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The BattleTech Dynasty, Chapt 7,Consolidation and Preparations – 3059-3062 - Complete
This is chapter 7 of the BattleTech Dynasty, which I have been doing slowly overtime. There are just 8 chapters total, and the other 7 are in the Dynasty threads. I'll link to them in a bit.
This dynasty begins at the same time as recent Chapter 6.5 and will end sometime after it ends, and dovetails with it. After getting a B Tech bug, I went ahead and ran one aspect of Chapter 7 early in that chapter, but no i want to hit this one up full time and see it through. Expect to see updates over the next few weeks until I've done Chpt 7. So what is this dynasty? If you are new, great! I am using several programs, books, and more to sim a character, mercenary group and more in the BattleTech universe. It began in 3030 and has progressed to 3059. It ends in 3067. If you are familiar with the universe via books, video games, the cartoon, the RPG or the wargame, then yay! If not, I spend some time describing the universe and its uniqueness in other threads. Basically, humanity expanded outward magnificently, but ran into no intelligent life. Life itself is abundant, but intelligent life is just human. And humanity brings with it to the stars all of the various problems it contains. Much like people huddle together at lunch tables by religion and ethnicity, they have colonized worlds and settled them by creed and race. The slowness of travel in space has resulted in a reemergence of monarchies to rule many worlds and states. Thus the Inner Sphere is divided and wars with various states, planets, nobles, merchants, pirates, corporations, clans, militaries and mercenaries battle for supremacy. Into this chaos our good lead character, Colonel Braham Essex has built one of the premier mercenary units in the Inner Sphere. In the last chapter, he used this force and the various political allies he made in his career to found a new state, the Celestial Coalition, with him at the head. The CC now has several worlds under its control. And now, as the chaos of the Inner Sphere embroils around the area, expect more opportunities to follow, and defenses to be erected. Welcome to Chapter 7 - Consolidation and Preparations |
January 1, 3059 – Duke Essex meets with the head of his nascent realms new intelligence agency created about nine months ago. Chief Ingrid Foster was the head of the intelligence network for the Epsilon Eridani government before being promoted to run the agency for the realm, connecting the networks at the other systems and installing some in places like Acamar. Codenamed the Apollo Office, after the Greek deity of wisdom and oracles, Chief Foster had regularly scheduled meetings with Duke Essex on the state of things in the IS abroad as well as the Chaos March nearby.
As the only state of more than three systems in the Chaos March, the Celestial Coalition was formed by three initial systems – Epsilon Eridani, Capolla and Terra Firma. Soon others were added diplomatically – Fletcher, militarily – Acamar, defensively – Epsilon Indi, colonially - Asmodeus or in liberation – Ingress. It has many wealthy systems, including Acamar’s vast mineral wealth as a mining planet, Epsilon Eridani as one of the strongest economies in the Chaos March, the healthy economies of Terra Firma and Capolla, the rich potential of new colony Asmodeus, the agricultural wealth of Ingress and the sheer independence and sustainability of Fletcher . No system is economically a drain on the state. Now, several rebuilding projects are underway on Capolla, Acamar, and Terra Firma after major battles were fought there as the place erupted into chaos. Dropports were destroyed, and buildings razed in many places, and many projects are already completed at the beginning of 3059. Additionally, the state is placing some central facilities on Asmodeus. It is building just a few DropPorts, and central buildings. It costs billions of C-Bills to build a colony, and so the state has instead just a few hundred million. Using the vast mining contacts on Acamar, Capolla and Epsilon Eridani, three mining consortiums have agreed to open up mining on Asmodeus, and are already building facilities there. Mining should begin in about two years. Each system has their leader on a council, and each three years, the council votes someone to take over the reins ,but they have a subordinate running the planet mostly. Running a multi-system state, even a small one, has a lot of work. It requires meetings with intelligence officers, leaders from other states, military leaders, media, corporations and more. |
Chief Foster has compiled a report on every non-CC planet in our section of the Chaos March, no matter who currently controls them. Here are the briefings of that report:
Small World – Currently the capital of the Duchy of Small, the ruler here created his own nation and grabbed Ingress for it. Then, we agreed to release Ingress and they joined us. That military operation was just completed. They are very expansionistic, and not that wealthy compared to other planets in the March. Small population of just 250 million. It is conquerable if we wanted to. Sheratan – A world that was not wealthy to begin with, the vast forests of Sheratan were set ablaze in the battles at the beginning of the Chaos March. This planet suffered greatly. It was recently captured by the Duchy of Small, and then we took Ingress from the Dukedom, so they are back to two systems. Northwind – A wealthy world, independent, and home of the powerful merc unit, the Northwind Highlanders. There are several industries on planet. It needs no central government and would be nigh impossible to conquer and keep. Outreach – Like Northwind times three. The Wolf’s Dragoons are here, and it is the hiring location for reputable merc units. It has even more resources and wealth, and would be even harder to take, and even less desiring of being with a state. Bryant – A relatively poor planet, with few resources, and has taken to raiding nearby systems, such as Epsilon Indi, Caph, Keid, New Home, and Carver V. the world has a turbulent atmosphere and rumors of many LosTech caches. It was a prison planet for the Capellan Confederation until a few decades ago. It has at least a regiment of mixed forces (mechs + tanks) on planet. It is a thorn in the March that someone will need to pluck soon. Sirius/Procyon – We arrived at the Sirian Holds, destroyed their navy, and they had been taken over by some anti-science and anti-technology cult that was murdering professors and burning books. We want no part of the liberation of these worlds, so far from our own. New Home/Keid – Both of these nearby planets have been secured in the name of locals who are decidedly pro-Steiner. Right now we have not incurred the wrath of any major state, but taking these worlds might stir up some trouble with the Lyran Alliance. Keid, in particular, is firmly Lyran. There are still pro-Liao forces in New Home, but the pro-Lyran forces are slowly gaining ground on them. Caph – With four different factions still fighting on planet – this is an incredibly nasty military place to try to take. It was made toxic in the Succession Wars, an only recently started to recover, but still has not come close. Not a wealthy planet by any stretch and not under central authority. The people might welcome us. Right on the border with the Combine. Carver V – Another planet with multiple forces and multiple loyalties and split. More wealth that Caph though. A bit farther away. These are expanding in different directions than previously: Hall – Past Outreach, awkwardly geography to get to. Two sons of Pavel Ridzik have declared Hall as the new home of a new Tikonov Free Republic. But they have no other planets under them. The former CO of the FedCom troops stationed here led a coup against the local government and took over, but fell to the Ridziks, who are looking to expand. Elgin – Near Capolla, large oceanic world, islands divvied into various clans each in control of their own fiefdoms. Wide variety of economy – tourism, manufacturing, sea farming. Heavy investments by Caps and FedCom gave it a robust economy. The local troops were subverted by Cap intelligence. Five different nobles have their own fiefs. Hsien – Near Elgin. Another planet abandoned by the successor states, the Baron Luis Montong V has repeatedly asked for aid from the FedCom to no avail. Still has Cap forces on world. The mighty McCarron;s Armored Cavalry arrived on planet and blew away the local pro-Davion forces. Then they left. The Baron personally slew the governor appointed by the Caps and threw the world back into dispute. The forces here are small – two companies, one companies and a regiment of infantry. It would not take a lot to tip it into anybody’s balance. Very outside the box: Genoa – A wealthy mining planet on the other side of the Fed Com and isolated from the rest of the March next to one other March world. Also exotic pets from the world knocked off its normal orbit by a passing meteor millennia ago. The Genoan president was killed by Liao forces while an unknown number of forces are fighting for control of mines and cities alike, and no one is in charge centrally. Arboris – The other world out here. 9 regiments of infantry of farmers and locals, plus 2 battalions of mechs and 1 regiment mixed. Split between locals, FedCom and Caps. Fierce independent streak. The locals refused to be bullied by Liao forces and rallied to build their large regiments of infantry. But they are fighting the Davion forces as well, and trying to oust both off planet. It would be rough, in this climate, to take and hold with that many people angry at off worlders. There are two FedCom planets in the March – Nanking and Zurich. Arboris and Genoa are on the other side of N and Z from us, but still just one jump from Acamar for both worlds and Terra Firma for Arboris. All other planets near us are simply too far away to be of value. |
What are good targets of opportunity for future expansion?
We must handle Brant soon, because no one else can/will. They are growing stronger. The Duchy of Small is an issue to deal with later. So, in terms of financial value alone, the best targets are Genoa, Elgin, and then perhaps Carver V, Hsien, Keid or New Home. In terms of military value – Bryant, due to ending threat, Small World for ending threat, and Hall for ending threat. In terms of ease of taking it – Hsien, followed by perhaps Elgin or maybe Keid. What are the best targets in terms of ease, economic value, military value and proximity? Elgin Hsien Genoa Bryant Carver V Elgin – Within one jump of Capolla and Terra Firma Hsien – Within one jump of Capolla, Terra Firma as well Expect these as new targets soon. |
Chief Foster confirms that she dispatched the message to each of the great houses regarding us. If a house makes a major move against the Celestial Coalition, we will immediately swear fealty to their enemy. At the crossroads of the IS, we are near all of the spaces of all five houses, and we can join any of them if someone makes a play for us. So if the Combine moves against us, we move to the Federated Suns, and so forth. We’d rather join a great house under our terms, which would be rather nice if we chose our state, than be forced back in under theirs.
Diplomatically, we received recognition as an official state from the Free Rasalhague Republic just a few weeks after we formed the CC. A few days later, ComStar officially recognized us as well. A few months later, the Free Worlds League joined. No one else has until now. We spend the first few months of 3059 gathering force,s fixing things, and restoring order on Ingress and bringing them into the CC. We have no major incidents here at the K&C unit or with the CC, no attacks or anything. So, let’s head back to the two missions we have funded to explore nearby planets and systems to see what may be out there. Then we’ll head back and, offload, and more. |
During the campaign, as events happen in the Inner Sphere, they are placed in these EVENT posts:
EVENT, February 27, 3059 – The clan of Burrock has been absorbed by Star Adder. EVENT March 1, 3059 – Clan Ghost Bear has begun secretly moving their assets to the Inner Sphere. |
I don't want to get stuck in with battle just yet, so instead I will head to our exploration missions. We have outfitted two explorer groups with JumpShips, DropShips, and various military units to explore the areas near the Celestial Coalition to see what can be seen.
Exploration Expedition #1: Scots Flotilla – Merchant JumpShip Faith’s Bulwark, Fortress DropShip, Upgraded Jakob’s Ladder, Buccaneer DropShip * 2 Small Craft – 2 Taurus Escorts Jericho Company of mechs in Fortress 5 squads of power armored infantry in Fortress 12 tanks in Fortress It had jumped back out from Epsilon Eridani on January 11, 3059 As reminder, due to the nature of many of these planets being seen, all habitability rolls are reduced by 2, and all interesting things rolls are increased by one. We’re going to head back out and sim the two expeditions for one year each. |
January 12, 3059 –
Delaware System Class M Star (Red), Class 1a (Bright Supergiant), 3 planets, none in life zone There‘s nothing of interest here, so we are jumping back out. January 21, 3059 – Miami System Class A Star (White), Class VI Luminosity (Subdwarf), 3 planets, 1 in life zone, Subtype 1 47 days to the habitable planet from the zenith and nadir points of the system. We decide to not spend three months exploring this system, but mark it to come back to a pirate point in the future |
February 1, 3059 –
Shawnee System Class G (Yellow), Class V (Main Sequence), 8 planets, 2 in life zone, Subtype 6 – 7 days to habitable planets February 8 – Shawnee III Small 0.8 Gravity 60% Water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere High Temperature Amphibians highest life form Climate Arid This planet shows something interesting, so our scientists land to scan. February 12 – Our scientists reveal that a small colony tried to form on this planet in the early Pre-Star League era. However, soon after beginning here, the planet’s poles began to shift fairly quickly, and it played havoc with electronics and other devices, so they all left. There are few signs, almost 700 years later, of anything ever being here. We head to the next planet February 15 – Shawnee IV Large 1.0 Gravity 30% water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temperature Fish Highest life form Arid Climate Our doctors note that the atmosphere would, after about a week or so, react badly in someone’s lungs, so breathers are needed on world, as on Shawnee III, but there the atmosphere was a bit oxygen light, here there are odd chemicals in the air in small numbers, but over time, would accumulate and damage the breather. Nothing unusual is on planet. |
February 23 –
