Nina Slade- Last Stand for a Dragoon

[Colt Ward]

Redemption Rites tells us Captain Nina Slade was first Major and later Colonel Henry 'Hack' Kincaid's aide vice bodyguard for 'what seemed like forever' as part of his Wolf Spider Striker Battalion Command Star.  The command star was filled with Clan technology- Slade had a Hellstar, two others had Linebackers (at least of Rifts), Slade had a Guillotine IIC (beast machine) and I forget the final mech.  A fellow officer considered her to perhaps be the deadliest mechwarrior in the Dragoons.

Per Rites, a Davion trap was sprung on Colonel Kincaid (implication was at the end of the contract) on New Avalon.  No specific amount of forces involved in the battle nor mention if the rest of the Wolf Spider Striker Battalion was involved or the disposition of the other striker battalions at the time of the ambush.  What is noted was that it took 'a company of Davions' to take her down as she broke the ambush and covered Hack's escape enough to be considered cut off.  The exploit was enough to see Slade added to the list of Dragoon honornames.  IIRC, none of the rest of his command star is mentioned in the rest of Rites so it is possible they all died to extract him . . . and in a 4/6/4 heavy mech, he did not escape on speed alone.

Two part question about this last stand . . .

What sort of stats would you give Nina Slade in her Hellstar for the last stand?

and . . .

What, since a company would not be enough, Davion command & mechs of 3148/49 raiding New Avalon would YOU have used to ambush Hack?  I figure the minimum would be at least two companies of mechs, maybe some veh or BA attachments.

[Colt Ward]

No takers huh . . .

WELL . . . for Nina Slade, I would figure being elite Inner Sphere she would be 2/3 . . . maybe a little lower on the piloting, a 4 pilot with some sort of SPA for her piloting that assault mech.  Definitely have to be a Inner Sphere elite gunner- maybe a PPC specialist as well based on her shots in Redemption Rift.

Interesting in that whatever happens, her Hellstar is recovered from the battlefield implying the Davions had to leave the area due to the Dragoon or Drac response.  Which also means the company's worth of mechs she dropped were salvage for the Dragoons.


As for the Davion forces . . .
Figure this might be the sort of attack you send a battalion in to take down a strategic target like the Dragoon commander on planet, especially with him having a heavy star as escort.  But the Davion forces have been beat on, so the battalion would be 70-80% strength- so instead of a fresh battalion with 40 mechs, you end up with 28-32 mechs.  I would expect some cavalry vehicles (Musketeers, Drillsons, Condors- use new RecGuides?, Fulcrum I/II/III) and probably some BA too as they would be the best spotters to spring the ambush.  Two lances of cavalry hovertanks as the beaters, a line of BA spotting the movement and then the mechs coming forth from hidden or LOS blocked positions?

The mechs . . . need to be fast to get out before the Dragoons or Dracs can respond- so no 3/5 slowpokes.  Mix of mostly heavies & mediums, figure the lights were many of the attrition'd mechs?  Would this be a operation overseen by Erik Sandoval-Groell, or one of his Swordsworn followers?  Would it be a battalion from his personal regiment since it had been involved in probing/raiding the Dragon's Tongue?  Most of the mechs would probably be jumpers as a combat drop would be the easiest way for them to get in position with less observation than if they offloaded from a landed DS.

[BrianDavion]

my assumption is that it woulkd have been during the invasion of new Avalon,
so the oppisition forces would be from the Davion Assault Guards, 1st New Avalon Hussars, and the New Avalon Crucius March Milita, with the 2nd robinson rangers joining the fray later.  the Dragoons actions against the 2nd Robinson where offensive in nature leading and thus being ambushed seems unlikely. this means the most likely place Slade was lost was on New Avalon during or prior to the arrival of the Robinson Rangers.


We know prior to the arrival of the Rangers, the 'goons where basicly held back doing rear line work etc to preserve the glory for the dracs. most likely the 'goons unit in question was lured in with a minor "easy" job of beating up some tanks etc. and discovered it was an ambush.

my guess would be a combined arms Davion assault guards battlaion.
So 12 assault mechs, 12 assault tanks and a company of battle armor

or something similer.

