The Battletech Dynasty: Chapt. 5 - The Invasion, 3050-3056 - Completed - Page 4

Abe Sargent · 10-07-2011, 01:48 AM

Here we go:

T1 – We lose init. An LRM from their Goliath nails our Thug in the head. Our Lancelot hits the ammo on their Zhukov and it ignites. An ER PPC from our Phoenix Hawk knifes into the right side of their LRM Carrier and follows the gauss slug that hit that side earlier. It’s destroyed, dead tank. The Starslayer immobilizes their Scorpion Light Tank. Braham’s Orion’s ER PPC and Gauss meet to blow off the front side of a Vedette. Our Thug falls

T2 – We win init. I stand up the Thug and run away with it. This time I move some of my fire to the mechs. Our Griffin destroys the RT of their Panther. That’s a PPC we just claimed in the RA. Our Flashman destroys a Saladin’s Right Side. Our Lynx destroys the Wolverine’s LA.

T3 – We lose init. The Grif takes out an Ontos’s Front. After taking a lot of hits, including an engine hit from an Elemental squad, their Rifleman falls over and blows up its RT. They retreat, we destroy the empty buildings and take the salvage back to the Union C before others come in

LRM Carrier, left side destroyed
Scorpion Light Tank, immobilized
Vedette, front side
Saladin Right Side
Ontos, FS
Panther RA
Rifleman RA

Experienced Gained:

Braham Essex, gained Gunnery:Laser a little bit easier to hit with energy weapons now
Ricardo Diaz, gains edge: 1, Flashman pilot

It should take roughly 350k for ammo and armor for my boys and 250k to get these tanks up and running.

Abe Sargent · 10-07-2011, 03:16 AM

Now, the other side.

Simultaneously, out comes Bruiser Company. Intel about the garrison is dead on, and a company of mechs warm up as we approach:

BattleMaster
Stalker
Hatamato-Ku, veteran *
CRK-5003-2 Katana, veteran *
ON1-K Orion
Thunderbolt
Dragon
CN9-D Centurion *
PXH-3k Phoenix Hawk, veteran *
Jenner
Locust 1M variant
Enforcer

This is not a bad company by any means. Here is the Katana, an old Star League design called the Crockett which was acquired 25 years ago when ComStar gave the Dragon a bunch of mechs, mostly stripped down, in order to bolster their defense against the Davion attack soon to come. It has been renamed the Katana and they have been duplicated and are now being manufactured. This is a later Drac design with level 2 tech, including an LB 10-X, but that’s it, not even double heat sinks or endo steel. In addition to the LB 10-X, it features 2 large lasers, 2 SRM 6s and 2 small lasers. That’s a pretty spicy 3/5/3 85 ton mech.

Abe Sargent · 10-07-2011, 04:14 PM

T1 – We lose init. We are fighting on rocks and rough terrain outside of the garrison. Our Rifleman IIc destroys the LA of their Jenner. Our Vulture C launches two gauss rifles at the Jenner and they destroy its RA, RT and CT. We focus a lot of weapons at their Katana and finally our Dasher hits its hip and lower leg actuator. Then our Warhammer IIc destroys its LL entirely. It falls. Meanwhile, that stupid Locust variant is sent spinning after our Gladiator destroys its RA and RT.

T2 – We lose init again. Their Locust pilot tried to rise, fell and knocked itself out. Our Marauder IIc destroys their Phoenix Hawk’s LA. Our Warhammer IIc hits the AC5 ammo on their Hatamato-Ku and it goes up! We aimed at the head of their immobile Locust with the 3 large pulse lasers of our Gladiator, and one hits and tears it off. Dead mech. Their Centurion falls. Our Phoenix Hawk’s ER PPC lances into their Katana and destroys the other leg. Our Marauder IIc kicks and hits the machine ammo on their BattleMaster, and it blows up. Our Gladiator kicks and destroys the RT of their Centurion, and due to an XL engine it is destroyed.

In two turns, we’ve destroyed 58% of their fighting force. Boom! They move to retreat, and we have a few mechs go ahead and blow up their garrison buildings while the rest grab salvage for the ride home.

Jenner LL, RL, LT, H
Hatamato-Ku RA
Locust 1M, missing H, RA, RT
BattleMaster LA, H, RT, RA
CN9-D Centurion missing RT
CRK-5003-2 Katana missing both legs

The cost to our people would have been roughly 100k.

To fix up the Locust (and make it a 1E) and Centurion and Katana costs 2.22 mill

We head back out and will arrive back on October 2.

Money: We made 350k after all costs are deducted. We also made nice surplus.

Abe Sargent · 10-07-2011, 05:35 PM

Rewind:

April 1 – We’ve spent some money meanwhile making mechs like a Comet, Archer and BattleMaster from the spare parts we have.

FedCom wants Defense Against Clans for a year. Nope.
Corporation wants Cadre/Garrison
Corp wants Extraction Raid.

The company that wants Cadre/Garrison work is Pandora – Red Devil Industries wants us to train their own security for anti-clan techniques and to garrison their company for 6 months in that time. They are one jump from Clan space and the Falcons attacked on planet once already, so the need is great. They want a full battalion. That’s fair. We’ll send them Col. Matthew Humphries’s Star Battalion, Defender, Cinq and Brawler companies.

Star Battalion, Cadre/Garrison Pandora

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x3.7, x1.1, x1.5 if we fight clans
Support: Full Support
Command: Integrated
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 6 months
Transport: Full

We will arrive on August 12. The Contract ends on February 12, and our group will return on June 15, 3054.

After speeding through, we discover that no clans attack.

Money Stuff: Our pay for 6 months is 5.367 mill. We paid our guys, for 16 months, 2.884 mill. We made some decent cash.

The Extraction Raid is from the St. Ives Compact. A company there wants us to hit and take technology from the Capellan system of Madras. That’s about 6 months away, so a company sent to do that would be gone for, roughly, a year. For just one raid. No thanks.

Laser Company returned.

Abe Sargent · 10-07-2011, 08:15 PM

May 1 roster

Kilts and Commandos Roster:

Alpha Regiment:

Heliades Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053
Styx Company - Return on Nov 29, 3053
Tethys Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053
Typhon Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053
Defender Company – Return on June 15, 3054
Cinq Company - Return on June 15, 3054
Brawler Company – Return on June 15, 3054
Delta Company –
Trinity Company –
Laser Company –

Beta Regiment:

Phaeton Company –
Boxer Company –
Rebel Company –
Mustang Company –
Hex Company –
Raven Company – Return on Dec 10, 3053
Aleph Company –
Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054
Sabre Company – Return on May 15, 3053

Bruiser Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053
Shadow Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053

Aerospace Company-
Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055.
Delta Company – EE, garrison,
Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison,

Robin Hood - Return on Oct 2, 3053
Star River -
Scots Flotilla - Return on Oct 2, 3053
Serendipitous Victory - Return on Oct 2, 3053
Amalgamated Bliss –

Abe Sargent · 10-07-2011, 10:58 PM

Contracts –

The Magistracy of Canopus wants an Objective Raid – too far away
FedCom wants Pirate Hunting – where? Issaba, waaaay too far away to care
Marik wants Recon Raid – could be interesting – target? Wasat – very close by too – but the FC doesn’t like it when we do contracts against them
Marik also wants an Objective Raid against the Caps. Target Aldertaine, 9 jumps away – 3.5 months-ish
ComStar wants an Objective Raid against the Marik/Blake world of Bernardo. Very close too.

Let’s look at the Recon Raid first

Wasat has been under the control of the Federated Suns, Free Worlds League, Capellan Confederation and others like the Tikonov Free Republic and FedComs. It’s right in the middle, and thus heavily guarded. The Free Worlds League was unable get a foothold on the planet with intelligence, so they need someone to scout out the defenses. We agree to take it if they keep it on the d/l.

We will be sending Aerospace Company, the Star River and Aleph Company, plus four platoons of veteran infantry from the garrison and a few tricks.

Aleph Company, Aerospace Company, Star River, and Infantry Platoons

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3,
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Independent
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 3 months
Transport: 100% Reimbursement
15% Bonus

We arrive on Wasat on May 28 (one jump away). We begin to do recon. Wasat has three major military installations, and it has both FedCom troops and a planetary garrison. We have repainted our DropShip and mechs with the color scheme of Vinson’s Vigilantes. Might as well get them in trouble and not us.

June 3 – Our infantry have mapped out several important strategic areas to bring back to our employers. New buildings, new areas to fight in and such.

June 10 – We have the maps of their garrison in a city done.

June 17 – All maps are done, now we need more.

June 30 - After preparing, we send out our company of mechs. They are storming through an industrial center after jumping off the DropShip that had been there for days. They fire harmlessly into the ground and so forth. Meanwhile, Aerospace Company is launched from another DropShip at the same place and flies out, strafing and causing problems. We watch how quickly their fighters arrive, and count the fighters with our infantry and two Boomerang Spotter Planes – silent unmanned planes that can glide and hide from radar while also snooping and with over a have ton of surveillance equipment.

Meanwhile, armor and vehicles begin to arrive on the ground, and we get to count them all. We enter our own DropShip, which is not the one we left, and load everything up and blast off very quickly. Our fighters create a screen, and then land with a DropShip that launched from another DropPort and blast off.

The recon is done. We arrive in Irian, meet with our employer give them our data and collect our stuff, and repaint our mechs and head back.

We should Return on Aug 1, 3053

We made 1.8 mill after salaries and such.

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 12:00 AM

Let’s look at the next May contract.

ComStar wants an Objective Raid on Bernardo. With such a small army, Word of Blake is stretched very thin. They just want us to land, attack the HPG station on planet, destroy the ComGuards, and leave it operational. They have just 1 company of mechs, guaranteed, and we are tasked with removing it from the Blake-ists.

We decide that this is a good contract for one of our heavy hitters – Trinity Company.

Trinity Company Objective Raid on Bernardo

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3,
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Independent
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 month
Transport: 100% Reimbursement
12.5% Bonus

Bernardo is two jumps away and we can be there on June 13.

Meanwhile, let’s do the economics for the other contract:

Marik wants us to hit Aldertaine. We can be there on Sept 2, and then hit the planet. They want a minor ore refining plant destroyed, and it shouldn’t be guarded too heavily. We are to wear the colors of Davion Mercenary unit The Blue Star Irregulars. The Caps and Marik are allies, and this is done on the Davion border in order to push the Caps closer.

Sounds like a job for…

Delta Company and Aerospace Company, Objective Raid on Aldertaine

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x3.7, x1.3,
Support: Battle Loss 25%
Command: Liaison
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 2 months
Transport: Full

I’m diverting Aerospace Company to Aldertaine.

Arrive on September 2

Let’s do the Bernardo contract first.

June 13 - We arrive on planet easily enough via contacts in ComStar. The HPG is in the capital, and we get out. Trinity Company hits the ground hot. This is just a smash and dash. We charge the HPG and out came the ComGuards, but ComStar’s intel was off. Instead of a company of mechs, we have a reinforced company - 16 mechs. Let’s take a look.

CRK-5003-1 Crockett *elite
OSR-2D Ostroc * elite
CHP-3N Champion * (Made for Tukkayid, and taken by WoB) regular
STN-3L Sentinel * veteran
Wasp, green
Spider, veteran
UM-R63 UrbanMech * elite
Firestarter, regular
CRB-27 Crab * regular
Orion, green
Cyclops, elite
HBK-5M Hunchback *green
PNT-8Z Panther variant, veteran
ASN-23 Assassin * regular
BL9-KNT Black Knight * (another refit made for Tukkayid), green
Goliath, elite

These 16 mechs are all over the spectrum in ability level. It’s an ad-hoc unit.

This is a Goliath, which each of us has. It’s a one of the few quad mechs, with 2 LRM10s, a PPC, and 2 Machine guns. It’s not a good mech. It does have a solid amount of armor, but that’s it.

Now, BV wise, this is supposedly close. We are at 23746 and they 22593. However, being behind by 4 mechs is rough, and 9 have level 2 tech. This is not easy.

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 01:18 PM

Now, BV wise, this is supposedly close. We are at 23746 and they 22593. However, being behind by 4 mechs is rough, and 9 have level 2 tech. This is not easy.

Here we go:

We are fighting on a large ferrocrete slab, with some buildings here and there. This is the map we are on:

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 01:19 PM

T1 – We win init. There’s not much to do but charge in and hope. This wins only when we destroy their forces or we choose to retreat or if they, instead of retreating they surrendered. I need to take out a mech fast. I don’t have the devastating weaponry of the clans backing up this company, and we in a dangerous place. If I take out a chump light mech, what have I done to their force? Not much. If I spend three turns taking out something like the Orion then I will lose. I need quick kills to even things. I think the best target are those mechs with XL engines. Those are: Champion and Black Knight. I need to target them. They do 42 damage to my Zeus, and we do not kill the Black Knight. We took off more than half of its external armor and yet didn’t go internal anywhere. I also peppered a Panther a bit from my Goliath and Rifleman because they had a better LOS on it.

T2 – We win init. I have an opportunity to jump my Phoenix Hawk behind their Crockett, but I’m not taking it – the mech is too well armored back there. I put it behind their Hunchy instead. Our T Bolt hits a leg actuator on their Black Knight and it falls down. Otherwise, just exchange of fir e- bad for me. This is exactly what we needed to avoid.

T3 – I win init again. Their Knight tried to stand, failed, fell and destroyed its RL. Their Orion skids and falls. Spider behind the Sentinel. Our Atlas destroys the LA and RA of their Champion. Our Goliath hits the LB10-X and engine of their Urbie, so they have no real weapons left on it. With its last shot, it hits a gyro and blows off the LL of our Hatchetman. The limb is on the ground. Our Trebuchet destroys the And LT and CT of their Champion with missiles. The Thunderbolt’s missiles nail the head of their downed Black Knight and the pilot goes unconscious.

T4 – We lose init. Their Orion safely rises. My Ostsol runs into their Wasp behind a building one:one and I open up with an Alpha Strike. Their Crocket takes out the CT of my Hatchetman, and others will destroys its RT and LA this turn. Our Ostsol destroys the LL of their Wasp. A kick destroys its RT and its RA is on the ground. That means it’s weaponless.

T5 – We lose init. They hop their Firestarter next to my Trebuchet. The Atlas destroys the LA of their Cyclops. The Cyke’s LL hip and foot actuators are nailed by our Goliath. Our Cicada destroys the LA of their Firestarter. The Cyke falls and hits its head. They set the woods on fire my Trebuchet was sniping from. Our Ostsol kicks in the Wasp’s Ct and takes it out. Our Spider kicks and destroys the RL on their Firestarter, It falls and the pilot blacks out. This was a good turn, we are starting to get an advantage. They are out of AC20 ammo for the Hunchy.

T6 – We win init. The Cyke stands and faces us. We try to hop our P Hawk u on a building behind the building their Panther is on, but the section the Hawk jumps on collapses and it falls. It destroys two jump jets. Our Spider and Cicada each hit the head of their downed ‘Starter once. The Atlas destroys the RA of their Cyclops. It’s gyro is hit by the Trebuchet. It falls and breaks its LL. The Cyclops is down because it is missing both arms and a leg and cannot move. Neither of their pilots wake up (each needs a 10)

T7 – We win init. We stand our P Hawk up. They run their Hunchy behind my Atlas. I jump my Spider behind their Orion. Their Crocket hits the LRM 15 on our T Bolt. Their Panther’s Large laser nails my Atlas’s head. Their Crocket falls and hits a foot and hip. Our Atlas punches the H of the Hunchback and destroys it. Nobody wakes up.

T8 – We win init. Our Atlas has about a quarter of its starting armor and is internal in four places. I run my Goliath and Rifleman up in an attempt to distract them. I run the Zeus to their Crab. Their Crockett hits an engine and destroys the RA of our Atlas. Our Ostsol destroys the Crockett’s LL. Their Orion goes internal and destroys the LRM ammo on our Atlas and it ignites and explodes. Our P Hawk destroys the LA of their Panther. Our P Hawk kicks the building out from under their Panther and it falls hard. No wake-sies.

T9 – We rock init. The stand the Panther. I run the T Bolt up and turn its right side to them, since it’s barely touched. For example 20 on the RA vs 3 on the LA and 24 on the RT vs 8 on the LT. These little tricks are how you survive in clear terrain. The Zeus is out of LRM ammo. Despite, it still destroys the LT of their Crockett. Their Goliath gets a limb blown off critical on the Zeus’s LA. It’s on the ground, ready to be used. Our Ostsol kicks and destroys the Crocket’s CT. Their Panther punches out a ML on my Cicada.

T10 – Init is ours again. Their Panther destroys our Spider’s LA. Our Ostscout destroys their Spider’s RT. Our Zeus’s lone long range weapon, its large laser, nails the Orion’s gyro once. Our Goliath hits the AC ammo on it and it explodes. Dead Orion. Once again, or P Hawk kicks and collapses a building their Panther is on, and it falls and brakes its RL.

T11 – We win init again. It’s like we’re having two battles. One with scout mechs in the buildings and woods above the field and rest with the heavy hitters below the field. In order to force my opponent to finally attack the Goliath, I don’t move it at all. Our Ostscout kicks and destroys their Panthers CT and causes an engine explosion. The explosion does 14 to the Ostscout, 3 to our Phoenix Hawk, 3 to the Cicada, 14 to their Sentinel, it hits the Sentinel’s AC5 ammo which explodes and destroys the Sentinel, and 7 to their Spider. And the building collapses. Their Spider was on top, It falls and hits its hip and lower leg on the right one. The Black Knight and Firestarter don’t awaken.

T12 – We continue to dominate initiative. We are out of AC5 ammo for the Rifleman. Our Goliath blows off the LL of their Crab. Our P Hawk hits the engine once and gyro twice of theirs.

T13 – We have lost init. We hop the P Hawk and Ostscout by their downed Crab. Their Assassin destroys the LA of my Ostsol. Our Goliath hits an LRM10 on theirs.

T14 – We win init. Their Goliath destroys the FLL of mine. Our Ostscout kicks and destroys the LL on their Urbie.

T15 – Win again. I run my Ostsol and Cicada up to their Assassin. Their Ostroc destroys the LT of my Goliath. Our Ostsol nails the foot actuator of their Assassin and it falls and hits a leg actuator too.

T16 – Who wins init? This guy! I eject the Goliath. I run our Spider up to their Goliath. Their Assassin rises. Their Goliath destroys the LT of my Cicada, Their Assassin adds a gyro hit. Our P Hawk destroys the RLL of their Goliath. The Cicada stays standing, but not their Goliath. Their Firestarter pilot actually managed to wake up.

T17 – We win init. They try to stand the FS, it falls, and the pilot blacks out again. Heh. I eject the Cicada pilot. Their Goliath rises. Our Zeus hit t he hip on their Gol’s FRL. Our Ostsol blows off the LL of their Assassin. Our Ostscout gets a gyro and two engine hits on their Goliath. Their Goliath falls, destroys its RT, and then hit an engine and gyro. A kick destroys the La of their Assassin.

T18 – We win again. Their Assassin tries to stand, falls, and the pilot is knocked out. The same with their Urbie.

