The Reunification War: Birth of the Star League, seeds of its destruction and two decades of utter carnage.

Historical: Reunification War, released in the summer of 2011, continued the Historical Series, an attempt by Catalyst to flesh out earlier time periods in the BattleTech canon that have traditionally not seen as much coverage. With the pending release of the next Historical, Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, a look back at the Reunification War can give players a look at the early Star League Era and its ramifications not only on the later Star League Era that will be covered in Liberation of Terra but also the current BattleTech timeline.

One of the more interesting features of Historical: Reunification War is that it gives us a look not only at the war itself but the political maneuvering that led up to the formation of the Star League itself and then to the eventual buildup to and beginning of the conflict. This is also expanded upon in Catalyst’s companion release of Era Digest: Age of War which details the period of time before the formation of the Star League and is a nice little “supplemental” to this book that fans of the Era should really consider getting as well.

Historical: Reunification War was written largely by two individuals, Chris Hartford and Christoffer Trossen, whose list of books reads like a list of just about everything in the BattleTech universe stretching back to the early 90′s in the case of Hartford and the later 90′s for Trossen. Hartford was also a writer for Historical: War of 3039 and Historical: Brush Wars while this is Trossen’s first major inclusion in a Historical project, but both can list numerous Field Manuals, Technical Readouts, and Jihad Sourcebooks among many other Sourcebooks on their rolls of achievements. Additionally the normal cast of supporting players is in place from Herbert A. Beas II as Line Developer to Øystein Tvedten and his awesome maps, 13 other individuals are listed in the credits as contributors along with 20 play testers and fact-checkers, all-in-all a pretty impressive lineup for this book.

Covering an era in BattleTech’s history that has been touched on by numerous other products, Historical: Reunification War on the surface simply had to fill in the blank areas, put them in chronological order and regurgitate what we already know, but they also faced the task of fixing several continuity errors and plot holes and coming up with 20+ years of material without contradicting material already in place. It had to be a momentous task and despite the rumblings of a few I believe they pulled it off pretty well.

General Characteristics

Historical: Reunification War follows the standard layout of most BattleTech products and if you’ve read another Historical you should feel right at home. Starting out with the standard fiction section they move right into the Introduction and explanation about the formation of the Star League, followed by a run-down on the various forces and personalities in the Inner Sphere at the time, with a surprising focus on the House and periphery nations beyond the SLDF, before delving into the various campaigns of the Reunification War itself. Following the main portion of the book are Deployment Tables listing the location of the various involved forces, both SLDF/House Units along with Periphery forces, and then a section detailing the Aftermath of the War itself. Then a Rules Annex including several new vehicles, mechs, and spacefaring units is included that also has all the various goodies many people look for in these sections (RATs, RPG info, etc.). No Index at the end to Blacknova’s dismay I’m sure but this has become the norm, I never used them but could see how they might be useful for those that did.

Size

Historical: Reunification War is listed at 232 pages, making it the largest of the Historical series. Eclipsing both War of 3039 (168 pages) and Brush Wars (144 pages) that did include several pages of Indexes along with the more recent Operation Klondike (186 pages including Record Sheets). Reunification War is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction in terms of length for the Historical Series, as I feel both 3039 and Brush Wars could have benefited from longer length. The printing of a companion Era Digest (Era Digest: Age of War for Historical: Reunification War) continues a tradition set by Operation Klondike (with Era Digest: Golden Century) that I support as it gives even further reading into a related Era for those interested that could potentially bloat the actual Historical itself.

Art

Beginning with a suitably awesome shot of PPC destruction on the cover and followed by several grizzly shots throughout the book (the throat stabbing on page 22 and the corpse impaled on spear on page 156 stand out) the art of Historical: Reunification War continues the status quo that is awesome art in BattleTech canon. Add to this some very nice logos for a plethora of military units, including several brand new ones (the Rim Worlds in particular gets some goodies here) some nice illustrations of new game units in the Rules Annex and initial deployment maps for each periphery nation along with a full map of the Inner Sphere circa. 2596 and the art in Historical: Reunification War is quite impressive. One thing I thought was a little lacking, that was included in earlier Historicals, was maps detailing the progression of forces (Wave Maps kind of). Historical: Operation Klondike didn’t have these maps, and the nature of the Historical didn’t really lend itself to them, however they were included in both Historical: Brush Wars and Historical: War of 3039 and were something I very much enjoyed and thought could have benefited this book. One can take the deployment table and text and extrapolate these types of maps (and my hope is that Blacknova eventually gets the itch to do these ) but their inclusion would have been an added bonus.

Layout and Editing

Historical: Reunification War followed the standard layout of most modern BattleTech Sourcebooks even being presented as a report to the Republic of the Sphere leadership, similar to most newer Catalyst works (the Field Reports and Objectives series are reports by David Lear, Field Manual: 3085 is even presented as a report by Victor Steiner-Davion just like Historical: Reunification War). The Rules Annex added a bunch of new stuff for people to poke around with in their own games and continues the tradition Catalyst has set of using each release to expand the universe as a whole.

While on the whole Historical: Reunification War is an awesome product its main fault lies in the editing. I’m not sure if the release was rushed or if they missed a whole editing step for another reason but Historical: Reunification War is rife with typos, grammatical and justification errors. The errata thread on the BattleTech forums has stretched into 4 pages while other similar products have only a page or two of errata. This was an odd slipup for Catalyst but I’m sure they’ll rectify this with a reprint eventually (after a re-release of the PDF I would assume).

The Story

Beginning with a short fiction entitled BattleFields then both in character and out of character Introductions, Historical: Reunification War devotes the first 50-60 pages to the formation of the Star League, the current political situation in the Inner Sphere and Periphery circa. 2570. The makeup of the SLDF, the House forces and the Periphery forces along with listings of personalities gives one a very broad base to get acclimated to the setting before the real crux of the Sourcebook – the Reunification War itself. Historical: Reunification War details the Reunification War split up into its four campaigns beginning with the Taurian, continuing into the Magistracy and Outworlds then ending with the Rim Worlds Campaign.

The League’s Might

Besides giving rundowns of every Corps, Division, Regiment, etc. in the SLDF, Houses and Periphery nations this section lists pre and postwar strengths of the involved parties of both Regiments and Warships, giving great insight into the BattleTech universe as it was before and after the Reunification War.

The Taurian Campaign

The longest, and arguably most important, section of the book, the Taurian Campaign details the SLDF’s campaign to subdue the Taurian Concordat from 2577-2596 following the TDF’s CASE AMBER. This section begins with the Taurian victory in CASE AMBER but then quickly goes downhill for the Taurians, obviously this was necessary but it could get a little depressing for hardcore Taurian fans. The layout of the book works against itself a little in this chapter when General Forlough is introduced into the Taurian Campaign, the writers even address this by noting that reading the Personality write-up for Forlough and perhaps even the early Outworlds Campaign would help the reader grasp just how despicable of a character General Forlough in fact was. I judge this as a slight failing as a book should not require several read-throughs or skipping around for the passive reader to grasp the storyline (as a more hardcore BattleTech fan who was going to read the Sourcebook several times anyways this doesn’t hurt me but I still see it as a slight failing), this is a very small hit against an otherwise awesome story however.

The Taurian Campaign section has some pacing issues in that it feels quite slow in the beginning but approaches breakneck speed up until the final throws of the Concordat. The Piercing the Hyades section, and its sidebar – Order of the Shooting Star, is quite interesting as it details the massive expansion of the SLDF’s space marine force in preparation for the invasion of the Hyades Cluster, one of the many details of the campaign that I had not thought of and enjoyed reading. Overall the Taurian Campaign does quite well grasping the incredible scope of the SLDF’s campaign against the Taurian Concordat in the Reunification War, lasting 20 years it is one of the longest and most important single Military Operation detailed in any Sourcebook and you can feel that when reading this section.

The Magistracy Campaign

Just beating out the Rim Worlds Campaign as the shortest section in the book, the Magistracy Campaign describes the SLDF’s campaign to take the Magistracy of Canopus by force from 2577-2588. The military campaign detailed in the Magistracy Campaign section is a nice contrast to the horrors of the Taurian Campaign (and to a certain extent those that will follow in the Outworlds Campaign).

The Magistracy Campaign section actually made me feel quite good about how the SLDF, Free Worlds League and Magistracy of Canopus handled themselves throughout this portion of the conflict. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the SLDF only took about 10 systems from the Magistracy while they took nearly half of the Concordat’s worlds, and that later the Magistracy didn’t develop a hatred of the Free Worlds League as the Concordat did the Federated Suns. I developed a new respect for the Free Worlds League and the Magistracy reading this section.

The Outworlds Campaign

The Outworlds Campaign details the conflict between the SLDF and the Outworlds Alliance from 2581 to 2585 as well as the buildup to and police actions in the Outworlds starting in 2572. Despite being the shortest campaign chronologically, the Outworlds Campaign is arguably the second most important campaign in the Reunification War and the Outworlds Campaign section reflects this as it is the second longest section behind the Taurian Campaign.

Delving into the politics of the war, how the Federated Suns was actually supporting the Outworlds Alliance while on the other side of the sphere helping to subdue the Taurian Concordat, how the pressures of a League-wide war kept stalling and taking the wind out of the SLDF’s push into the Outworlds and the tit-for-tat between the Draconis Combine and Federated Suns all made this section quite a fun one to read. It was a triumph for any periphery fan to see the Outworlds Alliance actually negotiate a settlement to the war after actually achieving some victories (albeit with a whole bunch of Pitcairn Legion help).

The Rim Worlds Campaign

The Rim Worlds Campaign details the civil conflict and SLDF campaign in the Rim Worlds Republic from 2571 to 2596 and actually eclipses the Taurian Campaign as the longest chronologically in the book. Coming in as the second shortest in terms of pages however, the Rim Worlds Campaign got right to work largely skipping the period before 2582 when not much was going on in the Rim Worlds as the SLDF concentrated elsewhere.

The Rim Worlds Campaign section gives a great insight into the Rim Worlds Republic, notably the first since some mentioning in the old Star League Sourcebook and it was quite enjoyable to read. I’ll not give anything away but it was fun to see the seeds of the Star League’s destruction laid in this section arguably even more than the other three.

Deployment Tables and Aftermath

The Deployment Tables offer a fairly inclusive listing of where every military unit involved in the Reunification War was in each year of the conflict. Interestingly the order of the deployment tables does not reflect the same order that they came earlier in the book (i.e. the Taurian Campaign comes first in the book but the Outworlds Alliance Front Deployment Table comes first in the deployment tables), I am not sure if this was an error or intentional but doesn’t take away from the tables themselves.

The Aftermath section, including the Map of the Inner Sphere in 2596, helps to give the book closure and starts to set the stage for the Star League’s “Golden Era” then its eventual fall. It only scratches the surface but does get the reader thinking about how the Star League Era wasn’t quite as great as it is nostalgically seen during the Succession War, reading it again for this review I found myself eagerly anticipating Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1 and this section was a large part of the reason.

Rules Annex

The Reunification War Rules Annex gives ample material for game masters and players to create Reunification War battles and scenarios for the BattleTech Board Game and A Time of War RPG. There’s Random Unit Assignment Tables (the almighty RATS!), prototype technologies, unit abilities, personality effects, new units and even a section on WMDs and their use, the Rules Annex for Historical: Reunification War is quite extensive and in keeping with other sourcebooks, this was a great addition to the book.

Historical: Reunification war provides a great insight into a formally murky time in BattleTech’s history and helps to create a backdrop for the “Year of the Star League” that Catalyst has coined 2012 as. People reading Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1 (and Volume 2 when that comes) will probably want to grab this Historical as well to lay the foundation so to speak.

If you can get over a few typos and stomach the slaughter of your favorite factions (for periphery fans at least and even they knew it was happening and I’m betting are happy to finally have it fleshed out) Historical: Reunification War is a great book. Basically for Periphery fans, Star League fans or generally any BattleTech fans Historical: Reunification War is a great little book and an awesome continuation of the Historical series.

The new RAF marches through London

In our latest review of BattleTech products, we here at OurBattleTech look over the first of the post-Jihad era’s sourcebooks – Field Manual: 3085.

Introduction

Field Manual: 3085, following the highly anticipated release of The Wars of Reaving, seemed to have come upon us quietly, with little of the hype accorded to the Wars of Reaving.  Additionally, Field Manual: 3085 is not a pure story line book, as it has a dual role within the cannon of BattleTech: firstly, to update players and fans as to the state of the various realms in 3085; and to provide the first detailed look at the Republic of the Sphere outside of former Wizkids releases.

One of the strengths of Field Manual: 3085 is that it is a sourcebook for nearly everyone, with just the deep Periphery fans and Clan Homeworld fans left with no glory or real mention in this tome.  However, Clan fans have little to complain about at the moment, unless their faction was recently Annihilated and the three deep periphery fans have not been heard from for some time now.

