Grandin's Crusaders
Sarna News
Contents
History
Unit's Genesis
When Jean-Paul Grandin, Baron of Hortense was forced to exile in the wake of a revolution in 2995. The speed with which the Federated Suns government recognized the new democratic rule left no doubt that House Davion had sanctioned the baron's removal. Undeterred, the uprooted Grandin family resettled itself on Vaucluse and began preparing their return to power. Jean-Paul used his connections with the Outback-based Davion Warriors' Cabal to create an armed force of retainers to invade his former landhold once the opportunity presented itself.
Thus the "Noble Order of Saint Louis on Hortense" was born.[1]
Noble Order of Saint Louis on Hortense
The newly established unit was loaned out to Jean-Paul's fellow Cabalists to provide political muscle. It became customary for the loyalist families who accompanied the Grandins to Vaucluse to serve in it, but the chance of recovering their homeworld was gradually lost. Eventually, the exiled community largely integrated on Vaucluse, and the memory of Grandin's rule on Hortense faded. The Grandins stubbornly continued to serve as part of the "patriotic opposition" but found it more profitable to focus on business ventures in the Crucis March than to lead their private army.
Changes came to the Order in 3062 when the baron's heir, Pierre Grandin the third, returned from Sakhara Military Academy. He was given command of a largely ceremonial guard company and soon plunged into the murky world of corporate contracts. With the beginning of the FedCom Civil War, the market for small, deniable mercenary operators exploded, and Pierre took full advantage. The unit worked for both pro-Katrina and pro-Victor employers whose objective raids in the Outback destroyed critical economic assets, all in the name of "punishing treason" or "denying resources to the enemy".
Pierre soon grew bored with the small-time theater of the Outback and, over objections from his family, relocated the command to the tumultuous Chaos March. At the same time, he began heavy recruiting of AFFC deserters, without any consideration of their loyalties or past behavior. This influx of new personnel diluted the influence of the Grandin loyalists and changed the nature of the command to that of a more conventional mercenary organization.
Grandin's Crusaders
Renamed as "Grandin’s Crusaders" and stressing its operational flexibility in negotiations with corporate brokers. the unit started a new career.
The unit accepted an action on Hall in January 3065 which involved securing the output of a uranium mine on Kinnock Island for a Terran-based mining corporation. The Crusaders rolled into the city of Chatham, where the miners had settled their families, and imposed martial law. With the town locked down, they went door to door, hunting down a list of anti-corporate "agitators" to be turned over to Emperor Baranov. When Wayland Minerals hired their own mercenaries to recover the mine, the Crusaders ambushed them and used the versatile skills of their infantry to take down the pure 'Mech force.
The surge of conflicts across the Chaos March sparked by the AMC's undeclared war on the Word of Blake offered many similar contracts. The Crusaders served both sides with equal readiness and prospered for their calculated neutrality.
Pierre's succession as nominal Baron of Hortense in May 3065 came without even a perfunctory visit to Vaucluse, though the influx of funds provided by his father's investment funds were used to upgrade the unit's 'Mechs. Conflict over the Crusaders' direction saw the departure of the executive officer, Pierre's cousin Jenna, in February 3066.
For most of 3067 the Crusaders have operated on Liberty, serving first as a cadre force for several of the planetary militias and later as security for an Interstellar Expeditions site.
The Crusaders' present contract will soon expire, and Baron Grandin has made contact with a new mercenary broker.[1]
Officers
| Rank | Name | Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commanding Officers of Grandin's Crusaders | |||
| Baron | Pierre Grandin III | 3062 - 3067[1] | |
Tactics
Unknown.
Composition History
3067
- The unit boasts one 'Mech lance, a short armor platoon (three armored vehicles), one aerospace fighter, and an infantry company of five platoons.
- Each of the five platoons maintains a specialty, from anti-'Mech training to commando operations, and personnel are rotated throughout the company to attain additional cross-specializations.[1]
Rules
Game Rules
Since neither Grandin nor his men are willing to give their lives for a cause, the unit will always operate under Forced Withdrawal rules (see p. 258, TW), unless a track specifically prohibits it. The Crusaders gain a +1 bonus to Initiative when using combinedarms tactics, defined as the presence of a minimum of three different unit types in play. If Grandin is designated a Commander (see p. 13), he has a Gunnery Skill of 3 and a Piloting Skill of 3, and allows the unit to Bank Initiative.[1]