T19 – We lose init. Their Crab manages to stand finally. I hop my Spider to it. Their Ostroc hits two jump jets on my Ostscout. Our Ostsol hits their Ostroc’s foot actuator. Our Spider destroys its LA. Our T Bolt kicks and destroys its LL. Our Spider kicks their Crab, it doesn’t even go internal, but the pilot blacks out on the fall.

T20 - We lose initiative. If we can take out the injured Ostroc this turn, then we win, because everybody else is knocked out. Their Ostroc tried to stand, fell, and shattered its RA. We surround it. We destroy the LT and RT and then our T Bolt takes out the CT. We’ve annihilated our enemy completely. We took out 16 mechs. Whew!

Tellistto · 10-08-2011, 03:00 PM

Rough battle but tactics in the end win out!

Tell

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 03:27 PM

Firestarter, missing RL, LA
Champion – H, LL, RL
Wasp RA, RL, LT, LA, H
Cyclops missing LL, RA, LA
Black Knight missing RL,
Hunchback, missing H
Crockett LA, H, RL, RT, RA
Spider enginex1, gyrox2, missing RT, actuators.
Panther RA
Sentinel RA
Crab LL reattach
Assassin missing LL, LA
Goliath, destroys two legs,RT, enginex3, gyrox2
Urbie missing RL
Ostroc H, RL

Hatchetman LL, H, RA, LT, RL
Atlas LA,
Zeus, reattach LA
Spider missing LA
Ostsol missing LA
Goliath missing FLL, LT,
Cicada missing LT. gyrox1

Five captured Blake prisoners

Experience:

Sgt. Orpah Jones, in the Ostscout is now a Melee Specialist

The Money Stuff:

We will be spending 850k on armor alone
An additional 650k on ammo
To repair our Zeus, Spider, Goliath, Ostsol and Cicada will cost 3.82 mill

We will spend 5.32 mill to repair and fix things

For Battle Loss, we lost an Atlas and Hatchetman, minus the parts and 50% of that is 5,127,500

To fix the Firestarter, Crab, Cyclops, Urbanmech, Goliath, Assassin, Hunchback, Spider and Black Knight will cost us 5.9 mill including armor and ammo.

555k salary

We have paid 566k in salary this year.

Total: -3.453 mill

We lost an Atlas and Hatchetman and 3 and a half million. We gained UM-63 UrbanMech, Assassin, CRB-27 Crab, Firestarter, Spider, Cyclops, HBK-5M Hunchback, Goliath, and BL9-KNT Black Knight. It was totally worth it.

We purchase an ATA-2 Attila to replace their dead Atlas. The Hatchetman is replaced by their Hunchback. We are changing it to the 5N version that adds a ton of ammo at the expense of CASE and a small pulse laser being downgraded.

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Rough battle but tactics in the end win out!

Tell

You don't see me take it to 20 very often, nope.

The AI is usually pretty good about some things. It knows how to position a mech to protect a wounded side. It knows when to move a mech adjacent to mine and up an elevation to try for that 1 in 6 chance to punt the head into the bleachers. It knows when to just stand still and snipe, but it does sometimes make really stupid decisions movement wise - it risks too much underwater and on ferrocrete and roads and jumping on buildings.

Shooting wise, it always selects the easiest target, and when choosing more than one, it can go with the lighter one or the more damaged one or the one others are targeting. Which all makes sense.

So I have to tactically work around it.

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 08:38 PM

Now, let’s do the Delta Contract:

September 5 – We arrive at Aldertaine.

Sept 17 – It appears that the Marik intel is spot on, and the area is lightly guarded around the ore refining plant. With our Blue Star painted mechs, we unload and surprise everyone. This is clearly not a normal planet that sees a lot of mechs attacks.

Our mechs move out, and only a few infantry squads are in the way, and we easily muscle them aside and the plant is destroyed by energy weapons.

We move back out and head to our DropShip, but now, fighters are attacking. We knew this was a fighter heavy planet, so our own fighters fly out and begin to mix it up. In a few minutes, we have destroyed one of their fighters but our own Stingray is limping, so we return. We grab seats and blsat off.

We will arrive back home on January 21, 3054.

We made 769k

We pay 1.043 mill to Delta Company through Jaunaru and AeroSpace Company to the same. Plus we spent 30k on armor after our 25% off.

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 09:21 PM

Rewind:

June 1 – Sabre Company returned last month. Contracts!

Garrison – Fed Com
Blake – Security
Retainer – FedCom
Objective Raid – Illium Naval Engineering on the Marik world of Ionus had discovered a spy base on the moon of a nearby system of Tongatupu, and wants us to destroy it.

Most mercenaries love long term contracts, and yet we try and keep it short. Why? You saw how much money we made on the 5 year 12 company retainer with the FRR. What’s going on?

The problem is lack of fighting. We got lucky with the FRR contracts, but aside from occasional pirate hunting or Drac raids, it was all quiet. If there had not been a clan invasion, how many mechs would we have captured? 12? 15? Not that many, certainly. This is the problem with a long term contract. In five months, we’ve done several raids and we’ve walked away with 12 mechs and tons of tanks. Sure, we’ve lot a couple of mechs too, but we’ve really made out. The short term deals don’t make money, but they mostly pay our costs while we gain a ton of materiel. For example, if we were to sell the 12 mechs we took, we’d make at least 60-70 million. That’s how much money we made. Making cash and converting it to mechs works, but this is faster and more fun!

On the other hand, our unit is getting too large for everybody to be participating in these raids. Perhaps a retainer with the FedComs wouldn’t be a bad idea. We permanently swap Laser Company and Butler Company.

We negotiate with the FedComs for Beta Regiment, retainer:

Beta Regiment, Retainer

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x3.7, x1.3,x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: House
Remuneration: No, x1.05
Length: 3 years
Transport: Full
10% Bonus

We will travel to Fort Loudon to temporarily garrison the world after the Jade Falcons raided it and nearly destroyed a regiment of Blue Star Irregulars. We can be there on October 4, 3053. Aleph Company will join us there, and raven will be there Dec 15.

This contract will end on October 4, 3056

Abe Sargent · 10-08-2011, 10:27 PM

As of right now, every unit in Alpha and Beta Regiments is away. We have Defender, Cinq and Brawler returning in two weeks, so I look at the other contracts this month to see if any fit for one of them. We will be sending Defender Company in. Illium doesn’t mind a two week delay in order to sign Col. Matthew Humphries for a contract!

Defender Company, Objective Raid on Tongatupu

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.4,x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: House
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 month
Transport: Full
32.5% Bonus

We will arrive at Tongatupu’s moon on Oct 20, 3053.

October 20 – Right on schedule, Tongatupu’s moon is inhabited. Unlike many planets it didn’t need terraforming or anything, it’s just a habitable moon, with vast farmland and very little industry. Tongatupu is where all of the valuable industry, tourism and trading occurs, and all of the farming is done on the moon, a nice little division of labor. Because of the moon’s lower value, it has few military installations of any sort. It is fairly close to the capital world of Atreus, and a strong commercial world, so there is a good garrison force on the planet. The moon doesn’t get much at all.

That makes it a good place to hide a spy base looking straight at Ionus. Now, let’s find it. We have some intel which proves incorrect, so we have to find it ourselves.

Oct 31 – We found the spy post, and its under a small ridge of hills and aimed upwards. Despite the obvious military implications of the installation, there do not appear to be any troops around, which suggests this has a nefarious purpose – like scanning Ionus.

Nov 3 – After three days of constant study by our mechwarriors, we believe that the installation is guarded by a mixed group of various military installations that include infantry, armor, VTOLs, hidden gun emplacements, and probably at least a lance of mechs, based on our heat signature scanning.

Nov 7 – We have explored and now we are loaded up. The 13 mechs of Defender Company are churning farmland beneath them. We get close to the installation and suddenly an explosion tears up from the ground. Mines! We have to navigate mines while the defenders stat to pour out. Here is what we are facing:

Trebuchet
UM-60L UrbanMech variant (the one with an AC20)
Locust
Quickdraw
Griffin
3x Saladin Assault Hover Tanks with each one rocking an Ac20
2x Scorpion Light Tank
2x Pegasus Hover Scout Tank
LRM Carrier
2x Schrek PPC Carrier (each has 3x PPCs)
2x Manticore Heavy Tank
2xIS Standard Battle Armor SRM troops
4x Laser Motorized Platoon
2x Cavalry Attack Helicopter
Peregrine Attack VTOL

That’s one full company of tanks, five mechs, 6 platoons if infantry and 3 VTOLs – a full two companies of combined arms.

There are an unknown number of mines. No turrets though, we were wrong about that.

This should be fun!

This is their Peregrine Attack VTOL:

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 12:51 AM

We are fighting in a quarry, depressed, in the earth, tons of rock and rubble and elevation.

Turn 1 – We lose init. Our Hunchback hits a mine. Col. Humphires in his Daishi destroys a Saladin. He took out the right side. The BattleMaster destroys another Saladin. Our Warhammer immobilizes the third Saladin. You know what my targets were the first turn! Our Thor immobilizes a Scorpion Light Tank.

T2 – We lose init again. Our Orion destroys a Scorpion’s front. Our Comet destroys the LA on their Locust. Due to damage, our Orion tumbles. Our BM punches and destroys the Locusts LT.

T3 – We win init. We stand our Orion and run next to their Pegasus. It is immobilized by the Orion’s weapons. Our BattleMaster destroys a platoon of infantry. Our Warhammre destroys the RA of the Locust. Our Stalker lights up the Urbies ammo. Boom! It also kills the infantry in the same square. Two kills. Their Locust falls.

The defenders fade. We destroy the spy post and grab our salvage before we go. We do hit two mines, but for minor damage.

Saladin, missing RS
Saladin missing LS
Saladin, immobile
Scorpion immobile
Scorpion FS destroyed
Pegasus immobile
UrbanMech RA, LL

We barely paid ammo and armor. We made 940k which pays to get these tanks refitted and the minor damages sustained.

Defender Company return on February 26 , 3054.

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 01:03 AM

July 1, 3053 – Contracts

Company wants security
Dracs wants Assault
FedCom wants Riot/Garrison
FWL wants Pirate Hunting

Nah

July 20 – After a successful introduction of the Attila, Kressly begins developing another mech, they will call the Lineholder.

August 1 – 3053 – Contracts. Trinity is back with the Star River.

ComStar wants Garrison
Company wants Garrison
Periphery wants Security

ComStar would like Extraction Raid on a Blake facility in the FWL. Target – Alphard. They want a company to grab some materiel back that was taken from them when the Blakists left. All we have to do is punch into Alphard, grab the stuff from a warehouse, and pop out. Trinity is in the Star River and we can send them both. Trinity just did a contract for ComStar, so they are happy to have them do another.

We can be at Alphard on September 5.

Trinity vs Blake

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.2,x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Indy
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 month
Transport: Full
10.5% Bonus

Sept 3 – We get there earlier. Time to see if the ComStar intel is on. Nope. We try and find the warehouse.

Sept 9 – Luckily their intel led us in the right direction to the right spot. ComStar expect a group of mechs, but there is nothing here and just shuck aside the paltry defense. We grab the material and return. On our way back, three companies of Blake mechs burst out from three different warehouses. We can’t stop and fight, there’s too many.

We run as fast as possible while some mechs fire backwards with large weapons. We lay down heavy fire in order to keep them away, but they push forward. They run into the fire and keep coming. That’s what I would do too. All of our mechs get out, save the Rifleman. It’s just too slow and with too weak of armor. It is quickly legged. We can’t stay, so we lose it and the MW.

-1 Rifleman and we lost Maeve Vega.

We replace it with an Archer from our garrison. We promote the elite MW that graduated to her spot. Say hello to Raphael Stevens.

Money: We make 516k. We spend 60k on ammo and armor.

Our battle loss is half a Rifleman. 2,430,000

We “made” 2.5 mill after costs.

We get back on October 12.

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 01:21 AM

Kilts and Commandos Roster:

Alpha Regiment:

Heliades Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053
Styx Company - Return on Nov 29, 3053
Tethys Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053
Typhon Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053
Defender Company – Return on February 26 , 3054
Cinq Company -
Brawler Company –
Delta Company – Return on Jan 21, 3054
Trinity Company – Return on October 12, 3053
Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054

Beta Regiment:

Phaeton Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Boxer Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Rebel Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Mustang Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Hex Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Raven Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Aleph Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Laser Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Sabre Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056

Bruiser Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053
Shadow Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053

Aerospace Company- Return on Jan 21, 3054
Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055.
Delta Company – EE, garrison,
Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison,

Robin Hood - Return on Oct 2, 3053
Star River - Return on October 12, 3953
Scots Flotilla - Return on Oct 2, 3053
Serendipitous Victory - Return on Oct 2, 3053
Amalgamated Bliss –

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 03:04 AM

Aug 12 – A lot of IS weapons research has gone in several areas. The Clan tech has helped speed up some research. Motivated by a powerful juggernaut of an enemy, the IS researchers will spend the next 20 years developing new technology. The major area of early research is on variable payloads for missile systems. Clan systems are much better than IS ones, so you counter that by having improved warheads. Some of it will really work, and some will not be that successful. Warheads with acid, upgraded electronic systems, smaller cockpits, and more. All of this experimental and new IS-only technology will generally be referred to in this dynasty as level 2.5 tech. In BT it is referred to as level 3 rules. We will be calling them Level 2.5 technology and integrating them into the campaign. Recently, a prototype BattleMech was tearing through Solaris VII arenas, and it features a torso-mounted cockpit, and several other new technologies, but these mechs were destroyed in Solaris City and taken back to the NAIS.

September 1 – Contracts:

FedCom wants a Garrison
Dracs wants a security
Rasalhague would like Cadre/Garrison
St. Ives for garrison

Boring.

October 1 – Bruiser, Shadow and many ships are back tomorrow. Shadow will stay for a while, Braham has some work to do on Outreach for a few months recruiting. We’ve got a lot of tanks sitting openand he wants to recruit crew. What contracts are out there?

Garrison for FWL, O Raid for FWL – target is in periphery, Capellan wants Recon Raid. Interesting –target? Yunnah. Nice.

Ted decides to get out and stretch his legs by jumping in and taking over this assignment. He takes a surprise. Yunnah is sparsely populated, really just used for holidays and as a repair center for machine and man alike. It’s also a place for spiritual retreats. The Caps want us to recon out the system, to see what defenses they have – similar to what we did for the FWL a bit ago.

Brawler Company, Recon Raid

Salvage: Shared
Salary: x1.6, x3.4, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 30%
Command: Liaison
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 month
Transport: Full

We will arrive on December 24.

Dec 24 – We have arrived with four platoons of infantry and some other spoilers. This planet has very little to guard save the repair facilities. It is on the border with the Caps being one jump away, so there are some important strategic reasons to keep it safe.

Dec 30 – After plugging around, we realize that there is just one Davion military base on planet. It’s right adjacent to the repair facilities. Ted’s Exterminator is moving about at night, getting good telemetries on the Davions.

Jan 5 – We have gotten all of the info we need. We have a count of the vehicles that have come out for garrison duty, and the same with mechs and infantry. The scanners in Ted’s mech have worked wonders and it’s been as quiet as a pen dropping in utter space.

Jan 9 – We blast off without any issues at all. We return on March 2, 3054

We made 100k on it.

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 04:06 AM

Rewind:

November 1, 3053 – Contracts –

Company wants Security
Marik wants Pirate Hunting
ComStar wants Security
Marik wants garrison

Not interested – pirate hunting is way too far away. It’s lucrative salvage but too far away.

December 1 – Myth Battalion is back.

Marik wants Objective Raid
FedCom wants Riot Duty
ComStar wants Objective

ComStar wants us to do exactly what we did before, launch a company into Marik space and land on a Blake world and destroy the HPG garrison there completely. Sounds like a job for my clan mechs in Bruser Company.

Bruiser Company and Amalgamated Bliss

Salvage: Shared
Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Indy
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 month
Transport: Full
37.5% Bonus

We can arrive at their target, Abadan, by Feb 1, 3054.

Feb 2, 3054 – The major industry here is ordinance made for infantry. Rifles, pistols, grenades, hand held lasers, and more are all made here. The HPG station is actually in the civic center of government rather than by the industries. It’s more lightly defended by Marik.

Feb 4 – After scouting around, we see no major Marik defenders here, just the Blake ones. We move out and hit Blake hard. Here is their company:

BMB-12D Bombardier * regular
AWS-9M Awesome * veteran
WSP-1S Wasp * elite
SPR-5F Spector *elite
BJ-2 Blackjack *green
STN-3L Sentinel * veteran
ST-8A Shootist * elite
Rifleman, regular
Longbow, green
CTF-1X Cataphract, veteran
Shadow Hawk, elite
WVR-6M Wolverine, regular

This is their Spector. It’s an old star league era 35 ton mech, but Norse BattleMechs has introduced a new version that lacks the stealth armor of the Spector. This is that Norse version. It has a Guardian ECM, large laser, 2 mediums, 1 small, and 7/11/7 movement with an XL engine, 11/22 heat and 7.5 tons of armor. Even through max armor and mega fast speed, that XL engine is a pretty target.

CrimsonFox · 10-09-2011, 04:34 AM

But where are the hordes of Wasps and Fleas all critting at the same time!

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 12:01 PM

Alons-y

1. We win init. Our Rifleman II c hits the head with a large pulse laser and nails both the life support and sensors. Our Vulture C launches a gauss bullet right into the H of their Bombardier and it falls. Their Shootist destroys the LT of our Phoenix Hawk. It shuts down from engine damage. If that had missed, our Warhammer IIcs ERPPC hit the head too and would have destroyed it. Their Awesome falls.

2. We win again. A gauss from our Atlas heads their Awesome. I focused a lot of fire on it, and I suspect it will get more destroyed. Eventually its RT and RL are also destroyed. Their Sentinel tumbles.

3. We lose init. Their BJ falls. I run our Dragonfly up to it. Our Atlas destroys the LT of their Wasp and our Rifleman IIc follows by blowing off its CT. For the third consecutive turn, a gauss ot the head kills a mech – the Shadow hawk by our Highlander IIc. Again, I was targeting it heavily, let’s see what else was destroyed – RL, LL, RA, LT. Our Dasher destroys the LA of a Sentinel. The Peregrine was savaged by their Shootist. Our Dragonfly kicks and destroys the RA of their BJ.

4. We win init again yay. I eject the Peregrine. The Warhmamer IIc ignites the LRM ammo in the Longbow and it explodes. We hit some weapons too, like the Cataphract’s ML and AC10. Their Sentinel opens up our Atlas’s CT and nails the engine once. Our Atlas kicks and destroys the LL and LT of their Sentinel. Our Warhammer IIc punches with the arm he didn’t fire with and goes internal, destroys the RT of their Cataphract.

5. We win. Their BJ tries to escape us by jumping on top of a nearby roof, the building collapses, and it falls and destroys its CT which causes an engine explosion and destroys more buildings and showers mechs with rubble and energy. Our Gladiator rolls a 2 and skids on pavement and falls. Their Spector’s RA was apparently sheared off in the explosion and its on he ground. Shootist LA destroys by Atlas. Rifleman IIC adds the LT. Our downed Gladiator adds an engine hit. We blow up most of the buildings with our Marauder and Vulture. Our Warhammer unloaded on their Cataphract and it falls, as does our Atlas. Our Warhammer IIc destroys the LL of their Wolverine.

