Spotlight On:: Thermo Police
Spotlight On:: Thermo Police
THERMO POLICE
Thermo Police
Introduction
For every Kell Hounds or Wolf’s Dragoons, there are a hundred similar outfits that are just as
talented—and just as deadly—that you have never heard of. Or worse, you have not heard of
Credits
enough. Sure, the glory hounds who make the evening tri-vid news are movers and shakers,
and can change national borders whenever they want, but they’re not the only ones. For Development
Joshua C. Perian
every Eridani Light Horse, there is a mercenary crew with a storied battlefield history just as
spectacular. These are the units that have gone largely unnoticed in the long, bloody history of Writing
the Inner Sphere, their stories untold or nearly forgotten. Take a closer look at the battles and David Allen Kerber
events that have shaped the human sphere, and you’ll find even two-bit troops like Wilson’s
Hussars have made a difference. BattleTech Line Developer
—Professor Harry Alexander, Spotlight On: The Almost Famous, Free Republic Press Ray Arrastia
STAR LEAGUE SUCCESSION WARS CLAN INVASION CIVIL WAR JIHAD DARK AGE ILCLAN
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Thermo Police
Unit History A prime target was Coyle's population itself, a healthy workforce
that Flynn could exploit. Several Thermokarston Police BattleMechs
and Description responded quickly and guided the panicking population into the
highly defensible and self-sustaining cavern system. Led by Major
Mercer Leftwich, the Police struck back and shattered the Flynn
The Thermo Police formed on the Outworlds Alliance planet raiders. Few survived to retreat, and those attempting to escape
of Coyle. A vibrant period of expansion and colonization into in dilapidated DropShips were gunned down as they launched.
the spinward Periphery found Coyle was rich in water—and not Nonetheless, the damage to Coyle's last city was crippling. The
just any water, but large quantities of easily purified, mineral- world’s survivors, guarded by the Thermokarston Police, left their
enhanced water locked in high-altitude glaciers and collected into world behind and resettled on icy Tellman IV near the Draconis
mountainous lakes. The rapacious eyes of Star League entrepreneurs Combine border.
saw an easily obtained and high-demand resource literally laid out The Thermokarston Police were left without a city to serve but
for the taking. swelled with pride in their accomplishment, and recognized that
Water harvesting sites were constructed by the Star League's similar acts of heroism could benefit the decaying civilizations
Department of Mega-Engineering, which carved enormous scattered across the Outworlds Wastes. Leftwich and his executive
drainage pipes, canals, and cavernous pump stations into the officer, Lieutenant Ethel Burdette, rallied the unit, resupplied, and
mountainsides. Stilt-supported domed cities (necessitated by the began the new mission of the re-christened Thermo Police: to
altitude) were placed to support the operations, while extensive protect and serve the survivors that the Star League and House Lords
hydroponic gardens provided ample food. The planetary capital, disregarded, and strengthen the Outworlds Alliance that remained.
Thermokarston, was named for the glacial thermokarst topography Having watched their realm fall into decay, the Executive Parliament
on which it was built. Numerous water exporting companies sprang voted—unanimously—to support the Police in their mission. One
up to capitalize on the abundant resource. One such company, Coyle of the Police’s first objectives was to convince Wastes worlds to
Potables Corporation, was founded in 2779 by Eric Saxon, a retired abandon their growing reliance on mercenary combatants.
Star League MechWarrior. In the decades that followed, the Thermo Police patrolled the
Saxon quickly used company revenue generated from distributing Wastes like the police forces of old Terra. In many cases, they had
the planet’s water to its nearby neighbors to purchase BattleMechs no idea what condition any given world would be in when they
for the Thermokarston Police. The world’s expansive caverns were visited. Some, like Coyle, made attempts to carry on as best they
too rugged for IndustrialMechs at times, and Saxon argued that could. Others, like Flynn, fell into barbarism and misery. The Police
fusion engines were cleaner for the environment. Saxon skirted would often attempt to disarm outlaws, instruct populations on
interstellar laws governing the weight of a police force's military how to defend themselves against banditry, and in some cases
hardware due to Coyle's remoteness and existing corporate even exterminate dangerous fauna. One memorable excursion
allowances. Some believe he may have anticipated the breakdown even discovered a natural disaster in progress; the Thermo Police
of civilization that was to occur. responded to an earthquake-induced tsunami racing toward a
When the Star League dissolved following the Liberation of Terra stable but scattered settlement. Police ’Mechs shattered incoming
and Kerensky's Exodus, the Great Houses focused their attention debris with their weaponry while the denizens clambered onto their
toward Terra and each other, and away from the distant planets arms and shoulders.