Pawnee System Class M, Luminosity III (Ordinary Giant), 6 planets, 1 in life zone, subtype 9 – 2 days to the planet. February 25 Pawnee IV Small 0.9 gravity 0% water Standard Pressure Breathable Atmosphere Medium Temperature Microbes Temperate Climate Massive dust storms engulf the planet. A quick survey team finds little of value and nothing appears to have been here previously. March 2 – Mingo System Class K (Orange), Luminosity IV (Subgiant), 4 planets, 1 in life ring, 5 days to planet March 7 – Mingo II Medium 0.8 gravity 20% water Low Pressure Breathable Atmosphere Low Temperature Lizard Life Cool Temperate Climate As our fleet arrives outside the world, something can be seen on the sensors. We land after determining that the planet is safe. March 11 – Our scientists determine that this was once a prison planet hundreds of years ago for the Star League. They shipped prisoners out here, off the trade grid, and kept them in three different institutions that can be found. Searches turn up nothing else, leaving the planet dry of anything useful beyond its initial use. The agricultural expert points out that nothing Earth-native could grow in the low pressure and gravity combination. And the local vegetation does not seem like it could yield anything if farmed. Produce from the land seems like a dead end. There are no mineral deposits to speak of. There are no exotic animals or woods that could catch the imagination of customers. There seems to be no major redeeming value here at all, save that one could eek out a sustenance level survival if they had too. |
Mar 17 –
Seneca System Class F (Yellow-White), Luminosity 1b Supergiant, no planets Mar 29 – Tamaroa System Class M, Luminosity II, 4 planets, 1 in life zone, 4 days to reach it Apr 2 – Tamaroa IV Large 0.9 gravity 10% water Trace Atmosphere Tainted Atmosphere Hot Temperature Plant Life Warm Temperate Climate There is nothing of value here, and it’s a pretty stale planet. Apr 7 – Choctaw System Class O (Blue-White), Luminosity VI, 1 planet, none in life zone |
April 16 –
Shakori System Class M, Luminosity II, no planets April 24 - Pamlico System Class G, Luminosity III, 3 planets, 3 in life zone, 8 days away May 4 – Pamlico I Small 1.0 Grav 50% water Standard Pressure Breathable Medium Fish Temperate Pamlico I has a few major things going for it. In addition to being interesting itself, it seems to have a rare habitable satellite, a double planet with a very large moon. We’ll check that out in a second, after dropping a survey group here. May 6 – Pamlico Ia Large 1.3 Grav 60% water Standard pressure Tainted Atmos Medium Temp Plants Boreal Climate We unload more scientists here while continuing to explore on Pamlico I. This looks like a nice little place to set up a colony. Good materials, lots of tree-ish structures, but no animals to fertilize them so they have evolved special ways of germinating seeds without the help of bees and birds. May 8 – Two people on the survey team on Pamlico I have fallen ill to a disease. We quarantine them and quarantine both the planet and the moon. May 10 – One person on the moon has developed the same symptoms. May 13 – It appears we have localized the virus, some bug which has been unable to be seen with our normal detection, but we have localized it. All of the people who came down with it have died. May 15 – 2 more have come down with it on the planets. May 16 – We order the JumpShip to leave the system and retrieve some special supplies. May 18 – Since we are doing nothing else, we send out research satellites around the other two planets here. Pamlico II Medium 1.1 grav 20% water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Plant Life Warm Temperate Climate This planet seems to have nothing major on planet of value, but the plants are similar to those on the moon. May 20 – Pamlico III Small 1.0 grav 40% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temperature Fish Warm Temperate Climate Some compensation would be needed for pressure, and breathing, but the planet is fine. All three planets and one moon are habitable to varying degrees. May 23 – Remote probes have found the disease cause on the other two plants as well. May 24 – Our JumpShip has arrived and unloads a medical DropShip. June 2 – Our DropShip has unloaded the equipment June 5 – We have developed a cure for the disease. All told, 12 people died on both expeditions combined. The disease can mutate quickly, and more could be exposed, so we end all missions. June 15 – We arrive at Epsilon Eridani, buy a few satellites to warn people away, and then dispatch people to set up disease buoys in the system. A system that good for colonization had to have a bad mark some where. |
June 22 –
Chickasaw System Class B, Luminosity II, no planets June 30 – Saponi System Class M, Luminosity VII (white dwarf), 2 planets, none habitable July 8 – Okchai System Class M, Luminosity IV, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 4 days away July 12 – Okchai III Small 0.7 grav 50% Water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmos Low Temperature Plant Life Arctic Climate The cold rigidity of Okchai III belies a calm refreshing planet that tumbles quietly in the night. We land and begin exploring. On the planet are signs of recent disturbance. Our scans show the possible pressure of valuable minerals. July 17 – After trying to lock on the minerals, it appears we got ghost scans from orbit and were unable to find anything planetside. It appears that others were here checking on the same scans and seeing nothing. |
July 22 –
Sauk System Binary system Star One – Class M, Lumin III Star Two – Class F, Lumin IV Number of planets – 2 planets. None habitable. Aug 1 – Esopus System Class M, Lumin III, 4 planets, 1 habitable, 3 days away As we arrive, a few minutes pass and we detect something at this jumpoint, the nadir one. It’s another JumpShip. It has its sail unfurled, so it is charging at the nadir point here. It is a Merchant class Jumpship, with rings for two DropShips. It has room for some cargo and 2 small craft. Attached to the Merchant JumpShip is one DropShip - A Leopard CV fighter carrier. We hail the ship, but it does not respond. Seeing us as an easy target, it sends out six fighters from the CV. They will intercept with us in a few minutes. These must be pirates. |
Their fighters are:
2 Sparrowhawks 2 Sholagar 2 Hellcat We dispatch a surprise. Two escort small craft we made are flying out from our Merchant class JumpShip. These are the Taurus Class Small Craft, escort Here are our escorts: The Taurus (Escort), 200 tons, Aerodyne Small Craft SI – 12, 5/8 thrust, 40 tons of ferro-aluminum armor 20/40 heat sinks 2 Large Pulse Lasers in nose 1 Medium Pulse Laser in each wing 1 LRM20 2/ Artemis, 18 shots, in each wing 3 machine guns and ½ ton of ammo to aft 5 tons of fuel Cost – 22,057,00 C-Bills after markup This is designed for weapons duty. With massive armor, it is expected to be deployed for long sorties, and has a lot more durability than an Aerospace Fighter. It should be sent out along DropShips or JumpShips (or even WarShips) for days with that amount of armor. The pulse armament is designed to help it strafe in atmospheric battle, when needed. It can also hold and drop a massive tonnage of bombs due to its size. With value in dogfighting, escorting, strafing, and more, this is a small craft that we like a lot more than that dumb ol’ Aquarius. Here are our foes: Hellcat – 60 tons, 3 large lasers, 5 mediums, armor value 4 Sparrowhawk – 30 tons, av 3, 2 mediums, 2 smalls Sholagar – 35 tons, av 2, SRM4, 2x mediums Now, if this was a mech battle, our two 200 ton mech monstrosities would outclass the 6 other mechs in the 30s, 35s and 60s. But in Aerospace, fighters tend to be a bit more fragile, although not as bad as tanks. In terms of durability, it goes mech, aerospace fighter, tank, conventional fighter, VTOL. But still, you can drop their speed, rift, and more. We are not guaranteed a win, or a loss. But if we lose, this JumpShip is not equipped with a rare K-F battery that enables it to jump twice after storing up a jump. So we have to wait for days to load up. They can capture us easily, but we do have a backup plan in case that happens. |
While our escorts move in, we release both dropships.
My PC crashed and I lost the battle I was writing. Basically we won, lost one Taurus to engine damage, and they have a damaged Sparrowhawk and pristine Hellcat fleeing. Our other Taurus is lightly damaged. We don’t chase them back to their ship, because the combination of two fighters turning on our one escort ship plus the guns of their Leopard CV are a bit much to face. We were moving our DropShips off in case we lost the dogfight. We move the Fortress over the salvage of the battle, to protect it. They don’t have enough ships to face us. We do some analysis. Can our Taurus plus Fortress take on their injured Sparrowhawk, Hellcat and Leopard CV? Fortress Weapons: 6 x PPCs 2 x AC/20s 5 x AC/5s 4 x LRM-20s 4 x LRM-10s 6 x SRM-6s 8 x Large Lasers 16 x Medium Lasers Leopard CV Weapons: 2 x PPCs 3 x LRM-20s 5 x Large Lasers 7 x Medium Lasers Plus the Fortress has a lot more armor, and their Leopard is still attached to their JumpShip. We push the Fortress forward, with the Taurus behind it to cover against runs by their fighters. This has some risks, because we are hoping that a lucky shot or two doesn’t take down our more valuable Fortress. After three rounds, we have blasted a hole in their Leopard, and with guns under the Merchant, it signals its surrender. We board it and capture everything on board. We move some of the crew of our Merchant to theirs to run it back home. Our Fortress was lightly damaged and it needs some repairs. Still in this system, on the moon of a gas giant, is a company of mechs by these pirates and their Union DropShip. We find out that it is an upgraded Union with new technology. They are stranded in this system but mobile. We dispatch out Fortress DropShip to the moon. |
Aug 6 – We arrive at the moon of Esopus II. We see their Union and drop to the ground about 25 miles away and begin unloading. Jericho Company rolls out.
We arrive at the pirates and they have also unloaded from their Union to face us. Stranded in the system, they hope to smash our company and get two DropShips. Jericho Company Daishi A GLT-3N Guillotine FLS-8K Flashman Loki D-UK GRN-D-01 Grand Crusader RFL-3N Rifleman Mad Cat Prime SHD-5M Shadow Hawk WVR-6M Wolverine WLF-2 Wolfhound WTC-4M Watchman SDR-5V Spider Other small enemies seeing a bunch of star league era mechs and clan mechs get nervous, but our foes are coming full throttle. They must see dollar signs as a pirate band. Our foes Hercules * WTH-2 Whitworth * WVR-7K Wolverine * WLF-2 Wolfhound * ENF-5D Enforcer * Wasp BattleMaster Centurion Commando Stalker Merlin Hunchback Mechs with asterisks are upgraded with level 2 tech. This unit has pilots of all levels of skill form on elite to two green. The elite pilot is rocking the Hercules. This is their Hercules, a decent mech that came off the lines about 5 years ago-is hand rocking some solid weapons. It's built around both long range and short range weapons of various types, and features solid speed, but a fragile extralight engine (XL Engine) that can cause the mech to be a bit too fragile.  The area has some rolling hills, but nothing else. |
Turn 1 – We win init. I set up three fire support mechs- Rifleman, Shadow Hawk and Grand Crusader behind a slight hill, and move the rest of my team up. They hold back and we charge their position with 8 of my mechs. I keep back the FS mechs and a light jump-capable mech the Spider to guard them. We concentrate fire into their best mech – the BattleMaster. A large laser from our Flashman cuts into the BattleMaster’s torso, nails the machine gun ammo and it explodes. None of our mechs took more than 20 damage.
Turn 2 – We barely win init. I run our Wolfhound next to their Whitworth. We rush the Daishi in to scare them and collect their weapons while we move in elsewhere. Flashman next to their Wasp. This time we begin by targeting the Stalker. I also target a few lighter mechs here and there. Our Guillotine destroys the RA on their Whitworth. Our Grand Crusader strips off their RA of the Commando – our Rifleman follows by destroys its RT and LA. Our Shadow Hawk destroys its CT and finishes it off. Our Wolverine hits the gyro and engine each once on their Whit. Our Loki destroys the LA of their Stalker. Our Daishi took 60+ damage and fell, as did their Whitworth and Stalker. Our Flashman kicks and destroys the LL of their Wasp. Turn 3 – We lose init. I stand the Daishi. Our Mad Cat bases their Wolverine. Their Whit does not stand. Their Stalker stands though. Flashman behind their Hunchback. It’s a melee around the Daishi. Loki gets into the Hunch-s rear arc. Our Loki tears into the Hunch-s rear armor, smashes its AC20 ammo and it lights up. Their Wolfhound nails the H of our Daishi and blacks out the pilot. It falls. Their Enforcer hits the engine once on the Daishi. A Laser Laser from our Rifleman shears off the H of their Wolverine and it is down. Our Wolfhound this the Wasp, hits the engine x3 and destroys its LA and LT. Our Daishi smashes the Stalkers ammo and it lights up. Our Flashman and Daishi fall, as does their Wolfhound. Our Guillotine kicks and gets a limb blown off on the LL of their Wolfhound. We have destroyed 5 mechs, including both assaults, as well as legging two more of their mechs and severely damaging their Whitworth. That leaves them just the Enforcer, Hercules, Centurion and Merlin – two heavies and two mediums that are still kicking. Meanwhile, we have one damaged Daishi and that’s it. We radio them to surrender. But they refuse. Turn 4 – We win init. We rise the Flashman and run away with it. Our Guillotine bases their Hercules. Spider leaps behind their Centurion. Our Loki bases their Herc. Watchman bases Centurion. Mad Cat bases Centurion. Their Whitworth tries to stand, fails, and smashes its gyro, shutting down any movement. Our Loki blows the RA off their Herc. Our Flashman nails the engine once on it. Our Spider goes internal and nails the engine one on their Centurion. Our Mad Cat destroys the RT, LA and hits he engine twice more on the Centurion. Our Guillotine destroys the RT of their Herc and it shuts down – XL Engine. Now they accept and surrender. |
Whitworth missing RA, gyrox2, engine
Wasp missing LL, LT, LA, enginex3 WVR-7K Wolverine missing H Centurion missing RT, LA, engine x3 Hercules missing RT WLF-2 Wolfhound reattach leg Merlin, pristine ENF-5D Enforcer, pristine BattleMaster RA, LL Commando H, LL, RL, LT Hunchback RA, LA< H Stalker RA, H There were a few buildings here on the moon that had supplies and items they had raided but not sold. We capture the Union DropShip after radioing them. We might lose one or two mechs assaulting it, but with no JumpShip to land at, it really has no options to lift off. |
We have captured two DropShips, one JumpShip, their supplies and raided stuff, and quite a few mechs and fighters and such. This was a very profitable raid on this pirate band that was hitting local Chaos March worlds for stuff.
