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TM
A bAttletech historicAl sourcebooks compAnion
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      INCONCEIVABLE
HAMAR VALLEY
MISERY, DRACONIS COMBINE
17 MAY 3028
puter didn’t claim a hit. It was too far to tell. Rowe called up the last attack’s
recordings.
Fifteen missiles.
He’s got to be short of ammo
. He looked at the recharge indi-
cator on the PPC—still red—but smiled nonetheless.
I don’t run out of ammo
.
Rowe leaned the
Panther
into the wind, trusting the computer not to put its
foot wrong. The heat from his
ring disappeared quickly into the frigid Misery
air. The PPC beeped ready. The red icon on his HUD moved to his left, away
from the boulder. He adjusted his course. Alarms rang. More missiles
ickered
in the snow. Several impacted the boulder’s wall, sending chunks of ice the
size of the
Panther
’s head crashing to the snow-covered
oor. Rowe adjusted
his aim, held his
re.
There
. The blue-painted
Trebuchet
was suddenly there, as if the wind had
shifted and blown all the snow out of the way. Rowe laughed viciously and
red. The Lord’s Light took the
Trebuchet
low in the chest, blasting armor
free and rocking the
fty-ton ’Mech back. The Dragoon
red back, ruby-red
medium lasers. One of them burned at the armor over the
Panther
’s left shin.
Rowe ignored it. He was within 200 meters—even if the Dragoon had the mis-
siles left, they’d soon be too inaccurate to matter.
The PPC chimed. Rowe
red, again taking the
Trebuchet
in the chest. The
Dragoon reversed his movement, trying to open the range. The
Trebuchet
could walk backward almost as fast as Rowe could advance. The
Panther
’s
throttles were already at the stops. Rowe leaned forward, straining against his
restraints. The Dragoon’s medium lasers
ickered—two hit him, left arm and
right leg. He ignored it again.
His PPC hit the
Trebuchet
again in the right torso, blasting the last of its
armor away and nearly coring it through. The Dragoon clapped the ’Mech’s
arm against its side and kept backing away. Rowe shouted in triumph—
cow-
ard
! Fifteen tons the
Trebuchet
had on him and the child at the controls was
running away. He triggered the short-range missile launcher in the
Panther
’s
chest, but all four missiles missed.
The wind picked up again as the
Trebuchet
cleared the rear side of the
boulder—it was more than a hundred meters long, boulder may not have
been the right word, and part of Rowe wondered why he was thinking about
that—and the snow concealed the ’Mech. He
red again, but without a target
more substantial than an icon on his HUD he missed. He kept moving forward,
hoping for a break in the snow. One or two more shots… the snow cleared.
A silver-painted
Stalker
all but congealed out of the snow. Rowe jerked his
controls, throwing the
Panther
to the side. Two large lasers stabbed at the
Pan-
ther
’s chest, denuding it. Rowe screamed at the injustice—
the
Trebuchet!—but
kicked his jump jets, angling up and back. Another ’Mech appeared, a silver
Shogun
. Missiles. More lasers. The
Panther
came down hard, stumbled. It fell.
The
Trebuchet
appeared then, sprinting forward, arms
ailing, smoke whis-
pering from its torso. Rowe stabbed the PPC into the ground, trying to force
the
Panther
upright. The
Trebuchet
came on, near-sliding, and drew its foot
back for a kick. Rowe watched it, saw it coming, and threw up his hands….
Sounds assaulted him, and cold…
So very cold…
Another green icon winked o
of
Chu-i
George Rowe’s heads-up display.
A small text box appeared in the lower-right corner of his HUD, reading out
the BattleMech’s name and its pilot.
Kimball has gone to his ancestors
. Rowe
adjusted his
Panther
’s course and headed toward Kimball’s last position. He
signaled his company commander the coordinates, but received no reply.
Tai-i
Ozuka was a busy man. His company of the Eighth Sword of Light had taken
horrendous losses. All of the companies had.
Hell
. Rowe was the last man in
his lance, with Kimball gone.
An ice boulder blocked his view of Kimball’s location, and his IR scanner
was already starting to ping warnings about heat in the colder-than-ice air.
Rowe keyed the right arm controls and banged the
Panther’
s right arm gently
against its right leg. The
bong
rattled through the tough ’Mech’s frame but his
external mikes still picked up the sound of ice hitting the ground. He set the
arm back to track its aiming point and watched his HUD. Sunlight glinted o
the wreckage of a
Crusader
—it was missing its head—but the ice and snow
told him the wreck was several weeks old. He touched his map screen, mark-
ing the position for later salvage.
We’ll need every ’Mech
.
A
icker of red on the HUD… the Dragoon ’Mech was close, not more than
a kilometer away. Rowe eyed the boulder looming in front of him like a midget
glacier. Would the Dragoon choose right or left? Should he wait and watch
both sides?
What if there was more than one?
Rowe jerked, shaking his head as far as his neurohelmet would allow. He
was a Sworder, damn it! The Eighth Sword of Light shouldn’t be hiding and
sniping with
yohei
! These Dragoons were lucky, no question, but he was a
samurai of House Kurita. Rowe banished the doubts from his mind and chose
the left path. He pushed the throttle forward. A samurai did not wait for his
enemy to come to him. Certainly not when it was a
teki
.
Red
ickered, disappeared, then burned to solidity on his HUD. The
Pan-
ther
’s sensors drank information and painted a wireframe diagram in a small
box in the lower left corner of his screen: a
Trebuchet
. Snow whirled in intricate
vortices as the wind channeled between the boulders. The range counter
fell… 800 meters. 700. He took up half the slack on his trigger—600 meters—
—
alarms
—
Long-range missiles burned out of the snow but Rowe had already jerked
the
Panther
to the side. His body strained against the restraints, unconsciously
mimicking the ’Mech’s movement as his mind blurred with the neurohelmet
and the ’Mech’s computer acceded.
