Solomani Rim War fleets

[Peter the Swede]

I have a copy of the "Fighting ships of the Solomani" which lists some fleet details of the Solomani and the repressive Imperial forces of aggression. Are there any other sources for Solomani and Imperial naval or ground forces / campaigns from the Rim war anyone is aware of? Merry Christmas.

 

[mike wightman]

The boardgame Invasion: Earth.

 

[Peter the Swede]

Thanks. I failed to mention I had Invasion earth. was wondering if there were any other sources.

 

[Garnfellow]

Thanks. I failed to mention I had Invasion earth. was wondering if there were any other sources.

The T20 supplement Fighting Ships (2003) is the mirror image of Fighting Ships of the Solomani, and details the Imperial fleet circa 993.

The only other likely sources would be GURPS Traveller: Rim of Fire, Mongoose Traveller: The Solomani Rim, and Mongoose Traveller: Alien Module 5 - Solomani. You might find scattered descriptions of Rim War fleets and fleet actions there, especially in the alien module. I don't think DGP's Solomani & Aslan had any details not in the CT alien module.

Gateway to Destiny might be worth checking, too. That book has a really nice history section.

 

[Condottiere]

And once you find them, you should bookmark the references, or you can spend a lot of time relocating them.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Both Mongoose Traveller supplements, Solomani Rim and Alien Module 5: Solomani have a few additional precious sentences about the war not written of before in other sources.

Solomani Über Alles!

 

[aramis]

And once you find them, you should bookmark the references, or you can spend a lot of time relocating them.

If they're good general use references, I'll happily copy them into the reference section...

 

[Garnfellow]

Units of the Invasion of Terra (Operation “Prodigal Son”)

Curiosity got the best of me, so I went through my scan of Invasion Earth looking to compile a list of units involved in that action. I was a little surprised that no one seemed to have done that before; I was also surprised by the lack of errata.

It seems that subsequent Traveller authors did a good job of drawing on the boardgame for inspiration. GURP Traveller: Rim of Fire, Ground Forces, and Mongoose Traveller: Solomani all made good use of this source.

As I went through the material, I noticed a few small discrepancies between the Counter Inventory and the counters themselves; I assumed throughout that the counters take precedence.

