To represent their well-equipped status, instead of my normal roll to determine weight (1, 2 light; 3,4 medium; 5 heavy; 6 assault) I will be rolling a simple 1,2,3,4 for each class, and reroll a 5 or 6. That will increase the chance for heavier mechs.

Vinson’s Victorious:

Wasp
Whitworth
Atlas
Rifleman
LCT-1M Locust
Quickdraw
Battlemaster
Thunderbolt
Hermes II
Stinger
Longbow


There are a few mechs here we’ve not fought against yet, so I’ll go over them.

The Battlemaster is a really really strong assault mech at 85 tons, featuring 14.5 tons of armor, a PPC, six medium lasers (but two face the rear) and SRM6 and two machine guns. It even sports seven extra heat sinks. It is one of the best assault mechs out there, no question.

The Longbow is arguably the single most dedicated fire support mech in the 3025 world. It’s an 85 ton assault mech with two LRM20s and then two LRM5s, and just two medium lasers for closer combat, which won’t even dissuade the thinnest armored light mechs from closing. You have to protect it. Like the Battlemaster, it also has a massive 232 points of armor from 14.5 tons, so it can stop and just fire missles in, and exchange fire with the enemy from a safe distance.

The Quickdraw is a relatively meaningless 60 ton heavy mech. It has just 8 tons of armor when it could have up to 12 tons. It has just an LRM10, SRM4, and four medium lasers, two of which face the rear. It is mobile with a 5/8/5 movement, but its nothing special at all. There are medium mechs that are better armored and with a better weapons selectiont than that.

The LCT-1M variant of the Locust has LRM5s and just one ton of armor. It’s literally the dumbest light mech of them all. (In my opinion). One ton of armor is a joke. 16 points of armor spread over two arms, two legs, two torsos, a head and a center torso. That’s a joke.

The Thunderbolt is another of the top heavy mechs of the era. It’s a 65 ton mech and it is ugly. It has max armor at 13 tons, a large laser, an SRM2, two machine guns and three medium lasers, plus five extra heat sinks. It is designed to close and blast.

Of course, we are also going up against the 100 ton Atlas, the 40 ton fire support Whitworth, a Stinger and Wasp, Rifleman and Hermes II.

Their breakdown:

Lights: 3
Mediums: 2
Heavies: 3
Assaults: 3

That’s a pretty even distribution for 11 mechs.

There are some central ravines running through the map six hexes down. I can jump down and back up, and jump over. Otherwise, I’ll keep most of my mechs on one side or the other.

The first turn we move through the snow and past the chasms, firing on the Battlemaster with a lot of long-range missles. Not many hit.

My Wolvie falls down while moving on the ice - its slippery. This turn we are firing at the Atlas who moved out into the snow. Every single mech I have that has range to the atlas is firing, about 14 of my 18 mechs are blasting it. Result? The head is hit by one set of missles, but nothing serious, and it remains standing. It’s not even close to going internal. And I have some good mechs too!

I stand up my Wolvie and run behind a ridge. Then I focus all of my fire on their Atlas. Again. Every single mech except my Goliath which does not have line of sight to the Atlas so he is tacking the Rifleman. One of my Griffins teras open its Right Torso and hit’s the AC20, taking it offline. It takes one damage to its head with some missiles. It’s still standing. I hope another barrage will bring it down. It has been attacked about 25 times by various mechs in two turns.

Their Hermes II slipped and fell down. Thirteen mechs and the Hunter Light Tank all attack the Atlas again. My hope is that we can take it out this round. Ted tears open its right leg, and hits the hip actuator. I hit its foot with my LRM and hit a foot actuator. Our Dervish hits its LRM20 and SRM6, taking out most of its weaponry. Finally, our new Griffin hit’s the Atlas and ignites the LRM ammo, causing a massive explosion and the mech is dead. That’s a confirmed kill for Justine Dempsey.

One mech down, 10 to go.

What I am doing is exchanging my targets. Two turns ago, they concentrated fire on our Phoenix Hawk, so the next turn I jump it out and jump another mech in, the Wolverine. Then I repeat as needed, rotating targets of opportunity and refusing to give them one good target for more than a turn.

This turn we are concentrating fire on the Rifleman a bit, but a few have good Line of Sight to the Whitworth instead, and a few of my light mechs are skirmishing with opposing light mechs. The Jav, in its first battle, opens up the opposing Wasp’s right arm and hits its medium laser, knocking out its weaponry. The other Orion destroys the opposing Rifleman’s head with its AC10, so it is gone, and the mech falls down, headless. We did open up a torso and hit the medium laser, so that will need to be fixed. Our Centurion falls after taking some damage. Our Spider misses a kick on a Locust and falls.

Round six begins. I fire at the Locust with my Goliath with the hope that we can take it out in one turn. I concentrate a lot of my fire on the Battlemaster. If I can take out the major threats, the Atlas, the Battlemaster, the Longbow, and the Thunderbolt, then the rest is gravy. I’m firing the Goliath at the Locust because he has a line of sight, and I doubt it will take much more than that to kill it. A few other folks are trying to take out the Wasp while they have LOS. Our new Jav blows out the Wasp’s RA. Adele Thompson in her Firestarter takes out the RL, LL and LA all in one attack phase. The Goliath blows off the LL and LT of the Locust, although the LA is on the ground beside it. There is just one point of armor left in the center torso of the mech internal, and the engine is hit on a critical. Their Longbow cracks open Ted’s LA on his Stalker and hit’s the LRM10 there. Their Hermes II blows off the LL of my Spider. Our Archer manages to hit the head of the Battlemaster with five missiles off an LRM barrage which rings the bell of the pilot. Our Stalker falls under the onslaught, and a medium laser is damaged. Upper Arm and Shoulder Actuators are hit on our Spider. The Wasp falls, and with both legs destroyed, I give the kill to Adele. The Locust falls with the leg gone, and dies falling, destroying the center torso. I give that kill to Su Yuan, among our newest recruits.

I order my MechWarrior in the Spider to eject, considering how damaged it is. I’m dumping the ammo from the LRM10s, which are in the Stalker’s arm. Dumb place for it. I’m going to have to edit that soon. Ted’s edge saved the Stalker, because the first location rolled for a crit was the ammo, but that was a rerollable die, and it hit the LRM10 the second time. The Longbow hits my Goliath’s head for five damage which deals a damage to Su Yuan. Anakago Intade’s LRM10 on his Griffin goes internal into the Battlemaster and hits the SRM6 ammo causing a major explosion and taking out the mech.

My new target will be the Longbow. A normal unit would retreat now, taking their losses and regrouping, but Vinson was in the Atlas and is not on the field anymore, and these pirates know that their days are numbered. They are fighting for pride. We exchange fire.


I stand up my Stalker and get it ready for more combat, but it is devoid of its LRM10s, due to be dumping my ammo. Still has Large lasers and three mediums and SRM6‘s though. Their Whitworth hit’s the Firestarter’s Shoulder Actuator and Flamer on the Right Arm. Our Jav takes out the Right Arm of a Stinger. Adele’s Firestarter kicks the left leg out from under the Stinger, and it falls without the leg to support itself.

Ted in the Stalker double taps the Longbow’s engine. One more engine hit and it will shut down. An Upper Leg Actuator is hit on the Goliath and the head is hit a second time and goes internal. Our Archer hit’s the head of the Thunderbolt with a few missiles. Our Dervish falls after it takes damage. The Longbow is open in four places, devoid of external armor.

I order the Goliath to do a special move available only to quad mechs. Hull Down, to hide behind the hill. I also decide to take my Stalker prone again. He took some damage and is close to internal in several places. I’ll him back out if/when needed. I get a Through Armor Critical on the Whitworth and hit the engine once. The Goliath TACs the Quickdraw’s lower leg and foot actuators. The Longbow falls under another assault and hits its head. The Longbow loses its left arm when it falls.

Their Quickdraw hops over to my Goliath and prone Centurion intending to fire on us. It falls to the ground on unstable legs. I stand up my Centurion to teach it the error of its choice. Their Longbow stands back up. The Griffin takes out two medium lasers on the Quickdraw. Then just another exchange of fire. No dead Longbow, no dead Hermes, no dead Quickdraw.

The Quickdraw pilot fails to get up and falls down twice, taking damage both times. Then the Stinger pilot blacks out after doing the same. Our Phoenix Hawk hit’s the upper arm actuator on the Quickdraw’s LA. The Hunter Light Tank, with its last round of ammo, destroys the Longbow’s right leg (with a limb blown off critical so it is on the ground) and then destroys the left torso. Then hit’s the gyro and does some damage to the head as well. The Hunter screwed it up. The new Panther destroys the Quickdraw’s RA. The Longbow’s pilot blacks out when it falls. Our Jav jumped behind the Tbolt and laid some medium laser lovin into it. Then when it punches, it tears through the remaining rear armor and hit’s the LRM15,

To recap what it left, the Longbow is blacked out and missing an arm, leg and torso. The Wasp is missing two legs and both arms, and is weaponless Their Stinger is blacked out and missing a leg. Their Quickdraw has lost two arms and is open in three other areas, including just one point of armor left in the left torso, a section with ammo waiting to kill the mech. The Hermes II is critical in three areas. The Whitworth just got sandblasted by missiles this turn, and their only strong mech just lost its biggest weapon.

We get a radio call from the Thunderbolt pilot to discuss terms of surrender. Here’s the deal, any surrendered mechs, as opposed to those we capture, have to be turned over to the Free Worlds League. They get the Thunderbolt, Hermes II, Quickdraw and Whitworth.

We salvage the following:

Longbow - Missing LA, LT, RL, 2 engine, 1 gyro

Wasp - Missing both legs and arms. Jump Jet and Heat Sink in Left Torso hit.

Stinger - Missing RA and RL.

Rifleman - Missing Head. Medium Laser hit.


Longbow RL
Locust Head, LA, RT, RA

My guys report:

Spider - LL gone, two arm actuators are hit

Stalker - LRM10, Medium Laser

Goliath - Upper Leg Actuator on Front Right Leg.

Firestarter - Shoulder and Flamer


I estimate about 35 tons of armor needed for our mechs. Our Stalker and Goliath each had about half of their armor knocked off, and that’s about 16 tons right there.

I estimate about 10 tons of armor needed to salvaged mechs.

Total armor costs: 450,000

To replace ammo for our mechs:

3 tons of AC10 armor
10 tons of LRM20 ammo
12 tons of LRM10 ammo
3 tons of LRM15 ammo
3 tons of SRM6 armor
1 ton of SRM4 ammo
1 ton of machine gun ammo
1 ton of AC5 ammo

Ammo Costs: 885,500


To fix salvaged mechs:

Longbow. Value - 7,408,325. To Fix - 1,750,000. Current Value - 5,658,325

I was able to reattach its left leg. We were able to fix the engine and gyro as well.

Rifleman. Value - 4,860,000. To Fix - 725,000. Current Value - 4,135,000.

Stinger. Value - 1.615,440. To Fix - 325,000. Current Value - 1,290,000

Wasp. Value - 1,644,720. To Fix - 600,000. Current Value - 1,044,720


We fix the actuators on the mechs, but we have to replace a few damaged items.

Cost to replace - 42,500


Total Costs to fix our mechs and armor their mechs: 1,378,000

Total Costs to fix salvaged mechs: 3,400,000

Total War Chest After paying these costs: 3,767,495

We now have operational Stinger, Wasp, Longbow and Rifleman. They will not be ready, nor will the Spider be fixed, by the time we assault the other pirate base.


I had a spare Spider left leg in our parts which we used to fix up our Spider.

I’ll calculate the rest of the contract later. After the next mission. This was our best mission, we got four mechs, one of which (Longbow) is actually good. The others are chump mechs, but they bulk out your roster and meet legitimate needs.

Three regular pilots that we capture are deemed worthy enough to join us. All want to in order to avoid jail in Free Worlds Space, but we deem three to have become involved in piracy for different reasons, so we take them.

Alright, let’s look at the next group of pirates we have to take down.


September 8, 3033 - We arrive at another nameless system two jumps away from the previous system. Marik intel has this as the location of a minor band of patchwork pirates. This fight will be against many enemies, but few will have value.

September 11, 3033 - We land on the planet outside of the only town here. Our drop is contested by the defenses. We’ll still mop them up. I am giving them an easy drop attack in order to entice them to actually attack us instead of running away.

The same rules in place for when we attacked a drop apply to us now. I roll a die for every mech and vehicle we have. That is the turn they come into play.


Their forces:

Four VTOLs
Four infantry platoons
15 company of tanks
A lance of mechs

Wasp
Wasp 1W - a weird variant with six small lasers
Locust
Shadow Hawk



The deadliest tank is the dreaded LRM Carrier, a tank with THREE LRM20s. It’s slow and has little armor, but if we ignore it, we will get assaulted by missiles.

I will not be dropping my infantry or Hunter Tank. This is a mission for just my mechs.

I issue a rule to my MechWarriors. Don’t use missile weapons unless you have too. They are expensive to replace.

We only start with one unit, the Cicada, will start in play. My Cicada is literally surrounded and the first round does not go well. I run three steps into water to escape the gang bang, but I am still pummeled. The Cicada loses its RT which causes it RA to fall to the ground, and the pilot blacks out rolling a mighty 2 and needing just a three to stay conscious. Just goes to show you that you never know what is going to happen once battle begins. I can’t even eject from the mech the following turn.

Our Dervish and Goliath join the Cicada on round two. We exchange fire. My elite Cicada pilot needs a 5 to wake up and fails. Sheesh.

The only mech we get on the third turn is Adele’s Firestarter. Hope it is enough to help out. I jump my Firestarter behind the LRM Carrier but misses many of the 7s it needed to put the Carrier out of commission. It gets a gyro and engine taken out. It falls. The Cicada pilot wakes up.

This turn we get both Orions and the Archer out. I order my Cicada and Firestarter pilots to eject. My Archer unloads two LRM20s on the LRM Carrier and destroys the power plant. Our Dervish gets an SRM2 and Lower Arm Actuator hit. It’s dangerously damaged. The other Orion hits a Brutus Assault Tank and causes the fuel tank to explode. Then the Goliath kicks and destroys a Savannah Master. Its armor is down to half the original coverage and almost internal in two areas. The Dervish is savaged.

I get both Griffins, the Panther and Locust this turn. I expose our flank on the south side of the coast, and my opponent decides to exploit it by sending a Wasp over. It’s a smart plan, but he slips and falls in the water. The damage dealt to the mech causes a breach in the mech. Water floods the internal workings and the mech shuts down. It’s virtually damage free once you drain the water, dry it out, and start it up again. They hit a foot and lower leg actuator on our Goliath. Later attacks hit its PPC twice and a machine gun. I destroy the left side of a Hetzer Assault Gun. Ankago’s Griffin takes out a copter. The Archer destroys a Strike Light Tank. Our Panther destroyed the left side of the Vedette and destroyed the engine but no explosion. After taking damage, our Goliath falls. The other Griffin kicked and destroyed a Savannah Master Hovercraft, the power plant exploded.

