Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

3030s - 4th Succesion Wars, basic technology only, Star League 'Mechs are rare, Clans aren't a thing yet

1 (12.5%)

3040s - Renaissance era, basic technology, but advanced designs begin appearing. The dawn of the Clans

4 (50%)

3050s - Clan Invasion, Clan tech is rare but possible, while advanced IS design and tech starts appearing

3 (37.5%)

3060s - FedCom Civil War, widespread advanced tech in the Inner Sphere, Clan tech is slightly less rare

0 (0%)

3070s - Jihad era, Clan tech is uncommon, while everyone in the IS is running advanced technology.

0 (0%)

3140 - Dark Ages. Tech is... weird. You might have militarized agro-Mechs charging cutting edge Clan designs sold to IS troops.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 8

[Hanzoku]

One of the other things is that some Veteran and Elite-ranked pilots have night or bad weather perks that allow them to ignore some of the penalties, which only adds on to as you say, being ahead of the curve gives them a lot more leeway on not failing their checks.

As for losing those three mediums, the 1st Aragon Borderers itself is a Veteran-ranked unit. We're beating up on their newest recruits, while the Capellans are keeping their main forces tied down. Otherwise we'd probably see a few companies of Veteran-ranked troops rotated in, instead of the occasional Veteran or Elite-ranked pilot stiffening their resistance.

[Hanzoku]

Week 8

Combat and training was improving the unit’s skills steadily. 9 of the 30 infantry were now qualified to some extent with artillery operations, and 8 had anti-‘Mech training.  Susanna Nova’s studies had paid off, and her Tactical skills improved.

On Thursday, the Iron Brotherhood found a Borderer firebase, where they had set up a Sniper artillery piece and were using it to shell the Brotherhood’s area of operation at random. Alpha Lance moved in to strike and remove the artillery, only for a medium ‘Mech company to move up to engage them in return, supported by a flight of conventional fighters. Luckily with Delta Flight providing air support, the enemy air support wouldn’t know what hit them.

Spoiler: Hide and Seek (Attacker) (click to show/hide)

Victory Condition: Destroy 7 units by Turn 4, 9 units by Turn 8, or 11 after Turn 8
Loss Condition: Lose 2 units.



Bursting from cover right next to the abandoned town being used as a firebase, the fighting immediately became short-ranged and brutal. While Knave and Wind moved to deal with the Sniper, Vo in her Phoenix Hawk moved to flank an Ostroc and a Bulldog to their south. The Sniper was firing almost vertically into the air and managed to tag the Phoenix Hawk in the edge of the artillery detonation.

The ill-trained laser infantry opened fire on Knave’s Wolverine, but instead their shots strike a building in the way, killing three of their own allies in the motorized infantry sheltering there.

The combined fire from Knave and Wind stunned the crew and jammed the Sniper, rendering it ineffective for the remainder of the battle.
 


Vo moved behind the FedCom Ostroc as it presented its weak back armor, and Knave and Wind split up as the city fighting intensified, nearly a company of ‘mechs and Vehicles struggling within a few hundred meters of each other.

Knave shows off his precision gunnery as he walks his autocannon fire through the Rocket Launcher’s position, jamming another turret before it could fire, but the Hunchback manages to tear open his right side with its large-bore autocannon in return.



The Brotherhood’s air support and Stalker arrived, and the Borderers were obliging enough to provide targets. While the Sparrowhawk targeted the hostile Phoenix Hawk, Tengu’s Centurion targeted the Ostroc and the Bulldog that Vo was dueling with.

Meanwhile, Starburst planted her feet and treated the hostile Hunchback to her full weapons array, Wind targeted the back of the Phoenix Hawk being bombed, and Knave targeted a Vedette brave enough to stay at his ‘Mech’s feet.

Surprisingly, the FedCom defenders survived for the most part, though the Hunchback hit the ground as large parts of his armor was destroyed in the Stalker’s blistering assault.




Its leg, damaged by Wind’s kick, hampering its efforts the Phoenix Hawk pilot knocked himself out trying to stand. Wind jumped away to duel with two light ‘Mechs that were trying to get into his back field, and Vo continued facing down the Ostroc and Bulldog to his south, both badly damaged by the bombing run.

The stubborn Hunchback got to its feet, but now had Knave right behind it, while Starburst split her attention between the plethora of targets facing her.

Enemy fighter support was now overhead, but Tengu gained altitude and was providing air cover, and the unit’s movements had provided any similar bombing runs.