6. We win init. With a pretty damage Atlas, I eject the pilot. I stand the Gladiator and use MASC to run away. Our Rifleman IIc hops next to their Spector. In fact, I just base a lot of their mechs. I expect this turn just to blow them away. Our Vulture destroys the LA of their Rifleman. The LT of their Cataphract is destroys by our clan-made Warhammer. Their Rifleman falls and destroys its LL. Our Highlander IIc kicks and destroys the RA, RT and CT of their Sentinel. The Marauder IIc’s foot blows through the LT of their Wolverine. The Gladiator destroys the RT of their Rifleman. We punch the head of their Spector and their pilot blacks out and the mech falls. We also punches and destroyed its LA. Since their Shootist was hiding in a building, our Vulture kicked the building down, and the falling debris hits the ammo and explodes the Shootist’s torso (CASE) and the pilot blacks out.

With no mechs on the ground, and all of the remaining ones well past the sell-bay date, they surrender if we’ll let the warriors go and take those blacked out. We agree and take their machines. Such as they are. (In real life BattleTech, these would have ejected. A Wolverine is missing its entire left side. The Rifleman is missing both arms and a torso. The Cat is missing both torsos and arms. People would want to keep material intact – life is cheap, mechs aren’t).

Abe Sargent · 10-09-2011, 02:58 PM

Bombardier, missing H
AWS-9M Awesome, missing H, RT, RL
Wasp RT, RA, LA, LL, RL, H
Shadow Hawk missing H, Rl, LL, RA, LT
Longbow RA, LA
Sentinel LA, H, RL
Cataphract RA, LA
Spector missing LA
Wolverine missing LT and LL
Rifleman missing RT, LL, LA
Shootist missing LT, RT, RA
Cataphract – missing RT, LT

Phoenix Hawk missing LT
Atlas with engine hit, other minor things like actuators and AMS.

It takes 350k for armor and 160k for ammo. To fix, just 2.56 mill is needed.

To get their stuff up and running will cost – 11.58 mill. We happily spend it.

Money Schtuff: We only made a bit more than 600k

We will return on Apr 30, 3054

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 01:22 AM

Rewind:

Dec 18 – We honor the Fall of Andurien

Dec 31 – By the end of the year, many things have been introduced – old mechs like the Spector and new ones like the Daimyo and Bushwacker. We also see things like new battle armor – the Komodo Assault Battle Armor and the Blue Shield Particle Field Dampener shields for mechs are finished in development.

Essex Training Academy

We have 6 graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 15 enrollees for next year. Of these 6, 2 choose not to stay with us, and the remaining 4 have 2 vet, 1 regular and 1 elite.

Year 4 - 12
Year 3 - 13
Year 2- 11
Year 1 – 15

We pay 10 million to the upkeep of the Academy and HQ.

This chapter has now done four years, and includes a lot. Let’s do something a little different for a bit.

End of Part 3 of The Invasion

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 01:23 AM

Kilts and Commandos Roster:

Alpha Regiment:

Heliades Company
Styx Company -
Tethys Company –
Typhon Company –
Defender Company – Return on February 26 , 3054
Cinq Company -
Brawler Company – Return on March 2, 3054
Delta Company – Return on Jan 21, 3054
Trinity Company –
Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054

Beta Regiment:

Phaeton Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Boxer Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Rebel Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Mustang Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Hex Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Raven Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Aleph Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Laser Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056
Sabre Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056

Bruiser Company – Return on April 30, 3054
Shadow Company –

Aerospace Company- Return on Jan 21, 3054
Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055.
Delta Company – EE, garrison,
Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison,

Robin Hood -
Star River -
Scots Flotilla –
Serendipitous Victory -
Amalgamated Bliss – Return on Apr 30, 3054

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 02:09 AM

I want to rewind a bit and do Beta Regiment’s contract, through October 4, 3056. This will not involve what is going on in the IS, and instead will just look at Beta Regiment in the FedCom Retainer contract. I expect this will be the final chapter of The Invasion, and then we’ll move to the next chapter.

Oct 4, 3053 – We start our contract on Fort Loudon, a fairly industrialized planet with large herd animals native to the place called Enyx that are used for meat and leather. They are about the size of a wooly mammoth but look more like antelopes.

January 25, 3054 – After learning of us on Fort Loudon, a Jade Falcon JumpShip has arrived in the system and arrived. We beat the Jaguars, Vipers, Bears and Wolves. They want to test their mettle against us. They are happy to do the smaller battles we’ve done before. They can’t war for the planet, so they just want our CO as a bondsman if they win. We ask for their best warrior if we win, and they agree.

The Jade Falcons

Uller Prime
Uller D
Loki Prime
Loki A
Loki B
Thor Prime
Thor A
Black Lanner Prime
Masakari Prime
Hunchback IIc

The Jade Falcons really love their heavy mechs. They aren’t super big fans of the too heavy to move assault mechs and the too light to have good weapons and armor lights and mediums. They have two lights to keep it respectable and two mediums to do the same and assault to keep you guessing and then heavies a go go.

Their pilots are all clan elite

This is their Black Lanner OmniMech. It’s pretty exclusive to Jade Falcon, and they used them at Tukkayid to great effect. It’s a 55 tonner with 7/11 movements plus MASC so 7/11-14 movement. Add 8 tons of ferro armor and you’ve got a decent mech. The Prime version rocks an LRM 10, SRM 6, ER large laser, 2x er medium lasers and an ECM.

We are using Mustang Company. As a reminder, here it is:

CTF-3L Cataphract STC-2S Striker AWS-8Q Awesome CP-11-A Cyclops
WHM-6K Warhammer STK-3F Stalker MAD-Marauder RFL-5M Rifleman
FS9-M Firestarter JR7-F Jenner CMT Comet COM-2D Commando

The scout lance is a bit light for my tastes these days. But there are no medium mechs here – its all heavy metal after the scout lance. It’s 10 elites and 2 vets. The Rifleman, Cataphract and Cyclops are all level 2 mechs.

Their Bv is 44k, and ours is 36k. This will be tough,

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 10:58 AM

We are fighting on a fairly open dry area, with roughs, modest hills and minor trees.

T1 - We lose init, We focus our fire on both of their Ullers. Our Stalker strips both arms off their Uller D. Our Rifleman nails the Ra of their other Uller. Our Cat destroys the LT of their D. Their Prime is headed by a gauss slug from our Cyclops and falls dead. I’m really pissed both our Commando and Marauder fell under damage. Both needed 4 on 2d6 to stay standing. Grrr. Our Warhammer lost about half of its armor. But, we took out two mechs, even light ones. We’ve got heavy armor. If I trade a Warhammer next turn for two Ullers this turn and whatever I damage next one, I’ll be happy.

T2 – We lose again. The remaining Kit Fox is weaponless, and thus the pilot ejects. I stand my Marauder and run with it. I am going to sacrificial bunt my Warhammer. I will hold it steady will I move everybody else. Normally I’d make another target, but I couldn’t move my Marauder much and it’s the light target, but it has much better armor than the Warhammer right now, so the ‘hammer is the choice. My goal this turn is to blow out the Loki Prime. Our Warhammer destroys the RA and RT of their Loki Prime. They blow off its LA and LT. They also destroy our Commando’s RT and hit its gyro and engine once each and it falls. So no one killed anything.

T3 – We win init this time. I eject the Commando. I eject the Warhammer too. It took the attack like I needed, and it actually survived. Amazing. Our Stalker destroys the CT section of the Loki Prime. They split targets among my other mechs, but I begin blasting armor off the Masakari.

T4 – We win init. I run my Awesome up by a Loki B. Our Stalker hits two engines on their Loki A. My Awesome takes three AC20 shots from a Hunchback IIc. They destroy the LT of my Marauder and the LA of my Cataphract.

T5 - We win init. We have to shift targets back to their Masakari after they make their moves. Our Awesome destroys its RA and our Cyclops its Left one. Our Marauder destroys its targeting computer. The Awesome is now bereft of its RA and RT and falls.

T6 – We win again. With no weapons, their Masakari ejects (nothing is left but physical attacks, yet we have not physically attacked them, so their rules of engagement prevent a mech from losing all weapons from a physical engagement.) Since it’s overheated and I can’t move it, I eject the Awesome. Our Cyclops destroys the RA of a Loki A. An LB 10-X from their Thor hits my Cataphract and two shells hit the H and Lt Gabriel Williams passes out. Our Stalker nails a Loki B’s engine once. Our Marauder, damaged and wounded, still manages to destroy the engine on their Loki A and it shuts down. Their Loki B falls and destroys two more engine sections and it is gone too. Our Rifleman destroys the LL of their Loki B on the way down. However, their Black Lanner destroys the LT of our Cataphract, and it shuts down (XL Engine). Our Striker fell.

Both Lt. Williams in the Cataphract and Sgt. Dragomir Osmochescu in the Warhammer are out, so Sgt. Nombeko Prismall, in the Firestarter moves in and takes command.

T7 – With four mechs left, including a Hunchy with no ammo, we offer them hegira, and they accept. We tell them that they were much stronger than some of the clans we fought, and they tell us that they, begrudgingly, respect despite, because we never broke zellbrigen, we used batchall honorably, and we fought with honor, such as when the Warhammer sacrificed his own mech for our unit.

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 04:23 PM

We gained a bondsman, their best MW pilot. Meet Connor Ward, elite, 1/1, Edge:3.

Uller Prime missing H, RA
Uller D missing RA, LA
Loki Prime LA, LT, H, LL, RL
Masakari missing RA, LA
Loki A, enginex3
Loki B enginex3, missing LL

Warhammer, missing LA, LT
Commando missing RT, enginex1, gyrox1
Marauder missing LT
Cataphract missing LA, LT

We were unable to fix the Commando gyro and have to replace it. I have to pay 4.87 for everything – armor, ammo and pieces for wounded mechs. With a 50% battle loss, we pay half. We also get a huge bonus contract wise because the Falcons came at us.
Just like before in the FRR, Aleph Company still has all of our spare clan parts. Let’s look:

Uller Prime – we had both a H and a RA in our stock and this is up and running

Loki A – we fixed the engine

Loki B – LL from the one killed, we fix engine

Masakari A – We move the H and a T to a chassis we have in storage to get it up and running. This will take 6 weeks to perform.

Clan Tech:

ER PPC
3x ER ML
Beagle
ECM
Targeting Computer (for 2x ERPPC, 3x ERML, 1xMG)
4x A-Pods
Anti-Missile System

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 05:59 PM

March 10 – Someone lands to raid a nearby logging company with tanks. We are tasked with defending the world, and commander tells us to send someone out to stop them. Within five minutes we have Rebel Company in the air (we have one company in a DropShip at all times for a fast response). Despite that, we are too far away and they have destroyed a few LoggerMechs and taken something from a warehouse. The armor has disappeared and several attempts to find them with local fighters and our mechs are unsuccessful.

June 28 – A Clan JumpShip arrives in the system

July 4 – The JumpShip has left

August 13 – Another raid against the logging company is occurring, but this time, we are waiting for the tanks. The armor is racing towards the company, and suddenly, Hex Company pops up a pair of klicks away from the company and before they arrive. They are too close to run away, so battle is joined.

As a reminder, here is Hex Company:

BLR-1G BattleMaster DRG-1G Grand Dragon VND-1R Vindicator KTO-18 Kintaro
ON1-K Orion BNC-3E Banshee WTH-1 Whitworth ENF-4R Enforcer
SDR-5V Spider PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk THE-S Thorn COM-2D Commando

This is a bit light for a lot of work, but good for here – 3 lights, 5 mediums, 2 heavy, 2 assault. This probably needs better balance. It also needs a Javelin 10F. It’s hard to have a scout lance that doesn’t rock one. I generally prefer a 3:1 or 4:0 ration of jumpers to non-jumpers in scout lances, and this is on 2:2 and the Thorn is not a good mech, I’m surprised I still have it here. I want to evolve this soon. Fighting these guys should be okay, but I don’t want this unit to run into clans.

This is our Enforcer. It’s a FedCom standard mech that weighs 50 tons, and has two big weapons – a large laser and AC10. It has a small laser as a backup weapon and 4/6/4 movement with 9 tons of armor- pretty close to max for a 50 ton mech. It has 12 heat sinks.

Our foes:

4x Savannah Master
3x J Edgar Hover tank
2x Harasser Missile Platform, both veteran
4x Pegasus Hover Scout
4x Maxim Heavy Hover Transport
4x IS Standard Battle Armor SRM troopers, all veteran

The troopers are each on a Maxim. This is a very fast unit, and it’s clear why they were able to strike quickly before. The Logging Camp is near a small inland lake and thus we are fighting near a wooded coast.

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 06:10 PM

We are on the north and they the south

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 07:16 PM

T1 – We win the init. Their infantry hops off the transports to move into some woods. Smart. They are speeding their Savannah Masters across the water and up to my Thorn. They only have two skids, but one results in a Harasser Missile Platform going right off the field and it escapes. A J Edgar slides into the woods and breaks its hover movement system. A Maxim’s LRM5 nails the H of our Vindicator. Our Grand Dragon immobilizes a Maxim. Our Whitworth destroys the LS of a Savannah Master. Our Thorn kicks and destroys a Savannah master’s LS. A Banshee kick on a Maxim stuns the crew for a turn. A Spider kick immobilizes a Pegasus.

J Edgar immobile
Maxim Heavy immobile
Savannah Master LS
Savannah Master LS
Pegasus immobile

Their infantry grabs handhold and they dart off, and leave. They are too fast to catch up too and they darted over water anyway, so we can’t catch up to them, but we can spend just 750k to get these up and running.

Good job Hex.

I replace its Thorn with a Comet. That’s better. It’s still too light, but we’ll worry about that later.

Abe Sargent · 10-10-2011, 10:36 PM

Dec 23 – We have been approved for a raid on the Viper world of Jabuka. Jabuka is the closest clan held world to Terra. It has the best Vipers available, and we are asked with hitting it just to remind them we can. We are to chose a company to head out to face the Vipers.

Our finalists are Phaeton, Mustang and Sabre

Phaeton is not as light as you think, with just a Panther and Javelin 10N as a light mechs. It also has a ton of mediums and heavies – Phoenix Hawk, Vindicator, Hermes II, Griffin, Warhammer, Catapult, Rifleman and Thunderbolt. Just two assaults – Atlas and Awesome. 7 elite, 4 vet and one regular. The heavies are solid, and the assaults are great, but I just don’t know if this company brings enough heat.

Mustang is mostly elite and has some heavy metal. We just used them against the Falcons.

However, I’m leaning Sabre. This is exactly what companies like Sabre were created for.

Sabre loads up. We also take all of the chassis that we’ve captured.

Jan 15 – Sabre arrives at Jabuka and issues a batchall to the Steel Vipers. The goal is just to hit them, so we demand that Viper fix up all of the chasses that we’ve captured but couldn’t get running. That’s a lot of mechs for us, but not that much for them other than work and some spare parts. They agree, but they want us to turn over all of the captured chassis if we lose. That seems fair, so let’s do it.

As a reminder, here is Sabre:

ATA-2 Attila, Grizzly, BLR-3M BattleMaster, Ryoken C
Supernova, Galahad, Vulture Prime, HTM-27T Hatamato-Chi
Shadow Hawk IIc, Dasher D, JVN-10F Javelin, PXH-3k Phoenix Hawk

Steel Viper’s units:

Fenris B
Uller Prime
Black Hawk Prime
Battle Cobra Prime
Daishi A
Man O war B
Vulture C
Loki A
Loki D-Uk (with Ultra AC5, ER Large Laser, 4x medium pulses, 1 er small laser)
Crossbow Prime

This is their Battle Cobra Omni, a Viper exclusive that weighs 40 tons, has 6/9 movement, does not have an XL engine, 10/20 heat sinks and 6.5 tons of ferro fib armor. Their prime has 2 large pulse lasers and 2 small pulses. I really like the design and the Alternate Config B replaces the LPLs with ER PPCs for massive firepower (but bad heat). This is actually my favorite variant of the BC.

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 02:58 AM

The BV is virtually identical. They are ahead by 32.

They know our reputation for using terrain to our advantage (see videos of our victory over the Falcons) so they have chosen a flat plain, with a gentle slope.

T1 – We lose init. Their Daishi hits and destroys the RT of my Javelin and hits the engine once. Our BattleMaster destroys the LT of their Uller. Our Dasher hits its engine twice and it shuts down. Our Grizzly hits the gyro on their Crossbow and destroys its RA. Our Hatamato-Chi hits a gyro on their Loki A. Their Loki and Crossbow fall, as does our Jav. Their Crossbow hits an engine and gyro. Dead Crossbow. Our Attila lost more than half of its armor. When someone falls and kills themselves, I usually assign the kill to the obvious one. The Crossbow was destroyed due to two gyro hits, the first was the Grizzly and the second was terra firma. Thus, the Grizzly is given the kill. This doesn’t always work – if a mech was hit by five opponents, fell due to damage taken, and breaks its head wide open and destroys its own cockpit, I can’t assign a kill to just one, but when I can, I do. Two mechs out in one turn - Beauty!

T2 – We win init. I eject our poor 13 overheat Jav. My Scout Lance Shield worked again. Remind me some time to talk about my various strategies for victory. I hop our Phoenix Hawk behind their Loki. Their Fenris nails the H of my PXH with a er medium laser. Our Shadow Hawk IIc hits it in the H with an SRM2 Streak and then a glancing blow from a ER LL from the PXH on the H too. Our Ryoken destroys the RL of their Fenris. A medium pulse laser from their Loki to our Galahad’s H means lots of people are being scared by H hits this round. Both our Shadow Hawk IIc and Galahad tumble.

T3 – We lose init. I rise the Galahad. Their Loki A falls. Our Dasher’s lasers seek and find the AC5 ammo on their Loki and It explodes, destroyed RT. Their pilot blacks outs. Our BM’s RA is destroyed by fire from their Daishi. Their Gladiator nails our Galahad, opens up the CT and hits the gyro twice. Dead Galahad. Our LB 10-X from the Ryoken destroys the other Fenris leg, it’s LL. It’s now legless and destroyed.

T4 – We lose init. I run the Dasher by their Daishi. Our Attila nails the H of their Daishi with an ER PPC and goes internal but comes away with nothing. Their Daishi is equally blessed, as its gauss nails the H of our Hatamato-Chi and kills the MW. Before he dies, he nails the engine once and head once of their Loki A. Our Dasher goes internal on the rear left torso armor and hits ammo, boom! No more LT or LA. The pilot takes feedback damage and blacks out. Our Grizzly this its Ct and this the engine twice and it shuts down. Our Supernova destroys the LA of their Loki A. It responds by nailing na engine one and MPL on our Ryoken

T5 – We win init. We have 9 mechs to their 5. Our BattleMaster and Attila have had some serious external armor scoured from them, but that’s it. Their Loki A has lost its best weapons. The Black Hawk and Gladiator are untouched. The lighter Battle Cobra is dusted and internal in a torso. The Vulture C is scoured of armor too. It’s clear that we are in front. I expect to end the Loki A or Battle Cobra this turn, and perhaps both. The best they can hope for is to finish off a BattleMaster or Attila. I offer them hegira, but they want to continue for now. So let’s keep going. Our BM hits an engine on their Vulture. Our Shadow Hawk IIc takes out its LL. Their Loki hits another engine on our Ryoken. The RT of their Battle Cobra falls to ER Large Lasers from the Supernova. Our Vulture destroys the LT of their Loki A which is an engine overload, and then two more engine hits. Our PXH blows up the LT of their Vulture.

