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

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go:

T1 – I lose init. Each force grabs a copse of woods to hide in. This is a campaign, so losses like arms and legs being zarked have a major impact. Ammo and armor is in stores, but not a bunch of extra legs and such. We focus our fire on their Ryoken. Our Awesome hits the engine on their Ryoken after cracking its CT.

T2 – We lose again. Our Crusader hits the Ryoken’s gyro. Our Wasp nails the CT and hits the engine twice more and takes out the engine. Our BattleMaster sheared off the LL of their Loki. Their Thor’ hits a gyro and engine on my Warhammer. Their Loki falls and hits its engine, but our Warhammer doesn’t.

T3 – We win init. I went overheat with some of my mechs, expecting an alpha strike, but only the Warhammer is damaged with anything of concern to me. I can pull out now, and we took out one mech and legged another, but in a few days, the engine damage is healed. Let’s push and see what happens. Their Loki tried to stand but failed. I pull my Warhammer back behind some heavy woods, since I can’t risk ejecting. Our Dragon hits ammo on the RT of their Loki, and that’s a RT gone and a RA on the ground. Their pilot blacks out. They hit the PPC on our Banshee. That’s two mechs we’ve destroyed, essentially, since the Loki won’t be able to move away from here and the pilot is blocked out anyway. Let’s keep pushing.

T4 – We win init. We focus fire on their Masakari. A lot of head hits this round. Magnus’s ER Medium Laser from his Dragonfly nails the Masakari in the head. A group of LRMs nail our Catapult in the head. Their Vulture nails the Cat for a LRM15. Our Cat responds by launching LRMs at their Masakari – boom head. Dead Masakari after the head is destroyed. A second hit through a lot of woods on my Warhammer staggers it with a hip hit. In combination with the gyro hit, it falls, as does our Cat. Their pilot does not wake up (they need a 10 to do so).

T5 – We lose init. With kills of a Masakari, Ryoken and essentially a Loki, we essentially have momentum. On the other hand, they are internal in lots of places. If they leave, they are giving us a Masakari, Ryoken and Loki in salvage. Losing a Masakari is a big deal, but they still have triple Vultures, and a Gladiator and Man o War in the assault range. Here is my situation:

Awesome – Internal in two places, PPC hit, has 68 points of armor left on the front.
Banshee - Has lost at least 5 ton of armor
Warhammer – Savaged
Catapult – Savaged

Now, that’s it. I could spend a few turns making it hard for my foe to take these guys out while my Crusader, BattleMaster and more tear through another couple of clan mechs, but this is still far from over. I hate to leave salvage behind, but I have to.

[Abe Sargent]

We fade. It should take them two-three days to fix the Ryoken’s engine and another day or two for the gyro and then half a day for the armor.


We won and killed an elite leader and his mech plus and the Loki is unfixable.


That night, we recuperate. It will take two days to repair our mechs with all of our techs working on them.

The following day, we move out, and we create another ad hoc scout company from the scout lances from Phaeton, Trinity and Mustang companies. If we run into trouble we want speedy backup. While jumping and running through a thick area, the Bears spring a surprise on us. Out from cover burst the first of ten squads of elementals. Battle has begun.

Our scouts:

FS9-M Firestarter JR7-F Jenner CMT Comet COM-2D Commando
JVN-10N Javelin VND-3L Vindicator PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk HER-2S Hermes II
OTT-7J Ostscout PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk SDR-5V Spider CDA-2A Cicada

This is their Elemental Power Armor. It comes with ten points of armor, an ER small laser in one hand, a powerful gripping claw in another and two shots of SRM missiles.

[Abe Sargent]

There are ten squads of five elementals each.

In order to simulate being caught, we are beginning in the center and they around the edge. We are also on a smaller map to simulate being caught in a trap. We’re just on a little 12x12 grid for the map. Their goal is to hit and fade me. If they can take out a mech or two, that’s beauty for them, and with two loads of SRM ammo, they can hit very hard the first two or three turns. Then they leave.

T1 – We lose init. There’s virtually no cover. We literally surround one squad with six mechs. If I give them a lot of targets to shoot, hopefully they’ll spread their fire out too much. Our Javelin kills that troop we surrounded. SRMS hit our Firestarter in the head thrice. Our Ostscout kicks and kills a trooper.

T2 – We lose init again. The spread fire out between five of my mechs, and didn’t do enough damage to any of them to take them down. Good stuff. I want to speed them up this round to make them harder to hit while giving targets of opportunity for other mechs. We use the tactic to surround another one. Our Jenner takes a hit on a medium laser. Our Jav gets hit on an SRM6. They hit both the a Phoenix Hawk’s engine and gyro once. Our Jav kicks and finishes off the squad we surrounded. Two kills for the Javelin.

The elementals didn’t get push they wanted, and they’ve used up most of their SRM missiles. In the next turn or two light mechs would start falling, but we are ahead and would likely kill moist of their elementals before they did any serious damage to us.

-2 elemental squads for them.

Experience: Raquel Sanchez, in the Javelin, gains a piloting skill. This makes her a veteran officially.


By the end of the third day, they are down five mechs and 2 elemental squads. One mech comes back online in a few days.

[Abe Sargent]

During the night, we send out ECM equipped mechs with elementals on them. It’s time for our next ambush. We slice many trees in the thicket part of the forest near their camp. We cut deeply into them near the bottom. They are carefully balanced and should fall with only a little force. Our Elementals rig up some chain to connect several trees together. We will flee down this area, and then as they chase us, pull out and drop the big, heavy trees on top of them.

We set up the trap, and then move in. It’s later evening/early morning, and PPC fire from two Griffins launches into the area where their sentries are around their camp. Immediately, their sentries start moving towards us, but they are radioed back, and they don’t leave the edge of their camp. Well, if they aren’t going to leave, then we’ll teach them why. Suddenly, 18 PPCs from two Awesomes, Warhammers, a Goliath, a Panther and Griffins lance out. The mech on the edge of the camp loses boh legs - a Dasher.

-1 Dasher

Now they are coming. I know that they have range and damage on us, so I included mechs in this battle that have PPCs. Due to their damage and range, they inflict some respectable wounds even on clan mechs.

They begin to pursue us with 712th Assault Trinary, which was doing scout and sentry duty. Their OmniMechs are picking up the pace, but we have organized a healthy retreat with PPCs as cover. As they close, suddenly, LRM fire from Whitworths and Catapults arrive my jump capable missile boats. It’s not that much, but it is enough to keep them back. It also makes it appear like these were the surprise, a few extra missile boats. Standard defensive formations against the spread of missiles is to group yourself together and go through, since missiles spread all over the place.

They start marching towards us and they are getting close when our Elementals begin to pull the chains. Does it work? Yes it does, and trees rain down on their company. A few are battered beneath the wood, but not enough. Beagle Active Probes have been added to their OmniMechs and they are fleshing out our positions.

It appears that 4 mechs of their Trinary were damaged of significance – an Uller lost a LL and LA, and a Black hawk was pinned underneath three trees that crossed over it. Another fell right into the cockpit of a Loki and took it out. The fourth was damaged badly, but not internal anywhere.

Facing our PPC and LRM laden mechs, (the good ones), they choose to retreat a bit. They are still in scanning range, but not in weapons range. They are certainly calling for reinforcements. We can’t unearth the Black Hawk for salvage – the operation would take too long. Once again, we have to leave their wreckage to them. However, we managed to take out their Loki and Uller, and also damage a Black Hawk to an unknown degree.

-7 mechs, and -2 elemental platoons.

Please note that since they’ve won salvage, they may be able to start fixing up mechs. For example, they have a Dasher missing both legs. If we destroy Dasher’s CT in the next engagement, they could use the legs on the wounded Dasher and get that back up and running – getting salvage is very important is this sort of campaign, and so far, we’ve got tremendous momentum, but we need to start collecting items.

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 18 – After not seeing each other for a couple of days, we discover one of their Dragonflies near our caves system, it appears that they have finally located our base. We prepare some traps for them, much like we’ve done before when guarding caves – we place a case of SRM and LRM ammo by the entrances. We can fire into them and ignite them if needed for protection or defense.

Dec 19 - We send out Trinity and Defender Companies for scouting. While out there, Defender Company comes across a pair of scout mechs from the clanners off to the distance. They run and we choose to let them go, fearing a trap (there was none). They come back with their full trinary in just 20 minutes and we have a battle at the delta of a river. There is a ton of water here, and not much dry ground.

This is the 63rd Assault Trinary again. They have their Ryoken back.


