A Classic Combine Double Whammy – The Gladiator and Von RohrsThe Gladiator was the Draconis Combine’s first effort at a home grown Battlemech Design and was also meant to bootstrap the Combine’s Battlemech industry and industrial base as a whole which had been suffering from years of mismanagement and poor investment.
By the mid 2400s all the houses were involved in a free for all race to replicate the Hegemony’s Battlemech technology and field their own units and designs. Some resorted to theft, others trade and soon enough the Inner Sphere was a sea of Mackie clones. Except in the Combine who were late comers to the race owing to the nations poor industrial capabilities. Still they started making their own Mackie clone like everyone else but Coordinator Kozo Von Rohr’s wanted something with which the soldiers and people of the Combine could point to with pride as their own design.
This was the start of a seven year design process, delayed by the Coordinators insistence that only a select group of Scientists and Technicians, all of whom were being closely monitored by DEST, were the ones to work on the project.
What they produced was an imposing looking 55 ton design that was a far cry from the box with legs form of the Mackie. Instead it was far sleeker and had large segments of rounded armour as well as a cockpit that hung down between the Mech’s shoulders, giving it a somewhat hunched and menacing look. Declared a success, the Mech was produced in huge numbers and issued to every unit that was equipped with Mechs. With its higher speed and smaller size it was easier to move around than the Mackie and faster than its Davion and Steiner rivals and great things were expected of the newly named Gladiator.
Then came the Invasion of the Lyran world of Nox and the Battle of Beckvern Hill, the Inner Sphere’s first true large scale Mech on Mech clash. The battle itself was a company sized engagement with the Lyran’s and Combine fielding a mixture of Mechs and tanks in support and the battle is now likened to the battle between the CSS
Virginia and the USS
Monitor or the first deployment of tanks in Terra’s First World War. After a three hour battle, the Steiner forces managed to break the Combine forces up, ravaging their rear areas and killing the assaulting Combine forces Regimental Commander although this was at the cost of Archon Michael Steiner.
The debacle on Nox was then pinned entirely on the new Gladiator Mech and the Combine’s budding home grown Mech industry was nearly cut off at the knees as the production lines were closed down and further construction of the shamed mech forbidden.
The surviving Gladiator’s were not scrapped though and were instead moved to non-vital areas or second or third line forces and almost all the original 1R Gladiators were gone by the end of the Reunification War.
Yet this didn’t kill the Gladiator completely. The firm Merryweather Industries in the Hegemony somehow got its hands on the Gladiator schematics and attempted to enter the Battlemech market with a modernized and more polished design, but only a handful were ever built before production came to an end when the company’s attempt at a privately produced Battlemech nearly bankrupted the company.
But still, this was not the end. During the Jihad, several firms that previously produced IndustrialMech’s started producing the exceptionally basic, but cheap as chips and easy to produce (by modern standards) Gladiator once again and militias and even military forces, desperate for something, anything to defend themselves with reached for them with eager hands.
And the Gladiator is still in production today, although the WorkerMech firms that made the basic R1 switched back to their normal products after the War, StarCorps then started producing a modernized version of the Mech that had first been developed by Major Alex Keller, a somewhat eccentric tinkerer in his spare time who had his tech’s rebuilt a handful of 1Rs with bleeding edge technology. StarCorps removed most of the advanced tech and then produced a more reliable and cheaper version which still sees regular sales to this day.
Design The Gladiator has seen a LOT of changes over the years, the 1R was a smorgasbord of primitive technology which at the time of introduction was the bleeding edge of the Inner Sphere at the time. And conversely this now ‘so simple you might as well call it a tractor’ level of tech made it easy for small firms to pump out the R1 during the Jihad because you could probably repair the R1 with a piece of string and a brick. The Gladiator moves anywhere between 64kph and 86kph and is very much a 55 tonner and can stand alongside other Mech’s like the Shadow Hawk or Wolverine and not embarrass itself too much.
But the design changes so much that I’ll put the major changes in the variants. The armour is generally very solid with the Gladiator carrying thick swaths of armour that allow it to take a beating and as many variants had standard engines, it made them hard to kill.
