Catalyst 35TP004 - Operational ...

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A bAttletech sourcebooks compAnion
[OPERATIONAL TURNING POINTS: FALCON INCURSION]
BEGINNER’S LUCK .......................
Coventry Military aCadeMy CaMpus
Coventry, lyran allianCe
15 MarCh 3058
at him. At irst, the smaller ‘Mech looked as if it was going to charge
but as it closed it became apparent the pilot was trying to dash
past
him. He turned to follow the machine as it pounded by and fought
to keep the
Blackjack
upright against the
Vixen’s
barrage of laser and
machine gun ire. Luckily, Marsh held the target reticule just long
Watch your heat, Marsh! You can’t pound crap if your engine shuts
down and your ammo explodes!
Cadet William Marsh pushed the voice of his instructor out of his
head.
I know that second year stuf already. Leave me alone!
Beads of
sweat poured down his face and body, the cooling vest he inherited
from his father years ago being woefully inadequate for accepting
the heat his
Blackjack
was producing at an alarming rate.
He imagined the pilot of the
Vixen
he was ighting had no such
worries, much to his dismay.
They circled each other amongst the benches and gardens of
the academy’s quad, Marsh trying to keep the distance static and
his opponent from trying to get into his rear. Both sides were trying
to soften the other with near-misses and wide shots. An occasional
hit would score, telling Marsh this Falcon was just as young and
inexperienced as he was.
His instructor barked in his head again.
Marsh, get closer to your
target! Clanners have better weapons at longer range, you can’t win a
ight against them unless you get in close for your missiles!
It took a moment to realize the voice was real; his instructor was
howling over the comm.
“Cadet Marsh, acknowledge!”
“Yes, sir, moving in,”
Marsh grunted back. No matter how much
he wanted to actually verbally berate his instructor, he instinctively
knew it was a bad idea. If both of them survived this battle, he would
get a thrashing more brutal then when he pulled that simulator
prank on his classmates during his irst year.
Fighting the heat-induced sluggishness, Marsh hesitantly pushed
his machine forward as fast as he could, knocking aside several empty
tables adorned with abandoned meal sacks and beverages from
a nearby cafe. The Jade Falcons had landed outside the academy
mere hours ago and were still securing landing zones. All the cadets
were in attendance this week, an oversized class thanks to a recent
Lyran recruitment push. Nobody knew they had nearly a third more
soldiers than usual; success against the invaders was surely possible,
especially with Cadet Junior William Marsh in the ight.
So he liked to think, anyway.
If we do succeed, the price will be high
, he thought grimly. The
Clan technological advantage was huge, widened by the fact that
many of the cadets were piloting ancient passed-down designs or
irst-generation upgrades that were more slap-on ield reits from
a technicians’ insane asylum. Marsh’s BJ-2
Blackjack
was one of the
more thoughtful ones and he was able to inagle getting assigned
to it when the Falcons appeared.
Well, I am one of the top pilots in
my class
, he smirked. Marsh also netted a lance XO slot, one that
turned into a command position when Leftenant-Instructor White
was taken down by a Clanner’s PPC blast to the cockpit in the irst
minute of contact. Marsh was hoping numbers, sheer tenacity, and
bravado would carry the day for Coventry.
Well, all that and a miracle.
As if sensing the sudden intention for a close in the ight, the
Vixen
obliged, turning away from the endless circling and heading straight
1
[OPERATIONAL TURNING POINTS: FALCON INCURSION]
BEGINNER’S LUCK .......................
enough for his Streak missiles to squeal their lock and mashed the
iring stud, adding his lasers to the barrage. He prayed to the Lord for
everything to hit and knock the Clan machine down.
His prayers were answered.
The lasers pounded into the
Vixen’s
back, stripping the armor
and tearing through its internal structure. The missiles followed,
laying the now exposed backside. The Clan ‘Mech shook violently
and fell face-irst, skidding into the ground and ripping its right arm
out of its socket. The
Vixen
slammed into one of the quad’s marble
historical markers, cracking it in half.
Marsh let out a loud whoop, too late realizing his comm was still
broadcasting. He didn’t care; the victory cry would help ofset the
constant stream of calls for help and panic from his classmates since
the ighting commenced.
“
Vixen
down. Jeremy, you owe me a beer!”
His lancemate retorted quickly. “I’ll deduct it from the two you
owe me, Willy.”
Silently cursing Jeremy for using that nickname, he stumped the
Blackjack
closer to his fallen prey, admiring his handiwork.
