After spending so much of Publisher Thorkillson's money to acquire information about the Clans, I wanted the pleasure of giving you the results of our anti-Clan research here in my editorial column. Their technology is flexible, but their tactics aren't. Hit 'em from several sides; improvise; change tactics on 'em! One commander on Marshdale went so far as to flip a coin to randomize his tactics! It worked until 'Shell them from long range' came upon his chart and he didn't have the sense to skip it. They don't seem to have any conception of guerilla tactics like pit traps with a conventional mine at the bottom. They can slowly adapt to change, but not in the course of a battle.
Tactics that seem to work: from the beginning, Inner Sphere commanders have worked out ways to force close-in battle, which nullifies the Clans' long range superiority. Try also what's been called the 'bandit defense': scatter your forces in company sized units which utilize hidden supply caches and which report to HQ only by courier. When Clan troops are out of contact with the enemy, they like to split up into stars of five for search-and-destroy missions. Our companies can squash a star with no problems IF WE KEEP INFANTRY SPOTTERS TO WATCH FOR THOSE DRATTED ELEMENTALS!
Contrary-wise, some experts are urging concentration of forces. Defend most probable targets with a heavy force, take advantage of the Clans' habit of fighting one-on-one to initiate concentration of fire, while keeping a mobile reserve to hit attackers in the rear. So far, this has proved good policy. But when the policy is extended to a whole front, we at BattleTechnology aren't so sure. Inner Sphere strategy was to concentrate forces on a few key systems in each sector, while leaving reserves centrally available with plentiful transport.
The problem is that the Clans have chosen a similar strategy, only attacking a few key planets. A front makes a direct-line penetration toward its objective, say the Smoke Jaguars and the Nova Cats toward Luthien, while the allied Clans (Ghost Bears in Draconis space, Steel Vipers in Lyran space) follows more slowly picking off systems which could be a problem behind the lines. Luthien is under attack as I write this. We'll keep you posted.
The following has been sent by ComStar priority message to the head of each of the Clans attacking the Inner Sphere with a prepaid reply form:
"You dishonor General Kerensky by claiming descent from his forces. You show conduct more befitting Amaris the Usurper. The Star League promoted the Ares conventions from the time Aleisha Liao first presented them. General Kerensky several times spoke in praise of these conventions which limit the scale of war's destruction.
Not only do you casually flout the sections which deal with captured mercenaries and their rights to keep their freedom and their BattleMechs if they surrender, but you fight in cities, destroy factories, food storage, power plants -- even attacking hospitals on Chupadero and Icar! Most criminal of all, the Smoke Jaguars destroyed an entire city with nuclear devices from orbit. Even before the Ares Conventions, the Star League Defense Forces Charter prohibited such a genocidal practice.
We have nukes. We have not used them on you, nor have we used the various Chemical/biological horrors in leftover labs that we save for an Armageddon against a potential alien foe.
Even Periphery Pirates fight according to the Ares Conventions!
Have you any excuse to offer or promise to amend? Or shall we decide to hold you nithing, sociopathic killers who have no rights because they are too insane to grant the ordinary rights of humanity to their foes? You have millions of our fellows of the Inner Sphere hostage true, but a hostage is only valuable if his people can count on the word of his captor. How can we trust yours?
I offer the forum of a magazine read by 94% of all MechWarriors in the Known Sphere. We do not wish to slide into the hellpit of total warfare if it can be avoided. Yet if our enemy is committed to such a course, we will use any means necessary to defend even a small fraction of our beloved way of life against the incursion of the Thirty-First Century's version of the horse barbarians.
Back to BattleTechnology 18 Table of Contents
Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 1992 by Pacific Rim Publishing.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com