Author Topic: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II  (Read 205690 times)

Mendrugo

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Date: December 21, 3027

Location: "The Base Planet That 'as A Battle Arena in the Center" (Solaris VII?)

Title: You've Been Set Up!

Author: Tom Sloper

Type: Encounter (SNES MechWarrior)

Synopsis: Herras Ragen travels to the world specified by Yerg Gantor for a meeting with the head of the Dark Wing Lance, the mercenary group that killed his father, seeking vengeance.  Just before he reaches the rendezvous point, he receives a transmission from MIIO Operative Lana Mann, who warns him he's been set up, and that Yerg himself is the head of the Dark Wing Lance.  Her transmission is abruptly terminated, and Yerg cuts in on the channel, taunting Herras about having been controlling his destiny right under his nose.  The final boss fight begins.

If Herras loses, he dies in anguish, having failed in his lifelong ambition.  If he wins, Yerg's 'Mech collapses in a smoking heap and the honor of House Ragen is restored.  The Dark Wing Lance's reign of terror has been ended.

Notes: I'm guessing the boss-fight clues are done so that the game will have replay value - specifying unique characteristics rather than a specific world by name.  If most of the worlds visited are off-map minor outpost worlds, it's unlikely that many will have battle arenas (not many tourists on off-map worlds), so Solaris VII is the most likely venue for the final boss fight.

This final dialogue is unique because it's one of the few times Herras gets input that isn't via holovid tapes "left behind" at Club Zero-Zero.  The fact that MIIO Agent Lana Mann directly contacts him to warn him could just be her returning the favor for his having rescued her in an earlier mission, or could support my theory that Herras Ragen is actually an undercover DMI troubleshooter getting intel and missions through Club Zero-Zero, which is a covert intel drop and false front for Davion intelligence.

I'm not sure what was going on with the line about restoring family honor.  Was Herras' father (Colonel Joseph T. Ragen) dishonored when he was assassinated?  Doesn't seem so, since all of the Federated Suns mourned his passing.

Of all the licensed BattleTech video game adaptations, the SNES MechWarrior game sits on the lowest tier in terms of how well it fits into the overall storyline, right alongside MechAssault 2 and MechWarrior 3050.  It's a stark contrast to lore-rich games like the main MechWarrior and MechCommander series.  The timeline completely ignores the well established limits of system transit and jump mechanics, the setting contains only two canon worlds, the plot hooks rely mostly on the nonsensical "what's in the lost & found box today" mechanism, and the News Net includes references from Warrior: En Garde that would have been so secret that they'd never have made it on the air.

Developer Tom Sloper was nice enough to answer my questions about the game, and clarified that he'd never played the Activision game it was supposedly adapting, and only read one BattleTech novel to get a sense of the universe (Warrior: En Garde, which also plays fast and loose with the timing of system transit).  Clearly, they just wanted to make a giant robot fighting game, and overlaid a scant amount of universe lore onto the combat sim in order to slap the BattleTech brand on it. 

Since I was rocking a Commodore 64 when this came out, I never played the game itself, but reviews indicate that the 'Mech fighting portion was good for its day.  However, having the same "Dark Wing" focus and sharing the name with the Activision title inevitably invites comparisons, and the original easily outshines the SNES game with its wealth of internally consistent references to the FASA canon settings, characters, events, and transit mechanics. 

I think the adventure game industry in general in the 80s was overly hung up on replicating the "Hero's Journey" for its plotlines, making every protagonist a young buck eager to prove his mettle after losing his family/title/planet, etc.  Gideon Braver Vandenburg, Jason Youngblood, and Herras Ragen are all cut from pretty much exactly the same cloth.  I think that if the dev team had done a deeper dive into the lore (picking up some of the House sourcebooks and novels, for example, which would have been a manageable amount of lore that early on), this could have been a fun dive into either MIIO/DMI intel gathering (paying agents on various worlds to give you leads, sifting through reports to tease out clues to Mercenary Underground and Dark Wing Lance activities, and then launching missions on a realistic timetable), or into the ins and outs of running a "Bounty Hunter" style lone-wolf operation, again managing a stable of paid informants (as seen in Wolves on the Border) to identify targets. 
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: December 22, 3027

Location: Misery

Title: Wolves on the Border

Author: Robert N. Charrette

Type: Novel (Wolves on the Border)

Synopsis: Shivering in his coldsuit at the Ryuken-ni command center outside Boras, Michi Noketsuna notes how much colder Boras is than Cerant on An Ting, even during local winter there, and wishes the Ryuken had been based near the magma mines around Laerdal, far to the south.

The Command Lance approaches, led by Tai-sa Tetsuhara's Dragon, and Minobu descends via ladder once he parks it in the 'Mech bay.  Michi briefs him on another fight between the RYuken and the Dragoons in Bharryspost.  Minobu dismisses Michi's concerns and says he intends to travel to An Ting to meet with the Dragoons, expressing confidence than Michi can keep things quiet on Misery in his absence.

Michi expresses hope that Colonel Wolf's recent meeting on Luthien will have resulted in action by the Coordinator to dispel Samsonov's and Akuma's lies, but Minobu warns that there is a storm coming, and that the Ryuken must prepare for it as best they can.

Notes: I love how detail-rich Charrette's writing is.  In a scant three page chapter, we see the harsh weather of Misery, learn about its geography and economy, get three city names, and get a sense of Ryuken pride, even when saddled with inferior equipment.  We also get a continued sense of the deteriorating relations between the Ryuken and the Dragoons, Minobu's emotional burnout, and Michi's blind faith that the Coordinator can solve everything, if only he knew the truth.

That Tetsuhara's ride is now a Dragon speaks volumes, considering the disdain with which Theodore viewed his graduation gift Dragon

Charrette's work includes so many little details that help the setting come alive.  Having the pilots get into and out of their rides using chain ladders works much better than the ludicrous crotch-descending elevators used in The Animated Series (so you go up right through the fusion engine?)
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: December 25, 3027

Location: Ford

Title: Ghost of Christmas Present

Author: Michael A. Stackpole

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: Third year Nagelring cadet Nelson Geist walks patrol in his Phoenix Hawk, which has been rigged with tinsel, ornaments, and a big red plastic bow by the Gregg's Long Striders technicians.  Nelson has been with the Striders as part of a Nagelring winter semester work-study training program.  To raise his esteem in the eyes of the mercenaries (and because his own family is on Kooken's Pleasure Pit), Geist has volunteered to take three back-to-back Yule patrols.  He doesn't expect any enemy contact, since Marik forces entering the system would spend four days transiting from the jump point.

Nelson appreciates his Phoenix Hawk's jump jets, and notes that the Liao invasion of Lee II would have succeeded if the Davion jumping 'Mechs hadn't been able to outmaneuver Liao Crusaders.  The 'Mech belongs to Lt. Lukens, whose grandfather took it as prize salvage on Loric in 2971.

Geist finds Alpha Sector lightly dusted with snow, but otherwise empty, despite warnings from the techs (the same guys who rigged the bow) about "Anti-Nick and the Elves from Hell," local bandits who mostly raid Ford's southern reaches on Christmas day and speak in rhyming couplets. 

Geist continues his patrol into the foothills of the Thunderbird Mountains, walking through forests of tall pines.  Emerging into a clearing, he finds a BattleMaster waiting for him.  The pilot greets him in rhyme.  Geist engages Anti-Nick and reports to the Long Striders that he's encountered the bandits as he uses the jump jets to evade the Elves from Hell (Locusts and a Jenner).  They dismiss it as a joke.  Geist annihilates the Jenner and reroutes the BattleMaster's rhyming broadcast to the Striders, who tell him reinforcements are twenty minutes away. 

Geist spots the Locusts moving towards the town of Harrison, where a major local bank is located (one of the facilities the Striders are there to protect).  He asks the Striders to send the reinforcements to protect the bank, and turns to engage the BattleMaster alone, trading large laser fire for the Assault 'Mech's PPC blasts as he jumps and uses trees for cover. 

Geist ends the engagement by triggering an avalanche, using his jump jets to evade the torrent of rock, trees, and snow, while the BattleMaster is overwhelmed and buried.  Geist opens a channel to Anti-Nick, demands his surrender, and criticizes his poetry.  The bandit defends his rhyming, but accepts defeat, making the BattleMaster Geist's property.  He envisions a bright future in the LCAF with an Assault 'Mech of his own.

Notes: This is an odd little piece that was published early on in BattleCorps' catalog.  It features the central character from Natural Selection and explains where his BattleMaster came from. 

One bit of BattleTech fiction that I've never been able to track down was advertised in the opening splash page of Natural Selection, directing readers to check out the BattleTech section of GEnie (a contemporary to AOL), where they could read a story about Nelson Geist's early days as a MechWarrior. 