However, the enemy Meteor engaged Tengu, its autocannon and SRMs destroying his avionics and engine, even as Starburst’s large lasers and LRMs ravaged its airframe. Both fighters went out of control, though Tengu managed to keep the Centurion airborne as he wrestled with his controls while the Meteor arrowed into the ground.




Wind’s duel with the light ‘Mechs continued in his favor, the Locust and Wasp had both lost a leg, though the Wasp pilot, in a feat of daring managed to precariously hop back onto its one remaining foot. Wind promptly shot it again to force it down.

Vo clung stubbornly to the back of the Ostroc she was taking apart, most of its lasers knocked out by damage through its rear armor.

Starburst split her attention between the Hunchback and the remaining Machine Gun turret, and Knave continued ripping through the rear armor of the Hunchback.



Tengu regained control and flew away from the battle, nursing his battered fighter home. With the Hunchback down, Knave went to deal with a damaged Vedette and Starburst turned her attention to collapsing a building sheltering the enemy laser infantry.

Vo continued her quest to down a heavy ‘Mech largely on her own, and Wind targeted the enemy Valkyrie as his next victim.



The Sparrowhawk returned for a strafing run, hitting the Valkyrie at the same time as Wind did. Starburst continued hunting the foot infantry as the survivors fled from the collapsed building to the nearest shelter.

Starburst eliminated the infantry in a shower of missiles, Wind kicked the leg off the Valkyrie, Knave destroyed the building holding the crippled rocket launcher turret, while the machine guns of the Phoenix Hawk were making a bloody mess of the mechanized infantry. The desperate Borderers signaled their surrender and were allowed to withdraw, leaving the Brotherhood battered but once again victorious.

AAR:
The Brotherhood took some hard knocks – the Wolverine was moderately damaged after taking two hard hits from the Hunchback’s AC/20, and the Centurion was crippled by damage.

The Brotherhood claimed the Sniper artillery piece for their own artillery plans, as well as the Phoenix Hawk and the Ostroc. They didn’t plan to operate the Phoenix Hawk, but they were going to strip it for parts for the Ostroc and their own Phoenix Hawk.

20 AFFC personnel were KIA, and 11 were captured.

Susanna ‘Starburst’ Nova claimed the Foot Platoon and the Meteor Heavy Strike Fighter
Billy ‘Knave’ Kaine claimed the Sniper and Rocket Launcher turrets, the Hunchback and the Vedette.
Matt ‘Wind’ Fischer claimed the Phoenix Hawk, Valkyrie, Wasp and Locust, earning accolades for a downing an entire lance largely on his own.
Linda Vo claimed an Ostroc, earning her own accolades for downing a ‘Mech above her weight class through superior mobility (and some air support.)

Tengu’s Centurion was down checked for the foreseeable future. Everyone was amazed that he managed to nurse it back to base and land with the avionics in the state they were, but finding replacements was impossible, and the battered frame had almost 200 hours of work needed before it would be repaired.

Week 9-12
Monday was also the first of June and marked the collapse of enemy morale – while they hadn’t routed yet, it was now Very Low, and they had pulled back to reorganize. This allowed the Iron Brotherhood the chance to repair from the previous week’s battle and train in relative safety.

The Brotherhood’s technicians declared the Centurion’s engine too damaged to fix, and there was little chance the unit would be able to find a replacement, so the fighter was sold for scrap, netting 1.4M C-Bills. The second Phoenix Hawk was also sold after its weapons array and jump jets were stripped, netting 2.8M C-Bills.

Albus used the salvage money to purchase a SL-17 Shilone from another mercenary unit on planet along with a SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk, bringing their forces up to two air lances... although only three pilots.  Levane Persaud was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade to command the unit’s light AeroSpace fighters, while Lieutenant Ichiro would soon be joined by Melissa Lyle in her Shilone to form a medium AeroSpace lance.

The unit fitted the Sniper to a mobile artillery base, though to this point, only one person was fully qualified for artillery operations.

Little of note occurred through the rest of June – The various techs managed to catch up on backlog, and all ‘Mechs were once more fully functional. Albus managed to secure an aide, John O’Sullivan, who was put in charge of the unit’s logistical needs.

By July 1st, a month ahead of schedule, their employer declared the operation complete. The Liao forces were withdrawing empty-handed, but the mercenaries had performed brilliantly, and the AFFC had been forced to assign a regiment of reinforcements to shore up the Borderers after their morale failed.

