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

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 03:45 PM

I'm still in a BattleTech mood. Let's get this final chapter started!

Because of how epic the next five years will be, and all of the fun stuff that I envision, I suspect that this might be the biggest chapter we have. Therefore, I split off the MechCommander 2 Dynasty into its own 7.5 Chapter.

I just can't wait for InterStellar Operations. Besides, who knows if that book will even have what we want rules-wise.

So, let's just pick this thang back up, and get ready for the of a story we began in 3030!

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 03:52 PM

MegaMek is a freeware Java-based program that you can download and use to play BattleTech against bots or peoples. We are using the latest stable release, from this summer. It's a very strong build. They have supposedly been working on making the AI better, specifically the Princess Bot, and we'll lean on it as our foe.

Interested in MegaMek and other fun stuff?

MegaMek | an unofficial, online version of the Battletech board game

There are ongoing campaigns you can join via MekWars, you can design your own units on MegaMekLab and use MekHQ to track your company and take contracts and such.

I track our units on Excel spreadsheets, and there are some out there that have been fully tricked out in a variety of ways, dinging all of the rules for Dragoons ratings, repair, medical staff, and more. I use one for each company in our TOE. (Table of Organization and Equipment, a list of a military's full assets).

I personally use the not-free software called Heavy Metal, which is officially licensed. That's my software for making fighters, small craft, tanks, mechs, and more. It's not cheap, biut I like the quality it offers over free options, like Solaris Skunkworks.

http://www.heavymetalpro.com/

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 04:00 PM

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 04:04 PM

I have used tons of sources for this dynasty. In particular, two major online sources are heads and shoulders above others.

The first was the InnerSphere Atlas - Inner Sphere Atlas

That was nice!

But, the #1 resource, by far is the Sarna wiki. By the way, I write for the blog part of Sarna website!

BattleTechWiki

Sarna is the real deal.

Meanwhile, I have a ton of Technical Readouts, rules books, sourcebooks, and even a scenario pack that we will be running in this chapter.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 04:15 PM

So what is this thing anyway?

Using the rules of the wargame BattleTech (which made my #1 game in my Top Ten Games list of all time BattleTechWiki ) as well as the MegaMek software, I have created a dynasty set in the BattleTech universe. I do a ton of research to try to make sure that as many mainline elements from the real universe are included in mine. I've only made a few minor changes at first, that then turn into bigger and bigger changes, so that, by the end of this chapter, we will have a huge shift in a major, major key event.

What will that change be?

You'll see!

But in the meantime, this dynasty began with a small, mixed forces company of mercenaries. Over time, it got bigger and bigger, and then fought in major wars and did contracts for major players. Eventually, the unit grew into on of the biggest mercenary commands in existence. Then the unit's home planet, and nearby systems fell into Chaos. They were no longer part of any state, and pirates, local nobles, and more increased power considerably. So we decided to step into the gap, and began to carve a new state, the Celestial Coalition, from the nearby systems.

Now the mercenary unit is the major arms force of the Coalition and its leader, Duke Essex, is the same guy who formed a small company of mercs a long time ago From scrapping together coins to try and find the cash to keep their command afloat to investing in infrastrucutre and running a multi-system nation, this campaign has veered multiple times.

I have plotted this entire dynasty, like Babylon 5, and I included a variety of doors in case things happened. So if Braham Essex died on the battlefield, I had plans in place for how that would shift things. Who would have stepped into the gap.

That's what this dynasty is!

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 07:06 PM

Because this is the final chapter of our Kilts and Commandos Dynasty, and because it’s been more than a year since the last pure chapter was penned, I will be beginning this dynasty with a state of affairs, as things stand, on January 1, 3062. I’ll hit up the final timeline for 3062 in the previous thread and wave in the new stuff from this chapter into it.

Dramatis Personae –

Duke Braham Essex - 60, Was a MechWarrior. Born the son of a military adjutant to the Capellan Forces on Acamar. His mother passed away in childbirth. Quite rare these days but not unheard of. Raised on his parent’s homeworld of Epsilon Eridani, Braham was raised a bit by his adopted family in the Capellan barracks. Although he spent some time on Acamar with his father, both his father and himself considered EE their home. Like many children, Braham wanted to be a MechWarrior from an early age, and despite the lack of family resources to purchase one, he was determined. When his father died in a raid on Acamar by the Dracs when he was 11, he continued to train and push harder and harder. After testing well enough to gain entry to the Martial Training Academy on Tikonov, he continue to push himself until he graduated as the best MechWarrior in his class of 23. With a high set of credentials and references, Braham was a recruit for the Northwind Highlanders, a house mercenary unit for the Capellan Confederation. During the Second Succession War, the Federated Suns captured the planet of Northwind, and House Liao used the atrocities committed by House Davion to cement the loyalty of the Highlanders, and pledged to them full independence should Liao recapture Northwind. Over the centuries, Capella failed again and again to capture Northwind, and the Highlanders continued to be among the elite units serving House Liao. Then, in 3028, Hanse Davion secretly contacted the Highlanders prior to launching the Fourth Succession War. He offered to give them Northwind in return to fealty to him. After discussing it for a long time, the Highlanders decided to leave their many years of service to Capella and pledged loyalty as a house unit of the Federated Suns (not even a mercenary unit any more). In return, Davion gave them an amount of freedom. A small minority of Highlanders chose to defect from the unit, believing that their contract with Capella should be honored. Among those defectors was Braham Essex. He defected and was assigned by the Capellan Confederation to fight with the veteran Blackwind Lancers.

The Fourth Succession War had begun. When Candace Liao falls in love with a Davion spy, she decides to use the war to declare the St. Ives Commonality now independent of the Capellan Confederation. This succession brings many military units from the CCAF with her, including the Blackwind Lancers.

Once again faced with choosing to defect from his unit or defect from his state, Braham Essex chooses to leave the Lancers. By now, the Tikonov Free Republic has been created, with one of the highest and most trusted military leaders, Pavel Ridzik, choosing to also vacate the realm he had served all of his life in order to create a new state. The planet of Epsilon Eridani joined the Tikonov Free Republic. In the wake of these dissidents, and two elite units Braham was serving leaving to join others, he realized that the Confederation was falling apart. With his own homeworld no longer a part of the Confederation, he felt his loyalty waning. Braham also felt no love for the St. Ives Compact, Tikonov Free Republic, or Federated Suns. Choosing instead to form his own mercenary company, the Kilts and Commandos, he left for Outreach, making some contacts with other disaffected MechWarriors from the Northwind Highlanders and the Blackwind Lancers.

At the age of 16, Braham Essex arrived at the Martial Training Academy on Tikonov. While there, he distinguished himself enough to warrant placement with the Highlanders, and he met Ted Izumo, an instructor. Essex has won the Liao Sunburst of Gallantry during battle with the Highlanders for the destruction of several enemy Battlemechs after his lance mates all fell, and completing the objective by himself. It is the most minor of Liao decorations and regularly given out.

After graduating from the Tikonov Academy, Essex served a full tour of duty with the Highlanders and had begun his second term with them when they left. He then served with the Lancers for most of his remaining term before they too defected.

In January of 3031, he took his first contract as the commander of the Kilts and Commandos, a new mercenary unit built from the disaffected from the old Capellan Confederation. Over time, he won various contracts, battles and campaigns, and built his unit to almost two regiments of troops.

He began by piloting his own a medium fire support mech he took with him when everything fell apart, a Dervish, but upgraded to a heavier Orion, which was lost in combat. Then he purchased a heavy and iconic Warhammer before moving to a Cataphract, a Liao design that had been used by the Governor of a planet that Braham killed while doing a contract for the St. Ives Compact.

The first high profile action the unit saw was in 3034, when the unit was contracted to fight alongside the Rasalhague Rebellion as they formed the Free Rasalhague Republic. As many elements in the Draconis Combine fought against this in the Ronin Wars, the battle pitted some Combine elements against themselves, the new Rasalhague units, fighting, and mercenaries. At the end of the War, most of the mercenary units had used minor clauses in their contracts to not help out the Republic, but Braham forced his unit to assist, and was rewarded with the Rasalhague Star. At the end, the FRR developed a dislike for mercenaries, and hired them rarely, but Kilts and Commandos is treated with respect and will eventually become one of the main FRR military forces in the mid to late 3040s.

After taking a contract in 3037 on the planet of Somerset, Braham’s Cataphract was destroyed in an ammo explosion. The ejection seat failed to function properly and Braham was flung from the wreckage. His body was broken, burned, bruised and bloody. After a long recovery, Braham lost his left leg and left arm, and they were replaced by myomer limbs. His skills degraded and he had the skills of a regular pilot again.

On Feb 3, 3038, Braham Essex emerged from almost a year’s convalescence and had been training and retraining with his troops on Epsilon Eridani. He began training with his unit again. While most of Kilts and Commandos joined the combined assault on the Draconis Combine in the War of 3039, Braham took one company and fought in the final year of the Andurien War and served at the Fall of Andurien, the bloodiest campaign in the first half of the 31st century. While there, he won the Andurien Epaulet.

After Andurien fell, Braham moved to Solaris VII and began a campaign as a gladiator MechWarrior. After showing some flash, Braham allied himself with Starlight Stables and worked his way up the system. He won a Grand Melee, placed in another, and climbed up the rankings to #8. His only duel he lost was to the #1 ranked MechWarrior. He is elite status again as a MechWarrior.

Receiving an interesting contract from ComStar, Braham chose to leave his Solaris VII career behind and led a company of mechs in a 5 year mission for the ComStar Explorer Corps, exploring beyond the periphery in the unknown. He came back recently, and has been organizing the unit, and moving most to contracts with the Free Rasalhague Republic.

After piloting mechs like Orion, Atlas, Hunchback, Jenner in the Solaris arenas, and an Awesome for the Explorer Corps, plus the Exterminator in a stealth mission, he is continuing in a modified Orion as the CO of a new Shadow Company, a powerful elite company with all LosTech mechs that operates independent of the command structure of his mercenary unit.

After the ComStar contract finished, Braham’s unit was drawn into the Clan Invasion and performed quite well. Kilts and Commandoes emerged from the first half of the 3050s with more mechs, men, and medals, than most other units in the Inner Sphere.

The legacy of Essex was secured in 3057. After Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion chose to replace a dead Joshua Marik with a duplicate in order to keep the Free Worlds League in the dark and supplying his troops, the veritable battle was enjoined as the gig was revealed by the Capellan Confederation. The Capellan, led by House Liao, and FWL, led by House Marik, launched join attacks into the Federated Commonwealth in retribution.

In a short period, numerous planets had been recaptured by Marik and Liao. Marik finishes their war goals and sues for peace, leaving the Caps un-allied. They take their gains, but foment rebellion and guerrilla warfare on the remaining planets. Wrested from the FedCom control was the creation of a No-Man’s land that was a hotbed of independent planets, small burgeoning states, and rampant pirates called the Chaos March.

Into this was Braham Essex, who chose to order the General on planet in Epsilon Eridani to quell all rebellion. It was brutal and fast, and ended bombings and other terrorist actions on the planet. Instead of being complimented, Braham and the General were chastised by the local planetary government and ordered to the council on the hook for going outside the chain of command.

They came alright. On the head of a large army. Government was disbanded, elections were held, and Essex was elected head of the government in EE, the first democratic elections they’ve held in quite some time.

Essex reached out and helped nearby systems win their freedom, and then began the Celestial Coalition. Elected as its head, Duke Essex began a long-term campaign to adopt numerous nearby Chaos March systems into the Coalition. He’s had to organize intelligence, military, explorations, economic, industrial, and diplomatic requirements since his election to lead the CC.

His goals appear to continue to grow the state, and not content to rest on its laurels. Form the three founding members, his state has carved a 13 system big nation. And its growing. The economy is quite strong and enabled him to grow the nation in a variety of ways.

Duke Braham Essex
State Academy, State University, Two Terms of Service.
Piloting Skill - 2
Gunnery Skill - 2
Influence - 3
Member Modifiers - -2 family, +3 friends, +6 unit

Age: 60
Decorated: Liao Sunburst of Gallantry; Rasalhague Star; Andurien Epaulet

Skills:

Edge: 5
Tactical Genius
Gunnery: Ballistic
Ace Maneuvering

Myomer Left Arm, Left Leg

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 08:48 PM

Former Col. Ted Izumo – 84. Now retired, founding member of the K&C Unit, and was a trainer of Essex in his Academy days. He has been running the Essex Training Academy in Epsilon Eridani, the local garrison, and the administrative requirements there. Ted won many engagements against the Dragon in the War of 3039 with our unit, but had semi-retired in EE when the clan invasion hit.

Former Sgt. Adele Thompson – 62. Now retired. Adele is a married minor noble from EE that is well connected politically. She was the other founding member of Kilts and Commandos. She ran a scout lance from her Firestarter, and never really wanted more, despite fighting with the unit for more than 25 years. She only killed a handful of targets during that time as well. Adele was a member of the Committee on EE that met in answer to the insurgency in 3057. Adele is also the mother of a child with Braham Essex, Thoma Marie Essex. Both Braham and Adele married other people after Thoma was born.

Elizabeth Walters-Essex – 56. CEO of Kressly Warworks, Inc, a major supplier of military materiel to folks in and around the Coalition. She is married to Duke Essex, a political connection that helped KWI considerably. KWI has never had a better CEO is terms of expansion and profit. Like Adele, Elizabeth was a member of the Committee in 3057, and like Adele, Elizabeth is the mother of one of Essex’s children, son James Roderick Essex.

Lt. Thoma Marie Essex – 25, currently with a small command in the 15th Lyran Guards on Hesperus II, one of the most important postings in the Lyran Alliance. She graduated 5th from the prestigious Nagelring Academy. Thoma has intentionally chosen a posting away from her family so that she can grow into the MW she can be, and her tutor growing up was Ted Izumo. The 15th is an elite, fanatically loyal unit that helps to guard the extremely valuable military-based industry in Hesperus II.

James Roderick Essex – 21, currently employed with KWI, James is working his way quickly up the infrastructure of the company.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 08:55 PM

Col. Matthew Humphries – 52, As the founding three members went elsewhere, Matthew Humphries was given the unit. He joined from the Fall of Andurien where Braham Essex personally fought at the Fall for Andurien for a long time. Humphries chose to come and bring some of his mechs and soldiers to Kilts and Commandos. Matthew is distantly in line for the Dukedom (something like 16th or some such). He gained massively more fame with us when he defeated Clan Ghost Bear on Thule after agreeing to use the batchall system. It was the first loss the clans suffered at the hands of an Inner Sphere unit.

After seeing his home planet fall, he wanted dearly to keep combat away from civilians and readily agreed to anything that would keep non-0combatents and the infrastructure safe – proxy battle elsewhere in quiet, uninhabited places suited him perfectly. He won several times against the clans, and was an instant star in the Inner Sphere as his story was told in news. Everyone wanted to find out who this man was, and it was a bring day for mercenaries everywhere, particularly those like Kilts and Commandos, Kell Hounds, and Wolf’s Dragoons that had defeated the clan threat.

Afterwards, Matthews was promoted to run the unit as Izumo retired to focus on the garrison and Academy, and then Essex left to run a nation.

Maj. Mei Zhen - 47. The XO of the unit is Mei Zhen. She is in charge of all maintenance, purchasing and sales, contract negotiation, recruiting, and other administrative tasks. Maj. Zhen is 2nd in command for purposes out the combat theater. She reports to Humphries. But inside of it, the other Colonels outrank her and have tactical command.

Capt. Randall Lewis – 50. Captain Lewis served personally with General Alexandr Kerensky during the final days of the Star League in the late twenty-eighth century. After another Captain disobeyed orders, won a battle that should never have been fought, and was given command of an experimental WarShip as a “reward”, Randall Lewis was made the Xo of the unit and reported to Kerensky directly and was the real authority. Then that ship jumped, and was held in stasis for centuries, to emerge into the Smoke Jaguar space. We were in the same sector, captured that WarShip in a Trial from the Smoke Jaguar Clan after they had done the same, and then traded that WarShip for another of the same class with ComStar and they gave us a bunch of other stuff to make it worth our while. Many folks from that ship defected to our own, and we promoted Lewis to Captain and he runs the Aegis-class warship, the Swift Victory, in our navy. He is a cubby, fun, gregarious individual who is sharp, fought in some of the largest naval battles of all time, and knows his craft very well.

Capt. Conner Ward – 34. This clan fighter was captured in the Clan Invasion and had won his clan bloodname. He now runs Shadow Battalion in our organization and tends to be one of our experts on clan-dom these days. We captured many others that are all in our TOE, but as the highest placed one in our organization, Ward tends to be the one at hand when we have an idea or question.

Col. Larry Rowe – 48. Leader of all of our AeroSpace assets, save for Lewis’s Swift Victory and whatever units are assigned to the Warship at the time. This includes a large number of Jump-capable, Aerospace fighters, Small Craft, and DropShips. Because he is in charge of a different aspect of our unit, he is not in line of command in an emergency unless it is space-based.

Magnus – Our first bondsman was taken on Thule against Clan Ghost Bear by Col. Matthew Humphries. Using his advice and knowledge of the clans in general and Ghost Bear in particular, he helped to guide us in understanding all things clan. Today we have 25 clan techs, 10 clan elementals and ex-bondsmen from every invading clan – Smoke Jaguar, Nova Cat, Steel Viper, Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear and Wolf. But Magnus is still our primary advisor on the clans.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 09:02 PM

Chief Ingrid Foster - ???. Ingrid is the chief of the Apollo Office, the intelligence agency that works for the Coalition. She personally handled a major operation on Acamar, and was on charge when we negotiated to get Word of Blake ROM agents and files transferred to our intelligence agency.

General Pierre Benton – General of the armed forces on Epsilon Eridani. Another of the Committee of 3057, and one of the two key people involved in the freedom and independence of EE as well. Pierre is vocally Pro-EE and Pro-Coalition and has grown very Anti-House.

Ambassador Yee – Will be hired post-Liberty in 3063 after failing to stop Col. Renard on their planet, Ambassador Yee is going to become one of the major diplomatic aides to Duke Essex and the Coalition.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 09:10 PM

Allies & Such -

Duke James Sandoval – Ally March Lord of the Draconis March who considers us a friend and ally. We worked very closely in the War of 3039 and subsequently helped him on several occasions. For example, when we salvaged a new, fresh-off-the-lines Wolverine from the Draconis Combine, we gave it to him. The Sandoval family has become closer to ours ever since.

The Humphries Family – Due to our assistance in the Andurien War that went far above and beyond what was expected or contracted, we gained a major ally in the Humphries family that runs the Duchy of Andurien in the Free World League. The presence of Matthew Humphries in our unit does not hurt this relationship either. Multiple nations in the Chaos March were given some Humphries money to keep them afloat and we have as well.

