This is the AAR following the exploits of the Mech Mercanary company, Bengy's Blobs in RogueTech (the complete overhaul mod of BattleTech). Earlier AARs can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9.
Wow, it has been quite some time since I posted an update to the Inner Sphere exploits of Bengy's Blobs! Ahhh... that would be real life intervening. I'm doing my studies on the gaming rig in the attic, which means that I'm not really able to use the machine effectively as a gaming station as there tend to be lots of word documents and waaayyyyyy too many Chrome tabs open that are just leaking RAM memory all over the place! Plus, I generally want to take a break from sitting down at the desk anyway... however, the benefit is that the gaming laptop gets a nice workout these days!
Anyway, back to RogueTech! Sadly, the Blobs need to make a departure from the happy hunting grounds of Laurieston. The contracts on the Kurita held world were lucrative with lots of Clan Tech rolling in... however, the costs of repairs due to the much more difficult missions were also starting to tick upwards, with the Blobs just barely holding their own on the battlefield and in the finances.
The way that the financials were standing, the Blobs were just one battle away from bankruptcy... and seeing as the enemy was hitting the Blobs pretty hard with each encounter, the possibility for a seriously wounded Mech and Mechwarrior were running too high for comfort.
So, the Blobs swallowed their pride, sold off some equipment and salvage to cover the C-Bills for a short jump to the safer battlefields of Aur. Aur is a Lyran Commonwealth world that has less lucrative contracts... but a few months of grinding comparatively milk-run difficulty contracts would put the Blobs in a better financial position. However, the Lyrans weren't so happy to see the Blobs land in their sector after the many bloody noses that the Blobs had handed out to them in Kurita space. That would mean that the Blobs would get the crappiest jobs until they had regained some favour!
Running in Lyran space meant that the Blobs were operating a bit further away from the regular Clan space. This would mean that there would be less of the advanced Clan shells and equipment to pick up as salvage in the aftermath of battles. Still, there would be the occasional Clan raiding party that would make it this far into the Inner Sphere... such as this horrible nightmare drop, when the Blobs landed in the middle of a 3 Star Clan formation. Thankfully, the Blobs were by far the heavier and better equipped force in comparison to the raiding party, and they quickly destroyed the opposition with their overwhelming firepower.
After a few month on Aur, the decision was made to relocate again to a different star system in Lyran space. Donegal was chosen due to the presence of Comstar, ancient Star League caches and an active Black Market. These factors would ensure that at least some of the equipment and salvage would be of a higher quality than the Periphery and pirate dregs or the Great House standard issue.
Oddly enough, there was an interesting mission that involved the assassination of a local insurgency leader that had aligned with the Clans! The Clans had provided the insurgency with some heavy Mechs and some incredibly advanced weaponry, and so the Lyrans wanted them taken out in short order. Of course, when you don't want to do the bloody deed on your own population, you call in the mercenaries...
Sadly, the Clan incursion appeared to be a bit deeper than the Lyrans has suspected or detected. The Blobs would find them fielding many counter-insurgency operations against Clan equipped local forces, or against Clan raiding parties themselves. In this case, there was a pitched battle between the Blobs and Clan main force...
... which quickly turned sour for the Blobs. The Dervish missile boat that had been the fast flanker of the company took some heavy hits which took off an arm and some of it's advanced Clan weaponry....
... meanwhile, the Centurion also took heavy hits which ravaged internals and equipment throughout it's torso.
Both these Mechs were on the slate to be replaced by newer Clan Tech OmniMechs... the hideous amount of damage that they both sustained in this battle only served to accelerate those plans as the cost of repairing and replacing the equipment was on the order of getting two new shells fully equipped and battle ready. So, no point dumping good money on out of date equipment...
In the end, the Blobs did win the day... but it would put the company off full strength until the replacement Mechs came online... and the Mechwarriors patched up in the infirmary!
The costly victory that cost the company two Mechs did result in some stunning salvage though... the after battle salvage netted the company multiple Assault Class shells running in at the maximum weight of 100 tons! Sadly, none of these shell resulted in a fully operational Mech, but they were placed in storage in preparation for the day that the Blobs will be able to field one of these monsters!
One of the battles with the Clans netted a very new and novel technology. An AP Gauss Rifle battery... two even! The regular Gauss Rifle is a fearsome weapon that fires a slug of metal at hypersonic speeds.... it hurt when you get in the way! The AP Gauss Rifle is the mini equivalent, firing smaller slugs with less bulk and weight occupied in the Mech. The AP Gauss Rifle Battery basically takes 8 of these smaller guns and links them all together into a single shotgun-like blast! Sure, each stings less than the heavier cousin... but getting hit by 8 of them will cause a headache! I can't wait to field this weapon system on a Mech!
Bringing Mechs online into a battle ready state is a time consuming and expensive process, especially when running a mercenary company that generally only has a month's worth of financial buffer. The first step is always installing the incredibly expensive Fusion Core and restoring the critical internals and systems of the torso and the head.
Only after this can you start to think about how you want to equip the Mech to play different roles within the company. The Cataphract (70 tons) is a Heavy class Mech that generally serves a Sniper role on the battlefield. After the critical systems are installed, I'm likely to equip it with batteries of the longer range AC2 autocannons. I have a surplus of these weapons in the Clan Tech variety... and it is likely that I will mix the versions to include the faster firing Ultra versions in addition to the more accurate LBX versions.
Th Mjolnir (70 tons) is another of the Heavy Class Mechs that will be brought online to replace the casualties of the last fight. Like the Cataphract, it is the older Inner Sphere design that doesn't have the easy repairability and modular weapon systems of the Clan OmniMech designs. This does restrict the number and types of weapon hardpoints that it has... limiting it's ability to play different roles in the field at short notice.
The original design for this Mech called for a Skirmisher/Calvary loadout... it is a Mech that has a decent amount of speed and agility for it's weight class. I'm still unsure how I will equip it... I guess the easiest option would be to outfit it as a missile boat, much like the Dervish it would replace... however, there aren't enough missile type hardpoints on the Mech. So, it is likely that this would either have to field a laser heavy configuration with the problems of heat management... or opt for a jack of all trades solution.
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