Now they accept hegira.

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 03:17 AM

Loki D-Uk missing RT,
Uller Prime missing LT, enginex4
Crossbow missing RA, gyrox2, enginex1
Fenris B missing both legs.
Daishi A missing LT, enginex4,
Battle Cobra Prime RA
Loki A, enginex5, missing LT, LA
Vulture C LA

Jav missing RT, enginex1,
BattleMaster RA
Galahad gyrox2
Hatamato-Chi missing H
Ryoken enginx2

We captured the Loki pilot, bondsman, and Daishi pilot:

Stacy, 1/2, elite
Foster, 1/2, elite

It costs us 3.025 to fix and replace everything. 1,512,500 post contract

These guys are not part of our agreement with the Vipers. They are not fixed, but every chassis we brought with us is fixed. It takes about a month, but at the end, we have some pristine mechs. Most of Sabre are ex-clan so they are not unaccustomed to life with the Vipers for a month.

Stacy will replace our dead pilot and pilot a Rifleman IIc. We send the Hatamato-Chi back to our garrison. Foster is given a Masakari Prime, and we’re sending him to bolster Aleph Company.

Besides those two, we got: 4x Vultures, 2x Galahad, 2xMad Cats, Kodiak, Peregrine, Marauder IIc, 2x Pumas, Uller, Fenris, Ryoken, Thor and Man o’ War It’s a lot for me, but it’s not a lot for the Vipers, who just gave us some tech time and spare parts. It would be like a level one tech challenging us for the right to give them a few boxes and crates of level 2 tech weapons and parts, plus the tech time to fix their mechs. It’s not much for us, but huge to them. The same is true here. We’re happy, because we added 20 clan mechs to our rolls. But we already had these chassis and such.

We also manage to get their Loki A up and running after refitting Loki limbs from our spares.

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 01:35 PM

July 5 – We get news that the planet has undergone some serious internal dissatisfaction with the local rule and an uprising has begun on planet. We do not have a contract with the local government, but with the Federated Commonwealth. We are ordered to keep the peace but not to attack the citizens. We begin doing riot duty on the planet. A few mechs out at a time help to keep order by showing force. Some infantry have been attacked by citizens, but our job is not to intervene on one side or another, but to do our best to keep peace.

July 7 – Both sides are becoming increasingly hostile to us. The government feels that we should be getting involved on their side despite our FedCom commanders clear instruction not to. Meanwhile, the upset members of the populace just see us as the military arm of the government that props up the local government.

July 10 – Some small arms fire opened up on the citizens near our main base on planet by the government. They were not violent, but just protesting peacefully. 23 people were killed. This is getting ugly

July 17 – After a week of lower violence as an homage to what many are called the July Massacre, violence begins again.

July 18 – Tonight, a police headquarters was destroyed by several rogue industrial mechs that moved it and destroyed it. We get cries from the government to take out their mechs, but our commanders still tell us to decline. We are not to escalate – and attacking and destroying industrial mechs is escalating.

July 21 – Today, a full fledged riot has engulfed the city. Stores are being broken into, people are turning over vehicles, and more. The local police are simply not enough to handle the situation. We have been ordered in to clear things up. Rebel Company is already on patrol and they move into the city and round up people. We are painted as the villain by the rebels.

July 28 – After another week of riot control, we notice a blip on the screen. Suddenly, a large number of industrial mechs from their herding have appeared, and they are destroying the town, they’ve already destroyed a few buildings. We are ordered to go out and end their threat. Boxer Company is on patrol and ordered in.

Boxer Company:

BLR-3M BattleMaster WHM-6D Warhammer TDR-5S Thunderbolt ZEU-6T Zeus
ARC-2R Archer RLF-3N Rifleman GRF-1N Griffin CLPT-C1 Catapult
PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk CMT-1 Comet JVN-10F Javelin HER-2M Hermes II

Here are our foes

15x CattleMaster

This is the CattleMaster:

CattleMasters are made for herding. They are a 25 ton mech with 4/6 movement, just 1 heat sink, an ICE engine, and industrial armor. It has three machine guns and two small lasers. It also has a cargo bay inside the torso.

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 04:23 PM

With its weapons, these folks have delusions of grandeur, and it’s our responsibility to fix that.

T1 – We lose init. Our BattleMaster destroys their one CattleMaster’s RA. Our Warhammer hits the ammo on one and it blows up. Boom! The Zeus destroys the RA of another. Our Catapults gets a limb blown off critical on one LA. Two of them fall.

T2 – We win init. The H of a Cattlemaster is destroyed by our BattleMaster. Our Warhammer takes out another LT - our T Bolt blows up a RA, the Zeus gets a triple engine hit on one – Archer – La, Rifleman RA, Catapult LT, PXH blows off a RL, our Comet hits the gyro twice and engine once on one and knocks it out – Jav – RA, two CMs fall and explode.

With that, they flee

CattleMaster LL, LAx3, RL RA, Hx2, RT
CattleMaster missing H
CattleMaster enginex3, missing RA
CattleMaster, enginex1, gyrox2

We fix the engines and gyros. We use a H and RA to fix the broken one sand we have three CattleMasters and parts. We sell the remaining parts for 200k. A full blown CM costs 850k roughly.

Experience: Warhammer pilot Sekhar Mamidi is getting Edge: 1

After we easily handle the mechs in the riot, things start to calm down a bit.

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 08:30 PM

Aug 6 – The local government agrees to some concessions and the rebellion largely subsides. There are a few minor incidents that still occur, but mostly things peter down. The government gives money and homage to the families killed in the July Massacre.

Dec 10 – A battalion of our troops is being dispatched to Kelenfold. Kelenfold has recently had several raids on minor industries from unknown corporate raiders and we are being sent to bolster their forces. Ganges Battalion is on route

Dec 30 – They arrive on Kelenfold

Jan 14, 3055 – Ganges has arrived and is up to speed. (Phaeton, Boxer, Rebel)

Feb 1 – Kelenfold experiences a volcanic eruption near a settlement and we are sent to help get everyone clear.

Mar 3 – While out scouting, Steve Ovango, a mechwarrior in Hex Company’s thunder lance notices something unusual on his mag scanners. He takes a closer look and discovers a hidden cache of weapons on Fort Loudon. They are personnel weapons, not those for tanks, mechs, etc. They look to have been here at least a few years. They are turned over the gorvernment.

June 3 – On Kelenfold, raiders arrive as predicted. They’ve been on the world the entire time, and they’ve timed an attack against the change in guard between the normal planetaria milita mechs and ours. A bunch of mechs swing out and start moving. Phaeton Company is out and on guard, so they move in. Within 20 minutes, we’ve closed to their mechs, only to find that they aren’t battlemechs at all, but just agromechs running and moving like battlemechs. Meanwhile, we get info that a local refinery is being attack by mechs. We leave the agromechs behind and move out. 30 minutes later, we arrive at the factory and discover that is was never attacked. An emergency message was sent and then communcatiosn cut to prevent any double checking. After an hour of chasing phantoms, we miss the strike on a major communications center in the area. We were totally outmaneuvered.

June 5 – With a communications reduction blackout still in effect, we come across a battle while out scouting. A local refinery is being attacked by infantry in unusual power armor we don’t recognize. We move Rebel Company in, and the refinery explodes and the power armored troops melt into the twilight before we can get there.

June 10 – Just as the communications centre is restored, a bomb that had bene placed there waiting for juice explodes and it’s again dead for a while. These guys are sharp.

June 11 – Rebel Company runs into their guys again, this time they turn and move to attack. Out from the thick brush come a horde of armor units and infantry. Scanners ping 30…no…40 units at least. Rebel’s Firestarter jumps in front and uses its flamers to set the thick brush on massively on fire in just a few seconds (imagine what two tons of napalm and flamethrowers does to thick brush) fire and then they run behind the cover.

June 15 – A planetary militia mech unit was completely destroy by a deadfall trap by a bluff that resulted in the entire bluff falling on the company.

June 17 – We finally manage to engage the enemy, after a surprise attack by the local conventional fighters drops fire and forces them our way. Phaeton Company will be engaging.

This is Phaeton:

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-10N Javelin VND-3L Vindicator PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk HER-2S Hermes II

They have 15 tanks and 6 platoons of regular infantry.

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 09:12 PM

T1 – We win init and we are fighting in a quarry, a depression in the earth with rocks and rubble slowing movement . They move in. We drive large wedge into the heart of their troops to split them on our rock. Our Awesome gets an ammo explosion on their Harasser Missile Platform. A Zhukov takes some serious damage from both the Atlas and Catapult and survives. A Schrek PPC blasts the RA of my Vindicator off and spins it on the ground. Our T Bolt ends a Maxim’s left side.

T2 – We lose. I eject the Vindicator. Our PXH kicks in the side of their Zhukov. We immobilize a Hunter Light Support Tank and a Bulldog. Missiles from our Catapult explode the fuel tank on a Patton. Our Hermes II kicks a Striker Light Tank’s front and destroys it.

Their vehicles speed out. We pepper a few with PPCs but we don’t take out any. We take back our salvage and damaged Vindicator.

Maxim left side
Immobilize Hunter, Bulldog
Zhukov right side
Striker front

To fix: Vindicator RA

We pay the money to fix these up easily enough. Our Vindicator takes just 500k to get up, and 250k we spend.

Warhammer · 10-11-2011, 09:47 PM

How did I not see this latest update til now? Great read!

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 11:42 PM

Thanks!

Abe Sargent · 10-11-2011, 11:43 PM

June 20 – Spy Sattelites discover a guerilla base that our foes are in. The militia move in, and take out the base and roughly 40% of their remaining forces. It appears that these were sent by another nation – many suspect the Draconis Combine, but we are unsure. Yeah, prior to the clans and Rasalhague’s existance the Dracs might make sense, but now? What would they have to gain? We suspect Blake or ComStar.

Aug 5 – After planet is scoured by the militia, we are ordered back to Fort Loudon.

Sept 10 – Ganges Battalion is back

Jan 1, 3056 – We had a fairly quiet year last year, all things told.

Feb 15 – A battalion of mechs suddenly bursts from four Mule DropShips that were on planet for a while. It looks like they were converted for military transport. They plunge into the capital city and destroy a factory completely, decimating the defenders. We are ordered out, and our Rheims Battalion is in the city. Each company is in a different place. The closest is Aleph. They are moving swiftly through the streets they know well, but the yare not able to get to the attackers in time, and they have reboarded and break off. They fly away in four Mules, bu one of the Mules is brought down by the local fighters, and we are ordered in to take out the company of mechs that was in that Mule. Aleph and Sabre are too far away so Laser is up. Laser moves the 12 klicks to their downed Mule. Around it we see several mechs, and they move to attack.

As a reminder, Laser is the new name for Lance Company. Here they are:

ATA-1A Atilla CTF-3D Cataphract CTF-1X Cataphract OSR-2C Ostroc
LGB-7Q Longbow TBT-5n Trebuchet GRF-1N Griffin ARC-2K Archer
JVN-10N Javelin LCT-1E Locust CMD-2A Commando SDR-5V Spider

And here are the mechs that survived the crash of the Mule.

Wasp WSP-1S *
Wolf Trap *
STC-2D Striker *
Banshee
JagerMech
Archer
DV-7D Dervish *
Penetrator *
Hunchback
Merlin
1A9 Charger

This is their Penetrator, a mech that came off the assembly line in 3053. It is a solid heavy mech deisgn with 12/24 heat, and 4/6/4 movement. It features 2 ER Large Lasers for long range combat and 6x medium pulse lasers for close in. Both make 24 heat exactly, so except for movement, either firing mode is compeletely dispersed. Plus it does not have an XL engine – it’s very well designed.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 01:42 AM

They are all vets

We have roughly 500 more BV than they do with an extra mech.

T1 – we lose init. Nothing but a minor exchange of fire.

2 – We lose again. More exchange of fire. A few thing shit of minor consequence and my Trebuchet’s LRM15

3 – Losers again. I jump our Jav next to their W Trap. The Ostroc nails the head of their JagerMech with a large laser and the pilot blacks out. Their W Trap LA is blown to pieces by long range missiles form an Archer. Our Longbow gets a limb blown off crit on the RA of their Archer. The Jav hits two en gine spots on their Trap’s engine. Our Cataphract falls. Our Jav punches the Wolf Trap an hits a third engine – dead Wolf Trap. Our Attila punches the Dervish in the head and all of the armor is gone there.

4 – We win init. I run our Locust behind their Wasp. My Cataphract rises. I fire a bunch of MLs with my Attilla in order to try and decapitate their JagerMech. Their Wasp destroys the LA of my Locust. My Attila does H the JagerMech. Our Cataphract 1X’s RA is destroyed by their Striker. Their Archer nails the Ultra AC5 on the Cataphract. Their Penetrator destroys its RT. Their Archer tumbles. Lots of kicks, but the only person to fall – their Hunchback.

And with that, they surrender to the local government. Man, I wanted that Penetrator.

Archer RA
Wolf Trap, enginex3
JagerMech H

To Repair:

RT, RA Cataphract 1X
LA Locust

3.15 mill for repair, ammo and armor

We fix the Wolf Trap, yay.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 02:25 AM

Oct 4, 3056 – Our contract is up, and it’s time for the pay pay. The FC is interested in bringing us back, but I don’t know if we even want to. I need to know what else is happening, so its time to flash back.

But first, the money!

This was our contract:

Beta Regiment, Retainer

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x3.7, x1.3,x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: House
Remuneration: No, x1.05
Length: 3 years
Transport: Full
10% Bonus

This is how much we pay our regiment in one month:

489,794

That means, if you were to sell a Battlemech for 5 mill, you could pay for your company for 10 months. Mechs are not cheap, life is.

For three years, we pay 17,632,224

We made, in salary, 204,801,831

187 mill after pay and upkeep. This money is not available until after October 3056.

End of Part 4 of The Invasion

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 04:32 PM

How to fight against foes, Abe’s five biggest tips for BattleTech generally and MegaMek specifically.

1). Rotating Targets. Your opponent will tend to target a mech that is the easiest to hit. While that’s not always the case, it usually is. They will concentrate their fire on mechs that are easy to hit. That makes sense. What I do is I rotate my targets. I’ll have one mech move a smaller number of hexes than others, or perhaps even keep it still, in order to get it targeted. Often I’ll just have it two hexes in front or something. By doing this, you rotate their fire through several mechs. I’ll rotate in high armor mechs first, like BattleMaster’s and Atlas’s, then guys like Thunderbolts and Warhammers. Eventually it’s Crusaders, Archers, and Hunchbacks if we get that late.

2). The Sacrifice Play. Related to the above, sometimes you have a mech that is damaged, and you wan’t to eject. But, you are tilting on the edge. If you eject it now, they will rain fire You will likely lose parts and even the mech itself, but you keep the fire from falling on your other mechs. I’ve used this most often against the clans in the first few turns, before I’ve killed enough of their mechs. I’ve left assault mechs missing a leg or something on the field and let them beat down on it to finish it off while I get a turn of fire virtually free. It’s worth the money lost.

3). The Flying Wedge – When I’m in open terrain, I make a formation I call the Flying Wedge. I put my assaults with good armor in front, then the next layer is light armored assaults (like a Victor) and heavies. Then in my third row are any other mechs I can’t sit back and snipe with. If I’m n a map with a handful of woods and nothing else, I’ll put the other units there. On a barren map I’ll just make a giant Flying Wedge with 7-9 of my mechs in it. I’ll run lights behind with higher number sot hit to keep them trucking until I need to run out to hit someone from close range. I’ll then move this unit in and out of the ideal range for weapons and such. It’s a great way to close with mechs like Hunchbacks and Kintaros behind a line of better mechs all moving at the same speed.

4). The Light Mech Shield – One of my favorite strategies. The goal here is to distract your opponent with these little guys while some sniper isn’t moving at all and hitting you from range. For example, I use Rifleman a lot because I find them, but I don’t like them that much. But they work against my foe. I’ll just put them in a light woods hex (or heavy if possible), and sit and snipe all game long. They’ll rarely target me. First because I’m likely to be using the Flying Wedge, and that leaves mechs in the open and usually closer. Thus easier to hit. Secondly, I use the Light Mech Shield. This requires fast scout mechs that are flying all over short range against my foes. For example, take our favorite scout mech, the Javelin 10F. It moves 6/9/6. When I jump at least 5 or run at least 7 that’s a +3 to hit me. It’s also a +3 for me to hit if I jumped and+2 for the run, but that doesn’t matter. Now, suppose that my Rifleman is sitting down stream at long range. That’s +4 to hit me. If my Jav 10F has run or jumped that +3 right by you, then it is 1 easier to attack the scout mech. That’s if the Rifleman is standing stone cold in open space. Now add a light forest to it or partial cover and it’s another +1. Even if the Jav jumps into light woods two spaces away from you, it’s a +4 for it and a +5 for the Rifleman. Which do you aim for? This is what I call the Light Mech Shield, it’s a way to grab the attention of your enemy so that they aim for and hurt weaker mechs, not stronger ones. This is done by good scout medium mechs too. This is also a real reason why I want scout mechs that jump in at least a 3:1 ratio. I need the Light Mech Shield active at all times. That includes maps with major terrain issues like trees and hills. Mechs that run real far are fine on open maps, like Locusts and Cicadas, but I prefer jumpers in most cases.

5). Fight at your battle level – Elite vs Regular – You need to know how to win against a regular unit as elites, and how to win against higher skilled opponents if you are not. I regularly use this strategy against the elite clan battles. When you are an elite facing a regular unit, you want to make the dice roll hard for both of you. For example, suppose you are at short range. If you jumped 7 and they ran 5, then you need a 7 to hit them and they need a 9 to hit you. You will win that battle. Always push your movement or the terrain to increase the difficulty for you to hit each other. I find that the Ai will often do the right thing and try to stay still to lower their to hit. That is the counter for experience. Going form a 7 to a 9 is a huge difference. Going from a 3 to a 5 really isn’t much of one. If you have less experience, you want to stand still. Grab some woods and just stop moving altogether. You don’t even need woods, just stop moving. If you don’t move you might drop their to hit number by 2-3, but hey, they were likely to hit anyway. If you don’t move you drop yours by 1-3, and that’s what matters. Who cares if you drop their to hit from 5 to 3 if you drop yours from 7 to 4 by not jumping 4 spaces? That’s how you win when there is an experience difference either way.

Four General BattleTech Tips

1). Always place your mechs with knowledge of where you are going to move them on the first turn. I know what terrain my sniper swill hide behind, who won’t move at all, where I’m moving my Flying Wedge too, where my scouts are going, and so forth.

2). Don’t hide from terrain, use it. Use monster terrain in the middle to split their forces and hit one hard while you hold down the other with fast scouts or distant snipers in beautiful positions.

