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Fraction Jackson
Oct 27, 2007

Able to harness the awesome power of fractions
help how do I render an actually speechless john madden in text

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Mukaikubo
Mar 14, 2006

"You treat her like a lady... and she'll always bring you home."

Fraction Jackson posted:

help how do I render an actually speechless john madden in text



Let's clean up the remnants, boys.

Gun Jam
Apr 11, 2015
I'll get a mop.
Next turn, I'll shoot the purple donar from, say, 1031. Low chance, but why not.

EponymousMrYar
Jan 4, 2015

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.
Korean Robert has earned an accolade: Bigger Boom, Bigger Headshot.

anakha
Sep 16, 2009


That was practically a pristine Stone Rhino, too :staredog:

Hanse might wanna consider extending a DCMS officer offer to Korean Robert.

RA Rx
Mar 24, 2016

Korean Robert, real Draconis Suns hero.

That Stone Rhino thought it could just core him in two rounds. Robert saw through the fatal flaw in his plan.

Gun Jam posted:

I'll get a mop.
Next turn, I'll shoot the purple donar from, say, 1031. Low chance, but why not.

Downed mechs are rough terrain, so you're short 1 MP.

RA Rx fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Aug 30, 2017

Sparq
Feb 10, 2014

If you're using an AC/20, you only need to hit the target once. If the target's still standing, you oughta be somewhere else anyway.
Salvage is going to be great. Hot drat Robert, take the Rhino for you.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


Sparq posted:

Salvage is going to be great. Hot drat Robert, take the Rhino for you.

He shot it just right so that he only has to hose out the cockpit and bolt a new seat and canopy in, magnificent work.

anakha
Sep 16, 2009


SIGSEGV posted:

He shot it just right so that he only has to hose out the cockpit and bolt a new seat and canopy in, magnificent work.

Bolt the office chair into the Stone Rhino cockpit for the ultimate revenge.

W.T. Fits
Apr 21, 2010

Ready to Poyozo Dance all over your face.
Ouch... shame about losing the Hatamoto-Chi, but at least she took the Summoner down with her.

Also, how many times now does this make it that the biggest, nastiest, scariest 'Mech on the OpFor has succumbed to :battletech: and been one-shot by a lucky head hit?

DivineCoffeeBinge
Mar 3, 2011

Spider-Man's Amazing Construction Company
Korean Robert took out the Stone Rhino that has been terrifying GoonLance since Turn One.

That is beautiful.

SIGSEGV posted:

He shot it just right so that he only has to hose out the cockpit and bolt a new seat and canopy in, magnificent work.

A new seat? I believe you mean a new Brave Little Office Chair.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


He deserves armrests. Might even keep the originals, vintage kitbash is coming back in style.

Ninurta
Sep 19, 2007
What the HELL? That's my cutting board.

That was one hell of a turn.

A Stone Rhino one-shotted by a converted cargo mech manned by a bondsman is awesome. King esta muerto en su Matar.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

The best goddamn shot.

KnoxZone
Jan 27, 2007

If I die before I Wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
A shame about the HatChi, but murdering the Summoner was still a great trade for us. Looks like this fight is all but wrapped up, barring PTN shenanigans.

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat
My shenanigans cards are played out, the players win with a little more careful maneuvering.

Viva Miriya
Jan 9, 2007

gg wp lmao

Viva Miriya
Jan 9, 2007

loving everything's dying this turn

Runa
Feb 13, 2011

Yeah that's a whole lotta deaths.

The Hatchi paid for it but the exchange rate was ludicrously good.

Zaodai
May 23, 2009

Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.


