Preparing for the Abbeville Campaign[]
Abbeville is the first ground combat fought between the Inner Sphere and Word of Blake forces. Due to the sheer size of the Nomad Republic fleet, the Word of Blake Precentor is unwilling to risk sacrificing a great number of his vessels on the first world they encounter right out of the Periphery. Since the Nomad Republic fleet is not approaching his own, it appeared neither side sought an engagement that would be devastating over this world.
Both sides recognized the other was not going to engage so, ground forces were deployed. Nomad Republic deployed a Battalion and Word of Blake deployed a Level III. All in all, Nomad Republic will be falling back toward New Avalon, following the civilian vessels that were already sent there with Kitsune Kurita to bring word to Prince Julian Davion. General Lee has ordered Knight Joy's Battalion to deploy, in order to slow the Blakist advance so as many civilians can be brought up to the fleet as possible.
Keep in mind, neither side is fighting to the death, the Nomad Republic forces are fighting to slow the Blakists, they do not have to resources to try to stop or repel them from the world and still have a chance at surviving as a people. Try to save as many as you can Nomad warriors!
- Key Details
- Force Sizes/Skills
- Each force will be 50K BV
- (Base BV - DO NOT adjust for pilot skills)
- The original BV was 63K BV but, as you go higher with total BV you wind up having too many large BV mechs, which results in difficulty after some mechs are damaged/out of the fight setting up later campaign forces
- Each force will have a single Battalion/Level III Commander at 1/2 Gunnery/Piloting
- Each force will have two Company Commanders at 1/2 Gunnery/Piloting
- Each force will have six Lance Commanders at 2/3 Gunnery/Piloting
- Each force will have twenty-seven Mechwarriors at 3/4 Gunnery Piloting
- Pilots will not be swapped between units in this campaign
- The only exception should be for a dead Mechwarrior to be replaced by a pilot of the same class of mech that has lost their mech
- There is an opportunity for combined arms forces
- Players can come to an agreement in initial force building on how this may play out
- Example: 1 Company mechs, 1 Company Vehicles, 1 Company Vehicles and Battle Armor
- Example: The base force is all mechs, then before the mission determine force BV from the base force
- Add an additional amount of BV for a couple vehicles/battle armor
- Players can come to an agreement in initial force building on how this may play out
- Each force will be 50K BV
- How to use Officers
- May use one Lance Commander per four mechs
- May use both a Company/Battalion/Level III Commander and Lance Commander if using six mechs or more
- This second option would typically have each side with a 1/2 G/P and 2/3 G/P on each side
- Repairs
- Battle and Repair cycles are based on 8 day cycles
- A Battle will take place on Day 1 and the next battle will be 5 days later
- If a unit ONLY takes armor or structure damage it is considered Damaged
- It takes 3 days after a battle to repair Damaged units
- If a unit takes any internal component damage it is considered Severely Damaged
- It takes 7 days after a battle to repair Severely Damaged units
- Example Timeline of Battles and Repairs and their days
- Battle 1
- Repairing
- Repairing
- Damaged units (from Battle 1) are repaired and available for the next Battle (2)
- Repairing
- Battle 2
- Repairing
- Severely Damaged units (from Battle 1) are repaired and available for the next Battle (3)
- Damaged units (from Battle 2) are repaired and available for the next Battle (3)
- Repairing
- Battle 3
- Repairing
- Severely Damaged units (from Battle 2) are repaired and available for the next Battle (4)
- Damaged units (from Battle 3) are repaired and available for the next Battle (4)
- Repairing
- Battle 4
- Repairs are time based in the Abbeville Campaign so that players will not get bogged down in points
- Repairs are also spread out in a way that helps rotate out the most severely damaged units from battle to battle
- This also allows players to call audibles and engage at other times before repairs can even be completed on Damaged units
- The lore explanation is that the Nomads are supported by Homefleet and the Blakists are supported by their own fleet so limitations like the warchest in the Chaos Campaign isn't necessary, only the units available in the Battalion/Level III
- Considerations and Expectations
- As stated above, these two nations are not fighting to the death. Nomad Republic wants to survive and it is a LONG way to Terra for the Word of Blake
- The majority of missions will use Forced Withdrawal Rules
- Losing a mech in a mission only impacts the available roster for this series of missions
- These missions will not be running the clock out as they are objective based so larger forces will be a feasible option
- Once the games reach a certain point the players can narrate any further action if it is looking clearly in one side's favor
- In the event Nomad Republic is pushing back the Blakists or the Blakists are trying to retake lost ground consider altering deployment
- If the Nomads are trying to retake the wall in the Fortification mission, consider having the Blakists start with a certain BV percent outside the walls then have a certain % of BV from the Nomads come in on a far edge from outside the wall trying to flank
- Make this campaign yours and immerse yourself in it
- As far as list building goes, don't game it
- Nomad Republic isn't going to magically have an ECM packed force ready to go
- I would recommend about six to ten mechs in the battalion that have ECM at most
- Not every single Word of Blake mech is going to be running C3I
- Celestials should not be the main fighting force, it would be general common designs for the most part
- There should be a mix of C3, C3I, and non-C3 mechs in the Level III
- ECM mechs for ECCM usage should be kept to a minimum if the Nomad player is abiding by the suggestion above
- Nomad Republic isn't going to magically have an ECM packed force ready to go
- If players are competitive they can certainly pack in the ECM and C3
- Force Sizes/Skills
- Abbeville LZ Mission Parameters
- Abbeville Mission 1 Parameters
- Abbeville Mission 2 Parameters
- Abbeville Mission 3 Parameters
- Abbeville Mission 4 Parameters
- Thank you Playtesters!!!
- (Names/aliases kept anonymous due to stalking and harassment issues by activists published by and running social media of catalyst game labs.)
- Video detailing the issues
- [working] 5/30/24