I've been playing a solo campaign using a bash of rues found here on the forum (but mostly Makinus' rules). I've got a full year of game time done, and thought it would be interesting to try and fluff the unit out some. What follows are parts 1-3 of what I've come up with.
As I finish parts I will add them.
Thanks for reading,
Davout73
Part One
"Hold on just a moment, let me make sure this is recording...OK, this is Brad McEuen, today is the 4th of March, 3025, and we are in the Hiring Hall on Galatea. Would you mind introducing yourself for the recording please?"
"Sure, Andrew Davout, Mercenary Commander."
"No Rank?"
"The guys in the Unit call me Major, they could call me anything they wanted to really, as long as they remember who authorizes the deposits."
"Excellent, well, let's get down to the details."
BM: Do you come from a military background?
AD: Sort of. My father was a Line Assemblyman for Coventry Metalworks, put together Commando's. Mom was a teacher. My older brother was a Mechwarrior. Served with Winfields Guards, he dies on Severn, what, 14 years ago? No other kids.
BM: So what did you want to be when you grew up?
AD: Not this. Was the farthest thing from my mind until 3015 or so. My brother used to send me vids and letters, talked about how it was months of boredom with minutes of terror. We used to watch the trids out of Solaris, used to think that was cool. Both had dreams of becoming the next Champion. His first fight disabused him of that notion. Actually, I wanted to be a Historian. History's been my first love, a passion if you will.
BM: So what happened in 3015?
AD: Dad retired from Metalworks. Put 35 years in, figured it was time to take my mom on vacation. I was 16, had just started school, they went on vacation to Timbuktu. Mom had grown up there, went to visit relatives I've never seen.
Pause.
AD: Anyways, Pirate Attack hit the planet. Arrived at a Pirate point, landed, laid waste to a few small villages, my parents and relatives were in one of them.
BM: I am sorry to hear that.
AD: Dangers of living on the Periphery. Anyways, Mom and dad were dead. Alan was dead, that left me. Emancipated Minorship was easy to obtain, I dropped out of school, Professor Langtry was crushed, let me tell you-
BM: Sorry. You mean Grant Langtry, Professor Emeritus of History at Tharkad University?
AD: Yeah, nice man, great scholar, loves a good argument. We stay in touch from time to time.
BM: Never met him personally, would love to though, his last book was amazing.
AD: You write this up nice I'll see what I can do. Anyways, where was I.
BM: Emancipated Minorship.
AD: Right, anyways, went back to Coventry, sold everything I could, and enrolled in Coventry
BM: Not the Nagelring?
AD: <Snorts> You couldn't pay me enough to go there. Besides, I didn't have the right sort pull to get in there. Mechanics kid with a smart brain. Didn't have the word Graf or Margraeve in front of my name, and not enough S-Bills in my account for that sort of cachet. Coventry on the other hand, Dad knew people, they knew people, quite a few of them teach at the academy. Went in at 17, graduated at 20, top 5. Go figure.
BM: Top 5 is a pretty good accomplishment.
AD: I've found that the people that care about it the most are the ones whose opinions don't count. Besides, the vast majority of those we hold up as hero's and great soldiers actually didn't do that well in school. There's a large disconnect between class room and holotank exercises and the realworld.
BM: So what was your first posting.
AD: Originally? 1st Royal Guards.
BM: Prestigious Unit.
AD: Bah. Toughest battle they've fought is over splitting the tab, or what cape to wear with the dress uniform for the Duchess of Hole in the Grounds soiree. Garrison detail on the Capital? Blech. I'd have been a verdammt fool to take that assignment.
BM: So where to then?
AD: 15th Lyran. On Hesperus.
BM: 15th Lyran on Hesperus in 3019. So you were there when-
AD: Yeah, I was there. Landed, Unit inbriefing, got my Warhammer, and six weeks later the Dragoons hit. Everything they are advertised to be; and more. Had my ‘hammer shot out from under me twice, but I had my combat. Went in a Leutnant, came out a Leutnant. Got lucky, didn't have to write any letters to parents...
BM: So you stayed in Hesperus for 6 years then.
AD: No, rotated to Cavanaugh, 9th Lyran. Took a promotion to do it.
BM: The Periphery.
AD: Pirate Hunting. Lot of Activity then.
BM: Ah. Good assignment.
AD: Worst mistake I ever made.
BM: How so.
AD: The Steiner curse, in full force.
BM: Steiner Curse?
AD: That's what I call it. I am sure everyone has their own name for it. I graduated from Coventry. No sash to my uniform. My Immediate commander was Kommandant Baron Pietr von Hausing.