Imperial Units

Allegiance	Unit	Notes
Imperial	251st BatRon
Imperial	327th BatRon
Imperial	329th BatRon
Imperial	620th BatRon
Imperial	624th BatRon
Imperial	683rd BatRon
Imperial	622nd BatRon
Imperial	625th BatRon
Imperial	688th BatRon
Imperial	415th BatRon
Imperial	911th BatRon
Imperial	945th BatRon
Imperial	734th BatRon
Imperial	776th BatRon
Imperial	114th CruRon
Imperial	260th CruRon
Imperial	261st CruRon
Imperial	652nd CruRon
Imperial	667th CruRon
Imperial	669th CruRon
Imperial	826th CruRon
Imperial	22nd ScoutRon
Imperial	34th ScoutRon
Imperial	256th ScoutRon
Imperial	60th AssaultRon	Described as "transport squadron" in the "Order of Battle" chart
Imperial	66th AssaultRon	Described as "transport squadron" in the "Order of Battle" chart
Imperial	80th AssaultRon	Described as "transport squadron" in the "Order of Battle" chart
Imperial	82nd AssaultRon	Described as "transport squadron" in the "Order of Battle" chart
Imperial	3374th BatRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	3375th BatRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	3416th BatRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	3512th BatRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	4133rd BatRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	Leptus BatRon	Colonial unit; where is Leptus?
Imperial	1625th CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	1648th CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	1662nd CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	1691st CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	1452nd CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	Hiram CruRon	Colonial unit; Where is Hiram?
Imperial	2408th CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	2373rd CruRon	Colonial unit
Imperial	99th Provisional Star Marine Division	Listed simply as "99 P," assumed to stand for Provisional
Imperial	6701st Line Marine Regiment	One of the first Imperial units to land on Terra, per GT:GF p. 12
Imperial	4217th Line Marine Regiment	Elite unit; one of the first Imperial units to land on Terra, per GT:GF p. 12; captured La Grange starport on 105-1002 per "The History of the Terran Occupation Force," TD 13
Imperial	4545th Line Marine Regiment	Elite unit; one of the first Imperial units to land on Terra. Though badly battered, seized the Phoenix-Mesa Starport in North America, per GT:GF p. 12
Imperial	4940th Line Marine Regiment
Imperial	2666th Line Marine Regiment
Imperial	276th Field Army
Imperial	299th Field Army	Elements of the newly landed 299th were caught between advancing African and European mechanized armies in the 5th week of the invasion, per MT:S p. 71
Imperial	631st Grav Tank Corps
Imperial	590th Grav Tank Corps
Imperial	177th Armored Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	642nd Armored Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	643rd Armored Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	686th Armored Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	712th Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	713th Lift Infantry Corps	Destroyed in two days’ fighting, per GT:GF p. 13; was covering the 299th army's retreat per MT:S p. 71
Imperial	714th Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	689th Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	745th Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	963rd Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	222nd Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	265th Lift Infantry Corps
Imperial	1101st Armored Grav Cavalry Corps
Imperial	715th Grav Cavalry Corps
Imperial	3001st Rapid Interface Division	Grav jump unit
Imperial	3003rd Rapid Interface Division	Elite Grav Jump unit; per GT:GF p. 30 part of the Unified Army of Shumisdi [Subsector N of Diaspora]. Fought on the Mississippi River Valley Front, 200-1002
Imperial	2506th Grav Tank Division
Imperial	2511th Grav Tank Division	Elite unit
Imperial	2476th Armored Cavalry Division
Imperial	651st Lift Infantry Division
Imperial	2257th Lift Infantry Division
Imperial	2288th Lift Infantry Division
Imperial	15th Drop Infantry Regiment	Grav Jump Brigade
Imperial	32nd Drop Infantry Regiment	Grav Jump Brigade
Imperial	90th Drop Infantry Regiment	Grav Jump Brigade
Imperial	124th Drop Infantry Regiment	Grav Jump Brigade
Imperial	127th Drop Infantry Regiment	Grav Jump Brigade
Imperial	130th Drop Infantry Regiment	Grav Jump Brigade
Imperial	2897th Armored Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	5271st Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	5274th Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	5281st Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	5273rd Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	2111th Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	4243rd Lift Infantry Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	1789th Armored Grav Cavalry Corps	Colonial unit; listed as a Division in the Counter Inventory
Imperial	8086th Grav Cavalry Corps	Colonial unit; listed as a Division in the Counter Inventory
Imperial	5512th Grav Tank Corps	Colonial unit
Imperial	171st Armored Lift Infantry Division	Colonial unit
Imperial	H 50 Grav Tank Division	Elite colonial unit
Imperial	1020th Lift Infantry Division	Colonial unit
Imperial	1021st Lift Infantry Division	Colonial unit
Imperial	422nd Lift Infantry Brigade	Colonial unit
Imperial	9516th Lift Infantry Brigade	Colonial unit
Imperial	Tomut Lift Inftantry Division	Mercenary unit
Imperial	SAG Armored Lift Infantry Division	Mercenary unit
Imperial	Kaiear Brigade	Mercenary lift infantry division. Per GT:RoF p10, the Imperium organized Aslan ihatei to fight in the Battle of Terra. The Kaiear Brigade was so successful that some of its members stayed together after the war.
Imperial	Vr'gnal Lift Infantry Brigade	Mercenary unit; vargr?
Imperial	Khan Armored Grav Calvary Brigade	Mercenary unit
Imperial	Skorzeny’s Tigers	Elite Grav Jump mercenary regiment, listed as "Zeny." Per GT:RoF p 10 founded by Hermann Skorzeny in 985.

 

[Garnfellow]

Solomani Units

The Counter Inventory describes three Solomani system defense boat wings that do not appear to have counters: 1386th, 1426th, and 1437th.