Regent Christian Mansdottir – After we helped the Free Rasalhague Republic form in the Ronin Wars, we were given high priority in their eyes. Then, while working for them on a retainer, we fought against the Clans, and defeated multiple clans fighting for the FRR. We are the only non-Comstar unit to make that claim. We are beloved and legendary in FRR. Mansdottir, currently Regent in control of the FRR, has continued the relationship. We can buy units from their factories meant for them and ComStar. We have shipped ‘Mechs we captured to them for free just to help them out. Meanwhile, they are the largest buyer of units from Kressly after us. And he nominated us for membership in the Star League. We will have a presentation and vote due at the next Whitting Conference, 3064, to attempt to secure our spot.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 09:32 PM

The Celestial Coalition –

After freeing the planet of Epsilon Eridani of the Liao rebels, Col. Braham Essex and General Pierre Benton were both brought into trial by the weak government that allowed the incidents to happen. Essex and Benton chose instead to oust the government, and host an election, one in which Braham Essex was elected ruler of EE.

After offering aid to the nearby planets of Terra Firma and Capolla, the triad of planets formed council of planets called the Celestial Coalition. It has been an egalitarian democratic government ever since. For example, it rotates its capital world every year, rather than have one world be so favored. It has a ruling council of an elected representative from each planet. One member of the council is voted the ruler of the Coalition. Braham Essex has won every election by a ton and never really had a lot of opposition, but the open policies have really pushed the Coalition.

You can imagine how popular this plays out in the Chaos March, where nobility and the Great Houses have wrought poverty, lawlessness, gangs, bandits, and uncertain future. An increasing number of nearby worlds without a flag have been looking toward the Coalition.

The CC has been actively looking to expand. It captured Acamar, Genoa, Elgin, Hsien and Bryant. Meanwhile we were invited to invade Ingress to take it from the Duchy of Small, we annexed willingly Epsilon Indi, we colonized Asmodeus, we purchased Sheratan, and we were asked to absorb Fletcher. So we’ve expanded in different ways.

We have been officially recognized as an official state by all five houses, Blake, Comstar, and Rasalhague.

Planets that would have been upset had we taken them shortly after they won their “independence” are now looking very differently. And we have been treating folks nicely and have a good reputation in the area. Planets such as Caph, Arboris, Keid, and Carver V are good opportunities for expansion.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 09:48 PM

Planets in the CC:

Epsilon Eridani – Home of Duke Essex, Kressly Warworks, the Kilts and Commandos mercenary unit, and a lot more too. It’s the cornerstone world of this area, and Coalition’s most industrial world.

Capolla – Damaged some in the early days of the Chaos March troubles, we quickly ended issues here with garrison units we had on planet. Like the other two founding planets, it has a very strong, very diverse, economy.

Terra Firma – This planet was the most damaged in the battle, but it has been fully restored and the economy is strong and bustling.

Acamar – We drove an invasion force to the mining planet (and asteroids) in the Acamar system. We captured the highly divided, wealthy, cold planet. We’ve since seen off a major invasion and a major espionage scuffle.

Epsilon Indi – In order to get protection from heavy raider/bandit problems, they agreed to come under our umbrella, and Duke Abraham really hasn’t regretted. It’s economy it’s as well developed as the others, but it’s no slouch.

Fletcher – This planet prides itself on its self-sufficiency. It came to up in fear of the Duchy of Small, and doesn’t ask for a lot or give a lot. That was until we found that it was once the largest industrial center of StarCorps Industries, one of the biggest companies of the Star League era. (SCI has proliferated into a number of plants elsewhere). A while ago we contacted SCI about the possibility of rebooting their factories here on Fletcher. And Nightshade VTOLs were made here by Yelm Weapons. SCI hasn’t really been answering us quickly or easily.

Ingress – A hugely important agrarian world with a massive agricultural economy and a vital bread-basket for the Coalition.

Elgin – Large oceanic world with islands carved into fiefdoms, lots of sea farming, tourism and manufacturing. Robust economy developed by investment by previous owners.

Bryant – Quickly becoming a pain in the region due to the presence of multiple pirate bands, Bryant was captured and absorbed. We invested in its industry and technology, but it’s a drain in resources, since it was badly destroyed after all of the Atmospheric Control Satellites were destroyed in the Succession Wars.

Genoa – Another rich mining world, this planet is on the other side of a small pair of FedCom planets that divide Genoa from us. We took it, and then defended it against a major invasion.

Hsien – Multiple people were sparring for control until we landed, and took it over. Not that wealthy, best described as a modest economy.

Sheratan – This planet, with massive forests used for things such as logging and rubber, was burned in the early days of the Chaos March as a unit set the forest on fire to protect its withdrawal. The Duchy of Small took and wanted to invest into it, but after a few years of trying to invest in new farms over dead forests, they ran of out money to invest. So we bought it and Sheratan has now joined us. It’s the right idea and we continue to push and develop it.

Asmodeus (III) – This planet has a huge mineral potential, and is currently being mined by multiple mining interests we contacted. We are colonizing it right now.

These thirteen planets and systems make up the current Celestial Coalition.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 09:58 PM

Major Military Industries:

Terra Firma – Bander BattleMechs – They make the Bandersnatch at roughly 2 a year now.

Fletcher – Flame Tech makes both vehicular and Mech flamres here (as well as on the other Fletcher in the FWL).

Bryant – Lantren Corporation – Makes updated Quickdraws and Grasshoppers. Another factory on planet by the HartfordCo Industries made Cicada mechs and Von Luckner tanks. That factory was in the part of the planet now covered in storms again, since the inhibitors were destroyed, but the factory itself was never actually destroyed. I was just turned off and protected from the storms, hopefully. After we restore the world, we might be able to restore that factory too.

Epsilon Eridani – Kressly Warworks, Inc – A huge company (for the other) that makes a variety of mechs, tanks, and other vehicles. It’s the major supplier of military materiel for the Coalition.

Frankly, we need more industry if we are going to survive.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 10:07 PM

Who is Kressly Warworks, Inc?

Kressly is not a super company with multiple factories across multiple worlds, like Defiance Industries or Johnston Industries. However, it has grown into something more than small company.

For decades, Kressly Warworks had created the Brutus Assault Tank, their bread and butter. They still make an updated Brutus with newer technology.

Over time, they added other vehicle lines, such as the Blizzard Hover Transport. In 3059 they’ll even introduce a police vehicle the 40 ton Dillenger support vehicle. Meanwhile they moved into the BattleMech market with the assault mech Attila, made by our unit as a powerful design that used twin PPCs and a strong suite of close range weapons to bring some serious pain to enemy units.

After that they introduced a few other mechs as suggested my K&C and their alliance. K&C donated some clan techs and clan technology which resulted in their creation of additional mechs and units.

Today Kressly Warworks, Inc makes a variety of mechs and tanks for a variety of situations and markets. They are the primary Mech company for the Celestial Coalition. They also deliver units to anyone with the right amount of CBills. Some of their mechs, such as the Lineholder, have been huge selling units, and for a year, the Lineholder was the fastest and best selling medium Mech in the Inner Sphere.

Here are the mechs Kressly currently produces:

Attila, 85 ton Assault mech, released in the early 3050s, the upgraded version had 2 ER PPC, lots of strong ginner weapons like medium lasers and SRMS, and a good profile for armor.

Lineholder – Designed to be a cheap but highly functional medium mech, this 55 ton mech was the 2nd off the lines of Kressly. It replaces a lot of open spots on rosters as battle damage accrued via the clans or the Chaos March.

Alexander – Based on the reliable Hunchback chassis, this medium mech is an Omni design. Because it was built with the flexibility to use both clan and inner sphere weapons, it’s a strong and flexible Mech with a lot of potential uses.

Bandersnatch – In order to up their lines and financial sales, Kressly licensed this assault mech which uses a lot of updated technology from a local firm on the planet of Terra Firma where they were made one by one by hand of several engineers. Kressly moved in and produced the base unit. Sales on the Bandersnatch have dropped and the unit will probably have a short run left and then be benched for a while.

Bumblebee – The next mech produced by Kressly was the light scout Mech the Bumblebee. With MASC to accelerate its speed, this 6/9(12)/6 unit, on a 35 ton frame, features a variety of short range weapons as well as solid armor.

Greyhound – This 60 ton quadruped ‘Mech was the first unit Kressly has produced in a quad design. It’s a 6/9 Mech with MASC as well. With maximum armor and 2 SRM6 Streak s and 3 ER Medium Lasers, it is intended to take advantage of the latest technology on the market.

Meanwhile, Kressly Warworks invested in the Lantern Corporation to help it get up and running on Bryant ,and purchased 20% of its stock. Now Lantern makes Grasshoppers and Quickdraws.

Kressly has been in talks with getting in a new selection of weapons and equipment, such as light gauss rifle, medium-range missiles or a rotary AC5. Hopefully a deal with be announced soon and a new design for the new era will follow quickly enough. That’s where the cash is. The Bandersnatch is old news. The Lineholder is too. What will be next?

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 10:42 PM

Targets of Opportunity –

Keid – After professing its loyalty, Keid received the loyal 13 Lyran Guards from the Lyran Alliance to guard them. But it’s nowhere on the border, and after Marik and the Combine have cut off lanes home by absorbing planets like the Sirian Holds and the Lyon’s Thumb respectively, they have been cut further and further off. We don’t think they are ready for us yet. But soon. They also have some minor but valuable military industry as well.

New Home – The 30th Lyran Guards are here too, helping to bring the populace under the thumb of the Lyran Alliance. Part of the 30th seceded and became the Pro-Liao New Home Regulars. Both have carved out parts of the planet, keeping their two little nations going on the world, with regular skirmishing. It has a strong economy. While the planet would not have welcomed us earlier, the population is growing tired of this give and take and enfiefment, while the two houses focus on military agendas and strategies. This sentiment has grown so strongly that multiple demonstrations have begun to take place, and while the military enemies are stronger, we could hold New Home very easily.

Caph – At the far coreward (upward) edge of the Chaos March, just up against the Combine, is the world of Caph. Like a variety of other worlds, it was carved into a variety of fiefs that we would need to push around. Caph is a recovering planet, barely, from the toxic chemical attacks of war in the Succession Wars. It has been set back by the local wars. It’s not normally a high priority target as a result. Caph originally a was a very developed planet, with a variety of manufacturing and industry. It still has Lang Industries that makes Shadow Hawks. It would take some serious money to restore some of the production facilities here in other areas. But who knows? It seems like a good long-term target, and one we could help renovate.

Carver V – Due to modest industry, and some overtures we’ve gotten from the locals who are tired of their current state, this is a planet ripe for the liberating.

Hall – Vocally anti-Davion and anti-Liao as well, this planet was in an unusual place as a home that neither could claim a hold in. Instead, children of Pavel Ridzik took over and declared Hall to be the home of a New Tikonov Free Republic. Their desire to carve a new nation in the Chaos March, like we were doing, came to an end after they lost to the Saiph Triumvirate in Tall Trees. Originally another divided world about local nobility, the Ridziks united it. Unfortunately, neither of the twins of Ridzik are good politicians or leaders on a planetary scale, and the world is pushing the Ridziks off. We could connect with the locals, get ourselves in, and push out the Ridziks. Then we take over a planet that is vocally anti-House and would probably enjoy being on an equal footing with everyone else in Coalition. Hall was not damaged much in the early fighting, and was restored ever since.

Arboris – Over by Genoa, this planet’s natives fought off two different military groups and took over. There are handfuls of those two forces ( FedCom loyalties of the local SMM defenders and Liao loyalties of local mercenaries.) Both have a lot of units, and a lot of strength, and the angry farmers have around 9 regiments of infantry that have secured most of the world. At first Arboris had an independent streak, but now? We would likely be seen as liberators by the farmers now.

The Saiph Triumvirate? There are three planets in the Saiph triumvirate – Tall Trees, Saiph, and New Canton. Most other multi-state nations in the Chaos March have fallen, or are on their way (Styk Commonality, Duchy of Small, Sirian Holds, Sarna Supremacy). The Saiph have been notably absent from that list.

Tall Trees – The closest to us is Tall Trees. After the aborted attack by Hall on it, it’s garrison was beefed up to a Battalion of mechs and another of vehicles, all mercenary. Obviously, we can likely overcome those odds with a regiment of our mechs. It was a mountainous, heavily forested, and lightly populated world. There’s not a lot of economic value here.

Saiph – Similarly constructed to Tall Trees, there’s little here for long-term military use. Both planets have some lumbering and mining, but their mountains were denuded of more valuable ores long ago. They have some animal herding, as well. They both make enough food (with minor farming, hunting, husbandry, fishing) to export some food, but nothing like Ingress does. It also has a battalion of mechs, but just a company of tanks in support roles. The world is not well designed for vehicles.

New Canton – The capital planet of the Saiph Triumvirate, it features a regiment of tanks, and the final battalion of mechs. It’s a temperate world with a diverse economy of light industry, a variety of spaceports, fishing, agriculture, it’s a local commercial and trading sector. 85% of the world is ocean.

We could take them quickly by landing a regiment of mechs on each planet and extra stuff for New Canton. Within 6 months, I’d expect to have all three in our realm, and that would keep them from supporting each other militarily. Do I want to incur the wrath of a state that has been blessed to be poor enough, overall, to be largely ignored by the locals? Saiph and Tall Trees have always been hard to hold, and they don’t feel the need of joining us, since they are in this umbrella. But they still have areas in their holdings that are bucking against the Triumvirate and want to go solo. If we were to take them, we would have two sets of people against us – pro-independence people, and pro-Triumvirate people. It would be easier to take and hold New Canton that the other two. In fact, we might even get some assistance from them in doing so,

Meanwhile, we need more of a military-based industry if we are to survive. There isn’t a lot left. Carver V has some. Keid has a bit. KWI and Lantren are nice, but we need more, and more diversity. I’d like to add in more tanks and vees, more mechs, aerospace fighters, artillery, power armor, and eventually, a shipyards to make DropShips and/or JumpShips.

There are nearby systems under the control of other nations, like Ruchbah, Nanking, Terra, and others.

As a reminder, we have been working with Blake on securing an attack line on an unusual target which is not the above list, and things are ready on their end. We just have to wait for the right time.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 10:48 PM

Kilts and Commandos Roster:

Battlemechs –

Alpha Regiment: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Star Battalion

Myth Battalion: Capt Foster Keynes, of Typhon Company

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

Star Battalion: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Defender Company

Defender Company – On Capolla
Cinq Company – On Capolla
Brawler Company – On Capolla

Heater Battalion: Capt. Jason Thomas, Trinity of Company

Delta Company – On Bryant
Trinity Company- On Bryant
Butler Company – On Bryant

Alpha Regiment is currently being used to garrison and train these two places, but it’s often one of the Regiments we move out and hit things with, as needed.

Beta Regiment: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Ganges Battalion

Ganges Battalion: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Phaeton Company

Phaeton Company –
Boxer Company –
Rebel Company –

Rheims Battalion: Capt. Aurelia Jenson, of Aleph Company

Aleph Company –
Laser Company –
Sabre Company –

Amazon Battalion: Col. Gabriel Williams, of Mustang Company

Mustang Company –
Hex Company –
Raven Company –

Beta Regiment is currently at EE and awaiting another assignment. We might break them up in order to send them on multiple assaults. Right now, they are either a reserve force in case of an attack or a powerful assault force, as needed.

Gamma Regiment: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Breaker Battalion

Breaker Battalion: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Fallout Company

Trident Company –
Miner Company –
Fallout Company -

Scimitar Battalion: Capt. Mika Sanders, of Vegas Company

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

Mesopotamia Battalion: Capt. Kyla Jeffries, of Nineveh Company

Jericho Company – First Expedition until the end of 3062
Babylon Company – Second Expedition until the end of 3062
Nineveh Company –

Some of Gamma Regiment was split up for various places. We could easily move out Breaker Battalion. We could also wait into Jericho and Babylon Companies return, rotate someone else to Acamar, and have Gamma ready to strike as a unit somewhere.

Delta Regiment: Col. Conner Ward

Bandit Battalion: Capt. Andrey Vihorev

Bandit Company – On Ingress
Iron Company - On Ingress
Kevlar Company – On Ingress

Flame Battalion: Capt. Johan Kreidler, of Blaze Company

Pyre Company – On Hsien
Blaze Company – On Hsien
Ember Company – On Hsien

Armor Battalion: Capt. Jassa Ramgarhia, of Aegis Company

Aegis Company - Currently on Acamar
Shield Company – Currently on Acamar
Chainmail Company - Currently on Acamar

Right now, Delta is basically being used as garrison in three places but it tends to have some upgraded technology and such and all ready for smashing! It’s a powerful force to bring out of forts and onto an attack.

Epsilon Regiment: Col. Dwayne Tarabaev, Water Battalion

Mountain Battalion: Capt. Stacy Weston of Weston Company

Weston Company -
Buckhannon Company -
Elkins Company -

Metal Battalion: Capt. Roderick Goldbeg, Gold Company

Gold Company – On Genoa
Bronze Company - On Genoa
Titanium Company - On Genoa

Water Battalion: Capt. Dwayne Tarabaev, Oasis Company

Oasis Company – On Genoa
River Company –
Lake Company -

Epsilon Regiment is probably going to get ready for some fun. We just rotated some other units to Genoa, and I suspect that I’ll pull back these four companies, and Shadow Battalion below, in order to free them both up.

Shadow Battalion:

Bruiser Company – On Genoa
Shadow Company – On Genoa
Sealion Company – On Genoa

Shadow Battalion is our elite, well equipped, strike battalion. It is not connected to any Regiment. This is where the action is!

Nordic Weapon Battalion:

Gungnir Company –
Mjolnir Company –
Gram Company -

This is a second Battalion, recently assembled using new tech, which we hope to use in a Shadow-esque manner.

Utopia Company – On Asmodeus

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

Vehicles:

Tank First Battalion – On Genoa
Tank Second Battalion - On Hsien
Tank Third Battalion – On Epsilon Indi

Garrison and Infantry – EE Garrison.

Fighters: Col. Larry Rowe, of Arrow Company

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

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

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 10:54 PM

Naval Assets:

Warships –

Swift Justice, Aegis WarShip –

JumpShips –

Scots Flotilla, Merchant JumpShip – On First Expedition until the end of 3062
Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip - – On Second Expedition until the end of 3062
Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip –
River of Fate, Merchant JumpShip –

Military Carrying DropShips –

Robin Hood, Union DropShip – On Second Expedition until the end of 3062
Megan’s Fury, Union DropShip -
Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip –
Charon’s Message, Union DropShip
Star River, Union DropShip -
Serendipitous Victory, Union-C DropShip -
Amalgamated Bliss, Union DropShip –
Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip –
Defiance, Overlord DropShip –
Daily Menace, Overlord DropShip, Upgraded -
Faith’s Bulwark, Fortress DropShip, Upgraded - On First Expedition until the end of 3062
King Arthur, Excalibur DropShip -
Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip -
Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip -
Honored Living, Colossus DropShip –

Aerospace Fighter Carrying DropShips -

Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip –
Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip –
Stellar Phantom, Leopard CV DropShip - On Second Expedition until the end of 3062
Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV DropShip -

Assault DropShips –

Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip –
Firebird, Avenger DropShip –
Arrow of Fate, Achilles DropShip, Upgraded –
Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip –
Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip –

Cargo DropShips -

Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip -
Jakob’s Ladder, Buccaneer DropShip (Cargo Vessel) – On Second Expedition until the end of 3062

If we took our military, navy, fighters, WarShip, and more and headed out to the periphery, we could carve a nation state that exceeds just about anything else you dream of! For example, we have 87 tanks in our EE garrison that aren’t out doing stuff, they are just guarding the Academy, Headquarters, and the local Kressly plant. We have 2 regiments of normal infantry at EE. We often rotate in and out infnat4ry into other places though.

