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

[Abe Sargent]

October 5, 3066 – A large flotilla of DropShips and rented JumpShips have arrived in the Genoa system. Little Richard’s Panzer Brigade has arrived. They launched from the nearby world they garrison, Pleione.


The Brigade:

120 mechs, averaging heavy, veteran, questionable

Wing of fighters, average medium, veteran questionable (Wing is three groups of six, and a command of two, for 20 fighters)

Regiment of armor, veteran, questionable

5 companies of infantry, regular, questionable

They do not own enough JumpShips for this mission, they just have four, so they are using some rented ones. But they will be launching (Not all yet though)

3 Leopard CVs
2 Overlords
3 Unions
4 Leopards
2 Gazelle
1 Seeker
1 Intruder
1 Mule

Rating: B Unit does not fight well together, but instead in small units. 50% of mechs are upgraded tech, and 25% of tanks are, and nothing else is.


Who do we have on planet?


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

The Blackhearts – Retainer on Genoa until Aug 1, 3068. 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.


That’s right, none of our forces are on the planet when the Panzer Brigade strikes.

[Abe Sargent]

Little Richard’s unit has been clamoring for battle for a while, after moving from the periphery border on a garrison deal to a planet near the Sarna Supremacy, they were hoping to get a lot of action, but they didn’t. So they slipped their leash a bit.

They looked at the map and at their history and found that the highly valuable world of Genoa was not as well defended as might be expected, and not a single Kilts and Commandoes unit was on planet. Just the local Chargers and the Blackhearts mercenary group.

With a quick strike to take them out, the Brigade believes they can hit hard enough to win the world before a large force arrives, and again, return it to the Confederation before retribution can happen.


The Blackhearts are a major mercenary command though, and they’ve been around since the Star League. They were once an anti-terrorist group for the Terran Hegemony that went mercenary after the hegemony folded back in the 2800s. Since then they’ve been a part of the 4th Succession War, War of3039, and Operation: Guerrero signed for Marik, and then loaned to the Caps. Then they signed with us after that contract ended.

The Blackhearts are one of five units we have on retainer deals, in case we want to use them in anon-garrison capacity – the others are the 48th, Lindon’s Battalion, Legion of the Rising Sun, and Smithson’s Chinese Bandits.

The Blackhearts –

Regiment of veteran, reliable mechs. 90% upgraded.
Regiment of veteran reliable tanks. 25% upgraded
Wing of veteran reliable fighters, 45% upgraded – this is a bigger wing than most, they still use SLDF rankings, rather than modern day one (wing in modern day is three squadrons, each squadron is three flights, each flight is two fighters. However, in the Star League era, their units ran things differently. So the Blackhearts have 54 fighters in 9 squadrons, and they still call it a wing.)

The Blackhearts have full DropShips, including a pair of upgraded Triumphes, 3 Overlords, 2 Fortresses, a Vengeance, and 2 Seekers.


On paper, the Panzer Brigade ha 12 more mechs, has infantry, has a few more vehicles, and such, but the fighters are grossly overmatched, and the Blackhearts don’t look like a pushover at all. They have been on Genoa for a while, and are no weak duckling.


Anyway, a call goes out to the Coalition for assistance and reinforcements, just in case they are needed.

[Abe Sargent]

October 6, 3066 – Another flotilla arrives at a pirate point one day away and unfurls more DropShips. They will all converge on planet tomorrow.

The Blackhearts get ready, and are preparing defenses in a variety of places. The local Chargers are doing defensive holding work. There are just too many DropPorts and potential landing sites to cover them all with a strong force. What the Blackhearts want to do is use their fighters to force the Brigade into landing at a few sites that they are defending heavily. The Blackhearts push one battalion of tanks and mechs each at three mostly-equidistant DropPorts around the planet. Then the Chargers are garrisoning large population centers.


October 7 - The DropShips begin to arrive, escorted by 20 fighters from the Brigade. They are looking to land in a variety of places around the world, and to secure a variety of industrial, commercial, and population centers. This makes sense as they can operate independently of each other.

But there are two major issues with their plan of attack. Firstly it forces them to split up their aerospace cover. They don’t have a full 20 fighters protecting a large fleet of DropShip assets. The result is a split set of fighters on each of six different landing attempts. Some have 2 and some have four fighters.

The second issue is that they are severely outnumbered in the fighter department. The Blackhearts have 48 fighters converging (a squadron held in reserve) and assigns a full squadron of 6 fighters for each of their attack vectors around the planet. They also send 10 fighters against the attack ships that have 4 fighters on them, so they are countering with an additional 2 flights or 3 per force.

That numerical superiority helps them push aside most of the attacks and force them into fewer vectors. In fact, they had originally wanted three landing zones, but they are able to force five of the six attackers into one landing zone. The last one, a flight of fighters and a Union and Gazelle, broke free of the attackers and has a separate landing zone.

They converge their fighters, and send the reserve of fighters to assist and cover holes.

The one that broke out is landing at a nearby factory complex in the hills that is not heavily defended. Soon they will be unloading roughly a company each of mechs and tanks.

Meanwhile, the full attack force comes into a huge hornet’s nest of fighters as it descends, too late to pull out. In the space of a few minutes, almost every Panzer fighter is destroyed, and the Blackhearts have made them pay, massively, for arriving. The Blackhearts break off the fighters when they have destroyed the Panzer’s aerospace capacity. They don’t want to push too hard against the DropShips to lose a bunch of fighters on the way.

They instead send two squadrons of healthy fighters to buzz the LZ in the mountains where the one group just broke out. They arrive, destroy the two fighters here, and begin to force the unloading tanks and mechs back and away from the nearby mines and such. The 4 fighters that survived the mission join them, and the Brigade is unable to unload peacefully, and only has about half of its unit out, with destroyed tanks and savaged mechs on the ground. They load back into the DropShip and use it as cover. More fighters arrive and over the next half hour, the two ships here are attacked and taken out by the local fighters, and then disabled. The local forces will grab them and take them.

The Blackhearts lost 19 fighters today, took out one company of mechs, one company of tanks, two DropShips, and every fighter the Brigade has. They will need to spend some time licking their wounds, and healing a bunch of their unit, but it was a huge victory.


And the battle has just begun.

[Abe Sargent]

The place their foes landed is just outside of a small lake, with a large central transportation hub a few miles away, and a DropPort that is relatively isolated. This is one of the three spots that the Blackhearts chose to amp up with their own unit. It’s ready and overwhelmed by numbers. They had a strong defensive set up, but it’ll take the Bridge a while to change their organization – they were not expecting to work with this many people together, so securing the LZ, unloading their stuff, having different logistical needs, and so forth, they won’t be able to do any sort of a quick strike, especially not against heavy air cover.

None follow, and the Blackhearts load up their units on nearby DropShips and jump them over to their new location and unload. Many supplies and such will come in a more conventional way, via a train of Burro II trucks.


October 8, 3066 – After spending the day getting themselves ready, the Panzer Brigade sends out a few feelers and tries to get a sense of the Blackhearts.

Over the next week, the campaign will take place. Since this is not with our units, I’m just going to do some quick campaign results until reinforcements arrive.


Reinforcements will arrive on October 18 in system, and land 2 days later.

That’s basically two weeks from now. So here is what we have.

Advantages for the Blackhearts:


- Air Superiority. In fact, they have such strong superiority that I am giving them a double advantage for this.
- They are on the defense
- They know the terrain
- They have the cooperation of the local forces
- They have forced the Brigade to fight with their weakness: together
- They are reliable to the Brigade’s questionable
- The Blackhearts have more upgraded technology

Advantages for the Brigade:

- They have no supply or logistical issues, they are all in one place; the Blackhearts have supply lines that can be attacked and cut
- The Brigade has the infantry


Neutral –

- Both are veteran
- Both have the same number of mechs and tanks


So the Brigade has supply and infantry, and the Blackhearts have every other advantage.


So, by the 18th…


The Blackhearts have lost 10% of their forces across tanks and mechs

The Brigade has lost 25% of their forces across both as well

[Abe Sargent]

October 18, 3066 – Kerensky’s Blues arrives, escorting some DropShips and JumpShips from Nanking. The Blues is a Fredasa-class WarShip, and we sent it here to help out. We didn’t want to de-nude Nanking’s defenses entirely, in order to defend against a trap or an attack of opportunity by Duke Hasek or someone else. Based on ongoing reports, the Fredasa was deemed sufficient. Their four JumpShips are still at the pirate point, and we arrive at the Zenith, just to make sure things are clear. Our DropShips head to the world (2 days to the planet from the jump-points, and it takes longer to charge your sails than it does to land on the planet – one of the few places in the inhabited systems of the IS where that is the case).

The Fredasa moves out to start hunting. It’s a fast, long-ranging WarShip who is faster than a lot of assault and transport vessels. It’s the fastest WarShip out there. So we move it to the Pirate Point while our DropShips move to Genoa, with fighters and mechs.

The Brigade is still near the DropPort, and now they see the writing on the wall clearly. They can get to their Pirate Point faster than the Fredasa can get to them, so they immediately begin to get ready to launch.

The Blackhearts bring a huge attack on their position, so keep them from leaving, led by a lot of mechs and tanks, and their fighters are loading up.

What the Blackhearts want to do is:

1). Force the Brigade to take as many losses as possible before it leaves
2). Delay the Brigade so that it can’t reach the Pirate Point before the WarShip does
3). If possible, delay them until our reinforcements arrive.
4). Grab as much of that sweet sweet salvage as possible, right?


Let’s grab some dice for the Brigade/Hearts battle.

The Brigade just saw us arrive. They have one day to retreat to their Ships, load up, and leave. That’s an operation that will take around 10-12 hours to do, even if they were not contested.

As the Blackhearts move in to engage and stop them, they break off a company of mechs and a battalion of tanks to keep the Blackhearts at bay long enough to get up and out.

And it works. The delaying action results in the loss of that entire battalion of tanks, and the mechs as well, but they get to their landing zone, and begin to load up. Fighters blaze the defending tanks and infantry in the area, and most are destroyed, but their mechs fire them off and they load up.

20 hours later, their flotilla launches into space.

The Blackhearts:

Salvaged two DropShips – Union and Gazelle. They also gained around 36 mechs in salvage, 8 fighters and 40 tanks in salvage. They get full salvage rights, with a clause that we get the right to match any offer they gt for theirs salvaged goods if they don’t want them. Basically, if they don’t want it, they can sell it to us at cost, or if we aren’t interested, then on market. They can replace their losses easily enough, save for their lost fighters – they salvaged their own and the Brigades but are still 6 down. They can easily sell assets to match though.

[Abe Sargent]

Our WarShip burns at the highest G. They only have a 4 hour window to get to the pirate JumpPoint, load up their stuff, make sure everything is secure and then jump out. We have a chance to get there and stop them, and we are faster than a lot of people expect.

We’ve done DropShip math, and they don’t have enough JumpShips for their DropShips, so why did they launch them all?


Little Richard’s Panzer Brigade gets to the site as expected, and then begins to load up….but they getting nervous or somesuch, and not doing it as quickly possible. They load up one JumpShip, an Invader, with their most valuable stuff first – 2 Overlords and an Intruder, and they jump out.

