Creation of the Colonial Marshalls

[Drewbacca]

When did these guys get started?

[Doc Swift]

After the New Colony Region was formed by the Canopians and Taurians, ca. 3056.

[Drewbacca]

Darn, I was hoping earlier.

[Daryk]

I think we all were...  :-\

[glitterboy2098]

Could well be there was some informal organization with similar role prior to that though, with no recognition by official powers but dedicated to fighting bandits and pirates and generally protecting the civilian populace.

[Doc Swift]

It's doubtful there was any such formation prior to the New Colony Region. It's after that venture that the Marshals are named, after all. Worlds do have militias, though, which should have been tasked with the missions you listed.

[nerd]

There were Errant Mechwarriors, as well. From Handbook: Major Perhipery States "A lone MechWarrior who is hired to act as protector of under-defended worlds. They are normally found in the Periphery, and always own their own 'Mechs."

They were far less organized, though.

[Daryk]

Especially since that lone MechWarrior would need a full tech team (at LEAST six AsTechs, assuming the MechWarrior is acting as their own Tech) to do any maintenance under the current rules...

[DOC_Agren]

Especially since that lone MechWarrior would need a full tech team (at LEAST six AsTechs, assuming the MechWarrior is acting as their own Tech) to do any maintenance under the current rules...

I've always assumed that the Errant Mechwarriors, had a tech support/Inf.. Although I rather have a seperate Inf unit for security/recon, and maybe limited vehicle support

[Daryk]

If you drive a 20-ton 'mech, a heavy APC will serve as a recovery vehicle in addition to hauling around all necessary personnel...  ^-^

[Elmoth]

The cargo rules is that a vehicle can carry double its weight in external cargo, right? Yup, would serve perfectly fine.
I do not know if a single wasp would be much of a deterrent for a pirate force that has mechs of its own, though. 

[Baldur Mekorig]

Especially since that lone MechWarrior would need a full tech team (at LEAST six AsTechs, assuming the MechWarrior is acting as their own Tech) to do any maintenance under the current rules...

By the little info and lore we have on Errants, the few repairs and maintenance their mechs gets are what is done by the errant, and maybe some hired hands from the planets he is working on. Maybe.

[Daryk]

The cargo rules is that a vehicle can carry double its weight in external cargo, right? Yup, would serve perfectly fine.
I do not know if a single wasp would be much of a deterrent for a pirate force that has mechs of its own, though.

The cargo rule is the tonnage of the unit plus any installed cargo capacity.  So a Heavy APC could theoretically carry a 25 ton 'mech if you leave most of the infantry home.

[DOC_Agren]

The cargo rule is the tonnage of the unit plus any installed cargo capacity.  So a Heavy APC could theoretically carry a 25 ton 'mech if you leave most of the infantry home.

Well if we need to recover the 25 ton mech it might be a little lighter even a 30tonner might be..

[idea weenie]

Well if we need to recover the 25 ton mech it might be a little lighter even a 30tonner might be..

Since you are recovering the Mech, that means you won and hold the field.  So hopefully you have some scrap from the other Mech that you can load up into the cargo storage.

That was one idea I tossed around with another BT player, where if you shot off an arm from an enemy Mech, that enemy Mech would tend to retreat without firing.  Similar to a lizard losing a tail, the Mech that lost an arm is letting the other person have the arm in exchange for the enemy Mech being allowed to leave without any further trouble.  Similarly, the retreating Mech 'agreed' that they would not open fire while leaving.  If the retreating Mech opened fire, they were waiving the hassle-free retreat, and were once more a legitimate target.

[DOC_Agren]

I can see that working when it 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 in a campaign setting.  Because it is worth keeping your forces intact as much as possible.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

I've always assumed that the Errant Mechwarriors, had a tech support/Inf.. Although I rather have a seperate Inf unit for security/recon, and maybe limited vehicle support

The locals could provide that from among their own militia/volunteers, along with astechs.

[DOC_Agren]

The locals could provide that from among their own militia/volunteers, along with astechs.

not sure I fully trust the locals to guard my mech/supplies, would rather have a force loyal to me

[Sinister73]

After the New Colony Region was formed by the Canopians and Taurians, ca. 3056.

Pardon the old thread bump...

This is correct. They were formed as an organized command as a result of the Treaty of Taurus circa 3056. The Taurians equipped them, including the development of the Marshal and Anubis Battlemechs, and the Canopians trained them on Detroit. The Marshal MHL6-FR (Fronc Reaches) is an all energy platform specifically designed to enable zero ammunition dependency on prolonged solo missions.

They are organized in both unit sizes as well as single individuals.

An Errant is different. They are lone mechwarriors usually said to be in old, dilapidated 'Mechs that are hired to defend remote, isolated settlements and colonies. From my understanding they were unaffiliated with any larger nations or command, but I imagine that could differ.

[Intermittent_Coherence]

I thought it quite obvious that the idea of Errants was lifted straight out of spaghetti westerns where isolated communities would pool their money to hire some down on their luck gunslingers to fight off bandits.
That or some grizzled old veteran choosing to retire out on the frontier.
Par for the course for the setting though, little to none of the peripheral economics and logistics were really ever examined in any detail.

[NomadicChronicler]

Apologies for the bump;

On the other side of the coin, your average batch of Periphery goons are most likely a mixed force built around a single (salvaged) real battlemech supported by whatever technicals the band has been able to loot and a bunch of desperadoes as their infantry.

A single light mech (devolved halfway back to primitive category due to all the salvaged and locally replaced parts) backed by a Ant or similar looted civilian machine with an improvised firing platform on it's back (gunner included) supported by 2-3 trucks/half tracks carrying 20-40 looters, sorry infantry would be your average bad of outlaws the Errant in question would be facing.

[Elmoth]

Another option for the Marshalls is that they are basically a way to institutionalize what was already in place. Happens a lot of the time. So, you have errant mechwarriors and their bands. Creating the Marshalls is just a way to turn those guns for hire (the ones with some morals) into government workers and make them grow from their independent origins. A lot of the Fronc planets are likely to have semi-permanent "errant" mechwarriors if they are targeted regularly, so that would be far from a weird occurrence.

You could build a campaign around that easily. Even a solo player campaign.

[Mendrugo]

And if you're doing a Colonial Marshal campaign, you might want to check out the Christmas Eve Coup scenario in Shrapnel #7.

[DOC_Agren]

a little bit of info for those us who don't have it

[Mendrugo]

Pits the Colonial Marshals against the Green Mountain Boys as Sherman Maitlin makes his bid to take the New Colony Region independent.