La Grande Armée

LaGrandeArmee.PNG
La Grande Armée
Affiliation Mercenary
Parent Command Independent


History[edit]

The mercenary unit La Grande Armée, "The Great Army", in French, was born from a group of deserters who abandoned the Dieudonné Militia, convinced by their leader, Nicholas Davout. [1] Davout, obsessed with Napoleon, modeled his unit on Napoleon's armies. He dreamed of making La Grande Armée a multiregiment unit, like its name suggested, but for at least four years found only small contracts, with him developing a reputation for reliability, with a decent grasp of strategy and tactics. [1][2]

In 3150, the unit was hired by House Davion to oversee the excavation of the remains of the SLDF's 295th BattleMech Division on Buffalo Meadows.[3][4][5]

For this job, La Grande Armée was supplied with almost another company of 'Mechs, doubling the unit's size to the equivalent of two companies.[5].

In defense of the excavation, on 18 March, La Grande Armée suffered an attack by Bartlett's Boxers. As the Grande Armée had made planet fall two days before, they had already taken the dig site and begun mounting defenses. As they were outnumbered by the Boxers, they mobilized SLDF 'Mechs stored there, increasing their number, and fended off the attack.[6]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of La Grande Armée
Marshal Nicholas Davout 3146-3150[5]

Other Officers[edit]

La Grande Armée's officers on Buffalo Meadows were Marshals Denise Hague, leading III Corps, Mel Niles, and Sun Hayakawa. The chief tech was Doctor Yannerman.

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

3150[edit]

Entering the Buffalo Meadows job, La Grande Armée was composed of six lance-sized corps of BattleMechs: I Corps, II Corps, III Corps, IV Corps, V Corps, and the Imperial Guard. The last one was composed of heavy and assault 'Mechs and lead by Davout itself.[7]

Rank and Organization Scheme[edit]

La Grande Armée used an unusual scheme for ranks and organization, modelled after Napoleon's Grande Armée but scaled down for a small mercenary unit.[1] Each lance was equated to a corps of Napoleon's army,[7] and lance commanders were given the rank of Marshal, equated to the Marshals who commanded such corps.[5] The commanding officer too was a Marshal, in accordance with his chosen namesake, Louis-Nicolas Davout.[1]

The unit used French terms and ranks, speaking in that language often. Their war cry appears to be Longue vie a la Grande Armée! – "Long live the Great Army!"[1]

Color Scheme[edit]

La Grande Armée used a paint scheme for their 'Mechs modeled after the uniform of Napoleon's soldiers: white legs and front torso, a 'jacket' of dark blue arms and rear torso, and red trim on the upper body. Their members' uniform was a red, blue and white jumpsuit.[8][1]

Gallery[edit]

Notes[edit]

  • The cited numbered page for all citations of the Requiem for a Blue Star source material refer directly to the PDF reader's own count (out of 20 pages), due to an incorrect and inconsistent numbering error on the displayed page. For example, Requiem for a Blue Star has two pages numbered as "3", the 3rd of 20 and 6th of 20. Other pages are also mislabeled.

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF p. 6, "Notable Personalities"
  2. Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF p. 17, "Operation Knockdown"
  3. Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF pp. 9 & 14, "La Grande Armée - Total Warfare Briefing" & "La Grande Armée - Alpha Strike Briefing"
  4. Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF p. 3, "2019 Worldwide Event Results"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF p. 18, "Operation Knockdown"
  6. Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF pp. 3 & 5, "2019 Worldwide Event Results" & "Finders Keepers"
  7. 7.0 7.1 Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF p. 16, "La Grande Armée"
  8. Requiem for a Blue Star, PDF p. 5, "Finders Keepers"

Bibliography[edit]