”Good work Marsh,” echoed the voice of his instructor.
Was that a
hint of pride in his voice?
“Now cut out the chit-chat and move on to
the next target before they jump on you.”
Acknowledging the order, Marsh started to turn back to the
front line when he suddenly thought he saw the Clan ‘Mech shift. Or
was it just the chassis settling on the ground?
”Crap!” Marsh yelped as the
Vixen
began to heave itself upwards
from the ripped earth. Backing up, he relexively gripped his iring
triggers, emptying all of his weapons into the backside of the
Vixen
and slapping down on the shutdown override. The blistering heat
dumping into the cockpit seared his skin for several seconds. The
weapons at such short range on a stationary target near-guaranteed
success; he swore he could see the ground through the holes he
just put into it. The
Vixen
disappeared in a ball of plasma ire as its
engine lost containment. The soft wave of heat that washed over
the
Blackjack
threatened to again shut down the ‘Mech.
“Marsh, I said
move on
!”
Marsh grumbled shakily.
Unappreciative ass.
Looking out in
the distance he spotted the Hauptmann-Instructor’s blue and red
Crusader
backpedaling in a duel with a much smaller
Uller
near the
Marsden Library. The
Uller’s
missile racks vomited nearly three dozen
missiles, streaking out to slam into his instructor’s machine.
The
Crusader
took a irm step back under the barrage of missiles,
bending slightly as it stood its ground, then replied with a violent
barrage of its own missiles and lasers. The
Uller
shuddered for a
moment before turning to seek cover, an arm hanging by only a
couple of pieces of bent structure and myomer bundles.
Man those reports were right. He’s over twice the size of that Clan
machine and it
still
has the same irepower. Unreal!
Evidently their instructor was shaken up from the exchange as
well, at least enough to decide to run.
“All cadets, withdraw east to rendezvous point Vega. Our position
is compromised.”
Still lush with success, Marsh protested. “Sir, we can hold this
ground. We’re beating them back!”
The Hauptmann-Instructor refused to be swayed. “Orders from
the Old Man, Cadet Marsh. No arguments.”
Suddenly, Marsh’s proximity alarm went of. He stomped on the
loor pedals, activating the
Blackjack
’s jump jets as a light of missiles
corkscrewed past his cockpit. Twisting his torso to the side, he noted
a
Dasher
speed behind him before he could bring his weapons to
bear.
Shit, they are
behind
us too!
“Echo lance, fast-mover behind me!” Marsh cried. He glanced
down at a secondary monitor, hastily scanning the academy map
projected there. “Follow me.”
Walking backwards instead of jumping into the air again, Marsh
hoped the move would steady his aim. He could feel the adrenaline
pumping through his veins, giving his hands a slight jitter. Only half
of his missiles were able to get a target lock and launched, his lasers
went wide. The missiles peppered the
Dasher’s
side, shredding
armor plating and punching holes into the torso. The Clanner kept
up its sprint, looking for cover behind the nearby Military Science
Building. Or was it the Administraton building? Marsh could not tell
the diference at that moment as alarms squealed around him.
Take
him down now and we might be able to withdraw safely.
His intended order for Jeremy and Rogers to concentrate ire on
the lanking Clanner was overruled before it was even voiced as the
instructor’s voice interrupted with a mix of anger and panic.
“Marsh! Pull back, damn you! What are you
doing
? I said PULL
BACK!”
“That’s what I’m doing, Sir! These damn Clanners are all around
us...” He glanced down again at his secondary monitors, rechecking
his indicators. The cockpit was stiling and he smelled the tart stink
of burning circuitry.
How did they push so far east so suddenly?
Jeremy’s
Chameleon
was suddenly behind him and in the
Blackjack
’s rear visor strip;
Marsh could see only a few Clan ‘Mechs in pursuit. A light of
missiles ripped overhead, well over the cadets’ heads. Covering
Jeremy’s back was Roger’s limping
Commando
, launching missiles
at anything getting close to them. Ahead of them, Marsh could see
more Clan ‘Mechs gathering.
They must’ve had a DropShip ground
nearby, cutting of our rear.
“Echo Lance withdrawing eastward toward rendezvous point,”
reported Marsh. “Requesting missile support on our rear side so we
can pass through.”
The Hauptmann-Instructor’s reply was near-panic. Marsh felt his
blood run cold even before the words registered in his head.
“Echo Lance, you are pushing
into
Port St. William! Abort and
head towards the proper coordinates! Dammit Marsh,
you’re going
the wrong way!
”
What?