3). Know when to focus your fire and when to fire on the best available target for each mech. I’ll focus when the numbers are there or I need to kill guys, but often I have two or three targets because I’d rather all of my forces have to hit 6s than some 8s because I forced them to fire at a guy who was closer to some but farther away than others.

4). Target the combination of easiest kill plus most weapons. I like to go for heavily armed but weakly armored mechs, like Commando, Jenner, Rifleman, Cyclops, Victor, Clint, and so forth. Taking these out removes a lot of weapons and can be done more easily.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 08:33 PM

January 1, 3054 – Here is our unit, minus those forces in Beta Regiment.

Kilts and Commandos Roster:

Alpha Regiment:

Heliades Company -
Styx Company -
Tethys Company –
Typhon Company –
Defender Company – Return on February 26 , 3054
Cinq Company -
Brawler Company – Return on March 2, 3054
Delta Company – Return on Jan 21, 3054
Trinity Company –
Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054

Bruiser Company – Return on April 30, 3054
Shadow Company –

Aerospace Company- Return on Jan 21, 3054
Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055.
Delta Company – EE, garrison,
Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison,

Robin Hood -
Star River -
Scots Flotilla –
Serendipitous Victory -
Amalgamated Bliss – Return on Apr 30, 3054

As you can see, Delta, Butler and Aerospace Companies return this month. Shadow Company is on a temporary furlough while Braham Essex is at Outreach for a …project. That gives us 6 companies ready to head out and Delta on the way.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 09:34 PM

Contracts!

A company wants an Objective Raid
A company wants cadre/garrison work
Free World League would like us to go Pirate Hunting

None of those seem that appealing. What else?

Let’s look more closely at the cadre/garrison work. Orestes is the new capital of the Free Rasalhague Republic, and it is now the home of a new military academy, training centers, barracks, government, industry and more. Because all of these people are here, the local place is getting big. One of the major local companies is Odin Manufacturing. Among other things, it also has a BattleMech factory. They would like a unit that was successful against the clans (us) to come in and do some training, while also serving as garrison. They want a battalion of troops. Myth Battalion, which is actually four battalions, is available, and they’re okay with it.

Because the FRR has become a virtual protectorate of ComStar, they are using Odin for making mechs for ComStar, as well as lots of ComGuards around. We are considered the best mercenary unit in the IS for this role, and we are their first choice. I’d like to help out our friends in the FRR as well. They expect that the local manufacturing Janesek Industries (they make an aerospace fighter and parts) plus others will want the training, so they’d like a year. I’m okay with that for my friends.

Myth Battalion Cadre/Garrison:

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x3.7, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Straight Support 50%
Command: Integrated
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 year
Transport: Full
32% Bonus

Orestes is barely two jumps from Fort Loudon, so we are very close to Beta Regiment. Close enough for friends on holiday to visit each other and such.

We begin at Orestes on Mar 21. Our contract ends on March 21, 3055. Let’s see what happens during our year

(In order to see if anything happens, each month I roll 2d6. If I get a10+, then something happens). Nope, it’s all free of stuff.

The Money

We spend 2.491 mill on our four battalions for a full 16 months.

We made 18.379 mill

Total made is 15.888 mill.

We will Return on June 5, 3055

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 10:06 PM

February 1 – Contracts!

Dracs want garrison
ComStar wants Defense
Marik wants Objective Raid – target – Jacomarie, which would take us roughly 6-8 months to get to. No thanks.
Extraction Raid wanted by ComStar. They want the experimental prototype mech taken by Blake they were working on. It would take longer to make a new one than it would be to hire us to get it for them.

It’s on the Marik world of Sorunda. It’s an odd world to choose. Sorunda is the home of the Buddhist Religion in the Free Worlds League. It’s sparsely populated and heavily pacifist. Perhaps the quasi-religious Blakes find comfort in similarly minded monks.

I can have a company on world by April 29. It’s actually not that far away but it’s one of those annoying systems, like Thule, where the trip to the jump points from the planet is waaaay too far away.

ComStar is doing this through military channels to avoid their intel issues with Blake. Blake took all of the good intel, ComStar took all of the good mechs and warriors. They believe that Sorunda has at most a company of mechs, and probably a lot less than that. We’ve seen ComStar intel before. I send in the powerful Delta Company, just in case things go awry. We also are taking along all five of our SRM equipped infantry platoons with inferno and SRMs available as needed. We also refitted a mech in our garrison and will send it out too. Finally, we’ll take the Serendipitous Victory, because we need the extra space.

Delta Company, Extraction Raid for their Raijin Prototype

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: BattleLoss 50%
Command: Independent
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 1 month
Transport: 100% Reimbursement
25% Bonus

Apr 30 – We have landed on Sorunda. This world has few industrialized places big enough to work on a prototype of a mech, so it should be easy to figure out where it is.

May 5 – It was easy to find the mech, because it was out on patrol last night with a group of Blake mechs. The Raijin definitely looks different. We figure they were taking it through its paces. We will equip our infantry with inferno SRMs to overheat the Raijin and shut it down, while the rest of us take out the other units. We also have some help – we have a modified Firestarter. This is the one that we modified for Adele Thompson long ago, but we went back after double heat inks became common. It should help us overheat the Raijin, and it is being piloted by the elite recent grad from the Essex Training Academy called Denise Sanderford.

May 7- We have our infantry on watch, and the unit of mechs in coming through again. We place our infantry and mechs carefully around the area they have patrolled each of the last two days – you shouldn’t take the same route each night, this is basic level stuff. Perhaps the pacifists are getting to them, or perhaps ComStar really did keep all of the warriors.

They come down and around and walk right into our little ambush. Boom. Out pop our mechs and infantry, and they are surrounded. I radio on an open channel to the mechs that all we want is the Raijin, and we will let the rest go. We have 13 mechs to their 7 – the Raijin plus 6 (ComStar and Blake use units of 6 instead of 4 as their units). They raise their weapons, and Lt Miguel Juarez gives his prearranged signal “Five.” At that, lasers and PPcs lance into a light mech and destroy it in one salvo.

After a brief pause, they agree, and the MechWarrior in the Raijin jumps out. We let them leave. We grab the two limbs of their Mongoose that survived and walk away

That never works.

We check the Raijin prototype for traps , but find nothing our techs can’t clean up. An infantryman with some knowledge of mechs jumps in and we head back. Nothing else gets in our way.

We get on the DropShip and load up. It lifts, and suddenly, shakes. Fighters have arrived to protest our leaving. They must not realize what they are shooting at. The captain is given permission to fire, and our clan-tech Union C tears into them. It’s got more armor, more weapons and better weapons. Four of their fighters are destroyed in 30 seconds and the others fly off. We are not bothered again.

We made 350k. We have our techs give the Raijin a once over before turning it over to ComStar. It’s got light armor for a 50 ton mech, and an XL engine, so we feel it’s a bit too vulnerable for a PPC, 3x MPL, SRM6 and SRM2 streak. We turned it over and made cash.

Our people return on Aug 19.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 10:14 PM

Mar 1 – Contracts

Marik wants Defenses
FedCom wants Objective Raid on Altair - major Drac world, very close

Altair is regularly raided because the sun is very unstable, and it will often shut down all communications for extended periods of time –days, weeks, even a month or more are known. This makes it an ideal place to attack when the violent sun is undergoing one of its regular solar storms and flare activity is on the rise. The next power outage of note is set to occur on May 24, and to least last three days. They want us on Altair now, before the locals start getting more restrictive on trade. The planet is an underground maze of rich plant life and 3.6 billion people live here. There are a large number of bottled spring water and agriculture ventures, such as herbs and whatnot. The upper world is arid and dusty, but not a desert per se. The dry climate is conducive to manufacturing certain items, due to the lower content of water in the atmosphere. One of those things is ammunition and explosives. The Kurita Combine Munitions Factory makes a large number of these. They also make electronic components like targeting systems, and components for things like DropShips. They also make the F-500 Reiver aerospace fighter.

They want us to raid the munitions factory that makes explosives, and try to do as much damage as possible to it. It’s a large complex, and they would like us to take out the warehouse at least. We get a bonus 1 mill C-Bills for each building we destroy beyond the warehouse – and there are 7 total buildings.

We will be taking infantry and mechs and Aerospace Company and both the Scots Flotilla and the Star River.

We believe that the stealth oriented nature of this mission is not an option for Cinq – they are too light, and not a good choice for Butler, they are too inexperienced. Therefore, Trinity Company will be heading out. In addition, we will be sending a stealth-y surprise in the Exterminator. With our newest mechwarrior addition from Beta Regiment (where we send all disposed pilots) to our garrison – Connor Ward.

Aerospace Company and Trinity, plus Scots Flotilla, Star River, infantry, and Exterminator

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x3.7, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans
Support: Battle Loss 50%
Command: Independent
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 3 monthes
Transport: 100% Reimbursement
5.5% Bonus

We will arrive on Altair on March 30. We have painted our DropShips in Drac colors with a Drac symbol. This planet gets a ton of traffic. It’s easy for us to get lost in.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 11:01 PM

Apr 2 – Everything has worked, and we are berthed in the large industrial DropPort near the factory, plus near many other things. Their factory is a bit pushed back from this area, and inside a palisade-like structure

Apr 15 – Scouting has been promising, and we are ready to rock.

May 20 – We have everything ready for our plan. We’ve had 24-hour surveillance on the factory for a month now. The Combine garrison force on planet are the 3rd Dieron Regulars. They are a battalion of mechs that serve as the main garrison. In addition, there are various planetary units here, including regiments of infantry, some mechs, and lots of armor. Plus, the Factory has its own garrison – which appears to be exclusively armor. Here is the plan.

When the sun goes crazy, communications drop. At this point, we will have an infantry unit line several empty buildings in the industrial area with explosives. As distractions, we can blow up one of the three. One infantry platoon will hold out and detonate them. Just like communications won’t work, neither will remote control detonating, so they have fuses.

Our Exterminator will move out quickly. With communications down and scanners unable to pick him up, he will have a great deal of stealth available. He is in the DropShip that has Aerospace Company. He will get in a position, and then signal by launching his LRMs at a large fuel drum that is nearby on the DropPort.

At that point, our company of mechs will pop out of the DropShip and begin to move out. With the local garrison distracted, we will move into the industrial area and towards the company. We should be there in 20 minutes. Once we’ve made contact, we will signal back by having one of the infantrymen with us use the flare SRMs in his handheld SRM launcher. This will tell the infantry to blow up the first building, and hopefully help to keep away their units while we attack and take out the locals. Meanwhile, with all of these distractions occurring, we will scramble Aerospace Company. While we engage their forces in front of the company, they will fly over and strafe and destroy the buildings inside the factory. By waiting until we have fully engaged, they should have evacuated the area before our air strikes arrives.

When the buildings are destroyed, then we will break off battle if still engaged. Meanwhile the Exterminator should be providing distraction by occasionally striking and fading from the other forces on the planet. That’s our goal. Then we fade and leave. Remember, no one can communicate with any others . We have planned everything and reiterated it again and again for a month. We doubt they will be able to respond to our aerial units – they require a lot of coordination.

May 24 – The day has arrived. Here we go:

The sun’s flares ignite right on time, and communications flicker, and then a few minutes later go out. We wait ten minutes and then the infantry moves out to put up explosives. Another few minutes and the Exterminator is moving out from the DropShip that has our fighters. He moves stealthily out, and is not noticed.

LRMs fire out and all of the sudden there is a big BOOM as the fuel tank ignites. So far, everything is working. Out pops Delta Company, with some infantry in a few jeeps we rented following behind.

Fire crews are moving to the fuel tank, and everyone’s attention is focused on them. Our stealth should be working fine when…..no….are you serious?

Out burst mechs from three different DropShips, all nearby. They start shouting from speakers that “Hello Altair! Prepare to be raided by Hanson’s Horribles! We are going to take all that you have! Who wants some?”

We are on the DropPort where they are too, and we just look at each other. We move away, and Hanson’s does as well, but with their three companies of mechs, firing guns in the air and asking for combat, our stealth has gone In fact, we may risk being thought a fourth company of the Horribles. Idiot pirates or mercs or whatever.

Our infantry platoon has ignited the first building on cue, and it won’t help. Within a few minutes, we scan various units coming in. After looking around, we decide to take defensive postures around our DropShips. A mech runs into the DropShip with the fighters and delivers the news. Ten minutes later, we have hostiles fighting the Horribles as the local garrisons and the 3rd has arrived. This is the perfect distraction, but we are tied in and can’t leave – the way out is through the fight. More soldiers pour in, and we are spotted, and a company of the 3rd breaks off to attack us. We try to tell them that we don’t want to fight via radio, but they aren’t listening. Here comes the 3rd.

Meanwhile, the DropShip with the fighters takes off.

Because we are on the border with the FedComs and because we are one an industrial world raided regularly the 3rd are completely equipped with level 2 tech.

All veterans, save two are regular.

Wolf Trap
CGR-3K Charger
LCT-3S Locust, regular
SDR-9K Venom
Daimyo
CRD-4K Crusader
Mauler
PXH-3K Phoenix Hawk
SHD-5M Shadow Hawk
JR7-K Jenner
GOL-3M Goliath, regular
QKD-5K Quickdraw

As more and more specialized mechs are made for various houses, their units will look more and more unique. Back in lostech world, everybody haad virually the same mechs. A unit with a Locust, Wasp, Stinger, Wolverine, Griffin, Phoenix Hawk, Shadow Hawk, Crusader, Marauder, Warhammer, Archer, Atlas, BattleMaster, and such could be from anywhere. Mechs that were specific to a particular Hose were fairly rare – Panther, Jenner, Valkyrie, Enforcer, Hatchetman and just a few others. Through centuries of warfare, even those could easily appear in another militia. But now, with all of these new designs, you can tell a Liao force with Ravens, Snakes, Thunders from a Kurita force with Wolf Traps, Dragons, Hatamato-Chis and Daimyos. You’ll be able to tell the Anvil, Hammer, Apollo wielding Free Worlds League from the Penetrator, Salamander, Scarabus wielding Federated Commonwealth.

This is their Venom – it’s a fast light mech based on a Spider and made by the same manufacturer. It’s been made since 3050. It uses the same chassis and has similar speed. With an 8/12/8 movement, it uses an XL engine to have 4 medium pulse lasers and just 3.5 tons of ferro armor on a 35 ton mech.

Abe Sargent · 10-12-2011, 11:02 PM

Because we are fighting on a large Drop Port, we are using this map:

10-07-2011, 01:48 AM	#151
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Here we go: T1 – We lose init. An LRM from their Goliath nails our Thug in the head. Our Lancelot hits the ammo on their Zhukov and it ignites. An ER PPC from our Phoenix Hawk knifes into the right side of their LRM Carrier and follows the gauss slug that hit that side earlier. It’s destroyed, dead tank. The Starslayer immobilizes their Scorpion Light Tank. Braham’s Orion’s ER PPC and Gauss meet to blow off the front side of a Vedette. Our Thug falls T2 – We win init. I stand up the Thug and run away with it. This time I move some of my fire to the mechs. Our Griffin destroys the RT of their Panther. That’s a PPC we just claimed in the RA. Our Flashman destroys a Saladin’s Right Side. Our Lynx destroys the Wolverine’s LA. T3 – We lose init. The Grif takes out an Ontos’s Front. After taking a lot of hits, including an engine hit from an Elemental squad, their Rifleman falls over and blows up its RT. They retreat, we destroy the empty buildings and take the salvage back to the Union C before others come in LRM Carrier, left side destroyed Scorpion Light Tank, immobilized Vedette, front side Saladin Right Side Ontos, FS Panther RA Rifleman RA Experienced Gained: Braham Essex, gained Gunnery:Laser a little bit easier to hit with energy weapons now Ricardo Diaz, gains edge: 1, Flashman pilot It should take roughly 350k for ammo and armor for my boys and 250k to get these tanks up and running. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-07-2011, 03:16 AM	#152
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Now, the other side. Simultaneously, out comes Bruiser Company. Intel about the garrison is dead on, and a company of mechs warm up as we approach: BattleMaster Stalker Hatamato-Ku, veteran * CRK-5003-2 Katana, veteran * ON1-K Orion Thunderbolt Dragon CN9-D Centurion * PXH-3k Phoenix Hawk, veteran * Jenner Locust 1M variant Enforcer This is not a bad company by any means. Here is the Katana, an old Star League design called the Crockett which was acquired 25 years ago when ComStar gave the Dragon a bunch of mechs, mostly stripped down, in order to bolster their defense against the Davion attack soon to come. It has been renamed the Katana and they have been duplicated and are now being manufactured. This is a later Drac design with level 2 tech, including an LB 10-X, but that’s it, not even double heat sinks or endo steel. In addition to the LB 10-X, it features 2 large lasers, 2 SRM 6s and 2 small lasers. That’s a pretty spicy 3/5/3 85 ton mech. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-07-2011, 04:14 PM	#153
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	T1 – We lose init. We are fighting on rocks and rough terrain outside of the garrison. Our Rifleman IIc destroys the LA of their Jenner. Our Vulture C launches two gauss rifles at the Jenner and they destroy its RA, RT and CT. We focus a lot of weapons at their Katana and finally our Dasher hits its hip and lower leg actuator. Then our Warhammer IIc destroys its LL entirely. It falls. Meanwhile, that stupid Locust variant is sent spinning after our Gladiator destroys its RA and RT. T2 – We lose init again. Their Locust pilot tried to rise, fell and knocked itself out. Our Marauder IIc destroys their Phoenix Hawk’s LA. Our Warhammer IIc hits the AC5 ammo on their Hatamato-Ku and it goes up! We aimed at the head of their immobile Locust with the 3 large pulse lasers of our Gladiator, and one hits and tears it off. Dead mech. Their Centurion falls. Our Phoenix Hawk’s ER PPC lances into their Katana and destroys the other leg. Our Marauder IIc kicks and hits the machine ammo on their BattleMaster, and it blows up. Our Gladiator kicks and destroys the RT of their Centurion, and due to an XL engine it is destroyed. In two turns, we’ve destroyed 58% of their fighting force. Boom! They move to retreat, and we have a few mechs go ahead and blow up their garrison buildings while the rest grab salvage for the ride home. Jenner LL, RL, LT, H Hatamato-Ku RA Locust 1M, missing H, RA, RT BattleMaster LA, H, RT, RA CN9-D Centurion missing RT CRK-5003-2 Katana missing both legs The cost to our people would have been roughly 100k. To fix up the Locust (and make it a 1E) and Centurion and Katana costs 2.22 mill We head back out and will arrive back on October 2. Money: We made 350k after all costs are deducted. We also made nice surplus. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-07-2011, 05:35 PM	#154
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Rewind: April 1 – We’ve spent some money meanwhile making mechs like a Comet, Archer and BattleMaster from the spare parts we have. FedCom wants Defense Against Clans for a year. Nope. Corporation wants Cadre/Garrison Corp wants Extraction Raid. The company that wants Cadre/Garrison work is Pandora – Red Devil Industries wants us to train their own security for anti-clan techniques and to garrison their company for 6 months in that time. They are one jump from Clan space and the Falcons attacked on planet once already, so the need is great. They want a full battalion. That’s fair. We’ll send them Col. Matthew Humphries’s Star Battalion, Defender, Cinq and Brawler companies. Star Battalion, Cadre/Garrison Pandora Salvage: Full Salary: x1.3, x3.7, x1.1, x1.5 if we fight clans Support: Full Support Command: Integrated Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 6 months Transport: Full We will arrive on August 12. The Contract ends on February 12, and our group will return on June 15, 3054. After speeding through, we discover that no clans attack. Money Stuff: Our pay for 6 months is 5.367 mill. We paid our guys, for 16 months, 2.884 mill. We made some decent cash. The Extraction Raid is from the St. Ives Compact. A company there wants us to hit and take technology from the Capellan system of Madras. That’s about 6 months away, so a company sent to do that would be gone for, roughly, a year. For just one raid. No thanks. Laser Company returned. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-07-2011, 08:15 PM	#155
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	May 1 roster Kilts and Commandos Roster: Alpha Regiment: Heliades Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053 Styx Company - Return on Nov 29, 3053 Tethys Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053 Typhon Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053 Defender Company – Return on June 15, 3054 Cinq Company - Return on June 15, 3054 Brawler Company – Return on June 15, 3054 Delta Company – Trinity Company – Laser Company – Beta Regiment: Phaeton Company – Boxer Company – Rebel Company – Mustang Company – Hex Company – Raven Company – Return on Dec 10, 3053 Aleph Company – Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054 Sabre Company – Return on May 15, 3053 Bruiser Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053 Shadow Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053 Aerospace Company- Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055. Delta Company – EE, garrison, Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison, Robin Hood - Return on Oct 2, 3053 Star River - Scots Flotilla - Return on Oct 2, 3053 Serendipitous Victory - Return on Oct 2, 3053 Amalgamated Bliss – __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-07-2011, 10:58 PM	#156
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Contracts – The Magistracy of Canopus wants an Objective Raid – too far away FedCom wants Pirate Hunting – where? Issaba, waaaay too far away to care Marik wants Recon Raid – could be interesting – target? Wasat – very close by too – but the FC doesn’t like it when we do contracts against them Marik also wants an Objective Raid against the Caps. Target Aldertaine, 9 jumps away – 3.5 months-ish ComStar wants an Objective Raid against the Marik/Blake world of Bernardo. Very close too. Let’s look at the Recon Raid first Wasat has been under the control of the Federated Suns, Free Worlds League, Capellan Confederation and others like the Tikonov Free Republic and FedComs. It’s right in the middle, and thus heavily guarded. The Free Worlds League was unable get a foothold on the planet with intelligence, so they need someone to scout out the defenses. We agree to take it if they keep it on the d/l. We will be sending Aerospace Company, the Star River and Aleph Company, plus four platoons of veteran infantry from the garrison and a few tricks. Aleph Company, Aerospace Company, Star River, and Infantry Platoons Salvage: Full Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3, Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: Independent Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 3 months Transport: 100% Reimbursement 15% Bonus We arrive on Wasat on May 28 (one jump away). We begin to do recon. Wasat has three major military installations, and it has both FedCom troops and a planetary garrison. We have repainted our DropShip and mechs with the color scheme of Vinson’s Vigilantes. Might as well get them in trouble and not us. June 3 – Our infantry have mapped out several important strategic areas to bring back to our employers. New buildings, new areas to fight in and such. June 10 – We have the maps of their garrison in a city done. June 17 – All maps are done, now we need more. June 30 - After preparing, we send out our company of mechs. They are storming through an industrial center after jumping off the DropShip that had been there for days. They fire harmlessly into the ground and so forth. Meanwhile, Aerospace Company is launched from another DropShip at the same place and flies out, strafing and causing problems. We watch how quickly their fighters arrive, and count the fighters with our infantry and two Boomerang Spotter Planes – silent unmanned planes that can glide and hide from radar while also snooping and with over a have ton of surveillance equipment. Meanwhile, armor and vehicles begin to arrive on the ground, and we get to count them all. We enter our own DropShip, which is not the one we left, and load everything up and blast off very quickly. Our fighters create a screen, and then land with a DropShip that launched from another DropPort and blast off. The recon is done. We arrive in Irian, meet with our employer give them our data and collect our stuff, and repaint our mechs and head back. We should Return on Aug 1, 3053 We made 1.8 mill after salaries and such. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 12:00 AM	#157
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Let’s look at the next May contract. ComStar wants an Objective Raid on Bernardo. With such a small army, Word of Blake is stretched very thin. They just want us to land, attack the HPG station on planet, destroy the ComGuards, and leave it operational. They have just 1 company of mechs, guaranteed, and we are tasked with removing it from the Blake-ists. We decide that this is a good contract for one of our heavy hitters – Trinity Company. Trinity Company Objective Raid on Bernardo Salvage: Full Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3, Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: Independent Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 1 month Transport: 100% Reimbursement 12.5% Bonus Bernardo is two jumps away and we can be there on June 13. Meanwhile, let’s do the economics for the other contract: Marik wants us to hit Aldertaine. We can be there on Sept 2, and then hit the planet. They want a minor ore refining plant destroyed, and it shouldn’t be guarded too heavily. We are to wear the colors of Davion Mercenary unit The Blue Star Irregulars. The Caps and Marik are allies, and this is done on the Davion border in order to push the Caps closer. Sounds like a job for… Delta Company and Aerospace Company, Objective Raid on Aldertaine Salvage: Full Salary: x1.6, x3.7, x1.3, Support: Battle Loss 25% Command: Liaison Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 2 months Transport: Full I’m diverting Aerospace Company to Aldertaine. Arrive on September 2 Let’s do the Bernardo contract first. June 13 - We arrive on planet easily enough via contacts in ComStar. The HPG is in the capital, and we get out. Trinity Company hits the ground hot. This is just a smash and dash. We charge the HPG and out came the ComGuards, but ComStar’s intel was off. Instead of a company of mechs, we have a reinforced company - 16 mechs. Let’s take a look. CRK-5003-1 Crockett elite OSR-2D Ostroc elite CHP-3N Champion * (Made for Tukkayid, and taken by WoB) regular STN-3L Sentinel * veteran Wasp, green Spider, veteran UM-R63 UrbanMech * elite Firestarter, regular CRB-27 Crab * regular Orion, green Cyclops, elite HBK-5M Hunchback green PNT-8Z Panther variant, veteran ASN-23 Assassin regular BL9-KNT Black Knight * (another refit made for Tukkayid), green Goliath, elite These 16 mechs are all over the spectrum in ability level. It’s an ad-hoc unit. This is a Goliath, which each of us has. It’s a one of the few quad mechs, with 2 LRM10s, a PPC, and 2 Machine guns. It’s not a good mech. It does have a solid amount of armor, but that’s it. Now, BV wise, this is supposedly close. We are at 23746 and they 22593. However, being behind by 4 mechs is rough, and 9 have level 2 tech. This is not easy. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 01:18 PM	#158
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Now, BV wise, this is supposedly close. We are at 23746 and they 22593. However, being behind by 4 mechs is rough, and 9 have level 2 tech. This is not easy. Here we go: We are fighting on a large ferrocrete slab, with some buildings here and there. This is the map we are on: __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 01:19 PM	#159
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	T1 – We win init. There’s not much to do but charge in and hope. This wins only when we destroy their forces or we choose to retreat or if they, instead of retreating they surrendered. I need to take out a mech fast. I don’t have the devastating weaponry of the clans backing up this company, and we in a dangerous place. If I take out a chump light mech, what have I done to their force? Not much. If I spend three turns taking out something like the Orion then I will lose. I need quick kills to even things. I think the best target are those mechs with XL engines. Those are: Champion and Black Knight. I need to target them. They do 42 damage to my Zeus, and we do not kill the Black Knight. We took off more than half of its external armor and yet didn’t go internal anywhere. I also peppered a Panther a bit from my Goliath and Rifleman because they had a better LOS on it. T2 – We win init. I have an opportunity to jump my Phoenix Hawk behind their Crockett, but I’m not taking it – the mech is too well armored back there. I put it behind their Hunchy instead. Our T Bolt hits a leg actuator on their Black Knight and it falls down. Otherwise, just exchange of fir e- bad for me. This is exactly what we needed to avoid. T3 – I win init again. Their Knight tried to stand, failed, fell and destroyed its RL. Their Orion skids and falls. Spider behind the Sentinel. Our Atlas destroys the LA and RA of their Champion. Our Goliath hits the LB10-X and engine of their Urbie, so they have no real weapons left on it. With its last shot, it hits a gyro and blows off the LL of our Hatchetman. The limb is on the ground. Our Trebuchet destroys the And LT and CT of their Champion with missiles. The Thunderbolt’s missiles nail the head of their downed Black Knight and the pilot goes unconscious. T4 – We lose init. Their Orion safely rises. My Ostsol runs into their Wasp behind a building one:one and I open up with an Alpha Strike. Their Crocket takes out the CT of my Hatchetman, and others will destroys its RT and LA this turn. Our Ostsol destroys the LL of their Wasp. A kick destroys its RT and its RA is on the ground. That means it’s weaponless. T5 – We lose init. They hop their Firestarter next to my Trebuchet. The Atlas destroys the LA of their Cyclops. The Cyke’s LL hip and foot actuators are nailed by our Goliath. Our Cicada destroys the LA of their Firestarter. The Cyke falls and hits its head. They set the woods on fire my Trebuchet was sniping from. Our Ostsol kicks in the Wasp’s Ct and takes it out. Our Spider kicks and destroys the RL on their Firestarter, It falls and the pilot blacks out. This was a good turn, we are starting to get an advantage. They are out of AC20 ammo for the Hunchy. T6 – We win init. The Cyke stands and faces us. We try to hop our P Hawk u on a building behind the building their Panther is on, but the section the Hawk jumps on collapses and it falls. It destroys two jump jets. Our Spider and Cicada each hit the head of their downed ‘Starter once. The Atlas destroys the RA of their Cyclops. It’s gyro is hit by the Trebuchet. It falls and breaks its LL. The Cyclops is down because it is missing both arms and a leg and cannot move. Neither of their pilots wake up (each needs a 10) T7 – We win init. We stand our P Hawk up. They run their Hunchy behind my Atlas. I jump my Spider behind their Orion. Their Crocket hits the LRM 15 on our T Bolt. Their Panther’s Large laser nails my Atlas’s head. Their Crocket falls and hits a foot and hip. Our Atlas punches the H of the Hunchback and destroys it. Nobody wakes up. T8 – We win init. Our Atlas has about a quarter of its starting armor and is internal in four places. I run my Goliath and Rifleman up in an attempt to distract them. I run the Zeus to their Crab. Their Crockett hits an engine and destroys the RA of our Atlas. Our Ostsol destroys the Crockett’s LL. Their Orion goes internal and destroys the LRM ammo on our Atlas and it ignites and explodes. Our P Hawk destroys the LA of their Panther. Our P Hawk kicks the building out from under their Panther and it falls hard. No wake-sies. T9 – We rock init. The stand the Panther. I run the T Bolt up and turn its right side to them, since it’s barely touched. For example 20 on the RA vs 3 on the LA and 24 on the RT vs 8 on the LT. These little tricks are how you survive in clear terrain. The Zeus is out of LRM ammo. Despite, it still destroys the LT of their Crockett. Their Goliath gets a limb blown off critical on the Zeus’s LA. It’s on the ground, ready to be used. Our Ostsol kicks and destroys the Crocket’s CT. Their Panther punches out a ML on my Cicada. T10 – Init is ours again. Their Panther destroys our Spider’s LA. Our Ostscout destroys their Spider’s RT. Our Zeus’s lone long range weapon, its large laser, nails the Orion’s gyro once. Our Goliath hits the AC ammo on it and it explodes. Dead Orion. Once again, or P Hawk kicks and collapses a building their Panther is on, and it falls and brakes its RL. T11 – We win init again. It’s like we’re having two battles. One with scout mechs in the buildings and woods above the field and rest with the heavy hitters below the field. In order to force my opponent to finally attack the Goliath, I don’t move it at all. Our Ostscout kicks and destroys their Panthers CT and causes an engine explosion. The explosion does 14 to the Ostscout, 3 to our Phoenix Hawk, 3 to the Cicada, 14 to their Sentinel, it hits the Sentinel’s AC5 ammo which explodes and destroys the Sentinel, and 7 to their Spider. And the building collapses. Their Spider was on top, It falls and hits its hip and lower leg on the right one. The Black Knight and Firestarter don’t awaken. T12 – We continue to dominate initiative. We are out of AC5 ammo for the Rifleman. Our Goliath blows off the LL of their Crab. Our P Hawk hits the engine once and gyro twice of theirs. T13 – We have lost init. We hop the P Hawk and Ostscout by their downed Crab. Their Assassin destroys the LA of my Ostsol. Our Goliath hits an LRM10 on theirs. T14 – We win init. Their Goliath destroys the FLL of mine. Our Ostscout kicks and destroys the LL on their Urbie. T15 – Win again. I run my Ostsol and Cicada up to their Assassin. Their Ostroc destroys the LT of my Goliath. Our Ostsol nails the foot actuator of their Assassin and it falls and hits a leg actuator too. T16 – Who wins init? This guy! I eject the Goliath. I run our Spider up to their Goliath. Their Assassin rises. Their Goliath destroys the LT of my Cicada, Their Assassin adds a gyro hit. Our P Hawk destroys the RLL of their Goliath. The Cicada stays standing, but not their Goliath. Their Firestarter pilot actually managed to wake up. T17 – We win init. They try to stand the FS, it falls, and the pilot blacks out again. Heh. I eject the Cicada pilot. Their Goliath rises. Our Zeus hit t he hip on their Gol’s FRL. Our Ostsol blows off the LL of their Assassin. Our Ostscout gets a gyro and two engine hits on their Goliath. Their Goliath falls, destroys its RT, and then hit an engine and gyro. A kick destroys the La of their Assassin. T18 – We win again. Their Assassin tries to stand, falls, and the pilot is knocked out. The same with their Urbie. T19 – We lose init. Their Crab manages to stand finally. I hop my Spider to it. Their Ostroc hits two jump jets on my Ostscout. Our Ostsol hits their Ostroc’s foot actuator. Our Spider destroys its LA. Our T Bolt kicks and destroys its LL. Our Spider kicks their Crab, it doesn’t even go internal, but the pilot blacks out on the fall. T20 - We lose initiative. If we can take out the injured Ostroc this turn, then we win, because everybody else is knocked out. Their Ostroc tried to stand, fell, and shattered its RA. We surround it. We destroy the LT and RT and then our T Bolt takes out the CT. We’ve annihilated our enemy completely. We took out 16 mechs. Whew! __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 03:00 PM	#160
Tellistto College Prospect Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Whitman, MA	Rough battle but tactics in the end win out! Tell