The authorship of Field Manual: 3085 was as varied as the state of the Inner Sphere itself and looks to be the current Catalyst All Star Fluff Writer team.  Top contributors to the book include Joel Bancroft-Connors, Herbert A. Beas II, William Gauthier, Ken Horner, Luke Robertson, Geoff Swift, Øystein Tvedten and Patrick Wynne, with additional input from Keith Hann, Johannes Heidler, Paul Sjardijn, Brian Alter, Joshua Franklin and Jeff Skidmore.  I am not going to try and list former works by this group, as it is easier for you to just go and read the current in-print BattleTech products list.

As the first of the post-Jihad books, Field Manual: 3085 was always going to reset the tone of the universe for a time, at least until everything falls down in the 3130’s.  As such, Field Manual: 3085 was going to have to provide more than just a listing of units.

General Characteristics

Field Manual: 3085 follows the standard layout of BattleTech products, but combines the attributes of Field Manual: Updates with sourcebooks like The Shattered Sphere with elements of an Era Report.  As with the last product reviewed, there was no index, but as always, that is just my own problem and not something that seems to upset much of the BT community.

Size

Field Manual: 3085 comes in at just over 258 pages, eclipsing The Wars of Reaving, but due to requiring more role-playing, game aid material and being a true multi-faction book, it never felt like Field Manual: 3085 was nearly as big as The Wars of Reaving.  One of the advantages of these multi-faction sourcebooks is the ability of a faction fan to ignore all but those sections that make him croon, or cry, depending on how much hurt his favourite faction has dealt or received.

Art

The cover art for Field Manual: 3085, by Eugene Negri, is a little more touchy-feely than most BattleTech products, as the sight of wild London crowds cheering members of the Republic Armed Forces (RAF), was a little less destructive than the usual fare.  However, this is not all that surprising as the whole point of the next fifty years of the BattleTech timeline is an attempt to create one giant interstellar group hug (or pan-Human Sphere peace.)

Field Manual: 3085 did not attempt new means of depicting the BattleTech Universe, sticking to the tried and true methods of previous sourcebooks.  Black and white line art, courtesy of Mr. Lewis and Mr. Plog, provides a solid background to the factions and story, without doing anything that appeared to my untrained eye as a radical departure from past works.

Sadly, one component missing from Field Manual: 3085 is a full colour RAF section. One of the better additions to the old Field Manual series was the inclusion of full colour uniform, unit paint schemes, rank and medals. Unfortunately, these pieces were not included in 3085 and the RAF came off rather visually bland as a result. It is unknown at this time whether or not the Republic of the Sphere will be given its own Handbook like the other Great Houses. If one is not forthcoming or planned, then CGL missed a golden opportunity to really flesh out their newest BattleTech faction.

Another aspect of the art I would like to comments on, though not the first time it has been used in a BattleTech work, is the colour Star Maps.  To many in the BattleTech community, these maps are described in one word – AWESOME.  However, as someone who has to make complicated archaeological and survey maps for a living, the use of fit inducing primary colours is a bit much for my cartographic sensibilities, for with mapping, less is always better at conveying more and pastels truly are a map makers best friend.  However, this should not take away from the excellent work that Øystein Tvedten has done in countless BattleTech sourcebooks.  Mr. Tvedten, through his attention to detail and obvious drive to improve from book to book, has provided the community with tools that are a wealth of detail.  Still this boils down more to my personal taste more than anything. The detail of the maps, now with unit locations displayed, are a resource older school BattleTech-types have always wanted, and now have.

Layout and Editing

The Layout of Field Manual: 3085 broke no new ground, with the book presented as a report to the upper echelons of the Republic and RAF by Victor Steiner-Davion.  As with most BattleTech sourcebooks, sidebars are presented for additional detail, out of the way of the main body of text, with some larger actions or elements provided with larger blocks of independent text.

The rules and role playing section at the end again follow standard format, with one notable omission being any new units, but considering that it has rained Technical Readouts for a year or two now, the omission is not a noticeable loss.

One small point were the more noticeable series of typos than were present in the Wars of Reaving, however, the number present was not on the scale of Historical: Reunification War.  The likely reason for the errors in Field Manual: 3085 is the number of authors involved, but still more than should be allowed in a “finished” product.

The Story

When talking about the story for a book like Field Manual: 3085, it is not so much a plot book, as it is an encyclopaedia of military units and their support.  However, parts of Field Manual: 3085 do flesh out events and provide details on how the universe has progressed since the death of The Master.

After the pre-requisite opening fiction and introductory letter from the both the in-universe and real world authors, Field Manual: 3085 gets down to business with a review of the Jihad for those who either are new to BattleTech, been asleep for five years or a BattleTech fan absolutely at odds with the Jihad story-line.  The overview is a brief five pages and leads to the first sections of new material, where the Republic’s reconstruction programs are outlined.  Part of this chapter also looks at the chase of Blakeist war criminals. There are a few mentions of old favourites within the text, as well as some interesting questions raised about the final disposition of the Manei Domini. The discussion of the Word of Blake’s last gasp shows why many are happy that these robe-wearing nuts are no longer major players.

Chapter two, From Many Comes One, describes the events that lead to the formation of the RAF, through Operations GOLDEN DAWN and VINDOLANDA and the convoluted methods used for combining the disparate national elements that made up the original RAF.  Additionally, the concurrent civilian operations to ensure a diverse and stable Republic are also discussed and detailed where Stone’s ideology and the hard realities of the Inner Sphere begin to collide.

The first of the state chapters focuses on the Capellan Confederation, which has been on the rebound ever since Sun-Tzu returned the crocks in May of 3052.  However, it would seem that the powers that be are finished with hearing the gloating of the Capellan Mafia on the forums.  Although many of the CCAF commands of the 3050-3080 Era are still around, it would appear as if the age of the successful Capellan hissy fit might be coming to a close.

Following the Capellan chapter, we tour the shattered remnants of House Kurita, the once proud bastion of old school BattleTech bad guys, now reduced to shell of its former glory.  In my own personal opinion, Kurita got it in the teeth as badly as did the former Free Worlds, but that is understandable from a game designer point of view when striving to bring balance back to the BattleTech Universe.  An un-humbled Draconis Combine would have been the player in the universe had CGL not brought the heavy hand of the Jihad down upon it.

The Federated Suns, despite having that annoying mole on its nether regions known as the Filtvet Coalition, gains some measure of pride back during Operation MATADOR.  Without giving too much away, the operation’s name speaks for itself and will leave most Davion fans quietly chuckling.  Beyond that, the LCT program, first outlined in the Field Report: AFFS expands its use, along with a few changes in the upper echelons of the AFFS command and control.

Unfortunately for fans of the Free Worlds League, Field Manual: 3085 does not provide much incentive for stopping your rocking in the foetal position or ceasing to mumble “…say it ‘ain’t so…” However, one thing the League still has is a healthy dose of paranoia, mixed with heavy firepower and a little bit of chivalry.  Still, when looking at the encroaching wave of blue, many Free Worlds League fans are likely looking forward to the 3130s already.  Despite the death of central authority, all the old friends are still here, playing with the other children in the sandbox…in a manner akin to a cockfight.

As a Lyran fan of epic proportions, I was happy to see the Lyran Commonwealth (yes, note the name change) probably in the best shape of all five Successor States (the Free Worlds League no longer being counted.)  Whoever wrote this section is getting a beer from me next time I see him for his efforts at regimental necromancy, and likely a few more beers from other LCAF fans as well.  With Skye now part of the Republic, the Free Worlds a memory, and a gutted Combine and Clans not a real threat, the Lyrans are looking very strong at the moment.

The Clans present an interesting mix, with the effects of the Jihad and Wars of Reaving leaving many short on troops and infrastructure.  The Ghost Bears are still a formidable power and a true threat to all their neighbours, overshadowing all other Inner Sphere Clans.  The Diamond Sharks are showing the initial steps they take to become their Dark Age incarnation, whilst the Hell’s Horses have more than made themselves at home.  Although not as comfortable as the Bears, Clan Snow Raven fans will likely be happy, if not smug about their own position.  For the former leaders of the Clans, Clans Jade Falcon and Wolf, both are in less than ideal circumstances, with many Wolf fans likely praying for someone to get the band back together.  The Nova Cats are the most surprising of the Clans, with their mystical hubris coming home to roost in a significant way.

The Periphery is a picture of contrasts, with some states celebrating, whilst others drown in a dark sea of their own making.  The Magistracy of Canopus, always the poster child for getting things by using methods other than war, is as ever, doing better than the last time we visited.  The only dark spot for the Magistracy appears to be the promotion of one Kit deSummerville to high rank, something not to be taken lightly.  Taurian fans will either be pleased that the Calderon Protectorate still exists, or see it as an insult, seeing that the Protectorate is what the Concordat should be.  The Outworlds/Raven Alliance is still packing more firepower per square inch than has been the norm, but both partners still seem to have a way to go before they are a cosy as a Rasalhague Ghost Bear.  The Marians are still being Marians, but with the vaporisation of Circinus, they have one less enemy to worry about.  The Filtvet Coalition is still the little province that could, but try as I might, I just can’t seem to get excited about it.  The other Periphery powers are all much the same as before, but then, they usually are.

If anyone is making the Free Worlds League look wholesome and strong, it is the god-awful state of the mercenary market in 3085.  A quick look at the numbers of Mercenary Battalions in 3050, show that the market has fallen by just under two thirds from over 300 to little over 100.  This grim reading is one of the more effective yardsticks of the past 35 years of BattleTech history.  However, not all is doom and gloom, as some old mercenary favourites have survived. There also appears to be some new units added to the roster that will hopefully be fleshed out down the track.

The next section of Field Manual: 3085, is the part that many players have been waiting for, a detailed look at the working of the Republic of the Sphere.  This section outlines the role of the citizen, the effects of the Relocation Directives, and the Military Material Redemption Program. The section continues with a discussion regarding the function of the Republic government and the positions within it.  The information on the Republic Armed Forces (RAF) in this chapter details the ranks, uniforms, decorations, formations and the associated Knights of the Republic.  Additional information is supplied on the economy, industry and trade of the Republic of the Sphere, rounding out the chapter.

Lastly, the Rules Annex provides additional information on the time period, followed by details on unit special abilities provided, and the ever-present random assignment tables (RATs) for game-masters and scenario builders.  The role-playing section updates all of the faction affiliations as well as providing guides to the general reactions/outlooks of many within the universe after the Jihad and recent events.  A table of major events is also provided, outlining key points in the BattleTech Universe from 3085-3100.  The final part of the chapter and book, details the effect the Jihad has had on the currencies of the Inner Sphere and provides information on these currencies up to 3100.

Conclusions

Overall Field Manual: 3085 provides the first major step away from the Jihad since 2005, for some, it is something that could not come fast enough, yet for others, like Knightmare here at OurBattleTech.com, it is a dark sad day.  Nevertheless, Field Manual: 3085 accomplishes its goal in providing an update to the realms of the Inner Sphere and Periphery, driving the story line forward, whilst also giving players a solid understanding of the workings of the Republic of the Sphere and the RAF.

Field Manual: 3085 will likely result in one of the two following reactions from fans: One, my faction suffered less than your faction (see Lyran section above), so CGL must love me, or two, why was CGL so mean to my faction? However, once the fans get over whatever misgivings they might have they should begin to see that Field Manual: 3085 is not an end, but rather the first foundation of a new era. A new era that will surely have BattleTech back in uncharted waters where every sourcebook is a new revelation.

For those interested in only their faction or in the BattleTech Universe of 3085 in general, Field Manual: 3085 is a solid addition not only to the Field Manual series, but also to the progressing BattleTech story line as well.

Please note, I have stayed away from the traditional I love/I hate threads on the BT Boards, as firstly they make my teeth itch and secondly, I did not want my own view of the book skewed.

The Wars of Reaving

Introduction

The Wars of Reaving was one of the more highly anticipated BT sourcebooks released in recent memory, describing the events that occurred in the Clan Homeworlds during the Jihad period of the BT story line.  Whilst we have known about the general details of the Jihad since the start of the Dark Age period, little was known about what had happened in the Clan Homeworlds during this time.  Apart from scattered hints and the known attitude of the Inner Sphere Clans – “We’re not telling you, so piss off!” – There was very little information on what cataclysmic events had unfolded in the depths of space amongst the Clans of Kerensky.

Although not the largest sub-set of BT fans, Clan fans certainly are vociferous, being up there with the Capellan Mafia for sheer ability to demand attention, so when hints that The Wars of Reaving was actually going to see the light of day, sooner rather than later, the Clan Boards on the BT Forum swung into overdrive.  It was at this point that the author, BT Assistant Line Developer Ben H. Rome, in one of the more devious and admittedly highly successful manipulations of the fan base, created a frenzy of desire for the soon to be released book.