Fraction Jackson posted:

help how do I render an actually speechless john madden in text

kingcom
Jun 23, 2012

Fraction Jackson posted:

help how do I render an actually speechless john madden in text

Madden doesnt go silent, he just diverts to the most interesting topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=facVh75-vW4

Fraction Jackson
Oct 27, 2007

Able to harness the awesome power of fractions
[madden mode: ON]



[three seconds of dead air]

"You know, as long as I've been calling games in this league, I still always see stuff that surprises me. Thats, uh, well that's the old saying about any given Sunday, what happened right here. This is why you actually play the game. On paper, you know, that Summoner and that Stone Rhino shouldn't be taken out of the play like that, these are pro bowl caliber guys, 20 years of experience between them, don't make too many mistakes. But a career is, uh, well it's so many plays, and even the best players have bad plays, and sometimes they just happen at the same time, and in this league one defensive breakdown can change the whole game."

"When you lose your starting middle linebacker and your strong safety, you know, I'd call that a double loss. Not a lot of teams can come back from that kind of thing. If they keep losing starters at this rate they're gonna have to put the trainers into the game, or maybe the bucket. Maybe they would've been better off with the bucket, I don't know. Maybe get the offensive line coach or someone to put on pads and get out there."

"At this point, you know, they just need to execute some blocks against those overmatched corners, keep possession, and run down the clock. At this point, unless they turn the ball over they really can't lose this game, so you just have to be smart, play a conservative kind of game, and the final score will take care of itself."

[madden mode: OFF]

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat
Let’s Read
BattleTech: Close Quarters

Part 1




The character fighting Cassie on this cover doesn't appear until the next novel :v:

Close Quarters is one of my favorite BattleTech novel trilogies, and one I have difficulty summarizing. So, here’s a quick list of the things I like:
- The Tex-Mex stylings
- Background characters that actually change and grow (or get worse)
- A main character who is a ShadowRunner trapped in a BattleTech novel
- A focus on local rather than interstellar politics (a rarity in BattleTech)
- A quiet exploration of how hosed up the Draconis Combine really is.
I won’t be making fun of this as much as I did Ghost War, Main Event, and etc. but there will be moments—how can there not be, in a novel where one of the main antagonists is an actual Space Ninja? This trilogy is very 90s, and most of the action is something that would be right at home in a Hollywood movie of the era, but the trilogy itself can be surprisingly progressive. Let’s dig right into it, starting the the blurb on the back cover that gets omitted from the Kindle version:

Back Cover posted:

SHE WAS THE PERFECT SCOUT

Resourceful, ruthless, beautiful, apparently without fear, Scout Lieutenant Cassie Suthorn of Camacho’s Caballeros is as consummately lethal as the giant BattleMechs she lives to hunt. Only one other person in the freewheeling mercenary regiment has a hint of the demons which drive her. When the Caballeros sign on to guard Coordinator Theodore Kurita’s corporate-mogul cousin in the heart of the Draconis Combine, they think they’ve got the perfect gig: low risk and high pay. Cassie alone suspects that danger waits among the looming bronze towers of Hachiman—and when the yakuza and the dread ISF form a devil’s alliance to bring down Chandrasekhar Kurita, only Cassie’s unique skills can save her regiment.

All she has to do is confront her darkest nightmares.

Most everything in this blurb is a lie, although they’re not malicious ones. The entire 17th Recon regiment knows what drives Cassie (most just don’t care), she’s not the only one who suspects Chandrasekhar Kurita might not be offering a safe and quiet gig, and there will be no nightmare confrontations (that happens in the next novel). Likewise the ISF/Yakuza alliance is oversold: everyone in the Draconis Combine jumps when Subhash Indrahar tells them to, even the traitors—and when they don’t, it’s a Big Deal.

These won’t be the only deceptions the novel presents us with, nor are they the biggest. Close Quarters is a novel that is built on deception, and untrustworthy narrators abound. Cassie’s latent paranoia creeps through everywhere, and it’s quite telling that the most earnest and truthful character in the novel is an MI4 “Stealthy Fox,” a literal Davion spy.

