Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars  (Read 480682 times)

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1080 on: 18 March 2015, 12:26:06 »
Mendrugo, are you going to mix in the Starter book: Sword and Dragon?  Sorenson are also cover in there, it may fix some discrepancies that are popping up in your reviews.

Sword and Dragon isn't a remake of the Sorenson's Sabres and Fox's Teeth books, it's a sequel set in 3048-3049.  If you check the Master Index, you can see the full list of what I plan to cover (through Surrender Your Dreams in 3156)

The discrepancies are easily explainable as "early installment weirdness," but one of my goals is to attempt to reconcile what's in the early material with the main canon timeline to the extent possible.
« Last Edit: 18 March 2015, 12:46:21 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1081 on: 18 March 2015, 22:47:37 »
----- That Same Day, on Galtor -----

Date: August 4, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: Galtorian Nights

Author: Geoff Swift

Type: Track

Synopsis:  The Galtor campaign is going poorly for the AFFS forces.  New Wuhan city fell on August 4 five days after New Derry barely withstood a significant assault.  The Twelfth Vegan Rangers moved quickly to rescue two trapped AFFS regiments in the aftermath of New Wuhan's fall, successfully evacuating Johnson's Battalion from their own Alpha Regiment, then executing a nighttime drop on the Seventeenth Benjamin Regulars' position to break the 33rd Avalon Hussars loose.

This scenario pits elements of the Twelfth Vegan Rangers and 33rd Avalon Hussars against the Seventeenth Benjamin Regulars.  The Benjamin Regulars must try to break themselves loose as they turn from trappers to trapped.

Historically, the Seventeenth escaped the AFFS ambush and retreated to defensive positions in New Wuhan City.  Due to his failure to crush the 33rd, however, Warlord Yoriyoshi was removed from joint command, leaving Warlord Grieg Samsonov in total command of all DCMS forces on Galtor.  His first command decision was to rotate in additional, more experienced DCMS formations as reinforcements.

Notes:  The 33rd's unit bonus (cancelling enemy initiative bonuses) doesn't really apply, but the Vegan Rangers will be in hog heaven, since this is a night fight with moonless conditions, and their unit bonus gives them +2 initiative and allows them to ignore the +2 To-Hit penalty for night fighting.  The AFFS goal is to prevent the 17th from escaping, so deploy your forces in two parallel lines of battle, with your longer-range units in the back.  This will allow you to bring fire on the attackers as they approach, but will give you a second chance to pound any fast movers that manage to get past the front line.

The 17th will have a 3/2 numerical advantage for the first 10 turns, until the Hussars arrive and even things up.  However, enemy fire will be far more accurate than yours, because of the Rangers' night fighting expertise.  To even the odds, use your ability to pick one unit per lance from any RAT to grab as many Warhammers as you can get ahold of.  The Warhammer is the only availabe 3025-era 'Mech to feature a built-in searchlight, which you can use to illuminate enemy forces for your attacks, eliminating night-fighting penalties.  (Vulcans would be even better, moving 6/9/6, but they don't appear on the Galtor III RAT). 

Have your Warhammers light up selected targets, concentrate the whole regiment's fire, and move through any gap that opens up at best speed.  At any cost, you want to be off the board before turn 10, when you lose your numbers advantage.  With luck, the searchlights will let you take full advantage of your numerical superiority and let you punch through the Rangers' lines.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1082 on: 19 March 2015, 00:33:25 »
----- That Same Busy Day, on Pencader -----

Date: August 4, 3025

Location: Pencader

Title: Straw Man

Author: James Swallow

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  The Lyran world of Pencader is wracked by a civil war between Marik-backed rebels and mercenaries working for the ruling noble families.  Thus far, the Commonwealth government on distant Tharkad has avoided taking sides.

At the Riga Point Forward Operations Outpost, the Ideon Irregulars mercenary outfit is battling with rebel militia troops for control of the Oxide Desert.  The sounds of combat are distantly audible to recently Dispossessed MechWarrior Nathan Beyda, who resides in the outpost stockade, cashiered and placed under arrest.  Through his cell window, he can see technicians hard at work in the evening darkness carving salvageable armor and other components from the gutted wreck of his Panther.

Exhausted, Beyda sleeps and dreams, once again seeing the battle that cost him his 'Mech - seeing himself line up his particle cannon targeting reticle on his Lance leader's Griffin and pull the trigger.

Notes:  Circa 3025, House Marik seems to be paying a lot more attention to the Lyran border than the Commonwealth is.  The League has just raided Dixie (hunting for LosTech), and is backing a revolt on Pencader.  The Lyrans' military attention, from what we see, is primarily focused on the Combine at this point (using the FedCom alliance - despite the impostor's attempt to derail it - to coordinate joint strikes against Kurita holdings).  Several Lyran worlds are even noted as being major trading hubs for merchants entering and returning from the League as commerce picks up.

Since the 2940s, the Free Worlds League has been using so-called "Liberation Units."  The first SAFE-created groups were trained on Callison and Shiloh, and consisted of 50-100 Dispossessed MechWarriors.  They received weapons, and were encouraged to wreak havoc on targeted worlds with acts of sabotage and terrorism in support of subsequent invasion by line units.  The Callison units fomented the rise of independent rebel groups on Lyran worlds.  Six new units were created, and proved a bane to the Commonwealth, adding assassinations, demolitions, and small-scale 'Mech operations. 

The Pencader situation would seem to be yet another successful Liberation Unit operation at work, with Marik agents having armed, trained, and supported rebels, and acted further to wipe out planetary infrastructure with sabotage.  (Throughout "Straw Man," locals are noted as relying on dim bioluminescent lamps - which may be the result of a collapsed electrical grid, or may be that the local ecology makes biolume cheaper than electrical.)

Both Pencader and neighboring Poulsbo have been described as "forgotten" by the Lyran central government.  With no garrison, no political oversight, and no development support, the Lyran worlds down by the Circinus Federation/Marik border are pretty much on their own - indicating that the Lyrans have their own "Outback" problem, like the Federated Suns. 
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1083 on: 19 March 2015, 06:04:23 »
Man, that sounds bad.  Trashing the infrastructure will cost who ever is the victors significantly to rebuild try keep locals from fighting each other once the claim to world is done.
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1084 on: 19 March 2015, 23:00:52 »
----- The Following Day -----

Date: August 5, 3025

Location: Pencader

Title: Straw Man

Author: James Swallow

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  Still in the dark of night, imprisoned MechWarrior Nathan Beyda is awakened by the sound of a crippled Provider-class transport plane crashing into the Riga Point Forward Operations Outpost's makeshift runway.  After the shockwave of the impact passes, Beyda notices that his cell's electromagnetic door lock has gone offline and the door is ajar.

Venturing outside, he helps Ideon Irregulars technical specialist Lisle Rix right her toppled jeep and report for salvage/retrieval duty at the crash site.  While most of the plane's cargo is ruined in the flames, an olive-drab pod broke away before impact and deployed drogue chutes, enabling it to survive intact.  As Rix inspects the pod's contents, Major Travis confronts Beyda about being out of his cell, then drops it and assigns him to pilot the SHD-2H Shadow Hawk in the pod to a safer part of the field away from the fire, since her other available pilot, Sunderland, appears to have been killed when the plane hit the barracks.  Beyda finds Rix already in the cockpit's rumble seat, performing systems maintenance.

By dawn, the extent of the destruction is evident.  Major Travis tells Beyda and Rix the Provider was shot down en-route from Duskport to Towerlund City, carrying luxury items for Lord Baron Simon UrFayne.  The Shadow Hawk was a battle-gift from Simon's older brother, and Simon has told the Ideon Irregulars they must deliver it to him intact or have their contract voided and bond forfeit.  She orders Beyda to walk the damaged Shadow Hawk through the Oxide Desert to Towerlund City, but warns him its jump jets are barely functional, the missile racks are dry, and the autocannon has only a few shots.  When Beyda refuses, Travis tells him the nobles wanted him flogged and then executed for his crime, and says if he does this job, he'll be free to get offworld and start over.  To Rix's horror, Travis assigns her to join Beyda for the trip to provide technical support and make repairs en-route.

By High Sun, the Beyda and Rix have crossed the Denner River, leaving allied territory.  They encounter a rebel patrol (identified by a crude hammer symbol hastily painted over a faded House Marik eagle) attacking a refugee convoy.  Weapons malfunctioning, Beyda kicks a hovercraft out of his way and charges the Locust leading the patrol, taking it out when the intermittently functioning autocannon comes on-line.  Rix asks Beyda if he's going to help the refugees, but he says he's done enough for them, and pilots the Shadow Hawk on towards Towerlund City.  The refugees, led by a man named Old Garris, decide to follow the Shadow Hawk's tracks towards the northern city-states.

At nightfall, Rix and Beyda take a break to dine on rations (dried fish, protein-slab meat-synth, and lima beans).  Rix notices small glitters of light representing aerospace engagements in low orbit and streaks of red-orange as crude thruster-guided meteorites disappear over the horizon to the north.  Beyda tells Rix the Pencader is divided into ducal fiefs, which, since 3000, have broken down into factional warfare and anarchy, with barons and dukes hiring small mercenary cadres to carry out their ill-planned campaigns, while the Free Worlds League covertly backs commoner rebels, who have been oppressed for centuries.  He says the fighting will continue until the last C-bill is gone, at which point the mercenaries will leave the world to rot.

Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the refugees, led by Old Garris.  He says they were impressed that someone actually stopped to help such people as they, and tells them the refugee column will be accompanying them to Towerlund, with the understanding that Beyda will not be obligated to defend them.  Beyda and Rix move on towards Towerlund with the refugee caravan following in their rigs, on into the night. 

Notes:  The Provider air transport isn't statted anywhere, but is probably functionally identical to the Federated Suns' FB-335 Longhaul Cargo Aircraft.  It's described as having a delta shape, with cargo pods attached to its underside.

People often call the 3025-era BattleTech's "Mad Max" period, but I think no other BattleCorps story has really captured that tone as well as Straw Man.  This is Morgan Kell's nightmare scenario he foresees for all of the Inner Sphere in "Not the Way the Smart Money Bets," with mercenaries facilitating the gradual grinding down of society in pursuit of C-Bills until nothing is left. 

