MANDELORIAN ARMOUR

With the fame of Boba Fett, and the appearance of Jodo Kast, the interest in the armourerd battle suits of the Mandelor Warriors have received a great deal of public interest. We, the staff of Men at Arms datalog would like to thank his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Palpatine, for allowing us to use his private collection for research into this file. We would also like to extend our thanks to the Curators of the Galactic Museum, particularly those in the Clone Wars and Arms & Armour departments, and his Majesty's Royal Guard for assisting us with our research, allowing us to actually handle these priceless suits and even providing demonstrations of their capabilities for us.

We also wish to make a point of not thanking Mr. Fett and Mr. Kast, the only people known to have Mandelor armour outside of a museum, for not assisting us with our article, rejecting our offers to pay for their time, and putting our personnel in bacta tanks. We do understand the meaning of the words "No Thank You". You didn't have to shoot at us.

First, a note should be made about the Mandelor. Noone really knows where they came from or what they were. There are many conflicting stories and legends, but they all agree on three points: they were mercenaries, they were elite and they were good enough to hunt down and kill many of the Jedi. They used several different variants of the same suit of armour for several different units. The issue notes are included with each suit's description.

Mandelorian Light "Scout" Armour
Following the typical pattern of the Mandelor Warriors, the light suit covered only the torso, head and arms. While heavy for its day, the light suit is about equal to the suits worn by Stormtroopers today. Based on the surviving records, it seams that these were issued to members of training cadres, vehicle and starship crews, and non-combat support units. It contains a short range defensive laser and flame projector, light weight sensors and broadband transceiver. It is believed that Jodo Kast's suit is a modified specimen of this armour.

These new recruits were roughly as efficient as the Desert and Arctic Stormtrooper legions. Personal equipment is believed to have consisted of a survival kit, a blaster pistol and a knife. They remained in the training cadre for an unknown period of time, were they acted as sweepers and beaters, messengers and emergency reinforcements. Ship and vehicle crews were similarly equipped.

Mandelorian Standard "Trooper" Armour
Worn by almost everyone in the Mandelorian legions, the "trooper suit" provides a great deal of protection, and a large quantity of firepower. Issued to line troopers, junior NCOs and Officers regaurdless of thier unit, and starship command crews, these suits expanded on the light armour. Having 50% greater armour, they also contained a basic jump pack (deleted for ship board personnel), a second arm laser, more powerful sensors and an atmospheric filter. They were common teamed with a light environmental or climate control body suit for ground side operations, or with a light vac suit, similar to those worn by fighter pilots, for boarding operations. Although more of these suits were made, they are no less rare than the scout suits.

A stadard Mandelor trooper was roughly as effective as the elite Storm Commandos, making them far from common troops. They carried all of the equipment used by the probationary trooper, as well as grenades, a blaster rifle and a variety of melee weapons.

Mandelorian Heavy "Commando" Armour
Made for the Mandelorians' best troops, these priceless suits were issued to senior NCOs and officers, commandos, snipers and recon troopers. Twice as strong as the light suit, and more than twice as heavily armed, these suits would have cost a fortune to make. Today, the few remaining specimens would sell for as much as an Imperial Star Destroyer. They contained the best sensors of any the suits, a grapple, a very fine jetpack and a vertically fired grenade launcher. Surprisingly, the grenade launcher used the long standard 35x40mm shells, the same as used in the popular Zone Control line, which should be familiar to all our readers. It is widely believed that Boba Fett uses one of the suits.

The Mandeloran Super Commandos were among the bast troops ever, almost as, if not as, good as His Majesty's Royal Guard. They carried and used whatever the mission called for and was available. It is a pity that the Jedi exterminated these noble people. Their assistance would be greatly appreciated in these times of open revolt against the lawful government of the galaxy.

Mandelorian Powered "Engineer" Armour
This is the least well known of the Mandelor suits, as had the lowest production run. Meant for combat engineers and limited issue with heavy weapons units and commando units, these actually covered the whole body. Many of their sensors came from the heavy suit, while the weapons systems came from the scout suit. They also included high-intensity work lights mounted on each shoulder, servo-systems, a cutting/welding laser and a climate control body suit.

These troopers had to be as good a solider as his line brethren, but he also had to know how to fix and use almost any piece of machinery in existence, build field fortifications, prepare landing sights and handle explosives. All under fire. It is believed that in additional to combat maintenance and construction, they also were tasked with fire fighting and ground transportation duties, making them some of the most well rounded troops in the Mandelor Order.

Mandelorian "Boarding" Armour
We are most gratefully in the debt of our beloved Emperor for allowing us a chance to examine this so-far unknown specimen of Mandelorian armour. Believed to have been in the final stages of evaluation at the time of the Order's destruction, these ten powered armour suits are based on the engineer's suit. Carrying a powerful sensor suite, thrusters and heavy weapons, these would have been murderously efficient in space boarding. There is little doubt that these suits would have been reserved specialized missions only.

Copyright © 1997 Kevin Dole


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