Tag Archives: Battletech

Aleksey Sokolov

Game: MechWarrior (third edition – FASA, 1999)

My Experience: I will admit to having owned the first two editions of MechWarrior, and even having built characters in them, but I can’t recall ever playing before third edition. Back in the day, Little Sister ran a somewhat hyperbolic campaign in which I and Methrys were the primary players. We may have invented the new war crime of planetary-scale psychological warfare.


Sao-shao Aleksey Sokolov, Electronic Warrior at Large

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Misery Flies a White Banner

Originally posted to the CGL Battletech forum as a fanfic story seed.

Michi Noketsuna was the first to give voice to the truth.  Warlord Grieg Samsonov and Coordinator Takashi Kurita had betrayed the Dragon’s most loyal servant.  True, the life of each samurai belongs to his lord – but this was dishonor beyond the bounds of the Dictum Honorium.  The Ryuken had proven that honor was in right thought and right action, not merely right appearances, and this was their reward?  It was unconscionable.  A samurai from their ranks who sank to such treachery would be fortunate if death were his reward.

Michi Noketsuna was the first to repudiate the covenant that his lord had broken.  Free of his oaths to House Kurita, he pledged his loyalty to the man who had forged the Dragon Sword.  Where he led, those who remained followed.  And if their new master could only cleanse his own honor in death, they would follow there as well.

A single wakizashi was now poised to spill the blood of every surviving samurai of the Ryuken.  Michi Noketsuna had found the one point of leverage that could forestall his mentor’s seppuku: responsibility.  Unable to condemn loyal men and women to death under the weight of his own karma, Minobu Tetsuhara reluctantly declared himself ronin.

Under a white banner, the Ryuken boarded white ships and lifted from a white world.

Clearing the Photo Backlog

I set up the light booth last Saturday and captured a bunch of the miniatures that have been sitting beside my workbench for weeks (or months, in some cases). The link’s in the page header. Most of it’s the batch of Battletech figures I’ve been failing to work on on over the past couple of years, but there’s one ultramodern and a couple of fantasy figures in there too.

I have a bunch more ultramoderns and related figures, but I’m gonna want to set up the Battlesystems modular terrain and do some more detailed background/terrain work.

The backdrops on this batch all came out of Jon Hodgon’s Backdrops and Sci-Fi Backdrops collections, available from Handiwork Games. I was a Kickstarter backer for these and this was the first time I’d deployed them. I’m quite taken with the results.

Wolfhound

Originally posted to the CGL Battletech forum as a fanfic story seed.

Casual familiarity and local recruiting had diluted Wolf’s Dragoons’ exoticism by the time we as players first saw them in the 3020s, but when they burst upon the Inner Sphere in 3005, they were strange and foreign.  Leaving aside their sheer strength and their equipment’s condition, the Dragoons themselves were mysterious and intriguing.  Their accents and speech patterns were reminiscent of recordings of the vanished Star League (not even Clan Goliath Scorpion’s best linguists could completely prepare them to sound like Inner Sphere natives).  Their attire, their hairstyles and personal grooming, their universally-superior physical condition, their foodways, their clear unfamiliarity with Inner Sphere conditions and customs… all of these factors, and more, troubled the Federated Suns’ intelligence agencies but drew the attention of the court.

For their part, the Dragoons were part spies, part disaster tourists, and part social archaeologists.  The Inner Sphere was not what they’d been briefed to expect.  If they were to succeed in their mission, they had to learn to integrate – quickly, and at all levels of society.  To this end, Colonel Wolf’s command staff and a select few ristars ahem, rising stars became fixtures of New Avalon’s court scene when not on mission.

Young, Bloodnamed, passionate, not yet hiding heartbreak behind her Black Widow persona… Natasha Kerensky was not immune to the grandeur and spectacle of the court.  And First Prince Ian Davion was not immune to her legendary allure.  Events proceeded as they often do in such circumstances.

In 3009, as the mercenaries prepared to leave Federated Suns space for Capellan employ, Dragoon MedTechs implanted an anonymous embryo in an Iron Womb.

Greenfan

Today’s offering comes to the blog from an old thread on the Catalyst Game Lab Battletech forum. User Liam’s Ghost proposed the following:


The Situation: You are one of thirteen major landholding Barons on the mid periphery planet of Foxhaven. Like most of the population, your ancestors came to this world to escape the succession wars. Unlike most of the population, your ancestors brought battlemechs with them, leading to your family's current status as landed nobility. Your noble house is free to operate and rule its lands largely with autonomy as long as you contribute to planetary defense and don't threaten the Grand Duke's Peace.