The income inequality that drives the rebellion is demonstrated in the cargo bill of lading.  In addition to the princely battle-gift of a Shadow Hawk, the downed Provider was carrying opera holovids, Kuritan silks, fine art, and exotic cuisine (Harvest Meat Lettuces?  Tharkan Berry-Apples?  Stomach's Joy?).  All this imported at great expense across the breadth of the Commonwealth after being smuggled across the Combine border, rather than the money being used to repair the infrastructure or address the issues that turned citizens into rebels.  The nobles and their servants live in splendor in walled city-states, traveling between them by air, while the general populace scrabbles for existence among ruined settlements in the wastes. 

The situation on Pencader has some interesting parallels on the other side of the Commonwealth/League border - Angell II features a wealthy nobility making a good living on the backs of impoverished "drones" who have to spend most of their miserable existence trying to find and purify water.  The Marik sourcebook notes that several Lyran raids on Angell II received support from rebellious drones.  (Of course, the rebels don't look like they spend much time researching comparative socio-political systems at the local ComStar HPG station libraries, so they're probably unaware that League membership would only mean the names of those at the top of the heap would change.)

Looking at the historical maps, Pencader remains a Lyran holding until the re-formation of the Free Worlds League, becoming a League world circa 3145. 

The local nobility is portrayed as universally militarily incompetent, at least from the Ideon Irregulars' point of view.  Essentially a whole planet of Lyran social generals.  (What world's Hogarth from, again?)  With enough money to foot the bill for imported luxuries and 'Mechs, you'd think some of the noble families would have bought their heirs slots at the Nagelring or Sanglamore to actually give them some training in military tactics and strategy.

I've recently been reading David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series, and the musings in its first volume on the role of mercenaries in destroying interstellar society and ruining planetary economies are very similar to what comes out of the conversation between Beyda and Rix.

At this point in the story, the full details of Beyda's Dispossession haven't been revealed - only that his Panther was brought down by friendly fire, that he targeted his Lance commander's Griffin, and that the planetary nobles wanted Beyda flogged and executed at swordpoint.  The circumstances don't seem to have been widely disseminated, however.  Rix initially assumes that Beyda is a foul criminal, and is stunned when he moves to help the refugees instead of just hiding from the rebel patrol until it finished.  At this point, she's still trying to reconcile what she's heard with what she's seen.

The meteorite bombardment isn't the first in BattleTech's history.  During the Marik Civil War of 3014, the mining colonies on Sackville supported Anton, while the main world supported Janos.  For weeks, until Loyalist troops arrived in-system, the miners used the mass accelerators to bombard Sackville's cities with a hail of metallic meteorites.  (You don't suppose, ten years later, that any of those miners might have found themselves dragooned into Liberation Units to atone for their earlier disloyalty?)

The mention of the unit losing its bond implies that the Ideon Irregulars were contracted through ComStar's Mercenary Review Board, probably on Galatea.  It's truly telling how unappealing the Green-as-Grass Gray Death Legion is at this point if it can't even get a contract to join in a piddling civil war like Pencader's.
« Last Edit: 22 March 2015, 01:50:39 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1085 on: 20 March 2015, 11:48:40 »
----- The Following Day -----

Date: August 6, 3025

Location: Pencader

Title: Straw Man

Author: James Swallow

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  Daylight brings fresh carnage as Beyda and Rix pilot the Shadow Hawk through the devastation of  ruined villages, gutted graffiti-covered buildings, mass graves, bodies hung from lampposts, and funeral pyres.  Rix is horrified at the butchery of civilians, having joined the Ideon Irregulars on the assumption that she'd be protected by the informal honor code of the Third Succession War.  Beyda points out that the rebels don't have a code of honor, and use violence and terror to cow the populace.  Beyda blames the nobles for talking about a clean war of maneuver while creating sufficient social inequality to spark a bloody rebellion.

By the time they reach the outskirts of Towerlund City, Rix has gotten the Shadow Hawk's systems more or less back on line.  Towerlund is surrounded by a thick curtain of granite which provides a natural wall.  A six-lane traffic tunnel once served as the main city entrance, but "geo-mag" charges have been used to bring the tunnel roof down.  The only other option is to attempt to enter via the city's skybridge, which crosses the narrow crevasses formed by sheer mountains. 

As they approach the southern end of the skybridge, they observe that it has been fortified with strategically placed hulks of wrecked vehicles, and is occupied by rebel troops - light tanks, two Stingers, and a Wasp.  The rebels identify themselves as the Skull Brigade Freemen and, seeing UrFayne's crest on the Shadow Hawk, tell Beyda the bridge is closed to him.  Beyda considers the odds in a battle, while Rix protests that the refugee column is sheltering in the ravine right under the bridge, and could be hurt if there's a fight.  Rix suggests an alternate plan, and sabotages the laser firing circuitry to bolster her argument.

They explain the plan to the refugees, who embrace it enthusiastically.  They find the vehicle tunnel has a passage wide enough for people to pass single file, and head into the besieged city under cover of darkness, packs full of pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails.

Beyda drifts off alone in the cockpit of the Shadow Hawk.  In his dreams, he relives his final battle in his Panther.  Instead of a crazed Griffin, shooting wildly into his lance, he sees Rix's face when he trains his particle cannon on it and pulls the trigger.

Notes:  The Kentares Massacre gets special attention for being an genocidal campaign waged against largely defenseless civilians, primarily because of its one-sidedness and brutality.  This made it stand out in a period when worlds were routinely being rendered uninhabitable with nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.  By 3025, many conflicts are just small resource raids, and conducted to intentionally avoid causing damage.  However, massive destruction is still fairly commonplace: 

- The ISF's plan to push Trellwan into their camp involved unleashing a "bandit" attack lance on the city of Sarghad with instructions to cause as much destruction as possible. 

- Federated Suns "Johnnie Teams" trained pro-FedSuns partisans on Galtor III and helped them lead a bloody uprising against Kuritan rule in 3022 - cities were razed, forests burned, and whole communities were wiped away.  Over 35% of the population died, and 25% of the survivors were left homeless. 

- The capital city of Mallory's World had to be moved in 3016 because of the original site's devastation. 

- In 3017, while "on loan" to the Lyran Commonwealth, Redjack Ryan's pirate force was ordered to garrison Fianna.  They sacked the cities, enslaved the populace, and destroyed many industries, including a fusion power plant, which poisoned half the planet's atmosphere, killing millions. 

Thus, I side with Beyda in feeling that Rix should have known better about the reality of warfare.  (Though that last example is less warfare than putting a Kyotan Armor Bear to guard the henhouse.)

I'm curious as to exactly what a "geo-mag charge" is.  "Geomagnetic?"  "Geological-Magma?"  It certainly seems to have been effective - probably driven right past the UrFayne Bulldog guarding the tunnel and detonated inside by suicide bombers.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1086 on: 20 March 2015, 12:43:54 »
----- The Following Day -----

Date: August 7, 3025

Location: Pencader

Title: Straw Man

Author: James Swallow

Type: Short Story

Synopsis:  At dawn, the Skull Brigade Freemen demand that Beyda surrender the Shadow Hawk.  Beyda weighs his options - fight or flight, and chooses to fight.  Rix calls in on the Ideon Irregulars' frequency and reports she's in position on the north side of the tower.  She tells him to target one of the bridge towers with his autocannon.  Rather than just punching a hole through the ferrocrete, the impact sends the entire building up in a massive fireball, flattening the smaller buildings around it.  Rix has him blast two other targets, with similar results, and informs Beyda the refugees rigged their explosives to those buildings during the night. 

Beyda opens a channel to the rebels holding the bridge, and informs them he's armed with experimental high-explosive shells.  He orders them to stand down and let him pass.  The panicked rebels agree, and withdraw.

As Old Garris and the refugees deal with the Skull Brigade (now prisoners), Beyda and Rix work their way through the pass - traversing narrow, rock-choked canyons towards the caldera where Towerlund City awaits.  Beyda congratulates Rix on her deception.  He opens up to her about why he was in the stockade - a noble had been assigned as his Lance commander, but panicked in combat and began firing wildly at all targets, including his own Lance.  He'd already taken out Beyda's two lancemates by the time Beyda killed him with a PPC shot to his Griffin's cockpit.

Beyda begins to declare "Mission Accomplished" as they emerge into the caldera where Towerlund City lies, but are struck dumb by the scene awaiting them.  The City-State of Towerlund the Greater, seat of His Honored Lord Baron Simon UrFayne, is broken, burning ruins, shattered by the meteor strikes they saw two nights earlier.  Rix is brought to tears by the pointless waste. 

Beyda, however, realizes that with the city's destruction, Major Travis will assume he's been killed as well.  Neither the nobles nor the Mercenary Review Board will be looking for him.  With a personal tech and a more-or-less functional Shadow Hawk, he suggests to Rix that they see where their "deceased" status can take them.

Notes: Interestingly, Beyda worries about having an arrest warrant or censure placed on his head by the Merc Guild.  The ComStar sourcebook notes that while there was a Mercenaries Guild operating between 2956 and 2968, it broke up due to covert political sabotage by Comstar, which did not want competition for its own Mercenary Review Board.  As of 3025, only a few scattered Guild Hiring Halls remain as a vestige of the short-lived guild.  My guess is that he's referring to the Mercenary Review Board, which essentially functions as a mercenaries' guild at this point.

This is, quite honestly, one of my favorite BattleCorps stories, not only because the atmospherics perfectly capture the "Mad Max" core of the 3025-era setting, but  because of the illustrative debate between Beyda the jaded mercenary and Rix the optimistic tech.  I could have stood to see a sequel or three to this story, which ended on a solid hook.  Regrettably, this appears to be Mr. Swallow's only BattleTech work (he's also done Warhammer 40K and Star Trek fiction).

Given the demonstrated potential of using meteorites as weapons of mass destruction (orchestrated by the Liberation Units, using the rebels for deniability to prevent in-kind retaliation against League worlds), I wouldn't be surprised if the civil war on Pencader ended with the complete destruction of every city state and the world's effective degeneration into an Antallos-style wasteland. 

