Contract begins: 8 September, 3045
Pella II, Capellan Confederation
8 SeptemberUnit CO assigns the following Roles:
Alpha Company (Defend)
...Dunedain
...Reaper
...Bright
Bravo Company (Fight)
...Dancer
...Freya
...Crusher
Charlie (Scout)
...Ice
...Skaraborg
Delta (Training)
...Kong
...Dragon
22 SeptemberMISSION: Hold the Line (Defender) -
Reaper Kong and Dunedain
RESULT: Victory. Contract Score raised to 2.
After-Action Report: Entering danger close distance at 0945 hours, Capellan forces moved in force to hit the Rangers almost as soon as the unit had staged on the ground. Reaper Lance was downchecked due to mechanical faults, but Kong Lance was able to step up into the breach, and Kong and Dunedain counterattacked aggressively into the Capellan advance. A swirling melee ensued over almost a square kilometer of ground; a few light units broke through the Ranger line, but weren't heavy enough to seriously threaten the landing zone and were swiftly driven off. Dragon and Skaraborg Lance entered the combat zone from the south and turned the enemy flank, though LT Freeman of Dragon Lance pushed too hard and was himself overrun by reinforcing Capellan units and his Cataphract taken to the ground and out of action. The face-to-face melee incured significant damage to Dunedain and Dragon Lances, and Kong Lance, while taking no casualties, was hit hard by a Capellan airstrike. The Capellans were driven off after absorbing heavy casualties, but only grudgingly; they knew the battle had very nearly been theirs. Minor salvage was taken and mostly kept for sale; an SRM carrier and a Falcon were earmarked for disposal. A damaged Catapult was earmarked for stripping-down by Crusher Lance, and a nigh-undamaged Striker was captured with its cockpit shot out and added to the Unit Reserve.
22 SeptemberMISSION: Stand-Up (Attacker) - Freya and Dancer
RESULT: Victory. Contract Score raised to 4.
After-Action Report: As the dispatched as a reconaissance-in-force, Freya and Dancer Lances moved north through Jian Ban Se City. On the fringes of the city's tiny DropPort, they ran directly into a reinforced company of Capellan troops performing a counter-flanking maneuver to hit the Ranger LZ while their main attention was concentrated on the 0945 attack. A traditional meeting engagement ensued, with medium-weight forces engaging in a swirling inter-city melee while the third-man-in reinforcement lance of each company maneuvered aggressively to the flank once the enemy had been fixed in place. A central group of veteran Capellan troops proved troublesome for the Ranger forces to dislodge; with indecisive airstrikes inconveniencing both forces, both reinforcement lances entered the battle area and jumped almost directly into the street fight. The foggy conditions proved decisive in the Ranger victory; very few Capellan units were jump jet-equipped, and so had to move much more carefully to avoid fouling their own machines on the terrain. The Rangers were able to turn the western flank just about the time Bright Lance entered the battlefield from the east. While the Rangers were unable to complete the envelopment, they did force the surviving Capellans into a fixed pocket. A Capellan officer attempted to force the withdrawl of the Ranger forces by threatening to execute SGT Omar Timmons as he lay unconscious in his Grasshopper, but the terms the Capellans demanded were so unreasonable that LT Hartmann refused, and all nearby units converged on the Capellan Ostsol in an attempt to save their comrade, but in vain. SGT Timmonds was killed by multiple laser strikes to the cockpit, and the Capellan MechWarrior was shot out of his Mech and captured. At this, the remaining Capellans offered to quit the field unconditionally, as long as they were granted safe passage back to their own lines. LT Hartmann accepted, and the Capellans withdrew, leaving the Rangers in control of the city defending their flank. Salvage was significant: a Grasshopper with a destroyed head was taken by Freya Lance, and a damaged Ostsol was assigned to Dancer. An Ace Capellan MechWarrior was also captured by Freya Lance's SGT Boyle. Bright Lance was given a prisoner to ransom or otherwise dispose of - the same MechWarrior who murdered their lancemate.
24 SeptemberMISSION: Convoy Attack (Attacker) - Ice and Skaraborg
RESULT: Victory. Contract Score raised to 6.