10-08-2011, 03:27 PM	#161
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Firestarter, missing RL, LA Champion – H, LL, RL Wasp RA, RL, LT, LA, H Cyclops missing LL, RA, LA Black Knight missing RL, Hunchback, missing H Crockett LA, H, RL, RT, RA Spider enginex1, gyrox2, missing RT, actuators. Panther RA Sentinel RA Crab LL reattach Assassin missing LL, LA Goliath, destroys two legs,RT, enginex3, gyrox2 Urbie missing RL Ostroc H, RL Hatchetman LL, H, RA, LT, RL Atlas LA, Zeus, reattach LA Spider missing LA Ostsol missing LA Goliath missing FLL, LT, Cicada missing LT. gyrox1 Five captured Blake prisoners Experience: Sgt. Orpah Jones, in the Ostscout is now a Melee Specialist The Money Stuff: We will be spending 850k on armor alone An additional 650k on ammo To repair our Zeus, Spider, Goliath, Ostsol and Cicada will cost 3.82 mill We will spend 5.32 mill to repair and fix things For Battle Loss, we lost an Atlas and Hatchetman, minus the parts and 50% of that is 5,127,500 To fix the Firestarter, Crab, Cyclops, Urbanmech, Goliath, Assassin, Hunchback, Spider and Black Knight will cost us 5.9 mill including armor and ammo. 555k salary We have paid 566k in salary this year. Total: -3.453 mill We lost an Atlas and Hatchetman and 3 and a half million. We gained UM-63 UrbanMech, Assassin, CRB-27 Crab, Firestarter, Spider, Cyclops, HBK-5M Hunchback, Goliath, and BL9-KNT Black Knight. It was totally worth it. We purchase an ATA-2 Attila to replace their dead Atlas. The Hatchetman is replaced by their Hunchback. We are changing it to the 5N version that adds a ton of ammo at the expense of CASE and a small pulse laser being downgraded. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 08:38 PM	#163
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Now, let’s do the Delta Contract: September 5 – We arrive at Aldertaine. Sept 17 – It appears that the Marik intel is spot on, and the area is lightly guarded around the ore refining plant. With our Blue Star painted mechs, we unload and surprise everyone. This is clearly not a normal planet that sees a lot of mechs attacks. Our mechs move out, and only a few infantry squads are in the way, and we easily muscle them aside and the plant is destroyed by energy weapons. We move back out and head to our DropShip, but now, fighters are attacking. We knew this was a fighter heavy planet, so our own fighters fly out and begin to mix it up. In a few minutes, we have destroyed one of their fighters but our own Stingray is limping, so we return. We grab seats and blsat off. We will arrive back home on January 21, 3054. We made 769k We pay 1.043 mill to Delta Company through Jaunaru and AeroSpace Company to the same. Plus we spent 30k on armor after our 25% off. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 09:21 PM	#164
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Rewind: June 1 – Sabre Company returned last month. Contracts! Garrison – Fed Com Blake – Security Retainer – FedCom Objective Raid – Illium Naval Engineering on the Marik world of Ionus had discovered a spy base on the moon of a nearby system of Tongatupu, and wants us to destroy it. Most mercenaries love long term contracts, and yet we try and keep it short. Why? You saw how much money we made on the 5 year 12 company retainer with the FRR. What’s going on? The problem is lack of fighting. We got lucky with the FRR contracts, but aside from occasional pirate hunting or Drac raids, it was all quiet. If there had not been a clan invasion, how many mechs would we have captured? 12? 15? Not that many, certainly. This is the problem with a long term contract. In five months, we’ve done several raids and we’ve walked away with 12 mechs and tons of tanks. Sure, we’ve lot a couple of mechs too, but we’ve really made out. The short term deals don’t make money, but they mostly pay our costs while we gain a ton of materiel. For example, if we were to sell the 12 mechs we took, we’d make at least 60-70 million. That’s how much money we made. Making cash and converting it to mechs works, but this is faster and more fun! On the other hand, our unit is getting too large for everybody to be participating in these raids. Perhaps a retainer with the FedComs wouldn’t be a bad idea. We permanently swap Laser Company and Butler Company. We negotiate with the FedComs for Beta Regiment, retainer: Beta Regiment, Retainer Salvage: Full Salary: x1.3, x3.7, x1.3,x1.5 if we face the clans Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: House Remuneration: No, x1.05 Length: 3 years Transport: Full 10% Bonus We will travel to Fort Loudon to temporarily garrison the world after the Jade Falcons raided it and nearly destroyed a regiment of Blue Star Irregulars. We can be there on October 4, 3053. Aleph Company will join us there, and raven will be there Dec 15. This contract will end on October 4, 3056 __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-08-2011, 10:27 PM	#165
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	As of right now, every unit in Alpha and Beta Regiments is away. We have Defender, Cinq and Brawler returning in two weeks, so I look at the other contracts this month to see if any fit for one of them. We will be sending Defender Company in. Illium doesn’t mind a two week delay in order to sign Col. Matthew Humphries for a contract! Defender Company, Objective Raid on Tongatupu Salvage: Full Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.4,x1.5 if we face the clans Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: House Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 1 month Transport: Full 32.5% Bonus We will arrive at Tongatupu’s moon on Oct 20, 3053. October 20 – Right on schedule, Tongatupu’s moon is inhabited. Unlike many planets it didn’t need terraforming or anything, it’s just a habitable moon, with vast farmland and very little industry. Tongatupu is where all of the valuable industry, tourism and trading occurs, and all of the farming is done on the moon, a nice little division of labor. Because of the moon’s lower value, it has few military installations of any sort. It is fairly close to the capital world of Atreus, and a strong commercial world, so there is a good garrison force on the planet. The moon doesn’t get much at all. That makes it a good place to hide a spy base looking straight at Ionus. Now, let’s find it. We have some intel which proves incorrect, so we have to find it ourselves. Oct 31 – We found the spy post, and its under a small ridge of hills and aimed upwards. Despite the obvious military implications of the installation, there do not appear to be any troops around, which suggests this has a nefarious purpose – like scanning Ionus. Nov 3 – After three days of constant study by our mechwarriors, we believe that the installation is guarded by a mixed group of various military installations that include infantry, armor, VTOLs, hidden gun emplacements, and probably at least a lance of mechs, based on our heat signature scanning. Nov 7 – We have explored and now we are loaded up. The 13 mechs of Defender Company are churning farmland beneath them. We get close to the installation and suddenly an explosion tears up from the ground. Mines! We have to navigate mines while the defenders stat to pour out. Here is what we are facing: Trebuchet UM-60L UrbanMech variant (the one with an AC20) Locust Quickdraw Griffin 3x Saladin Assault Hover Tanks with each one rocking an Ac20 2x Scorpion Light Tank 2x Pegasus Hover Scout Tank LRM Carrier 2x Schrek PPC Carrier (each has 3x PPCs) 2x Manticore Heavy Tank 2xIS Standard Battle Armor SRM troops 4x Laser Motorized Platoon 2x Cavalry Attack Helicopter Peregrine Attack VTOL That’s one full company of tanks, five mechs, 6 platoons if infantry and 3 VTOLs – a full two companies of combined arms. There are an unknown number of mines. No turrets though, we were wrong about that. This should be fun! This is their Peregrine Attack VTOL: __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-09-2011, 12:51 AM	#166
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We are fighting in a quarry, depressed, in the earth, tons of rock and rubble and elevation. Turn 1 – We lose init. Our Hunchback hits a mine. Col. Humphires in his Daishi destroys a Saladin. He took out the right side. The BattleMaster destroys another Saladin. Our Warhammer immobilizes the third Saladin. You know what my targets were the first turn! Our Thor immobilizes a Scorpion Light Tank. T2 – We lose init again. Our Orion destroys a Scorpion’s front. Our Comet destroys the LA on their Locust. Due to damage, our Orion tumbles. Our BM punches and destroys the Locusts LT. T3 – We win init. We stand our Orion and run next to their Pegasus. It is immobilized by the Orion’s weapons. Our BattleMaster destroys a platoon of infantry. Our Warhammre destroys the RA of the Locust. Our Stalker lights up the Urbies ammo. Boom! It also kills the infantry in the same square. Two kills. Their Locust falls. The defenders fade. We destroy the spy post and grab our salvage before we go. We do hit two mines, but for minor damage. Saladin, missing RS Saladin missing LS Saladin, immobile Scorpion immobile Scorpion FS destroyed Pegasus immobile UrbanMech RA, LL We barely paid ammo and armor. We made 940k which pays to get these tanks refitted and the minor damages sustained. Defender Company return on February 26 , 3054. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-09-2011, 01:03 AM	#167
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	July 1, 3053 – Contracts Company wants security Dracs wants Assault FedCom wants Riot/Garrison FWL wants Pirate Hunting Nah July 20 – After a successful introduction of the Attila, Kressly begins developing another mech, they will call the Lineholder. August 1 – 3053 – Contracts. Trinity is back with the Star River. ComStar wants Garrison Company wants Garrison Periphery wants Security ComStar would like Extraction Raid on a Blake facility in the FWL. Target – Alphard. They want a company to grab some materiel back that was taken from them when the Blakists left. All we have to do is punch into Alphard, grab the stuff from a warehouse, and pop out. Trinity is in the Star River and we can send them both. Trinity just did a contract for ComStar, so they are happy to have them do another. We can be at Alphard on September 5. Trinity vs Blake Salvage: Full Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.2,x1.5 if we face the clans Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: Indy Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 1 month Transport: Full 10.5% Bonus Sept 3 – We get there earlier. Time to see if the ComStar intel is on. Nope. We try and find the warehouse. Sept 9 – Luckily their intel led us in the right direction to the right spot. ComStar expect a group of mechs, but there is nothing here and just shuck aside the paltry defense. We grab the material and return. On our way back, three companies of Blake mechs burst out from three different warehouses. We can’t stop and fight, there’s too many. We run as fast as possible while some mechs fire backwards with large weapons. We lay down heavy fire in order to keep them away, but they push forward. They run into the fire and keep coming. That’s what I would do too. All of our mechs get out, save the Rifleman. It’s just too slow and with too weak of armor. It is quickly legged. We can’t stay, so we lose it and the MW. -1 Rifleman and we lost Maeve Vega. We replace it with an Archer from our garrison. We promote the elite MW that graduated to her spot. Say hello to Raphael Stevens. Money: We make 516k. We spend 60k on ammo and armor. Our battle loss is half a Rifleman. 2,430,000 We “made” 2.5 mill after costs. We get back on October 12. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-09-2011, 01:21 AM	#168
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Kilts and Commandos Roster: Alpha Regiment: Heliades Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053 Styx Company - Return on Nov 29, 3053 Tethys Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053 Typhon Company – Return on Nov 29, 3053 Defender Company – Return on February 26 , 3054 Cinq Company - Brawler Company – Delta Company – Return on Jan 21, 3054 Trinity Company – Return on October 12, 3053 Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054 Beta Regiment: Phaeton Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Boxer Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Rebel Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Mustang Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Hex Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Raven Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Aleph Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Laser Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Sabre Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Bruiser Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053 Shadow Company – Return on Oct 2, 3053 Aerospace Company- Return on Jan 21, 3054 Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055. Delta Company – EE, garrison, Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison, Robin Hood - Return on Oct 2, 3053 Star River - Return on October 12, 3953 Scots Flotilla - Return on Oct 2, 3053 Serendipitous Victory - Return on Oct 2, 3053 Amalgamated Bliss – __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-09-2011, 03:04 AM	#169
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Aug 12 – A lot of IS weapons research has gone in several areas. The Clan tech has helped speed up some research. Motivated by a powerful juggernaut of an enemy, the IS researchers will spend the next 20 years developing new technology. The major area of early research is on variable payloads for missile systems. Clan systems are much better than IS ones, so you counter that by having improved warheads. Some of it will really work, and some will not be that successful. Warheads with acid, upgraded electronic systems, smaller cockpits, and more. All of this experimental and new IS-only technology will generally be referred to in this dynasty as level 2.5 tech. In BT it is referred to as level 3 rules. We will be calling them Level 2.5 technology and integrating them into the campaign. Recently, a prototype BattleMech was tearing through Solaris VII arenas, and it features a torso-mounted cockpit, and several other new technologies, but these mechs were destroyed in Solaris City and taken back to the NAIS. September 1 – Contracts: FedCom wants a Garrison Dracs wants a security Rasalhague would like Cadre/Garrison St. Ives for garrison Boring. October 1 – Bruiser, Shadow and many ships are back tomorrow. Shadow will stay for a while, Braham has some work to do on Outreach for a few months recruiting. We’ve got a lot of tanks sitting openand he wants to recruit crew. What contracts are out there? Garrison for FWL, O Raid for FWL – target is in periphery, Capellan wants Recon Raid. Interesting –target? Yunnah. Nice. Ted decides to get out and stretch his legs by jumping in and taking over this assignment. He takes a surprise. Yunnah is sparsely populated, really just used for holidays and as a repair center for machine and man alike. It’s also a place for spiritual retreats. The Caps want us to recon out the system, to see what defenses they have – similar to what we did for the FWL a bit ago. Brawler Company, Recon Raid Salvage: Shared Salary: x1.6, x3.4, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans Support: Battle Loss 30% Command: Liaison Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 1 month Transport: Full We will arrive on December 24. Dec 24 – We have arrived with four platoons of infantry and some other spoilers. This planet has very little to guard save the repair facilities. It is on the border with the Caps being one jump away, so there are some important strategic reasons to keep it safe. Dec 30 – After plugging around, we realize that there is just one Davion military base on planet. It’s right adjacent to the repair facilities. Ted’s Exterminator is moving about at night, getting good telemetries on the Davions. Jan 5 – We have gotten all of the info we need. We have a count of the vehicles that have come out for garrison duty, and the same with mechs and infantry. The scanners in Ted’s mech have worked wonders and it’s been as quiet as a pen dropping in utter space. Jan 9 – We blast off without any issues at all. We return on March 2, 3054 We made 100k on it. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-09-2011, 04:06 AM	#170
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Rewind: November 1, 3053 – Contracts – Company wants Security Marik wants Pirate Hunting ComStar wants Security Marik wants garrison Not interested – pirate hunting is way too far away. It’s lucrative salvage but too far away. December 1 – Myth Battalion is back. Marik wants Objective Raid FedCom wants Riot Duty ComStar wants Objective ComStar wants us to do exactly what we did before, launch a company into Marik space and land on a Blake world and destroy the HPG garrison there completely. Sounds like a job for my clan mechs in Bruser Company. Bruiser Company and Amalgamated Bliss Salvage: Shared Salary: x1.6, x4, x1.3, x1.5 if we face the clans Support: Battle Loss 50% Command: Indy Remuneration: Yes, x1.05 Length: 1 month Transport: Full 37.5% Bonus We can arrive at their target, Abadan, by Feb 1, 3054. Feb 2, 3054 – The major industry here is ordinance made for infantry. Rifles, pistols, grenades, hand held lasers, and more are all made here. The HPG station is actually in the civic center of government rather than by the industries. It’s more lightly defended by Marik. Feb 4 – After scouting around, we see no major Marik defenders here, just the Blake ones. We move out and hit Blake hard. Here is their company: BMB-12D Bombardier * regular AWS-9M Awesome * veteran WSP-1S Wasp * elite SPR-5F Spector elite BJ-2 Blackjack green STN-3L Sentinel * veteran ST-8A Shootist * elite Rifleman, regular Longbow, green CTF-1X Cataphract, veteran Shadow Hawk, elite WVR-6M Wolverine, regular This is their Spector. It’s an old star league era 35 ton mech, but Norse BattleMechs has introduced a new version that lacks the stealth armor of the Spector. This is that Norse version. It has a Guardian ECM, large laser, 2 mediums, 1 small, and 7/11/7 movement with an XL engine, 11/22 heat and 7.5 tons of armor. Even through max armor and mega fast speed, that XL engine is a pretty target. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-09-2011, 04:34 AM	#171
CrimsonFox Head Coach Join Date: Dec 2009	But where are the hordes of Wasps and Fleas all critting at the same time!

10-09-2011, 12:01 PM	#172
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Alons-y 1. We win init. Our Rifleman II c hits the head with a large pulse laser and nails both the life support and sensors. Our Vulture C launches a gauss bullet right into the H of their Bombardier and it falls. Their Shootist destroys the LT of our Phoenix Hawk. It shuts down from engine damage. If that had missed, our Warhammer IIcs ERPPC hit the head too and would have destroyed it. Their Awesome falls. 2. We win again. A gauss from our Atlas heads their Awesome. I focused a lot of fire on it, and I suspect it will get more destroyed. Eventually its RT and RL are also destroyed. Their Sentinel tumbles. 3. We lose init. Their BJ falls. I run our Dragonfly up to it. Our Atlas destroys the LT of their Wasp and our Rifleman IIc follows by blowing off its CT. For the third consecutive turn, a gauss ot the head kills a mech – the Shadow hawk by our Highlander IIc. Again, I was targeting it heavily, let’s see what else was destroyed – RL, LL, RA, LT. Our Dasher destroys the LA of a Sentinel. The Peregrine was savaged by their Shootist. Our Dragonfly kicks and destroys the RA of their BJ. 4. We win init again yay. I eject the Peregrine. The Warhmamer IIc ignites the LRM ammo in the Longbow and it explodes. We hit some weapons too, like the Cataphract’s ML and AC10. Their Sentinel opens up our Atlas’s CT and nails the engine once. Our Atlas kicks and destroys the LL and LT of their Sentinel. Our Warhammer IIc punches with the arm he didn’t fire with and goes internal, destroys the RT of their Cataphract. 5. We win. Their BJ tries to escape us by jumping on top of a nearby roof, the building collapses, and it falls and destroys its CT which causes an engine explosion and destroys more buildings and showers mechs with rubble and energy. Our Gladiator rolls a 2 and skids on pavement and falls. Their Spector’s RA was apparently sheared off in the explosion and its on he ground. Shootist LA destroys by Atlas. Rifleman IIC adds the LT. Our downed Gladiator adds an engine hit. We blow up most of the buildings with our Marauder and Vulture. Our Warhammer unloaded on their Cataphract and it falls, as does our Atlas. Our Warhammer IIc destroys the LL of their Wolverine. 6. We win init. With a pretty damage Atlas, I eject the pilot. I stand the Gladiator and use MASC to run away. Our Rifleman IIc hops next to their Spector. In fact, I just base a lot of their mechs. I expect this turn just to blow them away. Our Vulture destroys the LA of their Rifleman. The LT of their Cataphract is destroys by our clan-made Warhammer. Their Rifleman falls and destroys its LL. Our Highlander IIc kicks and destroys the RA, RT and CT of their Sentinel. The Marauder IIc’s foot blows through the LT of their Wolverine. The Gladiator destroys the RT of their Rifleman. We punch the head of their Spector and their pilot blacks out and the mech falls. We also punches and destroyed its LA. Since their Shootist was hiding in a building, our Vulture kicked the building down, and the falling debris hits the ammo and explodes the Shootist’s torso (CASE) and the pilot blacks out. With no mechs on the ground, and all of the remaining ones well past the sell-bay date, they surrender if we’ll let the warriors go and take those blacked out. We agree and take their machines. Such as they are. (In real life BattleTech, these would have ejected. A Wolverine is missing its entire left side. The Rifleman is missing both arms and a torso. The Cat is missing both torsos and arms. People would want to keep material intact – life is cheap, mechs aren’t). __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 10-09-2011 at 12:02 PM.

10-09-2011, 02:58 PM	#173
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Bombardier, missing H AWS-9M Awesome, missing H, RT, RL Wasp RT, RA, LA, LL, RL, H Shadow Hawk missing H, Rl, LL, RA, LT Longbow RA, LA Sentinel LA, H, RL Cataphract RA, LA Spector missing LA Wolverine missing LT and LL Rifleman missing RT, LL, LA Shootist missing LT, RT, RA Cataphract – missing RT, LT Phoenix Hawk missing LT Atlas with engine hit, other minor things like actuators and AMS. It takes 350k for armor and 160k for ammo. To fix, just 2.56 mill is needed. To get their stuff up and running will cost – 11.58 mill. We happily spend it. Money Schtuff: We only made a bit more than 600k We will return on Apr 30, 3054 __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 01:22 AM	#174
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Rewind: Dec 18 – We honor the Fall of Andurien Dec 31 – By the end of the year, many things have been introduced – old mechs like the Spector and new ones like the Daimyo and Bushwacker. We also see things like new battle armor – the Komodo Assault Battle Armor and the Blue Shield Particle Field Dampener shields for mechs are finished in development. Essex Training Academy We have 6 graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 15 enrollees for next year. Of these 6, 2 choose not to stay with us, and the remaining 4 have 2 vet, 1 regular and 1 elite. Year 4 - 12 Year 3 - 13 Year 2- 11 Year 1 – 15 We pay 10 million to the upkeep of the Academy and HQ. This chapter has now done four years, and includes a lot. Let’s do something a little different for a bit. End of Part 3 of The Invasion __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 10-10-2011 at 01:23 AM.

