McKinnon's Raiders - 7th Crucis Lancers c.a. 3027

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I have always enjoyed the old school lore, especially the scenario packs from the very beginnings of the Battletech universe.  Recently Catalyst has really brought back that deep lore with there Shrapnel magazine and short stories, as well as going back and bringing in things like the Whirlwind and Harrier hover vehicles which had appeared in the old battletechnology magazine series.  With that said one of the Painting Lore goals is to capture all the original scenario books to some extent, always the main battlemech company but also much of the OpFor mentioned.  Here we have a classic, McKinnons Raiders of the 7th Crucis Lancers just before the start of the 4th Succession War.

The Crucis Lancers brigade would feature prominently in the 4th SuccessionWar as they gobbled up large swaths of Capelan territory.  McKinnon's Raiders actually appear as part of this units complete TO&E in the original Battleforce as part of 'Vanur's Battalion' as well as being presented in the 'Fox's Teeth' scenario pack.  McKinnon's company is a classic early Battletech universe unit set in the late succession wars with 20 ton recon mechs and classic designs like the Pheonix Hawk acting like its a real combat unit (which in this era, it kinda was).

McKinnons Raiders features in a number of different products.  The Fox's Teeth scenario is the 3rd Succession War era company and where this project draws most of its inspiration from.  But it also has a follow on supplement called the Sword and the Dragon which features a more modern updated force carrying it through the war of 3039 and just before the clan invasion.  McKinnons Raiders also features in a Mechforce UK product (not cannon) which I may draw from for this project at a later date.  The "Challenge" magazine scenario features this unit fighting it out on a mercury like world against a Wolfs Dragoons unit. 


This unit is the first in a larger Crucis Lancers Brigade project to compliment my Sword of Light Brigade and so I choose to use the contrast Militarum Green paint as my base for all the Crucis Lancers "davion green" since I use a red contrast on the Sword of Light.  And since I will likely be painting a lot of these lancer mechs I wanted them to be as efficient as the Sword of Light ones. 


I choose to do this unit in the traditional 7th Crucis Lancers colors of Davion Green with red and blue striping rather than the older tan and green tiger strip camo as seen in the back cover of the book.  I did this mostly out of stylistic choice and so I could build a battalion around them of mechs which belong together visually, and can work into a broader Crucis Lancer Brigade.







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