OBT Forum

This is a tricky one

1st you'd have to handwave away the Blakists or have Secular Comstar and co basically crush any Blakist thing early, strangling it in the crib, even if Comstar does CASE WHITE asap and even gets outside help, instead of turning CASE WHITE into CASE 10 YEARS TOO LATE.

If the 2nd Star League can remain together and there's no Bulldog/Serpent then the Clans are going to be met with every gun, Mech, tank, and bullet the House Lords can put in their way (with varying levels of support from Marik and the CapCon with the Cappies probably only sending token forces at a guess)

Comstar's going to be involved and assuming there's either no Schism or the Blakists are reduced to ruin or a tiny fraction of fundie terrorists then they are probably going to be reactivating the fleet to try and have approaching what the Word had in terms of reactivated and old ships.  The Suns would be farting out Fox class corvettes at a great rate and would be making Avalons and anything else whilst the first Mjolnir's would be ready by this time too.

And if there's large numbers of WarShips opposing them then the Clans are going to bring forwards theirs.

The borders would be heaving under the huge mass of military forces facing one another and then it becomes a case of 'do we hit, or wait to get hit?'

Also there's the whole 'what if' of having the Clans change.  Assuming the Quicksilver stuff takes place in the Salient Horizon TL, then there's probably no Wolf/Falcon conflict which does not gut the two most powerful Clans with holdings in the IS.  Given a decade to prepare the Clans would probably not be going in so massively dumb and IIRC from Quicksilver's fluff, the ilKhan plans to open up the Invasion to ALL the Clans so they are all going to be coming along for the race.  And the Clans themselves would have changed, the Bears are still probably busily integrating the FRR's populace into their Clans and a more unified group of Clans could well be doing the same in their own ways with varying degrees of success or failure (*cough*Jags*cough*)


And if the other Clans come along for the ride then you could have again varying levels of success or failure with their attack from "What the hell..they're using tanks!" or even something like this from MA's SUPERB Scorpio Ascendant when the IS meets the Hellions and their pack/stay at range and weaken before swarming style of warfare

Headquarters, 10th Donegal Guards RCT
Zoetermeer, Lyran Commonwealth
November 1, 3044

Colonel Robert Ohell of the 2nd Regiment, 12th Star Guards spat on the ground as the voice of the invader’s spokesman came over the speaker.

“We are the Ice Hellions! From the frigid depths of the empty void we strike, claiming this world in the name of our Clan, the true Heirs of Kerensky. Yield, or dispute our claim by stating the forces you wish to see destroyed.”

“So much for our intelligence claiming that the Vipers would hit us,” muttered Marshal Sarah Steiner, newly appointed to command of the 10th Donegal. “What information do we have in Wolf’s briefing on these . . . Hellions?”

The HQ staff hustled as officers and NCOs scrolled through data, and then one looked up. “A second, perhaps even third, tier Clan. Small, with little Elemental support, but a concentration of ‘Mechs and Fighters . . . according to the file, Marshal, they favor lighter, faster combat units—they have nothing in their order of battle in the Assault-weight class, outside of ASF assets.”

“Well, hell. Maybe we can hand these bastards a defeat after all,” chimed in Robert, as Sarah waved away the acrid smoke from his cigar. “Both our regiments are heavy-weights—we might just have the firepower advantage here, with your tanks and infantry, Marshal Steiner.”

“Maybe,” Sarah answered as she lifted the transmitter. “This is Marshal Sarah Steiner, commanding the 10th Donegal Guards. We will defend this system in the name of Archon Melissa Steiner-Davion; come at your own peril.”

“Transmit your current force strength and composition so that we may properly tailor our attack,” the radio crackled after a moment.

“Cheeky bastards, aren’t they!” barked Robert.

“Negative, Hellions,” Marshal Steiner answered. “You will have to learn our dispositions the old-fashioned way—through recon.”

There was a pause and then the radio crackled with static again. “We accept your challenge, Marshal Steiner of the 10th Donegal Guards. Do you intend to use artillery in your defense?”

“Why don’t you land and find out?”

“We shall meet you with the full force of The Blinding then,” and the radio signal died away.

Sarah nodded. “Get back to your Regiment, Bob. I think we might be in for a rough time ahead.”

“Ja, mein Marshal,” he answered with a grin as he snapped to attention; then he turned and left.

