Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars

[skiltao]

the arrival of vast numbers of Kurita troops to put down the uprising just doesn't jibe with the events of Mercenary's Star at all.

That's the thing, though. When they're talking on Galatea in chapter two, the Verthandi rep says that the arrival of Drac 'Mechs is what finally made the rebel council send someone to Galatea. So the deployment of Drac 'Mechs to Verthandi ought to be fairly recent.

Related thought: the Kurita regiments might not be there to put down the uprising - maybe Ricol was planning to use Verthandi as a staging base.

[Mendrugo]

But the Monitor entry says the Drac troops came at the end of 3025, while the GDL was hired in July 3025.  Ricol shows up at the end of 3025, but doesn't bring any reinforcements, and then takes the best troops with him when he leaves in January.

Plus, Marrion is stated to have seized the Swamp Fox shortly after the rebellion started.  Mercenary's Star says the revolt started in 3015.

The way I see it

Mid-3015: rebellion starts
Fall 3015: rebellion overwhelms Kurita garrison, trapping them in Regis
Late 3015: reinforcements drive rebels back into hiding in the jungles
3015 - 3025: rebellion continues at low level, having lost many assets in late 3015.  Things get gradually worse every year
3025: Rebels realize they can't win alone, and send Eruddin to Galatea
Oct 3025: GDL arrives
Nov: Rebels shattered, GDL takes charge
Dec: Rebels notch wins against Combine
3026:  Ricol takes away air support and DEST.  GDL bleeds Combine garrison and grows rebel forces
September 3026: Ambush spurs GDL counterattack on Regis - Combine garrison routs and flees to spaceport

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025

Title: Technical Readout: 3025

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)

Type: Sourcebook (FASA)

Synopsis:  This sourcebook is introduced in an “in-universe” fashion as “the latest in a series of reference books describing the equipment and material of war in the Inner Sphere.”  It covers 55 different ‘Mech classes, as well as LAMs, AeroSpace Fighters, DropShips, and a few vehicles.  Every entry contains an Overview, giving the design’s purpose and history, a rundown of the design’s Capabilities, a Battle History detailing notable actions in which the design was involved, a brief description of Variants, and profies of notable ‘Mechs and MechWarriors.

Locust: Introduced in 2499, the Locust was one of the most common BattleMechs of the Age of War and the Star League.  It serves as a fast recon vehicle and quick strike vehicle.  Due to their fragility, they are usually deployed in groups of three, to attack as a pack.  During the First Succession War, AFFS General Kessem sent 20 Locusts and other fast movers to attack a weak point in the Kurita lines on Ludwig.  They penetrated (with heavy losses) and forced the DCMS to dispatch troops to the rear area to hunt them down, delaying Ludwig’s fall for months.  In 3020, the 10th Marik Militia proved their value battling through the streets of the city of Rolso, massacring infantry hiding in buildings.  On Royal, Locusts with the 8th Deneb Light Cavalry rampaged through the Combine’s rear area, but an entire battalion of 10th Deneb Light Cavalry Locusts was lost when ambushed by Heavy and Assault Combine ‘Mechs.  Helmar Valasek attacked the Kurita world of Porthos in 3024, using the Locust’s speed to seize supplies and escape before the garrison could react.  Lt. Martha Maveries pilots her Locust, “The Stomper,” in the 32nd Lyran Guard.  The name comes from her successful physical attacks against small hovercraft during the Battle of Shull on Alexandria.  George McPhearson, with the Capellan March Militia, pilots “Wanda’s Wonder,” which is named for his sister who died on Hoan. 

Wasp: Introduced in 2471, the Wasp was the first recon ‘Mech to be mass produced for the Terran military.  Too lightly armed and armored for battle, it serves as a scout.  Early models had a design flaw, discovered during the Reunification War on Imbros III.  When Wasp pilots tried to “jump-kick,” they found that repeated use of the tactic caused the lower leg assemblies to rip away upon impact.  Field refits solved the problem by 2610.  In 2772, loyalist SLDF forces attacked Amaris positions on Cylene IV to cover the landing of the main SLDF liberation force, allowing the planet to be taken in four days.  In April, 2796, Oshika’s Recon Lance used its Wasps to systematically butcher more civilians than any other Kurita unit.  House Davion put a price on the lance members’ heads, and they were all dead by 2801.  Ross Malone, of McGee’s Cutthroats (Kurita mercenaries), is one of the best trackers in the Successor States with his Wasp, “Nightshroud.”  Jody Okigama and her Wasp, “Dobber III,” are known for being able to run backwards while firing at pursuing oes.

Stinger: The Stinger is the second mass-produced recon ‘Mech, after the Wasp.  In addition to scouting, it is also used as a training ‘Mech at academies, replacing the TRC-4B Chameleon.  It almost never overheats, but pilots complain that the cockpit is cramped.  In 3019, at the “Battle of Markerson” on Fallon II, DCMS Captain Mercer Ravannion attempted to demonstrate the power of a “swarm” attack by leading six Wasps and Stingers against McKinnon’s Raiders’ recon lance.  All of Ravannion’s force was destroyed, and his theory of swarm tactics was discredited.  In 3021, The Black Widow Company raided Doneval II and battled cadets from the Meistmorn MechWarrior Academy, who rallied to save a disabled classmate from “Gentleman” Johnny Clavell’s pursuing Wasp.  Former DCMS MechWarrior Scope Kinugau defected to the Magistracy of Canopus and is in charge of training MechWarriors as scouts.  Bors Sillader of the 1st Ceti Hussars has had nine Stingers shot out from under him, and now pilots the “Lots-O-Luck XII.” 

Commando:  Introduced in 2463, the prototype Commando is more heavily armed that most scout ‘Mechs.  The modern version debuted in 2466 and became a Lyran Commonwealth mainstay.  While its arsenal of 10 SRMs and a Medium Laser make it a threat, its thin armor limits it to hit and run tactics.  In 3011, elements of Winfield’s Guards on Sevren were caught in a mountain pass by a Kurita artillery bombardment.  Lewan and Cynth Tulmani survived, but their Commandos were crippled, and barely functional.  Traveling at night, they made it to a Lyran-held city where the 2nd Donegal Guards were mustering, and provided local terrain information, serving as scouts.  Bono Duganmare, of the 22nd Skye Rangers, is responsible for training new warriors in his Commando, “The Death’s Knell.”  Seychelle Miladue, of the 14th Lyran Guards, paints her Commando sea-green and frequently uses water for cover when scouting.

Javelin:  Introduced in 2751, the Javelin became a Davion favorite in its recon lances during the First Succession War.  It has twin SRM-6 racks and enough ammunition for a sustained engagement.  It suffers a +1 penalty on PSRs when running through woods, rough terrain, or rubble, due to a forward leaning center of gravity.  In 2796, a lance of Javelins from the 2nd Crucis Lancers attacked Kurita forces from behind during the fighting on Kentares IV.  In 3002, 4th Deneb Light Cavalry Javelins, including “Wildman” Bill Wilkes and his Javelin “Hi, There!” ambushed Kurita forces on Cylene II by hiding under water at Waterhole Number Nine, forcing the survivors to evacuate offworld.  Sir Androch Meister of New Sharon is distantly related to House Steiner, and is serving in Winfield’s Brigade, having secured his position on the strength of his family connections.

Spider:  Designed in 2650 as a commando unit for the SLDF, the Spider is a lightweight recon/attack ‘Mech, with ample firepower and the ability to operate for extended periods without support.  It has unmatched jumping capability, but lacks a pilot escape system.  Few Spiders remained in the Inner Sphere after the Exodus, and the Free Worlds League ended up with the majority after finding a bunker of them on Keystone.  In 2934, the Marik Militia attacked the Deneb Light Cavalry on Styk.  Marik Spiders disrupted the Cavalry’s defenses around the city of Devonshire, enabling them to loot it for supplies.  In 2970, the 12th Star Guards raided LaBlon with Spiders, hitting a Kurita supply dump from the rear.  House Davion had scrapped the last of their Spiders, and attacked a Marik repair depot on Sirius in 3000 to capture five Spiders.  Wolf’s Dragoons are rumored to field a lance of Spiders.  Jeremy L. Loois is a Dispossessed pilot assigned a Spider by Jaime Wolf.  Rhoda Stillson serves in the Draconis March Militia, in a bright red Spider.  Andrew J. Silverstein II serves in Narhal’s Raiders with a battered Spider – a consequence of his recklessness.

UrbanMech:  Introuced during the Star League era as an effective light ‘Mech for city-fighting, the UrbanMech remains common in city garrisons and defense units.  Armless and unable to defend itself in hand-to-hand combat in some configurations, it nonetheless has heavier armor than most light ‘Mechs, and impressive firepower from its Imperator-B autocannon.  During the Star League, it was used to suppress urban guerrillas and hostile light ‘Mechs.  Most were destroyed fighting for control of urban centers as the League collapsed, and the majority of those left are in Liao space, where they serve in fortified cities along the Davion and Marik borders.  In the 3020s, UrbanMechs delayed Regulan Hussar raiders during their attack on the storehouses at the Carver IV city of Fort Lyons, giving time for reinforcements to arrive and drive the Marik forces off with only a fraction of the plunder they’d hoped for; Marik UrbanMechs on Angell II deployed in open country to battle unidentified raiders, where they were blasted apart by long range missile fire; and Davion forces used an UrbanMech lance to destroy a Kurita terrorist squad.  Gordon Stuart pilots “Gallant” in a Chesterton Reserves’ urban defense lance.  Patricia Wellseley of “Kurita’s St. Ives Armored Cavalry” beat back a Davion raiding party at New Kolis, on Lapida II.

Valkyrie: Debuting in 2787, the Valkyrie is exclusive to the Federated Suns.  It serves as a heavy scout, with twice the armor of a Wasp or Stinger, and is found in almost every front-line AFFS regiment.  In the First Battle for Galtor, the Syrtis Fusiliers held back a three-month offensive by the Proserpina Hussars using a significant number of Valkyries.  On Dobson, the following year, Valkyries smashed a major DCMS supply depo, then fought their way back to friendly lines.  Valkyries worked as scout hunters during the Siege of Sarna.  Karl Krugar accomplished several deep penetration missions on Dobson.  Anne Simpson served 20 years as a Tech after being Dispossessed, and was rewarded with a new Valkyrie, which she named “Victory.”

Firestarter: Introduced in 2550, the Firestarter is included in most ‘Mech regiments, where it serves as a mobile incendiary ‘Mech.  Its primary role is to set fires for tactical advantage.  It also serves well as a scout, with superior speed and armor.  During the Succession Wars, Firestarters carried out scorched earth missions.  At the outset of the First Succession War, in 2789, the 2nd Lyran Guard on Port Moseby used Firestarters to burn a forest McGavin’s and Johiro’s Regiments (the Night Stalkers) were advancing through, forcing them to retreat, though they returned later that year and wiped out the Second.  It was noted as the first major battle where Firestarters were used for that purpose.  They also command Wasps and Stingers in fast raiding groups.  A scout version nicknamed the “Mirage” (FS9-M) was prototyped, but only a few were built before the “Night of Rage” destroyed the manufacturing plant and most of New Glasgow (Skye’s capital) into desert waste.  Jenna “Hecate” Umbra captured a Firestarter (one damaged during a raid on Imbros) while serving with the Oberon Confederation’s 12th Red Claw infantry unit, and now serves as Hendrik Grimm’s “mistress of flames.”  William Sanderson, of Hansen’s Roughriders, was given a Firestarter after his Warhammer was destroyed, and pilots it recklessly in the hopes of capturing a heavier ‘Mech.

Jenner:  The Jenner debuted in 2784 as a guerrilla fighter, and served primarily in Kurita forces (being manufactured on Ozawa and Luthien).  It has excellent mobility and firepower, but lacks arms for physical attacks.  Waves of Jenners swept through cities on Kentares IV to carry out the extermination of the populace.  In the Second Succession War, the Jenner distinguished itself as a rear-area raider, but many were captured, and by 2845 all the other Successor States had some.  In 2847, the Davion Heavy Guards used false-flagged captured Jenners to destroy the Diplan Mechyards on Ozawa, and the Luthien factory was sabotaged in 2848, ending Jenner production.  James Green led death squads into the capital city of Kentares IV.  His Jenner is still in service, piloted by his descendant, Hugo Green.  Karl Torchenski was the first AFFS MechWarrior to capture a Jenner, in 2837.  He died soon thereafter on Benet III.  Grace “Cat” Shiro serves in the Rasalhague Regulars, and has survived numerous encounters with heavier ‘Mechs.

Ostscout:  The Ostscout is a dedicated scouting ‘Mech, with sophisticated sensor arrays and terrific overland speed.  During the Rebellion of 3010, Janos Marik used Ostscouts to gain information on rebel forces.  In 2950, the Combine used Ostscouts to hunt down a band of Helmar Valasek’s raiders on Thule.  In 3001, AFFS Ostscouts surveyed Kasai IV for a rumored SLDF parts depot.  In 3021, a Combine Ostscout lance dropped onto New Ivaarsen and spent five weeks mapping the terrain and evading pursuit, paving the way for an invasion.  In 3024, Chesterton Reserves MechWarrior Mary “Hopscotch” Finn traveled 1,000 km in ten hours behind enemy lines on Demeter, evading Smithson’s Chinese Bandits, to support a Capellan counterattack.  Igor Minski serves in Hendrik Grimm’s personal guard, after having deserted from the Davion Guards in 2994.  Steven Graham serves in Wolf’s Dragoons’ Special Recon Group, and prefers to jump from rooftop to rooftop when in cities.

Panther: The Panther debuted in 2739 as a fire support vehicle for recon units, and it first served during the Periphery Uprising (in a prototype version that had a Large Laser instead of a PPC).  In 2759, at the Battle of St. John, it was clear the Large Laser was too weak as a main gun, and the design was upgraded to mount a PPC.  With the factory on Alshain nearly invulnerable to attack in the depths of a mountain, the Combine fields most of the Panthers now in the field.  Many MechWarriors use their Panthers for city fighting, where they conduct ambushes and “muggings” on dark streets, earning the nickname of “Alley Cat.”  The Second Legion of Vega attacked Quentin during the First Succession War, mauling the 42nd Avalon Hussars and forcing them to retreat from the only major city and spaceport on Quentin.  When the 42nd regrouped and counterattacked, the Panthers under Captain Ted “Red Beard” Henry held them off long enough for the 2nd Legion to withdraw.  Melinda Carlyle pilots “Tooth-Puller” in Hansen’s Roughriders, and always seeks out enemy Panther pilots to duel.  Colonel Richard Ahrmram uses his family ‘Mech, “Lord Yama” when commanding the 3rd Proserpina Hussars in the field.

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025

Title: Technical Readout: 3025

Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)

Type: Sourcebook (FASA)

Notes:  I did a very short review of TRO:3025 previously, but upon reflection, find it is worth doing a deep dive, since there are small stories being told in each entry, and it was through these abbreviated slices of life/death that most of the early fans first experienced the scope of the BattleTech universe.

The date of in-universe publication isn’t indicated in the original edition, but the Revised edition adds a datestamp of June 5, 3025.  The fact that there’s a blurb from the New Avalon Herald on the back cover dated July 15, 3025 indicates that the FASA version we held in our hands was a second printing of the June 5 report.

The authors of the report aren’t specified in the original edition, but the 3058 Revised edition clarifies it’s a product of ComStar Publishing, edited by Adept XVII-sigma David Keith.  It’s noted as “the latest in a series” of reference books on war materiel, and focuses on the BattleMech.  DropShips & JumpShips (also a ComStar publication) was the first in that series, released in May 3025.   The ComStar sourcebook clarifies that “sigma” is Public Relations.  The fact that the lead on the project is a ‘sigma’ PR flack, rather than a ‘tau’ historian, may explain why so many gross errors crept into the anecdotes.  They do give the caveat that “not all information is verifiable in this age of near-constant warfare and deteriorating technology,” but c’mon…placing a Reunification War battle on a world one jump from Terra and an Amaris vs. Kerensky battle on a world lying four jumps beyond the Hegemony, on the Combine/FedSuns border?  Keith could have gone down the hall and check with, oh, I dunno, the ComStar Cartographic Corps?

Locust: The Locust’s design was originally based on the Ostall from the Crusher Joe anime, which was a much smaller (roughly 4 meters tall) mecha.  I wonder if the use of the Ostall as the Locust inspired the naming of the other ‘Ost’ ‘Mechs in BattleTech – Ostscout, Ostroc, Ostsol, and Ostwar – as an homage?  The borrowed art results in there being three barrels on each of the Locust’s wing-stubs, in addition to the underbelly laser turret.  The standard LCT-1V just has that be a Machine Gun, making the other two barrels on each pod purely cosmetic?

The entry shows the Locusts excelling as rear-area raiders and recon units, making them far more useful in BattleForce than in standard BattleTech play. 

Some of the battle accounts are, in historical context, a bit wonky.  The battle of Ludwig is described as a holding action during the First Succession War, trying to slow the Combine’s advance towards New Avalon.  The only problem with this is that Ludwig was a Combine world prior to the start of the First Succession War, garrisoned by the 30th Galedon Regulars.  By the end of the First War, the 30th had moved off to Harpster, and been replaced by the 5th and 11th Benjamin Regulars.  General Kessem was probably leading an AFFS offensive that briefly took and held Ludwig for several months until being forced off (the AFFS’ deteriorating military situation probably denied Kessem the reinforcements he’d been counting on).

I was surprised to read that there was a small Kurita garrison on Porthos in 3024, since that world is part of the Elyssian Fields, an Oberon Confederation protectorate.  I wonder if allowing the presence of that garrison was part of the deal one of Grimm’s underlings struck with Duke Ricol?  Perhaps the raid by Valasek was part of that bandit lord’s efforts to clean up the mess, by tipping Valasek off about it and allowing him to raid its supplies.

The bit about attacking the city of Shull on Alexandria ties in nicely with Cranson Snord’s Irregulars, which notes that the LCAF launched a campaign to liberate the world from the Combine in late 3020.  “The Stomper” was probably a part of that liberation taskforce during the seven-month campaign.

There’s evidence of confusion over the various factions in the George McPhearson entry.  He serves in the Capellan March Militia (a Federated Suns unit) but is noted to be “respected and well-known throughout the Free Worlds League.”  I guess when you spend your days killing a lot of Capellans, you get some fans in the League.

Wasp: The Wasp is, of course, an import from Macross, where it was called a VF-1S Valkyrie (in Battloid mode).  BattleTech and Harmony Gold aside, the rights surrounding the Veritech were legendarily confused and litigious.  Hasbro got the right to slap the Autobot symbol on the transforming version, naming it Jetfire, but Harmony Gold got the exclusive rights to show it on TV, leading to a notation in the Transformers G1 cartoon writer’s guide not to use Jetfire in any scripts, and to the character being redesigned and renamed Skyfire when they did use it.  On the other hand, when Matchbox tried to make a transforming Veritech as a tie-in to the show, Hasbro’s rights got in the way, and the transforming mechanism had to be disabled before the Matchbox Veritech could hit store shelves.   

“Jump-kicking” seems to be an alternate term for “Death From Above” attacks.  Wasps executing DFAs prior to 2610 should track whether or not they’ve ever executed one successfully before, and if so, have a Quirk resulting in automatic “Limb Blown Off” critical results for both legs.  It’s interesting that DFA attacks didn’t gain popularity until well into the Reunification War.  You’d think more pilots would have experimented with the tactic during the Age of War. 

The next question, of course, is why there was a “Battle of Imbros III” in March, 2580, since that world was deep inside the Terran Hegemony.  Not exactly an active combat zone.  Was the nascent SLDF conducting field exercises there to get member state levies used to working together?  The Periphery realms certainly weren’t counter-invading the Hegemony.  Using DFAs during wargames seems like it would risk an unacceptable number of friendly-fire casualties among the SLDF participants.

There’s a lot of this going around in the Wasp entry.  Why would Loyalist SLDF forces have attacked Cylene IV in 2772 when they should have been massing for the liberation of the Hegemony?  Cylene is four jumps from the Terran Hegemony border, lying on the FedSuns/Combine border region.  Plus, later write-ups have identified the inhabited world as Cylene II.  What were Amaris troops doing on IV?

Oshika’s lance got an early start on the atrocities on Kentares in April 2796, since the Coordinator wasn’t killed until September of that year.  Various dates for the Massacre have been given within a range around the actual dates. 

Stinger:  The Stinger is modeled on Macross’ VF-1A Valkyrie, in Battloid mode. 

Several elements from this write-up found their way into other products.  The Battle of Markerson on Fallon II takes place in 3023, not 3019, based on other accounts and the internal chronology of McKinnon’s Raiders (the Fox’s Teeth).  It was the basis for a scenario in the “Fox’s Teeth” scenario book.  The Black Widow raid on Doneval II became a scenario in the Tales of the Black Widow Company scenario book, and was also adapted into an issue of the BlackThorne BattleTech comic line.  However, since the Dragoons were still under contract to House Steiner in 3021, the more likely date is 3024.

Several accounts have referenced MechWarriors having Sphere-wide fame.  I wonder how true that is?  I mean, Justin Xiang achieved it, but only as a Solaris VII champion.  Are there so few MechWarriors that stand-outs can become celebrities?  Or are there media conglomerates dedicated to taking their exploits and making vast amount of propaganda out of them, turning them into household names?  Or do the warriors themselves just keep up with this sort of “rep” media, while the majority of the population doesn’t care.  (There was that one ukiyo courtesan who was both clueless and unimpressed by the namedropping her date was doing to impress her.  “Wolfster goons?”)

In the 3025 era, “speed is armor” is a viable philosophy, but loses its efficacy when fighting elite gunners.  However, in the 3050s and beyond, with genetically engineered warriors, targeting computers, pulse lasers, etc., swarm tactics just leave a wreckage-cluttered battlefield.  The increased accuracy and firepower have left units in the Wasp and Stinger’s niche, of moderately maneuverable scouts, well behind.   Ravannion also loses style points for trying to claim six light ‘Mechs constitutes a horde.  Put a Cluster of Fire Falcons in the field, and we’ll talk ‘horde.’ 

How does Bors Sillader keep getting new Stingers, when he’s evidenced no ability to dodge whatsoever?  Not only has he lost nine Stingers, but the numbering convention suggests he lost two other ‘Mechs as well.  Unless his sacrifice resulted in successful mission completion, he shouldn’t be issued new rides, and the term “he always manages to find” new Stingers implies he’s a better scrounger than a MechWarrior.

Commando:  The introduction date of 2463 puts the Commando R&D right in the middle of the Free Worlds League’s efforts to acquire BattleMech technology by suborning Lyran technicians on Alarion.  While the Lyrans’ clone of the Mackie and their own Ymir are long gone, the Commando continues to be a mainstay of Lyran scout forces.  It seems odd, though, that the Lyrans would award special commendations to scouts who perform beyond the call of duty, given that standard Lyran doctrine is to form a “long wall” with the heaviest machines available and advance in unison, flushing out enemies as they go, rather than sending out scouts and trying to maneuver their ponderous Assault-class ‘Mechs to take advantage of rapidly changing tactical information.  Thomas Hogarth, the quintessential Lyran social general, has remarked that he finds the 80-ton Zeus a bit light, but workable as a scout.  He probably wouldn’t even deign to move aside if a Commando crossed his path.

