COMPLETED: In Defense of the Confederation (December, 3023 - February, 3024)

In Defense of the Confederation

Date: December, 3023
Employer: House Liao
Contract Type: Defensive Campaign
Contract Location: Planet of Jasmine, Capellan Confederation
Command Rights: House
Overhead: 33%
Salvage: 25%
Repair: 100%
Contract Length: 3 months
Base Pay: 3*

Two Months ago, the 5th Marik Milita conducted a planetary assault on the Cappellan world of Jasmine. The Marik forces easily defeated the planetary militia, but the mopping up operations lasted long enough for Liao to land the House Imara warrior regiment on planet. Since the arrival of the fanatic Warrior House, the fighting has grown into a stalemate, with each of the combatants holding approximately 50% of the planet. Neither Marik, nor Liao are willing to throw any more House units into a conflict over the relatively unimportant world of Jasmine. They are, however, willing to hire small Mercenary units to do their dirty work, and hopefully break the stalemate.

House Liao is offering a contract to reinforce the House Imara Warrior House and remnants of the Jasmine planetary Militia. In addition to the stated pay and salvage rights, House Imara is also offering any Mercenary units that takes employment with the Capellan Confederation, one fully functional Vindicator VND-1R Battlemech per full month of service.

After taking care of unit business on Solaris, Scooby's Scrappers load up into their dropship once more, headed for another of the seemingly endless hotspots in the Inner Sphere. This time, it is a small planet on the Marik-Liao frontier named Jasmine. The trip through KF space is uneventful, which is a good thing because eventful trips through KF space usually mean you die!

Arrival on planet is uncontested, although a few Marik Aerospace fighters come just outside of the Union class dropships PPC array. They are quickly chased off by some friendly Liao fighter jocks. From orbit you wouldn't think that a fierce struggle is taking place for control of this world, although you know that the situation on the ground is anything but calm. The assault of the 5th Marik Militia has stalled due to the arrival of the Veteran units of the Imara Warrior House. Although the Marik forces still outnumber the Warrior House, Imara's skill and dedication have thus far allowed them to hold off the Eagle's advance.

At present each side holds a roughly equal number of population centers and other strategic points of interest. Scooby's Scrappers are directed to land near the city of Gardenia, more of a trading camp by the standards of the rest of the Inner Sphere, but on Jasmine, Gardenia is a population Hub. On this contract, you are under House Command, which means Colonel Winnfield reports directly to an Imara Battalion commander named Colonel Yi Zhuang. The initial meeting is a bit akward as neither is sure who should salute first due to Winnfield's outrageous assumption of a Colonel's Rank, even though he only commands a Company. Once the military honors are sorted out, Colonel Yi gets down to business,

"Your unit is being moved immedietly to a defensive position on the Lim River. This is a potential weakspot in the Gardenia defense as this point in the river is spanned by a massive double bridge that the Marik forces could use to funnel untold number of units down on Gardenia. An engineering company will be sent along with the Scrappers to lay minefields at your direction. Do NOT mine the bridge or the roads as these are essential to the, hopefully, remergent economy of the town, and possibly to our own troop deployments at a future date. I suggest you leave a few units, your armor and infantry assets perhaps, as a rear guard near the city. Hold the bridge if practicable until relieved, but don't squander the battle readiness of your unit. The bridge is important, but we are already outnumbered and this is going to be a long battle. Any questions?"

GM Notes: You will be able to deploy 2 Lances and your precious helicopter to the bridge. Your units will be able to enter the game anywhere on the map, but be mindful about being cut-off. If you choose to retreat you may only do so to the south side of the map within 6 hexes of the roads. You will be able to place 10 vibramine and 10 conventional minefields anywhere on the map. Below is an orbital surveillance image of your deployment zone.

Game note: Chuck, if we use mines, make sure you write down what hex they are in and send that to Pete, Chris and myself in case we have to save the battle and encounter the same glitch Eric had where he couldn't see where the mines are after we resumed the game.

Damn! Thats a fast construction crew... Any idea what the birds might send at us? Is there any chance they come from that little island with the new bridge?

The 'new' construction isn't 'new'. The original photo was several years old and the area had changed significantly. Get used to the screwed up technology of the 31st Century.

The road to the little Island doubles back across the smaller tributary, so you should not expect enemy incursion from that direction.

Barely one day after you have settled into your defensive positions around the critical bridge, you are informed by Colonel Yi that a full company of Mechs from the 5th Marik Milita, supported by a long-range vehicle lance, are approaching your AO;

"This will be a difficult battle Mercenary. I hope you have deployed your units in a tactically sound perimiter. My only regret is that we must depend on you to hold the approach to Gardenia."