Sarah leaned over the map table and bit her lip. Zoetermeer had two vital locations to defend—the capital city of Nieuw Den Haag and the mining operations run by Tamar Mineral Extractions, Ltd., a corporation owned entirely by Duke Kelswa—and she had clear orders from the Duke in command of the Tamar March that the mineral extraction facilities were to be defended at all costs. In addition, the capital spaceport lay fifty-two kilometers outside of Nieuw Den Haag; it too must be held to prevent the Hellions from having access to the refueling facilities and runways.
Accordingly, her 10th Donegal was broken into three Combat Groups, each built around a ‘Mech battalion, a regiment of armor, and two regiments of infantry, reinforced with a battery of artillery. Each Combat Group was dug in deep around the objectives, while her fourth armored regiment had been assigned as subordinate to Ohell’s Regiment. Bob would command her reserve and either reinforce her fire-bases or conduct a counter-attack.

She nodded to herself. There was nothing more to do but wait.

*****************************************************************

The battle started as the 10th Donegal’s aerospace fighters sparred with the Clan fighters in the upper atmosphere. But quickly, the Federated Commonwealth defenders found that they were vastly outnumbered in space; not only did the Hellion have the fighters assigned to the Clusters of their Alpha Galaxy, but a York-class carrier had settled into orbit overhead.

Of the seventy-two ASF from the mercenaries and the 10th sent to interdict the attackers, fourteen managed to return to base—nine of those heavily damaged. The Hellions fighters had suffered as well, but they started the conflict with more than two hundred and sixty—and had two hundred untouched units left when the 10th’s few remaining fighters landed.

Following the aerial holocaust, the Hellions took four hours to send recon flights criss-crossing over the inhabited continent of Zoetermeer, their powerful active probes scanning the landscape and seeking out Marshal Steiner’s concentrations. Only after these flights were concluded did the DropShips begin to descend through the atmosphere, landing well outside the reach of the fire-bases.

Five Clusters of Hellion OmniMech formed up and advanced as one upon the defenders of the starport. But unlike the Falcons or the Vipers or the Jaguars, the Hellions did not blindly charge ahead; no, they circled at extreme range and picked away at the defenders, too far distant for the 10th’s weapons to reach them. But the 10th’s artillery reached out and shells began to fall among the Hellions—and in reply the fighters once again plunged into the planet’s atmosphere. Mostly heavy-weight designs, with a few faster mediums in support, the fighters swooped down and released six hundred Arrow IV air-to-ground missiles that plunged into the perimeter of the 2nd Battalion, 10th Donegal Combat Group—and on the heels of the massive explosions, the Hellion OmniMechs closed faster than anyone could have imagined possible. At the same time, hordes of small craft dived down from orbit and almost four hundred Elemental infantry para-dropped directly into the center of the compound.

*****************************************************************

“They’re swarming all over us, Marshal! They aren’t fighting like the Clans should! They are teaming up and tearing my ‘Mechs and tanks to pieces! Behind you Jim!” the radio crackled with the thunder of a heavy autocannon, and then there was a scream . . . and the only static.

She swallowed. She was only thirty-nine years old, and Aunt Nondie—well, a third cousin twice removed—had given her this command just four months ago. She licked her dry lips and changed the radio frequencies. “Bob, I need you to hit them at the star-port—now, if we are going to save anything. I am ordering the 1st battalion to roll out as well.”

“Negative, Marshal! Stick to the plan—we’ve got to bleed them!”

“My men are dying, Colonel!”

“Your men are already dead, Marshal. We can’t get there in time to save them, and the 1st will get cut to ribbons outside of the defenses! Hold your position!”

“Damn you, Colonel Ohell! Hit them now!”

But there was no reply from the radio. Sarah frowned and she turned to her staff, “What’s going on?”

“Marshal—we are being jammed!” one yelled, as the crack and whine of the Clan’s anti-personnel gauss rifles began to thunder outside, amidst the explosions of SRMs and the screams of her HQ security detachment.