Your personal forces consist of roughly a company of infantry (foot, motorized, or wheeled mechanized, limited to portable machineguns, recoilless rifles, LAWs/VLAWs, and grenades for support weapons), a collection of repurposed civilian vehicles, a small group of Guardian-B conventional fighters, your fortified castle (complete with gun emplacements and a couple sniper pieces), and the Battlemechs that justify your claim to power.

Your mission is to select the battlemechs you want to complement this group. Your total force may not mass more than 220 tons.

To clearly define the restrictions, you are limited to introductory tech mechs (as defined by the master unit list) available during the late succession war, that appear on the Inner Sphere General faction list. For reference, this link should take you to a master unit list unit search with all of those filters already applied.

In addition to these, you may also select the following LAMs: Stinger STG-A5 and A10, Wasp WSP-100, 100A, and 105, and Phoenix Hawk PHX-HK2. HOWEVER, each LAM counts for double its mass for purposes of your mass limit.

(There's also a Shadow Hawk LAM on planet, but that's part of the Grand Duke's private collection).


My response:


The Barony of Greenfan’s territory centers on the Faith Delta, a fertile alluvial plain surrounding the Faith River’s outlet onto Adams Gulf.  The barony’s capital is Nemea, a settlement of some 80,000 citizens constructed near the ancient offshore hulk of the Lion-class DropShip Nemeos Leon.  Greenfan is one of Foxhaven’s breadbaskets, with Nemea and the slightly-smaller Adamsport collectively shipping 20% of the world’s fruits and grains. 

The delta’s soft alluvial soil and the Faith River’s frequent floods make it difficult to maintain a road network through the barony’s agricultural heartland, so local transportation relies mainly on domestically-produced hovercraft.  Nemea dominates the barge trade on the Faith River, while Adamsport, built on more solid ground at the barony’s northern reaches, boasts a robust deepwater shipping facility.  A massive deposit of magnetic ore off the delta interferes with navigation and radio communications throughout the region, making Nemea somewhat isolated from greater Foxhaven society; in this, Adamsport is often the barony’s first point of contact for the outside world.

Like almost all of Foxhaven’s ruling class, Greenfan’s nobles are hereditary MechWarriors.  Most claim descent from the original complement of the Nemeos Leon, though there’s little documentation to substantiate these genealogies.  Through accident or design, the BattleMechs of Greenfan are well-suited to exploit the region’s challenging terrain.

Lady Sofia Antunez, Baroness Greenfan has held dominion since her father’s death in an offshore racing accident twelve years ago.  Diminutive like all the Antunez family, Lady Sofia is a noted dancer and fencer.  These qualities serve her well in the cockpit of Tisiphone, her family’s Wolverine WVR-6R.  The baroness’ gunnery skills are unfortunately not a match for her pilotage, a situation exacerbated by the lack of a domestic ammunition source for Tisiphone‘s GM Whirlwind.  She is, however, an excellent tactical commander who knows her territory like the back of her hand.  Her teenaged twin heirs, Adele and Francisco, are both training to take over Tisiphone, with the self-declared intention to swap the administrative and martial sides of their baronial duties on alternating months.

Sir Alistair Mackenzie-Morse is Baroness Greenfan’s bodyguard and personal hatchetman.  A grizzled duelist in his late 70s, Sir Alistair is pushing the limits of Foxhaven’s medical establishment with his extensive collection of wounds.  By all rational standards, he should have retired after the second prosthetic limb, but he has no heir capable of taking up his neurohelmet.  His wife carries a rare neurological disorder that triggers lethal feedback from a BattleMech’s control systems, and all five of his children and twelve grandchildren have tested positive for the condition.  Until Lady Sofia can convince him to adopt or appoint an heir, he remains bound to Valravn, a Grasshopper GHR-5H that’s returned from the brink of death as often as its pilot has.

