Udibi Chain Gang - CLNT-2-3T Clint; STG-3R Stinger

If there is one thing you may have noticed about this blog is I have a soft spot for the Draconis Combine.  Despite playing the big baddie in most of the early lore of the Battletech universe I have always liked the extreme juxtaposition of the neo-samurai ways and a dystopian science fiction universe.  Both of these things are brought neatly together in the Chain Gang missions executed by the Kuritan’s against the Steiner and Davion border worlds leading into the 2nd Succession War in 2824.

These missions were a way for the lore writers to work in the Imperial Japanese suicide missions of the kamikaze into the fiction and adding a touch of heartless betrayal  The Chain Gang missions were manned by convicts, disgraced soldiers and ‘unproductives’ - the combine term for homeless, jobless, or low level criminals.  The ‘Chain Gangs’ would form up in lance size elements and be dropped off on some border world with the instructions to cause as much chaos as possible… the reward?  Money, status, honor upon there return.  There was a trick, of course.  The dropships never returned.  They were one way trips; unknown to the conscripted mech-drivers.

On Udibi a special story played out.  While some Chain Gangs were wrecking balls until they were
caught, many simply surrendered on first contact with the enemy, on Udibi the chain gang did its best to fight.  But, in decrepit machines it was always a long shot.  Talon Seargent Jur Sturlaugson, a disgraced DCMS soldier who had refused orders, had started a relationship with a fellow mission member Katrina Reban,  When Katrina was about to have a bad ending in her tiny Stinger, Sturlaugson took the PPC hit in his own machine - though its not described in  Ryan Ramon's “True Tales and Popular Stories” - the blast likely destroyed the undescribed Mech.

The story, relayed in 3010 by Ramon, goes on to state that the two were granted clemency and eventually went into the mercenary business founding a unit called ever-free (which is listed as a regiment in the unit deployment tables in the Davion Sourcebook) as a result of Prince Davion's patronage.  How true any of it is - who knows.  Maybe old Davion propaganda - but it sounds like a good story.

This little gem of a deep lore factoid is found in the tone box in the House Davion sourcebook - Like most really good story elements from those days.  This one was too good to pass up, and so I added these two mechs to the Chain Gang project I had planned for another 2 mech unit.  Here I kept the Stinger as described in the story, by the other mech was not described, however it was stated elsewhere in telling of the Chain Gang mission that the troops all got decrepit old machines.  Look thru the lore a bit and you will find that the Clint fits that bill pretty nicely.  In a period where ‘mechs were cheaper than in the later early 3000’s it would make sense that the Combine would be willing to part with one of these.  According to Sarna… “Not only was the Clint built with shoddy parts which rarely lasted a year, but it also used very few standard components; modular parts which were easily exchanged between many different 'Mechs could not be used in the Clint without a great deal of modification. The machine became a technician's nightmare, taking longer to repair than comparable 'Mechs…”

So a Stinger and a Clint it was - base coat was Vallejo Khaki, with Black Red and US Olive Drab for the camo pattern.  The pattern itself is inspired by the Rhodesian Brushstroke of (in)famous African conflicts.  

Sources:

House Kurita Sourcebook

House Davion Sourcebook

Handbook - House Kurita

Handbook - House Davion

2nd Succession War Sourcebook