The Iron Brotherhood was paid 7.7M C-Bills in contract payment, early completion bonus and an extra bonus for their service. Flush with cash, the unit booked passage off world towards Outreach. They quietly recruited three veteran and elite-ranked soldiers from among the willing prisoners before ransoming the rest back for a total of 585k C-Bills.

[Rince Wind]

Nice!
It is always good to finish a contract early and have some more RnR. Or more money.

[A Thing]

RIP Centurion, you served us well. Also, I'm amazed at Tengu's ability to pilot a half dead fighter. As soon as I read that he had got hit I was expecting him to go down in flames. I guess his family really didn't have to pull so many strings to get him into Sun Zhang.

[NickAragua]

My favorite aerospace fighter is the Lucifer LCF-R15, because it's got so much armor that it can lawn dart then just take off the next turn. Great for rookie pilots. I actually like using the Capellan-style aerospace element, which is three fighters instead of two. Fewer air elements, but each individual one packs a little more punch.

Love it when a contract ends early.

[Hanzoku]

@A Thing:

Yeah, I was amazed. It had gone out of control, went into a stall, and lost 3 units of elevation, so it was at elevation 2. I had ordered the Tengu to punch out, but something must have gone wonky because that failed to happen. The fighter had stayed on the board, but I thought that was because it had the chance to land on and damage something underneath it.

The next turn, Tengu recovered control and I promptly got the Centurion off the board before his luck turned.

@NickAragua:

Those come up for purchase every month. I might buy one as a trainer fighter for the training command. I might introduce the Capellan-style elements as well, because no matter who we face, everyone else seems to be using it.

[EuchreJack]

I was playing a game set in the distant future of 3145 and rolled a Heavy Infantry Heavy Urban Response Platoon with armor 2 and Plasma Rifle.

I'm always confused as to what the Against The Bot via MekHQ automates, and what the player needs to do themselves.  For the Special Missions, is that done by the user?

And the previous infantry support rules, are those automated?  I almost think I saw something where my infantry that weren't in a squad actually generated a dialog, but I'm not sure.

I'm a little unclear on the utility of Artillery for Infantry units.  Do they use it for their squad weapons, or is that just training to reassign them to an artillery piece?

[Hanzoku]

@EuchreJack:

Yeah, that's my one regret for not playing a later era. I love plasma rifles in a somewhat unhealthy fashion. They make infantry, battlearmor and vehicles simply disappear. They hit as hard as a PPC, while inflicting extra heat (though to be perfectly honest, almost anything running double heatsinks won't be too inconvenienced unless its a massively under-cooled design.)

For Special Missions such as Star League Cache or Ambush, that's all handled by Against the Bot.

The infantry, artillery and air support rules are from a beta update to the AtB rules in the excel file.

Artillery for Infantry use the artillery (one piece maximum) as their squad weapon. I have the 'Artillery as a separate skill' turned on for this game, which is why I'm training them to standard levels of skill, because I'd like the artillery to actually land somewhat close to on target.

[Hanzoku]

After Operation Misdirect – Plans for the Future

The unit went over the results of their first combat operation – in all regards, it had been a stunning success. They had established a reputation for decisive battles fought cleanly. Their only loss had happened out of sight of the enemy, giving them a mystique among the Borderers of being undefeatable in combat.

They had also grown as a command. They added a Dervish, Hunchback, Phoenix Hawk and Ostroc, bringing them to ten ‘Mechs strong. They purchased a Partisan, filling out the vehicle lance. The captured Sniper barrel provided the beginnings for an artillery unit, once more artillery-qualified soldiers could be found or trained.

While they had lost the Centurion, they had bought or gained the services of two Shilones and another Sparrowhawk.

One downside of the rapid growth was that their support elements were stretched to their limit. They desperately needed more ‘Mech techs and another Aerospace tech. Their integral support was only 46%, necessitating finding several astechs that were willing to take passage to Outreach in exchange for work.

Financially, while the unit wasn’t yet in a safe spot, they had almost 20m C-Bills in cash, and 8.25m C-Bills in loans. Travel to Outreach would eat up 3m C-Bills of their reserves, but it provided some breathing room.

In the short term, the unit’s plan was to reorganize and restructure itself, resupply missing equipment and ammunition, and then find another contract on Outreach.

One complaint had been the unit’s dry names. Now that the unit was starting to become more cohesive, they had chosen unit names as part of the reorganization.