Sir Dominik Sokolsky had no intention of becoming a MechWarrior.  So far down the Sokolsky line of succession that he couldn’t even see a BattleMech’s cockpit, he was a casual gentleman-farmer who dallied in militia service because certain other young Nemean gentlemen liked the look of a Greenfan dress uniform.  When Baron Carlos Antunez’s racing hydrofoil slammed into a spectator barge at 90 knots, the resulting fireball killed every adult Sokolsky except Dominik, who found himself unexpectedly thrust into several roles he’d never desired nor trained for.  Although he’s come along well under Sir Alistair’s tutelage, he still lacks confidence at the controls of Red Hussar, the Sokolsky ancestral Wyvern WVE-6N.  However, his background as an infantry platoon leader has allowed him to training alongside his former militia comrades with a rare degree of cooperation, going so far as to develop the force’s first stirrings of anti-Mech infantry doctrine.

Dame Janelle Adams is the first Adams in living memory to pilot her family’s venerable Crab CRB-20, Pathfinder.  72 years ago, Baronet Clarence Adams led an unsuccessful plot to overthrow the Antunez family and claim the Barony of Greenfan for himself.  The Adams line fell under a writ of attainder, stripping them of their rule of Adamsport in perpetuity and Dispossessing them for three generations.  While allowed to train in the baron’s simulator to pass down proficiency, Adams heirs were forbidden upon pain of death from laying so much as a gloved finger on Pathfinder without baronial permission.  The proudest – and most terrifying – moment in Dame Janelle’s life was the day she walked her Mech out of the hangar where it had lain dormant for seven decades.  As the sole MechWarrior in Adamsport, she knows she’s expected to be a scout and tripwire, not to mount any sort of credible defense on her own, and she’s leaning heavily on Sir Dominik for tactical and political advice.


I was looking heavily at quirks when I put this force and their barony together.  The Wolverine and Wyvern are both command units and the Crab also has superior comms gear.  This lets them overcome a lot of the area’s natural interference to maintain communications where an invading force wouldn’t.  Also, all three of the Mechs based in Nemea are jump-capable, which helps them out when operating in the marshes and soft alluvial soil of the delta.  The Crab isn’t a jumper but it has more stable terrain and a road network to use.  If called up for the planetary defense mission, this lance would likely deploy via barge (if going upriver) or merchant vessel (if forces were assembling at another coastal port).

Hot Extraction

This one’s for MechWarrior:

It’s December 2766. All of the PCs, for whatever reason and whatever their origins, are on Terra over the traditional holiday season. On the morning of the 27th, they’re all at a diplomatic function (or on duty, or waking up hung over…) in Unity City. That’s when the shooting starts… and they find themselves the only protagonists standing between Stefan Amaris’ coup and Helena Cameron.

This campaign would be heavy on action-espionage and outright military action as the PCs try to get a Cameron heir off world, out of the Sol system, and to something resembling safety. Depending on the mix of PCs, both character-scale and wargame-scale conflict could be feasible.

Clearing the Air: The Skysweepers

Originally posted to the CGL Battletech forums in 2021.


Early in his training, Count Prasad Wickham realized he possessed two qualities that would be most unbecoming in a MechWarrior of the AFFS: total ineptitude for piloting and extreme physical cowardice.  His saving grace, however, was an equally strong aptitude for gunnery, honed by a youth spent winning sport hunting championships across New Ivaarsen.  Providentially, his ancestral ‘Mech was a Rifleman, which suggested a certain path toward safety without the appearance of dishonorable behavior…

Upon earning his spurs and being posted to the 1st New Ivaarsen Chasseurs, then-Sergeant Wickham was to be assigned to a line company’s fire lance.  He leveraged his family connections to  instead attach himself to the regimental command lance as a supernumerary.  The pretext was that this posting would enable him to learn leadership from Marshal Nicholas Stephenson while providing additional anti-air protection to the headquarters.  Stephenson seemingly accepted this at face value – then promptly began using Wickham as an additional aide-de-camp, tripling the young nobleman’s workload as an unspoken message that he’d seen through the subterfuge.

Not willing to risk reassignment to front-line combat, Wickham grimly suffered through his “learning experiences” until Operation Rat.  During the New Hessen offensive, he received his first taste of combat when a Capellan conventional fighter wing broke through the Chasseurs’ aerospace cover for a bombing raid on the regiment’s landing zone.  Wickham accounted for five fighter kills in as many minutes, breaking the Capellan strike before it could incinerate the regiment’s supplies.  Subsequent similar engagements on Alrescha and Yangtze proved that regardless of Wickham’s personal character, he actually was a superb air defense marksman.