Colonel,

Should we bring Vincent up in the Crusader or Catapult for additional fire support?

Captain Ghent

You get 2 Lances to defend the bridge plus the Helicopter if you want it. If you bring Vincent up somebody else stays behind. Also, Lieutenant McKenna is probably pretty pissed off right about now seeing as how you have had that SL Crusader sitting in mothballs for 3 months while he is lumbering around in his rickety 3025 model.

Appologies for the Map SNAFU. I have recreated the map and we will commence with the same scenario next week. It isn't quite as pretty but the new map will allow you to jump onto the bridge, move across it without elevation penalties and not put mech's into the water. The 'save as image' function doesn't seem to be working so I'll email the new map to everyone so you can plot strategerie.

After being releived by an armor Batallion of the Jasmine militia, Scooby's Scrappers are free to return to Gardenia to repair and recupperate. While putting your Mechs back into fighting trim, you hear of the success House Imara has had pushing the southern flank of the 5th Marik Milita deep into their own lines. To fully exploit the disorganization of the Marik forces, House Imara Mech units have been forced to bypass pockets of resistance in furtherance of the overall strategic objectives. This means scattered units are still operating in the rear of the Confederations front lines. Although not a threat to combat units, the Marik stragglers are posing quite a threat to the logistical elements of the Liao military. Resupply lines are no longer safe for cargo vehicles to go un-escorted, and as you may have guessed, as the resident Mercenary Scum in the area you are being put to convoy escort duty. As Colonel Yi Zhuang puts it to 'Colonel' Winnfield:

"Although you have, suprisingly, held your own thus far in this conflict, I cannot, in good conscience, pull true warriors of the Capellan Confederation off the front lines to guard supply vehicles. For the time being, you are tasked with escorting our ammunition and repair vehicles from Gardenia to the fighting regiments of the southern flank. Supply runs are conducted twice daily. The round trip is approximately 6 hours, although that may obviously change as the front line is fluid. You must deploy at least one lance of Battlemechs (or the equivalent) to guard each convoy. Although some losses are expected, it is imperative that a majority of the vehicles reach the front line regiments for this offensive to continue. Do you have any questions?"

GM NOTE: I will need a schedule of convoy guards that extends for a 2 week time period. There are 2 convoys a day. You can do it however you wish with the following caveats: Any units that run 2 missions a day will begin to fatigue. For every consecutive day a unit runs 2 missions it's effective Piloting or Gunnery will increase by 1. To be determined randomly, if and when combat occurs. Knowing you guys like I do, any unit that runs 2 missions per day for more than 3 consecutive days has a chance to experience a pilot error catastrophe, severity to be determined randomly.

90% of the supply vehicles must reach the front-line for the mission to be a success.
75% of the supply vehicles must return to Gardenia for the mission to be a success.

CONVOY RESULTS:

Day 1: No attacks, 14 Convoy Vehicles successfully escorted.
Day 2: Outbound Attack by 1 Whitworth, 1 Hermes, 4 Galleon Tanks. 1 Galleon Tank Destroyed (No Salvage). 13 Convoy Vehicles successfully escorted, 2 Convoy Vehicles Lost
Day 3: Outbound Attack by 1 Wolverine, 2 Scimitar Hover Tanks, 3 Motorized Laser Infantry, 2 Jump SRM Infantry. 1 Scimitar Hover Tank Destroyed (No Salvage), 2 Motorized Laser Infantry killed, 2 Jump SRM Infantry killed, 12 Convoy Vehicles successfully escorted, 1 Convoy Vehicle lost.
Day 4: No attacks, 13 Convoy Vehicles successfully escorted.
Day 5:

*** Part 7 ***
Capellan Free Press
Mount Huangshan, Gardenia
Marik raiders assaulted the home of Qui Yen Chi a local businessman just days before the ratification of the armistice. It is unknown why Mr. Chi was considered a target for the Marik invaders. The Free Worlds League delegates on Jasmine refrained from commenting on the situation. Meng Huang, mayor of Gardenia is outraged by the attack and is demanding reparations to the family of Mr. Chi. He was quoted holding a machine gun shell casing above his head "These are not the actions of allies! Someone must pay for these acts of violence against our people!" Further investigation revealed that the casing held by Mayer Huang was indeed a product of the Free Worlds League and included in the munitions that were supplied to the 5th Marik Militia units for their actions on Jasmine.