The novel begins with a brief two-page prologue, explaining the state of the Inner Sphere in 3056 to people who might be new to the series. An interesting point to note, and quite possibly an editorial oversight, the Federated Commonwealth is described as “destroying itself in a vast Civil War.”

In 3056. The actual FedCom Civil War won’t begin until 3062. It’s interesting to see that it was originally planned to happen far earlier. What’s really happening, at present, is that the Capellan Confederation has been involved in a multiple decades of espionage and terrorism to destabilize the planets in the Sarna March which Hanse took during the 4th Succession Wars.

We also get a paragraph explaining Chandrasekhar Kurita, who is “playing a game of his own.” A game that “Subhash Indrahar believes is treason.” It then tells us that this doesn’t really matter because the story really starts in 3034, in the Capellan Confederation.



Book One: Nightmares

Chapter 1

Kalimantan, Larsha
Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation
6 May 3034


Larsha is one of the three Capellan worlds closest to the Aurigan Reach, where the HBS BattleTech game will be set. It’s only two jumps from the Taurian Concordat.

Cassiopeia Suthorn is three. Her family is a group of Kuritan expatriates living in the Capellan Confederation. She’s described as a small child with “bare brown arms and legs and big gray eyes.” She has a teddy bear here, described as a worn, yellow, one-eyed veteran. Teddy Bears are a theme in this novel, one I’ll discuss more when it matters more. Her father is voluntarily (in an effort to earn citizenship) serving as an infantry soldier. He’s not a conscript because he’s an officer, a Commander, equivalent to a Captain, which would make him a company commander, responsible for 84 men.

Cassie’s parents are worried because Larsha is being raided. Her father heads off to fight, and three year old Cassie gets to watch a bunch of soldiers dressed like her father get killed by a PPC. Her mother drags her away to hide in a bush, and an Atlas smashes her house.



She’s not killed, of course, the Atlas gets distracted by an attack and takes a shot at something she can’t see, starts her ruined house on fire with a “ruby” medium lasers (Inner Sphere lasers are consistently red and yellow in the fiction, varying a little by manufacturer. Green and blue are usually reserved for the Clans). The chapter ends with little Cassie screaming.


Chapter 2

Kalimantan, Larsha
Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation
19 July 3047


The Clans haven’t arrived yet, Cassie is sixteen. She’s been conscripted into the sarcastically-named Glorious Redemption Detachment 325. There will be no citizenship for Cassie, penal battalions don’t catch lucky breaks like that, the troopers of Glorious Redemption exist solely to catch bullets. We’re immediately introduced to some of her fellow criminals valiant soldiers of the Capellan Confederation: Pretty Tony, Rat, Pachinko, Tango, and Rusty. They are bravely defending Larsha from attacking mercenaries looting a store and hiding from the battle.

Cassie disdains the lottery because she doesn’t expect any of them will live long enough to use the money they’re taking, and this is where we bump into our first 90s-ism. Nobody can say “rear end” in these novels, they usually substitute “fanny,” which is funny as hell. It’s casually mentioned that inflation is running rampant in the Capellan Confederation, and that the local H-Bill is virtually worthless.



Gweilo doesn’t translate to “round-eyed devils,” it’s Cantonese for “ghost man.” Its usage as a slur is probably something Zaodai would be better-equipped to discuss, but this scene is one of many that influenced my views on the egalitarian nature of the Inner Sphere. Us vs. Them is still a thing, but for most of the successor states it’s nearly always based on national borders rather than on ethnicity.

Their squad leader is convinced the BattleMechs will just hit the `Mech base and then gently caress off (because that’s usually what happens), but he’s wrong. A Wolverine walks throw town, and after spending several moments trying to decide whether it’s friend or foe one of the uneducated conscripts remembers that the Confederation doesn’t make Wolverines.