[Arkansas Warrior]

The fifth mech in Hack's Command Star was a Pack Hunter.


Given that the Assault Guard were on New Avalon at that time, and that Davion had been buying all the clantech they could get from the Foxes and even building some of their own, I'm not sure it'd need to be more than a company.  They could be fielding things like Atlas IIIs, Sagittaires, Nightstars, Sunders, Regents, Mad Cat MkIIs, Templars, Templar IIIs, etc.  Sprung on the Dragoons close, where the superior range of clantech matters less, and that'd get ugly fast.  Might also contribute to why Hack had Zeta reformed in Rites; firsthand experience facing an elite Assault company will make an impression.


As for Slade, I'd make her at least a Clan Elite.  Probably  better, given the way she's described in Redemption Rift.  I see her as being up there near "best in her generation" level.  Maybe Danai Liao could take her one on one in identical mechs.  But I doubt more than a handful of warriors alive in 3140 could say that.

[BrianDavion]

I used combined arms battalion as that's what a 'goon striker battalion was. the striker battalions where a mech trinary, tank trinary (in this case I think it was just 15 tanks though and not 30) and battle armor trinary.
The unit would have been cavalary and heavy cav designs mostly. it's a pretty potent force, but if they got ambushed by a roughly equal force of assault mechs, in a close range situation where mobility and clan range superiroity was less important.

[five_corparty]

I'd certainly rank her as 1/2, 1/3 with SPA buffs for the PPCs.

For the Davion force, since it doesn't say a company of mechs, but just a company, so I'd guess about a 50/50 split on mechs to vees: some classics like mads and whammys, perhaps, with maybe a Templar and then musketeers and other shenanigs.

Light on BA: it might even have been the BA that took her down, BA are made for cities, and the hellstar kills a LOT of things well, but BA swarms aren't one of them.

If I was running this on the table, I could see it: a legendary pilot simply coring something every time she fires (but always taking damage in return) could last a LONNNNNG time in a city with a HellStar as long as she didn't get an unlucky crit or headcapped.

[Colt Ward]

my assumption is that it woulkd have been during the invasion of new Avalon,

The Hellstar was not assigned to anyone when it ended up in Zeta, which made it sound like a recent loss.  Hack also had none of the staff when he met up with the Terra survivors, which is why he picked up Haya as a aide even if it was to prepare her for the Zeta command.  Or at least evaluate her for it.  Hack did not command one of the battalions directly- Gamble & Castle commanded the Tarantula & Wolfsbane respectively.



As for urban vs rural fight . . . I thought the Dracs secured the cities pretty quick and the countryside is where they had problems, we get the TRO entry about a hovertank the Dragoons added to their inventory working out well to chase down the Davions on New Avalon.

[BrianDavion]

I think it makes more sense it was held in reserve for "the right officer" then the fedsuns raiding new avalon just to focus down a mercenary colonel.

[Colt Ward]

I think it makes more sense it was held in reserve for "the right officer" then the fedsuns raiding new avalon just to focus down a mercenary colonel.

Headhunting a regional commander is a reason for a raid . . . and Hack made himself a target by spearheading the Draconis Rift invasion/operation.  Any sort of decent intel operation is going to pick up on his effectiveness and ability to find/promote subordinates that are successful.  IF you were planning on invading New Avalon and Kincaid and a striker battalion was on that planet you might mount a operation to kill him before your main push ever happens- sort of like the US going after Yamamoto.

Further, between Rift & Divided We Fall the Dragoons had stood up additional line battalions in Alpha & Beta and were talking about getting Delta back online.  The Hellstar was not Slade's personal mech by appearances so it was not passed to a family member.  The idea that such a powerful capable assault would be left on the sidelines while the Dragoons scraped up the resources & personnel to commission new battalions is a stretch- the simpler answer is that Slade fell relatively recently before Redemption Rites takes place.