This story seems to exactly fit that description, so I can't help but wonder if BattleCorps just reprinted the GEnie story.  On the other hand, I can't help but wonder why GEnie would be the venue for such an odd BattleTech Christmas tale.  Theoretically, it was part of the Multi Player BattleTech (MPBT) game on GEnie, and introduced some of the core 'Mechs in that game (BattleMaster, Phoenix Hawk, Locust, Jenner), as well as emphasizing the importance of jumping.

We've seen stories before where academy graduates perform service in mercenary units as part of their training and/or post-graduation service commitment.  Looking at the 3025 rosters, there really isn't a Nagelring cadet cadre, so mercenary unit embeds seems to be the model in use there.

I retract my earlier statement about a Marik attack on Ford, since the bandits in this case are a local gang.

It's odd to hear the Davion victory on Lee attributed to their Phoenix Hawks, since most chronicles of the Battle of Lee credit Davion Sparrowhawks with the victory, which is chronicled as "The Great Lee Turkey Shoot." 

For those interested, here's a sampling of the Anti-Nick's phat rhymes:

Anti-Nick am I.  Prepare to die.
This is no game, my honor you defame. 
You are mine to kill, which I now vow to do, I will.
Spoiling for a fight, on what should be a silent night!
You can't run.  You can't hide.  Now this battle, we'll decide.
Bad you're not.  Take your best shot.
Nice escape try, but why?  Even so high, you're just going to die.
How cute, how quaint, a signal light.  But there will be no help for you tonight.
On that ledge you have an edge.
« Last Edit: 16 October 2018, 16:58:20 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

glitterboy2098

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bit odd that 'anti-nick" was piloting what was probably a BLR-1G when Nelson Geist was piloting a BLR-3S in Natural Selection, clearly that machine saw at least one depot level refit. (wouldn't be surprised if Geist also had the -1G refit into a -1S after capturing it)

Mendrugo

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Date: December 27, 3027

Location: New Syrtis

Title: Warrior: Riposte

Author: Michael A. Stackpole

Type: Novel (Warrior: Riposte)

Synopsis: An enraged Duke Michael Hasek-Davion summons Capellan Ambassador Serge Korigyn to explain the Maskirovka strike on Kittery.  Defensively, Korigyn informs Michael that the orders did not originate with Maximilian, but with Lady Romano, in an effort to provoke a counterstrike against Candace's holdings.  Michael scoffs that Maximilian doesn't seem to be in control of his own realm, but relaxes as he realizes that the Kittery incident wasn't a Capellan probe to verify his (falsified) troop estimates. 

Korigyn answers Michael's barb about Max and his children by noting the distance between Michael and his son, Morgan.  When the Duke responds with rage, the Ambassador clarifies that many Inner Sphere leaders have problems with their children - Takashi and Theodore Kurita; Maximilian and Tormana Liao, etc.  He expresses hope that Hanse Davion will live long enough to feel the sting of ungrateful children.  He adds the caveat that Lady Romano has great heart, but does not always think her actions through.  By way of apology, Korigyn notes that Duke Michael's special account has received an influx of C-Bills, and suggests Michael use the incident to question Hanse's credibility on border security.

Notes: The line about Hanse and ungrateful children makes me wonder to what extent the FedCom Civil War had already been sketched out at this point.  It certainly seems like Korigyn got his wish in the form of Katherine Steiner-Davion.

Michael's internal monologue reveals that he plans to help Maximilian crush Hanse's loyalists, and then betray the Liaos and use his own loyalists to defeat the Capellan military and seize control of both realms.  (He later envisions it as the "Federated Capellan Empire.")  That's kind of a heavy lift for three Syrtis Fusilier RCTs and whatever Capellan March Militia units are sufficiently loyal to him.  (One would imagine that the CMM based in the former United Hindu Collective would follow the lead of the Maharajah of Basantapur, rather than obeying treasonous orders from House Hasek.)  I guess he envisioned the AFFS and the CCAF pulling a Kilkenny Cats on each other, allowing him to step in and mop up with minimal effort. 

This scene doesn't quite match the earlier precedent, wherein Michael was ultra paranoid about being monitored by the MIIO, and only communicated with Korigyn using a sonic transmitter hidden in his fake thumb.  Yet here he is in his office talking openly about getting money in a "special account" from the Capellans, and telling the Capellan ambassador that the Kittery incident will be "useful against my Prince."  If there were any MIIO agents surveiling him now, those comments alone should be enough to pull together a Rabid Fox team to take Michael out of the equation, or at the very least haul him in on charges of treason and sedition.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: December 29, 3027

Location: Arcadia

Title: Panzer

Author: Jason Schmetzer

Type: Short Story (BattleCorps)

Synopsis: At the Portland Spaceport, "Sniper" Jones waits in the boarding queue for a Monarch-class DropShip bound for Goshen.  Donner Hale spots him in the line and comes over to offer him an apology.  Hale acknowledges that Jones is a killer, but says he is glad that he's killing Mariks and protecting Lyran citizens.  He says he hates the wars that necessitate such killers, but that Sniper has his respect. 

Notes: Hale makes some comments that shed some light on the basis for his antagonistic attitude towards Halsten's Brigade.  He thinks that Colonel Halsten gets preferential treatment in his contracts, that the media makes unwarranted celebrities of mercenaries, who are often in the fight just for the money or the fame. 

Hale's prior obsession with Jones being a "killer" suggests that there is something of a cultural taboo that has developed regarding the killing of MechWarriors.  Since 'Mechs are so rare and powerful at the tail end of the Third Succession War, and since ejection systems result in most engagements being quite survivable, deaths in the cockpit would seem to be rare.  The widespread media coverage makes celebrities of many of the MechWarriors (especially the more flamboyant ones), and having a "nobody" tanker picking off celebrities would definitely make a holojournalist view him in a negative light.  (In parallel, Justin Xiang got some notoriety for how many of his Solaris VII matches ended up in death - the blowback for killing a celebrity would be even greater in such a media-saturated environment.)
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: December 31, 3027

Location: Tharkad

Title: Warrior: Riposte

Author: Michael A. Stackpole

Type: Novel (Warrior: En Garde)

Synopsis: Daniel Allard and Morgan Kell cut to the front of the line to get into the Archon's New Year's Eve celebration.  When security intercepts them, Morgan introduces himself and produces a yellowed piece of paper.  The security officer reads it and demands further proof, at which point Morgan presses his thumb to a rainbow hued patch woven into the paper, verifying his identity.  He tells the officer to let them in without alerting anyone else, and the shaken security trooper complies.  Dan inquires what was on the paper, and Morgan shows him the note: "Deny this man, Morgan Kell, nothing.  Katrina Steiner, Archon, 22 July 3007."

Wearing Kell Hound dress uniforms, they enter the Grand Ballroom.  Morgan uses the letter again to insist that the protocol officials announce him with full honors and titles.  He is introduced as "Baron von Arc-Royal, Member Order of the Tamar Tigers, Knight Defender of the Draconis March, and Regimental Holder of the Order of St. George."  Archon Katrina greets him warmly and expresses her condolences on the loss of Patrick, as does Melissa.  Katrina thanks Patrick for the role the Kell Hounds played in resolving the Silver Eagle incident. 

Katrina summons Minister of Protocol Franklin Hecht and orders the receiving line to conclude, and for the dancing to begin.  She leaves Melissa with Daniel and takes Morgan back to her private office.  The reminisce over old times, and Katrina asks why Morgan never told her Arthur was a member of Heimdall.  He responds that Heimdall was intended to be the "loyal opposition," and having its secrets opened up to an Archon risked becoming part of the establishment.

Katrina dials up a holo of herself (with hair dyed crimson as the Red Corsair) along with Arthur Luvon and Morgan, and says that what they did to escape Poulsbo would be too outlandish for a holovid series.  She surmises that Morgan misses Tempest as much as she misses Arthur.

Morgan asks Katrina to let the Kell Hounds out of their contract so that he can use them himself to resolve a personal matter - to confront Yorinaga Kurita once he's reformed the Hounds from a light battalion into a full regiment.

Back on the dance floor, Melissa and Daniel waltz.  She thanks him for rescuing her from the Silver Eagle.  Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Baron Sefnes, Duke Michael Hasek-Davion's personal ambassador to the Commonwealth Court.  Sefnes seems drunk, and suggests abandoning the Federated Suns may be an Allard trait, and accuses Justin Allard (Xiang) of being a traitor.  Justin expertly forces Sefnes into an armlock and and proclaims how proud of Justin he is, and opines that any man would have left the Federated Suns after such a show trial.  He kicks Sefnes' legs out from under him and storms off the dance floor out onto a balcony. 