of the Outworlds Alliance. For Coyle, that attention had provided By the late 2900s, the unit had rotated through several
parts and technical support for the mega-engineered equipment generations of veterans and recruits and was encountering far
that kept the planet’s water collection industry functional. As fewer survivors in the Wastes. Many had been evacuated, others
the state of civilization in the Inner Sphere further degenerated, were dying out or scattering into the wilderness if their planets were
Coyle’s population migrated to the capital—first as a precaution, hospitable enough, and a few, such as the industrious Wynn's Roost,
and soon after as a necessity. Interstellar communication continued had reached a point of comfortable self-sustainability. The Thermo
to diminish until contact with Coyle was completely severed. Police began to receive more and more missions from the Alliance
The people of Coyle, led by the Thermokarston Police, defiantly Military Corps, including crowd control, security cordons, quelling
maintained their composure, ensuring that the capital would enjoy separatists, and search and destroy operations against persistent
a prosperous level of safety and stability. pirates. The Police had honed their use of less-lethal force to an art
The neighboring world of Flynn was not so lucky. The loss of form and developed methods that the strongly pacifistic Alliance
Star League support gutted that planet’s economy and led to mass worlds, who generally shunned the use of BattleMech forces, could
rioting, starvation, and the strong exploiting the weak for whatever rally behind.
scraps of value they possessed. After decades of degeneration, The Thermo Police encountered one of their most unusual foes
and with little else to gain on their planet, the remnants of Flynn's in the early years of the thirty-first century. The commanding officer
population turned their rage to the nearest world: Coyle. at the time, Captain Royce Graves, resolved to patrol the Wastes
In 2852, Thermokarston's dome was suddenly cracked open and just as the unit had done during the previous century. Arriving on
IndustrialMechs and bandits poured in, looking for anything of value. the world of Tresspass, the unit discovered what at first appeared
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Thermo Police
to be a cult dedicated to the Thermo Police themselves. Villagers weren't entirely pure; the Clan’s support for Cable's Thermo Police
were dressed in clothing based on the drab navy-blue jumpsuits and offered an excellent opportunity to scout the Wastes for anything
tactical black padding and vests that the Police wore. The populace of value.
had constructed vaguely ’Mech-shaped wooden “guardians” With the Police still below full strength, Cable's methods required
crudely painted in the black & white striped scheme the unit more subterfuge than force. He tracked down a pirate force preying
still used. Joyously welcomed and led to the town square by the on Alliance worlds and inserted himself into their band undercover
villagers, the Police were introduced to the local governor, “King” as a captive. He was horrified to learn that instead of operating
Murray Frankel. Royce and his BattleMech lance stood transfixed out of the Deep Periphery, these pirates launched their raids from
as Frankel delivered a speech that began with spurious praise but the Omniss homeworld of Dante. The Word of Blake had covertly
abruptly mutated into a cry to his people to strike down the false gained a foothold there and supported numerous pirate and bandit
gods. The villagers detonated buried charges in an attempt to drop groups until the world was entirely subverted. Cable was quietly
the command lance into a shallow pit, and weapons fire erupted extracted by his fellow Police, reported the incident to the Alliance
from the wooden golems. Frankel had established himself as an military, and watched in horror as Clan Snow Raven erased the
undisputed tyrant, and feared the day that the Thermo Police would planet from Inner Sphere maps. Uncounted innocents perished
return and remove him from power. Once again, the Police's skill at alongside the guilty.
less-lethal confrontations came to the fore. Shortly after, Cable was wounded while quelling a riot on
After the Fourth Succession War, Captain Seymore Hares Baliggora and retired from active operations. Later, he joined the
commanded the Thermo Police. The Alliance Ground Defense Columbia Academy and instructed both AMC and Snow Raven
Arm assigned the Police to a nearly continuous string of missions, forces in the use of less-lethal force.
and Hares operated the unit much closer to a typical mercenary Captain Jack Durrell led the Police for the remainder of the thirty-
force. Notable conflicts during Hares’ command included the first century. With the unit reduced to little more than a reinforced
apprehension of an arms dealer, Yamamura Tazu, who manipulated lance, Durrell did what he could to honor their traditional objectives.
and profited from tensions between Federated Suns miners active However, an attempt to recruit new members resulted in a pair of
in Alliance space and Draconis Combine engineers operating newly vindictive Word of Blake ROM agents infiltrating the Police. The pair
established aerospace facilities. Yamamura kidnapped the families of viciously executed several arrested Raldamaxian insurgents and took
several aerospace engineers and framed the Suns mining company an envoy from the Mica Majority hostage. Durrell uncovered the
for the act. The mission ended with the apprehension of Yamamura treachery through ballistic analysis, determining that Police-issue
from his heavily armed bunker on the abandoned planet Ki Zoban. weapons were responsible for the executions. A tense showdown
The operation further endeared the Thermo Police to the citizens within the Police's own headquarters on Tellman IV ended the
of the Alliance for removing such a distastefully violent individual Blakist threat.