On Hamal, Wickham’s luck in avoiding the front lines ran out when a scout company from the planetary militia caught the regimental headquarters in movement between positions.  BattleROMs of Wickham’s Rifleman ponderously attempting to flee from light ‘Mechs a third of its mass quickly made the rounds, forever stifling the man’s chances of further respect, let alone promotion, within the AFFS.  At the campaign’s conclusion, Wickham quietly resigned from the AFFS.  He then encountered a new problem: an obscure clause in his patent of nobility required him to maintain active MechWarrior status to hold his title and ownership of his Mech.  The framers had neglected, however, to require this status to be within the AFFS…

Wickham quickly announced that he was forming a new mercenary command.  Drawing on his demonstrated expertise (and expending no small amount of influence to bury the scandalous BattleROMs), he positioned this unit as an air defense specialist formation.  Not coincidentally, this enabled him – or, rather, his lawyers – to contractually limit the conditions under which the unit could be ordered into combat.

Wickham had intended to form an unhireable mercenary lance which would serve as a legal fiction for maintaining his title.  He was astonished to receive over two dozen applications from across the Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth, mostly fellow Rifleman and JagerMech owners who saw such a unit as a chance to preserve their own vulnerable ‘Mechs and their attendant social status.  This was, if not a chance at redemption, at least an unforeseen opportunity for prestige.  Despite his best efforts, Wickham had actually learned a fair amount about both martial leadership and unit management during his years at Marshal Stephenson’s side.  The unit’s resulting success was as much of a surprise to Wickham as it was to his many detractors within the AFFS. 

Today, the Skysweepers are a battalion-strength combined arms unit.  The full battalion has never taken a contract.  Instead, contracts attach individual companies or even lances to larger commands which need supplemental air defense capability.  Contracts still strictly limit the conditions under which commanders can order Skysweepers detachments into direct ground combat.  Few Skysweepers MechWarriors chafe under these restrictions, as they tend to join the unit because of its specialization.

To emphasize the Skysweepers’ unique role, Wickham styles his top-level formations as batteries rather than companies.  Each is a mixed force, with two BattleMech lances and a third lance of Partisan SPAA.  Over half the unit’s ‘Mechs are Riflemen and JagerMechs.  The unit’s sole assault ‘Mech is a Longbow, with a pair of Orions and an Archer rounding out the heavies.  The remainder, collected in Battery C for contracts requiring better mobility, are Hatchetmen, Blackjacks, and Valkyries.

One other asset not appearing on the Skysweepers’ combat TO&E is Company D.  This is a pool of techs, coolant trucks, and ammunition carriers which Wickham attaches as needed to deployed units.  This provides vastly-increased endurance to ‘Mechs and Partisans operating from fixed positions, allowing near-continuous fire in the face of sustained air attack.  Company D’s most recent addition is a trio of former fighter pilots, all medically retired, who can serve as liaison officers to a host unit’s own aerospace assets, hopefully reducing the chance of friendly fire.


GM Notes

Like my other units posted here, The Skysweepers are more of a niche concept and plot device than a viable unit for actual play.  This entry doesn’t give a specific date for the unit profile but my assumption is the late 3030s.  The Skysweepers will likely be around through the 3040s and vanish in the inferno of the Clan Invasion before they can invest in Ultra and LB-X upgrades.

As indicated in the main text, Skysweepers detachments will typically be encountered in defensive roles.  This isn’t to say they’re assigned only to defensive contracts, though.  As their founder demonstrated in Operation Rat, offensives need AAA cover too.  They typically protect regimental or RCT headquarters units, drop ports, logistics hubs, convoys, and other targets that might attract ASF, atmospheric fighter, or VTOL attacks.  They’re rarely assigned to cover front-line units, a contractual limit that is likely to cause constant friction with those units – especially if they sustain losses from air strikes.

The TO&E isn’t actually that interesting, so I haven’t spelled it out in great detail.  At the GM’s discretion, the Skysweepers may have a cozy relationship with Kallon, Bane of All That Flies.  In this case, they could be early recipients of prototype Rifleman, JagerMech, or Partisan upgrades in the 3040s if it’s appropriate for a scenario or story.