Ben H. Rome (referred to here on in as GhostBear, his handle on the BT Forums, which is easier to type), has been around BT for some time now, co-authoring several books and generally living a life of subservient grovelling to the BT Line Developer, as all good minions do.  Some of GhostBear’s credits, prior to The Wars of Reaving, included Technical Read Outs: 3039; and 3075, Historical: Brush Wars and the Jihad Sourcebooks: Jihad Hotspots 3070; 3072; 3076 (Masters and Minions); and Interstellar Players 2.  However, being a Clanman to the bone, GhostBear had long had his eye on the Reaving story line and lobbied good a hard for it.  Eventually, his wish was granted and the book began, however, there would be several scheduling changes and many other dramas before the book would see print.

One of the more clever aspects of The Wars of Reaving was the marketing of the book to the fan base, using GhostBear’s blog site and his willingness to join in the conversations regarding the book on the BT forums.  This effort, not only at promotion of the book itself, but also of providing players and fans with an in depth look at a sourcebooks development, was highly successful, or so it seems from the outside.  The cleverest part of this campaign was the use of discarded material from earlier drafts to create an enormous amount of speculation in the eager fan base.  I can’t remember if any BT book to date has been anticipated with such frenzy, with the result being a credit to the author, in that it was managed so well.

However, The Wars of Reaving would now have to live up to all the hype.

General Characteristics

The Wars of Reaving follows the standard layout of BattleTech products, but does not have an index.  As I have not looked at a BattleTech product in some detail in a while, I am not sure when indexes went out of style.  The lack of an index is one of the only problems with the book, mainly due to the pace of the action and the need to be able to find things quickly if you do not have the searchable PDF.

Size

The Wars of Reaving comes in at just over 250 pages, with 180,000 words, not the largest of all BT books, but certainly nothing scoff at, considering the FedCom Civil War and War of 3039 were 216 and 168 pages respectively.  Personally, I have no problem with large books, being an exceptionally fast reader, however, there are those that may be daunted by large sourcebooks, or simply loose focus as they plough through.  That said, I was more than happy to get the extra detail, especially considering there will be a long hiatus before we hear from the Homeworlds again.  Therefore, although a potential negative for some, for the Clan fans overall, it is a positive.

Art

The Founder must be protected

The cover art for The Wars of Reaving set the tone for the entire book, with the artwork, by Niel Roberts, seemingly chaotic, fast paced and full of action.  Much speculation by the fanbase over the cover began with its preview, with the eventual story of the defense of the Kerensky Bloodname Chapel describing the action the artwork depicted.  In setting the tone for the work to come, the cover art and the later fiction was a powerful introduction for those familiar with Clan history.

The art for The Wars of Reaving introduced two new elements to existing BT art, not previously explored, in ways that gave the book much of its character and assisted greatly in creating atmosphere whilst reading the book.

The first element was the page border, often an artistic addition in recent BT works, which jumped to a new level in The Wars of Reaving, in essence telling its own story as the reader turned from page to page.  The icons of the twenty Clans were set in stone columns, depicting what many might expect to see on the columns of the Hall of Khans on Strana Mechty.  Entwined with the images of the Clans are the first lines of the Clan’s epic poem, The Remembrance, further adding to the gravitas of the image.

Mini Images were used in place of traditional line art

The first two pages displayed the icons of the original twenty Clans, with this pattern continued on the next two pages.  Then suddenly, the Wolverine icon is shattered into rubble on page seven, shortly followed by the erasure of the Widowmaker icon on page 21.  The page border was telling the story of the Clans through the changing of the icons over time, providing a unique and clever addition to the story.  By the books end, the tragic state of the Clans in clearly shown in the starkly bare columns.

The second addition to the artwork was the use of pictures of tabletop miniatures, altered to appear as though they were from the gun cameras of BattleMechs involved in the actions of the Wars of Reaving.  This was a clever idea and an excellent way to provide art, with some images of excellent quality, whilst others could not quite manage to convey the same level of realism (yes I do understand the inherent contradiction when talking of realism whilst discussing BattleMechs).  Nevertheless, this concept added to the overall fell of the book: One of snippets of information and random images, brought together to try to tell the story of the grand events that had unfolded.  This effort was, in GhostBear’s own words, controversial, but like all artwork is objective.  Some will love it, whilst others will not, but if you are going to pan the book just because of those images, then you really need to leave the house and get some perspective on life.

The remaining art, the usual good quality BT artwork designed to tell parts of the story in pictures, brought balance and variety to the interior art, with the personalities section following the excellent and ever growing collection of first rate BT character sketches, images which have become a hallmark of recent BT products.  Additionally, the usual appearance of new BattleMech and other unit artwork was of a good quality as well, but as always, is a highly objective aspect for players, which is loved as often as it is hated in most BT books.

Layout

The Layout of the narrative sections of The Wars of Reaving, designed to convey the feel of a heavy bound tome provided to the Inner Sphere Clans, as the final word in a chapter they would all rather forget, managed to pull of that feel through its layout.

However, although laid out in much the same way as many other BT products, side bars were changed to boxes within the text, much like snippets culled from other sources.  Personally, I found this broke the story up too much, although it did, as always, provide additional information on specific events in the story.  I like my snippets out of the way, but that is just personal preference.

Upon reaching the end of the narrative, the rules and campaigns chapters followed the stared BT layout for such sections.

The Story

From the end of the Great Refusal in 3060, to the collapse of the Second Star League in late 3067, Chapter 1 collects and summarizes the information, most of it known to BT fans, of the decade following the official end of Operation Revival.  This chapter is primarily a summary of events, where hints and analysis show the early seeds of actions that would come to dominate the Wars of Reaving in their infancy.  This period is “known,” as in it pre-dates the Reaving Trials and was a period where the Inner Sphere was receiving good intelligence on what was occurring in Clan circles.  Therefore, the overall understanding of events and their interrelation by the report’s narrator is clear and connected.

ilKhan Andrews

The presentation of new information is limited (with side events only fleshed out a little), the motivations of the major players examined and actions that lead to the feuds detailed.  With so much information on this period, no more than a summary could be provided, but the use of the sidebars allowed for enough detail to be given, along with some new information on elements of the Clans like the Dark Caste.

For those less familiar with this period, the background provides a solid grounding in recent Clan history, whilst not bogging down in details.  For those more familiar with the Clans of this period, don’t skim read, as there are several interesting new pieces of information, which not only explain actions from that time, but also provide important background for what is to come.

Chapter 2 begins to chart the decent of the Clans into madness, opening with the Clan’s take on the collapse of the Second Star League and the unusual reactions of several Clans to it.  The narration quickly makes clear that the Clans are already sliding down the rabbit hole, not aware yet of just where they are going, but more than willing to drag each other further into the maelstrom.  Additionally, this chapter outlines the reasons and actions behind some of the better known Clan actions during the Jihad, such as the Hell’s Horses, Snow Ravens and Ice Hellions moves in and around the Clan Occupation Zones and of the Diamond Sharks attitudes to both their brethren and the disintegrating Inner Sphere.

The chapter slowly builds the momentum, starting from the comparatively civil tones of the Grand Council Chamber, then gathering pace as it moves into the battlefields of the Homeworlds and the Inner Sphere.  An early surprise revolved around the Blood Spirits who, although following historical precedent, suddenly present the reader with a very interesting project.

For fans of Jake Kabrinski, he gets a solid examination, one that shows him as the tool The Powers That Be (TPTB) used to alter certain historical relations within the Clans.  Additional information on most Clan’s preparations, or lack thereof, for the storm to come are also detailed as is the fate of the Eridani Light Horse.

Chapter 3 opens with little subtlety in pointing the finger at the instigators of the Reaving Trials, with the point made that the Council of Six (you find out who they are and no they are not a sinister shadow group) know much of the story in this chapter, but that most was not clear to the Inner Sphere.

This is where the new material starts to gather momentum, as the fallout from the December 3071 Grand Council meeting and the election of the new ilKhan become apparent.  What the fanatics that launched it (as always is the case with ideological actions) saw as a pure and logical move, is shown quickly to spiral down into the darkest pits of Clan madness, as methods long beneath the Clans become the everyday tools of war and politics.

Chapter 3 begins to really quicken the pace and present much new and interesting material, but can also be seen as the place where certain Clan purists and individual Clan fan boys probably did and still will take offense.  Nobody likes the faction they have loved for a decade get spanked, but that’s life and this life gets ugly.  An interesting note is how quickly the standards of the Clans were thrown aside and the reasons for it, with ideology trumping honor and expediency trumping law.

The chapter ends on two very interesting notes, with a pivotal meeting of a certain Clan and its scientists and an old friend returning to the fray.

Chapter 4 opens quickly with the beginning of the end of the Homeworld Clans’ chances at a clean and quick war, as one Clan, ironically one noted for its strict adherence to the Way of the Clans goes, in a word, nuts.

More importantly, is the discussion of an entirely new armed faction within the Homeworlds, one which would quickly come to be the vortex of the chaos that spreads across the Pentagon and Kerensky cluster.  The narrator also notes that this is where the story becomes sketchy, however on reading The Wars of Reaving, the narrative never really seems to break up or become disjointed, as gaps are clearly stated and the reader allowed the connect the dots in their own way.

Most readers will likely find that the gaps are just that, gaps, not confusing omissions as hinted at by the narrator.  Likely, for someone involved at the time, it would have been a chaotic event; however, to the reader the information seems to be there if you look hard enough.

Events in the Homeworlds are shown to fall ever deeper into rage and revenge and all out war breaks out, amid news forms of biological warfare being used and entire Clans going to war with each other.

This chapter also revels some other old friends, long thought lost, who give one of the fading Clans a chance of survival.  However, one thing this chapter makes very clear, is that several Clans are on they way out, either from Clan space or from history.

Chapter 5 makes shows from the outset that this period is one where each Clan remaining in the Homeworlds was of the belief that it was fighting for its life.  With new factions arising, communications between the factions poor, for various reasons, and the old rules of conduct long gone, entire worlds disappear with little or no comment.

This attempt at creating gaps, although successful, did not break the narrative off, as we are told what worlds suffered cataclysms.  The effect allowed the reader to skim past and almost shrug, as the deluge of losses and battles at this point has almost saturated the bloodlust capacity of even the most crazed Blakist.

The chapter continues the hectic pace of its predecessor, as each Clan makes it final moves for position in the great game.  Information on the Inner Sphere Clans continues, but is limited to fall out from actions centered in the Homeworlds.  By the end of the chapter, it is rapidly becoming clear that there is little time left for several Clans (with some gone in all but name already) and that all combatants are nearing complete exhaustion.

Chapter 6 brings about the end of the war, with several titanic changes in the outlook and structure of several Clans, likely setting off several fan boys along the way again.  Opening with the titanic naval and surface battle of Tamaron, this last part of the war is quickly shown to be the decisive final act.

With the various side players who had created much of the chaos dealt with earlier out of the way, the various Clans turned to settle their final scores, with one Clan lucky, through politics, to survive at all.  Other twists and turns see the original instigators of the wars punished in dramatic fashion and the new order of the Clans begin to shake itself out.

A new Periphery Power Revealed

Chapter 7 provides and overview of the Clans strengths shortly after the battles over the Homewards conclude, but instead of the usual factional overview, this section has some surprises of its own.  The final fallout from the Wars of Reaving are shown to still be causing issues in Clan relations as further events cause additional realignments of Clan factions, their strengths, outlooks and positions.

Status on each Clan’s Homeworld holdings and military strengths are provided, along with summaries of the current positions of each surviving Clan, as well of those of the Inner Sphere Clans, without the detailed breakdown the Homeworld Clans receive, due to this information being available in other products.  The personalities section again provides the useful and detailed biographies of the various major players of the time and provides an interesting end to a long asked question.  The tally of the remaining Bloodnames is one of the most potent reminders of the severity of the recent fighting, painting a clear picture of the devastation wrought to the heart of Clan culture.

The rules annex provides the usual fare of new technology, this time focusing on one of the new factions and their attempts to even the playing field against the established powers in the Homeworlds.  Several new ProtoMechs are unveiled, as are several new BattleMech designs and the rules required for using all the new toys.  Biological, combat drug and genetic warfare is also examined and rules provided for their use, however, this seems to be more out of a need for thoroughness, as such technology would rarely be used in games.

The Wars of Reaving Campaign is the Chapter I am least qualified to look at, as I rarely play on the table top, preferring to immerse myself in the fiction rather than the game.  A recent examination of the campaign can be found here: http://www.scrapyardarmory.com/2011/11/26/chaos-reaving/

The review, by the ScrapYard Armoury, provides a detailed look at the system and its use.  A nice feature of the campaign section is the before and after maps and territorial holdings tables for the conflict, providing another avenue for detailing the massive losses of the wars.  One thing missing from the tables, which was shown in The Clans: Warriors of Kerensky, was the population of each world.  This could have shown the true losses suffered by the Clans, but was only a minor omission the scheme of things.  The usual Clan glossary follows, but as mentioned before, no index is provided.

Conclusions

Overall The Wars of Reaving provides the later historical bookend that is counter-pointed by Historical: Operation Klondike, both books the pinnacle in writing regarding the Clans over their published history in BattleTech.  The contrast between the promise of the future seen by the Clans of Nicholas Kerensky’s time and the reality of his visions collapse in the 3070s is a stark one indeed.

