The Viking Campaign (off topic and buildup).

[Elmoth]

Hello there!

Following the collaborative merc unit thread in this forum, and the show of preference of more mech-centric action by the players now tha they are confident with Alpha Strike, we are moving away from the Irian Fists campaign and into a more traditional merc unit.

Given that we liked the forum idea of doing stuff in the Lothian League/Illyrian Palatinate area (it is a small enough region, so their actions can be seen as having a real impact) we sat down and worked on it. They wanted griffins and wolverine 6M applenty, so we went there, with the idea of using just griffins (discount sale!!) of the 1N and 1S variants, since the 1S is extremely similar to the WVR 6M. For recon, they want to rely in vehicles (ferrets, saracens, Pegasus,...) and infantry since they find bog stompy robots quite hilarious as recon troops.

After quite a few beers and discussions, we ended up with something of a 2 lance mech force with armor, ASF and infantry support.

BACKGROUND would be a Canopian force. At the start we tried to make a real Canopian force, but the Magistracy seems very low on medium mech production centres (they only produce Shadow Hawks before 3055, and only around 10 per year, and then Marauders and the 3 bugs) so we went for a Canopian *backed* merc unit. They are formally a Lyran unit, but the big money has come from Canopus. The "mercenary" unit is sent to the Lothian League to create problems for the Marian hegemony (and the FWL if necessary) from an unexpected quarter. Most PCs will not be aware of this.

BASIC FORCE TOE (Work in progress)
2 Warhammer 6R
3 Griffin 1N
3 Griffin 1S
2 Centurion ASF
2 jump infantry platoons
2 karnovs
4 Ferrets
4 Saracens or Pegasus
Heavy recovery vehicle
Medium recovery vehicle
Some J27 and flatbed trucks, techie crew and other support vehicles.
Seeker dropship since a Union is too small for all this AND supplies (you want lots of spares when going to the periphery)
Optional invader or merchant jump ship.

All in all, around 100-150 people.

The force is PPC and LRM heavy, with some SRM usage as well. Marginal use of MG ammo.
It is as Lyran as we could make it, except for the Warhammers, that are general mechs. Now we need a name and we are quie ready to go and assists the Lothian and Illyrian peoples against circinan and marian encroachment.

[Sir Chaos]

Interesting concept.

The Warhammer may be a general ´Mech, but apparently it is being produced by StarCorp on Son Hoa, a Lyran planet fairly close to where your campaign will be set - so that sounds like a good choice.

There have apparently also been a variety of modifications done to the Karnov VTOL; since they´ll need only 4 tons to carry a jump platoon, you could for example replace the other two tons of cargo space to carry 3 MGs and a half-ton of ammo. Or if you would like to keep it canonical, field a pair of Karnov Gunships (two machine guns per location, plus two tons of ammo with the two transports.

[Elmoth]

More updates.

The unit will recruit mostly from former FRR, so they have an emotional attachment to the Lothian/Illyrian people.

They want to have a "fighting highlights" campaign. That means that the unit may be in several conflicts between 3030 and 3070. So, they might start with the formation of the FRR, move to the Andurien crisis, the Circinus-Illyrian war, maybe some clan stuff, the Lothian-Marian war, the Marian campaign for Illyria and get back to the fedcom civil war. I doubt we will make it that far, but the idea is there. For the first sessions (freedom fighters) the unit will be way more ragtag than later on, with financing from a guy that "earned a lot of money in a Canopian casino and is starting a merc unit".

Salvage will be sold to buy more griffins (they seem to have a kind of obsession with these right now).

[Daryk]

If they're doing defensive missions, Remote Sensor Dispensers would be worthwhile additions to the Ferrets.  A command van with some Communications Equipment would also be helpful.

[Elmoth]

The Ferrets (and maybe the hovers) are fluffed as carrying sensor dispensers IIRC.

Funnily, I just read the organization of the Magistracy Armoured Forces. They have been using an organization that this waaaay more similar to usual MAF organization with the Irían Fists than what they are planning now. The MAF is organized around the use of armor and infantry assets as main battle assets, and then using their (scarce) mechs as the hammer to break the weakened enemy. Quite what they have been doing with the Irians xD Now they are going with the mechs being the main combat assets and few or no armor support.

[DOC_Agren]

A few of naming ideas:
Varangian Guards
Fólkvangr
Seax's Edge
Thor's Chosen (or Thor er valgt)
The Gryphons

this could be a fun unit to follow

[Nav_Alpha]

Hey man, sorry I dropped off the other thread - I didn’t really have enough time to commit thanks to crazy work.
That said - feel free to take Strom and his sister Freya. They’d fit in perfectly with this crew and I’m happy to donate their back story and such.
Hell, I might even get a little time for posting over Xmas (or Yule as Kaptain Strom insists on calling it!)

[truetanker]

Well now... I'd be happy to help you in any way...

Shut up Doc! Or I swear I'll pull a custom Level IV on you more powerful than Whispers...

Anyway, feel free to ask questions... do you need any Marian Hegemony OpFor?