*****************************************************************

Another of Ohell’s ‘Mechs exploded as it ate four converging ER PPC bolts and ER Large Laser beams. For two and a half hours now, Robert had pulled back, leaving the bulk of the 10th Donegal behind as he tried to evade the Hellions and make it to his DropShips—but now he was surrounded. He twisted his Stalker to one side and locked his missile launchers on another of the distant ‘Mechs; he squeezed the trigger and twenty missiles shot away; only a dozen hit however. And his computer’s calm voice whispered into his ears, “LRM magazine depleted.”
Half of his ‘Mechs littered the line of his march behind him—and every last one remaining was damaged, some critically. But still the Hellions didn’t close in, they circled at range, with that impossible speed, and they bled him one cut at a time.

“Colonel,” Captain Edward Bowen spoke up. Bowen was the senior officer left in the entire regiment, other than Robert. “The DropShips report that they are under attack—and now I have lost their transmission.”

Robert Ohell looked up at the faint plumes of smoke in the distance and his heart sank. “Enough of this running, Star Guards. Let’s show these scum how the 42nd Striker chooses to go out. CHARGE!” he yelled and he pushed the assault forward into a run.

But the Hellions simply gave way and continued to gnaw his command to death—Robert Ohell was fortunate enough not to see it however, for a Hellion Gauss slug slammed into his cockpit and he never again saw anything.

*****************************************************************

“Your command are the only survivors to date, Colonel Dane,” the voice of the Hellion Khan came over the radio of the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion of the 10th Donegal. “I can crush you as easily as I did you fellows—or you can recognize the folly of your continued fighting and lay down your arms. In honor of the courage of your comrades, we will treat you as we treat captured Clan Warriors, instead of consigning you to the laborer class.”

“Go to hell,” spat Colonel William Dane.

“I take it that is a no? Colonel Dane, there are no civilian population centers within your perimeter; there is nothing preventing me from wiping you out without suffering a single casualty in response. You do know I have WarShips in orbit, quiaff?”

“You do that and you will be hung for War Crimes!”

“The victors write history, Colonel Dane. We slaughter no civilians, nor do we hide behind their skirts like cowards. Your battalion is a legitimate military target. I offer you one last opportunity to spare your Warriors their lives.”

Dane began to answer, but the weeping of his communication officer—newly married just three months ago, made him stop. A tear leaked down his own cheek. And he tried to raise the radio microphone once, and then twice; finally he managed to lift it. “Damn you. We accept your terms.”

“I will give you sixty minutes to lay down arms and march out, Colonel Dane. Do not make me obliterate those mining facilities.”

And the radio transmission ended. Dane pulled himself up straight. “Burn the code books—purge the database. And tell the troops to stack arms and form up to surrender.”

Or you could have some Clanners stick blindly with Zell regardless of the situation which gets ruthlessly exploited by IS forces.

What the hell is 'Stacalkas-Nomen' and no I don't know what the Battle of Mars is sadly.  And unfortunately I don't know too much about Comstar's past, I know that York was far more moderate and you'd need him to get into power and stay there to ensure that Waterly and her ilk don't get any real grip on power (so Demona Aziz, Cameron St Jamais etc would have to be 'removed' preferably with a laser diode against their heads) to try prevent a schisim, but then this might well change the whole tone of REVIVAL if Comstar without Waterly is not willing to help the Clans in the way they did until her removal due to SCORPION.

Event Summary (December 31, 3052)

   The Clan Invasion has wracked the InnerSphere and even though the Truce of Tukayyid has provided a fifteen year respite the echoes of their two-year blitzkrieg towards Terra reverberates today throughout the entire Human Sphere.

Federated Commonwealth (House Steiner-Davion)
   The massive super state which was on the verge of supremacy before the appearance of the Clan juggernaut is staggering to deal with the new status quo. The loss of dozens of worlds, nearly eighty ‘Mech regiments, and the near death of its First Prince were stunning blows to the Federated Commonwealth. Internal instability from Skye and other Lyran territories as well as the Draconis March threaten to undue all the unity of the Steiners and Davions built over two decades. Heavy raiding continues all along the Clan front while a rebuilding AFFC struggles to take the offensive against these new marauders. The survival of the Fox, the birth of a new alliance against the Clans, and the fortuitous discovery of several lostech caches bode well for the coming year.