The Notable MechWarrior entry for Bono Duganmare notes his expertise in training new recruits for the 22nd Skye Rangers, and says he may be tapped to be the commandant of the first Commonwealth Military Academy on Tharkad.  The implication I get from reading this passage is that the Commonwealth doesn’t yet have an academy, but each unit handles recruitment and training on their own, internal to the unit.  While this fits with the “MechWarrior Family” structure and the general breakdown of capabilities, it doesn’t match what came later.  Raw cadets are not usually assigned to front line regiments – those highly competitive berths are reserved for graduates from the Sanglamore, Nagelring, and other Lyran academies.  The author may have just meant he was going to run the Nagelring, rather than starting an academy from scratch, but that’s the suggestion I’m hearing.

Sevren seems to have gone back and forth between the Commonwealth and the Combine during the Third Succession War.  It was under Combine control as of 2912, and was one of the worlds liberated by the Commonwealth during Operation FREEDOM in 3024, but the 3011 account of Kurita forces burning down the capital city and Lyran scouts having local knowledge makes it seem like the LCAF recovered Sevren, at least for a while.  It sounds like the 2nd Donegal was unable to hold onto the world in 3011, despite the scouts’ assistance, forcing it to be retaken in 3024.  (The 3011 battle can’t have actually taken place in 2911 – though that would fit the chronology of Sevren’s loss – because Winfield’s Guards weren’t formed until 2992, under Alessandro Steiner.)  Interestingly, while a major Kurita thrust was taking Sevren in 3011, the LCAF was making its own thrust into the Free Worlds League, ostensibly to root out and destroy a cache of nuclear warheads (and, in Snord’s case, to steal anything that wasn’t nailed down.)

Performance-wise, it’s an excellent vehicle-killer, with all those SRMs, but the author is right to call out its thin armor.  I once had one trying to spot for some LRM carriers, and a pair of Warhammers hit it with four PPCs.  The first shot took the left arm clean off, the second took the right arm off, too, and the last two neatly cored the center torso (taking out the rear CT armor, too, so there was daylight shining through).

Javelin: The Javelin entry introduced the concept of design quirks having actual battlefield effect in-game.  Many of the other entries had language that suggested performance modifiers, but no mechanics to realize them.  To address this, Mike Speca wrote an article in Dragon Magazine #166 called “Tricks of the Trade” introducing unofficial rules modifiers to represent each ‘Mech’s quirks, as noted in their entry.

The description of the fighting on Kentares IV in 2796 perfectly matches the established chronology, so kudos for that.  The ambush must have taken place during the fighting before the Coordinator’s death and the ensuring massacre which began in September.

It’s interesting that the entry on Sir Meister of New Sharon says he “forced himself into” Winfield’s Brigade, implying that he wouldn’t have been good enough to make the cut if he hadn’t leveraged substantial political clout (owing to him being related to House Steiner).  However, the actual entry says he’s proven himself to have excellent skills and is being considered for a deserved promotion to lance leader, which is not the usual course for “social general” types.  (MechWarrior: Tactical Command features just such a Social General in Winfield’s Brigade.)

The Javelin is, like the Commando, an excellent anti-vehicle barrage vehicle.  In a matchup between a Javelin and a Pegasus, the Peggy’s hoverskirts will be swiss-cheesed long before the Javelin’s systems start fail.  Its major weakness is that it will be tied to supply lines, and is unsuitable for extended operations as a behind-the-lines raider.  The Fire Javelin variant addresses this, swapping in a laser arsenal in place of the missile racks, and boosting the armor protection.

Spider:  Kudos to Anthony Pryor, author of the Wolf’s Dragoons sourcebook.  I went through the rosters, and there are exactly four Spiders on the Dragoon TO&E, per the reference in TRO:3025.  The Dragoon Spiders are Sergeant Adreana Campbell (Alpha Regiment, KIA on Misery); Sergeant Ariel Myslavski (Beta Regiment, KIA on Misery); Mary Jenkins (Delta Regiment, KIA on Misery); and Sergeant Reubin Haas (Epsilon Regiment, KIA on Harrow’s Sun).  Perhaps the synchronization of the two books wasn’t intentional, though, since Jeremy L. Loois isn’t listed on the Dragoon roster.  (Or, given the apparent high fatality rate in the Dragoon Spider ranks, perhaps Loois died and was replaced before the Dragoon split with the Combine.)  The idea of a Dispossessed Inner Sphere MechWarrior being brought into the Dragoons and given a ‘Mech doesn’t jibe with what we now know of the Dragoons.  Having a mysterious past…perhaps he’s a member of the Watch sent to liaise with the Dragoons, and ComStar noticed he had no background data (which would be consistent with someone operating with a cover identity). 

The Spider takes the speed of the Locust and mates it with incomparable jumping capability.  With a laser-based arsenal, this, far more than the Locust, is suited for rear-area raids.  Overheating is the main limiting factor at play, since an Alpha Strike after an 8-hex jump will put the Spider at 4 heat.  A few rounds in a row of doing that will force the Spider to back it off for a round or two to cool down.

The Marik attack on Davion-held Styk in 2934 is intriguing.  I’d initially assumed that the authors got the factions confused (there are an unusual number of Marik-on-Davion battles in TRO:3025), but looking at the House Liao sourcebook, it notes that House Davion launched attacks across the entire Capellan March in 2930, and Merlin Liao ordered his troops to fall back rather than lose ‘Mechs.  House Marik, sensing that the Confederation was on its last legs, attacked Hsien in 2934.  It could be that the 2930 offensive and the CCAF’s conservative tactics allowed the AFFS to occupy Styk in 2930, making it a Marik target in 2934.  It’s possible that the Marik raid on Styk and the Deneb Light Cavalry’s resultant loss of supplies made it possible for the CCAF to recover Styk under Tarlak or Ingrid Liao.  Regarding the 3000 Davion raid on Marik-held Sirius, the House Marik book notes that the FWL captured Sirius in 2901.  Liao control must have been a post-3000 event.  The Liao sourcebook notes fighting there in 3014, so perhaps that’s when Liao recaptured it, or at least Sirius V.  It’s possible that House Liao managed to seize Sirius V in 3014, while leaving the Free Worlds League in control of the comparatively minor colonies on Sirius VI and VI-a.  That would explain why the House Marik book makes reference to Primus Grise executing a coup on Sirius in 3022, while the House Liao book notes Sirius as the headquarters for a Capellan ministry, and the location of a Capellan ‘Mech production facility circa 3025. 

The description of there not being an ejection seat, and that the pilot is required to climb down and “use the lower hatch” to exit begs the question…where exactly is the “lower hatch”?  Looking at the illustration, there seems to be a hatch-like door (or at least a corrugated panel) directly under the center torso laser mount.  Did the author intend to suggest that there’s an access ladder leading down through the neck, through the center torso, and out that door?  Wouldn’t that require the pilot to go right through the area occupied by the lasers, the gyroscope, the fusion engines, and the jump jets?  Given the relative size of the guy running past in the foreground, there just doesn’t seem to be enough room for all that.  (Unless, as in the BattleTech animated series, certain ‘Mechs have TARDIS attributes and are larger on the inside.  Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, LosTech).

UrbanMech:  Despite noting that the “armless” version of the UrbanMech is ineffective and rare due to combat losses, that’s the one pictured in the entry and the one that we’ve all come to associate exclusively with the UrbanMech design.  The stats and record sheets are for the version with arms (which, I imagine, resembles a somewhat more cylindrical Fireball). 

I don’t recall “urban guerrillas” being a major issue for the Star League until the Periphery Uprising broke out.  If Urbies were being sent out there to put down Taurian and Canopian revolutionaries, would there have truly been that many left in the Hegemony to defend cities?  Mass deployment out towards the rimward regions may explain why so many ended up in the Capellan Confederation – spread out to secure supply lines for troops assaulting the rimward border of the Hegemony. 

The reference to them being placed in fortified cities on the Capellan borders implies that the kind of ferrocrete walls studded with gun towers featured in the Tikonov battles in the 4th Succession War NAIS Atlas were standard practice in the Confederation. 

The “recent” battle on Angell II when bandits attacked was probably the 3019 Lyran raid mentioned in the House Marik sourcebook, during which the lower classes (called “drones” by the elites) rose up and aided the invaders, seeking to redress the serious disparity between haves and have-nots on this water-poor world.

I don’t quite know what do to with a reference to a unit of the St. Ives Armored Cavalry defending Lapida II under the control of House Kurita.  Lapida is a Combine border world, so it should be a Kurita unit defending it.  Perhaps as a side agreement of the Kapteyn Accords, the three signatories agreed to military exchanges.  Thus, a St. Ives Armored Cavalry unit could have been present on Lapida II to learn from the Combine and assist it in the field, just as Davion advisors went to the LCAF. 

Valkyrie:  The “First Battle of Galtor” actually began in 2787, when the AFFS forces onworld held out against the Combine until 2792.  However, it appears that this entry is referring to the AFFS liberation of Galtor in 3022, with the Second Battle of Galtor taking place in 3025, when the DCMS re-invaded.  This chronology would make the battle on Dobson in 3023 (the pilot referenced from that battle is referred to in the present tense, so he’s probably not a veteran of the First Succession War.

The “Siege of Sarna” does not appear to have taken place in the First Succession War.  Marik forces made a major push (“a path twelve parsecs wide”) towards Sarna, but never reached it, and Davion forces spent that war on the defensive.  The AFFS went on the offensive again in the 2nd Succession War, and, while I haven’t found any specific references to an attack on Sarna, the mass destruction of factories and the like was primarily done in the 1st and 2nd Succession Wars, with limited raids to capture the remaining facilities in the 3rd.  The Sarna entry in the Liao sourcebook notes that Sarna’s factories have been largely bombed out of existence, so it appears to have been hit hard during the “destroy everything” phase – making it likely that the Siege of Sarna took place in the 2nd war. 

Firestarter:  There’s a lot of interest in the Firestarter entry.  It debuted in 2550, but apparently wasn’t deployed to start fires until 2789.  So, what were all those Firestarters doing for 200+ years?  I can appreciate that the SLDF would, as a matter of principle, prefer not to burn down the real estate they were defending, but then why build something with that capacity in any event?  We saw in “When the Bears Left” that the SLDF used its Firestarters as scouts, and we know that the RWR designed its own incendiary unit (the Ignis tank) rather than use Firestarters for that role, so the question remains – why weren’t the Firestarters used for strategic/tactical fire-setting during the Periphery Uprising and the Star League Civil War?

The presence of the two Night Stalkers regiments on Port Moseby in 2789 is somewhat incongruous, since the unit wasn’t formed until 3020.  The author must have just picked unit names out of a hat, rather than referencing the Combine sourcebook (which, to be fair, may not yet have gone to print at the time this was written.)  The First Succession War sourcebook puts the 8th Donegal Guards on Port Moseby at the start of the war, and still there at the end, albeit down to 34% strength.  The incident was referenced in the House Steiner sourcebook, noting that the 2nd Lyran Guards defeated “Kurita forces” on Port Morseby, but are now defunct.  The First Succession War sourcebook lists the 2nd Lyran as starting the war on Radostov and being defeated by the 14th Bolan Defenders there in 2791, then defeating the Herzberg Planetary Militia in 2801, and the 33rd Marik Militia and 9th Bolan Defenders on Finsterwalde in 2803, being disbanded after that costly victory (due to tactical chemical and nuclear strikes against the 2nd’s landing sites).  The Kurita sourcebook indicates Port Moseby fell to the Combine during the early months of the Third Succession War, in 2866 (long after the 2nd was dead and gone, and long before the Night Stalkers were formed). 

Given the massive contradictions between established canon and ComStar’s account of the Firestarter’s “first” use on Port Moseby in 2789, I have to believe that ComStar made up the entire battle.  (My purpose in nitpicking these details is not to call out the authors, who were working off still nebulous source material, but to try to come up with some sort of explanation for how such egregiously wrong details could be published by ComStar.)  ComStar should have had accurate records of the events, since the ComStar news network was created at the outset of the First Succession War, and their records should still be intact, since, with few exceptions, no ComStar facilities were attacked during the Succession Wars, and the Archives division on Terra should certainly have had all the ComStar News files fully intact.  Knowing what we now know about ComStar, I can only suppose that ROM had the editor insert massively, demonstrably untrue information into various parts of the book, with the goal of noting which reviewers took umbrage and pointed out the logical and historical fallacies therein…and then kill them as part of Operation HOLY SHROUD – ensuring that ComStar controlled both technology and historical knowledge, and could use information control to shape perceptions and twist facts to their own purposes.

The so-called “Night of Rage” that wiped out the capital city of Skye is another question mark.  Per the House Steiner sourcebook, House Kurita attacked Skye in force for the first time in 2893, with five ‘Mech regiments and 19 support regiments.  The Kurita forces were stopped cold at the battle of Bannockburn Bogs while trying to advance on the capital of New Glasgow, and never came that close to the capital again, finally withdrawing in 2894.  The chronology’s a bit vague between various sources, since the Sea Skimmer writeup places the Combine invasion in 2895.  Nonetheless, neither Inverness nor New Glasgow fell to the Combine regiments, so when was the Night of Rage?  It ended Argile Technologies’ ability to make the new FS9-M “Mirage” variant.  TRO: 3039 clarifies that the Mirage debuted in 2983, and the Argile factory and most of New Glasgow were destroyed in 2894. 

The description of New Glasgow being turned into a desert wasteland seems incompatible with the description of a Lyran victory at the Bannockburn Bogs, and the halt of the Combine advance on New Glasgow.  My only guess is that, after being halted, the Combine took out its frustration by lobbing a nuke at New Glasgow from orbit (which would go a long way towards explaining why the Lyrans were so willing to use their own nukes against the Combine near Inverness during the Skye campaign…or perhaps the Combine retaliated with a nuke against New Glasgow after their forces were wiped out by the Sea Skimmer nukes/flood – one reason why their use was so rare in the Third Succession War – all sides had them, but refrained from using them unless the other guys went first).  I can’t think of another weapon system capable of reducing New Glasgow to a scorched desert without ground forces being there (to burn the city down block by block).

I think the same author who did the Wasp did the Firestarter, because Imbros III seems to be the “go to” world for their battles.  It seems passing unlikely for the Oberon Confederation to be sending raiders as far afield as Imbros III, a world just over one jump from Terra.  Of course, this is the same Oberon Confederation that, per the Mercenary’s Handbook, dispatched Wilson’s Hussars to raid…the Taurian Concordat, but had the JumpShip carrying them take the long way around, through the Outworlds Alliance (stranding the Hussars in the OA on the way back).  I guess Grimm didn’t need that JumpShip for a couple of years.  I mean, there’s “deep penetration scouting missions,” and then there’s full-on “Lost Patrol.”

Jenner:  In TRO: 3055, the Jenner IIC writeup claims the design’s provenance is a mystery, because the Jenner was created after Kerensky’s forces left on the Exodus.  However, this writeup gives the first production run date as September 2784, while Kerensky’s Exodus didn’t leave until November 2784, giving SLDF supply officers six weeks to, effectively, steal some first-run Jenners from Ozawa and ship them to New Samarkand.  In “Betrayal of Ideals,” we see a Jenner fighting on Barbados, so we know Kerensky’s fleet had at least one.  Thus, the mystery of the Jenner IIC is solved. 

Amusingly, more recent sourcebooks have shown that the Federated Suns seized Ozawa from the Terran Hegemony in 2783.  So the AFFS let Diplan Mechyards complete a contract for a new ‘Mech design being built on a planet they controlled, and which were subsequently used to attack the Federated Suns and massacre the population of Kentares.  Was Diplan able to hide their manufacturing of the design and their shipping of them offworld?  Did the AFFS garrison simply not ask why dozens of Kurita freighters were landing empty and taking off full?

Ostscout: This was another 3025 ‘Mech with a description begging for special game rules to reflect its capabilities in a period predating the Beagle Active Probe. 

I’m not sure what the Kurita Ostscouts were doing on Thule in 2950, but they weren’t hunting down Helmar Valasek’s forces, since he didn’t set up shop on Santander V until 3019.  (He wasn’t even born until 2979).

Smithson’s Chinese Bandits must have had a pretty rough time in 3024.  They were apparently in Davion service since at least 3022, but went back to Marik service by 3025.  This account says they have three regiments staging on Demeter, whereas they only have one regiment in 3025, per the Marik sourcebook writeup.  So, apparently ol’ “Hopscotch” gathered enough intel to enable the CCAF forces to wipe out at least two regiments of veteran mercs and put the surviving third regiment to flight.  Pretty nice payback against a force that had dared to raid Sian in 3022 under contract to House Davion.

The reference to “The Rebellion of 3010” involving Janos Marik may be a misdated reference to Anton’s 3014-3015 revolt, or perhaps there was another rebellion in 3010.  The Marik sourcebook includes a reference to a letter Janos wrote to his father, Stephan Marik, complaining about his unit’s orders to suppress rebellions, crush revolts, and oppress its fellow citizens.  Based on that, there was probably always a rebellion going on somewhere in the Free Worlds League, so the “Rebellion of 3010” reference can probably stand as a discrete event from Anton’s revolt a few years later.

There is a Captain Stephen Graham on the roster of the Special Recon Group in Wolf’s Dragoons, but he pilots a Locust, while his lancemate Serena Vanderwerff pilots the company’s lone Ostscout.  I’m not sure how much roof-to-roof hopping Graham is able to do in a Locust. :)  He’s referred to as just “MechWarrior” in this writeup, while the post-4th Succession War-dated Wolf’s Dragoons sourcebook shows his rank as Captain, implying a promotion.  My guess is that his reckless roof hopping got his Ostscout damaged, so Jaime gave him a Locust to force him to knock it off, and gave Serena the Ostscout. 

Panther:  Many of the descriptions in this entry fly in the face of the game mechanics.  A speed of 4/6 does not qualify the Panther to be called “fleet footed.”  Also, having a main gun with minimum-range penalties would seem to be counterproductive when engaging in close-quarters city fighting. 

The Kurita attack on Quentin is said to have happened at the same time as the invasion of Kentares IV, so from around mid-2796 to early 2797.  The problem is, the Legion of Vega wasn’t formed until 3011, as a modern recreation of the Chain Gang units.  There’s no way any unit like the Legion would get brand new equipment, in any event.  The First Succession War sourcebook puts the 3rd Amphigean Light Assault Group on Quentin at the end of the war.  The 42nd Avalon Hussars are listed as having started the war on New Mendham, and having been destroyed during the war (apparently by the 23rd Galedon Regulars).  I would presume, then, that the 3rd Amphigean was the unit that got new Panthers and attacked Quentin, rather than the anachronistic 2nd Legion of Vega.  It’s not specified whether the 42nd was destroyed on New Mendham, or elsewhere – just that they started there and were gone by war’s end.

[Frabby]

About the Panther and close range combat, remember that the early -8Z models had an (albeit inefficient) large laser, one more extra heat sink and an extra ton of armor.

Regarding its speed, well, yeah. It never ceases to amaze me how the Draconis Combine would look down on medium 'Mechs, preferring clear-cut roles for their light and heavy 'Mechs instead... and then get it backwards with their two signature 'Mechs where the light scout arguably outguns the brawler and their heavy trooper actually outpaces the scout.
 :crazy2:

[Wrangler]

Despite the the booboos made by the authors, this book's battle history and other details really made it really good book to get into feel of the genre when there were so few source books at the time.  Sometimes i think i like fluff more than game itself, but i love game as well.  :D

Thank you taking the time doing this Mendrugo!

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025
 
Title: Technical Readout: 3025
 
Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)
 
Type: Sourcebook (FASA)
 
Synopsis:
 
Assassin: Pitched to the Star League as a competitor to the Wasp and Stinger, the Assassin combines firepower, armor, and speed.  It first took the field on Rochelle in 2980, during fighting between Houses Marik and Steiner, and House Marik subsequently used entire lances of Assassins for rear-area raiding.  The Amphigean Light Assault Group used their Assassins on Sevren in 2990, raiding cities and supply bases for weeks, but eventually ran out of ammunition and were mostly destroyed by the 15th Lyran Guards.  Assassins also were reported running out of ammunition on Saffel, Cylene, and Wheel.  Only House Liao lacks Assassins at present.  Kryloon Hyperten, of the Galedon Regulars, spent eight months dodging Steiner units on Wheel.  Dale Sandstrom served in the Fifth Regulan Hussars as a Dispossessed infantryman, but was able to rebuild a scavenged Assassin he came across, the “DarkDeath,” and is now a freelance bounty hunter.
 
Cicada: Designed as a light recon ‘Mech, the Cicada put the Locust’s speed into a chassis twice as heavy, with more armor and weaponry.  Raids on the Bryant facilities led to every House fielding Cicadas after the fall of the Star League.  In 2930, the Galedon Regulars used Cicadas to hold back the Davion advance on the Xhosa VII city of Tar for several days, in a battle compared to the Alamo.  On Oriente, the Fusiliers of Oriente’s Fifth Brigade deployed Cicadas on the shores of Lake Mirrorshade, but were overwhelmed by the Northwind Highlanders.  In 3000, the 32nd Lyran Guards used Cicadas as rear-area raiders on Kobe, capturing the DCMS command staff.  Alcatraz Jason gained a reputation as a rear-area raider in service with the Fusiliers of Oriente’s Fifth Brigade.  Arnold J. Thurd II also served on Oriente, but was transferred to the 4th Defenders of Andurien.  John David John serves in the 7th Crucis Lancers, where he earned distinction defending Kasai against House Kurita. 
 
Clint:   Introduced in 2507, the Clint served as a recon unit/lower-end medium ‘Mech.  Andoran Industries cut corners on the design, making it difficult to modify or repair.  It has an autocannon, but lacks sufficient ammunition for a prolonged engagement.  Houses Davion and Liao field most of the Clints still in service.  During the First Succession War, Liao forces sent Clints to secure Bell’s water supplies.  The entry states that House Marik’s Pesht Regulars captured Liao Clints during fighting on Teng and Ingersoll, but these captured units have been mostly sidelined due to lack of parts.  At least one Clint served with the Arcturan Guards in the urban fighting on Alexandria and Ryde.  Redjack Ryan is rumored to have several Clints.  Janos Arthur Denton II pilots the lone LCAF Clint in the Arcturan Guards.  James Wallace pilots his family’s Clint in the St. Ives Armored Cavalry, and recently took heavy damage on Ward.  Fletcher Raymond pilots a Clint in the 5th Crucis Lancers which was captured on Bell.  He distinguished himself at the battle for Tarusan on Suul. 
 
Hermes II: Introduced in 2798, the Hermes II serves the Free Worlds League as a heavy scout, performing well in urban and forested terrain, relying on its flamer to cover retreats.  It can communicate with orbiting ships or satellites and send zipsqueal compressed data transmissions.  The factories for the Hermes II at Irian are destroyed circa 3025, but Irian hopes to have them functional again by 3028.  In 3011, Hermes IIs sent to Lyran border worlds identified an LCAF staging ground on Denebola V, blunting the Lyran offensive.  Janos DeVille, of the Fusiliers of Oriente, supported Janos in the Anton/Janos civil war, and founded the Dark Shadows scout battalion.  Zahn “The Dreamer” Vinge , of the 4th Defenders of Andurien, calls his ‘Mech Plato.
 