The next turn brings the Stalker, Wolverine, Centurion, Phoenix Hawk, and Javelin. This is our final selection of mechs. I order Su Yuan to eject from the Goliath. We’re winning, so let’s not risk losing any mechs. My Locust failed a piloting check while turning on a road and skidded right off the map. The Panther gets a kill on the AC2 Carrier’s crew, meaning the tank is still good. Our Dervish explodes when its ammo is touched off by a Drillson tank. Boom! The RA, RT and CT were all destroyed and we’ll see what else after the battle. The Archer destroyed the Wheeled APC’s front armor, taking it out. The Dervish took out all of the movement on the Drillson that hit it, and it is now stationary.

The following turn the Panther destroys a Galleon Light Tank by taking out the front armor. Our Phoenix Hawk takes out the RA of the variant Wasp. We exchange fire mostly this turn.

A couple of their fast hover tanks keep circling behind my backs, its annoying. They just moved their J. Edgar Hover Tank right behind my Archer as an example. They just moved the Condor Heavy Hover Tank behind my Stalker. One of their VTOLs crashs and burns. Ted hit’s the foot and upper leg actuators on the Shadow Hawk’s RL. Then the Orion just blows it off. Anakago’s Griffin destroys a VTOL’s rotor and it crashes to the ground in a fiery explosion. The Archer hit’s the LRM5 ammo on the Shadow Hawk and it explodes, taking the mech with it, but it‘s RA survived. The pilot did not make it out and died in the explosion. I suspect that was the leader, since it was a mech, and the heaviest mech they had.

On the next turn, the Centurion destroys a Striker Light Tank blowing up the power plant. The other Orion blows up the power plant of a Condor Heavy Hover Tank.

We have destroyed four fifths of my opponent’s army, so they surrender. We lost the Dervish, which was my original mech way back when. We gained a Wasp. We turn over the Wasp variant and Locust to Marik, as well as the mobile tanks and VTOLs left.

One of these pirates is deemed good for our company (I rolled a 12 on 2d6 to determine if he was fit).

Salvaged:

Wasp - No Damage

Drillson Tank - Treads completely destroyed.

AC2 Carrier - Need to fix some damage.

Wheeled APC - Need armor fixed

Shadow Hawk RA
Cicada RA

Some weapons from damaged tanks:

AC20
Medium Laser x2
Small Laser x2


Damages:

Cicada RA, RT

Goliath - Foot and Lower Leg Actuator. PPC x2, MG

Firestarter - Gyro and engine, each hit once

huh, it seemed like the 2nd fight was trickier for you than the first (or maybe i'm just reading it wrong :P)

Yeah, the scattered deployment is tough.

Money Stuff:

Regular techs fix the Goliath except for the MG, which needs to be replaced.

An elite tech fixes the treads on the Drillson.

Vet techs fix the Firestarter’s gyro and engine.


To Fix:

Drillson Tank - 20000

AC2 Carrier - 30000

Wheeled APC - 10000

Cicada - 400,0000


Replacement armor:

300,000

Replacement ammo:

278,000


Total Costs to fix and repair mechs and vehicles:

1,038,000

The jumps back are just 14 instead of 15 from our new location.


Cost to run mercenary group: 608,500


Salary: 175,531


Total Losses: 1,470,969

War Chest: 2,296,526

We lost money, but gained a metric ton of war materiel.

Our new MechWarriors:

Stacy Stowers, regular
Maria Santos, regular
Hassan Mohammad, regular
Elena Stoyovich, regular

We also had two MechWarriors notch four kills.

Anakago Intade, pilot of a Griffin, gets a gunnery gain.

Martin Fitzgerald, the other Orion pilot gain Edge: 1.

January 15, 3034 - We arrive back in Outreach and another round of recruiting occurs.


The only thing I am able to get are a couple of veteran dispossessed MechWarriors if I want them. I have five, one dispossessed from the last round, and the four we gathered on our missions .

I gained the following mechs:

Wasp x2
Stinger
Rifleman
Longbow

I’m going to hire the two dispossessed vet MechWarriors and put them in the Rifleman and Longbow.

Garman Lopez, veteran, Longbow
David Delgado, veteran Rifleman


I sell my vehicles, except for the Hunter Light Support Tank, for the amount of 3,660,213

War Chest: 5,956,739 C Bills

I make a few calls to see if I can find a few mechs that I like.

It’s a rarer mech, having only been made for about six years, but I am able to locate a Wolfhound (I rolled a 12 on 2d6).

WLF-1 Wolfhound is a 35 ton light mech with max armor, a large laser, four medium lasers, with one facing the rear and 6/9 speed. It’s a great mech. I assign Roger Stephens to the Wolfhound, a veteran dispossessed MechWarrior that we took with us on the mission.

That leaves the two Wasps and a Stinger. I assign three of the four MechWarriors that we recruited while in the periphery.

I order our techs to repair the Flea by using a Locust head and arm. I put the last MechWarrior in the refurbished Flea.

Total number of operational mechs:

24

That’s two companies of mechs. Time to reorganize the Kilts and Commandos:


Company One - The Kilts

Anvil Lance:

Lieutenant Braham Essex, Orion, veteran
Roger Stephens, veteran, Wolfhound
Salia James, regular, Wolverine
Samia Oudghiri, regular, Phoenix Hawk, PXH-1D


Hammer Lance:

Sergeant Rafael Gomez, elite, Archer
Justine Dempsey, regular, Griffin
Michael Adkins, regular, Centurion
Su Yuan, regular, Goliath


Thunder Lance:

Sergeant Adele Thompson, regular, Firestarter
Liu Chen, green, Spider
Stacy Stowers, regular, Wasp
Elena Stoyovich, regular, Flea

I am assigning the foot (SRM) and anti-mech jump infantry to this company.

Company Two - The Commandos


Anvil Lance:

Lieutenant Ted Izumo, veteran, Stalker
Sergeant Martin Fitzgerald, elite, Orion
Melissa Darrow, regular, Panther
Anna Cafincelli, elite, Cicada


Hammer Lance:

Sergeant Anakago Intade, veteran, Griffin
Garman Lopez, veteran, Longbow
David Delgado, veteran, Rifleman
Bryant McKinnon, regular, Panther


Thunder Lance:

Sergeant Raquel Sanchez, regular, Javelin 10-F
Umbria Mutunde, regular, Locust
Maria Santos, regular, Stinger
Samir Azif, regular Wasp


I am assigning the Hunter Light Tank and two rifle infantry, one motorized one foot to this company.

We currently have one dispossessed MechWarriors - and Hassan Mohommad.


I promoted Martin Fitzgerald to Sergeant, Ted Izumo to Lieutenant, Rafael Gomez to Sergeant, Raquel Sanchez to Sergeant.

After assigning mechs, I realize that I have too many scout mechs. I should have 8, perhaps ten to have one in the anvil/hammer section if needed. I have twelve, fully half of my mechs. I do a search and find another Panther for sale. I switch with a Wasp, selling the Wasp for cash.

Here is my War Chest after transactions. 2,065,668

Break Down of Each Company:



Looks like the second company is better off from an experience view and a size of meches view. Then they get the Hunter Light Support Tank too, but they get the worse infantry.

Now that we have two separate companies, I can do something different.

Take separate contracts.

Before I do that, I was to institute the first round of Field Refits.

If you want to change things around in a mech, you can. However, you have to roll to see if your techs succeed. A mech is a balanced vehicle and it takes skill and care to change it.

The ideal circumstances are to pull components and weapons for components and weapons that take up the same amount of space and weigh the same.

For example, suppose I want to pull out two Machine Guns in the center torso of a mech for other weapons. A machine gun weighs half a ton and takes up one critical spot, so I am taking out a total of one ton and two crits. If I were to replace them with two small lasers, which weigh a half ton each and take up one crit slot each as well, then I’d still have to roll for it, but it would be easy to do.

Not every refit is gong to do that. Suppose I want to pull both MGs for a Medium Laser. A Medium Laser weighs one ton and takes up one critical slot. I am off by one degree, so the roll will be higher. Similarly, I might want to add an SRM6 which weighs three tons and takes up two crits. I am still off by one degree, only this time it is tonnage instead of space. These are more difficult.

Now, suppose I wanted to replace them with an LRM5, which weighs two tons and takes up one critical space. I am off on tonnage and space as well. This is very difficult. It’s still doable, but the difficulty level rises, because you re still trying to balance the mech.

Refit Mech #1:

Firestarter. Every mech that wants to be a heatmonger should have an SRM2. There is a special ammo type for SRM2 launchers available called inferno rounds. This is basically a gelatinous napalm like substance., delivered by an SRM2. When it hits an opposing mech, instead of dealing damage, it adds 6 heat for the current round and the next two rounds. If you want a mech designed to force an opponent to overheat, this needs to be part of its arsenal.

I pull out the rear facing Flamer in the center torso and replace it with a front facing SRM2 system. Both weigh a ton and take up one crit. That makes this an easy refit. It succeeds.

Next I need a place for the SRM2 inferno ammo. I am pulling a Medium Laser off its right arm, and adding one ton of inferno ammo to its right torso. This is hard. Let’s see if I can pull it off. My elite tech succeeds, and the replacement is made.

Next I want to pull the Medium Laser off the left arm, and add two machine guns to the right torso. I make a roll. It works on the first roll (I rolled a 10).

Lastly, I want to pull out a ton of MG ammo and add a MG to the RT torso. The weight stays the same, but the crits are changing, so its just off by one degree. Again I succeed on the first throw.

Our new Firestarter, the FS-9Abe

Flamer x3, in RA, LA and CT
SRM2 in CT
Inferno Ammo in RT
MG Ammo in RT
MG in LT
MG x4 in RT

When a critical is rolled, you have an equal chance to hit all components. Putting a bunch of extra Mgs in the RT helps to lower the chance of an ammo explosion. I added the MGs because they are heatless, and sometimes this mech goes overheat badly. Five machine guns also gives the mech a strong anti-personnel role since MGs are slaughter against infantry. It’s also good at shredding back armor.

If I had a couple of months layover, I’d further modify the mech by pulling out both flamers from the arms and adding one to the head and the other to the RT. That way I can fire and punch in the same turn, and my weapons are not in arms which are easy to blow off. Disadvantage is that you cannot reach around any weapons to hit someone in your rear arc, but it’s a tradeoff worth taking.

I need Adele to get some more kills so that she can increase her gunnery skill and be more effective with the Firestarter.

Okay, time for contracts.



Kilts Company Contracts

One Contract offer.

We get an offer from the Draconis Combine, which I take to mean not from the Combine itself, since it is currently under the “Death to Mercenaries” event. Instead, dissident rebels in the faction must be making us an offer. I check to see what it currently going on in the B-Tech universe, and I see that factions in the Rasalhague District are making noise right now. We are contacted by them for a Retainer contract.

A Retainer contract puts you under the control of your employer, and you can be used in any number of ways, from garrison to assault to raids. Anything. It is the only contract we are offered (I rolled poorly).

Looks like we are heading to Drac space to assist the Rasalhague dissidents. Let’s negotiate the contract.

We start with 96 points, up 16 from our normal 80.

I put salvage rights up first, knowing I can make ourselves get anything. They offer exchange rights, and I counter with shared rights. We are down to 86.

They put up contract length at a year. I spend 30 points and knock it down to six months. 56 points remaining.

Next up for me is transport rights. They offer 40% and I accept. We now have 71 points.

They add payment to the contract, and buy out 25 points to offer us a 3.4 multiplier. I choose not to counter. 46 points left.

I roll with support. They offer straight support. I counter with Battle Loss Compensation at 50%. 11 points left.

The Rasalhague dissidents put up remuneration and offer it to us. We gain 5% to our salary and lose 10 points, 1 point left.

The last right is command rights, and they offer a liaison, so there is no change. We end with 1 point left, so we will be getting a minor 0.5% bonus to our salary as a signing bonus.

We are jumping to the Rasalhague system for our first assignment.

The Commandoes Company

Despite being a newer company, they get three offers.

A Corporation wants them for garisson work

A corporation wants them for an objective raid.

The Federated Suns want them for an obj raid too.

They negotiate with the Suns.

They have 55 points to use.

Ted Izumo puts up remuneration and declines, adding ten points right there. 65 points,

They offer full transport. 65 points.

He adds salvage rights and they offer exchange, and he counters with shared. 55 points.

They put up salary and pull out 25 points. 3.4 multiplier, 30 points.

He puts up contract length. They offer four months, Ted brings that to two months. 20 points.

They offer independent command, dropping us to 10 points.

Support is tossed up next. They offer straight support at 70% and pull out the last ten points.

That’s it, contract is all done.

The Commandos company is raiding a Capellan Confederation world. Let me see what would be appropriate. They will be raiding Minnacora, a Capellan held world six jumps away from Outreach. It’s a plain little planet, not used for much. Apparently a valuable mineral was supposedly discovered here. House Davion wants proof that this valuable mineral is actually there, and if so, may have plans for it. . We are to drop in, kill any resistance, allow a geological team that will be accompanying us to take their samples, and then blast off.

Today is January 15, 3034. We will arrive at Minnacora on March 13, 3034, and then land on planet two days later, exactly two months from now.

We will run the object raid first, then do the Kilts company second.

When we arrive in system, the handful of Capellan Defenders suspect that we are either here to occupy the world, or to attack their supply depot. The Commandos company blasts down to a geological site with a group of geologic surveyors. When the Capellan’s realize what the Commandos company is doing, they immediately begin boarding their own DropShip and will launch for us. Although there are a battalion of mechs on planet, only one DropShip is nearby and it only has space for a single company.

Their ship burns for us, and the mechs drop away a heavy number of klicks away, so we cannot leave behind the geological team until they have landed. Then we move out and hit their company.

Their company:

Phoenix Hawk x2
Grasshopper
Charger
Battlemaster
Awesome
Stinger
Rifleman
Enforcer
Raven
Wolverine
UrbanMech


The Raven is a fast scout light mech exclusive to the Capellan Confederation. The Enforcer is a typical 50 ton mech with an AC10 and Large Laser. While the Charger is an assault mech, it was one of the worst mech designs. The Charger was a decent mech back when Star League technology knew how to make lighter engines and reduce the weight of steel. It is an assault mech with a speed of 5/8, but only has enough space left for ten tons of armor and five small lasers. The Awesome is an assault mech with three PPCs and almost enough heat sinks to fire them all, plus virtually maximum armor.

