our Behemoth tears through the RA and RT of their Enforcer III and shuts it down. The Excalibur nails the engine on a Huncback 6S with its gauss rifle. Meanwhile our Awesome ovheats to slag a lotof stuff on the Hunchback, including its LA and LB20x weapon. Finally the Highlander Iic destroys that LT and its down. We drop their Griffin and Starslayer to the ground. We kick a bunch, but nothing too major happened. Their Withworth pilot awakened.

This is going to be the turn we turned the battle around

Turn 5 – We lose init. This time their Whitworth rises. They lead their Anvil out to smash us. I move their Thunder to base it. Their Griffin on the ground misses rises once, twice, then three. Three failures by their Nightsky, but then stands. Our Kintaro runs next to that Nightsky. Their Starslayer fails, falls, and the pilot blacks out. Our Thunder cracks open the Anvil’s LL and hits a hip and upper leg actuator. Then its LRM5 destroys the Griffin #2’s LA. The Corvis nails the RT of their other Wolfhound and destroys it. Our Thunder took 40+ damage and fell, as did their Anvil and Nightsky. The Nightsky pilot blacked out on falling.

They call it.

[Abe Sargent]

We get the blacked out and damaged Starslayer and Nightsky. The Wolfhound gets away, as does their badly damaged Wraith, Griffin and Guillotine.



Wolfhound #2 missing RT
Griffin #2 missing LA
Hunchback missing LA, LT
Enforcer III, missing RA, RT
Enforcer 5D, missing LT
Wolfhound missing RL, LL, RA, RT
Locust missing LL, RL, LT
Nightsky missing RA

Ejected – Locust, Wolfhound


Us - Trebuchet missing LL.




Kills –Highlander IIc x2, Behemoth,


They can’t get past us and we drove them back into the complex, but Pyre Company had already come through on the other sid, so after being surrounded and down to 17 mechs from 24, with a bunch damaged and us having a pristine company in their face, they just surrender.


The second complex is secured.

[Abe Sargent]

The third compound is not in the hills or mountains, but along one of the larest rivers on the world, which is used for transferring cargo down from the extremely high mountain chain the riverheads feed. It’s hard to build a base anywhere else. This is the first real spot on the river to do it.

The river gives us a good opportunity to hit the final group, since etheir base is beside the river. We rent a few giant 100 ton+ barges, and then float down the river, get off down the bank from them, and move to their base from inside the complex. We hit them hard, and away from the local militia, which is guarding the borders of the area.

Their forces get ready too slowly, and our two companies of mechs overwhelming their defensive lance in seconds, and then secure the facility and placed the defensive terrain in a holding pattern for a while, until we hear more.

We have secured all three defensive positions.

[Abe Sargent]

Now it’s time for the major battle, just outside the capital city of Errai.



Captain Jassa Ramgarhia is here with Armor Battalion. We also have the other two aerospace quartets of fighters here helping out.

They have an entire battalion of forces here on the planet.

Aegis Company is flanked out on the western edge of the city, and the Warriors are in and around an outpost outside the city. The local militia is guarding places in the city, and again, we’ll strike hard and fast, with the goal of smashing the mercs and ending all resistance on the world outside of the militia.


They see us coming for a bit, and load up their mechs. The first company of mechs is out and hits Aegis on the flank:


Aegis Company


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

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

STY-3C Starslayer
Jenner Iic
Koshi B
ASN-40 Assassin

This is a strong company, with four clan mechs (Jenner IIc, Koshi B, Man o War, and Daishi). The Orion is a level 1 mech, but it’s a good strong one to face, so no issues there. 10 of these pilots are elite, and the Archer and Assassin are veteran.


And here is our opposition.

Low tech –

Wolverine
Vindicator
Spider

UpTech

Hercules
Battle Hawk
Quickdraw
Phoenix Hawk
Lineholder
2x Watchman
Marauder 5D
Cataphract 3L

10 are green, the last 2 are vet.



