The Battletech Dynasty: Chapt. 5 - The Invasion, 3050-3056 - Completed

[Abe Sargent]

Turn 1 – We lose init. I try to move my troops to take the woods. Our Spider hits the Engine and a double HS on their Dasher. Our Warhammer nails an LRM20 on their Vulture Prime. Their Masakari hit s the engine on our Hatchetman. Our Warhammer falls.

T2 – We lose init again. The Rifleman trips and falls while moving. We stand our Warhammer up. Our Hunch hits the Upper Leg actuator on a Dragonfly. Col Humphries hits the engine on their Vulture prime. THE lower leg actuator and AC5 on our Rifleman is hit by a Dragonfly Prime. Our Zeus destroys the LT of their Vulture Prime. The pilot takes two damage from exploding LRM ammo and blacks out. The Goliath hits and destroys the CT section of their Dasher. The other Atlas kills two troopers. Our Goliath is savaged by their Gladiator and damaged PPC and LRM10 twice. Their Vulture Prime falls. We kick and kill two more troops with peoples.

T3 – We lose init. One of their elementals hits the head of a BattleMaster but its still okay. Our Firestarter finishes out a star of elementals. Their Mad Cat hits an engine on our Goliath. Their Gladiator nails an actuator on its front right leg. We kick and kill another trooper with our BattleMaster.

T4 – We win ini.t. Our FS kills two troopers, and our BattleMaster destroys the RA of their Dragonfly B. Our Orion opens up the Shoulder on their Uller’s RA. The Whitworth kills a trooper. Our Warhammer destroys the Uller’s LA. They jumped a Dragonfly over by our fallen Rifleman and get two engine hits and destroy its LA. An Atlas and Thor each kill troopers. Their Mad Cat destroys the RT and RA of our Trebuchet. A Vulture hits its engine once. AC20 is hit once on my Atlas by their Gladiator. That Atlas turns around and destroys a star of elementals. We kick and kill a trooper and our Spider kicks and hits the Upper Leg actuator on their Dragonfly B’s RL and it falls.

T5 – We win init again. Our BattleMaster takes out the RT and engine of their Uller. Our Zeus destroys the LA of their Ryoken. Their Mad Cat destroys the LA of our Ostsol. An Atlas kicks and destroys the RT of a Dragonfly.

T6 – We win init. One of the wooded hexes that had an elemental in it last turn was set on fire, and this tunr, while leaving, they were burned up and dead. Elementals hit our Whitworth’s head but no problems beyond that. Our Hermes II hits the engine on their Dragonfly Prime. Our Loki hits the ER PPC on the RA of their Dragonfly B twice and destroys its LL. Our Zeus destroys the head of their Ryoken. Boom! Our Thunderbolt destroyed the LA and RA of their Dragonfly B. The Hatchetman kills two troopers. Their Gladiator hits a hip actuator on Col. Humphries Atlas . Both leg damaged mechs fall. The Dragonfly is unable to stand back up with no hands and one missing leg.

T7 – We lost init. Our wounded Atlas rises. We move and tear into their mad Cat. Our Loki hits with an AC20 Ultra twice, once in the LL and once in the LA. Our WW kills a elemental. The Warhammer hits an engine and gyro on the Mad Cat. Our Hermes II destroys the RA of their Dragonfly Prime. An Atlas destroys the LL of their Mad Cat. Our Hunchback’s LA is destroyed by elementals and Gladiator. Our P Hawk destroys the RT of their Mad Cat and that’s three engine hits and it shuts down. Their Masakari hits the LRM20 on our Atlas. Our Whitworth and Ostscout each kill troops with kicks. Our Hatchetman nails the back of their Dragonfly Prime with its Hatchet and hits an engine.

They begin to leave the battlefield and we allow it. They had just two elementals and four mechs left, two of which were quite damaged. The Dragonfly Prime, Masakari, Gladiator and Vulture C with the two gauss rifles will be leaving.

[Abe Sargent]

Their Vulture Prime pilot never woke up. We’ve got ourselves a prisoner.

Vulture Prime LA reattached, enginex1, destroyed LT
Dasher Prime H, LL, RL, RT, LT, RA, LA
Uller Prime missing RT, enginex3m reattach RA
Ryoken, missing H, LA
Dragonfly B, missing LA, LL, RA
Mad Cat, missing Rt, engine x3, gyrox1,


To fix:

Hatchetman engine, Rifleman AC5 acutaor, 2x engine, missing LA; Goliath PPCx2, LRM10x2, enginex1, FRLx1; RA and RT destroyed on Trebuchet, 1xengine; AC20x2 Atlas; Ostsol missing LA; Atlas hip; Hunchback LA destroyed;

We have retaken Holmsbu!

Our prisoner is a MechWarrior named Magnus. Magnus is a veteran (for clans, 2/3). We have taken him aboard our DropShip for now. The Ghost Bears gather their things and leave later that day, but they never asked a about Magnus.



We fix: Hatchetman, Rifleman everything but LA, Goliath, Trebuchet engine, Atlasx2. We need – Hunch LA, Ostsol LA, Trebuchet RA, RT and Rifleman LA. Total costs: 1.655 mill. These will take 11 days to repair and 2 more weeks to reattach limbs. Local Holmsbu folks will help us speed that up considerably.

For armor and ammo – 750k

What we do is what Braham Essex calls a Rotating Target strategy. He would move one mech to an exposed position, and people would target it, and few would attack the other mechs. Then he’d expose another. This tactic works against the clans, but they do a lot more damage. In these battles, each time we’re losing body parts and weapons and going internal in three places. It’s crazy.

We only have to pay half, due to our contract: 1.5775 mill

Clan repairs:

Mad Cat Prime, fixed save RT and still unattached RA
Vulture Prime, fixed save destroyed LT and still unattached LA
Uller Prime, fixed, missing RT and still unattached RA
Dragonfly B – Attached arms from old Dragonfly parts, still missing LL

Items stripped from extra Dasher limbs:

SRM6
SRM4
2xER Medium Laser

We didn’t get any new stuff.

Our Thor doesn’t have the ammo for the Ultra AC 20, so I need to replace it

Experience:

Defender Company’s Firestarter pilot Orlof Magnusson is getting Edge: 1.
Trinity’s CO Captain Jason Thomas in the Atlas is getting Edge: 2.

Col. Humphries moves to meet with Magnus, who is currently in a locked room. Magnus looks up expectantly from his rest bed, where he is convalescing. He greets Matthew warmly. After talking with him, Magnus seems to expect that he will be joining Kilts and Commandos now. Due to the reputation that Humphries has with his people as an honorable man, Magnus tells him that captured personnel of any sort are usually taken as Bondsmen. They are given a bondscord and must re-earn their previous place and prove their new loyalty. Humphries agrees and cuts off a length of tassel from his dress uniform and binds it about Magnus’s left wrist. When Magus is deemed to be ready, the cord is cut. Some clans have three cords, but not all do. After being defeated in combat, Magnus is looking forward to joining Kilts and Commandos.

Over the next few weeks, Magnus will be Matthew Humphries’s attaché. He guides Matthew through various instructions about clan society, including the various Trials.

[Abe Sargent]

May 31 – News comes in of more systems falling.

June 3 – There are Ghost Bear Services at Damien, and no offensives are occurring right now.

June 5 – Our battalion arrives at Radlje from Trondheim, and begins to garrison it.

June 6 – The base armor and reloads and some refits are done to our mechs, and we lift off from Holmsbu again.

June 9 – Ghost Bear takes a vote, and they decide to keep pressing, despite their losses.

June 10 – By now, Can Wolf has taken 16 systems, Jade Falcon at least 20, Smoke Jaguar 15, and Ghost Bear 7, but they lost Holmsbu to us just now, so 6.

June 13 – Shocking images arrive today across the Inner Sphere as the Smoke Jaguars have destroyed the city of Edo on the planet of Turtle Bay after rebels struck several places. They used orbital bombardment to destroy it. That is a weapon not used since the earliest succession wars. More than one million people had lived in Edo.

June 14 – A WarShip has arrived at Holmsbu, and Ghost Bear is arriving to recapture the planet. At the same time, Humphries jumps out to Damian to get news.

June 15 – Col. Matthew Humphries and his unit has arrived back at Damian and gets the news that it was retaken by the Bears, and this time, they have left very large garrisons. We won’t be able to land and retake them in a simple Trial of Possession. They would use all of their forces to defend the planet. There could be 40-55 mechs there, and there is no way that Matthew’s 36 would win. They use the KF batteries to ump again.

June 16 – They arrive at Pinnacle, another system taken by the Bears that was once Rasalhague. Reports a while ago suggested that the Bears had put a small garrison here too. Holmsbu has fallen again to the Bears. Matthews moves towards the planet .

June 20 - Khan Jorgensson contacts Clan Steel Viper to garrison their worlds.

[Abe Sargent]

June 22 – Matthew arrives at Pinnacle in DropShips and issues a Batchall. It is received and they send back information about the defenders. They have 15 mechs. They want to fight in the nearby hills.

Humphries orders his troops down. All of the damages have been fixed, except for those to clan mechs. We have to send a different configuration of the Thor, since we have no more Ultra AC 20 ammo. Our techs were able to make regular AC20 ammo into Ultra AC 20 ammo after spending some time at it. We have ammo for the Ultra AC 20.

These are their mechs:


Dasher EUK
Dasher D (Nasty variant)
Uller, Prime
Dragonfly, Prime
Dragonfly, F- UK (With 4 SRM4s, 2 ER ML and 1 ER SL)
Fenris B
Fenris C
Black Hawk, D
Vulture C
Vulture Prime
Vulture F-Uk (Two large pulse lasers, 4 medium pulse lasers)
Thor A
Man o’ War Prime
Gladiator D
Gladiator I-UK (2 large pulses, 4 medium pulses targeting computer, AMS, ECM Suite


Everybody is a veteran (IS equivalent of elite).

Instead of using our normal units, we will be using Hammer and Anvil lances in each company (the fire support and close combat mechs). Due to the weakness of the scout units, we will not be using any scout lances. That gives us:

Defender:

AS7-K Atlas
HBK-4G Hunchback
ON1-V Orion
Thor C
BLR-1G BattleMaster
WTH-1 Whitworth
WHR-6R Warhammer
GRF-1N Griffin

Trinity:

AS7-D Atlas
TDR-5S Thunderbolt
HCT-3F Hatchetman
ZEU-6S Zeus
OTL-4D Ostsol
TBT-5N Trebuchet
GOL -1H Goliath
RFL-3N Rifleman


Delta:

BNC-3E Banshee
AWS-8Q Awesome
WHM-6D Warhammer
DRG-1N Dragon
CRD-3R Crusader
BLR-1G BattleMaster
CLPT-C1 Catapult
BL-7-KGT Black Knight

We’re going to man up and try to blast the clans off Pinnacle


Here is the Thor, which both of us now have. It’s a solid 70 OmniMech design with 5/8/5 movement.

[Abe Sargent]

The BV favors us by a lot now that we’ve dropped the scout guys. 61k to 51k

We start on the west and they on the east, they have a favorable side, with more tree cover.

Turn 1 – I win init. There’s a lot of weapons exchange, but eventually, some mechs get sliced. Our Whitworth nails the LA of their Dasher D and its destroyed. Their Mad Cat hits an Upper Leg actuator on a Rifleman. A Vulture Prime’s LT is destroyed by Col Matthews. Our Thor follows up and hits its eingine once and gyro once and it shuts down. Our Trebuchet destroys the LT and hits an engine in the CT of their Dasher D and it shuts down. That’s Thad Karmanlis’s 12th kill for us. Our Rifleman falls and hits its engine twice and gyro once.

Turn 2 - We lose init. After a lot of fire exchange again, Col Humphries’ Atlas destroys the LA of an Uller. Their Fenris C gets a engine hit.