We are fighting by some rolling hills.

Alright, here we go:

On the first turn, Ted’s Stalker destroys the RA of the Raven. Their Enforcer breaks through the LL armor on my Cicada and hit’s the upper leg actuator. The Longbow tears into their Raven. It falls under the onslaught. My Cicada stays standing.

Nothing much happens in the second turn, just exchange of fire. We are firing at the Battlemaste with the hope of taking their best mech down.

The following turn arrives. The Battlemaster savages our motorized rifle platoon. The Longbow destroys the other arm of the Raven. It also critical hit’s the LL leg actuator and gets the special crit Limb Blows Off on the RL, so it is laying on the ground. Ted’s Stalker kicks a Phoenix Hawk that came too close and it falls.

The Raven tried to get up, failed, and the pilot blacked out. Our Jav hit’s the Battlemaster’s lower arm actuator on its LA. Ted hits two leg actuators on a Phoenix hawk’s RL. It falls down.

The 5th turn is here. The Phoenix Hawk destroys its RL trying to get up and failing. The Enforcer hit’s a lower leg actuator and jump jet on a Panther’s LL. Our Longbow hit’s the Rifleman’s hip actuator. The Rifleman falls and damages two medium lasers. Then the pilot blacks out.

Our Stinger destroys the Battlemaster’s LL. It falls hard. Their Enforcer also falls under the assault of fire. The Rifleman pilot wakes up. The Orion is getting a lot of armor blasted off.

Their Rifleman takes out the Orion’s AC10. Our Rifleman destroys the Battlemaster’s LA. Their Wolverine destroys our Orion’s left leg. Ted destroys the Rifleman when he touches its ammo and causes it to explode. Our Orion destroys the Battlemaster’s ammo and it goes up too. Then their Charger, despite only having a few weapons, manages to hit our Orion’s ammo and it explodes. Our Griffin kicks off the Stinger’s LA. It tumbles to the ground.

Their Stinger manages to stand back up. Our Wasp hit’s the Charger’s lower arm and hand actuators in the RA. The Griffin hits its upper arm actuator in the LA. Then it tacks the lower foot actuator in the RL. Their Charger falls. The Raven pilot finally wakes up.

The Raven tries to stand up, fails, and the pilot blacks out again. The Hunter Light Support tank destroys the Charger’s LA. Their Urbie hits our Longbow’s head with its AC10 and all of the external armor is sheered off. I decide to finish off some opponents, so the Longbow fires medium lasers at the downed Phoenix Hawk and takes out the left leg and hit’s the head. The pilot blacks out.

Our Griffin tears off the RA of the Charger. The Awesome hits one of our Panther’s in the head with a PPC. The Life Support is hit as a critical. The Charger falls under an onslaught and its RL is destroyed. Their Awesome also falls down under a third turn of fire. The Phoenix Hawk pilot wakes back up.

Round 11 has arrived. The Urbie is out of AC10 ammo so I can basically ignore it. The Charger fails to stand up and hits its engine twice and gyro once. The Awesome does manage to stand. Ted blows out the RT of the Awesome, taking the RA with it. He also hits the Awesome’s engine twice. A Panther follows that by hitting a heat sink and the gyro on the Awesome. Our Rifleman blows off the Stinger’s LL, and that is the end of his AC5 ammo. The Awesome falls again, and hits its engine for a third time. That’s 3 engine hits and the Awesome shuts down. The Stinger also tumbles to the ground. Our Javelin kicks and destroys the LA of the Stinger.

The following turn sees their Enforcer take out the hand actuator on the RA of my Griffin. Our foot rifle platoon takes out the Charger’s engine and it too has an engine shutdown. It also has a gyro hit. One Panther takes out the Stinger’s RT. Another Panther hit’s the large laser and upper arm actuator of the Enforcer. An opposing Phoenix Hawk pilot blacks out again.

The opposing Caps move from the field and we let them go.

Salvage:


Phoenix Hawk - Missing LL, RL, shoulder actuator damaged

Raven - Missing, RA, LA, RL

Charger - Missing RA, LA, RL, gyro hit 2x, engine 4x

Awesome - Missing RT, RA, 3x engine





Awesome RA
Orion LA, RA
Raven RL
Rifleman H, LL, RL

Damage to be repaired:

Panther - Life Support

Panther - Lower Leg, jump jet

Griffin - Hand act


Sucks that we lost a solid mech like an Orion.




For ammo - 336,000
For armor (my mechs) - 150,000

Now let’s see if we can repair the damage to the Awesome and Charger. Fix that, and we make a lot of money, but it will be very tough.

I will start with the Awesome. After some work, we were unable to repair the engine. Sucks.

Next up is the Charger. We did repair the engine here. We were not able toe repair the gyro and it will have to be replaced.

Everything but the jump jet is repaired on my mechs.

We manage to reattach the Raven RL to its body. I have a pair of Phoenix Hawk legs in our armory and use them to fully repair the Phoenix Hawk. That does not count towards the salvage value of the mech for purposes of Shared salvage rights, however.

Salvage:

Phoenix Hawk - Normal Value: 4,067,540. To Repair: 600,000. Current Value: 3,467,540

Raven - Normal Value: 4,550,000* To Repair: 455,000. Current Value: 4,100,000

(The Raven has advanced electronics gear which raises its value)

Awesome - Normal Value: 6,598,170 To Repair: (1280000 engine cost) 1,880,000 Current Value: 4,718,170

Charger - Normal Value: 7,520,372 To Repair: (1,200,000 gyro) 2,325,000 Current Value: 5,195,372


Value of Salvaged Rifleman Parts - 1,000,000 approx

Total Salvage Value - 18,481,082.

Total Salvage Money: 9,240,541

We can take up to this amount, and we will get this amount in C-Bills as well. The Phoenix Hawk and Awesome and Rifleman parts are all takable.

Tough break on the Orion. Did all your pilots survive that battle? Hard to tell in the writeup.

Tell

Account:

Cost of Armor: 150,000
Cost of Ammo: 336,000
Cost to Repair Phoenix Hawk: 40,000 (After adding back two legs)
Cost to Repair Awesome: 1,880,000
Cost to Run Company for 6 Months: 292,038

Total Costs: 2,698,000


Contract:

9,240,541 for salvage money compensation
24,640 for support
134,150 for salary

Total Compensation: 9,399,341

Total Net Gain: 6,701,341



I give the newly dispossessed Martin Fitzgerald the Awesome and our dispossessed Hassan Mohommad the Phoenix Hawk.

Yeah, they all survived.

June 17, 3034 - The Commandos company arrives back on Outreach. Now I am sliding over to Kilts Company:



NOTE - the dynasty is about the change for a while, before heading back to normal. Why? You are about to find out.

EVENT -

March 13,3034 - The Free Rasalhague Republic Declares Independence.

After the Fourth Succession War, Coordinator Takashi Kurita named his son, Theodore Kurita Ganji no-kanrei of the Draconis Combine. As part of his role as the head of the military, he began reforms among the military to modernize them.

Theodore Kurita was also approached by ComStar. They made a pact with Theodore Kurita. He would not prevent the regular Rasalhague independence movement from severing from the Draconis Combine. In turn, ComStar would provide his military with older mechs from the Star League era, usually stripped of most LosTech. Theodore agrees, and for the next four years, he moved troops out of the Rasalhague District and issued minor orders to troops to not attack various rioters and protesters.

In the Fourth Succession War, the Lyran Commonwealth attacked the Dracs and took many of the worlds of the Rasalhague District. With the Draconis Combine’s tacit support of the independence movement through Theodore Kurita, the Lyrans are pressured to release their captured planets. In one swing, without lifting a finger, House Kurita has forced their opponent to lose all of the worlds they worked hard to capture in the previous war while also creating a buffer state between the two realms and gaining them mechs for their armies.

Would that it were that easy. After the declaration of their Independence, many forces in the Draconis Combine used the opportunity to strike. Some higher level soliders were disaffected by Theodore’s reforms and used this as a chance to strike back. Others rallied behind Marcus Kurita who wants to break free of the Combine and forge his own state. Other broke free to protect Combine loyal citizens on FRR worlds where anti-Kurita riots would sometimes injure innocent citizens newly betrayed by their own government.

What could have been a win-win for the Combine is defeated by the defecting of about 1/5th of the DCMS. The Coordinator declares all defecting troops ronin. And so begin the Ronin Wars.

March 18,3034 - We receive a communique from the Free Rasalhague Republic. Our contract has been moved to the general Republic. They are ordering us to the world of Kandis. Kandis was taken in the Fourth Succession War by the Lyran Commonwealth. The governor of that planet is refusing to acknowledge Rasalhague’s independence. Although the Lyran troops have been withdrawn, she has surrounded the government complex with mercenary troops she had on retainer, the Dragonslayers. Free Rasalhague Republic has very few troops, and does not want to dispatch any to Kandis. Since the Dragonslayers are just a company sized unit, and since we are just two jumps away from Kandis, we are being directed to Kandis to destroy the Dragonslayers, and remove the Lyran Governor by force.

March 29, 3034 - We land in Kandis, outside of their capital city. I wanted to give the Dragonslayers an opportunity to protest our landing and draw them from outside of the city, but they did not take the bait. I was hoping to do this away from the citizenry, but our contract is quite clear. We are to march into the city, and engage the Dragonslayers who are defending the government complex. There is some cleared space in the area, so hopefully we can keep damage to the city and deaths to a minimum.


The Dragonslayers:

Enforcer
Ostscout
Vulcan
Dervish
Commando
Firestarter
Banshee
Phoenix Hawk
Archer
Hunchback 4SP
Wolverine
Zeus 6T


The Ostscout is a hyper rare scout mech that hasn’t been made since 2780 or so. I rolled a 2 (on 2d6) to get it. It is a charge special, since it has just one medium laser at 35 tons and a 8/12/8 movement. It’s really good as a scout or a physical attack oriented mech. The Hunchback SP replaces the AC20 with a bunch of medium lasers, 2 SRM6s, and six heat sinks. The Zeus is an assault mech, and this is a variant with a PPC, Large Laser, LRM15, and two medium lasers. It rocks 11.5 tons of armor, which is a bit light for an 80 ton mech. The Banshee is a 95 ton terror with PPC, AC5 and a Small Laser. It has a 4/6 movement which is odd on such a big mech and takes up too much space. Like the Charger, it would benefit from more tonnage freed by lighter engines, but that tech is not around right now.

Woo Awesome!! Grats on the win

Yeah, I know how you like em

The Enforcer has their captain


At the end of the first round, we can’t even see each other. We are starting at the end of the city, and still are behind a bunch of buildings.

I jump my Spider in on the second turn and I can see four opposing mechs. Still don’t know where the other eight are. Using the scouting of my Spider I am able to catch them in a pincer movement, between two forces, one significantly north of the other. They were pushed too far forward. Now, I can try to hit some mechs in the back from one direction or the other. The Hunchback blows the RA off my Wasp. I hit the foot and lower leg actuators of the RL of the opposing Commando.

The next turn we just exchange fire.

The fourth turn sees my Archer all after a fierce volley was laid on it.

On the 5th turn, I stand up my Archer, jump my Wolverine behind their Archer, and savage its armor.

More exchange of fire occurs. We need to kill something soon.

I take out the PPC on the Zeus. The Flea hits four actuators on their Vulcan. It falls and it hits its AC2 ammo and explodes. The Goliath blasts through a Commando’s leg and my Orion misses a kick and falls down.

The next turn arrives. My Phoenix Hawk falls and tumbles down when landing on top of a building. I lose its LA. Their Archer falls down when it decides to run and turn on pavement. Crash. Our Wolfhound zaps the LRM15 on the Zeus. Our Archer takes out an opposing LRM20 on their Archer and its RA. Our Wolverine hit’s the hip actuator of their Firestarter. The Goliath blows the head off their Commando. Boom! Our Goliath falls as does their Firestarter. My Orion kicked the LL off the Ostscout. Our Wolverine kicked the RL off the fallen Firestarter. Our Griffin falls after being kicked. The Ostscout pilot blacks out.

Our Phoenix Hawk fails to stand and falls back down. I stand a second time. I get my Griffin back up too. Our Wolverine takes out their Firestarter by hitting its ammo. Boom! Their Banshee targets the Goliath and it explodes. Boom on us! The Centurion hit’s the Archer’s ammo. Boom! Their Wolverine hits my AC10 on the Orion. I kick and blast the LA on the Ostscout. Its pilot wakes up.

Their Hunch hits my Orion’s medium laser and AC10 again. The Wolfhound blast’s the Zeus’s head and shear’s it off. Dead Zeus. The Enforcer nails the Wolfhound’s RA and takes it out. No more Large Laser. Both our Wolfhound and their Hunch tumble to the ground. The Orion kicks and destroys the Orstscout’s LT, and the Phoenix Hawk kicks off its head. Dead Ostscout.

And in two turns, the mechs just fall and fall. Our Griffin hit’s one of the SRM6’s on the Hunchy with its PPC. Their Dervish kicks the hip actuator on our Firestarter-Abe model. Our Phoenix hawk falls after missing a kick. Our Firestarter put their Dervish at +17 heat and it just barely avoided a heat shutdown. Yay for Inferno rounds of SRM2.

I have an exposed LT with AC10 ammo on my Orion. I have already lost an Orion on the other team and now a Goliath. I want to keep my Orion working, so I am backing back into the buildings. The 12th round is just more exchange of fire. Once again the Dervish had to avoid shutdown, also an ammo explosion. It’’s now at 20 over heat.

The 13th round brings the Firestarter add 5 more heat to the Dervish. Our Centurion tears into the rear armor of the Huncy and hit’s a pair of heat sinks. Our Flea hits its foot actuator. It falls to the ground. The Dervish is at 34 extra heat, and it explodes as its ammo ignites. I consider that a kill for the Firestarter.

I radio the Dragonslayer leader in the Enforcer. I offer them surrender. She informs me that her contract states that if she surrenders, all of their remaining equipment will be forfeit to the local governor. I ask her exactly what the contract states, and after a brief respite, she sends me the details. As I thought. It says local governor, not the Lyran governor. I radio her back and inform her that a case can be made that she is to surrender to the rightful governor of Randis, the Free Rasalhague Republic governor. Then her and her unit can survive under the command of the FRR governor. I can hear her smile over the conn. She surrenders.

I am enjoying this dynasty (as I do all of your dynasties) and am following it very closely. One question, does MegaMek simulate strategy for the opposing forces or are you having to play both sides in your encounters?