Our Jenner IIc

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go!


Turn 1 – We lost init. We’ll be charging up the north on the east flank. 11 of our 12 mehcs are on tha t flying formation. I focus fire on their Wolverine, and the Trebuchet hits its SRM ammo and it explodes. Dead mech. Their Marauder took 80+ and fell too.


Turn 2 – We win initiative. I flank the Jenner IIc and Koshi to the west to keep them honest. I don’t want them to completely come in on my side. Meanwhile, I leap the Assassin deep into their east flank into some light woods, to help build a position for my bigger mechs to use upon arrival. Our Daikyu’s AC5 ultra jams but still manages to rifle an ER PPC at the Battle Hawk and destroys its RL. Our Koshi destroys its LT and gets that kill. Their Cataphract tumbles. They set the woods on fire where our Gunslinger is holing up.


After two rounds of dominating the battle, taking out two mechs and a third badly savaged and on the ground, and with the obvious difference in tech and skill level, and with none of our mechs taking 20+ damage total, let alone in one round, they begin to pull out.

And we let them





Battle Hawk missing RL, LT

Wolverine H, LA


Kill – Trebuchet, Koshi,

[Abe Sargent]

Meanwhile Shield Company is blowing through the miles to cover ground, and another force moves in to protest their presence.

AS7-S Atlas
WHM-6D Warhammer
Man o War H
Kraken-3

ENF-6m Enforcer III
Rifleman Iic
Vulture Prime
BJ-2 Blackjack

STY-3C Starslayer
Locust Iic
ASN-40 Assassin
Shadow Hawk Iic

Yes, that’s right. This company has 6 clan mech, 2 in each lance. It rocks 10 elite pilots as well. The Kraken 3 is arguably the best missile boat mech ever designed. It features more LRMs than a lance of missile mechs. I’m not kidding, it features EIGHT LRM15s. That’s just dirty. It also had 19/38 heat, max armor, and 15 tons of ammo. It’s an amazing mech. If I could, I’d have like 20 of them for is.


Our foes have:


LowTech

Clint
Cicada
Dragon


UpTech

Axman
Assassin
2xShadow Hawk
Commando
Wolf Trap
Grasshopper
Charger
Jenner


All green save for one pilot in the Axman.

[Abe Sargent]

Our map has a lot of open trees, road, concrete, and a tiny hill in the center.

Turn 1 – We lose init. Again, this needs to end quickly, so I created a flying wedge in the center. We are building it around the Atlas and Warhammer. We concentrate fire on their Axman, who comes up to us. After sandblasting it a bit, our Warhammer’s ER PPC of love stabs into that RT and destroys it. Dead mech. Aw crap. Their stupid WolfTrap fires its LB10x, right? It hits a few times, one of which is a htrough armor critical on the Atlas – hits the head, and knocks out both sensors. Well, I guess it could have been a cockpit, so ok?


Turn 2 – I eject the Atlas, it can’t see or do anything as the first decision after I lose initiative. We pepper than Dragon with some damage and it loses a LA. Then we carve some armor off the Cicada running up on us. Both fall down, and the Cicada breaks a hip actuator.

Turn 3 – We grab initiative this turn, so yay that! I dance the Locust IIc into some heavy woods in strking position of that Cicada, which fails to stand. A lot. Then blacks out. Their Commando bases me, and I leave my wreapons ready and hot. LRMs from the Kraken devastate a Wolf Trap which exposes himself and destroyed its LA, LT, and RL – dead mech. The Locust stabs into the downed Cicada, aiming for its head, and destroys it. We miss the Commando a lot, but we take out the RA of that Dragon. It doesn’t fall though. Meanwhile their Commado kicks our Man o War and it falls. Which is just funny, actually.

Anyway, with three mechs dead, and a 4th almost there, they call it, and we win.




Cicada missing H
Dragon missing LA, RA

Axman missing RT
Wolf Trap missing RL, LT, LA


Kill – Kraken, Locust, Warhammer

A similar result happens on the other flank, and we have taken the capital of Errai.

