Swordsman

Description
The Swordsman was an early Federated Suns medium-class BattleMech which was originally built in Introduction Year::2463 with Primitive Technology. The Swordsman was authorized by First Prince James Davion upon his ascendance to the throne of House Davion. As the Federated Suns' third in-house designed BattleMech, it was created to be an inexpensive design for production in large numbers to bolster the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns. At the time of its commission, the AFFS's ranks were laden with heavier designs.

The design's legacy was tainted with corruption, first stemming from its manufacturing run at Jerricho Industries on Robinson. While the design was intended to be used in general service throughout the realm, Jerricho Industry leadership was partially owned by the Terran March Prince, Mikhail Rostov. Rostov helped guide and push the design process which was ultimately rushed into production after five years of development. Because the design was rushed, it eventually yielded a number of flaws which marred its performance. The March Prince's efforts to push the design's production lead to it being not dispersed through the Federated Suns, but solely in the Terran March's regional forces. The primitive early versions of the 'Mech were only made in handfuls, while a new better and modern variant would ultimately become more common.

The design received additional disparagement after serving with rebel forces during the Davion Civil War in 2525. By the war's end in 2540, its production was shutdown. The majority of Swordsman 'Mechs remained in service with the various Terran March units, and production of the design stopped when First Prince Alexander Davion ushered in changes to the organization of the Federated Suns that included dismantling the Terran March, in part as punishment for the rebellion raised by Dmitri Rostov that marked the last major conflict of the Davion Civil War. By 2571, the bulk of these operational 'Mech were shuffled with those regimental units as gifts to the newly formed Star League. The Swordsman would end up serving with Star League Defense Force units during the Reunification War and survived in smaller numbers that were held in reserve planetary militias through the League until the Star League Civil War.

Weapons and Equipment
The Swordsman is a general purpose design. Its original 145-rated primitive fusion engine was chosen to give the design the mobility to keep up with contemporary 'Mechs such as the BattleAxe and Mackie.

It's arsenal consists of a combination of long-range and mainly intermediate-range weaponry. Its long-range weapons include a 5-tubed Long-Range Missile Launcher mounted in the right torso with twenty-four rounds of ammunition. On the left torso it has a highly accurate Class-5 Autocannon which suffers from an ammo feed problem that creates the possibility of an ammunition explosion. Providing for intermediate and close range combat are a pair of medium lasers, with one found in each arm actuator.

Other features of the design include a Primitive Cockpit, Searchlights, and 10 tons of primitive armor.

Variants

 * SWD-2 : A product of tinkering and updating the original design, this variant uses modern technology which is equal to tech used during the much later Succession Wars. It was placed in production until the end of Davion Civil War. Improvements to the design included replacing the Mech's primitive armor, cockpit, and fusion engine with modern equivalents. The design's weight savings allowed for expansion to the weapons it was originally designed to carry, which included a 4-Tubed SRM Launcher and a Small Laser mounted in the cockpit. BV(2.0)=803

Design Quirks
The Swordsman has the following Design Quirks
 * Accurate Weapon (AC/5)
 * Ammunition Feed Problem (AC/5)
 * Bad Reputation
 * Poor Workmanship
 * Searchlight