Kincani's Dragoons

Kincani's Dragoons
Affiliation Mercenary
Parent Command Independent


History[edit]

Kincani's Dragoons was one of several Age of War-era mercenary units hired by the Magistracy Armed Forces as part of a crash military buildup in the years immediately before the Reunification War. The mercenary trade fluctuated heavily in the years around the birth of the Star League, with the peacekeeping efforts of the Terran Hegemony drastically reducing the market for mercenaries, shortly before the mass demobilization of House forces in the wake of the formation of the Star League glutted the market with former House troops.[1] The Magestrix of the Magistracy of Canopus at the time, Crystalla Centrella, knew that war between the Star League and the Magistracy was inevitable; as a part of her efforts to increase the strength of the MAF, Centrella hired half a dozen mercenary units, including Kincani's Dragoons.[2]

Reunification War[edit]

When the phony war became a real war in 2577, Kincani's Dragoons were acting as garrison for the Magistracy world of Eleusis; as a part of the elaborate shell game played by the commander of the MAF, Colonel Adam Buquoy, Kincani's Dragoons were moved between worlds several times during the war, deployments intended to keep the SLDF task force guessing as to where MAF units were. Kincani's Dragoons would garrison several worlds during the war, including Borgan's Rift.[3][4]

Meadowvale[edit]

Meadowvale was the biggest success of the war for Kincani's Dragoons. Buquoy had deduced that the SLDF supply lines were vulnerable, partly because the SLDF supply worlds were all located either in the Capellan Confederation or the Free Worlds League and Captain-General Marion Marik and her advisors assumed that the war would largely be fought on her terms - which meant inside Magistracy space. In early January 2578 Buquoy dispatched a sizeable portion of the Magistracy Armed Forces on missions inside the Free Worlds League; Buquoy led four of the mercenary units under contract to the MAF personally on a strike against the key world of Meadowvale. Buquoy's Bandits were accompanied by the Dragoons, Mieselsen's Marauders and Samuelson's Slaughterers. Buquoy led his Bandits directly at a huge supply facility named Camp Torrence, a legacy of the Second Andurien War and the principal supply base for the SLDF on the world. The Bandits struck the camp and then continued to fight, deliberately drawing the defending garrison to them; the Bandits then held the garrison in place for five hours while the other mercenary regiments struck at other SLDF supply camps across the world before all of the mercenary units lifted off and retreated back into Magistracy space. The Meadowvale strike and the others across Free Worlds League space were an almost total success, and not only slowed the SLDF offensive down significantly but would then be emulated several times in the future.[5]

Borgan's Rift[edit]

On Borgan's Rift Kincani's Dragoons fought a short campaign alongside The Red Hand in September/October 2581, intended to sting the invading SLDF while preserving their strength, as part of MAF efforts to tie up invading forces while building up the strength of MAF units. The two mercenary units were heavily outnumbered, as the SLDF invasion saw the 58th Brigade deploy alongside the 402nd Independent Regiment and the 3rd Marik Militia. Even as the two mercenary units struck and then retreated from Borgan's Rift ahead of any effective pursuit, other MAF units were conducting raids on supply and staging worlds within the Free Worlds League, continuing to force the SLDF to devote resources to maintaining garrisons to protect their supply chain and reducing the number of planetary campaigns that could be conducted each year.[6]

Thurrock[edit]

In 2583 Kincani's Dragoons were assigned to a MAF strike force along with the 2nd Canopian Grenadiers and Force Majoris on a raid against the supply lines on Thurrock which it was hoped would give the MAF back the initiative against the SLDF, just as the Meadowvale raid had in 2578. Instead, the Dragoons and the other elements of the strike force ended up in a carefully planned SLDF ambush that saw the bulk of the Magistracy Navy destroyed by a much larger SLDF WarShip flotilla and all three regiments of ground troops captured, ending the Dragoons' role in the war.[7]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of Kincani's Dragoons

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Support[edit]

Unknown.

Mercenary Rating[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

Unknown.

References[edit]

  1. Historical: Reunification War, p. 59, "Adam Buquoy"
  2. Historical: Reunification War, p. 41, "Magistracy Armed Forces (MAF)"
  3. Historical: Reunification War, p. 94, "Reunification War: Magistracy of Canopus Front Deployments (2577)"
  4. Historical: Reunification War, p. 150, "Magistracy of Canopus Front (Jump Off-2583)"
  5. Historical: Reunification War, p. 99, "Meadowvale (January 2578)"
  6. Historical: Reunification War, p. 101, "Gallis, Aspropirgos, Fanardir and Borgan's Rift (January 2580-October 2581)"
  7. Historical: Reunification war, p. 103, "Thurrock (July 2583)"

Bibliography[edit]