T3 – We lose init. Our Black Knight destroys the Left Arm of their Fenris B. A BattleMaster hits he engine on their Gladiator I-UK. Our Orion hits the Head of their Man-o’War Prime with its Ac10, goe internal, and destroys the cockpit, killing the pilot. A Vulture destroys the RA of our Ostsol. The Ostsol destroys the MASC on their Gladiator D. Ou rWarhammer kicks and destroys the head of their Dragonfly F-UK. That was a pristine mech too, we had never targeted it until. I moved two mechs to try and punt the head. That was a good turn, I took out an untouched mech and a barely touched assault 80 ton machine.

T4 – We again lose init. I have successful flanked them from the front and the right side. I pushed them back and back and now I am surrounding their forces. Our BattleMaster destroys the RT and RA of their Dasher E-UK. Our Crusader’s missiles find an engine hit on their Gladiator I-UK. The AC5 on our 60ton Dragon lances into the Gladiator I-UK and destroys its LT. That shuts it down from three engine hits. However, our Huncgback follows up with AC20 ammo at the same time and destroys its CT section, so it is not recoverable. Col. Humphries’s Atlas fires a gauss slug into their Uller Prime and it destroys the CT. Our Trebuchet destroys its LT as well. Our regular Atlas also destroys its LL. Their Gladiator D tears into our Ostsol. They destroy its LA and LT, and then hit the engine three times and gyro once and shut it down.

T5 – We lose init again. I run my guys in as much as possible. Tightening the noose. Our Warhammer destroys their Fenris C’s head with his PPC. Co. Humphries lances an LRM 20 and Gauss Rifle at their Dasher EUK and it takes two more engine hits and shuts down. The Vulture C’s twin gauss rifles destroy the LA of our Hunchback. That’s the wrong arm to destroy on a Hunchy, it’s still got its AC20. Their Vulture F-UK hits the BattleMaster’s RA and gets a limb blown off critical, and it’s lying on the ground. Our Goliath destroys the LA of their Gladiator D. Their Vulture C falls.

T6 – We win init. We exchange a lot of fire. Our Dragon opens the center torso on their Vulture and hits the engine. One of the BattleMasters hits the head of the same Vulture and the pilot blacks out after the damage is dealt. Our Warhammer blows off the LA of the Vulture C and the Atlas destroys its LL. Our Loki then destroys its RT and the RA falls. One of our BattleMasters loses its RT to their Gladiator D. An Atlas falls.

T7 – We lose init. We offer our foes hegira. This is an offer of an honorable withdraw from combat. We learned it from Magnus. They accept. They have a Vulture that is savaged in four places and has just one point on its internal RT left (and a dead RA). They have another pair of savaged mechs in the Gladiator and Fenris. We have ever fired at their Black Hawk or Dragonfly. We have a lot more left.

[Abe Sargent]

Vulture Prime, LA reattached, LT destroyed,enginex3, gyrox1
Dasher D, destroyed LA, LT, enginex3
Man-o’-War Prime, destroyed cockpit
Dragonfly F-UK missing H
Gladiator I-UK LA, LL, RL, RT, RA, H
Uller Prime, H, RT, RA, RL
Fenris C, destroyed H
Dasher E-UK, enginex3
Vulture C LA and RA reattached, engine, RT and LL destroyed



To fix:

Ostsol RA, LA, LT, enginex3, gyrox1; Rifleman enginex2, gyro, actuator; Hunchback missing LA ; BattleMaster reattach RA, RT destroyed:

We have taken back Pinnacle.

We fix all of the things we can, and purchasing new parts for our mechs will cost us:2.65 mill. An additional 550k givesus the ammo and armor we need.

We pay 1.6 mill after 50% battle loss.

For the clan mechs:

We fix everything we can, including the cockpit. Here’s what we have left:

Man-o’-War Prime, up and running.
Dasher D, fixed after using parts from previous Dashers that survived.
Dragonfly F-UK is fixed and up and running after we replace the head with a salvaged one
Uller Prime, I used the salvaged Right Torso to fix one damaged earlier that needed one
Dasher E-UK, fixed the engine, and it is up and running, and it sucks – LB2X? That’s crap.
Vulture C, We cannibalize the RT and LL from the Vulture Prime and reattach the arms, which had the weapons.


Items:

2xLarge Pulse Lasers
4x Medium Pulse Lasers
Targeting Computer
Guardian ECM Suite
SRM 4
SRM 6


We also found unconscious MechWarrior, veteran named Irene. She’s a veteran and we make her a bondsman as well.


Experience:

Matthew Humphries is gaining Edge: 1
Bryson Abasi, the Thor pilot, is gaining Edge:11 as well
Madison Tolteca, our Warhammer 6R pilot in Defender company will also be getting Edge: 1
Thad Karamanlis, Trinity’s Trebuchet pilot, is getting Edge: 1 too

We will be staying on Pinnacle for a while and its new garrison force. We took Holmsbu, but we didn’t have the forces to keep it. We’ll try too here.

[Abe Sargent]

June 23 – Our garrison is now at Radlje . A large Ghost Bear task force has arrived at Last Frontier. For the next few days, the defenders will exact a massive toll on the Ghost Bears, and Khan DelVillar will die in the fighting tomorrow. After securing Last Frontier, Aletha Kabrinski is voted in as the new Khan. She will immediately declare the other Khan, Bourjon, incompetent. A vote of no confidence is held, and aerospace pilot Bjorn Jorgensson will be elected the new Khan and defeated Bourjon in a Trial of Refusal. This all takes places over the next few days, and again, it will slow down Ghost Bear’s attack.

June 24 – A Ghost Bear Drop Ship arrives at Thule for another attempt to take it. They issue a batchall. We had planned for this defense prior to Matthew Humphries leaving. Captain Martin Fitzgerald of Phaeton Company tells them that he will be defending this planet with just himself, in his Atlas, in a cornfield. If they lose, the Ghost bears have to give one pristine OmniMech – a Masakari. The Ghost Bears bid down to one elite MechWarrior.



Captain Martin Fitzgerald, 2/2, Edge: 2, Gunnery: Laser
Atlas AS7D

They are in a Gladiator Prime



This is their 95 ton assault mech:

[Abe Sargent]

One on One, here we go.

T1 – I lose init and we can’t see each other. I move to the center.

T2 – I win init and run into a copse of trees but don’t see him on the other side.

T3 – I win init and he runs to the edge of the trees. We can see each other, but not fire.

T4 – I lose init and move into some heavy woods and he moves closer. Our AC20 opens up his RA. We hit with both medium laser and 5 SRM missiles, one of which dings hit head. He misses with the Gauss Rifle and a ER laser, but hits with an ER Large Laser on my RT.

T5 – We lose init and stay standing still. He torso twists to protect his RA. AC20 to his LL, medium lasers ot LT and LL. Missed with an SRM6 and I tried a desperate LRM 20 and needed a 9 and missed. I take a Gauss to my RA, a glancing blow ER Large Laser to my CT and another to my LT.

T6 – We win init and he moves away from us. We run in right behind him. He hits my LT and LA each with an ER LL. Our AC20 hits his L and goes internal Medium Laser to the head, one to the rear armor and then 4 SRM6 missiles hit various places. We kick for 20 damage and his LL is destroyed and he falls.

T7 – We win init and he stands and spins. We move to his rear again. He hits our LT and RL with ER Large laser. AC20 to the Right Torso rear and its barely hanging on, but we didn’t hit any critical space with it. Two medium lasers lance out and hit, and our SRMs hit five places, and one hits some Gauss Ammo. It doesn’t explode Gauss ammo is just a metal slug. We kick him in his one leg, but he stays standing.

T8 – We win init. He tries to run and hide, but we find him. He hits the Atlas with everything but his Gauss and only hits legs. Our Atlas blows 20 into his Right Leg from an AC20 and hits with other weapons but no critical. He falls hard. Our kick tears into his right arm and goes internal. Martin offers hegira and the MechWarrior accepts.


We have won and again defend Thule. We gained a Masakari Prime in mint condition. That was Fitzgerald’s 20th kill, and he gets another edge.

[Abe Sargent]

We had decided to go for these smaller matchups because it appeared that the Bears would just increase their bid. This time they bid a 95 ton OmniMech and elite pilot over a 100 ton mech that didn’t even have LosTech, let alone clan tech. The BV was 2000 in their favor (3500 to 5500 or so).

Knowing this, we wanted to limit our losses by having one of our best pilots face them. We don’t think this trick will work that often, but it does make sense here.

June 27 – Our company from Laurent, Typhon, will be joining us on Thule, and should arrive on September 2.

The Ghost Bear clan has arrived at Radlje. They send out a batchall. We negotiate for two stars of elemental armor, that’s ten suits, if we win.


In order to prepare for this eventual assault, we moved some MechWarriors around with the three companies on planet. They are not the most experienced MechWarriors ever. We also switched a Quickdraw for a Locust. Now Mustang Company is as ready for the Clans as it can be.

The new Mustang Company:


ON1-K Orion
STC-2S Striker
AWS-8Q Awesome
HBK-4G Hunchback
WHM-6K Warhammer
STK-3F Stalker
MAD-Marauder
WTH-1 Whitworth
CMT-1 Comet
JR7-F Jenner
QKD-5G Quickdraw
COM-2D Commando

With 10 elite pilots and two veterans



With us having beaten the Ghost Bears several times, they are no longer going to reduce their bids for our Inner Sphere-ness. Now we are facing two full stars of mechs:

Dasher C
Puma D
Dragonfly D
Dragonfly B
Black Lanner Prime
Vulture D-UK (with two LB10X and 4x ER Medium Laser)
Loki B
Mad Cat D
Man-o-War B
Masakari A



The Mad Cat D is an odd combination with two rear facing SRM6 streaks, perhaps they know our tendency to run around the backs of mechs when possible. The Masakari A is nasty, with 2 ER Large Lasers, LRM 15, LB 10X, Streak SRM6. That is, in my option, the best variant of the Masakari.

This is their Mad Cat, probably the most iconic clan mech. They are used in Ghost Bear, but they are really used Wolf. Ghost Bear’s favorite heavy is clearly the Vulture. Which I like so that’s okay.

[Abe Sargent]

All pilots are elite (1/2) save for the veteran Dragonfly B pilot. They are heavily favored, the BVs are 24613 for us and 40174 for them.

Here we go!

Turn 1 – We lose init. The Black Lanner’s MASC freezes and it takes damage on its legs – two actuators are hit. Our Comet ran behind their Black Lanner and fires a laser into its rear CT and hits an engine. Their Puma destroys the RA of our Comet. Then their Dragonfly D destroys its CT. Our MechWarrior is injured on the way out and unconscious on the ground. The winner gets the prize. Our Awesome destroys the LA of their Dasher. Their Man-o’-War lances fire into our Quickdraw and hits the LRM ammo and it explodes! Their Masakari open up the right leg of our Stalker and nail a hip actuator and it falls. And destroys its leg.

Holy crap that was a bad turn. We need to turn this.

T2 – We lose init. We stand up our Stalker luckily it’s in heavy woods. Our Marauder opens things up by hitting the SRM ammo on their Black Lanner and its RT and RA are gone. Their pilot blacks out. Our long range weapons open up their Mad Cat and I ran in the Commando, and it follows with its many SRMs. A missile hits the LB 10-X ammo on the Mad Cat’s LT and that explodes – it also has two engine hits and a gyro hit. Their pilot blacks out too. Both unconscious mechs falls.

Well, I think we’re back in it, we just need to build on this momentum.

T3 – We lose init. Their Dragonfly B destroys the LA and LT of our Commando. Our Warhammer hits the upper leg actuator on their Mad Cat’s LL. Their Mad Cat hits the ammo on our Orion and it explodes. Our Commando hits two gyros and an engine on their Mad Cat. Dead Mad Cat. Our Awesome tumbles.