The Wars of Reaving is an excellent addition to the BattleTech line, providing the Clans with an end story, for now, that was a dramatic as their entry into BattleTech lore when they crossed the Coreward borders in 3050.  The fast pace, detail (despite notes stating otherwise), obvious attention to each faction and its torrid and devastating changes make The Wars of Reaving one of the best BattleTech products in years, easily in the same class as the Historical series, which are currently the benchmark for excellent BattleTech setting material.

One last point: Did The Wars of Reaving live up to the hype that the author created?  Yes it did, with the threads regarding the book providing the evidence.  Whether your faction was pounded out of existence or not, few can argue that The Wars of Reaving provides a powerful and dramatic end to one of the major events in BattleTech history.  I would highly recommend The Wars of Reaving to anyone with even a passing interest in the Clans or to BattleTech in general.

Moving from the FedCom Civil War to something different was the genesis behind my AU.

Why I wrote my Alternate Timeline – recently I’ve been asked from Blacknova and a couple others why I wrote my timeline and why it is Alternate Timeline with Thanks.

This got me pondering why I wrote it and I thought back to the early days when it was a simple line under a date (much like how it is presented on the Forums) back then I was just coming up with events I’d love to see in canon or events that I was unhappy with and that could have gone another way. This slowly expanded to chapters about individual time periods, character creation and expansion, and suddenly I had 20+ support files for various factions, lists of units, ships and people all over the place but that’s another story.

The genesis behind my timeline was really the end of the FedCom Civil War, the fall of the Star League at the Whitting Conference and the Trial of Possession over Alshian. I didn’t like any of the three. All were well written with the FedCom Civil War especially was detailed, enjoyable and easily worth the money I spent, however overall I wanted something else to happen and I saw canon as a logical way to wrap up the story but not the only one.

I then turned and looked back through canon BattleTech history and noticed some other events that could have gone different:

1. I have never been a fan of Clan Nova Cat joining the Inner Sphere, I can understand the motives behind the Nova Cat move but I never liked the results – the Smoke Jaguars were bad bedfellows but the Draconis Combine always seemed worse to me. With this in mind I moved to take the Nova Cats out of the Invasion Trials, replacing them with the Star Adders. This had a knock on to the Battle of Luthien – which without the Nova Cats competing with the Smoke Jaguars and instead with the Star Adders working with the Smoke Jaguars – was lost in this time although it was always planned they would win it back it allowed me to write Takashi and Theodore out earlier adding to changes.
The Nova Cats movements around the Inner Sphere and actions in destroying a pirate have and turning it into their home also changed the dynamic of that part of the Periphery. No longer could the Federated Suns ignore its periphery as it had a major force there that could if mistreated cause serious damage to the Suns. But at the same time create a powerful and potentially dangerous ally, friends for now but forever? Adding to the potential trouble.

2. Danai Centrella survives the Clan War – A character that is often overlooked it the canon history, a bit part character that appeared and died in the Clan War. I wanted to explore her life, properly give her a life but not overshadow Naomi Centrella who I had alternate plans for. Instead Danai became Victor Steiner-Davion’s love during the Clan War as both he and Omiko Kurita realized that their union would tear the Inner Sphere to pieces and he sought someone else, who in turn was willing (and could politically) sacrifice all her life the Magistracy has never been a real enemy of the Federated Suns so that gave me someone the Federated Suns could accept in the here and now and Kick-start Victor’s new love life.

3. The Federated Suns and Lyran Alliance remaining seperate after Katherine tore them to pieces. Instead of an Inner Sphere wide Civil War raging on while the Clans and other nations watched the two sides would have to deal with their own problems individually, the Federated Suns accepting Victor fully while the return of Peter Steiner-Davion brought the Lyrans out of Katrina’s grip. While Victor’s use of SLDF politics allowed me to separate potential hostile forces on both sides.
The flip side of this allowed me to explore Peter’s potential relationship with Isis meeting her at the monestary marrying in secret it gave the Steiner’s a new royal path.

4. St Ives remaining independent. Always liked this tiny break away Commonality mainly for Kai but also because it was something to stick Sun-Tzu with, and the Capellans never sat great with me although I’m happy for them to remain about I wanted to really mess up the upper levels of the Capellans and St Ives remaining alone, With Naomi going a bit nuts in the Confederation it also kept Kai out of that line of succession and out of Naomi’s way.

5. ComStar hitting Blake before the other thing happens. CASE WHITE on April Fools Day was a complete accident but so much fun. No Jihad – largely a huge motivating factor for me when I first created the timeline I hated the Jihad timeline (this has since changed mainly because of Catalyst, I sort of like it just not its result). Instead the Word of Blake get cut off at the knees in their infancy allowing Terra to return to ComStar and later SLDF control. Although I wouldn’t say the WoB are completely dead but that’s a story for the future.

6. The Star League’s survival and it finding its legs, gaining territory, strength and own standing. But without the extremes of the Republic of the Sphere of Devlin Stone (although I’ve tried to fit him in and keep failing/moving it later/avoiding it).
At the same time in canon I think the Star League Mk II should have grown far faster than it did. There are references throughout the Clan War of units with Star League heritage or likely candidates for Star League enlistment but they never get that far. The 3rd Davion Guards and the 208th ComGuard during Operation Bulldog is a prime candidate and could have really given the Star League power. The easiest way I found to keep the Star League alive, and honest, was keep Morgan Hasek-Davion alive, he kept the First Lords in line, had enough respect and political clout to stand up to them, and made the early SLDF accountable and with strong foundations.
The survival of the League turned other interesting characters to new stories, worlds on new paths and tech into different hands.

All of these factors/events and more have changed the timeline taken it down a new path. One thing that struck me when Blacknova helped build my map, for the AU Inner Sphere of 3081, he said that my map wasn’t all the different from the canon 3075. Personally I’d never noticed the similarities mine was
my map, the canon map is real, mine had no Blake Protectorate but instead it had it the Star League but then I compared my map to the Blake Documents 3075 and realized he was bang on I just changed a few small bits.

My timeline tells a different story but many things have not changed they’ve just been told differently, people have come out differently.

My timeline has been influence by my wants and wishes, the canon timeline, non-canon creations and fans of the timeline and will continue to be. Now this leads me to the “Thanks” part of the title for the Timeline. Its always been an “Alternate timeline with thanks” or “…and special thanks” there’s a reason behind this and its simple. The reason I got into BattleTech as heavily as I have is because I can create my own stuff in it, my own Mechs, ships, units hell even the planets and systems everything in BattleTech is built to be created and rebuilt by the players which is where the first thanks come from my personal thanks to the creators of the game who created this adaptability and creativity from day one. This very site is a side product of what they have done although the players and writers have taken it that step further everything is BattleTech.

My next piece of thanks comes from the players. Throughout my timeline there are examples of creations by players wolfcannon, BergStorm, JA Baker, Giovanni and Blacknova to name just a few each created a unit that they wanted to see or use, or featured an event that could happen in several ways. I may have taken some artistic license with many of these creations and the fluff is purely from my AU but the units are their creations and I am eternally grateful for their creations so my thanks goes to everyone what has ever taken a technical manual and built something for BattleTech because your my insperation as well.

I thank you all, there will be more to come.

Free Worlds League - Lyran Commonwealth Front

The first of the Lyran reinforcements began arriving in May, with the Archon finally able to direct her forces in the manner she wished.  The Free Worlds League moved no new forces into the ongoing battles, however, few doubted that additional reserves were behind the front.

The LCAF was further distracted in May, as the worlds of Baltazar III and Deidre’s Den in the Circinus Federation rebelled and declared their desire to join the Commonwealth.  Although information later  pointed at the planetary nobility acting on their own desires and not those of the people, both the LCAF and Circinian militaries were quick to move: too quick in actual fact.  The sudden mobilisation of the local militia, the Circinian line forces on both worlds and the arrival of LCAF troops turned both worlds into battlefields.

BOLAN FRONT (Operation THRESHER)

Operation THRESHER seemed to be stalling, as the FWLM was forced to secure Dixie before moving on again.  The LCAF was able to stabilise both Ford and Poulsbo, but with the forces on Dixie free to move again, the respite was likely temporary.

WORLD:                               POBULSO

DEFENDER:                         Narhal’s Raiders (both regiments), 6^th Donegal Guards, 2^nd Regiment, Knights of St. Cameron, 36^th  Lyran Guards RCT (less ?Mech Regiment). 200^th and 209^th Aerospace Wings, 16^th Panzer Division, Poulsbo Militia

Arrives May:                      7^th Donegal Guards, Knights of St. Cameron – 1^st Regiment.

ATTACKER:                        6th Free Worlds Guards, 1^st Fusiliers of Oriente, 2^nd Regiment, Lacedaemon Lancers, 5^th Oriente Hussars, Warwalkers, 31^st Free Worlds Armoured Brigade, Bronson’s Horde, 38^th Free Worlds Armoured Brigades, Caesar’s Cohorts and Clifton’s Rangers, 4^th and 5^th Dark Shadows.

RESULTS:                             The 7^th Donegal and Knight’s of St. Cameron’s arrival was fortuitous for the LCAF defenders of Poulsbo, who were able to take the balance of power on the world from one in favour of the FWLM, to a more even footing.

By the middle of the month, the fresh LCAF units were making their presence felt, forcing the Warwalkers to pull out of the line, despite the withdrawal of the 2^nd Militia Division.  The slow advance of the LCAF, led by the 7^th Donegal, caused battle fatigue began to play it part on both sides of the conflict.  Several units were withdrawn from the line on both sides, with the 2^nd Militia Division crumbling and retreating.  However, the LCAF had managed to retake parts of the world and had stabilised the situation.

WORLD:                               FORD

DEFENDER:                         14^th Lyran Guards RCT, 15^th Panzer Division, 5^th Lohengrin, 127^th Independent Aerospace Wing, 7^th Lyran Regulars Aerospace Wing, Ford Militia

Arrives May:                        Freelancers (3 Regiments), 15^th, 91^st and 208^th Independent Air Wings.

ATTACKER:                          21^st Centauri Lancers, 12^th Atrean Dragoons, 23^rd Marik Militia, Fuchida’s Fusiliers, 5^th Fusiliers of Oriente, Gotterdammerung Society, Head Hunters, League of Tigers, 9^th Regulan Hussars, The Foreign Legion, The Renegades Co-Op, The Wild Geese, Martian Cuirassiers, 1^st Oriente Hussars, Cameron’s Legion, Eagle Corps, 2^nd and 3^rd Dark Shadows, 44^th Heavy Assault Wing,  4^th and 5^th Free Worlds Guards, 20^th Marik Militia, 20^th Free Worlds Armoured Brigade, 1^st Lacedaemon Lancers, 6^th and 11^th Heavy Assault Regiments

RESULTS:                             The LCAF dispatched the highly experienced Freelancers, along with three escort wings to Ford, desperately hoping to turn the tide on this important world. If Ford fell, six important systems would be open to assault.

                                                Waiting for any new arrivals was a Marik Assault DropShip Fleet of nearly two dozen vessels, which were an even match for the incoming transports and their fighter escort. Despite the waiting flotilla, the LCAF Task Force crashed right through, loosing only a single Leopard and taking out several assault ships with its escort wings.  Much like on Poulsbo, the arrival of these new forces looked to stabilise the situation.

Despite the arrival of the new formations, the LCAF was hard pressed to maintain the status quo as several units began to loose cohesion. Although the FWLM suffered from a lesser level of exhaustion, the battle would go to the side best able to hang on.  The fighting for the rest of May continued on that vein, with both sides rotating troops where they could, but with several formations breaking on both sides.  Overall, the situation on world had swayed to the LCAF, but only just.

WORLD:                               DIXIE

ATTACKER:                          Dinsdale’s Desperados, 1^st Dark Shadows, Snowcats, 2^nd Atrean Hussars, 1^st Bolan Lancers, Bordon’s Blood Drinkers, 2^nd Free Worlds Guards, 3^rd Fusiliers of Oriente, Langendorf Lancers, 2^nd Regulan Hussars, Black Earth Carabineers, 72^nd Free Worlds Aerowing-7^th Regiment

DEFENDER:                         Dixie Revolutionary Guards

RESULTS:                             What little force the resistance had was crushed in May, the world repacified and the FWLM was ready to reuse those forces on Dixie elsewhere.

CIRCINUS FRONT (Operation STORMY LION)

The continued troubles of Circinus threatened to create a situation where either the CLAF or the FWLM could effectively flank the other, leading the LCAF to act with unseeming haste on both Baltazar III and Deidre’s Den.

WORLD:                               BALTAZAR III

DEFENDER:                         1^st Circinian Home Guards – 2^nd Regiment, Baltazar Militia Loyalists

ATTACKER:                          305^th Panzer Brigade, Baltazar Militia Rebels

RESULTS:                             Duke Almar Torquay saw the inbound Lyran forces as the tool he needed to get his little revolution rolling along properly.  Although the LCAF was under orders to act as peacekeepers, the Duke’s machinations saw all out war spread across the world, as the Circinian loyalist forces sought to ensure that the critically important world was not lost.