10-10-2011, 01:23 AM	#175
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Kilts and Commandos Roster: Alpha Regiment: Heliades Company Styx Company - Tethys Company – Typhon Company – Defender Company – Return on February 26 , 3054 Cinq Company - Brawler Company – Return on March 2, 3054 Delta Company – Return on Jan 21, 3054 Trinity Company – Butler Company – Return on Jan 5, 3054 Beta Regiment: Phaeton Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Boxer Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Rebel Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Mustang Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Hex Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Raven Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Aleph Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Laser Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Sabre Company – Fort Loudon, end Oct 4, 3056 Bruiser Company – Return on April 30, 3054 Shadow Company – Aerospace Company- Return on Jan 21, 3054 Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison complete on October 15, 3055. Delta Company – EE, garrison, Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison, Robin Hood - Star River - Scots Flotilla – Serendipitous Victory - Amalgamated Bliss – Return on Apr 30, 3054 __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 02:09 AM	#176
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	I want to rewind a bit and do Beta Regiment’s contract, through October 4, 3056. This will not involve what is going on in the IS, and instead will just look at Beta Regiment in the FedCom Retainer contract. I expect this will be the final chapter of The Invasion, and then we’ll move to the next chapter. Oct 4, 3053 – We start our contract on Fort Loudon, a fairly industrialized planet with large herd animals native to the place called Enyx that are used for meat and leather. They are about the size of a wooly mammoth but look more like antelopes. January 25, 3054 – After learning of us on Fort Loudon, a Jade Falcon JumpShip has arrived in the system and arrived. We beat the Jaguars, Vipers, Bears and Wolves. They want to test their mettle against us. They are happy to do the smaller battles we’ve done before. They can’t war for the planet, so they just want our CO as a bondsman if they win. We ask for their best warrior if we win, and they agree. The Jade Falcons Uller Prime Uller D Loki Prime Loki A Loki B Thor Prime Thor A Black Lanner Prime Masakari Prime Hunchback IIc The Jade Falcons really love their heavy mechs. They aren’t super big fans of the too heavy to move assault mechs and the too light to have good weapons and armor lights and mediums. They have two lights to keep it respectable and two mediums to do the same and assault to keep you guessing and then heavies a go go. Their pilots are all clan elite This is their Black Lanner OmniMech. It’s pretty exclusive to Jade Falcon, and they used them at Tukkayid to great effect. It’s a 55 tonner with 7/11 movements plus MASC so 7/11-14 movement. Add 8 tons of ferro armor and you’ve got a decent mech. The Prime version rocks an LRM 10, SRM 6, ER large laser, 2x er medium lasers and an ECM. We are using Mustang Company. As a reminder, here it is: CTF-3L Cataphract STC-2S Striker AWS-8Q Awesome CP-11-A Cyclops WHM-6K Warhammer STK-3F Stalker MAD-Marauder RFL-5M Rifleman FS9-M Firestarter JR7-F Jenner CMT Comet COM-2D Commando The scout lance is a bit light for my tastes these days. But there are no medium mechs here – its all heavy metal after the scout lance. It’s 10 elites and 2 vets. The Rifleman, Cataphract and Cyclops are all level 2 mechs. Their Bv is 44k, and ours is 36k. This will be tough, __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 10:58 AM	#177
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We are fighting on a fairly open dry area, with roughs, modest hills and minor trees. T1 - We lose init, We focus our fire on both of their Ullers. Our Stalker strips both arms off their Uller D. Our Rifleman nails the Ra of their other Uller. Our Cat destroys the LT of their D. Their Prime is headed by a gauss slug from our Cyclops and falls dead. I’m really pissed both our Commando and Marauder fell under damage. Both needed 4 on 2d6 to stay standing. Grrr. Our Warhammer lost about half of its armor. But, we took out two mechs, even light ones. We’ve got heavy armor. If I trade a Warhammer next turn for two Ullers this turn and whatever I damage next one, I’ll be happy. T2 – We lose again. The remaining Kit Fox is weaponless, and thus the pilot ejects. I stand my Marauder and run with it. I am going to sacrificial bunt my Warhammer. I will hold it steady will I move everybody else. Normally I’d make another target, but I couldn’t move my Marauder much and it’s the light target, but it has much better armor than the Warhammer right now, so the ‘hammer is the choice. My goal this turn is to blow out the Loki Prime. Our Warhammer destroys the RA and RT of their Loki Prime. They blow off its LA and LT. They also destroy our Commando’s RT and hit its gyro and engine once each and it falls. So no one killed anything. T3 – We win init this time. I eject the Commando. I eject the Warhammer too. It took the attack like I needed, and it actually survived. Amazing. Our Stalker destroys the CT section of the Loki Prime. They split targets among my other mechs, but I begin blasting armor off the Masakari. T4 – We win init. I run my Awesome up by a Loki B. Our Stalker hits two engines on their Loki A. My Awesome takes three AC20 shots from a Hunchback IIc. They destroy the LT of my Marauder and the LA of my Cataphract. T5 - We win init. We have to shift targets back to their Masakari after they make their moves. Our Awesome destroys its RA and our Cyclops its Left one. Our Marauder destroys its targeting computer. The Awesome is now bereft of its RA and RT and falls. T6 – We win again. With no weapons, their Masakari ejects (nothing is left but physical attacks, yet we have not physically attacked them, so their rules of engagement prevent a mech from losing all weapons from a physical engagement.) Since it’s overheated and I can’t move it, I eject the Awesome. Our Cyclops destroys the RA of a Loki A. An LB 10-X from their Thor hits my Cataphract and two shells hit the H and Lt Gabriel Williams passes out. Our Stalker nails a Loki B’s engine once. Our Marauder, damaged and wounded, still manages to destroy the engine on their Loki A and it shuts down. Their Loki B falls and destroys two more engine sections and it is gone too. Our Rifleman destroys the LL of their Loki B on the way down. However, their Black Lanner destroys the LT of our Cataphract, and it shuts down (XL Engine). Our Striker fell. Both Lt. Williams in the Cataphract and Sgt. Dragomir Osmochescu in the Warhammer are out, so Sgt. Nombeko Prismall, in the Firestarter moves in and takes command. T7 – With four mechs left, including a Hunchy with no ammo, we offer them hegira, and they accept. We tell them that they were much stronger than some of the clans we fought, and they tell us that they, begrudgingly, respect despite, because we never broke zellbrigen, we used batchall honorably, and we fought with honor, such as when the Warhammer sacrificed his own mech for our unit. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 04:23 PM	#178
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We gained a bondsman, their best MW pilot. Meet Connor Ward, elite, 1/1, Edge:3. Uller Prime missing H, RA Uller D missing RA, LA Loki Prime LA, LT, H, LL, RL Masakari missing RA, LA Loki A, enginex3 Loki B enginex3, missing LL Warhammer, missing LA, LT Commando missing RT, enginex1, gyrox1 Marauder missing LT Cataphract missing LA, LT We were unable to fix the Commando gyro and have to replace it. I have to pay 4.87 for everything – armor, ammo and pieces for wounded mechs. With a 50% battle loss, we pay half. We also get a huge bonus contract wise because the Falcons came at us. Just like before in the FRR, Aleph Company still has all of our spare clan parts. Let’s look: Uller Prime – we had both a H and a RA in our stock and this is up and running Loki A – we fixed the engine Loki B – LL from the one killed, we fix engine Masakari A – We move the H and a T to a chassis we have in storage to get it up and running. This will take 6 weeks to perform. Clan Tech: ER PPC 3x ER ML Beagle ECM Targeting Computer (for 2x ERPPC, 3x ERML, 1xMG) 4x A-Pods Anti-Missile System __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 05:59 PM	#179
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	March 10 – Someone lands to raid a nearby logging company with tanks. We are tasked with defending the world, and commander tells us to send someone out to stop them. Within five minutes we have Rebel Company in the air (we have one company in a DropShip at all times for a fast response). Despite that, we are too far away and they have destroyed a few LoggerMechs and taken something from a warehouse. The armor has disappeared and several attempts to find them with local fighters and our mechs are unsuccessful. June 28 – A Clan JumpShip arrives in the system July 4 – The JumpShip has left August 13 – Another raid against the logging company is occurring, but this time, we are waiting for the tanks. The armor is racing towards the company, and suddenly, Hex Company pops up a pair of klicks away from the company and before they arrive. They are too close to run away, so battle is joined. As a reminder, here is Hex Company: BLR-1G BattleMaster DRG-1G Grand Dragon VND-1R Vindicator KTO-18 Kintaro ON1-K Orion BNC-3E Banshee WTH-1 Whitworth ENF-4R Enforcer SDR-5V Spider PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk THE-S Thorn COM-2D Commando This is a bit light for a lot of work, but good for here – 3 lights, 5 mediums, 2 heavy, 2 assault. This probably needs better balance. It also needs a Javelin 10F. It’s hard to have a scout lance that doesn’t rock one. I generally prefer a 3:1 or 4:0 ration of jumpers to non-jumpers in scout lances, and this is on 2:2 and the Thorn is not a good mech, I’m surprised I still have it here. I want to evolve this soon. Fighting these guys should be okay, but I don’t want this unit to run into clans. This is our Enforcer. It’s a FedCom standard mech that weighs 50 tons, and has two big weapons – a large laser and AC10. It has a small laser as a backup weapon and 4/6/4 movement with 9 tons of armor- pretty close to max for a 50 ton mech. It has 12 heat sinks. Our foes: 4x Savannah Master 3x J Edgar Hover tank 2x Harasser Missile Platform, both veteran 4x Pegasus Hover Scout 4x Maxim Heavy Hover Transport 4x IS Standard Battle Armor SRM troopers, all veteran The troopers are each on a Maxim. This is a very fast unit, and it’s clear why they were able to strike quickly before. The Logging Camp is near a small inland lake and thus we are fighting near a wooded coast. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 06:10 PM	#180
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	We are on the north and they the south __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 07:16 PM	#181
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	T1 – We win the init. Their infantry hops off the transports to move into some woods. Smart. They are speeding their Savannah Masters across the water and up to my Thorn. They only have two skids, but one results in a Harasser Missile Platform going right off the field and it escapes. A J Edgar slides into the woods and breaks its hover movement system. A Maxim’s LRM5 nails the H of our Vindicator. Our Grand Dragon immobilizes a Maxim. Our Whitworth destroys the LS of a Savannah Master. Our Thorn kicks and destroys a Savannah master’s LS. A Banshee kick on a Maxim stuns the crew for a turn. A Spider kick immobilizes a Pegasus. J Edgar immobile Maxim Heavy immobile Savannah Master LS Savannah Master LS Pegasus immobile Their infantry grabs handhold and they dart off, and leave. They are too fast to catch up too and they darted over water anyway, so we can’t catch up to them, but we can spend just 750k to get these up and running. Good job Hex. I replace its Thorn with a Comet. That’s better. It’s still too light, but we’ll worry about that later. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-10-2011, 10:36 PM	#182
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Dec 23 – We have been approved for a raid on the Viper world of Jabuka. Jabuka is the closest clan held world to Terra. It has the best Vipers available, and we are asked with hitting it just to remind them we can. We are to chose a company to head out to face the Vipers. Our finalists are Phaeton, Mustang and Sabre Phaeton is not as light as you think, with just a Panther and Javelin 10N as a light mechs. It also has a ton of mediums and heavies – Phoenix Hawk, Vindicator, Hermes II, Griffin, Warhammer, Catapult, Rifleman and Thunderbolt. Just two assaults – Atlas and Awesome. 7 elite, 4 vet and one regular. The heavies are solid, and the assaults are great, but I just don’t know if this company brings enough heat. Mustang is mostly elite and has some heavy metal. We just used them against the Falcons. However, I’m leaning Sabre. This is exactly what companies like Sabre were created for. Sabre loads up. We also take all of the chassis that we’ve captured. Jan 15 – Sabre arrives at Jabuka and issues a batchall to the Steel Vipers. The goal is just to hit them, so we demand that Viper fix up all of the chasses that we’ve captured but couldn’t get running. That’s a lot of mechs for us, but not that much for them other than work and some spare parts. They agree, but they want us to turn over all of the captured chassis if we lose. That seems fair, so let’s do it. As a reminder, here is Sabre: ATA-2 Attila, Grizzly, BLR-3M BattleMaster, Ryoken C Supernova, Galahad, Vulture Prime, HTM-27T Hatamato-Chi Shadow Hawk IIc, Dasher D, JVN-10F Javelin, PXH-3k Phoenix Hawk Steel Viper’s units: Fenris B Uller Prime Black Hawk Prime Battle Cobra Prime Daishi A Man O war B Vulture C Loki A Loki D-Uk (with Ultra AC5, ER Large Laser, 4x medium pulses, 1 er small laser) Crossbow Prime This is their Battle Cobra Omni, a Viper exclusive that weighs 40 tons, has 6/9 movement, does not have an XL engine, 10/20 heat sinks and 6.5 tons of ferro fib armor. Their prime has 2 large pulse lasers and 2 small pulses. I really like the design and the Alternate Config B replaces the LPLs with ER PPCs for massive firepower (but bad heat). This is actually my favorite variant of the BC. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent Last edited by Abe Sargent : 10-10-2011 at 10:37 PM.

10-11-2011, 02:58 AM	#183
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	The BV is virtually identical. They are ahead by 32. They know our reputation for using terrain to our advantage (see videos of our victory over the Falcons) so they have chosen a flat plain, with a gentle slope. T1 – We lose init. Their Daishi hits and destroys the RT of my Javelin and hits the engine once. Our BattleMaster destroys the LT of their Uller. Our Dasher hits its engine twice and it shuts down. Our Grizzly hits the gyro on their Crossbow and destroys its RA. Our Hatamato-Chi hits a gyro on their Loki A. Their Loki and Crossbow fall, as does our Jav. Their Crossbow hits an engine and gyro. Dead Crossbow. Our Attila lost more than half of its armor. When someone falls and kills themselves, I usually assign the kill to the obvious one. The Crossbow was destroyed due to two gyro hits, the first was the Grizzly and the second was terra firma. Thus, the Grizzly is given the kill. This doesn’t always work – if a mech was hit by five opponents, fell due to damage taken, and breaks its head wide open and destroys its own cockpit, I can’t assign a kill to just one, but when I can, I do. Two mechs out in one turn - Beauty! T2 – We win init. I eject our poor 13 overheat Jav. My Scout Lance Shield worked again. Remind me some time to talk about my various strategies for victory. I hop our Phoenix Hawk behind their Loki. Their Fenris nails the H of my PXH with a er medium laser. Our Shadow Hawk IIc hits it in the H with an SRM2 Streak and then a glancing blow from a ER LL from the PXH on the H too. Our Ryoken destroys the RL of their Fenris. A medium pulse laser from their Loki to our Galahad’s H means lots of people are being scared by H hits this round. Both our Shadow Hawk IIc and Galahad tumble. T3 – We lose init. I rise the Galahad. Their Loki A falls. Our Dasher’s lasers seek and find the AC5 ammo on their Loki and It explodes, destroyed RT. Their pilot blacks outs. Our BM’s RA is destroyed by fire from their Daishi. Their Gladiator nails our Galahad, opens up the CT and hits the gyro twice. Dead Galahad. Our LB 10-X from the Ryoken destroys the other Fenris leg, it’s LL. It’s now legless and destroyed. T4 – We lose init. I run the Dasher by their Daishi. Our Attila nails the H of their Daishi with an ER PPC and goes internal but comes away with nothing. Their Daishi is equally blessed, as its gauss nails the H of our Hatamato-Chi and kills the MW. Before he dies, he nails the engine once and head once of their Loki A. Our Dasher goes internal on the rear left torso armor and hits ammo, boom! No more LT or LA. The pilot takes feedback damage and blacks out. Our Grizzly this its Ct and this the engine twice and it shuts down. Our Supernova destroys the LA of their Loki A. It responds by nailing na engine one and MPL on our Ryoken T5 – We win init. We have 9 mechs to their 5. Our BattleMaster and Attila have had some serious external armor scoured from them, but that’s it. Their Loki A has lost its best weapons. The Black Hawk and Gladiator are untouched. The lighter Battle Cobra is dusted and internal in a torso. The Vulture C is scoured of armor too. It’s clear that we are in front. I expect to end the Loki A or Battle Cobra this turn, and perhaps both. The best they can hope for is to finish off a BattleMaster or Attila. I offer them hegira, but they want to continue for now. So let’s keep going. Our BM hits an engine on their Vulture. Our Shadow Hawk IIc takes out its LL. Their Loki hits another engine on our Ryoken. The RT of their Battle Cobra falls to ER Large Lasers from the Supernova. Our Vulture destroys the LT of their Loki A which is an engine overload, and then two more engine hits. Our PXH blows up the LT of their Vulture. Now they accept hegira. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-11-2011, 03:17 AM	#184
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	Loki D-Uk missing RT, Uller Prime missing LT, enginex4 Crossbow missing RA, gyrox2, enginex1 Fenris B missing both legs. Daishi A missing LT, enginex4, Battle Cobra Prime RA Loki A, enginex5, missing LT, LA Vulture C LA Jav missing RT, enginex1, BattleMaster RA Galahad gyrox2 Hatamato-Chi missing H Ryoken enginx2 We captured the Loki pilot, bondsman, and Daishi pilot: Stacy, 1/2, elite Foster, 1/2, elite It costs us 3.025 to fix and replace everything. 1,512,500 post contract These guys are not part of our agreement with the Vipers. They are not fixed, but every chassis we brought with us is fixed. It takes about a month, but at the end, we have some pristine mechs. Most of Sabre are ex-clan so they are not unaccustomed to life with the Vipers for a month. Stacy will replace our dead pilot and pilot a Rifleman IIc. We send the Hatamato-Chi back to our garrison. Foster is given a Masakari Prime, and we’re sending him to bolster Aleph Company. Besides those two, we got: 4x Vultures, 2x Galahad, 2xMad Cats, Kodiak, Peregrine, Marauder IIc, 2x Pumas, Uller, Fenris, Ryoken, Thor and Man o’ War It’s a lot for me, but it’s not a lot for the Vipers, who just gave us some tech time and spare parts. It would be like a level one tech challenging us for the right to give them a few boxes and crates of level 2 tech weapons and parts, plus the tech time to fix their mechs. It’s not much for us, but huge to them. The same is true here. We’re happy, because we added 20 clan mechs to our rolls. But we already had these chassis and such. We also manage to get their Loki A up and running after refitting Loki limbs from our spares. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-11-2011, 01:35 PM	#185
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	July 5 – We get news that the planet has undergone some serious internal dissatisfaction with the local rule and an uprising has begun on planet. We do not have a contract with the local government, but with the Federated Commonwealth. We are ordered to keep the peace but not to attack the citizens. We begin doing riot duty on the planet. A few mechs out at a time help to keep order by showing force. Some infantry have been attacked by citizens, but our job is not to intervene on one side or another, but to do our best to keep peace. July 7 – Both sides are becoming increasingly hostile to us. The government feels that we should be getting involved on their side despite our FedCom commanders clear instruction not to. Meanwhile, the upset members of the populace just see us as the military arm of the government that props up the local government. July 10 – Some small arms fire opened up on the citizens near our main base on planet by the government. They were not violent, but just protesting peacefully. 23 people were killed. This is getting ugly July 17 – After a week of lower violence as an homage to what many are called the July Massacre, violence begins again. July 18 – Tonight, a police headquarters was destroyed by several rogue industrial mechs that moved it and destroyed it. We get cries from the government to take out their mechs, but our commanders still tell us to decline. We are not to escalate – and attacking and destroying industrial mechs is escalating. July 21 – Today, a full fledged riot has engulfed the city. Stores are being broken into, people are turning over vehicles, and more. The local police are simply not enough to handle the situation. We have been ordered in to clear things up. Rebel Company is already on patrol and they move into the city and round up people. We are painted as the villain by the rebels. July 28 – After another week of riot control, we notice a blip on the screen. Suddenly, a large number of industrial mechs from their herding have appeared, and they are destroying the town, they’ve already destroyed a few buildings. We are ordered to go out and end their threat. Boxer Company is on patrol and ordered in. Boxer Company: BLR-3M BattleMaster WHM-6D Warhammer TDR-5S Thunderbolt ZEU-6T Zeus ARC-2R Archer RLF-3N Rifleman GRF-1N Griffin CLPT-C1 Catapult PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk CMT-1 Comet JVN-10F Javelin HER-2M Hermes II Here are our foes 15x CattleMaster This is the CattleMaster: CattleMasters are made for herding. They are a 25 ton mech with 4/6 movement, just 1 heat sink, an ICE engine, and industrial armor. It has three machine guns and two small lasers. It also has a cargo bay inside the torso. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent

10-11-2011, 04:23 PM	#186
Abe Sargent Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Catonsville, MD	With its weapons, these folks have delusions of grandeur, and it’s our responsibility to fix that. T1 – We lose init. Our BattleMaster destroys their one CattleMaster’s RA. Our Warhammer hits the ammo on one and it blows up. Boom! The Zeus destroys the RA of another. Our Catapults gets a limb blown off critical on one LA. Two of them fall. T2 – We win init. The H of a Cattlemaster is destroyed by our BattleMaster. Our Warhammer takes out another LT - our T Bolt blows up a RA, the Zeus gets a triple engine hit on one – Archer – La, Rifleman RA, Catapult LT, PXH blows off a RL, our Comet hits the gyro twice and engine once on one and knocks it out – Jav – RA, two CMs fall and explode. With that, they flee CattleMaster LL, LAx3, RL RA, Hx2, RT CattleMaster missing H CattleMaster enginex3, missing RA CattleMaster, enginex1, gyrox2 We fix the engines and gyros. We use a H and RA to fix the broken one sand we have three CattleMasters and parts. We sell the remaining parts for 200k. A full blown CM costs 850k roughly. Experience: Warhammer pilot Sekhar Mamidi is getting Edge: 1 After we easily handle the mechs in the riot, things start to calm down a bit. __________________ Check out my two current weekly Magic columns! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/?action=search&page=1&author[]=Abe%20Sargent