Skysweepers MechWarriors tend to align with Wickham’s skill set: mediocre pilots but excellent gunners.  Particularly in the unit’s founding years, everyone who joined up did so because they enjoyed the social status of being MechWarriors but didn’t want to risk their lives (or Dispossession) in front-line combat.  In some cases, this was cowardice; in others, somewhat-realistic recognition of the limits of Kallon’s designs outside their intended niche.  As production increases throughout the 3030s and 3040s and the social distinction of owning a ride implicitly lessens, these personalities will be increasingly out of touch with the Inner Sphere’s mainstream noble and martial culture.

WIP VIII

On the workbench: a few more BattleMechs from the boxed set and a couple of Salvage Boxes. I’ve been continuing to use Speedpaints on these because of the ease use, but they may be a bit too large for the intended use of those paints. Large flat armor panels tend not to have a lot of detail to draw in the pigment, so the result is a bit lackluster at times.

Battlemaster in something that’s only camo in very odd biomes. It doesn’t show well here, but I gave this one a three-color red gradient from front to back.
Mongoose with a slightly more obvious gradient. The plan for this one is to try to freehand a starscape on the darker upper half (and hope I don’t screw up something which, at the moment, looks halfway decent).
Marauder II in an attempt at Berlin Brigade camouflage. This one’s likely to need a lot of detail work despite using Speedpaints for the primary coat.

WIP VII

On the workbench: a CPLT-C1 Catapult from the current Battletech boxed set:

I’ve had mixed results with Speedpaints on figures with limited texturing, but they did okay on the panel lines on this one. Less success with the attempt to freehand a peacock pattern. That might have gone better if I’d used some of The Girl’s iridescent nail polish.

Aerial Recovery Solutions: Hail CSAR!

Originally posted to the CGL Battletech forum in 2017.


WELCOME TO THE MRB UNIT DATABASE.  IT HAS BEEN 74 DAYS SINCE YOUR LAST LOGIN.

QUERY>> PERSONNEL RECOVERY

... WORKING ... 331 MATCHES IN 6 CATEGORIES:

1: FIELD MORTUARY SERVICES
2: VIP PROTECTION AND KIDNAP RECOVERY
3: SPECIAL OPERATIONS
4: COMBAT SEARCH AND RESCUE
5: BATTLEMECH REPOSSESSION
6: BOUNTY HUNTING

SELECT>> 4

... WORKING ... 18 MATCHES.

SELECT>> 1

... RETRIEVING MATCH #1: AERIAL RECOVERY SOLUTIONS

“Life is cheap but BattleMechs aren’t,” is the modern strategist’s universal axiom.  The discerning commander, however, knows that personnel are his or her unit’s most precious resource.  Experienced leaders and veteran troops are essential to success both on and off the battlefield.  Nothing is certain in war, though, and the turn of an unfriendly card can lead to the capture or loss of even the most adept warrior.  Since 3003, Aerial Recovery Solutions has been the Inner Sphere’s leaders in combat search and rescue (CSAR) operations, stacking the deck to give your soldiers the best possible chance of returning from the field.  Continue reading to learn what Aerial Recovery Solutions can do for your next operation!

QUERY>> UNIT HISTORY

In 3002, Aerial Recovery Solutions’ founder Vasiliy Ignatov was an officer in a light aerial reconnaissance squadron attached to the 15th Marik Militia.  The 15th was part of the FWLM’s action on the Lyran world of Loric, during which it sustained grievous losses.  Over the course of the Battle of Tromoth, then-Lieutenant Ignatov distinguished himself by saving seven ejected MechWarriors from certain capture or death – including the daring recovery of Baroness Captain Sonia Vitari from cephalopod-infested coastal waters, a maneuver which was captured by an embedded Irian News Interstellar correspondent.

Following the Loric operation, Lieutenant Ignatov recognized the need for CSAR expertise to ensure the continued service of veteran MechWarriors – and to preserve the leadership of the nobles who comprise so many of the MechWarrior class’ ranks today.  Generous rewards from Baroness Sonia and several of the other survivors of Loric enabled Lieutenant Ignatov to make his vision a reality.  Since Aerial Recovery Solutions registered with the Mercenary Review Board in 3003, its aviators, troopers, and surgeons have recorded over 500 “saves” on 29 worlds.

QUERY>> VASILIY IGNATOV
... REDIRECTING: UNIT LEADERS

Lieutenant Colonel Vasiliy Ignatov

A veteran of the FWLM’s heliborne reconnaissance corps, Colonel Ignatov is the founder and commander of Aerial Recovery Solutions.  He has over 14,000 hours of flight time and is rated as an instructor pilot on all three airframes operated by the unit.  In addition, he holds academic degrees in avionics engineering and post-Star League interstellar relations.

