Cerillos SystemA dry world toward the fringes of the League, Cerillos is renowned for its hardy if somewhat insular inhabitants. Descended from the Hispanic and Indian peoples of southwestern North America, the population is proud and self-reliant, placing considerable emphasis on strength and personal honor. A spirit of machismo dominates on Cerillos (and several surrounding worlds in the unofficial “Trinity” province that also includes Galisteo and Sierra), as does a level of chauvinism and prejudice uncommon in the Free Worlds League, attitudes protected by the “cultural identity” provisions of the federal charter. Only a handful of population centers exist on the continents of Las Cruces, Mazatlán and Santa Rosa, with most of the population residing on scattered ranches and haciendas. The planetary capital, Puerto Cortés in the Rio Vicente valley, is the site of one the Free Worlds’ largest cattle markets every autumn.
With a largely agrarian economy — Cerillos’ only substantive exports are animal products, principally beef raised in the high plains of Alamogordo and San Clemente — little wealth exists on any of the “southwestern” worlds. This makes joining the military an attractive option. The inhabitants of Cerillos are generally tough and skilled fighters, provided their aggression can be channeled and they heed authority. The mercenary command Camacho’s Caballeros typifies the martial ideal of Cerillos and its fellow southwestern worlds (the Caballeros’ leader, Carlos Camacho, hails from nearby Galisteo). On all three planets, brotherhoods of retired soldiers form strong bonds that rival even these worlds’ intense family loyalties. Some of these brotherhoods are little more the social gatherings where old soldiers can meet, drink, and trade war stories, but the ones in the upper echelons of society are martial orders with intricate rituals and structures.
SITREPAfter the initial confusion surrounding the attack, intelligence has identified two separate groups of aggressor units who made planet fall near Burgos. 6th Grenadier forces training in this area are responding to the bulk of the attack, but aggressor elements have pushed through those lines and are moving towards Burgos proper.
Group one and the largest element is positively identified as elements of Narhal’s Raiders 1st regiment, consisting of mech, armor and infantry forces. They are focusing attacks on military depots and forward training facilities.
The second is an unknown pirate or mercenary group, consisting of mech and armor forces. They are focusing attacks around civilian warehouses with confirmed reports of looting occurring. Intelligence believes they are pirate elements taking advantage of the Lyran raid.
They are operating in different theaters at the moment and do not seem to be coordinating attacks.
Intelligence believes that the objective of the Lyran forces is the capture of a group of corporate and gov’t scientists who have been assigned to a research facility in this region.
Any military elements within 20 klicks of grid 47.6928° N, 116.7800° W, are to proceed to that location and exfiltrate the scientists to Burgos. A drop ship will be staged at the space port in case the city is over run.
Primary mission objective: exfiltration of scientific personnel and data to drop ship. If unable to exfiltrate personnel or data – elimination of targets is sanctioned.
Secondary mission objective: repulse aggressor forces
The cost of this track is 200 points. For each APC you successfully escort to the drop ship you get 60 points, if you have to destroy them to prevent capture you get 20 per. For each enemy unit you destroy, you get 10.
To control an APC you need to have more units in a 6 inch radius of that particular APC than the opposing force at the end of your movement turn. Other APCs do not count towards unit count. If you lose control, you will have one turn to gain it back or the opposing force will be able to move the unit instead.
It began with light skirmishes with both the Lyran forces near the research facility and the pirate force that was in Burgos. After several turns into the game, the mercenaries made an offer of campaign points to the pirates to assist them. The pirate force agreed to cease hostilities and offered some limited offensive support, but never left the city. The Lyran forces, which intitally started as a light lance of mechs, added a reinforced company of heavy hover APCs to the mix at the other end of the field. After a brutal firefight not far from the facility the scientists were picked up from, two of the APCs were captured by Lyran forces and were summarily destroyed by the defending mercenary forces. By this time, the light Lyran lance was decimated, with two units being destroyed outright, and another being forced off the field due to significant damage. This left a sizable force of heavy hover APCs and one light mech to harrass the remaining mercenary forces; who were down two units at that time. The enemy hover units were never truly able to take advantage of their forcused fire, with only one other enemy mech falling before the mercenary units made it into town. By this time, heavier Lyran reinforcements had shown up, but were too slow to offer more than some long range fire support to their lighter units engaged in the fighting. Several other mercenary units fell or were heavily damaged, but the lighter elements of the attacking Lyran force were quickly ground down after entering the city.
The end of the day saw all of the heavy hover APCs destroyed, most of the light Lyran mechs plus one of the heavies. The mercenary forces making their escape to the space port with 2 of the 4 APCs they were tasked with escorting. Some units were salvaged by the mercenaries at the end of the game, but they will have to buy some new units to make up for their equipment losses.