Marsh stared hard at his secondary monitor, trying to
grasp symbols and abbreviations through the layers of haze and the
sweat covering his eyes. Squinting, he quickly deciphered the codes
pounded into his head from training.
We’re moving east…oh, FRAG!
He realized the facing of the icon that representing the
Blackjack
was pointing in the
opposite
direction.
Marsh had just led his Lance
west
to the academy’s border.
Right into the grasping talons of the Jade Falcons.
2
[OPERATIONAL TURNING POINTS: FALCON INCURSION]
INTRODUCTION ...........................
campaign book designed to give players the opportunity
to ight in one of the landmark conlicts of the Inner
Sphere’s tumultuous history. The
Operational Turning Points
is
slightly diferent from the standard
Jihad
and
Historical Turning
Points
exclusives, though still ofering the same great gameplay
opportunities; in
Operational Turning Points,
the Track section is a
more robust campaign setting, using both Mission and Touchpoint
Tracks to let players ight a full-ledged, multi-world campaign.
The general information contained in the
atlas
and
Combatants
gives players the tools needed to ight an ininite number of
engagements, while the
track
gives details on some of the more
pivotal battles of the campaign. The
track
can be used with stand-
alone games set in 3058.
The
atlas
presents a global overview followed by some quick
facts about some of the planets visited in this campaign. Included in
this section are terrain tables broken into various categories. These
tables can be used to randomly determine the battleield used in
the tracks or simply as a guide 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 beginning play.
The
Combatants
section gives details of the units who
participated in the conlict and can be used by players who wish
to add authenticity to their game. While the units which 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 diferent forces if they wish. The rough ratio
of forces on each side is provided in each Track as a guideline.
Players should feel free to balance the forces as they see it,
whether by battle value, tonnage, total number of units, or any
other method.
tracks
presents both
Mission and Touchpoint
tracks, allowing
players to build full-ledged campaigns set during the events
listed. A general guideline for how to begin ighting the historical
campaign is included in
how to use the Campaign
. Each of the
Mission
tracks
is reusable, and the
Touchpoints
cover
several key
battles that occurred during the campaign, though they are not
the only ones. Players wishing to incorporate these tracks into their
Chaos Campaign
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
contains three oicial Record Sheets. The irst is the
custom
“
Dragoon Buster
”
BattleMaster
of Colonel Wayne Rogers, CO
of the Waco Rangers mercenary regiment, followed by the custom
mixed tech
Nightstar
of Colonel Shelly Brubaker of the famed Wolf’s
Dragoons. The third is a converted
Uni
IndustrialMech used by the
Bucklands Militia.
CREDITS .....................................
Project Development:
Ben H. Rome
Factchecking/Playtesting:
Rich Cencarik, Glenn Hopkins,
Michael Koning, Mike Miller, Darrell Myers, Jason Paulley, Andreas
Rudolph, Eric Salzman, Patrick Wynne
Special Thanks:
To Ben for letting me get back into the
Turning
Points
after a bit of a break from them, and to all you loyal
BattleTech
fans. Hope I don’t disappoint you all with this one.
To read the story of the Jade Falcon Incursion see the novel
Malicious
Intent
by Michael A. Stackpole and the BattleCorps short story
Something More
by Jason Hansa, as well as the
Battle of Coventry
scenario pack, available in PDF format from the BattleShop.
BattleTech Line Developer:
Herb A. Beas II
Writing:
Nicholas Marsala
Production Staf
Cover Design and Layout:
Ray Arrastia
Evolved faction Logos Design:
Jason Vargas
Portraits:
Brent Evans
Unit Logos:
Ray Arrastia
Record Sheets:
Chris Smith
Map
: Øystein Tvedten
©2011 the topps company inc. All rights reserved. historical operations turning points: Falcon incursion,
classic battletech, battletech, battlemech, ’mech, and Wk Games are registered trademarks and/or trademarks
of the topps company, inc. in the united states and/or other countries. catalyst Game labs and the
catalyst Game labs logo are trademarks of inmediares production, llc.
STAR LEAGUE ERA
CLAN INVASION ERA
JIHAD ERA
®
SUCCESSION WARS ERA
CIVIL WAR ERA
DARK AGE ERA
3
W
elcome to
Operational Turning Points: Jade Falcon Incursion
[OPERATIONAL TURNING POINTS: FALCON INCURSION]
ATLAS ........................................
