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| Section of Saxony Spaceport |
After today, I'm really wondering if it might not have been a hereditary trait.
The Kamenez campaign started with a drop on the Saxony spaceport, one of the rebellion's key assets. On the ground were elements of both the Leipzig Light Guards, a local armour regiment, and Carson's Carnivores, one of the two merc units that are known to be in their employ.
Things got off to a bad start when the Royals' dropship suffered a 'mechanical failure' that delayed their drop, leaving our men on the ground numbered and facing a swarm of hostiles. The Assault Lance got it the worst, being rushed by two lances of Carson's 'Mechs as well as on-site armour.
And despite being outnumbered, they managed to hold their own. Nikola got very lucky straight out, putting a Silver Bullet gauss shard through the cockpit of an otherwise undamaged Night Stalker (So much for your supposed extra protection!) and then nearly crippling Major Carson's 'Mech straight out. Apparently he likes to lead quite literally from the front in a TSM-equipped Ostsol no less. Not sure if it's the best choice for a commander, but if it works for him, who am I to judge?
Unfortunately, the rest of the Carnivores were not happy with his nearly taking out their commander, and chose to focus their fire on his Carronade. By the time they were done, they'd nearly stripped it of armour. However, again I bring up luck, as despite being near-naked, the 'Mech was still fully functional and able to dish out considerable punishment in reply.
My lance did a little better; we dropped into a mess of heavy tanks from the Light Guard (Apparently they'd bought a bunch of old Manticores), which turned into a slugging match when our support from the Royals failed to show. Lamont's Shockwave went down with a wrecked leg, but we managed to hold out and take down a number of them before they chose to back off.
Peril lance wound up in a running fight with Carson's recon lance, having managed to basically leave the light guard tanks behind. Zeek's Ostscout was taken out by a Carnivore Wolfhoud, but Bruce and Will between them nearly bought down a Cronus in reply.
Whatever problems the Royals were having managed to correct themselves in time for their 'Mechs to drop into the battle, turning things in our favour. Save for a single Crusader who botched one of his legs on landing, none of the Royals took any significant damage while managing to drive the Carnivores off.
When you consider we lost one 'Mech, have two more needing major repairs and numerous injured, the Royals don't exactly come off in a good light. While the supposed 'mechanical failure' does make sense (their dropship is basically a flying wreck) it's easy to see it as their deliberately delaying their drop so we'ld take all the damage and they'd get to mop up afterwards. Wen you look at their reputation, it'ls not a hard conclusion to reach.
We did come out ahead. They lost four 'Mechs and escaped with several others badly damaged. We salvaged their losses, including the aforesaid Night Stalker and a Pixie that needs a new leg but is otherwise good. On the other hand, the Argus is good only for junk (both its LRM and Autocannon ammo set off, killing the pilot and gutting the 'Mech) and the Grasshopper isn't too much better. More importantly, we got the Carnivores' dropship and a good amount of their supplies. Hopefully, we can use those as a bargaining tool to try and force their surrender.
I’ve spoken to Kommandant Gilles, requesting that we be given a break to recoup and repair, especially in light of the number of injured we have. By all reports, the Carnivores and the light guard have gone to ground, and are scattered across the countryside, which gives us a break. The Royals can do the hard work of chasing them down for now. I think it's fair given that we did the hard work at the port.
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