T4 – We lose init. We stand our Awesome back up. Our Awesome hits the hip actuator on their Masakari. Their Masakari hits the AC20 ammo on our Hunchback and it goes up.

T5 - We lost init. The Puma takes out the RA of our Whitworth. Our Stalker gets a Limb Blow Off critical against their Masakaris RL. Our Stalker and Whitworth fall under more damage.

T6 - We lose init again. We stand up the Stalker. I risk running my Jenner up against their Puma. Their Maskari fails to stand. As does our WW and our pilot blacks out – ugh. LRMs from our Stalker destroy the left arm of their Loki. Their Puma’s SRm2 streak ammo lights up from a PPC from our Mrauder. The RT is destroyed. Their Man-o-war destroys our Jenner’s RA and hits the hip and lower foot actuators on its LL. Our Jenner remains standing. Our WW pilot wakes up, but theirs do not.

T7 – We win init. That’s our first win this game. The Masakari fails to stand but it does spin so its facing us with its weapons. OurWW rises. The Strikers autocannon chews into the Dragonfly B and hits its engine. A PPC from our Warhammer swings into their Loki’s head and goes internal but only hits life support. Our Stalker destroys the LA of their Masakari. Twin PPCs jut from our Marauder into their Puma and destroy its engine.

T8 – We lose init. The manage to stand the Masakari. Our Jenner falls while moving. Another PPC lands from our Warhammer, and destroys the rest of the Loki’s head. Our Stalker alpha strikes the Masakari but only hits the engine once. Theor Loki destroys the LA of our Whity. The Man-o’-War destroys its RL and RT. Three PPCs knife into their Dragonfly B. One destroys its RA and another its LT. Both our Whity and their Masakari fall.

T9 – We win init. I eject the Whitworth pilot. Both our Jenner and their Masakari are back on our feet. Our Striker hits a hip and foot on their Dragonfly B’s right leg. Their Dragonfly D destroys ou rJenners LL and LT. Their Man O War destroys its RT. Our Marauder destroys the RT of their Masakari. Two hit on gyro and engine shut it down. Their Man O War, Dragonfly and our Jenner all say hello to the earth in a very intimate way.

T10 – We lose init. I eject our Jenner pilot. We focus our fire on their Man-o’-War. Our Marauder hits the lower leg actuator on its LL. Our Awesome adds a gyro and engine hit. It falls and hits its foot too.

T11 – We lose init. Their Glady rises. Just an exchange of weapons fire but their Gladiator takes so much damage that it falls and blows off its LL and hits its engine. We get on the transmission and offer hegira. One Dragonfly cannot rise, the Gladiator is legged and has one gyro and two engine hits, the Dasher is injured and has just an LRM5 left, and one Dragonfly is virtually unscatehed. Meanwhile, I have untouched Warhammer, virtually so Marauder and Awesome, and have damaged Stalker and Striker. They agree and leave the field.

That was a rough battle. We lost a lot of mechs, and a few were severely damaged, but we survived and kept Radlje from falling.

[Abe Sargent]

Vulture D-UK, destroyed LT, reattach LA, gyrox1
Black Lanner RA reattached, missing RT, life support, two leg actuators
Mad Cat LA reattached, LT destroyed; gyro hit twice, engine one, actuator,
Masakari A missing RT, reattach RA
Puma RA reattach, destroyed RT, engine x3,
Loki, missing H
Dragonfly B LA
Gladiator LL


Quickdraw LA, H, RL
Comet, LA, LT, LL, RT, RL, H
Orion RA, H, LL
Hunchback LA, H, LL


To Fix: Stalker’s RL. Commando’s LT, LA: Whitworth RA, RL, RT and LA; Jenner RA, LT, LL, RT reattach LA;


We capture two MechWarriors, elite (1/2) – Rachel and Evan. Both are taken as bondsman.

Fixing my dudes: This will take a lot. To fix those listed will cost:3.31 mill.

To rearm and re armor my guys will cost 950k:

I have to pay this: 2.13 mill

Now, I get compensation for my dead mechs:6,462,000 – This is the total cost of our lost mechs minus the pieces we recovered, divided by two.

We “made” 4,332,000

Now, let’s look at salvage.

We fix everything that doesn’t require a spare

Loki B – we take the head from the salvaged Loki we were unable to get up and running and put it here.


Clan Items:

ER PPC

I lost for mechs and got only one replacement, and that’s only after we get salvage sent from two jumps away. It will take a month to get my mechs back and in running order.


We gained 10 suits of elemental armor.

We are currently in “possession” of three worlds - Pinnacle, Radlje and Thule.

[Abe Sargent]

June 29 – Another clan WarShip jumps into Thule at a Pirate Point.
July 1 – News of Ghost Bear worlds being treated much better than other Clan worlds is a major leading story. They are having the people rebuild infrastructure and more. As a result, uprisings on Bear held worlds are much lower than the other worlds.

July 3 – Bidding for the right to attack Rasalhague, the capital, is won by Clan Wolf. The Invasion will begin tomorrow. Rasalhague will fall after bitter fighting destroys more than 70% of the buildings in Rasalhague City and destroys much of the world. It will fall on July 16.

July 5 – We get news that planets like Holmsbu and Damian now have Steel Viper garrisons, and they are quite large. Our opportunity to nip in and take them due to weak garrisons is gone. We just have to hold our three planets.

July 8 – A Drop Ship arrives at Thule from the pirate point. We get a batchall, but this time, it’s not from Ghost Bear.

“This is Star Captain Caslon Stiles of the mighty Smoke Jaguars. Since those idiot Bears can’t seem to take your backwater planet, we are here to capture it for the glory of the Smoke Jaguars. With what forces shall you defend this pitiful planet?”

Captain Martin Fitzgerald will be defending with his own Phaeton Company. He asked for a several OmniMechs if they win, but the Jaguars laughed at him. He carefully taunts them, “If the Jaguars are afraid of a little mercenary unit beating them…” and they agree to two OmniMechs. He wants a Gladiator and a Mad Cat. He is told that they don’t have any of those pitiful Gladiators, but they’ll give him a Masakari, and he agrees.

Just like the Bears did originally, they have no respect for a mercenary Inner Sphere unit. They will be bidding 8 OmniMechs.


Phaeton Company:

AWS-8Q Awesome
WHM-6L Warhammer
TDR-5S Thunderbolt
PNT-9R Panther
GRF-1N Griffin
AS7-D Atlas
RFL-3N Rifleman
CLPT-C1 Catapult
JVN-10F Javelin
CMT-1A Comet
PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk
HER-2S Hermes II

This group includes 7 elite, 3 vets and 2 regular.


The Jags

Koshi Prime
Fenris B
Ryoken Prime
Ryoken C
Vulture A
Loki D-UK (with ER LL, Ultra AC5, 4 Medium Pulse Laser and one ER SL)
Masakari B
Daishi Prime



Just one light mech. They are all elites (1/2)

This is their Daishi, a 100 ton mech with maximum armor and more than 50 tons of space for weapons. The one we are facing has four ER large lasers, LRM10, 4 medium pulse lasers, 2 Ultra AC5s. It is truly nasty. It is loaded for bear.

[Abe Sargent]

They are coming with heavy heat. Two assaults, two heavies, three mediums and one light. The mediums are on the heavy side (45, 55, 55) and the Vulture is always nasty. That Loki variant is hot. Masakaris and Daishis are amazingly powerful.

Battle value – 34k for them, 28k for us.

There’s always a strategic issue when fighting a team that includes a mech as powerful as this Daishi. Do I focus all of my weapons on it until it falls? I know that doing so could take a few turns of concentrated fire, which means when it falls, my foes will have several turns of taking out my mechs. On the other hand, suppose that we let it stay while we take out more vulnerable mechs until I outnumber the Daishi.. Can I honestly allow a mech as powerful as the Daishi to attack me for a large portion of the battle? Which is the greater sin, to not challenge it, or to challenge it too much? In this case, we don’t know that Daishi that well, so my guess is that the Masakari is the target of choice.


Our first battle with a clan not named Ghost Bear. Alons-y!

Turn 1 – We win init. We are fighting by a few small hills and woods, with a central river. We focus a lot of our fire on their Daishi because it is the easiest to hit. Our Awesome hits its head with a PPC and nails the life support. We lost a RT on our Comet from their Fenris B. Just for fun, I totaled up how much damage we dealt to their Daishi – 76 damage. That’s it. That’s not too bad I suppose

T2 – We lose init. We hop our Javelin 10F behind their Loki. They are focusing some fire on our Griffin. Our Jav goes into the Loki’s armor and hits the gyro once. It falls and destroys its LA. Just weapons fire. They moved their Daishi behind some woods and few of my mechs had lines of fire. Our Javelin misses a kick on the downed mech and falls. Hilarity ensues. Their Daishi took 45 damage.

T3 – We lose init. Their Loki rises and spins. Our Jav fails to stand up once ,but it does on a second try. Our Awesome hits the head of their Daishi and it has no more external armor. A Ryoken destroys the RT of our Javelin. The other Ryoken destroys both legs. Their Vulture destroys its LA, LT and CT. A completely destroyed mech. Their Loki took two engine hits from our Javelin before it wen Their Daishi took another 94 damage from us and it still is not internal in any place. A through armor ctical from their Fenris hits a PPC on our Awesome

T4 – We lose init. Our Awesome destroys the LT of their Loki and then hits the engine twice in the CT, putting it out of commission. Our T Bolt is the first to hit an internal component on their Daishi – an engine. Our Griffin hits and destroys the RT of their Vulture. Before it goes their Loki destroys the LL and CT of our Comet. Our Phoenix destroys the LT of their Daishi. We hit two double heat sinks on the Daishi. Our Atlas hits a foot actuator on their Vulture. Their Daishi destroyed the Comet RA before it goes. The Daishi goes overheat and shuts down (engine hits make 5 heat a turn, add the lack of het from the 2x and it was already going overheat from lasers, and shut down.)

T5 – We win init. I have armor about half way down on 5 of my mechs – Warhammer, Rifleman, Thunderbolt, Griffin and Awesome. Can we manage to take out the rest of the mechs, or did I spend too much time on the Daishi? I guess we’ll find out. Their Masakari hits two foot actuators on my Warhammer. Our Awesome gets a limb blown off, LA, on their Ryoken C’s RA. Okay, this is going to be confusing, so get ready. Our Catapult launched LRM15 missiles at their wounded Vulture. They hit the engine twice, and destroys the CT section. The engine has a cascade reaction and blows up. It was right by the downed but will reboot at the end of the turn Daishi. I hopped my Phoenix Hawk next to it and tried but was unable to take off its head. Our Phoenix Hawk takes 15 damage from the explosion. Their damaged Ryoken takes 7. But their Daishi takes 30 from it. It hits the Daishis gyro and engine each once, and that’s an engine shutdown on the Daishi. Both are down. Our Rifleman falls under the damage.

T6 - We win init. I stand my Rifleman up, go behind a one level hill and intentionally go prone so no one can see me this turn. I run my Griffin up on their Koshi. Our Griffin’s RA is blown right off and able to be reattached. The SRM6 on our Warhammer is hit. Our Griffin kicks and destroys the RL of their Koshi and it falls hard.

T7 – We lose init. I stand up our Rifleman and twist so I can aim and deal some damage. Their Koshi fails to stand. I run my Thunderbolt up to it. The RA, RT and RL of our ’Hammer is destroyed. Our T Bolt blows up the RT of their Koshi. After combat, a kick destroys the CT.

T8 – We lose init. I eject the Warhammer pilot. No one knows who’s winning this. They have a Masakari, two Ryokens and a untouched Fenris. We have an untouched Hermes II and Catapult, a savaged Rifleman, a damaged Thunderbolt, Griffin, Atlas, Awesome, Panther and Phoenix Hawk. They could easily finish a couple off this turn and swing things back their way. Last turn I basically lost a heavy mech and they lost a light mech. Not a good trade. I risk my P Hawk by jumping to their injured Ryoken C. Our Atlas’s AC20 hits the head of their Masakari and it falls down. Before it went, it hits the AC20 on our Atlas.