The only other mention of Pencader in BattleTech products is that the 2nd regiment of the Knights of St. Cameron was deployed there from Buena in 3028 to guard against Marik adventurism during Operation GOTTERDAMMERUNG.  The assignment of chivalric "defend the poor" mercenaries would seem to indicate that the Lyran government had decided to officially back the rebels by then, recognizing whatever shamble of a government they were able to throw together after scouring the nobility off the planet with a barrage of meteors.  (Beyda notes that rival rebel groups are fighting each other as well as the nobles.)  Since Pencader wasn't attacked in the 4th Succession War, the 2nd Knights probably spent most of their tour there hunting down bandits like the Skull Brigade and others who committed war crimes during the rebellion, and providing the nascent government with sufficient security to begin rebuilding.
« Last Edit: 22 March 2015, 02:19:37 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1087 on: 20 March 2015, 13:58:25 »
- In 3017, while "on loan" to the Lyran Commonwealth, Redjack Ryan's pirate force was ordered to garrison Fianna.  They sacked the cities, enslaved the populace, and destroyed many industries, including a fusion power plant, which poisoned half the planet's atmosphere, killing millions. 

Thus, I side with Beyda in feeling that Rix should have known better about the reality of warfare.  (Though that last example is less warfare than putting a Kyotan Armor Bear to guard the henhouse.)
If you want to read Ryan's side of the Fianna Massacre story, may I refer you to the perpetrator's flashback narration in my BC story Trial of Faith. It's not quite so all black and white, and besides, in this one case at least the guy who pulled the trigger had bounty hunters on his tail for pretty much the rest of his life. :)

Ironically, factchecking shot down the reactor being responsible, even though I had essentially just quoted previous canon and deliberately kept the details vague (because it didn't make too much sense). In the final version, it was a stockpile of SL era chemical weapons, with a damaged reactor somehow "exacerbating" the problem.

« Last Edit: 20 March 2015, 15:39:01 by Frabby »
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1088 on: 23 March 2015, 08:19:11 »
If you want to read Ryan's side of the Fianna Massacre story, may I refer you to the perpetrator's flashback narration in my BC story Trial of Faith. It's not quite so all black and white, and besides, in this one case at least the guy who pulled the trigger had bounty hunters on his tail for pretty much the rest of his life. :)

Ironically, factchecking shot down the reactor being responsible, even though I had essentially just quoted previous canon and deliberately kept the details vague (because it didn't make too much sense). In the final version, it was a stockpile of SL era chemical weapons, with a damaged reactor somehow "exacerbating" the problem.

Cool.  Thanks for the insight.  I recall thinking when I referenced it that the whole discussion of fusion reactors being incapable of destroying/contaminating the surrounding area in relation to the Tharkad City catastrophe rendered the Redjack Ryan reference invalid.

I'm on vacation in Budapest at the moment.  New reviews coming Thursday.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1089 on: 25 March 2015, 21:46:04 »
----- Three Days Later -----

Date: August 10, 3025

Location: Galatea Zenith Jump Point

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  After a nine day transit, the Phobos reaches Galatea's zenith jump point, where it docks with the Invidious.  As the ship counts down to jump, Grayson finds Lori Kalmar in the observation lounge.  She shows signs of strain, and confesses to Grayson that she's worried about going back in to combat.  Grayson surmises it's due to her near-death experience on Trellwan, when he was fighting at the starport.

Grayson is saddened by the fact that since the battle, Lori has been distant.  She earlier asked him for time to sort things out.

The ship jumps.

Notes:  While the GDL took only nine days to reach the jump point, Galatea's writeup in Handbook: House Steiner indicates the standard transit time to jump point is 12.01 days.  This implies that the Phobos made the trip to the zenith point at 1.33 Gs.  No wonder Lori looks frazzled.  Otherwise, there's good continuity between Mercenary's Star and the Handbook - there's a recharge station at the zenith jump point, so it makes the most sense for the Invidious to be waiting there.

Interestingly, while the ComStar sourcebook describes the Mercenary's Guild as short-lived and defunct by 2968, the Handbook entry for Galatea says "the down-and-out and Dispossessed could find work under the auspices of the Mercenary's Guild and the ComStar Review Board - at least until the rise of Outreach in the 3030s."  To me, this implies that the Mercenary's Guild was still an active organization (at least on Galatea) in 3025, particularly in light of Beyda's reference to it in "Straw Man."  The author of the ComStar sourcebook (a font of conflicting disinformation, if ever there was one, given the Blakist "monkey warfare" editing) may have intentionally tried to downplay the role of the Guild vis-a-vis its Mercenary Review Board.

This scene establishes the "new normal" for the cooled relationship between Grayson and Lori, likely due to the psychological trauma she experienced during the fighting on Trellwan, when her Locust was set on fire while Grayson was battling kilometers away at the spaceport, and wasn't immediately available to come to her aid.
« Last Edit: 26 March 2015, 02:28:17 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1090 on: 25 March 2015, 21:55:43 »
Greyson looks like Woody Harrelson with a wicked hairpiece in that picture.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1091 on: 25 March 2015, 22:55:55 »
----- Instantaneously -----

Date: August 10, 3025

Location: GDLS Invidious - Gallwen System

Title: Mercenary's Star

Author: William H. Keith, Jr.

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  Lori's confession of her fear is interrupted mid-sentence by the Invidious' hyperspace jump from Galatea to Gallwen, en-route to the Norn system, where Verthandi awaits. 

Grayson asks her if it's the fire, recalling her parents died in a fire on Sigurd.  She answers that she has disturbing dreams and can't sleep, due to worry that she won't be able to function in combat.  Grayson gives her a pep talk, telling her she's got the necessary training to get the job done, and that he needs her as his XO.

Back in her own quarters, Lori admits to herself that she's not afraid of combat, but is afraid of her feelings for Grayson.

Notes: While most place references in BattleTech are exclusively to colony worlds, Keith regularly named and referenced the stars as well.  On most starmaps, the systems are marked according to the most prominent colony in the system.  Thus, the Sol system is marked "Terra," while the Norn system is marked "Verthandi."  (Other examples include "2112-8845 A" for Augustine, "Alpha Draconis" for Thuban, "Alpha Ursae Majoris" for Dubhe, "Xi Ursae Majoris" for Alula Australis, "Gamma Cygni" for Sador, "Beta Pegasi" for Scheat, "Delta Taurus" for Shiloh, "NSC E 4-008-332" for Alcyone, "EC-EY-4189" for Boltin, "Gamma 2-Sagittarius" for Alnasl, "Zeta Sagittarius" for Ascella, "Pan" for Arcadia, "Helios" for Circe, "Rodina" for Strana Mechty, "Epsilon Pegasus" for Columbus, "Vaj" for Crevidia, "Tuath" for Dagda, "Din Quan" for Gan Singh, "KA-418" for Garrote, "Ember" for Ovan, and "Orpheus/Eurydice" for Weisau.)  For the most part, star names aren't referenced in BattleTech, since fighting takes place on planetary surfaces or in low orbit around inhabited worlds.

Given Keith's preference for naming stars, it's possible that Gallwen could either be an uncharted, uninhabited star system, or it could be the official star name for Alkalurops or Nusakan.

The Lori-Grayson relationship is being built-up more than it seemed to be in "Decision at Thunder Rift."  Granted, Grayson and Lori became close during the training montage chapter and the first few operations as the Trellwan Light Lancers, but he was shacking up with Mara Stannic and emotionally committed to her until he learned that Chief Minister Stannic, her father, was in cahoots with the Red Duke.  I don't recall any real romance between Grayson and Lori during the interval between her breaking him out of jail and the final battle at Thunder Rift.  It makes me wonder if the GDL series was originally contracted as a trilogy, or if two more books were ordered after the success of "Decision at Thunder Rift," forcing Keith to retroactively insert an off-camera relationship between Grayson and Lori on Trellwan.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1092 on: 26 March 2015, 04:08:09 »
----- Two Days Later -----

Date: August 12, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: Vegans to the Rescue

Author: Cory Glaberson

Type: Scenario

Synopsis:  Armed with tofurkey and kale, vegans sent from the future by Interconnectedness Unlimited and the Illuminati try in vain to improve the menu at the palace on New Avalon and prevent Hanse Davion's fatal heart attack in 3052, in an effort to prevent the FedCom Civil War.  Wait...what?  Oh, this scenario is about Vegans, not vegans.  Never mind.

After eight days of heavy fighting against the Combine forces on Galtor III, the 12th Vegan Rangers (with the remnants of the 33rd Avalon Hussars in support) make a final push to smash the Kurita line, trying to break through and isolate the 17th and 11th Benjamin Regulars from each other. 

Using the NAIS Atlas conversion tables, the 12th Vegan Rangers field the following roster:

Regimental BattleGroup:  Cyclops, 2 Awesomes, 2 Victors, 2 Atlases, 2 Orions, JagerMech, Ostsol, Thunderbolt, Archer

Air Squadron: 2 Stukas, 2 Sparrowhawks

Bragg's Battalion: Victor, 2 Awesomes, 3 Orions, Marauder, Warhammer, 4 Crusaders, 2 Archers, 3 Dervishes, 2 Griffins, Wolverine, 3 QuickdrawJagerMech, 2 Whitworths, 4 Dervishes, 2 Enforcers, 2 Assassins, 2 Trebuchets,  2 Whitworths, 2 Shadow Hawk

McCullough's Battalion: Awesome, Victor, 2 Orions, 2 Ostrocs, 2 Riflemen, 2 Crusaders, 3 JagerMechs, 2 Griffins, Wolverine, 3 Quickdraws, Dervish, 5 Assassins, Spider, Wasp, 3 Stingers, 6 Locusts, 2 Ostscouts, 2 Hatchetmen

Against this, the DCMS fields:

17th Benjamin Regulars

Regimental BattleGroup: BattleMaster, Atlas, 2 Chargers, Stalker, Victor, Orion, Marauder, Crusader, Dragon, Catapult, Thunderbolt, 2 Panthers, Jenner, Wasp

Air Squadron: 4 Slayers, 2 Thunderbirds, 2 Sholagars

Elazar's Battalion: 2 Dragons, 2 Grasshoppers, JagerMech, 2 Griffins, 3 Marauders, Orion, 2 Panthers, Wasp, Warhammer, Rifleman

Sharon's Battalion: Thunderbolt, Catapult, Ostroc, Dragon, 6 Panthers, 2 Jenners, 3 Wasps, Griffin

11th Benjamin Regulars

Regimental BattleGroup: 2 Panthers, Jenner, Wasp

Holgarth's Battalion: 2 Scorpions, 4 Hunchbacks, 2 Phoenix Hawks, 3 Whitworths, Thunderbolt, Catapult, Ostroc, 2 Dragons, 2 Griffins, 4 Panthers, WaspGrasshopper, JagerMech, Wolverine, 3 Jenners, Rifleman, 2 Stingers, 2 Locusts, 2 Javelins

With lucky dice rolls, the following reinforcements appear at the northern map edge:

11th Benjamin Regulars

Swift's Battalion: 2 Panthers, 4 Jenners, 5 Wasps, 4 Hunchbacks, 2 Riflemen, 4 Stingers, Wolverine, 2 Spiders

De Alba's Battalion: 3 Wolverines, 5 Jenners, 3 Griffins, 12 Panthers, 7 Wasps, 3 Stingers, 2 Spiders, 2 Locusts, Whitworth, 2 Javelins

Air Squadron: 2 Slayers, 2 Sholagars

17th Benjamin Regulars

Sharon's Battalion: 4 Grasshoppers, 3 Griffins, 4 Panthers, Wolverine

Gonen's Battalion: 3 Marauders, Orion, 3 Dragons, Warhammer, Rifleman, Grasshopper, 2 Thunderbolts, 2 Catapults, Ostroc, Crusader, 6 Wasps, 3 Stingers, 2 Spiders, 6 Panthers, 2 Jenners, 2 Locusts, Whitworth, 2 Javelins

The AFFS forces' goal is to break through the Kurita lines and exit as many units off the northern edge of the map.  The engagement ends when either all Vegan units have exited off the northern edge of the map, or when Vegan losses exceed 15 units.

