Grandin's Crusaders

History

Unit's Genesis

When Jean-Paul Grandin, Baron of Hortense was forced into exile in the wake of a revolution in 2995. The speed with which the Federated Suns government recognized the new democratic rule left no doubt that House Davion had sanctioned the baron's removal. Undeterred, the uprooted Grandin family resettled itself on Vaucluse and began preparing their return to power. Jean-Paul used his connections with the Outback-based Davion Warriors' Cabal to create an armed force of retainers to invade his former landhold once the opportunity presented itself.

Thus the "Noble Order of Saint Louis on Hortense" was born.

Noble Order of Saint Louis on Hortense

The newly established unit was loaned out to Jean-Paul's fellow Cabalists to provide political muscle. It became customary for the loyalist families who accompanied the Grandins to Vaucluse to serve in it, but the chance of recovering their homeworld was gradually lost. Eventually, the exiled community largely integrated on Vaucluse, and the memory of Grandin's rule on Hortense faded. The Grandins stubbornly continued to serve as part of the "patriotic opposition" but found it more profitable to focus on business ventures in the Crucis March than to lead their private army.

Changes came to the Order in 3062 when the baron's heir, Pierre Grandin the third, returned from Sakhara Military Academy. He was given command of a largely ceremonial guard company and soon plunged into the murky world of corporate contracts. With the beginning of the FedCom Civil War, the market for small, deniable mercenary operators exploded, and Pierre took full advantage. The unit worked for both pro-Katrina and pro-Victor employers whose objective raids in the Outback destroyed critical economic assets, all in the name of "punishing treason" or "denying resources to the enemy".

Pierre soon grew bored with the small-time theater of the Outback and, over objections from his family, relocated the command to the tumultuous Chaos March. At the same time, he began heavy recruiting of AFFC deserters, without any consideration of their loyalties or past behavior. This influx of new personnel diluted the influence of the Grandin loyalists and changed the nature of the command to that of a more conventional mercenary organization.

Grandin's Crusaders

Renamed as "Grandin’s Crusaders" and stressing its operational flexibility in negotiations with corporate brokers. the unit started a new career.

The unit accepted an action on Hall in January 3065 which involved securing the output of a uranium mine on Kinnock Island for a Terran-based mining corporation. The Crusaders rolled into the city of Chatham, where the miners had settled their families, and imposed martial law. With the town locked down, they went door to door, hunting down a list of anti-corporate "agitators" to be turned over to Emperor Baranov. When Wayland Minerals hired their own mercenaries to recover the mine, the Crusaders ambushed them and used the versatile skills of their infantry to take down the pure 'Mech force.

The surge of conflicts across the Chaos March sparked by the AMC's undeclared war on the Word of Blake offered many similar contracts. The Crusaders served both sides with equal readiness and prospered for their calculated neutrality.

Pierre's succession as nominal Baron of Hortense in May 3065 came without even a perfunctory visit to Vaucluse, though the influx of funds provided by his father's investment funds were used to upgrade the unit's 'Mechs. Conflict over the Crusaders' direction saw the departure of the executive officer, Pierre's cousin Jenna, in February 3066.

For most of 3067 the Crusaders have operated on Liberty, serving first as a cadre force for several of the planetary militias and later as security for an Interstellar Expeditions site, not accepting a contract offered by Wayne Waco.

The unit then took a side contract to Outreach in the middle of the First Battle of Outreach, while spending safeguarding IE property in the outskirts of Harlech, and extorting surrounding businesses for protection from the rampaging TempTown. The 'Mech lance intercepted a small combat group from the Fifty-first Dark Panzer Jaegers at an intersection near the Harlech Mercantile Building. The unit was able to distract and delay the other mercenaries and allowed the commando platoon a squad escort Blackwell Industries Vice President Dameon Guillome to a secure corporate headquarters. The Jaegers withdrew after an hour of fruitless pursuit to reinforce their command's efforts elsewhere. They Crusaders survived Condition Feral by immediately surrendering to the frenzied Beta Regiment. Baron Grandin did not forget that heavy-handed treatment from the Dragoons, or that the MRBC had refused to sanction them for attacking neutral commands.