BM: The Westerstede von Hausings?
AD: In his dreams. No, the Kandersteg von Hausings, brother of the first Moved to, ah, nevermind. Anyways. Want a wine pairing with your meal, as the Baron. Want an invite to the closed door party? Ask the Baron. Want to plan a flanking envelopment while pinning the enemy with coordinated combined Arms Assault? Not your man. He tried, bless his heart, he tried. Sad thing was,he knew his shortcomings. Pulled me into the office one night, drunk, was the mosr truthful conversation I had with the man. We had rotated to Pencader, we rotated Companies as part of the Garrison there, mine went, the CO sent von Hasuing along for some "leavening" as he called it. Not so much on the social activity there, but the Baron tried. We were raided about six months in. Pirates, making a grab for the foodstuffs. Thought here was just a company, we were wrong.
BM: So what Happened.
AD: Blockbumsen. Two companies, landed far apart, as we moved into get one the other came out of hiding, hit some of the farmsteads. The Kommandant went out with his lance to try and contain them, but Pirates aren't dumb. Led him into a valley, blocked it off. I was four hours away with my company. I give the man credit, he fought well. Took three with him. Rest of his lance was killed. When my unit finally got there he had been pulled out of the cockpit and executed. Pirates got away. Unit was rotated back to Poulsbo, and then I was desk bound for 6 months. I hated that.
BM: Riding a desk is hard.
AD: Harder when your being investigated.
BM: Investigated?
AD: His father pulled a few strings. Tried to have me court-martialed. That was interesting.
BM: How so?
AD: Never underestimate a fathers love for his son. Tried to cashier me out of the service. Dereliction of Duty, Malfeasance, you name it. He showed up on planet one day, gaggle of lawyers in tow, tried to have me arrested right then and there.
BM: So what happened?
AD: Article 45 hearing. Court Martial. Good lawyer on my side, proved that no matter what I had done, I couldn't have gotten back in time. Also proved that if the Baron hadn't done what he did, lot more damage would have been done. Pencader isn't a net exporter of food, they eat what they grow, they don't grow, they don't eat. He got a medal. I got a Black Mark in my file, transferred to Cavanaugh and the 9th. Frying Pan to the fire.
BM: Why do you say that.
AD: <Sigh>. For all his faults, Pietr tried. Knew his weaknesses, and worked on them. Which if you ask me was akin to put a butterfly on a major hull breach, but the man tried. Kommandant Russ McNab on the other hand...
BM: Name sounds familiar
AD: His Uncle runs Gienah Motors? Anyways, He didn't try. Four years I did my best.
BM: Best what.
AD: Best to get transferred, best to hide his inabilities. Best to cover for him. About three years into it, He won the Service Cross for actions during a Marik Raid-
BM: I remember reading about that, a company of 5th Orloff landed and hit the Southern Continent.
AD: More like two companies. Was a recon raid most likely. My company was on maneuvers in the Northlands, his was on the south, and I get a frantic call to embark and reinforce. A low altitude night drop onto hostile held ground. Lost one unit when its jump jets failed and he cored into the ground. Lost two more to ground fire in the next five minutes. 18 hours fighting a retrograde action that left my company 8 mechs and 4 pilots down. FUBAR all around.
BM: And where was the Kommandant.
AD: Three thousand kilometers away, at a dinner. Entertaining his guests with his exploits apparently. He arrived with the next group of reinforcements, the Grenadiers retreated in good order. He got a medal. I got to write more letters. Anyways, a few weeks after that...
BM: Incident?
AD: Debacle is a better word...anyways, a few weeks later, he meets me in the bay, I'm hip deep in actuator and myomer, and he tells me he's getting transferred, to Tharkad of all places, some adjutant job at the Nagelring in six months, and if I "play my Cards right", he can get me a transfer there in a year or so. That's when I decided to leave.
BM: How hard was it?
AD: Leaving? Painful, and easy, if that makes any sense. There's a camaraderie you develop with your soldiers, they become your friends. The hardest thing I had to learn in combat was that these friends, these old men, these kids, you had to order them into something most people want to avoid, and you're ordering some of them to their death. That weighs heavily on a commander. I am not quite sure how the good ones handle it.
BM: But you have your own company now.
AD: I do, and frankly, I am still learning.
BM: So how did that happen?
AD: I didn't go looking for it. Well,wait, that's a lie. I was looking. I knew when my tour was up I was going to leave the LCAF, go to Galatea, try and hookup with a good reputable unit. The Eridani, 21st Centauri-
BM: The Dragoons?