Another Invader takes the 2 remaining Unions and a Seeker, and jumps out. Two Leopard CVs and a leopard jump. Then their Mule, Leopard, and Gazelle jump. They just barely got them all out, they but left behind a Leopard CV. Huh. I would have expected them to abandoned that Gazelle. We destroyed all of their tanks on planet. They took tank carriers Seeker and Invader, probably because of their cost. Why leave behind the CV? Sure, they are out of fighters too I suppose, but the CV is a better combatant, so I would have used it to help keep away other bandits and such. Maybe it’s because the Gazelle is worth 15 million more?

Anyway, it surrenders to us, and we captured it.


We gained, and rechristen it:

Rules of War, Leopard CV DropShip – Available on November 1, 3066


The Blackhearts made out, and we have ended the attack on Genoa.


End of the Third Genoa Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

Beginning of the Second Arboris Campaign

October 19, 3066 - After fleeing the Genoa System, Little Richard’s Panzer Brigade arrives in the Arboris System. They are bruised and battered with no infantry, tanks, or fighters. But they still have 71 mechs ready to smash, and that’s a strong unit.

We don’t have as many forces on planet. Once again, we contact the Coalition asking for reinforcements.

They didn’t want to risk a pirate point here, leaving under duress like they were, so they arrived at the Zenith point, where we have an Olympus class recharge station. Their DropShips release, and they begin the process of charging up, so they can leave quickly in case of a WarShip surprise. That’s also an important reason to arrive at the JumpPoint.

It’ll take their DropShips five days to land.


Who is on Arboris?

Star Battalion from Alpha Regiment:

Defender Company
Cinq Company
Brawler Company

First Tank Battalion

Arboris Avengers – 2 companies each of tanks, artillery and mechs, one squadron of aerofighters. One battalion of infantry. Green, fanatical.


As you can see, our units here are smaller and divided. This makes Arboris a decent fall back position for the Brigade, if they can take it. Green Avengers? They really aren’t a threat to a veteran unit with the Brigade. The tank battalion is regular. And those aren’t our best companies we have.

Brawler? 1 upgraded mech, 11 old ones, 6 elite, 2 green, 3 regular, 1 veteran
Cinq has 2 upgraded mechs (10 old ones) and 6 elite pilots, 3 vets, 2 regular, and 1 green
Defender? 12 mechs, all elite, 1 clan mechs, 1 upgraded mech, 10 lostech mechs.


I’m sure that Battalion of mechs looks weak on paper. They are misreading the situation, just like they misread the Wing of Fighters under the command of the Blackhearts as a traditional 20 fighter wing.

We have 71 mechs coming against one battalion of regular tanks, 2 companies of green tanks, 2 companies of green mechs, a squadron of green fighters, and a battalion of, average, veteran mechs with just 5 mechs that are anything other than old tech designs.

[Abe Sargent]

October 24, 3066 - Their flotilla arrives, and because they don’t have any fighters left, and we have six, they land as one unit, so their DropShips can help each other secure their landing zone. We don’t have a DropPort large enough to land, defend, and unload, so they are scrambling their forces into a huge area of grapes and taking a few hills in the light wooded and hilled area.

DropShips arrive and then unload their things – including support facilities, ammo, and such. Our six fighters are buzzing around, just outside of weapons range from their DropShips, and they don’t want to emerge too much and they are basically turtling at this point.

October 25, 3066 – Our battalions have arrived around their LZ to keep them from moving too far out. We have the local Arboris Avengers sitting tightly outside, in cities and such, other than their fighters, which are helping us out a bit. We have our Tank Battalion doing likewise.

Their forces begin to move out, and they are pushing towards the area Cinq Company is holding. They are pushing four of their companies at Cinq, and another one each at Defender and Brawler. They probably think Cinq is the weak link.

Cinq pulls back and flees from the oncoming onslaught. Meanwhile, the two companies coming after our other two pull out and retreat back towards the four companies moving out, and will be a rear guard for them, and now all six are coming Cinq’s way.

The Panzer Brigade breaks out faster mechs to come after Cinq. Cinq’s slowest unit is the 3/5 Awesome. So we can’t go too fast. They break off 25 mechs that are 5/8 or better to chase us down. We are forced to leave behind our slower units in order to match speed.

We leave these five units behind to slow down the attack.


Awesome (vet)
BattleMaster (elite)
Axman (regular)
Zeus (Elite)
Archer (veteran)



We have 8 rounds to try and delay our foes. If we do, Cinq gets away. If we don’t, Cinq is overwhelmed.

[Abe Sargent]

We are on some hills but no trees, very gentle here.


Turn 1 – We win init and set up on one of the few hills here to force our foe to climb to face us. Many of their mechs buzz over to us. In addition to slew of light mechs, we also spy some heavier folks, and a bunch of mediums as well. We concentrate fire on two of their light mechs that we can pick off. We need to lower these odds right now.

Our Awesome launches PPCs at their Wolfhound and nails its RT and CT once each
Our BattleMaster misses mostly, but an SRM hits a nearby unit.
Our Axman does little
Our Zeus’s AC5 and LRm15 crack into a Jenner and break it open in a couple of places
Our Archer’s missiles tear into their Wolfhound and destroy its CT and LA.

Tons of their mechs hit ours for a little damage here and there, and their main target is our Awesome, on top. It took 60+ damage and falls.

Turn 2 – We lose init. I rise the Awesome, and there’s not a lot of places to run to that are better than here. They bring a few forces in close, and a Spider and 2 Locusts base the Awesome.

Our Awesome sends PPC energy racing into the damaged Jenner and hits its SRM ammo and it explodes. Dead mech.
Our BattleMaster uses close range weapons to carve their nearby Cicada into little pieces, and it loses a LA and LL.
Our Axman and Zeus do little
Our Archer nails an unwounded Valkyrie at range, and goes internal, and hits a foot actuator.

Meanwhile they just blast the zero movement Awesome. They hit it for 160+ damage destroy two PPCs in the arms and LT, but little else was done seriously, and no limbs are destroyed or anything like a gyro hit. It still falls though (as does their Cicada)

They kick the downed Awesome, hit twice, and destroys its RT. Our Axman tears off the RA of a Javelin.


Turn 3 – We lose init. Can’t really do much with the Awesome, and we leave it as a distraction for them. More than 10 of their mechs are now basing ours. It’s nasty.

We savage a Stinger, and destroy its LA and LT with our Axman’s large pulse laser (Damage from one carried to the other and took it down too).
Our Archer can’t hit much

They mostly target our BattleMaster, and get a critical on its machine gun ammo and its explodes. Dead mech.

We smash their wounded Javelin with the Axman’s and it tears off the H of the mech, and it falls, silently, to the ground, dead. They kick our Archer to the ground, and more kicks on the Awesome in a few places destroy its Ct and its down too. Meanwhile, Our Archer kicks and drops a Spider, hitting two actuators.

It’s not looking good. We have a dead Awesome and BattleMaster, plus a grounded Archer. We haven’t scratched hem much. And we are just three turns in. I am going to try and change one tactic.

Turn 4 – We lose init. I needed to win that one for my tactic. Ah well. We stand the Archer after it falls once, and then we move the Zeus to block the Axman, then we hop out Axman out of trouble, and off the hill, to the right side of their damaged Valkyrie. They press forward onto the hill, but they have some folks respond to our Axman’s jump (because we lose init) and a Wolverine, Nightsky and Phoenix Hawk base it.

Our Zeus peppers the wounded Valkyrie and finishes it off with an LRm15. Might as well Alpha Strike, right? We hit the Valkyrie’s LRM10 ammo and its up.

Their forces just blast the unmoving Archer and drop it. No ammo explosions, just the destruction of four parts, including the CT.

Our Axman turned and chopped the Wolverine, and smashes the H again. Well, that’s lucky I suppose. Dead mech. Their PXH tries to kick our Axman and misses and falls. Our Zeus kicks a Locust, and destroys its LL. A few kicks hit the Zeus, and it falls too and hits its large laser. Ouch.

Turn 5 – We win init. Whoop de doo. We rise the Zeus, and can’t go anywhere (fully surrounded). Our Axman leaps away, and four folks can still base it.

The Zeus does little, and they just blast the Zeus back. They hit the gyro once, and the engine 4 times and destroy both arms. Dead mech.
Our Axman doesn’t do much either.

Then it tries and carves a axe for a third time on a H, but it misses the adjacent Shadow Hawk. They kick me twice, miss twice, and lose a Phoenix Hawk to the ground again, and it goes internal, but no critical. But their Quckdraw’s kick on the Axman goes internal, gets a limb blown off and it’s RL is on the ground and the Axman follows.

They leave behind a lance of mechs to secure the downed Axman and Zeus and move on down.

They have won this battle.

[Abe Sargent]

Theirs?

Wolfhound RT, LT, H, LL, RL
Jenner RA, H

Valkyrie LA, LL, RL, H
Javelin missing RA, H
Wolverine missing H



Cicada missing LA, LL


Stinger missing LA, LT


Locust missing Ll


Ours:


Awesome LT, H, LL, RL, RA, LA

BattleMaster LA, LL

Archer RT, LL, RA, H

Zeus, enginex4, gyro, missing RA, LA

Axman, reattach LL


Kill – Archer, Awesome, Axmanx2, Zeus

We only got five kills. I expected better of this unit. Dang.

The Zeus and Axman are salvaged by our foes.

Now, we did hurt three more of their mechs enough to keep them from the fighting, but that was not a good swap.

Over the next hour, Cinq Company is completely over run, and destroyed as a unit. None survive. We took out another…6 mechs of their and wounded 5 more.

We lost two pilots, killed in action.

They salvaged our Buccaneer and Spider. Spider was a H shot and the Buccaneer an XL shut down.

[Abe Sargent]

The Brigade spends the day consolidating their victory, fixing up salvage, repairing, and such.

We retreat under cover of night and fade into the countryside. We make a few changes with the tank battalion, we’re going to need their help after it looks.


October 27, 3066 – After they have finished doing repairs and refits and such, and head out, looking for our units, and trying to finish this now, while they have momentum. They use their mechs to scan ahead, looking for assistance.

They don’t have lighter scouting tanks like a Beagle or Savannah Master, and they don’t have fighters to scan the skies, so they are doing this the old fashioned way – with mechs, and a few Beagle Probes, such as a pair of Ravens they have.


They aren’t close to one, but they are getting close to another, Brawler Company, so we order our first surprise for them…

As they enter a copse of woods, a pair of Brutus Assault Tanks opens up on a scout mech from behind cover. And smashes it. It loses more than a ton of armor but the Dart keeps standing. It moves back and informs others and we splash up on their Friend or Foe assessment now.

The Brutus is a nasty tank made by Kressly, it’s battle-forged, and a good, strong close or long range unit. As their Dart flees, its partner, an Assassin, doesn’t take us seriously and is still hanging around. One round of fire later and the Assassin in the ground, missing a RL.