[Abe Sargent]

August 20, 3066 – The next day, we contact the militia and leaders of the planet. After Duke Essex meets with them for some time, including the industrial Maltex Corporation, they make some announcements.


First, by virtue of their invasion of the area, Errai is being annexed. They don’t have any options about that. And Blake is taking over the ComStar controlled HPG station as well, and getting 50% of the product from Maltex, and K&C and the Coalition get the other 50%. Sort of, we’ll talk about that in a bit.

Anyway, the local militia will continue as is, and join a unit we’ll bring things together.


Meanwhile, we’ll leave behind Delta Regiment for now to help garrison the world.

We have another conversation to have though.

Duke Essex sits down with Col. Thomas, CO of Harlock’s Warriors.

“I still don’t get why Errai had just you here. Even in a Civil War, that doesn’t make a lick of sense. Your unit, green on paper and in the battlefield, has the wrong machines and tactics for planetary defense, the wrong experience, and could never hold this world by yourself.

Then, add in the fact that Errai is on the border with both us and the Combine, as well as a valuable economy and a military-industrial complex that not only produces mechs, but also gives a lot of value to anybody who has it, and is in the middle of a Civil War where you don’t want the other side to take it.

Why are you here? Why isn’t there another unit? I don’t get it.”

But of course, Col. Thomas has no idea, he only took over the unit around 2 years ago, and they’ve been on Errai since 3058. We let them head back to the Federated Commonwealth, after taking enough mechs to bring our salvaged total to 20.

We don’t get it either. It seems like someone made a bad choice.


1st Errai Militia – 50 tanks, 1 regiment of infantry, 20 mechs we captured, mechs are green, other units are regular.

[Abe Sargent]

Maltex Corporation –

Producing and creating some of the iconic mechs of the Star League era, particularly the Thug. They also created the Wyvern and Assassin. Their mech lines were restored by ComStar a while ago, and they make Thugs and Wyverns again, exclusively for ComStar.

The Wyvern they make is the Wyvern 10N. LRM10, 8 tons of armor, 4/6/4 speed thus far, ER PPC, medium pulse laser, Guardian ECM, and a C3i computer, 11/22 heat, 1199 BV, no XL engine, 5 million CBills.

Can’t use the C3i. Mech really isn’t the best mech for us outside of urban combat.

Now…

Thug…THG-2E….C3i, 2x ERPPC, 2x SRM6, 17/34, full armor, no xl engine, 4/6, 9.9 mill CBills, 1751 BV

Again, can’t use the C3i

So, what Maltex will be doing is adding one new line to each mech line for us exclusively as well.

We’ll be getting the…


THG-11Eb – A Star League era design that was used in the Star League Royal Guard. 80 tons, 18/36 heat sinks, max armor, 4/6 movement, 2x ER PPC, 2x SRM6, 2 tons of ammo with CASE, 8.77 mill CBills, 1759 BV

We’ll be getting this one at the rate of around 15 a year. It’s a pre-existing version that is already in the database, there are no changes to the chassis, armor, weapons, engine, internal structure. It just swaps some more ammo and CASE for the C3i. They can add the line in three months since they are so close.

And we’ll be getting the Wyvern 9N, created by COmStar to help defeat the clans in the battles at Tukkayid. 45 tons, 4/6/4 movement, LRM 10, Large pulse laser, 2x medium pulses, SRM2 streak, 10/20 heat snks, CASE, but less armor. 3.729 mill, 1067 CBills. We went for a cheaper, high quality mech rather than making our own Wyvenr variant which would take a lot longer to jumpstart. Very similar to the one they are making right now – same type of structure, engine, chassis, and more, and they made for 9Ns for ComStar a while ago, so they can refit a new line for us in two months.

Since we told Maltex to begin the new lines back in early July, we’ll get the first Wyvern and Thug off the line in September 15 and October 15 respectively!

