Langendorf Lancers

Langendorf Lancers
Langendorf Lancers
Affiliation Mercenary
Parent Command Independent


The Langendorf Lancers, also known as Langendorf's Lancers, was a mercenary unit primarily employed by the Free Worlds League.

History[edit]

Suffering increasing damage from Capellan Confederation raiders during the First Succession War, wealthy merchant princes on Calloway VI formed their own private army in an attempt to defend against them, however, as the Succession Wars continued without end, the merchant cartels found their often greedy and headstrong troops increasingly difficult to deal with. By the Third Succession War with disagreements mounting, the cartels offered their forces to the LCCC just to get rid of them. With his requests for troops increasingly stymied by the League's Parliament refusal to support his grand "Operation Killing Stroke", Captain-General Thaddeus Marik eagerly accepted the new mercenaries. Renaming themselves the Langendorf Lancers, after General Mortimer Langendorf the retired officer hired by Calloway VI’s merchants to form the force, the force became a conventional mercenary command, suffering heavy losses during the truncated and ultimately unsuccessful Killing Stroke in 2950. [1] [2][3]

The regular ranked Lancers remained stationed on the League world of Colfax from at least 3025 to 3054. [4] [5][6] The only notable event in this period was Janos Marik's daughter Kristen Marik, under the assumed identity of Kristen Markus, joining the Lancers. Wanting to make her own way rather than trade on her name, Kristen started as a Tech before capturing a Lyran Hunchback. [7] After Janos' death provided Kristen with a large inheritance, a number of Lancers accompanied her to form her own mercenary unit, Kristen's Krushers. [8]

In the 3050s they were sent to raid a Lyran supply depot on Dixie and pick up some "to be determined" passengers. On Dixie they faced, and were defeated by, the Filthy Lucre mercenary unit. As the Lancers were returning to their JumpShip they learned that the Lucre were the passengers they were supposed to escort. They escorted the Lucre to the League but things were tense through the whole trip. These tensions were made worse when the Lucre refused to return the salvage they'd gained from the Lancers. This resulted in a rivalry that prompted the Captain-General to post the Lancers to the League-Confederation border.[3]

The Lancers' long period of continuous employment with the League ended in 3058 when the increasingly anti-mercenary Captain-General Thomas Marik transferred their contract to Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao to bolster the Confederation's efforts in the so-called Chaos March. [9] Sent to Epsilon Indi to support of pro-Capellan factions trying to take control of the planetary government, [10] the Lancers were stymied when Duke Benson Abraham hired the Tooth of Ymir to oppose them. Hurt by lack of air cover during their advance into the Chaos March, the Lancers combated this by hiring the mercenary fighter squadron the Night Things to become part of the unit. [11]

Relatively evenly matched, the uneasy stalemate shattered in 3067 during the opening stages of the Jihad when the increasing distrust of mercenaries and Word of Blake misdirection prompted the Second Com Guard Division to inexplicably attack the Tooth of Ymir, the savaged mercenaries withdrawing to Arc-Royal to rebuild. The Lancers never got a chance to significantly aid the House Liao forces in claiming Epsilon Indi, when only a few months later Word of Blake forces assaulted the Second Division. Ignoring the dying Second Division's pleas for aid, the Lancers desperately staged an assault on the spaceport, boarded two freighters and forced the crews to fly them offworld. [12] [13]

The Lancers were censured by the MRBC for their seizure of the DropShips after arriving on Galatea, but the Commission eventually conceded that the circumstances had been extraordinary, only inflicting the penalty for defaulting on their contract with the Capellan Confederation. With the Lancers desperate for a new contract and noted for their long history of employment with the League, with elements of the Lyran Alliance launching Operation ÜBERSCHATTEN, Tamarind Marshall Jeremy Brett quickly hired them for his counterattack. Part the forces sent to liberate Gallatin, [14] the Lancers ran into trouble when their inexperienced aerospace fighter wing broke ranks from the rest of the League task force to stop Lyran fighters from attacking the Lancers' DropShips. While successful in turning them back, the wing's lighter Lightnings and Stingrays paid the price for their mistake, suffering extremely heavy losses against Lyrans' heavier Chippewas and Eisensturms. [13]

Compared to the desperate battle during the approach, the fighting on the ground was fairly routine, with the Lancers assigned to help encircle and isolate the 1st Skye Jaegers in Basingstoke City. Maintaining steady progress at first, stiff resistance resulted in the Lancers closing the gap a day behind schedule, allowing most of the Jaegers to escape and delaying the liberation of Gallatin by weeks. The Lancers moved on with the rest of the League task force to drive the Lyrans from Rexburg, Pingree before arriving on Sheridan where the mercenaries’ supposedly secure landing zones came under intense artillery attack from the mercenary Thor's Hammers just as they were halfway through disembarking. While suffering heavy casualties, the Lancers were eventually victorious on Sheridan, and with the Lyran forces increasingly on the back foot, then proceeded to swiftly capture McAffe. The Lancers then received orders to remain in position, becoming the planet's assigned garrison force. [13]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of Langendorf Lancers
Colonel Wayne Roland 3025[2]
Colonel Gregory Millsey 3049 - 3071[5] [6] [11] [13]
Colonel Erma Gross 3145 [15]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Dragoon Ratings[edit]