Chaotic fighting broke out in many of the world’s major centres, with the LCAF caught right in the middle of it all.  By the end of the month, a quarter of the loyalists were dead, many in purges had been undertaken by the Duke’s own troops and many Rebel and LCAF soldiers were killed in reprisal strikes by the incensed Circinian loyalists.

WORLD:                               DIEDRE’S DEN

DEFENDER:                         1^st Circinian Home Guards – 3^rd Regiment, Deidre’s Den Militia Loyalists

ATTACKER:                          94^th Independent Aerospace Wing, Deidre’s Den Militia Rebels

RESULTS:                             Duchess Leslie Hin was not as vicious or as Machiavellian as her counterpart on Baltazar III, however, she too knew that she needed to get the LCAF involved as quickly as possible.  Calling for assistance against “…unprovoked attacks by Circinian forces…” the Duchess began her campaign.

                                                With a full Lyran air wing undertaking precision strikes against the Circinian forces, who were painted in the local press as the aggressors, the loyalists were crippled, leaving the rebels with an open door to rush in and massacre the isolated line troops.  Although the 94^th Wing had only tried to limit the 1^st Home Guards movement and access to supplies, they were too good at their job, leaving the unit helpless against the Rebels.  By the months end, Deidre’s Den was clear of Circinian troops and Duchess Hin was calling for the immediate integration of the world into the Lyran Commonwealth.

As mentioned above, there are three facets of the terrain denial tactic: deployment, equipment usage, and troop usage.  Each piece is important if you want to maximize the benefits while minimizing the benefits to your opponent.  It is important to note that the terrain denial tactic can be used in conjunction with any overarching strategy or tactic, as it is more a mind-frame, and way to play the game to take advantage of the terrain on a given battlefield.

Deployment

Deployment is the foundation of this tactic, as your starting location is of the utmost importance when it comes to using terrain to your advantage.  First, you want to evaluate your force composition and compare it to that of your opponents because this will dictate your deployment.  I will highlight some of the typical situations you will encounter.

If your forces are focused on long range while your opponent is that of short range, you will want to find a deployment area that provides your cover, but does not give your opponent any intervening terrain.  You want to minimize any terrain that covers their approach to you, specifically LOS blocking terrain.  Ideally, you want to be positioned in cover with a wide open flat land for your opponent to approach.  This maximizes your defense, accuracy, and allows you to pick targets and continually fire.

In the opposite situation, the one were you are the short ranged and need to get into your opponent’s fire-support you do the opposite.  Your goal will be to find avenues to approach your enemies that block LOS, minimizing his range advantage.  If that fails, advancing through cover or at extreme distances along a flank, which will stretch their forces out and compel them to readjust, taking themselves out of defensible terrain in-order to contribute to the battle.

In the situation that you find yourself matched in a skirmish were both sides will come to the center and fight there, dancing around the middle of the battlefield, you will need deploy on the side of the map were a majority of the terrain is located more towards your deployment zone.  This allows you a better chance to make into the valuable cover before your enemy does.

Equipment Usage

There are various types of weapons, ammos, and other systems that can contribute to maximizing your terrain advantage and removing it from your enemy.  These tools, while do not deal damage directly, are often worth much more, as your forces that are firing obtain better to-hit modifiers than your opponent.

LRM launchers are nearly the end-all, be-all of terrain enhancing or hindering equipment.  Between Smoke LRMs and the various types of Thunder LRMs, you can improve or deny terrain at will.  Larger LRM racks can create smoke clouds that block LOS, giving your portable terrain.  Thunders shot into heavy woods formations or into partial cover block that advantage from your opponent.

However, LRMs aren’t the only good type of equipment.  Lasers, flamers, and SRM infernos are great for starting fires on enemy wood hexes, minimzing the overall benefit of remaining in such cover.  Skillful use of equipment can thus improve your terrain advantage, while minimizing your opponents.

Troop Usage

Troop usage is a critical component of the terrain denial strategy.  While it ultimately hinges on your initial deployment, proper and effective use of terrain throughout the game is of high importance.  As mentioned above, depending on you style, you defend were you have the terrain advantage and attack undercover of terrain to protect yourself as you close the gap.

There is a secondary part to this portion of the tactic.  Units like battle armor and infantry make excellent units to limit enemy terrain options.  Similar to mines, battle armor and infantry are nasty close in fighters with swarm and leg attack abilities the make opposing ‘Mech pilots hesitate to get in close.  By intelligently placing your infantry or battle armor in potential enemy cover locations, you can deny them those pieces of terrain.  If they opt to take that terrain, your cheap units will often do more than their value in damage and delay those enemy units dedicated to clearing out that location from contributing to the main battle.

Statistics of Terrain Denial

This section will use some basic statistics to highlight the mathematical benefit of the use of terrain denial.  For the purposes of this example, we will assume that both sides are using a 5/8/5 ‘Mech with the potential to deal 30 damage at range.  Assuming gunnery 4, both ‘Mechs will have run and generate +3 to-hit modifiers meaning 9+ or better to hit (a 27.77% chance to hit) with an expect damage value of 8.331.

Now assume that side A has implemented terrain denial, and has now landed himself in light cover on top of his +3 to hit mod.  This means unit B needs a 10+ to hit, while unit A needs a 9+ to hit.  Unit A’s expected damage value remains at 8.331 while unit B’s drops 4.998, a decrease of 3.333 expected damage.

The benefit increases even more drastically as the fight continues on.  Once the battle is joined, it is often hard to continue to run and achieve your maximum movement modifier and still retain short range shots.  As such, we will assume both units A and B will run for only +2 modifiers, resulting in 8+ for successful hits (41.66% chance to hit), which drives expected damage to 12.498.  However, unit A should be able to run, generate a +2 mod and achieve a cover bonus, forcing unit B to hit on 9+ which has an expected value of 8.331, which nets unit A positive 4.167 damage.

These numbers are only for simplistic situations, but the benefits of partial cover or heavy woods cannot be overstated, as they swing the expect damage much more drastically.  Each modifier as it affects the to-hit number away from 7 has a greater impact based on the statistics of rolling 2d6.  The net benefit of adding another +1 penalty to your opponent while suffer no drawback yourself has a tremendous impact over the course of the game.

Concluding Remarks

The terrain denial tactic is a mindset used in conjunction with your standard strategy that makes you more aware of the location and benefits of terrain and allows you to maximize their benefits and minimize their benefits to your opponent.  By focusing on proper deployment, equipment usage, and troop usage, you can provide your forces with additional defensive bonuses which ultimately increase the longevity of your forces and allow them to contribute to the battle longer.

Combine - Suns Front

The fighting on the Kurita-Davion front has had more manoeuvre than either of the Lyran fronts, with both sides ranging deep into the other’s territory, though it appears the DCMS had begun to gain the upper hand as a number of worlds were assaulted by DCMS forces this month. However, the fighting on Marduk reached a new crescendo as the Davions have committed more forces, placing the likelihood of its fall in doubt.  As was the case on the Commonwealth front, the effects of better supplies for the DCMS troops began to show its hand dramatically in May, especially on Marduk.

GALTOR FRONT (Operation SHIRO)

Operation SHIRO, like its counterpart on the Tamar Front continued to take worlds from its opponent, this time the Federated Suns.  The cutting off of New Aberdden was serious, as was the fall of additional worlds.

WORLD:                               MARDUK

ATTACKER:                          1st and 3^rd Light Amphigean Assault Groups, 11^th and 17^th Benjamin Regulars, 5^th Sword of Light, Legion of the Rising Sun, Quint’s Quartet, The Ronin, 55^th Benjamin Armoured Brigade, 15^th, 16^th, 23^rd and 25^th Assault Squadrons, 240^th Draconis Aerospace Wing, 5^th DEST

                                                Arrives in May: 8^th Benjamin Regulars, Wolf’s Dragoons Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Epsilon Regiments, 3^rd and 7^th Ghost Regiments.

DEFENDER:                         Kestrel Grenadiers RCT (Able Brigade and Mech Regiment only), 41^st Avalon Hussars RCT, 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th Davion Guards RCTs, 2^nd Robinson Rangers, 4^th Crucis Lancers RCT, The Black Tigers, 36^th and 42^nd Federation Armoured Brigades, Marlette, Nunivak, Tsamma and New Avalon CMM Mech Regiments, The Dragonslayers, McBride’s Maulers, 11^th, 14^th and 15^th Fox Teams, 117^th, 125^th, 127^th and 132^nd Independent Aero Wings, SOAR, 25^th and 26^th Assault Dropship Wings, Norse BattleWorks Security, Marduk Militia

                                                Arrives in May: Beaufort’s Cossacks (2 Regiments), Swann’s Cavaliers, 29^th, 57^th, 60^th, 63^rd and 69^th Assault DropShip Wings, 50^th, 77^th, 83^rd and 88^th Independent Aerospace Wings

RESULTS:                             Both the AFFS and the DCMS recognised Marduk as the pivotal battle of the front, with both militaries sending in even more forces in May.  The DCMS dispatched the ever reliable Wolf’s Dragoons, whilst the AFFS sent in additional mercenary forces and a naval flotilla to cut off the DCMS from additional reinforcements.

Over forty Assault DropShips, nearly 500 fighters and close to 150 transport DropShips clashed over Marduk before either force could land, with the incoming Davion ships suffering at the hands of the expertly piloted Wolf’s Dragoons ships and fighters.

With the large number of AFFS forces on world the DCMS need to reorganise it units.  Attacked now on two sides, from the Norse Battlworks Facility and from New Pontiac, the DCMS sent Wolf’s Dragoons to face the Davion forces coming from New Pontiac, assisted by the 5^th Sword of Light, 8^th Galedon Regulars and the 1^st and 3^rd Amphigean Light Assault Groups.  Coming at these forces were the 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th Davion Guards, 1^st Robinson Rangers, 4^th Crucis Lancers and 41^st Avalon Hussars along with The Black Tigers and several other support units.  However, despite the redistribution of forces, both DCMS fronts were facing a superior foe.

The advantage in pure numbers held by the AFFS was effective, but something of a phantom, as those numbers were spread across many damaged Regiments.  This became apparent early in the month as several of the units in both AFFS task forces began to show what months of wear and tear could do to a formation.  Though affected by the same battle exhaustion, the DCMS was in a better position to manage it.

Knowing time was running out, the forces in the Norse Battleworks Facility staged a sudden counter-attack, one which badly damaged several Kurita formations and bought the defenders of the plant some much need breathing room.  However, the attempt by the forces from New Pontiac in linking up with the Battleworks strike ended in failure, as the indomitable Wolf’s Dragoons first opened and then shattered the Davion centre, largely redressing the losses suffered by the other DCMS battle group.

Although the 1^st Amphigean Light Assault Group was forced to leave the system due to ongoing losses and unit collapse, the AFFS was forces to pull off the 4^th Davion Guards Mech Regiment and Able Brigade, the 1^st Davion Guards Able and Charlie Brigades and The Black Tigers mercenary unit.  All of these units had been in constant heavy conflict for nearly half a year and were no longer combat effective.

By the end of the month, the situation on world was now finely balanced, with the AFFS still holding numerical superiority, but the DCMs having better unit integrity.

WORLD:                               NEW ABERDEEN

ATTACKER:                          Ryuken-roku, 56^th Galedon Armoured Brigade.

Arrives in May: Ryuken-yon and 10^th Ghost Regiment

DEFENDER:                         1st Ceti Hussars RCT, 4^th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT, Warbirds, New Aberdeen Militia.

RESULTS:                             The arrival of the 10^th Ghost and Ryuken-yon made the battle for New Aberdeen a much closer affair, but did not turn the advantage all the way to the Kurita side, in fact, New Aberdeen could rapidly become a rescue mission instead of a conquest.  As on many worlds, the ongoing lack of supplies for the AFFS was the greatest concern, with many units showing the strain by mid-month.  Although by month end the AFFS had done greater damage, several units were forced, due to ongoing losses and lack of resupply to depart New Aberdeen.  From the DCMS the support Brigade of Ryuken-roku left for Misery and from the AFFS the 1^st Ceti Hussars Able and Baker Brigades along with the 4^th Deneb Light Cavalry’s Charlie Brigade all fell back to Royal. Despite these departures, the AFFS still held a noticble advantage on the world.

WORLD:                               ELDIRE IV

ATTACKER:                          McGee’s Cutthroats, 60^th and 85^th Galedon Armoured Brigades, 18^th and 19^th DEST, 160^th Draconis Aerospace Wing

DEFENDER:                         Eldire IV Militia

RESULTS:                             With the departure of the AFFS line forces, the militia on Eldire surrendered.