500 meters. He still couldn’t see the Dragoon.
Rowe manipulated his controls and triggered the PPC. Welcome heat—
never expected to admit that
—bloomed in his cockpit. Actinic, blue-white
light
ashed against the icy walls and the snow,
ashing every snow
ake into
a microsecond’s relief. The snow swallowed the light quickly, but his com-
light
ashed against the icy walls and the snow,
ashing every snow
ake into
a microsecond’s relief. The snow swallowed the light quickly, but his com-
Sounds assaulted him, and cold…
So very cold…
1
light
ashed against the icy walls and the snow,
ashing every snow
ake into
a microsecond’s relief. The snow swallowed the light quickly, but his com-
back for a kick. Rowe watched it, saw it coming, and threw up his hands….
Sounds assaulted him, and cold…
Sounds assaulted him, and cold…
So very cold…
TM
W
elcome to
Historical Turning Points: Misery,
a campaign book designed to give players the opportunity to
ght in one of the
landmark con
icts of the Inner Sphere’s tumultuous history.
The general information contained in the
Atlas
and
Combatants
sections gives players the tools needed to
ght an in
nite
number of engagements on Misery, while the
Track
section gives details on some of the larger and more pivotal battles of the planetary
struggle. The
Track
sections can be used with stand-alone games set in 3028.
The
Atlas
section presents a global view followed by some quick facts about Misery. Included in this section you will
nd terrain
tables broken into various categories. These tables can be used as a random chart to determine the maps used in the tracks, or simply
as a guide to give you ideas of the types of terrain found on the world. This section also contains a list of various additional terrain types,
environment and other rules that can be used to enhance your game experience. All players should agree whether or not to use any or
all of these features before play begins.
The
Combatants
section gives details on the units who participated in the con
ict and can be used by players who wish to add
authenticity to their game. While the units who actually participated in the battles are noted, in most cases the numbers on each side are
left undetermined. This allows the players to pursue the tracks with di
erent forces as they wish. The rough ratio of forces on each side is
provided as a guideline. Players should feel free to balance the forces in each track as they see
t, whether by battle value, tonnage, total
number of ’Mechs, or whatever else suits them.
The
Tracks
section presents several key battles that occurred on the world, though they are not the only ones. Players wishing to
incorporate these tracks into their
Chaos Campaign
campaigns should use the Warchest Points (WP) listed in the brackets. Optional
points are awarded only if the group achieves at least one Objective while using the listed option. Objective points are cumulative as
they are achieved, unless otherwise noted.
The
Annex
section contains three o
cial Record Sheets. First is the
Ostroc
of Michi Noketsuna, aide to
Tai-sho
Minobu Tetsuhara. Next
is the
Stalker
of
Sho-sho
Jagawen Torisobo of the Eighth Sword of Light, and the
Atlas
of Dragoon Captain Danielle Rondema.
CREDITS
Project Development:
Ben H. Rome
BattleTech Line Developer:
Herb A. Beas II
Writing:
Jason Schmetzer
STAR LEAGUE ERA
STAR LEAGUE ERA
CLAN INVASION ERA
CLAN INVASION ERA
JIHAD ERA
JIHAD ERA
Editing:
Ben H. Rome
Production Sta
Cover Design and Layout:
Matt Heerdt
Evolved Faction Logos Design:
Jason Vargas
Maps and Unit Logos:
Ray Arrastia
Record Sheets:
David L. McCulloch
Factchecking/Playtesting:
Joel Agee, Joel Bancroft-
Connors, Johannes Heidler, Mike Miller, Darrell Myers,
Michael Pfister, Aaron Pollyea, Luke Richardson,
Andreas Rudolph, Eric Salzman, Chris SmithØystein
Tvedten, Chris Wheeler, Patrick Wynne
For more information about the Battle of Misery,
or Wolf’s Dragoons in general, see the sourcebook
Wolf ’s Dragoons
or the novel
Wolves on the Border
, by
Robert N. Charrette. Additional information about the
Dragoons can be found the novel
Wolf Pack
by Robert
N. Charrette and several sourcebooks including
Field
Manual: Mercenaries
.
SUCCESSION WARS ERA
CIVIL WAR ERA
DARK AGE ERA
DARK AGE ERA
NOTE!
The last four pages of this PDF are sized for 11” x 17” paper. Please keep
this in mind when printing out the document.
2
W
elcome to
Historical Turning Points: Misery,
a campaign book designed to give players the opportunity to
ght in one of the
CIVIL WAR ERA
MISERY
Noble Ruler:
Coordinator Takashi Kurita
Appointed Ruler:
Warlord Grieg Samsonov
Star Type (Recharge Time):
F2V (173 hours)
Position in System:
4
Time to Jump Point:
18.75 days
Number of Satellites:
6 (Pain, Famine, Pestilence, Misfortune, Fear,
and Envy)
Surface Gravity:
1.1
Atm. Pressure:
Standard (Breathable)
Equatorial Temperature:
4° C (Frigid)
Surface Water:
64 percent
Recharging Station:
None
HPG Class Type:
B
Highest Native Life:
Mammal
Population:
8,000,000
Socio-Industrial Levels:
D-D-B-D-C
Boras
opdal
glacial
fields
hamar
valley
B
o
r
e
a
l
i
s
B
o
r
e
a
l
i
s
Farsund
Farsund
Farsund
B
o
r
e
a
l
i
s
Ruine
Magma
Mines
Magma
Mines
Magma
Mines
Laerdal
Gaston
Tsumetai
3
hamar
Magma
Magma
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