VariantsGLD-1R – Where it all began and where it all went wrong, the 1R even though it took 7 years to design was then rushed into full scale production without much in the way of testing. This gave it a whole host of problems that could have been ironed out if the designers had not gone from paper to working design with next to no prototypes made. As a result, the 1R was prone to taking excessive critical internal damage, was unsteady, had poor hull sealing making it prone to leak as well as letting in smoke and even worse, gas and was generally a mess. Plodding along at 64kph it was at least faster than the Mackie. A large laser slung under the right arm and a pair of medium lasers built into the forearm of the left arm comprised the R1’s firepower which was adequate for the time although the Lyrans smaller, faster Commando also featured a large laser and was partially responsible for the defeat of the 1R. By modern standards the 1R is incredibly basic and under-gunned, but thanks to the building spree of the Jihad, its not actually that uncommon in Militia or periphery forces.
GLD-2R – The attempt that came too late, the 2R was a Gladiator that incorporated more modern and lighter construction materials, protection and equipment. It managed to cure most of the machine’s ‘quirks’ and boosted the speed to 86kph even though firepower remained the same with the paired medium lasers and single large laser. Oddly enough the Mech was then grossly over-sinked, with 19 heatsinks added to the hull, whilst its hide was thickened to carry the maximum amount of armour a 55-ton chassis could carry. Unfortunately, the Gladiator’s poor showing on Nox killed this refit and barely a handful were produced before the production line was shut down for good.
GLD-3R – A Merryweather made variant, the 3R was, somewhat confusingly produced after the later 4R and based on its hull. Using modern construction materials, the 3R could move at 86kph and featured a full array of Jump jets allowing for 150 meter leaps. Firepower was greatly increased with a pair of LRM-10s being installed, each with their own ammo bin. The large laser, most of the extra heatsinks and a chunk of armour was removed to account for the weight difference, whilst the paired medium lasers were split up, with one being moved to each arm. The result is basically a faster Whitworth. Unfortunately, this seems to have just been a testbed and was never produced outside of a handful of prototypes.
GLD-4R – Merryweather’s design that was to be sold to the Inner Sphere was actually a very solid 55-ton design. Armed with a pair of medium lasers, a single large laser and a SRM-6 the 4R also retains the jump jets and protection of the 3R. The arms are breached by a gauss rifle slug whilst the side torsos and legs just fail the AC-20 test, but this still isn’t bad. The 4R also has 14 heatsinks, allowing it to use its firepower although it will start overheating if pushed. Unfortunately, producing the 4R nearly bankrupted Merryweather as they did the project off their own back and thus the 4R wasn’t produced in great numbers and quietly disappeared when Merryweather pulled the plug on their Mech production wing to try save their firm.
GLD-1R Keller – The customized ride and design of Alex Keller, the 1R Keller was rebuilt from the ground up and was basically a new Mech. Featuring a 220 rated Light engine the Mech’s speed was reduced to 64kph but it then had a supercharger installed which allowed for bursts of speed up to 86kph. Six improved jump jets were also installed allowing the Mech to leap up to 180 meters. Weight was also saved with the installation of an XL gyro.
Armour went up with 11 tons of plate giving the ‘Keller’ nearly full protection. The electronics were also heavily re-worked with a ‘borrowed’ or salvaged C3i suite installed allowing the Mech to spot for others in its unit. The armament was also re-worked with its main punch coming from a Snub-nosed PPC, which also had a PPC capacitor installed on it. Supporting this was a brace of ER Medium lasers and finally a MML-5 with 2 tons of ammo. Unfortunately, the design has only 11 double heatsinks and is a serious heat hog when pushed.
GLD-5R – The somewhat saner version of the Keller that was produced after the Jihad by StarCorps the 5R retains the same engine and improved jump jets as the Keller model, but strips out the more advanced and expensive equipment.
Armour was beefed up to the maximum the hull can carry with 12 tons of standard plate whilst the Xl gyro was also retained although the StarCorps engineers did increase the cooling system to 13 double heatsinks instead of the Keller’s 11. A standard C3 slave was installed as they were far more common and easier to maintain than the C3i system after the Jihad. Firepower is similar to the Keller with the punch coming from a snub-nosed PPC, although it lacks the capacitor. The MML-5 is updated to feature Artemis fire control whilst the ER Mediums are back on the left arm.