Vulcan: The Vulcan was introduced late in the Star League Civil War to serve as a strong anti-infantry ‘Mech, and was delivered to the SLDF during the initial landings on Terra.  The Vulcan was produced by MatherTechno on Northwind until months of bombing destroyed it during the First Succession War.  House Liao lost most of its Vulcans when Sappho fell to House Marik in the Second Succession War.  Davion Vulcans led the counterattack against Kurita garrisons on Kentares IV, burning them out of the cities of Amishton and Davisbury.  House Kurita used Vulcans in 3020 to destroy Davion aerospace fighter bases on Dobson, paving the way for the DCMS to advance on Galtor.  AFFS MechWarrior Richard Timms is dying and has no heir to whom he can pass his pristine Vulcan.  Sondra Stoverston pilots “Bloodlust” in the Arcturan Guards, where she has developed a reputation for wiping out enemy infantry platoons.  Wormmel Hide was ejected from the Fusiliers of Oriente, and now works for Redjack Ryan.
 
Whitworth: The Whitworth was introduced in 2610 as a slow, well-armed scout.  Its prototype loadout of SRMs was swapped for LRMs to discourage pilots from engaging at close range.  The modern design has good long-range firepower, but its slow speed requires it to be accompanied by support elements.  Houses Davion and Kurita field most of the remaining Whitworths, using them for reconnaissance and fire support.  Gavro Kent of the 5th Syrtis Fusiliers and Marco Halman of the 2nd Dieron Regulars have established a legendary feud during the battles for Bergman’s Planet.  Kent and Halman were both cadets at the Sun Zhang Military Academy, and served together in the Rasalhague Regulars against House Davion and the Bandits of Obadiah.  In 3026, Halman and Kent were ordered to raze the village of Morik on Elidere IV.  Kent refused and defected to House Davion, beginning the feud.
 
Blackjack: The Blackjack was designed for the Star League as an anti-insurgency and fire-support ‘Mech.  It performed anti-insurgency duties reasonably well, but lacked the firepower to provide effective fire-support unless present in lance or company levels to provide massed fire.  Houses Liao and Davion have most of the surviving Blackjacks.  In 3022, DCMS Captain Mercer Ravannion tried to use swarms of small ‘Mechs to overwhelm the defenders on Xhosa VII.  Ravannion’s Wasps and Stingers were shattered on the Plain of Swords by the local Draconis March Militia, which included Blackjacks.  Ravannion was killed the following year by McKinnon’s Raiders on Fallon II.  As of 3025, Michael Ubodo, the leader of the DMM elements on Xhosa VII, serves in the Deneb Light Cavalry with his Blackjack, “The Arrow.”
 
Hatchetman:   A new ‘Mech chassis designed by Dr. B. Banzai to provide covering fire, it entered service in 3023.  Its average speed is sufficient to cover the retreat of friendly forces out of a city, whereupon it re-enters the city to ambush pursuing enemy ‘Mechs.  It mounts an integral hand-held club, but reviewers complained about its light armor and general frailty.  A unique ejection system detaches the entire head assembly as an escape pod.  As of 3025, the Hatchetman has only had one engagement – when the 4th Proserpina Hussars raided Sevren, and were repulsed by the 26th Lyran Guards’ Hatchetman battalion.  Helimar Senton, of the 26th Lyran Guards, is the first Hatchetman pilot to achieve a battlefield kill.  Malgathwan Selfrana scored three kills during the fighting on Sevren at the Svren industrial complex, but her ‘Mech was disabled and its body was captured by the Draconis Combine.
 
Phoenix Hawk:   One of the most common ‘Mechs in the Inner Sphere, the Phoenix Hawk is a heavier version of the Stinger, from the same firm – Orguss Industries.  It serves in a scout role as the commander of recon lances, but has the armor and firepower to engage in sustained combat.  In the Blackrock Badlands of Ronel V, the Avalon Hussars and Galedon Regulars used their Phoenix Hawks to effectively navigate the harsh terrain.  Kurita Phoenix Hawk LAMs eventually flanked the AFFS unit, forcing them to retreat with heavy losses.  On Lee II, AFFS forces used Phoenix Hawks to dislodge heavier Capellan forces and facilitate the push to drive the Capellans off Lee.  Abrahim Ibn Faud pilots the “Moon Rising” in the Eridani Light Horse, and never fails to meet his koranic obligations.  David Kellam and his Phoenix Hawk “The Knife,” excels in reconnaissance, raiding, and terrorism, and he has killed at least two men in duels.
 
Vindicator: The Vindicator is intended to be a multi-role vehicle, to fill gaps in the CCAF’s TO&E as needed.  It debuted in 2826, in the interbellum between the First and Second Succession War.  Critics praise its main gun – a Smasher PPC – but complain that the rest of its performance is lackluster.  In 2832, it received its first deployment, to defend Tikonov.  The 23rd Chesterton Reserves and 2nd Kearny Highlanders.  The Vindicators threw the 2nd Ceti Hussars back from the hydroelectric plants at New Hoover, forcing the AFFS forces to withdraw.  Michael Jones and his Vindicator, “St. Ives’ Blues,” serve in the St. Ives Armored Cavalry.

Notes:
 
Assassin: Interestingly, later write-ups of the Assassin decry how awful a reputation it has, but this entry is positively glowing with praise.  The dates, as usual, are fairly wonky.  Not sure how a design pitched to the SLDF wasn’t fielded until 2980.  The Master Unit List gives its introduction date as 2676.  There may have been a battle on Rochelle in 2980, but it was by no means the Assassin’s debut.
 
The Amphigean Light Assault Group is referred to here as mercenaries, consistent with their writeup in the Galtor Campaign book.  The Combine Combat Manual has definitively clarified that the Amphigeans started out as mercenaries and then transitioned to be DCMS line units.   
 
One might almost suspect that as a result of the stress of his experience on Wheel, Kryloon has developed Hypertension.
 
The 7/11/7 movement profile puts the Assassin in the sweet spot of being able to get +4 defensive modifiers when it jumps, while only getting a +3 to its own targeting efforts.  The entry harps on the fact that its utility as a rear-area raider is hampered by its limited ammunition stores, and notes that many were destroyed when they ran out of ammo.  Unless it’s being pursued by Spiders or Ostscouts, though, it will almost always be able to break contact (getting the edge on faster hovercraft by using jump jets to bound over rough terrain and woods), so why where these guys trying to fight their way through enemy lines?  Just bounce over and speed on your merry way.  And if they’re being chased by an Ostscout, they have the same amount of firepower – 1 Medium Laser.
 
Cicada: A major CCAF offensive to take Oriente doesn’t really seem possible in the 3rd Succession War era of constant defeat and retreat.  I would surmise that the Northwind Highlanders were sent to Oriente during the ComStar interdiction that hamstrung the FWL for two years during the 2nd Succession War.  Capellan troops made great gains during that interval, and I could see them trying a decapitation strike against a major provincial capital. 

Arnold J. Thurd II is a name just begging for an heir, Arnold J. Thurd the Third.  Likewise, the Feddies have a guy literally named John John. 

The weird notation about malfunctioning heat sinks causing catastrophic overheating is odd, in terms of game mechanics, since a fully functional Cicada is incapable of generating more than 10 heat, even when running and firing its full arsenal.  Mike Speca’s “Tricks of the Trade” article didn’t suggest any modifiers, but perhaps, as a Quirk, a Cicada with defective heat sinks should treat them as “half-sinks,” giving it a heat dissipation capacity of 5 (so running and firing one laser maxes it out, and beyond that it generates waste heat).

I wonder if two writers co-wrote the Cicada entry, because there’s a severe disconnect between the Battle History and Notable MechWarrior sections.  The Battle History says Thurd and Jason served with the 32nd Lyran Guards against DCMS forces on Kobe.  Yet the Notable ‘Mechs and MechWarriors section says they served with the Fusiliers of Oriente on Oriente, and places the “behind the lines” maneuver on Oriente.  Given the many Marik-centric details provided regarding Alcatraz Jason and Arnold Thurd, I would suggest that the line identifying Jason and Thurd as the heroes of Kobe be stricken.

Chris Hartford began writing for BattleTech in 1993, and became the House Marik/FWL guru.  He’s written “A Dish Served Cold” (how the FWL got ‘Mechs); “Fall From Grace” (the story of Rhean Marik); “Ghost Rain” (the smashing of Helm); “The Blood Snow” (Duggan Marik meets his doom); Handbook: House Marik; and Field Manual: Free Worlds League, among other works.  He even got a dead world named for him in the FWL – Heart Fjord.  So it’s an amusing coincidence that the Cicada (generally seen as a Marik-aligned design) manufacturer was named HartfordCo five years before he joined the crew at FASA.  I wonder if he was an associate of one of the people on the writing team who put his name into the firm title, or if it’s just a coincidence.

This entry is wrong, however, in naming the Cicada as HartfordCo’s sole “battlefield technology” contribution, since they also manufactured the Von Luckner.  Oddly, while the Von Luckner entry says HartfordCo Industries produced the tank shortly after the Reunification War, the Cicada entry describes HartfordCo as a “manufacturer of fine communications and targeting systems.)  Did the editor mean to say “HartfordCo’s single contribution to BattleMech technology,” rather than “to battlefield technology”?
 
Clint:   The Clint appears to be another design with a history as off-the-rails as the Firestarter and Wasp.  Andoran Industries was certainly ahead of the curve taking orders from the Star League in 2507, 60+ years before the Star League existed.  The Master Unit List corrects this to 2608, making it a post-Reunification War design.

I’m surprised that the author kept harping on the design’s tendency to run out of ammunition.  20 shots seems sufficient for a standard BattleTech engagement.  It’s not like your typical AC/10 or AC/20 has even close to that many shots in any other design.  In fact, looking at all the other designs with AC/5s, 20 shots (one ton of ammo) is universal (except for the Rifleman, which splits one ton of ammo between two AC/5s).

The 13th Jonathan Lancers (aka the 13th Liao Lancers) was listed as the garrison for Bell at the start of the First Succession War.  The unit was destroyed by the end.  The First Succession War sourcebook doesn’t provide any details about how it died, but it was probably in the fighting that destroyed Andoran Industries and wiped out most of Bell’s industry, leaving only water as a resource.  Bell has been subsequently confirmed as the primary manufacturing site for the Clint.

The story of how the League got the Clints has a great number of inconsistencies.  First off…Marik’s Pesht Regulars?  Fighting the St. Ives Armored Cavalry?  On Teng? (which lies on the FedSuns/Liao border)  Ingersoll at least makes sense, being on the Marik border, but it’s somewhat out of the SIAC’s operational jurisdiction.  (This looks like a job for the Sarn Reserves!)

There really must have been almost nothing left on Bell for water to be its only remaining resource.  Its writeup give it an ‘Arid’ climate (at 28 C) and only 20% surface water, meaning it’s a big, bone-dry desert for the most part.  By 3079, however, it had rebounded to have a population of nearly half a billion.

Since Janos Arthur Denton is referred to in the present tense, the battles on Alexandria he took part in were probably the ones in 3020.  One might suspect that a towel, a babel fish, and a copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy might be found in Janos Arthur Denton’s cockpit.

I’m somewhat surprised that House Davion launched an attack against Ward, a world way out on the Capellans’ rimward border.  Perhaps they were trying a flanking attack to draw troops away from the Capellan March border.  Unidentified troops hit another world in that area, Larsha, in the prologue to Close Quarters, so just because that area doesn’t seem to border much but a few Periphery worlds, it’s not off the Great House radars. 

I’m even more surprised to hear about the battle for the city of Tarusan on Suul, since Suul doesn’t appear on any of ComStar’s cartographic corps products.  It’s probably a typo for Soul, which is a Combine world.  It must have been a bit of a deep raid, though, with Soul lying more than a jump beyond New Samarkand, out towards the Combine’s periphery border.

Based on Ardath Mayhar’s description of how she had to construct “The Sword and the Dagger” based on a folder of loose-leaf universe notes, I’m guessing that similarly ad-hoc source material folders were all some of these authors had to go on when writing things up. 
 
Hermes II:   According to the House Marik sourcebook, the Irian factories were damaged in 3014, during the Anton-Janos civil war, and that the damage was fixed by 3017.  Unless they got damaged again around 3025, the paragraph in which the author talks about the damage in the present tense was lifted verbatim out of a ten-year-old source.

It’s interesting that the Dark Shadows SAFE ‘Mech battalion was only formed after the Anton/Janos civil war.  Was the fear of the power of the Captain-General being undercut by an overly strong and independent intelligence agency (a holdover from the crises that brought down the FWL’s National Intelligence Agency in the early Star League era) such that they didn’t trust SAFE with ‘Mechs for centuries after the NIA was abolished?

Denebola is just one jump from Castor, where Snord’s Irregulars and the Kell Hounds hit in 3011, under Lyran contract, and not much further from Dieudonne (another Lyran target in 3011), so this account ties in well with those scenarios.  Most of those scenarios ended in at least local victories for the Lyrans (including losing a bunker full of nuclear weapons), but this entry chooses to classify the Lyran advance as “blunted” by the data. 

If Grayson had a Hermes II, he still probably would have had to seize the communication building on Verthandi, since his zipsqueal was targeted at a ship at the jump point, not in orbit, which seems to be the limit of the Hermes II’s range.  The entry notes that Dark Shadows commander Margarita Luhenson used a micro-satellite to transmit reports to her superiors.  I get how her transmissions got to the satellite.  I don’t get how the info moved from the satellite to SAFE.  Did it retransmit to a safehouse (a SAFE house?) on Denebola, where local agents then sent the data via ComStar HPG?  Did it beam it out to a “merchant ship” at the jump point?  If system-wide transmission equipment couldn’t fit in the Hermes II, could it fit in a “micro satellite”? 

The name of the Hermes II is wonderfully evocative – the numerals at the end implying the existence and extinction of a predecessor design.  The introduction to the First Succession War sourcebook explains the lack of a “new tech” section as the result of the general tearing down with WMDs, and said the period was not conducive to technological advance, but I’d think that would be exactly when a bunch of new cutting edge stuff would be fielded – things put together by black ops skunkworks during the Star League era and then prototyped and field tested during the First Succession War, when commanders were desperately seeking a new wonder weapon to throw into the meat grinder.  The rollout of the Hermes II is one such example, just as the Kurita development of a “biomech” is another.
 
Vulcan: If the SLDF needed an anti-infantry ‘Mech, why not employ the Firestarters that had been sitting around not setting fires for 200 years?  What about the Locust’s twin machine guns disqualified it for anti-infantry duty?

Per canon, Northwind saw heavy fighting during the First Succession War (reducing the two Northwind Highlander regiments there to 47% and 21% combat effectiveness), but did not fall to House Davion until 2841, in the Second Succession War.  Thus, the Davion bombings and seizure of the Vulcan stores at MatherTechno was apparently a resource raid, not a planetary invasion. 

The destruction of Davion air bases on Dobson as a measure to pave the way for a Combine advance on Galtor seems a bit premature in 3020, since the Combine didn’t lose Galtor to the Federated Suns until 3022.  My guess is that the strikes were to hamper Davion efforts to move against Galtor – the destroyed runways and support equipment making the world unsuitable as a staging base. 

Redjack Ryan plays a much larger role in the Technical Readouts than he ever did in the fiction.  My guess is that Ryan was listed as one of the core factions of the early BattleTech fiction (the ones shown on the color plate in MW1E).  Wormmel Hide joins Abel Karmak, Ivy Upsalom, Agnar “Satanson” Haggarty, and Pers Stromsky as named members of Ryan’s Rebels.
 
Whitworth: The Whitworth serves as the lowest tier of fire support (Whitworth -> Trebuchet/Catapult -> Archer -> Longbow), unless you count the LRM-5 equipped Locust.  At 40 tons, it lacks the toughness needed to be exposed to enemy fire for significant periods, and the mobility to keep up with a fluid battle or escape superior forces.  Some players refer to it as the “Whitworthless.”  There are very few situations where you’d rather have a Whitworth than a Trebuchet. 

The chronology is a bit off – the entry claims the SRM-equipped version (introduced in 2610) served throughout the Age of War (2398 – 2556).  Clearly, the author meant “served throughout the Star League era.”

The feud between the AFFS and DCMS Whitworth pilots is generally sustainable, except for having Gavro Kent serve in the 5th Syrtis Fusiliers “right across the border” from Halman’s 2nd Dieron Regulars.  The Syrtis Fusiliers garrison the Capellan March, rather than the Draconis March.  It would be far more consistent if Gavro Kent was in the Robinson Rangers, the Fusiliers’ Draconis March counterpart.  There’s also the question of why the Rasalhague Regulars were attacking Elidere IV, when their jurisdiction is on the Lyran border, and why the date of the battle is given as 3026 in a book published in mid-3025.  My guess is that the attack should have been in 3016, rather than 3026, giving the feud nine years to develop. 
 
Blackjack: The Blackjack is indispensable for taking out unsupported fixed defenses from beyond their ability to retaliate.  As pointed out in “Not the Way the Smart Money Bets,” the Blackjack actually outguns the much heavier JagerMech.  On the downside, it’s slow for a Medium, and tends to run hot (a trend horrifically amplified in the “upgraded” versions with LosTech). 

Ravannion seems to have actually brought a legitimate horde of Wasps and Stingers to Xhosa VII, since the two-company Draconis March Militia force of Blackjacks and Locusts is described as being outnumbered, implying at least a battalion of Wasps/Stingers.  The question is, why did Ravannion try again with only six the next time?  Was that all that remained after this fiasco?
 
Hatchetman:   I do have to admit the Hatchetman makes a good close-quarters street fighter, with jump jets for building hopping, plenty of close-range weapons, and sufficient ammunition.  The placement of the lasers does not take into account later rulesets for hatchets – namely that you cannot make a physical attack with a melee weapon held in a limb that just committed a ranged attack.  Thus, putting a laser in the same arm as the hatchet makes it possible only to do an either/or attack.  Also, this predated hatchet rules, so no tonnage nor crits were allocated, making the design presented technically hatchetless. 

The enigmatic Dr. B. Banzai is a direct reference to Buckaroo Banzai, NAIS research scientist and leader of Team Banzai.  I saw the advertisements in comics when it came out (Buckaroo Who?!), but did not see it in theaters, yet it appears to have made a massive impact on the BattleTech writing staff, to the point where they copied the logo for the mercenary unit, named the battalions after groups from the movie, and Stackpole even recreated a scene from the movie in Warrior: Riposte.  A more nuanced understanding of copyright law resulted in a substantial de-emphasizing of the group, followed by radical changes in name and MO during the Jihad.

The full-head ejection system was an innovation that prompted the substitution of a Hatchetman for Kai Allard-Liao’s signature Yen Lo Wang on Twycross, so he could rocket free with Dierdre as the explosives went off (and so Stackpole wouldn’t have to destroy Yen Lo Wang in the process). 
 
Phoenix Hawk:   The Phoenix Hawk serves excellently as a commander for mobile light ‘Mechs, since it can keep up with the Wasps and Stingers.  It runs fairly hot, though, so jumping and firing aren’t recommended on a regular basis. 

Abraham Ibn Faud is treated as a Notable MechWarrrior for his devotion to Islam.  I’d guess it’s because such public faith is uncommon in a mercenary unit like the Eridani Light Horse, whereas it would be expected in the Arkab Legions.
 
Vindicator: After reading this entry about the debut of the Vindicator on Tikonov during H.R. Howler Greer’s attempt to take it, I wanted to include the prototype version mentioned here in my BattleCorps Scenario – “Conquer the Kremlin,” but that was denied because there hadn’t ever been an official record sheet published for it at the time.  The movement and weapon loadout bear striking similarities to that of the Panther (4/6/4 and a PPC) and the Banshee (4/6 and a PPC, AC/5, and Small Laser). 

[Skyth]

Interesting fact about the Hatchetman from TRO 3025...The design was 3 tons underweight...Which is the weight the hatchet 'should' be.

[Hayden.]

The Amphigean Light Assault Group is referred to here as mercenaries, consistent with their writeup in the Galtor Campaign book.  The Combine Combat Manual has definitively clarified that the Amphigeans started out as mercenaries and then transitioned to be DCMS line units.

In CM: Kurita the Amphigeans could be described as a "reverse company store" as the Amphigean force is restructured from six main battalions into:

-Two regiments (1st LAG and 2nd LAG) that receive a perpetual contract and state supplies and equipment but are still staffed by Amphigean employees, and:

-Two additional battalions (3rd LAG and 4th LAG) under direct Amphigean control and supply and operating as traditional (albeit in a limited fashion) mercenaries.

-Later the 5th LAG and 7th LAG are formed as regiments along the lines of the DCMS-contracted 1st and 2nd, while a 6th LAG is formed along the same lines as the amphigean-operated Battalions.

I'd conclude that the Amphigean LAGs are not quite DCMS line units or traditional mercenaries, but instead occupy a middle ground.

[Mendrugo]

Interesting fact about the Hatchetman from TRO 3025...The design was 3 tons underweight...Which is the weight the hatchet 'should' be.

Huh - nice to know they took that into account, even though the rules for that hadn't existed yet. 

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025
 
Title: Technical Readout: 3025
 
Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)
 
Type: Sourcebook (FASA)
 
Synopsis:
 
Centurion:   Designed as a partner for Corean Enterprises’ Trebuchet, the Centurion was produced on Ramen II from 2801 to 2845.  On Hoff, Fadre Singh used his Centurion to lead a decisive Wolf’s Dragoons assault on Eridani Light Horse forces at Azure Stone Mesa.  For disobeying orders, Singh was reassigned to a frontier post and subsequently disappeared.  At the battle of New Mendham, Ian Grimm of the Illician Lancers singlehandedly destroyed a Marauder that had overheated. 
 
Enforcer:   Commissioned by House Davion in 2777, the Enforcer was conceived a barrage vehicle, using an autocannon supported by lasers, a configuration that serves it well in the tight confines of city fighting.  Enforcers harassed enemy forces when they marched through the city of Selby on New Avalon, buying AFFS forces time to regroup.  2nd Crucis Lancers Enforcers drove off enemy forces on Capra, during the First Succession War.  Enforcers established a perimeter on Tannil during the Second Succession War, then accompanied the assault force into the target city.  Colin McBurnham excels at city fighting in his Enforcer, the “Bannockburn.”  Sarah Nealson serves in the Davion Heavy Guards.
 
Hunchback:   Introduced in 2572, the Hunchback is popular in the armies of Houses Liao, Kurita, and Marik.  It excels at urban battles, and serves in medium and assault regiments.  In 3012, on Pike IV, Pasquesi’s Battalion attacked the city of Paramus and tore through the 42nd Armored Lightning Regiment’s defenses, with Hunchbacks leading the charge.  In 3021, on New Ivaarsen, the 5th Galedon Regulars stormed AFFS fortifications at the city of Twin Peaks.  The Galedon Hunchbacks were savaged by long range fire before they could bring their heavy guns to bear, and the charge faltered.  Isoroku Kurita, nephew of Takashi Kurita, serves as an instructor at the Sun Zhang Academy, and commands the first regiment of the Cadre.  He pilots “Murakumi” (Cloud-Gatherer), a Hunchback with which he has destroyed 22 enemy ‘Mechs in 30 engagements, most recently including the assault on the city of Barnstable at the Fourth Battle of Harrow’s Sun.    Shawn Phillips serves in the 15th Dracon at the helm of his “Swayback”-style Hunchback, “Retribution.”  He was adopted into the regiment when the unit was stationed on his homeworld, Lincoln V. 
 