AD: <Snorts>. I heard rumors the last time they hired, who they did and who they didn't. I'd be lying if I said I didn't harbor some dreams about that, trying out, being accepted. There are worse units to be a part of, but then I think any unit with an esprit d'corps, honorable actions, and decent pay is worth looking into.
BM: So what happened?
AD: A friend of mine in the unit comes to me, says he has proof McNab is defrauding the unit.
BM: I've heard that happens.
AD: Happens quite a bit in the LCAF. What happened was McNab and a couple of "friends" created a couple of mailbox companies. Then they had these companies bill the LCAF for certain items, foodstuffs, basic supplies, nothing to exotic, then LCAF would pay the invoices, and McNab would pocket his share. They'd also fake a few invoices now and then, add a zero to a supply order, get 100 crates of ammo instead of 10, sell a few off. Small time stuff really, but you do it long enough, you can make a nice chunk of change. He also had a gambling problem.
BM: Really?
AD: Was big into the Solaris fights, and a couple of other things. I saw the writing on the wall, so did some of the others. A couple of them came to me and said they'd follow me and join up. Full companies worth of men. That was gratifying.
<Pause.>
Anyways, time was getting short, 6 weeks to go, and I had managed to send one of my guys ahead on the way to Galatea, see what the lay of the land was. I'm in the bay after an exercise, and in walks McNab, with two JAG officers, and arrest's me. Apparently he has proof I've been defrauding the unit. So they take me away, stick me in a room for three days, and try to get some answers.
BM: So what happened?
AD: On the fourth day McNab is coming back from a party, and gets a message from his batman. Guy had some poor corporal doing nothing but nursemaiding him. Anyways, he's been trying to get a hold of the Kommandant for hours, but because of the party, McNab wanted no interruptions. Apparently his mech was being repossessed.
BM: Excuse me?
AD: McNab apparently made quite a few large bets on the Solaris Games. Bet quite a tidy sum that Delvalle would beat Moder and take the championship back. Didn't happen. McNab was something eight million in the hole after that came out, and had put his Zeus up as collateral. He lost, and they tried repossessing the Zeus.
BM: Tried?
AD: LCAF property. Part of me believes that McNab may have wanted to buy it when he left, pass it down to a child, or another family member, who knows. Anyways, in a pissing match between the LCAF bureaucracy and a repo man, the LCAF wins.
BM: Indeed.
AD: But only because it's a bureaucracy. You could win, but it'll cost you a couple of years and a few S-Bills.
BM: Heh. So, what happened.
AD: It all fell apart. JAG left and came back with LIC, and Treasury. One thing about McNabs scheme was that it was simple, and tried and tested, used and abused by military men since the first supply sergeant realized what he could get away with. Simple can be easy to hide as well, if you invest the time and energy.
BM: And McNab didn't.
AD: McNab is what Professor Langtry would call a least amount of effort personality. He would do as much to get the minimum amount required done, and then that was it. Once they cracked his hidden accounts, it was over for him and his friends. Oddly enough, most of their money had disappeared. The assumption is one of them took it, moved it offworld into a hidden account somewhere's. They all turned on each other at the end, accusing each of stealing it.
BM: So then what?
AD: I was released. Apologized to. McNab had made it up, sensed what me and the others were planning to do, and tried to frame us. I was a Brevet Kommandant for four weeks, then I signed my papers and was gone. Bought my Warhammer, and myself and seven others hopped a ride to Solaris.
BM: Solaris? Not Galatea?
AD: Two reasons. One was I already had a contract. There's a reason Lionel Berthier is the next highest paid man in the unit, as an admin he's the best there is. He was the one who caught McNab's scheme.
BM: And the other?
AD: Had to pick up my winnings. I bet on Moder.
<Sound of a phone ringing>
AD: Davout here.
<Pause>
AD: Excuse me for a moment, I have to take this.
BM: Sure we can continue this in a moment, I need a break anyways.
<Door Opens and closes>.
Part 2
"OK, today is the 5th of March, Hiring Hall on Galatea, Brian McEuen here with Major Andrew Davout, continuing our interview from Yesterday. Welcome back Major."
AD: No problem. Sorry about yesterday. Had a situation that required my attention.
BM: No problem. When we left yesterday you were on Solaris, with a new Unit.
AD: Well, not exactly new. I had 11 other Mechwarriors, Berthier, Doc Lisfranc, and a couple of techs. Managed to hire a few more techs on Galatea and bring them along. Most of the mech pilots I had served with, the only two that didn't were ones that were vouchsafed by guys I trusted, and they came from the 15th, so my fears were allayed a bit.
