Author Topic: Trouble in the Tongue Valley  (Read 2172 times)

Mapmaster

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Trouble in the Tongue Valley
« on: 24 October 2016, 15:12:53 »
We've been involved in a 3 player campaign for the last few months. It's beginning to wind down now, so I thought I'd share...

Setting

The game is set in 3060 on the planet Arboris. We used the Chaos March (pg. 27) supplement as a starting point for our theater. All of the players brought in their own merc units. Each of these units had already seen action previously, giving them all time to run a few prior contracts to see who would grow and who would shrink. My emphasis as a GM was that it would not be balanced fights. Anything could happen.

In the Chaos March pdf, it talks about the factions fighting for control of the world at that time, but doesn't give too much more detail beyond their initial battles. I decided to keep our theater away from the main fighting going on at the time and instead focus on one of the lesser continents of the world.

Sarna mentions the other continents by name. I liked the sound of Silverado, the mining and timber center of the planet. I figured that would be a good place for the local insurrectionists, The Farmer's Freedom Army, to do most of their recruiting, and so I created the Tongue Valley, with the continental capital city, Mayers, nestled into the heart of the valley.

The Players

Each of the players was given a contract that would bring them into the valley, fighting for one of the 3 factions:

Bucks Barnbusters - Approached by the Zhangzeng de Guang with the following contract, they agreed to the terms and were dropped into the valley at Big Gulch:

Contract Offer:
Relief Duty
Arboris
CCAF
Average Pay
Limited Salvage Rights (2nd pick)
Employer provides secure drop zone, support base, and logistical coordination
Employer will reimburse half of transport costs
Liaison Command
Legitimate Contract

Bucks Barnbusters were not necessarily the most reputable mercs. A later intel report to one of the other players described them as such:

"This merc group has a murky history of missing records and shady credentials. One angry, open, public letter to a previous employer stands out as mildly amusing. With no real ties to any major house, they seemed to have bubbled up out of the chaos march."

Rawne's Raiders - Taking the first contract they could find after parting ways with the FWL, they found themselves in the employ of the crumbing FedCom, desperately trying to maintain control of this unstable planet:

Objective Raid
LCAF
Arboris
Good Pay
Limited Salvage (2nd pick)
Employer provides secure drop zone, support base, and logistical coordination
Employer provides jump transport
Independent Command
Legitimate Contract
6 Months

Rawne's Raiders, also known as The Scorpion's Sting, was one of the many small time merc units forced to flee the Draconis Combine upon Takashi Kurita's famous Death to Mercenaries Order. Modeled after the famous Arkab Legion armor units this small force was often hired to perform dashing spoiling raids across the FedCom borders under false flag conditions. Their sudden betrayal by, and forced flight from, their former employers built up a great deal of resentment amongst the remaining mercs...a resentment that many of them allowed to remain long years after the fact.

Post flight they helped form the core of The Legion of the Rising Sun's armor force but were often sidelined for guard duty along with the rest of the armor due to budgetary woes. The coming of the clans changed that however. After a string of successful contracts supporting FedCom forces the Legion took several contracts with the DCMS after the Coordinator rescinded the anti mercenary order. Many in the Legion were cautiously grateful to be able to once again serve The Dragon but most of the former Raiders and their families were not. The former Raiders went out of their way to subtly insult and antagonize any DCMS unit or employer they were forced to work with. This pushed them further down the Legion's armored chain of command which only compounded the problem.

After the immediate Clan threat had passed in the mid 50s the Legion moved on, moving further away from the Combine once more. The move to the FWL in the late 50s however was too much for the former Raiders whose resentment had grown to the point where they could no longer go without some sort of retribution for the slights, both real and imagined, that they had endured. Rawne and his people broke from the Legion and reformed their unit once more despite the fact that they were a fraction of their former size and that many of the current warriors hadn't even been born when the Raiders were betrayed. By 3059 the Raiders were once again capable of independent operations but at a much smaller scale than they were previously capable of. Taking his unit into the festering Chaos March, Rawne and his Raiders set about re-earning the respect they felt they deserved.

