Author Topic: Fifth Apollo Regulars  (Read 3284 times)

fishfoode

  • Private
  • *
  • Posts: 27
Fifth Apollo Regulars
« on: 29 August 2022, 15:12:03 »
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 Regulars
Like 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 AlliesSteiner
Common EnemiesKurita
Special Command AbilitiesCamouflage

10th Apollo Dragoons
All 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 RatingRegular
Force Composition1 medium 'Mech regiment
Special Command AbilitiesEspirit de Corps

4th Apollo Fusiliers
In 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 RatingRegular
Force Composition2 reinforced infantry battalions, 1 reinforced medium vehicle battalion
Special Command AbilitiesInfantry Dragoons

Apollo Air Legionnaires
The 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 RatingRegular
Force Composition1 medium aerospace wing
Special Command AbilitiesGround Attack Specialists

Lokhagos Marina Zhang
When 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.

« Last Edit: 05 February 2023, 15:01:12 by fishfoode »

mikecj

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 3306
  • Veteran of Galahad 3028
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #1 on: 29 August 2022, 15:37:01 »
Interesting premise.  Nice work.
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Daryk

  • Major General
  • *
  • Posts: 39486
  • The Double Deuce II/II-σ
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #2 on: 29 August 2022, 19:07:28 »
A big unit, but plausible... nice work!  8)

Hawkeye Jim

  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 2420
  • I'm small but sneaky
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #3 on: 24 October 2022, 21:44:34 »
Any other left over Rim Worlds mechs in the unit?

fishfoode

  • Private
  • *
  • Posts: 27
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #4 on: 02 November 2022, 15:32:56 »
I've thought about there being a Phoenix, which I don't really like the look of, or maybe a Talos in there, but for the vast majority of mechs are Succession Wars staples. A Jackrabbit would be cool, but I think they were limited to Amaris forces that invaded the Hegemony.

fishfoode

  • Private
  • *
  • Posts: 27
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #5 on: 05 February 2023, 15:05:15 »
I've updated the initial writeup with some more information about their homeworld and their relationship to it and have changed the names of the Regulars' component regiments to better match their background as Rift Republican Army partisans in the past. I've also added a logo that I whipped up and the AS stats/pilot card for Marina Zhang, in line with the unit writeups in the Combat Manuals.

DOC_Agren

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5194
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #6 on: 07 February 2023, 11:50:44 »
interesting   :thumbsup:
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

Crimson Dynamo

  • Lieutenant
  • *
  • Posts: 1270
  • Opening hearts, minds, and throats since 2807
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #7 on: 08 February 2023, 20:28:47 »
Very interesting unit! It's a sizable group, but not too crazy and breaking up into sub-commands would help them fly under the radar. I'm curious why your guys joined up with the Lyrans who started to gobble up the RWR almost as soon as the SLDF left for the Hegemony, and IIRC pretty harshly repressed the RRA? Also, what era are you playing these guys in? I have a RWR-descended merc unit called the Shark Drakes that I really want to bring into the ilClan era, but there are sooo many Amaris-hating Clanners everywhere now...
"Well, I do, Marcus, and rule number one of the MAC has always been that the man with the plan leads. If we get shot up, I'm the first one to get my ticket punched. There are no flags in the MAC."
"And there never will be," Barton said, nodding his head in agreement.

"You guys are facing a freaking Shadow Division! These guys have strict policies against playing fair!"

"I don’t care. Kill them. I planned the defense so I know it will work. If they claim otherwise, they’re cowards. Any step back is a betrayal of me, and saying they don’t have enough men is just an excuse for incompetence and disloyalty. Tell the Krypteia to do it if you’re too soft but get it done." -Emperor Stefan Ukris Amaris I

fishfoode

  • Private
  • *
  • Posts: 27
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #8 on: 10 February 2023, 13:58:46 »
Good questions! I think their acceptance of Lyran rule is a matter of expediency more than anything else. The Lyran takeover of former RWR space took place at the same time as the SLDF invasion of the Terran Hegemony and was mostly complete by the time the remnants of the Regulars' division returned to Apollo. Given the choice between leading their battered forces into a hopeless revolt from already war-ravaged planets or accepting a cushy contract and semi-autonomy, they chose the latter. I imagine the Lyrans giving them a pretty good offer as the Succession Wars start to appear on the horizon.

I've only written and played them up to the Clan Invasion, but I have been thinking about how they would survive into the ilClan era. I wrote them specifically as RRA/anti-Amaris partisans so that they could have interesting interactions with the Clans; on the surface, they would seem natural enemies and Clanners' first reaction to seeing 'Mechs with livery derived from the old RWR would be to eradicate them. However, the Regulars sided with the SLDF and served with them against the Amaris Empire, giving them a shared history and some reasons for potential cooperation.

Given that Apollo is pretty deep into Clan-occupied territory for the next century, I think whatever remains of the Regulars after the Clan Invasion have spent the intervening decades regrouping and rebuilding while taking small contracts from Galatea. The current chaos in Jade Falcon territory is offering some intriguing possibilities of returning to the former RWR though...

truetanker

  • Lieutenant Colonel
  • *
  • Posts: 10013
  • Clan Hells Horses 666th Mech. Assualt Cluster
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #9 on: 29 September 2023, 22:41:20 »
Pm sent...

truetanker
Khan, Clan Iron Dolphin
Azeroth Pocketverse
That is, if true tanker doesn't beat me to it. He makes truly evil units.Col.Hengist on 31 May 2013
TT, we know you are the master of nasty  O0 ~ Fletch on 22 June 2013
If I'm attacking you, conventional wisom says to bring 3x your force.  I want extra insurance, so I'll bring 4 for every 1 of what you have :D ~ Tai Dai Cultist on 21 April 2016
Me: Would you rather fight my Epithymía Thanátou from the Whispers of Blake?
Nav_Alpha: That THING... that is horrid
~ Nav_Alpha on 10 October 2016

DOC_Agren

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 5194
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #10 on: 30 September 2023, 05:45:57 »
So a question when the Clan come, how hard is the bidding to face them?
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"

mikecj

  • Major
  • *
  • Posts: 3306
  • Veteran of Galahad 3028
Re: Fifth Apollo Regulars
« Reply #11 on: 30 September 2023, 13:30:33 »
So a question when the Clan come, how hard is the bidding to face them?

Could go either way:
1)Right down below the cutdown
2) The entire Galaxy to exterminate the dezgra
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

 

Register