23rd Arcturan Guards

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards RCT
Nickname	The Frost Giants
Affiliation	Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces
Parent Command	Arcturan Guards

History

Succession War era

Originally composed of the descendants of Arcturan Northern Nomads and Tharkan woodsmen, making the unit highly skilled at traveling through rough terrain and cold-weather survival, the Twenty-third Arcturan Guards was one of the three Arcturan Guard units formed during the hellish First Succession War. While they ultimately survived that conflict, the green Twenty-third lost over half its combat strength in the process. Rebuilt to full strength during the lull between the First and Second Succession Wars, the equally brutal new conflict molded the Twenty-third into a seasoned and fanatical unit. During this period the unit called Cebalrai home.

At the end of the Third Succession War, the Twenty-third were stationed on Carse with its headquarters in the city of New Bonholm.

The Twenty-third were actively involved in Operation GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, the major Lyran Commonwealth offensive of the Fourth Succession War. During the opening wave of attacks in August 3028, the Twenty-third captured Ramsau.

War of 3039

In mid-April 3039, the Twenty-third was one of two major Federated Commonwealth units assigned to capture the Combine world of Alrakis. Landing on the 16th of April under the command of Leutnant-General Jacqueline Fincher, the intention in taking Alrakis was twofold: firstly, it would act as a stepping stone to worlds further into the Combine interior, and secondly, it presented the opportunity for a victory over a unit personally associated with Theodore Kurita, the Eleventh Legion of Vega.

The decisive, aggressive drop by the Twenty-third caught the Eleventh Legion by surprise, quickly forcing them out of their barracks and onto the back foot. Even as the advance contingent of the Twenty-third was pushing the more numerous Eleventh back, a second contingent landed on the shores of Lake Carantha and seized Sigmundrac, the planetary capital. The Eleventh did not take long to regroup; the commanding officer of the Vegans, Tai-sa Esau Olivares, was well-known for his resourcefulness and determination, and had fought alongside the Kanrei during the Fourth Succession War on Marduk. Olivares counterattacked in an attempt to gain the initiative, forcing the Twenty-third into a series of bloody battles. Sensing that Olivares was striking from a weak position, Fincher and the Twenty-third launched their own offensive, pushing and harrying the Legion back and attempting to pin them up against the Caradhradene Mountains. On Marfik in the previous war, Olivares had personally led the rearguard action that allowed Theodore Kurita to escape; acting with the same insight, Olivares knew that to be trapped against the mountains would result in the destruction of the Legion, and he ordered a retreat to save as many of his troops as possible.

The Legion evacuated Alrakis shortly after. Key to the Legion's defeat on Alrakis was a battle on the morning of the 17th of April, where the lead company of the Twenty-third's Second Battalion managed to seize the Talumac Bridge system, the last clear bridge network crossing the Carantha River and a major route into Sigmundrac. If the Legion had retained control of the bridges, it might have been able to keep the Twenty-third out of Sigmundrac.

Clan Invasion

During the Clan Invasion, the unit was stationed on Carse, awaiting the inevitable attack by Clan Wolf. In December 3051, they received automated orders to return to Coventry for training, and after multiple confirmations of the orders' legitimacy, three-quarters of the Guards embarked. They left behind a quarter of their force until the new garrison unit arrived. The new garrison unit was scheduled to be the Tenth Donegal Guards, who had been captured on Zoetermeer in October 3050. This left the detachment of the Twenty-third on Carse in a poor position when Clan Wolf's Red Keshik, Eleventh Wolf Guards, and Thirty-seventh Striker Cluster arrived. Despite being bolstered by the Second Freeman, the Guards were either destroyed or taken as bondsmen. The rest of the unit was assigned to A Place and instructed to raid the Wolf and Jade Falcon occupation zones.

The bureaucratic error that resulted in the Twenty-third's rotation off Carse was repeated on a smaller scale in other incidents, which pushed the officers of the regiment into a pro–Victor Steiner-Davion stance.

Sometime between late 3051 and mid 3061, a company of Guards launched a harassment raid on Waldorff, then held by Clan Steel Viper. While the unit was afield, a lone Ninth Fang Cluster Devil piloted by MechWarrior Fargo encountered the Guards' Union-class DropShip while on a long-range patrol. After dispatching the two light tank sentries, he destroyed one of the landing struts, causing the DropShip to crash before it could take off to safety. When the Guards company returned they immediately surrendered to the Trinary of OmniMechs waiting for them.

