New Dallas Militia

Planetary Flag of New Dallas
New Dallas Militia
Disbanded 2787 (destroyed)
Nickname The Rangers
Affiliation Star League;
Terran Hegemony (previous)
Parent Command Star League Defense Force;
Hegemony Armed Forces (previous)


History[edit]

Early History[edit]

Formed prior to the formation of the Star League, the New Dallas Militia played a part in efforts made by the government of the Terran Hegemony to gain the loyalty of the population of New Dallas. The Hegemony government favored the New Dallas Militia with preferred status for new technology, making them one of the first military units outside the Hegemony Armed Forces to receive the latest technology from the Hegemony development programs. With regular access to cutting-edge designs, the militia elected to construct a large underground bunker where older BattleMechs could be stored; this was a common occurrence during an era where 'Mechs were rare, expensive items.[1]

Star League Era[edit]

During the reign of First Lord Richard Cameron the people of New Dallas and their Planetary Governor, a retired Star League Defense Force General named Titus Clay, were vocal opponents of the First Lord and what they saw as his spreading network of toadies. This skeptical attitude would nearly result in the undoing of Amaris' subsequent Operation APOTHEOSIS.[2] When Cameron moved to station forces from the Rim Worlds Republic on New Dallas, both Governor Clay and the senior military officer on New Dallas, Major General Carlos Kataga, objected strenuously. They neither liked nor trusted the Republican forces, an attitude echoed by the people of New Dallas. Prior to the arrival of these new garrison forces, Governor Clay mobilized the New Dallas volunteer militia, which was already a strong planetary militia by any measure, and charged them with taking responsibility for both the three Castles Brian on New Dallas and a number of the local SLDF bases.[2]

Amaris Civil War[edit]

Blocked from gaining control of the planetary HPG during APOTHEOSIS, the 154th Amaris Dragoons went on the rampage, destroying the HPG and battling SLDF patrols throughout Caddo City. Much of Caddo City was damaged or destroyed, including the planetary militia barracks - an action that inadvertently covered the entrance to the ancient boneyard bunker hidden under the barracks, concealing it further.[3]

Denied in their attempts to seize SLDF facilities and gain the element of surprise, the Rim Worlds Army units on New Dallas under the command of General Viktoria Benboudaoud launched against the New Dallas Militia and elements of the planetary infrastructure. Bolstered by irregular forces of volunteers from the local SLDF population, both active and retired, the New Dallas militia blocked these Republican attacks, as well as Republican attempts to secure control of the local Space Defense System. When Benboudaoud was forced to call in support from the Republican WarShip flotilla responsible for securing the local jump points, the eight Republican WarShips found themselves facing an active SDS network under the control of General Kataga's forces. Dozens of drones engaged the Republican WarShips as General Kataga led his armed forces against Benboudaoud's forces on the ground[2] from the cockpit of his customized VTR-9B Victor[4] with the Republicans now heavily outnumbered by the SLDF and New Dallas troops. The New Dallas forces vanquished the Republicans on both the ground and in space over the course of the next six hours, leaving New Dallas under their control, at least temporarily.[2] Benboudaoud was killed in battle at the controls of her Rampage, having led the bulk of her forces from their position around Fort Resolute.[5]

On the 7th of January 2767 a second task force of Republican WarShips began an attack on New Dallas with a heavy naval engagement, with the Republican fleet of thirty Republican WarShips augmented by the captured SDS drones attacking the New Dallas SDS drones above New Dallas on the 14th of January. Republican Admiral Otto Idowu waited until his forces had destroyed the last of the SLDF SDS drones before broadcasting that the defenders of New Dallas had one day to surrender and submit to the rule of Emperor Stefan Amaris, a demand that Clay and Kataga responded to by ordering the local aerospace fighter squadrons to engage and destroy the enemy forces. Despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned the local squadrons managed to delay the Republican attack by several hours, but when the last of the squadrons had been destroyed Admiral Idowu ordered his WarShips to begin destroying the military bases on New Dallas using orbital bombardment.[2] Kataga was killed during the orbital bombardment of Fortress Goliad, remaining at the command post even as the Republican WarShips were burying the complex.[5]

