Black Widow Company
This article needs to be updated with material from Starterbook: Wolf and Blake, Historical: Brush Wars, Hector (short story), The Day After, Technical Readout: 3145 Mercenaries, The Memory of Pain, The Fourth Succession War Scenarios Volume One, Era Report: 3145, Field Manual: 3145. Once these titles clear the Moratorium period, or if they already have, please consider revisiting this article and updating it with the new material. |
Property "Update Needed From" (as page type) with input value "Starterbook: Wolf and Blake]], Historical: Brush Wars, Hector (short story), The Day After, Technical Readout: 3145 Mercenaries, The Memory of Pain, The Fourth Succession War Scenarios Volume One, Era Report: 3145, [[Field Manual: 3145" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process.
This article needs additional citations for verification. |
The infamous Black Widow Company was a semi-independent unit within the larger mercenary unit Wolf's Dragoons, formed and led throughout its existence by Natasha Kerensky, the "Black Widow".
Although composed mostly of misfits and troublemakers, the Black Widow Company was a dangerous elite fighting unit with a reputation for brilliant tactics and a boldness bordering on folly. Renowned for their skill as MechWarriors, Natasha Kerensky and her unit were also known and feared for cruelty, deceitfulness and generally dishonorable behavior, attributes that set them apart from the rest of the highly esteemed Wolf's Dragoons.
It is believed that the unit may have been named by Natasha Kerensky in reference to the extinct Clan Widowmaker.[citation needed]
Contents
History
Early Days
The Black Widows saw their first combat action during the Marik Civil War in 3015 on New Delos and fought with distinction in innumerable famous battles.
In 3022, Kessel was subject to a raid from the Black Widow Company, under contract with the Lyran Commonwealth. At the time, the planet was defended by elements of Smithson's Chinese Bandits.[1]
Under contract with the Draconis Combine, the Black Widow Company fought an engagement with the Eridani Light Horse on New Aberdeen sometime between 3023 and 3025.[2]
Still under Kurita contract, and during the end of the Third Succession War elements of the 21st Illician Rangers faced the Black Widow Company on Galtor III.[3]
During the 3rd Succession War, Thule's frozen and valuable watery climate was used as bait to trap the pirate Helmar Valasek and his raiders. House Kurita used the Black Widow Company to surprise the pirates and destroy them.[4] (It should be noted that this particular engagement took place far from the Black Widow's known deployment zone at the time; circumstantial evidence suggests it may have been not the real Black Widow Company, but a false flag operation by a faux unit which in turn may have had the approval of the real Black Widows. Natasha Kerensky herself at one point suggested she had doubles.[5])
In September 3026, Wolf's Dragoons, including the Black Widow Company, along with the Fifth Sword of Light were tasked with flushing out resistance to the Kurita-backed government of Kawabe from cities and other defensive positions.[6]
Misery & Fourth Succession War
The Unit survived both fights in quite good shape unlike most of the rest of Dragoons forces.
=Return to Bussiness
Following the devastating losses that Wolf's Dragoons suffered during the Battle of Misery against House Kurita and in the following Fourth Succession War, the Black Widow Company was the first unit available for hire again and signed a contract on November 7, 3031. On December 16 of that year it was publicly announced that Natasha Kerensky had been promoted to Colonel, and that the unit had been upgraded to battalion strength. It was subsequently known as the Black Widow Battalion.
Clan Invasion and beyond
They were recalled to the Dragoon home world of Outreach in 3035 and ordered to provide training for other Dragoon units for the following seven years. It is believed that during this time, the unit was restructured following Clan doctrine: Each company comprised of 15 BattleMechs (instead of 12 as per Inner Sphere standard), known among the Clans as a Trinary.
Disbandment
When the Clan invasion began in 3049, Natasha Kerensky left Wolf's Dragoons and resumed her place among her fellow trueborn Clan warriors, eventually attaining the rank of Khan of Clan Wolf. The original Black Widow Battalion was disbanded after she left the unit, and a new unit called the Wolf Spider Battalion was formed within Wolf's Dragoons in their place.
The unit, lead by Maeve Wolf was equipped with Inner Sphere BattleMechs, but upgraded with Clan technology, fighting with great success in the Dragoon Civil War, the First Harlech and Second Harlech battles. However, the unit was already severely weakened in Second Harlech, and fall under the attack of their "allies" of the Broadsword Legion, in reality Blakist moles. Only their leader, Stacy Church survived. The rest of the unit was destroyed in the battle or the nuking blakist.
Rebirth
In 3069, Maeve Wolf resurrected the Black Widows company, under Church's command, send to Outreach again. There, they take the leadership of the anti Blakist resistance, managing to free the planet and destroy the treacherous Legionnaires.