A mercenary unit having a WarShip is downright nasty, and rare too. Wolf’s Dragoons have WarShips as well, because they are the Dragoons and they can. The only other mercenary command with a WarShip in the Inner Sphere is the Blue Star Irregulars. In battle with Clan Jade Falcon in 3055, and with the aid of another mercenary group under their command, Hell’s Black Aces, they captured a Fredasa-class WarShip, and then the Dragoons spent a few years fixing it up for them. They still have it (although they can’t afford the upkeep and such).

We are aided by the Celestial Coalition’s cash influx. Like many K&C units, the WarShip is used in a pseudo-Coalition, pseudo-K&C nature.

Abe Sargent · 12-14-2014, 10:59 PM

Celestial Coalition Forces:

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

The Bouncers – Regiment of mercs, on Capolla until May 3, 3063, Rating B, 40% level 2 tech, 10% clan tech, 1 battalion mechs, 1 battalion infantry, several wings fighters, 1 battalion tanks , veteran.

Smithson’s Chinese Bandits – Two battalions of mostly level 2 mechs, building back to three. Rating A-, veteran, garrisoning Terra Firma until September 1, 3062. We expect to keep them around for a while.

The Blackhearts – Garrisoning Genoa until Aug 1, 3063.Rating B, regiment of mechs, and another tanks, plus fighters and infantry. We rotated them to Genoa to help in defense there, from Epsilon Indi. They are also helping to train the local forces. Veteran.

Narhal’s Raiders – Retainer on Fletcher, until November 30, 3062, a regiment of mechs, C+ rating, many upgraded mechs, regular. We like them, and may retain them on a garrison deal this time.

The Furies – Regiment of tanks on Ingress until December 31, 3062. A rating. Regular, reliable, 1/3 of tanks are upgraded. Higher quality tanks – such as LRM Carrier, Shrek, Zhukov, Rommel, Patton, etc.

Angel’s Riders - Dragoons rating B, Regiment of mixed troops, one battalion of mechs, two of armor, with about 40% of mechs and 75 % of tanks upgraded with level 2 tech. They are garrisoning Elgin until Sept 1, 3062.

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

1st Bryant Regulars – Battalion of tanks, 50 Mechs. Multiple infantry squads. Regular, reliable. We are still building this unit up. We’d like to get the ‘Mechs up to a regiment.

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

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

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

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

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

Abe Sargent · 12-15-2014, 10:47 AM

Alright, let's finish the footsie, and begin with the actual dynasty!

Will we meet PokeMechs? Probably not....

Abe Sargent · 12-15-2014, 10:47 AM

3062

Jan 3, 3062 – Now that the political pressures of being Archon-Prince of the Federated Commonwealth are behind him, Victor Ian Steiner-Davion announces his engagement to longtime love interest Omi Kurita, daughter of Theodore Kurita. They will be married in four months

Jan 11 – Duke Essex receives a message from the Word of Blake. The target he wants for future expansion is ready to go. They have managed to uncover a few ways to deal with the defenders on planet and several other difficulties. When the time is right, The Celestial Coalition will be able to take the world.

Feb 4, 3062 – The first upgrades to the BattleMaster have begun to hit the streets. Last year Project Phoenix began as the upgrade Longbow featuring double LRM20s and LRM15s was put out. Over the next 5 years or so, many old and iconic battle-designs of the history of the Inner Sphere will get huge updates, which also modify the chassis as well in order to push the look and feel of designs like the Locust, Wasp, Phoenix Hawk, Goliath, and Warhammer. Many of these ‘Mechs are going to be made for or by Word of Blake’s assistance.

Feb 15 – On Solaris VII battles have been taking on a decidedly anti-Davion or anti-Steiner position between stables that represent those allegiances. Battles are bloodier, and the spectacle has grown ever more antagonistic as two once-allies are becoming increasingly disaffected.

Abe Sargent · 12-15-2014, 07:42 PM

March 1– Archon Katrina Steiner is having increasing problems with the Federated Suns half of the Federated Commonwealth. When she set herself up as the scion of all that is Steiner in order to gain the Lyran Alliance, she also set herself for a fall in Davion space. Demonstrations have begun, and she is actively upsetting a lot of people in nation-state.

Mar 2 – Duke Essex orders troops home from Acamar and a furlough and reorganizing occurs for several units

March 6, 3062 – Sales for the one of the two small craft that Kilts and Commandos created with Blackwell Industries over on Outreach have begun to dry up, and the amount of commission money coming in has started to drop. However, the 200 ton fighter small craft we created with them is picking up, and they are undergoing the introduction of more lines for that one.

Abe Sargent · 12-15-2014, 07:57 PM

You know what? After looking over things, I like Caph as the next target. It’s a bit like Bryant, rough at first, but with some serious potential.

Abe Sargent · 12-15-2014, 08:56 PM

Beginning of the Caph Campaign

7 March, 3062 – We have contacted various locals in order to get a better handle on Caph.

Post Operation Guerrero, there are five major units on world.

We have a battalion of mercenary mechs, Lindon’s Battalion, keeping the city of Cimmeron safe as well as its environs. They are assigned to the Draconis Combine, and the Star league. We checked MercNet and their contract is up in one month. They have not been renewed by anyone.

A FedCom leaning noblelady has taken multiple areas, and controls the Rehope region with her Gustofson’s Grenadiers mercenaries. One battalion of mechs

Meanwhile a Lyran leaning nobleman, holds New Derry with the Denebola SMM, from the Skye March. The Denebola SMM was originally a regiment of mechs and tanks. It was damaged badly in the fighting.

The Stealthy Tigers hold the valuable spaceport of Aswan, and the capital around it. 1 Regiment of mechs, and DropShips. Aswan has Lang Industries, which makes Shadow Hawks.

The Always Faithful have New Zevon theirs. One regiment of mechs and tanks. Both the Tigers and Faithful are allied and work for Marik/Liao.

None of the other forces are allied.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 02:03 AM

There are a variety of reasons why Caph appears to be a good expansion target after all.

“Originally when first worlds settled, the planet had large range of jungles spanning three continents. However, after the Star League Civil War, only the continent Steam remained habitable. The planet was known for pharmaceutical products before and after the Succession Wars.

Steam and Caph Prime became famous for the reptiles that resembled Terran Dinosaurs, which became known as Dinosaurs of Caph. They were thought to be extinct until 3025, where small number of these creatures were discovered in jungle regions of Steam.

The planet was subsequently attacked by Rim Worlds Republic Military during the Amaris Civil War, an attack which gutted the Caph Institute of Technology. Republican forces also used chemical and biological weapons in their attack,

After the collapse of the Terran Hegemony and the Star League, Caph had become a hotly contested world. In 2789, in the Fifth Battle of Caph, three different Great Houses fought at the same time for control of the planet. Eventually, it became part of the Federated Suns at a terrible cost. The world, once was known for its research in BattleMech technology, was smoldering ruins. The world soon again changed hands to the Capellan Confederation midway through the Succession Wars.”

It still has a lot of wastelands and destroyed industries.

The areas outside of those that have been livable have also been destroyed in the last 5 years. The units on planet have been withered by local fighting, and yet, there are a lot of units here. Every single house has their mitts in Caph.

It’s time we helped the people.

.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 12:57 PM

We contact Col. Sarah Lindon, CO of Lindon’s Battalion.

They were Lindon’s Regiment, but were decimated in the Clan Invasion and lost much of their people and unit. The Battalion arrived here and were a neutral unit from a neutral nation, and usually left alone. Then they were attacked in Cimmeron by the pro-Lyran Denebola SMM, which Lindon won decidedly. They even killed the CO of the SMM forces.

Their unit has not suffered as much as the other four, because they are the Star League/Drac unit, and they have not gotten as involved in attacking others. They are down to 25 mechs, from their previous 36.

We want to sign Lindon’s Battalion to a contract with the Celestial Coalition, and to help us take Caph, and then to garrison it. We’ll bring the heat to help capture it.

Sarah Lindon is interested more in getting her unit back into fighting shape at 36 and getting off Caph. But she has an axe to grind against them. We agree to sign her unit to a two year Retainer contract. She will fight for us next month, starting Apr 1, 3062. Then we will use the DropPort at Cimmeron to land some units to support her position. We give her full salvage rights, so help her keep and units she takes in that area.

Meanwhile, we’ll also land in other areas, to push against other units.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 05:13 PM

Between Chief Foster in the Apollo Office, local contacts, and Sarah Lindon, our best guess is that the other four units on planet are at: Denebola SMM (50% mechs, 25% tanks); Always Faithful (80% of both); Tigers (66% of mechs); Grenadiers (70%).

Our major concern is the Faithful/Tigers alliance. All combined, we estimate these two units have 170 mechs and 80 tanks. That’s a lot.

So what I want to do is leave them alone at first.

Our first goal is to land in Cimmeron and combine our position with one unit. With the others, we want to land, push the two local nobility units that are more blooded (and smaller). Take them out, and we have removed all non-Marik/Liao enemies.

Meanwhile, we suspect that we’ll rally the people at that point, especially if we announce that we’ll begin elections for a ruling council, like we’ve done on other planets. After 5 years, the locals here at Caph could not be madder at the situation.

Then our four units (The one we land in Cimmeron, Lindon, and the two we use to take out the two nobles) will unite and drive against the two mercenary units (Tigers and Faithful)

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 05:34 PM

Here’s the Plan in Detail:

Against the Grenadiers?

Nordic Weapon Battalion arrives, and will take them. That puts a full, fresh, experienced, high tech unit against the wounded, tired Grenadiers and their 28ish mechs.

Against the Denebola SMM?

Beta Regiment will arrive and drive it into defeat. We have a fresh, 108 mechs, against 50ish mechs and 25ish tanks. That should be an easy math game.

Our Reserve Unit?

Mountain Battalion from Epsilon Regiment

Catapult Company (12 Aerospace Fighters)

We also land 12 platoons of infantry in Cimmeron.

We will be using these units:

Maxim of Glory – To Caph
River of Fate – To Caph

And they will have these DropShips:

Daily Menace, Overlord, Upgraded – Drops Nordic Weapon
Defiance, Overlord – Drops Battalion in Beta
King Arthur, Excalibur DropShip – Drops more of Beta
We rent an Overlord to carry the last battalion of Beta.
Honored Living – Mountain Battalion, Catapult company, Infantry Regiment – All equipment we need for the campaign as well (ammo, armor, mines, scout vehicles, infrastructure vees, etc)

We also send in the WarShip and its escorts, just in case.

We arrive in Caph in late March, and arrive on planet, uncontested, on April 1

We expect that this is going to be a major campaign.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 06:55 PM

We begin with the Denebola SMM campaign. This battle is taking place far and away from anyone else, The DMM is green and battered, but fanatically loyal to the Lyran Alliance, House Steiner, and some merchants, who enjoyed pro-Steiner leanings.

The only noble house left on Caph after all of the years is Countess Gustofson, on the pro-Davion side. Our goal is to hit the SMM so hard and fast that they choose to flee, or be destroyed. Their area of Caph, New Derry, is on the northern edge of a continent that is quite toxic. If they flee inland, they will be destroyed quickly by the wastelands there. There is about a 60 mile wide stretch of land on the northern edge of the continent that extends for about 215 miles down the coast. It’s one of the few valuable farmlands on Caph. New Derry is a sort of local capital, and this stretch of the land all belongs to the SMM.

So the benefit of pushing here is obvious. We are arriving with a huge force, ready to smash, of better pilots, better units, and twice the size. We should be also to push them out of the area completely. We can fight in farmland, away from potential major collateral damage.

We arrive on the 1st, and land safely with the help of our own aerial assets, coordinated with a feint by Lindon to push the defenders of the planet off guard, and then enabled by a large number of locals who are quickly becoming allied with our cause. Local militia flew some VTOLS to give us cover.

The SMM are not native to Caph, and are seen nowadays as a hostile presence. This is not going to be good for them

As soon as we have unloaded our regiment, we break out and move in three battalions. Two move towards New Derry and the other breaks into companies and scours the local areas for the vehicles.

Smartly, the SMM has pulled back their scouting and recon mechs in order to prevent them from getting blown up the moment they sighted our landing out in the farms, near one edge of the area.

After four hours of scouring and finding nothing, we bring these companies back together and move as a 3rd battalion.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 07:37 PM

The goal is to sweep toward the city of New Derry, and go over every farm, house, chemical plant, and such in the area. Sweeping down the strip, in a triangle formation, with two battalions on the far corners towards New Derry and the 3rd pushed back and as a rear guard, backup, center sweeper role.

3 April – After not finding any enemy presence in the area, we know that our foes have consolidated their holdings in the city of New Derry. We don’t like fighting in cities unless we have too.

We radio into the city:

“The Ares Convention has asked that people not fight in cities. We don’t have to fight in New Derry. We will allow you to choose the battlefield that you want, and allow you to get there, set up defenses, and will attack you a month later. That’ll give you time to develop yourself, learn the area, and more. That way you save the people of New Derry their homes and lives.”

After a pause, we get this message back:

“We aren’t the clans. If you think you are good enough to take Caph, then you have to come into New Derry to do it!”

We send the recording of that transmission to the civilians in the city of New Derry. We tell them to evacuate, and give them a week to do it. They are even angrier at the SMM. Over the next two days there are multiple acts of terrorism against the SMM, such as explosions and a few vehicles have been destroyed by locals.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 09:10 PM

Apr 10 – We get news that all of the locals have evacuated from multiple police, militia, and civic leaders. We inform them of our plan, and they agree.

Apr 11 – We put each of our battalions around the city and move in. They have taken the center of the city, erected a makeshift fort long ago, but recently built it up with mines, pickets, cordons, and more. It’s a death trap.

We hit a few annoying mines on the outskirts, and someone put some SMM infantry in a local house that hits us with inferno missiles. We destroy the building, and the infantry inside.

We have reached about a half mile from their defenses in each direction, leaving about twenty miles of light city (New Derry is not that big or heavily populated) in front.

We radio them and give them one more chance to either surrender, or relocate, in order to avoid destroying the infrastructure of a world that they are supposed to help.

They refuse.

So we order the orbital bombardment to begin.

We have a perfect target here, in the center of the city. We can bomb them without even coming close to our own mechs.

After 15 minutes of constant bombardment, and about 20% of the city being destroyed, we get a radio of surrender from the SMM.

You can’t turtle against a WarShip.

We let them leave, turning over all salvage to the locals.

Meanwhile we reconnect with the local population and begin to clear things out, and spend the rest of the month with our military regiment assisting them in removing salvage, pulling bombs away, taking out mines, and more. We won’t be ready until 1 May.

While that campaign was lucky to end easily, the other won’t be.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 09:36 PM

On April 2 the Nordic Weapon Battalion has arrived in the Rehope area. Unlike New Derry, it’s not easy to isolate them, and we have to be more cautious. Plus, numbers are closer together. They have 29 mechs by the last count, and we have 36. Plus, because Countess Gustofson is actually from Caph, her area is the only one on the planet where the locals are neutral, or even slightly pro-Gustofson.

Our foes are regular and reliable. This area of Caph is near and around the Jungles. There are a lot of exotic trees and such. Our foe has their units divided across multiple defensive positions in the region, and if they want, they can flee in multiple areas, or take to the cover of the trees in the nearby jungle.

Because of the closer numbers, better defenses, a foe who knows the area, and better pilots, they intend to defend this area with the normal expectations of battle and such.

We have landed some distance away from the town of Rehope. Unlike a lot of nobility, the Countess doesn’t have a large estate far and away from the normal population that we can assault. Instead, she owns a apartment complex in Rehope, and just lives on the penthouse. She uses the ground floor of that building as the central communication hub for her unit, the area, local companies and such. There is no town hall or local HQ for using, since Rehope is just a large town.

In the area are some professional fruit picking companies that harvest fruit from the local jungle, a handful of processing plants, and some other light industry and commercial venues.

We move out various units against our foes.

Quickly one of our scout lances, from Gram Company, runs into one of theirs, and we begin to maneuver to exchange fire as a way to test each other.

Abe Sargent · 12-16-2014, 09:50 PM

Here is our scout lance:

Griffin IIc
Shadow Cat Prime
Sentry
Greyhound

This is 2 clan mechs, a Sentry and our own Kressly quad Greyhound.

They have:

Phoenix Hawk
Commando
Valkyrie
Wolverine

This is our Sentry –

It’s a cheap mech, designed to help flush out garrisons, and from there, to provide a variety of roles. It’s made on Robinson, in the Draconis March that is en-Duke’d by our ally, James Sandoval.

It features a PCC, 4 machine guns, 2 small pulse lasers, and a flamer, plus it has good movement, armor and jumps. We like them as a strong scouting mech.

Abe Sargent · 12-17-2014, 01:29 AM

We open up in a lightly wooded area in the fringes of the locals.

We win init and set up behind a copse of trees. They are diagonal on the other side.

Turn 1 – I run the Greyhound, with MASC, around the trees to set up a chance to snipe while I move the other three units into position in the woods themselves. They slide the long range mechs to the side to line up shots on our Greyhound, and then we have their Commando moving into the woods as well. Our Greyhound misses with its ER Medium Lasers at long range. They hit with an Ultra AC 5 off the Wolverine for just 5 damage and that’s it.

Turn 2. We lose init. I move our units into the copse, which are about three-two hexes wide at most. Their Commando follows and they push their Valkyrie into a nice place to bomb some LRMs over. Our Greyhound uses normal speed to back behind the woods, where only the Wolverine can see us. We push some fire into the Commando, including hitting it a few times with the Griffin IIc’s large laser and LRM5s. (Clan LRMs have no minimum range). Their Phoenix Hawk, which leapt over in support of their Commando misses but accidentally set the woods on fir with a laser.

Turn 3 – We win init. I move our forces into the fire and smoke – we can use this tactically. They move out some forces, and expose the Commando. We push, and I run our Sentry right up on the Commando. We hit the Commando multiple times, and the Watchman’s machine gun array destroys the Commando’s LA. Meanwhile our Greyhound, who MASC’d up to their Valkyrie and based it, hits it twice with SRM6 streaks and an ER medium laser, and it falls from the damage. Our Sentry kicks the Commando and destroys its LL as well and its down.

With that, their Pixie and Wolverine hop off, and the Valkyrie rises and jumps away as well. Their MW ejects from the Commando and we let her leave.

We have captured:

Commando, missing LA, LL

We win the first skirmish. And now they have 28 mechs.