The Iron Vanguard Short ‘Mech Company – 2x lances of 5 ‘Mechs
- - Nova’s Knights
- - - - Lieutenant SG Susanna ‘Starburst’ Nova – STK-4P Stalker
- - - - Corporal Svetlana ‘Ragu’ Ragozina – SHD-2H Shadow Hawk
- - - - Private James ‘Glaive’ Gundersen – WHM-6R Warhammer (Detached – Training Command)
- - - - Private Belmiro Larcher – HBK-4N Hunchback (Detached – Training Command)
- - - - <no pilot> - OSR-2C Ostroc

- - Kaine’s Kings
- - - - Lieutenant JG Billy ‘Knave’ Kaine – WVR-6R Wolverine
- - - - Sergeant Matt ‘Wind’ Fischer – GRF-1S Griffin
- - - - Private Linda Vo – PXH-1 Phoenix Hawk
- - - - Recruit Gani Leminoke – DV-6M Dervish (Detached – Training Command)
- - - - Recruit Jami Sonnborn – COM-2D Commando (Detached – Training Command)

The Iron Shield One Mixed Company, Vehicles and Infantry
- - Hovi’s Hailstorm
- - - - Lieutenant JG Seija Hovi – Devastator Heavy Tank
- - - - Master Sergeant Basuki Burtick – SRM Carrier
- - - - Master Sergeant Nettie Cruz – Partisan Heavy Tank
- - - - Sergeant Artur Yamada – Behemoth Heavy Tank
- - - - <Not yet in TO&E> - Brotherhood Jump Infantry
- - - - <Not yet in TO&E> - Brotherhood Field Guns

The Iron Wings Short wing – 2x Air Lances
- - Kobayashi’s Crows
- - - - Lieutenant SG Ichiro Kobayashi – SL-17 Shilone
- - - - Spaceman Melissa Lyle – SL-17AC Shilone

- -Persaud’s Sparrows
- - - - Lieutenant JG Levane Persaud – SPR-8H Sparrowhawk
- - - - <no pilot> - SPR-H5 Sparrowhawk

The Iron Shadows Mixed Infantry Unit
- - <Not yet in TO&E> Helicopter Platoon
- - <Not yet in TO&E> Special Forces Infantry
- - Artillery Battery
- - - - Sniper Field Artillery (2/28 soldiers)

Training Command Shifting Organization
CO: Lieutenant JG Alex Yi


On the way to Outreach, Albus put out feelers for those interested in joining the unit. By the time they landed, they were greeted by another Mechanic, as well as the news that one of the soldiers had conceived after a short relationship with one of the DropShip crew members. She was assigned to light duties as an astech for the duration of her pregnancy, but planned to stay with the unit.

One of the first orders of business was at least acquiring the equipment for their proposed infantry units.

The Jump Infantry would be equipped with standard ablative/flak vests and assault rifles, the short range offset by the expectation that they would be making short-range attacks on ‘Mechs and vehicles. Because of their role, they had no support weapons. While Kincaide would have liked to have equipped them with better armor, there simply wasn’t anything available that allowed the freedom of movement they needed to make anti-‘Mech attacks.

The Field Guns were equipped with Ballistic Plate, but to Albus’ surprise, Gauss Rifle field guns were available for purchase, though he quickly discovered the ammunition itself wasn’t, despite the apparent simplicity of simple iron spheres. Instead, they were equipped with AC/2 batteries. The small size allowed the unit to field 5 of them, providing significant standoff fire support.

The Special Forces would simply be another unit of Iron Brotherhood Heavy Infantry. While they would have liked access to proper stealth gear, it was out of reach for a unit as small as theirs, and Albus simply didn’t have the connections to ‘acquire’ highly restricted gear like that.

Within two weeks, they scoured through all the infantry soldiers that were available and interested. The Field Guns and Commando unit were quickly filled and ready with regular soldiers while the artillery and anti-Mech branches would take longer to fill – most likely they would only become active during or after the unit’s next campaign. The artillery battery was closest, needing only 8 more qualified gunners, while the Jump Infantry were only at 50% of their required numbers – unfortunately, infantry with anti-‘Mech skills were in high demand.

With the influx of bodies, the Brotherhood expanded its officer ranks. Albus somewhat self-consciously prompted himself to Major, while Ichiro was promoted to Commander, the naval equivalent to Captain. Seija Hovi, commander of the Devastator Heavy Tank was made Captain of her unit, and Susanna Nova was made Captain of the ‘Mech contingent. Basuki Burtick, commander of the SRM Carrier was made Lieutenant JG, to act as Hovi’s XO. Billy Kaine was promoted to Lieutenant SG in recognition of his combat performance and was Nova’s XO.

