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[Burnt Pies]

Would getting a vehicle platoon to shore up our weaknesses be a viable idea? Maybe a small group of LRM carriers to provide fire support from behind a hill or something similar? If not, I certainly agree with recruiting more warriors and mechs; the bigger we are the more we get paid.

As for the job, that planetary assault looks fine.

[Rince Wind]

In my experience you need good gunners for indirect fire because otherwise they just burn lots of ammo on 10s and 11s. The carriers are comparativly expensive as well (because they have so many guns), while they have next to no armor and speed and their weapons are not turreted.

I very much prefer fast hovers like Saracens (that can also swoop in and peppers someones back with SRMs) or cheaper tanks like Hunters. (Ok, I love Hunters way more than I should. )

[Knave]

I think I can lend my voice to the chorus and agree that expanding would be a good idea. Cadre lance is looking a little heavy at the moment.

I'm hesitant to agree that assaulting the D.C. would be a great idea if they hold the keys to our Homeworld, but the contract looks okay otherwise. Personally I'd wait for a month and see what else comes, but it seems the majority think are for it!

[Kanil]

Would getting a vehicle platoon to shore up our weaknesses be a viable idea? Maybe a small group of LRM carriers to provide fire support from behind a hill or something similar?

Tanks? Maybe. LRM Carriers in particular? No. I agree with Rince Wind, they're too expensive for what they are. 1.8 million C-Bills is more expensive than a Locust, and with 12 armor on each side, said Locust can walk up and kill them in one turn. They're really bad with few redeeming qualities.

Given tanks overall fragility, I'd say buying them specifically is probably not a great investment. But salvaging some of the better ones we fight against and repairing them is workable, just don't get too attached to them.

That said, you can sometimes capture and recruit elite tank crews. If we end up with some "free" 1 or 2 gun crews, it makes sense to buy them a really fancy vehicle like a Demolisher or Schrek.

[A Thing]

I'm voting for planetary assault.

[Burnt Pies]

LRM carriers was meant as an example, I've never played the tabletop and don't know how things stack up against each other. I meant the idea to be a platoon of vehicles to shore up our capabilities if there's a particular area we're lacking in; vehicles seem to be rather more specialised than most mechs and given their seeming fragility I'd expect them to be cheaper as well.

That said, the Schrek looks so cool I almost regret not waiting for tank crews so I can ask for one.

[Hanzoku]

Vehicles can be super handy, I'm with Burnt Pies on that. You don't want to take them as the basis of the lance, they're too fragile for that. But take a pair of Hawk Moth Gunships supporting an assault lance on a Recon Raid* (the Steiner way, the only way to do so!) and let them hang back until the enemy forces are focusing on the assault mechs. Then zip up to the other end of the map in a turn or two, gather data, and headshot some poor fool with their gauss rifles before zipping back home.

Or take a Demolisher with a medium mech lance. Because vehicles only count for 1/2 their weight on deployment, you get 2xAC/20 goodness to wreck some light or medium mech's day.

[Rince Wind]

I'd only count vees for half weight if enemies vehicles are doubled as well.

[Fishbreath]

At present both friendly and enemy vehicles are counted at full weight.

[Hanzoku]

That’s not enforced in the program. At least in one of my games I had double enemy vehicle lances turned off and my assault lance of vehicles was only weighted M for deployment.

[Fishbreath]

Planetary Assault



The Opinionated Bastards load into actual battle DropShips this time, paid for by the Federated Commonwealth. Ordinarily, we'd mothball the mechs and get them back in order when we're on-world, then pocket the difference in transit costs. For a planetary assault, however, we decide to leave everything in fighting trim. It helps that Nashira, our destination, is only two jumps away; travel still costs about 1.3 million C-bills.

The Draconis Combine defenders don't oppose the landing, and the Bastards quickly set up a field base. Since this is a full-on planetary assault, we have some access to the Federated Commonwealth supply system, which means we can actually buy just about everything required to keep our mechs in factory shape.

