Star League Monthly Mech Design Contest¶
The Star League Discord server runs a monthly mech design contest. Here are my submissions.
July 2026 - Irrwicht IRW-1T¶
The Federated Suns Ministry of Information, Intelligence, and Operations (MIIO) found themselves operating under strong resource constraints following reclaiming of New Avalon and the Dragon’s Tongue during Operation SOLAR FLARE. MIIO created task forces to investigate low cost approaches to deter aggression from the Federated Sun’s historical enemies. The Covert Operations Division proposed designing an inexpensive BattleMech which could be supplied to rebels in neighboring realms to help destabilize their traditional rivals. The design team started with a 55 ton chassis, allowing the Irrwicht to share common components with many prolific designs, such as the Griffin, Shadow Hawk, and Wolverine BattleMechs. From there, the team focused on designing a platform for pilots with minimal military training but reasonable experience piloting agricultural or industrial ‘Mechs. The resulting design proved highly popular in the Periphery, especially when paired with units with longer range capabilities, such as the Merlin. The initial production run used components from as many different manufacturers to demonstrate the ease of maintenance for this platform, with no two units in this production run containing identically matching components. The MIIO intended to use a shell company to collect licensing fees for the design to fund covert operations; however, the simplicity of the design proved easy to replicate and soon several Periphery manufacturers were creating unlicensed replicas.
In its first deployment, the base design, the Irrwicht IRW-1T, proved successful in border raids against the Raven Alliance from pirate forces operating out of the Outworlds Wastes. The Draconis Combine also encountered the design during in border raids in short order. Unfortunately, the rugged design rapidly proliferated, and the Federated Suns soon found themselves fighting their own design, much to the disappointment of MIIO. As these raiders captured ‘Mechs equipped with clan technology, the various medium lasers on the Irrwicht often received field upgrades, resulting in a wide variance in range capabilities, complicating MIIO’s efforts to provide intelligence on the unit to border militia units.
August 2026 - Juncus JS-93 and Gallinago PA(L)¶
Juncus JS-93¶
The Outworlds Alliance historically has relied upon its superior aerospace pilots to protect their citizens from pirates and other external threats. However, the Alliance Military Corps remained concerned about the growing skill gap between their ground forces and those of neighboring realms or even some pirate bands. To this end, leadership commissioned the Juncus project - a fast, low observable VTOL platform designed to insert sharpshooters behind enemy lines to target commanders and specialists. Development of the Juncus proved to be fraught with problems, as the Outworlds Alliance does not have particularly many factories capable of producing military combat vehicles. Ultimately, the contract went to Kukk Transportation Industries, which was primarily known for their Sparrowhawk SPR-DH but proved to be up to the task of a limited production run of the Jancus.
The Juncus saw limited deployment with the Alliance Military Corps. However, the Outworlds Alliance Intelligence service found the platform well suited to their needs, especially with the Infiltration Division. The platform’s low heat signature and mast mounted surveillance equipment made it ideal for stealthy insertions.
Given the principal usage of the Juncus is by the Outworlds Alliance Intelligence service, details about its deployment history are difficult to come by. While government officials reported the platform was successful at suppressing pirate raids, this has not been independently confirmed. The bulk of sightings of the Juncus in Outworlds Alliance territory have been on Dante and Baliggora, fueling suspicion that the platform has primarily seen usage against ‘internal threats’.
Gallinago PA(L)¶
Equipped with advanced camouflage and surveillance equipment, the Gallinago suits are designed for monitoring and eliminating high value targets. The limited jump-jet capabilities on the suits was added when the Juncus VTOL was added to the Outworlds Alliance Intelligence inventory.
When Outworlds Alliance Intelligence received two Tornado power armor suits, they were unsure if they should disassemble the suits for research or preserve them for special operations. Ultimately, OAI leadership decided to disassemble the suits to research and develop clones. While the the Gallinago suits have significantly reduced capabilities, they represent a significant advantage against their typical targets, ultimately proving the decision to disassemble the Tornado suits to be the right one for the OAI.
Unconfirmed sightings of the Gallinago have been reported on Dante and Baliggora.
September 2026 - Lightning Bug LTN-GB16¶
During the Long Road program, United Outworlders Corporation saw an opportunity to try to replicate the success of Mountain Wolf BattleMechs and get Outworlds Alliance support in the development and deployment of a new BattleMech. Given the Outworlds Alliance Militia’s traditional preference for Aerospace Fighters, United Outworlders proposed the development of a ground-capable variant of the venerable LGN-G15 that had been a mainstay of OAM Aerospace Arm.
The design team was tasked with maintaining the basic airframe and capabilities of the LTN-GB16 Lightning while modifying the unit to have ground capabilities. Due to some fortunate corporate espionage, United Outworlders Corporation acquired a pair of Federated Suns prototype improved jump jets. The greater weight of these components, combined with the bulky transition gear, made it challenging for the engineers to fit all of the requested equipment. The team found themselves prohibited from decreasing armament and were forced to decrease the engine size and remove heat sinks. The resulting LAM had relatively slow ground speed and 2 of the medium lasers were replaced with small lasers to provide improved anti-infantry protection. Ultimately, these compromises left the LTN-GB16 inadequate in all of its roles.
During testing, 2 lances of LTN-GB16 prototypes faced a flight of Lightning ASFs and a lance of Locust BattleMechs. Despite their numerical advantage, the Lightning Bugs were soundly defeated in all test scenarios. These defeats at the hands of not only fellow ASF pilots but also ground forces they traditionally looked down upon lead to a strong negative review of the program by all 8 test pilots, sealing the fate of the program.
The non-standard components and experimental gear would have required extensive maintenance support, which lead to an additional negative review from OAM’s logistics division. The program was cancelled, with the unit deemed to be under-gunned, under-sunk, carrying too small of an engine, and too difficult to maintain.
October 2026 - Atlas AS7-C3¶
“What do you mean ‘nuke them’?!?” Jance pressed the heels of their hands into their eyes. “Please tell me you are kidding. Do you know how heavy and expensive equipment to launch a Davy Crockett is?”
The Chairman chewed on the end of his cigar. “I don’t care; rip out whatever you need, just make sure it can launch a Davy and won’t die until it does. We have 10 million to spend on this.”
As he was walking out the door, the Chairman said over his shoulder, “Oh, and make it jump. Parliament’ll grumble less about the price if they can see it flying through the air.”
Jance sighed. This was going to be a painfully long month.
Born from a crash requirement to make a nuclear capable Atlas, the Atlas AS7-C3 can be thought of as a ‘budget’ Atlas C 3. The entire weapons loadout of the Atlas AS7-D was sacrificed to fit the Arrow IV launcher. An extra ton of armor and a 10 ton cape was added to improve survivability, as well as machine guns and anti-infantry pods. In the sole concession to sanity that the design team was able to convince planetary leadership to follow, a command console was added and both the pilot and commander had to agree to launch the Davy Crockett.