Trebuchet: The Trebuchet (aka the “Trenchbucket”) was produced from 2780 to 2845 to support its lancemates with long-range bombardment and close-range fire support.  In 2787, at the Battle of Saffell, Trebuchets bombarded Kurita fortifications, forcing the defenders to flee.  The Regulan Hussars regularly form heavy fire lances containing an Archer, a Centurion, and two Trebuchets.  In 2880, Trebuchets helped House Kurita maintain its foothold on Suk II against a Steiner assault.  Raj Sing commands a fire lance in the 12th Star Guards, though his Trebuchet has seen better days.  Peter Chandler (of the Tiber Chandlers) pilots a House Chandler Trebuchet in the Regulan Hussars.  He destroyed an enemy Thunderbolt on Tellmann IV.  Wendy Chan serves with Richard’s Panzer Brigade.
 
Dervish: The Dervish was commissioned in 2520 and served throughout the Star League era in large numbers, providing fire support.  In 2796, the 17th Avalon Hussars sent most of the garrison to New Avalon, leaving a small guerilla force under Conrad Warrent equipped with Dervishes and Enforcers.  The 2nd Sword of Light landed unopposed, destroyed the capital and occupied the planet, then established a supply depot to support the advance.  Warrent’s guerrillas attached the depot, destroying more than 1,000 tons of ammunition and large stores of parts in the ten hours it took the Sword of Light to track down the “Whirling Dervishes.”  Hap “Madman” Carsburg is a conman who dresses eccentrically and suffers from wild mood swings.
 
Griffin: Entering service in 2492, the Griffin was considered a heavy ‘Mech at the time, but later reclassified as a medium.  One of the most common ‘Mechs in service, it provides long-range support to medium lances with an LRM-10 and PPC.  In 2967, Marion’s Highlanders assaulted the 2nd Regulan Hussars’ fortifications in the Ninth Battle of Holt, but their Griffins’ firepower was insufficient to breach the defenses, especially once the Hussars began singling them out for elimination.  In 3012, Wolf’s Dragoons battled House Marik forces in the ruined city of Shimgata, Shiro III’s capital with lances comprised mostly of Griffins.  Darvin “Dropkick” Webster, of Winfield’s Brigade, excels in Death-from-above attacks with his Griffin, “Hopalong.”  Pers Stromsky, one of Redjack Ryan’s pirates, survived nearly burning to death in his cockpit, and has extensive cybernetic implants.  He prefers to crush the cockpits of all the foes he defeats, to ensure the death of the MechWarrior inside.  Both Houses Kurita and Davion have placed bounties on him.
 
Scorpion:   The Scorpion was the first four-legged ‘Mech produced by the Brigadier Corporation’s Dr. David Harrison.  It serves most effectively as an infantry support vehicle.  It carries limited firepower and throws the pilot around as it moves, but can survive the loss of two of its four legs.  In 2925, the Fusiliers of Oriente sent Scorpions against the Liao Guards on Hassad, dominating the battlefield in the lowland swamps and forcing the Capellans to retreat.  In 2944, Kuritan Scorpions outmaneuvered the AFFS troops on Styx, where the Davion garrison consisted of bluewater boats on Lake Wio.  House Davion sent their Scorpions against Kurita forces on Royal, but they were wiped out by SRM infantry that got underneath the ‘Mechs.  Wendall Puritan II serves with Smithson’s Chinese Bandits, where he keeps his Scorpion in perfect condition.  Regent Ryal serves in the Pesht Regulars with a damaged Scorpion.
 
Shadow Hawk: The Shadow Hawk is a well-balanced multi-function recon/attack ‘Mech which received a redesign in 2550.  In 2920, the Legion of Vega attacked key Davon supply bases on Hoan with Shadow Hawk-Ks.  On Loric, in 2971, the Regulan Hussars battled the 12th Star Guards for control of the world’s water.  Lyran Shadow Hawks escorted couriers to relay commands, but the couriers’ legs seized up when they were intercepted, and House Steiner lost the battle of Diggers Pass.  The 7th Crucis Lancers used their Shadow Hawks on Lincoln and Moore in 3001 and 3010.  The Galedon Regulars used their Shadow Hawk-Ks in the battles for Alexandria and Baxter.  Sergei “Death’s Head” Vang is a training instructor at the Meistmorn Academy on Doneval II.  He has survived two combat encounters with the Black Widow.  Celeste Rio took out two League aerospace fighters while executing a combat drop with Hansen’s Roughriders on Shiloh.
 
Wolverine: The Kallon Industries Wolverine serves in medium and recon lances.  It often serves as a command vehicle, due to its Tek BattleCom.  The unit’s high speed results in weak armor, but gives the design extra versatility.  In 2986, Legion of Vega Wolverines battled the Deneb Light Cavalry on Bergman’s Planet, and used superior mass to overpower the lighter but more numerous enemies.  In 2932, Lyran Guard Wolverines under Lisa Morgan engaged three heavy assault companies led by Yuri Karlevski in his BattleMaster, the “Czar Peter.”  Morgan ordered her forces to attack, and shot their way free, killing Karlevski and taking his ‘Mech as salvage.  Lib Argust serves in the 4th Tau Ceti Rangers, and brings her “rudder-bat” skills to her work as a recon pilot. 
 
Notes:
 
Centurion:   From a weapons standpoint, the Centurion is a good match with the Trebuchet.  At long ranges, the Centurion can add its LRM-10 rack to the Trebuchet’s two LRM-15s.  Then, as enemies close, the Centurion takes the lead role, blasting away with its AC/10 and lasers, while the Trebuchet supports with its lasers.  Together, they can deliver significant firepower at any range.  The only downside is that, even together, half their armament is an either/or proposition.  I have found that a specialized long-range unit or a specialized short range unit can significantly outperform the Centurion/Trebuchet combo if it has the speed to reach its preferred range bracket.

Fadre Singh (spelled ‘Sing’ here) gets his moment in the sun set up here.  Further elaborated on in “Wolves on the Border” and the Wolf’s Dragoons sourcebook, Fadre Singh apparently joined the Dragoons’ ranks in 3020 (after the second supply run – implying he’s a fresh Freebirth from the Homeworlds) and disappeared after his de-facto exile by defecting to the Ryuken in 3023, to whom he revealed the secret escape plan the Dragoons would use to leave the Combine – putting their dependents at risk.

It’s not specified when the Illician Lancers fought on New Mendham, but given the location, it was probably during the 3022 AFFS offensive that resulted in the creation of the “Galtor Thumb.” 
 
Enforcer:   The description of the battle on New Avalon makes it sound like a major Combine invasion force landed there.  The First Succession War sourcebook clarifies that the DCMS launched some recon raids against the system to assess its defenses in late 2795.  The DCMS troops that hit Selby must have been recon raiders that somehow slipped through the AFFS defense screens and had to be intercepted by garrison forces on the surface. 

The recon raids appear to have been fairly punishing.  Garrison units that started and finished the war on New Avalon included the 1st Avalon Borderers (55%), 12th Avalon Hussars (62%), 2nd Albion Cadet Cadre (65%), 3rd New Avalon Military Academy Cadet Cadre (55%), and New Avalon CrMM (33%).  It’s not clear, though, to what extent these commands ended the war at reduced capacity because of battle damage, or because their gear was reallocated to units engaged in the counter-offensive.

The First Succession War sourcebook doesn’t mention an attack on Capra.  The 2nd Crucis Lancers started the war on Kestrel and ended up on Elbar, but their exploits during the war are unchronicled.  Any attack on Capra would probably have been early in the war, before the collapse of the Davion defenses in the Draconis March.  Their foes were probably the 1st Sword of Light, which began the war on Capra.

The author refers to McBurnham’s dialect as “Scotch Gaelic,” which is a common error for American authors (it should be “Scottish” or “Scots” unless referring to specific food products).  I recall reading a New Mutants letters page where a Scottish writer took Chris Claremont to task for a line of Rahne Sinclair’s dialogue, noting that unless she were referring to a bottle of crown royal whisky, the term “Scotch royalty” didn’t apply.
 
Hunchback:   Lincoln is mentioned in the Liao sourcebook as having been the site of a 3001 victory by Warrior Houses over Davion forces.  It’s not on the maps circa 3025, and its naming convention (Lincoln V) implies that it’s not a secondary world in another on-map system.  Lincoln may have been an outpost world without a significant civilian population, but that serves as a repair and resupply depot for units rotating off the front lines.  Tara Gallagher used the battle between Pasquesi’s Battalion and the 42nd Armored Lightning Regiment as the foundation for a story being told by mercs at a bar on the Davion R&R outpost of Rahway II in “Life in the Big City,” the sourcebook fiction intro for the CityTech rulebook.    Though the battle took place in 3012, per the Hunchback entry, some other mercs at the bar are whooping it up over a victory on Travis V, which the Stalker entry says happened in the summer of 3024, so the mercs discussing the Pike IV battle in that story are just rehashing a 12 year old battle.

Isoroku Kurita is Takashi’s nephew, and Theodore’s cousin.  He was apparently considered one of the major leaders of the Combine when FASA made the Succession Wars board game, making Isoroku one of the Combine leaders (one not that hard to bribe, actually).  He went on to have several cameos in the background of major events all the way through the Jihad.

Like the Hetzer and Demolisher, the Hunchback is built around the AC/20, and, like them, lacks the mobility to close with a faster foe.  This reality is pointed out in the account of the Combine debacle on New Ivaarsen, where the Hunchbacks are picked apart by long range fire well before they can get into range.  Nonetheless, when the Hunchback can get into close range, it can punch well above its weight.  I remember scoffing at my foe in a one-on-one Archer vs. Hunchback duel.  I kept launching missiles and walking backwards, but the Hunchback kept advancing, and then suddenly he was in under my minimum range penalty zone and taking chunks out of my torso with that big gun.  End result, a battered Hunchback and a cored Archer.
 
Trebuchet:   The First Succession War sourcebook clarifies that the Combine attacked Saffel with the Sixth Benjamin Regulars in April 2787, and battled the Blue Star Irregulars’ 21st Rim Worlds Regiment (under Davion contract) there.   They fell back intentionally to create an appearance of weakness, in preparation for the major DCMS assault which began on May 1, 2787.  Thus, the fact that the Kurita forces could not stand before the Trebuchets’ bombardment takes on a new light.  The new offensive engulfed Saffel, and the world ended the war deep inside Combine borders.

Source material indicates Suk II was frequently raided by the Draconis Combine during the Succession Wars, but I cannot find a reference to it being under Combine control – whereas this entry describes the battle as a Kurita garrison defending against a Lyran invasion. 

Peter Chandler’s brave actions on Tellman IV achieve heroic, nigh legendary status when you consider that he serves in the Regulan Hussars, defending the border against the Capellan Confederation, but went far beyond the call of duty and invaded the Outworlds Alliance, all the way on the other side of both the Confederation and the Federated Suns.  The Capellan Confederation doesn’t have any worlds that could be attributed to as typo versions of Tellman IV.  Corridan IV, in Lyran space, is a bit of a reach, but far more raidable than Tellman IV.   If this is “only what one should expect of a Chandler,” perhaps being a Chandler and being a Hogarth are pretty similar. 

The Trebuchet (aka the “Trenchbucket”) was produced from 2780 to 2845 to support its lancemates with long-range bombardment and close-range fire support.  In 2787, at the Battle of Saffel, Trebuchets bombarded Kurita fortifications.  The Regulan Hussars regularly form heavy fire lances containing an Archer, a Centurion, and two Trebuchets.  In 2880, Trebuchets helped House Kurita maintain its foothold on Suk II against a Steiner assault.  Raj Sing commands a fire lance in the 12th Star Guards, though his Trebuchet has seen better days.  Peter Chandler (of the Tiber Chandlers) pilots a House Chandler Trebuchet in the Regulan Hussars.  He destroyed an enemy Thunderbolt on Tellman IV.  Wendy Chan serves with Richard’s Panzer Brigade.

The fact that production ended in 2845, the same year as production for the Centurion ended, implies that the two were made at the same Corean Enterprises factory on Ramen II.  Ramen II has been identified as a Capellan world that fell to the Free Worlds League during the First Succession War and was abandoned during the Third Succession War.  The Capellans, then, are the most likely culprits to have destroyed the factories in 2845. 
 
Dervish:   The Whirling Dervishes’ destruction of the depot on New Rhodes III indirectly led to the Kentares Massacre, since the DCMS decided to set up a new depot there after the Dervishes wiped out the original on New Rhodes.

The author seems to have been working off a draft of the Inner Sphere history that suggests the Combine actually invaded New Avalon during the First Succession War.  The statement that New Rhodes III was one of the worlds on the way to New Avalon is technically true, but only for troops based in the Combine’s Ashio Prefecture.  The author seems to be implying, in this entry, that New Rhodes was much closer to New Avalon than it ended up being on the starmap.  (They may have been working off the very early, very abstract starmap that only shows a few dozen worlds.)

The First Succession War sourcebook clarifies that AFFS “peacekeepers” took control of New Rhodes III in 2784.  The new sourcebook says that Warrant’s command was comprised of elements of the “Chargers” battalion from the 10th Robinson Chevaliers, and says at least half of the reinforced company escaped to fight on.  It also corrects the date to 2789, rather than 2796 (which is when the Kentares Massacre took place – there needed to be time for the DCMS to set up the new depot on Kentares).  It’s also clarified that the DCMS unit involved was the 30th Dieron Regulars, rather than the 2nd Sword of Light.
 
Griffin:   The terminology in this entry led to a widespread perception in the fanbase that the first generation of ‘Mechs had a weight cap below 100 tons, resulting in smaller weight-class ranges at lower levels – making the 55-ton Griffin a Heavy ‘Mech .  Once new technologies facilitated the construction of heavier chasses, the weight class definitions changed and the Griffin was redesignated as a Medium ‘Mech.  The reference to the Griffin being originally designed as an assault ‘Mech further muddied the waters.  This also led to the creation of an apocryphal version of the first ‘Mech, the Mackie, weighing 50-tons, since it wouldn’t make sense for the Griffin to be noted as having been superseded by heavier vehicles later if there were heavier vehicles around before, too.  The introduction of the official 100-ton Mackie design in Tales of the Black Widow and TRO:3058 created a logical disconnect with the text in the Griffin entry.  The BattleTech line developer took the time to clarify that the Griffin had been filling roles that would later be assigned to heavier ‘Mechs, but that there had never been a cap below 100 tons on weight, and that the Mackie had been 100 tons from the start.

The Griffin is based on the Soltic H8 Roundfacer from Dougram: Fang of the Sun, and thus shares a number of design element similarities with other mecha from that anime – the Wolverine/Blockhead, the Shadow Hawk/Dougram, the Thunderbolt/Ironfoot, and the BattleMaster/Bigfoot.  (The Scorpion/Blizzard Gunner and Goliath/Crab Gunner are also from Fang of the Sun, but have a different aesthetic.)

Despite (apparently) at least ten battles on Holt during the Succession Wars, House Marik retained control of the world throughout the centuries.  Most would have been against the Capellan Confederation, but at least one involved Cranston Snord’s Irregulars. 

The attack on Shiro III in 3012 is one of the few missions that the Capellan Confederation sent the Dragoons on before transferring their contract to Anton Marik in 3014.  The destruction of the capital indicates that House Liao had given the Dragoons orders to cause more than usual levels of destruction.  This may account for why the Leaguers hate House Liao so much in “The Color of Sky,” since he sicced the Dragoons on them for a couple of years, and they trashed the joint.  (When I did that review, I noted that most sources had a long list of FWL attacks against the Capellans, and very few instances of Capellan strikes into League space).

I’m honestly surprised, though, that this Griffin vs. Griffin battle involving mostly punches and DFA attacks went for the Dragoons, given Clanners’ ingrained distaste for physical combat.  It seems that the Dragoons were, generally, able to drop nearly all Clan mannerisms, taboos, and ways of thinking nearly overnight, while retaining their warrior skills (none of which, save Natasha’s, were genetically enhanced).
 
Scorpion:   The Liao Guards were mostly destroyed during the First Succession War, but apparently at least one Liao Guards unit survived until 2925, when they fought on Hassad. 

The 2944 battle between AFFS and DCMS forces on Styx is interesting, because – as it’s a Kurita world – the presence of Davion bluewater vessels implies that the AFFS brought their own boats to the invasion.  Styx is, however, noted for having 79% of the world covered by water, so it would make sense for an invasion force to bring along some Rapier-class Patrol Destroyers (which, conveniently, have a date of introduction in 2943, and are noted as being able to travel in the hold of a Mammoth and be assembled on the target world).  The Rapier of 2943 would have presumably had 8 PPCs, 2 LRM-20s, 2 Long Toms (or Snipers), 2 LRT-20s, and 2 Large Lasers.  Looking at that arsenal, I’m stunned that the Scorpions managed to take them out.  (There probably weren’t more than two Rapiers, though, and probably at least a company of Scorpions).

As Frabby pointed out earlier, Notable MechWarrior Wendall Puritan II gets a cameo in the Activision MechWarrior game, selling out his estranged brother, Kangaroo Jack.

One of the problems with the adapted Blizzard Gunner is that the original Fang of the Sun design had more weapons than you can fit onto the 55-ton Scorpion under the BattleTech construction rules, leaving you with two side-mounted triple barrel…somethings…and a forward left torso barrel that also has no accompanying statistic.  I mean, the sucker looks like it should have an LRM-10, a PPC, a Medium Laser, an SRM-2, and some ‘Mech Mortars, at the very least.  Too much emphasis was put on speed, however, to allow those guns to be actualized.  The lack of jump pets also makes it hard for this unit to keep up with the other Fang of the Sun conversions.

The design has heat problems from the get-go, and it only gets worse (far worse) in the 3050 “upgrade.” 

Shadow Hawk:   The titular mecha from Dougram: Fang of the Sun, this design got some serious love in the write-up, though in practice, its “multi-function” arsenal of an SRM-2, LRM-5, AC/5, and Medium Laser means that it can mildly annoy an enemy at a variety of ranges.  When your average damage is roughly equivalent to that of a Charger, you’re undergunned.  The –K variant is so popular precisely because it yanks out the bulky AC/5 and replaces it with the harder-hitting PPC and enough heat sinks to use it. 

Sergei Vang gets a cameo in “Leave No Survivors” from Tales of the Black Widow, and in “Finals” from Blackthorne comics – both retellings of the same story (the one featured in the Stinger entry) of cadets facing elements of the Black Widow Company.  It appears that Vang did not really take the cadets up on their offer to join their lance (made in “Finals”), since he’s still teaching at Meistmorn.  Given the abysmal gunnery scores given to the supposedly nearly-graduated cadets in the “Leave No Survivors” scenario, he’s not much of a teacher, at least not for gunnery or piloting.

The 2971 battle on Loric appears to have been an overall success for the Regulan Hussars, owing to their success at Diggers Pass.  House Steiner (and the 12th Star Guard) counterattacked in 2976 (as chronicled in TRO:3026’s Condor and Engineering Vehicle entries).

The account of the Hoan battle in 2920 is questionable, since the OpFor, the Legion of Vega, wasn’t formed until 3011.  There also isn’t a world of Hoan, but there is one named Hean, so that’s probably a typo.

Wolverine: Based on the “Blockhead” from Fang of the Sun, the Wolverine has equal mobility to the Griffin, but focuses on short-to-medium ranges compared to the Griffin’s long range arsenal.  The claim, however, that the Wolverine is “one of the heaviest ‘Mechs to be equipped with jump jets” is a bold claim to make in a volume that also includes the 80-ton Victor and the 65-ton jumping Thunderbolt variant, not to mention the Quickdraw and Grasshopper. 

Once again, the Legion of Vega’s creation date of 3011 causes problems for a writeup – this one using it as the OpFor on Bergman’s Planet in 2986.  The fact that the Legion of Vega unit took no casualties in a week-long engagement means they weren’t the Legion of Vega.  Those guys have limited training and nearly wrecked equipment, in general. 

I’m always surprised when units with good jump capacity are described as “trapped.”  It’s well nigh impossible to stop a motivated unit with 5/8/5 movement to move past a blockade, unless you get some very lucky hits.  The Marauders would have been especially vulnerable to being bypassed, because once the Wolverines closed to point blank range, the PPC minimums would throw off aim.  I don’t see why Captain Morgan fought the Marauders instead of just fleeing and leaving the Marauders and the BattleMaster in the dust.

[Skyth]

I always thought the Wolverine was based on the BioRoids from Southern Cross of Robotech.

[Jaim Magnus]

I always thought the Wolverine was based on the BioRoids from Southern Cross of Robotech.

Nope. Neither Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross nor Mospeada provided inspiration for Battletech. Only Macross.

[Wrangler]

Nope. Neither Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross nor Mospeada provided inspiration for Battletech. Only Macross.

Except that if you look at Wolf and the Spider graphic novel/scenario book. They used Southern Cross and Mospeada images for mechs.   Lancelot was the Ajax Helicopter vertech, Hornet was the Alpha Fighter.

[skiltao]

I've never checked the Battle Histories against a map of the Inner Sphere; amazing how kooky that all is.

The Spider variants are interesting. As written, they make little sense unless you know that an earlier version of the Spider (I forget which magazine) was 6/9/8 with four medium lasers.

Despite noting that the “armless” version of the UrbanMech is ineffective and rare due to combat losses, that’s the one pictured in the entry

How do you distinguish between a shoulderless UrbanMech and one raising Rifleman-like arms?

So, what were all those Firestarters doing for 200+ years?  I can appreciate that the SLDF would, as a matter of principle, prefer not to burn down the real estate they were defending, but then why build something with that capacity in any event?

One possibility is that the Firestarter was only purchased by House units, and therefore not in use by the periphery or SLDF.

The so-called “Night of Rage” that wiped out the capital city of Skye is another question mark.  Per the House Steiner sourcebook, House Kurita attacked Skye in force for the first time in 2893

Quibble: 2893 is when House Kurita attempted to conquer those worlds, but it's not necessarily the first time they attacked in force. The Steiner book mentions FWL & DC raids against the Federation of Skye in 2791-2812, and later talks about how much the Commonwealth's industrial output had suffered. (Kurita's strike against Helm is a familiar precedent, and you'd think deep strikes against industrial worlds would be de rigueur for all parties in the First Succession War.)

The Kurita attack on Quentin is said to have happened at the same time as the invasion of Kentares IV, so from around mid-2796 to early 2797.  The problem is, the Legion of Vega wasn’t formed until 3011

If the idea is to rationalize these incongruities, then one could view "legion" as a generic term. I remember, for instance, that either the Marik or Capellan book referred to the SLDF division headquartered on Sirius as "the mighty 'Mech legions of Sirius."

Not sure how a design pitched to the SLDF wasn’t fielded until 2980.