Elsewhere in the Inner Sphere, the Clans haven't made much further progress since last I checked. The attacks have come in waves before. Perhaps they're consolidating for another push.



Kill Board(s)

No changes to report, except that I rearranged the killboard to actually correctly order pilots by kills. (Ties are broken by mech kills. I suppose I could further break ties by weight of mech kills, but that's a lot of work.)

All-Time Leaders

• Lieutenant "Rook" Ishikawa (15, 4 mechs)
• Captain "Drake" Halit (8, 3 mechs)
• Private "Carcer" Ngo (6, 2 mechs)
• Lieutenant "Linebuster" Atkinson (5)
• Lieutenant "Double Dog" Dare (4, 1 mech)
• Private Cathrine "Severe" Payne (2, 2 mechs)
• Private "Euchre" Kojic (2, 2 mechs)
• Private "Ker-Ker" Ec (2, 1 mech)
• Private "Teddy Bear" Jamil (2, 1 mech)
• Sergeant "Milspec" Ortega (2)
• Private "Wojtek" Frajtov (1, 1 mech)
• Private "Woad" Kohler (1, 1 mech)
• Private Ed "Hanzoku" Yuksel (1, 1 mech)

Status

It is now April 14, 3051.

Recruitment

On the journey over, former House Kurita mechwarrior Xue-Min Que joins us. Though a seasoned veteran, she currently lacks a mech.



Contract Status

Heavy Lance has a battle upcoming, a breakthrough attack against two mixed lances of Draconis Combine Mustered Militia, plus a reinforcing lance of vehicles. Medium Lance joins them for extra firepower.

Finances

We now have 12,808,564 C-bills in the bank. Monthly payout on this job is 2.834 million C-bills. Note that full battle loss compensation is a pretty sweet deal—as long as pilots don't die, we'll be well-placed financially to replace equipment losses.

Unit Market

Speaking of, now that we have a fourteenth pilot, we should look into a mech. The following mechs and vehicles are available on the unit market.



MechWarrior Claims and Assignments

• For the record, the following mechwarriors are claimed.
• Captain Huri "Drake" Halit (Mephansteras)
• Lt. SG George "Linebuster" Atkinson (Hasek10)
• Lt. SG Mariamu "Rook" Ishikawa (Culise)
• Lt. JG Sung-min "Double Dog" Dare (a1s)
• Sgt. Jose "Milspec" Ortega (milspec)
• Pvt. Ferdinand "Woad" Kohler (A Thing)
• Pvt. Jan "Euchre" Kojic (EuchreJack)
• Pvt. Cathrine "Severe" Payne (Burnt Pies)
• Pvt. E-Shei "Ker-Ker" Ec "Frankenstein" (Kanil)
• Pvt. Ed "Hanzoku" Yuksel (Hanzoku)
• Pvt. Ik-jun "Wojtek" Frajtov (Blaze)
• Pvt. Tedros "Teddy Bear" Jamil (Knave)
• Pvt. Damayanti "Carcer" Ngo (Dorsidwarf)
• The following mechwarriors are available.
• Pvt. Xue-Min Que

Action Items

• Do we want to buy a mech?
  

Lastly, a final note: I'm closing on a house in less than a week and moving in less than two, so this is likely going to be the last update until mid-February.

[A Thing]

If we buy a mech, I'm partial to the Shadow Hawk. I haven't played Battletech, or very much Megamek though, so not sure how effective the Hawk really is compared to the other mechs.

[Rince Wind]

I'd like to claim Xue-Min "Wizard" Que (doesn't sound Japanese at all, if that was what you were implying with her coming from the Combine).

And I vote to buy the Guillotine. It is almost as good as a Grasshopper (personal preference, really), both punch well above most other intro level heavies.

The Shadowhawk is pretty bad. It can do nothing, but that at all ranges.

[Mephansteras]

I'm good with buying the Guillotine.

[Fishbreath]

(doesn't sound Japanese at all, if that was what you were implying with her coming from the Combine)

Nope, that's just what I rolled on the origin table in the AtB rules. (I do it for all the mechwarrior hires for a bit of flavor.)