It’s pilot ejects and we move the Brutus to the Assassin’s downed body and prepare for our foes return. They do so in about ten minutes with a lance of medium and heavy mechs that are faster than our Brutus, to keep us from running away – Quickdraw, Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, and Nightsky.


Our Brutus and them open fire into each other, and one of our tanks is immobilized, while the other is untouched. Our weapons tear into them and a Nightsky is hit for 60+ damage and falls to the ground, hitting its hip in doing so. They take out the other Brutus, and it takes out the RA of their Nightsky.


The ambush of our duo of Brutus Assault Tanks forces them to pull back and spend some time consolidating their wounded, as well as making sure they aren’t opening themselves to attacks. They have to go slower.

[Abe Sargent]

October 29, 3066 – Two days later, they have pushed our two companies of mechs out of the hills and woods, and into a giant savannah, that’s relatively flat. It goes on for miles and miles and miles, but we can get caught and found relatively quickly. It’ll take a few days of sniping, minor skirmishes, and fall backs, but they can keep us here and force us to fight them soon enough. Meanwhile, we have a company of tanks in the center of the area, by a small farming complex. They are in barns and such that we evacuated a few days ago. That’s our fallback point.

We have allowed them to get us into the large meadow so we can spring a surprise trap on them, and catch them here. We have some mines and another major surprise squirreled away for a rainy day.

[Abe Sargent]

October 30, 3066 – At a pirate point two days away, one of three naval forces of ours arrives. We also jump into both jump points:

Nadir Jump Point – Kerensky’s Blues, Fredasa with its escort and a small flotilla of assets secures this place, just in case our Intel was wrong. It wasn;t.

Pirate Point – Swift Justice Aegis WarShip with a full flotilla of military DropShips arrives, and begins o move to the planet, where it will arrive in two days time.

Zenith Jump Point – Brest, Fox WarShip with its escort

We were informed that the enemy was waiting at the Zenith spot with JumpShips ready to go, and charged, and no one else was there. We jumped in hot and ready to go. Can we hit them before they see us and Jump out? They aren’t going to surrender, they’ll just jump out of the system and abandon the unit on Arboris.

The reason we are launching the Fox here is because it has the best combination of speed and weapons for JumpShips. It has a lot of non-capital weaponry to use against an Invader’s weak hull. JumpShips have capital armor, but the invader doesn’t have much. Naval class weaponry is going to tear through it like butter. Because we have a standing order to capture as many DropShips, JumpShips and WarShips as possible, taking the JumpShip is deemed more important than losing it to battle damage.

The Fox leaps in, and it is around 3 minutes from the closest of the four JumpShip, so it moves its engines at it. While unleashing it’s escorts at the others…

One minute….

Two…

It jumps out. It is the first to do so.

Three minutes….

Four…- another one, the furthest away, jumps out….


Five….

Our Fox reaches the second JumpShip (by distance), and the second to last one here. We attack it with our large pulse lasers and carve off its armor. It fires two large lasers at us. Okay.

The next two turns, we slash it again, and go internal on the front, and then more. We are too close now for it to jump, it would die. So it signals its surrender.

We have captured their JumpShip.

Meanwhile, the other JumpShip leaped away as well.

We now have the…

Field of Duty, Invader JumpShip – Available 1 December, 3066

[Abe Sargent]

Now that they see that they have a two day window before forces arrive on planet, the Panzer Brigade begins to shift their idea. Do they want to kill us quickly in the meadow and then face the landing forces? Their JumpShips just left or were captured. They have no easy way off. Do they want to retreat and set up defenses?

They decide to push heavily. It’s what we suspected they would do…

All though the day and night they push harder. We have our fighters do a couple of bombing runs, and one is destroyed leaving us 5 fighters. They hit some mines we set up, and some ambushes we have laying for them, all designed to slow their advance.

Meanwhile, a company of green mechs from the Avengers has arrived on the west flank into the large Savannah. They are trying to flank our foe, and they have to break away and deal with the militia. A few minor weapons exchanges are held. Nothing elsewhere.

[Abe Sargent]

October 31, 3066, Near the end of the day, they have pushed our troops near the center, where our tanks are as well. They have our salvaged Spider against us.

Our forces will arrive in 15 hours. They are about an hour away from our center of the area. It’s time to pull out the final surprise.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The rifle of artillery from an area to their rear cracks into them. They were pushing so quickly the last 36 hours that they passed by many of our traps. They also went right past the quartet of mobile Long Tom artillery we had. They are miles away, and the artillery, to their rear, is something they can have. They are forced to pull back, and we damaged a lot of mechs and carved off armor while pulling that trick. Our Long Tom is guarded by a few squadrons of local infantry, with SRMs, as well as four nasty close range tanks from our personal stash – Demolisher, Ontos, Brutus, and SRM Carrier. It will be tough for them to take it out, with the SRM Carrier hidden and reach to launch its surprise. This forces them to pull back somewhat.

[Abe Sargent]

With our flanking company of mechs, two companies of mechs in the middle the rear, they are forced to break up their formation. They send one companies of mechs to the rear to secure that. One company’s after the green locals, and the other mechs come after us.

Quick mech math:

They began with…71 mechs

They salvaged and are using our Spider – 72 mechs

We defeated 11 of their mechs with Cinq company – 61 mechs

They salvaged four, and of those, one is fully repaired – 62 mechs

We legged and damaged mechs with the Brutus tanks, with Cinq Company, with the bombing runs, and more. They were unable to refit five mechs. The rest are all back to normal – 57 mechs

They send a company after the Avengers – 45 mechs

They second a company to their rear – 33 mechs



They are bringing 33 mechs against our 24. That’s good match for them, but they don’t realize we have a full tank company here, that puts us at 36 units to their 33. Plus that buzzing I hear overhead shows that the local fighters have arrived ,and we help to keep their 24 mechs from rejoining their forces. We order them to support the south flank.

We consider what would happen if we showed them our tanks now, in order to slow them down. Or if we want the surprise on the field tricks. We decide to pull a few tanks out to slow them down. Our long range stuff, like the Hunter Support Tank and a Partisan pull out to help us. I prefer to not let the get ahead, and then pull out the tank surprise, because we might lose early on.

8 of our 12 tanks pull put, and we only keep our hidden – Saladin, Maxim Hovertank, 2 Strikers (which are pretty weak tanks) so might as well keep them for a surprise. They have an SRM6 and sx SRM4s in the turret.

Our nastiest tank is the PPC Carrier, but we have better mechs for them to focus on for now.


As expected, about 15 -20 minute away they slow down and do some odds again, and recalculate their battle plan.


Our fighters have joined the battle to the south flank, and they are losing it. The SRM Carrier just broke a mech before being taken down. The infantry and nasty tanks savaged them, and the fighter support has arisen to knocked down some mechs. They are surrounded and desperate. They manage to destroy a Long Tom but the company is forced to flee with the aerospace support smashing them. Five of their mechs are dead, and two more are missing arms.

It won’t take long before the artillery is coming in again. And now, with a larger force in front than they expected, they are hesitating.


That always will cause you to lose in the battlefield. The daughter of the leader begins ordering the force, as their leader pauses again and again. They are tired form chasing us alkl night and haven’t sloet for two days. She has them mobilize and retreat. Our forces are just a few hours from the planet this battle is too close now, and they can’t get destroyed today, so she ordered a fighting retreat before battle is joined. Their force with the green mechs pulls out too.

We spent so much time digging in and that we don’t have a lot to chase them down with. We send out Brawler company, but our pursuit is obviously more of a token resistance tot keep them honest than anything else

[Abe Sargent]

November 1, 3066 – A few hours later, our forces land. We didn’t bring a lot of DropShips, so our foes probably thought we didn’t have a lot to bring. But out of the Excalibur, Overlord, and Colossus come a battalion of tanks, and almost a regiment of mechs.

We also have our WarShip now in orbit, preventing anyone from coming out. The Fredasa is three days out. The Aegis Swift Justice is extremely slow, so it’s easier to flee from it. But Kerensky’s Justice is here and it will keep them from fleeing overly much.

We have sent out 36 fighters from our various forces to hit our foes. We give the local fighters a break.

Our three DropShips landed in a triangle around their temporary base camp, that they are just making it to, right now, and we unload just 20 miles away from them on each flank. We are secure in our LZs, because we have 36 fighters above, and they can’t force themselves into weapons range of something like an Excalibur DropShip in order to attack out mechs as they unload. They moved their DropShips to the local camp, which gives them some power to prevent an attack. If we just attacked their camp with our fighters, we’d win, but lose about half. We want to coordinate attacks.

[Abe Sargent]

November 2, 3066 – Our forces have unloaded, we have joined the local battalion of tanks. We have Epsilon Regiment here on the ground from Nanking, arguably our best Regiment, loaded with clan and upgraded meches. We have a group of 6 squads of infantry from Nanking, and 6 more locals. We also have Brawler and Defender Companies ready to hit them. 41 fighters are ready to smash, we have 2 battalions of our tanks, including 3rd battalion from Nanking.

We also have a WarShip in the sky to prevent any attempts to escape, and another two days away. And they have nowhere to escape to.


They have fixed two more mechs, and have 59 mechs defending. They also have their 12 DropShips, many of which have weapons on them. They also have mined the area heavily as well.

Against that?

132 mechs
41 fighters
12 squads of infantry
63 tanks


I think we’ll win.

At this point, this poorly off, they radio their surrender, if we’ll let them walk away, they’ll let us take some of their ‘mechs. We tell them we’ll let them walk, no question. But we get all of their mechs and DropShips. Then we will personally return them to Pleione, or anywhere else they want to go within reason, and release them there. We’ve done that before with other groups we faced, and you can see that we don’t lie about that.

They talk it over for five minutes….

They make some counter-offers, but we refuse.

“You invaded us. Twice. You don’t get off with a warning and a wrist slap. Today, November 2, 3066, history will show that Little Richard’s Panzer Brigade was destroyed. The only question is whether or not you will survive it.”

They decide to take their chances. They face off.


(Considering the huge numerical advantage we have from every angle, I don’t want to bother wasting my personal time on this battle. So let’s just toss some dice)

[Abe Sargent]

We keep our infantry back for taking their DropShips later on. We use fighters to strafe the minefields and clear them out. A few mines survive here and there, but not enough to really cause us any problems. Long range tanks, like Hunters and Shrek PPCs and this odd AC2 Carrier we have set up firing lanes and we move our mechs in, under the cover of fighters.

As their mechs focus on our mechs, their DropShips do to. We wait two turns of their combined fire, and then use our fighters to pull out and launch attacks at their two Leopard CVs ,which are among the more powerful arrays of weapons faced against us. Our fighters do some overkill and destroy both Leopard CV entirely, but not before we lose a trio of fighters.

Seeing the dangers, they begin to use DropShips on the fighters, and we get those weapons off our local mech forces. On the three attacking flanks we are pushing forward quickly, and regularly ejecting mechs that start to get close to no return, in order to prevent too many losses. We already lost Cinq company to these dorks, and I don’t want to push too much more.

Our foes are losing, we disable the Seeker DropShip. Mechs disable the Intruder.

Our Fighters are carving into more and more armor on a pair of Leopards.