3059 to 3067[edit]

B+

3071[edit]

C

3145[edit]

Rating: A[15]

Composition History[edit]

2821[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Green/Questionable)[16]

Note: In 2821 the light-weight command was reduced to 63 percent of its strength and was deployed on Calloway VI. [16]

2830[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Regular/Questionable) [17]

Note: At this point in time the light-weight unit was stationed on Calloway VI with an operational readiness of 121 percent. [17]

2864[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable) [17]

Note: At this point in time the light-weight unit was stationed on Calloway VI with an operational readiness of 65 percent. [17]

3025[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[18]

3028[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Regular/Questionable)[19]

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on Colfax. [19]

3050[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Regular/Reliable)[20]

  • CO: Colonel Gregory Millsey[20]
Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on Colfax. [20]

3059[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Regiment/Regular/Reliable) [21]

  • CO (CO: Colonel Gregory Millsey [21]
Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on Epsilon Indi. [21]

3067[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (1 Regiment/Regular/Reliable)

  • CO: Colonel Gregory Millsey
  • 1st Battalion/XO: Force Commander Yance Gascoine
  • 2nd Battalion: Force Commander Eun-Mee Ahn
  • 3rd Battalion: Force Commander George Wesley

Langendorf Attack Wing (1 Reinforced Wing/Green/Reliable)

  • Wing Commander: Major Ally Birke

3145[edit]

Langendorf Lancers (Veteran/Reliable)[15]

  • CO: Colonel Erma Gross[15]
- As of 3145 the Lancers were under contract to the Federated Suns and stationed in the Quitacas system, operating at one hundred and ten percent of full strength for a standard regiment.[15]

Notes[edit]

  • The Lancers use a red and white color scheme applied like a knight’s quartered surcoat. The regiment’s insignia is a golden lance over a white L on a black square, all set on a blue field. [11]
  • Born as a defensive formation, the Lancers continue to focus primarily on defense rather than attack, partly to reduce the damage suffered and partly to draw out the length of any combat pay. However this also manifests itself in a great reluctance to attack unless presented with an opportunity too good to pass up. [11]
  • To ease their support requirements, the bulk of the Lancers 'Mechs are medium weight designs with only a few Heavy 'Mechs, though they do boast a number of OmniMechs and advanced Phoenix designs. The Lancers also favor energy weapons over missile and ballistic weaponry for the same reasons. [11]
  • The Lancers rely completely upon their employers or third parties for transport, [11] part of the reason for their desperate measures to flee Epsilon Indi.
  • Subunit "Bowman Banshees" among the defenders of Vakarel around 3025; hint that Langendorf's Lancers might themselves be a subunit of the 21st Centauri Lancers by then.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. House Marik, p. 43 "Operation Killing Stroke"
  2. 2.0 2.1 House Marik, p. 106 "Mercenary Units - Langendorf Lancers"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Combat Manual: Mercenaries, p. 51
  4. House Marik, p. 109 "'Mech Unit Delopment Table"
  5. 5.0 5.1 20 Year Update, p. 57 "Free Worlds League Military - Mercenaries"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Objective Raids, p. 39 "Free Worlds League Military - Mercenaries"
  7. House Marik, p. 141 "Kristen Marik"
  8. Field Manual: Mercenaries, p. 71 "Kristen's Krushers"
  9. Field Manual: Free Worlds League, p. 16 "Types of Units - Mercenary Units"
  10. Chaos March, p. 36 "Epsilon Indi"
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Field Manual: Mercenaries Revised, p. 85 "Force Briefs Updates - Langendorf Lancers"
  12. Dawn of the Jiahd, p. 85 "Enemy Brothers - Slaughter!"
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Mercenary Supplemental Update, p. 82 "Force Briefs Updates - Langendorf Lancers"
  14. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 21 "Operation: ÜBERSCHATTEN/BROKEN FIST - stating FMU in error in mentioning Preston"
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Field Manual: 3145, p. 182, "Notable Mercenary Forces - Federated Suns"
  16. 16.0 16.1 First Succession War, p. 138
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Second Succession War, p. 98
  18. House Marik (The Free Worlds League), p.109
  19. 19.0 19.1 Historical: Brush Wars, p.87
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 20 Year Update, p. 57, "Free Worlds League Deployment Table"
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Field Manual: Mercenaries, p. 111
  • Blackthorne comics #5+#6

Bibliography[edit]