Assassins were always pretty rare. Simple luck of the draw might be enough to keep them out of combat, especially since TR:3025's sample of 'Mech designs is biased towards ones which have survived to the present. If there were another 'Mech design (or several other 'Mech designs) built in the same numbers as the Assassin but which saw regular combat over the centuries, there'd be too few by 3025 for the TRO to mention them.

Marik’s Pesht Regulars?  Fighting the St. Ives Armored Cavalry?  On Teng? (which lies on the FedSuns/Liao border)  Ingersoll at least makes sense, being on the Marik border, but it’s somewhat out of the SIAC’s operational jurisdiction. 

Perhaps they were staging out of Lapida. :D

I wonder if two writers co-wrote the Cicada entry, because there’s a severe disconnect between the Battle History and Notable MechWarrior sections.

I suspect an editor went through and changed how many Notable Pilots were assigned to each faction; I wonder if some of the issues with battles and world locations can be chalked up to the same thing.

According to the House Marik sourcebook, the Irian factories were damaged in 3014, during the Anton-Janos civil war, and that the damage was fixed by 3017.

Actually, the Marik book is confusing too. I think the repairs were delayed until recently due to a lack of skilled labor.

I’d guess it’s because such public faith is uncommon in a mercenary unit like the Eridani Light Horse, whereas it would be expected in the Arkab Legions.

You'd think even the Arkab Legions would withdraw from a firefight before stopping to pray, but maybe they wouldn't. I feel like I've heard of pre-gunpowder battles where that happened.

its naming convention (Lincoln V) implies that it’s not a secondary world in another on-map system.

Quibble: the fact that Norn II has a more familiar name (Verthandi) doesn't mean secondary worlds in the system would have earned alternate names also.

Interesting fact about the Hatchetman from TRO 3025...The design was 3 tons underweight...Which is the weight the hatchet 'should' be.

My copy puts the extra weight into heatsinks.

[Mendrugo]

How do you distinguish between a shoulderless UrbanMech and one raising Rifleman-like arms?

The entry describes how the armless UrbanMech is at a disadvantage because it's unable to punch.  I would, therefore, assume that the version with arms has the standard battlefists.  The version in the illustration clearly has nothing that could be construed as even Rifleman-like flipping arms. 

One possibility is that the Firestarter was only purchased by House units, and therefore not in use by the periphery or SLDF.

Except there were huge numbers of Firestarters made at a time when severe caps were imposed on the size of House militaries.

Quibble: 2893 is when House Kurita attempted to conquer those worlds, but it's not necessarily the first time they attacked in force. The Steiner book mentions FWL & DC raids against the Federation of Skye in 2791-2812, and later talks about how much the Commonwealth's industrial output had suffered. (Kurita's strike against Helm is a familiar precedent, and you'd think deep strikes against industrial worlds would be de rigueur for all parties in the First Succession War.)

TRO:3039 gives a date for the destruction of Argile Technologies that synchronizes with the invasion of Skye.  The Skye invasion was notable because it was the first time Skye had been invaded by the Draconis Combine.  After their defeat at Bannockburn Bogs, they never came so close to New Glasgow again.

If the idea is to rationalize these incongruities, then one could view "legion" as a generic term. I remember, for instance, that either the Marik or Capellan book referred to the SLDF division headquartered on Sirius as "the mighty 'Mech legions of Sirius."

Yeah, but there are some cases where the author has clearly picked an anachronistic unit, like putting the Night Stalkers in the First Succession War, or Helmar Valasek in 2950.  My "go to" dodge for these errors are that ROM was intentionally seeding disinformation to see who else out there still had accurate historical data, so they could self-identify and be marked for possible elimination.

Quibble: the fact that Norn II has a more familiar name (Verthandi) doesn't mean secondary worlds in the system would have earned alternate names also.

True, but usually systems either refer to worlds by individual names (Mercury, Venus, Terra, Mars, etc. instead of Sol I, Sol II, Sol III, Sol IV), or by numbers (Hesperus I, Hesperus II, Hesperus III, etc.), but not both.  (Mercury, Sol II, Terra, Sol IV?)  So a system named Lincoln V should be in the Lincoln system, rather than being the fifth out in, say, the Tikonov system.

[Jaim Magnus]

Except that if you look at Wolf and the Spider graphic novel/scenario book. They used Southern Cross and Mospeada images for mechs.   Lancelot was the Ajax Helicopter vertech, Hornet was the Alpha Fighter.

A questionable source at best.

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025
 
Title: Technical Readout: 3025
 
Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)
 
Type: Sourcebook (FASA)
 
Synopsis: 

Dragon:   Commissioned as a potential replacement for the aging 1R Shadow Hawk, it lost out to the 2H.  Despite this failure, Luthien Armor Works made the Dragon anyways, and used it to fill out the ranks of the DCMS from 2754 onwards.  Intended as a close-assault vehicle, it is usually held in reserve to exploit breaks in enemy lines.  In 3013, the 9th Rasalhague Regulars battled the 22nd Skye Rangers on Phalan for control of armor-grade diamond mines.  Repulsed by the heavier Rangers in their attempt to take the mines, the Regulars used their fast Dragons to hit the Rangers’ flank and seize a large supply of diamonds from the warehouses they were guarding.  Leon “The Orator” Gambetta pilots a Dragon in the 2nd Sword of Light.

Ostroc:   Produced in limited numbers by Ostmann Industrie on Terra from 2500-2700, the Ostroc was intended for urban defense and served in local defense garrisons in the Terran Hegemony.  Some were shipped to the Periphery during the Periphery Uprising.  In the mid-3020s, Kuritan Ostrocs serving in Pesht Regulars Urban Defense Lances were ordered to defend the city of Marbury, on Unity, against a raid by Helmar Valasek, and successfully forced Valasek’s forces out of the city.  In 3020, on Yance I, Davion Ostrocs supported a raiding party by shooting down Kurita LAMs and scout ‘Mechs.  In 3022, the Marik-employed Smithson’s Chinese Bandits raided Sian, but were pinned down by Ostrocs of the Chesterton Reserves in the city of Sylbari, and were forced to flee.  Thomas Reeves pilots an Ostroc in the Chesterton Reserves.  In his spare time, he leaks intelligence about Capellan military deployments to House Davion, enabling Davion raiders to hit Capellan weak points.  Paula Stilson pilots her Ostroc, “Heartbreaker,” in the Crucis March Militia.  David Levine, of the 22nd Avalon Hussars, has enhanced his Ostroc to have superior detection and communication capabilities.

Ostsol:   Designed by Ostmann Industrie in 2693 and produced by Kong Interstellar, he Ostsol was designed for independent operations where supply lines are tenuous or non-existent.  It excels as a guerrilla fighter or a hit-and-run supply raider.  It has sufficient speed to serve as a leader for recon and lightning lances, or to support heavier lances as their scout.  On Talon, the First Crucis Lancers battled the 12th Star Guards, who were unemployed and heavily damaged after a fight at New Boston, and had come to Talon to regroup and repair.  In 3011, Hendrik Grimm’s troops used rear-mounted lasers to destroy pursuing scout ‘Mechs while retreating from a failed raid on Sevren.  Lynn Woo serves along with her sister in the Seventh Sword of Light.  Charles LaPierre loves to gamble – which is good, since his battered Ostsol is missing most of its rear armor.

Quickdraw:   Introduced in 2779, the Quickdraw was intended as a replacement for the Rifleman, but the Succession Wars disrupted its planned distribution.  It has enormous firepower, along with the ability to bend its arms to the rear, and good speed and maneuverability.  It tends to avoid close combat, for fear of having its legs crippled.  In 3014, Anton Marik’s 4th Regulan Hussars dropped onto Nova Roma and engaged Janos Marik’s 9th Marik Militia.  The Regulan Quickdraws held the line until Wolf’s Dragoons arrived to force the loyalists to surrender.  In 3015, on Thorin, the Fifth Defenders of Andurien fought the Sixth Lyran Guards in Selathon City on Thorin.  In the close-quarters fighting, the Andurien Quickdraws were ambushed and heavily damaged.  Jack “Frownin’ Jack” Breslin pilots his Quickdraw, “Spare Parts Sally,” in the Fifth Arcturan Guards.  Ivy “Ladykiller” Upsalom commands a support lance in Ryan’s Rebels from her Quickdraw, the “IV-Four.”  She prefers to challenge female MechWarriors to personal combat, and has amassed more than 30 combat kills to date.

Rifleman:   The Rifleman was introduced in 2505 as a medium fire-support vehicle.  An enlarged version debuted in 2770, intended as a fire-support ‘Mech.  Its Garret D2j tracking system enables it to serve as an anti-aircraft platform.  The wing-shaped piece on top is the antenna for the communications system.  Most Successor States use the Rifleman for mobile overwatch and long-range bombardment.  It remains common on the Successor State battlefields, but House Davion has the most, including during battles on Ferris and Hoff.  Hezekiah Walden used Riflemen to defend the city of Polis on New Rhodes III during the First Succession War, helping to drive back the Kurita invasion.  Riflemen provided anti-air fire in the Third Battle of Harrow’s Sun during the siege of Mura.  John “Gentleman Johnny” Clavell pilots his Rifleman in the infamous Black Widow Company.

Catapult: The Catapult was produced in limited numbers between 2561 and 2563 for the Star League, intended as a second-line close-support vehicle.  Early models just had the LRMs, but current versions have four Medium Lasers for close support.  Most SLDF Catapults went with the Exodus, and the majority of the remainder were held by the Capellan Confederation, which controlled the world of Corey where they were made.  House Davion captured several on Ward in 2904.  The Catapults of the 15h Dracon held off Marik forces at the village of Transe on Hsien in 2934.  The 4th Skye Rangers lost their Catapults during a bandit raid on Deia, led by Redjack Ryan, in 2990.  House Kurita lost its sole Catapult on Hoff.  The only other in Kurita space serves with the mercenary Brion’s Legion.  Conan Davis pilots his father’s Catapult in the 15th Dracon, and has proven himself in the fighting on Gan Singh against House Marik.  Walter Finney pilots a Catapult in the 5th Syrtis Fusiliers.  He found his Catapult wrecked and abandoned on Galatia III, and piloted the repaired ‘Mech into battle in several campaigns, most recently on Breed.  Janice Abermann serves in the 21st Centauri Lancers.

Crusader:   The Crusader was the workhorse of the Star League, serving as a medium close-range combat vehicle on counter-insurgency and anti-aircraft missions.  It serves in every Successor State.  During the Star League era, Crusaders were armed with guided “Hawk” and “Phoenix” missiles, but now use crude, unguided missiles.  On Amity, the Skye Rangers used their Crusaders to raid a Regulan Hussars staging base, with heavy fighting at Kendrew’s Crossing.  On Bergman’s Planet, a Syrtis Fusiliers battalion held off a superior Kurita force for days, getting fresh missile loads via DropShip.  The Crucis Lancers repulsed Helmar Valasek’s “Death’s Head Raiders” during a water raid on Tancredi IV.  Miko Umcizi shows off his Zulu heritage in the paintjob for his Crusader, “Shaka,” which he pilots in the 5th Crucis Lancers.

Notes:
 
Dragon:   For a close-assault vehicle, the Dragon certainly has a lot of weapons with minimum-range penalties.  A third of its mass is devoted to the Vlar 300 fusion engine that gives it 5/8 movement, but it simply can’t do much once it gets where it’s going.  Physical attacks would seem to be its forte as a close-assault vehicle, but here again, it lacks battle fists.  The Combine rank and file seem to realize the design’s drawbacks – when Takashi Kurita gives Theodore a Dragon as a graduation gift, he reacts as if his dad bought him a Trabant (East German engineered car with two cylinders – poured smoke out of the exhaust when brand new, could be pushed faster than driven, etc.).  Yet these, apparently, made up the bulk of the DCMS in the Succession Wars.  The Grand Dragon variant gives it a bit more oomph, but at the cost of heat inefficiency.

As Frabby pointed out, the signature DCMS ‘Mechs seem to be confused about their roles.  The Light ‘Mech (Panther) is slow and packs a heavy weapon, and the Heavy ‘Mech (Dragon) is fast but lacks hitting power.

The Dragon’s “Battle History” section confirms that spy satellites are not LosTech – noting that Lyran picket satellites tracked the Rasalhague Regulars’ arrival.  The existence of satellites, given the LosTech nature of ECM circa 3025, makes me wonder why such great emphasis is placed on scout and recon ground units, when much larger areas could be scanned by whichever side has orbital control.  (Granted – the opening cinematic for MechCommander shows AFFC aerospace fighters shooting down all the Smoke Jaguar observation and communication satellites, so that’s probably standard operating practice, but then why didn’t the Rasalhague Regulars do that on Phalan?

I was also somewhat disappointed that, when Dragon Magazine was doing its “D.R.A.G.O.N. project” series of articles (spotlighting dragon-equivalent creatures/characters in other game systems, ranging from Paranoia to Car Wars) that the DRG-1N Dragon didn’t get included.  Perhaps FASA and TSR had some sort of falling out, since there was certainly room for BattleTech promotional articles in earlier issues.

Also, what sort of ‘Mech named “Dragon” lacks a head-mounted Flamer?  Honestly…  They even call the Dragon battalion “Burton’s Firebreathers,” so they know what dragons are all about.

Ostroc:   The Ost-series of ‘Mechs appear to have been tremendously confusing to the layout department (Tara Gallagher, Dana Knutson, Todd F. Marsh, and John Tyk).  The image for the Ostscout shows a ‘Mech with four large gun barrels sprouting from its chest, surrounding a central port.  Yet the stats only give it one Medium Laser.  The art for the Ostroc also features four torso-mounted laser barrels, as well as arms ending in quad-holed oblongs.  The stats show the torso lasers fine, but add an SRM-4 to the Right Torso that doesn’t appear on the design (but does appear on the miniature).  Then the Ostsol has a picture of a ‘Mech with spindly arms ending in what appear to be gun barrels, and no chest barrels, while the stats show four lasers forward, two lasers backwards. 

The issue appears to be that the art for the Ostscout and Ostsol was swapped.  I’m not sure what to make of the arms that look like they should each mount an SRM-4, compared to the design only fitting one into a torso mount.  I know that in a reprint of TRO:3025, they tried to fix things, but somewhat crudely.  They took the two art pages and swapped them, but didn’t redo the stats, so in the reprint, the Ostsol’s stat bloc appears next to the Ostscout and vice versa.  (Leading to my great surprise when a guy who’d filled out a record sheet for his Ostscout based on the stat bloc told me his Ostscout was unloading on me with two Large Lasers.  Sort of like hearing that an UrbanMech is going to run 12.)

The chest barrels are the primary design element adapted from the Regult Battlepods in Macross.  Since they have arms, head-mounted cockpits, and forward-jointed knees, the Ost-series (unlike the other anime imports) are truly original designs, rather than carbon copies of existing art.  (The Marauder, of course, is a much closer adaptation of the Glaug Officer’s Pod.)  The description, however, appears to have assumed it would be a straight-up copy of the Battlepod, since it claims it has short arms, and compares it to the Stalker and Marauder, whereas the ‘Mech pictured is humanoid with forward-bending knees.  The writeup also calls it “an effective medium ‘Mech,” implying that the designers originally intended it to be in the medium weight class, but perhaps bumped it up to the lower end of Heavy to balance the weight class distribution.

Santander’s Killers certainly don’t shy away from deep raids.  Unity is about seven or eight jumps from Santander V.  That’s a long way to go to raid a world with about 500 million inhabitants and no significant industries, circa 3025.

I understand that the target audience for this book is gamers who might want to use some of the Notable MechWarriors as NPCs or plot hooks in an RPG campaign.  But since the book is framed as a publicly available reference document, I find it flabbergasting that it identifies Thomas Reeves as a Davion agent in the Chesterton Reserves.  Why would ComStar compromise this MIIO mole, if they’re trying to maintain 1) the appearance of neutrality and 2) the pretense that they aren’t reading everyone’s mail? 

Imagine what could have changed re: the 4th Succession War if there had been a TRO: 3027 which noted: “Justin Xiang, estranged son of MIIO Director Quintus Allard, joined the Chancellor’s crisis team after winning the Solaris VII championship.  Unbeknownst to Maximilian, but knownst to us, he’s a deep cover Davion agent working to bring down the Confederation.  Just sayin’.” 

So, we have one account that Smithson’s Chinese bandits were working for House Marik in 3022, then that they lost two of their three regiments while working for House Davion in 3024, and are back under Marik contract in 3025.  This is not consistent with the House Marik sourcebook writeup that they contracted with House Marik in 2926 with two regiments, then reorganized to one after battlefield attrition thinned their ranks.  I would presume, then, that the unit faced by Mary “Hopscotch” Finn (from the Ostscout entry) on Demeter in 3024 wasn’t Smithson’s Chinese Bandits, but another regiment.  Perhaps the Wild Geese, Davion mercs well known for their routine impersonation of other units, were trying to muddy the waters by impersonating the Bandits?  Or it could have been the Redfield Renegades, which are the Demeter garrison circa 3025.

Ostsol:   I remain utterly confused about why the Star League Defense Force would be soliciting design proposals for a raider that didn’t need supply lines.  About 90% of the SLDF’s annual budget went towards creating, fortifying, and enhancing supply lines.  Caches everywhere.  Fleets of WarShips with more cargo bay space than you can shake a stick at.  A unit designed for guerrilla warfare is an anathema to the Star League’s core concept – they are THE MAN.  If someone is waging a guerrilla war, it will be their foes, not the SLDF.  Why, then, introduce a tool suited for warfare against THE MAN?

New Boston doesn’t appear on any starmap – not even the Star League era ones.  Perhaps it was one of the Federated Suns’ outpost worlds (like New Cleveland, from “The Sword and the Dagger”) that the CCAF had hired them to hit, and it went badly.  According to the unit’s history, it started out with the Capellan Confederation in the First Succession War, went over to the Draconis Combine in the 2nd Succession War, then moved to the Federated Suns in the Third Succession War, and went to the Lyrans in 2967, then back to the FedSuns in 3012, then back to the Lyrans in 3024.  The First Succession War puts the 12th Star Guard on Tianamon and Ashkum to start with, and on Tianamon and Farwell at the end (implying that their First Succession War campaign was a push from the Sarna Commonality into the Kathil Combat Region and on into the Markesan Combat Region – quite a ways “north” of Talon/Wernke.  My guess is that they hit New Boston at some point in the 2nd Succession War, got hammered and then shafted when the CC cancelled their contract, went to Talon (probably to try to score equipment from the Kallon plant there with which to rebuild), and got ambushed by the Crucis Lancers, then decided to strike out across the Federated Suns and join up with the Combine, so they could continue hitting the hated Davions (they started out with the mandate of defending a cluster of Capellan worlds).

Quickdraw:   I’ve never really liked the Quickdraw – its popgun weapons array (which is actually stronger pointing backwards) is a result of focusing too much on mobility in a Heavy ‘Mech.  Let scouts be scouts, and let the Heavies bring the guns to the party. 

If the Quickdraw was intended as a replacement for the Rifleman, why does it have a Garret communications system, but a Dynatec 2180 targeting system, when the Garret D2j found on the Rifleman is fluffed as the best for anti-aircraft work?  The manufacturers clearly had a supply contract with Garret, so why not get their targeting system at the same time you’re ordering communications gear?  The Rifleman also has long range guns – Large Lasers and AC/5s, while the Quickdraw has just the LRM-10 for long range firepower.  Not really the same range brackets as the Rifleman, so how is it intended to be a ‘replacement,’ per se?

I was surprised to see the Defenders of Andurien raiding Thorin, since you’d think Andurien forces would be exclusively used against the Capellans.  Perhaps because of the damage her troops suffered fighting on the Lyran world, Dame Catherine Humphries began invoking the Home Defense Act almost nonstop to prevent her Duchy of Andurien forces from being sent outside her borders.  She didn’t trust the LCCC not to throw her people into more ambushes.   The Quickdraw only has one weapon with minimum range issues, so it’s unclear why they were unable to effectively use the SRMs and Medium Lasers.  The Lyran recon lance that beat up the Quickdraws isn’t described in detail.  If Hogarth was involved, it was probably a quartet of Zeuses. 

The battle on Nova Roma was the setting for Steve Mohan’s “The Color of the Sky.”  It was also where Natasha Kerensky first encountered the Bounty Hunter, and lost her Marauder to him.  (3014-3015 was really not a good period for Natasha)

Rifleman: Heat management problems, Rifleman be thy name.  A full alpha strike by this “enhanced” design puts a stationary Rifleman at +16 heat.  It simply has too many weapons and not enough heat sinks to use them.  And that’s not to mention the whopping 2 points of rear side torso armor, and the 4 on the center rear torso.  Compared to the 3N model, perhaps the “4 AC/5 (OS)” variant seen in the Snord’s Irregulars scenarios isn’t so insane.  (I mean, yes, it is insane, but at least it doesn’t overheat…)  It claims “chronic overheating forced the addition of more heat sinks.”  Current construction rules don’t allow less than 10, which is what the 3N has.  The implication is that the 2N had four Large Lasers, less armor, and less than 10 heat sinks.  This is the kind of design you hook up to a coolant truck and have it operate as a stationary turret.

The outcome of the New Rhodes III campaign is a bit too rosy, since we know that the world fell to the Combine without a fight, per the Dervish entry.  The garrison was sent away, leaving only a small guerrilla force under Captain Conrad Warrent.  So who is Davion Garrison Commander Colonel Hezekiah Walden?  Or is the implication that the 17th Avalon Hussars left (except for Warrent and his guerrillas), but the planetary militia under Walden remained to defend Polis?  The Dervish entry says the 2nd Sword of Light found nothing to fight, and spent a week blowing off steam by trashing the capital before settling in to build a supply depot.  This account says they encountered active resistance in the mountain pass leading to Polis, and were driven back, with most of their equipment destroyed. 

The two accounts clearly contradict each other.  Per the First Succession War sourcebook, the Federated Suns counteroffensive never reached New Rhodes III, so Walden’s fight can’t have been part of the liberation “driving back the Kurita forces.”  All I can come up with is that perhaps the account of Colonel Walden’s band fighting the good fight and winning was FedSuns wartime propaganda, intended to bolster the spirits of the people, and a ComStar researcher took it for historical fact. 

The Third Battle of Harrow’s Sun took place during the reign of Coordinator Hohiro Kurita (2963-3004).  It is portrayed as a Kurita defense against a Davion offensive, but all the maps show it as a FedSuns holding at the end of the 2nd Succession War and at the end of the Third, so it must have fallen to the Combine in the Third War and then been recaptured (implying the Second Battle of Harrow’s Sun didn’t go so well for the Federated Suns).

The Rifleman is recognizable as the Raidar-X Destroid from Macross.  The “antenna” was a radar, and the guns were quad 78mm anti-aircraft guns (though some sources portray them as lasers).  Nearly all the adapted Destroids share identical leg structures (Rifleman, Warhammer, and Longbow, with the Archer being the exception).  Official RPG stats give the Destroid weight as 27 tons. 

Catapult: The “special military contract” with the SLDF must have been “special” indeed, having been signed 15+ years before the Star League existed.  It’s likely that the line should have read “special military contract with the Terran Hegemony.”  I wonder if the Hollis Incorporated plant on Corey was set up to produce exclusively for the Hegemony Armed Forces, like the Defiance Industries plant on Hesperus II, and that’s what made the “special military contract” special. 