Surgeon-Commander Silas Kokinos

Force Commander Dr. Silas Kokinos is the executive officer and medical director for Aerial Recovery Solutions.  A distinguished graduate of Delphi Medical Institute on Canopus IV, Dr. Kokinos served in the MAF’s Second Canopian Cuirassiers for eight years before entering mercenary service.  He is an expert trauma surgeon and a qualified aviator, with 800 flight hours in the Ferret.

Force Commander Marijn Lauwens

Force Commander Marijn Lauwens oversees Aerial Recovery Solutions’ recovery troopers, who combine jump infantry capabilities with prehospital medical skills.  She is a veteran of the LCAF’s 11th Arcturan Guards with extensive small-unit combat experience against Periphery bandits.  Like all of Aerial Recovery Solutions’ recovery officers and NCOs, she is a certified Grade IV Emergency Medical Provider (EMP-iv) through the ComStar Medical Extension Bureau.

Captain Konrad Winogrodzki

The commander of Aerial Recovery Solutions’ maintenance and helibase personnel is Captain Konrad Winogrodzki, a “mustang” officer with 32 years of experience in the famed Narhal’s Raiders.  Captain Winogrodzki’s background is in finance and personnel administration and he is currently pursuing advanced certifications in airframe and turbine maintenance.

QUERY>> TROOPS
... REDIRECTING: UNIT COMPOSITION AND DEPLOYMENT

For ease of classification under MRB standards, Aerial Recovery Solutions is organized as a combined arms battalion.  Our TO&E is composed of three VTOL squadrons, a company of recovery troopers, a base support company, and several small specialized formations.  However, we pride ourselves on the capacity for flexible deployments to meet any operational challenge and to fit any budget.  Contact our contracting office today to discuss the force package that best fits your needs.

White Squadron – The White Scarves

Aerial Recovery Solutions’ workhorse airframe is the Ferret Light Scout VTOL, a high-performance design with the speed to insert a recovery team on any battlefield.  Under Captain Mabon Lewis, Gold Squadron operates ten Ferrets.  These aircraft normally fly in the standard configuration but can be stripped to a “slick” configuration for greater cargo capacity if operating in a secure environment.  Under normal operating conditions, each Ferret carries a squad of recovery troopers and can accommodate a single recovered casualty.

Green Squadron – The Jolly Green Giants

When long range and a heavy payload are the order of the day, Aerial Recovery Solutions offers the eight Karnov URs of Captain Kristina Hagen’s Green Squadron.  These aircrews specialize in extended missions and recovery of multiple personnel in a single lift.  Three of Green Squadron’s Karnovs are equipped with K5 Aerosystems’ Dromedary Gold equipment package, which offers a secure communications relay and aerial refueling capabilities to extend the reach of any Aerial Recovery Solutions mission.  The other five operate in standard, unarmed configuration and typically carry two squads of recovery troopers with medical support for up to eight combat casualties.  For medical evacuation and disaster relief work, each Karnov can accommodate 42 litter patients with a single recovery trooper squad to provide maintenance-level medical care during the flight.

Red Squadron – The Red Wolves

While lifesaving is Aerial Recovery Solutions’ mission, the “C” in “CSAR” means we may have to fight to get your people home.  Red Squadron, led by Captain Shiori Katou, operates eight Warrior H-7A2 attack helicopters to escort the recovery aircraft of White and Green Squadrons.  The Warrior-A2 is Lockheed/CBM’s newly-released variant which stretches the fuselage to add a second seat for a gunner/observer, providing increased situational awareness and reducing aircrew fatigue and workload.  Aerial Recovery Solutions is proud to be the first unit outside the LCAF to receive Warrior-A2s.

Blue Company – The Blue Skies

Force Commander Lauwens recruits the recovery troopers of Blue Company exclusively from the Inner Sphere’s premiere jump infantry regiments to ensure superior qualifications in airmobile operations.  Before becoming qualified for duty, each trooper must attain at least EMP-ii certification, with EMP-iii credentials required for promotion to corporal and EMP-iv for sergeants and above.  This ensures that any member of Blue Company is a combat lifesaver whose aid bag is as essential as his rifle.  Furthermore, each platoon specializes in a particular environment.  First Platoon under Captain Sebastien Leitzke is expert in urban environments.  Captain Heidi Mori’s Second Platoon focuses on coastal and aquatic work.  Captain Abidemi Botha leads Third Platoon in mountain, arctic, and high-altitude theatres.  Fourth Platoon follows Captain Manuel Jarvis into the Inner Sphere’s most inhospitable jungles.