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


It looks like the Loki pilot moved into the 2x gauss rifle equipped Vulture C. This is a mutual engagement. What that means is that no one has an advantage over another in terms of the strategic campaign. Either group may leave at any time. Additionally, either side may run a mech off the edge of the field in which you started in order to retreat with it. It is doubtful that either side will want to push too much, but it is also possible that we will have a slugfest that lasts forever.

Here is their Uller, a 30 ton scout mech with 6/9 movement. This one has er ll, lb 5-x, streak srm 4 and small pulse.



They have a BV of 14000 more than we do.

[Abe Sargent]

This is the map we are playing on, River Delta 2. Sometimes I use created maps and sometimes random maps made by MegaMek. I usually use randomly generated maps for hills, trees, rubble and such, but these for other things- drop ports, coats, deltas, the fun stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

T1 – We win init. One of their mechs risked going waterward and got breached, but I don’t know which mech or what sections, so I can’t see it. They destroy the RT of our Comet. That sucks, one mech down. Our Warhammer hits the gyro on their Dasher D. Otherwise, just exchanges of fire.

T2 – We lose init. I hop some mechs, like the Griffin and Thor into the center heavy woods in the middle of the map. It appears that the breached mech was their Man o War, breached in RA and LL, which means no gauss. Our Stalker hits and destroys the RA of their Dasher D. Their Executioner Prime destroys the CT of our Comet. Their Dasher D falls under the damage and the gyro hit into the water and the CT is breached, it is out of commission.

T3 – We lose init. We are only getting small fire lanes, so we have to split our fire among many different targets. I hope my Thor and Phoenix Hawk next to their other Dasher. The Dasher’s RT is destroyed by our Thor. It also nails a pair of hip and leg actuators. It falls. Our Phoenix Hawk kicks it and destroys its H. We’ve now taken out two of their20 ton mechs to one of ours.

T4 – We win init. Our Orion nails the LT of a Vulture Prime and ignites ammo and its gone. It falls. That’s the only wound of significance this round. Our BattleMaster is internal in four places.

T5 – We win init. Their Vulture rises. We hop our Jav next to their Ryoken I hop our Thor next to their wounded Vulture. Our Thor’s Ultra AC 20 hits twice and one of those blows off the Vulture’s H. We also destroyed its RT. Their Ryoken nails our Griffin’s LA and destroys it. Their Vulture Prime nailed the H of our Griffin with a large pulse laser but nothing was damaged. A leg actuator on my BM is hit.

T6 - We win init. I run my BM off the board. This was a horrible map for a BattleMaster – woods and streams. It doesn’t have the jump capability to get over the water, it does have the speed to go down and come back up in a single turn so it would expose itself by staying in water and it doesn’t have the long range weapons to just sit back and snipe like our Warhammer and Atlas and Stalker are doing successfully. On this map, a panther would be better, with the same long range weaponry but better mobility. So I used the BM as a damage sponge, and exposed it a bit and took fire round and round. IT did its job very well. Our Orion’s SRM4s get two engine hits on their Ryoken. Their Ryoken hits a leg actuator on our Jav. Our Jav responds by destroys their LT and hitting their head with SRMs and blacking out the pilot. Our Warhammer’s PPC nails the right torso engine on their Vulture C. Their Man o War opens up our Griffins Right Arm and nails the shoulder and PPC. Both their Ryoken and Vulture fall to the ground. We kick the Ryoken but nothing beyond some damage to a leg.

T7 – We win init – yay. At this point, if I were the clans, I’d flee. They have 9 mechs left, two are on the ground, one has an immobile pilot and is out of commission. However, they keep pushing, so we need to push back. I hope our P Hawk next to the downed Ryoken and hope to blow the H off. The Man O War falls. We jump the Thor next to it. Their Vulture Prime has an engine hit and RA destroyed by our Stalker. Our Hermes adds a gyro hit. My Thor hits two engines on their Man O War. Their Thor blows off the LL of our Jav. Their Ryoken awakens.

T8 – We win again. Our Whitworth pilot takes damage twice from their Uller Prime’s LB 5-X. Their Fenris Prime destroys the Javs RT and CT. The Orion gets a third engine hit on their Ryoken. Missles from our Whitworth fly into exposed circuitry on their Man O War and hit the engine twice more, and it shuts down. I’ve basically traded a Griffin, Comet and Javelin for a lot of mechs.

T9 – We lose init. They have 7 mechs of an original 12. They have lost two Dashers, a Vulture a Ryoken and a Man O War. There other mechs have four with external armor but none too bad. Our Thor is out of Ultra AC 20 ammo. They are clans, and they will push. I eject my Griffin pilot. I need to keep materiel right now, and I have this. I wish I had ejected my Jav, in retrospect. Nothing happens but shaving armor.

T10 – We win init. Col Matthews Atlas nails an engine on their Vulture C’s CT. The Stalker destroys the LA of their Vulture Prime and hits the gyro once. Our Hermes falls under an onslaught of weapons and lands in the delta, and its CT section is breached and it is out the fight and shutsdown. Their Vulture Prime does the same, falling down and breaching both its RT and LT and it shuts down too.

T11 – Without any leadership to pull them back, they keep on. We win init. That’s a trade I’ll make every day – Hermes for Vulture. Our Atlas blows up the LA of their Uller Prime. Our Warhammer falls after taking double gauss slugs from their Vulture C.

T12 – We win init. I stand up our Warhammer. Our Atlas destroys the RL and LT of their Uller. Their Fenris launches an attack and hits an engine on my Warhammer. Their Vulture C cracks it again with two gauss’s, one destroys the RT and the other gets two engine hits and a gyro hit. Dead Warhammer. Our Whitworth destroys the CT of their Uller. Well, we traded mechs again, and this time, we traded down, a good solid heavy mech for a fast little light guy.

T13 – They keep coming. As they take out my mechs, they are probably getting happier. We lose init. My Stalker is now out of LRM 10 ammo. Their Thor’s Ultra AC20 cracks my Atlas twice, and one hit nails the LRM 20. Our Thor destroys the engine on their Vulture C after getting two more engine hits. Their Gladiator destroys the Stalker’s RT and it falls. Again, we’ve traded one mech for another. However, we have four more mech companies, they have just two more mech trinaries.

T14 – They continue to push. We win init. I stand the Stalker. Their Thor is now out of AC20 ammo too. I hop our P Hawk to their Thor. Missiles fly from my Whitworth to their Gladiator’s H but just ring the bell.

T15 – We win init again. I hop my Thor to theirs. Our Thor’s RT is destroyed. They also hit an engine on our Atlas. Meanwhile, that Atlas destroys the LT of their Dragonfly with an ER LL. Their Thor falls from the damage and breaches it’s CT. Dead Thor. They pull out and we win.

[Abe Sargent]

Dasher D – gyrox1, RA destroyed
Dasher Prime – RT destroyed, H destroys, two actuators hit
Vulture Prime missing H, LT, RT
Ryoken missing LT, enginex3,
Man O War – enginex4, breached leg and arm
Vulture Prime, missing LA, gyrox1, breached RT and LT .
Uller Prime, H, LL, RA, RT
Vulture C – enginex4
Dragonfly B LA
Thor C, breached CT,



Comet RA, RL, LL, LA, LT, H
Griffon missing LA, PPC hit,
Javelin LA, LT, RA, RL, H
Hermes CT breached
Warhammer, one gyro, three engine, missing RT
Stalker missing RT
Thor C RT destroyed


They have a Dragonfly, Gladiator and Fenris survive. The Dragonfly is out of the campaign until they can replace its torso and arm.

Because breached mechs bring with them water into the mech under water, the ejection system does not work. Therefore, we have captured the Vulture Prime and Man O War and Thor C pilots. We make them bondsman.


Gustave, veteran, 2/3
Rebecca, veteran, 2/3
Sigurd, veteran, 2/3



Our injured mechs are out for a while or the rest of the campaign. We get the salvage.

[Abe Sargent]

Dec 20 - The next day, the wounded Ghost Bears make a fateful decision, they are losing this campaign. They now have just two mechs in the 63rd and 12 in the 712th and 14 in the Command Trinary, plus 13 squads of Elementals. 28 mechs and 13 points of elementals. They decide that this needs one major push, and perhaps they can break out of the slump. They know where we are, so they order a full attack. They know we have three exits, so they split the elementals and send the elementals to blow up two of the exits. Their mechs will all assault the middle entrance/exit.