This battle takes place on a moonless night.

Notes:  For the AFFS forces, I would recommend putting your assault and heavy units at the front of a narrow wedge, with the light and mediums clustered behind.  Move north together at the pace of the Assaults until you engage the Kurita line.  If the Kuritans have formed a wide line to cover lots of ground, use your assault wedge to punch through and keep going.  If they've massed ahead of your wedge, have your heavies dig in and engage, while your lights/mediums divert to bypass the Kuritan forces on the flanks.  If the DCMS forces divert troops to run your troops down, their blocking forces will be weakened, and you can smash through and keep advancing, if they don't, you'll have lots of units making it off the northern edge.  Avoid engagement whenever possible by keeping distance, and using woods and terrain to block LOS.  The night conditions help a lot.  Use your air squadron to tie up the superior DCMS air squadron, so it can't be used for opportunity attacks against your light lances.

Whatever you do, don't split up and make a run for the northern border.  You'll get spread out and your lights will be intercepted, strafed, and chewed up, leaving your assaults and heavies outgunned when they reach the fully intact Kuritan lines.  Even when you use the recommended flanking maneuver, keep units of similar speed together so they can mass firepower against enemy fighter attacks.  A unit off on its own is just begging to get swarmed by fighters.  Nonetheless, keep moving north at best speed, because you want to get as close to the northern border as possible before too many DCMS reinforcements arrive.

For the DCMS side, you want to slow down the AFFS advance as much as possible.  Put a plug of your heavy and assault units at the river crossing to hold the ford - either forcing the AFFS troops to fight through, or to slow down during a river crossing.  Put your light and fast medium units in the woods behind, positioned to engage any units that break through.  Once the forward assault units go down fighting, pull your medium and light forces back to the northern map and link up with newly arrived reinforcements to reform the block - again concentrating the less maneuverable heavies/assaults at the ford, while the light/medium units fan out to counter breakthrough attempts. 

Your air squadron is going to be key.  To win, you need to knock out 15 Vegan units before any Davion troops cross the northern map edge, so send your fighters against light Vegan lances, scoring easy kills against the lightly armored targets.  The enemy has four fighters to oppose you, but you start with eight, and the reinforcement table makes it likely you'll get another four on turn 1 or 2.

When your reinforcements arrive, send the heavies to map chokepoints, and move fast lights/mediums up to join the current position of the mobile screening forces.
« Last Edit: 26 March 2015, 07:53:42 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1093 on: 26 March 2015, 06:28:23 »
Lordy Lordy that a busy battlefield.  Was this meant to be played all at once or in fragments?  I can see couple weeks (when you have free time i mean) of playing this thing.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1094 on: 26 March 2015, 06:49:03 »
Lordy Lordy that a busy battlefield.  Was this meant to be played all at once or in fragments?  I can see couple weeks (when you have free time i mean) of playing this thing.

It's a BattleForce (1st edition) scenario, so you move lances as single units, pitting 25 AFFS unit markers against 16 DCMS units, plus 31 potential DCMS reinforcement unit markers.  It's huge, but it ends as soon as the AFFS takes 15 casualties (though it's not clear to me if that means as soon as 15 'Mechs/fighters go down, or as soon as 15 lances are wiped out).
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1095 on: 26 March 2015, 08:27:18 »
----- Five Weeks After the Collapse of Operation DOPPLEGANGER -----

Date: August 12, 3025

Location: New Avalon

Title: The Sword and the Dagger

Author: Ardath Mayhar

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  In the aftermath of the failure of Operation DOPPLEGANGER, Hanse freed and reinstated the government officials imprisoned by the impostor and had MIIO and the DMI root out the network of Capellan informants within the Palace and the AFFS.  Hanse personally fires Cleery as Maitre at the summer palace, appointing Fani Littek in his place.  Hanse dispatched Ardan to oversee the reconquest of Redfield, which he accomplished with minimal Davion losses. 

Shortly after Ardan's return, he attends a fancy dress ball at Hanse's invitation, wearing a brand new dress uniform.  Though he disdains the overly elaborate dress uniform, he is stunned by how good Sep looks in her ball gown, along with jewelry provided by the Lyran ambassador.  Jarlik and Reflett also present.  To the assembled room full of guards and palace staff, Hanse introduces the three as his rescuers.  He tells those assembled that he wanted to thank each of them, privately, for their roles in restoring his rule and purging the conspiracy.  He asks them to keep the details of the plot and its unraveling secret.

Hanse explains to the group that Maximilian Liao conspired with advisors from other Houses to replace him with a false Hanse Davion, who would gradually alter FedSuns policies to further their goals.  He says the conspirators took a man of Hanse's build and coloring and wiped his mind clean.  They obtained holographs of him in every possible place and activity and put the man through extensive plastic surgery.  They re-educated his brain with accelerated techniques so he would believe himself to truly be Hanse.  Agents in the palace and at the NAIS replaced all Hanse's official medical records, retinal scans, DNA, blood type, etc. with those of the impostor's.

Hanse adds that the conspirators kept the impostor in stasis after the surgery, and allowed Ardan Sortek to see him so that Ardan could be accused of treachery and further discredit the real Hanse.  He says Ardan's argument (at the start of the book) with Hanse was triggered by vicious rumors aimed at Ardan's ears. 

Hanse personally thanks Jarlik, Septarian, Ardan, and Reflett for saving him on Argyle, Denek for making travel arrangements (guests of the conspiracy stay at the New Avalon Ramada Inn  :D) and getting them into the palace, Maylor Efflinger for assisting them in the palace, and Kolek and Prillie Efflinger (newlyweds) for their assistance in information gathering and disguise.  He appoints Kolek as his personal staff liaison for Steiner interests. 

He says NAIS scientists have assured him the technology for body transformation will be closely monitored in the future.  He announces that he regards the impostor as an innocent victim, and has provided a pension for his care and rehabilitation in a quiet and remote place.

Hanse concludes his speech by saying "[Maximilian] Liao has been most troublesome of late, but if I were him, I'd watch my back."

Notes:  I'm not sure why Ardan is so upset with how "ostentatious" his dress uniform appears.  Looking at various images, there appear to be three different dress uniforms in use in the AFFS.  There's a simple white tunic with orange epaulets, an olive drab 20th-century style uniform, and a blue dress uniform with a golden sunburst on the chest.  My guess is that Ardan is accustomed to the olive drab or white version, and feels the blue/gold sunburst variant is too "blinged out" for his comfort.

While this initially reads like the end of an episode of Scooby Doo ("And, like, the Genecaste were just Old Man Jenkins and Ma McGillicutty in rubber masks trying to get at the oil under the Indian graveyard.") as Hanse attempts to explain the plot, there are a number of elements therein that ended up having a massive impact on the Inner Sphere. 

First off, how exactly is the Federated Suns going to control the technology for body doubling?  He as much as admitted it was just really good plastic surgery, and needed to be abetted by having agents on the inside.  And if he's talking about the mind-wiping device, both that and the body-doubling technology seem to have gotten plenty of use in following decades.  (Rhonda's Irregulars features Marcos Shake, an amnesiac pilot who's a dead ringer for an unscarred Thomas Marik.  My personal theory is that he was a discarded prototype for doubling Thomas Marik - mindwiped and surgically altered, but for whatever reason the personality implant didn't take, forcing ComStar to do a quick'n'dirty second try - covering the haste with massive scarring and no mindwipe - to get "Thomas Marik" back to Atreus before Duncan Marik could consolidate power.)  Hanse's pledge is very quickly thrown out the window when his new mother-in-law, Katrina Steiner, selects Jeana Clay to be surgically (though not mentally) altered to be a body double for Melissa, so she can covertly get knocked up by Hanse on New Avalon.  I do suppose it's possible that Justin Allard and Alex Mallory had numerous sub-objectives when they infiltrated the Capellan Confederation, including the destruction of the mind-wiping technology, though the Intelligence Operations Handbook indicates the Maskirovka still has the Neural Interrogation Computer circa 3055. 

Hanse's description of FedSuns meddling in FWL affairs as "vicious rumors" targeted at Ardan also seems to be a bit of a handwave.  By entering into the Federated Commonwealth alliance treaty, the Federated Suns explicitly aligned itself against the Free Worlds League under the "enemy of my friend is my enemy" principle.  Heck, FWL mercenaries attacked the FedSuns world of Demeter as recently as 3022 (in "Hornet's Nest"), so striking back by screwing with the League's economy is only fair, given the difficulty of launching retaliatory raids across Capellan territory.  At worst, it could be considered long-delayed payback for House Marik's throwing the FedSuns economy into a massive depression during the Age of War (as detailed in "Fall From Grace").

Hanse's warning at the end was also a major plot hook leading into the Warrior Trilogy, in which Hanse gets his revenge on Maximilian Liao by launching the Fourth Succession War. 

