Author Topic: Battletech: Hector  (Read 6866 times)

Alex Keller

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Battletech: Hector
« on: 16 February 2012, 12:57:34 »
I just finished the short story Hector, by Jason Schmetzer.  This was one of the stories now available through the recently announced Blitzkrieg program.

Overall, it's probably a decent read for junior high or elementary school Battletech fans.  More educated readers, especially those with a military background, will probably find Schmetzer's portrayal of military life in a combat zone to be highly juvenile and jingoistic.  I will likely not be reading any more of Schmetzer's work.

The story centers around a recently promoted captain in Wolf's Dragoons Alpha Regiment.  The story is set in 3019, during the Dragoon invasion of Hesperus II.  He recently broke up with his attractive girlfriend, and beautiful girls with ponytails are quick to flirt with him in what seems like every moment he's not engaged in combat.  The protagonist's love life, and his successes leading his company are the two main story arcs. 

Enjoy.

With Wolves on the Border being a 10, and Far Country being a 1, I would give Hector a 3. 

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #1 on: 16 February 2012, 14:15:56 »
beautiful girls with ponytails are quick to flirt with him

Did you expect a soldier to have an up-do?
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Alex Keller

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #2 on: 16 February 2012, 15:55:36 »
Soldiers in merc units set in 3019 can have whatever hairstyles they want.  What I find disappointing is the emphasis on it, and on attractive appearances, in general. 

I would rather read about interesting personalities and character development.  This story, to me, was mostly about fighting and immature relationships.

Perhaps the author felt he didn't have enough time/space to develop characters.  I don't know.  What I do know is that this story really rubbed me the wrong way in terms of describing relationships between people. 

Lorcan Nagle

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #3 on: 16 February 2012, 16:15:37 »
I quite enjoyed Hector myself.  It was no great literature, but I felt it was well written and the lead character was interesting enough. 
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Kit deSummersville

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #4 on: 16 February 2012, 16:20:28 »
If only the main character had had a ponytail, I might have enjoyed it....
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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #5 on: 16 February 2012, 16:21:48 »
I have a ponytail, does that help?
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Kit deSummersville

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #6 on: 16 February 2012, 16:23:35 »
I have a ponytail, does that help?

It does. I appreciate your follicles.
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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #7 on: 16 February 2012, 16:28:50 »
Woohoo!  I'm part of the creative process!
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Caesar Steiner for Archon

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #8 on: 16 February 2012, 17:45:34 »
Well, that's a downer.  I was really looking forward to this, as I've always thought there was a cool story here.


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Alex Keller

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #9 on: 16 February 2012, 18:18:54 »
If you're looking for just battle scenes, it's not that bad. 

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #10 on: 16 February 2012, 21:52:49 »
Eh, for battles you'll never beat the LCS Invincible chain of events. It's less the battle and more the siege, and that it's really simplistic and such is the real disappointment.


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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #11 on: 16 February 2012, 22:42:15 »
Is there a story covering the LCS Invincible? 

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #12 on: 17 February 2012, 08:40:06 »
Is there a story covering the LCS Invincible? 

Battlecorps published a ship profile for her opponent the Galedon II, a Samarkand II class carrier & 2 scenarios Tactics of Desperation &Tactics of Desperation II describing the engagements. I'm unaware of any fiction describing the fight.

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #13 on: 17 February 2012, 09:19:50 »
Is there a story covering the LCS Invincible?

A good one in the HSSB.
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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #14 on: 17 February 2012, 13:51:09 »
Battlecorps published a ship profile for her opponent the Galedon II, a Samarkand II class carrier & 2 scenarios Tactics of Desperation &Tactics of Desperation II describing the engagements. I'm unaware of any fiction describing the fight.

There had to be more than just the one opponent.  HBHS says that the DCMS sent its entire combatant navy (and subsequently lost it).


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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #15 on: 17 February 2012, 14:03:09 »
Correct. Tactics of Desperation lists several WarShips plus their escorts, of which Galedon II was the flagship. All were destroyer-sized or smaller, but enough that the fight wasn't completely one-sided.
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Alex Keller

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #16 on: 17 February 2012, 17:35:14 »
Just to be clear, the story is in Handbook: House Steiner, and not a short story from Battlecorps?

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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #17 on: 17 February 2012, 17:37:08 »
The House Steiner sourcebook and Handbook: House Steiner both have a writeup of Invincible's last battle.  Not Fiction.  BattleCorps published 2 scenarios detailing Invincible hitting the Jump Point, and then battling the rest of Kurita's fleet in orbit over Hesperus.
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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #18 on: 17 February 2012, 19:07:56 »
Not Fiction. 

Are you saying it's non-fiction?  ^-^
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Re: Battletech: Hector
« Reply #19 on: 17 February 2012, 19:12:06 »
Not prose?
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