It’s a clever plan, and I roll dice to see if it works. The first exit is destroyed. The second is as well. The mechs are coming. We order all of our forces into the cave and then wait for them to enter. It will be a killing zone. They left us the biggest entrance, and it’s about three mechs wide. Suddenly, three wide, mechs start pouring in. We order energy weapons to fire, to show that we are doing what they expect. When roughly half of their force is in, we launch an attack at the ammunition crates on either side, and the explosion drops the cave entrance. We are completely sealed in. The collapse was slow enough that no mechs were caught, but only 15 mechs are inside, vs three companies - Trinity, Phaeton and Delta. Mustang is out double checking the others 15 vs 36 is bad odds even for clans. We lance fire into their mechs. PPCs and large lasers dance into them. We order no ammunition used save in case where we have tons of ammo like an LRM5. The outside mechs are firing at the rocks and we can see them blast. It takes five rounds to blast open the rockslide. During that time, ten of their mechs are destroyed. We offer them hegira, with just 18 mechs left, and they accept.

We have defeated the Ghost Bears. We gain a company of second line mechs, but they won’t arrive for a couple of weeks.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s look at salvage and fixing stuff:

750k armor
1.2 mill ammo

2.25 mill to fix the parts on mechs I can buy

Comet and Jav loss: 2.5 mill

We can’t buy parts to fix the Thor C that lost its RT but we do fix up the other Thor C and just switch them. The RT does count for battle loss, and it and the equipment in it were valued at 1.75 mill

How much we paid: 4.2 mill

How much we got back from Battle Loss at 25%: 2,112,000

Total Paid: 2.087 mill

Salvage:

Thor C, replacing damaged Thor C.
Vulture C – all fixed
Ryoken C – fixed with spare Ryoken parts in storage

Dasher – we tried to move the RA from the Dasher Prime to the Dasher D to fix it, but we couldn’t get it to work – rare, but it does happen. Instead, we’ll take the RT and H from the Dasher D and put it on the Dasher Prime.

Then we have in our salvage pieces with Company One on the other planet Dasher pieces that will fix this up. In a month we’ll have the Dasher D up and running.

We fail to fixed the Man’o’-War’s engine. Even though we should have been able to have it up and running without any part,s we simply aren’t able to fix it. Perhaps our clan techs with Aleph Company will be able to. (I roll, and nope, they are unable as well (I rolled a 3 on 2d6). Annoying.

I move the parts from it to one we have with Aleph Company that needs a LT and LA. We move them from this chassis.

The Vulture Prime is not fully fixed by my guys, but the breaches are fixed by the clan techs in a few months. We spice a LA onto it and it’s good as new.




Clan Items:

ER PPC
Streak SRM 4
LB 5-X

[Abe Sargent]

In a few weeks, our mechs arrived, and we bargained for three of each weight class:

Light:

Peregrine
Vixen
Locust IIc


Medium:

Shadow Hawk IIc
Griffin IIC
Hellhound


Heavy:

Galahad
Grizzlyx2


Assault:

Warhammer IIc
Kraken
Highlander IIc


This is clearly their way of clearing out some stuff in mothballs. The Highlander IIc is old and the Kraken is not a design that appeals to me. I mean, we’ll take them, and this might even be a good company for an elite Shadow-like profile.

[Abe Sargent]

December 25 – Five of Wolf’s Dragoons and 2 of Kell Hounds arrive at Luthien, the capital of the Draconis Combine, on loan from the Federated Commonwealth, in order to prepare for a coming assault from Nova Cat and Smoke Jaguar to take the greatest prize yet in the Clan Invasion.

December 31 – By the end of the year, Laser Heat Sinks are introduced by Jade Falcon, the Silver Bullet Gauss Rifle has finished development for the FedCom, and serval mechs are introduced included Kressly Warworks Attila and the Wolf Trap, the new Hornet and more.

What happened when level 2 tech came back is that some field refits were done, and some factories retooled to make new designs incorporating the new technology into old designs. Some factories has ceased production because they didn’t have the parts for level 2 tech, and they’ve been restarted, so really old mechs, like the Guillotine and Hermes are coming back. However, new designs are also starting to roll off the presses – including the Wolf Trap, Mauler and our own Attila.

By the end of this month, Clan Wolf had taken 18 more systems, the Ghost Bears 4 more, the Jade Falcons 3 more, the Jaguars 5 more, The Steel Vipers took Twycross and took 2 others form the Inner Sphere (and some from Jade Falcon), and Nova Cat took 2. The 5th wave has already resulted in another 35 worlds falling to the clans. Of those, 10 are from the FRR.

Essex Training Academy

We have no graduates from the Essex Training Academy, as they all wanted to return for a 4th year. We have 13 enrollees.


Year 4 - 8
Year 3 - 6
Year 2- 12
Year 1 - 13


January 1,3052 – A giant flotilla of WarShips arrives in Vorarlberg.


January 4, 3052 – The assault on Luthien begins, two Nova Cat Galaxies and three Smoke Jaguar galaxies are attacking.

January 6 – At the end of two brutal days of fighting that raged across the war and pitted 21 Inner Sphere regiments against the clans, the combined Davion/Kurita forces manage to win a staggering victory on Luthien.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT – Jan 7, 3052 – After winning the Battle of Luthien in part due to the help from mercenaries and a hated enemy, relations between the two states begin to relax and the “Death to all Mercenaries” decree of the Draconis Combine is relaxing. Soon, they will take on more mercenary contracts.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 8 – In a private meeting, ilKhan Ulric Kerensky shares with ComStar Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht (previously known as Frederick Steiner) that the clans ultimate goal is Terra itself, held by ComStar. ComStar can no longer be neutral, and even helpful towards the clans.


Jan 9 - We get a communication from Khan Natasha Kerensky, telling us that the entire Alpha Galaxy of Clan Wolf has arrived to oust us from Vorarlberg. They will not allow a mercenary unit to keep it. With just a handful of companies, and with two companies already gone, this is not going to be a successful defense. Alpha Galaxy has four clusters, and each won has three or four trinaries of mechs and elementals, but mostly mechs. That’s, a rough guess, 200 mechs. (each cluster had 40-60 mechs, and there are four clusters.

The simple fact is that Wolf will use overwhelming force to completely destroy our garrison and take the planet. They are not ashamed, and they will not bid their forces down again against us – they are loaded for overkill.

We negotiate a peaceful withdrawal. We will move to garrison a fall back planet – we are moving to Halesowen, on the border with the Dracs and right by Skandia, but Skandia is well defended, so we are going to help this lightly defended world.

Jan 13 – Braham Essex and his group arrive at Predlitz and have issued a batchall for 10 clan technicians from Ghost Bear. We show them we are a small, 12 person mech company and send all of the details,

They have responded and sent us their location. They want to fight in some abandoned hills. They have mostly second-line and garrison mechs. They are vets. If they win, they want us to turn over our ten elemental warriors, which we agree to. 10 for 10 is a perfectly acceptable number.

Ghost Bear Garrison


Dragonfly Prime
Mad Cat A
Man o War Prime, elite
Marauder IIc
Kodiak, elite
Peregrine
Locust IIc
Griffin IIc
Hunchback IIc
Galahad

These people will use physical attacks, because the IS has been using them on the clans for a while. The clans are a bit meaner after taking a year off to focus and come up with new plans.

This is a powerful binary, led by a pilot is one of the Ghost Bear’s own special mechs, the Kodiak, a 100 ton beast. It has an Ultra AC20, ER Large Laser, 2 SRM6 Streaks, 8 ER Medium Lasers, 17.5 tons of standard armor, 4/6 movement and 20(40) heat sinks. It’s nasty:

[Abe Sargent]

The map has just rubble and hills.

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go:

Turn 1 – we win init. The hills split our fire from one half of my mechs onto their Marauder IIc and their Man O War. Braham Essex’s AC 20 from his Orion cracks the Marauder right in the CT – a good start. Their Locust IIc goes internal and his an SRM on the Thug.

T2 – We win init. We have a real melee on the left side where the hills come together. These mechs are all next to each other – Their Peregrine, Dragonfly, Locust IIc, and our Highlander, Orion, Shootist and Flashman. I expect to focus some fire on these guys to take out one or two this turn. I hop the Starslayer over to get some damage in. The very first shot to hit the Locust IIc is Braham’s modified Orion’s AC20 and it destroys the CT. Our Highlander takes three AC20 hits from the Hunchbacks double ultra AC 20s and is not internal anywhere. Our Lynx fires an ER PPC at their Galahad and hits an engine, gyro, and gauss ammo. (Gauss ammo does not explode). A gauss from our Highlander nails their Marauder’s LT and hits both engines there. Their Man o War nails a shoulder actuator on our Blackjack. No one falls, although 8 mechs took 20 or more damage this turn on both sides combined. Our Flashman kicks and destroys the RL on their Peregrine.