The impostor shows up again during Ilsa Bick's serialized novel "Descent," as well as making a cameo in Warrior: Coupe that shatters Maximilian's sanity.

Hanse leaves the identity of the conspirators vague, simply saying it was orchestrated by "other...Houses."  The Kapteyn Accords states (Marik, Liao, and Kurita) were clearly all aware of what was going on.  House Hasek may also have been involved, though Michael's interests would have best been served by Hanse's swift demise, rather than through policy changes, so he was probably involved in a supporting role to facilitate the switch, rather than being the impostor's controller. 

The whole "let Ardan see the impostor to...um...discredit him and by extension discredit the real Hanse" is still somewhat hard to swallow, since the plot would likely have succeeded if Ardan had died as a Pink tree trophy in the swamp.
« Last Edit: 26 March 2015, 14:23:50 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1096 on: 26 March 2015, 13:57:25 »
Hanse's description of FedSuns meddling in FWL affairs as "vicious rumors" targeted at Ardan also seems to be a bit of a handwave.
If anyone needs confirmation that this meddling indeed happened (beyond Sortek's complaints in The Sword and the Dagger), ComStar is discussing Davion financial suport for insurgents in the FWL as matter of fact between themselves, namely between Primus Tiepolo and Precentor Waterly, in the prologue to Warrior: En Garde.
I guess Hanse just can't openly admit to his more nefarious operations.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1097 on: 27 March 2015, 12:37:07 »
----- Six Days Later -----

Date: August 18, 3025

Location: Hongqiao

Title: Guerrilla Warfare

Author: Michael T. Herbert

Type: Scenario

Synopsis:  Political dissent against Regulan rule has been growing since 3003, and erupted into an armed insurgency when Regulus raised its tax levies in 3023.  Regulan High Command sent in reinforcements to support the pro-Regulan planetary government's militia, using terror tactics against population centers while fruitlessly sending conventional forces on patrols through the world's steamy jungles, where they were constantly subjected to ambush.  High Command tactics did not change to become more effective until 3025. 

In this scenario, a lance from the Rolling Thunder company is on patrol in the Xinhuai River Valley when it comes under attack by forces belonging to the guerrilla Third Route Army. 

The accompanying fiction, "Rumble in the Jungle," adds some character development to the Rolling Thunder warriors, painting Lt. Francis Canny as a green by-the-book academy-fresh Lance commander who fails to take advice from Sgt. Anton Karlevski, who is getting tired of pulling Canny's fat out of the fire.

The Regulan lance consists of an Ostsol, Ostroc, Shadow Hawk, and Wolverine-M.  The Third Route Army force consists of a Wolverine-M, Phoenix Hawk, Jenner, Assassin, and five initially hidden infantry platoons.  The winner is the one that completely destroys the foe's force.  Any outcome that leaves any of the opposition alive results in a draw.

All clear hexes are Light Woods, all Light Woods hexes are Heavy Woods.

Historically, the guerrilla force lacked sufficient firepower to overwhelm the Regulan patrol, and faded back into the jungle.

Notes:  The Regulan force outweighs the guerrillas, but only by 60 tons (not counting the infantry), so as soon as one 'Mech goes down, Rolling Thunder is on equal footing.  Since you position yourself first, plant your Lance in the heavy woods on the northwestern corner of the map, back to back.  You won't be able to see to shoot almost anything unless it's right on top of you, and only two of your four units have jump jets.  I would strongly suggest using your energy weapons to either clear the surrounding light woods hexes or set them on fire (which has the same result, eventually).  With luck, the spreading flames will take care of any infantry lurking in the underbrush, and the guerrilla jumpers will be looking at rough terrain (forcing a PSR if they try to jump into it).  If the dice hate you, you'll be close enough to the edge to retreat and deny the guerrillas a victory.

The Third Route Army gets to set up second.  Have your infantry surround the Ost- 'Mechs (the Shadow Hawk and Wolverine can jump), and position your jumpers to be able to reach point blank range with the targets.  Jump in and mass your fire on one Rolling Thunder target at a time, then jump back into the woods to cool off.  The movement modifiers you get for your jump, plus the tree cover should make it much harder for the Rolling Thunder units to strike you.  If your units are dropping right and left, just jump one off the map and salvage a draw.

The House Marik sourcebook describes Regulus' ruling Cameron-Jones family as "supremely venal," and notes that the Principality never fully recovered from the "Scourge of Death" scandal and economic losses in the 2550s.

Amusingly, the "Home Defense Act" that many provinces use to justify keeping their frontline forces in their districts also largely prevents any other provincial forces or federal League forces from being sent in to assist with an internal Regulan matter. 

Like "Ideal War," this scenario seems to be a reference to battlefield conditions during the Vietnam War.  (No idea what author Michael Herbert's background is, but a mechanized patrol being ambushed by guerrillas while going through a steaming jungle seems like an intentional reference in that direction.)
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1098 on: 27 March 2015, 13:36:48 »
I loved that scenario book, specially for how it was written and how rich characters were. 
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1099 on: 28 March 2015, 01:02:11 »
----- Two Days Later -----

Date: August 20, 3025

Location: New Avalon

Title: The Sword and the Dagger

Author: Ardath Mayhar

Type: Novel

Synopsis:  Ardan is watching Candent Septarian put her Warhammer through its paces at the royal palace's training Gauntlet.  He is amazed by her precision marksmanship, and resolves to work to bring his own skills up in his newly restored Victor.

Hanse approaches in his BattleMaster, telling Ardan that, since the 'Mech saved his reign, he feels the need to sharpen his skills again, since "you never know when you'll need them."

As Hanse enters the Gauntlet, Ardan asks Hanse if he's willing to be a godfather to Ardan's newly born nephew (his sister Fesla's son).  Hanse accepts, saying he can never have too many Sorteks in his entourage, and invites Ardan to join him in the Gauntlet.  Grinning, Ardan follows his childhood friend. 

Notes: Hanse gets his wish for more Sorteks in the form of Ardan's cousin Bishop, who is 15 at this point.  Bishop goes on to lead the First Davion Guards during Operation BULLDOG, and dies in 3063.  Other Sorteks of note include Ardan's son (with Candent, presumably) - Connor, and a grandson, Justin, who commanded the First Davion Guards as part of the Swordsworn.

The Gauntlet makes a reappearance in the Warrior Trilogy and again in the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, where the now elderly Hanse and company relive their youthful exploits.  Hanse's comment about needing to freshen his skills indicates he probably hasn't taken the field in the BattleMaster since the Halstead Station debacle in 3013, when Ardan had to shoot Hanse's 'Mech in the back to bring him to his senses and prevent him from launching a suicide charge into the heart of the DCMS line in an attempt to save his fiance, Dana.  Hanse's comment here about "never knowing when you'll need it" is, of course, foreshadowing for his having to ride the BattleMaster into combat in 3029 to fight off the ComStar raid on the New Avalon Institute of Science.

This scene closes out "The Sword and the Dagger," - BattleTech's version of "The Man in the Iron Mask."  For all its problems, this novel fleshed out the plot points that set a number of major story elements in motion.    Operation DOPPLEGANGER's use of body doubling both triggered Hanse's revenge-based Operation RAT and the 4th Succession War and inspired ComStar (which assuredly knew everything about the plot, and probably had ROM grab the specs for the process from the Capellans) to use it to double Thomas Marik - eventually leading to the Jihad.  It also charted the development of the Hanse-Melissa relationship, which underpinned the Federated Commonwealth treaty, and showed the Kapteyn Accord states actually collaborating (one of the few times they worked together against the Federated Commonwealth).  It also essentially confirmed Michael Hasek-Davion's collaboration with House Liao.  The existence of off-map staging and supply worlds (like Dragon's Field) was referenced in the FedCom Civil War sourcebook.

On the other hand, the presence of sapient aliens in the Inner Sphere was dropped and never referenced again (Far Country not withstanding), as was (for the most part) the use of cryogenics during JumpShip transit.  Likewise, we never again see a roof-launched "air car."

Plot-wise, the bit where Ardan sees the duplicate in a cryo-tube on Stein's Folly still doesn't make any sense at all.  Ardan wasn't originally supposed to be on Stein's Folly (he left on his own accord), and capturing him was a fairly random action.  There's no way the Capellans could have intentionally planned his capture so they could let him see the impostor.  Furthermore, their goals would have been substantially advanced by just letting Ardan die, rather than arranging an elaborate shadow-dance to discredit him.  One would also have thought that the conspiracy insiders at the palace could have reprogrammed the Prince's BattleMaster at the same time they were substituting all of the medical records.  All it would have taken would be for Hanse to assign a conspiracy-aligned technician to perform maintenance on his 'Mech.
« Last Edit: 28 March 2015, 01:04:06 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1100 on: 28 March 2015, 05:46:02 »
----- Five Days Later -----

Date: August 25, 3025

Location: Marduk

Title: Decision at Marduk

Author: Cory Glaberson

Type: Scenario (BattleForce)

Synopsis:  As part of the larger Kuritan strategy, Moroushi's independent assault battalion had occupied Marduk in the early days of the Galtor campaign, with the goal of blocking AFFS reinforcements bound for Galtor III.  Three months into the campaign, the 33rd Avalon Hussars and supporting units from the Robinson and Dahar DMMs launched an attack to liberate Marduk.  Moroushi's Battalion massed at the projected landing zone to overrun the liberation force. 

Rather than landing, disembarking, and attacking, however, the 33rd executed a hot drop directly atop Moroushi's lines, unnerving the troops and causing them to retreat (all Combine units check for disruption on Turn 1, and may not fire or spot if disrupted).  The scenario continues until one side is destroyed.  No retreat is allowed.

Moroushi's Independent Assault Battalion (per the NAIS Atlas conversion tables)

Battalion Headquarters: Griffin, Wolverine, 2 Panthers, 4 Trebuchets
Air Squadron: 2 Thunderbirds, 2 Sabres
Transport: DCS Electrophore (Union DropShip)
1st Company: Dragon, 3 Grasshoppers, JagerMech, 2 Griffins, Panther, Scorpion, Hunchback, Phoenix Hawk, Whitworth
2nd Company: 2 Whitworths, 4 Javelins, 2 Stingers, Wolverine, 3 Jenners
3rd Company: 3 Hunchbacks, Rifleman, Stinger, Scorpion, Phoenix Hawk, Whitworth, 4 Trebuchets
Support Company: 2 Vedettes, 2 Goblins, 2 Rommels, Manticore, Pike, 2 Demolishers, 2 Von Luckner
(the NAIS vehicle tables are generic across all factions, so I'd question the Rommels and Pike, since at this point the Rommel is a fairly recent Lyran innovation and the Pike is manufactured only in the Magistracy of Canopus - a long way to import such a mediocre fire support tank.  I'd suggest swapping in a low-tech variant Tokugawa for the Pike and Bulldogs for the Rommels).