While in contract with IE, they were asked to send their envoy to join a WoB fleet going to New Avalon to celebrate the faction's expected entering within the ranks of the Second Star League, but when it was dissolved, the Jihad started. The initial landing of the Thirty-first Division on New Avalon was a fiasco. The Blakists had intended to pin the Tenth Lyran Guards in place with a thin screening force while the bulk of the division occupied Avalon City, but they were not fooled. At this moment Blakist commanders bypassed the IE representative to offer an on-the-spot contract to the mercenaries. Pierre Grandin's hate for House Davion still present made him say yes. So in the 12 of December 3067, Grandin and his officers had just enough time to deploy their infantry in the ripe grain fields of the McCarrel Farms before the Tenth passed through. Anti-Mech infantry was able to take down the two leading Guards 'Mechs while they were distracted by supporting fire from the unit's vehicles. This sudden infantry ambush stopped the momentum of the marauding company. The arrival of reinforcements from the Thirty-first Division allowed Grandin to wipe out the detached force, leaving the Crusaders unidentified by the AFFS. The Crusaders withdrew right after the battle, their mission for Interstellar Expeditions accomplished and the Blakist C-Bills in hand.

IE loaned Grandin's Crusaders to the DCMS to assist the evacuation of Ninyu Kerai-Indrahar, the severely injured head of the ISF from Dieron. So in the 8th of April 3068 they were dropped into the Scales of the Dragonet Mountains, where Kerai-Indrahar's convoy was taking a secret route to a secure DropPort. Unfortunately it was not so secret as elements from the WoB Eighth Division were detected in pursuit. Grandin led his 'Mechs in a series of stalling actions to buy time for his infantry to prepare a position at a narrow pass ahead of them. Once the convoy had a large enough lead, the Crusaders withdrew in an orderly fashion. They kept the Blakists at bay with light skirmishing until the convoy reached the DropPort. Once there they turned over defense of Kerai-Indrahar to the DCMS and made their own way off Dieron. The Word attempted to intercept the Condor-class DropShip carrying Kerai-Indrahar off-world and Grandin's DropShip, the Tonnant, was in a position to support the defense, and their IE liaison encouraged the Baron to do so. After driving off the Blakist fighters, they were commended for "volunteering" to assist the DCMS a second time and were rewarded with a choice of military equipment.

Next, the Crusaders were posted to guard a Colmar Myomics scrap facility in Minnacora on a subcontract negotiated through their IE representative. The arrival of the Twentieth Avalon Hussars on the 7th of July 3068 turned what should have been a sweet garrison contract into a three-way battle over a pile of defective 'Mech parts. The AFFS commander ordered the destruction of the yard, and Home Guard forces moved to intercept the invaders but failed to coordinate with the Crusaders or adjust their IFF transponders. This forced the Crusaders to engage both Davion and Capellan troops. Creative use of the scrapyard's heavy engineering equipment helped funnel the two House forces into each other, and the Crusaders concentrated their own efforts on defending the administrative offices, disabling or driving off any hostile 'Mechs that approached. It was only after Colmar executives ordered the Crusaders to support the Home Guard that Grandin took a more active stance. The Crusaders surged out from around the headquarters and engaged the Hussars, tipping the battle against them. It turned out that while there was no hidden ammunition dump, the site concealed an underground TSM production plant run by Cortide Magnetics, an IE affiliate. Their allies in Colmar Myomics contacted the Davion command to "clear up the misunderstanding", and at least the Crusaders were dismissed to neutralize the facility, though negotiations ultimately failed, and shortly after the mercenaries left, a Rabid Foxes team destroyed the plant.

After several weeks waiting for IE to call them, the Crusaders began looking for their own side contracts. Grandin's Crusaders got a contract from the Capellan Confederation outside MRBC auspices. The job consisted on running reconnaissance on Kittery. The Crusaders landed their 'Mech force on the 22nd of October 3068 in the rugged jungles north of Can Fu City and probed the defenses of the capital, skirmishing with the First Kittery Borderers and the Kittery Training Battalion. The unit completed the request of their Capellan liaison by observing the fortifications around the capital city, gauge the militia readiness and conduct a series of quick probes at other sites that had been designated the CCAF. One of the areas of interest would later become the infamous RBMU 105 prison camp. Those probes failed to encounter any resistance, leaving the Crusaders free to leave Kittery. Somehow the information leacked or the contract was a fluke from the start as the Word of Blake made good use of the intelligence collected by the Crusaders, conquering the planet in November with little difficulty.

During the next weeks, the Crusaders ran relief convoys into the hard-hit Rim Commonality for The Coterie.

In February 3069 the unit was contracted by the Magistracy of Canopus for "special operations" as they got their own DropShip. The loss of contact with the Magistracy had been a matter of concern to IE for some time, so Grandin's Crusaders liaison brought the contract to Grandin's attention and strongly encouraged him to accept. The mission: to escort MIM operatives in their Mark VII Landing Craft to Gambilon. The unit appeared at the planet's nadir point and started the insertion process. MIM had defined two of their Mark VII as decoys while the third one was to execute a HALO Drop to infiltrate the agents. So in the last day of February 3069 the mission was launched. Avoiging the system's Olympus-class Space Station, the Tonnant and the MIM Mark VII avoided the Thraxan militia and WoB mercenaries (at least one of those commands was recognized by the Crusaders as a company-store victim of the Word) craft lifted off-world to engage the landing craft. The Tonnant received minor damage, but the contract payment covered repairs at an IE yard and some more. The unit learned afterward that the drop itself had been a distraction for an operation aimed at toppling the collaborationist local government.