Salvage:

Ostscout, missing Head, LL, LA, LT

Zeus missing Head, PPC hit, LRM15 hit,

Commando, missing Head, LL



Vulcan RA, LL
Firestarter LA
Dervish LA
Goliath Head, RFL, LFL


Need to fix:

Wasp missing RA

Wolfhound RA

Orion AC10, x2, Medium laser

Phoenix Hawk, LA

Firestarter hip actuator

We only have Shared Rights:


I fixed the Zeus weapons.

Zeus 6T: Normal Value: 7,752,000. Repair Value: 950,000 Current Value: 6,702,000

Ostscout: Normal Value: 3,409,200 Repair Value: 1,500,000 Current Value: 1,909,200

Commando: Normal: 1,891,250 Repair: 750,000 Current Value: 1,141,250

Value of FS, Der, and Vul parts: 750,000

Total value salvaged: 10,502,400

SO FAR.

The contract is not over yet.

I spend: 380,000 on ammo
200,000 on armor.
150,000 on RA for Wasp
200,000 for Wolfhound RA
350,000 for Phoenix Hawk LA


I fix all damaged items on my mech.

One DragonSlayer pilot was deemed worthy of joining our unit:

Jacob Ovango, regular, dispossessed

It will take us a month to get items shipped to us. In the meantime, if we see more combat, then we will be four mechs short a full company, rocking only two lances.

Total Outlay for armor, ammo and items: 1,280,000

Thanks!

I play both sides in everything except for combat. The MegaMek engine only cars about combat, so I am doing salvage, negotations and the occasiona maneuvering outside combat. For example, when the Marik forces raided us at Palladaine, I rolled for their commander. On a lower roll, they would have landed at one place, at a higher roll they split into 3, and a higher roll split them even more, which was an even smarter decision. I also use the level of the enemy as a guide. I allow myself, an elite tactical genius, to outsmart a regualr or green commander pretty reguarly, which is an accurate simulation of events, but when going up against vets and elites, I give them a better chance. For example, an elite enemy might choose to fight my unit in stages, and raids, instead of all at once.

-Abe

We are ordered to continue to Rahalhague as initially planned.


April 28, 3034 - We arrive in the Rasalhague system. They order us to the planet surface below. Our parts have arrived here, but it will take two more weeks to splice them onto our wounded three mechs.

Rasalhague was previously a battleground as Marcus Kurita, the traitor and leader of many ronin units was rescued by the Eight Regulars and Twelve Sun Zhang. Remnants of both units were left on the planet to harass the Rasalhuage military and leaders. There are three main guerilla forces left on planet.

One is a pair of Sun Zhang companies harassing the mining areas of the planet.

Two is a pair of companies, one each mechs and infantry, from Sun Zhang and the Eighth, retreated into the forest of Skand and have not been heard from since.

Three is a company of vehicles and a lance of mechs led by the XO of the Eighth. They are doing occasional lightning strikes and then fading back into the wilderness.

On planet is one of the three Rasalhague mech regiments, the First Tyr. Only two of their battalions is on planet. They are generally defending the government and buildings instead of launching raids against the guerilla bands. We are going hunting.

Our role is to be a fast strike mobile force, hitting the guerillas when they show.

Upon our arrival, The First Tyr agree to fix our three mechs with their elite techs in labs, and all work is done in a day.

April 30, 3034 - Our first trek across the planet of Rasalhague. Scouts reported seeing a Wasp mech in the area around the forest of Skand. We have been sent to investigate. All of the sudden, a group of mechs and infantry flood out from the woods and begin to attack us.

With none of their infantry assets to be seen, I suspect that the guerilla forces are doing a quick strike attack. Hit and fade, possibly without any mechs falling.


This game will be just three turns. We’ll have that long to try to kill a mech or two before they fade. Here are their forces:

Sun Zhang are green, Eighth Regulars are elite. I will roll for each mech to see if it is SZ or 8th.


Wasp, 8th
Quickdraw, SZ
Orion, SZ
Phoenix Hawk 1K, 8th
Crusader 3K, 8th
Centurion, 8th
MCY-98 Mercury, 8th
Awesome, SZ
Stalker, SZ
CHP-2N Champion, 8th
Jenner, SZ
Stinger, 8th

So, we have five green Sun Zhang mechs, including two assault mechs and two heavies in that group. We also have some mechs you might not be familiar with. The Jenner is the most common light mech in Draconis Combine space and is virtually only there and no where else. It is a 35 ton light mech with an awkward 7/11/5 movement, four medium lasers, an SRM4, and four tons of armor. There is a variant that strips off the SRM4 and ammo for armor. That’s a good variant, with 7 tons of armor instead of 4.

The Crusader is a common missile boat and heavy mech. Normally featuring a pair of LRM15s, this is the House Kurita version, with just two LRM10s, two SRM6s, two medium lasers, two machine guns and extra heat sinks. It’s a solid heavy mech, and one we’ve not seen before just by chance.

The Mercury and Champion are older Star League era designs that have lost their LosTech long ago. The Mercury is a fast 20 ton mech while the Champion is a heavy 60-ton mech. Without its LosTech, the Mercury is basically a Locust while the Champion sports an AC10, SRM6, two medium lasers, two small lasers and light armor at just 8 tons of armor.

The first turn has arrived. The woods are a bit thick even at the edge of the Skald. I jump my Spider into their midst so that I can see their locations. We exchange fire. I want to get the Mercury or Champion. However, I’ll take whatever opportunities present themselves. Their Phoenix Hawk tries to kick my Spider and misses, falling down.

The second turn arrives. They stand up their Phoenix Hawk. I try to maneuver to a place I can shoot down the Champion from. Am LRM20 from our Archer hit’s the Champion’s SRM6 and medium laser. It’s LA is blown off and on the ground.

The 3rd turn is here. Can I manage to take out the Champion? I hit the Champion’s LT with my Orion’s LRM 15 and it is destroyed. I also hit the shoulder actuator on the right arm. Our Wolverine hit’s the upper arm actuator. The Centurion destroys its Center Torso. It is done for the count. At the end of the turn, I kick and destroy the opposing Wasp’s LL. It falls to the ground. We have set a lot of the woods on fire. The attackers are able to retreat under the smoke and fire. I choose not to pursue. Their infantry could be laying in ambush,

Salvage:

Champion, destroyed LT, LA, LL. AC10x2. Destroyed CT.


Champion LL


I roll and the infrastructure for the CT is reparable. What about the engine and gyro? Both are destroyed. I fixed the AC10 and reattach the LL.

Champion: Normal Value - 5,071,200 Repair: (900k/gyro, 1200k/engine, 80k for armor, 35k for ammo, 800k for arm and torso and weapons in those) 3,015,000 Current value: 2,056,200

After doing some quick math, I believe we’ll have to pay around 130k for ammo and armor replacement.


LEVEL UP - Our Centurion pilot, Michael Adkins, has notched his fourth kill. His gunnery is being raised one.

May 11, 3034 - Satellite feed and information shows that two of the guerilla forces are on the move. The first are the two companies of Sun Zhang cadets. They are marching towards a DropPort in the mining sector of Rasalhague, probably with the intent of leaving the planet and stealing some DropShips from the complex. Also, the company of tanks and lance of mechs is moving towards the government complex. The First Tyr is moving to intercept the Sun Zhang cadets, and they need to move in force. If even some of the cadets reach the DropPort, they can do massive damage. We are asked to delay the other force. If we can take it out, fine, but our goal is to delay their arrival at the capital.

It is dusk, as they move to the capital (SPECIAL DUSK RULE IN EFFECT)

We are fighting by open terrain.

The Ronin Forces - All forces are elite

Charger The Leader is in this mech
Panther
Locust
Griffin

Schrek PPC Carrier
Saladin x3
Saracen
Demolisher
Manticore
Galleon
Pike x2
Partisan
Hetzer

The tanks to worry about are the Schrek with its three PPCs and the Demolisher with two AC20s. The Pikes have AC2s which is not major. The Partisan has some AC5s and LRMs, but for an assault tank, does not pack the punch you’d expect. Note the Hetzer is also rocking an AC20, as are the Saladins. I need to stay away from their forces until I kill a few of these AC20s.

We are very undergunned when you look at Battle Values. Mechs, pilots, tanks and so forth all have Battle Values. This is an estimated performance expectation. We are very undermanned by thousands of BV when compared to them. They have elite pilots, which drives up their BV but they will hit. My first enemy is the PPC Carrier. An elite crew with three PPCs will tear into me in short order. Then I want to axe as many AC20 vehicles as possible.

The first turn sees us maneuver and no weapons hit.

I missed with both LRM20s on the Archer when I gave myself a nice firing lane on the PPC Carrier (I needed an 8 each time). I need to start taking down some tanks soon.

The Shrek blasts through the armor in my Orion’s LA and hits an upper arm actuator. I then fall under the firepower.

On the 4th turn, I stand my mech back up and move into heavy woods for more protection. Their Shrek shears the head off my Wolverine and it falls to the ground, dead. Our MechWarrior, Salia James, died. On the other hand, our Centurion causes the Schrek’s power plant to explode. Boom! The LA of my Orion is destroyed.

We are getting savaged. I’ll try to turn it around this turn. My Wasp get’s its RA blown off. Alright, let’s keep going. But, I’m getting close to calling it.

My Orion takes out the Hetzer Assault Tank‘s Right Side, destroying the vehicle. That’s one AC20 down. Their Panther takes out my Spider’s LA. Their Charger kicks through the RL of my Firestarter and it is on the ground.

I’m going to push into one more turn. If I can get lucky and off a couple of tanks, I can regain the momentum. Tanks are fragile, and it’s very doable. I eject Adele from her Firestarter. Our Griffin destroys the Demolisher after rupturing its fuel tank. Two more AC20s down.

I’m going to keep going. With the Demolisher down, we get a big boost. There are still three Saladin;s running around, but there is a glimmer of hope. I am ejecting this round from my Orion. I’ve lost an arm, I have about 15% of my original armor left and am internal is about four places. My mech is about to be shot if I keep it up, so I am ejecting. That means, after this round, we will not get my tactical genius bonus. More exchange of fire this round.

The following round I try to maneuver into the right positions. The Charger blasts three jump jets on my Phoenix hawk’s left torso.

I will keep pushing. The Manticore tank takes out the LT of my Spider and hits an engine. My Archer lays into the right side of a Pike and destroys it. Their Saladin fires an AC20 and hit’s the Spider dead center. The center torso is destroyed.

I call it. We have six mechs left. Some are seriously damaged. None but the Archer have any serious power. I order our men and mechs to back away from the ronin troops.

They still have all four mechs, although their Charger is severely damaged. They also have eight vehicles. With a company of mixed assets remaining, they continue to march towards the capital. Still, we have delayed them, and destroyed two of their biggest tanks, the Schrek and Demolisher. We also took out a Pike and a Hetzer. Not bad, but we should have done better. I feel like I really let the Tyr down. We could have stopped this group. The mechs are laughable assets - two lights, a Charger and a Griffin? Come on. I just didn’t get the hits I needed.

I have to say that if you randomly rolled up those armour assets, you were really unlucky. That's a mech killing armour force right there.

I know. Yup, all random.

Salvage:

AC20 (The Hetzer was a writeoff) - 300,000

Pike Support Vehicle - 50k to fix. Current Value: 1,015,000





Damage:


Spider - LA, LT, Gyro

Wasp - RA

Orion - LA

Firestarter - RL

Wolverine - H

We managed to fix the Spider’s center torso section and the engine, but the gyro was destroyed with the AC20 shot and it’s irreparable.

Cost to replace it all: (Inc armor, ammo)

3,300,000


I order the parts. It will take a while to get them in. At least a month, and with the war going on, perhaps longer.



The First Tyr at the mining complex stopped the Sun Zhang cadets. When they arrived and saw the First Tyr waiting for them in strength, they surrendered. Several committed seppuku. The units we stopped made it to the city before encountering a heavy company of First Tyr mechs left behind in case we did not stop the guerillas. That company destroyed the Charger’s head, killing the XO of the Eighth Regulars and the rest surrendered.

That leaves the unit out in the forest as the sole guerilla force on planet.



LEVEL UP: Our Griffin pilot, Justine Dempsey, gained a gunnery skill from four kills.

I assign Jacob Ovango to the Wolverine.

In the War:

With just three Battlemech regiments of their own, the Free Rasalhague Republic has called on the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery, DCMS, to attack the ronin forces in the Republic. Theodore has agreed, but will first cut through the supply bases the ronin have in Combine space. There are several planets in the new FRR that have been captured by ronin forces.

The First Tyr want to blast off world to Predlitz. It is a highly pro-Combine world in the FRR currently used as the base of operations of the organized ronin forces and Marcus Kurita’s new state. In order to jump off world, they need to know that we’ll take care of the remaining guerilla forces. Therefore, they allow us to buy our parts from them, instead of from the normal outlets. Our mechs are up and running in less than a week.

May 17 - Satellite telemetry has scoured the Skand woods. We have narrowed the location of the guerillas to a four klick square. We are going into the woods to root them out and blast them. I send out my scout unit to find them. However, with Adele’s mech being so specialized, I replace it with the Phoenix Hawk.


We are scouring the woods when our radar begins to show several bogeys to the east. We move to see what they are…


This is a scout on scout battle.

Their Mercury, Phoenix Hawk, Stinger and Jenner are their scout lance.

Nothing much happens this round. Just positioning.

On the second round, they leave their Jenner on the edge, and I charge the Spider towards it. We exchange some fire. My Spider is hit a few times, and then hit’s the Jenner. It is knocked off the map, but it costs my Spider its RT. Its RA is lying on the ground now too. Well, the sacrifice is worth it. Now the odds are much more even.

Our Flea blows through the rear armor of the Phoenix Hawk and hits its engine. Their Mercury blows off the Wasp’s RA. My Phoenix Hawk kicks the LL out from the Stinger. It falls. Our Spider is kicked and falls as well.

The Stinger tries to stand and falls back down. We exchange weapons.

More weapons fire exchanges.

The Stinger stands up. I blast off the RA of the Phoenix Hawk with my own Phoenix Hawk. Our Spider fell after missing a kick.

The Stinger destroyed its RL getting up and falling again. The Flea blows off the Mercury’s head. No other injuries there. Our Phoenix Hawk tears through the other P Hawk’s RT this time. I then kick the LL out from the Phoenix Hawk as well.

The single mech left in the battle surrenders to us. I radio the position to the local militia and they will collect the Phoenix Hawk and other salvage.

Salvage:

Mercury - Normal Value: 1,580,000 Repair: 600,000 Current Value: 980,000

Stinger - Normal Value: 1,662,000 Repair: 300,000 Current Value: 1,332,000

Spider RA



Need to Fix:

Spider RT, RA

After blowing through their scouts, we are about to hit their main forces. This is what they have left.




