This is the custom mercenary unit I've been working on for the last little while, built using the rules in Combat Manual: Mercenaries with the standard 12 CCP for Combat Command construction. I relied extensively on Historical: Liberation of Terra volumes 1 and 2, Historical: Reunification War, and Field Report 2765: Periphery as sources. I wanted to make a regiment that was unique and with a long history but that could neatly fit in the universe without overshadowing the big players. I tend to prefer smaller stories, and I think I came up with something that could make for some interesting battles in the Clan Invasion era. This is written to fit in with other mercenary commands in the Combat Manual so is dated to approximately 3049. I hope others find it interesting.
Emblem of the 5th Apollo Regulars, derived from original emblem of the 5th Amaris Regulars they are descended from.5th Apollo RegularsLike many mercenary commands, the 5th Apollo Regulars trace their history back to the Star League era and the Amaris Civil War. But unlike many famous units such as the Eridani Light Horse and 12th Star Guards, the Regulars descend not from the SLDF, but from the Rim Worlds Army. When Stefan Amaris launched his coup of the Terran Hegemony, he left behind a few token forces to defend the Rim Worlds Republic, including elements of the 5th Amaris Regulars. The "Picket Line Division," as they were known, were normally charged with the defense of the Republic's coreward edge, but were redeployed to the Republican capital of Apollo after Amaris' coup.
While Amaris sat on Terra and one Republic world after another fell to Kerensky's SLDF, the loyalties of the Regulars began to waver. The membership of many officers in the Rift Republican Army, a semi-legal RWR patriot organization, was an open secret, and discontent with Amaris' abandonment of the Republic rapidly spread through the ranks. During the popular uprising of October 2768, the 5th Amaris Regulars refused orders to suppress the protestors, and when the SLDF Eleventh Army landed on Apollo, the Regulars executed their political officers and defected almost wholesale.
Renaming themselves the 5th Apollo Regulars, the division was among those who joined the SLDF in their reconquest of the Terran Hegemony, where they fought in countless battles and suffered horrible casualties. By the time Amaris was finally defeated on Terra, the survivors of the Regulars barely amounted to two regiments, and when they returned to the Rim Worlds Republic, it had been shattered by civil war and conquered by the Lyran Commonwealth. Unwilling to start yet another civil war but knowing no life but soldiering, the remaining Regulars reorganized as a mercenary command and hired themselves out to House Steiner.
The 5th Apollo Regulars have spent most of the succeeding centuries fighting under the banner of the Lyran Commonwealth, usually stationed along the border with the Draconis Combine or fighting pirates in the coreward Periphery. The Regulars have a permanent base on their namesake planet of Apollo, the old capital of the Rim Worlds Republic, but draw recruits from all over the former RWR. They have an understanding with the Lyran Commonwealth making sure the Regulars never take contracts too far from the RWR's ancient borders, but they are rarely deployed in forces larger than battalion strength; multiple smaller contracts are more typical.
On the battlefield, the Regulars are known for strong discipline and tenacious defense of their posts, making extensive use of camouflage in the tradition of Periphery guerilla warfare. While organized and run much like a standard mercenary regiment, the Regulars have a few quirks owing to their Republican heritage. Instead of the standard rank structure used by most commands, the Regulars use the titles of the ancient RRA. In place of a commanding Colonel they have a Strategos, which is not a hereditary office, but is instead an elected position. While the Regulars claim this is an honorable Republican tradition, both their allies and enemies whisper that the practice descends more from the Periphery pirates who founded the ancient RWR.
| Common Allies | Steiner |
| Common Enemies | Kurita |
| Special Command Abilities | Camouflage |
10th Apollo DragoonsAll of the Regulars' BattleMechs are placed in the 10th Dragoons, a unit that traces its history all the way back to the RWR. In its current incarnation, each battalion is organized such that they can operate autonomously, allowing the Regulars to take several small contracts at once.
| Experience Rating | Regular |
| Force Composition | 1 medium 'Mech regiment |
| Special Command Abilities | Espirit de Corps |
4th Apollo FusiliersIn the ancient RWR, each 'Mech regiment in the Amaris Regulars was accompanied by an infantry regiment and the 5th Apollo Regulars have continued this practice. The ancestors of the 4th Apollo Fusiliers were stationed with the 10th Amaris Dragoons in the now lost Far Reach system at the edge of the RWR. Their modern incarnation is a mechanized infantry regiment with a battalion of organic armored support.
| Experience Rating | Regular |
| Force Composition | 2 reinforced infantry battalions, 1 reinforced medium vehicle battalion |
| Special Command Abilities | Infantry Dragoons |
Apollo Air LegionnairesThe only component of the 5th Apollo Regulars not to descend directly from a unit of the RWA, the Air Legionnaires were raised to provide reliable aerospace support to the Regulars. Boasting a full squadron of the RWR's iconic VLC-5N Vulcan Heavy Aerospace Fighter, the Legionnaires are devastating as Close Air Support.
| Experience Rating | Regular |
| Force Composition | 1 medium aerospace wing |
| Special Command Abilities | Ground Attack Specialists |
Lokhagos Marina ZhangWhen she was promoted to the rank of Lokhagos at only 24 years old, Marina Zhang was the youngest company commander in the Regulars. A bold and hotheaded soldier descended directly from original members of the 10th Amaris Regulars, Zhang was dogged by accusations of nepotism until she proved herself leading a rearguard action covering an LCAF retreat on Dromini VI.
Zhang's heirloom BattleMech, the Rift Darling, is the pride of the second battalion as the only operational Rampage in the Regulars, and possibly the entire Lyran Commonwealth. As an original RMP-2G model left in the RWR, the Darling was never upgraded with Star League technology looted during Amaris' coup, making repairs in the intervening centuries only difficult instead of impossible.
