When in 3125 the Khans of Clan Jade Falcon wanted to conduct an experiment, it was perhaps inevitable that the 8th Falcon Regulars came to mind.
Not only had the unit been moved from Galaxy to Galaxy (from being part of Peregrine Galaxy as part of Operation Revival, then to Vau Galacy, ending up most recently in Epsilon Galaxy), the Regulars had a warrented reputation as 'free thinkers' - specifically, tolerating and accepting freeborn and abtakha warriors. However, this suited the Khans' purpose.
Following the Refusal War and the Jihad, even the Jade Falcons had to accept the utility of combat vehicles. Despite this, the conservative, proud Clan never took full advantage of the opportunities offered by combined arms warfare. The Khans also took inspiration from the concept of "Light Combat Teams" in the Inner Sphere. Therefore, the 8th Falcon Regulars was to be reformed as a "combined warfare cluster" - aimed to consist of one each of trinaries of 'Mechs, vehicles, and elementals.
Trialling for the command of the new cluster only attracted 7 Warriors. The eventual winner, Ivan Buhallin, became Star Colonel of the new unit. He took command of a mix of both old and proven, and new and untested, equipment and warriors. Specifically, Star Colonel Buhallin sought out those with bloodlines from, or those who were abtakha from, clans Hells Horses and Ice Hellion, for the vehicle unit. Due to this, only a Binary of vehicles was operated intially.
Star Colonel Ivan Buhallin is himself large for a MechWarrior caste, as his his vehicle Binary commander Star Captain Ivano. The Elemental trinary commander, Star Captain Malcolm, is considered "short for an elemental", but nonetheless still imposing. Their sizes have earned the commanders the nickname "The Three Bears" - not entirely complimentary.
While performing well in both practice and trial combat, the Cluster was largely eliminated in the Rending. Star Colonel Buhallin remained loyal to Khan Jana Pryde, and he and his unit paid the price for this.
E8RA Talon Nova 1
Star Colonel Buhallin brought his assault nova with him from his old unit, 10th Talon Cluster. Commanding from a Warhawk Prime, the remaining units are a Dire Wolf S, Turkina X, Timber Wolf E, and Gargoyle A. The unit's elementals are all standard Salamanders.
E8RA Eyrie Nova 2
All units in this Nova are capable of amphibious action, and are shown so configured. The Nova Commander pilots a Timber Wolf U, supported by a Dire Wolf U, Mad Dog U, Fenris U, and Kit Fox U, accompanied of course by Undines.
E8RA Beak 3
The gift of some "totem" 'Mechs caused a few problems - not being Omnimechs, they couldn't be deployed in Novas. Star Colonel Buhallin made a virtue of necessity by combining in some less conventional Omnimech configurations to provide a unit with high effectiveness against opposing vehicles. Commanded from an Onager, the unit also contains a Gyrfalcon, an Eyrie, a Black Lanner X (with experimental Clan Rotary Autocannon), and Stormcrow F with plasma rifles.
E8RB Talon 1
The command Star of Beta Binary is a heavy battle/fire support unit, capable of supporting 'Mech breakthroughs, or blunting opponent drives. The Star consists of points of Huitzilopochtli, Carnivores (in both standard and HAG-40 variants, Kelswas (acquired via Clan Sea Fox for evaluation purposes), and Hachimans as bodyguards.
E8RB Eye Probe 2
The obverse of the Talon star, this unit is optimised for high-speed strike and reconnaissance. Points of Donars, Balacs, Cizin and Shamash are commanded from a point of Skadi.
Gamma Trinary consists of Strider stars of Gnome and "Rache" suits, with integral combat transport support in terms of points of Svantovits, Eldingars (again via Clan Sea Fox), and Anats. The Strider stars split the transport down the middle in practice, as shown.
This was a big project, bigger than my usual battalions, but a hell of a lot of fun. It's also a great opportunity to mix & match from my IWM & DA collections, which was really fun here. The late republic era meant I had access to some rare Omni configs. And I was inspired by the Epsilon units my friend SchwerpunktPrinzip did for me. I did decide to break from my "dirty Delta" scheme.
This was achieved very straightforwardly - ideal when doing large numbers of units. A light green base, black sections and those intended to be metaliic, two applications of Citadel green ink, then a ghostbrush of the light green to bring up the edges. Add metallics, do the cockpits, and
voila!All comments gratefully accepted,
W.