He stands there in the cold night air, looking at lights atop the towers of Fortress Asgard in the distance.  A woman joins him on the balcony, and he initially mistakes her for Melissa.  She tells him it's a common happenstance, and introduces herself as Jeana.  Referencing the argument inside, he blames himself for Justin's flight into exile, feeling that he failed Justin by not being there for him during the trial.  Jeana suggests giving Justin time to make peace with the other half of his heritage, and hoping that his true self will resurface. 

A security agent summons Dan back inside when Morgan and Katrina return to the ballroom.  Morgan introduces Dan to Duke Frederick Steiner, Duke Aldo Lestrade, and Duke Ryan Steiner.  (Duke, Duke, Duke, Goose)  Morgan reminisces about being an honor guard at the wedding of Ryan's mother, Donna Steiner.  They are joined as a haggard old man joins the group - deposed Archon Alessandro Steiner.  Morgan banters with Alessandro flippantly, and says he earned the right to address Alessandro during his year of hell.  Morgan warns the men not to oppose or threaten Katrina Steiner, as their presence on the throne would destroy them and cast the Commonwealth into civil war.  He also suggests that Aldo murdered his way to the head of House Lestrade.

Protocol Minister Hecht intervenes and escorts Morgan to where the Archon and Melissa are waiting before the argument becomes physical.  As the countdown to the new year begins, they toast with champagne.  Melissa asks Morgan to give her away at her wedding to Hanse Davion, and he consents, happily.  As the new year dawns, Morgan proposes that 3028 be filled with justice.

Notes: Dating Katrina's ascension to the role of Archon to July 3007 means that the entire Red Corsair period in exile lasted 29 months - from February 3005 (the date of "Vanish").  Melissa was born in 3010, so she wasn't conceived during the exile.  However, Morgan refers to the period as "a year of hell."  That would imply an end to exile in/around February/March 3006.  That doesn't quite jibe with established dates for Katrina's coup against Alessandro as being in 3007.  Perhaps "year of hell" was a figure of speech, rather than an exactly 12-month period. 

With the release of "Vanish," we saw at least part of what happened during the escape from Poulsbo, but alas FASA/ROC turned down Michael Stackpole's request to write that story as one of the novels, wanting to move the storyline forward instead of backfilling.  As a result, we got Natural Selection, which had a "renegade" Jade Falcon take on the guise of the Red Corsair.  It would be interesting to find out what the story of those two years became, who Tempest was, and what adventures they had amongst the pirate bands infesting the former Rim Worlds Republic.

One wonders exactly what adjustments have to be made to arrange a new year's ceremony.  Tharkad's rotational period is slightly less than two standard Terran years, so if they tried to synch the new year's celebration up with that of Terran Standard Time (Greenwich Mean Time), they'd have to take local conditions into consideration, or else the countdown would be happening at mid-morning.  Presumably, there's a local midnight in Tharkad City's time zone that serves as the benchmark for the passage of the day in question, while the year is counted as having rolled over during that 24-hour period around TST.

I picture Alessandro Steiner as looking and acting similar to the Tick villain, The Terror.  (His criticisms of the plots of Aldo Lestrade and Frederick Steiner similarly boil down to "If you want my approval, do something bad, not badly.")
« Last Edit: 05 April 2019, 05:34:25 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Frabby

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Stackpole is a grand master of layering plot upon plot, and he provides great universe building; but his characters are mostly woefully shallow super-heroes or villains.
However, Alessandro Steiner is actually one of the rare cases whose portrayal isn't so formulaic. There's a passage in chapter 9 of Coupé that I had sort of read over back in the day, but found very interesting upon re-reading the book recently.
Quoting myself from Sarna:

Near the end of his life Alessandro Steiner privately told Ryan Steiner that he had actually sent the Loki agents to kill Arthur Luvon, whom he had discovered to be a high-ranking Heimdall leader; it was an unforeseen coincidence that Katrina Steiner and Morgan Kell were present when the attempt took place and wholly unintended that Katrina would believe she had been the target. According to Alessandro, he saw a strong and competent leader in his niece and always considered her his heir and successor, but their relationship was forever poisoned after she returned from hiding.
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Author of the BattleCorps stories Feather vs. Mountain, Rise and Shine, Proprietary, Trial of Faith & scenario Twins

Mendrugo

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I was thinking more of the bit where Frederick Steiner hints that he should support their maneuvering, and he opts not to, thinking that a real plan would involve a more direct approach - attacking the palace with the 10th Lyran Guards.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

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I enjoy among things of Stackpole's earlier writings the layering plot upon plot.  It did make it far more interesting read and rereading.  It makes universe better for it.

Also, Tempest had one more mark on the universe. I recalled, she and Morgan had child together that Morgan never found out about until she showed one day, llegitimate daughter, Megan Kell, Dan Allard's future wife.
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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #640 on: 10 February 2019, 15:48:19 »
Notes: Dating Katrina's ascension to the role of Archon to July 3007 means that the entire Red Corsair period in exile lasted 29 months - from February 3005 (the date of "Vanish").  Melissa was born in 3010, so she wasn't conceived during the exile.  However, Morgan refers to the period as "a hear of hell."  That would imply an end to exile in/around February/March 3006.  That doesn't quite jibe with established dates for Katrina's coup against Alessandro as being in 3027.  Perhaps "year of hell" was a figure of speech, rather than an exactly 12-month period.
Quote
One wonders exactly what adjustments have to be made to arrange a new year's ceremony.  Tharkad's rotational period is slightly less than two standard Terran years

i think you just answered your own critism here. clearly a case can be made for him using 'year' in the tharkadian sense here rather than terran standard. 29 months is a little over one tharkad year, and if you figure for a couple moths bracketing either end (when they were coming up with the plan, and when they'd been successful and waiting for the official power transfer to be planned) it probably works out.

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Date: February 15, 2784
 
Location: Terra

Title: Falling

Author: Nadin Brzezinski
 
Type: Short Story (MechForce Quarterly Volume 5 #3)

Synopsis: At the 20th Dragoons' base on Hilton Head island, Colonel Michael Ward meets with major Rob Andrews to discuss their new orders from Aleksandr Kerensky - to gather their troops and families and board the unit's DropShips (led by the SLS Andrew Jackson), then rendezvous with the SLS Delacroix for transportation to a rendezvous at New Samarkand. 

Major Andrews protests that this can't be right, and that Kerensky must be jesting.  Ward clarifies that nobody is required to go who doesn't want to, but that Kerensky anticipates war in the Inner Sphere, and wants to remove the League's best and brightest from the line of fire.  Andrews again protests, noting the need to protect the people of the Terran Hegemony.  Ward tells Andrews that he will be joining the fleet along with his wife, Yvonne.  Andrews asks for time to assemble the men to hear the orders, and Ward gives him until 1400 hours.  Andrews gives the assembly orders, then walks alone from the headquarters, pondering the uncertainties involved with joining the Exodus.

At 1400 hours, Colonel Ward enters the 20th Dragoon Regiment's briefing room and briefs the assembled troops on Operation EXODUS.  Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion leaves the room en-masse, declaring their intention to stay and defend the Hegemony.  The rest of the unit expresses willingness to follow General Kerensky to hell, if need be.  Major Andrews elects to stay with Alpha Company, and resigns his SLDF commission.  Ward tells Andrews to keep his sidearm, but says his Highlander will be leaving with the rest of the 20th's equipment.  As Andrews leaves the meeting, Trooper Jones of Alpha Company stops him and asks for orders.  Andrews replies that Alpha is on its own, since he's no longer part of the SLDF.  He says that the Star League died today, when its Commanding Officer decided to take the SLDF to unknown space.

Notes: A postscript notes that Major Andrews went on to join up with the Eridani Light Horse, which he saw as carrying on the best of Star League traditions.  The postscript also indicates that Michael Ward replaced Colonel Andrew Sterling during combat on Graham IV.  Brzezinski seems to have forgotten that the opening scenes took place on Caph, rather than Graham IV.  Caph fits the 20th Dragoons perfectly, whereas Graham IV was taken by the 8th Army, while the 20th was part of the 3rd Army which canonically liberated Caph.  We can, therefore, strike the Graham IV reference and swap in Caph.  (No fact-checking was performed on the stories submitted to MechForce Quarterly, and FASA put in a disclaimer that, accordingly, none of the stories therein were considered canon.  It's a shame, because in most respects "Falling" fits the established history quite well.)

Despite going on the Exodus, Michael Ward is not the founder of the Ward Bloodname.  That honor goes to Jal Ward, a warrior from Clan Wolf.  According to established canon, Captain Michael Ward of the SLDF had multiple children.  One went with the Exodus and founded the Ward Bloodname, while another stayed in the Inner Sphere, and his bloodline descended through Salome Ward to her son Phelan, who went on to claim a Ward Bloodname on that basis.  If Brzezinski intended "Falling" to feature that "Captain Michael Ward," then perhaps Yvonne gave birth to li'l Jal during the Exodus journey.  But what about the other son?  Michael does mention that the rest of his family is in Lyran space, and he cares nothing for them.  So, is Salome's ancestor Michael's son from failed marriage, with ex-wife and kid left behind in Lyran space?  Odd that they'd keep the surname, though, if that's the case.  Or did Michael and Yvonne abandon their eldest son when they turned their back on the Terran Hegemony?