within their borders. The Raven Alliance finally resurrected and supported a full
An equally disturbing incident took place on Dneiper, where the company of Thermo Police in the early 3100s. The Raven touman
Thermo Police partnered with a militia training camp on anti-pirate had little interest in pirate hunting, relief distribution, and the day-
tactics. Cultists claiming to be part of Omniss, an Outworlds Alliance to-day drudgery of keeping captured Combine worlds pacified. The
faction dedicated to an existence nearly free from technology, took Clan, still essentially separate from the Alliance, did not have the
hostages from a local university athletics rally and threatened to forces to spare on these dezgra activities. But the support of a small
execute them if the planet wasn’t cleared of military hardware. The Alliance unit to oversee these responsibilities was of interest to the
“cultists” were in fact Antallos-based bandits disguised as Omniss Clan—or, more specifically, of interest to the Clan’s Watch.
seeking to rob nearby armories of weaponry and munitions. Snow Raven Loremaster Acton Howe sought reliable intel on
Captain Hares began negotiations with the ersatz hostage takers, the long-abandoned planets of the Outworlds Wastes; Star League
until then-Lieutenant Thomas Cable discovered the ruse and foiled technology remained scattered across the region, and mining
the bandit caper. settlements lost to star charts stood idle. Beyond the Wastes lay
In the mid-3050s, President Mitchell Avellar wished to adopt the shadows and even greater mysteries. Howe assigned Star Captain
popular Thermo Police into his Long Road program, a reformation of Karl Kanter to the mission of learning as much as he could about this
the Alliance military and economy. Captain Hares accepted and the compelling region while ostensibly performing the classic duties
majority of the unit followed him into the Alliance Ground Defense of the Thermo Police. A handful of solahma warriors joined him,
Arm, where their experience and equipment were of great use. and the rest of the reformed Police’s ranks were filled out with AMC
Thomas Cable was promoted to Captain and retained command militia recruits.
of a much smaller unit. The Raven Alliance is still far from a homogeneous culture, and
Clan Snow Raven appeared in Alliance space in early 3064. equally far from a vibrant and prosperous nation. The Outworlds
Their presence would, at first, have little impact on Thermo Police Wastes felt little impact from Gray Monday or the current Dark Age,
operations. But once the Ravens offered promises of medical and and military conflicts within the Alliance have been quite low in
agricultural aid, Cable made requests for the Clan to send relief to intensity. The Thermo Police are free to continue the mission they
the Wastes. The Ravens granted Cable's requests, but their motives began before the Succession Wars. The potential to re-expand
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Thermo Police
the Alliance into the Wastes exists if exploitable resources can be personnel. When assigned to large security operations on Alliance
located, but the challenge of reclaiming this long-lost section of worlds, the Police often draft temporary “deputies” from the
space is extreme. While brigands and reavers may perpetually local populations. Volunteers recruited from support and rescue
agitate the Periphery, they have little hope of overcoming the operations in the Wastes are also common. One example is Hilda
training, equipment, and dedication of the Thermo Police. Sherry, who currently runs the cafeteria onboard Precinct One, the
Thermo Police's Buccaneer DropShip.
and Tactics Coyle. The Ardor was one of the JumpShips that evacuated the Coyle
survivors to Tellman IV in 2852 and often carries various civilian
experts of use to the Police such as psychologists trained in trauma-
Through every incarnation of the unit, the Thermo Police have informed care, historians, and media reporters. Exoskeletons and
focused much of their extensive training on less-lethal force. conventional vehicles are also available, such as armored cars and
The members are familiar with crowd dispersal or containment a pair of Peacekeeper VTOLs.
techniques, surveillance, and alternate munition options such as Thermo Police communication is highly codified—an affectation
smoke, tear gas, and laser inhibitors. Due to the remoteness of derived from historic Terran police units. For example, codenames
the worlds they often visit, survival training is also a high priority. for various ’Mechs are based on the unit's type. BattleMechs are
Individually, members also study various specialties such as first Adam, IndustrialMechs Union, and zero-gravity units Zebra. The
aid, interrogation, and special tactics. All carry ruggedly reliable company’s three lances are simply coded one through three, and
sidearms and stunsticks. each pilot is coded one through four (usually based on rank). For
Aside from the ’Mech company, the Thermo Police include a example, a Security Lance IndustrialMech pilot who is second in
full support staff mostly augmented with Alliance Service Arm command of that lance would be coded 3-Union-2.