WORLD:                               GALTOR III

ATTACKER:                          2^nd Benjamin Regulars, 48^th Benjamin Armoured Brigade, 296^th Draconis Aerospace Wing, 22^nd DEST

DEFENDER:                         38^th Federated Armoured Brigade, 119^th Independent Aerospace Wing, Galtor III militia.

RESULTS:                             The battle for Galtor ground on in May, with the DCMS continuing to improve its position week by week.  Without support, Galtor would fall.

WORLD:                               CROSSING

ATTACKER:                          Ryuken-San

DEFENDER:                         Eridani Light Horse (3 Regiments)

RESULTS:                             The Ryuken chose not to oppose the Eridani Light Horse’s landings, seeing little value is risking their limited air support.  Despite their caution, the Ryuken were unable to stop the Light Horse from rampaging across the world, taking moderate causalities, whilst doing little to slow the mercenaries.

WORLD:                               WAPAKONETA

ATTACKER:                          Ryuken-yon, 3^rd Benjamin Regulars

DEFENDER:                         Greenberg’s Godzillas, 17^th Avalon Hussars RCT

RESULTS:                             Not expecting to see an enemy task force arrive in system at the same time, both the AFFS and DCMS task forces avoided each other before grounding on the world.  Both sides fought an uninspired campaign that had changed the status quo little by month’s end.

WORLD:                               SCHEAT

DEFENDER:                         16^th Benjamin Armoured Brigade, Scheat Militia

ATTACKER:                          Fox Team 3, Scheat Rebels

RESULTS:                             The rebellion on Scheat was a small one, as many generations had seen little but war and devastation from the Davions. Despite this, a bombing of the main barracks of the 16^th Armoured, got the revolution off on the right foot and lead to no ends of troubles for the Combine authorities.

WORLD:                               LIMA

DEFENDER:                         Black Lion Co-op, 40^th Federation Armoured Brigade, The Black Cats, The Black Lions (co), Lima Militia

ATTACKER:                          2^nd Galedon Regulars, Wolf’s Dragoons Black Widow Battalion

RESULTS:                             Of the sixteen aircraft that rose to engage the attacking DCMS forces, only 3 made it back to base, having caused some damage to the inbound transports.  Despite giving as good as they got, the defenders were hampered by the damage suffered by the three mercenary units over the preceding few months.  Sighting escape clauses, the three heavily damaged Mercenary units pulled of Lima for New Ivaarson, with the line AFFS forces left on their own against huge odds.

WORLD:                               MCCOMB

DEFENDER:                         Miller’s Marauders, Fox Teams 2 and 12, McComb Militia

ATTACKER:                          21^st Galedon Regulars, Wolf’s Dragoons Zeta Battalion

RESULTS:                             Miller’s Marauders were an experienced unit, but were up against the famous Zeta Battalion supported by the 21^st Galedon.  Dragoon tactics saw many fighters and Mechs of the defenders fall in the first week of combat and allow the Dragoons to seize the initiative.  By month’s end, matters were worsening for the defenders, as their air cover was largely gone and Zeta was closing in.

WORLD:                               HARPSTER

DEFENDER:                         Harpster Militia

ATTACKER:                          6^th Ghost Regiment

RESULTS:                             In their baptism of fire, the 6^th Ghost fought a perfect campaign, even if it was against a weak and limited opposition.

GALEDON FRONT (Operation GROTESQUE EMERALD)

The inappropriately named Operation GROTESQUE EMERALD was intended to draw DCMS forces away from the Raman PDZ, however, three shattered mercenary units and an independent mercenary battalion were not sufficient to distract the Kuritan Warlords form the task at hand.

WORLD:                               SENORBI

ATTACKER:                          Lindon’s Battalion

DEFENDER:                         Senorbi Militia

RESULTS:                             With a massive sandstorm blowing across most of the capital and its surrounds the mercenaries were unable to locate their target.

WORLD:                               ALTDORF

ATTACKER:                          Dismal Disinherited – Plague of Locusts

DEFENDER:                         Altdorf Militia

RESULTS:                             Although they managed to beat up some of the militia, there was little of value for the mercenaries to take from the world.

WORLD:                               KAZNEJOV

ATTACKER:                          Dismal Disinherited – Hostile LAM’s

DEFENDER:                         21^st DEST, 78^th and 208^th Draconis Aerospace Wing, 22^nd, 89^th and                                                                94^th Galedon Armoured Brigade, Kaznejov Militia

RESULTS:                             The Hostile LAM’s were able to dodge, duck, dive and dodge past the heavy defences to snare ¢2 Million in rare cars, before high tailing it off world.

WORLD:                               WALDHEIM

ATTACKER:                          Dismal Disinherited – Krypt Kickers

DEFENDER:                         82^nd Draconis Aerospace Wing, Waldheim Militia

RESULTS:                             Despite giving the militia some bloody noses, the Krypt Kickers were unable to get out from under the eyes of the 82^nd and were forced to leave the world empty handed.

St. Ives Front

ST. IVES FRONT (Operations CANTON

]]> http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/fedsuns-capellan-front-may-3025-2/feed/ 0 http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/lyran-combine-front-may-3025-2/ http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/lyran-combine-front-may-3025-2/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:35:26 +0000 Blacknova http://www.ourbattletech.com/?p=972

Lyran Commonwealth - Draconis Combine Front

The LCAF continued to increase the tempo of its operations against the DCMS in the Dieron Military District, as well as on the coreward edge of the Rasalhague District.  Although both actions seemed to be trying to draw the attention of the DCMS away from Tamar, the Dragon remained fixated on the world.  The effects of better supplies for the DCMS troops began to show its hand dramatically in May, as several Commonwealth units began collapsing from five months of abuse.

TAMAR FRONT (Operation URIZEN)

Operation URIZEN continued to show success in May, as further Commonwealth worlds fell to the might of the DCMS.  May also saw the debut of the Coordinator’s hidden card: the Ghost Regiments.  Raised from Yakuza and other undesirables, these units looked to be a blessing and a bane for Theodore.  They would bring success on the battlefield, but further enrage the ever strengthening Black Dragon Society.

 

WORLD:                               SEVERN

ATTACKER:          2^nd Amphigean Light Assault Group, 2^nd An-Ting Legion, Helmut’s Hermits, Lone Star Regiment, 1^st Night Stalkers, 17^th Rasalhague Regulars, 1^st and 5^th Sun Zhang Academy Cadre, 13^th, 22^nd, 36^th and 42^nd Rasalhague Armoured Brigades, 119^th, 311^th, 121^st and 216^th Draconis Aerospace Wings, 150^th and 224^th Draconis Aerospace Wings

DEFENDER:                         8^th Donegal Guards, 26^th Lyran Guards RCT, Tamar Tigers, 280^th Panzer Brigade-12^th Panzer Division, 81^st Loki, Severn Militia, Capital Defence Corps.

RESULTS:                             Despite their efforts, the battle for Severn had been slowly sliding away from the LCAF units on world and May would see their grip slip even farther.  Led by the Night Stalkers, An Ting Legion and 17^th Rasalhague Regulars, the DCMS staged a massive night assault on LCAF positions on the 8^th.  Within hours the LCAF was pulling back and by the 11^th, fully a third of the Lyran forces on worlds were eliminated.

Although the fighting was enough to gut many of the remaining Kurita forces, the LCAF suffered far worse.  Although the acting commander on world, Lieutenant-General Woodruff Peterson of the 26^th Lyran Guards, had his own unit in good order, he saw that the majority of LCAF units were one push away from total annihilation.  On May 17^th, he gave the order to evacuate.

The price of Severn was extensive, with the remaining DCMS forces on world mustering barely 41% of their establishment, with the LCAF forces departing at less than 30% strength and less than a quarter strength when the 26^th Lyran Guards Mech Regiment was not accounted for.

The LCAF forces on world jumped to Vulcan to begin the long process of recovery.

 

WORLD:                               TAMAR

ATTACKER:                          1st Altenmarkt Militia, Dragon’s Claws, 2^nd Night Stalkers, 8^th Rasalhague Regulars, St Cyr Heavy Assault Group, 11^th, 12^th, 18^th and 20^th Heavy Assault Squadrons, 158^th, 191^st, 269^th and 288^th Draconis Aerospace Wings, 6^th DEST

DEFENDER:                         151^st Aerospace Wing-3^rd Regiment, 153^rd and 221^st Panzer Brigades-12^th Panzer Division, 1^st and 24^th Arcturan Guards, Tamar War College Training Battalion, 13^th Lohengrin, Tamar Militia

RESULTS:                             Lyran successes over the preceding two months saw Tai-sa Lyn Kitabatake take command of the situation on Tamar.  The Coordinator tasked Kitabatake with showing the old guard the best ways to implement the new methods. Although the new Tai-sa was hard pressed to get the action moving for her first two weeks on Tamar, on the 19^th she unleashed her forces around the capital.  Several feints and deep strikes unbalanced the LCAF and saw the DCMS advance into the capital for the first time in the campaign, shattering several LCAF formations.  Despite the severe handling they received, the LCAF forces did not break.  The remainder of the month saw a grinding house to house fight, that more than the losses of early in the month, sapped at the morale of the defenders.  It was now clear that without reinforcements Tamar would fall, however, the LCAF would force the DCMS to pay an even higher price for the world.

 

WORLD:                               VERTHANDI

DEFENDER:                         300^th Panzer Brigade

ATTACKER:                          8^th Ghost Regiment

RESULTS:                             With Verthandi pacified, the 300^th planned to take over a world with fond memories of the Commonwealth.  What it got was a brand new DCMS Regiment, right in the face.

Although entering the system at different points, both units headed for the planetary capital, the 8^th to retake it and the 300^th to hold it and wait for reinforcements.  Despite their best efforts, the tankers of the 300^th were hammered to less then 30% strength and forced to withdraw from their first ever engagement.  The world was returned to the Combine and reprisals began.

 

WORLD:                               CUSSET

ATTACKER:                          9th Rasalhague Regulars, Tooth of Ymir, 57^th Rasalhague Armoured Brigade.

DEFENDER:                         Waco’s Rangers, 54^th independent Aerospace Wing, Cusset Militia

RESULTS:                             The DCMS forces on Cusset had the defenders at a great disadvantage and planned to complete the subjugation of the world as quickly as possible.  Despite their hopes however,  the LCAF put up further stiff resistance, with the DCMS forced to fight hard for any gain.  Nomatter the LCAF’s endeavours, once the Waco Rangers hit the accepted retreat force strength of their contract, they prepared to leave the world.  The Rangers helped their cause by offering the remaining space on their transport to the 54^th Wing before departing, with both units moving to Colmar.

 

WORLD:                               SHAULA

ATTACKER:                          3^rd and 9^th Pesht Regulars, 99^th Draconis Aerospace Wing

DEFENDER:                         1^st Lyran Guards RCT (Mech Regiment, 12^th Panzergrenadier Brigade and 1^st Aerospace Wing), Hansen’s Roughriders, 100^th and 143^rd Panzer Brigades, Shaula Militia.

RESULTS:                             With the retreat of two units the month before hampered by the surrender early in May of some units, the LCAF were going to be hard pressed to hold the world. Continued heavy fighting late in the month reduced the LCAF force to just 20% of its original strength, forcing it offworld to Biota.

WORLD:                               MAETSU

ATTACKER:                          13^th and 20^th Rasalhague Regulars, 127^th Draconis Aerospace Wing

DEFENDER:                         23rd and 25^th Arcturan Guards, 2^nd Arcturan Guards Conventional Brigade, 295^th Panzer Brigade, Maestu Militia

RESULTS:                             Like many of the other battered forces defending the Tamar Front, the defenders on Maestu were stretched thin and in desperate need of rest and reinforcement.  The DCMS would have none of it however, continuing to press the LCAF hard.

                                                Already is disarray, the 23^rd and 25^th Arcturan Guards Mech Regiments along with the 2^nd Arcturan Conventional Brigade were quickly forced off world.  With the 2^nd Arcturans Conventional Brigade being driven off shortly after, the decision was made to abandon the world before the remaining forces could be devastated.

 

WORLD:                               LAURENT

ATTACKER:                          15^th Benjamin Regulars, 22^nd Rasalhague Regulars, 118^th Rasalhague Armoured Brigade, 137^th Draconis Aerospace Wing

DEFENDER:                         1^st Lyran Regulars RCT (only 12^th Panzergrenadier and 1^st Aerospace), Laurent Militia

                                                Arriving in May: 2^nd Arcturan Guards Mech Regiment

RESULTS:                             With the worlds either side of it collapsing, Laurent became the last hope for saving Tamar, if Tamar could be saved.  Knowing the need to capture the world was now vitally important, the DCMS troops on world began a massive drive against the defending forces.  Despite their will, the DCMS was unable to force the LCAF off world.  However, they did do enough damage to the defenders to assure themselves of eventual victory.