After-Action Report: Freya, Ice, Reaper, and Skaraborg Lances dropped on the column with minimal ill effect. Reaper and a section from Ice Lance dropped behind the column with the intent to cut off their retreat, while the remaining forces dropped a half-kilometer in front of the column to seal it in and, if necessary, destroy the Rim Canyon Bridge. Tactical response from the Capellans was confused, Reaper and the Ice Detachment pulled off almost the entire BattleMech escort, leaving the leading units of the column to come under fire from a demi-company of concentrated fire just south of the bridge. The Cappellans did not attempt to power through the ambush, nor circle the wagons, but instead split the difference and got the worst of both worlds. Two-thirds of the supply column was chewed up a few units at a time as they came near the bridge, the remainder of the column (including the Demolishers which did not fire a shot before being destroyed) bunkered up near a copse of trees about 300 meters south of the FEBA. Meanwhile the escort was isolated and heavily reduced in detail by the combined Reaper and Ice Detachment. A few escort units moved up the Eastern Ridgeline in an attempt to flank and break Skaraborg's blocking force, but LT Elsa Hartmann in her Grasshopper intercepted and bagged an entire Star League-vintage Highlander and a rare advanced-tech Capellan Cataphract. The mission was judged as a near-textbook operation and would be remembered as a wild success. A ZEU-6S Zeus with its head shot away and the aforementioned Highlander would constitute the salvage for the Rangers. Meanwhile, the pilot of the Highlander bartered with Elsa Hartmann for his release: he informed her of the location of the small Star League-era depot where he'd recovered the Highlander, and Elsa set out at once for the location.
1 OctoberUnit receives contract payment of $2,816,209 CB.
Each PC adds $187,747 CB to their warehouse. Unit adds $938,745 CB.
All lances deduct Monthly operating costs
15 OctoberMISSION: Star League Cache 1 - Freya
RESULT: Victory. Spector exchanged with employer for a Wasp WSP-100A LAM.
After-Action Report: Short enemy Heavy lance surprised LT Hartmann and MSGT Grace Park while they were in startup procedures for an advanced-tech Spector within a Cache storage building (Solaris Factory Map). Heavy fog had crept into the facility through the open cargo doors, and with power out the darkness turned out to be LT Hartmann's ally. Moving aggressively forward between the freestanding support structures, she was able to isolate and know over the enemy Warhammer. While spotlit and taking moderate armor damage from the enemy Archer, she was able to knock out the Rifleman's searchlights and put the arena back to darkness and cover. Once that happened, LT Hartmann used the superior mobility of her Grasshopper to isolate and destroy each enemy unit while taking only minor further damage herself. All enemy Mechs were destroyed via ammunition explosion and so no further salvage was available, though enemy Warhammer pilot Sylvie Callahan was captured.
30 OctoberMISSION: Ace Duel - Skaraborg
RESULT: Victory.
After-Action Report: Skaraborg Lance's SGT Henrik Oduya took his Phoenix Hawk against Capellan Dervish Ace Brandi Chen in a wide-ranging battle which covered almost two full square kilometers. Both Mechs moved so much that accurate fire was difficult-to-impossible. While Chen's fire was more accurate than Oduya's, her ammo bins ran low before she could concentrate enough damage to cripple the Phoenix Hawk. With one of the Phoenix Hawk's legs stripped of armor, she moved into a large lake to keep him at range, but in the process crippled her own mobility and only made herself an easier target. She recovered from the error by moving back to land, but at this point was so badly damaged she was unable to stop Oduya from exploiting his Mech's superior jumping mobility and closing in, concentrating on a single leg, and kicking it off. She blacked out when her Mech collapsed under her, and both she and her Dervish were captured.
30 OctoberMISSION: Breakthrough (Attacker) - Dancer and Kong
RESULT: Victory. Contract Score raised to 9.