T3 – We lose init. I run my Flashman behind their Hunchy IIc. I move the Shootist next to it too, and our Orion next to their Marauder IIc. We won the last melee, let’s see how far we can push this. Our Flashman destroys the LT of their Hunchy. Our Shootist takes the AC20s this turn. A cluster of missiles from the LRM 20 by our Griffin nails the head of their Kodiak. Their Peregrine gets a limb blown off critical on the Thug, whose RA is now gone. No one falls. Our Thug kicks and destroys the LT of their Peregrine. Out Shootist kicks an actuator on their Hunchy.

T4 - We win init. I hop our P Hawk behind their Man o War. Braham’s Orion gets behind their Kodiak. Their Kodiak destroys the LT and RT of our Thug after hitting it’s ammo and being saved by CASE. Our Highlander destroys the LA and LT of their Dragonfly. Our Lynx destroys the Peregrine’s RA, and his it gyro and engine once each. Our Talon reaches back, fires an ER PPC and shears off the H of their Man O War. Their Galahad falls and the pilot blacks out. Our Thug falls. I run my Talon by the Mad Cat, and hop my P Hawk to it as well.

T5 – We win init. I eject the Thug pilot. I jump the Lynx by their Galahad to try and snipe off the head. It only hit the head once with a Medium Laser. The Highlander dances a Gauss slug into the CT oftheir Marauder IIc and hits a gyro. Our Shootist destroys its RL and RT and destroys the Mad IIc with a shutdown of the engine. The engine explodes, and the Lynx takes damage, as does the Galahad, who loses its LT. Our Flashman destroys the Hunchys CT. Before it goes, it fires an ER Medium Laser into the head of our Flashman but Rachel Perry shakes it off. Their Griffin IIc punches the head of our Lynx and goes internal but hits nothing. The Galahad pilot misses the 7 he needs to waken.

T6 – We rock init. Their Peregrine tries to stand, fails, falls down and blows off its other leg. I run the Talon behind their Mad Cat. I run my Orion and Flashman above and next to their Kodiak. Our Flashman took two shots from an Ultra AC20 and is still standing. Our Shootist destroys the Galahad’s H with a carefully aimed pulse laser. Our Lynx destroys the Griffin IIc’s RA. The Talon destroys the Mad Cat’s LA. Our Flashman kicks in the Kodiak’s Head and it is a dead mech.

T7 – We win with tactical genius. We off the four remaining Bear mechs hegira and they accept. They limp and hobble off the three mechs they have left - Griffin IIc, Mad Cat and Dragonfly. All three were damaged and missing limbs.

We have won another 10 clan techs.

[Abe Sargent]

Locust IIc RT, LT, RA, LA, H, RL, LL
Peregrine missing LT, RL, LL
Man o War, missing H
Marauder IIc, gyrox1, enginex3, missing RT, RL.
Galahad missing H and LT
Hunchback IIc H, RA, RT, LA, LL, RL
Kodiak missing H


Thug, reattach RA, LA, replace RT and LT.

The pilot in the Peregrine is captured and made into a bondsman of Braham.

Annika, veteran, 2/3


The Money Stuff:

We spend a lot to get my Thug back and working – Case, torsos, arms, SRms, loads. 1.525 mill. We also spend 650k for armor and 150k for ammo. AC ammo is cheap and this company has a lots of energy weapons. Only the Griffin has LRMs.

After 25% off, we pay 1,744,000

Salvage:

Man O War Prime – We sent it to Aleph Company, where they pull the H off the one we got with the broken engine and move it to this one.

The rest go into our salvage and sent to Aleph Company.

It will take about a month to get the parts and repair the Thug.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 18 – We blast off Predlitz

Jan 31 – By the end of the month, Wolves have taken 4 systems, including the one from us. The Bears have grabbed another quartet of systems as well. The Jags took none, losing at Luthien and losing a lot of material has stymied their assault momentarily. The Nova Cats grab 4 as well. The Vipers and Falcons are bickering with themselves and their push has slowed.

Feb 8 – Our unit arrives at the Halesowen system, and discovers it fell to the Bears. We are ordered to the nearby system of Maule to see how things are faring there.

Feb 10 - The Wolves have attacked the FRR world of Skandia. It will fall shortly.

Feb 15 – Romano Liao and her consort are slain by Candace Liao in their sleep after they tried to assassinate her and her husband (and did kill him). Sun-Tzu Liao gains the throne.

Feb 21 – We arrive in the Maule system and it just fell to the Bears yesterday. Skandia has fallen. We are ordered to Utrecht, which has no major garrison of any sort at all.

Feb 23 – Braham arrives at Casere and demands for a Trial of Possession for ten more suits of elemental armor and ten bondsman for it. They have none, so he asks for a Trial for 10 each of every clan energy weapon. They accept. They want the captured Kodiak back, because that’s a totem mech that they really appreciate, and Braham agrees, although he’ll have to ship it back.

The Bear office decides to send out heavier elements in order to stop us. Just one light and two mediums. A 100 ton mech, a 85 ton mech, two 80 tonners, a 65 ton, 60 ton, a 70 ton rounding things out.

The Bear Garrison Binary:

Kraken
Grizzly
Warhammer IIc
Marauder IIc
Rifleman IIc
Shadow Hawk IIc
Man O War B
Peregrine
Vulture Prime
Black Hawk A



All are vets.

Here is their Peregrine, a 35 on light mech with 6/9/6 movement, a large pulse laser, two medium pulses and 6 tons of armor.

[Abe Sargent]

They have 5000 more BV

Here we go, in an open rocky field.

T 1 – We roll init. We focus a lot of fire on their Grizzly. Our Thug gets hit in the RL by their Peregrine and hits an actuator, and then blows up the LT on their Grizzly. Our Talon adds an engine hit on the Grizz. Our P hawk falls.

T2 – We win off tactical genius. I stand up our P Hawk and run 7 with it. An Orion’s AC20 to the Shadow Hawk IIc’s RA destroys it. Their Kraken hit the Thug in the head with one of its many AC 2 UltrasA large laser from our Flashman nails an engine in their Grizzly. Our Lynx fires in an ER PPC and h destroys the Grizzly’s RT and then some damage rolls over and destroys its CT. Out Thug falls and hits a shoulder.

T3 – We lose init. Time to eject the Thug pilot. I run my Flashman to their Shadow Hawk IIc. Our Shootist destroys the RT on the Shadow hawk IIc. LRM missiles from Brahams Orion nail the head of their Warhammer IIc for three damage. Their Kraken hits the head of our Flashman. A leg actuator on their Vulture is nailed by our Lynx. Their Peregrine hits na engine on our Flashman. Their Vulture falls and destroys is LT and RA. Our Flashman falls and hits the engine.

T4 – We win init. The two engine hits on the Flashman have it overheat and thus much slower, and it has two engine hits an XL engine with exposed left and right torsos. I eject it. I get our Shootist to the rear of their Warhammer. P Hawk in the back of their S Hawk IIc. Our Highlander nails the hip on their Vulture. Our Griffin destroys the Vultures RL and RT and gets an engine kill. Their Man O War goes internal on our Phoenix Hawk and nails the ER Large Laser. Our Orion punches the Warhammer twice in the RA.

T5 – We win init. Braham runs the Orion behind their Rifleman IIc. Shootist behind their Kraken. Their Marauder IIc destroys the RT of our Shootist. Their Black Hawk destroys the LL of it. Our BJ destroys the LT of their Shadow Hawk iic. Their Shadow hawk falls and destroys its gyro with two hits and the pilot blacked out too. Our Highlander falls. Braham punches the Rifleman in the head. It falls.

T6 – Init is ours again. I eject the Shootist. Our Highlander rises and runs three hexes. I hop our BJ by their WH iic. Our Highlanders destroys the LA of their Rifleman IIc. The Lancelot destroys the RL. Our BJ destroys the Warhammer IIcs RA. Our Talon destroys the LA of their Peregrine. The Lynx his the LPL of the Peregrine. Both Rifleman and Warhammer tumble. A BJ kick destroys the Warhammer’s LA.