In a couple of weeks, we have jumped back to EE, brought back things to collect and cavneg and here was the total haul: Sparrowhawk Hellcatx2 Sholagar WTH-2 Whitworth Wasp WVR-7K Wolverine Centurion Hercules WLF-2 Wolfhound Merlin ENF-5D Enforcer Rechristened: River of Fate, Merchant class JumpShip Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip Charon’s Message, Union class DropShip We sell the stuff that we found – supplies and such, and use the money to fix, rearmor and rearm the downed mechs, plus fixing and repairing the DropShips, our Taurus, and more., We lost 11 mill CBills in all, even after sales, to get everything up and running. |
"Chapt 7: Consolidation and Preparations"
BattleTech, the Bankruptcy years? SI |
Quote:
Lol! |
Sept 15, 3059 –
We jump back out with Expedition #1. Tappan System Class F, Lumin Ib, 2 planets, 1 in life zone, 15 days to it Sept 30 – Tappan II Small .65 grav 20% water Standard Pressure Toxic Atmosphere Low Temperature Microbes Boreal Climate Not a healthy planet. We can’t even land on it. It appears that there are nasty storm that swirl constantly at hundreds of miles per hour. It’s a toxic soup of gases lethal to humans. Oct 16 Esopus System Class K, Lumin VII,no planets Oct 25 Raritan System Class M, Lumin 0 (Extra Bright Supergiant), 9 planets, none in life zone Nov 2 Cayuga System Class O, Lumin IV, 1 planet, 1 in life zone, 210 days to it No thanks, we’ll skip checking it out…. |
Nov 14
Pequot System Class M, Lumin III, 6 planets, 2 in life zone, 2 days away Nov 16 Pequot I Large 1.2 grav 10% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Amphibians Warm Temperate We spend some time scanning, and it shows that there are some unusual amphibians. They live in waterfalls on large mountains, and fly like pterodons. It’s very interesting. We land and explore and our scientists spend several days examining this animal, since no other amphibians here are anything similar to it. We take back several samples. Nov 23 Pequot II Medium 1 grav 10% water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temperature Plant Life Arid Climate Pequot II looks pretty nice from orbit, and we land to explore. It appears to have what is needed for colonization, other than atmosphere. It’s mineral poor and water light, but otherwise, it has a lot of good growing land. We mark it down. |
Nov 30 –
Wendake System Class B, Lumin 1b, 8 planets, 2 in life zone, 75 days to them I want to check them out, but to spend five months doing it? No thanks Dec 11 – Micmac System Class G, Lumin IV, 3 planets, 1 in life zone, 4 days away Dec 15 Micmac III Medium 1.1 grav 30% water Standard pressure Breathable Air High Temperature Reptiles Arid Climate Our arrival at Micmac III brings news of something on the surface already built. We land on the surface and find several old Star League era caches. They have been emptied eons ago and the doors left open. They were originally hidden from sight by counter electronics. We manage to get the system up and running and experiment with it. Even if deep scans of the area known to contain the materiel are done, they cannot be spotted from either orbit or locally unless one is within about a mile of the location. The Star league really knew how to make this stuff. This is a good location to keep in the back of our head, in case we want to hide something. We could be here in one jump from Terra Firma, 2 from EE, and then come here from a jump point. You could jump from TF and arrive at Micmac III in four or five days. That’s really close for a nice stockpile kept secure against a rainy day. The planet is nice too, it is one of the few places that have nothing negative at all – breathable, air pressure, animals, water, and more. This is a nice place too. Dec 29, 3059 – Ojibwa System Class M, Lumin VI, 7 planets, none habitable We continue out, but for now, we’ll move to the second expedition of 3059 by us, and then roll back the clock and move forward with the story already in progress. |
February 15, 3059 – After unloading and getting things fixed, we head out for another exploration. Here are the units of the 2nd Expedition
Expedition 2: Johnny Appleseed – Invader JumpShip Megan’s Fury, Union DropShip Stellar Phantom, Leopard CV DropShip Hannibal, Buccaneer DropShip * 2 Small Craft – One Aires Troop Carrier and One Taurus Escort 6 AeroSpace Fighters in Leopard CV 5 troops of power armored infantry in Aires Babylon Company of Mechs in Union Feb 15 – Racine System Class M, Lumin VII, 7 planets, 1 habitable, 3 days away Racine VI Small 0.8 grav 40% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temperature Nothing Cool Temperate We arrive at the planet, and it’s quite unimpressive. It’s very small, and it has nothing of note. All of the life died about 140 years ago from a mass extinction level event. An asteroid crashed into the planet and smashed all of the life here. We cannot tell if it was inhabited prior to the collision or not, but all of the life died. Our scientist scan just find fish skeletons, so that appears to what was the highest natural life form here. The crash released some toxic gases into the atmosphere, some of which have since bled off but no new life looks to have begun yet. |
Feb 26 –
Point Pleasant System Class F, Lumin II, 0 planets March 9 – Greenbriar System Class K, Lumin VI, 6 planets, 1 habitable, 5 days away March 14 – Greenbriar III Large 1.4 grav 20% water High Pressure Toxic Atmosphere Medium Temperature Microbes Boreal Climate This giant planet is just not the sort of place humans would want to live. The gravity is too much, the pressure too much, the toxic atmosphere eis horrible, and more. There appear to be no major metals or anything either. It’s just a waste of space |
March 22 –
Logan System Class A, Lumin IV, 2 planets, 2 habitable, 27 days in April 19 - Logan I Medium 1.1 grav 30% water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temperature Fish Temperate We arrive at the planet and something appears on the map in orbit around the planet. We move to investigate. We find the hulk of a DropShip, from at last three hundred years ago. It is so old and decayed it cannot be restarted or fixed. We might get a few million C-Bills from salvage, but that’s it. Meanwhile, we check out the planet with a survey team. Logan I has an old DropPort that was built of ferrocrete near the equator. We land and explore. It has been unkempt for a very long time and is long since unable to be used for Aerodyne landings. The dates on the skeleton of the ship in orbit plus this are Star League era, around 2600 We investigate the planet thoroughly with a variety of scans, and keep hoping to run into something, but this place is a mystery. We cannot tell what it was, nor can we find anything on the planet other than the old Drop Port. If there were buildings or structures we could usually tell, but we can’t here. Considering how odd this is, we spend two weeks exploring but still cannot find anything else. May 5 – Logan II Small 1 grav 40% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Fish Warm Temperate Climate We hoped that Logan II would provide more clues, so we dropped some satellites here a couple of weeks ago, and now have landed our survey teams from Logan I. But there are no additional clues here either. |
June 5 –
Cornstalk System Class M, Lumin Ib, 5 planets, none habitable June 16 – Hinchcliffe System Class F, Lumin III, 4 planets, 1 habitable, 14 days away June 30 Hinchcliffe II Medium 1.1 grav 40% water Low Pressure Toxic Atmosphere Medium Temp Plants Warm Temperate Climate Nothing here of worth. |
July 15 –
Cooper System Class K, Lumin V, 10 planets, 3 habitable, 6 days away July 21 – Cooper III Small 0.8 grav 50% water Standard Pressure, Breathable Atmos, Medium Temp Mammals Cool Temperate Climate We land and study Cooper III. It’s an oddly shaped planet, it looks more oblong that most elliptical planets. Cooper III has the most fleshed out animal life we’ve seen out here in a while. After studying it, our scientists find that the animals here are from Earth. They were added to the local population hundreds of years ago, and then took over most of the local niches in the ecology, and now almost all animals are their descendants. With such a large amount of natural Earth life surviving here, it seems like it would be a good place for a colony. Experts find some tin deposits, and some silver, but nothing amazing. It’s probably not worth building a few silver mines all the way out here. July 26 – Cooper IV Medium 0.9 grav 40% water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Amphibians Boreal Interestingly, none of the Earth animals were introduced here. The biology of these animals is very different from Cooper III. Our scientist show that they live off a local plant that has a lot of copper in its body, from absorbing it from copper rich water. Then the animals actually use the copper as an essential mineral in their eating of the plants. It’s small amounts of copper in a dissolved form, not ingots of copper or anything. Our animals and planets would die out in such a copper rich biosystem. There are many enormous copper deposits under the ground. Copper isn’t exactly a major metal in the universe, but this planet has it abundantly, if someone were interested. We keep track of it. Aug 3 Cooper V Large 1.1 grav 20% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Plants Arctic Climate Cooper V does not hold any keys to unlocking why the Earth life was brought here. We guess it was some form of easy terraforming to prepare the world for colonization in a few decades. No one ever came back though. Cooper V has one very interesting feature. It’s a double planet with a large, habitable moon roughly 22% of the planet. In fact, this double planet is bigger than Cooper III. Let’s take a look Cooper Va Small 1 grav 30% water Standard Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temp Fish Warm Temperate We land on the double planet and investigate. This place has long salty shores from an ocean that once covered a much larger part of the planet. Giant salt flats fill much of the land. Our scientists can only guess at what happened with little time to research it. They are split into two theories – water was siphoned off by humans perhaps for Cooper III or the planet’s tainted atmosphere allowed more sun to evaporate the ocean water after the atmosphere’s natural protection decayed. This was an interesting little system |
Aug 18 –
Vale System Class M, Lumin O, 4 planets, none habitable Aug 25 – Boone System Class M, Lumin II, 6 planets 1 habitable, 4 days Aug 29 – Boone II Medium 1 grav 10% water Low pressure Toxic Atmosphere Medium Temperature Plant Arid Climate We arrive and after a few fruitless days, leave this place behind Sept 6 – Kanawha System Class A, Lumin VI, 1 planet, not in life zone |
Sept 18 –
Putnam System Class B, Lumin III, no planets Sept 28 – Fairmont System Binary System Class K, Lumin IV Class M, Lumin 1b 5 planets, 1 habitable, 12 days to it Oct 10 – Fairmont V Small 0.9 grav 0% Water Trace Pressure Toxic Low Temperature No Life Well, there you are. Nothing here either, no massive metal heaven or anything either |
Oct 26 –
Bridgeport System Class G, Lumin II, 3 planets, 1 in life zone, 6 days away Nov 2 – Bridgeport II Large 1.3 grav Standard Tainted Low Fish Arctic Climate We arrive at Bridgeport II and deploy some satellites. As we do, we uncover a large rock structure. We land and investigate. Someone built a giant statue. It’s at least 300 feet tall. We can make out the inscription. Some sort of battle was fought in this system near the JumpPoints in the Amaris Civil war, and the Star league won, and built this statue to commemorate the victory and for the fallen comrades . We don’t see any other things in the place. However, having been keyed into the battle. We head back, not for the Nadir JP where we arrived but for the Zenith one. Nov 11 – At the Zenith point we spot some minor wreckage. People came in here and cleaned out most of it. We find some blasted hulks, broken space armor, a few broken weapons, and more. After spending two days trying to bring much of it inside, we cannot find any more pieces and we leave and head back to the other JumpPoint Nov 22 - We blast back to EE to drop off a lot of heavy salvage. We found more than a hundred and thirty tons of stuff, much of it looks broken. We can salvage some nice things here. There are no fighters we can fix up or anything. We do find a case of old, still operational, side arms. They are quite powerful stuff, and there’s about two hundred in the large case. We also find a few heat sinks, a fusion power plant we believe we can repair, and other assorted and sundry items. December 15 , 3059 – We head back out into space for another run at seeing what we can uncover. We will pick up that story later Overall we made about 4 million on the husk and 2 million on this salvage. Back to our campaign, already in progress… |
March 13, 3059 – A raid strikes a factory on Epsilon Indi from nearby Bryant
March 28 – A raid on Capolla is stopped by The Bouncers, the merc unit we hired to protect and garrison it. April 5 - We have launched a military strike. Alpha Regiment, minus Brawler Company, plus Gold and Bronze companies, will be striking Elgin. |
Beginning of the Elgin Campaign
Like many other March nations flung into the sea of chaos, Elgin has no central authority as various power group struggle for the top of the line. There are multiple powers in place. They are: Count Fenchow, with the Greyton Regulars, 2 companies of mechs Count Novgorod, with the Blue Guard, 2 companies of mechs Baron Haman, Haman’s Hussars, 1 company of mechs Baron Hart, Kpay Lancers, 1 company of mechs Baron Men Hou, Second Daman Rangers, 1 company of mechs In the fracas of this stalemate of classic nobles, we also have pirates now raiding the planet, taking away slaves ,food, and doing damage to the infrastructure. These nobles are smart, they are keeping the fighting away from cities and DropPorts and such, but still, Elgin is suffering from a lack of law and peace for a year and a half. The Apollo Office believes that Elgin would fight a long term attack by a large force, such as us. But a quick attack to end everything and bring back order and stability would be welcomed. Our goal is to hit all five nobles at once, in one great coordinated strike. Even if our intel fails and we hit just three, if we can end three overnight, the other two will be easy to finish off . Failed intel by one noble surely would not result in everyone knowing, because it would be in their interest to let us blast their enemies. |
May 1 – We have landed in various isles around the oceanic world. We have two companies of mechs at all of the targets, with gold company kept in reserve with a DropShip set to head off and unload to chase down escapees.
Tomorrow at noon, locally (dark elsewhere) we will strike. We cannot get them all at night, but this gives us one in broad day, two at night, one at dusk and the other in the early afternoon. That’s the best we can do. May 2 – Each of our companies has arrived at their targets and moves in. Let’s roll some dice…. The estate at noon happens to have just one company of mechs. It’s Men Hou’s Rangers. All of these units are green, btw. We march Bronze and Delta companies from opposite angles. Their company moves out and escorts the Baron off the estate, fearing for his life. We move to follow and catch them at the mouth of their estate. We let the Baron flee, and they hold back to keep us from following. They do not know that they are our target, not the Baron, figuring us for a rival noble. We have 24 mechs to their 12 and they do not retreat easily. Rather than play this through for hours, we’ll just quick sim it. We destroyed seven mechs of theirs. We captured three in pristine condition. We lost two mechs. One was to its RT being destroyed on an XL mech, the Huron Warrior in Bronze Company, and the other was a CT being destroyed on our Wasp in Delta Company. We send the five mechs to begin to create a new force in Elgin for defense and take a few mechs for ourselves. They are all low tech – Javelin, JagerMech, Crusader, and Crab Our next attack is in the afternoon local time. We smash in two companies – Trinity and Butler. This is Baron Haman’s force. They are scouting when we arrive, and they move out to smash us, until they see the other unit come out. They try to flee, and suddenly a group of 15 VTOLs buzz overhead while we are chasing them. Soon a group of 6 conventional fighters zoom up. We shoot down some, take light damage, but it allows their company to flee. |
The third attack is at dusk on Count Fenchow’s property. We have sent out Tethys and Typhon companies to handle our two companies of enemies. They both hold down at the complex after they warm up, and get ready to hold the fort. We move in.
This is Tethys Company BLR-1G BattleMaster TDR-5S Thunderbolt HBK-5G Hunchback AS7-D Atlas ARC-2R Archer JM6-A JagerMech WHM-6R Warhammer STC-2C Striker CMT-1 Comet SDR-5V Spider CDA-2A Cicada LCT-1E Locust They are coming in on the SE wing. This is our foe, all green save for a veteran leader. Only two asterisked mechs are uptech Assassin Banshee Blackjack Victor Rifleman Stinger Firestarter Dervish Enforcer Grasshopper PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk * Penetrator * I think I have given pictures of all of these mechs before. This is their Assassin. It’s a 40 ton scouting mech that has an LRM 5 for range and a few close up weapons.  |
We begin in the NE edge of the map, and they in the SW one.
We are playing on the Scattered Woods map at the edge of the estate outside of buildings.  |
Good to see this back, Abe. I'll be following.
|
Turn 1 - We lose init. No one can see anyone. I hop my Spider to get a bead on them, and move my snipers into position. This turn’s fire is really about finding any sort of a firing lane. Very little damage is done, no one takes more than 20 damage and forces a PSR.
Turn 2 – We win init. I create a firing lane, and then I jump my Spider next to it, to entice one of their mechs to base my Spider and move into the firing lane. I have my Archer, BM, and Thunderbolt all in line. Sadly they did not take the bait. More minor fire, nothing major happens. Turn 3 – We lose init. Atlas bases their Penetrator after it jumps out. I put the BattleMaster to its rear. Our T Bolt bases it too. Their PXH bases our Hunchback after I move it close to their Penetrator. I leap our Comet to the rear of their Assassin. Our Spider leaps to base it too. We concentrate a lot of fire on their Penetrator. Our Atlas destroys its RA. Both their Penetrator and our T Bolt tumble. Our Atlas kicks and destroys the Penetrator’s RT> Their Assassin was kicked and fals, and our BM misses akick and falls. We missed the 3 to kick the downed mech and then missed a 5 to stay standing. Turn 4 – We lose init. Our Bm can’t roll that 5 to stand and falls, and then we stand it again. Hunchy in the rear of a Firestarter. Their Penetrator stands. Locust bases Firestarter. Our T Bolt rises and backs up into light woods. Their Assassin leaps next to my Striker. Our Spider bases their Dervish. I unload my Atlas on their Stinger. In one salvage, their Stinger is destroyed by the AC20 of the Atlas destroys its LT and hitting the ammo in the CT and it goes up. Our BM hits and destroys the CT of their Penetrator and its down. Their FS gets a LL blown off crit on our BM and it falls hard. Our JagerMech kicks and destroys the LL of their Assassin, and then damage travels to its LT, hits the ammo and it lights up. Boom! Our Hunchy kicks their FireStarter to the ground. Our Locust misses a kick and falls too. Turn 5 – We win init. Their FS fails to rise. I eject the BM pilot. The Locust drops once, and then rises and rushes into heavy woods by the Archer. Spider ot the rear of their Enforcer. Our T Bolt blows the LA off their Stinger and then gets its gyro hit by the Grasshopper. Both T Bolt and PXH fall. Turn 6 – We lose init. Their PXH runs away after rising. I turn our T Bolt but leave iton the ground as a target to attract people to close with it. I run my Warhammer to their PXH. Their Dervish hops next to our striker. I run my Cicada to base it. Protect our Striker! Our Locust bases their PXH. Their FS stands this time and moves a bit. I hop our Comet ot their PXH as well. Their BJ bases my Hunchback. Our Bolt nails the gyro on their Firestarter. Both their BJ and FS fall. Our Warhammer kicks and destroys the LL of their PXh. It falls, destroys its LT and is dead due ot the XL engine there. Their Dervish falls as well. Turn 7 – We lose init. Their BJ manages to get up. I leave my Hunchy next to it and do not move back. I leap my Spider in the rear of their Rifleman and my Comet next to it. Their Dervish can’t get up. Our Archer this and destroys their FS CT. Their FS< befor going, this the gyro on our T Bolt and that’s a second hit and its down. Our Hunch destroys the RT of their BJ. After taking more than 60 damage, their Rifleman falls. Our Come kicks and destroys the RA of their Rifleman – our Hunchy destroys the LL of their BJ. Their Banshee hits two leg actuators on our Striker sand it falls. Their BJ pilot blacks out from the fall. Turn 8 – We lose init. Their Dervish stays on the ground. I run my Cicada over ot it. Their Rifleman stirs. Our Striker gets that 7 and stands. I move some of my mechs in the vicinity of their Banshee. Their Banshee takes 40+ damage and falls and the pilot blacks out. Our Atlas takes a bunch of damage and tumbles too. An AC20 shell smashes the Rifleman’s LL. Our Cicada kicks and destroys the RL of their Dervish. They call it |
Quote:
Yay! |
Banshee blacked out pilot
Firestarter H, RL, LL, RA, LA, RT, LT Penetrator LT, H, LA, LL, RL Stinger LA, RT Assassin H, LA PXH missing LL, LT BJ missing RT, LL Rifleman missing RA, LL Dervish missing RL We ejected our issues and can easily fix them We gained their healthy Enforcer, Grasshopper, Victor for the local forces. We get the rest. |
Our other company is…
Typhon Company WHM-6D Warhammer HBK-4G Hunchback STK-5M Stalker AWS-8Q Awesome MAD-3D Marauder CLPT-A1 Catapult RFL-5M Rifleman Ostsol PXH-1K Phoenix Hawk GHR-5N Grasshopper JR7-F Jenner OTT-7J Ostscout Not only are we lacking any clan mechs or technology, it's pretty low tech as far as companies go. Typhon is one of our oldest companies, created before the spread of LostTech became common. And our foes Still all green save for three regular pilots. Anvil * Hammer * Jackal * SDR-7M Spider * Wasp Wolverine Crusader Awesome Griffin Hatchetman Marauder Clint The Hammer and Anvil were mechs paired and sold together. The Anvil is a good closing in mech but the Hammer is a sucky light mech with some LRM5s. Once again, for all opponent's lists, an asterisk stands for a mech that uses higher levels of technology. Hammer:  Anvil:  |
When I look over forces, I often like to see where my path to victory lays. For example, sometimes I have a lot of heavier mechs with great armor against mechs that are more fragile, so I'll fight a slugfest, moving my mechs slowly up the middle and try to force them to come at me. If I have some dancing mechs and my foe has good mechs, then I will often use terrain to leap around and hit my foes from various angles. If I have better technology, then I will move my mechs into ranges that best fit the better tech - such as clan tech - there are ranges where a clan weapon is short range or medium range to an Inner Sphere's medium or long range. If I have better pilots I will position myself in a good place and then just stop moving, camping my foe as they move about and try to hit via lighe woods or partial cover or whatever while I don;t move at all, enhancing my ability to hit them with better gunnery. I try to exploit my advantage.
