Berserkerbanden

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Berserkerbanden
Product information
Type Novel
Author Lars Jirmann
Pages 298
Cover Artwork "anonymous"
Publication information
Publisher Machtwort-Verlag
First published October 2005
ISBN-10 3938271272
ISBN-13 978-3938271278
MSRP 11.00 €
Content
Era Civil War era
Timeline 3063

Berserkerbanden ("Berserker gangs", often listed as "BattleTech Berserkerbanden") is an unauthorized German BattleTech novel written by Lars Jirmann. It was published in October 2005 by Machtwortverlag, a small German publishing house that was set up in December 2001 to publish new, aspiring authors.

Presumably because of its infringement on other intellectual property the novel was pulled from the market within a few days (or possibly weeks) of release, and only a few hundred items at most are thought to have been sold.

From the back cover (translated from German)

“ Jens Jirmann was born on 11.07.1987 in Leipzig and has been an avid hobby author since his fourteenth birthday. He attends the Werner Heisenberg high school in Leipzig and aims to study journalism. In his spare time, he likes to party with his community, or to sit at his computer and write. His motto is, "The whole thing, I think it's sick!"

Colonel Caine Redclaw's Berserkerbande consists of as-yet inexperienced, but highly skilled MechWarriors. It costs him much energy and effort to forge them together into a coherent unit. They master their first trial-by-fire splendidly, though.
However, a cruel fate awaits the Berserkerbande Trinary when they land on the jungle world Turas to search for a missing 'Mech battalion of House Steiner. On Turas, they encounter an enemy that can stand up even to the Clans in terms of brutality and firepower.
But a Berserker's pugnacity is greater than his survival instinct...

”

Canonicity

Berserkerbanden is entirely non-canonical; the book's content does not even qualify as apocryphal for lack of any official sanction: Neither the author nor the publisher did not obtain the legal rights to publish BattleTech material. Although conceived as a commercial product, it effectively amounts to mere fan fiction (Fanon).

Canonicity/continuity problems

The novel was not checked for compliance with established Canon and continuity. As a result, it does not fit into the BattleTech universe very well. Known issues include:

  • The story is set on the worlds of Claktoris IV, Kardinal and Turas, none of which (canonically) exists in the BattleTech universe; neither do Kortis II, Kardis V, Huffman, Gordis II, Lotus which are mentioned but not actually featured in the novel
  • Redclaw is not a bloodname, yet Caine Redclaw is adressed by that name even among the Clans in flashback scenes
  • field modifications to 'Mechs that have lost most of their armor to increase their speed
  • short travel times that are only theoretically possible to achieve when using a pre-established chain of JumpShips
  • Violation of established BattleTech universe aesthetics (arguably)

Plot summary

Claymores Gladiators, a renowned elite mercenary unit, includes ex-Clan personnel and a large amount of Clan equipment such as front-line OmniMechs, and is organized in the Clan fashion. In the employ of House Steiner during the FedCom Civil War, they are deployed against House Davion troops on the moon Claktoris IV ("a small, unimportant forest moon on the edge of explored space"). After the Davion troops have surrendered on 20 February 3063, Trinary commander Caine Redclaw, a Clan Steel Viper expatriate, is given a new command by Colonel Claymore: He is to train a Trinary of new recruits into a coherent strike force.

To this end, and to provide his unit with real combat experience, Redclaw provokes the local Steiner militia into a live-fire duel (vaguely similar to a Clan trial). In his hurt pride, the Steiner commander decides to overrun the untrustworthy mercenaries in a commando raid, but a Gladiator agent among the commando team kills all other team members. This upsets the Steiner battle plan and the militia is vanquished in a 'Mech battle, killing many of their number before they surrender.

Shortly afterwards, the Berserkerbande is detached to the planet Kardinal where the local militia has risen against House Steiner in support of Victor Steiner-Davion. By the time the Berserkerbande arrives on the hostile desert world on 7 June 3063, the loyal (Steiner) forces are down to four 'Mechs in poor condition and some infantry while the Davion troops have received reinforcements in the form of a sub-unit from Wolf's Dragoons. Caine Redclaw immediately assumes command from the inexperienced local Kommandant and leads a successful attack against the capital city that results in the capitulation of the enemy forces after heavy fighting. They subsequently return to Outreach for repairs, rest and refits.

House Steiner quickly re-hires them and sends them to the backwater jungle world of Turas to investigate why contact was lost; available information suggests no spacecraft entered or left the system in months, and the last HPG transmission indicates some sort of attack overwhelmed the defenders. After repairing the massive damage suffered on Kardinal, the Berserkerbande sets out on finds a devastated genetic research laboratory, corpses and wrecked 'Mechs on the planet. It turns out that House Steiner bred dangerous BattleMech-sized lizards here. Called 'Berserker Dragons', they can (and do) engage 'Mechs in combat, breed very quickly and reach maturity within a week. As the Berserkerbande tries to leave the planet their DropShip is damaged by a Berserker Dragons attack, and they take losses including Caine Redclaw. They have two days to recover spare parts from an outlying depot to repair their DropShip, or the JumpShip will assume them missing in action, and leave the system. The 'Mechs prepare a stand to distract the Dragons while the Terra Nova battlearmor troops race to the depot and obtain the parts. Although they take losses including the death of five MechWarriors and several troopers, the Berserkerbande eventually manages to escape; during the battle Caine Redclaw rejoins them, having survived his 'Mechs abduction earlier through sheer luck.

Featured BattleTech

BattleMechs

The various BattleMech types featured in the book are named partly by their original (English) names, partly by the established German translation for their name (and in at least one case, both); those of Clan origin are similarly called by the Clan name in some cases and by their Inner Sphere designation in others. There is no apparent pattern to the naming scheme.

Battle armor

Combat vehicles

  • Behemoth (as Behemot)
  • Harasser
  • Legion (unknown tank, LRMs)
  • Quadpanzer (unknown, relatively light tank with four turret-mounted medium pulse lasers)
  • SturmFeur (as SturmFeuer, its German name)
  • Von Luckner

DropShips

Notes

  • The author was 18 years old at the time of publication.
  • The sole existing review of the book was rather scathing, giving one star (out of five) only "because it is not possible to give zero". The reviewer complains about a weak story and very bad writing combined with many orthographical and grammatical errors, concluding that the novel is an immature piece of fan fiction and surmising that the publisher probably did not bother to proofread the manuscript.[1]

References

  1. ↑ In this review on the German Amazon website (amazon.de)
  • Besides the German Amazon review, there is this site (by the same author) dedicated to describing the book, and reviewing it in some more detail, complete with plot summary: [1]

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