Wasp, 8th
Quickdraw, SZ
Orion, SZ
Crusader 3K, 8th
Centurion, 8th
Awesome, SZ
Stalker, SZ
Jenner, SZ

Plus some infantry.


Time for battle.


I order our Spider to stay behind and recuperate.

Nothing happens on the first turn but a brief exchange of missiles and beams in the air.

I focus fire on their Crusader and deal some nice damage.

On the third turn I again concentrate fire on the Crusader. My Griffin’s RA is blown off by the opposing Orion. The Griffin blows off the RA of the Crusader.

For the next turn, I again focus fire on the Crusader and we nail two Heat Sinks.

The LRM15 on my Orion is tagged and goes out. The Archer touches the Crusader’s ammo and causes the mech to explode. The Wolfhound misses a kick and falls.

Round 6 sees me stand the Wolfhound back up. Their Centurion hits my Orion’s LRM15 again and nails the SRM4 too. We launch weapons at their Stalker and it falls. I make a ballsy move and charge the Quickdraw. With my own Orion. It works and I force it from the field. Unfortunately I fall down after the charge. My Upper Leg Actuator on my RL was destroyed.

Although still on the ground, I manage to kill the opposing Centurion with my Orion’s remaining weapons. Its ammo went up too.

The following turn I blow off the RA and LL off the Jenner. It tumbles hard. The Centurion blows up the Stalker’s ammo and it goes too.

With the death of their Stalker, we have now destroyed over 66% of their force. With that, they call and offer unconditional surrender. I accept. Their mechs are turned over to the FRR, and we get the salvage.

Salvage:

Crusader H, LL, RL, LT

Stalker RT

Centurion RA


Total Value of Salvaged Parts: 1,850,000



Needs:

Orion - LRM15 x2, SRM4, Upper Leg

Griffin - RA


Need to fix:

I fix the Orion

I replace the Griffin RA with a Shadow Hawk RA.

Ammo: 270,000
Armor: 220,000


And with that, the Rasalhague campaign is over. We’ll be sent elsewhere in the Wars until our contract runs out. However, I want to go ahead and settle up the contract as we are nearing the end.

Total Salvaged Items:


Zeus 6T: Normal Value: 7,752,000. Repair Value: 950,000 Current Value: 6,702,000

Ostscout: Normal Value: 3,409,200 Repair Value: 1,500,000 Current Value: 1,909,200

Commando: Normal: 1,891,250 Repair: 750,000 Current Value: 1,141,250

Vulcan RA, LL
Firestarter LA
Dervish LA
Value of FS, Der, and Vul parts: 750,000

Champion: Normal Value - 5,071,200 Repair: (900k/gyro, 1200k/engine, 80k for armor, 35k for ammo, 800k for arm and torso and weapons in those) 3,015,000 Current value: 2,056,200

AC20 (The Hetzer was a writeoff) - 300,000
Pike Support Vehicle - 50k to fix. Current Value: 1,015,000

Mercury - Normal Value: 1,580,000 Repair: 600,000 Current Value: 980,000

Stinger - Normal Value: 1,662,000 Repair: 300,000 Current Value: 1,332,000

Crusader H, LL, RL, LT
Stalker RT
Centurion RA
Total Value of Salvaged Parts: 1,850,000

Total Costs:

I spend: 380,000 on ammo
200,000 on armor.
150,000 on RA for Wasp
200,000 for Wolfhound RA
350,000 for Phoenix Hawk LA

Mission The First


150,000 ammo and armor

Mission the Second


3,300,000 parts, ammo and armor

Mission the Third



225,000 parts, ammo and armor

Mission the Fourth


Ammo: 270,000
Armor: 220,000

Mission the Fifth

TOTAL DAMAGE REPORT:

Total Salvage Value: 18,025,540

Total Shared Rights: 9,012,725


What I am taking:

I wanted the Zeus, but I really want the Mercury, Ostscout and Champion - those are rarer mechs and I would love an opportunity to field them. Therefore, I pass the Zeus by, and I take:

Mercury
Ostscout
Champion
Commando
AC20
All body parts


I would have liked the Zeus, but I’m content.


Total Cost to Repair Salvaged Mechs: 5,865,000


Total Battle Costs (My Mechs): 5,220,000

Contract:


Costs:

675,000 transport here
675,000 transport back
387,900 Upkeep of unit, ten months
5,220,000 Battle Replacement

Total Contractual Costs: 6,957,900


Money Made:

9,012,725 Shared Salvage Rights
2,610,000 50% Battle Loss Compensation (Glad I negotiated for this!)
510,394 Salary
540,000 40% Transport Rights
26,000 Remuneration
2,550 Bonus

Total Contractual Profit: 12,200,275

Total Net Profit: 5,242,375

After paying to repair all salvaged mechs: -622,625

War Chest: 1,443,043

LEVEL UP - Braham Essex has notched 8 kills, and so his piloting skill is increasing. He is now officially elite. Rafael Gomez, the Archer pilot, had grabbed his fourth kill. I am giving him Edge: 1 since he is already elite.

Our contract began on March 18, 3034. It ends on September 18, 3034.

In any future battles, we’ll still get Shared Salvage Rights and 50% Battle Loss Compensation.

I am assigning the Champion to Su Yuan, the Goliath pilot who lost her mech in the early parts of the Ronin Campaign.

June 19, 3034 - We get word that the two main leaders of the ronin movement have died. The first died as the result of a malfunction in his Atlas on Orestes. Orestes was the rallying point for the troops loyal to him. Marcus Kurita, on Predlitz, was assassinated.

There are several major crucibles in the war. We have just cleaned up Rasalhague and our presence is deemed redundant. As the Free Rasalhague Republic continues to build mech companies with surrendered materiel, our company has less of an impact as a garrison force on Rasalhague. There are other crucibles out there, such as Predlitz, Orestes and Kempton. We are being moved to Kempton where we will be joining the forces there in battle.

June 24, 3034 - We launch from the Rasalhague system bound for Kempton.

In April, Kempton had hired a battalion of the mercenary regiment Vinson’s Vigilantes (No relation to Vinson’s Victorious that we fought in the periphery, to my knowledge…) to safeguard the capital. The First Sun Zhang Regulars were on system when the FRR declared independence, and Marcus Kurita sent out the call for all DCMS troops to defect and attack their local planet. The officers of the unit, loyal to the Dragon, were captured and jailed by the lower levels of the unit, so that it could rebel and fight against the locals. The ronin unit and the hired mercenaries began to spar on April 30.

A stalemate set in when the ronin forces took control of a giant petrochemical factory complex and the mercenaries did not want to penetrate the outer defenses and risk blowing up the complex. That ended on June 4, with the arrival of the Second Kavalleri on planet, one of the three Rasalhague mech regiments.

Earlier this month, they landed on planet doing a combat drop in an open area of the complex while the mercenaries pushed at the outer defenses. Caught between a regiment outside and another inside, many of the First Sun Zhang Regulars were destroyed, but several got away into the nearby Cantis Mountains.

Our goal is to guard the capital of Kemptinus while the Second Kavalleri scout the Mountains and root out the remaining First Sun Zhang Regulars. The Vigilantes’ contract has expired and they have returned home, leaving the Second Kavalleri and us on planet.

August 10, 3034 - After having modest success at rooting out the First Sun Zhang, we receive word that the Seventh Regulars, another ronin unit, used a pirate point to enter the system and has landed at rear of the Second Kavalleri. Their CO gets me on the conn. The Sun Zhang are pushing against them in one direction, and the Seventh Regulars are pushing in the other and they are getting crushed. He asks for my help immediately.

Now, I am not under the command of the Second Kavalleri. I am not required to respond to his call for help. We have an FRR liaison who communicates what the FRR wants, and they have told us to garrison this city, not venture out and help when needed. It is not in our contract to go out and help our allies.

However, I love battle. That’s why I am in this business. I confirm that we will be moving out quickly to hit the Sun Zhang on their rear and relieve some pressure on our allies.

Twenty minutes later, I see the first mech.

An account of the battle:

First Sun Zhang Academy Cadre - Down to about 27 mechs from their original size. They are green experience level. Ronin.

Seventh Rasalhague Regulars - Down to about 80% of original strength. They are veteran troops. Ronin.

Second Kavalleri - Full strength. They are regular troops. Free Rasalhague Republic.

The Kilts Company - Full strength. We have the Champion up and running and I am giving the Mercury to Elena Stoyovich over her previous Flea. The Mercury is a much better mech. Faster, better armored, and no ammo to worry about exploding. We are contracted to the Free Rasalhague Republic.


As we arrive, we find that 4 of the Sun Zhang mechs have already been destroyed fallen and several more have been savaged to the point of not being usable. With our arrival to their rear, the Sun Zhang turn to face us. This frees up the Second Kavalleri to focus their attention on the Seventh Regulars.

We will be fighting over a river.

Oh, this one should be good. Lots of troops up against you but they are all green. Hopefully you can whittle them down really quick so that you don't get overwhelmed. Go Kilts and Commandos!

Tell

The Sun Zhang (Still Standing and in Fighting Form):


Wasp 1K x2
Wasp x2
Jenner x3
Jenner JR7-F
Griffin x2
Quickdraw x2
Wolverine
Panther
Grand Dragon
Firestarter
Shadow Hawk
LCT-3V Locust
AWS-8T Awesome

That’s 19 mechs of the Sun Zhang still operational. Their leader is in the Awesome variant. This Awesome is rocking with two LRM15s and two Large Lasers plus max armor. It’s a nasty little assault mech. The Grand Dragon is a Kurita only design weighing in at 60 tons. It moves 5/8, sports ten tons of armor, and has a PPC, LRM10 and a few medium lasers. It’s not a bad mech at all.

The Jenner variant is one of my fav light mechs. It drops the SRM and ammo for maxing out its armor. It resembles the Javelin variant I enjoy so much, with just four medium lasers, max armor, and a speed of 7/11/5 instead of 6/9/6. However, the Jav is lighter by five tons (which makes it cheaper) and has its lasers in its chest, allowing it to punch, whereas the Jenner’s lasers are in its fragile arm. I would love to get that mech.

The Wasp variant swaps a machine gun and a half ton of armor for the old SRM2. That’s not a good switch. Of course, the old SRM2 is dumb in a 20 ton mech, so I’d pull that out in seconds of I were to build my own mech.

The Locust variant’s not bad, with two Medium Lasers and two machine guns. I’ve seen better payloads (like the Mercury) but it ain’t bad.

All MechWarriors of the Sun Zhang are green except for the Awesome, which is regular.

Normally my plan is to target the biggest threats first, but against 19 mechs? I could lose too many mechs in the three or four turns it would likely take me to off the Awesome. On the other hand, if I take out a bunch of light mechs, I can get ahead quickly, then focus on the Awesome if I need too.

So, my plan going in is to target the basic Jenners when I have a chance. They post a lot of weaponry for less armor than they could otherwise have had. Of course, targets of opportunity abound in battle.

Here we go.

My Orion’s LRM15 hit’s the Griffin’s head twice. I wanted to target a Jenner D, but only my Archer has a line on one. The rest targeted the Griffin, Awesome, or targets of opportunity. My Archer misses with both LRM20s. It and the Awesome fall down from fire.

I stand my Archer back up and move it into some light woods. I then miss a lot of important attacks against some Wasps but I pepper a Quickdraw real well. Then our Centurion kicks and destroys a Wasp’s RL. Their Quickdraw hit’s a lower leg actuator on my Champion’s LL.

Their Awesome keeps being open, so I am abusing it. My Archer alone hit for 36 damage from its two LRM20s. Our Wolverine kicks and destroys a Jenner’s RA which cuts into its weaponry. The head on my Phoenix Hawk is punched by a Wasp. The Centurion kicks off the RA of the downed Wasp 1K. My Spider falls after getting kicked. That sucks, it needs to stay standing.

I try moving my Spider through the water of the river but it falls. The Archer destroys the Awesome’s LA. It also tacks the foot actuator on its LL. Our Griffin hits its engine once with the PPC. The heaviest mech on the field crashes to the ground. Adele’s Firestarter takes out the LT of the downed Wasp 1K, and then the Centurion kicks it in the center chest and destroys it. Their Grand Dragon after missing a kick.

The Grand Dragon fails to get up. Their Awesome hits our Wolfhound. It hit’s the Upper Arm and Shoulder actuators on the RA. Our Phoenix Hawk destroys the Awesome’s center torso section. It is down for the count. Our Centurion hit’s the Grand Dragon’s PPC, and then it falls under the weaponry assault.

I destroy the Locust’s RL, LL, LT, and the LA falls off with my Orion. Then the engine is hit twice by my Archer. When it falls, it destroys its own CT. No more Locust.

The next round is just an exchange of fire but a Jenner falls from losing too much armor and failing to compensate. My Wolverine punches the LA off a Jenner, the JR7-F variant. My Centurion falls after it is kicked and misses a kick.

I stand the Centurion back up. The woods are all on fire now. Our Phoenix Hawk kicks the LL off from the JR7-F. Our Mercury destroys the RA of their Firestarter, Our Champions kicks the LL out from under a normal Jenner.

We’re doing fine with my big guys. My Orion has barely taken any damage at all, and the Archer just too one turn of damage getting in posoiton and since has barely been scratched. I’ve been using their poor aim against them, hopping my jump jet equipped mechs around from woods to woods and then concentrating fire from mechs like the Orion, Centurion, Champion and Archer. The Champion kicks and destroys the downed Jenner (not the variant) by hitting its ammo.

The 10th round arrives. Some of the woods are starting to burn down, leaving rough terrain behind. Our Spider jumped behind the Grand Dragon and got three engine hits. It shuts down and our Spider got the very first kill ever. The LA of the Grand Dragon was destroyed in the barrage from our mechs. The Archer takes out the Jenner variant’s LT which drops its LA to the ground. It is now weaponless. He then gets three hits on the engine and one on the gyro. No more Jenner variant. Our Phoenix Hawk blows the RA and LL off a Jenner regular. The LL is on the ground. It then falls to the ground and hits two engines and a gyro. That mech is going nowhere with that kind of damage.

The momentum is definitely in our favor. I am going to order that our mechs reserve their ammo for the rest of the battle unless something bizarre happens. The Archer destroys the LL of a Wasp with one of its Medium Lasers. Our Wolfhound goes internal on a Quickdraw’s CT and hits an engine. The Quickdraw and Wasp fall. Both pilots black out.

I walk my Orion next to the Quickdraw on the ground prone. When a mech is prone, you can try to aim for a certain part of the body, which includes the head. It’s easier when you are adjacent, but you can do it from anywhere. My Centurion blows the head off the blacked out Wasp, and my Orion does the same with the Quickdraw. Both mechs are now decapitated. Our Phoenix Hawk destroys the savaged Jenner on the ground, getting a third hit on its engine. The other Quickdraw falls to the earth. Our Centurion’s LA is blown off.