TT

[Elmoth]

Marian TOEs will be cool, thanks, but we are not in that phase yet :) Will ask when we are there. Right now the players are really active in our WhatsApp group trying to game the system (read: munchkin phase) trying to cram a company worth of units in a Leopard for raids.

Regarding the name, the Arms of Thor are a 2 batallion (the left and right arms of thor) mercenary command that are the main defenders of the Illyrian Palatinate from 3034 (at least) to its destruction in 3063. Being a PPC heavy band, I was thinking about suggesting a lightning related name for the band, like "the something something of Mjolnir", but that ends up with the Arms of Thor using our band and I do not really like it :lol: Fólkvangr and The Gryphons look cool, thx :)

[Elmoth]

I have been looking at some major events according to the timeline, and see what can influence our campaign. Most important stuff is not on the list, and some are there just so I can reference them (we will not deal with the clans, for example), but some of the items will affect us. Tomorrow I will update it with the regional stuff on the Circinians, Marians, Lothians and Illyrians.

Another thing is that I have been thinking how the hell they can manage to have all the transport capacity that they require to go to the border of nowhere. The answer will be that this will not be theirs, but will belong to their employer: the jumpship and dropships they will be using to get there will be new purchases from the Illyrians, sinc etheir background talks how they lost their jumpship capacity recently, and they will need them to keep up their internal (and external) trade and troop movements. I am quite happy with that solution since it fits well with the area :)

Edit: Added the Circinus federation's history. Marian, St Andrews, Illyrian and Lothian to go.
Edit 2: Added Lothian and Illyrian timelines. Marian & St Andrews to go.
Edit 3: Added New St Andrews. Marian to go.

3028-3030: 4TH SUCCESSION WAR.
3028: Battle of Misery. GDL memory core.
3029: St Yves Compact and Tikonov Free republic formed.

3030-3039 ANDURIEN CRISIS
3030: Duchy of Andurien secedes. Janos Marik suffers a stroke.
3030-3035: Andurien-Canopus invade Capellan Confederation (ends in disaster).
3032: FWL gets organized enough and starts to strike at Andurien (September). Capellans counterattack. Things start to go bad for the Andurien-Canopian alliance. 
3032: Circinus: CJ McIntryre dies. “Little Bob” McIntyre succeeds him. Plan to invade the Illyrian Palatinate (preparations). The leader of Black warriors dies in tavern Brawl. Little Bob takes command of the unit (unheard of! Unrest). Puts the Illyrian invasion on hold for 1 year.
3033: intel says that Illyrian Palatinate defences are stronger than expected and Circinuians abort attack for a year.
3034: Invasion of Illyrian Palatinate by Circinian federation.  Invaders find seasoned mercenaries. Defenses are several companies of mechs and the Arms of Thor mercs. Illyrian victory. Circinians lose 2 of their 3 regiments. Circinians invade the independent planet of Dersidatz in their retreat. 
3035-3040: Dersidatz rebels and destroys Circinan garrison. Buid defences. Costly guerrilla campaign for Circinians to pacify the planet.
3034: FRR formed + Ronin War (3034-35)
3035: Bomb smashes marik family. Dncan Capt. General
3036: Thomas Marik captn. General. Romano Liao chancellor
3037: recapture of Andurien

3039-40 WAR OF 3039
3040: Emma Centrella named Magestrix. Emma Centrella starts the plot to leech the Marian Hegemony from their coreward border.
10 years where we can do whatever we please since nothing really important happens.
3041: Circinus: Black Warriors try a coup d’etat against Little Bob. Unsuccessful. 2/3 of the Circinian military destroyed in the conflict.

3050: CLAN WELCOME PARTY. FRR goes down the drain (a pity IMO)
3051: Tukayyid. FRR refugees move to Illyrian Palatinate.

3052: TANTRUM OF BLAKE CRISIS BEGUINS. WoB makes itself strong in the FWL.
3052-53: Marian hegemony raids Lothian League heavily.
3053: Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission replaces Mercenary Review Board.
3054-55: Marian hegemony invades and conquers Lothian League.
3055-57: Illyrian palatinate grars up to total war: construction of castle brians and other defence areas.
3055-3062: Magistracy of Canopus supports Lothian guerrilla movement.