Cassie’s been eating fruit in this scene (because eating while other people are talking makes her look more like an rear end in a top hat), and tosses it away half-eaten. We learn that Cassie has been studying martial arts, specifically [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencak_Silat]Pencak Silat[/url] which the trilogy will constantly refer to as Pentjak Silat. Cassie immediately contemplates committing suicide with the 1,200 year old Kris, “Blood Drinker,” which her Guru gave her. She does not want to be killed by a BattleMech.

A pack of regular Maskirovka Guardsmen burst into the store the penal troopers are hiding in. One of them slaps Cassie across the store, she’s not particularly big or strong. Cassie has a PTSD flashback on the spot, her mother had turned to prostitution after her father’s death and Cassie herself was raped when she was still extremely young. The book doesn’t shy from portraying Rape as a horrible thing that cripples its victims emotionally, but it’s prevalence as an easy source of pathos is one of the trilogy’s more unfortunate 90s-isms. Cassie stabs her rapist at the young age of 12, three years after his first (and apparently only) successful attempt, and when her mother chastises her for it, leaves to go live on the streets. Which is what lead to her eventual conscription to Glorious Redemption.

The Maskirovka Guards try to play some Russian Maskirovka Roulette with the penal troopers, but the Wolverine comes back, interrupting before things turn deadly.



Chapter 3

Kalimantan, Larsha
Sian Commonality, Capellan Confederation
19 July 3047


Cassie’s fear of BattleMechs far outweighs her fear of the Maskirovka, Cassie picks up her rifle and threatens the Maskirovka guardsmen with it, ordering them to get out into the street. When they laugh at her she shoots the leader through his unarmored thigh. The guards comply, dragging their leader with them, and get promptly mowed down by the Wolverine’s machine gun. Her squad yell at her since the Mask has their names and etc, but at this point Cassie has thoroughly broken as an individual and begun her long trek down the road of psychopathy.



Her new resolve is immediately put to the test, there’s a Stinger on the roof a few blocks away, standing on a building. The troopers regret that the building didn’t collapse, since it’s a bank. The Stinger looks right at them—and past, and Cassie realizes that as dangerous as they are, `Mechs are absolutely terrible at identifying threats that aren’t other combat vehicles. Cassie watches a while longer, and notices the Wolverine is shooting Lasha’s above-ground power lines rather than just walking straight into them.

She cuts a power line with a fire axe, then finds a wooden mop handle with a metal connector on the end and fuses it to the end of the power cable. She lures the Wolverine closer by shooting it once or twice, and the Wolverine follows her through the building she’d been hiding in. Cassie manages to not electrocute herself to death spot-welding the Wolverine’s knee with the power line and mop handle, causing it to fall over. The rest of its lance shows up, just in time to save Cassie from being murdered by the Mechwarrior she just dispossessed: Bobby “Navajo Wolf” Bagay.

Cassie surrenders to Lt. SG Patsy Comacho, of the 17th Recon Regiment. Patsy is the real main character of this story.

Kidding, Patsy dies off-camera fighting the Smoke Jaguars between Ch3 and Ch4.

Skoll
Jul 26, 2013

Oh You'll Love My Toxic Love
Grimey Drawer
You should put Cassie in your next mission. She's literally the Mary Sue of Mary Sues.

iirc she took down a loving Atlas by herself.

Artificer
Apr 8, 2010

You're going to try ponies and you're. Going. To. LOVE. ME!!
Summoner Pilot Status: Hamburger
RIP
Well, clanner had it coming.

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat

Skoll posted:

You should put Cassie in your next mission. She's literally the Mary Sue of Mary Sues.

iirc she took down a loving Atlas by herself.

No she didn't, Skoll. The Wolverine is her most bullshit kill.

Skoll
Jul 26, 2013

Oh You'll Love My Toxic Love
Grimey Drawer

PoptartsNinja posted:

No she didn't, Skoll. The Wolverine is her most bullshit kill.

I just remember her killing an Atlas, then using said Atlas to kill other people even though she's not a mechwarrior. It's been awhile since I read those but I remember hating that trilogy.