First Succession War[edit]

The population of New Dallas had vowed to never relinquish their world to a Great House, still considering themselves loyal citizens of the Hegemony despite the collapse of the Star League; recovery efforts had a long way to go, but an underground bunker which had been almost forgotten during the Amaris Civil War was recovered by the New Dallas Militia, and proved to be a storehouse of "royal-quality" equipment, including heavy weapons, 'Mechs and vehicles. The militia included many former SLDF personnel who had chosen to retire, refusing to join the Exodus, and it was those ex-SLDF soldiers who piloted the advanced equipment, bringing the New Dallas Militia up to approximately three regiments in size.[6][1]

The Free Worlds League moved to annex New Dallas in March 2787, having bypassed the planet while taking a number of other nearby Hegemony systems. The Third and Fifth Atrean Dragoons and the Seventh Marik Militia expected the capture of New Dallas to be easy, but instead found themselves facing the well-armed, well-trained and well-equipped New Dallas Militia as well as a population determined to resist. While the Third Atrean Dragoons found themselves bogged down by fierce resistance in and around Caddo City, the New Dallas Militia fought the Seventh Marik Militia throughout the Lake Galvez region, pushing the Seventh to the brink of destruction.[6] The Seventh had attempted to use the same landing zones that the SLDF had used during Operation CHIEFTAIN, unaware that the Militia was massing in the region due to poor intelligence gathering. The remnants of the Seventh managed to retreat to their DropShips, many of which were destroyed.[3] It was only a combat drop conducted by the Third Atrean Dragoons' Second Battalion to reinforce the Seventh's drop zone that allowed any of the Seventh to survive to retreat into their DropShips.[7]

Shocked by the level of resistance, the commanders of the invasion force authorized the use of tactical atomics against the militia. The nuclear weapons wiped out the resistance, but also destroyed the bulk of the remaining planetary infrastructure and major population centers.[6] The nuclear weapons used in Caddo City nearly destroyed the boneyard bunker and former HCID memory core concealed under the remains of the militia barracks, and actually collapsed part of the bunker during the battle.[3] The bombardment of Caddo City alone saw three hundred thousand civilians killed, in exchange for destroying two battalions of the New Dallas Militia - and occurred after the Militia had surrendered in response to the broadcast threat of nuclear weapons being used. The nuclear weapons destroyed the will of the population to resist, other than diehard survivors of the Militia, who were further enraged by the callous tactics of the FWLM units and the wanton destruction they had caused.[8] The surviving Militia forces constructed a fake firebase in the ruins of Fort Resolute and used it as an ambush, luring the Third Atrean Dragoons into an attack and killing those Dragoons who fell for the trick, in what proved to be the last major battle.[9]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Time Period in Command
Commanding Officers of the New Dallas Militia
General Samuel Dinwoodie 2787[10]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

2787[edit]

  • New Dallas Militia (Brigade/Veteran)[10]

Rules[edit]

2787[edit]

  • The New Dallas Militia may use the Banking Initiative special ability.[10]
  • The New Dallas Militia may use the Off-Map Movement special ability.[10]
  • The New Dallas Militia may deploy half of their units as Hidden Units when playing as the Defender.[10]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Technical Readout: 3075, p. 166: "New Dallas"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 83–84: "New Dallas"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, p. 5: "The Hegemony Memory Core of New Dallas"
  4. Official Errata
  5. 5.0 5.1 Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, p. 7: "Combatants"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 First Succession War, p. 30: "New Dallas: Terran to the Final, Fiery End"
  7. Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, p. 12: "Songs of Freedom"
  8. Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, p. 13: "Beginning of the End"
  9. Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, p. 14: "Ranger Justice"
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Historical Turning Points: New Dallas, p. 8: "Combatants"

Bibliography[edit]