Draconis Combine (House Kurita)
   The proud samurai of House Kurita face many of the same obstacles as their ancient enemies in the Federated Commonwealth. The Clan threat has given these traditional rivals a common opponent which for the moment has produced a new détente. Die hard opposition remains to this sudden shift in policy from the Coordinator despite the loss of numerous worlds and more than two dozen ‘Mech regiments. Fighting continues along the Clan border as House Kurita searches for allies it will need to drive out these distant invaders. The recent elimination of Black Dragon leadership coupled with the dawn of the Martial Accords may yet help turn the tide against the Clans.

Free Worlds League (House Marik)
   Always a fractious polity the Free Worlds League has once more degenerated into a state of complete disorder. The assassination of its Captain-General under questionable circumstances has seen the reversal of this nation’s fortunes which were once so bright. From the arms merchants of the InnerSphere during the Clan Invasion this realm now fights itself as rival claimants and regional powers struggle for dominance. Several powers including ComStar, the Capellan Confederation, the Magistracy of Canopus, and even the Illyrian Palatine have been drawn into the conflict on one side or another.

Capellan Confederation (House Liao)
   Even while the Confederation is not officially involved in the Clan War or the Marik Civil War they are as always neck deep in the middle of intrigue. Chancellor Sun Tzu Liao’s engagement to Isis Marik resulted directly in the intervention of McCarron Armored Cavalry and other friendly mercenaries in that conflict. Siding with the renegade Blakists in the ComStar Schism has also produced its fair share of controversy. Insurgents as well as Liao zealots continue their low-level campaigns of resistance against FedCom occupation in the Sarna March and St. Ives Compact. Military operations have recently declined against the Capellan March likely as a result of their activity elsewhere.

ComStar (Word of Blake)
   Going from neutral arbiter of interstellar communications the enigmatic group known as ComStar has taken on a much more active role in the affairs of the entire Human Sphere lately. While some call it the savior of the humanity after its heroic actions on Tukayyid others accuse the Order of subtle manipulation which has held back progress to the detriment of all. New Primus Sharilar Mori aims to reform Jerome Blake’s legacy organization to correct these misconceptions. Trying to replace the old secretive almost religious Brotherhood with a more open secular corporation has sparked a schism which threatens the peace of all mankind. Fanatics espousing the true Word of Blake have launched an insurrection which has been marked by terrorism and war. Their zealotry contributed in a major way to the start of the Marik Civil War and ongoing conflicts over various HPG stations all over the InnerSphere. Who will emerge triumphant in this escalating conflict is a question which may drag on for years?

Clans (Children of Kerensky)
   Returning after centuries of self-imposed exiles the descendants of the Star League Defense Force (SLDF) have evolved into a near alien martial society now bent on conquest. Led by the Crusader faction the Clans fell upon an unsuspecting InnerSphere just two years subjugating nearly two hundred and fifty worlds. The tumultuous events of this rapid expansion followed by a stunning loss at Tukayyid have seen the opposing Warden faction regain power. Overseeing the fifteen-year truce will be a monumental task for ilKhan Ulric Kerensky who has previously urged his fellow Clansman to defend the InnerSphere from all threats. To complicate matters further not every Clan took part in Operation Revival splitting these warriors into Invading and Home Clans. While extremely honor bound, they yearn to reach Terra and restore the Star League of old under their aegis.

Minor Powers (St. Ives and Rasalhague)
   The St. Ives Compact and Free Rasalhague Republic were born approximately two decades ago during the 4th Succession War which saw the rise of the Federated Commonwealth. Both nations seceded from their parent realms, the Capellan Confederation and the Draconis Combine respectively, attempting to become truly independent. It has been anything but clear sailing for either as the small Compact has never been able to really stand on its own while the Clan Invasion crushed most of the Republic beneath its fury. Both are signatories of the new Martial Accords but their long-term survival prospects are uncertain at best.

The Periphery
   The emergence of the Clans from beyond the known reaches of human settlement has only served to heightened the question what truly lies out there? The Periphery is the fringe of human settlement on the far borders of the InnerSphere with some long-established nations like the Taurian Concordat, the Magistracy of Canopus, and the Outworlds Alliance. Many Bandit Kingdoms and Pirates who call this vast region home were laid waste by the Clan advance but they still remain. Preying on outlying colonies and tiny proto-states some like the Marian Hegemony have grown in strength threatening to become powers themselves. Despite the danger explorers’ intent on discovering the Homeworlds of the Clans and other mysteries of this enormous frontier constantly push the boundaries of known space.