Meade's Battalion, 33rd Avalon Hussars

Battalion Headquarters: Griffin, Wolverine, 2 Quickdraws
1st Company: Cyclops, Victor, 2 Awesomes, Atlas, Marauder, Orion, Warhammer, Ostroc, Rifleman, Crusader, JagerMech
2nd Company: 2 Hatchetmen, 4 Assassins, 2 Stingers, 2 Wasps, Stinger, Valkyrie
3rd Company: 2 Trebuchets, 2 Whitworths, 2 Dervishes, 2 Shadow Hawks, 2 Wasps, Stinger, Valkyrie

Ground Assault Air Squadron: 6 Sabres
(This seems a bit underweight for a "ground assault" unit - light fighters are generally used for fast intercepts of other fighters, while heavy fighters are better for ground assaults, since the targets aren't fast enough to evade your attacks)

Robinson Draconis March Militia

Shubert's Battalion, Rosen's Company:  2 Trebuchets, 4 Whitworths, 4 Dervishes, 2 Shadow Hawks

Dahar Draconis March Militia

Pope's Battalion, Harshaw's Company: Cyclops, Victor, Awesome, Atlas, Ostroc, Rifleman, Crusader, JagerMech, 2 Phoenix Hawks, 2 Hatchetmen

Notes:  Given how the mechanics of interstellar warfare have been subsequently developed, the Marduk "blockade" of Galtor III doesn't work.  Not only could reinforcements stage on either Harpster or Deshler, but they could use uninhabited systems to reach Galtor III.  They could even use the Marduk system's jump points for transit, since there's no need to actually touch down on Marduk itself.

The real reason for this AFFS assault on Marduk was likely the need to reclaim the vital Norse BattleMech Works in the Tillerbee Jungle.  Marduk has been heavily contested, with the "Twelfth Battle of Marduk" fought around 3023.  The factories could produce replacement Griffins and Wolverines (aka "reinforcements") for the AFFS troops on Galtor III. 

The existence of Moroushi's Independent Assault Battalion raises some interesting questions about the DCMS TO&E.  While no independent battalions are listed in the House Kurita sourcebook, they clearly exist - not just Moroushi's, but also Duke Ricol's household troops engaged on Verthandi, and probably others.  My guess is that Moroushi is a Combine noble who maintains a private army.  As long as each noble maintains the force out of their own finances, doesn't grow it beyond a certain size, consents to ISF scrutiny, and deploys it per the commands of the DCMS high command or at least the local District Warlord, the Coordinator is probably in favor of such formations.  (Not only that, but such "noble regiments" could serve as a way to surprise enemies with forces not on the official TO&Es, like the Ghost Regiments in the War of 3039 - though with those the yakuza provided the manpower while the DCMS provided the equipment, with help from ComStar.)

Strangely, for an independent assault battalion, the Kuritan forces only have transport sufficient for a company.  The absence of the rest of its transports is probably explained by the fact that they're parked too far away to be involved in the battle, with the AFFS forces having elected to drop right on top of where the Electrophore was located.  (Having DropShips parked too close together creates a problem of dead-fire zones between them, into which the ships' gunners won't fire for fear of hitting friendly ships, per "The Price of Glory.")

This is a straight-up set-piece deathmatch.  The AFFS side is likely to be scattered by the drop, but the Combine's disruption should give it the time it needs to regroup and use its superior numbers.  If possible, the AFFS player should try to keep the fight away from the Electrophore, since its heavy firepower could tip the balance.

The Combine troops should deploy in a tight group around the Electrophore.  Use it as a firebase, with your fire support units in the rear ranks and close-in fighters in the fore, and make any AFFS units entering your kill zone feel like they're putting their faces into a blender.  By massing your troops, those that fail the disruption check can be supported by those that succeed.
« Last Edit: 28 March 2015, 14:52:30 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1101 on: 28 March 2015, 12:44:18 »
Ah yes, private armies. Another example is the Amphigean Light Assault Group, which (ooc because different writers wrote different writeups independently and unawares of each other) has a rather curious background - they were apparently raised as something of a corporate security force, then became mercenaries but apparently weren't registered with the Review Board; instead, they were hired out within the Combine only. And there's another, apocryphal corporate terror force, the Dark Wing from the first MechWarrior computer game.

It would seem House Kurita, even before the Death to Mercenaries verdict, would not allow local merc units to be created which could be hired by outsiders. If a merc unit was created in the Combine it would remain within the combine.
Duke Ricol's personal army even had DCMS officers assigned (iirc Narimasa Asano tells Yorinaga Kurita that he was going to be assigned to Duke Ricol's force) even though they were entirely private ventures, as shown by the Shrapnel story Dance of Vengeance. Guess Ricol's noble charter included some sort of military exchange rights with the DCMS.

So, bottom line, yes this seems a very likely explanation for the existence of Moroushi's Independent Assault Battalion - some sort of semi-private noble army with strong DCMS ties/leashes.

Btw this goes to show just how short the military lists in the Housebooks fall of the actual number of 'Mech units. They apparently totally ignored noble houshold armies, private security forces, and mercs who weren't directly contracted by the state discussed.
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Failure16

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1102 on: 28 March 2015, 13:31:46 »

Ground Assault Air Squadron: 6 Sabres
(This seems a bit underweight for a "ground assault" unit - light fighters are generally used for fast intercepts of other fighters, while heavy fighters are better for ground assaults, since the targets aren't fast enough to evade your attacks)



This is a straight-up set-piece deathmatch.  The AFFS side is likely to be scattered by the drop, but the Combine's disruption should give it the time it needs to regroup and use its superior numbers.  If possible, the AFFS player should try to keep the fight away from the Electrophore, since its heavy firepower could tip the balance.

The Combine troops should deploy in a tight group around the Electrophore.  Use it as a firebase, with your fire support units in the rear ranks and close-in fighters in the fore, and make any AFFS units entering your kill zone feel like they're putting their faces into a blender.  By massing your troops, those that fail the disruption check can be supported by those that succeed.

Remember back in the days this was written, the rules for CAS ordnance-loads were based around available thrust, meaning that light ASFs were kings (even if they didn't always return to base after the sortie, given how BF1 worked).  And DropShips, again in BF1, tended to get slaughtered by 'Mechs when caught on the ground.

I love this thread, by the way, and am always keen to see your insights.
Thought I might get a rocket ride when I was a child.          We are the wild youth,                                And through villages of ether
But it was a lie, that I told myself                                          Chasing visions of our futures.                   Oh, my crucifixion comes
When I needed something good.                                         One day we'll reveal the truth,                    Will you sing my hallelujah?
At 17, I had a better dream; now I'm 33, and it isn't me.      That one will die before he gets there.       Will you tell me when it's done?
But I'd think of something better if I could
                           --E. Tonra                                                      --C. Love
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Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1103 on: 28 March 2015, 14:51:01 »
Remember back in the days this was written, the rules for CAS ordnance-loads were based around available thrust, meaning that light ASFs were kings (even if they didn't always return to base after the sortie, given how BF1 worked).  And DropShips, again in BF1, tended to get slaughtered by 'Mechs when caught on the ground.

I love this thread, by the way, and am always keen to see your insights.

Good point.  I'd only been thinking about strafing attacks, rather than bomb loads. 

I'm glad you're enjoying the thread.  I always welcome reader (and author) input, since it's fun to hear other points of view, battlefield strategies, and information that I may have overlooked.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1104 on: 28 March 2015, 16:54:47 »
----- One Week Later -----

Date: September 1, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: The Final Push - Part 1

Author: Cory Glaberson

Type: Scenario (BattleForce)

Synopsis: In a final attempt to finish off the AFFS forces on Galtor III, the First Amphigean Light Assault Group hammers the remnants of the Raman Draconis March Militia, executing an orbital drop on their positions.

Historically, the outgunned Raman DMM was wiped out to the last man.  Its primary goal is to deal as much damage as possible to the Amphigean LAG, giving other AFFS units a better chance in subsequent scenarios. 

The rosters consist of:

Raman Draconis March Militia

Finnegan's Battalion
Battalion HQ: 2 Phoenix Hawks
1st Company: 2 Enforcers, 2 Assassins, 2 Whitworths, Dervish
2nd Company: 3 Locusts, Ostscout, Assassin
3rd Company: 2 Wasps, Stinger, Valkyrie, 2 Phoenix Hawks, 3 Hatchetmen

MacNeill's Battalion
Battalion HQ: Quickdraw, JagerMech, Griffin, Dervish
1st Company: 2 Assassins, 2 Spiders, 2 Wasps, 2 Stingers, 3 Locusts, Ostscout
2nd Company: 3 Wasps, 2 Stingers, Valkyrie, Assassin, Spider, 3 Locusts
3rd Company: 2 Hatchetmen, 3 Assassins, 3 Stingers, Phoenix Hawk, 2 Ostscouts, Spider, Wasp

Air Squadron: 2 Sparrowhawks

First Amphigean Light Assault Group

Regimental BattleGroup: BattleMaster, Atlas, Charger, Stalker, Victor, Charger, 2 Orions, 4 Marauders
Rocket Company: 3 Crusaders, 3 Dragons, 3 Catapults, 3 Thunderbolts

Ophiuchus' Battalion
Battalion HQ: Thunderbolt, Catapult, Ostroc, Dragon
1st Company: Victor, Charger, Orion, Marauder, 2 Dragons, 2 Warhammers, 2 Riflemen, 2 Grasshoppers
2nd Company: 2 Grasshoppers, 2 Griffins, 3 Panthers, 2 Wolverines, 3 Jenners
3rd Company: 3 Hunchbacks, Rifleman, Stinger, Scorpion, Phoenix Hawk, Whitworth, 2 Panthers, Jenner, Wasp

Pollux's Battalion
Battalion HQ: Crusader, Dragon, Catapult, Thunderbolt
1st Company: 3 Marauders, Orion, 2 Dragons, Grasshopper, JagerMech, Griffin, Thunderbolt, Catapult, Ostroc
2nd Company: 3 Hunchbacks, Rifleman, 2 Stingers, Scorpion, Phoenix Hawk, Whitworth, 2 Wasps, Spider
3rd Company: Wolverine, 3 Jenners, Griffin, 2 Panthers, 3 Wasps, Stinger, Spider

Themistocles' Battalion
Battalion HQ: Dragon, Warhammer, Rifleman, Grasshopper, BattleMaster, Atlas, Charger, Stalker
1st Company: 2 Dragons, Grasshopper, JagerMech, Griffin, Thunderbolt, Catapult, Ostroc
2nd Company: 8 Trebuchets
3rd Company: 2 Hunchbacks, Rifleman, Stinger, 2 Panthers, 2 Locusts

Notes:  As Frabby stated, the Amphigean Light Assault Group has two separate origin stories.  Cory Glaberson fleshed the LAG out as being corporate mercenaries - originally just the security force (the Amphigean Security Group - formed in 2811) for the spherewide food corporation known as Amphigean Agriculture, Inc.  The security force grew large and powerful enough that the agricorp began hiring them out as mercenaries by the early 2900s.  The Draconis Combine approached the company about forming new regiments under long-term contract to the Combine.  Their insignia was a bugle on a gold rimmed blue field.  They were listed on the House Kurita sourcebook's 3025 TO&E, which did not differentiate between DCMS and mercenary units. 