Neither the SLS Delacroix nor the SLS Andrew Jackson is a canon ship.  Given naming conventions, I wonder if the Andrew Jackson would be a Confederate-class vessel?  Also, the hasty departure orders seem a wee bit premature.  With Kerensky having only given the orders to his senior commanders the previous day, there are a lot of logistics issues that have to be worked out before troops just start showing up on New Samarkand.  Go too soon, and they'll eat all their food while hanging around in orbit.  Still, I guess someone had to be the first to go, and more food could be brought in.  (Jal may have been conceived during the months spent waiting at the New Samarkand jump point.)

As we saw in "A Shot Heard Around the Sphere," in an alternate reality, the SLDF could have held the Terran Hegemony together had it stayed, and history would have turned out significantly differently.

Since the 20th Dragoons were based on Hilton Head, one wonders if Alpha Company ended up pledging their services to Jerome Blake, and becoming part of his secret ComStar Guards and Militia.
« Last Edit: 15 January 2020, 23:09:52 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Kojak

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I wonder if Rob Andrews is any relation to Adam Andrews, the Steel Viper founder from whom that infamous Bloodname descends.


"Deep down, I suspect the eject handle on the Hunchback IIC was never actually connected to anything. The regs just say it has to be there."
- Klarg1

Mendrugo

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Date: July 12, 2796
 
Location: Kentares IV

Title: Swords of Light and Darkness

Author: Travis Heermann
 
Type: Short Story (Legacy Anthology)

Synopsis: Chu-i Sam Tanaka leads Bravo Lance, Beta Company - the Stomping BBs into combat with AFFS forces.  Tai-i Gibbons' Devil Lance reports an incoming FedRat assault lance - Stalker, Banshee, Atlas, and King Crab - at the six kilometer mark.  By contrast, Tanaka's Grasshopper is one of the heaviests unit in Beta Company. 

Using their greater mobility, the Combine forces attempt to lure the Davion assaults into an ambush.  To make sure the ambushers aren't themselves ambushed, Tanaka sweeps their flanks and detects an enemy presence - two Javelins and a Commando.  Tanaka engages them, spitting them with massed laser fire or crushing them with death-from-above attacks.

With the flanking maneuver repulsed, Tanaka finishes off the last enemy 'Mech, then orders the BBs to engage the Davion assault lance.

Notes: The fighting on Kentares IV up to this point is standard 1st Succession War.  Nothing has gone LosTech yet, but some of the more advanced systems restricted to Royal units are rare.  Tanaka wonders how the flankers got so close, and speculates they may have had stealth technology (null signature systems moreso than the Chameleon Light Polarization Shield - since there was no mention of a shimmering proto-mimetic effect - just sensor invisibility).

It's not specified how Lantren Corporation's Prototype Five Grasshopper got from Bryant to DCMS service, but there was likely a flurry of purchase orders made as all Great House militaries sought to bulk up ahead of the outbreak of the Succession Wars.  The Combine probably paid top Star League dollar, and got the first shipment from Lantren.  (Given the circumstances of its designer's death, I would hazard to guess that any purchase orders from the LCAF were shuffled to the bottom of the back-order stack, if not "lost" outright.)

While atrocities aren't shown in this battle, the Combine has already nuked a number of worlds, including Helm in the FWL, as seen in "Ghost Rain."  Combine strategic doctrine in the First War seems to have been to try to capture worlds they can hold intact, while using the "Ghost Rain Protocol" against enemy targets that are vulnerable to attack, but too remote for the DCMS to be able to hold them in the long-term. 

This is Prototype Five's glory days - only a decade or so off the assembly lines, in perfect repair, and able to outmaneuver anything heavier and outshoot anything lighter.  Tanaka describes it as handling like a sports car, and he's able to use it to singlehandedly wipe out nearly an entire AFFS recon lance. 

The Combine forces deploy Javelins and Firestarters for recon, all with Guardian ECM, while the heavies include a Catapult, Orion, and Grasshopper.  The diversity of design reflects the fact that all the Successor States enjoyed the ability to place orders at 'Mech producers across the Star League, and that their militaries were significantly bolstered by the inclusion of former-RWR and former-SLDF units.  This is not the Third Succession War DCMS standard of homemade "Pile'o'Panthers led by a Dragon" TO&E lists.

Swords of Light and Darkness is told out of chronological order in the Legacy Anthology, starting with the central character at/near his lowest moment, and then peeling back the layers of time to reveal his progressive deterioration throughout the course of the Kentares Massacre.  I'll be reviewing it in the standard chronological order, but if you want the full impact of the psychological reveal, I strongly suggest you get the full anthology and read it in the original format.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: July 17, 2796
 
Location: Kentares IV

Title: Swords of Light and Darkness

Author: Travis Heermann
 
Type: Short Story (Legacy Anthology)

Synopsis: Tai-sa Evan Watanabe, CO of the 6th Sword of Light, awards Sam Tanaka the Bushido Blade for his combat performance the previous week.  In his speech, Watanabe exhorts Tanaka to uphold the highest ideals of the regiment.  The award ceremony, at which three other DCMS officers receive awards as well, is the culmination of a week of hard fighting that has pushed the AFFS forces on Kentares into retreat. 

Sam weeps with emotion, overcome with pride.  His friend, Errol Ishibashi, with whom he trained at the Sun Zhang Academy, also receives an award.  Sam fully expects both of them to keep rising through the ranks until each commands their own regiment.  He looks forward to telling Errol, over sake, about how smoothly the Grasshopper reacts to his commands, and to hearing Errol theorize that man and machine have combined into the perfect warrior.

Notes: The Bushido Blade is a decoration awarded to officers in recognition of great courage or leadership on the field of battle.  I imagine the DCMS officer ranks were liberally festooned with these during the opening years of the First Succession War, when they were steadily rolling back both LCAF and AFFS troops.

As described here, Errol is clearly the Sam's emotional center of the universe.  In the male dominated ranks of the DCMS (women were few and far between, at least in the officer cadres, prior to Theodore's post-Clan Invasion reforms), classmates would naturally be the ones with which serving officers formed their strongest bonds. 

Sam describes the Sixth Sword of Light as the "most prestigious" unit in the DCMS.  It doesn't have much of a track record to base that on, however, since the historical formation was disbanded during the Star League era, and only recently reconstituted for the First Succession War as a medium-weight unit.  That being said, the "most prestigious" label probably comes from the fact that it's being personally led by Coordinator Minoru Kurita in the fight against the Seventh Crucis Lancers.

Of interest, many of the newer formations created for the DCMS use equipment taken from SLDF deserters who joined the Combine.  Although they were promised high status in the Combine as a recruitment incentive, most of those who signed on with the Dragon had their equipment seized and given to loyal Combine MechWarriors (many of which had probably honed their skills as ronin in the First Hidden War).  Thus, being a new formation, the 6th Sword of Light is probably heavily comprised of ex-SLDF 'Mechs. 

In parallel, the 7th Crucis Lancers were built around an ex-SLDF battalion (from the 142nd Battle Regiment) that hired on with the AFFS.  So, here on Kentares IV, we're already seeing SLDF equipment being pitted against other SLDF equipment, though the troops in the 6th are Combine born and bred.  The 6th Sword doesn't survive the First Succession War, and is never again returned to the rolls after being disbanded.
« Last Edit: 02 April 2019, 11:02:16 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: September 11, 2796
 
Location: Kentares IV

Title: Swords of Light and Darkness

Author: Travis Heermann
 
Type: Short Story (Legacy Anthology)

Synopsis: Two days following the assassination of Coordinator Minoru Kurita, Sam has been assigned to sweep Carinda City - an agricultural center of 50,000 people - along with the 17th Pesht Infantry.  Over his loudspeaker, he repeats that all civilians are to report to the city center immediately.  Troops go house to house forcing everyone to go to the central square. 

Tai-i Errol Ishibashi, of Beta Company, opens a private channel, despite it being a violation of battlefield discipline.  While Sam is distracted by thoughts of how Jinjiro will handle the succession, and the likely impact on Inner Sphere politics, Errol raises the question of why they're rounding up the civilians.  Sam suggests they're just screening them for infiltrators and insurgents, but Errol isn't so sure.