Here I have a skill advantage over the green pilots, so I will try to force piloting skill rolls and get to where our penalties to hit each other are roughly equal, so I have the better chance to connect over turns. |
We are on the NW and they in the SE
This map has a few koi ponds and a bit of foliage, but not nearly as much as the gardens on the other side of the estate. Turn 1 – We win init. I order my forces to create a massive wedge with the Awesome in the middle and drive at our foes. I hop or PXH next to their Jackal. PPC fire from our Awesome slices into the Clint’s ammo and it explodes. Our Hunchy nails the gyro once on their hammer. It spins to the ground. Our PXH kicks their Jackal to the ground. Turn 2 – We win init. They manage to rise their Hammer. Their Jackal stands, and bases our Jenner. I hop our PXH above and adjacent to their Hatchetman. I concentrate a lot of fire on their Marauder. It takes more than 80 damage and falls. Our PXH kicks and destroys the RA of their Hatchetman. Our Jenner kicks nda destroys the RL of their Jackal. Jackal falls but the Hatchetman manages to keep on his feet. . Turn 3 – We lose init. Our Ostscout bases their Jackal. We leap the PXH to the rear of their Crusader. Hunch bases Anvil. Ostsol in the rear of their Wolverine. Our Catapult nails the LT of their Hammer and blows it up. Their Anvil and Marauder fall. Turn 4 – We win init. We have been charging in all of these turns and now we are at melee range. Ostscout jumps above and adjacent to their Griffin. Their Hammer fails to rise and destroys its gyro. Hunch follows their Anvil, which stood. Their Marauder rises as well. Jenner rushes to the rear of their Wolverine. Grasshopper bases Anvil too. PXH adjacent to and above their Hatchetman. This turn our target of opportunity is the Crusader. Our Rifleman hit the dreaded AC5 ammo on the Marauder. Our Awesome smashes the LRM15 ammo in their Crusader. Our Ostscout kicks and hits the cockpit of their Hatchetman and it falls silently to the ground. Our Hunch destroys the LL of their Anvil with a kick and the Grasshopper kicks and destroy the RL of it. Dead Anvil With five mechs left and none of our mechs even touched, they call it. |
Hatchetman missing RA, H
Clint RA, H, LL Jackal missing RL Hammer missing LT, gyrox2 Marauder RA, LA, LL Crusader LA Anvil missing LL, RL We hand Griffin, Awesome, Wolverine, Spider, Wasp to local garrison later. We get the restored Hatchetman, Jackal, Hammer, Anvil and pieces We have taken this estate well. |
The fourth estate attack occurs a bit before midnight at their local time. This is an attack on Count Novgorod. The two companies of his troops, green, are caught totally unaware.
Attacking here are Heliades and Styx companies. Heliades Company AWS-8Q Awesome STK-3F Stalker CN9-D Centurion DRG-1G Grand Dragon ARC-2S Archer MAD-3R Marauder TBT-5N Trebuchet OSR-2C Ostroc PXH-1K Phoenix Hawk WSP-1A Wasp WLF-1 Wolfhound VLK-QA Valkyrie We smash into their compound, which is smaller than the others, and it’s a ferrocreted bunker instead of gardens and ponds and such. So we are fighting by a few minor buildings and on ferrocrete. Styx Company came down the middle road and gate while Heliades just smashed down a wall to hit them from their east flank. Again, they believe that we are here for their leader, one certain Novgorod rather than them. Our goal is to capture the planet militarily and install a new government, and we do that by smashing the defenses. Our foes: Cataphract Quickdraw UrbanMech Valkyrie Goliath Cicada Centurion ARC-5S Archer * PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk * ZEU-5S Zeus * BNC-5S Banshee * Lineholder * Again asterisk’d foes are those with uptech mechs. The Goliath pilot is elite, the rest green. This is their Lineholder, a mech made by Kressly Warworks Inc on our home planet of Epsilon Eridani (EE). It’s a pretty cheap 55 ton mech with not a lot of updated tech. They’ve sold very well in the Chaos March. It’s the best selling medium mech in the Inner Sphere the last two years. It features 1 large laser, 2 LRM5s, 4 medium lasers, 14 regular heat sinks, 10 tons of regular armor and solid speed.  |
Turn 1 – We are on ferrocrete breaking in from the east. We lose init. I keep some scouts by smalls buildings, but for the most part, it’s just run at each other and smash face. Our Stalker destroys the RA of their PXh. The LB10X AC on our Centurion gets a limb blown off LL for the PXh as well. Our Stalker falls under 60+points of damage.
Turn 2 – We lose init. We stand up the Stalker. We hop our Wasp behind their Lineholder. Their Urbie bases my Wolfhound. I was flanking it behind a building and ran into the Urbie parked there. Both their Cicada and Centurion tumble and skid on the pavement. Our Wolfhound nails the A10 on their UrbanMech. No other major things in weapons fire happen. No one on either side even took 20 damage. Our Wolfhound is kicked to the ground. Turn 3 – We win init. The WLF rises and bases their Urbie. Their Cicada stands, runs, and skids and falls again. I run our Centurion up to it. Our Ostroc bases it too. While running their Cat falls too. Our Marauder peppers their Archer with PPC fire, hits the LRM ammo on its LT, and that’s an engine shutdown with CASE. Our Ostroc destroys the LT of their Cicada. Our Centurion kicks and destroys the Cicada’s CT. Our Wolfhound kicks their Urbie to the ground and their pilot blacks out. Turn 4 – We lose init. We back up our folks but push the Wasp behind their Lineholder again. Their mechs rises. Our PXH hits the Centurions ammo in its LT and it is gone. Boom! Our Wolfhound takes careful aim and slices off the H of their Urbie. Their Banshee falls under some damage. Turn 5 – We lose init. They stand the Banshee and move it out. Our PXH runs in and bases it. Our Centurion falls and skids on the ferrocrete. Both their Banshee and Cat suffer some damage, an our G Dragon nails to leg actuators in the Cataphract. Both of their mechs fall. Turn 6 – We win init. Our WLF bases their downed Cat after it fails to rise. I stand and run with the Centurion. Their Banshee stands. Our WLF smashes the gyro on their Cat twice. Their Lineholder tumbles. Our Wasp kicks the L of their Valkyrie and nails its hip and it falls. Turn 7 – We lose init. Their Valkyrie rises, runs and falls again. Our Grand Dragon bases their Banshee. Our Osty does as well. Their Lineholder rises. Their Zeus destroys the RL of my Wasp. Our Awesome destroys the LA of their Valkyrie. Their Banshee tears into our Grand Dragon, opening it up and igniting the ammo and it goes boom! Our Ostroc destroys the CT of their Valkyrie. Our Awesome and Wasp and their Lineholder fall. Our Valkyrie kicks their Quickdraw to the ground and our Ostroc does the same to their Banshee. Turn 8 – We win init. The Awesome stands. Our Marauder now bases their suddenly standing Banshee. I eject the Wasp. Wolfhound runs next to the Banshee as well. Ostroc next to their risen Lineholder. Centurion by it too. Their QD fails to rise. PXH by their Lineholder as well. Our Awesome sheers the RT and RA off their Banshee and it shuts down due to an XL Engine. Missile fire also destroyed its LL. Our OStroc destroys the LA of their Lineholder. It falls again, and the pilot blacks out. Our Centurion kicks and destroys the Quickdraw’s LL, And with that they radio us and surrender. |
PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk missing RA, reattach LL
ARC-5S Archer missing LT Cicada RT, H, LL, RL, LA, RA Centurion LA, RL UrbanMech missing H Cataphract gyrox2 Valkyrie LT, H, RT, RA, LL, RL BNC-5S Banshee missing RT, RA, LL Lineholder missing LA Quickdraw missing LL Wasp missing RL Grand Dragon LA We turn the Goliath and Zeus over to our building forces. We salvage a Phoenix Hawk, Archer, UrbanMech, Cataphract, Banshee, Lineholder and Quickdraw. We replace the Grand Dragon withte Cat in this company. Styx comes crashing in and they radio their surrender after seeing us blast through the other company and have 10 free mechs to push them from the flank. We turn over the company of mechs to the local garrison we are building. Attack #4 is successful |
Attack #5 happens late at night, about the local equivalent of 4 am. This is an attack in force by Defender and Cinq companies. We are facing Baron Hart’s one company of mechs. They see us and immediately flee, even leaving behind the Baron. They flee quickly into the wilderness
We have two fleeing companies. We chase after Hart’s company with these tow companies of mechs. Meanwhile, we land our backup company via DropShip right by Hamon’s force. They are forced to face us immediately. Gold Company AKU-1X Akuma HBK-5M Hunchback TDR-7M Thunderbolt PTR-6M Penetrator TDK-7Y Thunder Hawk SHD-5M Shadow Hawk GOL-3M Goliath RFL-5M Rifleman JR7-K Jenner CLNT-2-3U Clint VL-5T Vulcan PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk 11 of those mechs rock level 2 technology. Our foes are: Grasshopper Javelin Orion Scorpion Spider VTR-9D Victor * HGN-736 Highlander * GRF-1DS Griffin * BSW-X2 Bushwhacker * BL-9-KNT Black Knight * Fireball * DV-7D Dervish * All are green save for two regulars in there. This is their Black Knight, an old heavy mech from the Star league era that was reforged after the reintroduction of lost technology a few years ago and now being made again. It’s 75 tons, 4/6 movement, XL Engine, 15/30 heat sinks, hatchet, 2 large lasers, 1 larg e pulse laser, 1 ER PPC, 4 medium pulse lasers. This variant was made by ComStar to refit their Black Knights to face the clans on Tukkayid, but caught on and new several are made at the factory.  This is our Akuma, a 90 ton assault mech from the Draconis Combine, with an MRM – a medium range missile rack. It has an MRM 30, ER PPC< SRM 4 Streak, SRM6 Streak, medium pulse laser, LB 10X AC, and medium laser. It has good armor, slow for an assault 3/5, and no XL engine. It was designed to be a cost effective BattleMech to help replace losses in the DC. We were able to find a pair on the market and love it. This is its shake down mission for us.  |
We are fighting on a random map of hills, but nothing else.
Turn 1 – We win init. We set up on the west. We can’t tell what, but it looks like one of their mechs took some damage falling when going down a cliff. Their Fireball rushes very close to our Rifleman so I fire our guy at it. We have just a few mechs with firing lanes Our Akuma smashes their Scorpion and nails its hop on al leg, it falls and smashes a foot actuator as well. Turn 2 – We lose init. Their Scorpion manages to stand. We move around. I leap the Vulcan behind their Fireball after it fell in movement. Their Dervish bases our Jenner. Our Vulcan destroys the RTR on the Fireball and it shuts down due to an XL engine. The Akuma nails the SRM ammo on their Scorpion and BOOM! Their Highlander nails the H on our Shadow Hawk twice. We hammer their Victor with some fire from range. It falls as does their Black Knight. Turn 3 – We win init. Their Spider falls and I hop our PXH next to it. Their Victor rises. C;int hops next to their Bushwhacker. Their BK stands. They leap their Dervish next to our T Bolt. Penetrator of our snext to their downed Spider too. Our Akuma hits the gauss on their Victor and destroys its RA, RL and nails the gyro and engine once each. Our penetrator nails the Spider with pulse lasers and hits the gyro once. Their Victor tumbles and the pilot blacks out. Their Dervish also falls. Our Penetrator punches the Spiders H and destroys it. Our PXH also destroyed its RL. Turn 4 – We win init. Our Hunch runs next to their Dervish. It stands and moves a bit away from the Hunchback. I walk our Thunder Hawk next to it. I hop or Jenner above and next to their Victor in case I can slice off its head. I start moving some mechs toward their Black Knight, which is isolated. A Guass from their Highlander nails an engine in our Rifleman. Our Akuma nails the H of their Griffin three times with various spread weapons – it’s a critical monger. ER Large Laser from the Thunderbolt shears off the H of their Black Knight! One of its three gauss slugs slides from the Thunder Hawk into their Dervish and smashes ammo. Their Bushwhacker destroys the RT of our Rifleman and it shuts down – XL Engine. Their Grif and Dervish fall. Victor pilot remains knocked out - needs to roll a 10 to wake up. Turn 5 – We lose init. Clint jumps to the rear of their Orion - their Dervish manages to find its feet. I leave my Thunder Hawk next to it. Our Vulcan jumps next to and above their now risen Griffin. Jenner leaps above and adjacent ot their Grasshopper. Our Jenner blows the LA off their Griffin. Our T Hawks destroys the Dervish’s LL and CT> A gauss slug from our Goliath gets a limb blown off LL on their Highlander and it tumbles after taking 100+ damage and losing a leg. Their Orion tumbles too. I double kick the Grasshopper rather than the Hopper and Griffin and the double kick to its torsos knocks it over. Turn 6 – We win init. Their Orion regains its feet easily. Clint to the rear of their Bushy. I also base it with the Jenner and get close with other mechs. Their Hopper rises. Our T Hawk nails the Grifn’s ammo and CASE pushes it out but destroys the RT where the XL engine is. Their Orion destroys the LA of our Vulcan. Our Clint destroys both arms of the Bushwhacker. Our Vulcan destroys its LT and it shuts down And that is over, they surrender. |
Scorpion, FLL, RT,
Fireball missing RT VTR-9D Victor missing RA, RL, pilot unconscious Spider missing H, RL Black Knight missing H DV-7D Dervish RT, RA, LT, H, LA, RL HGN-736 Highlander reattach missing L GRF-1DS Griffin missing RT Bushwhacker missing RA, LA, LT Rifleman missing RT Vulcan missing LA We turn their Grasshopper and Orion over to local authorities. We got a Fireball, Spider, Victor, Black Knight, Highlander, Griffin, and Bushwhacker We have one company left, being pursued by the two companies. We radio them and offer to surrender and we’ll turn their machines over to local authorities and there is no jail or anything, all men are released or taken to a new planet. They agree We have a battalion of troops on planet of Elgin that we will use to build off. |
May 12, 3059 – Elgin has ordered elections for one month from today, and meanwhile, our Regiment remains on planet for now, helping to rebuild various infrastructures destroyed by some previous battles a while ago.
