Take the Capital, Direct

The first task the Company faces was the taking of the capital city of Aswan. With the defending forces elsewhere and in conflict with one another, only a small number of conventional forces remained to defend the city. The Company split into three groups. One group would proceed directly to the heart of the city, while the other two groups would loop to the north and south in a flanking maneuver.

After-Action Report

The direct approach was guarded by two lances of conventional armor and infantry forces. An SRM carrier and Shrek PPC tank held the main route, but with massed fired from the mechs, the Company was able to clear a path quickly. When the infantry retreated to the buildings, the Company had no choice but to fire on them, damaging some of the beautiful architecture of the main thoroughfare into the city center.

Take the Capital, Northern Flank

The first task the Company faces was the taking of the capital city of Aswan. With the defending forces elsewhere and in conflict with one another, only a small number of conventional forces remained to defend the city. The Company split into three groups. One group would proceed directly to the heart of the city, while the other two groups would loop to the north and south in a flanking maneuver.

After-Action Report

When faced with a blockade made up of light conventional tanks and infantry, the Company attempted to reason with the defenders but they opened fire on the Company infantry units, killing two soldiers. That rash action sealed their fate and it wasn’t until all the tanks were smoking wrecks and most of the infantry dead or gone to ground before the Lt. Fuentes accepted their surrender. The Company units were relatively unscathed accepted for Jay Tibbet’s Cataphract which had been demolished by combined enemy fire when he led the charge through the blockade. Tibbet was seriously wounded but survived.

Take the Capital, Southern Flank

The first task the Company faces was the taking of the capital city of Aswan. With the defending forces elsewhere and in conflict with one another, only a small number of conventional forces remained to defend the city. The Company split into three groups. One group would proceed directly to the heart of the city, while the other two groups would loop to the north and south in a flanking maneuver.

After-Action Report

The task force attacking from the south flank was forced to contend with a company of armor and infantry as they crossed a major river. Initially, a heavy lance of Schrek PPC Carriers and Von Luckner heavy tanks gave the group some trouble, but they were quickly able to shrug off attacks by harassing units, surround the heavy lance, and pound it into dust. With their anchor demolished, the remaining forces quickly surrendered.

Repel the Grenadiers

After securing the city of Aswan, the company set about reinforcing for the inevitable counterattack from FedCom forces. The unexpected arrival of Lindon’s Battalion, a unit contracted to the Draconis Combine but taking shore leave on Caph, nearly led to violence, but Lindon’s Battalion was rebuffed through diplomacy and headed for the city of Cimmeron instead.

It would not go so easy with Duchess Gustafson’s Grenadiers, who after savaging the Always Faithful attempted a full scale assault of Aswan two weeks later.

After-Action Report

The Company fortified its position along the Phleone River separating the outskirts of Aswan from the city itself. With most of the outlying bridges destroyed, Duchess Gustafson chose a direct approach. Gathering four companies of mechs and combat vehicles in a condition to fight, she led them in a direct assault across the river hoping to overwhelm the Company. Not wishing to enter the kill zone of the main bridges, many mechs went under the water to cross, while jump-capable units jumped across. The Company made the enemy pay dearily for their advance, but were hard put by the ferocity. However, a chain reaction reactor explosion from a Warhammer eviscerated the central ranks of the Duchess’s advance and she was forced to pull back the remainder of her troops, after losing nearly half her forces.

Skirmish

The Grenadiers had retreated to lick their wounds but contined to probe the defenses of Aswan. A week later this would lead to a skirmish between some of the company Pickets and Grenadier forces.

After-Action Report

The clash was quick and ruthless. French’s mech lance charged over the hill and set up sniping positions in the trees while Iliopolis’s hover lance flanked the enemy. The triple SRM packs of the hovers were devastating to the enemy forces when they surprised them at short range. The Company managed to disable two mechs and destroy two enemy hovers before the remaining Grenadiers fled. One of the Company hovercrafts was disabled but repairable. The remaining units took only armor damage.

Stop the Mob

The skirmish with elements of Gustafson’s Grenadiers was the last the Company heard of the Grenadiers for awhile. However, the Denebola SMM, led by Leftenant Josef Gould and ardently loyal to the Lyran Alliance, began probing the perimeter of the capital.

More importantly, the Denebola SMM managed to get agents within the city where they were able to raise a poorly trained army from a hidden supply cache. On December 14, this ragtag army attacked a Company infantry patrol near the city’s Souli Park. The patrol was forced to hold firm while waiting reinforcements.

After-Action Report

Although initially heavily outnumbered, the Company’s infantry squads were able to hunker down and wait for reinforcements which quickly routed the disoganized mob.

Sandwiched

Elements of the Denebola SMM has been probing the city’s perimeter for weeks and it looks like they are finally ready to make their move. They are coming in hard from the north in an all-out assault.

As the Company moved into position to intercept the Denebola SMM, they recieved reports from their scout elements to the south of the city. It appears that the remnants of Gustafson’s Grenadiers caught wind of the assault and are using it to infiltrate the city from the south. The Company is now sandwiched between these opposing forces. The only silver lining is that the Grenadiers and Denebola SMM hate each other as much as they hate the Company.

After-Action Report

With jump infantry pickets in place, Colonel Ferrer was able to deploy the Company’s forces intelligently to address the battle on both fronts. Two lances of mechs from Bravo company led by Captain Domingo Salas as well as a lance of Zhukov heavy tanks led by Lieutenant Henderson were charged with slowing the advance of the Grenadiers, while the remainder of the Company focused on repelling the Denebola SMM.

The main thrust of the Denebola SMM’s attack came down a central boulevard. The Company was able to saturate the area with thunder-delivered minefields, bottling up the SMM’s advance. As they looked for an alternate way around, the Company’s artillery batteries opened fired on them, along with the combined fire of a company’s worth of mechs and tanks. Despite suffering grevious damage, the Denebola SMM continued their advance. The Company pulled back, bleeding the enemy for every block gained in fierce and destructive urban combat.

Meanwhile, the jmp capabilities of Captain Domingo Salas’s lance were effective in harassing the Grenadiers and slowing their advance. Lieutenant Henderson’s Zhukov tank lance, however, was caught and separated by enemy forces. Although they did significant damage, all tanks in the lance were disabled or destroyed. The light mechs of pursuit lance were able to ambush and mostly destroy a full lance of Pike light support vehicles, before retreating under the fire of a Banshee assault mech. The Company’s units were holding the Grenadiers back but at great cost. Colonel Ferrer turned his own mech from the main battle to provide support to these beleagured troops.

The Denebola SMM finally decided that it could not take its objectives given the combat attrition it had suffered. Units began pulling back to withdraw. At this point, the Company surged forward and took down several more mechs and vehicles before the SMM withdrew. From an initial two companies of mechs and one company of vehicles, they returned to their lines with nine damaged mechs and one Manticore heavy tank.

With the Denebola SMM in full retreat, the Company swung their forces around to face the full brunt of the Grenadiers’ attack. The Grenadiers, seeing that they were now seriously outnumbered, decided to withdraw. Having taking significant damage, Colonel Ferrer called a halt and the Company regrouped.

After this titanic battle, both the Grenadiers and the Denebola SMM decided that they could find easier targets elsewhere and moved away from Aswan to pick at each other and the remaining mercenary forces on planet. The Company served out the remainder of its contact in relative peace.

At the conclusion of the contract, Colonel Ferrer turned down an extension, concerned that the fighting on Caph was about to descend into the brutality of a civil war. The Company was relieved by the Stealthy Tigers mercenary unit.