Jihad- Ravens vs Crucis regiment?

[Colt Ward]

Someone mentioned this in a thread a while back and I have been mentally poking at it . . . which FedSuns regiment ran up against the Ravens on a periphery border world?

[Kojak]

It was the Third Crucis Lancers.

[MarauderD]

Specifically, the mech regiment of the 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT.  They were looking for a secret Blakist base during the Jihad, but found a mixed Outworlds Alliance and Clan Snow Raven force.  It sounds like the Lancers blew through their opposition on the ground, but were slowly ground down by aerospace/dropship reinforcements. 

Hard to know exactly what shape they were in by the middle of the Jihad, but they were an Elite mech regiment with 4 battalions.  So it must have been a hell of a fight!

[Colt Ward]

Was it confirmed all 4 mech battalions were present or just a slice of the RCT?  What world was it on? . . . cause I am thinking of playing some of this out with a assault drop of protos on some rear area repair/marshaling area.

What Raven & Outworlds force was it?

[MarauderD]

For the 3rd Crucis Mech regiment we know that their 3067 strength is around 100 mechs from FM:Updates.  We also know that it was only the mech forces present.

For the Outworlds Alliance I believe it was the 3rd Alliance Air Wing (Elite) and for the Ravens, the 12th Garrison Cluster.  From what I gather it was a rout on the ground with the Lancer mech forces blowing through both the Alliance and Raven ground forces.  Then aero reinforcements came in from Alpheratz and wore down the ground forces from the air.

Is that enough to get started? 

[Colt Ward]

For the Crucis, did it really say all 4 battalions or could it have been a 2x2 sweep operation?  *checks Sarna* Huh, all 4 . . . Elite/Fanatical with med/heavy mechs and 8 lances of Omnis.  I may stretch it and say mechs & BA since it would be easier to take both for the sweeps- leaving the armor and infantry regiments behind to hold the garrison makes sense.  They had to have taken some air assets, wonder how many assault droppers escorted the transports?  So . . . 3 Overlords (Upg), 4 Unions (Upg), 2 Mule or Jumbo for support, Avenger/Achilles/Claymore- a single wing could be loaded on the DS.

Sure, I remembered that it was a lower quality Raven cluster and they are not a top tier so Omnis are rather rare- set down with the MUL last night and came up with a Supernova Binary, mech binary, two Proto trinaries, armored supernova trinary, VTOL binary and a ASF trinary . . . without the OA, it makes it 5-1 odds in mechs with the Crucis probably having near parity in quality.  Which matches up with their listing of 5 trinaries of force, though as Reg/Rel the Lancers are going to have a advantage in skill too.  Huh, 'wiped' out in '72 and then again by the Dracs in '83 . . . but in '86 field tested the Omen.  Might have a Arcadia as the only DS assigned since they are garrison.
 The OA brings maybe a battalion of med vehicles and wing of med ASF.

Heck, if the Lancers were on the DC-FS border they might have bought some Clan mechs like Thresher, Warhammer IIC 4s, Rifleman IIC #s, Ha Otokos, and Mad Cat Mk IIs from the Sharks so it might even be superior.  The Lancers would have latest mechs while the Ravens would be using a mix up of Omnis, standard Clan mechs, old Star League designs, post Exodus mechs (Pulverizer!), and anything they had salvaged from wiping out pirates around the OA.  So yeah, the Lancers are probably better equipped, better skilled, and parity in combat power though the Lancers have superior numbers of mechs.

Heck, adding up the numbers . . . the Lancers might have needed both wings (40) to get through the OA/Raven defense of 20/30 fighters.  Reunification battlefield might be a fun place to start duking it out.

[Nibs]

A few notes on Raven Alliance forces:

- Snow Raven garrison forces are OmniMech-heavy (per FM:3085, all Raven Clusters have >50% Omnis) and are also Aerospace-heavy (use of 'Triad' Trinaries, which deploy an aerospace Star in each Trinary). Therefore, we can expect Raven fighters to total 35-50, depending on the state of the Cluster.
- Outworlds Alliance wings are equivalent to Inner Sphere air regiments, totalling sixty fighters in each wing.
- Outworlds Alliance planetary militia are typically two to four conventional battalions.

I think you have a good idea adding ProtoMechs to the Cluster, since the Ravens were using them extensively to bolster their Mech-light forces.

[Colt Ward]

The 3rd Alliance Wing on Tallman IV were divided between 3 worlds- so a single battalion and single squadron on the world, which is where I drew the numbers from.

As for the Ravens, I know they are mech-poor and as a Garrison cluster while I did give it a supernova binary (10 omnis) I also plotted out a mech binary that mixed Clan standard mechs and Star League left overs . . . and might swap in a salvaged pirate mech.  With the action in '72 it places them closer to FMU in organization/strength, and I think it said 5 trinaries of strength in this structure-

Supernova Binary
Mech Binary
1st Proto Trinary
2nd Proto Trinary
Armored Supernova Trinary (Clan & SL vehicles)
VTOL Binary- MWDA trend w/o full ASF replacements & Raven Alliance increase in VTOL use, suppose it could be broken up to add one to each mech trinary
ASF Trinary