After-Action Report: Prosecuting a flanking move against the militia group holding the Capellan eastern flank, Dancer and Kong Lance drove forward in the midst of a raging snowstorm, with Dragon Lance providing support. The weather conditions so discomfited the OPFOR that they had a difficult time mounting effective resistance, as Kong's scout units discovered and avoided their initial line of minefields and ambush units. In their aggression, Dancer and Dragon units ignored LT Blunch's commands to let her scout units lead the way, and by rights would have blundered into the second line of defending units, but sheer dumb luck smiled upon them and they avoided a 300-m square minefield by happy chance. As the breakthrough continued, the worsening ice conditions and high winds combined to ensure that a mech which fell would not regain its feet, but at this point it was too little, too late for the Capellan milita. Reduced well under 50% strength, they radioed their command in panic that the full attacking company had broken through their lines (in reality, only a half-dozen Medium Mechs had done so), but this apparent collapse of their weak flank forced the hand of the Capellan commanders. They withdrew to their final redoubt just south of the city of Landing. Damage was slight for the Rangers; Dragon Lance's Vindicator was severely damaged and may well be judged a total loss, but no pilots were killed. However, due to the speed of the advance and the lack of desire to expose salvage crews to temperatures below -40 C, no salvage was taken (nor worth taking, if truth be told).
1 NovemberUnit receives contract payment of $2,816,209 CB.
Each PC adds $187,747 CB to their warehouse. Unit adds $938,745 CB.
All lances deduct Monthly operating costs
1 NovemberMISSION: Big Battle: Ally Rescue - Bright and Dunedain
RESULT: Victory. Contract score raised to 11.
After-Action Report: The Rangers were tasked with an emergency response; a portion of the St Lives Lancer diversionary force had been separated from its parent unit by a bridge collapse and were holed up in a mid-sized mining town with a heavy Capellan force bearing down on them. The St Ives main body would be unable to return to their DropShips and lift to reinforce in time, and the St Ives liaison asked MAJ Saultier if the Rangers would save the trapped force. The Rangers assented and Dunedain, Bright, and Reaper Lances moved out at best speed, with the St Ives forces being ordered to hold their positions until the Rangers arrived. The battle swirled around the town in the darkness; the Capellans brought a heavyweight company to bear, but the darkness slowed their advance sufficiently that, while they had pressed the St Ives forces to the absolute limit, the Capellans were unable to obliterate the trapped scouts before the Rangers arrived and turned the tide of battle against the dark-scattered Capellan units. The St Ives scouts were very nearly wiped out; only 3 Mechs made it off the battlefield and there were significant hard feelings from the St Ives forces that the Rangers could have sent faster units and relieved the pressure sooner. The Rangers took no casualties, and the Capellans retreated from the field, leaving a full heavy lance to be salvaged by the Rangers come daybreak.
2 NovemberMISSION: Prisoner Rescue - Dancer
RESULT: Victory.
After-Action Report: LT Benton Mudd was chopped to investigate suspicious comms static and ran headlong into a group of defecting Capellan militia, escaping from their cantonment. They were pursued hotly by a Commissariat demi-lance consisting of an Enforcer, a customized Shadow Hawk, and a Cicada, Mudd maneuvered to intercept the Mech forces and ordered the militia's Kyudo pilot to maintain a close watch on the civilian vehicles, with a warning that he would be calling for point-blank artillery support from the Thumper carrier. He engaged in a swirling battle with the Enforcer and Cicada, destroying both and salvaging the Enforcer. The Shadow Hawk was torn to shreds as it cleared the woodline, suffering several direct centerline hits from the artillery piece and the accompanying primitive Mech. Dancer 1 suffered minimal damage and estimated he could be ready for action within 4 hours. Dancer 1 and the civilian units RTB'd; their cargo included a Beagle Probe (intended for a Capellan Raven) donated gratefully to Dancer Lance, and a disspossed Capellan MechWarrior offered the LT his services.
2 NovemberRANDOM EVENT
Report: LT MUDD was the target of a Death Commando assassination attempt. The assassin slipped into the cantonment unseen and planned to kill LT Mudd in his bed. However, both he and the LT were surprised as Lt Mudd was walking back from the latrine at the moment the assassin entered the room through the window. Staring at each other for a fraction of a second, both of them clawed for a sidearm. The Death Commando got of the first shot, striking Lt Mudd in the shoulder and dealing (7-4 = MoF 3) 3 pilot hits worth of damage to the good Lieutenant. However, the immediate reaction to the gunshots by your infantry security detail was the smack the base alarm, and the assassin fled before being able to finish the job.