WORLD:                               NEW CALADONIA

ATTACKER:                          1^st Regiment, Winfield’s Brigade, 30^th Lyran Guards, 4^th Donegal Guards, 18^th Lohengrin

DEFENDER:                         4^th Ghost Regiment, New Caledonia Militia

RESULTS:                             Following the success in taking Verthandi the previous month, the LCAF planned to take New Caledonia from the Dragon as well.  3 Mech units and their supporting forces dropped onto New Caledonia, as did the 4^th Ghost Regiment, who were not prepared to face such a force in their first combat.

The engagement at the Nadir jump Point saw nearly half the Ghost wiped out and the remainder jump to Verthandi as quickly as they could, leaving the militia to face the juggernaught alone.

Despite being against orders, the LCAF units on world took possession of New Caledonia, declaring that it was a down payment on plans to retake the worlds already lost to the Combine.  Although the action of the units annoyed the LCAF High Command, it played well with the people of Tamar.

 

Kessel Front

KESSEL FRONT (Operation SEVERE FIST)

The LCAF was desperate to take the pressure of Tamar and so began an ambitious series of raids and strikes into the Kessel Prefecture of the Dieron Military District.  The LCAF was moderately successful on most worlds, but overwhelmingly so on two worlds, were heavy raids turned into full planetary occupations.

 

WORLD:                               KIMBALL II

DEFENDER:                         Kimball II Militia

ATTACKER:                          10^th and 44^th Lohengrin, Kimball Rebels

RESULTS:                             Kimball II erupted into rebellion in May, as did Dromini VI, the scale of the revolt taking the local defenders by surprise.  Depsite the fuss, all that was really accomplished was a lot of noise making, despite the large number supporting the rebellion.

 

WORLD:                               CEBELARI

DEFENDER:                         65^th Dieron Armoured Brigade, Cebelari Militia

ATTACKER:                          12^th Star Guards (Four Regiments)

RESULTS:                             The 12^th Star Guards wiped out the defenders air support as they approached the world and then proceeded to smash the defenders into surrendering before preparing to move on.  Cebalari was taken and its integration back into the Lyran commonwealth began.

 

WORLD:                               DROMINI VI

DEFENDER:                         46^th Dieron Armoured Brigade, Dromini Militia

ATTACKER:                          5^th LOKI, Dromini Rebels

RESULTS:                             The rebels on Dromini faced a harder time than those on Kimball II.  Although they held many lesser centres, they had little success at taking any major cities or bases,

 

WORLD:                               KORNEPHOROUS

DEFENDER:                         38th Draconis Aerospace Wing, Kornephorous Militia

ATTACKER:                          4^th Skye Rangers

RESULTS:                             Despite a moderately opposed in run, the elite 4^th were more than a match for the forces defending Kornephorous.  The 4^th destroyed all defending forces inside of a week and prepared for their next assignment.  Kornephorous was taken and its integration back into the Lyran Commonwealth began.

 

WORLD:                               IMBROS III

ATTACKER:                          6^th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT, Cranston Snord’s Irregulars

DEFENDER:                         33^rd Dieron Armoured Brigade, Imbros Militia

RESULTS:                             The 6^th did not so much as raid Imbros III, as pillage it old style, giving a bad name to Vikings everywhere.  The hapless defenders, caught between the 6^th in front and the mad Irregulars behind the line, simply folded up and let the Davion unit and Steiner Mercenaries take ¢5 Million in Germanium reserves.

 

WORLD:                               BANGOR

ATTACKER:                          Blacknovas, 12^th Loki

DEFENDER:                         Bangor Militia

RESULTS:                             For May, Operation PEST took in the wonderful sights of the world of Bangor, an out of the way gem rarely visited by the likes of the Blacknovas, a heathen mercenary circus which only just getting into full gear.

The Blacknovas were suitably impressed with the Militia, who stood up the the rampaging mercenaries, but were more than willing to show honour to their opponents.  The mercenaries lifted off world after three days, leaving the spoils they had captured, believing the world had earned it.

]]> http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/lyran-combine-front-may-3025-2/feed/ 0 http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/st-ives-the-sleeping-behemoth/ http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/st-ives-the-sleeping-behemoth/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:30:43 +0000 Klinktastic http://www.ourbattletech.com/?p=954

The Sleeping Behemoth

It seems there’s something terrible lurking in near orbit over St. Ives.  CCAF forces attempting to land on the planet have been repeatedly ambushed by a large Assault Dropship firing capital missiles, delaying the landing of crucial reinforcements.  Two days ago, a Capellan Navy task force intercepted the beast as it fell upon a flotilla of supply dropships.  The vessel, determined to be of the Davions new Overlord A3 class broke the spine of a Kuan Ti and crippled an Achilles before limping behind the shadow of St. Ives’ moon Cochrane.  The Strategios cannot spare any more resources to eliminate the vessel, and is so requesting the Hexare Grenadiers sortie to take out the vessel, which intelligence estimates as having suffered heavy damage.

Prepare your Aerospace craft, gentlemen!  It’s time to hunt the Kraken!

St. Ives Aerospace Defense Forces:

Overlord A3 Pocket Warship (slightly damaged, the Kraken and one AR-10 launcher knocked out and one Avionics hit, minor armor damage)

2 Sparrowhawk 7D

Hexare Grenadiers:

Warlock Fusiliers: 3 Transgressors 13A

Lord of the Night:  Avenger Dropship (Upgrade)

Shengli Armed Asset Protection: 2 Lightening G16L and 1 Transit TR-12

Taku No: 2 Rievers 700B and 1 Transgressor 13A

Piotrowski’s Predators: 3 Defiance ASFs (ERPPC, LRM 20 Artemis, 3 MPLs)

Bethlens’ Irregulars: 2 Centurions 3S (TAG swapped for TarComp) and 1 Riever 700B

The Setup: 

Knowing that we’d be encountering some stifling resistance on our way towards St. Ives, may of the various mercenary units comprising the Hexare Grenadiers added some heavy aerospace assets, including 3 Rievers, which will certainly help break any blockade we’d be facing.  However, it wasn’t a blockade per say, but a Pocket Warship that had been sniping away at Capellan forces attempting to make landfall.  After reading some intel briefings on the mission and the TRO of the Overlord A3, we realized we had quite the fight on our hand.

Those not familiar with the Overlord A3 should be. Bristling with weaponry, the A3 has two AR-10 launchers and a Kraken-T launcher, supported by 11 ERPPCs, 12 Gauss Rifles, 12 ERLLs, 16 MLs, 4 LRM 20s, 4 LPLs, and 10 MPLs as well as nearly over 500 armor on the nose and nearly 500 armor on all other facings.  Knowing that it had taken some damage, we figured that the use of Anti-Ship Missiles would be critical.  Dealing 30 damage and a potential critical on an 11+, they would be ideal for softening the thick armor.

To buck the trend, my 3 Defiances decided to use their 11 possible hard points for 1 Air to Air Arrow IV missile and 1 ASEW missile each.  The ASEW missiles are an Anti-Ship Electronic Warfare missile.  Meaning, for the turn after it hits, that facing suffers a +4 penalty to hit (see page 358 of TacOps for specifics).  Needless to say, these ASEWs could have a significant impact assuming they hit in combat.

Both sides started with a vectored thrust of 6 with most of us positioned to that upon the firing phase of turn 1, we would be in medium capital range of 24 hexes and could unload our payloads to free up our thrust and hopefully identify a facing to target.  Our goal is to swarm the ship while we wait for the AAA’s and AS missiles to land and cluster up on a location for us to focus in on  and then burn in that direction and unload.

From left to right is the mercenary formation by unit: Predators, Lords of the Night, Taku No, Warlock Fusiliers, SLAAP, and Bethlen’s Irregulars.  The Davions have the Overlord A3 flanked by a Sparrowhawk on either side.

The Action:

Turn 1 – The Hexare Grenadiers all surge forth at 6 thrust as the Overlord falls right in at 24 hexes away from all of our fighters.  Surprisingly, the Sparrowhawks thrust ahead of the Overlord, moving into range to start mixing it up.

Those of us with experienced pilots let loose our AAAs and AS missiles, with a nice portion gravitating towards the left side of the Overlord.  Unfortunately, it’s the left side AR-10 launcher that’s been knocked out so we know which way the ship is going to roll.

The Sparrowhawks put themselves into harms way as we unloaded some of our longer ranged weaponry or extreme ranged into them.  One had both ERMLs, one on each wing stripped and the other got some pretty heavy nose damage.

Turn 2 – The Overlord continues to propel forward but turning to bring the left side and it’s AR-10 to bear.  The Sparrowhawks continue to mix it up, hoping that the Hexare Grenadiers will begin focusing on the Overlord and ignore them.  The various Rievers and Lightnings close with the dropship, trying to bring their heavy AC’s to bear.

Due to the inability of spheroid dropships to concentrate fire, forces them to spread the love, peppering aDefiance, a Riever, a Lightning, and the Avenger, which is saved from a huge beatdown due to the ASEW penalty on all nose arc weapons.  The Lightning loses the UAC20 to a threshold.  In return, the Overlord eats a lot of AC20 shells, tearing up the right side armor, with a Taku No Riever TACing the avionics, forcing a control roll and one of the Defiances TACing with a PPC to force another control roll, which ultimately leads to the Overlord losing control for a turn (due to prior avionics hit).  Another ASEW missiles disrupts the nose arc, giving the mercenaries further reprieve from the destructive power of the massed weapon banks held there.

The Sparrowhawks deal light damage and are decimated in return.  One is completely destroyed by the Taku No Transgressor and the other is sent spiraling out of control by the pair of Centurions.

Turn 3 – The out of control Overlord ends up moving towards our starting point nose first, exposing its aft to our forces which have thrust past it.  The Sparrowhawk is propelled near the edge of the map, with Centurions giving chase.

The Overlord continues to take a pounding but is giving it nearly as good as it’s taking, but is suffering from the ASEW penalty and the out of control penalty. Shots are coming from nearly every direction as all facings dip below half, with the left side reaching about 30 points of armor remaining.  Once the fire has been exchanged, the Overlord succeeds in regaining control while the Sparrowhawk fails and is all but removed from the game as its being propelled past the battle map at over 14 hexes per turn.

Turn 4 – It’s looking like potentially the end, as the Sparrowhawk is carried well out of range of the fight and the Overlord is surrounded.  Various fighters overthrust to bring weapons into the best firing solution for alpha strikes.  The final ASEW missile hits the nose just in case, as Overlord is caved-in on the very last shot of our forces, from the Avenger.  In return, the Taku No Transgressor is destroyed, with multiple other vessels taking damaged and loss of weapons due to thresholding or internal breaching.

Aftermath:

Upon re-reading this battle report, it seems like we came out ahead quite nicely, suffering moderate damage to the Avenger and 3 fighters, heavy damage to about 5 fighters, and losing only one fighter.  Now it is true that our intel briefings said expect heavy resistance upon planetfall and the scenario was designed prior to our purchasing, and didn’t account for as many AC20s as we had, but it was really the ASEW’s taking out the nose for most of the game that really made a huge difference in the amount of damage mitigated.

You have to think, gunnery of 4, with either a +1 or +2 depending on how the vectored thrusts are interacting, as well as any range modifiers.  So at medium range, that thing is throwing around a lot of thresholding shots at worst with 8’s, probably 7’s, and even better when it started closing in.  How imagine that nearly 50% of that raw firepower, gets bumped to 10-12’s….that’s huge.  That’s massive, and in my opinion, single-handedly saved us at least 1 ship per turn, maybe more, because the Avenger was targeted early, but not often, once the OpFor realized that with those penalties, he was not going to make an impact on the Avenger, and went hoping for threshold rolls against thinner skinned fighters.

The battle really speaks for the concept of not worrying about the ability to deal maximum amount of damage, but to be the one who can apply the most damage on a concentrated target.  We were able to mitigate the largest portion of damage, and force them to spread that damage out over multiple targets.  So while, the damage (not including the initial bombardment of AAAs and AS missiles) was probably even, we had the better ability to concentrate that damage.

As always, feel free to comment or join the discussion at http://ourbattletech.com/forum/mission-reports-analysis-and-discussion/.

]]> http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/st-ives-the-sleeping-behemoth/feed/ 0 http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/is-there-a-naval-gap/ http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/is-there-a-naval-gap/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:41:55 +0000 Blacknova http://www.ourbattletech.com/?p=913

The return of WarShips to the Inner Sphere

The return of WarShips to the battlefields of the Succession Wars has prompted a re-evaluation of military priorities across the Inner Sphere, most particularly within the Federated Suns, which is currently the only nation facing hostile warships in battlespace.  However, the question of how long the Federated Suns Navy (FSN) will retain this unhappy distinction is questionable.  The CCAF and the AFFS have had a long rivalry in the aerospace field, dating back to the naval battle over Capella at the very dawn of the Confederation’s history, through to the Great Lee Turkeyshoot of the last century.  However, more than sixty years after the current First Prince’s grandfather was murdered, for advocating aerospace’s priority over the ‘Mechwarrior Cult’ of the AFFS, has the Federated Suns really taken onboard the value of controlling the skies?

