OBT Forum

Goliath Scorpion Guards (excerpt from HB:CGS)

While the Inner Sphere has recognized that some Clans include within their Touman a Guards formation (Jade Falcon immediately comes to mind) that (with exceptions caused by the circumstances of Operation Revival and the subsequent decades) represent the most Elite Warriors of the Clan Touman.  The Best of the Best of the Best that a Clan can field.

Only a handful of Clans actually field such units.  Many (such as Clans Ghost Bear, Nova Cat, Smoke Jaguar, and Steel Viper) field two, three, or even four such units designated as Guards Clusters, but in their respective cases these Clusters are not (while extremely skilled and lethal without question) in quite the same category as the pre-Revival Jade Falcon Guards.

Still more Clans use Guards as an honorific (see Clan Wolf for examples) and some even award this title to second-line forces (Clans Cloud Cobra and Blood Spirit). 

A sizable minority of Clans simply do not use such designations . . . and for years the Inner Sphere thought that Clan Goliath Scorpion was one of those.

They were wrong.

During the many debriefings conducted by Jaime Wolf in the wake of Operation Revival, details of the Clans often got overlooked.  Especially in the case of a second-tier (or perhaps even third-tier) Clan such as the Scorpions.

A cursory examination of the Scorpion Touman showed no such Guards formations and it was simply assumed that they did not exist.  That was an error.  But not one that was glaringly obvious.  The lack of the Goliath Scorpion Guards Cluster on their Touman was neither an oversight nor was it a failure of intelligence.

It was simply a misunderstanding created by the unique manner in which the Scorpions utilize the Scorpion Guards.

Only rarely employed en masse, the Scorpion Guards is most often seen as its (multiple) component elements which operate independently of one another.  It is a rare occurrence that brings the Scorpion Guards together on the same battlefield.  When this does occur it always happens at critical moments in the Clan's history.

The Scorpion Guards consist of three elements.  The Knife Dance Keshik (three reinforced Trinary and one Binary Strong, plus the Sovetskii Soyuz-class Heavy Cruiser Serket), the Deatherstalker Keshik, and the Eternal Quest Keshik (both comprised of a single reinforced Trinary).

Each Command Keshik (Knife Dance, Deathstalker, and Eternal Quest) includes a reinforced Command Trinary consisting of 12 OmniMechs (3 Dune Stalker, 3 Goliath Scorpion, 2 Desert Tiger, 2 Sand Devil, 2 Hooded Eagle), 35 Elemental Warriors, and 2 OmniFighters (2 Sarmatian).  Transport is provided by a Scorpion Ib-class Troop Carrier DropShip (sacrificing 50 tons of cargo space and 30 passenger quarters for the ability to carry and deploy an additional Star of Elementals).

The Deathstalker Keshik (assigned to the SaKhan of the Clan) and Eternal Quest Keshik (assigned to the Clan's Loremaster) are given an Aggressor-class JumpShip for interstellar transport, with the second collar being occupied by a Warden-class Assault DropShip.

The Knife Dance Keshik (the personal escorts and bodyguard of the Scorpion Khan) includes two additional Assault Trinary formations, each comprised of 10 OmniMechs (2 Dune Stalker, 2 Goliath Scorpion, 2 Desert Tiger, 2 Sand Devil, 2 Hooded Eagle) and 25 Elementals.  In practice, these Trinary are augmented by one of the two Elemental Stars carried aboard Serket, giving them 10 OmniMechs and 50 Elementals apiece, with a Scorpion II-class Troop Carrier DropShip (Serket's Elemental normally deploy aboard a Zama-class Small Craft).

Finally, the Knife Dance Keshik also includes the OmniFighter Binary assigned to Serket, consisting of twenty OmniFighters (10 Sarmatian and 10 Comanche).  A Warden-class Assault DropShip occupies the fourth docking collar of the Heavy Cruiser.  Serket is also considered to be a part of the Scorpion Guards, though her services are called upon only on very rare occasion (other than providing transport, of course).  However, the Knife Dance Keshik (and the Scorpion Guards as a whole) relies upon the exceptional sensor systems of their Clan's Flagship and the sizable support/intelligence/logistical team based aboard the vessel.

On those rare occasions when the Scorpion Guards are deployed as a single unit, they are perhaps the strongest (and most elite) Cluster within the Scorpion Touman.  At full strength, the Scorpion Guards can field 56 OmniMechs (13 Dune Stalker, 13 Goliath Scorpion, 10 Desert Tiger, 10 Sand Devil, 10 Hooded Eagle), 205 Elemental Warriors, and 26 OmniFighters (16 Sarmatian and 10 Comanche), supported by three Warden-class Assault DropShips, five various models of Scorpion-class Troop Carrier DropShips, and the Heavy Cruiser Serket.

This is in comparison with a standard Clan Goliath Scorpion that fields 47 OmniMechs, 85 Elementals, and 22 OmniFighters, supported by one Warden-class Assault DropShip and transported by five various models of Scorpion-class Troop Carrier DropShips. 

The Scorpion Guards are also the most versatile Cluster in the Clan Goliath Scorpion Touman, having a mixture of all weight classes and OmniMech designs found within their table of organization and equipment. 

Warriors assigned to the Scorpion Guards are perhaps the finest that the Scorpions can field; virtually every Point Commander has earned their Blood Name and their dedication to the Clan is without question.  In fact, Warriors asked to join the Scorpion Guards have to voluntarily accept a demotion of at least one step in rank in order to become a member of the unit. And are automatically reinstated to that rank upon leaving the Guards and rejoining a more conventional Cluster (and will often have earned at least one additional promotion!).

Opponents are not likely to encounter the Scorpion Guards as a discrete unit, however.  The Knife Dance Keshik, Deathstalker Keshik, and Eternal Quest Keshik normally operate as individual units, reinforcing action by other Scorpion formations when needed or serving as the personal escorts and bodyguards to the Khan, saKhan, and Loremaster.

When the Scorpion Guards are assembled and deployed for combat operations, on the other hand, it is certain that the target is one the Scorpion leadership (and rank-and-file, for that matter!) considers to be of paramount importance.