LT BLUNCH was the target of an abduction attempt. In the classic "drive up in the windowless van and jump out and grab somebody" ploy, assailants unknown attempted a snatch-and-grab on Iva early the following morning. LT Blunch managed to fight free, draw a sidearm, and both kill (roll: 11) and severely wound (roll: 8.) the two assailants; the driver escaped through a hail of long-range laser fire from the Mech on security detail. The wounded assailant suicided before a response team could arrive; there were no recovered documents, and the only marking on him was a tattoo on his clavicle showing a flaming circle, with a black chess pawn in front of it. LT Blunch revealed that it was likely members of a Capellan Warrior House had tried to abduct her, for reasons unknown.
2 NovemberMISSION: Base Attack (Attacker) - Freya, Skaraborg, and Ice
RESULT: Victory. Contract score raised to 13.
After-Action Report: The destruction of the Capellan heavy company the day before left a hole in their lines, and the Rangers were quick to take advantage, sacrificing flank security and plunging forward on the attack in an effort to shatter the defenders once and for all. Skaraborg pulled a Star League-vintage Highlander from the unit reserve and demonstrated on the right flank, pinning down the heavy elements of the Capellan defenders. On the left flank, Ice Lance obliterated a convoy of civilian military contractors who were late in fleeing the battle and opened fire on Ice Lance in panic. Freya moved straight up the center, engaging a Capellan medium and heavy lance in hide-and-seek firing among the buildings at the edge of the base while steadily closing range. On the center and left, the Capellans counter-attacked with mobile forces, which resulted in singles and pairs of Mechs leaping into coordinated fire from entire Rangers lances. Skaraborg Lance held steady on the right, and while an unfortunate critical hit destroyed the Gauss Rifle in the Highlander and severely injured SGT Oduya, they kept up a steady long-range fire against the Capellan heavy fire support units. Capellan air units made a daring attack against the Ranger artillery laager which was narrowly turned aside by LTJG Clark in her Transit, and this proved to be invaluable; the artillery leveled the non-critical target support building, shutting down the control network for the Capellan minefields. Just about at the time Freya Lance was about to engage in close combat with the defenders in the center, the second part of the Ranger plan came together, and Dunedain Lance and Crusher Lance hot-dropped onto the south center section of the battlefield, mousetrapping the Capellan center defense lances neatly, and turning the flank of the Capellan heavy support lance engaged with Skaraborg. Crusher Lance diverted to engage OPFOR reinforcements emerging from the basement of a massive building, which let up the pressure on the heavy support lance, which itself was pushing forward in an attempt to close with Skaraborg and turn the Ranger right flank, but LT Hartmann and SGT Montgomery of Freya Lance counterattached to the Ranger's right, relieving the pressure on Skaraborg and splitting the attacking Capallans fire; Hartmann engaged and destroyed alone the Capellan Awesome, which left two Crusaders to be sequentially engaged and swarmed by the trio of Skaraborg assault-class Mechs. On the left flank, a wild melee between Ice Lance and a Capellan cavalry lance wound down, which freed the attached St Ives forces to push forward into the base and secure the target structures and their personnel, completing the objective of the mission and the contract.
2 November: Contract EndsUnit receives $9,684,000 for Transport Costs. No further contract payments are due. Any Lance Leader who had a unit Completely Destroyed received a BLC payout of 60% of the BASE VALUE of the Mech, not including any customizations you've made to it.
Career/Soldier rolls for employer bonuses/decorations: TN 10MAJ Saltier +3
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 5, 4, total 9
LT Hartmann +4
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 5, 4, total 9
LT Blunch +1
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 3, 6, total 9
LT Breisacher +1
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 6, 3, total 9
LT Sharpe +1
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 3, 1, total 4
LT Mudd +1
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 6, 1, total 7
LT Brightsword +2
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 1, 3, total 4
LT Freeman +1
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 3, 6, total 9
LT Kronwall +2
This dice roll has been tampered with!Rolled 2d6 : 1, 3, total 4
CONTRACT VICTORY
--TimberwolfD--
--End of Contract bonus to units that fought in this contract = 800,000 (all but Midnight Lance, which didn't participate in this contract)--
--Exclude the Hat!--
Author
Topic: Operation RUNNING HORSE, September - December 3045 (Read 3797 times)