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Originally compiled by Vition2 with a little clean up and work from me a little extra content for the AU.

My thanks to Vition2 who went to the effort to create this little piece without any prompting from me.  Really it is these extra things from others that make writing this AU worth it for me I am very very grateful for all of the extra content people have sent me over the time I have been writing about this AU.

Anyone who wants a crack at writing some extra content for the AU but doesn't know where to start or thinks I'll reject it straight away - PM me with your idea and let's see what we can create

After Action Report
Snow Raven Clan Council, Dante
Raven Alliance

After Action Review
-   Star Colonel Bran McTiernen commander 13th Raven Stoop Cluster of Gamma Galaxy

My fellow Ravens, I shall be blunt.  By all reasonable measures our war against the Combine was a failure.  But rather than point fingers I shall look at what was done wrong.

First, we moved before we were truly ready.  Second, we spread ourselves too thin.  Third, we did not use our warships effectively.

To the first point, we set up birthing and training facilities on Vangburg more than 15 years ago, the first batch of cadets will be starting their trials of position in another 2 years.  Estimates put the total number of new warriors at roughly a cluster’s size, with increases at about a cluster per two years.  When it finally is at full capacity it should be able to sustain two galaxies, similar to our facilities at Alpheratz, Quatre Belle, and Dante, this is expected 10 years after the first cadets pass their trials.  While Vangburg is becoming a virtual tertiary genetic facility – the idea of which I fully support, Dante and Quatre Belle are now too vulnerable to our possible enemies – Wynn’s Roost benefited industrially from our discovering the Dreadnought Hood.  The Sylph JumpShip Yards are now operational and we should be able to comfortably support then construction of small WarShips there – please look to your viewscreens for details.  In addition, DropShip yards have recently begun producing new Arcadias, and while Titans were intended we are considering a new 15,000 ton assault ship as a replacement – again, details are on your viewscreens.  And lastly, the ProtoMech, and OmniMech facilities are just starting to come online.  The ProtoMech facility will be producing our typical ProtoMech designs, but we have plans to begin accepting new designs in the near future.  The OmniMech factory though, will start by producing the new Craven OmniMech, a design based on the Fire Mandrill’s Crimson Langur – viewscreens again.  I would note with a little caution that the Fire Mandrills may believe we have infringed on their design with this OmniMech but it should be enough different to stop any immediate challenge.  Had we started the war a mere 2 years later, while continuing low level raiding to keep our skill up, we would not be in such circumstances as we find today.

Now the second point.  We originally made plans with the Nova Cats to attack the Draconis Combine at the same and coordinate our attacks.  This required us to snatch up low population periphery systems in order to orient our attack from a similar direction as the Cats.  The forces being reallocated coreward caused us to leave areas dangerously unprotected.  The Dragon noticed and took advantage of this, resulting in our current dire situation, with many of our important systems under threat. 

In hindsight, we should have targeted their hardened positions first, striking with overwhelming force and heavy orbital support.  We likely would have put the Dragon back on its heels, and been able to follow up with a couple of other rapid assaults, garnishing useful worlds and ending the war before the Dragon could mount a serious counterattack – my own suggestion would have been to use Beta Galaxy to attack Budingen, followed up by Shirroek; Alpha Galaxy would strike at Tabayama, followed by Sinope and Zalaf; and finally, Gamma Galaxy would strike at Pondicherry followed up by Suianheer and Ramgarh.  The goal would be to destroy 3 of the Dragon’s elite units and doing enough damage to others to force the Dragon to accept the war’s end.  Another option would have been to move Epsilon Galaxy into the gap created by the coreward orientation.

The attack by the Dragon’s forces into the Zlatousi ingress showed both the strength and the weakness of the Alliance forces.  They stepped up heavily in the defense of their homes and did considerable damage to the Dragon in its attack, unfortunately, as they continue to use standard Spheroid formations, they were limited to older and less formidable transport options, leading to unnecessary losses on the retreat.  Perhaps it is time we reorganize their forces to Raven standards currently only the First Long Road Legion are anywhere near the standard of our front-line forces.

And the last point, and the one which is least forgivable as a mistake.  We, by far, did not utilize our WarShips in a fashion near to optimal.  We started the conflict with many of them being out of position, perhaps this was due to the false expectation that we would win quickly – we should have known better.  The poor use of our warship forces shows in the tales of the losses of the war, we lost 5 WarShips to the Dragon’s 4, and the total tonnage we lost was equal to or greater than that of theirs, the only upside being that our capture of a Kirishima II counters that disparity.  We should have outmaneuvered them in space at every turn our Clan has prided itself for centuries at being superior operators in the black!  We could have picketed every system with multiple scout JumpShips, and jumped in overwhelming force before their troops could land.  Our local space superiority was such that we should never have been outgunned, and the Dragon’s losses should have been massive while ours, minimal.  Our naval stars must learn from the mistakes of this conflict and bring them to our next encounter with the Inner Sphere and in fact with the other Clans.

And with that I finish my assessment of the war, take from my comments what you will and make your own decisions as to the future of the Clan.

Overview losses and gains
Systems
   Zlatousi – System loss
   Milligan’s World – System loss
   Rushaven – System loss
   Quantraine – System loss
   Coraines – System loss
   Cerberus – System loss
   Bad News – System loss
   Brasha – System loss
   Morthac – System loss
   Vega Lianna – System loss
        Enif - System loss
        Nerva - System loss
   Pondicherry – System gain
        Tabayama - System gain
        Chiarla - System gain
        Kazanka - System gain
        Suianeer - system gain

Units
Much of Gamma Galaxy – barely able to form Clusters
Half of Alpha Galaxy
Thor – Kimagure-class Pursuit Cruiser - Kazanka
Hunter – Lola III-class Destroyer - Kazanka
Valdore - Drake-class Corvette - Enif
Mitchell - Splendid-class Cruiser - Pondicherry
Swiftsure - Swiftsure-class Cruiser - Pondicherry
Kirishima II – captured (Formerly the Aurora Lance)
   
Other
   Our remaining forces from Alpha, Gamma, Epsilon and Zeta Galaxies have been well blooded, many of the remaining warriors would now rate as Elite, while the reorganized clusters need their rough edges smoothed out, they are now quite formidable.