FIGHTER OF THE NIGHTMAN!! (Sorry had to!)
SWD-X Swordsman – A proto-Shadow Hawk.BackgroundThe Swordsman Battlemech was one of House Davion’s first Battlemech’s and was planned to see service alongside their version of the Mackie and the somewhat lighter Battleaxe as the premier Mech’s of the burgeoning Davion Battlemech programme.
The design called for a light but well-armed unit that could engage at long and short ranges whilst being able to keep pace with its larger brethren. The contract for the design was won by Jerricho Industries and it was hoped the new machine would form the backbone of Davion Mech Units, but this contract was won not because of the firm’s expertise but through political favours owed to the Lord of the Terran March Prince Mikhal Rostov.
At a time when Battlemech’s were still very new the Swordsman was developed in a rather short time a mere 5 years, but this is where the wheels started coming off the cart. Because of its rushed design the Swordsman was plagued with technical difficulties and its primitive components were heavy and bulky to say the least.
Whilst the designers would have liked more time, Prince Rostov pressed them to get the Mech out and begin construction which duly went ahead with it being a common Mech in the Terran March and was rarely seen elsewhere in Davion space. It’s no surprise that the Davion Civil War and the fact that the Swordsman was often in service to those on the losing side in the Terran March gave the machine a reputation it could never shake after.
Despite some upgrades to its technology the production lines for the Swordsman were dismantled and the bulk of the surviving Swordsman were given over as a gift to the SLDF in 2571 where it would see service in The Reunification War.
Those that remained after that conflict were scattered across Star League space and served with militia and garrison units until the Amaris Civil War. Utterly obsolete by modern standards the Swordsman has not been produced and some survivors may still be found in museums.
DesignAt 40 tonnes the Swordsman is not a big Mech but unlike most later 40 tonne machines who tended to just be big lights, concentrating on speed, the Swordsman is a rock solid brawler that actually outguns a Shadow Hawk 2H. Not bad for a machine of its period, far from it in fact.
But to get its punch the Swordsman is SLOW by medium Mech standards, but at the time its rather plodding 54kph was all it needed to keep pace with Mackies and Battleaxes. This rather plodding speed was provided by a 145 rated primitive engine whilst the cockpit and armour were also of heavier primitive designs. Still with 10 tonnes of armour the Swordsman wasn’t that weakly protected and its armour was laid out as follows.
9/14/15/14 (5/5/5)
8/8/12/12
Still the Davion’s did produce a sleek and handsome looking Mech, all be it one who’s autocannon was blessed with the accurate weapons quirk (perhaps due to its stabilized mounting on the shoulder?) but also affected by the negative quirk of ammunition feed problems for the same gun.
VariantsSWD-1 – The introduction model and the one that was mass produced and saw the most service the SWD-1 is a nasty little combatant, a Mech that’s got quite the bite for something it’s size. For long range an AC-5 and LRM-5 mounted on the left and right torso in shoulder mountings form its main punch, each weapon drawing from a 1 tonne ammo bin to give it enough battlefield endurance. For shorter range engagements a pair of Medium lasers, one in each arm provide ample firepower. Its simple, its effective and its quite potent for a machine this size. Of course this comes at the achingly slow speed of 54kph and a lack of jump jets that the Davion’s seem to have fallen in love with at the time. Still it’s not a bad machine despite its overweight components through the simple expedience of firepower. Whilst the original SWD-1 was riddled with design flaws giving it the poor workmanship negative perk which makes it vulnerable to crits it is not a bad machine, it shows a very good ‘first touch’ for House Davion and avoids the flaws that blighted the Axeman namely its horrific heat problems.
SWD-2 – The only upgrade of the Swordsman and one that was produced in far less numbers the SWD-2 benefitted from advances in technology allowing the engine, cockpit and armour to be made of more modern, lightweight and more efficient materials (intro-tech level). The weight saved was put into yet more firepower with an SRM-4 being added as well as a head mounted small laser. The more modern engine meant the speed went up slightly to 64kph whilst half a tonne of armour was added to the arms and legs.
Again this is a scrappy little machine, its honestly not bad and if it wasn’t for the Mech being associated with the Civil War I would not doubt it would still be in service today. I would assume it was these variants that were retained by the SLDF in garrison roles, the older D1 being phased out in favour of the surviving D2’s.
Sadly though the SWD-2 like the other Swordsmen were phased out and retired, replaced by more modern and faster machines that could do their job. Machines like the Wolverine and Shadow Hawk made the Swordsman obsolete as despite its firepower, it was far too slow to disengage if caught out of position or outmatched.
ThoughtsFor a Primitive Mech the Swordsman is impressive, its well-armed, well protected and it looks AMAZING, it’s a handsome, handsome machine, sure you pay for that with its god awful speed which makes it an easy target to hit but it’s not bad.
The SWD-2 fixes the biggest problem the god awful speed slightly but its still very slow for a machine its size and its basically heavy speed at 64kph but the firepower becomes even more respectable and lets it outgun a fair few more modern and even larger Machines. At a typical engagement range a SWD-2 outguns a Wolverine or Shadow Hawk but the lack of speed and jump jets means that it can never dictate the engagement and must always react to hostile movements. Even worse if faced with LRMs it can’t sprint in close to try get into minimum range as most Mech’s can walk backwards nearly as fast as the Swordsman can run forwards.
The SWD-2 still fits in well though, combined lances of Swordsmen and Battleaxes must have been quite common and as both machines were upgraded they no doubt served alongside one another thanks to their similar speed and weapons ranges whilst the big slow Hammerhands would have carried out the role of being a pocket assault Mech.
I think its biggest problem is that it suffers from Kit Foxitus. It’s a small, rather squishy machine with a rather heavy punch and because of this it tends to attract a lot of firepower it could not otherwise avoid or survive. As for using one, its slow speed means you’re not going to catch anything and will have to keep pace with the big boys or form a skirmish line in front of them. The Swordsman’s surprising long range punch allows it to pepper away before closing in where its pair of Medium lasers provide a meaty punch by the standards of the day. Still this well armed and handsome Mech would do well in a line up and would be a GREAT succession Wars era machine if it had survived. Still despite it being a dead design, that’s no reason to NOT use it.
Damn handsome machine! (seriously I love the artwork in the Primative's books, the old Banshee blows the 80's sunglasses 3025 art out the water!)
As always comments, thoughts and criticism are most welcome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewINVWtjNDE 