Hours later, the entire population is gathered in a centrally located park, under the harsh afternoon sunlight.  Sho-sa Kait-linn Wong orders Second Battalion to target the civilians with their energy weapons and fire.  As the 'Mechs raise their weapons, Errol protests, and Wong clarifies that Jinjiro's orders are "kill them all."  Errol broadcasts his refusal to follow an illegal and immoral order.  Wong relieves him of duty and places Sam in command of the 2nd Battalion.  As Errol powers down and awaits arrest, Sam orders his men to comply with their orders, and opens fire himself. 

As torrents of laser fire sweep the packed crowds, the survivors attempt to flee, but are cut down by the infantry at the park perimeter or stomped by the 'Mechs' feet.  When the ceasefire order comes through, bulldozers move in to push away the remains.  A child's charred sock flutters in the hot breeze and slaps against Sam's cockpit window, then slides out of sight.

Sam feels like he's a passenger in his own body due to the shock.  He witnesses his best friend, Errol Ishibashi, dragged out of his BattleMech cockpit by military police.  He sees fourteen infantry soldiers beheaded for refusing to fire on civilians.  And it doesn't even feel like it's his own arm when, after Errol slits his entrails with a dagger, he uses his Sun Zhang katana to behead him.  He keeps his face in an emotionless mask to conceal his horror, and keeps repeating that the executed men were without honor, and unworthy of service to the Combine. 

He would never sleep a full night for the rest of his life.

Notes: During the summer of 2796, Coordinator Minoru Kurita was killed by a 7th Crucis Lancers sniper.  Upon receiving the news of his father's death, the new Coordinator, Jinjiro Kurita, issued a simple set of orders:  "Kill them all."  When a Combine officer requested clarification, Jinjiro killed him on the spot.  The cowed Combine officer corps began carrying out the genocidal orders, going from city to city, rounding up all the citizens, and conducting mass executions, then hunting refugees and survivors in the wilderness.

Some troops refused orders to kill unarmed civilians, believing that it violated the tenets of bushido, and was incompatible with maintaining their personal honor.  These soldiers were either executed (as seen in Broken Sword, Wounded Dragon) or imprisoned (as seen in Echoes of Disgrace).  Here, we see the first round of those executions, with soldiers who refused to carry out Jinjiro's orders killed.  The MechWarriors, having higher status, are allowed to commit seppuku, while the infantrymen are simply gunned down by a firing squad.

The Succession Wars, to a certain extent, were initially about trying to break the enemy's will to resist.  Last one standing/fighting gets to be First Lord.  The Kentares Massacre was a key touchpoint in the psychological struggle between the Federated Suns and the Draconis Combine.  The AFFS had been demoralized by shocking losses - the eradication of their main WarShip fleet, the shattering of their overly rigid military districts on the borders, and huge territorial losses on both fronts in just a few years, and defeatism had started to set in.  Meanwhile, the DCMS was full of idealistic and enthusiastic academy graduates, ronin who'd dueled in "unsanctioned" dojos and honed their skills for decades in anticipation of a war, and a senior officer corps that had experience from the 2nd Hidden War.  All of them were convinced of their moral and military superiority, and the rash of early victories proved to them that defeat of their enemies and total victory were guaranteed, because they were both the most skilled and most honorable warriors in the Inner Sphere.

Kentares IV ruined that esprit de corps.  Massacring unarmed civilians isn't found anywhere in the code of bushido.  Combine doctrine up to this point had held that these civilians were misguided, and would benefit from benevolent and well-regimented Combine rule.  Those soldiers who held fast to their personal honor were publicly executed, and those carrying out the executions, and those witnessing them, had to struggle with the cognitive dissonance of knowing that their orders were dishonorable and immoral, but also with having had it drilled into them that the Coordinator's wishes could not be dishonorable.  Sam tries to cope by repeating the official lies over and over, willing himself to believe it.

On the other side of the lines, when word of the massacre got out, the defeatism vanished.  Davion units began deserting their posts and heading for the front (much to the Capellans' delight, I'm sure) with the goal of killing as many Kuritans as possible, by any means necessary.  If this is what the Combine was willing to do to the people of an occupied world, then there was no option of negotiation, no benefit to surrender or retreat.  It was kill, or be exterminated, along with family, friends, and homeland.  Faced with renewed resistance, the demoralized Combine troops broke and ran, having been robbed of their moral certitude that all of known space belonged under Combine rule.

In parallel, however, there's the case of Helm.  Minoru Kurita personally commanded the Combine fleet that penetrated into Free Worlds League space, wiped out the Helm garrison, tore the place apart looking for a cache of SLDF equipment, then executed "Ghost Rain Protocol" as they departed, nearly sterilizing the world with a massive nuclear bombardment from orbit, leaving the survivors to starve to death on a frozen, irradiated ruin of a world.  So, why didn't the FWL have the same reaction as the Federated Suns?  Millions dead, a planet depopulated at the direct orders of the Combine's Coordinator. 

Perhaps the difference lay in the use of relatively impersonal WMDs rather than the fact that Combine troops were ordered to use swords whenever possible.  One officer punching buttons on a bridge isn't the same mass-transgression of honor as tens of thousands of Combine troops bayoneting schoolkids for months on end.  Also, the FWL had no real beef with the Combine.  Kenyon refused to accept Minoru's declaration of First Lordship and put his own hat in the ring (something that was probably a motivating factor for the Helm raid, in addition to the Nagayan Mountain cache), but they shared no common borders and the FWL had no real emotional history with the Combine.  Negative memories of the Combine in the Suns were relatively fresh, with the War of Davion Succession (the 2nd Hidden War) still in living memory.  Sure, Helm was a tragedy, but the Combine didn't represent an existential threat to the lives and fortunes of House Marik and the people of the Free Worlds League.
« Last Edit: 04 April 2019, 16:02:15 by Mendrugo »
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: October 16, 2796
 
Location: Kentares IV

Title: Swords of Light and Darkness

Author: Travis Heermann
 
Type: Short Story (Legacy Anthology)

Synopsis: The massacre continues.  Combine forces destroy all planetary communications so that those outside the current extermination zone won't be motivated to fight back.  Infantry rounds up docile civilians, regarding them as rats.  With 58 million to kill, Combine forces save bullets by using swords.  The Sixth Sword of Light, the Ivory Dragon, razes cities and scours the ruins for more rats to report on their daily tally.

As evening descends, Sergeant Saru, performing maintenance, surprises Sam as he sits in his Grasshopper cockpit and broods.  He notes that the officers went to eat an hour earlier, but Sam feels like he'll never eat again.  Sam disembarks and walks from the 'Mech hangar as a tech washes blood and crushed body parts off his 'Mech's legs with a hose, and tries to pretend it's just paint.

Notes: The use of swords to kill civilians on Kentares has been well documented, but this is the first time I've seen a reference to the 'Mechs being used to stomp on the civilians.  It certainly fits.  I recall doing my fair share of human-stomping in the Crescent Hawk's Inception game, leaving a satisfying blood splotch on the ground.  (They did kill your father, as far as you knew, after all.)  However, those weren't civilians (well, except for the Arena targeting option of "Enemy Spectators") - those were DCMS soldiers who were armed and trying to kill you and your lance. 

The communications network destruction also fits.  The Kentares Massacre Journal - the only firsthand account from the Davion POV - notes that the refugees hiding in the mine had no idea what was going on, and had to send out scouts to learn what had happened.  From that, SOP at the outset seems to have been that DCMS forces approached a previously untouched city, engage and destroy any local security forces or militia that try to engage, and once any resistance is crushed, sweep the whole place with infantry to gather all the civilians into collection points - schools, churches, and hospitals seem to have been the preferred holding areas.  Once the sweep was completed, the massacre takes place.  There are notes that the schools, churches, and hospitals were bombed, but that may have been prior to October, when the major metropolitan areas were targeted.  The "hands on" approach would have been used once all the high-density urban centers were cleared with heavy ordnance.

The excuse of not having enough bullets seems sort of contrived, though.  You could bring in enough machine gun ammo to kill 58 million targets (assuming they're in the open and you get an average roll of 7 on 2D6, killing 14 civilians per burst) with 41,429 tons of ammo.  That's two Invaders loaded with Mammoths bringing ammo resupply.  Not to mention that Sam's Grasshopper, plus the Jenner, Wasp, Stinger, Dragon, Charger, and other Combine standards all have lasers, which don't run dry on ammo.  Not having enough bullets is just an rationalization - the same as "that red liquid is paint," "those civilians are rats," and "my friend had no honor" - what the DCMS rank and file had to keep telling themselves to keep from going mad.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: January 1, 2797
 
Location: Kentares IV

Title: Swords of Light and Darkness

Author: Travis Heermann
 
Type: Short Story (Legacy Anthology)

Synopsis: On New Year's day, 2797, Chu-sa Rai Sakaguchi and Tai-i Krinda Ueda join Sam in his luxurious quarters (filled with luxuries looted from the depopulated world).  With two days of leave to enjoy, Rai has brought Kentaran wine, fresh fruit and other luxury foods, two armed guards, and six terrified Kentaran prisoners - two men and four women - whom Sam refers to as "rats".  With guns trained on the prisoners, the Kuritans tell them they may open the provisions and eat.  Sam plays Combine music and, with copious amounts of wine, they celebrate the new year. 