FedCom Civil War

Actions during Operation Scatter

As part of Victor Steiner-Davion's plan to overload the LAAF's ability to respond, the Twenty-third Arcturans were assigned to Operation SCATTER'S planned raids from the allied Arc-Royal Defense Cordon. The RCT struck three lightly defended worlds with lightning-swift raids: Aristotle, Gallery, and Thuban.

While on Gallery, they struck a nerve with House Steiner's General of the Armies and acting regent of the Lyran Alliance, Nondi Steiner. They struck her estate on Gallery directly, which prompted her, unknown to the Twenty-third, to send the Eleventh Arcturan Guards to "neutralize" them.

On Thuban, the unit had finished its operations and begun to move out when the Eleventh Arcturan hit one of their combined arms battalions left behind for repairs. The battalion was destroyed, setting up a final confrontation between the sister units that turned into a bloody affair on the slopes of Scorpius Mons. The two Guards units inflicted considerable damage on one another.

Tikonov

The Twenty-third managed to hook up with Victor Steiner-Davion's main task force en route to Tikonov. They arrived on planet in November of 3064. They then helped fight the Loyalists on planet. However, the Allies suffered series losses from December onward due to Victor being struck with news of the loss of his lover, Omi Kurita. The Twenty-third fought several Capellan Confederation–sponsored units on Tikonov, and in 3067 the warriors of Warrior House Dai Da Chi arrived.

It was during this period that the mysterious Bounty Hunter publicly captured the Twenty-Third's CO, Nadine Killson, for the Lyran Alliance, delivering her to the Katherine Steiner-Davion government.

Victor decided to keep Tikonov from becoming a mass grave by pulling out, taking the Twenty-third Arcturans along with the Outland Legion and the 244th Com Guard Division with him.

The Twenty-third later joined the final assault on New Avalon, sustaining heavy losses during the fight to liberate New Brunswick; the survivors were withdrawn. After the FedCom Civil War ended, they were stationed on Graus to rebuild.

The Jihad

The Twenty-third was stationed on Graus when the Jade Falcons invaded in October 3068.

Like the other surviving members of the Arcturan Guards, the Twenty-third formed a part of the Lyran Alliance contribution to Operation SCOUR. Before deploying on the extensive campaign, the Twenty-third's numbers were bolstered when the remaining elements of the Twentieth Arcturan Guards, who had managed to survive the Word of Blake counterattack at the Ruins of Gabriel, were assigned to the Twenty-third as casualty replacements. This was a boon to the Twenty-third, who had been doing sterling service as a rapid response force and who had been constantly undermanned throughout the Jihad. Battling through the Word of Blake Protectorate, the Twenty-third went on to take part in the assault on Terra, landing as a part of the group responsible for taking Tokyo. The Twenty-third proved themselves instrumental in the Tokyo campaign, breaching the Castle Brian and destroying a full Level II of Blakists as the allied forces moved to take advantage of the breach.

Post-Jihad

In the wake of SCOUR and the liberation of Terra, the Twenty-third was the first of the Arcturan Guards units to be rotated back through Arcturus from their combat postings. The Twenty-third had high hopes of leaving Arcturus as a full-strength RCT but instead found themselves being rebuilt as one of the new Light Combat Teams before being dispatched to fight on the border between the Lyran Alliance and the Duchy of Tamarind. After a number of clashes with Tamarind units, the morale of this elite unit began to suffer, particularly within the ranks of the MechWarriors.

The Twenty-third was stationed on Furillo for most of the early thirty-second century. They dealt with several raids but did not face any serious opposition. In January 3145, they gathered at Canonbie for Operation JOTUNHEIM with other LCAF units. The task force dropped on Hesperus II between the forces of Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf. The combined task force drove the Clans off Hesperus II. The Twenty-third remained on Hesperus, rebuilding from battlefield salvage and output from Defiance Industries.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Twenty-third Arcturan Guards
General of the Armies	Edward Regis	Third Succession War
Leutnant-General	Jacqueline Fincher	3039
Hauptmann-General	Nadine Killson	3050
Major General	Nadine Killson	3062 - 3066
Leutnant-General	Candace Silbar	3067
Hauptmann-General	Candace Silbar	3085
Leutnant-General	Carolyn Phillips	3145

Tactics

The command can fight under conditions (cold weather for example) where others give up or simply surrender to the environment.