MJ12
Apr 8, 2009

That said, taking down a battlemech as a lone infantryman is generally considered exceptional even when you're a battle-armored, cyborged-up Manei Domini. Killing even a Wolverine on foot by your lonesome as an unarmored, un-cyborged person is kind of way beyond that.

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat

Skoll posted:

I just remember her killing an Atlas, then using said Atlas to kill other people even though she's not a mechwarrior. It's been awhile since I read those but I remember hating that trilogy.

You're conflating two different events in the second novel. I know you hate this trilogy, but I like it and I'm going to explain why during the Let's Read. Let me do my thing, you can skip over it if you don't want to read along.

I also contend that Cassie isn't a Mary Sue. She isn't an author insert by any stretch of the imagination, nearly all of her victories happen when she prepares the battlefield ahead of time and the few that don't are pure desperation. She also loses a lot of fights and her mistakes get a lot of her friends killed.

anakha
Sep 16, 2009


In lieu of more missions involving our favorite Space Mexicans, this read-through will do just fine. :ese:

GhostStalker
Mar 26, 2010

Guys, find a woman who looks at you the way GhostStalker looks at every bald, obese, single 58 year old accountant from Tulsa who managed to win $4,000 by not wagering on a Final Jeopardy triple stumper.

anakha posted:

Bolt the office chair into the Stone Rhino cockpit for the ultimate revenge.

Would love to see this happen. Maybe have Hanse and Isoroku present it to him with a new commission or an award or at least something like that, or have the currently whereabouts unknown Rozinski Ami there to see his new ride. Because :drat: that was some fine shooting.

Shame about the crit cascade taking out the Hatamoto-chi, but at least it busted up the Summoner but good in the process and dealt the finishing coup by head cap. Now all you guys have left to deal with are three Donars led by Star Commander Drumf. Shouldn't take too long.

GhostStalker fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Aug 31, 2017

Skoll
Jul 26, 2013

Oh You'll Love My Toxic Love
Grimey Drawer

PoptartsNinja posted:

You're conflating two different events in the second novel. I know you hate this trilogy, but I like it and I'm going to explain why during the Let's Read. Let me do my thing, you can skip over it if you don't want to read along.

I also contend that Cassie isn't a Mary Sue. She isn't an author insert by any stretch of the imagination, nearly all of her victories happen when she prepares the battlefield ahead of time and the few that don't are pure desperation. She also loses a lot of fights and her mistakes get a lot of her friends killed.

Oh nah dude, I'm not saying don't do your Lets Read, by and large I enjoy your takes and stuff and I'mma still read it even if it's a novel I don't particularly enjoy. You know I like Ideal War and iirc you hated that one.

Cassie always came off as Mary Sueish to me honestly, in the nigh unkillable right place right time kind of way. Yeah, she may get hurt here and there but it never seemed compelling at all to me.

kingcom
Jun 23, 2012

PoptartsNinja posted:

You're conflating two different events in the second novel. I know you hate this trilogy, but I like it and I'm going to explain why during the Let's Read. Let me do my thing, you can skip over it if you don't want to read along.

I also contend that Cassie isn't a Mary Sue. She isn't an author insert by any stretch of the imagination, nearly all of her victories happen when she prepares the battlefield ahead of time and the few that don't are pure desperation. She also loses a lot of fights and her mistakes get a lot of her friends killed.

Normally I'd tell Skoll to shut up but you cowarded your way out of reviewing Dark Age novels so I'm conflicted here.

Skoll
Jul 26, 2013

Oh You'll Love My Toxic Love
Grimey Drawer

kingcom posted:

Normally I'd tell Skoll to shut up but you cowarded your way out of reviewing Dark Age novels so I'm conflicted here.

Shut up.

Voyager I
Jun 29, 2012

This is how your posting feels.
🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥
So assuming the surviving Donars stick around chasing glory instead of withdrawing from a hopeless battle, we're going to be left with a crippled Epona limping home to tell the story.

