----- 5 Years Later -----
Date: July 1, 2838 [See Notes]
Location: New Dallas
Title: The Steel Tip
Authors: Cory Glaberson, L. Ross Babcock III, Kevin Stein & Tara Gallagher
Type: Scenario (BattleForce)
Synopsis: The 7th Crucis Lancers are on a mission to tear through the planetary defenses on the Liao-held world of New Dallas with the goal of penetrating deep into the Capellan rear area before the CCAF can summon reinforcements from elsewhere onworld. Attempting to stop them are elements of Hamilton’s Highlanders (of the Chesterton Reserves).
The Lancers get 350 points to purchase Regular ‘Mech and air forces, and can spend up to 36 points to allow a maximum of six ‘Mechs to drop from orbit. The Highlanders have only 150 points to spend on the defending forces, plus another 100 points of off-board reinforcements (which arrive as soon as the Capellan player rolls an 11 or 12, checking once per turn). However, this force imbalance is compensated by giving the Highlanders 100 points of landmines and five units of hidden infantry. The Highlanders also have two hardened buildings, which can shelter infantry.
The Lancers’ goal is to move as many ground units as possible off the defenders’ home edge of the map, while the Highlanders’ goal is to destroy as many Lancer units as possible. The Lancers can also retreat units off their home edge, but gain no point bonuses.
Notes: The scenario, which appears in the original BattleForce rulebook, is undated, so my date of July 1, 2838 is pure guesswork. However, New Dallas is a former Terran Hegemony world that was, per H:LoT2, captured by House Marik after the Star League Civil War, nuked into submission, and then abandoned. This scenario says it’s a Liao world under attack by the Federated Suns.
I initially chalked this scenario up as a complete canonical impossibility – attributable to this being one of the very early scenarios, and to New Dallas not having appeared on any maps until recently (with references to the not-then-mapped New Dallas in the same category as early references to House Liao’s battles against House Kurita on the then-equally-invisible world of Lincoln).
However, scouring various sourcebooks for any possible scenario in which Davion troops would be attacking a Liao holding in (ostensibly) Marik space, I was amazed to actually find such a reference. The original House Marik sourcebook says that ComStar interdicted the Free Worlds League from May 2837 to November 2838 after the League destroyed the HPG station on Oriente, allowing CCAF troops to come pouring over the border, retaking lost worlds and attacking League holdings. The Marik SB notes that the carnage would have been worse, if not for Davion and Kuritan troops also getting involved (“attracted like sharks to blood in the water”), leading to four separate Houses fighting each other in the interdicted Free Worlds League. Thus, we actually could have Davion troops hitting Liao staging bases on New Dallas during the 2nd Succession War interdiction of the FWL.
I put it at July 2838 because it would take a while for Liao troops to penetrate that far and for Davion troops to get the transports together to take advantage of Marik weakness on the other side of Capellan territory, but it could plausibly be at any point in 2838. (New Dallas has been described as being completely abandoned by the start of the Second Succession War due to the collapse of the world's terraforming infrastructure in the wake of the FWL's nuclear assault on the planet in the First Succession War – so not a high invasion priority. The Liao presence on the world is probably just a supply depot/staging ground for futher incursions against more valuable League worlds)
In terms of strategy, the Lancers could optimize their force mix by spending their points on cheap fast light units (Spiders would be ideal…UrbanMechs not so much). Since the Davion score is dependent on how many of their ground troops get across the finish line, numbers matter more than firepower. That being said, the Lancers will have to maneuver carefully to avoid the Capellan defenders as much as possible, since such recon elements won’t stand up to much punishment, and they reward the Capellans with extra bonus points for each one killed. Nonetheless, speed is key, since the Lancers want to be through Capellan lines and gone before the Capellans roll an 11 or 12 to summon reinforcements. The Davion player should pay attention to the score balance. Once he/she gets ahead of the Liao point total, there’s a good case to be made for pulling back to the home edge and declaring victory on points (particularly once the Liao reinforcements hit the board), rather than risking a come-from-behind Liao victory by providing the opportunity for the Capellans to rack up more points through kills.
Air units could be helpful either in keeping CCAF air units off the Davion ground forces or clearing chokepoints on the ground, but AFFS planes can't score points and can be liabilities (pointwise) if shot down. On the whole, I'd recommend deploying (at most) a pair of heavy fighters, tasked with trying to knock out as many Liao fighters as possible (the heavy fighters would be less likely to be shot down and give the Liao side more points).
The Highlanders will need to deploy a mobile defense force. They’ve got a 28-hex long line to cover against a mobile force three times their size. They need to get superior firepower on enemy forces in order to smash them and get kills. Since the Highlanders’ forces aren’t restricted by unit type, I’d strongly recommend putting as much as possible into air units, which have the speed to swoop in, smash a Lancers’ force concentration, then race across the map to hit the next one. The minefields and infantry can be used at the map’s natural chokepoints to deny the Lancers the speediest routes, and while they’re either trying to go around or bull through, the Capellan air forces can come in for another strafing run.
(Speaking of New Dallas, we'll cover the details of its Star League and early Succession War battles, chronicled in Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, in the appropriate threads once the six-week moratorium expires around June 20.)
