Remnants of the Defenders of Andurien. The old traditions of Combined Arms is strong with this group. Their members are all veterans of the Andurien Succession, and have all fought against prominent units of both House Marik and House Liao.
UNIT HISTORY
-----------------------
Colonel Elliot Lawrence began his career as a Lieutenant of the Alpha Battalion, 1st Defenders of Andurien with his family's Warhammer on the Capellan Confederation world of Betelgeuse during the Andurien Succession. He witessed there the near loss of the 1st due to aerospace assets, and the effectiveness of two of Chancellor Liao's relatively small but fierce Warrior Houses in action over the course of two years-particularly the devastatingly effective play of House Hiritsu's decimation of some Defender's supply depots. His lance participated in pinning the Protectorate Guard in place so that the bulk of the 1st could crush it, only for the 1st to be repelled by all five regiments of McCarron's Armored Cavalry. He was forced to fight the MAC in rearguard actions due to his 'mech not requiring munitions as did the majority of his lance, which relied primarily on long range missiles. Fortunately his lance survived intact. Due to his actions on Betelgeuse, and his skill at getting the maximum amount of mobility and motivation from his units and personnel, Lawrence was promoted to captain.
Following the loss at Betelgeuse against superior numbers, Elliot's company was amongst the five battlemech companies used in defensive positions in the city of Mina on Shiro III versus three regiments sent by Captain-General Duncan Marik. Again, against great odds, he participated in the Alpha and Beta Battalions assault, with his three lances engaging the Fusiliers of Oriente, which allowed several of his friends in the armored vehicles to retire to the dropships. Again, due to his Warhammer's PPC's not requiring munitions, he participated in makeshift rear guard actions with other 'mechs which were mostly equipped with large lasers. He barely got out of Shiro III alive, the twelve rear guard 'mechs and their warriors were wiped out, his Warhammer took a severe beating. His company was smashed, reduced to a mere six battlemechs.
Andurien proved to be a bloody battle. Marik dispatched seven front-line commands, and the 1st Defenders was assigned to protect the city of Baroda. At the chokepoint of Darnel Bridge, Elliot's company was part of the group that wiped out a company of Marik's 1st Militia. He saw the results of the survivors' massacre by the mob. Later, his company flanked and therefore trapped a battalion of First Marik Militia during the heavy fighting in the city. By this point, Alpha and Beta battalions were exhausted, fighting against four commands, including the mercenaries Always Faithful. During this action the Major was struck down, and Captain Lawrence was granted a field promotion to Major of the combined arms battalion. The Battalion destroyed the infantry and armor assets of the mercenary group almost to the man, which reinforced the lessons Elliot was taught regarding effective support and unit cohesiveness in the context of combined-arms. The fighting at Andurien lasted three months, with Elliot's force entrenched in Baroda's streets ever ready to fight on until the enemy backed off, the shooting ceased, and the confused Defenders were passed the chilling call over the radio by General Garibaldi to lay down arms, shut down their machines and surrender as per orders of the Duchess.
In these nine long years of near constant warfare, Elliot Lawrence's force and the bulk of the D.A.K.'s personnel had gained heavy experience with mobile warfare, and static defense. The tipping point in most of these engagements, he recognized, was the distance of attacking forces from the source where they can refit and resupply. Even if a force were to run ONLY weapons without munitions, they are still limited by the essential human factors such as food and water on a large scale, and medical supplies. It pays, then, to always break the lines of the enemy or bypass it and hit their line of communication or supply lines. Otherwise it becomes a mere battle of attrition through which the larger, better supplied force grinds the smaller force into dust. He also saw how a smaller, more cohesive force operated more effectively than larger, segregated units, especially as the 1st Defenders were whittled down and the enemy forces kept increasing in number, or in the case of House Liao's Warrior Houses.
TACTICS
------------------------------
The old 1st Defenders tactics were to "employs its vehicular forces to tie up an opponent while its BattleMech forces are used conduct the killing blow." The new Korps borrow heavily from ancient Earth's history, prominently Clauswitz's old addage about the "Culmulating point of Victory," using flanking attacks and massed long range firepower to destroy or capture enemy supply lines, thus forcing enemy withdrawals.
Typically the 'mech forces are used as the sword, and the vehicle and infantry elements are the shields, covering the retreat of the battlemechs so they may replenish supplies from the dropship. Priority though is always placed upon capture of enemy supplies, obviously this allows the battalion to remain in the field longer while forcing the enemy to retreat. On the advance, artillery clears the road ahead for the 'mechs to secure the battleline whilst the vehicular and infantry elements move up. On the defense, mines and artillery are always used to control or deter the enemy's advance. Regardless, the infantry and vehicles are always making use of prepared positions.
(Artillery)
(Towed Field Guns)
(Mines)
(Hull Down Rules)
(Digging In Rules)
(Improved Positions)
(Combat Engineers)
(Rearming Under Fire)
--------------------------------------
3040
21st Defenders of Andurien Korps (Combined Arms Battalion/Veteran/Reliable)
*C.O.: Colonel Elliot Lawrence
21st Company: 1 Warhammer WHM-6R
3 Catapults CPLT-C1
8 Trebuchets TBT-5N
15th Company: 1 Hi-Scout Drone Carrier
7 Manticore PPC Carrier
4 Saladin Assault Hover Tank
90th Light Co. 3 Motorized Platoons w/Towed Field Guns (4x AC/2's per Platoon)
*Alexandria - Fortress Class Dropship.
"When the well is dry you know the value of water."
