Head Hunting
Sarna News
Head Hunting was one of oldest, effective and, by most, dishonorably tactics. It consists in attacking the enemy military command centers, bases and communications. Concentrating fire on the enemy commander BattleMech can also be seen as head hunting, and most armies commander avoid showing distinctive insignias on their 'Mechs. This tactic, successfully used, can cripple entire regiments still intacts, putting them in disarray, forcing them to retreat and even surrender.
History
Despite being a dishonorably tactic, the Star League Defense Forces designated at least a BattleMech specially for head hunting, the Exterminator, so effective in his task than were created special units to hunt and destroy them. One of most notable examples of this tactic happened in the year, during the Fourth Succession War. In the battle of St. Andre, the leutenant Andrew Redburn, facing the heavy unit Cochraine's Goliaths, identified his commanding officer, colonel Fiona Cochraine, destroying it with a Death from Above attack. The colonel's unit was forced to flee and was totally destroyed, despite his attackers were only a light BattleMech company.[1] Another notably Head Hunting attack happenen during the War of 3039, when DEST strike teams launched an attack on Lyran headquarters on planet Vega that incapacitated Lyran commander Nondi Steiner and forced her evacuation. Her long recovery allowed her subordinate commander's preference for older Lyran tactics to undermine the Commonwealth Thrust.[2]
Clan Invasion
The Clans, during Operation Revival, proved to be very good using this tactic: their first objectives always are the defender's commanding officers, control and command positions. This strategy helped them to conquer worlds with minimal losses, opening a way inside Inner Sphere space. The Clans Elementals were the most common unit to send at this class of missions.[3] Hohiro Kurita itself almost fall to one of these attacks, when, during the battle of Teniente, the bunker serving as command post of the Kuritan defenders was attacked by a team of Clan Nova Cat Elementals... ironically, only seconds after Hohiro warned the bunker's officers about the threat of a head hunting attack. Hohiro and Shin Yodama managaed to kill both Elementals barely. During the Battle of Tukayyid, the ComStar commanding officer, Anastasius Focht, took special cautions to prevent the clans to uncover his location. However, a Clan Smoke Jaguar unit found it, but were all destroyed before to inform. During the Battle of Melissia, in 3064, the Falcons broken a situation of stalemate launching a Head hunter attack, making a DropShip launch Elementals over "The Rock", a heavily fortified base, killing the Lyran Marshal Sharon Byran[4] and forcing the remaining Lyran forces to retreat. But, ironically, this retreat was a Lyran victory, as it leaved the new commander, General Adam Steiner to retreat from a war of attrition he cannot win.[5]