Allegiance	Unit	Notes
Solomani	1347th SDB Wing
Solomani	1349th SDB Wing
Solomani	1350th SDB Wing
Solomani	1351st SDB Wing
Solomani	1362nd SDB Wing
Solomani	1368th SDB Wing
Solomani	1363rd SDB Wing
Solomani	1370th SDB Wing
Solomani	1336th SDB Wing
Solomani	1369th SDB Wing
Solomani	1303rd SDB Wing
Solomani	1288th SDB Wing
Solomani	1289th SDB Wing
Solomani	1281st SDB Wing
Solomani	1441st SDB Wing
Solomani	1442nd SDB Wing
Solomani	1443rd SDB Wing
Solomani	1444th SDB Wing
Solomani	1445th SDB Wing
Solomani	1446th SDB Wing
Solomani	1386th SDB Wing
Solomani	1426th SDB Wing
Solomani	1437th SDB Wing
Solomani	1372nd SDB Wing
Solomani	1387th SDB Wing
Solomani	1390th SDB Wing
Solomani	1395th SDB Wing
Solomani	1394th SDB Wing
Solomani	1246th SDB Wing
Solomani	1252nd SDB Wing
Solomani	1267th SDB Wing
Solomani	1260th SDB Wing
Solomani	1269th SDB Wing
Solomani	1268th SDB Wing
Solomani	390th Fleet BatRon
Solomani	375th Fleet BatRon
Solomani	409th Fleet BatRon
Solomani	432nd Fleet BatRon
Solomani	172nd Fleet BatRon
Solomani	216th Fleet BatRon
Solomani	173rd Fleet BatRon
Solomani	512th Fleet BatRon
Solomani	La Grange Starport Planetary Defense Corps	Listed as LG; LaGrange starport in Australia
Solomani	AECO Starport Planetary Defense Corps	Associated with North African Starport per GT:RoF p 107 AECO = Africa-Europe Cooperation Organization
Solomani	Phoenix Planetary Defense Corps	Listed as "SP"; Associated with Mesa-Phoenix starport in North America
Solomani	1st Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	2nd Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	3rd Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	5th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	8th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	10th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	11th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	4th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	6th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	13th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	14th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	16th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	17th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	7th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	9th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	12th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	15th Planetary Defense Division
Solomani	1st Light Planetary Defence Regiment	Lt=Light?
Solomani	2nd Light Planetary Defence Regiment	Lt=Light?
Solomani	3rd Light Planetary Defence Regiment	Lt=Light?
Solomani	4th Light Planetary Defence Regiment	Lt=Light?
Solomani	North American Field Army	Lift Infantry Field Army, listed as "NA"
Solomani	South American Field Army	Lift Infantry Field Army, listed as "SA"
Solomani	African Field Army	Lift Infantry Field Army, listed as "AF"
Solomani	AS Lift Infantry Field Army	Eurasia?
Solomani	ARM Lift Infantry Corps	What is ARM in this context?
Solomani	158th Lift Infantry Corps
Solomani	116th Lift Infantry Corps
Solomani	ihatei Lift Infantry Corps	An Aslan unit fighting for the Solomani? MT:S references such a mercenary unit p 71
Solomani	AL Lift Infantry Corps	What is AL in this context?
Solomani	15th Grav Tank Corps
Solomani	65th Armored Grav Cavalry Corps
Solomani	124th Armored Lift Infantry Corps	The ‘Alpha Crucis’ Corps, drawn from Solomani Party youth organisations in Veracruz, Regulus and New Holland subsectors, per MT:S p. 127. Trapped and destroyed in the Battle of the Spanish Pocket per MT:S p. 71
Solomani	36 M Armored Lift Infantry Corps	What is M?
Solomani	22nd Armored Lift Infantry Corps
Solomani	59th Armored Lift Infantry Corps
Solomani	16 H Grav Cavalry Corps	What is H? Listed as duplicated 124th in Counter Inventory
Solomani	82nd Grav Jump Division	Named after the old-Terran American unit, per MT:S 40.
Solomani	101st Grav Jump Division	Named after the old-Terran American unit, per MT:S 40. Defended Phoenix-Mesa starport during the invasion, per MT:S p. 71
Solomani	7th Grav Tank Division
Solomani	Calg Armored Lift Infantry Division	Calgary, named for RCAC?
Solomani	VN Armored Lift Infantry Division	VN?
Solomani	12th Armored Lift Cavalry Division
Solomani	58th Lift Infantry Division
Solomani	3rd Cent Lift Infantry Division	cent?
Solomani	6th Cent Lift Infantry Division	cent?
Solomani	117th Lift Infantry Division
Solomani	342nd Lift Infantry Division
Solomani	511th Lift Infantry Division
Solomani	8th L Grav Cavalry Division	L = light?; Listed as a Lift Infantry Division in the counter inventory
Solomani	12th L Grav Cavalry Division	L = light?; Listed as a Lift Infantry Division in the counter inventory
Solomani	Loki Lift Infantry Division	Drawn from Loki (SOLO 2228)? Not listed on Counter Inventory
Solomani	LE Lift Infantry Division	LE? Not listed in Counter Inventory
Solomani	1st Solomani Guard Grav Tank Regiment	Elite unit
Solomani	2nd Solomani Guard Grav Tank Regiment	Elite unit; the ‘Black Rose’ regiment led by General Maya Sartorius during the Battle of Terra, fought the last major tank battle of the Rim War.
Solomani	CSG Armored Grav Cavalry Regiment	Elite unit; CSG in this context?
Solomani	5th Solomani Guard Lift Infantry Regiment	Designation based on counter
Solomani	1st AI Grav Commando Regiment	Elite unit; AI?
Solomani	2nd AI Grav Commando Regiment	Elite unit; AI?
Solomani	3rd Solomani Guard Armored Lift Infantry Regiment	Not listed on Counter Inventory
Solomani	4th Solomani Guard Armored Lift Infantry Regiment	Not listed on Counter Inventory

 

[Reban]

"P" would probably stand for Provisional denoting an adhoc formation of a division that doesn't exist as a formation at other times. Since the usual Marine field formations are regiments and Task Forces a division would be pulled together by assigning 3 to 5 regiments, forming a divisional headquarters and assigning divisional troops (from other sources this is usually extra tank units and divisional artillery and support units).