They are getting pushed hard. They have just 30 mechs left. Now 24. Now 20. Their leader orders a scorched earth response, and they spin and start attacking creates of ammo and salvage and such. We go overheat to lay into them as quickly as possible. They actually destroy one of their own Leopards. Annoying. We accidentally destroy a Gazelle DropShip, but we shut down two wounded Leopard.

Meanwhile we have dropped them to 12 mechs, the 10. Their mechs are finished, and we have taken care of an Overlord.

We order their remaining DropShips to surrender. After a few minutes, they do, except for a Union, which chose to explode, killing three nearby mechs.

They end the battle.


We lose 27 mechs and 11 fighters and 13 tanks. (That number does not include mechs that ejected).

[Abe Sargent]

Now, we can salvage many of our mechs. It looks like 16 are fixable – most are XL engine shut downs (it’s nice to live in the area of that being a benefit) We lost 5 pilots, all five to head shots that are replaceable. We can salvage 4 fighters and 5 tanks.

We also captured their own salvage in their Mule DropShip and among their battlefield so we have retaken their salvaged Buccaneer, Axman and Zeus from Cinq company (we destroyed the salvaged Spider though).

Of their dead 59 mechs, we salvaged 26. Then add in the 8 mechs we took down of theirs, that they recovered and were missing limbs and such.

So we walk away with 34 mechs. Now we need to replace 9 mechs in Cinq Company, plus our 11 from today. 18 replacements for the 34 captured, and we’ll use those salvaged mechs exclusively and keep the other 16 mechs for our garrison normally, but we swap 16 to the Avengers, just to make things earlier on the math.

Now we also got a ton of limbs and such. Killing mechs with ammo explosions (with no CASE) and destroying CTs are pretty much the only way you can kill a mech without salvage. So the 9 mechs we lost from Cinq company, plus the 11 we lost there, plus the 23 we killed is 43 parts out there. Explosions don’t usually leave a lot, but a dead DCT could.

Now add in all of the armor laying around and more. The salvage here from this battle will take months to collect and such. Over the next year we will spend 818 million to restore nine random mechs that we have all of the parts for, save for the CT (In these cases, I only need to place the engine, gyro, any other weapons/equipment there and internal structure and armor.) To make things easy, we’ll add those 9 mechs to the Avengers, and sell the parts, armor, and weapons.

We pay for all of this lost armor, ammo, weapons, and tech costs with the Coalition (who pays for our costs in cases like this, but not to replace fallen units).

[Abe Sargent]

Our sales will repair for the next set of assets we took:

DropShips:

We took these ships:

2 Overlords
2 Unions
3 Leopards
1 Seeker
1 Intruder
1 Mule

The others were destroyed too much to do anything.

We sell the Leopards to make some cash for 425 million CBills.

We use the sales to fix the damaged DropShips that didn’t surrender. They’ll be ready January 31, 3067

A Seeker, the obsolete version, carries 48 vees and 4 mechs or 64 vehicles. It also carries 4 platoons of infantry. Because it just carries tanks and infantry usually, it’s not really a major upgrade for our touman. Now it is designed as a fast reconnaissance craft, and its’ pacey, 5/8 movement, I’ll grant it that. It has slightly less armor than a Leopard or LCV and a lot less than a Union. It also features a handful of weapons. But again, it doesn’t really meet many of our needs.

Now the Intruder? It’s a raiding, recon, assault-y sort of DropShip. It’s got solid armor, strong weapons, and can carry a flight of fighter (s) and 4 squads of infantry. We like it. We have an upgraded one in our T&OE already, and this is weaker, but still has some value to us.

But the Seeker? We’re not sure that what we need is yet another tank carrier. Perhaps we could swap it in for a Gazelle? Although, to be fair, we have been adding more tanks to our roster, so let’s not get too hasty. We’ll keep it.

[Abe Sargent]

November 6, 3066 – Our naval forces jump back to Nanking,

November 8, 3066 – We receive a communiqué from the Capellan Confederation letting us know that the unit that attacked us was acting on its own, and their holdings on Pleione have been seized and taken. They apologize to us for any complications that arose from the incident. A sufficiently worded generic apology. I don’t think the CC used this as a secret way to attack us. Genoa and Arboris are both pleased with our rule, pro-Lioan sentiment has died down massively, and the Coordinator himself promised he would back off Genoa for us. (Back in Chapter 7) Why bother us now? Moreover, why push our alliance? I just don’t see it.

November 10, 3066 – We turn the captured warriors over to Arboris and Genoa for trial. They didn’t commit war crimes – they didn’t attack civil stuff or anything, so they aren’t in major trouble, but we don’t want to run and free them so they can get revenge or form a unit that just attacked us twice. We’ll likely incarcerate them on military prisons, but we leave that up to the local governments, Those captured on Genoa go there, and the others on Arboris will head there,

November 26, 3066 – We have finished the basic stuff on Arboris, and Epsilon Regiment heads out, along with our second vehicle battalion to re-garrison Nanking.


End of the Second Arboris Campaign

[Abe Sargent]

The Civil War in 3066 –



Victor captures Tikonov and begins to march to New Avalon to unseat Katrina.

In later 3066, While Freedom is captured by the Free Skye movement, Hesperus II is not, which really ends the rebellion. They had to take the industrial world of Hesperus II.


As 3066 ends, there are two major thrusts left in the Civil War. In the Lyran Alliance, Morgan Kell is leading a huge alliance force against Regent Nondi Steiner, and driving to the capital of Tharkad. Meanwhile, Victor is doing the same against New Avalon in the Federated Commonwealth.

[Abe Sargent]

December 31, 3066 -

Essex Training Academy


We have 24 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 27 enrollees for next year. All are staying in the Coalition. We also have 10 graduates of vehicle crews, all regular. We hand them vehicles and move them to our garrison or out to local Coalition worlds. 9 enroll for next year, and 11 infantry squads are now being trained as well. 10 infantry squads are completed, the Aerotech wing has its grads – 7 total. 7 more enroll for the 1st year.

We create an Academy Battalion for the senior class, and its 26 folks.


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

Armor – 9

Aerospace, Year 2 - 9
Aerospace, Year 1 - 7

Infantry, Year 2 - 9
Infantry, Year 1 - 11

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

[Abe Sargent]

3067


January 2, 3067 – As the Civil War winds down, the large number of pirates and raiders in FedCom space that were taking advantage of their weaknesses and lack of attention are now moving to other targets, and we have news of one such raid next door in Ruchbah. We split off the Fredesa WarShip and the Essex-class Dark Claw to create two roving, quick response units that jump from system to system, just checking to make sure everything is okay, with special attention on border worlds and ones with large amounts of targets, such as Acamar, or vulnerable ones, like Asmodeus.





January 3, 3067 – After three years of investigation, our team on Carver IV’s moon, has found that the old shipyards here are salvageable. It will require about 10 billion CBills, 8 years at least, but we could salvage and build a new set of shipyards there that would be suitable to building DropShips and JumpShips, and give us a full blown repair facility.

That would be a huge boon to the Coalition, but we are not sure about the money outlay. We just don’t have that kind of money, and Blake’s not immediately interested. We would need to borrow or find another way to finance it.

So instead, what we do is send that information out every major or minor military company in the Inner Sphere and ask for bids. What we’d like to do is discuss plans to co-build or co-own and develop the facility, and share costs in it.

[Abe Sargent]

January 16, 3067 - We get back multiple bids. We narrow it down to companies that already operate a shipyards and build DropShips and/or JumpShips already, and from there, go to our top three bids:

1. Kallon Industries. They have two Shipyards in the Free Worlds League and Federated Suns where they make the Vengeance DropShip fighter carrier for both, and the Kuan Ti DropShip for Marik as well. They submitted a bid to make this their 3rd shipyard.
2. Earthwerks Inc. This is one of the biggest military factories in the Inner Sphere, with huge numbers of companies in the Confederation, League, and Tikonov. The only place they have a large Shipyard is in Ares, where they make Kuan Ti, Overlord, Overlord A3, Union all for the Capellan Confederation. They’d love to open up and expand their DropShip making capabilities
3. O’Neil ShipYards. This company just makes DropShips in the Terra system, and they make Achilles assault DropShip, and two designs that Word of Blake created. They also make a JumpShip. So they have both experiences


Each has something nice going for it:

Kallon – We have a good working relationship with Kallon on Nanking, so we know we have a good connection already. They also have two facilities already, but they just make two DropShip types, so that’s not a lot of versatility in their network already.

O’Neil – They make JumpShips and DropShips, which is nice if we want a company with both sets of experience. They have never had a factory off Terra.

Earthwerks – They have just one Shipyards, but you have a lot of high quality ships in the TOE. We can’t get the Kuani Ti, which is a Marik/Liao specialty, but Overlord, Union, Overlord A3 – those would all be good choices for us.

We also get different details in the offers…



We decide to go with Earthworks Incorporated, founded on Tikonov, and then spread out to the Confederation and Marik. They are a huge multinational company, and have that experience. They have had factories in House Marik, Liao, Steiner and Davion. They get the dance. Earthwerks proposes to cut the cost 50/50.

We meet with them and hash out the final details.

The Liberty Shipyards and Factory should open up in 3075.

[Abe Sargent]

February 3, 3067 – As various naval assets come available, we will split our navy and send half to Errai to garrison it.


February 17, 3067 – A group of raiders hit Hall. They don’t get much, and the Kerensky’s Blues arrives shortly after, but they were able to escape ahead of it with about a 10 hour window before it reached their pirate point. Hopefully the close call will keep other pirates from hitting us. Due to our small state, we can respond quickly, and from one side to the other is just two jumps.


March 3, 3067 – Tikonov is captured by Capellan forces left behind and declared a protectorate of the Capellan Confederation. Duke Hasek sends in a huge navy to begin to blockade Tikonov.

[Abe Sargent]

March 19, 3067 – Reports show that HartfordCo is salvageable. We begun those operations, and the company has ceased to exist more than a century ago, so we are turning this company over to Kressly. The company made Cicada mechs and Von Luckner tanks. We expect the salvage to take around 6 months, and then another 7-8 months to get everything ready, and then we should add Cicada’s and Von Luckners to our industrial might.

James Roderick Essex is heading to Bryant. He will be taking over the new Kressly Warworks company here in the old HartfordCo Industries. The Von Luckner tank was only made here, and they have not been made since it was destroyed. Meanwhile, the Cicada is made lots of places, but we can certainly add it to Kressly’s roster. Adding the Von Luckner and Cicada here on another planet will be a huge boon.

[Abe Sargent]

March 22, 3067 - There's another large terrorist bombing on Nanking. This time around 33 people are killed when a bus is targeted.

[Abe Sargent]

March 25, 3067 – We get news that the first Defender Medium Strike Fighters should be rolling off the lines of Kressly factory in the Goushen Highlands March 15, 3068. We will be making around 50 a year, so we can churn them out quickly and cheaply. A quick little Defender will cost just 297,394 C Bills. We can spit them out, and then send 12 to each planet to help bolster local defenses. That’ll run around 3.5 mill cbills, or roughly the same price as one Ironsides aerospace fighter (which clocks in at 3.687 million Cbills)

[Abe Sargent]

April 2, 3067 – General Nondi Steiner is killed in combat

April 5, 3067 – Fighting has ended on Tharkad

April 20, 3067 – Archon Katrina surrenders to Victor on New Avalon.

