Wolf's Dragoon Strike Battalion

[thesilverback]

Ok, have been looking at the Empire Alone sourcebook. 

I have began wondering the make up of the Wolf's Dragoon Strike Battalions?

Such as do they follow the standard IS battalion TO&E or do they just use the battalion name but actually use more of a Clan Cluster TO&E?

And lastly what kind of weight class would they be running in these unit?  Light and Medium classes for hit and run, or more Heavy and Assault classes as heavy hitters and breacher?

[Metallgewitter]

According to Redemption Rites at first a Striker company consisted of a Mech star, a Hovertank cavalry trinary and a star of of 5 Elemental points. When they fought against the combined arms AFFS they had to restructure their To&E
and a striker compoany then would be 10 Mechs, 10 Hovertanks and 50 Elementals. So if you add that up to a battalion it would mean a striker battalion consists of 30 Mechs (all weight classes) 30 hovertanks and 150 elementals. Plus appropriate air support

Got this from Redemption Rites page 60-61

[BrianDavion]

so originally it was 5 mechs, 30 tanks and 25 elementals.
(although it's likely the writer forgot tanks where 2 to a point)

[Metallgewitter]

Good point. Replacing 20 hovertanks with 5 Mechs doesn't actually make much sense.

In terms of weight I would say they go from light to assault. For example Haya Testuhara a company commander in the Tarantulas pilots a Spartan C. Though to be fair that is a rather speedy Assault Mech. Though the Tarantulas also sport at least one Warlord.

For the real hevay hitters the Dragoons rebuild their Zeta battalion (after they lost nearly every unit on Terra save the two Striker battalions under Kincaid's leadership)

[BrianDavion]

it made sense to build up a single battalion of assault mechs given they had lots of mechs but where short pilots.

[thesilverback]

So they are following a Clan Structure and just using the IS unit designations.

Also thanks for all the info.

[BrianDavion]

not the first time that's happened with the 'goons , see the post 4th sucession war black widow battalion

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It's really kind of shocking that no one in the Inner Sphere ever connected the 'Goons to the Clans until Jaime told them.

[truetanker]

Alien conspiracies to the Star League ghosts returning from beyond the Periphery, the lack of official and/or solid scattered reports that were incomplete or "sketchy" at best? Plus, the Goon "Watch" aka Kommando Seven, was on top of the overwatch. Why they kept quiet and used their contacts from all five realms to bring in orphans to teach them the clan style. Recruited young enough, and add the few "clan" recruits to give them a sense of sibko training. I wouldn't be surprised that the last trip brought back "babies" from a Wolf sibko, young enough to not be trialed yet. I mean, like the very young, 4-5 years olds. Wouldn't be the first time incognito was used. They didn't explain anything until they needed to or wanted to. They came with Warships, but sent them away before the rest of the Sphere found out. Those were kept on Hidden, but when they announced that they were Clan, those same warships jumped to Outreach and controlled EVERYTHING! No Power could persuade them to otherwise to give up that. The Star League factory storehouses, their clan tech and they raising of the orphan children all to show them the Clan way.

Some of the best Units were ready to defend. Why Remus was off limits to everyone. Not even a challenge, just blown out of the sky from an orbiting Warship stationed geo-stationary overhead. If you look at it, they had both Jumpoints covered, and the local Pirate points too, with a single Warship hanging in low orbit as a local waystation/planetary defense. Wrong or suspicious codes, boom happy landing.

TT

[Metallgewitter]

The biggest eye raiser was of course Natasha Kerensky but they all kept their lips sealed. Even Comstar the masters of information gathering failed to infiltrate the unit though if the Jihad books are to believed the true leaders knew what they were.

Also even before the Jihad the Dragoons used a combines Is / Clan organization with a mix of lances and stars in their Mech units. Of course you can always call this a reinforced regiment and no one will bat an eye. Plus the very selective recruiting keeps this from leaking out.