When Jim Musser, Donna Ippolito, and Boy F . Petersen, Jr. wrote the 20 Year Update, they dropped the other mercenaries from the TO&E, but still listed the LAG, indicating that it had transitioned to being a House unit instead of a mercenary force.  This was maintained in Objective Raids.  When Loren Coleman wrote Field Manual: Draconis Combine, he gave them a new logo (the armored shark) and only described their Clan War escapades, with no reference to their origins.  One easy workaround for the change is that the LAG had no good options when Coordinator Takashi Kurita issued his "Death to Mercenaries" edict.  While other mercenary commands could just book for Galatea and find a new contract, the Combine stood to lose badly needed fairly loyal units.  Most likely, the DCMS arranged with Amphigean Agriculture, Inc. to purchase the units outright and turn them into House forces.  This would explain why the units are listed as Questionable in the 3049, 3053, and 3058 writeups.

The LAG should lead with its Heavy and Assault units, because of their durability.  Have the missile units form a second rank, and use light/fast/jumping units to flank the enemy forces.  Don't be too eager for your light/medium units to mix it up with the enemy, because you want to minimize your losses.  Armor can be fixed, units can't be replaced in these linked scenarios.  Always try to double/triple team the outnumbered enemy, and pit units against foes at least one weight-class lighter.  If any of your heavier units start coming close to losing armor, pull them back.  There's no time limit, so you can take your time demolishing the DMM in a conservative fashion. 

Conversely, the DMM should try to inflict as much damage as possible.  Gang up on a few units, and try to put your targets out of commission rather than just inflicting armor damage across a wide swath of the enemy line.  Your main advantage is maneuverability.  Keep trying to flank the Combine line - pitting your main body against just a small section of the Combine line, then dancing away as the heavier Combine forces try to close. 
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1105 on: 29 March 2015, 02:28:19 »
----- Later That Same Day  -----

Date: September 1, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: The Final Push - Part 2

Author: Cory Glaberson

Type: Scenario (BattleForce)

Synopsis:  After steamrolling the Raman DMM, the 1st Amphigean Light Assault Group slams into the 12th Vegan Rangers' line, making one final attempt to seize the real SLDF depot. 

The LAG brings whatever survived the previous scenario.  Six lances are set aside as "flanking forces," and are allowed to enter on a 2D6 roll of 5 or 6 on the reinforcement table.  On a roll of 11 or 12, elements from Chaldrean's Battalion and Saxton's Battalion from the 2nd Amphigean LAG also join in the fun (albeit limited by the number of victory points scored in the previous scenario + 100).

The LAG enters on the western side of the map, and its goal is to exit as many units as possible off the eastern side of the map.

To stop them, the 12th Vegan Rangers deploy the following:

Regimental Battlegroup: Awesome, Victor, Orion, Quickdraw, JagerMech, Griffin, Dervish
Air Squadron: 3 Eagles, 4 Hellcats, 4 Sparrowhawks

Bragg's Battalion
Battalion HQ: Griffin, Wolverine, 2 Quickdraws
1st Company:  2 Awesomes, Victor, 3 Orions, Marauder, Warhammer
2nd Company: 2 Crusaders, Archer, Dervish, 2 Whitworths, 2 Dervishes
3rd Company: 2 Trebuchets, 2 Whitworths 2 Dervishes, 2 Shadow Hawks,2 Enforcers, 2 Assassins

McCullough's Battalion
Battalion HQ: Griffin, Wolverine, 2 Quickdraws
1st Company: Quickdraw, 3 JagerMechs, Griffin, Dervish, Ostroc, 2 Riflemen, 2 Crusaders, Ostroc
2nd Company: Quickdraw, JagerMech, Griffin, Dervish, 6 Locusts, 2 Ostscouts
3rd Company: 3 Assassins, Spider, Wasp, Stinger, Hatchetman, Stinger

Hover Recovery Company: 3 Condors, 3 Falcons, 6 J. Edgars
Tracked Company: 2 Demolishers, 2 Von Luckners, 2 Rommels, Manticore, Pike, 2 Vedettes, 2 Goblins

AFFS Stragglers: 3 Wasps, 2 Stingers, Valkyrie, Assassin, Spider, 2 Phoenix Hawks, 2 Hatchetmen

Off-Board Artillery: 3 Snipers

The scenario ends when either all LAG lances move off the eastern edge of the board, or when combined DCMS and AFFS casualties exceed 20 lances.

Historically, the Vegan Rangers repulsed the LAG's assault, but LAG withdrew in good order, denying the Vegans the opportunity to destroy them.

Notes: The Vegan Rangers want to cause as many casualties as possible to hit the 20 Lance target before LAG units begin moving off the edge.  Since losses from both sides count, send your light mobile forces right into the teeth of the enemy heavies.  Focus your fire on one unit at a time to bring it down, and accept the heavy casualties as progress towards the goal of 21.  Use your slower, heavier forces as blockers to stop the LAG from breaking through.  Your air lances should be massed to take out any LAG lance that gets close to the eastern edge.

The LAG should initially hang back, hoping both to roll reinforcements and to draw in the Vegans' light units, if the AFFS player is feeling aggressive.  There's no time limit, and you don't want your troops to be halfway down the map when reinforcements arrive on the western edge, too far away to assist.  Having surprise reinforcements show up and immediately be able to engage the surprised (and likely flanked) AFFS skirmishers would be lovely.  Once you have a critical mass of reinforcements (if the dice gods are generous), have your assault units lead a flying wedge into what's left of the AFFS line, with your fast units following in tow.  Once the AFFS force commits to a defensive position, have your fastest units break laterally (possibly in two directions, if you have enough) and go for the eastern edge.
« Last Edit: 29 March 2015, 04:27:13 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1106 on: 29 March 2015, 06:24:23 »
----- Later That Same Day  -----

Date: September 1, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: The Final Push - Part 3

Author: Cory Glaberson

Type: Scenario (BattleForce)

Synopsis: In actuality, the LAG's assault on the 12th Vegan Rangers was a diversionary tactic to enable the 7th Sword of Light's Kismet Battalion to raid the real Star League warehouse.  The Sworders are joined by any LAG lances that made it through the Ranger lines.

The warehouse is defended by Johnston's Battalion of the 12th Vegan Rangers and Jenkins' Battalion of the Bremond Draconis March Militia.  The AFFS player can buy additional lances from the Bremond DMM using victory points scored in earlier scenarios, plus 100 more granted in this scenario.

At the scenario's end (which occurs when all of one side is wiped out), the side that has a unit on the warehouse gets 50 bonus points.

The fixed rosters are as follows:

7th Sword of Light, Kismet Battalion

Battalion HQ: BattleMaster, Atlas, Charger, Stalker, 3 Marauders, Orion
1st Company: 3 Dragons, Warhammer, Rifleman, Grasshopper, 2 Thunderbolts, 2 Catapults, Ostroc, Crusader
2nd Company: 3 Dragons, 2 Grasshoppers, JagerMech, Griffin, Warhammer, Rifleman, Crusader, Catapult, Thunderbolt
3rd Company: 2 Hunchbacks, Rifleman, 2 Stingers, Wolverine, 3 Jenners, Whitworth, 2 Javelins

12th Vegan Rangers, Johnston's Battalion

Battalion HQ: Trebuchet, Whitworth, Dervish, Shadow Hawk
1st Company: Marauder, Awesome, Orion, Warhammer, Ostroc, Rifleman, Crusader, 2 JagerMechs, Ostsol, Thunderbolt, Archer
2nd Company: 2 Quickdraws, 2 JagerMechs, 2 Griffins, 2 Dervishes
3rd Company: 2 Phoenix Hawks, 2 Hatchetmen, 4 Ostscouts

Bremond DMM

Battalion HQ: Hatchetman, 2 Assassins, Stinger
1st Company: 2 Awesomes, 2 Victors, 2 Orions, Cyclops, Atlas, Ostroc, Rifleman, Crusader, JagerMech
2nd Company: 2 Crusaders, Archer, 5 Dervishes, 4 Whitworths
3rd Company: 3 Phoenix Hawks, 3 Hatchetmen, 2 Ostscouts, Griffin, Wolverine, 2 Quickdraws

Support Units

22nd Special Air Squadron: 4 Eagles, 2 Stukas, 2 Hellcats, 4 Sparrowhawks
Artillery Spotters: 2 Rommels, Manticore, Pike, 2 Demolishers, 2 Von Luckners, 4 Pack Rats, 4 Skulkers
Off Board Artillery: 3 Snipers

Notes:  For the AFFS side, I would assess how many LAG forces got through in Scenario 2, and buy extra DMM forces to at least reach force parity (ideally to get about a 10% edge).  You need points to win the linked scenarios, so spend your points wisely and save as many as you can.  No need to burn them all to set up a curb-stomp final battle.

