The Further Adventures of Cranston Snord's Irregulars: The Bribery Gambit

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The Further Adventures of Cranston Snord's Irregulars: The Bribery Gambit
Product information
Type Scenario
Author Blaine Pardoe
Pages 2
Publication information
Publisher Reluctant Publishing, Ltd.
First published
Content
Era Succession Wars era
Timeline 3025

Overview[edit]

The Further Adventures of Cranston Snord's Irregulars: The Bribery Gambit is a BattleTech scenario published in issue #6 (volume 3) of Stardate magazine. Featuring a battle involving Snord's Irregulars, it was written by Blaine Pardoe, who also authored the two scenario packs about Cranston Snord and his unit.

Canonicity[edit]

Magazines, "even official ones", do not fall under the current definition of Canon by default.

Also, while Stardate magazine had close ties to FASA and had the line "Your OFFICIAL BattleTech connection" on the cover, the magazine clarified that all material from the magazine was considered "optional". The scenario is thus considered apocryphal (official, but not fully canonical).

Scenario[edit]

Lyran intelligence learned in ca. June 3025 of a plan by the vengeful House Marik to abduct Misha Auburn, the daughter of House Steiner court historian Thelos Auburn, during their annual visit to Clinton, in order to blackmail her father into assassinating Archon Katrina Steiner or Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner. Snord's Irregulars arranged for their entire company to be ready on Clinton, and indeed within a week of the Auburns' arrival, an unidentified DropShip deployed "Marik Strike Company Zeta". The attackers first saturated the museum site with a stun gas but then were brought to battle by the Irregulars who had been laying in ambush.

The attackers consisted of a BattleMaster, a Marauder, a damaged Warhammer, two Thunderbolts, a Shadow Hawk, a Locust, and some tanks: two Von Luckners, two Galleon and a Patton.

On the defending side, historian Thelos Auburn was given a refurbished Crusader to join the fight.

The Irregulars encircled and battered the defenders in the Ferrald Highlands next to the museum, and even managed to cripple the DropShip with their own light aerospace fighters.

Notes[edit]

  • Thelos Auburn is otherwise portrayed as a timid academic. It seems notably out of character for him to drive a 'Mech in battle, though the scenario is framed as Thelos narrating the event in an interview where he also mentions that he thinks he may perhaps have missed his true calling as a MechWarrior.
  • The participants' stated gunnery and piloting skills, if read like the usual base numbers that have to be rolled for a success, would indicate decidedly mediocre skills for Snord's Irregulars, while portraying Thelos Auburn as a MechWarrior with elite skills. They may have been meant to be skill ranks for the MechWarrior RPG, where higher numbers indicate better skill. (No skills at all are mentioned for the Marik force except its CO, Lt. Raph Wilson, who curiously has very low numbers indicated that are roughly similar to those given to Thelos Auburn.)


Bibliography[edit]

  • Stardate, Volume 3, Number 6, pp. 512–513