We have restocked the mechs captured and send them to EE to help the garrison. They will arrive on June 1. May 30 – One of the nobles has left the planet and abandoned it in the wake of our takeover and move to democracy on the world. June 12 – A famous reporter is elected the new Governor of Elgin, and the planet has elected several people to form a parliament. They officially ask to join the CC. June 14 – Elgin has officially entered the Celestial Coalition. End of Elgin Campaign |
June 18, 1 raid is struck against Kressly Warworks, Inc. A large amount of mechs and fighters are moving now. We have defending it one company each of tanks and mechs at all times.
Nineveh Company is on defense and they order the company of tanks to hold up and we order reinforcements immediately to scramble both aerial and ground based to assist. We have 8 fighters and 12 mechs moving in, and about fifteen minutes out. Nineveh Company scrambled to reach them before they hit the complex’s walls. By keeping the battle away from the company we can reduce the amount of collateral damage that could spring up. Nineveh Company moves out, and the mechs pull back after it commits and suddenly large amounts of powered armored infantry we could not detect smash the walls of the company and blow their way in from four directions. Our armor moves as quickly as possible to the locations, but it’s too late. By the time they arrive, Kage Power Armored people have taken several loads of supplies. Their mechs move back to shadow our company and we can’t move back in too far or chase them too much, especially not with aerial support. Within fifteen minutes, helps begins to arrive and they have gone. We have failed, for the first time, to protect Kressly from a raid . They lost about 4.5 million worth of equipment from mechs and their Blizzard Hover Transport. We increase our garrison to an additional lance of mechs, several troops of infantry, and two conventional fighters in the air at all times. |
July 1 – Spies from the Duchy of Small are captured while trying to destroy several power substructures on Ingress. One is destroyed and has to be rebuilt.
EVENT – July 12, 3059 – The Free Worlds League has taken Procyon and Sirius. The Sirian Holds are gone and two planets in the Chaos March are off the table. July 16 – One of the nobles on Elgin, Baron Men Hou has been elected the head of the new Parliament that they just finished building with a Constitution. |
Aug 1, 3059 _ The first run of the four legged mech the Greyhound is beginning at Kressly Warworks, and we get 4 Greyhounds.
Aug 3 – We get word that a large group of DropShips and JumpShips arrived in Acamar, and then jumped out. We don’t know who or where, but we put everyone on alert for the next month. We don’t suspect interference by a great house – they are all busy right now. Aug 10 – A raid by Bryant has destroyed a warehouse on Epsilon Indi and take out a few fighters. Aug 15 – We have announced the hiring of: Angel’s Riders, Dragoons rating B, Regiment of mixed troops, one battalion of mechs, two or armor, with about 40% of mechs and 75 % of tanks upgraded with level 2 tech. They are garrisoning Elgin for the next three years. Sept 5 – Alpha Regiment returned from Elgin. We prepare them for another attack. Sept 17 – We learn that the Tikonov Brothers on Hall have gathered an army and launched an assault on Tall Trees, which is in the Saiph Triumvirate. They probably looked hard at attacking Hsien, but with our recent expansion in the area, that would put them behind our line, and they may have shifted targets. |
Beginning of the Bryant Campaign
Oct 1 – We have arrived at pirate JumpPoints in Bryant heavy The following naval assets have arrived: Swift Justice, WarShip Firebird, Avenger DropShip – On Bryant Honored Living, Colossus DropShip – On Bryant Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip Defiance, Overlord DropShip – On Bryant We have a bajillion fighters, assault DropShips, the tug, and more. Meanwhile, we have dropped off these at the Nadir JumpPoint: River of Fate, Merchant DropShip Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip - On Bryant Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip – On Bryant And this at the Zenith one: Merchant Class JumpShip we rented Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip - On Bryant So we have launched into this system on the heavy end. We want to drive out all of the forces on Bryant, including the naval assets that are raiding, and capture the planet. We came in hot. Our WarShip and its crew are about one day from the planet after hitting a pirate point. No one will be able to escape from its fighters or the Ships. We have small craft to assault as well. Meanwhile, the Nadir point, with 40 fighters from the Vengeance is essentially secure against anything but a major military threat. The Zenith point is weaker. It has 6 fighters from the Leopard CV as well as an assault DropShip. |
At the Nadir point is….
One JumpShip with sail furled. As soon as we jump in, they order the sails to close in. It’s just a quick little Scout JumpShip with just one DropShip ring. In that ring in a Mule DropShip, typically a cargo carrier. We launch fighters and demand to board it. We do and inspect it and both the JS and the Mule are merchants. Nothing else here. We can hold the point though. At the Zenith point is… A Invader Class JumpShip, with its three droprings. It has just two full, and a third is en route from Bryant. They are: Leopard CV and a Jumbo cargo DropShip are on it. En route is a Union DropShip. That looks like a military vessel. The Union is about 20 hours out and too far to turn now – not enough fuel to head back. Both of us launch fighters from our CVs. They have 2 Rapier 2 Seydlitz 2 Sai We launch our 6 fighters: Sparrowhawk, Hellcatx2, Sholgar, 2 Sabres We also launch two Taurus’s from the rented ship and the Vulcanized Majesty. Claymore: 1 x ER Large Laser 2 x ER PPCs 4x Large Lasers 4 x Medium Lasers 2 x Large Pulse Lasers 2 x Medium Pulse Lasers 2 x Small Pulse Lasers 4 x LB 10-X ACs 2 x LRM-10s 2 x LRM-20s 3 x Streak SRM-2s It’s a good assault DropShip Between the DropShip and our numerical superiority with 6 fighters plus two Taurus’s. We manage to blast them and only had a Sabre damaged. We salvage a Sai and a Rapier |
We force the JumpShip to surrender, since it’s obviously not ready to jump yet, or else it would have. They refuse.
So we move our Claymore right in front and we begin to carve into its engine armor. After a few minutes they surrender and we drop off some marines. The Jumbo DropShip has very little in it. We imprison the crew of both ships and find out that they were en route to a raid on Keid. The Jumbo was the ship to collect stuff that they gathered. Jumbo: 14800 tons Spherical DropShip Cargo Carrier Minor weapons (4 Ac5, 12 Medium Lasers) 10 doors into three cargo areas, that hold 1331, 4400 and 4400 tons 2 Small Craft, currently shuttles The Jumbo was the forerunner of the common Mule cargo DropShip. It was very venerable, but cramped quarters and living areas made the new Mule much more desirable. Still there are many Jumbos in operation today as they are a durable and reliable ship. The Invader JumpShip is just a ship that has 3 DropRings. It’s nothing too special. We await the arrival of the Union. In two days when it arrives weaponless and without an escort, we capture it and the company of mechs aboard. We have captured a Union, Invader, Jumbo, Leopard CV, 12 mechs, 4 shuttles (2 on Invader), Sai and Sabre fighters. |
Meanwhile….
The WarShip arrives at the planet and unfurls a screen of fighters and small craft. Bryant has launched their defenses – 26 fighters and three military DropShips – an obsolete Avenger, a new Hamilcar and an obsolete Intruder, hoping to pierce the WarShips’s defenses and unload four platoons of marines into the ship – more than 100 men who would likely capture the ship. Among our small craft are several Battle Taxis. These can pierce the armor of a large ship and power suit marines penetrate the hull and enter to deal damage or capture the ship. They have three DropShips that are attacking. They also have 26 fighters. We are using 18 fighters, our own Avenger, several Taurus escorts and a few Battle Taxis. Plus, the WarShip itself. It’ll focus onteh DropShips. Going up against a WarShip is rough for anyone. Let’s dice and quick sim this |
After getting some heavy damage on the Avenger, we pull it back. Meanwhile a Battle Taxi was destroyed by them and is unrecoverable. They could not stop the other one but the only ship it could hit is the Intruder, and they have penetrated it, but with the large number of platoons aboard, nothing is expected but to slow them down and plant some explosives.
Meanwhile, we have shot down just over half of their fighters 14. We have lost 8 ourselves. More weapons fire from the WarShip stabs into their Hamilcar and it is sent reeling from the naval class damage which only a WarShip can deal. This final salvo sunders the rest of the hull around its engine and blasts it, immobilizing the DropShip. Their Avenger has broken through our line of fighters and moves towards the WarShip, closing. We have no more units to slow it down. Their Intruder suffers a minor internal explosion and then the armored platoons are slain by their infantry. Our Fighters are smashing more of theirs. The WarShip has released the Colossus. We didn’t want to use it in case we lost the ship and its 36 mechs, but we have no other choice. It spins out and arms its weapons at the incoming Avenger. Both exchange fire and the Avenger shrugs off the many weapons the Colossus can bear. It does the same and more weapons from the Aegis class WarShip stab into space, and a few hit. Their Intruder resumes moving at the WarShip. Most of their fighters are gone so we break away some fighters to keep the Intruder back. We stab more weapons into the Avenger and the Warship smashes it hard with its large White Shark missiles. The Avenger keeps moving in, firing furiously at the Colossus and hits its speed and reduces its handling and maneuverability. The Avenger fires again and the Colossus loses a lot of armor, going internal on the side. The combination of fire from the Colossus and Warship destroy the Avenger and it explodes in a frenzy of weapons and energy. Meanwhile, the fighters have rent the Intruder. We lost more fighters and a few small craft, but it is reeling. We a few more to chase it as it moves to orbit and it begins to break apart. It breaks into four pieces and begins to move away accelerated by the blasts pushing it faster in orbit. We manage to salvage the Hamilcar, but the other two DropShips are gone. We lost one Battle Taxi, 3 Taurus’s, and 12 fighters, but we can recover 4 of those. We can also recover 11 of theirs. So all told we gained 3 fighters, a Hamilcar, need to replace 4 small craft, and we need to spend a lot of money fixing the Colossus and Avenger. We also get a few million in scrap each from the Avenger and Intruder. The WarShip has secured the planet. |
October 5 – We launch the Overlords and Colossus. We can drop three battalions of mechs onto Bryant. They are not going to be happy with us.
October 7 – A merchant class JumpShip jumps into the Nadir point with two military DropShips on it – a Leopard and a Union. It immediately rejumps, revealing a rare KF battery on it. We have landed in three places on the planet of Bryant. Our goal is to take out the local forces, and blast Bryant as a threat in the area. Afterwards, we’ll decide if Bryant becomes a member of the Celestial Coalition, because it’s a minor world that drags resources but does not really give many. We captured one company of their mechs already, so all they have left are two companies of mechs and 6ish of vehicles. We should be enough to smash them. The good news is that it is easy to find them. Only the poles are inhabited. After it was savaged in the Successor Wars, the remaining population went to the polar regions. It has a lot of lightning storms across the planet and it was a prison planet for the Caps for more than 100 years prior to the 4th Succession War. FC hasn’t invested anything in it either. Bryant did have a mech factory by the Lantren Corporation that made Grasshoppers plus some components for Grasshoppers such as medium lasers and jump jets. But the primary factory was badly damaged in the 2nd Succession War, and never restored, so instead it just continues to make components and a few other things. We put our heavy units on the north pole by itself – Delta, Butler and Trinity companies. The other two battalion land in the south pole, which has a larger number of people including Lantren. Bryant has a minor population – about 63,000 people total. There are not a lot of places to hide because the main land is a bit much. Lantren has a mercenary company of tanks guarding it, so the locals are not busy there and we have no desire to smash them, they are fine. Instead we are focusing on the locals. The “ruler” here is Viscount Dvensky. He is here in the south pole and his home should have at least one company of mechs plus two companies of tanks. However, expecting us to attack him there, he has pulled in two more companies from their normal defensive places near the DropPorts and capital to move them to his home. That means we are facing 5 total companies. We unfurl our mech companies and move in. We hold back Heliades Company. So Defender, Cinq, Typhon, Styx and Tethys are moving in. We keep Heliades as a reserve. Fighters from the WarShip helped us to land and kept the sky clean from any potential conventional fighters or VTOLs that might face us. |
As we move in, we encounter some mines, which do minor damage to a few legs but slow us down.
Unlike many, there are no walls or borders to his estate, and anyone can walk onto it. Gun Emplacements burst out of the ground and suddenly large lasers are blazing at us and we destroy them in seconds We push through their defenses and close. Their complex is up against a mountain, and it’s not that cold here at the south pole – its summer in this area of the world. The poles are free from the fierce storms. We smash in with our mechs and they have arrayed all of their tanks and mechs to defend against our force. Our mech force in the center is Defender Company, the company made up of ex-Defenders of Andurien who joined us and have been with us for a long time. Their mechs focus in the middle and push forward to engage the Defenders. Defender Company Daishi Prime HBK-4G Hunchback ON1-V Orion Thor C AWS-9M Awesome WTH-1 Whitworth STK-3F Stalker CTF-1X Cataphract PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk CMT-1 Comet JNV-10F Javelin GRF-1N Griffin HER-2M Hermes II Bryant Company Atlas Striker Chameleon Locust Ostroc Rifleman Shadow Hawk STG-5M Stinger * CRD-4D Crusader * ENF-5D Enforcer* ZEU-5S Zeus * WVR-7D Wolverine * Their pilots are regular, asterisks are uptech mechs This is their Zeus, an upgraded common Lyran Assault mech. It has a veteran pilot.It has Ultra AC5, LRM 15, ER large laser, 2 medium lasers, 14/28 heat sinks, 4/6 movement, no XL engine, Artemis IV for the LRM rack, and 11.5 tons of armor (too light).  |
Turn 1 – We lose init. We charge with a spearhead of our three assault mechs and the Daishi in the middle. I keep our scout mechs behind some trees and do not get them involved. Our Cataphract nails the gyro once on their Striker. We focus fire on both it and their Atlas. Their Atlas took 40 damage from two AC20 shots from the Ultra on the Thor.. Both of them took more than 80 damage and tumble.