Though interestingly enough the Pre Jihad Zeta Battalion was a mix of heavies and assault Mechs (made up of trinaries leading to a reinforced battalion size). The new reincarantion is a pure Assault Mech battalion (36 Mechs) supported by battle armor and heavy aerospace fighters

[thesilverback]

That would be an interesting force to build a pair of striker battalions. backed up by a Zeta battalion type of battalion. With a range of weight classes and both IS and Clan units.

Interesting idea.

[Rainbow 6]

So they are following a Clan Structure and just using the IS unit designations.

Also thanks for all the info.

Kind of, the two remaining Strike Battalions use three mech binaries, by the time of the IlClan trial and beyond, but when Zeta is reactivated it uses the 4 mechs to a lance, 3 lances to a company and three companies to a Battalion model.

[Metallgewitter]

Kind of, the two remaining Strike Battalions use three mech binaries, by the time of the IlClan trial and beyond, but when Zeta is reactivated it uses the 4 mechs to a lance, 3 lances to a company and three companies to a Battalion model.

Ye3ah but that seems to be more because of the choice of Dropship. The current Zeta battalion uses 3 Trutzburg Dropships which can only carry 12 Mechs but also a squadron of fighters each and have built in Longtom artillery guns. Plus the Dragoons don't have exactly much pilots left so they have to make do with what they have

[Rainbow 6]

Ye3ah but that seems to be more because of the choice of Dropship. The current Zeta battalion uses 3 Trutzburg Dropships which can only carry 12 Mechs but also a squadron of fighters each and have built in Longtom artillery guns. Plus the Dragoons don't have exactly much pilots left so they have to make do with what they have

Well by the end of the last book they had the two Strike Battalions (Clusters), Zeta Battalion, two Battalions of Delta Regiment and a Battalion of Epsilon Regiment operational and Hack mentioned the Fire Support and Special Recon Groups forming up.

[BrianDavion]

hypotheticly if I was writing the 'goons and was told "We wanna have the Zeta's shift to using a 5 mech star for the next sourcebook" and had to justify it I'd write Zeta as expanding to include a super heavy mech supporting each 4 mech lance.

[Metallgewitter]

Well by the end of the last book they had the two Strike Battalions (Clusters), Zeta Battalion, two Battalions of Delta Regiment and a Battalion of Epsilon Regiment operational and Hack mentioned the Fire Support and Special Recon Groups forming up.

True the Dragoons somehow managed to reform several units. Materialwise no problem considering that they managed to stuff their Dropships with salvage from Terra. Then they managed to claim almost an entire Cluster of cadets in their first attack plus all those Wolf warriors Zeta caught during their Tamarind misswions. Though they also lost several warriors. And who knows if they had some cadets that were not ready for entery yet when the battle for Terra happened.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

hypotheticly if I was writing the 'goons and was told "We wanna have the Zeta's shift to using a 5 mech star for the next sourcebook" and had to justify it I'd write Zeta as expanding to include a super heavy mech supporting each 4 mech lance.

I don't see that happening at all.  Zeta is for offensive operations and super-heavies are significantly better suited to defense.  Also, the number of super-heavies that the 'Goons have is quite limited and they have no means of getting replacements.  Assuming that their super-heavies are even functional.  Redemption Rites made it sound like they were mostly disassembled and being used for study purposes.

[Hellraiser]

not the first time that's happened with the 'goons , see the post 4th sucession war black widow battalion

It's really kind of shocking that no one in the Inner Sphere ever connected the 'Goons to the Clans until Jaime told them.

To be fair, they only rolled out the "Star" formations after the Wo3039 and only in limited quantity.

Widows first, then Zeta, then Command Companies for each of the regiments.

I think it was a Widows fight in 3042-44 or so where the IS first got a small glimpse of the Widows having shifted from 36/40 in the battalion to 45/50 using Stars/Trinaries

And they didn't have decent clans info till mid 3050 & Jamie invited them to Outreach in November? of that year.