At one point, Sakaguchi takes a laser pistol from a guard and burns a crude Kurita emblem into the ceiling of Sam's quarters, then points the gun at the prisoners and pretends to shoot it at them.  Sam feels a black emptiness within him growing stronger, and eventually passes out from too much wine.  When he awakens, the DCMS troops and the prisoners are gone.  He never sees any of the prisoners again.

Notes: Heerman does an excellent job at conveying attitude through word choice alone.  After four months of ceaseless slaughter, Sam habitually thinks of the Kentarans as "rats," calls their hiding places "warrens," and even refers to them as "females" and "males" rather than "men" and "women."  In his mind, to cope with what he is forced to do, he has dehumanized them. 

In doing so, however, he begins to feel he has dehumanized himself.  Surrounding himself with looted luxuries, living in non-regulation quarters, and violating rules of conduct to "party" with Kentarans demonstrate that a rot has set in among the Mustered Soldiery, and the famously disciplined and duty-bound samurais' katanas' edges have begun to grow dull.

Keep in mind, a mere fifteen years earlier, everyone in the room had been a Star League citizen, with no real reason to feel animosity towards each other.  Now, instead of demonstrating his combat prowess on the battlefield against AFFS foes and accruing ever greater honor for the Dragon, he wallows in depravity.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: April 17, 2797
 
Location: Kentares IV

Title: Swords of Light and Darkness

Author: Travis Heermann
 
Type: Short Story (Legacy Anthology)

Synopsis: Sam Tanaka, dressed in exercise garb - having told the gate guards he was going out for a jog - huddles in an alley among ruined buildings, holding his hands over his eyes, trying to deal with the horrors he's witnessed.  A sound from a nearby trash receptacle draws his attention, and inside he finds evidence that someone has been living inside - bottled water, food wrappers, and a partially burned doll.  He hears noise coming from a hole leading into the ruined building, and envisions how easy it would be to kill one more rat.  Then, a wave of nausea overcomes him.

He ponders that, due to the colossal success of the extermination campaign, the DCMS has become lords of lifeless rubble.  He finds himself struggling with the crimes he's committed, which so grossly violate the tenets of Bushido that were drilled into him since childhood.

He notices movement in the darkness, and a voice whispers that he's too close, and that the monsters always find people this close to their house. 

The extermination sweeps are paused, however, Sam reflects.  Scaled back after Jinjiro Kurita's bloodlust was finally slaked and he departed for "more pressing duties" a few weeks earlier.

The voice notes that he looks hungry, and a small child emerges from the shadows.  She offers him a piece of candy, though she is clearly emaciated, herself.  He slaps it out of her hand.  She cries and asks why he's so mean.  He asks why she hasn't run away.  She says her mother told her to wait there until she returned.  In her features, Sam recognizes her as one of the women at Sakaguchi's "party," and tells the girl her mother won't be returning.  He thanks her for offering the candy.

An alarm from the nearby base sounds, recalling all personnel to duty stations.  Sam realizes it must mean that enemy forces have entered the Kentares system.  Though stirred to return to his Grasshopper and, there, try to reclaim some honor, he stops and considers the child.  He knows that the nearest enclave of civilian survivors is hundreds of kilometers away.  Once the Sixth redeploys to fight the AFFS, there will be no garbage bins for her to scavenge, and she will starve.

For a long time, he ignores the summons, until he hears the 'Mechs moving out.  Though he risks death from execution, he decides to bring her onto the base and try to hide her in his cockpit.  He asks her if she wants to live, and offers her his hand, which she takes.

Notes: Heermann opens each section heading with a passage illustrating one of the tenets of Bushido:  Benevolence, Loyalty, Character, Honor, Courage, Truthfulness, Rectitude, and Respect.  Following the cultural reforms imposed by Urizen Kurita II, Combine society was steeped in retro-Japanese culture, with a very heavy helping of Bushido for those aspiring to serve the Dragon.  Every war crime and atrocity on Kentares thoroughly violated the entire concept of Bushido.  For a culture where that's a majority of their entire self-identity concept, it was shattering. 

Particularly because it was ordered to be carried out on such a personal level.  It's not just the touch of a button to launch a flight of nukes for Ghost Protocol, but the up-close beheading of the defenseless.  The katana usage is excellently contrasted with the seppuku ceremony, where Sam has to strike the head of his best friend (and emotional center in the regiment) to punish him for remaining true to the tenets of Bushido.

The sharpest contrast comes in this alley.  Despite all she's suffered, seeing her friends, family, and entire world destroyed by "monsters," living alone in a dumpster and scavenging garbage to survive, she still retained her humanity, and reaches out to another person in emotional distress - not realizing he's one of the "monsters."  A starving child offering her last scrap of food to him is what brings Sam back from the abyss.

We don't see this Grasshopper again until 2840, when it's been salvaged by Capellans after being expended by the Combine on a Chain Gang raid.  I wonder if Sam was still piloting it.  In "Echoes of Disgrace," the Combine sent other DCMS troops who'd violated orders on Kentares on the Chain Gang missions, so Sam, if discovered with the girl, might have been locked up for twenty years and then given one final opportunity to serve the Dragon.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: June 19, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: A Day in the Life of Buffalo Jones

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Sourcebook Fiction (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: At Supply Depot 124KT, Buffalo Jones reflects on how much he hates his life in the militia - the endless routine, the lack of action, and being condescended to by AFFS regulars.  On this particular day, he's been assigned to Depot patrol to scare off the vandals who've been painting unflattering caricatures of the First Prince and the Thane Council with barnyard animals on the perimeter fence.  He longs for Capellan or pirate raiders.

He mounts up in his 'Mech, a battered Wasp, and moves out to Sector 22-Baker, where the rest of his lance is already on patrol.  Halfway there, an alert tone sounds.  It's been a while since he reviewed what each tone meant, so he ignores it.  Crossing into 22-Baker, his scanner display shows his lance clustered together and moving quickly.  He ponders whether they're checking out new graffiti. 

The alert tone sounds again, and he checks in with Cat Lance to ask what's up.  Leftenant Tigress Simpson replies that it's a recall alert, but is abruptly cut off amidst loud thumping sounds.  Sprinting forwards, he sees that Cheetah Garabaldi and Goldfish Janson's Wasps are smoking wreckage, while Simpson's Phoenix Hawk is sprinting right towards him.  In the distance, he sees enemy heavy 'Mechs silhouetted against the horizon, sending a torrent of PPC fire down range towards him.  His bowels empty, and the turns the Wasp around and sprints back the way he'd come.

Notes: The first names of each of the lance members seem unusual, so I'm assuming that they're the callsigns, rather than their actual birth names, despite the lack of quotes.  "A Day in the Life of 'Buffalo' Jones" doesn't parse nearly as well, so I feel Geoff Swift made the right call on this point.

In 2828, the First Prince was Paul Davion II, who'd supported the spontaneous counterattacks following the Kentares Massacre, and rallied the Federated Suns behind himself, centralizing his authority as the Duke of New Avalon, creating the MIIO, and reclaiming nearly all the lost territory.  When Ilsa Liao personally led a major offensive at the start of the Second Succession War, Paul responded with overwhelming force.

The reference to the "Thane Council" is not explained elsewhere.  Presumably, since a "thane" is a landholder who receives a land grant from a king or military noble, Orbisonia's government is dominated by a council of noble landholders.  It would be more likely for local politicians to be the target of such graffiti than for the High Council members on far off New Avalon.  Orbisonia itself has been part of the Federated Suns since 2366, so the vandals aren't Capellan holdovers from before a Federated Suns conquest.

It's interesting that the front line troops so openly express disdain for the militia troopers.  You'd think that after the shared struggle of fighting off the DCMS after the Kentares Massacre, there'd be more esprit-de-corps among all branches of the military.  Perhaps, here, you can see the social impetus that led to the formation of the MechWarrior Brotherhoods that felt they were superior to all other citizens of the Federated Suns and should be accorded special rights and privileges (often becoming little more than bandits wearing AFFS insignia, with aspirations toward being petty warlords).

It's also interesting that Jones feels bored.  One would think that the relative recency of the First Succession War would have made all AFFS citizens grateful for a respite.  (Though things haven't been very quiet on the Combine border, with waves of Chain Gang raids evolving into full on attacks as the Second Succession War gets underway.)  As a militia trooper, he was probably left out of the action in the First War, and didn't have the guts to join one of the unsanctioned counterattacks (or wasn't old enough at the time, and now dreams of having done so, earning glory in the process.)
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Kojak

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Nice little Star Wars reference they slipped in there.


