Part 455: Political Vote 17 and Battleforce Vote
Political Vote 17“The key is Chatham.”
Hanse Davion waved a gloved hand through the holotank before letting it rest on his rounding belly. The world in question glowed the angry red-orange he’d chosen to represent the Hell’s Horses—a heavily industrialized world secured by the Clans in the wake of Luthien’s fall—at a time when more DCMS soldiers died committing suicide out of grief than did fighting the Great Enemy. A dozen Warlords and March Lords watched Hanse with expressions ranging from interest to distrustful hatred. But they payed attention—even Marcus Kurita, the Warlord of Pesht and a man who might be very well placed to replace Takashi if Hanse weren’t in his way.
“An interesting observation,” Minobu Tetsuhara, Galedon’s newly-appointed Warlord interjected. His dark, taciturn features were perhaps the most hopeful of the men assembled, but his quiet dignity betrayed little. “I believe I understand where this is leading, but I wish to hear it from your own lips.”
Hanse smiled. “Of course, Warlord. I’ve always hoped for a chance to take Luthien.”
His words brought an angry glare from Marcus Kurita even as the bold declaration coaxed a laugh from Field Marshal Sandoval. Hanse continued as though he’d been uninterrupted.
“ The Jade Falcon advance has been critically slowed by our advance into their supply lines.The Goliath Scorpions have proven more resilient but I won’t commit forces to oppose them directly as long as they continue to focus their efforts on the Lyran border. Which we’ve largely abandoned. The Hell’s Horses have stopped their advance completely and I believe that taking Luthien pushed them to the limit of their capacity to wage war. I don’t intend to give them time to fortify Luthien. We are going to take it, and so Chatham is key.”
Hanse waved his hand again. “We need Chatham’s industry to equip, repair, and rearm our forces both before, during, and after our counter-invasion. And we need to retake Luthien before the morale of the DCMS collapses completely. To that end, we need a stopgap: no soldier of the Draconis Suns will be allowed to commit seppuku without the express permission of a man in this room.”
“Our soldiers will not stand for that,” Marcus Kurita spat bitterly.
“We need soldiers now, not Ronin,” Hanse countered, spearing Marcus Kurita with a glare. Hanse’s eyes were as “Kurita Blue” as Takashi’s had been, and the brief look seemed to strike Marcus like a PPC. “Any man who is unwilling to do his part brings a greater shame to his family than any battlefield loss. Only careful, methodical organization, logistics, and feats of battlefield competence will restore the Draconis Combine’s honor. Suicide simply makes things worse.”
Hirushi Shotugama, the melancholy Warlord of Benjamin, shook his head. “A bold plan,” he placated, “but we haven’t the troops. It will take months or years to assemble a force large enough to push the Clans from Chatham, much less Luthien.”
Hanse smiled, “And yet, I was able to bolster your defenders with Federated Suns troops within months of being named Coordinator. Gentlemen, allow me to share a secret I’d hoped to turn on you—or that monster, Maximillian,” he turned back to the Holotank, spreading his arms wide as the scene changed to a star and JumpShip. The JumpShip flashed, appeared in the orbit of another Star where a second JumpShip waited. The DropShips transferred, and the second ship vanished in a flash—appearing before a third star and repeating the process again and again. The assembled Warlords watched with rapt attention, while Hanse’s own Field Marshalls were a little more smug.
“I call this a Command Circuit. With our JumpShips arranged in such a fashion, we can move troops across the whole of the Draconis Suns in weeks.” Hanse held his arms open again. “We do have the troops. The question is, who do we send?”
“The Draconis Suns Regimental Combat Teams,” Minobu Tetsuhara was the first to offer.
“Ha!” Marcus Kurita roared, “They’re green. What good could those bastard regiments do?”
“They’re assembled from regiments from both sides,” Tetsuhara countered. “And this victory is one that needs to be shared between the Draconis Combine and the Federated Suns. If we send DCMS troops and lose, we will sacrifice the last of our morale—if we send DCMS troops and win, we will anger the AFFS. If we send the new mixed regiments, success will show our ability to work together.”
“If they fail,” Marcus countered, “they may doom the whole of the Draconis Suns.”
Hanse’s voice was soft, but serious. “If they fail, we will have been doomed regardless. We’ll send all four of the Draconis Suns RCTs. They just need someone to lead them.”
Who should lead the Draconis Suns Regimental Combat Teams on Chatham?
1) Field Marshal Duke James Sandoval
2) Warlord Marcus Kurita
3) Warlord Minobu Tetsuhara
4) Warlord Hirushi Shotugama
5) Warlord Kester Hsiun Chi
6) Theodore Kurita
7) Ardan Sortek
Combat Theater Vote:
PTN’s note: We’re going to Chatham, and I’ve got a fun scenario I call “Sludge Factory” set up for the occasion! Since this ties closely into the political vote I felt it better to offer this now.
First things first, our map:
PTN’s note: It’s a pretty straightforward Inner Sphere vs. Clans battle involving primarily tanks rather than BattleMech forces. I really like the balance between IS and Clan vehicles, I think that if the Clan `Mechs had been balanced more like their tanks they would’ve been better received. Players have never controlled tanks as a primary combat tool in the LP before, so I’ve made a quick document to help:
Tank Battle Primer: in general work a little differently from BattleMechs. They’re more vulnerable to critical hits and even the toughest of them can fold instantly under a small laser hit.
- Tanks get 1 bonus MP (they can move 1 hex further) if they start their turn on a road and travel along that road for the entire turn.
- It costs vehicles 1 extra MP to move uphill, and unlike BattleMechs they can only go up 1 elevation level at a time. So traveling from height 1 to height 2 costs 3 mp total, rather than the 2 points it’d cost a BattleMech. This penalty doesn’t apply to traveling downhill.
- Tracked tanks can enter light woods and rough terrain, wheeled tanks and hovercraft can’t.
- Hovertanks can travel over water, wheeled and tracked tanks can’t.
- VTOLs can travel over anything, and can change their elevation relatively freely.
- Both Hovertanks and VTOLs risk going out of control (either skidding or side-slipping) if they turn while moving too quickly. This is harder to avoid the further they’ve moved in a single turn—be careful of map-outs!
- LB-X Autocannons firing cluster munitions are a nightmare to face in a tank, they will ruin your day. Respect them.
PTN’s Note: Rather than mandating forces for the mission, the players are going to be given a great deal of control over what forces they bring to the fight and will be able to pick units that fit their playstyle. I will then tailor my forces to make an exciting match. That’s where the BattleForce Vote comes in, but before I ask you to make a choice I’m going to briefly discuss our options.
Inner Sphere tanks tend to be very slow, but durable. The most heavily armored Clan tank, the 100 ton Mars Assault Vehicle, has comparable armor to the 65 ton Patton tank used by the Inner Sphere. Most Inner Sphere tanks are also tracked, but they do have a few reliable wheeled (AKA: bad) and hovertanks as well. Inner Sphere tanks are usually better played defensively, fighting a war of attrition and slowly wearing down their opponents with firepower or lucky shots. Inner Sphere tanks tend to be unforgiving to play and their low mobility makes them harder for a newer player to leverage. Unfortunately, they also fit my LP playstyle like a glove.
Clan tanks tend to be fast and fragile with moderate-to-excessive levels of firepower. The
Combat Theater Vote:
Who do we fight as?
A) 1st Draconis Suns Regimental Combat Team
B) Clan Hell’s Horses Delta Galaxy “The Lightning Riders” - 71st Mechanized Cavalry Cluster “Thunderstrike”