Abe Sargent · 12-17-2014, 02:02 AM

Again, we had this one easy. Our pilots were Elite, Elite, Veteran, and Elite; with two clan pilots in there. Theirs were all Regular. We have two clan mechs, and a 60 ton Greyhound with a massive payload. They didn’t. A Pixie, Wolvie, Commando, and Valkyrie is not a bad scout lance, actually. It didn’t rock sucky stuff like a Wasp or anything. And all of their stuff appeared to be conventional upgraded mechs with weapons like ultra AC5 and pulse technology. But we just owned that battle.

And this should continue. This is a battalion of forces just as well equipped as this scout lance.

For example, Gram Company as a whole has 5 clanners, one more clan Mech (Vulture), and then mechs like a Thunderbolt, Salamander, Zeus, the assault Viking, and a Cestus. It’s a pretty strong company. And that’s just one company of three.

So yes, numbers aren’t that bad in their favor, but we have the skill and mechs to oust folks quickly from the battlefield.

Apr 5 – After establishing a parameter and moving around scouting, we have approached one of the lesser defense positions in the area. It rocks around 8 mechs, and a level of pickets, mines, walls, and more. In the last few years, they have acquired two mobile artillery units as well and put them in this small area.

They are well defended. It’s about 40 miles from Rehope proper. Inside are a lance of fire support mechs, and another of large, in-your-face, brawler style mechs. They were chosen well. The brawlers have some long range capability to help support the artillery and fire support mechs as we close, but then have the ability to move forward and protest our arrival to keep us pinned so that we can be hit by missiles and other long range weapons. They only have two medium mechs in there messing around, the rest are heavier units.

This is a smart, well thought out defense, at the crossroads, and with two ways into/out of the fort so they can retreat if needed. Their tanks appear to be using Arrow IV artillery, an artillery with a powerful damage capability, a small range, and with semi-guided missiles. They can lock onto a target that is painted with a piece of equipment called TAG (Target Acquisition Gear). My guess is that some of those brawlers have TAG, and they may try to light us up.

Abe Sargent · 12-17-2014, 02:40 AM

This is not a battle for lighter Mechs. So we send in Mjolnir Company, who should make short work of this. We leave behind two lighter Mech’s in their starting unit.

Here is Mjolnir –

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

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

GHB-6B Grasshopper
STY-3C Starslayer

That’s 10 medium, heavy, or assault units, including the nasty Daishi.

This is our Daishi, a 100 ton OmniMech captured from our many battles against the clans. It’s one of the deadliest, nastiest mechs in existence.

Here are our foes:

Crusader
Thunderbolt
Archer
Catapult
Huron Warrior
Hatchetman
Victor
Falconer
2 Arrow IV Tanks

Abe Sargent · 12-17-2014, 01:27 PM

Alright, here we go!

We set up in the SW corner and prepare to face their threats.

Turn 1 – We win init. I use our Daishi as a pear around which to attack. I then move folks around the Daishi. Our Gunslinger steps into some mines and the Orion does as well. Our Daishi opens up firing on their Falconer and we’ll see where it goes from there. The Daishi, firing first, hits the Falconer so many times, and clocks the head twice with SRM6 Streak missiles and the pilot blacks out. They miss with TAG and Arrow IVs. Our Starslayer had hopped over a wall and by a tank that moved out. It immobilizes the tank with its SRM4. Meanwhile we keep peppering the Falconer, and hit its gauss rifle and it explodes, destroys the RA and RT, and hits the engine and gyro each once , then our Enforcer’s LB10X hits the engine 3x more times and it’s taken down. Kill #1. They carve our Daishi with gausses, missiles, and more. Our Daishi has taken 68 damage, and falls from the damage.

Turn 2 – We win init. We hid two units behind a modest hill, and they have exposed their Victor’s back. I jump my Nobori-Nin clan mech over to its rear. I run my BattleMaster and Orion up to support the fallen Daishi. It rises, and backs up a step. Our foes haven’t fought clan mechs I’m sure, so having these here has to scare them a bit. I use our Marauder as a large scout mech and hop over the wall (it has all pulse lasers, jump jets, and an LB10x, so it’s very jumpy) I hope our Enforcer behind the damaged Arrow IV unit. See if I can’t take it out. We hit two more minefields this turn. We order a lot of weapons into their Thunderbolt. Our Enforcer hits the ammo and the tank explodes. Dead tank! Our Nobori-Nin does little to thee Victor. Ah well. Our Daishi lets loose and destroys the Thunderbolt’s RA, and then hits the anti-missile system ammo in the RT and it explodes (CASE). Our BattleMaster follows that with more damage into their Thunderbolt, and destroys its CT. Meanwhile our Marauder savages their Huron Warrior and goes internal in multiple places before the ‘Mech loses three engine hits to LB10X missiles – one in the CT and two in the RT. Their mechs continue to savage our Daishi but it stands. Our BM falls though from some fire on it. Their Hatchetman kicks the Daishi, goes internal, and our Daishi falls.

Turn 3 – We have killed three mechs and a tank in two turns. They begin to mobilize their forces to move out. We have this last turn to attack them and they will leave afterwards. We win init. I’d like to take out their other tank if possible. Our Daishi has lost almost 50% of its armor. But it fell behind a small hill and is out of sight right now. Our BM stands. I hop our Starslayer beside their Archer. I move our Marauder behind their Catapult. I split out fire over a few targets. Our Nobori-Nin destroys the front of their second tank. Our Daishi carves into their Hatchetman, opens it up, and nails two leg actuators in their LL. Their Hatchetman reciprocates by hitting the Daishi with its own LB10X, hitting the head once and the LL once for a leg actuator as well. Our Marauder hits the ammo in the Catapult. (CASE) . Our BM destroys the RA of their Hatchetman. Their Catapult falls and their pilot blacks out. Their Hatchetman falls. Their Victor, who took double gauss slugs and an alpha strike of lasers from our Gunslinger falls. None of ours do. Our Daishi kicks the downed Hatchetman and destroys its CT>

Their Victor rises and hops away. I don’t want to run into any more mines on that side of the defensive cordon.

Falconer, missing RT, RA, hit gyro and enginex4.
Huron Warrior enginex3
Catapult missing RT, RA

Thunderbolt H, LT, LA, LL, RL
Hatchetman H, RL, LL, RT, LA

Regulator Hovertank – FR destroyed

Kill – Enforcerx2, BattleMaster, Marauder, Nobori-Nin, Daishi

We destroyed two tanks, and killed or captured 5 mechs. They had three leave (Archer, Victor, Crusader).

That was a nasty fight.

Our foes are down to 23 mechs, and several are damaged.

This is what happens when you have the better weapons, tech, and folks.

Abe Sargent · 12-17-2014, 04:16 PM

Apr 6 - After seeing our heavy metal, and total evisceration of her units, the Countess decides to pack things up and move out. She can’t afford to be stable in one place anymore.

She has a few VTOLS and conventional fighters buzz to try and keep us from keeping her mechs from hitting the jungle. We can’t let that happen. So Catapult company, and its 12 aerospace fighters, takes off from Cimmeron, which is about 170 miles away. They’ll be here in less than 15 minutes.

Our goal is to use our fighters to break through any of these dopey local aerial threats, and then draw a line in the proverbial jungle, strafing and forcing them back from the jungle.

We are going to force them to fight right here.

Whoa! That was a huge fireball. They blew up one of our fighters, a Sparrowhawk. They are pushing the fighters hard- desperate. They knock another pair of fighters out of the fight, but were giving some good stuff back.

Andddddd…….

Now we have our fastest mechs between them and the jungle. We call off our fighters but another takes a lot of damage on the way out and slams into the ground. We lost two fighters, and the other two will need some repair time.

But I have to respect our foe’s determination, even misplaced

In front of us are the 23 mechs under Duchess Gustafson, and she is in a pretty looking mech (a Pillager, 100 ton assault mech with a pair of Gauss Rifles, and a lot of support for them)

She’s desperate.

She think she can break through our line of fast mechs and make the jungle. She has numbers. But a lot of our heavier mechs in this company are pretty fast, and we can support them very quickly. She orders her unit to charge and trample our three scout lances from the three battalions and then, get to the jungle.

Abe Sargent · 12-17-2014, 09:05 PM

All our mechs have to do is hold her back long enough for the rest of the forces to arrive. If we can, then we can end this here and now. On the other hand, if we lose this battle, she can just melt into the jungle of her homeland. That’ll be tough to stop later on.

Our scout lances:

Gram Company:

Greyhound
Griffin IIc
Shadow Cat Prime
Sentry

Mjolnir Company:

Starslayer
Grasshopper
Firestarter
Shadow Cat Prime

Gungnir Company:

Shadow Cat Prime
Firestarter
Sentry
Javelin

We are setting the Princess Bot on berserk.

Many of our fastest units are almost here, and will arrive in just a few turns. Our mechs with a base move of 6/9 will arrive in Turn 5, and then T6 for the many 5/8s I have. At that point, it’ll be too late for the Duchess.

I’ll skip giving you a list of all 23 mechs, and you’ve seen some. But here is her Pillager!

We begin on the east, and her on the west.

Their BV exceeds our own by a lot. But all we have to do is survive.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 04:47 AM

There’s a little elevation here, not much, and a little trees as the jungle just begins here – not much. I have the Griffin IIc begin in heavy woods, one of only two heavy spaces. Let’s use it to snipe for bit.

A Shadow Cat Prime, btw, has a Gauss Rifle, and 2 ER Medium Lasers. So we have abit of a kick.

Turn 1 – We lose initiative. I try to jump/run my mechs to their fastest speed. Obviously, there are some mechs there I’d like to take down for my garrison (Penetrator, Pillager, Wolfhound, Highlander). But I have to focus on the mission. I go prone with a pair of mechs too. Alright, weapons-hot time. We targeted their Nightsky with our Shadow Cats and it falls from damage. Our Shadow Cat Prime #3 remains standing after light hits.

Turn 2 – We lose init again. I backup our Cats. They stand their Nightsky and charge us with it. I play like light ‘Mechs and hop our Grasshopper over to in front, and above, their Nightsky, for a hope of a punt. Our Greyhound follows. Let’s be aggressive, right? Their Wolverine, with MASC, rushes in and bases a Shadow Cat. The next weapons phase begins. I try to knock down that Wolverine with damage, let’s see. Their Archer goes internal on an arm on the Shadow Cat #3. Their Valkyrie hits a Sentry pilot, and knocks the pilot out. We needed a 3 and rolled snake eyes. Their Nightsky falls and hits some arm actuators, but their Wolverine, who took 60+ damage, is standing. Ugh. We kick a Phoenix Hawk and Wolverine, nothing hits us or falls down.

Turn 3 – We lose init. Again. And we have an unconscious, immobile Sentry. And no dead units on either side. My Jav rises and runs by the downed Sentry to help it out. I use MASC to, hopefully, run my damaged S Cat out of danger for now. Their Nightsky rises again. A Gauss slug destroys the LA of their Wolfhound. The Duchess in the Pillager destroys the RT of our damaged Sentry. Our Grasshopper nails a hip and foot on their Nightsky. Their Crusader destroys the CT of our Sentry. After hoping next to our damaged S Cat, their Wolverine destroys its LA. A few more sections of the Sentry were destroyed too – just the H, and a LL are left. Our wounded S Cat #3 hits the engine of their Wolverine twice. Their Nighsky opens up the leg of S Cat #2 and hits two leg actuators. It falls. No one else does.

Turn 4 – We finally win init. I eject the Shadow Cat #3. It’s just too damaged to continue. And we win the battlefield one way or the other. I was hoping to finish off the Nightsky that round, it was badly exposed. I leap our undamaged into heavy woods next to some of their units to distract them. Hopefully they’ll miss and such. I run my Firestarter above and adjacent to their Rifleman. Again, hoping for a head punting. Grasshopper to the rear of their Shadow Hawk. I position the Greyhound nicely too. A S Cat #2 bases their Nightsky. I stand the downed one an MASC away. Alright, weapons fire time. Our S Cat Prime #1 destroys the LA on their Nightsky, then gets 2 engine and 1 gyro hit. Their Phoenix Hawk destroys the RA on our Grasshopper. Meanwhile, our Hopper nails the gryo and engine once each on their Shadow Hawk. Our S Cat #2 destroys the LT of their Nightsky, and that’s an engine kill. Their Lineholder hits a leg actuator on the Hopper too. Both their S Hawk and our Hopper fall hard. Their Valkyrie’s LL is destroyed as it falls under damage. Their Rifleman and Wolverine also tumble. Their Archer kicks and misses and falls. Muahaha!

Turn 5 – I lose init. And I eject our badly damaged Grasshopper. I run our Firestarter behind their Penetrator to continue the distraction. I leap a Firestarter #2 beside their Valkyrie. They fail to stand their Shadow Hawk, and it falls and breaks its gyro. The final turn of fire has begun. They destroy both legs on our S Cat #2. Our Firestarter #2 hits the ammo on their Valkyrie, (CASE) and the pilot blacks out. Our Greyhound’s SRM6 missiles smash into their Tempest and hits its gyro once. It falls. As does their Wolfhound. Our destroyed S Cat #2 does as well. Our Firestarter kicks their Penetrator to the ground.

And that’s it.

Valkyrie missing LL, RT
Nightsky missing LA, LT
Shadow Hawk with 2xgyro

Sentry, H, LL

Shadow Cat #3 missing LA.
Grasshopper missing RA
Shadow Cat #2 missing LL, RL

Kills: Shadow Cat #2

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 05:04 AM

Our folks begin to arrive to support our position. Starting turn 6, we get a ton of mechs to arrive, and more by the minute. They can’t push into the jungle now.

So, do you fight, with 20 mechs, many savaged with damage from this fight, or from the fighters. Against 24 fresh, fixed, heavy, medium, and assault mechs that just arrived, include clan tech, and have been virtually unstoppable against you?

You are going to lose. Badly.

Is it for pride? Or something else?

The Countess radios her surrender. We take her mechs, warriors, and herself, and place them under house arrest pending the Caph campaign, promising that we’ll re-evaluate her and her troops’ status post-campaign.

We spend a few weeks helping out.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 05:37 AM

May 1 – We have finished both campaigns, and removed the locals as threats. The only threat left are the two combined Marik/Liao mercenaries and their large campaign. Meanwhile, we have not lost mechs and such.

Our foes, in order to hold out, have moved together and built a huge defense in New Zevon. Both are regular and reliable.

So what now?

Well, now we pull out Operations with it’s fast-sim rules.

This is a way of using dice and such to represent large campaigns of regiment sized forces or more. We’ll be trying out the rules here in a bit.

Advantages we have:

We have the populace on our side particularly against these mercs

We have clan technology. Many of these folks have never seen clan mechs.

We have a better support system in place, now that we have no enemies at our back. Spare weapons, ammo, armor, vehicles, recon info, etc.

We have better MechWarriors.

Wash:

Normally, they would know the terrain better. But Lindon knows it better than they do. Plus we have locals on our side with intel as needed. So this is a wash.

Their advantages:

They are the defender

They have 170 mechs. We have 160.

They have 80 vehicles

They have slight numerical superiority. We have every other advantage.

Alright, let’s grab some dice.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 07:16 AM

We win some early skirmishes and scouting matches. Then they manage to trap us and hit us with some hidden units we didn’t notice and they win that battle, their first one.

We manage to push them and drive them into a major battle and win, before they flee. They harass us and keep us from following, and we lose some units in an over-zealous counter.

They manage to keep from us for a few weeks, and then we smash into them and stop them. We force their vehicles to match us and take a bunch out. Most have been knocked down.

Some more back and forth and we have taken nasty momentum.

Our fighters find them, our infantry invades, and we force them into a do or die scenario in terrain of their choosing. Battle’s rough, but we emerge victorious.

We lost 32 mechs across Lindon and us. They lost 55. They lost more than 50% of their vees. They have flown in DropShips, loaded up, and fled. We are able to salvage 50% of our losses and theirs, and 25% of their vees.

This campaign took 6 months and 2 weeks

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 10:27 AM

Nov 15, 3062 – We have captured Caph!

Lindon is brought back to full strength as promised.

We lost 14 mechs permanently. Need to figure out which ones. And what will replace them. Do that later.

We salvaged 13 mechs we did not give to Lindon.

So we lost a mech in the campaign, plus losses against the Grenadiers and the Countess.

We organize the 1st Caph Cavalry – They get 16 vees, the 19 Mechs from the Grenadiers, some of those pilots.

Lindon’s Battalion will head to Acamar for garrison work. Contract to end April 1, 3068. I rotate Angel’s Riders to here for garrison work. Veteran battalion of mechs, elite wing of fighters,

Caph has free elections.

Dec 1, 3062 – Countess Gustufson does not make any of the elected positions on Caph.

We freed her a while, but she ran for election and was trounced. Her people need a different sort of rulership for now.

She has chosen to head back to Davion space to lend aid against the growing Katrina-filled issues there and we let her take her Pillager. We retain the rest of her unit for the planet’s defenses, although a handful of pilots choose to leave behind their machines to follow her.

Dec 3, 3062 – Caph applies for membership in the Celestial Coalition. We accept them in!

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 11:35 AM

Alright, we’ll look at mechs, and then talk about finances (how much did this thang cost) and what next for Caph (get ready, there’s a lot to like about Caph…)

As a reminder, when K&C launches on a mission for the Coalition, all ammo, armor, replacements, techs, and replacement parts are paid 100%. But, any lost mechs we have to pay for ourselves. And we get full salvage, although we have heavily donated units to local militia we create.

Most of the losses that are irreplaceable were in Beta Regiment, which has weaker units and pilots than our heavy Nordic Weapon Battalion.

Mechs and such!

I reserve the right to use ‘Mechs I really like to replace those I don’t from the Grenadiers before turning them over. So if we salvaged, say, a Vulcan, from the mercs we took out, maybe I want a Penetrator instead.

And we still salvaged the mechs we took in battle against the Grenadiers, over and above this 13.

That was a Shadow Hawk, Nightsky, Commando, Falconer, Huron Warrior, and Catapult

And we have to pay to fix our salvage.

Plus we lost a Sentry as well. One of the mechs we captured was a Sentry though, from the Grenadiers, so I’ll swap that 1:1.

Our changes:

Boxer Company:

Ibrahim Sofala’s PXH is destroyed and replaced by that Wolfhound
Sarah Goldberg’s Comet was destroyed. It was replaced by a salvaged Wolverine
Abelard Blauvelt’s Rifleman was replaced by a Marauder

Hex Company:

Wendy Worthington’s Vindicator is replaced by a Penetrator
Patricia Enckbayar’s Comet was replaced by a Dart

Phaeton Company:

Bryant McKinnon’s Panther is replaced by a Shadow Hawk
Earl Ray Williams’s Thunderbolt is replaced by an Anvil

Raven Company:

Maltida Green’s Marauder is replaced by a Huron Warrior

Laser Company:

Wendy Padbury’s Trebuchet is replaced by a Catapult
Lyle Vickers Commando is replaced by a Phoenix Hawk

Mustang Company:

Irene Shevchenko’s STK-3F Stalker is replaced by a Cestus
Lacy Kline’s Comet is replaced bb

Aleph Company (Our first company!)

