Proud Bull Rising Part 6

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Conrad Toyama arrives at in Taurian Space as part of his ComStar recruitment trip. With the population benefitting from the ever increasing fortunes of the Concordat, he finds much less success here than he had in other Periphery stops on his trip so far. His largest success is amongst the newest immigrants but even here the success is muted. The relatively higher education levels leads the average Taurian to see ComStar as a business rather than the religious front that ComStar has moved to.

The Concordat begins a systematic upgrade of the jumpship recharing stations across Taurian space. All star systems are examined and those that already possess rechanging stations are given a thorough repair and upgrade cycle while systems without a recharging station are studied to see if there is heavy enough traffic to require one. This process is expected to take close to fifteen years to complete when including construction time for any stations added. After this project is completed, recharge stations will be added to new worlds as they reach a size or importance to require one. Unfortunately due to the loss of technology and production capability in the Inner Sphere core worlds, only a few of these newly planned recharging stations are built before the ability to construct them is beyond their capability.

The Special Asteroid Support Force that is an elite volunteer force for defending the Hyades Cluster is given its first upgrades in decades. In addition improving and overhauling their XCT Marine Exoskeleton Armor, they're also issued semi-portable heavy lasers to be used as squad based heavy weapons to increase their fire power. They also are given a number of the SLDF laser rifles that were found on Celano to replace their older weapons that are less capable or efficient.

2827

Two production lines begin contruction on Taurus by TTI to build the Maultier Hover Transport. The plant will then expand slightly to provide a steady supply of spare parts for the Maultiers as they go into service with the various infantry units throughout the Concordant. The Quikcell plant on New Vandenburg goes live and production begins to roll out of the factories. In addition to building up militia units and using the Pegasus produced to provide scout formations for various Taurian Defense Force units, the rest of the production is quickly sold to the Outworlds Alliance, small mercenary units in the area, and various neutral worlds near Taurian space. The production is quickly found to be much more reliable than the expected Quikcell offerings.

The Taurian Ministry of Trade and Colonization sends a delegation to the Duchy of Andurien. They're able to sign several trade agreements as the Anduriens seek mechs and combat vehicles to rebuild their forces as well as the raw materials needed for their own industries. The TDF also is able to aquire several wings worth of Stingray F-90 medium aerospace fighters as part of this trade deal. These nimble fighters with their heavy armament quickly become favorites for pilots in the TDF.

The Federated Suns finally notice that the Concordat has been recruiting its citizens from numerous Outback worlds for immigration. Estimating that several hundred thousand have left for Taurian colony worlds from across the width of the Outback regions over the previous years, the Davions issue a formal protest to Protector Artantino about these practices. While she has the Taurian representatives rein in these practices, it never completely stops but merely drops to a less noticeable but tolerable level.

True and False Heirs of the SLDF Collide

So this past Saturday night I managed to get a game of Battletech in once more against Cheef. It was a match were I was outnumbered 2 to 1 as I took a full lance of medium and heavy mechs from my old Eridani Light Horse regiment with highly skilled pilots but ended up facing Cheef's Hell's Horses in a horde of 4 light mechs, 2 light tanks, a medium mech and a heavy tank.

I took a 2/4 Hunchback HBK-4P, a 2/4 Quickdraw QKD-5K (but flipped the 2 rear medium lasers with the SRM/4), a 3/4 Archer ARC-2Rb, and a 2/4 Crab CRB-27b.

After numerous rounds we were both hurting fairly badly. I had lost my Hunchback, the Archer was almost dead, and the Quickdraw and Crab were both fairly hurt. He'd lost both light tanks and a Stinger while having a Wolverine (which he tried call a Hellhound), Stinger, Locust, and Pirahna all one or two hits away from destroyed and then the Demolisher was in good shape. If we played it out I figure I'd lost the Archer and probably the Crab while finishing off his mechs but my Quickdraw would be jumping to stay out of line of sight from the Demolisher. So we called it a draw while we still had salvage worth salvaging.

I was really happy with how the Quickdraw and Crab did. The Hunchback was disappointing as with it's slow speed and layout it had to expose itself to a LOT of damage to be able to unload it's firepower into a target. The Archer was doing well but with the speed of the enemy force it soon had issues with keeping the range open for those LRM.20s. All in all it was a lot of fun and I'm planning on another post around the end of the week hopefully as I'm looking at at least one, possibly two, crazy long work weeks. That's all for now and thank's for stopping by!

Building An Eridani Light Horse Regiment Pt. 3

So while it has been very busy at work I've managed to get some work done on some mechs. I've got a full lance of Wolverines done to go with the two Catapults. Somehow I forgot to take any in progess pictures and so there is just the final results (minus decal and then clearcoat). I am planning on this being a regiment that has a light/medium highly maneuverable battalion, a jump capable battalion, and then a heavy/assault battalion to be the anvil/hammer for the other battalions.

I've got a lance of Phoenix Hawks primed to work on this coming week and then I have a company of lights on the queue after that consisting of a lance each of Valkyries, Mercuries, and Wasps. While my original ELH force was a hodgepodge of mechs that I could aquire in dribs and drabs with a real late Succession Wars feel to the unit as a "this is what we have repaired and can afford to field" vibe, the new regiment I'm going for an "in their prime" theme with full lances of single mech types or at least no more than a couple types of mech per lance as a more deliberate force organization rather than salavaged and pieced together.

Of course behind that list of models is a further pile of plastic including Griffins, Wolfhounds, Trebuchets, Victors, Guillotines, Grasshoppers, and Thunderbolts. And of course the original two test models (the pair of Awesomes) need to be stripped and repainted as well. And then by the time all of these are done, the Catalyst Mercs Kickstarter should be arriving. I had planned on getting up to the Outpost in JC for some decal tutorials and practice with others who know what they're doing, but that went out the window under a pile of errands that I need to deal with today (including getting a bunch of stuff cleared out of the living room area as the rental I'm in is getting a new fridge on Tues).

So that's all for now and I'll see you all next time!