T9 - We lose init. Their Ryoken destroys the RL of our Griffin. Our Rifleman hits and destroys the CT of their Ryoken Prime. We used up all of the LRM ammo b your Catapult. With two mechs left, we offer them hegira, and they accept.

[Abe Sargent]

Loki D-UK, Destroys LT, LA, enginex5. Gyrox1
Vulture A RA
Daishi Prime reattach LA, enginex3, gyrox1, destroyed LT
Ryoken C RA
Koshi Prime RA, H, LT, LA, LL
Masakari, missing H,
Ryoken Prime H, LL, RL, RT, LT, RA, LA


Awesome PPC; Griffin reattach RA destroyed RL; Warhammer, actuators, SRM 6, replace RA, RL, RT;

Comet LT, LA, RL, H
Javelin RA, H;


We won a Masakari and Mad Cat Prime each

We permanently lost a Comet and Javelin.

We must pay to fix: 1.9 mill

Rearm and Rearmor: 820k

We gained 415k after our 50% battle loss kicked in.


Salvage:

We put the Vulture RA on a chassis that is missing it but is still missing other pieces too.
Masakari B, I moved a H from a Masakari chassis we have to this one.
Ryoken Prime – I had a Prime chassis missing a H and La, and we are able to move these two pieces to that. (I roll each time, but it’s not hard to make it – I need a 4 on 2d6, if I fail, I can reroll with a bettr tech, but it adds another week)

Clan Items:

ER PPC
Large Pulse Laser
ER Large Laser
ER Medium Laserx2
9x Double Heat Sink

Experience:

David Delgado, the Rifleman Pilot is getting Edge:1
Earl Ray Williams, in the Thunderbolt, is getting Edge: 2





The Jaguars leave Thule with their tail between their legs.

[Abe Sargent]

July 10 – After taking Polcenigo, the Ghost Bears will stop invading for a month while they regather themselves. They will bring in supplies, rotate in garrison clusters instead of front line units (and let Steel Viper go) and bring in troops to replace those lost in the collision with the asteroid around Damian.

July 12 – The Steel Vipers have bid for the right to attack the three worlds that we hold.

July 14 – A WarShip jumps into Pinnacle.

July 22 – We are hailed by Clan Steel Viper, who wants to take Pinnacle. Their batchall is different. Instead of asking us what forces we will be using, they inform us that they will be using a full cluster of troops.

Humphries looks at Magnus, and he says that this would only be done as an insult. He recommends responding with an insult. Humphries responds with, “As we can see, what the Bears have told us in true, the rusted snakes have no honor.”

They get pissed. Humphries pushes, “I’ll tell you what. You come down here and fight me personally. You win, you get Pinnacle. If I win, you have your techs fix up the mechs we’ve won from the Bears and I take you as a bondsman.”

The Star Colonel is quite pissed off, but agrees to fixing the mechs, but not to be a bondsman. Matthew assents, and he grabs the mech he wants. He normal mech is the Gauss Rifle, LRM20 and 2x ER Large Laser equipped Atlas. For this battle, he will instead be piloting the Masakari Prime he won earlier.



Our foe:

Star Colonel 1/2, Edge:2
Gladiator Alternate Config A

They have three large pulse lasers, four ER Medium lasers, and a machine gun. IT is also a fast mech with 4/6/4(8) movement.


Our Masakari does waste some space:


It has 4 ER PPCs, but can only disperse 40 a turn. Each one makes 15 heat. It also has an LRM 10 and a precious targeting computer.

Our BV is 5813 and theirs is 6971

The place we’re fighting on is a flat plan with some rocks and rough patches sin areas, but no terrain at all.

[Abe Sargent]

T1 – Col. Humphries wins init. He hits with two pulses and a nER Laser and we hit with an ER PPC and a LRM10 for 4 missiles.

T2 – We win init and continue to try to stay away from our foe. We nail his right torso with two ER PPCs and go internal and hit a double heat sink. We take two large pulse lasers to legs.

T3 – We lose init. We miss with both ER PPCs and hit with just 6 missiles. We get hit with every weapon they have.

T4 – We lose init. This time we hit with 2x ER PPC and LRM10 full missiles, but they miss, after we moved far away from the range o the large pulses. We’ve never been closer than 10 hexes.

T5 – We lose init. We miss with an ER PPC and then get a glancing blow with the other and missiles. Once again they hit with lots.

T6 – We lose init. We’re internal on the Right Arm. The Masakari is a lot more wounded than his Gladiator. We go to long range and only hit once.

T7 – We win init. Nobody hits this time, still at long range.

T8 – We lose init. We hit with 6 missiles and they with a Large pulse laser to the CT of our Masakari.

T9 – We lose init. They use MASC twice in a row to get close, and no failure. We hit their jump jet and upper leg actuator on the left leg. They open up the right arm more and hit the shoulder actuator there.

T10 – We win init. We are internal in both torsos and have just one internal armor left on the right arm. They try and hop away but we run up to them. Two ER PPCs meet at the center torso of their mech. Still haven’t gone internal there.

T11 – We win init. We fire two ER PPCs and they destroy the RT and RA of their mech. Three large pulse lasers lance into our torso, and one hits the RT and destroys it, and the other hits our CT, goes internal, and hits the engine twice more. Our engine shuts down. We have lost.


Steel Viper has gained the Masakari Prime and Pinnacle.

Ah well. We were winning that one too near the end.

[Abe Sargent]

July 23 – We blast off from Pinnacle.

July 25 - Rasalhague falls. The elected prince flees the planet, being screened by Tyra Miraborg and her 1st Drakons.

July 30 – We leave the system and arrive at Holmsbu. The Provisional Garrison Cluster of Ghost Bear has arrived here and the Vipers are gone. Humphries and Magnus have been discussing what to do, and have a plan.

July 31 – By the end of this month, Clan Wolf has captured an additional 9 systems, including Rasalhague itself. The Jaguars captured 3 more systems from the Dracs and the Jade Falcons four more. The total number of inner sphere systems under Clan control is 35 for Wolf, 1 for Viper, 29 for Falcons, 8 for Bears and 23 for Jaguars. That’s 96 systems all told that have gone to the Clans since mid March. Thule is now five jumps away from the nearest system not currently under the control of a Clan save Radlje.

Aug 5 – The Ghost Bears have arrived at Radlje and again issue a batchall for the system.

Since we lost so many mechs earlier, and we have few good pilots in few good mechs, Captain Gabriel Williams orders Lt. Akwasi Oppoku from Lane Company to fight solo in his Attila. The Ghost Bears mention they are tired of these minor skirmishes, and their warriors want war.

Captain Williams has been given the same intel that everyone else has. He knows how to work the enemy. He chuckles at the Bear’s claim, and says, “Can’t any one of your warriors beat one of ours?”

The Ghost Bear agrees, and nods. We ask for 5 of their techs if we win. We need help getting things like their armor, their ammo made, and more. They agree.



Akwasi is elite

They are sending:

Man-o’-War, C – with Ultra AC20, and 6 ER medium lasers

The Attila has two PPCs, 2 SRM6s, 7 medium lasers, max armor for 85 ton mech - 263/263

They have 211 armor out of possible 247 and they are a 5/8 mech vs 3/5 for the Attila.

Alons-y!

[DataKing]

Hey there Abe. Just wanted to let you know you've got another loyal follower here. I'm an old-school BattleTech gamer who is looking forward to watching the Kilts and Commandos kick some Clan butt.

[Abe Sargent]

T1 – We lose init. Our battlefield is rocky, wit trees and a depression. We take 45 damage total and only dealt 5 from a glancing blow. Not an auspicious start.

T2 – We win init. We slice a PPC into its CT and it misses us (heavy woods).

T3 – We win again. We are hit by five medium lasers and miss twice. They set our hex on fire.

T4 – We lose init. We creep out of the fire and into an adjacent heavy woods hex. We lance a PPC into their head. We hit sensors and life support. I want to close to fire SRM6s to see if I can’t hit it again.

T5 – We lose init. We stand still and fire 5 medium lasers and two SRM6s at the foe. We hit with 5 lasers and 5 missiles. We get hit for 16 damage from lasers.

T6 – We win. They run, and we can’t change too much, so back to PPCs. We hit with two glancing blows. We are hit three times by lasers.

T7 – We win init. We mostly miss each other, only a glancing blow from us and two medium lasers from them.

T8 – We lose init. Their Man o war charges us. We miss with our SRM6s (only needed a 6) and hit with some mediums. They hit us too. We still aren’t internal anywhere, and they are only internal in the head.

T9 – We lose. We run up to them. They just twist. This is going to be a massive turn. We hit with 12 SRM missiles, but none hits the head for the kill. All of these lasers and missiles does hit their Ultra AC20 (it was out of ammo this round anyway) and engine once. They open up our left torso and hit a heat sink and laser. An ER medium laser hits the Attila’s head.

T10 – We win init. They move up a hill and we move to their left side and open up. We destroy the la.

T11 – We lose init. I stand still and go 5 overheat to fire all lasers and missiles. We destroy their LT. It falls to the ground, hits its engine, and the pilot blacks out. The engine shut down. Yay!

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by DataKing

Hey there Abe. Just wanted to let you know you've got another loyal follower here. I'm an old-school BattleTech gamer who is looking forward to watching the Kilts and Commandos kick some Clan butt.

You got it!

[Abe Sargent]

We gain:

Man o’ war with enginex3, life support, sensors, destroyed LA, LT

Getting the sensors hit early helped us stay alive as it accounted for a few misses.

We captured:

Michael, elite, 1/2, made a bondsman

We also gained 5 techs, when they send over.

That was a real battle of fire for our own mech.

We’re told that the Ghost Bears want a bigger fight next time, and that these small proxy battles just aren’t going to keep cutting it. They do really respect that we won without using any physical attacks.

We fix everything but the sensors. The clan techs fix them however (if we didn’t have the clan techs, we would’ve had to replace them).

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 7 – We arrive at Holmsbu and declare a Trial of Possession for two stars of elemental warriors to be our bondsman, so we can use the elemental armor we have (we realized that normal IS people can’t use it, they aren’t big enough, and we need the genetically enhanced warriors). You can fight for anything. They want Humphries to stop attacking them for a couple of months. They send the specs on their provisional garrison. It does not have many front line OmniMechs.

They choose to fight on a old abandoned industrial area with a lot of pavement and some buildings. They send a supernova of forces for defense. A supernova is two stars of mechs and two stars of elementals – 20 units in all.

Magus has been assigned to Delta company and is piloting the Dragonfly F-UK. It’s replacing a lost scout mech.

Their mechs:

Gladiator, A – elite pilot, leader
Loki B, elite pilot, star leader too
Koshi B
Peregrine
Grizzly
Galahad
Griffin IIc
Shadow Hawk IIc GB variant
Rifleman IIc
Supernova

All pilots are vets. When the clans left the Inner Sphere, they took many IS era mechs with them. Refitting them and making new ones with clan technology seems like an obvious thing to do. Some of these venerable designs have worked for centuries, so upgrading them works. They may have different weights, movements, and weapons payouts, but they work.

The Peregrine is the only other light mech up there besides the Koshi. The assault mechs are the Gladiator at 95 tons, the 90 ton Supernova with its 6 ER Large lasers. The Galahad is a 60 ton mech with double gauss rifles. The Rifleman IIc rocks four large pulse lasers, the Shadow Hawk variant has double er large lasers, 3 small pulse lasers and 2 er small laser. Th Griffin IIc is just 40 tons and has 4 LRM 5 launchers, an ER Large laser and a backup er small laser. Even at 35 tons, the Peregrine rocks a large pulse laser and two medium pulses.