Chao Diochan’s Griffin for Whitworth
Emmanuel Sanders Javelin for Hermes

Not a good day for our Comets!

I move some mechs to our stables (we moved a few out here too)

What we are going to do is finish refitting and fixing these mechs ,and then swap. Breaker Battalion of Gamma Regiment is going to swap here and help with garrisoning Caph, until all of the units here are up and ready, and in a year or so will bounce back to EE.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 04:30 PM

Dec 22, 3062 – Beta Regiment and Nordic Weapon Battalion have arrived back on EE.

Why did we care so much about Caph?

Easily – it has some useful technology.

Even earlier than first, let me introduce you to…Iveco Corporation. This company makes a variety of vehicles, and one, The Iveco Burro armored truck, is known as one of the most high quality armored trucks out there, particularly, their military grade Burro II, (Burro II - BattleTechWiki) a 50 ton all terrain cargo vee.

First of all, we immediately begin restoring the destroyed infrastructure that was defeated in 5 years of fighting. After that, we’ll send in teams to work on reclaiming some of the easier wastelands to help out with.

Our major target is to decontaminate, repair, and restore the Browning-Corning, Lmd plant here on Caph. It made support vehicles, like MASH vees., Mobile HQs, and recovery vehicles. Kressly thinks there is a market for upgraded support vees, since few haven’t done so.

(This is precisely what Word of Blake did when they captured it, and they had the factory working in a year of work. Let’s say it takes us 18 months).

We expect to have the plant up and running around Mar 1, 3064. It could make the support vehicles it already did, and then refab some new line as well, in order to take advantage of the new economic opportunities.

One of the most important vees it made was the Oppenheimer Hazardous Material Recovery Vehicle (HMRV). (http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Oppie) This was used until the plant was destroyed to clean up nuclear, biological, and chemical contamination from those weapons. It can be used to help clean up the rest of Caph. It is a great irony of the Succession Wars that the plant was destroyed in the same attacks that hurt the world.

The existing company just has a couple of minor plants elsewhere on the surface, and still exists. They don’t have the blueprint though, and would have to work backwards to rebuild it. I think I might know someone who does know, though. If we can get it to them, we can help a lot, not only here, but in other war-torn areas of the Inner Sphere.

“Along with many cities and other sites on Caph the Browning-Corning, Limited plant remained a hotspot that the locals lacked the resources to reclaim and rebuild during the decline of the later Succession Wars while the planet itself was benignly neglected by the Great Houses.”

That policy changes today. For too long we’ve neglected our brethren.

Kressly Warworks, Inc will also partner with B-C, L, buy some of their stock, and invest in them, just as they did in Bryant with the Lantren Corporation. And then gain some of their profit. This should help them get some vehicles out more quickly and efficiently.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 06:18 PM

Next up is Lang Industries Incorporated, a plant making old Shadow Hawks. Just one line works, and they make one a month, of the old, 3025-era Shadow Hawk, without any restored technology at all. We could easily help them retool and expand into two lines. Project Phoenix could hit here on Caph! Lang was the first company to create the Shadow Hawk. It was on and off due to mis-spent capital and rebuilding destroyed lines and such over the centuries since. But it stubbornly held on.

There is another plant on planet, but it’s deeper in the decontaminated zone. It’s a former factory of Martinson Armaments, now just on Terra. It used to make BattleMechs, but we’re not sure what.

Exterminators used to be made here in a General Systems factory, but the factory appears to have been destroyed so much that it can’t be reclaimed.

Skobel Mechworks, now just on Terra, used to have a factory here that is near the Martinson Armaments factory. Many of these companies were in a large chain of mountains that were mined for Coltan, Bauxite, Iron, Gold, and Titanium. Multiple DropPorts were arrayed in the center of this mining complex, and that is where Skolbel, Martinson, General Systems, and another company had their facilities. They were guarded more easily here as well. But the contamination is deep here in the mountain, as would be expected, since it was the site of some explosions and such.

Stormvanger Assemblies was in this area too, and now just has a factory on Hesperus II. It made Cyclops and Javelin mechs. It was too destroyed to be rebuilt or refurbished as well.

But Skobel and Martinson are potentially salvageable. They were abandoned due to nuclear fallout from a bomb some distance away, (but not explosions from that bomb) and from biological agents that were used on the factory area themselves. The other two were destroyed by multiple kinetic explosions and energy weapons.

But it’s certainly conceivable that we could clean this up and reboot those factories with their mechlines.

Caph was one of the first worlds settled by people. So naturally there was a lot of industry built here too.

And with the investments in Caph’s military, production, and investment, it’s easy to see why we can continue to help these folks out from a huge level, while also getting some ourselves.

End of the Caph Campaign

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 09:13 PM

3062 Continued

Mar 13, 3062 - Duke Essex meets with Chief Foster and Major Zhen to discuss the ongoing unrest in the Federated Commonwealth worlds. It's clear that this will all come to a head. He begins to make military plans, and moves up the timetable to strike at the potential target he has been working with Word of Blake on. Meanwhile they begin to build up battle plans for nearby systems, planets, invasions, defenses, and more. Ammo, extra armor, extra weapons and more are beginning to stockpile. They invest in more defenses, more intelligence, more infantry.

Meanwhile he begins to increase overtures to local governments diplomatically and economically to build better relations. His first overtures to nearby FedCom worlds Ruchbah, Errai, Nanking, Woodstock, Kawich and Zurich are warmly received by some areas.

Archon-Princess Katrina has been quelling minor rebellions, squabbles, and the press in nasty fashion, and there are ripples that can be felt in many places. War is coming.

Apr 1, 3062 – By today, we’ve restored around 12 mechs from battlefield salvage where I had most of the pieces. That includes a Hunchback, Javelin, Enforcer, Goliath, Commando, and so forth. Often we’re missing a CT unit, so we just need to but that, buy the engine and gyro (if unsalvaged) and then rebuild the mech.

Apr 13, 3062 – After beginning continued investment in the Essex Academy begun more than 2 years ago, we have finished expanding it fully. We now have the mechs and ability to have larger classes, and we will create a unit from seniors this year as well.

Apr 15, 3062 – A counter-offensive by St. Ives Compact in the ongoing St.Ives/Capellan war has been very successful over the last few months, although everyone knows it’s just a matter of time.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 09:58 PM

May 2, 3062 – Multiple nerve gas agents have been released in the St. Ives/Capellan war against th4e compact by Kali Liao, in a massively nasty event that will be known as the Black May attacks. The attacks will continue into June by the Thuggee Cult that Kali heads. Sun-Tzu will arrest Kali, send her to the Star League for war crimes.

May 15, 3062 -Duke Essex and several others from the Celestial Coalition attend the Wedding Ceremony of Victor Ian Steiner-Davion and Omi Kurita, only daughter of Theodore Kurita. It is held on Tukkayid, world in the Free Rasalhague Republic on which ComStar fought off the Invasion and the Clans. The symbolism is obvious (Plus he couldn’t marry on a FedCom or Lyran world, Luthien looks odd, and Terra is no longer ComStar, so this is the obvious place for a neutral wedding of the Precentor-Martial of ComStar and a Princess of the Draconis Combine. Kai Allard-Liao is the Best Man in-absentia (currently in war with St. Ives).

June 12, 3062 – Three Draconis Combine regiments, without authorization, cross the border to hit the Draconis March, including an attack on Robinson itself. They were likely prompted by the Black Dragon Society, an alliance of old school Combine folks that really don’t like the direction of the modern Combine.

June 17, 3062 – The River of Fate, a Merchant JumpShip of ours is currently not on assignment, so it is doing merchant work to help pay the bills. It left a nearby system in New Home, and then never arrived at its destination in Epsilon Indi, to deliver some cargo, including passengers and food stuffs. It is three days since it was supposed to arrive and it still has not.

Perhaps it misjumped elsewhere and is recharging its batteries. Perhaps it exploded or was damaged. There might have been espionage at work, maybe even a hijacking. The most likely situation is that it’s recharging and will arrive again after a misjump

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 11:15 PM

July 30, 3062 – After being assaulted by two Skye Regiments there, the Draconis Combine officially annexes the 8 worlds of the Lyon’s Thumb they were holding as “peacekeepers”.

Aug 1, 3062 - The River of Fate still has not arrived on any systems and has been missing now for over a month. We have been unable to track it done. We place it on MIA status.

September 1, 3062 – After refitting and re-establishing their unit to regiment size, the Celestial Coalition re-up Smithson’s Chinese Bandits with a four-year retainer contract.

September 27, 3062 – The planet of St. Ives has fallen.

Abe Sargent · 12-18-2014, 11:54 PM

October 16, 3062 – The Duchy of Andurien and the Mathews family contacts us. Their JumpShip, the Tramp, has not been selling well and they are sitting on some extras. The Tramp was made in Star League era but had not been made for a while. It was considered a weaker JumpShip compared to other options available on the market.

They heard we lost a JumpShip. The company near Andurien making Star Lord JumpShips decided to create Tramps again in order to make money from a burgeoning JumpShip market in the late 3040s. A few years later, they began making Tramps. About 9 or 10 were made when a major, but easily fixable, issue was found in the drive system. A recall and refitting took a few years, but was easy enough. As a result, due to the Tramps old reputation and new one, they have not sold that well.

The Duchy is sitting on a pair they haven’t been able to sell. They know we need more Aerospace assets. They offer to sell it to us at a reduced cost. We negotiate to buy them at cost, and they will remove their under-the-table funding of the Coalition.

With the Styk Commonality and Sarna Supremacy no more or getting that way, the Matthews Money is simply heading to Saiph now.

We move some mechs and money to Andurien, and hold on for more money later, beginning monthly payments. (We’ll pay for most of these by sending them ‘Mechs from Liberty).

12-14-2014, 04:04 PM	#4
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	I have used tons of sources for this dynasty. In particular, two major online sources are heads and shoulders above others. The first was the InnerSphere Atlas - Inner Sphere Atlas That was nice! But, the #1 resource, by far is the Sarna wiki. By the way, I write for the blog part of Sarna website! BattleTechWiki Sarna is the real deal. Meanwhile, I have a ton of Technical Readouts, rules books, sourcebooks, and even a scenario pack that we will be running in this chapter. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 04:15 PM	#5
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	So what is this thing anyway? Using the rules of the wargame BattleTech (which made my #1 game in my Top Ten Games list of all time BattleTechWiki ) as well as the MegaMek software, I have created a dynasty set in the BattleTech universe. I do a ton of research to try to make sure that as many mainline elements from the real universe are included in mine. I've only made a few minor changes at first, that then turn into bigger and bigger changes, so that, by the end of this chapter, we will have a huge shift in a major, major key event. What will that change be? You'll see! But in the meantime, this dynasty began with a small, mixed forces company of mercenaries. Over time, it got bigger and bigger, and then fought in major wars and did contracts for major players. Eventually, the unit grew into on of the biggest mercenary commands in existence. Then the unit's home planet, and nearby systems fell into Chaos. They were no longer part of any state, and pirates, local nobles, and more increased power considerably. So we decided to step into the gap, and began to carve a new state, the Celestial Coalition, from the nearby systems. Now the mercenary unit is the major arms force of the Coalition and its leader, Duke Essex, is the same guy who formed a small company of mercs a long time ago From scrapping together coins to try and find the cash to keep their command afloat to investing in infrastrucutre and running a multi-system nation, this campaign has veered multiple times. I have plotted this entire dynasty, like Babylon 5, and I included a variety of doors in case things happened. So if Braham Essex died on the battlefield, I had plans in place for how that would shift things. Who would have stepped into the gap. That's what this dynasty is! __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 12-14-2014 at 04:18 PM.

12-14-2014, 07:06 PM	#6
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Because this is the final chapter of our Kilts and Commandos Dynasty, and because it’s been more than a year since the last pure chapter was penned, I will be beginning this dynasty with a state of affairs, as things stand, on January 1, 3062. I’ll hit up the final timeline for 3062 in the previous thread and wave in the new stuff from this chapter into it. Dramatis Personae – Duke Braham Essex - 60, Was a MechWarrior. Born the son of a military adjutant to the Capellan Forces on Acamar. His mother passed away in childbirth. Quite rare these days but not unheard of. Raised on his parent’s homeworld of Epsilon Eridani, Braham was raised a bit by his adopted family in the Capellan barracks. Although he spent some time on Acamar with his father, both his father and himself considered EE their home. Like many children, Braham wanted to be a MechWarrior from an early age, and despite the lack of family resources to purchase one, he was determined. When his father died in a raid on Acamar by the Dracs when he was 11, he continued to train and push harder and harder. After testing well enough to gain entry to the Martial Training Academy on Tikonov, he continue to push himself until he graduated as the best MechWarrior in his class of 23. With a high set of credentials and references, Braham was a recruit for the Northwind Highlanders, a house mercenary unit for the Capellan Confederation. During the Second Succession War, the Federated Suns captured the planet of Northwind, and House Liao used the atrocities committed by House Davion to cement the loyalty of the Highlanders, and pledged to them full independence should Liao recapture Northwind. Over the centuries, Capella failed again and again to capture Northwind, and the Highlanders continued to be among the elite units serving House Liao. Then, in 3028, Hanse Davion secretly contacted the Highlanders prior to launching the Fourth Succession War. He offered to give them Northwind in return to fealty to him. After discussing it for a long time, the Highlanders decided to leave their many years of service to Capella and pledged loyalty as a house unit of the Federated Suns (not even a mercenary unit any more). In return, Davion gave them an amount of freedom. A small minority of Highlanders chose to defect from the unit, believing that their contract with Capella should be honored. Among those defectors was Braham Essex. He defected and was assigned by the Capellan Confederation to fight with the veteran Blackwind Lancers. The Fourth Succession War had begun. When Candace Liao falls in love with a Davion spy, she decides to use the war to declare the St. Ives Commonality now independent of the Capellan Confederation. This succession brings many military units from the CCAF with her, including the Blackwind Lancers. Once again faced with choosing to defect from his unit or defect from his state, Braham Essex chooses to leave the Lancers. By now, the Tikonov Free Republic has been created, with one of the highest and most trusted military leaders, Pavel Ridzik, choosing to also vacate the realm he had served all of his life in order to create a new state. The planet of Epsilon Eridani joined the Tikonov Free Republic. In the wake of these dissidents, and two elite units Braham was serving leaving to join others, he realized that the Confederation was falling apart. With his own homeworld no longer a part of the Confederation, he felt his loyalty waning. Braham also felt no love for the St. Ives Compact, Tikonov Free Republic, or Federated Suns. Choosing instead to form his own mercenary company, the Kilts and Commandos, he left for Outreach, making some contacts with other disaffected MechWarriors from the Northwind Highlanders and the Blackwind Lancers. At the age of 16, Braham Essex arrived at the Martial Training Academy on Tikonov. While there, he distinguished himself enough to warrant placement with the Highlanders, and he met Ted Izumo, an instructor. Essex has won the Liao Sunburst of Gallantry during battle with the Highlanders for the destruction of several enemy Battlemechs after his lance mates all fell, and completing the objective by himself. It is the most minor of Liao decorations and regularly given out. After graduating from the Tikonov Academy, Essex served a full tour of duty with the Highlanders and had begun his second term with them when they left. He then served with the Lancers for most of his remaining term before they too defected. In January of 3031, he took his first contract as the commander of the Kilts and Commandos, a new mercenary unit built from the disaffected from the old Capellan Confederation. Over time, he won various contracts, battles and campaigns, and built his unit to almost two regiments of troops. He began by piloting his own a medium fire support mech he took with him when everything fell apart, a Dervish, but upgraded to a heavier Orion, which was lost in combat. Then he purchased a heavy and iconic Warhammer before moving to a Cataphract, a Liao design that had been used by the Governor of a planet that Braham killed while doing a contract for the St. Ives Compact. The first high profile action the unit saw was in 3034, when the unit was contracted to fight alongside the Rasalhague Rebellion as they formed the Free Rasalhague Republic. As many elements in the Draconis Combine fought against this in the Ronin Wars, the battle pitted some Combine elements against themselves, the new Rasalhague units, fighting, and mercenaries. At the end of the War, most of the mercenary units had used minor clauses in their contracts to not help out the Republic, but Braham forced his unit to assist, and was rewarded with the Rasalhague Star. At the end, the FRR developed a dislike for mercenaries, and hired them rarely, but Kilts and Commandos is treated with respect and will eventually become one of the main FRR military forces in the mid to late 3040s. After taking a contract in 3037 on the planet of Somerset, Braham’s Cataphract was destroyed in an ammo explosion. The ejection seat failed to function properly and Braham was flung from the wreckage. His body was broken, burned, bruised and bloody. After a long recovery, Braham lost his left leg and left arm, and they were replaced by myomer limbs. His skills degraded and he had the skills of a regular pilot again. On Feb 3, 3038, Braham Essex emerged from almost a year’s convalescence and had been training and retraining with his troops on Epsilon Eridani. He began training with his unit again. While most of Kilts and Commandos joined the combined assault on the Draconis Combine in the War of 3039, Braham took one company and fought in the final year of the Andurien War and served at the Fall of Andurien, the bloodiest campaign in the first half of the 31st century. While there, he won the Andurien Epaulet. After Andurien fell, Braham moved to Solaris VII and began a campaign as a gladiator MechWarrior. After showing some flash, Braham allied himself with Starlight Stables and worked his way up the system. He won a Grand Melee, placed in another, and climbed up the rankings to #8. His only duel he lost was to the #1 ranked MechWarrior. He is elite status again as a MechWarrior. Receiving an interesting contract from ComStar, Braham chose to leave his Solaris VII career behind and led a company of mechs in a 5 year mission for the ComStar Explorer Corps, exploring beyond the periphery in the unknown. He came back recently, and has been organizing the unit, and moving most to contracts with the Free Rasalhague Republic. After piloting mechs like Orion, Atlas, Hunchback, Jenner in the Solaris arenas, and an Awesome for the Explorer Corps, plus the Exterminator in a stealth mission, he is continuing in a modified Orion as the CO of a new Shadow Company, a powerful elite company with all LosTech mechs that operates independent of the command structure of his mercenary unit. After the ComStar contract finished, Braham’s unit was drawn into the Clan Invasion and performed quite well. Kilts and Commandoes emerged from the first half of the 3050s with more mechs, men, and medals, than most other units in the Inner Sphere. The legacy of Essex was secured in 3057. After Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion chose to replace a dead Joshua Marik with a duplicate in order to keep the Free Worlds League in the dark and supplying his troops, the veritable battle was enjoined as the gig was revealed by the Capellan Confederation. The Capellan, led by House Liao, and FWL, led by House Marik, launched join attacks into the Federated Commonwealth in retribution. In a short period, numerous planets had been recaptured by Marik and Liao. Marik finishes their war goals and sues for peace, leaving the Caps un-allied. They take their gains, but foment rebellion and guerrilla warfare on the remaining planets. Wrested from the FedCom control was the creation of a No-Man’s land that was a hotbed of independent planets, small burgeoning states, and rampant pirates called the Chaos March. Into this was Braham Essex, who chose to order the General on planet in Epsilon Eridani to quell all rebellion. It was brutal and fast, and ended bombings and other terrorist actions on the planet. Instead of being complimented, Braham and the General were chastised by the local planetary government and ordered to the council on the hook for going outside the chain of command. They came alright. On the head of a large army. Government was disbanded, elections were held, and Essex was elected head of the government in EE, the first democratic elections they’ve held in quite some time. Essex reached out and helped nearby systems win their freedom, and then began the Celestial Coalition. Elected as its head, Duke Essex began a long-term campaign to adopt numerous nearby Chaos March systems into the Coalition. He’s had to organize intelligence, military, explorations, economic, industrial, and diplomatic requirements since his election to lead the CC. His goals appear to continue to grow the state, and not content to rest on its laurels. Form the three founding members, his state has carved a 13 system big nation. And its growing. The economy is quite strong and enabled him to grow the nation in a variety of ways. Duke Braham Essex State Academy, State University, Two Terms of Service. Piloting Skill - 2 Gunnery Skill - 2 Influence - 3 Member Modifiers - -2 family, +3 friends, +6 unit Age: 60 Decorated: Liao Sunburst of Gallantry; Rasalhague Star; Andurien Epaulet Skills: Edge: 5 Tactical Genius Gunnery: Ballistic Ace Maneuvering Myomer Left Arm, Left Leg __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 12-14-2014 at 08:49 PM.

