What do you think?
Rate this book
Battletech Field Report: 2765 #3
Field Report: 2765: DCMS
GATHERING FORCES…
In 2765, the Star League Defense Force was the greatest military ever assembled, unparalleled in numbers and technological prowess—but it was not alone. The House Lords and the rules of the Territorial States in the Periphery each amassed armies of their own. While none of these powers alone could challenge the sheer size and might of the SLDF, each stood ready to defend their own interests against the avarice of their neighbors.
Field Report 2765: DCMS describes the state of House Kurita’s Draconis Combine just before the events described in Historical: Liberation of Terra (Part 1), including the overall military and logistical condition of one of the Great Houses that would eventually survive the collapse of the Star League and face a new age of endless war.
In 2765, the Star League Defense Force was the greatest military ever assembled, unparalleled in numbers and technological prowess—but it was not alone. The House Lords and the rules of the Territorial States in the Periphery each amassed armies of their own. While none of these powers alone could challenge the sheer size and might of the SLDF, each stood ready to defend their own interests against the avarice of their neighbors.
Field Report 2765: DCMS describes the state of House Kurita’s Draconis Combine just before the events described in Historical: Liberation of Terra (Part 1), including the overall military and logistical condition of one of the Great Houses that would eventually survive the collapse of the Star League and face a new age of endless war.
28 pages, ebook
Published December 13, 2013
3 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 9, 2015
Available in electronic format only, this was the third in a new series of faction-specific publications intended to accompany the main Star League-era sourcebooks and focuses on the state of the Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery (DCMS) as of 2765. The book is written from an in-universe point of view, presented in the first instance as a report from the Star League Intelligence Command (SLIC) to the Commanding-General of the SLDF, with an additional introduction written three hundred years later by a Brigadier working within the Republic Armed Forces HQ, providing the original report as a contextual document for study by RAF units in an effort to better understand the history and character of the DCMS.
In common with the other books in this series, this book begins with a general overview of the state of the DCMS and the Draconis Combine, giving strategic and logistical updates on the state of the military incorporating details on the various military academies scattered around the realm, the role of mercenaries and the underlying infrastucture. The main portion of the book is a breakdown of the various brigades of the DCMS via a series of one-page entries plus another page on the Draconis Combine Admiralty (DCA). This is followed by a brief rules annex, including random assignment tables, and then two Technical Readout-style entries for new WarShips, the Narukami-class destroyer and the Cruiser-class cruiser, followed by a deployment map before finishing with record sheets for the two new WarShips. Other than the record sheets and some illustrations the book is in colour throughout, with illustrations of the unit insignia for each Brigade, plus the new WarShips.
Unfortunately, this Field Report is perhaps the weakest in the series, in part because of the nature of the DCMS. Whilst the other Field Reports tend to provide some detail on individual regiments within the various brigades, providing highlights like nicknames and snippets of regimental history, actions or roles, the entries for the various DCMS brigades lack that detail. Each entry gives some background on the brigade as a whole, but nothing - or next to nothing - on any of the individual units. This is possibly because the DCMS is the most regimented of the various militaries, but it's a disappointment because there are no hooks to make individual units stand out and become more appealing for those looking to adopt a particular unit.
The detail on the brigades is useful, particularly that of the Dieron Regulars, as it clarifies the roles they had at the time, and it does provide a snapshot of the activities each brigade was involved in and morale across the brigade, but all in all it makes the bulk of the Field Report a less satisfying read than its contemporaries.
The entry on the Draconis Combine Admiralty is also disappointing; whilst a total WarShip count for the Admiralty is given, the breakdown of that fleet by WarShip design present in most of the other Field Reports is missing (although an update was given on the official Catalyst Game Labs forum, providing that detail) making it harder to stage canonically representative BattleSpace games in the era, reducing the utility of the Field Report accordingly.
The new WarShip designs are interesting, however; the Narukami is completely new, and helps give the DCA some character - as well as highlighting that the updated second block of Narukami would've been one of the nastiest destroyers on the scene at the time. The Cruiser represents a fascinating piece of BattleTech history, being one of the oldest WarShips to be produced and an anachronism resulting from it being designed ahead of any clear understanding of what black water battles would involve. Only previously mentioned in passing in one book (the Star League sourcebook) it's a very cool thing to see detailed.
In common with the other books in this series, this book begins with a general overview of the state of the DCMS and the Draconis Combine, giving strategic and logistical updates on the state of the military incorporating details on the various military academies scattered around the realm, the role of mercenaries and the underlying infrastucture. The main portion of the book is a breakdown of the various brigades of the DCMS via a series of one-page entries plus another page on the Draconis Combine Admiralty (DCA). This is followed by a brief rules annex, including random assignment tables, and then two Technical Readout-style entries for new WarShips, the Narukami-class destroyer and the Cruiser-class cruiser, followed by a deployment map before finishing with record sheets for the two new WarShips. Other than the record sheets and some illustrations the book is in colour throughout, with illustrations of the unit insignia for each Brigade, plus the new WarShips.
Unfortunately, this Field Report is perhaps the weakest in the series, in part because of the nature of the DCMS. Whilst the other Field Reports tend to provide some detail on individual regiments within the various brigades, providing highlights like nicknames and snippets of regimental history, actions or roles, the entries for the various DCMS brigades lack that detail. Each entry gives some background on the brigade as a whole, but nothing - or next to nothing - on any of the individual units. This is possibly because the DCMS is the most regimented of the various militaries, but it's a disappointment because there are no hooks to make individual units stand out and become more appealing for those looking to adopt a particular unit.
The detail on the brigades is useful, particularly that of the Dieron Regulars, as it clarifies the roles they had at the time, and it does provide a snapshot of the activities each brigade was involved in and morale across the brigade, but all in all it makes the bulk of the Field Report a less satisfying read than its contemporaries.
The entry on the Draconis Combine Admiralty is also disappointing; whilst a total WarShip count for the Admiralty is given, the breakdown of that fleet by WarShip design present in most of the other Field Reports is missing (although an update was given on the official Catalyst Game Labs forum, providing that detail) making it harder to stage canonically representative BattleSpace games in the era, reducing the utility of the Field Report accordingly.
The new WarShip designs are interesting, however; the Narukami is completely new, and helps give the DCA some character - as well as highlighting that the updated second block of Narukami would've been one of the nastiest destroyers on the scene at the time. The Cruiser represents a fascinating piece of BattleTech history, being one of the oldest WarShips to be produced and an anachronism resulting from it being designed ahead of any clear understanding of what black water battles would involve. Only previously mentioned in passing in one book (the Star League sourcebook) it's a very cool thing to see detailed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review