Victor appoints his sister, Yvonne, to be Regent of the Federated Commonwealth again and his other brother, Peter, as Archon of the Lyran Alliance.

The Free Sky Rebellion is ended quickly.

[Abe Sargent]

May 1, 3067 – It took a little longer to get them ready that we expected, but the first Rievers are rolling off the line for Brooks, Inc over at Libery. This gives us that needed third line to help fill those fighter slots in our ranks.

[Abe Sargent]

May 13, 3067 - We extended contracts for the 48th, the Furies, Lindon's Battalion, Kraken Unleashed, and Narhal’s Raiders.

We rotated Larsen's Company to Arboris to replace the destroyed Cinq Company.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, let's get ready to call this thang!

[Abe Sargent]

Begin Abe’s Light Jihad Rant


Ah yes. The Jihad.

No matter what I may feel, the Jihad is a part of the universe. I can’t just pitch it.

In fact, we know that it is. The people in charge of the universe, book authors, video games, sourcebooks, and more got together biannually and planned the major plots for the next part of the battletech universe. After they did the split between ComStar and Word of Blake, they knew there would be a battle between them later on

That was planned. What that looked like was not planed in the beginning. (According to forum posts, intros to books, etc).

They began to work, years ahead of schedule, on the beginning of what the jihad would look like, and it was large. Both ComStar and Blake were building, and ready to smash into each other across a variety of fronts. The Civil War beginning and then….it happened.

FASA shut down. The company that made this stuff was done. A few months before, the founder of FASA and co-creator of the BattleTech line, Jordan Weissman has founded WizKids Games. He goes ahead and purchases various licenses from FASA, including BattleTech. He uses this to create a spin-off of his hugely successful Mage Knight game using the same clix mechanics, called Mechwarrior: Dark Age.

In order to reboot the franchise a bit, he sets it in the 3130 era, and in a Dark Age that is subsequent to a massive Inner Sphere cleansing event called the Jihad. He created a new storyline, and that involved certain groups that survived the Jihad, included a new, never-before-heard-of-state called the Republic of the Sphere.

I can’t fault Weissman. He took an IP he helped to create, and kept it alive by marrying it to the collectible miniature market. Then another company came in and wanted to keep making BattleTech books – FanPro in Germany (BattleTech had always been hugely popular in Germany, there were German-only novels, magazines, and sourcebooks).

Less than two years after the shutdown of FASA’s Battletech line, the next books were rolling off the presses while multiple MechWarrior: DA sets had been released, and they had published a history of the Republic of the Sphere, the jihad and the Dark Age. I read it. It was crazy detailed, and seeing what happened to the universe. Nasty stuff. It didn’t feel right.

Then FanPro began working on the first Jihad sourcebook (Dawn of the Jihad). In many ways, their hands were tied. Even though the people in charge had been in charge at FASA, they felt that the highly detailed universe in 3130 required that they make changes to the Jihad story they wanted to tell. Unable to use novels, and requiring way too much fact-checking (both forward to WizKids and backward to FASA), the book took forever to finish, and was even submitted to WizKids for approval, just to make sure it didn’t conflict with any anticipated story lines they were preparing.

Without any novels, and without the ability to fully explore the story as anticipated, they instead decided to create a different way to write the sourcebook. It’s just a collection of documents, news articles, press releases, and such. They even pointed out that most people in their campaigns would deviate from the storyline anyway, so they provided a variety of detail that was, in some places, intentionally contradictory. That is what they wanted. You could take whatever facts were happening, and hang your hat on them, and flesh them out however you wanted.


In fact, they did this with a ton of sourcebooks that introduced conspiracies that would make the illuminati look like a birthday party and convoluted plotlines that would inspire a year of stories on General Hospital. And again, you don‘t have to use any of it if you don’t want to.

So, the result is a muddied set of sourcebooks, with a bunch of ideas of what might have happened, and none of it really matching the sort of things that were previously envisioned. Feh.

And thus, the Jihad has never felt right to me. There are a few reasons for this to me:

1). I still remember reading that long history to catch people up on the WizKids website, and the more I read, the more it just felt like they went, way, too far.
2). People begin to act like caricatures of themselves (especially the clans) right around this time, and do it with the Wars of Reaving in some places as well.
3). The level of devastation for the Inner Sphere discussed in general, summative terms, doesn’t match what happened in the sourcebooks.

A. Perfect example, use of biological weapons to destroy planets. Want to know how many are mentioned as destroyed by the Word of Blake in the7 sourcebooks? FIVE. That’s not that big of a deal in a universe with more than 2000 planets. Odessa, Alarion, Talon/Menke, etc. Not a lot here folks.
B. In fact, many of the diseases that broke out during the jihad were nowhere near Blake control (Galedon). Orbital Bombardment is used again as a weapon by most states, and almost all of them use it tactically (like we did) to focus fire on a certain, hugely defended position or strategic targets. Only a handful of cases (almost always done by the clans) were exceptions to this.
C. Nukes were a part of the problem right? Except, they are used, by far, in two ways – tactical nukes against defenses that requires something to unplug them and against WarShips in space, where fallout won’t be an issue. That’s it. They aren’t used on battlefields. Again, nothing we haven’t seen, done, and justified ourselves.
D. By the end of the jihad, very few worlds have reach the point of no return due to the quadfecta of WMDs: Orbital bombardment, chemical weapons, biological weapons, and nuclear weapons. Very few planets are off the map post-jihad. In fact, all of the worlds that are destroyed by Clan Raven, Blake, or Inner Sphere are…

Radstadt – Ghost Bear
Vantaa – Wolf
Alarion – Lyran Alliance
Galedon – Draconis Combine
An Ting – Draconis Combine
Galax – Federated Suns
Aea - Taurian Concordat
Circinus – Circinus Federation
Necromo – Capellan Confederation
Buenos Aires – Capellan Confederation
Lopez – Duchy of Andurien (Former Free Worlds League)
Gibson – Former Free Worlds League
Poulsbo - Former Free Worlds League
Diamantina - Former Free Worlds League
Paradise - Former Free Worlds League

And there’s your sphere-raising changes. 5 of those were by the Principality of Regulus hunting down Blake, and one by Clan Snow Raven. Aea was destroyed by pirates not related to Word of Blake. The clans themselves depopulated Vantaa in battle. So Word of Blake was responsible for Galax, Necromo, Lopez, Aires, and An Ting, and trying to destroy Odessa (cures were later found). They intentionally targeted systems that supported shipyards and could repair or build WarShips.

E. In fact, many places are never invaded by Word of Blake. Quick guess looking at the map? Around two-thirds are in areas never really under the attack of Blake. At its height, the Blake held 146 worlds. By comparison, the Federated Suns is more than 500 worlds. It’s still roughly 100 fewer than the Capellan Confederation has. Most of the battles that were fought were by pirates, clans, internal forces, or external aggression, and despite all of that, roughly half seems to be never bothered by any of that.

That’s not much of a Sphere cleansing event, now is it?

Not a fan of the jihad.

[Abe Sargent]

Which Ending Do You Want to See to This Dynasty?

I think there are 6 legitimate endings to this dynasty that make sense for what has happened, and take care of that Jihad thing as well. You can choose your own, in order to fit the story you like the best.

1). The planned ending. Braham Essex, in the 4th Whitting Conference of the Star League, keeps it from disbanding, and then is elected the next Star Lord of the League for 3 years, and uses that time to begin an area of peace for the Star League II. A Golden Age descends on the Inner Sphere, and war, becoming increasingly less common, begins to step aside. I have written this up, and will be writing it soon.


2). The Nightmare and the Dream. On the way to the 4th, Duke Essex is assassinated by unknown parties, and Duke Abraham, of Epsilon Indi, second in command of the CC, votes as Essex wanted, but is not enough of a personality to keep things from falling apart. As the Jihad begins, the Word of Blake begins to step into the power gap, as no one in the Coalition has the charisma to keep things together, and soon, some planets fall away – Nanking and Errai back to the FedCom, Zurich to Capella, and most to Blake’s warm, and secure and welcoming grip, in a newly formed Blake Protectorate. After two years, the Coalition is down to just four worlds – Epsilon Eridani, Indi, Capolla, and Terra Firma, and soon thereafter, will cease to exist by the end of 3070. Meanwhile, CO Matthew Humphries takes 4 regiments of the K&C mercs, including some tanks and many naval assets on a contract with the Duchy of Andurien. There’s no need to protect the CC and EE anymore, as those worlds are falling. They arrive in the disintegrating League, and become a force of peace. They are a key component in the expansion, often peacefully, of nearby worlds under the Andurien envelope, and Humphries becomes a key player in the anti-Blake movement. After two failed assassination attempts, and the loss of EE to Blake in 3070, K&C makes Andurien its new and permanent home. After a few more years of fighting against Blake in the FWL, Humphries is chosen by Devlin Stone to lead the Free Worlds campaign against the Word of Blake, and his attacks are quick and strong, taking multiple worlds from the Protectorate with his pan-Sphere coalition that includes clanners, spheres, and more. He takes more worlds more quickly than any other front, save for the Davion one. He leads the battle to and into Terra, and is one of the major generals on Terra’s liberation, and then returns to the FWL as one of the true heroes of the day, and helps the Principality of Regulus cleanse the Blake stain from existence, as they kill the Master and Precentor Apollyon on Gibson.


3). An aborted Jihad. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th, and the Word of Blake begins its nasty Jihad across known space. Meanwhile, Duke Essex connects Admiral Randal Lewis with Precentor Martial Victor of ComStar, and convinces him to delay the Case White assault against Terra pending a lot more information and WarShips. He introduces Victor to Admiral Lewis, who is named Precentor Naval of Comstar, and plans the battle. Although the battle is delayed for months by uniting the various powers to create a naval flotilla unheard of since the Amaris days, the naval action is massively successful, and Precentor Naval Lewis wins the attack on Terra about a 11 months into the Jihad, and the Jihad ends quickly afterwards. The remaining forces in the League are easily taken care of.