This is their Grizzly. It’s one of their totem mechs. It’s 70 tons with 4/6/4 movement. It comes with a large pulse laser, an LRM 10, a gauss rifle, a medium and small pulse laser, and 208 points of armor (out of possible 217). It’s a very good mech with serious long range punch.

All of the elementals are veteran except one elite and two regular.




We will be using Defender and Delta companies against these 20 enemies.

25 mechs on 10 mechs and 10 squads of elementals. We should have this, because they are not front line mechs or warriors.

[Abe Sargent]

How do you become a garrison warrior:

1). Age. As you get older, if you have not advance up the ranks, you will be put out to pasture, so to speak. A lot of older warriors end up in garrisons
2). Freeborn. Those who are not born from genetic enhancement, but instead from normal birth are usually ostracized and included here in garrisons.
3). Dishonored. If you have done something that offends your clan, this is where you may end up.
4). Out of favor. Perhaps you are just not that good. Or perhaps you are a warden in a Crusader clan, or vice versa. Or perhaps you are a political opponent of the new Khan. You could end up here, as a leader of garrisons.

Because of the lack of honor that comes with this assignment, the people tend to not be as good and also fight with chips on their shoulders . This battle is an opportunity for these people, and they will be taking it.

[Abe Sargent]

We start with our light and jumpy mechs by and around the buildings, and a large power mech group above, ready to move in one giant group.

T1 – We win init. Their Loki nails a PPC in the Banshee. We focused fire on the Gladiator but was too far away to hit with much.

T2 – We win init. Their Elementals are moving towards the buildings. Crusader missiles fly out and hit the head of their Gladiator and destroy the cockpit, dead Gladiator. Other than that, nothing else.

T3 – We win again. Their Peregrine falls while trying to jump on top of a building to get a great attacking angle on us, but the building fell. Their Rifleman IIc hits our Whitworth in the head with a large pulse laser. The Supernova hits an engine on our Thor. Our Firestarter pilot blacks out after getting hit in the head three times. I fire my Javelin and some others at a building that has some Elementals on top and destroy it. Our Spider falls after missing a kick.

T4 – We lose init. They set up Elementals on top of a lot of buildings for nasty killing zones. Their Supernova cracks our Banshee open more and hits a gyro and destroys its RA. Their Koshi gets two engine hits on our Javelin. Our Black Knight responds by destroying the Koshi’s LT. An engine is hit on the Firestarter. The Elementals destroys its CT section – dead Firestarter. Our Orion’s AC10 opens the head of their Supernova and hits the life support. The pilot blacks out. Our Jav destroys the CT of their Koshi.

T5 – I win init. I charge several mechs into the building near the elementals to take out a few of them – crusader, Black knight, phoenix hawk, and thor. Their Loki hits my Awesome’s head with an srm missile. Their Peregrine destroys my Spider’s LL. We killed several troopers in various squads, and a BattleMaster took out one. My Orion’s RL is destroyed. Our Spider and Orion fall. Their Supernova pilot fails to awaken

T6 – We lose init. The Javis 20 overheat, and there’s no way I can get back down with the engine hits so I eject. I don’t want an ammo explosion from the heat. I eject the Spider too. An entire building collapsed and the Peregrine and a Elemental unit died. Their Griffin IIc hits an engine on the Awesome. Col. Humphries’s Atlas shears off the head of their Rifleman IIc with LRM Missiles after the Awesome hit it with a PPC earlier in the turn.

T7 – We win init. Magnus and the Dragonfly hope behind their Griffin IIc and we have pushed their mechs in a corner. An Awesome PPC hits the sensors on their Loki’s head. Our BattleMaster hits the gauss in the LA of their Galahad, and it explodes and destroys the arm and the pilot blacks out. Our Dragon gets a limb blown off critical against their Griffin IIc’s la. A BattleMaster’s short range missile hits the head and rings the bell of their Shadow Hawk IIc. Our Huncy focuses fire on hit and blows up the LA from the SH IIc. Our Thor’s Ultra AC20 chews into their Loki’s RT and destroys it.

T8 – We win init. I keep Magus’s Dragonfly behind their Griffin IIc after they try and jump away. A Warhammer cracks the foot on their Grizzly. A BattleMaster hits the Loki’s engine five times and gyro once. Unfortunately, Warhammer PPCs snake in and destroy the CT. Our Thor destroys the LT of their Shadow Hawk IIc.

T9 –We lose init. We run out of LRM ammo for the Catapult this turn. Their Shadow Hawk IIC gets a missile to the head of our Crusader. A BattleMaster destroys a elemental troop. An AC20 from our Hunchback destroys the Grizzly’s head. Their Shadow hawk IIc tumbles. Neither of their pilots awakens.

T10 - We win init. Their Shadow Hawk IIc stands and moves away. An elemental hits the head of our Comet. A BattleMaster destroys the CT of their Shadow Hawk IIc. We also kill 6 more troopers in various squads. Our Wasp kicks and destroys the last trooper in a squad. A Griffin does the same. Their pilots stay unconscious. We radio and offer hegira and they accept.

[Abe Sargent]

Shadow Hawk IIc GB version, H, RT, LT, LL, RL, LA, RA
Griffin IIc - LA
Koshi B LA, RA, RT, LL, RL, H
Gladiator A – cockpit
Rifleman IIc – missing H
Supernova – life support
Galahad – missing La
Loki B – RA, H, LT, LA, LL, RL
Grizzly, missing H, RA


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

Banshee, gyro, PPC hit; destroyed Ra; Javelin enginex2; Spider LL; Orion RL; Awesome enginex1;


Supernova Pilot, veteran, Kevin, now a bondsman
Galahad Pilot, veteran, Helga, now a bondsman
10 veteran elementals, bondsmen
After the battle, Magnus, who has proved himself, is no longer a Bondsman, but now a full member of K&C.


We lost a mech. We have to pay 400k even after battle compensation.

Salvage:

Gladiator A – up and running easily
Supernova – and this as well
Loki D-Uk – I use the extra pieces here to get this up and running.


Clan Items:

Beagle Active Probe
2x ER Medium Lasers
2x SRM6
ER Small Laser
Gauss Rifle


Experience:

Michael Henry, Defender’s BattleMaster, Edge: 2
Gia Alletelli, Hunchback, Edge: 1
Griffin’s pilot Marcus Jackson is getting Edge: 1
Estelle Galverson, Crusader, Edge: 2

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 13 – Lt. Rafael Gomez, who has been with the unit since 3030 has died of a disease that was discovered was too late to cure. He was an Archer pilot for Aleph Company and he was the one who took over after Braham Essex left. Michael Adkins is promoted to Sgt and Aurelia Jenson is giving command, in her Striker. Adele Thompson still has no desire to be promoted above her scout lance. The Archer is given to dispossessed MechWarrior Sergei Monotov, regular.

Aug 15 – After some quiet time, Humphries arrives at the Thule system.

Aug 16 – Ghost Bears have arrived at Radlje. They are moving to the planet.

Aug 18 – The Ghost Bears have returned from recalibrating their machine, and have begun to attack the Rasalhague system Vipaava.

Aug 24 – They arrive and issue a batchall.

They will be attacking with a full cluster. Nothing we say will change their mind. What will we use? The entire battalion. If we win, with this large of a battle, we want another DropShip.

They land in the swamp we have suggested for battle. All of our scout units have created an ad-hoc scout company that hits them from the east but quickly fades. They dispatch a binary to chase them down (binary is two stars, a star is five points, five fighters, squads of elementals or mechs). Meanwhile, our other forces are to the west. Missiles launch in from our fire support mechs and batter nothing but mire and plants. Their better sensors note where we are and have accommodated. They move the rest of their forces west towards us.

Our light company manages to elude the binary sent after them, without any weapons fire hitting anyone. Meanwhile, the other 45 mechs are slogging their way towards our 24 mechs. They break off into 15 mech trinaries and peel them off. We back up but have our backs to the worst section of the bog, and we’re too slow. Within fifteen minutes, our 24 mechs are surrounded on every side by 45 clan mechs.

With a minute, four of our mechs are destroyed and we haven’t damaged any of theirs. Tethys’s Griffin, Mustang’s Whitworth and Lance’s Banshee and Trebuchet have been destroyed. They offer us hegira, and with being as surrounded as we are, and outnumbers 2!: against superior forces in superior positions – we accept.


We have lost Radlje.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 25 – Baron Jorgensson sent troops to grab tech from the damaged WarShip in Damian. They found nothing, it was already stripped by someone.


Aug 30 - After discussing it, the board of directors for Kressly Warworks has decided to expand into BattleMechs. With the video of a Kilts and Commandos Attila defeating a clan OmniMech in one on one combat making the rounds of the inner sphere, they are going to build them. The Attila will be updated with a bit LosTech, since that’s the hot new stuff. Since field trials are not necessary, adding a mech line to their factory will take roughly a year before they will be making the first one.

The new Atilla:

ATA-2 Atilla
85 tons, 3/5/3 movement
Maximum armor
17(34) double heat sinks
2xER PPC, one in each arm
3xSRM 6, all three in LT along with CASE and two tons of ammo
Medium Laser in H, 5x in RT, 1 in CT

Jump Jets in legs and CT. 2x HS are all over the place

Changes – weight saved from the switch to double heat sinks is used for jump jets and CASE and a 3rd SRM6. ER PPCS fit easily. We can jump and fire both ER PPCs without going overheat. When closed, we can fire all seven medium lasers and all three SRM6s and we make 33 heat. This assault mech will not go overheat. It does not have any expensive components like ferro-fib, endo steel or XL engines. It doesn’t need the weight savings. We had to remove the hand actuators to fix two double heat sinks in each arm.

Cost: 8.663 mill C Bills
Battle Value: 1,728

Compared to other mechs on the drawing board or just coming off in this era:

AS7-K Atlas, which is Col. Humphries btw, is 22.5 mill for 2175 BV
Albatross – 25 mill for 1650 BV
Stalker 5M – 8.25 mill and 1670 BV
Salamander – 18.4 mill, 1769 BV
Mauler – 1473 BV off 18.8 mill
Grand Titan 1820 BV off 29 mill

So the combination of value and cost is really good for the upgraded Attila.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 31 – By the end of August, the Bears have captured two more systems, the Jaguars grab another, the Falcons add 3 and the Wolves take 4 more. 10 more systems have fallen to the inexorable Clan Advance.

Sept 4 – Humphries and his battalion arrive at Thule and are joined by Typhon Company. We now have 10 companies of mechs on Thule.

Sept 6 – The battalion from Radlje arrives in the Thule system

Sept 7 – The clan techs manage to fix the engine on the Loki Prime we captured a long time ago. Their next project is to move the arm from the Griffin IIc to a Dragonfly B chassis, which they say will be easy. After that, a Fenris C will be restored after getting a Shadow Hawk IIc head grafted to its body as a replacement.

Sept 10 - We meet with Baron Jorgensson to discuss possible battle strategies. We want to do more than just sit here and wait for an invasion. And yet, we have no support from the rest of Rasalhague, and the Baron wants to send us to help on the front lines. The Bears are attacking three more Rasalhague systems right now, and the Wolves are taking two more. Rasalhague systems as far away as Kandis are falling. We are five jumps away from the nearest free system – Spittal, but it is right next to three systems currently fighting Bears – by the time we arrived, it would likely have fallen already. There’s just not a lot of options. We will wait for the battered battalion from Radlje to arrive to get fixed up, and then we need to figure some things out.

Sept 15 – Thule had been left out for a while, but a clan JumpShip arrives in the system. It’s just a JumpShip, and not a full blown WarShip. We get news that the Bears took Pinnacle from the Vipers.