 

[Garnfellow]

"P" would probably stand for Provisional denoting an adhoc formation of a division that doesn't exist as a formation at other times. Since the usual Marine field formations are regiments and Task Forces a division would be pulled together by assigning 3 to 5 regiments, forming a divisional headquarters and assigning divisional troops (from other sources this is usually extra tank units and divisional artillery and support units).

That makes complete sense, and tracks with a couple of passages in GT:GF: "Once confirmed as Empress, Arbellatra . . . severely restricted the size of Marine units. There would not be another Marine division raised for almost four centuries" (p 10); "The highest level of Marine organization ordinarily seen is the line regiment" (p 38).

GURPS Traveller: Star Mercs also notes that "The largest standard unit of Imperial Marines is the division, but these are fairly rare except in times of war" (p 20).

 

[CliffBates]

Very interesting.....

 

[Peter the Swede]

ORBATs

Awesome effort! I am guessing H M L = Heavy, Medium, Light??

 

[Reban]

In standard military notation Lt = Light and Hv = Heavy with medium omitted as a standard definition.

Looking at Garnfellow's tables H might be a misprint for th.

L might stand for Lift. For example the "8th L Grav Cavalry Division" could well be organised as Lift Infantry as noted and named cavalry for historical reasons. there have been Cavalry Divisions like this in the US Army.

AL might stand for Assault Landing.

M in the context of an Armored unit could mean Mechanized , meaning it moves on tracks or possibly wheels as opposed to grav. Calling it a Med. Armored lift Infantry Corps would make more sense but would be superfluous because usually units are assumed to be medium weight unless otherwise specified.

AI would on first look seem to be Artificial Intelligence, suggesting that a high proportion of the unit's combat strength are robots or warbots. But I don't know if the Solomani use warbots, or did during the period in question.

Of course the original team writing the unit descriptions might have had different things in mind, and I'm employing present day standard military terminology to this where as back then terms and inspiration may have been different.

If you want to learn more Google NATO standard military symbols. There are several manuals available covering all the possible types and combinations.

As a rule always believe what the symbol tells you about a unit rather than the name (which may be that way for historical reasons or it may be a poor translation).

 

[CliffBates]

The Second Rim war was a very interesting opportunity that occurred due to the break up of the 3rd Imperium offered some very interesting opportunity for a revitalization of the old Terran Confederation... only if the stupid Virus never struck.

But honestly, given Solomani highly advance knowledge of both genetics and computers--I really really doubt they would have been as vulnerable to it and the problem of AIs as the TNE world suggests.

I have always had the problem with the power of the Party and the whole move to abandon the Terran past and accept the Vilanization of it into Solomani!!

 

[Garnfellow]

I don't know what the "AI" in "AI Grav Commando Regiment" means, but I'm pretty sure it isn't artificial intelligence. I don't think the A is American, either. Also trying to figure out what ARM and AL lift infantry are.

 

[aramis]

I don't know what the "AI" in "AI Grav Commando Regiment" means, but I'm pretty sure it isn't artificial intelligence. I don't think the A is American, either. Also trying to figure out what ARM and AL lift infantry are.

Probably...

AI: Aimobile Infantry
ARM: Airmobile RifleMen or Airmobile Rocket Mortar
AL: Airmobile Laser

 

[Garnfellow]

I just found an old thread on Solomani Unit Names. Seemed to be general agreement that Calg = Calgary. Someone suggested VN = Volunteer, which would make sense.

I suspect many of the Solomani units, like the 82nd and the 101st, have direct antecedents in historic units and someone with a stronger wargaming background than me would immediately recognize some of these. There were certainly several volunteer infantry divisions in the US Civil war, for example.

 

[Condottiere]

Apparently, the American First Armoured Division, Old Ironsides, was converted sometime back to a spaceship squadron, and currently is the 1st FleetRon, Solomani Confederation Navy.

The Highlanders probably have imitators interstellarly.

 

[Garnfellow]

Probably...

AI: Aimobile Infantry
ARM: Airmobile RifleMen or Airmobile Rocket Mortar
AL: Airmobile Laser

Maybe, though I don't think I've seen airmobile used in any Traveller source -- "grav" would be a pretty close analogue. (Although now that I think of it, I haven't checked Striker.)