The Dragon Roars - Unit Spotlight: Draconis Combine

While I might play mercenary or Clan Wolf more than anything else these days, my heart and soul are pledged to the Dragon first and foremost. Way back when I started playing BattleTech, I was Draconis Combine. 4th Arkab Legion, in fact. Not even because I'm weeb garbage (that actually came later), since the 4th AL is an Arabic-flavored unit. I loved the Azami worlds and their North African flair, that they were never conquered but chose to work hand in hand with the heavily Japanese House Kurita. And, later on, I incorporated my time with the AL into the founding history of the Kuroi Kaze. My original "unseen/reseen/might never be seen" Arkab Wolverine is still one of my favorite single pieces, which actually led to me building (in progress) a 1st Arkab Legion.

At any rate, I went with "The Dragon Roars" for one solid reason - the scenario book of the same name/the Twilight of the Clans pack. I once had a goal of going through TDR and building both a really solid Draconis Combine unit 'Mech for 'Mech from it, as well as a Davion Heavy Guards. Thanks, MechCommander Gold, for making me want to do it. After rereading the entirety of the Twilight of the Clans novels, I knew I had to do -at least- Hohiro Kurita's Genyosha force, the one that went toe to toe with the Blood Spirits (who I'm obviously a fan of, and will eventually be making an Alpha Galaxy/Khan Schmitt's Star to fight the Genyosha). But, being me, I can't just do the one force, I had to go with a whole company. Then, I was looking at 'Mechs that really needed swords, like the Wolverine and Hatamoto-Chi. Kit bashing, ahoy!

Interestingly enough, the Genyosha was my second full Drac force. I actually built a company of Otomo prior to that for a 5th SW/Jihad Luthien campaign idea. Like I do, I wanted to go with a mix of older staples and newer/future designs to keep things interesting and relevant as our timeline progresses. Plus, with hostile Ghost Bears on one side, hostile FedSuns on another, and a burgeoning Raven Alliance out the back door, the Dragon will need all of the busosenshi it can get. Which also means a Nova Cat force is inevitable.

Genyosha is that weeb trash I mentioned, aka "anime waifu division." Otomo is "heroes of the Sengoku division."

2025 Edit - with the plastic 'Mechs, I started physically putting together the 1st AL, Unlike "true" canon ALs, my thought here was that, during the Jihad, the Azami worlds had a lot going on, such as the whole meteor thing where they'd requested aid from The Dragon, but the Jihad made that slow in coming and for a while, the Azami Brotherhood considered itself independent of the Combine. Because the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Arkab are predominately lighter weight regiments, the rebuilt 1st needs to have a bit more power behind it as the legions can't count on support from heavier Kurita units. So a reinforced battalion with one full company of lighter, faster hovertanks, and almost a full company of lights, joined by two lances of assaults, two & a half lances of heavies, and a lance & a half of mediums. I did not attempt to replicate the desert camo scheme of my AL Wolverine, instead using one in line with some examples from CamoSpecs. I'm planning on using this heavily during ilClan-era campaigns.

1st Genyosha

Location: Luthien
Commander: Gunji-no-Kanrei Hohiro Kurita
Aide: Tai-sa Shih Chou

Company

Magical Girls Lance

Daishi/Dire Wolf Hohiro - GnK Hohiro Kurita

AKU-1XJ Akuma 

SD1-OR Sunder

HTM-28T Hatamoto Chi Shin

Alpha Waifu Lance

AV1-OR Avatar

NDA-1K No Dachi

NDA-1K No Dachi

DGR-4F Dragon Fire

Bravo Waifu Lance

BLK-NT-3A Black Knight

WVR-9K Wolverine

CMA-2K Chimera

DOL-1A1 Dola

Otomo

Location: Luthien
Commander: Tai-sa Griffon Meshune
Aide: Tai-i Ginchiyo Tachibana

1st Company

Command Lance
HTM-30S Hatamoto-Suna - Tai-sa Griffon Meshune

GUN-2ERD Gunslinger

LGB-12C Longbow

VTR-9K2 Victor

Ni Lance

SJA-7D Shugenja 
WHM-8K Warhammer

NDA-3X No Dachi
TDR-10SE Thunderbolt

San Lance
BHKU-OF Black Hawk KU
KIM-4K Komodo Bushi
WGT-1LAW Wight 

RK-4K Rokurobi 

Reinforced Second Company

Shi Lance

Cougar Prime

Ocelot

VLN-3T Valiant

NX-80C Nyx

Infantry Detachment
Void Battle Armor Squad
Void Battle Armor Squad
Void Battle Armor Squad
Void Battle Armor Squad

Tank Lance One
Tokugawa Heavy Tank
Tokugawa Heavy Tank
Regulator Hover Tank
Regulator Hover Tank

Tank Lance Two
SRM Carrier
SRM Carrier
LRM Carrier
LRM Carrier

1st Arkab Legion

Location: Arkab
Commander: Tai-sa Abdullah Sharif
Aide: Tai-i Hinata Inoue-Takeda

1st Company

Command Lance (C3 it up!!)
AS7-CM Atlas - Tai-sa Abdullah Sharif
MAL-3R Mauler
HTM-28Tr Hatamoto-chi
HTM-28Tr Hatamoto-chi

Assault Lance
Akuma
Akuma
Shiro
Shiro

Light Assault Lance (He Who Meows Last, Meows Alone)
Panther
Panther
Panther
Panther

2nd Company

Command Lance (Keep the peace!!)
Excalibur - Tai-i Hinata Inoue-Takeda
Peacekeeper
Peacekeeper
Peacekeeper

Assault Lance
Marauder
Grand Dragon
Dragon Fire
Avatar

Strike Lance
Kintaro Omar - Chu-i Farhad Akbani
Wasp
Javelin 11B
OstScout

3rd Company

Command Lance (Go go, Rokurokubi!)
Grasshopper
Grand Dragon
Rokurokubi
Rokurokubi

Strike Lance (Hawks out forever!)
Shadowhawk
Phoenix Hawk
Chimera
Sentinel

Scout Lance (Almost Marvel-ous!!)
Jenner
Venom
Venom
Spider

4th Company

Bunch of hovercraft. 12 in fact.