Turn 2 – We lose init. Our Griffin runs up to their Striker. In a panic their Striker stands and moves away. Their Locust stands. Our Awesome bases their Striker. I rush our Thor adjacent and above to their Enforcer. Their Atlas tries to rise, falls and smashes in its H and it is dead. Our Awesome destroys the RA of their Striker and our Griffin its Left and our Cat its RT. Ultra AC5 on the Daishi jams. Ultra AC 20 on Thor smashes their Shadow Hawk after Daishi unloaded into it. Destroy the RL and hit two actuators on the right. Shadow hawk falls and destroys its other leg . Striker tumbles and pilot blacks out. Our Thor kicks the Enforcer but nothing major happens. Turn 3 – We win init. Jav rushes adjacent and above their Locust. Our Thor hits the SRM ammo on their Ostroc and it explodes. The engine goes up and it hit s a lot of nearby mechs. That includes the rear armor on the Crusader for 30 damage, and Crusader’s ammo is hit and it goes up too. It does not have CASE so it is destroyed too. Our Jav kicks the Locust but little results. Their pilot does not wake up Turn 4 – We lose init. Our PXH banses their Zeus. Our Jav and Comet keep chasing their Locust. Our Thor smashes their Zeus open with 2 hits of its Ultra AC20 and hits the engine once on it. Ou rJav destroys the Locust R and our Comet its RL. LRM10 fire from the Whitworth destroys the LT of their Zeus and hits the engine once. Our Pixie smashes its RL and hits the torso with its machine gun and hits the engine twice more. It’s down. Our Cat destroys the LA on their Chameleon. Our Awesome smashes the Chameleon several times with ER PPCs and it and the Locust fall. Turn 5 – Their pilot remained out. We win init. Our Thor bases their Enforcer. Their Chameleon rises and our Cataphract bases it. Our Hermes II destroys the CT of their Locust. Our Hunchback get a limb bowl off on the Rifleman’s RA. Our Orion hits the engine three times with SRM missiles on their chameleon. I spread my attacks out to take out several mechs this tunr hopefully. Our Whity hits the engine once on their Rifleman. Our Awesome hit she Rifleman’s ammo and it ignites. Their Enforcer falls hard. I was hoping to finish it off too. The kick from the Thor doens;t amount to anything and they call it. |
Crusader LA, RA, LL
Ostroc H, LA Shadow Hawk missing RL, LL Striker missing RA, LA, RT; pilot blacked out Atlas missing H Locust LT, LL, LA, H, RT Zeus missing LT, RL< enginex4 Chameleon missing LA, enginex3 Rifleman RA, LL Their Stinger, Wolverine and Enforcer are turned in, yadda yadda. We salvaged an Atlas, Striker, Shadow Hawk, Chameleon, and ZEU-5S Zeus On the other fronts, we smashed their tanks badly, and lost 10 mechs, 4 of which we can reclaim and 6 are gone permanently. We captured or salvaged 21 vehicles. It appears that the Viscount went into hiding. Left on Bryant are one company of mechs and two of tanks we think. |
Oct 12 – The battalion at the north pole cannot find anything up there. Either the units there went in hiding or they were pulled earlier.
Oct 19 – We have scoured the poles and still can’t find the remaining units. We know they are on planet according to both intel and locals. We have to ferret them out. Nov 2 – We manage to find one company of tanks after some intense searching and it’s near the mountains that were used by the home by the Viscount. Apparently there was an underground bunker here we just discovered. Stocked here are a lot of technical equipment, parts, ammo, armor, spare weapons, and more. The tank company is rolling out as we move in, this bunker has two entrances. Expecting traps or explosives, we do not pursue them via the bunker, but instead dispatch fighters to hold them in place and fly in a company off a DropShip to answer them In about 30 minutes we have arrived and 15 minutes later, we unfurl. Heliades is here Our foes: Vedette Goblin Von Luckner Brutus Drillson Gladius Hetzer Hunter Shrek, updated * Fulcrum * Hunter, updated * Lightning * Built just two years ago, the Fulcrum is a 50 ton hovertank with 1 each of large laser, LRm10 and medium laser.  This will be a slaughter. |
Turn 1 – We win init. PPCs from our Awesome hit the PPC carrier and hurt its movement. Our Stalker follows that up with worse movement damage to it. Our Archer does the same to their Lightning. Our Ostroc hurts the movement on their VL and our PXH does the same to their Fulcrum but also stuns their crew for a turn.
Turn 2 - We win init. Our WLF bases their Fulcrum. Our PXH follows. Their Lightning skidded so my Centurion rushes to it and bases it Our Stalker destroys the front of their Schrek. Our Archer immobilizes their Lightning. Our Cat locks the turret on their Von Luckner. Their Fulcrum knocks out our PXH pilot. Turn 3 – We lose init. They base the PXH with some tanks, such as their Gladius. Our Wasp runs to their Gladius. Our Ostroc bases a Hunter. Our WLF immobilizes their Fulcrum. Their Hetzer hits the CT of our PXH with their AC20 and it is destroyed. Our Cat locks the turret of their Vedette. Our Ostroc kicks and destroys the rear armor of their Hunter, upgraded. Our Cat kicks an destroys their Vedett’s turret and it is destroyed. Our Wasp misses a kick and falls. Turn 4 – We lose init. Our Wasp rises and runs. Our Wolfhound bases their Drillson. Ostroc bases the other Hunter. Our Trebuchet bases their Von Luckner and our Centurion follows. Our WLF destroys the Fulcrum’s RS. Our Marauder destroys their Hetzer’s front. Our Centurion hits the ammo on the Von Luckner and it explodes! Our Cat slices the Front of their Hunter and destroys it. Our Trebuchet falls. Our Wolfhound kicks their Drillson into immobile territory. They surrender and we gather them up. |
Schrek PPC Carrier, updated
Hunter, upgraded Vedette Fulcrum Hetzer Hunter Drillson immobile Lightning immobile Phoenix Hawk RT, LT, LA, RA, < LL, RL We collect a Goblin, Brutus, Gladius for the local militia. We manage to salvage the two Hunters, Fulcrum but not the Vedette or Schrek, plus the Lightning and Drillson. |
Nov 15 – After a lot of searching, a raid by a lance of their mechs hits a local warehouse and steals off some food. Why would they need food?
We suspect that they may be hiding in the nasty storm areas of the planet outside of the polar regions. Nov 27 – The Viscount is captured by local spies from the Apollo Office we dropped off. He was in hiding and now we have him. Nov 30 - We have forced the Viscount to give u the locations for the mechs and tanks. Dec 8 – We have readied a raid on the mech position. As suspected, it is outside in the toxic soup. We wait until a day when the storms have abated, which is rare. We move in Butler Company ATA-2 Attila GLT-3N Guillotine AXM-1N Axman KIM-2 Komodo LGB-7Q Longbow GLT-5M Guillotine TBT-5N Trebuchet RFL-5M Rifleman VL-5T Vulcan MON-66 Mongoose WTC-4M Watchman JVN-10F Javelin Butler Company is mostly regular. As we do, they see us and come out. It looks like there are just two lances here right now, their scout lance is out. Our foes: AXM-2N Axman * Wolf Trap * Watchman * PXH-3S Phoenix Hawk * JagerMech Blackjack Charger Grasshopper Someone must’ve captured a Wolf Trap from the Combine. This is the weird Axman with double LRM15 racks instead of the AC20.  |
Turn 1 – We win init. Our Komodo bases their Wolf Trap when they expose it too much. Our Vulcan leaps to its rear. Nothing major happens in weapons – everybody misses a lot. We double kick the WT and it falls.
Turn 2 – We lose init. Our Komodo and Vulcan base their Pixie. Their Wolf Trap stands and runs and I run our Javelin after it. I order my heavies and assaults to charge their position, minus the Rifleman who holds back. Our Watchman destroys the LA of their Charger. Our Attila just unloads on their Axman and smashes its H twice with missiles and goes internal on a leg and nails the hip actuator. Our Axman gets a limb blown off LA on their Axman. Both it and their Wolf Trap fall as does our Longbow. The PXH destroys its RA in the fall. Our Jav punches the Wolf Trap twice, this both legs and this actuators in each, but it remains standing. It’s a blessed mech. I have unloaded tons of weapons into it these two turns and it is still relatively healthy. Turn 3 – We win init. Our Longbow stands. Their Axman does not. The 5M Guillotine bases their downed Axman. Their PXH stands and runs away but our Vulcan chases it down. Out Watchman jumps to their Charger. Our Axman walks to their Watchman. You can tell we’ve reached melee range for our mechs. The other Guillotine bases their Wolf Trap. Their BJ hits the engine twice on our Attila. Our Komodo hits the engine one on their PXH. Our Guillotine destroys the RL and LT f their Axman and it shuts down. Unfortunately their Watchman falls after taking an AC20 shot and no ax can follow up. Our other Guillotine kicks and destroys the LL of their Wolf Trap, damage goes up to its LT and hits the engine there twice, it falls, hits its LT and hits the engine a third time, dead mech. Turn 4 – We win init. I hop our Attila to some woods to hide it a bit. Their Watchy stands. I move some mechs to the area. Their Charger follows me in. I run our Watchman above and next to their Charger. Our Jav bases their PXh and our Vulcan their damaged Blackjack. This will likely be the last round, so I alpha strike a few mechs. I moved my Trebuchet and Longbow exactly 7 hexes away from their Charger and Watchman so I can LRM smash them. Our Rifleman destroys the LT of their Watchman – but no XL engine so no shut down. Our Attila hits the MG ammo in the other torso, its CASE’d away but the pilot blacks out. AC20 shells rock their Chargers RT and blow it up and it falls. Our Komodo and Vulcan kick the Blackjack and destroy its LL. Our Jav punches the PXH because it’s exposed in a lot of torso and manages to smash the RT an hit the engine once, but we don’t finish it. They call it and surrender. |
We turn over the Grasshopper and JagerMech to the local authorities.
Charger missing LA, RT PXH-3S Phoenix Hawk missing RA Axman 2N missing LT, RL Wolf Trap missing LL, engine x3 Watchman missing LT, RT, blacked out pilot Blackjack missing LL We captured all six of these mechs for ourselves. After interrogation, we discover that they ordered the scout lance away when they engaged us. We have no idea where they could be right now. |
Dec 10 – We have called for elections on Bryant.
Dec 14 – Fighters found their scout lance and drilled them to the ground and they are now dead, and turned over the government – 2 salvaged and one surrendered. Dec 23 – We have clues to the last tank company but are unable to find it when we follow up. Dec 26 – They have raided a few warehouses for supplies such as oil, armor, and ammo. Jan 3, 3060 – We still cannot find the last company, Bryant is too big for this game. Jan 11 – A new president of Bryant has been elected. Rosetta Jackson was a minor noble, and now elected. She calls publicly for the last units to stand down and turn themselves in. Jan 13 – They comply and we turn the company over to the government. Jan 19 – After consideration, Duke Essex has agreed to extend an offer to Bryant to join the Celestial Coalition, they accept later that day. Jan 25 – We have released the Viscount to the world of Epsilon Indi, where he launched many pirate attacks, and they have arranged to bring him to trial there. Feb 2 – After consultation with several key players, Kressly Warworks Inc has agreed to purchase 20% of the shares of Lantren Corporation. The influx of cash, plus some grants from the CC will enable them to reopen the Grasshopper primary factory in a year. They will begin working on an updated Grasshopper with new technology, and the Celestial Coalition will be its main customer. |
Total changes from this campaign:
Bryant has gained the following units for their own militia, the 1st Bryant Regulars. The company of mechs we stopped in space The company of tanks turned in Surrendered forces – 3 tanks, 7 mechs Salvaged – We grant them the 21 salvaged tanks from the huge battle in order to jumpstart their defenses. Many of the pilots and crew will serve in their unit again So they have three full companies of tanks plus 19 mechs. Our AeroSpace gains were: Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip – An odd ship built in 3054, it’s a raider that carries both mechs and fighters – 8 mechs and 4 fighters. Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip; Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip - We confiscated two DropShips from the ground – both were Gazelles which carried 15 tanks. The local defense won’t need them to strike other planets or anything, so we have procured them for ourselves. Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip – Carries 12 mechs, yadda yadda Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip – Cargo hauler, civilian Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV – Fighter carrier, carries 6 fighters. Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip – Carries three DropShips We gained 4 fighters in the salvage. |
Changes:
Butler – Bob Green, in the Guillotine 3N is now 3/5 after notching four kills. Heliades – Dianne Holsteins’ PXH was destroyed, replaced with 3S one from salvage. Defender – AJ Hussein, pilot of the Phoenix Hawk, gained one point of edge after his fourth kill. Styx Company - Hubert McCullough’s Comet was destroyed, it is replaced by the Watchman. Cinq Company – Both pilot Roger Von Harkness and his Griffin were destroyed. Replaced with Jake Kyle, regular, in a salvaged AXM-2N Axman; Typhon Company – Ostsol destroyed, replaced with ZEU-5S Zeus from salvage. Tethys Company – Locust destroyed, replaced by Chameleon. Lost our Striker, replaced with theirs from salvage. Lost their Hunchback, we replace with a mech from our garrison on EE – Anvil. Mechs salvaged: Atlas, Shadow Hawk, Charger, Wolf Trap, Blackjack We kept these three tanks: Hunter Fulcrum * Hunter, updated * Our flotilla heads back out and leaves behind Heater Battalion for now to help get things together. (Delta, Trinity and Butler companies) Feb 15, 3060 – We arrive back on EE with our troops and Ships. End of the Bryant Campaign |
Let’s get an update on the roster.