The majority of the entry is devoted to describing how rare the Catapult is during the Succession Wars.  It’s especially odd that, just a few paragraphs after saying House Kurita has no Catapults left, it describes a special Kurita variant.  However, they’ve featured prominently in many scenarios, art, and fiction over the years, implying that there were additional production runs before the factories were flattened at the outset of the First Succession War.  (It notes that the Hollis Inc. factories were producing a new model and repair parts when they were destroyed.)  My guess is that there were additional production runs throughout the Star League era, but this entry for some reason chose to focus mostly on the late Age of War prototype run.

This is the second mention of the Syrtis Fusiliers being deployed against the Draconis Combine.  We’ve also seen past mentions of Duke Michael Hasek-Davion traveling to the Draconis March and giving orders to non-Fusilier units posted there.  Galatia III isn’t that far from where the Draconis March and Capellan March meet, but it’s still out of Michael’s jurisdiction.  I wonder if his focus on that region was due to his assumption that the doppelganger scheme would remove Hanse as a threat, and he was laying the groundwork to assert his authority over House Sandoval’s demesne. 

The pirate attack on Deia in 2990 that cost the Skye Rangers their Catapults has at least one problem:  Redjack Ryan was born in 2988.  Unless he was extremely precocious, he’d barely be walking at that point, let alone leading raids against the Skye Rangers.  Either the identity of the attackers is wrong, or the raid date is wrong.

I absolutely adore the Catapult.  In a Level 1 3025 game, you’ve got decent mobility, oodles of firepower at long range, and a pretty heavy gun battery up close as well, plus enough heat sinks to use a significant portion of the weapons if an enemy gets at the 6-hex “sweet spot” where the lasers are at +2 and the missiles are at +1.  The lack of hands hasn’t limited its physical attacks, since it can still deliver a solid 13-point kick.  In a “Fall of Terra” North American campaign game, one Catapult took two “sensors” criticals early on, eliminating its guns as a threat.  I turned my attention to other units, and was both stunned and enraged as the accursed zombie-‘Mech bounded through the snows, dodging my fire, lashing out with punishing kicks every round.  I think that one Catapult did more damage than the rest of the unit combined. 

Crusader: The Crusader is physically based on the VF-1A Armored Valkyrie Veritech (the model kit, at least) from Macross.  For some reason, though, the Ral Partha miniature that represented the Crusader changed the cockpit, so the “unicorn horn”/”cyclops eye” head shown in the illustration is replaced by a smaller, flatter cockpit.  The illustration has the “horn” pointing forward, suggesting it’s a gun, but the illustration on the cover of the “BattleTech Heavy Lance” boxed set basically puts a Stinger head on top, and angles the “horn” like an antenna.  Macross series art shows the Armored Valkyrie having more of a Wasp-style head, with antennae on the sides.  The “unicorn” Crusader was the default silhouette for the first generation of Record Sheets.

I would guess that the author mistook the Outworlds Alliance for Helmar Valasek’s domain, since Tancredi IV is a long, long way to go for water, starting on Santander V (especially since Tancredi IV only has 35% surface water).  This entry gives us the name of Valasek’s fighting force – the “Death’s Head Raiders.”  Other sources have named them “Santander’s Killers,” but since he runs a “murder for hire” business, the assassins might be “Santander’s Killers” while the water raiders/slavers could be the “Death’s Head Raiders.”  Alternatively, the raid could have been carried out by a bunch of mooks operating in the Outworlds Alliance/Federated Suns/Draconis Combine region calling themselves the “Death’s Head Raiders” with no actual connection to Helmar Valasek. 

If the Regulan Hussars were staging on Amity, they may have either been intending to raid Solaris VII (though there’s an unspoken agreement by both sides to leave it alone, for the most part), or jump twice and hit targets in Rahneshire. 

The Hawk SRMs and Phoenix LRMs may have been brand-names for missiles equipped to work with a LosTech Artemis IV system.  The loss of the ability to produce the Artemis-IV equipped missiles probably prompted users to tear out the now useless electronics package and put in some more armor or ammo.  The description of “modern”missiles as unguided is inaccurate (unless we’re talking about deadfire LRMs or Rockets), but they aren’t as accurate as the Artemis IV guided ones.

The Crusader entry is the first to name the Death From Above attack.  Other entries just call it “jump kicking.” 

The involvement of the Syrtis Fusiliers on Bergman’s Planet is yet another instance of Hasek-Davion’s troops being way, way out of their jurisdiction.  Something was going on, there, I am sure.  Perhaps their presence was related to Hanse’s oddball idea to grant Michael a planetary landhold in the Draconis March to try to split his attention away from the Capellan March and whatever other schemes he was working on there.  He may have sent a Syrtis Fusiliers regiment up to secure and defend his new holding, and use it as a staging ground for raids against the Combine (with which he didn’t have a “gentleman’s understanding” to keep the border quiet). 

I’m curious as to what constitutes “traditional Zulu style” as applied to the decoration of a Crusader.  Googling, I’ve found a wealth of beadwork (where different colors have different meanings), leopard skins, etc., but would be curious to see how that translates into ‘Mech art.

[Skyth]

My copy puts the extra weight into heatsinks.

Oops...My bad.  I think what 15 year old me did was 'This mech is WAY oversinked and should have a 3 ton hatchet' and scratched off the 14 in TRO 3025 and put an 11 there :)

[Evil Imperial]

RE: Regarding the Crusaders Missile Types

Hawk SRMs are just a brand of Streak SRM-2s, and the Phoenix LRMs, are just a brand name for Swarm LRMs.

http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=52821.0

I've been enjoying reading the fiction review since the beginning, really keep up the awesome work.

[Kit deSummersville]

For the Rifleman and heat, with the current rules it works well against most ASF, unload the big guns when the fighter comes overhead, cool down as it turns around for a turn and repeat.

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025
 
Title: Technical Readout: 3025
 
Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)
 
Type: Sourcebook (FASA)
 
Synopsis: 

JagerMech: Developed as an improvement on the 3N Rifleman, Kallon produced the JagerMech as a fire-support unit not quite so prone to overheating.  It uses the Garret D2j tracking system to great effect as an anti-aircraft platform.  JagerMechs use their light autocannon at long range to soften up enemies before lighter ‘Mechs move in to finish them off.  It is primarily fielded by Houses Davion and Liao, with Davion pairing it with the Rifleman design.  On Demeter, in 2993, Davion forces relied on the JagerMechs’ deep ammunition bins to keep fighting for two weeks while cut off from their supply base.  In 2890, on Teng, the Capellan Hussars encircled bandits in the Garton Hills north of the capital, but the bandits were able to rush the JagerMechs and escape, due to their weak short-range firepower.  Timothy Ingram serves in Smithson’s Chinese Bandits, and is dedicated to his regiment.  Donald Vincent survived the destruction of the Crimson Ace Dragoons on Tiber, and has since served in the households of various petty lords, though his temper often cuts his employment short.  Diana Cheung was awarded a JagerMech for her service as a Tech for the Davion Guards.

Thunderbolt:   Introduced in 2491, the Thunderbolt served as the core of assault lances in the Age of War, and was one of the first ‘Mechs designed for planetary assault.  It combines a large arsenal with heavy armor, but is prone to overheating.  In 2902, Helmar Valasek’s forces battled the 9th Sun Zhang Academy Cadre on Damian.  The cadets used the cooling waters of Lake Omenshoulter to fully utilize the Thunderbolts’ weaponry, and drove the bandits off empty handed.  In 3000, the Eridani Light Horse engaged the First Pesht Regulars on Benet III while scouting for a supply depot, and were forced to retreat, using Thunderbolts as a rear guard.  “Dashing” John MacAllister dresses in Napoleonic fashion and pilots his Thunderbolt, “Toujours L’Audace” in the Eridani Light Horse.  Clare Sarton serves in the 7th St. Ives Armored Cavalry in her Thunderbolt, “Wild One.”  Her actions at the Fourth Battle of Oasis 326 on Daniels forced Davion attackers to withdraw, though House Liao was nonetheless forced to abandon the world some weeks later.

Archer: Introduced in 2474, the Archer was produced in large numbers and remains in production.  Originally intended as an assault ‘Mech, it has also served as a city-buster and fire-support platform.  Its primary weapons are its missile racks, but it has lasers for close defense.  In 2931, on Chian, Suizo Ozawa gave his life to destroy raiders sent by Helmar Valasek to loot the Rallonsdown Starport.  Ted “Slim” Atkins serves in Waco Rangers with his Archer, “Six-Gun Slim.”  Ansel Graham, the Sixth Crucis March Militia, uses his Archer, “Archeron IX” to train new warriors.

Grasshopper: Introduced in 2780, the Grasshopper is a mobile close-range fighter designed to engage and destroy light and medium ‘Mechs.  With a mostly laser-based arsenal, it can operate far from supply lines.  Its jump jets let it flank enemies with ease.  It was designed for the SLDF, but the Civil War ended before it reached the front lines.  The Grasshopper made its battlefield debut in the First Succession War, when the 21st Centauri Lancers used them to fight Marik invaders on Lopez in 2786.  On Alphecca, the Arcturan Guards used a Grasshopper to repulse a raid by Redjack Ryan with death-from-above attacks.  On Soul, a Night Stalker Grasshopper engaged and destroyed a damaged BattleMaster, though nearly at the cost of his own ‘Mech.  Steven Greycloud, who defeated Ryan’s forces on Alphecca, has been nicknamed “Old Thrash’n’Blast” by his troops for his preference for physical attacks.  Timothy O’Neil has one of the first Grasshoppers ever produced.  Lysle “Death-From-Above” Martin serves in the 21st Centauri Lancers, and is an accomplished guerrilla fighter.

Warhammer: Introduced in 2515, the Warhammer serves as a mobile ‘Mech with heavy firepower.  It enjoys a reputation as one of the most dangerous and powerful ‘Mechs ever fielded, with twin PPCs and an array of support weapons.  In 2876, AFFS Warhammer/Rifleman lances with the Syrtis Fusiliers punched holes in Kurita lines on David and Mara.  In 2990, the 6th Defenders of Andurien attacked Teng, defeating Liao forces in the Alder Highlands.  In 3021, Natasha Kerensky led the Black Widow Company to victory against two battalions of the “20th Draconis” in Harlow’s Wood on New Wessex.  Harvey Calahan pilots his Warhammer in Richard’s Panzer Brigade.

Marauder:   Introduced in the early 2600s, the Marauder was intended to serve as a heavy attack/support ‘Mech.  Upgraded comm-gear enabled it to serve as a command vehicle.  It has special Valiant Lamellor armor, but its unique configuration leaves some parts exposed and vulnerable to enemy fire.  Produced in large numbers and hard to kill, this dangerous ‘Mech remains common.  In 2828, McCarron’s Armored Cavalry attacked House Marik on Pella II with a significant portion of House Liao’s Marauders, and smashed the Marik garrison.  However, the tactic failed on Graham VI, when Marik forces pinned the MAC Marauders down in a gorge near the city of Gijia and used long-range fire to inflict heavy losses.  The Bounty Hunter pilots a bright green Marauder decorated with credit symbols, and is infamous for his treachery.

Orion:   Introduced in 2570 as the first truly heavy ‘Mech, the Orion has led major offensives for five centuries.  It was considered the “ultimate BattleMech” during the Reunification War, and has excellent anti-aircraft capabilities.  The Free Worlds League is the only remaining producer.  In 2779, Aleksandr Kerensky completed the liberation of Earth by kicking down the gates of Amaris’ palace.  In 2787, Minoru Kurita ordered a regiment of Orions to poison the water supply of the largest city on Eblar, killing millions.  At the Tenth Battle of Hesperus II, Lyran Orions commanded by Katrina Steiner routed Kurita forces.  The 5th Defenders of Andurien is composed almost entirely of Orions.  Sylvan Greenspan pilots her Orion, “Phoenix,” in Wolf’s Dragoons.  Tomaso Kinchuhara commands a battalion of the First Regulan Hussars.  Yvonne Morticia is a member of Team Banzai, where she is also their DropShip pilot and commander of their JumpShip, the Nth Dimension.  Her Orion is named “Lurch.” 
 
Notes:

JagerMech:   The MUL has the JagerMech’s introduction date as 2774, whereas the design it was intended to supplant, the 3N Rifleman, debuted in 2770.  The heat problems from the 3N must have gotten massive negative feedback from troops in the field for Kallon to decide it needed to be supplanted.  Davion’s pairing of the JagerMech with the “older” Rifleman is technically true, but the age difference is a mere four years, since prior to 2770, the 2N and 1N Riflemen were smaller and ran even hotter.

The JagerMech does have a decent amount of ammunition, with 20 shots for each AC/5 and 22.5 shots for each AC/2.  In practical terms, though, that amounts to less than four minutes of sustained fire.  To have conserved their ammo for two weeks on Demeter, that means the JagerMechs were firing about six shots per day.  Since the engagement was in 2993, that fits the “low intensity warfare” typical of the waning years of the Third Succession War. 

The notation that the JagerMech is well regarded doesn’t match the reception it gets in “Not the Way the Smart Money Bets,” where the JagerMech is derided as being inferior to the much-lighter Blackjack.  It has the heat sinks to use its arsenal, but the damage it throws downfield isn’t sufficient to take out most foes.  Assault ‘Mechs have the armor to shrug it off while they close, and Light ‘Mechs will close fast enough to only suffer a round or two of incoming fire.  Its armor is sub-par for its weight class, making it even more vulnerable to return fire.  I find JagerMechs optimal when assaulting fixed defenses – such as Fort Bourgogne’s “Ring of Death.”  Hang back on the edge of the ring and plink away at the impotent bunkers until you crit them and they explode, while the rest of the force beats back the mobile units that come boiling out to kill the JagerMech.  Of course, you could just use observers and a few Long Toms behind the lines, too.

Given the location of Tiber, the “Crimson Ace Dragoons” were probably a merc unit working for the Lyran Commonwealth sent to raid the Earthwerks, Inc. plant here, though there is the possibility that they were hired by either the Duchy of New Assam or the Principality of Regulus, both of which make territorial claims on this world. 

The bandits on Teng in 2890 were specifically described as “privateers,” implying that they were authorized to pillage on behalf of another state.  There’s been an argument in another thread recently about whether or not any of the Successor States use privateers.  Given Teng’s location, I think it’s safe to say that the Federated Suns was issuing letters of marque during the Third Succession War.

Thunderbolt: The Thunderbolt is a conversion of the Dougram: Fang of the Sun “Ironfoot” mecha.

The text in this entry further supports the impression given by the Griffin entry that there was a low cap on early ‘Mech sizes, since it says “in its early years, it was also one of the heaviest assault ‘Mechs possible to produce.  As technology advanced, the Thunderbolt was superseded by larger heavy ‘Mechs.”  Again, this led to a fairly strong argument that the first ‘Mech, the Mackie, shouldn’t have weighed more than 50 tons – and an apocryphal Mackie of that weight was included in the files for HeavyMetal Pro, the official ‘Mech designer software. 

There is no “7th St. Ives Armored Cavalry” on the TO&E of the CCAF in this time period.  There were the Seventh Teng Hussars circa 2765, but they were obliterated in the Succession Wars.  The maps show that the Federated Suns conquered Daniels during the Second Succession War.  The reference to Sarton in the present tense suggests that House Liao raided Daniels in the late Third Succession War, probably in the early 3020s, since Sarton is described as “young.”  I would hazard to guess that the “7th SIAC” is the official designation for “Cochrane’s Goliaths,” based on the note that the unit’s primary BattleMechs are the Goliath and the Thunderbolt, and that it’s seventh in the list of SIAC units in the 3025 Liao sourcebook.  The other SIAC unit equipped with Thunderbolts has been relegated to deep interior defense, so it’s less likely they hit Daniels.

The Federated Suns must have lost control of Benet III for a period in the late Third Succession War.  The maps show FedSuns control of the Benet system from the end of the Second Succession War onwards, but the ELH raided it (unsuccessfully) to find a Combine supply base, and were ambushed by the 9th Pesht Regulars, which certainly sounds like it was on the Combine side of the border circa 3000, but must have been recaptured prior to the drafting of the 3025 map by the ComStar Cartographic Corps. 

Damian is certainly close enough to Santander V to be raided by Helmar Valasek, but 2902 is a bit early for the pirate, born in 2979 and turning to piracy in 3003, to be getting up to mischief.  Placing the raid in 3012 or 3022 would fit much better.

Valasek certainly seems to enjoy an outsized reputation with ComStar, having raided worlds all over the map and all over the timeline.  He simply disappeared after being run out of Santander V by the Clans.  It’d be fun if he discovered a LosTech (or Interconnectedness Unlimited prototype) time travel device – which would explain his disappearance and his anachronistic appearances in these accounts.  (It could also answer the mystery of what happened to the SLS Manassas.)

“Surrounded and with nowhere else to run, King Helmar Valasek activated the Manassas KF-core and vanished.  He woke to find himself in the past, driven by greed and avarice to pillage, burn, and plunder.  And so, Helmar finds himself jumping from world to world, striving to finally pull off a successful raid for once, and hoping, each time, that his next leap will be to somewhere water-rich and undefended.”

Archer: The Archer is an adaptation of the “Spartan” Destroid from Macross, one of the principal sources of the “Macross Missile Massacre” meme.  It weighs in at 29.4 tons, per the Robotech-wiki.  The Destroid had two 12-rocket missile launchers and a head-mounted anti-aircraft laser turret, as well as a defensive modular gun pod in the center torso.  The BattleTech adaptation turns the rocket launchers into LRM-20s and makes the head turret a pair of rear-mounted lasers, while adding a pair of lasers in the arms.

The cockpit is stated to be “below the center torso” in the forward jutting central “nose” located between the missile racks.  The Ral Partha miniature, however, places a three-windowed cockpit just in front of the top-mounted rear-pointing laser turret, which is consistent with the art in CamoSpecs.  Designs like this prompted the introduction of the center-torso mounted cockpit.

The Archer was an early favorite of the FASA writing staff.  It was Morgan Kell’s ride in his famous “Phantom ‘Mech” battles, and served as Cranston Snord’s and Jaime Wolf’s command vehicles, as well.  I don’t know if that’s just because it makes sense as a command vehicle – letting the boss stay behind the front lines while still being able to keep a hand in the action with indirect fire – or because of its role in the Robotech series on American television.  Everyone loves a good cloud of missiles.

Interestingly, Ozawa is said to have “overloaded” his lasers in an effort to cook off his ammunition, hoping to catch the last raider in the blast.  This is a departure from the established technique of using command console controls to cause the fusion engine to self-destruct.   (The so-called “Stackpole rule,” though the tactic first appeared in the pages of “Wolves on the Border,” during a Sword of Light/Snake Stomper battle, meaning it should more properly be called the “Charrette rule.”)

 Yet another entry on Helmar Valasek’s time travelin’ whistlestop tour of the Inner Sphere, the raid on Chian comes nearly a century too early.  3021, maybe?  Also “Chian” is probably a reference to the Combine world of Koping Chian, which is a bit of a long haul raid from Santander V, being just a few jumps from the Federated Suns/Combine border.  Aside from his chrono-hopping, Valasek seems to have achieved his reputation by striking at worlds where nobody would expect him to turn up.  However, nearly all of these accounts end with his forces repulsed and either leaving empty handed or dead.  The element of surprise seems to be overrated in his case.

We get a wildly different interpretation of the Waco Rangers in “Slim” Atkins’ profile.  Since Atkins is “one of the oldest MechWarriors on active duty” and has served throughout his career in the Waco Rangers, the implication is that he’s in his 70s or 80s, at least, and that the Waco Rangers have been around for at least 50 years.  It describes them a battalion-sized unit “believed to be full of misfits and drifters.”  The Mercenary’s Handbook, however, shows them to be a full regiment formed in 3007.  The “misfits and drifters” probably fits, since they only take people who will swear the Death Oath against Wolf’s Dragoons.

Grasshopper: The Grasshopper is, hands down, one of the best ‘Mechs in the 3025 era.  A large laser arsenal, the heat sinks to fire it all, and unusually high mobility for a high-end heavy ‘Mech makes for a dangerous package.  With a good pilot, DFAs can be devastating.

The First Succession War sourcebook names the Marik attackers on Lopez the 11th Atrean Dragoons, which went from 100% to 41% effective strength in the course of taking Lopez.  The book says the 21st Centauri Lancers also used their Grasshoppers to good effect against the 4th Marik Militia on Anegasaki in 2793.  The 21st Centauri Lancers were, at the time, a battalion of the 3rd Centauri Guards, which began the war on Bacum and ended on Cotocallao at 36% readiness (implying the Lancers came through, but the other two battalions bought it).

Alphecca is pretty deep into the Inner Sphere for Redjack Ryan to be raiding – way down in the Isle of Skye.  I would presume that the Arcturan Guards regiment that defeated the raid was the 20th, since they’re the only Arcturan regiment posted to that Theater (headquartered on Port Moseby).  The LCAF doesn’t headquarter any units on Alphecca circa 3025. 

The identity of the BattleMaster on Soul is unclear – it had no identification markings and was hostile, but was well within Combine territory.  It could have been a bandit, a Rabid Fox agent on an op-gone-bad, or perhaps a yakuza warrior trying to operate off the radar prior to the formation of the Ghost Regiments.

Warhammer: From the game’s inception through 3rd Edition, the Warhammer was the face of BattleTech – the ‘Mech on the box cover, and the personal ride of Natasha Kerensky.  While the “good guy” commanders got Archers, the more dangerous/antagonist characters got Warhammers (setting up the classic Archer vs. Warhammer duel of Morgan Kell vs. Yorinaga Kurita).  (Granted – Natasha is a “hero” character, but she beats up and nearly kills Gideon Vandenberg in his own “hero” narrative and leaves a body count a mile wide.)  The Dark Wing is led by a Warhammer in the Activision game, for example. 

The design is based on the Tomahawk Destroid from Macross.  The Robotech RPG materials give the mass as 31.3 tons.  The arm guns are particle beam guns, there are machine guns in the head, the gun clusters on the torsos are a laser, a machine gun, a grenade launcher, and a flamethrower, while the SRM-6 on the shoulder is an anti-aircraft missile pack.  The Destroid also has two rocket launchers in the torsos (the same as the Archer/Spartan).

Once again, we see the Syrtis Fusiliers fighting on the Combine border.  My guess is that the writers had only the units listed in the MechWarrior 1st Edition rosters (published in 1986, whereas the House sourcebooks came out in 1988) to work with, which would explain why Valasek, Ryan, and Grimm show up so much, and why we keep seeing references to the Syrtis Fusiliers in situations where the Robinson Rangers would fit better, since the MW1E Davion page lists only the Ceti Hussars, Crucis Lancers, and Syrtis Fusiliers. 

The St. Ives Commonality world of Teng once again gets hit by House Marik in this narrative.  It’s not impossible, given how thin the Confederation has gotten by 2990, but it’s still not a world I’d think of as being the first choice for a Marik raid.  It’s not that they couldn’t hit it, but that if they wanted to conquer it, supplying it would become problematic. 