The unit would end up being hired to the FWL after their formation for a brief 2 years before entering this theater.

The Talon - This group of Nova Cat deserters stumbled into the theater by mishap. Only 3 months prior they had fought their way off the world of Bryant, facing off against Buck's Barnbusters, whom they would end up making a truce with for their escape from the world. After parting ways from the Barnbusters, they took an illegitimate contract as security forces escorting black market arms shipments in the chaos march for Dylan Bangus, a high profile arms dealer. It would be their fate that they would end up stranded once again when their LZ was overrun by both Lyran and Cappelan forces on Arboris. With only the FFA willing to lend a hand, they unwittingly became players in the conflict.

The Opening

This map shows the valley and a description of the points in the valley follows it. The Cappelan Grenadiers have a supply base at Big Gulch and the Sarna March Militia had a supply base at Hart. The Barnbusters and Raiders would be deployed to their respective faction supply bases at the opening of the campaign. The Nova Cats would end up in Mayers after the first battle for Reynold's Port left them in disarray with their dropship crippled on the Tarmac.



The Toungue Valley is far removed from all the action on the other side of the world. Thus, neither the SMM nor the Grenadiers can afford to devote much resources to this theater. Nevertheless, it remains a hot breeding ground for the FFA ranks. The Capellans and the Lyrans control the two ends of the valley, but Mayers is fairly self sufficient, and everything gets moved via shuttle in and out of the valley.

Short of Hart and Big Gulch, the FFA controls the entire valley, and outside of Mayers, they're well-hidden within the populace. Mayers is their stronghold. They have a visible presence there, but the grenadiers have kept the pressure on them with their artillery from across the river, as well as harassing attacks along the T3 and T4 routes. The FFA has learned how to fight a guerrilla war pretty ruthlessly though, and the harassing attacks from the grenadiers have become less frequent. expect snipers and mines.

The valley is one big FFA war machine factory. They are arming and training guerilla fighters there that get shipped out to join the ranks in Kansas Plain. Nickel and timber comes out of the NE and central valley, gets shipped elsewhere on planet by shuttle or off planet by dropship, and small arms comes in to equip more soldiers. Intel presumes they are using Reynolds Port as a trading hub for big shipments, while soldiers are being moved out from Mayers. We suspect that they may also have training camps elsewhere in the valley. One thing is for sure; they're being trained for both urban and wilderness fighting.

The valley is also littered with farmlands which sustain the population in Mayers. Commerce has ground almost to a halt there, and people are living on rationed resources. Not everyone supports the FFA, and there are rumors of prison camps in northeastern parts of the valley. Intel reports that the FFA has mortar positions guarding the T3 route going into mining country.

Gen. Horace Van Lao commands the 9th Infantry regiment here in the Toungue Valley. He prides himself on being reliable for providing freedom fighters to the movement. He is efficient and intolerant of delays in his 'production schedule'.

Quick rundown:

Orn, Geng Hao, & Johnson Mines: Save for Geng Hao, the families that have run these mines for centuries are loyal to the FFA and willingly provide materials to support the movement. The production facilities together require approximately 250 people for manpower, with most of the work done by heavy machinery. They use erratic shipping schedules to move resources to Targette.

Targette: The NS Coby RR running north of Finger Jack Lake was destroyed by the grenadiers over a year ago, so cargo only moves south from there. Frequent violent clashes have occurred here in the past between the grenadiers and the FFA

Reynolds Port: Originally a timber camp, this small drop port is supposedly a hub of interstellar activity for the valley.

Marshall, Worthe, & Pattery: These small towns supply timber, agricultural products, & freedom fighters, along with small amounts of nickel and quarried stone.

Salvage Yard: A large Co-op for heavy farming equipment, this has been the battle ground for clashes between the FFA and grenadiers in the past.

Mayers: the FFA 9th Regiment's stronghold. This city of patriots has turned into one big FFA HQ with the resident's lives on hold. Essential services continue, but it has become economically stagnant. The FFA guards all points in and out of the city but have yet to enact martial law. The city's beleaguered police force still maintains order within, despite the place being riddled with militia turrets and bunkers.
« Last Edit: 24 October 2016, 19:30:03 by Mapmaster »

Mapmaster

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Re: Trouble in the Tongue Valley
« Reply #1 on: 24 October 2016, 15:20:16 »
I'll go back through the emails and try to find each player's starting forces upon entering the theater. Anybody want to venture a guess on how this all turns out?

