Kossandra's Volunteers

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History

Kossandra's Volunteers was the name given to an ad hoc force of militia and home guard units scattered across the Magistracy of Canopus who were inducted into the Magistracy Armed Forces as a regular military formation during the military build-up prior to the Reunification War.[1]

Reunification War

When SLDF Task Force Canopus under Captain-General Marion Marik launched an invasion of the Magistracy of Canopus under the orders of the Star League First Lord Ian Cameron in 2577 the Volunteers were present on numerous worlds throughout the Magistracy. Although the Volunteers could claim a notional strength of 12 regiments in total, the Volunteers were scattered across numerous worlds and augmented the existing militia forces.[2]

The Volunteers were not the only militia forces present within the Magistracy, as evidenced by the battle for Eleusis in which invading troops from VII Corps expected to face a half-dozen regiments of conventional troops and instead found themselves facing four MAF line regiments as well as eighteen conventional regiments.[3] However, due to the large number of worlds the Volunteers were present on and the elaborate shell game played by the commander of the MAF, Colonel Adam Buquoy, it's largely impossible to confirm exactly what strength the Volunteers had available on each world or just how many planetary invasions were contested by the volunteers.

Disbandment

The Volunteers fought tenaciously in the defense of their homeland during the Reunification War, with many members being lauded as heroes;[1] as with the other MAF units that survived the War itself, the Volunteers were disbanded by the Star League. Despite being disbanded as a military formation the Volunteers persisted as a semi-secret society, and when the various Periphery nations began rebuilding their militaries openly after the New Vandenberg Uprising the Volunteers were reborn as Cassandra's Volunteers.[1]

In 2765 Kossandra's Volunteers had rebuilt as a single regiment. They were the lead regiment of the People's Volunteers brigade, and were used to garrison Magistracy colonies along the edgeward and anti-spinward borders of the Magistracy. 2765 found them based on Brixtana.[4]

A number of modern units such as Raventhir's Iron Hand and the 1st Canopian Cuirassiers can also trace their lineage back to formations from within the Reunification War-era Volunteers.[5][6]

Officers

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the Kossandra's Volunteers

Tactics

As implied by their name, the Volunteers were not generally experienced soldiers and while they fought tenaciously they lacked the training to be effective ranged combatants. Despite this, the Volunteers were skilled at close-in fighting.[7]

Composition History

2575

  • 12 regiments[2]

2765

Kossandra's Volunteers (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[8]

- At this point in time the Volunteers was stationed on Brixtana.[8]

2821

Kossandra's Volunteers (Regiment/Green/Reliable) [9]

Note: In 2821 the medium-weight command was reduced to 35 percent of its strength and was deployed on Brixtana. [9]

2830

Kossandra's Volunteers (Regiment/Green/Reliable) [10]

Note: At this point in time the medium-weight unit was stationed on Brixtana with an operational readiness of 88 percent. [10]

2864

Kossandra's Volunteers (Regiment/Green/Reliable) [10]

Note: At this point in time the medium-weight unit was stationed on Brixtana with an operational readiness of 49 percent. [10]

Notes

The Home Guard was always intended as a somewhat amorphous force over and above the 17 line units (my TOE has them down as "12 mixed regiments"), scattered around the Magistracy, and it's involvement in battles was implied where larger named unit's weren't present. They'd have 'mechs but be bolstered by conventional forces (over and above any conventional forces assigned to support the line units). I always assumed that in some cases a Home guard unit could have forces scattered across half a dozen worlds, making nuisences of themselves to the SLDF, while in other cases the HG unit would be concentrated and act as a single unit.
  — Chris Hartford, Historical: Reunification War writer

Rules

Reunification War

  • Units from Kossandra's Volunteers suffer a -2 penalty on Random Experience Level rolls.[7]
  • Units from Kossandra's Volunteers are considered Brawlers, as per the rules within Tactical Operations.[7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 41, "Kossandra's Volunteers"
  2. 2.0 2.1 Historical: Reunification War, p. 41, "MAF Stats"
  3. Historical: Reunification War, p. 100-101, "Eleusis, Obrenovac and Bethnolog (March 2579-January 2580)"
  4. Field Report 2765: Periphery, p. 16
  5. Field Manual: Periphery, p. 30, "Raventhir's Iron Hand"
  6. Field Manual: Periphery, p. 31, "1st Canopian Cuirassiers"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Historical: Reunification War, p. 183, "Kossandra's Volunteers"
  8. 8.0 8.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FR:2765Pp16
  9. 9.0 9.1 ’’ First Succession War’’, p. 140
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 ’’ Second Succession War’’, p. 100

Bibliography