Production of WarShips is still an open question, but decisions made by the Department of the Quartermaster may suggest that there are issues.  The Federated Suns manufactures more JumpShips than any other state (except possibly the Lyran Commonwealth classifies the exact numbers being constructed).  However, reliable estimates of the four states whose DropShip manufacture can be determined (the efficiency of the ISF makes comparison with the Draconis Combine difficult), shows that the Federated Suns lags by at least 30% behind the other states and sometimes more.  This makes the current priority given to supplying the FSN with new transports rather than combat vessels understandable, but may suggest long term problems as the latter type of vessel may be needed in order to confront the Capellan fleet.

In terms of aerospace production, it is clear that Prince Davion sees the need for greater production, with a newly established factory constructing additional Sparrowhawks and Centurion fighters for the AFFS.  This new source of fighters will counter the existing shortage of interceptors, but overall numbers remain low, with the AFFS building barely 250 aerospace fighters each year.  Fortunately, the available information on production by the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation suggests that this is approximately the same for the former and well in advance of the latter.  Allowing for diversion of DCMS equipment to their Lyran front, the AFFS is probably at no significant disadvantage in aerospace production, but the relative dearth of larger craft may well result in a significant deficiency in the future.

The message here is clear: the Federated Suns Navy needs a shot in the arm or many brave soldiers will fall en route to the worlds that they fight on, unable to hit back effectively on the suddenly dangerous field of battlespace.

]]> http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/is-there-a-naval-gap/feed/ 10 http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/warlock-cross-at-witchs-peak-after-action-report/ http://www.ourbattletech.com/2011/warlock-cross-at-witchs-peak-after-action-report/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:40:12 +0000 Klinktastic http://ourbattletech.com/?p=720

Back on track!

Author’s Note: Sorry for the hiatus!  Between the vacations, travel for work, promotions and new jobs, we’ve had some scheduling conflicts.  But we’re back on track and ready to get back on track.  And to top it off, my camera died.  But my goals is to start taking pictures at the end of every movement phase, to better depict out the action unfolds.

The forth mission on Warlock worked out to be a two phase mission with half of our forces chasing down two separate AFFS forces fleeing from the CCAF and Hexare Grenadier liberators.  As the St. Ives and AFFS forces were being corralled against mountainous terrain, they turned to fight off their pursuers in the mountains’ passes.

Phase One

2nd Janissaries & AFFS:

Griffin 1DS, Javelin 11B, Eagle 1M, Snake 1V, Valkyrie QD1, Enforcer III 6M, Shadow Hawk 9D, Thanatos 4S, Marauder II 4S, Stalker 7D, Templar OC, Victor 10D, 2 Manticore Tanks (Pulse)

Hexare Grenadiers:

Shengli Armed Asset Protection: Snake 2Br, Yu Huang 10G, Thunderbolt 10SE, Lynx 9Q, 2 Zhukov (customs)

Warlock Fusiliers: 3 Transgressor 13A’s

Lord of the Night: Bandersnatch 01A, Caesar 4R, Archer 8M, Starslayer 3D

Home Guard:

Vindicator 3Lr, Hunchback 5N, 2 Mortar Carriers

Special Rules: Heavy snow

The Setup: I OpFor’ed this game, and set my troops up as follows in lances from right flank consisting of the Snake, Valk, Javelin, and Eagle, the center consisting of the Mad II, Griffin, Templar, and Stalker, and finally the Thanatos, Enforcer III, S. Hawk, and Victor off on the left flank.  Additionally, one Manticore was placed on either flank.

The Hexare Grenadiers set up behind a level 4 hill off on the left flank.  Their plan was to position during turn 1 and then climb and jump over the hill during turn 2.

The Action:

Turn 1 – The Zhukovs round the perimeter of the level 4 hill, to skirt the edge of the left flank, along side the Bandersnatch.  The AFFS Enforcer III and Thanatos exchanged fire with those units, pegging one of the Zhukovs which had bogged down.  In return, the Thanatos took a TAC, suffering an engine hit in the right side torso.

The AFFS lights, stuck on the right flank start running for the Grenadier’s location, getting LOS on the Home Guard Hunchback.  The Hunchback takes heavy damage, suffering TAC’s to the right torso, critting out the AC 20 housed within.

Turn 2 – The Grenadiers climb the hill or jump around, inundating the AFFS forces with targets.  The Hunchback lays down to provide spotting for the mortar carriers.  On the left flank, the Enforcer III takes heavy punishment striked by 2 Transgressors and others and was eventually head capped by one of the Zhukovs.  Additionally, the Victor gets it’s UAC 20 critted out and fails to hit the Lynx that  crippled it.

In return, the assaults focus down on the Archer, which takes heavy damage, leaving its’ center torso internal structure exposed.  The remaining units focus on the Thunderbolt, beating it down, crippling it’s ER PPC and knocking it into the snow.

Turn 3 – Turn 3 sees the Archer falling prone behind partial cover to protect its’ center torso and provide indirect LRM fire.  The AFFS assaults move to the edge of the level 6 cliff to see down to on the targets below.

The Griffin gets punished by combined fire, eventually cored out by the Caesar.  The Eagle’s side torso is destroy and the AMS ammo cooks off, coring it out as well.  The Snake takes an engine crit, falls, and crits its’ leg out as well.

In return, the Lynx had jumped poorly, exposing its back to the Stalker which had lumbered forward.  While not cored, it suffered three engine hits to various torsos.

Turn 4 – The Mad II’s pilot forgets the Transgressors are coming back around for a strike and bends over and presents his rear to their flight path.  The Mad II takes heavy punishment, mostly on arms and legs, and an ER PPC is destroyed.  The Thanatos takes repeated head hits, the pilot blacks out, and falls on his face, killing himself.

The T-Bolt which has persistently hounding the AFFS gets pummeled again, getting its MASC and TarComp destroyed, falling again.

Turn 5 – The AFFS, sensing defeat, begin falling back, leaving the Stalker and Mad II to fend the Grenadier’s advance as the remaining ‘Mechs turn back.

The Marauder II, after weathering a heavy barrage of fire was not long for the world as the Mortar Carriers keyed in on it, blowing it apart with over 50 damage worth of mortar fire.  The Mad II didn’t go quietly, unleashing an alpha strike on the damaged Caesar, destroying a side torso.  The Starslayer which had been skirting the Grenadier’s center flank, finished off the ailing Snake.  One of the Zhukov’s finished off a Manticore, which had been stunned the turn prior.

Turn 6 –. With most of the AFFS forces falling, the Victor, Templar, and Shadow Hawk continue to jump back.  The Stalker is focused on, weathering the onslaught well, but ultimately suffering a leg crit which knocks it down.  The Templar, which was fleeing, got striked by the three Transgressors, which it returned fire on, but did not knock any out of the sky.  It’s savaged by the fighters and is knocked down.

Aftermath:

With the Victor escaping and the two remaining assaults, the Stalker and Templar on the ground, the remaining AFFS and St. Ives troops surrender.  Overwhelmed and outnumbered, the AFFS Javelin, Valk, Stalker, Templar, Shadow Hawk, and one of the Manticore tanks had to give up, especially since their forces had been shattered from previous battles and morale was low.

The major learning point from this mission was don’t leave your butt exposed to ASF strikes, especially thickly armored fighters like the Transgressors.  They packed rocket launchers, which are oddly effective on striking fighters because of just that reason.  They can be used when striking, and do not require the plane to go on a bombing run as with bombs.

Phase Two

2nd Janissaries & AFFS:

Valkyrie QD1, Enforcer III 6M, Thanatos 4S, Shadow Hawk 9D, Marauder 7D, JagerMech 7D, Penetrator 4D, Cestus 6Z, Pillager 4Z, Warhammer 8D, Longbow 12C, Emperor 7L, 2 Pilums with snow mods.

Hexare Grenadiers:

Bethlens’ Irregulars: Victor 10B1 (custom – UAC10 & TarComp), Grasshopper 6k, Axman (custom), Hunchback 5S, 2 Warrior VTOLs

Tenshi Sendo: Marauder M2, Rifleman 6X, Dragon Fire 4F, Caesar 3R

Piotrowski Predators: 2 Custom Schiltrons with two Sniper Artillery pieces per unit.

Home Guard: Charger 1A5, Thunderbolt 9M, Blackjack BJ-3, Vindicator 3Lr, 2 Mortar Carriers

Special Rules: Heavy snow

The Setup: The AFFS and Janissaries set up on a high mountain, spread out for coverage.  The Bethlens’ Irregulars (BI) set up along the right flank and the Tenshi Sendo (ST) forces out on left flank, with the Home Guard split between the two flanks.

The Action:

Turn 1 – BI jumps forward, ST runs up left side with hurried movement.  The opposition stands fast except Enforcer that jumps close and Pilums that advance into woods. The AFFS forces pepper the H-Back and T-Bolt and the Marauder jamming the RAC-5. The H-back has an opened LT from the barrage.

The battle on the right flanks heats up early as the Enforcer takes a beating, losing a leg and laser before a TAC SRM from the Grasshopper takes out the engine. One chopper immobilizes a Pilum with infernos and sets its’ woods on fire. Massed fire tears up Davion Marauder, exposing the torso and critting an engine slot.

Out on the left flank, ST does some damage to the Thanatos and hits the Jager in the head with a LL. Emperor activates TSM with all the firing and stealth armor, Longbow is in back firing indirectly, along side the mortar carriers.

Turn 2 – ST continues hurried movement with some bogging. BI jumps close to the cliffs to hide in the dead zones. Still minor movement by the opposition, Pilum pulls away from battle to escape burning woods. Davion Marauder clears RAC but succumbs to Zhukov LB cluster shots that take out a side torso. Shadow Hawk, the only unit with LOS to the H-back, hitting it hard and getting an engine crit in the LT and leaving the CT with 1 pt. IS. The Shadow Hawk takes a beating in return, falling down with an open torso and leg damage. T-Bolt takes received some heavy fire, losing both torsos and falling over, the pilot unconscious. The Penetrator is hit hard, the Thanatos and Jager are hit a little more, and the Vindy loses an arm and is chewed up. The Warriors inferno the Longbow (to 8 heat) and the Emperor (24 heat, shut down). One Pilum burns to death.

Turn 3 – ST closes as the Thanatos jumps down to greet the Vindicator. The AFFS shuffles positions some as the Grenadiers jump into midst of them. Penetrator jumps next to Zhukov while Grasshopper jumps in its rear.

Artillery support hits H-back, Jager and Victor. The Victor is the main target but the Cestus sets off 3 ammo bins, killing the experienced pilot Lt. Peter Liao. The Grasshopper receives some punishment as the Shadow hawk loses the left torso while the Penetrator loses 4 MPLs and AMS to rear shots and side shots.

The Charger, which fell over, prop fires to blow up the Thanatos, hitting arm ammo. The H-back rear shots the shut down Emperor, blowing up the ammo in the RT, ejecting a dead pilot (3 ammo hits). Pillager takes abuse from Victor, Blackjack and Axman, 11 damage to head knocks out the pilot. Blackjack steps on its head. To end this bloody turn, the Warriors inferno the Warhammer and back shot the Long Bow (two engine hits). The remaining half of the St Ives forces defect in face of certain defeat.

Turn 4 – The Davions fall back as the Grenadiers and their new friends presse on except the Hunchback who jumps behind a cliff facing to protect its exposed internals. The Jager takes out the Vindicator but it gets revenge and shoots the leg off in return while the mortar carriers finish it off. The Penetrator is mauled, losing both torsos and falling over with a destroyed gyro. The Shadow hawk misses a DFA and falls on its back after a barrage from the Grasshopper (who hit with all MPL all game long but not once with the ERLL). The Valkyrie is peppered with SRMs from a Warrior but escapes, while the Cestus loses armor and surrenders.

Aftermath:

Similar to Phase 1 above, the combat was short and brutal.  Both games were great battles to get back into the swing of the game, since we had a quite the long layoff, we all needed a shoot-‘em-up type game.

Moving Forward

Now that we’ve pacified Warlock, brought it back under the fold of the Capellan Confederation, we’re off to St. Ives.  We are expecting to have to fight our way through in space first and then much of the ground combat in urban settings.  Because of that, Piotrowski’s Predators will be hiring some combat engineers and infantry units to help in the urban environment.  Between my mix of battle armor, infantry, and artillery, I should have some cheap and potent troop selections.  Other than that, because we’ll be fighting our way through a blockade in space, I’ll attempt a search roll on some different types of dropships…hoping for a Fortress, but might settle on Seeker, Intruder or another such highly armored dropship.  Regardless of which dropship I get, I’ll be uparmoring and AMS’ing the heck out of it.  The key is 7 AMS’s per facing, that means that you can destroy Air to Air Arrow IV missiles straight up and inflict some hefty penalties on all other sub-cap and cap sized missiles, as well as reduce damage from oncoming SRMs and LRMs.

As always, feel free to comment or join the discussion at http://ourbattletech.com/forum/mission-reports-analysis-and-discussion/.

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