Kilts and Commandos Roster: Alpha Regiment: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Star Battalion Myth Battalion: Capt Foster Keynes, of Typhon Company Heliades Company – Styx Company - Tethys Company – Typhon Company – Star Battalion: Col. Matthew Humphries, of Defender Company Defender Company – Cinq Company – Brawler Company – On Terra Firma until June 28, 3059 Heater Battalion: Capt. Jason Thomas, Trinity of Company Delta Company – On Bryant Trinity Company- On Bryant Butler Company – On Bryant Beta Regiment: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Ganges Battalion Ganges Battalion: Col. Martin Fitzgerald, of Phaeton Company Phaeton Company – On Ingress Boxer Company – On Ingress Rebel Company – On Ingress Amazon Battalion: Capt. Gabriel Williams, of Mustang Company Mustang Company – Currently on Capolla Hex Company – Currently on Capolla Raven Company – Currently on Capolla Rheims Battalion: Capt. Aurelia Jenson, of Aleph Company Aleph Company – Currently on Capolla Laser Company – Currently on Capolla Sabre Company – Currently on Capolla Gamma Regiment: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Breaker Battalion Breaker Battalion: Col. Gilda Atwater, of Fallout Company Trident Company – Currently on Acamar Miner Company – Currently on Acamar Fallout Company - Currently on Acamar Scimitar Battalion: Capt. Mika Sanders, of Vegas Company Vegas Company – Currently on Acamar Guile Company - Currently on Acamar Tango Company - Currently on Acamar Mesopotamia Battalion: Capt. Kyla Jeffries, of Nineveh Company Jericho Company – First Expedition Babylon Company – Second Expedition Nineveh Company – Delta Regiment: Col. Conner Ward Bandit Battalion: Capt. Andrey Vihorev Bandit Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Iron Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Kevlar Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Flame Battalion: Capt. Johan Kreidler, of Blaze Company Pyre Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Blaze Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Ember Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Armor Battalion: Capt. Jassa Ramgarhia, of Aegis Company Aegis Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Shield Company – Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Chainmail Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Weston Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Utopia Company - Operation: Bulldog – Available Aug 1, 3061 Shadow Battalion: Bruiser Company – Shadow Company – Sealion Company – Gold Company – Bronze Company - Vehicles: Tank First Battalion – Tank Second Battalion - On Terra Firma until June 28, 3061 Garrison and Infantry – EE, garrison, Fighters: Col. Larry Rowe, of Arrow Company Arrow Company – Currently on Terra Firma Bolt Company – Currently on Acamar Catapult Company – Dart Company –On Ingress Naval Assets Swift Justice, Aegis WarShip – Scots Flotilla, Merchant JumpShip – On First Expedition Johnny Appleseed, Invader JumpShip – On Second Expedition Maxim of Glory, Invader JumpShip – River of Fate, Merchant JumpShip - Robin Hood, Union DropShip – On Second Expedition Megan’s Fury, Union DropShip - Star River, Union DropShip - Serendipitous Victory, Union-C DropShip -. Amalgamated Bliss, Union DropShip –. Defiance, Overlord DropShip – Daily Menace, Overlord DropShip, Upgraded - Faith’s Bulwark, Fortress DropShip, Upgraded - On First Expedition Fury Unbound, Vengeance DropShip - Firebird, Avenger DropShip – Arrow of Fate, Achilles DropShip, Upgraded – Stalwart Destruction, Model 96 Elephant DropShip – Honored Living, Colossus DropShip – Stellar Phantom, Leopard CV DropShip - On Second Expedition Vulcanized Majesty, Claymore DropShip - Victory Assured, Overlord DropShip – Jakob’s Ladder, Buccaneer DropShip (Cargo Vessel) – On Second Expedition Galvanic Arc, Leopard-CV class DropShip – Charon’s Message, Union class DropShip Fang of the Lion, Leopard CV DropShip - Camel’s Luck, Jumbo DropShip - Dirty Dozen, Union DropShip – Her Majesty’s Interference, Hamilcar DropShip – Turret Diplomacy, Gazelle DropShip - Profit of Guns, Gazelle DropShip - |
We roll back the clock to continue from where the campaign interjected.
Oct 5 – We reup the Tank Battalion’s contract on Terra Firma for two more years. Oct 10 – After his 18th birthday about two weeks ago, James Roderick Essex has been officially given a position in Kressly Warworks, Inc. While he had some minor mech trainings as any child of Duke Essex did, he did not really have an interest in it, despite having some skill there. Nov 11 – A raid on Flame Tech on Fletcher is stopped by the mercs we hired to protect it. Dec 1 – Thoma Marie Essex is promoted to Sergeant. It’s a busy few months for the Essex children. |
Dec 31 – Essex Training Academy:
Essex Training Academy We have11 MW graduates from the Essex Training Academy, and 19 enrollees for next year. Of these 11, 4 choose not to stay with us, and the remaining 7 have 2 vet, 3 regular, 1 green and 1 elite. We also have 6 graduates of vehicle crews, all regular. We hand them vehicles and move them to our garrison. 6 enroll for next year, and 5 infantry squads are now being trained as well. 6 infantry squads are completed, the Aerotech wing has its first grads – 4 total. 4 more enroll for the 1st year. Year 4 - 16 Year 3 – 12 Year 2 - 18 Year 1 – 19 Armor – 8 Aerospace, Year 2 - 5 Aerospace, Year 1 - 4 Infantry, Year 2 - 5 Infantry, Year 1 - 5 We pay 15 million to the upkeep of the Academy and HQ. |
We spend some time recruiting and sending out some grads.
Titanium Company Lt. Jamie Holland , HGN-732 Highlander, elite Marcela Liang, KGC-000 King Crab, elite Maiti van den Burgt, Hatchetman, veteran Kamalanetra Necipoglu, CGR-1A5 Charger, veteran Sgt. Isabella-Maria Berger , Vulture Prime, elite Lewis Brown, CRD-3R Crusader, veteran Tobias Meister, ARC-5S Archer, elite Anna-Teresa Stolk, WTH-2 Whitworth, veteran Sgt. Ed Bell, Goshawk, elite Sarieke Kooijmans, JVN-10F Javelin, veteran Luda Zasekin, WLF-2 Wolfhound, veteran Cadhla Furse, ASN-23 Assassin , veteran Javelin, Charger, Crusader and Hatchetman are level 1 mechs. Vulture and Goshawk are clan mechs. This company joins with Gold and Bronze Companies to make Metal Battalion. |
Oasis Company
Lt. Dwayne Tarabaev, VTR-9D Victor, elite Margriet Peres, Kingfisher A, elite Nikita Nyurnberg, ST-8A Shootist, elite Dave Mikailov, OSR-2D Ostroc, veteran Sgt. Husniyya bin Hanbal, STK-5M Stalker, elite Elvie O'Rahilly, Cauldron-Born Prime, elite Tony Tipping, GRF-1DS Griffin , veteran Bisa Okoth, Whitworth, veteran Sgt. Angelina Rodmell, Vixen, elite Jack Sarmento, Locust IIc, elite Hai-dong Pi, Spider, veteran Noemi Brabenec, Quickdraw, regular Kingfisher, Vixen, LCT IIc and Cauldron-Born are in our garrisons from previous battle with the clans. The Spider, Whitworth and Quickdraw are level 1 mechs. All 24 Mechs were in our garrison, we purchased none. |
Operation: Backstab
I encountered this scenario at the back of the rulebook A Guide to Covert Ops. It actually takes place a few years in the future, but there is nothing here that cannot be moved up. Until now, and it should prove to be a nice change of pace from the usual. Jan 4, 3060 – Duke Essex takes a meeting with Ingrid Foster to appraise him about a situation that has evolved on Acamar. The major issue revolves around some of the few agricultural land on the planet. Acamar has a lot of mining interests, but it’s hard to live on the planet. Just 36 million live in the system , and that includes asteroids being mined. Acamar is cold, just on the outer edge of the life ring in the system, and its regularly winter there. There are 9 days to the planet form the jump points and 15 days to recharge, and no recharge station in the system. There is little arable land. But there are some farms. Three large farms in some of the better land are owned by three minor noble families – the Brynd family, the Langdon family and the Stevens family. The Brynd family is one of the most successful with seasonal crops, and agri-domes for year round production in Acamar’s winter. They have not been interested in the mining aspects of Acamar, instead focusing on making food, and that has been their bread and butter for generations. They own more than 1400 square klicks. The Langdon family had been around for 50 years longer than Brynd. They often chaffed under Capellan rule and were squelched regularly, by Liao, thus they flourished under the FC rule. They control land equal to roughly 1300 square klicks. The Stevens family was granted the land a few decades ago by the Capellan Confederation to a loyal solider. They were stymied earlier after swinging to the FedCom, but they eventually adjusted. His land of 1000 square klicks contain three villages that support large agri-domes. When the LosTech was rediscovered, there were more discovers from the Star League era than just weapons and armor. They also regained information about things such as medical practices. New scanners were developed and used both for military and industrial practices. One such scanner has been recently used on Acamar to see if any deposits were hidden from old forms of scanning and investigation. Well, they found one. A motherlode. They have discovered a titanium deposit that has the potential to be the biggest one ever on Acamar. It was deep and buried under some rocks that helped to keep it from older scanners. This titanium deposit is under the Stevens and Langdon’s property. However, two days ago, an attack occurred on Baron Brynd’s territory against him, from an unknown mech force. We have no idea who or why. After all, the new titanium find isn’t even under his land. We cannot allow another force to launch attacks on our people and land. It’s time to investigate. Duke Essex authorizes Chief Ingrid Foster to investigate this personally and give him daily updates from her locations. |
Jan 13 – Chief Foster arrives in Outreach and begins to find information on the company of mechs that attacked. Is it a unit on the registry? She wants to do the research herself, to keep our investigation as quiet as possible.
Jan 16 – Foster discovers that the unit was likely part of a mercenary unit called the Broadstreet Bullies. They are not registered in MercNet though. Some contacts on planet reveal that their home used to be on Fletcher and they hire themselves on lesser known worlds, like Galatea. Jan 17 – An official from Baron Brynd arrives on Outreach and meets with Chief Foster. He had dispatched his aide to recruit mercenary assistance. Instead, Chief Foster will intervene officially. What information the aide, Andrew Osbourne, has is limited. He came on a Brynd Jump and Drop ship. The info he does have is interesting. A few weeks ago, representatives of the Langdon and Stevens families each approached him, individually, to buy his land. Now that damage has been done to the property, pressure on the purchases has increased. The various noble families on Acamar have always been rivals, and the new democracy has not ended that. Osbourne believes that either Langdon or Stevens was behind the attack. As Foster and Osbourne leave the club they are meeting at, two thugs attack them and try to kill them, but Ingrid Foster is easily able to handle them. After considering the information she has, she decides to swing by Fletcher before heading to Acamr to discover more information on the Broadstreet Bullies. |
February 17 – We arrive at Fletcher. Investigations begin.
It appears that they were the remnants of a Lyran Unit that was destroyed in the clan wars. Several of the lived on Fletcher prior to joining the military, so they used this world as a base a few times. The last time the unit was on the world was about five months ago. Then they jumped out. They performed some nasty anti-civilian tasks and earned some black marks in just a few years in operation. After some more research, Chief Foster uncovers that one member of the Bullies has a family here on planet and retired about a year ago. Feb 18 – Chief Foster arrives at the city of Quang Lo. This is a city that tends to attract all of the former pro-Cap civilians on planet. Here Chief Foster has discovered that she can find Jesse Boulerice. Feb 20 – She stakes out his house and one night pushes him against the wall and captures him easily and returns him to his home. Jesse agrees to give her the information if she helps his family, which is being pressured by a local crime boss. She agrees, and contacts local Apollo Office agents on planet to handle it. Boulerice is still in contact with the members of his old unit. The group that purchased the Bullies was neither family, but instead Johnston Industries. Johnston Industries is one of the largest industrial corporations in the Federated Suns. They have a variety of industries on various worlds, and apparently, they were interested in being the company to mine this huge titanium deposit. It requires a significant investment to penetrate the ground and build a mine for a pace this deep and extensive. Johnston would be one of a handful of companies that could outlay that capital. That is all Boulerise knows, so Foster heads back to jump to Acamar with Osbourne. |
Meanwhile, Duke Essex places a few calls to prepare for her arrival.
Feb 24 – While en route to their JumpShip, the Byrnd DropShip suffers sabotage. After investigating, Foster uncovers explosives placed by fuel tanks and electrical components. They DropShip is slowed by a day. Interviewing staff reveals that one person’s thumbprint was used to access that room that day. This is Crewman Malverneri, who has been with the Brynds for a few years. Due to her expertise, Foster interrogates him, and he willingly uncovers that he is an agent for House Langdon. However, he did not plant the bomb, he claims he is framed. Foster believes him. She uses the next bit of travel as time to find the actual saboteur. But, she is unable to discover the person responsible. Mar 8 – Chief Ingrid Foster and Osbourne Humphries unload from the Brynd DropShip and arrive at his estate. Coming out to meet her is Baron Brynd, who welcomes her. She unloads at his estate and begins to look over the place where the attack happened, while he escorts her. One of his daughters was killed in the attack. However ,it appears that they were not as thorough as they could have been. Many buildings were left half destroyed and others standing. Foster suspects that their goals were to scare and reduce the value, not to destroy. The Baron meets with her and reveals that Johnston Industries has offered him a buyout for his land, with a month long option to consider it. That month ends in a week or so. Or he could sell it to one of his neighbors. |
Mar 10 - It’s time for some more investigation. Chief Foster meets with two local Apollo Office agents and has them escort her to the local Johnston offices. They have a presence on the world due to the large mining interests in the system.
They break into the security and past the alarm systems. After some investigation, they find a safe underneath the floor and remove four metal tiles in order to uncover it. They crack it and look inside. One is a holodisk called Operation Backstab. Foster takes it and begins to look into it It appears that both Stevens family and the Langdon families allied to force the Brynd family to concede to Johnston Industries. It looks ike, although the ore is under the other two families, the Brynd estate is the only place they can build the mines and such to get to it, the angles are wrong from the others. So Langdon and Stevens tried to bully him into caving in and selling some of his land. He would not be bullied. Apparently Baron Stevens contacted Johnston Industries directly, and they came up with a plan to dial both Brynd and Langdon out of the equation. A company of mercenaries was called in to strike at the Brynd estate, and then force them to sell to either JI or to Stevens. Both increased their price over Langdon, to insure he would not be the one the land was sold too. Then they would attack Langdon and do the same to him. So, JI and Stevens partnered on Operation Backstab. Foster returns to Baron Brynd with this info. She tells him of everything. He laughs a bit at now knowing. The old thing, he states, is that I would likely have sold some of the land to JI for a good price if they had only asked instead of bullying me from the get go. He moves to call the local authorities, but Chief Foster stops him. She hand him a message from Duke Essex, and he dials it in. Duke Essex comes on and greets him. This information proves that the Bullies are still on Acamar. When they attacked you, they made this a military issue, not a legal one. This will not be solved in the courts, but at gunpoint. Stay under the radar for the next three days. |
Meanwhile, Fallout Company has moved out of their garrison on the planet and approached the position that the Bullies are said to be waiting at, an old abandoned refinery. They approach and soon their noise is heard by those inside. They quickly jump into their mechs and warm them up as Fallout Company enters the old building.
Fallout Company AS7-Atlas AWS-9M Awesome BL6-KNT Black Knight KTO-20 Kintaro HTM-25T Hatamato-Chi MAD-3D Marauder HUR-WO-R4L Huron Warrior APL-1M Apollo QKD-5K Quickdraw DMO-1K Daimyo PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk WSP-1D Wasp The Broadstreet Bullies Battle Hawk Nightsky Falconer Gunslinger Caesar WSP-1S Wasp WHM-7S Warhammer VT-5S Vulcan STK-5S Stalker COM-5S Commando HCT-5S Hatchetman MAD-5S Marauder All of these mechs are level 2 mechs. They are upgraded with good weapons. For example, this Marauder variant sports a Gauss Rifle in addition to the dual ER PPCs. The Hatchetman adds pulse lasers and a LB10X and so forth. Our foes are regular. This is their Falconer, a 75 ton mech featuring 5/8/5 movement off an XL engine, a gauss, an ER PPC and 4 medium lasers, with 10/20 heat dissipation and 11.5 tons of armor.  |
They are in the center and we are entering from the west. We are fighting in the map used for the Factory in Solaris VII:
 |
Here we go!