4). A new invasion. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th, and the Word of Blake begins its nasty Jihad across known space. Meanwhile the clans find out, and newly elected ilKhan Brett Andrews, of Steel Viper, officially has the Great Refusal overturned, and uses a new invasion as a way to unite the quickly splintering clans. After the nuclear bomb attack on Clan Wolf’s capital of Tamar, and destroying much of their Blood Legacy, the Invasion corridors are assigned across the Inner Sphere, with Fire Mandrill and Goliath Scorpion attacking the Confederation, Steel Viper and Star Adder the Free Worlds League, Cloud Cobra, Ice Hellion and Blood Spirit the Federated Suns, and so forth. This invasion is precipitated by Word Of Blake, and the ending of the Star League II. The Clan Invasion ends the Jihad because Word of Blake forces in the far and near periphery are annihilated, and the new Invasion specifically names Blake as the target of a Trial of Annihilation. Now seen as the liberators of the Inner sphere, relations between clan and sphere because very muddled…


5). Blood from the Stone. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th, and the Word of Blake begins its nasty Jihad across known space. Having created and built a powerful relationship with the Celestial Coalition at their own door, the Word of Blake initiates Operation: Starfall. This planned operation immediately assassinates Chief Ingrid Foster of the Apollo Office, and Admiral Randal Lewis. The Coalition is immediately placed in a new Word of Blake Protectorate as numerous worlds and militaries are suborned. Having already sent their people to wait, Blake agents capture all of their WarShips. Word of Blake forces at the HPG stations emerge and take the worlds quickly and easily. Within 6 weeks, the Celestial Coalition has fallen. Braham Essex is arrested, and sent to Kittery, at a re-education camp. He will be at that camp for a few years, until, in early 3071, having changed his name to Devlin Stone, he leads an insurrection at Kittery, and things
progress from there…


6). Blake and Essex, friends to the end. After trying, and failing, to get the Star League to survive, the League ends at the 4th.,Refusing to give in, the Celestial Coalition and Word of Blake officially meld together to create the New Terra Hegemony. Newly crowned Director-General Essex announces, “If the Star League can’t live again, then the Hegemony at least will!” They coordinate strikes against former worlds in the Federated Suns, Lyran Alliance and Draconis Combine, and begin a lesser, tamer, Jihad, to reclaim that glory. Moving the capital to Terra, Director-General Essex and the former Word of Blake militia strike hard at local worlds to bring in planets like Hesperus II, Fomalhaut, Quentin, and more. Still allied with the CC and FWL, the Terran Hegemony continues the trend began by its forebears and by Blake – to trade advanced technology, including military, for political gain. After forming a new Hegemony and succeeding in the “Jihad”, and becoming a modern-day Cameron in the eyes of many, will a 3rd, and permanent Star League arrive?

[Abe Sargent]

FOURTH WHITTING CONFERENCE - 3067


Welcome to Tharkad


A few months ago, supporters of Victor and Katrina were at each other’s necks, until their nations were severely damaged. Here on Tharkad, the battle was extremely tough as Morgan Kell led a coalition against General and Regent Nondi Steiner.

On the agenda for this Whitting Conference is the election of three new members – The Taurian Concordat, Magistracy of Canopus, and Word of Blake.

The earliest feel in the air is a bit salty with a bit of a bite from the various attendees across the Inner Sphere. Isis Liao-Marik is here representing her husband.


First Lord Christian Mansdottir calls the league to order, and the three new potential states give various presentations, and are voted into the Star League which requires just a minimum.

After that forced old business, the floor is open for new business. Isis speaks up and says that the Capellan Confederation wants to pull out of the Star League – it is a sham that has outlived its usefulness.

After speaking, both Yvonne and Peter Steiner-Davion mention that the resource investment in the Star League is no longer worth the effort in their rebuilding programs. Plus, the Star League was designed to end the Clan Invasion. Since it did that, it’s time has gone.


Frustrated, First Lord Christian Mansdottir calls for a vote of no confidence. If it fails to pass, the Star League is disassembled and those three states are free. Otherwise they remain in the League.

Duke Essex rises to speak.

“I would like to postpone this vote pending a recess for some research and conversation.”

It just needs a 50% vote and it passes easily.

Essex grabs Connor Ward for a quick conversation to discuss clans in detail. He then hits up some research with Clan Wolf-in-Exile and Nova Cat representatives in the area.

Then he heads to a room where the supporters of the Star League are gathered planning their strategy. It’s an odd group. ComStar and Word of Blake, Rasalhague and the Combine, Marik and the Concordat. Where’s the Magistracy? They have been convinced by Su n-Tzu to pull out just after being added in? He must have offered them something special.

Duke Essex presents his points and convinces the room of the correctness of continuing the Star League.

Based on this info, it seems like the Lyrans are the ones most likely to be savaged by the loss of the Star League. Essex asks, “Can I convince Peter to change his mind? How much does he fear and respect the clans?”

Without Peter switching his vote, we don’t have the requires 2/3rds vote.

Braham tells the pro-side that he’ll grab Peter and talk it over.

Braham grabs Peter Steiner-Davion.

“I understand why you want to pull out. I understand why you want the Star League to end, so you can focus on rebuilding. But here’s the thing.

When a clan has won a Trial, if the clan has been destroyed or annihilated, the Trial is no longer in effect. If we destroy the Star League here today, then Trial of Refusal won on Strana Mechty is no longer in effect, and the Clan Invasion is no longer bound by it. Instead, they are just bound by the parameters of the Tukkayid Truce, not to invade for 15 years after that battle. That truce ended a few months ago. The clans can come back to the Inner Sphere, in full force, driving through your area again, in months.

Peter, your state had rarely been lower. You were devastated by the Civil War. You were savaged by a renewed Jade Falcon incursion that you barely held off. Can you survive a full-fledged invasion by the clans again? When clans who have not lost badly to the Inner Sphere rotate in and attack, can you hold off Cloud Cobra? Can you hold off Ice Hellion? Star Adder? Steel Viper? “

“I hear you, but even if you were right, and the clans could reattack, we don’t know if they want to. If they can. If they would do so in the next few months or year. If they would attack along the same lines as the previous group. And if they did, we have learned a lot and advanced a lot. We could hold the line.”


“Peter, Sun-Tzu, Yvonne, and Emma aren’t risking much on this. You are risking everything. Can you be so sure to place your vote here? Are you willing to risk planets and people on that?”

“I am.”

“Very well then.”

[Abe Sargent]

Duke Essex returns to the room. The vote on Peter was not going to happen. He begins to thumb through the constitution a bit.

Let’s do some math:

Likely Votes against the Star League:

Emma
Isis
Peter
Yvonne


Likely Votes in Favor:

Blake
Comstar
Essex
Marik
Kurita
Taurian
Rasalhague

You need a 2/3rds vote to pass.

7/11 is not it. You need 8/11 or 8/12.


Hmmm….


“Did you know that while it requires a 3/4s vote to suspend the Constitution for a vote, it only requires a 50% to suspend the League Council Rules?”


Some of the people ask what Essex is thinking.

“Well, do we have a local ambassador on Tharkad from the Outworlds Alliance?”


“We can vote to add the Outworlds Alliance into the Star League. That’s a normal vote that requires a majority vote. However, remember that I was the first state to get into the Star League after the original formation, and that was not anticipated in the initial Constitution, so we added a rule that required everyone to wait three years until the next Conference to make it in. We can simply suspend that rule with a 50% vote, instead of the required 3/4’s.

Here’s what we do. Table the No-Confidence vote. Vote to add in the Alliance. We just need a majority to do so. Then we vote to suspend the rules and bring the Alliance into the League right now, today. We need a majority for that too. Then we vote, and we win the no-confidence vote 8/12, assuming the Alliance votes yes.

That way, we win the No-Confidence vote by adding the Alliance. If you weren’t interested in the Alliance, we could go with Clan Ghost Bear or something. But the Alliance seems the logical step after bringing in the other two major Periphery realms."



After a quick check with legal teams that verified everything, the Ambassador was called in and arrived a few hours later.

It took just 30 minutes to convince her of the need to add her realm and she was in, even though she would be unable to contact her ruler. He had asked that she present at the Conference and ask to be added to the Star League. Avellar will love this!


So we have found a parliamentary trick to get around the other folks.

[Abe Sargent]

We head back out to the Star League at the end of the second day, and we resume our deliberations. We begin as expected, Theodore Kurita votes to table the vote, and Thomas Marik seconds. Our side votes and we table the vote for now.

The Taurian Concordat votes to add in the Outworlds Alliance, and I second.

Then the ambassador for the OA is brought into the room and takes her seat. Word of Blake votes to suspend the rules that require us to wait until the next conference. Then I second. The First Lord, overseeing this all, agrees that this is legal. The Alliance is immediately added to the Council.

There are protests from some of the other nations. Their lawyers quickly agree that what we did was perfectly legal according to the Constitution of the Second Star League.

Then the Alliance’s ambassador votes to un-table the no-confidence vote. Marik seconds. The No Confidence vote is brought back. It’s clear that the nos are going to be outvoted by one. As the roll call vote begins and calls out each nation or organization and their vote, there is massive nervousness by both sides. But the resolution achieves the needed votes and passes 8-4. The 2/3rds majority is achieved.


Whew!

That was close. The Star League penalizes nations for withdrawing. They can, but doing so without giving a lot of forward notice will result in considerable economic and trade sanctions. None of the nations choose to suffer them, and frazzled by what just occurred, they withdraw their desire to leave the League for now. After all, they always can later.


The First Lord finishes with the presentation that Duke Essex provides, and shows many times in the past when Clans have won a Trial, then upon the loss of the Clan, that Trial no longer holds the Clan to its agreement. This has happened recently too. For example, Clan Hell’s Horses lost a Trial against the Jaguars long ago to prevent them from using or researching certain vehicles. After the Jaguars were destroyed, the Horses began their research immediately. There are multiple examples of that happening in the last few years as well.

The dissolution of the Star League would likely lead to another invasion. It’s purpose has not finished.



After that bit of business, there is a quick resolution.

[Abe Sargent]

On the Second to the Last day, Word of Blake takes the stage.

They mention that more than 100 years ago, a prophecy was made by ComStar about how it would regain it’s power, and usher in peace into the Inner Sphere. It discussed three transfers of power. Word of Blake has been divided by a variety of branches ever since it formed, but in the 3040s, a leader in ComStar received visions that interpreted this prophecy as three transfers of power. All three were listed in detail. The first two happened in the 3050s. But the final transfer seemed highly unlikely, and few believed this Master.


The final transfer of power was the reformation of the Star League, and the introduction of all of ComStar into it.

After the Word of Blake splintered from ComStar, how could all of it be integrated in a fictional Star League that could never be?



And then it was. And the third transfer of power was within reach!

And now the visions have completed, and the Word of Blake has rejoined the Star League, along with the original ComStar.

The third transfer has happened.

As an introduction into the new era of peace and prosperity, the Word of Blake has gifts for every member of the Star League council (Except for the Outworlds Alliance, they’ll get something for them). In every case it is something appropriate for them.

For example:

Free Worlds League – “To a nation forever proud of its freedoms, and independence from technology, we give you even greater medicine to naturally heal.” Gained lost medical technology that makes it even less likely that replacement limbs or other artificial parts will be needed for people who have been injured or sick.

Lyran Alliance – “To a nation forever proud of its industry and defiance, we give you a piece of your past, and one of the greatest WarShips ever created!” A lost Tharkad WarShip, once a banner WarShip of the might and majesty of the Lyran state from the StarLeague era is found, repaired, and brought back to the Lyran state.

Celestial Coalition – “To a nation forever searching and questing for more, we give you one of our own planets, one of the Hidden Five.” A hidden, industrialized world of Taussen, hidden in our borders, once called Versailles, was thought destroyed in the Amaris Wars (but wasn’t really) and has an operational BMech factory that has supplied ComStar and the Word for centuries. We have now gained it.

And so on and so forth, each gift reflecting the unique nature of the people it is for.