EngaDinE
nEERaBuP
noble Ruler:
Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion
appointed Ruler:
Lord President Alistair Daniel
Star Type (Recharge Time):
M0V (201 hours)
Position in System:
6
Time to Jump Point:
3.14 days
number of Satellites:
1 (Garlyn)
Surface gravity:
.95
atm. Pressure:
Standard (Breathable)
Equatorial Temperature:
23° C (Cool)
Surface Water:
70 percent
Recharging Station:
Nadir
HPg Class Type:
B
Highest native Life:
Mammal
Population (3058):
68,240,000
Socio-industrial Levels:
C-D-D-D-C
noble Ruler:
Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion
appointed Ruler:
Duke Juan Rouse
Star Type (Recharge Time):
G8V (189 hours)
Position in System:
5
Time to Jump Point:
6.19 days
number of Satellites:
2 (Dongara and Freemantle)
Surface gravity:
1.04
atm. Pressure:
High (Breathable)
Equatorial Temperature:
41° C (Tropical)
Surface Water:
85 percent
Recharging Station:
Zenith
HPg Class Type:
B
Highest native Life:
Reptiles
Population (3058):
65,430,000
Socio-industrial Levels:
C-D-D-D-C
Settled by the Rim Worlds Republic, Engadine began as an exile
colony, harboring political dissidents and non-violent criminals
that the government simply did not want mixing with the general
populace. Portions of the planet are covered year-round with
ice and constant light snow; its irst settlers became a group of
hardened survivalists. Decades later, an oicial on her irst routine
inspection of the exiles’ settlements decided the world was a
paradise. Building a large compound for her personal use, it was
later expanded into a popular resort stafed by slave labor drawn
from the exiles.
During Operation: MAILED FIST, the resort’s security forces tried
to stall the Lyran invasion by waging hit and run campaigns typical
of the rest of the Rim Worlds’ rebellion. Its disgruntled population,
sensing a chance to get back at their oppressors, fed information
to the Lyrans that allowed them to swiftly pin down and capture
the defenders. This act of sedition would be remembered after the
Reuniication War as returning RWR administrators and judicial
oicials often persecuted those families believed to have passed
information to the Lyrans.
After Amaris was deposed, Engadine became one of the
irst non-industrial systems seized (and later annexed) by the
Commonwealth, who were well aware of the general population’s
bias against the Rim Worlds Republic. Rewarding the people by
improving their infrastructure, the Lyrans petitioned ComStar to
build a small B-class HPG in the once cut-of system.
When many Lyran units typically stationed nearby were
away during the War of 3039, local pirates took the chance to
raid repeatedly, whisking away hundreds of the population to
be sold as slaves. The outcry by the populace resulted in the
establishment of the Twenty-second Skye Rangers as a near-
permanent defense force who used Engadine as a focal point for
the border’s defense.
Initially, the founding settlers of Neerabup were originally
destined for Australia. A large contingent advocated going deeper
into space and, after several near -confrontations, the group took
control of two JumpShips and their colonist cargo and separated.
A handful of weeks later after leaving the system, their food supply
exhausted, they arrived at Neerabup.
Though Neerabup had a comfortable climate with a wide array
of terrain - a good portion of which was lush swamps and expansive
peat bogs - edible animal life was scarce, forcing the settlers to
become mostly vegetarians. A chance encounter with a passing
group of colonists and their livestock a year later assured the survival
of the planet.
Things remained quiet and palatable until 3042, when a joint
committee charged with bringing the Lyran Commonwealth’s
military into line with Federated Suns doctrines traveled around
the nearby systems. The committee eventually selected Neerabup
and Bucklands to be the headquarters of the new regional militia.
The family clans of Bucklands resisted the efort, partly due to
the proposed loss of their arable land and the disruption the new
facilities would bring. With incessant clan inighting on the horizon,
the committee moved all of the militia’s operations to Neerabup.
After construction commenced, Neerabup saw a huge boom in
its local economy as the massive inlux of high tech equipment and
need of locally-produced raw materials created several successful
companies for exporting goods to other local systems, drawing
immigrants looking for work.
Neerabup’s politics are a traditional, hide-bound process, with
each province ruled by a Publican. The Publican’s title is hereditary
only to the irstborn male son of the family. When no male heir is
present, the province then elects a new Publican, who can be male
or female. The current Headmistress of the Publican House, Matilda
Durmot, has held her seat for nearly ifty years and was elected to
the position after the death of her father, Horace, a driving force in
the Estates General during the early part of the century. The Durmot
homestead covers nearly three thousand acres and includes the
sprawling Durmot Cranbog Agricompany, a prominent exporter of
exotic Neerabup foodstufs.
4
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