T7 – Loss of init. Their Rifleman fails to stand, falls again, and their pilot blacks out. Braham runs up next to their Marauder IIc. Our Griffin nails a gyro on their Warhammer IIc. The Lynx hits their Marauder’s ER PPC on the RA. He also hits the head with a Medium laser. Our Talon’s ER PPC destroys the LL of their Peregrine and it falls. So does the Warhammer. Braham’s Orion double punches the H of their Marauder once and crushes it, dead mech. Our Highlander kicks and destroys the RT of their ‘Hammer.

T8 We win because of tactical genius. We offer them hegira. With a unconscious Rifleman pilot, W Warhammer on the ground and missing both arms and a torso (and has just two MPLs lefts), a legged Peregrine, a pristine Kraken and just lightly dusted Black Hawk, we’ve won this. They accept.

[Abe Sargent]

Grizzly LA, RL, LL, RA, H
Vulture Prime missing LT, RT, RA, RL, enginex3
Shadow Hawk IIc missing LT, enginex2, gyrox2, RA, RT
Marauder IIc missing H, PPC hit
Rifleman IIc - Missing RL and LA, enginex1

To repair: Thug RT; Shootist RT, LL;

We have won 10x SPL, MPL, LPL, ER PPC, ER LL, ER ML, ER SL.


Costs and Stuff:

Ammo – 200k
Armor – 650k
Pieces for Thug, Shootist – 1.855 mill


Total Paid After Discount – 2.028



Grizzly – We use the H and RA to fix the one in storage with Aleph Company, but not for two months

Shadow Hawk IIc – Ditto this getting fixed with pieces we have from another Shadow Hawk IIc

Marauder IIc – We weren’t able to move the head from the other one to this one, but we are able to move the RT and RL to the other one from this one.

Bondsman –

Chester, veteran, was the Shadow Hawk IIc pilot
Mabel, veteran, was the Rifleman IIc pilot

[Abe Sargent]

Feb 25 – We blast off Casere

Feb 27 – While moving troops to the front, the Ghost Bears divert a cluster to Kempten, and they issue a batchall. Col. Matthews responds and this time, the Beras are more amenable to a simple 1:1 battle again for the planet, since the last time they went full Cluster it was decimated.

We will be sending Captain Jason Thomas, a 2/2 pilot, Edge:2 in his Atlas AS7-D. The commander of Trinity Company has selected a pasture for battle.

They will be sending a Masakari A with a 1/2 elite pilot. This is what we want our Atlas to do:

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, here we go:

Jason is on the east edge and their pilot on the left.

T1 – Just maneuvering, following by some peppering of Jason’s mech by the lasers.

T2 – Jason runs to their Masakari and the foe moves as well. The Atlas’s LRMs nail them, and an er large laser lances into Jason’s CT and gets a through armor critical there. It hits the gyro twice.

Dead mech.

Damn, that was…fast.

We are allowed to recover and fix the Atlas, but we lost Kempten. Man, I was hoping for a bit more.

[Abe Sargent]

Feb 28 – By the end of the month, Precentor Martial Focht has selected the sight he intends to use against the clans. It’s a backwater, lowly populated planet in the Rasalhague Republic, with very little import to anyone. In a few short months, it will be the biggest name in the Inner Sphere.

Wolf has captured 8 systems, Bear 4, the Falcon and Viper none, Jaguars 2, and Cats 2. Another 16 systems have fallen

Mar 2 - We blast off from Kempten. There are no systems near us that are free, and the closest free system, we think is Diosd, which is 5 jumps away and by the time we get there, it should be late April. – who knows.

Mar 5 – Our forces that garrisoned Vorarlberg and have been moving to fid a world to garrison have arrived at the Utrecht System. The Bears are in system and the planet has already surrendered to them before they even landed a mech.

We are sent to Altenmarkt

Mar 12 – Altenmarkt has fallen to the Wolf. We move on.

Mar 20 – From Altenmarkt our forces originally on Vorarlberg have arrived at Ramsau and it has not fallen. We land on the planet a few days later. It has no defense beyond a few aging warriors.

Mar 31 – By the end of March, Precentor Martial Focht has entered tentative negotiations with ilKhan Kerensky about his plan, and they have been accepted and he leaves for their ship.

Wolf takes no worlds in March. The Bears take 5. The Cats grab another. The Jags another another.

The Ghost Bears came back reinvigorated, it was felt hat they had lost something of their own camaraderie, their own sense of family. It was what made them unique, and they felt they lost it, and a renewed sense of purpose dawned on them, and they have returned with a much different clan.

[Abe Sargent]

Apr 2 – Braham Essex and his forces arrive at Vorarlberg, but the Wolves here are not interested in batchalls right now, they are preparing for something. He blasts off for Kempten.

Apr 10 –Kempten’s Bears are also preparing for something, and the ilKhan has recommended that no additional battles be fought right now. Essex will return.

Apr 12 – Wolves arrive at Altenmarkt, and it’s another full galaxy. They issue a batchall, and again say, they’ll send everything they have if they have too, and destroy the world and yadda. After consultation, the government wants to surrender and we are granted to leave, and we head to the next system on our list, Tukkayid, no, our liaison tells us instead we’ll be going to Dehgolan. Our contract ends on May 1, but we’ve been told to expect extension under the Emergency Powers Clause.


The clans have agreed to fight a proxy battle for Terra on the planet of Tukkayid. Each of the 7 invading clans will have two cities as targets. Each clan is to take and hold both of their targets, and once one side agrees to retreat, the winner is declared. If a majority of clans are the victor, then the clans win not only Terra, but ComStar agrees to be their administrative arm. If they lose then they may not continue the invasion for 15 years.

The battle will begin on May 1.

In early April – Wolf took 2 systems, Jaguars 2, Bears 1.


May 1 – The Battle of Tukkayid has begun. By the end on the 20th of May, 5 of the 7 clans had lost to ComStar, with Falcon given respectable loss for inflecting worse losses then they sustained but never taking a city, Ghost Bear a marginal victory and Wolf a victory. This is the largest battle in recorded history. No other battle comes close in the history of the Inner Sphere.

Also on May 1st, the Primus of ComStar Myndo Waterly enacts Operation: Scorpion. This is an attempt to take control of the entire Inner Sphere by hijacking and interdicting all HPG communications, calling for insurrections on all worlds with ComStar garrisons, and clan held worlds, and more. It was leaked by a spy in the high circuit of ComStar who gave the Inner Sphere leaders a heads up. Upon his triumphant return from Tukkayid, Focht would assassinate Myndo Waterly and place Sharilar Mori as the new Primus.

[Abe Sargent]

May 25 – Sun-Tzu Liao has been betrothed to Isis Marik, daughter of Thomas Marik.

May 31 – With no more clan invasion on the map, the Free Rasalhague Republic has been reduced to just six systems. Tukkayid is ceded to ComStar to use as a training grounds and the front line of the next invasion. We are not extended further.


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


We pay 10.618 mill for our salaries and upkeep for 13 months

We make, salary wise – 98.655 mill

Then add in the bonus: 118 mill

-10.618 mill
-10 mill for academy

97.546 mill


We now have a huge war chest.

Everybody will arrive back home on EE by Sept 10. Then it’s time for restocking, refitting, and more.



End of Chapter 2, The Invasion

[Abe Sargent]

June 3 – In protest of what she feels is Focht’s coup of ComStar, Precentor Demona Aziz leaves ComStar and invites all of those who feel similarly to leave as well, and found a new order based in the Free Worlds League called Word of Blake. As Primus Mori reforms ComStar into a more secular organization, more and more of those who embraced the religious nature will defect to Word of Blake.

June 16 – The Free Worlds League has agreed to allow Word of Blake to run their HPG stations instead of ComStar. Thomas Marik is named Primus-in-Exile of Word of Blake. Behind the scenes, this is because Thomas is secretly a ComStar spy and most definitely not Thomas Mark.



June 17 – Hanse Davion passed away from a stress-related heart attack

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT – July 1 – With many of the biggest victories of the Inner Sphere against the clans being done by mercenaries (Grey Death Legion beat Jade Falcon on Pandora, Kell Hounds on Twycross, them and Wolf’s Dragoons on Luthien, us on Thule and several other worlds) the glory of mercenaries is at an all time high. Enrollment is much easier, especially for large units that have tradition and valor, such as us, Eridani Light Horse, 21st Centauri Lancers, McCarron’s Armored Cavalry, 12th Vegan Regulars, etc.

[Abe Sargent]

Aug 1 – After a successful year of selling Attila’s, Kressly has doubled the speed of production of their line and now makes two a year. We purchased two more of the Attilas.