[Abe Sargent]

After that, the second to last day is done.


On the final day, voting occurs for the Star League First Lord. After finding ways to save it, Duke Essex is voted in as the new Star Lord.


As normal, he gives a final speech and chooses the home-planet used by the Star League for the 5th Whitting Conference.

[Abe Sargent]

Here are some excerpts from that speech:


“And so the only logical place for our next Conference in Terra.”


“All we have to do is look out of these windows and see the damage that we have done. Months later, Tharkad is smoldering. Two of our states have been devastated by an inner family conflict that boiled over. Where do we go from there?”


“Consider the worst we have been to ourselves. The Amaris Wars brought numerous nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons to bear. We didn’t learn our lesson and the First Succession War brought us down as we continued to do the same. Then the Second brought us even further down, and we entered a Dark Age of our time.

The Third War. The Fourth War. The Duchy of Andurien and its Fall. The Ronin wars that saw Rasalhague freed. The War of 3039. The Clan invasion. The invasion by Marik/Liao forces in 3057. The recapture of the St. Ives Compact. Operation Bulldog and Taskforce Serpent. And now the Civil War.

And we haven’t learned. Once again, we loosed the worst of ourselves in nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. I’m a warrior too. I fought in the Fall of Andurien. I fought in the Ronin Wars to secure freedom for Rasalhague. My unit was on the front lines against the Clan Invasion, was in Operation Bulldog, and fought at Huntress. Then we crafted a realm from the Chaos March often from the barrel of a gun. I get war. I understand war. Sometimes, there is a place for war.

But there is never a place for this (Essex points to the local devastation of Tharkad). There is never a place for the loss of civilian lives, cities, and more.”

“The Star League worked because it invested in its people and its infrastructure. We are doing the same with places like Bryant and Asmodeus, but we need to continue. The Star League should be about more than fighting wars with the clans. It should be about restoring peace and prosperity to everyone across the universe, whether clan, periphery, or Inner Sphere.“


“That’s why I am instituting a Aleisha Liao program to begin to push for lawful battles, beyond just the Ares Convention she fought for. Previously, First Lords have used ComStar troops to better their own realms by capturing nearby planets. Now those troops will be deployed to stop the horrors of war. To be guardians of what the league really should stand for, and the Ares convention we have so often set aside when it has become inconvenient.”


“We will also be rebuilding multiple infrastructures and creating a grant program to help rebuild. Because people like Yvonne and Peter are not wrong. There’s been too much destruction.“



“What the Civil War should demonstrate is not that we should not unite ever stronger than before. But instead give us a road map how. We’ll emphasize regional loyalties instead of pushing them aside. You can be proud to be from Skye, from Rasalhague, from Oriente, from Sarna, or from Andurien. That’s okay! We need to find ways to allow folks to wear their colors proudly!”




“For hundreds of years, we have been in an era of war. We have seen the worst of ourselves. It’s time for something else. The people are clamoring for it. Their distrust of the great houses is at an all-time high. They have seen their homes trampled and destroyed for too long. Their children killed too often. It’s time for a new age.”

[Abe Sargent]

And he did not lie. Over the next three years, the Star league grew in strength and influence considerably. War and battle was reduced. More and more nations and units flew the Star League flag, but alongside their own. Nations and people dismissed by the Great Houses embraced the new star League.

Meanwhile, programs such as increased sports competitions, like the Pan-Galactic Olympics, and many more began as a way to celebrate your home. The Star League uniform was modified to add in a bunch of medals, sashes, belts, and epaulets that represented your home planet or district. Meanwhile there are other various changes made as well.

There were set backs too. Multiple times, Star league troops had to intervene to stop nasty conflicts. There was an attempted genocide on Pesht that was particularly nasty. Some places embraced the new Star League faster than others.


As Thomas Marik took over the First Lord from Essex, the expectations were set, and Marik embraced them completely. He pushed the concepts of dignity, the Ares Convention, and infrastructure investment. There was a minor rebellion in the Isle of Skye that was put down. But the Star League became more and more of a real thing.

Meanwhile, the Ghost Bear Dominion was added into the Star league, and Clan Nova Cat were officially given a seat on the Council.

Marik died of old age in the third year of his First Lord-dom and was celebrated as a great leader across the Inner Sphere. Essex was brought back for a few months to finish his term.

Then Yvonne took the seat, and she had come into her own as Regent of the Federated Suns. Distancing herself from the shadow of her many siblings, she had forged a nicer, kinder, but also stronger person, much like her mother, Melissa.

Yvonne also pushed the Star League in greater ways. From exploration missions to continued investment in restoring the economies of worlds devastated in the Amaris Wars or Succession Wars. Word of Blake was a huge ally in this, since the entire Word had embraced the Master’s view of organization, and after his visions all came true, and gone was its factionalism, replaced by a fanatical devotion to the Star League.

In 3074, the Word of Blake and ComStar were officially brought back together, and placed back into the official Star League administrative offices of various types. There would still be bad blood and the occasional incident between them for years, but it would slow down, and end as people were born in a time of relative peace.

[Abe Sargent]

The greatest test to the new Star League was in 3083 when a large nuclear explosion occurred virtually simultaneously across number worlds in the Combine. After investigation, it was found that Duke Sandoval, Tancred’s son, has been behind the bombings, in an attempt to reboot war with the Combine and restart that conflict. The Star League forced the Combine to the sidelines, and invaded Robinson, removed Sandoval from office, stripped his family of its holdings, and moved the capital of the March to another planet far away, selling the Robinson holdings to help fund the campaign to fix and restore the planets struck by the weapons.

The heavy hand the League used in quelling this was extremely useful in keeping other’s quelled, and yet it was a hugely popular response everywhere.

After receiving a request, the League agreed to allow Diamond Shark to enter the Star League. Ghost Bears, Nova Cat, Diamond Shark, Snow Raven/Outworlds Alliance and Wolf-in-Exile spent the last few years ousting Wolf and Jade Falcon from the inner sphere.

Wolf-in-Exile takes much of the former territory and reestablishes itself as Clan Wolf. They make no more name change, and it is hard to figure out who is who (both Clan Wolves consider themselves the proper Clan Wolf). The new Wolf is also given a spot on the Star League Council.

Many Periphery territories have chosen to be annexed into local states, instead of joining the Star League outright. Places like the Circinus Federation and Marian Hegemony are now parts of Free Worlds League.


But the biggest chance was in 3094. Having reached the age of 22, Mikkael Quan Steiner-Davion-Kurita-Liao-Marik is elected First Lord, despite not leading any nation. The only child of Kitsune, the eldest son of Victor and Omi and Rachel, the only daughter and child of Sun-Tzu and Isis, Mikkael has been raised from birth to be the new Star Lord. He has toured the Star League incessantly to see the different people, exploration, construction, rebirth, and to connect with the people.

By having a First Lord who is from all five houses, you connect them dynastically. You connect them in a way the House of Cameron, the rulers of the first Star League and the Terran Hegemony, never could.

Mikkael is smart, competent, and capable, having been born to this new age.

The position is made permanent, and will be handed to his child. He is engaged to the daughter of Duke Michael Hasek and his wife, Thoma Marie Essex. Continuing to increase this dynastic connection is vital to the success of the Star League.


Peace, such as it is, has been achieved. And the beginning of the Second Star League’s era of peace, while things aren’t perfect yet, they have improved across space, from one corner of the League to the other.

Long May the Star League Reign! Long May Peace Reign! The Second Golden Age has Begun! Long May Our Lives be Golden!

[Abe Sargent]

Now, that's my way of ending this thing.

(One of the major issues that I have with the fictional aspect of BattleTech is that it constantly wants battle. After all, this is a war-game. If here’s no war, then there’s no game. So we have to continue to have war. War after war after war. No peace. Just rests between wars! This is a major conceit of the universe. So I made one tiny change. I put the right person the Inner Sphere into the right place in the 4th Whitting Conference, in order to keep the Star league from being destroyed, and leading into the Jihad. Everything I did for the dynasty was about getting here. Capturing planets? I did that in order to make Essex attractive enough to put him in the room. )

He was there! And everything else worked. Whew!



But what if I were to continue with a Chapter 9? What would it look like?

[Abe Sargent]

Now, if I were to extrapolate what would happen in the next chapter, the Jihad chapter, if we had one, what do I think would be the natural changes that would follow from what we did?

Well we have a few major changes – an allied small nation in the ex-Chaos March that has allied, strongly, with Word of Blake. How would that change things?

Ummm…

I think one of the best places to find out information about the Jihad and Word of Blake is in the Jihad Secrets: Blake Documents book. In virtually every Jihad book, the Jihad is told from the various real world documents that reflect biases – from letters written to speeches to press conferences and news articles to recorded conversations. It’s very hard to figure out exactly what was happening. But of much of the Secrets book, that sort of writing has been set aside (it’ll pick it up again in later chapters, don’t worry). It gives the non-biased, rational account of what happened, and doesn’t pin the blame fully on Blake.

Word of Blake expected the 4th Whitting Conference to be the 3rd and Final Transfer of Power. They were becoming full members, and expected to nominate Thomas Marik as the new First Lord. They were going to give gifts to the Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns as ways to help them rebuild. They arrived at Tharkad in the Invincible and with some other WarShips. They found and salvaged the Invincible, a Tharkad class WarShip and once the pride of the Lyran navy, from the Ruins of Gabriel. They painted it in Star League parade colors, and brought it to Tharkad. Most of the envoys arrived in WarShips, including Victor Steiner-Davion, who has just led a campaign that savaged the Alliance and Tharkad. And here he is, showing up in a ComStar Warship – many did, so Blake having the Invincible, and some of their own, was totally normal. They also had a naval flotilla in New Avalon, and both were full of supplies, including a lot of military supplies, to help get those two realms back on their feet.

Meanwhile, Word of Blake’s massive armament campaign was geared towards building a large enough military to invade, and take out the clan homeworlds. They created the Manei Domini, a group of elite, cybernetically enhanced warriors, as a way to counter the clan advantage. They added nukes to their arsenal to counter the numerical advantage the clans had, they added massive numbers of mechs and WarShips to give them a chance at taking out the home clans, under the aegis of the Star League, after the 3rd transfer of power.


When the Star League collapsed, and the Word of Blake was left, hanging, and all of their prophecies were lost, they were just floored. Their immediate reaction was to launch warning shots in Tharkad, and later New Avalon, and try to force the League back together. That didn’t work.

So the jihad began. But it was not this planned, thought out, attack against the Inner Sphere. It was a visceral reaction from a body that was still divided, and not sure of itself. There are atrocities where planets are given biological diseases and such, and killed, by the Word of Blake. There are lots of nuclear attacks by Blake. But it is important to understand that this is the fear of a group that has just lost it’s mission, and it won’t be for a long time before Blake begins to fight with a plan and a purpose.

Even then, Blake is full of true believers, who are pushing for the right. For example, take Precentor Apollyon, leader of the Manei Domini, and one of the most powerful, and nasty, enemies you’ll face. Even he is described as without vice, totally honorable, dedicated, and not a thug or somesuch. In fact, there is a conversation recorded between him and one of his followers in the Hot Spots 3076 book where he is asked why he isn’t destroying a world of resistance and he responds that there are 5 billion on that world who never made the wrong decision, only their leaders did, so their leaders are just punished.