While returning from Gambilon, the unit passed through Talitha in December 3069 and got directly contracted by WoB Precentor Ibrahim Ghazni to defend the HPG compound. Rates were very good as because of a WoB issue that December had left the compound without defense. No combat was expected, by things happen. The AMC, in the form of the Third Dismal Disinherited and Burton's Brigade merged into a single command after Hall made a combat drop right on top of the HPG Compound. Grandin's Crusaders were forced to fight alone until the militia arrived. Swarm attacks led by Mad Jack Cunningham brought down Disinherited commander John Marik-Johns and they were able to stall the AMC units until the arrival of militia reinforcements swept the remaining enemy mercenaries from the city. Grandin was repaid generously with salvage and came out at a new profit despite heavy damage to his 'Mechs.

A lack of available military assets forced the LIC to turn to mercenaries for backup when it came time to infiltrate Donegal. Thanks to IE recommendations Grandin's Crusaders got the job. So the unit landed during April 3070 and located the target convoy of VIPs trying to escape Blakist pursuit in the badlands of the Nag's Head Plains. The Crusaders landed near the Goblin serving as an escape vehicle and discovered that Ruth Kirkland, CEO of ComPress the VIP was Ruth Kirkland, CEO of ComPress. Then Blakist hunter-killer team including Manei Domini caught up with them. The unit's vehicle force was almost wiped out trying to stall them and Grandin was barely able to keep his 'Mechs from routing. It was only a suicidal stand by the unit's new battle armor platoon and aided by LIC personnel that bought him time enough to rally the company. Though the WoB forces were finally destroyed, they inflicted heavy damage to the entire command. The LIC obtained information about conditions on the planet, so they counted the mission a success.

In September 3070, the unit accepted a contract from Mr. Askai to join forces with the Dragon's Breath in a diversion attack on Sian as part of an alleged Federated Suns contract, though they though it was indeed a Word of Blake contract. The unit accepted, but just in case they adopted the Breath's colors just in case. The mercenaries were ordered to attack the port of Beilin in hopes of luring some of the Forbidden City defenses. What they found was Naomi Centrella with her Third Canopian Fusiliers and some Death Commandos coming out of a hidden base in the High Crysanthides Mountains. The Dragon's Breath folded under the pressure, breaking the command cohesion of the mercenary task force and leaving every small command to fend for itself. Grandin's Crusaders was able to escape the worst of the Canopian onslaught by fighting their way through Beilin rather than fall back and joining the WoBM in the assault on the Forbidden City rather than try retreating off-world. The Seventeenth Division made a push for the Forbidden City and found Warrior House Imarra and the Red Lancers. Both sides fought like fanatics, but with the arrival of the Twenty-fourth Division and Grandin's Crusaders with some other small commands shifted the tide of battle in favor of the Word of Blake. The Red Lancers were beaten back toward the Celestial Palace, and even the stubborn elements of House Imarra were forced to withdraw from their dearlyheld positions. Only the arrival of the Third Canopian Fusiliers stabilized the defensive lines south of the Palace and brought on a temporary stalemate within the capital.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Noble Order of Saint Louis on Hortense
Baron	Jean-Paul Grandin	2995
Commanding Officers of Grandin's Crusaders
Baron	Pierre Grandin III	3062 - 3070

Notes

It can be hinted by the names of the officers that between the two known leaders there is most probably a Grandin I and Grandin II as second and third commanding officers of the Noble Order of Saint Louis on Hortense. Their names are though unknown.

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

3067

• The unit boasts one 'Mech lance, a short armor platoon (three armored vehicles), one aerospace fighter, and an infantry company of five platoons.
• Each of the five platoons maintains a specialty, from anti-'Mech training to commando operations, and personnel are rotated throughout the company to attain additional cross-specializations.

3068

• The unit added a DropShip, of unknown type: the Tonnant.

Rules

Game Rules

Since neither Grandin nor his men are willing to give their lives for a cause, the unit will always operate under Forced Withdrawal rules (see p. 258, TW), unless a track specifically prohibits it. The Crusaders gain a +1 bonus to Initiative when using combinedarms tactics, defined as the presence of a minimum of three different unit types in play. If Grandin is designated a Commander (see p. 13), he has a Gunnery Skill of 3 and a Piloting Skill of 3, and allows the unit to Bank Initiative.

Bibliography

• Total Chaos