We give several pieces of Clan Tech to Kressly to dissect and look at. It should help them down the road, but not now of course. We give them one of the Vulture prime chassis to work with, plus one each of many weapons and equipment, such as double heat sink, beagle active probe, and more. This is a massively valuable gift and a leg up on the competition. As a result, the relationship between Kressly and Kilts and Commandos gets even closer.


Braham has his Orion modified again. With the help of both some clan techs and elite techs, here is his new Orion:

ON1-AbeC

75 tons, Orion
4/6
Max Armor
14/28 with Clan Double Heat Sinks


Clan Gauss Rifle in the RT with two tons of ammo 1 heat and 15 damage.

Clan ER PPC in the CT. 15 heat and 15 damage

Clan SRM6 in the LT with one ton of Ammo and Clan CASE. 4 heat

3x ER Small Lasers, one in H, and other two in LT. 2 heat each, total 6.

The total heat this bad boy makes with weapons is 26, and running is 28. It will always run cool.

The leader gets the best toys to play with.


Our Clan Techs manage to take the H and arm from a Rifleman IIc to get a Loki Prime up and running.

A Puma Prime is brought back online by using parts from the Peregrine chassis.

Black Hawk Prime is restored with a Hunchback IIC H

We tried to move the LT from the Kodiak to the Daishi chassis we can’t, because the Daishi has a regular standard chassis. We can purchase parts for it! We purchase parts for the Daishi to get it up and running

(These all have clan endo chassis, and at the same weight are compatible)

I spend 2.88 mill to restore the Javelin and Comet from pieces.

Clan ferro-fib armor is now something our clan techs can modify IS ferro-fib armor to fit on their machines. It can’t be duplicated on a machine and has to be done a bit at a time, so we can replace clan ferro fib with IS stuff as armor erodes.

[Abe Sargent]

September 15 – It’s time for some R&R and reorganization and refitting and more.

We have salvaged 31 of their mechs, plus the 12 we won. That’s 43 clan mechs we currently have. Some of them are quite sustainable, like the Rifleman IIc with no ammo needs, and lasers we have a ton of in stock to replace as they are destroyed.

The problem is that we can only splice clan pieces onto clan technology, except for mechs without endo steel – such as the Kraken (which sucks as a mech, btw). If we take a few clan mechs into our next contract, and a Vulture Prime is head shot killed by an opposing force, what do we do? I have a few chassis I can move the H from to replace it, but it’s a finite supply. Eventually, the only way we can get supplies is by fighting the clans. Do I launch an attack independently every so often to force them to fix my mechs? Level 2 tech is barely available on the market right now, and it would be a long time before clan tech is equaled. These are risky mechs to pilot.

On the other hand, using clan tech mechs with my great pilots and our great battle tactics would allow us to cut a swath through most inner sphere mechs. We would devastate.

What to do?

My plan is not field all 43 mechs. Take those that are easily sustainable, like the Daishi, Highlander IIc and perhaps even a modified Kraken. Then take those that have endo steel but shouldn’t prove too difficult, like Rifleman IIc, Black Hawk Prime, Puma Prime, my 2 Dasher Ds, Dragonfly B, and Vulture C with the twin gausses. Gauss ammo is the same. We can’t get Streak SRM6 or SRM4 ammo, and we’ve just figured out how to turn regular AC ammo into ultra ammo.

[Abe Sargent]

Alpha Regiment – Col. Matthew Humphries


Myth Super-Battalion

Heliades Company - Veteran
Styx Company - Veteran
Tethys Company - Regular
Typhon Company – Elite


Star Battalion

Defender Company – Elite – Matthew Humphries gets the Daishi Prime
Cinq Company - Veteran
Brawler Company – Veteran


Heater Battalion

Delta Company – Elite
Trinity Company – Elite
Laser Company – Regular (renamed from Lance Company) We added Jav 10N, Trebuchet and Cataphract 3D





Beta Regiment – Col. Martin Fitzgerald


Ganges Battalion

Phaeton Company – Elite
Boxer Company – Veteran
Rebel Company – Veteran


Amazon Battalion

Mustang Company – Elite
Hex Company - Veteran
Raven Company - Veteran


Rheims Battalion


Aleph Company - Veteran
Butler Company – Regular
Sabre Company - Elite



Bruiser Company and Shadow Company and 2 squads of Elementals – Col. Braham Essex

Aerospace Company

Tank Battalion and extra Company

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s look at the new companies:

Raven Company


Lt. Meagan Jones, elite, ATA-2 Attila *
Steve Strongsparrow, veteran, HBK-4G Hunchback
Lenny Atusco, veteran, BLR-1D BattleMaster
Gina Catorri, regular, DRG-5N Dragon *

Sgt. Gerry Handly, veteran, Arc-2R Archer
Matilda Green, veteran, MAD-3L Marauder
Bertha Ovango, elite, CRD-3D Crusader
Mike Jenkins, veteran, WHM 6-L Warhammer

Sgt. Gus Haddock, elite, JVN 10-F Javelin
Heather McKinnon, regular, CMT Comet
Robin Shevchenko, veteran, PXH-1K Phoenix Hawk
Becky Finnigan, regular,WLF-2 Wolfhound *


*- designates a level 2 tech mech


We purchase the BM, Dragon, Crusader, Warhammer, Phoenix Hawk and Wolfhound. It cost us 33 mill.

[Abe Sargent]

Butler Company


Lt. Rachel Invande, elite, ATA-2 Attila *
Bob Green, Regular, TDR-5S Thunderbolt
Mei Ling, Regular, CN9-A Centurion
Jonathan Ude, veteran,VTR-9A Victor


Sgt. Gloria Juarez, veteran, LGB-7Q Longbow
Hunter Diaz, Regular, GLT-5M Guillotine *
Zuzan Tasker, Regular, TBT-5N Trebuchet
Giselle Minard, Regular, RLF-3N Rifleman

Sgt. Hamir Raglit, Regular, VL-5T Vulcan
Harley Wilson, Green, LCT-1E Locust
Summer Wilson, Regular, COM-2D Commando
Geter Jaani, Regular, JVN-10F Javelin

I purchased everything but the Attila and Locust. I spent 49 mill.

[Abe Sargent]

Sabre Company

Lt. Andrea Demirovic, elite, ATA-2 Attila *
Gustave, veteran, Grizzly
Amaury Vassili, Elite, BLR-3M BattleMaster *
Michael, Elite, Ryoken C


Sgt. Miroslav Kostadinov, elite, Supernova
Helga, veteran, Galahad
Kevin, veteran, Vulture Prime
Martin O’Conner, elite, HTM-27T Hatamato-Chi


Sgt. Tiego Chan, elite, Shadow Hawk IIc
Irene, veteran, Dasher D
Wangari Maathai, elite, JVN 10-F Javelin
Allen Hussein, elite,


I bought the Jav and PXH-3k for 11 mill total

[Abe Sargent]

Bruiser Company


Lt. Patricia Kaas, elite, AS7-K Atlas
Chester, veteran, Highlander IIc
Mabel, veteran, Gladiator A
Evan, elite, Warhammer IIc

Sgt. Sevil Aliyeva , elite, Rifleman IIc
Rachel, elite, Vulture C
Annika, Veteran, Marauder IIc
Aysel Teymurzadeh, Elite, ARC-4M Archer


Sgt. Nika Heteron, elite, Dragonfly B
Rebecca, veteran, Peregrine
Sigurd, veteran, Dasher D
Belinda Robertson, elite, Phoenix Hawk-3K *


I bought the Phoenix Hawk 3K and Archer 4M for 17 mill. This is another company that will be teamed with Shadow, all elites and the best mechs. I wanted IS pilots in charge of the clanners for now. Just to help them acclimate. These two companies have the elementals with them as well.

We recruited people from Outreach that were elite and a couple of veterans. The rest are members of our graduating classes. The one name people are clanners.

Total spent on companies: 110 mill.

We spent some time on outreach recruiting, and this will not resemble our unit until the end of the year.

It’s good that we were able to get to two full regiments of mechs, plus four companies of tanks, one of aerospace fighters, and two extra-special companies, with infantry, garrison, and more.

While recruiting, we get lucky and recruit one of the few assets out there – The Union DropShip Amalgamated Bliss.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT – October 1, 3052 – With the destruction of most of the FRR, it’s not hiring mercenaries much. With the slacking of the Draconis Combine’s previous Death to all Mercenaries order, it is hiring more. ComStar wants to hire to shore up defenses due to massive losses at Tukkayid, and the Word of Blake is here now, and looking to hire to add to their small but growing roster. Here is our new hiring chart:

2 - FedCom
3, 4 – Word of Blake
5 – Cappellan Confederation
6 - ComStar
7 - Federated Commonwealth
8 - Free Worlds League
9 - Draconis Combine
10 - St. Ives Compact
11 – Free Rasalhague Republic
12– FedCom

[Tellistto]

Very nice stuff, Abe! Looking forward to more!

