Peter Armstrong

Peter Armstrong
Character Profile
Died 20 March 3027
Affiliation Federated Suns
Profession Arena Gladiator
Children Deirdre Armstrong

Peter Armstrong was a Federated Suns-affiliated MechWarrior on Solaris VII, and a member of Philip Capet's "Capellan Mafia" group.

History[edit]

Following the retirement of legendary champion Gray Noton after 3022, Armstrong - like Capet, Hans Moder, and Billy Wolfson - was considered a "major competitor" for the title.[1]

However, Armstrong was defeated in an arena duel set in The Factory against Justin Allard on 20 March 3027. It turned out that Armstrong did not survive the destruction of his 'Mech (a Griffin he called Ares).[2]

Despite his loyalty to House Davion, MIIO head Quintus Allard felt that Armstrong had been a "problematic" character (like all six Davion-affiliated gladiator MechWarriors Justin Xiang Allard had killed by that time, including Billy Wolfson) and was happy to be rid of him, implying Armstrong was either a criminal, a troublemaker or otherwise a liability to House Davion.[3]

Peter Armstrong had a wife and a daughter. His wife remarried to a surgeon named Roy Lear, and Armstrong's daughter was adopted though she initially refused to change her name as she idolized her father (as well as Philip Capet and Billy Wolfson) as martyrs. When Justin Allard was later revealed as a double agent and hero, his opponents including Armstrong were denounced traitors and she changed her name to Deirdre Lear.[4] She would later meet and eventually marry Justin Allard's son, Kai Allard-Liao, despite initially hating him because his father had killed hers.

BattleMechs[edit]

Armstrong's 'Mech (Ares) was apparently a standard GRF-1N model; its armament is explicitly described as a PPC in the right arm and an LRM launcher on the right shoulder.[2]

An apocryphal version of Armstrong's Ares appears in the video games MechWarrior Online and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries as one of the game's Hero 'Mechs.

Notes[edit]

Armstrong's cause of death differs between canon sources and apocryphal content. Canonically, he died when he allowed his opponent Justin Allard a free shot at his Griffin; not knowing that Allard's 'Mech had been modified to carry a much heavier autocannon. Armstrong refused to eject after Allard's opening salvo critically damaged the Griffin's fusion reactor and was incinerated in the ensuing fireball as the engine safeties catastrophically failed. The apocryphal MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries says Armstrong died when Allard destroyed his cockpit with an autocannon burst, which differs from the canon event but has some similarity in the sense that the Yen-Lo-Wang's unexpectedly powerful upgraded autocannon was capable of instantly decapitating a 'Mech.

References[edit]

  1. Solaris VII Player's Handbook, p. 13
  2. 2.0 2.1 Warrior: En Garde, ch. 22
  3. Warrior: En Garde, ch. 36
  4. Blood Legacy, ch. 21

Bibliography[edit]