BM: So what was your First Contract?
AD: Ostensibly, it was training. House Marik hired us to be the OpFor for a group of 5th Oriente Hussars on Dalcour. We met up at Dalcour and dropped, no problem, then started our excercises. We dropped a little ways off, playing a Steiner OpFor for the Hussars to fight. May as well make it as realistic as possible, right? Anyways, my Heavy Lance is out in the field, and comes across elements of another lance. Jed, my 2iC, thinks it the Hussars, and starts maneuvering. They move in, and next thing they know they're getting hit by live ammo. Go in expecting a training mission, get hit by live fire. Next thing he knows, there's two assault mechs walking over the hills. 5th Oriente didn't have any of those.
BM: Lyrans?
AD: Pirates. Called themselves the Black Hand.
<Pause>
BM <coughs>: Continuing on?
AD: Knocked out three mechs. Took some damage ourselves. Week later, we're in camp, and the seismic starts going off. One enemy unit, comes walking to the gates, Wolverine with some battle damage. First defector of the campaign. Had a total of three by the end.
BM: Is that common?
AD: Not sure. Takes a different breed to be a pirate. There's plenty of historical evidence of units going rogue, for whatever reason. Hell, Circinus is nothing more than a Pirate Kingdom with an economy that involves more than pillaging your neighbor. Some people get into, they like it, feeling of power, feeling of belonging. Like being in a gang, but with heavy firepower behind you. Some guys get into it, stay awhile, leave. Sometimes you can't leave. Other times, you die trying. That ended up being a pretty profitable campaign for us. Once John Made it through, pthers started coming. Techs, couple of medics, interesting thing was the Pirate jumpship wasn't in system. Found out it was coming back for them in a few weeks. We made a push to try and take the rest of the band out before they could leave.
BM: Successful?
AD: Mostly. They were essentially an under strength Battalion, six, maybe seven lances. Some of them got away. They left a Union behind, not willingly. <chuckle>
BM: Fortuitous.
AD: I'm not a firm believer in luck, but I'll take it when it goes in my favor.
BM: So tell me about the Unit Name.
AD: <chuckling> You'll think its fiction. Honestly, I was there, and I have a hard time believing it sometimes.
BM: We can always edit.
AD: <Pauses>
BM: Major?
AD: We didn't have a unit name originally. Look at our first contract, and you'l l see our MBRC Registration number. Unit names are odd to me. Merrill's Marauders, Hanson's Rough Riders, the Grey Death Legion. Names like that are supposed to do something, inspire pride. And to some extent they do. But then again, they could be called Wolf's Fuzzy Bunnies, and they'd still wipe you over the Battlefield. I'd always thought that would be an interesting bar tale. "Hey Pete, how did the Legion of Doom do that last battle?" "Man, we got our asses kicked by the Fuzzy Bunnies..."<Chuckles>
BM: <Half hearted Laugh>
AD: But seriously...
<Pause>
AD: Last week on Delacour, we knew we had it in the bag. Lance worth of Pirates had blasted off already. We were chasing the remaining Lances, maybe 8 or so units. 5th Oriente was out of it, they had tried their damndest to stop them, but green troops in Medium Mechs don't stand to much of a chance against veteran heavies. Lord, they tried. Lost their CO in that last push. Janovick, good troop, would have him on my wing any day of the week...
<Coughs>
<Pause>
It was night time. We had yet to catch up to them. The militia had come out, old men, young boys, did their best to herd them in a certain direction. Didn't work. Then, for whatever reason, they veered. There's a treeline, probably an erosion break, or property demarcation, any way, the Hand moves through it, and as they do, they fire, setting it alight. Was the dry season, so it goes up no problem, winds pick it up, it spreads like...Well, wildfire. Only way to get to them is to go through it, but, going to be tough. Sure, the Widow did it at Harlowes wood, but then again I'm not the Widow, I don't have the support structure she does.
Anyways, John Friant, one of the defectors, he's with us, in his Wolverine-M, jumps up, 150 meters, and he comes back down.
<Longer Pause>
"Major!" he says, they're firing on the town!" And he literally runs into the flames. "There's a town on the other side of the trees, any they're just firing on it!" John was our first defector, had given us a lot of intel on the Hand, a look into their mind. Anyways, he says that, and Jed takes off at a full run after him, 80 tons of Zeus. I followed just as quickly. I have a great command voice, but that's not going to stop a pissed off mechwarrior.
<Pause>
INSERT COMMENT: At this point the Major was staring at the floor, hands on his knees. When he looked up his eyes were hard. I've seen that look before, on Warriors who have seen what's called "The Elephant."