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat

kingcom posted:

Normally I'd tell Skoll to shut up but you cowarded your way out of reviewing Dark Age novels so I'm conflicted here.

I what now?

Ninurta
Sep 19, 2007
What the HELL? That's my cutting board.

Voyager I posted:

So assuming the surviving Donars stick around chasing glory instead of withdrawing from a hopeless battle, we're going to be left with a crippled Epona limping home to tell the story.

Don't forget the Ha Otoko chilling out next to the fuel tank. They parked their mech and fled on foot for greener pastures.

So, next turn I think I will move the Battlemaster to 1626 and fire on the purple Donar. I am not sure how much support we will get from Korean Robert in the near future as his lance appears to be skeddadling north. We may get lucky and they take out the green MS4 Donar but the other two are now behind them as they move north.

PoptartsNinja
May 9, 2008

He is still almost definitely not a spy


Soiled Meat
Chapter 4

New Horizons
Somewhere in the Periphery
30 June 3056


Cassie is 25. New Horizons is not on any map of the Inner Sphere, so when they say ‘Periphery’ they mean ‘Deep Periphery.’ This chapter isn’t that great, it smacks of editorial interference. It’s both the first time we see Cassie as she is rather than as the scared little girl she was and it’s a ‘hook’ to get teenage boys and adult nerds to read the novel.

The 17th Recon Regiment, Cassie included, is hunting pirates who have a base under a lake. The whole area is swampy which the pirates have used to defeat other attackers, but Cassie has scouted out the safe places and moved the pirates’ beacons so they won’t know where the safe paths are anymore. She finds a footprint which she immediately identifies as a Marauder’s. She wants to kill it. Cassie in 3056 is just a hair shy of completely insane.



The 17th calls her Abtakha, after the Clan word for a captive taken in battle. She’s part of the 17th’s battalion of scout infantry, nearly all of whom were cowboys back on Sierra, Cerillos, and Galisteo the so-called “Southwest Trinity Worlds” of the Free Worlds League. New Horizons was once known as Crotch, which is fairly appropriate since the area they’re in is a bayou. We’re introduced to Captain Father Doctor Roberto “Call me Bob” Garcia, a Jesuit priest who is, among other things, the unit’s historian. He will be important, much later. For now it’s enough to know that he exists. Cassie calls the artillery units to be ready, they’ve pre-plotted some attacks based on Cassie’s scouting and her work with the local population of Filipino-Cajuns.

The artillery commander, Diana Vasquez, actually thanks Cassie for doing her job. It’s implied that Diana is both very conscious of others and that Cassie doesn’t get along with most of the unit’s Mechwarriors. Both are true. She nearly stumbles into a lazy pirate patrol, nearly giving away the entire attack, but they’re preoccupied and Cassie murders them both with her dagger without a second thought. It’s implied that she’s killed with her blade often enough that she can’t enjoy the 1990s action movie clichés that are apparently still common in 3056.

Cassie is a remorseless killer and an abhorrent human being.

She’s prepared the swamp with a bunch of fake fireworks launchers that look and sound a lot like LRM barrages. The pirates deploy in confusion and the Marauder she was hoping to kill eats one of Diana’s Arrow IV missiles to the face as its deploying from the pirates’ underwater base.

Colonel Carlos “Tiburón” Comacho orders Cassie out of the Battle Area, which she ignores. She gets yelled at by “Buffalo Soldier,” whom Cassie refers to as a “Rastaman.” Which is pretty fantastic imagery: dreadlocks and a cowboy hat. Many of the best background characters in this trilogy are black.

Cassie lures a pirate Locust off the safe paths and bogs in down in the swamp when it tries bunny hop from one patch of safe ground to a beacon Cassie has moved into a dangerous spot. Cassie hides from the Locust in the den of a burrowing creature she’d scouted previously, and it bogs itself down in the mud. Cassie doesn’t kill the pirate Mechwarrior, she lets him run because she’s already got the trophy she wanted.

Yes, I’m conflating Cassie with the Predator.



This is true, IIRC she won’t kill another `Mech in this novel. The “Mary Sue” vaunted for taking out BattleMechs “barehanded” (by preparing the battlefield and luring overconfident Mechwarriors into traps by shooting at them and literally flipping them the bird) scores two BattleMech kills in four chapters to establish she can do so and then moves on to what actually matters: a few people’s efforts to save our psychopathic main character from herself.



Chapter 5

Imperial City, Luthien
Pesht District, Draconis Combine
27 August 3056


The Kokuryu-kai Black Dragon Society is plotting secret attacks on the Federated Commonwealth to take advantage of Victor Davion’s weakness. Subhash Indrahar has them all killed on the spot, and releases the recording of the murder publically to discourage others from joining Kokuryu-kai. He’s joined by Takura Migaki (who is the head of the ISF’s Propaganda Branch). Migaki will be important in the third novel, but presently he’s barely a bit character. We learn that Ninyu Kerai Indrahar has been sent to Hachiman. Dun-dun-dun. This was a short chapter.



Chapter 6

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
27 August 3056


Our viewpoint character this chapter is “a young man with a pencil-thin moustache” and a “beautifully chiseled profile.” He’s playing news reporter, and just like our friend Bethany Cochraine, he is a Almost Definitely Not A Spy. He chatters about Masamori and reveals that only the railroad bridges will support the weight of a BattleMech, none of the other bridges in or out of the river city will support the weight of a BattleMech. They must be awfully short bridges if they can’t handle 20 tons of regular traffic.

The 17th Recon Regiment is taking a parade route into town, because their employer Chandrasekhar Kurita is a showoff and the people of Hachiman love to party. Carlos Comacho is introduced fully here, piloting his captured Mad Cat D—for those not in the know, that’s arguably the Timber Wolf’s most dangerous variant. We’re also introduced to Gavilan Camacho, Carlos’s son, who drives a Shadow Hawk. Gavlian’s nickname should’ve been “Poor bastard,” because he’s going to turn out to be a rather sorry SOB.

Cassie is leading the procession on a bicycle, and we learn that our spy is Archie Weston, MI4 Stealthy Fox Federated Commonwealth News Service. Captain Father Doctor Roberto “Call Me Bob” Garcia, Society of Jesus, approaches Mr. Weston immediately after the camera stops rolling. Archie immediately outs himself as a pig by staring at his camerawoman’s rear end. On the upside, Mariska Savage is black. She’ll never be an important character, but it’s nice to have more confirmation that race doesn’t matter in BattleTech.

Bob talks about the history of the Eastern Roman Empire for a bit (it’s the 90s, so he uses Byzantium), and Archie is surprised to learn that Bob Garcia pilots a Crusader. Nearly everyone in the 17th old enough to fight is a combatant, the regiment has little patience for conscientious objectors.



Chapter 7

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
27 August 3056


Best characters of the novel are here. Lainie Shimazu, leader of the 9th Ghost Regiment, and her entourage Buntaro Mayne, Usagi and Unagi, and others are enjoying the festivities (and sizing up the possible opposition). The 9th Ghost Regiment is tasked with defending Hachiman, and being a Ghost Regiment, most of them are in the Yakuza. A fair bit of made-up slang is thrown around, the 9th refers to any traditionalist Kurita who can’t stomach Theodore’s military reforms as “Moustache Petes” among other things.

A disgraced Samurai kid with a purple-dyed top-knot (further proof that this is a ShadowRun novel) calls the 17th out as “not looking like much.” Buntaro Mayne reminds him that the Smoke Jaguars don’t just give Timber Wolves away, which pisses off the disgraced samurai kid. The 17th’s Mechs distract them a little more, especially a Locust (the same one Cassie captured a few chapters ago) which is covered in cheap plastic toys.

Disgraced samurai kid continues to piss off the ghosts until Lainie calls him “No-Name,” which is his nickname from now on. I don’t think we ever learn No-Name’s actual name until the moment he dies, which is a nice touch. He can’t challenge Lainie to an honor duel over the insult, she’s his commanding officer and doing so is a death sentence for his entire family. One of Lainie’s actually capable henchmen comments on the coincidence that “Uncle Chandy” has called up a bunch of offworld mercenaries within a few weeks of the 9th Ghost Regiment reaching full strength.



Chapter 8

Masamori, Hachiman
Galedon District, Draconis Combine
27 August 3056


We rejoin Cassie on a bicycle. She considers racing down the hill to Uncle Chandy’s factory but knows most of the 17th Recon’s Mechwarriors would take that as a challenge and that a lot of partying Draconis Combine citizens would get squashed in the stampede. So she doesn’t. She focuses on the terrain so we get a lot of descriptions of the city and the Uncle Chandy’s complex, Hachiman Taro Enterprises. Cassie is very detail oriented, which means she’s ignoring most of the sararimen. Masamori is done in the Yamato style, which means “monstrously attenuated shark fins” and “a terraced face slanting back toward a sheer vertical wall,” details I’d forgotten but can use for future maps.

Her paranoia is in full force, she’s worried about snipers and already watching for possible threats. The HTE complex is massive and walled for defense, with a firing step for BattleMechs and a sheer enough front to prevent BattleMechs from climbing it easily or shooting the buildings inside. We’re then introduced to Cowboy (and Cassie’s personal nemesis Captain Kali MacDougall) in the best possible way:



Cowboy’s at best 19, Kali isn’t much older. Cowboy is also the only character who I will guarantee does not change at all throughout the entire trilogy, and he’s fantastic because of it. One of the 17th’s Russian members immediately (and this is intentional on the author’s part) fucks up some historical details and likens the HTE complex to Stalingrad.



Cowboy :allears:

Please donate to help the poor flood victims down in Texas if you haven't already. :saddowns:

The smallest building in the complex is built like an ancient Japanese castle, because among other things Chandrasekhar Kurita is still a Kurita. He’s also Marvel Comics’ The Kingpin. He’s fat, but nearly every piece of art in the book (there was art in this book, which sadly did not make it into the Kindle version) depicts him as utterly gigantic in a more-muscle-than-fat sort of way.

This is Uncle Chandy:



Why no, he’s not a supervillain, why do you ask? (He’s totally a supervillain).

He’s backed by Mirza Peter Abdulsattah, who Cassie immediately spots as a killer. The Mirza is a strong contender for most dangerous man on the planet, and he’s backing the actual most dangerous man on the planet. Carlos climbs out of his Timber Wolf, and Cassie laments that the Smoke Jaguars cut out his heart on the planet Jeronimo. She doesn’t elaborate on what this means, but the Smoke Jaguars killed Patsy Comacho and Don Carlos has been utterly consumed with depression and regret. Uncle Chandy welcomes the regiment to Hachiman and the chapter ends. We are roughly 1/6th of the way through the novel.

Yakumo
Oct 7, 2008
drat, and here I thought my right torso was the one that was going to fall off since I was giving the Summoner right side shots in exchange for not having to run. Oh well, I'll take that trade any day given the massive firepower difference, especially since the Summoner really wasn't that badly banged up. Good luck with the rest of this one. I hope it's just uneventful cleanup but you never know with this game.

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kingcom
Jun 23, 2012


PoptartsNinja posted:

I know I haven't finished the Lets Read of the Dark Age book (ugh), but I'm going to Lets Read the first Caballeros novel.

RIP that awful dark age book lets read.

Skoll posted:

Shut up.

kingcom fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Aug 31, 2017

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