With half of their mechs destroyed, including two of their three heavies, and their assault mech, and damage to most of their remaining mechs pretty severely, and around 8 of my mechs barely touched, the Sun Zhang radio their surrender. I order the local militia, our infantry and the damaged mechs to take them in custody and to clear out our salvage as quickly as possible.

I get a radio from the Second Kavalleri. They are losing against the Regulars. Although we bought them some time and allowed them to consolidate their front, the Seventeenth Regulars are veteran troops, and are winning. They ask that my mechs that are able to come and help in the crucible. We are charged with approaching the Seventeenth from their flank, with the hope that we can relieve the pressure on the Second Kavalleri.

Nice win and i like how the fight continues on without a real chance to rest and refit. Good luck on the next battle.

Thanks

Salvage:

Locust - Needs LL, RL, LT, LA, CT?

Awesome - Destroyed CT?, LA, Foot Actuator

Grand Dragon - Needs RA, LA, Engine x3, RT

JR7-F - Needs RA, LA, LT, LL, Engine x3, Gyro

Quickdraw - Damaged Hand and Arm actuators. Missing H

Wasp - Missing RL, H

JR7-D - Missing RL, LT, LA, RA, Engine x3, Gyro


Locust LA
Jenner LA
Jenner LL, RA

Mechs that are unharmed:

Griffin - 1 ton LRM ammo left
Orion - 1 ton AC10 left, 1 ton LRM
Archer - 2 tons left
Mercury
Wasp
Firestarter
Wolverine
Phoenix Hawk

I listed those with ammo issues. Some mechs, like the Mercury and Phoenix have no ammo weapons. Others have such a large amount, like the Wasp and Firestarter, that it isn’t worth even counting.

To be fixed:

Champion Foot Actuator

Wolfhound, Shoulder and Upper Arm actuator (LA)

Centurion LA

This was a great salvage expedition. We made out, I suspect.

Let’s head to the next battlefront with my eight mechs.


The woods clear out a bit and we are fighting by some rolling hills, with few trees. The veteran Seventeenth Rasalhague Regulars are down to about half of their previous strength. They started 80% down and have lost another 30%. On the other hand, the Second Kavalleri is also down about 50% of their strength. That means that they have around four and a half companies of mechs each. Our arrival on the Seventeenth’s east flank forces them to pull away some mechs to meet our charge. They see two lances of mechs (eight mechs) on their flank, and choose to pull away exactly that number of their own. They could pull a company or more to smash us, but they are playing it close to the vest.

My mechs have limited ammo as mentioned above. I have two heavies, three mediums and three lights moving in. Here we go.


Their mechs:

Victor
Wasp 1K
Wasp
Griffin
Goliath
Spider x2
Trebuchet
They have two assault mechs, the Victor and Goliath, two mediums, the Griffin and the Trebuchet, and then the four lights.

A Victor is a decent enough mech. At 80 tons, it is a 4/6/4 with an AC20, two medium lasers, an SRM4, and 11.5 tons of armor. Frankly, my Orion is better despite being lighter. My Orion has 3.5 tons more armor and better armament, but the AC20 is devastating. We have to kill the Victor as soon as possible - it is the biggest threat.

The Trebuchet is one of the best medium fire support mechs in the 3025 world. You’ve seen medium fire support mechs like the Whitworth, Dervish or even the Griffin. At 50 tons, it rocks two LRM15s, just a little worse than the Archer’s two LRM20s. It even has three medium lasers for defense. It only has 7.5 tons of armor but it does move 5/8.

Just like our mechs are beginning to run out of ammo, so too are the 17th Regulars. A few of their mechs, Trebuchet, Victor, Griffin and Goliath, have used one or two tons of ammo up already.

I lay into the Trebuchet with my Archer and Griffin. The Griffin;s LRM10 opens up the RA and hit’s the lower arm actuator and a medium laser.

The second turn sees us exchange fire.

The next turn just sees even more fire exchanged. I have now spent half of my Archer’s remaining ammo. It only has three barrages left.

The fourth turn sees my Orion hit the AC20 on the Victor. Then the Archer hit’s the SRM ammo and the mech explodes.

The Trebuchet only has one shot of LRM15 ammo left, so I may concentrate my fire elsewhere to take out other threats. Despite that, it is the only mech my Orion can see, so I fire at him and destroy its RA. I am maneuvering my mechs to fire at other opponents now that the Victor is dead. Very little fire from me this turn, as a result. Our Mercury kicks a Wasp and it falls down.

I crack open the engine on an opposing Spider with my AC10.

The next turn our Phoenix Hawk hit’s a Foot Actuator on the Goliath. I have now fired the final salvo from the Archer. I am charging with it, closing to hit with my two medium lasers. I kick and destroy a Wasp’s RL with my Orion. Both our Wolverine and Orion fall from being kicked.

I stand my Orion back up and walk around behind the rear of a Spider. Our Wasp destroys the LT and LA of their Wasp on the ground. Other than that, just more exchange of fire. I kick the RL off a Spider with my Orion. Our Wasp falls after getting kicked.

The 9th turn brings more damage as the Wasp we control failed to stand once, then falls and takes damage before getting up and moving. Their Goliath gets lucky and tacs the Archer’s LRM20 and hits it three times. Luckily it has no ammo any more. One of their Spiders hit’s the lower and upper leg actuators of our Phoenix Hawk. It falls. The Archer is kicked and then falls. That is the second time one of my heavy mechs has fallen when all they needed was a 3 to stay standing.

On the 10th turn, I can’t roll a 7 with my Phoenix Hawk and fall twice, injured the RA with an upper arm and lower arm actuators hit. I choose to eject from the mech. It’s savaged pretty badly. I stand up the Archer and move towards a damaged Spider. Their Wasp pilot for the mech on the ground, has blacked out. I moved my Wasp next to it, and it slices into its head with its Medium Laser. Another dead mech. That’s Stacey Stowers’ first kill for our company. The Wolverine destroys a Spider by destroying its CT. There was practically nothing left. Our Griffin destroys one of the Goliath’s legs. It falls hard. The Archer destroys the LL of the other Spider with a well placed kick. It falls and takes some damage.

The Trebuchet is moving away from my Orion, but I close again. I want to keep up with it and kill it. With the Goliath temporarily downed and a bunch of their light mechs damaged, it is the second biggest threat with its three medium lasers. It’s also a great mech, in case I can arrange to get it. Adele destroys the foot actuator on their remaining Wasp 1K. Their Goliath opens up the RA on my Orion and hit’s a hand actuator. I blast the Trebuchet’s RL and it falls. The Archer’s medium laser stabs in and finds the machine gun ammo on the Goliath. Boom! I kick and destroy the Trebuchet’s other leg with my Orion, taking it out of combat.

With their two assaults gone, a medium gone, and a light gone, plus the rest all deeply injured, the Seventeenth Regulars retreat. Their retreat is covered by the gun ports of the other mechs in the field, so I cannot pursue.

Nice work! Experience and skill are really playing a part it looks like.

Tell

Yea, as skill increases, so to does their ability in combat, which really amps up their power.

Repair:

Archer, LRM20 x3

Phoenix Hawk lower and upper leg actuators. Upper and lower arm actuators.

Orion, hand actuator


Salvage:


Victor RA, LA
Spider H, RT, RL, Engine
Goliath H, Left Front Leg, Right Rear Leg

Wasp - Missing RA, LA, RT, LL, H

Trebuchet - RL, LL gone. RA Medium Laser and Hand Actuator hit.

Our unit is badly wounded. All of my mechs, except the Mercury, have some damage. I order my men to grab the local salvage. The Second Kavalleri is retreating back to the capital under the furious onslaught of the ronin 17th. However, the 17th are injured so badly hat they are not chasing, or destroying infrastructure. Instead, they are salvaging what they can and affecting repairs.

August 12, 3034 - The Second Sword of Light jumps into the system. They send a communique to the planet announcing their intent to land and destroy all ronin units on the planet. The Second Sword of Light is one of the most decorated and elite units the Dragon has. The Seventeenth Rasalhague Regulars know they have no chance against the Second Swords of Light and the remnants of the Second Kavalleri. They surrender before the Sword of Light even lands.

But....what about the Kilts and Commandos?!?!?

Just got back from a job interview in Tempe over the 4th of July weekend, so I will be continuing this later tonight or tomorrow.

The fight is over with this uber-elite Drac unit joining our side. So the ronin forces surrendered knowing they had no chance against it, plus teh Kavelleri and us as well.

Total Salvage:






Salvage:

Locust 3V - Needs LL, RL, LT, LA, CT (inc engine and gyro) - Total Value: 1,553,800 To Repair: 1,150,000 Current Value: 400,000

Awesome AWS-8T - Destroyed CT (inc eng & gyro), LA Total Value 6,598,170 To Repair: 2,800,000 Current Value: 3,798,000

Grand Dragon - Needs RA, LA, RT Total Value: 5,220,000 To Repair: 625,000 Current Value: 4,595,000

JR7-F - Needs RA, LT, LL Total Value: 3,121,426 To Repair: 480,000 Current Value: 2,641,426

Quickdraw - Missing H Total Value: 5,514,500 To Repair: 500,000 Current Value: 5,014,500

Wasp - Missing RL, H Total Value: 1,644,000 To Repair: 555,000 Current Value: 1,089,000

JR7-D - Missing LT, RA Total Value: 3,198,350 To Repair: 275,000 Current Value: 2,923,350

Wasp - Missing RA, LA, RT, LL, H Total Value 1,644,000 To Repair: 900,000 Current Value: 744,000

Trebuchet - RL, LL gone. Hand Actuator needs replaced Total Value: 4,383,000 To Repair: 550,000 Current Value: 4,828,000

Body Parts

Locust LA - 100,000
Victor RA, LA - 700,000 (inc AC20)
Spider H, RT, RL, Engine - 1,600,000
Goliath H, Left Front Leg, Right Rear Leg - 800,000


Total Value of all Salvage:

29,232,926

We get half that: 14,616,463

And we can take that much from the salvage

Ideally, I can take the Awesome, Trebuchet, Jenner variant and Grand Dragon. One of each class of mech (Assault, medium, light and heavy, in that order). Unfortunately, I’m about a million over. What do I want the most?

I want the Awesome first. No question there. Assault mech badly damaged so it doesn’t take much of our money. I really want the Grand Dragon too. It’s a nice design and Combine only, so its hard to find on the market.

I have a ton of light mechs on my squads, but the Jenner is one of the best. On the other hand, the Trebuchet is just a perfectly designed fire support mech. Let’s go with the Trebuchet. I’ll also take the Wasp that is missing just the head and leg. I also have enough money left over to pull the Goliath rear leg.

To fix the salvaged mechs: 4,525,000
To repair and rearm my mechs: 750,000

They give me 50% of armor and ammo: 375,000
Salvage: 14,616,463

Current War Chest: 11,159,505

Nice to have this back, really enjoying it. That was some very nice salvage you got there. Not sure you even have pilots to get all those mechs moving right now.

Tell

Thanks!


LEVEL UP.

Su Yuan, originally of our Goliath, has notched four kills, which we will us to increase her gunnery. Michael Adkins, rocking the Centurion, has gotten eight kills. His piloting skill increases and he is not considered veteran.

September 18, 3034 - Our retainer contract ends with the FRR and they choose not to use the Emergency Powers Clause to extend it. All of the main planets have been captured, and most ronin units are destroyed or surrendered.

The FRR employed eight mercenary units during the Ronin Wars, and we and one other unit are the only ones that acted honorably. Many units used unusual and vague language in their contracts to avoid battles and assignments. A couple even savaged local citizen populations. The FRR had no experience in negotiating contracts, and therefore did poorly. In our final battle on Kempton, I chose to join that battle, we were not required too by our contract.

The FRR is turning hostile to mercs. I was going to activate an event claiming the FRR’s hostility to mercs. When they were rolled as the Inner Sphere hiring entity, I would have to roll a second time, and only if I got them twice in a row would they make an offer, otherwise it would be whoever the second die roll landed on. Due to our assistance in clearing out three planets, Rasalhague, Kandis and Kempton, and our willingness to help out in battle despite not being required to by contract, this event will not apply to any unit of Kilts and Commandos.

December 7, 3034 - The Kilts company of Kilts and Commandos has arrived back at Outreach.

Time to switch back to the Commandos company.


June 17, 3034 - The Commandos company arrived on Outreach. Ted Izumo does a couple of recruiting sessions. His recruiting efforts fail.

Time for contracts.



Our new Merc Rolling Chart for the Inner Sphere:

Merc Rolling Chart – Mid 3030s


2 Free Worlds League
3 Duchy of Andurien
4 St. Ives Compact
5 Capellan Confederation
6 Lyran Commonwealth
7 Federated Suns
8 Free Worlds League
9 Free Rasalhague Republic
10 ComStar
11 Draconis Combine
12 Lyran Commonwealth

As you can see, I added the FRR to the list and the Duchy of Andurien got knocked down from 9 to 3, a much less likely number. The last Capellan world held by the Duchy, Palladaine, the world we once held for them, has fallen to Capellan troops. No mercenaries are crazy enough to take an offer from them, considering the weight of the Free Worlds League will eventually be brought against their wayward Duchy.

We get two offers. One is from a corporation that wants us for an Extraction contract. We also get an offer from a Periphery state, the Marian Hegemony, for a Guerrilla contract.

Each of these are new for us, so let’s go over them. An Extraction contact differs from an Objective Raid. The goal of an Objective Raid is a smash. The goal of an Extraction is a grab. We are charged with grabbing a person, item or cache of items that have value.

A Guerilla contract is the most challenging and dangerous mission out there. You are dropped in behind enemy lines and train guerillas, occasionally do raids, and more as needed. You are expected to operate without any support or reinforcements for long periods of time. Frankly, the fact that the periphery thinks I am going to travel a long time to do one of the most difficult contracts from one of the stingiest employers is crazy. No thanks.

Let me roll to see who my corporate employer is and where they are from.

It is a Cappellan Confederation company. Military company. Makes Battlemechs.

An old contact in the Cappellan Confederation is now working for Ceres Metals Industries, stationed on the old homeworld of Capella. Ceres makes several mechs and vehicles for the Cappellan Confederation including the House Liao exclusive Vindicator. Due to my previous association with Liao, they have offered my unit a contract.

Due to the distribution of the Helm Memory Core, a Star League Defense Force computer core found on the Marik world of Helm, by the Grey Death Legion (a premier mercenary unit) that has all SLDF LosTech encoded on it, Ceres has been working from the blueprints to make LosTech anew. However, they have been having trouble replicating some of the parts for the Medium Pulse Laser.