So "put it together" was all of maybe a 6-month window & the idea of comparing incoming invaders to the Goons wasn't likely on anyone's radar.

[Arkansas Warrior]

According to Redemption Rites at first a Striker company consisted of a Mech star, a Hovertank cavalry trinary and a star of of 5 Elemental points. When they fought against the combined arms AFFS they had to restructure their To&E
and a striker compoany then would be 10 Mechs, 10 Hovertanks and 50 Elementals. So if you add that up to a battalion it would mean a striker battalion consists of 30 Mechs (all weight classes) 30 hovertanks and 150 elementals. Plus appropriate air support

Got this from Redemption Rites page 60-61

Each Striker Company also had a fighter squadron, IIRC, and Hack had a command star independent from the companies.

Ye3ah but that seems to be more because of the choice of Dropship. The current Zeta battalion uses 3 Trutzburg Dropships which can only carry 12 Mechs but also a squadron of fighters each and have built in Longtom artillery guns. Plus the Dragoons don't have exactly much pilots left so they have to make do with what they have

I don't think it was stated explicitly, but after the events on Terra I got the impression that the Dragoons were trying to make a conscious break with their Clan connections, and may have chosen to use a standard IS formation to emphasize that they don't think of themselves as Clan anymore.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Wolf Pack seems to contradict that heavily.

[Scotty]

Wolf Pack seems to contradict that heavily.

Wolf Pack is set in the 3050s, Arkansas Warrior is referring to 3151+.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Ah, missed that part.

[Metallgewitter]

I don't see that happening at all.  Zeta is for offensive operations and super-heavies are significantly better suited to defense.  Also, the number of super-heavies that the 'Goons have is quite limited and they have no means of getting replacements.  Assuming that their super-heavies are even functional.  Redemption Rites made it sound like they were mostly disassembled and being used for study purposes.

Kincaid used the Super-Heavies more as an incentive to have the Free worlds grant him the recharge station. I am not sure how many the Dragoons took of but Kincaid gave away 6 Super Heavy Ares Mechs including two technical instructions. But in that regard you are right the Dragoons have no means to replace them once they are crippled.

I am not sure if the Dragoons are fully breaking with Clan traditions. they still have their sibko training and even keep using things like making warriors out of captured bondsmen. And Zeta seems so far to be the exception in terms of unit structure.

[Rainbow 6]

I am not sure if the Dragoons are fully breaking with Clan traditions. they still have their sibko training and even keep using things like making warriors out of captured bondsmen. And Zeta seems so far to be the exception in terms of unit structure.

Have to assume Delta & Epsilon are still using standard IS structure.

[Scotty]

I don't think we do?  It is okay to leave it in a state of "we don't know", no assumptions needed.

[BrianDavion]

I don't think we do?  It is okay to leave it in a state of "we don't know", no assumptions needed.

Delta and episilon regiments have ALWAYS used inner sphere orginization, it's always been the independant companies and battalions that have toyed with clan formation style isn't it?

[BrianDavion]

so Sharpnal 16 has a unit digest on the Tarantula's Battalion thought I'd mention it since it's relevant

it does not that the original composition of 15 mechs, 15 points of elementals and 15 hovercraft, not the 30 we'd expected.

[truetanker]

See, I found that weird.

If it is supposed to be Clan based, the Mechs and Infantry are correct, but a Star and a Half? is not.

It should be technically a Binary, Full Star and a Short Star of 6, 3 Points.

Meaning the unit in question would have a total of 8 Points of hovercraft, and not the Official of 7 and a Half Points.

That is so weird...

TT

[Rainbow 6]

so Sharpnal 16 has a unit digest on the Tarantula's Battalion thought I'd mention it since it's relevant

it does not that the original composition of 15 mechs, 15 points of elementals and 15 hovercraft, not the 30 we'd expected.

What's the date for the TO&E?

[BrianDavion]

What's the date for the TO&E?

3152 but discusses orginization from it's founding in 3129 up to present times.

it's worth noting the hover tanks are all Ziblers.