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Possibly some people's dream scenario: You find a battletech novel somewhere you have never seen before. It looks right, feels right. But it's not one you're familiar with and does not show up on any official list. Also; you don't recognize the author.
But the back of the book details a story featuring a well-known merc unit. One that's featured in a number of novels and sourcebooks.
From this point, you instantly have a pretty good idea how the novel will go, no matter what unit it is, right? And not because you know the unit doesn't die until some other book. Because All of the popular "pet" units have a certain power of fiat, right? I mean; you're still going to read it, but you basically know the pattern, right?
Okay, well now onto a different scenario.
Strip away the plot armour, the fiat. Picture yourself as a person in the Inner Sphere in the high age of mercenaries we all know and love. You have the resources to hire a merc unit of a given size to complete a contract.
Absent their favourite author on their side; which is your pick to pull off a given mission or campaign? What could they *not* pull off?
Now, I am an avowed not-fan of Stackpole, but all else being equal; I have to pick the Kell Hounds. And I don't care whose leading them. I say this because their people are reliable, they put a good emphasis on support organizations and they have a good mix of unit types in most of their incarnations.
Kind-of the emblematic hero-unit in a lot of ways, but reliable.
But how would I break them? Grinding attritional warfare with fortified positions. Like what you see in the MacCarron's Armoured Cavalry book. They'd be my last pick to take a fortified, well-defended city or (in the Jihad) a revamped Castle Brian. Absent their plot armour, I think they'd try something too-clever-by-half and without a writer who loves them, it would blow up in their face.
But what do you think? What's your pick?