Ceres Metals Industries has placed various corporate spies in other companies and factories, and one has reported a case of vintage Star League era Medium Pulse Lasers on a planet deep in Steiner space. Getting actual Medium Pulse Lasers in their hands to take apart and examine would really help facilitate the process. They cannot send any units from the CCAF because the planet is far away, would be unsupported, and could be seen as an act of aggression, which is something House Liao wants to avoid right now. Therefore, they are contracting us to land on the planet, find the case of Medium Pulse Lasers, and then bring them back.

Here is the catch. Ceres Metals Industries will NOT be paying us for the retrieval of the case of MPLs. Instead, we can keep half of what the case contains, and then turn over the other half. They are sending a liaison along with us. In other words, this is more like bounty hunting than actually doing a contract.

We launch for New Kyoto, which is one jump away from major Steiner worlds like Solaris and Hesperus II.

July 27, 3034 - We arrive in New Kyoto. Doering Electronics is here on planet making Medium Pulse Lasers, and they occasionally use the older ones from the storage cases as samples. That’s why we were sent here. We are two jumps from the Free Worlds League border, but Marik has barely made any noise, so there are not any major troops assigned to New Kyoto. The company has a garrison of a company of mechs.

Our liaison tells us that the case is in a Doering Electronics warehouse on the outskirts of one of their industrial complexes on planet. As we begin marching towards Doering, the garrison is summoned to stop us.

We are fighting at an industrial park.


Doering Electronics Garrison

Ostscout
Shadow Hawk
Trebuchet
Commando
Awesome
Locust
Ostsol
Phoenix Hawk x2
Atlas
Javelin
Hunchback

There are three mechs made from the Ostmann factory back in the Star League era, which was destroyed in the Succession Wars. The Ostscout, Ostroc and Ostsol. Of those, the Ostroc is alright, but the Ostscout and Ostsol aren’t that good. These guys are rare, so if I can can get a chance to score one, I’ll be happy. The Ostsol is a 60 ton heavy mech with 5/8 movement, two large lasers, four medium lasers, with two facing the rear, 16 heat sinks and 9 tons of armor. That’s about three tons too light for me, because I want max armor on my 50-55-60-65 ton mechs so that they can stand up to the big boys if needed. It has enough heat sinks to fire both large lasers and not take any heat if it is standing still.

That Atlas is nasty. Both the Atlas and the Hunchback feature slow plodding mechs with solid armor and AC20s. The Atlas has a ton of other weapons at 100 tons, the 50 Hunchy has nothing else except a few backup lasers.

I am facing two assaults, one heavy, five mediums, and four lights. I’d prefer a lighter party, but I am happy with the higher end of things.

In case you forgot in the amount of time its been since I played this company, I have three assault mechs of my own, a Stalker, Awesome and Longbow, but I only have one heavy mech, the crappy Rifleman, after our Orion was destroyed in the last battle. That pilot is now at the helm of the Awesome, featuring three PPCs, 28 heat sinks, and that’s it. I roll and the Doering pilots are regular troops.

We arrive at the warehouse compounds just a few minutes before the mechs do. Good, it will give us a chance to set up and…uh oh. The doors burst out from several buildings and tanks are moving out. Our liaison did not tell us about vehicles! A company of tanks are moving out!

We have a company of vehicles here now. At the beginning of round six, the mechs will be arriving. We have to devastate the vehicles as quickly as possible if we have any chance of overcoming two companies of forces against us. I roll, and the tank garrison comes back as green. That’s a bit of a relief.

Grats on the salvage.

I'm assuming you're keeping the units separate so that it's easier to handle the fights? Battalion level fights would seem to be a real bitch to resolve.

They are. Megamek slows down the more units on the field.

One of our Panthers causes a building to collapse when he jumped on it. Ah well. He falls and takes some light damage to leg and arm. Ted takes out a Scorpion Light Tank on the first turn by taking out its front side. The Awesome destroys the Schrek PPC Carrier by destroying its right side. Well, that was a good first turn. We took out their most powerful tank, the Schrek, and then destroyed a light tank too. If we can keep this up, then we can eliminate most of the tanks by the time the mechs arrive. Ted’s Stalker then kicks and destroys a Condor Heavy Tank’s power plant, causing it to explode. Make it three then.

I stand up the Panther and move my men around. Ted destroys a Stalker Light Tank’s right side. Our Panther falls after taking the damage. Then Ted kicks and destroys the front side of the Galleon Light Tank. That’s four kills for Ted in two turns. Nice.

I stand the Panther back up. On this turn, we just exchange fire with various vehicles.

The RA of my Wasp is taken out on the next turn. Our Cicada takes out the Partisan Heavy tank, the other assault tank.

It’s round 5. This is the final round before the mechs arrive. We need to kill a maximum number of tanks this turn. The Longbow destroys a Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun. Destroyed the front side.

Well, the opposing mechs have arrived. I managed to take out both assault tanks, the one with the AC20, and a few minor ones here and there. I’ll try to finish some of the tanks quickly, in order to focus my fire later on more dangerous targets.

The Cicada destroys a Bulldog Medium Tank’s front section. The Awesome blows off the LL of the Trebuchet, upon which we concentrated a lot of our fire.

The Trebuchet fails to stand and falls again. Ted hits hit actuators on the LA and RA of the Trebuchet. Our Awesome hits their Javelin in its head with a PPC and the mech crumbles to the ground. One mech down.

I order the Cicada to charge the Atlas. Ted hit’s the Commando’ gyro twice, and blows off its RT and its RA falls to the ground. That’s another kill for Ted (double gyro hit). This guy is a killing machine today. The Longbow destroys the left and right arms of the Trebuchet. Their Atlas falls after taking some significant damage. The Longbow kicks and destroys a Goblin Medium Tank’s right side. The charge of the Cicada is canceled since the Atlas fell.

The Trebuchet is out of weapons except for one LRM15 kept in a torso. The Atlas is damaged. We’ve killed one mech a turn. Most of the tanks have been wiped up. They begin to get desperate. They stand their Atlas up. The Trebuchet tries to stand up, falls down, hits its gyro, and the pilot blacks out. Their Awesome hit’s the ammo in one of my Panther’s and it blows up. The pilot ejects safely. Our Phoenix Hawk kicks and destroys the rear armor of the Harasser Missile Platform. Hassan Mohommad gets a kill in his first action with us.

The 10th round arrives. It sucks that I lost a Panther, but I hope to make up for it. I order the Cicada to charge the Awesome. Ted hit’s a pair of actuators on the Atlas’s LA. Their Ostsol destroys the LL of the Cicada. It falls hard. The Hunter Light Support Tank destroys the crew of the Pike Support Vehicle, but its treads were all shot, I’ll still have to repair them. The Locust ran around behind the Ostscout and fired, hitting two gyro shots through the thin rear armor. It falls and it is out of the battle. Their Atlas kicks the LT off our Cicada and the LA is laying on the ground. Their Awesome misses a kick and falls. Their Trebuchet pilot wakes back up.

I eject the Cicada pilot. The mech is toast for now. The Trebuchet pilot blacks out again after standing and falling. Their Atlas opens up the arm on the Locust and hit two actuators and a machine gun. My favorite Stalker pilot, Ted Izumo, hit’s the Atlas in the head and destroys it. Dead Atlas. However, I savaged it before it fell. LT Destroyed, LA fell off. 2 hits on engine from Griffin. Hit on gyro from Longbow. Their Hunchback hit’s the Stinger with an AC20 in the LA, blowing it and the LT off,a nd going critical on the center torso and hitting a gyro. One hit did all that. The Stinger falls. The Stinger is kicked by the Hunchy in the CT and that section is destroyed. The Stinger is possibly recoverable, but gone for now.

Our Longbow hit’s the foot actuator of their Awesome. As a consequence, it falls again. Our Longbow is out of LRM ammo. Just trying to zap people with its Medium lasers now. Our Awesome destroys the RT of their Awesome, and the RA drops too. That’s two PPCs down. The Longbow kicks and destroys the RL of their Locust.

Their Phoenix Hawk gets lucky with its large laser and sheers the head off our Longbow. It falls silently to the ground and Garman Lopez, a veteran pilot, has died. Ted hits two more leg actuators on their Awesome. The Rifleman hits their Awesome’s engine twice. Then our Awesome destroys its LL. It falls, bang. It is internal everywhere, there is not a section that has external armor except in its rear. It is only missing an arm, torso section and leg right now, however.

The Hunter tank is out of ammo so I order it to flee. I try to run my Jav variant behind a Phoenix Hawk and skid right off the map. It’s gone for the scenario. Their Locust on the ground tries to get up, fails, and falls back down, blacking out. Ted is out of LRM ammo in his Stalker. The Rifleman is out of AC5 ammo. Ted destroys the RL of the Awesome. With both legs blown out, it’s not going anywhere. Our Griffin’s LA is destroyed. Their Ostsol is taking some heat, so it falls under the assault. Our Phoenix Hawks kicks and hit’s the hip actuator on the Shadow Hawk. It trips and falls, injuring its AC5.

Their Hunchy charges my Awesome out of desperation and fires the final shot in its AC20. It blasts through the injured LL of the Awesome and our mech falls. Our Phoenix Hawk kicks and destroys the Shadow Hawk’s RL. I run with my Panther to get behind a Phoenix Hawk, and it also slips and slides off the map. Gone for the battle. Been unlucky with that. Their Shadow Hawk hits two jump jets in our Phoenix Hawk. Our Phoenix Hawk responds, destroying the SH’s RA. After taking a ton of damage, their Ostsol falls and hits its gyro once and engine twice. The Phoenix Hawk kicks and destroys the Shadow Hawk’s LA.

Their Phoenix Hawk blows off its right arm when it tries to land on a building, and it collapses beneath it. The LA is laying on the ground (one of those “limb blows off” criticals). Our Awesome destroys the LA of the Ostsol.

Our Griffin destroys the RA of the Ostsol. The Motorized Rifle Platoon kills the crew of the Vedette, taking out the final tank.

The following turn the Motorized Rifle Platoon kills the Ostsol by destroying its LT and CT. Our Griffin shears off a Phoenix Hawk’s head. That was the good Phoenix hawk. It falls down. Two more mechs dead.

And with that, they radio us to concede. They withdraw and the warehouse is ours.

We got a ton of vehicle salvage, which is good because I lost some mechs to get it. Normally, vehicles blow up or get destroyed beyond repair, but when their side is destroyed, there is a very good chance of recovery (Not guaranteed, but a good chance, I only need to roll a 5). Vehicles are fragile but recoverable as long as you don’t destroy it through a fuel tank rupture or power plant explosion.

We open up the warehouse and find several cases. In one are the aged Medium Pulse Lasers. We take the rest for our unit and leave.

Salvage:

Scorpion Light Tank

Schrek PPC Carrier

Strilker Light Tank

Galleon Light Tank

Partisan Heavy Tank

Hetzer Wheeled Assault Gun

Bulldog Medium Tank

Goblin Medium Tank

Pike Support Vehicle - fix treads

Vedette Medium Tank



Awesome, LL, RL, RT - All PPCs hit. Engine x2

Ostscout, Gyrox2, engine

Trebuchet, LL, RA, LA, gyro

Locust - RL

Javelin - H

Commando, gyrox2, LT

Atlas, H, gyro, enginex2, LT

Stinger - LA, LT, CT?

Ostsol - CT? LA, RA, LT


Parts:

Panther RA
LRM10
Phoenix Hawk LA


To Be Fixed:

Wasp RA

Cicada LL, LT

Locust two actuators, destroyed MG

Longbow, H

Griffin LA

Awesome LL

Phoenix Hawk two jump jets

Two green vehicle crews are willing to join us in case I am interested. None of the MW’s were interested in doing so.


I roll to determine how many MPL’s were in the case. Normally, you’d find 20 in a case, but Doering had used up several. Let me roll. I rolled 11 MPLs. They get six, and we get five.

Medium Pulse Laser - One of the LosTech weapons, a MPL weighs twice as much as a Medium Laser and has 33% less range (2/4/6) and makes four heat instead of three. However, it fires at -2 accuracy, making it much easier to hit with them, and does 20% more damage.

I can try to unload these on the market or use them to splice onto my mechs.

We also got three other crates from the warehouse. Let me look up and see what Doering makes on New Kyoto, hold on. They all have communications and tacking systems for mechs. Worth 50k each, and there are five per box. That means we salvaged 750k of communications systems which I will sell for 650k on the market.


Since we are not under a real contract, there is no support, salvage rights, transport reimbursement, and so forth. So we can keep all salvage but we have to pay everything out of pocket.

Alright, let’s do some math:

To repair all tanks (Armor and ammo): 650,000

To repair our mechs: 1,810,000

To rearm and refit our mechs: 920,000 (Not including Stinger)

To repair, refit and rearm salvaged mechs:

950,000 - Awesome
1,200,000 for Ostscout
630,000 for Trebuchet
180,000 for Locust
440,000 for Javelin
835,000 for Commando
1,460,000 for Atlas
1,165,000 for Stinger
1,780,000 for Ostsol

Total Cost to Fix all Salvaged Mechs: 8,640,000

Other Costs:

450,000 to get there
625,000 to get back (we had to rent a bigger DropShip to carry all of this stuff)
181,463 upkeep on unit

I have to pay these costs first. I also pay the costs to refit and fix our mechs.

I then sell the communications gear for 650k.

Now I need to get a few mechs up and running to replace those damaged. I fix up the Locust, Javelin, Trebuchet and Awesome.

Current War Chest: 514,878

EXPERIENCE - Ted Izumo got seven kills in the action, and that takes him to eleven. His piloting skill increases by one and he is now officially elite.

September 10, 3034 - We arrive back in Outreach and our liaison continues on to Ceres Metals Industries with the six Medium Pulse Lasers. I’m not going to do anything with our five MPLs for now, just sit on them.


Ted makes an executive decision. The creation of the Kilts and Commandos Tank Company. We move Erik Jannarsson and the Hunter Light Support Tank to the new company.

Ted begins to recruit dispossessed vehicle crew. He hires an elite dispossessed named Sun Xiang to supervise the unit. The other Sergeants are veteran Monique D’Avignon and Betty Victor. We hire a lot of dispossessed between Ted and Sun Xiang. Most are vets, a few regulars and elites tossed it.

October 10, 3034 - After spending a month recruiting, and we get 1,000,000 in C-Bills from the Kilts Company as seed money for our new command. Sun Xiang begins by trying to find a good contract for the vehicle company. They get two offers. One contract is from a corporation who wants Sun Xiang to participate in combat in an Objective Raid, but I see this company as more of a company that sits back and draws a salary while letting the mechs do the work. Luckily, we got a contract from the Free Worlds League for a garrison contract.

