So, in the process of typing up posts
over in this thread, I was poring over the 3140
touman as listed in
Operational Turning Points: Hanseatic Crusade.
By my count, the Scorpions had three Keshiks and thirty-one Clusters spread across six Galaxies on the eve of the invasion - plus four Clusters from their respective PGCs used to create the
ad hoc Grunt Galaxy in anticipation of the battle for Bremen.
So, if one subtracts the Grunt Galaxy Trinaries back out from the
touman once the war is over (so as to deploy them as PGCs to newly-conquered Hansa worlds), accounts for battle damage caused during the invasion itself (to include those killed on Red Saturday), then adds in new MechWarriors taken as bondsmen and (presumably) later added to the
touman, plus new recruits from across the Empire to replenish the pre-existing Clusters, plus however many new Clusters are created when Eta Galaxy is established, that might leave... somewhere between 35 to 38 Clusters in the
touman as per the onset of the IlClan Era?
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If so, that compares quite favourably to the Cluster counts for a number of the Council of Six Clans in the Inner Sphere and near Periphery, as per
Field Manual: 3145.
But that was before the Battle for Terra. With both strains of Falcon greatly reduced from their pre-Terra peak, the "provisional" Smoke Jaguars in a similar boat, and the IlClan facing close to 60 percent losses from its own pre-Terra total at last reporting, that leaves even fewer Inner Sphere and near Periphery Clans with a
touman exceeding the Scorpions' strength.
And even then, neither Clan Hell's Horses nor the Rasalhague Dominion are in great shape as per June 3152 ..
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Of course, with the unresolved question of the Homeworld Clans to consider, the Scorpions can ill afford to be complacent.
But, even if one leaves the key HPG advantage to one side - which of course they should not - it would appear that the Empire is certainly in a position of relative strength, if or when the time comes to establish negotiations (perhaps via long-distance HPG relay) with the new Star League Council.
But since TPTB don't appear to be going back to the Homeworlds any time soon, and since the nearest House military to the Empire (the LCAF) is still in pretty bad shape itself, perhaps the Scorpions might have the time to start planning a new long-distance campaign - say, against the Rim Territories - after all.