12-14-2014, 08:48 PM	#7
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Former Col. Ted Izumo – 84. Now retired, founding member of the K&C Unit, and was a trainer of Essex in his Academy days. He has been running the Essex Training Academy in Epsilon Eridani, the local garrison, and the administrative requirements there. Ted won many engagements against the Dragon in the War of 3039 with our unit, but had semi-retired in EE when the clan invasion hit. Former Sgt. Adele Thompson – 62. Now retired. Adele is a married minor noble from EE that is well connected politically. She was the other founding member of Kilts and Commandos. She ran a scout lance from her Firestarter, and never really wanted more, despite fighting with the unit for more than 25 years. She only killed a handful of targets during that time as well. Adele was a member of the Committee on EE that met in answer to the insurgency in 3057. Adele is also the mother of a child with Braham Essex, Thoma Marie Essex. Both Braham and Adele married other people after Thoma was born. Elizabeth Walters-Essex – 56. CEO of Kressly Warworks, Inc, a major supplier of military materiel to folks in and around the Coalition. She is married to Duke Essex, a political connection that helped KWI considerably. KWI has never had a better CEO is terms of expansion and profit. Like Adele, Elizabeth was a member of the Committee in 3057, and like Adele, Elizabeth is the mother of one of Essex’s children, son James Roderick Essex. Lt. Thoma Marie Essex – 25, currently with a small command in the 15th Lyran Guards on Hesperus II, one of the most important postings in the Lyran Alliance. She graduated 5th from the prestigious Nagelring Academy. Thoma has intentionally chosen a posting away from her family so that she can grow into the MW she can be, and her tutor growing up was Ted Izumo. The 15th is an elite, fanatically loyal unit that helps to guard the extremely valuable military-based industry in Hesperus II. James Roderick Essex – 21, currently employed with KWI, James is working his way quickly up the infrastructure of the company. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 09:02 PM	#9
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Chief Ingrid Foster - ???. Ingrid is the chief of the Apollo Office, the intelligence agency that works for the Coalition. She personally handled a major operation on Acamar, and was on charge when we negotiated to get Word of Blake ROM agents and files transferred to our intelligence agency. General Pierre Benton – General of the armed forces on Epsilon Eridani. Another of the Committee of 3057, and one of the two key people involved in the freedom and independence of EE as well. Pierre is vocally Pro-EE and Pro-Coalition and has grown very Anti-House. Ambassador Yee – Will be hired post-Liberty in 3063 after failing to stop Col. Renard on their planet, Ambassador Yee is going to become one of the major diplomatic aides to Duke Essex and the Coalition. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 03:52 PM	#2
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	MegaMek is a freeware Java-based program that you can download and use to play BattleTech against bots or peoples. We are using the latest stable release, from this summer. It's a very strong build. They have supposedly been working on making the AI better, specifically the Princess Bot, and we'll lean on it as our foe. Interested in MegaMek and other fun stuff? MegaMek \| an unofficial, online version of the Battletech board game There are ongoing campaigns you can join via MekWars, you can design your own units on MegaMekLab and use MekHQ to track your company and take contracts and such. I track our units on Excel spreadsheets, and there are some out there that have been fully tricked out in a variety of ways, dinging all of the rules for Dragoons ratings, repair, medical staff, and more. I use one for each company in our TOE. (Table of Organization and Equipment, a list of a military's full assets). I personally use the not-free software called Heavy Metal, which is officially licensed. That's my software for making fighters, small craft, tanks, mechs, and more. It's not cheap, biut I like the quality it offers over free options, like Solaris Skunkworks. http://www.heavymetalpro.com/ __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 12-14-2014 at 03:54 PM.

12-14-2014, 04:00 PM	#3
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Here are are many previous chapters of this ongoing story... This is not required reading. Shoot, it would take you a week to get caught up. You can start with this chapter if you want, that's okay. Previous Chapters: Chapter 1 - The Beginning, 3030-3038 - The Battletech Dynasty, Chapter 1 - 3030-38 - Front Office Football Central Chapter 2 - The War of 3039, 3039 - The BattleTech Dynasty: Chapt 2, 3039 - Front Office Football Central Chapter 3 - Solaris VII, 3040-3042 - The BattleTech Dynasty: Chapt 3, Solaris VII, 3040-3042 - Front Office Football Central Chapter 4 - The Explorer Corps, 3043-3049 - The BattleTech Dynasty: Chapt 4, Explorer Corps - 3042-49 - Front Office Football Central Chapter 5 - The Invasion, 3050-3056 - The Battletech Dynasty: Chapt. 5 - The Invasion, 3050-3056 - Completed - Front Office Football Central Chapter 6 - The Opportunity of Chaos - 3057-3058 - The BattleTech Dynasty, Chapt 6 The Opportunity of Chaos (3057-58) - Chapter Complete - Front Office Football Central Chapter 6.5 - Of Dogs and Cats - 3059-3061 - The BattleTech Dynasty, Chapt 6.5, Of Dogs and Cats - Front Office Football Central Chapter 7 - Consolidations and Preparations 3059 - 3062 - The BattleTech Dynasty, Chapt 7,Consolidation and Preparations – 3059-3062 - Complete - Front Office Football Central Chapter 7.5 - To Liberty! 3063 This is a MechCommander 2 Dynasty (MechCommander 2 Dynasty! - Done! - Front Office Football Central) __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 08:55 PM	#8
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Col. Matthew Humphries – 52, As the founding three members went elsewhere, Matthew Humphries was given the unit. He joined from the Fall of Andurien where Braham Essex personally fought at the Fall for Andurien for a long time. Humphries chose to come and bring some of his mechs and soldiers to Kilts and Commandos. Matthew is distantly in line for the Dukedom (something like 16th or some such). He gained massively more fame with us when he defeated Clan Ghost Bear on Thule after agreeing to use the batchall system. It was the first loss the clans suffered at the hands of an Inner Sphere unit. After seeing his home planet fall, he wanted dearly to keep combat away from civilians and readily agreed to anything that would keep non-0combatents and the infrastructure safe – proxy battle elsewhere in quiet, uninhabited places suited him perfectly. He won several times against the clans, and was an instant star in the Inner Sphere as his story was told in news. Everyone wanted to find out who this man was, and it was a bring day for mercenaries everywhere, particularly those like Kilts and Commandos, Kell Hounds, and Wolf’s Dragoons that had defeated the clan threat. Afterwards, Matthews was promoted to run the unit as Izumo retired to focus on the garrison and Academy, and then Essex left to run a nation. Maj. Mei Zhen - 47. The XO of the unit is Mei Zhen. She is in charge of all maintenance, purchasing and sales, contract negotiation, recruiting, and other administrative tasks. Maj. Zhen is 2nd in command for purposes out the combat theater. She reports to Humphries. But inside of it, the other Colonels outrank her and have tactical command. Capt. Randall Lewis – 50. Captain Lewis served personally with General Alexandr Kerensky during the final days of the Star League in the late twenty-eighth century. After another Captain disobeyed orders, won a battle that should never have been fought, and was given command of an experimental WarShip as a “reward”, Randall Lewis was made the Xo of the unit and reported to Kerensky directly and was the real authority. Then that ship jumped, and was held in stasis for centuries, to emerge into the Smoke Jaguar space. We were in the same sector, captured that WarShip in a Trial from the Smoke Jaguar Clan after they had done the same, and then traded that WarShip for another of the same class with ComStar and they gave us a bunch of other stuff to make it worth our while. Many folks from that ship defected to our own, and we promoted Lewis to Captain and he runs the Aegis-class warship, the Swift Victory, in our navy. He is a cubby, fun, gregarious individual who is sharp, fought in some of the largest naval battles of all time, and knows his craft very well. Capt. Conner Ward – 34. This clan fighter was captured in the Clan Invasion and had won his clan bloodname. He now runs Shadow Battalion in our organization and tends to be one of our experts on clan-dom these days. We captured many others that are all in our TOE, but as the highest placed one in our organization, Ward tends to be the one at hand when we have an idea or question. Col. Larry Rowe – 48. Leader of all of our AeroSpace assets, save for Lewis’s Swift Victory and whatever units are assigned to the Warship at the time. This includes a large number of Jump-capable, Aerospace fighters, Small Craft, and DropShips. Because he is in charge of a different aspect of our unit, he is not in line of command in an emergency unless it is space-based. Magnus – Our first bondsman was taken on Thule against Clan Ghost Bear by Col. Matthew Humphries. Using his advice and knowledge of the clans in general and Ghost Bear in particular, he helped to guide us in understanding all things clan. Today we have 25 clan techs, 10 clan elementals and ex-bondsmen from every invading clan – Smoke Jaguar, Nova Cat, Steel Viper, Jade Falcon, Ghost Bear and Wolf. But Magnus is still our primary advisor on the clans. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 12-24-2014 at 02:34 PM.