3057: OPERATION GUERRERO (FWL+CC invade FedCom), events on STAR LORD unfold (St Andrews).
3058:  Word of Blake takes Terra, Thomas Marik discovered to be a double.
Founding of Second Star League, with Sun-Tzu Liao as First Lord. Mess in the Clan front: Ulric killed, War of refusal, wolf in exile and Jade wolf/new Clan Wolf...
3059: HARVEST TRIALS among the Clans. Star League launches Task Force Serpent and Operation Bulldog against Clan Smoke Jaguar. Mining in New St. Andrews established (illegally).
3060: Illegal miners in New St Andrews expelled. Meridian Manufacturing estbalished.
3061: Star League forces return to Inner Sphere. Word of Blake's Precentor Martial Trent Arian assassinated & Cameron St. Jamais succeeds him. Jeffrey Calderon killed on Detroit, Grover Shraplen becomes Protector of the Taurian Concordat, Second Whitting Conference held on Tharkad, Theodore Kurita elected First Lord.  Victor Steiner-Davion joins ComStar as Precentor Martial.
3062: TRINITY ALLIANCE formed. FEDCOM CIVIL WAR begins, Draconis March forces invades Combine
3062: Lothian League on the brink of rebellion. Countered by Julius O'reilly, that reaches an agreement with rebel leadership.
3063: MARIAN HEGEMONY ANNEXES ILLYRIAN PALATINATE attacking from old Lothian League with 2 legions, Julius O'Reilly becomes Caesar, Kristen Marik dies, Capellan-St. Ives War ends with the annexation of the latter,
3064: Nelson's Longbows (mercs) move to New St Andrews to protect it from pirate raids.

3067-3078: TANTRUM OF BLAKE JIHAD. Circinus. Circinus allies itself with WoB. Outreach destroyed
3068: Operation: Steel Hammer. WoB assaults major Lyran worlds and capitals.
3081: CIRCINUS FEDERATION DESTOYED by Marian Hegemony.

3128: Lothian League regains independence. Social structure very influenced by their years under Marian rule.

[DOC_Agren]

Well now... I'd be happy to help you in any way...

Shut up Doc! Or I swear I'll pull a custom Level IV on you more powerful than Whispers...

Anyway, feel free to ask questions... do you need any Marian Hegemony OpFor?

TT

What did I do this  8)

[Elmoth]

I plan on recycle some characters of the previous thread, so the doctor might find himself in the periphery. Since they want to play some stuff in the 3035 period (Andurien crisis, Roning war,...) I plan on using the other unit as a story hook, maybe even using them as a starting point when Reach Enterprises fails.

Cheers,
Xavi

[Elmoth]

One of the options that my players are considering for their Illyrian campaign is using Mark VII craft in the fighter bay, and puting infantry or hovers inside in order to be able to have a 2x1 usage of the craft. I told you: they are on a rampage to game the system ;)

However, the MUL page fo rthe mark VII does not seem to list any stats: http://www.masterunitlist.info/Unit/Details/4476/landing-craft-mark-vii

Do any of you know how I can model these?

thanks

[Daryk]

The Mark VII has been my pet rock for some time now.  Currently, 3057r has them as 150 ton Small Craft (which won't fit in ASF bays).  Originally, they were 100 tons, and built as fighters.  A subsequent errata now allows fighters to carry cargo again, but a more recent rules question has forbidden light vehicle bays on fighters.

If you like, I drew up deck plans for the Mark VII.  The only problem is those plans were made before the errata that removed the ability of Small Craft to use Infantry Bays for crew quarters.  You might still find them useful, though, and one of the replies has the original (fighter) stats for the Mark VII from DropShips and JumpShips.

[Elmoth]

Ok. There goes their idea to max out on assets in a small dropship xDDD

Like them, I also thought small craft could use ASF bays. My bad.

Nice depiction. I like your Mark vii better than the official one :)

[Daryk]

Thanks!  You could still use the original fighter build of the Mark VII, you just need to house rule it.

[truetanker]

Take your Leopard, house mod it; IE remove both ASF bays, replace with a single Mk. VII smallcraft bay, leaving you an extra 100 tons for whatnot... decent Light Vee bays, a single Heavy Vee bay or Multiple Infantry bunkage...

Choice is yours...

I still strongly suggest the DroST IIA...

TT

[Elmoth]

Drost is in the list of potential aircraft. Nothing definitive yet on that front. They are defining combat assets right now

[Elmoth]

Hello again,

Finally this and the Testers of Aran seem to be merging together. We will be playing a campaign in Blantleff/Dersidatz with a demicompany (6 mechs) using starter boxed set mechs. They will be a lance form a larger formation operating in the Illyrian Palatinate. The think is that the Blantkleff campaign is in 3036, while the invasion of the Palatinate occurred in 3034, but hey. Maybe we will be playing flashbacks or something :)

As we are using the boxed set miniatures, we will deploy a force somewhat different than originally planned:

1. Catapult or Thunderbolt (to be decided)
2. Wolverine 6R. Called Steppenwolf by its pilot Björn Tobbie. Callsign: "Wild" (we loved theGerman name for the mech and had to use it)
3. Cronus 3M. Using the Shadow Hawk mini.
4. Griffin 1N

Then the Leopard will have the following stuff as cargo
Locust 1V
Commando 2D
21-men infantry platoon (in steerage quarters)
4 Ripper VTOLs
1 Karnov VTOL
10 vtol pilots (in steerage quarters)
A field hospital with 5 crew in steerage quarters (1 operating theater)

And that would be it if we do not have last minute changes.
As with the collaborative campaign I will be playuing some of the missions with my group, but will post the escenarios in case anyone wants to play them. I will also try to keep up with the idea in Punto nadir, a Spanish-speakers BT forum and see if anyone plays any of the escenarios in either forum.
:)

Cheers,
Xavi