AD: You know who the Mennonites are?
BM: <Coughs> Yes, I am familiar with them.
AD: This was a Mennonite town, no soldiers, no constabulary, no militia. Just forty or so families. Probably didn't know there was anyone in the area, until the flames went up. I am not a fan of night fighting, but this was different. The flames, the anger. and the heat almost shut me down. I was lucky I was out of ammunition for the MG's and SRM, or it would have cooked off. By then, the town was in flames, and we were among them. I've never seen a Hermes duke it out with an Archer and win, but Paul Chasseur did. John had run through the town and literally tackled Banion
BM: Banion?
AD: Leader of this particular expedition. Apparently there was some very bad blood between the two. Anyway, he put Banion down, knocked his leg off, destroyed the T-Bolts arms. Banion announced he wanted to surrender, John put a leg into his cockpit. There wasn't a lot of surrendering that night.
BM: Isn't that a violation-
AD: <Interrupting> I don't care if it is or not. Neither do my guys, or those who lived.
BM: Sorry didn't mean to interrupt there.
AD: Ah, but you did mean to. You a veteran Mr. McEuen?
BM: Um, no, not really. I was a technical specialist for the AFFS for a few years, then I was a journalist-
AD: So that's a no. OK, look, I'm sure you've seen the vids of some of the things that have happened throughout the year. Better yet, go find someone from the ELH, ask them if they would have been OK with the Dracs surrendering when the ELH came upon them killing their families, or, heh, better yet, go find Natasha Kerensky, ask her if she would have been OK if Anton Marik had commed his surrender when she walked out of the woods in 3015...
BM: Erm...
AD: That's OK. Anyhow, we were done fighting. All the enemy mechs were down, we were on the ground, trying to help the wounded, and I come across this young lady, couldn't have been more than 20, maybe 21. Her family is dead, her house is burning behind her. There's not a lot I can do, she has some serious burns, but she's awake, and I ask her if there's anything I can do.
And she smiles. "I saw the trees light up, and I came outside to see what was going on. And a machine comes out of the woods, and fires on our town, hits and destroys our church. And I am rooted to the ground, I am so shocked. Then the village is awake. An explosion behind me, and I am on the ground praying.
<Pause>
Praying to God to save us."
<Pause>
The topology of the ground was a bit odd. The trees went up a hill, then down, but some of them had been removed, probably for fuel or construction, which led to erosion, which led to a small cliff, say, 10 meters high. Not sure whether the Pirates went through it or not, but apparently Robert took it at full speed in his Orion and fell, and I was right behind him. So here I am, 60 kilometers an hour, going over a cliff, prone mech at my feet, so I had to jump. Mid Jump I see this Vindicator ready to fire at John in the back, and I snap a PPC shot off. Hits the Vindy in the back, penetrates the armor, hits the gyro, Vindy falls. Robert got a vid of it, looks like something out of an Immortal Warrior, 70 tons of the Saint Demetrius flying through the air, Flames trailing behind it, PPC blazing...<sighs>
<Pause>
I've tried replicating that in the sims, I haven't been able to do it since. One in a million, to late...
<Pause, Very Audible Sigh>
Anyways, I'm treating this girl, and she looks at me, and she says something about how she was praying to God while the machinations of Satan were around here, and then she saw this machine jump out of the flames, with righteous fury coming from its arms, like a Furious Angel...
BM: We can take a couple of minutes if -
AD: That's OK. No, seriously, it's fine. Death is a part of the business. That same battle I had fallen over, tripped over a damn Phoenix Hawk, and I'm standing up, and this Thunderbolt – S has me dead to rights, I mean, 100 meters away, and the PPC barrel is the only thing I can see, and he fires, and he misses. Bolt went right by the cockpit glass, made the hair on my teeth sizzle, but he missed.
BM: So that's where the unit name comes from.
AD: Yeah, Furious Angels. We actually took a vote on it. I lost.
BM: Lost?
AD: I still like the Fuzzy Bunnies.
<Chuckles>
BM: And the Girl?
AD: Buried with her family.
<Note: I noticed that during the last part of this talk, Major Davout was fidgeting with something in his hand. A Nervous habit or tic is quite common in this profession, some are more pronounced than others, so I hadn't paid attention to it. But this felt like a good place to cut this particular interview short, and I said as much, and the Major agreed. We agreed to continue the talk the next day, and when I went to shake his hand, I noticed he was holding a simple necklace in his hand. I hadn't seen him pull it out of a pocket, but there it was. A Simple piece of leather, with a wooden cross attached to it. You could still see the burn marks on it.)