"Deep down, I suspect the eject handle on the Hunchback IIC was never actually connected to anything. The regs just say it has to be there."
- Klarg1

Kojak

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Also, regarding the names:

Quote from: Historical Turning Points: Orbisonia, pg. 5
The population of Orbisonia has developed an odd cultural affectation, whereby individuals’ given names are those of animals. Company and militia rosters often read like the residents of a zoo rather than that of a group of persons.


"Deep down, I suspect the eject handle on the Hunchback IIC was never actually connected to anything. The regs just say it has to be there."
- Klarg1

Mendrugo

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Also, regarding the names:

Thanks - missed that bit.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: June 19, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: Overmatched

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Track (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: At Supply Depot 124KT, the light 'Mechs, light tanks and infantry of the Orbisonia Planetary Militia face off against a wall of Capellan heavy 'Mechs from the Prefectorate Guard.  The militia's goal is to exit its units off the home edge after starting near the Capellan home edge, while the Capellans score points for every militia unit they prevent from retreating.  The battlefield is dotted with supply stacks which may explode when fired through, doing area effect damage.

Historically, the militia panicked and ran from the Prefectorate Guard, but were caught by a flanking force of the Red Lancers, which exterminated the militia.

Notes: AFFS militias have come a long way since the "Planetary Guard Units" (aka "Ugly PUGs") in the Davion sourcebook, which were just an infantry regiment primarily serving as Skimmer-mounted scouts for line units.  This 'Mech and tank-equipped militia is an example of its time - the opening of the Second Succession War, before even beat-up antiques would be considered ideal for front line service, leaving the planetary militia with just tanks and infantry.  (Alternately, it could be assumed that the Planetary Militia and the Planetary Guard Units were separate commands, not unlike the dichotomy between the Capellan planetary militias and the Home Guard units.  That would allow the AFFS militias to be as well equipped as their Successor State counterparts, while the PUGs were just mechanized infantry scouts.

As Kojak noted, the name of the depot, backwards, is TK421, the call-sign of one of the Storm Troopers on the Death Star (whom Han is impersonating).

I'm slightly confused by the choice to have the Prefectorate Guard enter via the Defender's home edge (which the Defender is trying to exit across) and the two adjacent edges, since that would imply they were the flanking force, yet the fluff states that it was the Red Lancers which flanked and destroyed the militia while they were retreating from the Prefectorate Guard. 

If played as described, the militia is running a breakthrough mission, with 10-16 possibly explosive hexes, but plenty of dense urban cover.  For the militia, I'd recommend moving rapidly through the streets, and maneuvering to keep buildings between you and enemy forces.  Don't expose yourself to get a good shot - you get no points for killing Capellans.  Once you get close to the target edge, use jump jets to get over enemy blockers or maneuver past them.  If they've formed an impassible wall of steel,  ahead of you, use your superior maneuverability to move to another exit point, or try to concentrate fire to take one down and move through the gap.  Your infantry will be left behind by your faster 'Mechs and tanks, but they can move directly through the buildings, so they should stay in the buildings, just coming out to dart across streets when it's reasonably safe, and then vector towards buildings that are close to the exit edge.  Don't go near the supply depots unless the "no destroying supplies" rule is in effect, in which case they make optimal cover.

For the Prefectorate Guard, stopping breakthrough efforts are tough when the enemy has Jump Jets.  Position your slow, PPC-equipped 'Mechs along major thoroughfares, so as to deny the militia any safe spots to hide.  Send faster units in from the flanks to harry the militia and deny them the chance to maneuver into positions where they can leapfrog your home edge defense line.  Blow up supply depots whenever possible (unless the "don't blow up supplies" rule is in effect), because the splash damage can destroy adjacent buildings, denying the militia cover and giving your PPC batteries a greater field of fire.  If infantry is hiding in buildings, don't be afraid to kick them to the point where the whole structure collapses on them.

If there was a typo in the setup, then it becomes a chase scenario.  The militia starts near the attacker's home edge and has to get off the far side, with the attacker forces in hot pursuit.  Since the attackers can come in from any side that isn't the Defender home edge, move the slow PPC 'Mechs in on the sides adjacent to the defender side to form a blocking force, while more mobile units harry the militia from the rear.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: June 19, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: Paint the Town Red

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Track (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: After securing the supply depot, the Red Lancers pushed towards the capital city of Harrison, which was garrisoned by an equal number of the 14th Avalon Hussars.  The goal of the Red Lancers is to destroy enemy units and exit off the enemy's home edge on an urban map, without destroying buildings.  Historically, the medium-weight Hussars were unable to stand toe to toe with the elite heavies of the Red Lancers.  The AFFS troops retreated south from Harrison with 50% casualties.

Notes: The only advantage the Hussars have over the Red Lancers is mobility, which can be key in an urban setting.  The Hussars are somewhat hamstrung, however, by the need to avoid damage to the buildings, and their lack of functional jump jets, which cuts jump movement on equipped units by half.  That's still enough to clear some buildings in a single bound, though.  The Hussars should advance along streets parallel to those that the Red Lancers Marauders and Warhammers are using, using their mobility to stay on side streets to avoid getting a face full of PPCs.  When they win initiative, the Hussars should hop into position behind the enemy forces and chew up their flanks, then jump away to safety.  While an unrestricted urban fight would probably see the enemy crash through buildings in pursuit, the point cost may force the Liao units to maneuver around via intersections.

On the downside, you can't just play tag with the Red Lancers all afternoon, since they can score points by getting off your home edge, so you have to do what you can to take the enemies down.  Keep your units together, grouped by movement class, and when you get a chance to jump over the buildings and back-shot the Lancers, have a whole lance join the ambush.  Massed fire getting lucky back shots is pretty much your only chance of dropping enough Capellans to turn the tide.

For the Red Lancers, the restrictions on building destruction, and the fact that you'll be taking 4/6 profile 'Mechs against 5/8/5 'Mechs argues against trying to perform a seek and destroy sweep of Harrison.  Instead, keep close order as you move towards the objective edge, making sure that you rotate at the end of moves when you might be vulnerable to back-shots to keep a building at your rear facing.  That will also allow you to torso twist to direct fire down either direction of the street.  Keep moving steadily southward, and win on points by moving your troops through.  If any Hussar pops out and tries to trade fire, mass PPC fire on them to try for a clean kill.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: June 19, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: Ceti Twilight

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Track (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: On the outskirts of the city of Lancaster, the Prefectorate Guard takes the 2nd Ceti Hussars by surprise.  Each side seeks to kill the enemy commander, inflict more casualties on the enemy force than they take, and capture an enemy for interrogation.  Historically, the Hussars delayed the Capellans long enough for their command elements to withdraw and regroup in the wilderness, but had to abandon their transports, supplies, and support personnel.

Notes: Lancaster is strategic because it's located adjacent to Starport BETA.  By taking Lancaster and Harrison, where Starport ALPHA is located, the Capellans control both main ports on the main Lapis Prisca continent, leaving the AFFS with only the smaller, more remote Starports 16, 17, 18, and 19.

Since both sides have to reveal the identity of their commanders, targeting those units is, of course, a major strategic priority.  To avoid the huge initiative penalties that are incurred when a side loses its commander, both sides are advised to keep that command unit well back from the front lines, ideally in a mobile unit that can outrun whatever manages to break through and catch it.  If the "wilderness" map used is something along the lines of "Dense Forest," putting a 'Mech back there will definitely provide protection.  The command unit would ideally be an LRM boat, so it can provide indirect fire while keeping out of enemy gunsights.

To capture an enemy for interrogation will be difficult, as you not only have to cripple/disable the target unit before turn 12, but have to remain adjacent to it for the rest of the Track.  That makes any "guard" unit a delicious target for enemy fire.  Since the Hussars have foot infantry platoons, they're ideal for such guard duty obligations.  Have your 'Mechs close on a likely target and surround it for a kick-fest.  That should take out its legs, letting you then park infantry on it.  Afterwards, do your best to guide the battle away from the downed unit, hoping that the Capellans will prioritize shots at the heavy 'Mechs rather than a lone infantry platoon.  (If you can bait the enemy into the wilderness map before downing it, holding onto it will be much, much easier.)
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: June 20, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: Harrison Press

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Track (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: Pushed out of the city of Harrison by the Red Lancers, the 14th Avalon Hussars regroup under the cover of darkness and try to hold the Capellans off long enough for their headquarters to evacuate.  Both sides enter the fray with pre-existing damage from earlier fighting, and the Hussars' roster includes a mobile headquarters unit, which can be destroyed for victory points.  The regimental commanders may also be present, with bonuses for killing the enemy leader.