Tell

[Abe Sargent]

Oct 12 – We have to kick out Jonathan Wesley, a regular MW in Boxer Company. He was a discipline case. We promote regular graduate from the academy Nathan Taylor to his spot.

Kilts and Commandos Roster:

Alpha Regiment:

Heliades Company -
Styx Company -
Tethys Company –
Typhon Company –
Defender Company –
Cinq Company -
Brawler Company –
Delta Company –
Trinity Company –
Laser Company –


Beta Regiment:

Phaeton Company –
Boxer Company –
Rebel Company –
Mustang Company –
Hex Company –
Raven Company -
Aleph Company –
Butler Company –
Sabre Company -


Bruiser Company -
Shadow Company -

Aerospace Company-
Tank Battalion – EE- mining garrison
Delta Company – EE, garrison
Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison

Robin Hood -
Star River -
Scots Flotilla -
Serendipitous Victory -
Amalgamated Bliss –



Everything is at EE until the end of the year, when people head out for contracts again.

We go ahead and sign Tank Battalion to a garrison contract with the major mining interests here on the planet, the ones we protected earlier this year, despite not having a contract. Here is Tank Battalion’s contract:


Tank Battalion Garrison:

Salvage: Exchange
Salary: x1.1, x2.1, x0.9
Support: 50% Battle Loss
Command: Integrated
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 3 years
Transport: N/A

Ends on October 15, 3055

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Tellistto

Very nice stuff, Abe! Looking forward to more!

Tell

Thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

October 29 – We honor the Fall of Thule

December 18 – We honor the fall of Andurien

December 31 - This year saw the introduction of Thunder LRM munitions, the first of many new munitions for missile warheads in development to reach production. The Inner Sphere Standard Battle Armor is introduced by many companies and generally available. It attempts to mimic the Elemental Armor as much as possible, but it’s not great at it. The Grey Death Legion used Gray Death Standard Battle Armor in Pandora in their victory over Jade Falcon.

The biggest technological mech introduced is the Raptor. This is a Combine OmniMech, using Inner Sphere technology to create the modular nature of an Omni. This proves that the IS can make Omnis, and more will roll off the lines in the next ten years.



Essex Training Academy

We have 8 graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 11 enrollees for next year. Of these 8, all are at least regular, 3 are veteran and 1 elite.


Year 4 - 6
Year 3 - 12
Year 2- 13
Year 1 - 11

During the end of the year, Steel Viper took several worlds from the FedCom in order to bolster their possessions. They can’t go past the Tukkayid line, but they did take a few more planets.

The Inner Sphere is reeling. The Dracs, FedCom, Rasalhagues and ComStar have all lost tons of materiel, and Word of Blake wants some and the Caps want some in order to get back to what they were before the 4th Succession War. With everybody gasping for materiel, good mechs like the Attila are gobbled up. Everybody needs mechs.

Because of this need, mechs are being rotated from the garrison to the front lines. Garrisons are losing mechs and relying solely on vehicles and infantry for defense. As such, the number of Objective and Extraction Raids is up. Destroying a rival’s warehouse, stealing equipment, and more have become very popular with interests both private and governmental. The number of Raid contracts is at an all time high.

[Abe Sargent]

EVENT – On Dec 31, 3052, Thoma Marie Essex chooses to enroll in MechWarrior Academy. She has shown great skill on the agro mechs and jumping mechs, and early results show her to be a crack shot as well. However, in order to get some distance between her and the unit. Several schools offered her, including the Robinson Battle Academy, Nagelring and Legionary Training Academy on Andurien. Our allies in the Draconis March (Robinson) and Andurien have made sure she has a place to go. She was declined the NAIS, which was a bit puzzling. There must be a political thing going on. The Nagelring is the best one, but it’s also a bit…clique-y. There’s defiantely a have and have not thing ging on. Good grads from it include Victor Ian Steiner-Davion and Morgan Kell. However, this has diminished with the Fed Com pushing towards less social officers and more competant ones. As such, Thoma Marie Essex has enrolled at The Nagelring, located on Tharkad. She will graduate on December 31, 3055, where she will move to a training cadre for a year before finished on December 31, 3056.

[Abe Sargent]

Jan 1, 3053 – We announce that Kilts and Commandos are taking contracts again.


End of Interlude II– The Invasion


The new map of the IS can be found here in detail: http://iscs.teamspam.net/pdf/iscs_3052.pdf

It’s here in general: http://iscs.teamspam.net/povray/iscs_3052.20020918.jpg




We take a look at the contracts offered:

Word of Blake wants a Garrison
ComStar Objective Raid
Draconis Combine Defense against Clans
FedCom Security

We take the ComStar contract. They want us to hit a corporation in the Free Worlds League and destroy a facility that they believe is supplying the Word of Blake with materiel. When the schism occurred, Word of Blake took most of the intel officers ComStar had, and the few that remain are suspect. ComStar kept most of the military, however. Because of the large number of spies that Blake is suspected of leaving behind, this is an operation supported and planned solely by the ComGuards.

They want us to hit Gomeisa, a very quiet planet, with very little to offer save that its only 4 jumps away, and they make a material from ore mined on planet which is a component in Ferro Fibrous Armor. This conversion facility is so upstream of ferro fib armor that it is very lightly guarded and Gomeisa is so quite that is had no regular Marik forces on it at all, just the local militia, which includes only a handful of mechs total for the entire planet.

The FedCom wants security for a planet right next to the Steel Vipers for 6 months until they can get more troops rotated there. The planet is Tomans, and its 9 jumps away and they want at least a battalion. If we fight against clans during our stay, we get an extra 50%.

We decide to not take the Drac or Blake contracts.

Tomans Security, Myth Battalion


Salvage: Shared
Salary: x1.2, x3.7, x1.3, x1.5 if clans
Support: 50% Battle Loss
Command: Liaison
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 6 months
Transport: Full

They will arrive on March 10, 3053. Let’s roll. There are no assaults by Steel Viper during this time, and they rotate off nice and quietly on September 10, 3053, and they return on November 29, 3053.

Money:

196198 paid each month to my four companies in Myth Battalion.

For a year – 2,353,536

With remuneration, we made 3.414 million after payment in salary and stuff.

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, let’s do the Objective Raid by ComStar. We are sending Sabre Company for their shake-down mission.


Sabre Company, Objective Raid for ComStar

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.3, x4.0, x1.6,
Support: 50% Battle Loss
Command: Independant
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 2 months
Transport: Full
22.5% Bonus

We arrive on Gomeisa on Feb 16.

Feb 16 - Our rented DropShip drops off Sabre Company at a local DropPort. The facility we want to hit is in this town, roughly five miles.

Feb 20 – After scouting the area, we believe that the ComStar intel is right, and that only vehicles garrison the facility. It’s more that ComStar thought though -0 they believed it was a company, but it’s about 20 vehicles. We intend to do this though. We rent extra space on the DropShip for the way home – expecting salvage from vehicles.

Nothing on this planet looks new, certainly not the tanks. This should be easy.

Feb 24 – We leave our DropShip around mid-afternoon and move hot to the complex. There are no mechs in the area, and we are a complete surprise to everyone

We arrive at our destination in a half hour, after making sure not to trample cars or people. The garrison was informed of our coming and they are waiting for us in a giant ferrocrete loading section of the facility. Our goal is to destroy these guards and then destroy the facility.

We are facing 20 random tanks. It would take too long to list them. You’ll recognize them from previous attacks.

[Abe Sargent]

T1 – We lose init. We run the Ryoken right up to a Drillson Hover Tank. Our Jav joins. Here we go:

Our Attilla ATA-2 immobilizes a Striker Light Tank.

After taking two gauss shells from our Galahad, the Shadow Hawk IIc destroys the engine on their Von Luckner.

Four clan ER Large Lasers lance from the Supernova to destroy the Shrek PPC Carriers LS. Earlier, it had hit with all three PPCs on our BattleMaster.

Our Ryoken C destroys the Drillson’s LS with very accurate fire from its pulse lasers and LB 10-X. That’s our first kill by an ex-clanner.

Our Vulture Prime destroys their Harasser Missile Platform’s front side. That’s our second kill.