Their bondsmen do not give us military information on the clan, which we are okay with. They won’t give us information on home planets, defenses, that sort of thing – just information about things like culture, language, the Trials, and more. That’s fair, we know that if one of ours is taken as a bondsman, the clans would not expect sensitive information to be given. These clan techs we took aren’t giving us schematics to build our own OmniMechs, but they are helping us repair them an getting them ready.

[Abe Sargent]

We are going to shift our language. Previously, we have referred to Star League/Modern era technology as LosTech, the new clan level of technology as ClanTech and the old 3025 era without any special terms. Now we will be calling them level 1, level 2 and level 3.

Level 1 Tech:

Small, Medium and Large Lasers
SRM 2, 4, 6
LRM 5, 10, 15 and 20
PPC
Machine Gun
AC 2, 5, 10 or 20
Flamer
Hatchet


Level 2 Tech:

Gauss Rifle
ER PPC
ER Large Laser
Large, medium and small pulse lasers
LB 10-X
Ultra AC5
SRM 2 Streak


Anti-Missile System
Guardian ECM Suite
Beagle Active Probe
Target Acquisition Gear
Narc Missile Beacon
Artemis IV Fire Control System
C3 Computer

Ferro Fibrous Armor
Endo Steel Construction
Double Heat Sinks
XL Engines
Cellular Ammunition Storage Equipment (CASE)
Myomer Accelerator Signal Circuitry (MASC)
Triple Strength Myomer



Level 3 Tech:

ER Medium and Small Lasers
Ultra AC 2, 10 and 20
LB 2-X, 5-X, 20-X
SRM 4 and 6 Streak
Anti-Personnel Pods

Targeting Computer

Their weapons are also better. For example, a level 1/2 LRM 20 weighs 10 tons, has a range of 7/14/21 with a minimum range of 6, and makes 6 heat and uses 5 critical slots. A clan level 3 LRM 20 weighs just 5 tons, has a 7/14/21 range with no minimum and makes 6 heat and uses 4 critical slots. An Inner Sphere ER LL weighs 5, uses 2 crits, makes 12 heat, does 8 damage and has a 7/14/19 range. The clan one weighs 4 tons, uses 1 crit, has a range of 8/15/25, does 10 damage and makes 12 heat.

All of their machines are massively better than the IS ones, except for the Gauss Rifle. The clan version does weigh 20% less and uses one less critical space, but it has the same damage, range and heat.

[Abe Sargent]

Sept 20 – After suffering from a massive counter attack by the Federated Commonwealth, the planet of Twycross is retaken by the FedComs.

Sept 21 – The clan JumpShip leaves Thule.

Sept 22 – All of our troops are on planet and we have an awards ceremony

For valor against the clans, and for defeating them on several occasions, every unit which has fought against them gets the Tyr Clusters for furthering the freedom of the FRR. These companies get it:

Delta
Trinity
Defender
Tethys
Mustang
Lance
Phaeton

For defeating clan opponents in solo combat, Captain Martin Fitzgerald of Phaeton Company and Lt. Akwasi Oppoku of Lance company get the very rare Mannerheim Cross

For organizing the defense, Col. Matthew Humprhies gets both the Mannerheim Cross and Sheild of Heimdall for protecting citizens.

All three of those are also given the Tartan Badge, the highest honor that we can give to our company.

The following people get the Black Badge, our second rank of honor we bestow. Captain Gabriel Williams, Mustang Company

Sept 30 – By the end of the month, Wolf has captured 5 more systems total, the Jaguars grab 3, the Ghost Bears took 5 and the Falcons 4.

Oct 1 – After discussions with Baron Jorgensson, we dispatch the entire K&C unit - 13 companies, techs, spares, extra mechs, and more from Thule. Only 4 companies of assembled mechs from various planets that lost will garrison it. The Baron understands that his last planet will likely fall, but the FRR needs us on the front battle lines. Besides, the planet could fall anyway, even with us there.

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 2 – The Smoke Jaguars arrive at Wolcott and move to the planet

Oct 10 – The Jaguars arrive at Wolcott and issue a batchall. The Combine has taken two regiments of mechs that are elite, given them a new unit name and claimed they are green, and then used them against the Jaguars. Soon, the Jaguars will lose, and the clans will begin to understand that the IS will abuse their batchall system. The Jaguars win 10 suits of elemental armor, some pristine omnimechs to dissect, and the pledge that the Jaguars will never attack Wolcott.

Now everyone has a victory against the clans – Twycross, Thule and Wolcott.

Oct 13 – Upset by how much better Clan Wolf is doing than his own clan, Smoke Jaguar, ilKhan Leo Showers orders a Gran Kurultai to meet with the invading clans on board the Dire Wolf WarShip in the Radstadt system.

Oct 21 – One day before our DropShips arrive at a flotilla of JumpShips waiting for us, a clan WarShip jumps in at a pirate point. It’s only a few days from Thule. We contact them and as if we should return, but we are told to get going.

Oct 23 – We jump out of Thule.

Oct 29 – Thule has fallen to the Ghost Bears

Oct 31 – After suffering many technical difficulties and being thought dead, the Prince Elect arrives in the Radstadt system with his escort of 1st Drakons, a powerful Aerospace screen. In the Radstadt system is the Dire Wolf, a clan WarShip currently getting ready to host the Grand Kurultai. Thinking the clans will attack and destroy their prince, the 1st Drakons move out an attack the WarShip. The clan weapons are clearly too much for the Rasalhague pilots, but they keep on, trying to buy their prince time to escape. One fighter after another is cleared from the space, but one fighter slips through, piloted by Tyra Miraborg. Damaged and bruised, a suicide attack on the WarShip’s bridge destroys much of it. Wolf Khan Ulric Kerensky is pulled away in time, but ilKhan Leon Showers does not make it, and he dies in the space around Radstadt.

By the end of October, the clans have conquered:

Ghost Bear: 19 Inner Sphere worlds.
Wolf: 43
Smoke Jaguar: 26
Jade Falcon: 40

Total Number: 128 systems under Clan Control in just seven months.

ComStar knows that the clan ilKhan has passed.

The war effort was organized between clans that normally were at each other’s throats, and it is carefully balanced. One push could put the clans back on each other, rather than on the Inner Sphere. The meeting is held with the invading clans, and Steel Viper suggests the appointment of a new ilKhan, which requires all khans and bloodnamed warriors to return to their capital world and talk with others from their clans and the other clans. They will leave the Inner Sphere in a few weeks, leaving only garrison forces on the planets.

Once there, they will try to pin the blame of Showers’s death on Ulric Kerensky, but once that fails, they will appoint him as the new ilKhan. He orders Clan Nova Cat to return as an invading clan sharing the Smoke Jaguar corridor and Clan Steel Viper to return and share the Jade Falcon corridor. This is to help them get better, but Ghost Bear was the one who looked to need it the most. It was clear that Ulric Kerensky wanted to weaken the Jaguars and Falcons by forcing them to work with clans they hated. He will appoint the black widow Natasha Kerensky as the new clan of Wolf to replace him.

They will return in force in almost a year, but until that happens, the Inner Sphere has a chance to breathe, to rebuild, and to mourn.

End of Chapter 1 of The Invasion.

[law90026]

I have to say that this period was probably my favourite period (closely followed by the 3rd Succession War) and you're doing a really great job with the story.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by law90026

I have to say that this period was probably my favourite period (closely followed by the 3rd Succession War) and you're doing a really great job with the story.

Thanks, thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 13, 3050 – Our unit has arrived at the Kempten system after being ferried by command circuits and KF batteries. This is seven jumps from Thule, and along the Draconis Border. The Rasalhague Republic has just 34 star systems left. 7 of their 15 BattleMech regiments are completely destroyed with many others having vast losses.

We will now move to the regional capital Skandia, the only regional capital left after Rasalhague and Radstadt fell. Braham Essex will meet us there with Shadow Company.

Nov 28 – We arrive at Skandia. For the rest of our contract, the FRR wants us to assist in training their remaining mechs in anti-clan strategies.

Dec 18 – We honor the fall of Andurien

Dec 31 – During this year, technology introduced includes the Mauler BattleMech, the C3s we mentioned earlier, and triple strength myomer hitting the markets.

We have 8 graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 12 enroll for next year:

5 regular, 2 green, 2 veteran

Year 3 - 8
Year 2 - 6
Year 1- 12

We have decided to add Oct 29 to our holidays as a remembrance of the fall of Thule.

Jan 1, 3051 – During this down time, two of our older mechwarriors are choosing to retire after this massive campaign:

Aleph Company’s Liu Chen and Elena Stoyovich. We are sending two veteran recruits from the academy to replace them:

Emmanuel Sanders, given the Javelin
Bayama Badar, given the Jenner


Our Training Academy is expanding in a full four year training academy. It adds a Dasher E-UK from those captured, and it advertises learning in an OmniMech and a BattleMaster 2C – both of which are really expected to bring them in now. Expect the quality of our recruits to increase. Those currently enrolled are offered the 4th year if they want it.

[Abe Sargent]

Updated Roster:

Aleph Company – FRR, Skandia
Phaeton Company – FRR, Skandia
Trinity Company – FRR, Skandia
Delta Company – FRR, Skandia
Cinq Company – FRR, Skandia
Hex Company – FRR, Skandia
Defender Company – FRR, Skandia
Typhon Company – Skandia
Heliades Company – FRR, Skandia
Tethys Company – FRR, Skandia
Brawler Company – FRR, Skandia
Lance Company – FRR, Skandia
Mustang Company – FRR, Skandia
Styx Company - EE
Boxer Company – EE
Rebel Company – EE


Shadow Company - Skandia
Garrison Units - Infantry, tanks, and Ted and his Stalker.

Tank Battalion – EE
Delta Company – EE
Aerospace Company - Skandia

Robin Hood - Skandia
Star River - Skandia
Scots Flotilla - Skandia
Serendipitous Victory - Skandia

Those listed as EE are on our home world, Epsilon Eridani

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 10, 3051 – A blip appears on our screen nearby Kressly Warworks. A company of mechs unloads, but instead of hitting either Kressly or us, they are going after a nearby mining complex. The planetary garrison is too far away, and the mine is going to be hit. We do not have a contract with the planet in any way shape or form. Still, Ted decides to send out Styx Company to hit them.

Styx is already on patrol around the Warworks, so they are close and already hot, He orders Boxer into their mechs to spell the garrison.

Styx easily puts themselves between the mine and the attackers. They must have thought we wouldn’t fight them off, because they pause. Styx uses the pause to move in:


AWS-8Q Awesome
TDR-5S Thunderbolt
WHM-6D Warhammer
CP-11-A Cyclops
CRD-3D Crusader
TBT-5N Trebuchet
BJ-1DB Blackjack
RFL-3N Rifleman
JVN-10F Javelin
JR7-F Jenner
LCT-1E Locust
WLF-2 Wolfhound

The Cyclops and Wolfhound are level 2 mechs with a few upgraded weapons. 6 elites, 1 vet, 5 regulars



The enemy:

AS7-K Atlas – Upgraded Atlas, elite pilot
Rifleman
Grasshopper
Panther
Valkyrie
Hatchetman
Hunchback
Stalker
Charger 1A9 variant
UrbanMech R63- upgraded level 2 mech
Commando
Thunderbolt


They are all regular pilots.

This is their Valkyrie, a fairly common light mech in the Federated Commonwealth with 5/8/5 movement, an LRM 10 and usually a backup weapons of some sort, like a medium laser.

[Abe Sargent]

The area we are fighting has hills, some minor woods, a road, a bridge, a river, a lake. It’s very diverse.

Here we go!

T1 – We lose init. We just exchange simple weapons fire.

T2 – We lose again. I run my Jav behind their Rifleman. Our Crusader fires missiles at their Rifleman and destroys its RT. Their Commando’s gyro and engine each once are hit by our Jenner’s. Stalker missile shit the Crusader’s H but just ding off right now.