12-14-2014, 09:10 PM	#10
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Allies & Such - Duke James Sandoval – Ally March Lord of the Draconis March who considers us a friend and ally. We worked very closely in the War of 3039 and subsequently helped him on several occasions. For example, when we salvaged a new, fresh-off-the-lines Wolverine from the Draconis Combine, we gave it to him. The Sandoval family has become closer to ours ever since. The Humphries Family – Due to our assistance in the Andurien War that went far above and beyond what was expected or contracted, we gained a major ally in the Humphries family that runs the Duchy of Andurien in the Free World League. The presence of Matthew Humphries in our unit does not hurt this relationship either. Multiple nations in the Chaos March were given some Humphries money to keep them afloat and we have as well. Regent Christian Mansdottir – After we helped the Free Rasalhague Republic form in the Ronin Wars, we were given high priority in their eyes. Then, while working for them on a retainer, we fought against the Clans, and defeated multiple clans fighting for the FRR. We are the only non-Comstar unit to make that claim. We are beloved and legendary in FRR. Mansdottir, currently Regent in control of the FRR, has continued the relationship. We can buy units from their factories meant for them and ComStar. We have shipped ‘Mechs we captured to them for free just to help them out. Meanwhile, they are the largest buyer of units from Kressly after us. And he nominated us for membership in the Star League. We will have a presentation and vote due at the next Whitting Conference, 3064, to attempt to secure our spot. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 09:32 PM	#11
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*The Celestial Coalition –* After freeing the planet of Epsilon Eridani of the Liao rebels, Col. Braham Essex and General Pierre Benton were both brought into trial by the weak government that allowed the incidents to happen. Essex and Benton chose instead to oust the government, and host an election, one in which Braham Essex was elected ruler of EE. After offering aid to the nearby planets of Terra Firma and Capolla, the triad of planets formed council of planets called the Celestial Coalition. It has been an egalitarian democratic government ever since. For example, it rotates its capital world every year, rather than have one world be so favored. It has a ruling council of an elected representative from each planet. One member of the council is voted the ruler of the Coalition. Braham Essex has won every election by a ton and never really had a lot of opposition, but the open policies have really pushed the Coalition. You can imagine how popular this plays out in the Chaos March, where nobility and the Great Houses have wrought poverty, lawlessness, gangs, bandits, and uncertain future. An increasing number of nearby worlds without a flag have been looking toward the Coalition. The CC has been actively looking to expand. It captured Acamar, Genoa, Elgin, Hsien and Bryant. Meanwhile we were invited to invade Ingress to take it from the Duchy of Small, we annexed willingly Epsilon Indi, we colonized Asmodeus, we purchased Sheratan, and we were asked to absorb Fletcher. So we’ve expanded in different ways. We have been officially recognized as an official state by all five houses, Blake, Comstar, and Rasalhague. Planets that would have been upset had we taken them shortly after they won their “independence” are now looking very differently. And we have been treating folks nicely and have a good reputation in the area. Planets such as Caph, Arboris, Keid, and Carver V are good opportunities for expansion. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 09:48 PM	#12
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Planets in the CC:* Epsilon Eridani – Home of Duke Essex, Kressly Warworks, the Kilts and Commandos mercenary unit, and a lot more too. It’s the cornerstone world of this area, and Coalition’s most industrial world. Capolla – Damaged some in the early days of the Chaos March troubles, we quickly ended issues here with garrison units we had on planet. Like the other two founding planets, it has a very strong, very diverse, economy. Terra Firma – This planet was the most damaged in the battle, but it has been fully restored and the economy is strong and bustling. Acamar – We drove an invasion force to the mining planet (and asteroids) in the Acamar system. We captured the highly divided, wealthy, cold planet. We’ve since seen off a major invasion and a major espionage scuffle. Epsilon Indi – In order to get protection from heavy raider/bandit problems, they agreed to come under our umbrella, and Duke Abraham really hasn’t regretted. It’s economy it’s as well developed as the others, but it’s no slouch. Fletcher – This planet prides itself on its self-sufficiency. It came to up in fear of the Duchy of Small, and doesn’t ask for a lot or give a lot. That was until we found that it was once the largest industrial center of StarCorps Industries, one of the biggest companies of the Star League era. (SCI has proliferated into a number of plants elsewhere). A while ago we contacted SCI about the possibility of rebooting their factories here on Fletcher. And Nightshade VTOLs were made here by Yelm Weapons. SCI hasn’t really been answering us quickly or easily. Ingress – A hugely important agrarian world with a massive agricultural economy and a vital bread-basket for the Coalition. Elgin – Large oceanic world with islands carved into fiefdoms, lots of sea farming, tourism and manufacturing. Robust economy developed by investment by previous owners. Bryant – Quickly becoming a pain in the region due to the presence of multiple pirate bands, Bryant was captured and absorbed. We invested in its industry and technology, but it’s a drain in resources, since it was badly destroyed after all of the Atmospheric Control Satellites were destroyed in the Succession Wars. Genoa – Another rich mining world, this planet is on the other side of a small pair of FedCom planets that divide Genoa from us. We took it, and then defended it against a major invasion. Hsien – Multiple people were sparring for control until we landed, and took it over. Not that wealthy, best described as a modest economy. Sheratan – This planet, with massive forests used for things such as logging and rubber, was burned in the early days of the Chaos March as a unit set the forest on fire to protect its withdrawal. The Duchy of Small took and wanted to invest into it, but after a few years of trying to invest in new farms over dead forests, they ran of out money to invest. So we bought it and Sheratan has now joined us. It’s the right idea and we continue to push and develop it. Asmodeus (III) – This planet has a huge mineral potential, and is currently being mined by multiple mining interests we contacted. We are colonizing it right now. These thirteen planets and systems make up the current Celestial Coalition. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 09:58 PM	#13
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Major Military Industries:* Terra Firma – Bander BattleMechs – They make the Bandersnatch at roughly 2 a year now. Fletcher – Flame Tech makes both vehicular and Mech flamres here (as well as on the other Fletcher in the FWL). Bryant – Lantren Corporation – Makes updated Quickdraws and Grasshoppers. Another factory on planet by the HartfordCo Industries made Cicada mechs and Von Luckner tanks. That factory was in the part of the planet now covered in storms again, since the inhibitors were destroyed, but the factory itself was never actually destroyed. I was just turned off and protected from the storms, hopefully. After we restore the world, we might be able to restore that factory too. Epsilon Eridani – Kressly Warworks, Inc – A huge company (for the other) that makes a variety of mechs, tanks, and other vehicles. It’s the major supplier of military materiel for the Coalition. Frankly, we need more industry if we are going to survive. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 10:07 PM	#14
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Who is Kressly Warworks, Inc?* Kressly is not a super company with multiple factories across multiple worlds, like Defiance Industries or Johnston Industries. However, it has grown into something more than small company. For decades, Kressly Warworks had created the Brutus Assault Tank, their bread and butter. They still make an updated Brutus with newer technology. Over time, they added other vehicle lines, such as the Blizzard Hover Transport. In 3059 they’ll even introduce a police vehicle the 40 ton Dillenger support vehicle. Meanwhile they moved into the BattleMech market with the assault mech Attila, made by our unit as a powerful design that used twin PPCs and a strong suite of close range weapons to bring some serious pain to enemy units. After that they introduced a few other mechs as suggested my K&C and their alliance. K&C donated some clan techs and clan technology which resulted in their creation of additional mechs and units. Today Kressly Warworks, Inc makes a variety of mechs and tanks for a variety of situations and markets. They are the primary Mech company for the Celestial Coalition. They also deliver units to anyone with the right amount of CBills. Some of their mechs, such as the Lineholder, have been huge selling units, and for a year, the Lineholder was the fastest and best selling medium Mech in the Inner Sphere. Here are the mechs Kressly currently produces: Attila, 85 ton Assault mech, released in the early 3050s, the upgraded version had 2 ER PPC, lots of strong ginner weapons like medium lasers and SRMS, and a good profile for armor. Lineholder – Designed to be a cheap but highly functional medium mech, this 55 ton mech was the 2nd off the lines of Kressly. It replaces a lot of open spots on rosters as battle damage accrued via the clans or the Chaos March. Alexander – Based on the reliable Hunchback chassis, this medium mech is an Omni design. Because it was built with the flexibility to use both clan and inner sphere weapons, it’s a strong and flexible Mech with a lot of potential uses. Bandersnatch – In order to up their lines and financial sales, Kressly licensed this assault mech which uses a lot of updated technology from a local firm on the planet of Terra Firma where they were made one by one by hand of several engineers. Kressly moved in and produced the base unit. Sales on the Bandersnatch have dropped and the unit will probably have a short run left and then be benched for a while. Bumblebee – The next mech produced by Kressly was the light scout Mech the Bumblebee. With MASC to accelerate its speed, this 6/9(12)/6 unit, on a 35 ton frame, features a variety of short range weapons as well as solid armor. Greyhound – This 60 ton quadruped ‘Mech was the first unit Kressly has produced in a quad design. It’s a 6/9 Mech with MASC as well. With maximum armor and 2 SRM6 Streak s and 3 ER Medium Lasers, it is intended to take advantage of the latest technology on the market. Meanwhile, Kressly Warworks invested in the Lantern Corporation to help it get up and running on Bryant ,and purchased 20% of its stock. Now Lantern makes Grasshoppers and Quickdraws. Kressly has been in talks with getting in a new selection of weapons and equipment, such as light gauss rifle, medium-range missiles or a rotary AC5. Hopefully a deal with be announced soon and a new design for the new era will follow quickly enough. That’s where the cash is. The Bandersnatch is old news. The Lineholder is too. What will be next? __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 10:42 PM	#15
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Targets of Opportunity –* Keid – After professing its loyalty, Keid received the loyal 13 Lyran Guards from the Lyran Alliance to guard them. But it’s nowhere on the border, and after Marik and the Combine have cut off lanes home by absorbing planets like the Sirian Holds and the Lyon’s Thumb respectively, they have been cut further and further off. We don’t think they are ready for us yet. But soon. They also have some minor but valuable military industry as well. New Home – The 30th Lyran Guards are here too, helping to bring the populace under the thumb of the Lyran Alliance. Part of the 30th seceded and became the Pro-Liao New Home Regulars. Both have carved out parts of the planet, keeping their two little nations going on the world, with regular skirmishing. It has a strong economy. While the planet would not have welcomed us earlier, the population is growing tired of this give and take and enfiefment, while the two houses focus on military agendas and strategies. This sentiment has grown so strongly that multiple demonstrations have begun to take place, and while the military enemies are stronger, we could hold New Home very easily. Caph – At the far coreward (upward) edge of the Chaos March, just up against the Combine, is the world of Caph. Like a variety of other worlds, it was carved into a variety of fiefs that we would need to push around. Caph is a recovering planet, barely, from the toxic chemical attacks of war in the Succession Wars. It has been set back by the local wars. It’s not normally a high priority target as a result. Caph originally a was a very developed planet, with a variety of manufacturing and industry. It still has Lang Industries that makes Shadow Hawks. It would take some serious money to restore some of the production facilities here in other areas. But who knows? It seems like a good long-term target, and one we could help renovate. Carver V – Due to modest industry, and some overtures we’ve gotten from the locals who are tired of their current state, this is a planet ripe for the liberating. Hall – Vocally anti-Davion and anti-Liao as well, this planet was in an unusual place as a home that neither could claim a hold in. Instead, children of Pavel Ridzik took over and declared Hall to be the home of a New Tikonov Free Republic. Their desire to carve a new nation in the Chaos March, like we were doing, came to an end after they lost to the Saiph Triumvirate in Tall Trees. Originally another divided world about local nobility, the Ridziks united it. Unfortunately, neither of the twins of Ridzik are good politicians or leaders on a planetary scale, and the world is pushing the Ridziks off. We could connect with the locals, get ourselves in, and push out the Ridziks. Then we take over a planet that is vocally anti-House and would probably enjoy being on an equal footing with everyone else in Coalition. Hall was not damaged much in the early fighting, and was restored ever since. Arboris – Over by Genoa, this planet’s natives fought off two different military groups and took over. There are handfuls of those two forces ( FedCom loyalties of the local SMM defenders and Liao loyalties of local mercenaries.) Both have a lot of units, and a lot of strength, and the angry farmers have around 9 regiments of infantry that have secured most of the world. At first Arboris had an independent streak, but now? We would likely be seen as liberators by the farmers now. The Saiph Triumvirate? There are three planets in the Saiph triumvirate – Tall Trees, Saiph, and New Canton. Most other multi-state nations in the Chaos March have fallen, or are on their way (Styk Commonality, Duchy of Small, Sirian Holds, Sarna Supremacy). The Saiph have been notably absent from that list. Tall Trees – The closest to us is Tall Trees. After the aborted attack by Hall on it, it’s garrison was beefed up to a Battalion of mechs and another of vehicles, all mercenary. Obviously, we can likely overcome those odds with a regiment of our mechs. It was a mountainous, heavily forested, and lightly populated world. There’s not a lot of economic value here. Saiph – Similarly constructed to Tall Trees, there’s little here for long-term military use. Both planets have some lumbering and mining, but their mountains were denuded of more valuable ores long ago. They have some animal herding, as well. They both make enough food (with minor farming, hunting, husbandry, fishing) to export some food, but nothing like Ingress does. It also has a battalion of mechs, but just a company of tanks in support roles. The world is not well designed for vehicles. New Canton – The capital planet of the Saiph Triumvirate, it features a regiment of tanks, and the final battalion of mechs. It’s a temperate world with a diverse economy of light industry, a variety of spaceports, fishing, agriculture, it’s a local commercial and trading sector. 85% of the world is ocean. We could take them quickly by landing a regiment of mechs on each planet and extra stuff for New Canton. Within 6 months, I’d expect to have all three in our realm, and that would keep them from supporting each other militarily. Do I want to incur the wrath of a state that has been blessed to be poor enough, overall, to be largely ignored by the locals? Saiph and Tall Trees have always been hard to hold, and they don’t feel the need of joining us, since they are in this umbrella. But they still have areas in their holdings that are bucking against the Triumvirate and want to go solo. If we were to take them, we would have two sets of people against us – pro-independence people, and pro-Triumvirate people. It would be easier to take and hold New Canton that the other two. In fact, we might even get some assistance from them in doing so, Meanwhile, we need more of a military-based industry if we are to survive. There isn’t a lot left. Carver V has some. Keid has a bit. KWI and Lantren are nice, but we need more, and more diversity. I’d like to add in more tanks and vees, more mechs, aerospace fighters, artillery, power armor, and eventually, a shipyards to make DropShips and/or JumpShips. There are nearby systems under the control of other nations, like Ruchbah, Nanking, Terra, and others. As a reminder, we have been working with Blake on securing an attack line on an unusual target which is not the above list, and things are ready on their end. We just have to wait for the right time. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 10:48 PM	#16
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Kilts and Commandos Roster: Battlemechs – *Alpha Regiment:* Col. Matthew Humphries, of Star Battalion Myth Battalion: Capt Foster Keynes, of Typhon Company Heliades Company – On Capolla Styx Company - On Capolla Tethys Company – On Capolla Typhon Company – On Capolla Star Battalion: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Defender Company Defender Company – On Capolla Cinq Company – On Capolla Brawler Company – On Capolla Heater Battalion: Capt. Jason Thomas, Trinity of Company Delta Company – On Bryant Trinity Company- On Bryant Butler Company – On Bryant Alpha Regiment is currently being used to garrison and train these two places, but it’s often one of the Regiments we move out and hit things with, as needed. *Beta Regiment:* Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Ganges Battalion Ganges Battalion: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Phaeton Company Phaeton Company – Boxer Company – Rebel Company – Rheims Battalion: Capt. Aurelia Jenson, of Aleph Company Aleph Company – Laser Company – Sabre Company – Amazon Battalion: Col. Gabriel Williams, of Mustang Company Mustang Company – Hex Company – Raven Company – Beta Regiment is currently at EE and awaiting another assignment. We might break them up in order to send them on multiple assaults. Right now, they are either a reserve force in case of an attack or a powerful assault force, as needed. *Gamma Regiment: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Breaker Battalion Breaker Battalion: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Fallout Company Trident Company – Miner Company – Fallout Company - Scimitar Battalion: Capt. Mika Sanders, of Vegas Company Vegas Company – Currently on Acamar Guile Company - Currently on Acamar Tango Company - Currently on Acamar Mesopotamia Battalion: Capt. Kyla Jeffries, of Nineveh Company Jericho Company – First Expedition until the end of 3062 Babylon Company – Second Expedition until the end of 3062 Nineveh Company – Some of Gamma Regiment was split up for various places. We could easily move out Breaker Battalion. We could also wait into Jericho and Babylon Companies return, rotate someone else to Acamar, and have Gamma ready to strike as a unit somewhere. Delta Regiment:* Col. Conner Ward Bandit Battalion: Capt. Andrey Vihorev Bandit Company – On Ingress Iron Company - On Ingress Kevlar Company – On Ingress Flame Battalion: Capt. Johan Kreidler, of Blaze Company Pyre Company – On Hsien Blaze Company – On Hsien Ember Company – On Hsien Armor Battalion: Capt. Jassa Ramgarhia, of Aegis Company Aegis Company - Currently on Acamar Shield Company – Currently on Acamar Chainmail Company - Currently on Acamar Right now, Delta is basically being used as garrison in three places but it tends to have some upgraded technology and such and all ready for smashing! It’s a powerful force to bring out of forts and onto an attack. *Epsilon Regiment:* Col. Dwayne Tarabaev, Water Battalion Mountain Battalion: Capt. Stacy Weston of Weston Company Weston Company - Buckhannon Company - Elkins Company - Metal Battalion: Capt. Roderick Goldbeg, Gold Company Gold Company – On Genoa Bronze Company - On Genoa Titanium Company - On Genoa Water Battalion: Capt. Dwayne Tarabaev, Oasis Company Oasis Company – On Genoa River Company – Lake Company - Epsilon Regiment is probably going to get ready for some fun. We just rotated some other units to Genoa, and I suspect that I’ll pull back these four companies, and Shadow Battalion below, in order to free them both up. Shadow Battalion: Bruiser Company – On Genoa Shadow Company – On Genoa Sealion Company – On Genoa Shadow Battalion is our elite, well equipped, strike battalion. It is not connected to any Regiment. This is where the action is! Nordic Weapon Battalion: Gungnir Company – Mjolnir Company – Gram Company - This is a second Battalion, recently assembled using new tech, which we hope to use in a Shadow-esque manner. Utopia Company – On Asmodeus Currently just a free company awaiting placement in a new Battalion or Regiment we may form later, and helping guard our newest colony. *Vehicles:* Tank First Battalion – On Genoa Tank Second Battalion - On Hsien Tank Third Battalion – On Epsilon Indi Garrison and Infantry – EE Garrison. *Fighters:* Col. Larry Rowe, of Arrow Company Arrow Company – On Terra Firma Bolt Company – On Acamar Catapult Company – Dart Company –On Ingress Javelin Company - Our companies have a full 12 fighters, which is unusual for the Inner Sphere. This does not include our Naval Assets, which have full Fighters and Small Craft. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 10:54 PM	#17
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Naval Assets:* Warships – Swift Justice, Aegis WarShip – JumpShips – Scots Flotilla, Merchant JumpShip – On First Expedition until the end of 3062 Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip - – On Second Expedition until the end of 3062 Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip – River of Fate, Merchant JumpShip – Military Carrying DropShips – Robin Hood, Union DropShip – On Second Expedition until the end of 3062 Megan’s Fury, Union DropShip - Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip – Charon’s Message, Union DropShip Star River, Union DropShip - Serendipitous Victory, Union-C DropShip - Amalgamated Bliss, Union DropShip – Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip – Defiance, Overlord DropShip – Daily Menace, Overlord DropShip, Upgraded - Faith’s Bulwark, Fortress DropShip, Upgraded - On First Expedition until the end of 3062 King Arthur, Excalibur DropShip - Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip - Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip - Honored Living, Colossus DropShip – Aerospace Fighter Carrying DropShips - Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip – Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip – Stellar Phantom, Leopard CV DropShip - On Second Expedition until the end of 3062 Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV DropShip - Assault DropShips – Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip – Firebird, Avenger DropShip – Arrow of Fate, Achilles DropShip, Upgraded – Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip – Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip – Cargo DropShips - Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip - Jakob’s Ladder, Buccaneer DropShip (Cargo Vessel) – On Second Expedition until the end of 3062 If we took our military, navy, fighters, WarShip, and more and headed out to the periphery, we could carve a nation state that exceeds just about anything else you dream of! For example, we have 87 tanks in our EE garrison that aren’t out doing stuff, they are just guarding the Academy, Headquarters, and the local Kressly plant. We have 2 regiments of normal infantry at EE. We often rotate in and out infnat4ry into other places though. A mercenary unit having a WarShip is downright nasty, and rare too. Wolf’s Dragoons have WarShips as well, because they are the Dragoons and they can. The only other mercenary command with a WarShip in the Inner Sphere is the Blue Star Irregulars. In battle with Clan Jade Falcon in 3055, and with the aid of another mercenary group under their command, Hell’s Black Aces, they captured a Fredasa-class WarShip, and then the Dragoons spent a few years fixing it up for them. They still have it (although they can’t afford the upkeep and such). We are aided by the Celestial Coalition’s cash influx. Like many K&C units, the WarShip is used in a pseudo-Coalition, pseudo-K&C nature. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-14-2014, 10:59 PM	#18
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Celestial Coalition Forces:* We regularly rotate K&C forces in and out of the various planets of the CC. The Bouncers – Regiment of mercs, on Capolla until May 3, 3063, Rating B, 40% level 2 tech, 10% clan tech, 1 battalion mechs, 1 battalion infantry, several wings fighters, 1 battalion tanks , veteran. Smithson’s Chinese Bandits – Two battalions of mostly level 2 mechs, building back to three. Rating A-, veteran, garrisoning Terra Firma until September 1, 3062. We expect to keep them around for a while. The Blackhearts – Garrisoning Genoa until Aug 1, 3063.Rating B, regiment of mechs, and another tanks, plus fighters and infantry. We rotated them to Genoa to help in defense there, from Epsilon Indi. They are also helping to train the local forces. Veteran. Narhal’s Raiders – Retainer on Fletcher, until November 30, 3062, a regiment of mechs, C+ rating, many upgraded mechs, regular. We like them, and may retain them on a garrison deal this time. The Furies – Regiment of tanks on Ingress until December 31, 3062. A rating. Regular, reliable, 1/3 of tanks are upgraded. Higher quality tanks – such as LRM Carrier, Shrek, Zhukov, Rommel, Patton, etc. Angel’s Riders - Dragoons rating B, Regiment of mixed troops, one battalion of mechs, two of armor, with about 40% of mechs and 75 % of tanks upgraded with level 2 tech. They are garrisoning Elgin until Sept 1, 3062. 1st Capolla Lancers – A Battalion of mechs. Considered green, reliable, but the ‘Mechs were upgraded ones and quite strong. 1st Bryant Regulars – Battalion of tanks, 50 Mechs. Multiple infantry squads. Regular, reliable. We are still building this unit up. We’d like to get the ‘Mechs up to a regiment. 1st Genoan Chargers – Two companies of mechs, ten tanks,5 squads of infantry, 2 Warrior VTOLs. 1st Hsien Regulars – Regiment of tanks, 2 companies of mechs, infantry, 2 fighters. Green. Eridani Guards – Regular, Fanatical. 2 battalions of Mechs, 1 regiment of vehicles, 3 regiments of infantry, a few wings of aerospace fighters, numerous conventional fighters and VTOLs, and some infantry too. Epsilon Indi Regulars – 1 mixed regiment, fanatical, regular. Some infantry, some tanks, some mechs, some fighters. Infantry – We have 8 squads of regular infantry on Capolla, Ingress, Asmodeus, Elgin, Terra Firma, Acamar, Sheratan, and Ingress. None on Indi, Bryant, Hsien, Eridani or Fletcher, which have their own defense forces. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-15-2014, 10:47 AM	#19
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Alright, let's finish the footsie, and begin with the actual dynasty! Will we meet PokeMechs? Probably not.... __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 12-20-2014 at 05:05 PM.