The identity of the unit trashed by the Black Widows at Harlow’s Wood is unclear.  The “20th Draconis Regiment” doesn’t match any of the established nomenclature in the House Kurita sourcebook.  Since New Wessex is in the Dieron Military District, my guess is that it meant to refer to the 20th Dieron Regulars – a formation that hit Tamar in 2915, per the Kurita sourcebook, but was apparently disbanded prior to 3025.  Being torn apart by the Black Widows may have forced the unit to be stricken from the rolls between 3021 and 3025. 

Marauder: The Marauder was William Keith’s “go-to” ‘Mech for his villains throughout the Gray Death Legion trilogy, though Grayson ends up piloting one in “The Price of Glory.”  While not quite as hamstrung by heat as shown in “Decision at Thunder Rift” (fire…cool down for an hour…fire again…overheat from walking…get out and push…), they do tend to run fairly hot if you’re not careful. 

Problematically for the Battle History, McCarron’s Armored Cavalry wasn’t formed until 2930, and Marcus Barton wasn’t born until 2987, so just about everything in the story is an anachronism.  We’ll have to wait until the Second Succession War sourcebook to see if/how the attacks on Pella II and Graham VI are portrayed.  It could be that there was a CapCon merc force called “Barton’s Battalion” (despite being at regimental size), and ComStar confused it with Barton’s Regiment of the MAC, despite the two units being discrete and not existing simultaneously. 

The Marauder is an adaptation of the Glaug Officer’s Pod from Macross, though the laser barrels sticking off the nose aren’t statted – the guns are either in the arms or the huge-honkin’ AC/5 strapped to the roof.  The Robotech RPG identifies them as small-bore anti-personnel laser cannons.  The arm guns are “impact cannons” and the head gun is a long-range electron beam cannon.  Duane Loose’s art adds what looks like another gun barrel under the cockpit window, but it’s not represented in the stats.  There’s only one barrel in each arm in the art, so I’m guessing the snout barrels were intended to be where the Medium Lasers went.  Perhaps the nose gun was intended as a machine gun.  It’s not an exact copy of what’s on the screen (there are slight differences).  The Ral Partha BattleTech miniature is much closer to the Macross version than the TRO:3025 version, though its fuselage lacks the “snout” guns present on both pieces of art.

The Bounty Hunter is portrayed as though he should be one of the main characters in the BattleTech storyline.  He’s got backstory with the Black Widow, he’s brutal and callous, and dangerous, and highly mercenary – anything for a C-Bill.  Yet he only shows up in the fiction in a small part of Wolves on the Border and a scenario.  When I read his profile in the Wolf’s Dragoons sourcebook, I thought “Wow, he beat the Black Widow and stole her ‘Mech?  I’d love to see that story!  What will he do next?”  Apparently, the answer is “retire,” since he apparently Dread Pirate Roberts’d the identity to Michi Noketsuna to help him go after Grieg Samsonov. 

Orion: Yvonne Morticia’s notable pilot entry is a seething mass of pop-culture references.  She’s essentially Morticia Addams from the Addams Family (which ties into “Lurch” as well), but is also a member of Team Banzai.  Both the merc unit and jumpship name are references to the cult film “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension.”

Aleksandr Kerensky’s Orion somehow ends up stripped and dumped on an asteroid, but is found by an O5P salvage team and gifted to Theodore Kurita, who works to exactingly restore it to its original specifications.  Alas, poor Theodore didn’t realize that (as we found later) Kerensky wasn’t piloting a stock Orion but, as a Gunslinger-program graduate, he was running a tricked-out version crammed with LosTech.

There’s a notation in the entry that House Marik has made a secret deal with Marius O’Reilly for spare parts in exchange for technician services.  It’s not clear which direction the transaction goes, but my guess is that the Mariks are supplying Orion parts in exchange for Tech services.  This implies both that House Marik is desperately short on techs circa 3025, and that Marius O’Reilly spent a significant amount of his germanium fortune recruiting techs (probably both to maintain his army and to create an industrial base for his new Roman Empire…IN…SPAAAAACE).

“Eblar” is probably a typo-version of Elbar, a shared border world which the Federated Suns annexed in 2784.  The First Succession War sourcebook notes that the Combine hit the 41st Avalon Hussars on Elbar with chemical attacks in 2787 – this would have been the same time as they poisoned the city’s water supply.  A Davion counterstrike hit in May 2788, putting the 8th Syrtis Fusiliers into the teeth of a Combine trap on Elbar and forcing them to retreat with heavy losses.  The sustained AFFS counteroffensive retook Elbar in 2805-06, led by the 2nd Crucis Lancers and 9th Syrtis Fusiliers.

The Mackie, Ymir, and other early Assault-class 'Mechs would be very surprised to hear that the Orion was the first truly heavy 'Mech.  Plenty of other 'Mechs appeared in the "Heavy" category prior to the Reunification War, so it's not even the first "Heavy" 'Mech in the 60-75 ton range.  My guess is that the same author wrote this and the Thunderbolt and Griffin entries, and was under the impression (or in world-building mode trying to create the impression) that 'Mech size caps had grown with technology.

[Mendrugo]

For the Rifleman and heat, with the current rules it works well against most ASF, unload the big guns when the fighter comes overhead, cool down as it turns around for a turn and repeat.

That's a good point, though I think its Garret D2j was the primary focus of its AA role, rather than its heat curve.

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025
 
Title: Technical Readout: 3025
 
Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)
 
Type: Sourcebook (FASA)
 
Synopsis:  

Awesome:   Introduced in 2665 as a successor to the STR-2C Striker, it became the main heavy assault vehicle in the Successor States, with massed lances of them sent in to reduce enemy defenses.  With a triple PPC arsenal and heavy armor, it dominates the battlefields.  In 2928, the 5th Brigade of the Fusiliers of Oriente raided Solaris and swept aside the feeble Lyran garrison guarding storehouses there.  In the 3002 Third Battle of Harrow’s Sun, the Davion Heavy Guards’ Awesomes were outflanked by the 8th Sword of Light and 4th Proserpina Hussars, and were forced to fall back.  Giles “The Banger” Barners serves in Brion’s Legion with his Awesome, “Kwik Killer.”  Danielle Peterson serves in Chisholm’s Raiders in her Awesome, “Pretty Baby.”

Charger: Designed as a heavy scout when introduced in 2665, it moves at high speed but is nearly unarmed.  It was mothballed as a failure by the SLDF, but reactivated for the Succession Wars, where it is primarily used as a close-assault vehicle against enemy scouts, and as a garrison unit on low-tech worlds.  In 3023, Liao Chargers battled Steiner heavy ‘Mechs in the Surini Valley on Ellison IV.  Steiner Griffins and Wolverines used their superior range and maneuverability to outmaneuver and destroy the majority of the Liao ‘Mechs, forcing the CCAF to withdraw from the planet.  The Illician Lancers successfully used their Chargers to eliminate Kurita-backed insurgents on Galatia III, clearing them out in four weeks.  Terry Ford serves in the Illician Lancers with his Charger, “Number Seven,” and relies on lucky charms to keep him safe. 

Goliath:   The second of Brigadier’s quad ‘Mechs, the Goliath was rejected by the Star League Defense Force until prototypes sent to the Periphery showed promise, but large scale purchasing plans were disrupted by the Civil War.  The Goliath has a good deal of firepower and armor.  Unlike the Scorpion, the Goliath cannot move if a leg is disabled.  In 2910, on Sirius, a Marik Militia Goliath wiped out a Liao command post, forcing the CCAF to retreat.  In 2950, on Ryde, a Kurita and Steiner Goliath dueled for an hour before the Lyran pilot won.  Rebels seized an AFFS Goliath on Tsanna in 3003, but Davion forces eventually crushed its cockpit.  Warren Hestrus pilots his Goliath (the winner of the 2950 battle on Ryde) in the Lyran Guards.  Donna Rollson pilots her Goliath, “Davey,” in the Ozawa Informals mercenary lance, which patrols the Combine’s Periphery border. 

Victor:   Built for the Star League in 2510 as a support ‘Mech with jump capabilities, the earliest version had an anti-infantry arsenal of flamers and machine guns.  The HildCo plants making Victors were destroyed in the First Succession War.  The Victor is unusual for its jump capability, which lets it use its powerful autocannon.  House Kurita deployed many Victors in its Arterson Dark Horse Regiment, but it was disbanded after suffering heavy losses on the Davion border, in which AFFS forces claimed the Victors as salvage.  The Avalon Hussars used their salvaged Victors against the CCAF on Tsanna, Wei, and Redfield.  McGee’s Cutthroats deployed Victors for several months on Suk, enabling LCAF forces to salvage damaged ones lost by the mercenaries.  In 3001, the Regulan Hussars lost several Victors in the battle for the city of Shul on Berenson when they were overwhelmed by Liao infantry.  In 3012, on Wright, Victors from the Avalon Hussars wiped out Liao recon lances with jump attacks.  On the Kurita world of Ronel, in 3020, the Crucis Lancers lost an entire company of Victors when their DropShip was shot down by fighters.  Ramsey Donal, of the 12th Vegan Rangers, has had problems with his missile launcher since battling a Kurita Warhammer on Tripoli.  Tammie Holston, of the Regulan Hussars, destroyed was demoted despite her success in destroying Liao ‘Mechs on Wright.  Debbie Malgur commands a heavy recon lance for Helmar Valasek, using a Victor designed for anti-infantry work.

Zeus:   Designed at the start of the Age of War conflict with the Draconis Combine, the Zeus prototypes rolled off the factory floor in 2411, just in time to repulse the Draconis Combine’s first assault on Hesperus II.  The Zeus is intended to engage enemies at long range, relying on physical attacks to dispatch foes that get too close.  The 15th Lyran Guards used significant numbers of Zeus ‘Mechs for the first time against the 32nd Dieron Regulars to recapture Sakhalin, routing Combine Dragons and BattleMasters.  Sealth pilots his Zeus, “Skokomish,” in the 10th Skye Rangers, though he looks forward to returning to the simple life on his homeworld, where the populace is descended from a Native American tribe.

BattleMaster: First constructed for the Star League in 2830, the BattleMaster was intended to be the largest and most powerful ‘Mech ever fielded by the SLDF.  It was not produced in great numbers, but many are still functional despite 200 years of combat.  In 2920, on St. Andre, Marik, Liao, and Davion forces fought for control of refineries near the city of Malta, but Davion BattleMasters carried the day.  On Crossing, there were several BattleMaster vs. BattleMaster fights when the NAIS Cadet Cadre and the 2nd Sword of Light clashed.  The 3rd Ceti Hussars deployed modified BattleMasters when they attacked the Kurita-held world of Royal in 2998, but were smashed by strong Kurita resistance.  Thompson “Tommy” Dale pilots his BattleMaster, “Dark Death,” in the Davion Guards.  Jenny Circi pilots her BattleMaster, “The Hawk,” in the 3rd Proserpina Hussars.  Art Mitchell pilots his family BattleMaster in the 1st Brigade of the Fusiliers of Oriente. 

Stalker: Introduced in 2594 at the tail end of the Reunification War, the Stalker has been redesigned several times over the centuries.  They frequently lead major advances, used to blow holes in enemy lines.  Its heavy armor leads pilots to crash through buildings in urban warfare, flanking surprised foes.  The Stalker has been involved in most major engagements of the Succession Wars.  In 2787, on Saffel, Kurita Stalkers were forced to fall back before the superior long range fire from Archers and Trebuchets, but survived the attack and continued to fight from behind fortress walls.  In 3022, on Hoff, Zeta Battalion commander J. Elliot Jameson took on an Eridani Light Horse company single-handedly at Tarn Hill in the Johnson Sector, repulsing their advance.   Burrows’ Crashing Thunder Regiment used Stalkers to win a battle on Travis V in summer 3024, clearing new paths through the city for the rest of the regiment to advance.  Tiberius Sartini pilots his Stalker in the Avalon Hussars.

Cyclops:   Introduced in 2710 as a heavy assault vehicle, the Cyclops proved popular with headquarters formations due to its holographic Tacticon B-2000 battle computer and its ability to maintain planet-wide and orbital communications.  It is usually kept in the reserve in a coordinating role.  In 2796, the 22nd Avalon Hussars’ Cyclops ‘Mechs covered the unit’s retreat offworld, holding back an advancing Kurita battalion.  In 2801, Redjack Ryan’s troops struck out from Butte Hold to hit Alkalurops, engaging a cadre unit from the 32nd Lyran Guards.  The cadre commander, Brigadier Carson Enright, in his Cyclops “Archon’s Eye,” led the charge against the bandits after many were damaged by explosives hidden in a pass en route to the town of Allabad, forcing the survivors to flee back to their ships.  Lenny Markbright serves as a tactician in the Waco Rangers, with his Cyclops “Polyphemus.” 

Banshee:   The Banshee was introduced in the late 2400s as an ultra-heavy close-assault vehicle, serving alongside the Mackie and Emperor.  It was criticized for being undergunned and outclassed by the ‘Mechs being made by the Great Houses at the time.  It has heavy armor and strong physical attacks, but a limited array of ranged weapons.  Users complained that, in combat, it was routinely outperformed by units as light as the Rifleman.  Following a ten year production run, the Terran Hegemony relegated it to militias and second line units.  Those units which still use the Banshee deploy it in support roles.  House Steiner is working on a variant to improve its firepower by downsizing the engine.  Laurine White is field testing the redesigned Banshee-S for House Steiner.  “Baron” Abel Karmak pilots a Banshee for Redjack Ryan, but hopes to secure a “real” ‘Mech for himself while raiding House Kurita holdings, and maybe one day overthrow Ryan and take over Butte Hold for himself.

Atlas: The Atlas was designed to Aleksandr Kerensky’s specifications to ensure that the SLDF had the most powerful equipment in the Inner Sphere.  He wanted it to be as powerful, impenetrable, and ugly as possible.  The resulting aesthetic resulted in the ‘Mech being nicknamed “Death’s Head.”  It was the first ‘Mech to mount a Class 20 Autocannon, and features thick armor and a roomy cockpit.  A dish antenna gives it limited surface-to-space communications.  It was first used against Stefan Amaris, and took the lead in securing Terra’s spaceports to secure landing zones.  General DeChavilier spearheaded the final assault on Imperial City, knocking over the outer wall of the Imperial Palace, while Kerensky’s Orion attacked the gates.  2/3 of the SLDF personnel who refused to join him were Atlas pilots.  Rodney Van Kleven pilots his atlas, “Boar’s Head,” in the 6th Syrtis Fusiliers.  Warlord Vasily Cherenkoff uses his Atlas only in emergencies.  His troops joke that he’s too fat to pilot any other ‘Mech.

Notes:

Awesome:   This entry clarifies that the Third Battle of Harrow’s Sun took place in 3002 (which fits the chronology), and adds that the Fourth Battle of Harrow’s Sun took place in 3020. 

There are a number of references to Brion’s Legion in TRO:3025 which give the impression it is a House unit, rather than a mercenary force. 

The Awesome has pretty much unsurpassed long range firepower for 3025, and is one of the favorite assault ‘Mechs for that reason, especially since it has the heat sinks to use its arsenal.  Our forum’s own Frabby, however, after years of hearing about how much better the Awesome was than the Charger, wrote a scenario, “Twins,” that showcases a situation in which the Charger actually has the edge.

Charger:   Ellison IV never appears on any maps, though the 12th Star Guards  are listed as being garrisoned there circa 3025 in the House Steiner sourcebook.  Notably, however, that garrison station has changed to Corridan IV in the NAIS Atlas of the 4th Succession War, suggesting that Ellison IV = Corridan IV.  Why House Liao would be hitting a Lyran world up on the Combine/Lyran border, though…  Contractual obligations from the Kapteyn Accord? 

The Combine is said to feel that the Charger lacks the potential to justify experimental designs.  Boy, how attitudes changed once LosTech came into the picture.  The Combine not only upgraded the Charger to make it heavily armed, but they also dressed it in samurai armor for the extensive Hatamoto series.

Though the design is a FASA original, the shoulder baffles clearly draw inspiration from those on the “Fang of the Sun” Griffin/Roundfacer.

The popguns are just for show, really.  What you should do with this design is, as the name suggests, charge!  A successful charging attack over maximum distance will inflict 64 damage on the hapless target, with at most 10 points of bounceback damage to the Charger.  This sucker should live for physical combat.  While the armor’s a bit thin, there’s nothing inside to break, so you can really consider the internal structure as part of the armor.  It’s the original zombie ‘Mech.   

Goliath: The Goliath is based on the Crab Gunner from Dougram: Fang of the Sun.  Some of the Crab Gunners from the anime had fighting platforms for infantry mounted around the top deck, but that didn’t carry over to the BattleMech adaptation.

Odd that the entry for the Goliath doesn’t reference Cochrane’s Goliaths, given that it’s the largest collection of Goliaths in the Inner Sphere and it’s not in House Steiner, where most of the rest of the Goliaths are deployed. 

It’s pretty sure that “Tsanna” = “Tsamma”.  Pretty gutsy for the local nobles to launch a rebellion when their world is the HQ for the Tsamma Crucis March Militia. 

The battle on the “hot plains” of Sirius must refer to Sirius VI (equatorial temperature 33C), rather than Sirius V (-40C).  Sort of unusual for the planet closer to the local star to be that much colder, but…

Donna Rollson’s “Davey” is a reference to the syndicated claymation show called “Davey and Goliath,” which was produced by the United Lutheran Church from 1960 – 1974.  The show’s title, is, of course, a reference to the biblical story of David and Goliath.  (Lots of properties have gotten mileage out of such pairings – Disney’s Gargoyles cartoon pitted the head gargoyle, Goliath, against David Xanatos.)  If you wanted to stage your own version, you could pit a guy in Battle Armor with a “King David” light gauss rifle against a Goliath, and see if he managed to get in a magic-bullet floating crit to take out the gyro before the Goliath pilot stomped him into the dirt.  (Perhaps easier done when facing Donna, since the CT armor is almost gone already).

The Goliath is a decent enough long-range support platform, with LRMs and a PPC, but severely undergunned for an Assault ‘Mech.  I mean, the 65-ton Thunderbolt outguns it.  I once fought a battle between a Pegasus and a Goliath, and the Pegasus finally won (after expending all of its missiles on the thick armor, the laser finally drilled through the rear armor and touched off some ammo – the minimum range penalties and the Pegasus’ speed made it nigh impossible to hit.)

Victor:   The MUL updates the introduction date to 2508, instead of 2510.  Nonetheless, that’s still a bit early to be taking Star League contracts, so it was probably made for the Hegemony Armed Forces.  (Alas – given the existence of other early ‘Mechs named for historical leaders, like the Combine’s Von Rohrs, it would have been fun if this had been a Capellan design named for Victor Liao, who famously used a katana to decapitate a Terran Alliance representative, and sent his head back to Terra in a jar.)

Despite the framing statement that the Victor was a great prize in the First Succession War, the First Succession War sourcebook has no record of the Arterson Dark Horse Regiment.  It’s possible that it was created as a battlefield experiment during the war, and was disbanded after proving a failure (explaining why there’s no record of it on the start of war/end of war deployment tables). 

I sincerely doubt there have ever been Liao forces on Tsamma for the Avalon Hussars to battle, since that’s out towards the Outworlds Alliance.  The entry calls it Tsanna, but the more likely location is Tsingtao.  (Tsinghai’s also an option, but that’s over on the Marik border.)  Redfield and Wei both make sense.

There’s some confusion over who took out the Liao forces on Wright.  The Battle History gives credit to the Avalon Hussars, but the Notable MechWarriors section credits the Regulan Hussars.  Wright lies at the narrowest point in the Sian Commonality, so it could legitimately be either.  Since the previous paragraph in the Battle History references the Regulan Hussars taking Victor losses, then describes the “Avalon Hussars remaining Victors…” I would presume they were still meaning to refer to the Regulans, which would match the Notable MechWarrior section.

There’s an odd scene in Warrior: En Garde, when two Assault ‘Mechs, including a Victor, square off during a Kurita raid on Pacifica.  All the other fighting ceases, and everyone stands back to give the two big guys room.  Rather than acting like these guys are just a few tons heavier than the other ‘Mechs stomping around, people act as though a couple of Jaegers from Pacific Rim have just been dropped into their midst.  (EHRRRMAHGAWRD!  Two assault ‘Mechs fighting each other!!!!  That never happens!)  They might not have been so impressed had they been aware that the most recent combat action involving Adran Sortek’s Victor started and ended with him faceplanting it into a swamp then getting it shot out from under him.

I think my favorite game involving a Victor was shortly after the release of the McCarron’s Armored Cavalry sourcebook, which included rules for three-level deep pits with concealed covers.  In a battle where the other guy had a Victor, I fielded a much lighter force and had some ‘Mech traps prepped.  The Victor got in a good hit when it jumped to the level above where a Wasp was taking cover and its kick took the head clean off (Field Goal!), but I got my revenge when I had my Vindicator jump out into the open with its back turned to the Victor.  The pilot couldn’t resist, so he jumped behind the Vindicator to give it an AC/20 backrub.  Of course, he landed on and went right through the concealed pit cover the Vindicator had baited him towards, and was reduced to a mangled heap at the bottom of the pit from the falling damage.

Zeus: The design history given in this entry is absolutely insane.  An introduction date of 2411 would make it the first ‘Mech, before the Mackie in 2439.  Not to mention that Defiance Industries didn’t exist in 2411, and the First Battle of Hesperus II wasn’t until 2787.  Plus, how could it fight Dragons and BattleMasters in its first major engagement, if those weren’t built until 2754 and 2633 respectively?  Later sources have corrected the intro date to 2787, which retroactively makes the account of the prototypes’ use during the First Battle of Hesperus II and the composition of the OpFor in line with established canon. 

The First Succession War sourcebook puts the First Sakhalin Regulars on Sakhalin at the start and end of the war as a Medium regiment, and the 2nd Sakhalin Regulars joining it as a Light regiment.  Per the maps there, control never changed, so the statement about using it to “retake” Sakhalin is inaccurate.  The damage done to the Sakhalin Regulars, though, suggests it at least got raided.  The 15th Lyran Guards started on Mizar and ended the war on New Earth (implying a focus on the Free Worlds League front).  The 32nd Dieron Regulars started the war on Shitara and ended on Donenac (implying it was focused on the Davion front).  As such, I think at best we can say that a large number of first-run Zeus ‘Mechs may have been sent to Sakhalin to repulse a Combine raid, but the identities of the units involved are somewhat questionable.  More ROM disinformation?

The Skokomish are a Native American people based in the Pacific Northwest.  Looking over worlds with established Native American colonies, the Skokomish is not one of the named tribes (which primarily are southwestern or eastern woodlands tribes).  Tac Ceti II is listed as being exclusively populated by unnamed Native Americans, but it’s not shown on any map.  Syrma, however, is a Lyran world, and its writeup says that several anti-technology groups, including non-specified Native Americans, settled there and attempted to emulate the ways of their ancestors (though by 3130, the remaining “traditional” communities functioned as little more than tourist attractions).  Thus, I would speculate that Sealth is from Syrma, and that his great grandkids will be manning the souvenir stand under the flag of the Galatean League circa 3145.  (Syrma’s also right next to Skye, so it makes sense that if Sealth would be serving anywhere, it would be in the Skye Rangers.)