Sun has 55 points for negotiation. He puts up length of service. They offer two years.

The FWL negotiator puts up support and offers straight support, at 70% which pulls out ten points from the pool.

Sun puts up salvage rights. They offer no salvage, Sun manages to counter with Exchange rights (Exchange rights is like Shared rights only there is no 50/50, the FWL gets all the material and the mercs get that amount of money in Exchange). This costs five points, putting us at 40.

They put up remuneration and offer it to us, pulling out another 10 points.

Sun puts up transport. They offer 40% reimbursement and we gain 15 points. 45 points remaining.

They put up salary and pull 25 points to offer a 3.4 modifier.

Sun rolls with the final item, Command rights. They offer House command, and Sun accepts, adding 5 points.

He finishes with 25 points, so the company will get a 12.5% signing bonus of the full salary value of the contract. I can calculate that now.

Salary is two years. Value is 1,099,837. Bonus is 137,439, which we get right now.

They will be garrisoning the Marik world of Merak, a non-descript little world five jumps away. Sun Xiang’s company lands on November 24, 3034, and will be on planet until November 24, 3036.

The Commando Company, led by Ted Izumo also looks for a contract. They get two offers.

Offer #1: The Lyran Commonwealth wants the company for an Objective Raid.

Offer #2: The Capellan Confederation is also offering an Objective Raid.

The Capellan Target is the Duchy of Andurien, hitting one of their worlds as revenge. Since the decree went out from the Mariks not to take any systems in the Duchy or the FWL would consider it an act of war, the Caps have to console themselves with the occasional raid.

The Lyran Target is a planet in the newly formed Free Rasalhague Republic. Although they are distancing themselves from the Ronin Wars, they did lost some planets to the new FRR. As such, they want some installation that was once theirs destroyed so the Rasalhague forces won’t use it against them later.

The irony is that both targets are against a minor Inner Sphere power we were aligned with for a major conflict. I feel a little hinky about attacking either this soon after working for them in their plights against the great houses.

I decide to wait a month. Ted can use the time recruiting dispossessed warriors for the unit. Then perhaps a better contract will come down the pike.

November 10, 3034 - Ted recruits one elite and one veteran dispossessed.

Meet:

Aaron Cohen, elite, assigned to Longbow

Thad Karamanlis, veteran, assigned to Trebuchet.

There is also an unmanned Locust but Ted can only make two recruit rolls per session and was unable to find a third dispossessed MechWarriors.

New offers:

Offer #1: Federated Suns, Objective raid

Offer #2: St Ives Compact, Cadre

A Cadre contract lasts between six and twelve months and is training of local militia. That’s it, you aren’t even contracted to fight against any attackers (unless you also do a security or garrison contract). It’s considered the lightest possible duty for a merc.

I like the combat. I set up a meeting with the Davion negotiator.

We have 74 points in the negotiation.

Ted puts up salvage. He wants to take care of it right up front. They offer Exchange and he counters with Shared. 64 points

They offer command rights and give us full independent commands. 54 points.

Ted tosses up length. They offer five months, he drops them to two. 39 points.

They put up remuneration and offer it. Pulling out another 10 points. 29 points.

Ted puts up transport. They offer 40% reimbursement and Ted accepts. 44 points.

They offer support rights. They offer straight support at 50%. Ted switches to Battle Loss Compensation at 50%. 9 points.

Ted puts up salary. They offer 2.8 multiplier, taking out all of our points.


Target?

Draconis Combine.

Planet?

Sulafat - Three jumps into Drac space from the Fed Suns border. It is seven jumps away from Outreach., two away from the Free Rasalhague Republic. Let me roll up a target. It’s a boring world, so no factories, or anything like that.

Davion has word that an experimental new Draconis Combine design, cased on the old Charger, is being field tested on Sulafat. He wants us to land on the planet, find the experimental new design, and then bring it back for study. One of the worst kept secrets is that Hanse Davion sees the Ronin Wars as a sign of the continued weakness of the DCMS. They were decimated in the Fourth Succession War and now 20% have defected and the rest are fighting among themselves. Hanse is obviously preparing for war, and he wants us to find the Hatamato, destroy it, and bring the pieces back to him.

He has to send a mercenary unit to get it. With the Ronin Wars winding down, he needs their cover and confusion to get the mech without anyone knowing it was him. It has to be a smaller merc unit, not one of the big ones like Kell Hounds or Wolf’s Dragoons or Grey Death Legion. Those would be too obvious. Therefore, he is contracting our Company Two, a small unit of mechs designed to sneak in, grab the mech, and burn out before we encounter too much resistance.

If Inner Sphere military technology were on a parabola, there would be a centuries-long bottom at the base of the parabola, but we are beginning to get out. The discovered Helm Memory Core is beginning to yield results in the testing factories. In 3010, something happened that had not happened in over 100 years. The first new mech design was introduced, the Merlin. Since then, slowly, new designs have been making their mark. The Lyran Commonwealth debuted the Hatchetman in 3023. The Fed Suns introduced the Wolfhound in 3030. The Cataphract was designed by House Liao and put out a lot of designs for them before the planet was captured by House Davion, who is now making them for themselves.

The fact that the Draconis Combine is testing a new mech design is nothing unusual. However, this new mech, based on the Charger chassis, is supposedly based in part on LosTech from the Helm Memory Core.

December 29, 3034 - Ted pays some extra money for transport in order to get on a merchant DropShip instead of the normal commercially available military DropShips. They land in an industrial DropPort on the planet, and no one knows that Ted’s mechs are on board. Hearing that Braham Essex was heading back to Outreach, Ted left three mechs back on Outreach along with their MechWarriors, and is only taking twelve mechs with him. Staying behind are the unmanned Locust, Trebuchet and Phoenix Hawk, plus all of the damaged mechs not fixed.

The twelve MechWarriors and infantry spread out, heading to various taverns and such.

This is a good planet for Theodore Kurita to have as his experimental unit. He has a regiment of mechs here, all manned. They are very loyal to him, so he doesn’t have to worry about them going off and joining the ronin cause. They are close enough to be of use in the Ronin Wars if needed, but also far away and on a minor planet.

January 3, 3035 - One of our soldiers has overheard some of their MechWarriors talking about a new mech design. Their lips were loosened by alcohol. The mech designs are supposedly right near here.

January 5, 3035 - It is nighttime, and we suspect that the opponent is likely to be caught off guard. Combat is harder now, with all shots getting +2 to their target number. I order the men to warm up the mechs and the DropShip crew to get it ready for take off, in case we are fleeing from the Dracs.

We head out, intent to find a company of mechs on patrol through the industrial area of the planet. I send out my scout mechs to try to find their location. Anna Cafincelli in the Cicada radios back that she has made contact with twelve mechs. I hear weapons fire, but she escapes unscathed, protected by he speed, the hills, and the poor accuracy of long range combined with night operations.

The troops are ordered to advance, and then Ted makes a terrible discovery. There are twelve mechs on patrol, no question. But they are ALL the new experimental mech. As he sees their formation come around a hill, he is forced to make a decision.

We could push in, and fight twelve assault mechs, all with level two equipment and lily to have top of the line pilots. Or we can retreat.

Ted is no fool. This was not what we were contracted for. He immediately orders a retreat. Cover fire with energy weapons is laid down, although few hit either side as the range and darkness prevent deadlier aim.

He radios the DropShip and tells them he is coming in hot. They load up, and the advancing Dracs would rather let the enemy go than risk damage to the valuable industrial infrastructure.

Two tons of armor is needed to replace the minor damage dealt at extreme range.

This is a failed mission.

February 18, 3035 - We land back at Outreach. We forward some pictures of the unknown mech to the Fed Suns. A look at the financial implications of the journey:

700,000 there
700,000 back
210,168 upkeep of unit.
20,000 armor


560,000 transport reimbursement
10,000 support
12,742 remuneration

No Salary - did not complete mission.

Total Loss: 1,047,926

Oh, that would have hurt to face 12 assault mechs, smart smart move to back out of that one, even with the loss and failed mission.

Tell

Yeah. I make a roll in every mission where we are given intel to see how true it is. Then if it is false, I roll to see how far off it is. The Davions thought there was one Hatamato made. Apparently, they were really, really wrong.

December 7, 3034 - The Kilts company arrives back at Outreach from their extended tour of duty on retainer for the Free Rasalhague Republic. They arrive and Braham decides to split forces to make a third mech company. He will transfer over Stacey Stowers and her Wasp. The Awesome will stay in Company One. The Phoenix Hawk in the Anvil Lance is transferred to the Thunder Lance. This will give the Kilts Company just one assault mech.

The Kilts Company is now rated B on the Dragoon’s Mercenary Ratings, and the average experience level is veteran. Right now, let’s see what kind of pilot Braham can get for the Awesome.

Braham can make three recruit attempts and Adele one.


Mechs with Pilots and ready to Go:

Phoenix Hawk
Trebuchet
Wasp

Mechs Ready to Go:

Locust
Wasp
Grand Dragon
Ostscout
Commando
Flea
Trebuchet

Mechs to be Fixed:


1,200,000 for Ostscout
835,000 for Commando
1,460,000 for Atlas
1,165,000 for Stinger
1,780,000 for Ostsol


Vet dispossessed
Elite dispossessed
Elite dispossessed
Elite dispossessed

Well, that was good. Braham taps one of the elite dispossessed for the Awesome variant in his unit. The others will be assigned to Company Three. Meet:

Edgar Lopez, elite, Awesome 8T, Kilts Company

Cristina Fernandez, veteran, Trebuchet, 3rd company

Elizabeth Smythe, elite, 3rd company

Jason Thomas, elite, 3rd company

I have not assigned the pair of elites yet. Elizabeth Smythe will be the company’s lieutenant. Elizabeth, as the leader of a unit, can make one roll per recruiting session for her unit. She rolls and gets a veteran dispossessed MW. Meet Janice Flanders, she is assigned the Grand Dragon.

I order the extra Wasp, Stinger and Flea sold. We have too many light mechs for my taste. I make 4,200,000 on their sales. With that money, I fix the Atlas and Ostsol and give the Atlas to Elizabeth Smythe as her command mech. She is very happy (as any MechWarrior would be to get the daddy of the field).

We stay here for a month to do some more recruiting, and to put the Medium Pulse Lasers on some mechs.

Next month’s recruiting:

Braham:

Maeve Vega, regular, Catapult, 3rd Company
Orpah Jones, elite, dispossessed, 3rd Company assigned to Ostscout and promoted to Sergeant
Lois Cooper, veteran, Hatchetman, 3rd Company
Chiang Xe, elite, dispossessed, 3rd Company, assigned to Locust
John Abram, green, Griffin, 3rd Company

I give the Ostsol to Sergeant Jason Thomas

The final picture of Company Three:


Looks like the chart I had didn't come out. Let me write this up for you quickly.


Anvil Lance:

Lieutenant Elizabeth Smythe, Atlas
Janice Flanders, Grand Dragon
Lois Cooper, Hatchetman
John Abram, Griffin


Hammer Lance:

Sergeant Jason Thomas, Ostsol
Thad Karamanlis, Trebuchet
Cristina Fernendez, Trebuchet
Maeve Vega, Catapult


Thunder Lance:

Sergeant Orpah Jones, Ostscout
Hassan Mohommad, Phoenix Hawk
Chiang Xe, Locust
Stacey Stowers, Wasp

Now I am going to use my month in Outreach for fixing up a mech or two with LosTech.

Company Three is now officially named the Trinity Company.

Because Braham Essex is now in charge of four companies, three mechs, he is promoted to Captain.

Trinity Company is looking pretty good, with an average experience level of veteran. With a solid number of good mechs, like an Atlas, two Trebuchets, and a Catapult, it looks pretty capable.

I’m going to edit the Phoenix Hawk 1D variant:

I want to pull off the Large Laser, two medium lasers, and replace with three medium pulse lasers and a ton of armor. Here we go, let’s start with the LA ML, pulling it off, period. That works.

Now I want to pull the LL and ML out of the RA. That works.

Normally I’d just replace them in the arms, but I don’t want to lose my LosTech by getting am arm shot off.

I put one MPL in the Center Torso. The Original P. Hawk design calls for a ton of Mg ammo here, so we are off by one degree (tonnage) but not the other (critical). This works.

Now I want to put a MPL in the Head. This is a new placement. Off by two degrees, I order my techs to take two weeks with this change (giving me +2 to the roll). It succeeds.

Finally, I want to put a MPL in the RT. This is a new placement. I order my techs to take another two weeks (the full month taken up by these changes). This works.

Adding a ton of armor to the mech is easy to balance out. Our final Design:

Phoenix Hawk 1Abe

9 tons of armor (max amount)
6/9/6 movement
12 heat sinks
3 MPL


This allows us to jump behind other mechs, and despite the big hit for jumping, have accuracy in the back attack. I decide to swap Griffin and Phoenix Hawk pilots. The new Phoenix Hawk pilot is Justine Dempsey, who is 3/5 as a pilot. Samia Oudghiri, a 4/5 pilot is moving to the Griffin. Thus, our LosTech mech is in the hand of a better gunner.

We still have

1,200,000 for Ostscout
835,000 for Commando
1,165,000 for Stinger

In the bays. I order them sent to our home base in Epsilon Eridani.


Alright, let’s roll up some contracts for the Kilts and Trinity Companies.


January 10, 3035 -

Kilts Company:

Offer #1: ComStar want us for a Defensive Contract

Offer #2: Fed Suns want an Objective Raid.


I’ll take, hmm. Defensive Campaign Contracts are tough. Typically if an asset is under assault and extra forces are needed to shore up defense, that a Relief Contract. Instead, a Defensive Campaign is expecting you to fight a delaying campaign against attackers until reinforcements can arrive. You are operating without supply, reinforcement, with the intent to delay harass and tie down your opponent until another can arrive. I can’t imagine doing that for a campaign. Ick.

So I’m going with the Fed Suns most likely. They want us to attack the Caps. Again. We’ve attacked the Caps before for Davion.

They want us to land and attack a small military outpost on No Return, another minor system among many. No Return is near the Davion-Capellan border, but with their military infrastructure still near the Andurien-Capellan Border and working to subdue minor riots and terrorism in the areas taken by the Duchy and recently recaptured, their defenses are disrupted, and lighter except on planets anticipated as targets for any new strike by House Davion. No Return is not expected to be a target of an attack, so it is lightly defended. Davion wants us to land, destroy any defenders, and take out the military outpost. They hope that by having us strike at that planet, Capellan Confederation Armed Forces (CCAF) will have to garrison it with more troops, thus pulling them out from others.

We’ll take it. Time for negotiation.