Historically, the Hussars were nearly destroyed, but held long enough for the Mobile HQ to escape.  The Red Lancers suffered only minor damage, but called off the pursuit when news of inbound Davion reinforcements arrived.

Notes: Looking at the map, the only strategic facility to the south of Harrison is Repair Station A-3, but there's a large river and dense wilderness between Harrison and the station, and cutting around the river would require a trip to Starport ALPHA, which is already in Capellan hands.  Had the Capellans not been forced to withdraw to the Cretaceous Basin in the north, they could have kept the Hussars bottled up in the woods.

The wilderness map shouldn't be too dense, since a map like Dense Woods would be impossible for conventional forces (like the wheeled Mobile HQ) to move through, making victory for the Capellans a pre-determined outcome.  The logical thing to do would be to put the Regimental Commander for the Hussars in the HQ.  If it can move at top speed towards the home edge (through the wilderness map), it should easily outdistance the Red Lancers' 4/6 heavies, especially with the Hussars' units running interference.  In order not to give the Red Lancers a clear victory on points, the Hussars should try to maintain their battle line while walking backwards, concentrating their fire on one unit at a time to take down enemy units (the Heavies will have enough armor that scattered fire won't do more than mar the paint jobs).

For the Capellans, sprinting movement, if the optional rule is used, would be your best bet for getting the Mobile HQ into PPC range before it scarpers.  You'll take some hits from enemy fire, but have a chance to catch up since you can go through clumps of trees that the HQ will have to circumnavigate.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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This series has been on hold for the last six months because all my free time has gone into learning to speak Uzbek.  I just passed my test this afternoon, so I expect to return to the Chronological Review in short order.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Re: Chronological BattleTech Fiction Review - The Succession Wars - Part II
« Reply #658 on: 31 December 2019, 23:00:28 »
Date: June 20, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: Turnabout Intruders

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Track (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: Ordered to withdraw before the Davion Assault Guards arrive, the heavy 'Mechs of the Prefectorate Guards find themselves hard pressed to break contact with the faster Second Ceti Hussars in the Jackal Forest, outside the city of Lancaster.  If played at the recommended scale, the Guards have two medium 'Mech lances and a heavy lance (the Marauders and Warhammers), while the Hussars have three times that strength, divided between 'Mechs, infantry, and vehicles.  Units have pre-existing damage, either from previous Tracks or a default 1/3 armor missing.  The wilderness is hazardous, with forest fires and random pits opening under units.  The Guards seek to exit off their home edge.  Historically, the Guards' rear-guard managed to hold back the Hussars long enough for the heavier elements to withdraw in good order.

Notes: The "This is the Pits" optional bonus refers players to "CO" (Campaign Operations?), though the rules are actually in "TO" (Tactical Operations).  The rules in TO say that a fissure opens under a unit if they get a 2 on a modified PSR, but says that the modifier is based on the intensity of the quake, ranging from 1 to 5.  The Track doesn't give a suggested intensity rating.  As an alternative, it recommends using the Alpha Strike fissure rules, which call for a fissure on a roll of 2, with no modifier.  So, since there is no ongoing quake, just a bunch of sinkholes, the TO modifier should be considered to be 0.

I'm actually glad about that, since ongoing environmental hazards can really shatter the units on the board.  The "Fall of Terra" scenario that requires fleeing ComGuards to cross a wide river usually ends up with most stuck and flooded at the bottom of the river, without the Word of Blake troops having to do much.  Here, a 5 point modifier would have resulted in the map getting most of the kills.  A 0 modifier relegates it to flavor, rather than a defining element of the battle.

The fire option starts on the map that adjoins the Defender's home edge, with the wind blowing towards the home edge.  This will make it difficult for the Hussars' vehicles and infantry to engage on that map, which is far friendlier to the 'Mechs than the conventional forces. 

At recommended size, the Guards will be a single lance of Warhammers and Marauders having their backs watched by Hunchbacks, Riflemen, and equivalent forces.  Fortunately, the Wilderness table doesn't recommend Heavy Woods, which would make the "chase" scenario into a grim slog.  Instead, the wilderness is pretty open, with Scattered Woods being recommended. 

Since the Hussars enter the board only one turn after the Guards get started, they can easily overtake the retreating 4/6 Capellans.  I would recommend having the faster Davion units get ahead of the Guards and impede their progress, while the infantry and slower 'Mechs press them from behind, presenting opportunities for backshots.  Unless the 4/6 units can be made to slow they'll leave the Davion infantry in the dust (no LRM infantry in the Succession Wars).
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

Mendrugo

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Date: June 21, 2828
 
Location: Orbisonia

Title: Death Grip

Author: Geoff Swift
 
Type: Track (Turning Points: Orbisonia)

Synopsis: The Red Lancers feign a retreat, drawing the 14th Avalon Hussars into a killzone for a chemical weapon attack.  The Hussars have three times the Lancers' strength, but 2/3 of it must be conventional forces, and all units either have pre-existing damage or have lost half their armor across the board.  The Lancers have pre-existing damage or 1/4 of their armor gone.  The Lancers begin under Forced Withdrawal rules, but that ends after the chemical weapon attack.  The chemical weapons take out conventional units on 2D6 roll of 10 or less.

Notes: Looking at the Interstellar Operations rules for Chemical Weapons, the Capellans seem to be using exceptionally powerful ordnance looted from Depot 124KT.  The most powerful are Class I, with a TN of 8+ to resist the immediate effects, or a TN of 4+ to partially resist it.  This has a TN of 11+ and no chance for partial resistance.  I wonder if this is UrbStryc-A, which was produced during the Star League era, and has been known to be found in SLDF chemical weapon depots.  However, looking at FM: SLDF, Orbisonia wasn't home to a SLDF garrison.  Perhaps this gas was a Davion innovation, in which case UrbStryc-A would've been unlikely, with Wei (the homeworld for the plant used in its creation) deep in the Capellan Confederation.  There's no info in the Turning Point about the origins of the Depot, but given the lack of a SLDF garrison, it probably wasn't a League cache, but was a staging point for the AFFS.  Given that consideration, the moral outrage of the Avalon Hussars seems misplaced, given that those chemical warheads were almost certainly being stockpiled on Orbisonia to be used for offensive operations against the Confederation.  (After all, who wants to deploy WMDs on their own soil?  Okay, who besides the Capellans?)

There are options for this to take place at night.  If that option is taken, it will be very hard for the Hussars to stop the Lancers from successfully retreating off their home edge before turn 15, since movement, range, and darkness penalties combine to make shots hard to connect.  The chemical weapons only work on a successful attack roll, so the Capellans should wait until they get a good roll.  If they've got Warhammers, those would be ideally used for their searchlight, to pinpoint clusters of enemy conventional forces - particularly infantry, which won't get defensive movement modifiers.  Hitting infantry adjacent to vehicles will get both, since the gas is area of effect similar to a light artillery strike.

For that reason, the Hussars should keep their units spread out, so that each chemical strike can only take out one unit on a successful strike.  Prioritize taking out missile boats.  Fortunately, 2/3 of the Lancers are required to be Marauders and Warhammers, so the Whammies will only have three rounds of chemical ammo in their SRM-6 launcher, and the Marauders aren't chemmed up at all.  Fortunately, the rules set up that the Capellans get three shots per 'Mech, regardless of the number of launchers.  (Technically they could get one ton of SRM chemical ammo and one ton of LRM chemical ammo, giving a unit six shots, but only the Highlander matches those specs on the Capellan RAT), so the Longbow with 2 LRM-20s and 2 LRM-5s doesn't become an avatar of chemical death, though it could launch three attacks in one round, then be out of chemical ammo.

The Capellans would do best to make a fighting withdrawal to a point close to their home edge, using the chemical rounds to wipe out any attempt by the Hussars to concentrate conventional forces along their exit vector, and their heavy firepower to swat aside those remaining.  Depending on how many rounds they have available, they could fire at empty hexes and create a wide swath of gas-covered hexes that persist for three rounds, making a barrier that only 'Mechs can penetrate safely, forcing the Hussars to spend several turns going around the contaminated zone, or face the retreating Elite heavy 'Mechs without their support forces.  As they withdraw, the Lancers can repeat that tactic three times.  Between the night and the need to go wide around hazardous areas, the Hussars have little chance of keeping the Lancers from moving off in a timely manner.
"We have made of New Avalon a towering funeral pyre and wiped the Davion scourge from the universe.  Tikonov, Chesterton and Andurien are ours once more, and the cheers of the Capellan people nearly drown out the gnashing of our foes' teeth as they throw down their weapons in despair.  Now I am made First Lord of the Star League, and all shall bow down to me and pay homa...oooooo! Shiny thing!" - Maximillian Liao, "My Triumph", audio dictation, 3030.  Unpublished.

 

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