So, with this understanding of the Word of Blake’s actions, character, and desires, how would they have reacted to the Coalition? How does its existence play into things?

[Abe Sargent]

There are a few changes in the storyline that had to be accommodated, but at first, I think the Coalition wouldn’t be that impacted at all. Note that it’s not for around a year until the Word of Blake really pushes the CC into their Jihad, because Capellan Confederation is going it solo and taking the Magistracy of Canopus with them. Meanwhile, allied nations, like the Free Worlds League, and Taurian Concordat are not really attacked. It’s not until the fake Thomas Marik is moving against him that they burn him, in late 3068. That leads to a lot of realms succeeding from the Free Worlds League, some side with Blake, many do not, and that leads to the dissolution of the Free Worlds League, and removes it from being a full-on ally.

So really, the Word of Blake wouldn’t really go after the Coalition. Duke Essex and his team he assembled would likely be left alone at first. Blake is badly distracted, and would have focused on what to do now, and the various fronts it erected. In fact, I’d say that the buddy time we had with Blake would drop considerably.

So my initial view on what would happen is that Blake’s relations would cool a bit, but the planets on the Coalition would not be attacked or blasted. Remember that we make mechs for Blake on Epsilon Eridani, Errai, and Nanking (two of those three are not happening in the standard plot line). We gave Blake mechs from our own garrison. Why burn your bridges? So we are a pseudo-Word of Blake Protectorate.

Now, I do think that, soon enough, Blake will begin it’s Protectorate (which had not existed in this storyline as we did it ourselves.) It’ll begin taking nearby planets as well as important targets like Hesperus II, just as it did before. We just won’t be taken or attacked.


We might get attacked though. For example, one of the first things that happen in the Inner Sphere is that as soon as the jihad begins, numerous independently minded idiots begin to attack neighbors Duke Hasek, almost immediately, launches an attack on the Capellan Confederation that will hammer them heavily. People in the Lyran Alliance will attack the Free Worlds League, the Black Dragon Society attacks Luthien and other places in the combine, and later on, we’ll see the Draconis March hitting some worlds, and the Outworlds Alliance led by clan Snow Raven will launch some attacks, and Jade Falcon and Wolf are going to gobble up many worlds, and Ghost Bear will absorb the remaining worlds of the Free Rasalhague Republic, smaller nations in the Free Worlds League will attack each other, the Taurian Concordat will punch deeply into Suns territory, and so forth. With all of these nearby attacks, I can’t deny that an attack on Nanking by the Capellan March, Errai by the Draconis March, won’t make a bunch of sense. And those attacks would likely continue (Caph and Small World, as an example, were actually part of the Draconis March before 3057. So you might see attacks to bring them back into the fold. )

[Abe Sargent]

Here is what I would do, Year One, of the Jihad:

1). Full on campaign by the Draconis March, featuring a lot of units, to retake Errai, Small World, Caph, and then expand their holdings from there.
2). One of our Warships which was repaired by Blake, is absconded by them in order to help their own battles elsewhere. (This happened, a lot, for Free Worlds League WarShips as well. This cannot be the three they never touched (The Aegis, Black Lion or Fox) but one of those they repaired for us in Terra).
3). While defending against the Draconis March attack, a huge naval flotilla and army arrive in Nanking, to finally force us out, from the Capellan March.
4). We lose Nanking. The force pushes south to hit the Capellan Confederation as part of Duke Hasek’s Operation Sovereign Justice. He doesn’t care as much about Arboris, Zurich, etc. Not right now, while he has a major campaign underway.
5). After defending against the Draconis March attack, we push and take one or two more worlds from them. Then we are pushed back on a third planet, Ruchbah, and instead we abandon it and secure our holdings.
6). We will launch an attack and annex Quentin permanently.
7). As the Free Worlds League begins to fall apart late in the year, we begin operations, and laying intel, to attack and take nearby Worlds planets that were recaptured in Operation Guerrero, and very close to us. Worlds like Castor, Sirius, Procyon, and Talitha.

Over the course of the next few years, we are unable to get Nanking back and have lost it permanently. We defend two assaults on Quentin by the Dragon, we bring in about 6-7 worlds in the former Free Worlds League, and we strengthen our alliance with the Confederation by sending in troops to help them in their battles against Operation: Duke Hasek is Stupid

Meanwhile, eventually Blake comes to us with a variety of increasingly problematic expectations and demands. They have blocked Northwind with a naval group, in our territory and ask us to take it over, and then they want us to take out Outreach for them. Eventually, they agree to hire a bunch of mercenaries on Outreach to attack the Wolf’s, and then, after Jaime Wolf dies, and then the Dragoons attack Terra, lose, and clears a path, we will land and assault the remnants, take Outreach for the Coalition in 3070.

[Abe Sargent]

Blake’s demands to build re-education camps and their use of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction is forcing us to make a decision we don’t want to…

Currently, we are one of the best off areas in the Inner Sphere. Are we willing to sacrifice our morals to continue to push ourselves over Blake‘s umbrella? Or, are we going to fight back, knowing that we will likely get trounced?

And frankly, you might not like the decision we agree to…

But in 3071, four years into the Jihad, we have agreed to many of Blake’s demanding-ish requests. We say no to the worst stuff (putting defensive chemical and biological weapons on our worlds), but we do have some re-education camps, Blake forces on our worlds, increased military sales to them, and a lot more.

By 3073 – Some commentators mention that you cannot even tell the difference anymore between Word of Blake’s protectorate and our state.

By 3075 – As the year opens, various alliances have formed and are beginning to win various battles. Seeing the writing on the wall, Duke Essex slowly begins to distance his world from the Word of Blake, just a little here and there

In 76, as the battles are turning and multiple fronts are falling, Blake voluntarily withdraws their forces to focus on defensive actions in the center of the Free Worlds League, Gibson, and in their Protectorate. Their worlds are falling. We begin, slowly, quietly, to begin to remove the tactical nuclear weapons Blake gave us, and shut down a few of the camps.

By 3077, as Blake is losing world after world, we lunch a major attack while no one is expecting them anymore, focused as they are on Blake, and retake Nanking.

As the Jihad begins to wind down, and we have removed ourselves from Blake’s umbrella, we continue to aid our allies in the Confederation and Magistracy, rather than elsewhere. Devlin Stone officially asks for our aid in attacking Blake, but we don’t want to risk it. We know we have Blake’s intelligence agency ROM all up in our Apollo Office, and all down in our administration and infrastructure. We still have Blake in our HPG stations. We cannot embrace the anti-Blake campaign right now, because if we do, who knows what will happen. As of right now, we still have a large public sentiment in favor of Word of Blake.

In 3078, former Blake fighters, losing in battles nearby, are flocking to our banner, and we are gaining large amounts of materiel, tanks, power armor, mechs, fighters, and tons of dispossessed folks joining our forces. Within one year, we will gain regiments worth of folks. Operation SCOUR by the allied campaign is getting closer and closer to us, and Stone really hasn’t decided yet if they are going to capture our planets or not. They’ve just been focused on recapturing Protectorate worlds. And if they do, which planets do they take? Quentin? Nanking? Talitha? Just planets we took in the Jihad or elsewhere? In fact, other than a couple of Combine worlds (Fomalhaut, Quentin) that switch hands regularly, and a pair of Draconis March worlds (similar situation) we only took from the Free Worlds League planets that were in the Sarna March, captured form the Free Worlds League in the 4th Succession war, and retaken in the 3057 invasion. Now we took them later on. We took no other worlds – so if you are juts using former Chaos March an Sarna March worlds as the border of our nation, just Errai, Quentin, and Fomalhaut, and the two from the D. March wouldn’t be in our casus belli.

And all of this just confuses things.

So to help out, Duke Essex orders the Gray Death Regiment to aid Stone’s Coalition, and personally hires several mercenary units to help out as well as loanin some on our payroll, secretly, without telling anyone in the Celestial Coalition, and hoping that Blake won’t find out. We also send a pair of WarShips to help out, and they jump out quietly.

[Abe Sargent]

In 3079 begins, The Jihad is winding down, extremely quickly. There are just a few worlds left in the Protectorate, and the worlds in the FWL are shrinking quickly. The Campaign for Terra has begun. They jump in and take the Titan Shipyards in a battle that was harder than expected. Ghost Bear lost their Leviathan WarShip, and almost 50% of the fleet was destroyed. The battle for Terra begins soon enough. One of our ships is used in the Titan Attack and it is destroyed, but salvageable.

Later they will attack and take Mars and Terra, and it will fall. Blake’s retreat is in the Free Worlds League, and they flee there, but orbital bombardment on worlds they hold by the Free Worlds league will kill Apollyon and the Manei Domini and the Master as well in 3081 and the Jihad officially ends.

With the destruction of the Word of Blake coming soon, Duke Essex understands that he needs to make nice, and do so quickly, so he sends out tons of JumpShips and DropShips, with medicine, food, and other supplies for locals all around the Celestial Coalition. This begins a few years before the end of the Jihad, and won’t end until post-War against the Stone.


Many politicians will exclaim Duke Essex and the Celestial Coalition as the only area that won the Jihad. Although that’s not completely true, places like the Filtvelt Coalition and Duchy of Andurien made out nicely as well.

The major issue for the Celestial Coalition is Devlin Stone. After the Jihad is over in 3081, Devlin Stone announces the creation of the Republic of the Sphere, from the home-base of Terra. He wants to create a new, democratic, republic, and a new way of administering the world that have been heavily fought over the centuries. It’ll be a new buffer state that will help to keep the Inner Sphere powers from each other’s throats as well,

The remains of the Protectorate are basically ceded to Stone by the major houses. The problem is two fold. Many worlds didn’t go back though – the Lyrans needed to keep Hesperus II and Solaris VII, and the Fed Suns, for example, got back Kittery and the nearby worlds.

He wants every planet within 150 light years of Terra. Federated Suns agree to do so. As do the remnants of the Free Worlds League, Lyrans and the Dragon.

Every great house, save for Liao, signs a Republic Formation Treaty.

Now, he wants every single world we took – all of them. But here’s the thing – We have done many of the things he wants to do in his “great experiment.” We have democracy, and a Coalition, and elected leadership. We have invested, heavily, in reclaiming the infrastructure of these worlds, and we are doing quite a bit to help. Worlds like Fletcher, Epsilon Indi, Caph, Zurich, and Bryant have fallen in love with us. We have protected Small World and Arboris, and retaken, and defended Quentin.

We are not the normal uncaring House Lord, that Devlin’s plan is designed to fix, and we point that out. He knows, and we helped to inspire him that there could be a different way. So, he offers to do something unusual. He will annex the Celestial Coalition completely, and it will simply be a member state of the Republic of the Sphere as is, virtually no changes at all.

After taking the offer to the Celestial Coalition Ruling Council, they agree, and on January 2, 3082, we accept annexation into the Republic of the Sphere.



That’s what I think would actually happen if I were to run the Jihad campaign.