37th Striker (Clan Wolf)

Clan Wolf logo.png
37th Striker Cluster
Nickname The Blood Kits
Affiliation Clan Wolf
Parent Command Clan Wolf touman

The 37th Striker Cluster was a military formation of Clan Wolf that was effectively destroyed during the Refusal War in 3057.

History[edit]

During a Trial of Refusal in 3031, the Thirty-seventh's then-CO displayed cowardice, and was cast out from the Clans for his dezgra actions. His disgrace was so great that 37th Striker was disbanded and its warriors were prohibited from joining other units for ten years. Ultimately the 37th was re-formed, but suffered under severe probationary measures, only earning the permission to display its insignia in 3050.[1]

Operation Revival[edit]

Initially at least, the 37th fought honorably and acted like any other Clan Wolf unit, but showed a darker much more heavy-handed side of itself when it remained behind to act as a garrison unit. Selected as part of the Wolves sweep through the Periphery in August to September 3049, the 37th Striker took Sigurd in the final attack of the wave. The frightening and strange sight of the Cluster's OmniMechs and Elementals prompting the bulk of the defending Sigurd Guards to surrender almost immediately, with the 37th making short work of the remainder. The 37th's first actions in the Inner Sphere was on Free Rasalhague Republic world Alleghe in March 3050, with the unit's Supernova Assault defeating the Skinner's Scimitars 'Mech battalion, the Second and Fifth Alleghe Tank Regiments and First Alleghe Infantry Regiment while suffering casualties in return.[2][3]

But it was on Memmingen that the 37th would attract infamy. After beating Khan Natasha Kerensky's bid to take the world, Star Colonel Radick would find that he lacked sufficient force to slug it out with the 3rd Drakøns, who had gone to ground with a guerrilla campaign against the Clan invaders. The hit and run tactics infuriated Radick, with the unit slipping out of his Cluster's line of fire often during the long fight. Finally, after losing the Drakøns near the settlements of Danton and Greenvale, Radick also lost his temper and ordered his men to raze both villages, causing hundreds of deaths. The Drakøns retreated off world, but vowed to avenge themselves upon Marcos Radick for his war crimes. In the days after, Radick would find much glee in taunting the civilians under his control, reveling in the high bounty placed on his head, which he dared the Drakøns to attempt to collect.[1][4][5][3]

The brutality of the 37th's actions put them out of favor with Khan Natasha Kerensky who relegated them to mere garrison duty and excluded them from taking part in the Battle of Tukayyid. Enraged by this, the 37th requested a Trial of Refusal against their exclusion. While Khan Kerensky handily defeated them she humiliated the unit yet further by postponing the Trial until after combat had begun on Tukayyid, ensuring no matter its outcome its results were effectively moot.[3]

Refusal War and Destruction[edit]

Radick's 37th Striker Cluster would effectively cease to exist as a unit during the Refusal War, with ComStar intelligence indicating its CO, the infamous Marcos Radick, to have died in that conflict. In the war's aftermath, several survivors from the Thirty-seventh apparently made their way to Clan Wolf-in-Exile. A few remaining Warden warriors from the 341st and 352nd Assault Clusters joined up with survivors of the Cluster and were integrated in order to rebuild it.[6]

The re-forming Cluster was itself folded into the 2nd Wolf Legion in late 3058 as the exiled-Wolves reorganized their forces, with most of the Second's officer corps coming from the old Thirty-seventh Striker.[7]

Still driven by anger over Marcos Radick's actions at Memmingen, the Free Rasalhague Republic's 3rd Drakøns however refused to accept he was dead, launching a number of raids into the Clan Wolf Occupation Zone in the years since searching for him and the 37th Striker Cluster,[8] ultimately culminating in an unsanctioned berserker drive across Wolf Clan territory in 3065 that almost cost the Drakøns their lives.[9]

Dark Age[edit]

By 3143, Clan Wolf had re-formed the 37th as the 37th Wolf Striker Cluster and it was under the command of Star Colonel Chance.[10]

By 3145, Star Colonel Adrienne Vickers was in command of the 37th Wolf Striker Cluster, which was assigned to Epsilon Galaxy.[11]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 37th Striker Cluster
Star Colonel Marcos Radick 3050 - 3057
Star Colonel Deener Vickers 3057 - 3058
Star Colonel Adrienne Vickers 3145[12]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

3052[edit]

3057-3058[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The 37th's insignia was a seated red wolf holding an unhappy victim by the heel with its teeth.[1]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wolf Clan Sourcebook, p. 102: "37th Striker Cluster"
  2. Wolf Clan Sourcebook, p. 57: "Alleghe (FRR)"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Era Report: 3052, p. 45: "Clan Wolf - Thirty-Seventh Striker Cluster (The Blood Kits)"
  4. Wolf Clan Sourcebook, p. 64: "Memmingen"
  5. Era Report: 3052, pp. 83–84: "Marcos Radick Profile"
  6. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 155
  7. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 159: "2nd Wolf Legion (The Blood Kits)", Second Legion's officer corps were primarily 37th survivors
  8. Field Manual: ComStar, p. 69: "3rd Drakøns"
  9. Field Manual: Updates, pp. 91–92: "Free Rasalhague Republic - Hunting the Wolf"
  10. ilClan, p. 11: "Chance Vickers"
  11. Field Manual: 3145, p. 140: "Clan Force Deployments - Wolf Empire"
  12. Field Manual: 3145, p. 170
  13. Wolf Clan Sourcebook, p. 102

Bibliography[edit]