They quit and leave. They have no desire to continue after losing 5 of their 20 tanks in one turn plus facing clan mechs. We announce to the facility that we will be destroying it in 10 minutes allowing evacuation time. Meanwhile, we order some mechs to carry back the salvaged tanks.


Striker Light Tank, immobilized
Von Luckner, destroyed engine
Shrek PPC Carrier, LS destroyed
Drillson LS
Harasser Missile Platform FS

We pay 50k to fix armor.
We pay 450k to get these five tanks up and running again.


We made 1.382 mill

We will return on May 15

[Abe Sargent]

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 –
Cinq Company -
Brawler Company –
Delta Company –
Trinity Company –
Laser Company –


Beta Regiment:

Phaeton Company –
Boxer Company –
Rebel Company –
Mustang Company –
Hex Company –
Raven Company -
Aleph Company –
Butler Company –
Sabre Company – Return on May 15, 3053


Bruiser Company -
Shadow Company -

Aerospace Company-
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 –

[Abe Sargent]

Rewind

Feb 1, 3053 – Contracts!

St. Ives Compact wants Riot/Garrison contract
Dracs want Obj Raid on Jag World
Extraction Raid by company

The company is a Davion Holding that wants us to raid Caps on the world of Masterson. It’s relatively quiet, 6 jumps away, and we can have a group there by April 27. They want us to grab a mech chassis that is being worked on in secret on the world and bring it back. It’s something called a Huron Warrior.

We will be sending Raven Company for their first mission. The expected defense is just infantry and that’s it – anything else would be suspicious. We go in, we break some heads, and we grab the mech chassis and head out.


Raven Company, Extraction Raid for Company

Salvage: Exchange
Salary: x1.1, x2.4, x1.6,
Support: 25% Battle Loss
Command: Liaison
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 3 months
Transport: Half


The Drac’s Objective Raid is on Kabah, and it would take waaay to long to get there and do the raid, so we say no.

The Compact wants a company for Riot Duty/Garrison on Vestallas for 4 months. They’ve had some restless demonstrations and such due to Pro-Liao propaganda in the wake of Sun-Tzu’s rise to power in the Capellan Confederation. A unit can be there on June 24. We contract Butler Company to do their first contract.

Butler Company, Riot/Garrison for St. Ives

Salvage: Exchange
Salary: x1.3, x2.8,
Support: 25% Battle Loss
Command: House
Remuneration: No, x1.05
Length: 4 months
Transport: Full

They will arrive on June 24. We roll for each month. After four months, nothing happens and they return. They will come back on Jan 5, 3054.

Money: 463,588 spent for the year for Butler. We made 55k total.

We send out Raven Company. The intel is spot on and we return. Due to the half transport aspect, we lost 722k.

Raven returns on Dec 10, 3053.

[Abe Sargent]

Apr 30 – We arrive at Masterson, a bit behind schedule

May 5 – After a lot of scouting, we have narrowed down where we think the Huron Warrior chassis is being worked on.

May 12 – We have confirmed that the Chassis is at a warehouse on the other side of ht eplanet.

May 25 – If we had just blasted off and moved ot the other DropShip, people would have been suspicious, so we blast off, returned to the JumpShip, and relanded.

That night, we break out and move for the warehouse. Infantry scatter and we find a chassis being worked on. We grab it, bring it back, and run into no problems at all.

May 26 – On the way out, we run into some fighters ,but they aren’t able t keep up and drop off.

[Abe Sargent]

Rewind

March 1 – Contracts:

Company wants: Security
Free Worlds League wants: Defense
Free Rasalhague Wants: Obj Raid
FedCom wants: Cadre

Let’s look at the last first. The FedCom wants to pay a unit that fought the clans to go to a world in the Lyran half and help train the local militia how to fight clans. The goal is to land at Kelenfold and help out the locals for 8 months. Cadre duty is very easy and very cheaply paid. We decide to send Laser Company, formerly known as Lance. Their Lt. Akwasi Oppoku defeated the clans in a one on one battle with her Attila. They know the clans very well.


Laser Cadre Contract

Salvage: N/A
Salary: x0.75, x2.6, x1.3
Support: 50% Straight Support
Command: Integrated
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 8 months
Transport: Full

We will arrive on Kelenfold on June 5. Our contract will end on February 5 and they will return on April 21, 3054. They are not allowed to fight as per their contract.

We make 816k. We spend 665k for 16 months of upkeep and salary, so we made 151k.

[Abe Sargent]

The Objective Raid the FRR wants is actually, surprise surprise, not on a clan held world. They want us to hit the Drac world of Trolloc Prime. They are 7 jumps away and it would take us . It’s near the border and well guarded. We will take Bruiser and Shadow Company, and our own transport – The Scots Flotilla Merchant-class JumpShip and two Unions – Serendipitous Victory and Robin Hood.

The goal is to get in, and destroy the stolen FRR technologies that are being taken apart and studied in a Drac lab.


Shadow/Bruiser Objective Raid on Trolloc Prime

Salvage: Full
Salary: x1.6, x4.0, x1.1
Support: 50% Battle Loss
Command: Indy
Remuneration: Yes, x1.05
Length: 3 months
Transport: 100% Repaid
17.5% Bonus

We will arrive in the system on June 16 and land on the planet on June 24th.

Let’s roll.

[Abe Sargent]

June 23th – We arrive on planet a bit earlier than scheduled. Our intel is not up to date, and it appears that the FRR stuff has been moved to several locations on the planet, and not just one. Shadow Company has the Union-C and the Elementals on one side of the planet and Bruiser is on the other.

June 25 – We believe that FRR tech is in three places. One is in the largest city on the planet – Davis City. Davis is a trading city, and it’s also the capital and home of the major planetary university, which is where some of the FRR tech is being taken apart and researched. We believe this will require a covert mission, and not mechs.

We are still looking for the other two locations.

June 28 – We’ve found the other two. The planet has very little in the way of mining, but there are some nice tin deposits that bring in little cash. Due to the low value of tin, they were not mined in the last few hundred years, but now the planet needs money. The tin mines are built around an industrial center, and we believe that several items are being researched in one of the buildings there.

The other is in a central garrison location, and there FRR weapons are being broke apart by the techs.

The garrison location is near Bruiser Company and no one is near the tin mines.

July 12 – We launched and landed our DropShip and are in the large city. We use FRR contacts to get access to the university. We set up ten elementals around the perimeter to assist if needed. After penetrating, we discover a simple lab. With overwhelming force of arms, we breaks into the lab, kill the scientists, and destroy the FRR technology, and then leave. No one is alerted until after we are gone. The first one is done.

July 14 – Patrols comb the streets of Davis City and all DropShips were not cleared for two days while they searched for the saboteurs. Eventually they find nothing and we are allowed to leave. Meanwhile, Bruiser Company is getting ready.

Brusier Company is attacking the garrison just as our clan Union-C does a hit landing just outside of the tin mines and Shadow Company breaks out.

Shadow Company, led by Braham Essex in his new Orion.

Out come the mine defense. It was supposed to be vehicles and infantry only, but it is reinforced with a lance of mechs and another mech.

[Abe Sargent]

Their mechs:

Goliath, Veteran
Wolverine 7K *, veteran
Rifleman
Panther
Stinger 3G variant

Tanks:

Scorpion Light Tankx2
Hunter Light Support Tank
Saladin Assault Hover Tank
Goblin Medium Tank, green
Vedette Medium Tankx2
Zhukov Heavy Tank
Bulldog Medium Tank
LRM Carrier
Sturmfeur Heavy Tank, veteran
Ontos Heavy Tank

Infantry:

Foot SRM Platoon
Laser Jump
Flamer Jump
SRM Motorized
Laser Motorized

Everybody else is a regular unless noted

The BV is 15k vs 36k for us.


This is our Shootist. It’s a 70 ton mech designed as a command mech but replaced by the BattleMaster. They were created 400 years ago. This one is a normal one, and it comes with an ER Large Laser, an AC20, two medium pulse lasers and a small laser. It has ferro-fib armor and almost max protection. It moves 4/6 and disperses 13/26 heat. It’s a very good mech, and it’s basically an upgraded Hunchback with more armor, better support close-in weapons and a long range weapon. You could modify it with a Gauss Rifle instead of the AC20 to make it a long range mech but I like it as a mech that charges in, firing its ER LL to warm an opponent and then dashing it with AC20 fire, 2 tons of ammo (plus CASE). It’s a mech that actually uses level 2 tech well.