So Blake is getting both of the ComStar exclusive lines exclusively, and we are getting these lines as well. Everyone wins really.


(In the main story line, Word of Blake worked with Maltex to secure some of the mechs and technology heading to ComStar. So again, I’m using a similar parabola to the “Real” story line in resonance with our own).

Duke Essex talks briefly about a new Assassin line with them, but they aren’t ready to do that yet. The Assassin has been much maligned lately, and was never a great mech, so they are happy to have outsourced that to other companies, make some revenue free of charge, and then move on.

Essex tours the plants with his wife and son, and a few other adjuncts, and then they head back off world for now.


End of the Errai Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

August 1, 3066 – Kerensky Blues has arrived, all fixed up. We have no Blake folks working on it, We just move over our own. We also do a deep inspection, just to make sure we have no spy devices or surprises on board. We don’t involve the Apollo Office at all (which was formed with help from Blake ROM). We don’t find any. (It never hurts just to check)

I trust Word about…..75% on stuff like that. No one else will do it well and quickly like they will.

It’s a Fredasa class WarShip captured from the clans by the Blue Star and Black Aces. It’s a corvette class Ship which is more of a fast raider, not an escort guy. It’s the sort of ship that can be used to escort some DropShips, blow out other DropShips, and win without needing additional problems. It can carry 20 fighters, 2 small craft and has a Dropring, so it can be its own escort service with the fighters and the DropShips too. It’s not really a good choice for facing other heavy WarShips, or several pocket WarShips. It’s not a picket, or somesuch. Has an LF battery too though.

After being defeated in a few places, it has very little clan weapons left, Blake and Dragoons have both refitted it as best as theycan do. They have some naval class stuff, as well as lots of normal weapons. It’s one of the fastest WarShips ever, sort of like the Dasher or Cicada or Spider. Be fast with it, keep it up, and you’ll do well in combat. It can get to the target craft and pick it down prior to the escorts getting there. That makes it a very different sort of ship.

Because of how different the ship is, we need someone truly skilled at the helm, so we promoted the XO from the Swift Justice to take over the helm.

A Fredasa, used right, should be able to take out a Fox (BV of a Fredasa is 48783, of a Fox is 39017). It’s mega fast, heavily armored, and has some strong game to bring. It’s a good, quality addition to our roles. (Aegis? 174094 BV Avalon? 156654 BV)

[Abe Sargent]

August 13, 3066 – After raking in dough from the sales of their first two releases, Browning-Corning Lmtd. of Caph, has introduced an updated recovery vehicle for use on modern battlefields, with updated technology.

September 6, 3066 – The Gray Death Regiment is battle ready, and begins looking for contracts.

October 17, 3066 – After spending a few years putting up Storm Reflector Satellites at Bryant, we’ve gotten enough of the area around HartfordCo Industries cleared up that the first salvage team has been dispatched.

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Third Genoa Campaign

In the main story line, in October 3066, after employment for more than 25 years with the Capellan Confederation, a large mercenary unit abandoned its post and attacked Genoa in order to bring it under the Confederation’s control as a fait accompli. Duke Hasek moved the powerful 12th Vegan Rangers to check it on Genoa, and the unit was blasted in two weeks, had two of its DropShips taken by the Rangers, lost all of its tanks and infantry, and then blasted for Arboris to bring in a easier-defended planet and use it as a rally point for more Cap forces. Hasek’s forces followed, devastated the unit in one week, and dropped it to 7 lances, killed the Commander in doing so, and captured its DropShips. The unit stole a pair of DropShips from the Rangers troops and launched, returning to Capellan Space where they were stripped of their contract, given an F Dragoons rating, and removed as a unit. Meanwhile, the Rangers had captured enough salvage from the operation to field two new battalions of mechs.

It seems easy enough to fit the initial attack into our campaign, for slightly different reasons, and we may observe some different results, but you get the idea. This is something that can add another defensive campaign to our ongoing battle for legitimacy.