The next order of business was restocking the unit. Albus and John worked hard on it, and Outreach’s position as a premier hiring hall for mercenaries meant that contacts for much of what they needed was readily available. By the 5th of August, everything they could acquire had been delivered. Despite this, their limited reputation meant that there was also much off-limits – heavy weapons such as large lasers and PPCs were one thing, but more Jump Jets for the Phoenix Hawk was also frustratingly hard to find.



The Dragoons still rated them as a D-ranked outfit. Their lower levels of support and the outstanding debt worked against them.

Two contracts were available for the unit, one from the Draconis Combine targeting the Federated Commonwealth. The second from the Federated Commonwealth, launching a retaliatory raid against the Capellan Confederation.

The contract from the Draconis Combine was discarded quickly. It called for a raid on the nearby planet of Lipton, guarded by a full FedCom RCT. The defenders were considered Elite ranked in experience.

The other contract was far more appealing. It called for a series of strikes on the world of Masterson, facing the Liao’s Fifth McCarron’s Armored Cavalry. The mercenaries would once again be detailed against Green-ranked opponents, something that they needed as they still had most of their ‘Mech forces in the Training Command.

Best of all, the contract promised 70% salvage rights on all kills, and 10% Battle Loss Compensation.



On the 9th of October, the Iron Brotherhood landed on Masterson to begin Operation Blue Paladin.

[Knave]

Thanks for the promotion, Chief! Won't let you down *salute*

And 70% salvage? That's a spicy meatball for sure. I imagine we'll be walking away with a lot of shiny loot for sure. Sounds like we should grab as many techs as we can, I have a feeling like they'll be busy fixing (or scrapping) lots of new toys.

I remember once I rolled an op with 100% salvage rights. That was a fun campaign, was sad when their morale broke and they stopped sending us free stuff 

[NickAragua]

They're D-rated, so we're not going to get any real cool toys, but it's a pretty good contract anyway. Although if you see a Defender II, try to shoot it down, those have Artemis IV systems, which we can install in our aircraft or mechs.

[Knave]

They're D-rated, so we're not going to get any real cool toys, but it's a pretty good contract anyway. Although if you see a Defender II, try to shoot it down, those have Artemis IV systems, which we can install in our aircraft or mechs.

Did I say Shiny Loot? I definitely meant rusted and held together with bubble-gum. 

[A Thing]

Even rusted crap is worth it for those c-bills/scrap. Also, Kobayashi's Crows is a pretty solid name.

[EuchreJack]

@EuchreJack:

Yeah, that's my one regret for not playing a later era. I love plasma rifles in a somewhat unhealthy fashion. They make infantry, battlearmor and vehicles simply disappear. They hit as hard as a PPC, while inflicting extra heat (though to be perfectly honest, almost anything running double heatsinks won't be too inconvenienced unless its a massively under-cooled design.)

For Special Missions such as Star League Cache or Ambush, that's all handled by Against the Bot.

The infantry, artillery and air support rules are from a beta update to the AtB rules in the excel file.

Artillery for Infantry use the artillery (one piece maximum) as their squad weapon. I have the 'Artillery as a separate skill' turned on for this game, which is why I'm training them to standard levels of skill, because I'd like the artillery to actually land somewhat close to on target.

Where could I get a copy of the beta update?  I've been eager to see an update to the AtB rule for a while.  Is it a new excel, forum posts, or what?

[Hanzoku]

@NickAragua: I'll stick Ragu on them. Speaking from the future, she has an amazing ability to land crippling anti-air hits. That said, Artemis IV FCS aren't actually all that amazing, because you need Artemis IV missiles to go with them or they do nothing.

As an aside, that's also why NARC systems are utter trash. You need NARC-enabled missiles to take advantage of the beacons. Yes, this is mutually exclusive with Artemis IV missiles, and an additional logistical headache at the MekHQ level of things. They should have just had those abilities baked into the regular missiles, or an option to do so.

@Knave and A Thing: Yeah, lots of salvage is perfect for getting us to a cash flush situation. That'd let us buy any assault-weight 'Mechs that come on the market, or lease a DropShip so we have some more integral support.

@EuchreJack: Check your PMs. I'm not spreading it around widely because I don't think the original authors have released it themselves yet.