12-15-2014, 07:42 PM	#21
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	March 1– Archon Katrina Steiner is having increasing problems with the Federated Suns half of the Federated Commonwealth. When she set herself up as the scion of all that is Steiner in order to gain the Lyran Alliance, she also set herself for a fall in Davion space. Demonstrations have begun, and she is actively upsetting a lot of people in nation-state. Mar 2 – Duke Essex orders troops home from Acamar and a furlough and reorganizing occurs for several units March 6, 3062 – Sales for the one of the two small craft that Kilts and Commandos created with Blackwell Industries over on Outreach have begun to dry up, and the amount of commission money coming in has started to drop. However, the 200 ton fighter small craft we created with them is picking up, and they are undergoing the introduction of more lines for that one. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-15-2014, 07:57 PM	#22
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	You know what? After looking over things, I like Caph as the next target. It’s a bit like Bryant, rough at first, but with some serious potential. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-15-2014, 08:56 PM	#23
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	*Beginning of the Caph Campaign* 7 March, 3062 – We have contacted various locals in order to get a better handle on Caph. Post Operation Guerrero, there are five major units on world. We have a battalion of mercenary mechs, Lindon’s Battalion, keeping the city of Cimmeron safe as well as its environs. They are assigned to the Draconis Combine, and the Star league. We checked MercNet and their contract is up in one month. They have not been renewed by anyone. A FedCom leaning noblelady has taken multiple areas, and controls the Rehope region with her Gustofson’s Grenadiers mercenaries. One battalion of mechs Meanwhile a Lyran leaning nobleman, holds New Derry with the Denebola SMM, from the Skye March. The Denebola SMM was originally a regiment of mechs and tanks. It was damaged badly in the fighting. The Stealthy Tigers hold the valuable spaceport of Aswan, and the capital around it. 1 Regiment of mechs, and DropShips. Aswan has Lang Industries, which makes Shadow Hawks. The Always Faithful have New Zevon theirs. One regiment of mechs and tanks. Both the Tigers and Faithful are allied and work for Marik/Liao. None of the other forces are allied. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 02:03 AM	#24
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	There are a variety of reasons why Caph appears to be a good expansion target after all. “Originally when first worlds settled, the planet had large range of jungles spanning three continents. However, after the Star League Civil War, only the continent Steam remained habitable. The planet was known for pharmaceutical products before and after the Succession Wars. Steam and Caph Prime became famous for the reptiles that resembled Terran Dinosaurs, which became known as Dinosaurs of Caph. They were thought to be extinct until 3025, where small number of these creatures were discovered in jungle regions of Steam. The planet was subsequently attacked by Rim Worlds Republic Military during the Amaris Civil War, an attack which gutted the Caph Institute of Technology. Republican forces also used chemical and biological weapons in their attack, After the collapse of the Terran Hegemony and the Star League, Caph had become a hotly contested world. In 2789, in the Fifth Battle of Caph, three different Great Houses fought at the same time for control of the planet. Eventually, it became part of the Federated Suns at a terrible cost. The world, once was known for its research in BattleMech technology, was smoldering ruins. The world soon again changed hands to the Capellan Confederation midway through the Succession Wars.” It still has a lot of wastelands and destroyed industries. The areas outside of those that have been livable have also been destroyed in the last 5 years. The units on planet have been withered by local fighting, and yet, there are a lot of units here. Every single house has their mitts in Caph. It’s time we helped the people. . __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 12:57 PM	#25
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We contact Col. Sarah Lindon, CO of Lindon’s Battalion. They were Lindon’s Regiment, but were decimated in the Clan Invasion and lost much of their people and unit. The Battalion arrived here and were a neutral unit from a neutral nation, and usually left alone. Then they were attacked in Cimmeron by the pro-Lyran Denebola SMM, which Lindon won decidedly. They even killed the CO of the SMM forces. Their unit has not suffered as much as the other four, because they are the Star League/Drac unit, and they have not gotten as involved in attacking others. They are down to 25 mechs, from their previous 36. We want to sign Lindon’s Battalion to a contract with the Celestial Coalition, and to help us take Caph, and then to garrison it. We’ll bring the heat to help capture it. Sarah Lindon is interested more in getting her unit back into fighting shape at 36 and getting off Caph. But she has an axe to grind against them. We agree to sign her unit to a two year Retainer contract. She will fight for us next month, starting Apr 1, 3062. Then we will use the DropPort at Cimmeron to land some units to support her position. We give her full salvage rights, so help her keep and units she takes in that area. Meanwhile, we’ll also land in other areas, to push against other units. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 05:13 PM	#26
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Between Chief Foster in the Apollo Office, local contacts, and Sarah Lindon, our best guess is that the other four units on planet are at: Denebola SMM (50% mechs, 25% tanks); Always Faithful (80% of both); Tigers (66% of mechs); Grenadiers (70%). Our major concern is the Faithful/Tigers alliance. All combined, we estimate these two units have 170 mechs and 80 tanks. That’s a lot. So what I want to do is leave them alone at first. Our first goal is to land in Cimmeron and combine our position with one unit. With the others, we want to land, push the two local nobility units that are more blooded (and smaller). Take them out, and we have removed all non-Marik/Liao enemies. Meanwhile, we suspect that we’ll rally the people at that point, especially if we announce that we’ll begin elections for a ruling council, like we’ve done on other planets. After 5 years, the locals here at Caph could not be madder at the situation. Then our four units (The one we land in Cimmeron, Lindon, and the two we use to take out the two nobles) will unite and drive against the two mercenary units (Tigers and Faithful) __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 05:34 PM	#27
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Here’s the Plan in Detail: Against the Grenadiers? Nordic Weapon Battalion arrives, and will take them. That puts a full, fresh, experienced, high tech unit against the wounded, tired Grenadiers and their 28ish mechs. Against the Denebola SMM? Beta Regiment will arrive and drive it into defeat. We have a fresh, 108 mechs, against 50ish mechs and 25ish tanks. That should be an easy math game. Our Reserve Unit? Mountain Battalion from Epsilon Regiment Catapult Company (12 Aerospace Fighters) We also land 12 platoons of infantry in Cimmeron. We will be using these units: Maxim of Glory – To Caph River of Fate – To Caph And they will have these DropShips: Daily Menace, Overlord, Upgraded – Drops Nordic Weapon Defiance, Overlord – Drops Battalion in Beta King Arthur, Excalibur DropShip – Drops more of Beta We rent an Overlord to carry the last battalion of Beta. Honored Living – Mountain Battalion, Catapult company, Infantry Regiment – All equipment we need for the campaign as well (ammo, armor, mines, scout vehicles, infrastructure vees, etc) We also send in the WarShip and its escorts, just in case. We arrive in Caph in late March, and arrive on planet, uncontested, on April 1 We expect that this is going to be a major campaign. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 06:55 PM	#28
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We begin with the Denebola SMM campaign. This battle is taking place far and away from anyone else, The DMM is green and battered, but fanatically loyal to the Lyran Alliance, House Steiner, and some merchants, who enjoyed pro-Steiner leanings. The only noble house left on Caph after all of the years is Countess Gustofson, on the pro-Davion side. Our goal is to hit the SMM so hard and fast that they choose to flee, or be destroyed. Their area of Caph, New Derry, is on the northern edge of a continent that is quite toxic. If they flee inland, they will be destroyed quickly by the wastelands there. There is about a 60 mile wide stretch of land on the northern edge of the continent that extends for about 215 miles down the coast. It’s one of the few valuable farmlands on Caph. New Derry is a sort of local capital, and this stretch of the land all belongs to the SMM. So the benefit of pushing here is obvious. We are arriving with a huge force, ready to smash, of better pilots, better units, and twice the size. We should be also to push them out of the area completely. We can fight in farmland, away from potential major collateral damage. We arrive on the 1st, and land safely with the help of our own aerial assets, coordinated with a feint by Lindon to push the defenders of the planet off guard, and then enabled by a large number of locals who are quickly becoming allied with our cause. Local militia flew some VTOLS to give us cover. The SMM are not native to Caph, and are seen nowadays as a hostile presence. This is not going to be good for them As soon as we have unloaded our regiment, we break out and move in three battalions. Two move towards New Derry and the other breaks into companies and scours the local areas for the vehicles. Smartly, the SMM has pulled back their scouting and recon mechs in order to prevent them from getting blown up the moment they sighted our landing out in the farms, near one edge of the area. After four hours of scouring and finding nothing, we bring these companies back together and move as a 3rd battalion. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 07:37 PM	#29
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	The goal is to sweep toward the city of New Derry, and go over every farm, house, chemical plant, and such in the area. Sweeping down the strip, in a triangle formation, with two battalions on the far corners towards New Derry and the 3rd pushed back and as a rear guard, backup, center sweeper role. 3 April – After not finding any enemy presence in the area, we know that our foes have consolidated their holdings in the city of New Derry. We don’t like fighting in cities unless we have too. We radio into the city: “The Ares Convention has asked that people not fight in cities. We don’t have to fight in New Derry. We will allow you to choose the battlefield that you want, and allow you to get there, set up defenses, and will attack you a month later. That’ll give you time to develop yourself, learn the area, and more. That way you save the people of New Derry their homes and lives.” After a pause, we get this message back: “We aren’t the clans. If you think you are good enough to take Caph, then you have to come into New Derry to do it!” We send the recording of that transmission to the civilians in the city of New Derry. We tell them to evacuate, and give them a week to do it. They are even angrier at the SMM. Over the next two days there are multiple acts of terrorism against the SMM, such as explosions and a few vehicles have been destroyed by locals. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 09:10 PM	#30
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Apr 10 – We get news that all of the locals have evacuated from multiple police, militia, and civic leaders. We inform them of our plan, and they agree. Apr 11 – We put each of our battalions around the city and move in. They have taken the center of the city, erected a makeshift fort long ago, but recently built it up with mines, pickets, cordons, and more. It’s a death trap. We hit a few annoying mines on the outskirts, and someone put some SMM infantry in a local house that hits us with inferno missiles. We destroy the building, and the infantry inside. We have reached about a half mile from their defenses in each direction, leaving about twenty miles of light city (New Derry is not that big or heavily populated) in front. We radio them and give them one more chance to either surrender, or relocate, in order to avoid destroying the infrastructure of a world that they are supposed to help. They refuse. So we order the orbital bombardment to begin. We have a perfect target here, in the center of the city. We can bomb them without even coming close to our own mechs. After 15 minutes of constant bombardment, and about 20% of the city being destroyed, we get a radio of surrender from the SMM. You can’t turtle against a WarShip. We let them leave, turning over all salvage to the locals. Meanwhile we reconnect with the local population and begin to clear things out, and spend the rest of the month with our military regiment assisting them in removing salvage, pulling bombs away, taking out mines, and more. We won’t be ready until 1 May. While that campaign was lucky to end easily, the other won’t be. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 09:36 PM	#31
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	On April 2 the Nordic Weapon Battalion has arrived in the Rehope area. Unlike New Derry, it’s not easy to isolate them, and we have to be more cautious. Plus, numbers are closer together. They have 29 mechs by the last count, and we have 36. Plus, because Countess Gustofson is actually from Caph, her area is the only one on the planet where the locals are neutral, or even slightly pro-Gustofson. Our foes are regular and reliable. This area of Caph is near and around the Jungles. There are a lot of exotic trees and such. Our foe has their units divided across multiple defensive positions in the region, and if they want, they can flee in multiple areas, or take to the cover of the trees in the nearby jungle. Because of the closer numbers, better defenses, a foe who knows the area, and better pilots, they intend to defend this area with the normal expectations of battle and such. We have landed some distance away from the town of Rehope. Unlike a lot of nobility, the Countess doesn’t have a large estate far and away from the normal population that we can assault. Instead, she owns a apartment complex in Rehope, and just lives on the penthouse. She uses the ground floor of that building as the central communication hub for her unit, the area, local companies and such. There is no town hall or local HQ for using, since Rehope is just a large town. In the area are some professional fruit picking companies that harvest fruit from the local jungle, a handful of processing plants, and some other light industry and commercial venues. We move out various units against our foes. Quickly one of our scout lances, from Gram Company, runs into one of theirs, and we begin to maneuver to exchange fire as a way to test each other. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-16-2014, 09:50 PM	#32
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Here is our scout lance: Griffin IIc Shadow Cat Prime Sentry Greyhound This is 2 clan mechs, a Sentry and our own Kressly quad Greyhound. They have: Phoenix Hawk Commando Valkyrie Wolverine This is our Sentry – It’s a cheap mech, designed to help flush out garrisons, and from there, to provide a variety of roles. It’s made on Robinson, in the Draconis March that is en-Duke’d by our ally, James Sandoval. It features a PCC, 4 machine guns, 2 small pulse lasers, and a flamer, plus it has good movement, armor and jumps. We like them as a strong scouting mech. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-17-2014, 01:29 AM	#33
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We open up in a lightly wooded area in the fringes of the locals. We win init and set up behind a copse of trees. They are diagonal on the other side. Turn 1 – I run the Greyhound, with MASC, around the trees to set up a chance to snipe while I move the other three units into position in the woods themselves. They slide the long range mechs to the side to line up shots on our Greyhound, and then we have their Commando moving into the woods as well. Our Greyhound misses with its ER Medium Lasers at long range. They hit with an Ultra AC 5 off the Wolverine for just 5 damage and that’s it. Turn 2. We lose init. I move our units into the copse, which are about three-two hexes wide at most. Their Commando follows and they push their Valkyrie into a nice place to bomb some LRMs over. Our Greyhound uses normal speed to back behind the woods, where only the Wolverine can see us. We push some fire into the Commando, including hitting it a few times with the Griffin IIc’s large laser and LRM5s. (Clan LRMs have no minimum range). Their Phoenix Hawk, which leapt over in support of their Commando misses but accidentally set the woods on fir with a laser. Turn 3 – We win init. I move our forces into the fire and smoke – we can use this tactically. They move out some forces, and expose the Commando. We push, and I run our Sentry right up on the Commando. We hit the Commando multiple times, and the Watchman’s machine gun array destroys the Commando’s LA. Meanwhile our Greyhound, who MASC’d up to their Valkyrie and based it, hits it twice with SRM6 streaks and an ER medium laser, and it falls from the damage. Our Sentry kicks the Commando and destroys its LL as well and its down. With that, their Pixie and Wolverine hop off, and the Valkyrie rises and jumps away as well. Their MW ejects from the Commando and we let her leave. We have captured: Commando, missing LA, LL We win the first skirmish. And now they have 28 mechs. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-17-2014, 02:02 AM	#34
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Again, we had this one easy. Our pilots were Elite, Elite, Veteran, and Elite; with two clan pilots in there. Theirs were all Regular. We have two clan mechs, and a 60 ton Greyhound with a massive payload. They didn’t. A Pixie, Wolvie, Commando, and Valkyrie is not a bad scout lance, actually. It didn’t rock sucky stuff like a Wasp or anything. And all of their stuff appeared to be conventional upgraded mechs with weapons like ultra AC5 and pulse technology. But we just owned that battle. And this should continue. This is a battalion of forces just as well equipped as this scout lance. For example, Gram Company as a whole has 5 clanners, one more clan Mech (Vulture), and then mechs like a Thunderbolt, Salamander, Zeus, the assault Viking, and a Cestus. It’s a pretty strong company. And that’s just one company of three. So yes, numbers aren’t that bad in their favor, but we have the skill and mechs to oust folks quickly from the battlefield. Apr 5 – After establishing a parameter and moving around scouting, we have approached one of the lesser defense positions in the area. It rocks around 8 mechs, and a level of pickets, mines, walls, and more. In the last few years, they have acquired two mobile artillery units as well and put them in this small area. They are well defended. It’s about 40 miles from Rehope proper. Inside are a lance of fire support mechs, and another of large, in-your-face, brawler style mechs. They were chosen well. The brawlers have some long range capability to help support the artillery and fire support mechs as we close, but then have the ability to move forward and protest our arrival to keep us pinned so that we can be hit by missiles and other long range weapons. They only have two medium mechs in there messing around, the rest are heavier units. This is a smart, well thought out defense, at the crossroads, and with two ways into/out of the fort so they can retreat if needed. Their tanks appear to be using Arrow IV artillery, an artillery with a powerful damage capability, a small range, and with semi-guided missiles. They can lock onto a target that is painted with a piece of equipment called TAG (Target Acquisition Gear). My guess is that some of those brawlers have TAG, and they may try to light us up. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-17-2014, 02:40 AM	#35
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	This is not a battle for lighter Mechs. So we send in Mjolnir Company, who should make short work of this. We leave behind two lighter Mech’s in their starting unit. Here is Mjolnir – Daishi A ON2-M Orion BLR-3M BattleMaster ENF-4D-UK Enforcer GUN-1ERD Gunslinger Nobori-Nin B MAD-5M Marauder CRD-5S Crusader GHB-6B Grasshopper STY-3C Starslayer That’s 10 medium, heavy, or assault units, including the nasty Daishi. This is our Daishi, a 100 ton OmniMech captured from our many battles against the clans. It’s one of the deadliest, nastiest mechs in existence. Here are our foes: Crusader Thunderbolt Archer Catapult Huron Warrior Hatchetman Victor Falconer 2 Arrow IV Tanks __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-17-2014, 01:27 PM	#36
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Alright, here we go! We set up in the SW corner and prepare to face their threats. Turn 1 – We win init. I use our Daishi as a pear around which to attack. I then move folks around the Daishi. Our Gunslinger steps into some mines and the Orion does as well. Our Daishi opens up firing on their Falconer and we’ll see where it goes from there. The Daishi, firing first, hits the Falconer so many times, and clocks the head twice with SRM6 Streak missiles and the pilot blacks out. They miss with TAG and Arrow IVs. Our Starslayer had hopped over a wall and by a tank that moved out. It immobilizes the tank with its SRM4. Meanwhile we keep peppering the Falconer, and hit its gauss rifle and it explodes, destroys the RA and RT, and hits the engine and gyro each once , then our Enforcer’s LB10X hits the engine 3x more times and it’s taken down. Kill #1. They carve our Daishi with gausses, missiles, and more. Our Daishi has taken 68 damage, and falls from the damage. Turn 2 – We win init. We hid two units behind a modest hill, and they have exposed their Victor’s back. I jump my Nobori-Nin clan mech over to its rear. I run my BattleMaster and Orion up to support the fallen Daishi. It rises, and backs up a step. Our foes haven’t fought clan mechs I’m sure, so having these here has to scare them a bit. I use our Marauder as a large scout mech and hop over the wall (it has all pulse lasers, jump jets, and an LB10x, so it’s very jumpy) I hope our Enforcer behind the damaged Arrow IV unit. See if I can’t take it out. We hit two more minefields this turn. We order a lot of weapons into their Thunderbolt. Our Enforcer hits the ammo and the tank explodes. Dead tank! Our Nobori-Nin does little to thee Victor. Ah well. Our Daishi lets loose and destroys the Thunderbolt’s RA, and then hits the anti-missile system ammo in the RT and it explodes (CASE). Our BattleMaster follows that with more damage into their Thunderbolt, and destroys its CT. Meanwhile our Marauder savages their Huron Warrior and goes internal in multiple places before the ‘Mech loses three engine hits to LB10X missiles – one in the CT and two in the RT. Their mechs continue to savage our Daishi but it stands. Our BM falls though from some fire on it. Their Hatchetman kicks the Daishi, goes internal, and our Daishi falls. Turn 3 – We have killed three mechs and a tank in two turns. They begin to mobilize their forces to move out. We have this last turn to attack them and they will leave afterwards. We win init. I’d like to take out their other tank if possible. Our Daishi has lost almost 50% of its armor. But it fell behind a small hill and is out of sight right now. Our BM stands. I hop our Starslayer beside their Archer. I move our Marauder behind their Catapult. I split out fire over a few targets. Our Nobori-Nin destroys the front of their second tank. Our Daishi carves into their Hatchetman, opens it up, and nails two leg actuators in their LL. Their Hatchetman reciprocates by hitting the Daishi with its own LB10X, hitting the head once and the LL once for a leg actuator as well. Our Marauder hits the ammo in the Catapult. (CASE) . Our BM destroys the RA of their Hatchetman. Their Catapult falls and their pilot blacks out. Their Hatchetman falls. Their Victor, who took double gauss slugs and an alpha strike of lasers from our Gunslinger falls. None of ours do. Our Daishi kicks the downed Hatchetman and destroys its CT> Their Victor rises and hops away. I don’t want to run into any more mines on that side of the defensive cordon. Falconer, missing RT, RA, hit gyro and enginex4. Huron Warrior enginex3 Catapult missing RT, RA Thunderbolt H, LT, LA, LL, RL Hatchetman H, RL, LL, RT, LA Regulator Hovertank – FR destroyed Kill – Enforcerx2, BattleMaster, Marauder, Nobori-Nin, Daishi We destroyed two tanks, and killed or captured 5 mechs. They had three leave (Archer, Victor, Crusader). That was a nasty fight. Our foes are down to 23 mechs, and several are damaged. This is what happens when you have the better weapons, tech, and folks. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

12-17-2014, 04:16 PM	#37
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Apr 6 - After seeing our heavy metal, and total evisceration of her units, the Countess decides to pack things up and move out. She can’t afford to be stable in one place anymore. She has a few VTOLS and conventional fighters buzz to try and keep us from keeping her mechs from hitting the jungle. We can’t let that happen. So Catapult company, and its 12 aerospace fighters, takes off from Cimmeron, which is about 170 miles away. They’ll be here in less than 15 minutes. Our goal is to use our fighters to break through any of these dopey local aerial threats, and then draw a line in the proverbial jungle, strafing and forcing them back from the jungle. We are going to force them to fight right here. Whoa! That was a huge fireball. They blew up one of our fighters, a Sparrowhawk. They are pushing the fighters hard- desperate. They knock another pair of fighters out of the fight, but were giving some good stuff back. Andddddd……. Now we have our fastest mechs between them and the jungle. We call off our fighters but another takes a lot of damage on the way out and slams into the ground. We lost two fighters, and the other two will need some repair time. But I have to respect our foe’s determination, even misplaced In front of us are the 23 mechs under Duchess Gustafson, and she is in a pretty looking mech (a Pillager, 100 ton assault mech with a pair of Gauss Rifles, and a lot of support for them) She’s desperate. She think she can break through our line of fast mechs and make the jungle. She has numbers. But a lot of our heavier mechs in this company are pretty fast, and we can support them very quickly. She orders her unit to charge and trample our three scout lances from the three battalions and then, get to the jungle. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent