Broadsword (Individual Union-C-class DropShip)

Revision as of 06:51, 23 August 2015 by Frabby (talk | contribs) (Frabby moved page Broadsword (Union) to Broadsword (Individual Union-class DropShip): New spacecraft article naming scheme)
Broadsword
Vessel Profile
TypeDropShip
ClassUnion (See notes)

History

The Broadsword was a Union-class DropShip operated by Clan Nova Cat. It took part in the Battle of Luthien during the Clan Invasion. Grounded at the Nova Cats' Secondary Landing Zone west of the Tairakana plains on Luthien, it was boarded by a Draconis Elite Strike Team around 1400 hours on 5 January 3052 ("Operation Black Thunder") as the fighting in Kado-guchi valley wound down. The boarders captured the vessel after a short firefight and flew it to the main military spaceport southeast of Imperial City under aerospace fighter cover.[1] Its further fate is unknown.

Notes

  • It could be argued that the Broadsword, which is described as a Clan vessel, should really be a Union-C class vessel instead of a standard Union. When the Luthien scenario pack was published in 1993, the Clans' Union-C-class was not yet introduced to BattleTech; it was only introduced in Technical Readout: 3057 which was published in 1994, i.e. a year later.
    That said, it is entirely possible that the Clans captured regular Union-class vessels of Inner Sphere origin during their conquest, and that they deployed such captured vessels in the Battle of Luthien. Given that the Broadsword is consistently described as a Union-class vessel, this article assumes the reports can be taken at face value.
  • The capture of the Broadsword is one of the playable scenarios in the Luthien scenario pack under MechWarrior, Second Edition rules. Detailed deck plans of the Broadsword are provided on p. 59, but their scale and accuracy is questionable. Notably, they seem to suggest that each of the twelve 'Mech bays aboard the ship can hold up to six individual 'Mechs, with three to five 'Mech symbols placed in each bay.

References

  1. Luthien, p. 58

Bibliography