Officers
Rank | Name | Command | |
---|---|---|---|
Commanding Officers of the Black Widow Company | |||
Captain | Natasha Kerensky | 3015-3049 | |
Colonel | Mackenzie Wolf | 3050-3054 | |
Commanding Officers of the Wolf Spider Battalion | |||
Major | John Clavell | 3054-3067 | |
Captain | Stacy Church | 3072 | |
Major | Eleanor Chan | 3145[7] |
Tactics
This Section looks to be a Stub This section is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material). You can help us by expanding it. Please remove this tag when that effort is complete. |
Composition History
3015[8]
Black Widow Company
- Command Lance
- Captain Natasha Kerensky - Warhammer
- Colin Maclaren - Marauder
- Lynn Sheridan - Crusader
- Fire Lance
- Lieutenant Takiro Ikeda - Archer
- Michael Andrews - Shadow Hawk
- Nikolai Koniev - Wasp
- Akira Harlowe - Thunderbolt
- Recon Lance
3025[9]
Black Widow Company
- Command Lance
- Captain Natasha Kerensky - WHM-6R Warhammer
- Colin Maclaren - MAD-3R Marauder
- Lynn Sheridan - CRD-3R Crusader
- John Hayes - GRF-1N Griffin
- Fire Lance
- Lieutenant Takiro Ikeda - ARC-2R Archer
- Miklos Delius - ARC-2R Archer
- Nikolai Koniev - WSP-1A Wasp
- Alex Ward - STG-3R Stinger
- Recon Lance
- Lieutenant John Clavell - RFL-3N Rifleman
- Piet Nichols - PXH-1K Phoenix Hawk
- Simon Fraser - STG-3R Stinger
- Mohammar Jahan - STG-3R Stinger
3031[10]
Black Widow Battalion
- Command Lance
- First BattleMech Company (Wolf Spiders)
- First Lance
- Captain John Clavell - Firefly
- Sergeant Simon Fraser - Stinger
- Mohammer Jahan - Stinger
- Bradley Turlow - Vulcan
- Second Lance
- Lieutenant Piet Nichols - Hornet
- Steven Fujimi - Marauder II
- Jorge Muller - Annihilator
- Ulzanna Whitehead - Flea
- Third Lance
- Lieutenant James Riker - Imp
- Sergeant Paul Sayers - Warhammer
- Wilson Smullen - Shogun
- Ted Heyden - Ostroc
- Second BattleMech Company (Tarantulas)
- First Lance
- Captain MacKenzie Wolf - Enforcer
- Lillith Lang - Hermes II
- Trel Morkai - Rifleman
- John Castle - Crusader
- Second Lance
- Lieutenant Leslie Kawalli - Marauder
- Sergeant Mikos Delius - Whitworth
- Nikolai Konief - Firefly
- Delmar Lindstrom - Shadow Hawk
- Third Lance
- Aerospace Company
- First Lance
- Lieutenant Sidney "Jackrabbit" Moskowitz - Thrush
- Thomas "Top Hat" Gordon - Thrush
- Second Lance
- Lieutenant Clarence "Sweep" Lamond - Cheetah
- Ruben "Switchblade" Norris - Cheetah
- Third Lance
- Third Team, Seventh Kommando
3056
Wolf Spider Battalion
- Command Star (5 OmniMechs)
- Wolf Striker Cluster
- Support Unit: Overlord-class DropShip Widow's Regards
3072
Black Widow Company
- Command Lance[11]
- Fire Lance
- Recon Lance
3145
Spider's Web Battalion (Elite/Fanatical)[7]
- CO: Major Eleanor Chan
Other references
- Parodied in Critter-TEK as the "Black Hippo Company" under Captain Natasha Immenski. According to the description, "Her tactical daring-do, silly clothes, and total confidence in the scriptwriter have led to a winning streak unsurpassed since the days of the Big League. In fact, most of the rest of Wolff's Baboons seem to exist purely to soak up damage while the Black Hippos win the battle" and all of the other Baboon battalions "stand around looking good while the feared and respected Black Hippo Company mops the floor with the enemy".
3072 Company Members
Lieutenant Jacob Kincaid
MechWarrior Francine
MechWarrior Calvin Magdaleno
Lieutenant Eirene Rondema
MechWarrior Orrin Fletcher
MechWarrior Michael Ramirez
MechWarrior Max Henricksen
Lieutenant Wyatt Rolfe
MechWarrior Neil Gibson
MechWarrior Halle Yost
MechWarrior Russel Madison
Rules
Historical Turning Points: Misery
- Unmatched at small-unit tactics, the Black Widows may use Force the Initiative, Off - Map Movement, and Overrun special abilities (see pp. 192-193, TO).[12]
Notes
The Fire Lance's Shadow Hawk pilot during the 3015 attack on Anton Marik's compound on New Delos is named Willard Andrews in Jason Schmetzer's short story, The Memory of Pain.
References
- ↑ Tales of the Black Widow Company, pp. 14-15
- ↑ Tales of the Black Widow Company, pp. 16-17 (Queen's Gambit senario)
- ↑ Tales of the Black Widow Company, pp. 18-19
- ↑ Tales of the Black Widow Company, pp. 22-23, "The Chill of War"
- ↑ Natasha Kerensky: Bio-medical Report
- ↑ Sorenson's Sabres (scenario pack), pp. 36-37
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Field Manual: 3145, p. 182, "Notable Mercenary Forces - Draconis Combine"
- ↑ The Spider and the Wolf, "BattleTech and MechWarrior Scenarios", pp. 2,5
- ↑ Tales of the Black Widow Company, pp. 8-13
- ↑ More Tales of the Black Widow, p. 11, "Black Widow Battalion, 3031"
- ↑ Starterbook: Wolf and Blake, p. 14, "Unit Composition"
- ↑ Historical Turning Points: Misery, p. 9