Gold Company – The Gold Standard

When lives are on the line, aircraft and personnel must be prepared to launch at a moment’s notice.  Captain Konrad Winogrodzki’s Gold Company ensures that Aerial Recovery Solutions’ assets are 100% mission-ready.  Gold Company has four maintenance platoons, two base service platoons, two platoons of base security troops, and a platoon of Scimitar-PC hovercraft (typically offered for contract with Blue Company’s Second Platoon).  In addition, it includes one lance of BattleMechs for deployments where force constraints may prevent the employer from providing heavy security to Aerial Recovery Solutions’ helibase.  Sergeant Kinsley Rake’s Rifleman secures local airspace while MechWarrior Kamryn Rake’s Blackjack, MechWarrior Rajiv Gupta’s Fire Javelin, and MechWarrior Armand Morel’s Vulcan defend against ground threats.


GM Notes

This is not your typical BattleMech company.  I envisioned Aerial Recovery Solutions as a plot device.  With only eight combat VTOLs and four ‘Mechs (three of them kind of crappy), it’s not really a workable unit for a traditional campaign.  I see it more as a background feature of a roleplaying campaign, a force attachment to put on the tabletop for a special mission objective, or an off-board abstraction for personnel survival during a campaign.  It also could serve as the focus of a roleplaying mission or full campaign if you wanted to get a little off the beaten path.  GMs who want to run this sort of thing are strongly encouraged to read up on the US Air Force pararescuemen who are one of the major inspirations for Aerial Recovery Solutions.

The writeup here is factually accurate as far as the TO&E goes, but I wrote it as in-universe marketing fluff, so it has some deliberate exaggerations.  In particular, Ignatov’s performance on Loric vastly exceeded his orders and resulted in the destruction of two of the four Ferrets under his command.  This is why he’s no longer in the FWLM.  The commander bios also omit the facts that Kokinos fled the Magistracy to avoid being killed by his then-lover’s jealous wife and owes his current position to his marriage to Ignatov; that Lauwens is a high-functioning alcoholic to cope with her multiple cybernetic replacements; and that every single member of Gold Company and about half the rest of the unit loathes Winogrodzki with the fury of a thousand suns.

This profile is current for the cusp of the Fourth Succession War, my preferred era.  During this time, Aerial Recovery Solutions typically works both sides of the Marik-Steiner border.  A slight majority of its work is subcontracting for other mercenary units rather than house troops, through Colonel Ignatov likes pursuing house contracts because they’re more lucrative.  The unit derives a critical portion of its income from “rescuing” opposing officers and ransoming them back, so snatching a noble off the battlefield results in bonuses all around.  Every unit member’s contract specifies that 50% of any personal gratuities from rescued personalities go back to the unit, which helps cut down on lone-wolfing (Ignatov does learn from his mistakes).

Rank inflation in Aerial Recovery Solutions is very real.  This is a deliberate move on Colonel Ignatov’s part.  Because the full unit rarely deploys, it’s not uncommon for the senior officer on a world to be a recovery platoon leader.  Making these individuals captains rather than lieutenants (or even breveting them to Force Commanders) ensures they have a little more weight in saying “no” to assignments that violate the contract.

The ‘Mech force is a recent addition after a LCAF screw-up nearly got a helibase overrun by enemy tanks.  Ignatov was still a little freaked out when he hired the MechWarriors and the rest of the command group is not unified about the decision.  Kokinos thinks it brushes up against a violation of the unit’s mission as lifesavers, Lauwens is worried about employers trying to commit the ‘Mechs to combat, and Winogrodzki is frantic about the massive maintenance burden that’s just been dropped on him.  For their part, the four MechWarriors are delighted to have found a billet that allows them to sit around a base and not risk their ‘Mechs – and, more importantly, their status – in offensive operations.

The Warrior H-7A2 has identical game stats to the base H-7A, save for a two-person crew (TRO3039 fluffs it as a single-seater).  The Scimitar-PC is a personnel carrier variant that drops the SRMs for two machine guns, a half-ton of ammo, and 1.5 tons of cargo/infantry space.