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Thermo Police
5
Thermo Police
6
Thermo Police
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Thermo Police
H H H
L M M M M L
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Thermo Police
OBJECTIVES
Book 'Em (Attacker Only): Cripple or destroy as many enemy units as possible. [50 per unit]
Hostage Situation (Defender Only): Exit as many of the Pit Bull Trucks or their occupants (see below) off the Defender's home edge as
possible. [100 WP per truckload]
SPECIAL RULES
The following rules are in effect for this track:
Shielding Movement: All of the Attacker’s units may use the Shielding Movement Mode (see p. 17, TO:AR).
Smoke Rounds: All of the Attacker’s units may equip their missile weaponry with smoke missiles (see p. 183, Tactical Operations: Advanced
Units & Equipment)
Prisoner Transport: The Pit Bull Medium Trucks are unarmed, and begin the game under the control of the Defender. Control of each
truck can be seized or reclaimed throughout the game by each side. To seize control of a truck, a unit must end its turn in a hex adjacent
to the truck (AS: within 2”) with no enemy units also adjacent. At the start of the next turn, the truck can be controlled by the side which
claimed control of it.
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Thermo Police
If either side chooses to fire at a truck, on a result of a cargo hit winds, the confusion caused by the poor visibility gave the well-
or engine explosion, the captives are killed. If a truck is rendered trained Police the edge against the Band's unprepared vehicle crews.
immobile, the crew and their captives will exit the vehicle and MechWarrior Havelock Vang drove one of the captive-carrying
should be treated as a 20-man infantry squad, but unarmed. The trucks, and took the opportunity to defect from the Band of the
same control rules apply. Damned. Vang was a recent Combine recruit caught up in Rezak's
desertion and jumped at the first chance to escape a dishonorable
AFTERMATH life of piracy. His safe delivery of a truckload of civilians earned him
The Thermo Police succeeded in rescuing the pirate captives. the admiration of the Thermo Police and he was recruited for the
Several of their ’Mechs carried smoke rounds and, despite the heavy unit soon after.
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Thermo Police
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Thermo Police
Units Type Size Move JUMP T. Move TMM Arm S M L Skill PV Unit Specials
Command Lance BM 3 4I 0 — 1 15 4 5 2 3 43 IF1
Striker Lance BM 1 5l 1 — 2 9 2 3 2 4 31 IF1
Security Lance BM 2 5l 1 — 2 10 2 2 1 4 26 IF1
Formation Type Size Move JUMP T. Move TMM Tactics Morale Skill PV Formation Specials
Thermo Police (3058) BM 3 5l 1 — 2 4 6 3 112 CT1
Units Type Size Move JUMP T. Move TMM Arm S M L Skill PV Unit Specials
Command Lance BM 3 5l 1 — 2 14 4 4 2 2 48 IF1
Ranger Lance BM 3 5l 2 — 2 13 4 4 2 4 41 RCN
Security Lance BM 2 4l 1 — 1 12 2 2 0 3 23 CT1
Formation Type Size Move JUMP T. Move TMM Tactics Morale Skill PV Formation Specials
Thermo Police (3140) BM 2 6l 2 — 2 4 7 4 138 —
Units Type Size Move JUMP T. Move TMM Arm S M L Skill PV Unit Specials
Command Lance BM 3 4l 1 — 1 16 6 5 3 4 52 —
Battle Lance BM 3 5l 3 — 2 12 4 4 1 3 46 ARTAIS-1(1)
Light Pursuit Lance BM 1 9l 1 — 3 7 4 4 0 4 40 RCN, TAG
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Thermokarston Police (2852)
command lance
Special Command Abilities: Regional Specialization—Outworlds Alliance (AS:CE, p. 107), Shielding (AS:CE, p. 107)
Formation: Command Lance (CO, p. 63; AS:CE p. 120)
BV: 4,579 (Not adjusted for Skill Ratings)
PV: 151 (Adjusted for Skill Ratings)
*Alpha Strike Ranger Lance Bonus Ability: At the beginning of play, 75 percent of the units in this Formation receive one Terrain Master
SPA (AS:CE, pp 100–101). The same Terrain Master variation must be assigned to these units.
LeftRight
Ammo: (Machine Gun) 200, (SRM 6) 15 Torso Rear Torso Rear
(8) (8)
BV: 1,621
© 2020 The Topps Company, Inc. Classic BattleTech, BattleTech, 'Mech and BattleMech are trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc. All rights reserved.
Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Production, LLC. Permission to photocopy for personal use.