You have artillery assets in this battle.  Depending on your assessment of the Combine forces, I would try to booby trap them.  Put some light troops to guard the bunker entrance, and let yourself get pushed off the entrance.  Once the Combine forces dig in around the bunker, you can stand back and pile on with artillery.  You get 50 points for holding the bunker when the scenario ends, but the scenario only ends when one side is completely wiped out, so point-wise, you only need to be sure to take the bunker back while there's still a Sworder or LAG unit on the field, so that the scenario won't end with your victorious forces standing on the edge of the bunker entrance hex, but not getting the points on a technicality.  (This advice comes from a training scenario in The Crescent Hawks' Revenge, where you need to be occupying a target area by the end of the timed scenario - but the enemy forces occupying the target zone get reinforced as soon as they're destroyed, so if you take it immediately, you'll be overwhelmed by waves of reinforcements before the timer expires.  The solution is to wait until a minute or two before the timer expires and then attack, letting the scenario end before reinforcements arrive.  Takeaway: Take the objective just before the end, and punish anyone who takes it early.)

For the Combine, it's going to be hard to win the battle straight out, so your goal is to win the overall campaign on points.  You've had the advantage in the first two portions, so if you scored lots of points there, do what you can to score as many points in this scenario, with the goal of maintaining point superiority by the end of the scenario.  If you can psych-out the AFFS player into burning victory points on additional DMM forces, all the better.  As noted above, taking the warehouse is a psychological victory, but will tie you down and make you vulnerable to artillery attacks if you take it too early.  If the battle goes your way (against the odds), wait until you're mopping up the AFFS survivors to take the warehouse.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1107 on: 29 March 2015, 07:15:34 »
----- A Few Hours Earlier  -----

Date: September 1, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: Hopelessly Outmatched

Author: Geoff Swift

Type: Track

Synopsis:  Author Geoff Swift revisits the "Final Push" battles in Track form in Historical Turning Points - Galtor.  The 17th Benjamin Regulars and 5th Galedon Regulars trapped the Raman DMM and prevented the Bremond DMM from reinforcing them.  With the Raman DMM pinned, Warlord Yoriyoshi had the First Amphigean LAG drop right on top of the Raman DMM.

Whereas the BattleForce scenario just had the LAG forces rolling over the outgunned DMM on open terrain, this puts the battle on the edge of a coastal cliff, with any unit moving off the south or east edge considered destroyed from falling into the sea.

The 17th Regulars block the north and west edges, containing the Raman DMM until the LAG troops begin dropping on Turn 10.  The DMM's goal is to get at least four units off the board (on the north or west side) who aren't under forced withdrawal.  The DCMS forces win by preventing that.

Historically, a few DMM units got away, but the LAG managed to destroy most of the unit, then pivot to attack the main FedSuns lines, distracting AFFS commander Margrave Douglass while the Sword of Light captured the Star League depot.

Notes:  The sides are even for the first ten turns, so that's the DMM's window to extract.  Since it's a 2x2 mapboard at least, it should be easy enough for the DMM forces to mass and drive directly for the safe edge.  Breakthrough scenarios are notoriously hard for the defender to win, especially if the escapees have equal strength and jump jets.  In my experience, if you roll on the light RATs for your troops, you should be easily able to get four units off the edge of the map.  To keep the DCMS from scoring extra points, and cancelling out the point advantage, you need to get more than half your units off.  Don't worry about shooting the Combine forces too much - use cover and speed to get off.  Split your forces into lance-size packets and move them towards separate exit zones - forcing the defenders to split their focus and opening holes where nimble troops may be able to slip past without taking fire.

For the DCMS forces, this is going to be tough.  If you have the numbers, form up to three lines of defense along your perimeter.  Move up to engage the DMM troops, keeping about five hexes between each line.  Moving forward will help shrink your perimeter and close up the holes.  If someone jumps over the front rank, the second rank can try to take it out.  If that doesn't work, you've got the rear ranks.  (Put faster units in the rear, so they can break off and pursue if a fast unit does get through.)
« Last Edit: 29 March 2015, 10:50:13 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1108 on: 29 March 2015, 10:48:04 »
----- Around Midnight That Same Day (Simultaneously With The Final Push Part 3)  -----

Date: September 1, 3025

Location: Galtor III

Title: In the Bear's Den

Author: Geoff Swift

Type: Track

Synopsis:  The Track begins with the 7th Sword of Light battalion in control of the Star League depot, with up to a battalion deployed in and around the 64-square hex depot.  Three times their number of AFFS forces attempt to break into the bunker and reach the center by Turn 6, led by the Bremond DMM command lance which has entered through a hidden rear entrance and will appear on the map inside the bunker on Turn 4.

If AFFS forces occupy the hexes in the center by turn six and stay there without moving for two turns, they disarm the explosives, and the huge numbers of AFFS forces can then mop up.  If they fail, the bunker explodes on Turn 8.

Historically, Jenkins' lance seized the detonator in time and saved the depot, but were subsequently killed by the Sworders before the rest of the AFFS forces stormed in and wiped out the DCMS battalion to the last man.  The balance of power in the Galtor Campaign further shifted with the long-delayed arrival of the Robinson and Clovis DMMs.

Notes:  The change from BattleForce to standard BattleTech scale necessitates some substantial layout changes in the battle.  The original scenario called for an "Overlord" marker to be placed in one hex to represent a Heavy building - the entrance to the warehouse.  The Track describes it as an 8-hex by 8-hex 3-level Fortress, with a two-hex wide doorway.

The Track actually makes, in my opinion, for a more engaging battle, given the time limit and closer quarters.  The BattleForce scenario, by contrast, is just a set piece battle with control of the depot relegated to a technical issue of point scoring, largely irrelevant to the overall battle.

A lot depends on the scale of the engagement.  If (for whatever reason) you scale up the engagement to full size, the bunker will be wall to wall Sworders, and there's really no conceivable way the AFFS will be able to push through the narrow doors and mob the center before turn 8.  A more realistic scale might be AFFS battalion vs. Combine company, or even AFFS company vs. Combine lance.  The smaller the engagement gets, the easier it will be for the AFFS.  I think two AFFS companies vs. two Combine lances would be the best mix for standard BattleTech, while Alpha Strike would allow you to easily do battalion vs. company.

For the Combine, make a wall of steel around the target zone, and keep feeding bodies into the mix until you run out.  Put your two heaviest in front of the doors to block the way once they're breached (to block reinforcements), while the rest need to be in position to stop Jenkins' command lance.  You really only need to focus on Jenkins' lance from Turn 4 to Turn 6.  If they aren't in position by Turn 6, they've lost, and they'll be at ground zero when the bombs go off on Turn 8.  If you've achieved that goal, take off running and see if your faster units can clear the blast zone by then.  If they can't, just enjoy shooting up the poor, doomed AFFS scum.

For the AFFS, you can't rely on Jenkins' lance.  Send all available forces to the doorway and blast through, then use push or charge attacks to clear any blockers out of the way and race for the target zone.

The arrival of AFFS reinforcements was supposedly because the blockade at Marduk was lifted.  More realistically (given the timing), it was because the real Hanse was back in charge and one of the impostor's command decisions had been to withhold reinforcements.  To me, the whole "Marduk blockade" story smacks of MIIO/DMI misinformation to cover up the DOPPLEGANGER crisis, just as the NAIS Atlas of the Fourth Succession War contains text saying Michael Hasek-Davion died a hero while trying to negotiate peace with House Liao, rather than having sold out the FedSuns for his own personal gain.
« Last Edit: 11 April 2015, 00:22:42 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

skiltao

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars
« Reply #1109 on: 29 March 2015, 19:38:33 »
Given how the mechanics of interstellar warfare have been subsequently developed, the Marduk "blockade" of Galtor III doesn't work.  Not only could reinforcements stage on either Harpster or Deshler, but they could use uninhabited systems to reach Galtor III.  They could even use the Marduk system's jump points for transit, since there's no need to actually touch down on Marduk itself.

Harpster and Deshler might be too out of the way if speed were important, and transiting uninhabited systems may be considered riskier than retaking Marduk. I think you're right that groundside facilities are somehow important to staging a relief force, though; that could easily rule out other options without having to invoke the 'Mech factory.

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The existence of Moroushi's Independent Assault Battalion raises some interesting questions about the DCMS TO&E.  While no independent battalions are listed in the House Kurita sourcebook, they clearly exist - not just Moroushi's, but also Duke Ricol's household troops engaged on Verthandi, and probably others.  My guess is that Moroushi is a Combine noble who maintains a private army. 

There was one full Kuritan regiment deployed to Verthandi plus elements of three more - four regiments is too large a force to all be considered Duke Ricol's "household" troops. However, I notice that the old House Kurita sourcebook has a Duke Ricol commanding the 7 DCMS regiments of the Kirchbach prefecture, and that the prefecture's capital is the homeworld of the 17th Rasalhague Regulars. This regiment (like Summer's 17th Skye Rangers) is undoubtedly the Duke's "household" regiment.

The Duke is cunning and ambitious, and the loyalty of all Rasalhague Regulars is suspect; it makes sense that he would try to raise troops loyal to him personally. The Shrapnel story does say he raises a company of personal troops for his private use. I presume the company is separate from the 17th, though there's no sign one way or the other.

If Ricol only raises a company, then it probably takes a District Warlord to raise a battalion, and I don't see any sign that Muroushi's battalion is the personal troop of a Warlord.

So I doubt that the Assault Battalion is a noble's private force. "Independent" more likely refers to it being a "free-floating" unit (not tied to a specific district), or to it operating without a parent regiment or (like Davion's "Fox's Teeth" company) away from its parent regiment. It might also be a merc battalion, or even one of the units Hendrik Grimm hires out.

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As long as each noble maintains the force out of their own finances, doesn't grow it beyond a certain size, consents to ISF scrutiny, and deploys it per the commands of the DCMS high command or at least the local District Warlord, the Coordinator is probably in favor of such formations.  (Not only that, but such "noble regiments" could serve as a way to surprise enemies with forces not on the official TO&Es, like the Ghost Regiments in the War of 3039 - though with those the yakuza provided the manpower while the DCMS provided the equipment, with help from ComStar.)

That sounds an awful lot like the Night Stalker regiments. From what the House Kurita sourcebook says, I wouldn't be surprised if individual battalions were being pulled away from the unit.
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