Turn 1 – I win init. Our PXH hops next to their Falconer and Nightsky. They have a lot of mechs on the upper floor. Their Battle Hawk skids and falls. We focus fire on their Caesar. Our Awesome destroys its RA and our Huron Warrior its Left. It falls and destroys its RT and the engine shuts down. We push the Falconer with the Phoenix Hawk and it falls down three levels to the ground. It hits the gauss rifle on the arm and that destroys the arm and then destroys the LL and the pilot is knocked out. Their Nightsky kicks the PXh and it falls. Hey, we took out two heavies in one turn! Turn 2 – We lose init. Our pixie stands and runs. Our Daimyo bases their Battle hawk. Our daimyo destroys its RA> Their Marauder hits the ER PPC in our Daimyo. Their B Hawk destroys its LA. Our Apollo hits the LRM ammo in their Stalker and it goes upCASE prevent sit from being destroyed but the XL engine is gone. A gauss rifle slug form our Huron Warrior smashes the H of their Marauder and it falls dead. Their BH falls. The Falconer pilot does not wake – needs a 10. Turn 3 – They are devastated but we push on. We win init. I eject the Daimyo. We are so far ahead in the mech count that ejecting a medium mech won’t end anything. We’ve taken out an assault, three heavies, and badly damaged a light in just two turns. Their B Hawk rises. Our Quickdraw jumps to their Vulcan. I leap our Wasp by their B Hawk. Our Wasp takes some damage from their Gunslinger Their Commando’s RA is destroyed by our Huron warrior. Their Wasp hits the Gyro on our Wasp. Our QD destroys their Commando’s CT. An LB 10 X from a Hatchetman destroys our Wasp’s CT. Their ‘Hammer falls. Our QD kicks their Vulcan to the ground. No wake-y Turn 4 – We lose init. Their Vulcan rises and runs away. I move a few mechs up to their level – Kintaro, Hatamato. Their Nightsky jumps behind our Atlas. I base it with a Black Knight and Awesome. Their Warhammer stands. Our Hatamato-Chi nails the hip and lower leg on their Warhammer. Our Kintaro hits its head twice with SRM missiles and blacks out the pilot. Taking more than 80 damage, their Nightsky tumbles and his its engine once. The Nightsky loses its RA, RT and RL from kicks. And dies to XL engine. No wake-y on falconer. Turn 5 – We lose init. Their Vulcan skids and I rush our Kintaro next to it. I walk the QD to it as well. Our QD destroys tits RT with a medium laser and it shuts down. Both of their pilots stay asleep. They refuse to concede and press on Turn 6 – We lose init. I am moving my heavy units behind the pillar to flank them while our Hatamato and Marauder are on top of the building keeping them locked in place. In a fierce stroke of orneriness, our Hatamato’s PPC smashes the H of their Gunslinger on a direct blow, dealing 13 damage to its H and killing. Now they concede; we have no force on Acamar to turn their Wasp, Battle Hawk and Hatchetman into, so we recruit them for a garrison on another planet. |
Gunslinger missing H
Nightsky missing RA, LL, RT WHM-7S Warhammer; pilot blacked out. Caesar missing RA, LA, RT Falconer missing RA, LL; pilot knocked out. Battle hawk missing RA STK-5S Stalker missing RT MAD-5S Marauder missing H COM-5S Commando RT, H, LT, LA, LL, RL VT-5S Vulcan missing RT Daimyo missing LA Wasp RT, LT, LL, RL, H, LA, RA We captured a Stalker, Marauder, Vulcan, Gunslinger, Nightsky, Warhammer, Caesar, and Falconer. And we lost a Wasp. We replace it with the Vulcan. After having defeated one of the companies of the Broadstreet Bullies (They’re a unit with a battalion, but the other two are not on planet nor were they part of this deal), we have brought an end to this chapter in Acamar, Fletcher, and the underworld. Mar 15 – Johnston Industries has announced that they are closing their Acamar office. |
April 16 – The media is all a twitter as Duke Braham Essex welcomes Chancellor and First Lord Sun-Tzu Liao to Fletcher to visit the graves of the many Chancellors buried here. Sun-Tzu brings gifts for the tomb of Aleisha Liao, one of the most beloved House Lords in IS history. So appalled by the conflict of the Age of War, in the pre-Star League era, she was the one behind the Ares Convention.
“Your message said that we had business to discuss.” “We do, First Lord. Ceres Metals Industries.” “Go on.” “Ceres is the bright star of the Capellan Military-Industrial Complex. Yet it is much weaker than the mammoth companies in other houses. I have an offer to increase its value tremendously.” Duke Essex slides the Chancellor the information on the Titanium Deposit. “You know how valuable the ores of Acamar have been for centuries to the Confederation. This is the largest Titanium Deposit ever found. I can dial you back in and give a nice bump to Ceres. “ “And you would do this out of the kindness of your heart?” “We’re neighbors. Neighbors should be neighborly. And since we are being neighborly, I think it’s time that our neighbor dropped the spying, inciting riots, and so forth on our worlds. Plus three other worlds we have an interest in Carver V, Hsien and Genoa. “ “You are not offering much.” “I’m not asking for much. If our realm is destabilized, we are much more likely to fall to Steiner or Davion hands than your own. Surely we have more value to you as a buffer state to keep them away from you, and to keep our worlds from their hands. You’ve already reduced the amount of sedition in this region of the March, so I suspect you see that value as well. Ending everything is not a major cost of business.” “I will pull of your worlds, but not the other three. Plus Ceres will want a 5 year contract to have exclusive right to any more discoveries on Acamar.” “Yes to the rights for 5 years, but we just have you pull out of Genoa and Hsien.” “Just one world.” “Deal. Leave Genoa to us.” April 18 – At a joint press conference, Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao and Duke Braham Essex sign an accord with a representative of Ceres Metals Industries. Sun-Tzu Liao has officially recognized the Celestial Coalition as a state. May this be the start of a brand new relationship between our two realms! Baron Brynd was handsomely compensated for about 300 square kilometers of his land. Baron Stevens announced that he graciously had given his interest in the mining under his ground to the government Acamar so that they could get some additional monies to invest in the local infrastructure. I changed quite a few things about the scenario to fit it into this timeline. I added the fight at the end and changed some details. We made it fit! End of Operation Backstab |
Alright, like normal, let’s roll back the clock.
Let’s do the Explorations for 3060 with our two Expeditions. After two years, we are pushing out to planets that are two jumps away, to increase our chance of finding stuff. First Expedition: January 31, 3060 – Carrion System Class M, Lumin Ia, 2 planets, none habitable February 15, 3060 – We misjump to this system Cube System Class B, Lumin III, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 81 days away We have misjumped far away from the jump point. This is our intended system, but we were far off target. This large system has a lot of space, and we are months away from being charged. However, we are not as far away from the habitable planet. It’s 49 days away from our spot, and it will take about 2 and a half months to charge way out there. So we go ahead and launch. Apr 7 – We have finally arrived at the local planet. Cube III Large 1.25 grav 10% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmos Low Temperature Plant Life Cool Temperate Climate Our people really want to get out and stretch so our satellites are out. We find a remnant of a colony that was here a long time ago. It looks like someone set up a colony here, possibly because of the distance to the jump point. They built colonies not from advanced electronics and technology but appears to eschew it. They stripped their DropShip down, and then there are multiple tools, spearheads, hoes, shovels, and other rudimentary items. We find an old corrupted holodisk that discusses the loss of their cattle. Their cattle could not live for long on the planet due to the atmosphere and they died off after two or three years. Without their major draft animal, the planet provided no other animals to use. The result was an agrarian economy that became increasingly dependent on local plants. Poor nutrition set in, since they did not have doctors and medical facilities to ensure people were getting the appropriate nutrients. Without fertilization, the plants here did not have fruit, seeds, nuts, berries or flowers. Instead, they were asexual, and reproduced from their death, and a new plant would grow up to replace it. Thus they could not get the vitamins and minerals necessary for healthy living. About seventy years later, they died out, with their DropShip already stripped of parts and unable to be used to get them off planet. We spend two weeks furlough on planet and then blast off again. The DropShip is corroded and the parts were stripped out – no value here at all. Apr 22 – We leave Cube III June 11 – We arrive back at the JumpShip and blast out |
Flayer System
Class K, Lumin VI, 8 planets, 1 habitable, 5 days June 16 – Flayer II Small .75 grav Low Pressure Toxic Atmosphere Standard Temperature Microbes Arid Climate We investigate this planet for a few days, but there is nothing here. June 26 – Behold System Class F, Lumin II, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 16 days Aug 12 – Behold I Medium 1.1 grav No Water Trace Pressure Toxic Atmosphere Medium Temperature No Life This is a dead planet with nothing of worth at all. |
Aug 31 –
Spore System Class M, Lumin VII, 5 planets, none habitable Sept 11 – Ana System Class K, Lumin IV, 4 planets, 3 habitable, 4 days Sept 15 – Ana I Small 0.8 grav 40% water Low Pressure Tainted Atmos Medium Temperature Fish Temperate climate We land on the planet after some surveys from orbit begin. The life here is based on a synthetic system with some nasty viruses which we don’t believe can mutate to attack mammals. But, the fish appear lethal to eat for humans. So no eating the tuna! The planet is very small, even smaller than normal ones. We suspect it was once a moon of a nearby gas giant that was taken out of its orbit and then came here. Sept 18 - Ana II Medium 0.9 grav 25% water Normal Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Amphibians Arid Climate Ana II has large amphibians that attack our local mech force exploring. aFter being battered around we are forced to leave. Sept 22 - Ana III Medium 1.0 grav No water Normal Pressure Toxic Atmosphere Medium Temperature Microbes Cool Temperate Climate This planet is also dead. The atmosphere is not just toxic but downright caustic to our metal. We have no chance of landing. |
Sept 28 –
Dega System Class O, Lumin IV, no planets Oct 15 – Ceta System Class G, Lumin V, 3 planets, 1 habitable, 9 days Oct 22 – Ceta II Large 1.2 grav 20% water Medium Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Fish Boreal Climate This planet has something quite interesting around it. It really gets the juices of our people flowing. What is so interesting about Ceta II? Orbiting the planet are three vintage Star league satellites. These are powerful scientific satellite that were just left here. The planet has nothing of worth, but we secure the satellites. They are much better than the current satellites we use. We’ll use them for our expedition in the future after cleaning them and giving them a once over. Star League era tech is so good that three hundred years later, these satellites are still better than anything we have and are functional. |
Nov 3 –
Raka System Class M, Lumin IV, 9 planets, 2 habitable, 4 days Nov 7 – Raka III Small 0.85 grav 75% water Medium Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Medium Temperature Reptiles Warm Temperate Climate Raka III is a solid world that we think could be a great colony world is it wasn’t for the atmosphere and the lack of industrial metals. There are a few small bauxite deposits, and a few minor gold and platinum deposits – but germanium, iron, titanium, copper, and more just really aren’t here. There are some extensive tin deposits though. If we need those later, Raka III is a good choice. The animals are fun. Our scientists believe that we could terraform this into a better atmosphere after about 50 years of work. We skip that. Nov 13 – Raka V Medium 1.0 grav 50% water Medium Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Microbes Arctic Climate This frozen planet is quite old. (Raka IV was destroyed with a collision with an asteroid and has no atmosphere, just dust and a dead world). It appears to have been frozen for a long time. The climatology report reveals this is likely not from an Ice Age, but simply the status of the planet. The equatorial regions are warm and balmy, with melted water streams and ponds. There are no oceans at all, just large glaciers in the south and north. Due to the lack of consistent climate, only microbes inhabit this world, and it appears that no higher life form ever lived here. There is nothing special here. |
Nov 21 –
Lotus System Class B, Lumin IV, no planets Dec 13 - Mox System Class M, Lumin VII, 5 planets, 1 habitable, 4 days. Dec 17 – Mox II Large 1.25 grav 10% water Trace Pressure Tainted Atmosphere Low Temperature Plants Warm Temperate Climate Mox II’s lack of much of atmosphere had led to little development of life. The minor plant-life is all underwater. There is not a lot of biological diversity among these plants, we count maybe 20 different species in our quick studies of various sites. The atmosphere lets loose most essential gases for life, and the plants live off trace amounts in the water. There is nothing of interest here, like great mines or signs of habitation. Jan 1, 3061 – The First Expedition arrives back at EE for unloading the satellites and a bit of rest. |
Second Expedition (I roll to see if they find anything. I don’t want to spend two hours doing what I did above and not finding anything save for a few satellites!) - They find nothing either. They return with more of our space successfully mapped.
Rewind…. |
January 15, 3060 – Sabotage from the Duchy of Small strikes Ingress and destroys a few transportation facilities.
January 20 – Hall’s assault on Tall Trees failed. January 23 – Another hit of sabotage on Ingress Feb 1 – As of today, outside of the Celestial Coalition itself, the Free Rasalhague Republic has become the largest customer of the mechs from Kressly Warworks Inc that we were involved with – Greyhound, Bumblebee, Attila, and Alexander Omni-Mech. We have been buying mechs for local garrisons and such. The FRR is a true friend to us even now. We have free reign to buy any of the mechs made by them and supposed to be just for them, but we can buy any we need. They have a real need for mechs, because even though the clan war was years ago, they lost so many mechs, but they didn’t lose nearly as many soldiers, so they have a lot of extra MechWarriors that are dispossessed. As a thank you, Duke Braham Essex sends to Haakon Magnusson, Prince of the FRR, a gift of an Uller and Puma clan omnimechs, RVN-3L Raven, LCT-3S Locust, LCT-3M Locust, PXH-3D Phoenix Hawk, Hercules, FLS-8K Flashman, CN9-D Centurion and Tempest. Ten updated and clan mechs for them to add to their growing army. They need them more than we do. |
February 23 - A raid by the Duchy of Small launched from Sheratan hits Ingress . Duke Essex calls a meeting to discuss solutions.
March 25 – The WarShip arrives at Small World. With the Vengeance, Tug, and two assault DropShips it moves in. March 27 – The WarShip arrives. The WarShip has begun to blockade Small World. On world, the palace of the Small family, and Duke Blake Small, is far away from towns and cities. That’s good. We got this idea from the Capellan Confederation. They send one WarShip to blockade the Sarna Supremacy’s key world while they assaulted the other world and starved Sarna. Similarly, Small World needs a lot of food, that’s why they went for Ingress to begin with. Thus, we are going to blockade them until they knock it off. Apr 15 – Duke Essex gets a communiqué from Duke Small while on Fletcher waiting for the arrival of Sun-Tzu tomorrow. Duke Small is very apologetic. He has no idea how those raids and sabotage happened from his units, and he apologizes. Essex agrees to move the WarShip back if he agrees to ensure that his Duchy is done attacking our worlds. He does. We have no desire to assault Sheratan – it was savaged in the wars, and we can’t afford to invest in it. Small World isn’t that hot either, and not worth the time to take it and hold it |
Apr 20, 3060 – We get great news. Theodore Kurita has decided to grant us official recognition as a state. This may be because post-Bryant, we are now of some size compared to the many other realms in the March. Or it might be because our Gunship diplomacy on Small World meets their approval, or they fear us. Doubtful, but one never knows. Or it could be because Sun-Tzu just gave us official recognition, so they figure why not.
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