T3 – We lost. I hop my Jav by their Stalker and Jenner by their wounded Rifelman. Our Warhammer opens up the CT on their Stalker and hits its engine once. Large Laser from the Blackjack knifes into the Stalker’s H. A medium laser from the Jav follows and heads the Stalker. Our Jav pilot blacks out after being knocked twice in the head by their Urbanmech’s LB 10-X.

T4 – We lose init. Their Atlas destroys the LA of my Awesome. My Jav’s RL is destroyed. Their Commando’s RA is destroyed by our Warhammer. Our Crusaders fires in missiles, destroys the Rifleman engine, and then an explosion hits and destroys the Commando. Their Panther’s PPC destroys our Jav’s LL, and a Hatchetman follows by taking out the LA and LT. Their Hunchback destroys the Jav’s RA. I’m just glad it survived. We win and they leave. They were just here to raid and they’ve already lost three mechs.



Rifleman RA
Stalker missing H


To fix: Awesome LA; Javelin RL, LL, LT, LA, RA;

We pay 400k for ammo and armor, 2.2 mill to fix the Awesome, Jav and Stalker

So basically we pay 2.6 mill for a Stalker.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 15 – By now our clan techs on Skandia have done some more modifications.

Rifleman IIc - They pull the head off a Loki to fix it

Vulture Prime – The Galahad’s LT was used for it

Since they both have clan endo steel and ferro fib, this works.

January 20 – After fighting with them and training, all clan MechWarrior bondsman are made official warriors.

We have quite a few dispossessed warriors from destroyed mechs. We have 25 mechs at the garrison that are up and running. We make these choices. Of them, some are not really good enough to send out (like Fleas). That leaves these unassigned mechs in the garrison:

Panther, Stalker, Cataphract, Rifleman 5M, Javelin, Vindicator 3L, Cataphract 3L, BattleMaster 3M, Marauder 3L, Hatamato-Chi, CP-11-A Cyclops

We also have 15 unassigned clan mechs plus the two we’ve assigned.

We spend 1.9 million to purchase parts for our Firestarter and Comet that has CT sections destroyed.

We get a Firestarter and Comet back. The Comet is sent to Mustang Company and the Firestarter will be sent there too and replace the destroyed Quickdraw.


We are not taking any new contracts right now, since we only have a few forces on EE and don’t want to risk sending any away.


Jan 14 – The Inner Sphere hosts a conference on Outreach to verify that the clans are the descendants of the Exodus Fleet and that Jaime Wolf and the Wolf’s Dragoons, the premier mercenary unit on the IS, were a clan spy mission to work for all of the leaders in turn and get them info.

Jan 25 – While touring and visiting our garrison, Leftenant-General Pierre Benton thanks Ted for his jumping in and stopping the raid on the mines, even though we didn’t have a contract. He is glad that we look out for our own, something the Houses don’t understand.


Feb 1 – Braham Essex has personally returned home to spend some time with his family before the clans return.

Feb 10 – Ted is again trying to find upgrades for current mechs using the level 2 technology currently available.

1.2 mill for a Hunchback reassembled from parts plus a center torso.

We send the Stalker to Defender Company.

Javelin and Vindicator are sent to Phaeton Company.

Mustang was hit hard, so we send the Cyclops, Cataphract 3L and Rifleman 5M

Okay, we’ve now added mechs back to companies that lost them and have recalibrated.

We assemble a Jav 10F from parts for various light mechs. It cost 730k.

We spend 1.1 mill to assemble an Archer.

[Abe Sargent]

March 1, 3051 – EVENT The entire Inner Sphere is quiet. Factories are churning out new mechs, traders and military people are acquiring level two technology and refitting mechs, fresh and elite pilots are rotated to the front lines against the clans. Everybody knows that there will be another offensive, and they are holding their collective breath until that happens. Documentaries discuss clan occupations and everybody is an expert as to what is happening when. With everybody’s attention Clan-ward, pirates on the periphery are getting more leeway, and contracts are virtually non-existent from Inner Sphere powers. The occasional garrison or retainer contract is the only thing coming down the pike from the Great Houses. The money is being churning into infrastructures, building new mech lines, expanding factories, and purchasing and refitting materiel. There is no money for destroying listening posts or raiding factories or any other of the normal sort of contracts that come mercenaries way. The quality and quantity of contracts for the rest of the year will be strongly reduced. This is the eye of the storm.

[Abe Sargent]

Apr 4 – With nothing on the inner sphere radar, repeats of stories begin to make another circuit of news. Wolcott, Twycross and Thule are in the news again.

Apr 12 - Our elementals and techs are no longer bondsman but full members of the unit. Even clan elementals have failed to teach normal infantry how to use the suit.

May 1 – Our contract has ended with the Free Rasalhague Republic. They want to extend it with the Emergency Powers Clause, the most they can do is one month at a time for three months in a row, so they prefer to do another contract. Let’s do the money for the current one that ended first:



Salvage: Full
Command: House
Support: 50% Battle Loss
Length:5 years
Remuneration: Nope
Transport: Full
Salary: x3.7, x1.3, x1.2 with a 25% bonus for long campaigns
12.5% bonus


Here is how much we spent on salary a month for these twelve companies of mechs: 741009

Over the course of 5 years, we spend 44,460,540 in salary and support for these companies.

2.592 mill of that is upkeep of the mechs
2.146 mill is Overhead and Administration

We make 286,598,126 in salary from the FRR

We also get a 12.5% bonus, which is applied to all of the things, but in this case, just the salary, since the other is all paid.

After the bonus and costs, we made: 277,962,351

Now, we aren’t done removing money. I haven’t paid down the administration costs for EE in two years, so that’s 30 mill gone for the academy and our headquarters. Additionally, I have some units that haven’t been in contracts and they need to have been paid, so let’s pay them:

1.317 mill for garrison troops for two years
2.882 mill for 18 months of Styx, Boxer and Rebel companies
2.42 mill for 24 months of Vehicles Companies
600k for 1 year of aerospace company

Total gained: 240, 743, 351

War pays good.

How does the FRR have the money to pay us this when they are way behind? Most mercenary contracts of repute use a bond process, and you put most or all of the money you will pay in an account controlled by ComStar of the Dragoons. They paid us a long time ago, and now we get the pay.

[Abe Sargent]

I am going to skip the normal contract offer process.

We have been offered two retainer contracts – one by the Free RR and the other by the Fed Coms, who want to hire us and move us to the front lines.

We want to face the clans, no question. No one wants to sit on the sidelines when the invasion returns. We do a one year deal with the FRR:

Salvage: Full
Command: House
Support: 25% Battle Loss
Length:1 years
Remuneration: Nope
Transport: Full
Salary: x3.7, x1.3, x1.2, x1.5 for clan contract
20% Bonus

Standard merc deals are adding some money for expected service vs the Clans.

The major differences are that the bonus is higher, we have the clan bonus, it’s just a one year deal and their support is dropping to 25%.

This contract applies to everybody on Skandia: Aleph, Phaeton, Trinity, Delta, Cinq, Hex, Defender,
Typhon, Heliades, Tethys, Brawler, Lance, Mustang, Shadow, Aerospace


We will continue on Skandia training for now. Intel experts believe that the clans will return no earlier than late September.

[Abe Sargent]

June 20 – Assignments have been laid out, and we will be garrisoning the world of Kempten with five of our best companies. Additionally we are garrisoning Vorarlberg with the rest of our forces. During the invasion, Shadow and Aerospace Companies will slip behind enemy lines and take targets of opportunity where one can.

July 17 – We are being shipped out to our new billet early, in order to get a lay for the land.

August 29 – We have landed at Vorarlberg and Kempten.

Kempten:

Delta
Defender
Trinity
Mustang
Phaeton


Vorarlberg:

Aleph
Cinq
Hex
Brawler
Heliades
Tethys
Typhon
Lance

Shadow and Aerospace are at Vorarlberg, waiting to be sent out or to help in defense.

We use this time to investigate future combat sites and more. We also have a tricky inner sphere surprise. We have heavily mined an area in Vorarlberg and Kempten with a large number of mines and it’s a death trap there. A few months of growth over the area should convince people that there are not mines there. We have three different areas large enough for about ten mechs to stand shoulder to shoulder and ten mechs deep. These will each have a mech equipped with a Guardian ECM Suite to keep away sensors from detecting the mines. This is our field of last resort if it’s needed. We prefer to play everything on the up and up, but we get our orders from Overste Whittaker, our boss and liaison with Rasalhague in all things military.


We are expected to hold Kempten, and if we need it, we have our best mechs and men in Shadow Company, ready to bust out and help.

Sept 15 – Braham Essex has arrived on Kempten after leaving behind EE and his family.

Sept 30 – We’ve sent up defenses, explored areas for battle, and yet, no word from agents on the clan occupied worlds that the clans have arrived.


Oct 15 – The first Attila ATA-2 rolls off the production line at Kressly Warworks. We get one for free for providing the design. The rest are to be sold to the market, with us as a primary purchaser for those we want. As of right now, they are churning out one a month.

Oct 31 – We still have seen no sign of the clans, and we’ve used these last two months for more training and more. Our ex-Bondsmen tell us that there were four waves in the invasion previously, and many more waves. We are about to be hit by Wave 5.



End of Interlude II, Chapter 5 The Invasion

[Abe Sargent]

Nov 15 – We get word that several systems have been attacked already.

Nov 18 – A large WarShip had jumped into the Vorarlberg system. It does not appear to be Ghost Bears.

Nov 26 – Galaxy Commander Conal Ward contacts the world and issues a batchall he doesn’t expect to be answered.

Colonel Braham Essex responds, and identifies his unit. The Wolves seemed happy to see him, since his troops, the 11th Wolf Guards Cluster wants to try their mettle against his forces. Clan Wolf is the only clan to win all of its battles. There is no Twycross or Wolcott or even a Thule on its history. It took more systems than any other clan and suffered no losses. Clan Wolf also has a tendency to keep battle away from civilians, but there are exceptions. They believe in overwhelming force and being out in the open.


Braham offers a battle against just a company of his men and mechs, nothing special. We’ve fought smaller battles against the Ghost Bear, Steel Viper and Smoke Jaguar. Wolf is very interested in a small battle that can be done in an hour and decides everything – they are interested in steam rolling as many systems as possible.

They had expected the Ghost Bears to attack, and had a garrison for them, but things change. Braham will be defending with his best company, his own Shadow Company. He will not be taking Wolf to the minefield.

(For the Wolves, I don’t even have to roll up units – the exact units and names of pilots and everything is included in the Wolf Clan Sourcebook. )


As a reminder, here is Shadow Company’s all Level 2 company with mostly older designs from the Star League and Braham’s special Orion.


ON1-Abe Orion
HGN-732 Highlander
ST-8A Shootist
FLS-8K Flashman
LNC25-01 Lancelot
GRF-3M Griffin
BJ-2 Blackjack
THG-11E Thug
LNX-9Q Lynx
PXH-1b Phoenix Hawk
STY-2C Starslayer
TLN-5W Talon


Here are the units bid against us:

Binary Battle of 11th Wolf Guards Cluster
All elite save one (1/2)

Alpha Battle Star:

Star Captain Layna Kerensky, Phantom
Tora, Pouncer
Insusa, Puma C
Leander, Mad Cat
Dancer, veteran, Fenris B

Bravo Battle Star:

Star Commander Vlad, Elite, Man O’ War
Amel Carns, Puma A
Drison, Puma A
Capil, Fenris
Spilurn, Black Hawk


The Delta Galaxy of Wolf Clan has a reputation for fast hard hitting mechs.

This is the Pouncer, a Clan Wolf exclusive OmniMech that weighs 40 tons. The prime version has 6/9/5 movement, two ER PPCS, an ER Small laser and a targeting computer for them. It’s a good mech.

[Abe Sargent]

We are playing on a mountain lake.

Our Battle Value is 33776 and theirs is 39792.