Thoughts about the Gladiator.The Gladiator isn’t actually that bad, the 3 and 4R are not bad designs and would do well in a Succession Wars environment. The Keller/5R are a bit weird, slow for a Mech their size but agile thanks to the IJJ’s with a weapons mix that screams SKIRMISHER. Whilst the R1 is a dogs egg, it’s a prototype and should be expected to be a poo pavlova. Save for its lore being against it, you won’t do wrong with having a Gladiator in a Lance. Not the 1R though, that things outgunned by EVERYTHING now days. But at its time, it was just fine.
The Von Rohrs/Hebi – Aka “This seems familiar…”Designed to wash away the disgrace of the Gladiator, the Von Rohrs (named after the ruling family of the Combine at the time) was again going to show the might and strength of the Combine with a new Mech, one that would hopefully not embarrass itself. The Von Rohrs incorporated all the latest developments and featured no ‘primitive’ equipment in its construction, also showing off the Dragon’s economic strength.
Unfortunately fate had it in for the Von Rohrs and the family that bore its name, and the entire family line was purged during the McAllister Rebellion which saw Martin McAllister take the title of Coordinator, and he in turn gave rise to the Kurita line claiming the throne as their own. One of McAllister’s decrees was to cancel the production of the Von Rohrs and to rename it Hebi, or serpent. Furthermore, any destroyed Hebi’s were not to be salvaged or repaired and those that broke down were to then be scrapped.
Thus, the Von Rohrs/Hebi slowly faded from service, and was barely mentioned in the history books with the Hebi totally gone by 2518. Fortunately though, the peace that reigned at the time allowed the Combine to phase out what was in essence an exceptionally sound design without any undue trouble. The economic problems this caused with the Combine having to produce yet another new design was then also blamed on the Von Rohr’s family, not the McAllister regime.
DesignIt’s a Dragon, no seriously, this this is basically a 65-ton Grand Dragon. Its that simple. This is a very solid Mech, built around a 325-rated engine that will let it hit 86kph, its got a generous 15 heatsinks which lets it use its armament without undue issue and 9 tons of armour give it a solid it not mega impressive armoured hide, the weight of the engine drawing away from the protection.
9/15/22/15 (5/7/5)
13/13/20/20
VariantsVON-4RH-5 – So yeah..its a Grand Dragon, armed with a PPC and LRM-10 the H-5 is built to engage at long range and has the firepower and heatsinks to do so, as you can fire both PPC and LRM and walk without affecting your heat scale. For close in defence the H-5 only has a flamer to call upon, making it worse at defending itself than the Dragon/Grand Dragon but more capable of dealing with infantry attacks. Although the armour package is not exactly stellar, the H-5’s speed and long range firepower would have let it set the pace of a battle against other Houses Mechs and outgun those that were able to close with it.
VON-4RH-6 – Built seemingly to cover the H-5’s short range defence problems, the H-6 replaces the LRM-10 and its ammo with a pair of SRM-4s drawing from a shared ammo bin and gains an extra heatsink, bringing it to 16. Its unknown if the H-6 ever left the factory though as it was on the drawingboard at the same time as the end of the Von Rohr’s bloodline. Some MAY have been completed as prototypes but they are all gone now, as dead as the family that the Mech was named after.
Thoughts on the Von RohrsIf you like Grand Dragons, you’ll like this, can’t go wrong with a fast PPC/LRM weapon mix that outpaces most early heavies and lets you keep up with mediums and act in a cavalry role. Yes it can’t get too close because of the 3/6 minimum ranges for its weapons but that’s why you can move at 86kph. It’s a Grand Dragon that put on a few pounds, but its still basically a Grand Dragon, use and treat it as one.
A Gladiator
Another Gladiator, this one seemingly visually modified to make it look a bit more Combiney.
A Hebi/Von Rohrs/Grand Dragon.
As always, thoughts, comments and pie are most welcome!