Author Topic: Revisiting Icar Mar 3050  (Read 1809 times)

Colt Ward

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Revisiting Icar Mar 3050
« on: 20 August 2019, 12:01:27 »
With the KS and release of the PDF ER3052 to backers I got back into some Invasion era IS vs Clan battles on MM.  I returned to a set up I had been working on for 15 years, play testing the campaign from time to time . . .

March 3050 the 4th Wolf Guards landed two Supernova Trinaries and a star from Alpha Assault which is 35 mechs and I THINK it was 75-100 Elementals, I do not have my file or WCSB with me at the moment.  Lots of Gargoyles and Timber Wolves, no surprise with that force list from the Tukayyid book though ER3052 now requires one of the mechs to be a Nova if it was not present already.  But it did have a Warhawk in the mix as the slowest mech fielded.

The 3/12 Star Guard's Bravo Battalion was the force near the Wolves' LZ though none of the 3rd IAB was reported to be supporting them, perhaps some where present as scouts.  Either way, per ER3052 the Bravo Battalion got hammered flat in a short time- panicked radio signals after a opening salvo killed the BN's major outside of LRM range.  To be fair, it sounds like the landing area was pretty flat and maybe open- likely little vegetation like in a rain shadow b/c of the description of later maps.  Either way 35 Clan mechs, mostly Gargoyles and  Timber Wolves with some Ice Ferrets and Adders against 36 3025 designs even if heavier than the IS medium average is going to be over quickly- before the Elementals can even really factor in.

The 3/12's CO, Colonel Hannah Caitlin, hears enough to get out the troops to form an ambush- probably directly along the axis of advance from the Wolf LZ to the planetary capital.  She rushes what she can out to what turns out to be a nearly perfect short range ambush side- Pofadder's Gully.  The Gully is a dry rocky chasm in the mountain range with stone columns her mechs can hide behind to cut down on the obvious range advantage that doomed Bravo Battalion.  IMO she takes at least a battalion of mechs . . . and I would guess whatever armor & infantry the 3IAB have mustered at the capital or nearby garrison points.  I also imagine the consolidation of the armored units would have become a mad scramble after Bravo got wiped out.

I used to think she sent one battalion out to make contact and size up what she thought were pirates or raiding mercs and kept the remaining two battalions at the captial/primary raiding targets.  Maybe Bravo Battalion had some armor support . . . when Bravo BN died she marched out with another mech battalion and supports to halt the invading forces- after all, they must have taken heavy damage in such a assault against her dead battalion.  Part of the reason I thought this is her forces would not have had the speed to break contact or get out ahead of the Clan forces to establish her ambush at Pofadder's Gully . . . but upon re-reading ER3052, some of the phrasing led me to a alternate idea.  The 3rd Regiment's mech battalions went to meet the Wolves in column with Bravo on point so they could make contact and withdraw to meet the other mech battalions . . . maybe scout armor out on the wings to keep tabs & prevent flanking.  Such a response would IMO have been a typical response plan right up there with sending the ready BN out to make contact until the other BNs and supports could get in the field.

After breaking at the Gully, the 3rd kept trying to regroup but the Wolves pressed them all the way back to where their Dropships were set up, the Omnis delivering the Elementals to take over the DS.  No way off world, mech forces routed, mech support elements captured or scattered, and what armor had been massed probably in worse shape than the mechs caused the world to surrender to the Wolves.

My question is . . . for the ambush at Pofadder's Gully do you think the 3rd Regiment of the veteran 12th Star Guard would have had a battalion of mechs (what rushed up from the base), a battalion plus with conventional support (everything mustered except a few lances to defend the base), or both battalions & whatever conventional support can be called in?

I figure at most half the 3rd Icar Armored Brigade were able to get into the fight- the rest would have been guarding sites or been to far away to get to the battle zone.  Due to the strategic speed of Wolf forces and the quick operational tempo, I think it might go as low as a quarter of the 3IAB which might be all that was around the capital.  How much of the armor would you deploy into the ambush zone (if any) and how much might you have in defensive positions behind the ambush zone to provide rearguard actions if the mechs need to regroup- or be called forward for pursuit after the mercs break the opposing pirates/mercs/ronin?

ER3052's force ratios say the Wolves field a star for each company of merc mechs and a Elemental star for each lance of vehicles at Pofadder's Gully.  This means if both battalions are present, the Wolves will still have a star of mechs 'offscreen' for the scenario's ratio.  And yes, once the maps are finished I might be fighting this out with two Supernova Trinaries of Wolves vs two merc mech BNs & a BN of armor in a 3 klick by 3 klick battlefield . . . maybe another klick of depth behind the defender's line for some pursuit options.
Colt Ward
Clan Invasion Backer #149, Leviathans #104

"We come in peace, please ignore the bloodstains."

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