Alons-y!

Turn 1 – We lose init. Our Blackjack takes 5 damage to the head from a Puma. Another one destroys its RA.

Turn 2 – We win init. They hop their Black Hawk above my Lynx. Our Lancelot nails the head of their Mad Cat Prime with a PPC. It goes internal and destroys the life support.

T3 – We lose init. Our Flashman’s large laser destroys a Puma A RA. Our Thug follows by destroying its RT. It falls and destroys its LA.

T4 – We win init based off tactical genius. Braham’s Orion hits and destroys the LT of their Puma A and the engine took four hits and it shuts down. Our Thug takes 5 damage to the head from their Mad Cat’s LRM20. Their Pouncer’s RA is destroyed by our Starslayer. Our Phoenix Hawk loses its LA and goes severely internal in the LT. As a mech with an XL Engine, it’s not about to die, and I eject it to save it

T5 - We win init based off tactical genius again. They hop their Pouncer to my Blackjack. I move my Lancelot above it. Their Pouncer can’t take two AC20’ hitting it from our Shootist and modified Orion. It’s LT and CT are destroyed. Their Black Hawk destroys the LA on our Talon. Pouncer weapons tear into the Blackjack, as do LRMS from a Puma. They hit a double heat sink in the RT but nothing else. A minor SRM hit to the head of their Black Hawk manages to knock out their pilot, which then falls, and the pilot takes more damage.

T6 – We win init based off tg again. I eject our BJ since it’s a wonder it’s not dead and it’s internal everywhere but the head and right leg. Besides, we are wining this right now, despite a slow start. We jump our Lynx next to their Black Hawk. Our Flashman backs up beside it too. I’m going to try to shoot off its head. I jump my Griffin over too. I run our Lancelot behind their remaining Puma A. Our Highlander hits a ER Large Laser on the Fenris B. Their Puma A’s LT is destroyed by an AC20 from the Shootist. We only hit the Black Hawk with a Flamer and a glancing shot with a Medium Laser. Our Flashman kicks and destroys the Black Hawk’s H. We also kicked it in the CT and LL, but no internal damage.

T7 – Yet another tac gen win for init. They try to escape our Lancelot but they don’t. After several turns of shelling off armor when we can, we have gone internal in the Man O War’s CT. Their Mad Cat goes internal on our Thug’s H and RT. All they hit is a double heat sink. Lancelot destroys the RA of the Puma A. Our Shootist kicks and destroys the RL of the Puma, and it falls and destroys its LT section and that’s an engine shutdown.

T8 – We lose init. A gauss fires from our Highlander into the CT of their Man O War and hits the engine once and gyro twice. Dead mech. Our Griffin added another engine hit. A Fenris hits the foot and upper leg actuators on our Highlander after getting a through armor critical. It doesn’t fall though. We intentionally set the woods on fire that their Puma and Mad Cat are hiding in. I want to force them out.

T9 – We win init. We manage to hop the Highlander into cover despite two damaged actuators. Our Thug has been targeted for four turns, and is internal in five places. We are wining, so I eject it. They only have five mechs left and the Phantom and both Fenris’s are damaged. They run the Fenris B behind our Lynx. Our Shootist takes a Medium Pulse Laser ot the head but survives. Braham’s Orion destroys the RT of their Puma C. Our Griffin’s LLRMs and PPC both nail the Puma’s CT and it is destroyed. Dead Puma. Our Lancelot destroys the head and right leg of their Fenris B.

With three mechs – Mad Cat, Fenris and Pouncer left, we offer the Wolves hegira and they accept. This was a good win, dominated by elite pilots, level two technology, and foes that were fast with great weapons but light, so when we tagged them, we hurt them

[Tellistto]

Nice win with the A team!

Tell

[Abe Sargent]

Pouncer Prime, RT , RA, H, LL, RL, LA
Puma A missing RT, LT, RL, engine x3
Black Hawk Prime, missing H
Man O War -enginex2, gyrox2
Fenris B RA reattached, missing RT, H, RL
Puma C RA, LT, LA, LL, RL, H





Blackjack – RA destroyed;
Phoenix Hawk LA destroyed
Talon LA

It will cost us just 1.15 mill for parts and 650k for ammo and armor. We have to pay 1.35 mill.


The Man o War is easily fixed and ready to go

Puma A - We fix the Puma engines, but it goes to the shop.
I need a RT for a Puma badly. I already have one in the shop missing only that, and now I have two more missing that part.



Clan Items

ER PPCx2
LRm15x2
Medium Pulse Laser

Targeting Computer (for 2 ER PPC and ER SL)


Experience – Rachel Perry, of the Shootist, gains Edge: 1

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Nice win with the A team!

Tell

I was happy!

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 2 - A WarShip arrives at the Kempten system. It does look like a Ghost Bear War Ship we’ve seen before.

Dec 10 – Braham Essex and Shadow Company, plus our Aerospace company blast off from Vorarlberg into Ghost Bear territory.

Dec 12 – The Bears have arrived at the planet and issue a batchall. They are refusing a smaller battle and want to send down a cluster. (In reality, they sent a trinary of 15 OmniMech and captured the planet with that, but now we are here). The 12th Bear Chevaliers Cluster has 45 OmniMechs and 10 squads of Elementals. Because this is an actual campaign, we have been advised that we can ask for more than normal. We ask for the same status as Wolcott – to not be attacked by Ghost Bear here again, but they inform us that the clans aren’t ready to bid that any more.

Instead, we ask for a company of omnimechs, including one Daishi. They discuss it, and then disagree. That’s just too much. They’ll give us 12 second line mechs and refits though. They can send them to us. We agree. If we win, we get a company of clan garrison mechs, with three of each weight type.

We have agreed to war on a large island in the tropical zone. There are no people or infrastructure there, so it is away from everyone and everything (and it includes our mine field, if we need it).

The Bears agree and move towards the large island, and we have our mechs too. As this is a campaign, it will require strategic attacks, withdrawals, surprises, and more. They have 45 Omnis and 15 squads of Elementals. We have:


Delta
Defender
Trinity
Mustang
Phaeton


We also have the 10 Elemental, so 2 squads, and ex-clansmen. That gives us 60 mechs plus the extra surprises.

We are easily outmatched in terms of technology, but we have numbers - barely. However, one good thing, the 12th are a veteran unit, not elite.

Normally when we have done major campaigns like this, we have been a part of a much larger battle – Andurien, Breed, Marduk and more. This campaign will be done completely by us, against clanners who have learned a lot about inner sphere tactics in the last year.

This will be rough. We do have that surprise mine field that doesn’t appear to be mined, and we already spent months investigating the area, that gives us some advantage.

Our fastest mechs are easily outdistanced by their Dasher, but it doesn’t jump. The Dragonfly does though, and it’s a faster jumper than any of our mechs save Spiders and Ostscouts. There’s just no way we will easily hit and fade with our fast mechs.

[Abe Sargent]

What we can do is set up a trap. My goal is to hit their column with fast jumping units, like Phoenix Hawks, Javelins, and similar mechs. Then when they chase us, we leap over a chasm, which will prevent Dashers from following us, but their scout jumpers – such as Dragonflies, can easily jump over and pursue. Then we hit them with a bunch of fire support mechs who will pour missiles into the area and then retreat. Hopefully, after 20-30 seconds of sustained missile and PPC and ER Large laser fire they will crumble and retreat. However, it’s fairly obvious that a hit and fade is a trap. It’s a pretty common thing. We have to be able to sell it. What I want in the original group is something that looks like a full company – medium mechs, heavy mechs, and light mechs. We are also going to have them “come across” our company, rather than have them attack.

Here are the mechs we will be using for the hit and fade:

Quickdraw
Firestarter
Spider x2
Dragonfly
Phoenix Hawk x2
Catapult in the back
Javelin x2
Griffin
Thor

This group has heavies, mediums and lights, and should look like a real company from a distance. We’re even giving them a similar paint scheme to back that up. Then they will flee and jump over the chasm-like ravine. It’s a mass of jangled plants and thickets and rocks and streams down in the bottom, and any mech that runs down there in order to get back up will get caught quickly. Just in case anyone is stupid enough to do it, we have our elementals hidden down there.


We place our company in the way of their column as they move into the island from the beach on which they landed. Now I roll to see if they believe it is a company when they come across us. They easily do (I roll a 4 on 2d6, I felt the plan here was very good, and required a 10 or higher to break). Will they chase us? Barely (I rolls a 7, I figured an 8 or higher ruined it). They move in, and we move quickly, so they send out their fast units. Will the jump the chasm? (I figure a 7 or higher breaks it – I roll a 6 exactly). Yes, those that are fast jump.

These are the pursuers’:

5 Dragonflies
2 Thors


16 fire mechs rain down weapons – Crusaders, Riflemen, Warhammers, Trebuchet, Whitworths, Archer, Catapults, and more. T Col Humphries’s Atlas with a Gauss and two ER LL and an LRM20 is among the 16. The mechs realize what is happening, and 5 manage to make it out, both Thors and Dragonflies. The other two ‘Flies are completely destroyed. Nothing is salvageable. We fade.

We have taken out two Dragonflies. When fighting the G Bears, I want to focus on taking out the fast mechs. If we can eliminate their Dashers, Dragonflies, and any other very fast units (such as Koshis), then we should be in a strong place strategically.

[Abe Sargent]

The Ghost Bears camp for the night, fix the damaged mechs that fled, and prepare their own plan. Coming in, they saw a nearby ravine, from a different creek, that had two exists, and would be an ideal ambush. Everybody knows that. What they want to do is appear to split up into Trinaries, and then move one into the ravine, opening up to an ambush. Meanwhile under the cover of an ECM another trinary split up and sneak into position on each side of the ravine with Elementals backing them up. When we come to ambush the Trinary moving through the ravine, we will e ourselves ambushed and outflanked.

Again, it relies on a common trick, do something that obviously weakens you, and then show that it was a trap. We prepared by disguising our mechs and unit. Will they? No, they don’t think of it (they rolled poorly). We don’t need a high number to realize what’s going on. We figure out that it is a trap. There are several things to do when you realize that there is someone trying to trap you, and ideally, you trap the trappers. Now that you suspect that they have a trap prepared for those who ambush the unit below, you can prepare, but we don’t know what their plan is. Our scouts tell us that they split into three groups and left, one for the ravine. We decide to leave it alone – it’s just too obviously a trap, and without better intel about what they are specifically doing, we would walk into the trap. For example, they could have rigged the sides of the canyon t explode down.

We are using an old cave system as our base. We have the maps and there are three entrances we have guarded. Ores in the rocks and ECM systems prevent them from finding us. We’re not going to risk it heading out.

It is decided that we will instead send out a pair of company of mechs to look like we are doing stuff and perhaps run into one of their units – we dispatch Lt. Miguel Juarez’s Delta Company and Capt. Jason Thomas’s Trinity Cpompany. Our scout mechs determine that one of their trinaries is moving in a direction perpendicular to Delta, and if we want, we can meet up with them in n area with thinner trees.

After consideration, we decide to push in. It’s the one trinary that is not involved with the trap or bait. It’s the 63rd Assault Trinary with 15 omnimechs. They’ve only been here one day. They don’t know the land yet, so we can leave anytime we want. Ejecting will only result in us keeping our mechs and people if we win the field, but the goal of this is not to win the field, in a 12 vs 15 battle against OmniMech, but to slash and destroy one or three and then fade.

Here is their trinary:

Dasher Prime
Dasher D
Gladiator Prime, elite
Man o War B
Dragonfly B
Fenris Prime
Vulture Primex2
Vulture C
Masakari Prime, elite
Loki A, elite
Ryoken C
Uller Prime
Thor C

They only have 14 mechs, and that suggests that they lost a Dragonfly yesterday.

It’s 12 v 14 and we are down tech and numbers but not ability – Delta has 9 elites and 3 vets.