Composition History

2821

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (Regiment/Green/Questionable)

Note: In 2821 the medium-weight command was reduced to 40 percent of its strength and was deployed on Cebalrai.

2830

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (Regiment/Green/Reliable)

Note: At this time the medium-weight unit was stationed on Cebalrai with an operational readiness of 100 percent.

2864

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (Regiment/Regular/Fanatical)

Note: At this time the medium-weight unit was stationed on Cebalrai with an operational readiness of 65 percent.

3025

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

Note: At this time the unit was stationed on Carse.

3039

At this point, the Twenty-third held a flagship, the Fortress-class Astringent Beauty.

3040

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards RCT (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

Note: At this time the command was stationed on Talcott.

3050

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards RCT (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

• CO: Hauptmann General Nadine Killson

Note: At this time the command was stationed on Carse.

3054

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards RCT (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)

• CO: Hauptmann General Nadine Killson

Note: At this time the command was stationed on A Place.

3062

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (1 Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Major General Nadine Killson
Aide: Colonel Wilhelm Hebl

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards Aerospace Brigade (2 Wings)
CO: Commodore Karl Markus Goessel
- Fifty-first Attack Wing
- 112th Marine Air Wing

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards Armor Brigade (3 Regiments/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Leftenant General Candace Silbar
Aide: Major Ling Mortellaro
- 217th Alliance Panzer Regiment: Colonel Rory LePine
- 700th Arcturan Combat Auxiliary Regiment: Colonel Colin Nissenbaum
- 474th Arcturan Artillery Battalion: Leftenant Colonel Edna Bins

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards Infantry Brigade (4 Regiments/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Major General Siddig Lev-Er
Aide: Leutnant Colonel Bruce Carman
- Thirty-fifth Eaton Infantry Regiment: Colonel Absalom Dirksen
- 242nd Bolan Mechanized Infantry Regiment: Colonel Jeb Krueger
- 601st Federation Mechanized Infantry Regiment: Colonel Saille Anteau
- First A Place Volunteers Regiment: Leftenant Colonel Angel Lex

3067

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (1 Regiment/Elite/Reliable)
CO: Leutnant General Candace Silbar

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards Aerospace Brigade (2 Wings/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Kaptain Karl Markus Goessel

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards Armor Brigade (3 Regiments/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Colonel Colin Nissenbaum

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards Infantry Brigade (4 Regiments/Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Colonel Saille Anteau

3079

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards (Regiment/Elite/Reliable)

Note: At this time the unit was stationed on Arcturus. The Twenty-third was at 30% of full strength, although 85% of the Twenty-third's equipment utilized advanced technology.

3085

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards LCT (Elite/Reliable)
CO: Hauptmann General Candace Silbar

Twenty-third Arcturan Aerospace (Elite/Reliable)
CO: Kommandant Finn Vipond

Twenty-third Arcturan Armor Brigade (Veteran/Fanatical)
CO: Colonel Ellar Antoniou

Twenty-third Arcturan Infantry Brigade (Elite/Reliable)
CO: Colonel Conri Lacey

3145

Twenty-third Arcturan Guards RCT (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Leutnant General Carolyn Phillips

Twenty-third Arcturan Aerospace (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Kommandant Adam Cooper

Twenty-third Arcturan Armor Brigade (Regular/Fanatical)
CO: Colonel Shirley Bryant

Twenty-third Arcturan Infantry Brigade (Veteran/Reliable)
CO: Colonel Janet Powell

Bibliography

• 20 Year Update
• BattleTech Dossiers: The Bounty Hunter
• Endgame (novel)
• Fall of the Hammer (scenario)
• Field Manual: 3085
• Field Manual: 3145
• Field Manual: Lyran Alliance
• Field Manual: Updates
• Field Report: LAAF
• Fighting Withdrawal (in: Total Warfare)
• First Succession War
• Historical: War of 3039
• House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth)
• Interstellar Players
• Jihad Hot Spots: Terra
• NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1
• Objective Raids
• Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 8
• Second Succession War
• Storms of Fate (novel)