BattleMaster: The BattleMaster is an adaptation of the “Soltic HT128 Bigfoot” mecha from Dougram: Fang of the Sun.  Like many of the other imported mecha, it features a hand-held weapon and rear-firing lasers.  Like other Soltic “combat armor” units (Dougram/Shadow Hawk; Roundfacer/Griffin; Ironfoot/Thunderbolt; and Blockhead/Wolverine) it has distinctive armor baffles on its knee joints.  The Crab Gunner and Bilzzard Gunner gave us our Scorpion and Goliath, as well.  Two of the Dougram mecha were not imported as BattleMechs – though the Bushman did show up in a panel of the FASA comic “The Spider and the Wolf,” and the Mackerel may have inspired the rounded armor of the Peregrine/Horned Owl in TRO:3055.  All of the Fang of the Sun mecha appear in the DC Comics “Robotech Defenders,” a three-issue limited series that got even more limited and cut down to just two issues after the first issue tanked.  It has less than nothing to do with the Harmony Gold anime, which came out about a year later, despite the use of the Robotech name.

The introduction date of 2830 is a bit late for a unit supposedly commissioned by the SLDF, so later sources have corrected the introduction date to 2633. 

St. Andre is right at the narrowest point where the Sarna commonality meets the Tikonov Commonality circa 3025, so it makes sense for there to be a three-way battle there.  I’m surprised that NAIS cadets were issued BattleMasters, given their rarity.  I;m also surprised that the fight wasn’t decisive, since the NAIS force would be, by default, green, while the 2nd Sword of Light is elite. 

Since Royal is a landhold of House Stephenson (based on nearby New Ivaarsen), I’m surprised the 3rd Ceti Hussars went in to liberate it, rather than the New Ivaarsen Chasseurs.  The attack seems to have been successful, despite the failure of the BattleMaster variant, as Royal is back in Davion hands by 3025. 

I’ve never been terribly impressed with the BattleMaster.  For an 85-ton Assault ‘Mech, it just has one main gun (the PPC) and a bunch of support weapons, lacking the knockout punch that an AC/20 brings.  The flashbulb weapons array also causes it to overheat, making the SRM and Machine Gun ammo on board a serious liability if things get too hot.

Stalker: One of the most purely phallic ‘Mechs, the Stalker has been the butt of BattleTech jokes since its inception.  (The “Johnson Sector?”  ‘Nuff said.)

Burrows’ Crashing Thunder Regiment is featured in “Life in the Big City,” the sourcebook fiction from the CityTech rulebook.  It appears that the Stalker smashing through a building on the box cover of CityTech is the one from the Crashing Thunder.  Travis V is not shown on any map. 

The First Succession War sourcebook provides more details on the 2787 battle on Saffel, noting that the Combine attacked with the Sixth Benjamin Regulars, and faced off against the 21st Rim Worlds Regiment of the Blue Star Irregulars.  The Sixth was forced to retreat after ten days of sporadic fighting, part of Jinjiro Kurita’s plans to lull the AFFS into a sense of complacency.

The Stalker is designed with one set of long range guns (LRM 10s and Large Lasers) and one set of short-range guns (Medium lasers and SRM-6s).  Heat management is reasonable when pilots keep that in mind.  However, I have lost track of the number of times someone engaging a target at short/medium range throws in the Large Lasers as well, and then calculates the resulting heat bloom (which usually gets well into the “missiles cook off” territory).  This is a great unit for an experienced player, though, since it allows them to pick and choose which weapon mix is optimal based on range, but does cause frustration by having guns and lacking the heat sinks to fire them safely. 

Cyclops:   The variants section of the Cyclops entry notes that many pilots provide their Cyclops ‘Mechs with false armor head protectors, giving them the appearance of wearing a helmet.  This is the variant pictured in all sources.  I don’t believe art exists for an unhelmeted Cyclops.

The First Succession War seems a bit early in the timeline for Redjack Ryan to be raiding Alkalurops.  Since the profile of Brigadier Enright refers to him in the present tense, perhaps 3018 instead of 2801?

The description of the battle computer as “holographic” suggests it has a holotank that allows users to view the battlefield in real time (with satellite support handling communications to and from battlefield units).  Later sources have suggested that the “backpack” on the Cyclops can be detached and used as a field command center, conveying much the same benefits as a Mobile HQ.

Banshee:   I’m not sure what kind of service Abel Karmak provided Redjack Ryan, but the gift of a Banshee and a “barony” on Butte Hold (“All the Butte Bricks you can eat…”) is somewhat of a backhanded compliment to his efforts. 

The arsenal and movement profile of the Banshee is roughly comparable to that of the Vindicator, though the Banshee can’t jump.  It’s in the same boat as the Charger – too much engine, not enough payload.  The XL engine really made it possible for this sort of design philosophy to be realized.  The thing is, XL Engines were in production by 2579.  Why wouldn’t the Banshee have been upgraded then?  The Hegemony was still upgrading Mackies during the Star League era…

The Banshee entry casually namedrops the Mackie and the Emperor, giving a strong suggestion that the ‘Mechs in this TRO aren’t the only ones out there, and leaving the door open for oodles more to come out over the years.

As is the norm, and introduction date of “Late 2400s” makes it anachronistic for the manufacturer to be “Star League Weapons Research.”  Later sources have indicated the introduction date was 2475.  I would suggest that the manufacturer was actually HRAD (Hegemony Research and Development), the same guys that came up with the Mackie.

The Banshee-S turned the loser ‘Mech into a beast.  I recall that the Ral Partha mini came with two sets of arm pieces – one for the 3E, and a Warhammer-style PPC arm for the –S variant.  The upgraded S version was both visually more impressive and a lot more fun to field. 

Atlas: Another nickname for the design, based on the blobby PlasTech rendition, is “Fatlas” (which pairs well with the “Fatapult” from the same set). 

If the AC/20 was introduced in 2500, it’s unlikely that the Atlas was the first to mount one.  Perhaps “Class 20 Autocannon” is a brand name for the version made by the SLDF, and the Atlas was the first to mount one of those suckers. 

The Capabilities section brags that a lone Atlas could engage a battalion of Stingers and retire for repairs in an hour, with only Stinger still able to move.  People have used MegaMek to play that out – it never ends well for the Atlas. 

The slow speed of the Atlas is noted as a major drawback, and, given the Atlas’ generally short-ranged arsenal, that’s undeniably true.  This is why its Battle History of success stories is pretty much centered around a guy beating up an immobile wall.  Anything with guns that can hit beyond 9 hexes and a movement profile that can outrun a 3/5 Atlas is basically just facing an LRM-20.  Leading an advance against fixed defenses is where the Atlas excels, though (as I’ve noted previously), Blackjacks and JagerMechs can take those out from far away with AC/2s (except for the Mosquito Tower – 10 AC/2s in a turret – ouch!). 

Intriguingly, the Atlas entry notes that “some ‘Mechs might be taller and heavier.”  Unless there were more superheavies than the original Behemoth (“Amaris’ Folly”), I’m not sure what they’re talking about. 

[VhenRa]

The Rifleman is recognizable as the Raidar-X Destroid from Macross.

Defender Destroid from Macross. Raidar-X is an invention of the Palladium Games Robotech RPG as far as I can tell.

[Mendrugo]

True enough.  I was going off what was on the toy package from the ExoSquad tie-in release in the mid 90s.

[skiltao]

Oops...My bad.  I think what 15 year old me did was 'This mech is WAY oversinked and should have a 3 ton hatchet' and scratched off the 14 in TRO 3025 and put an 11 there :)

Could be. I know I did that a bunch in my TROs too. :D

Except there were huge numbers of Firestarters made at a time when severe caps were imposed on the size of House militaries.

Those "huge" numbers would amount to less than three per House per year (so they were spread out), over a period which includes two Hidden Wars (so they may have seemed worthwhile), plus of course significant expansion of House armies from 2752 onward.

TRO:3039 gives a date for the destruction of Argile Technologies that synchronizes with the invasion of Skye. 

Sure. I'm just pointing out that events of that caliber won't always line up with recorded attempts at conquest.

Yeah, but there are some cases where the author has clearly picked an anachronistic unit, like putting the Night Stalkers in the First Succession War, or Helmar Valasek in 2950.  My "go to" dodge for these errors are that ROM was intentionally seeding disinformation to see who else out there still had accurate historical data, so they could self-identify and be marked for possible elimination.

True, but usually systems either refer to worlds by individual names (Mercury, Venus, Terra, Mars, etc. instead of Sol I, Sol II, Sol III, Sol IV), or by numbers (Hesperus I, Hesperus II, Hesperus III, etc.), but not both.  (Mercury, Sol II, Terra, Sol IV?)  So a system named Lincoln V should be in the Lincoln system, rather than being the fifth out in, say, the Tikonov system.

Fair points. I guess to my mind, it's less a question of whether a planet has a name, than whether that planet is important enough for foreign spacers to bother learning what that name is. I like to emphasize how fragmentary communication and record-keeping was (and still is) in the Successor States (and even within ComStar), since it seems to get downplayed so often.

The outcome of the New Rhodes III campaign is a bit too rosy, since we know that the world fell to the Combine without a fight, per the Dervish entry.  The garrison was sent away, leaving only a small guerrilla force under Captain Conrad Warrent.  So who is Davion Garrison Commander Colonel Hezekiah Walden?

The Rifleman entry specifies the third planet in the system, whereas the Dervish entry doesn't, so you could read it as two separate worlds.

shooting down all the Smoke Jaguar observation and communication satellites, so that’s probably standard operating practice, but then why didn’t the Rasalhague Regulars do that on Phalan?

I suspect Phalan's "picket satellites" were watching the jump points and for system transits. If they were in orbit around Phalan, they may have been shot down, but at that point they were irrelevant to the story.

The description, however, appears to have assumed it would be a straight-up copy of the Battlepod, since it claims it has short arms, and compares it to the Stalker and Marauder

To be fair, the Osts do have short arms.

I think the "walker pod" description may be referring to the torso design- the head is flush with the torso, and (looking at the Catapult's shoulders for contrast) how the limbs are attached... though, all of those elements were preserved from the Regult Battlepod, so maybe I have cause and effect reversed.

since the book is framed as a publicly available reference document, I find it flabbergasting that it identifies Thomas Reeves as a Davion agent in the Chesterton Reserves.  Why would ComStar compromise this MIIO mole, if they’re trying to maintain 1) the appearance of neutrality and 2) the pretense that they aren’t reading everyone’s mail? 

ComStar didn't share information from their private archives with outsiders until Focht took over, so - since this document is for public consumption - they may have sourced it from from publicly available records, drunks in taverns, etc. The story about Captain Reeves could be a fabrication by a jealous rival, by Davion counter-intelligence, or a partly-true cover for Hasek's dealing with Liao.

I suppose we could also take the story at face value - the old FedSuns house book mentions how antagonistic the press can be, and a relationship with Fasan Press might give ComStar plausible deniability.

has served throughout his career in the Waco Rangers, the implication is that he’s in his 70s or 80s, at least, and that the Waco Rangers have been around for at least 50 years. 

Technically, he's served that long with his *lance*, so maybe his lance signed up with the Rangers as a group. (Though, as you've pointed out with other anachronisms, it's unlikely that the author was thinking that hard about the regiment's history.)

Once again, we see the Syrtis Fusiliers fighting on the Combine border.  My guess is that the writers had only the units listed in the MechWarrior 1st Edition rosters (published in 1986, whereas the House sourcebooks came out in 1988) to work with, which would explain why Valasek, Ryan, and Grimm show up so much, and why we keep seeing references to the Syrtis Fusiliers

Oh hey, good call. (I had hoped the far-ranging bandits were moving along actual, discernable courses, but that seems even less likely now than it did before.)

Zeus: The design history given in this entry is absolutely insane.  An introduction date of 2411 would make it the first ‘Mech

Alas, the author seems to have mistaken the Lyran entrance to the Age of War for their entrance to the First Succession War.

The Capabilities section brags that a lone Atlas could engage a battalion of Stingers and retire for repairs in an hour, with only Stinger still able to move.  People have used MegaMek to play that out – it never ends well for the Atlas. 
<snip>
Intriguingly, the Atlas entry notes that “some ‘Mechs might be taller and heavier.”  Unless there were more superheavies than the original Behemoth (“Amaris’ Folly”), I’m not sure what they’re talking about. 

I suspect that story was written with BattleDroids' quickplay rules in mind- they use an armor penetration system instead of hit points, which favors the Atlas more than the standard rules do.

Given the similarities between the Orion and the Atlas, I suspect they started out as a single 75-tonner and then got split into two 'Mechs. (Likewise, I wonder if the Grasshopper might have started as proposed Regult stats, and the Stalker as a proposed Tomahawk.)

[Mendrugo]

Date: June 5, 3025
 
Title: Technical Readout: 3025
 
Author: Blaine Lee Pardoe, Boy F. Petersen, Jr., Anthony Pryor, Dale L. Kemper, and Shaun Duncan (writing); Duane Loose and David R. Detrick (interior art); Dana Knutson (cover art)
 
Type: Sourcebook (FASA)
 
Synopsis:  

Stinger LAM  Deployed in 2688 by LexaTech Industries to meet a SLDF design request for a ‘Mech that could fly and function as a light ground ‘Mech, the Stinger Land-Air Mech (LAM) has sufficient firepower and speed to function as a recon unit, though its light armor remained a weakness.  After the fall of the Star League, most Stinger LAMs ended up in Combine hands, where they were used as raiders and commandos.  In 2840, on Proserpina, the DCMS used eight LAMs to tie down elements of the Deneb Light Cavalry at the Battle for Hanser’s Ford.  In 2955, Stinger LAMs in the Arcturan Guards seized a supply cache from the city of Randersville on Shiloh during a raid.  In 3020, Hanse Davion recalled all AFFS LAMs to the Fulker Military Academy, where they received training for close support and deep raiding missions.  Analysts speculate they will be reassigned to the Davion Guards as elite raiders, and that the Combine is doing the same with its LAMs.  Harvard Willis serves in the Legion of Vega.  After his heroic actions at the Battle for Hoff, he was promoted to head Kurita’s LAM training program.  Simon Temmlin Rastler II pilots his family LAM in the Skye Rangers, but is accused of relying on luck and his father’s fame to get by.

Wasp LAM  Harvard Company pioneered the process to equip the Wasp design for LAM conversion after the success of the original Stinger LAM design.  A large number of Wasp LAMs left with the Exodus, with the remainder spread thinly through the Successor States.  Many Wasps were lost in the First Succession War.  In 2891, the LCAF destroyed a concentration of DCMS LAMs on Lablon, delaying Kurita’s offensive against that world by several months.  In 2943, House Liao raided Lee hoping to steal AFFS Wasp LAMs there, but were driven off by the forewarned garrison.  In 3017, Wasp LAMs with the Dieron Regulars repulsed a Davion invasion of Capra.  Sharon Dorsee is a veteran of the Dieron Regular LAM force on Capra, and is now assigned to the Pesht Regulars.  Mandrake Matherson is another veteran of Capra, still with the Dieron Regulars, whose LAM was recently refitted with LosTech armor recovered from a bunker on Galtor. 

Phoenix Hawk LAM  Allied Aerospace attempted to make LAM version of both the Shadow Hawk and the Phoenix Hawk, but determined that the 55-ton Shadow Hawk was too heavy for LAM conversion.  They succeeded with the Phoenix Hawk, releasing it in 2832, and was sold to the Star League Regular Army as the largest LAM ever manufactured.  House Marik has the most Phoenix Hawk LAMs, due to having discovered a depot on Bordon that contained the bulk of Allied Aerospace’s program.  In 2938, Leesa Dobbins pretended to be a fighter crippled in the orbital battle over Fletcher, and allowed Liao aerospace fighters to escort her to a Liao DropShip.  Instead of surrendering, she converted to ‘Mech mode and crippled the DropShip’s drive system.  In 2977, Davion PHK LAMs were used as recon units in the Turland Highlands on Tybalt.  In 3017, House Kurita raided Suk II with Phoenix Hawk LAMs, but the defenders used long range weapons to shoot them down, gaining a treasure trove of spare LAM parts.  Albert Amdecker was the sole survivor of the DCMS LAMs sent to Suk II, and now serves in the Sword of Light, commanding an Air Lance.  Howard Doodlebury commands the Tigershark Aerospace Lance in the 8th Syrtis Fusiliers.

Notes:

Stinger LAM  The Land-Air ‘Mechs are, of course, based on the iconic transforming mecha from Macross.  Hands up if you’ve ever painted a LAM up in the yellow/black/white scheme from Roy Fokker’s Veritech.  By default, Stinger LAMs would be the most commonly found in the Inner Sphere, since they’re the only ones still in production circa 3025. 

In 2840, ten years into the Second Succession War, the AFFS was on the warpath.  By 2841, they’d conquer Northwind and drive the Northwind Highlanders into exile.  A large AFFS taskforce would have just returned from looting and pillaging in the Free Worlds League during the 2837-2838 ComStar interdiction.  So it makes sense that they’re invading Proserpina in 2840.

With only one million people living on Shiloh, and the vast majority of them being anti-technology Exituri aescetics, one wonders why House Steiner keeps raiding Shiloh throughout the Succession Wars.  There’s simply not much there, yet Cranston Snord hit it in 3012 and here we have it being hit in 2955.  The military supply cache in Randersville clearly is not for local use, so the raids are probably because the FWLM uses it as a staging base for strikes against Commonwealth targets.  The Marik and Steiner sourcebooks recount its being invaded, raided, and conquered multiple times across the Second and Third Succession Wars.  The only thing of value on the world seems to be crystals mined from the desert, unless you consider Shilovian Seskratt on a stick to be a particular delicacy.

Interesting that the Legion of Vega was said to be at the Battle for Hoff in 3023.  The supporting text in the “Tales of the Black Widow Company” scenarios covering the Battle of Hoff only mentions the 17th Galedon Regulars.  By 3025, the Legion is back on Marfik and Vega.  I’m honestly surprised that anyone who’s failed badly enough to be consigned to the Legion of Vega would be promoted and transferred, but I guess the hope of salvation is what keeps the Legionnaires going.

Simon Temmlin Rastler II has all the makings of a classic Lyran social general – riding father’s coattails, successes based on luck, rather than skill, large family estate.  His life story was updated in TRO:3085 in the Mk I Stinger LAM entry, which notes that he was promoted to Hauptmann, and his heroic actions in the 4th Succession War and War of 3039 demonstrated real skill, not just luck.  However, he died fighting Clan Wolf in 3051. 

Wasp LAM  The note that General Kerensky took a large number of LAMs with him on the Exodus suggests that either the skies were swarming with LAMs in the initial stages of the Exodus Civil War, or that there are still rank upon rank of these things in Brian Caches, since Nicholas’ Clans had no use for ‘em. 

Lablon = La Blon, surely.  The destruction of the LAMs in 2891 seems to have set the Combine invasion back by years, not just months, because in “Family Honor,” we saw the Combine launch a suicide attack on La Blon four years later in 2895, and that only as a diversionary tactic to draw the garrison forces away from the real target, Sabik.

The 2943 Liao raid on Lee that was repulsed by Wasp LAMs wasn’t the “Great Lee Turkey Shoot,” which came a decade later, in 2953. 

The Mandrake Matherson entry, which mentions his LAM was refitted with “armor plating from a Star League bunker on Galtor,” strongly hints at the existence of Ferro Fibrous armor, prior to its introduction in TRO:2750.  Interestingly, however, construction rules forbid using Ferro Fibrous armor on a LAM, due to the complexity of the conversion equipment. 

TRO:3085 solves the mystery about Matherson’s illegal armor in its LAM section, noting that the sensational claims of armor refits were false, and that he’d simply made some cosmetic adjustments and minor weapon modifications.  He was killed in combat in the War of 3039. 

Phoenix Hawk LAM  2832 is a bit late to be delivering contracts to the Star League Regular Army.  TRO:3085 corrects in introduction date to 2701. 

The term “Star League Regular Army” is used in the Valkyrie, Grasshopper, and Atlas entries as well, while the term “Star League defense forces” is only used in the Rifleman entry, and then as a non-capitalized generic term, rather than the proper name: Star League Defense Force.  The Star League sourcebook clarified that the term “Regular Army” referred the army, while the SLDF is a blanket term for the army and navy and various other support commands. 

The battle for Fletcher appears to be over the original Fletcher, in the Free Worlds League, rather than the one in Liao space – both of which were colonized by the same family. 

Arguably the most famous Phoenix Hawk LAM in the BattleTech game is the one piloted by Jeremiah Youngblood.  Thought lost when Jeremiah disappeared during a raid on Pacifica (Chara IV) by DCMS troops in 3028, it was discovered by his son, Jason, hidden in a Star League depot.  The game box came with a mail-in offer – send the card with the name of the “hidden ‘Mech” and $5 to Infocom, and they’d send back a miniature of it.  I recall proudly sending in the card, then, after the mail was picked up, noticing that I’d forgotten to put the $5 check into the envelope, and frantically mailing out a follow-up letter with the check.  It seems to have worked, and a miniature (my first) arrived a few weeks later.  After a disastrous first attempt to assemble it with a hot glue gun, some proper superglue was acquired and my collection was commenced.

The miniature sculpt differed from the one then being offered by Ral Partha – the arms were separate pieces and bent to point forwards, rather than being one piece with the body and pointed down.  Also, the left leg and the wings had raised Crescent Hawk logos on them.  It also had a custom hexbase with a depression that exactly fit the LAM’s stand, rather than a hollow hexagon.  When Ral Partha updated its Phoenix Hawk LAM miniature, it used the new body and arms, but kept the original fighter piece, leading to LAMs with the Crescent Hawk insignia on the leg but not the wings.

Presumably because AirMech and Fighter modes would have been difficult to implement in a Real Time Strategy game, the Crescent Hawks’ Revenge game just had Jason piloting a stock Phoenix Hawk, despite his stated intention to take his father’s ‘Mech and use it to find him at the end of the “Crescent Hawks’ Inception” game. 

It’s interesting that they name the Shadow Hawk as the unsuccessful LAM conversion (setting the ceiling on LAMs at 50 tons), when the Crusader is arguably a better candidate (being originally visually designed as an armored Veritech, with the booster rockets on the back and the same sort of aerodynamic lines on the arms and legs.  The Shadow Hawk, on the other hand, was from Fang of the Sun, where the mecha were non-transformable and much more comfortable in their roles as walking tanks.  Likewise, the failed Scorpion LAM was based on a Fang of the Sun chassis.

Other FASA and Victor Musical Industries-designed ‘Mechs that certainly look like they were made with LAM conversion in mind include the Champion (it has wings instead of arms and what appear to be thruster pods on the rear torso…for a ‘Mech without Jump Jets), the Falconer (which shares the same torso design as the Champion), the Phoenix Hawk IIC (which has back thrusters and frickin’ wings sprouting out from its torso), the Vixen (which has the classic LAM/Veritech lines), and the Viper (which is pretty much a super-deformed fighter jet that’s grown arms and spindly chicken legs).

[Decoy]

*sighs as he was going to post his deduction that Sealth's homeworld could've been Donegal for reasons....but a quick check of TRO 3039 reveals that Sealth's home world was Zavijava.

[Mendrugo]

Nice find, Decoy.  Thanks for clearing that up. 

The writers of the TRO: 3039 went out of their way to address many of the ambiguities from the early TROs.