Mapmaster

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Re: Trouble in the Tongue Valley
« Reply #2 on: 24 October 2016, 17:02:56 »
Rawne's Raiders:

WP: 715
SP: 1453

Currently Operational:

HQ Platoon:
H-7C Warrior                                          Cpt Rawne Dreshner (CO) (2/4) In Order (crew OK)
Karnov UR                                             Lt Erica Dreshner             (2/0) In Order (crew OK)
        Achileus Squad                              Sgt Neville Cambre           (4/7) In Order (squad OK)
        Achileus Squad                              Sgt Robert Yost                (4/6) In Order (squad OK)
        Achileus Squad                              Sgt Daniel Spauling          (2/4) In Order (squad OK)

Infantry Company:
SRM APC                                             Spc Baxter Higgs               (4/7)  In Order (crew OK)
        Heavy Foot Platoon                        Sgt Zander Richards          (5/-)   In Order (platoon OK)
LRM APC                                              Spc Ingrid Higgs                (4/5)  In Order (crew OK)
        Heavy Foot Platoon                        Sgt "Gunny" Jones             (5/-)   In Order (platoon OK)
       
Anvil Platoon:
Fusion Ontos                                       Sgt Ralph Tolmen             (2/3)  In Order (crew OK)
Patton                                                 Sgt Kevin Nass                (2/4)  In Order (crew OK) 
LGR Po                                               Spc Helena Vang             (3/4)  In Order (crew OK)
LGR Po                                               Spc Nicolas Banner          (3/5)  In Order (crew OK)
Hunter(ammo)                                      Lt Max Olhouser               (2/3)  In Order (crew OK) 

Hundejager Platoon:
LRM Harasser                                      Lt Daveth Teague (XO)     (3/4)  In Order (crew OK)
SRM Harasser                                      Sgt Erma Young              (4/6)  In Order (crew OK)
SRM Harasser                                      Spc Quin Alfard                (5/6)  In Order (crew OK)
SRM Harasser                                      Spc Mitch Conner             (4/6)  In Order (crew OK)
SRM Harasser                                      Spc Judith Plecha             (4/6)  In Order (crew OK)
SRM Harasser                                      Sgt Orion Junger              (4/6)  In Order (crew OK)

Hammer Lance:
Griffin 3M                                            Sgt Gaston Wakean          (3/5)  In Order (pilot OK)
Archer 2R                                            Lt Jonas Wescott              (4/4)  In Order (pilot OK)
Crusader 3D                                         Spc Anton Madigan          (4/7)  In Order (pilot OK)
Crusader 3D                                         Spc Dewitt Alder              (4/6)  In Order (pilot OK)

Buck's Barnbusters

I can't seem to find what the Barnbusters looked like at the onset of the campaign, but I remember that they had 2 lances of mechs and an oversized lance of vehicles. If I had to guess, it would have been something like this:

Capt. Tully McAuliffe GHR-5H (CO) 3/4
Tuan Second   GHR-5H (XO) 3/4
Unggul Djambek   CTF-2X   4/5
Grizel Brenchley   CDA-3F   4/4

Spider 4/5
Julian Savalos   STG-3R   4/4
Yari Letseko   HBK-4G   4/5
Meany Hodge   BZK-F3   3/5

Fearcharia Haworth   Striker (LRM)   4/5
Gary Sand   STRIKER (STD)   4/5
Elwood Stuart   WTH-1   4/5   Lance Commander
Xylona Tsahalis   Pegasus #1   4/5
Demolisher

Rifle Infantry Platoon

Talon Company

Records for the Nova Cats are incomplete as well. If I recall, that force looked something like this:

Nova Cat A 4/5
Executioner B mixed tech 4/5
Vixen 4/5
Black Hawk 4/5
Phoenix Hawk PXH-3D
Highlander HGN-733C

 

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