So, I've been doing some digging into the Age of War era Federated Peacekeeping Forces and Armed Forces of the Federated Suns, for a fan project I've been working on for a while, and I've come across a logic puzzle that's been vexing me a bit. So, I thought I'd mention it here, and see what you think.
I decided to try and work out what the AFFS would've looked like, at a brigade and regiment level, at the end of the Age of War. The SLDF formed in 2571, and the AFFS donated 37 regiments towards its formation, according to Historical: Reunification War. The entire Terran Brigade got shipped off, along with half of the Syrtis Fusiliers, along with some private regiments and units that comprised the most troublesome, worst trained and worst-equipped units from the AFFS. (p32-33) Field Report 2765: AFFS highlights that the Avalon Hussars had fourteen active commands at the end of the Age of War, of which 6 joined the SLDF (p8) and that the Davion Brigade of Guards was the only AFFS brigade to contribute no units to the SLDF (p13).
Brigades that look to have been active at the time that we know about are the Arcadian Cuirassiers, the Avalon Hussars, the Davion Brigade of Guards, the Robinson Chevaliers, the Syrtis Fusiliers, the Tancredi Loyalists and the Terran Brigade. The Dragonlords didn't form up until the United Triumph Exercises in 2572, the March Militias came into being in the 28th century, and the Ceti Hussars were a Star League era construct based on SLDF RCTs.
Field Report 2765: AFFS states that the four units of the Tancredi Loyalists still active during the Star League era were all survivors of the Davion Civil War. It also tells us that the ten rgiments of Syrtis Fusiliers were active throughout the Star League era, although the majority of the Fusiliers had sided with the Varneys in the civil war; the 11th-20th Syrtis Fusilier regiments were all founded during the Star League era. We know that the Robinson Chevaliers retired lost regiments, founding new regiments with the same banners - the Second became the Sixth, then Eleventh, then Twenty-second; the regiments may not all have been founded in numerical order though, because the 31st was founded after Operation SMOTHER, the 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 32nd, 34th, 35th, 36th and 37th were all raised after 2755, but there's no record of a 29th, 30th or 33rd. (Odd numbering isn't unheard of - House Davion (The Federated Suns) mentions a reorganisation of the Crucis Lancers in 2930 that featured the 33rd Crucis Lancers, despite the only regiments around during the First and Second Succession War being the 1st through 8th). The Davion Brigade of Guards seems to have pretty consistently been 8 regiments strong.
In addition to the 37 regiments given up to the SLDF in 2571, Historical: Reunification War tells us that 4 years later, in 2575, the AFFS mustered 88 BattleMech regiments. So, before giving up the 37 regiments in 2571, the AFFS mustered 125 regiments less four years worth of recruiting, rebuilding and founding of new units.
So, I tried to work out what the likely breakdown of units was that ended up being handed over to the SLDF, and what that meant the size of the remaining regiments must've been. Field Report 2765: AFFS isn't a perfect match, because the militaries of the Great Houses conitnued to grow at some kind of rate until the Council Edict of 2650 cut everyone short and led to a stack of regiments being deactivated.
Some brigades are fixed - the Dragonlords at 5 regiments, the Davion Brigade of Guards at 8, the Syrtis Fusiliers at 10, but in the buildup prior to the Amaris Civil War, the AFFS reactivated 11 regiments of Avalon Hussars, 1 of Arcadian Cuirassiers and. 2 regiments of Dragonlords (by expansion of existing regiments); the Field Report is silent on whether any regiments of Robinson Chevaliers were reactivated.
The 37 regiments given up to the SLDF must consist of 6 regiments of Avalon Hussars and 5 regiments of Syrtis Fusiliers, with the remaining 26 regiments being made up from at least 1 regiment each of Arcadian Cuirassiers, Robinson Chevaliers and Tancredi Warriors, plus a significant number of Terran Brigade regiments, and a few private regiments (which I guess were things like the later Clovis Guards regiment).
The 88 regiments of the AFFS around in 2575 must consist of 5 regiments of Dragonlords and 8 of Davion Brigade of Guards, leaving 75 regiments spread across the Arcadian Cuirassiers, Avalon Hussars, Robinson Chevaliers, Syrtis Fusiliers and Tancredi Loyalists - approximately 15 regiments each, on average. Assuming, of course, that the AFFS' BattleMechs were concentrated in these regiments - it seems likely that there were BattleMech equipped militia regiments of some kind.
Historical: Liberation of Terra tells us that the AFFS had been reduced down to 53 regiments by the Edict of 2650, based on the mustered strength in 2750. Historical: Reunification War details that between 2575 and 2600, the AFFS dropped from 88 regiments to 81. Between 2750 and 2765, the AFFS grew from 53 to 110 regiments; those regiments consisted of 26 regiments of Avalon Hussars, 2 of Arcadian Cuirassiers, 1 of Ceti Hussars, 8 of Davion Guards, 5 of Dragonlords, 24 of Robinson Chevaliers, 20 of Syrtis Fusiliers, 4 of Tancredi Loyalists and 20 of March Militia - so 18% of the AFFS 'Mech regiments were militia regiments formed as things were heating up.
So, given those data points. what would your version of the breakdown of AFFS forces in 2575 look like?